And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid like "I love you" -Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - Something Stupid; Rabbit Hole trailer

Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - Something Stupid (with lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x128zrYzcE

Completely out of nowhere, I actually thought of this song -and this charming version- after walking out of the Broward IG selection meeting this afternoon in downtown Fort Lauderdale, and by the time I was driving past the airport, I was "in the zone."

And no matter how bad the traffic was, I just kept smiling and singing.
Such is the unrelenting magnetic power of Nicole Kidman...

As I've stated before, there are parts of true genius Baz Luhrmann's La Moulin Rouge that are among the most imaginative and brilliantly conceived things I've seen on film in the past forty years. And they all have the fair Nicole in them!

(He's slated to re-do The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan.)

It's weird to say aloud, or put down on paper, but as famous and respected as Nicole Kidman is, I still fervently believe that most film-goers still take her immense talent for granted.
I fully expect her to win the Oscar for Best Actress on the 27th for Rabbit Hole.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9iJH2P96dM

http://www.rabbitholefilm.com

Old School version of Something Stupid
I recall hearing this record playing over-and-over at the nursery school I attended in Memphis when I was six.
The owner really loved Sinatra, which is why most of his songs were in my head by osmosis before I was seven!

I even remember which songs had scratches and skipped a bit because she'd pick up the needle and plop it down to play the same song over!




Frank & Nancy Sinatra, - Something Stupid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6bOCUOPN0w


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

At Broward IG Selection Comm. meeting, former Broward State's Attorney Philip S. Shailer was invited to be fourth member of five-person committee

Former Broward State's Attorney Philip S. Shailer was invited this afternoon to be the fourth member of a five-person committee that will select an independent Inspector General, an office created by Broward voters in November.

Current members Timothy Donnelly, Sam Goren, Jan Jacobowitz and Shailer will select a fifth and final member at the next meeting and together must select an IG by March 12th. Next meeting is Tuesday the 15th at 3 pm in Room 422, the Broward Commission Chambers.

Personally, I would like to see at least one non-lawyer on the selection committee.

At the end of the meeting around 5 p.m., there were four people in the audience: Broward activist/gadfly Russell Setti, an attorney from Goren's firm, a reporter and... me.

It was an underwhelming start to say the least for Broward's new anti-corruption era, but a baby step is still better than the woeful status quo.

More on this tomorrow, hopefully with photos and video.

FA video: Italy vs. England U21 Highlights - Azzurini 1, Lions 0

FA video: Italy vs. England U-21 Highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWVp28AQZ0U

Game story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9391403.stm and
http://www.uefa.com/under21/news/newsid=1592415.html

http://www.uefa.com/under21/index.html

Sorry, discerning news consumers in FL aren't buying the self-pity being sold by Tallahassee-based media re Gov. Rick Scott, the anti (Charlie) Crist

I've been waiting a bit to drop this post of mine just to see if there was any more secondary coverage of this story about new Florida governor Rick Scott and the expectations, assumptions and presumptions of the Tallahassee-based media that covers the Florida legislature, the governor's office and what passes for Junior Varsity political intrigue and machinations.

I figured I'd give it about a week and a week has come and gone, so here we are.

Excerpt from my email of January 31st titled SunshineStateNews.com: Gov. Rick Scott, Hero; Press Corps, Zero

Below, a variation of the story that received prominent coverage last week in the Miami Herald and the St. Pete Times and several other places around the state, all to little practical effect

You remember, the story about the last-minute dinner at the Governor's Mansion, where the person chosen to be the 'pool reporter' had other plans and said nyet, throwing 'journalism' into a tailspin?

Meanwhile, no matter how many facts and photos I use to persuade South Florida print or TV reporters to express any curiosity at all about a public building in Hallandale Beach -just steps from the beach- that has only been open three times to the public in what will be 42 months on Thursday, and for which hundreds of thousands of Hallandale Beach taxpayer dollars has been spent, and no doubt, wasted, reporters just yawn.

