Backlash

A party bus company that promised "luxury charter buses" to the Sweetlife Music Festival Saturday is facing a major backlash and thousands of dollars in refunds after it left hundreds of customers stranded. Numaan Akram, founder and CEO of Rock & Bus, conceded Monday the company screwed up and was working through "hundreds" of complaints to offer refunds to disgruntled customers. "Unfortunately, we had a serious problem," he said. On Saturday, some 1,800 people had booked transportation to the festival through the company, Akram said.

Maryland's largest gun manufacturer has decided not to leave the state just yet. Beretta USA threatened to abandon its home on the Potomac if Maryland passed a strict new gun-control law, but after the law was signed the company announced that its operations would remain in Prince George's County for now. However, Beretta added, it would look elsewhere for future expansions. Beretta and another Maryland gun maker have taken a wait-and-see approach to leaving the state, balancing the risk of a customer backlash against the cost and difficulty of a possible move, while keeping up with unprecedented demand for guns of all kinds.

The declarations by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel that they don't want Chick-fil-A franchises in their cities because the owner of Chick-fil-A is a devout Christian and opposes same-sex marriage are ridiculous ("Banned in Boston? If mayor has his way," July 27). Are they willing to kick out every business whose owner doesn't support gay marriage? And why stop at businesses? Why not ask all those who oppose gay marriage to stay away from those cities? If you're going to take a stand, then you should be consistent.

If the tenor of their questions is any indication, the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appeared evenly divided in the challenge to California's law banning gay marriage, with Justice Anthony Kennedy, predictably, in the middle. But rather than deciding which way to tip the scales, Justice Kennedy seemed to be looking for an escape hatch. Indeed, his most persistent line of questioning to the advoates on both sides sounded more like a lament: "I just wonder if this case was properly granted.

BEIJING - Google Inc.'s business ties in China unraveled a little more Wednesday amid a widening backlash to the U.S. Internet company's decision to move its Chinese search engine offshore in a challenge to the country's online censorship laws. While the stand is winning Google praise in the U.S. and other countries, it's threatening to turn the company into a pariah in China. A high-profile Communist Party newspaper skewered Google in a front-page article. And more of its partners and advertising customers in the country appeared to be distancing themselves from the company.

WHEN I WAS in high school in the late 1970s, the end of the era of the stay-at-home mother, a teacher of mine became pregnant. I remember asking if she planned to leave her job. I don't remember her precise words, only that she made it seem old-fashioned even to suggest that one should have to choose between children and a career.She was a smart and caring person, so I'm sure her kids turned out fine. But I'll bet that somewhere along the line she found the family/job conundrum less easily resolved than she seemed to think it would be.The era of the two-income family is two decades old. We are well past the point of being cavalier when it comes to work and children, and well into the backlash phase.

President Clinton isn't the only Arkansas product coming in for criticism. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., has been fending off scattered protests in the United States, including several in Maryland, from people who fear the retailer's impact on traffic, land use patterns and small business.In the face of stiff opposition, the company recently dropped plans to build in Owings Mills as well as several other places across the country. But the protests tend to be sporadic and highly localized, rather than any widespread backlash against this national chain that has grown into the most profilic retailer in the land.

A CONSPIRACY theory is making the rounds and it's surprisingly comprehensive. It takes as its victim nothing less than all American women. In this plot, the hydra-headed enemy consists of the press, cosmetics industry, fashion advertisers, lawyers, doctors and, of course, men, all supposedly working together to wage an undeclared, invidious war on women -- a so-called backlash against feminism.According to this plot, women have been manipulated into rejecting feminism. And, in the process, they are destroying themselves by choosing inappropriate values and goals for their lives.

Just days after the election, the Republican chairman of Howard County's General Assembly delegation says he and a colleague have felt Democratic backlash against GOP gains in the legislature.The Democrat-dominated Montgomery County delegation voted last week to exclude Howard County delegation Chairman Robert L. Flanagan and Del. Robert H. Kittleman from voting on Montgomery County bills during delegation meetings.Both of the two Republicans live in Howard and each represents a small portion of Montgomery County, in addition to Ellicott City and western Howard.

Washington -- As the final tallies of the Russian parliamentary elections trickle in, the surprise victory of the populist nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky Liberal Democratic Party emerged as the most important result after the adoption of the constitution.The message it has sent will dominate strategies and actions among the Russian political class for at least the next few months.Societies undergoing a rapid political, economic and social change are bound to reach reflexively for the certitude and comfort of simple but firmly stated solutions.

