Can't you just lay off? You got Obama in as well as making sure that Maryland stays Moscow on the Potomac. Perhaps you could take up writing sports. After all Preston and Steele could switch subjects with you and sound the same. You really wonder why the Sun is swirling down the same toilet as the NYT?

Norris:

C'mon man. This post is not picking on anyone. It's just passing on an interesting tidbit. Lighten up.

Happy New Year!

-- David

Another Repug Whiner what a shock! Besides everybody knows that when he wasn't out playing a free round of golf or getting a really really bad haircut, "which way are the political winds blowing today" bob used that method to make the really tough decisions concerning the state. That is when NEWT wasn't answering his calls!

Cannot see past the O'Malley grin huh? U Sun reporters shall see that he is NOT the Great White Hope of Maryland or America! He'll be defeated in 2010 with the right oppositional candidate!

Ehrlich or Franchot? Who Knows?!

No wonder no one reads the Sun anymore.

Suddenly Steffen is a hero to all. I would have never seen that coming. I would have thought this sort of "journalism" would have appeared in Vozzella's column.

Then I read the author . . .

John: A lot of people read the Sun -- hundreds of thousands daily. More and more online, possibly including yourself. So linking to a Joe Steffen blog is case in point of the problems with the Sun? Hardly.

Chasseur: Long time no speak! How are things? I'll refine the point above: Linking to a Joe Steffen blog posting is highlighting an interesting tidbit, not practicing "journalism." Kind of the point of a blog like this, dontcha think?

Mr. Nikin
I think you missed the point.
How about reporting hard core news in Maryland? Go down to Annapolis and find out some "tidbit's" on how the left behind Maryland taxpayer is going to pay more for programs we do not need and in the same breath, we are getting less for programs that are important but were furloughed. Dang it. And were is Governor Martin O'Malley? I haven't seen him in days. Is he hiding under his desk? We have a crises here. People are upset, out of hope and downright degraded with our government.

Carole:

I appreciate your message. I get the point. Two of our top reporters, Laura Smitherman and Gadi Dechter, are aggressively covering the state budget crisis -- more thoroughly, I would argue, than any other media outlet in the state. Putting a post on this blog and aggressively covering the economic crisis are *not* mutually exclusive. Our news organization is devoting significant resources to the state's budget mess. Here's a link to the latest story, about judges giving back some money, filed just an hour ago by Smitherman....http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-judges1230,0,6684819.story

Let's see....Astrology and Psychic readings....who used to do that before in the long long ago??? Back before the Liberals can remember? Oh yeah...Nancy Reagan, first lady to the best damn President this country has seen in over 70 years!

Mrs. Ehrlich, you keep seeing your soothsayers, you are in damn fine company!

I have never met Joe Steffen. All I knew of him I learned through newspaper reports or rumor.

I know more of him now, I think. Several hours of my life passed as I read his blog and the comments thereto.

Some years ago I coached children learning to play baseball. At the first meeting of the coaches we all selected the children to be on the teams we coached. I only knew about four boys and some of the other coaches suggested names to me. i followed some of their advice.

After selecting my team, but before I met the children, I shared my selections withe previous coach, he entered a religious order, in a telephone call. At one name he stopped me and asked if I knew the boy, no, and why I had selected him, other coaches recommended him, and if I remembered a boy from the prior year who stood at the plate, bat in hand and eyes closed praying for a walk. I had. Too often the boy was hit by the pitch. This boy was on my team.

I was able to teach this boy to overcome his fear of the ball and to swing the bat. After the first ball hit fair, there was no stopping his growth, no stopping his contribution, no limit on his confidence.

I have seen people like Joe Steffen, too, particularly in politics. They believe in the candidate and will do anything they believe will help the effort, confident that they are part of the team. They are devastated when they are abandoned. Some move on and some devolve into bitter, unhappy people determined to get even by exposing truths.

The young man who played baseball for me got over his pain and made adjustments that brought him success. He didn't understand who was responsible for his pains over the few years he was repeatedly stuck by the ball. He thought it was the pitchers, other children, and his struggles were in developing relationships with them. He wasn't mad at the coaches who let it happen, those who wouldn't teach him. His eyes were closed during those times.

Maybe Joe can grow, too.

Unitl then, I can find far more interesting things to read.