Money Never Sleeps

Talk about prophetic.

From Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps:

POOR MAN: I'd like a mortgage... I don't really have any money though... is that cool?


BANKER MAN: Totally cool. Since housing prices are always going up it won't be a problem.


POOR MAN: You guys are awesome!

Check out Hollywood's take on the 2008 financial crisis here.

Happy Thursday.

"Someone reminded me I once said "Greed is good". Now it seems it's legal. Because everyone is drinking the same Kool Aid."

--Gordon Gekko
Wall Street 2

Step Up, Buck Up, Shake It Off, Dems

Will Rogers once said, "Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans."

President Obama appeared to agree with the late humorist, as noted by insights shared during his recent interview with Rolling Stone. "One of the healthy things about the Democratic Party is that it is diverse and opinionated."

With over 70% of promises made during the campaign accomplished, he invited "...Democrats to take pride in what we've accomplished."

(...)

There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.


Everybody out there has to be thinking about what's at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we'd better fight in this election.

(...)

If you're serious, now's exactly the time that people have to step up.

As for the Republicans...read for yourself what the President had to say beginning on Page 1, Obama in Command: The Rolling Stone Interview.

Pam Bondi Shakes Off AG Debate with Dan Gelber

Pam Bondi is dogged by bad press.

The GOP candidate for Florida attorney general can't shake what began as an admirable story--her adoption of a Katrina dog, a St. Bernard she named Noah.

But unbeknownst to Bondi, Noah already had a name--Master Tank. The dog had made his way from Louisiana to the Pinellas Humane Society via a series of unfortunate post-hurricane procedural mishaps.

When owners Steve and Dorreen Couture finally located their pet and came forward to claim their dog, Bondi did what any compassionate person would do.

She kept the dog. And took the family the court.

Instead of ending in the kind of photo op that jump start political careers, Bondi, a prosecutor, accused the family of neglect and filed a lawsuit. Sixteen months later, the case settled out of court with Master Tank heading home to Louisiana, along with Nila, the family's German Shepherd mix that had also been adopted out of the same animal shelter by another family and fought over in the courts.

Could the story get any worse? Yes.

The Couture's are the guardians of their two orphaned grandchildren, kids who just wanted their dogs back.

Bondi doubts her Democratic opponent Dan Gelber will "to bring it up at all."

Which must be why she's choosing not to debate him at University of Florida on October 5th.

KSC Layoffs Become Reality

The stretch of Babcock running east past the railroad tracks is a ghost of the street I remember from the '60s and early '70s.

Two bowling alleys divided the area into a 7-6 split, housing a variety of entertainment venues within region of the two. Jerry's Pizza served up the best post-high school game fare on the mainland while Chips flipped burgers, Mister Donut poured a bottomless cup of coffee and frog legs hopped in the pan over at Wally's Pad. The Palms Theater served as a local landmark for years and those with a sharp eye can still make out the remains of the Brevard Drive-In that once lolled out behind its sister cinema. As a 10 year old snuggled safely within the family car tinged with the scent of PIC, from my side of the windshield I recall witnessing the night sky explode into a brilliant brimstone of biblical proportions.

I thought the world was ending.

We learned later some sort of military jet had crashed.

A few years later, the space program did exactly the same. Crashed hard. Apollo families throughout Brevard County found themselves on difficult times. Businesses once frequented with ample discretionary income found their doors jingling open less as families cinched in the financial belts or left the area altogether.

Babcock lost its lock on the title Best of Eau Gallie/Melbourne. The bowling alleys closed as did as the theaters. Jerry's, Wally's, and Chips have been long gone. Years later, the corridor offers passerbys a hardcore example of what blight looks like.

But a funny thing happened on the way to total decline.

Mr. Donut made a comeback as a Cuban sandwich place.

The old Dairy Queen recently opened its doors as a family restaurant and in the same strip mall where Jerry once greeted locals like long lost relatives, a small cafe serves up breakfast and lunch.

In this economy, what's up with that?

The building that once housed Food Fair grocery store and the department store J.M. Fields is now the expanded home of DRS Technologies, one of Melbourne's largest defense contractors and corporate employers.

And working folks have to eat somewhere.

Seems to me government not only create jobs, it creates opportunity for small businesses.

Nine hundred United Space Alliance employees face their last days on the job this week. The small businesses who once welcomed their patronage also face an uncertain future as the much-discussed reality of the KSC layoffs finally hits home.

From this Apollo "survivor", I wish you all the very best of luck.

Weekend Zen

And if you read between the lines
you'll know that I'm just trying to understand...

If You Could Read My Mind.

Gordon Lightfoot.

