Bluff

LONDON -- British Defense Secretary Tom King warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein yesterday that "no amount of threats or bluff" would prevail in the Persian Gulf crisis."

Every kid knows that falling off a cliff is never good, but what about a "fiscal cliff" - how would that feel? Americans may indeed find out, if Congress is unable to pass a budget plan prior to Jan. 1. So, what's at stake if such an event occurs? Plenty. First, some background. Members of both political parties have spent beyond the nation's means for many years. This economic fact of life is a bit more embarrassing for Republicans, since most GOPers at least try to talk a good game of fiscal sense.

Henry Orenstein, perhaps the father of televised poker where the audience can actually see when a player pretends to have a good hand, knows a few things about running a bluff. More than 60 years ago, his life literally depended on it. And so did the lives of his brothers and several dozen other prisoners of a Nazi concentration camp. For most of World War II, the 82-year-old Orenstein - who developed and patented the camera concept that allows TV viewers to see poker players' hole cards - was held in a succession of five such horror camps.

On March 9, Gov. Martin O'Malleysaid he is likely to veto a medical marijuana law if the Maryland General Assembly passes one. His spokeswoman said he is concerned about a Feb. 9, 2012 letter from Charles Oberly, Delaware's U.S. attorney, to Gov. Jack Markell, threatening to prosecute Delaware officials as common drug traffickers if they carry out their state's medical marijuana law. Governor O'Malley should look carefully at this letter....

With school starting up, students nationwide will be stocking up on Cliff Notes, those handy little guides that have allowed millions to bluff their way through literature classes.Now, thanks to Centennial Press -- an offshoot of Cliff Notes -- students and everybody else can bluff their way through life.While they aren't exactly on the bestseller list, they seem to appeal to impulse buyers, says David Boice, manager of the Encore Books in downtown Baltimore of these pocketsized guides written by various authors.

Instead of Little Rock taking over Washington, it's starting to look like the reverse will occur.The great State Police raid on The Block showed what can be done when a professional force is truly responsive to a forceful elected leader.China called Bill's bluff on linking human rights to trade. Now what?

Junior could never be president. The position lasts only eight years.That wonderful negative campaigning by American Joe against Parris is the best thing going for Helen in the general.The U.N. resolution means that if Raoul believes the threat and quits, it worked. If he calls the bluff, Bill invades.Ben promised to raise the NAACP profile. He delivered.

Bluff, Utah. -- In the old town jail, within earshot of the tractor-trailers and recreational vehicles that grind along Route 163, stands Bluff's recently-opened symbol of hope, self-reliance and defiance -- a one-room public library.About 2 1/2 years ago, Pat Cook called up her friend and neighbor Rosalie Goldman, proprietor of the Bluff Bed and Breakfast, and said she was sick of driving 25 miles to Blanding and back just to return a book. Sure, the county had a bookmobile, but it stopped by only once every two weeks and carried a limited selection.

BaseballDenver Zephyrs -- Announced that Dave Machemer, manager, and Jackson Todd, pitching coach, will not be offered contracts for the 1991 season.BasketballDenver Nuggets -- Agreed to terms with T.R. Dunn, guard, on a one-year contract.Phoenix Suns -- Traded Mike Morrison, guard, to the Washington Bullets for a 1993 second-round draft pick.Seattle SuperSonics -- Announced that they did not match Denver's offer sheet to Jim Farmer, guard.FootballNew York Giants -- Placed Raul Allegre, place-kicker, on injured reserve.

IMAGINE a poker game in which one of your opponents lays down a big bet, and you're so sure he's bluffing that it's very tempting to call him on it. But you also know he's packing a gun and, if you clean him out, he's just crazy enough to use that weapon. You're very well armed, but some of the other players at the table are much less able to defend themselves and are sitting much closer to this dangerous loser. What a predicament. Do you call the lunatic's bluff and risk setting him off?

With time running out for Congress to raise the federal debt limit or see the nation face fiscal calamity and an almost certain end to the tenuous economic recovery, President Barack Obama has taken the lead on the issue with a proposal that accomplishes far more to reduce the nation's budget deficit than the Republicans have been demanding. It is tilted heavily toward spending cuts rather than tax increases, perhaps too much so. But it would both solve the immediate problem of the nation's debt limit and substantially address a long-term threat to American prosperity.

