Author: Trish

Florida’s Next Republican Governor Could Be Either Pot Smoking Adulterer or Allegedly Closeted, Self-Hating Gay Guy

Trish

Florida headlines are fairly drooling over revelations that Republican candidate for governor Tom Gallagher is a jerk.

Miami Herald: Gallagher’s Family Values Take Hit With Revelations

Sarasota Herald Tribune: Divorce Records Dogging Hopeful

Bradenton Herald: Gallagher Apologizes for Affair, Marijuana Use

Palm Beach Post: Gallagher Apologizes for Misdeeds

Sun-Sentinel: Gubernatorial Candidate Gallagher Used Marijuana, Cheated on First Wife

Tampa Tribune: Gallagher Admits Fault For Failed Marriage

Any outrage is a bit misplaced. In February, when charges of insider trading while on the taxpayer dole arose, hardly a gasp was heard from Pensacola to the Keys. Lakeland Ledger:

…an allegedly intoxicated Gallagher returned to their home and tore a screen off the house, the court documents say. The next day, he returned and took the dog. Ann Louise Gallagher asked a judge for a restraining order

Tax records show Gallagher made at least 70 separate online orders to buy or sell AES Corp. stock in 2003, and 60 of those came within weeks or days of five significant federal announcements about the [government] pipeline between the Bahamas and Broward County.

…Gallagher joined Gov. Jeb Bush and other Cabinet members when they voted in 2004 to support an easement for the AES project as well as a competing company’s pipeline proposal…He didn’t declare his ownership before voting but it was included on his annual public disclosure forms.

The deals were made on his state-issued computer during office hours while Gallagher was carrying out his duties as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer. And they weren’t the first.

Gallagher’s online trading and other investments first were reported by the St. Petersburg Times…The paper noted the tax records also showed Gallagher had invested in insurance companies while he was Florida’s insurance commissioner and in an airline that had a contract with the state.

But infidelity and drug use are…so much more interesting. In this case, anyway. […]

Don’t Miss “The Dark Side” Tonight

Trish

Everybody watch The Dark Side on PBS tonight so you can tell me how it was.

On September 11, 2001, deep inside a White House bunker, Vice President Dick Cheney was ordering U.S. fighter planes to shoot down any commercial airliner still in the air above America…

I have to work but you probably don’t, and the critics who got to preview the Frontline special, like the Seattle Times, make it sound pretty must-see.

Comedians have made countless Darth Vader jokes about Cheney, but the film’s title is no joke about The Force. It’s from Cheney’s own words about America’s response to terrorists: “We have to work the dark side, if you will. We’ve got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies.”

But apparently he didn’t use the actual intelligence from the agencies.

The CIA and its then-director, George Tenet, knew immediately that al-Qaida in Afghanistan was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and said so. But author James Bamford says that while the Pentagon was still smoking, Rumsfeld said, “We’ve got to see, somehow, how we can bring Saddam Hussein into this.”

“The Dark Side” claims that 9/11 provided Cheney and Rumsfeld with a pretext for achieving their longstanding ambition to go after the Iraqi dictator and to boost executive power that they’d seen diminish ever since their days as allies in Nixon’s administration. As consummate political infighters, they resented and continually undermined Tenet — a sports-loving man’s man who had become pally with George W. Bush…

Damn. I might have to buy the DVD.

What’s Jeb Raising $1.9 Million For?

Trish

Jeb Bush isn’t saying what he plans to use the $1.9 million he’s amassed in a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization. The Foundation for Florida’s Future web site is decorated with apples and glowing headlines about how great the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Acheivement Test) is, so we would assume it has something to do with education. Not necessarily. The Palm Beach Post says the fund it can be whatever Jeb wants it to be.

Despite its vague goals, Bush faithful — those who have been well rewarded for loyalty by various Bush family members — continue to give generously

Bush has since been coy about what the foundation will fund.

“No plans yet,” he said last week.

Despite its vague goals, Bush faithful — those who have been well rewarded for loyalty by various Bush family members — continue to give generously to the fund.

…donors, including a host of developers and construction industry-related magnates from around the state, say they don’t care how he spends it.

…Jacksonville engineer Richard Blankenship, who served Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, as ambassador to the Bahamas for two years, said he has given the foundation at least $185,000 over its lifetime.

… The top donation, $500,000, was given by Tampa-based Cast-Crete Corp., which makes building materials and is headed by conservative activist Ralph Hughes.

The Geo Group, a Boca Raton-based company that runs private prisons, donated $100,000. Its major shareholder is George Zoley, a Florida Atlantic University graduate Bush appointed to the university’s board of trustees.

