Sunday's CBS4 I-Team Special at 6:30 p.m.

Sunday's CBS4 I-Team Special at 6:30 p.m.,
right before CBS News 60 Minutes.

On Sunday's show, correspondent Scott Pelley
tours the Sanofi Pasteur plant in Swiftwater, Pa.,
the only one in America making the H1N1
flu vaccine.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=NFDTH07Oqk2qQkXtPVFH7EJ3FM4AMxtZ

Reminder: Dolphins at Jets kick-off on Channel 4
Sunday is 1 p.m.

News from CBS4 & My33

Quick Links http://cbs4.com/iteam

CBS4 SPOTLIGHTS I-TEAM INVESTIGATIONS; Half Hour Special Includes Three New Stories Miami, Florida... The CBS4 I-Team has been responsible for bringing South Florida viewers ground-breaking investigations that have uncovered a number of frauds, scandals, scams and hidden dangers that were adverse to the public interest. On November 1 at 6:30 PM, CBS4 will present a half-hour special, ""The I-Team Investigates: A CBS4 News Special," featuring four new I-Team investigations. The program will be anchored by CBS4's Antonio Mora and feature I-Team reporters Michele Gillen, Jim DeFede and Stephen Stock. The segments: Trucking danger investigation - Michele Gillen takes viewers into the world of 18 wheelers where an I-Team investigation finds drivers are driving with little sleep, broken brakes, and while talking on cell phones... and killing alarming numbers of Floridians in the process. Gillen shows how fines for violating the sleep policy have not changed since the Eisenhower administration. Given today's difficult economy, insiders tell us that companies are pushing their drivers to work illegal hours, carry illegal loads, and drive broken trucks... and they are doing it because they need the money. Marlins construction - From the moment construction began on the new Florida Marlins Stadium, nearby canals, water pumps and even the Miami River became contaminated with a milky substance that engineers have traced back to the dewatering operation at the old Orange Bowl site. For weeks city engineers blasted Hunt-Moss, the main contractor for the stadium, with emails demanding they take steps to control the contamination. Jim DeFede reports. Medicare Fraud - Medicare Fraud results in $60 billion that's stolen from the pockets of tax payers every year nationwide. And South Florida is at the center of it all. The government reports that more than $4 billion dollars in Medicare Fraud has been scammed by South Florida companies in the last four years... and that roughly $2 Billion in false claims have been stolen by a group of companies established in about a ten block area in Miami alone... what federal investigators call the epicenter of Medicare fraud in the United States. Working in conjunction with CBS' 60 Minutes, the CBS4 I-Team spent the last six months penetrating the underworld of this Medicare fraud problem. Stephen Stock talks to those who actually committed the fraud and see how it works firsthand. WFOR and WBFS/My 33 are part of CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation. CBS4 is "always on." For local news, sports scores, weather updates, traffic reports, entertainment news and the best video experience available on the web 24 hours a day, go to CBS4.com. ----------------------------- http://cbs4.com/iteam

Some straight talk about how Miami-Dade Commissioners use their discretionary funds, and the ethically-curious slippery slope Comm. Sally Heyman increasingly finds herself occupying

First, some necessary predicates to better understand the following blog post.

I think Matthew Haggman is one of the best reporters and most valuable assets of the Miami Herald.
If people like him ever start bailing out, it'll really be all over but the shouting.

I also think Carlos Alvarez as County mayor is a tremendous disappointment to tens of thousands of people, and his pathetic attempt to try to show-up Haggman recently at one of his press conferences only showed how far he's fallen.

He deserves to be recalled from office and just may self-destruct before it's all over.
His political future is in such a death spiral that a black hole would be a relief.

My comments follow the article.
---------------
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1288062.html

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY

Miami-Dade commissioners sitting on millions in taxpayer funds

Miami-Dade commissioners are in control of $5 million in unspent money, angering groups facing budget cuts and watchdogs who say the kitty should be taken out of politicians' hands.