The American Dream

As summer reaches out towards autumn, I've noticed the day giving way to twilight much earlier, cutting into my evening walks with Millie Girl.

As I cut our travels short--with a pat and a promise to start out earlier the next afternoon--we turn our way back home. Lights stream through the front windows of homes passed by, each a glimmer of the lives lived behind the panes of their American dream.

My dog stops, alerted by the shadows cast across our path, puzzled by the increasing murkiness, more accustomed to sunshine as her guide. One foot in front of the other (four in the dog's case), we push on towards the house. We stick to the middle of the street, avoiding the gutter where trash and debris, the grit and the grime, come to rest.

The night swoops down and surrounds us, almost impenetrable if not for the moon behind our back. I can barely pick out my piece of Florida heaven, but as I strain to see, a bit discombobulated by the darkness, the landscape lights flip on.

Once again confident in the direction taken, Millie and I pick up the pace and head up the walk of our home, where the dream still holds true for those living within the walls.

***

(...)

"I stay up every night and I wake up every morning thinking about the people who sent me into this job. And the single-most important task I have is to make sure that the dreams of you and your families are realized. And so everything I'm doing is thinking about how do we grow this economy and how we grow this middle class. It has not happened fast enough. I know how frustrated people are. I know in some cases how desperate people are.

But I also know this -- that an economy that was shrinking is now growing. We have finally tackled tough challenges like health care that we had been putting off for decades. I have put forward proposals that are going to require bipartisan cooperation in order for us to get government spending under control.

And I am confident that if we stay on a course that gets us back to old-fashioned values of hard work and responsibility and looking out for one another, that America will thrive; that the 21st century will be an American Century again."

--President Barack Obama, 9/21/2010

Unprincipled

Christine O'Donnell couldn't buy better publicity than Karl Rove's immediate dismissal of her primary win.

If I were the media director for the O'Donnell campaign, the video below would air nonstop beginning on or about October 1, serving to remind Delaware voters every single day until the election of the sharp divide between principles and power.

Rove and Rush: Late to the Party

Rove later recanted his initial take of the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate.

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.”
--Groucho Marx

Unemployed in Brevard

Persons laid off from long held jobs may find that their skills out of sync with today's careers.

Calling the situation "skills mismatch", former President Bill Clinton expressed to Meet the Press moderator David Gregory that "There are five million people who could go to work tomorrow if they were trained to do the jobs that are open."

"Where are the jobs going to come from?" Clinton asked. "Where's the money to finance them going to come from? And can people do them?"

The "hot jobs" in Florida--"jobs growing faster than the average for all occupations"--lists Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts, followed by Medical Assistants as jobs forecast with the most annual openings this year. As any job including analyst or assistant in the title most often implies additional training or certification, the unemployed worker is faced in a position with how to finance the reeducation.

I brought Brevard Workforce up online, the network of one stop work centers offering substantial resources for the area's unemployed. The site is almost unwieldy to a novice. I'd recommend a scheduled appointment to address more individualized case management rather than navigate the site solo. My brother secured a grant that paid all costs associated with welding school with the help and guidance of a Broward Workforce career counselor. These knowledgeable employees know the ins and outs of federal and state grants, particularly so for youth, mature workers, veterans and workers with disabilities. Give them a call, but previous to the meeting, do your research, beginning with a review of the 2010-2011 Regional Targeted Occupations List--a list of jobs that are in demand and on the decline here in Brevard.

Brevard often boasts that a person can attend school from kindergarten to graduate school and never need to leave the county. With changes in federal student loans program that now make college more affordable and student loans more manageable, ironically, these days may be the best of times to be unemployed in an area that boasts access to a good selection of higher learning institutions.

I'll close as I began--with a few words from President Clinton. "Work organizes life. It gives structure and discipline to life."

May you find work soon.

Weekend Zen

If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double

Should I Stay or Should I Go

The Clash.

The 14th Amendment

Politicians kiss a lot of babies when campaigning for office. But this election cycle some are holding up certain babies as public targets — the children born in this country to parents who are not citizens of the United States.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., believes pregnant women illegally cross the border to “drop and leave,” a soundbite that describes giving birth in this country to acquire automatic U.S. citizenship for the newborn.

Mothers head undetected to the nearest stateside emergency room to deliver yet another anchor baby on to the burden of the American taxpayer.

The nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center fact checked this claim, indicating “more than 80 percent of the undocumented immigrant mothers who gave birth in the U.S. had been in the country at least a year, and that many had been here about a decade.”

Graham believes foreign tourists in the U.S. apparently aren’t just headed to Disney World. The expectant couple standing on line at the Haunted Mansion may have cleared U.S. customs harboring an ulterior motive — to bring home a souvenir swaddled in red, white and blue citizenship.