Of all the headlines on the FFF web site about the FCAT, there were no links to the most recent story, about how the people employed by a private company to grade the test are not educators but instead, pizza delivery drivers and movie theater popcorn technicians. Read on for more.

Privatization: Florida Tests Graded by Pizza Delivery Drivers

Trish

The Florida test that determines whether students graduate, how much schools are funded, and even property values are being graded by pizza delivery drivers.

Democratic state senators are calling for state government to take over grading of the all-powerful Florida Comprehensive Acheivement Test. Until recent revelations that the people hired by CTB/McGraw-Hill under a three-year, $86.5 million contract were unqualified, most Floridians assumed the test was already in state hands.

…their only other work experience was in non-education jobs including hair styling, pizza delivery, store clerk, janitor and popping corn at a movie theater

A review of 2,947 employment files showed 1,845, or 64 percent, lacked degrees or teaching experience in subjects they were grading on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as required by the contract, said Sens. Les Miller and Walter “Skip” Campbell.

For some of the FCAT graders, their only other work experience was in non-education jobs including hair styling, pizza delivery, store clerk, janitor and popping corn at a movie theater.

The two are also calling for the resignation of the current Education Commissioner, John Winn. The last education head was forced to resign after news that many of the private schools receiving vouchers under Jeb’s pet plan — later ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court — were actually storefronts and post office boxes, or in at least one case, terrorist-affiliated.

Winn said he would resign only if the State Board of Education asks him to. The board, appointed by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, hired Winn, a former Bush staffer.

Winn himself is unconcerned about the graders’ diverse backgrounds.

Winn acknowledged some graders failed to meet the specialization criteria to score written responses to reading, writing and math questions. All have at least a bachelor’s degree as required but no checks are made to verify those credentials, he said…

“It’s not the work experience that matters,” he said. “There’s no data that shows us that teachers perform any better than people with other backgrounds.”

And if there were, you’d just ignore it anyway.

First Katherine Harris Bumpersticker Sighting: Repent, the End Must Be Near

Trish

Slowed down and rode alongside, trying to see what a genuine Katherine Harris supporter looks like. She was driving a new, foreign minivan. She was a slim 54 or so but she didn’t look like she’d had, or was currently having, much fun in her life. Straight blond bowl cut, no makeup, Sally Jesse Raphael glasses. Looked like a nurse or maybe a nun out of uniform because her top resembled a hospital scrub. Older man was in the passenger seat, but beyond the fact that he was bald and white, I couldn’t really see him.

I need to find a Bill Nelson bumpersticker to paste on my PT Cruiser. Too bad I traded the Volvo…

Still. Doesn’t. Get. It.

Trish

If you’re like me, and from your comments I know you are, you’re about over John Kerry and Hillary Clinton and any other “presumptive nominee” that could never possibly be elected but have been shoved down our Democratic throats.

John Kerry scolding Hillary Clinton has got to take the biscuit for annoying, self-serving hooey.

Shut up, will ya, Kerry? The 2004 presumptive dolt is bickering with the 2008 presumptive sure loser

Kerry, who was widely criticized as the party’s standard-bearer in 2004 for being too cautious in his criticism of the war, said Tuesday that politicians “cannot have it both ways.”

In remarks that could have been aimed at Clinton, Kerry said: “It’s not enough to argue with the logistics or to argue about the details. … It is essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake. … It was wrong, and I was wrong to vote for that Iraqi war resolution.”

Oh shut up, will ya, Kerry? The 2004 presumptive dolt is bickering with the 2008 presumptive sure loser over whether or not to set a date to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Anti-war activists at a liberal gathering booed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday for opposing a set date for pulling U.S. troops from Iraq. Facing down the jeers, Clinton said Democrats need to have “a difficult conversation” about the war…

“Sometimes this is a difficult conversation, in part because this administration has made our world more dangerous than it should be,” said Clinton, D-N.Y.

Note to Hil: a “difficult conversation” is when you tell your parents you want to discuss their living wills. One thing I’ll say for Clinton, though. She’s right to put the blame for this imbecility on Bush/Rumsfeld/Cheney. On the other hand, she did vote for the war just before she voted against it.

Here’s what we have to do: we have to keep Kerry and Clinton and any other candidates that Republicans are peeing their pants hoping we’ll run from making it to “presumptive nominee” status. Last time I felt like my vote (for Edwards because Wesley Clark had already washed out by then) didn’t count — and I am in Florida, a frickin’ Super Tuesday, i.e. early primary state. We can not let a surefire loser make it to the podium in 2008.

