War

Deputed Testamony is 32-years-old. His dark brown coat is shaggy, and his biggest excitement is going into his paddock at Bonita Farm for three or four hours of grazing each day. He is a pensioner, an icon. The oldest living winner of a Triple Crown race. But when Billy Boniface looks at the horse in his paddock, he sees the striking colt that was born and trained at the family farm and raced to victory in the 1983 Preakness - the last horse bred or trained in Maryland to do so. "Oh my gosh, I still get goose bumps when I look at him and remember that day," said Boniface, who was 18 then and had just taken over the breeding operation at the farm.

In this bicentennial year of the start of the War of 1812, the StarSpangledBaltimore.com website tells us: "The War of 1812 represents what many see as the definitive end of the American Revolution. A new nation, widely regarded as an upstart, successfully defended itself against the largest, most powerful navy in the world during the maritime assault on Baltimore and Maryland. America's victory over Great Britain confirmed the legitimacy of the Revolution. " But the revolution had ended three decades before 1812, and the choice to launch a new war was made by the U.S. government inWashington, D.C. In the lead-up to the War of 1812, the British and Americans exchanged attacks along the Canadian border and in the open seas.

Navy Lt. Mark Tedrow has no problem reconciling an air show with a commemoration of the War of 1812, an era that precedes flight by almost a century. The Blue Angels pilot said he looks forward to flying over the Inner Harbor, Middle River and Fort McHenry - birthplace of the national anthem - during a bicentennial celebration in June. "It will be outstanding to perform multiple maneuvers over Fort McHenry," he said. "It will show just how far we have come. " Tedrow and his co-pilot flew into Martin State Airport in Middle River on Thursday to give a small preview of what the Navy's renowned flight team will do for the bicentennial maritime and air festival that kicks off June 13. "Stake out your places on the waterfront so you don't miss a thing," said Lt. Cmdr.

Now that Vladimir Putin is Russia's president once again, the result of still another fraudulent election, we should expect ever more hostile relations with Moscow. Mr. Putin, a vain and vulgar man, was born and bred to despise the United States. And in recent times, Washington has given him little reason to change his mind. The latest example: President Obama waited several days before calling Mr. Putin to congratulate him on his election victory this month - though Mr. Obama did manage to call Francois Hollande just a few hours after he won the French presidential elections.

Make no mistake about it: the duration of the current recession is directly tied to the length of the Persian Gulf war. This is one vital interconnection the Bush administration, its critics and most economists, from bears to bulls, seem to agree upon.President Bush continues to insist publicly that both the war and the recession will be short. But the private fears of the White House are probably best reflected in Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's bleak warning that if the war goes on beyond three months, a drop in consumer confidence would abort any meaningful early recovery.

Jessica Valenti's op-ed "A war on women" (March 5) would have been better titled "A war on Republicans. " Abortion is not for women, it is for men! Men who engage in sexual acts forced or consensual and take no responsibility for the intercourse that could result in pregnancy. Abortion is not a choice, it is a consequence. The slogan "A woman's right to choose" is erroneous. Many women do not show up at abortion clinics because they choose. Most women did not willingly plan an unwanted pregnancy, did they?

In a recent op-ed, columnist Marta H. Mossburg tried to make a paradox out of liberals labeling the conservative effort to restrict reproductive health care for women as a "war on women" while at the same time condemning stay-at-home mothers ("Biology really is destiny," April 25). She is referring, of course, to a single comment by Hilary Rosen about Ann Romney, who happens to be extremely wealthy and, consequently, most likely to have had as much paid help raising her children as she wanted.

The ultimatum by the Obama Administration's Department of Health and Human Services to Christian church groups (and by implication Christian medical personal) to abandon their faith exposes further its increasingly totalitarian pagan character ("Fight over birth control," Jan. 26). This state-against-the-church conflict increasingly resembles aspects of German church history of the 1930s. Until 1934, most German churches supported Chancellor Adolf Hitler'spromise to restore Germany'seconomy and honor.

With the Republicans going full swing with their war on women, and the Republican war on union employees, and the Republican war on the environment, and the Republican war on the middle class, I'm left to wonder one thing. Why do the Republicans hate America so much? Maybe they secretly joinedal-Qaida. William Smith, Baltimore

The Public Broadcasting Service recently presented a two-hour documentary on the War of 1812, the so-called "forgotten war. " Well, they forgot to include the Battle of North Point, one of the few land battles the Americans won against the British. While the show went into great detail describing American failures under inept generals, it ignored Gen. Sam Smith and the few Army regulars, militiamen and ordinary citizens under his command who prevented the British from capturing Baltimore and laying siege to Fort McHenry from the land side.

The reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut its threshold for lead poisoning from 10 micrograms per deciliter to 5 micrograms were something of a simplification. What the CDC said, after years of study and discussion, was that no level of lead exposure for children is safe. The 5-microgram level was set somewhat arbitrarily as the point at which doctors and public health officials would recommend parents take action to reduce their children's risk, but there is ample evidence to show that levels of 3 or 4 micrograms - and perhaps even lower - are associated with learning and attention deficit disorders later in life.

David D. Igla lost out on three Ellicott City homes in the past few months before he finally beat the competition and had an offer accepted. What kind of so-called buyer's market is this, he wondered? Some houses zip off the market — occasionally above asking price — while others languish because the price isn't right, the home isn't updated or other aspects of the property don't appeal. The result: plenty of frustrated buyers and sellers. Welcome to the post-bubble, post-bust housing market.

Regarding your story about the ceremonial visit of two French schooners to Annapolis to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, how was Annapolis chosen as the site given that the most renowned action of that war took place in Baltimore ("2 French ships visit Md.," May 14)? Baltimore, just a few miles further north, would have been a more suitable port, and one where our French guests could have been given an accurate picture of the war complete with the history of our National Anthem.

Tea party advocates in Indiana are congratulating themselves on the Republican primary victory of one of their own, Richard Mourdock, over six-term Senate veteran Richard Lugar. But the rest of the country should be mourning the departure of the epitome of what Washington needs much more of: conscientious bipartisanship. The 80-year-old Mr. Lugar is being kicked out in part because of his age, his alleged failure to keep a real residence in Indiana, and his penchant for putting common sense and national security ahead of party labels.

They departed the northwest coast of France two months ago — 26 crew members each aboard two historic French Navy schooners headed to North America. With relatively calm seas, a chef well-versed in French cuisine and plenty of technological updates to the World War II-era ships, the boats made an easy voyage to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. On Sunday, the public got the chance to tour them. The schooners made the journey as part of the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

BETHESDA - A mother arrives at the Red Cross office at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on a mission for her son, a 23-year-old soldier and double amputee. He needs a back scratcher. With her bright eyes and wide smile, volunteer Janice Chance gives her that and more - a reassuring rub on the arm and an offer to do anything else she can for the soldier, who is visiting the hospital for tests. In a sense, Chance is here for her own son, too. Marine Capt.

From The Baltimore Sun: Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway "expects Marines ... to be [in Afghanistan] until 2014 or 2015. " ("Top Marine: Afghan win may take 5 years," Aug. 28). In other words, Gen. Conway thinks we need five more years of spending $119 billion per year, not counting the interest – it's all borrowed – and not counting most of the future cost of treating our injured veterans. So he wants us to spend another $595 billion plus. And exactly what are the chances of success – what is the definition of success?

By punishing Iran for its nuclear research and development, U.S. and European sanctions only give incentive to Iran to double-down on the program ("U.S. sees Iran sanctions bite," Jan. 8). That's because the whole purpose of nuclear capability is to protect against outside influence in Iranian affairs which the sanctions represent. The logic of sanctions as a deterrent is flawed. Let's be clear: If Iranian nuclear capability is the trip-wire for U.S. war against Iran, then the current and planned sanctions against Iran are best understood as a prelude to war - one of the many incremental steps necessary for hostilities to develop - not as a deterrent to war, which is the ostensible claim.

Joseph "Jerry" Hankoff, a retired insurance agency owner and a decorated World War II bombardier-navigator, died April 24 of complications from dementia at the Edgewater Pointe Estates nursing facility in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 91 and had lived in Pikesville. Born in Baltimore and raised on Linden Avenue, he was a 1938 City College graduate. He attended the University of Baltimore and studied law and accounting. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943 and trained as a navigator-bombardier.

The Saudi lieutenant shouted an order in Arabic. Two dozen of his men, frenzied and hollering, lowered their weapons and backed away from an encircled knot of prisoners. Kneeling at the center of this commotion in the Kuwaiti desert were 10 unarmed Iraqi soldiers with their hands on their heads. Some were in tears. Some were praying. Some were pleading for mercy. "Who brought these prisoners?" the lieutenant asked. One of his men turned and pointed at us - freelancer Michael Kelly and me - a scruffy pair of scribblers armed only with notebooks, granola bars and a beat-up Nissan Safari.