Fellow Democrats:

Just in case you haven’t seen Alan’s new ad on TV yet, you can check it out on-line at the DailyKos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/25/155020/561/340/556978   Read More »

This just in from the Greater Orlando Team Hillary Meetup Group (the largest Hillary Clinton meetup group in the US):

The Clinton Campaign has released a statement regarding the television commercials run by Senator Obama in Orlando and other Florida markets that began this morning on CNN and CNN Headline News. This action by Senator Obama is in direct violation of the "four state" pledge each Democratic candidate took last year promising not to campaign in Michigan or Florida. The text of that pledge made it very clear that no candidate was to run television or radio advertisements in Florida per the request of the Democratic National Committee.

Moments ago, I completed a telephone conversation with a representative of the national campaign based in Arlington, Viriginia. My contact has informed me that all bets are off and all options are on the table with regards to Florida. Hillary could campaign in Florida before the primary, and is said to be considering a visit to the state for purposes other than fundraising prior to 29 January.

It is important to understand that the national campaign is currently weighing its options - no decisions have been made. This story is developing as we speak, so please stay tuned to CNN or visit the HillaryClinton.com web site for further details.

The "me" is the above quote is Jessy Hamilton, Chair of Greater Orlando's Team Hillary.

My spin is obviously different from the campaigns, I welcome ALL of the Democratic Presidential Candidates to Florida.

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

Mitt Romney(R) spoke to a small rally in the lobby of an office building next to City Hall. Lots of TV crews were there.

In between the US flag and a State of Florida flag there was a banner saying "Washington is Broken."

Underneath the "Washington is Broken" banner Mitt Romney(R)was introduced by Republican US Congressman Tom Feeney(FL, 24th CD), who is best known for taking a trip to Scotland paid for by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramhoff.

On an earlier trip, I am told, Romney was flanked by former state representative Sheri McInvale(R), who is now under indictment.

Romney spoke of giving tax cuts to senior citizens who are still working, eliminating taxes on unearned income and eliminating the death tax. I assume the tax cuts for the dead and near dead will be paid for by working Americans who earn their paychecks each week.

To Democratic Presidential candidates:
Wish You Were Here.

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

Florida Legislature imperils voting rights; two Federal injunctions prevent implementation.

NAACP v. Browning
Federal injunction issued December 18, 2007

League of Women Voters v. Cobb
Federal injunction issued August 28, 2006

Both lawsuits name the Florida Secretary of State -- Kurt Browning replaced Sue Cobb.   Read More »

Well I know everyone listens to iPods these days ;) but back in the day, when we listened to stereo systems with loudspeakers, sometimes one speaker would work, but the other did not.

Well the lopsided effect of having only one speaker playing is what the Nevada Caucuses and the South Carolina Primary were like. Senator Hillary Clinton is said to have won Nevada because of the Women and Latino vote, while Senator Barack Obama is said to have won South Carolina because of the Black vote.

While that is an improvement over Iowa and New Hampshire, where neither Blacks nor Latinos were represented; why can't we have a primary state that sounds like the nation?

We do; it is called Florida.

Unfortunately, the DNC Chair and the "gang of 4" are going deaf (guess we shouldn't pick on the handicapped).

The four self interested state chairs put their states' advantage above the national interest and so we have four states primaries yielding noise or at best distorted sound with at least one stereo channel missing.

Perhaps the gang of 4 are going deaf because the have been listening to the chairman's scream at high volume through a bad sound system.

Can you hear me now?

Don't tase me bro!

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

In person, early voting starts today (Monday, January 14, 2008) in Florida at a limited number of locations in each of Florida's 67 counties for the January 29 primary.

On the ballot, is the Presidential Preference Primary, Amendment #1 concerning property taxes and in Orlando there is the Mayor's race and one City Council race (District #6). There is also a special election for Florida House district 32 in eastern Orange County and portions Brevard County.

The district 6 City Council seat is held by City Councilman Sam Ings and his district includes predominately African-American neighborhoods.

A City of Orlando District 6 ballot:
http://www.ocfelections.com/Ballots/23.PDF

Early voting sites and other information is available here:


Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

A CNN poll released today concluded that Senator John Edwards is the only Democrat who can beat all four major Republican candidates.   Read More »

Popular Cocoa Beach City Councilman Tony Sasso is expected to qualify by petition this week, after a very suscessful petition drive, to run for the Florida House District 32 seat vacated by Rep. Bob Allen after the restroom incident.

