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I was supposed to head over to Daytona for Biketoberfest on Friday night with a friend, but he had to cancel. As much as I would've preferred to spend time with my friend, I was actually a bit relieved. I ended up coming home from a business trip at about 2:00 am on Friday and was still moving slowly that day.

As a result, I caught some great weather by going on Saturday afternoon. It seemed like a perfect day for a ride going the back way on 415. After turning off 46 onto 415, I had the luck of the draw to wind up behind a semi hauling a load slowly down the road. At first, I figured it wasn't so bad. I had no particular time to be there and a lazy ride up a back road could be a nice way to unwind.

Then it started getting to me. It was't the semi that was the problem; he actually got his ass in gear and kept up with the speed limit. It was the dipshits between us that didn't seem to know how to drive. They were looking at everything but the road, slowing down to look at grass, cows, and who knows what. Thus began my leapfrog approach to navigating 415 and a reminder of my love/hate relationship with biker events.

Some of the drivers were in cars and trucks, and some were on motorcycles. It doesn't matter to me. Stupid drivers who can't keep consistent speed, cause others to miss traffic lights because they aren't paying attention or having a conversation, or just suddenly stop hard annoy the fuck out of me. One after the other, I experienced all of these at least once, and some of them multiple times.

Since I was on my own this trip, I decided to make it pretty simple and keep to my traditional stops: Hooters for lunch (for the vitamins), grab some t-shirts at Boot Hill & Iron Horse, and a DQ Oreo Blizzard for dinner (for the vitamins). Given the traffic in town, I spent several hours doing what should only take one or two.

I ended up sitting at a table right under an air conditioning vent at Hooters. It was nice & cool outside, so I'm not sure why they cranked up the A/C so much. Yes, you need to run it because of all the bodies inside, but it was pretty fucking cold there. However, it was actually worth it. While my local Sanford Hooters can't cook decent wings, the Daytona store is consistently pretty good. I enjoyed my calorie overload.

On a sexist note, I have to say the quality of the waitresses at Hooters is declining. Let's face it, guys go there to look at cute young women in tight uniforms. Hooters used to bring its absolute A-list team to Daytona for biker events. I'm not seeing it anymore. Maybe they just can't enlist the same girls in the catalogs to actually slop wings around to tables. My server (Whitney) was pretty nice and she was cute, but I wouldn't say I had the best service I've ever experienced. I generally had to yell out her name when I wanted something.

Leaving Hooters to head toward Main Street was a pain in the ass for most people. Traffic was backed up on International Speedway. That's because most bikers in town only know about four or five roads in Daytona and never look at a map. Rather than slogging for the next hour or so in traffic, I took a left on Bill France over to Mason and was at Beach Street within a few minutes. That's when I remembered to be thankful for idiots. Let them line up in traffic and leave the other streets open for me to use.

Of course, there's not much you can do about Main Street. I considered just going over the Mason Bridge and then sliding over to Main Street, but it's Biketoberfest. You have to ride over the drawbridge. It seemed good at the time, until I got in the line of traffic going over the bridge. Then I realized I was no better than any of the other fucking idiots doing the same thing. Pedestrians walking over the bridge were leaving me in the dust.

The two bikes in front of me were evidence that anyone can ride a motorcycle, but that doesn't mean they can ride it very well. The guy would start to move and then suddenly stop hard, even though there was room in front of him. As usual, I started cussing to myself wondering what this dumb son of a bitch was doing. After a few times, I finally had to ask him, "Why the fuck are you stopping like that?"

He complained that his hand hurt from holding the clutch. Moron. I suggested to him that he could shift into neutral and just coast a bit rather than slamming on the brakes. That way he'd get some relief for his hand and I wouldn't have a surprise sudden stop. The look on his face was like he just discovered ice cream. Moron.

A lot of the traffic going over the bridge was distracted by a topless woman holding a protest. First, I didn't get a picture of her because I was on my bike in stop & go traffic. Second, I didn't get a picture of her because she was just an old, fat, ugly bitch with a nasty tattoo on her left titty. The women you see walking around topless at biker events are not the women you want to see walking around topless.

