MC to be panelist in Media Forum

If you’ve got $25 bucks to cough up, that’ll get you dinner and a Media Forum featuring a panel that includes MC!

Well, there are other far-more accomplished media folks on the panel (I must be their token “nobody” — but it is nice to see them including a non-mainstream writer!) including the esteemed Waldo Proffitt, Opinion Editor Emeritus of the Sarasota Herald Tribune; Henry Raines of AM America WWPR; Chris Wille, Editorial Page Editor of the Bradenton Herald, and the local chairpeople of the Democratic and Republican executive committees.

Here’s the info on the Media Forum.

I heard last year was a sold-out crowd, so if you’re interested, get your tickets early.

Tolerating Discrimination

In last Thursday night’s Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin clarified their joint opposition to gay marriage.

Biden said it’s “only fair”to support the civil rights of same-sex couples, and Palen said she’s “tolerant” of gay couples; but neither one of them wants to see same-sex couples getting married in any traditional sense.

It sounded to me as if our country was back in the 1960s – debating whether it should be legal or illegal to deny marriage simply on the basis of race. (more…)

My paradox with Palin

Sarah Palin’s not exactly the kind of woman I see myself hangin’ with. Oh, I’m not deaf, dumb, and blind to the appeal Palin has for some people; I get that she’s attractive, accomplished, and, up until recently, quite ballsy.

It’s just that I can’t relate to a woman who seems to have so little compassion for others. (more…)

Got guts?

Basically, I think the world boils down to two kinds of people: the kind who have guts and the kind who don’t.

I’m talking the visceral down and dirty kind of guts it takes to look down the barrel of life and choose to say what you mean and live what you say. It’s a hard road to live that way. And most of us don’t. (more…)

MC hits the Sarasota Herald-Trib!

Yowza, the local Sarasota Herald Tribune picked up an opinion piece I wrote and they’re running it in today’s paper — on newstands now!

You can read it in print (page A11) or view it online.

And, if you want to let the editors know you loved … or hated the piece, you can either leave a comment on the H-T site (see the option directly below the story), or you can drop them a Letter to the Editor via their online letter to the editor box.

Could a Sarasota mayor catapult to VEEP nominee?

Hey everyone, I’ve got a reporting piece (not opinion!) in this week’s Creative Loafing newspaper. This is the first time a local Sarasota newspaper has run my writing since I left the Pelican Press, so I’m psyched!

If you’re local to Sarasota, you can pick up a copy of CL on newstands today. Or, you can read it online at the Creative Loafing website.

There’s a place below the article to post a comment at their site or feel free to come back here and comment away!

McCain Blinks

John McCain wants to suspend his campaign and delay his first debate with Barack Obama. Why?

He says it’s because he wants to run along to Washington and solve the problem he apparently thinks the rest of the government can’t do without his extraordinarily astute, 24/7, economic insight.

Um, this is the same guy who about a week ago said “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” (more…)

Absolutely … nuts

When asked tonight on 60 Minutes if Sarah Palin was really ready to be President — not Vice President — but President — McCain said, “Absolutely.” Then he added for emphasis, “Absolutely, absolutely.”

So, what is she, triply ready, there, Mac? Palin’s not even half ready. McCain knows that. The American people know that. Palin probably knows it. (more…)

Decency at the doorstop

It’s getting awfully hard to slog through the daily slop of so-called news surrounding Palin, McCain, and Obama and Biden. Today’s the first day I’ve felt campaign fatigue.

Maybe that’s the cause of this dour column where today I ask the essential question of our country’s existence: At long last, America, have we no sense of decency? (more…)

Fighting on the home front

In my yard stands an Obama for President sign. Plastered on my back car bumper is an Obama ‘08 sticker. Yes, I feel he would be the better President for our country in the challenging years to come.

But if he doesn’t win, I won’t blame Republicans.

Well, sure, I’ll blame Republicans and Democrats alike for being foolish enough to rely on Internet emails and Rush Limbaugh or Jon Stewart for their political understanding of the candidates. And sure, I’ll be wild-eyed in wonder at the Republican state of mind, such as it is.

But mostly, I’ll blame Democrats who talk big and walk small. (more…)