On Point reviews the week’s main events, including Palm Coast’s park construction past and future, the city’s half-marathon promoter’s troubles, a mess of wrecks, and more.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Health Care Reform Ruled Unconstitutional; Florida Judge’s Decision Up Next
Monday’s ruling doesn’t stop the roll-out of federal health care reform. Two federal judges have previously ruled the law constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court will settle the issue by 2012 or 2013.
The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol and Beguiling Genders: Culture Worth the Miles
Three actors portray all of the characters in Dickens’ Christmas Carol at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center, Michael Andrew at the Plaza Theater, The Nutcracker (of course) by the Orlando Ballet, and more.
A Confederacy of Bipartisan Dunces
Obama’s deal with a minority of Republicans over extending tax cuts and adding $900 billion to the national debt is the latest in three decades of bipartisan collusion between Washington and the myth of American power.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 8-hr 38mn Speech on Obama’s Deal With the GOP
On Dec. 10, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent, held the floor of the Senate for eight hours and 38 minutes in a remarkable filibuster-like speech opposing Obama’s tax deal with the GOP. Here’s the full speech.
Turnout Strategy: Florida’s War on Federal Health Care Reform Targets 2012 Ballot
Florida Senate Republicans approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would exempt Floridians from following federal health care reform mandates. The 2012 ballot measure is intended to bring out anti-Obama voters.
Prosecutorial Impotence: How Bankers Crashed the System and Got Away With It
The most popular reason offered for the dearth of financial crisis prosecutions is that the banking system was hit by a systemic and unforeseeable disaster, which means that it’s unlikely that anyone committed any crimes. Is it?
The Many Lies of Waiting for Superman, Beating Terrorism, Disney’s Epic Mickey: Live Wire, Dec. 8
Waiting for Superman, a documentary packed with exciting lies about charter schools, comes to Palm Coast, why no one cares about the jobless, suicide bombers, Beatles fans getting excited about Paul McCartney’s death, and more.
To Ban Texting While Driving in Florida: Ormond Beach Lawmaker Will Try Again
Such bans have failed repeatedly in previous years. Sen. Evelyn Lynn, the Ormond Beach Republican, hopes Florida will be the 31st state this year to ban texting and other such uses of cell phones while driving.
From Handel’s Messiah to a Boat Parade: Culture Worth the Miles
A Messiah performance by the Orlando Philharmonic, the 7th Annual Winter Park Holiday Boat Parade, Paperworks exhibit at the Eustis Museum of Art, Florida sculptor Barbara Sorensen at the Museum of Florida Art, a free holiday concert by the Maitland Symphony Orchestra, and more.
From Flagler County to Pearl Harbor: James Brazier Booe’s Story
Flagler’s own Chief Petty Officer James Brazier Booe, son of former Flagler County Superintendent Zeb E. and Ida Coffing Booe, was among the 3,500 Americans killed or wounded at Pearl Harbor. Here’s his story.
Why Fish & Wildlife Commission Is Keeping Strict Limits on Snook Fishing in Florida
Snook fishing was allowed this fall, Fish and Wildlife Chairman Rodney Barreto writes, but all harvesting of the fish in Florida waters will end from Dec. 15 until at least next September to better protect stock and spawning.
Cold Weather Shelter Needs You, A Panther at Linear Park, Qatar’s US Trouncing: The Live Wire, Dec. 6
The cold weather shelter for the homeless is open in Bunnell and needs your help, 2011’s biggest job killers (your local governments), Obama’s wimpiness,Christmas parades and grand marshals, Starbucks’ language problem, and more.
How Rick Scott Bought the Election
Rick Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money, and drew on a slew of health care industries through a front called the “Let’s Get to Work” committee.
At Indian Trails, Girls’ and Boys’ Reading Clubs Find Creative Ways to Fill Their Library
The girls’ reading club hosted a sleep-over in the library, the boys’ club launched a reading campaign, and both are sponsoring a book drive this week to benefit the ITMS library.
US Unemployment Rises to 9.8% as Job Creation Again Declines to Just 39,000
Temporary workers lost jobs in droves and the previous month’s stronger job gains did not hold up, sending the unemployment rate to its highest level since last December. GOP lawmakers continue blocking extensions of unemployment benefits.
More Foreclosure Screws, Jeb Bush Finds His Inner Hispanic, Christmas in Flagler Beach: The Live Wire, Dec. 2
Flagler Beach celebrates Christmas Dec. 3 and 4, the GOP denies children their lunch, Amazon censors Wikileaks, remembering Rosa Parks’ moment, the decline of marriage, the latest from Little Miss Flagler Daviana Campbell, and more.
