Bumper Stickers

I have to agree with letter writer Howard Bluth ("Ehrlich's talk of Obama's radicalism strains credulity," July 25). If he wants to be taken seriously as an opinion-maker,Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.needs to do more than just spout the usual right-wing clichés about the "left-wing mindset" and "European Social Democrat economic model. " His columns always make my eyes glaze over. As it is, Mr. Ehrlich just comes off as a hack. He sounds like somebody who aspires to writing slogans for bumper stickers.

I have to agree with letter writer Howard Bluth ("Ehrlich's talk of Obama's radicalism strains credulity," July 25). If he wants to be taken seriously as an opinion-maker,Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.needs to do more than just spout the usual right-wing clichés about the "left-wing mindset" and "European Social Democrat economic model. " His columns always make my eyes glaze over. As it is, Mr. Ehrlich just comes off as a hack. He sounds like somebody who aspires to writing slogans for bumper stickers.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and City Council President Mary Pat Clarke are passing out bumper stickers that seem to indicate how each plans to vie for votes.Apparently not wanting to miss potential voters, Mrs. Clarke's orange bumper stickers have her name at the top and the word "mayor" at the bottom written in Greek, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Hebrew or English.Mr. Schmoke's bumper stickers, which he says are designed to appeal to all voters, have "Mayor Schmoke Makes Us Proud" in white lettering on strips of red, black and green.

A man in Overland Park, Kansas, has applied to trademark the phrase that President Obama uttered last month: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. " According to Trademarkia.com, Martin Joseph Markley applied for the trademark on March 27 . He filed the application in the category of "personal, legal and social services. " And the goods and services affiliated with the trademark, the filing shows, are advertising slogans and cartoon characters. Obama's remarks on the Martin shooting case last month made national headlines.

A 1978 Dodge Omni plastered with bumper stickers that has been displayed yearly in Baltimore's Artscape car show since 1994 was destroyed in Linthicum early Sunday in a blaze that its owner, Conrad Bladey, said he thought was a work of art but county police suspect was arson.Just before 1 a.m. Sunday, Bladey was getting a bowl of ice cream in his house in the 400 block of Nancy Ave. when neighbors came over to tell him his "sticker car," which was parked on the street, was on fire.Bladey and his neighbors tried to extinguish the fire with garden hoses, but it wasn't until police and EMS/Fire/Rescue officials arrived that the fire was brought under control, about 1: 20 a.m., fire officials said.

Things are missing from the library at Riderwood Elementary. Things like a tornado in a container and a clock with backward numbers. Things like marble mazes, windup toys and a weird eyeball that seems to elude description. But for parents, students and teachers at the Towson school, the most important thing missing is their witty media specialist and unofficial in-house musician, Bob Hallett. Hallett, who has worked in the county for more than three decades and at Riderwood for much of that time, was recently diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and has been at the University of Maryland Medical Center since July, for surgery and treatment.

The Anne Arundel state's attorney's office is investigating anonymous letters mailed last week to residents of downtown Annapolis alleging personal and professional improprieties by Democratic Alderman Louise Hammond and her husband.Another attack was aimed yesterday at Hammond, who is running for re-election in Ward 1 tomorrow.White and red bumper stickers were plastered throughout downtown Annapolis on trash bins, newspaper boxes, a museum display case and a few of her campaign signs, urging voters not to cast their ballots for her.On Thursday, many voters in Ward 1 received a mailing accusing the alderman of improprieties in office and her husband, John Hammond, of involvement in a hit-and-run accident and other alleged offenses.

A man in Overland Park, Kansas, has applied to trademark the phrase that President Obama uttered last month: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. " According to Trademarkia.com, Martin Joseph Markley applied for the trademark on March 27 . He filed the application in the category of "personal, legal and social services. " And the goods and services affiliated with the trademark, the filing shows, are advertising slogans and cartoon characters. Obama's remarks on the Martin shooting case last month made national headlines.

If all politics is local -- as is commonly accepted -- nearly all politics in America is ethnic.Of the rainbow of colors on the palette, blue and white may be the favorites of Sen. Paul Sarbanes and Rep. Benjamin Cardin. But those colors, found on their bumper stickers -- and in the flags of Greece and Israel -- also have ethnic symbolism. Just as red and white connect Sen. Barbara Mikulski to her Polish heritage.So what are we to make of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's bumper stickers and their subliminal message through the use of red, green and black of the African liberation flag?

HOLLYWOOD -- Andrew Dice Clay's big-screen caree continues with ups and downs.Watch for an announcement, reportedly from Warner Bros., that the controversial comic will star in a buddy picture, "The Cop and the Comedian," playing . . . the cop.20th Century Fox, which earlier dropped Clay's concert film from its release schedule, has now quietly dropped the foul-mouthed funnyman from its feature "The Gossip Columnist," according to sources.A familiar Clay image -- his sneering face -- turns up on unauthorized T-shirts and bumper stickers, covered with a red circle and slash, plus the words "No Dice."