Once I got across the bridge, I discovered something elusive that I've never been able to find after several years of attending Daytona biker events - an open parking space on the sidewalk. Fuck these assholes who want $5 parking. For the first time in my life, I'm getting free parking!

Nothing is free. The price of parking on the sidewalk was to turn left in front of a seemingly endless stream of traffic and back-in, over the curb, to get on the sidewalk next to the other bikes. I managed my U-turn and got to the side, waited for an opening in the traffic, and then some helpful soul decided to allow traffic from another parking lot to come right at me as I started backing into my open spot. I think it took ten minutes just to park there. I passed the time with more cussing. Still, I finally nailed a free spot.

I made my way up to Boot Hill & Main Street Station. Bonnie is still serving beers out front, she still has great thighs, but she was wearing a mask to cover up what is increasingly an aging face. Once inside of Boot Hill, it was the usual cluster-fuck. I tend to like long-sleeve, extra-large shirts. Guess what? So does every other fat fuck at Biketoberfest and they got there while I was still up in D.C. on Thursday. Of the choices I liked, none were available. I still bought one that didn't have any freaking skulls or skeletons on it and headed back to my bike. I saw no purpose in fighting my way through crowded sidewalks on Main Street. I'll save that for Bike Week in the Spring.

Leaving Main Street behind, I rode along the river to SR-40 and then slipped over to U.S. 1. It wasn't too bad until it was suddenly jammed with traffic, but that's expected in this area. I pulled over to a parking lot run by Boy Scouts who were raising funds. If I have to pay $5 for parking, I'd rather give it to some Scouts than anyone else. I used to be a Scout (Eagle, so you know I'm good), so I can appreciate the fact that they only get the money they raise and they work for it.

Iron Horse is essentially a big dirt pit filled with old white people standing around drinking beer and listening to shitty music. I do mean shitty, too. There was some heavy-metal thrash band playing that most of these fuckers would detest if they weren't already on their 23rd beer. Of course, there is a reason why I like hanging out with these people. The first is that I genuinely love the sound of motorcycles. Not just Harley's, mind you, but all motorcycles. I've ridden damn near every kind of bike and enjoyed them all. The other reason is because there are a lot of folks that look like this guy:

With folks this fat around, I look pretty damn good.

Once again, I went on the hunt for t-shirts. Once again, the first one I found was sold-out in the size I wanted. Some guy behind me said it's because women like to wear them as sleepwear. I said I thought it was just because most bikers were fat. The conversation seemed to come to a natural conclusion after my revelation. I ended up asking a woman working there for some help, and she proceeded to show me all the "really nice" shirts with flames, skulls, and all the usual crap that I don't want to see on my clothing. I thanked her for her time and tossed those shirts back into the bin for someone else to fold because I was juggling too many shirts that she'd handed me before she left. Fortunately, I found a few that I liked and left.

Since U.S. 1 is one of the few roads that bikers know, I decided to avoid it and took off over to Nova. It had the advantage of eliminating traffic and passing a Dairy Queen for my beloved Oreo Blizzard. Between all the calories from that and the previous meal at Hooters, I was skipping anything that resembled a healthy and nutritious dinner. I headed home in the sunset on I-95 and I-4, concluding my day at Biketoberfest. That ought to last me until the Spring.

Sometimes I wonder why our law enforcement folks are so incredibly stupid. They don't seem to realize that they're actually supposed to uphold the laws, not circumvent them for their own needs. We saw it recently on video in South Florida when some cops concocted a lie to explain why a deputy ran into the back of a woman's car. The problem is that they did all of this while recording it on the police car's dashboard video camera. Can we trust people that stupid to carry guns and have authority over the rest of us?

Today were here about a story where a gang task force deputy in Polk county arrested a man (already in jail) for the lyrics of a rap song he posted on MySpace.

