ME TOO: It was a prominent Miami Attorney. By Geniusofdespair

This is my second ME TOO post. Every woman has a lot of them.

I remember the experience as if it were yesterday..."me too."

It was a very windy day in the 1970's when Bennett Brummer was known for his Halloween Parties. A lot of Public Defenders were meeting on a big sailboat, owned by one, out near Elliot Key. The small boat I came in, with two friends, was pounding horribly the whole way there. I could not remember the two guys if I fell over them today.

My back took a beating as it wasn't a boat you could stand on. When my two friends were leaving, it was dark and they were very drunk. I was pretty drunk/sick too but I decided that going back to Coconut Grove with two drunk guys driving a very small boat, in the dark, in even rougher seas was dangerous. I decided to stay on the sailboat and wait till morning.

I was sitting on the deck alone feeling really awful, it must have been about 3 AM. A friend of the Public Defender I was dating came on deck. I thought he would ask, "Are you okay?" "Can I help?" Instead he said "Can I masturbate in front of you?" I looked out to sea and said "I don't care what you do." But I did care, it is just what I said because I just couldn't believe what he was about to do and I just wanted him to leave. I turned to stone, I didn't look, I didn't listen. I was like a block of ice. He did his business and went back below without a word. At first light a small boat with two women in it passed by. I flagged them down. I asked them to take me to the dock at Elliot Key.

From the dock someone from the park gave me a ride back to Dinner Key.

The masturbater is a prominent attorney here in Miami. I recently told a judge I know this story when she said she knew him.

I don't remember anyone else on the sailboat except this prominent Miami Attorney. If he ran for anything I would probably call him and come out.  But otherwise, it will remain etched in my mind as one of the worst memories of my life. I can't cruise now because I feel trapped, like I felt that day.

So: Me too.

Anticipating a hurricane's arrival for a week really sucks. By Geniusofdespair

Andrew: All who remember the Category 5 Andrew are particularly frightened...

You can almost feel the hush permeating residents in Miami Dade County as they dutifully wait for a massive storm to hit. Today is Thursday. Irma isn't due to hit the mainland until Sunday but people have already been in hurricane mode for 3 or 4 days. It is almost like we are all caught in a vacuum, like the pressure in the atmosphere sucked all the energy to engage with others out of us, and we wait and we prepare.

 Stores are shuttered. Yes, even Starbucks yesterday. City Hall closed too. The Storm is still 2 or 3 days out. But everyone waits in a quiet anxiety. The only activity was at gas stations, but gas is gone from most stations, yellow tape surrounds the pumps. The ever bustling Aventura Mall was still, with parking spaces right in front of store entrances. The restaurant I ate at was empty.

I woke up this morning to an eerily calm day. Biscayne Bay is like glass.

Dinner Key Marina on Biscayne Bay after Andrew.

Everyone is waiting. But this Godot is actually coming we just don't know where.  There have been many times we have spent waiting and preparing and then -- nothing happens.

Now me, on the other hand, I love nasty storms and seas breaching sea walls with giant waves crashing down on them. There is nothing I love more than watching a hurricane in action. When my husband was otherwise engaged I opened the hurricane door of my townhouse during Wilma. It was exhilarating to feel the wind and see its power on the bending trees and know that nature trumps man every time. But I do have some sense. I want to protect my stuff. Not me so much,  just my stuff.

No one can know this type of anticipation except in hurricane prone areas. It is too many days to mull over the impending doom, the thought that our beloved Nuclear Power Plant Turkey Point will be destroyed and we will end up like Fukishima, where robots are searching for melted nuclear fuel 16 years later.

I blame the weather service for their early predicting. Being in anxiety, anticipating something awful that might or might not happen to you,  for 7 or 8 days sucks the life right out of you.

Having your birthday a day before a hurricane is to hit: not so hot either.

The Inner Light. By Geniusofdespair

Drought and famine are facing Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen. Syria's drought is the worst they had in 900 years.

That got me thinking (Oh, No when I think you are in trouble).

This was the most popular episode on the series and Patrick Stewart's favorite.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek, in an episode called the Inner Light, was hit by a beam and is zap unconscious. It was only minutes on the enterprise but Jean Luc lives a lifetime as Kamin, having children etc., on Kattan a dying planet. The planet is experiencing a worldwide drought. We see he lives a happy life -- to old age.

Apparently, not having the technology to find another planet, the race launches a probe with their memory for someone to find, so that the people of Kattan and their way of life would not be forgotten:

One day, while playing with his grandson, Kamin is summoned by his adult children to watch the launch of a rocket, which everyone seems to know about except him. As he walks outside into the glaring sunlight, Kamin sees Eline and Batai, as young as when he first saw them. They explain that he has already seen the rocket, just before he came there. Knowing that the planet was doomed, the planet's leaders placed the memories of their culture into a probe and launched it into space, in the hope that it would find someone who could tell others about their species. Picard then realizes the entire context: "Oh, it's me, isn't it?", he says, "I'm the someone...I'm the one it finds."

