White House

For all the clamor from the White House and many in Congress to address the American scourge of gun violence, signs continue to point to a half-measure solution at best. President Barack Obama's State of the Union plea to the nation's lawmakers that the victims of the Newtown and other tragedies "deserve a vote" on gun-control legislation is sounding more like advice to provide window-dressing than bold action to curb the mayhem. The Obama administration has called for three-pronged approach that includes restoration of the assault-weapons ban enacted in 1994 but dropped in 2004, the tightening of background checks on gun purchases, especially at gun shows, and tougher limits on bullet-bearing gun clips and magazines.

We know what President Barack Obama's priorities are. He gives F-16 fighters and big bucks to Egypt and plays golf with Tiger Woods for a weekend; then he closes down the White House for tours. Unbelievable! Lyle Rescott, Marriottsville Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

I was dismayed by your recent, misleading article on the Republican's responsibility for the budget sequester (The GOP sequester," Feb. 22). Jack Lew, the White House chief of staff and budget director, set up the sequester in 2011, and Rob Nabors, the White House congressional relations chief, presented it to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, with President Obama's approval. All this is documented in Bob Woodward's book "The Price of Politics. " When asked about his role in the sequestration, Mr. Lew told the Senate Finance Committee "what I did was say that with all other options closed, we needed to look for an option where we could agree on how to resolve our differences.

Journalist Bob Woodward, certainly not a lifelong conservative, dares to tell the truth about the current administration and is castigated by the White House and the trolls in the media ("Woodward's spat with White House grabs spotlight," March 1)? How interesting. Let's see if others now break ranks and decide to tell the truth about this abomination. F. Cordell Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Regarding your recent editorial on the impending across-the-board cuts in federal spending, since the "sequester" plan originally was introduced by the White House, to call it a "GOP sequester" is a misnomer ("The GOP sequester," Feb. 22). If we had any leaders, managers or even decent administrators in the Obama administration, a spending reduction of $85 billion would a walk in the park. But no, we get a bunch of whining, doom and gloom. It can't be that bad if President Obama had time to play golf for a few days (not too mention his continuing campaigning)

I guess many of The Sun's readers are of the "low information" type who are not exposed to counter-points that would rebut the mantra of the left ("The GOP sequester," Feb. 22). Let me explain. Never in the history of this great nation have we gone four years and counting without a budget. Why do we have these financial budget crisis tiffs every four or five months? That is largely why. President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid prefer it that way. They, with help from The Sun and other liberal media outlets providing cover for them, can then just blame the mean-spirited Republicans.

Since his golf outing with Tiger Woods, President Obama has been battling with the press over access. And things only look to get more contentious this week as we move toward sequester Friday. Here's a look at a wide-ranging discussion of the issues involved that aired Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources" with host Howie Kurtz. The first video has me engaged with longtime CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante, and Julie Mason, host of "Press Pool" weekdays on the POTUS channel (124)

WASHINGTON -- Maryland would lose $14.4 million in federal education funding, roughly 46,000 Department of Defense employees would be furloughed and 2,050 fewer children would receive vaccines if looming across-the-board spending cuts are allowed to take effect this week, according to a report released Sunday by the Obama administration. The report, the latest in a series of efforts by the White House to underscore the potential impact of the nation's latest budget impasse, also states that 200 education jobs would be put at risk, that Maryland would lose $3.1 million in environmental funding and that Blue Angels shows in Annapolis and Ocean City could be canceled.

100 Years Ago Yankee Doodle Dandy "Ford's Grand Opera House: Week, February 24th, Cohan and Harris offer, a new satirical comedy, The Children of Today, by Clara Lipman and Samuel Shipman. Representative Company. "Children of Today, a play which will appeal to all classes and to every parent, is a modern satirical comedy full of fun and good sense, entertaining from start to finish. It is by Clara Lipman and Samuel Shipman and produced under the auspices of Messrs Cohan and Harris.

The Baltimore entertainment attorney who represented White House state dinner crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi and "The Wire" actress Felicia "Snoop" Pearson was disbarred Monday after the state's highest court found he had, among other things, overbilled clients and misused money given to him as a retainer. The Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling that Paul W. Gardner II had violated official standards of conduct for lawyers, and he was ordered to pay court costs. The court ruled Gardner improperly paid his office manager for legal work, though she was not an attorney, and improperly filed a nonimmigrant work visa application, resulting in its being denied.