Why is Washington Post so reluctant to ask hard questions about Hillary Clinton that could well have been raised about her H.S. govt. aspirations -by even her friends- that are still dogging her now? Elizabeth Wurtzel's 1998 analysis of Hillary remains my go-to bible!

Why is Washington Post so reluctant to ask hard questions about Hillary Clinton that could well have been raised about her H.S. govt. aspirations -by even her friends- that are still dogging her now? Elizabeth Wurtzel's 1998 analysis of Hillary remains my go-to bible!

I wrote about Hillary the teenager. https://t.co/y7vw6cXMNI

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) October 17, 2016

The Washington Post

Always running, always prepared: Hillary Clinton as a high school politician 

By Dan Zak 

October 17 at 11:54 AM 

PARK RIDGE, Ill. — Hillary Rodham was 16 when she first ran for president.

It was February 1964, her junior year of high school in this town of steeples and lawns on the rail line to Chicago. She was vice president of her class, and one of five students running to lead the student council for the next academic year. Student rock bands played in support of candidates in the hallways and cafeteria of Maine East High School.

“Stop mudslinging before it starts,” the school newspaper opined. “Keep this election clean!”

No girl had ever held the job before. “The boys would run for president, and the most popular girl would run for secretary,” says classmate Tim Sheldon, who was one of Hillary’s rivals and is now a retired judge in Elgin, Ill. Years later, in her memoir, Hillary recalled a boy telling her she was “really stupid” if she thought a girl could win.

But it was 1964, and she wasn’t even the only girl in the race.

Read the rest of the article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hillary-clinton-high-school-years-always-running-always-prepared/2016/10/17/35dd9e4a-8c08-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html

These are probably my two favorite Hillary anecdotes from 1964. https://t.co/y7vw6cXMNI pic.twitter.com/lYI9apCXGl

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) October 17, 2016

Fave detail that didn't make the story: The theme of Hillary's prom, at the Sheraton O'Hare, was "Medieval Mist." https://t.co/y7vw6cXMNI

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) October 17, 2016

Hillary wrote about being called "stupid" 4 running 4 h.s. prez. One of her rivals was female, tho, & I called her: https://t.co/y7vw6cXMNI

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) October 17, 2016

Here is that mock interview with future Hillary in her high-school newspaper in 1965. Author unknown. Forensic sketch not bad! pic.twitter.com/5kIRKj0ODM

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) October 17, 2016

Here's that very grown-up, narc-y quote from 17-yr-old Hillary, re: vandalism. Also, her co-chair was a Calif. delegate at the DNC in July! pic.twitter.com/r0pRahg1mC

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) October 17, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hillary-clinton-high-school-years-always-running-always-prepared/2016/10/17/35dd9e4a-8c08-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html

The logical counter-point to this kind of gauzy and whimsical reporting-by-yearbook or scrapbook that the washington post has specialized in its Style section the last few decades is how real and modern -and menacing!- the Tracey Flick character portrayed by Reese Witherspoon was in the film adaption of "Election." 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Flick

That character didn't just plot and scheme, she practically leaped out of the screen, oozing sanctimonious personal ambition and a sense of entitlement!

Even after all this time and all the self-evident examples both good and bad of who Hillary Clinton really is and what she believes in, the Washington Post, rather curiously in these types of breezy profile pieces that regular Post readers like me have come to expect at predictable times in an election news cycle, still seems reluctant to ask a hard-but-fair question about her and the premise of her current candidacy: 
Why are the logical questions that could have well been fairly raised about Hillary's candidacy in High School, by even her friends and supporters -her lack of charisma, authenticity and a consistent inability to make even people who plan to vote for her feel comfortable with her, and around her- still dogging her now?

Especially since it's been clear for so long that she intended to run?

Why, given her unique and unchallenged access to the sorts of resources and people that nobody else in the country can match, has she NOT done enough to actually change that dynamic, even a little bit, except for occasionally changing her political consultants? 

