Mon 08 February, 2010
As Valentine's Day approaches, we find ourselves charmed by this picture, posted by the West Wing Report, of a chance meeting of former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell. 
The Supreme Court just basically said it's O.K. for corporations to put as much money into the campaigns as they want, with no filters or restrictions whatsoever. And I know some people are like, "So. What's the difference?" It's a big fucking difference! And I think that the only way that can be O.K. is if they just full-on sponsor the campaign, and the candidate has to wear the patches on their jacket like NASCAR drivers. So you could actually see, like, "I don't know if I like that guy...Pzifer...Daniel Archer Midland [sic]...I don't know if I'm gonna vote for that guy. I'm gonna go for the Starbucks guy."
Comedian Marc Maron, reacting to the recent Supreme Court decision
Greetings good citizen,
History doesn’t necessarily ‘repeat’ but it sure as shit ‘echoes’. Which is to point out that tonight’s offering echoes last night’s post in a rather creepy fashion as the GOP invokes ‘the center’ (that they’ve laid claim to) as the basis for what is ultimately ‘minority rule’.
Sure they’ve bankrupted most of the nation, which only proves they are ‘unfit’ to rule! Why would the citizens of the US want to pay attention to losers that have been played for chumps at every turn because the ‘smart money’ has stacked both the legislative and the media decks?
Rep. Dave Murzin, while talking up the need to make Florida more business-friendly, just took a whack at Sen. Don Gaetz’s jobs stimulus bill-in-progress for costing too much.
Murzin, who chairs the Economic Development & Community Affairs Policy Council comittee, offered this assessment of the Senate bill during this…
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I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country.
— Sarah Palin, in an interview on Fox News Sunday, on whether she'll consider running for president in 2012.
Maybe they don't have that truck where you live - but yeah, it's a billboard truck, with a billboard of an aborted fetus. I hate it particularly because the first time I saw it, my brain didn't process what it was initially. I thought it was Mongolian Beef, and thought it looked kind of tasty - until I pulled a little closer. That was unpleasant.
At any rate, they have pointed out some potential problems in Pam Tebow's story, and in his latest article, Kevin McCullough takes them to task for it. Some pro-Choice people have suggested that Abortion in the Phillipines was illegal; he counters with illegal or not, up to 0.27% of women have abortions even today (he uses 27 out of a 1,000, but I put it into percents for you), and that as she had amoebic dysentery, it's likely that she would have been offered it.
I can't parse it myself, and don't see any reason too. I tend to doubt that the Tebows are making anything up, but they may have embellished it over the years as their opposition to Abortion seems heart felt.
What's frustrating about the debate however, is that the Tebows and McCullough pretending they don't understand the issue. All they want, apparently, is to encourage woman to think twice before having an abortion. But of course that isn't all they want. What the Tebows and McCullough would like to see is an America where Tebow didn't have that decision to make - they are very clear about that. They want an America in which Abortion is illegal, like it is in the Phillipines.
So behind that heartwarming story about Pam Tebow choosing to have her son is her belief that it shouldn't be a choice but a requirement.
In fairness there is a bit of this on the other side as well, since as the Pro Choice movements regular unwillingness to grapple with why, exactly, the Pro Life people are upset with the practice of Abortion. Rather some ascribe it all to a desire to control women, which I guess I can understand, since there certainly is an element of that in all of this.
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Our digest of, and commentary on today's Florida political news and punditry follows.
Crist budget "on shaky ground"
The Saint Petersburg Times editors:
Florida lawmakers, facing the onerous task of building a 2010-11 state budget with the glimmer of modestly increasing revenue but fast-growing expenses, have largely dismissed Gov. Charlie Crist's proposed spending plan. They've balked at its $69.2 billion size, roughly 4 percent higher than the current year, and lamented his use of creative financing. Yet Crist is right that the state should start investing again in improving education and protecting the environment — even if he is on shaky ground about paying for it."Getting Florida back on track".
FCAT follies
"There are only four weeks left before the reading and math portions of the FCAT — the writing test begins Tuesday — and more than 9,500 struggling students in Palm Beach and Broward counties are each receiving up to $1,500 worth of free tutoring."
That adds up to more than $14 million in federal funds that the school districts pay local tutoring firms."After $14 million spent, does FCAT tutoring work?"
We agree, "Run, Sarah, Run!"
"'America is ready for another revolution!' she told the gathering. ... All she offered was a smile when a moderator asking her questions used the phrase 'President Palin.' That prompted most in the audience to stand up and chant 'Run, Sarah, Run!'" "Sarah Palin tells 'tea party' crowd that 'America is ready for another revolution'".
Have they "taken leave of their senses?"
Bill Cotterell: "State Sen. Mike Bennett and state Rep. Dwayne Taylor have introduced a bill requiring the state's expert policy analysts to do a study of having a full-time Legislature."
This raises several questions, not the least of which is, "Have state Sen. Mike Bennett and state Rep. Dwayne Taylor taken leave of their senses?" Their bill (SB 1732 and HB 863) is subject to amendment in the committee process and might be broadened to include a study of whether there's a constitutional way to stop those two guys from introducing any more bills."A full-time Legislature?".
No, seriously, this is an idea that merits serious study. We're the fourth-largest state, soon to be the third-largest, and the issues our lawmakers deal with are too complex and expensive to cram into a 60-day session. That's especially true the way they do it, using the first five or six weeks on routine matters and committee hearings, then ramrodding the budget and all the mega-issues through in the chaotic final few days.
An election year
"Fewer Florida politicians are flying on the taxpayer's dime, as charges for flights on state planes have dropped 63 percent over two years. In 2007, nearly $1.1 million was spent, compared to $407,420 in 2009." "Fewer politicians flying on Florida's dime".