In both scenarios, citizen kids cannot petition for permanent residency for their parents until reaching age 21. If mom and dad were ever proven illegal, it’s back to the old country for 10 years prior to applying for citizenship.

Graham wants to slam the door on automatic citizenship through repeal of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

This isn’t the first time he’s used a cultural wedge issue to propose constitutional change. He also supported amendments to ban same-sex marriage, to define traditional marriage as between a man and a woman, and to ban flag desecration, all emotionally charged us-against-them issues.

To strip away a child’s constitutionally protected inalienable birthright is yet another example of divisive politics played by Graham.

The reality is, people enter this country to find work. Ending birthright citizenship will not end illegal immigration. The American Immigration Lawyers Association states advocating for such is “a solution in search of a problem.”

This issue should be dropped. Leave the 14th Amendment alone.

Party Poopers

Sen. George LeMieux pooped out on the Party of No with a RSVP of his own.

“Florida’s small business owners need help,” he said. “I am confident this bill will give our community banks and small business owners the tools they need, without raising taxes or adding to the national debt.”

He and Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio blew out the candles on the Republican filibuster by voting with the Democrats to move forward the small business bill, a "...$30 billion government fund to help open up lending for credit-starved small businesses."

(...)

The small business tax cuts in the bill include breaks for restaurant owners and retailers who remodel their stores or build new ones. Larger businesses could more quickly recover the costs of capital improvements through depreciation. Long-term investors in some small businesses would be exempt from paying capital gains taxes. And loan caps under the Small Business Administration's chief lending program would be significantly raised.

The measure also would allow small business owners to deduct the costs of health insurance for themselves and their families from self-employment taxes, but only for the 2010 tax year.

Much of the bill would be paid for by allowing taxpayers to convert 401(k) and government retirement accounts into Roth accounts, in which they pay taxes up front on the money they contribute, enabling them to withdraw it tax-free after they retire. Taxpayers who convert accounts this year would pay the taxes in 2011 and 2012, generating an estimated $5.1 billion.

Read more over at the St. Pete Times (9/14/2010).

Easy passage is expected in the final House vote this week, permitting President Obama to sign the bill into law prior to the midterm elections.

Pin the tail on that donkey, GOP.

***

(...)

LeMieux points to one reason why he broke party ranks to get the bill moving: a milk and cheese dairy is moving to Orlando and plans to double the size of its company. But because it couldn't get financing for the expansion through a traditional bank, the owners had to sell a majority share to an outside investor.


"Florida small businesses are hurting because they can't get loans," LeMieux says bluntly.

The St. Pete Times
9/15/2010

Thank you, Senators.

Election Mo

As we head into the midterm stretch, I'm keeping tabs on who's got the momentum by checking in with my favorite pollsters: John Zogby of Zogby International and Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.

And just for fun, I'll toss in my not so favorite numbers guy, Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports.

Zogby's 9/1/2010 congressional election poll of 1,980 likely voters reflects both sides stink.

Although "the slumping economy" and "conservative enthusiasm" favor the GOP, he interprets the results to show both parties better not let their game slip. Voters, according to Mr. Zogby, are ready to pull up a chair to "listen why the other side can't be trusted."

FiveThirtyEight (picked up over the summer by The New York Times) indicated on 9/10/2010 that the GOP has a 2-in-3 chance of taking over the House majority; however, chances for a GOP Senate takeover look less favorable as the momentum shifts towards lesser known Republican candidates which would throw a wrench into 538's previous projection model. Per Silver, keep your eye on Christine McDonnell of Delaware and Ovide Lamontagne of New Hampshire to oust those Reps once predicted to win Tuesday's primary--Delaware's Michael Castle and Kelly Ayotte of the Live Free or Die state.

Scott Rasmussen's latest poll ending 9/12/2010 reflects the Republicans still in the lead on a generic congressional ballot by nine points--a three point drop since last week. Not to worry, per the pollster. Although the margin has varied, Republicans have stayed consistently ahead of the Democrats. “Voters are ready to deliver the same message in 2010 that they delivered in 2006 and 2008," Rasmussen reflects, "as they prepare to vote against the party in power for the third straight election. These results suggest a fundamental rejection of both political parties.”

At this writing, Rasmussen projects the Democrats to hold 47 Senate seats to the GOP's 45.

Whether or not that's a lot of robo-bull remains to be seen.

Take a look at the top 20 political sites as recommended by PCMag.com as well as those pollsters Business Insider lists as last year's top 10 hoodwinkers.

Talk to Me.

