America

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

Many of you soon-to-be college graduates are determined to make the world a better place. Some of you are choosing careers in public service or joining nonprofits or volunteering in your communities. But many of you are cynical about politics. You see the system as inherently corrupt. You doubt real progress is possible. "What chance do we have against the Koch brothers and the other billionaires?" you've asked me. "How can we fight against Monsanto, Boeing, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America?

America has suddenly become aware that there is a trade problem with China ("Export policy No. 1: getting China to play by the rules," Sept. 21). Once again, who could have predicted it? The American public is an addict. China is our supplier and the big discount chain stores are the dealers. We are addicted to easy money and bargain prices. The problem is that now we recognize that this is killing us and we want out of the arrangement. Whatever the solution, when an addict and his supplier break up, somebody is going to get hurt.

One of the first things that an incoming Boy Scout must learn is the Scout Law. It's become so famous that many people outside the organization likely recognize it. "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. " There is no line about Boy Scouts being exclusionary, nor one suggestion that the organization discriminate. There isn't even a mention of sexuality. To be kind is to be kind. To think of Boy Scouts as some narrow-minded, anti-gay organization is anathema to how many of us have experienced scouting in our lives.

Regarding letter writer Ilene O'Connell's comment that she was ashamed of her country for re-electing President Obama, how ashamed was she eight years ago when the country elected the president who is responsible for the soaring deficit Mr. Obama inherited ("Ashamed of the country that re-elected Obama," Nov. 11)? How ashamed is she that former President George W. Bush saddled us with not one but two unnecessary wars that added to the debt and resulted in the deaths of so many? Evidently, the country of which Ms. O'Connell is so ashamed preferred Mr. Obama over her candidate.

You wrote in your editorial "Fresh start in Iraq" (Dec. 27): "Nine months after Iraqis went to the polls in national parliamentary elections last spring, the country's squabbling political factions finally reached a deal this week to allow a new government to take office... " I suggest penning a similar editorial titled "Fresh start in America," which could easily be published with very few changes. It would read: "[Two] months after [Americans] went to the polls in national elections last [fall]

It is with disgust that I put down The Sun after reading Ron Smith's column ("Norway murder compounded by ineptitude," July 29). Scandinavia seems to be one of the few places on the planet not fueled by violence. Perhaps those nations have some lessons to share with our country. Open any daily newspaper or listen to any newscast in the U.S. and your senses are pounded with the violence prevalent in every city and state. Our country is a laughing stock as our elected officials behave like spoiled adolescents for all the world to witness.

What a perverse country we live in. We spend $2 billion on an election where people in this country actually think we are better off with a huge percentage of our population not having health care. Mental health issues are swept under the rug and underfunded and people who make over a million dollars a year in income assert they cannot afford to pay higher taxes. We argue whether or not gay marriage is acceptable and people spend millions still arguing where our president was born - not to mention the plethora of social and religious issues that rip our nation apart and waste our collective time and energy while therealissues that cripple our great country are never discussed due to a fear that campaign donors' checkbooks will close.

Here's a brief reminder to the president and members of Congress: It is not about you, or your party. It is about the U.S., and we the people of this country. Reid Hill, Catonsville

In his article, "Arizona silences a painful history," (May 16) Leonard Pitts Jr. uses the word "culture" incorrectly. As H. George Hahn II, an English professor and director of the master's in humanities program at Towson University, wrote in The Baltimore Sun on May 18, 2004: "America may be multiethnic, but it is not multicultural. For the better of all hyphenated Americans, starting with the language, it is an English culture." Professor Hahn emphasizes that "Diversity is not the most important truth about America.

WJZ reporter-anchor Adam May is leaving the Baltimore station at the end of the month to join Al Jazeera America as a national correspondent. May, who has been at the CBS-owned station for 10 years, will go to work for Al Jazeera in June. But he will continue to live in Baltimore. "It was a tough decision, especially saying goodbye to our viewers who have been so loyal over the last few years," May said in a telephone interview Monday. "I now consider many of them friends, and I hope when they still see me walking around Baltimore, they'll come up and say hi. " May, who is originally from Minnesota, said, "One of the most exciting things about this opportunity is that my family gets to stay in Baltimore.