It's a mystery.

In the opinion of not only myself but many other people I know and respect who have a much-closer observation point, she actually seems to have regressed, and is doing retail politics even more poorly now than when she ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2006, in what was her second personal campaign.

That answer is surely not contained in any of her own books, nor in this article.

It might be time for me to again re-read the amazing 1998 book by Elizabeth Wurtzel,

Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women, a book, below, which I believe has the single best analysis and dissection of Hillary Clinton and her persona that I've ever read.

Certainly light years ahead of the conveyor-belt of sycophantic utterings about Hillary from media pals and protectors that have circulated in the news stream for the past twenty years, leaving younger voters grasping for something that's real and meaningful.

I actually attended Elizabeth Wurtzel's book reading/discussion of Bitch on June 27, 1998 at the then-extant Olsson's Books at Metro Center, in Washington, D.C.

I arrived at the event early because I was very motivated and knew in advance: 

a.) It would be fascinating because Wurtzel was so damn interesting herself, and articulate and intelligent that very few Beltway media types ever actually area once you get to know them. (I speak from experience on that.) Wurtzel always seemed to be speaking in full and convincing phrases in interviews in ways that seemed intoxicating to me, almost like she was reading well-rehearsed lines filled with bite, but which comes natural to some people who are very sure of themselves and the facts.

b.) Even by DC's usual literary standards, I knew it was sure to be packed because of the large amount of buzz and controversy about her and the book that had preceded her, and no doubt as well by her publisher for choosing to use a fetching photo of her -the cover?- to promote the event in the DC CityPaper.

Trust me, I was not alone in thinking even before she ever walked into the room that Elizabeth Wurtzel had ample intelligence, good looks and breezy, knowing attitude to spare and to slay any dragons that dared appear at the bookstore. I was not wrong.

I can assure you, once she was introduced and began filling the air with clever and inventive analysis and some occasional zingers, she positively sizzled in every way.

There were many more men in that bookstore personally energized and turned-on by her and what she was saying than you can possibly imagine now in reading my words here.

For myself, I kept thinking that Wurtzel, someone who clearly was using to people projecting onto them all sorts of their own imagery (or baggage) was more like a contemporary version of a combination of Lauren Bacall in her first film, 1944's To Have and Have Not, below, plus Katharine Hepburn in the 1942 film, Woman of the Year. 

Pretty good company!

Lauren Bacall on cover of LIFE, October 16, 1944: "New Movie Find." Part of promo campaign 4 "To Have And Have Not' pic.twitter.com/Dcnnb9TUnG

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) August 13, 2014

Karen Lehrman's April 19, 1998 review of Bitch in the New York Times:

I Am Woman, Hear Me Whine 
Elizabeth Wurtzel celebrates women who are a pain in the neck.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/04/19/reviews/980419.19lehrmat.html

Twitter @LizzieWurtzel https://twitter.com/LizzieWurtzel

I'll re-read Elizabeth Wurtzel's chapter on Hillary Clinton and report back here soon!

But to give you a taste, watch Elizabeth Wurtzel discuss her book on C-SPAN on June 27, 1998 https://www.c-span.org/video/?105509-1/bitch-praise-difficult-women

A gentle reminder for you newcomers to the blog or any by-now-angry Hillary acolytes: I was a vocal supporter of Bill Clinton for President in 1991, long BEFORE he ever announced for the presidency. As my friends and family can tell you, I even planned on running as Clinton delegate to the 1992 DNC before the Virginia Democratic Party HQ down in Richmond even knew what it was doing, so could only tell me to "hold tight" until I heard back from them when I asked what the procedures were.

I was also a member of the DLC when I was living and working in Washington, even to the point of often hauling soda and various snacks around Capitol Hill for our occasional meetings from Oklahoma Congressman Dave McCurdy's office when he was in charge.