The primary will be January 29 (same as Presidential Preference Primary) and the Special Election/General Election will be February 26th.

Florida House District 32 runs from Cocoa Beach near the Kennedy Space Center (Brevard County) to Lake Nona near the Orlando International Airport (Orange County). The Florida State House district overlaps with US Congressional District 24 (Tom Feeney(R)).

Sasso, a ship inspector and formerly licensed marine engineer, was elected to the Cocoa Beach City Commission in 2001. He was re-elected unopposed in 2004, and after two successful terms has decided to seek the office of State Representative.

Known for his hands-on style, tireless involvement, and accessibility to his constituents, Sasso was instrumental in securing the last pieces of undeveloped green space in Cocoa Beach, including the Thousand Islands; making basic infrastructure improvements, including a repaving all of Cocoa Beach’s streets; and televising all Cocoa Beach public meetings, all while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Sasso was one of the local driving forces behind the Clean Oceans bills considered by the legislature during the past two years.

“Our district has many opportunities ahead, but can only realize them through strong leadership. District 32 deserves a representative with passion for service and dedication to hard work and honest government.”

Sasso said he is running for State Representative to maintain good jobs, such as in the space industry, to implement real tax and insurance reform, and to better manage growth.

Link

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL   Read More »

This past Saturday morning starting at 9:00 AM sharp Congresswoman Corrine Brown(D,FL3) hosted a workshop filled to capacity, the topic mortgage foreclosure. State Representative Darren Soto was late to a Thanksgiving party because he attended a mortgage foreclosure workshop hosted by a Catholic church. Tonight , NBC Nightly News will have a major story on "Avoiding Mortgage Foreclosure." Not since the "Okies" of the "Grapes of Wrath" more than 70 years ago has America seen such a wave of Americans losing homes to mortgage foreclosures. The shock wave is arriving... Some of the tips...   Read More »

Ever need to project video on a wall or screen at your DFA, YD or county Democratic Party meeting? Perhaps to demo PartyBuilder (or VoteBuilder), or to show a DVD of "An Inconvenient Truth." Or display a slide show or a congressional district map? Or that latest Clinton, Edwards or Obama video? Or that Howard Dean video for the one year out party?

The New York Times, in its "Circuits" section has an article about a $170 video projector. A photograph of the product looks like a thermos bottle propped up on its handle. Video projectors normally sell for $600 and up.
Link

The projector works just like a regular video projector [NOT HDTV, not even EDTV] and lets you watch video from almost any device: a game console, a DVD player or an iPod. The Torpedo displays images at up to six feet diagonally, at a resolution of 960 by 240 pixels.

[more accurately, see below 320x240]

All the projector needs is a power outlet and a large blank wall. It has a built-in speaker and standard RCA connections for video and audio. Its output is definitely not high definition, but for $170 it costs considerably less than higher-resolution models.

[Wal-Mart ;( has it for $149]

The Torpedo, which weighs 2.5 pounds, is available at Target and Wal-Mart and from online retailers.

As for the "960 by 240" specs, one blogger wrote, "I'm going to guess that they counted each of the R, G, and B pixels individually. If you divide 960 by 3, you get 320, and 320x240 makes a lot more sense."
LumenLab 2.1: Saving the World From Bad TV (post #9)
Link

That would match the output of an iPod (with $19 cable available at Apple Store or $2 Amazon.com) or the less than HDTV LCDs that are called SDTV. You could fit four 320x240 images in a "standard definition digital TV" (SDTV) 640x480 digital LCD TV display. See Wikipedia, "Display Resolution."
Link

Wal-Mart $149.97 plus $.97 shipping
Link

Target $179.99 plus free shipping
Link

So, the resolution might look the same or slightly better than the projection TVs they had in bars before they got high resolution. Not high end, but not bad for $170 bucks or less.

O'Reilly article on how to do the Apple Ipod video cheaper than $19 cable or Amazon for less than $2. O'REILLY
Link

AMAZON
Link

No idea how the color looks, how long the bulb lasts or how much it costs to replace the bulb (it could be like toner cartridges for a laser printer).

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

NYT: Foreclosures hit a snag for lenders

A federal judge in Ohio has ruled against a longstanding foreclosure practice, potentially creating an obstacle for lenders trying to reclaim properties from troubled borrowers and raising questions about the legal standing of investors in mortgage securities pools.

