Thanks, St. Petersburg Times

Blog spotlight

Aikane Leo
The buzz: Political news and views for Florida and the nation, along with a fantastic list of websites and other related web resources.

The St. Petersburg Times has long been my favorite newspaper. Home delivery is not available in Lakeland, but thanks to Al Gore's invention, I frequent the online publication.

Several days ago, I submitted this blog to the newspaper's "reader blogs" list. The publishers chose to feature Aikane Leo last week.

Thanks, guys -- one more reason you're a great newspaper!

• SPT front page
• SPT blogs

February in Lakeland

A little bit country

Local boy makes music "Sweeter than Sugarcane"

So who's worth checking out this weekend? If you end up near Orlando, on Saturday, check out former Lakeland country singer J.C. Andersen, who continues his stand of opening for nationally known country stars at SeaWorld's Bud & BBQ Fest. [....]

How good is this kid? Good enough for his self-released CD, When the Tide Rolls In, to win positive reviews from Country Music People magazine (February issue) and Country Music Online.

(Bill Dean, Lakeland Ledger)

Click here to visit J. C.'s home page.

Trust us

Cartoonist Jim Moran, Miami Herald

Sept. 11 Report Ties Bin Laden to UAE

WASHINGTON--The United States raised concerns with the United Arab Emirates seven years ago about possible ties between officials in that country and Osama bin Laden, according to a section of the Sept. 11 commission's report that details a possible missed opportunity to kill the al-Qaida leader. (Houston Chronicle)

More stories: Google "UAE" and "bin Laden"

Hazel will retire this year

Hazel Haley, a dear friend of mine for many years, will retire from her 69-year teaching career at the end of this school year.

Nearing her ninetieth birthday, Miss Haley prefers to be called Hazel by adults, even those who, like me, are decades her junior. Beyond her teaching skills, Hazel understands and connects with teenage students -- her "children," as she calls them -- on every level except their music.

Hazel Haley has been teaching in the same room, No. 106, since 1952. That year, Lakeland High moved to what Haley still calls "the new campus" on Hollingsworth Road. [....]

Haley didn't set out to become Florida's oldest and longest-serving teacher. She's probably the nation's oldest, too, but the federal Department of Education doesn't keep track of that record.

Haley taught through World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, segregation and integration, typewriters and word processors to the emergence of the internet. (Lakeland Ledger)

During her career, the school has moved, teachers and principals have come and gone, teaching styles have changed. But there are constants in the hopes and insecurities and dreams of the students she calls "my children."

"I've seen a million changes, but as far as young people are concerned, deep down inside they haven't changed," she said. "The things that were special about them when I first started are still special." (CNN, 2002)

Among her friends, Hazel still refers to herself as "the resident liberal" on the Lakeland High School campus. When she closes the door to Room 6 for the last time this year, may she continue to do all those "liberal" things that bring her happiness, keep her young, and make her an inspiration.

Other articles . . .

• Eighties superstar
• FSC names student plaza for longtime LHS teacher

Update: April 30, 2006 Ledger special . . .

• Portrait of a lady

Quails' Gate on ice: the big chill

Still no answers on Cheney's latest corker

If the Democrats have any political sense at all (and apparently they don't), they'll beat this story to death with humor. Imagine the Republican glee (and media piling-on) if Clinton or Gore or Dean or Kerry had come so close to blowing somebody away -- and failed so miserably.

Just when we think the incompetence level of the Bush administration demands their full surrender (indictment or impeachment -- whichever comes first), somebody fires off another round. Yesterday we learned it's Cheney's turn again, as if he hadn't already shamed himself enough for one lifetime -- or nine.

This afternoon you may have watched, as I did, press spokesman Scottie face the snarling pack of spotted pointers (ha!), the White House press corps. After a weekend of preparation, he broke from his blind and gave us ... more evasion than a whole covey of quail (although less impressive than AF-1's flight pattern of 9/11/01).

Explaining his complete lack of new information, Scottie duly repeated the lines given to him by the VP's office: Information was still being collected throughout Saturday night and Sunday, and the White House needed full, complete and accurate information before going public.

