Forum in Hollywood on Amendment 4 slated for Wednesday October 13th at the Hillcrest Playdium, hosted by HLSCA & HHCA

Received this bit of public policy news this afternoon that I wanted to share with you ASAP, so you can check your calendar and make plans to attend.

To be honest, until today, I'd never heard of the Hillcrest Playdium, but just hearing the name, well, it sort of makes me wish that Hallandale Beach had a Hippodrome of its own.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippodrome_of_Constantinople

As most everyone knows by now, I support Amendment 4, since the Diplomat LAC proposal in Hallandale Beach earlier this year made HB the poster-child for why this legislation is NEEDED.
----------

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Amendment 4 Informational Forum in Hollywood - Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

The Hollywood Lakes Civic Association (HLSCA) in partnership with the Hollywood Hills Civic Association (HHCA) will host a Forum on the upcoming statewide ballot question, Amendment 4. Amendment 4 would require city or county land use or comprehensive plan changes to go before the voters at an upcoming election.

Participating in the Hollywood Amendment 4 Forum will be following individuals:

For Amendment 4:
Bett Willett – Ms. Willett is the South Florida Coordinator for Florida Hometown Democracy, the grass-roots organization that was successful in getting Amendment 4 on the ballot. Bett is also a member of the Broward County Planning Council.

Tom Connick – Mr. Connick is a practicing attorney from Deerfield Beach and works closely with the Deerfield Beach Save Our Beach organization.

Against Amendment 4:
Mayor Frank Ortis – Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis is an outspoken critic of Amendment 4 and has a long history of civic service. Mayor Ortis was appointed to Vice Chair of the Broward League of Cities 2010-2011 Legislative & Advocacy Committee and has served as a Commissioner and Mayor for Pembroke Pines since 1996.

Cliff Schulman – Mr. Schulman is active with the “Vote No on 4” campaign organization.

Location for the Hollywood Amendment 4 Forum will be the Hillcrest Playdium, 1100 Hillcrest Drive, Hollywood, FL 33021.

Time: 7 to 9 pm.

Free parking.

For information, call 954-923-1940 or info@hollywoodlakes.com

-----

For the record, Cliff Schulman, mentioned above as one of the speakers who'll appear as an opponent of Florida Hometown Democracy, is considerably more than just someone who is "active" in anti-Amendment 4 activities.

Schulman is a frequent visitor before municipal and county government bodies throughout South Florida on behalf of his clients in his role as an attorney and lobbyist.
He was formerly the co-chair of the Environmental and Land Development Practice in the downtown Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, down on Brickell Avenue.

Earlier this year, Mr. Schulman left for Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske PL. http://www.wsh-law.com/content/attorneys/s/clifford-a-schulman/

Tell me, would it ever occur to you to ask for increased density for a client, in this case, Publix, as a result of development credits for underwater land?

Underwater, as in the Intracoastal.
No, really.
Well, Mr. Schulman has.

To wit, whether "submerged lands within an adjacent platted lot owned by Publix can be included for purposes of determining density and intensity of land use under section 265-5 of the City of Sunny Isles Beach Code of Ordinances..."

I have to admit, THAT is one lawyer who thinks 'outside-of-the-box'!

To see more on the particulars, see
http://www.3dca.flcourts.org/opinions/3D07-1895.pdf and http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2007/04/greedy-developersjoe-martinezclifford.html and
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2009/07/r-allen-stanford-and-miami-based.html

Schulman is also the Chairman of the Board of the Aventura Marketing Council (AMC). http://www.aventuramarketingcouncil.com/

For more information on the individuals and groups mentioned above, see:

http://hollywoodlakes.com/news.htm

http://www.hollywoodcivic.org/modules/wfchannel/

http://www.hccacentral.org/

http://floridahometowndemocracyamendment.blogspot.com/

http://blogbybett.blogspot.com/

http://www.originalsaveourbeach.org/

While Russia tries to stop govt. corruption, Broward Comm. Ilene Lieberman wants to water down the new Ethics rules. Shocker!

