Important questions are NOT being asked in South Florida: With President Obama coming to South Florida today re his immigration/amnesty plan, when was last time you heard an honest public discussion in South Florida about African-American unemployment rates in Miami? I think Obama's amnesty plan makes that worse. Much worse!

Important questions are NOT being asked in South Florida: With President Obama coming to South Florida today re his immigration/amnesty plan, when was last time you heard an honest public discussion in South Florida about African-American unemployment rates in Miami? I think Obama's amnesty plan makes that long-term problem worse. Much worse!

How many times are we supposed to believe politicians' assurances that amnesty will fix immigration "once & for all"? http://t.co/ftELo7QkQB
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) February 25, 2015

Hi @MSNBC @Telemundo: Isn't a townhall supposed to be open to the area's residents? Or are you just picking-and-choosing the "questions"?
— AJ Delgado (@AJDelgado13) February 25, 2015

Interesting. Obama in Miami tmrw for a "townhall" by @MSNBC and @Telemundo - yet tix were never made publicly available.
— AJ Delgado (@AJDelgado13) February 25, 2015

Nat'l Assoc of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO): "Where are the Barbara Jordans of our times?" https://t.co/6JGWh4vRy7
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) February 24, 2015

"why is Mr. Obama more concerned about the welfare of illegal immigrants than the welfare of black Americans?" http://t.co/i8dw3zQeTu
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) February 24, 2015

Top domestic priority for WH during Black History month has been work permits for non-citizens in U.S. illegally http://t.co/Siif3bbsEV
— NumbersUSA (@NumbersUSA) February 24, 2015

Every time struggling US workers turn around, POTUS adds more foreign workers to compete w/ them for new jobs http://t.co/5eM40EXx6B
— Roy Beck (@RoyBeck_NUSA) February 24, 2015

They don't even bother with "experts say" anymore/"Funding Fight Over Homeland Security Poses Dangers for the G.O.P." http://t.co/LTZLgQ9Dkr
— Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) February 24, 2015

AMAZING: Long @NBCNightlyNews report tonight on DHS funding battle NEVER MENTIONS WHAT FIGHT IS ABOUT (immigration) http://t.co/68GxlvvnBu
— Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) February 24, 2015

NBC Trapped in Kafkaesque Nightmare! http://t.co/6cfW0bIVMw via @dailycaller
— Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) February 24, 2015

The news that President Obama was coming into South Florida today got me to wondering and musing over the weekend, and not surprisngly, some of this sentiment clearly echoes things I've asked and answered in this very space many times over the past 8 years.

Simply put, have any of you attended a public meeting anywhere in South Florida in the last two years where, either together or individually, Representatives Lois Frankel, Debbie Wasserman 
Schultz or Frederica Wilson have spoken about immigration issues and attempted to make the case that President Obama's immigration plan for amnesty for up to 5 Million people would NOT 
negatively hurt long-term unemployed workers in South Florida, esp. African-Americans?

Or seen a similar public discussion in your area? 
Why do you suppose that is?
And why fdo you suppose that the local news media ignores that obvious question, just as supposed South Florida-based public policy groups do as well?

When I was a kid growing-up as a news and politics junkie in 1970's South Florida, on the day that unemployment rates came out of the Dept. of Labor Statistics in Washington -i.e. the BLS- I seem to recall that it was usually the case that then-WTVJ anchor Ralph Renick -when he was the dominant media voice in all of South Florida- would make a point of mentioning not only the national and state numbers, but the ones for Dade and Broward, too, along with the local unemployment rate for Blacks.

And those numbers would usually appear on screen, along with a very simple graph that would be embarrassing to put up these days.

The idea being that accuracy mattered, of course, but also that it's important to have useful context and nuance to draw upon before making any reasonable conclusions about what was happening with unemployment and the economy.

That seems like such a simple thing, but before I left the area last June for an extended period of time, I can't think of the last time I actually heard the long-term unemployment levels for African-Americans in Miami getting either mentioned in print or on TV or brought into the larger discussion about their relative economic standing only getting worse if that action took place.

Especially since I think it's fair to say that based on my living in South Florida again for the past 11 years, there are many less Black adults or children in South Florida who can speak even passable Spanish, compared to when I was a kid growing-up taking Spanish for 6 years and French for 4.

Those Latin American entrepreneurs coming to Miami that seemingly everyone in South Florida's incurious media horde likes to make a fuss over in often over-the-top sycophancy, with some TV stations being especially egregious about making no pretense of being anything but Chamber of Commece cheerleaders, are NOT going to be hiring people who are NOT bilingual, except for low wage jobs.

So what group is that going to be in Miami-Dade County?
Precisely, but instead, everyone just pretends they don't know what the logical result of this will be.
#Despair

I guess we'll all have to just wait until after the next riot and have yet more foreign and out-of-state reporters fly into the area to comment again on the self-evident short-term attention span of reporters that is actually much worse than South Florida residents as a whole.
Which is why those out-of-towners will again be speaking about South Florida reporters continuing to ignore the legitimate concerns of Black Miami, preferring to do ponintless stories about breast surgery, food fads and fashion and crime lowlights among visiting celebs and rappers on South Beach.

But then isn't that lack of energy and foresight the same reason why local news media don't exert any energy at all in pressing local South Florida Congressional representatives on policies that are harmful to such a large share of the populace?
Their own constituents!

Recently, Rasmussen Reports released a national poll on the Obama Amnesty plan.
Guess what it said

Voters Weigh Costs of Obama's Amnesty Plan

Voters still view President Obama's order exempting up to five million illegal immigrants from deportation as illegal and tend to think Congress should try to stop it. But they're evenly divided over whether a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is the way to do it. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/february_2015/voters_weigh_costs_of_obama_s_amnesty_plan

Economic fairness is a loser of an issue in 2012 presidential campaign: Bill O'Reilly and pollster Scott Rasmussen, separately, opine on why President Obama's negative TV attack ads on Mitt Romney's re his tenure at Bain Capital, while driving-up Romney's negatives among Democrats, are actually failing to move enough voters his way, as 62% of U.S. puts economic growth ahead of economic fairness

Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor with Bill O'Reilly
Talking Points: The real Barack Obama has finally stood up
July 19, 2012. http://video.foxnews.com/v/1743930340001/



Pollster Scott Rasmussen opines on why President Obama's negative TV attack ads on Mitt Romney's re his tenure at Bain Capital, while driving-up Romney's negatives among Democrats, are actually failing to sufficiently move enough numbers his way -while making Romney supporters and moderates more angry at Obama- as 62% of U.S. puts economic growth ahead of economic fairness


Rasmussen Reports

Bain Attacks Fail to Shake Up Presidential Race

A Commentary By Scott Rasmussen

Friday, July 20, 2012

Over the past few weeks, President Obama and his campaign team have launched a furious attack on Mitt Romney's record as head of Bain Capital, a highly successful venture capital firm.

There is clear evidence that the attacks have had some impact. 

Read the rest of the essay at:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_scott_rasmussen/bain_attacks_fail_to_shake_up_presidential_race

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Rasmussen Reports

62% Put Economic Growth Ahead of Economic Fairness

in Politics

July 19, 2012

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/july_2012/62_put_economic_growth_ahead_of_economic_fairness

Bad news for HB's profligate tax-and-spend (and borrow) pols: Rasmussen Poll: 60% Favor Considering Spending Cuts in Every Government Program

Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall Municipal Complex. October 3, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Though the Rasmussen Reports poll results below are from a national poll, the voter sentiment I detect in my travels around Broward County and South Florida indicate it's even worse around here, esp. as it applies to myopic spending policies that we feel in our collective wallets and purses.

Especially in Hallandale Beach.

That's bad news for Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew in Hallandale Beach that never paid attention before the recent audit that showed conclusively, with damning proof, how financially irresponsible and negligent they have been for YEARS, completely failing their oversight responsibility to taxpayers and residents, while at the same time, quite literally, giving City Managers Mike Good and Mark A. Antonio carte blanche with respect to spending decisions, even while having no actual plans in place for what they were doing.

Not just nothing available online on the city's website, nothing on paper anywhere in the entire Hallandale Beach City Hall complex for you to read and make sense of.

The MARCUM LLP audit, Draft:

Hallandale AUP DRAFT 8-24-2011.pdf 328K View Download

Audit report shows missing records and disarray in Hallandale Beach’s redevelopment agency

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/09/audit-report-shows-missing-records-and-disarray-in-hallandale-beach%E2%80%99s-redevelopment-agency/

My September 23rd, 2011 response here on the blog to the draft of the audit findings of the city was titled, re Draft copy of Marcum Rachlin's audit of the City of Hallandale Beach; the entrenched anti-Sunshine, anti-taxpayer culture at HB City Hall

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/re-draft-copy-of-marcum-rachlins-audit.html

Over-and-over for years they have done the same thing, so where are the tangible, positive results they can point to, millions of dollars later?

