"Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents

"Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents.

The very constituents that she ought to be meeting with in-person right now during the summer recess. In places like ocean-side Hallandale Beach, for instance.

A city in the FL-17 CD that she never had a public event at before last August's primary.

Some of you out there in the South Florida part of the blogosphere may've seen this telling little bombshell in the Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog earlier in the week:

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson in Israel

By Anthony Man August 8, 2011 01:25 PM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/08/congresswoman_frederica_wilson_3.html

Notice what it doesn't say?

Correct, who's paying for Wilson's trip.

Only THE most obvious and important question one could ask.

Somehow, and for whatever reason, THAT answer didn't seem important enough for Anthony Man to include in the small post, that over 72 hours later, still has not drawn a single reader comment.

Assuming he didn't first find out about it from a press release from her office, which is entirely likely given how rarely Rep. Wilson's name ever appears in the Broward Politics blog, this is par for the course here in South Florida as far as the press digging for information goes, and Man in particular.

Actually, her own press release about the trip neglects to mention AIPAC also:

http://wilson.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&sectiontree=6,49&itemid=155

Somehow I have a strong feeling that the source of the trip's funding would've come up in the blog post if it had something to do with an oil company PAC for instance, or one representing almost any other corporate interest.

(For the record, I disregard almost everything Anthony Man writes, in large part because over the years I've found so much of what he has written or said on public policy TV shows to be factually incorrect, lacking crucial context, completely unpersuasive, or, as if that wasn't enough, when it comes to the dreaded Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, he's seemed like her trained pet poodle.

Her Boswell.

What Man has written about this FL-20 House member -who has never run in a non-gerrymandered CD and never faced a competitive opponent in a general election, a most-charmed situation!- seems so over-the-top that it was embarrassing to read.

Not unlike Alex Leary's recent story in the St. Pete Times that I commented on recently.)

I first learned about the departure of nearly one-fifth of the U.S. Congress for Israel in The Washington Post on Tuesday and wondered how in the world that could possibly be a good idea for either American public policy, esp. foreign policy, or, their own constituents suffering the slings and arrows of Obama's economic malaise.

Does Rep. Wilson really think going to Israel for the first time is more important than meeting with her constituents?

"Asked and answered, your honor."

Washington Post

House members travel to Israel, courtesy of AIPAC lobby, not taxpayers

By Al Kamen

Published: August 9, 2011

A record 81 House members, about a fifth of the chamber, are spending a week in Israel this month, courtesy of a foundation set up by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby.

Read the rest of the article at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-members-travel-to-israel-courtesy-of-aipac-lobby-not-taxpayers/2011/08/09/gIQA8xOU5I_story.html

I hadn't had time to read the Broward Politics blog on Monday due to being so busy, but even if I had, which article tells you more?

The Post didn't neglect to discover the source of the funding, they put it right there in the headline so nobody could miss it.

As I have here, too.

The next day, my daily Morning Brief email from Foreign Policy magazine arrived and one of the posts there made all the points I made in my head and planned on sharing here -better than me.

Foreign Policy

How the World Is Really Run blog

The congress is in session, it turns out … in Israel

Posted By David Rothkopf

Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 11:44 AM

This week's reports that 20 percent of the U.S. Congress will be visiting Israel this month are stunning. Eighty-one members of Congress -- two thirds of them Republicans, 47 of them freshmen -- apparently think it is more important to be visiting Israel than it is to be at home dealing with the worst economic crisis in modern memory. America's economy is in flames and these guys are taking lobbyist-funded trips to what, watch Israelis take to the streets to protest the high-cost of living in that country?

Read the rest of the post at:

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/10/the_congress_is_in_session_

it_turns_out_in_israel

I acknowledge that it sounds petty but I'd love for someone with a TV camera rolling to ask Rep. Wilson what she thinks of the success or failure so far of Operation New Dawn.

