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Here in Florida, we have a selection of over 100 specialty license plates. Nearly every cause seems to be represented and for just a small additional fee, drivers can show the world what they stand behind ideologically.

The University plates are popular, as are the ones for education and “Choose Life”. Now, Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words “I Believe.”

If it gets approved, Florida will be the first state to have a license plate featuring a religious symbol (that is not part of a college logo).

There are other new license plate designs under consideration as well. One is an “In God We Trust” (also the official motto of both the United States and the state of Florida) plate that would benefit the children of soldiers and law enforcement officers whose parents have died.

It’s hilarious to watch some of the locals duke it out in discussion forums on this issue. So many people cry “separation of church and state,” but they fail to understand that that said separation is only generally implied in our Constitution. The actual phrase was “building a wall of separation between church and state” and was only was written by Thomas Jefferson in a January 1, 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. It is a concept and an idea, but not law exactly.

I wrote on April 18 about how Florida was probably going to ban ”truck nutz“.

Thank goodness for a glimmer of good taste in our state. Today,  the bill that makes  hanging “truck nutz” from your vehicle a moving violation passed the Senate by 37-2. The odd-balls who voted against it were  Republican Sen. Bill Posey and Democrat Sen. Frederica Wilson.

Finally, someone stood up and said something about the tacky fake bull’s testicles that too may low class morons are hanging from the back of their trucks.

I have a 5-year-old daughter and there is not way in the world I want to have to explain to her what they are. Not yet. And, to those who feel I should just make up some clever reply to cover it up for her: I do not lie to my daughter, ever. Therefore, talking to her about testicles is something I want to just put off for a few years.

This week the Florida State Senate started discussions about products like Your Nutz and BullsBalls. One senator suggested that the owners be subject to a $60 fine. The fate of the proposed bull could be decided as early as next week.

The sellers of the lowbrow accessories insist, “It’s a First Amendment thing.”

That is what most people say when they cannot think of a better rebuttal.

They are lewd and classless. I am all for finding those who insist on driving the roads with them attached to their vehicles. If they want to display balls, let them hang some from their rearview mirrors, where they can admit the ornaments themselves. Don’t; put them where all the drivers behind have to look at them.

I had a dream last night in and it I was driving down the road and I passed a gas station where the regular gas cost $4.50 a gallon.

I’m not sure that is really only a dream. I could indeed happen.

Here is Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may introduce a proposal that suspend or reduce state gas taxes. He wants the cut, but admits that he has to look at the numbers carefully, since the state has such a tight budget currently.

Right now Florida has a 15.6 cent per gallon gas tax.

Crist’s suggestion on Wednesday came the day after Republican Presidential candidate John McCain suggested a suspension of national gas taxes during the summer. The federal tax, which is on top of the state tax, is 18.4 cents.

Currently, gas in Florida averages $3.42 in Florida, compared to $2.91 a year ago.

Many lawmakers in Florida did express the concern that the full tax savings would actually be passed on to consumers.

While I would look forward to a break that might make me feel as though I could afford more summer road trios, I still want to know what the United States is selling Alaska’s oil to Japan when we obviously need it right here at home.

And, if you really take a look at the breakdown of oil prices, $30 -$40 is added to each barrel due to commodities trading. Talk to the fat cats sitting at home smoking off the oil profits with their Cuban cigars.

The latest flack in the McCain campaign surrounds a handful of family recipes that were placed on the John McCain campaign site and attributes to Cindy McCain.

Yesterday, the recipes were removed from the website. It seems that some members of the blogging community noticed that some of the “McCain Family Recipes” were identical to recipes on the Food Network website.

Of course, it would have been much more impressive had all of the recipes on the McCain website genuinely been recipes that had been passed down through the family for generations. Or, perhaps recipes that Cindy developed over her years as McCain’s wife.

It seems a tad picky, though, to let this get to you. How many of us find a great recipe online, give it a try, and add it to our own collection? This is how the majority of us accumulate recipes, rather than developing them all on our own.

It was a clumsy move, but ultimately forgivable.

I am fully behind the scientific process. I think things need to be tested and retested in order to make sure we are on the best track and heading toward innovations that better the human condition, I understand that in the United States, the university system tends to be one of the largest collective entities for scientific study. I get that.

I am also into making sound environmental decision, for the greater good.

What we, as regular American citizens, trust in is that those conducting scientific studies will have the best interest of, …well everyone in mind when they plan and implement situations that entail hazardous waste, dangerous chemicals, or potentially unstable lab environments. Do the universities have a solid disaster plan in place? Are the backups, cross checks, and systems of accountability? Is the disclosure they offer the public transparent?

All we can do, sometimes, is just trust. OK, that’s not true. We can question.

Currently, there is a movement in New York called the Stop Columbia’s Expansion Project. The movement was born out of concern surrounding Columbia University’s proposed campus extension in West Harlem, which would include a subterranean portion for biohazard chemical laboratories.