Let's face it, the guy who came up with a song about killing cops is not someone I want in my neighborhood. I don't doubt for a moment that he belongs in the prison where he sits. However, he belongs there for his actions, not his words.

That's because we place a great importance and value on freedom of speech. That's true even if the speech is hateful. We don't protect this speech because it's about killing cops. We protect speech because the right to dissent is critical to freedom. Protection of our rights is the crucial issue here, not the young man who rapped about killing cops, and not the cops who sought to silence him.

People risk their lives for the right to express themselves. We watch it on the evening news in Iran as protestors face beatings & bullets, but yet our Polk & Lake county deputies deprive an American citizen of his right to express himself. It's a song of protest.

I'll make no excuses for the rap song. Hell, I hate rap. I'm not a proponent of threatening to kill anyone, either. The boy is seriously messed up. However, the folks we hire to uphold our laws ought to have a slight notion of the U.S. Constitution.

It's not like he's the first person to rap about this subject, either. N.W.A. recorded "Fuck tha Police." Ice-T recorded "Cop Killer." Check out a search on Google for "anti-police songs" and you'll get a list of them.

So why is this young man with a MySpace page being imprisoned for two years? He named names. He mentioned Lake County deputies by name. He mentioned Polk County Sheriff Williams by name. Hell, he even named a dead dog. That's cause enough to lock his ass up in Polk County.

Worst of all, they talked him into it. There was no trial. They got the guy, sitting in prison, to plead No Contest and they trumped him up in front of a judge with equal disrespect for the First Amendment. Maybe the judge went along because the song lyrics also mentioned he's "got a grudge with a judge."

Do the cops have a right to be afraid of this man? Maybe so. He has violent thoughts, but I'm glad to see that he chose a song for an outlet instead of killing a cop. On the other hand, the cops have guns, body armor, tasers, radios to call more cops, and a host of more powerful options that a 20 year-old man sitting in jail can't conceive.

I must be getting old, because I'm really sick of heavily armed cops defiling essential rights of citizens. If you're that afraid, quit and get another job. It's hard to respect officers who place themselves above the law.

It seems that local police are training Bright House employees to look for "suspicious" activity and report it to the police, according to this article in the Orlando Sentinel. On the surface, it sounds good. Criminals will now run and hide every time they see a Bright House van enter a neighborhood. We have a new kind of superhero who fights crime and delivers high definition television. Along with Bright House, your neighborhood Garbage Man is doing the same thing. He's picking up your recycled waste and keeping an eye out for whatever suspicious things you may be doing.

So what's suspicious? Anything they want it to be.

• If you're walking around taking pictures in your neighborhood, you're suspicious.


• If you visit a friend before he gets home and wait in your car, you're suspicious.


• If you make a delivery at an "odd" time, you're suspicious.


• If you look like you don't belong in the neighborhood, you're suspicious.


• If you're using binoculars, you're suspicious.


• If you're taking notes, you're suspicious.


• If you're drawing a diagram, you're suspicious.


• If you avoid making eye contact, you're not shy, you're suspicious.


• If you leave when a stranger approaches you, you're suspicious.


• If you're overdressed for the weather, you're suspicious.


• If your vehicle is overloaded, you're suspicious.


• If you smell bad, you're suspicious.


• If you have an "unusual" amount of people living in your house, you're suspicious.


• Most egregious of all, if you act suspicious, you're suspicious.

There are any number of perfectly legal activities which seem suspicious to those who have been trained to be suspicious, to those who get rewarded for reporting suspicious behavior, or to those who just like to feel superior.

I have no problem with individual citizens being vigilant. If I happened to see someone breaking into a house, I'd call 911 and report it. However, I'm not going to call just because someone looks like they might be in the wrong place. As hard as our government has tried to change things, this is still the United States of America (except in Lake County). If I see a Hispanic man in a predominantly white neighborhood, it doesn't mean he's a criminal. If I see a white man in a predominantly black neighborhood, it doesn't mean he's there for hookers or crack. Letting people think the worst of others is one thing. Giving them incentive and power to act upon their suspicions is another, more dangerous thing.