Below, some facinating comments by Russia Today correspondent Jacob Greaves informing the Prime Time Russia studio crew in Moscow about the Duma capping ALL govt. officials and civil servants personal spending at 120% of total income to prevent corruption.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's government wants to go after the "big fish" to make examples out of them, before going after the minnows, and towards that end, using power he was given earlier this year, sacked a high-ranking general at the Ministry of Defense for failing to comply with the income declaration requirements.

You might recall that old chestnut about actions having consequences. Well, in most of the world, even in Russia, that still remains true, for both good and ill.

Meanwhile, here in Broward County, some "people" already in a position of power want to start nibbling away at the new County Ethics rules so that they can play belle-of-the-ball.

And by some "people" I specifically mean Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, whom we have discussed previously in this space 'till we're blue in the face for her brazen oleaginous ways.

Lieberman has proven herself to be no friend of genuine reform in this county, nor of meaningful ethics legislation with predictable dire consequences for contemptuous offenders -like that general in Russia- or even financial accountability or prescience, and the sooner she is gone from the passing scene in Broward, the better your future suddenly becomes.

If Lieberman really were the redoubtable legal eagle she imagines herself to be, echoed by so many pliant sycophants in the South Florida press, she'd have long since run for judge.
She hasn't.

Instead, she has remained and participated up to her elbows in the county's tarnished way of transacting business with a wink, a nod and a campaign check from lobbyists.
She has proven to be a mere puppet-master, not a voice that made a positive tangible difference for Broward's citizen taxpayers.
It's too late for her.

Even here, as bad as things are and have been, they DON'T actually build statues to people like her, since it would necessarily have to include the caption, "friend to the lobbyists, thru thick and thin."
No doubt the pigeons would have great fun with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RX2sgsiizo



---------
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward Politics blog
Broward's new Code of Ethics might get its first amendment soon

By Brittany Wallman
September 29, 2010 08:00 AM

Commissioner Ilene Lieberman wants her colleagues to soften the gift ban in the new ethics code.

Broward commissioners argued Tuesday and then postponed making a decision on whether to do it. It would be the first change of any kind to the brand new Code of Ethics.

The new ethics code says commissioners cannot accept a gift from a lobbyist or a vendor who does business with the county. It also says that commissioners can take a gift from someone else, but only if it's not worth more than $50. Lieberman is president of the Florida Association of Counties, and argues that she should be able to accept food, travel and lodging from that organization when she goes to its events and conferences.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/09/browards_new_code_of_ethics_to_1.html

------

http://rt.com/

Prime Time Russia — the first TV show for an English-speaking audience in Russia. Weekdays from 8-9 p.m. msk on RT (Russia Today) channel and online
at http://rt.com/prime-time.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/primetimeru

Alyona Minkovski interviews Wired Sr. Editor Kevin Poulsen about Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and the group's immediate future

RT America's Alyona Minkovski interviews Wired Sr. Editor Kevin Poulsen about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the group's future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emsPfOG5OaI



http://rt.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlyonaShow

http://www.youtube.com/user/RTAmerica

http://www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday

http://www.youtube.com/user/primetimeru

Gloria Estefan climbs windows during Dolphins-Jets game, but Hugh Grant was The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. Winner: Grant!

Gloria Estefan climbs windows during Dolphins-Jets game, but Hugh Grant was The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain.
Winner: Hugh Grant!

Did you notice my increased sensitivity by not declaring Hugh Grant the landslide winner?
Nobody who lives in a valley wants to ever hear the word "landslide."