Very good, Mr. Highly-Paid Mouthpiece-for-Incompetence. So where the hell, two days later, is the information that took so long to collect? Still in the deep freeze, evidently.

The Quails' Gate chill was likely designed (1) to see whether the story would stay frozen; and (2) to give Cheney and his ice goons time to concoct a drink the public would swallow.

Following Scottie's splendid performance of saying nothing, one Faux News reporter, mouthing as always the official White House line of misdirection, couldn't resist commenting on the "press's feeding frenzy," calling it "a tempest in a teapot". He did admit, however, that waiting a day before leaking the story (and then to a local Texas newspaper) may not have been the "best call," seeing as how many questions had been raised by the delaying tactic.

So far, here's what we know (and perhaps all we will ever know). Awards are in order:

• It was the victim's fault that Cheney shot him. [Award: open-backed hospital gown]
  
• It was a private citizen's prerogative to report the incident to a local newspaper -- a day after the shooting, and too late for the Sunday newspapers and news shows. [Award: blue ribbon and a medal; see photo]
  
• It was the Bush administration's responsibility to collect the facts and report them in a timely fashion. [Award: red wine vinegar and oil spill for the tossed truth salad, peppered generously]
  
• It is the press's duty to find the answers to questions that Scottie still can not (or will not) answer, two days after the shooting ... and counting. [Predicted award: a runaway bride's* unused gown and an overused veil of distraction]
  

Now, can we please uncork a bottle of Quails' Gate and get it breathing?


See . . .

• Dick Cheney’s top 10 excuses for shooting fellow hunter
• New crayons and coloring book time
• Photo: Quails' Gate Estate Winery
  

*Feb. 16 update: With no bride willing to cooperate this week, the media resorted to a runaway bitch . . .

• Hunt is on for whippet who took off

Cheney finally earns his Bronze Star

Crazy, you say?

WASHINGTON Feb 12, 2006 (AP)--Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.
(Cheney shoots fellow hunter)

Yep, forty years after his five deferments from military duty, Cheney finally notched a hit. On a friend.

And why not a medal in recognition of superior marksmanship and bravery? Crazier things have happened in the Bush administration.

Only last week W. was honored with a bronze bust for desertion. Certainly his boss Dick deserves no less for courage on the field of battle.

Tubing in Tennessee

Today's photo from a friend in eastern Tennessee.

Britishness: Can you pass the test?

Here's a bit of fun from BBC News:

The government is launching the citizenship test for foreigners who want to become British. If you want the passport, then you'll have to read Life in the UK, a special book, and sit a 45-minute test on society, history and culture.

But do you know what it is to be British? The following very unofficial questions are based on information in the official book - let's see how well you do...

Can you pass a citizenship test?

Jolly good! I qualified for citizenship -- and a seat in Parliament! So how soon can I be sworn in?

Shhh... don't tell anyone: Tony may try to block my joining "Cousin" George Galloway as another critic of Blair's Iraq policy. (My great-grandmother was a Galloway, a US descendant of Scottish immigrants.) George Galloway is the MP who embarrassed US Senator Coleman before the eyes of the world last year.

Galloway, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, called the Senate panel's investigation the "mother of all smokescreens" used to divert attention from the "pack of lies" that led to the 2003 invasion. [....]

"These people think they can smear people without them having the right to speak back and this time I got that right and I knocked them for six," he told reporters before leaving the U.S.

He said after his appearance before the Senate panel Tuesday that his accusers had little credibility "outside of Washington."

(Galloway: I won Senate showdown)

Support marriage equality for all

From coast to coast, we are coming closer to achieving true marriage equality for GLBT Americans. But we need your help to fight efforts to deny marriage rights to same-sex couples, including any Constitutional amendment.

Please, sign the Million For Marriage petition below, and be a part of this historic civil rights battle. Gay, straight, married, single...we need everyone who believes in marriage equality to stand up NOW.

Full Petition Text:

I do support the right of every American to marry, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples. I believe that marriage and other civil rights protections are essential to making all families safer and more secure.

