4/30/2002
Jeb Bush's educational dream world. (Jeb! criticism appearing in the Republican Party newsletter known as the Florida Times-Union? How is this possible?!)
4/29/2002
A Palm Beach Post editorial takes note of oafish state Rep. Jerry Melvin's confused sort-of apology.
Web site for the the smaller class-size constitutional amendment.
Everyone's suddenly such a consitutional purist this year. We'd love to do it but this doesn't belong in the state constitution. A worthy cause but this is a Legislative branch function
Hey, in a state where a gill-net fishing ban, property-tax rate caps and bullet trains are in the state constiution, this belongs in the constitution, too. The constitutional purity fight was lost a long time ago. The state's 1968 constitution already is a grab-bag of laws that should be statutes. The Legislature will continue cutting education and handing out the savings in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy unless something like this passes.
Everyone's suddenly such a consitutional purist this year. We'd love to do it but this doesn't belong in the state constitution. A worthy cause but this is a Legislative branch function
Hey, in a state where a gill-net fishing ban, property-tax rate caps and bullet trains are in the state constiution, this belongs in the constitution, too. The constitutional purity fight was lost a long time ago. The state's 1968 constitution already is a grab-bag of laws that should be statutes. The Legislature will continue cutting education and handing out the savings in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy unless something like this passes.
4/26/2002
A kinda-sorta apology from the oafish rightwing chairman of the Florida House's "Lifelong Learning Council," Rep. Jerry Melvin.
He's sorry if he seemed to be critical of anyone's beliefs."I had no idea that my comments would be so twisted and misquoted," he said.
This has two of the three elements of a political apology.
1/ Suggest the possibilty that the offense wasn't really an offense, may not have happened, did not really piss anyone off. Viz. If anyone was offended, I am sorry. Why apologize if nobody was offended?
2/ Suggest that even though you are apologizing, the words or acts were distortions of the media and political enemies. Viz. "I had no idea that my comments would be so twisted and misquoted." Why apologize if you didn't say it?
3/ Apologize in third person or passive voice so it almost sounds like you're talking about somebody else's transgressions. Viz. Mistakes were made.
Melvin uses 1 and 2, omits 3.
If anyone was offended by my comments which were twisted into something that might have been taken for ridicule of the good representative, I can only say that mistakes may have been made.
He's sorry if he seemed to be critical of anyone's beliefs."I had no idea that my comments would be so twisted and misquoted," he said.
This has two of the three elements of a political apology.
1/ Suggest the possibilty that the offense wasn't really an offense, may not have happened, did not really piss anyone off. Viz. If anyone was offended, I am sorry. Why apologize if nobody was offended?
2/ Suggest that even though you are apologizing, the words or acts were distortions of the media and political enemies. Viz. "I had no idea that my comments would be so twisted and misquoted." Why apologize if you didn't say it?
3/ Apologize in third person or passive voice so it almost sounds like you're talking about somebody else's transgressions. Viz. Mistakes were made.
Melvin uses 1 and 2, omits 3.
If anyone was offended by my comments which were twisted into something that might have been taken for ridicule of the good representative, I can only say that mistakes may have been made.
"The Gang that Couldn't Legislate is going back to Tallahassee Monday to give it another try. Be afraid, Florida, be very afraid."
The Big Lie Technique. The good people at The Palm Beach Post are too polite to use the term in an editorial about Jeb!s deceptive education commericials. But he ain't the education governor and anyone with kids in school knows it.
4/25/2002
This can only be classified as a Florida Stereotype News Story. Gator bites man isn't news. Man bites gator, now that would be news.
In our FCAT-based school system nobody seems to know what to do about the learning disabled. While a commission ponders, deserving, bright kids with reading disabilities can't get diplomas.
4/23/2002
Stars of the Legislature!
Rep. Jerry Melvin -- the Jew-baiting, gun-nutty 72-year-old college dropout who is leading Florida's education code rewrite.
