This week in The Tentacle
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
So far, no silver bullet
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Various polls of the Maryland gubernatorial contest continue to show incumbent Gov. Martin O'Malley and his Republican opponent, former-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., in a statistical tie should the election be held today.
Tom McLaughlin
Kuching, Malaysian Borneo – The tourist crowds have thinned markedly this month. The best time to visit Kuching, I think. Euro languages can still be heard but they come from the few backpackers and retirees, who, unfortunately, don’t mix. Hilton and Hostel visitors are on opposite sides of the Borneo experience.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Political Acts
Roy Meachum
In last week’s columns, I sought to explain, with relevant examples, how politics relate directly to how politicians act, beyond their words.
Farrell Keough
Politics is the art of influence, wise compromise, and understanding how to use these two to accomplish one’s end. When we consider the leaders we have esteemed over the centuries, the traits which propelled them always involved the tension between influencing the opposition and wise compromise.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Lessons of School Choice – Part 1
Earl 'Rocky' Mackintosh
I've been a long time advocate of the school choice movement. I see some tremendous opportunities for the soon-to-be elected Frederick County Board of Education to break from its long entrenched establishment and take a fresh look what this movement has to offer our public schools.
Michael Kurtianyk
I had my 30-minute interview with the Frederick Chamber of Commerce this morning. It was held at Frederick Community College, and there were four people there reviewing the answers I gave to their questionnaire.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Politicians, not Politics
Roy Meachum
For coming up 26 years, some in this community think many of my columns are about politics. They are wrong.
Joe Charlebois
Fifty years ago Howard and Julianne took their vows as husband and wife Easter Monday 1960. At that time, the Catholic Church didn’t allow for the sacrament of Holy Matrimony to take place during the season of Lent.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Gawd, Here They Come Again
Norman M. Covert
Long-time Frederick residents are weary of the cast of usual suspects whose allegations of Fort Detrick atrocities have been hailed in the media and dashed by competent authority.
Patricia A. Kelly
The time is short to make the first decisions about who will provide new political leadership in our country. A lot of people think we blew it last time, and possibly the time before.
Adam Avery
My father turns 74 this fall. Slowly winding down seem the days of tending to his gentleman's farm without the aid of labor, paid or otherwise.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Another Caesar or Napoleon? – Part 2
Roy Meachum
Monday’s New York Times: Gen. David H. Petraeus began his campaign to convince the public that the coalition can succeed, saying he had not come to Afghanistan to preside over a “graceful exit.”
Tom McLaughlin
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Almost everyone can reminisce back to the days of their youth and recall the influence of a favorite childhood teacher. For me, I loved school and I have a number of favorite teachers; however, the first among many may very well be my 12th-grade English teacher, William Granville (“Mike”) Eaton.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Another Caesar or Napoleon? – Part 1
Roy Meachum
Captivated by their romantic image of Imperial Rome, people can forget the Italian peninsula before Christ came into the world was home to a brilliant, doomed republic. Julius Caesar put an end to that.
Nick Diaz
Many of us in Frederick County have had our fill of the failures of TERC Investigations and other such “constructivist” programs that de-emphasize the teaching of traditional algorithms. I finished my last TheTentacle.com article by asking the following question:
Monday, August 16, 2010
Ethics, conflicts and objectivity, oh my…
Shawn Burns
Nationally, unemployment is hovering around 9.6%. In Maryland we’re looking at 7.4%. And here in Frederick County they say we are around 6.5%. We are lucky. We’ve fared better than most, but there are a few things to consider.
Michael Kurtianyk
“You know what one of the cool things about being in a campaign?” I asked my wife. “It’s that I don’t have to think about what to wear each day anymore. It’s either the polo shirt with my name on it, or the t-shirt with my name on it.”
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