Opponents of the Hometown Democracy amendment that would require a referendum to change a local master plan are out with a new web video. The video -- with gloomy music and ominous pictures of trash, graffiti and "For Rent" signs...
11:07 Miami-Dade Democrats March Meeting: Volunteers needed, sign up now » Miami-Dade Dems
Here's a short video from our March meeting, held in a new venue, the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens.
The main message from this meeting was a call for volunteers to help staff the new office of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party -- in the Terranova Building at 801 Arthur Godfrey Drive in Miami Beach. Call 305 477-4994 or email info@miamidadedemocrats.com.
The field is smaller this morning. The Anchorage Daily News has reported on four more scratches at Rainy Pass, in addition to Pat Moon. Michael Suprenant and Zoya DeNure both have medical problems, Karin Hendrickson has a busted sled, and Kirk Barnum scratched because his dogs were too tired to race.
Zoya, along with Colleen [...]
The same polling firm showed Marco Rubio widely outdistancing Charlie Crist in the GOP Senate primary now shows that either Republican would beat Kendrick Meek, but only narrowly in Rubio’s case.
Crist’s campaign yesterday questioned the polling numbers from North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling because it’s a Democratic-oriented firm that…
More bad news for Gov. Charlie Crist (and other Florida officials headed into election season): Florida's unemployment rate reached 11.9 percent in January, tying a state record set nearly 35 years ago. The jobless rate released Wednesday morning, which was...
10:48 Senate gamble bill draws line in the sand on compact » Naked Politics
A leadership-pushed proposal that was the focus of a 30-minute workshop in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee offers up new limits on how far the state will compromise with the Seminole Tribe in its gambling compact -- and opens the...
Gov. Charlie Crist insists he is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican and won't switch to an independent. Besides a likely drop-off in campaign donations the new Public Policy poll might add some more evidence as to why:...
10:48 Lincoln Diaz-Balart lavishes praise on the Obama administration » Naked Politics
The retiring Miami Republican offered rare words of praise Wednesday for the Obama administration, saying he's been impressed with its response to the earthquake that leveled Haiti. "We have here a lot of partisan differences and debate," Diaz-Balart said at...
Bernice “Bee” Falk Haydu, a part-time resident of West Palm Beach, was among the women honored today in Washington for their work as aircraft pilots during World War II. “It’s unbelievable after all these years to finally be given recognition...
A leadership-pushed proposal that was the focus of a 30-minute workshop in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee offers up new limits on how far the state will compromise with the Seminole Tribe in its gambling compact -- and opens the...
10:11 Sarah Palin Says God Wrote on His Hand, Too » Pensito Review
Marco Rubio is campaigning and raising money in Jacksonville today. GOP activist and Rubio fan Nancy McGowan tells us Rubio's support is deep in the area."If you don't win North Florida, you cannot win this Senate seat. The strength of...
More from the PPP robo poll (MoE +/- 3.4%): No matter how you slice it Republicans are favored to win the Senate race in Florida right now, but how big that early advantage is depends on how the general election...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a struggle to corral votes to pass health care reform, and in Florida, she'll turn to help from a trusted ally, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The task: persuading the two Florida Democrats who voted against...
The Charlie Crist campaign has issued a statement responding to Marco Rubio’s first campaign ad.
Predictably, it hits the Crist campaign’s recent themes of criticism of Rubio over earmark spending while Rubio was in the Legislature, and Rubio’s use of a Republican Party credit card to pay for some personal…
09:42 Carpe diem! Aaron Copland, The Promise of Living » litbrit
Several weeks ago, reader Jacqueline sent me this gorgeous YouTube creation: it's Aaron Copland's haunting piece, The Promise of Living, set to a montage of old 8mm and 16mm films of human beings doing what we do best: living and loving. I wonder if you can make it all the way through without tearing up. I certainly couldn't.
I'd also like to share this gem, by tripsadelica, from the comment section beneath the video:
Snippets of light captured upon powdered silver, of a time long ago. Gone, but somehow not gone...preserved forever as if light was the essence of life itself. Most all of these people have left this earth but here they are, walking, dancing, playing...living. You know the expression, "they live on in our hearts"...they live on here in light; light captured with fine silver powder. Luminous argent.
Here in Florida, it's sparkling and sunny outside for the first time in a long while. Spring is almost here--hooray!--the boys will be on break next week, and I have visions of sugar cones and sandy shores dancing in my head. Carpe diem! I say, as I will say next Monday morning when I wake the boys and haul them off to Fort DeSoto for some much-needed vitamin D and fresh air. What will you be doing when it warms up?
The picture, spread virally on the Web, was the last straw for state Sen. Frederica Wilson. It showed a man posing in front of the White House with a noose wrapped around an American flag.
It's a "significant" buy on Fox News in all major media markets. Why so early? "First is to let voters get to know who Marco is, what he believes and why he's running,'' said Rubio adviser Todd Harris. "And the...
Gov. Charlie Crist took a swipe this morning at his Senate opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio over this story concerning the $250 million in earmarks Rubio had inserted in the budget, despite his campaign persona as a no-earmarks kind...
Would you like to become more involved in your neighborhood? Hillsborough County can help.
Hillsborough County’s Office of Neighborhood Relations is gearing up for the 7th Annual Hillsborough...
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Gov. Charlie Crist took a swipe this morning at his Senate opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, over this story concerning the $250 million in earmarks Rubio had inserted in the budget, despite his campaign persona as a no-earmarks kind...
