The Way I See ItBy cj pollickEaster and Passover - Very important holidays for our Christian and Jewish readers. Enjoy!! Clearwater Beach Roadway - The Gulf Boulevard roadway project on Clearwater Beach is completed and looking fantastic. The roadway project was completed in time for Spring Break traffic, which made local hotels and merchants happy. Kudos to the City of Clearwater, the workers and roadway management team. Clearwater And Senior Citizens - According to one of Clearwater's public releases: "Clearwater has the highest percentage of its population older than 65 of any city with more than 100,000 residents in the nation." In response to this statistic, Clearwater has created an office on aging and began partnering with outside agencies for more city services for the aging population. Citizens looking for more information should call (727) 793-2339 ext. 244. Time Ran Out For SON - Save Our Neighborhood (SON) will not file an appeal to halt Legg Mason's (Latitude Management Real Estate Investors, Inc.) re-development at the Cabana Club property on Clearwater Sand Key. Legg Mason must now begin the Clearwater building permit process by September 16, 2010. It is time for the owners of Belleview Biltmore properties to begin construction at the Belleview Biltmore hotel property, the Cabana Club property, and the Belleview Golf Club in Belleair. Legal challenges are over and it is time for development. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum Widens Lead Over State Treasurer Alex Sink - McCollum has widened his lead in the Governor's race over Sink by 15 points in recent Florida polls. The increase is yet another voter gain, and the largest to date, by McCollum (R) over Sink (D) in voter tracking polls. Public Employees Benefit More - According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), from 1998 to 2008 public employee compensation grew by 28.6% compared to 19.3% for private workers. Staffers Do Well - Politico reported that nearly 2,000 House of Representative staffers make at least $100,000 or more. Fox News And The Crist/Rubio Debate - Last Sunday morning Florida US Senate candidates Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio debated on FOX NEWS. Gov. Crist had tried to avoid debating Florida Speaker Marco Rubio, however, declining poll numbers forced Crist into the televised debate. The debate reflected clear differences between Crist and Rubio. Crist stated during the debate that he most admired Sen. John McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both left-leaning moderate Republicans; Crist also stated he supported President Obama's TARP spending plan. Rubio stated he did not support President Obama's spending plans and was more of a "Reagan" Republican. Rubio said he supported cutting federal spending, balancing the federal budget, was in favor of sensible health care plan (but not Obamacare's health plan) favored cutting capital gains taxes and felt the top priority in Washington should be creating more jobs. Crist attacked Rubio's fee income while a State Speaker and Rubio countered by saying Crist had lowered his campaign to personal attacks instead of talking about important issues of the campaign. Rubio stated that Florida has high unemployment and other fiscal problems that Crist had not solved; "Is that what we should expect of Crist if he is a US Senator?" Crist countered by asking Rubio to show his tax return, "We asked for his tax return three days ago, when will it be available?" Most viewers of the televised debate came away observing one clear political difference between Crist and Rubio: Crist is a moderate Republican and Rubio is a conservative Republican. With poll numbers beginning to favor Rubio over Crist, it is likely that the only thing left for the Crist campaign is to spend millions of his campaign war chest personally attacking Marco Rubio. If this "go down with the ship" campaign strategy fails, the GOP political future of Charlie Crist could be coming to an end in Florida. Interestingly, when Crist was asked about rumors that he might run as an "Independent" candidate if he lost the GOP primary, he replied he would not run except as a Republican. Recent polls show, nevertheless, that Crist would lose the Senate race if he ran as an Independent. When the candidates were asked about "Tea Party" support, each candidate felt they had support from "Tea Party" supporters. With the GOP election in August, the last four months of the Senate campaign should be interesting. Attack Tea Party Supporters? - It is difficult to imagine the media and Washington insiders attacking grass roots "Tea Party" supporters simply because of a few people. Reflect back to the days when Hollywood types and liberal Democrats made outrageous statements about President Bush and VP Dick Cheney! Can you see VP Dick Cheney getting away with saying the one-liner stated by VP Joe Biden to president Obama ("This is F---ing big deal.") Would that be ignored as just good humor by CNN and MSNBC? Then there were headlines of a smiling Speaker Pelosi holding hands with leading Democrats to show "liberal solidarity" while walking into Congress (afraid of sign-waving protestors and vocal protestors of the health bill.) The news? Loud and rowdy "Tea Party" protestors. Yet, when stars from Hollywood loudly protest they are held by the same media as peaceful and conscientious objectors. From what most of us have observed of the "Tea Party" movement, it is comprised of concerned citizens from all political backgrounds, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. It is not an organized political party, although many Americans might wish it were an organized political party (due to frustrations with both the Democrat Party and the Republican Party.) Americans are unhappy with the direction of the nation and are voicing their displeasure under the guise of the "Tea Party" movement. Does that make them terrorists? "Americanism - We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag, and keep step to the music of the union." -Rufus Choate (Letter to Whig convention) |