Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Howard Dean insists on violating the Voting Rights Act

Now Howard Dean from up in D.C. insists on disenfranchising Florida Democrat party voters, but denies it is a violation of the Voting Rights Act so he can go ahead and do it.
Dean, DNC answer Sen. Nelson's lawsuit
Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News Political Editor
Tallahassee Democrat, Oct. 30, 2007
The Democratic National Committee today asked a federal judge to dismiss U.S. Sen. Bill nelson's lawsuit seeking to force recognition of the Florida presidential primary and seating of state delegates to the national nominating convention next summer.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean said the party is not a state entity, so it is not violating the Voting Rights Act...

Even if voters are disenfranchised by party rules, Dean's attorneys argue, the state party could remedy the situation by holding caucuses after the Jan. 29 primary to choose delegates.
Man, if that isn't arrogance, what is?

Bait and switch is ON. Take away the vote, then tell the people you rip off to organize a caucus. What the heck is a caucus, anyway? Well, one thing is for sure: it ain't a vote in an election. And the handy part if you're Howard Dean is that you have lawyers arguing it is all perfectly legal, just like the used car salesman.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Governor Light-Fingers cuts water help, fleeces students

As this site has previously mentioned, Florida budget aces and a light-fingered governor have managed to shear the families of students for the high-dollar faculty at state universities and colleges. This week, something really needed, alternate water supply programs, feels the whisper of the blade, viz.
Crist signs $1.1B budget cut plan; OKs tuition increase
AP, Florida Times-Union
Oct. 27, 2007

Gov. Charlie Crist has made final $1.1 billion in state budget cuts - but he did so grudgingly and without fanfare.

Crist fixed his signature Friday to the budget revision bills sent to him two weeks ago by the Legislature. They enact tuition increases at public universities and colleges and cuts to the state's water supply projects, among other things...

An alliance of business groups and environmentalists failed to convince Crist to veto a $30 million reduction in the state's alternative water supply programs.

"I don't care what you cut in the budget, but it should not be water. We have drought, we have shortages, we have water wars starting," said Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland. "This is the very last place we should cut."


Here is an article from the Times-Union about water supply trouble ahead.

Water needs could fog area's growth picture
DAVID HUNT, The Times-Union
Oct. 27, 2007

Northeast Florida is going to need at least 554 million gallons of fresh water every day to continue growing past 2030.

That's 180 million gallons more than the region is using today, according to projections prepared by the St. Johns River Water Management District. The additional need would be enough water to fill more than 270 Olympic swimming pools...

Utility managers are keeping watch as their counterparts to the south look for alternative supplies. The Floridan Aquifer as close by as Orlando is not expected to support growth past 2013, which has caused debate throughout Central and Northeast Florida over a controversial plan to draw up to 262 million gallons daily from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha rivers.

"Somewhere down the line, this is going to be a problem in North Florida and we have one of the best water supplies in the world," said Ray Avery, executive director of the Clay County Utility Authority.

It is amazing that Florida sits atop a huge aqifer yet always has a dry season that can go directly to drought if a few months are dryer than usual.

From my experience living out West, the water supply is the main limiting factor for populations of many wild species, and ought to be the limiting factor for "tame" bipedal primate species, as well. Every environmentalist who wants to be environmentally sensitive and move to the Rockies does so at the expense of elk habitat. Humans love to build vacation homes and live where elk live.elk refugeelk range, North America

A relative of mine wanted to move to the Rockies because she had money and didn't like California. I told her to find a place in California, that the wildlife she reveres would thank her.

Amazingly, Florida sounds like it will soon be getting population pressure on the water supply. But by then the governor will be retired and living by the Potomac River, if his ambitions pan out.

Democrat candidates punish Florida but still ask for Florida dough

Democrat politicians prove once again that they really love the Theresa LePore tradition: screw things up then blame GOPers. Exhibit D* is a report about the out-of-state Democrat candidates who keep their word to avoid the Sunshine State citizens who do not pony up the cash money.
Lack of presidential candidates looms over Democrats' convention
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
AP, Florida Times-Union
Oct. 27, 2007

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Three thousand Democrats came here Saturday and rallied around their top politicians and party leaders, but the biggest impression was made by who wasn't there: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and other presidential candidates.