Usually conservatives aren't keen on remembering that many of our founding fathers were slave owners. But Tony Blankley is a more positive fellow, and, in his latest article, argues that slave-owning actually helped our founding fathers.
He [Edmund Burke] recognized that it wasn't despite being slaveholders that American Colonists felt so powerfully about liberty. Rather, being in the midst of the obvious evils of slavery, those men who were free more fully appreciated their freedom. "Those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of rank and privilege," Burke argued. Or, as Jedediah Purdy (from whose historically rich and ingenious book "A Tolerable Anarchy" I have abstracted these observations) put it: "Slavery made masters uniquely sensitive to any invasion of their independence."
It's a tricky argument isn't it? Slaveowners were very sensitive to losing their freedom because they were so dependent on removing the freedom of others. This transformed the denier of freedom into the champion of freedom. Somehow.
I suppose the parallel to today would the corporations - corporations do control our lives to an increasing extent - and yet they are champions of freedom, simply by being aware of how precarious freedom is. Which is why they work hard to protect their own freedom - freedom to pollute, freedom to treat their workers poorly, freedom to foist unsafe products on consumers, freedom to buy votes as they see fit. One might argue that these "freedoms" impinge on the freedoms of other American citizens. But like in the time of our founding, without this impingement, these champions of liberty would not realize how very valuable freedom is.
It's a "significant" Fox News buy hitting all major media markets in Florida. Why so early? "First is to let voters get to know who Marco is, what he believes and why he's running,'' said Rubio adviser Todd Harris. "And...
08:38 With House speaker's help, 911 bill passes committee » Naked Politics
By a party-line vote -- and a stacked committee -- a measure to restrict the public release of 911 tapes won approval in the House Government Affairs Policy Committee. The legislation (PCB GAP 10-03) is a top priority for House...
08:38 Atwater hands out allocations, vows "transparency" and no sneaky stuff » Naked Politics
Senate President Jeff Atwater just released initial budget allocations to his chamber, stressing that he aims to make the budget process for the 2010-11 year will be even more "transparent" than last year. "Line-item spending and proviso will be discussed...
"Is the world's greatest deliberative body ready for man hugs and back waxing?"Those two images so far have defined the red-hot and increasingly hostile battle for Florida's Republican U.S. Senate nomination between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio.Both men hope to use the images to paint the other as out-of-step on fiscal issues.A picture of Crist hugging President Obama
08:23 Beck Fails to Out-Victim Massa in Interview – Earlier Had On-Air Spat over Massa with Malkin » Pensito Review
Beck to Massa: "Do you realize my family is at stake? You've got a little scandal with your children in college. I've got one for all time now, because I am not going to resign. I'm not going to back down. I have come to a place where I believe at some point the system will destroy me."
Senate President Jeff Atwater just released initial budget allocations to his chamber, stressing that he aims to make the budget process for the 2010-11 year even more "transparent" than last year. "Line-item spending and proviso will be discussed in the...
By a party-line vote -- and a stacked committee -- a measure to restrict the public release of 911 tapes won approval in the House Government Affairs Policy Committee. The legislation (PCB GAP 10-03) is a top priority for House...
After reading the hard copy of your hometown newspaper, please consider becoming a site fan on Facebook and following us on Twitter. Our digest of, and commentary on today's Florida political news and punditry follows.
Rubio trouncing Crist, 60-28
"Is the world's greatest deliberative body ready for man hugs and back waxing?"
Those two images so far have defined the red-hot and increasingly hostile battle for Florida's Republican U.S. Senate nomination between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
Both men hope to use the images to paint the other as out-of-step on fiscal issues.
A picture of Crist hugging President Obama was used in Rubio's online fund-raisers and to ridicule the governor for being one of the few Republicans to support the federal stimulus plan.
The image helped transform Rubio's campaign from long-shot to front-runner. A Public Policy Polling survey showed Rubio up 60 percent-28 percent on Tuesday.
Crist is attempting to claw his way back by casting Rubio as dishonest with other people's money. Crist reminds voters that Rubio used his state party-issued credit card to ring up $16,000 in personal expenses, including $135 at a Miami barber shop.
Rubio said he used his own money to pay those bills and recently told Fox News that barber shop charge wasn't for just a haircut.
Crist, on the same cable channel Monday night, suggested Rubio may also have received a back wax.
"A poll released Tuesday shows former House Speaker Marco Rubio trouncing Crist for the Republican Senate nomination, 60-28."
The landslide margin reported by Public Policy Polling (PPP) of North Carolina is being read as another sign of deterioration -- if not impending implosion -- by a campaign that had held a similarly commanding lead just three months ago.
The PPP polling was done March 5-8, well after the dust-up over Rubio's questionable GOP credit card expenditures.
"As state economists confirmed the $3.2 billion shortfall that Florida is facing next year, a bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday that could shrink Florida's budget gap by one-third."
The economists' deliberations coincided with the advance of legislation in Congress that could pump more than $1 billion into Florida's Medicaid program.
Medicaid is the biggest budget buster that lawmakers face this session, as high unemployment has forced more people to seek government assistance. Last year's federal stimulus package provided enhanced federal Medicaid funding only through the end of the 2010 calendar year, six months shy of the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Senate voted 66-34 to end debate on a sweeping bill that includes extending the Medicaid stimulus through June 2011. Florida's Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson voted to advance the bill.