By signing this petition, I agree to support efforts to make marriage equality a reality in our country, and to oppose any attempts to discriminate against GLBT couples and individuals.


To sign the petition, please click:

[Your name and email address]

(Hat tip to Gary at American Agenda)

Florida gun lobby takes on business

A Lakeland Ledger editorial:

If the National Rifle Association told Florida lawmakers to squat on their haunches and bark like dogs, a chorus of eager howls would echo from the House to the Senate.

No demand by chief NRA Tallahassee lobbyist Marion Hammer -- a.k.a. She Who Must Be Obeyed -- is too outrageous; from holding police officers criminally liable for the crime of keeping gun ownership records to exempting shooting ranges from water pollution laws.

Now Hammer wants to make it a felony for employers to tell their workers that they cannot keep guns in their cars out in the company parking lot.

Imagine when police haul Disney's CEO out of the Magic Kingdom in handcuffs for violating the Second Amendment rights of the guy in the Goofy suit.

More . . . The Gun Lobby Takes on Business

No end to pain, no hint of justice

Matt Lewis was beaten to death more than three years ago.

My heart broke again when I read today's Lakeland Ledger article, but Matt's family faces the pain and sadness every day. May they find peace in knowing they have done all within their power to honor Matt and his life.

The Lewises are my friends. We lived next door to them when Matt was only pre-school age, and we sometimes watched one or all three of the boys when needed.

Bob and Cathy were wonderful, loving parents who did all the right things in raising their sons, spending countless hours of involvement with their education, sports and scouting, including projects for the Eagle Scout award, for example. They taught their kids, and other children as well, to respect others and to play by the rules.

Yet the rules haven't applied to Matt's death. Neither those who killed him nor the criminal "justice" system seem to be accountable. I won't even pretend to have an unbiased opinion. So you decide:

• Matthew Lewis, 18, died after attending a friend's Nov. 16, 2002 birthday party in Tampa.
• Eyewitnesses said the former wrestling team captain and 2002 graduate of Bartow High School was trying to break up a fight over spilled beer.
• An autopsy report listed Lewis' death as "homicide beaten by other(s)."
• However, the two suspects in the attack -- Ryan Racine and Jeremy Ray -- face charges of misdemeanor battery, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail.
• Prosecutors say they could not seek more serious charges because they were "unable to determine who threw the fatal blow.''
  

Believe it or not, there's a video tape of events that night, including comments made following the beating:

Esparza can be heard saying, "I thought we killed the kid because we were beating the (expletive) out of him."

He also said "we were beating the (expletive) out of him for like a whole minute" and the kid's face "looked like he was dead."

Later, during a deposition, Esparza -- who described himself as being "best friends" with Ray through high school -- was shown the videotape.

He agreed that was his voice but said he didn't know what "kid" he was referring to that night. "I really don't remember," he said.

Articles and photos:

• Questions remain more than 3 years after death of Matt Lewis
• Questions unanswered, grief unabated

Update, Feb. 3, 2007 . . . .

BARTOW - Lakeland residents Bob and Cathy Lewis saw sentences handed down Thursday for the two men who brutally beat and stomped their youngest son to death.

Both men got the maximum allowable sentence, but the Lewises said they don't feel that they saw justice.

Ryan Christopher Racine and Jeremy Vincent Ray were charged with misdemeanors in the death of 18-year-old Bartow High School graduate Matthew Lewis. Racine, 25, was found guilty of three misdemeanor counts of battery, and received 364 days in the Hillsborough County Jail for each count, to be served consecutively.

Ray, 24, was found guilty of one misdemeanor count of battery, but he left the courtroom Wednesday when the jury was deliberating and never returned, so a warrant has been issued for his arrest. He was sentenced to 364 days in the Hillsborough County Jail.

"We're elated that there's accountability, but the way the law is written is wrong," Cathy Lewis said Friday night. "Those two are really just getting a slap on the wrist."

Lakeland Ledger report . . . .

• 2 are sentenced in death of Polk teen

W.'s new bust: All brass

brass - noun: The state or quality of being impudent or arrogantly self-confident; effrontery.
deserter - noun: a person who abandons their duty (as on a military post).