Rep. Jerry Melvin -- the Jew-baiting, gun-nutty 72-year-old college dropout who is leading Florida's education code rewrite.
Our neighbor to the north cuts taxes and gives huge tax breaks to industry. Then -- suprise! -- Alabama faces such a severe budget crunch that it must suspend all civil jury trials from April 29 until September 30. Lord knows Alabama has operated for a long time without a functioning system of justice, but this is amazing. Criminal jury will only be held "as needed" and court personnel will be laid off. Who really needs a court system, anyway?
The source of the problem sure has a familiar ring.
Bonus factoid!: Alabama ranks No. 1 in plant and animal extinctions.
The source of the problem sure has a familiar ring.
Bonus factoid!: Alabama ranks No. 1 in plant and animal extinctions.
4/22/2002
What do Florida schools need? More money? Smaller classes? A pay scale that brings our teachers up to the national average?
The answer according to Great Minds at the state education board and Legislature: None of those things. We need another round of FCATs! A high-stakes 12th grade test to decide whether you get a diploma.
The answer according to Great Minds at the state education board and Legislature: None of those things. We need another round of FCATs! A high-stakes 12th grade test to decide whether you get a diploma.
4/20/2002
Florida's lost Tourist Attractions! A salute to mostly pre-Disney drive-by tourism. Not very comprehensive -- where are the Citrus Tower and Gatorama? -- but cool roadside memories are here. Be sure to check out parks that never were, such as Hurricane World.
An interesting detail about Sen. Jim King, who pushed through a measure closing the courts to people who want to challenge development. He received $58,200 came from development interests last election cycle.
This is truly the best Legislature money can buy.
This is truly the best Legislature money can buy.
I've finally gotten around to simplifying my home page. Redoing a home page is getting to be like spring cleaning. My, junk does accumulate.
4/19/2002
Political language note: The word spampaign and its gerund form spampaigning are not newly coined this year. I found an earlier use in a 1998 judicial race on the VeniceFlorida.com Web site. (Venice Florida! Sharks tooth capital of the world! it proudly proclaims, and who could dispute that?)
The Philadelphia Inquirer has a roundup of the usual bad news about the sputtering Reno campaign.
A string of embarrassments have plagued the former U.S. attorney general - and prompted Bush's allies to joke that they pray each day for her nomination. After all, polls show her trailing Bush in the autumn matchups by roughly 20 points.
A string of embarrassments have plagued the former U.S. attorney general - and prompted Bush's allies to joke that they pray each day for her nomination. After all, polls show her trailing Bush in the autumn matchups by roughly 20 points.
More details on why Senator King's Developers' Protection Amendment is a bad, bad idea that should be vetoed. (Bold prediction: it will be signed into law with a lot of pius faux-green rhetoric from the governor's office. And prominent mention that Audubon supports this.)
4/17/2002
I'm not a big Al Gore fan. But I was very much struck by the way nearly all coverage of his speech to Florida Democrats described the reaction of delegates, described it as "powerful" or something like that, and discussed how it signaled a Gore in '04 campaign, but nobody gave the reader a clue as to what the man said. Well, here's the whole speech. Decide for yourself. (If you have a fast connect, watch it in Realvideo or Quicktime.)
I rather liked the part about being sick of the rightwing side-wind. You go, Al!
The New Republic has a particularly good review, comparing the other candidates unfavorably.
A good speech, but as many have observed, just a year and half too late.
I rather liked the part about being sick of the rightwing side-wind. You go, Al!
The New Republic has a particularly good review, comparing the other candidates unfavorably.
A good speech, but as many have observed, just a year and half too late.
The new national teacher pay survery has been released by the NEA. And to nobody's surprise, Florida has slipped to 29th place.
4/16/2002
Is this the first use of the word spampaigning? As Jeb, McBride and Katherine Harris may learn, people who get angry at spam merchants will not vote for spam candidates.
