Evil

Senators from Baltimore and the state's largest counties reacted with dismay Tuesday as the General Assembly's chief policy analyst laid out the details of what has been dubbed "the doomsday budget. " Warren Deschenaux walked the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee through a list of deep cuts to state and local programs that would be necessary if legislators don't vote to raise taxes and shift some teacher pension costs to the counties - measures proposed by Gov.Martin O'Malley.

John G. Edgemere's letter criticizing Rick Santorum for opposing abortion while being hawkish about the military is ridiculous ("Santorum's moral relativism should do well in S. Carolina," Jan. 17). If it's a matter of hypocrisy, then those who oppose war and the death penalty while championing the right to abort a fetus are just as hypocritical. There are only two "pure" stances one can take on these issues: Either one is pro-abortion, pro-death penalty and accepts the necessity of some wars, or one is against all of them.

Unlike the frequent school redistricting that puts parents in a frenzy every few years, the realignment of legislative districts for the federal, state and local governments only happens once every 10 years. But perhaps for that very reason, emotions surrounding it can run almost as high. That time is upon us now, and we've begun to hear the predictable (and often valid) claims of partisan manipulation. The high-profile piece is what will happen to the congressional districts, which the state legislature will determine in a special session that begins Oct. 17. Republican Roscoe Bartlett, who has represented Western Maryland in the U.S. House since 1993, figures to be the big loser.

This has been a good year for Baltimore representation in the New York theater scene. In March, Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, the madcap acrobatic burlesque performers known for any number of adventures in Charm City, had their first off-Broadway show. This month, Michael Patrick Flanagan Smith, who directed some Baltimore ventures for that duo years ago, saw his play "Woody Guthrie Dreams" open off-off-Broadway. Although the Trixie/Monkey production of "All or Nothing" at the Ars Nova Theater was only for two weeks, a taste of it can be savored soon in an episode of "Unleashed by Garo" — that's fanciful fashion designer Garo Sparo — scheduled to air Sept.

Even mild flooding in Ellicott City gives anyone who lived through Hurricane Agnes the shivers. I went looking for Hurricane Agnes stories in the Sun's archvies and found this. The editor's note is from 2007, mabye from 35th anniversary coverage of the storm. I can only guess at the mixed feelings of the reporter who heard Omar Jones utter that opening quote. (Editor's note: On June 21-22, 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes destroyed much of historic Ellicott City and areas of Elkridge.

Which songs are you dying to hear, and which are played out? Z104.3's Jackson Blue weighs in with his handy Heat Meter. Gettin' hot: “Good Life,” OneRepublic We're getting a Ravens season, and that's reason enough for me to pick the most positive song I could find in this category this week. Oh yeah, it's a good song, too.  Warming up: “Lighters (feat. Bruno Mars),” Bad Meets Evil Bruno Mars does a good job balancing out Eminem's anger. If Em is a raging bull then Mars is an ice cream cone.

H.L. Goldstein, in his letter to the Towson Times dated May 18, says that the elimination of Osama bin Laden from the earth does not "... make us a better democracy, or a more moral people. " While I agree with the premise, I reject just about every statement made to arrive at this conclusion. Nowhere in the letter is there acknowledgment that Goldstein finds the murder of 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, by bin Laden and his minions offensive. There is, likewise, no acknowledging that al Qaeda had declared war against the United States and that 9/11 just another act of terror in a decades long continuum of aggression against the world community.  No, to read Goldstein's writing one might conclude that bin Laden was just another peace-loving family man with no links to global murder, sexual repression, torture, mutilation and continual attacks on defenseless civilians.

We were told during the eight years of the previous administration that high gas prices were a result of evil, greedy oil companies and the Bush/Cheney ties to that industry. Now we are told that high gas prices are a result of evil, greedy oil companies and the Republican-led Congress. Now there's change we can believe in. Dave Reich, Perry Hall

Osama bin Laden once argued that the U.S., in its "Global War on Terror," was "like the one who plows and sows the sea: he harvests nothing but failure. " Bin Laden made this assertion in his video titled "The Solution," which was released Sept. 7, 2007, in advance of the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11. Since I learned that the U.S. had dispatched the assassinated al-Qaida leader by burial at sea, I have been reflecting on the uncanny relationship between bin Laden's aphoristic assessment from 31/2 years ago and his watery fate.

OK, put your books away. We're having a pop quiz. Below are four quotes. Each is from one of two sources: the Bible or the Quran — although, just to make things interesting, there's also a chance all four are from one book. Two were edited for length and one of those was also edited to remove a religion-specific reference. Your job: Identify the holy book of origin. Ready? Go: • "... Wherever you encounter [nonbelievers], kill them, seize them, besiege them, wait for them at every lookout post ... " • "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.