When you pay for Bright House service and something goes wrong, you call for a technician to come to your home and fix it. Now you're going to get something else with it, too. You're going to get a spy for the police department in your home. In addition to trying to fix the problem, he's going to be looking around your house. If you have a closed door where he's not allowed, that may seem suspicious. Never mind that it's because the room is messy or you don't want him to see the sex chandelier hanging over your bed. He's going to start assuming what evil terrorist plot you may be trying to hatch in there.

That's not surprising. When the human mind doesn't have enough information, it tries to fill the gap with supposition. If a person is looking for something suspicious and you don't alleviate any doubt, then the fact that he can't see in there is suspicious to him. Those who want to fight crime will see crime, even if they can't see a damn thing other than a closed door.

Of course, we don't need to worry about that. It says so, right in the article:

Residents who allow Bright House technicians into their homes don't need to worry about being reported for illegal activities that might be observed, said Sara Brady, the company's vice president for public affairs and community relations.

See? There you go, you have the word of Sara Brady. None of her Bright Spies are going to cross the line in your home. What more do you want? It's in print, so it must be true. They won't call the cops about things they see in your house, unless...

One exception is a life-safety issue, Brady said. For example, if a technician finds young children home alone, they will report it. But they were doing that long before the launch of Operation Bright Eyes, she said.

Well, that makes perfect sense. A young child home alone, they need to come and lock you up. What else makes sense? If they see you have children and have a wine rack, watch out. Hey, those kids are at risk. Someone needs to come and lock you up.

The truly frightening part of this program is that it's based upon suspicion. Anything you do to preserve your privacy may seem quite suspicious to others. You don't need to commit any crime, all you need to do is go about your day and mind your own business to become suspicious, and therefore, get reported by the very business you're paying.

Take a look at a recent example in the news. A Harvard professor comes home from vacation and has a problem getting in his own house. He asks his driver for assistance and they succeed in forcing the door open. Meanwhile, a suspicious person calls the police and reports that a black man is breaking into a house. The black man is the home owner. Police arrive and he identifies himself as the home owner.

Apparently, this exchange between the Harvard professor and the police was unpleasant and the professor wanted to get the officer's badge number. As expected, the crime of "contempt of cop" went into effect and the professor was arrested in his own home for disturbing the peace. I wonder if his cable company made the call to the police?

The next time Bright House raises its rates, I admit that I'll be suspicious that it's to cover the cost of spying on me.

Florida Highway Patrol State Trooper Harley-Davidson Police Road King, originally uploaded by lapd5150policemotor.

If it's a major U.S. holiday, you know that the cops will be out in full force with yet another "crackdown" for those of us who have the day off. The official claim is that they're trying to reduce traffic fatalities.

Bullshit. There are two reasons why cops write a lot of tickets on holidays. It's because the higher-ups recognize that a lot of travel is an excellent opportunity to earn revenue, so they make all the working cops get out there to write tickets. The working cops are pissed at the rest of us for enjoying ourselves while they work. Also, they know that they'll catch a ration of shit if they end the holiday crackdown period without enough tickets. There isn't a specified quota (that would be wrong), but the supervisor will let them know if they don't have enough tickets from such a target-rich opportunity.

While I'll believe that the average cop would rather not work a messy traffic death scene, I'm not swayed that the reason for this crackdown is safety. It's about the money. It's about sticking it to you for any infraction that earns revenue.

So please be aware that you aren't paranoid. They really are out to get you.

I've been watching the news as our buffoons in the Florida Legislature debate the idea of a gambling compact in Florida. It's been a real clusterfuck. There doesn't seem to be a damn soul in Tallahassee that understands what to do with gambling, so they've beaten each other and ultimately given the Seminole Tribe exactly what it wants - a competition-free industry to run as they please.

