Lame Duck

Congrats to Marta Mossburg on her great job of illustrating how our lame duck governor's quest for national fame and fortune supersedes his ability serve the citizens of the state that put him in position to seek it ("Is O'Malley annoyed that he's still governor?" Oct. 10). Any additional proceeds realized should Question 7 be passed will go to the state's general fund, not to public schools. Yes, the same general funds that Gov. Martin O'Malley has earmarked for the three counties that got him elected as governor twice.

President Obama's New Start nuclear weapons reduction treaty with the Russians and its approval and ratification by the Senate is a huge mistake. It will prove dangerous and not consistent with the national security interests of our country. This treaty will now effectively limit further U.S. anti-missile defenses. It simply is not adequately verifiable, and the Russians now can and will engage in significant violations. This will now likewise reduce the flexibility and survivability our strategic military forces.

PRESIDENT Clinton's whirlwind visit to Russia was not his farewell as world statesman so much as President Vladimir Putin's debut. Nothing of importance was resolved; much was introduced. Mr. Clinton was at his best speaking on talk-radio to ordinary Russians, addressing the Duma and talking straight on the common interests and differences between the two countries. It was a way of engaging the Russians that went far beyond the usual constraints of a state visit. But while this was what Mr. Clinton does best, the visit lacked agreement on policy.

IT'S DUCK SEASON again in Maryland. But this time, feathered fowl are not the target. Rather, a flock of lame ducks is shuffling through high schools across the state as seniors kick back in the family nest and take things easy until graduation. The dreaded SATs are over, the college applications are in and acceptance letters are appearing in mailboxes. Many seniors now believe their only responsibility is to maintain a pulse until they receive their diplomas. Of course, some 12th-graders are still toiling in Advanced Placement classes to earn college credit or actively searching for jobs, but many have already closed their textbooks in a semester that seems anticlimactic.

"The young guns," Barry Trotz called them, and the Skipjacks coach could hardly wait to send them into the American Hockey League.He had Steve Konowalchuk, Keith Jones and Reggie Savage. They would lead the offense, Trotz reasoned, and Shawn Anderson and Ken Sabourin would anchor the defense.That, at least, was the way Trotz reasoned at the outset of this season. The trouble was, all those players were taken away from him.Despite that, the Skipjacks qualified for the AHL Southern Division's fourth and final playoff spot by beating the Hershey Bears in their next-to-last regular-season game Saturday night.

ROME -- Vatican officials, in private conversations, now make it clear that Pope John Paul II has a form of Parkinson's disease, with one saying last week that an announcement confirming the pope's ailment "could be coming shortly."As the pope, 76, continues his recovery from an appendectomy performed Tuesday, attention again has turned to his slow, shuffling step and the persistent tremor in his left hand. Experts have long seen these symptoms as evidence that he has Parkinson's, a progressively disabling disorder caused by the deterioration of nerve cells in the brain.

With his announcement a week ago that he was dropping out of politics, County Executive Robert R. Neall officially assumed the status of lame duck.But most political observers -- from both parties -- believe Mr. Neall is far from being crippled. Rather, without the distraction of a governor's race and a political future, he could become even more effective."When you're going to run, you have to go along with the pressure groups," said state Sen. Michael J. Wagner, the dean of the county's Democrats.

WASHINGTON -- IN 1994, the Democrats lost control of Congress because the Republicans convinced the voters that after 40 years in charge they were out of touch with most ordinary Americans.Today, only five years later, it is the Republicans who seem to be living in their own little world. Their primary role as the controlling party in both houses of Congress, it would appear, is to trash President Clinton. Dealing with voter concerns that might require legislation seems secondary at best.

LISTENING to Gov. William Donald Schaefer deliver a state of the state speech is like visiting a good psychiatrist: Nothing very much happens, but it sure makes you feel better.Mr. Schaefer's seventh and last oration lacked the goofy theatricality of some of its predecessors, but like the bride at the altar it contained portions of something old, something new and mainly something borrowed. All it lacked was something blue.Even its Schaeferian thematic title -- "One Maryland: Safer, Healthier, Stronger" -- had the uplift and energy of a superhuman gene pool.

Ralph Friedgen's career as the football coach at Maryland began slipping away during a dinner with athletic director Kevin Anderson at a Bethesda hotel steakhouse that didn't produce the consensus Friedgen eagerly sought. Friedgen, who was given formal notice of his ouster Monday, was at the end of coaching Maryland to an 8-4 regular-season record — after a 2-10 season — and considered the dinner a chance to get to know Anderson better and discuss his vision for the program's future.