Upbeat

I'm glad this isn't one of those columns where they have a mug shot of the writer up by the headline. It seems as though the picture rarely matches what the columnist writes about. Sure, there's Dave Barry, whose goofy-looking mug is fairly consistent with his topics. One look at that face and you're not surprised to read about boogers and spontaneous livestock explosions. In fact, over time, you come to expect it.But then there's a newspaper columnist known as "Dr. Laura," whose picture sports a grin that beams from ear to ear. Seeing that domineering smile, you'd expect to read nothing but cheerful, upbeat advice.

GIVEN THE increasing specialization of magazines and the inability of people to keep anything private these days, I guess it's no surprise there's now a magazine called Divorce.You would think -- at least I would think -- that someone going through a painful divorce would not want to read articles such as "She Threw a Plate at My Head!" or "All He Ever Did Was Lie on the Couch, the Big, Fat Pig."Me, I don't see how a divorcing person derives comfort from that.I don't see why a person reeling from his or her own damaged relationship would want to read columns like "Her Shyster Lawyer Took Me For All I Had" or "Golf, Golf, Golf -- That's All He Ever Did."

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Large swaths of Iraq still remain outside the control of the interim government, major highways are fraught with attackers, and Prime Minister Ayad Allawi - along with the U.S. Embassy and much of the international community - must conduct business in fortified compounds guarded by tanks, blast walls and barbed wire. On Thursday, Allawi gave Congress an upbeat assessment of Iraq, but the situation on the ground is more complicated. Allawi said the Iraqi people were making steady progress in taking control of the nation's affairs.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Don't even think about asking "what if?"Forget that Glenn Davis, in his second game back from a rehabilitation assignment, tied a career-high by driving in five runs as the Orioles beat Texas 8-6 last night.Forget, too, that the slugging first baseman has five home runs and 13 RBIs in only 14 games (48 at-bats) this season.And, for a moment at least, forget that Davis is the guy who was going to team with Cal Ripken to anchor the Orioles' lineup this year.Trying to figure out what might have been is an exercise in futility.

Decidedly UpbeatMy recent testimony before the House Economic Matters Committee was mischaracterized as presenting "a gloomy assessment of Maryland's economy." Lest there be any doubt, I am decidedly upbeat about our medium and long-term prospects.My current position carries with it a responsibility to present informed, objective assessments of the state economy from time to time. The initial thrust of my presentation was to explain why it has been that Maryland has suffered the effects of the recent recession more severely than much of the rest of the nation.

It's a wonder anybody wants a thankless job like Baltimore police chief, but lots of people want a hand in picking the poor schmo. Mayor Sheila Dixon's chief of staff invited Pat Jessamy to be involved in the search, and the state's attorney was so thrilled that she issued a news release thanking Dixon, Jessamy's spokeswoman said. But Jessamy didn't hear a peep from the mayor's office until this week, when Dixon announced that she was close to picking a new commish, Jessamy spokeswoman Margaret Burns told The Sun's Julie Bykowicz.

Frank Capra couldn't have come up with a better story line:A wavy-haired rebel grows up, marries his high school sweetheart and takes on the responsibilities of the family business. Finances begin to unravel, disaster looms and when all is nearly lost, he rushes in with the cash to save the company's crown jewel.For Tom Kiefaber, it's not a movie, though; it's real life.As the co-owner of the Senator Theatre, he has played the valiant leading man, keeping Baltimore's grand dame of movie theaters alive during the heyday of the multiplex.

In February, Spike TV announced "Bar Rescue," a design makeover show, would take up the cause of J.A. Murphy's in Fells Point. The show was coming at the request of owners Keith Murphy and Joel Gallant. Theirs was one of more than 200 bars to apply for a guest spot on the show, the network said. Two months later, a new J.A. Murphy's, now dubbed a cliched Murphy's Law, quietly reopened. You could be forgiven for not knowing about it. While the bar got a new draft system and upgraded look, it seems the show's producers - or the owners - forgot to fix some things.

Friends thought Paul Silber had bet the farm when he ditched a secure job as a toxicologist with Dallas-based Mary Kay Cosmetics, packed everything into a U-Haul van and headed for Maryland to start a company based on an obscure, yet promising, field of biotechnology.Five years later, Mr. Silber relishes the memory as his Baltimore-based company, In Vitro Technologies, announced that in 1995 it turned a profit for the first time on revenues of almost $1 million. And he's expecting big growth in the next several years.

America's economy as 1994's fourth quarter begins is robust despite five modest increases this year in short-term interest rates. All year long, liberal Democrats have been complaining that the Federal Reserve Board's actions in stepping up short-term rates would short-circuit the recovery. Well, it hasn't happened.In August, sales of new single family homes jumped 9.7 percent -- thus indicating once again that so long as 30-year mortgages stay under the 9 percent level the housing industry can flourish.