No, it's true, I don't think very highly of Rep. Wilson, and I don't think this cipher in Congress that represents the people in my part of Hallandale Beach would know what that operation is, that is, without prompting.

But it hardly matters.

Frederica Wilson will fight tooth-and-nail over the next year to make sure that she can keep this cushy, no heavy-lifting (or thinking) job of hers that pays $174k a year, and will do anything she can to make sure that the FL-17 congressional district remains nice and gerrymandered so that she NEVER has to run against a competitive candidate in a general election and can stay in office as long as SHE wants.

More soon on what's happening with congressional redistricting and whom I'd love to see run against Wilson next year in a new, more logically-drawn CD that more accurately represents the interests of this area of south Broward and northeast Miami-Dade counties.

And while I'm at it, let me just state that it sure would be nice if a single legitimate reporter or columnist in South Florida reported on what group former City of Miami City Manager Tony Crapp, Jr. is working for now in the redistricting battle on behalf of his new bosses at

GrayRobinson, P.A.

Why is nobody asking or reporting on this?

I feel like I'm pulling teeth sometimes.

-----

See also:

Foreign Policy magazine: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

The Crespo-Gram Report: http://www.crespogram.com/

Upcoming Florida redistricting hearings in Broward & Miami-Dade Counties in mid-August; sadly, lack of local forums by civic groups is par for course

Scott Fortune - A Horribly Gerrymandered Congressional District

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2l4WUZ_lcE

What follows below are selected excerpts of an email I sent on Tuesday to someone who's deeply involved in the 2012 redistricting issue in Florida that's already well underway.

Perhaps it will give some of you on the sidelines some insight into what is -and isn't- happening right now, which, in my opinion, is not nearly enough.

As most of you who read this blog even fairly know, I was and am a very strong supporter of FairDistricts and voted FOR Amendments 5 and 6. http://fairdistrictsnow.org

Following that I have included here some helpful information I received late on Friday afternoon from Benjamin M. Fairbrother of the Florida House of Representatives Redistricting Comm. regarding the upcoming meetings.

To get you into the spirit of things, I'm reprising here two great videos by former congressional candidate Scott Fortune that I previously have used in the last two lengthy posts I had about redistricting, the first video of which is up at the top.

In 2010, Fortune ran in the Democratic primary against mendacious, mean-spirited and gerrymandered to a fair-thee-well Rep. Corrine Brown, one of the two current Florida congresspersons suing to keep things status quo in this state -FUBAR- so that they and their ilk can continue to avoid genuine accountability in congressional elections that are actually competitive, and with them, real discussion about issues, not repetition of talking points.

That much-discussed gerrymandered CD, FL-3, stretches from the Jacksonville area to north of Orlando, as you can see here.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=3

The reasons it looks that way are described here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_3rd_congressional_district

The odd size and irregular shapes of many Florida congressional districts -CDs- is a subject I wrote often (and frustrated) about last year, esp. FL-17, where I live, two miles east of the Atlantic Ocean in Broward County, repped by someone -Frederica Wilson- in a CD that has as its political center an area in another county, northwest of downtown Miami, that shares few of the everyday concerns that people in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood have.

Map: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=17

Scott Fortune - Gerrymandering in Mt. Dora, Fla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpxdmU7s54

See Scott Fortune's other eye-opening videos on gerrymandering in Florida at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottFortune4U

a.) October 25, 2010 New TV ad from FairDistrictsFlorida.org; FL-17 and Corrine Brown's FL-3 are embarrassing embodiment of what unchecked gerrymandering gets you

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-tv-ad-from-fairdistrictsfloridaorg.html

b.) June 14, 2011 Florida's 2012 redistricting meetings in South Florida are only two months away, so where are the competing maps? Or the pre-event info meetings?

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/floridas-2012-redistricting-meetings-in.html

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My excerpt starts with what was the second or third paragraph, after some general pleasantries:

Having grown-up down here before leaving for college at Indiana, I know full well how brutal August is for people living down here, A/C or no A/C, both in terms of the actual weather, latent concerns about hurricanes, plus, juggling vacations, kids camps, or even weddings or company outings or conventions.