At this point, as my friend Mike Butler of Change Hallandale fame has been saying for quite awhile, we ought to be able to see some visible signs of where those millions of tax dollars went, right?

So where are they?

http://www.changehallandale.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/Butler1Mike

As of today, we still have large parts of the largest park in the city, Peter Bluesten Park, that is unsafe for adults and children at night because of the city's sheer neglect and lack of proper maintenance, something those of you who care will soon be able to see on my blog, complete with photos and video, that show it's been like this for well over TWO YEARS.

And HB City Hall has known all about it.

This park is only located two blocks from HB City Hall, and yet it seems like in the mind of City Manager Mark Antonio, it's out of sight, out of mind.

He's wrong -yet again.

It's not.

(And yes, in case you forgot me mentioning it here on the blog in the past, that's the very same HB city park that for well over a year DIDN'T properly deploy the recycling bins the city taxpayers have already paid tens of thousands of dollars for, and for this same time period, the city intentionally placed regular-sized garbage/recycling bins outside of the emergency exit for the main park building located there, a fact that you could see as soon as you walked thru the north gate.

Sure, because that's the kind of common sense you want to see from people working with and supervising small children.

People who will argue with you and say that they know best when they clearly don't.)

Yet this same Cooper Crew -Cooper, Dotty Ross, Anthony A. Sanders and Alexander Lewy-that has repeatedly shown that it CAN'T properly maintain what they already have, wants to spend -borrow from the reserve fund- millions more for a park on U.S.-1 where the current Main Post Office is located?

Most of you know how much I've spoken in the past at the myriad public meetings and on my blog about the needs to dramatically improve the city parks and beach, and to introduce more sports/social programs for the very HB adults that are already paying for them, as well as how I've taken Antonio and Cooper at City Commission meetings to task for all manner of things with respect to the dreadful physical & aesthetic conditions of the public parks & beach they are responsible for.

That said, is this really the time to let these same demonstrably irresponsible people make such an important decision, and continue their edifice complex fixation?

Hallandale Beach Government Pays Millions to U.S. Post Office in Yet Another Land Deal

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/11/hallandale_beach_government_pa.php

Hallandale Beach ready to buy more land, this time a post office site for about $9 million

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/10/hallandale-beach-ready-to-buy-more-land-this-time-a-post-office-site-at-a-cost-of-about-9-million/

Personally, I'd rather wait until after newly-elected people with genuine dedication to notions of financial accountability are transparency are firmly in place at HB City Hall after the election 51 weeks from Tuesday.

People who understand that sound public policy that is meaningful is about making hard choices sometimes, NOT simply continuing a terrible policy of paying for things from a fund that's rapidly being depleted by folks with no common sense or vision.

I mean who buys properties before you have a sound plan in place for what you're going to do with them?

The same people who overpay for properties and then lets their cronies use them for one dollar.

One dollar?

Let me quote myself from that September 23rd post:

That the City of Hallandale Beach has purchased SO much land is troubling enough, esp. since they have so often overpaid for it. But the fact that they have done so WITHOUT an actual City Commission-approved written strategy or plan that makes sense or shows some awareness of the logical consequences of what they are doing -a plan that taxpayers could read- is very, very troubling indeed, since it makes you wonder why some people's land is bought and others is not, even when the latter's might make more sense to some positive public policy.

To cite but one obvious example of this strange process, consider the land that was purchased by the city for more than it was apparently worth that was owned by present-day Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders and his wife.

That purchase literally seemed to fly thru the city's bureaucracy, because it was, apparently, so key to some grand plan of the city.

Well, what exactly was THAT plan?

Why all the urgency?

Why the need to over-pay for the property?

And now, three years later, the reality for HB taxpayers is that the city rents the property they claimed at the time was so important, to someone for one dollar a month.

One dollar.

Why?

Where is the logic and common sense in any of this, and why WON'T/CAN'T the City Manager, the Mayor or the City Commission logically explain this episode three years after the fact?

What's the plan?

Me, I don't think there is an actual plan.

Hallandale Beach takes a bath on land deals; properties for redevelopment sit idle for years

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2011/10/hallandale-beach-takes-a-bath-on-land-purchases-properties-for-redevelopment-sit-idle-for-years/

If you didn't already know, the person commenting above on some of the websites as "AMWakeUpCall" is HB's self-appointed political commissar, Andrew Markoff.

