Recent columns in The Tentacle by Kevin E. Dayhoff
November 10, 2010
“Truth will out…”Now that the 2010 Maryland gubernatorial election is mercifully over, many have already begun setting their sights on the upcoming session of the Maryland General Assembly.
November 3, 2010
Obama’s apocalyptic midterm malaiseThe euphoria of November 2008 and January 21, 2009, is a distant memory as even the most rabid supporters of President Barack Obama resort to their favorite spin machinery and demagoguery to digest the 2010-midterm elections.
October 27, 2010
Juan Williams: The VictimPlease add my voice to the hue and cry over National Public Radio (NPR) abrupt firing of the award-winning liberal commentator, author, and journalist, Juan Williams, last Wednesday.
October 20, 2010
Patch in the NewsroomIf all politics is local, certainly the same thing can be said for the news. In an era when more often than not, your local newspaper is owned by some conglomerate a half a continent away; and the journalists that make decisions that affect you on a daily basis have no clue as to where your community is on the map. Now comes another experiment in news delivery – Patch.
October 13, 2010
Hold A Constitutional Convention?Unbeknownst to most Marylanders, this November 2 you have the chance of a lifetime. No, I’m not just referring to whether you wish to continue the public policies and governance of the Gov. Martin O’Malley or try a different approach with former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.
October 6, 2010
A Return to a Forgotten PastA discussion on civility has been the subject of civilized society since the beginnings of language and the written word.
September 29, 2010
Maryland’s Sound and FuryThe Maryland gubernatorial general election is a little over a month away and jobs, taxes, business climate, the cost of utilities, and the economy are continuing to take center stage in this election’s signal-to-noise ratio as critical issues.
September 22, 2010
Fight Coming Over Highway User RevenueMunicipalities throughout Maryland are currently considering the passage of a resolution that calls for the state to restore the draconian cuts in Highway User Revenue and State Aid for Police Protection to local towns and cities imposed by the current administration in Annapolis in order to balance the state budget.
September 15, 2010
The 100 percenters and the seethersNow that Maryland’s primary election is over and the general election is only six-plus weeks away, I only have one question left for some candidates and single issues interest groups: Is there anyone left you can annoy – friends, family, poisonous reptiles?
September 8, 2010
Recovery Summer – NOTConservative populist political pundits have predicted that Republicans will do well in the fast-approaching midterm elections, and, to a great extent, even the most cursory examination of history indicates such a prediction is a safe bet.
September 1, 2010
A Curious Tale of Unequal TreatmentAs the 2010 Maryland gubernatorial contest muddles-on, comes the curious tale of two tragic incidences at separate juvenile justice system facilities, with two profoundly different results during the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley.
August 25, 2010
So far, no silver bulletVarious 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.
August 18, 2010
Remembering Mike EatonAlmost 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.
August 11, 2010
The New NormalWatching friends, loved-ones and colleagues fight the day-to-day ravages of joblessness has become overwhelmingly disturbing and upsetting. At the beginning of what is now being referred to as the Great Recession in 2007, there was hope that it was just an adjustment in the nation’s economy and that it would come and go as it has in the past.
August 4, 2010
Operation New DawnYesterday was the birthday of Ernie Pyle, an American war correspondent who won much praise and honor for his coverage of World War II. Perhaps most importantly he won the affection of the everyday reader at home and the average grunts in the field that he praised as “the guys that wars can’t be won without.”
July 28, 2010
“It Ain’t Necessarily So”Lost in the pseudo-intellectual psychobabble noise that passes as the news these days, journalism lost one of its greats last week – Daniel Schorr, August 31, 1916-July 23, 2010.
July 21, 2010
A Free Pass for Fannie and FreddieLast Thursday the Obama Administration’s broad sweeping financial reform legislation edged past its final hurdle when the Senate approved the measure by a vote of 60-39.
July 14, 2010
Big Oil Bob – A “Stone Cold” EntranceOn July 9, 2010, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley released his first television commercial of this year’s featured main event for political junkies – the much-ballyhooed 2010 professional wrestling steel cage match that may be otherwise known as the Merryland gubernatorial election (re)cycle.
July 7, 2010
The Wisdom of “Silent Cal”The Fourth of July has come and gone. The fireworks exclaimed its last hurrah along with the Ooos and Ahhhs. The remains of the day include a few partially eaten hot dogs, a half-bag of potato chips, and the sticky, syrupy goo that we can call Maryland’s heat and humidity that clung to your skin and followed you home.
June 30, 2010
(Un)Equal Treatment by The PressA short 47-word statement on Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s, (D., WV) website simply said: “The family of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd,… tearfully announces the passing of the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history. He was 92.
June 23, 2010
The First Among The ManyThe name Isaac Smith is not necessarily a household word for most people. He died on May 17, 1792. From various accounts we learn that he was a man of many talents including a war hero, farmer, doctor, and politician.
June 16, 2010
To preserve the American DreamIn the early hours of Monday morning my late night meanderings at the keyboard were interrupted by a cryptic message on the police scanner – a motorist had fired on a Carroll County deputy during a traffic stop.
June 14, 2010
Flag DayToday is the 233 birthday of the global symbol of freedom, the United States Flag. Have you put yours out as yet?
June 9, 2010
What the Helen Happened?Count me among the many who were profoundly offended at the remarks uttered by the curiously curmudgeon – White House correspondent Helen Thomas – to Rabbi David Nesenoff and his 17-year-old son, on May 27.
June 2, 2010
Rethinking Online AnonymityIn the brave new world of Internet publishing, most news and commentary websites that finally embraced the idea of allowing readers to post comments are now starting to rethink and debate whether or not the great Democracy-experiment in free speech has worked, or if it is worth the effort in light of the Pandora’s Box it opened.
