The House of Representatives panel charged with redrawing the state’s political boundaries will unveil a slate of options for the state’s congressional and state House districts Tuesday, setting the stage for discussions that could affect the balance of power in Florida for a decade.
Beyond
Durban Dithers: As Climate Changes With Costly and Ruinous Fallout, Obama Chills
The volume of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere in 2010 leapt a record 6 percent from the year before. Planetary pollution is now worse than what scientists predicted as the worst-case scenario four years ago. That means global warming will be correspondingly worse than previous worst-case scenarios, too.
In Praise of Tom Wicker, Antidote to the Age of Reagan
Tom Wicker, the Times columnist for 25 years, wrote as if he’d seen the country’s best days. He probably had even then, having witnessed the eight years of Reagan taking out a second, third and fourth mortgage on the nation’s prosperity while making Americans feel like a million bucks.
The Rich Are Different From You and Me
Donald Kaul responds to questions raised by his recent “class-war-is-over-the-rich-guys-won” column, demystifying wealth, taxes and other dogmas.
Palm Coast Observer Bucks Bleaker Newspaper Trends As Weekly Nears 2-Year Mark
The Palm Coast Observer’s latest audit shows a weekly print run of 25,000 and a household reach in Palm Coast exceeding 60 percent, compared with the News-Journal’s daily reach of 20 percent.
Sisco Deen on the Meaning of Veterans Day, Frank W. Buckles and Mackenzie’s Card
In a moving tribute to veterans and Frank Buckles, the late, last World War I veteran, Sisco Deen, Flagler County’s archivist, reminds us why we must “always remember and honor those who have served and dedicated their lives to our country.”
The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan in Normandy
Reagan’s speech at Normandy’s Pointe du Hoc on June 6, 1984, commemorating the 40th anniversary of D-Day, is one of his noblest, especially in retrospect, for what he said about the cold war, the Soviet Union and nuclear weapons.
Florida’s Latest Immigrants: Undocumented Workers Fleeing Alabama’s Harsh Vise
Reversing Florida’s recent population loss, there’s been an influx of undocumented workers moving to Florida from Alabama as a result of a newly passed state law, the harshest immigration enforcement measure in the country.
Walmart Wants To Be Your Health Care Provider
Walmart wants to become by “the largest provider of primary healthcare services in the nation,” according to a request for information from potential partners sent the same week Walmart–the nation’s largest private employer–scaled back its health coverage for employees.
Secret Donors, Unlimited Contributions, Super-PAC Elections as FEC Stalemates
Nearly two years after a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down key restrictions in campaign finance law, the Fderal Elections Commission still hasn’t begun the process of changing its regulations to comply with the ruling.
NFL Teams Blacked Out in Local Florida Markets Would Be Fined $125,000 Per Game
Last season, eight home games were blacked out because of poor ticket sales even as professional sports franchises reap millions in taxpayer subsidies every year.
Backyard Beirut: Florida’s NRA-Loaded Gun Rules Drill Bullets In Local Ordinances
Guns in child care centers. Guns in county parks. Guns at city hall. All allowed now in Florida. So is your neighbor’s right to shoot off guns in the backyard, even if bullets stray over to yours as Florida’s NRA-inspired gun laws pre-empt local reason.
News-Journal Circulation Drops Another 4.5%, Now Below 9,000 in Flagler Households
The News-Journal’s losses–the paper now reaches just a fifth of Flagler households–are at odds with gains at the St. Augustine Record and an end to declines, for now, at the Orlando Sentinel and the Jacksonville Times-Union.
CAIR-Off: Tea Party’s Daytona Beach Convention Mired in Islamophobic Controversy
Pam Geller, an anti-Muslim blogger, is a speaker at this weekend’s tea party convention in Daytona Beach. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was invited to respond, then dis-invited.
Those Airport X-Ray Machines? Cancer Risk. Yet Government Dismisses Cautions
Airport X-ray scanners could give cancer to six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year, research suggests, yet the TSA still calls scanners safe, glossing over evidence that even low-dose radiation increases cancer risks. European airports ban their use.
Occupy Flagler Awakes the State Today as Movements Merge in Defense of Middle Class
The Occupy Flagler-Awake the State demonstration is taking place today at Belle Terre Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway, on the Kohl’s side of the street, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
With $16 Million in Incentives, Florida Lands Boeing’s Manned Space Flight Venture
Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation-100 or CST-100, might employ 500 by 2015, when the space shuttle replacement vehicle would begin commercial launches as part of the private-public Space Florida venture at the Kennedy Space Center.