Almost everyone receiving this email knows what he's all about, but on the chance that this SW HB resident appointed to the Charter Review Comm. by Mayor Cooper is unknown to you, please see my June 13, 2010 post titled, quite accurately,

My upcoming post on Hallandale Beach's self-appointed Political Commissar Andrew Markoff may have words that hurt his feelings -if any. Oh, dear!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-upcoming-post-on-hallandale-beachs.html

In the end, I decided not to follow-up on this post since I realized that talking about all the dozens of hours I spent talking to him about this city and area a few years ago, taking him around to see things for himself that he'd never noticed while living here, even going up to Hollywood City Comm. meetings so he could see how they did things, in short, to connect-the-dots, would seem self-serving and petty.

It was enough that I sounded the alarm and let people who are interested in learning from my own mistake know that when it comes to Andrew Markoff, no good deed of theirs goes unpunished.

See also:

www.KeithLondon.com

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From: Rasmussen Reports Date: Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 10:37 AM Subject: 60% Favor Considering Spending Cuts in Every Government Program

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Most Americans continue to believe everything should be on the table when it comes to federal spending cuts.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/federal_budget/november_2011/60_favor_considering_spending_cuts_in_every_government_program

Contrary to contention of MSM, DNC & DWS, latest Rasmussen poll shows 61% of U.S. favor state laws that shut down 'repeat offenders hiring illegals

CNS News video:Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz denounced Republicans last week for believing illegal immigration "should in fact be a crime."

http://youtu.be/cUqJO6sk7AA

Related article at:

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/new-dnc-chair-faults-gop-wanting-illegal

While I'm generally not a fan of polls conducted among Likely Voters -as opposed to habitual Voters- contrary to the U.S. Mainstream Media, the Democratic National Committee's army of apparatchiks on the blogosphere and their sycophants across the country in TV news rooms and newspaper editorial boards, not to mention, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz -who represents part of Hallandale Beach, and NO, it's NOT the blue-collar neighborhoods!- the latest Rasmussen Reports poll on immigration policy comes as absolutely no surprise to those of us with at least one foot anchored in reality.

In fact, it's precisely what your own common sense and sense of fairness would tell you about Americans even before you saw the results -61% of the U.S. favors state laws that shut down 'repeat offenders hiring illegals.
Because, simply put, most Americans believe that everyone should have to abide by the rules and laws of THIS country.

Locally, no amount of biased, one-sided Miami Herald editorials or fact-free 'news articles' by Alfonso Chardy and Patricia Mazzei can change that.

These Herald articles all have something in common -they almost never publicly state that the position advocated by the very people the reporters seek to paint as sympathetically as possible, is, nevertheless, overwhelmingly opposed by the majority of the people living in this this country and this state, and they never reveal just how low that level of support is.

Amnesty for illegal immigrants does not and will not ever enjoy the popular support of the American people, and no amount of public demonizing by La Raza and the professional Latino advocacy/self-interest community will make it so.

Since their argument is not supported by either logic or reason or the 'numbers,' the reporters just ignore those inconvenient facts, and instead, write paens to the foreign-born parents who broke the law, intentionally overstayed their visa, never showed-up in court for their legal hearings, and in many cases, never learned much in the way of English in their 15-20 years in the United States, even as their foreign-born kids turned out to have figured it out.

Or, alternately, the Herald reporters try to make modern Peru or Colombia seem like a veritable hell-hole that no reasonable person would want to live in, even though the Herald itself, of course LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Latin America.

So which is it?

Emerging vibrant democracy or hell-hole?
It depends on what public image the Herald's editors want to convey to readers in their "news articles," doesn't it?

As I've stated in this space before a time or two, it's very, very curious that whenever they cover U.S. Naturalization ceremonies in South Florida, craving that money shot of the cute little kid waving the American flag, South Florida TV and print reporters -but ESPECIALLY the Miami Herald- NEVER EVER ask the new Americans who came thru the system LEGALLY after following the rules and doing the things required of them over a number of YEARS, whether they believe that immigrants who came to the United States illegally should benefit from breaking the law and get the same benefits as THEY now do.

No, that is a question that is NEVER EVER EVER asked by the South Florida news media.
And everyone knows why.

It's because the answers from the new Americans would NOT conform to the pro-amnesty bias of the reporters themselves and the media organizations that employ them. PERIOD.

They're so afraid of the truth and the power of that message being uttered by immigrants who followed the law, that the question never gets asked.

