Common Sense

Thank you for your editorial "Bay crabs: protect the females," (Aug. 16). I have been crabbing in Maryland since 1967 and have never kept a female crab. Once I found out how to tell males from females, it was a "no brainer" to release any females that I caught. It is also easy to do because probably only about one in every 10 crabs I catch is a female -- are they rarer, or just smarter than the males? If I could tell the difference between male and female fish I would likely do the same.

Thank you to Susan Reimer for writing about the president's re-election campaign's fictional "Julia" ("Obama may wish he didn't know 'Julia,'" May 14). Ms. Reimer often writes about her own husband and while I don't know him, I get the impression that he gets up every morning working to pay the mortgage, go on vacation and have some money left over for family parties, maybe even some for himself. Ms. Reimer writes as a working mother who also spends a lot of energy on volunteer efforts.

While I was pleased to note that current redistricting in Maryland is going smoothly, I certainly did not see this when I, along with 100,000 more citizens, were forced out of the Eighth District in Maryland into the Fourth District where the eventual representative did not represent the concerns of her new constituency. The reapportionment was a classical display of gerrymandering with incomprehensible borders and a forced fit that could not be fitted. Redistricting is fine when needed to accommodate population changes to make each district comparable in number, but to stretch common sense is doing so not only is an affront to those who are involved but deprives them of their voice in Congress.

Tea party advocates in Indiana are congratulating themselves on the Republican primary victory of one of their own, Richard Mourdock, over six-term Senate veteran Richard Lugar. But the rest of the country should be mourning the departure of the epitome of what Washington needs much more of: conscientious bipartisanship. The 80-year-old Mr. Lugar is being kicked out in part because of his age, his alleged failure to keep a real residence in Indiana, and his penchant for putting common sense and national security ahead of party labels.

The report on the legal wrangling over the Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville demonstrated the extreme remove of professional legal minds from ordinary common sense ("Neighbors see threat to cemetery," Feb. 17). The disputed text from a deed required "That the said property be maintained and operated as a cemetery. " Any reasonable person would suppose that "the said property" was a parcel described precisely earlier in the document, not some fraction of it currently in use, but the entire parcel, as nothing else could be "the said property.

Thank you for publishing the interview with Steve Walters ("If Baltimore cuts property tax rate, they will come," Jan. 23). His plan makes sense, and I hope the city's elected officials are paying attention. As a 30-year resident of Baltimore, I have watched with sadness as many friends and colleagues have chosen to live in the surrounding counties rather than the city. Most often one of the primary reasons they look elsewhere is because of the city's exorbitant property tax rate.

I am writing in response to Thursday's editorial "A matter of equal rights" (Dec. 17). Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered couples and allies in Maryland are celebrating the historic passage of the marriage equality bill in Washington, D.C. This is proof that despite any recent setbacks, there is a strong momentum behind the efforts to advance equal marriage protections for all couples. Many same-sex couples in Maryland want the right to legally marry because they want to honor their relationship in the greatest way our society has to offer, by making a public commitment to stand together in good times and bad, through all the joys and challenges family life brings.

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot's recent letter to the editor stating his opposition to another debt ceiling increase says it all ("Maryland can't keep borrowing and spending," Jan. 4). As a "proud Democrat," Mr. Franchot writes, "my vote last month to oppose an increase in the state's debt ceiling wasn't based upon my party or philosophy, but on sheer common sense. " I've known all along that Democrats have no common sense, and now they've said it in print. R.A. Hausmann, Joppa

I confess that I haven't read every article related to the use of restrooms by transgender people, but I need to make a few comments. If someone is a transgender female, I presume that this person will be dressed as a woman. If so, it is obvious to me that this person could not enter the men's room to go to the bathroom. In the ladies' room there are booths, and I would never have any idea of what goes on there. How could someone even know if it is being used by a male dressed as a female?

I appreciate James McGarry's attempt to inject some common sense into the discussion of climate change, and I agree with many of the actions he proposes ("Climate change? Forget it," Nov. 14). However, these actions presume that all parties agree that climate change is caused by human activities — specifically, by burning fossil fuels. Although the science on this point is quite firm, the skeptics continue to deny that climate change has anything to do with human activities.

I found the editorial, "Europe's lesson for the GOP" (May 10) to be very interesting and somewhat perverted as it became a critique of the GOP for protecting rich people from paying taxes and not about fiscal management to avoid a crisis. I saw underPresident George W. Bushthe direction the United States was headed, and I felt that even he was spending too much taxpayer money. To lessen this nation's impending economic doom, I felt major belt tightening was in order. The Obama administration has not only horrified me, but also in my opinion it has prolonged the ordeal with its fiscal policy and Congress' rubber stamp.

Now there are six councilmen known to have taken football game tickets from developers, along with Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who says the tickets he got were "for his wife" ("Councilman took football tickets from developer," May 9). According to Don Mohler, Mr. Kamenetz' chief of staff, the county plans to update its ethics law soon to comply with state guidelines. Will it also comply with county laws it has ignored, such as its refusal to comply with zoning laws in one neighborhood and its refusal to enforce the posted street signs, which has put the lives of residents at risk?

Kudos to Dan Rodricks for his article comparing the Avi and Eliyahu Werdesheim case to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin ("The difference is a gun," April 29). He is 100 percent right in his analysis. I just wish more legislators would listen to common sense. A gun kills on contact, period. How many more people will have to die before we think of better ways to interpret the Second Amendment? Unfortunately, we will always find hatred, vengeance or racism somewhere in someone's heart.

Thank you, Susan Reimer , so much for saying what most of us Catholic folk think but won't say ("What would Jesus do? Not stuff like this," April 30). Your column was right on point. When is enough, enough? Jesus put all of us down on this great earth for a purpose. You are right. He has no bad ideas. And He blessed us with common sense to live this life He gave us to the best of our ability. The Catholic Church needs to stop making us feel that we are just never good enough or that we cannot make good decisions concerning our own lives.

I have been in favor of the dollar coin for years now, but its value cannot be measured by the popularity of the coin now ("Nobody wants dollar coins," May 1). I think I have one, it's in my golf bag as a ball marker. The value of the dollar coin lies in the elimination of the dollar bill. The dollar bill is a has very little going for it other than you can fold it and put it in your wallet. It's expensive to make and only last a short time. Sure, there is much that can be done to make the dollar coin recognizable, put a hole in it like some European currency, for example.

Op-ed writer Dave DuGoff makes a very reasonable case for eliminating the paper dollar bill ("Sensible change: Switch to $1 coins," April 26). In fact, the U.S. Treasury has tried dollar coins four times in the last 40 years, but they have never caught on for several reasons. Here is what the government needs to do to get people to use the coins: First, don't make them so large that they tear a hole in your pocket (like the Eisenhower coin). Second, don't make them so close to the size of a quarter that people can't tell the difference (the Susan B. Anthony coin)

The legislature is close to finishing another of its illustrious sessions, and this one has had its proper share of contentious debates. If we are really being honest , we must admit that in all of the political opinions expressed from around the state, it is the issue of justice that most often provokes the passionate responses we have come to see in the Readers Respond section of The Baltimore Sun. We expect things to be "fair. " Yet no one can agree what "fair" really is for any given issue.

Energy is at the forefront of the minds of many Americans today. Many are nervous about the high price of oil — both at the pump and geopolitically — as well as concerned about the viability of nuclear power. In this uncertain climate, the Maryland legislature is taking the extraordinarily prudent step of moving legislation that will create market opportunities for facilities that make energy from waste. Senate Bill 690 (which has passed the Senate 47-0) and House Bill 1121 (which has unanimously passed the Public Utilities Subcommittee)

How can you support Obamacare? ("The case for Obamacare," March 29). Oh that's right, The Sun supports everything liberal and Democratic. The law is unconstitutional, clear and simple. You cannot force citizens to purchase a product or service. So get over it. The law will be overturned and common sense with individual responsibility will rule again. Get the government out of our lives. Pat Hennegan

Major League Baseball has delivered on its pledge to formulate a policy for players' social media use, as Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports points out . I'm not going to delve into all the details of the policy (Calcaterra does a nice job outlining them in his post), but much of what you'd expect to be in it is there. A lot of it as common sense - don't condone steroid use in a tweet, for example - but as we've seen all too many times, common sense takes a back seat when some athletes get their hands on a smartphone.