At the trough
"Lobbyists and legislators munched hors d'oeuvres and sipped scotch in a rooftop ballroom with a nice view of the Capitol last week in an annual ritual as important to Florida politics as mass mailings and attack ads. Forbidden to raise money when the Legislature is in session, members are passing the hat now for a hot summer campaign season costing millions. For all the money that will be spent, Republican control of the House or Senate is unlikely to change." "Lawmakers gear up for fundraising".
LeMieux's good question resonates
"The Senate's lead Toyota investigator, West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller, credits himself with lobbying Toyota to build a factory in his state."
Strickland has such close relationships with Rockefeller and other senators that Republican Sen. George LeMieux of Florida asked Strickland at his confirmation hearing two months ago whether he could disagree with Rockefeller, his former boss: "The oversight for you in your role will be from the committee that you once served on," LeMieux told him."The Influence Game: Toyota's powerful DC friends".
"I will be honest with you, sir," Strickland answered. "I've had disagreements with the chairman personally. But he signs the paycheck, and he wins. But I will have no problem with that all, sir."
Rockefeller sees no reason to step aside from his committee's investigation. Consumer protection is a cornerstone of his work as chairman and that is reflected in the steps he and the committee are taking, including NHTSA briefings and plans to hold hearings and seek recall-related documents, Rockefeller spokeswoman Jamie Smith said.
Although a good question, it is kinda ironic coming from LeMieux, a man familiar with "the influence game".
"Harder to find fat to trim"
The Saint Petersburg Times editorial board: "This is the third year of budget cuts for local governments, so it is harder to find fat to trim."
Voters passed Amendment 1, the Legislature capped allowable increases in local property taxes, and the recession triggered a steep decline in property values. Pinellas city and county officials already have eliminated open positions, laid off employees, reduced library and park hours, canceled programs, frozen salaries, raised health insurance premiums, limited travel and cut energy costs. Still, millions more must be cut before Oct. 1."Get ready: More cuts on the way".
With the mission of local governments pared down by economic conditions, state spending limits and voter demands for lower taxes, there are going to be fundamental changes to popular programs that once would have been off-limits.
On the cheap
Here's an idea: why doesn't Florida do everything on the cheap, and when the infrastructure collapses every time it gets a bit chilly, beg the federal government (read: other states) to subsidize our failure to do things properly in the first place.
Consider: "The recent cold snap that resulted in more than a week of below-freezing temperatures took a toll on Tampa's aging infrastructure, and its finances. For the past two weeks, city workers and private contractors [likely without health insurance or retirement plans] have been busy repairing more than 1,600 breaks in water distribution pipes throughout the city." "Cold snap wreaked havoc on Tampa's water pipes".
We stopped at one booth of beautiful paintings and Mr. Pop was talking with the artist about something or the other. As they talked, I glanced over Mr. Pop’s shoulder at another artist’s display. The first thing that caught my eye was a painting of a little Yorkie sitting in a martini glass holding an olive between its paws. Like a flash I was over there and before you could say, “I gotta have this!” it was in my hands. We paid the artist for the prize and as far as I was concerned the rest of the show was just a blur.
On the way home we stopped at a waterfront restaurant for lunch. It was cool out but sunny so we ate outside on the deck right by the water. As we sat there enjoying some great food, I kept this silly smile on my face because I just couldn’t stop thinking about the lucky find of that amazingly perfect picture.
Life Without a Newspaper
The second night after I left your city, I put up at the brick tavern, known as the ____ Hilgreen. The proprietor, in response to some interrogatories, informed me that he owned over 400 acres of land, had raised the present season 900 bushels of wheat, 650 bushels of oats, and expected to harvest 1500 bushels of corn; that he owed no man a dollar; and never took a newspaper in his life.If you don't quite get the Webster reference, read this (Noah Webster, 1758-1843)... then this (John White Webster (1793–1850) ... and then this. There's a also a PBS documentary and several books, including this one.
I had a curiosity to learn how a family kept up with the current events of the day, when deprived of the only means of obtaining it. Soon after I entered the family circle, which consisted of the parents, and six children, the eldest, a daughter, on the shady side of twenty five; -- the Mother commenced with --
"Mister, do you know whether that great Mr. Webster is hanged?"
"Yes, Madam."
"Well," said the daughter, "I allow as how he'd not make any more of them thar spelling books."
"I suppose not."
"I've lived so long in the world," said the mother, with a deep sigh, "and I never seed any body hanged yet. I always thought I'd like to see one hanged but it never happened to come right, and I'm getting so old now, I don't expect I ever will. I've seed the sarcus and the caravan, and such kind of shows, but I'd rather seed one fellow hanged than fifty of them shows."
"Stranger," said the daughter, "there's going to be an animal show tomorrow down here 'bout six miles, maybe you'd like to lay over and go down. Brother Jaemes says, they've got two snakes there, the same kind as what can swaller an elephant, but I don't believe there ever was such snakes, do you?"
"No Miss."
"Wall, then, the jography lies," replied Jaemes, a youth of some twenty two years.
"I allow it does," said the mother. "Why shouldn't the jography folks lie just like other folks?"
"Mother," said Jaemes, "You don't know nothing what you're talking about. Don't the United States make all the jographies? What's the use of their putting lies into 'em? They make 'em every ten years; they're going to make another in a few days -- They send out men all over the country to find out every thing; -- that's what that chap was here for 'tother day, asking so many farnal questions about. -- Stranger, supper's ready."
But if you're a teabagger clinging to your own misconceptions as if they were facts, we can't really help you. We're heading back to the library.
minor edit 2-08 pm
"Why don't we put Mr. Ryan's budget up to a vote?" he said. "Make them vote on it."Excellent. I'm all for it. As Digby says, let them put their mouth where their money is. Any hesitation, blowback, hedging, or filibustering will only confirm that they're full of it.
