Gov. Charlie Crist chops millions

The honorable Charlie Crist is hell of a governor. Let us pray that he stays on this path. Crist budgetary decisions simply make sense. His comments also show a sincere understanding for the economic concerns of Floridians. Students should especially applaud his veto of tuition increases. Kudos to Governor Charlie Crist!


"Crist chops millions, halts hike in tuition; Gov. Charlie Crist signed a $71.5 billion budget into law after slashing a record $459 million in spending. FLORIDA BUDGET

Source: The Miami Herald 05/25/2007

If the hundreds of millions in pet projects state lawmakers tucked into the budget were a test of how far they could push the new governor, the response was sharp Thursday: Not far.
Gov. Charlie Crist, striking back at legislators who refused to pay for many of his top priorities, axed a record $459 million from the state budget, which takes effect July 1.

Most significantly, he rejected a 5 percent tuition increase at state universities and community colleges, provoking the state's top education official to threaten a challenge.
''Honoring the fact that the people across the state are pinching their pennies, so are we,'' Crist said, noting what he called the ''crushing'' effects of property insurance, property taxes and gas prices on citizens and the economy. ``We're asking local governments to tighten their belts, too. We are tightening ours. We can do no less.''

The vetoes caught some lawmakers off guard. Nevertheless, legislative leaders said they will not buck the governor's decisions on the $71.5 billion budget.
In a short statement, Senate President Ken Pruitt said the work on the budget was now done and that he had ''no intention'' of supporting any effort to override Crist's vetoes.
There are questions over whether Crist overstepped his authority when he nixed the tuition hike for community colleges and universities, including Broward Community College, Miami-Dade College and Florida International University.

State University System Chancellor Mark Rosenberg said universities need the money to hire faculty and keep up with enrollment growth and predicted the governor's veto ``in all likelihood will be challenged.''

Florida's Board of Governors, the panel that oversees state universities, may consider a legal challenge at its June meeting.

''We thought [the tuition increase] was a very modest initiative by the Legislature to help us close the gap in funding to keep our doors open,'' said Rosenberg.

Crist, however, said it was the wrong time to hit families with a tuition hike.
He also said that a separate bill that authorizes higher tuition at the University of Florida, Florida State University and University of South Florida was ''doomed'' and that he will veto it as well.
''I feel for our students and I feel for their families,'' Crist said. ``They are paying higher insurance rates. They are paying higher property taxes. They are paying higher gas prices. I don't think it's right to make them pay higher tuition, too.''

Crist's vetoes cover every aspect of state government, from road projects to reading programs, to school construction, to programs that help minorities, seniors, the disabled and children. At least $24 million was cut from Miami-Dade -- which did get to keep tens of millions in the budget. Broward lost $13.9 million; Monroe $250,000.
Among the items cut: $1.3 million for streetscape improvements for Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale; $840,000 for Exponica International, a three-day Latin America cultural and trade festival in Miami, and $900,000 for a gospel music museum planned in Broward.
''I don't think there's any ink left in his veto pen,'' said Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat and House minority leader. ``This was his chance to be a fiscal conservative.''

Crist said many of the projects he killed were ''meritorious'' but that some were more appropriately funded by local governments or private charities. The governor also vetoed projects viewed as likely to benefit a single private vendor, a rationale used to cut millions that legislators set aside for pilot reading programs.

Crist did give some leeway to items sought by top legislative leaders such as Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Crist left intact $20 million for Jackson Memorial Hospital that was a top priority for Rubio and did not touch more than $40 million to help Florida Atlantic University take over the troubled Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.

''They are leaders in the legislative branch, and they don't ask for things unless they think they are very, very important,'' Crist said. ``I tried to honor that.''
Miami Herald staff writer Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this story. "

Central Floridians: Sports projects low priority

"In an Orlando chamber survey -- not released to the public -- 500 Central Floridians called sports and arts projects their lowest priority. How that and other issues ranked: Violent crime 79% Water and air quality 68% Education 68% Taxes and spending 67% Political corruption 64% Economy and job growth 55% Affordable housing 50% Conservation 47% Growth management 38% Mass transit 33% UCF medical school 29% Business and government relations 26% Entertainment venues 14%

Source: Orlando Sentinel 05/25/2007

The plan to spend $1.1 billion to build sports and arts venues in downtown Orlando ranked dead last in a poll of community priorities, according to a survey conducted by business leaders who are among the biggest boosters of the projects.

