Liberal Media

Editor's note: Each week, The Herald-Mail invites readers to answer poll questions on its Web site, www.herald-mail.com. Readers also may submit comments about the poll question when voting. Each Sunday, a sampling of edited reader comments will run in The Herald-Mail. Last week's poll question was: Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who allegedly fired eight federal prosecutors for political reasons, will be fired by week's end; will resign by week's end; will remain but apologize; or will remain, it's politics?

I'm a cookie connoisseur; I like 'em all Every company has a grunt, someone who does the tough, dirty jobs that no one else would be caught dead doing. At this company, that person is me. So when Lifestyle writer Kevin Clapp approached me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would be a judge in The Herald-Mail's annual cookie bakeoff, I took a long, reflective drag on my El Producto, crushed it out on my forearm, offered a resigned sigh and said, "If I must. " Call me giving and unselfish if need be, but I am a man who will happily throw myself on the bathroom scales for the good of the company.

Pension forum set for July 29 To the editor: During the latest session of the Maryland General Assembly there was a great deal of discussion regarding the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System. Reports from the Pew Center on the States and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University have raised significant issues with pensions from states across the country. Additionally, the legislature decided that a commission would be convened to study the situation and make recommendations for the 2011 session.

To the editor: What does the State of Maryland have to show for the largest tax increase in Maryland's history in 2007? Our unemployment is skyrocketing, we face deficits through 2014 and Marylanders are leaving the state in droves. The state's structural deficit is $1.2 billion and growing - every bit as large as it was prior to the passage of the special session tax increase. Spending increases year after year. This state's oppressive tax burden hasn't solved our massive deficits, and is instead wrecking our economy.

ANNAPOLIS - The youngest state senator and the youngest state delegate sworn into the Maryland General Assembly on Wednesday have two things in common - they're Republican and they speak for Washington County. [cont. from news page ] At 27, Sen. Alex X. Mooney also has the distinction of being the youngest Republican ever elected to the state Senate. "I'm in a whole different decade from these people," said Mooney, R-Frederick/Washington. In the Maryland House, Republican Del. Christopher B. Shank is 26, the same age his predecessor D. Bruce Poole was when he was sworn in for the first time in 1987.

"Wouldn't the old Richardson's restaurant make a wonderful senior center?" - Hagerstown "I had such a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, largely in part because Leonard Pitts was on vacation. But now he is back, and we all have to suffer through another year of his ... column. If we are lucky, maybe he will take some time off for spring break. " - Hagerstown "I'm reading the sports page, B5, of The Herald-Mail, and I tell you a couple reasons why I've not gone to any baseball games in the last five years, at pro baseball games.

I've got a plan for Iraq and I'll go there as well To the editor: Here's an interesting question to contemplate the next time you have some spare time. When President Bush asked for critics of his new plan in Iraq to present their own plans if they believe they could do better, would Mr. Bush actually consider a more realistic alternative strategy or was his challenge to critics disingenuous? I for one happen to enjoy a challenge, (to a certain degree) which is one of the reasons why I enlisted in the military on active duty in 1989 and I chose a career in the information technology industry.

“I firmly believe that the gay community has the right to marry. Why shouldn't they be as miserable as we heterosexuals. Sometimes wishing for something is better than having it.” - Clear Spring “To all the people out there crying about the speed cameras: Stop making excuses and take responsibility for your speeding. Put on your big boy pants. Remember the great American saying, 'Obey or pay.'” - Berkeley Springs, W.Va. “Concerning the article in Monday's, May 13, paper about the EMS position.