And did I mention that my best friend is from Hope, Arkansas, birthplace as well of... well, you know who.

Just saying...

Dave 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Baltimore Sun's savvy TV critic David Zurawik zeroes-in on Beltway political class & MSM's tacit agreement on unethical conduct and asks rhetorical question: "Is it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give money to Al Franken?" Yes, let me count the ways...but let's not forget to throw Stephanie Cutter on the fire, too; @davidzurawik

Is it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give money to Al Franken? http://t.co/RDGxAD4JoV
— David Zurawik (@davidzurawik) November 4, 2013

Baltimore Sun
Z on TV blog
Was it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give Al Franken money?
To me, this is how the channel's news identity is demeaned by mixing politics, money and media
By David Zurawik The Baltimore Sun
6:58 a.m. EST, November 4, 2013

Maybe it's just me, but a fundraising letter I received from CNN's Paul Begala last week struck me as emblematic of what's wrong when media are mixed with money and politics -- as they increasingly are these days at cable TV news channels in Washington.

Here's the letter. And you tell me if this is appropriate for someone listed as "commentator" at CNN -- someone who also appears on the channel's website under the heading "Anchors/Reporters" as Begala does

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-cnn-paul-begala-money-fund-raising-20131031,0,6011421.story

As for Stephanie Cutter, well, she merely proves that the sort of unethical behavior we've been force-fed by America's Mainstream Media and been forced to expect from certain Democratic Party & GOP consultants and strategists is not a Male-Only preserve:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/cnn-lowered-its-ethical-standards-make-things-easier-newt-gingrich/69959/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/obama-guys-were-too-afraid-demote-stephanie-cutter/69384/

Fox News Channel
White House getting advice on Syria from former Obama campaign advisers 
By Ed Henry
Published September 03, 2013 FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/03/white-house-getting-advice-on-syria-from-former-obama-campaign-advisers/

Sure, why not get advice from people who don't actually know anything original about the country or speak French and Arabic, and who only know what other people have told them or what they've read.
Just like your neighbor or the person who hands you your coffee at Panera Bread.

My recollections of September are that President Obama's policy on Syria was a disaster from beginning to end and something that everyone, regardless of political ideology, agreed upon on from coast-to-coast.
You remember, the policy that even the Washington Post's Editorial Board strongly criticized and which I mentioned last Tuesday, here:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.be/2013/10/obamas-bad-foreign-policy-from-start.html

The one time in five years that Obama really brought the country together -in opposition to his own policies.

Sure, of course, that result is to be expected when you've got such great consultants and advisors.
Just don't say anything bad about Valerie Jarrett and her lack of knowledge or else...

-----
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/

A fatal flaw for which he'll never recover: lack of gravitas. LA's outgoing mayor was not a full-time mayor or even part-time mayor but more a when-I-get-around-to-it kind of mayor -LA Weekly report proves that Antonio Villaraigosa only spent 15% of his core time on city business

This report, which I originally saw cited via Breitbart News, does not comes as news to me.
I'd heard this from well-informed and reasonably well-connected friends in the Los Angeles area for years.

Frankly, they always wondered why nobody ever tried to get ahold of the mayor's schedule to connect-the-dots via a Public Records request that wasn't geared towards finding out who he was dating -like a TV reporter or anchor.
Well, someone did -the LA Weekly.  

Right, as if his more well-known personal tics, problems and hang-ups weren't enough...

LA Weekly

How L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Spent His 12-Hour Days in 2012

By Patrick Range McDonald 

May 22 2013 at 3:52 PM 

In 2008, L.A. Weekly obtained Mayor Villaraigosa's official work schedule and discovered that he spent only 11 percent of his time on direct mayoral work. Critics dubbed him "the 11 percent mayor." Four years later, as he leaves office, we revisited his calendar. We found that Villaraigosa is deeply devoted to photo ops, ceremonies and travel, spending just 15 percent of his day on core duties such as deciding upon policy or weighing laws. He spends 42 percent of his working hours traveling outside Los Angeles.

