Tobin, an expert on the Ginn Co.’s shredding history in the county, outlines three reasons why the county commission’s $3.5 million Pellicer Flats land buy was risky, reckless gamble.
Commentary
Pastor Jim Raley to Strip Club: Not In Our Midst
“Cheaters”‘ presence would be “a moral and ethical blow” to the region and should not be allowed to prosper locally, argues Jim Raley, senior pastor at Calvary Christian Center in Ormond Beach.
Mica Challenger Heather Beaven’s First TV Ad Soldiers On, Without a Fight
Heather Beaven is running for Congress against nine-term incumbent John Mica, though her first TV ad, less than two months from the election, is more of an early-summer and gentle meet-and-greet.
Net Neutrality: The First Amendment Issue of Our Time
“Protecting an open Internet,” Sen. Al Franken argues, “isn’t just about developing new and enforceable net neutrality standards. It is also about making sure that the Internet isn’t effectively owned by a handful of companies.”
Memo To Enterprise Flagler: Why Your Tax Plan Is Fumbling (and What To Do About It)
From its message to its messenger, Enterprise Flagler’s tax-and-build plan is facing obstacles and unanswered questions of its own making. It may be too late to reverse opposition, but not too late to do the right thing.
Mainland High School Coach John Maronto’s Prostitution Arrest: Hold Your Sanctimony
Mainland High School football coach John Maronto, 68, was arrested in a prostitution sting Sept. 4. Hold your sanctimony: wasteful police stings aside, he did nothing wrong.
Mosque Madness and the Shame of New York
As a model of understanding, New York City was once an American redemption. Relatively, anyway. Not anymore, as a majority of New Yorkers are joining the mob-like reaction against an Islamic center near Ground Zero.
Neo-Supremacy Chic: Glenn Beck
And Sarah Palin’s Tea-Scalding of MLK
Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin’s biggest “tea party” rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s most famous speech signals the arrival of a neo-supremacist political movement in god’s clothing.
Quit Surfing. Quit Working. Go Vote.
Unless you have a well articulated political science doctor’s note, you have no excuse but to go vote today. Precinct locations and guides included.
When Not Voting Is The Loudest Vote
Voting is neither a virtue nor a responsibility. It is a neutral civil right. Not voting is a right of equal weight, a choice as defensible as the choice to vote. Both are exercises in freedom.
Krauthammer’s Sacrilege: When Reactionaries Fire Up their Sunday Missals–and Miss
A comparison of Ground Zero’s neighborhood to Auschwitz or Gettysburg is ridiculous, given the ritzy and lurid neighborhood of Ground Zero. Walk the walk.
“Burn the Koran Day” in Gainesville: When Crude Isn’t the Only Thing Mucking Up Florida
Terry Jones’ “Dove World Outreach Center” in Gainesville slimes Florida, but no more so than Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin are sliming American values in the name of the worst of Western civilization.
Pierre on WNZF’s Open Lines with David Ayers This Morning
Chatting it up about local politics, local media, the primary election, the good referendum on the ballot and the very bad one, and more.
Where Spin Meets Bull: Florida Hospital’s Lars Houmann on the Dispute With United Healthcare
A three-and-a-half minute video by the Florida Hospital CEO is a window into the company’s deception and disingenuity.
Opposition to the Mosque “At” Ground Zero Desecrates American Values
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and other reactionaries’ opposition to a mosque near ground zero offends liberty at the expense of the dead of 9/11.
School Board Candidate Peter Peligian’s Impersonation (and Tax and Claims) Problems
It’s not just that allegedly allegedly used his identity: School board candidate Peter Peligian is not living up to his own claims of transparency and accountability.
Questions of Relevance and Relevant Questions Over Shooting at Sheriff’s Capt.’s House
Wagons circled around a sheriff’s captain after we reported on a shooting at his house, revealing a disturbing double-standard when law enforcement isn’t in the best light.
Proudest Moment on a Gray Day:
On Becoming an American
My personal July 4th happens to fall on December 16. That day, 24 years ago, I became an American. The day has become more important to me than any other, including my birthday.
Miss Flagler County 2010 Essay Winner: Recession or Not, Blessings Point to Rebound
As a nation and a culture, whether in recession or not, we are incredibly blessed and should be thankful, says Mia Parliaricci in an essay that won her this year’s Miss Flagler County essay competition.
Charter School Failure: Why Imagine and Heritage Weren’t Included in FCAT Tallies
Charter schools are not in the same league as traditional public schools. Their standards are lower. The burden is on charters to prove their worth.
Bill Delbrugge Joins FlaglerLive Board; Here’s Who We Are
An introduction to the seven-member FlaglerLive Board of Directors, and a few words about who we are and what we’re about.
Watching Team USA Live With Eddie Johnson (US 1, Ghana 2)
We’re covering the US-Ghana World Cup match live with soccer great and Bunnell native Eddie Johnson, from Palm Coast’s Houligan’s.
Firing McChrystal Isn’t Enough. Fire the War.
The McChrystal firing is the Obama administration’s grandest distraction from a failing war it still pretends to be winnable.
