So the student body of the University of Central Florida decided that maybe they should have a vote on whether or not their campus police keeps the tasers. To the surprise of many, there were more students wanting to keep the tasers than wanting to get rid of them. Students believe that tasers are better than campus police using night sticks or guns.

I say that all of this could have been avoided if John Kerry would have just answered the kid’s question…. what happened to freedom of speech. And not that only, but it seems to me that police all over, campus police included, seem to always use more force than what is necessary. They never tased the kid until they had him down on the floor and it was about five policemen to one kid. Can someone explain to me the rational in that? Then they kept tasing him over and over. Its like they got taser happy or trigger happy.

I say it all comes from campus police and city, county, state and federal police not being paid what they are worth. I know that they are risking their lives to keep the peace. But many of them exhibit their frustrations on those that they are arresting or come into contact with.

Something has got to be done about this and soon. Otherwise, things are just going to keep escalating and getting out of hand.

I know that many will disagree with me, but I have to say this. I agree with what the City of Orlando is planning to do with regards to controlling the panhandling situation, which is defintely out of control.

When I worked downtown, I hated having to stop at any traffic light, because they were always there waiting on you. Some would even be so bold as to walk up to your window, if you ignored them.  It wasn’t only then, but also at lunch time. They were everywhere. Can I please be allowed to get my lunch with my friends and get back to work, within the hour, without being harassed… because that is exactly what it is…. constant harassment.

If you have that much energy to stand in the rain, heat and cold all day and all night begging… then you should have that same fortitude, drive and persistence, to go out and get a job like the rest of us. Why is it that we are expected to take care of you and your problems? Don’t they and all those who support them realize that each person is responsible for their own  situation. I should not be made to feel bad because I choose not to give away my hard earned money to you. I work so that my family can have what we need; I don’t work to take care of strangers.

The City of Orlando is planning to stop the panhandlers during the hours of 7pm-7am. Personally, I think the times should be reversed to 7am-7pm. Of course many are against this proposal, but it looks as though it will pass, as city commissioners have already voted 5-1 on the subject.

Already, the panhandlers are required to have a permit in order to beg. But with this new measure, they could face possible jail time and fines.

Quite naturally homeless advocates think this measure is just all wrong and not the way to handle it. They simply want the people of Orlando to continue to house the homeless in shelters or to build more. And if the advocates are so concerned about the homeless, then I propose that those same advocates let the homeless live with them indefinitely, then after six months, come back and tell me if you still feel the same way about the homeless.

But if you continue to give, give, give to people, they will never learn. They will always beg as long as we let them.

How does that saying go: Give me a fish and I will eat for a day… teach me how to fish and I will eat for a lifetime.

Habitat Townhomes is now the latest idea of the organization and many people are excited and eager to be put on the list of potentials for this new type of home.

For more information on becoming a donor or a sponsor, check out their website at www.habitatforhumanity.com and enter the zip code for the location nearest you.

But what is news to the same parents of those students is the idea of moving the students to a Pine Hills location, the former Evans High School location, while a new school is built.

Granted, College Park is near Pine Hills but when the two areas are compared, they are like night and day. No one who resides, does business, or attends school in College Park will want to do any of those things in Pine Hills. Its just not safe.

City officials need to speak to those who will be directly affected and let them vote and go with whatever the majority decides.

I don’t blame the hospitals. Yes, they are there to give care to those who need it, but at the same time, they also have to make money. And most people who do not have insurance are not going to pay the hospital bill when it does come in the mail.

I know there are those  who will say that they cannot afford insurance, but you also can’t afford not to have insurance. Who would take a job that doesn’t have insurance, especially if they have a family.

Look at it this way, if grocery stores and gas stations allowed people to pump gas or to take food home with them that they hadn’t paid for, those places would go out of business. Yes, its all about money. But what isn’t.

Those of you who go to work each day, if when payday came around, you didn’t get paid, would you continue to keep working? Well, that is exactly what people are expecting the hospitals, doctors, nurses and staff to do, and its just not fair to expect that of them.

Try thinking like a person who runs a business and not with your emotions.

Again, I ask, when did this happen? I watch the news each day and somehow either it got past me or no one reported on it, which I find unusual and strange.

So I decided to log onto the internet and check out their website. Regions and AmSouth have merged. They promise that their customers will see the same level of service and have many more branches at their convenience. Customers will be able to use their same AmSouth account numbers, checks and PINs, which I am sure many will glad to know.

We have had it for years and I have yet to hear anyone with or without authority to tell me in no uncertain terms how the space program benefits America. I think that it is totally useless. We don’t need it. It has become our sacred cow.

If the space program were cut, America would not have a deficit. The space program costs us millions and billions of dollars each year… dollars that we don’t have. Yet for whatever reason, no one in Washington is man or woman enough to admit it and put a stop to it.

And before you go running sideways about people losing their jobs… where would those same people be working if there had never been a space program? Ask yourself that honest question! Exactly, they would find employment elsewhere.

My advice to you is if someone tries to IM you and you have no idea who they are, ignore them!! Don’t be one of those people who was just curious… only to regret it later.

My only question is this… who pays these people to conjure up viruses? Does anyone out there know?

Maybe I am the only one who was brought up in another time era, but we had no choice as to what to eat and drink when we were kids. Our parents made the decisions for us and I am rearing my son in the same way that my parents reared me. It didn’t matter what meal it was that we sat down to, we knew that we had to eat everything on our plates. We had vegetables each day and sweets were a rarity.

But in today’s society, I see parents and teachers and schools pleading with children to eat well. Its no surprise that many children are overweight. The parents are to blame. They are the ones who are responsible. Society cannot and should not expect nor require the teachers and schools who are with your children for only a few hours a day to totally change the way that a child eats.

How much and what a child eats begins when a child is small and it begins at home. Until parents take responsibility instead of passing it on to their kids and then others, children today will continue to be overweight and unhealthy.

Not only that, but kids need to get outside more and be involved in more activities. When I was a child, we were outside constantly when we weren’t studying or eating a meal or asleep. There was no TV time except for maybe an hour a day. But now, watching television and surfing or chatting online and talking on the phone are all that kids do.

Control has to be taken back from them; And the only person that can take back the realms are the ones who gave them up in the first place: the parents!!

More traffic on the roads and less kids at the mall. Students in all nine counties in Central Florida are returning to school today. As I walked around the block this morning with my son in his stroller, we saw parents taking pictures of their children standing in front of the home with their backpacks in tow as they prepared for the first day of school.

I am sure there was much excitement last night as the kiddies were tucked into bed. Even while at Target on Sunday, my mother and I saw last minute parents scrambling for what was left of the school supplies.

Its back to packing lunches, picking up kids from soccer practice and then helping them with homework later in the evening.

As a parent, we all hope that much care will taken when driving in designated school areas during the school hours for the safety of everyone.