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Parent Trigger Bill: A Trojan Horse of Corporate Charter Schools

| March 20, 2013

The so-called parent-trigger bill does not empower parents. Rather, it empowers out-of-state corporate interests and their lobbyists to siphon Florida tax dollars away from our already underfunded public school system, argues Paula Dockery.

Sarah Palin in Lakeland: Locking and Loading Assault Weapons With Jesus

| March 18, 2013

Sarah Palin urged her faithfuls to “cling to your god, your guns, your Constitution,” a seamless ideology that would have Jesus waving the American flag with one hand and clicking off the safety of his assault rifle with the other, writes Cary McMullen.

Florida’s Two-Faced Feedback to Teachers: Do as We Say, Not As We Fail to Do

| March 17, 2013

The Florida Department of Education expects its teachers to give immediate and detailed feedback to students on all work, yet the state will take three months to produce FCAT results, and it will do so without one iota of feedback other than a grade. Jo Ann Nahirny explores the hypocrisy.

Missing Memorials to Two Lost Wars

| March 17, 2013

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, but as Iraq and Afghanistan have been lost, the focus of memorials has shifted from wars to the cult of the soldiers, while victims of war are as always passed over in silence.

Drawing the Line on Big Beer

| March 16, 2013

AB InBev is truly a beverage behemoth, owning 200 beer brands, including Budweiser, Becks, Stella, Michelob, and St. Pauli Girl. It wants to take over Mexico’s Grupo Modelo, which owns the Corona brands and others. Consolidation is raising prices and narrowing consumer choice.

Florida Ethics Commissioner to Legislature: Close Loopholes in Reform Bill

| March 14, 2013

Ethics Commissioner Matt Carlucci says an ethics reform bill adds teeth to previously weak enforcement, but would also open a loophole that would give politicians greater immunity from prosecution while increasing the costs of ethics cases.

Beyond Sheriff Joe’s Tactics: Looking at Prison Reform in Florida With Fresh Eyes

| March 14, 2013

Analyzing Florida’s prisons and jails is a revelation of unsustainable incarceration rates and prison-building, argues Milissa Holland, who explores more logical alternatives to end the vicious cycle of punishment and recidivism.

Argentina’s Jorge Mario Bergoglio is Francis I, Church’s First Non-European Pope, Post-Columbus

| March 13, 2013

76-year-old Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires is the first-ever South American pope, the first non-European pope in a millennium, and the first-ever pope to name himself Francis (Francis I), after St. Francis, patron saint of the poor.

Sunshine Week: Improving State Legislatures’ Transparency

| March 12, 2013

Think about the American Legislative Exchange Council’s secret lobbying in favor of “Stand Your Ground” legislation to at least 15 states. Lobbyists were backed by corporate special interests – a fact the public was left in the dark about. Additionally, there was little way to easily track how this law was passed in Florida. That’s just one example of the kind of copycat legislation peddled to state legislatures.

Israel’s Apartheid Bus Lines

| March 7, 2013

Israel’s transportation ministry gave in to Israeli colonists’ demands that they not have to ride buses with Palestinians, and started two segregated bus lines for Palestinians only.

Sequestering Florida’s Children And Their Schools

| March 4, 2013

The across-the-board federal budget cuts, known as sequestration, will slow our economic recovery and cost upwards of a million jobs nationally. But here in Florida, the sequestration knife cuts especially deep, particularly in the already underfunded field of public education, writes Katie Hansen.

Give the Post Office a Break

| March 3, 2013

If the Postal Service were run like Congress, postal workers would only show up on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays — except when they were on vacation, which would be a lot, argues Donald Kaul.

In Search of Civility in Our Political Life

| February 28, 2013

How have we reached a point when anger, obstructionism, bipartisanship and manufactured crises have replaced diplomacy, cooperation, negotiation and problem solving? Paula Dockery asks and answers.

Repeat Folly: Florida Prepares to Boom Again By Busting Local Environmental Authority

| February 27, 2013

Bills in the Florida Legislature would take away Flagler’s and other counties’ authority to ensure that development doesn’t sprawl without required infrastructure, and would virtually demolish environmental land acquisition programs. Milissa Holland argues that such bills make a mockery of local control.

In Rubio’s Republican Party, Appeals To Victimhood Are Getting Old

| February 25, 2013

Republicans over the last decade or so have become a party that tethered their Election Day successes to an appeal to the lesser angels in people, on convincing voters they need to fear forces trying to take things away from them, that they need to look out for Number One, argues Dan Gelber.