Jean Luc plays the flute while on the planet, this is the song (as usual, watch the damn video and think of the 124 degrees in India last May, and they were hit with a drought as well. Where are over a biliion people going to go?):



Is this to be for us as well? Or will Waterworld be our future?

Senator Gwen Margolis Unfiltered: The Helen Thomas Syndrome or is it the "Kitten Syndrome"? By Geniusofdespair

Gwen Margolis resigned from running again because of the flap over what she said to a Sunny Isles Democratic group. I reported on this yesterday. As people age the words they carefully guarded sometimes pop out of their mouth, their filter becomes impaired.

I know, it is happened to me.

I mentioned not wanting to see so many kitten pictures/videos on Facebook.  Well, I think that was not the right thing to say and had to accept I was coughing up hairballs. My friends who worship seeing those kitten photos, because they make them smile, got mad at me.

I also told a young mother that the pose of her baby in the pictures made the baby look like a rat. That was, again, not the right thing to say, especially when in retrospect the pose made it look more like a baby piglet. In my defense, it was the POSE I objected to. But, I will never, ever do that again.

Helen Thomas resigned as the most respected member of the White House press corps (like Gwen Margolis resigned) after she said to Rabbi David Nesenoff (Wiki):

When asked for comments on Israel, she replied: "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine." and "Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German, it's not Poland..." When asked where Israeli Jews should go, she replied they could "go home" to Poland or Germany or "America and everywhere else. Why push people out of there who have lived there for centuries?"

Gwen Margolis was dismissing those running against her as lightweights, problem is: She did it in the public eye instead of in her campaign headquarters. I suppose she was just repeating what was said to her by a campaign staffer. It is my guess Gwen Margolis is tired of kitten pictures on Facebook too, but she has the sense not to say it.

Millennials: Yikes! By Geniusofdespair

I am glad I don't have one of these working for me.

Are the millennials the hope for the future? After all, they are always in the future with their gadgets, never totally engaged in the present.  I have been experiencing with them lack of follow-through, boredom setting in quickly, not able to recognize the long haul required, putting too much on their plate and then executing a complete plate purge. The hope I have for our younger generation to make a difference: no hope, not now.

Case in point: I called one of my millennial activist friends and she said sort of: I am giving up politics for a while. It is making me too stressed. I am concentrating on other things. Not to knock this young woman because she is better than most, but she has just recently been on glorious vacations abroad that you and I might have waited our whole life for. Vacations are suppose to be a stress reliever.

Anyway, I said I understand because I know my stress level with politics, but I really don't understand. This was one of our activists but someone I also know takes a lot of time to have fun. She was someone we could count on from the younger generation. Now she is back to having fun and I guess recycling to clear her conscience. The old bags are back to literally holding the bag. The millennials too easily toss activism to the wind and vacate on stuff they have started. It just ain't fair. 

So when people say the millennials will change the fabric of our country, I say: Only if it is their whim at the time, will they vote or volunteer. Totally useless so far to get too much accomplished beyond riding a bike for a cause....

I wouldn't waste my time campaigning to them.  They might vote every 4 years in a presidential race, maybe...if it suits them.

Keep Us Safe Republicans, Please Keep Us Safe. By Geniusofdespair

Republican President George Bush Being Told of 9/11 Attacks. He was reading a book to school kids in Florida at the time.

All those voters from dumpy small towns around America that watched the Republican debate last night about safety from terrorists don't have to worry about foreign terrorists. They have to worry about domestic terrorism. The foreign terrorists are after the big cities. The big hauls. So you small town people that love your guns, you don't need to be kept safe by the Republicans suffering from xenophobia (2 Cuban xenophobes, interesting). No one cares about your little dusty town...that is, except for American terrorists.

In The movie "Spymaster: CIA Caught in the Crosshairs"  the past directors of the CIA made it very VERY clear that they knew an attack was coming BEFORE 9/11 and they told the Republican administration. They were visibly frustrated in the movie from lack of response, because what did the Republicans do: NOTHING.

So let's blame Obama. That is what the Republican candidates on the dais are doing. It is all Obama's fault according to them.

Let's look at smaller town terrorism because these are the idiots that vote for Republicans, that would even consider Sarah Palin or Donald Trump as presidential material.

The heartbreak of Sandy Hook: Adam Lanza shot 20 children and 6 adults dead. Mentally ill kid with a gun. Columbine High School in Jefferson City 12 more school kids dead and one teacher. The executioner was a student. Oklahoma City another home grown terrorist killed 168 people. Aurora, a nut job named James Holmes killed 12 at a movie theater.

Some of the 20 children killed at Sandy Hook. Adam NOT A MUSLIM Lanza killed them.

Hey kids, your government can't stop these kinds of insane acts with good intelligence. But they could have stopped 9/11 where 2,996 people were killed. But Republicans didn't listen. They just didn't listen. So let's blame Obama, oh, don't forget to blame Hillary too.