The candidates skipped the convention to honor a pledge not to campaign in Florida because the state violated party rules by setting its primary date before Feb. 5...

"The Republicans want you to believe that just because a few of our friends aren't joining us Florida Democrats are going to start voting Republican. Can you all believe that?" [Florida Democrat Chairman] Thurman said as the crowd jeered. "I will put one of our all-stars up against their benchwarmers all day long."
How does this link up with Theresa LePore?

Just re-read the words of Karen Thurman carefully: Democrat "all-stars" versus GOP "benchwarmers."

As amazing Spider-Man Peter Parker sometimes says, "What the--?!"

Thurman trash talks her all-stars against the other side's scrubs? No wonder Theresa LePore got the butterfly ballot into use in Palm Beach County.

Next on the schedule: after establishing Democrat footshooting, somebody blames the Republicans!

* Cf. recent LePore-isms, exhibits A, B and C here.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Republicans avoid LePore-style footshooting.

At least the Republicans have kept their honor in avoiding the "punish Florida now" movement that currently owns the Democrat party's national bigshots.


GOP candidates talk tough
John Kennedy and Jim Stratton
Sentinel Staff Writers
October 22, 2007
Orlando Sentinel

Republican presidential contenders battled in a nationally televised debate Sunday night...

"We're not going to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House by acting like Hillary Clinton," said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and Arizona Sen. John McCain took the toughest shots -- at Clinton and one another -- as they sought to surge ahead in a crowded Republican field...

Also taking part in the debate were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Reps. Duncan Hunter of California, Ron Paul of Texas and Tom Tancredo of Colorado...

The 90 minutes of verbal fencing did little to help Chris Hart make up his mind.

Hart, a former Hillsborough County commissioner, said he went into the debate favoring Giuliani and Romney. Both, he said, performed well, but neither did enough to push him off the fence...

...the primary path for Florida Democrats has proved rocky. Leading Democratic presidential candidates are boycotting next weekend's party convention because the Jan. 29 primary date violates a party rule allowing only the four early states to hold contests before Feb. 5.

With Republicans facing no such prohibition, McCain, Romney, Giuliani, and Thompson all spent the weekend courting Florida Republican activists at the Orlando convention.

Thompson also will launch a two-day bus trip across Central and South Florida today -- his second barnstorming tour in a month.

It's good to see that not every politician is as arrogant as Howard Dean and his footshootists.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Florida is bad and must be punished, but while we are here...

Now the national bigshots like Howard Dean, who want to punish Florida for disobedience to the national committee's primary election dictum, decide that campaigning in the Sunshine State is verboten but fund raising from Florida is OK.

Florida Democrats open wallets for '08 field
Tamara Lytle, Washington Bureau Chief
Orlando Sentinel
October 21, 2007

Ironically, the Democrats' edge has been achieved even though the candidates are coming to the state only to pick up checks. Because Florida's Jan. 29 primary is earlier than the national party allows, the major candidates have pledged not to campaign in Florida -- except to raise money.

That has angered some state Democrats. But even earlier in the year, virtually every visit by the candidates was to collect cash, not to meet voters....

Morgan said public financing would have to be total -- and compulsory.

"Make my day by making it all illegal and publicly financed," he said. "Till then I'm not going to let the prescription-drug companies and HMOs have their way. I'm going to elbow my way in to speak for people who don't usually have people who speak for them, like consumers."
Now we see the intentions of the noble politicians in Washington.

USE FLORIDA.

Florida Democrat and Republican politicians decided locally to hold a primary election on a certain day, and this must be punished. (Cf. "Status of Democratic votes undecided...again") So their delegates in the national convention are banned for life, but while we have your attention would you mind donating some cash money to Hillary, Barack or John Edwards?

USE FLORIDA.

