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

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Last pre-Election Day Hallandale Beach Resident Forum meeting is tonight at 6 p.m. at The Village at Gulfstream Park -and it should be VERY lively!


Above, the northern entrance on Hallandale Beach Blvd. to Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village at Gulfstream Park, Hallandale Beach, Florida. October 9, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
Don't forget about tonight's Resident Forum meeting at 6 p.m. being hosted by Comm. Keith London, the last one before Election Day - THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY.
And over in plenty of time to get back home and watch the second presidential debate.

Like the last two meetings, it'll be held at The Village of Gulfstream Park in the retail space next to Krön Chocolatier, 1240 Silks Run, as all the pro-reform, pro-accountability candidates in Hallandale Beach -Csaba Kulin, Michele Lazarow and Gerald Dean- will likely be attending as well.


Why wouldn't they, after all, it's the one time every month where the best-informed and most- concerned residents and small business owners of Hallandale Beach can actually get together and speak freely about what's really going on in this city -or NOT and ought to be.

I'm just talking out loud here but maybe, just maybe, some of you folks at local South Florida TV stations who fairly regularly call me or send me emails, and who almost reflexively proclaim that you're definitely going to come by HB...
a.) "soon,"
b.) "sometime in the near-future,"
c.) "one of these days,"

might actually make it your business to do so, and stop making excuses for why you can't actually take advantage of an opportunity to observe and engage with the best-informed people of one South Florida community.
A community where many of the citizen taxpayers who regularly attend really ARE much better-informed than the city's elected leaders and highly-paid bureaucrats...

It was my experience in living and working in Washington, D.C. for 15 years and being involved in all sorts of corporate and philanthropic endeavors, and more specifically, being involved on both sides of the glass for dozens and dozens of focus groups, that you usually have to pay to get this many smart people together as a focus group to talk about matters and ideas that you want to know more about.
All this time, South Florida reporters, columnists, editors and anchors could've been getting it all for free.

-----

Below, the email I received this morning...



Keith S. London - City Commissioner Hallandale Beach
Reminder Commissioner Keith S. London
Last “Resident Forum” Meeting
Everyone,
Just a reminder Commissioner London’s LAST “Resident Forum” will be held, Tuesday, October 16, 2012 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.
As your City Commissioner, I have been holding monthly meetings for over five years helping residents understand the process of their government.
I have had the pleasure of interacting with many of you and still remember when over 100 people came to hear the three land use experts I invited to discuss the Diplomat Country Club building over 1050 units on the golf course.
When elected Mayor I promise to continue these well attended meetings.
Please come out and join us for the last Commissioner London “Resident Forum” meeting ever!
PLEASE NOTE:  This meeting is has been relocated to the Villages at Gulfstream Park, 1240 Silks Run.
Free parking is available in the North garage and our venue is just to the right of the parking garage pedestrian exit.  Free refreshments will be served.
Please join us and participate in “Our” City.

Warm Regards,
Keith
Commissioner Keith S. London


Phone: 954-494-3182
FacebookTwitter

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







Monday, October 15, 2012

In Hallandale Beach, it's déjà vu all over again with Bill Julian's very sketchy ethics in plain view for all to see; In every way that is important, Julian is unfit to be elected and make decisions about this community's future


Above, what you saw here on June 21, 2012, from Bill Julian's campaign website, and below, what was still there on October 14, 15 weeks later.




Below is a copy of the email I sent out yesterday to friends, fellow Hallandale Beach residents and selected members of the South Florida press corps about the screenshot of the website above and below, showing that foolish and unethical former Hallandale Beach City Commissioner William "Bill" Julian never ever learns his lessons...

Above, a screenshot of a portion of Bill Julian's campaign website, as seen this afternoon, which features three of my photos on it that Julian illegally stole from my website, at the top and the middle two, which he has been illegally using for many weeks. 

At this point, it's really more than nerve, don't you think?

