Hallandale Beach's political corruption is hiding in plain sight -"Your Tax Dollars at Work" Hallandale Beach CRA (City Commission) Says Hands Off to Broward Inspector General; Mayor Joy Cooper's stonewalling initiative begins in earnest, since the true facts are NOT her friend

The iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A/South Ocean Drive, looking east towards the North Beach Community Center and the public beach. July 12, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Hallandale Beach's political corruption is hiding in plain sight -"Your Tax Dollars at Work" Hallandale Beach CRA (City Commission) Says Hands Off to Broward Inspector General; Mayor Joy Cooper's stonewalling initiative begins in earnest, since the facts are NOT her friends

I was already planning on writing this email to Florida Governor Rick Scott, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Broward Inspector General John W. Scott, Broward County Commissioners Suzanne Gunzburger and Barbara Sharief -who each represent parts of Hallandale Beach- and the de facto County mayor, John Rodstrom, as well as some prominent members of the local South Florida news media, including Miami Herald Executive Editor Rick Hirsch about the unbelievable news that Hallandale Beach City Hall is actually considering defying a lawful request by the Broward IG's office to talk to HB's five city  commissioners and city employees.

But when I received an email from HB Comm. Keith London -a commissioner who actually wants to talk to them about what he knows and has observed over five years, and who wants to find out was REALLY going on- letting me know that there was yet another new development -more active pushback by HB City Hall, which wants to know the questions that will be asked beforehand to the commissioners and officials, people who have resisted telling the truth to a lawfully-authorized government agency whose creation was enthusiastically supported by Broward voters fed-up with the pervasive culture of corruption here, the most-corrupt in the entire state.

You get a full sense of how truly absurd and upside-down this city's government is, and this request is, if you try to think of a single film/TV crime and police drama that you've ever seen where the police, prosecutors or investigators revealed the questions they'd ask to a defendant's defense attorney BEFORE an interview with the client.
Really, just think about that for a minute.
That's the sort of people that HB citizens are used to having decide their city's future.
Is it any wonder they're angry?


Broward Bulldog
Broward Inspector General hits first legal hurdle; Hallandale CRA says hands off
By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org 
June 27, 2012 AT 6:25 AM
http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/06/broward-inspector-general-hits-first-legal-hurdle-hallandale-cra-says-hands-off/

After I read that article, I decided that I'd go ahead and send that email on Wednesday rather than wait until Thursday afternoon, in case any of them got an early start on the Fourth of July holidays.
The last thing I wanted was for my email to ferment in someone's email inbox for a week.

Below is the email that was sent to these named individuals, along with about 75 other interested parties in Hallandale Beach, Broward County and the state capital up in Tallahassee, which for those of you who are reading this far from me here in south Florida, is about the same distance from Miami as 

Roughly 95% of the people in this community have never been to Tallahassee for more than a few minutes while driving thru, and distance from the state capital here often accounts for why things in South Florida often get quite bad before the state (in the form of the governor or attorney general) is forced to act and do something because of both facts and circumstances.

-----
FYI: re corruption in plain sight -"Your Tax Dollars at Work" Hallandale Beach CRA (City Commission) Says Hands Off to Broward Inspector General

In the near future I'll be sending some of you a copy of my formal Ethics complaint to the Florida Commission on Ethics against Hallandale Beach City Manager Mark A. Antonio.

That will include the proof of his self-evident serial copyright violation, wherein photos taken by me and uploaded to my blog, have and continue to be used illegally by the City of Hallandale Beach on their official website, used unlawfully and posted in city hall offices, as well as illegally modifying those images for their own use on official city documents.

Most galling of all, though, has been to see my work being used illegally on the front of their distributed city maps!

(See my July 12, 2010 photo at top that is on those maps.)

All of this has been done without EVER seeking my permission or paying for the use of my proprietary rights.

This has been going on for more than a year now, and despite my pointedly telling Antonio at a public meeting that what he was doing was illegal, to stop his illegal activity and do the right thing -which I have video of- Antonio and the city have done nothing.

City Manager Antonio has, instead, continued to act like there's nothing that I as a citizen can do to prevent him and the city from continuing to engage in clearly illegal behavior and to use something they have stolen.

As you'll soon see, though, actually, there is.

Antonio and the city are about to learn that stealing doesn't pay, especially when you are so obvious and clumsy about your theft and continued illegal behavior.

But then our great misfortune in Hallandale Beach the past few years has been that THAT has

been the city's template for so many things done here, and who in a position of authority did anything about it?