And speaking of the handsome and talented poverty expert John Edwards, in keeping with the Theresa LePore tradition, there are plenty of Florida types willing to help out-of-staters have their way with the citizens of the Sunshine State. Exhibit A: John Morgan, wealthy trial attorney, probably AG if Edwards gets elected, or at least he ought to be if you ask Morgan's #1 supporter. This is the same John Morgan, the trial lawyer, who went on the radio in 2004 to advocate for handsome and talented John Edwards, and said that Edwards would even be a great president because he had won a big lawsuit concerning flameproof pajamas for children. Big credentials there. In this election cycle, he wants to "speak for people who don't usually have people who speak for them, like consumers."

Yeah, okay.

Abe Lincoln had a saying for situations like this: Whenever a politician tells you he is an honest man, check quickly that your wallet is still in your back pocket. Mutatis mutandis, whenever John Morgan speaks up for people, check quickly that your wallet is still in your back pocket.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

What the politicians don't want you to see.

The Miami Herald reports today, "Some Miami-Dade and Broward judges aren't following tough new rules meant to prevent the wrongful sealing of court records."

Boring? Not if you read the list of who benefits from sealed court records.

New rules on court records often ignored

Oct. 14, 2007
BY PATRICK DANNER AND DAN CHRISTENSEN
MiamiHerald.com

The cases include the divorce of a prominent Broward homicide prosecutor, a defamation suit against a Miami doctor, and a Fort Lauderdale law firm's fee dispute in a probate matter.

The Supreme Court unanimously adopted the rules after The Miami Herald reported that hundreds of civil and criminal cases in at least a half dozen counties were hidden from public view. Broward had the most concealed cases, and they often involved the divorces of judges, lawyers, politicians and businessmen.
Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse!

Considering that these professions especially, lawyers and doctors, have licensure boards that are hardwired for their own protection, not the protection of civilians, it is amusing to see them seduce the judges in South Florida, thereby inducing court orders for further obscuring and sleight-of-handing that benefits nervous lawyers, doctors et al.

And as the used car salesman says, "It's all perfectly legal."

Maybe.

Maybe not. Danner and Christensen quote another lawyer who smells a rat. "You always have to wonder if there's something more nefarious going on when the rules aren't being followed, and whether judges are ignoring them thinking they can get away with it," said Thomas Julin, an attorney in Miami who defends media organizations against defamation, including the Girls Gone Wild company, MRA Holdings. Hmmmm, another fox guarding another henhouse? Well, this time, I will agree with the counsellor. Keep an eye on those rascally judges!

Putin, government and media

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is worried about the health of the Russian government. Secretary Rice is a Russian speaker, an expert on Russia.

Rice worried by Putin's broad powers
Oct. 14, 2007
By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press Writer
"I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament.

When Secretary of State Rice speaks of government institutions, she mentions media along with executive, legislative and judicial. I think that, even in America, the best country on Earth, many people act as if the media is a part of the government, yet they do not use the word "government" to describe the press.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Nobel Peace Prize and why I pity Al Gore



Theresa LePore (left); Al Gore (center); Jimmy Carter (right)
Al Gore, UN Panel Share Nobel for Peace
By DOUG MELLGREN and MATT MOORE October 12, 2007
Orlando Sentinel
OSLO, Norway - Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s climate change panel won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for spreading awareness of man-made climate change and laying the foundations for counteracting it.
...which expanded the Norwegian committee's interpretation of peacemaking and disarmament efforts that have traditionally been the award's foundations.


This has to be the most pitiful turn of events in Al Gore's history, being tagged with a Nobel Peace Prize. His previous claim to ill fame was the singlehanded demolition of the ordinary rules of courtesy nationwide when, with completely graceless lust for power, he took back his concession of the 2000 election to his opponent, pushing Theresa LePore into the global spotlight, underlining the ineptitude of Florida Democrat political action, and giving permission for Gore partisans everywhere to refuse their rabies shots and launch a global thermonuclear vendetta that destroys anything and builds nothing except bank accounts of political thug squads. One big notch in Al Gore's gunstock.

The reporters report that this event has "expanded the Norwegian committee's interpretation of peacemaking." That is their euphemism for "What the heck?"