By Matthew Haggman and Jack Dolan

October 18th, 2009
As Miami-Dade County fires hundreds of workers and slashes funding for nonprofit groups, county commissioners are sitting on a mountain of cash and are determined not to give it up.
Chairman Dennis Moss controls a stockpile of more than $1 million. Commissioner Sally Heyman has a stash totaling $955,064. Commissioner Jose "Pepe'' Diaz holds $548,651, Commissioner Bruno Barreiro $479,168 and Commissioner Katy Sorenson $353,691.
In all, the 13 commissioners have more than $5 million in unspent cash from last fiscal year at their disposal -- surplus office funds carried over into the new budget year. Some have carried over unspent office funds for years, building the money pile.
All other taxpayer-funded county departments, including the mayor's office, return unspent money to the county general fund to be budgeted the following year. Yet commissioners, who approve every dollar of the county budget, keep the excess while still giving themselves a new, fully-funded budget each year.
The practice has allowed commissioners to amass vast sums that they alone control and can use -- or not -- with few restrictions.
While the $5 million is a fraction of the $444 million budget shortfall the county just faced, it sits untapped at a time when commissioners have implored county administrators to search under every proverbial seat cushion for extra dollars. On Tuesday, for instance, commissioners instructed staffers to find $1.3 million somewhere in county coffers to avoid cutting elderly social service programs.
Yet, during the recent budget debates, commissioners made no mention of the individual pots of taxpayer money they've accumulated.
"I am stunned,'' said Catherine Penrod, CEO of Switchboard of Miami, a suicide prevention nonprofit that, like many agencies, saw its county funding cut 30 percent. "It's hard for me to believe that it is OK to stockpile money like this when there is such a great need out there.''
Social service groups and union leaders say the surplus money should be rolled into the county's general fund and reallocated to community groups struggling to survive the crippling economic downturn, used to save jobs, or to bolster next year's budget. Some suggest it be returned to cash-strapped taxpayers through a small, but symbolic, reduction in the tax rate.
Stan Hills, president of the county firefighters union, looked at the list of commissioners' surpluses and said, "Any money that's available should be used for core services that have been cut. We have response time problems all over the county. I'm sure the police could use the money, too.''
Commissioners show little inclination to part with taxpayer money some regularly call their own. Nor are they willing to let others decide what to do with it -- saying, if anything, the reserves show they have been frugal.
"I will determine how the monies are spent in my budget, not The Miami Herald, not the media,'' said Chairman Moss. His unused fund is the largest, in part because Moss controls more duties as commission chair, including the offices of protocol and media.
"This is the way it's been done historically, the way it's done now, and the way it will be done in the future,'' he said.
Last year, commissioners budgeted themselves $930,000 each -- which is slated to be reduced by 10 percent this year -- to pay the rent and utility bills at their district offices, and to pay salaries for as many as 10 personal staffers. Top aides can earn in excess of $100,000 per year.
By contrast, Florida State Representatives get an annual budget of $29,784 to pay the rent and utilities in their district offices. Each representative is allowed two staffers, who typically earn less than $40,000 and are paid through a state account the elected state leaders don't personally control.
State representatives can't stash away money from the office budget and carry those surpluses over from year to year.
Across Florida, allowing politicians to carry over unspent office funds is unusual, said Dominic Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, the Tallahassee-based government watchdog group. Extra public dollars typically revert back to the government treasury, not kept by individual politicians.
"These are not commissioners' personal funds; these funds come out of the sweat of hard-working taxpayers,'' Calabro said.
Miami-Dade Commissioners previously came under fire for granting themselves $727,500 each in discretionary funds to personally dole out to district constituents and businesses, an unusual political payout that helps commissioners curry favor with voters. That money, which is being reduced this year by more than $400,000 per commissioner, is separate from the office accounts.
Under Dade's rules, commissioners are able to distribute their surplus office money to community groups, or even other commissioners who have blown their own budgets.
This past year, for example, Commissioner Natacha Seijas dipped into her surplus to transfer $14,811 to Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who overspent her $930,000 office budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Neither Seijas, who has accumulated $449,257, nor Jordan responded to interview requests.
Such transfers can raise questions about transparency and accountability, said Tony Alfieri, director of the University of Miami's Center for Ethics and Public Service.
When one commissioner bails out a fellow commissioner, said Alfieri, it creates a risk of favor trading with scant public monitoring.
Heyman -- sitting on nearly a million dollars in unspent taxpayer money -- said she saw the current fiscal crisis coming years ago and has been diligently saving her office funds, clipping coupons, paying her office staff less than other commissioners and eschewing fancy caterers at community events she hosts.
"Costco sheet cakes are a hell of a lot cheaper than Publix sheet cakes,'' she told a reporter asking about her surplus.
She said she'll use the money to host charity fundraisers and other community activities she says are not meant to win political favor. "When I'm underwriting a walk for the blind, I don't ask if the blind people live in my district,'' Heyman said.
Barreiro, also carrying over a weighty sum, pitched his actions as a benefit to taxpayers. ``I've been frugal,'' he said. "I'm not one who thinks that all the money that has been budgeted should be spent this year.''
Barreiro added that he would give some of the money to nonprofit social service agencies ``as projects warrant.''
Diaz said now may well be the perfect time to earmark the money.
"I believe it is important to maintain reserves in anticipation of a rainy day and, as you know, right now it is pouring,'' Diaz said. "If there is a proposal regarding the use of these dollars to save jobs or keep programs going, I will review and consider such proposals.''
To which TaxWatch's Calabro responded: "A rainy day fund would be in the treasury, not in their personal patronage pot. Frankly, this is a practice that should be eliminated. It is inappropriate in good times, and clearly out of line now.''