After the Fourth of July holidays, I'll be visiting the Office of the Broward States Attorney as well as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, complete with all the evidence that connects -the-dots on the copyright matter, the veritable ribbon on the box.

I'll also be offering my assistance to the investigators and agents in charge of discovering where all the taxpayer money and CRA funds went in this city without any reasonable oversight, documentation or proscribed follow-up, to facilitate crony capitalism among friends of City Hall, including the faux newspaper.

My latest thoughts on the continuing issue of the Broward Inspector General's investigation into the illegal and corrupt practices of the City of Hallandale Beach, and their steadfast refusal to cooperate, were posted yesterday morning:

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/cornered-pious-comm-anthony-sanders.html 

One last thought: Some of you, and you know exactly who you are, have greatly disappointed the beleaguered citizens of this community by your continued refusal to get engaged, and even worse, they are completely put off by your continuing to pretend that you don't know anything at all about what has been going on in this city for YEARS.

This didn't just happen overnight.

For those of you for whom this rings true, it would be a big mistake for you to continue to believe that ignoring the sad reality faced by citizens in this city, and the facts-on-the-ground, will somehow work to your long-term benefit.

They won't.

Trust me, though it may be the summer, people in this community are paying close attention to just whom is doing, saying and reporting on what has been transpiring, and that is especially true about them scrutinizing people who are consciously choosing to say and DO nothing at all.

We won't forget.

Sincerely,

DBS, 8-year Hallandale Beach resident

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Commissioner Keith S. London <newsletter@keithlondonformayor.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Subject: "Your Tax Dollars at Work" CRA Says Hands Off to IG

Broward Inspector General hits first legal hurdle; Hallandale CRA says hands off Filed under Hallandale Beach {one comment} By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org  Hallandale Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency, run by the city’s five elected commissioners, has sent a message to Broward’s new Inspector General’s Office – you can’t touch us. Numerous questions have been raised about the business dealings of the CRA, in which city commissioners also serve as directors of the agency. To read the complete article click here. At least one city commissioner disagrees with the CRA’s position. “The IG does have jurisdiction,” said London, who is running for mayor against incumbent Joy Cooper. A part of the state law, he said, speaks to the mingling of city and state funds and that would give the investigators authority. If called by the IG, London said, “I’ll go; I look forward to it.” One Comments Post a Comment FrustratedInHallandale June 27, 2012 at 9:31 am City Manager said “On our part, we need more information as to why the Inspector General wants to interview commissioners.” Where do you want to start: Buying Sanders property for over the appraised value in a down market? The purchase NEVER being an official agenda item? Jessica Sanders signing her own time sheets? Why is Jessica Sanders in the Hepburn Center, is she a city employee? Giving $50,000 of Weed and Seed money to Jessica Sanders and PCAC never an agenda item? Properties bought with CRA funds and titled in the Cities name? Who voted for all the above items? “On our part, we need more information as to why the Inspector General wants to interview commissioners. There needs to be some structure; what do they want to discuss.” said the City Manager. City Manager, City Attorney, and CRA Attorney can you start with just the above questions? Keeping you informed, Keith Commissioner Keith S. London

Phone: 954-494-3182 613 Oleander Drive Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 email: keith@keithlondon.comwww.keithlondon.com Political Advertisement paid for and approved by Keith S. London for Hallandale Beach Mayor, Non Partisan

Someone FINALLY remembers "The Eighties" the way I do: Excellent 10-part series on music of 1980's on Sweden's SVT is mostly in English, and can be seen online from anywhere in the world. Swedish TV to the rescue of the summer doldrums! Depeche Mode, Culture Club...

SVT video: Synth eller hårdrock? Synth and Depeche Mode. Two-minute teaser for Episode 1 on 1980 and the introduction of synthesizers/Electronic Music and Depeche Mode starting their string of catchy hits. Originally aired June 8th, 2012.
http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/107504/eighties-1980-och-depeche-mode

Someone FINALLY remembers The Eighties the way I do: Excellent 10-part series on music of 1980's on Sweden's SVT is mostly in English, and can be seen online from anywhere in the world. Swedish TV to the rescue of the Midsommar doldrums! Depeche Mode, Culture Club...


Today I've posted teasers for three of the ten 30-minute episodes. Each program is available on the website for only 30 days due to copyright reasons, so don't procrastinate and miss one! Once it's gone, it's gone for good.