I loved this 1995 film set in Wales co-starring the always wonderful Colm Meaney and the delightful Tara FitzGerald, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112966/
which I saw at a studio sneak preview with some friends, and then saw again two weeks later on a date with an LA for a well-known Senator, pretending I hadn't seen it before.
You know how that is!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112966/

There was a period of time in the mid-Nineties when I was living in Arlington County when I was seeing 5-6 new films a month, plus taking in a Saturday or Sunday retrospective film at the National Gallery of Art if I didn't have tickets to the Orioles game, and reading nearly a dozen film magazines a month, when I really thought Tara FitzGerald was, in fact, the bee's knees.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001216/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000538/

And this charming film was one of the principal pieces of evidence, along with Brassed Off.
Ironically, I was working at the time with someone who was from Cymru -Wales- who even had a flag decal on his car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2L6GH8Yy9s

Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/28/1846061/gloria-estefan-climbs-windows.html
Gloria Estefan climbs windows during Dolphins game
The Associated Press
September 28, 2010

Singer Gloria Estefan made a daring climb out a window after getting locked into a stadium suite during a Miami Dolphins game.

The musician was watching the game against the New York Jets on Sunday from her suite at Sun Life Stadium and was set to introduce Latin singer Enrique Iglesias during the halftime show.

But Estefan was locked inside. A locksmith, security officers and firefighters tried unsuccessfully to unlock her door. So Estefan took matters into her own hands.

WPLG-TV reports that Estefan kicked off her Dolphin green Yves Saint-Laurent pumps and climbed out the window into the suite next door. She ran out the door and across the field and made it onstage just in time.

Reader comments at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Ll1xaxGd4

-----

A clip from the beginning of the film immediately sets the mood...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbwBB61laOw



In case you were wondering, the fabulous music in the film is by the ridiculously talented Stephen Endelman.
Listen to some of his past efforts at http://www.stephenendelman.org/
and you'll notice that you really have heard his music before, you just didn't know it.

Endelman's music in the film is everything a period film is supposed to sound like, instead of cheating by having the characters play music on a Victrola!

(1985's Sydney Pollack classic, Out of Africa, being the exception that proves the rule, in that it had Meryl Streep and Robert Redford playing coy by turns with a Victrola, plus some of the most genius music ever heard in a film, composed by John Barry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKlA15b0Unc



I have had the John Barry Soundtracks CD for quite a long time and it never ever disappoints, especially on long multi-day drives across the country by yourself when you are NOT in the greatest of moods. It's like your own traveling theme music as you drive thru one Midwestern town after another, unable to leave your troubles behind in the rear-view mirror.

See more of Barry's genius here:
http://www.amazon.com/John-Barry/e/B000AQ0AW2/works/ref=ntt_mus_teaser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCXlTXUdX40



I'm a big Hugh Grant fan and have been ever since he started in the business, having seen nearly every film he's ever done, with one of my favorite being 1995's Love Actually, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000424/ with him cast as the new British Prime Minister, who gets the measure of dastardly American president Billy Bob Thornton in one of the greatest comeback put-downs ever seen in a film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfLKPyM_M2o

Second Broward County 2011 budget meetingTuesday afternoon at 5 p.m.; Broward budget watch: Brittany Wallman in Broward Politics blog: Find the fat!

Above, January 26, 2010 photo of Broward County Government Center, 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL by South Beach Hoosier

2011 Fiscal Year budget meeting

Tuesday September 28 at 5:01 p.m.

Public testimony in Room 422 in the Broward Governmental Center, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale.

The hearing will be Webcast live on www.broward.org/video but you have to use Internet Explorer. Budget documents, including the County Administrator’s recommended budget
reductions, are posted online at http://broward.org/budget.

Before you walk into the Broward Government Center, be sure to walk to the SW corner of Broward Blvd. & Andrews Avenue and look at the County's so-called Personnel Building.

Back on March 12th, I first wrote about this disgraceful example of local government apathy and incompetency squared, here at http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/errant-drivers-crash-highlights.html but I had first noticed it last year, dumb-founded that less than one block from the County HQ, literally, in the building next door, a govt. bldg. was allowed to become a public nuisance.

After years of being one of the most unsightly govt. eyesores in all of South Florida, have the folks running things finally figured out that having a county building caked in dirt is NOT the sort of thing give taxpayers any confidence in the management iof this county?

As I remarked at the time, "It's almost like Broward County is channeling the management geniuses at Hallandale Beach City Hall! And by geniuses, of course, I mean the motley crew of incompetents who make our city a laughing-stock."

