Faith matters

Tony Blair gave an extraordinary lecture at Westminster Cathedral in London the other day. It was a speech that outed him, so to speak, as a man of deep spirituality.

Not that he had ever made a secret of his religiosity when he was Britain's Prime Minister, openly converting to Catholicism after he left office. But, as he explained to his Westminster audience, for various reasons connected with the culture in Britain and parts of Europe, politicians are not expected to "do God".

Freed from those constraints, however, Mr Blair spoke, with characteristic eloquence, in terms of faith "giving the use of reason a purpose and society a soul and human beings a sense of the divine".

This is a life purpose, he said, "that cannot be found in constitutions, speeches, stirring art or rhetoric.


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Gary Snyder wins $100,000 poetry prize

Gary Snyder, a poet known for his verse about nature and spirituality and a former member of the beat movement along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, has won the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, awarded annually by the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation. .


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UF: Consumer confidence in Florida hits 16-year low

Consumer confidence in Florida fell in April to its lowest point in 16 years, according to researchers at the University of Florida.

Confidence fell four points to 66, passing a previous 16-year low recorded earlier this year in January and March.

"Consumer confidence in Florida is now at the same recessionary levels as it was during the 1990-91 recession," said Chris McCarty, director of UF's Survey Research Center. "Unlike the relatively mild recession of 2001, the recession of 1990-91 resulted in a longer time to recover. This is a likely scenario for the current economy."

Four of the index's five components fell in April with the biggest decline being the nine-point drop to 79 in perceptions of personal finances a year from now. The only component that rose was the perception about whether it is a good time to buy a big-ticket item, which climbed three points to 67.


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Santana plays what's on his mind at UCF Arena

Carlos Santana likes to tell wanna-be guitar heroes to find out what's inside his head if they want to imitate his sound.

On Tuesday at the UCF Arena, Santana opened his mind, as well as his musical soul, in a show that was both skillful and generous.

"We believe in the concept of live your light," he told a multi-generational audience that almost filled the hall.

He talked about "pollinating" the world with positive energy and about the notion that everyone is part of a "beam of light that comes from the mind of God."

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Opposing view: 'Dangerous thinking'

Opposing view: 'Dangerous thinking' Best way to reduce U.S. costs is to stabilize Iraq, raise our oil output.

By Samir Sumaida'ie

The Iraqi government understands its responsibilities. We have already taken over practically all costs associated with our security forces and reconstruction by the American government.

But some people are going a little bit too far looking at the Iraqi surplus and the gigantic American deficit and putting two and two together and saying, "Let's fix one with the other." This is dangerous thinking.

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Drug dog gets bulletproof vest

Taryn Dyess wanted to do something special for her senior project at Petal High School, and she found inspiration in a furry friend who keeps her school safe every day.

Maggie is a 3-year-old black Labrador retriever who helps patrol the school in narcotics investigations with school Resource Officer Michelle Mitelsztet. Thanks to Dyess' senior project, Maggie is now equipped with a bulletproof vest.

Dyess, who owns two dogs, said she got the idea from her grandfather.

"My grandad works on the Coast, and they had it in their department so I thought it would be good for us," she said.

Dyess held a garage sale at her house and then received donations from businesses in the area to raise the money to pay for the $500 vest. She said there were a lot of businesses wanting to help out in any way they could.


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Albert Hofmann, father of mind-altering drug LSD, dies at 102

GENEVA � Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery grew into a notorious "problem child," has died. He was 102. Hofmann died Tuesday at his home in Burg im Leimental, said Doris Stuker, a municipal clerk in the village near Basel where Hofmann moved following his retirement in 1971. Hofmann's hallucinogen inspired � and arguably corrupted � millions in the 1960s hippie generation. For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention. "I produced the substance as a medicine. ... It's not my fault if people abused it," he once said. The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm in Basel. He became the first human guinea pig of the drug when a tiny amount of the substance seeped onto his finger during a repeat of the laboratory experiment on April 16, 1943.


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