I’m certainly only a layman, but it seems to be that the employment of basic logic would say that this area is in a designated flood zone that also happens to be situated on a fault line may in fact not be the wisest place to work with or store biohazardous chemicals.

There is a large contingent that feels this project places the people of Harlem (and surrounding) in potential danger. If nothing else, the information surrounding this controversy is an interesting read. It also gives you the opportunity to read about the little-heard voice of the people, free from big PR agencies or slick spin.

My mother has been calling my attention lately to the chem trails we keep seeing in the sky over our home in the Tampa Bay area. They are generally present on clear, windy days and last week, my 5-year-old daughter even looked up and said, “Mommy, look at all the stripes!”

You see, although we live near a major airport, the places coming in and out of TIA are not leaving checkerboard pattern trails. They just don’t. These trails are left by smaller, faster airplanes.

A microbiologist did an analysis of the trails over Tampa a little while ago and found influenza strains. According to the website robertghostwolf.com, the theories as to what the Chem Trails are FOR include “weather modification, radar interference experiments, creating electromagnetic reflectors for HAARP emissions, broad spectrum immunizations, broad spectrum poisoning of the population,” but are nearly impossible to prove, since the government will not acknowledge the actual action of these small planes.

Go to your favorite search engine (anything but the one that begins with “G” — as I cannot endorse a company who wishes to rule the internet with an iron fist) and do an inquiry on “chem trails”. If nothing else, it makes for compelling reading.

Am I solid believer in this concept? No, not really, but I am wise enough to read and listen and keep my mind open to what may indeed turn out to be startling truths.

Yes, we all know that Joran Van der Sloot lies. The joke is on him, though. While he thinks he has the wool pulled over the collective eyes of the world, that we have believed his ever-changing stories and smug expressions, we all know that when he is telling people he lied about admitting to having a hand in the dumpling of Natalie Holloway’s body that he is lying then as well.

A judge in Aruba has ruled that the case against van der Sloot will be reopened. This comes after Dutch television aired an audio clip where Van der Sloot admitted that he was with Holloway on a beach near her hotel when she died, and that he subsequently arranged for a friend to dump her body at sea.

What he said was, “He went out to sea and then he threw her out, like an old rag.” Van der Sloot said this is a recording that Aruban businessman Patrick van der Eem made is his car while riding with Van der Sloot on January 16.

And now, Van der Sloot admits he said those words, but that he was lying at the time.

Riiight.

“I didn’t lose a minute of sleep over it,” he later said.

Here in Florida, our Governor is quite well liked. So, it is big news that Charlie Crist has endorsed Senator John McCain. With our primaries coming at us fast, the timing on this endorsement was crucial.

Crist announced the endorsement at a Pinellas county GOP dinner in St. Petersburg. It should also be noted that Florida Senator Mel Martinez is also backing McCain. Although I voted for Martinez, he has fallen out of favor with me over the years so I take his endorsement with less authority. Crist, though, I still respect greatly.

Winning Florida means 57 delegates for the count. That’s huge. Consider that Romney had to win Nevada, Michigan, and Wyoming just to rack up 67 delegates.

Oddly, McCain and Crist differ in their options about one topic very near and dear to Floridians. McCain does not support a national catastrophic insurance fund for Florida and other hurricane-prone states. He says he would rather develop a relationship between industry and government to protect homeowners. Crist does support a national fund. I assume most Floridians also support a national fund.

Just like some things in Florida are bigger, like the mosquitoes, lemons, and star fruit; some things in Florida are smaller. In particular, our deer are tiny, especially compared to the typical northern White Tail deer I used to see up in Virginia.

We have a type of deer down here called Key Deer and they are almost exclusively found, not surprisingly, in the Keys. I spent a lot of time on the particular keys (like Big Pine Key) where they are normally spotted looking around to see if I could find a Key Deer, but the only ones I have actually seen are at Homosassa State Park. They’ve got some that have been injured in the wild and are in the park to be kept safe.

Anyway, it turns out some sick freaks have been killing these endangered animals. There are only about 700 Key Deer. Last month, officials found three severed Key Deer heads together on federal property. Another Key Deer was found alive, but with a 3-foot-long spear running through its neck. That poor little thing eventually had to be put to sleep.

Since the Key Deer is protected under the Endangered Species Act, people caught killing or injuring the animals could face jail time and stiff fines.

There was a lot of public support when the state banned Allstate from selling new car insurance policies in Florida this past Wednesday. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty issued the emergency order in reaction to what he called Allstate’s “blatant disregard” for subpoenas relating to a state investigation focused on how Allstate sets its homeowners’ insurance rates.

The ban was listed today.

The First District Court of Appeal agreed with Allstate lawyers that McCarty did not have authority to issue an order that Allstate says would stop specific immediate dangers to the public health, safety or welfare.

Typical double talk, if you ask me. Looks like Allstate is free to cherry pick in Florida again. I wonder what kind of kickback that judge received.

