READING BETWEEN THE LINES

on June 2, 2012 at 11:43 am

June Smith

My views on some of this week’s news:

▪ Despite appropriate product warnings, lots of those new, colorful laundry detergent gel pods are going from the supermarket shelves into the mouths of toddlers who mistake them for candy. Nearly 250 tots have suffered from symptoms including nausea and breathing problems; fortunately, no deaths have been reported.

Doctors are concerned. Mothers are obviously inattentive. Tide is adding a child-resistant top to their containers. Lawyers lay in wait.

▪ Shootings are spiking in Baltimore City.

▪ Selling ad space on Baltimore City fire trucks to raise money to avoid cutbacks and closures is gaining momentum in the City Council.

▪ Mayor Rawlings-Blake is proposing selling ad space on city-owned buildings.

▪ I’m proposing the Mayor and City Council don “sandwich boards” adorned with paid advertising.

▪ Since the City doesn’t have an official mascot, perhaps the Mayor and City Council should consider issuing an RFP for one, complete with naming rights.

▪ The Work Group to Consider Gaming Expansion—isn’t that a catchy name!—is meeting in Annapolis to study ways for the State Thinkers to tinker with the expansion of gambling and possibly “allow” a casino in PG County in the next special session.

▪How many special sessions must there be before they are no longer considered special?

▪ John Edwards walked.

▪ I’m hoping Edwards was right when he said God isn’t finished with him…

▪ George Zimmerman is back in jail.

▪ Eighty-four-year old Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison.

▪ In an act of “alleged cannibalism”, a Harford County, MD man, Alex Kinyua, pulled a Hannibal Lechter, and has admitted to carving up Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie and eating his heart and parts of his brain. He’d posted about “mass human sacrifices” on his FB page for months.

▪ In another act of “alleged cannibalism’ this week, a Miami man chewed off a homeless man’s face on the side of a busy roadway and didn’t stop until a police officer shot and killed him. The 65-year-old victim is in critical condition and permanently disfigured.

▪ Johan Santana pitched the first no-hitter in the Met’s fifty year history.

▪ The Government’s dreary job report was bad news for Wall Street and Obama.

▪ It was good week for the hawkers of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee souvenirs.

▪ Lil Wayne’s not going back to Oklahoma.

▪ The Pope led a pep rally for young people, praying for a boost in falling Catholic faith.

▪ Facebook’s stock fell 13% for the week. They said it was because of the job report…

▪ The Winklevoss twins had a good week.

▪ P Diddy’s son got a $54K UCLA football scholarship.

▪ Jeb Bush said he’s not going to join the Romney ticket.

▪ The Orioles are still in first place.

▪ And grocery store clerks continue to ask whether I want paper or plastic rather than say hello.

June Smith is the widow of WBAL talk show host and Sun columnist, Ron Smith, who posthumously received an Emmy® for his lifetime achievement in television and radio at WBAL in Baltimore, MD. Smith was a media titan in the central Maryland area and beyond for almost forty years. Mrs. Smith’s tribute website honoring his legacy is www.FriendsofRonSmith.com. She is working diligently to raise one million dollars for the Ron Smith Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at Hopkins. Her email is june@friendsofronsmith.com.