Leverage

Boston. -- So Bill Clinton thinks he can treat the African-American vote as a marginal afterthought?Fine. In November, I may treat him as an irrelevant non-thought. I will vote for local and state offices. I may not vote for Mr. Clinton.The Democrats say they will spend $3 million to register African-American and Latino voters. Jesse Jackson has been given a bus to find them. Mr. Clinton, who iced Mr. Jackson for two months to woo white voters, might soon appear with the reverend.Whoopdeedoo.

I just read your editorial, "Another cliff ahead?" (Jan. 4). Please understand Washington does not do anything these days unless it's forced to. The only leverage to get Democrats on board to have a serious discussion on our debt and the slowing of spending growth (calling it cuts is a joke) in the future are issues like the debt ceiling. You agree that we have a debt problem (as do most Americans), but do not want the Republicans to use the debt ceiling as leverage, then I have a question for you and your colleagues.

Corporations have all the power, all the money, Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) tells a weeping mother at the end of the pilot for a series premiering Sunday night on TNT. "We provide [pause] leverage." So begins Leverage, a Mission Impossible-type series of a band of merry pranksters - hackers, grifters, escape artists and thieves - assembled to right the wrongs of society with high-tech tools. There is nothing new or exciting about the team, which is mainly done as caricature. There's the immature computer hacker who drinks orange soda, the femme fatale who seduces men into deals they shouldn't make, and an escape artist who is blond and lithe and seems to have studied every one of Uma Thurman's moves.

City finances have long been under pressure, but the Great Recession and steady attacks on federal and state spending have compounded local financial difficulties. The National League of Cities' annual research brief, City Fiscal Conditions, documents rapid deterioration. Reported revenue declines of 2.5 percent in 2009 and 3.2 percent in 2010 were unprecedented in severity in the 25-year history of the survey. In 2010, 79 percent of cities reported cutting personnel, 44 percent cut services, 25 percent cut public safety spending, and 17 percent cut current employees' health benefits.

Because of redistricting, Baltimore is going to send to Annapolis one fewer senator and four fewer delegates. Yet the city's voters -- by towing the Democratic line while other jurisdictions voted out a number of veterans in favor of Republican newcomers -- are in an enviable position: Their delegation possesses both seniority and legislative expertise, which will be in short supply in Annapolis next year.Consider the case of Sen. Barbara Hoffman, of the new city-county 42nd District. Because of Republican upsets, she seems assured of running the powerful Budget and Taxation Committee if Sen. Mike Miller returns as president.

The schedules have been released. Season tickets are on sale. Spring training is less than two weeks away. So why do baseball commissioner Bud Selig and his top management types continue to insist that the controversial contraction plan is still on the table for 2002? Surely, he has figured out that it would be all but impossible to disband two teams during spring training - that it would create more instability and uncertainty at a time when anxious baseball fans already are wondering what to expect from the resumption of labor talks in a clearly hostile economic environment.

Of the things you can't question about defensive tackle Kelly Gregg - like his relentlessness, his passion and his significance to the Ravens - add another no-no: his toughness. On a second down and 10 from the Cincinnati Bengals' 27-yard line Sunday, running back Rudi Johnson took a handoff toward the middle of the line of scrimmage before bouncing to the left and getting tackled by Gregg and linebacker Adalius Thomas after a 5-yard gain. During the play, Johnson's knee hit Gregg's helmet, and the 6-foot, 310-pound lineman appeared to sway after standing up. Although Gregg returned to the line in anticipation of the next play, Ravens coaches ordered him off the field.

DANDONG, China - Twice a day, long lines of trucks filled with fruit, small appliances, potatoes and rice wend their way for several blocks along Binjiang Zhonglu Street before negotiating a sharp turn onto the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge leading into North Korea. These deliveries, like the single-lane bridge over the Yalu River, are a lifeline for the impoverished communist state - and the focus of international attention in recent weeks as the United States and other countries pressure China to use its trade leverage to force North Korea back to the nuclear negotiating table.

One of the first things Ted Marchibroda did yesterday was call Jerry Seeman, the NFL's director of officiating.The Ravens coach wanted an explanation of the two "leverage" calls that wiped out a pair of San Diego field goals Sunday and kept alive their deciding touchdown drive in a 14-13 victory."