From the Washington Post:

Presidents are often memorialized in their most famous moments -- George Washington crossing the Delaware, Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill.

Now President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard has been immortalized in bronze. The National Guard Association of the United States yesterday unveiled a bust of a young Lt. George W. Bush.

• More here . . . Lt. G.W. Bush, Captured in Bronze
  

Be healed!

"Congressman Chulo, you are one fabulous-looking Mex-Texan!
More handsome than my man Alberto without his glasses!
Wanna play judge later?"

Photo with Bush helps Congressman Cuellar's rival

Photo by Rich Lipski, The Washington Post

Bush must be stopped

"I have sworn . . . eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." (Thomas Jefferson)

George W. Bush's claims of almost unlimited executive power has no basis in the U. S. Constitution. He has no intention of backing down, so the battle must be joined. It's time we plant the flag and defend it. If not at home, where? If not now, when?

At a hearing Monday, members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, trying to probe the limits of the vast new executive powers claimed by President Bush.

But the senators failed. At every turn, Gonzales refused to acknowledge any limits whatsoever to executive power in a time of war. The proceedings made it clear that the issues at stake in this constitutional crisis go far beyond the specific question of warrantless spying on U.S. citizens who might be communicating with possible terror suspects overseas. They strike at the very heart of civil liberty and of the traditional checks and balances in our government. [....]

With no judicial or congressional oversight, it is hard to know how far the Bush White House is willing to push this extreme theory, or how far it might have taken it already. It claims only to have targeted those supporting terrorists, but that's little comfort from an administration that says any American who disagrees with its policies is aiding and abetting the terrorists. [....]

"We believe that we have all the legal authority we need," Vice President Dick Cheney said.

Until Congress or the courts say otherwise, he's right.

(Bush's spying on al-Qaida not the real issue)

* * *

Bush's spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House will listen to lawmakers' ideas on legislation, but the president has indicated he would resist any move that would compromise the program. "There is a high bar to overcome on such ideas," McClellan said. [....]

As congressional debate continues, public support for the program has grown with the White House's monthlong campaign of speeches and TV appearances to make its case that the monitoring is necessary.

According to the AP-Ipsos poll, some 48 percent of Americans now support the administration's program. That's up from 42 percent last month.

Half now say the administration should have to get a warrant to conduct eavesdropping, down from 56 percent one month ago. Support for the program grew by 9 percentage points among men, but it dropped 8 points -- to 30 percent --in the Northeast.

Some noteworthy trends from Bush's political base:

- Fifty-eight percent of suburban men support the program, up 13 percentage points.
- Fifty-six percent of Southerners support the program, up 12 points.
- Republican support for the program jumped 14 points to 82 percent.
- Independent support is up 17 points, to 53 percent.
-White evangelical support grew by 11 points, to 71 percent.

(Poll: Americans evenly divided on eavesdropping)

* * *

Folks, we're in trouble.

That support for unchecked power will not weaken, and may grow stronger, minus strong voices of opposition from political leaders -- and from people like you and me. Here's why:

Republicans, unwilling to expose, challenge and stop presidential abuses, are behaving as if they will remain in power forever. And they may.

So driven are they to retain power -- and to win at any cost, the hell with governing -- they will sacrifice their own supposed principles, bankrupt the treasury, rape the environment, and screw future generations by destroying the country's foundations of liberty, equality and democracy. They eagerly embrace, for short-term political advantage, whatever cynical, unethical, or illegal abuses of power the Bush administration inflicts upon the country.

Little better are the Democrats of Congress. Too few of them are providing the leadership needed to arouse the public against an authoritarian, quasi-theocratic regime. Stories like this don't help:

Abramoff's records show his lobbying partners billed for nearly two dozen phone contacts or meetings with Reid's office in 2001 alone.

(Democratic leader Reid aided Abramoff clients)

* * *

That's more than I call my mother.

Senator Reid is a wilting, ineffective leader who, guilty of improper conduct or not, has not been forthcoming about his contributions and contacts with lobbyists. Time for him to go, along with every other elected official who is failing America in its time of peril.

