Bruce Springsteen's Super Bowl halftime performance provoked some of the most divided opinions I've heard recently. ...more

February 6, 2009

Yet another bank is to be "bailed out," namely CitiCorp. ...more

November 26, 2008

These are tough times; about to get tougher. I drove out of town the other day with my old friend and former Tribune history writer Leland Hawes. We were going to a memorial service for Steve Raymond. We had both known him as an editor and friend at the Trib. Raymond was one of the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March at the beginning of World War II, and we were going to his memorial service at the Florida National Cemetery near Bushnell. ...more

September 26, 2008

Now that it is down to just two, all pretense has ended. In word, deed and traveling companion, the race for Pasco sheriff finally can be seen for what it has been all along. It's Bob White versus Lee Cannon all over again; 2000 smack-down redux. ...more

September 3, 2008

Is it my imagination or has Sun 'nn Lake General Manager Al Grieshaber Jr. just abandoned all pretense of objectivity with respect to management of district affairs in favor of protecting the backs of the large landowners of Sun 'N Lake and their landowner-elected supervisors? What Mr. Grieshaber hasn't told you is: ...more

August 23, 2008

Call It Like It Is Regarding "Egos Hit Head-On At School Board's Travel Policy Meeting" (Metro, July 25): ...more

August 2, 2008

It's interesting to note that among the nine Florida community colleges which joined a pilot program to create a new state college system in which two-year institutions becomes ones granting four-year degrees, every school had dropped the word "community" from its name. ...more

June 8, 2008

In reviewing our concern about WMDs, particularly nukes in the hands first of Saddam and now Iran, the thing that is principally overlooked is the bellicose posture between these two countries for the last decade. Under Saddam, Iraq decided to go to war against Iran, largely with U.S. help and encouragement. Although the Israelis had taken out Iraq's nuclear capabilities with a surgical air strike in 1981, both Iran and Iraq felt the need to menace each other with the potential threat of nuclear weaponry. ...more

February 17, 2008

The smell of gun smoke downtown means it's Gasparilla time. On Tuesday, about 20 mock pirates kicked off the prelude to Saturday's main events when they arrived aboard a parade float - with guns echoing - to "abduct" the mayor and demand the city's surrender. There was tough talk from Mayor Pam Iorio: "We will put up a fight," she vowed, surrounded by the costumed sea wolves. Maybe, but no mayor has been able to resist the make-believe pirate invasion that comes Saturday. In fact, the mayor and marauders soon gave up even the pretense of conflict and went off together for lunch. ...more

January 23, 2008

When I saw Benazir Bhutto that day in 1989, she was simply impossible to miss. There she stood on the eve of a gathering of the world's most powerful countries: A woman making her way confidently in a sea of men. A woman from Pakistan - a Muslim country, no less - democratically elected as prime minister. ...more

December 28, 2007