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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
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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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 Saturday, June 04, 2005

Voucher Litigation

    The voucher decision is pending:
    In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in an Ohio case, said vouchers going to religious schools did not violate the U.S. Constitution because tax dollars were not going directly to the schools. The money, the court ruled, went to the parents, who then decided where to send their children. There was an indirect benefit to the religious schools, but not a direct one.

    But Florida's constitution, with the Blaine Amendment, goes further than the U.S. Constitution. It reads: "No revenue of the state shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution."

    "The language is very plain and clear that no money should go to religious organizations directly or indirectly," said Elliot Mincberg, a spokesman for People for the American Way, which is co-counsel for plaintiffs in the Florida case. "The court ought to decide, as lower courts have, that Florida's constitution goes further than the federal constitution and that the value of the separation of church and state should remain."

    Attorneys who are representing the state and parents whose children are using vouchers see things differently.
    "Both sides sure their views on vouchers for religious schools will prevail".

6:07 AM

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