In fact, I mentioned this same exact subject here on the blog back on June 21st in something I titled, Stop thief, stop! So guess whose campaign website contains 3 of my original blog photos -all taken without permission or paying for them? Bill Julian. Yes, just like Hallandale Beach City Manager Mark Antonio's serial copyright theft of many of my original photos. Antonio will soon learn that stealing just doesn't pay!
Yes, took them without asking permission -which I'd deny- and, of course, taken without paying for them, as if photos that appear on the Internet were just a free buffet, and you could just help yourself to whatever you wanted.
It's a very familiar fact pattern for Julian and the City of Hallandale Beach, isn't it?

And yes, you're correct, that large photo of the city's North Beach Community Center -STILL closed to the residents of this city after four years- is the same photo that the City of Hallandale Beach has been using illegally for well over a year-and-a-half on its own website, also without asking to use or paying for since they changed their website. 

They're just some of the photos that ethically-challenged former City Manager Mark A. Antonio and his high-paid staff knew all about and did nothing about, even after I told him (and them) at a citywide public meeting in February, with the city's microphone in my hand no less, that he and the city needed to do the right thing and pay me for their having illegally used them for so long without my permission or paying for them.
And then removing them from the city's website for good.

Typically and predictably, as was Antonio's M.O. for years at hearing news he didn't
like, he said that he'd do something about it.

Well, as you all know, Antonio has since retired with a very large pension, and nobody at Hallandale Beach City Hall has lifted so much as a finger to do the right thing, which is both par for the course the past ten years and perhaps also why Julian felt so comfortable there for ten years, and is so eager to return to a place where the people in charge make up their own rules for how they will conduct themselves.
Despite whatever specifics the state's Constitution or the city's Charter might require.

You DON'T (continually) seek to use your official position to gain a benefit or advantage that others don't enjoy. 
You DON'T (continually) take things that DON'T belong to you or which you are NOT legally entitled to, and you especially don't take them without asking or paying for them, and then act surprised that anyone noticed that you're a serial thief, and a bad one at that.
But in or out of office, Julian continues to exhibit an egregious lack of common sense, ethics and sense of scruples that disqualifies him from elected office.

As for the photos of mine on my blog that Julian DOESN'T use or want you to know about, well there's a story.

At the bottom of this email is a reprint of my Sept. 6th blog posting, just three of dozens of photos of mine that I could post showing you that when he was a Hallandale Beach City Commissioner, Julian's sense of entitlement was so large and out-of-control that he habitually and intentionally parked his vehicle in the one-and-only Handicapped Parking space at the city's public North Beach.
Or, if that was already being used by someone with a valid sticker, Julian parking his car in the one-and-only Handicapped Access Parking space right next to it, which, if you didn't know, under state statutes, the same fine amount as parking in a Handicapped Parking space -and rightfully so.

But, of course, the state's statutes and Constitution are meaningless when it comes to Bill Julian's actions and behavior because it would require him actually being issued a ticket by a duly-authorized entity. In Hallandale Beach, for years and years, the HB Police Dept. conveniently looked the other way and ignored Julian parking there so he could meet his friends and hold court for hours at a time at the bar/restaurant at the beach.

But if you or someone you know needed that Handicapped spot, or needed a place to pull into to give you enough space to help get a friend or family member with a wheelchair out of the car, you were just flat out of luck.
Of course, Julian could have just parked his car in the city's public garage a few feet away, and paid the then-dollar an hour fee just like you and me have been doing for years. 
But not Bill Julian.

Able-bodied Bill Julian beat you to it, and saved a dollar or two, too, even though he wasn't
physically handicapped, just lacking scruples. 

As most of you know from both history and my two earlier emails and blog posts within the past ten days about Julian, Comm. Anthony A. Sanders and Mayor Joy Cooper illegally and persistently placing their campaign yard signs on city property, Julian believes in "special rules for special people" and he very much believes that he's one of the special people.

All you have to do to know what Julian is really like is to observe what he does when he thinks that nobody is paying attention.
But some of us who care about this city are, and that's Julian's biggest problem.

