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Stan Escudero

Theater of the absurd in Obama's speech

I just watched President Obama kick off his re-election campaign with the entire Congress as a backdrop. You have to give it to Obama, he is quite the showman. He may be short on substance and...

Party Lines Political Notebook

Ormond Beach Mayor Ed Kelley takes stock of Stockton, Calif's financial woes

ORMOND BEACH -- Mayor Ed Kelley gave his city commission colleagues and the public a dose of reality regarding unfunded pension liability issues.

According to the minutes of the April 2 Ormond Beach City Commission meeting, the mayor said Stockton, Calif., recently became the largest city to file for bankruptcy in the U.S. Kelley said Stockton was almost a billion dollars in debt and was driven to that primarily by unfunded pension liabilities.

Making the Grade

MAKING THE GRADE: Obama's spending practices out of control

Here are some grades for news happenings and the newsmakers behind them in our ongoing feature: "Making the Grade."

Obama's focus on the rich is sending all of us to the poor house

Grade: F

Courtesy photo / President Obama

Oh, come on. Does Prsident Obama have a paper bag over his head? America is headed toward financial disaster and Mr. O. thinks we should raise taxes on the “rich” and cut spending by some miniscule amount. This isn’t a solution; it’s a prescription for disaster. Congress needs to pass Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to reduce our debt by trillions and put us on the path to a balanced budget. Our taxes are more than adequate to run the government once it is right-sized. It’s Congress that has “deficit attention disorder.”

Political Bloggers

Always Right Sally Gillies Barackonomics causes Barackalypse After Standard & Poor’s downgraded America’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ it was only a matter of time before markets around the world responded with deep drops. The Dow lost more than 634... Read More...	Modest Proposals Gerry Tatham Ode to the hypocrisy of conservatives in Congress Allow no deity before The Lord: all else must thou deplore (Beware the false god like the pox: Ruperts, rupees, gilt-edged stocks); Read More...	Always Right Sally Gillies Enough of the deficit squabbling in Washington All the elected officials, aides, politicians, czars, lobbyists, and janitors in Washington can’t seem to come up with a solution to our so-called “debt crisis.” It isn’t... Read More...
Musings Darlene Vann Saying goodbye to space shuttle; concerned about jobs for NASA families As we say goodbye to the last shuttle launch with Atlantis, it seems like just yesterday that we started launching men into space. Back then as the Apollo missions returned to earth, we watched... Read More...	Slice of Life Jeanette DiCara Space shuttle Atlantis seen from Edgewater a welcome sight I took a photo of the last space shuttle launch from my back yard and watched my family viewing it climb into the heavens with awe, waiting for the usual rumble sound. Since my youth, I have been... Read More...	Modest Proposals Gerry Tatham Independence Day: Count your freedoms Independence Day is especially significant this year as we wave yet another farewell to the freedoms guaranteed in its original promise. No longer a government of, by or for the people, we have a... Read More...
The Guidepost Stan Escudero Fourth of July troubled politically This year we celebrate once again the anniversary of our declaration of independence from the British Empire. 2011 is the 235th time we have marked July 4th and on Monday, as we mark it again we... Read More...	Modest Proposals Gerry Tatham Great Scott: Govern your own sex life; not those of women It occurs to me that Governor Scott must be experiencing such traumatic doubts about his masculinity that he has to prove himself virile by bullying women. Read More...	Musings Darlene Vann Heartsick over drowning of 1-year-old Deltona boy and the five other little ones before him this year in Volusia County I am heartsick and outraged that another innocent child has drowned in a family swimming pool! Where were the parents? Read More...

Word On The Street

Question: Do you think Casey Anthony got away with murder in the death of her little girl, Caylee Anthony?

Briana Schmidt "Yes, I think she did because how do you go a whole month without reporting that your kid is missing to the cops? And all that Zanny the nanny crap? Why did she have to lie? The whole thing is just crap."

Brianna Schmidt, 18, New Smyrna Beach, student at Daytona State College

Cortlin Smith "Oh yeah. She's had no emotions at all about the kid. She didn't want her; you could tell. All she cared about was going out and partying with her friends."

Cortlin Smith, 28, Holly Hill, cook

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick; Poll taken at Denny's restaurant, S.R. 44, New Smyrna Beach

Opinion