On the Record

One of the contributors to Red Maryland scoffed today at City Councilman Jim Kraft’s attempt to bring legislative powers to the Baltimore City Council to regulate guns.

“The faith of liberals in laws, no matter how sporadically or inefficiently enforced, never ceases to amaze,” writes RM’s streiff.

For his part, Kraft argued at Monday’s council meeting, “Our colleagues in other parts of the state don’t really understand the severity of the gun problem in Baltimore. We need to be able to pass our own laws.”

streiff’s argument:

1. The criminals in Baltimore who use firearms — and there are many — wouldn’t be deterred by the prospect of breaking a law.

2. It has been “fairly well documented” that Baltimore juries are reluctant to convict accused felons. (Can any attorneys speak to this?)

The situation’s definitely a bleak one, but Streiff seems to be of the opinion that there’s nothing we can do to curb the illegal use of firearms in the city (”assuming for the sake of argument that criminals can be deterred at all”).

Would a stricter gun control law have any effect on violent crime, and should the City Council be able to pass one?

Is there anything that can be done legislatively, or are outreach programs and community centers a better approach?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

After a lot of protesting and politicking, Maryland’s black bear hunting season ended much more quietly than it started.

The hunt ran from Monday, Oct. 22, to Thursday, Oct. 25, with 51 bears killed. Our Department of Natural Resources had a target of between 50 and 70 bears, with 59 percent of the successful hunters living in the hunt area of Garrett and Allegany counties.

DNR opened up Maryland’s first bear-hunting season in 2004 after 51 years. This year, 2,804 hunters put their name in the lottery for a permit, with 452 getting to participate. Doesn’t exactly sound like a free-for-all bloodbath to me.

All these numbers may seem cold and meaningless to those groups who vehemently campaigned against the hunt, but I would be curious to see how many of those upset with the hunt actually live in the western counties where the bear population is centered. Also, if the DNR couldn’t use a well-managed hunting program to control the population, what other methods could they use for a species that has bounced back in recent years?

The DNR is not the NRA, and it would seem to me that the biologists in the field have a better understanding of the issue than those on their soapbox several counties away.

-FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

This morning, SCOTUS began the process of deciding whether the “pandering” provision of the PROTECT Act is too vague.

The crux of today’s arguments (PDF): whether the Act (which criminalizes the possession and distribution of child porn) is so broad that it includes fictional material and legitimate promotions for films such as Traffic, Lolita or American Beauty, which feature sex scenes involving under-age characters.

A reporter from our sister blog, DC Dicta, was present at the arguments and blogged on the proceedings.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Bob Caret, president of Towson University, has a Facebook profile and a blog - and he’s proud of it.

In a recent BBJ article, the school administrator discussed the level to which he’s embraced social media to “connect” with his students.

“I don’t think we have any choice when it comes to using the new technology,” Caret told the BBJ.

And even though he only has about 50 friends (the average college student has a couple hundred, at least), Caret only befriends students that he knows personally - a rarity on the site, where students often compete for the most “friends”.

Caret’s level of restraint wasn’t echoed by Salisbury Univ. President Janet Dudley Eshbach, who came under fire earlier this month when her family photographs - and captions - were considered inappropriate by some viewers.

Do you have a Facebook profile? Have you checked out your son or daughter’s? What kind of privacy settings would you set?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Married couples all over Pennsylvania are freaking out after a judge in York County — my old stomping ground, and just across the Mason-Dixon line from Baltimore County — ruled that only clergy with a regular congregation can perform marriages.

Court of Common Pleas Judge Maria Musti Cook made the ruling last month in a case where a wife sought to void her marriage because the “minister” who solemnized the occasion was ordained online by the Universal Life Church.

The ruling currently applies only in York County. At the same time, Pennsylvania state legislators have introduced a bill that would exclude those ordained by mail or over the Internet from performing marriages.

What do you think of the ruling and the proposed law? Are Cook and the legislators taking a stand against phony clergy? Or are they setting themselves up as arbiters of whose faith is real and whose isn’t?

-CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

According to a story on the Capital News Service wire, several buildings at some of Maryland’s colleges and universities are haunted.

At the University of Maryland, College Park, the Rossborough Inn on U.S. Route 1 is home to “Miss Betty,” who is rumored to have been a nurse at the inn during the Civil War. She has been sighted by several people wearing a yellow dress.