SVT's homepage with the entire series schedule is at http://www.svt.se/eighties/

SVT video: Three-minute teaser for the two-part episode of The Eighties on Boy George & Culture Club and Adam Ant that aired Friday night, June 22nd.
http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/119922/eighties-1982-boy-george-och-adam-ant


http://www.svt.se/eighties/1984-frankie-goes-to-hollywood-och-pudelrock
SVT video: Three-minute teaser for the fifth episode of The Eighties on 1984, a year that saw the group Frankie Goes to Hollywood make it big but see their huge hit "Relax" banned from BBC Radio, while LA-based groups like Van Halen, Whitesnake and Mötley Crüe wre making their presence known. This episode aired last night, June 26th.


The first time that I ever bought an album with a Depeche Mode song on it was in 1982, when I purchased the soundtrack for Summer Lovers about an hour after I saw that film starring Peter Gallagher and Darryl Hannah, the very first day it was out.
I replayed it in my head as I walked thru the record store, thinking how mundane and boring everything in NMB seemed compared to that film, which showed people giving in to their unconventional side for a change.


That film, along with its title song by Michael Sembello, has always been a guilty pleasure of mine and many of my friends from IU, who wondered why in the world we didn't have the good sense to be in Greece in the summer instead of the heat and humidity of Miami, Indianapolis Kansas City and Long Island.
The film has just awesome scenery of Santorini, which is a no-brainer, of course, and a potpourri of music interludes that seemed perfectly timed, including Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough."



busson9 video: Michael Sembello- Summer Lovers (1982, title song from the film)
http://youtu.be/yvu5H2hRJiE


Trivia note: my personal high school graduation party for myself, my family and friends took place at a wonderful Greek restaurant on Lincoln Road in South Beach, following the ceremony at the nearby Miami Beach Convention Center.
I wish we'd owned a video camera back then, because that was a hell of a party, and it'd be nice to replay it every once in a while.

Cornered! Pious Comm. Anthony A. Sanders consistently ignored Hallandale Beach's most-concerned taxpayers, and now, as they see their suspicions about him proving to be entirely justified by an IG investigation, because of his own words, deeds and votes, they're urging him to quit and come clean. Words, deeds and votes that the South Florida press corps has almost completely ignored for four long years.

Where Comm. Anthony A. Sanders has needlessly tried everyone's patience for almost four years -Hallandale Beach City Hall. May 28, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Cornered! Pious Comm. Anthony A. Sanders consistently ignored Hallandale Beach's most-concerned taxpayers, and now, as they see their suspicions about him proving to be entirely justified by an IG investigation, because of his own words, deeds and votes, they're urging him to quit and come clean. Words, deeds and votes that the South Florida press corps has almost completely ignored for four long years.

Almost every person and group now under investigation is one that I've discussed many times here on the blog, often with incriminating photos.

-----

Miami Herald

Inspector General digging into Hallandale Beach payments

Details emerge about Broward IG’s Hallandale probe; payments to commissioner’s wife eyed.

By William Gjebre, BROWARDBULLDOG.ORG

June 22, 2012

A Hallandale Beach program that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and contributions to community groups is a key focus of the Broward Inspector General’s widespread investigation of city management practices.

Documents obtained by Broward Bulldog show the Inspector General obtained city files on eight community-based organizations, several linked to City Commissioner Anthony Sanders or his wife, Jessica. The documents include information about city payments to Jessica Sanders and others associated with the groups.

While records indicate that the Inspector General’s probe is multi-faceted, investigators appear to be strongly focused on city grants and charitable contributions made through its Community Partnership Grants program.

City records show that such giveaways increased 60 percent in the past three years — from $400,000 in fiscal year 2009-2010 to $647,000 this year.

“As economic times worsened the city saw a greater need for services in the community which directly corresponded with the increase in the amount of requests to the city,” City Manager Mark Antonio wrote in a letter. He added that for 2012 “two teams of professionals who were non-city employees” reviewed 29 applications.

Available city documents show that in 2010 and 2011, city grants and donations did not specify where the money came from: the general fund, the Community Redevelopment Agency or the Law Enforcement Trust fund. But this year, after a CRA management makeover, they were shown as follows: general fund, $256,130; CRA, $274,600; and Law Enforcement Trust Fund, $116,654.

