12/02/2008
Blog-off, Martinez edition
Martinez won't run for re-election.
+ The Buzz -- 10:05
+ Political Pulse -- 10:17
+ AP -- 10:29
+ Naked Politics -- 10:29
+ The Swamp -- 10:30
+ The Fix --- 10:32.
+ TPM -- 10:47
+ The Buzz -- 10:05
+ Political Pulse -- 10:17
+ AP -- 10:29
+ Naked Politics -- 10:29
+ The Swamp -- 10:30
+ The Fix --- 10:32.
+ TPM -- 10:47
Labels: Mel Martinez
12/01/2008
The go-fer speaker
Maybe it's because this is such a tight budget year, but the story about new House Speaker Ray Sansom's job as Northwest Florida State College vice president for development and planning (Translation: Guy in charge of getting us money) seems to have legs. Even though his go-getting on behalf of the college is pretty pricey, it's still in the same ballpark as projects other speakers have saddled the state with. (Cough. Johnnie Byrd Center. Cough.) Still, these are different times.
+ St. Pete Times: Last spring, the agency overseeing Florida's colleges made a list of budget requests in what was one of the leanest years in modern history. . . . Yet when lawmakers signed off on the budget in May, the school had snagged $25.5-million — the single largest project of any college.
Editorials:
+ Lakeland Ledger: Legislative leaders from the Florida Panhandle have a long history of bringing home the bacon. Among the most infamous examples were the football stadium that a Senate president from Pensacola tried to build at a university that didn't have a football team and the original 'Bridge to Nowhere' that a House speaker got built with state funds near his hometown. The new speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Ray Sansom, R-Destin, seems to be carrying on the tradition, but with a twist — a six-figure job for himself.
+ Palm Beach Post: Yes, education might have to be cut - including higher-education cuts that would hurt even more without the proposed 15 percent tuition increases. Yes, health care for Medicaid patients could be further rationed even as the number of poor families qualifying for assistance grows. And state attorneys might not have enough prosecutors. But Ray Sansom has got his.
+ Panama City News Herald: To avoid conflicts of interest, the speaker should resign his position at the college and find another job that doesn't have strings leading to Tallahassee.
+ Pensacola News Journal: If state Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, wants to keep what's left of the dignity attached to his position as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives he should resign his new job at Northwest Florida State College. He can't keep both.
+ St Pete Times: Sansom owes Floridians an explanation for the conflict between his words and actions. After all, he's playing with their money.
+ Tallahassee Democrat: House Speaker Ray Sansom is quite clearly tone deaf and not able to connect the dots that ordinary people have become quite adept at connecting during the current economic crunch.
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+ Orlando Sentinel: How does Mr. Sansom manage to keep a straight face when he tells others to tighten their belts?
+ St. Pete Times: Last spring, the agency overseeing Florida's colleges made a list of budget requests in what was one of the leanest years in modern history. . . . Yet when lawmakers signed off on the budget in May, the school had snagged $25.5-million — the single largest project of any college.
Editorials:
+ Lakeland Ledger: Legislative leaders from the Florida Panhandle have a long history of bringing home the bacon. Among the most infamous examples were the football stadium that a Senate president from Pensacola tried to build at a university that didn't have a football team and the original 'Bridge to Nowhere' that a House speaker got built with state funds near his hometown. The new speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Ray Sansom, R-Destin, seems to be carrying on the tradition, but with a twist — a six-figure job for himself.
+ Palm Beach Post: Yes, education might have to be cut - including higher-education cuts that would hurt even more without the proposed 15 percent tuition increases. Yes, health care for Medicaid patients could be further rationed even as the number of poor families qualifying for assistance grows. And state attorneys might not have enough prosecutors. But Ray Sansom has got his.
+ Panama City News Herald: To avoid conflicts of interest, the speaker should resign his position at the college and find another job that doesn't have strings leading to Tallahassee.