See the rest of the post at:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/05/antonio_villaraigosa_schedule.php

William March has scoop on Bill Nelson & Debbie Wasserman-Schultz ally and lobbyist Allison Tant, who wants other Tampa Bay-area Dems to quit so she can qualify to run for Florida Democratic Party Chairmanship; This only proves wisdom of current Chair Rod Smith's recommendations all over again about how party leaderships battles should be done; Miami Herald is completely ignoring this issue -and Annette Taddeo-Goldstein. Tant pis pour elles!

I hadn't expected to find myself writing about internecine Democratic Party leadership battles in Florida for two posts in a row but here we are nonetheless.
Yesterday, I wrote about the battle for the Broward County Democratic Party chairmanship between challenger and part activist Cynthia M. Busch and incumbent and lobbyist Mitch Caesar.
This afternoon, the Tampa Tribune's William March was johnny-on-the-spot with more news about inter-party grudge matches coming to a head in the Sunshine State.
  

Tampa Tribune

Fresh squeezed Polics blog

Tant ready for a battle for state Dems chair

Posted Dec 5, 2012 by William March

Updated Dec 5, 2012 at 04:32 PM

Prominent Democratic fundraiser Allison Tant of Tallahassee said Wednesday she was recruited by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz to run for the state Democratic Party chairmanship, and that she’s prepared for a battle if necessary in seeking the office.

Read the rest of the post at: http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/tant-ready-for-a-battle-for-state-dems-chair/

So, what most accurately describes this situation above?
a.) Changing the rules in mid-stream (mid-game), or,

b.) special rules for special people

Or is it both as I think?

If Allison Tant and her allies have to either induce other Democrats who were already duly-elected by other Democrats to quit -despite her knowing the qualification rules months ago- or even has to engage in a degree of intimidation in order to get a specific result that rewards someone who, coyly-but-unconvincingly says that she never thought about running for the position until last Friday, do you think the bigger problem here might be the party's rules themselves, that DO NOT reward actual hard work by party members and activists on the ground, but DO reward party pooh-bahs with high self-regard?

And really, a state Democratic Party chair who is a longtime lobbyist?
Like Mitch Caesar times 67? (Sixty-seven being the number of counties in the state.)

Is that really the road that the state party wants to travel after so many Obamaphiles have decried the horrors of corporate lobbying and influence peddling to voters for a year straight?
I think not.

And where would the conflict of interest even begin to cover THAT situation?

Given this delicious bit of recon intelligence offered by William March this afternoon, I re-direct your attention again to my post of yesterday regarding Tampa Bay Times reporter/columnist Adam C. Smith's interview with current Florida Democratic party Chair Rod Smith, and how some of the comments seem to me to be an almost a perfect description of the situation in Broward County.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/hmm-m-florida-democratic-party-chair.html

Rod Smith's prescriptions for Fla Democrats

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/rod-smiths-prescriptions-fla-democrats

What is the number one recommended change cited by Rod Smith?

Change the way party chairs are elected, opening up eligibility to everyone rather than just to party activists who have been elected local state committeemen or state committeewoman and county chairs. The current system breeds "real subterfuge" where would-be chairs, himself included in 2010, at the last minute strike a deal to get elected to their local party leadership (as Annette Taddeo-Goldstein was elected Miami-Dade chairwoman Monday night).

Oops!

Where in the Miami Herald have you seen anything about Annette Taddeo-Goldstein did to get her position? 
Nowhere.

Here, by their own accounts, is the sum total of her name in-print in the Herald this year:

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Annette+Taddeo-Goldstein

Nowhere in print in the past four weeks since the election and nowhere online prior to Monday late night.
By the way, since I don't want to miss this opportunity, most people would agree with me that simply printing a press release is NOT journalism
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/12/miami-dade-dems-choose-first-latina-chair-annette-taddeo-goldstein.html

So the Herald had nobody at or outside of the meeting Monday night and wrote absolutely NOTHING about what really happened Monday night?
That's also NOT real journalism.

