Have you ever ordered your favorite fish from a restaurant's menu and thought it didn't look or taste right? If so, you're not alone. Seafood industry experts believe at least 20 million consumers are ripped off each year through the illegal practice of seafood product substitution known as bait and switch.
Unlike his brother, Fidel, new Cuban President Raúl Castro has demonstrated an understanding of some of the sources of popular discontent. In a matter of weeks, Raúl Castro has moved to raise wages and eliminate salary caps, give Cubans some home property rights and allow the purchase of mobile phones, computers and DVD players. The Cuban government is also likely to remove longstanding restrictions on foreign travel by Cubans.
Federal legislation that would be of significant benefit to South Floridians and their marine environment may, at long last, be inching its way through Congress. House (HR 2342) and Senate (S 950) bills call for creation of an Integrated Ocean Observation System (IOOS). The bill is an omnibus proposal supported by, among others, Florida Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson.
It is strange but perhaps not unexpected that as oil prices soar to record highs alternative fuel opponents have been beating the drums. They have to beat them pretty hard to drown out the cries of pain at gas pumps around the world. At today's prices, foreign oil producers are extracting a tax of more than $1,600 a year from every American man, woman and child.
Congratulations! You've spent thousands of dollars on test-prep books and enrichment camps and sunk hundreds of hours into applications, to say nothing of enduring countless sleepless nights -- and it all paid off. You got at least one fat, flattering acceptance package, it's just a couple of weeks till graduation and before long you'll be headed to college. It's a walk in the park from here, right? Aside from coughing up the tuition, how hard could it be to get your money's worth out of your university...
On April 23, a state appeals court ruled unconstitutional a law allowing Floridians who have signed an initiative petition to change their mind and revoke their signature. The decision, the result of a challenge by Hometown Democracy organizers, is a disappointment for Florida's business and community leaders who supported the new law to keep bad ideas out of Florida's Constitution.
''I have been charged by the president with making sure that none of the tyrannies in the world are negotiated with,'' Vice President Cheney reportedly declared in a White House meeting on North Korea in December 2003. ``We don't negotiate with evil; we defeat it.''
The Miami Herald's May 1 editorial A better deal for airline passengers indicates that we have come full circle (almost) regarding the current state of disarray in the airline industry. I was surprised at the subtitle, Feds should step in if carriers don't improve, however, and think a better one would be Feds should step in because carriers haven't improved.
Miami, like most waterfront cities, is gifted with extraordinary qualities that have created a place in time. From its beginning just over 100 years ago and through all of its growth Miami's allure and charm have rested on the special invitation that Nature has offered to residents. As a young architect in the early 1960s, I dreamed about howI could contribute to the extended aspirations of our community. Access to,communications with and interaction with Biscayne Bay were certainly an everyday desire...