The survey of 500 Central Florida voters showed they were far more interested in reducing crime, improving schools and protecting the environment. At least two-thirds of those polled ranked these as high community concerns.

Only 14 percent ranked "building world-class performing arts, sports and entertainment venues" a high priority. That was last among 16 issues surveyed, right below improving business and government relations, which 26 percent rated a "high" priority.
The survey, obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, was paid for by the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce but not released to the public.

The chamber, which includes the area's top business leaders, has been a pivotal booster of the three-venue package, which includes a new arena, performing-arts center and major Citrus Bowl upgrades. The chamber also was an architect of Project Hometown, a lobbying group that paid for radio and TV ads pushing the venues.

"It doesn't surprise me," said County Commissioner Teresa Jacobs. "It's certainly lower [venue support] than what we've been hearing from those who are advocating for them."
Chamber President Jacob Stuart said the March survey was part of a periodic polling effort business leaders use to forge policy strategies. Such results are rarely publicized, he said.

`Not a venues survey'
Stuart said the results should not be used to gauge specific support for the pending plan to build the downtown venues.
"This is not a venues survey," Stuart said.
Stuart said the fact that it's a regional poll mined from across seven Central Florida counties may confuse some respondents who thought the facilities it referred to are in their home county. Also, no project details were shared during the poll, and more venue financing features have emerged since the March 8-11 survey was conducted, he said.

David Hill of Hill Research Consultants conducted the poll. Hill said that while only 150 Orange County voters were among the 500 surveyed, their feelings mirrored sentiments of the region as a whole. Still, that pool is too small to gauge how Orange voters feel about the venues, he said.
"It would be inappropriate to say this was a poll on the venues," Hill said.
Also, Hill said that while just 14 percent rated building the venues as a high priority, only 33 percent of respondents rated the venues as a low priority, leaving 51 percent rating it as somewhere in between. "It's more of a [glass] half full or half empty thing."
On the wrong path?

Stuart said the real gist of the survey is that voters feel the community is on the wrong path. A year before, 58 percent of those answering a similar poll said the region was headed in the right direction. This latest survey saw that number dip to 42 percent, while those saying the community was on the wrong track climbed 13 percentage points to 40 percent.
"Recent prosperity has camouflaged genuine concerns in our community," Stuart said, calling it a regional "malaise."

Stuart said more recent venue-specific polls are more instructive, and reveal public support for the plan.

Yet previous public polls have carried mixed messages.
An April poll commissioned by the Sentinel found that most Orange County residents want a new performing-arts center and upgraded Florida Citrus Bowl, but say the Orlando Magic should pay a bigger share of a new arena.
When the venues are packaged together, 48 percent of Orange residents support building them, with 40 percent opposed and 12 percent undecided. The survey of 500 adults was conducted by the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research firm.

But support for both the Citrus Bowl and the arena erodes when they stand alone, that poll found. It also showed that as financing details were shared, support for the entire venue package dropped.
Magic officials said the Sentinel poll failed to reflect the team's true contribution.
A poll commissioned by the Magic found that the organization's contribution to the cost of a new arena is fair.

Nearly two out of three surveyed by the Magic's consultant -- once told details of the contribution and how it compares with other NBA teams -- say the team's offer is "fair" or "generous and more than fair."

But that survey, released soon after the Sentinel poll, failed to note public costs of the venue.
Increasing questions
Those issues have become more critical since county commissioners, who control the tourist taxes that would pay for much of the venue plan, now question whether the team is contributing enough.
City and county leaders will consider a final venue financing plan this summer. They are waiting on state lawmakers to conduct a special legislative session on property taxes next month, which could hamper the venue's public financing.

