Much ado....about everything, especially baby sea turtles.

Down in Miami's District 13, Liberty City... news on the slung out of office City Councilwoman Spence-Jones.  It's another bait and switch story concerning a hand written note by prosecution witness (and indicted too!) Councilwoman Carey-Shuler.  [Prosecutors then cast the letter as a forgery -- part of a scheme by Spence-Jones to take over the $50,000 grant, originally intended for two other organizations.]  The dance here is one of tumble stumble and get up and do it again!  There is no question that the money's involved were improperly spent on Ms. Spence-Jones personally owned (or family named) businesses... the question is did she outright steal it out of the deserving hands of Liberty City artisans at Timbuktu and Osun's Village?  Carey-Shuler has changed her story from no she didn't authorize and give Spence-Jones the money to yes she did.  [Carey-Shuler now says she approved the payment Karym after MMAP officials told her that Spence-Jones' company was working with Osun's Village and Timbuktu.] Miami Herald 

Still, the proprietors of Osun's Village and Timbuktu said they had no such agreement with Spence-Jones and said letters to MMAP suggesting a partnership were either misleading or fake, court records show.

My friends... that's just what they call some big assed bullshit!  But the saga continues with Ms. Spence-Jones declaring her altruistic angelic political demonstrations for Liberty City and people suffering under the corruption of City Council hacks for generations seem to keep buying her ersatz promises that she is blameless.

So why should we support Kendrick Meek?  The FL Dems and Scott Maddox says to!  That's why!  Well, I'm not sheeple, and I'll bet you aren't either.   Mr. Meek's congressional record is no dazzler, it's a lack luster rank and file.  Contribute local demonstrations, not the days on the House Floor voting with an unerring Democratic policy standard throughout his 'step right into it' career,  then you have to wonder why ... would I vote for him?   He's not addressed the criminal issues of the Stackhouse scandal nor does he address the questions of his family pay to play politics for the last few years.   To my mind, that clearly isn't Senatorial behavior or material.  According to an article over at Politico, much of the Democratic Party in DC, though not voicing it, agree.  His support is thin, it dribbles in.   The President's support is in the form of all Democrat candidates (so far) and who might blame him?  Meek didn't back Obama until the very end ... still, that makes him loyal to those who he had promised fealty to.  Hillary.  No bad there...   I don't vote just because the party tells me to.  This is the awful truth in American politics these days... and it's another form of corporate politic-ing.   I refuse.  And I don't think that makes me an "Independent", because I hold the Democratic Party to a higher standard in political America and I don't think I should quit it just because I'm not voting for every Democrat to come down the pike.   That's a political blindness and absolutism.   Screw that.   In the end, I don't really question his effectiveness, he could end up being a titan.  What I question is what he has never addressed, what he has pushed aside or ignored.  The corruption of south FL pay to play politics .... all documented in the Miami Herald.  If he had explained his part in it, had addressed the affair and explained whatever might have been his tie to family in it... then I would respect his chances as a leader.  He did not.  He continues to avoid it.  Shame on him.   District 17 (his) is one of the neediest in the entire country.  He's been on the periphery of scandals in District 13 / Liberty City, another hugely needy community plagued with corrupt politico's who serve closely with Meek's retired Congresswoman mom, Carrie Meek as one of their 'consultants' ... which, lets face it!  Consultant in most circumstances is nice way to say government parasite.  I mean, after the hallmark service to this state and our country that Carrie Meek earned!  To be part of the Miami City Council corruption clique is just unbelievable.  Mr. Meek's district is not that much better off for his services.  He has achieved a great deal and I can't say his congressional work has failed his community.  It just hasn't changed it much and in one of the neediest in the country...  it is not what I expect especially with the challenges we face today.  

It's good to see that idjit Jeff Greene spending so much fluff money here in a state that he personally helped to shatter with predatory lending.  All these commercials are adding something to our state economy.  Fox channels are playing hell out of them.  Life long Rethug, running as a Democrat playing to the Glen Beckites left in what was blue FL in the last election.  Are we getting crazy yet?  In a state with 11% unemployment, Greene spends freely to convince you that he's your buddy, he's your pal and he'll fix all your troubles that he lies and snarks  Meek responsible for.  Wingnutters are supporting Rubio, though.  There's some real demonstrative ethics and solutions!  Under suspicion for defrauding the state and refusing to spend or tax to as cure all to our economical woes... typical no talent strategy by a corporate politico who is adjusting his bank account in a higher paying under the table job.  Crist has my eye, still.  I'm watching him closely now.  The situation on our west coast beaches keeps me focused on him.  It's our eastern beaches soon enough. 

Are you keeping some good thoughts for our Animal brothers and sisters of marine life in the Gulf?  Please do.  That other country within our boarders, Texas, has done the unthinkable!  They are releasing baby sea turtles by the thousands into the Gulf of Mexico.   [Federal biologists are releasing thousands of endangered baby sea turtles into the western Gulf of Mexico, betting that by the time the silver dollar-sized swimmers make it to the oil-fouled waters of the eastern Gulf, BP will have cleaned up its goopy mess.]  Miami Herald    You can bet your ass some Republican bureaucrat is responsible.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service are proceeding with the annual release of Kemp's ridley turtle hatchlings off Padre Island National Seashore because Texas has not been significantly impacted by the oil spill.  Before you can think 'you gotta be kidding me'... it's done.  Another atrocity in one that keeps amassing so much more to list, it's unthinkable that more marine life would be purposely put into harms way.  [However, Crouse acknowledged the release does present a risk of oil exposure. It took a team of 14 experts days to decide whether to release the Kemp's ridleys.

"It was a balancing act between the danger of holding them in captivity vs. the damage that could be done to them by the oil," Crouse said. "That's why it was not an easy decision."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that as of Wednesday, 167 visibly oiled sea turtles of various species had been collected alive. At least 482 have been found dead, but no oiled turtles have been found in Texas.

Carole Allen, director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's Gulf office in Houston, is a vocal critic of the hatchlings' release in Texas. At least some of the babies and nesting mothers should be kept in captivity until the oil is cleaned, she said.]  The Kemp's ridleys are at the base of the ecosystem of our southern oceans.  How can scientists do such a thing?  Here in Florida, because of the proximity to the oil, loggerhead turtle nests are being collected and incubated. Hatchlings are being released on the state's eastern coast, far from the oil.  They are an endangered species since '73.   Call your reps.  Call your senators.  Call the White House.  Do something.  Anything.  Make much ado....