Delusional Mayor of Miami-Dade Relieved of Duties in Recall

[PaleoMan]

Alvarez needs to be nominated for the Darwin Award. 14 percent property tax increase in a stagnant economic environment like Florida?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-usa-florida-election-result-idUSTRE72F0EC20110316

The Cuban-born Alvarez came under criticism last year when Miami-Dade, saddled with record high 12 percent unemployment and the same budget deficits faced by many local and state governments, introduced a property tax increase to help fund vital services including police and public schools.

The 14 percent tax hike was imposed despite double-digit declines in real estate values as south Florida was hammered by the U.S. housing and mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Norman Braman, an auto dealer mogul listed by Forbes magazine among the 400 wealthiest Americans, bankrolled the petition drive that led to Tuesday's vote. Local media reports say he has spent about $1 million on the effort, which he orchestrated through two political action committees.

[nots]

That's former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman that funded the recall. Mr. Braman would have demonstrated greater business acumen had he held onto the Eagles instead of selling them to Jeffrie Lurie, even though, at the time, he got a great price for them ($180M if memory serves).

[Bob Kohm]

I haven't been following the story so I don't have much comment on the recall itself, but on Norman Braman... when are working people going to wise up and, instead of reserving all of their suspicion for elected officials, going to put it where it mainly belongs-- on the wealthy and corporations who are constantly working to manipulate those officials to their benefit? Funny how that almost never intersects with the benefit of the middle and lower economic classes, the voters who get behind so many of these "conservative" movements, isn't it? Some suspicion of government is good, but the base reason for that suspicion is that government is being manipulated. As I tell my sons, never waste your time striking at the hand-- strike at the brain controlling the hand. It's time that we all rethink our party allegiances or whether we should even have party allegiances at all-- Trader Mac has a lot more in common with Frae or Jason Collette than he does with Norman Braman or the Koch Brothers, yet they're supposedly on opposite ends of the political spectrum. We need to move past the "social" wedge crap and take our real concerns-- housing, jobs, economic prosperity and what is actually best for our country rather than for the top 1% of our country-- to the forefront.

[Moonlight J]

Isn't this the same mayor that got the Marlins stadium pushed through on the backs of the public? If so, good riddance.

[Mithrandir]

I haven't been following the story so I don't have much comment on the recall itself, but on Norman Braman... when are working people going to wise up and, instead of reserving all of their suspicion for elected officials, going to put it where it mainly belongs-- on the wealthy and corporations who are constantly working to manipulate those officials to their benefit? Funny how that almost never intersects with the benefit of the middle and lower economic classes, the voters who get behind so many of these "conservative" movements, isn't it? Some suspicion of government is good, but the base reason for that suspicion is that government is being manipulated. As I tell my sons, never waste your time striking at the hand-- strike at the brain controlling the hand. It's time that we all rethink our party allegiances or whether we should even have party allegiances at all-- Trader Mac has a lot more in common with Frae or Jason Collette than he does with Norman Braman or the Koch Brothers, yet they're supposedly on opposite ends of the political spectrum. We need to move past the "social" wedge crap and take our real concerns-- housing, jobs, economic prosperity and what is actually best for our country rather than for the top 1% of our country-- to the forefront.

A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers’ blood
A finger fired the trigger to his name
A handle hid out in the dark
A hand set the spark
Two eyes took the aim
Behind a man’s brain
But he can’t be blamed
He’s only a pawn in their game

A South politician preaches to the poor white man
“You got more than the blacks, don’t complain.
You’re better than them, you been born with white skin,” they explain.
And the Negro’s name
Is used it is plain
For the politician’s gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game

The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man’s used in the hands of them all like a tool
He’s taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
’Bout the shape that he’s in
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game

From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
And the hoofbeats pound in his brain
And he’s taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide ’neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain’t got no name
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game.

Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
They lowered him down as a king
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
That fired the gun
He’ll see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain:
Only a pawn in their game

[chancellor]

I haven't been following the story so I don't have much comment on the recall itself, but on Norman Braman... when are working people going to wise up and, instead of reserving all of their suspicion for elected officials, going to put it where it mainly belongs-- on the wealthy and corporations who are constantly working to manipulate those officials to their benefit? Funny how that almost never intersects with the benefit of the middle and lower economic classes, the voters who get behind so many of these "conservative" movements, isn't it?

Well, given that I feel the same way about "liberal" movements, it's not too hard to see why we have differences.

[Bob Kohm]

You feel that the liberals are the ones financially manipulating government? Really?

[Fresno Bob]

You feel that the liberals are the ones financially manipulating government? Really?

come on Bob, it's the Unions, they caused the tsunami too!

[Judge Jude]

re Mith's post - Bob Dylan said that. Wrote the song in mid-1963, just past his 22nd birthday. Performed it in Washington, DC on Aug 28, 1963, part of a gathering that included MLK Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. Southern universities still didn't allow black students; segregation ruled the day, and black people had to drink from "colored" public drinking fountains.

And this skinny kid from Minnesota just bangs that one out of nowhere. The cadence and the sneering voice are a work of art. A smooth voice would only lessen the impact - snarling is quite needed there.....

[chancellor]

You feel that the liberals are the ones financially manipulating government? Really?

Those who are wealthy or corporations, or have access to large amounts of money, certainly as much as any "conservative" money. Let's talk Net Neutrality - who's driving that? Yup, tech companies with vast money run by "liberals". Leading green energy companies? Many are owned in part, majority or entirety by Vinod Khosla; former co-founder of Sun and with vast ties and money into the Democratic leadership. Music protection and enforcement increased? Yeah, RIAA, predominantly a "liberal" contributing group. Shoot, I could continue until the post was too long.

Now, before the tinfoil hats get distributed, as I've said before, and will repeat again, I do not believe there's some puppetmaster (Soros, SEIU, yada) running President Obama from afar, as many right-wingers love to dabble in, insinuate, or even directly claim. But to say there's not "liberal" money influencing and manipulating government and laws to some degree is simply to wallow in ignorance. And there's "conservative" money influencing and manipulating government and laws to some degree as well. Powerful lobbying groups on both sides of the aisle wield influence.

But not absolute power. As I've noted earlier, the truly powerful lobbies are not the richest, but those that turn out dedicated voters every election. The NRA is powerful not because it's rich; it's because their voters turn out at every election and are proven to vote on issues critical to them. Politicians know they cross the NRA at their peril; much like the Bourbons, they never forget, they never forgive, and they're always willing to fight another round. Same for the AARP.