With one exception, Stefan Kamph Hallandale Beach's North Beach Facility Might Finally Open, After Four Years
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2011/01/hallandale_beach_north_beach_opening.php

That, after all this incompetency, the the city manger here has pledged to keep it closed to the taxpayers of this city is the ultimate insult, but to local reporters, they just roll their eyes at this news, one more fact they could care less about.

It's a story which if it happened in Coral Gables or Miami Beach would've been on the front page of the Herald's very loosely-edited State & Local section, perhaps with some critical comments later in the editorial page asking with mock dismay, who elected the unelected City Manger, Mark Antonio, to keep a public building closed to the public?

But because it's not located in those cities, it wasn't the predicate to a zinging editorial that lowered-the-boom on Antonio and HB City Hall.

It's the news story that never happened, the one that so perfectly illustrates the dilemma for Hallandale Beach citizen taxpayers -caught between the longstanding incompetency and anti-democratic nature of HB City Hall officials, pols and their cronies, and a press corps that doesn't even pretend to be curious.

But now, I'm supposed to care about a meal at the governor's mansion, featuring some people I've never heard of?
No sale.

-------

Miami Herald
Scott's media limits upset journalists
By Michelle Morgante Associated Press
January 20, 2011

TALLAHASSEE- Journalists who cover Florida's capital complained to industry leaders Tuesday that the new administration of Gov. Rick Scott is skirting free-press traditions and attempting to control their work by limiting access to events and being slow to provide public records.

Speaking to the board of the Florida Society of News Editors, nine Tallahassee correspondents said Scott's team is imposing an unprecedented level of control over access to Scott and to events that previously would have been considered open. The governor's office also has tried to "cherry-pick'' reporters to provide pooled reports to the rest of the press corps, instead of allowing the journalists to choose.

Bob Rathgeber, senior staff writer for The News-Press of Fort Myers, said Scott, a former healthcare executive, apparently wants to continue operating as if he were still in the private sector, not public office.

"He doesn't care whether we have complaints or not,'' Rathgeber said. "He's from the private sector and he's a private guy.''

The journalists pointed to several examples, including a post-inauguration reception held on the scenic 22nd floor of the state Capitol, where Scott's staff restricted access to a select few.

The event was in a public building and the entire state Legislature had been invited, noted Mary Ellen Klas of The Miami Herald. "That, on its surface, struck me as a public meeting. . . . There's no reason they should be shutting the public out.''

But Klas and others, including an AP reporter, were booted out. The reporters said Scott's staff said a pooled report would be provided and argued that the journalists had accepted the arrangement. She and the other reporters speaking Tuesday said they'd never accepted such a deal. Pool reports typically are only agreed to when space is unavoidably limited, such as aboard an airplane, and the selection of the journalist is made by the participating media groups.

A voice message and an e-mail seeking reaction Tuesday from Scott's communications director, Brian Burgess, were not immediately answered.

The reporters also pointed to an incident last week, when Scott and several lawmakers gathered at the governor's mansion for a dinner. Scott's staff made no announcement about the dinner but, upon deciding the press should be alerted, quickly sought a reporter to provide a pooled report.

Dave Royse, executive editor of the News Service of Florida, said he was invited to be the pool reporter although the dinner was nearly over. He could not accept, but offered a reporter from his staff in his place. When that reporter was rejected, Royse said he declined to participate for ethical reasons.

The party being covered "can't pick and choose the reporter,'' he said. The correspondents said they would consider creating terms for pooled reports, such as an ordered list of reporters to be called on. But Paul Flemming, state editor for Gannett's Florida bureau, cautioned against encouraging greater use of pools: "I think it's dangerous to go down a pool path at all.''

Jim Baltzelle, FSNE president and Florida chief of bureau for The Associated Press, said the incidents raised concern about the freedom of the press. He said FSNE would consider how to formally respond.

Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee bureau chief for the Orlando Sentinel, said he's been given very little access to the governor because during Scott's campaign, his staff considered the newspaper "hostile.'' He said his only recourse has been to make several requests for public records. But the administration, he said, has been slow to respond and, in one case, said it would charge him $400 for printing by an outsourced provider even though Deslatte said the information is available electronically.

There are currently 51 reader comments at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/19/2022456/scotts-media-limits-upset-journalists.html

A more realistic view of what transpired -or didn't- with some well-chosen sarcasm, was expressed elsewhere.

SunshineStateNews.com
Gov. Rick Scott, Hero; Press Corps, Zero

By Nancy Smith
Posted: January 31, 2011 3:55 AM

Thank God we found out Thursday night that the governor and his guests "dined on mesquite grilled swordfish, corn macque choux, and Florida strawberry shortcake."

Or did they?

Can the people of Florida be absolutely sure? What if diners were really inside that mansion chowing down on roast beef, spinach casserole and English trifle?

How might that have torpedoed the ship of state?

Read the rest of this spot-on post at:
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/governor-rick-scott-hero-press-corps-zero


See also:
http://www.flgov.com/
http://www.flgov.com/news-releases/
http://www.myflorida.com/

There's what Joy Cooper says -and there's reality. Here's a dose of reality to chew over; What does Jessica Sanders do exactly?

I've been sitting on this for a while now, just waiting for the right time to post it, though truth be told, the well-informed and concerned citizens of Hallandale Beach have been talking about this issue for quite some time.

That is, why there's so very little public accountability on behalf of city taxpayers for public funds at Hallandale Beach City Hall, especially when it involves City Hall cronies and people they are used to rewarding for political support, no matter how preposterous the planned use of the funds.
In the case at hand, in the letter at the bottom, that involves among others, Jessica Sanders, the wife of HB Comm. Antony A. Sanders.

That you've seen so little mention of it elsewhere only proves what I and so many others paying attention here have been saying, not only about the state of the South Florida news media in the year 2011, but how utterly delighted Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew are that the press is sleeping on the job.
That makes it much easier for them to keep doing what they're doing and avoid detection.

But before I share with you a letter about the nitty-gritty reality of failed policies and wasted tax dollars in this city -Hallandale Beach Weed and Seed- let's look at the fantasy world of HB mayor Joy Cooper as expressed in yesterday's Miami Herald, which carried a Guest Op-Ed from her in her role as head of the Florida League of Cities, just one of the reasons that she is around less-and-less.
Well, besides her home in Colorado.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/06/2052839/we-want-to-work-with-the-governor.html

Miami Herald
February 11, 2011

We want to work with the governor

Florida’s cities wholeheartedly share Gov. Rick Scott’s objective of creating jobs and fostering an economic climate in which employers and families can thrive. Our cities can play a key role in this important mission, and cities stand ready to work shoulder to shoulder with Scott.

City officials want to create a new partnership with state leaders. This is why, as president of the Florida League of Cities, I created the Keys to the Cities Task Force. The task force created Keys to the Cities — a resource to provide additional insight into issues important to Florida’s cities, coming from the perspective of more than 400 communities in which the majority of Floridians live, work, learn, worship and play.

The task force’s document, which can be found at www.floridaleagueofcities.com, has focused on the following areas:

• Improving fiscal accountability and responsibility

• Making government smarter

• Investing in opportunity

• Fiscal responsibility for the future

• Managing and sustaining recovery

We believe that, working with the governor and the Legislature, we can take our state to higher levels of excellence by promoting smart policies that couple spurring growth with respecting the long-term principle of home rule.

Keys to the Cities extends a hand of friendship and cooperation across the levels of government to provide the new administration with a valuable blueprint for building this important relationship to benefit Floridians.

