Most of the attention devoted to Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate at Morgan State centered on the four frontrunners (Giuliani, McCain, Romney and Thompson) skipping it and the reactions to the no-shows by everyone under the sun including members of the media, bloggers, former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, and debate host Tavis Smiley.

However, columnist Laura Vozzella of the Baltimore Sun reports that another controversy arose the night of the debate. After mentioning there was no flag on stage, Vozella describes the set, “The backdrop to the ‘All-American Presidential Forum,’ brought to you by Tavis Smiley and PBS, was a map of the United States, superimposed with a checkerboard of multicultural faces.”

Apparently, candidate and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California asked that a flag be put on the stage but one never was.

According to Vozella, ” The buzz among some Republicans was that organizers thought the flag might “offend” some members of the audience.”

MD GOP first vice chairman Mike Cavey, who was there as an escort for Tom Tancredo, heard the whole exchange requesting the flag through his earpiece. Cavey also seemingly scoffs at the notion that anything other than “aesthetics” drove the decision. He apparently pointed out to Vozella that the colors of the flag would have clashed with the colors of the set design. Cavey also answers the question about the availability of a flag by saying that a police station was nearby and that there were probably flags in various place on campus at Morgan State.

Cross-posted at Conservative Thinking.

Other postings:
California Yankee
Michelle Malkin

The Ravens are in Cleveland today taking on the Browns at 1 p.m. (on WJZ TV and WBAL/98 Rock.)

Yahoo Sports has the injury updates for both the Ravens and the Browns.

Live updates can be found here. Ravens Gameday on the team site is here.

Jamison Hensley of The Sun has an article on recent Ravens’ defensive issues. Hensley also writes about Jamal Lewis’ first game against the Ravens since he left for Cleveland. Hensley’s scouting report includes video interviews with Ravens’ coaches and players as well as a video analyzing the game. The Ravens Central blog and the Ravens section at The Sun’s site has more coverage.

WBAL Radio’s coverage includes a story on fans honoring Johnny Unitas by rubbing the foot on the Unitas statue at M&T Bank Stadium. Their coverage also includes audio of Steve Davis interviewing Jamal Lewis. The WBAL game preview includes audio of interviews with several players and coaches.

Matt Palmer of The Examiner reports on the Jamal Lewis angle as well discussing Lewis replacement Willis McGahee.

ESPN Radio 1300’s coverage includes news that Jonathan Ogden practiced 3 days this week and could play but that Samari Rolle will miss his second game with issues related to medicine he’s taking for an “undisclosed illness.” 1300 also has a preview article.

WNST has other radio coverage, news, audio and blogging on today’s game.

On a day in which a record five teams in the top 10 lost, the Maryland Terrapins were victorious against #10 Rutgers in Piscataway. Most Terp fans probably weren’t expecting the win after starting QB Jordan Steffy went down late in the first half with a shoulder injury and concussion. Rutgers had just gained the momentum going into halftime and the Maryland coaches had to prep backup Chris Turner at halftime.

The Terps went on to win 24-14, rebounding from their late-game collapse at Wake Forest the previous week. Coach Ralph Friedgen said he will have to decide who starts as the Maryland signal-caller in the next game. Turner may never have gotten the shot had Josh Portis not been suspended for the year for cheating.

Heather Dinich and Patrick Stevens both liveblogged from the game. The Terps host Georgia Tech (fresh off a win over #13 Clemson) Saturday at Noon at Byrd Stadium.

Navy began its defense of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy with a home win against Air Force. A record crowd of 37,615 filled Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to watch the Midshipmen have their largest margin of victory against the Falcons since 1981. The 31-20 victory came after the Mids trailed 20-17 late in the 3rd Quarter.

Navy has a the week off before traveling to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers in a Wednesday night game on October 10.

The Towson Tigers came up short after squandering a 13-point lead on the road at William & Mary. Towson now has an 0-5 record against the Tribe. The Tigers fall below .500 for the season and are winless in conference play. W&M won the game 27-22.

Towson hosts conference foe Richmond this Saturday at noon in a game that falls on Family Weekend for the campus.

The Morgan State bears traveled to Daytona and ruined Bethune-Cookman’s homecoming game. Head Coach Donald Hill-Eley made the trip with the Bears even though his cousin and a close friend were both buried yesterday in Virginia.

Morgan’s offense was “sputtering” in the first half, but, after Hill-Eley’s halftime speech, the Bears took over in the second half to give Bethune-Cookman their worst homecoming loss ever. The 33-9 win moves Morgan to 2-3 overall and .500 in MEAC play. The Bears return home to host North Carolina A&T this Saturday at 4.

In other action, Bowie State defeated St. Paul’s 41-30 in the Prince George’s Classic. Salisbury crushed Apprentice 62-14. McDaniel notched the 500th win in the program’s history with 14-10 victory over Juniata. Hopkins lost 28-21 against Muhlenberg and Frostburg lost 37-10 at the hands of Duquesne.

Abolition of Man is hosting this week’s Carnival of Maryland, which includes a post from Inside Charm City from the past week.

John Fritze reports in today’s Baltimore Sun that Mayor Sheila Dixon met with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday to discuss that city’s straw purchase lawsuit against gun dealers as a way to get illegal guns off the street. 240 cities have reportedly joined Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition but no other city has actually filed suit.

Baltimore’s high homicide rate this year along with statistics cited in the article that show a larger number of violent crimes involving gun use per capita than the Big Apple are given as reasons for the city considering joining the legal action against gun dealers.

Bloomberg’s tactics have been called into question in the past. In some cases, private investigators working on the NY lawsuit were used in sting operations against gun dealers, many of them out of state. Say Uncle reports that several of these stings in support of the civil litigation actually jeopardized criminal investigations already underway and that the ATF was investigating the sting operations. PoliPundit and Pajamas Media report on the controversy in Virginia over the Bloomberg lawsuits and how they led to the “Bloomberg Gun Giveaway” in that state.

Today’s article points out that Dixon has also gotten approval for GunStat, a program to track individuals involved in gun crimes much like all the metrics introduced under the reign of Bloomberg’s predecessor Rudy Giuliani and copied by Dixon’s predecessor, current Gov. Martin O’Malley.

The NRA’s response in The Sun:

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman with the National Rifle Association, said cities already have a tool to deal with crimes in which guns are used – that is, to prosecute the criminals rather than the gun dealers who might or might not be aware that the weapons they sell end up in the hands of criminals.

“These politicians ought to quit holding media events and media availabilities and stop talking about reducing crime and start working with federal and state and local prosecutors in making sure that gun crimes are prosecuted unequivocally, 100 percent of the time,” he said.