4/15/2002
More FCAT number-cooking. The FCATs show great educational improvements -- if the right tests are thrown out.
Katherine Harris spamvertises for campaign cash. This could be a bigger mailing list than the "herbal viagra" folks use!
4/12/2002
Bold prediction: Janet Reno will pull out of the governor's race within a month. Faced with the near-unanimous opposition from party leadership and office-holders and lack of cash despite her name recognition, she will save face by citing health concerns.
The manager of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's Web site is honest enough to apologize for Knight-Ridder's laughably bad and slow one-size-fits-all-newspapers Web redesign.
I hope the Tallahassee Democrat and Miami Herald will similarly level with readers and say "our Web sites take forever to load, require five clicks to read anything and look like something that was cool three years ago. We know you don't like it. We don't like it either. But corporate HQ is making us do this."
I hope the Tallahassee Democrat and Miami Herald will similarly level with readers and say "our Web sites take forever to load, require five clicks to read anything and look like something that was cool three years ago. We know you don't like it. We don't like it either. But corporate HQ is making us do this."
4/11/2002
You want something to really get you down? Then play Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age. So why are you sitting around on that barstool instead of finding a cure for cancer?
"Everglades bill hijacked by special interests" points out Carl Hiaasen. "Veto it" say the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. "A stealth attack on the environment" and "an assault on citizen standing in environmental disputes" say editorials. "Just part of the deal" says Audubon's Charles Lee.
What's wrong with this picture?
What's wrong with this picture?
4/10/2002
What I hope is only a partial list of library cats in Florida.
How trusty is Truste? Not very, it appears.
Enron had Arthur Andersen. Yahoo has Truste, the nonprofit privacy organization whose seal of approval is designed to assuage consumer fears about giving personal information to websites. -- Wired
Enron had Arthur Andersen. Yahoo has Truste, the nonprofit privacy organization whose seal of approval is designed to assuage consumer fears about giving personal information to websites. -- Wired
Why Yahoo is becoming a frustrating rip-off. Note, too, the lame response of the untrustworthy Truste. (No problem. We only got 100 complaints.)
Yet another anti-Yahoo screed.
Yet another anti-Yahoo screed.
4/09/2002
Here at last is the state Chamber of Commerce report on education that Jeb tried to suppress because it delivers bad news -- Florida is falling behind. (Warning: prepare for a wait. You will get an annoying pop-up screen with a dumb Flash animation that you cannot bypass. This is bad, pretentious and time-and-bandwidth-wasting Web design.)
4/08/2002
In the stale sea of hand-me-down comics on the average newspaper comics page, there is occasionally a work of day-in, day-out genius. Like Pogo, one of the greatest strips of all time. And now, finally, finally, it's back in print! Whoo-hoo!
This session's Everglades bill, with its provisions closing citizens out of the permitting process, deserves a veto. It also exposes Charles Lee as a total sellout.
When an activist decides he needs to be "a player" in order to "be effective," it's time to find new activists. Lee wants to be a go-to guy, not an advocate.
When an activist decides he needs to be "a player" in order to "be effective," it's time to find new activists. Lee wants to be a go-to guy, not an advocate.
A Florida Power "public service" -- your electric payments used to help starve public education.
4/06/2002
4/05/2002
Oh, that irrepressible Katherine Harris! This week, she was caught trying to push her way into a sold-out talk by former House speaker Newt Gingrich. She was turned away at the door. (Warning: this is one slow site.)
Sweet Jesus! With all the horrible things happening in the world do we really need a sequel to The Bridges of Madison Co.? This is too depressing to contemplate.
I'm such a sucker for this sort of thing.
My collection of cheesy, Sunshine State postcards grows faster than I can send them out. And now the US Postal service immortalizes one in a stamp. It's just too beautiful. It might bring me back to snail-mail. For a little bit, anyway.
My collection of cheesy, Sunshine State postcards grows faster than I can send them out. And now the US Postal service immortalizes one in a stamp. It's just too beautiful. It might bring me back to snail-mail. For a little bit, anyway.