Now former VP Gore joins the company of Jimmy Carter, recipient of a Nobel Prize for breaking the protocol of smiling and hushing up when tempted to criticize successor presidents publicly, something he did not have the gumption to do until 2001 or so. I voted twice for Jimmy Carter, never once for Ronald Reagan, but a few years ago I became embarrassed by Carter when his mouth lost its governing sense of ordinary courtesy.

People remember Carter for the Iran hostage debacle, and they forget the peace treaty he negotiated between Israel and Egypt, a peace treaty that still stands. But he did not receive anything for that - he was off the Nobel radar until he began trolling for the prize, trashing his successor, after Al Gore implicitly gave him permission to do so.

It used to be that there was some nobility in the Nobel Peace Prize: Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa, Lech Walesa, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. This last prize, to the two fighters who became peacemakers in Egypt and Israel, the two men who made me read the Bible for the first time, that year the prize did not also go to Jimmy Carter. Too bad: that would have been fitting and right. Now, the peace prize is nearly 100% joke.

That being the case, I have to feel pity for Al Gore who doubtless will now go around bragging about his shiny peace prize. Unfortunately, that is like bragging that you own a Mustang. 40 years ago, it would have meant something. In 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize; good decision. In 1965, the Shelby Mustang came out: good car. In 2007, forget about it!

But the true mockery of the peace prize, which causes me to pity every other recipient, even Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, is that it once went to Yasser Arafat, a terrorist until the day he died. My dad the ACLU attorney taught me about Yasser Arafat, simply by his outrage that such a criminal would go to the U.N. and brandish a pistol. I remember him pointing out the photo in the evening paper to me. [Yasser Arafat carrying pistol in holster at UN in 1974; Kurt Waldheim upper left.]

Apparently, the Nobel committee cannot even blush. Jeremiah the prophet warned Israel as we should take warning today:
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall...

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Where is Abel thy brother?


Burial fiasco appalls family
July 10, 2007, ANI MARTINEZ, Miami Herald

Fort Lauderdale's Sunset Memorial Gardens cemetery has come under fire once again over allegations that it mishandled a grave site -- this time allowing a casket of a 28-year-old murder victim to float in a pool of water in an open grave.

Errol Williams said he found the coffin of his daughter, Cassandra Williams, of Coconut Creek, in the open grave on July 2, following a heavy rain. Her funeral was two days earlier, on June 30...

Cassandra Williams and her boyfriend, Chris Thompson, were shot to death in the 5200 block of Northwest 16th Court in Lauderhill on June 16. Their bodies were found that night stuffed in a car trunk a few miles away in Sunrise, said police...

Family and friends attended Williams' 3 p.m. service at Grace Funeral Chapels, 5980 W. Oakland Park Blvd., on June 30. From the funeral home, they traveled to the cemetery at 3201 NW 19th St.

After a quick service there, the family left, thinking the grave site would be covered. It was not.

On July 2, Errol Williams returned at 9:30 a.m. to visit his daughter's grave site one more time before he and his wife returned to their Cape Coral home in Lee County.

He was distraught to find the open grave.
The precious daughter Cassandra is murdered, then her family suffers again to see their daughter's body neglected and alone.

It seems impossible that Earth can keep spinning once per day and not crack apart into a million fragments because of this cruelty and pain.
And the Lord said unto Cain, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Literacy important enough to strip from budget

Budget Cuts Take Bite Out Of Library Hours
July 9, 2007, Jacksonville News
Jacksonville book lovers recently got some bad news as the continuing story of the city's budget bind takes a bite out of local libraries.

In response to the 2007-2008 budget cuts, the library will cut nearly $3 million by reducing services and programs.

Last week, Mayor John Peyton pointed in his inauguration speech about how important literacy is to youth.

"Literacy is the No. 1 predictor of educational success," Peyton said.

"Therefore, I must now rip $3 million from kids and their families who want to use the library."


Mom and son at the library
Jacksonville News photo

That last quote is not the mayor. It was his fountain pen talking.

The old joke asks how one can tell that a lawyer is lying. Answer: his lips are moving. Similarly with this politician, his mouth says one thing and his actions say quite another thing.

