For the last several months, reports have been published in your and other newspapers indicating that Maryland schools were named first in a national survey for the last four years. This success didn't happen by chance.

Editorial cartoons for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012.

The British have been making a big fuss over one of their authors lately, and small wonder.

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2012. There are 314 days left in the year.

My father was a pilot who flew off an aircraft carrier in the Pacific and fought in every naval air engagement from Midway Island to the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, where the Japanese fleet was destroyed. Seventy five percent of his original squadron was lost in that effort. His skipper later published a book with photos taken from the cockpits of Corsairs, aerial pictures of torpedoed destroyers, Japanese carriers on fire, and American Hellcats flaming into the sea. Growing up my father rarely spoke of that time. Once or twice, though, with the power that only such an experience can bestow, he'd quietly talk about patriotism, about love of country.

The endorsement of a political candidate by another politician generally draws a well-deserved yawn from voters. But over the past half-century of savoring and covering American politics, I have learned that an endorsement can tell us something quite important about the individual endorsing as well as about the individual being endorsed.

Maryland's Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan needs the full support of Eastern Shore residents who care about the health of our precious Chesapeake Bay. While some improvements such as accountability measures and documentation of accelerated efforts will strengthen the WIP, it represents a substantial effort and commitment by all counties and stakeholders to capitalize on this last opportunity to bring our Bay back to health.

You got me Bruce. I have been exposed. My name is Frank, and I am a "progressively liberal Democrat." The horror! And yes, I belong to that, "… particular strain of Democrat (who) continually exhibits a virulent foulness," as I "… promote evil leftist propaganda" to the ruination and detriment of our country.

Editorial cartoons for Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012.

WASHINGTON Two coming developments, one dismal and one excellent, pertain to America's memory of a great man. One of several oversight panels soon will consider a proposed memorial to Dwight Eisenhower. The proposal is an exhibitionistic triumph of theory over function more a monument to its creator Frank Gehry, practitioner of architectural flamboyance, than to the most underrated president. Fortunately, on Tuesday comes Jean Edward Smith's biography "Eisenhower in War and Peace," which demonstrates why the man's achievements merit a memorial better than the proposed one.

Francis Mason's letter (1/13/2012) is a masterpiece of self-contradiction. One sentence agrees that the government spends $1.4906 trillion on the military, the next sentence says, "The federal government takes in just over $1 trillion in income taxes."

The Talbot County Council is very concerned about the proposal from Governor O'Malley to shift hundreds of millions in pension costs from the state to the county governments.

Every time I read an article about the new speed cameras in school zones, those responsible for authorizing their use adamantly insist that it's not about the money, but the safety of the children. I've doubted the truthfulness of this from the beginning, and now that I see what has happened to the speed cameras in Cambridge, I am convinced that it's only about the money.

"St. Michaels High School to join Easton High teams" could result in a reclassification (from 2A to 3A) and playing bigger schools. Was he trying to scare people into believing that if some St. Michaels High School athletes were allowed to join Easton High teams it could result in a re-classification of the school's athletic division? He is so inaccurate in that statement.

Today is Sunday, Feb. 19, the 50th day of 2012.

Editorial cartoons for Friday, Feb. 17, 2012.

Thursday, Feb. 9, was just the second time Rick Santorum's campaign has raised more than a million dollars in a single day. The first was the day before, immediately after Santorum swept GOP contests in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. That's what winning will do.

Here we go again: A tragedy in the music world, a tragedy waiting to happen that did. Disturbing headlines before and after leave us scratching our heads and asking why. On the days before her death, Whitney Houston was disheveled, dressed in clothes that didn't match, hair dripping with water or sweat, doing handstands by the pool, waving her arms erratically at a rehearsal, visiting doctors in Beverly Hills and even filling prescriptions at the Michael Jackson-made-famous Mickey Fine Pharmacy. And yes, she checked in to the hotel with a large retinue.

As the purchaser of Miles Point Green, I wanted to clarify what I plan to propose for a public walkway. I am pleased the Miles Point property was placed in a conservation easement on Dec. 21, 2011, and will now be preserved in perpetuity.

Having personally seen our Bay and rivers deteriorate over the years, I am excited about what I have been reading about the potential impact of the proposed flush fee change.

Your report in the Feb. 13 edition of the WIP (Watershed Implementation Plan) meeting in Chestertown Feb. 6 caught my attention because of the prominent role at the meeting of John Rhoderick of the Maryland Department of Agriculture Office of Resource Conservation and the the University of Maryland's Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology.

Today is Friday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2012. There are 318 days left in the year.

A recent letter writer hates Republicans so much he distorts Mitt Romney's political intentions. All Romney was saying was that he will focus on the middle class economic problems rather than use the middle class to fund the American economy. Our letter writer overlooked what Romney actually said.

Mandatory recycling is another example of a government entity forcing laws down our throat.