Where Is The Peace Movement?

For days, I guess for weeks, President Barack Obama has been studying the question: How many more thousands of American soldiers to send to war in Afghanistan? Will the President decide how many thousands next week, or will he struggle with the decision until the week after? The question is not whether to have a [...]

Late Summer Serenity in Ocean City

Fast-forward to the present. The annual tide of summer visitors may have crested this weekend, but the golden weather has continued Sunday night and Monday morning. With any luck, this mellow late-season interlude at the beach will linger for another week or more. 
If you wake up one morning this week with the urge for a [...]

Health Care Then And Now: Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Barack Obama

The film clip on TV news of President Harry Truman (“The buck stops here”) making the case for health care for Americans was poignant. NBC aired the Truman clip following President Barack Obama’s news conference on the same subject, health care.
If I remember history correctly, President Teddy Roosevelt (“Speak softly and carry a big stick”) was [...]

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Marijuana

Now comes Arnold, prince of California, opening a debate about the merits (or not) of decriminalizing marijuana. (And taxing it, of course!)
In 2009, Arnold Schwarzenegger dares to say what former California Gov. Jerry Brown could not have said in 1979. It takes a conservative leader to legitimize a previously radical idea. Arnold Schwarzenegger [...]

Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, so we are well into spring in Maryland. The trees are enjoying their two weeks of blossoming glory, flowers are popping up, and pollen is in the air. In most of Maryland, we’re short on rainfall to wash the pollen away, so everyone has allergy symptoms.
The Ocean City, Maryland, Blog [...]

MPT’s “Citizen Schaefer” Rebroadcast Scheduled

Maryland Public Television will broadcast its acclaimed documentary on the life of Gov. William Donald Schaefer on Wednesday, Apr. 8, at 9 p.m. Check local listings for the MPT channel in your part of Maryland. Thanks to Michael Golden of MPT for the information.
If you have an interest in Maryland government, politics, or history, you [...]

MPT’s “Citizen Schaefer”

The Maryland Public Television biographical documentary on Gov. William Donald Schaefer has tapped a deep well of emotion and respect for the man whose vocation was service to the people of Baltimore and Maryland. My April 2008 blog post about Mr. Schaefer at home in retirement has been the top post on Maryland On My [...]

“Song Yet Sung” Is Maryland’s Book

Your reading assignment, and mine, for 2009 is Song Yet Sung, by James McBride, who is best known for his book, The Color of Water.
The Maryland Humanities Council has selected Song Yet Sung to be the “One Maryland, One Book” for 2009. 
The press release describes Song Yet Sung as  ”an intricate and gripping tale of escaped [...]

President Obama, Please Ask Jeremy Rifkin About Jobs And Work

President Barack Obama has mobilized America for CHANGE, and just in time. The great banks of the industrialized world teeter on the brink!  Mighty Microsoft, symbolic leader of the technological revolution, cuts 5,000 jobs! Massive layoffs are rumored at mighty IBM!

Jeremy Rifkin predicted economic turmoil from the Third Industrial Revolution in his [...]

Inaugural Weekend in Maryland

The four-day holiday weekend of Saturday, Jan. 17, through Tuesday, Jan. 20 will be a weekend unlike any that’s ever happened before or will ever happen again.
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday for U.S., D.C. and Maryland government workers and many private-sector workers. Tuesday is the Inauguration of Barack Obama, the [...]