January 26, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier


Same building a month later. February 25, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier


January 26, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier


February 25, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Our collective guiding principle for cutting government services and employees should be the same as the one that was mentioned by Victoria Derbyshire on her always excellent program on BBC Radio's 5 live this morning on the funding levels of British quangos, many of which are being killed outright: Is it nice to do or essential?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tw8ms
http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/connect/index.shtml#comments

What has a quango ever done for you?

This morning, we're going to take a look at quangos, or quasi autonomous non-government organisations, to give them their full title.

Last week, we learned that 180 taxpayer-funded groups will be scrapped, and a further 180 will either be reformed or have their budgets cut. It's all part of the Chancellor's, plan to cut six hundred million pounds in a "bonfire of quangoes".

It's estimated they cost somewhere between 34 and 60 billion pounds a year. They employ more than 100 thousand people, and 68 quango chiefs earn more than the Prime Minister, with some salaries as high as £624,000.

We want you to tell us what they've ever done for you.

------

Be sure to take a look at the Florida Taxwatch website, even though they are incorrect in opposing Amendment 4: http://www.floridataxwatch.org/

------

Broward Politics
Broward budget watch: Find the fat!
By Brittany Wallman
September 27, 2010 08:00 AM

This is another tough year for Broward County government. Commissioners are standing over the budget with carving knives. Do any of you know where there's fat to be found in the county's $4 billion budget?

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/09/browards_budget_find_the_fat.html

Yoo Hoo! Nanny State Run Amok? Orlando Sentinel reports, "Red Eye" investigates: Florida may ban chocolate milk in schools

Nanny State Run Amok?
The Orlando Sentinel reports while "Red Eye" investigates in their usual way, you decide: Florida may ban chocolate milk in schools, not as punishment, but as policy.

Orlando Sentinel
State may ban sugary drinks from public schools The Board of Education seeks expert advice, will take up issue in December
September 21, 2010
By Denise-Marie Balona, Orlando Sentinel

The Board of Education has agreed to move forward on a plan to eliminate sugary beverages and make Florida the first state in the nation to ban chocolate milk in public schools.

Board member John Padget, a former schools superintendent from South Florida, has been pressing his colleagues for a year to cut out most beverages besides water, pure juice and white, low-fat milk to help fight childhood obesity.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-09-21/news/os-soda-in-florida-schools-092210-20100921_1_board-member-public-schools-board-meeting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bYogXBmoQM



http://www.foxnews.com/redeye/

http://www.youtube.com/user/RedEyeRecap

RedEyeRecap: part of your daily recommended dose of low-fat culture and entertainment information.

Blogger.com's new Editor is dreadfully S-L-O-W -when it works, i.e why no posts here for 6 days; Google's Eric Schmidt on The Charlie Rose Show

I love Google but... Google's Blogger.com new Editor is dreadfully S-L-O-W -when it works. That's why there have been no posts in this space for the past six days.

I have gotten progressively more frustrated and in order to get information out, was forced to send some of the info out as emails with suggestions to forward it. I hate doing that, plus it's much more time-consuming.

Every time I got into it and was staring at a blank box, my computer, using Mozilla Firefox, immediately begins to "hang" for minutes at a time, and that's after it takes forever to load.
I was constantly having to re-start my computer!!!
Much longer than the old Editor, which was/is positively breezy by comparison.

Friday night I watched the fascinating 32-minute interview with Google Inc. (GOOG) CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt on The Charlie Rose Show.
http://www.charlierose.com/

Interview at http://www.charlierose.com/view/content/11217
Past Schmidt interviews at http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/1007

While I usually enjoy seeing Schmidt and other high-tech types on Charlie's show, along with certain authors and columnists, given what I have been dealing with for the past week, I couldn't help but watch a little more incredulously than usual...
(Cue dream sequence music...)