May 26, 2010
Just One of Our Fallen HeroesAs this Memorial Day approaches, the Vietnam War has been over for 35 years, and yet for many of us; the memories of lost friends, and loved ones is indelibly etched in our minds.
May 19, 2010
Animal lovers’ food fightRecent events and a recent article in The New York Times focused my attention once again to the Humane Society of the United States.
May 12, 2010
Angus Maddison – Predictor of The PastAngus Maddison, an eminent scholar in the study of economic history, who once researched, calculated and explained the gross domestic product of various nation-states and regions of the world all the way back to 1 AD, passed away in Paris at the age of 83 years old on April 24.
May 5, 2010
Mount Airy’s New LeadershipUp for grabs Mount Airy town elections on Monday were two council seats and the mayor’s office. A total 1434 citizens cast their votes at the fireman's carnival grounds activities building.
April 28, 2010
Ending the Mount Airy Civil WarThe mayor’s office and two council seats are up for grabs when Mount Airy’s citizens go to the polls to select new leadership for the town May 3.
April 21, 2010
Judge Bell, a Witness to HistoryRecently, on April 9, Robert M. Bell, chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, was the featured speaker at the Carroll County National Association for The Advancement of Colored People Branch 7014 Freedom Fund Banquet.
April 16, 2010
Gwen Ifill: The DreamsThese days, the only people who seem to care about race are the political hard right, left-wingers, and the media-elite who are pounding that narrative in order to appear relevant or desperately wanting to impugn critics of President Barack Obama.
April 15, 2010
Gwen Ifill: The ScarsLast week a noted Public Broadcasting host spoke at Gettysburg College for about 25 minutes from prepared remarks and then took 16 questions from the audience for another half-an-hour on everything from her thoughts on the “Tea Party” movement, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to the national debt.
April 14, 2010
Gwen Ifill: The DifficultiesIn the pursuit of gaining more insights into the caustic vagaries and vituperative whims of all things divided and bitter that is Washington these days, I attended a presentation recently by a distinguished Public Broadcasting Service journalist and left the building with more questions than answers.
April 7, 2010
Plan B solution to unemploymentThe rate of unemployment continues to harry the local and national economy as the nation continues to try to figure-out an exit strategy to an entrenched recession. Last Friday the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national jobless rate held steady at 9.7 percent.
March 31, 2010
“We are done”On March 23 President Barack Obama signed into law the obese 2,032-page, 25-pound “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”
March 24, 2010
The Mount Airy LotteryThe “awful aughts” were not kind to Mount Airy. The last decade seemed to have been on the minds of citizens who crowded into the Mount Airy town hall on March 8 to nominate candidates to vie for elected offices in the upcoming election.
March 17, 2010
At the Edge of the CliffAt the dawn of this New Year, many expected much more in the way of fireworks from the current 427th session of the Maryland General Assembly. It is an election year and the state is entering another fiscal year of huge budget deficits.
March 10, 2010
The Problem with “Antique Furniture”…Many Marylanders were beside themselves with premature irrational exuberance at the rumor – which briefly circulated last month – that U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D., MD) would finally retire.
March 3, 2010
Horton Hatches the EggYesterday was the 107th birthday of Theodor Geisel from Springfield, MA. I say with a smile, my little crocodile, you may know him better as an early trendsetter, as the good Dr. Seuss, you may deduce, because I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. To you I’m so faithful one-hundred percent.
February 24, 2010
Sarasota SnowbirdSarasota FL – The Orioles’ pitchers and catchers took the field last Thursday for the first day of spring training in their new training facilities in Sarasota after spending the pre-season the last 14 years in Fort Lauderdale.
February 17, 2010
Charlie Wilson’s LegacyOn Sunday, Charlie Wilson, the former 12-term Democrat who represented the 2nd District in East Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 through 1996, was remembered in a memorial service in Texas.
February 10, 2010
A Complex and Complicated LifeJohn P. Murtha, the Democrat congressman from Pennsylvania, died at Virginia Hospital Center Monday at the age of 77 after complications from gall-bladder surgery.
February 3, 2010
Standing up by sitting downOn Monday February 1, 1960, four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College walked into the historic 1929 F. W. Woolworth Five-and-Dime building at 301 North Elm Street in Greensboro, N.C., and ordered lunch.
January 27, 2010
“Mac” Mathias: A Civil Rights LionFormer Republican U.S. Senator Charles McCurdy (Mac) Mathias, a native son of Frederick, has died at the age of 87. He was living in Chevy Chase, where his family reported that he died Monday from complications of Parkinson's disease.
January 20, 2010
Hating over HaitiIn a moment that could warm all but the coldest of hearts last Saturday, in the midst of all the despair that is now Haiti, Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton set aside their political differences for a joint appeal to raise money for that earthquake-ravaged country.
January 13, 2010
Spontaneous IncompetenceIn an incident, almost totally ignored by the dominant United States major news media, comes word that an American hero, the renown Army Green Beret-turned-Iraq/Afghanistan war correspondent, Michael Yon, was “arrested” January 5 as he entered the country for failing to disclose his income.
January 6, 2010
The Problem with UnderwearThe tranquility of the holidays was rudely interrupted by reality Christmas morning as the news spread quickly that a terrorist with an explosive device concealed in his underwear attempted to bomb Northwest Airlines flight 253 as it approached Detroit.
December 30, 2009
The Taxing Dilemma of 2010As we ponder the past year and look forward to 2010 with great trepidation, so far there has been little mentioned about what Congress will do with the temporary tax cuts enacted during the administration of George W. Bush that are scheduled to expire at the end of the coming year?
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