He did have the decency to do it straight, and not hide behind a nefarious smokescreen of accounting.

However, Mayor Peyton will doubtless find a good reason for buying a new SUV to chauffeur him around town on official business, or for stipulating a pay raise for a nephew or some other politician trick.

Meanwhile, kids and their families are left high and dry.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Twisted elitism, Orlando style.

Elitism is defined as favored treatment, as if it were an entitlement, due to supposedly superior economic or intellectual status. I.e., railroad tracks - there is a right side and a wrong side of the railroad tracks. Elitists are on the right side. "These people" are on the other side of the tracks.

Except in Orlando.

Otherwise, someone could explain why a "scholarship" service for lower income kids to go to summer camp is actually elitism. It is as if the elitists have quantum-tunneled to from the right side of the tracks but did not land on the wrong side of the tracks: they landed in a parallel universe. OOPS.

"YMCA is ousted from kids' program
Orange County says the nonprofit's limits on voucher use 'gave the appearance of elitism.'"
July 8, 2007, David Damron, Orlando Sentinel

Orange County officials are upset with area YMCAs for not expanding a program for low- and moderate-income children to the nonprofit's facilities in more affluent communities such as Winter Park, Dr. Phillips and Lake Nona, saying it smacks of elitism.

The county has dropped the YMCA from its list of participants for The Club, which provides $300 vouchers to about 1,000 children to help pay for costly summer camps, because the YMCA insisted the vouchers be used at its facilities in less affluent areas such as Tangelo Park or South Orlando

Tell me this isn't a government operation.

I guess it is another episode in Florida's continuing daytime drama inspired by the true story of Theresa LePore, the Democrat election supervisor in Palm Beach who biffed an entire national election and then blames the Republicans.

In the big scheme of things, if it is more important to help kids from well-off neighborhoods and criticize those who help kids from poorer neighborhoods -- the wrong side of the tracks -- then either I am a monkey's uncle or Al Gore really DID invent the internet.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Governor Crist makes it official: pony up time for students and their families.

Tuition goes up to pay for more faculty who probably will not have to teach enough to lighten the teaching load significantly, although that is how the U bigwigs sold it at Wednesday's meeting, no doubt. Students and their families' wallets will be much lighter.
Tuition will jump at 3 universities
June 28, 2007, Luis Zaragoza and John Kennedy, Orlando Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE - Thousands of new college students will start paying a premium next year to attend a trio of Florida's top-ranked public universities.

Gov. Charlie Crist unexpectedly reversed his opposition to legislation that will allow the University of Florida and Florida State University to charge up to 40 percent more than the state's base tuition rate. The University of South Florida will be able to charge a 30 percent premium...

Crist had earlier vetoed a 5 percent, across-the-board tuition increase for the state's 11 public universities, saying he opposed hiking costs for students and their parents...

Crist huddled behind closed doors Wednesday with Florida's university presidents and told them that he would sign the bill...

UCF President John Hitt said after Wednesday's meeting that the loss of the anticipated money for growth translates into dozens of faculty members whom the school won't be able to hire and hundreds of courses that it won't be able to offer.

The way that you can see their nefarious selling strategy is: John Hitt's statement. When he says, "dozens of faculty members whom the school won't be able to hire," it is code for dozens of expensive-to-hire hotshot research faculty who will have light teaching assignments. President Hitt and UCF do not care much about faculty who teach lots of students. Ask any faculty member at his university. These U bigwigs only care about researchers who can give them the reputation of "elite, research-oriented public schools in other states." I wager that the governor got sucked in when they dangled elite in front of the governor's eyes: dollar signs, national recognition, national office, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue etc. etc. Cf., e.g., the 4th chapter of Matthew for an anecdote from the past of an amusingly similar blandishment:

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
And if you want to find the devil here, look in the numbers. We do not know the exact numbers the U bigwigs quoted to the governor, but we can make an estimate.
  1. Dozens of faculty ←for a conservative estimate, let's call that 24 faculty.
  2. Hundreds of courses ← for a conservative estimate, let's call that 200 classes.
The approximate teaching load for these new faculty would be about 8 classes per year! NOBODY teaches 8 classes per year, not even the lowest ranking lecturer on punishment.

