This week brings the first days of autumn, which still isn't exactly sweater weather around here. ...more

September 21, 2008

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent. ...more

September 3, 2008

When we think of what kind of country we wish to leave our children and grandchildren, we probably would rather not hand down a nation bereft of its natural wonders with its once-abundant resources depleted, gone forever. We need places such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, the Arctic Refuge and the Grand Canyon, just as they are, for future generations of Americans to marvel at, as we have had the good fortune to do. ...more

August 17, 2008

Gov. Charlie Crist said the property tax breaks that voters adopted in January would "fire up" the state's economic engine. ...more

July 17, 2008

Memorial Day is upon us again, while our American troops wage war on two fronts. We live in strange times here in the United States. ...more

May 9, 2008

In the run-up the Jan. 29 vote on Amendment No. 1, officials of local governments and public school districts around the state were issuing dire warnings. Tax revenue would plunge; services would be slashed; criminals would run the streets; children would go uneducated. The amendment, of course, was the plan the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist came up with in response to last year's howls of protest from property-owning Floridians about rising ad valorem tax bills. ...more

February 12, 2008

Never underestimate the power of Bill. That's my take-away from New Hampshire. The man who isn't on the ballot looms large over the presidential race. ...more

January 13, 2008

Many Iowans I've heard from over the last few months complained about the invasion of their state by presidential candidates and the news media covering them. ...more

January 12, 2008

We have proof once again of Americans' weird love-hate relationship with politicians. Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush, arguably the most disliked woman and man in America, are also the most admired. ...more

December 30, 2007

After nearly a year of supposed debates formatted like low grade television quiz shows, moderated by talking-heads asking inane and pointlessly irrelevant gotcha questions targeting the minutia of personal histories; dutifully followed by an army of pollsters, who daily report their statistical finding like variations in the weather, we are finally approaching a point of alleged decision-making in the winnowing process of selecting the presidential candidates who will compete for the presidency of the United States in a general election to be held in November of 2008. The first narrowing of the field will result from a series of coffee klatches held by the matrons and patriots of Iowa. Shortly following these conclaves the minions of the maple syrup belt, the live free or die bunch; New Hampshire, will be polled and report their collective wisdom as to which two of the various political marathoners would, in their inspired judgment, best lead the country. What is seldom discussed is that these two states will have seven and four electoral votes respectively to cast in the general election which requires the winner to aggregate at least 270 electoral votes out of a possible 538. ...more

December 29, 2007