Commentary

So much for unbiased reporting. One look at the three headlines on the entire commentary page of the Tuesday, Oct. 30 edition of The Sun says it all. "The 2012 elephant in the room: George W. Bush. " "Md. congressional map is fair, legal. " And here's the topper: "Romney's jobs failure. " Except for the token weekly column you allow Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the rest the paper is undeniably an organ for Democrat positions. Thomas R. Foster, Parkville

As part of this blog's effort to provide LGBT-related news and commentary, we'll be bringing you links to stories from around the web in a weekly feature called Looking Out . Here's a look at what's making a splash today: -- Same-sex marriage has made pretty high-profile strides in the last three weeks, but things are picking up across the Atlantic, too. France's gay marriage law has been deemed constitutional by the nation's constitutional council....

I applaud Maria Santo's  journalistic valor in her article regarding abortion last week.  Her perspicacious treatment of our country's involvement in this sordid business aptly pierces the twisted logic that has rationalized and legalized the killing of 54,000,000 children. I have always wondered how some individuals abhor domestic abuse, blanch at schoolyard bullying, cringe at animal cruelty and wince at terrorist waterboarding while turning a blind eye and deaf ear to wide-spread torturing of the pre-born.

Happy Mother's Day, dear readers, If you are a mom or a grandmother, you hopefully will celebrate Sunday surrounded by loved ones. Mother's Day is the single most popular day to dine out - how about a Havre de Grace restaurant - or make long distance telephone calls. It is the third most popular holiday to send greeting cards. Anna Jarvis, a 45-year-old Philadelphian spinster and insurance clerk, was inspired to create Mother's Day after the death of her mother. With the financial backing of Philadelphia department store tycoon John Wanamaker in 1907, Anna dedicated her life to fulfill her mother's dream of a national holiday to honor mothers everywhere.

Those of us who work in the news business are well-accustomed to hearing the lament that it would be nice to see some positive things get a little bit of publicity. We're also a bit sensitive to it not because the lament is well-founded, but because there's never really a shortage of good news, and a fair amount of good news generally finds its way into print. The problem is, unfortunately, bad news is often more useful than good news, and it's generally what we focus on. A deer causes a bad accident.

Ring Posts blogger and theScore on-air personality Arda Ocal sat down recently with WWE commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler, who discussed how his illustrations helped him break into pro wrestling, avoiding major injuries throughout his entire career, avoiding temptation in the wrestling business and much more.

Opinion * Commentary trol activists, believing that the Littleton, Colo., school shooting tragedy might at last arouse Congress to toughen gun laws, have been knocked back on their heels in the wake of the Senate's vote to reject tightened procedures for sales at gun shows.The 51-47 vote against the Democratic proposal, and the subsequent passage by 53-45 of a Republican version making background checks on buyers from unlicensed gun dealers merely voluntary, jolted the anti-gun lobby at a time its leaders hoped the clout of the National Rifle Association and its allies might at last be slipping on Capitol Hill.

EVEN THOUGH Hurricane Katrina's aftermath will be a major story for months, the urgent rush of news has begun to slow. In a week when Michael Brown resigned as FEMA's chief and the recovery of the dead intensified, other stories from the region, nation and world returned to share space on the nation's front pages. Now, "commentary" on the Katrina story, highlighted by newspaper op-ed opinion pieces, is generating the most reader reaction. Some believe the harsh tone and the sheer number of articles published blasting the federal response represent ideological grandstanding and a rush to judgment.

Mark Hyman, the on-air editorial voice of Sinclair Broadcast Group, says he's "amused" by a campaign that a coalition of liberal public interest groups has launched against him and the Hunt Valley-based broadcaster. Led by Media Matters for America, a Web-based watchdog organization aimed at monitoring conservative thought in the media, the group claims that Sinclair "abuses the public airwaves" at its 62 owned or operated TV stations, particularly by airing a Hyman commentary segment, `The Point,' without opposing points of view.

Many Conservative Jewish congregations are celebrating the arrival this month of an updated Conservative Movement Torah and commentary, Etz Hayim. But members of Beth Shalom in Columbia are particularly eager to get a copy - their rabbi was an influential editor of the 1,500-plus- page tome. At a dedication at the synagogue yesterday, Rabbi Susan Grossman, 46, discussed the significance of the updated edition and her involvement in the project. She was the lone female rabbi on the editorial board and the only editor with a congregation.

