21st Century

If the House votes to end affirmative action in broadcast licensing, "Republican fingerprints [would be] on the racist card," says an accusing Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel. That kind of rhetoric is not going to make it any easier for Americans of all races and both parties to work out an affirmative action program for the 21st century.Nor is Sen. Phil Gramm's statement to the effect that if elected president his first act will be to end every racial preference he can.Changes in affirmative action are needed.

The recent article on multiculturalism by Bob Ehrlich ("Multiculturalism is the enemy of democracy," June 2) and the response by Wally Pinkard ("America is more than baseball and apple pie," June 7) have opened up a credible discussion on the root causes of political philosophy. I applaud The Sun for offering this polemic for readers to digest and learn from. The advantages of immigration and multiculturalism to the world and the U.S. are so obvious that they do not need discussion. The root cause of the multiculturalism debate is religious secularism and intolerance.

The pace of Maryland's growth will slow in the early 21st century as its population ages, according to new long-term projections by the Maryland Office of Planning.The state's population is forecast to increase from 5 million in mid-1995 to 6 million in 2018. Montgomery County is projected to reach a population of 1 million in 2020, the first Maryland jurisdiction to do so.The projections are based on fresh population estimates for mid-1995, which show that Montgomery (810,000) is the state's most populous county.

Recent letters have trashed Maryland as a business friendly state. As the founder of one of Maryland's largest engineering firms employing about 1,000 engineers and scientists, we have found Maryland to be the ideal place to locate and grow a business. Businesses in the 21st century seek good markets, a skilled labor force, good schools and universities and a high quality of life in which to raise a family. Maryland is unparalleled in meeting these requirements. Jack Kinstlinger, Baltimore

SAN DIEGO -- Trucks from the water department pulled up on my cul-de-sac. Several guys in hard hats jumped out. They began to mark the street with blue spray paint. Some of them studied books of charts. But one workman walked around holding two bent metal rods, one in each fist, pointed directly ahead of him. He watched the rods intently as they swung left or right or crossed."Just curious. But what are you doing?" I asked.He looked a little sheepish and muttered, "Dowsing."Like most people, I'm somewhat familiar with dowsing (or divining, or water witching, as it is sometimes called)

Neatness hardly rates as an emphasis for Robert E. Slavin, one of the country's leading education reformers, in his incredibly cluttered office across from the Johns Hopkins University Homewood tennis courts."

THROUGHOUT THE 20th century, as the weapons we used to fight our wars became increasingly lethal, news coverage of the effects of combat took on an increasingly disjointed and euphemistic quality. In the early days of World War II, CBS radio correspondent Edward R. Murrow reported that the distant explosions from a British bombing raid over Germany resembled "rice on black velvet." In reaction to the more graphic coverage of Vietnam, the Pentagon during Gulf War I restricted access and provided film that made the conflict seem like a video game.

IN THE NEXT millennium, the great danger for humanity will not be the conflict between East and West, or even between North and South. It will be the decoupling of the fast world from the slow world.As time itself has become a critical factor of production, the wealth gap has grown rapidly between societies whose accelerative economies are driven by knowledge and advanced technology and those societies whose economies are mired in traditional agriculture or bureaucratic smokestack industry.

HAVING SEIZED enough of "the vital center" to win a second term, President Clinton in his first post-election policy speech, has cast himself as chief proprietor of that crucial political turf.Balancing the budget is his first priority, he says, thus reiterating his claim to a high-profile issue Republicans once monopolized. His will be a government, he says, that is hard to pigeonhole as right or left, and as such will be a frustration for those who try to communicate or describe or (implicitly)

IT'S fitting that America Online's merger with Time Warner Inc. took place a little over a week into the 21st century. The union of two companies that represent new and old information technologies is a harbinger of what's to come. Their merger symbolizes not only the rapid reshaping of the world's communications industries that is under way but also the transformation of world business practices. This is the beginning of a wave of mergers between Internet and media companies. What happened to railroads in the 19th century is probably most analogous to the enormous changes that would flow from the AOL-Time Warner merger.

With the city putting together a plan for adding 10,000 families to Baltimore, this is a good time for interested Baltimoreans to weigh in. I'm told that the plan will be driven by the best possible data - a great place to start. But the plan needs to address a critical question: Who is going to want to live here during the next decade? Some of the trends that are driving Baltimore's nascent revival will prove almost impossible to determine based on the opinions of the city's current population, many of whom live here because of ties to family and friends or because housing is relatively affordable, not because they particularly want to live in a city.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seems like a fictional character out of a satirical doomsday movie -- maybe a sequel to "Dr. Strangelove. " That fact that this immature brat and his gaggle of grim, aging generals actually rule a country and have the capacity to disturb the international order seems absurd in an era of global interdependence. In the 21st century, humankind should have moved beyond this, but apparently we need a few more centuries of progress before all countries are led by comparatively rational, democratically elected leaders -- or at least by boring, one-party bureaucrats whose main goal is to preserve stability and promote economic growth.

There was plenty to celebrate when the Howard County Arts Council held its 16th annual Celebration of the Arts. Besides the awards handed out in various categories, there was an announcement that wasn't on the scheduled program for this festive event held Saturday, March 23 at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre. Addressing the well-dressed crowd of arts advocates, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said: "It's time to have a wonderful, state of the art, 21st-century arts center here in Howard County.

Lawrence W. "Larry" Simns Sr., a fourth-generation waterman and longtime advocate for the Chesapeake Bay and those who make their living from its waters, died Thursday of bone cancer at his Rock Hall home. He was 75. "Larry stood sentry for the watermen of the Chesapeake Bay for over 40 years and courageously carried their banner into the 21st century," Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski said in a statement. "He fought to preserve their traditions and their opportunity to work on the water like their forefathers," she said.

In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama laid out clearly and forcefully the philosophy that animates his presidency and placed it in context of America's history and values. He believes in individual initiative and hard work, in the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But he believes that history has time and again forced us as a nation to recalibrate our notions of what actions are necessary to uphold those values - from the end of slavery with the Civil War to the enfranchisement of women during the Progressive Era to the dawn of the New Deal welfare state and the realization of equality through the civil rights movement.

After 23 years of service, I believe it's time for the chairman of the Board of Regents at Morgan State University, Dallas Evans, to retire. I question his chairmanship and question his ability to move Morgan forward! His letter delivered to the other regents regarding Morgan State President David Wilson ("Morgan president has "severely compromised" university, board chair alleges," Jan 11) alarms me. I question whether your his opinion regarding Mr. Wison will affect his ability to lead and to make effective policies for the success of Morgan.

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- A ghostly platoon of Marines, clad in the black and gray camouflage of city warfare, streams into the rebel-held TV station in Urbania's capital. The thud of boots gives way to an explosion of gunfire and shouting. A radio squawks: "Two enemy KIAs. One friendly KIA."Suddenly, from an adjacent building, rebel fire slices into the TV station, killing half the platoon. A frazzled young lieutenant radios a nearby tank to fire. A single shell reduces the three-story enemy stronghold to rubble.

With the city putting together a plan for adding 10,000 families to Baltimore, this is a good time for interested Baltimoreans to weigh in. I'm told that the plan will be driven by the best possible data - a great place to start. But the plan needs to address a critical question: Who is going to want to live here during the next decade? Some of the trends that are driving Baltimore's nascent revival will prove almost impossible to determine based on the opinions of the city's current population, many of whom live here because of ties to family and friends or because housing is relatively affordable, not because they particularly want to live in a city.

Your report on moves to change state referendum procedures repeatedly refers to "electronic signatures" ("Petition process under scrutiny," Jan. 9). That is a misnomer. It would be nice if in the 21st century we were allowed to petition our government in a modern way. But in fact the voter must sign a physical piece of paper with a pen. The only part of the process that can be interpreted as "electronic" is that the petition form itself is created individually, with the name and address fields filled in with information extracted from the state's voter registration database.

In his recent commentary, Dallas Dance, superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, highlighted the need to transform our schools into "21st century learning environments" ("A way forward for county schools," Jan. 9). I wholeheartedly agree that schools need to be brought into the 21st century, but I think we are missing the mark. Mr. Dance talks about school safety, but installing high-tech security equipment is not what's going to create safety in schools. Upstanding adult role models in the community are going to help create safety in schools.