The Inspector General asked for the files on these program recipients:
• Eagles Wings Development Center Inc., job training and social services program, $50,000 in the past two years.
• Greater Mt. Everett Resources and Learning Center, a work force training program for construction trades, $61,000 this year.
• Lampkin’s Creative Arts for All LLC, including Dizzy Fingers School of Excellence, Inc., training youth in how to advance in the arts, $50,000 this year.
• Palms Center for the Arts, Inc., a youth arts and job preparation program, $107,000 past three years.
• Palm Community Action Coalition, community based program assistance, $26,000 over two years.
• Palms of Hallandale Beach Weed and Seed, a crime prevention and community development program associated with the Department of Justice, $143,000 past three years.
• Phileo Outreach Ministries Inc., a program for rehabilitation of youth, $45,000 past two years.
• Zamar School of Performing Arts, Inc., $25,000 two years ago.

State corporate records for Eagles Wing listed Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony Sanders as president and his wife, Jessica, director, in 2009. In 2010 and 2011, Jessica was listed as director, but Anthony Sanders was not listed. He was appointed to the City Commission on Sept. 8, 2008 to fill a vacancy.

Jessica Sanders also has ties to two other non-profits on the Inspector General’s list, according to public records.

She is a contact for the Palms Community Action Coalition, which until April 2011 was known as the Palms Community Development Corporation. Jessica Sanders, as “interim site coordinator” for Palms of Hallandale Beach Weed and Seed, appeared at a July 14, 2011 Hallandale Beach commission meeting before a vote to award a $45,000 grant to her group. “Vice Mayor Sanders excused himself from the dais during the presentation and recused himself from voting,” city minutes say.

In an interview this week, Commissioner Sanders indicated that he is perplexed about the county’s inquiry.

“I can’t answer why they are asking for the records,” he said. “They are looking at nonprofits. I don’t mind that they are looking at Eagles Wings. It is a service to the community and always has been…food programs, job training and other services.”

Sanders indicated he may meet with IG investigators soon.

Jessica Sanders said there has been no wrongdoing and noted that she has provided some records to IG investigators. She said that she and her husband “stayed here to make a difference. We do good work.”

“I’m not concerned about the probe,’’ she added.

 Her income from the Weed and Seed program was not from city funds, she said, but came from the Department of Justice, which backed the program. She said that on several occasions, she was asked by the Weed and Seed governing board to operate the program when the group’s administrators failed to perform.

The county investigators also sought information payments made by the city to Nellie Bacon, Clara Brown, Deborah Brown, Selinda Washington-Jackson and Jacquelyn Rosenau.

According to state corporation records, Rosenau is director at Eagles Wing. Clara Brown is corporate secretary for Palms Community Action Coalition. Deborah Brown was president of Palm Center for the Arts in 2011, and a principal and director of Zamar School in 2011. Washington-Jackson works for Weed and Seed. Rosenau used to work for the agency.

The city supplied copies of its lease and rental agreements with non-profits to investigators.

 Those agreements are with: Hallandale Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, Zamar School of Performing Arts, and the Palm Center for the Arts.

The chamber, which received $25,000 from the city in 2010, has an office in City Hall, next to the commission chambers. The rental fee for approximately 400 square feet of space is $1 a month.

The Palm Center for the Arts, 501 NW First Ave., sits on land the city purchased with CRA funds in 2009 from Anthony Sanders’ nonprofit Higher Vision Ministries; a commissioner at the time, Sanders did not vote on the sale.

Sanders bought the property in 2001 for $45,000 and sold it to the city for $235,000 after receiving a $46,000 property improvement loan. The city initially agreed to forgive $7,500 of the loan. When the city bought Sanders’ property, however, it forgave an additional $7,500 when at the time the sale was finalized. City officials have said it was an error by the city.

In August 2009, the city leased Sanders’ former property to the Palm Center for the Arts for a one-time fee of $10, on the condition it provide community art and music training programs. While the lease states the center is not allowed to sublet or rent the facility, the city modified the agreement to permit the Zamar School for Performing Arts to operate a summer camp at the center in the summer in 2009.

A provision in the Palm Center lease allowed for a summer camp music program. The city helped Zamar with $25,000 to operate the camp.

The IG’s office has also requested information about additional money given to various groups that was more than initially authorized.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/22/v-fullstory/2863431/inspector-general-digging-into.html

With the 20/20 vision that hindsight provides us, it's clear that for some 46 months now, Anthony A. Sanders has wasted almost as much of our time as his own time while masquerading as a Hallandale Beach City Commissioner, not only unwilling to do the occasional heavy lifting that comes with the job, but also unwilling to perform the more mundane tasks of simply being an approachable, at-large representative in a town of under 40,000, with a modicum of either effort or enthusiasm.


