Animal Farm

The Sun keeps trolling the depths for examples of right-wing thinking like that of Matt Patterson's recent commentary on the nomination of Thomas Perez for labor secretary ("Why do we need a labor department?" March 22). The best supervisor I ever had during my employment career, a man who exuded integrity, had a phrase to describe sub-par work: "Thin gruel. " Mr. Patterson's piece epitomizes those words. I would be the last to argue that bureaucracies can't become bloated. Any organization can. But that does not necessarily mean its purpose and goals are flawed.

FREDERICK -- Government scientists wearing plastic "space suits" planned to work all though last night to determine if the Ebola virus that infected at least two monkeys at a Texas breeding facility had spread to a second monkey house there.The scientists, at Fort Detrick's U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), continued their probe as Texas health officials began killing 48 monkeys in a building run by a company that supplies animals to research laboratories around the country.

Educational petting farm opens for its third seasonGreen Meadows Farm, an educational petting farm, opened this week for its third season in Friendship Park, along Dorsey Road.The 225-animal farm, which allows children to milk cows, feed goats, ride a pony and go on hayrides, runs through Oct. 31.About 35,000 people -- mostly from area schools -- are already scheduled to see the farm this month -- more than came last season, said manager Ken Keyes.Admission is $8 a person for general admission, but groups get discounts.

The Environmental Protection Agency's end-of-year decision to exempt farmers from reporting the amount of ammonia emitted from animal waste doesn't pass the smell test. While this would benefit those in Maryland's poultry industry, which is based on the Eastern Shore and raised 295 million chickens last year, the ruling isn't welcome news for their neighbors, environmentalists and others citizens. The EPA's rule change exempts animal farm operations from having to report ammonia and other emissions under "right to know" requirements of federal emergency response laws.

In a directive worthy of the oxymoron "slavery is freedom," from George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm," the Roman Catholic Church in effect has said that "discrimination is religious liberty" ("Bishops assail same-sex marriage," Nov. 10). In their directive, local bishops warn that if same-sex marriage is legalized in Maryland, Catholic businesses may actually have to supply food or flowers to people who are homosexuals. Imagine! This directive is a transparent (and desperate)

Contrary to the assertion of its title, in "Cats Don't Dance" they do dance -- but so what? They're animated. The thrill of tap dancing is watching someone -- preferably human but I'd watch dogs, pigs and pigeons do it, too -- master an impossibly arcane, labor-intense and speed-dazzling set of moves with aplomb and panache.It has no point if it's drawn! It's not real. Who cares?Anyway, the movie turns out to be an ambitious but lame parody of "Singin' in the Rain," with Danny from Kokomo (that's Scott Bakula's thin voice behind the screen)

Regulators shut banks in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa NEW YORK - Regulators shut down Friday banks in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, pushing to 87 the number of banks that have failed this year under the weight of the soured economy and rising loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over: First Bank of Kansas City, based in Kansas City, Mo., with $16 million in assets and $15 million in deposits; Oak Forest, Ill.-based InBank, with $212 million in assets and $199 million in deposits; and Sioux City, Iowa-based Vantus Bank with $458 million in assets and $368 million in deposits.

Classics by authors such as Mark Twain, George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway prominently displayed at the Cover to Cover Bookstore Cafe have one thing in common -- all have been banned somewhere in the United States.To call attention to censorship by school boards and libraries across the country, the independent bookstore in Owen Brown Village Center is sponsoring Banned Books Week through Saturday, displaying books and the reasons they were prohibited."If you start banning books, if you start somewhere, there's no end, because somebody's going to find something to object to. That's why we have the First Amendment," said Marsha Berman, owner of Cover to Cover.

SOMETIME THIS summer, between the backyard water follies and trips to the mall, skating dates, camp crafts and mind-numbing electronic game battles, the child must be compelled to linger with a good book. School's out and each dawn breaks with possibility, plans and freedom and aw, shucks, here come mom and dad holding the summer reading list, secretly yearning for the luxury of time to read those books themselves. (Clandestinely, after the child's in bed, they actually might.) The best teachers understand this.

HERE'S A FAMILIAR suburban story: People move into a new community built over strong objections of farmers and large-lot owners desperately clinging to their rustic lifestyles. Eventually, Orwell's "Animal Farm" happens -- the new residents take the place of the older neighbors and fight even newer developments they assert will threaten their havens.This old script is being played out in western Howard County again. Along Route 32, new homeowners -- and older ones -- have formed the Citizens' Alliance for Rural Preservation, raising $4,000 to defeat a plan to widen a nine-mile stretch of the highway between Route 108 and Interstate 70.Foes of the road-widening fear that residents will be unable to enjoy their homes because of traffic noise.