-----

Rasmussen Reports

61% Favor A State Law That Would Shut Down Repeat Offenders Who Hire Illegal Immigrants

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The U.S. Supreme Court late last week upheld the legality of an Arizona law cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and most voters support having a similar law in their own state.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% of Likely U.S. Voters favor a law in their state that would shut down companies that knowingly and repeatedly hire illegal immigrants. Just 21% oppose such a law, and another 18% are undecided.

Read the rest of the story at:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/61_favor_a_state_law_that_would_shut_down_repeat_offenders_who_hire_illegal_immigrants

-------

See also:

Washington Post
Supreme Court upholds Ariz. law punishing companies that hire illegal immigrants
By Robert Barnes
May 26, 2011

Arizona, the state at the forefront of efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, may revoke the business licenses of companies that knowingly employ undocumented workers, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

In a 5 to 3 vote, the court rejected arguments that control over illegal immigration is solely a federal responsibility and endorsed narrowly drawn state efforts to regulate the employment of those in the country illegally. Eight other states — Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — have passed similar laws that would punish companies for hiring undocumented workers.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-upholds-ariz-law-punishing-companies-that-hire-illegal-immigrants/2011/05/26/AGhHG2BH_story.html

-

Fox News Channel video: President Obama's Border Speech Falls Short
http://youtu.be/yJcCQ5FthcM


For U.S. Government Accountability Office information on Criminal Alien Statistics: Information on Incarcerations, Arrests, and Costs for Criminal Alien Statistics, see http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-187


Federation for American Immigration Reform YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/fairfederation

What you know implicitly, Rasmussen Reports confirms: "57% Okay with Government Shutdown If It Leads to Deeper Budget Cuts"; Marco Rubio on CRs

Sen. Marco Rubio video: In His Own Words: Week In Review -April 1, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y-NXWsbsWw




Fox News Channel video: Sen. Marco Rubio on 2011 federal budget and why he'd vote against raising the federal debt limit on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" -April 1, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WzzhgH_wzA

In my email inbox today comes confirmation of what I've known since November's election, which is that despite all the predictable paint-by-number "Rally in Tally" stories locally, and the Tweets, blog postings and warnings of doom from liberal interest groups and the predictable pleadings of the government employee class and their friends in the MSM, that the Tea Party, such as it is, will overplay their hand, the reality is that voters want smaller government budgets and more cuts.

Rasmussen Reports
57% Okay With Government Shutdown If It Leads to Deeper Budget Cuts
Friday, April 01, 2011

A majority of voters are fine with a partial shutdown of the federal government if that’s what it takes to get deeper cuts in federal government spending.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters think making deeper spending cuts in the federal budget for 2011 is more important than avoiding a partial government shutdown...

Read the rest of the polling data at:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/march_2011/57_okay_with_government_shutdown_if_it_leads_to_deeper_budget_cuts




Fox News Channel video: Rep. Jeb Hensarling on 2011 budget battle and prospect of government shutdown on Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0Hla0VAH0

See also:
Congressional Quarterly
GOP weighs budget compromise
http://www.congress.org/news/2011/04/01/gop_weighs_budget_compromise#src=db

National Journal
Tea Party Divide: Protesters Call for Shutdown; Lawmakers, Not So Much Republican lawmakers insist they want to keep the government open.
By Lindsey Boerma
Thursday, March 31, 2011 | 4:15 p.m.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/tea-party-divide-protesters-call-for-shutdown-lawmakers-not-so-much-20110331

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

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

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

"Extent of radicalization among American Muslims" hearing; Rassmussen: 39% Say U.S. Govt. Not Focusing Enough on Threat of Domestic Islamic Terrorism

If, like me, you don't get C-SPAN 3 as part of your cable or satellite package, you can watch the House Homeland Security Comm. congressional hearing titled "Extent of radicalization among American Muslims" that I wrote about yesterday at:
http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

The entire four-and-a-half hour meeting will be re-run again this afternoon on C-SPAN 3, and will also be shown in its entirety on C-SPAN starting at 10 p.m. tonight.

If you want to see a tone-deaf article that completely mis-characterizes both the purpose of the hearing and the reason why it's long-overdue, I've got just the article for you, and trust me, the confusion is neither accidental nor is it due to language or translation problems.

That's my way of saying to those of you who have wondered from time-to-time, via emails, why I mention so many things here that are related to either Swedish or Scandinavian sources -short answer: because I can and they're interesting- that I'm not going to give you a link here to something that's all in svenska.
I'm really not.

No, the offending article that stands common sense on its head is one that is easily found on one of the world's most popular media sites, The Telegraph, which I have been reading in print or online, for more than thirty years.

That dates back to my days at IU in Bloomington when I had one of the most distinguished professors of comparative politics and British politics in the country as a teacher and sounding board, the late James B. Christoph.
http://www.grad.ubc.ca/awards/james-b-christoph-prize

I took every undergraduate class on British politics that he taught and was fortunate enough to be among several British Politics students asked to attend an annual barbecue he hosted at his home for folks who were really, really into the subject.

He was a great professor who knew his subject inside-and-out and inspired his students to think more clearly and wisely for themselves.
What else can you ask for?

Prof. Christoph's wisdom, keen insight and thoughtful comments on the interplay between politics, human behavior and cultural tradition, and why some systems work and others don't, during what were then the early days of the Margaret Thatcher administration, still ring in my ears.

What also rings in my ears are the names of the myriad books and the newspapers he both required -and strongly recommended- we read, even if we might disagree with them politically, to get the true nuance and context.
Obviously, for both reasons of history and the quality of its writing, The Telegraph was on that list.
That was enough for me.

A few years ago, once I started this blog, I even ran some of their widgets on this site in order to give them the widest possible circulation, but they had technical problems too often so I had to remove them.

Early this morning, I left a comment at The Telegraph relative to the Alex Spillius column titled, US hearing on radical Islam: a waste of time, but not witch hunt http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alexspillius/100079257/us-hearing-on-radical-islam-a-waste-of-time-but-not-witch-hunt/

Spillius definitely seems like he could pass that rigorous employment process at NPR and start work tomorrow. And yes, you know exactly what I mean when I say that.

Today's Rassmussen Reports has a poll detailing results of how Americans feel about some of the issues mentioned in today's hearing:

39% Say Government Not Focusing Enough on Threat of Domestic Islamic Terrorism
Thursday, March 10, 2011

A House committee is expected to begin controversial hearings today about the potential danger of domestic Islamic terrorism, and a sizable number of voters think the government is not paying enough attention to this possible threat. Most voters still worry, too, about homegrown terrorist attacks.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 39% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the federal government does not focus enough on the potential threat from domestic Islamic terrorism, although nearly as many (38%) say the government’s anti-terrorism focus is about right.

Read the rest of the report at: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/march_2011/39_say_government_not_focusing_enough_on_threat_of_domestic_islamic_terrorism

For more information, see: www.homeland.house.gov

Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, its President and Founder, had many good common sense points to make, esp. between 1 and 1:30 p.m., the last hour of the meeting, and I encourage you to go to their website and learn more about their efforts.

Their goal: "taking back Islam from the demagoguery of the Islamo-fascists."
http://www.aifdemocracy.org/

FL Senate Race: Marco Rubio on Fox & Friends, CNN's "The Situation Room"; WSJ articles on Rubio vs. Crist; Rubio video: "Ideas To Reclaim America"

Much to the consternation of the MSM, the "Anybody but Marco" campaign is not working despite the summer swelter and Charlie Crist 24/7 TV. Very soon we'll ponder in this space what Kendrick Meek's next job will be based on his experience as an inherited rubber stamp.
I invite suggestions to this space.

Rasmussen Reports

Poll of Likely Voters, Florida Senate Race, July 6, 2010

Marco Rubio 37%

Charlie Crist 33%

Jeff Greene 18%

500 Likely Voters, MOE +/- 4.5%

Marco Rubio on 7/21/10 Fox and Friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ojR45bbMo



Wall Street Journal
Crist Uses His Old Party as a New Foil Senate Push Gains as Florida Governor Sets Himself Off Against State's GOP, With Some Firepower From Obama Camp
By Peter Wallsten

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.—Florida's Republican-led legislature will gather Tuesday on the order of Gov. Charlie Crist—and then is expected to quickly refuse his call for a state-constitution ban on offshore oil drilling in Florida waters.

While no real legislative action seems likely to come of the special session, the showdown has become a signal event in Mr. Crist's campaign for the U.S. Senate and in his transformation from a rising Republican star to a political free agent.