Dismantled or Reorganized, It May Be the End of the Department of Health As We Know It
The state Department of Health is facing a reorganization–and possibly a dismantling–that may affect the way local departments of health are run, and the diseases they keep track of.
In Praise of Wikileaks: Undressing The Scams and Shams of Government Secrecy
With rare exceptions, it’s never been true that secrecy protects national security or interests. Rather, secrecy damages both, often with costly, lethal consequences. That’s why Wikileaks is an indispensable service to democracy.
Wrongful Foreclosure: What You Need To Know
Banks and foreclosure defense attorneys disagree on whether errors in the process have caused wrongful foreclosures — but their definitions of what constitutes a “wrongful foreclosure” differ.
Eleanor Roosevelt: If I Were a Republican Today
In a 1950 piece for Cosmopolitan that could have been written today, Eleanor Roosevelt sees through the vacuous sloganeering of the Republican opposition, though she’s not much kinder to Democrats.
3,338 Days: U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan Is Now Longer Than Soviet Union’s
A photo gallery of the human and inhuman side of a conflict that’s worse than Vietnam in many ways, and is damaging American strategic and financial interests–with no end in sight. The only clear winner: al-Qaeda.
The Anti-Black Friday: In Flagler Beach, Small Business Saturday Rings Up Authenticity
Carol Fisher isn’t interested in the madness of Black Friday. In a column, she invites you to experience the more authentically American tradition of small, heartbeat businesses that are the life transfusions of local economies.
A Little Frankenstein to Brighten the Holiday Season: Culture Worth the Miles
You want culture? Free culture? You’ve got it: Winter Park’s Central Park offers the annual Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s Holiday Pops concerts Nov. 28; on Dec. 2, it’s the Bach Festival Choir singing to the illumination of the Morse Museum’s Tiffany windows. Plus Frankenstein and much more.
Casablanca, Thoreau, Haydn, Even Ayn Rand: A Thanksgiving Weekend LiveWire
Big thanks to FlaglerLive readers, Dooley Wilson plays it again, the hero entrepreneur myth is questioned, Joseph Haydn as Rodney Dangerfield, Ayn Rand on atheism, Richard Pryor on “nigger,” and plenty more.
Why I Left The Flagler County Art League: It’s like IBM vs. Apple
“Staunch conservative Businessmen vs. Creative Young Men working out of their garage” is how Weldon Ryan, the art league’s ex-president, describes the tension that led to his resignation.
Shooting in Bunnell at South Church and MLK: Oxycontin Deal Gone Bad
Bunnell Police Chief Arthur Jones said a man was shot in the chest and airlifted to a hospital around 9 p.m. Monday. It was a drug deal gone bad–over Oxycontin, the pain pill.
Video: Gobble Trot in Central Park Raises Dollars and Turkeys for the Needy
Local residents with a spring in their step gathered Saturday morning at Palm Coast’s Central Park for the First Annual Gobble Trot Benefit walk to help provide Thanksgiving dinner to those in need.
Is Anybody Normal?
Sanity is not the natural condition of the human mind, Bertrand Russell argued in this 1934 column, but a product of social life. It is a form of politeness, generated by the pressure of other personalities, which makes us know that we are not omnipotent.
44 Florida Doctors With Troubled Past On Big Pharma Payroll To Promote Drugs
Pharmaceutical companies are not only buying off doctors’ loyalties and PR. They’re doing so without paying attention to morally and medically questionable doctors, including 44 in Florida.
Delbrugge’s Letter to Flagler, Part II: How Egypt Compares And What Matters Most
The former school superintendent reflects on life in Egypt by deflating myths about the difference between private and public schools, comparing his in Egypt with Flagler’s school district, and speaking about what matters most in life.
Flagler Health Department Downplays Worries As First Cholera Case Is Confirmed in Florida
The disease, carried from travelers from Haiti, is dangerous and can be deadly, but its chances of spreading in the United States are next to nil, treatment is simple, and recovery swift–when it’s caught in time.
Music Boxes, Puppets, and Highwaymen Artists: Culture Worth the Miles
An exhibit of music boxes at the Orlando Science Center, the 6th Annual Orlando Puppet Festival, Goldsmith’s “She Stoops to Conquer” at the Mad Cow Theatre, the Highwaymen’s African-American art, and more.
In Her Own Words, Please: A Friend of
Harper Lee’s Pleads the Case Against Censors
Jack Cowardin, the St. Augustine novelist, has been corresponding with Harper Lee for years. His take on the controversy over the staging of the play by FPC’s Drama Club: Let it go on unmolested by political correctness.
