This week in The Tentacle
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Obama’s flip-flops for combat boots
Kevin E. Dayhoff
When President Barack Obama took office, even the most politically unengaged citizen knew huge changes were afoot in the look and feel of the American presidency and our nation’s future. For those who voted according to a particular candidate’s national defense outlook, who knew that our new president would wear flip-flops for combat boots.
Thank you, Jeff
Roy Meachum
He brought the muffins. Jeff Holtzinger showed up for coffee Tuesday morning with a Dunkin' Donuts bag in hand. We sat down at the old farm table to drink our New Orleans' coffee and chicory. It was a standing invitation; he called Friday to say he would accept.
The Bride of Frankenstein’s Corsage
Tom McLaughlin
Gunung Gading National Park, Borneo Island – I could tell you a lie and say I hacked my way through the jungle to see the largest flower on the planet. I could write that I slept in a hammock fighting off vipers, leeches and hordes of mosquitoes just to witness the flower before it faded into a rumpled mass.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
"That" Subject Again
Roy Meachum
Most readers know that I wrote a column for the Frederick News-Post for over 20 years. During that time the publisher and editor was George Delaplaine. Judge Edward Delaplaine was his uncle, an author and prolific reader of catholic tastes, but there was one subject that turned him off.
Why They Hate Us
Nick Diaz
Well, okay, not all the non-motorcycle people hate us – it just seems that way some of the time, and has for the 40 years of my experience. So, why is that?
Monday, May 25, 2009
The Art of Political Prevarication
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
Here's a hypothetical: A major politician holds a news conference on a very sensitive topic – the use of enhanced interrogation tactics to elicit information from enemy combatants and terrorists. In the course of the press event, a reporter asks this nationally known public figure a specific question about whether or not they were officially briefed on this subject while the tactics were actively being employed.
Toward a Workable Hair Care System
Steven R. Berryman
Government economists, in conjunction with the Obama Administration, have now decided we must tackle the struggling hair care industry immediately, even if this requires full nationalization of assets, as it is “too big to fail.”
Friday, May 22, 2009
Vice President Emeritus
Roy Meachum
A considerable portion of the American public seems curious that ex-Vice President Dick Cheney developed into the Great Defender of the recent administration. I am not. During the eight years George W. Bush sat in the Oval Office Mr. Cheney ran the nation, especially in financial and foreign affairs.
Squirreling Away – Part 2
Joan McIntyre
Yesterday I started this conversation about how elitist I believe our Frederick County Board of Education and the administration of Frederick County Public Schools have become. Today, I continue in that same vein with the hopes of stirring your emotions to do something. To put your foot down and scream “Enough is Enough.”
Decoration Day
Tom McLaughlin
Even when he was deep into his Alzheimer’s state, Dad always seemed to know when it was Memorial Day – Decoration Day, as he called it. I guess it might have been the war movies that showed constantly on the television that clued him in, or maybe he just knew.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Squirreling Away – Part 1
Joan McIntyre
The Board of Education seems to have "found" a $4.1 million surplus from the current year. It saved so much money from conserving things such as electricity, by turning off the lights, that we now have an excess. They are having a little trouble remembering to whom the money actually belongs.
Needed: A Different Approach for Change
Chris Cavey
Rolling up to the 2010 election it seems the predominate theme within our state is a continued desire for change. Is it a philosophical change, or a broad-brushed wholesale changing of the "professional," long-term politicians, who, regardless of party, are perceived as sharing the blame for the current political and economic situation?
The Cradle of True Leadership
Farrell Keough
I enjoy a number of talk radio shows from our local ones to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin. Of course, these national shows have a strong leaning towards conservatism. I am okay with that.
Entertaining Entertainment
Roy Meachum
Somehow entertainment became a negative word in the theatre. Maryland Ensemble Theatre could change that. "And the World Goes Round" makes a case for evenings that are entertaining, not uplifting, carrying messages or making the world a better place.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Pause to Remember and Honor
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Next Monday is Memorial Day. It is a day when we should come together as a community and take a break from the rancid political bickering in Washington, which passes as national leadership today, and reflect on the men and women in uniform who are serving our country in the darkest corners of the world.
A Review – “Design for Living"
Roy Meachum
Once upon a time, as all good stories begin, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne epitomized theatrical royalty and this was in the era when the Barrymores were the first family of the stage. Noel Coward's chief claim to that company was that he was a kind of industry jester.
Alfred Wallace and Me – Part 3
Tom McLaughlin
Kampung Santubong, Sarawak, Malaysia – Alfred Wallace’s second and most famous Law of Natural Selection “suddenly flashed upon him” (his words) in February, 1858. With the monsoon season beginning to taper off, he suffered from malaria induced fevers.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Where's Jennifer?
Roy Meachum
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and I did not agree; her political strategists said she could win the governor's race by concentrating her efforts (and expenditures) after Labor Day. She tried, and had her head handed over by Republican Bob Ehrlich.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly…
Michael Kurtianyk
A day doesn’t go by that I’m not asked: “How’s the real estate market? Any good news?” I’m here to say that we’re seeing increases in the number of properties going under contract this spring.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Death by Technology Dependence
Steven R. Berryman
How do civilizations die? How do cultures die? How do people die?
20090527 SDOSM This week in The Tentacle
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/
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