A steep tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products will go into effect today. ...more

April 1, 2009

Moratorium Magic In the first wave of development in Florida, there was too much water so the Army Corp of Engineers dug canals to drain land. Now there is too little water to support development in many suburban areas, so the Legislature is considering Senate Bill 2424, which would essentially give the state control of water distribution and price. In other words, the state could divert water from rural areas to provide continued development in metro areas like Tampa and St. Pete. ...more

March 31, 2009

Sen. Mel Martinez expressed support for more bailout funds for General Motors and Chrysler, saying the federal government "cannot allow" the U.S. auto industry to fail. ...more

March 30, 2009

General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will step down immediately at the request of the White House, administration officials said Sunday. The news comes as President Obama prepares to unveil additional restructuring efforts designed to save the domestic auto industry. ...more

March 29, 2009

"Hellooo" can anyone up there on Capitol Hill hear me? Probably not with all that bickering going on. You are like a bunch of school kids on the playground, "He did it," "No he did it," "No he did it first." I want to yell "Stop it!" just like I did to my kids. Stop the blame game and get back to work. ...more

March 29, 2009

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he was in "full agreement" with President Obama's strategy for Afghanistan, saying it was "exactly what the Afghan people were hoping for." ...more

March 29, 2009

President Obama's proposal to limit the tax deductibility of charitable contributions would effectively transfer more than $7 billion a year from the nation's charitable institutions to the federal government. But the high-income taxpayers affected by the rule change are likely to cut their charitable giving by as much as the increase in their tax bills, which would, ironically, leave their remaining income and personal consumption unchanged. ...more

March 29, 2009

Obama And Mao When he was in power, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung ruled China by being in everyone's face. Wherever you turned, there he was. You couldn't escape. President Obama appears to be taking a page from his book. ...more

March 28, 2009

The lack of concrete data on which facilities were emitting greenhouse gases and how much they were spewing into the atmosphere led to a major flaw in the European Union's cap-and-trade system: the over-allocation of pollution permits to industry. This mistake led to the collapse of the carbon market. Thanks to action taken by the Environmental Protection Agency this month, the United States will not make the same mistake. ...more

March 28, 2009

Your editorial pages and the accompanying letters to the editor are starting to resemble cable TV, with its opinionated talking heads and manufactured outrage. It is as if half the people expect President Obama to be a miracle worker, and the other half-think he's no better than the last group. ...more

March 27, 2009