Takers

I, along with many others I'm sure, would like to know where to go and what to do in order to oppose the Occupy Wall Street crowd that is establishing itself in various cities around the country, including Baltimore. Somebody needs to stand up in support of the top 1 percent of earners that is occupying 40 percent of the wealth of this country. I wanted to send my money directly to them, but it turned out they had no need of that - and, if truth be told, they were already taking plenty of my money.

Regardless of one's basic political philosophy, the tactics of a minority of House Republicans with respect to the federal budget can only be considered despicable ("As tensions rise, Republicans and Democrats focus on debt ceiling," Oct. 7). In their efforts to roll back the Affordable Care Act, they are employing precisely the same tactics used by Somali pirates. When you fail to prevail within the system, take the budget hostage and demand ransom in the form of gutting the law. If the budget's advocates refuse to be strong-armed, accuse them of failing to negotiate.

Facing a lawsuit filed by the Educational Testing Service, Kaplan Educational Centers has agreed to refrain from sending test-takers to memorize questions on computerized ETS examinations for the next two weeks, ETS said yesterday.The Princeton, N.J.-based test publisher resumed computerized testing yesterday, three weeks after it suspended its use of the technique to tighten security. ETS halted the testing after Kaplan informed it that 20 people sent by the New York-based test-coaching company had memorized many of the questions on the Graduate Record Examination, one of the most widely used educational tests in the United States.

Republicans in Washington seem to have recognized that refusing to raise the debt ceiling and putting the nation on the brink of default in a trumped-up "crisis" isn't playing well with the general public, so they're switching tactics. Now, instead of blindly driving off the cliff of fiscal Armageddon, they are pushing for the Obama administration to prioritize federal obligations - so the country can be late on some bills but not on debt payments, Social Security checks and pay for active-duty members of the military.

For readers in shock from Sun articles about the Maryland state government's drive to take more and more of our hard-earned money, there is a solution. Maryland government is now controlled by interests that strongly benefit from an ever-increasing welfare state. My friend Tom calls them the "tax-takers" - public sector unions, urban developers, public service providers, and socialists/communists. By taking advantage of low voter turnout in primary elections, these groups make sure that tax-takers and their friends vote, so pro-tax Democratic candidates always win the primaries.

HERE'S what the Wilmington News-Journal had to say in a recent editorial on the joys of working in turnpike toll booths:"An official of the Delaware Department of Transportation says Delaware Turnpike toll collectors are 'ambassadors for Delaware.' Some ambassadors! For wages that leave some toll takers below the poverty level and are capped at $20,000 a year, these men and women put up with unspeakable abuse from patrons, work in stuffy, old-fashioned booths, go home with automobile exhaust clinging to their bodies and their clothing, and breathe in a rich miasma of toxic gases.

When Howard County's 911 call center opened 30 years ago, three call-takers used an arcane switchboard to field calls from an operator. Now, after a recent round of renovations and decades of technology upgrades, call-takers work with multiple computer screens, track locations with GPS technology, and use pictometry to render real-time, digital 3-D images of any building in the county. For all the technological advances, the staff still fields the traditional calls for help such as helping frightened residents deliver babies or survive heart attacks.

When Howard County's 911 call center opened 30 years ago, three call-takers used an arcane switchboard to field calls from an operator. Now, after a recent round of renovations and decades of technology upgrades, call-takers work with multiple computer screens, track locations with GPS technology and use pictometry to render real-time, digital 3-D images of any building in the county. For all the technological advances, the staff still fields the traditional calls for help, such as helping frightened residents deliver babies or survive heart attacks.

WASHINGTON -- It is time for another consumer warning on the use and misuse of public opinion polls in American politics today. Here are some things to consider when you read the latest numbers:1. The dirty little secret of the polling business is that a large minority -- or perhaps even a majority -- of those who are questioned often know little or nothing about the people or issues on which opinion is being measured. The answers often depend on the way questions are phrased.Recent polls show that 60 percent of Americans believe there should be an independent counsel appointed to investigate White House fund-raising for the 1996 campaign.

Playing bigAt 5 feet 9 and 175 pounds, Karl Anthony is considered too small to play cornerback in the NFL. Call it the CFL Colts' gain.Signed as a free agent from the Calgary Stampeders, Anthony picked off three passes in his first two days of team drills since reporting with the veterans. He credits the quick start to his off-season work ethic."I took off the month of December and worked from January to camp," said Anthony, a four-year CFL veteran. "That has a lot to do with it."He was a CFL All-Star last season with six interceptions and 69 tackles in 18 games.

Hundreds of Baltimore students and residents have had their high school completions hanging in limbo since the state transferred the General Education Development responsibilities to a new department, according to city and adult education officials. As a consequence, a program that was designed to fast-track a high school diploma for teens and adults is in some cases preventing them from having access to jobs and college enrollment, officials and students say. On Thursday, the City Council will hold a hearing to discuss the issues that city GED seekers have faced, such as an increase in wait times, since the service was moved from the state education department to the labor department in 2009.

For readers in shock from Sun articles about the Maryland state government's drive to take more and more of our hard-earned money, there is a solution. Maryland government is now controlled by interests that strongly benefit from an ever-increasing welfare state. My friend Tom calls them the "tax-takers" - public sector unions, urban developers, public service providers, and socialists/communists. By taking advantage of low voter turnout in primary elections, these groups make sure that tax-takers and their friends vote, so pro-tax Democratic candidates always win the primaries.

I, along with many others I'm sure, would like to know where to go and what to do in order to oppose the Occupy Wall Street crowd that is establishing itself in various cities around the country, including Baltimore. Somebody needs to stand up in support of the top 1 percent of earners that is occupying 40 percent of the wealth of this country. I wanted to send my money directly to them, but it turned out they had no need of that - and, if truth be told, they were already taking plenty of my money.

Baltimore County school officials are baffled by a 24-point drop in SAT scores for 2011 seniors, the sharpest decline in the Baltimore area in results released this week by the College Board. "It's always devastating, because you would like to keep a constant upward trajectory," Assistant Superintendent Barbara Walker said Thursday. "We were surprised, because it was a very smart class that pulled in a record amount of scholarship dollars. " Average critical reading scores on the test, considered an indicator of college readiness, dropped from 492 to 486, average math scores dropped from 499 to 490 and average writing scores dropped from 492 to 483. The county was below the state and national averages in every area.

This week, Maryland wine lovers will be able to get their favorite bottles delivered directly to their homes — so long as they're interested in buying from one of the 11 wineries that have applied for a shipping permit. Since the state made the applications available on June 10, just eight Maryland wineries have returned the forms, according to the office of the state comptroller. Three more from out of state have also applied. Maryland is home to 50 wineries, and there are about 6,500 across the country.

For the price of two crab cakes, coleslaw and fries, beer, tax and tip, the auctioneer of a landmark downtown bar and restaurant sold all the cozy booths where 50 years worth of boozy gossip met attentive ears. Even the signature Old English-style decorative shields at Burke's Cafe at Light and Lombard streets went for $5 apiece, a little less than the price of a bowl of Maryland crab soup. No one wanted the diamond-shaped leaded-glass windows. Bidders also abstained from making offers at the elongated wood bar that once drew judges, jurors and journalists.

A CORNERSTONE of Baltimore's 1970s urban renaissance has crumbled. Six schoolhouses, renovated with taxpayers' money into subsidized apartments, are being boarded up. "They may have to be demolished or landbanked for redevelopment purposes," said Gary M. Brooks of the Baltimore Community Development Financing Corp. When they became Section 8 apartments in the late 1970s, the conversions seemed to work. But as years went on, things got out of hand. The units were ill-suited for families with children; security became a problem, and private management faltered.

When she prepared for the graduate school admission test this fall, Amy Black, a 25-year-old Baltimore schoolteacher, traded in her No. 2 pencil for a computer keyboard and mouse.That's because the last paper-and-pencil Graduate Record Examination was given last spring. Instead of facing an answer sheet full of black circles waiting to be filled in, the 400,000 grad school hopefuls who take the GRE each year will hereafter stare at a computer screen."I would certainly much prefer to take a paper test," said Black.

It is hard to know whether to be comforted, amused or alarmed by the latest attempt by House Republicans to set the nation on a course toward defaulting on its debt. Tuesday's vote by the House killing a proposed increase in the debt ceiling — a proposal Republicans put on the table just to kill it, like some sacrificial totem — was bizarre enough to justify all three reactions. Democrats labeled it a political stunt, and it would be difficult to argue the point. It was not unlike the firing of a warning shot during a hostage taking.

Maryland leads the nation in improvement for African-American high school graduates who passed Advanced Placement exams, but the achievement gaps between black achievers and their peers still remain vast. Overall, the state ranked No. 1 in the nation for the third year in a row in graduates who received a passing grade of 3 or higher on the tests, the result of a decade-long push to have more students prepared and taking the rigorous college-level exams. But African-Americans in the state still represent a small percentage of those who pass the tests.