Given the overwhelming unpopular opinion and problems that bloggers all over the world have had with this new "improvement," I'd have happily agree to buy Charlie a coffee and a sandwich at his favorite Starbuck's in NYC if he simply had interrupted some of the more self-congratulatory chit-chat and asked Schmidt the following:

"It's said by many that the Blogger.com platform more than anything else helped usher in the blogging revolution, but it's hard not to notice the crescendo of criticism surrounding the introduction of your new "Editor" that is supposed to allow the customer to proof the post more accurately than ever, but yet is beset with all manner of functional problems that remain unsolved as of this taping, and reportedly, you even neglected to incorporate something as basic as a spell-checking widget function in the new version.
Tell me, why would Google introduce a new version of something important to writing a blog but neglect to include a spell-checker?
Is this an example of Google NOT listening to your customers?"

Google's Eric Schmidt Talks to Charlie Rose

Google's CEO on the power of Facebook, the rivalry with Apple (where until recently he sat on the board), and trying to do the right thing in China

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_40/b4197039435964.htm

Can you PLEASE not get rid of the Old Editor?

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=734e63d2afe481b4&hl=en

New Editor gives "server error" when trying to upload images

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=452f0957bd0f7028&hl=en

See also the interviews on the topic of The Growth of Google with Michael Copeland , Chris Anderson and Jessica Vascellaro at
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11174

A nation's prayer is answered -'Hawaii Five-o' returns!; TV Barn's Aaron Barnhart: The awesomest ‘Hawaii Five-o′ marching band video ever

HAWAII FIVE-O 2010: "OPENING THEME"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKzrwOjwalA


Well, after months of waiting, and with CSI Miami shuffled off to Sunday night at 10 p.m.. Hawaii Five-o returns to network TV tonight, with bells and whistles and a full-court media PR schmooze-fest orchestrated by CBS-TV, with gleeful assistance from hundreds of websites and blogs that have been chronicling the return for months.

For awhile, I thought I'd do that, too, but why be the fifth-wheel when the first four are already working, so I've been sitting on this for months. But first, to appreciate how much people have longed for a QUALITY re-make of this show, it's important to see what came before.

From the banal to the brilliant: Surfside 6 to Hawaii Five-o in the blink of an eye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAqxpGgXdU0

Hawaii Five 0 - Intro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepyGm9Me6w

Theme from Hawaii Five-O. University of Notre Dame Marching Band
Sept. 18, 2010, at Michigan State University, East Lansing MI., USA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dxrBbyKZ3A




TV Barn
The awesomest ‘Hawaii Five-0′ marching band video ever
by Aaron Barnhart
September 20, 2010

Remember when NBC, the fourth-most-watched network on TV (unless USA is having a good night), told you they were remaking “Bionic Woman” and “Knight Rider” and then you tuned in and realized that these were just signs that NBC had hung on entirely different shows that happened to have a cyborgian female and a cyborgian internal-combustion vehicle in them?, CBS is taking a different tack with its remake of 1970s police staple “Hawaii Five-0.”

True, it’s been turned into a buddy action show rather a procedural starring Jack Lord and his hair. But in many ways, as you’ll see tonight, there are attempts to honor viewers’ memories of the show — which makes sense, since at least some of “Five-0′s” run was seen by millions of boys who are now men in Nielsen’s 25-to-54-year-old demo.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.tvbarn.com/tv-barn/the-awesomest-hawaii-five-0-marching-band-video-ever/

http://www.tvbarn.com/


Hawaii Five-0 - Rebooting the Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Loyy7MmwY




Hawaii Five-0 -Meet the Team
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRZ3vuYP-iY


Hawaii Five-0 - Riding the Wave
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/hawaii_five_0/video/?ttag=mktg_hawaiifive0




Hawaii Five-0 - Hollywood Meets Hawaii
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/hawaii_five_0/video/?pid=nv7w3YgZ3bXJH_p_c_n32uZiQTshGqZj&vs=Default&play=true



http://www.cbs.com/primetime/hawaii_five_0/


New York Times
For ‘Hawaii Five-0,’ a Music-Filled Push From CBS
By Stuart Elliott

There have been police dramas on television called “Hawaii,” “Hawaiian Eye” and “Hawaiian Heat,” but the biggest gangbuster was “Hawaii Five-O,” which appeared on CBS from 1968 to 1980. Lush scenery in living color, a catchy theme song and a memorable catchphrase, “Book ’em, Danno,” all contributed to a successful run in prime time.