No, unfortunately for us, it seems that the very person-to-person tasks and activities that many political candidates actually believe they'd find most satisfying in making a genuine difference, actually bore Sanders.


Comm. Sanders has made clear over almost four years that he wanted nothing to do with such responsibilities, and even now, in the moment where he has drawn so much unfavorable attention to himself and this city, he seems to almost flinch at the very idea that the public has the right to expect something from him.


But that counter-intuitive attitude of Sanders also explains why after 46 months on the job, and doing so in such a dreary and undistinguished way, so many HB residents not only find him insufferable and completely lacking, but are perfectly willing to watch from a distance as he and his wife slowly twists in the wind, amid calls for him to resign.


Sanders certainly hasn't wanted for opportunities to do the right thing, but in 46 months, where at some point Sanders could've learned the fundamental difference between being a lapdog for the comfortable and the status quo in our area, and an energetic and fully-engaged watchdog for the public's best interests, he has consciously opted-out.


The same way that he has SO FREQUENTLY AND CONSISTENTLY been the only one of the five commissioners to NOT attend a public meeting or forum somewhere in the city.

No, it's clear for all to see that being an advocate for the taxpayer wasn't the role Sanders saw for himself on the five-person commission.


Instead, to be generous, he's only done the right thing, by my eyes, on an important issue maybe three times.

Three times in 46 months.

Compare that to the hundreds of votes where he had the chance to add something to the public discussion but instead, consciously chose to keep quiet and look the other way, moving things along that should have been voted down -and out.

How many HB City Commission meetings have we attended where something important was being decided and he says a grand total of ten words?

So why did he run in the first place if he was not comfortable with the job responsibilities?

And why, like Bill Julian, did he refuse to learn to do a better job?

Both are good questions and ones that ought to be asked of him publicly when you get the chance.

He owes us an explanation.

Yes, owes.

So rather than relish the opportunity to make a tangible positive difference, in exchange for performing anemically a few times a month as one of the puppets of Mayor Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew -a group that would be a comedy group if it weren't for the fact that they all had such bad judgment that was not only expensive, but also fatal to the well-being and future Quality-of-Life of the taxpayers and residents of this small ocean city- he has done as little as humanly possible and shaped the future of this city in negative and confounding ways that most residents would never want for themselves or their neighbors.

That is, to the extent that he's actually paying attention, and there's yet another one of the fundamental criticisms of Sanders -he honestly doesn't know what going on in this city and consistently takes the word of both the mayor and city staff who are themselves, unworthy of the responsibilities they have and myopic in their vision.


It's been Comm. Sanders' great fortune to be an elected official at a time when the public is both apathetic and intensely cynical, and the local news media has been both incurious and unwilling to report what is right in front of them.
And it has been our great collective misfortune.


To be blunt, Comm. Sanders has never quite figured out what his role was on the dais.

Well, that is, other than to act as point man to get as many tax dollars flowing into northwest HB as possible, if possible, circulating thru people well-known to him. 

He has consistently refused to be open and responsive to HB residents who either don't live near him or who were known to him before the mayor forced him on the city in August of 2008, an effort most people paying close attention view as means rather foul, and some think illegal, given as how it violated the city's own rules, which had been followed the year before.

But not for Sanders.

In fact, he has consistently refused to meet with residents of other parts of the city when there were issues that were of critical interest to them, refusing to even return the phone calls or respond to the emails of homeowners asking him to visit their neighborhood and see what their unique perspective was.

This was never more dramatically demonstrated to everyone's astonishment than with the proposed Diplomat Golf Course redevelopment project of 2009 and 2010 in northeast HB.

Sanders refused to tour the area, even while a few members of the Broward Planning Council, all of whom lived quite far from HB, came uninvited on their own dime on weekends to see what the facts-on-the-ground were here. 

The word that best describes Sanders performance on this matter is galling.

No, Comm. Sanders didn't care about the facts and he certainly couldn't be bothered to learn them when given a chance to, because as always, what Sanders wanted most of all was access -and the ability to talk to the developer's attorney and representatives about jobs and job training -and what it would take to get his vote.

And does he ever know someone whom he wants to see be involved in that for every project that moves a shovel of dirt in this city!

Just like his vote last week on Beachwalk.