The Washington Redskins' statement game today will end in either an exclamation point or a question mark. Washington travels to the Meadowlands to meet the New York Giants at 1 p.m. in a game that could go a long way toward determining who has a foothold in the contentious NFC East. Redskins@Giants Today, 1 p.m., chs. 45, 5, 1430 AM, 106.7 FM Line: Giants by 2

The proposal to rapidly overhaul Baltimore's aging school facilities that district CEO Andrés Alonso presented to a state Senate committee last week represents one of the most important and innovative ideas the city has offered in recent years to break out of its cycle of poverty and disinvestment. Baltimore cannot flourish without high-quality public schools, and although students have made impressive gains in recent years, the city will not be able to attract and retain families if children are trying to learn in dilapidated facilities.

Upromise, the program where you earn cash rewards to pay for college by shopping at participating merchants, is upping the ante on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you shop at one of the more than 900 merchants through the Upromise site, you could earn between 1 and 25 percent back, Upromise says. Plus, some merchants are doubling rebates or giving a 10 percent rebate on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the rest of the holiday season.   Signing up for Upromise is free.

In his Sept. 8 speech on jobs, President Barack Obama repeated the conventional wisdom that small businesses create most new jobs. Like a lot of conventional wisdom, this does not fully capture the real dynamics of the situation. A 2010 article published by three University of Maryland economists led by John Haltiwanger revealed that when they controlled data for the age of a company, there was no indication that small companies outperformed large companies in creating new jobs. The key factor was age: new start-up companies were the vehicle for generating new jobs.

The rancorous debate over the federal budget has obscured a central fact: The U.S. military has accomplished the near-impossible feat of reducing taxpayers' costs with bipartisan support in a large, complex, national program that nearly everyone admires. The program, named Residential Communities Initiative (RCI), is modeled on Columbia, Jim Rouse's pioneering city that combines housing, jobs, shops and recreation. One of the first RCI projects, in Fort Meade, is now home to 2,600 military families.

When NFL players waged a 24-day strike at the start of the 1987 season, Phillip Closius gained front-row insight as a law school professor and player agent. He saw the players' movement collapse in September when Pro Bowl stars like Joe Montana and Tony Dorsett crossed the picket line. He saw the players routed by the owners with replacement players. He saw the face of desperation. "I know what tensions are like on players when they start losing paychecks," Closius said Tuesday.

Maryland will get $23 million in federal funding to spur small business lending and help companies in the state expand and create jobs, state economic development officials and the U.S. Department of the Treasury said Thursday. The funding, available through an initiative of the newly enacted federal Small Business Jobs Act, is designed to leverage a total $230 million in financing for small businesses and expected to create or retain thousands of jobs, said Christian S. Johansson, secretary of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.

IN HIS TWO YEARS at City Hall, Mayor Martin O'Malley has not turned Baltimore around. But he has brought some much-needed enthusiasm and energy to a city that has lost a third of its population since 1950. This was palpable last week at the lighting of the Washington Monument. Two things were striking this year: The hordes of young people, many with children, and the increasing number of private parties that were held in connection with the celebration. A holiday celebration had turned into a real social event.

Maryland will get $23 million in federal funding to spur small business lending and help companies in the state expand and create jobs, state economic development officials and the U.S. Department of the Treasury said Thursday. The funding, available through an initiative of the newly enacted federal Small Business Jobs Act, is designed to leverage a total $230 million in financing for small businesses and expected to create or retain thousands of jobs, said Christian S. Johansson, secretary of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.

The Ravens voted unanimously Friday to decertify the NFL Players Association, a move that could strengthen the union's negotiations with management over a new collective bargaining agreement. The union is seeking leverage to avert a potential lockout by management for next season. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and regional director Tom Carter addressed players in the team's auditorium for about an hour after Friday's practice. Smith declined to comment afterward, but Ravens player representative Chris Carr said the players were united in taking the decertification stance.

T he state of long-term care in Maryland is strong, but it faces significant challenges. That's why the majority of nursing homes in Maryland are asking the Maryland General Assembly to raise the "quality assessment" - a tax that nursing homes pay. Sounds strange, doesn't it? Let me explain. In the skilled nursing community alone, we have a dedicated, passionate and well-trained work force of more than 32,000 employees caring for 25,000 people every day. However, we face unprecedented short-term challenges that have the potential of creating long-lasting negative consequences for older Marylanders and individuals with disabilities.