If Democrats can't find people capable of leading; if they can't cleanse their own house of every appearance of corruption; if they are unwilling to enunciate their principles and fight to the death for them -- how the hell can they expect voters to draw distinctions between their party and the "party of corruption?"

Now is the time for each of us to speak, loudly and clearly: Bush must be stopped.

For if we lose this battle, our voices may be silenced forever.

Congress continues to crawl

Republicans acquiesce to president's abuse of power

Jeff Parker Editorial Cartoons
Florida Today

• Rove twisting arms on Senate Judiciary Committee
• Will Congress dare to knock Bush off his high horse?
• The adulation of ignorance

Dear John: Get help

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) received a dressing down Monday from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who accused the freshman senator of using the ethics reform issue for "self-interested partisan posturing."

In a sarcastic letter, McCain accused Obama, the Senate Democrats' new lead spokesman on ethics, of not wanting to sincerely negotiate a bipartisan reform of lobbying. (McCain mocks Obama)

Well. 2008 so soon? Mehlman attacks Hillary on Sunday; McCain attacks Obama on Monday.

Yep, Sen. McCain, the wannabe president, finally pulled his disjointed nose from W.'s buttcheeks for some "straight talk." And for what? To stand up on his hind legs and demand the criminal king's impeachment?

Why, no; to pitch a hissy fit because Democrats won't be drawn into sharing the blame for Republican corruption. And, more specifically, to attack a Democratic senator who could stand in the way of McCain's 2008 ambition.

But why the irrational outburst of anger, now, Senator?

We know you must go to bed every night and wake up every morning still seething at your nemesis W. and his political henchmen who, in typical Republican fashion, muddied and sullied you in the 2000 primaries.

I feel your anger -- anger you now direct at someone other than the man before whom you have, grudgingly but grinningly, prostrated yourself on a regular basis for nearly six long years.

There is a word for your behavior, Senator. It's called displacement, a defense mechanism by which one transfers emotions and reactions away from the source and toward something or someone else.

Luckily for you, there is treatment for your condition, but you must act quickly. 2008 is just around the corner -- but I don't need to tell you that. So lose the anger. Heed the words of your favorite party patsy, Ms Mehlman, who recently remarked, "voters dislike angry candidates".

And, after you deal with the displaced anger, your newfound freedom will allow you to move on to a more difficult inner battle: regaining the self-respect you sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.

See McCain and Obama letters, Feb. 2-6, 2006

'Woman, submit': thus saith God's messenger

Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr to women: 'God wants you barefoot and pregnant, sweetcheeks'

LOUISVILLE, KY—Does God care whether couples have kids?

R. Albert Mohler Jr., ever-controversial president of Kentucky's Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has stirred debate by asserting that it's "an absolute revolt against God's design'' if husbands and wives purposely avoid bearing children.

To him, raising children is both a God-given duty and "one of the most crucial opportunities for the making of saints.''

Following Southern Baptist style, Mohler based his case on the Bible, saying it teaches that "marriage, sex and children are part of one package. To deny any part of this wholeness is to reject God's intention in creation — and his mandate revealed in the Bible.''

"Couples are not given the option of chosen childlessness in the biblical revelation,'' he contended. "To the contrary, we are commanded to receive children with joy as God's gifts.''

Mohler also said he wasn't talking about couples who desire children but are unable to have them, only those who are capable of bearing children but "reject this intrusion in their lifestyle.'' The Bible "points to barrenness as a great curse,'' he noted, alongside its depictions of children as divine gifts." (Southern Baptist seminary president: Bible opposes intentional childnessness)

Really, Rev. "Ear-to-God, Lips-to-Republicans" Mohler, you certainly provided answers to questions I never thought to ask of you. Based on your telephone to glory, though, you must already be anticipating the next package of "marriage, sex and children" questions, so here's a start:

• What are the guidelines on preferable negligee colors, or is sexy attire optional?
• Would anything discouraging reproductive acts -- flannel nightgowns and headaches, for example -- be sinful?
• Is dancing OK only when it leads to the bedroom?
• Does one pretend to have fun, but pray throughout the act as a matter of Christian duty?
• How much foreplay, if any, is appropriate?
• Which positions, if more than one is ever acceptable, are suggested for increasing the probability of fertilization?
• In fulfilling one's reproductive duties, are clocks and calendars forbidden -- or mandatory?
• Does the church have a position on breastfeeding, too?
• Exactly how many children are enough?
• How many children can a male head of household, earning minimum wage, support?
• Who pays the medical bills for the family you envisage -- or will God reward big families with perfect health?
• Are sabbaticals from childbearing permitted, or must the submissive wife, like Proud Mary on a river, just keep on a-rollin'?

Hard questions, but I'm sure you're up for these and more. Speaking for God is hard work, so let's get'er done, preacher man.

Here's a more important question for the rest of us, however; one that each of us must answer for ourselves: When is enough enough? After all, the holy Mohler's opinions are well-rooted in his church's doctrine -- a doctrine that many believe is "right" for America. (Baptist Faith and Message, XVIII. The Family)

Is this the voice of a future theocracy? Will Americans harken to the rantings of a man who claims to speak for God; a man whose religious and political goals are inseparable; a man whose influence already extends to the top levels of government -- a man who, ultimately, would remove every vestige of freedom and personal decision making we hold dear?

* * *

Rev. Mohler probably solved another scientific puzzle as well: "Italy's frozen mummy may have been sterile" -- or perhaps ye ole mummy suffered "a great curse" for an "absolute revolt against God's plan."

Thinking Southern

In browsing the blogs this morning, I was reminded by JPW, over at Alabama Ass Whuppin', of the Associated Press series on the South that ran last year:

• Definition of South, Southern is changing
• Many blacks take pride in Southern roots
• A Dixie contradiction - great literature amid illiteracy"
• Yes ma'am, Southerners take pride in politeness
• Country comedy is an evolving tradition

Stitchery by Ethel Wright Mohamed
Double Springs Sacred Harp Singing

These articles provide an interesting introduction to today's South and a few of its traditions. Off the top of one's head, any native of the "deep South" can think of a slew of additional topics, but I'll add these essentials to any discussion of Southern life:

• the food -- smother-fried chicken and milk gravy, hominy grits, buttermilk biscuits, turnip greens and collards, cornbread hoecakes, swamp cabbage, file gumbo and jambalaya, oysters on the half shell, fried okra (and just about anything else), mayhaw jelly, key lime pie, sweet potato meringue pie, Mississippi mud cake ... (but I'm getting hongry so I'll move on to the next list);




• the drinks and libations -- ice tea, Kentucky bourbon, scup'non wine, blackberry wine, 'shine (stump water, mountain dew, white lightnin' -- each geographical area has its own claim to originality, quality and potency) ...;




• the music -- the blues, bluegrass, mountain, Texas swing, "sol-la-fa" Sacred Harp gospel (with dinner on the ground, naturally) ...;




• the language -- "You're barking up the wrong tree, buddy; so call off the dawgs er I'm a-fixin' to kick. yore. ass."

Gay marriage ban loses a round

ORLANDO -- A proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban gay marriage will not be on the ballot in November. A coalition made up primarily of conservative religious organizations failed to obtain the necessary number of petitions by the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline.

Coordinators of Florida4marriage.org staged a frantic effort in the past several weeks to obtain the required 611,009 petitions, but the final number tallied by the Florida Division of Elections on Wednesday evening was 455,730, well short of that.

The inability to gather the needed petitions means that Florida will not join the 11 states that passed similar amendments in 2004. However, the signatures collected are valid for four years, and organizers vowed to continue to collect petitions and put the amendment before Florida voters in 2008.

However, the language of the amendment must still be approved by the Florida Supreme Court, which has not yet ruled on it and may forego a ruling because it will not be on the ballot this fall.

[....]

The Rev. Jay Dennis, pastor of First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland, began the effort in November 2004 when he introduced a resolution supporting a constitutional amendment at the annual meeting of the Florida Baptist Convention. On Tuesday, when it was apparent the initiative would not succeed this year, Dennis said that pastors should have provided stronger leadership.