Over-and-over again, Comm. Sanders, thru his standoffish attitude, of refusing to even show-up, and his unwillingness to learn what most of the community already knows about the longstanding poor management of the city, something this puppet never speaks about, he has refused to do the sorts of common sense things that are required of all elected officials to gain the trust and respect of their community, so that even when there are disagreements, everyone is generally willing to believe that everyone involved is working for the betterment of the whole community, just from a different perspective. 

Not so with Sanders, which is why he has richly earned the enmity of Hallandale Beach's most-informed taxpayers, people who are NOT apathetic and who DO pay attention to what actually happens in this city.

By refusing to do even the most basic aspects of his job, a job he ran for after all, of consistently being unprepared for public meetings and of refusing to ask tough questions when they are necessary, he has now found himself cornered, and in the position of being someone who is not only unpopular with the most-concerned and well-informed people in the community, but also unable to get even the benefit of the doubt from them (or others) because he never showed them the slightest bit of common courtesy over almost four long years.

Now he stands in the spotlight for his own words and deeds, as well as for those whom he supported thru his votes for city grants and CRA loans, no matter how preposterous and unsound the ideas, no matter how slight the return to the greater community.

Comm. Anthony A. Sanders has rightly earned the suspicion cast upon him now and the distrust of a large segment of the community.

Having failed to do even the most basic of things once in office, Sanders can now count on no public support or encouraging words from those of us in the community who gave him the benefit of the doubt, only to see him eventually reveal himself for what he really is, a lower-case political fixer.

And I don't mean fixer-upper.

As a beloved music icon begins to leave the stage for good, due to Alzheimer's, we stop and wonder if a more beautiful song could possibly be sung about two such incongruous words? "Wichita Lineman," et al - Glen Campbell's Long Goodbye makes us so very sad and wistful; see him while you can...

Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman (LIVE, 2006)

http://youtu.be/E80727OUUDI

As a beloved music icon begins to leave the stage for good, due to Alzheimer's, we stop and wonder if a more beautiful song could possibly be sung about two such incongruous words? "Wichita Lineman," et al - Glen Campbell's Long Goodbye makes us so very sad and wistful; see him while you can...

Allansmix YouTube Channel video: Glen Campbell Tribute - 45th CMA Awards 2011 on ABC-TV, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville Tennessee, November 9, 2011. 
Medley: By the Time I Get To Phoenix - Vince Gill, Wichita Lineman - Keith Urban, Galveston - Brad Paisley. https://youtu.be/gTWxvJndGDc

CBS News Sunday Morning: Correspondent Anthony Mason on Glen Campbell's final tour. February 12, 2012. Uploaded February 16, 2013. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvT-X5ONLvo

Article: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57376147/glen-campbells-final-tour/

In a career that has spanned five decades, his last concert ever in Los Angeles was held Sunday night, at The Hollywood Bowl, and I'd have given anything to have been there to see that. 

Do I even need to tell you here that Glen Campbell won't be playing in South Florida?

No, because you come here so often, and you know how things are down here in South Florida and quite naturally, assumed that he wasn't, as well you should, because the closest he'll be coming to a city and region like Miami that thinks it's so important in the larger scheme of things is Panama City.

How do you like those apples, Miami?

Glen Campbell's final tour, ever, and the closest he's coming to me is the part of Florida that's just eastern Alabama -on July 15th. http://glencampbellmusic.com/tour/

If that doesn't say it all...


RockShorts video: Glen Campbell performs three songs on the Mike Douglas Show. September 23, 1965. http://youtu.be/FqRqGGOwDdI

Glen Cambell March 2, 2012 interview on WBUR-FM, Boston

Article: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/03/02/glen-campbells-tour

Audiocast:  http://hereandnow.wbur.org/media-player?url=http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2010/09/06/rundown-96&title=A%20Great%20American%20Songwriter%20Returns&segment=1&pubdate=2010-09-06&source=hereandnow

officialglencampbell video: Glen Campbell  -"A Better Place" (Official Video) June 14, 2012.  From the "Ghost on the Canvas" CD. http://youtu.be/JMh78jF-fMQ

As a young kid growing-up in Memphis when Jimmy Webb's Wichita Lineman came out in 1968, not just a huge hit in the U.S., but an international hit by someone from next-door Arkansas, I personally knew SO many women who cried whenever they heard this song.