Behind the Scenes of Bush’s Iraq Travel Decision

Trish

In what can only be a tiresome attempt to spin, spin, spin Bush is working harder to rehabilitate his image than he ever has at being president. Here’s the scenario:

  • Airstrike takes out al-Zarqawi, who is then elevated to the status of The Entire Problem. Now The Problem is solved.
  • Bush summons the usual suspects plus the cabinet for a pow wow to discuss what to do next.
  • Someone comes up with the brilliant idea to — wait, wait, I know this is crazy but just follow me here — ask critics of the administration what they think. Bush can look less thin-skinned and isolated and more statesman-like.
  • O.K., but we also need to seem like we’re really involved in what’s going on in Iraq, instead of just sitting through the three-minute briefings every day. What about a video conference with al-Maliki, or whatever that guy’s name is that we installed as prime minister?
  • Whoa, hold on there, Georgie. I know you prefer to video conference whenever possible but it might bring back images of that whole Katrina deal, especially with a tropical storm hitting Florida again.
  • Hmmmm…what to do?
  • Well hell, boys, let’s just go on over there. We’ll take a grin-and-grip with al-Maliki, visit some troops, walk around the Green Zone to show how safe it is, declare the world is better off without Saddem Hussein — I mean al-Zarqawi — and be back before dinner. We’re bound to get at least a five point bump out of this, don’t cha think?

Coulter Vote Fraud: Hateful Skank Wants Law Exemption, Based on Making Enemies as a Hateful Skank

Trish

Killer editorial in the Sunday Palm Beach Post. The Post is the Florida paper that broke the story about Ann Coulter joining the ranks of Republicans who can’t vote straight.

It was only last year that Bush puppetmaster Karl Rove was discovered cheating on his voter registration in order to cheat on his taxes in Texas.

Rather than admit her error, correct her registration and move on, Ms. Coulter has hired former U.S. Attorney Marco Jimenez to defend her from the indignity of having to follow the law…

…the self-appointed defender of American democracy and values is fighting allegations, which The Post’s Jose Lambiet first exposed in February, that rather than correct her address, she voted in the wrong precinct during the Feb. 7 Palm Beach election. Rather than admit her error, correct her registration and move on, Ms. Coulter has hired former U.S. Attorney Marco Jimenez to defend her from the indignity of having to follow the law…

During her Tuesday spewfest on Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, Ms. Coulter made clear that she doesn’t want her home address to grace a public record, even if it is required for voting… “Should we get my stalkers on the line with my address and apartment number?”

Works for me.

But what I really want to know is why the hateful skank is allowed to pedal her wares on a book tour, instead of every interview being about the felony of which she stands accused.

Six Dead, Four Wounded Under New Florida/NRA Law

Trish

Less than a year since it took effect, Florida’s new “Stand Your Ground/Kill at Will” law has been used to justify killing at least six men and wounding at least four others. The good news is one of them was actually armed.

The Orlando Sentinel examined the fallout from the NRA-backed statute, which allows anyone who says they feel threatened to shoot to kill. The paper researched court records from five of the law’s eight months on the books.

Ten other states have followed Florida’s lead and adopted this wrong-headed law, and five more are considering it. And that suits the National Rifle Association just fine

The law is all about fear, and acting based upon it. In fact, without clear evidence of some other emotion being involved, specifically “anger, frustration, or malice,” police can only investigate -— not detain or arrest — the trigger-happy. But don’t get the wrong idea, says one of the gunmen.

“You’re not talking about freaks and geeks slinging guns around like Dirty Harry…” said [Michael] Brady, 43, of Winter Haven, who in April killed a stranger who was threatening him with his fist. “I do believe in Americans having a right to protect themselves, but strapping [pistols] on their hips and going back to Western days — absolutely not.”

The Sentinel’s main finding was that there is a huge variation in the way the law is applied and cases are handled from county to county and from suspect to suspect.

In one case, for instance, an off-duty Maitland police officer was arrested after shooting and wounding his host and another guest at a Jan. 15 party near Casselberry.

Despite claiming he feared for his life, Daniel Metevier was jailed by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office on two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.

The charges were dropped two months later…Metevier provided his medical records to prove he underwent knee surgery shortly before the shooting. He claimed he was unable to defend himself, partly because of the injury, without resorting to deadly force…

“I wasn’t so inebriated I didn’t know my name. I was thinking logically,” Metevier said.

Goes without saying. […]