The Republicans created Isis with a war in Iraq that Cheney wanted. I don't trust the Pubs to do anything about them. Let's learn from the Russians who have a lot more experience with getting into bad wars that you can't win in the Middle East. Read about the curse of Lawrence of Arabia:

The bottom line to this saga is that Iraq is not a real country - like, say, Persia (Iran) which has existed for 2,500 years. It is an artificial construct and can only be held together by force. Iraq and its people have no history of nor familiarity with democratic institutions. The three former vilayets of which it is composed still have no mutual cohesiveness. Mosul in the north is Kurdish, Basra in the south is Shiite Arab, Baghdad in the middle is Sunni Arab. The Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis all hate each other. It takes a Saddam to hold the place together.

What did we do: We killed him, creating an avalanche of really unhappy, bat-shit crazy Muslims.

Happy Father's Day to most of you. By Geniusofdespair

Some fathers suck, mine sure did. He died. Dante doesn't have a circle in hell for what he was so let's just hope he is not bothering any of your relatives. But speaking about family I am going to quote the Pope for my Father's Day message because he gives me the hope my father never did. He takes on the world, I found this in Leonard Pitts' column:

In one particularly anguished paragraph, the pope tells us the Earth is our sister and this sister “now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of human life.” He calls Earth “among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor.”

And what does the political right say to the Pope in return: "Stay out of politics." Never heard the Conservative Candidates say that to the wacky Christian Right that support them. They embrace these nitwits and their message. Hold the politicians at every level accountable. Ask every politician what they think of what the Pope has said. Get them on record. Don't let Jeb! off the hook on this one.

So my Father's Day message is: Take care of your sister.

10,000 Step and Counting. By Geniusofdespair

I got a new app that counts steps. I am obsessed. I was short of my 10,000 a day so I took a walk after dinner to catch up. I came home after 2 miles and realized I dropped my glasses out of my pocket. It was raining now so I put my cell phone in my pocket in a plastic bag and trudged out with a flashlight and umbrella. I walked a mile and realized I lost my IPhone -- well it was in the same pocket DUH. I retraced my steps as the lightening blazed and the thunder rumbled. I enlisted my spouse to help with a borrowed phone, after much yelling and the "I told you so."

As I was searching for both my glasses and my IPhone now, I was disappointed my steps were not being recorded, as the water was puddling and running into sewers (will the phone float in a ziplock?). Anyway, after hours of searching, I got home without both. I looked up my phone's location on the computer. It was close by but not where I walked. Hmmm. After calling my phone a bunch of times over the course of the night, someone finally answered. I guess he decided not to steal it after all. Maybe it was the annoying ring - Chantilly Lace. I met him and picked up my phone. My glasses: Still missing. The moral of this story: your back will hurt in the morning if you take too many hunched over steps. The bright side: No one lectured me when I got home.  

P.S. Today, Wednesday, I got my glasses back from a wonderful family. Thank you!!!! They saw my neighborhood signs.

I personally don't care about Climate Change or Global Warming. By Geniusofdespair

If it doesn't happen to be true I, as a registered Republican, will be very happy. I will buy more Koch brother products like Vanity Fair Super Sized Napkins and vote to put in more  Blank Blank deniers. There are certain repercussions if Blank Blank is true (Rest of the planet, just so you know: In Florida we are NOT ALLOWED to use the words or we get fired or are forced to see a psychiatrist).

If Blank Blank is true:

1. It will thin out the Euro Trash on Miami Beach and the Hispanics pouring into our borders. That would be good for us. Just think, no more immigration issues to deal with.
2. Rubio won't win the presidential election. Bad for us.
3. Rick Scott won't become Senator. Bad for us. Love that Rick Scott.
4. Water World will be a prophecy movie instead of just a bad movie. Bad for us, Good for Hollywood.
5. All our grandchildren will be in deep shit, I mean water. Good and bad, do we really care about their future? Do we even like them? We shouldn't even be reproducing.
6. Flood Insurance? What is that? At least it will save us money when they do away with it, so that is good for us. We will have to dump our waterfront mansions, that is bad for us.
7. Ice caps melting. Photoshop.
8. Saltwater intrusion in our aquifer. Build a Desalination plant on Mount Trashmore.

While all you chicken-littles (Gimleteye being one of the biggest believers) worry about blank blank, I will be at the casino playing Texas Hold-em and smoking cigars with my Republican non-believer friends. I will have my wet suit ready just in case. You never know what those damn Democrats can do with hair dryers...like super-size them. They have super-sized their Beverages haven't they? That is why all Democrats are fat.

The true reason ice caps are melting, Democratic Plot: Unmanned Aerial Drones.

