20071114 This week in The Tentacle

This week in The Tentacle

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Frederick and The Geography of Nowhere

Kevin E. Dayhoff

The alarm has been sounded, “Starbucks is coming. Starbucks is coming.” No word yet as to whether or not a “coffee party” has been organized to dump coffee grounds into Carroll Creek.

The Nobel Economics Prize

Tom McLaughlin

Setting my brain from its usual position of reverse to forward, I elected to try to unravel the Nobel Prize in Economics. This was awarded to three Americans “for having laid the foundation of mechanism design theory.”

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Don't Rest in Peace, Norman Mailer Part 1

Roy Meachum

Serious literary authors and small-town journalists, we take care of our own. The death last week of Pulitzer Prize winning Norman Mailer earned lots of space, in national media as well as the local press.

10 Dumb Questions I Get

Nick Diaz

I am a motorcyclist. For 37 of my 60 years I’ve been riding motorcycles. It all goes back to my youth in my native Cuba, where I spent summers riding horses at my godfather’s cattle ranch.

Falling into One’s Lap

Katie Nash

The past two weeks have involved a series of tax-raising schemes put forth by the O’Malley Administration and his minions. Unfortunately for taxpayers, there seems to be little resistance from moderate Democrats.

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Monday, November 12, 2007

General Assembly Journal Special Session 2007 Part – 2

Richard B. Weldon Jr.

First, it was hailed as the most progressive re-write of a tax code in the nation. Liberal and progressive advocacy groups celebrated Gov. Martin O’Malley’s planned income tax revision as a just and responsible shift of the tax burden away from the working poor and onto the backs of the wealthy.

Worcester County and Slots

Tom McLaughlin

When it was announced that Ocean Downs raceway had been selected as a location for a slots parlor, local rich hotel-condo and real estate owners had an angina attack.

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Sunday, November 11, 2007

Veterans Day: “The Wall” at 25

Kevin E. Dayhoff

This year Veterans Day is also the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall in Washington. The Memorial, well known as “The Wall,” was dedicated November 13, 1982.

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Friday, November 9, 2007

"Fair Lady" and "The Scourge of God"

Roy Meachum

Lisa O’Hare stars as Eliza Doolittle with Christopher Cazenove as Professor Henry Higgins in the Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater presentation of “My Fair Lady.” (Photo by Joan Marcus)

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Thursday, November 8, 2007

An Open Letter…

Chris Cavey

Dear Governor O’Malley, The Guinness Book of World Records lists Teflon as the slipperiest substance on Earth. In a few short months Maryland’s citizens will witness that you are the slipperiest governor in the United States; because nothing will stick.

Russian Glimpses – Part 3 – St. Petersburg

Patricia A. Kelly

(Editor's Note: Columnist Kelly recently toured Russia. This is her third of three parts recounting her adventure.) Our senior guide in St. Petersburg, Masha, was the daughter of intellectuals. During Soviet times, her parents traded their historic, central apartment for a Khrushchev apartment farther out, so that they could send Masha to kindergarten without a 6-year wait. Apartment developments are named after the leader of the time they were built. Stalin’s were the best.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Ever Green Fund

Kevin E. Dayhoff

Last Friday, the House Environmental Matters Committee in the Maryland General Assembly held a hearing on House Bill 23, the “Maryland Green Fund.”

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

“I’m mad as Hell….”

Farrell Keough

Of late, I have gotten responses to my columns that fall into two camps; some have told me they were a nice, condensed view of facts surrounding issues and others have said I need to lighten up and write to a lower level of education. While I appreciate receiving input, (good or bad) it is this latter perspective I would like to tackle.

War without heroes and villains

Roy Meachum

Most Americans prefer personalized war. They need heroes to admire; but most of all they want villains to hate. Hitler was a perfect example. He was a demon long before the United States entered World War II.