What a year this has been. (What a rare mood I’m in.) The fog of war is lifting. Reformers are winning. Don’t mind if I gloat.

What a year 2008 has been. (What a rare mood I’m in.) The fog of war is lifting. Reformers are winning. Don’t mind if I gloat.
2008 was the year that smug Republicans’ "fear and smear" tactics began to disappear (and get ignored). Once upon a time, Republicans used scary, primal TV commercials stating, "there’s a bear in the woods" to re-elect Reagan in 1984 and a pack of wolves to elect G.W. Bush in 2004. Those tactics backfired in 2008. We proudly elected Barack Obama President, knowing that the time to heal is here, ignoring the "fear and smear" like water off a duck’s back.
So what did Republicans have to say in 2008? They still hate Gays and Lesbians and want to violate our rights, even at the expense of amending state and federal constitutions. Like Hezbolloh (the so-called Party of God), Republicans are little better than embittered terrorists. Our local County Commissioners proposed a Charter with a non-discrimination provision (10.06) that intentionally left out Gays and Lesbians. Shame on them. St. Johns Countians wisely defeated their charter, twice.
In our county, Republicans used predictable mean and base tactics, from false rumors to precinct gerrymandering (with voting in right-wing churches) to sign-stealing, to try to steal Democratic votes. But Barack Obama still carried Florida and we will honor his historic inauguration on January 20 th.
Much work remains. More than two trillion dollars was robbed from our economy by Republicans refusal to regulate their cronies. Our Congressman John Luigi Mica still represents those cronies, while ignoring average St. Johns County residents -- his record is anti-veteran (0% DAV rating three years in a row), anti-worker, anti-consumer and anti-environmental. Mica badly needs replacing in 2010. So do some City officials, like those "usual suspects" who got our city fined for egregious environmental violations.
Free speech is still under attack. Our School Superintendent and his minions (combined with St. Johns County Cultural Council President Phil McDaniel), complained bitterly about cartoonist Ed Hall’s depiction of a generic Florida school administrator (not our county schools). Their whiny E-mails make them sound like oversensitive, self-absorbed McCarthyites, whose mean spirit created the hostile atmosphere in which Ed Hall was fired by the St. Augustine Record. These McScrooges need a kick in the rear -- the School Board counsel has "never" provided them with training on the First Amendment -- it’s time they learned that "character counts" includes respecting everyone’s First Amendment rights.
Historic and environmental preservation require constant vigilance. The University of Florida wasted $300,000 on a "study," while not doing anything to preserve Government House or other historic buildings. UF wants to build a $10 millio n building across from the Castillo San Marco. "Just say no" to UF’s "edifice complex", which would include tearing down two historic buildings. Our historic area needs a new building "like a moose needs a hatrack" – adoptive re-use of historic buildings on St. George Street is better for the interpretive building. Please leave our Castillo area alone.
Mayor Boles’ timid appointment of the "usual suspects" to a non-diverse committee to observe the 450th anniversary of our city left out any representation of Native American Indians – is Boles insisting on "making all his nowhere plans for nobody?" (in the words of the Beatles’ song).
Williamsburg, Virginia Mayor Jeanne Zeidler told me earlier in 20008 that if she were in our shoes, she’d readily support a St. Augustine National Historical Park, Seashore and Coastal Highway. Let’s heed her (and Boles’ own mother, Maurine Marshall Boles). So exactly what are we (and Congress, our City and our County governments) waiting for?
Happy progressive New Year!
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine
829-3877 (o)

Ed Slavin was editor of the Appalachian Observer in East Tennessee, winning declassification of the largest mercury pollution event in world history (1983), re commended for a Pulitzer by the District Attorney. He first proposed a St. Augustine National Historical Park, Seashore and Coastal Highway in 2006.