February 11, 2010
Waiting to get a boarding pass at the airport, chatting with the person next to me in line about weather, road conditions, where we drove in from, where we are heading to, the usual. He's checking in for an international...
February 02, 2009
Equality laws are under threat, with farther reaching consequences than the homophobic ones intended by the special interests trying to change local law. Gainesville is a bit of an island in some ugly political territory. Hopefully not was. HT...
October 29, 2008
A good answer to a fifth grader, in my home county....
October 24, 2008
That's what my dad always called the show when I was a kid, although I'd be hard pressed to tell you whether it was really "andy and mayberry" "andy in mayberry" or something else he was actually saying. See more...
October 06, 2008
Via Balloon Juice, I see McCain would give the big F-U to other senior citizens who have neither entered Congress nor married heiresses. From the Wall Street Journal: John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to...
August 27, 2008
Most of last night's political coverage was focused on the Democratic National Convention and the election results in Alaska (Sen. Stevens was easily renominated and Rep. Young appears to have just barely won - by about 150 votes). But they...
July 18, 2008
This is the worst Chris Cillizza can come up with? He's an ambitious, populist pol who's happy to twist his views to fit with McCain? When did that become a net minus? And Cillizza thinks the country wants national politicians...
June 24, 2008
The state is spending $1.7 billion to buy agricultural land and let it return to the Everglades. This isn't the only thing that needs to be done, but it's a huge step in the right direction....
April 15, 2008
Ah, Florida. Because there are never enough graven images to worship. HT...
March 31, 2008
Via LGM and The Monkey Cage, a piece by a Stanford PhD candidate called Republican Vote Buying in the 2004 US Presidential Election (PDF). The abstract: In the aftermath of the summer 2004 Florida hurricane season, the Federal Emergency Management...
February 27, 2008
Via Crooks and Liars my home state once again serves up some ridiculousness from the legislature: Rep. Don Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, has filed legislation to create a new license plate featuring the Confederate battle flag. Do go check out the...
February 19, 2008
I don't have anything to say about Fidel saying he won't stand for re-election. He already pulled the switcheroo when he did the transfer to Raul. Not much will change rapidly, especially not US foreign policy. Unless multiple Fidel heads...
Exposing the soft underbelly of Florida's idiocy: In a move that could endanger Florida's flaky backwater reputation, the state Board of Education is poised to endorse the teaching of evolution as a science. This is a dangerous idea -- not...
January 25, 2008
The latest is Dave Weldon from Florida's Space Coast. He's the 25th Republican to announce he won't seek reelection in November. That's over 12% of their caucus, and there is every reason to think more retirement announcements are on the...
October 30, 2007
The beauty of ugly, via Neatorama....
October 25, 2007
This probably tells more about me than I should reveal, but when I was a kid, I loved this shit: Yes, even though I think The Rat is evil....
October 05, 2007
Deaths from amoebas are in the news, garnering attention because of public health concerns, and their possible relation to climate change. While in the last few years, if anyone had mentioned amoebas to me, I would have thought about intestinal...
February 08, 2007
Now it's perhaps not surprising that Florida's term limits have led to people without much experience in government leading its legislative chambers. But I think it's interesting how quickly legislators are settling who will lead them. Take newly elected, 27-year-old...
January 09, 2007
GO GATORS! Gators make it look easy The Florida Gators tonight obliterated the Ohio State Buckeyes to win the BCS Championship Game. "Upset" doesn't quite measure up in describing the No. 2 Gators' victory over the undefeated No. 1 Buckeyes....
December 19, 2006
...about commie professors: A psychology professor at Florida International University, Alvarez faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy to become an unregistered foreign agent. Elsa Alvarez, who also worked at the university, faces up to three years in...
November 28, 2006
Ah yes, Tom Tancredo. Helluva way to solidify the Republican base in Miami. Rep. Tom Tancredo, the leader of the anti-illegal immigration faction in the U.S. House, spent a recent weekend at The Breakers in Palm Beach. Ninety miles to...
November 10, 2006
This story, of oddly high undervotes in multiple counties in Florida, is troubling. Surely I'm not the only person who thinks we should strongly consider going back to paper ballots, am I?...
October 04, 2006
...but why am I suspicious about Fox labeling Foley as a democrat? Fluffy something or others to the StealthBadger....
September 29, 2006
Wow - I did not see this coming. The Mark Foley e-mail scandal that started brewing a couple of days ago turned up about 300 degrees today - and now he's resigned. Foley was relatively moderate by House Republican standards...
September 05, 2006
For all you past, present and future Floridians ...It's primary day, so if you want to follow the races, the commentary, and the latest idiocy from occasional scary or crazy candidate, you might want to check out Florida Politics today...
July 19, 2006
The gigantic, brand-new Crown Princess had a wee bit of a mishap. Holidaymakers clung on for dear life as their luxury cruiseship came close to capsizing, washing people out of the swimming pool "like a mini-tsunami" and scattering furniture overboard....
July 10, 2006
Oh wait, that's right, they're trying to run it into the ground so they can convince people to support vouchers and Ave Maria Landia. The following section, relating to the required curriculum, of the Florida Omnibus Education Bill was recently...
July 05, 2006
Anyone who knows me, knows I have no love for Disney. What they did to my home state, the sneakiness with which they snapped up the real estate, that they mass merchandised (is that a verb?) my Pooh bear... the...
May 08, 2006
Oh, shucks, how could we have guessed there'd be a picture of Jeb? The Florida Legislature gave final approval to a bill Thursday that requires high school students to declare a major, similar to college students. The measure now goes...
January 28, 2006
Twenty years. I remember watching this happen over I95, on my way back to school after lunch at McDonalds, and going into Ms. Jane Sturgis' class on Comparative Political Systems, knowing what they were going to say when the announcements...
December 20, 2005
I don't think they should be saying Bob Graham is the "misremembering" type of guy. Former senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who chaired the Senate intelligence committee and is the only participant thus far to describe the meetings extensively and on...
October 23, 2005
Honestly, I haven't thought about Connie Mack for years, since the days of Walkin' Lawton Chiles decision not to run against him for the Senate, and then Mack subsequently beat Buddy McKay in part by tarring him with the Liberal...
May 09, 2005
Worth the read is a New York Times article on the potential for the United State to grant asylum to Luis Posada Carriles. As the article points out, this ought to put the administration between Scylla and Charybdis: Mr. Posada's...
April 27, 2005
And the list of reasons to love to hate Florida continues to grow. "[C]hief sponsor, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida. "...