Republican Sen. George LeMieux said he voted no because it would add $100 billion to the federal deficit without a clear means of paying for it. In a statement, LeMieux said he cast his vote "with a heavy heart," agreeing that many proposals in the bill would help Florida.
"Republican U.S. Senate front-runner Marco Rubio brags on his Web site that he didn't officially request budget pork in his last four years as a leader in the Florida House."
But during Rubio's eight years in office — including the final two when he was House speaker — he unofficially helped push loads of hometown spending: $250 million, according to a Times/Herald analysis of little-known budget documents.
"An inmate and three relatives have been charged with tax fraud in a second federal indictment stemming from an IRS tax scam that was run out of a jail near Key West." "2nd Florida Keys inmate indicted in prison tax scam".
"Floridians could get public records free of charge if it takes less than 30 minutes to produce them under a Sunshine law overhaul bill unanimously approved by its first Senate committee Tuesday." "Public records could be free".
"With budget cuts paring back landscaping along city roads, Orlando is bringing the old-fashioned chain gang to The City Beautiful." "Prisoners to mow Orlando medians".
It must be OK then ...
"As lawmakers waited Tuesday for the latest state revenue estimates, state Senate budget writers learned that other states are being forced to make widespread cuts in funding for popular school programs." "Lawmakers hear how other states have cut education".
Sales Tax Holiday
The Tallahassee Democrat editorial board likes the Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday.
Counties benefit in direct proportion to the size of their school-age population, but all counties and even the state treasury benefit from this almost perfect form of tax relief — which provides an automatic economic stimulus for local and state governments as well as businesses.
Gov. Charlie Crist has recommended that the Legislature set aside 10 days for the tax holiday that Floridians enjoyed from 1998 until 2007 (during which it lasted between seven and 10 days). It was suspended last year on the theory that the state couldn't afford any loss of revenue during the recession.
But a study by the Washington Economics Group indicated that a proposed tax holiday would generate $1.7 billion in economic activity, of which close to $1 billion stays in the Florida economy.
"The Republican Party of Florida is demanding the Florida Democratic Party drop an elections complaint. A GOP lawyer wrote to the Democrats today saying a complaint filed last week has no merit." "State GOP: Democrats' complaint has no merit".
'Glades
The Tampa Tribune editors: "Florida environmentalists are worried that a Monday New York Times article could derail a $536 million deal to purchase 73,000 acres from U.S. Sugar as part of the effort to rescue the Everglades. It would be better for the deal to be derailed if taxpayers are being fleeced. But that is not at all clear, despite the Times' effort to put the proposal in the worst possible light." "Proceed carefully with Glades". Related: "Key vote nears on Crist's Everglades restoration purchase of U.S. Sugar land".
"A controversial proposal under consideration in the Florida Legislature would exempt 911 calls from the public record." "Bill prohibits release of 911 calls".
"Republican lawmakers are reviving leadership funds, which legislators used in the past as a place to funnel unspent campaign money in return for choice committee chairmanships." "Once-reviled funds on way back".
"Sacrificing is for suckers"
The Orlando Sentinel editorial board writes that, "in the Wonderland that is Washington, D.C., members of Congress have been letting their belts out. As South Florida's Sun Sentinel recently reported, federal lawmakers voted themselves a 5 percent increase in their own budgets last year. They spent those taxpayer dollars for staff salaries — sometimes in six figures — office expenses and perks. In Florida's delegation, the perks included chauffeured car trips, pricey auto leases and an office aquarium."
Florida's two U.S. senators have annual budgets for office expenses of more than $4 million each, while the state's 25 House members each get about $1.5 million. When their budgets are combined with their Senate and House colleagues', the total of less than $2 billion almost gets lost amid this year's $3.6 trillion federal budget and $1.6 trillion projected deficit. Cutting congressional office expenses won't balance the budget.
But when lawmakers refuse to hold themselves back in tough times, it sends a message to struggling Americans: Sacrificing is for suckers.
Consider these office expenses last year from Florida House members:
Democrat Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, who represents a district where the per capita income is only two-thirds of the U.S. average, spent almost $8,000 last year for herself and her staff to ride in chauffeured cars or SUVs.
Democrat Ron Klein of Boca Raton, a self-described deficit hawk, increased his office spending by $30,000.
Democrat Alcee Hastings of Miramar spent the most on staff. He paid two of them — one his longtime girlfriend — about $160,000 each. Both fell just below the $168,000 limit for congressional staff salaries.
Republican Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami leased a Honda Odyssey minivan for $803 a month.
Republican Tom Rooney of Tequesta spent almost $2,500 on an aquarium in his office. He also spent $628 on bottled water.
Among Florida's House members, the top 10 office spenders last year were split evenly between Republicans and Democrats. The group included four members whose districts cover parts of Central Florida: Republicans Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville and Cliff Stearns of Ocala, and Democrats Alan Grayson of Orlando and Ms. Brown of Jacksonville.
Republican Adam Putnam of Bartow was the most frugal member of Central Florida's delegation. His office spent just 76 percent of its budget allotment.
07:50 Limbaugh Says He’ll Move to Costa Rica If Health-Care Reform Passes – But Costa Rica Has Nationalized Health Care » Pensito Review
LIMBAUGH: "I don't know. I'll just tell you this, if this passes and it's five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented -- I am leaving the country. I'll go to Costa Rica." But, Rush, Costa Rica has a nationalized, or as you would describe it, a "socialist" health-care system.
07:41 Washington Post Defends Cheney Witch Hunt against DOJ Lawyers » Pensito Review
Mrs. Graham is spinning in her grave, via Media Matters.
