Trying to remake Iraq into a Muslim democracy that could act as an outpost of stability and pro-Western sentiment is undoubtedly a swell idea. But it’s hard to find a Middle Eastern model for that other than, well, Israel. More realistic models, however, may be Cyprus and Yugoslavia. Where ancient religious and ethnic enmities render [...]
Army Spc. Charles Graner, who was recently sentenced to 10 years in military prison, got off easy. He should be serving his sentence – along with impregnated torture moll, Lyndie England, in Abu Ghraib prison itself. He should be picking out a hood and practicing holding his breath right now. To say he was following [...]
Administration critics have said that it is a moral, political and tactical mistake for the U.S. to be blurring the lines between “rough treatment” and “torture.” And they, of course, have a valid point. While there’s no excusing sadists such as Army Spc. Charles Graner, it is not irrelevant to cite some context. The mother [...]
Administration critics have said that it is a moral, political and tactical mistake for the U.S. to be blurring the lines between “rough treatment” and “torture.” And they, of course, have a valid point. While there’s no excusing sadists such as Army Spc. Charles Graner, it is not irrelevant to cite some context. The mother [...]
It’s understandable that a mayor would want to be careful when evaluating top employees in writing. It’s a public record. There are sensitivities. Hence, the flap over how Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio evaluated former Fire Chief Aria Ray Green. Apparently Green, whose allegedly aloof, sometimes tactless leadership style was adversely affecting morale, was evaluated more [...]
It would seem that if anything our kids need more days at school – not fewer. Regardless, we now have what amounts to a reasonable request from local Muslims for the Hillsborough County School Board to add an additional holiday: Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. They point out that schools close on [...]
This column didn’t start out this way. But as I gazed out my home-office window the other day, I saw a perplexingly familiar sight: a pair of dachshunds on the lam, lumbering down the street headed for nearby Bayshore Boulevard – and possibly an awful demise. I cringed at the prospect of such an unnecessary, [...]
Yes, that question to Attorney General Charlie Crist – the one inquiring of his sexual orientation – was as ungracious and unnecessary as most non-journalists would deem it. Had Crist himself made homosexuality an issue – say, he had used gay-baiting the way Mel Martinez did against Bill McCollum in the Republican senate primary – [...]
Here’s hoping that some – if not many or most – MLK Day celebrations worked in references to Bill Cosby’s “Knuckleheads” speech. Among those who would have been most understanding of such an inclusion: Martin Luther King Jr.
The recent announcement of the Trump Tower Tampa produced the predictable hoopla, hype and commentary provincialism. It comes with the territory: the wealth, the charisma, the power, the pretension, the hair. Donald Trump is a mogul, a caricature and a brand name. Love him, lionize him or loathe him, he is what he is. And [...]