Jeb says he's shocked, shocked at a gay-baiting campaign mailing attacking Janet Reno. Just as his father had been shocked, shocked at negative ads featuring Dangerous Negro Willie Horton.
4/04/2002
Media bias? Yes there is. Conservative columnists outnumber liberals and, since more newspaper editorial pages are Republican than otherwise, reliably conservative columnists outsell their liberal and nonpartisan counterparts.
It seems a little early in the game but Bush supporters already are gay-baiting and flinging mud of course this group has no formal connection to the official Bush campaign. Heavens no. Oh, those darn independent organizations. Don't know what to do about them.
4/03/2002
I wish I were smart enough to have thought of this. Here's something a correspondent suggested by way of reacting to Yahoo's outrageous sellout of its patrons' addresses --
if you can, go into your yahoo account preferences, and enter the address for Yahoo corporate headquarters into your own address information. that way, all the junk mail goes back to them, if they ever change your settings again!
Street Address
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, California 94089
Phone (408) 349-3300
Fax (408) 349-3301
if you can, go into your yahoo account preferences, and enter the address for Yahoo corporate headquarters into your own address information. that way, all the junk mail goes back to them, if they ever change your settings again!
Street Address
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, California 94089
Phone (408) 349-3300
Fax (408) 349-3301
Why I love minor league baseball:
They don't try to screw over fans with chickenshit restrictive seating rules like the Hapless Devil Rays.
And they don't serve $6.00 beer like the Hapless Devil Rays.
The Daytona Cubs, meanwhile, have their opener tomorrow. Tickets: $4.00
They don't try to screw over fans with chickenshit restrictive seating rules like the Hapless Devil Rays.
And they don't serve $6.00 beer like the Hapless Devil Rays.
The Daytona Cubs, meanwhile, have their opener tomorrow. Tickets: $4.00
What refreshing honesty!
Here is a newspaper that comes right out and says it --
We're not going to give you news about a major decision of great importance to our community and state. Corporations don't like to be in the news and we don't want to make corporations unhappy. So we will give you, the reader, the bare minimum, and we'll just trust our leaders to do the right thing. They have our best interests at heart. Just go about your business and don't ask a lot of nit-picking questions about taxation, public money for private purposes, pressures on state and city services, the costs to schools or dangers to the environment. Move along. Nothing to see here, folks.
Thank you Selma Times-Journal for not pretending to be a newspaper.
Here is a newspaper that comes right out and says it --
We're not going to give you news about a major decision of great importance to our community and state. Corporations don't like to be in the news and we don't want to make corporations unhappy. So we will give you, the reader, the bare minimum, and we'll just trust our leaders to do the right thing. They have our best interests at heart. Just go about your business and don't ask a lot of nit-picking questions about taxation, public money for private purposes, pressures on state and city services, the costs to schools or dangers to the environment. Move along. Nothing to see here, folks.
Thank you Selma Times-Journal for not pretending to be a newspaper.
4/02/2002
I'm a big believer that you may get a better quality of public servant if you pay less -- Tom Feeney.
Oh, heavens no. He wasn't talking about legislators, himself or his $55,664-a-year Hooters(TM)-girl aide (she is, too, qualified; she's a certified high school graduate). No. He was talking about local school boards. And about bullying the Senate, of course.
Oh, heavens no. He wasn't talking about legislators, himself or his $55,664-a-year Hooters(TM)-girl aide (she is, too, qualified; she's a certified high school graduate). No. He was talking about local school boards. And about bullying the Senate, of course.
Follow up on Yahoo's egregious sell-out of its members' personal information. Sheesh.
Some call for a Google bomb on the subject, centered on the phrase Yahoo wants to spam you. Seems futile but can't hurt.
Some call for a Google bomb on the subject, centered on the phrase Yahoo wants to spam you. Seems futile but can't hurt.