Democrats, he argued, should stop calling Republicans the "party of no."
"They have ideas, and lots of them. And their ideas ruin the country," Begala said.
The same is true with healthcare. There's going to be a bill submitted to Congress to remove the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies. It's not a complicated measure, and the results would be obvious: if you vote against this bill, we'll know who's side you're on. What could be more simple?
Is it smart for U.S. Presidents to stay neutral in the Super Bowl? was the question posed to the The Chris Matthews Show panel on football's most hallowed day.
Although all political thinking signs would suggest neutrality, President Obama sided with the sentimental favorite, the New Orleans Saints. Playing the Presidential name game strategically, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan both hugged the line of scrimmage when pressed for a favorite leaving Richard Nixon to offer up his White House spin on coaching from the sidelines.
Watch the Matthews video clip here, beginning at marker 9:59.
Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints who brees-ed by the Indiana Colts to win Super Bowl 44, 31-17.
Great game, gentlemen.
According to those who watched the speech, it was a mish-mash of all the usual right-wing complaints about President Obama:
She blasted him for rising deficits, “apologizing for America” in speeches in other countries, and for allowing the so-called Christmas bomber to board a plane headed for the United States, saying he was weak on the war on terrorism.Do I have to explain that the deficits were raised before Mr. Obama came into office and would be a lot worse now if he hadn't gotten the stimulus package; that making up to countries for the roughshod way that the Bush/Cheney cowboys ran over the rest of the world isn't "apologizing," it's called "diplomacy"; and that as inconvenient as it may be, the United States Constitution, with all its protections against the heavy hand of the government against the people, is still the law of the land? Ms. Palin may not like it, but it's been settled law for over 100 years that the Bill of Rights apply to all people in the United States, including foreigners arrested on our soil for crimes committed on our soil, not just American citizens. It helps that the commander in chief was a professor of law; that's one of the basic things that separates this country from previous experiences with tyranny. By the way, when the Bush/Cheney administration gave terror suspects their Miranda rights, tried them in a civilian court, locked them up in American prisons, and announced plans to close Gitmo, she and the rest of the teabaggers didn't say a word. (It's also more than a little ironic that Ms. Palin mocked the president for using a teleprompter when she scribbled cues on her hand for the Q&A portion of the pageant like a high school kid trying to crib on a test.)
“To win that war, we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law,” she declared.
What strikes me about this whole tea party thing is that it reminds me of the political agitation of my youth -- the antiwar demonstrations and marches on Washington and the protests against the "establishment". Those of us that were involved in it forty years ago probably had has much passion and fervor for it as the folks who gathered in Nashville to hear Sarah Palin channel George Wallace this past weekend. There were just as many crude assaults on the senses and sensibilities back then as there were today and the same kind of tasteless attacks on the president at the time as there were today (except I don't think there were as many dog-whistles to racist and nativist attitudes among the hippies). It was a movement, not a political party, and in 1969 there was no single leader of the antiwar movement, either. He had been assassinated in June 1968.
The problem with movements is that they don't elect presidents... except for the other side when they're perceived to be aligned with one political party as the Democrats were with the antiwar movement. Franklin Roosevelt faced a populist rebellion during the Depression at the hands of Huey Long and Father Coughlin, and he was re-elected four times. Richard Nixon's election in 1968 was cemented by the street riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago, as was his re-election in 1972 by the shrewd politicization and demonization of the antiwar movement -- and by transference, of the Democrats -- by his White House and his take-no-prisoners vice president, Spiro Agnew. (Sound familiar?) Had it not been for Watergate, Ronald Reagan would have been the GOP nominee in 1976, and Jimmy Carter was about as far away from the counter-culture movement as you could get in the Democratic Party. But the damage was done, and it took twenty years for the Democrats to get their footing again, and that was at the hands of Bill Clinton, a centrist Southerner and master politician. To this day, the Democrats are still skittish about being linked to the dirty effing hippies.
So the tea party conventioneers might well take a lesson from history. They can enjoy their time in the limelight and generate all the soundbites and bumper stickers, but for now, their political might is mainly seen as how much they can get on TV and who can come up with the most outrageous statement in order to get the attention. (If the tea-partiers can learn from history -- which is highly unlikely -- they'll figure out where this is going and nominate Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) for president in 2016.) It's all very nostalgic for those of us who remember the days of the war moratoriums and trying to levitate the Pentagon, and it all seems very romantic, thanks to the love-peace-and-tie-dyed culture. But it really didn't do anything much for the direction of the country except give us Republicans in the White House... and some really great rock music.
There was a deadly explosion at a Connecticut power plant under construction.
Washington, D.C. is basically shut down today by the snowstorm.
Haiti kidnapping: "Divisions emerged within the group of 10 Americans jailed in Haiti on child abduction charges, with eight of them signing a note over the weekend saying that they had been misled by Laura Silsby, the leader of the group."
Toyota will announce their plans for the Prius recall this week.
The Obama administration is pushing back against its critics on how they handle terrorists.
Costa Rica has elected its first woman president.
Sun 07 February, 2010
Greetings good citizen,
What better day than Superbowl Sunday to have a, can’t really call it a discussion, I guess we’ll have to refrain from labeling this exercise…
Anyhoo, I’ve come across another article that raises the thorny issue of what politics has to do with economics (or, if you prefer, vice-versa.) A politician can’t force an employer (at least a specific one) to hire you or to pay you a living wage…(which casts the ‘minimum wage’ issue in a rather different light, doesn’t it?) So why are so many of us inclined to blame the president for a lousy economy?
Why are congressmen quick to stick a feather in their hat (take credit) for ‘bringing home the bacon’ (commonly referred to as ‘pork’ when the so-called bacon goes to another district…even if you got yours!)
