10/31/2002
The Sentinel ran a feature on Central Florida bloggers. (Note: perishable link) I declined to participate since I work at a competing paper which would make just make editors unhappy at both publications. But I did name names. The writer also talked to Solonor but, alas, Sol-man was left on the cutting room floor. (We still love you, man!)
Not to second-guess, but it was an odd choice of blogs. (And he gives the web addresses of only a couple. Some are hard to find.) None I had heard of. I would think that given the traffic that spiteful Spleenville woman gets, they might have at least mentioned her.
Finally, in a bit of techo-snobbery, the writer passes on the observation that Blogger is a "training wheels" ap. Hummph Yeah, I know Moveable Type is an impressive tool, but it's also real time-vaporizer. Some of us work. Some of us have families. Some of us own pets.
Not to second-guess, but it was an odd choice of blogs. (And he gives the web addresses of only a couple. Some are hard to find.) None I had heard of. I would think that given the traffic that spiteful Spleenville woman gets, they might have at least mentioned her.
Finally, in a bit of techo-snobbery, the writer passes on the observation that Blogger is a "training wheels" ap. Hummph Yeah, I know Moveable Type is an impressive tool, but it's also real time-vaporizer. Some of us work. Some of us have families. Some of us own pets.
10/29/2002
The Subversive Intellectual Society announces the Grand Opening of the Situation Room, a blog focusing on "satire, politics, technology and society," which would seem to give it lots of room for maneuver. It is powered by open-source blog software I've never heard of -- b2. But then nothing about these folks is exactly normal. This is the organization behind the candidacy of the shadowy W. Gauthier Marx for Florida governor or dictator, whichever works out.
The Society pledges: short links (something we can all get behind in these dangerous times), original content (yes!) and NO 500K PICTURES OF PETS (shouts 'n' cheers!)
Don't neglect the society's long-overdue history of the calculator watch.
And like so many select Florida blogs of exquisite taste, it links to Flablog (TM).
The Society pledges: short links (something we can all get behind in these dangerous times), original content (yes!) and NO 500K PICTURES OF PETS (shouts 'n' cheers!)
Don't neglect the society's long-overdue history of the calculator watch.
And like so many select Florida blogs of exquisite taste, it links to Flablog (TM).
10/28/2002
Oops, I forgot Lakeland Ledger, Bradenton Herald and Gainesville Sun. The latter, according to the AP supported McBride but didn't post it on-line as of Monday morning. [Posted later Monday: McBride for governor -- Gainesville Sun. "Jeb Bush promised to bring Floridians together. But he has been an agent of our polarization."]
Re-elect Jeb Bush -- Lakeland Ledger A rambling laundry-list piece weighs Bush's positives (tax cuts) against negatives (DCF) and defends his education policies. McBride gets scant attention except for the worried thought that those union guys seem to like him.
The Herald's choice: Bill McBride -- Bradenton Herald. "Are we better off than we were four years ago? . . . We believe the answer is no." Former Bush supporters complain "the governor's record of power-grabbing, divisive leadership and public policy failures speaks for the error of voters' choice (in 1998)." Singles out Bush's education policies. "Unlike Bush, what you see is what you get with McBride: a plain-spoken, small-town-folksy man who rose from humble origins to build a successful career in the state's leading law firm." (I navigate Knight-Ridder sites so you don't have to!)
Re-elect Jeb Bush -- Lakeland Ledger A rambling laundry-list piece weighs Bush's positives (tax cuts) against negatives (DCF) and defends his education policies. McBride gets scant attention except for the worried thought that those union guys seem to like him.
The Herald's choice: Bill McBride -- Bradenton Herald. "Are we better off than we were four years ago? . . . We believe the answer is no." Former Bush supporters complain "the governor's record of power-grabbing, divisive leadership and public policy failures speaks for the error of voters' choice (in 1998)." Singles out Bush's education policies. "Unlike Bush, what you see is what you get with McBride: a plain-spoken, small-town-folksy man who rose from humble origins to build a successful career in the state's leading law firm." (I navigate Knight-Ridder sites so you don't have to!)
10/27/2002
Stick with me here, I know it's long and tedious, but here's this weekend's Recommendation Roundup:
Gov. Bush has earned the right to continue to lead the state. -- Miami Herald. McBride an attractive alternative but doesn't project a vision. The work ahead: bring the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas to S. Fla. Yeah, a strange boosteristic digression but it must have made sense in the conference room. (I navigate Miami.com so you don't have to!)