"And I need you more than want you..." 

officialglencampbell video: Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman (Live,  CBS-TV's "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour") January 29, 1969. Uploaded March 12, 2009.
http://youtu.be/-HFCuBLAjXo

It was only when I asked one of the aunts of the kids I always played with, who frequently visited on weekends, that I learned why that was so, at least in their case, since I just didn't understand it.

One day, remembering that I'd asked her before about that, she had me sit on a swing outside and there, standing beside me, told me that she wanted to answer my question.
But that I had to promise to keep it a secret, most especially from her nephew, my friend.

She explained to me that her sister-in-law, my friend's mom, like many other families living in that nice, new  apt. complex, and even that particular part of Memphis, had husbands, fathers and uncles who were serving in Vietnam.

I've never forgotten the way that whole scene played out that day, because the woman who told me that also eventually revealed that she'd already lost one brother in Vietnam, and had another brother, my friend's father, still over there.

And that it weighed on all of their minds -all the time.

She told me that was why his mother always seemed so sad and yet so high-strung.

I filed that away in my little kid's mental notebook, so that when my friend's mom would sometimes make a big deal about something relatively minor, be over-dramatic for no particular reason, esp. about his safety, and start crying, I'd know that it was probably more than just the situation that was weighing on her mind.

That it was actually everything else that she was thinking of.
And that try as she might to keep it all bottled up inside, so her son wouldn't worry all the time, sometimes, it gets out.

After my family and I moved to South Florida that summer, and eventually found ourselves living in North Miami Beach, I know that one of the very first things that I noticed once school started for me was something that I'm sure most other kids I came to know probably never thought about. All of them had their fathers and older brothers around

Like nearly everyone we met in NMB, they seemed remarkably unaffected and disconnected to what was going on over there, and didn't seem to actually know someone who was directly connected to the war.

Especially compared to how it seemed like nearly everyone we knew in Memphis, regardless of race or age, even families like ours that had moved there from somewhere else -for us, from a big military town like San Antonio- knew many guys involved in the conflict in one way or another.

But here, well, not so much.

Make of that what you will, but over the years I've often found myself in social situations where the majority of the group I belonged to, while thinking it was typical, was, in fact, quite atypical, maybe even somewhat elitist.
And sometimes, when you get to the heart of it, one of the things that was clear to me was that they didn't know anyone who was directly involved in the most controversial issue of the past fifty years, nobody who had a direct connection to the war.

To them, it was like an abstract idea.

We all saw that that political disconnect very clearly with the rise of Reagan Democrats in 1980 and '84, and it's one of the reasons that the national Democratic Party of today now holds so little favor with such large chunks of this country, especially in The Plains and The South.
It's no accident.

The national Democrats are in the country, just not of it.

-----
Official Glen Campbell YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/officialglencampbell

http://glencampbellmusic.com/

Episodes of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour:
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-glen-campbell-goodtime-hour/episodes/

Even more on the dueling Marco Rubio biographies: this time, multiple videos of Rubio discussing his autobiography, "An American Son"; #MarcoRubio

MarcoRubio video: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida on NBC News' "Meet the Press"  speaks with host David Gregory regarding his new autobiography, "An American Son," and his current stance on immigration, one day before the Supreme Court's ruling on Arizona's laws re illegal immigration. June 24, 2012. 

http://youtu.be/27wpkpkHdWE

MarcoRubio video: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida on CBS' "This Morning" speaks with hosts Charlie Rose and Erica Hill regarding his new autobiography, "An American Son," his being considered as Mitt Romney's VP choice, and his current stance on immigration. June 21, 2012.

http://youtu.be/mlZxtPgo0ao

MarcoRubio video: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida on ABC-TV's The View, regarding his new autobiography, "An American Son."June 25, 2012 

http://youtu.be/zcavXkI0ewI

Marco Rubio's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MarcoRubio

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

http://www.amazon.com/An-American-Son-A-Memoir/dp/1595230947/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340658202&sr=1-1&keywords=An+American+Son

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Marco-Rubio-Manuel-Roig-Franzia/dp/1451675453

More on the dueling Marco Rubio biographies: Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, author of "The Rise Of Marco Rubio"; #MarcoRubio

WFOR-TV/Miami -Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede: Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, author of "The Rise Of Marco Rubio," June 24, 2012.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/latest-videos?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7432431

Fox News Latino

FNL Exclusive: Rubio's Unauthorized Biography Mixes Questions and Praise for the GOP's Rising Star. Juan Williams interviews Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, author of "The Rise Of Marco Rubio," June 23, 2012.

