Hello and Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to Sunshine and Storms - Politics in Florida.

As a primer, and in the interest of full disclosure, I want to let everyone know a little about me, so that you can understand my innate biases in my writing. I am from West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, where I live and work. (Go ahead and laugh now - since I know that some people believe that Palm Beach County should take a breather from the political process altogether). Although obviously interested in politics, I do not work in the political arena at all, so I have no specific affiliations or loyalties to which I must adhere. I am male, in my 30's and professional (at least in a technical, employment sense). I am a registered Republican, although I do not adhere to any strictly specific party line if my own brains, beliefs, research, knowledge and ideas lead me in other directions. I am opinionated, but I respect the opinions of others, so long as those opinions are based upon some semblance of reason, and are not strictly a regurgitation of "talking points". This is true even if someone agrees with my opinions. I would hope that any commenters that may disagree with me would at least respect my opinions as well.

Now that I have introduced myself, let me introduce my blog. It is titled "Sunshine and Storms - Politics in Florida". This title is supposed to indicate the proposed content of the blog, as well as a metaphor to the type of blog I am planning. Sunshine means: (1) Florida is the Sunshine State; (2) generally means a positive outlook on things - so I will positively comment on things that I think deserve such comment; and (3) open - so I will try to place into the open things that may be somewhat hidden from direct public view. Storms comes from: (1) The propensity for summer storms and/or hurricanes in Florida; (2) the opposite of sunshine - so I will negatively comment on things that I think deserve such comments; and (3) well - basically anything I want. I will attempt to make this a positive and negative blog - meaning writing about positive developments as well as highlighting things I feel need to be improved, changed, or just outright stopped. Hopefully this is more than just a "bitch" blog, which only complains, without highlighting positive aspects of our government, or at least offering alternatives.

In addition, this blog will mainly focus on local and state politics, although national issues and elections that affect Florida will also be included. At least that is the intention. With the upcoming Presidential election, I am sure that this may be skewed in the national direction, at least for a little while. However, I can tell you that I already know the first couple of entries and they are predominately local in scope - although certainly these issues could, and have, occurred in other areas of the country.

Since I have mentioned the Presidential race, I will not (in this blog anyway) specifically endorse any candidate, as it is my primary goal to focus on issues. However, issues from time-to-time do become intertwined with candidates that support or oppose them, so it will be necessary to discuss candidates and their positions. This does not mean that I support any specific candidate with any specific post. Please do not confuse a positive review of a candidate's specific issue with an overall recommendation of that candidate.

I also plan on posting at least a couple of times a week, however, there will be times where work, family and social obligations may keep me from posting as often as I would like. Please forgive me during those times, but rest assure that I will be posting as often as possible, and as often as topics appear to need my comment.

Thank you for paying attention to this blog, and feel free to comment should you feel inclined to do so.