But of course, being the Herald, they could rationalize it because at least they got to use the word "Latina" in their headline.
Only one of their favorite words!

Thus, even a well-informed Herald reader would NOT have even known that she was angling to be state party chair based on... well, what exactly?

Her failed congressional candidacy in 2008 and her failed Miami-Dade County Commission candidacy in 2010?
The video of her on YouTube that a grand total of 32 people, including me, have seen?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18T2jYKAec8

Me, I think that after what has just happened with the election, I DON'T think the rest of the state is going to vote to reward a Hispanic woman from Miami with the title of State Chair, who just qualified to run on Monday night.
Especially a woman who, despite having run for Congress four years ago, is still largely an unknown quantity, and a woman who, per my many criticisms of the state of journalism in South Florida, was NEVER mentioned in the Herald this year regarding her political activities even once.

Not once!
And this is the person who should be in charge of the state party?

A woman whom everyone says is personally very nice but who, to be honest, has actually done MUCH LESS than MANY other Dems running for county chairs throughout the state?
Like Cynthia M. Busch for instance?

How exactly would that square with any semblance or notions of merit?

Also, what exactly did Annette Taddeo earn from The Tuck School at Dartmouth?

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http://www.annettetaddeo.com/

Hmm-m... Florida Democratic Party Chair Rod Smith sounds like he's talking about Broward County Dem czar Mitch Caesar to me when he talks about things he'd like to change...

As some of you reading this post may or may not have heard -though certainly not on Miami TV- Broward County Democratic Party czar Mitch Caesar is running for re-election against activist Cythia M. Busch, and many people, not just the devout Obamaphiles, want to toss him overboard toute-de-suite for his inability to translate this county's overwhelming Democratic registration advantages into... well, something else.

They argue among themselves about the details of what they actually want, but they're in agreement that he needs to go, which makes him sort of like what Dave Wannstedt was his last year as Dolphins head coach.

People wanted him gone!

Given what many people believe are Caesar's poor and clumsy management skills, inability to communicate any message except his own when he himself is in front of a national TV camera, plus his myriad lobbying activities within the area, where he's apparently often in towns where, theoretically, he has some degree of power over the people he's actually lobbying, party-wise, people think it's time to change horses.

But he won't go quietly.

Per this, http://www.browardbeat.com/demos-fight-over-future-of-the-party/

and this, http://www.browardbeat.com/dan-lewis-demo-boss-ceasar-needs-to-retire/

and that, of course, http://www.browardbeat.com/state-party-ceasar-never-stole-last-election/

This evening, just a few moments after it got posted, I was sent this Buzz blog item written by Adam C. Smith at the Tampa Bay Times website, which had this great quote from Florida Democratic Party Chair Rod Smith on what he'd like to do, if her could, to make the party structure more open and responsive:

Why? "It's about some people who are empowered and have disproportionate, political attention because you have to go to them and get their support to be, chair of the party...when they might not even have much influence in their own, county," Smith said.

Rod Smith's prescriptions for Fla Democrats

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/rod-smiths-prescriptions-fla-democrats

What upcoming re-election battle between Mitch Caesar against Cynthia Busch?

The Miami Herald hasn't mentioned his name in print since July 7th.

Surprise! 

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=%22Mitch+Ceasar%22

I voted for Rod Smith for governor in 2006, and still have one of his plastic yard signs behind a chest of drawers.

For obvious reasons, I'm a sucker for signs that say "Smith for Governor."

