SORRY, FRIENDS, BUT AN ABBREVIATED EDITORIAL ROUNDUP TODAY

The Sunday Florida Editorial Roundup, a regular feature on this blog Sunday mornings, is late and will be in an abbreviated edition today due to some problems while online. I'll only be including those editorials that I read and noted about before the online interference issue became too much of an issue. Please accept my apologies for this.

If any of you have had issues with having the Web page you were going to hijacked by a space known as Sweepstakes.com, please let me know, especially if you've resolved the issue. I believe that I've taken care of it now, but I'm taking no chances.

We begin this morning in South Florida, where the Miami Herald calls on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to improve it’s preparedness and effectiveness in the aftermath of a report by the Government Accounting Office which states that up to 16 percent of the aid intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina was received under fraudulent circumstances. The Herald also repeats it’s call that FEMA should once again become a stand-alone agency instead of part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel has it’s eyes to the Caribbean, but not because of the weather. It’s opinion is hopeful about Haiti’s future, as the nation’s citizens returned to elected government earlier this year with the selection of Rene Preval as president. Also, the 15-member Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) reinstated Haiti as a member. It notes that Preval and the leadership team he has assembled appear on their way to reestablishing respect and trust among the citizenry, a good, inspiring new beginning.

Heading across to the Southwest Florida Gulf Coast, the Naples Daily News editorial deals with the need for state and federal legislators to restore what the United States Supreme Court took away: Freedom of speech protection and from retaliation for government employees who witness wrongdoing and come forward to expose waste and corruption.

Today’s opinion in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune laments the fact that once again, the U.S. Senate will push aside more important business to debate yet again a Constitutional amendment to prohibit desecration of the flag. It notes that while many Americans are repulsed at the thought of our national symbol being burned or defaced, it’s unwise to give the offense more power or attention than it deserves. More importantly, an important basic principle --- political dissent --- is at stake, as reminded by the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan.

The battle over conflicting educational reforms continues between states and the federal government, and this week Governor Bush finally called out his brother on the No Child Left Behind Act, which makes Florida schools look worse than they actually are. So, the St. Petersburg Times asks how a school can get an “A” grade from the state but fail in the eyes of the federal government? Because neither standard is perfect, and the Times reminds us that while standardized tests are an important tool of accountability, they should not alone determine a teacher’s career or a if a school gets a bonus.