Climate Change Bill

The House of Representatives has passed a sweeping climate change bill that The Congressional Budget Office says will cost the average homeowner $175 per year. OK, so that’s just a little over $14 a month, but honest to Pete, a lot of people just don’t have an additional $14 per month. And there’s no [...]

Auf Wiedersehen, Billy Mays

Of the four celebrities to pass this week, perhaps the least well known, but in some cases the most well known, has disturbed me the most. Pitchman Billy Mays died unexpectedly last night, cause yet to be determined. He was my age. 50.
It’s been a bad week to be a celebrity. First, Ed McMahon passed. [...]

Will Jacksonville Be Better?

“I ran for office to help make Jacksonville better,” Mayor John Peyton said Friday. “I never thought in a million years I’d increase taxes.”

And yet, Mayor Peyton has proposed an increase in the property tax millage rate. 1.2 mils, or about 14 percent. A mil, just in case you’re interested, is a dollar per thousand [...]

Back On The Radio

That’s right boys and girls, he’s back. Back with the opportunity to try something that has really been a dream of long standing. I’m going to host a call-in show, local, live and even get paid to do it.
Beginning Wednesday, July 8th for 13 weeks, I’ll be hosting The Jacksonville Observer Radio Show With [...]

The Debate Begins Tomorrow

Mayor Peyton has floated the idea of a property tax increase. And a pretty healthy one. 8.4 to 9.6 mils, or about 14%. The impetus is a $60 million gap in the city budget. City, police, and fire pensions have an enormous unfunded liability, and and we spend less per capita on almost every [...]

A Parade Of Republicans

Andie and I went this evening to a meeting of the newly-chartered First Coast Republican Club, meeting every 4th Monday at Casa Marina in Jacksonville Beach, and tonight’s gathering featured pretty much an all-star lineup of elected officials and candidates.
The danger of this is that I’m sure I’ll miss somebody, but let me see if [...]

Father’s Day

By the time you read this, it will be Father’s Day. I’ve been getting the reminders for weeks. “Don’t Forget Dad,” they say. “Your Dad Deserves The Best.” And from shavers to tools to speakers shaped like rocks, the stores continue to try to separate you from your money in honor of Dad. That’s ok, [...]

Trying To Stay Connected

I’ve been trying to stay connected with local news, but don’t find myself with a lot of time recently. That’s unfortunate, because I’ve come to really love this place, and feel a real need to stay informed with what’s going on not only in Jacksonville, but out here in the beaches communities as well. The [...]

Man, What A Week

I can tell when I haven’t been blogging as much. The stats are slowly, but steadily falling off a bit, and people are reverting back to a couple of standby classic posts: “Stealth Boat and Summer Travel Roulette” and “Hollywood in Black and White”. Sometimes I think those two posts get more traffic than any [...]

No Golden Parachute For The Golden Bear

Well, I guess we now know where the line is drawn.
Since just before election day, we’ve been hearing about bailouts. It’s no secret that the tanking economy sent John McCain’s presidential campaign into the tank. It was showing glimmers of life until he made the grand pronouncement he was “suspending’” the campaign to work on [...]