The Way I See ItBy cj pollickMemorial Causeway Bridge - There is a lawsuit pending regarding certain (median) safety features of the Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge. This lawsuit should not come as a surprise to folks who drive across the highrise bridge and notice black tread marks crossing multiple driving lanes on the bridge roadway. In some places it looks as though some drivers had been racing cars at night. Merit to the lawsuit? Time will tell; but the lawsuit might raise some interesting bridge safety issues. Same Media Treatment For Hillary? - Seems as though the media has hidden the fact that Hillary Clinton failed the Washington D.C. bar exam after graduating from Yale Law School. (About 7 out of 10 passed!) If this was George W. Bush it would have resulted in a media feeding frenzy. "That dumb ole George W. Bush, he was just another average Yalie," they might have said. But since it was a liberal favorite, like Hillary, that failed the test, it resulted in no news. No snide comments and no jokes on late night television. (Hello, Jay Leno!) Seems as though there are media rules for liberals, like Hillary, and there are rules for moderates, like George W. After all, who has not heard comments about Bush's stay at Yale? Yet, he had better grades than Sen. John Kerry! Jokes? No, they graduated from Yale . . . and that is a good thing. Why the different treatment after graduation from Yale? Does the public not see through the twisted truth spun by political hacks? Rep. Ed Hooper Talks About Cuts - Clearwater's Rep. Ed Hooper recently was asked about where he might cut spending if he was still in local government. The answer covered several items, but most noteworthy was Hooper's suggestion that perhaps there should be a countywide fire department (eliminating smaller local fire departments, such as Clearwater's). Further, Hooper felt there were some non-profit groups that should stand on their own and not need city funding. Do you think Clearwater might listen to Rep. Ed Hooper? Iowa, Then Florida - In the world of politics, Iowa is perhaps one of the most important stops for presidential candidates to win an early primary and help catapult political campaigns. Political pundits commonly refer to Iowa as a place where candidates must "show well" in order to prove they are the type of people that could win the presidency. A loss in Iowa is not good. Currently, and perhaps a surprise to no-one, Barack Obama and John Edwards are leading Hillary Clinton in Iowa preliminary polls. This data has caused Hillary to seek campaign help from someone who once had support in Iowa -- her husband. Thus, and breaking another long-held tradition by former presidents, Bill Clinton will campaign in Iowa for Hillary Clinton. The message: If you don't like Hillary, then maybe you still like Bill . . . and we are the Clintons seeking the presidency. Vote for us! Can Bill Clinton still woo voters in Iowa? Time will tell, but at this time it looks like Iowa may go for Obama or Edwards. The big test? Florida. Democrats in Florida will become more important than ever in a presidential campaign. On the Republican side, former Senator Fred Thompson is making great strides in gaining GOP support. However, former mayor of New York Rudy Guiliani still leads the list of GOP candidates, with Senator John McCain fading fast. Iowa might send a message that Fred Thompson should be the GOP favorite. Again, the Florida primary looms ever more important for GOP candidates, a loss in Florida and campaign aspirations could be immediately dashed. An independent candidate? There are people saying Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York might enter the presidential race as an "Independent." Remember Ross "the boss" Perot? This candidate could be different, Bloomberg is a billionaire who could easily and quickly raise all the campaign funds he might ever need for a presidential campaign in a short time period. He is qualified and has ties to both Democrats and Republicans in elected office. Bloomberg recently registered "Independent." A third political party? Many people hope for a third political party that would offer something different than what Democrats and Republicans have been presenting. The way I see it, this could be the beginning of The People's Party. (Something I have always thought America needed.) Three political parties could offer more choices for the people to consider before voting. You Knew It, Now It's Public - Journalists, both television and newspaper, were recently reviewed as to their political party donations and/or political party registration. The results? About 90 percent of journalists support the liberal agenda and another high percent of journalists give money to the Democrat Party. Some news organizations are a bit higher in the percentage of liberals, other news organizations lower. However, overall studies show that most journalists reporting and/or writing about news are liberal. This revelation does not say much for fair and balanced news, does it? Big surprise? Not to most people. But, there is a small group of people that still believe what they read in so-called unbiased news organizations. The large news groups such as CBS, NBC and ABC are heavily run by journalists that support liberal political causes. Same for the New York Times, LA Times, etc. Big deal? Yes. Interestingly, Sam Clemens (remember Mark Twain?) thought the news media of his day was a danger to society. Imagine what Sam Clemens might say today! Not just journalists. College journalism professors have the same high percentage of liberal supporters (financial contributors to the liberal agenda.) Some might refer to this professorial political persuasion as "Journalism 101 Political Indoctrination." In other words, you enter college unbiased and leave college biased. Unbiased media? You tell me. |