Heist in Print: How Newspapers Sold Their Soul to Business Brigands
Ethics in newspaper media, such as the once-inviolable church-state wall between newsrooms and the business department, are for the most part history as newspapers seek profits at the expense of public trust, Donald Kaul argues.
Andrew Young, a Civil Rights Star, Glitters Over African American Cultural Society’s 20th
Andrew Young headlined Palm Coast’s African American Cultural Society’s 20th anniversary celebration Sunday with humor, a little Martin Luther King memorabilia, and a lot of pragmatic hope about American culture.
What I Learned Occupying Wall Street and DC
The unemployed, the foreclosed, and the sick-of-it-all are coming together to discuss the world that we want to see and how to get there, says Lacy MacAuley, an activist, in an attempt to define the movement’s purpose.
Herman Cain: Myths, Facts, 9-9-9s: A Guide
Herman Cain’s background and origins: a guide to the best coverage of the GOP presidential contender from a variety of sources, including analyses of his 999 tax plan.
Beyond Qaddafi’s Good Riddance
Chest-thumping illusions aside, there wasn’t much difference between the killing of Qaddafi and the killing of bin Laden, and America’s coddling of other Arab dictators carries on.
Palm Coast Pinch-Hits for Troubled Marathon Promoter Dean Reinke, Securing TDC Grant
Half-Marathon promoter Dean Reinke’s Dean Reinke Sports Group attempted three times to get Tourist Development Council subsidies in the last two years and was turned down because of deceptive practices. Palm Coast government stepped in and got the grant for the January event.
A Florida Bank’s Rise and Fall Spotlights Fast-and-Loose Culture Plaguing the Economy
The rise and fall of U.S. Century, whose leaders used it as their own corporate ATM, exemplifies the failure to regulate banking during the boom years and the slipshod approach to the bailout. Losers are taxpayers and Florida residents grappling with ill effects of sprawl.
Annual French Market in Daytona Beach Oct. 29, Nov. 19 and Dec. 3
Daytona Beach’s “French Market has been so successful for the Downtown merchants and restaurants, we are looking to make it a permanent community event in the Fall each year,” Director Stacey Lipton says.
The 99% Answer the 53%
In what has turned into one of the most virally circulated pieces of the year, Max Udargo explains the Occupy Wall Street movement to a conservative critic who calls himself part of the 53 percent.
CLASS Act No More: Obama Ends Long-Term Care Program in Defeat for Health Reform
The Obama administration determined the CLASS Act program could not simultaneously meet three important criteria: be self-sustaining, financially sound for 75 years and affordable to consumers.
Herman Cain, Calling Himself “Häagen-Dazs Black Walnut,” Gets Front-Runner Flavor
Between the collapse of fellow-Republican candidates, his folksiness and the appealing simplicity of his 9-9-9 plan, Herman Cain is now leading Rick Perry and Mitt Romney among Republican voters.
In Praise of Steve Jobs
Lionel Rolfe, the writer and journalist, chronicles Steve Jobs’s influence on capitalism, cybernetics, typography, Rolfe’s own work and, to some extent, his life.
Obama’s Job Creation Record: Millions Created or Saved, Still Too Few to Overcome Crisis
While the $825 billion stimulus raised employment from at least 1 million to 3.3 million people and significantly softened the recession, subsequent cutbacks at all level of governments reversed the gains and prevented a sustained recovery.
Occupy Wall Street Protests Spreading to Florida–Jacksonville, Gainesville and Ocala
Occupy Wall Street, the tea party’s growing flip-side movement, is organizing a series of protests across the nation and in a half dozen cities in Florida, from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa.
Report Shows How Far Florida and Other States Are Scuttling Voting Rights and Turnout
Reductions in early voting days, ending voting-day address changes for registered voters, clamping down on registration drives and other new rules could make it harder for 5 million people to vote in 2012, which may be just what GOP-led legislatures passing those laws aimed for.
Of Course It’s Class Warfare. And the Rich Are Winning in a Rout.
Republicans are accusing President Obama of waging class warfare, which, Donald Kaul argues, is a little like the Japanese complaining about the time Pearl Harbor attacked them in 1941.
Florida’s Bondi, 25 States and Obama Ask U.S. Supreme Court To Take Up Health Law
Florida Attorney general Pam Bondi led 26 states’ call to the US Supreme Court to take on Obama’s health care law. So did the Obama administration, as the court prepares to convene for its new term on Monday.