Republican U.S. Senate front-runner Marco Rubio brags on his Web site that he didn't officially request budget pork in his last four years as a leader in the Florida House. But during Rubio's eight years in office — including the final two when he was House speaker — he unofficially helped push loads of hometown spending: $250 million, according to a Times/Herald analysis of little-known budget documents.
Cash-strapped Florida lawmakers aren't getting any help from a new general revenue estimate issued Tuesday, but the figures aren't causing them any grief, either. State economists increased their forecast by just fractions of a percent from the last one they submitted in December for the current and next four budget years.
Floridians could get public records free of charge if it takes less than 30 minutes to produce them under a Sunshine law overhaul bill unanimously approved by its first Senate committee Tuesday.
After an internal review requested by the Public Service Commission's chairwoman, the agency's inspector general has asked state law enforcement officials to consider investigating allegations that a commissioner and her aide lied about a conversation with a utility executive during a pending case.
Legislative leaders are swiftly carrying out one of their priorities by bringing back once-reviled ``leadership funds'' -- unlimited soft-money accounts under direct control of a few influential lawmakers.
Homeowners can still get insurance discounts for hurricane clips and window shutters, they'll just have to file more paperwork to get them. It's a change sought by the insurance industry, part of addressing what companies say is a financial squeeze of low rates exacerbated by fraudulent discounts.
There are now plans to connect Central Florida's two big rail projects. The high-speed rail and the SunRail will cost billions to build under the current plan, but the two rail lines don't meet anywhere. But now, a private company wants to build a new train to link them from OIA to the convention center, which means it may not cost taxpayers a dime.
Jackson Health System is close to insolvency and facing the specter of having one of its major vendors, Johnson & Johnson, shut off supplies unless the company receives a $1 million payment this week.
Martin Gill and his partner are seeking to adopt two brothers, ages 5 and 9. The boys have lived with the two men for five years as foster children. For most of that time, the Miami couple has been in court fighting for something Florida forbids gay couples: the right to adopt children.
State economists mostly held steady Tuesday in their forecast of tax collections for the year ahead — meaning lawmakers continue to face a budget shortfall of as much as $3.2 billion.
MIAMI — The movie "Bait Shop" had too much boozing to earn the extra rebate from Florida's "family friendly" program of incentives for film production. "Confessions of a Shopaholic" was, well, just too violent.
A study released on the eve of the 2010 Census has some eye-opening news about the count's importance for Floridians: In a national ranking, the amount of Census-based aid flowing to the state and the three-county South Florida region puts both in the bottom five.
John Hoblick was out of town when his 16-year-old son died after a night of drinking and illegal prescription drugs. The next day, he heard the 911 call on Orlando-area TV news. ``It caused a lot of anguish,'' he said. ``There's no reason to exploit someone that way.''
Some readers at the Washington Post were upset to see a picture of two men kissing in celebration of the beginning of marriage equality in the District of Columbia.
“I am 65 years old and I realize that the world is changing rapidly – much more rapidly than I would like it to,” she e-mailed. “While I realize that the Post must report on these changes – even the ones with which I do not agree – I feel that the picture on Thursday morning was an affront to the majority of your readership. It is not something that I want coming into my home. I believe that even your editors know that it would have been better placed in the Metro section and that it would have mitigated its impact to do so.”
Wrote Lee Miller of Columbia: “I would appreciate it if your cover pictures would not be so disturbing where my kids can see it easily on the kitchen table… please don’t shove this “Gay” business in our face. This is something that should have shown up on an inside page or two (without the picture).”
And I find it disturbing that someone is upset about two people celebrating their love in public. As for shoving "this 'Gay' business in [their] face," how about all those straight people walking hand-in-hand down the street or -- GASP! -- pushing a stroller with baby in it: we all know where babies come from.
I wonder if these people also write in to protest when the Post puts pictures of earthquake or torture victims on the front page and demand that they shield their children from them. Somehow I doubt it.
I’ve been a military lawyer for almost 30 years, I represented people as a defense attorney in the military that were charged with some pretty horrific acts, and I gave them my all. This system of justice that we’re so proud of in America requires the unpopular to have an advocate and every time a defense lawyer fights to make the government do their job, that defense lawyer has made us all safer.
One hundred citizens attended last night's space forum to discuss post-Shuttle life here in Brevard County.
One hundred people.
I'd venture a guess that the same one hundred people would've shown up several years ago when the specter of a downsized NASA first loomed on the horizon.
Either most still have their head in the not gonna happen to us sand or most are not so concerned about the change in direction for the space center.
Or we can chalk it all up to scheduling a forum during the week of FCAT.
Gov. Charlie Crist has proved busy lobbying for space this past week. As reported byTallahassee Democrat (3/4/2010)
(...)
Crist spent part of his morning in his Capitol office, lobbying Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana to add more flights to the shuttle schedule, at least until the economy recovers and the state has enough time to rev its commercial space business.
It was tough going.
Florida is still reeling from the recent announcement by President Barack Obama that he is canceling Constellation, a shuttle replacement that was supposed to ferry crews to the International Space Station, the moon and eventually Mars. Florida is going to have to adjust, Cabana said.
"NASA already knows how to get to low-earth orbit, we need to move beyond that," Cabana said. "The move is towards the commercialization of low-earth orbit. Eventually, it's going to happen."
"Maybe after the recession," Crist shot back.
