“When a hillbilly sings a crazy song,” Hank Wiliams once said, “he feels crazy. When he sings, “I Laid My Mother Away,” he sees her a-laying right there in the coffin.”
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Polk Sheriff Subjects Teen Girls to Rape Exam–After Dates
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd arrested two 18-year-old boys for fondling their 14- and 15-year old dates, and subjected the girls to a rape exam.
Democracy By Default in Bunnell: Robinson, Tucker, Henry Re-Elected Without Opposition
What happens when you hold an election and nobody shows up? You get Bunnell: 3 city commissioners, unopposed in their last election, were sworn in Monday.
Health Reform’s Bigger Windfalls for Florida
while there are still many unknowns about how the new federal health-care laws will be implemented, Florida stands to do very well financially and socially.
Conklin to Crist: Children Are More Than Test Scores
Flagler School Board member Colleen Conklin urges Gov. Charlie Crist to veto Senate Bill 6, which she terms “political” and “inappropriate” for children’s education.
Stolz to Crist: I Am Tired of Teachers
Peter Stolz, a former teacher from Palm Coast, urges Gov. Charlie Crist to sign Senate Bill 6 into law.
James Baldwin: A Talk to Teachers
James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers” from 1963 is an apt counterpoint to Florida lawmakers’ attempt, in 2010, to demolish public school teachers and replace the profession with Darwinian hostility.
Art in the Park 2010: A Photo Gallery
A look at the winners and other participants in the Flagler County Art League’s showcase event.
Color and Colossus at Flagler’s Art in the Park
The Flagler County Art League’s annual Art in the Park exhibit jammed up Flagler Palm Coast High School’s lawns with color–and competition.
iPhonies: Chinese Knock-Off Scam Based in Palm Coast
Palm Coast’s Mary Losito was allegedly buying fake $30 iPhones and selling them for $350.
Ed Asner Takes on FDR at Flagler Auditorium
Ed Asner channels his liberal sensibilities as “FDR” in a one-man show on Roosevelt’s four-term presidency (and longer affair).
Is KKK Recruiting in Palm Coast?
A resident of Palm Coast’s U Section along Seminole Woods awoke Easter morning to a recruiting packet in his driveway from the KKK.
Florida House: Medicaid “Reform” for All?
House leaders late Monday released a proposal that would require almost all beneficiaries statewide to enroll in managed-care plans — including seniors who need long-term care.
1-Year-Old Rescued from Palm Coast Meth Lab
Palm Coast parents of a 1-year-old child are charged with meth manufacturing and possession and child neglect.
Farewell to I-95
This morning’s commute, from home to government complex, was 3.1 miles, most of it unimpeded even by Palm Coast’s reputedly unbearable traffic.
Flagler to Desal Group: Nice Knowin’ Ya
The $50,000 expense to remain even a mere non-voting member of the Coquina desalination consortium was too much for the Flagler County Commission.
“Pacific” a Sequel To Exalt War Passions
The Pacific war was not a sequel. It is here, with all the hand-me-down fatigues of war sequels.
Philip Roth’s Great American Fart
Kids love farts, don’t they? Even today, with all the drugs and sex and violence you hear about on TV, they still get a kick, as we used to, out of a fart.
US Economy Adds 162,000 Jobs, 1st Increase Since 2007
U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the first time the economy adds a significant number of jobs since November 2007, when it added 94,000. The March unemployment rate was unchanged, at 9.7 percent, with some 15 million people unemployed (compared with 13.3 million unemployed a year ago). The situation remains grim for the long-term […]
Jonathan May, Conductor of Youths’ Fugues
To perform with Jonathan was to love him, and to love him was to live the joy that was his musical offering.
Unveiling Stereotypes at Stetson University
Undergraduates not used to wearing their religion on their sleeve, at least not Islam, wore one not even their own around their face–Islam’s most explosive symbol.
News-Journal Sale Delayed–Again–Pending Appraisals
A federal judge delayed the $20 million sale of the News-Journal pending appraisals of some $9 million in real estate.
Delbrugge To Resign and Head for Mideast
Flagler County School Superintendent Bill Delbrugge announced on Feb. 11 his resignation and intention to lead a school district in the Middle East.
Taking Back America–from Tea Party Phonies
If Thomas Jefferson had heard Sarah Palin or Marco Rubio, he’d have had to ask how such a smart country would put up with such an obvious phonies and loons.
What If Tim Tebow Had Been Aborted?
By linking abortion with a life fully lived, Tebow is pretending to tell us something about the mysteries of life’s origins that nobody knows — not Tebow, not Pope Benedict, not Stephen Hawking, not my pet ferret, if I had one.
Rubio’s Health Care “Model” Isn’t Functioning
Marco Rubio says the nation should adopt his Florida Health Choices, claiming its market approach is “happening right now.” He’s wrong. Florida Health Choices has yet to insure anyone.