Couch Encounters of the Terry Jones Kind

My son bought a couch off eBay a few years back.

Instead of paying freight or delivery from the seller's location, we decided to drive over to Gainesville and pick it up ourselves.

The couch had been purchased from a Christian company, but to our surprise, the directions led to an actual church instead of a business establishment. Located in the middle of nowhere, the place appeared deserted, but having scheduled the pick up in advance, we knocked on the door to the sanctuary.

No response. After tugging on the locked door, we spotted a church thrift shop located in a nearby outer building. We walked over, introduced ourselves to the cashier and inquired after the couch. She made a call and indicated someone would help us in a moment. After returning to our truck, a middle-aged gentleman soon greeted us. He inspected our receipt, headed back toward the sanctuary, presumably to get the couch. We followed him, hoping to see what other items might be for sale.

As the door opened, he asked us to wait. For the briefest second, I observed what appeared to be mattresses laid out on the floor. The door was quickly shut.

Within a few minutes, about ten to fifteen kids--mostly teens-- spilled out of the church on to the front lawn, running around and playing, as if at recess. Fair, blond and similarly dressed, all spoke German.

It was a weird vibe, very David Koresh. My son turned to me and said, "Let's just get the couch and get out of here." I thought maybe the kids were involved in some sort of summer mission work and perhaps, were sleeping on the floor of the church during the stay.

A couple of young men helped my son toss on the tarp and tie off the couch. The older man thanked us for our purchase and before bidding us good-bye, mentioned because we lived in such close proximity, he would have been happy to deliver the couch for a small fee.

My son sent me an email this past weekend. "Interesting tidbit - guess where the ol' Koran burnin' church is? Same place my couch came from! TS & Company must have fallen on hard times."

The middle-aged gentleman? No other than Terry Jones himself.

And after reading the following from the Gainesville Sun, the kids on the lawn were likely on a break.

(...)

A reporter from the Gainesville Sun visited the church and found that the sanctuary was partially filled with furniture. Jones says that all employees of TS and Company are church members who volunteer their time.

Former members of Jones’ Cologne church – Christliche Gemeinde Koln – described the situation there differently.

“It’s all about how much did you work, how much profit did you bring in,” said Emma Jones, the 29-year-old daughter of Terry Jones and his deceased first wife, Lisa Jones. “He made 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds work 12-hour days.”

One certainty. Mr. Jones had quite the eye for retro furniture.

I'm just wondering how much the couch would sell for on eBay today?

Weekend Zen

But I always thought that I'd see you again.

James Taylor.

Fire and Rain.

Nutty

X-Files character Fox Mulder summed up the Sunshine State best.

All the nuts roll down to Florida.

First stop this week: Gainesville.

Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, has decided to commemorate 9/11 by burning the Koran.

OK, I'll ask the obvious. Why do some who profess tolerance never bother to practice what they preach?

Read who's burning and who's reading the Koran here.

***

"We tend to idealize tolerance, then wonder why we find ourselves infested with losers and nut cases.”


--Patrick Nielsen Hayden, writer and editor

Amendment 8 Not So Great

Typically, it's kids fighting the wiggles upon return to school after a carefree summer vacation.

But this year, it's the educators squirming under pressure to fully implement Florida's class size amendment.

Passed in 2002, voters passed the constitutional amendment to ensure low class size for public school students: 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 in high school.

Although the limits were phased in over the years since the passage, school year 2010-2011 is make or break time. Hard caps on individual classrooms are now required. School districts could lose as much as $131 million for noncompliance, penalties determined by the Legislature itself.

Funny thing happened on the way to 2010-2011. The state legislature failed their constitutional responsibility under Florida law to adequately fund the transition. State Senator Alex Villalobos (R-Miami) says the math doesn't add up. "$353 million was required to make this transition into classroom compliance — and yet they’re threatening school districts with substantial penalties if they don’t comply. They’re starving them and then they’re complaining because their stomachs are grumbling."

Many believe the hard core stance taken by legislators is an attempt to break the back of the class size amendment. With no extra dollars coming from Tallahassee to help fund compliance, the Legislature is taking advantage of the dire straits by offering up Amendment 8, which would release restrictions by allowing "...public schools to continue to use schoolwide averages, instead of a classroom-by-classroom cap."

Two schools of thought swirl about Amendment 8.

Senator Villalobos believes the Legislature itself has wiggle room regarding the caps and refers back to a 2002 Florida Supreme Court decision to make his point. "Although, as a result of the amendment, the Legislature may choose to fund the building of new schools to achieve the maximum classroom size set as a goal of the proposed amendment, this is not the only method of ensure that the number of students meets the numbers set forth in the amendment."

