The Way I See ItBy cj pollickCome Back With New Ideas - Clearwater is struggling to find money to balance its city needs. The city council recently informed the city manager to go back to the city police union and find ways to cut their budget in areas where they noticed savings in the Sheriff's Department's proposal to perform same or similar police services (at an estimated $10 million annual savings to Clearwater.) "Come back to us with ideas of where you can save money," was the city council message last week to the city manager. Clearwater city council expects to revisit this agenda topic in a month. Can the city manager negotiate with the Clearwater police union to find ways to cut the city police department financial budget? Will the savings, if any, come near the annual savings of the Sheriff's Department's proposal? Why is this important to the citizens of Clearwater? If an annual savings of several millions of tax funds can be found, then perhaps one or two of the city libraries can remain open (as well as Morningside Recreation Center.) The several million dollars of annual spending savings can help to rescue some city programs that are planned to be cut. Yes, this is an important issue for taxpayers to follow. The Oil Spill Is Not Near Clearwater - None of the oil leaking from the offshore BP oil well has come close to reaching local waters from north Florida south. None. Our beaches and estuaries are as clean as ever. No sight of oil, no oil smell, no blobs of oil on any of our beaches-any message to the contrary is unfounded. Is there a huge potential oil problem? Yes, but the fact of the matter is that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has not come close to our local waters. At this time, our beaches are clean and the air is clean. Anyone thinking of visiting the local area should not worry that their vacation could be ruined by floating oil slicks and blobs of oil on the beaches. We, in central Florida, do not have the same oil problem as Louisiana or possibly Mississippi and Alabama beach areas. That message should be made clear to our summer vacationers. Clearwater is the place to visit! Some out-of-state people have emailed to ask if we have an "oil problem" at Clearwater Beach. The answer is no. More Mosques Planned For New York - Over the past years several new mosques have been built in New York to better service the expanding New York Muslim community. However, some people are wondering if it is appropriate to build a new $100 million high-rise mosque next to what is referred to as "ground zero" in Manhattan. Makes you wonder why that particular location was selected over all other New York locations for a new, expensive mosque! Memorial Day And The President - Mr. President, where were you on Memorial Day! Government Union Workers - Over 50 percent of all union workers in the U.S. are employed by the government, compared with only 17 percent in 1980. In addition, government workers make about $10 per hour more than the average private sector worker. The powers of union campaign funds can be felt during political campaigns where one candidate would support union pay raises and the other candidate would cut spending. More government union employees? You tell me. It's The Economy, Stupid - James Carville is a prominent Democrat consultant. He knows his business and can read people to determine what should be said by politicians on the campaign trail. Once he was asked on national television to name the most important issue of the the Clinton/Bush campaign. Carville said, "It's the economy..." James Carville was right and he would be even more on point in the 2010 elections. The number one issue confronting politicians is putting people back to work. Our nation's economy has tanked and is getting worse. Voters of America are crying-out for help. Is help on the way? Time will tell, but increasing capital gains taxes and personal income taxes during a recession is not a brilliant move. Why would Obama and his friends in Congress wish to push America into a deeper recession and cause more jobs to be lost? It doesn't make sense, but people like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and others are planning for such a tax hike. As Carville said, "It's the economy!" Why Did The White House Ask Bill Clinton To Make The Offer? - Former Sen. Arlen Specter must have had some powerful IOU's from the Obama White House and leading democrats in Washington DC. News reports from the White House showed that former president Bill Clinton visited Rep. Joe Sestak and try to "persuade" Joe from running against Arlen Specter in the democrat primary. (Which Sestak recently won by beating Specter.) What job was offered to Joe Sestak? Bill Clinton, of all people, is in the middle of the Joe Sestak affair. But, why would Bill Clinton want to get involved in such a shady deal? Why would Clinton subject himself and perhaps his wife to more questions of possible impropriety just to accommodate the White House? Is this the change voters expected in the last election? Conference Mania - When the Big Ten Conference started talking about adding two or more college football teams to their conference, other conferences began to wonder how they might be affected by such a change in the Big Ten Conference. The Big East could lose one or two teams to the Big Ten if the conference expanded. Teams like PITT, Rutgers and West Virginia have been mentioned as potential Big Ten teams. Same for Notre Dame. However, this expansion talk meant that other conferences started talking about growth. The Big Twelve and Pac 10 have talked about adding more teams to their conferences. Teams like Texas, Missouri, Texas A&M and others are mentioned as potential candidates. In other words, many football conferences across the country are talking about changes. The Big East Conference, ACC and SEC? Expect some changes if the Big Ten Conference adds two or more teams. At least one of the additions to the Big Ten would likely come from the Big East Conference. UCF? Maybe it is time to add UCF to the Big East. It is a big school that draws from the popular Orlando area, and it is a possible rivalry match for USF. (And don't forget FAU over in Boca Raton!) "Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny" -Thomas Jefferson |