Chosing a debatable strategy
In the final month of the penny sales-tax campaigns, there will be no debate. By refusing to meet their opponents, the pro-tax group has seen to that. Instead voters will be barraged with leaflets and telephone calls from both sides. Public meetings will feature either the viewpoint of Common Cents, the pro-tax group, or Citizens…
Knowing what joints to oil
Oil gazillionaire J. Paul Getty once offered this formula for achieving financial success: “Rise early,” he intoned, “work late, strike oil.” Darn, why didn’t I think of that? ;;Some powerhouse figures in Washington, however, have outdone Getty, finding a financial gusher not by striking oil, but by striking an insider deal that will let their…
Stand by your mannequin
Like Twinkies, Cher and playing in the dirt, pageants are a thing I enjoyed in childhood, and still do. If comely creations are paraded in front of me, be they pageant girls, Martha Stewart desserts or sharks on Animal Planet, I want to see them. But while you have to take Martha and the sharks…
Speed bracer
For about $350 you can buy an illusion of invincibility. It isn’t racing. But it’s close. It is surprisingly difficult, when throwing a car into a turn at 120 miles per hour, to see what the hell you’re doing. Oh, you can see the car ahead of you well enough, and you can see asphalt…
Swerving to avoid a crash
On one side, a pack of opportunistic developers anxious to win a piece of the $965 million budgeted for expansion of the Orlando Regional Airport; on the other, a handful of environmental groups equally zealous about the fate of at least 68 species of birds that inhabit the square mile of land slated for the…