Reader comments: http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1288062.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

-----------

CBS4's Stephen Stock and the I-Team did several great stories on the questionable spending practices of the Commission and their massive discretionary accounts back in the spring.

As the best investigations tend to do, they raised even more questions about the the royal bubble that the Commissioners have created around themselves, and the shallow, self-serving nature of their responses to

honest questions and criticisms.

http://cbs4.com/iteam/investigation.carry.over.2.954322.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/commission.mudget.broward.2.957878.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/iteam.tax.spending.2.955862.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/miami.dade.commission.2.907201.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam

Given that the Herald and the TV station are supposed to be "news partners,' you'd think they'd have figured out a way to mention this past fact-finding, or at least have links to those I-Team reports on the Herald's website for this particular article.
But they don't.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but as I told a Channel 4 exec in February when I was down at the station, in my opinion, it's NOT really a team if they refuse to ever give you credit for the hard work you've already
done.
This is precisely the sort of important story that the newspaper and station ought to be collaborating on if they were a real team, in order to bring enough resources -and pressure- to bear on the M-D
county commissioners. http://www.miamidade.gov/commiss/

But instead, the Herald acts like they're the only ones prospecting in that particularly rich vein of the mine, and yet bring nothing new to this story.

Well, other than the insolent attitude of the commissioners finally emerging in print in ways that are far different from what they were when they were being interviewed on camera by Channel 4.
Imagine that!
 
Based on what I've written before in my blog on in emails to some of you, the fact that, as proven yet again in this article, Chairman Donald Moss is an insufferable horse's ass with no concept of public good or perception is NOT exactly Breaking News to me, even if it may be to you.

He personally, and his ilk, are precisely one of the reasons why life in South Florida is the way it is -and so much less than it ought to be.

I've generally been ambivalent-to-supportive of Sally Heyman, but if I were her, I might start re-thinking my role of playing the great public curmudgeon, the ethical moralizer of everyone else's actions and motives, all
while sitting on nearly a million dollars of taxpayers funds you're personally using as a political slush fund to engender political support and positive PR spin,
http://www.miamidade.gov/district04/home.asp

There are a lot of rich and successful people living in District 4, stretching as it does from just south of me in Aventura to Miami Beach, people who ARE pro-reform and have both the means and the issues to
politically decapitate Sally Heyman in an election campaign, if they were so motivated.
Up 'till now they haven't been.

