The Florida DOT wants to build toll roads in Northeast Florida, Richard Dawkins talks about Adam and Eve, Rubio dithers, Socialists win big in France, Michigan Republicans’ Vagina problem, Charlie Sheen returns, Diane Ravich takes on Mitt Romney, Havana memories, Michael Chabon on the stupidity of dreams, the wonder of books according to Carl Sagan, the cruelty of welfare reform, and more.
The Live Wire
Wire Essentials: June 15
Voter purge deja vu, tea party versus Ronald Reagan, quitting Microsoft in song, when Indianapolis was nuked, Romney’s bullying problem, Marco Rubio votes against food stamps, Fifty Shades of Gray’s origins, and more.
National Spending on Health Rising to One-Fifth of GDP
Actuaries estimate that health spending will account for 19.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, up from 17.9 percent in 2010. On average, 5.7 percent increases in spending are expected for each of the 10 years, although much of the increased spending will come in 2014 and after.
Stop and Frisk Follies
Stop and frisk is a constitutionally suspect police tactic that entails stopping and searching an individual for weapons arbitrarily. The practice disproportionately targets blacks and Latinos while yielding a minimal number of weapons–usually on whites.
Mormon, Yes. Christian, No.
“Being a Christian so often involves such boorish and meanspirited behavior that I marvel that any of my Mormon colleagues are so eager to join the fold,” writes David Mason.
“The Wreckage Was Vast and Startling”: Ernie Pyle on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944
Ernie Pyle on Omaha Beach after the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944 describes a wreckage “vast and startling” along “this shoreline museum of carnage” even as he anticipates inevitable victory for the Allies.
The Fear of Mormons
“Making Mormons look bad helps others feel good,” J. Spencer Fluhman, a Mormon scholar, argues, but it neither explains nor justifies the unresolved prejudices and self-serving veils that cling to Mormon dogma.
Philippe Petit, Still Soaring
“Improvisation,” Philippe Petit says in this absorbing 19-minute Ted talk, “is empowering because it welcomes the unknown. And since what’s impossible is always unknown, it allows me to believe I can cheat the impossible.”
Businesses Don’t Create Jobs. Consumers Do.
Nick Hanauer’s TED talk demolishing the notion that businesses create jobs was allegedly censored by TED. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the controversy around the talk helps spotlight a prevailing dogma worth debating about job creators.
Being Sick in America
The recently ill are more likely to say the cost and quality of care have worsened over the past five years, compared to people who weren’t sick. A significant proportions say their treatment was poorly managed.
Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Senior DVD Now Available
Flagler Palm Coast High School’s senior DVD is the annual feature-length send-off, including highlights of sports, plays, homecoming, teacher goodbyes and senior moments.
The Erosion of Study Time in College
The time college students actually study outside of class has dwindled from 24 hours a week to about 15. The trend is generating debate over how much students really learn, even as colleges raise tuition every year.
Warren Buffett Loves Newspaper Paywalls
Warren Buffett just bought 63 newspapers from Media General, but not the Tampa Tribune, which is in talks with Halifax Media, owner of the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Breastfeeding Frenzy
Time magazine’s cover featuring 26-year-old Jamie Lynne Grumet breastfeeding her nearly 4-year-old son is the latest revival of the old fervors and prejudices surrounding breastfeeding including, unfortunately, the sexualization of an asexual act.
Joe Biden Outs Himself
Joe Biden unequivocally endorsed gay marriage in a Meet the Press interview Sunday, sending the Obama administration scrambling for its latest tangle in hypocrisy.
Non, Sarkozy: In France, François Hollande Brings Socialism Back to Power After 24 Years
Socialist François Hollande is the new French president, defeating Nicolas Sarkozy with 52 percent of the vote, and making the mercurial Sarkozy France’s first one-term president since Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1981
Pot Tourism in Retreat in the Netherlands
Pot tourism over? A Dutch court on Friday upheld a new law that will prevent foreigners from buying marijuana in coffee shops across the Netherlands.
What About the Murder of Justin Patterson (22 and Black)?
Justin Patterson’s murder in Georgia, with shades of the Trayvon Martin case, hasn’t elicited marches, protest, notice on Nancy Grace or Anderson Cooper, or hardly any media.
Comment Sections Are Evil
Website comments have been compared to the writing on (public) bathroom walls or worse. Moderating them is a dirty job. Eliminating them altogether as some squeamish newspapers have, is dirtier still.