If that looks familiar, it's because he sent me this picture...
back in December. My back hurts just looking at it.
Below is the YouTube video, which appeared before the close-up of Palin's right hand became available. Steve Benen has more.
2-07 pm
It should be added that Palin wasn't cribbing notes on her hand because she wanted to be precise about complex numbers, or chemical formulae, or a specific House bill number or stuff like that. Not even, for that matter, the spelling of a multi-syllable word or two. No, the words she had to cheat on were "Energy," "Tax," "Lift American Spirits," and "Cuts."
That said, it remains to be decided just who is the bigger idiot. Sarah Palin? Or the hapless teabaggers who paid her a cool hundred G's to read such empty generalities from her hand?
His argument was that a Rubio win would bring with it an energized base to work in the general election.
But what he and others seem to be forgetting is that partisanship can run both ways.
I know that Kendrick Meek is dismissed because he is not polling well as of today. But, six months ago Rubio was dismissed for that same reason.
At least Bill Cotterell wrote an ironic piece about this whole issue of predicting races with the correct implicit conclusion that none of us really has any idea of what might happen six months from now.
What I am seeing is that the rise of the Tea Party is bringing with it a rise in activity of people who were involved in the Obama campaign. Things like the dig Sarah Palin made as quoted in the title are great motivators.
The structure of Organizing For America is still very much around. Many of its members are quite ready to take up a call for action.
Eventually, some statewide candidate will start making direct appeals to students based on the idealism that was an outgrowth of the Obama campaign. Gelber or Maddox seem like the most likely possibilities for making such a move. But the entire statewide slate would benefit from it.
Florida has an opportunity to elect its first African-American senator, its first woman governor.
Hey, we made history in 2008, why can't we keep making history in 2010?
As long as there's a Tea Party to fire us up, I think there's still Hope for Change.
Explosion at gas plant in CT.
My money would be on the Irish Republican Army.
Where Colin Breen found his loving roots.
They like those explosion thingies.
Irish Republican Army, Tampa and beyond.
Never thought about it before but maybe there is more to the story behind Sept 11, 2001. WHere was ROBERT O'NEILL?????????? Because he and his business ummm 'investors' have certainly risen to power and to RICHES since that time.
BEWARE MASSACHUSETTS.(FOUR GREEN FIELDS PLUS COMING TO YOUR TOWN) People and their belongings will be set out on the street. Your neighbors will mysteriously disappear.
Crack whores will multiply .... (where before you had friends and neighbors)
and meth mouth will be next door.
Welcome your new neighbor, Colin Breen to Massachusetts.
He's done a lot for Tampa, TOO !!!
I think that my family are among the few survivors of he and RObert ONeill's romp through Tampa.
NOT for lack of trying.
Stalking, threatening, running family members off the road.
Honest, you think you've woken up in some backwards Georgia town.
Have FUN, Massachusetts.
ANy time he's THERE he's NOT HERE.
YAY.
Oh we have EXCELLLLENT video of Largo firefighters' helmet headed lady who drove us all the way to the bay the other day. WOW.
Keller: LMAO. You stupid fucker. Think of me when you're taking it up the ass in the men's club @ florida state. You loser. L O L !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every time I see you I think ::: OH MY GOD. With him SUCH A LOSER ... surrounded by losers ...... imagine the complications......
How's scotttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
UPDATE::: Here's another article concerning Robert ONeill and partner in pub, Colin Breen.
Read at least to that part where he talks about killing them???? He's NOT JOKING.
Tipping a pint of his own Tuesday night at Four Green Fields, owner Colin Breen offered a bit of friendly smack talk about how his Tampa-based pub will compete with pubs established in Boston decades ago.
"We're going to kill 'em, I think," Breen said, chuckling. "A lot have grown jaded and haven't tried anything new. We will."
The project came together through a network of businesspeople, Breen said. A group of investors in Boston also owns property in Tampa and visited his pub while in town. With an eye on new sites in Boston, they approached Breen.
Find out what happened to the owner of the J.Burns Detecive Agency used to be right next door to Colin J Breen and Bobbert ONeill who NEEDED THE SPACE. THere on Platt. He WILL kill them. If you know these folks, tell them to beware..... things will happen to and with their business, their cars, their loved ones.
There is only one solution to this problem .... Colin Breen must be put in prison. And everyone else who chases a vision of hate, death and destruction. I wonder how many portfolios he mismanaged??????
If you know anyone who works in those buildings where they will roll that breakfast and lunch cart through WARN THEM.
POISONING PEOPLE IS WHAT THESE FOLKS LIKE TO DO.
Ask the wife.
She's very hot about the fact that her man takes care of the competition in such a fashion.
In fact, she helps him quite a bit.
She has poisoned and drugged my family member MORE THAN ONCE.
It's a family affair.
Our digest of, and commentary on today's Florida political news and punditry follows.
RPOF is "one of the nation's biggest jokes"
Scott Maxwell writes this morning that, "in Florida, the GOP is a train wreck."
And we're not talking a minor slipping-off-the-tracks, tip-over-the-caboose kind of wreck. We're talking a head-on collision.Maxwell continues, pointing out thatThe party chair has been ousted, he and his deputy exposed for credit-card spending sprees so extravagant, they'd make the Real Housewives of New York City blush.
The previous House speaker is embroiled in scandal and facing charges.
And here in Central Florida, Republicans are in such disarray, they are going through congressional candidates like Kleenex, trying to find one they like. ... the Sunshine State GOP is suddenly one of the nation's biggest jokes ... only it's the Dems who are laughing hardest.
perhaps the best example of Republicans causing themselves problems can be found in the party's inability to consistently back their own candidates in either of its two most coveted congressional races - when they can find a candidate, anyway.Much more here: "GOP soap opera is comedy of errors".The GOP routinely calls freshman Democrat Alan Grayson one of the most vulnerable incumbents in America. But just about every time the GOP makes that claim, another potential Republican challenger is caught running away with his tail between his legs.