Or put it another way: $70 million annually for this new fee for the three schools, once it is fully in effect. Let's say that they share the money equally, and use it for 24 new faculty at each U. Under this estimate, $70 million between 72 faculty members, comes out to about $97,000 per faculty member. But not all of that goes to salary. Part of that $97,000 goes to benefits like health insurance, some goes to overhead like office and light bill and so on. And that is only if there is ZERO "startup package" for the faculty member. Not many faculty will be happy with salary that far south of $97,000 and no startup. Recruiting will be tough.

So the numbers paint a picture of impending failure. No new faculty will want relatively low pay without startup package for the privilege of teaching 8 sections per year.

But the governor did not catch that, or he ignored it. Or perhaps they gave him different numbers, shorter numbers: some of the science departments across the state can break into the first rank nationally with just a few more research faculty.

But the public purpose, to help the teaching of students, is going to suffer.

They should be building up both kinds of faculty, hotshot researchers and faithful teachers and, best of all, faculty who do both tasks well.

For the reporters and editors of this article, the embarrassment is that the person who pays, the persons who receives this service -- the student and his family -- are left to the last few lines. But I will make them prominent here:
Teri Stonebraker, a Kissimmee resident who will have two children enrolled at FSU this fall, said she understood how the increasing cost of keeping quality staff and programs in place could raise costs for students.

"I just wish the state would find other ways to allow all students to get an education," she said.
Even for the Orlando Sentinel editor, this looks like an afterthought. But the teaching of students should be the priority, top of the article, not at end of page two.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Status of Democratic votes undecided...again

This article's headline about manipulation of Democrat party voting makes one think of nefarious GOPers deviously at work.

But on account of this being Florida, it is actually Democrat party smartness messing things up.
"Status of Democratic votes undecided,"
June 21, 2007, BETH REINHARD, Miami Herald

Whether Florida's Democratic votes in the Jan. 29 primary will count remained in limbo Thursday after a closed-door meeting in Washington between members of Congress and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

Dean has said the state's primary ''essentially won't count'' because the date violates national party rules that allow only four smaller states to vote that early. Candidates who campaign in scofflaw states lose any delegates to the national convention that they earn in those states, even if they win the most voters.
Huh? "The state's primary essentially won't count." ←Planned voter suppression, courtesy of Howard Dean! Politicians can flip-flop on policies and ideas, but they should resist the urge to flip-flop the franchise.

Also, I consider it loathsome for Howard Dean and these other suits in D.C. to call the shots for Florida by remote control. Let it be the decision of Florida Democrats: state officers and county executive committees. They like Jan. 29. So does the Republican party of Florida.

Actually, this might work out. Just have Theresa LePore design the ballots for the primary. Hold the primary on Jan. 29. Then start counting. Since they are Theresa LePore ballots, it will take multiple recounts, mutual restraining orders and a chain of federal judges to ensure an "accurate" tabulation of returns, and by that time, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina voting will be long over with and done, ancient history. So Florida CAN vote early and still meet all DNC party rules.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Shifty-eyed politicians, vote-counting fish stories

Whenever a politician tells you he is an honest man, check quickly that your wallet is still in your back pocket. Abe Lincoln followed that principle.
This article describes the fog of rhetoric surrounding a Florida election recount, with politicians navigating by foghorn. Facts are optional.
Senators seek inquiry into GOP's Duval acts,
6/20/2007, J. Taylor Rushing, Capital Bureau Chief, Florida Times-Union
The U.S. Justice Department has been asked to investigate whether there were intentional efforts by the Republican Party to suppress Jacksonville's African-American vote during the 2004 election.

The request, by Democratic U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and Sheldon Whitehouse, suggests the Senate Judiciary Committee has uncovered e-mail evidence supporting an investigation. Kennedy and Whitehouse are members of the committee...

"It's malicious and absolutely untrue that I tried to do this," said [Tim] Griffin, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas who resigned two weeks ago during the controversy over U.S. attorney firings.

