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The Problem With Florida’s Medicaid Program Isn’t Cost. It’s Too Many Working Poor.

| January 31, 2013

Florida has too many working poor whose employers don’t provide health insurance. Rather than complaining about the costs of coverage, we should try to increase the earnings of our people, argues Rick Outzen.

When Doctor-Assisted Suicide Is the Humane Option

| January 29, 2013

In oncologists’ offices and Alzheimer’s nursing homes, illness is not “a portrait in blacks and whites, but unending shades of gray, involving the most profound of personal, moral, and religious questions.” Including when may it be right to help end a life.

Transparency 101: Rick Scott’s Pay Raise Ploy

| January 26, 2013

Florida’s “education” governor wants to give teachers a $2,500 across-the-board raise. Translation: He wants to get re-elected in 2014. He’s not popular. So he’s trying to win votes by any means necessary, argues Rhonda Swan.

Coke’s Obesity Campaign: Get Real

| January 24, 2013

For the first time, Coke is using its slick commercials to address obesity. But the company’s new ads, which are brimming with misleading statements, just put lipstick on this pig, argues Jill Richardson.

An Epidemic of American Anger In Search of Stoicism

| January 22, 2013

From Angry Birds to the Angry Whopper, road rage and mass murderers, we’re in an age of anger that appears driven by frustrated expectations and imagined grievances.

How the Word ‘Retarded’ Hurts The Developmentally Disabled

| January 15, 2013

Americans with developmental disabilities still remain second-class citizens in the eyes of the law and our fellow human beings. There is no greater symbolic gesture of the ridicule they endure than the accepted use of the word “retarded” in day-to-day speech.

Obama’s Inauguration Sells Out

| January 13, 2013

President Barack Obama, reversing his own honorable precedent for his first inaugural, has chosen this time to have corporations pay for his second round of big shindigs. This multimillion-dollar infusion of corporate cash is a crass intrusion by favor-seeking private interests into what ought to be a purely public occasion.

Accused Chilean Murderer Pedro Pablo Barrientos Buys a Home in Deltona

| January 10, 2013

Barrientos was recently accused by an investigating judge in Chile of the murder in September of 1973 of the internationally popular theater  director, teacher and folk/protest singer Victor Jara, then 40 years old.

Put God Back in Public Schools?

| January 5, 2013

If we’re going to put God back in schools, which God are we talking about? Adam Hamilton, founding pastor of a United Methodist Church, calmly argues against the notion that God has ever left the public schools, and need not be forced back in.

Losing “Protection”
In Florida’s Environmental Agency

| December 31, 2012

Some of the state’s strongest protectors of our natural resources were recently expelled from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Fifty-eight of the most knowledgeable and long-serving employees were let go in order to fulfill the governor’s promise/threat of less regulation.

Amend the Second Amendment

| December 26, 2012

If we want to transform American society for generations to come, tinkering with our existing patchwork quilt of federal, state, and municipal laws dealing with firearms is a waste of time. The only transformational vehicle for meaningful action, writes Angel Castillo, is to change the Constitution.

Time to Get Serious About
Mental Health in Florida

| December 21, 2012

Florida ranks near dead last nationally in the level of expenditures for front-end community-based mental health services. Let’s not be penny wise and pound foolish when so many precious lives are at risk, argues Paula Dockery.

Education Department Shrugs Off Major Errors in Florida’s Science FCAT Test Guidelines

| December 20, 2012

Scientist Robert Krampf’s analysis of FCAT science test guidelines to be a collection of poorly written examples, multiple-choice questions where one or more of the wrong responses were actually scientifically correct answers, and definitions that ranged from misleading to totally wrong. State officials seemed unconcerned.

Title IX Lets Girls Be Both Quarterback and Homecoming Queen

| December 13, 2012

Erin DiMeglio made history as the first female in Florida to play quarterback in a varsity high school game, and was elected South Plantation High’s homecoming queen. That wouldn’t have happened without Title IX, the landmark legislation assuring females the same opportunities as boys at both the high school and college levels.

How Legal Weed Might Wash in Florida

| December 11, 2012

Full marijuana legalization is coming, eventually. But if you’re planning to go into the marijuana business, Bill Cotterell argues, you might want to ask Joe Camel what happens a few years down the road.