Last week's tail-tucker was 28-year-old Armando Gutierrez. A few months ago, Republicans described the Central Florida newcomer as the next big thing in local politics. He snagged endorsements from everyone from a former head of the state GOP to one of Jeb Bush's sons. Gutierrez was in it to win it ... until something else flashy caught his eye. He dropped out last week, saying he was more interested in baseball.
And he's not alone. About a dozen Republicans - everyone from Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty to House Speaker Larry Cretul - have talked big about taking on Grayson, only to slink off into the shadows when asked to back up their talk with action.
Bad unions
Another liberal "journalist" explains why unions are bad.
"Crist is depending on more money from the feds"
The Saint Petersburg Times editorial board: "Florida lawmakers, facing the onerous task of building a 2010-11 state budget with the glimmer of modestly increasing revenue but fast-growing expenses, have largely dismissed Gov. Charlie Crist's proposed spending plan. They've balked at its $69.2 billion size, roughly 4 percent higher than the current year, and lamented his use of creative financing. "
Yet Crist is right that the state should start investing again in improving education and protecting the environment - even if he is on shaky ground about paying for it."Getting Florida back on track".Underlying Crist's budget premise is his belief that the state economy is finally turning a corner. Home sales were up in 2009 and Florida is adding residents - 70 per day - after losing them for a period last year. The growth is expected to increase sales taxes and real estate transaction fees, but not nearly enough to cover the higher cost of state government without more revenue. ...
To finance a bigger budget, Crist is depending on more money from the federal government, both in stimulus dollars and money for Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the state's low-income people, the disabled and children. ...
Daily Rothstein
Michael Mayo: " Mom of Rothstein's daughter: 'He left us high and dry'".
It is just a matter of time
"Picture a Vegas-style Bellagio on the beach. Rows of neon-lit slot machines, blackjack dealers and craps dice."
In Florida? It might not be as unlikely as it seems."Florida lawmakers consider new gaming options".For the first time, the Florida Legislature's conservative, anti-gambling fa?ade is showing cracks.
As Gov. Charlie Crist pushes his Seminole gambling deal yet again, legislators are beginning to think bigger - with even anti-gambling conservatives weighing the idea of trying to use Florida's tourist appeal to create lucrative casino complexes.
Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, who strongly opposed the expansion of slots in South Florida, now says that since gambling is everywhere in Florida, she supports a "free market" approach. She is pitching a "Gaming Equalization Act" to lure a half-dozen gambling executives to build beachside hotel-casinos.
One of the Legislature's staunchest conservatives, Rep. Alan Hays, says he wants the state to get into the gambling business directly by owning casinos and hiring private operators, similar to the state Lottery.
Not tuff enuf
The Sun-Sentinel editorial board: "Legislature's plans to toughen ethics laws overdue".
Rockin' the free world
"Did Gov. Charlie Crist determine the leader of Free World in 2008?"
It's really not that crazy a notion given the importance of Crist's surprise endorsement of John McCain on the eve of Florida's presidential primary. And as journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin note in their bestseller Game Change, Crist welshed [sic] on his earlier plan to endorse Rudy Giuliani, who based his entire campaign on winning Florida."Charlie Crist, acknowledged as '08 game changer, is seen at risk in Senate primary"."Without (Crist's) support, Giuliani would not have pursued the strategy he did, and in the end without the governor's support for McCain it's quite possible Mitt Romney would have won ....
Not your daddy's RPOF
"As the event officially kicked off at noon, the protest paused as 'The Star-Spangled Banner' played over the loudspeakers. Attendees then recited the Pledge of Allegiance before breaking out into 'Happy Birthday' for former President Ronald Reagan, the hero to conservatives who would have celebrated his 99th birthday Saturday." "Naples Tea Party draws hundreds with Rubio support, counterprotest from Obamarmy". See also "Gainesville Tea Party rally draws more than 1,000".
FCAT follies
"For the FCAT, a retooled approach to writing instruction".
A Nixon man
Frank Schwerin "took over this past week as chairman of the Collier County Republican Executive Committee, filling the slot vacated by Carla Dean. ... Schwerin's first real political activity was cheerleading for President Richard Nixon in 1972. Schwerin was in prep school and organized a Nixon re-election pizza party, Schwerin said." "Daily News: Collier's new GOP leadership sees exciting future for Republican Party".
Jebama
Emptywheel has been
puzzling all week since this happened last Saturday (January 30, from the pool report)."Hopey Changey Bipartisany Bush!"President Bush 41, with former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush rolled up to the White House at 9:35 for a meeting with POTUS. At 10:09, the two emerged to fat, driving snow flakes. Responding to a called question, 41 said only, "Good meeting. Good meeting."But it does intrigue-nay, concern-me that Jeb! started preaching the gospel of bipartisanship shortly thereafter.
"Florida has more students in its classrooms than other states"
"After spending almost $16 billion to implement Florida's voter-approved plan to reduce class sizes, Gov. Charlie Crist and the Republican Legislature are now talking about reining it in. But a leading Democrat [House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands of Weston] says the idea would leave the state not much else than a big bill to show for the investment."
His broader point -- that Florida has more students in its classrooms than other states -- is largely true, as measured by pupil/teacher ratios.Read the caveats and the rest of it here: "Politifact: Class-size claim misleading".But Sands said "Florida still averages more students in its classrooms than any other state in the Southeast,'' and there are at least three caveats to his statement ...