Too Much of a God Thing
A new survey finds signs of public uneasiness with the mixing of religion and politics. The number of people who say there has been too much religious talk by political leaders stands at an all-time high since the Pew Research Center began asking the question more than a decade ago.
Flagler NAACP’s 2012 Olympics of the Mind April 14 at the Auditorium
Come out and support Flagler County’s talented young scientists, poets, filmmakers, painters, musicians, writers and lots more, and see Flagler’s high school students reaching for the gold in the 2012 NAACP Olympics of the Mind on April 14.
Another Catholic Ban for “The Laramie Project”
A Catholic school in New Jersey is banning a student production of “The Laramie Project,” the play about a town’s psychology following the murder of a gay student in Wyoming in 1998.
Tim Tebow Gives New York Jets a Wobble and a Prayer
Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets, dashing his hopes of playing for the Jaguars, the Dolphins or the Buccaneers and placing the most ostentatiously pious player in the NFL in the thick of Gotham’s media and liberal glare.
Good News and Bad News for News
The online audience for news is enormous and growing, but the Pew Center’s State of the News Media 2012 report points to declining revenue for news-gathering and a consolidating trend among online giants, with serious implications for civic engagement.
Rush Does SNL
Rush Limbaugh wants you to know that he’s doing just fine with sponsors on his show. The Saturday Night Live cold opening, compliments of Taran Killam.
The GOP’s War on Women: Electoral Bombs From Komen to Rush to Virginia’s Vaginal Probes
The Republican war on women, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker writes, is “a perfect storm of stupefying proportions” that may have ruinous consequences for the GOP at election time. But it was a collapse foretold.
Picasso and Jackson Pollock’s Glass Symphony
Pablo Picasso in his Vallauris workshop, in the 1950 film by Belgian filmmaker Paul Haesaerts, and Jackson Pollock filmed the same year, doing the same thing, by Hans Namuth.
The New iPad in High Definition
The new Apple iPad 3, introduced in San Francisco Wednesday (March 7), ships to stores on March 16. Here’s a quick recap of its main new features and what it means to the tablet industry.
Joe the Plumber, Congressman?
While Dennis Kucinich lost his primary in Ohio’s 9th Congressional district, Samuel Wurzelbacher, also known as Joe (the alleged and tax-evading) plumber, barely won his Republican primary, though he has no chance of beating Marcy Kaptur.
The Myth of Liberal College Indoctrination
Attacking liberal professors and universities as elitists or snobs like Rick Santorum did helps position the conservative movement as a populist enterprise by identifying a predatory elite to which conservatism stands opposed — an otherwise difficult task for a movement strongly backed by holders of economic power.
Rush Limbaugh, Slander Slut
If there ever was a need for a prophylactic to syphilitic discourse, Rush Limbaugh’s latest attack on women makes the case. But insurers won’t cover it.
Why Santorum Flops, Atheists and Muslims
Thursday, 4 p.m. A minor crash causes bigh headaches near Belle Terre Elementary. Kathleen Parker on Santorum’s pandering flops, Jacksonville’s No meat March movement, Florida-style literacy, video of John Steinbeck’s Nobel speech, and the Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.
Indefensible Tasers, Illusions of Homegrown Muslim Terrorists and Big Words: The Live Wire
Louis CK on the meaning of George Carlin, a Florida Taser shot leaves a woman in a permanent coma, the crock of home-grown Muslim terrorists, Seth & Amy on birth control, JFK’s church loyalties, and more.
Clapping Palm Coast’s Tony Capela, Santorum on Steroids, Dustin Hoffman on Sex: The Live Wire
The News-Journal finally makes good on its story on Tony Capela’s Russell Crowe impersonations in Palm Coast’s street department, Special Forces and Rick Santorum want to go rogue, culture wars return, and more.
Fox’s Islamist Gene, 9/11 Conspiracies, Planned Parenthood Reborn: The Live Wire
What Fox News’s right-wingers have in common with Sharia-loving Islamists, stem-cell hype, 10 best Super Bowl ads, deadly sugar substitutes, the war on Planned Parenthood, and more.
Bunnell Takes Tallahassee; Bill to Ban Internet Cafes Clears Florida House Committee: The Live Wire
4:35 p.m.Bunnell’s Daisy Henry turns ambassador at League of Cities; the proposed ban on internet cafes cleared the House Economic Affairs Committee 12-6 Wednesday. Opponents of the bill call it a job killer, but proponents look to curb a proliferation of low-stakes gambling halls. Also, Fox Business takes on the Muppets, and they snark back; St. Johns County schools, best in the state, face a $9 million deficit, when adolescent girls need exorcism, and the bogus supremacy of Stradivarius violins.
