FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'

Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan

Friday, April 27, 2012

Will Miami Dolphins' selection of Ryan Tannehill in first-round of 2012 NFL Draft result in Dolphin season ticket holders calling a timeout, too, and total number of subscriber tickets getting below 30,000 for first time since pre-Don Shula? Yes.



The Jason Taylor "Thank you" sign going up on U.S. 441/N.W. 2nd Avenue, Miami Gardens, FL. The area that my friends and I in NMB in the '70's always just called "around Norland," which was everything from I-95 north to the Broward county line, back when the county line really meant something. Long before there was a city called Miami Gardens. December 30, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved


The workers pinch here, and pull there... the fabric ads are so much easier to put up than the old-fashioned ones requiring experienced painters. But then I'm old-fashioned, having grown-up, like my two sisters, with the sight of the iconic motorized Coppertone billboard -with the black terrier puppy pulling the Coppertone girl's bikini bottom down to expose her tan line- at the I-95/Golden Glades Interchange/Cloverleaf exit on N.W. 167th Street greeting us every time we returned from trips elsewhere in South Florida -or out-of-state. For my sisters and I, that amazing Coppertone sign was always the sign that we were finally home. http://www.pbase.com/image/77098090
And the perfect landmark for directions, since it was impossible to miss.
December 30, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved




I was never a big fan of Jason Taylor's, per se, like many other devout Dol-fans, as I have noted a time or two here before, but this was a very classy thing to do.
December 30, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved


Rather than my going on-and-on after 1 a.m. about the myriad problems associated with the Dolphins selecting Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill with their eight pick in the NFL draft's first- round about five hours ago, with the idea of keeping him in cold storage for the next year or so, instead of selecting a proven play-maker who can immediately help them win more games this year -I suggested Quinton Coples, who wound-up being drafted at #16 by the Jets- I will ask you this simple question.


Given whom the team has chosen to draft with their first-round selection, a player who will likely not play significantly this year, do you believe the number of Dolphin season tickets will actually go below 30,000 before Ryan Tannehill ever starts three games in a row as a pro?  
Until three months ago, I would never have imagined I'd be saying this, but I now believe the correct answer to that question is YES.


As i stated here recently, I believe that the Dolphins will only sell-out two home ballgames this year, the Jets and the Patriots, which is good news I suppose for the Hurricanes' ticket office.


I also have a very bad feeling that some people in South Florida will be receiving a letter EXACTLY like this one very soon from Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, with only the dates and names changed from the one I received last year.


Yes, it's really starting to feel a lot like IU football circa 2009 around here with the Dolphins, and you know that is NOT a good thing.


-----


Dolphin Delusions: from my email inbox of July 26, 2011 


BACK TO FOOTBALL |

Letterhead_Top.jpg

Dear David,

Welcome back to football! We are ecstatic that we can now turn our attention to the 2011 season that lies ahead.

I want to assure you - as both a fan and as the owner of the Dolphins - that we share the same goal. We  want to bring a Super Bowl Championship back to South Florida. That's always been my commitment. I feel even stronger about it now. You deserve nothing less.

Our coaches and players are eager to kick off the 2011 campaign in a big way. Thanks to the hard work of Jeff Ireland and our football staff, we were able to infuse our squad with a potent combination of speed, power and athleticism during the 2011 NFL Draft. With Coach Sparano's relentless dedication leading the way, we will build a smart, tough and disciplined team. We will continue to be active and aggressive in our ongoing effort to assemble a strong, championship caliber team.

Thank you for all you do for the Miami Dolphins. I am proud and honored to be a part of this storied franchise and appreciate your loyal support of our team. I look forward to seeing you at Sun Life Stadium in 2011.

Go Dolphins!