"Old Folks at Home"
Mark Lane: "Last Tuesday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, pitching his sad, bankrupt shell of a super-state at the Next American Economy Conference, dissed the competition as boring places known only for one thing each."
"Like one state is known for its potatoes, one state is known for its oil, and another state like Florida is known for the old people," he said."Car vs. train the wrong argument".Florida, obviously, is known for much more than "the old people." Even though our state song is "Old Folks at Home." Even though a surprising number of Florida drivers appear to be centenarians whose heads may not be spotted over the back of their driver's seat. ...
Old people -- or the chronologically enhanced, as we prefer to say -- make up only a small part of this complex equation.
And the Alex Sink for Governor campaign was quick to be the first to register its umbrage.
"It seems that Florida, one of the most beautiful, diverse and business-friendly states in the nation, with no state income tax, has intimidated the 'Governator' -- given that his state may be best known for its high taxes and ballooning deficits," scolded the state CFO.
Note how she worked in that state income tax part without actually addressing the too-many-old people part of Schwarzenegger's putdown.
"South Florida tea-party activists stayed away"
"South Florida tea-party activists stayed away from the national gathering in Nashville, with local leaders preferring to work locally."
Hundreds of attendees convened for the tea party's first national convention in Nashville, Tenn., last week -- without movement leaders from South Florida."S. Florida tea-party activists shun national convention"."It's expensive. It's not grass-roots. It's more bureaucracy. And it's for-profit, and I just don't think that's what the tea party is supposed to be about,'' said Danita Kilcullen, co-organizer of the weekly tea-party protest in Fort Lauderdale. "It piqued my interest at first, and then the more I read I had this sinking feeling.''
Money is one issue. The event costs $549 per person plus a $9.95 processing fee and travel and lodging costs. Someone who wanted to attend just the keynote speech Saturday night featuring Sarah Palin, the unsuccessful 2008 vice presidential candidate, paid $349 plus $9.71.
And the convention is a profit-making event for its sponsors.
"11th-hour legal cover"
Aaron Deslatte: "In two weeks, the RPOF executive committee will meet in Orlando to choose either Broward National Committeewoman Sharon Day or state Sen. John Thrasher to finish out Greer's term this year."
Meantime,
The facts are now flooding out in embarrassing detail, with a report in the Orlando Sentinel of credit-card bills showing hundreds of thousands of dollars for chartered planes, fancy dinners and big-time meeting costs. There was also the Sentinel story detailing former RPOF executive director Delmar Johnson's $408,000 in compensation, thanks in part to a secret fundraising contract he signed with Greer.Here's an interesting twist:
Greer seems to have tried to give himself some 11th-hour legal cover on the matter."Florida GOP's challenge: Assure donors money goes to elections, not jet charters".After Hoffman got a dozen angry major donors to sign an anti-Greer letter in late December, House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R- Winter Park, Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, and McCollum had seen enough.
Cannon and Haridopolos were livid that the RPOF was essentially paying its bills and salaries with "millions of dollars" they had raised to support House and Senate candidates. After convincing Thrasher, a former House speaker and lobbyist, to serve as the placeholder chairman, they pressed Greer to resign.
In a hastily arranged conference call on Jan. 5, Greer announced he would leave and accused his critics of trying to "burn the house down" to drive him out.
But at the same time, Greer had RPOF Treasurer Joel Pate and Vice Treasurer Allen Miller travel to Tallahassee to sign off on a one-page document dated that day attesting that "all expense reimbursements of any kind, American Express account expenditures, consultant fees, fundraising fees, agreements, service fees, traveling and dining expenses were proper and authorized and otherwise ratified by RPOF."
Reached at his home in St. Lucie County, Miller, a financial planner, would say only he had looked through the books "in conjunction with the chairman's resignation." He declined further comment. Pate, a Washington County commissioner, would not comment either.
Booting Floridians onto the sidewalk
Mike Thomas writes that "banks want to pick up the foreclosure pace, speeding up the process by which they boot distressed Florida homeowners onto the sidewalk."
Thomas thinks it is a great idea:
Under their plan, owners no longer would have their day in court. Out they would go without so much as a goodbye from a judge.ThomasThe Florida Bankers Association hopes legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist will sign off on this in the upcoming session. The day this bill passes is the day I beat Tim Tebow in arm wrestling.
We are in a huge election year. Voters hate bankers.
So this is not going to happen, even if it should.
would argue there is a good case to be made for a law like this.Thomas' continues here: "Clueless bankers: I'm here to help".
NASA
The Daytona Beach News Journal editorial board: "Obama inherited a dysfunctional economy. He also inherited a dysfunctional NASA aiming to be all things to all explorations only to lose its focus and, possibly, its relevance." "Low-Earth budgets: Recalibrating NASA's mission".
Legitimate question
The family of a man shot dead in January - by Orange County deputies who fired more than 100 times - wants the state attorney to investigate whether his death was justifiable."Marchers question why suspect was shot 100 times by deputies".Tiffanye Breedlove said Saturday that she wants answers about what happened Jan. 5 when nine Orange County deputies killed her younger brother, Torey, in what the deputies said started out as an attempt to apprehend him in a stolen sport utility vehicle. ...
He was unarmed when he died.
"Voters are angry"
"Voters are angry. And the most audacious among them are deciding they can help fix the country."
The number of first-time candidates running for Congress in Florida is larger than in any election year in recent memory, says Susan MacManus, political science professor at the University of South Florida.For example,
Thirteen challengers are vying for the seat held by Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, including 10 Republicans.More:National analysts view Kosmas' seat as one of the two "toss-ups" in Florida. The other is the seat held by Democrat Alan Grayson, who earned fame last year by summing up Republicans' health care plan as "don't get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly."
