Hurricane Paloma

What do you mean "extremely dangerous"? It's November for cripes sake!!!

From pound puppy to police dog

This is the kind of story I like - the Polk County Sheriff's Department saved a puppy's life and the taxpayers a lot of money.

Narcotics Deputy J.D. Maney found his newest partner in the most unlikely of places — the pound. Rezadu, an 18-month-old black Labrador retriever, has been on the job since late August and has already assisted in several drug arrests.

It wasn't an easy accomplishment for the pair.

Maney, whose last dog was forced into early retirement, was left without a partner for the first time in his 19 years as a canine deputy.

Budgetary cutbacks, combined with Maney's part-time status with the department, led the Sheriff's Office top brass to decide they couldn't afford the $5,000 bill that came with the purchase and training of a new narcotics-sniffing dog, said Chief W.J. Martin.

'But I told him, ‘If you can find a dog and train it yourself, then you can have one,'' Martin said.

Deputy Maney put a lot of time and effort into training his pound puppy and now Rezadu has been nationally certified as a narcotics dog. Congratulations to both officers!

Florida Sunshine Laws

Note to ignorant TV commentators (I'm looking at you FOX News):

It can't be called a "leak" if the state is required to release the information.

Here's hoping that Caylee Anthony is found alive and well.

Charlie Crist "says" he's getting married?

That's a weird way to announce an engagement, don't you think? But it's the actual phrasing of the headline on TampaBay.com the website of the St. Pete Times: " Florida Gov. Crist says he's getting married". Gee, you'd think that they're suspicious that it's some jaded political ploy or something. In their defense Charlie is frequently a fiance and rarely a groom. Crist has been engaged 5 times and married only once (and that lasted a short 6 months).

Though I wish the couple happy many happy years together I can't help but wonder Charlie will get another case of cold feet if John McCain is defeated in November.

Sorry, do I sound like I think it's a foregone conclusion that Crist will be McCain's VP pick?

I do.

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