But Jacksonville's African-American community praised news of the request and eagerly backed an investigation. Juan Gray, board chairman of Jacksonville's chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said black leaders have long suspected Republican foul play in both 2000 and 2004.

"I'm delighted that we have congressional oversight," Gray said. "It's way overdue."

NAACP Jacksonville Branch President Isaiah Rumlin said he was personally unaware of the specific voter suppression tactic suspected by Kennedy and Whitehouse but said there were "significant problems" before and during the election.

"We wouldn't be one bit surprised, and we welcome an investigation," Rumlin said. "If there's evidence out there, that needs to come forth. Just because I don't recall this specific tactic doesn't mean it didn't happen."

Kennedy and Whitehouse accuse the Republican National Committee of "vote caging"...

Both Hightower and Scheu, who was the interim supervisor of elections during the 2004 election, note they participated in daily meetings with local black leaders in which the subject of caging was never raised.

Trouble:
  1. DOJ investigation requested but without evidence from anyone in Jacksonville -- Rumlin: "If there's evidence out there, that needs to come forth."  No offense to Mr. Rumlin, but probable cause is a normal part of an investigation.
  2. Community leaders suspected foul play but nobody mentioned it in daily meetings with election supervisors.

Knowing a bit about pollwatching on election days, I would tend to believe the men and women from Jacksonville, not so much Rumlin or Hightower but the people at the polls: clerks, inspectors, deputies plus pollwatchers independent of the government. Unfortunately, nobody bothered asking them; the article mentions no pollworkers or pollwatchers. Least credible are the senators from D.C., neither of which is actually from Florida. What have Senators Nelson and Martinez got to say? That would be nice to know. Who benefits from the investigation? Some bigshots in D.C. or regular voters in Jacksonville? As always, when a politician shifts his gaze toward you, hold onto your wallet.

But Florida being what it is, there is probably a mare's nest of foolishness shared equally by mules and elephants ←the Theresa LePore tradition. If anyone has YouTube footage of a pollworker stuffing secret ballots into his socks or a pollwatcher nagging a voter like somebody's mother in law, then I hope punishment is savage: forcible conscription to work another election!

Great Wall of China not welcome in Jacksonville

It is always amusing to see citizens mobilize against the nefarious economic forces that want to pull a fast one. The unnamed lady (sixth paragraph) has the most powerful geometric objection to the storage facility.
Julington Creek residents voice apprehension about storage facility
6/20/2007, TIFFANY PAKKALA, The St. Augustine Record

Carrabas. A movie theater. A post office.

There are plenty of neighbors Julington Creek Plantation residents said they would like to have.

A 75,000-square-foot self-storage facility isn't one of them.

That's the message that more than 100 residents of the master-planned community brought Tuesday to a meeting with Ash Properties. The company has plans to put a three-story, climate-controlled storage building within Julington Creek...

[Julington Creek resident, David Taus] pointed out that the 35-foot-high building will be just 15 feet from the sidewalk.

"It will be like walking right next to the Wall of China!" one woman cried out...
[Ash Properties Vice President Randall] Whitfield said his company has already met with neighbors in the nearby South Bridge townhouses, and they gave Ash a relatively "good response."

But then Annette Winter, who lives in one of the town homes, spoke up.

"I was at that meeting, and there were only two other people there," she said, adding that none in attendance approved of the storage building.

Also lovely is Annette Winter, demolishing Whitfield's attempt at sleight of hand. Way to go, Annette!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Lies, boldfaced lies and accounting

In my opinion, the keepers of money -- accountants -- have mastery of information that would hornswoggle a rocket scientist. When they are government accountants, they hornswoggle under color of law. Or, as the used car salesman said, "It's all perfectly legal."
If hornswoggling by government accountants were false, then this newpaper article from Tallahassee would never appear.
Fuzzy math in new tax plan?
June 19, 2007, Paige St. John, Tallahassee Democrat
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU
City and county government officials are accusing Gov. Charlie Crist of deliberately putting out false information in an effort to win property-tax cuts.
They're reacting to Crist's assertion that local governments are fighting property-tax cuts even as they sit atop $9 billion in reserves. Local officials say the governor's "reserves" are grossly inflated, lumping general-fund reserves from unspent property taxes with other pools of money, including debt reserves and money for construction projects...
"I will refrain from calling them boldfaced lies," said Rockledge's upset city administrator, Dave Henderson. He said he had $6.3 million in reserves, less than half of the $14.7 million claimed by Crist's office.