Stuart said he did not share the results with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer or Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty, the two main elected proponents of the plan. And the venue results that emerged did not prompt him to rethink his support for the public-private venue effort.
"Did it give me pause?" Stuart said. "Absolutely not." "

Bloggers vs. Big Oil

Checks & Balances Org proudly joins MoveOn org in opposing Big Oil. Please do your part and sign this petition!

I’d like to briefly discuss this petition with you. Many folk view Moveon Org as a far left liberal organization. I have no opinion nor will I argue with this viewpoint. What I am aware of is this pressing issue. The price of gasoline has not reached a plateau. It continues to rise. The public constantly is being sold contradictory reasons for the rise in gas prices.

I did my own research. Here is the FACT. I have found the root cause of this problem is a result of arbitrary costs levied by Big Oil that has raised your price at the pump. The break down looks like this Taxes = 15%, Corporate Operations = 9%, Refining =24%, Crude Oil = 52%. Analysis: Big Oil controls 85% of the cost you pay.

Let me define what I mean by “arbitrary”. Big Oil determines the price of gas by pulling it from their ass.

Please sign this petition. Thank You.

-Anthony

Enough is enough! A bill in the House would make gasoline price gouging a federal crime, and it could pass this week! Can you help be sure it does?

http://pol.moveon.org/stoppricegouging/

Source:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10395079

Jerry Falwell, evangelicals out of politics

In my opinion, churches should have no role in politics nor should one cent of its resources be utilized directly by any political party. Countless evangelical organizations were fooled in affiliating itself with the Republican Party. All while thousands of more “progressive” Christians were shouting in opposition. War, issues dealing with poverty, justice, community grants, the welfare of children, education, and healthcare. These topics in my opinion could be justified interest of church. However, the matter with Terri Schiavo, false claims placed against liberals on abortion, and blindly supporting President G.W. Bush simply showed the manner in which so many evangelicals were misguided.

"Source: Newsweek 05/23/2007

Jerry falwell loved his jet. in 1980, it was no small thing for a preacher to have one, even if he was a preacher with a TV show, "The Old Time Gospel Hour." The plane was a Lear, he told me as we climbed aboard on a September day in that crucial year, "specially reconfigured by an Israeli company." He saw this as providential--as if the jet had been anointed by the engine oil of the Holy Land. And it was dart-quick. His congregation, Thomas Road Baptist, was locked away in the Blue Ridge town of Lynchburg, Va. With the plane, he could roam the Bible belt, from Okeechobee to Oklahoma. This trip, the destination was Alabama.

We lifted off with a prayer in the name of Jesus, but the flight wasn't aimed at saving souls. It was about electing Ronald Reagan. With the advice and financial backing of national conservative and GOP activists, Falwell had launched a group he had the chutzpah to call the Moral Majority. The goal was to use the then-new tactics of "independent" grassroots organizing to draw evangelical and fundamentalist Christians--for decades, reluctant participants in politics--into a Republican crusade.
When we got to Birmingham, I saw what he was up to. He filled the old Boutwell Auditorium with thousands of "Gospel Hour" fans for a rally called "God Save America Again!" It was like a revival meeting--co-written by George Orwell and staged by Lynyrd Skynyrd. With lights dimmed and ominous music echoing in the hall, the stage was framed by giant photos of America's enemies (back then, the Soviet Union). In the spotlight, Falwell warned that Armageddon was at hand, unless God-fearing voters ousted Jimmy Carter (a born-again Christian himself, but never mind) and the rest of the Democrats. Hope lay in only one place: with Reagan and his GOP disciples. When the lights came up, there they were, standing and waving in the audience: not the Gipper himself, but a lineup of Alabama Republican candidates.

The rest, as they say, is history. If you had to reduce American politics of the last three decades to a headline, this is it: conservative christians enter public life and form the core of a new republican party. The edifice is cracking now, stressed by George W. Bush's failures, by disappointments with and second thoughts about playing in Caesar's game. Still, the political migration of millions--evangelicals, fundamentalists and charismatic Protestants, as well as "right to life" Roman Catholics for whom abortion is the central issue--is the biggest electoral story of our time. Falwell did not create this movement, and was never its most pivotal inside player--only its first and most visible. Wooed early and shrewdly by the late Lee Atwater, Falwell became the unofficial guardian of the Bush family's religious-right flank. A procession of would-be Bush successors, including John McCain, an erstwhile enemy, were eager to link arms with him for '08. His clout had faded, but not disappeared.