Customers at Towson Hot Bagels usually pay with credit, not cash, when buying a bagel or a bottle of water, triggering fees the merchant must pay to process each transaction. Now, the shop's owner and retailers across the country may recoup "swipe" fees as a result of a preliminary settlement with Visa, MasterCard and major banks. When a consumer pays with a credit card, retailers can tack on a surcharge or "checkout fee" of up to 4 percent of the purchase to cover processing. But there's no rush among merchants to start charging this fee. Independent shop owners, national chains and retail trade groups insist they have no desire to pass credit card fees along to consumers so directly.

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Rob Sobhani agreed to pull down an advertisement he began airing on black radio stations this week that attacked incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin after state Democrats complained Friday the spot was riddled with inaccuracies. The ad plays a passage from a 2006 debate in which Cardin's one-time opponent, Kweisi Mfume, criticizes him for his time in office. "You get in Washington, you get this Potomac Fever -- you just think that God put you there," the ad quotes Mfume saying at the debate.

Chick-fil-A has my deepest admiration for being honest enough to take a firm stand on their beliefs ("Banned in Boston? If the mayor has his way," July 27). It is indeed rare in this day and age to witness a corporate CEO express an opinion on so controversial an issue as gay marriage. He has demonstrated that he is a man of integrity and not fearful of the backlash. Chick-fil-A has excellent fast food products and a courteous, efficient staff. It is never easy to take a stand, especially when you are the leader of a popular business establishment.

The declarations by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel that they don't want Chick-fil-A franchises in their cities because the owner of Chick-fil-A is a devout Christian and opposes same-sex marriage are ridiculous ("Banned in Boston? If mayor has his way," July 27). Are they willing to kick out every business whose owner doesn't support gay marriage? And why stop at businesses? Why not ask all those who oppose gay marriage to stay away from those cities? If you're going to take a stand, then you should be consistent.

A party bus company that promised "luxury charter buses" to the Sweetlife Music Festival Saturday is facing a major backlash and thousands of dollars in refunds after it left hundreds of customers stranded. Numaan Akram, founder and CEO of Rock & Bus, conceded Monday the company screwed up and was working through "hundreds" of complaints to offer refunds to disgruntled customers. "Unfortunately, we had a serious problem," he said. On Saturday, some 1,800 people had booked transportation to the festival through the company, Akram said.

Critics of the so-called "Buffett Rule," President Barack Obama's proposal to impose a minimum income tax on the wealthy, would like to have their gilded cake and eat it, too. On the one hand, they contend that the proposal would have a minimal impact on closing the deficit, and on the other, they claim that it would greatly discourage investment. Clearly, it can't be so small as to have a negligible effect on tax revenue while simultaneously so big as to have a ruinous impact on the economy.

It certainly hasn't been a good week to be a sideline reporter.Between Jim Gray's little tete-a-tete Sunday night with Pete Rose and Chad Curtis' snub of Gray two nights later after World Series Game 3, one could wonder if the job of sideline reporter, thought to be among the cushiest in the business, will be worth the time and trouble.But some industry officials say this week's events are but a blip on the control room screen, and expect business to go on as usual, with reporters interviewing athletes and coaches and asking occasionally tough questions.

It's cheeky of the Rhode Island rapper Sage Francis to start this album with a track titled "The Buzz Kill." After all, it's his own buzz that's on the line with his first album with a high enough profile to test his stature as leader of the new rap underground. It's as if he's saying he knows the backlash is coming - but that he's confident that he can beat it. The confidence is justified. A Healthy Distrust is at once stern and playful, wildly scattered and yet sharply honed by the artist's sheer will and reach.

Billy Cundiff expected worse after the AFC championship game. The Ravens kicker pushed a 32-yard field goal attempt wide left against the New England Patriots with 15 seconds remaining Jan. 22. A converted kick would have tied the game at 23, likely forcing overtime. Instead the Ravens were handed a 23-20 loss, and Cundiff was faced with a long offseason of questioning. But so far, Cundiff has dealt with very little of that. "It's been impressive," Cundiff said Sunday at Drake University, his alma mater.

The fella who launched the petition to "save Thanksgiving" by trying to stop Target's midnight opening on Black Friday probably felt pretty good about his feel-good measure, which, ultimately, is what the petition amounted to. As it turns out, rallying against the retail giant on change.org really didn't accomplish anything, despite the nearly 200,000 cyber signers who believed in Anthony Hardwick's dream that Americans would circumvent their consumerist...