According to a study from the University of Florida released Tuesday, consumer confidence rose this month in Florida and is now higher than it has been since August 2007. The study found consumer confidence rose 2 points to 81 in May.

The last time confidence was this high was August 2007 when it was 82, shortly before the Great Recession began, said Chris McCarty, director of UFs Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

The thrice-promised land it has been called.

With its swamps and deep woods and regions of profound isolation, Florida has always been a place where bad things can happen without anybody finding out for years.

When an outfit announces that it is acting in "the public interest," the public is wise to be wary.

President Obama may or may not have known that his own IRS officials were singling out conservative groups for harassment and intimidation, but that campaign was entirely consistent with the political culture actively fostered by Obama and Democratic officialdom.