What he did for--and to--America is harder to figure. He believed in the inerrancy of Scripture, and carried that absolutist attitude into politics, which could be a dangerous and divisive thing. Gays had invited the 9/11 attack by turning our country into a Sodom and Gomorrah; the antichrist was on his way--and was a Jew. Falwell could be a bully, lacking in Christian charity.
Yet there was a benign side, too, and a worthy one. There was never an ounce of scandal in his personal life. His large congregation was devoted; Wednesday-night sermons, full of complex diagrams about events in end-times, drew thousands. A college dropout from the rougher side of the Lynchburg tracks, he doted on Liberty University, a school he founded in 1971 with the aim of making it "Notre Dame of the evangelicals." He told me not long ago that he was very proud of the science programs there. "We have kids accepted to graduate school at Harvard all the time," he said. He could be a demagogue, but he was as much a P.T. Barnum as anything else.

I ran into him not long ago in Union Station in Washington. He had no entourage, no jet. His always-florid face was fuller than ever. He had come up on the train from Lynchburg, and was having lunch before making the D.C. rounds. Falwell remained in demand as a talking head, eager to mix it up with the heathens in a city he had helped to transform. It was a long journey from Birmingham. Now Falwell is in a Better Place. I'm not sure that's true of the country. "

China: Sleeping Dragon

United States business leaders would be wiser to push for investment, job creation and innovation in America opposed to questionable economic ideas of negotiated with China to persuade them to adjust its currency and business practices. The U.S.A. approaches other nations with such notions that would be seen as absurdity if presented to us.

"Source: BusinessWeek Online 05/23/2007

Since U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson began talks with Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi and much of the rest of the Beijing Cabinet in Washington Tuesday morning, there has been a notable lack of hard news from the front lines. Sure, there were the obligatory opening speeches, with Paulson warning that Americans are an impatient bunch and will want to see some real progress, and Wu responding that the negotiations should be carried out calmly. Then the doors were shut, and the real work started.

The news blackout, though, has hardly stopped the chatter online, since almost everyone in the U.S. has a stake in the outcome of the talks. The U.S., of course, hopes to achieve what it considers a leveling of the economic playing field, while China aims to avoid making significant changes in its policy, but risks further rankling Congress.

Just about every American company has skin in the game. Microsoft (MSFT) wants to see China crack down on counterfeit software, and studios such as Sony (SNE) and Disney (DIS) are seeking a clampdown on movie piracy. And while many small manufacturers would like to see China's currency strengthen, retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) are more likely to benefit from a continued weak yuan since they import so many products from China. With so much on the line, the U.S.-China trade relationship is always sure to get the bloggers hot under the collar.

China's Upper Hand
At Tokatakiya, a layman-friendly assortment of politically themed posts, blogger "Robb" expresses mixed feelings about the talks. In Robb's estimation, "'the growth of the Chinese economy is a good thing, if you care about poverty." However, he recognizes the great loss China's economic growth represents to U.S. trade interests. In an engaging commentary, Robb gave advice to American officials to remember that "No matter what comes out of these trade talks' everything China does, it does for China--I'm not judging that as being right or wrong, it's just a fact."

All Roads Lead to China, an all-things-China market blog, is at once hopeful and skeptical about the talks. All Roads sees China as having a distinct advantage over the U.S. both in terms of its current position in the trade relationship and its chances for maintaining that position. The blog also offers advice and admonitions for both Chinese and American officials: "For the U.S. team, it is going to be imperative to find common ground quickly'. For the Chinese side'they will need to take some of their own medicine and take the long view on the relationship."
An Opening for Candidates

The finance-oriented BloggingBuyouts takes a wider view of the U.S.-China relationship, connecting the trade talks with China's recent investment in the Blackstone Group 5/21/07, "China's $3 Billion Bet on Blackstone"] as well as the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections.

The blog contends that "China's $3 billion investment in The Blackstone Group is bound to cause ripples across the crowded field of Presidential contenders." While the post doesn't delve too deeply into the notion, blogger Jonathan Berr notes that given the unpopularity of both China and hedge funds these days, "combining these two political bogeymen creates a target that's too good for any Presidential candidate to pass up."

At The Huffington Post, union leader Scott Paul views the talks not so much as an opportunity for negotiation, but as one of many steps the U.S. must take to compel China to abide by international trade laws. Paul cites a litany of China's illegal trade practices: "subsidies, dumping, currency manipulation, violation of labor rights, and lax or nonexistent environmental enforcement."
Paul points out what he calls an "artificial" divide between Americans who are pro-China and Americans who are anti-China. That division is obsolete in the face of "cold, hard facts" indicating that China's trade practices are not only hurting the U.S., but are also illegal. Until Washington enforces the rules that would protect its citizens, Paul claims, the U.S. economy will continue to suffer. "

Transgendered

“The Rev. David Wynn is off Saturday and Monday, so he will spend the day with his wife Wren and their son Seth, who has eight teeth, one for every month of his life to date, and is just learning how to risk all of them in thrilling freefall flights from the sofa."He's an adventurer," says Wynn. "He'll do anything to get where he wants to go."The same can be said of Seth's father, who spent his own boyhood in a girl's body, a situation at least as confusing to Wynn back then as it is to others now.There are times with Seth, at Bray Park or Sam's Club or anywhere Bradenton dads go, when the furthest thing from David Wynn's mind is the years of therapy, hormones, surgery and the slow, painful confrontation with self that brought him to here.At work, though, as associate pastor of Trinity Metropolitan Community Church in Sarasota, his "journey," as he calls it, is almost always in his thoughts. Ministering to transgendered men and women and those who love them constitutes his special mission, he says. "My calling."It is not his sole focus. Much of Wynn's job involves providing backup to pastor Mona West at Sunday's two services for MCC's congregation of 320, mostly gay men and lesbians, and a handful of transgendered men and women.He organizes the readings for each week -- one each from the Gospel, the Hebrew bible, the Psalms and St. Paul's letters -- and schedules the 75 ushers, lectors, deacons and choristers who, he says, "make Sundays happen around here."Wynn also supervises educational programs and outreach for the church, one of 300 MCC congregations around the world, and plays a senior role in programs such as Trinity's campaign to raise the $3 million needed to build the striking church complex Carl Abbot has designed for them.But it is Wynn who fields calls from people inquiring about transgender issues, as they have with more and more frequency lately, following last week's Newsweek cover story -- "The Mystery of Gender" -- and the various incidents around the country that prompted it, including the back-to-back coming out of a transgender sports writer for the Los Angeles Times and the city manager of a Florida town.The "Susan Stanton factor," the firing of Steve Stanton in Largo and Susan Stanton's current candidacy for the job of city manager in Sarasota, has caused Pastor Wynn to identify himself as transgendered in a more public fashion than he had planned when he came here from his native Texas a year ago."There comes a point where you really want to move out of the place where everybody knew you as ... ," he says, a wave of his hand filling in for the female name he was given at birth.He had been a public high school teacher in several Texas cities, attended college there, and then Perkins Theological Seminary at Southern Methodist University, all as a woman. He had been involved in a 10-year relationship with a woman whose child he helped parent, and the couple became widely known as David's pastoral assignments changed.In Sarasota, he hoped, "Who I was" would have no relevance beyond Trinity's 20-acre campus.But that, as he says, "just wasn't in the cards."'I shut down completely'"Like most transgendered people," says Wynn, "I knew very early, five or so, that there was a difference between how the world saw me and how I saw myself."I knew I was a boy, but nobody else seemed to get it, and somehow I knew even at that age that this was just wrong. So I did what you do, I shut down completely, closed off that knowledge and gradually it just went away."He will not reveal the female name with which he was born, and he will not talk about his surgeries, but Wynn is otherwise candid about both of his lives."My father tends to be this Clint Eastwood man's-man type and my mother is Scarlett O'Hara, very girly, with very strong ideas about how Southern womanhood is supposed to behave. I was always a