Howard County took an important step in the fight against homelessness last week by purchasing an 8-acre lot that will be the future home to a 30-unit housing facility. Using $3.25 million in land acquisition dollars, the county bought the land at the corner of routes 1 and 32 to serve as a replacement for an existing shelter run by Grassroots Crisis Intervention in Jessup. A center will be built on the new site by the Volunteers of America Chesapeake. For County Executive Ken Ulman and his administration, the move demonstrates a commitment to defeating a problem that might seem hard to believe even exists in a county as financially blessed as Howard.

Spring cleaning has taken on a new aspect in Harford County in recent years, as volunteers take on the of picking up litter. The recent Earth Day-oriented Susquehanna River Sweep is one such event. A few weeks before that there was a cleanup along Otter Point Creek in Edgewood, which, like River Sweep, is an annual happening. This also is the time of year when, likely as not, smaller groups of volunteers will coordinate cleanup days along their adopted sections of county and state roadways.

The Harford County volunteer fire and ambulance service has the county government in a tight spot with regard to finances. In addition to $2.6 million a year the county government has been providing a loosely organized coalition of private, not-for-profit fire and ambulance companies to provide paid ambulance crews in some communities, three of the private fire and ambulance services with the largest territories in terms of population, calls for...

The tone of civic discussion shifted noticeably this week in the aftermath of the tragic attack at the Boston Marathon, an attack that narrowly missed Harford County participants in the storied footrace. Discussions and name-calling relating to the usual public policy discussions has been taking a back seat to a shared sentiment across the American spectrum of viewpoints that such mindless and cowardly acts of violence have no place our society, be they the actions of intruders or violent homegrown terrorists.

We've all seen them on the road - people driving too slowly, drifting out of their lane or oblivious to a changing traffic signal. Chances are, these distracted drivers are using a cellphone. The days of doing so with impunity in Maryland are just about over. The General Assembly has passed a new, tougher bill cracking down on this dangerous behavior and much of the credit goes to a delegate whose district includes both Baltimore and Howard counties, James E. Malone Jr., along with a state senator, James Robey of Howard County, the co-sponsor.

It's the kind of decision that can be lost in the shuffle of more flashy public policy discussions, but the decision last week by leadership at Harford Community College to reject eight bids on a major construction project is the kind of thing more public-funded enterprises should do more regularly. In this instance, the college budgeted $17.423 million for construction of a new building for the Nursing and Allied Health program at the school. Nursing is, and long has been, a cornerstone of community college offerings, particularly at Harford, so it makes perfect sense that HCC would be growing to accommodate such a program.

Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had some well-publicized tussles with the media (notably this medium) during his four years in office. But he sees nothing ironic about his gig as a news analyst and commentator for Baltimore's WMAR-TV, Channel 2. "My commentary is a function of my views, my philosophy, my observations," says Ehrlich, who offered his perspective to WMAR viewers during last month's special session in Annapolis and will return once the...

Hotel Rwanda put a face on the horrors of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 by chronicling the mass slaughter of Tutsis by tribal Hutus through the heroism of Paul Rusesabagina, and the extras on the digital edition of Terry George's Oscar-nominated drama are gut-wrenching (MGM, $27). A hotel manager at an upper-class establishment in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, Rusesabagina saved about 1,200 "guests" -- Tutsi refugees who found a sanctuary at the hotel. Don Cheadle received an Oscar nomination for his performance as Rusesabagina, as did Sophie Okonedo as his wife, Tatiana.

Giving the name of person to a public building, street or structure is a high honor, and one that should not be bestowed without serious thought and consideration. Naming a building, bridge or athletic facility after a person is neither something that can be done according to a formula, nor based on a particular set of standards; it's pretty much the kind of decision that must be made on a case by case basis. It appears members of the Harford County Board of Education have begun to accept this reality as they are rescinding a rather odd policy that was devised in the aftermath of a tragic situation.

Over the next several weeks in Aberdeen, a dozen and a half homes along Route 22 will be demolished to make way for the road to be widened. No doubt more than a few lives were disrupted when the Maryland State Highway Administration began acquiring property to make way for a wider roadway, but protections are in place to ensure property owners are adequately compensated even as the interests of taxpayers – those of us paying for those houses –...