Saturday Editorial: More about the big American (Wet) Dream Mall Miami And Other Topics. By Geniusofdespair

WE FILL THE GAP - WHERE THE MIAMI HERALD HAS GIVEN UP

Actually I am going to the Miami Herald for material for my Saturday Morning Speak-up. Fabiola Santiago said it better than I ever could:

To the county powerbrokers anchored in downtown Miami, the small bedroom communities in Northwest Miami-Dade may be expendable in their quest to increase the tax base and create jobs.

But if Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the Miami-Dade County Commission are going to destroy the quality of life of residents with their push to bring a grotesque megamall and theme park to their doorstep, they ought to at least listen to the people whose lives they’re up-ending.

“There’s such gridlock already we can’t get out of our own neighborhoods,” says Patricia Collado, a paralegal, mother of a Tennessee-bound firefighter, and president of the Palm Springs North Civic Association. AND:

To add the proverbial insult to injury, giving just a week’s notice to residents affected, the county commission has scheduled a key vote for Tuesday to assemble land, now in state hands... ”

Do I care about people who live in Western Miami? I hardly have any readers there. Hmmm. They don't drink wine and they don't eat cheese (that is Javier Souto's euphemism for Whites). Yes, I care when ANYONE is taken advantage of. Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava has an Achilles' heel. When she hears the word JOBS her eyes glaze over on the other deficiencies and that is her focus: jobs. They will not pay $15 an hour at the American Wet Dream Mega Mall, and that isn't even a living wage for a family.  I want Levine Cava to focus instead on job training. I have heard the job mantra for years with Barbara Jordan and they never come through with good paying jobs with a future. How are you going to make a sows ear job into a silk purse job? Maybe we need a different concept. And, the Mayor has grossly inflated the amount of jobs that this project will generate. There are just so many theme park malls one community can handle. This one sounds like a boondoggle. Working in a dying concept -- a mall -- is not lucrative in the Sunshine State. We already have Mall saturation and I bet we can count on one hand how many African Americans they will hire for this Western Dade location. And this mall has no water supply. When the land was put in the UDB it had to produce its own water supply. The Hialeah plant is plagued with problems.

We need less buggy whips and slide ruler makers. We need to train in the jobs of the future not the past. Since we don't look for any industry, except for theme parks, and we wasted the $70 million of bond money to attract new businesses, I guess here in Miami Dade  the future is caring for the elderly. What else do we have? We are killing farming, the cruise ships employ foreigners, and  a Burger King was closed recently for health violations. Bagging groceries is a budding career choice, especially at Whole Foods where they think cutting down trees to make bags is better than using plastic bags.

We should get a good vote on this land deal on St. Patrick's Day from Steve Bovo who hates last minute crap. Everyone on the Commissioners should follow his lead on last minute crap. Hopefully Pepe Diaz will be too drunk to show up since I have given up on him having an epiphany anytime soon. I will be going to the Hallandale Beach Theme Park because I can play Texas Holdem at the same time. They have combined shopping, water theme park, horse racing and gambling. That is a budding career for people: card dealer at all the casinos. You need to be dexterous and you only have to know about 20 words in 3 languages.

If they build the American (wet) Dream Mall they are going to shake with rock mining blasting. People will be caught in avalanches. OMG what a way to die, on a theme park mountain. How is Sylvester Lukis the lobbyist going to deal with that one? Here is how, he also works for the rock miners as well as the mall.

Now you all see my thinking process at work -- This is the all over the place editorial.


MIAMI BEACH: I think supplying sunscreen to beach patrons is the best idea ever.

I had an eye procedure. By Geniusofdespair

If you could see me now...long story. Eye disease correction done at Bascom Palmer.  Won't be writing for a while. I can see...sort of.  Vanity is not one of my faults.

 Luckily I have the whole season of the Walking Dead on tape. I saw them all so I can just listen. Very calming.

My Memorable Lunch with School Board Member Raquel Regalado. By Geniusofdespair

Raquel A. Regalado - Member of the Miami Dade County School Board

I had a delightful lunch Friday with an admirable woman, Raquel A. Regalado. We share a love of bread pudding. My father would make it and she said her mother was 'the best' at making bread pudding. This brought us to a discussion of her mother also named Raquel (Her maiden name was Ferreiro but her married name was Raquel R. Regalado). She died at 72 years old in 2008. Raquel R. had had a daily radio show for about 30 year --- since 1972. It was where she met her husband, a fellow broadcaster, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. Her show was called "What others won't say." (That would also be a good

Raquel R. Regalado - Radio Host

name for our blog). Raquel senior would bring her young daughter down to the broadcasting studio where she had light duties such as welcoming guests and providing them with a tour of the studios. Raquel, our school board maven, said she met so many people at her mother's daily show.

