Today marks the one-week anniversary of the day that Glenn Beck saved America from the imperialistic Japanese humility, which briefly threatened our fine standing in the global community. Yes, I’m a week late on this story, but only because many high-priced mental health specialists strongly advised me to abstain from…
Gov. Rick Scott fired a warning shot yesterday and ignited what seems like just one Floridian battle in the national war on public institutions. Whether it’s congressmen feuding over federal funds for National Public Radio and Planned Parenthood or state leaders stripping unions of collective bargaining rights, a fierce anti-public…
Joe Raedle, a Getty Images photographer from South Florida, and two colleagues from Agence France-Presse who were all arrested in Libya on Saturday, have been released in Tripoli. On Tuesday night, Raedle’s wife, Nancy San Martin, said that the Libyan government had released her husband. AFP announced the release on…
Here’s the score in America; if you’ve ever “waged a violent campaign” against a communist leader, then you’re a “cold-war veteran” and totally not a terrorist. And if you’ve publicly admitted that you “organized a wave of bombings” in that communist country, that’s cool; just don’t lie to a judge…
With all the rhetoric about jobs and a balanced budget, you may not realize the pile of anti-abortion legislation clogging the state government’s agenda. But as abortion battles sweep across the country, Florida fights from the front line with 18 abortion bills pending in the state legislature. Last week, the…
The Islam-hating preacher with a ridiculous 19th-century mustache, who threatened to host International Burn A Koran Day on the anniversary of 9/11 but then reneged, torched a copy of the Muslim holy book this past weekend. During Sunday service at his tiny Gainesville church, Pastor Terry Jones held a…
AT&T, a company that was broken up in 1984 because of a federal antitrust suit, is once again sparking fears that consumers and competition will get hurt as a result of its deal to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion. The deal would shrink the market of major wireless carriers from…
Joe Raedle, a 45-year-old South Florida-based photographer for Getty Images has been missing since Saturday in Libya, along with two Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists, Dave Clark, 38, and Roberto Schmidt, 45. They were last heard from on Friday night, when they emailed AFP with their plans to head into the…
Florida is number one again. The state that holds the championship belt in oxycodone consumption now leads the U.S. in fraudulent tax returns filed from prison. Perhaps our prisoners are trying to emulate the leadership traits of Captain Medicaid Fraud, aka Gov. Rick Scott. Florida inmates filed 8,777 phony claims…
Maybe three deaths a day isn’t enough in Florida. An average of three people killed per day is a puny little statistic compared to the seven daily deaths caused by the tsunami of prescription drugs that flooded Florida over the last decade. Nevertheless, drunk driving kills about three Floridians per…
Over the next 15 years, Florida will bear one of the greatest burdens of diabetes, according to a study, released yesterday, by the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF). Almost 12 percent of Florida’s population, or 2,271,300 people, suffered from diabetes in 2010. An 85 percent jump to about 4.2 million diabetic…
While Florida’s Senate Majority Leader makes misleading statements about a government spending measure currently moving through the legislature, the entire state government received a D grade for disclosure of how it spends taxpayer money, according to a recent report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.If it was a high…
Hypocrisy and shallow intellect are common among the leadership of Florida’s fiscally conservative Senate. But a recent statement from Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner makes one wonder if he was blatantly trying to mislead the public or just incapable of understanding certain legislation. On Tuesday, the Florida Senate approved a…
Broward County’s ill-fated attempt to save money by closing parks midweek actually cost taxpayers $98,961, plus a year and a half of potential revenue that the parks could have brought in. Next Tuesday, four county parks will reopen seven days a week, according to the Broward County Parks and Recreation…
Even though drug laws haven’t stopped illicit substance abuse in prisons, Florida’s new prison chief hopes that banning cigarettes will keep inmates from smoking. Prisoners have six months to kick the habit before cigarettes go from currency to contraband, according to the state Department of Corrections. DOC officials said that treating…
Let’s clear a few things up just in case anyone was misled by a column from the Sun Sentinel’s Nicole Brochu earlier this week. Despite a recent survey that found 57 percent of Floridians support legalization of medical marijuana, Brochu doesn’t think that it’s likely to happen. “Florida isn’t California,” she…
The drug company that makes OxyContin seems more concerned about Florida’s drug epidemic than the governor. First, the manufacturer began reformulating its pill to prevent snorting or shooting the drug. Now, the company, Purdue Pharma, has offered $1 million to help fund Florida’s prescription drug tracking system. Purdue will provide…
While Gov. Rick Scott seems like the biggest obstacle in front of the prescription drug problem that kills seven Floridians a day, a new trend has emerged among young addicts. Users in their 20s increasingly prefer to crush pills and inject their fix, according to a report from Jim Hall,…
It was fodder for Florida columnists all week. By Saturday, the hypocrisy and intellectual ineptitude of Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos was on national display via the New York Times’ op-ed page. Last week, the AP reported that Haridopolos, a so-called fiscally conservative Republican, received $152,000 from a community college…
After Charlie Sheen injected tiger blood and seven-gram rocks into the national discourse this week, you may be numb to subtly absurd political gaffes. But let’s take a few minutes to look at the congresswoman currently visiting Florida, who is known for purporting falsities and misinformation. Later today, Rep. Michele Bachmann…