Kosmas, 65, snatched a formerly safe Republican seat in 2008 by riding Barack Obama's coattails and hammering at the incumbent's connection to a scandal-ridden lobbyist but angered Democratic supporters in November by voting against the House health care reform bill and drew a primary challenger, former Winter Springs Mayor Paul Partyka.
In the 3rd District, eight-term Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, has five challengers: three Republicans, a no-party candidate and a Florida Whig. ..."Anger fuels rush of candidates".Eight-term 7th District Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park usually defeats his Democrat challenger easily in the heavily Republican district that snakes through six counties.
This year he faces newcomer Heather Beaven, a Palm Coast resident and CEO of a state-funded work force development agency for at-risk students. Beaven, 41, says Mica provides "20th century leadership" and vows to help develop 21st-century "green" jobs in the bio-medical and alternative energy fields.
No raids, please
The Tallahassee Democrat editors: "Last spring, before the Legislature convened,"
the state court system cried "help," with Chief Justice Peggy Quince at the time expressing dismay over a 300 percent increase in foreclosure cases in some areas of the state. A huge backlog was being created because "children's cases and criminal cases are a priority." These are matters of public safety, she said, and must be handled swiftly."Don't raid the courts".It isn't better this year in terms of foreclosures with Florida having the nation's second highest foreclosure rate in November. That's one in every 165 homes in Florida in some stage of foreclosure, translating to some 400,000 foreclosure cases in 2009, a deluge that threw the court system into near dysfunction. ...
Last session lawmakers did show the courts a little mercy, creating a dedicated court funding stream through the State Courts Revenue Trust Fund. It is fed by fines and filing fees and has helped make the courts far more self-sufficient, relying less on general revenue funds than ever before.
Somewhat ironically, perhaps, that is trust healthier than expected precisely because of those foreclosure filings that are piling up in courthouses far and wide. ...
The courts are the best bargain lawmakers have, being funded with less than 0.7 percent of the entire state budget of some $67 billion. The trust fund has helped make the courts even more self-sufficient, less of a drain on general revenue, and all the while winning accolades as one of the best state court systems in the nation in terms of performance and accountability, fairness and openness, according to a report by Florida TaxWatch.
Lawmakers have seen the value of helping the court system, even in dire economic times, pay some of its own way. It would be a mistake to raid these funds and set back the judiciary even more.
Poor Charlie ...
"Crist has not had a good year. Florida's economy stinks, his job approval and poll numbers have dropped. A race many experts thought would have been easy is now in doubt and the politician who has long been considered to have great instincts has sometimes seemed to be lost." "Crist still giving hugs in Senate run".
Rubio's folly
Beth Reinhard: "Yes, there's a long, storied tradition of Florida politicians using the Census and redrawing of voting districts to advance their political careers. If practice, practice, practice is the way to Carnegie Hall, then redistricting, redistricting, redistricting is the way to Capitol Hill."
Look no further than Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami and Tom Feeney of Oviedo who, as leaders of the Florida Legislature, drew themselves friendly congressional districts after the 2000 census. (Attention please: Non-stop Flight #2371 from Tallahassee to Washington, now boarding.)Reinhard continues, "Here's the glitch:"But here comes Rubio marching through the terminal, proposing to exclude illegal immigrants from the Census formulas that determine Capitol Hill clout and federal aid. He supports a proposal by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (yes, that David Vitter of the D.C. Madam client list) to add a citizenship question to U.S. Census forms.
If a question about citizenship status was added to the Census, wouldn't illegal immigrants be even less likely to fill out a form with their name, address and annual income?"Beth Reinhard".Regardless, the debate is largely theoretical. The 2010 Census forms were printed long ago, and the statewide campaign got under way this week.
Crist supporters see the cooked-up controversy as a way for Rubio to continue stroking the staunch conservatives who tend to dominate Republican primaries.
``He'll say anything to get elected,'' said Rep. Juan Zapata, chairman of the Miami-Dade legislative delegation. ``It may play well in a Republican primary, but if he cared about the state of Florida, he would want everyone to count.''
"An alarming thought"
"As the popularity of social networking sites like Twitter.com and Facebook.com increases, public officials are faced with the need to monitor the content. That's the same challenge they faced when the e-mail craze began to sweep the world."
How will officials track and store all the public documents they create? What can be done to educate officials about how the state's Sunshine Law applies to the technology? Did they jump in too soon? Can they afford to be onboard? Can they afford not to be?"Social Web sites put officials on guard"."Technology is changing so quickly and we have all of these new means of communicating. But that does not change the fact that if you're blogging about public business, those blogs are subject to public records laws and the Sunshine Law," said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee.
It's an alarming thought for some local officials who believe their social networking pages are private and hadn't considered that open public records laws might apply to them.
They paid her over $100K for some teabagging, but all they got was a lousy hand job.*"These stupid peasants, who, throughout the world, hold potentates on their thrones, make statesmen illustrious, provide generals with lasting victories, all with ignorance, indifference, or half-witted hatred, moving the world with the strength of their arms, and getting their heads knocked together in the name of God, the king, or the stock exchange---immortal, dreaming,hopeless asses, who surrender their reason to a shining puppet, and persuade some toy to carry their lives in his purse."
-- Stephen Crane, American author and poet
*Cf.
On January 11th, a few weeks before his plans for a trial at Foley Square fell apart, Holder flew to Boston, to preside over the installation of a new U.S. Attorney. That evening, he returned to Washington in the Justice Department’s Gulfstream jet. Holder, who had jokingly lamented that such perks wouldn’t last forever—“I’m missing it already!”—sat down, put on headphones, and blasted one of his favorite songs, Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” Holder, who is fifty-nine, seemed determined not to let the tensions of Washington politics poison his mood. He was equally determined not to capitulate on the idea of holding a 9/11 trial. “I don’t apologize for what I’ve done,” he told me at one point. “History will show that the decisions we’ve made are the right ones.” Holder said that he regarded trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a courtroom as “the defining event of my time as Attorney General.” But, he added, “between now and then I suspect we’re in for some interesting times.”More below the fold.