NASA can better spend the $1.8 billion it costs every year to keep the shuttle flying on research and development, not delaying the inevitable, Cabana said.
"We can cry about what we've lost, or we can make the most of our opportunities," Cabana said.
Harsh.
Perhaps GOP candidate Marco Rubio should've lobbied up Cabana. After all, the Senator wannabe is linked to pork projects to the tune of $250 million. (Miami Herald, 3/10/10).
Which leads to the perennial question.
Is it really pork if it helps John Q. Citizen bring home the bacon?
Herald: Legislature, again, consider closing controversial boys' school
05:24 Herald Tribune; Sink calls for report on Florida insurers » Sayfie Review
Herald Tribune; Sink calls for report on Florida insurers
05:24 News Journal: Derrick Brooks one of Gov. Crist's Points of Light » Sayfie Review
News Journal: Derrick Brooks one of Gov. Crist's Points of Light
05:22 Marco Rubio's quarter billion dollars of earmarks » Naked Politics
Republican U.S Senate front-runner Marco Rubio brags on his website that he didn't officially request budget pork in his last four years as a leader in the Florida House. But during Rubio's eight years in office -- including the final...
05:22 Courier: Treasure Coast business groups in Tallahassee to press issues during tough times » Sayfie Review
Courier: Treasure Coast business groups in Tallahassee to press issues during tough times
05:22 AP: Senate to take up unemployment insurance extension » Sayfie Review
AP: Senate to take up unemployment insurance extension
05:21 Tribune: Penalties may rise for teachers who sexually assault students » Sayfie Review
Tribune: Penalties may rise for teachers who sexually assault students
05:21 Tribune: Lawmakers hear how other states have cut education » Sayfie Review
Tribune: Lawmakers hear how other states have cut education
05:21 Tribune: State GOP: Democrats' complaint has no merit » Sayfie Review
Tribune: State GOP: Democrats' complaint has no merit
Chief Justice John Roberts is upset that President Obama criticized the Supreme Court during the State of the Union speech.
Speaking to a law school class today in Alabama, Roberts said while anyone is free to criticize the court, the sight of a president dressing down the justices in front of Congress was "very troubling."
Roberts said he wonders if justices should attend State of the Union addresses anymore.
Put a robe on a guy and all of a sudden he becomes a pissy queen.
To quote Oliver Willis, "It’s as if President Obama thinks that the Court and the Presidency are co-equal branches of government, when everyone knows that the Supreme Court rules above us all."
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who is threatening to take down the entire healthcare bill over a question about abortion that has already been answered, has drawn a primary challenger.
Connie Saltonstall of Charlevoix said today she plans to run against Stupak for the Democratic nomination of Michigan’s First Congressional District, citing Stupak’s efforts to stop health care reform if it doesn’t ban use of government money for abortions. Stupak, a former state trooper from Menominee, has held the seat since 1993.
This year and last, Stupak has made a name for himself as a thorn in the side of some congressional Democrats pushing legislation for health care reform. While largely supportive of those efforts, he successfully attached an amendment last fall to ban use of federal funds to help pay for abortions.
“I believe that he has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views is reprehensible,” Saltonstall said in a statement.
I used to live in Mr. Stupak's district and while it is not a flaming hotbed of progressivism, the people of that part of Michigan are also pretty tolerant of the idea of live and let live. Mr. Stupak's fixation with a single issue may endear him with the anti-abortion crowd, but there are enough people in that part of the state -- which includes the entire Upper Peninsula -- who are struggling with healthcare and economic problems that they wonder about who he's really fighting for.
I think the only question left after former Rep. Eric Massa's media blip of the last few days is who will play him in the inevitable episode of Law & Order?
There was a march in Washington yesterday by folks protesting Big Insurance.
The bodies of dozens of “insurance victims” are splayed down a stretch of 22nd Street near a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington’s DuPont Circle, where demonstrators gathered earlier left them as a sign of the frustration against the insurance industry’s opposition to an overhaul of the nation’s health care system.
The bodies, pastel-colored stencils in the asphalt representing the estimated 45,000 people who die each year without health insurance, had eulogies describing how “big insurance” killed them. Inside the hotel, the industry lobby America’s Health Insurance Plans, was holding a legislative conference.
Former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont and Richard Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. labor federation, appeared in front of the dense crowd, which filled 22nd Street between New Hampshire Avenue and M Street.
But since no one carried a picture of an insurance company president with a Hitler mustache, Fox News didn't cover it live.
The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that rookie musher Pat Moon (17) of Chicago had to be medevaced to Anchorage after crashing on the trail from Rainy Pass to Rohn in the notorious Dalzell Gorge.
The Iditarod site is reporting that Sam Deltour (66), a med student from Belgium when he isn’t running dogs, came upon [...]
I received a noticed that the Census Bureau will be sending out the forms in about a week. At the bottom of the notice they had instructions directing you to their ‘Net site, 2010census.gov, in six languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Russian.
While that is an odd choice for the nation in general, [...]
In Michigan, where many enterprises are struggling to survive, the renowned University of Michigan is in the midst of a construction boom and hiring spree. Michigan State University, on the other hand, plans to lay off faculty and cut programs, blaming state funding that is lower than it was a decade ago. Flagship universities in other states are also prospering, while their lesser-known counterparts suffer from vanishing state appropriations.
So, why not change the arrangement and require big-name universities to take responsibility for their own financing, leaving more state money to support the other state schools? As legislatures face their toughest budget year since the recession began, the idea of giving a few universities autonomy to control their own finances has some appeal.