It was in early September 2010, and I was serving in Afghanistan, helping to plan our mission to support that country's parliamentary elections. Offhandedly, a colleague asked whether I was going to return to my civilian job when I returned home. I replied, "I don't think so. " Surprised, he asked what I planned to do instead. Confidently, I shrugged him off, "I don't know. I'm sure something will shake loose. " We returned to the Unites States in December 2010 and were assured that we were not going to be forgotten.

When President Barack Obama released his long-form birth certificate yesterday, there were winners (sane people) and losers (Donald Trump).  But the biggest loser of all wasn't Trump. It was Jerome Corsi, along with his book "Where's the birth certificate?" and the WorldNetDaily "Superstore. "  Corsi's book, which recently hit No. 1 on Amazon.com before it has even been released (thanks to a huge plug from the Drudge Report), now has been completely overtaken by current events.  How can a book called "Where's the birth certificate?"

Ask Joseph W. Smith how long he's been waiting for Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to announce his run for governor, and he answers in a heartbeat. "About four years," he said, laughing. He was leaning against his black Chevy Silverado that was towing a trailer with a big sign -"BRING EHRLICH BACK" - and next to that another big sign: "WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET," with a close-up of Gov. Martin O'Malley picking a few notes out of a billfold. Smith was parked outside Leon's Triple L Restaurant and Bar on East Drive in the heart of Ehrlich Country - Arbutus - waiting for the Republican former governor's rally to begin at the American Legion post about a mile away.

Things are missing from the library at Riderwood Elementary. Things like a tornado in a container and a clock with backward numbers. Things like marble mazes, windup toys and a weird eyeball that seems to elude description. But for parents, students and teachers at the Towson school, the most important thing missing is their witty media specialist and unofficial in-house musician, Bob Hallett. Hallett, who has worked in the county for more than three decades and at Riderwood for much of that time, was recently diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and has been at the University of Maryland Medical Center since July, for surgery and treatment.

Earlier this year, I listed 10 Reasons to Hate the Kindles, including this one on the downside of reading e-books in public: Beautiful Russian ballerinas won't introduce themselves upon noticing your copy of Secrets of Nijinsky. As someone who often carries a book around Baltimore, the inwardness and anonymity of the e-book reading experience seems very odd. I don't mean that we should brandish the latest "hot" book in public like some designer handbag. "Look, the new Pynchon!" It's sad if books become just another way of broadcasting our feelings, like T-shirts or bumper stickers.

Over two years, Choose Civility in Howard County has grown into a public campaign of workshops, book discussions and school programs supported by 40 community partners, but it may still be best known for its bumper stickers. People have taken more than 35,000 of the green magnetic reminders to "Choose Civility," and displayed them throughout the county on automobiles, refrigerators and file cabinets. The campaign "began taking off after the car magnets became a visible thing," said Valerie Gross, executive director of the Howard County Library, which is the lead partner for the campaign.

The word's out: Newt's a beaut. A nationwide cottage industry of novelty items feature the new House speaker on everything from "Nuke Newt" bumper stickers and "Newt Happens" T-shirts to "Newttopia" caps."

Nan Yarnall, a former art instructor, bookstore owner and recovering alcoholic who spent years helping those similarly afflicted, died Wednesday of Alzheimer's disease at the Copper Ridge assisted-living facility in Sykesville. She was 76. Miss Yarnall was born and raised in Philadelphia, where she was a graduate of the Germantown Friends School. She attended Wheaton College and the University of Pennsylvania. During the 1950s, she was an art instructor at Sandy Spring Friends School, and during the 1960s and 1970s owned and operated the Cricket Book Shop in Olney.

The Wire runs out The critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire has ended its five-season run, and nowhere will it be as missed as here in Baltimore. Rarely, if ever, have the problems of a major American city been so thoroughly and intelligently dramatized on television. And we had the added pleasure of watching our own town serve as backdrop - with story lines that sometimes ran uncomfortably close to reality. But there's at least one unassailable reason to regret the show's finish: the $90.5 million that The Wire spent in Maryland.

It began as a two-month advertising blitz against drugs and crime but grew into a central, defining theme of Baltimore government -- a battle cry in black and white, called out from firehouses, schools and City Hall itself. Baltimore's "Believe" campaign -- though still clinging to the back bumpers of some city vehicles -- appears to be ending, weeks after its creator, Mayor Martin O'Malley, became governor. Sheila Dixon, his successor as mayor, is weighing a recommendation to drop the initiative.