Reminder: Live Chat Tuesday, Noon - 1 P.M.

[TUESDAY UPDATE: The live chat is under way. I've made a new post above with the headline, "The Sept. 11 Chat Is OPEN." Go there and click on the "Comments" link to see what folks are saying. I've closed commens on this pre-chat announcement.]

I hope you can stop by during Tuesday's weekly live chat here on TroxBlog. From noon to 1 p.m. or so, I'll be here live, responding to reader comments and questions about current events in the Tampa Bay area and across Florida.

To take part or observe Tuesday's chat, come back to TroxBlog at noon. I'll post a new item with the headline, "The Sept. 11 Chat Is Open." Click on the "Comments" link of that item to see what folks are saying or to add your own thoughts. Keep refreshing the comments page to see the latest.

As always, if you can't be here during the live chat, you can come back later to check out a transcript of the chat. And if you'd like to "pre-file" a question or comment, feel free to use the Comments link of THIS announcement. I hope to see you at noon Tuesday!

Comments

Howard,

I think you should start a poll as to; at what point will it be politically expeditious to fire Spratt… before challengers to the incumbents announce, or after?

Better yet, take bets on the vote results… 7-0, 6-1, 5-2, 4-3, ect… Given the County Charter provisions, it should take a few sittings of the Board and include a boatload of debate and comment.

Having said that, my money’s on a resignation by March ’08… or just after the budget approval with a vote of 7-0.

[Boo Boo]

Ho hum! It's been slow newsweek in this sleepy little town. No not much going on here. I can't imagine what you will get to talk about in your chat today. Maybe the Buc's loss or scientists testing the muck in Old Tampa Bay. Unless you want to beat the old dead horse's. Like the Cheruti thing or the new found pedifile in city government that turned deadly. Whats bugging me latley is something thats happening nationaly. These TV properganda commercials of soldiers missing limbs and mothers of dead Marines coming on telling us how invading Iraq has saved us from the more terrorists like the ones that knocked down the WTC. They seem to be trying to get us to believe that the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq. Was in the book 1984 where they rewrote history? As the father of Marine I can tell you if my son went there and got killed my TV commerical would be just a little different.

[Lucia]

Yesterday, I overheard an interesting conversation at a restaurant. A well dressed white collar guy and two blue-collar guys at the next table were discussing the Iraq War scam and actually agreeing that this nation had been had. It occurred to me that the Republican administration and Republicans on ballots in '08 should be coming up with Plan B's.

[Kay]

I've been thinking about something alot lately. You mentioned at the end of today's column about people giving up freedoms...
We hear all the time about making sacrifices such as putting our young American's in harms way - to protect our freedoms.
I don't think going to war is the sacrifice to be made for freedom. The sacrifices we make are that things like 9/11 can happen. In a free society. It is a high price, but to me, freedom is worth it.

[Jennifer W]

Re: BooBoo, we abhor those commercials too. My husband wrote down the phone number of the group making them (FreedomWatch??) and tried to call them to complain, but the number didn't work. Weird.

[Marissa]

I just wanted to let you know that I loved your column this morning (Sept. 11) about our freedom. It was great!

[JonnyAnonny]

Tough couple of articles you've had to write in the last few days, Howard -- on 9/11 and on the late John Bryan. At this point, I can only imagine that you'd look forward to a question on tax reform issues, or at least the workings of the Pinellas County Commission...
Care to comment on the most recent polling data for the January referendum?

[radish(Earl Kendall if you need my correct name)]

I love your columns and read them faithfully every day. With regard to George Bush's decision to invade Iraq, it is my impression that a preemtive war such as this should be voted on by
Congress rather than ever put such a decision in the hands of any one man. It is like suddenly converting our country to a monarchy from a democracy. The evaluations and impact of the weapons inspection team were supposed to have some influence, so that one cannot say that Congress gave the President a carte blanche decision to go to war. To save our country from future similar debacles we need to make this a constiutional requirement. In the congressional debate over this, if war was decided on, I beleive that provisions for keeping the peace, etc. would have been better addressed.