Some people, maybe even most people, just want to do nothing in August except stay cool, keep their hurricane supplies handy and watch sports or catch a movie.

(I should know.)

I get that, really I do, still, I'm mystified that even in apathetic South Florida, where people with civic-minded natures are few-and-far-between, so many groups down here who, in my opinion ought to be filling-in the vacuum and showing some strong public interest in mobilizing their supporters or members in attending and actively participating in the upcoming meetings or something along the lines of what I'm suggesting in terms of an education outreach -so they can be exposed to various map scenarios- are NOT rising to the fore.

At least not to the point of actually announcing public plans for something tangible, and we're now just over two weeks away from those meetings.

If people don't know a week in advance, what's the point, since the percentage who can then attend is clearly much less than it could be?

Since I have a Google Alert for "redistricting," I see everything on redistricting, not just here in FL, but across the country for various govt. entities.

When you see what other communities are doing and how everyone down here is just snoozing...

Today's Sun-Sentinel finally had something decent, mentioning what the Broward League of Women Voters are doing on Saturday in Davie

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/08/voter_league_explains_why_peop_1.html

but again, where are the other groups?

That said, to be honest, I'm less than crazy that Davie is the site for Broward's one and only official redistricting meeting.

That is not at all centrally-located or even convenient to get to.

It's hard not to get the impression because of the reasons you and many others have so ably articulated in the past -foremost, lack of maps at the meetings- that many State Senators involved in the process are no doubt chuckling to themselves that they've created a scenario that is the ultimate win-win for them -the pretense of transparency with none of the messy details having to come up at the meetings.

And everything gets settled in Tallahassee.

------

From: MyDistrictBuilder
Date: Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 4:50 PM
Subject: Email Update - Florida House Redistricting - August 5, 2011
To: MyDistrictBuilder

Florida House of Representatives – House Redistricting Committee

Redistricting Update – August 5, 2011

Location Change for the August 29 Tampa Redistricting Meeting

Due to expected attendance, the location for the August 29^th Florida redistricting meeting in Tampa has changed to: Jefferson High School Auditorium, 4401 Cypress Street, Tampa, Florida 33607. Jefferson High School has plenty of free parking, close proximity to a bus stop, and more seating than the original downtown location. We think it will be much more convenient for the public. Persons who pre-registered (RSVP) to attend/speak at the Tampa meeting will be receiving and email or letter that confirms the change of address.

Public Submissions of Redistricting Maps and Suggestions

Via www.floridaredistricting.org, you can access our Plan Explorer site to view, comment on and share redistricting suggestions submitted by Florida residents. The site highlights proposed maps for Florida’s State House, State Senate and congressional districts. Of the 23 maps submitted by Florida residents thus far, 20 were created with the Florida House’s MyDistrictBuilder^TM application. For your convenience, all 23 submissions received thus far are listed below, along with links to written suggestions that were submitted to the House.

· Plan 0023 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Orange, Osceola and Polk counties

· Plan 0022 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake, Marion and Sumter counties

· Plan 0021 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake, Marion and Sumter counties

· Plan 0020 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0019 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0018 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting 34 North Florida counties

· Plan 0017 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Orange, Osceola and Polk counties

· Plan 0016 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Sumter counties

· Plan 0015 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Citrus, Lake, Orange and Sumter counties

· Plan 0014 – Partial plan for the State Senate, affecting Citrus, Lake and Sumter counties

· Plan 0013 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Lake County

· Plan 0012 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties

· Plan 0011 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Lake County

· Plan 0010 – Partial plan for the State Senate, affecting Citrus, Lake, Orange and Sumter counties

· Plan 0009 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake and Seminole counties

· Plan 0008 – Partial plan for Congress, affecting Lake, Orange and Sumter counties

· Plan 0007 – Complete plan for the State Senate

· Plan 0006 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0005 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0004 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0003 – Complete plan for Congress

· Plan 0002 – Partial plan for the State House, affecting Brevard and Volusia counties

· Plan 0001 – Complete plan for Congress

· Written suggestions – Congress

· Written suggestions – State House

· Written suggestions – State Senate

Along with the feedback from the Legislature’s 26 public input meetings throughout Florida, these maps and written suggestions will constitute the starting point for redistricting when legislators return to Tallahassee in the fall of 2011 for committee meetings.

