Purpose

Baseball American League -- Upheld Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens' five-game suspension and $10,000 fine for his actions in last year's playoffs.Atlanta Braves -- Placed P Mark Grant on the 15-day disabled lis retroactive to March 28.Baltimore Orioles -- Cut P Kevin Hickey (1-3, 5.13), P John Mitchell (6-6, 4.64), and P Dan Boone (0-0, 2.79 ERA in 4 games). Released non-roster OF Larry Sheets (.261, 10 HR, 52 RBI). Signed P Mike Flanagan (2-2, 5.31 in 5 games with Toronto) to a 1-year contract.

So it is today that the officialdom of baseball descended o our fair city for the purpose of conducting more of their off-season business-as-usual. In case you haven't been watching closely, that is business in which the agreements, rules and by-laws that govern the game no longer apply and, in the absence of any leadership at the top, everyone kind of does whatever suits their own purpose.On the surface, the expansion draft that was to be played out about some seven hours at the Marriott Marquis has provided baseball with a rare and welcome opportunity to whet the appetites of its otherwise disaffected fan populace.

The Greater Havre de Grace Outdoor Nativity Challenge gets under way next week, sponsored by the Susquehanna Ministerium. Residences and businesses are asked to display an outdoor nativity scene between Monday, Dec. 12, and Sunday, January 8. Send photographs of your displays to First Baptist Church, 108 S. Stokes St., Havre de Grace, 21078, or by e-mail to rsmith5858@hotmail.com and register by Dec. 20 for the judging. For questions, phone 410-939-5233. The purpose of the Nativity Challenge is to help remind everyone to keep Christ in Christmas.

Editor: A recent editorial in The Aegis expressed the opinion that the Tea Party is comprised of the "grass roots" right while the "Occupy" movement is comprised of the "grass roots" left. There seems to be an implication that these two groups are comparable in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Tea Party's central purpose is to rein in out of control government spending and excessive taxation as expressed in their TEA acronym, Taxed Enough Already.

"THE BUSH PRESIDENCY lacks definition, shape or overriding purpose,'' the New Republic's Fred Barnes wrote in a recent analysis of the administration's ''identity crisis.''According to Mr. Barnes, this crisis can only be resolved by an ''agenda'' that addresses the president's three major domestic problems: divisions in the Republican Party, the pending recession and an image of weakness embodied by Mr. Bush's flip-flop on taxes. Only an agenda, writes Mr. Barnes, can ''give his presidency a veneer of substance and purpose.

Suzanne Juhasz ignores men in this book.tTC In a sense, the book's purpose justifies this. But sometimes it's hard to see what the book's purpose really is. Is it to bring the reading life alive? Is it to study love stories through a feminist/psychoanalytic perspective? Is it to make the classics politically correct? Is it to bash men?As Ms. Juhasz, professor of English at the University of Colorado, explains the thesis of her critical study, "Reading from the Heart: Women, Literature, And The Search For True Love," several purposes suggest themselves.

This holiday season, thousands of families are welcoming home children, siblings, spouses and parents from the Middle East. For family members and service members alike, this return marks a long-anticipated and joyful reunion. But for the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines whose return marks the end of their military service, it may also usher in a period of great uncertainty. After the reunions, the "welcome homes" and the "thank yous" that our returning veterans receive, the national dialogue they hear turns largely to scant job opportunities, post-traumatic stress, school dropout rates and suicide.

If you didn't know Paula Peisner Coxe had written "Finding Time: Breathing Space for Women Who Do Too Much," you'd recommend she read it.She's written four books altogether -- one that's due out at the end of this month, "Finding Love: Let Your Heart Be Your Guide" (Sourcebooks Inc., $7.95) -- and is starting a new business providing counseling for nursing-home residents. Prior to that, she worked as a management consultant for a major accounting firm. She got married four years ago and has two toddlers.

EVERYTHING you need to know about Texas Gov. George W. Bush you learned in kindergarten.Launching his presidential campaign in Iowa recently, Mr. Bush outlined a threefold agenda: to impose "bad consequences for bad behavior" and "love our neighbor as we want to be loved ourselves"; to help churches and charities "to nurture, to mentor, to comfort" people in need; and to insist that "every child must be educated."A less daring platform can scarcely be imagined. Yet the media lauded Mr. Bush's speech for its boldness, citing the "contrasts" he drew with President Clinton while "appealing to a different kind of audience from the one that had elected his father" and "distinguishing himself from the rest of the crowded Republican field."

EVEN IF ONE believes, as I do, that the urgent moral danger to America has arisen from the conservative side of the political divide, it's important to ask how one's own side may have contributed to the present crisis. Take, for example, the failure of American liberalism to present its message in a way that resonates at a deep level. For many Americans, it's not enough that the trains run on time, that the bureaucracies administer their programs, that America just be an address at which they live their private lives.