Count me among those who think that accident the other day involving the texting teen who rear-ended the police car at a red light was, indeed, a pretty big deal. Notwithstanding the comments of the teen’s mom who didn’t appreciate the notoriety resulting from widespread news coverage. The local print and electronic media, never [...]
The biggest impediment to moving any Guantanamo detainees to American soil has little to do with the law or the Geneva Conventions or, candidly, national security. It has, instead, everything to do with familiar, mundane (Not In My Back Yard) NIMBY scenarios and old-fashioned, disingenuous politics. Consider the comments of these three, Exhibit [...]
Thanks to some recent polls, we now know that Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum has a gubernatorial lead on Democrat Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, and that Gov. Charlie Crist is comfortably ahead of Marco Rubio in the Republican U.S. Senate primary. The elections, lest we forget, are in November 2010. What the polls [...]
Stay with me on this one. So, what to make of the Dick Cheney “Obamanator” Tour? Including, of course, that virtual mano a mano duel with President Obama recently. Overlapping agendas, it would appear. First, for an ideologically marginalized entity labeled the “Party of No” amid unprecedented, multiple crises, Cheney is — if [...]
It is being referenced as a neo-classic “they said/she said.” That is, the CIA briefing to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that did or did not reference waterboarding back in 2002. Who to believe when both have ample motivations to be less than candid? Who to believe when both are less than citadels of [...]
Along with many others, I also like the award-winning PolitiFact.com feature of the St. Petersburg Times. It cuts through the half-lies, pseudo truths and parsed misrepresentations of self-serving politicians. Recently, PolitiFact’s “Flip-O-Meter” nailed President Obama for changing his mind about releasing photos depicting prisoner abuse of detainees being held overseas. The president had previously [...]
Given what happened over at Walker Middle School recently, we are graphically reminded — again — that “bullying” is more than a rite-of-passage, “boys will be boys” matter. In fact, the Hillsborough County Commission is now using state justice grant funds to initiate an anti-bullying awareness and community outreach program. There will be a hot [...]
So, Atlanta rapper T.I., who was born with the much more prosaic handle of Clifford Harris Jr., is off on his latest marketing tour. This one for more “street cred.” This one to the federal prison in Arkansas to serve a year on a weapons conviction. Apparently, the slammer is where rappers go to [...]
The compromise decision reached by the Hillsborough County School District and the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers’ Association is a classic win-win. Call it a victory for common sense – and, most importantly – a triumph for students. The agreement allows 130 senior teachers to be something other than regrettably retired and unfortunately unemployed. The averted [...]
Here we go again. Next year’s school calendar has been in the news, again, and that’s never good. Sure enough, Good Friday is officially a school day in Hillsborough County in 2010 and 2011. Good luck. To give credit where it’s deserved, the Hillsborough County School Board did the principled thing. And that [...]