Upcoming Meetings

The complete Florida redistricting public meeting calendar (attached) can be found by visiting: http://www.floridaredistricting.org/. The remainder of public input meeting calendar includes meetings at the following locations:

· Stuart – August 15

· Boca Raton – August 16

· Davie – August 16

· Miami – August 17

· South Miami – August 17

· Key West – August 18

· Tampa – August 29

· Largo – August 30

· Sarasota – August 30

· Naples – August 31

· Lehigh Acres – August 31

· Clewiston – September 1

As always, if you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Benjamin M. Fairbrother

House Redistricting Committee

Florida House of Representatives

400 House Office Building

O: (850) 921-8831

www.floridaredistricting.org

Create and Submit Redistricting Plans with MyDistrictBuilder

MyDistrictBuilder^TM @ Facebook

MyDistrictBuilder^TM @ Twitter

MyDistrictBuilder^TM @ YouTube

Blog & Resources @ WordPress

Questions or Comments, email: mydistrictbuilder@myfloridahouse.gov

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NOT Breaking News: Rep. Frederica Wilson still holds common sense, FL-17 constituents & taxpayers 'hostage': Spend, spend, spend and MORE TAXES!

WPLG-TV/Channel 10 video: This Week in South Florida, July 21, 2011, with host Michael Putney.

http://youtu.be/xY5R4Zo-FqY

Channel 10's version of this entire broadcast of TWISF, in High Quality, and 26 minutes and 36 seconds long, is at

http://www.local10.com/video/28721271/index.html

The interview with Rep. Frederica Wilson concludes at 13:04 mark.

Well, to use a phrase that nobody uses any longer, "Here's mud in your eye."

For those of you who have doubted what I've said in the past to you, whether in person somewhere in South Florida or the Washington, D.C. area, or what you've read here on the blog, about the weirdly, disconnected sense of reality lived by many though not all of South Florida's pols, almost all of whom live in gerrymandered districts that ensure their election come the general elections, Sunday morning brought forth the latest glaring example of disconnected unreality.

Did you see it, too?

Did your jaw hit the ground at the stale memorized talking points being recited like a not-so-bright Third Grader standing in front of the class?

Did you get a real sinking feeling when you heard so much prattle expressed with so little thought or insight behind it, and realized that the silly person mouthing such nonsense makes $174,000 a year?

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm

Yes, welcome to the second decade of South Florida politics in the 21st Century.

All of this came in the form of an alternately abysmal performance by freshman Rep. Frederica Wilson (FL-17) on Channel 10's "This Week in South Florida" with Senior Political Editor Michael Putney.

http://www.local10.com/

michaelputney/index.html

As most of you blog readers know by now, I respect him more than any other media personality in South Florida -even when we disagree- in large part, because he actually remembers many of the very same people, places and events of the past that I do, good and bad, that so many people, groups and institutions consciously prefer to forget.

(So many South Florida media types I've met either know very little about this area's political history and geography, or flat-out don't care, but that's another post for another time.)

The ostensible purpose of Wilson's appearance -from Washington- in the lead-off (longest) block of the popular public affairs program, was to discuss the federal debt limit crisis, the state of the economy, and to elicit her opinion on what specific steps should be undertaken.

As she has been a cipher since getting elected, I didn't expect much, but even my low expectations were too high.