tomboy, so there was a lot of turmoil there."I was trying to figure all this out in Texas, in the the 1980s, when there weren't any Dateline/20-20 specials going on, no 'Will and Grace' or 'Ellen.'"So I thought, well, I am royally screwed. How do I manage to pull out of this mess that I'm in some chance at any kind of happiness?"Then I thought, well, 'OK, I can do the lesbian thing.' I didn't feel like a lesbian -- I was a boy who was attracted to girls -- but it was as close to a normal life as I was going to have."What strikes most people about David Wynn today is how "normal" he appears.From encroaching male-pattern baldness -- "hormones," he says -- to the tin of Skoal on his desk ("a nasty habit," recently resumed) to the collection of miniature cars and trucks that pop up here and there on his office bookshelves, the Rev. Wynn is very much David.His unequivocal maleness has taken even some of his parishioners a while to get used to."I think some people here were expecting that I would be a gay man, and I'm not, never have been. I'm married to a woman; we have a child. That puts me outside the experience of many people" among his congregation."Gay and lesbian people wrestle with the transgender thing the same as everybody else does, which is: 'It's just odd. I think it's strange and I don't get it and it makes me uncomfortable.'"Even resentful. To some within the gay community, "We muddy the waters," says Wynn. "I mean, 'Here we are trying to fit in and be ordinary and these people are making us extraordinary.' I can understand that."Within any religious community, he says, "you are always going to have people ready to ask you, 'Well God created you in that body and God doesn't make mistakes and how could you be changing his work? It's not natural.'"And so, Wynn says, this has become his work: Explaining the world as it looks to someone who has lived on both sides of the gender divide."I believe that God created me to experience the world in just the way I have, in a transgender body, female first and now male."In sharing what I know from my experience, I'm doing what I am supposed to do."Pursuit of destinyAltar clothes and clergy robes at Trinity MCC will change to red from their Easter white this Sunday, marking the start of Pentecost, which Christian tradition identifies as the start of an organized Christ-based religion.On Pentecost, according to the New Testament, the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and sent them out into the world to preach the word of God, giving them divine fluency in all languages so they would be understood by everyone with whom they spoke.It is "spirit," David Wynn says, that guides humans to pursue their individual destinies.He refers often to the impact of "spirit" on his own life, for spirit, he believes, is what got him through the difficult time of his transition from female to male five years ago."I was in a long-term relationship with a woman and all of a sudden it stopped being satisfying to me. It felt wrong. Everything felt wrong."I never thought I was crazy. But it's a situation that can make you crazy, feeling, as I did, that you are this freak of nature."Deeply depressed, David's female-bodied predecessor entered therapy for the first time, and for the first time as an adult "put words to that thing I had known as a child."Gradually, "I came to understand that for me to exist soulfully, to be fully present in my life, to live in the way that I felt like I was here to live, then this is what I had to do."Suddenly, and to his shock, he says, he was a teenager again at 37.With the combination of natural exhilaration and artificial hormones -- "Wow," Wynn says, "you never know how powerful those things are until you take them" -- transgendered men and women typically go through a kind of second adolescence."The pendulum kind of has to take a big swing the other way at first," says Wynn, who says he went through a period of "hyper-masculinity" that gradually abated.Nearly five years later now, he has settled comfortably into his new life.As difficult as the transgender journey is for those who undertake it, he says, it may be the rest of society that has the bigger adjustment to make."Don't forget, I'm the person I always knew I was. It's the form you take to move through the world that changes."On Wednesday, Wynn will moderate the first of a series of workshops at the church on "Creating a Life that Matters," and one of the subjects for discussion is how to "recognize your essence, and embrace what it is that drives you, your passion."It is a subject, he says, "that I know a little bit about."

Orlando Mayor changes staff

"Source: Orlando Sentinel 05/23/2007
A day after Orlando backed a $1.1 billion downtown venue package, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer on Tuesday reshuffled some of his top political posts.

Chief of Staff Cheryl Henry, a chief architect of the financing plan to build a new arena and performing-arts center and upgrade the Citrus Bowl, will step down June 1 to take a corporate lobbyist post with Ruth's Chris Steak House Inc.