Mutual aspersions and accusations. Lies, boldfaced lies and accounting. Tsk tsk. Government accountants should serve the public, or, as the truism goes → "We're from the government and we're here to help."
BRAINWAVE: Maybe they could hire Theresa Lepore as a consultant to straighten out this accountant ruction.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Jennifer Kesse case similar to Ft. Lauderdale case?

This Ft. Lauderdale kidnap/murder case has a few factors that resemble the Jennifer Kesse kidnap case up in Orlando.
LAUDERHILL: 2 bodies found in trunk
June 18, 2007 Nirvi Shah and Jennifer Mooney-Piedra, Miami Herald

An hour after Lauderhill police were called and told that someone was placing what looked like a body in the trunk of a silver car Saturday night, Sunrise police found a car matching the description about a mile away...
The car had apparently been driven from the 5200 block of Northwest 16th Court in Lauderhill to an apartment complex about a mile away at 6121 NW 11th St. in Sunrise near Sunset Strip, Lauderhill police said.


The similarities are that the criminals drove a mile away and dumped off the car at an apartment complex near a shopping center with easy access to major highways. The Fort Lauderdale crime involved a group of three criminals, not an individual.
Geographic layout of Lauderhill/Sunrise crime scene

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Five learning curves

Five different offenses to learn in five years ←enough to discombobulate any normal humanoid! In this case, however, you have a pro player who also has the amusing penchant for using the classic line, "They are the same, only different."

Garcia: "I’m Not Where I Want To Be"
June 14, 2007 Beth Gaddis/ROY CUMMINGS TBO.com
TAMPA – For a guy who is said to be "way ahead" of everyone else in the battle for the starting quarterback job, Jeff Garcia sounded an awful lot on Thursday like a guy who is way behind his competitors...
One reason Garcia is so behind mentally is that this is the fifth offense he’s been forced to learn in the last five years. He said this is "similar but different" than the others but that he’s catching on – slowly.

Nice work, Jeff Garcia!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Fewer students so that more faculty can be hired

Apparently, the politicians feel it is better to have fewer students if the savings can guarantee more faculty and staff. And tack on a surcharge at UF, FSU and University of South Florida (Tampa-St. Pete) so that more faculty and staff can be hired.

"FSU will freeze enrollment to curb costs,"
June 16, 2007, Luis Zaragoza, Orlando Sentinel


Florida State University will freeze enrollment as part of a cost-cutting campaign it blames on years of state under-funding for enrollment growth, the loss of a tuition increase and uncertainty about revenue, officials said Friday...
The University of Central Florida and other state universities also are looking at spending cuts for the same reasons, but FSU is first to announce an enrollment freeze.


And here is a comment that is eloquent in its omission: "Other cuts at FSU include putting off repairs and maintenance, reviewing travel and reducing journal subscriptions." The omission → no mention is made of the suits cutting their own salary raises! Ditching journal subscriptions will not save much.

I wager that if the legislators could interview individual faculty members, departmental accountants and other low level staff members, without the deans and provosts around, the legislators would learn that a big part of the under-funding is a result of paying huge startup fees for sexy new research faculty instead of paying for the teaching infrastructure that is now suffering neglect. Ditto for new research "centers of excellence." Each is an example of robbing Peter to pay Paul, because the state wants to push and shove its institutions up into the club of famous top-tier research universities like Harvard and Cal Tech, a good goal and attainable if done carefully.

It was not done carefully.

You can see it was not done carefully because of the current jam they are in, not enough faculty to carry the teaching load.

The danger is that new savings and new fees, if they go through, will be diverted to more startup fees but not help with the teaching load or keeping the universities open to more students.