+ Pensacola News Journal: If state Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, wants to keep what's left of the dignity attached to his position as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives he should resign his new job at Northwest Florida State College. He can't keep both.
+ St Pete Times: Sansom owes Floridians an explanation for the conflict between his words and actions. After all, he's playing with their money.
+ Tallahassee Democrat: House Speaker Ray Sansom is quite clearly tone deaf and not able to connect the dots that ordinary people have become quite adept at connecting during the current economic crunch.
----------------------
+ Orlando Sentinel: How does Mr. Sansom manage to keep a straight face when he tells others to tighten their belts?
Labels: Legislature, Ray Sansom
11/29/2008
Model M
Your correspondent was idly looking through a thrift store when what to his wondering eyes should appear but a clean IBM Model M from 1991 in a pile of $2 computer keyboards!He worked on one of these for years and he always loved the solid, typewritery feel of the thing and its loud, satisfying sounds. Each key issued two sounds: one on the downstroke; another, slightly softer, on release. A room full of these things sounded like real workplace just before deadline. They're heavy, too. This is not keyboard that slides around on your desk. Slightly bigger keys than present-day keyboards, so they're more forgiving to a heavy handed sloppy typist.
Since those days everything else he typed on has felt like a toy.
Nor is this merely another personal eccentricity. When Lifehacker did a survey of favorite keyboards last month, this old warhorse came in No. 1. There's even a company that sells refurbished Model Ms as well as pages about how to refurbish and clean the things.
Yessiree, $2.00 well spent.
11/26/2008
Just the numbers
Attention budget geeks! The good folks at the US Census Bureau have just released new tables for state government finances for all the states. And just in time for our newest budget crisis!
You want Florida numbers? Of course you do. Here are the tables for five years.
+ 2007
+ 2006
+ 2005
+ 2004
+ 2003
You want Florida numbers? Of course you do. Here are the tables for five years.
+ 2007
+ 2006
+ 2005
+ 2004
+ 2003
11/25/2008
Light posting warning
Light posting during the holidays. There's people going to be here and somebody has to tend bar. Labels: flablog
11/20/2008
More plugging
The Sandspurs spokesmodel 
paid a visit to the Miami Book Fair last weekend and checked in at the University Press of Florida booth to say nice things about the book within earshot of publishing tastemakers and discretely move it to a more prominent position on the table while the publishing house guy was distracted.
Meanwhile, your correspondent will be at Cracker Creek Canoeing, for an outdoor talk and signing on Saturday, Nov. 29. “But we want to eat barbecue instead,” you say? That’s no problem: $12 gets you in and sets you down with a larrupin’ plate o’ food. There will be a bonfire set on purpose. Beer and wine on sale, too. Eating starts at 6 p.m. and the talk at 7. Call 386-304-0778 for reservations or directions. Event canceled.
He also will be in Coral Gables at Books and Books on Twelfth Night, January 6, so pencil that in on the new calendar.
paid a visit to the Miami Book Fair last weekend and checked in at the University Press of Florida booth to say nice things about the book within earshot of publishing tastemakers and discretely move it to a more prominent position on the table while the publishing house guy was distracted.He also will be in Coral Gables at Books and Books on Twelfth Night, January 6, so pencil that in on the new calendar.
Labels: Books
Another legislator on a college payroll
House Speaker Ray Sansom was named vice president for getting us government money development and planning at Northwest Florida State College. He'll be "earning" $100,000 a year. (College's press release here.)
Thus he follows in the illustrious footsteps of Mike Haridopolos who has a $75,000 lite-work job as a "guest lecturer" at UF and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio who got a $69,000 lite-duty gig at Florida International University.
"I'm very excited about the opportunity," Sansom told the Buzzers. I'm sure he is. Florida legislative leaders have come to expect some kind of college job so not getting alobbying education position would have been just insulting.
+ The Buzz version...
+ and the part about the "leadership institute."
