The Way I See ItBy cj pollickHappy Easter - A day of celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ for Christians around the world. Belleair Beach City Hall - Belleair Beach city hall building will be demolished within a week or two. A new Belleair Beach city hall annex will be constructed at a cost estimated to be about $3-million. For the folks who have followed this city project over the past several years, there were times when it appeared the project might be amended into oblivion. From 1999 when elected city officials like Burt Cutler began to push talks for a new city hall, until the current city council where votes finally resulted in the demolition of the current city hall and construction for the new, the project involved many citizens and city officials. Kudos to everyone who helped to make this project a reality. Indian Rocks Beach - The new Indian Rocks Beach city commission professes that they will conduct themselves more "peacefully" than the previous city commission. Of course, citizens of IRB hope they are true to their words. New Mayor R.B. Johnson says that he supports showing all of the citywide development in favor of balancing a declining city revenue base (due to state property tax cuts.) On the other hand, there are some people who wonder if allegations of impropriety of city funds will be discussed in an open forum. Whether allegations of missing funds are true or not, the topic should be openly discussed and fully resolved. Pinellas County Commission - Pinellas County Commissioner Bob Stewart may soon decide that his time in public office is over. Stewart, who is 70, may not run for another term (primary is August 26th and the general election on November 4th). Who is thinking of running for Stewart's seat if he opts to not run for re-election? County school board member Nancy Bostock had stated she is "very interested." The list of candidates for possible open Pinellas County Commission seats will grow when officials (like Bob Stewart) make their final decisions. Largo - Largo City Commissioner Rodney Woods, who supported retaining former city manager Steve (Sue) Stanton, now would like to call Largo's library, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library. If the many letters sent to city hall by Largo residents are any indication, the folks think that is a Very Bad idea. Their message to Rodney Woods - Move on to important issues affecting Largo citizens. Senator Barack Obama - Sen. Barack Obama has clearly lost voter support due to comments made by his pastor of 20 years. Comments like, "The American government invented AIDS to give to black people" and "The chickens come home to roost (referring to the 9/11 attack on America)" and the "US of KKKA. The Rev. Wright preaches paranoid hatred of America on a regular basis. Sen. Barack Obama can't defend his tolerance of those outrageous comments. NY Governor Helped To Make Her Rich - Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY), known as a person who would "steamroll" over anyone who got in his way, resigned from office on Monday. Spitzer was caught in a police operation tracing his cash withdrawals as "for service" payments to a young call-girl named Ashley Kristen, age 22. Spitzer lost his job as governor and faces a number of legal issues as well as personal family matters over the next two months. All-in all, he admitted that he made some bad decisions and must address them and move forward in a quest to restore confidence in him and his abilities. Most Americans probably wish him and his family the best during these most trying times. On the other hand, the financial beneficiary of this mess is the call-girl named Kristen. Now, instead of working as a paid "escort", she has been asked by Hustler Magazine and Penthouse Magazine and others to pose and share her story for the public. Yes, she will make millions of dollars from all of this notoriety (without performing her previous work). In other words, Kristen will soon be financially stable and should be able to pursue her reported interests in music (singing). All the credit in this new- found wealth goes to Elliot Spitzer. As the Spitzer story winds its way to the back page of newspapers, the Kristen story will find its way to the front page of some very popular magazines (for a price). Of course, some folks wonder if the endorsement of Eliot Spitzer will help Hillary Clinton's cause as much as recent comments about Sen. Obama's race by former democrat vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. Buy Goods From Overseas? - When you look at the name-tag of goods sold in American stores, you most likely would find those goods made in places such as China, Malaysia or other notable foreign locations. Cheep labor, they proudly say, and low overhead. Yes, cheap labor thanks to what should be described as forced slavery. Here is how it works in those countries: a labor broker is contracted to find numbers of employees to work at manufacturing plants. The brokers work with headhunters that get paid up to $100 per person referred. Desperate people interested in job typically come from places like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Workers are lied-to and end-up working in low paying jobs where they never earn enough money to reimburse the finders fee due the job brokers (which the employer pays with a provision while the employer holds employee passports and work papers until fully reimbursed). Thus, the worker becomes a virtual slave to the employer. The workers live in miserable run-down shacks and the employer nets employee expenses due the employer from the low salary. If a worker flees the job and tries to work in another place, the laws of the country would result in them being arrested (no passport or legal government work papers.) Cheap labor and low costs of manufacturing goods? Yes, there is a reason the goods we buy are so cheap to produce overseas - it is called slavery. Imagine, there are places that actually enforce such things as legal working papers and legal passports (unlike the U.S.) BUY AMERICAN MADE.
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