They have the collective ability to put money into a savvy and well-choreographed media political campaign the likes of which this area has seldom seen before, including a pro-reform TV campaign that highlights
with great clarity and specificity the disparity between what Heyman publicly says and what she actually does.

And uses that as a springboard for county-wide ballot issues that can go right at the heart of the bureaucratic beast.

Right now, they can't do anything directly, per se, about the glut of Barbara Jordans, Dorrin Rolles and Natacha Seijas littering the South Florida landscape like glossy nighclub cards on Miami Beach sidewalks,
but they can make an example of the person on the commission who is supposed to be representing them in an ethical and scrupulous fashion.
And they can enjoy themselves while doing so.

Trust me, just because the Beth Reinhards of the world don't have the sense to see the larger picture, or to contact some of these people I'm talking about, to sound them out, is of no real consequence.
Frankly, given her reportorial style, she likely wouldn't know until someone else tells her, after-the-fact, perhaps thru a PR release, which, sadly, seems to be how far too much gets into both the Herald and Sun-Sentinel these days.

That they don't care what Reinhard thinks -and neither should you, if you really want to know the truth- should cheer you up straight-away.

Sally Heyman's past hard work and good intentions will count for very little when and IF she is increasingly perceived as someone who has made the fatal political mistake of taking things for granted and overstaying her welcome.

So much so, that she became part of the larger problem and not part of the solution.
Given the great resources available and perfectly capable of sending her packing, toute-de-suite, Heyman's rather smarmy self-justifying comments here can only be interpreted one way.

Christmas just came early for those who believe Miami-Dade County can and ought to be more than just a self-serve ATM for second-rate politicos eager to create slush funds out of taxpayers funds.

And Sally Heyman has just presented them with yet another gift-wrapped issue to tie around her neck like an anchor.

For those interested in real reform and accountability, not just pretend reform, Heyman's growing track record of hypocrisy here is the gift that keeps on giving.

Shallow End of Pool for Miami TV News; ABC-TV's Castle & Susan Sullivan

Last night at the same exact time on their
11 o'clock newscasts, Channels 4 and 10,
i.e. CBS4 and Local10, each ran stories
on women having surgery, plastic and
laser.

Sadly for viewers with a public policy
bent, these sorts of stories are the
longstanding bread-and-butter of
Miami TV stations, but are also part
of the reason that so many Men
aged 25-49 find it so easy to forgo
the local newscasts at 11 p.m. and
switch to ESPN's SportsCenter,
because they know from experience
that there will likely be at least one
if not two dopey, chick-centric stories
that center on women with some very
serious self-worth problems and
high-degree of shallowness.

That there are so many women like
that living in South Florida is NOT
exactly Breaking News, of course.
What is is the number who honestly
think that anyone else cares about
their self-worth issues or their
flabby arms or whatever.

Leave those private discussions to
your family and friends, please.
The rest of us just don't care,
comprende?



Screenshot I took 10/5/09 of Local10's teaser during ABC-TV's Castle.

Some free advice for the female reporters assigned
to these stories that always center on somewhat
vain and self-centered women with more money
than sense, who are only too happy to have TV
cameras follow them into their doctor's office.

The next time you get stuck on one of these stories,
right before you close, look at the subjects and say:
"You're not alone because of your looks,
you're alone because of your superficial
personality."

Think of it as your doing a good deed for the
larger South Florida community.
Because you are!


ABC-TV's Castle is one of my guilty TV
pleasures.
I'm happy to see that in its second season,
airing opposite CSI Miami, the show
really seems to be getting better and more
nuanced, as the writers become more
confident of what the characters would
say or do in various circumstances.
http://abc.go.com/shows/castle



For me, last night's episode, Inventing
the Girl, was the best effort yet.
It featured a great back-and forth volley
between co-stars Susan Sullivan and
Nathan Fillion sitting on the sofa of Rick's
great apartment, perhaps the best-looking
living room on TV.