+ NWFla News version
+ The Political Whore: New speaker of Florida House caught being ethically challenged
Thus he follows in the illustrious footsteps of Mike Haridopolos who has a $75,000 lite-work job as a "guest lecturer" at UF and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio who got a $69,000 lite-duty gig at Florida International University.
"I'm very excited about the opportunity," Sansom told the Buzzers. I'm sure he is. Florida legislative leaders have come to expect some kind of college job so not getting a
+ The Buzz version...
+ and the part about the "leadership institute."
+ NWFla News version
+ The Political Whore: New speaker of Florida House caught being ethically challenged
Labels: Education, Legislature, Ray Sansom
11/18/2008
Poll-0-Rama
So soon after the election and already it's Quinnipiac time again!
The short version: Everybody loves Charlie; nobody likes Mel and nobody knows who that nice Sink woman is.
+ By keeping the polls open and refusing to go negative on behalf on the flailing McCain campaign, Crist repaired his popularity, which had taken dip during his VP boomlet and European road trip. He now boasts a walks-on-water 68 percent approval rate and 58 percent say he should be reelected.
+ The Legislature almost repaired its approval the old-fashioned way -- staying out of town. Its low point, during the session, was 32 percent approve/48 disapprove. Now, it's 46 percent approve/35 disapprove.
+ Mel Martinez: 42 percent approve/33 disapprove/ 25 don't know. Only 36 percent say he should be reelected. The good news: so many people still don't know who he is that can reinvent himself if he wants. On the other hand, we're not talking about most adroit politician out there, now are we.
+ Alex Sink, 35 percent approve/ 21 disapprove/ 44 don't know. Everybody mentions her as the leading Democratic candidate for (insert post here) but only the aficionados know who she is or what she does. On the other hand, hardly anybody actually dislikes her.
+ President Bush's Florida approval rating has bounced back up to 30 percent.
+ 87 percent say they don't know enough about Dan Gelber to say whether they like him. It's unknown how many of the others thought the pollster was talking about Steve Geller.
(N=1,361 Florida voters. MoE=+/- 2.7 percent.)
The short version: Everybody loves Charlie; nobody likes Mel and nobody knows who that nice Sink woman is.
+ By keeping the polls open and refusing to go negative on behalf on the flailing McCain campaign, Crist repaired his popularity, which had taken dip during his VP boomlet and European road trip. He now boasts a walks-on-water 68 percent approval rate and 58 percent say he should be reelected.
+ The Legislature almost repaired its approval the old-fashioned way -- staying out of town. Its low point, during the session, was 32 percent approve/48 disapprove. Now, it's 46 percent approve/35 disapprove.
+ Mel Martinez: 42 percent approve/33 disapprove/ 25 don't know. Only 36 percent say he should be reelected. The good news: so many people still don't know who he is that can reinvent himself if he wants. On the other hand, we're not talking about most adroit politician out there, now are we.
+ Alex Sink, 35 percent approve/ 21 disapprove/ 44 don't know. Everybody mentions her as the leading Democratic candidate for (insert post here) but only the aficionados know who she is or what she does. On the other hand, hardly anybody actually dislikes her.
+ President Bush's Florida approval rating has bounced back up to 30 percent.
+ 87 percent say they don't know enough about Dan Gelber to say whether they like him. It's unknown how many of the others thought the pollster was talking about Steve Geller.
(N=1,361 Florida voters. MoE=+/- 2.7 percent.)
Labels: Charlie Crist, Legislature, Mel Martinez, Polls
11/14/2008
Hard times in the biz
Fitz & Jen at E&P quote S&P saying scary things about Morris Publishing Group, publisher of the Florida Times-Union and St. Augustine Record. (I believe that's my record for ampersands in a single sentence.)
+ Things aren't so hot at McClatchy either.
+ Things aren't so hot at McClatchy either.
Labels: Media
11/11/2008
Trib is Ruthless
The estimable Daniel Ruth, outraged metro columnist for the Tampa Trib, fell victim to that publication's relentless downsizing Monday. This industry is killing itself.