Raquel told me about this one particular day when she was about 7 1/2 years old. After her mother had interviewed Janet Reno (little Raquel always listened to the shows) she was left with a big question. She ran out to the elevator as Janet was leaving and stuck her arm in the elevator. She said: "You hold office right?" Janet Reno said yes. The doors were closing, Raquel stuck her arm in between the doors again: "You were elected, right?" Janet said yes again. Reno stepped out of the elevator to talk to the little curious girl. Raquel said, "Do you mean a woman can be elected and hold office, I thought only men could do that." Janet Reno assured her it was true (It was 1981 and Reno was the State Attorney). “Do I have to be as tall as you?" Raquel asked. “No” Reno chuckled "Are you sure?" Raquel insisted “My mom isn’t tall.” “Yes” Reno said “and if I’m wrong you can always wear high heels.”

Remember, most little girls at this age were home playing with dolls. Raquel Regalado was busy meeting and listening to politicians and the movers and shakers in Miami. Raquel said she never liked dolls, she was obsessed with Radio Shack and wrote an article about it.

Both Raquel's with Tomas Regalado Center

It goes without saying, she said the conversation once home was always about politics too. If anyone has had a political education, it is Raquel Regalado and it shows. The vastness of her knowledge about Miami Dade County was astounding. She talked about her vision for transportation, preserving the UDB line, increasing high paying jobs, the Value Adjustment Board, and even a lot of stuff way over my head -- but I nodded politely while stuffing bread pudding in my mouth.


It was an enjoyable lunch and I had great company to share it with, a little girl now all grown up and a member of the School Board, with aspirations to be a woman in politics to make a broad difference for the entire community. Thank you Janet Reno for telling little Raquel what could be...


(There are reports that Raquel will run for Mayor of the City of Miami or Mayor of Miami Dade County, but not from me...yet. Also see October 7th blog)

Republicans in a Catch 22 to Capture the Presidency. By Geniusofdespair

Lunatic Voter's Nirvana: Sarah Palin a Heartbeat Away From The Presidency

 Catch 22: A requirement that cannot be met until a prerequisite requirement is met, however, the prerequisite cannot be obtained until the original requirement is met. - Urban Dictionary

Not quite a Catch 22 but pretty close. They can't get one without the other and that means they can't get anything.

The party base of the Republican party are, let's face it, lunatics. The primary voters choosing the presidential candidate is mostly made up of the right wing-nuts of the party. This far-right fringe can never choose a viable candidate. As long as they rule, the Democrats will win the presidency because the Republicans can never get a candidate that will appeal to moderates and Independents.  All the money in world couldn't get Ted Cruz elected. Hence the Koch brothers can't manipulate the vote.

Do you want to F--k with the Pubs? If you are an Independent, register Republican and support the craziest Republican they can dig up in the primary.

This is not to say that Democrats don't have their own problems, I would call them pussies except that is sexist. They have no balls...sexist too. You get where I am going. That is why they lost the Senate. They just can't go on attack. They sort of remind me of vegetarian walking dead zombies, aimlessly shuffling around on a brain stem only, doing nothing much except writing mountains of annoying emails to ask for money. Meanwhile, the Republicans have the assault rifles and they are exploding the heads of the Democratic Senate candidates.

Well the Republicans might have the Senate but they can never get the Presidency. One bright spot.

Things my parents told me. By Geniusofdespair

My mother told me she "was going to hit me from here to Canarsie." I had no idea where Canarsie was, nor did I ask. I just knew I didn't want to go there. Later on when I found out it was in Brooklyn and I lived in Queens, it made no sense. When explaining the facts of life my mom began with "There are birds and bees..." and ended with "Even the pope's mother did it". She often warned me about the starving children in Europe when I wasn't eating my food. I actually didn't care a lick about them at 7 years old.

I didn't understand why she was getting very, very fat. And then what happens? There was a new kid on the block - my brother - and she was skinny again. No one told me I was getting a sibling. He was just there. My father told me there was a bridge over the Atlantic Ocean. My teacher was not impressed. My father also told me I was Chinese. I am not but I believed I was and told everyone. My father once sent me into the kosher butcher and told me to buy a pound of ham. I was only a little kid and the butchers started to yell at me when I asked for it and threw me out of the store. My father was laughing hysterically when I got back in the car.

I believed in the stork, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus. I believed Flash Gordon was really in space and that the ice cream man would always come. I believe in a lot of good, the glass was always half full -- even with zany parents -- that is why I write this blog I have faith things can change, after all, I am not Chinese anymore.

Ethics Commission Lost in Space. By Geniusofdespair

The Ethics Commission appears to be irrelevant in promoting good ethics of our government officials in my view.

What is ethics? According to the dictionary "it is the moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles." It is not about breaking laws. It is about public trust and most of all: principles.

When the ethics commission does not highlight bad behavior they fall short and encourage more bad behavior. Moral Hazard it is called. When they give ethics opinions they appear to just give cover for the commissioners to do bad things all over again. They have to end their opinions with something like: If I were you I wouldn't do this. Although legal it doesn't look good to the public. It appears to be skirting the laws, at the very least it doesn't appear ethical.

