TOP OF THE WEEK – (Cheer up, only six more weeks of Charlie and Rick ads!)

It’s not surprising that proponents of the Greenlight Pinellas initiative don’t mention how regressive the new additional penny sales tax would be for low income families. But we’re amazed the somewhat disorganized opposition isn’t pointing that out. Perhaps they figure most low income people don’t vote and, sadly, that’s true. You would think with how many ways the PSTA and other supporters of this initiative have shot themselves in the foot, Greenlight would not have a chance of passage, but polls indicate a close vote. It’s going to take a consistent effort down the stretch to defeat this ill-conceived plan.

Around the Bay –

1. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if “Florida’s Best Newspaper” in giving their inevitable recommendation for Charlie Crist as governor (they have never in their history endorsed a Republican for Governor or President) would simply write a one sentence recommendation saying, “He’s still the same guy we refused to endorse before but now he has a “D” after his name.”

2. In a related note, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) was asked the following question, “Which will come first - the Times endorsing a Republican gubernatorial candidate or Florida being returned to the sea due to climate change”? Their answer was the latter. (Margin of error, 50 per cent or so).

3. Isn’t it fun to watch Kenneth City’s attempts at governing? Unless, of course, you happen to live in Kenneth City.

4. Pasco County’s recent decision to raise gas taxes by five cents a gallon prompts two thoughts. First, we didn’t think anyone could come up with a more regressive tax than Greenlight, but Pasco did. Second, it recalls an interview a political candidate gave years ago where he stated he drove to Pasco County from mid-Pinellas to fill up and benefit from their then lower gas tax. Really, Mr. Candidate, did ya do the math? Fortunately, he was not elected.

5. Al Lang must be rolling over in his grave. His namesake stadium is in danger of becoming a soccer field – all to avoid a lawsuit by one of the town bullies. Oh, the humanity! To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, “Mayor Kriseman, you are no Al Lang.”

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. A choice morsel from a recent edition of the weekly 5:05 Club newsletter: “A 13-year-old girl became the youngest female to climb Mount Everest. She didn’t mean to, she was just texting with a friend and the next thing she knew she was at the top of Mount Everest”.

7. One veteran major league player has come up with a worthwhile solution to the problem of PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) in the game. A player caught using them not only gets the prescribed suspension but is limited to one-year contracts for the remainder of his career thus eliminating the temptation to use PEDs for that one big contract like ARod, Melky Cabrera and others.

8. After watching a few weeks of the Bucs, our sports analyst Achmed Walled’s (pronounced wall-ED) 7-9 prediction might have been incredibly generous.

9. Sadly, some things that have outlasted their usefulness should be allowed to die – as in the case of Radio Shack again teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

10. Quote of the week: “You can’t wear a sock with the wrong logo in the NFL without the fire alarm going off in Roger Goodell’s office.” – Keith Olbermann in his relentless pursuit of NFL executive office accountability for the recent rash of thug-like actions by its players.

IN CLOSING –

We recently passed the six month mark with this weekly communique of 800 words or so and our little family of readers continues to grow. For which, we humbly say thanks for letting us share a few thoughts each week. And please use the connection below to share yours with us and the rest of the Rants and Raves community.