In a business where most metro columnists affect the voice of your just-folks, no-side-is-better-than-the-other buddy on the next barstool, Ruth was unafraid to let loose, assume some smarts on the part of the reader, name names and call bullshit.
Here in the Flablog Vault o' Memory we find him ridiculing Tom Feeney (R-Where's Mine) and Bill O'Reilly ("the Piltdown Man of Rupert Murdoch's media empire,") (and here after the ol' cultural warrior hilariously went after what he called "the far-left Tampa Tribune). Find him recognizing Sen. Jim King as the Legislature's OAR (only adult in the room) and tearing after Johnnie Byrd (R-Rosebud) -- Since assuming office, Byrd, R- Rosebud, has blown more than $500,000 hiring various flacks, minions and gofers to round out an entourage dedicated to polishing his image. Yet this Speaker of the Louse keeps coming off as a dim bulb more interested in furthering his own ambitions than he is in mature governance or even party loyalty.
Ruth on:
+ Amendment 2 -- With a divorce rate fluttering around 50 percent, one could make a case that there are many more threats to the sanctity and stability of marriage than Rosie O'Donnell getting hitched to Kelli Carpenter. So if it's all the same to John Stemberger and his self-righteous sack cloth and ash fellow travelers at the Florida Family Council who are pushing their homophobic demagoguery, the Sunflower of Sparta and I really don't need your help protecting our marriage.
+ The I-4 Confederate flag --To Lambert and his Sons of Clueless Confederate Veterans, the flag may represent the delusion of juleps on the veranda and maidens in hoop skirts. But to newcomers to Tampa, black residents, tourists and businesses contemplating making an investment into the economic fabric of the city, this flag says: "We're more backward than Gomer Pyle meets 'Deliverance.'"
+ Sarah Palin -- Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for Versace...
The Trib just got blander and less worth opening the news rack for.
+ Sue Carlton column on Ruth's last day.
+ A NY Times biz columnist sees a pattern.
In a business where most metro columnists affect the voice of your just-folks, no-side-is-better-than-the-other buddy on the next barstool, Ruth was unafraid to let loose, assume some smarts on the part of the reader, name names and call bullshit.
Here in the Flablog Vault o' Memory we find him ridiculing Tom Feeney (R-Where's Mine) and Bill O'Reilly ("the Piltdown Man of Rupert Murdoch's media empire,") (and here after the ol' cultural warrior hilariously went after what he called "the far-left Tampa Tribune). Find him recognizing Sen. Jim King as the Legislature's OAR (only adult in the room) and tearing after Johnnie Byrd (R-Rosebud) -- Since assuming office, Byrd, R- Rosebud, has blown more than $500,000 hiring various flacks, minions and gofers to round out an entourage dedicated to polishing his image. Yet this Speaker of the Louse keeps coming off as a dim bulb more interested in furthering his own ambitions than he is in mature governance or even party loyalty.
Ruth on:
+ Amendment 2 -- With a divorce rate fluttering around 50 percent, one could make a case that there are many more threats to the sanctity and stability of marriage than Rosie O'Donnell getting hitched to Kelli Carpenter. So if it's all the same to John Stemberger and his self-righteous sack cloth and ash fellow travelers at the Florida Family Council who are pushing their homophobic demagoguery, the Sunflower of Sparta and I really don't need your help protecting our marriage.
+ The I-4 Confederate flag --To Lambert and his Sons of Clueless Confederate Veterans, the flag may represent the delusion of juleps on the veranda and maidens in hoop skirts. But to newcomers to Tampa, black residents, tourists and businesses contemplating making an investment into the economic fabric of the city, this flag says: "We're more backward than Gomer Pyle meets 'Deliverance.'"
+ Sarah Palin -- Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for Versace...
The Trib just got blander and less worth opening the news rack for.
+ Sue Carlton column on Ruth's last day.
+ A NY Times biz columnist sees a pattern.
Labels: Media