Former top city staffer Joe Robinson will replace Henry, serving again as one of the mayor's key lieutenants. As before, Robinson will spearhead Orlando anti-crime efforts. Former press chief Brie Turek will step into the deputy chief of staff slot, an open position.

Dyer said in a statement that Henry, 33, was pivotal to his team, especially in pushing the venues. But the mayor does not see her departure as hindering a final effort to secure political support for the complex venue financing, Turek said.

While City Council members voted nearly unanimously Monday to approve a series of deals for the proposed facilities, a final financing agreement must still be approved by city and Orange County leaders this summer. When interest on loans is paid off over 30 years in the proposed venue deal, the final cost could top $1.8 billion.

Another wrench in the plans could come from state lawmakers, who are considering property-tax overhauls in a special session next month.

Now Robinson, 48, and Turek, 26, will help secure Dyer's final venue deal. Robinson retired as an Orlando police captain and Dyer's deputy chief of staff in January 2006. He then went to work as chief of staff for Orlando venture capitalist Frank L. Amodeo and his AQMI Strategy Corp.

The company provided consulting services to a 70-company equity firm Amodeo helped found and fund, Mirabilis Ventures Inc. In May 2006, Robinson and fellow AQMI contractor Kevin Billings of Maitland were among several men detained by authorities for nine days in the west African country of the Congo, where they were sent by Amodeo to provide security and political consulting services to a presidential candidate.

Earlier this year, Mirabilis laid off more than 100 workers and shut down numerous affiliated companies. In March, the Orlando Sentinel disclosed that Mirabilis Ventures was under investigation by a federal grand jury in Orlando and that prosecutors had issued more than 100 subpoenas for witnesses and records involving several payroll and human-resource outsourcing businesses controlled or affiliated with Mirabilis, Amodeo or Amodeo-controlled companies.
During the past few months, several top associates of Amodeo's left the company, including Robinson. Dyer's new chief of staff said, "there's no connection with me at all" to the companies in the federal probe. "

Time to Sack the Attorney General

Update!!! Good Lord, I just heard the Congressional testimony of White House Liaison Monica Goodling in regards to this scandal with now Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Do you know that she contradicts the testimony of the former Deputy Attorney General? She said that she cross the line in considering political considerations. Finally, she stated that people more senior than her made a list of civil servants to fire. I pose an observation and a question. Who is more senior than the White House Justice Department liaison? Is it not the Attorney General?

There is a reason the public office Alberto Gonzalez holds is called the Department of Justice. When a sitting Attorney General testifies to Congress using phrases indicative of a criminal such as "I don't recall" as Gonzalez did it is clearly time for the President to fire his Justice Secretary.

"Bush defends Gonzales, calls plans for no-confidence vote 'political theater'
Source: Associated Press Newswires 05/21/2007

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - President Bush insisted on Monday that embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales still has his support and denounced Democratic plans for a no-confidence vote as "pure political theater."

"He has done nothing wrong," Bush said in an impassioned defense of his longtime friend and adviser during a news conference at his Texas ranch.
Despite Bush's comments, support for Gonzales is eroding, even in the president's own party. The Senate is prepared to hold a no-confidence vote, possibly by week's end, and five Republican senators have joined many Democrats in calling for Gonzales' resignation.
The attorney general is under investigation by Congress in last year's firing of eight federal prosecutors.
The president told the Democrats to get back to more pressing matters.
"I stand by Al Gonzales, and I would hope that people would be more sober in how they address these important issues," Bush said. "And they ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage."

Still, Bush did not directly answer a question about whether he intended to keep Gonzales in office through the end of his presidency regardless of what the Senate does.
Gonzales does not necessarily need Congress' support to continue serving. But Bush and Gonzales are under increasing pressure as more lawmakers demand the attorney general's departure.

Democrats pressed ahead with plans to put the Senate on record in expressing a lack of confidence in him.

"The president should understand that while he has confidence in Attorney General Gonzales, very few others do," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in response to Bush's comments. "Congress has a right -- and even an obligation to express its views when things are this serious."