Coincidence, perhaps, but you’ve got to roll your eyes about recent reports showing Florida is the state with the highest per capita rate of identity theft complaints, with its embattled governor suffering through the most prolonged identity theft crisis in recent political history.
Charlie Crist’s “Man In The Mirror” confusion was in full view during [...]
Coincidence, perhaps, but you’ve got to roll your eyes about recent reports showing Florida is the state with the highest per capita rate of identity theft complaints, with its embattled governor suffering through the most prolonged identity theft crisis in recent political history.
Charlie Crist’s “Man In The Mirror” confusion was in full view during the 2010 State of the State speech, when he launched his third 180-degree turn since becoming governor in 2006 - this time trying desperately to swing back towards what was a winning identity for him back then.
That Crist was posing as a Republican centrist eager to appeal to moderates of all affiliations. He was going to help protect the environment, help Floridians with housing and health care, things that sounded downright…Democratic. But he didn’t help with any of that, focusing instead on building his campaign war chest and appeasing the entrenched special interests that dominate Florida's economic and political landscapes.
Then came the economic meltdown, the real estate crash, and Crist's inability to provide leadership on either front. Unless, that is, you call tax cuts leadership. Then came the decision, campaign coffers already stacked high, to abandon the sinking ship of state and run for the U.S. Senate - prompting a challenge from the hardcore Right Wing of his party, in the form of one Marco Rubio, former Florida House Speaker.
As Rubio gained traction, catching the Tea Party wave early on and riding it to this day, the once proudly “moderate” Crist did a 180 and played the fool for months, pandering to the extreme right, claiming to be a red-blooded government-hater, just like them.
But he kept getting caught in the shadow of his own prior, more moderate political persona, gaining no ground with the extremists in his party. And while he fiddled away for conservative votes, Rome was burning. From unemployment to budget deficits to housing to health care to education - Florida’s big, intractable problems not only went unsolved, they went unattended to by the man in charge. Even the moderates in his party smelled the smoke, and ran. Crist’s campaign was in free fall.
That takes us up to Charlie’s Plan C, on full view in the State of the State speech. In light of last year’s run to the Right, this latest identity bait & switch is almost unbearable. Rarely if ever has a governor accomplished so little yet laid claim to so much, at a time of such crisis in his state - while simultaneously campaigning for the escape hatch of a better, easier job in Washington.
This latest Crist appears to be an amalgam of the 2006 moderate panderer and the 2009 conservative panderer, peppered with heavy doses of “non-partisan” pretense and poetic nonsense. Here are a few examples from the State of the State speech.
“To bring the ship of our Florida safely back to harbor requires action, not rhetoric. It requires knowledge, not conjecture. And it requires composure under pressure…”
Uh huh, like when still stuck in Tea Party suck-up mode, Crist panicked and said he didn’t endorse the Obama Economic Stimulus package, when in fact he embraced both the stimulus package, and Obama.
“Three years ago, Florida had an estimated 3.8 million residents living without health insurance. I proposed a market-based option of health insurance, called Cover Florida, for these Floridians.”
“This year, more than others, our achievements will be measured - not by the passion of our rhetoric - but by our ability to be problem solvers…”
Right. So while our President spent a tireless, torturous year and enormous political capital trying in all sincerity to solve the problems facing our millions of uninsured citizens, Crist crowed to a crowd in Orlando that those efforts were “cockamamie”.
But that was last year. This year’s Crist identity is trying to rise above such rhetoric and ideology - Rubio, Rubio, Rubio, Rubio - did anybody hear Charlie mention Marco in this speech? No matter, for what's important is that Charlie is above ideology now. Of course, if you go to his website, right there on the home page is the prominent box labeled, in caps, “THE CHARLIE CRIST CONSERVATIVE RECORD”. Hmmm. Could you restate your message about ideology, Charlie?
“This is what I mean by sticking to our core principles and not elevating ideology over real solutions. My core principle is to not raise taxes.”
Got to give it to Crist on that one. In the midst of our financial crisis, Crist proposed lowering corporate taxes by a full percentage point, at a cost of 65 million a year in state income. He does nothing about closing a huge real estate documentary stamp tax loophole that’s a boon to wealthy developers. He does nothing to remove the exemption of Limited Liability Companies and Subchapter S corporations from Corporate Income taxes, as recommended by the Florida Center for Fiscal & Economic Policy in its February 2009 report - a gaping loophole that costs Florida over half a billion dollars a year in lost income from business owners seeking tax shelters. Way to demonstrate core, anti-tax principles, Charlie.
Time for only one more current "core principle"...how about, a commitment to environmental protection?
“After slow progress for decades, my administration hit the fast-forward button on a plan to save the Everglades. The vision of a River of Grass that once again flows from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay is on the horizon.”
Enough said, indeed. I could go on, and on, but I’ll leave that to Charlie Crist…whoever the hell he is.
If you are a hard-working, perhaps struggling Floridian of solid character, looking for a man of equal character, a man with genuine integrity, honesty and sincerity, a man who has worked hard at working class jobs before entering politics, a man who won’t switch identities every year or so, a man who is truly dedicated to helping improve the lot of Florida’s working families, you better run like hell away from both Crist and Rubio - regardless of what you think about taxes, or health reform, or Obama, or abortion, or gay marriage.
Because, if you are a hard-working person of strong character, you want the same in your Senator - and so you need to take Crist's advice, put aside ideology, and take a long, hard look at Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek, Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.