At Morrill Hall, mysterious noises and smells have been detected, and on stormy nights, according to Anne Turkos, an archivist at Hornbake Library, people have heard a piano playing in Marie Mount Hall, even though there hasn’t been a piano in the building for years.

For more ghostly tales, check out the Web site of the Maryland Ghost and Spirit Association, which tracks and documents apparitions around the state.

What ghostly spirits have you seen or heard?

-PAUL SAMUEL, Associate Editor

The U.S. Congress is doing its best to do nothing with the alternative minimum tax (AMT) yet again. It seems the tax that was intended to affect only a certain higher-income tax bracket will hit a larger swath of taxpayers than it did last year. What’s the reason? No adjustment for inflation.

Is there a reason for not having this adjustment that a regular accounting-impaired individual like myself could understand? Better yet, does anyone think the AMT will ever simply do what it was intended to do?

Of course, our representatives and senators have known all year long that this had to be dealt with, yet it’s still on the books with no real resolution. So, now the IRS is only a few weeks away from having its paperwork and software ready for this upcoming tax year, and our lawmakers’ inaction or action will have serious consequences.

Either more income-earners fall under the AMT than last tax year, or the whole filing process is delayed from the get-go (due to new forms and software required to deal with congressional changes) if Congress does the unexpected — and does something.

-FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

According to Radar magazine, I know Fox Business better than Rupert Murdoch himself.

That’s because I scored an 8/10 on its “Fox Business Anchor or Porn Star?” quiz.

Now, the attractiveness of cable news anchors is no secret; neither is its influence on hiring decisions.

You can view pictures and descriptions of the anchorwomen on newsgroper.com, where the reviewer says he watches the channel on mute. Some of their advice (”Always take your receipt”) and backgrounds (reporter for Lifetime Television) is slightly hair-raising. However, one is a former Goldman analyst and CNBC correspondent and another worked for CNN.

Are Rupert’s cronies better-looking (or less qualified, or both) than their counterparts at CNBC or MSNBC?

Or, are they unfairly targeted because Murdoch makes waves?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

In an assault case involving a severed ear, the Court of Special Appeals has reversed the conviction of a defendant who was prohibited from presenting testimony regarding his peaceful character.

Last week the court reversed the conviction of Rhashid Nutter, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for biting off his ex-boyfriend’s ear.

This case evokes parallels to other episodes involving ear assaults:

There is the infamous Mike Tyson assault during his heavyweight fight against Evander Holyfield. The ear bite seen around the world can still be seen in all its wince-evoking glory in this YouTube clip.

There is also oft-told story of the tragic life of famed painter Vincent Van Gogh. In one account, Van Gogh argued with his friend, and fellow painter Paul Gauguin and threatened him with a razor. In a fit of remorse, Van Gogh later cut off a piece of his own ear — the evidence of which can be seen in the famous “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.”

Not romantic, but tragic in its own right, is one of the odder European wars of the 18th Century — The War of Jenkins’ Ear. England and Spain went to war after British sea captain Robert Jenkins claimed the Spanish coast guard had cut his ear off after boarding his ship in violation of the Treaty of Seville. Eight years after the incident, in 1738, the pickled ear in question was brought to Parliament and reportedly gave legislators the smoking gun they needed to proceed with a war.

The War of Jenkins’ Ear lasted until 1742 and produced no clear winner. Fighting continued, however, as the hostilities expanded and became the War of Austrian Succession.

Any other famous incidents involving ear assaults I’ve missed?

—BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor

Wildfires are ravaging homes in southern California this week, but there are a select few homeowners who may be able to rest easy.

They are clients of American International Group, Inc., which offers a Wildfire Protection Unit for 150 ZIP codes in California and Colorado.

The unit has six trucks armed with fire retardant and hoses that respond whenever a fire comes within three miles of a client’s home.

As Bloomberg reports, “such protection doesn’t come cheap. It’s available only to customers of AIG Private Client Group, which serves affluent individuals and their families. The average customer spends $19,000 a year on the insurance, which may also cover yachts, art collections and ransom demands.”

It’s worth repeating: ransom demands.

About 55,000 customers are with AIG Private Client Group in the U.S.; and about 150 homes have been helped this week.

How much would you pay for this service?

Is it right that some homeowners may lose their house, while a neighbor’s home is protected?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Above: Nick Atkins, of the U.S. Dept. of Forestry, hoses down a burning cottage near Running Springs, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 23. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)