What the Ethics Commission is missing is common sense. For instance lets take Lynda Bell. I never said her daughter or her husband made EXTRA money because of Lynda's misguided fence ordinance. What I said was it was disingenuous of Lynda to NOT MENTION TO HER FELLOW COMMISSIONERS AND THE PUBLIC that her daughter owned a fence company and that LYNDA HERSELF had the fence company registered at her own home. To me that was unethical especially when you listen to the tape of the meeting. She appeared to be lying. To the Miami Herald and columnist Fred Grimm it was unethical. The Ethics Commission, on the other hand, they focused on whether Jenna made EXTRA money because of the resolution. Why?

Anyway I feel like the Commission has lost their way. They are stuck on laws and not addressing behavior. They should have said that Lynda Bell's daughter did not profit from the resolution BUT more importantly, Bell was wrong not to disclose to the public and fellow commissioners that a fence company was registered at her home.

And, does anyone believe that Lynda is not helping to run that company?

Mind you -- I didn't ask for an ethics opinion, I sent them my column as an FYI, here is what I got in return:

I am in receipt of your recent blog post concerning Lynda Bell sponsoring and voting on an ordinance that would repeal the County’s prohibition of chain link fences on certain properties. You were concerned that it was a conflict of interest for her because her daughter owns a fence installation company. Although the Ethics Commission was not asked to issue an opinion on this issue, this situation would not present a conflict.

In other opinions, which I have attached for your convenience, the Ethics Commission has held that there is no conflict in similar situations. Commissioner Bells daughters company, Fence Assured, would not be affected by the passage of this ordinance in any way different than the hundreds of other fence installation companies in Miami-Dade County. In fact, a quick check of the YellowPages.com shows almost 200 listings under “fence installers” alone. Moreover, Fence Assured does not only sell chain link fences (which are often the least expensive), but also fences made of wood, aluminum, dura fence, wrought iron, balconies and railings. Further, Fence Assured also services commercial and industrial fencing, not covered by the ordinance.

The fence ordinance, unlike the Health care law for example, does not mandate citizens to purchase chain link fences and certainly does not mandate they be purchased from a particular fence installation company.

In short, many fence companies may or may not benefit by the passage of this ordinance, it is far too speculative to conclude that Fence Assured will benefit from this ordinance any more or less than other companies. I realize you may not agree with that analysis but there are several examples of similar situations also in the State Ethics Commission as well.

Have they lost their way or what? I thought this was condescending and at the same time stupid. Now we have The Ethics Commissioner, The State Attorney and the Inspector General all out of the same office. Heaven help us.

P.S. When the Ethics Commission does an investigation, they go ask the people you complained about (they don't tell you what they said until they close the case and it is too late for you to elaborate) what happened don't check on it, just repeat the stupid excuse of what the offending people told them. You don't even get the opportunity to correct or comment on the testimony they get that is NOT under oath.  "Nope, didn't do it but thanks for asking."

Lynda Bell's Busy Schedule. By Geniusofdespair

"Miami-Dade Parks and Miami-Dade County District 8 Commissioner Lynda Bell present the third annual Redland Blues and Barbecue Festival on Saturday and Sunday, Apr. 20 and 21, at the Fruit and Spice Park."

The Senior Lunch (55 and over only) is May 1st.  Expect many more functions in District 8. Guess who is up for reelection August 2014 and is already raising money?  In case you want to run, here is the map.

Lynda Bell's District 8. Hit on Graphic to Enlarge It.

Here is a Blow Up of the Northern Part of District 8. Again Hit on Graphic to Enlarge It.

A Little Bit of Nothing. By Geniusofdespair

Eve

I might be a person with questionable musical taste, besides liking some Opera and being a fan of Lang Lang, I like to listen R. Kelly, Sean Paul and Shaggy. I just counted, I own 6 Shaggy songs. I have a hip-hop song by Eve and a song by Concha Buika & Jacob Sureda. I don't know how these two got on my computer. I must get up in the middle of the night and download music. I don't like either of these songs. I have 12 country songs and I HATE country.

I was thinking about old people coping with the death of their friends today. As you get older those address books have a lot of deletes. A friend told me about a woman who was mean to her brother when he got sick even though they were ultra close before. A light bulb went off in my head, like on House -- the moment he  identified the disease and ran off to cure his patients (except Lupus - it was never Lupus on the show).

I observed one my really old relatives - I will call her Sarah - go through many deaths and watched how she coped. With the people closest to her, she got mad at them when they were close to death. It seemed odd when it was going on, I thought her mean for doing it.

Sarah's best friend had dementia and all she could do was get angry at everything her friend was forgetting. When her friend died, Sarah hardly mourned at all.

In another case, Sarah longed to see another close relative of hers. We drove her a couple of hundred miles each way to see her beloved niece. When we got there Sarah hardly talked to her. She was angry because her niece's clothes were messy (to us, she looked sick). I got mad at Sarah because we made this long trip. For what? The niece died shortly thereafter.