Because, as Fred Allen once said, imitation is the sincerest form of television, it is not surprising that CBS is remaking the series; the new version will be broadcast at 10 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific) on Mondays, starting on Sept. 20. The revived “Hawaii Five-0”— with a zero in place of the “O,” perhaps to signal it is version 2.0 — is one of five new series that CBS plans for the 2010-11 season.

Read the rest of the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/business/media/30adco.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykByH7wpsi8


http://www.youtube.com/user/cbseyelab

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/hawaii_five_0/video/?ttag=mktg_hawaiifive0

Hollywood meets 'Hawaii Five-0' w/ USC Trojan Marching Band (video)
http://www.rbr.com/media-news/advertising/27583.html

Rania Abouzeid in Foreign Policy Magazine: The World's Worst Place for Women Just Got Worse

The World's Worst Place for Women?

So many possible "winners" but the answer is Pakistan.

-----

FOREIGN POLICY

What the Waters Washed Away
The rural, conservative refugees from Pakistan’s floods have not only lost their homes, but also their entire way of life.

By Rania Abouzeid
September 17, 2010

CHARSADDA, Pakistan-Zeynat wipes her tears away with the edge of her donated, cream-colored dupatta. Her family was separated shortly after raging floodwaters destroyed her modest, mud-brick home, and it has been well over a month since she last saw her three teenage daughters. For the past week, Zeynat and her mother-in-law have been sharing a tent with her friend and former neighbor, Bach Sultan, and four of Sultan's children, in a makeshift settlement here in Charsadda, in the socially conservative and insurgency-plagued Khyber Pakhtunkwa province bordering Afghanistan.

Zeynat's tent, which lies just feet away from the dozens of others pitched alongside Charsadda's Sugar Mill mosque, is sweltering inside. The front and back tent flaps are kept open in the hope of attracting a breeze, but they merely serve to expose the women to the view of passersby. The women say that custom prevents them from idly sitting outside. The camp's proximity to the mosque means that the building's bathrooms are available for use by the flood victims. This ensures them a modicum of privacy absent from many other camps, which lack sanitation or rely on outdoor toilets.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/09/17/what_the_waters_washed_away


See also:
Foreign Policy
New attacks stun Pakistan
By Imtiaz Gul
September 10, 2010
http://www.imtiazgul.com/Sep_10_2010.html

http://www.imtiazgul.com/

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

-----

U.S. Fund for UNICEF: Alyssa Milano on Pakistan flooding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjIhTici7JM

Sunday Multi-tasking: I'm watching the 2010 Swedish election returns LIVE on SVT -AND the Dolphins at Vikings ballgame!

Sunday September 19, 2010
1:33 p.m. Eastern

Dolphins 7, Vikings 0 after first quarter

I had a lot of very interesting things I'd worked on the past few weeks that I was going to run here in conjunction with today's national legislative election in Sweden, for seats in the Riksdag, but due to the many computer problems I've experienced the past 7-10 days -and already running behind schedule today!- rather than post them all here, and maybe miss some of the evolving info and analysis on the election returns, or any of the ballgame action, I'm going to wait until later today, perhaps during the Giants-Colts ballgame to post.

Plus, by then, though it will likely be very close, an actual winner should've emerged, though most experts I've read expect that Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's Moderates will not have a huge lead over its three centre-right coalition partners.


If you're curious to see how they cover the returns, or even if they rely on the same election night visual cliches, you can watch the Swedish election returns LIVE via SVT's complete coverage right here: http://svt.se/2.129956/valet_2010

That SVT site has been crashing a lot today already due to heavy demand, so I've also been watching TV4's coverage, so I don't miss anything important.
In fact, while it's just my opinion, their reporters seem to be hustling a little bit more than SVT's. http://www.nyhetskanalen.se/val2010/

Use your own best judgment and switch back and forth, compare and contrast.

At 2 p.m. Eastern our time, 8 p.m. in Stockholm, they just showed the folks over at the Sweden Democrats HQ, Sverigedemokraterna, jumping up and down after they reached 4.6%.
They are definitely going to get some seats in the chamber for the first time.
http://svt.se/2.128339/1.2153509/valu_sd_in_i_riksdagen

As of 3:54 p.m. Eastern they were up to 6.3% of the vote nationally.

The SD's message is clearly resonating with even more fed-up Swedish citizens than the condescending hipper-than-thou news media thought -and feared!

Seriously, news media, you continue to ignore self-evident problems and appease the un-civil in society, and then you are shocked that the populace wants changes?
Really?

Have you never heard of cause and effect?

Thanks for finally paying attention, late as it is, but guess what?
Many Swedes don't care what you think and definitely don't care for your smug attitude and your bias.

Rhetorical question: Am I talking about the news media situation in the U.S. or Sweden?
Both!

Because she was going to be out-of-town in Karlstad, one of our faves, super-talented singer Molly Sandén voted early on Friday. Molly posted the photo of herself -below- on her blog after she placed the correct color paper ballot in here official voting envelope and licked it, after voting for the first time, since she just turned eighteen-years old rather recently.

It's sometimes hard for me to believe that this really sweet and down-to-earth super-talent is only eighteen, because she has so much confidence and poise when performing, and has been doing so for years.

http://mollysandenblogg.blogspot.com/

Thumbs-up for voting!

See Molly's post on voting at: Nu har jag röstat!
http://mollysandenblogg.blogspot.com/2010/09/nu-har-jag-rostat.html

http://svt.se/

Successor to Ed Marko? Broward School Board's 2nd round of interviews with General Counsel applicants set for Monday, after Integrity workshop

The Legal Services Committee of the Broward County School Board will meet on Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. -or the conclusion of the scheduled 1 p.m. workshop- in the 11th Floor Large Conference Room of their high-rise HQ at 600 S.E. 3rd Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, for the purpose of conducting the second round of interviews with applicants seeking to replace Ed Marko as General Counsel, a position he's held since LBJ was president.
Really.

Think about that.

Who, other than a person like Rep. John Dingell, who has been in Congress since the first term of President Eisenhower, succeeding his own father, who'd been elected in 1932, could possibly think that having the same person in place for well over 40 years was a satisfactory way of doing things?

Well, that is, unless you're a South American dictator, though to be factual, Marko was in his position in Broward many years before Pinochet was in power in Chile.

I found out about this meeting when I saw a small ad about it in Saturday's Miami Herald at the top of p. 6B.

But as has become a very bad habit with the the Herald the past six months, despite the fact that the public notice ads they are paid to run are also supposed to be posted at their online announcement page, http://newspaperads.miami.com/ROP/Subcat.aspx?cat=3328&subcat=3349 this ad was not.

And now that I think of it, neither, initially, was one I saw in Thursday's paper on p. 5B about an important Hollywood City Commission meeting on the 27th at 6 p.m. about the long-running drama that is Block 55, the property of developer Chip Abele and his Block 55, LLP group.
That's the NE corner of Young Circle and the once-and-possible future home of a the new Publix and condo tower.
http://newspaperads.miami.com/ROP/Subcat.aspx?cat=3328

I eventually found the Hollywood ad and in a few days, will run it here along with some news about what's going on there.

Which is why I had to take a photograph of the ad -at top- instead of simply reproducing a clearer version of the ad here so everyone would know what's afoot.

My previous posts on the topic of Marko's successor were from July 13th:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/mea-culpa-on-marko-meeting-its.html and July 12th http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/mea-culpa-on-marko-meeting-its.html

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The Broward School Board's three-headed "Integrity" committee released its final report on Friday the 17th.
Did you see any reporting about it locally, in print or on TV?
I sure didn't, and I was looking!

And that was supposed to be a big deal, remember?

The final recommendations will be discussed on Monday the 20th at the 1 p.m. Board workshop preceding the post-Marko era interviews I alluded to above.

