Welcome back to the working week, Tampa Bay area denizens! As well as everyone else reading this post on this crisp Monday morning, four weeks out from Christmas Eve. This is always our favorite time of the year. Mainly because we get to break out our leather jacket, turtleneck sweaters and other articles of clothing that remain buried over the past 9 months....
How 'bout that spirited Tampa Bay Buc-Atlanta Falcon game yesterday? Oh, you didn't see it? Well, except for the 54,000 folks who did spend their hard earned dollars to see the Bucs come up just short, neither did anyone else. Seriously, with all of these folks we've seen hogging up media space over the past week waiting in line to blow hundreds of dollars in stores, there still aren't enough NFL fans to spend some money to see one of the best games on the schedule yesterday? And the Rays management is convinced that if they move up to Hillsborough County they're guaranteed more support? I think that's somewhat questionable at this juncture...
In the news...over a thousand people gathered in North Miami Beach last night in a bi-partisan show of support for the nation of Israel, days after a cease-fire was called in the Gaza Strip. Among the dignitaries in attendance were Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Florida U.S. GOP Senator Marco Rubio. On Friday, Governor Rick Scott, Senator Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio sent letters of support for a similar pro-Israel rally in Sarasota.
Meanwhile activists who support the Palestinian cause gathered Saturday afternoon in Temple Terrace, decrying the ongoing blockade of Gaza.
Y'all set for the countdown to the fiscal cliff? The big question in Washington is can House Speaker John Boehner negotiate a deal that includes tax increases, since that's been a no-no in GOP politics for a couple of decades now. That's in strong part to conservative activist Grover Norquist's famed "pledge" that he's convinced virtually every Republican to sign vowing never to raise taxes. But some GOP Senators have been quoting as saying they're ready to break the vow. But Grover remains unbowed.
We know big business was rooting for Mitt Romney in the election, but that's over now, so can we all get along? Well locally the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce is coming full square against President Obama's goal to have the rich pay more, coming out with a letter to the Tampa Bay area's Congressional delegation calling for no new taxes on anyone as negotiations regarding the Bush tax cuts resume this week in D.C.