Why swing state Florida is NOT Obama's for the taking and what Mitt Romney must do to win it; why Obama's TV attack ads against Romney aren't working -it's the economy, stupid!; Local10's Michael Putney to interview President Obama Friday for 6 o'clock newscast in Miami; #LaurenGores, @LaurenABC17

WallStreetJournalDigitalNetwork video: Why Florida May Be a Reach for Obama. Correspondent Arian Campo-Flores reports from Miami and explains why the fickle Sunshine State may not be President Obama's for the taking in November, and what Mitt Romney and the GOP will have to do to win this important swing state. July 19, 2012. http://youtu.be/t8y18Kh6JWA

sandyfrazier9 video: RealClear Politics Executive Editor Tom Bevan spoke with guest host Tucker Carlson on Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity Show about how Obama and the Democrats finally decided how they'd attempt to portray Mitt Romney in Tv ads to Independent and Moderates, without whom Obama can't be re-elected, and what issues or factors will most affect whom Romney selects to be his running-mate . 
Surprise! Someone who will "do no harm" and allow the focus of the campaign to remain firmly on Obama and make it a referendum on his failed stewardship of the economy. Posted July 2, 2012. http://youtu.be/plgk8sPzgwc -


Better than Truthy with Stephen Colbert, it's Newsy Politics, with IU grad Lauren Gores in Missouri: multiple-sourced -the way news used to be!





NewsyPolitics video: Economic woes wounding Obama, says new NYT/CBS News poll. July 19, 2012. http://youtu.be/ntoPzskr43k


Homepage for NY Times/CBS News Polling:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/opinion/polls/main500160.shtml


Newsy Politics YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NewsyPolitics 


Lauren Gores' Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LaurenABC17


MBA's Best Newscast winner is a Hoosier grad!
http://twitter.com/JustinABC17/statuses/209264287833800704
http://twitpic.com/5cxrfz


Morning anchor Gores wakes up Missouri
http://journalism.indiana.edu/news-for-alumni/morning-anchor-gores-wakes-up-missouri/


Hoosier Lauren's sister is Rochelle Gores Fredston, former owner and muse behind LA's ARCADE Boutique on Melrose, which closed back in May. 
A few of my more fashion-oriented female friends in SoCal had even mentioned to me in the past that it was one of the most consistent boutiques around, whatever that means. 
She's now working for her father's very successful private equity firm
http://www.thedailytruffle.com/2010/12/a-little-family-background-on-rochelle-gores-and-arcade-boutique/
http://la.racked.com/tags/rochelle-gores


*FYI: Local 10's Michael Putney, a University of Missouri grad, will interview President Obama Friday for Channel 10's 6 o'clock newscast in Miami.
Have a good question that ought to be asked of the president?
Send it to Michael at share@local10.com

Widespread power outages in Beltway cause Fred Barnes to reflect on the power vacuum in Washington that lies at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

View Larger Map
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The Weekly Standard
Washington Loses Power
And not just from a storm.
By Fred Barnes
July 16, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 41

For Washington, this is definitely not the best of times. The town is suffering from a power outage.

The evidence is hard to miss, from Washington’s weeklong struggle to cope with storm damage that knocked out electricity across the region to President Obama’s inability to awaken the economy, as reflected once again in June’s pathetic jobs report.

To make matters worse, Washing-ton is out of sync with the country, at least with the noncoastal parts. The usual response is to unleash the president so he can rally America to Washington’s purposes. But the bully pulpit hasn’t been effective since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. And Obama has failed to revive it.

Read the rest of the post at
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/washington-loses-power_648233.html

The curious case of Broward County Comm. candidate Marty Kiar's Tweets, which, for me, are more revealing for what they DON'T say

Above, the cover of Broward County Commission candidate Marty Kiar's recent four-page direct mail to NW Broward County voters. If you think that a mailing with this cover would be light on ideas or issues, esp. those involving the County Commission, the group he wants to join, you'd be right. But then have you read his tweets? 