We spent this afternoon at Shark River Valley, biking the trail with three friends. Last time we were there, it was the dead of summer, and the wildlife wasn't very wild. There was a lot more variety in the bird life today, and way more alligators, though they weren't moving much. We saw one swimming, but that was it.
The herons always seemed to be posing for us. Lovely birds. This picture makes the gator look way scarier than he actually was. He was big--probably 16 feet long--but he was also completely uninterested in us or any of the other tourists who stopped to take photos. And I maxed out the zoom lens on him as well. No need to take chances. Lovely bird. This shot doesn't do it justice, I think.
You can see all 25 pictures I took here. If you're down in this area and you're interested in seeing the Everglades, the Shark River Valley bike ride is a great way to do it. It's about a 15 mile ride, and the weather right now is perfect for it.
21:45 House speaker attempts to ram 911 bill through committee » Naked Politics
House Speaker Larry Cretul is stacking the deck in the House Government Affairs Policy Committee on the eve before it considers the controversial bill to ban the release of 911 tapes to the public. With a narrow vote expected, Cretul...
Republican U.S. Senate front-runner Marco Rubio brags on his Web site that he didn't officially request budget pork in his last four years as a leader in the Florida House. But during Rubio's eight years in office — including the...
House Speaker Larry Cretul is stacking the deck in the House Government Affairs Policy Committee on the eve before it considers the controversial bill to ban the release of 911 tapes to the public. With a narrow vote expected, Cretul...
In response to fear-mongering and scare tactics of cynical politicians, the Obama administration is considering keeping the cases of the accused 9/11 planners in the discredited military commission system in Guantanamo.
President Obama declared that he intended to try suspected terrorists in the same criminal court system where more than 300 terrorists have been brought to justice since 2001. But the pressure to reverse that decision is enormous. We need every American who believes in justice and due process to take action right away.
we do put a dollar value on human life everyday, we just put different dollar values on different human lives.
19:29 Tension mounts at PSC as internal report prompts another FDLE look » Naked Politics
After an internal review requested by the Public Service Commission's chairwoman, the agency's inspector general has asked state law enforcement officials to consider investigating allegations that a commissioner and her aide lied about a conversation with a utility executive during...
19:29 Haiti's Rene Preval to get a Rose Garden reception » Naked Politics
From the White House: President Obama will meet behind closed doors with President Préval in the Oval Office -- followed by a joint appearance in the Rose Garden. In attendance: "members of Congress; representatives of non-governmental organizations and foundations involved...
19:26 Romney to Tea Baggers: Third Party Run in ‘12 Would ‘Divide and Fail’ » Pensito Review
Politico: In an interview with Newsmax, a popular right-wing source for tea baggers, 2012 GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney told them get in line. Otherwise, “Divide and fail is the result ...That would hand over the country to [President] Barack Obama and [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid, and that would be very sad indeed.”
After an internal review requested by the Public Service Commission's chairwoman, the agency's inspector general has asked state law enforcement officials to consider investigating allegations that a commissioner and her aide lied about a conversation with a utility executive during...
You just can't get around the fact that the eyes of the political world are heavily focused on the Rubio/Crist cage match here in Florida. And because of what the outcome will mean -- or what people will take it...
While perusing the latest version of CS/HB 119 (read for the 1st time 3/9/10), the last couple of sections of the bill popped out at me.
(...)
(1846)Section 15.The Legislature intends that nothing in this (1847))act reduce or diminish a court's jurisdiction.
(1848)Section 16.If any provision of this act or its (1849)application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the (1850)invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of (1851)this act which can be given effect without the invalid provision (1852)or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are (1853)declared severable.
Nothing in this act reduces or diminishes a court jurisdiction.
And if any provision is held invalid, it doesn't effect any other provisions of the act.
Sounds sort of promising, doesn't it? As if the Florida Legislature were granting judges some sort of discretion within the law.
In the case of my family, a judge ruled my loved one was not a sex offender and that sex offender probation need not apply; however, had we known (hell, if the attorney had known) that a solicitation conviction under F.S. 800.04 carried the same weight as if an actual lewd and lascivious act had occurred, I guarantee our attorney would've asked for a continuance to plead down from any charge remotely connected with sex offender laws.
But you know what is said about hindsight....
So, I checked to see if F.S. 943.0436 was a cited statute in the creation of F.S. 856.022, the latest proposed addition to Florida sex offender law. It was not, no big surprise there.
In brief, F.S. 943.0436 legislatively removes the power of a judge to impose a fair and just sentence for first time (or otherwise) offenders, quite effectively stripping citizens from the right of legal due process. Why the law I affectionately refer to as the judicial handcuffhas not been championed by the ACLU is beyond me.
I imagine that's what an appeals court is all about. That is, if one has enough money and enough of an ego to endure the humiliation.
What you (and your attorney) don't know about sex offender law can hurt you.
Finally, some clarification from the Marco Rubio campaign on what he actually charged to his party credit card for $133.75 at Churchill's barber shop in Miami. Campaign spokesman Alex Burgos: "Marco paid $20 for a haircut with a razor on...
Kottkamp, a Republican running for attorney general, makes a claim about the abuse of prescription drugs in Florida, and specifically the pain killer oxycodone. He says that "nearly all of the top 50 prescribers of oxycodone in the United States...
Former Jacksonville prosecutor Harry Shorstein has been eliminated from consideration in a bitter contest to become the next U.S. Attorney in Florida’s Middle District. Officials involved in the selection say a background investigation of Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill of...