Read the rest of the article at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704229004575371810495691530.html

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Wall Street Journal
Washington Wire blog
Fla. Senate Race: Intrigue on the Democratic Side
By Peter Wallsten
July 20, 2010, 7:00 AM ET

Among the many intriguing aspects to the Florida Senate race is the drama unfolding on the Democratic side. Polls show a dead heat between the party’s establishment favorite, four-term Congressman Kendrick Meek of Miami, and political neophyte Jeff Greene, a billionaire former derivatives trader.

There are competing schools of thought within the party about what result to hope for from the Aug. 24 primary, and what the result might mean for the general election.

Read the rest of the post here: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/20/fla-senate-race-intrigue-on-the-democratic-side/

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Marco Rubio on 7/20/10 "The Situation Room" on CNN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7YRpFkypSk



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Rubio Launches "Ideas To Reclaim America"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAh0R-HlXlE



Rubio campaign web site: http://www.marcorubio.com/ideastostrengthenamerica/

Charlie Crist's Lead Labour's Lost: Rubio lead over Crist increases: 4, 8, 15, 23, 42

"Lost" Executive Producers/creators Damon Lindelof
and Carlton Cuse appear on Jimmy Kimmel Show
tonight.

Rasmussen Reports

Election 2010: Florida Republican Primary for Senate

Florida GOP Senate: Rubio 49%, Crist 37%

Monday, February 01, 2010

Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio has now jumped to a 12-point lead over Governor Charlie Crist in Florida’s Republican Primary race for the U.S. Senate.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Rubio leading Crist 49% to 37%. Three percent (3%) prefer another candidate, and 11% are undecided.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/florida/election_2010_florida_republican_primary_for_senate

That's why he's Michael Barone and you're not: When Liberal Leaders Confront a Centrist Nation

I've been reading and following columnist and pundit
Michael Barone since even before I moved to D.C.
in 1988, or even before he was a regular on the original
McLaughlin Group, when that was the only
syndicated political chat show, and everyone I knew
watched it religiously.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Barone_%28pundit%29

It's still a LOT more popular in the Beltway area
than in the uninformed burbs of South Florida, plus,
now that I think about it, I rarely see a promo for it
on WPBT-Channel 2 -why is that anyhow?-
where it runs on Fridays at 8:30 p.m.
http://mclaughlin.com

(At various times while I lived in the greater D.C. area,
especially the Clinton years of the go-go Nineties,
I used to bank at the Riggs Bank, specifically, the
branch on 17th Street, N.W. & Eye St., three blocks
north of The White House and the OEOB.

This was the sort of place where on payday, Fridays,
you'd regularly see very well-heeled K Street D.C.
defense lawyer or lobbyists doing their weekly
transactions, like transferring money into their college
daughter's checking account so she can continue
living the McLean or Potomac lifestyle while they
were away from the financial Mother Ship.
No doubt while their daughter's roommate has to do
a 'Work Study' job like I did at IU.

Almost like it was a game, one of the persons who
always seemed to just beat me into the bank was
a highly-visible someone who always seemed to be
just 2-3 customers ahead of me in line: McLaughlin
Group regular Eleanor Clift of Newsweek magazine.)

In D.C, McLaughlin aired on the NBC affiliate,
WRC, and was part of my regular routine on
Saturday night before heading out for the night.

This essay was part of my daily email this from
Rasmussen Reports this morning.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com

The big news this morning there was that American
voters now give the GOP first-time lead on health
care.
That comes as no surprise to me given what we've
all seen the past few weeks, with so many uninformed
members of Congress unable to explain what
Obamacare would and would not entail, to voters
who have actually read the bill, or, explain away the
logic of so much secretiveness surrounding 1/6th
of the American economy.

For all the MSM talk in January and February of
David Axelrod's folks being so oh-so smart and
Chicago street-savvy, it's as if they never learned
the fundamental lessons of President Bush's failed
(irresponsible) immigration amnesty plan of two years
ago, which also featured no congressional hearings
that voters (and members of Congress and the
media) could watch or follow to become better
acquainted with the actual facts and provisions.

But when you insist on NOT having congressional
hearings where representatives of The White House
have to make their case publicly, and then have groups
opposed speaking against those policy ideas but for
others, you're asking for trouble.

But then you compound that fatal flaw by also insisting
on doing everything behind-the-scenes, even to the
point of refusing to publicly release the names of health
care leaders meeting with West Wing types, just as
was the case with Hillarycare in 1993, or groups
like La Raza working on the Kennedy bill at the
Bush White House, it's perfectly logical that people
would be very suspicious, especially middle-class
people who are usually apathetic -and proud of it-
about most aspects of American public policy.

