Month: December 2005

It’s Politics as Usual in Miami — Goodbye Everglades

Buck Banks

Pack mentality: Miami-Dade County Commissioners today voted almost unanimously to override Mayor Carlos Alvarez’ veto of their vote of a week ago to send proposals for nine development projects near the Everglades to Tallahassee for further study. The proposals, if passed would move the Urban Development Boundary and affect 1,000 acres of wetlands on the edge of the Everglades.

The commission voted 12-1 without comment, because ”I think everyone has said what they really have to say,” said Commission Chairman Joe Martinez, the guy who wanted to limit public comment on the initial vote.

This is my favorite line from the Miami Herald story: “Last week, some commissioners complained that the mayor’s veto was politicially motivated.” This from a bunch of dipsticks who were lobbied hard by more than 40 of the developers’ henchmen.

The final commission vote on the projects will be held in April — after the state has finished its review.

Following the commission’s vote, Alvarez, who did not attend the meeting, issued a press release: ”The decision about whether to move the UDB is a local one. By choosing not to sustain my veto, county commissioners have failed to explore all options available to them and abdicated their responsibility to the state.”

“Failed” and “abdicated” are apt verbs to apply to the actions of this handful of hardheads.

Poll: Christians Whining About the Holidays

Buck Banks

They must hate Jews and African-Americans: According to National Journal’s PollTrack for today, a lot of Americans perceive Christianity to be under attack, as evidenced by the trend toward using “holiday(s)” instead of “Christmas” to describe the annual midwinter credit card blowout and festival of consumption.

According to a recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, a campaign against Christianity is also under way:

  • Nearly 60% respondents said they felt like Christianity is under attack, and a 49% plurality said religion in general is embattled.
  • 42% said there was a “war” on Christmas in the United States, although a 48 % plurality disagreed.
  • 58% said the Christian symbols of the holiday, such as nativity scenes, are being attacked more now than they were a year ago
  • E83% said they thought nativity scenes should be allowed on public property; just 12% said they shouldn’t.
  • A vast majority said the courts have gone too far in taking religion out of public life; 75% said they thought showcasing the Ten Commandments on government property should be legal, and 66% told pollsters it was a good idea for the commandments to be displayed in public schools.

    The poll’s release comes after House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., requested that the U.S. Capitol’s “Holiday Tree” be changed back to the “Capitol Christmas Tree.” When Fox pollsters asked respondents if they were offended by references to a “holiday tree,” 44% said yes, while a 52% majority said no.

Did Ford Cave to the AFA on Gay Adverts?

Buck Banks

Boycott — botched or butched? Ford Motor Co. announced yesterday that its Jaguar and Land Rover brands would no longer advertize in gay publications — nearly a week after the holycon American Family Association called off its suspended boycott.

According to the Associated Press, Ford blamed the change in its ad spend on money woes and the two brands’ poor performance in the marketplace.

“The decisions with regard to advertising was a business decision,” Ford spokesman Mike Moran said. He said Ford’s Volvo brand would continue advertising in gay publications. Ford hasn’t advertised its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands in those publications, Moran added.

Moran said Jaguar and Land Rover, which are part of Ford’s money-losing Premier Automotive Group, have decided to cut back on their advertising everywhere because of difficult market conditions. The Premier Automotive Group reported a pretax loss of $108 million in the third quarter.

Last Wednesday Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association canceled its boycott of Ford vehicles that began in May, when the group criticized Ford for being too gay-friendly by giving thousands of dollars to gay rights groups, offering benefits to same-sex couples and actively recruiting gay employees.
[…]

Must See Video of Bush Drunk at Wedding in 1992

Jon Ponder

VIDEO
George Bush, high at a wedding, in 1992, six years after he supposedly gave up drinking.
Another big lie: Recent reports that George W. Bush has been drinking again are routinely dismissed in the mainstream media who carefully follow the script prepared by Karen Hughes and others that Bush quit drinking in 1986.

But the Smoking Gun has had video online since 2000 of Bush clearly quite sloshed at wedding in 1992.

Imagine for a moment that there was video of a supposedly recovered alcoholic Democratic leader who was obviously drunk six years after he or she claimed to be sober. It would lead the evening news.

The larger question is, did the president ever quit drinking? Is he still drinking now, as many suspect? If so, how much – and is his drinking the cause of his incompetent handling of his duties? Is George Bush’s alcoholism putting the nation’s security at risk?

9/11 Commission Gives Government Failing Grades

Buck Banks

Good reasons for Homeland Insecurity: Members of the 9/11 Commission issued a sobering assessment of the Bush administration’ s and Congress’ responses to the commission’s recommendations on how to protect the nation from terrorists. In a sometimes emotional call to action, the commission delivered a report card that underscores th government’s dismal performance.

“Here we are in December of 2005 and our government has still not passed some of the basic reforms to make our citizens a little bit safer,” said commissioner Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. “We are skating on thin ice; that ice is getting thinner and [is] about to crack.”

“If my children were to receive this report card, they would have to repeat a grade,” Roemer said. “We can’t afford to repeat the lessons of 9/11 and the losses of 9/11.”

“When will our government wake up to this challenge?” he asked.

For details on the report, click […]

CA-50: Can a Dem Take Dukester’s House Seat in Special Election?