Gonzales, who is headed to Europe this week, scrapped a meeting with his Swiss counterpart and shelved tentative plans for a tour and a meeting in Hungary. But the overall trip is still on, and he is to leave Tuesday.

His former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, is to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill about her role in the firings of the U.S. attorneys.

Gonzales is at the center of congressional inquiries into the 2006 firings by the Justice Department. He has acknowledged the ousters were mishandled but has denied politically motivated interference and has resisted calls for his resignation.

Further eroding his support was the revelation that in 2004 -- as White House counsel -- Gonzales went to the hospital bedside of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to pressure him to certify the legality of Bush's controversial warrantless eavesdropping program while Ashcroft lay in intensive care.

Ashcroft had reservations about the program's legality and refused, according to Senate testimony by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.
Bush was asked about Gonzales during a news conference on his ranch with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

"I frankly view what's taking place in Washington today as pure political theater," Bush said, sounding exasperated with the furor swirling around his longtime friend.
As for the attorney general's stops in Switzerland and Budapest, Hungary, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said they had never been set in stone. He said Gonzales would leave Tuesday for meetings in Munich that are a leadup to next month's gathering in Germany of leaders of eight major industrial democracies.

Roehrkasse said Gonzales had hoped to travel to the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest for a tour and a meeting that ultimately could not be scheduled. Similarly, Roehrkasse said Gonzales was too short on time to make it to Switzerland, and that no meeting there was ever confirmed.

Sascha Hardegger, a spokesman for the Swiss Justice Ministry, said Washington called off the meeting. "

Yolanda Adams sings for Pres. G.W. Bush

For those of us that have forgotten the strength we once found in Jesus Christ. Never Give Up.

“They can see that you are a letter from Christ, written by us. It is not a letter written with pen and ink, but by the Spirit of the Living God; not one carved on stone, but in human hearts.

We dare to say these good things about ourselves only because of our great trust in god through Christ, that he will help us to be true to what we say.” 2 Corinthians 3:3-4

The Price of Gas: Part I lost count

The rise in gas prices reveals the stark presence of irresponsibility on the part of Oil companies. The government, Congress must put aside fear of losing the support of big money backers and regulate the gas prices. In certain cities there are price ceilings on rent, I propose a similar regulatory system for gas. In it not necessary for the survival of nor economically prudent for the national economy in having these excessive gas prices.

"Gas prices: Worse than '81 oil shock
Gas now at highest level, even adjusted for inflation; AAA's reading of nearly $3.20 a gallon marks ninth straight record high in current dollars.

May 21 2007: 5:46 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Gasoline prices have soared to levels never seen before as even the inflation-adjusted price for a gallon of unleaded topped the 1981 record spike in price that had stood for 26 years.

And higher prices could be on the way as Americans get ready to hit the road for the Memorial Day holiday and the start of the summer driving season.

Two different surveys found record high pump prices once again.
The nation's retailers say soaring gas prices are prompting U.S. consumers to cut back on their purchases and shopping trips.

While gasoline had already been in record territory in current dollars, Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the survey, said this is the first time that her survey topped her 1981 record high when adjusted for inflation.

The price of $1.35 in 1981 works out to $3.15 in current dollars, she said. The Iran-Iraq war, which started the year before, choked off oil supplies to the global market, causing that spike in prices.
The Energy Information Administration's latest pump price, when adjusted for inflation, also reached a new peak. The EIA said Monday the average price for regular unleaded gasoline soared 11.5 cents over the past week to a fresh record of $3.22 a gallon, the all-time high fuel cost reached in March 1981.

The EIA survey covers about 800 service stations nationwide while the Lundberg survey includes 7,000 stations.

The motorist group AAA does a daily survey of up to 85,000 gas stations, but that reading does not go back to the 1981 spike. Its survey has been showing a series of record high prices in current dollars since May 13, and Monday the average price for a gallon of self-serve unleaded hit $3.196, the ninth straight record high and up from Sunday's record of $3.178.
The AAA survey now shows prices up 4 percent over the course of the last week, along with an increase of 11.8 percent over the last month.

AAA warned in congressional testimony last week it believes that more record prices could be on the way. It is forecasting prices will approach $3.25 a gallon over the next 60 days.