Politics

We have now reached a point in our public discourse where it is acceptable to openly advocate for the overthrow of our national government. Politicians, without compunction, portray adversaries in gunsights and advocate resolving matters with bullets when ballots fail. Individuals eager to express unsupported, offbeat notions of presidential corruption and lack of citizenship are given implied credibility by media exposure. There is no media filter that separates the responsible from the irresponsible, the benign from the incendiary.

On April 10, the front page of The Sun carried this headline related to the recent budget negotiations and deal: "Who won, who lost?" The subhead further suggested that the Republicans won and President Obama preserved personal political gains. The CNN web page carried a similar article title yesterday, and it's distressing to see that both CNN and the Sun have lost focus of the most important matter. The verbiage in the full article notwithstanding, the aforementioned headline carried the wrong message.

Editor: A recent editorial lambasted Governor O'Malley for seeking a toll increase for the Hatem Bridge across the Susquehanna River, supposedly because it is a payback to voters from Harford and Cecil counties who did not support him. Never mind that tolls on the Bay Bridge, Key Bridge and both tunnels are also going to be increased. I guess he is mad at the voters who live in those jurisdictions as well. Sen. Nancy Jacobs and several of her no-tax friends stood on the bridge and complained mightily about the increase several weeks ago. For over 35 years I traveled to work through the 895 tunnel and gladly paid the toll increases as they occurred, because I realized that it not only takes funding to build these entities, it also takes funds to maintain and add improvements as they age. Why do all these dead-beat Tea Party/Republican politicians think we can have a free lunch forever?

In his letter ("If the church wants to play politics, it should give up its tax-exempt status" July 6), the author seems to have a problem with the Catholic Church's right to express opinions on religious matters. The church does not endorse political candidates or promote political causes. If it were politically active, it would have strongly advised people to vote against President Barack Obama, who is a powerful advocate for all forms of abortion. Nor, would the church have allowed his commencement speech at a Catholic University.

The Oscar for best picture was won by "Argo," the true tale of a secret rescue mission in Iran during the Carter administration. It beat out "Lincoln," the story of how black Americans were rescued from slavery. Does this mean Jimmy Carter's stock is on the rise? Nope, but Ben Affleck has certainly become a blue chip player in Hollywood. Politics -- not the Hollywood kind, but the Washington kind -- played a significant role in public perceptions of both films, as well as of a third that was nominated for best picture.

Joseph F. Steffen Jr. left Reisterstown's Franklin High School and quickly found a home in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, working mostly behind the scenes as a self-described "Prince of Darkness" on behalf of favorite Republicans - including, for more than a decade, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Now, the 45-year-old political operative finds himself squarely in the limelight amid questions about the closeness of his relationship with Maryland's governor,...

Café Hon owner Denise Whiting may very well have a legal right to demand that vendors at Honfest, the Hampden festival she created and runs, obey certain rules. After the flap caused last year by the news that she had copyrighted the word "Hon" and would seek to restrict its use on commercial products such as t-shirts and bumper stickers, we might have imagined that she would have lightened up. But evidently, the public outcry and threats of boycotts did not outweigh what she perceived to be her commercial interest in maintaining strict control over her intellectual property.

In a Chrysler advertisement aired during halftime of Sunday's Super Bowl, actor and director Clint Eastwood says, "I've seen a lot of tough eras, a lot of tough downturns in my life, times when we didn't understand each other. It seems we've lost our heart at times, and the fog of discord, division and blame made it hard to see what lies ahead. But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right and acted as one. " To judge from the reaction he got, we haven't achieved that last stage just yet. Mr. Eastwood was pilloried the next morning by Republican political strategist and Fox News commentator Karl Rove, among others, as a tool of President Barack Obama's re-election strategy.

O n the first day of kindergarten at Grace and St. Peter's School, a quiet girl was sitting alone, a new student in a room of boisterous children. • Stephanie Rawlings marched up, introduced herself and took charge: "You're going to play with us and be our friend." • That she was bossy and self-assured from an early age - her mother thinks her first complete sentence was "I did it myself" - might come as no surprise to those who have seen only the public side of Baltimore's next mayor.

Your letter writers insist ad nauseum that the Catholic Church should not be involved in politics. This is absurd. Even Michelle Obama said recently that the issues presently confronting us are not only political in nature but are also moral questions that should be discussed in church. People who are ordained do not give up their constitutional right of free speech, nor the right to profess their religion and practice it. Mary Yvonne Dilworth, Parkville