Barbary Wars, the Sequel: US Moves On for First Time Since ’94
Live commentary of the critical US-Algeria match, along with the simultaneous and deciding England-Slovenia clash.
CNN Confessions: Not Quite Oprah After the Show
What was supposed to be a leisurely interview on Saturday afternoon turned into its own Deepwater Horizon blowout.
Catch FlaglerLive on CNN
I’ll be on CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield during the 3 p.m. hour discussing the oil spill’s impact on local governments, and particular local school districts.
How the Chamber’s Tax Proposal Undermines Schools, Cities and the County
Ignoring leery voters and a building bust, the Flagler chamber’s tax for commercial construction is jeopardizing local governments’ own urgent tax referendums in 2011 and 2012.
Hanging With Manatees
It’s not just seeing manatees upclose alone that moves you. It’s seeing their injuries, and their utter helplessness.
Graduations from God to America
Graduation speeches are part of the American habit of reinvention. They should be provocative and revealing, even if we don’t all agree with the message.
Pryor to Class of 2010: “Take Your Chance, Make Your Choice, Make Your Move”
Citing William Jennings Bryan, Robert Frost and David Wilcox, Matanzas High School Principal Chris Pryor mixed anecdotes and metaphor in his last words of advice to the Class of 2010.
From Times Square to Jacksonville:
When Terrorism Is a Double-Standard
When the target of terrorism is recognizably American, it’s a national crisis. When the target of terrorism is a mosque in Jacksonville, nobody cares. Why is that?
Why Tea Parties Are More Bunkers than Bunker Hill
The tea party’s booting out of Utah Sen. Robert Bennett from his state’s GOP primary, despite Bennett’s extreme conservative credentials, is emblematic of a movement in the grip of its own delusions.
Florida’s Abortion Follies:
When Lawmakers Are Sexual Predators
Florida’s latest anti-abortion legislation shows that sexual predators aren’t just the monsters who assault and rape. They can also be men who control women and girls by subordinating them their moral assumptions, which usually have immoral results.
A Musical Journey in the Key of Kindness
Caren Umbarger, who replaces Jonathan May as the new artistic director of the Flagler Youth Orchestra, relates her musical origins and philosophy.
Flagler Beach Manager Search:
Carpetbaggers Need Not Apply
Art Woosley, a Flagler Beach activist, argues that the next city manager should be a local resident with heart and interests in line with the city’s.
Socialism, Capitalism, and Other Fallen Stock
We can rail about socialism’s evil and worship capitalism all we like. It won’t get us out of the hole we spent the last 30 years digging. History and Adam Smith are better guides.
Boners for Business
The Pat Rice era began at the $218-a-year News-Journal in late April. That’ll buy you a whole lot of Twinkies.
Heather Beaven’s WTF Campaign
Democrat Beaven’s congressional campaign against John Mica so far is shoddy, vague, and lacking transparency.
We Need Drilling. Just Not Where You Think.
The BP rig disaster will spill more oil in the Gulf of Mexico than the Exxon Valdez did in Prince William Sound. Time to cap the follies of cheering for more offshore oil-drilling in Florida.
Obama-Leno: No Correspondence
How even Barack Obama is funnier than Jay Leno. Then again, it’s no contest. Tales from the Correspondents dinner.
The Uses of Poetry
Reading poetry, Dave Riegel argues in his latest column, has a practical value in the board room, on the campaign trail, in advertising, and anywhere popular art is consumed.
The Liberation of Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist, never foreign to transgression, transgressed what’s left of the Republican Party, which has no room for moderates.
In Alabama, They Speak Ass
Alabama Republican candidate Tim James pledge to ban non-English driving tests, in a campaign video, is xenophobic mob appeal.
Brian McMillan’s Stick Figures
The Palm Coast Observer’s managing editor has a new blog full of tiny jewels of witty wisdom from our most precious philosophers.
Arizona Boots Up Brown Immigrants’ Guantanamo
The virus that led to Arizona’s anti-immigration law has crossed Arizona’s borders into the rest of America. Its carrier is as white as a bed sheet and by far the greater threat to America’s character than anything that ever crossed the Rio Grande.
Nashville Surrenders to Grab Your Crotch Country
T. Paige Dalporto, a West Virginia songwriter, pains his way through the Academy of Country Music Awards and mourns his old country gone pop.
Brett Copeland Star Spangles at School Board
Brett Copeland, a senior at Matanzas High School, switched from violin to voice to sing the national anthem at a school board meeting.
Legislature’s Roadkill: Raiding Trust Funds
The Florida Legislature has balanced the budget by taking money from the transportation trust fund. It’s a short-sighted solution with dire consequences, argues Mark Wilson, president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Students Fail. Cut Teachers’ Pay. Seriously?
The thinking behind Senate Bill 6 is rooted in the idea that teachers cause students’ success or failure. That’s wrong, argues Dave Riegel, a high school principal.
Sara Palin’s Cafeteria Christianity
Russell A. Pizer gives the once and future queen of reactionary Republicans a lesson in the Declaration of Independence and other spelling tips.