Prior to this July 31st appearance with Michael Putney, NOT a single legitimate reporter in Florida had so much as asked Wilson even a reasonably hard question about this debt limit issue and asked her to explain herself on the issue.

Trust me, I've looked at searches for her on Google News day-after-day, and even emailed that to friends, who were shocked at how asleep the South Florida news media has been all these months.

Not me.

(I was even going to post all the citations & news articles here so you could see what lapdogs the South Florida press corps has been towards Wilson since she got elected. Minus the stories on Haiti, Edison & Central High Schools getting special treatment to stay open, or her hats, there wasn't much left, which made it easy for me to read all the articles. Just saying...)

In fact, I was going to post this blog post Sunday morning until I saw that she was going to be on the show. Then I decided to wait until Channel 10 put the link up to the entire broadcast so you could see it for yourself.

To me, Wilson has held common sense and taxpayers "hostage" for months without saying anything of merit, to use a word that she twice went out of her way to use to refer to Tea Party supporters, implying, like so many disconnected liberals, that their desire to actually have a more fundamentally sound financial structure for the country was dangerous.

(Unlike Wilson, some Americans inherently know that not every single federal program deserves to live in perpetuity, or to be equated with apple pie and the Bill of Rights. But try getting Wilson to name one to cut...)

As if, somehow, liberal families and their children were somehow immune to the very negative logical consequences of a template where the U.S. government borrows 40 cents for every dollar it spends, as Sen. Marco Rubio has said any number of times lately.

It won't surprise you a whit that her prescription was the usual one of a person who reps a gerrymandered majority-minority CD in Congress: spend, spend, spend...

And tax the "rich" especially the evil oil companies, whom she says pay nothing in taxes in the same exact way that small children routinely say dumb things but nobody bothers to correct them because they are, after all, just small children.

They're entitled to their fantasy world for a while.

Small children, not congresswomen.

Despite her own past actions and words to burden small business owners with more regulation and higher fees, she demands that someone create jobs in her CD, which has the dubious distinction of having among the lowest investment rates and one of the highest murder rates in the entire congress.

After you hear Wilson, you'd almost have to ask yourself why if you were a business owner seeking to expand, why would someone invest in poorly-educated, blame-someone else FL-17?

Now there's a question.

Wilson seems unable to appreciate the changed environment that has taken over this country the past few years, nor to appreciate the difference between being in Tallahassee and Washington.

The reality is that her constituents without jobs are going to be expected to do a whole lot more for themselves in the future than they have in the past, and that includes the strong possibility that for many of them, that choice involves leaving the area, as happens in every other part of the country.

Uncle Sam is not going to be dropping pallets of money into NW Miami anytime soon.

That plane has been permanently grounded.

Time to adapt!

When Michael Putney brought this poll up, do I even have to tell you that Wilson is a fervent supporter of the minority opinion? The one that says that we just have to keep doing the same things that don't work? It's mind-boggling sometimes, almost as if she has been in a coma.

Watching her appearance on TWISF made me think of many things but none quite so strong as the sense that she's so very used to only being around people that completely agree with her, that she literally has no ability or intuition to appreciate that, for a change, she really needed to come across on the program as a serious and sober official.

Instead, because it's her shtick, and she can't help herself, she chose on the air wearing one of the dozens of ridiculous hats that she insists on wearing to distinguish herself, more fitting for a Delta Sigma Theta luncheon in the spring.

Yeah, like the weird guy with head-to-toe tats who insists on showing up at the public park every weekend with the snake around his neck, the old guy who insists on wearing a tiny Speedo swimsuit at the beach -and not being foreign!- or, the older woman who insists on showing up at the beach in a two-piece swimsuit that more closely resembles dental floss, Wilson can't figure out a way to stand out for what she knows about a given area of public policy, or being able to explain complicated issues in ways that people understsnd.

Nobody has ever said that about her.

It's sad for her, of course, but saddest of all for us, her constituents.