At one point, after talking about her grudging
acceptance of the fact that she'd been cast in
a Broadway show as the grandmother and
not as the fetching ingenue she once might've
been, Rick throws her a lifeline by saying
that she can now show "wisdom" on stage,

Martha suddenly pulls out from behind the
couch this 8 x 10 b/w glossy of herself,
below, which nearly caused me to jump off
the couch from a severe case of déjà vu.


Screenshot I took 10/5/09 of Susan Sullivan during ABC-TV's Castle.

When I was living at Briscoe Quad
my first two years at IU, I had a male
friend who was a huge, huge fan of
Susan Sullivan,
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0838360/
who was then a star on CBS-TV's hit
Falcon Crest.

He had this same EXACT photo of
her in his dorm room!

If I remember correctly, I think he'd seen
her on Broadway before or something.

I mention this because of both the shock
of seeing that photo I recognize pop-up
on my TV screen completely out-of-the-blue,
and also because my friend was probably
one of a handful of persons I knew at IU
who was hip to whatever was happening
on Broadway, plus the scuttlebutt.

In his case, it was the result of his having
parents who were ardent live theater fans
who saw everything, no matter how obscure
or Off-Off Broadway.

He knew what actor and actress had
played what character in what show
-or been an understudy- as a result
of growing-up with a treasure trove of
Playbills in his parents living room,
arranged alphabetically within the year
the show had opened.

I was so envious listening to him talk
about it and the shows he'd seen, while
I'd had to make do with cast albums.

(If blogging had existed back then,
I have no doubt that his parents
would've surely had one of the most
popular and influential -and
profitable- blogs or websites around
on the subject of Broadway,
on-stage and off, including financing,
because they quite literally seemed
to know everyone who was anyone.)

Listening to him describe their collection
of souvenirs sounded a lot like me and my
perfectly preserved collection of Dolphins,
Hurricanes, Floridians, Gatos/Strikers/
Orioles game programs, going back to
1968, complete with used game tickets.

In a sense, my friend was sort of like
the theater version of me, and my keen
knowledge of American sports and
sports trivia, that often swamped others
who were older who thought they knew
a thing or two.
The benefit of having a very, very good
memory.

FYI: In real life, Susan Sullivan is
married to psychologist and author
Dr. Connell Cowan, who co-authored
with Dr. Melvyn Kinder, only two
of THE best books I ever read,
Women Men Love, Women Men Leave
and Smart Women/Foolish Choices.
I actually bought copies for friends when
they came out in paperback.

To end this unexpected tangent on Broadway,
The Jackson 5 from the early '80's
performing "Corner of the Sky" from
Pippin, a wonderful song from their
Skywriter album,

Along with a host of other songs,
my friends on the floor and I played this
a lot on Saturday mornings and afternoons
at IU on game days, with our stereo
speakers propped up in the windows
facing towards Assembly Hall and the
football stadium, so fans downstairs on
17th Street walking over there for a
game could get in the spirit of things.

Dear Florida, California, Michigan & Illinois: It's over. See ya in the rear view mirror!

On Thursday, about an hour after it first appeared

online, I sent the great analysis piece by TIME's

Tim Padgett on the longstanding problems in

Florida, and our part of the Sunshine State in

particular, to about three-dozen media friends

and family members all around the country.

To an extent that surprised even me, the ones

who had responded by Saturday night by email

or phone all said the same thing, more or less:

"Weren't you always saying the same sort

of thing when you were up here in D.C.?"

I had, actually, to the consternation of many,

who said that things down here really couldn't
be that bad.
And for a moment, it was like I was back in
Bloomington, trying to describe what South
Florida was like to kids who'd grown-up with
a drinking age standard of 21, not the 18 I'd
had.
Where do you begin...