Whit Ayres, Marco Rubio's pollster, has written a campaign memo that appears to paving the way for an anticipated negative onslaught from Charlie Crist's campaign. Here's the full memo and here are excerpts: ...The trend is obvious and striking: Marco...
15:09 You know it's campaign season in So Fla when... » Naked Politics
Anglos like Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum are swinging by Versailles in Little Havana for a cafe con leche. The Republican frontrunner for governor will be at the famed Cuban restaurant at 4 p.m. Friday with special guest, former presidential...
He's already appeared with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, has a photo op this afternoon with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and an appointment at the White House Wednesday with President Barack Obama. Now comes word that Haitian President...
Time for the good news bad news out of the roundtable of economists. Good news: The economists in December probably got their tax-collection estimates spot on. This year, they upped the general-revenue estimate by $25.3 million and $56.1 million next...
14:52 Medicaid stimulus funding for states clears hurdle in U.S. Senate; advances to final vote » March On Politics
The U.S. Senate just voted 66-34 to advance legislation that would provide states with an extra six months of emergency stimulus funding for Medicaid next fiscal year.
Having cleared today’s hurdle—the cloture vote—the bill could pass before the end of the week, in time for the Florida House and Senate…
I'm still in the hospital — and, ironically, in a part with no Internet. People have been reading me some of the e-mails and comments that have been sent and I'm very grateful, but unable to respond. It looks like I'll be in the hospital as much as another week. I hope once I get out to be able to thank people more directly....
Rich Text Area. Time for the good news bad news out of the roundtable of economists. Good news: The economists in December probably got their tax-collection estimates spot on. This year, they upped the general-revenue estimate by $25.3 million and...
14:36 Commission chairman calls for resignation of county’s top 3 officials » March On Politics
Hillsborough County Commission Chair Ken Hagan today called for the immediate resignations of the county’s top three appointed administrators.
Hagan said he has told County Administrator Pat Bean, County Attorney Renee Lee and Internal Performance Auditor Jim Barnes that he wants to put an end to the controversy involving allegations…
14:08 Ron Klein's office: It's the "anti-bailout" » Naked Politics
The South Florida Democrat takes note of criticism that his insurance bill is a "bailout for beach houses." "The Homeowners’ Defense act is the anti-bailout," says Klein spokeswoman Melissa Silverman. "This bill will bring down the cost of homeowners’ insurance...
14:08 Florida lawmakers to join Haitian president Rene Preval at the White House » Naked Politics
State Reps. Ronald Brisé and Mack Bernard will join Haiti’s President René Préval Wednesday at the White House for a meeting with President Barack Obama. Rep. Kendrick Meek is also expected to be in attendance. Preval's visit comes two months...
In a society built on ‘cheap and abundant’ energy it is difficult to determine if the latest price hike is speculative or a concession to producers who can no longer increase their output.
While there have been recent reports of the discovery of new oil fields, most have only added ‘days’ to the amount of time we have before we exhaust this non-renewable resource. What’s a billion barrels to a world that burns a couple of hundred million barrels every day?
Understand good citizen, they would LIKE to club us over the head with ‘whatever the market will bear’ price hikes but doing that will result in the near immediate ‘evaporation’ of ‘civil order’.
Civilization will literally ‘stop in its tracks’.
Which is to ask what $50 per gallon gasoline means to you? (That’s an ‘out of a hat’ number…$20 a gallon would achieve the same net result.)
Looks like Hillsborough County’s Budgeting Department has jumped into social media:
Everybody leads busy lives these days, and it can be difficult to fit in time to attend a County Budget...
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13:06 The politics of Medicaid fraud and Jeff Atwater's CFO bid » Naked Politics
This might be the beginning of the end of ripping off Medicaid willy-nilly. But the politics will be a constant. Consider today's announcement by Sen. Joe Negron, with Attorney General Bill McCollum alongside, that he's sponsoring a Medicaid fraud bill....
This might be the beginning of the end of ripping off Medicaid willy-nilly. But the politics will be a constant. Consider today's announcement by Sen. Joe Negron, with Attorney General Bill McCollum alongside, that he's sponsoring a Medicaid fraud bill....
Has anyone besides me noticed that these two negative ads in the governor's race turn the usual Republican/Democrat stereotypes on their head?
The Democrat Sink gets attacked for being a rich banker and the Republican McCollum gets attacked for being a lifetime public servant.
That's just weird.
I'm not much of a fan of this type of personal negative ad. I question their worth.
The Republican's ad is particularly strange. One of Sink's problems is that no one knows who she is, she has low name recognition. Most people could not even identify her as a woman WHICH IS HER BIGGEST ASSET.
Their commercial gets her name out there, shows she's a woman, and identifies her as a successful business person, something most Americans aspire to. (How many aspire to be a member of congress?)
As Alan Grayson's hilarious poll showed, at this point in time, the big issue is name recognition. All the Republican ad is doing is providing that, free of charge, to Sink.
And that tag line, One of THEM, not one of US. Again, most people aspire to being rich! It's not like she's 10 ft. tall and blue (but now days that would be an asset.)
Maybe they mean she's actually a competent business person who understands marketing, not a bunch of outdated political hacks who keep giving the same stupid advice every year.
Republicans in the House are lockstep on many issues, but it seems red light cameras aren't in that mix. Rep. Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill, wants to ban (via HB 1235) red light cameras as intersection traffic enforcement tools. But Pro...