Judge Christopher A. Boyko of Federal District Court in Cleveland dismissed 14 foreclosure cases brought on behalf of mortgage investors, ruling that they had failed to prove that they owned the properties they were trying to seize.

* * * On Oct. 10, Judge Boyko, 53, ordered the lenders� representative to file copies of loan assignments showing that the lender was indeed the owner of the note and mortgage on each property when the foreclosure was filed. But lawyers for Deutsche Bank supplied documents showing only an intent to convey the rights in the mortgages rather than proof of ownership as of the foreclosure date.

Saying that Deutsche Bank�s arguments of legal standing fell woefully short, the judge wrote: �The institutions seem to adopt the attitude that since they have been doing this for so long, unchallenged, this practice equates with legal compliance. Finally put to the test, their weak legal arguments compel the court to stop them at the gate.�

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the ruling. But the inability of Deutsche Bank, as trustee for the pools, to produce proof of ownership at the time of the foreclosures will fuel borrowers� concerns that they are being forced out of their homes by entities that may not even hold the underlying loans.

Link

If it were not so sad, it would be really funny.

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

"Florida is behaving as though we were in a national recession," said Amy Baker, coordinator for the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research. * * * the 2007-08 spending plan will wind up another $1 billion short before the fiscal year ends June 30.

Link
Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL   Read More »

This Monday, November 5, 2007, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse(D,RI), along with 12 Democratic co-sponsors introduced Senate Bill 2305, "A bill to prevent voter caging." If enacted, would be cited as the "Caging Prohibition Act of 2007."

In addition to outlawing caging lists, also outlaws an unverified match list:

No State or local election official shall prevent an individual from registering or voting in any election for Federal office, or permit in connection with any election for Federal office a formal challenge under State law to an individual's registration status or eligibility to vote, if the sole basis for such decision or challenge is evidence consisting of--

(1) a voter caging document or voter caging list;

(2) an unverified match list;

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
For FULL TEXT of the bill and press coverage...   Read More »

President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency today as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was too expensive. The bill includes money for Florida Everglades restoration efforts. Details and continuing coverage at www.orlandosentinel.com

Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting:

WASHINGTON - Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote as early as Friday on legislation that would spend $50 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but require that President Bush start bringing troops home.

The money is about a quarter of the $196 billion requested by Bush. It would finance about four months of combat in Iraq, Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.
* * *
The bill would set the requirement that troop withdrawals begin immediately and that soldiers and Marines spend as much time at home as they do in combat.
* * *
Pelosi said the bill also would require that the government rely on an Army field manual when conducting interrogations.The field manual makes no mention of waterboarding, a harsh technique that simulates drowning and is believed to have been used by the CIA.
* * *
Republicans also would likely oppose applying Defense Department interrogation standards government-wide because it would limit the CIA's use of aggressive techniques against high-value terrorism suspects.
* * *
Without the $50 billion for combat operations, the Defense Department would have to transfer money from less urgent spending accounts to keep the wars afloat.

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the top Republican on the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, predicts the Army would run out of money entirely by January if Congress does not approve some war money.

Link

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

Wesley Snipes' attorney, in change of venue motion, claims racial bias in Ocala...
Link   Read More »

The New York Times has an article on social networking for Apartments and Condos, "Meet your neighbors, but just not in person" after discussing a service that charges $6,000 to set up a site for one complex, it goes on to discuss a free experiment at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
Link

Others have experimented with social networking Web sites aimed at city residents without intending to make money. I-Neighbors.org is a site set up by Keith N. Hampton, a sociologist at Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, to study the role that Web sites can play in strengthening offline social ties.

Mr. Hampton said that I-Neighbors continues to grow, with 45,000 people now using the free service. He said, however, that people in apartment buildings generally do not pursue social connections with their neighbors.

I have created GrandeDowntownOrlando in the 32801 zip, but sorry it is private and for residents only. Create your own!

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

Orlando Weekly Adv Dept Arrested after hostile story

Orlando Police/MBI arrested 3 members of the Orlando Weekly's advertising department (for running advertisements for escort services) the same week the weekly newspaper wrote a cover story hostile to Mayor Dyer. The MBI also sent letters (PDFs online) to Craigslist and to EBAY founder Meg Whitman (as a large shareholder in EBAY).   Read More »

Craig Crawford of Congressional Quarterly (CQ.com) is
Link
writing about St. Petersburg Times Political Editor Adam Smith Link
trying to talk to Hillary Clinton via Mo Elleithee.

