Unity

Hours after winning a bruising primary for the Democratic nomination for Baltimore County executive, Councilman Kevin Kamenetz made a pitch for party unity, but did not immediately get the support of his fellow council member and primary opponent, Joseph Bartenfelder. Kamenetz is facing Republican Kenneth C. Holt, 59, of Kingsville, a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, who ran unopposed for his party's nomination. The former state delegate fired the first shots of the general election contest yesterday, saying he thought Kamenetz ran an "ugly campaign … based on attack ads, false statements, a lot of information that was not honest.

When the race for Baltimore County executive began, I thought I would vote for the winner in the Democratic primary between Joe Bartenfelder and Kevin Kamenetz because of their years of experience on the County Council. Then, according to the article "Kamenetz calls for unity in Balto. Co. " (Sept. 16), Kenneth Holt, the Republican Mr. Kamenetz will face in November, says he thought Mr. Kamenetz ran an "ugly campaign ... based on attack ads, false statements, a lot of information that was not honest.

There are times when Ronald Daniels feels like a kid with the coolest chess board in the world. As president of the Johns Hopkins University, Daniels might spend one week in Uganda, learning how his university's researchers spent painstaking years developing methods to slow the spread of HIV. The next, he might hold a chat with undergraduates on the Homewood campus about enriching their college experience. The beauty of Daniels' gig is that, if he wants, he can put the Africa piece and the Homewood piece together.

Thirty years ago this week, former California governor Ronald Reagan delivered his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Detroit. The moment signaled an important pivot in modern American politics. Some references made by Mr. Reagan — who that November easily unseated incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter — are outdated today. But parts of his script are so timeless, one can easily imagine them coming from the 2008 Denver acceptance speech delivered by Barack Obama, whose election has been described as bringing the Reagan political era to a close.

Rising into the pre-dawn African sky, long before the sun Friday morning, came the sound of the vuvuzelas. They signaled the beginning of a historic day, the day when much of the sporting world's attention — even in the U.S. — was focused not on the NBA Finals, not on baseball's pennant races, not even on the Chicago Blackhawks' celebrations of winning the Stanley Cup. Instead, eyes were turned to a soccer game being played in...

At least since the first petals of the counterculture bloomed across Europe and the United States in the 1960s, it has been fashionable to affirm that all religions are beautiful and all are true. This claim, which reaches back to "All Religions Are One" (1795) by the English poet, printmaker, and prophet William Blake, is as odd as it is intriguing. The most popular metaphor for this view portrays the great religions as different paths up the same mountain. "It is possible to climb life's mountain from any side, but when the top is reached the trails converge," writes philosopher of religion Huston Smith.

A pattern emerged during yesterday's health care summit between President Barack Obama and members of both parties in Congress. Republicans argued that Democrats have gone badly astray in their efforts to reform the system and should be focusing instead on other things - tort reform, allowing people to buy insurance across state lines, providing incentives for better primary care, and so on. Then the Democrats responded by saying they agree and...

Maryland Republicans, buoyed by GOP victories in nearby states, elected a spunky, 73-year-old activist and politician Saturday as the new chairwoman. She pledged to reunite the fractious state party organization and capitalize on what many see as a shifting national tide. More than 200 delegates to the party's fall convention in Bowie voted overwhelmingly to install Audrey E. Scott, whose resume includes stints as mayor of Bowie, member of the Prince George's County Council, and Cabinet secretary under former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. "It's lonely being from the bluest of the blue states, and that needs to stop in 2010.

Where is Osama bin Laden when we need him? Don't get me wrong; in no way do I wish death and destruction on our country. But as I listen to the increasingly vitriolic and even seditious rhetoric coming from the political right, I can't help thinking that we need a threatening external enemy to help us cohere as a nation - a more looming threat than the almost-vanished al-Qaeda leader or even his recently arrested alleged minion from Denver. Oh please, don't be so shocked. From time immemorial, collections of people have leveraged the fear of an enemy to keep their clans, groups and, later, nations from coming undone.

The 12th annual Cecil County Unity in the Community Festival will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at Cecil College's North East campus. The event includes booths, food and performances showcasing various cultures, as well as prizes and giveaways. Guests are asked to donate $4 for food, part of which will benefit the Eva M. Muse Memorial Endowed Scholarship. The Unity in the Community Festival also is the first public event being held in recognition of the college's 40th anniversary.