Give Bush Another Term - Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. "While not the ideal governor, he has provided solid leadership during trying economic times and has the experience and pragmatism to lead the state in the difficult years ahead." Gives Bush props for smarts and boldness though "neither candidate, in our estimation, has a realistic approach to dealing with the fiscal condition of state government."
Bush Has Kept His Promises, Deserves Another Four Years -- Tampa Tribune. In the least surprising of the weekend's recommendations (The T-U hasn't yet run its Bush endorsement), the Tribune lauds Bush as a bold, energetic leader. McBride has character, "but we worry about his wide range of liberal preferences, particularly his apparent intent to undo public school reforms and give teacher unions control over many education policies." Just wishes Bush would "involve the public" before running off and doing stuff.
Bush for Governor -- Orlando Sentinel."Mr. Bush has the edge." No surprise here. Praise for his education policies and environmental record. Graded off for secrecy, tax givaways to special interests and the state of DCF.
McBride has vision for a better Florida -- Florida Today. Bush "has proven to be significantly more of an ideologue than he claimed when he won election four years ago." By contrast "McBride, who we firmly believe would bring dynamic new leadership to Tallahassee and sound, realistic solutions to Florida's most difficult problems."
McBride: A beneficial, moderating force at a crucial time -- Sarasota Herald Tribune. Bush's "arrogance and a reliance on dogma has too often produced division when consensus-based change was within reach." More anti-Bush than pro-McBride.
Bush earned second term -- Ft. Myers News Press. Problems exist, but Florida has progressed during past four years. McBride is woefully ill-prepared.
Last week's roundup here.
Gov. Bush has earned the right to continue to lead the state. -- Miami Herald. McBride an attractive alternative but doesn't project a vision. The work ahead: bring the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas to S. Fla. Yeah, a strange boosteristic digression but it must have made sense in the conference room. (I navigate Miami.com so you don't have to!)
Give Bush Another Term - Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. "While not the ideal governor, he has provided solid leadership during trying economic times and has the experience and pragmatism to lead the state in the difficult years ahead." Gives Bush props for smarts and boldness though "neither candidate, in our estimation, has a realistic approach to dealing with the fiscal condition of state government."
Bush Has Kept His Promises, Deserves Another Four Years -- Tampa Tribune. In the least surprising of the weekend's recommendations (The T-U hasn't yet run its Bush endorsement), the Tribune lauds Bush as a bold, energetic leader. McBride has character, "but we worry about his wide range of liberal preferences, particularly his apparent intent to undo public school reforms and give teacher unions control over many education policies." Just wishes Bush would "involve the public" before running off and doing stuff.
Bush for Governor -- Orlando Sentinel."Mr. Bush has the edge." No surprise here. Praise for his education policies and environmental record. Graded off for secrecy, tax givaways to special interests and the state of DCF.
McBride has vision for a better Florida -- Florida Today. Bush "has proven to be significantly more of an ideologue than he claimed when he won election four years ago." By contrast "McBride, who we firmly believe would bring dynamic new leadership to Tallahassee and sound, realistic solutions to Florida's most difficult problems."
McBride: A beneficial, moderating force at a crucial time -- Sarasota Herald Tribune. Bush's "arrogance and a reliance on dogma has too often produced division when consensus-based change was within reach." More anti-Bush than pro-McBride.
Bush earned second term -- Ft. Myers News Press. Problems exist, but Florida has progressed during past four years. McBride is woefully ill-prepared.
Last week's roundup here.
10/26/2002
Photo evidence of Florida's rich religious diversity.
Funny how the biggest donors to Florida political campaigns don't live here. I guess our politicians look a whole lot better when you don't have to live in the same state with them. 'Course there could be other reasons. . . . (Thanks to dragonleg for pointing this out.)
10/25/2002
Floriduh Dept. of Elections Tips for Candidates -- If you go negative -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- it's always a good idea to make sure you're actually attacking the right person. This is Florida. Comedians across the nation are watching.
Spoke too soon. Arts & Letters Daily is back thanks to those nice folks at the Chronicle of Higher Ed. And it keeps the old site's posts!
10/24/2002
The Science of Polling -- Has McBride pulled ahead of Jeb? (also here.) Or has McBride peaked out?