Article at: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/06/23/fnl-exclusive-rubio-unauthorized-biography-mixes-questions-and-praise-for-gop/

The Washington Post

Book review: ‘The Rise of Marco Rubio’ by Manuel Roig-Franzia

By Andrew Ferguson, Published: June 21

By the look of him, you’d never guess that Marco Rubio played defensive back on his college football team — even if the school was the now-defunct Tarkio College, folded deep into the remotest cornfields of northwest Missouri. But he did, and on the gridiron he showed the same gift that has guided his path from downy-cheeked member of the West Miami City Commission at age 26 to the highest reaches of American politics: an unerring ability to be in the right place at the right time. No matter the play, “he was never out of position,” one still-impressed teammate told Manuel Roig-Franzia for his new book, “The Rise of Marco Rubio.”

Read the rest of the review at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-the-rise-of-marco-rubio-by-manuel-roig-franzia/2012/06/21/gJQAfixhtV_story.html

© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Above, one of my Marco Rubio photos from his June 23, 2009 appearance in Hallandale Beach at the Southeast Broward Republican Club meeting, which you can see more of at

my February 26, 2011 blog post titled, The show is Jeopardy! and the question is: "Can I have 'Midterms' for $2,000", http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/show-is-jeopardy-and-question-is-can-i.html.

As most of you regular readers of the blog know, I've been a Marco Rubio supporter since before he ran for U.S. Senate in 2009, but I also don't think he's qualified to be president and say as much.

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

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

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Marco-Rubio-Manuel-Roig-Franzia/dp/1451675453

Oh-là-là with ten exclamation points! Perfect chemistry: Dior Addict + Dutch supermodel Daphné Groeneveld channeling Bardot + Saint Tropez + Jonas Åkerlund's vision = Magnifique!

Dior video: DIOR ADDICT Fragrance [Director's cut] AND DIOR CREATED ADDICT

June 20, 2012 http://youtu.be/8ZAKwpdgTZI

Oh-là-là with ten exclamation points! Perfect chemistry: Dior Addict + Dutch supermodel Daphné Groeneveld channeling Bardot + Saint Tropez + Jonas Åkerlund's vision = Magnifique!

Oui, la chimie parfaite!  

And Jonas Åkerlund devising the idea of her as Brigette Bardot circa 1956, that's f-ing genius!

jmannen77 video: ...And God Created Woman (1956)

http://youtu.be/A2zUriGLqbE

There's no substitute for serendipity, breakaway speed, Bloomington, Indiana in the Fall, letting the facts speak for themselves, lasagna and... perfect cotton candy pink lips!

Some recent Paris Match articles and photo archives of Brigette Bardot:

http://www.parismatch.com/Tags/Brigitte-Bardot/

And take a look at her on the cover of Elle (France) in 1955, the year before the film came out:

http://magazine-covers.lucywho.com/elle-magazine-france-august-1955-magazine-cover-t2869314.html and check out this one from Elle (France) in November of 1955:

http://magazine-covers.lucywho.com/elle-magazine-france-november-1954-magazine-cover-t2757808.html

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! 12 exclamation points

Yes, presaging Julia Ormond!

Photo gallery of ad campaign at: http://www.dior.com/magazine/en_gb/News/And-Dior-created-Addict# 

Read the story DOWN, not vertical

More on 17-year old Dutch model Daphné Groeneveld:

http://www.dior.com/magazine/en_gb/News/Addicted-to-the-Girl

http://models.com/models/daphne-groeneveld

Dior's website, newly-renovated earlier this month, is, in a word: AWESOME!  http://www.dior.com/home/en_us/

http://www.dior.com/magazine/en_gb/News/And-Dior-created-Addict

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

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

Closest location to Hallandale Beach for Dior products is the Nordstroms at Aventura Mall, http://shop.nordstrom.com/st/nordstrom-aventura

Director Jonas Åkerlund's website http://www.jonasakerlund.com/ 

http://www.jonasakerlund.com/commercials#dior/addict_fragrance

The last Daphne your faithful blogger concerned himself with was also from Holland, die Nederlands, mid-1980's University of Miami ace diver Daphne Jongejans. 

Brains, talent and beauty in perfect proportion 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIxB0znQLdQ

Yes, back when U-M's women's athletics was fun -and relevant.

Speaking of Coral Gables, ever see the photo of Brigette Bardot that's at The Biltmore Hotel?

Oh-là-là with a dozen exclamation points!

Again!