Now when I look back (thanks to that light bulb) I realize it was necessary for her to do this in both cases so she could let go. It was the only way Sarah could go on living without suffering the agony of loss. I forgive her now and finally understand, she was actually saying goodbye.

Let me get back to my listening...now to Clarence Carter's "Strokin." Caution: This is not a good song for children, I never listened to the words before.

Is Miami Dade County Paying the Rent for The Christian Family Coalition? By Geniusofdespair

Eye on Miami Investigative Report on: The Christian Family Coalition Office

This is a followup to my last report, you should probably read it first. I have since gotten a few public records requests filled. First let's look at the State of Florida's registered address for the Christian Family Coalition:

In 3 sections the suite number is given as 104 so we have to assume it is accurate that they are in room 104.

The building the Christian Family Coalition is in is owned by the City of Hialeah. The County pays to rent a block of  rooms from the City of Hialeah in this same building, known as the Blanche Morton Center. They both agree room 104 is included in that block of rooms. On those  facts the City of Hialeah and the County are in agreement. They are also in agreement that Christian Family Coalition is paying neither the City or the County for the office space in this building. Then the story veers off. I got a floor plan from the City of Hialeah and a floor plan from Miami Dade County.

City of Hialeah Floor Plan

The Hialeah floor plan shows all the numbers in sequence and as you can see, THERE IS ONLY ONE ROOM 104 and it is controlled by Miami Dade County. The County does not dispute that they control this room 104.

Miami Dade County Floor Plan

Note on the County floor plan submitted to me, there are 2 Rooms 104. Very odd as the numbering in the Hialeah map makes sense and this second room 104 number does not.  If the County is right that there are are two rooms numbered 104, than they are off the hook. So it is in their best interest to have two rooms labeled 104.  The Christian Family Coalition could be sharing space with New Hope Community Center.

You have to realize that a lot of time elapsed between my requests and the actual documents sent to me. A lot of changes at the building could have been made in the interim (putting wrong paper numbers on 2 office doors) to protect someone from the County who is collecting mail for CFC and/or letting them use the office for free.

The county sent me this photo of the outer door of office 101 (Hialeah) or 104 (County).  Note there is a paper number identifying the number as 104. I have an arrow on a graphic to the right of the door as this same graphic is in my photo below.

Here is a photo I got from mapquest of the same office. Note there is no office number. The same paper graphic is pasted on the window.  Were the numbers 104 put on the door to office 101 recently to coverup that the CFC is using the other 104 controlled by the county?

Carmen Hernandez acting City Manager for Hialeah wrote on December 12th:

"Please see attached a current site plan for the Blanche Morton center and an account ledger for the New Hope Community Center.  They are currently renting room 101 not 104.  They have been a tenant since 2009 and have been paying rent since then ($385.87 a month, $405.16 since May 1st)."  

You would think after 3 years, they would know their room number. December 3rd Carmen Hernandez also wrote:

"Room 104 at Blanche Morton is occupied by Christian Family Coalition which is under the direction of Mr. Julio Perez."

 The county also supplied me with two interior photos of the two rooms labelled  104:

Note the 104 (that Hialeah said is room 101) is identified with a paper sign. I figure it could have just been stuck on a couple of days ago by whomever wanted to hide the fact that CFC is using the County room in its corporate papers.

December 14th I wrote to Assistant Director of Communications, Suzie Trutie:

"Apparently your floor plan that you previously sent, doesn't match up with Hialeah's floor plan attached.  They show only ONE room 104.  Note in your photos the numbers are made of paper, pasted on a door. Hialeah is showing only one room as 104, not 2 as your floor plan does.

 Also look at the two photos one from map quest of the same door as your photo….One has a number, the other does not. I am giving you an opportunity to make sure it is not the county trying to COVER it up.  It looks like that is what is going on.  Two 104's? That is the question you have ask yourself. "

December 14th Suzie Trutie responded:

"All of the information we submitted to you, including the floor plan, is based on two Miami-Dade County employees visiting the site on December 6 and other County staff researching and reviewing our agreement with the City of Hialeah. The County stands by its statements and documents." As I’ve mentioned previously, Miami-Dade County leases space from the City of Hialeah, who is the owner of the facility. Only the City of Hialeah can explain their facility operations and policies."

For once Hialeah is making more sense than the County.  Why, in a small building would two office numbers be the same.  That is insane.

Here is Miami Dade County's written response to my public records request:

EOM Investigative Report: Lynda Bell's Husband's Mortgage ties to John DuBois's Business Partner. By Geniusofdespair

The question in my mind after writing this:  Why would a guy form a mortgage corporation a few days before a closing, write just one mortgage, that mortgage to Lynda Bell's husband...What would be a reasonable explanation?

Miami Dade County Commissioner Lynda Bell's husband Mark, bought a historical hotel in Homestead at 5 South Flagler Avenue. Wendy Lobos (a former Homestead Commissioner) registered a corporation for him on February 16th to buy it. A minister told me he thought the deal was his. He had plans drawn up and was checking with government entities when he heard Mark Bell got the Hotel. The Minister gave Bell the plans he had drawn up. He was disappointed.  Bell quickly got a balloon mortgage from Redinn Mortgage, LLC February 23rd. The mortgage was for $225,000, Bell put 10% down on the $250,000 hotel. The details of the financing ARE NOT in the mortgage papers. The interest rate is in a note that is not included in filed papers. In theory, the Bells could be paying 3%, 9% or even 0% interest. The Bells could have a very favorable deal with Redinn, even a sweetheart deal. This does involve the husband of County Commissioner Lynda Bell. Some Realtors I spoke with said that giving a mortgage for 10% down on a commercial property was a very good deal in itself.

Clause I found in the mortgage written by Reddin. Is this common in today's market?

I looked at the Mortgage Company. It was formed Feb. 15, 2012 the day before Mark Bell formed his corporation. That was only 8 days BEFORE the mortgage was written! WHAT?? The thought crossed my mind: Was this mortgage company formed only to write Lynda Bell's husband's mortgage? I looked for other mortgages written by this mortgage company and found none.  I looked up the mortgage company.

The only name associated with the mortgage company, Redinn, was Suhail Nanji. I looked up other corporations associated with Suhail Nanji and found the name John DuBois with Nanji on a couple of corporations, including a second mortgage company. That mortgage company, J&S 8360 Mortgage LLC, had DuBois's name (unlike Redinn that didn't). More on that later.*

This second mortgage company also appeared to write only one mortgage.

Eyecast executive team: John DuBois and Suhail Nanji (who is on Bell's Mortgage documents).

DuBois's Letter

I looked up John DuBois's Corporation, Eyecast. I was surprised to find this photo of he and Suhail Nanji on Eyecast's website.

John DuBois, running for Vice Mayor in Palmetto Bay, held Lynda Bell's victory party at his palatial Bayfront home and is a big supporter of Bell. He, and coincidentally, Lynda too, are in a battle with the County environmental department (formerly known as DERM). Lynda Bell held a town hall meeting about DERM March 3, 2011 and John DuBois was the main speaker at the hearing bashing DERM (see letter for his beef).

Lynda Bell also appointed John DuBois to the county International Trade Advisory Board October 2011. Bell's campaign manager Jose Luis-Castillo (Seijas supporter) is running John DuBois' campaign for Vice Mayor in Palmetto Bay. Castillo also is Vice Chair of the International Trade Advisory Board, the same board Lynda put DuBois on.

Bell's Chief of Staff approached Assistant County Mayor Osterholt the end of January 2012 to discuss John DuBois' problems. A meeting was set up and held March 1st with DERM. This is all going on around the time of the Bell mortgage.

Below is photo of John DuBois and Lynda Bell at a Christian Family Coalition (anti-gay group) event that he hosted at his home.  Did I mention that John DuBois is extremely wealthy? Most of his beef with DERM started about rules he faced building his waterfront home in Palmetto Bay.  He then got involved in his neighbor's problems. There was illegal wetland filling suspected on the property of the 90 year old neighbor (who is/was represented pro-bono by John Shubin).  Why would a man 90 years old be doing filling?

John DuBois and Commissioner Lynda Bell in his Palmetto Bay home.

*Remember that second mortgage company,  J&S 8360 Mortgage LLC, linked to Dubois (Mgr.) and Nanji (Registering Agent) that also curiously wrote only one mortgage that I mentioned? The one mortgage written by this other mortgage company was for an office building in Broward. It appears that both DuBois and Nanji are officers in a Corporation that also owns this office building.

DuBois' Mortgage Company wrote the mortgage for a building in Broward

.

Corporation that owns building in Broward.

Going in a giant loop, the address of Lynda Bell's Husband's mortgage company - Reddin (that might/might not have given Bell a sweetheart deal on his financing) - is the building in Broward owned by John DuBois and Suhail Nanji. You remember the name Suhail Nanji by now I hope. 

  Hit read more for Lynda Bell's Most Recent Financial Disclosure Report.

Miguel Diaz de la Portilla Takes Genting Casino Money. By Geniusofdespair

A State Committee associated with one Legislator, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, recently accepted a donation from Genting New York LLC (9/30/2011) for $10,000. He got a second donation from another Casino out of St. Louis for $5,000 (9/28/11).

Miguel Diaz de la Portilla is a State Senator who will be VOTING ON THIS MATTER. WTF?

What is the mission of this Committee: "...is to identify and support issues and candidates promoting conservative values in Florida. The Committee is empowered to raise funds for the purpose of furthering these principles..."

Gambling is a Conservative issue, a Conservative value? On what planet? Here is a two-faced Pub if I ever saw one.

Norman Braman gave heavily to Miguel's campaign against Julio Robaina, and so did others, including FERRO (see yesterday's post) who wants to move the UDB (Miguel is one of Ferro's lawyers). Here is my list of interesting donors to Miguel's State Senate campaign: