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Broken News
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Author: |
Bill Thompson |
Created: |
10/22/2007 10:05 AM |
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Broken News is a topical take on stuff that's already happened, both in
Ocala and beyond. You might not read it here first, but that's OK — neither
have I. The best I can do is bring you stuff you probably didn't know, and
if you're not offended, outraged or out the door because you have something
better to do, I'm not trying hard enough.
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Supplemental reading |
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By Bill Thompson on
1/15/2008 1:21 PM
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Today, I thought I'd include a few useful links I've read recently to help understand why it's important that none of the current front-runners from either party actually get elected next November. As this election goes along, we'll soon learn that, with a very few exceptions, the late George Wallace was right: there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.
One is this article by Peter Gemma of Middle American News, in an interview with Paul Gottfried, one of the brightest lights of what still passes for conservative thought and scholarship --- and not the Fox News-Rudy-National Review-Weekly Standard version. This is a primer on the distinction of conservatives and the neocons. While I'd recommend Gottfried's book in a heartbeat,
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Smoke 'em if you got 'em |
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By Bill Thompson on
1/14/2008 4:06 PM
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The decision by the city of Ocala and, more recently, Marion County, to ban the hiring of smokers illustrates that the war on smoking continues to be vigorously waged. Nothing like making a group of people feeling like second-class citizens for doing something legal.
Nonetheless, we were treated to more salvos in this fight the other day, this time from the American Lung Association.
The ALA, in handing down its annual tobacco report card, officially known as the State of Tobacco Control report, gives Florida an "F" on its cigarette tax rate. Florida taxes smokers 34 cents a pack, an amount that was enacted in 1990.
To get an idea of how the ALA feels about this, they handed out only two A's, one to New Jersey ($2.58 a pack) and one to Rhode Island ($ ...
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For those scoring at home . . . |
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By Bill Thompson on
1/9/2008 4:40 PM
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Two of our local political worthies have recently gone public with their presidential endorsements, at least on the Republican side.
State Rep. Kurt Kelly of Ocala and County Commissioner Stan McClain announced Tuesday that they are supporting former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
In a prepared statement Kelly called Huckabee "a man of the highest professional and personal character, a wise and visionary leader with an impeccable work ethic and is a genuine kind and approachable man that will be a president for all Americans. McClain said he was backing the Man from Hope --- where have I heard that before? --- because he has "put forth a bold conservative agenda that includes a fair tax plan, a sensible immigration policy and a respect for the sanctity of human life." McClain added in his statement, " ...
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Oops, we let OSU do it again |
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By Bill Thompson on
1/8/2008 4:29 PM
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In 1994, I spent one of the most enjoyable weekends of my life with an old Army buddy, Dean Thornberry. Thornberry lived in Ohio, and he invited me to attend the Ohio State-Michigan game with him that year. Thornberry was an OSU grad, and spending a mostly sober weekend partying in a college town like Columbus with a seat to one of college football's most storied rivalries was unbeatable. It was even better that the Buckeyes won, ending a six-year winless drought against the Wolverines.
I lost contact with Dean not long afterward, but he was on my mind this morning, since his alma mater had been pummeled yet again in a NCAA title game. It's bad enough to get crushed the way Ohio State did last January by UF. It's worse — not to mention unprecedented — to be drilled by the same school in a different sport in the same year, as the Gators did to OSU in basketball. Yet it's unimaginable ...
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Paul pulled in NH |
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By Bill Thompson on
1/7/2008 4:47 PM
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Other than Shepard Smith giving the nightly news report, I gave up watching Fox News a few years ago. Once upon a time their "fair and balanced" mantra meant offering exposure to conservative voices that had been shunned by the big media outlets --- all part of the big liberal media conspiracy to rule the world that had worked out so swimmingly since until very recently, Republicans ruled Congress for a dozen years, boasted four of the last six occupants of the White House and dominated legislatures and governor's mansions across the country, except in the Northeast --- and that was a good thing.
In short, the more voices, the better.
But in the last couple of years, Fox has taken on the chore of shilling for the Bush administration, operating more like the ...
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A Hallmark moment |
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By Bill Thompson on
12/10/2007 4:23 PM
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My birthday was last month, and among the well wishers was a surprising name, state Sen. Evelyn Lynn. I received a birthday card from the senator, as did my wife about two weeks earlier on her birthday.
Normally, my Big Brother intruder radar goes off like an air raid horn in such instances, but thanks to President Bush, the Patriot Act and the CIA snoops (the ones who don't do the waterboarding) I've grown dangerously complacent about such activities. Quite frankly, it didn't faze my because I've met Sen. Lynn and she's quite pleasant.
But now, thanks to an interesting exchange between Ocala resident Steve Ellis and state
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Who's afraid of Ron Paul? |
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By Bill Thompson on
12/6/2007 9:05 AM
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In this job during election season, you get all kinds of crap — I mean, valuable information — from political candidates about their campaigns. Although this stuff can usually be immediately pitched into the circular file, the other day I was intrigued by an announcement from the camp of Congressman Ron Paul, a Republican presidential candidate.
The notice said the Texas obstetrician has been endorsed by Barry Goldwater Jr., son of the late great senator from Arizona. (Watch Goldwater's comments here.)
I was surprised to learn from Paul's press release was that Goldwater the Younger had served in Congress for 14 years, representing the Los Angel ...
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The real reason for early vote |
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By Bill Thompson on
12/4/2007 2:26 PM
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My colleagues Lloyd Dunkelberger and Joe Follick, reporting Monday from the Star-Banner’s Tallahassee bunker, pointed out that the Democratic presidential candidates to date have not run a single TV ad in Florida.
The people who know about such things say this inactivity hurts the Democrats, and gives the Republicans vying for the White House a leg up --- the outta sight, outta mind theory of political science. But I'm not so sure.
Recall that this snub is a self-imposed boycott by the Dems' candidates in response to the Democratic National Committee punishing us uppity Floridians for daring to move our primary election up so we could have a voice in the selection of the president befitting the fourth-biggest state in the country. That push led the DNC to strip Florida of all 210 delegates to next y ...
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