The Way I See ItBy cj pollickMemorial Day - Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. May we never forget that we are "the Land of the Free Because of the Brave." New Hotels On Clearwater Beach - The Sand Pearl and Hyatt Aqualea are wonderful additions to the beach. Last weekend both hotels were booked. Bringing families with disposable incomes is good for everyone. A real boost for the beach community. Marco Rubio Forced Charlie Crist's Unveiling - GOP and Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio forced former GOP senate candidate Charlie Crist to unveil himself while campaigning as Republicans. Rubio was clearly the candidate with conservative political values while Crist was seen as more liberal. The Marco Rubio GOP senate campaign steam-rolled over the Crist GOP campaign and Crist became worried about his expected political job. And, as expected by some career politicians trying to save their political jobs, Crist explained that he had been living a lie and was really something other than what people had thought. In this case, much like Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania changing from Republican to Democrat, Crist dumped his Republican logo in favor of "no party affiliation." Thus, Crist proclaimed he was not running for elected office in Florida as a Republican, but was a political "man of the world." Crist then began to court Democrat voters to dump their seasoned Democrat candidate and support Crist's campaign. Crist called union officials and asked for their financial and other support, but unions stated they would remain faithful to the Democrat candidate. The irony? Some of our local elected officials have not stated where they stand regarding Charlie Crist. Even if Crist plans to caucus with Democrat leadership in Washington, if elected to the Senate, some local GOP officials have not made a decision of whether to support Crist or not. Will Crist's campaign follow Arlen Specter's? Time will tell, but it is annoying what some politicians would do just to keep their elected jobs. Bailout For Union Pensions - Big labor ally Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is introducing a $165 billion bailout for troubled union pension funds. (Who is bailing out small business owners?) President Obama And Big Oil - One might have thought that former President Bush was the darling of big oil company political campaign funding. Not true. With over $3.5 million given to politicians from BP Oil over the last 20 years, the largest recipient of BP oil campaign money was President Barack Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. How has president Obama handled the oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico where, on April 20th, eleven workers were killed in an oil rig explosion and millions of gallons of oil has been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. BP clearly did not have a safety plan to contain such an oilrig explosion and neither did regulators in Washington. The BP oil spill has continued to grow in size and potential damage to our coastal environment, fishery, tourism industry, etc. What has President Obama done to force BP Oil to stop the spill? Not much, the oil leak continues to this day. Why have large media sources not reported on the political connection between President Obama and big oil companies? Would media sources have reported the oil explosion story in the same manner if George W. Bush were President? Arizona Is Taking The Heat For Lax Federal Enforcement - When the federal government refuses to enforce laws regarding illegal immigration and trafficking, how should a border state respond? Ignore the problem and allow it to permeate your state? Keep asking for federal government enforcement of illegal immigration laws already on the books? Pass state law to enforce the same federal law regarding illegal immigration? Arizona officials tired of federal government lack of enforcement and passed state law to allow state police to enforce illegal immigration law. If the federal government refuses to enforce law, State of Arizona police will enforce the law, so say Arizona top officials. The result? NBA basketball, major league baseball, cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, liberal politicians, and a host of activist organizations have in one form or another protested the illegal immigration law in Arizona (which in form copies our federal law.) The President? He has asked the Justice Dept. to investigate and see if there are any civil rights issues with the Arizona illegal immigration law. Yet, over 62% of Americans support Arizona law. Worse? US Immigration officials in Washington (ICE) say that they may not process illegals referred to them from Arizona, "ICE has the right to accept or not persons delivered to it," said a top ICE enforcement official Napolitano. Thus, the federal government, who has the duty to enforce this law, has stated they may not provide any enforcement. And people wonder why we have an illegal immigration problem in America! White House Says It Did Nothing Wrong, Really? - When Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) said he was running against Sen. Arlen Specter for Specter's US Senate seat, Sestak most likely did not think he would be running against the Democrat Party "White House" establishment. After all, Sestak assumed, Specter was not really a Democrat (or Republican), Sen. Specter merely wanted to retain a powerful US Senate seat. (Does this sound familiar to Florida's Charlie Crist?) Nevertheless, it was not long before White House power brokers began to support "their man" Arlen Specter. The White House called Joe Sestak and asked if he would leave Specter alone and take a job at the White House. Sestak refused the offer and beat Arlen Specter. Sestak now claims to be outside of Washington mainstream politics. White House attorneys are saying nothing illegal was done, but lawyers have said it is a crime to offer something of value to an official just to quit his job. Is this the change candidate Barack Obama said he would bring to Washington politics? Clearly not, but perhaps this is another reason why President Obama's national polling numbers have dropped to under 40%. Interestingly enough, Democrat candidates are now avoiding Obama much like Republican candidates avoided President Bush in the last election. What Will Big Government Not Control? - Free enterprise? Free and open markets? Capitalism over Socialism? Change our US Constitution? If we observe the manner in which big government has controlled European nations we can see the future of America. Yes, there are people in Washington (and high places) that want America to become similar to governments in Europe. More socialism and less capitalism, they proudly proclaim. American citizens are watching and wondering why some politicians want to change the US Constitution to meet modern-day political philosophies. After all, most American citizens say, our Constitution has been the guiding light of our nation since it's founding. Why change our nation's Constitution just because some US politicians and foreign interests believe it is old-fashioned and needs updated. As Sen. Shumer of New York, the Clintons, and a host of other powerful politicians say, the US Constitution should be considered as a "living document" and not a "fixed document." Thus, we need to change the way our nation works and become more like the European Union. Government Benefits At All-Time High - According to a new analysis by USA Today, during the first quarter of this year, paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history while government-provided benefits -from social security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs rose to a record high. Stock Market Tanks - On Tuesday the stock market fell over 200 points…falling under 10,000! Not surprisingly, stock markets throughout the world also fell due to financial concerns in Europe due to the near bankruptcy of Greece, Portugal, Spain and a host of other European nations. Far eastern nations such as Japan and China felt the decline of their financial markets as a "trickle down" of declining global marketing and lending networks. The so-called "global economy" is in bad shape and the Euro is sinking in value. "I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But by the grace of God, I am not what I was." -John Newton (Composer of Amazing Grace) |