As I reflected on what took place in the program later on Sunday afternoon, in between watching the Marlins game and snapping some photos up in Hollywood for a future blog post here, Wilson's juvenile performance just really continued to irritate me, since it was about as anti-intellectual an exercise as I've seen outside of the occasional segment of MSNBC's Hardball I've come across while flipping thru the channels during a commercial of something else.

If you're not really that familiar with the show, esp. if you are reading this overseas, the Republican Elephants in the bottom LEFT are a tip-off to MSNBC's avowed liberal ideology. Fortunately, not that many people watch the show, as more people watch The Cartoon Channel than MSNBC when Hardball is on.

When she successfully repeated a few simple talking points she remembered -the ones about the number of times the debt was raised during Reagan and Bush 41's presidencies, 18 and 7 respectively- I could almost picture her staff applauding, out-of relief. Really.

So what exactly were the things that she or her predecessors, Carrie Meek and Kendrick Meek proposed that would cut the federal budget and put the country on a more sustainable basis?

She never said despite having thirteen minutes to mention it.

Thirteen minutes that revealed her for the disconnected public official she is, who thinks the old solutions of Big Government spending their way out of a problem still works.

They don't.

Not Breaking News!

ZERO: Number of times this year that Rep. Frederica Wilson (FL-17) has been written about in the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes regarding her job in D.C.

So, did you see the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes stories on what Reps. Alcee Hastings (FL-23) and Frederica Wilson (FL-17) are up to with congressional redistricting, with those State Senate meetings in Broward and Miami-Dade just a few weeks away?

Or, who they're using as consultants? (Is it Tony Crapp, Jr., the recent fomer City of Miami city manager?)

Or the articles on the same subject in the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel?

Actually, there hasn't been one.

Back on June 4th, in a post titled, Still waiting for South Florida news media to mention that Frederica Wilson was only FL Rep. to vote YES to increase debt limit?

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/still-waiting-for-south-florida-news.html

I reminded some of you all over again what sort of short shrift anyone in DC not named Debbie Wasserman-Schultz gets in terms of media coverage in South Florida, even though most of hers is almost entirely too flattering -almost sycophantic- as many prior posts of mine over the years have pointed out.

So today, with that same federal debt limit still in the news and nobody down here other than yours truly even publicly mentioning Frederica Wilson's seeming disconnection to the country and her district and her very dubious achievement, could you tell me the number of times this year that she's been written about in the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes regarding her job in DC?

The answer is that the Miami-based congresswoman -who, unfortunately, represents me here in my part of Hallandale Beach - has been mentioned in that regard in the South Florida alternative news weekly ZERO times.

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index/collection:all/keywords:%22Frederica+Wilson%22/sort:dateDesc/

Here's the scoreboard for the MiamiNewTimes

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/search/index/collection:all/keywords:%22Frederica+Wilson%22/sort:dateDesc/

Number of times this year that Rep. Allen West (FL-22 ), who represents north Broward and south Palm Beach counties has been mentioned in the Miami NewTimes?

Do you even have to ask?

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/search/index/collection:all/keywords:%22allen+west%22/sort:dateDesc/

Those of you who think that the BrowardPalmBeach or Miami NewTimes are going to do anything of substance to fill-in the gigantic information gap caused by the self-evident retreat on local news coverage of the rapidly-declining Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, need to wake-up from your sleepwalking before you hurt yourself -or others.

Your false hope and naivete is going to costs you someday when you least expect it.

And have you seen some of the online pieces in the Broward NewTimes the past few months?

To call them paltry is to overstate the number of character spaces.

Really.

Oh, and you recall my blog post of last year in which I noted for the record that despite the generally poor-to-below average job done by the Herald and the Sun-Sentinel reporters, columnists and editors, they at least have their media email addresses in their pieces or on the company website, so they can be contacted diirectly -but don't count on replies, per Herald ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos- but the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes management team doesn't.

They still don't.