-----
Below, a link to my September 6th blog post with those Julian-at-the-beach photos referenced above, which have appeared on my blog many times over the years.

No longer a secret in Hallandale Beach: More details on Bill Julian's longstanding anti-democratic tendencies while HB City Commissioner - he wanted to require residency of 3 years in order to run for local office in HB!; The worst enemy of Bill Julian is a smart voter who pays attention and who possesses a good memory; @MayorCooper, @SandersHB, @AlexLewy

Ethics? Not for us! Follow-up to my post re Hallandale Beach's unethical "business as usual" attitude, with "special rules for special people" if they are named Joy Cooper, Bill Julian and Anthony A. Sanders; What ethics? What rules? @MayorCooper, @SandersHB

In twenty-two more days, you'll get the chance you've wanted to take Hallandale Beach City Hall back and completely change the consistently anti-democratic, anti-taxpayer attitudes, words and policies that have emanated from there for the past ten years. Please don't waste the opportunity to finally change this city for the better and undo the YEARS of serious financial and civic damage that has been done to this city's residents and small-business owners by the ruinous policies of Joy Cooper, Bill Julian and Anthony A. Sanders. They and their unsound policies have to be defeated! October 3rd, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Just a short follow-up to my email and blog post of ten days ago on October 5th, titled,  Look what I found? More photographic proof of Hallandale Beach's "business as usual" attitude. Special rules for special people named Joy Cooper, Bill Julian and Anthony A. Sanders -once again they break the rules everyone else HAS to follow; Ethics @MayorCooper, @SandersHB, @AlexLewy
There's also an attached video there, too, at: 
Well, the problem of Mayor Joy CooperComm. Anthony A. Sanders and former
Comm. Bill Julian illegally placing their campaign yard signs on city property, at 501 N.W. First Avenue -the property sold to the city in 2009 by Sanders for $85k more than it was worth, and which he has refused to discuss publicly with HB taxpayers for over three years- the subject of that Friday email, was finally resolved. 
At least for now...


Above, October 3rd, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier of 501 N.W. First Avenue, a property owned since 2009 by the City of Hallandale Beach and its beleaguered taxpayers, thus making it a building that is NOT supposed to have political campaign activity in it, or campaign signs on it. And yet it does, doesn't it, and for quite some time, too, courtesy of Joy Cooper, Bill Julian and Anthony A. Sanders. The latter sold it to the city for $235,000, more than it was actually worth, for a purpose the city didn't have then and STILL doesn't have three years later, under longtime Mayor Joy Cooper. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
They say that justice delayed is justice denied, but who's talking about justice? 
Nobody reasonably expects anything to happen to the three of them soon in the way of meaningful punishment that would cause them to NOT keep taking us all for granted and willfully ignore the rules yet again if they thought they could get away with it.

The three of them got to do exactly what they wanted -throw their weight around and bend the rules to their own benefit, despite what the city's own rules are.
Rules they already know.

Yes, it only took the City of Hallandale Beach OVER TEN DAYS to do something they should've never had to do in the first place if Cooper, Sanders and Julian had simply shown some integrity and followed the rules in the first place. 
I went by the location mid-Tuesday afternoon, more than ten days after the signs were first illegally erected there, and they'd been removed. 
For now...

And the ones I'd seen for quite some time at two different locations at old HB City Hall were also finally gone, too.

But this being Hallandale Beach, naturally, something else shady soon caught my eye -each of them had political yard signs on church property.
Specifically, the S.W. corner of Chuch of Christ at Hallandale Beach, and the intersection of First Avenue & S.W. 3rd Street, a well-traveled east-west secondary road.

Inline image 2


Above and below, October 3rd, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
Inline image 4
Yes, on the inside of the sidewalk. On church property.
More than two weeks ago, like many of you, I heard thru the grapevine about yet another example of Bill Julian pretending that he didn't know the city's rules on signage, and, if you can believe this, there were a number of his yard signs up in a tree in a residential neighborhood, on a busy corner of N.E. 10th Avenue and N.E. 5th Street.
Like THAT was normal!

After hearing about it a second time I drove by and sure enough, there they were, a bunch of Julian signs up in a tree in a residential neighborhood. 
It was patently ridiculous, of course, and thus, sheer Julian nerve. 
Unfortunately, when I drove over there, it was too dark to snap any good photos that I can share here on my blog.

Last week, I heard from a reliable person in S.W. about yet another Julian sign problem, writ large, so last Friday, the 5th, I drove over and snapped this photo of a large over-sized campaign signs nailed to a tree at 640 S.W. First Street. Really!

Inline image 1
It looks even bigger in person, too. And where is the legally-required disclaimer on the bottom of the sign about who's responsible for it? As big as the sign is, it's MISSING. Oops! Classic Julian! October 3rd, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Yes, once again, HB City Commission candidate Bill Julian, infamous for his bad judgment and myopia during his almost ten years previously on the City Commission, shows that he STILL thinks he gets to operate outside the rules, laws, and norms that everyone else in this city has to live within. 
Or in this case, city ordinances -campaign signs DON'T belong in trees in residential neighborhoods
No, Hallandale Beach in the year 2012 is not Davie circa 1974.

And yet even in the best of times, Bill Julian couldn't help being who he is, someone who routinely crossed ethical lines as routinely as he showed no common sense on the dais and made this city a media laughingstock.
And now, Bill Julian is DESPERATE 

Desperate to get back into power and once again be able to have people genuflect to him, since we know desperation causes even a lot of reasonable people who know better to sometimes ignore the rules, so imagine what it causes a loose cannon like Julian who didn't care about the rules to begin, to do.
Oh, that's right, we DON'T have to imagine it, we see it!

Just as was the case in NW HB, Julian is again daring the city to try to stop him from doing what he wants.

Actually, we don't want Bill Julian back, we want him and his unethical mindset and grand sense of entitlement gone for good! October 3, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved
The truth of the matter is that despite what his large signs say, nobody with any common sense in this city wants to "Bring Bill BACK."

Well, now that I think about it, nobody wants "Bill Back" other than the myriad City of Hallandale Beach employees unions, whose members did so amazingly well for years despite their lack of increased productivity and efficiency, since they are the ones who received the vast majority of that huge increase in the city budget that nearly doubled over the past six years.

At when lapdog Julian was around and had a vote, City Hall employees benefited completely out of proportion to reality, since the quality of city services to residents and small-business owners had actually gotten worse under Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew, especially maintenance, as the parks and the beach became dirty, ugly and unattractive.

But now with an election in 22 days, Julian is strangely silent about all that money that was flowing out of City Hall while he was around and an official member of the Rubber Stamp Crew, just as he is silent about what taxpayers in this city have to show for all that additional money that went to City Hall that he consistently decided to waste on crony capitalism, unsound policies and overly-compensated city employees, all of whom seem to have their own city car.
I'll tell you what taxpayers have received - nothing.

Julian, like Cooper and Sanders, is a bad ending that never quite goes away.
That said, what possible reason could we have to want to re-visit and repeat the city's troubled and embarrassing history the past few years with these three characters in power, and have to put up with their personal hijinks and ethical tomfoolery, even as they have nearly emptied the city's Reserves?

Caveat emptor? 
You bet! 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fred Barnes dribble drives, shoots and scores: "The canard that never dies—despite the total absence of facts to back it up" -Obama saved the U.S. from another Great Depression. Yes, he saved us from the thing that nobody predicted would happen -and which never was going to happen; #ThomasPeterffy



Thomas Peterffy video: Thomas Peterffy - Freedom To Succeed. 
"America's wealth comes from the efforts of people striving for success. Take away their incentive with badmouthing success and you take away the wealth that helps us take care of the needy. Yes, in socialism the rich will be poorer -but the poor will also be poorer. People will lose interest in really working hard and creating jobs."
Uploaded October 10, 2012. http://youtu.be/UnX7TNFIELg

Fred Barnes dribble drives, shoots and scores: "The canard that never dies—despite the total absence of facts to back it up" -Obama saved the U.S. from another Great Depression. Yes, he saved us from the thing that nobody predicted would happen.

The Weekly Standard
Obama Didn’t Save Us
By Fred Barnes
October 22, 2012, Volume 18, Number 6


About the only talking point Joe Biden didn’t repeat in his debate with Paul Ryan was the one lionizing President Obama for having saved the country from another Great Depression. Biden used it in his speech at the Democratic convention, as did others, and it remains a hardy perennial of Obama lore. The president, ever immodest, has credited himself for this achievement. Last year Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told him, it’s “your legacy.” Andrew Sullivan, in a recent Newsweek cover story likening Obama to Ronald Reagan, twice credited the president with having “prevented a second Great Depression.”
Read the rest of the column at:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/obama-didn-t-save-us_654408.html

-----
#ThomasPeterffy  http://twitter.com/search?q=%23ThomasPeterffy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Peterffy

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Tawdry 'Slipper Affair' sexting scandal leads to national smackdown, Down Under! Boom goes the dynamite! Feisty Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard calls Opposition Leader Tony Abbott a hypocrite and a misogynist... and then really starts to level-the-boom!; A case involving sexting and sexual harassment, plus vile personal attacks from a popular radio host, lead PM to verbally hang Abbott by his own words and deeds



This morning's print edition of The Australian has the smackdown and all the associated facts and histrionics front-and-center.



NewsOnABC video: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has used a call by Tony Abbott for the Government to remove Peter Slipper as Speaker to attack the Opposition Leader for hypocrisy, labelling him a misogynist. Uploaded October 9, 2012. http://youtu.be/ihd7ofrwQX0
Tawdry 'Slipper Affair' sexting scandal leads to national smackdown, Down Under! Boom goes the dynamite! Feisty Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard calls Opposition Leader Tony Abbott a hypocrite and a misogynist... and then really starts to level-the-boom!; A case involving sexting and sexual harassment, plus vile personal attacks from a popular radio host, lead PM to verbally hang Abbott by his own words and deeds
"The Leader of the Opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror. That's what he needs."
This may be THE single most amazing political video I've seen all year..

Some background that led to the remarks...


SkyNewsAustralia video: Greg Combet, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency speaks on the comments uttered by pro-Tony Abbott radio host Alan Jones of Sydney 2GB that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father "died of shame" because "he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament" -despite her being Australia's first female PM. Uploaded October 1, 2012. http://youtu.be/MG5cc63vgss

The predicate and the coup de grâce of the Speaker is herePeter Slipper resigns as Speaker after scandals trigger a tumultuous day in Parliament

Sydney Morning Herald
Julia 'badass' Gillard: Slipper resignation just a sidebar
By Stephanie Gardiner
October 10, 2012 - 11:27AM

I remind those of you who are new to the blog that my family and I were "this-close" to moving from Miami to Sydney back around 1973 or so, just as I was about to enter JFKJohn F. Kennedy Junior High School in North Miami Beach. Or, as it was known to many of the area's stoners who routinely ditched class to hang-out all day at the 163rd Street Shopping Center, "Jail For Kids." 
-----

ABC News (Australia) YouTube Channelhttp://www.youtube.com/user/NewsOnABC/

SkyNews Australia YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SkyNewsAustralia

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Joel Kinnaman oozes style and quiet menace in London in H&M's Men's Fall Fashion short film, Alter Ego, directed by Jonas Åkerlund; @hm



hennesandmauritz video: Alter Ego, a film by Jonas Åkerlund, starring Joel Kinnaman of AMC-TV's drama series "The Killing," and of the hit Swedish gangster film series "Snabba Cash I" (Fast Cash I)  and Snabba Cash II (Fast Cash II), adapted from the Jens Lapidus stories, and the star of the forthcoming Hollywood reboot of "Robocop." Uploaded on October 5, 2012. http://youtu.be/7_YorYJQ4WI

Short version of this is at: http://www.hm.com/se/fallfashionmen-2012

The Fall Fashion for Men collection is available in selected stores and online at http://www.hm.com/fallfashionmen-2012 , October 5th.



hennesandmauritz video: H&M Life - My style: Joel Kinnaman - Uploaded October 4, 2012. http://youtu.be/APhJSrhHkaY

More photos of Joel Kinnaman at http://www.hm.com/se/life#



hennesandmauritz video:  H&M Life - My style: Jonas Åkerlund - Uploaded October 4, 2012. http://youtu.be/vvvB2U7Bsm0

I last mentioned director Jonas Åkerlund back on June 23rd in my post about his work for Dior that was titled, Oh-là-là with ten exclamation points! Perfect chemistry: Dior Addict + Dutch supermodel Daphné Groeneveld channeling Bardot + Saint Tropez + Jonas Åkerlund's vision = Magnifique!

an excerpt 



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

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!


I'll have more news and nuggets before the end of October on some recent moves by H&M and what's going on with their long-delayed entry into the South Florida market, which was supposed to happen exactly one year ago on South Beach -and yet NADA!

@hm  https://twitter.com/hm
H&M's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/hennesandmauritz

Stora%20f%C3%B6rv%C3%A4ntningar%20p%C3%A5%20Snabba%20cash%20II

Stora förväntningar på Snabba cash II/Great expectations for "Fast Cash II." 
Snabba Cash II director Babak Najafi and actors Joel Kinnaman and Fares Fares talk about their film that came out in August. 
From TV4.se's Nyhetsmorgon of August 13, 2012.
http://www.tv4.se/nyhetsmorgon/klipp/stora-forvantningar-pa-snabba-cash-ii-2209448

Personal technology that's Fun and Fascinating? That's for me! Lexus Ignition technology competition: Botiful X vs. SOLOSHOT



Lexus Vehicles video: Introducing the Lexus Ignition Project. Uploaded September 23, 2012. http://youtu.be/xhY7G8-yBrM



Lexus Vehicles video: Lexus Ignition: Botiful X product video. Botiful is a personal telepresence robot that can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world.
Uploaded on October 8, 2012. http://youtu.be/RTdPc7_nNX4


Lexus Vehicles video: Lexus Ignition: SOLOSHOT product video. SOLOSHOT automatically rotates your camera to follow you. The new mount will keep it pointed at cars, bikes, helmets and more. Uploaded on October 8, 2012. http://youtu.be/A9mUv1VQrEY

Personal technology that's Fun and Fascinating! Lexus Ignition technology competition: Botiful X  vs. SOLOSHOT 

Lexus is committing up to $100,000 to fund stunning works of technology. Four winners will receive up to $25k each. 

Vote for Botiful X or SOLOSHOT at http://www.LexusIgnition.com, and follow conversation on Twitter at #LexusIgnition.

https://www.facebook.com/lexus/app_335311073229344

http://www.lexus.com/

Monday, October 8, 2012

Dynamite! Bob Norman adroitly uses facts and context to lower-the-boom on the Broward School Board for their abysmal handling of the purported Douglas H.S. cheerleader coach 'scandal" -and drops School Board member Katie Leach squarely on her head; One month before the election, docs show Donn Korn opponent Franklin Sands funds his race with lots of money from his stepson’s lobbying firm -shocker!; @mattgutmanABC




ABC News Good Morning America video: Florida Cheerleader Coach Fired for Alleged Pay-to-Play Scheme, Cheerleaders, Parents Battle Coach Over Booster Funds.
Reported by Matt Gutman, Originally aired October 5, 2012. 
Wow, what a one-sided report! 

This kind of shallow reporting by ABC News reporter Matt Gutman, based in Miami, is exactly what Bob Norman demolishes in his story below. I suspect that most of the accusers who foolishly agreed to be in this video will live to regret having put their fragile egos over the truth, especially the teenage girls, who seem like they need a very hard reality check delivered upon them ASAP, before the poor girls get to college and ruin someone else's lives. 

