Jim Rahenkamp is worried about the economy as are many of us. The situation looks really dire if you subscribe to his definitions and live life according to various popular buzz phrases. ...more

June 17, 2009

Is it possible to change "change," or has the charismatic, silver tongued Pied Piper of "Change" led us down the slope so far and with such momentum that we have reached the point of no return? Capitalism requires that production must exceed consumption. Socialism (veiled Communism) requires that consumption must exceed production. No individual, city, state or nation can long endure when consumption exceeds production. We no longer export more than we import. ...more

June 15, 2009

Socialism is the blanket that covers the mattress of communism. Fascism is the headboard and Humanism is the foundation. ...more

April 25, 2009

Generations: the sum of the general population's mood, taste, accomplishments, and personality, are as distinct as the people who have lived through them. And while the world has gone in and out of wars, toppled walls separating democracy and communism, and put men on the moon, there remained a common thread pulling everyone together. That thread was the people themselves. ...more

April 1, 2009

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vinny Prospal will share a daily diary while the team is in Europe, including his native Czech Republic. The team will play a season-opening series in Prague against the New York Rangers on Saturday and Sunday. ...more

September 30, 2008

"The Physics of Christianity" by Frank J. Tipler (Doubleday, $15.95) ...more

August 24, 2008

The building at 32 Kartashov St. had had enough. It once served as home to a 19th century merchant, a little log masterpiece with ornate doors and shutters carved like doilies and a structural swagger that said, "Look at me!" ...more

July 6, 2008

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it can be painful when we see things our country should have done and didn't when it had the chance. A perfect example of this followed the collapse of the Soviet Union as democracy swept the world back in the early 1990s. A New York University professor recently discussed with PBS's Charley Rose about the West's, as in Western Europe and America's, missed opportunity when communism fell in much of the world. Instead of using those heady times to make great in-roads in the world as the only super power, we instead looked inward and missed a huge opportunity. Now that's all lost. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, millions of people caught up in their first whiff of freedom sought what we had to offer. Everything seemed right and the rest of the world looked to us for leadership and guidance. Instead of stepping up and taking this opportunity, the West looked inward instead of outward. We could have affected so much change that benefited the world, and our country, but we missed the opportunity. ...more

June 16, 2008

Now that Fidel Castro is retiring, it is certainly time to take a second look at the long embargo and antagonism against Cuba. ...more

February 26, 2008

James Fand is no stranger to changes in direction. When he opened his tile business in Tampa 25 years ago, he had little experience as a salesman. ...more

October 24, 2007