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The St. Petersburg Times' long-running bias against the chiropractic profession once again reared its ugly head in your misguided June 4 editorial Testing the board's authority. Suggesting the creation of the new chiropractic college at Florida State University was somehow a legislative "end-run approach" around Florida's new Board of Governors is not only a disingenuous argument, it is one that completely belies the facts.
Florida's Board of Governors didn't exist five years ago when the discussion, study and debate began both in the Legislature and in our higher education governance system regarding the creation of this new program. The Board of Governors came into being years after the oversight process was completed.
True, the Legislature was actively engaged in the debate. Since at least 1999, we discussed the need, debated the issue, directed studies be conducted and provided funding for independent plans relating to the college's creation. At the same time, two former governance bodies, the Postsecondary Education and Planning Commission and the Florida Board of Regents, studied the situation and issued positive recommendations. The first appropriation for planning came in 2000, several years before the Board of Governors existed. It is a well-documented fact that this issue received much more thorough discussion than did the creation of some other programs that have recently come into existence. Would you have the Board of Governors reach back to those programs as well, or any other college created prior to its existence?
The chiropractic profession has likewise been engaged. Its million-dollar gift to create a super-endowed chair in biomechanics and chiropractic research at FSU in 1998 will complement the college, likely placing it at the forefront of research institutions competing for the dramatic increase in funding available from the National Institutes of Health for research into complementary and alternative medicine.
Your editorial also completely ignores the central public policy issue: Why should 700 to 900 of our students (many of these minority students) be forced unfairly to leave the state each year to pursue a professional health care education at a much more expensive private chiropractic college? Responsible public policy suggests they should not be so forced.
FSU envisions this new program to offer a dual degree in the areas of nutrition, health services and sports medicine, to name a few... all of which are grossly in short supply in Florida and the nation.
Chiropractic is the fastest growing of all the major health care disciplines, regulated and licensed in all 50 states and in most foreign countries, and recognized by Medicare, Medicaid and virtually all private insurance programs. I hope this will give your readers a little more factual information than was included in your editorial.
Re: The homestead shuffle, June 10.
The Times editorial pointed out exactly why I will vote for an amendment to raise the homestead exemption. The editorial correctly calls it a tax shift and not a tax cut. The people who benefit are the ones living in small houses that provide a basic necessity - a roof over their heads. The editorial correctly points out the burden will shift to businesses and higher-priced homes, and it should. We are talking necessity versus luxury and choice.
Our property taxes in Florida need to be shifted, and this amendment will help. Tax my car, my boat, my liquor, my entertainment and even my dog. But leave my food, medicine and basic necessities alone.
Re: Secretive millionaire fuels homestead push, June 7.
Once upon a time (1978, to be precise) there was a nameless, faceless businessman millionaire who spent a chunk of his fortune to persuade California voters to approve his initiative petition, called Proposition 13, to substantially reduce property taxes. And the voters did. And California's public schools immediately faced the prospect of closing down due to lack of funding, a disaster averted only by prompt enactment of laws imposing user fees on many government services that were formerly free - like use of libraries, public parks, garbage collection, and also big increases in water and sewer taxes. California's system of public education, once ranked among the nation's best, has never recovered from the Proposition 13 debacle.
Now we have another nameless, faceless businessman millionaire who is spending a chunk of his fortune to persuade Floridians to approve his initiative petition that would substantially reduce "rising" property taxes by doubling the homeowners' exemption. Never mind that Florida property taxes are already among the lowest in the nation. And never mind that a further substantial reduction in Florida's property tax would do untold additional damage to our system of public education, which already ranks among the nation's poorest.
Are we voters so jaded as to approve this latest threat to the most precious government service of all, the education of our children? I hope not.
Re: Secretive millionaire fuels homestead push.
Homestead exemption was passed many years ago to enable a family of modest or lesser means to own a home and not have to worry about it being seized for taxes. In those days you could own a home for less than $5,000. I built mine for less than $3,000 and lived in it for 55 years. The law was welcomed and served its intended purpose. However, during the ensuing years, the exemption has remained the same while housing costs have soared.
Comparing house costs and the exemption then and now, with inflation being a factor, the ratio would bring homestead exemption at that time down to a couple of hundred dollars or maybe less and be meaningless in protecting the homeowner. Renters were not considered, therefore not granted exemption relief, and paid about one-fourth of their income for rent. Today, rent seems to be what the traffic will bear and could be more than half of a family's income. So the renter is left out of the equation, though the renter pays property tax through the landlord.