Over the past nine months, for the most part, if you didn't know any better, you'd never even guess that  Kiar lived in Broward County, because whether it's the issue of ethics and scruples or rather the obvious lack of them at times on the County and municipal level here by elected officials and well-paid administrators and employees, the overwhelming evidence that red-light cameras in Broward are being used primarily as revenue generators for cities instead of for the public safety purposes elected officials say they are when installing them, the County's curious garbage contract monopoly, Broward County Commissioners fighting term-limits overwhelmingly voted in as law by Broward citizens, et al, Kiar never mentions important public policy matters that were actually being publicly discussed and voted upon in THIS county -and what he thinks about them. But then again, he is only 34-years old.

I find it very troubling that considering all the advantages that he enjoys, he's SO MUCH of a blank slate instead of being a more fully-formed and informed citizen. I seriously hope that voters living in District 8 will see more civic-minded candidates entering the race in the next four weeks, people who are NOT as tied-in to the Status Quo society in this county as Kiar is, so they can have at least one candidate to consider who will not only know the facts and know their own mind, but NOT hedge what they publicly says now because of being SO CONCERNED about election campaigns in the future, as Kiar seems to be. April 22, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Did you see Marty Kiar's tweet about why FL Fair Districts & the FL Democrats NEVER made public -and submitted- their Redistricting maps when they had the chance?
Actually, he never did.

Not once.

http://twitter.com/#!/repmartinkiar

On the other hand, Kiar, who, as I wrote the other day here, is running for the Broward County Comm. District 8 seat currently held by term-limited Ilene Lieberman, never neglected to tell us what he perceived to be very important insider info on all sorts of matters.


Things like how many miles he ran that day in preparation for running in a marathon, and how many doors he knocked on -he actually did it during Dolphins home loss to Tebow-led Broncos and a later home win against Buffalo- mentioned that he was at various state Redistricting meetings around the state and, even -wait for it- the sex of his unborn child, the latter being a fact that nobody outside of his family and immediate circle of friends could possibly care about... and TMI.


On October 19th of last year he even tweeted a link to an Orlando Sentinel editorial about two companion bills dealing with the public's right to speak to elected officials at public meetings that he and Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart offered, Senate Bill 206 and HB 355. 
Bills that I and almost everyone reading this blog would wholeheartedly agree with, in my case, because of what I and my friends and other HB residents have had to deal with for years at Hallandale Beach City Hall.
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=47498


Let citizens be heard by their government
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-10-20/news/os-ed-public-meeting-speakers-102011-20111019_1_citizens-appeals-bodies


Unfortunately, both bills died the first week of March. 
How come he never tweeted about that?



NEGRON BILL GUARANTEEING RIGHT TO SPEAK AT PUBLIC MEETINGS DIES IN HOUSE
www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/mar/13/bill-guaranteeing-right-to-speak-at-public-dies/


(Residency-challenged Rep. Frank Artiles of House 119 voted against it on 2/3/12 in the Rulemaking & Regulation Subcommittee, but it still passed 12-3.)



Similarly, he tweets that he ran the Disney Marathon but, incredulously, doesn't give his time.
Really.


As someone with a sister who runs in a lot of marathons across the country, I can say with little chance of being wrong that Marty Kiar may be the first person in the history of Twitter -at least in South Florida- to run a marathon, mention it in a tweet but NOT give his time, even if it isn't a PR.

He mentions the sex of his soon-too-be second child but the subject of Democratic-drawn maps that conformed to the two Constitutional Amendments that were overwhelmingly approved by Florida voters, something that was in the news about every day for a couple of months, he tweets nothing about?
Yes.

That's very curious when you consider that for better than a year, we were all told over-and-over by the members of the Florida news media that the people running Fair Districts Florida wanted us to know that they were really looking out for all our best interests after we came thru and gave them the big election victories, but on the other hand, they also wanted us to know that the Florida GOP, on the other hand, well, you know them.

