The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Florida Fodder
Yes,
this is still “Flori-duh.” Republican Congressman Ross Spano of Dover is
still a climate change denier. The Chairman of the State Board of
Education, Andy Tuck, is still an evolution denier. And Florida Attorney
General Ashley Moody still denies the common sense inherent in going after assault
weapons. But yes, we no longer have the climate-denying Rick Scott for
governor—and there’s no denying that it should help to have a chief science
officer (Thomas Frazier), a chief resilience officer (Julia Nesheiwat) and an
environmental secretary (Noah Valenti). But this just in: The Republican Party
of Florida went ahead and held a two-day registration drive at a
Pembroke Pines gun show. Would that we were shocked.
While
security upgrades get most of the attention about what’s new for Florida
publicschools this year, there are some other significant
changes as well. For instance, curricula will now include a ½ credit elective
in financial literacy. Good–but not good enough. First of all, don’t
mandate an “elective.” Make it, uh, mandatory. It’s that important in this
economy. Second, add another ½ credit for the mandatory instruction of media
literacy—and its obvious implications for a vulnerable, 21st
century democracy.
“Talk
of economic embargoes may play well among the Cuban community in
Florida, but people in Venezuela will be asking themselves if they
will have to live through this for the next 60 years.” That was Geoff Ramsey,
head of the Venezuela program at the Washington Office on Latin America, noting
that increased U.S. sanctions on Venezuela amounts to foreign policy built on
Cold War tactics and rhetoric.