Had tax exemption been adjusted upward to keep in line with inflation, it would probably amount to $100,000 or more. This doesn't seem to be a plausible solution. So, since the law seems to have lost its purpose, maybe we should just abolish it altogether and adjust the tax rates to suit our needs and eliminate another layer of paper work to contend with.
Once again, "The Golden Calf" takes center stage after weeks of totally consuming hearts and minds. It culminated in front-page headlines that read Electric, Lords of the Rink, Stanley Cup gets a sunny new home, Win or lose, fans came to play, as the Tampa Bay Lightning took possession of the Stanley Cup.
On the same day these headlines about our Tampa Bay hockey heroes appeared, buried in the lower-left-hand corner of Page 3, was the story of 31-year-old Clearwater resident Chris Neidrich, who was killed just days earlier in an ambush attack in Iraq. In fact, in all the weeks that Tampa Bay was engulfed in its passion for the hockey puck, the stories of many other Chris Neidrichs - the real heroes who gave their lives in Iraq for our freedom - were diminished by hockey mania.
I suppose some people see this as an outlet from "worldly woes," a way to get their minds off reality. To me, it's like the alcoholic who drinks himself into a stupor to forget his problems, only to sober up and find that everything is still as it was.
Okay, so the Lightning won the Stanley Cup. Is the world a better place now? Is this what Chris Neidrich and all the other young American men and women are sacrificing their lives for? So the rest of us can go around chanting "Go, Bolts"? And how many more will die between now and the time when we hear people chanting "Go, Bucs"?
In this hedonistic society, would-be-to-God that people get on their knees and spend as much time, effort and enthusiasm praying for his divine intervention to get us back on track with our priorities and focused on the things that really matter so that the world can indeed become a better place.
The euphoria that surrounds the entire Tampa Bay region following the Stanley Cup victory of the Tampa Bay Lightning is not unlike the prideful joy the entire community felt when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. It occurs to me that there are only two things that bind a broad (multicounty) community together: tragedies and sports championships. Given the choice, I'll take the sports route.
Which leads me to the conclusion that it's okay to spend tax dollars on building sports arenas. What other use of tax dollars can lead to this kind of joy, camaraderie and euphoria? Not to mention the national publicity for the region and the economic impact of all the fans and visitors. What other events bring people from five or six counties together to celebrate and feel good about themselves? Sports are a good thing, and sport championships are a great thing. Embrace the moment. We are all part of it.
Re: Cosby scolding fires up opinions, June 5.
I was in a store a couple of months ago and a lady in a check-out line with two small children spotted someone she knew. After getting her attention she said, "I seen Joe last week." Her friend replied, "Who?" The lady repeated, "Joe! I seen Joe last week."
I thought to myself, "Geez! How hard is it to say "I saw Joe?' She's teaching her kids that "I seen Joe' is correct."
Well, Bill Cosby was right, and I'm glad he had the nerve to say what he said. Here it is 50 years since Brown vs. Board of Education and some people are still saying, "I seen." What was it all for?
Cosby is being vilified and called a "sell-out" for his comments, but only by those who still espouse the theory that we as black people are victims and nothing is our fault. Dr. John McWhorter of the University of California at Berkley was likewise vilified for his book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America. He talks about the cults of victimology, separatism and anti-intellectualism that permeate African-American culture, cults that say that to try to learn, to be intellectual, to speak proper English is to try to be white. These cults are keeping many down - obviously not all, but far too many!
Cosby mentioned misguided spending? Well look at the amount spent on hair, nails, booming stereos in old cars, not to mention the wheels on those cars. It's obvious where the priorities are. There is a saying that "The truth shall set you free." Well sometimes "The truth hurts," is more appropriate because until one is willing to accept the truth and be responsible for one's own actions and their consequences, there will be no freedom. How to break this cycle of a child being taught, "I saw Joe," and then going home and constantly hearing, "I seen Joe," is the real problem.
Re: Cosby scolding fires up opinions.
We should all cheer for Bill Cosby. It's about time someone pointed out that the bulk of most poor people's problems are a result of their own actions and rather than rationalize the consequences, it's time to do something about it. Three cheers to Bill.
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