People who find it easy to tune out discussions of the
legal ramifications of McCain-Feingold or redistricting
-see www.FairDistrictsFlorida.org- while they eagerly
wax philosophic, blog and Tweet about the particular
merits of one singer over another on a TV show I never
watch like American Idol.

(I used to see the last two minutes when they bleed
over to HOUSE's time-slot.)

Given that predicate, what's really surprising is that
The White House, DNC and Beltway press are so
surprised at the reaction of the American people.
It was entirely predictable.

Here's what I wrote on the Herald's webpage last
Thursday to the dreadful -what else is new?- Beth
Reinhard column about the town meetings on health
care.

Tempers flare in South Florida over healthcare overhaul

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1173602.html

To me, this town hall/Obamacare issue has really
pinpointed the Herald's central identity problem,
in that they are now so short-staffed and so very
poorly edited -but still more smug and arrogant
than reality ought to allow- that they now cover
local South Florida stories like they're parachuted
out-of-town reporters who arrive with their misplaced
preconceptions, false stereotypes and condescending
know-it-all persona, who want to treat everything
down here in South Florida as either precious,
eccentric or unique, even if it isn't.
It's the Iowa Caucus Syndrome.

Like our crime and corruption isn't really crime and
corruption, with an emotional and physical toll on
victims, like other cities and regions, but rather just
a local lifestyle choice.

That's the same attitude and response I run into when
I try to explain just some of the many unethical and
shady things are going on at Hallandale Beach City Hall,
and they turn to me and say,
"That's just Hallandale Beach."

In the Herald's case, that has been made all the worse by
their increasingly wasting half their column space by writing
about how other reporters elsewhere have characterized
similar events, contaminating the local perspective, rather
than accurately reporting and illuminating what happened
right in front of them -HERE!

This is both insulting AND infuriating, besides being bad
journalism that doesn't serve local readers, that no matter
how much I want to give Herald Executive Editor
Anders Gyllenhaal the benefit of the doubt, at some point,
you can't help but wonder when is the bad dream going
to end?

When is the Herald finally going to shape-up?
Would it be better for the long-term if the Miami Herald
went kaput and something else emerged from the ashes
that was actually interested and able to cover local
stories properly? Or, to use a particularly apt sports
metaphor, addition-by-subtraction?

Just recruit some smart, savvy and enthusiastic grads
from Medill and Ernie Pyle and elsewhere and let 'em
loose on all the unsuspecting pols and crooks hereabouts.
People with smarts and skills who don't care who
lobbyists Ron Book is or who he knows or whom he
and his daughter bankroll with campaign contributions,
or even who rides home to South Florida on his plane
from Tallahassee.

I used to think no, but as I stated a few months ago
here on the blog, and even said in an email to Gyllenhaal
last year, that he responded to, the question of the
Herald's future is increasingly not a rooting matter for me,
but more an academic or sporting proposition.
When does it all fall apart for good?

HallandaleBeachBlog wrote on 08/07/2009 04:54:25 AM:

What do these Obamacare stories and the tea-bag stories have in common? The Herald being VERY late to the party in covering them, and reporting on something in their own area like they were tourists, sporting cliches we've all heard on TV for days already.

Not surprising given that the Herald NEVER wrote a single thing about the 4,000-plus turnout at the Orlando "tea party" on March 21st. No articles, no photos, no nothing.

That's really surprising since any time you get that many people in an apathetic FL city to do anything at one time, it's newsworthy.

Just NOT to the editors of the Miami Herald, apparently, a paper that never used the phrase until March 21st, weeks AFTER the topic had gained national currency.

What do the candidates seeking to succeed Meek think about Obamacare or 'cap and trade'?

Can't say, the Herald's reporters and the rest of SoFL media won't ask them.

Maybe I should just call them and put their answers on my blog, so people in SoFL will know their views, huh?

And now, the feature presentation...
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When Liberal Leaders Confront a Centrist Nation

A Commentary
By Michael Barone

Augusts 13, 2009,

There are more conservatives than Republicans and more Democrats than liberals. That's one of the asymmetries between the parties that helps to explain the particular political spot we're in. The numbers are fairly clear. In the 2008 exit poll, 34 percent of voters described themselves as conservatives and 32 percent as Republicans; 39 percent described themselves as Democrats but only 22 percent as liberals.

Read the rest of the essay at: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_michael_barone/when_liberal_leaders_confront_a_centrist_nation

Michael Barone archives are at:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_michael_barone