"It's a credibility issue. If a pastor can't stand up and say marriage is between a man and a woman, he has no business in the ministry. Some pastors are afraid to take a stand," he said.

Not surprisingly, most of the funding came directly from the Florida Republican Party. Read the whole sickening report on the determined efforts by religious and political operatives -- whatever their reasons -- to deny others the basic rights they themselves take for granted:

• Marriage ban petitions fall short

• Lack of support not stopping proposal

I suggest the Rev. Dennis and likeminded holier-than-thou "Christians" spend more time studying the Sermon on the Mount, and less time fighting to impose their own questionable dogma on families who present no threat to them, their families, or their religious practices.

Does anyone, Christian or non-Christian, believe for a minute that Florida's anti-gay coalition -- "primarily of conservative religious organizations" -- has anything to do with the teachings of Christ?

Luke 10: 25-28 (KJV):

• And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
• He said unto him, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?"
• And he answering said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."
• And he said unto him, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."

House Republicans rearrange the chairs

Congressman "Opie" kisses his way to the top

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow [Florida's 12th District] was elected today to the fifth highest GOP leadership post in the U.S. House. Putnam, a third-term Republican, was elected to chair the House Republican Policy Committee, the No. 5 position in the Republican hierarchy.

The post moves Putnam, 31, high up the ladder in the House Leadership after only five years in Congress. Putnam has been viewed as a rising star among Republicans. A seat on the powerful Rules Committee, a panel controlled by the majority leadership, has thrust him into the spotlight on the House floor, where he regularly leads debate on procedural rules for legislation. .... (See Putnam wins leadership post)

Kiss, kiss

WASHINGTON -- Republicans hailed the five-year, $39 billion budget-cutting bill [passed Wednesday on a party-line vote of 216-214] as an important first step to restoring discipline on spending. Democrats attacked the measure as an assault on college students and Medicaid patients, and said powerful Washington lobbyists had too much influence on it.

"The Deficit Reduction Act seeks to curb the unsustainable growth rate of mandatory programs that are set to consume 62 percent of our total federal budget in the next decade if left unchecked," said Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla. He said many such programs "are outdated, inefficient and excessively costly."

But Democrats attacked the measure, especially for its cuts to the federal child support enforcement program and for allowing states to reduce Medicaid coverage and charge increased fees for the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled. .... (See House bill)

Write a check

WASHINGTON -- In approving $40 billion in spending cuts Wednesday, Congress slashed federal funding to student loan programs by $12 billion and substantially raised interest rates on these loans.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, said the bill helps rein in excessive government spending. Putnam focused on other cuts to Medicaid and welfare programs, dodging direct attacks on the student loan interest rates. .... (See Budget bill hikes rates on student loans)

Way to go, Big Red (that's W.'s term of endearment for his diminutive bud, ever since their 9/11 diaper-changing flight together aboard AF1). But the special interest boys don't care about the orange hair whatsohowever -- they're seeing nothing but green these days, and Opie is seen as a great investment in the futures market.


Friday morning updates:

• Putnam's Last-Minute Hustle Puts Him at Top of Policy Panel (Lakeland Ledger)
• Adam Putnam's Got Juice (St. Pete Times, "The Buzz" blog, with reader comments)

Does your health care provider measure up?

Floridians have online tools to compare health care providers


When it comes to your health care, transparency of useful information is important. The Agency for Health Care Administration's (AHCA) consumer website includes performance data and information on selected medical conditions and procedures in Florida's short-term acute care hospitals and ambulatory (outpatient) surgery centers. This information is not designed to offer medical advice, and is only one avenue to assist you in making well-informed health care decisions.

This site will ultimately give Florida’s health care consumers, purchasers and professionals an unprecedented degree of easy-to-access and understandable information on quality, pricing and performance. Good information is key to making sure our health care system works well and in everyone’s interests.

• Florida Health Stat

Interactively compare quality of care in Florida hospitals and outpatient surgery centers by using this new online tool:

• Florida Compare Care