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FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Friday, May 06, 2005

Kicking Out Church Members

    Atrios, a dKos poster and others are aghast at a Baptist church apparently kicking church members for their political views. Florida, however (and once again) was in the lead in this kind of thing; although in Florida's case, only one (1) congregant was asked to leave, that being the Judge in the Schiavo case:
    [in February] Greer's pastor asked him to reconsider his membership at Calvary Baptist Church, one of Clearwater's largest and best known Southern Baptist congregations.

    Greer severed ties with the theologically conservative congregation within days of the request.

    Calvary says it did not technically ask Greer to leave. But to some, its actions may have left the impression that the judge was forced out of the very place where disagreements are supposed to be quashed.
    Original dKos post.

    Yipes, there's more: "Diocese employee says judge in abortion case should be denied communtion" (via dKos):
    An employee of the Diocese of Palm Beach said Thursday that Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez, a Catholic, should be denied communion for allowing a 13-year-old foster child to have an abortion.

    Don Kazimir, who works for the diocese's Respect Life Office, which opposes abortion and the death penalty, called Alvarez's office Wednesday to ask which church the judge attends. Kazimir said he wanted to speak with Alvarez's priest, who he said might have a problem with a Catholic judge agreeing to an abortion.

    Alvarez was angry about the call. It is wrong, he said, for the church to try to intimidate a judge into putting his faith above the law. ...

    And though the Vatican opposes the death penalty, Gov. Bush, a Catholic, believes in capital punishment and signs death warrants for inmates.
    If and when there is official talk about denying "Jeb!" communion, the Catholic Church will be on firmer ground. In the meantime, it really ought to follow the (new) Pope's previously stated position, to wit:
    In November 2002, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the new Pope Benedict XVI wrote a doctrinal note on the topic of Catholics in public life. He said bishops must acknowledge that Catholics need to follow the laws of the countries where they live and "are called to participate in the political life of democratic societies."
    Until there is some consistency, the Catholic Church is wide open to charges of politically based hypocrisy.

7:59 AM

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