There are those who claim Florida does not need or want gambling. It's a sin, it'll bring an influx of crime, etc. These people, let's call them morons, are completely insane. This is Florida. We already have crime. There are murders, rapes, and so many drugs that we've had major TV series based in the state to exploit the concept of Florida crime for entertainment and profit. We also have gambling, including state-sponsored lottery drawings, scratch cards, and driver's licenses (tell me that driving around here isn't gambling with your life). Morons seek to blame something or someone else for their problems without addressing the root cause, and gambling is a perfect scapegoat.

Aside from the state's gambling, we have plenty of parimutuel games with dogs & horses. Those establishments also run smoke-filled poker rooms. Then there is the casino cruise industry, which technically avoids the legal issue by cruising a few miles out to sea to let a captive audience try their luck. Florida has a thriving underground gambling industry. If you want a bookie, ask your next waiter. Chances are that someone in his restaurant is in debt for the bets he's placed with his bookie. Gambling is already here and has been here for decades.

The real issue here is not to prevent gambling, which has worked as successfully as the war on drugs or keeping kids from fucking each other in school. It's happening, so what we need to do is figure out how to get our share of the pie. Charlie Crist recognized that much when he made his original compact with the Seminoles. Now that the economy is in the shitter, everyone has his hand out for some magical source of funds. It's the perfect opportunity for the Seminole Tribe to step up and lock in the market for itself.

Our politicians are so damn greedy that they've completely neglected their responsibility to protect consumers from a monopoly. Instead, they've created yet another legal monopoly. If you want to do any gambling in the state, you have to go to the Seminole Tribe. For a paltry $300 Million next fiscal year, they get the right to choke odds and refuse comps to even the biggest player in the state. These guys must be laughing in their teepees over the stupidity of the white people in Tallahassee.

I had dinner last night with some friends who frequent Las Vegas about a dozen times a year. They aren't the biggest whales, but they have no problem forwarding out $50K to $100K per trip to gamble over a weekend. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. However, Las Vegas casino hosts treat them very well. So well that I've even gotten a few free rooms out there and I don't gamble enough to pay for Steve Wynn's underwear.

They own a business in Florida and travel the state quite a bit. When they played at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa, they asked a casino host to review their play for comps. The guy flat out told them there were no comps. Since there was no competition in the state, Seminole Hard Rock doesn't need to use comps to induce gamblers. Either you gamble with Seminole Hard Rock or you don't gamble at all. Then they tried the Hard Rock in Hollywood. A casino host there gave them all sorts of promises for a suite and comped dinner, provided they played at a given level. My friends played $41K over and above the limit specified by the host (Marcus), but then their comps were refused at checkout.

The lack of comps is only one part of the screwing that Florida gamblers will get from the Seminole Tribe. Without competition, they have no incentive to offer decent gambling odds. It doesn't matter if you're playing video poker or blackjack, they can screw with the payouts to essentially rob you of your money as soon as you put it in the machine. As with any other industry, gambling MUST have competition in order to offer the best value to the consumer.

Our Florida Legislature has basically fucked us right up the ass. I prefer to think they've done it out of sheer stupidity rather than malice, but the end result is the same. They'll claim that the gambling money will go for better education. Right. Just like they said when the voters approved a state lottery. Gambling money came in the front door and other funding went under the table.

If you want to eliminate crime in Florida, don't blame gambling. Blame the criminals in Tallahassee. There's more corruption there than in a gambling pit.

Most people are writing about fireworks and other celebrations today. That's outstanding and I don't fault them for it. However, I want to use the spirit of the day to remind us that our independence is under challenge and assault every day.

This clip is of Orlando Police officers denying a WFTV camera man the same basic rights allowed to other citizens simply because he carries a camera. They threaten him with arrest, even claiming they've already arrested another media person for trying to assert the same civil rights as others - to walk down a sidewalk. Clearly, the Orlando Police officers on the scene do not trust photographers and they are using coercion (threat of arrest) to prevent him from lawfully engaging in the same activity as others. Coercion is illegal in all 50 states.