And just as an aside, why are South Florida's overwhelmingly White and Cuban-American press corps so deathly afraid to ask Black elected officials, local, state and national, hard questions about budgets and govt. funding?

It's very, very patronizing.

Instead, almost every article about Wilson after she was elected was about her f-ing hats.

Hats, hats, hats!

And since then, nothing about any of her votes to continue funding unsuccesful programs and policies.

As I've stated previously, I hope under the new redistricting plan drawn up under the Florida legislature, she can represent just Miami-Dade voters, so get familiar with her, Aventura!

She may soon be yours!

Florida's 2012 redistricting meetings in South Florida are only two months away, so where are the competing maps? Or the pre-event info meetings?

Do you know any more specifics about the upcoming legislative redistricting meetings in South Florida?

http://www.fairdistrictsnow.org/home/

http://www.floridaredistricting.org/

For instance, whether there will be any sort of PUBLIC informational meetings held in advance of the official meetings run by the Florida Senate -by public interest groups/elected officials/political party/activist groups- to 'educate' voters beforehand?

In other parts of the country, that'd be a no-brainer, but here, during the sweltering summer, well, not so much.

(Of course, in other states I could name, the legislative redistricting process takes place BEFORE summer ever starts in order to make sure that there are no schedule conflicts with work, family vacations and summer camp for children.

This seems like a novel concept to the folks running this show up in Tallahassee, who have set a deadline of June 18, 2012. Garbage in, garbage out!)

In any case, in my opinion, whether it's in Broward or Miami-Dade or even one in each county if one could hope for common sense, there'd be a well-organized meeting at a large facility where competing/prospective maps can be publicly shown so that South Florida residents know what's what and can see what the range of possibilities truly are.

Speaking of maps, seriously, on what map, exactly, is Davie centrally-located for Broward residents to attend their one-and only meeting?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011 10:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tuesday, August 16, 2011 6:00- 9:00 p.m., Broward College, Davie campus

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 10:00 a.m-2:00 p.m., Miami Dade College, downtown Miami

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 6:00-9:00 p.m., FIU College of Law building, South Miami

Complete schedule is at http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Redistricting/Hearings

(What's the back-up plan if there's a hurricane warning then?)

If you know of a pre-event informational meeting tied to these redistricting hearings, please let me know and I'll post it on the blog.

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Orlando Sentinel

Central Florida Political Pulse blog

FairDistricts leaders ask for changes in redistricting meetings

posted by khaughney on June, 14 2011 12:11 PM

Fair Districts, a grassroots group that successfully pushed for new constitutional provisions last year that dictate redistricting, is asking the Legislature to revamp the procedures it has set out for 26 redistricting hearings that are set to be held around the state this summer.

Read the rest of the story at

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/06/fairdistricts-leaders-ask-for-changes-in-redistricting-meetings.html

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Orlando Sentinel

Central Florida Political Pulse blog

FairDistricts folks to offer their thoughts on redistricting

posted by bshaw on June, 13 2011 1:55 PM

A week from today — on Monday, June 20 — the Florida Legislature’s redistricting committee will be gin a series of public hearings that will take members all over the state by the time they end Sept. 1 in Clewiston.

Read the rest of the story at

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/06/fairdistricts-folks-to-offer-their-thoughts-on-redistricting.html#more-25335

The Florida Independent

Transparency questions dog upcoming public redistricting hearings

By Cooper Levey-Baker

06.14.11 | 6:00 am

An “unprecedented” part of “the most open, transparent, interactive” redistricting process ever, or a “sham” designed by Florida lawmakers to placate the public while they work to draw new district lines to benefit themselves? That’s the question dogging the set of 26 public redistricting hearings scheduled by the state Legislature to kick off next week.

Read the rest of the story at

http://floridaindependent.com/33768/redistricting-transparency-public-hearings

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

New districts affect South Florida clout, voters' ability to influence elections

By Anthony Man

June 12, 2011 09:40 AM

The numbers are proof positive. Broward and Palm Beach counties are about to lose some of their political muscle.