As for Gutman, someone whom in the past has usually come across to me as a very fair-minded and conscientious reporter -with the exception of the Trayvon Martin casewell, he completely drops the Basket Toss on this one, as it reeks of lazy, incomplete reporting.
Dynamite! Bob Norman adroitly uses facts and context to lower-the-boom on the Broward School Board for their abysmal handling of the purported Douglas H.S. cheerleader coach 'scandal" -and drops School Board member Katie Leach squarely on her head; One month before the election, docs show Donn Korn opponent Franklin Sands funds his race with lots of money from his stepson’s lobbying firm -shocker!; @mattgutmanABC

-----
This is a corrected version of my earlier post that transposed some lines in the title and body.

Courtesy of Channel 10's investigative reporter and blogger Bob Norman, some long-neglected facts and context -remember them?- finally showed-up over the weekend on his blog in a controversial story that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has rather consistently mis-reported, and which the Miami Herald actually ignored for months -shocker!- even as more facts emerged that challenged the South Florida press corps' "Mean Girls" narrative, which had them positively giddy at the possibilities of this story being the 2012 local news story that keeps on giving, even as they failed to report the whole truth. 

Again.

A story that initially seemed more parts Oprah then genuine news, but which now, in hindsight, clearly shows the scary lack of integrity and oversight of the Broward School Board.
It also once again painfully highlights the clear lack of leadership of its Chair Ann Murray, whom we already loathed even before this story showed-up months ago, and proved that -wait for it- yes, we were correct all along about her.
Ann Murray is the worst sort of bad news, the bad news that never ends...

Yes, unrepentant Ann Murray, the woman who was a no-show for Broward Schools Supt. Robert W. Runcie's first appearance in Hallandale Beach, two weeks ago at City Hall, which is both in Murray's district and a short drive from her home in Hollywood.

Just as predicted in this space.

Yes, hard as it is to believe, Murray STILL appears to be afraid of setting foot publicly in Hallandale Beach and taking the chance that she will be asked hard questions by residents and taxpayers -but not print reporters- about her appalling behavior, serial poor judgment and abysmal track record in office, a giant disappointment and embarrassment to so many people I know in southeast Broward County who had put their trust in her.


Too many years in office where she has been anything but the genuine reformer she touted herself as prior to her election, something that regular readers of this blog know all too well, as I've faithfully documented her in the past with both spot-on facts and useful photos that accurately connect-the-dots on Murray's failed tenure..

I may be uploading the video I shot of Supt. Runcie's appearance in Hallandale Beach onto my YouTube Channel within the week, so I'll let you know here when and if I do. 




WPLG-TV/Local 10, Miami, FL
Bob Norman's Blog
The firing of Coach Melissa
By Bob Norman
Published On: Oct 07 2012 10:33:04 AM EDT  
Updated On: Oct 08 2012 11:16:26 AM EDT
Well now it's gone international.
The Daily Mail in London has published a story on what it calls the "'Mean Girls' high school cheerleading coach" of Broward County.
That is, of course, Melissa Prochilo, the now-former cheerleading coach of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Good Morning America had a piece on her Friday morning tossing around allegations of a diabolical-sounding "pay to play scheme" and the old mainstay in this case, bullying.
Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/The-firing-of-Coach-Melissa/-/3223354/16884040/-/8enkprz/-/index.html

Meanwhile, At-Large District 8 Broward School Board member Donna Korn's opponent, former state House Minority Leader Franklin Sands continues to make headlines for dubious and unflattering reasons.


MediaTrackers blog

Broward School Board Candidate Franklin Sands Posts Another Eye-Raising Funding Report
Franklin Sands continues to fund his school board campaign with money from his stepson’s lobbying firm, public records show.
By Tom Lauder
October 4, 2012 at 16:30

MediaTrackers blog
School Board Candidate Rides Campaign Cash Merry-Go-Round
By Tom Lauder
August 10, 2012 at 11:59