But then when you explain how long it took

to get rental aluminum luggage carts at MIA...

or explain how during the entirety of the '70's,

the City of Miami refused to have big name

rock concerts at the Orange Bowl, which is

why Fleetwood Mac or Bob Seeger had to

perform at the much-smaller Miami Baseball

Stadium...

Tim, TIME's Miami Bureau chief, had a link

to CBS-4's videos of the recent budget woes

and meetings in Broward and Miami-Dade to

help paint the story that tells the tale of woe

and incompetency with dollops of real estate

speculation.

He's a terrific writer with ridiculously prescient

insight into Latin America, as I've mentioned

here previously, plus, he's a native Hoosier,

from Carmel, and a Wabash grad.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992330,00.html

Another Midwesterner in South Florida trying

to make sense of it and explain it to others!
Like IU grads Shannon Hori and Jawan Strader

of CBS-4, and Rob Schmitt of Local10.

Tim's all-too-prescient analysis of the mess we

call Florida 2009, was rocking and rolling all over

the Internet soon afterwards, as pundits and reporters

of all stripes and political sympathies were linking

to it and using it as a jumping-off point for their own

perspective on matters closer to home or to prove
a point.

For instance, Tom Bevan of Real Clear Politics,

one of my favorites, used Tim's piece to talk about

the grim economic situation in Michigan and Illinois

and noted how they are handling things there -poorly.

Not a lot of can-do spirit, but a lot of tax-hungry pols
eager to ignore reality and reward their pals and the
government bureaucracy.

I touched on this situation in Michigan and New York
on March 3rd and April 24th with these posts:

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/expect-more-new-yorkers-in-broward-as.html

Expect more New Yorkers in Broward,
as NY Post reveals: GOV PLOTS SECRET
TAX HIKE ON RICH

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/many-fleeing-michigan-en-masse-have.html
Many Fleeing Michigan En Masse Have Maps of Florida
-HB Wants Dibs on the Smart & Skilled Ones!

Turns out that more than half of all Michigan college
students leave the state after graduating.
Wonder what it is in Florida?
--------------
TIME
Florida Exodus: Rising Taxes Drive Out Residents

By TIM PADGETT/MIAMI

There are many things public officials probably shouldn't do during a severe recession, but no one seems to have told the leaders in Florida about them. One thing, for instance, would be giving a dozen top aides hefty raises while urging a rise in property taxes, as the mayor of Miami-Dade County recently did. Or jacking up already exorbitant hurricane-insurance premiums, as Florida's government-run property insurer just did. Or sending an army of highly paid lobbyists to push for a steep hike in electricity rates, as South Florida's public utility is doing.

And you wonder why the Sunshine State is experiencing its first net emigration of people since World War II.

See the rest of the story at:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1919916,00.html?xid=rss-mostpopular

Tim's great concluding sentence:

But if Miami and Florida officials can't get their acts together, they can probably expect even lower head counts in the years to come.

Exactly.
It's called voting with your feet, something that the
Broward County Commission and the Broward
County School Board are learning the hard way,
due to the economy and their own longstanding
inability to deliver a satisfactory performance for
the amount of tax dollars they consume.

Each has more than a few members who seem
more interested in financial and political advancement,
and rewarding their financial backers with govt.
contracts, than actually doing the job for which
they were elected to: supervision over the
grab-bag School system that is often going in two
different directions -and none of them are Forward.

Their sense of entitlement is breathtaking as is their
inability to see what's right in front of them.

If you have only heard about Tim's essay second-hand,

but not read it for yourself, I should also mention

that in the online version of the story on TIME's

website, they have a photo with the following

spot-on caption:

A mover prepares household items belonging
to a customer leaving Aventura, Fla., for
San Diego.

That struck me as funny given that as recently

as three weeks ago, the LA Times had a truly

inspired essay by Candice Reed that presaged

this sentimet, about the Golden State having

long its luster for many.

That's just the latest version of that same story,

which gets repeated at least once every ten years,

and which why so many former Californians now

live in Nevada, esp. Las Vegas, or moved to

Oregon, only to be soon inundated by more
people just like themselves.

