Farewell, separation of church and state! Last week, Florida’s GOP-dominated senate judiciary committee approved SRJ 1218 — a bill with the deliciously doublespeaky nickname “The Religious Freedom Bill” — which allows taxpayer moneys to flow, unobstructed, to religion-based charities.The bill had some surprising opponents. The Baptist Rev. Harry Parrott, the…
Massive props to to Cynthia Roldan, of the Palm Beach Post, for her courageous stoicism in the face of hilarity. Today, she straight-facedly reported the sad story of Rita Sharon Counts, a Wellington woman arrested Tuesday for assaulting her husband.Wait — is that not funny? No? Well, howzzabout this: Rita…
According to the Palm Beach Post, about 50 protesters today demanded the resignation or firing of FAU professor Bassem alHalabi. Why? Because of his ties to terrorists, of course. The protest was led by Joe Kaufman, founder of Americans Against Hate. Kaufman has had run-ins with alHalabi in the past…
In a debate with Archbishop John Onaiyekan and former British MP Ann Widdecombe about the virtues of the Roman Catholic Church, Christopher Hitchens pilloried the pope’s promise to provide the victims of pedophile priests with “loving pastoral care.” “I’m sorry,” said Hitchens, “they’ve already had that.”Quite right they have, but…
Last night’s Idol theme was “songs from the movies.” Apparently, the definition of a “song from a movie” in the Idol universe is “a song that was once listened to by someone on the set of a film.” None of the obvious choices made it. “Mrs. Robinson”? Nope. “I Don’t…
Allen West is pissed!In his weekly wrap-up for constituents, West wrote:First of all, let me take the time to apologize to my Constituents and the American people for the drama and failure you witnessed this week. At this critical point for our Constitutional Republic, I believe the American people deserve…
We are fifty years and one day into the era of manned space flight. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin’s successful of into Earth’s atmosphere and safe landing in the Saratov region of Russia made him a hero the world over, in Communist and capitalist countries alike. Everywhere, people sensed…
I didn’t intend to become an American Idol fan, and I certainly didn’t intend to start writing about my fandom. But life is full of surprises.The first surprise came because I tuned in to Idol”s tenth season early this year to see if Steven Tyler could hack it as a…
Now, this isn’t exactly a new Coulterian utterance, but it is a remarkable one. Remember last month, when Ann Coulter put her foot in her mouth by claiming to know more about radiation than physicists? Remember how she claimed that nobody died of radiation poisoning as a result of the…
Ever commit to something and realize, too late, that you’re utterly unequipped to follow through?It’s a terrible feeling and one to which Debra Van Oort is apparently no stranger. Two months ago, Van Oort opened a pet store called Forever Puppies in Lantana. The store has not been a success,…
The lady to your left is Jill Mary Duggan. I’m including her middle name so subsequent Google searches of “Jill (No Middle Name) Duggan” don’t snag upon this story, which will reveal that Duggan has just been arrested on a charge of DUI in Palm Beach County.And why does that…
Talk about gratitude! The Legislature spends three sleepless weeks bashing out a budget deal, figures out a way to slash $39 billion from the federal budget, and Allen West says it’s not enough?That’s the news, according to The Hill, which reported on Saturday that Allen West would vote “nay” on…
Glenn Beck has endorsed Allen West for the presidency. Also, he’s endorsed Michelle Bachmann for veep, Ron Paul for Treasury secretary, and “Rambo for everything else.” (America must hope Beck would rethink the latter notion if he saw the last John Rambo flick.) This came during the conspiracy theorist’s and…
Denise Harvey, a 42-year-old woman, did a very, very bad thing. In 2006, she had sex with a 16-year-old boy.Why’s it a bad thing? Because Denise Harvey lives in Florida. If Denise Harvey lived just a few hours north — in Alabama or Georgia — having sex with a 16-year-old…
…and this is why we like Marco Rubio. Disagree with his politics, fine. His opinions differ from yours. Whatevs. At least he’s not willing to completely sell out his rational faculties for some desperate scoop at the bottom of the electoral barrel, à la Donald Trump. And he says so!…
The Miami Herald’s Fred Grimm is probably Florida’s resident expert drollerist, and his drollery is seldom so barbed or smart as it was in Wednesday’s column: “To Legislature, enemy is us.” Check it out, if you’re in the mood for some lightly depressing weekend reading.”Gotta have us some enemies,” he…
Thank goodness for Barbara Hijek — a woman whose job is to keep us all abreast of “weird, wacky, strange news from the Sunshine State.” Sometimes she tries to make light of things that are unmakelightofable, but sometimes she finds a little gem of a story without which, you realize…
At the moment, we’re waiting for news on what, exactly, the mysterious white powder sent to Allen West’s office might be. Anthrax? Ajax? High-grade cocaine to fortify West’s body for grueling battles against liberal Islamofascinazies?Probably not the latter. West doesn’t seem like a partier, and the white stuff came packed…
Last week, I published this story about a teacher who allegedly slapped a 9-year-old boy for laughing in class. According to the boy’s mother, Quiana Williams, she was informed after filing a police report that, technically, the teacher had done nothing wrong. This is true.Here are the details from Sgt…
“As we work to reduce wasteful government spending,” wrote Sen. Marco Rubio in a letter to Mitch McConnell on Thursday, “we recognize that providing for the national defense is a constitutional responsibility of the federal government. Therefore, we must continue to prioritize the security of our nation and the security…
It’s April in the Year of Our Lord 2011, and most Floridians have reached an accommodation with Allen West. As summer looms and West’s congressional career blossoms into maturity, he’s almost begun to seem normal. He still hates Muslims, but at least he’s polite about it. He probably still thinks…
The Sun-Sentinel has published an editorial that makes two points: (1) That Qur’an-burning Gainesville pastor Terry Jones bears no responsibility for the recent murders of U.N. workers and civilians in Afghanistan, and (2) that Jones’ Qur’an-burning is “appalling.” Wrongo, Sentinel. You can’t have it both ways. If Terry Jones’ Qur’an-burning…