Rudy Giuliani is banking in a big way on Florida. He hopes to win the primary here in order to put himself in a position to stay in the race for the Republican party’s Presidential nomination.

The bad news for Rudy is that although he was leading in Florida polls just before Christmas, a new Quinnipiac University poll says Sen. John McCain now has a lead. McCain has 22 percent of the likely votes, but in all actuality the margin or error really puts McCain and Giuliani too close to call. At least, that’s the way I see things. Past state primaries have shown us that the polls are not as accurate as we might hope.

Remember that 4.6 margin of error and then consider that the polls gives McCain 22 percent, Giuliani 20 percent, and Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee 19 percent each. Now, tell me who is ahead? It’s impossible, right? At this point, I would say it is anyone’s race.

On the Democratic side, Clinton shows a 52 – 31 percent lead over Obama. Of course, one must remember that when I say Clinton I do not necessarily mean Hillary, since it sure looks like Bill thinks he is the one running. That man needs to sit down and let his wife run her own race.

I have always felt that in moist cases, open adoption records are a good idea. My opinion is mostly based on the need to have access to medial information. I have a very good friend who was adopted and she is now a mother. Although she never felt the need to know who her birth parents are, she would love to have more medical background information to pass along to her daughter.

She is going through IVF right now and I asked her if she and her husband would place left over embryos up for legal adoption. She is all for it, but her husband says he does not like the idea that he might have biological children running around he does not know about. He also joked that it would be awkward if his daughter were to one day meet and fall in love with her own brother.

We had a good laugh about that one.

Well, just now I read an article about two biological twins in England who were adopted out to different families. They only learned they were related after they had fallen in love and gotten married. So, here they are husband and wife and they have had to endure one of the most disturbing shocks anyone could ever face.

The marriage has been annulled.

Adoption groups say this proves that during the adoption process, there needs to be full transparency. Most people would agree, but what about fertility treatment? England is dealing with some laws surrounding multiple issues involving donor issues. I think that here in the United States, with more and more cou0les seeking fertility treatment that this is an issue that absolutely needs to be legislated. Nobody involved is going to want to come out from behind a clock on anonymity unless there are firm protections in place. Parents will not want a donor coming along and staking claims on their baby. Donors will not want to be asked to contribute to the financial support of a child they never knew.

We need to protect against the above mentioned situations and still leave room for enough transparency to avoid things like what happened in England with the twins from occurring. Nobody should ever have to be at risk for unwittingly falling into incest. By no fault of their own, these siblings are probably now dealing with shame and confusion.

NOTE: The names of the sibling has not been released. In fact, there are no details available about when they married, how long they were married, or when the marriage was annulled. There is nothing at all to accurately source this story, but it is compelling food for thought nonetheless.

Dating again scares the socks off of me. It was hard enough in the past, but now that I have been out of the dating world for so long and I am a single mom, things seem like they have gotten a whole lot worse out there in the wilds of the world of single people.

Take, for example, the news story that is out right now about Christopher Lee McCuin, a guy in Texas who kidnapped, killed, and then cooked his girlfriend. Yikes. Is this the kind of man who is out there as a dating prospect?

I have also been reading about how sexual predators have more and more often been targeting single moms on dating sites. They are actually grooming women in hopes of getting their sick paws on the children. It’s enough to make me want to remain celibate for the rest of my life.

When I look out there and see the kinds of things my older single friends are enduring, it makes me sick. I have friends who have recently dealt with abusive men, cheating men, men who lie about their jobs and being married. Heck, there is even this guy I see in the library all of the time who comes in after he gets off work, wedding ring glinting in the light as he sits at a computer and has cyber sex with women on MySpace before setting up multiple dates with multiple women he plans on meeting in hotel rooms. I only know this because I have had the displeasure of being seated next to him three times now and I can’t help but look. It’s like a freaky car accident.

That’s why the site WomanSavers.com is such a Godsend. It’s a Date Screening Website and online database where women can rate actual men. If men have been abusive, have cheated, have been general jerks, you can warm your fellow womankind. The site also has a lot of free resources for abused women like medical advice from doctors, free psychotherapy advice, and the support of thousands of other women worldwide.

With Big Al and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change taking home the Nobel Prize this year, there is more talk than ever about green solutions, carbon footprints, and having a green IQ. So, what is your green IQ?

You can take the GreenIQ.com Quiz and see how green you are. The quiz factors in your carbon impact as well as your environmental impact and runs it through some scientifically calculated tools to give you a look at your part in the ever-churning world. You put in information about your transportation, home and general lifestyle.

After you calculate your Green IQ, you can use the free site to find tips on how to incorporate good habits into your lifestyle that will actually make a positive impact on the world around you. The tips are organized room by room. I’m looking at the bathroom Tips right now. Did you know that by making your daily shower shorter by just two minutes, you save 5 gallons of water? Think about five gallon jugs lined up side-by-side. That’s a good bit of water.

No matter what you r politics are, living your life in ways that save natural resources should be an important part of your life. We all share this earth, no matter what our creed.