The Way I See ItBy cj pollickDon't Forget - Mother's Day is Sunday, May 9th. Have a happy Mother's Day! Crist Has Made It Interesting - A small crowd in St. Petersburg listened to Gov. Charlie Crist announce that he would drop out of the GOP primary race against Marco Rubio and run instead with "no party affiliation." Thus, once popular Charlie Crist accepted his inevitable loss to win the GOP primary race for the US Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez. The much-publicized announcement by Crist revealed what many voters began to think about Charlie Crist over the past two years-he abandoned the Republican Party and conservative political views in favor of winning a political job. How did Charlie Crist fall from voter popularity to trailing GOP Marco Rubio by 20% in recent GOP primary polls? Perhaps some of the following hurt Crist over the past years: 1. Played politics for a VP appointment by Sen. John McCain while offending fellow Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. 2. Traveled Europe with his fiancée on the Florida's taxpayers' ticket while spending $1,300 for room service and mini-bar service, $2,200 for hotel special suites and $320 for fans to keep cool. The trip was reported as a trade mission, but looked more like a European vacation. 3. Embraced President Obama in a widely publicized "hug" while accepting federal stimulus money. 4. Regardless of warnings by friends that he was alienating Republican voters, Crist ignored the advice and appointed a more liberal judge to the State Supreme Court than was recommended by family councils. 5. When elected education commissioner began to run for the State Attorney General position. After election as Attorney General, soon began to run for the Governor's position. As governor played politics trying to become a VP running mate for Sen. John McCain. 6. Instead of running for re-election as governor, began a campaign to run for the US Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez. Appointed his good friend to temporarily fill the senate seat while he was campaigning. Opinion polls, nevertheless, still rated Crist as a favorite win the GOP primary. 7. Crist refused to seriously consider his GOP opponent Marco Rubio in the Republican Primary. He delayed debating Rubio until opinion polls showed Crist had lost his lead in the GOP Primary. When Crist debated Rubio on FOX NEWS, many viewers felt Rubio had won the debate and was indeed more conservative than Charlie Crist. Rubio made it clear that he would take the message of the people of Florida to Washington and would not become a "rubber stamp" on controversial major political issues such as healthcare and higher taxes. 8. Crist began to veto Republican bills he had once supported while a State Representative. (Such as teacher tenure.) 9. Announced he would leave the Republican Party as a candidate and run for the US Senate seat with "no party affiliation" against Democrat and Republican opponents. 10. Crist proclaimed he was a political maverick, much like Sen. John McCain (except he was no longer running under the GOP banner as McCain had always done.) In a recent trip to Miami, Crist was trying to raise money for his campaign to help replace Republican donors some of whom are now asking for their money back (since Crist is no longer running as a Republican.) On the other hand, there are some people that believe Crist should have left the Republican Party long ago to run without party affiliation. More than one person has stated, since Crist's announcement, that Charlie Crist was always a moderate (at best) politician and his recent move should not surprise anyone. Those people state they will remain Crist supporters regardless of his political party affiliation, "Doesn't bother us," they say. However, and perhaps for the first time in recent campaigns, Charlie Crist will not out-raise his political opponents while campaigning. Crist's campaign message must now attack conservative opponents who appeal to Republican voters while attacking liberals who appeal to Democrat voters. Crist must attract 30% liberal union support across the state as he tries to retain at least 30% Republican voter support. In a three-man race, can Crist win? Time will tell, but the fall of Charlie Crist is an amazing story. Jeb Endorses Rubio - No surprise here, former Governor Jeb Bush finally endorsed Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate. Illegal Immigration And National Media Reporting - When Tea Party supporters rally across the nation to oppose big government entitlements, oppose government waste and peacefully protest the lack of government enforcement of our nation's borders-they are painted as radical, far-right rebel-rousers. It might only take one Tea Party person to yell something offensive and reporters proclaim how radical the entire group of protestors were at the event. There was never any damage done to any city where Tea Party supporters protested. On the other hand, when groups of protestors gather to protest Arizona's, and our nation's, illegal immigration laws, they caused over $100,000 in damage (such as in Santa Cruz, California last weekend) and the same group of reporters fail to mention financial damage done by illegal immigration protestors. Interestingly, a US law enforcement officer was recently shot and killed in a shoot-out by people illegally crossing the border last week and the shooting barely made the news. Why? It is simple, drug runners and US border shoot-outs are not unusual at our nation's southern border. Drug trafficking is big business at our border and some folks believe the drug runners are better funded and equipped than our police officers. Wild and crazy protests across America due to Arizona's tough stand on illegals? Yes, but what about our nation's professional baseball establishment taking a stand against Arizona's law and saying they would refuse to hold professional baseball playoff series in Arizona? Baseball's elite said it was done to support Hispanic baseball players. Our president also asked the justice department to investigate to see if the law in Arizona is legal! Folks, something is wrong in our country when protests for strict enforcement of our border laws are avoided by politicians in Washington. Perhaps more voters will send a message in November to kick-out those elected officials that do not support strict border laws. Want to send a message to Washington? Vote. GM Not Truthful - The New York Times confirmed that General Motors' claim that they have paid back their loans to the government is false. But, let's hope they do repay the loan! Massachusetts Passes Tough Anti-Bullying Law - If your son or daughter was ever bullied in school, you know how such stress can affect your child's grades and emotional well-being. Bullying can take various shapes in today's high tech society. There is, of course, obvious physical bullying at school and there is online electronic bullying-both can cause harm to young students. The bad news is that there are many working parents that are not aware of someone bullying at school. Who is going to tell the truth, your bullied daughter or son? Teachers? School-friends? The bad news is that people that know about bullying just keep quiet and are glad it is not them being bullied. Stay out of it, they say. However, in places like Massachusetts they have had negative news about bullying and in response have passed a tough anti-bullying law. The law mandates school leaders to report any form of bullying they have seen or heard to the school administration. Teachers in Mass. will be better trained to look for signs of bullying and how to handle any such offense. Is this something that should be done in all schools? You tell me, but what if it was your daughter or son was the victim of a bully and no one was doing anything to help solve the problem? Correct, you would be mad as hell when you found out and possibly look for paybacks. But, paybacks are not the long-term solution and the problem really needs to be addressed at school, by school authorities. Parents, ask your children if they have ever been bullied and/or one of their school friends. If yes, then take the matter to school authorities and make sure you follow through with how they handle the matter. Follow the issue to resolution. Supreme Court Fraternity? - When you examine the make-up of the US Supreme Court, you would find six Catholic justices and two Jewish justices. The one Protestant justice is retiring from the bench. Other than the retiring justice, all are graduates of an Ivy League school. Thus, the current make-up of our highest court is Ivy League educated and non-Protestant. This change in the make-up of our highest court is a reflection of what some folks might refer to as "progressivism" instituted by people in Washington political offices. However, it makes many regular citizens wonder why top politicians elected throughout the nation are not considering top legal minds from law schools across America, such as Stetson, Michigan, Stanford, Duke, Iowa, Ohio State, Pitt, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, and a host of hundreds of other good law schools. Is there a group of people in Washington that only desires a certain type of person on the Supreme Court? Certainly looks that way, doesn't it? "What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other." - George Eliot |