Unlike Rush Limbaugh, we don't want President Barack Obama to fail. If he does, then our country fails. We do, however, want Obama to do what he's been saying all along, and that's to change the way Washington, D.C., does business - and that includes changing the baloney that's going on with Democratic members of Congress. ...more

March 6, 2009

Highlands County Elections Supervisor Joe Campbell is a Democrat. His top assistant, Norma Stokes, is a Republican. ...more

February 26, 2009

The month-long struggle over the stimulus plan left behind a smoking battlefield of partisanship, but it also set the stage for a political collision on a scale seldom seen in Washington - a showdown on a succession of even more divisive issues that could shadow the future of the two major political parties. ...more

February 16, 2009

Regarding Van Wie's letter, the reports of Obama's association with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Chicago crooks are bunk. They have been debunked on mainstream media like CNN and you can get the details on Factcheck.org. The latter is an Internet site that just checks facts without partisanship. ...more

September 26, 2008

Congress expended a lot of energy debating how to solve the energy crisis before running off for summer recess for five weeks. It ended up accomplishing nothing. Now Congress is back and seemingly ready for more of the same. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will present an energy bill next week that would expand offshore drilling. But Republicans rejected the legislation on the basis of the outlines Pelosi released Tuesday. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will hold hearings today with an eye to bringing energy bills to a vote sometime next week. But don't expect anything to happen. ...more

September 15, 2008

Dean Johnson wrote a letter blaming liberal Democrats for the rising price of gasoline. This is an example of the blind partisanship that is partly responsible for the trouble we're in. At least since the '70s, we've known that foreign oil would be a problem for us. But as Fox News pointed out, the first offshore oil ban was passed during the Reagan Administration. Then the senior President Bush, followed by Clinton and the current President Bush, all issued executive orders banning offshore drilling. Jeb Bush, meanwhile, prevailed on his brother to re-purchase existing offshore oil leases in 2002, shutting down any chance that there would be offshore drilling in Florida. ...more

June 23, 2008

For much of the past two decades, Americans have watched in frustration as presidents and members of Congress have repeatedly achieved deadlock rather than consensus on issues that are critical to our nation. The results of this partisan traffic jam are frightening. For example: ...more

February 3, 2008

A local political spokesperson said the reason there are so many people listed as independent voters these days is due to motor vehicle registrations, when people don't know what to put down for party affiliation. That's partially true, but there's something much bigger going on that neither major party seems to grasp. People are tired of the candidates they elect being so out of touch with their needs. During campaigns, these politicians seem all ears on the issues of the day. They talk about the problems, offer multiple-point plans on how to address then. Then, once elected, nothing is improved and special interests always hold much more sway than constituents. It's no wonder so many people are dropping party affiliations and becoming independents. ...more

January 10, 2008

It's election day again in Lakeland, with Justin Troller and Brian Dockery squaring off in a runoff election for the right to replace retiring commissioner Dean Boring. ...more

December 4, 2007

In two weeks, Venezuela seems likely to start an extraordinary experiment in centralized, oil-fueled socialism. By law, the workday would be cut to six hours. Street vendors, homemakers and maids would have state-mandated pensions. And President Hugo Chavez would have significantly enhanced powers and be eligible for re-election for the rest of his life. ...more

November 17, 2007