Administration

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

It looks like this heavily Democratic state's main publication is going to ignore the problems of this administration just like the White House is. What is on the front page of The Sun? is there any mention of Benghazi? The IRS and their illegal actions or the Associated Press being screened? Nothing! Oyster seeding, new technology for blocking cell phones in the prisons and the "sequester" causing the Blue Angels not to appear at the Naval Academy graduation make the front page. Any mention of the 3 biggest embarrassments to this administration?

In Washington, as in any seat of power, most acts of folly begin with hubris. Government leaders, elected or appointed, usually don't intend to do the wrong thing, to overstep or cause harm, but they become so convinced, so certain of their purpose, that they are blinded by their pride. Perhaps that's the root of the problem infecting the Justice Department, where officials secretly obtained months of telephone records of journalists working for the Associated Press. That Attorney General Eric Holder or anyone else there could find that action acceptable is frightening, to say the least.

As the White House spin doctors find it more and more difficult to cook up acceptable "talking points" for Benghazi and the IRS and Department of Justice situations, the new term "Trigate" seems to take over where "Watergate" once served. The morning paper gets more and more interesting as we read each day to see the new developments in Washington and peruse the administration's attempts at damage control. Dick Huffman, Timonium

Attorney General Doug Gansler's office issued a news release the other day that referred to the "Gansler Administration." As in, "Protecting and improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries is a priority of the Gansler Administration." Was there a Curran administration? Gansler's predecessor doesn't think so. "I don't remember using that term," Joe Curran said. Not for lack of trying, at least on the part of former Curran spokesman Kevin Enright. "Despite the fact that time and again I tried to hold Curran administration meetings, they never caught on," Enright said.

Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, the governor's point man on legislation governing public-private partnerships, said Wednesday that the administration will not risk the measure's defeat over a controversial amendment that could change the rules for appeals in a lawsuit challenging the State Center redevelopment plan in Baltimore. Brown said the amendment, tacked on the  bill in the House Environmental Matters Committee, did not come from the administration. "We neither oppose it nor promote it," he said.

The battle over take-home patrol cars for Baltimore County police officers intensified yesterday when the county auditor responded sharply to a study by the Ruppersberger administration that some County Council members criticized as unfair and too harshly worded. Auditor Brian T. Rowe took the administration to task on several fronts, saying its analysis was unfair because it was based on a hypothetical program that included more officers than initially proposed. "It ... results in an apples-to-oranges comparison," Rowe said.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration is preparing a broad new effort to weaken Iran by persuading reluctant allies to cut off loans, investments and arms sales to what American officials regard as a permanently hostile government.The plan, drafted as part of an intensive policy review, reflects a conclusion that Iran must be isolated if it is to be prevented from emerging as a substantial threat to Western interests. Thus, the plan rejects Reagan and Bush administration policies that offered to reward Tehran for good behavior.

WASHINGTON -- Revising its strategy of treating the Sudan as a complete pariah state, the Clinton administration decided last week to put a handful of diplomats back in Khartoum to press the North African nation to stop harboring Palestinian, Lebanese, Egyptian and Algerian terrorists.The Sudan's Islamic government welcomed the announcement as a victory in its efforts to soften the U.S. diplomatic line against it. But administration officials said that sending diplomats back to the Sudan would allow the United States to increase pressure on its government.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration "strongly" urged the Supreme Court yesterday to overrule Roe vs. Wade and send the abortion issue back to state legislatures.If the court is not ready to do that, the administration said in a new legal brief filed by the Justice Department, it should throw out at least half of the Roe ruling and let legislatures adopt any "reasonable" limit on abortion.This is necessary, it argued, to allow for laws that would protect the life of the fetus "throughout pregnancy."

Tracy Balazs, the president and CEO of an Annapolis-based staffing firm, was named Entrepreneurial Success of the Year last month by the Baltimore district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. She founded the company, Federal Staffing Resources LLC, in 2004. It now employs more than 300 people, has eight offices across the country and generates more than $30 million in revenue annually. The company mainly provides health professionals to government outfits, including the Army, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Aviation Administration, though FSR recently expanded its operations to the staffing of private companies.

Coppin State University is a mess, and the problems go well beyond its abysmal six-year graduation rate of 15 percent. A report to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents by a committee assigned to study the school in the wake of former President Reginald Avery's departure found massive mismanagement, inefficiency and indifference. The state puts more resources per student into Coppin than any other institution in the university system, and it gets the least return. That's bad for the taxpayers, but it's worse for the students whose dreams of advancement go unfulfilled.

When the storm of administration scandals first hit President Barack Obama, he offered a good impersonation of Claude Raines in "Casablanca," expressing shock that gambling was going on in Rick's saloon. His verbal outrage at the snooping of the IRS and his Justice Department was intense, but not very reassuring. That's why the next day he announced the dismissal of the acting IRS director as a quick response to the disclosure of the tax agency's intrusion, which was reminiscent of the Watergate era. But on Thursday, Mr. Obama declined to apologize for his administration's reactions to the Benghazi terrorist attacks and for the secret scrutinizing of Associated Press reporters' phone calls.

In Washington, as in any seat of power, most acts of folly begin with hubris. Government leaders, elected or appointed, usually don't intend to do the wrong thing, to overstep or cause harm, but they become so convinced, so certain of their purpose, that they are blinded by their pride. Perhaps that's the root of the problem infecting the Justice Department, where officials secretly obtained months of telephone records of journalists working for the Associated Press. That Attorney General Eric Holder or anyone else there could find that action acceptable is frightening, to say the least.

"Bumps in the road. " - President Barack Obama on the unrest in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East that included the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, an information officer, and two Navy SEALS. "Crude and disgusting"… "an insult"… "blasphemy"… "[its message] must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. " - President Obama on the infamous anti-Muslim videotape that was originally blamed for the Benghazi terror attacks. Benghazi happened "a long time ago. " - White House spokesman Jay Carney on May 2, 2013.

Donald A. Krach, former general counsel for the Maryland Port Administration who was an advocate and goodwill ambassador for the port of Baltimore, died May 4 of complications from pancreatic cancer at his Timonium home. He was 80. "Don was a real cheerleader for our port, and he really worked hard with our clients to put more business through here," said James J. White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration. "He had such a big personality. " "Don was one of those attorneys who came up through the state system, and he was absolutely enthusiastic about the port.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. suggested yesterday that the General Assembly abandon its probe into his administration's firing practices and instead work with him on a bipartisan study of state personnel law. Such a commission of legislators, administration officials and outside experts is the only way to "ensure a fair and impartial process that has the confidence and support of all Marylanders," Ehrlich said, and avoid the partisan rancor that has developed...

THE TERRORIST attacks of Sept. 11 cured the Bush administration of its former unilateralist, "we are the only superpower" rhetoric. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's delay of tests of the proposed missile shield, which would contravene the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, was a welcome step taken in quest of a greater prize. It creates anticipation for the three-day visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin beginning Nov. 13. Hints have been dropped by both sides of a possible renegotiation of the ABM Treaty to permit the tests, along with reductions in warheads.

Editor: After reading the two recent columns by Allan Vought, which in my opinion were outstanding, I am inspired to offer the following commentary. Continuing along the topic of zoning and out administration, a few weeks ago or story ran in The Aegis concerning the availability of information in the Realtors offices at developments detailing or rather the lack of information as to what the surrounding area is zoned for future development. The person was upset, to say the least, because after buying and moving in they later found out the surrounding development was not to their liking.

In the United States of 2013, any youngster can walk into a store and buy a bottle of aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen or some other pain reliever without showing any identification, parental consent or a doctor's order. They don't have to be 15 or 17 or even old enough to know how to make exact change if the cashier will help them out. So what's the big deal about a bottle of a common analgesic, you may ask? Well, it may be the most dangerous over-the-counter drug available. Each year, poison control centers across the nation get thousands of calls from people who have overdosed on painkillers, particularly acetaminophen, which some people deliberately take to commit suicide, as it can cause acute liver failure if consumed in sufficient quantity.