I am amazed so many people are blaming U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite for the debacle that passes for universal health care that the House of Representatives passed on a very narrow vote. ...more

November 21, 2009

Before starting college in 2008, my sister, Ti-Anna, spent a year in Washington advocating for our father, Wang Bingzhang, a political prisoner in China. She accomplished a great deal: She met influential politicians and policymakers and even had an op-ed published in January. ...more

November 17, 2009

Union bashing This is in response to Donald Smith ("Union negotiations," Letters, Oct. 31). ...more

November 4, 2009

First lady Michelle Obama is now part of the "Female Force," a series of biographical comic books illustrated by a South Florida artist. ...more

March 5, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week will make her first foray into Middle East diplomacy, attending a high-level conference on humanitarian assistance to Gaza and making the rounds of Israeli and Palestinian officials, at a time when a growing chorus of voices on both the right and left say the peace process needs a dramatically new approach. ...more

March 1, 2009

Test yourself with our weekly political pop quiz. ...more

February 20, 2009

Friday the 13th will prove to be a lucky day for classic rock aficionados. Then, Jerry Provost will provide live music at a wine-tasting event at Cappuccino's Bakery Cafe, in downtown Dunedin. ...more

February 7, 2009

In recent days, some have questioned whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was making a big mistake in appointing so many "special envoys," such as George Mitchell, to handle key trouble spots, like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I think they are right to question Clinton about this plethora of envoys. But I don't think the problem is that she has too many; it's that she doesn't have enough. In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she may need at least a half-dozen envoys. Actually, this conflict is now broken into so many different pieces it may take a whole State Department of its own to resolve it. ...more

February 5, 2009

In 1964, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize, Cassius Clay became world heavyweight champion and Tampa Theatre still had a "whites only" admittance policy. ...more

January 28, 2009

When Barack Obama took the first steps toward becoming president, Luis Rivera didn't trust him. ...more

January 19, 2009