Gingrich Momentum in Florida Has Vanished, Romney Win Expected
4:36 p.m….Flip-flop again: the Gingrich lead in Florida was short-lived and, as it turns out, not so sweet. Romney is back ahead, comfortably, and expecting a solid win on Tuesday. In a rare victory for the 4th Amendment, the US Supreme Court rules unanimously against police “intrusion” by way of GPS tracking, when it’s physically tacked onto private property, including vehicles on public roads.
Live Wire: Newt Gingrich, Open Marriage Man
Newt Gingrich’s second ex-wife says he lacks the moral character to be president and describes how he wanted a wife and a mistress. Scott opposes Internet cafes; Wikipedia and other big websites go dark to protest the invasive Stop Online Piracy Act, states look to online gambling to plug their deficits, Diego Rivera ignites the Museum of Modern Art, a short history of atheism, and more.
Don’t Let It Happen
The the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act give the federal government unprecedented powers to censor or block access to websites judged to be carrying pirated music or videos, a power usually associated with authoritarian regimes.
Live Wire: Florida Budget Shortfall Remains at $2 Billion; US Marines Urinate on Taliban Corpses
The latest numbers from the State Revenue Estimating Conference leave Florida’s 2012 revenue stuck with a $2 billion deficit the Legislature must plug. The Pentagon is scrambling to contain damage from a video showing four US Marines apparently urinating on three dead Taliban fighters, a violation of the Geneva Convention.
Farewell to Christopher Hitchens, Newt Ginrich’s G Spot and Andy Kaufman: The Live Wire
How Christopher Hitchens could fly-swat Sean Hannity in five words flat, the end of YouTube as we knew it, newspapers’ deaths within five years, the shame of McDowell County, West Virginia, and more.
School Uniforms Decision Moved to Jan. 17, Voucher Tax Scams and Carlin: The Live Wire
Florida legislators are again planning an expansion of the corporate tax break that siphons money from public to private education, the dirtiest job on the internet, your brain on sex, and more.
God Nuts vs. Obama, Gluttons and the Real Shakespeare: The Live Wire
When Obama doesn’t mention god, why Carlsberg is the greatest beer in the world, Newt as the latest flavor of the month, teachers cheating to the test, Updike’s “November,” and more.
Henry Flagler Dies, Vegas on Pot, Will Ferrell’s Lies, Regulation Myths: The Live Wire
An update on Henry Flagler’s death, FCAT’s coming F schools, Peter Gabriel gives a full concert, Jim Romenesko leaves Poynter under an undeserved cloud, Dubai goes flash mob, and more.
Marco Rubio’s Lies, Shoe-Thrower’s Index, Coal Thugs: The Live Wire
Marco Rubio’s lies about his parents’ “exile” and Cuban journeys unravel, the Arab Spring’s shoe-thrower’s index, GOP presidential hopefuls are delirious with flat tax fever, and more.
Jesus and Wall Street, Zero Tolerance, Zero Intelligence, 9/11’s Controversial Photo: The Live Wire
Judge Steve Teske and the stupidity of zero tolerance policies, Thomas Hoepker’s controversial 9/11 photo from the Brooklyn waterfront revisited.
Flag-Pin Fanaticism in St. Augustine, Huxley’s LSD, Occupying Anger: The Live Wire
A graph-by-graph illustration of what the Occupy Wall Street crowds are angry about, Clint Eastwood’s Thelonius Monk, U.S. flag pins get banned in a St. Augustine hotel, and more.
False Sunshine, Rick Perry’s Niggerhead Problem, Groucho’s 121st: The Live Wire
Rick Perry’s self-destruction speeds up, Kenneth Starr wants the US Supreme Court on TV, Jacques Derrida deconstructs American journalists and universities, proof that Mondays suck, and more
Rick Scott’s Rising Radicalism, Obama’s Failing leadership, Housing Pains: The Live Wire
Rick Scott’s Texas obsessions, poverty rising, death penalty barbarity in Georgia, housing forecast shows pain through 2015, Sarah Palin’s welfare state, and much more.
Florida Gun Nuts, Evils of Going Green, Blacks and Marriage, Allen West’s Idiocy: The Live Wire
Florida law as a gun to local governments’ heads, when GIs executed children in Iraq, a sickness beyond Fox, Is Marriage for White People?, homeland security sex, Allen West’s stupid comments on the Arab Spring, and more.