Journalists and media have no more rights to access to a crime scene or police investigation than an ordinary citizen. They are ordinary citizens. That means they should also have the same rights. If the police allow people to access an area, they must allow ALL people to access an area. The law doesn't make exception for them to discriminate just because someone has a camera.

Enjoy our Independence, but keep your eyes open for those who would abuse their authority to curtail our freedoms. Orlando Police are among them.

More Honesty, originally uploaded by wbeem.

I saw this guy in standing by the Amway Arena before the Rush concert on Tuesday evening. I couldn't help it, I had to snap a photo with my iPhone. I told the guy I'd give him a couple of bucks for the photo. He smiled and approved, but told me I'd have to come closer because he wasn't allowed to leave his area.

You see those little blue marks on the ground to his right? That's the designated panhandling area allowed in the City of Orlando. As long as he stays in that box, he can hold his sign and collect whatever money comes his way.

Generally, I don't want to be bothered with people begging for money. If his sign had said anything else, I probably would've ignored him. However, I admired his honesty and humor. The guy was genuinely nice and articulate, too. We talked briefly about Rush. He remembered seeing them for the first time in 1974 for $4.50. I paid $109.50 for my ticket that night. Times change.

The news is playing about an event that happened last year. Orlando Police Officer Fernando Trinidad pushed a woman down the stairs at a downtown club. As a result, he lost 8 hours of vacation pay. Seriously, that's all that happened to the dude. Eight hours is one day of vacation. Poor guy. He's still on the streets, badge in one hand and gun in the other.

Not only did Officer Trinidad push a woman down the stairs, but then he arrested her on a trumped up felony charge. He lied to make it seem like he was the victim, she spit on him, yada yada yada. Fortunately, the thing got caught on the club's security camera where he was hired for an off-duty job. If you haven't seen it already, here's a clip from WKMG news showing what happened.

So why didn't he get more punishment? According to a statement by Orlando Police Chief Val Demings (who was then Deputy Chief, I'm told), it's because his civil rights were violated. The police union filed a grievance to protect the officer because he wasn't informed about the charges that launched the investigation.

This smells like the blue code of silence to me. Yet another law enforcement officer abuses his authority and someone on the inside helps him cover it up. We wouldn't be hearing about it now if the video hadn't come up. The victim is suing the cop and now there is a criminal investigation. The state may actually do what Orlando Police failed to do - cost this officer his job by invalidating his certification.

I was all set to write a scathing rant against this cop and the Orlando Police Department, but what good would it do? This is just another case of a cop out of control. Watch the video again. Notice how casually he shoves her down the stairs and walks past her like nothing happened. Equally bad is his partner. He's complicit with the crime by not taking action or speaking up about the bogus charges. This woman wanted to be a teacher. I bet her application looks real good with a felony arrest on it. What was her crime? Under what circumstances does a cop push someone from behind down a flight of stairs?

There's no point in ranting, though. Cops are as corrupt as ever. All of the hope and excitement around Val Demings becoming the first black woman to be Chief of Police in Orlando is over. She's just as bad as the rest of them. Now, on the evening news, she admits that the punishment was insufficient. However, her hands are tied because they can't punish him again. Remember, they took away 8 hours of vacation time. We wouldn't want to be unfair to a bully with a badge, would we? After all, he's got a union behind him.

This is police brutality on video. The police and the union both tried to squash it. Next time you see a cop, will you trust him? If you call the police and Officer Trinidad shows up, would you want him in your house? I damn sure wouldn't.

I originally posted article this on the Orlando Sentinel's Sanford Community blog:

Fear and ignorance. If you don't understand something, it must be evil and sinister. Fear and ignorance. What better place to teach this system than in Seminole County Schools?

The problem was clear. Kids only have a limited amount of time to go through the lunch line and eat before they get back to class. The line sometimes takes too long as kids fiddle around punching in their PIN number to draw payment access for lunch. Sometimes a kid forgets his PIN, so the line slows down. The intended solution was to use a fingerprint scanning device. No memory required, just bring your finger.