And that’s not all. Residents throughout the region could find themselves represented by far-away politicians they’ve never voted for and may never even have heard of.

Read the rest of the story at

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/06/new_districts_affect_south_flo.html

Los Angeles Times

Map: How has your district been redrawn?

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-redistricting-map,0,6145644.htmlstory

Detroit FreePress

Politically speaking: How will the GOP draw new districts?

http://www.freep.com/article/20110612/OPINION05/106120446/Politically-speaking-How-will-GOP-draw-new-districts-?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

Still waiting for South Florida news media to mention that Frederica Wilson was only FL Rep. to vote YES to increase debt limit?

Heritage Foundation video: The Debt Limit: Made Simple
http://youtu.be/7yJRci2pARk

Still waiting for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes or any local Miami TV newscast to actually mention that FL-17 Congresswoman Frederica Wilson was THE only U.S. Rep. in Florida to vote YES for increasing the national debt Tuesday? (Wilson was on the losing side of a 319-97 vote.)

Don't hold your breath!

Fox News Channel: U.S. Budget Comm. Chair Paul Ryan on the House of Representatives rejecting a debt ceiling increase
http://youtu.be/y3FYXnYswnQ

Since February 1st, over four months ago, Wilson's name has been mentioned in the Sun-Sentinel exactly TWICE, and neither time in relation to anything that's an important every day issue to South Broward residents like me who have the great misfortune to be mis-represented by her in Congress.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=frederica&target=article&sortby=display_time+descending

As for the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes -whose Daily Pulp blog people are positively deserting in droves ever since Bob Norman left for Channel 10, WPLG-TV, leaving only the name of his blog, not the spirit of it- they've mentioned Wilson exactly... ONCE.

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index?keywords=%22Frederica+Wilson%22

And THAT was about something that was originally reported in the Sun-Sentinel!

Compare and contrast that paucity of useful information with the NewTimes' very creepy stalker-like behavior and observation of Rep. Allen West's every move and word, examined and then re-examined at the NewTimes -can you really even call them reporters?- as if they were amateur Kremlinologists trying to keep all their competing theories for what's 'really' happening, straight in their own heads.

Well, I mean besides thinking of how many times they can use the phrase 'tea party' as a pejorative. You'd think that at a certain point they'd realize that no longer rankles adn just comes across as annoying... but no.

From my perspective, I've always found it such a huge turn-off to see people with resources and opportunities to inform completely squander their time and resources, and even worse, compound that fwrite in so self-evident a biased fashion, and that's true whether you're talking about the Herald, the Sun-Sentinel or NewTimes, all of whom are GUILTY of this everyday to varying degrees -from perfectly awful-to-perfectly dreadful.

Seriously, those three are our print media choices in South Florida the year 2011?

Sadly, yes.

And when are the top management at the Broward NewTimes going to FINALLY post their public email addresses on their website, like the much-maligned and ridiculed Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel, which I originally mentioned here on January 11th, with the headline,
A longstanding question about the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes that nobody else ever asks publicly at http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/longstanding-question-about.html .

It's almost halfway thru the year 2011 and the NewTimes STILL doesn't list theirs so that readers can directly contact people with complaints about mistakes, errors and examples of apparent bias, and cc or bcc others with their comments.

Pretty backwards if you ask me, and not exactly the sort of thing that imbues people with confidence about sharing confidential information.

It's already June, when exactly are Wilson's Town Hall meetings with residents in SE Broward this summer, including Hallandale Beach?

Perhaps you should call her office and ask her staff, since it's clear the local news media aren't the least bit curious, even while thinking nothing of printing Allen West's, attending his meetings and then publicizing professional misfits who want to draw attention to themselves at his meetings, not attention to issues.

Heritage Foundation's YouTube Channel:

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

Bob Norman's new blog at Channel 10, WPLG-TV, Miami:

http://www.local10.com/bobnorman/index.html