It's not too dis-similar to why so many former

Floridians now live in North Carolina.

-----------

9/3/09 Real Clear Politics Blog

What Michigan Can Learn From Florida

By Tom Bevan

http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/09/03/what-michigan-can-learn-from-florida/

---------

9/3/09 Real Clear Politics Blog

Read Hynes' Lips: New Taxes

By Tom Bevan
http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/09/03/read-hynes-lips-new-taxes/

He concludes with this crackling barb about

Dan Hynes' recent comments and his desire

to run against the incumbent governor in the

primary:

Given the crappy economy, the public's generally sour mood and its specific disgust with the state's endemic corruption and the left over fumes of the Blagojevich administration, building your candidacy as a Democrat around the issue of raising taxes doesn't strike me as the smartest campaign strategy.

------------------

Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-reed16-2009aug16,0,5811934.story

Opinion
Dear California, I'm dumping you
I thought it would last forever, but you've changed and I want out.
By Candice Reed
August 16, 2009

Dear California,

I've been thinking about this for a very long time, and I've come to the conclusion that we should go our separate ways. I thought I loved you and it would last forever, but I was so very wrong.

I know that our relationship has lasted 50 years and that we should fight to stay together, but you've changed so much that, frankly, I don't know who you are anymore!

When we first met I was young and rather naive, and I loved you unconditionally. I spent years running with abandon across your sandy beaches in the bright sunshine, playing in your beautiful parks and attending your top-rated schools, which were a national model for the other states. For 18 years or so, I can honestly say that I was truly in love with you, but then came your first major transgression: Proposition 13.

Oh sure, you tried to tell me that property taxes were bad for our relationship, but I knew you were lying. Low taxes, you said, would bring us closer together. You wanted to have your cake and eat it too. You said we could build schools and roads and parks without that tax money, but even back then I knew you were in denial.

I didn't leave because I thought you'd get over it and we'd still have a future. But, to be totally honest, I stayed with you mostly for your weather. No other state has your perfect little sunsets (don't get me started on that sexy Pacific Ocean), your 364.5 days of sunshine each year and your mild climate even in winter. I know you occasionally turned on me with your random earthquake tantrums, and you tried to chase me away with flames more than a few times, but I forgave you. I always forgave you, which I suppose says something about me. I was weak when it came to you, California. But now you're hurting everyone we know, and I can't stand by and watch.

You've totally lost perspective, and I'm sinking into depression! We can't pay our bills, and the phone is ringing off the hook with creditors calling from all over the world. Children across the state are losing healthcare, more than 766,300 Californians lost their jobs in the last year, and we're at the top of the foreclosure charts. You need to change, and you refuse to admit it. For the first time in our relationship, I'm embarrassed to say that we are together.

There's no doubt that I still have feelings for you, but since I lost my job in the newspaper industry and my house is being sold under duress, I want out. I'm leaving you, California, and you might as well know the truth; there's another state and I'm falling for it hard.

Never mind where it is, let's just say that it's above you and leave it at that. What I will tell you is that I can afford to live there without stressing every day that my expensive electricity will be shut off, or that my water, which I can use only sparingly, will dry up.

Oh, and my new state still has jobs in the newspaper business, which I will admit makes my heart go pitter-pat, and I find myself daydreaming about healthcare benefits again. I know my new state isn't perfect. Oh sure, the weather isn't as nice as yours, and it's got its own budget shortfall, but it's coping, and I can dress in layers. Nothing is perfect.

So that's it, California, it's over. You've cost me too much. I'm starting over, but I can see happy times ahead. Like we once had.

Please don't call my mother to try and find out where I live. You could be a great state again, but I can't wait for you to turn it all around. Good luck!

Hasta la vista,
Candice

Candice Reed starts her new job in Chelan, Wash., in September. She is the co-author of "Thank You for Firing Me! How to Ride the Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job," which will be published in February.

