At its conclusion, there were so many hardy hand clasps, high fives, fist bumps, embraces, man-hugs and cell-phone poses, you would have thought something celebratory had occurred at this year’s Florida legislative session. Frankly, it would have been more fitting if a Venezuelan Parliament fistfight had broken out. But, yes, a required budget was passed [...]
He knew it was a long shot. Closer to no shot. But Mayor Bob Buckhorn was obviously still disappointed that the referendum-expanding proposal he supported–as well as other mayoral members of the Urban Partnership (St. Petersburg, Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville and Hialeah)–”never saw the light of day” in the recent legislative session. Buckhorn and [...]
Remember all that principled posturing that accompanied the rationale for moving up the Florida presidential primary? How dare the political parties relegate Florida, the mega, election-impacting–if not determining–swing state to possible rubber-stamp status? How dare they grant states that are not demographically reflective of America a priority position on the primary calendar? A position that [...]
* For now, the U.S. State Department will keep intact its list of countries it officially considers state sponsors of terrorism. They remain: Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. To include Cuba is as ludicrous as it is outrageous. It’s as if “W,” Rummy and Cheney never left, the Cold War never ended and North Korea [...]
* Looks like Tampa is an early front runner for the 2016 college football championship after what Bowl Championship Series commissioners have described as a “surprisingly strong bid” for the inaugural game in 2015. That one goes to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Just one question: With a track record of hosting four Super Bowls [...]
* “We should be lucid: a country that depends almost entirely on the international community for the salaries of its soldiers and policemen, for most of its investments and partly on it for its current civil expenditure, cannot be really independent.”–Bernard Bajolet, departing French ambassador to Afghanistan. * “We’ve all suspected it. But for President [...]
While I’m not a huge fan of “60 Minutes”–and its formulaic, redundant interview style–I typically check in to see what’s on tap and who has a book they’re promoting. I was recently rewarded with a Lesley Stahl piece on construction of the National 9/11 Memorial Museum. It was illuminating–and reaffirming. It was illuminating because it [...]
I wouldn’t be saying this if I hadn’t said it before, because nobody has a right to 20-20 hindsight. Tim Tebow should have passed, ironic pun intended, on the National Football League. At the University of Florida, Tebow was a Heisman Trophy winner. He was also an academic All-American. And while he looked like a [...]
The other day, after my wife and I had checked out the Phillips’ collection of modern American and European art at the Tampa Museum of Art, we ambled out on that expansive second floor terrace to take in the picturesque panorama that is the perfect museum complement. That view from TMA is transformational: the aesthetics-enabling [...]
*In our continuous-loop, blogosphered, Twitterized communications universe, we have been reminded by the Boston bombings that there remains a vital role for serious journalism. CNN, of course, has become Exhibit A for all that’s wrong with a get-it-first, hope-it’s right modus operandi. And the New York Post remains a tabloid sham. This is more than [...]