Shame

America has a new hero - the woman who shouted, "Shame on you," when the U.S. Senate failed to pass the expanded background check bill ("Senate rejects expanded checks on gun purchases," April 18). She gave voice to the realization that once again, the National Rifle Association and similar groups, as well as some individuals, used their power and influence to, in effect, state that the Newtown children and adults who died (and others who met the same kind of death) are of no consequence.

When Albina Digaeva, a Chechen who was granted political asylum in the United States, first learned that the Boston bombing suspects were from Chechnya, she called the California family who initially put her up when she arrived 15 years ago and apologized. A member of the host family that originally hailed from Boston "tried to calm me down and said I can't claim responsibility for the actions of two individuals," said Digaeva, who now lives in Los Angeles and doesn't know the two brothers suspected in the bombing.

The Masters golf tournament, held annually at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, is on a collision course with reality. Here's the dilemma: The tradition-rich club is, and always has been, a men-only venue. One of their three main sponsors, IBM, has a female CEO, Virginia Rometty. This is the part where it gets a bit sticky. The four previous CEOs of IBM, all obviously males, held memberships at the club. To add a bit of fuel to the mix was Augusta National's Chairman Billy Payne's deflection of questions posed to him about the club's stodgy, antiquated rules of admission.

America has a new hero - the woman who shouted, "Shame on you," when the U.S. Senate failed to pass the expanded background check bill ("Senate rejects expanded checks on gun purchases," April 18). She gave voice to the realization that once again, the National Rifle Association and similar groups, as well as some individuals, used their power and influence to, in effect, state that the Newtown children and adults who died (and others who met the same kind of death) are of no consequence.

Enough is enough. Partisan politics in Maryland has hit an all-time low. As Maryland is hurling headlong into financial ruin, the working, legal resident taxpayers are being taxed to the hilt. Both parties have their collective heads in the sand or at least their party leaders can't see the reality we face every day. Democrats and Republicans refuse to budge or do the dance of moderation only to swing back when the party leaders pull their puppet strings in time to cast their pre-arranged vote in a well orchestrated sham for television.

Well, they did it. The Maryland General Assembly wasted so much time on same-sex marriage, arsenic in chicken feed, and off-shore wind (just harness the wind coming from Annapolis and they won't need it), they couldn't pass a budget ("Time runs out in capital," April 10). They'll need another session needed now costing more money needlessly squandered. Now you have Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Bush squabbling. This state, led by an inept governor who deludes himself into thinking he is presidential material, is a shame.

Every Baltimore City school superintendent, mayor and state legislator of the last 50 years should be hanging their heads in shame over the atrocious condition of the city's public school buildings. The more than $2 billion of decay didn't just happen overnight. Where did all the money go? The cost to educate the city's schoolchildren continue to spiral out of control. Will the bottle tax be misused just like all the other well-intended taxes that were supposed to benefit the city's children?

Dave Hyde of the Sun Sentinel suggests that Ben Roethlisberger will be sufficiently punished for being an idiot by being "publicly shamed." That might be true if he were indeed to be publicly shamed, but this country does not "do" shame. At worst, Mr. Roethlisberger will be embarrassed, perhaps deeply embarrassed, but not shamed. Shame is the opposite of honor, and if Ben had any honor he would not have been in this situation in the first place. Since he clearly has no honor, he also has no shame.

If you are elected by the people and you are caught stealing anything in relation to that job you are entrusted with, you should go and lose your pension to boot! ("Alston must go," Oct. 13.) It amazes me that Del. Tiffany Alston can be so nervy to even suggest she might run again. It makes me think this woman was not raised right. For her to have such blatant gall is overwhelming! Please, citizens of Maryland, call, write, email, text or Twitter your elected officials and demand a law go on the books stating that any funny business financially involving their elected positions will be an automatic loss of their job and pension - and none of this admission of guilt or plea bargaining stuff, just out, end of story.

In response to Mary Lou Wickham's letter regarding Christina Aguilera's dreadful rendition of the National Anthem ( "Christina Aguilera: spreading the gospel of tacky ignorance," Feb. 8), I couldn't agree more! The Super Bowl was televised around the world, including to our troops in various locations who are always respectful of what it means to them and us. It was an embarrassment to hear her bastardize a song that should be sung as it was written! I noticed a number of the players being distracted, jumping up and down and not paying too much attention to someone who was more intent on glorifying herself.

New laws passed by the Maryland General Assembly late last week would put stricter penalties and an element of public shaming behind the state's open-meetings laws. State lawmakers said public officials have been able to flout the rules without significant consequences. "It has no enforcement whatsoever," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the bill to toughen open-meetings laws. "This is the first bill that actually creates some enforcement. " Maryland's public officials are barred from conducting public business behind closed doors, but the penalties for doing so in the past have been a rarely levied fine and a written notice that Morhaim said was often ignored.

By request, and because in a few days I will be at the American Copy Editors Society's national conference with several people who, by the uncanniest of coincidences, bear the same names as certain characters, here is the fifth Grammarnoir serial in one take.   GRAMMARNOIR 5: THE SHAME OF THE PROSE “Grammarnoir 5: The Shame of the Prose” is a four-part serial, running on Mondays from February 11 until the thrilling conclusion on March 4, National Grammar Day.  Grammarnoir is a work of fiction.

As a graduate of Towson University, I have been ashamed of my alma mater just three times in the past 47 years. The first time was during the 10-month tenure of a previous president who squandered both funds and public trust by running up huge bills on his lavish home. The second was when Towson's Minnegan Stadium was renamed to "raise funds" in 2002, dishonoring my beloved coach and lowering my respect for the university. The third occurred on March 8, when Towson President Maravene Loeschke announced the school was cutting baseball and men's soccer from its athletic program ("Ire grows after Towson president cuts teams," March 24)

To the members of the Maryland General Assembly who voted for the gas tax increase ("House approves increase in gas tax," March 23), we have a few words. Boo! Hiss! How could you go along with the governor's wishes? He's not a king, you know. When gas prices increase, so will the prices of so many things: food, clothing, etc. This will put an added burden on so many people. How could you allow such a thing? Shame on you! Carolyn and Charles Hicks, Joppa Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

It remains a mystery why Baltimore wishes to endanger the health and safety of people living in an encampment ("Homeless eviction plan criticized," March 5). Baltimore's "Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness" specifies an effective method to manage encampments: move the residents into permanent supportive housing without requiring them to use emergency shelters. This is the "Housing First" approach that the city adopted five years ago - and refuses to follow today. More than a decade of research has demonstrated the efficacy of the Housing First approach.

The latest misleading advertising by the anti-equality Maryland Marriage Alliance suggests that if marriage equality passes, you could suffer negative consequences such as losing your job ("Scare tactics on Question 6," Oct. 18). As reported in The Sun, in actuality, Angela McCaskill, the chief diversity officer at Gallaudet University, was not fired as implied, rather temporarily placed on paid administrative leave. This false and divisive scare tactic fails to acknowledge the thousands of gays and lesbians who have actually lost their jobs, their social status, and even suffered physical violence for simply being in a loving same-sex relationships.

CONGRESS' REFUSAL to get beyond partisanship and act on much-needed campaign finance reform is shameful. The result is that the next presidential election -- and congressional elections at least for the the next two cycles -- will be subject to the same sort of abuses that are continuing to unfold.This week, a Taiwanese-born businessman, Johnny Chung, became the fourth person in just over a month to be charged in connection with the campaign finance scandal -- and the first to cut a deal with federal prosecutors.