Sincerely,

Steve Ross



This message was transmitted on behalf of:
Miami Dolphins Sales and Marketing
347 Don Shula Drive
Miami Gardens, FL 33056

-----
http://www.agilitynut.com/roadside.html

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Instant Classic video! Romania's National Ice Hockey Team manager lets loose after tough loss to Poland; IIHF World Championship 2012 Finland/Sweden starts next week



Warning -lots of expletives are flying in this video!
But it is still destined to become a CLASSIC!

Romania National Ice Hockey Team manager lets loose with tough love after tough loss to Poland; Tränarens utbrott efter storförlusten Polen - Rumänien. This was following a Group B qualifying game at Krynica, Poland. April 2012.
http://www.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/sport/ishockey/article14728686.ab

I first saw this video on Wednesday on the video page of Aftonbladet, Sweden's most-read newspaper, and I played it five more times in quick succession... for obvious reasons.
The IIHF World Championship, a 16-team tourney, will be played in Stockholm and Helsinki starting next Thursday May the 4th thru the 20th, with the final in Stockholm at Ericsson Globe a.k.a. Globen.

With the Stanley Cup playoffs continuing and talented teams like the defending champion Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks being eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, some very talented foreign players, and Swedish players in particular, will now be available to play in the tourney from the very beginning.
For the Swedes on those teams, the prospect of returning to play for the Swedish National Team, Tre Kronor, and playing at home, and for for the title at home is very appealing.

Aftonbladet's sports columnist Mats Wennerholm wrote about the subject of these returning NHL stars Tuesday, terming it a "Dream Team": Drömläge, Tre Kronor: Sju NHL-spelare klara – och fler stjärnor på gång  http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/kronikorer/wennerholm/article14725006.ab

My early title game prediction is Sweden vs. Slovakia.
But so very much has changed in the past year for both of these elite teams, something they could have never imagined.


 video: IIHF World Championship 2012 Finland/Sweden. February 14, 2012. 
Here's the very well-produced unofficial Slovakian video about the Ice hockey Championship, though obviously it helps if you know who the players are, and some of the dazzling plays are beyond description. It also includes a very touching tribute to former Slovak captain Pavol Demitra, who perished in the September 7th Russian airline crash into the Volga River that claimed the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslav KHL team, including Tre Kronor star goalie Stefan Liv. http://youtu.be/lSsY2P5tFZI

SVT video: Minnesstund för Liv i Jönköping.
Thousands flock to Jönköping to say their final farewell to their friend, teammate, neighbor, favorite son and hero, Stefan Liv.
Publicerad 10 september 2011 - 14:00; Uppdaterad 11 september 2011 - 10:08
* 2013 Update: This news video, which was VERY, VERY  SAD, has been removed from SVT's website and is no longer available.

My September 7, 2011 blog post on that tragic crash, with videos, was titled,
Swedish National Team goalie Stefan Liv among 43 dead in plane crash into Volga River, obliterating KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl as new season starts
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/swedish-national-team-goalie-stefan-liv.html

Above, the Finnish first-class stamp that came out last month that features the official mascot of the Championship, HockeyBird. If you didn't already know, Angry Birds was created in Finland by Rovio Mobile.

Here's the English language version of the official information webpage, which also has one in Swedish and Finnish: IIHF World Championship 2012 Finland/Sweden

Aftonbladet's awesome hockey page: http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/hockey/

Here's the official tourney merchandise page full of lots of intersting goodies: http://62.20.67.28/wm2012/Servlet

Here's the Swedish Facebook page that has lots of photos of the arena and the preparation:

Branislav Kysucký's You Tube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/8brano7
http://www.branno.tk/  

Arizona's immigration law goes before U.S. Supreme Court; Myanmar's natural beauty -largely tourist-free, but for how long?; Rupert Murdoch before the Leveson Inquiry




Timescast of the New York Times for April 25, 2012: Arizona's immigration law goes before U.S. Supreme Court; Myanmar's natural beauty -largely tourist-free, but for how long?; Rupert Murdoch before the Leveson Inquiry. http://youtu.be/WKktlz4UVHc


I'll have some thoughts to share later today on Murdochpère et filsand the Levseon Inquiry later today, including some thoughts on an angle to the story involving former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that, curiously, never seems to quite get mentioned in the American press, but which if it did happen here, would be the thought uppermost on everyone's minds.