Starry Saturday: Theater, Art, Grit and Glitz from Bunnell to Palm Coast
Staring with FPC’s courageous thespians, the visual and performing arts had a fabulous Saturday in Flagler, with two gallery openings and two local theater productions. That’s what the county’s unbound cultural scene should be about.
Offshoring War: How Obama—and Those Moments of Silence—Insult Military Sacrifice
When a president sends soldiers to die in a war that long ago ceased having a claim to being just or to being won, those Americans are no longer being sacrificed by their nation. They’re being murdered. The complicity is national.
The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Letter to Janet Valentine
“We urge you to encourage student creativity and civic engagement, and to teach students the skills to discuss opposing views respectfully,” the NCAC writes. “We urge you to allow the students to perform the play.”
Shapiro: In the End, It’s the Profanity of Censorship Against the Sacredness of Learning
In a column on the Mockingbird controversy at FPC, Rabbi Merill Shapiro argues that whatever the merits of administrative issues, “the profanity of censorship,” in the end, “has no place in our community.”
Stetson Scores Freedom‘s Jonathan Franzen For Its James Turner Butler Lecture Nov. 22
The author of Freedom and The Corrections, an almost sure winner of this year’s Pulitzer for fiction, will be at Stetson on Nov. 22 for just one hour. The event is free, but tickets are extremely limited.
Art at Bargain Prices in DeLand and Free Shakespeare: Culture Worth the Miles
Some 87 Florida artists have donated work to be auctioned off in support of the Museum of Florida Art in Deland on Nov. 11; plus the The Red-Nosed Reindeer Romp, a free “Twelfth Night,” “Grease” and plenty more.
Tommy Tant Legacies: 3 Decades of Surfing Flagler Beach’s Sands, Surf and Streets
Ben Lacy, who grew up surfing with Tommy Tant in Flagler Beach, recalls three decades of the town town’s surfing culture and how it has managed to maintain its charms through the changes, even on the waves.
Festival Filibuster: How Palm Coast Plays Hardball With Flagler Beach
If Palm Coast is serious about playing nice with its neighboring cities and not competing for “special event” visitors, why is it doing exactly that with signs greeting visitors exiting the Interstate?
From Fringe to Voting Booth, a Machinery of Information Churning Push-Button Citizens
Politicians know that the obsessed, the fearful, the paranoid and the insane are easier to manipulate and outnumber by far than the attentive, Darrell Smith argues in a column. They can push their buttons at will. Tuesday proved it.
Swelled by Supermajority, Florida GOP Signals First Assault Victim: Medicaid
A quick special session in Tallahassee would provide $9.7 million for Gainesville’s Shands teaching hospital and lay down markers on overhauling medicaid, the health care program for the poor. One idea: forcing all beneficiaries to enroll in managed care.
Don’t Celebrate Yet, Republicans:
Between Din and Tea Stains, a Reality Check
Short-attention span politics are here to stay, which is why Tuesday’s results are merely the latest re-casting of the same tiresome play that’s not about to end its run on our second-world stage. Not with allegedly educated voters like us buying tickets.
Pubescent Spellers on a Musical Stage, Art’s Aquatic Depths and Sunset Symphonies: Culture Worth the Miles
A staged, musical and interactive spelling bee as you’ve never seen it before, Doug Rhodehamel’s aquatic explorations at the Lake Eustis Museum of Art, Bok Tower Gardens’ 9th Annual Sunset Symphony Concert, and more.
In Florida, Endangered Democrats Will Approach Extinction Status on Election Day
The map is set to go redder in Florida Tuesday evening as one-term Democrats like Kosmas and Grayson lose and the Legislature edges further right. Sink-Scott is the only drama.
Cultural Development Richer Than Economic: How to Grow Palm Coast Into a City With Soul
There’s more to a city than commerce, argues Hollingsworth Gallery’s JJ Graham in a column. Without cultural development and the youthful force that makes it possible, Palm Coast would be a city without soul.
Lowe’s Ups Drywall Settlement to $100,000 Per Victim, Closing Gap With Lawyer Payouts
The home-improvement Lowe’s chain had previously offered no more than $4,500 in cash and gift cards to victims whose health or homes were hurt by defective drywalls bought from Lowe’s stores, and much more to lawyers. The new agreement evens out the potential payments.
Marineland’s John Hankinson Appointed Director of Obama’s Gulf Recovery Task Force
John Hankinson, chairman of Florida Audubon, has an environmental consulting office in Marineland and was the Southern Region’s EPA administrator during the Clinton administration.
