Ignorance

What a joke for the Senate to declare English the "national language" of the United States. As if most Americans had any ability to converse in another tongue. In fact, learning other widely spoken languages of the world is such a rare phenomenon in the education of most Americans, they rely on English to be at least a second national language everywhere - and certainly many act that way when they travel. Senators would be making a greater contribution to their fellow citizens by encouraging more opportunities for Americans to learn languages other than English.

SINCE August 1980, I have been an aquarist at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I have spent 14 years working with all kinds of animals, including marine mammals, at this and other institutions. Dan Rodricks' Dec. 27 column, "The drowning of eco-morality," is not based on any research on animals in captivity, animals in general or the National Aquarium in Baltimore.This is my understanding of what Rodricks was saying:* The aquarium is in the business of making money.Would he rather it lost money?

THE DUMBNESS is spreading, so naturally they are closing the libraries."A few muddled thinkers," they said, "wanted to close the schools. They said that since the schools were the source of the dumbness while the libraries were keeping learning from going out of style, it was the schools we ought to close."I said clearer heads had presumably proven that the schools were the best defense against dumbness."No," they said, "we all agreed that the amount of dumbness coming out of the schools was staggering.

In response to calls from throughout the city for an explanation of her actions and her plans for her future in office after her conviction Tuesday on one count of embezzlement, Mayor Sheila Dixon made this statement Thursday: "I am reflecting on the trial's outcome, talking with advisors and reviewing my options. I understand that the trial has engendered a range of strong feelings among citizens who, like me, love Baltimore City. I deeply regret that the citizens of Baltimore have had to go through this ordeal with me. "While I recognize that the issues before me go beyond the courtroom, my attorneys have advised me to limit my comments while the legal process continues.

I have been following the controversy regarding the signs for Gregg Bernstein on Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld's yard. I am aware of the discussions and the push backs. However, I was appalled that Justin Fenton and/or Julie Scharper deemed in necessary to ask and print former Mayor Sheila Dixon's reaction and opinion ("Bealefeld removes his political signs," Aug. 12). Ms. Dixon embarrassed our city, her office and herself, and I don't believe her opinion should be requested for any city issue, even if she had prior involvement with appointments and previous support of personnel.

With all the political drama going on concerning Medicare from both parties, it baffles me that President Barack Obama has ignored his legal responsibilities regarding the "Medicare trigger. " That trigger (covered under Section 1105 of Title 31 of the U.S. Code) is a forecast from the Medicare trustees that general revenues will be required for 45 percent or more of the program's outlays within a seven-year period, which signals that Medicare is financially unsustainable. The president is required to respond to Congress, but though the Medicare trustees issued a warning in 2009, 2010, 2011, and again this spring, President Obama has ignored the law each year and failed to submit the required budgetary legislation to Congress.

When one person's ability to make himself heard is may times superior to that of his neighbor, that first person can overpower the voice of the second and drown it out. When this is done, the second person's right to free expression has been denied because such drowned-out speech does not exist in any practical sense if nobody hears it. The Supreme Court, in ruling that there shall be no limits on corporate donations to political candidates, empowered...

BALTIMOREANS are not stupid. They recognize when a regulatory system has collapsed -- and go around it.The building-permit process is such a mess that a knowledgeable former top city enforcement official estimates that ''as much as 75 percent of the work in the city is done without permits.'' This is understandable, he says. ''I don't think the process can work. I don't think the process is structured in a way it can work. The city should rethink the whole process from the ground up.''Under Baltimore's cumbersome regulations, fee-based permits are needed for almost all kinds of repair and construction work, aside from interior painting.

Whenever elections roll around in this country, we get our fill of angry "patriots" making outrageous accusations against candidates of the opposite party and equally outrageous claims of their own rightness when it comes to God and the Constitution. As in the old saying, "Never overestimate the intelligence of the American People", Glenn Beck feels confident that his followers will actually believe him when he claims he was unaware of the date's significance when he planned his big rally on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech" at the Lincoln Memorial.

Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts is not just a referendum on the current administration's agenda and governance, it signals a repudiation of elected representatives who ignore the will of the people! In the final analysis, ours is still a government, "of the people, by the people and for the people," and elected representatives who choose to defy that principle, do so at their own political peril. A simple solution to "business as usual" in Washington is term limits.