Civil Citations for Non-Violent Offenses Can Reduce Jail Needs, Court Costs, and Undue Arrests

| December 10, 2012

Even with no criminal intent, we can easily be caught breaking a law. Until now, law enforcement officers in Florida have had only two choices in these circumstances: let you go or arrest you. Civil citations are the smarter alternative, argues Mark Flynn, CEO of the Florida Smart Justice Alliance.

Bullish on 2013: Palm Coast and Flagler Housing Markets in Full Recovery

| December 7, 2012

Have we returned to a normal market? No yet, writes Toby Tobin, but in a bullish analysis of Palm Coast’s and Flagler County’s current housing markets, he expects momentum to build into 2013, with all segments of the market are rising.

Lone Star Reds: The Secessionist Tempest From Texas

| December 4, 2012

Once again, there’s a tempest brewing in the national tea pot. We’re talking secession. Well, some of us are, writes Jim Hightower. Actually, very few are — and some of them aren’t too tightly wrapped.

For African-American Voter Turnout, a New Normal

| December 2, 2012

Ever since the process toward full citizenship of African Americans began with the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, politicians and others have been trying to stop us from exercising the hard fought, hard won right to vote, writes Leslie Watson Malachie. It’s not working anymore.

Donald Trump’s Disciples: Obama’s Victory Still Birthing Dispute in a Tallahassee court

| November 30, 2012

In a largely forgotten court case being litigated in Tallahassee, lawyers are still arguing about whether President Barack Obama was qualified to run for president in the first place.

Jeb Bush Redux: Defeated and Deflated, Republicans Look for Viability in 2016

| November 27, 2012

Early Republican favorites for 2016 include Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan and Jon Huntsman, but the most formidable — and electable — candidate for the Republican Party right now is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, argues Steven Kurlander.

The Conservative Case Against Compromise

| November 24, 2012

A Democrat and one a conservative say Republicans in Congress need to compromise so the government can “get things done,” and that it is better to do something than nothing. No. It is not, argues Lloyd Brown.

Election Post-Mortem

| November 20, 2012

Democracy, or Rule of the People, is still the name of the ridiculously idealistic vision of organizing all of the infinite variations of the delightful human tadpole into a semblance of a community that functions nearly as well as a coterie of Prairie Dogs. We aren’t there yet, but we’re working on it.

Do Prisoners Have a Constitutional Right to Dental Floss?

| November 16, 2012

In Florida, five inmates have separately sued Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in federal court, claiming deprivation of federally protected civil rights through the denial of dental floss. The sheriff is denying it to them. Angel Castillo argues the sheriff is wrong.

Corporal Punishment: When a Religious Exemption Becomes a License to Brutalize

| November 14, 2012

A harrowing recent series in the Tampa Bay Times detailed how for 30 years a handful of homes for troubled youth have used a misguided exemption in Florida law to get away with all manner of abuses by using religion as a shield.

Dan Gelber: Time for a Constitutional Amendment to Ensure Voter Access

| November 13, 2012

It’s very sad that the citizens of Florida need their rights protected from their own government. But if there is anything this last election has taught us, it’s that our right to vote is clearly imperiled in Florida, argues Dan Gelber.

Global Warming and Hurricane Sandy’s Wake-Up Call

| November 10, 2012

The frightening consequences of climate disruption that scientists have warned us about for decades are already here. Sandy is only the latest and most devastating incident in a pattern of extreme weather that’s become impossible to ignore, argues the Sierra Club’s Michael Brune.

Atack vs Moore-Stens: An Attorney’s Evaluation Of the County Judge Race, and a Response

| October 26, 2012

In the Flagler County Court Judge election, Paul Guntharp, a Palm Coast attorney, evaluates the candidacies of Craig Atack and Melissa Moore-Stens, and Atack replies.

The News-Journal’s Predatory Sensationalism On Sex Offenders Near Local Schools

| October 4, 2012

A News-Journal article on 445 registered sex offenders living near Flagler and Volusia elementary schools was dangerously alarming and misleading, argues George Griffin, and perpetuates numerous myths about sex offenders, encouraging bad laws.

Mitt Romney’s Dangerous Game: Making Israel a Wedge Issue in Florida

| October 2, 2012

The Florida Jewish community should see through the false premise that Obama is anything less than stellar on Israel, as Mitt Romney, hoping to score partisan points with Florida’s Jewish vote, has attempted to claim, Dan Gelber argues.

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