Hidden Pay Cut: Health Premiums Soar Again, Hitting Families Hardest, as Earnings Stagnate
Health insurance premium costs rose 9 percent for families in 2011, reversing four years of slower premium increases and again raising questions about long-term health costs.
Check the Box Scoundrels: Corporations Lobby to Preserve a $10 Billion Loophole
The ‘check-the-box’ rule, meant to cut red tape for companies, has inadvertently allowed them to avoid billions of dollars in taxes each year, and the government keeps balking at closing the loophole.
Herman Cain? Seriously? He Wins Florida Straw Poll, Upending GOP Race
Herman Cain, a pizza magnate seen as a minor candidate in a crowded field for the GOP nomination, scored an upset victory Saturday in the Republican Party of Florida’s Presidency 5 straw poll, raising questions about the standing of the two front-runners and the bellwether status of the fundraising event.
Republican Candidates’ Women Problems
Although none of the GOP presidential candidates dares utter the W word — unless it’s part of the phrase “our men and women in uniform” — it’s pretty easy to see what their views are on issues concerning the sex that comprises a majority of voters, argues Martha Burk.
Georgia’s Killing of Troy Davis: A State-Sponsored Miscarriage of Justice
Troy Davis’s execution at 7 p.m. Wednesday is an extreme example of why the death penalty system is broken, barbaric, and should be abolished.
Palestinian Statehood: Deserved, Overdue, Inevitable
The Obama administration’s attempts to block Palestinian statehood at the United Nations scorn American ideals and pander to Israel’s insistence on denying Palestinians’ right to exist. The outcome will be ruinous.
Malaise from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama: Recalling the “Crisis of Confidence” Speech
Jimmy Carter’s malaise speech is revisited in the more positive context in which it was initially received, when the nation faced an energy and self-confidence crisis. Barack Obama is not in Carter territory yet.
Incomes at Their Worst Since 1996, Poverty At a 52-Year High, Inequality Deepening
Florida’s poverty rate rose to the highest level in 16 years, with 3 million residents—one in six—living under the poverty line in 2010. Nationally, most economic and health insurance indicators are worsening to historic levels.
Since 9/11: A Reckoning
Moving tributes and grief aside, one lesson of the last 10 years is that we have yet to learn the lesson of the last 10 years: we are not only on a spiral downward. We are feeding the spiral, collectively and consciously. We should all be mourners, and not just for 9/11’s victims.
Jets Cut Mardy Gilyard Five Days After Picking Him Up, Leaving His Future Uncertain
The St. Louis Rams cut Mardy Gilyard on Sept. 3, the New York Jets picked him up on the 4th, then cut him five days later. The former Flagler Palm Coast High School and University of Cincinnati star has had a checkered few years.
Palm Coast’s Joann Boardman, 48, Found Dead in Maine After Her Son’s Wedding
Joann Boardman, 48, had been attending her son’s wedding in Maine. She was found in her car, submerged, beyond a state road that ends at the water’s edge near Bar Harbor, Maine.
Armed Robbery, Then Car, Foot and K-9 Chase Ends With Arrest of 3 in Seminole Woods
Three suspects who allegedly robbed an Ormond Beach pharmacy at gunpoint were caught by Bunnell police and sheriff’s deputies around noon after a car and foot chase that ended in the woods near Belle Terre and Citation Blvd.
Federal COBRA Insurance Subsidies End, Aggravating Strains for the Unemployed
Federal COBRA subsidies for laid-off workers covered 65 percent of premium costs for 15 months, as part of the Obama administration’s 2009 stimulus package. GOP lawmakers blocked an extension.
Palm Coast Fire Department Is Presented A Flag That Flew at 9/11’s Three Sacred Sites
John Pickard, a member of Palm Coast’s fire police and a member of the 911 Foundation riders flew the flag at the Pentagon, at the Shanksville, Pa., United Flight 93 crash site, and at Ground Zero in Manhattan.
Zero Job Creation in August as Economy, Recession-Bound, Posts Year’s Worst Showing
Even as the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent, job creation stalled in August, and was revised downward in June and July, signaling a recession.
A 6% Tax on Bottled Water in Florida: Ormond Beach’s Sen. Lynn Revives Proposal
The bottled-water tax in Florida would pay for repairing environmental damage from trashed plastic. The water industry is opposing Ormond Beach Sen. Evelyn Lynn’s proposal.