The final "Integrity" report is here:
http://browardschoolsintegrity.org/core/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Complete-Report-as-a-PDF3.pdf

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BrowardBeat
Deals With Insiders Continue At School Board
By Buddy Nevins

The Broward School Board might be suffering financially, but work must go on.

That includes deals with insiders.

The School Board is scheduled on Tuesday to renew a multi-million dollars lease for a 115,000-square-foot office building in Sunrise owned by the Stiles Corporation though two limited partnerships.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.browardbeat.com/deals-with-insiders-continue-at-school-board/

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
South Florida Schools blog

Outside firm says school auditors doing a great job

By Akilah Johnson September 15, 2010 02:50 PM

Much of the recent talk—the last year or so—about the Broward School District’s Office of the Chief Auditor comes with a footnote to findings that stir up controversy and criticism.

Well, here’s some good news for the addendum: District auditors received high marks from an outside peer review.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/educationblog/2010/09/outside_firm_says_school_audit.html

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See also: http://akilahjohnson.com/ and
http://twitter.com/akjohnson2

Proof positive that no photo of Alyssa Milano is without its magnetic CHARM. Not that we EVER doubted it!

Above, Minnesota Vikings Women's Laser Cut 3/4 Sleeve Pullover Hoodie
Touch by Alyssa Milano http://www.ijcool.com

Behind the scenes at ABC-TV's hit show Castle, with Alyssa Milano:




Alyssa's appearance back in January, A Rose for Everafter, was only my favorite of the season. Wow!
You can watch the episode here in its entirety:
http://abc.go.com/watch/castle/SH559040/VD5569242/a-rose-for-everafter

It's easy to see in mere moments why Alyssa's clever and witty photo site has become one of my personal favorite social media additions this year: http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/

A couple of seconds to take, a few minutes of amusement & delight!
http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/self-portrait-entitled-really-freaking-bored
http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/my-new-favorite-photo-app-for-the-iphone-pict
At the 2010 MLB All-Star Game in Anaheim
http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/this-is-what-i-am-doing-right-now-picture
http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/omg-a-gift-from-asg-fanfest-from-chloroformda
(That's the Roberto Clemente bobble-head in her hands.)


http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/asg-hi-picture-from-the-field
and http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/asg-picture-from-the-dugout
Good morning, this is your courtesy wake-up photo:
http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/good-morning-my-hubby-just-sent-me-this-pictu
"Who can turn the world on with her smile?"
http://www.alyssa.com/touch-clothing/new-nfl-touch-ad/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCL3B5LgUCo

http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/photo-from-the-2010-touchbyam-nfl-commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8MWdNG3wsw

So, you're asking yourself, why did I run the Mary Tyler Moore Show videos here of the famous MTM theme song, "Love Is All Around" by Sonny Curtis, in the middle of Alyssa's Touch NFL apparel photos?
The purple #10 Fran Tarkenton Vikings jersey Mary wears!
(At 0:24 while washing her Ford Mustang)
Always one of my favorite parts of the opening credits!

Compare and contrast with Alyssa at the top of the blog, or here:
Above, Miami Dolphins Full Zip Velour Cheer JacketTouch by Alyssa Milano http://www.fansedge.com/
Trust me, I knew some of them and the "Dolphin Dolls" were never like this!

New York Times
Suiting Up in Jerseys Suitable for WomenBy Tanzina Vega
August 25, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/business/media/26adco.html

However strange it may seem to actually read in print, the more you pay attention to such things, the more you know that in some very fundamental ways, the current reality is that Alyssa intuitively "gets" the new media universe MUCH better than the McClatchy folks running the Miami Herald and the Tribune Company people running the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. That's our reality.

CNN
What's new with Twitter?August 2010
Jessica Yellin interviews Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2010/08/09/ym.jack.dorsey.twitter.square.cnn.html


http://www.alyssa.com/
http://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano
http://alyssa.mlblogs.com/


Touch by Alyssa Milano:
http://www.nflshop.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=3294500and http://www.nflshop.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3743308&ab=HP_Include_Touch



http://www.fandalia.com/