As the government closest to the people, a city has a unique bond with its residents. Each one of Florida’s 410 cities is unique. But no matter their size or scope, all cities have the same goal: to deliver varied, high-quality services in an efficient and responsive manner; enhance residents’ quality of life; and promote education, employment and economic development.

We understand the challenges and opportunities Scott will face. With an eye on building a better and more-prosperous future, the cities look forward to opening a proactive and productive dialogue with state leaders. We stand ready to provide assistance to achieve the overarching goals we share.

Joy Cooper, mayor, Hallandale Beach

-----

Improving fiscal accountability and responsibility?
Really, how about starting in the city where you have been mayor for so long?

How about real tangible consequences for city employees and contractors who DON'T do their job promptly and fail to deliver a dollar's worth of work or service for a dollar's worth of taxpayer's funds?

How about YOU and your Rubber Stamp Crew stop voting to break the city's very own requirements for who can be given CRA grants and loans, especially when they don't meet most of the very low thresholds, not just one?
But no, you and your cohorts prefer to make excuses for why the city's own rules must be continually trampled.
That's YOUR track record, year-after-year.
And where are the positive results?

Which leads me to the letter below that was sent to Hallandale Beach city manager Mark Antonio and stamped January 26th by his office.
It speaks volumes, and it's just the tip of the iceberg of longstanding problems in this city that Cooper and City Hall have ignored, hoping nobody would notice.

In the weeks and months ahead on this blog, since the local media shows no genuine curiosity for stories that once upon a time, real reporters responded to -esp. after you give it to them on a silver platter- you'll see more and more photos and video here of these problems.

My aim is that whenever possible, to work on cutting out the middle-man: the South Florida news media.

----




As always, to keep up with the latest fiasco or spectacle in Hallandale Beach under the Cooper & Antonio regime, go to my friend Michael Butler's blog, Change Hallandale,
http://www.changehallandale.com/

A British Superman? Stephen Colbert on why casting British actor Henry Cavill as The Man of Steel is just plain wrong

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - British Superman & Big Flats Beer<a>
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

The Colbert Report Tip/Wag British Superman and Big Flats beer

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/373138/february-02-2011/tip-wag---british-superman---big-flats-beer

British actor Henry Cavill, who has become known in the United States chiefly for his role in Showtimes's provocative and sexy take on a young Richard VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in The Tudors is blowing-up, and is being inked to progressively larger projects all the time.

Six months ago, Jeff Sneider in TheWrap had the news about a film project Cavil's going to be starring in that I hadn't heard anything heard about called The Cold Light of Day.
Cavill will play "a young American whose family is kidnapped while vacationing in Spain. He's given hours to find them, uncover a government conspiracy and discover the connection between the kidnapping and his father's secrets.

Bruce Willis is playing Cavill's father, while Caroline Goodall recently signed on to play Willis' wife."

And Sigourney Weaver plays the villain!

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/exclusive-veronica-echegui-emma-hamilton-join-cold-light-day-20095

Then last week came the very surprising news that Cavill has been selected by director Zac Snyder to star as the Man of Steel in a new reboot of Superman slated to hit theaters by Christmas 2012.
At least it was surprising to me and everyone I know with an opinion about the matter.
Me, I'm firmly in the Tom Welling camp, even though I haven't watched Smallville in over two years.
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/henry-cavill-will-be-next-superman-24329

Well, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report has some thoughts on the curious case of casting one of our British cousins as the American icon.
And he is not amused!

And when are we going to get some accurate casting news about who'll be the new Wonder Woman on NBC-TV's David E. Kelly production, anyhow?
Can't we all just agree that when you take everything into consideration, Eliza Dushku has more pluses than anyone else and just get started?
But I could live with the adorable Cobie Smulders, too!

http://tv.ign.com/articles/831/831152p1.html
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/07/01/new-wonder-woman-loses-patriotic-costume/

Going Old School & New School: 'See the USA in Your Chevrolet' TV ad - Dinah Shore in 1952, 'Glee' cast in 2011

The Cast of Glee "See the USA in Your Chevrolet"
2011 TV ad in show following Super Bowl 45 http://youtu.be/JD7EsyYlqlU


In a word: Brilliant!


See the USA in Your Chevrolet - Dinah Shore, 1952 http://youtu.be/iK43-ERSwwM

For those of you who had never heard of or seen the original iconic Dinah Shore Madison Avenue classic, you're welcome.

Since I'm a big believer in source material to give you the appropriate context, if you watch this, you will learn more than you could want about the new 1953 Chevrolets -and see where the songs appears in the scheme of things.
The entire song was from A Great New Star (1952), with Dinah starting to sing it just after the 10:19 mark.







Chevrolet TV commercial of 1965, featuring the cast of NBC-TV's Bonanza, The Man From UNCLE, and ABC-TV's Bewitched, the latter of which was sponsored by Chevrolet its first season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TRHinTPu5I


Below, you can hear the 'See the USA' jingle segue into the opening credits of the 1964 season of Bewitched



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnDF3-Forms

Managed lanes: Broward MPO & FHA up to patronizing mischief on Thursday that'll cost you $$$ to drive on primary roads -the ones YOU already paid for

My answer to the Broward MPO's outlandish proposal to consider charging me and other Broward taxpayers and visitors to use roads that taxpayers have already paid for, is to call their bluff and to instruct them to make the first experimental pay roads in the area, Andrews Avenue and Las Olas Blvd. in downtown Fort Lauderdale, roads with businesses where elected officials, lobbyists and mouthpieces congregate, even while tourists stay away in droves.

To quote Matt Damon as Will in Goodwill Hunting, "How do you like those apples?

February 10th Broward MPO agenda at:
http://www.browardmpo.org/mpo/tpi01507.pdf

***TIME CERTAIN – 11:00AM – MPO MANAGED LANES REGIONAL BRIEFING***
I guess they put that in red on the website so that members of South Florida's news media, esp. those with a penchant for showing-up late, will know what's going down and when.
(Unlike the Hallandale Beach City Commission meetings where time certain items rarely come up on time and the meetings just go on forever and ever...)

Later that same day, the Broward MPO and the Federal Highway Administration are hosting a workshop on expanding toll lanes to Broward County’s arterial roads.
You know, the roads that you use most?

Since space is limited, of course, you need to RSVP to attend the workshop, which is scheduled to go from 1:30-5 p.m. at the Broward MPO Board Room, Trade Centre South, 100 West Cypress Creek Road, Suite 850, Fort Lauderdale.

This is right next to the Cypress Creek Tri-Rail station.

Christopher Ryan of Broward MPO is the contact person: (954) 876-0036 or ryanc@browardmpo.org

Look at this video produced for the Broward MPO's on the 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan. http://www.youtube.com/user/jacobsproductions1


Their homepage is at http://www.browardmpo.org/mpo/2035lrtp/index.html

Do you see any 2009 PUBLIC meetings scheduled in Hollywood or Hallandale Beach?No, there weren't ANY in all of southeast Broward County.

Check for yourself on the website above and you'll see that I'm right: Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Davie, Pompano Beach.
Satisfied?

Really, no meetings in southeast Broward County, nothing east of I-95 and south of the airport, that's your idea of community outreach?

Richard Blattner, a Hollywood City Commissioner, is the current Vice Chair of the Broward MPO. You might want to ask him how it came to be that IF he were doing such a great bang-up job, there not only wasn't a meeting in Hollywood, one of the five biggest cities in the county, but not a single one in SE Broward.

That's NOT exactly my idea of vision, leadership or a solid performance on the MPO.
Seems more like he's sleepwalking.
Blattner's city commission info: Telephone: (954) 921-3321
Email: rblattner@hollywoodfl.org
http://www.hollywoodfl.org/city_commission/district4.htm

And while you're talking to Blattner, whose transportation expertise and prowess seems to me to be more media-generated than genuine, you might want to ask him whether or not he will actually be around when the City of Hollywood finally has covered bus shelters for riders at Young Circle, instead of slabs, since it's the busiest stop in all of SE Broward.
Looking north on East Young Circle/U.S.-1 in Hollywood, FL, just east of the ArtsPark, at the bus stop at the strip mall owned by Equity One, featuring Publix and Walgreen's. February 5, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

The ArtsPark at Young Circle was finished four years ago, so what's the big hold-up on getting the appropriate sized shelters that bring in revenue thru advertising and keep mass transit riders out of the rain and sunshine?
That's a reasonable question he and his colleagues should've been asked and forced to answer in public a long time ago!
Looking west on Tyler Street in Hollywood, FL, just northeast of the ArtsPark, at the bus stop north of the strip mall owned by Equity One, featuring Publix and Walgreen's. That's The Radius condo in middle of photo, which has a Starbucks on ground floor.
February 5, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Actually, I did ask that question aloud at the County's transportation meeting a few years ago at the Convention Center, the meeting where Broward Commissioner Lois Wexler refererred to me as "the young man in the back" when I got off a litany of self-evident but largely-ignored transportation problems in Broward, not all of which were the responsibility of BCT.
(Another current transportation problem in SE Broward that is being completely ignored is coming to the blog within the next week to ten days, complete with embarrassing photos.)

This, famously, was the same transportation summit I've written about previously on the blog where Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper came up to me after and started making excuses for why well over 90% of all the bus shelters in Hallandale Beach on the city's three main streets had lights that been out at night for YEARS, as I had told everyone assembled.

Her first response was how much she hated Clear Channel, the advertising company that the city had a contract with that generated revenue for them.
Fix the problem!

It took YEARS, and there are now dozens of them on main roads like U.S.-1 that have been out for 6-9 months, in front of the Steak & Shake restaurant opposite Gulfstream Park, for instance, near the cityline with Aventura.

Where's the public oversight Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew are responsible for?
Missing in action!

Well, they've been MIA for so long they are presumed brain dead.

As I said, Blattner is the Vice Chair, but some woman I've never heard of named Rae Carole Armstrong, the mayor of Plantation, is the MPO Chair.
I don't know her from Eve, but if she has any common sense, she will wise-up in the coming days and realize that this absurd anti-democratic, top-down policy proposal going forward will be a political noose around any and all elected officials on the MPO who vote to approve this.
I will personally work to ensure that.

And Armstrong, personally, better be prepared to answer some tough questions from citizens about costs and why if this group of her's is SO professional, a very big if, why there are barely more than a handful of people in ALL of South Florida who even know about these two Thursday meetings.

A case could be made that the Broward MPO is the single most dysfunctional public policy group in all of South Florida, given their paltry results and public awareness versus their salary costs.

For instance, look at how many people have seen the county's MPO's video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps8U2RuM98c

Really, 156 views in almost 20 months, two of them, me?
That's pathetic and epic failure.
Elsewhere, that's the sort of piss-poor response rate that gets people fired from their jobs.
Nice going geniuses.

I'd love to know how much it costs taxpayers to put this together, since it really gives you some insight into how totally screwed-up transportation policy is here!
And look at the pathetic In the News section of the 2035 homepage, where you'd expect to find accounts of news stories.
http://www.browardmpo.org/mpo/2035lrtp/inthenews.html

The most recent thing there is from January 23rd, 2009.
That's right, the most recent thing is from over TWO YEARS ago, which means that none of the so-called public meetings ever so much as made a dent in the Miami Herald or Sun-Sentinel news coverage, or local TV stations, because you know that they would have it there if it had seen the light of day in print.
Smells like failure to me.

The MPO has a so-called blog on their web page http://www.browardmpo.org/mpo/2035lrtp/comments.html Here's what it says:

Post your comments on the Broward MPO 2035 LRTP Blog

The discussion is open to the public and people are able to respond to others comments.
Some topics of discussion include overall Broward County Transportation Issues and innovative transportation solutions.

*Comments posted here are visible to the public.

Guess what happens when you go there to look at the public's questions and comments?There Are NO Questions or Comments.
What does THAT tell you about what sort of job they're doing?

Here's the list of MPO members along with contact information. http://publicforum.broward2035lrtp.com/mpo/boardmembers.htm and here's the staffers info, http://publicforum.broward2035lrtp.com/mpo/mpostaff.htm

You might want to consider adding MPO head honcho Greg Stuart as a cc in any of your queries. For more on Greg Stuart and what's been going on with him in charge, see this post of mine from May of 2010, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/brittany-wallman-is-on-top-of-broward.html and this Broward Bulldog piece from September of 2010, one of a series on very curious doings at the Broward MPO,
http://www.browardbulldog.org/2010/09/whistleblower-probes-expose-bad-blood-behind-county-mpo-split/
I will be at the meetings Thursday and you can pretty much guess what I'm going to be talking about.
By the way -surprise!- there has not been a single mention in the Herald or Sun-Sentinel about Thursday's two meetings.
Or anything on local TV newscasts.

I just double-checked.
As IF I really needed to!
-----
See also: http://browardnetonline.com/2011/02/fha-to-discu-expre-lane-expansion-on-all-roads-warning/

"Lombardi. A certain magic still lingers in the very name. It speaks of duels in the snow and cold November mud..."; Packers will win by at least 8!

"...He stood for everything that was solid and successful in American sports. He remains for many, the very heart of pro football, pumping hard right now. Every year the winner of the Super Bowl is awarded the Vincent Lombardi Trophy. His legacy is the greatest prize the game can offer."
-John Facenda for NFL Films

The Sport of the '60's

Green Bay Coach Vince Lombardi; December 21, 1962

Seven years later to the date of this cover, Lombardi coached his last game, a losing effort for the Redskins. Nine months later he'd be dead of intestinal cancer at age 57. The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University is named for him.
See http://lombardi.georgetown.edu/

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.aspx?PLAYER_ID=132

The first sports-related piece of clothing I ever had was a shirt that I wore in the Fall as a kid living in Memphis in the mid-sixties, age five or six, which my father had bought at a Dept. store. It was made with what I'd now call sweatshirt-quality cotton and was certainly far too heavy to wear in the oppressive summer heat that Memphis excelled in producing -with no sweat!

It was sort of an oatmeal/mustard combination of a color with green stripes on the shoulder, with a big green 5 on the front and back.
Yes, The Golden Boy, Paul Hornung!
http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/paul-hornung-5/

I wish I still had that shirt now!

Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies

"It's why you play the game!" -Herm Edwards

Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies from Miami Dolphin victories in Super Bowl VII and VIII, at Dolphins HQ, Davie, FL; April 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez

Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota

Larry Csonka, January 21, 1974

Miami All The Way

Bob Griese, January 22, 1973

1972 Miami Dolphins team photo at The Orange Bowl

This is identical to the photo of the 17-0 Undefeated Team that for six years, rested in a frame on top of my bedroom dresser at my home in North Miami Beach. There it stayed 'till that fateful day in August of 1979, when I began packing for my new life in Bloomington. The photo made the trip to Bloomington intact, where it remained on my desk in my room, Briscoe Quad 427-A, for two very eventful years at IU, the latter being 1981, the year we beat North Carolina for the NCAA basketball title. I placed it right below my 8'' x 11'' b&w glossy of the Miami Herald's All-County Gymnastics team. That squad was a tremendous team that featured many talented friends of mine from all around Dade County, as well as my own talented friends and classmates at North Miami Beach High School, where my senior year, under the leadership of our beloved head coach, Peter Saponaro, we won the Florida state championship.

Even today, I can still name every player and coach on that amazing Dolphins team.

Building For The Super Bowl

Miami Coach Don Shula, December 11, 1972As most of you regular readers to Hallandale Beach Blog know by now, the Dolphins' Perfect Season of 1972 was my first year as a Dolphins season ticket holder, and I was there for every single moment at the Orange Bowl: pre-season, regular season and playoff.
The most scared I ever was of the team losing was the Cleveland Browns divisional playoff game the day before Christmas, a 20-14 win. The tension was palpable.
What does everyone pictured above have in common?
Correct, they're all inductees in the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, located just 49 miles from my dad's hometown of Steubenville, Home of The Big Red, the part of Ohio
where my paternal ancestors have lived for over 200 years.

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/
http://www.nfl.com/videos


I like the Packers by at least 8 over the Steelers in Super Bowl 45 tonight.
http://www.nfl.com/
http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/45

Reagan's 100th Birthday: Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Curates YouTube.com on Reagan's 100th Birthday!

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Curates YouTube.com on Reagan's 100th Birthday!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEa9xOkpJgc

http://www.reaganlibrary.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ReaganFoundation


http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/product.asp?sku=D64025&shopRef=TCMdb|Title

Original trailer -Knute Rockne--All American (1940)
Still one of my favorite films, which I've seen at least thirty times over the years. http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=27603&titleId=80476


TCM's 31 Days of Oscar 2011

1977 interview with Miami R&B legend Betty Wright; Clean up Woman; Miami Groove

1977 WCIX-TV interview with Miami R&B singing legend Betty Wright on her recollections of the Miami music scene, and the artists who performed at the Sir John Hotel in Miami.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-thfb6BFwo

The long-since destroyed Sir John Hotel discussed in the clip was located in downtown Miami on N.W. 6th Street & N.W. 3rd Avenue, and was only a few blocks from the old Channel 4 WTVJ-TV studio that was at 316 N. Miami Avenue.

C.T. Taylor, mentioned in the clip by Betty Wright as a music DJ at WMBM-AM, was hired in 1968 by Channel 4 news director and anchor Ralph Renick to become the first African-American on-air news reporter in Miami.

That fateful year was the year of the Liberty City riots in Miami during the Republican National Convention over on Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
(In 1972, it hosted both national party conventions.)

Taylor's extensive knowledge of the area and its personalities, people's trust of him, and his nightly fact-filled, context-heavy reporting from the scene during the riots, gave WTVJ a huge reporting advantage over their local news competitors and the three TV networks of the time.
His insightful reports sometimes appeared on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

For most of my childhood growing-up in Miami, Taylor and Renick were each among the best-known and most widely-respected men in all of South Florida.
They had credibility earned thru merit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Wright
http://www.youtube.com/user/wolfsonarchive




Betty Wright Clean up Woman (LIVE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ssMVL9I1Q




Betty Wright - Miami Groove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azb8MtVzCO4

Chicago vs. The Blizzard: The Day After. A 'buried city' thaws and claws its way back to life as mayoral election looms on Feb. 22nd

WGN-TV: Mayor, candidates weigh in on city's response to snow
Daley says he supported the Lake Shore Drive decision
http://www.cltv.com/news/wgntv-daley-snow-response-feb3,0,6295269.story


WGN-TV: Chicago Fire Dept. uses rented snow mobiles to rescue residents during the blizzard


Chicago Tribune time-lapse video: The blizzard in 60 seconds
http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/73765844-5b08-4688-a06d-078fbbf4eacd/Weather/Video-time-lapse-The-blizzard-begins

Photos: Blizzard of 2011:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-110201-monster-snowstorm-2011-pictures,0,6718278.photogallery

http://blog.chicagoweathercenter.com/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/

http://www.chicagomayoralscorecard.com/