When our daughter interned at the law library of the US Supreme Court, she took Hubby and me to see some things that are not open to the public.  One area was where justices (and other senior employees) could go to relax, a basketball court in the dome of the magnificent building.  They call it "the highest court in the land." Read More 

My good friend Dr. Gary Mormino, Florida's most eminent historian, frequently sends me printouts from microfilmed newspapers of a century or so ago.  Our local papers, including the Tampa Tribune and the old Tampa Times, never have been digitalized, and it was only recently, after the St. Petersburg Times became the Tampa Bay Times, that we have any electronic access to even that chronicle of our past.  So Gary spends his days reading old microfilm, a task that yours truly never would undertake.  Read More 

I first met Congresswoman Kathy Castor when she was six years old.  She was riding in the back seat of her mother's car, along with her younger sister and brother.  I was pregnant with my daughter, who now is 46, and we were headed to a feminist convention in Orlando.  Because of this longtime family closeness, I sometimes hesitate to give Kathy the public praise that she is due – but I've decided that I'm over that.  She is a model for legislators everywhere and at every level, and I'm going to talk today about just two of her many achievements. Read More 

And that includes the names of military bases -- or "posts" or "forts" or "camps," as the Army calls its facilities.  The Navy has both "bases" and "ports", and only the Air Force – which didn't begin until after World War II -- uses "base" exclusively.  But because the media has dubbed the issue of renaming military installations as "bases," that's what we will use.  The larger point is that names are far from inviolate and frequently change with time. Read More