Monday Newsbreak: 12/3

--The media is portraying Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as having gone over the edge in pursuing political power as well as meddling in the affairs of other countries. Personally, I see that he has a messiah complex and views others in a straight-up-and-down way. If you agree with Mr. Chavez, then you are a "good" person, and if you disagree with him, you are "bad". Hugo Chavez, in his own mind, is so good for his country that he apparently intends to lead it for the remainder of his life! It's too bad that this individual has turned out to be such a megalomaniac, because I believe that some of the issues he embraces are important. It's crucial for political leaders to serve the interests of their countries' masses, not just the elite classes. But they don't have to be so full of themselves in the process, as Mr. Chavez is.

--There is a push in Florida, spearheaded by Governor Charlie Crist, to raise the Homestead Exemption for property taxes. The issue will be decided at a January 29 referendum. With skyrocketing real estate appraisals in Florida in recent years, I believe that it is imperative to bring the Homestead Exemption up to current times. Otherwise, many homeowners will lose their properties due to their inability to pay their ballooning property taxes. Local governments oppose increasing the Exemption, but it's been my experience, at least from watching my own city and county commissions on TV, that local officials tend to be arrogant know-it-alls who tend to regard those whom they are elected to serve as somewhat lesser persons. And they are addicted to their pet projects and the people's tax contributions that they want to fund them with.

--Quite often, before two good football teams clash on the field, some of the players will go to the press and put down their opponent, just to get something going between the two teams. But before the New York Jets were to play the Miami Dolphins yesterday, Jets defensive end David Bowens said (of the Dolphins), "Just because they're 0-11 doesn't mean they aren't a good team." OUCH, that hurts! Oh, by the way, the Jets crushed Miami, 40-13.

--While looking in my Gainesville Sun sports section for local sporting event results that weren't there, I came across the NHL hockey standings (that few people actually care about). I noticed that most of the teams had winning records, and even those trailing their divisions had pretty good win-loss ratios. Then I discovered that, while an overtime win counted in the "win" column, an overtime loss didn't actually count as a "loss" but was put into an third category called "OT". I suppose they did this ridiculous repackaging of the standings to try to generate more fan interest in mediocre teams after the disastrous "non-season" a couple of years ago (which enabled the Tampa Bay Lightning to be defending Stanley Cup Champions for two whole years)!