CBS4's Stephen Stock gives FL Stimulus Spending the I-Team Treatment tonight at 11 p.m.

July 23rd, 2009

Re my post yesterday, Et tu, Florida?: Georgia DOT
joins ProPublica's Stimulus Spot Check project,
just a head's-up before you head out for the night.

Stephen Stock of the hard-charging CBS4 I-Team
wrote this morning to say that they'll be doing a story
on Florida stimulus spending tonight at 11 p.m.,
so have your VCRs/TiVos at the ready.
http://cbs4.com/iteam

Above, some CBS4 Miami screenshots I did this

afternoon while I caught a promo for Stephen

Stock's report tonight.

In case you miss it, I should have the story link up
tomorrow on my blog, along some with some other
interesting articles on the stimulus spending in

Florida and the nation, and whether it's actually

working, or will even have had any consequences

before next year's primary and general election,

where a new governor and new U.S. Senator will

be chosen for The Sunshine State.

Amazing Race Casting Call March 14th at Mardi Gras in Hallandale Beach

LOCAL CASTING CALL OFFERS OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE IN CBS HIT SERIES, "THE AMAZING RACE"

          
WHAT:        

Here's an opportunity to take the first step towards competing on one of television's most exciting reality series.  CBS4 and Mardis Gras Casino are sponsoring an open casting call for "The Amazing Race," the highly-rated CBS reality series that pits two person teams - friends, couples or relatives -- against one another as they race through exotic locations around the world.

WHERE:       

Mardis Gras Casino
831 N. Federal Highway 
Hallandale Beach, FL  33009

WHEN:
Saturday, March 14,2009, 10 AM - 2 PM

HOW:            

* CBS4 photographers will be on hand to shoot audition video and submit application packages for each team that applies.

* Each candidate/team member must audition and team members must audition together.  In addition, each person must fill out a complete application.  The Amazing Race applications and eligibility requirements can be found on CBS.com.   

* Each team of two should plan to speak for two minutes at the most.  There is no minimum time amount for a submission.  

Contact for the public: Deborah Lile, 305-514-4104 or log on: check out http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/

Press contact: Lee Zimmerman, Director of Communications, WFOR, WBFS, 305-639-4426

CBS-TV's Amazing Race is by far my favorite reality TV show, and a show I never miss, just like Lost, Medium, 24, Criminal Minds and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Actually, it's the only one that I faithfully watch the night it airs, and have ever since the show's premiere.

It's also the only reality show I'd actually like to appear on since I'm great with geography, logistics and languages, and have very good intuition.

I also always watch Survivor every week when it's on, but often I don't see the new episode 'till early Saturday morning over breakfast, before the first Premier League soccer game from England airs on Fox Soccer Channel.

Does anyone recall what happened four years ago when the teams found themselves in Little Havana on the final episode and needed to find a particular tienda to get the final clue to win a million dollars, and then had to get up to a park in Fort Lauderdale?  Think about it.

That was Amazing Race 7, the great year that featured Uchenna & Joyce and Rob & Amber battling week-after-week 'till they wound up in the no-man's land of South Florida.

Why yes, to the great amusement of so many millions of people across the country, it's the famous Lost in Little Havana episode!  ¿Habla Inglés?

See http://tv.nytimes.com/episode/48654/Amazing-Race-7/overview ,

http://www.hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/000577.html and 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race_7

Honestly, is there anyone on TV who does a better job than show host Phil Keoghan of doing the raised eyebrow, when a team jumps on a pit stop mat?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0449070/

My second favorite season, after The All-Stars two years ago, was probably the one that featured families, though I know a lot of media people didn't particularly like that change of pace from the two-person team format.

Personally, I thought it was a genius move which only further cemented the show's already large popularity and appeal to families on Sunday night, in order to peel them away from Fox-TV's animated fare. 

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

Check out Phil Keough's video diary at:

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/video/phils_diary.php

I have a strong feeling I'll be there and shoot some photos.