When Penn National Gaming bought the bankrupt Rosecroft Raceway this year, it promised to resume live harness racing there for the first time in nearly three years. To be sure, the giant national gambling conglomerate made clear its intent to also seek slot machines or other kinds of expanded gambling there. But the commitment to resuming racing sounded unconditional: "As the largest operator of pari-mutuel facilities in the country, and the host to an industry high 1,300 live racing events annually, we are uniquely qualified and look forward to working with Rosecroft stakeholders to attempt to restore live racing," the company's CEO, Peter M. Carlino, said in a news release after the purchase was finalized.

Allen Smith scored 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers during Arkansas-Pine Bluff's second-half surge to a 61-44 victory over Winthrop (19-14) in the NCAA tournament's opening game in Dayton, Ohio. The Golden Lions (18-15) will play Duke - the No. 1 seed in the West - on Friday in Jacksonville, Fla., a stunning development for a team that lost its first 11 games of the season - all on the road - before rallying to earn the Southwestern Athletic Conference title and its first NCAA tournament berth.

President Bush is threatening to veto legislation that would extend a program that provides health care to 6 million children of the working poor and that would add enough money to cover 4 million additional children who are without health insurance. Democratic congressional leaders should respond: Go ahead, make our day. Picking on children whose parents are struggling financially is hardly a winning issue for the president or his party. In fact, so many Republicans are likely to support the measure when it comes up for a vote in the House tomorrow and Senate later this week that Congress may be able to override a veto.

Henry Orenstein, perhaps the father of televised poker where the audience can actually see when a player pretends to have a good hand, knows a few things about running a bluff. More than 60 years ago, his life literally depended on it. And so did the lives of his brothers and several dozen other prisoners of a Nazi concentration camp. For most of World War II, the 82-year-old Orenstein - who developed and patented the camera concept that allows TV viewers to see poker players' hole cards - was held in a succession of five such horror camps.

LAKE CITY, PA. / / Erie Bluffs State Park is Pennsylvania's newest and the 117th in the state system. The still-wild tract 12 miles west of Erie and just east of the Ohio line is long on potential and short on amenities. There are no facilities, no trails, no toilets, no signs. There is a small unmarked parking lot off state Route 5, but that's just about it. The nature-based park -- it was dedicated by Gov. Edward G. Rendell in mid-2004 -- features the largest tract of undeveloped land on Lake Erie along Pennsylvania's 60 miles of shoreline.

Los Angeles. -- In the phrase official Washington uses when it is confused, we are getting ''mixed signals'' from China. The masters of Beijing release a dissident here and arrest two over there. They speak softly on trade and carry their big stick on Tibet and other subjects of concern to Americans, including the shipment of arms all over the world and the use of prison labor to make products for shipment to the United States.We get even, so to speak, by sending mixed signals back.Last week Secretary of State Warren Christopher traveled through Asia saying that if Chinese human-rights violations continue, the United States will probably cancel China's most-favored-nation status -- essentially threatening to raise tariffs on the booming China-to-U.

"Green Shingles: At the Edge of Chesapeake Bay," by Peter Svenson. Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 193 pages. $24.95.Almost anyone who has crested the eastbound span of the Bay Bridge and peered at the curving shoreline spreading to the horizon has entertained this idea: Find a rustic cottage at water's edge and begin a new life.The population boom transforming the Eastern Shore demonstrates that plenty of folks have acted on those impulses, although most find their bliss in shorefront estates or marina condos.

ATLANTA - Saddam Hussein gave American politicians more credit than they deserved. He thought any U.S. president would be able to see straight through his big bluff over weapons of mass destruction and know at once that he was aiming his fiery rhetoric not at us but at Iran. He thought we'd understand that he was pretending to have WMD in the same way that some homeowners pretend to have an electronic security system - they put a big sign in the front yard, but they don't actually wire the house.

In perhaps the most dominating performance in the two years of the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Claude Johnson of Pine Bluff, Ark., allowed no base runners through five innings - including 14 strikeouts - and hit two homers in a 7--0 win over St. Mary's County yesterday. Johnson struck out the first 14 batters he faced. He fielded a ground ball to the right side and ran to first for the putout and final out of the fifth inning. The right-hander also went 3-for-3 with four RBIs.