Along comes Sen. Mike Bennett, another political egomaniac who believes he's above scrutiny or honesty or answering for bad behavior in office -- and you know what? He almost is.

Few spectacles these past two months have been as nauseating as Big Powers goose-stepping march through the Florida Legislature.

Actually, I've known whole countries that put up a lustier fight against the enemy than this group of grasping lawmakers did to protect Florida's long-suffering energy consumers.

While Republicans are busy pointing fingers at each other over abuse of party credit cards, you hear barely a peep out of the Democrats.

Why is that?

Florida's teachers are breaking my heart.

First, I hear with my own ears teachers coaching students as young as 8 years old to lobby legislators for -- let's call a spade a spade -- their own selfish interests. Now I find some 1,000 of them in the Miami-Dade school system choosing to protest passage of the performance-pay bill by calling in sick.

When Federal District Court Judge Federico Moreno ordered construction to resume on the 16,700-acre A-1 reservoir, some of the most significant figures in the past 20 years of Everglades restoration gathered in South Florida to celebrate.

I do believe, or want to, that most teachers are dedicated professionals who care deeply about educating children.

Former Senate President Ken Pruitthad barelyleft the building before his Republican colleagues went to work trashing his legacy.

By the end of this session, the Bright Futures Scholarship program, one of the mostpopular legislative initiatives of the last several decades in Florida, will liegasping for breath on the Senate floor.

What a sad and senseless story.

Charlie Crist isn't helping a cynical America trust its politicians.

Certainly, he's not helping me.

Ilearnednine years ago, when he was education commissioner, when he stood in front of a roomful of teachers and promised them they would be making "six-figure salaries" by the end of the decade, that the man will say or do anything to win the moment.

Think twice before you bet against the governor's Seminole gambling compact.

Now, I'm not predicting the Florida Legislature is going to OK the deal. We've got too many miles to go, too much major legislation still in committee. It's just that I'm catching some of the nervous, where's-the-money-gonna-come-from buzz.

While most state lawmakers cheer Florida education's "race to the top," the state teachers union is engaged in a "race to mediocrity."

Why do I say that?

Because -- except for the colossally expensive class-size amendment -- the Florida Education Association hasn't been on board for a single significant reform since the mid-1990s, when education in the Sunshine State ranked in the nation's bottom quartile.