Weimar Germany’s Shadow Creep on Main Street
Philip A. Farruggio argues that the United States is forgetting the lessons of 1930s Germany–and Sinclair Lewis’ prophetic warnings–at its own risk.
He Had His Moments, But…
There’s too much reaching for the old magic–which is just the problem: this lunge for “magic,” this desire to make the impossible real, when it should be the other way around.
16.9% Unemployment in Flagler, 11.6% in Fla.
One in six working-age adult is out of work in Flagler County, the highest proportion in the county’s history.
Haiti Earthquake Photo Gallery
A 30-image photo gallery of the devastation following the 7.0 earthquake that demolished Haiti’s Port au Prince the afternoon of Jan. 12.
Americans Owe More to Haiti Than They Know
Well beyond earthquake relief, an American commitment to independence and democracy in Haiti would not be a favor, a gift or an indulgence. It would be the down payment of an incalculable debt long overdue.
Is This Harry Reid Cartoon Offensive?
The Omaha World Herald’s sanctimony over a skin-tone cartoon is more offensive than Harry Reid’s misjudgment.
Now Showing: Coming Theater Near You
Palm Coast’s 14-screen movie theater is rising fast in Town Center, but questions remain whether the county can support a major cineplex.
Black Crow Sued Over $38.9 Million Debt
GE Capital wants its own receiver to take over Black Crow Media and recover GE’s $38.9 million loan.
Prohibition’s Binge of Sanctimony
On the history and stupidity of Prohibition, the 13-year binge of sanctimony that a minority of eugenics fans and anti-German racists imposed on the majority.
Bomb-Scare Bank Robbery in Bunnell
For the third time in seven years, a bank in Bunnell — the same bank — was robbed at midday on Dec. 31, this time by a man who claimed he was armed with a bomb.
New Fees at Belle Terre Swim Club
The school-board owned and managed club in Palm Coast is lowering some fees and offering a new, six-month deal to appeal to snowbirds.
My Ten Predictions for 2010
“All prophesies are wrong, therefore this one will be wrong,” Orwell said. So here are mine for the coming year of our blogs, 2010.
Why It’s Taking So Long to Close Guantanamo
By Dafna Linzer As we have reported throughout the year, the Obama administration has been serially hampered in its efforts to shutter the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It underestimated [2] the time needed to close the facility and was unprepared for Congressional opposition. Finding countries to adopt detainees has proven difficult, and only this […]
Brighthouse, Worst Company in Florida
Brighthouse puts a happy face on its business. For customers of cable and internet service, Brighthouse can be a miserable experience. If it’s customer care you’re looking for, it ain’t there.
Disney’s Monorail System Goes Off Course
An accident, a death, 300 stranded passengers: Disney’s monorail system is in disarray. 911 calls included.
Teddy Roosevelt on Socialism
Many of the men who call themselves Socialists to-day are in reality merely radical social reformers, with whom on many points good citizens can and ought to work in hearty general agreement.
A Health Care Deal out of Arab Bazars
For all the missteps, for all of Obama’s prevarications and defanged tactics, the end result will (should the bill pass) vindicate whatever he did, however he did it. What was bound to be a colossal battle turned out to unravel the worst and little of the best about America.
One Arrest, One Get-Away in Palm Coast Armed Robbery
A 19-year-old Palm Coast teenager was arrested and charged with armed robbery on Dec. 15 shortly after allegedly pulling a gun on two individuals walking along Boulder Rock Dr. in Palm Coast around 11:18 a.m. that morning. A second suspect allegedly involved in the robbery is still at large. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office reports […]
A Weigh Station Runs Through It
A state proposal to move and supersize a weigh station closer to Palm Coast on U.S. 1 is drawing concerted opposition from Palm Coast, Bunnell and the School Board. The transportation Department may not be listening.
Nimby, Nimbyism and Nimbyists
Nimbyism is a particularly American reflection of the material value ascribed to real estate. The materialism is expressed through the more high-minded lens of property rights or the idealistic, if often opportunistic, lens of environmental stewardship.
Obama’s Nobel Lecture: “Bend History”
In his Nobel peace prize lecture, Barack Obama evoked the notions of just wars to counter the irony of being “the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars.”
Initial Unemployment Claims Up 17,000
Weekly unemployment claims are up 17,000 from the previous week’s unrevised figure of 457,000. The 4-week moving average was 473,750, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week.
Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering’s origins had plenty to do with the wily efforts of Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts in 1812, whose redistricting scheme ensured that Democrats would clobber Federalists in elections.
Quit Dithering: Let Them Ask and Tell
Any soldier’s morale faint enough to be affected by a fellow-soldier’s sexual inclination is a warning that that soldier’s fibers may not be worth the fatigues he’s wearing. Homophobia, not homosexuality, is the sickness in the deal.