Holder, despite the controversy he has inspired, has not actually pushed for radical change. Indeed, critics in left-leaning legal circles have complained that he has kept too many of George W. Bush’s counterterrorism policies in place. For example, Holder’s Justice Department has continued blocking lawsuits by people who were subjected to extraordinary rendition—the practice of sending suspected terrorists captured abroad to countries known for administering torture—on the ground that such litigation would expose state secrets. Even some former members of the Bush Administration see more continuity than change. Bradford Berenson, who served as a White House lawyer when the Bush Administration was forging its controversial legal approach to terrorism, told me that “from the perspective of a hawkish Bush national-security person the glass is eighty-five per cent full in terms of continuity.”
Holder told me that he was frustrated by much of the criticism over the handling of Abdulmutallab. “What we did is totally consistent with what has happened in every similar case” since 9/11, he said. “There’s a desire to ignore the facts to try to score political points. It’s a little shocking.” Without exception, he noted, every previous terrorist suspect apprehended inside the country had been handled as a civilian criminal. Even so, critics such as Krauthammer were denouncing Holder for failing to send Abdulmutallab directly to Guantánamo. As a senior national-security official in the White House put it, “It’s a fantasy! Under what alternative legal system can Special Operations Forces fly into Detroit, and take someone away without court oversight?”
The Tea Party Racket -- Joan Walsh at Salon reviews Sarah Palin's appearance at the Tea Party convention.
Eric Hoffer didn't live to see Tea Party Nation, but I always think of his most famous quote when I'm forced to deal with it: ""Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."Frank Rich on the outing of Don't Ask Don't Tell.
I'm not sure the Tea Party cause is a great one, but it's an influential one, and it degenerated into a racket lickety split, in less than a year. This weekend's gathering in Nashville splintered both the Tennessee and the national Tea Party movement, as local go-getter Judson Phillips set up the once-anticipated "convention" as his own for-profit business. We'll have a first-hand report from the racket that paid Sarah Palin more than $100,000 to speak Saturday night. But I can't help weighing in.
Wow. This was the Palin we saw at the 2008 Republican convention, the snarling pitbull in shimmery lipstick. I know journalists aren't supposed to use words like mean and dumb, but I can't help it. Palin is one of the meanest people on the public stage today. She wallows in it. She loves it! Also? Possibly one of the dumbest. But mean works, and so does dumb. And so do lies, and there were many mean, dumb lies in her speech.
How rich that she read her talk in a sing-song voice as she ripped Barack Obama for using a Teleprompter. Once she left the speech for the Q&A, she really went off-message, as well as nearly off-English. (Even though it looked like, at one point, she was reading answers off of her hand.) "They're not knowin what are we gonna do if we don't have Tea Party support" was one of my favorite head-scratchers, a great echo of "when Putin rears his head."
But it was also in her brief Q&A that she made one comment she might regret, if anyone in the Republican Party ever held her accountable. She told the crowd her husband Todd -- according to recently released emails, the non-elected former governor of Alaska -- is "much too independent" to be a Republican, because he's even "more conservative" than she is. What a great way to revisit the controversy over Todd's membership in the secessionist Alaska Independent Party! Remember how Palin dogged poor McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, trying to get him to denounce Salon's reporting on the Palins and AIP? She tried to get Schmidt to lie and say her husband checked the AIP box on voter forms mistakenly, and he refused. Now she's bragging her husband isn't a Republican because he's so "independent."
Polls consistently show that independents, however fiscally conservative, are closer to Democrats than Republicans on social issues. (In May’s Gallup survey, 67 percent of independents favored repealing “don’t ask.”) This is why Scott Brown, enjoying what may be a short-lived honeymoon in his own party, calls himself a “Scott Brown Republican.” A Scott Brown Republican isn’t a Boehner or Hatch Republican. In his interview with Barbara Walters last weekend, he distanced himself from Sarah Palin, said he was undecided on “don’t ask” and declared same-sex marriage a “settled” issue in his state, Massachusetts, where it is legal.Doonesbury -- At twits end.
It’s in this political context that we can see that there may have been some method to Obama’s troublesome tardiness on gay issues after all. But as we learned about this White House and the Democratic Congress in the health care debacle, they are perfectly capable of dropping the ball at any moment. Let’s hope they don’t this time. Should they actually press forward on “don’t ask” in an election year with Mullen and Gates on board — and with even McCain’s buddy, Joe Lieberman, calling for action “as soon as possible” — they could further the goal and raise the political price for those who stand in the way. Recalcitrant Congressional Republicans will have to explain why their perennial knee-jerk deference to “whatever the commanders want” extends to Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Stanley McChrystal on troop surges but not to Mullen, who outranks them, on civil rights.
The more bigotry pushed out of the closet for all voters to see, the more likely it is that Americans will be moved to grant overdue full citizenship to gay Americans. It won’t happen overnight, any more than full civil rights for African-Americans immediately followed Truman’s desegregation of the armed forces. But there can be no doubt that Mike Mullen’s powerful act of conscience last week, just as we marked the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-in, pushed history forward. The revealing silence that followed from so many of the usual suspects was pretty golden too.
President Obama delivers a pep talk to the Democrats.
Toyota will announce a fix next week for the Prius's faulty anti-lock brakes.
One small step -- The House may vote next week to lift the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies.
Change of heart -- Gov. Sanford demands stimulus money from Washington... after spending most of last year saying he didn't want it.
If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, it's Superbowl Sunday.
Pork Chops
Palm Bay Buzz