They'll do nothing but try to obfuscate and prevent the people of this state from ever seeing competitive districts drawn for a change so that real ideas and issues might matter more than PAC contributions or a candidates race, ethnicity or religion.
You know the Florida GOP, they said with a sly wink, they'll keep up the long and treasured Sunshine State tradition of pols choosing their districts, rather than have voters choose them, the way it was always explained in high school Social Studies books once upon a time.

Yet what did THEY do?

So now that it's the first week of May and state legislative elections with the Republican-drawn court-approved maps will be held in six months, how come Fair Districts Florida and the Florida Democratic Party STILL haven't explained to the public why they NEVER officially submitted maps to the Florida Senate Redistricting Comm.?

Why?

And better yet, why doesn't the Mainstream News Media in this state, the nation's fourth-largest I remind you, care a whit about that, and never mention that salient fact in their stories about the court siding with the Florida GOP and what those new maps mean?

Not just real competition in some cases, but incumbents running against one another, always a good thing?

It's like they all have a bad case of situational amnesia, and are feigning not knowing what I and many of you reading this already know.

It's galling, just like Kiar's precious tweets.

Yes, it's not only a case of late with the Florida Democratic Party being the dog that doesn't hunt, but when you toss in the incurious state news media to the mix, it's a case of the watchdog that never barks.

Which would make it a lapdog, not a bulldog.


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Educating Martin Kiar
http://smashedfrog.blogspot.com/2009/06/educating-martin-kiar.html 

South Florida's wealthiest and most liberal 1% will be keen listeners as Obama lectures nation about 'fairness' and Buffett Rule in Florida this afternoon, but Swing Independent voters care less about 'fairness' than economic opportunity and job creation -real jobs!

South Florida's wealthiest and most liberal 1% will be keen listeners as Obama lectures nation about 'fairness' and Buffett Rule in Florida this afternoon, but Swing Independent voters care less about 'fairness' than economic opportunity and job creation -real jobs!

The Third Way think tank report is not good news for the folks at Obama-Biden 2012, given the heated and self-congratulatory rhetoric of many of their most fervent acolytes:
http://thirdway.org/publications/511


And the fact that the Buffett Rule would have little effect on tax revenue doesn't help, raising maybe $5.1 billion, and have no effect on the federal deficit or debt.
A 1% cut at every federal agency would result in over $33 billion in savings.
But that's NOT what Obama wants to do, is it?



Much ado about...

Open publication - Free publishing - More independents

http://issuu.com/thirdway/docs/third_way_report_-_opportunity_trumps_fairness_?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222




The National Journal

DECODED blog
The Fairness Agenda Divides Democrats. Seriously.
By Jill Lawrence
April 9, 2012 | 11:00 PM

For a brief moment it seemed that Democrats had become the organized party Will Rogers never knew, orchestrating a seamless campaign against the unfairness they see in the tax code and their support for tax reforms meant to ensure that billionaires like Warren Buffett don't pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

But as President Obama and other Democrats ramp up for a Senate vote next week on the so-called Buffett rule, the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way is rudely interrupting the unity-fest with a warning that this is the wrong way to lock down wavering independents in swing states. These crucial voters prefer hearing candidates talk about opportunity, the group said.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/election-could-hinge-on-the-me.php

CBS News

April 10, 2012 10:54 AM

Buffett Rule: Policy prescription, or political opportunity?

By Stephanie Condon

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57411818-503544/buffett-rule-policy-prescription-or-political-opportunity/

Roll Call
White House Lays Out Case for Buffett Rule
By Steven T. Dennis, Roll Call Staff
April 10, 2012, 6 a.m.

The White House released a new report today backing President Barack Obama’s proposed Buffett Rule to impose a minimum 30 percent tax on incomes of more than $1 million in advance of a speech on the subject by the president this afternoon in Florida.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/white-house-lays-out-case-buffett-rule-millionaires-tax-213696-1.html


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http://issuu.com/thirdway