Now, I've met Mo, but first what Adam Smith wrote:

The candidates are so terrified of drawing the wrath of Democrats in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, they won't dare kiss a baby, give a speech or talk to a voter anywhere in Florida, except in closed-door, fundraising receptions. So I went to the heart of darkness - New Hampshire - hunting for answers in a place where, legend has it, candidates and citizens talk easily to one another.

Here's where Mo comes in:

I wanted to ask Clinton a couple of questions: about the national catastrophe insurance fund, offshore drilling, maybe Florida's primary. I might as well have asked to show the former first lady my anthrax spores. "She's only doing local press," Mo Elleithee, a Clinton adviser, explained by phone. "And I'm local press from Florida," I said. "But now I'm in New Hampshire, so I'm legal to talk to." "But you're still from Florida," Elleithee sighed. "A tiger can't change its stripes."

So, Mo, let me get this straight. If Adam Smith were from the St Petersburg Times (sptimes.ru) that covers Putin as a hometown pol:
http://www.sptimes.ru/

he could talk to Hillary Clinton, but because he is from this St Petersburg Times (sptimes.com) that covers Russia as foreign news, but Florida as local news:
Link

he can't?

Say it ain't so, Mo!

This is especially urgent because as Craig Crawford wrote:

Democratic candidates are skipping their party�¢ï¿½ï¿½s state convention next week and will not even talk to Florida journalists traveling out of state, as St. Petersburg Times Political Editor Adam Smith reports today about his rebuffed efforts to get interviews in New Hampshire. Come November, Democrats could sorely regret keeping the Sunshine State in the dark.

Couldn't have said it any better myself, Craig.

I saw the singer Paul Simon on TV supporting S-CHIP and it reminded me of his song, "50 ways to leave your lover." Substitute "Mo" and the first names of the Democratic candidates and you will get the idea:

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don�¢ï¿½ï¿½t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don�¢ï¿½ï¿½t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free.

Link

So, Mo, you Hill & Bill are invited to our Florida convention even if we are not invited to your 48 state (excluding Michigan and Florida) convention.

Besides, Mo, Janet will be at the convention and if you are really nice, she will let you ride in the red truck again. Better yet, Hill and Janet could have a photo op at the red truck.

For the rest of yo, Janet is Janet Reno, an Mo was her campaign manager when she ran for Governor of Florida in a red truck. The NY Times even says so:
Link

Here's my suggestion for your "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and abandon the pledge:
I will donate one dollar to each of Democratic candidates that shows up at the Florida convention, that will be the minimum required fig leaf to call it a "fund raiser."

Finally, how about a short side trip with Bill, Hillary, Janet and Rep. Soto to the Ponderosa RV Park and Buena Ventura Lakes subdivision to see how well they have recovered from the tornadoes (February 1998) and contrast their successful recovery with that of New Orleans. Pay respects to those who lost their lives at the Ponderosa RV Park and remember how great America can be when it pulls together at a time of need.
Link

Link

Link

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

Under fierce attack on children’s health insurance, beset by politically inconvenient retirements and uncertain if another scandal lurks around the corner, Congressional Republicans are feeling a bit under siege as even one of their former leaders predicts 2008 could be a Democratic year.* * * The twist is that the issue Republicans had feared most in the fall, the war in Iraq, has played out legislatively in their favor for the moment. * * * But Republicans say they have lacked a similar cohesive plan to counter the Democratic assault over the children’s health insurance program that will be the subject of a veto override vote in the House on Thursday. President Bush’s veto of an expansion of that program and the strategic failure have exposed vulnerable Republicans to a backlash and allowed the party to be painted as uncaring.

Link

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

Pollster Jim Kitchens asks in his blog, "Kitchens' Think" Is Howard Dean the new Katherine Harris?
Link

"this may cost the Democrats the election in 2008. His failure to come up with any workable comprise solution and arbitrarily taking away Florida�s delegate because the primary will be held on January 29th is short-sighted and foolish. As close as Florida can be in a Presidential election, if even 1% of Democrats are mad and stay home, Florida will be a red state again."

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL