June 25: From Cheney to Chairman Mao

Decide (and Disclose), Dick…..
So, which branch does Vice President Richard Cheney belong to? The executive, or, as Senate president, the legislative? Cheney says that the latter means he is exempt from a presidential order that Executive Branch employees must report numbers of classified and declassified government documents.
U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., says if that’s true, then taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for his expenses. Some members of Congress have mulled cutting the vice president's budget. The problem with that argument is that someone will find a counterargument against Congress, which is, after all, Congress.
Cheney must have been quite a hopscotch player as a child; he’s kept up his hopscotch against public records laws ever since he became vice president….Some in Congress have suggested the courts might decide the role of the vice president. That might be interesting, since the wheels of justice turn slowly. By the time the Supreme Court, which now leans in a conservative direction, gets around to deciding the issue, there will be a new vice president, anyway.

LA Times commentary on presidential candidates and Fox News
Good commentary in the Los Angeles Times by Scott Collins about the effects of Democratic candidates not accepting invitations to debates hosted by Fox News:
http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-channel25jun25,0,6048034.story?coll=cl-calendar

I've already said they're making a big mistake.....

Not holding up the family legacy
SPJ Leads newsletter has a link to this article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram about KYTX in Tyler, Tx. and its new anchorwoman. Carole Simpson she’s not:
http://www.star-telegram.com/389/story/142950.html
Much to my dismay, the producer of this dreck for Fox is Brian Gadinsky, also known as J. Brian Gadinsky,once the producer of high-quality journalism at WTVJ (when it was Channel 4) in Miami. In addition, his mother is the late, great public servant, former Florida St. Rep. Elaine Gordon. Mr. Gadinsky, what you’re showing now is not why your mom campaigned so long and so fervently for women’s rights.

Stackhouse troubles may stack up for Meeks
The squeaky-clean reputations of former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek and her successor and son, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, are facing a sharp test following Miami Herald reports about their support of a proposed biotech project in the Liberty City neighborhood in Miami. Dennis Stackhouse, the Boston developer who proposed the project, started spending the public money he received to keep the favor of public officials, while the project didn't get built .
Carrie Meek got$40,000, a leased SUV and a rent-free office for her foundation, The Herald reported. She said she was a paid consultant for the project. Kendrick Meek got congressional money for the project. Mother, son and Stackhouse all say Carrie Meek never lobbied Kendrick Meek for funds. But the Meeks will both face more questions.
So will a majority of the Miami-Dade County Commission, which once again did its worst in lack of oversight. Only Katy Sorenson, Joe Martinez and Carlos Gimenez asked questions. Gimenez was apparently satisfied with what he heard, voting in favor of the project. Sorenson and Martinez voted against it.

Pat Tornillo dies
Word today of the death of Pat Tornillo, former head of United Teachers of Dade. Tornillo had a tough grip on the teachers union in the county (and the state of Florida) until he undid himself by bilking the union of $650,000, which he used for vacations, an Associated Press report says.
A UTD press release quoted by AP puts it aptly: ``Pat Tornillo's death marks the end of a life once dedicated to education reform and teacher leadership in Florida, but unfortunately was compromised at the end of his career by his admission of fraud and tax evasion.''

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao....
Obviously, actress Cameron Diaz hasn’t heard the Beatles’ song “Revolution” in a while, or the rest of that sentence: “You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow."
Diaz wore a handbag with a Maoist slogan during a tour of Peru. Now, I don’t know why anyone would choose to wear such a thing, period, but what made it worse was that Peru had great difficulties with Shining Path,whose battles with the government killed tens of thousands of people during the 1980s and 90s. She has apologized.

Happy Birthday Morikami
Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu! (At least that's the way Yahoo says it.) Happy 30th Birthday to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Boca Raton, a true South Florida treasure. May it celebrate millions of years more. Here's the Web site:

http://www.morikami.org/