It's hard not to look at those islands in Mynamar and not think of the scenery for two 007 films, The Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies, since both were filmed in both Thailand and near the South China Sea.


I wonder how long it will be before Sports Illustrated shoots their annual swimsuit issue there?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/swimsuit/home/index.htm
Once that happens, there'll be no putting the genie back in the bottle.
As we have all seen before...

Colorized clips from first episode of NBC-TV's I Dream of Jeannie, The Lady In the Bottle, September 18, 1965. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_In_The_Bottle


The first episode, in glorious Black & White



http://youtu.be/Er547IHK6Io



Wednesday, April 25, 2012

More proof that Tampa Bay Times' bias is showing: intentionally-misleading faux headlines in blog posts: "Marco Rubio's grandfather ordered deported"


More proof that Tampa Bay Times' bias is showing: intentionally-misleading faux headlines in blog posts: "Marco Rubio's grandfather ordered deported"

Yes, in 1962 -nine years before Marco Rubio was born.

Yes, rather than someone at the The Times doing the right thing and put the year in the headline, they intentionally left it out knowing THAT headline would provoke more hits and visits to the website. Once again, telling the truth would've ruined what the Mainstream Media thought was a clever idea.
It reeks of desperation.


As I've stated here before, The Buzz blog has degenerated from one of the best places to find out useful information in the state to the number-one site for creepy political Internet trolls from the  Kos Kooks Army, which is why I and so many people I know around the state no longer bother leaving comments there, esp. information that is not controversial.
No matter what you say, you get attacked.

At least when Greg Gutfeld on Fox News' Red Eye does his funny, intentionally-misleading made-up bits, say, something like this, "George Clooney is dead... tired of people asking him when he first realized he was good-looking," everyone gets why it's funny.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/red-eye/index.html

Beautiful, just like the original! Greta Garbo will be featured on the new Swedish 100 Kronor note, with Ingmar Bergman on the 200 SEK note, all designed by Göran Österlund, starting in 2015


Designed by Göran Österlund

Beautiful, just like the original! Greta Garbo will be featured on the new Swedish 100 Kronor note, with Ingmar Bergman on the 200 SEK note, all designed by Göran Österlund, starting in 2015
Many years ago, when I was still living in the Washington, D.C. area, and despite a busy schedule, usually managing to see a foreign film a week, one night while leaving the theatre, completely out-of-the-blue, I came to the sudden realization that unless Uma Thurman or Cate Blanchett agreed to portray her in a well-written biopic, there was almost no chance we were ever going to see a top-tier actress play Garbo in a believable way.


Queen Christina trailer (1933): The One and Only Garbo!
I think I've probably seen Queen Christina about a dozen times over the past 30 years.

There's already a story and photo gallery of the five banknotes designed by Göran Österlund up on the online version of Aftonbladet, Sweden's most-read daily newspaper, which I read everyday online.

Här är de nya sedlarna
By Camilla Sundell
April 24, 2012

The five notes will likely be introduced in 2015, once the security features are added
Ingmar Bergman is on the new 200 Kronor note, replacing Selma Lagerlöf, who was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.


Designed by Göran Österlund

Former U.N. Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld is to be on the 1000 SEK note.
first read Hammarskjöld's book of poetry, Markings, when I was at JFK Junior High in North Miami Beach in the mid-70's and it just totally amazed me.
I checked that book out of the NMB public library and continuously renewed it for about 4-6 months after it was placed back on the shelves.



Designed by Göran Österlund

Here's the official press release, in English:
http://www.riksbank.se/Documents/Pressmeddelanden/2012/prm_120424_eng.pdf

"All of the entries in the design competition will also be presented at the Royal Coin Cabinet/Sweden's Museum of Economy from May 4th...".

Sveriges Riksbank video: Sveriges nya sedlar presenteras. 
Press conference in Stockholm unveiling the five new Swedish banknotes in a series that are slated to hit the street in 2015, celebrating Swedish cultural icons and provinces. April 24, 2012. http://youtu.be/0CCtjMf1ESI

You can skip to the unveiling at 11:47!

-----
http://www.youtube.com/user/SverigesRiksbank

Monday, April 23, 2012

Excellent video from the Everglades Foundation re South Florida's fresh water supply -with a cameo by HB Comm. Keith London- that really puts things into perspective for South Florida residents, present and future


Everglades Foundation video: Everglades Summit: Water Supply in South Florida
February 1, 2012. February 12, 2012. http://youtu.be/UYP35yT8gFI


This film is one in a series created by the Everglades Foundation that is now at their YouTube Channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/EvergladesFndtn/ which I have since subscribed, has terrific production values and really puts things into perspective for South Florida residents, present and future.

One of the interview suspects, Michael Grunwald of TIME magazine, is based out of Miami and is the author of the critically-received book, The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise (Simon & Schuster, 2006)


See also:
GOVERNING Magazine
The Price of Greening Stormwater
Philadelphia officials hope the city’s redesigned stormwater fees will lead to imaginative private financing that will help rehabilitate watersheds.
By Tom Arrandale, April 20, 2012
http://www.governing.com/topics/energy-env/price-greening-stormwater-philadelphia.html


-----

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Coming Monday: first of several pieces on the Hallandale Beach City Commission's galling 'business-as-usual' attitude about issuing Hallandale Beach CRA loans -it's NOT their money, it's yours!

Tomorrow I'll have the first of several pieces on the Hallandale Beach City Commission and their galling 'business-as-usual' attitude about Hallandale Beach CRA loans, in this case, despite the absence of much-needed information and assurances to make a reasonably-informed vote on behalf of Hallandale Beach's beleaguered taxpayers.
It's NOT their money, it's yours!


It's as if they learned nothing from what the Marcum LLP semi-audit revealed -lackluster to non-existent internal controls and appropriate follow-up.


And from the perspective of a pro-reform person like myself who is and has been paying close attention, that's made worse when the elected officials refuse to step-up and do their job correctly.


Seriously, given what has gone on in this city for so many years, some of the matters that the Broward Inspector General's Office is currently investigating, what sort of elected officials consciously votes on giving a loan of $50,000 to someone without all the reasonable questions being answered in full, the very same ones that weren't asked for or demanded in many of those previous deals under scrutiny now, which have cost HB taxpayers not only money but aggravation and with precious little tangible results to show for it?


I would submit that it is elected officials who are likely to be kicked out of City Hall in November.


Trust me, what you will be reading here and contemplating the full meaning of, will only highlight for you all over again the full extent of the anti-taxpayer culture present at HB City Hall now, and the curious but consistent myopia of some city Commissioners here who claim to be doing their job effectively, but who seem never to have heard of the word "oversight."


That would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

A very curious-but-pleasant surprise for some South Florida bloggers from the Miami Herald, but there's still so much more blogger knowledge & synergy that ought to be publicly displayed on a regular basis. South Florida needs a weekly Broward/Miami-Dade Politics Hour on radio!

Above, my screenshot of today's Miami Herald website showing where the link to their South Florida Blogs are shown on the page by the orange circle, at the bottom of the default, with no icons of any sort to identify it.
Could it be more hidden?

Wow! Very curious but pleasant surprise from Miami Herald

Just noticed this NEW change from last week at Miami Herald -they're linking my (our) blog posts under their extant "city" pages, i.e. http://www.miamiherald.com/hallandale-beach/

Example: 

It's not as easy to navigate as my actual blog page, esp. moving from right-to-left because they seem to have shrunken the blog's page it to fit within their own "window," but while you have to know to navigate to your right to see the important fact-filled right-hand column of the blog, which doesn't show up immediately on their "window," my three Google Adsense ads are included, so that's very good. 
(This'll make more sense when you see the URL above.)

After I watch the Duke-North Carolina ACC Lacrosse title game that starts on ESPNU at 3 p.m., I need to spend some time checking whether they're doing this for every city in Broward and Miami-Dade that has a blog I'm aware of, or whether they're now including bloggers on those "city" pages who are not currently on their own "South Florida Blogs" list, which I know might include some of you reading this.

If the Herald really wanted to play this smart, they'd greatly expand that list of blogs -after asking them first- and then link to the "city" page in their online version of their articles via a link at the end of the article, not unlike a label or tag at the end of a blog post.

That would make it a lot easier for news junkies like me to see if anyone else has already written on the subject at hand, perhaps -likely- even better and with more knowledge of the actual facts and context, the lack of which is one of the biggest and most-constant criticisms of the current group of Herald reporters in either county.

As it happens, about ten days ago, partly out of curiosity as much as boredom, I actually checked their "South Florida Blogs" homepage on the Herald's blah website for the first time in about 6-8 months, and it seemed the way it always was -neglected and with zero colorful icons to catch a reader's attention as they scrolled almost all the way down the page, compared to it being located near the top when they first initiated it, when hopes were high I suppose.

Frankly, as I'm sure is NOT a surprise to many of you reading this given how often I've taken the Herald's website to task, that link is very easy to miss and to my thinking, has represented a terrible blunder by the Herald 


Unlike has been the case in cities like Seattle and Chicago, where lots of creativity, energy and outside-the-box thinking took place as how to best utilize the bloggers to help them and get more information out to the public via a media platform, the Herald seemed largely satisfied with just having a link and nothing else.


Now sometimes that outside-the-box thinking doesn't live up to anyone's expectations, most especially the bloggers, as happened with the experiment that was the Tribune's Chicago Now Radio Show that first aired in 2009 on WGN radio from 9 am-Noon on Saturdays
http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/chicagonow/wgnam-chicago-now-about-show,0,4398318.story but which was killed after about a year, despite this sort of attention:

Still, the axe fell on the radio show -see 6th paragraph of 

The whole dysfunctional episode in Chicago between the legacy media's Tribune Company, ChicagoNOW and the bloggers makes even more sense when you read what was really going on behind-the-scenes as Mike Doyle recounts in his blog post, The Past Imperfect of ChicagoNow, or, as I prefer to remember it using one of his funnier lines, "You can’t run a 21st-century blog network at the speed of a 19th-century newspaper" which ran a few months before the radio show was killed.

This seems to be yet another instance where bloggers were the bait for a legacy media company that wanted to be more relevant, but where the management and bureaucracy of the media powers-that-be and the media platform company weren't too terribly interested in making the product not only more useful for readers, but work for the bloggers, too.

When you consider how many smart and creative people there are in South Florida who have some experience of a sort to add something interesting and new to the news and conversation mix, and yet see how poorly the Herald has reacted to New Media and technology, as I've mentioned here previously in my November 27, 2010 blog post titled
How a video of Paramore in Stockholm & Razorlight in London proves the Miami Herald is too damn slow. Iceberg dead ahead!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-video-of-paramore-in-stockholm.html 
it's amazing to me that McClatchy's Herald or one of the local Miami TV stations -or even these bewildering sycophantic TV production outfits like Plum TVwhich seem so focused on very shallow topics and celebs for their affluent or wannabe affluent viewers that they fail to appreciate how silly they appearhaven't yet figured out a way to regularly get knowledgeable and articulate people in South Florida who are bloggers on the air to share a story in an interesting and original way, getting much-deserved attention to news stories or issues that people do care about but which the local news media is largely ignoring, for whatever reason.

But then South Florida is the year 2012 is an area without an All-News radio station and
despite all its pretensions, still hasn't figured out a way to have a weekly one-hour radio show on Miami-Dade politics, govt. and local current events one hour, and then Broward the next -or vice-versa.
Say on Friday morning or at Noon, or Saturday mornings from 10-Noon.

The template for this sort of weekly format already exists on Washington, D.C.'s NPR 

affiliate WAMU, which has had this hugely-popular show on Friday afternoon's from Noon-2 p.m. for over 25 years, with D.C. and Maryland/Virginia.

It also features the two governors and the DC mayor, separately, regularly taking questions from their well-informed callers, flanked by savvy area reporters to ask questions as well, and not just folks from the WaPo, either.
I listened to it every week for 15 years and so did almost everyone I know, as well as nearly every serious civic activist and news junkie in the area.

There's nothing even remotely like that currently on South Florida radio/TV.

I'm curious what's happened to the Herald to at least in a small way, shake them out of their longstanding doldrums, since they should've been integrating knowledgeable bloggers into their own coverage over two-and-a-half years ago, when they first introduced the South Florida blog directory and I was included under "Communities
and didn't even know about it because they never contacted me.

As I've mentioned here previously, I only found out about it in the first place because a friend saw it and asked me why I hadn't told her about it.

Could it be that some of my recent (better!) posts re the Broward IG investigation into Hallandale Beach and some other areas to check into, which I'd sent originally as a bcc email to Rick Hirsch, the Herald's Executive Editor -he's Anders Gyllenhaal's successor- the number-two person, directly under the publisher David Landsberg, caused Hirsch or someone else to re-think about some of those accurate verbal darts I threw last December -and some good ideas I suggested to him and others at Herald HQ- which I then posted online here? I highly doubt it but still...

I'm kind of dismayed, since I'd not usually have even checked that HB city page, since given the way the Herald has largely ignored the city for many years, due in part to the fact that Hollywood also holds their City Commission meetings on the same days, that city page of theirs has usually served as nothing but the dusty attic of an archive of recent stories, all of which I'd already read. 
And nothing else the least bit useful to readers here.

Hmm-m... it figures that given how things over there have been managed the past few years, even when the Herald does something good, like this probably will turn out to be, they do so in such an odd and confusing way.
And again, with me knowing nothing about it beforehand.

Yes, a very curious-but-pleasant surprise, indeed!
But is it just the first step or the one-and-only change?
Wish I knew.

Again? Sunshine State News details more suspect behavior from FairDistricts Florida & their Democratic allies re 2012 redistricting: the very epitome of a backroom deal -theirs! Is that why FairDistricts NEVER submitted a plan in November?

Again? Sunshine State News details even more suspect behavior from the folks at FairDistricts Florida and their Democratic allies re 2012 redistricting: the very epitome of a backroom deal -theirs! 
Is that why Fair Districts NEVER submitted a plan in November?


Coming fresh on the heels of my email and subsequent blog post of Tuesday the 17th, titled

Hypocrisy on FL Redistricting: Why FairDistricts Florida & Florida League of Women Voters are early contenders for this blog's Turkey of the Year Award -all talk, little action and no submitted maps before the legal deadline
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/hypocrisy-on-fl-redistricting-why.html
and the rather stunning news Thursday from Peter Schorschsain at Saint Petersblog that showed how very suspect the judgement of someone at the top like Ellen Freidin (and her husband) were to even the appearance of impropriety... 


Saint Petersblog
Law firm of Fair Districts’ Freidin’s husband donates $500 to 3 FL Supr. Ct. justices before redistricting hearing
Posted by Peter Schorsch, April 19th, 2012
http://saintpetersblog.com/2012/04/law-firm-of-fair-districts-friedins-husband-donates-500-to-3-fl-supr-ct-justices-before-redistricting-hearing/
it's clear that the folks who, first, wanted my signature, and then months later, my vote -twice- are guilty of pulling a fraud all this time, despite their lofty-sounding rhetoric.


And now the specific details of that betrayal are starting to publicly emerge.


The total number of maps submitted by the public to the Florida Senate redistricting committee by the November 1st, 2011 5 p.m. deadline was 156.
Seriously, it's one thing to complain from the sidelines, but to remain on the sidelines and  submit ZERO actual plans to the state Senate to vote upon after you actually win a resounding victory from Florida voters with 63% of the vote?
What sort of geniuses do that?


Plus, in case you forgot the chronology, on January 27th, there was this bit of news regarding Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich from western Broward:
Rich decides not to file amendment for Dems redistricting map
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/01/rich-decides-not-to-file-amendment-redistricting-map.html


Yes, this all sounds remarkably like someone who wins the war but then loses the peace.
It sounds suspiciously and clumsily Dan Gelber-like to me.


As I wrote here on Tuesday in that referenced blog post, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, thru the Senate Redistricting Comm. had a terrific information-filled website, a  Twitter feed and a YouTube Channel to share information, including clips from the actual redistricting meetings that were held around the state.


Conversely, today, April 22, 2012, when you go to YouTube and do a search for "Ellen Freidin," assuming that over a period of three years, there surely must be at least a few dozen or so videos of her that are at least 30-seconds or longer that have been posted there where she was at least one of the guests -if not the sole interview- of one of the dozens of TV stations in Florida, or even newspaper-affiliated blogs with a YouTube Channel -another area where the Miami Herald is MIA- guess what you find?
No video results for “"Ellen Freidin"”
Surprise!


On the plus side, because most of the videos that were shown as results for the Freidin search were from the Ellen DeGeneres Show, no matter how many times you do it, we were reminded once again of "Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown"
Yes, the lovely, talented and clearly quite-a-handful Miss Bell.







Sunshine State News
Democrats Tried to Hatch Back-Door 'Deal' on Redistricting, Don Gaetz Says
By Kenric Ward
Posted: April 21, 2012 3:55 AM
While publicly posturing for "fairness" in redistricting, a group of top Florida Democrats privately pushed for maps that would benefit party brass, according to documents obtained by Sunshine State News.
Read the rest of the amazing story at: 
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/democrats-tried-hatch-backdoor-deal-redistricting-don-gaetz-says


Well, it's not like we weren't warned in advance, is it?


Nope, over two  years ago there were clear signs of what has come to pass.
Ellen Freidin was given the opportunity by the Florida Senate to try putting together maps according to the parameters of the two Amendments to the Florida Constitution that I voted fo, after urging their passage here on this blog many times.


As Bill Coterell's column below shows, she turned them down.
Earlier this year, they renewed that same offer
She turned them down again. 
So what are we left to think?


Redistricting proposals under fire
Legislators challenge FairDistricts Florida head to redraw district lines
By Bill Cotterell, Florida Capital Bureau
February 12, 2010

Florida's two most powerful legislators challenged the head of the FairDistricts Florida campaign Thursday to draw a legal congressional map under the terms the group's proposed constitutional amendment would require if passed.

Ellen Freidin, who chaired the petition campaign that put two constitutional amendments on the November ballot, declined the offer. Worn out by more than three hours of what she described as often rude questions, she accepted software and a batch of paperwork from the 2002 redistricting but said she won't bother trying to draw congressional lines that might suit the openly hostile House and Senate committees.

"Many of the members of this committee are very concerned about losing their opportunity to redraw the districts in 2012 in order to insure their own political perpetuation," she said. "I actually wasn't expecting to be treated quite as rudely as I think that I was treated, quite frankly, but I was expecting a lot of resistance."

FairDistrict's proposed amendments, on the ballot Nov. 2, would prohibit new congressional and legislative districts drawn to favor or handicap any political party or incumbent officeholders. Districts would have to be as nearly equal in population as practical, be compact and respect the boundaries of cities, counties and other communities as much as possible.

They would still be subject to minority-access rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But legislators would no longer be able to concentrate blacks, Hispanics and certain party members into a few districts.

Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, offered to fly Freidin back to Tallahassee, give her access to House and Senate staff and provide any other data or help she needs to draw a sample congressional map.

"This is not rocket science," Freidin, a Miami lawyer, said at a joint meeting of the House and Senate committees. "This Legislature is totally capable of drawing maps with these standards."

Haridopolos and Cannon then pounced.

"We'll give you the software, a week, two weeks, if it's so easy to do," said Haridopolos. "You take the 2002 census data and draw us 25 congressional districts that meet your easy-to-reach criteria."

He added, "Theory is one thing, practice is another."

Freidin asked, "Are you suggesting that redistricting maps can be drawn simply by putting data into a computer?" She said it takes census data, voter registration numbers, performance data from past elections, public testimony by voters and "the collegial work of the legislative body" — none of which she could duplicate in an experiment.

"Will you do it or not?" asked Cannon.

"I don't have a Legislature to work with me on this," she replied. "I don't have public hearings."

Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, told Freidin he has been in the House or Senate through two remapping sessions, in 1992 and 2002, and that it would be impossible to protect minority districts without some "collusion" between the parties. He said the number of black members in the Legislature would decline if members were forbidden to consider party affiliation or incumbency when drawing district lines.

"I absolutely cannot say this more unequivocally," she replied. "There is not any reason to think this is going to impact negatively on minority representation."

She took the occasion to announce that the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches has endorsed the two amendments.

"I know what took place at the table, at night, looking at maps," said Lawson. "We (Democrats) were in the majority then and when we drew them, we thought we were protecting Democrats, and they got defeated anyway."

More than two years later, it's clearly too late for Freiden, Gelber & Company to call a crisis management firm to save them.
They have met the enemy and it is themselves.
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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/florida-redistricting/


http://htpolitics.com/?s=redistricting


http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/category/buzz-tags/florida-redistricting


http://saintpetersblog.com/



www.floridaredistricting.org


http://mydistrictbuilder.wordpress.com/



http://www.capitaldatelineonline.com/


http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/


August 31, 2009 Buzz blog
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/ellen-freidin-fair-districts-fla-no-democratic-scheme 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Have you not a shred of decency? Once again, City of Hollywood gives you a chance to socialize/hobnob/people-watch and shred your inhibitions -along with your old documents and top secrets- for free at Hollywood City Hall on Saturday, compliments of a giant shredder

Have you not a shred of decency? 
Once again, the City of Hollywood gives you a chance to socialize/hobnob/people-watch and shred your inhibitions -along with your old documents- for free at Hollywood City Hall on Saturday, compliments of a giant shredder that will make your memories morph into recyclable mulch.


Remember late last year when you said that this year -Yes, this year!- was going to be the year where you -and or your significant other- finally went thru all those filing cabinets, red welds, manila folders, Rubbermaid and Tote plastic storage boxes and got rid of all those incriminating spy documents. love letters and utility bills from the last 5-15 years that you had carefully assembled in chronological order, in case you ever needed to refer back to them?
I've got good news for you, the Smithsonian Institution doesn't want them after all, so you can finally get rid of them.


And what better place to show that you are no longer a pack rat than a public venue where you can film your piles of stuff being brought in on your small luggage cart or your kid's old red wagon and then being shredded like it never existed?
Yes, finally, your own YouTube video!





Free Shredding Services for the Community

The Office of the City Clerk, Records and Archives Division, with the cooperation of International Data Depository (IDD), is sponsoring a free opportunity for businesses and residents to shred their sensitive records.

IDD will bring its commercial shredding truck to the City Hall parking lot on Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 8:00 AM to 12 noon or until the truck reaches capacity.  Proof of Hollywood residency is required.  Residents are invited to shred up to ten boxes of documents free of charge.

This event is being held to heighten the community's awareness of the dangers of identity theft by preventing personally identifiable information from falling into inappropriate hands.

For more information, please contact Richard Roberts, Director of Records and Archives, at 954.921.3545 or Patricia A. Cerny, City Clerk, at 954.921.3211.