Maryland's Alex Aust, Katie Schwarzmann, Iliana Sanza and Taylor Cummings earned Division I first-team All-America honors from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Wednesday. Johns Hopkins' Taylor D'Amore, Loyola's Marlee Paton and Towson's Alexa Demski were selected to the second team. The third team included Navy's Jasmine DePompeo, who became the program's first IWLCA All-American, and Loyola's Taryn VanThof. For the No. 1 Terps (20-0), Aust and Schwarzmann are also among five Tewaaraton Award finalists.

The health care industry - doctors, hospitals, medical facilities and pharmaceuticals - will do this country in and only the rich will survive ("Costs vary for same treatment," May 9). It does not make sense for hospitals to charge varying and outrageous prices for the same procedures. No wonder Medicare is in trouble. When doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, they vow to do no harm, but these outrageous prices seem like a defeat for the oath. lola J. Massey, Owings Mills Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Sandy Apgar, an erstwhile pretender to being a public servant during the Clinton era, enthusiastically recommends that Maryland fall into the public-private partnership trap along with benighted states like Virginia ("The future of infrastructure," May 9). I'd like to know how inviting the pork farmers to engage in policy-making and priority-setting to increase the price of pork is going to benefit Mr. Apgar's "taxpayers. " I'm one of those taxpayers; the fat-cat corporations Mr. Apgar would woo with my money, not so much, according to the COST figures columnist Dan Rodricks cites in his column about CEO whining ("Complaining CEOs need to take a hike," May 9)

As Orb charged to the wire at Churchill Downs last weekend, he established his clear superiority to the other 18 thoroughbreds on horse racing's biggest stage, the Kentucky Derby. But compared to Derby champions of the past, Orb's time is less impressive - his 2:02.89 run doesn't rank among the top 10 in the race's history. It is slower than the times of many winners from the 1950s and 1960s, and well behind Secretariat's 1973 record. Blame the muddy track? Fair enough, but none of the past decade's Derby winners recorded a top 10 time either.

Isn't focusing on foreign students entering the U.S. a form of discrimination ("America is exceptional, and that includes the way we treat immigrants," April 29)? After all, we don't enforce our immigration laws, which has resulted in America being flooded with 11 million to 12 million immigrants who are here illegally. Who is to say how many of those have terrorist inclinations are not just students? We should either enforce all immigration laws or not enforce any, keeping in mind as President Ronald Reagan said: "A nation that cannot control its borders can't control its destiny.

The problems facing our government today have never been more serious, the issues never more complicated, the situation never more dangerous, and the solutions never simpler. The critical issue is neither Republican nor Democratic but a problem for all Americans. The "Gang of Six" after months of working together have produced a comprehensive plan to address the deficit. It may not be perfect, but it is a good starting point. Mr. President, Baltimore just laid to rest its best ever mayor with a flourish.

There obviously has never been any doubt since the day he was elected that The Sun would endorse President Barack Obama's reelection, because you are a very left-of-center publication ("Obama for president," Nov. 4). It is all rather sad and speaks to the reasons behind your dwindling readership and growing irrelevance. Mr. Obama offers us a chance for a sustainable future? I don't think so. With the current massive unemployment and crushing debt, after four more years of him in office, there may not be any future at all for this country, let alone a sustainable one. Andy Sozio, Timonium

Top-seeded Albany used a 9-1 run in the second and third quarters to defeat UMBC, 19-10, in the America East Conference men's lacrosse championship game at Stony Brook. UMBC, which entered the game 4-1 in its previous five contests, finished the season 7-8. Joe Lustgarten, Scott Jones and faceoff specialist Phil Poe were named to the All-Tournament team. Jones led the Retrievers with four goals against Albany.   There were four ties and four lead changes in the first half until Albany closed the second quarter on a 5-0 run. UMBC trailed 3-2 after one quarter and 4-2 just 34 seconds into the second, but went on a 3-0 run to take a 5-4 lead with 9:18 to play in the quarter.

Remember the 1980s? It was to be the decade of Japanese dominance. A post-Jimmy Carter America would be unable to compete with the efficient Japanese jobs machine. Aging technology, lazy management and high-cost labor would ensure America's rapid demise at the hands of the ascendant Asian economic superpower. History records a very different evolution, however, including a prolonged economic slump that continues to haunt the Japanese economy to this day. At the onset of a new millennium, many pundits predicted it would be the Chinese who would dislodge America from its dominant economic perch.