From Guernica to Who Gives a Damn: Modern Warfare’s Droning Savagery

| February 22, 2013

There was a time when people could actually be shocked by the slaughter of civilians during a war. No more. We kid ourselves that our warfare is moral and clean and good and that it’s the other guys who commit the war crimes. Don’t believe it, argues Donald Kaul.

Online Booking Companies’ Tax Evasion Fleeces Flagler Tourism and Florida Dues

| February 20, 2013

Online booking companies like Expedia and Hotels.com are short-changing Flagler and Florida of millions of dollars in sales and bed taxes, and unfairly competing with local hotels, argues Milissa Holland, yet the Legislature is looking to give those companies more tax breaks. It’s not the way to go.

Rubio’s Rebuttal: A GOP Disaster Reminiscent of Romney, With Hispanic Hues

| February 20, 2013

The performance by Florida’s junior senator following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union was an epic failure, argues Rhonda Swan. If Marco Rubio is the savior of the Republican Party, members of the GOP should start looking for their lifeboats.

Short Skirts, and How Fatherhood Is Changing My Politics

| February 18, 2013

Since having a baby, Peter Schorsch finds himself agreeing more with Rick Santorum and less with Beyoncé, whose short-skirt performance at the Super Bowl left his tongue hanging, but not out of desire. He has a daughter to think about.

Zero Dark Thirty’s Tortured, Losing Premise

| February 17, 2013

Zero Dark Thirty is a movie the CIA wants you to see. Torture is illegal under U.S. and international law and it is utterly immoral. It doesn’t “work,” but that’s beside the point to the movie-makers, argues Chris Toensing. The result is disturbing for all the wrong reasons.

This Is London: Of Returning to England After 34 Years of Happy Exile

| February 16, 2013

Making a return trip to England to celebrate a brother’s 50th birthday, after a 34-year absence, is occasion for reflection about the meaning of time, an unlikely vacation and the most seductive sounds of a train announcer anywhere in the world.

Ending American Agriculture’s Unhealthy Journey Toward the $4.99 Bag of Potato Chips

| February 13, 2013

We can’t begin to reduce our surging healthcare costs in this country without addressing affordability and accessibility to healthier foods, by not educating the users of the system on personal responsibility and choices, and by moving toward more locally grown food, argues Milissa Holland.

Gov. Scott, a Big-Spending Liberal? Not So Fast.

| February 12, 2013

As everyone anticipated, the attack on Gov. Rick Scott by liberals has begun. No surprise there, as he is the next conservative in the cross-hairs. But at times it borders on the absurd, argues Lloyd Brown.

John Fischer’s Hate Speech

| February 10, 2013

In twice calling for a return of school prayer in the last three weeks, Flagler County School Board member John Fischer did so not from good will but out of angry resentment for “special interests” and “political correctness” that he claims are standing in the way of “our rights.” He is offensively wrong, and the school board should resist his call to prayer.

The Missing Link in Ever-Rising Health Care Costs: Personal Responsibility

| February 7, 2013

Car insurance costs go down when drivers drive responsibly for a few years. A similar approach to health care could help bring costs down, but first, Milissa Holland argues, people must take responsibility for their own health and lifesrtyles–and the way they seek out medical help: the ER is usually not the answer.

School Security’s Buy-A-Cop Delusions

| February 3, 2013

The Flagler County School board this week will debate adoption of a new security plan that includes adding armed cops in elementary schools. The approach would be costly, ineffective, and more emotional than intelligent. Smarter approaches–and far greater priorities–abound.

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.

Beyond Doctor’s Orders: When Health and Fitness Are Not Always a Matter of Choice

| January 30, 2013

The discipline it takes aside, getting healthy can be costly, writes Milissa Holland, in many more ways than one: healthy food is more expensive, exercise isn’t always as easy as deciding to do it, and even health insurance plans for the poor are becoming intractable. An invitation to discuss a central issue in most people’s lives.

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.

What an Ode to Farting, Drug-Dealing’s Benefits and the FCAT Have in Common

| January 27, 2013

A Matanzas High School student who wrote a humorous essay on the health benefits of drug-dealing was threatened with a referral, though his teacher gave him a near-top grade: Jo Ann Nahirny explains how FCAT rewards dull, stupid and bad writing at the expense of creativity.

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