Sorry, Folks, This Varmint's Not On Faidley's Menu

"The demand is zilch today," he said.

So what was the quaint fare Lexington Market had a run on that day?

The Sterns did not return a message seeking comment. I'm guessing illegal firearms, at the Utz Potato Chip stand.

A nod from across the aisle

The buzz about Tom Ridge's new book is all about how he says something bad about fellow Republicans. (That Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft might have had political motives when they urged Ridge, then Homeland Security secretary, to raise the terror alert level right before the 2004 election.) The real shocker: Ridge says something nice about a Democrat.

From "The Test of Our Times," page 75: "Martin O'Malley, mayor of Baltimore, now governor of Maryland, complained to the media that it had taken a month for the FBI to put detailed information about people on its post-September 11 watch list into the national crime database, a resource that local and state police officers use when making arrests or even when detaining drivers for traffic violations.

"O'Malley's constant whine during this time - that the federal government never does anything right - was a source of irritation, but his complaint on information sharing I must grudgingly admit was essentially correct."

We'll see if Ridge backs away from that hot potato, too.

Sporty sportsman

In the passenger seat of a sporty royal blue convertible in Fells Point the other day: Michael Phelps. A brunette in spaghetti straps was at the wheel. License plate: Princez.

Laura Vozzella's column appears Fridays. Ron Smith's column will return next week.