Sunday, October 08, 2006

FLORIDA DIGEST October 8, 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Invitation to Some Great Events from Jesse Monteagudo:


Friends: This coming week will be a busy one for me. In addition to my dayjob, etc., I will be taking part in no less than three GLBT community events:


On Wednesday (Oct. 11), National Coming Out Day, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., theGLBT writers' group Lavender Writes will host "Talk About It: An Open MicReading" at the Bienes Center Conference Room, located on the Sixth floor ofthe Broward County Main Library, 100 South Andrews Avenue, in FortLauderdale. Mauro Montoya, President of Lavender Writes, will moderate andnine or so writers (female and male) will read their coming out stories. Iwill be reading from MY coming out story, as published in the anthology"Growing Up Gay."


On Thursday (Oct. 12), at 7:30 p.m., the Stonewall Library and Archives willhold the second in a series of book discussions. I will moderate a groupdiscussion of "Running with Scissors," Augusten Burroughs's best-sellingmemoir which is now a "major motion picture." The Stonewall Library islocated at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida, 1717 NorthAndrews Avenue, in Fort Lauderdale.


Finally, on Saturday (Oct. 14), at 6 p.m., the Fort Lauderdale Branch of theBroward Public Library, located at 1300 East Sunrise Blvd. (next toArtServe), will present a panel discussion, "History of Pride in SouthFlorida," with a reception to follow. Dr. Sylvia Rhue, from the NationalBlack Justice Coalition, will moderate; and I will be one of the panelists.The Oct. 14 discussion is in conjunction with the exhibit "PRIDE: Party orProtest?," which is on display at the Library during the month of October (GLBT History Month).


I hope to see you at one or more of these events. - Jesse



=

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/15706670.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


MIAMI-DADE
Teachers make pitch for more pay

Miami-Dade educators want the district to offer more money as contract negotiations drag on.

BY TANIA deLUZURIAGA
tdeluzuriaga@MiamiHerald.com

No contract? Then no homecoming dances, no tutoring sessions, noafter-school clubs.

That's a threat some disgruntled teachers made last week as all Miami-Dadeeducators entered their third month of working without a contract.

''All teachers will stop offering any services beyond the expired contract'sminimum services -- just classroom instruction and then, a closed darkroom,'' says a flier written by Shawn Beightol, a science teacher at MichaelKrop Senior High. The fliers were passed out to parents and students at morethan a dozen Miami-Dade schools last week.



=

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2006/10/08/m1a_FOLEY_BINO_1008.html


Foley: Public ambitions, private demons
By Frank Cerabino

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 08, 2006

The rise and fall of Mark Foley is a script gone wrong, a tale of the local boy who surprised nobody by making good, by going from the young kid with a big smile and even bigger dreams to a powerful U.S. congressman.

Anybody who knew Mark Foley, even back when he was a community college dropout working the lunch trade at his family's restaurant, knew that Lake Worth wasn't big enough to contain him.

At the age of 22 - before he had even won his first local election - Foley was already telling people that he was planning to be a U.S. senator by the time he was 50."I also see myself married with a family," he said back then, "but I don't have a candidate as of yet."

Decades later, Foley would enter a U.S. Senate race months before his 50th birthday, right on schedule.

But the part about being a married family man?

Well, that's where the script got off track. That's where his public ambitions and private secrets collided, where this heartwarming tale turned cold, ice cold.

The recent revelations of Foley's sexual fascination with high school male congressional pages forced an abrupt end to a well-crafted career and created a political firestorm weeks before a pivotal national election.


=

http://heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061008&Category=COLUMNIST25&ArtNo=610080721&SectionCat=COLUMNIST&Template=printart

John Hamner
SPENDING FREELY
Good-time Charlie


I understand that this is an election year. I understand that some people really want to be elected to high public office. I understand that Charlie Crist is one of them. I do not understand why, for months now, he has run his TV ads as if he thought Election Day is next Tuesday.

Clearly, he had more money than some of the other candidates. Or is spending it rashly. I do not know where he got it all, or is getting it. I wish those giving money to him would reduce the flow, sharply. On the other hand, a man who has no wife and children (he was married briefly), reportedly owns no house and thus directly pays no real estate taxes may well have more money to spend on touting himself on TV than most of us, including his opponents.

Perhaps also he wonders how willing the voters are to provide him a nice house in Tallahassee if they understand that he will sort of rattle around in it. But the polls put him in the lead.



=

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061008&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=610080438&SectionCat=SPORTS01&Template=printart

Nelson decides to play it safe
Some say the senator should aid others with his cash, popularity
By PAUL QUINLAN

paul.quinlan@heraldtribune.com


U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson loves civil liberties, checks and balances and his wife, Grace.

About a recent poll showing his 28-point lead over Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, Nelson demurs. "I assume nothing," he said. "And I'm prepared for whatever happens."

And when confronted with attacks from Harris, who calls him the "do-nothing senator" who is out of touch with Floridians, Nelson's slow baritone betrays nary a waver. "Well, you know that's just political rhetoric," Nelson said in his grandfatherly drawl.

Always the unexcitable moderate, Nelson has become even more so in his first week back on the Florida campaign trail.



=

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061008/NEWS/610080473


Crist fires up GOP, raises money
By JEREMY WALLACE

H-T POLITICAL WRITER

jeremy.wallace@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA -- Although only one Republican candidate for governor in the past 30 years has failed to carry Sarasota County, GOP hopeful Charlie Crist was here Saturday night just more than two weeks before the start of early voting.

But it was more than just votes Crist was hoping to drum up this close to the election. Sarasota's value to Crist was clear by the nature of his stop -- a $500-per-person fundraiser at the Ritz-Carlton.

Before Saturday's event, Sarasota and Bradenton had already combined to give $330,000 to Crist's campaign for governor. His Democratic rival, Jim Davis, has raised less than $50,000 from the region, according to the latest campaign finance data available.

Crist, Florida's attorney general, insisted that it isn't just the money that has him coming to Sarasota. He said he's doing what he can to help turn out Republican voters beginning Oct. 23, when early voting starts.



=

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/10/08/a2e_ussenend_edit_1008.html

Keep state's credibility; return Nelson to Senate

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sunday, October 08, 2006

To support Bill Nelson's reelection bid, you don't have to be a Democratseeking political revenge for 2000. You just have to be a Floridian whowants a competent, sensible, productive United States senator, not theembarrassment that Katherine Harris would be for the state.

On the first point, it's hard to find any state politician with a widerbackground. Sen. Nelson spent six years in the state House and 12 years inthe U.S. House. He spent six years as the state's insurance commissionerbefore his election to the Senate six years ago.

On the second point, Sen. Nelson has voted with his party on many bigissues - against President Bush's tax cuts, against the constitutional banon same-sex marriage, and against the Part D Medicare prescription drugbenefit - but is able to work with Republicans when it benefits Florida.



=

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBYVI7W0TE.html


Property Tax Relief Ideas Carry A Price

By WILLIAM MARCH and MICHAEL FECHTER The Tampa Tribune
Published: Oct 8, 2006

TAMPA - A boom in property values has shown Floridians the dark side of goodfortune - rising property taxes. Now Florida is experiencing the beginningsof a tax revolt.

State legislators, county commissioners and city council members are hearingthe howls of property owners socked by double- and triple-digit tax billinflation.In response, Democrat Jim Davis and Republican Charlie Crist, candidates forgovernor, have made proposals for property tax relief.

Both proposals, if enacted, would provide at least some relief, but neitherseems likely to win complete acceptance from the Legislature.Crist's proposal targets homeowners.



=

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061008/NEWS/610080364/1036


Published Sunday, October 8, 2006

Crist, Davis Oppose Amendment 3


The two major candidates for governor may disagree on a number of issues, but Charlie Crist and Jim Davis both say they oppose an effort to make it more difficult for voters to amend the state Constitution.

Amendment Three, which is backed by business groups and legislative leaders, would raise the voting requirement for constitutional initiatives from the current majority vote to 60 percent.

Proponents, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, say raising the voting requirement will make it more difficult for special interest groups to amend the constitution. But opponents say a 60 percent approval margin will doom many citizen initiatives, such as past efforts to impose tax limits or raise the minimum wage.

Crist and Davis, who are both promoting tax-related amendments as part of their campaigns, say increasing the voting requirement is a bad idea.

"Never forget whose Constitution it is," said Crist, the Republican attorney general, quoting former Gov. Reubin Askew. Crist is promoting a constitutional amendment for the 2008 ballot that would double the homestead exemption to $50,000.


=

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-brmail853xoct08,0,6379238.story?coll=sfla-news-letters

FCAT focus no education benefit


Beth Collins
hollywood

October 8, 2006


It is about time that the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test was put inits place: a diagnostic tool used to help guide student achievement.

I will back Jim Davis for this important initiative. Charlie Crist helpedinitiate the FCAT when he served as the Education Commissioner. No wonder helooks at it as a benefit as it drives our overall Florida educationalsystem.

It still astounds me that even though our drop-out rate is up there as oneof the highest in the nation, the FCAT is still judged as a great benefit toeducation.

I will agree that testing has its place. However, when students are greetedday in and day out with practice test questions, practice test readingpassages, and practice test math, I wonder where our education has gone.

I have said it before, our students as adults will be good test takers, goodbubblers and very poor thinkers. They will have very few good memories oftheir years in school except to remember the days and hours spent practicingfor a test that really does not measure everything that a student needs tobecome a person of character and intellect.



#####