Jon Ponder

Ripe for the picking? There is a good chance that a Democrat might win the special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Duke Cunningham, the Republican who resigned after admitting to taking $2.4 million in bribes from a defense contractor:

Democrat Francine Busby, the Cardiff school district board trustee and the party’s 2004 candidate for the 50th District seat … secured the endorsement of EMILY’s List late last week, ensuring she will have the financial backing to be competitive. EMILY’s List President Ellen Malcolm said Monday that Cunningham’s resignation and “the whole constellation of issues” (i.e. Iraq and rising gas prices) “could change the mood” enough to elect Busby.

House Republicans aren’t worried yet. “Busby got 36% in the last election. NOTHING has changed in this district outside of the current congressman resigning. And she is not running against the current congressman,” said Carl Forti, spokesman at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Martha McKenna, political director of EMILY’s List, said the organization has been working with Busby for some time and believes she is a much improved candidate following a 58 percent to 36 percent defeat at the hands of Cunningham last November. (As the Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter notes, Busby underperformed John Kerry in the district by eight points in 2004, a worrisome sign for her ability to unify the Democratic base behind her candidacy.) McKenna compared Busby to Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Stephanie Herseth (D-S.D.), both of whom lost their first race for Congress. “[Busby] is much more serious about her campaign,” said McKenna.

[…]

It’s DoD Opening and Closing Your Garage Door

Buck Banks

Nobody told me my opener was unlicensed: In another instance of Homeland Insecurity, Congress has asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the Department of Defense’s recent deployment of Land Mobile Radios to military bases around the country. Seems the LMRs operate in the same frequency range as garage door openers.

According to the GAO, there have been between 1,300 and 10,000, but probably more, complaints from consumers in the vicinity of military bases because of interference with the operation of their electronic garage doors. Unfortunately for folks either locked in the garage or whose garage doors open unexpectedly, they’re just going to have to get used to it.

According to Federal Communications Commission regulations, garage door openers are unlicensed devices that use the 380-399.9 MHz signal range. The DoD is, of course, licensed to use that range, though it has only started to do so since deploying the Land Mobile Radios.

Sez DoD to the garage-door impaired: “My clicker trumps your clicker!”

Poll: Bush’s Bounce May Turn Out to Be a Pratfall

Buck Banks

Desperate conservatism: In today’s PollTrack by the National Journal, most folks don’t expect the Worst President Ever to get an infusion of “political capital” from the favorable economic news coming out this week. At least not enough to bring his approval rating out of the toilet.

Time/SRBI pollsters put his overall approval rating at 41 percent, 1 point lower than Time’s September poll. Of the 53 percent who disapproved, more than three-quarters said they were unlikely to change their minds about Bush’s performance.

And a 49-percent plurality said the president isn’t likely to recover from the blow to his approval ratings. Forty-six percent predicted he could regain his higher numbers, but when asked if a series of nine issues were driving down their opinions of Bush’s performance, pluralities of respondents said yes for every one.

Majorities frowned on his work on the economy, Social Security and the budget deficit. His Iraq policies and higher energy prices were least popular, with about two-thirds saying those issues pushed down their assessments. Forty-five percent said those two areas had a very negative impact on their ratings.
[…]

Another Idiotic E-Mail from the Florida Democratic Party

Buck Banks

Clueless and useless: Karen Thurman, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, is at it again. Please, stop her before she e-mails again! Here’s her latest:

I am writing you to make a correction in my previous email about the 2006 Florida Democratic Conference. US Senator Barak Obama will be the only featured speaker at our dinner on Saturday, December 10.

Also, if you are interested in signing up to be a delegate at the 2006 Conference,please cut and paste this url into your browser: www.fladems.com/donate/ConferenceHome.php
and scroll down the page to the link marked “Apply online to be an appointed delegate”. This link will take you to signup page. If you plan to sign up to be a delegate, please do so by 5 PM Friday, December 2.

The www.fladems.com website occasionally has problems with congestion when registering people for meal tickets. You can register or buy meal tickets by phone. Just call us at 1-800-925-3411 between 8:30 AM and 6:30 PM.

Have a great weekend and then join us in Orlando next Friday!

Karen Thurman

If I wanted to be a delegate to a function that Ms. Thurman doesn’t seem to be very clear about, I would have been out of luck because her e-mail was dated Saturday, Dec. 3, at 10:16 a.m. — nearly 17 hours AFTER the deadline to apply. With Dems like this, it’s little wonder that Florida is a red state.

Worst President Ever: Bush Vs. Buchanan

Jon Ponder

Worst of the worst: Whether through gross negligence or malfeasance (or both, probably), President Bush has driven the country into a war that has caused the deaths and dismemberments of tens of thousands U.S. service personnel and innocent Iraqi babies, children and men and women – at a financial cost of $250 billion (that we know of). No other president has anything like this besmirchment on his record.

Now the assertion that Bush is the Worst President Ever has even started to trickle up into the mainstream media. Here is Richard Reeves on the subject:

The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record… This is what those historians said — and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came from self-identified conservatives — about the Bush record:

  • He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process;
  • He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich;
  • He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state;
  • He has repeatedly “misled,” to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign;
  • He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign (Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida);
  • He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity;
  • He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress;
  • He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic’s oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.

Reeves also compares the failed Bush presidency with the presidency of the man who, until now, was considered by many historians to be the worst president ever – James Buchanan:

[…]