Meaning, no hard and fast rules determine that class size cannot continue to be maintained through schoolwide averages. The Legislature has chosen to interpret and enforce the amendment in a Draconian manner to force already financially-starved school districts into acting as lobbyists to help gain parental support of Amendment 8. The result of passage would release the Legislature from it's constitutional responsibility of funding the class size amendment as originally passed by Florida voters back in 2002. Once that occurs, the legislators will simply utilize the money so budgeted somewhere else.

The second viewpoint is a bleary-eyed, make my day attitude from many Florida school districts. Go ahead, staties, fine us. We have no money, you have no money and you can't get water from a rock.

One bad sign for the Legislature. Amendment 8 faces challenge and is presently once again before Florida Supreme Court, which booted three Legislature-proposed amendments from the ballot prior to Labor Day.

Who faces worse odds--the Florida Legislature or Florida public school students--remains to be seen.

Say AH

William DeJean is the leader of the plaque.

Stating "I'm a dentist, and I don't think this country is headed in the right direction", the Chicago Democratic dentist and avid supporter of Hillary for President 2008 recently paid for an ad advocating for the Secretary of State to run for the Presidency come 2012.

His efforts landed him in the spit bowl of political rebuke.

Hillary Clinton--as Secretary of State--is likely the most powerful woman on the present world stage. To step away from that position to run for POTUS--to split the Democratic party before 2012 in a slug fest as Mr. DeJean suggests--is political naivete on his part.

That being said, thinking ahead to 2016....with the possibility of a Chelsea return to the White House, her childhood home with a couple of Clinton grand kids in tow doted upon by a former Prez grandfather....that's a scenario that could definitely anesthetize any Republican Presidential-candidate, including the much-touted about town, JEB! Bush.

On that same note, Hillary has indicated she would not run, she would not run, she would not run for the office again. Likely good for the GOP because fairy tales as described above are the type that build the veneer called Camelot.

Unfortunately for Mr. DeJean, as the result of his ad, the dentist will find himself thoroughly drilled by a news media in search of summer fluff.

Say "AH".

Weekend Zen

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces

Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun.

The Beatles.

Here Comes the Sun.

Florida Legislature Denied Three Amendment

Expect your ballot this Election Day to feel amendment-light.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed lower court rulings and struck Amendments 3, 7 and 9 from the November ballot. All three amendments were conjured up by the GOP-controlled state legislature.

FOX News called the tossing of Amendment 9 aka Health Care Freedom "...a serious blow to state lawmakers..." who had hoped to join a list of states challenging federal health care law.

Too bad, so sad. The language read nebulous, promising access to health care services without waiting lists (what, where, and how does one access this supposed health care), to protect the doctor-patient relationship (an ethical given) and to guard against mandates that don't work (that statement in itself is a real hee-haw).

Basically, the 5-2 decision indicated the amendment was a bunch of misleading hogwash that conveyed nada.

Particularly sweet, Amendment 7--verbiage hurriedly slapped together by a panicked Legislature threatened by the specter of a Florida free of gerrymandered districts should Fair Districts citizen initiatives Amendment 5 and 6 be passed by the voters--went into the trash 5-2 along with Amendment 3, which offered property tax break for first-time homeowners (or not--A3 didn't inform "...voters that the tax break applies only to property bought after Jan. 1, 2010." Ooops).

This could be the year we voters finally take Florida back.

***

Two guys longing for the Days of Jeb.

"It is a sad day when more than 60 percent of the elected representatives of the people of the state of Florida can't get ballot measures approved by the court, but special interest groups can."

--Mike Haridopolos, Incoming Senate President

***

"...it's terribly disappointing to have the work of the legislative branch demolished by a co-equal branch of government, especially when there's no express authority in the constitution for their doing so."

--Dean Cannon, House Speaker

War and Peace

(...)

"Nearly 1.5 million Americans put their lives on the line. Many returned for multiple tours of duty, far from their loved ones who bore a heroic burden of their own. And most painfully, more than 4,400 Americans have given their lives, fighting for people they never knew, for values that have defined our people for more than two centuries.

What their country asked of them was not small. And what they sacrificed was not easy. For that, each and every American owes them our heartfelt thanks.

Our promise to them -- to each woman or man who has donned our colors -- is that our country will serve them as faithfully as they have served us. We have already made the largest increase in funding for veterans in decades. So long as I am President, I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that sacred trust.

Tonight, we mark a milestone in our nation's history. Even at a time of great uncertainty for so many Americans, this day and our brave troops remind us that our future is in our own hands and that our best days lie ahead."

--President Barack Obama, August 31, 2010