December 2013 - Page 6 of 9 - Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorDecember 12, 2013

The reaction to President Barack Obama’s handshake with Cuban President Raúl Castro this week is an accurate reflection of the wacky Cold War-era relationship between their two neighboring countries. As he walked up to the podium to eulogize former South African President Nelson Mandela Tuesday, President Obama shook hands and exchanged words with Castro. Even […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

I wonder how my mother’s past year may have gone differently had telemedicine been an option for her care. Following the resection of the lower lobe of her lung due to cancer, she developed an inability to swallow properly. She was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, and after multiple hospitalizations, she was fitted with a feeding […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

I made the mistake of telling Emeline, the 3-year-old, what we were getting her mother for Christmas. “Earrings. But don’t tell her. It’s a surprise,” I said, naively. “Okay, Dad. But I’m not such a good secret-keeper.” This, unfortunately, turned out to be true. An hour after dinner, she couldn’t contain herself. The beans were […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

In Northwest Florida, politics is a blood sport. There is one brewing now that deserves statewide attention. On one side is Mayor Ashton Hayward, who was elected three years ago as Pensacola’s first strong mayor. He’s a handsome, likeable person with a big bright smile and who likes to speak of big ideas. Hayward has […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

I commend Gov. Rick Scott for running the state as he would a business, taking every chance to maximize and return taxpayer dollars. Scott’s mission has been to make state programs most efficient by limiting waste and working to see dollars translate to jobs. But one policy change being proposed by the Agency for Health […]

Daniel TilsonDecember 10, 2013

The death of Nelson Mandela understandably overtook the news on Dec. 5. But there was another story unfolding that day, a story that were he still alive and well would have struck a chord deep inside him, where the passion for social justice burned so bright and long. From Miami to Tampa and more than […]

Guest AuthorDecember 10, 2013

Almost 150 years after the guns fell silent at the Battle of Olustee, it seemed as if the Civil War never quite ended, that the lessons of the past have been lost on those who claim the legacy of that American misadventure. Just look at the brewing controversy over plans to erect a Union monument […]

Guest AuthorDecember 10, 2013

By most accounts, including his own, 95-year-old Uncle Billy of Clearwater doesn’t need the cane the Veteran’s Administration health care folks insist he use. Until, that is, he did. That’s where I come in. He’s my great uncle, a man I may have met but a couple times decades ago. He’s my mother’s only living relative […]

Guest AuthorDecember 10, 2013

America is a nation that loves heroes. The recent death of South African leader Nelson Mandela spawned an outpouring of tributes from President Obama to the average American on the street. Mandela first led a decades-long fight to end apartheid in South Africa and then headed that nation in its democratic infancy with wisdom and […]

Susan ClaryDecember 9, 2013

The six years that Justice Arthur J. England, Jr. served on the Florida Supreme Court in the late 1970s could have been unremarkable. By the time he ran for the seat, he had graduated the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of business with honors, served in the U.S. Army counter-intelligence and been a close legal […]

Month: December 2013

Andrew Skerritt: U.S. foreign policy on Cuba has outlived its usefulness

Karen Cyphers: More ‘telemedicine’ would reduce costs, suffering

Ben Kirby: For more and more Americans, it’s homeless for the holidays

Rick Outzen: A Panhandle political battle is brewing

Denise Rangel: For tax dollars and teeth, prepaid dental is the answer

Daniel Tilson: Fast-food workers seek to “strike” right chord with middle class

Andrew Skerritt: Sad battle being waged over Union memorial at Olustee

Linda Cunningham: Kudos to Clearwater cops for tracking down Uncle Billy

Steve Kurlander: America needs some homegrown heroes like Mandela

Susan Clary: Justice England saw the benefits of cameras in courtrooms