Beats me. All I know is there's a lot of contradictory and counter-intuitive polling out there. At the end of September a St. Pete Times/ Miami Herald poll found Bush getting a puzzling 24 percent of the black vote. Unlikely from what I've seen. And what about the Republican poll that found no more than 10 percent of voters knew state taxes had been cut? Huh? (12th graph or so, look deep down. Aside: My theory is it's because the tax cuts were so narrowly targeted to the rich and so often accompanied by cost-shifting to local government that most people didn't feel any tax relief. But there I go again . . . )
Conclusion: Nobody knows who's ahead. (Despite the Jebcentric Sayfie Review's red-letter whistling in the dark today.)
Beats me. All I know is there's a lot of contradictory and counter-intuitive polling out there. At the end of September a St. Pete Times/ Miami Herald poll found Bush getting a puzzling 24 percent of the black vote. Unlikely from what I've seen. And what about the Republican poll that found no more than 10 percent of voters knew state taxes had been cut? Huh? (12th graph or so, look deep down. Aside: My theory is it's because the tax cuts were so narrowly targeted to the rich and so often accompanied by cost-shifting to local government that most people didn't feel any tax relief. But there I go again . . . )
Conclusion: Nobody knows who's ahead. (Despite the Jebcentric Sayfie Review's red-letter whistling in the dark today.)
10/22/2002
The shadowy W. Gauthier Marx, candidate for governor or dictator, whichever works out, thinks outside the box again, proposing that we save at-risk species through genetic engineering. Let's make natural selection -- not state government -- do the work. Think of how rad the license plates would look!
10/21/2002
As a former editorial writer, I'm always interested in who endorses who even though results are almost always predictable. In gubernatorial, presidential or U.S. senatorial races, The St. Pete Times, Palm Beach Post and Daytona Beach News-Journal will support the Democrat. The Times-Union, Tampa Tribune and Orlando Sentinel will support the Republican. But there are the nuances. The Times-Union will present the Republican as the unsullied champion of righteousness against the barbarous godless socialism of a Democratic Party that exists only as monument to human folly and sinfulness. The Orlando Sentinel will criticize the Republican for his greatest rightwing excesses but conclude he is still the stronger candidate.
To nobody's amazement The St. Pete Times recommended Bill McBride last Sunday as did The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Only slightly less predictably, The Tallahassee Democrat came out for McBride, too. (I navigate Knight-Ridder sites so you don't have to!) All stress McBrides's commitment of education and throw in his bio for good measure. The Stuart News endorses Jeb!, giving him mad props for the past four years and grading him down only for personality. ("Smart- alecky . . .")
To nobody's amazement The St. Pete Times recommended Bill McBride last Sunday as did The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Only slightly less predictably, The Tallahassee Democrat came out for McBride, too. (I navigate Knight-Ridder sites so you don't have to!) All stress McBrides's commitment of education and throw in his bio for good measure. The Stuart News endorses Jeb!, giving him mad props for the past four years and grading him down only for personality. ("Smart- alecky . . .")
10/19/2002
" 'She's the Richard Nixon of Florida politics,' said Daryl Paulson, a political scientist at the University of South Florida" -- The Washington Post looks at our Katherine Harris and her BEE-you-tiful makeover.
Two things not mentioned in the piece. though. (1) She has shaken down Rep. donors for almost $3 million in what is a very easy race. The phrase "token opposition" gets used a lot. This has diverted donor money from races that are far more competitive and critical for Republicans. And this is nationwide, not just Florida. Republican strategists aren't happy. (2) A lot of the people who know her best are losing patience with her. Her own hometown newspaper just couldn't make itself endorse her in the primary or in the general election.
Two things not mentioned in the piece. though. (1) She has shaken down Rep. donors for almost $3 million in what is a very easy race. The phrase "token opposition" gets used a lot. This has diverted donor money from races that are far more competitive and critical for Republicans. And this is nationwide, not just Florida. Republican strategists aren't happy. (2) A lot of the people who know her best are losing patience with her. Her own hometown newspaper just couldn't make itself endorse her in the primary or in the general election.
10/16/2002
This is what I'm looking forward to on Nov. 5. -- A Bush/McBride race so close it will hinge on recounts, absentee votes and all the electoral goofiness for which the Sunshine State is known. And as if that isn't enough it could take days or weeks to figure out who controls the Senate.
It's Not Funny if You Live Here Dept. -- Elections returns in Florida.
The Washington Post looks at the governor's race in one of the few articles that talks about a he-coon factor.
"The aw-shucks aura is essential to McBride's canny strategy, which is to make the election all about Bush and never, ever, to let the focus swing around to him. (The marriage of aw-shucks and canny is a defining aspect of he-coonism.)"
He-coonism?
"The aw-shucks aura is essential to McBride's canny strategy, which is to make the election all about Bush and never, ever, to let the focus swing around to him. (The marriage of aw-shucks and canny is a defining aspect of he-coonism.)"
He-coonism?
10/15/2002
A mystery report on Floridia education finds, like every report before it, that things are polarized, bad and getting worse. Funny how a report like that can just disappear before an election.
10/14/2002
ANOTHER FCAT HORROR STORY -- Here's a kid who is an honor student, takes college-level courses in high school and is generally a model student. One catch. He's dyslexic. Has lots of trouble processing written information. Usually he works around it. Listens to tapes. Dictates papers. But FCAT won't let him listen to the questions instead of read them. Rules are rules. So, he explains, he probably won't graduate from high school.
Here's Martin Dykman's column about this case. There might be new recommendations . . . after the elections.
Here's Martin Dykman's column about this case. There might be new recommendations . . . after the elections.
You never know what kind of article an omsbudsman will end up apologizing for. It seems the Times-Union listed a few unhaunted houses in a recent feature on area ghosts. A less controversial feature appeared later about the 30-member Jacksonville Amateur Ghosthunting Society.
10/11/2002
This is what happens when a paper becomes so sensitive about appearing "too liberal" that it throw all news judgment out the window. The St. Pete Times reports that -- hold on your hat! -- Bill McBride made insensitive remarks. That's right. He told an off-color story. In private. Ten years ago. Oh yeah, and he had promptly apologized. In writing.
We were told this made listeners were "uncomfortable" (NO!) And that "he made a crude reference to a woman's breasts and indirectly referred to a man's genitals." ( Heavens to Betsy!) We, the sensitive readers, are spared the precise nature of this "crude reference" (tits? boobs? rack? bazongas?) or how indirect the reference to genitalia was. (A bulge in his pants the size of Buick?)
And, in fact, the survivors of the shocking incident couldn't quite remember just what he said. "Some details vary in the accounts of the incident offered by several lawyers, including the year it happened and the precise words that McBride used."
This would not remotely be news if not for an true gaffe made by Jeb! One that actually that really was insensitive, and had some bearing about on how he runs the state. One that was made in a public place, during a campaign and recent enough to be relevant.
In an attempt to appear evenhanded, the Times suggests some strange kind of equivalence here. I don't get it, myself.
We were told this made listeners were "uncomfortable" (NO!) And that "he made a crude reference to a woman's breasts and indirectly referred to a man's genitals." ( Heavens to Betsy!) We, the sensitive readers, are spared the precise nature of this "crude reference" (tits? boobs? rack? bazongas?) or how indirect the reference to genitalia was. (A bulge in his pants the size of Buick?)
And, in fact, the survivors of the shocking incident couldn't quite remember just what he said. "Some details vary in the accounts of the incident offered by several lawyers, including the year it happened and the precise words that McBride used."
This would not remotely be news if not for an true gaffe made by Jeb! One that actually that really was insensitive, and had some bearing about on how he runs the state. One that was made in a public place, during a campaign and recent enough to be relevant.
In an attempt to appear evenhanded, the Times suggests some strange kind of equivalence here. I don't get it, myself.
I'll be at Barnes & Noble on ISB a little before 9 p.m. Tuesday, to lead a discussion about the movie Sunshine State. I'm hoping everyone else will talk and all I'll have to do is nudge them along.
The Palm Beach Post's wise-guy metro columnist Frank Cerabino takes a look at Daytona's antinudity ordinance. A local pundit is quoted.
10/10/2002
I don't pretend to be a Christian or a psychiatrist, but based on Aileen Wuornos' bizzare last words the state of Florida provided assisted suicide to crazy woman.
Fred Grimm suspected so, well before the execution. (If Fred Grimm worked on any other newspaper than The Herald he'd be better known. As it is, people forget he's in the same paper as Dave Berry, Carl Hiaasen and Leonard Pitts. Oh, and I navigate miami.com so you don't have to.)
And in a Hiaasenesque development, her old bar has become something of a tourist attraction.
Fred Grimm suspected so, well before the execution. (If Fred Grimm worked on any other newspaper than The Herald he'd be better known. As it is, people forget he's in the same paper as Dave Berry, Carl Hiaasen and Leonard Pitts. Oh, and I navigate miami.com so you don't have to.)
And in a Hiaasenesque development, her old bar has become something of a tourist attraction.
10/07/2002
With this announcement the Web got just a little bit dumber.
10/06/2002
This is too sad. "It's the same place filmmakers for Striptease -- the movie based on the Carl Hiaasen novel -- used to shoot a scene of a `seedy trailer park.' " And now the developers want to gobble that up, too. (I navigate the Miami Herald site so you don't have to! And thanks to dragonleg for pointing it out.)
10/04/2002
WHEN CHICKENS GO BAD -- Come with us to Tarpon Springs where "man and chicken have coexisted peacefully for years in quiet defiance of city ordinance." Then, without warning something went terribly, terribly wrong.
You know, this really is a wonderful story. Mainly because of the way it evokes all the traditional crime story conventions.
The loss-of-innocence graph --
In the cluster of beige houses at Lime Street and Safford Avenue where Dechardonae lives, man and chicken have coexisted peacefully for years in quiet defiance of city ordinance.
The nobody-suspected-he-was-a-ticking-time-bomb graph --
Everybody there knew Rockadoodle Two. Neighbors described the rooster as a normally well-behaved bird from a good family.
I wanted so much read: "Neighbors described him "as good bird, but a loner."
The menance-to-society quotes--
"That chicken was not scared," Kramer said.
and
"This was no scrawny rooster," Current said.
The Dragnet-style postscript
Rockadoodle and Hen were taken to the Humane Society of North Pinellas, said executive director Rick Chaboudy. From there, they were sent for rehabilitation in Odessa, probably permanently, he said.
The backgrounder--
Rockadoodle is the second Tarpon Springs rooster to make news in recent months.
The happy ending:
"He gone," she said of the rooster. "The police got him."
If there is a more perfect chicken-attack story, I haven't read it.
You know, this really is a wonderful story. Mainly because of the way it evokes all the traditional crime story conventions.
The loss-of-innocence graph --
In the cluster of beige houses at Lime Street and Safford Avenue where Dechardonae lives, man and chicken have coexisted peacefully for years in quiet defiance of city ordinance.
The nobody-suspected-he-was-a-ticking-time-bomb graph --
Everybody there knew Rockadoodle Two. Neighbors described the rooster as a normally well-behaved bird from a good family.
I wanted so much read: "Neighbors described him "as good bird, but a loner."
The menance-to-society quotes--
"That chicken was not scared," Kramer said.
and
"This was no scrawny rooster," Current said.
The Dragnet-style postscript
Rockadoodle and Hen were taken to the Humane Society of North Pinellas, said executive director Rick Chaboudy. From there, they were sent for rehabilitation in Odessa, probably permanently, he said.
The backgrounder--
Rockadoodle is the second Tarpon Springs rooster to make news in recent months.
The happy ending:
"He gone," she said of the rooster. "The police got him."
If there is a more perfect chicken-attack story, I haven't read it.
Most columnists, heaven knows, could stand a little time doing something else. But when a column disappears temporarily everyone thinks it's like a television show going "into hiatus." You assume it won't come back, will be tinkered with by management or is on the edge of cancellation.
Well, Howard Troxler is back after a month and half. Doing for the St. Pete Times what he does best -- the unglamorous work of writing clearly about underreported political issues. This time the politicization of the state university system.
Well, Howard Troxler is back after a month and half. Doing for the St. Pete Times what he does best -- the unglamorous work of writing clearly about underreported political issues. This time the politicization of the state university system.
Don't worry guys, if the class size amendment passes we'll find a way around it. Your tax cuts are safe.
Jeb!'s people bombard state workers with propaganda e-mails. They think sending e-mails with 50 pages of attachments will help them.
10/02/2002
Damn tourists. They drive like idiots, steal all the Nutra-Sweet from restaurant tables and they keep trying to steal our 'gators. Sheesh.
10/01/2002
I don't want to sound all paranoid or anything but this was at least an interesting coincidence during the debates. (Thanks, Hesiod.)
Later: Ooops. He probably saw the name coming up on the monitor. Move along, nothing to see here. folks.
Later: Ooops. He probably saw the name coming up on the monitor. Move along, nothing to see here. folks.