It would be a perfect solution, if not for the fear and ignorance of the parents of these kids. To many minds, fingerprints have a negative stigma because they've been used so long by law enforcement to identify criminals. They also fear the theft of their child's identity by use of these systems. Their fears wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so ignorant of the way biometric systems actually worked.

Law enforcement agencies have used fingerprints to successfully identify people for more than a century. Let's face it, police wouldn't still use fingerprints if they weren't more than reasonably accurate at identifying an individual. Law enforcement isn't the only use of fingerprinting, but it's prominent enough that people still feel a stigma when asked to submit their fingerprints.

Biometric systems like the fingerprint readers use in schools, or at Walt Disney World, don't keep an image of a subject's fingerprints on record. There's no way for someone to steal your fingerprint from the system and use it elsewhere to impersonate you. Instead, the biometric systems only store a pattern known as minutiae - the specific points on a fingerprint where the lines diverge or converge. When fingerprint scanners look at your fingerprint, it's only searching to see if those points on your fingerprint match an existing record. No other fingerprint will match the same set of minutiae, and you cannot use minutiae to build an image of a fingerprint.

While the parent's fear of identity theft from a collection of minutiae are unfounded. Their fear is from ignorance. That's where our Seminole County Schools truly failed. In order to implement this system, the school system should have educated the parents to alleviate their fear. Now the parents may rightly feel distrustful of a school system that didn't communicate details about a sensitive topic. As a result, the lunch lines will still move slower than necessary. Equipment and systems procured by the school system for fingerprint scanners will probably sit unused as a minor monument to tax dollar waste, all because of a failure to alleviate fear and ignorance.

Earlier this week, Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary sent this message to the media.

I am tired off party politics. I am tired of the bickering and not getting anything accomplished for the American people.

In Washington, we refuse to address the emerging violent crime problems, pretending one does not exist.

In Florida, our violent crime issues have fallen on deaf ears. Our juvenile crime rate is skyrocketing and we don’t want to address the problems.

In Orange County we don’t address public safety needs as they relate to growth and increasing tourism.

Maybe it’s time for Republicans and Democrats to put people first and not their party agenda.

I find this interesting. Kevin decided to leave the party during the week after mid-term elections changed the balance of power in Congress to Democratic control. When Republicans were in power, Kevin was a Republican. He sits in an elected office as a member of the same party of those who were in power. Why is he venting this frustration now? Did Kevin Beary have a difficult time getting help from Washington politicians?

A day before the Sheriff's announcement, a member of his SWAT team violated department policy by leaving high-powered automatic weapons in the passenger compartment of his SUV. A couple of teenagers stole the weapons. Fortunately, they recovered the weapons today. Unfortunately, they recovered them after a drive-by shooting. Someone got the tag number and that lead deputies to the arrest.

I originally wondered if Sheriff Beary made his announcement about leaving the Republican party as a diversion form the news about the stolen weapons. Although this is a decision that most likely would've been going through his mind for a while, the timing seemed about right to change the news headlines (which it did).

The part that I don't truly understand is how denouncing his political party is going to change anything. What does Washington politics have to do with decisions made by state and municipal politicians? Growth and tourism are local issues, not national concerns. Although the rest of the country may have traded-in its politicians, the picture in Central Florida is pretty much remaining in the status quo.

Ultimately, Kevin Beary is a politician and well versed in self-promotion. His approach is generally blunt and, to my mind, unprofessional. One cannot deny his ability to manipulate people and get his way. The fun part is trying to figure out what he wants with this latest stunt.

It seems to be an election night tradition. No matter which party gains power, you can rest assured that one of them will have a child or relative who gets stinking drunk and arrested.

Charles William Nelson, son of Florida Senator Bill Nelson, apparently reeked of alcohol, started a fight with police, and ended up getting his face planted on the ground and feeling the love eminating from a can of official police pepper spray for two or three seconds.

I actually feel a bit sorry for Senator Nelson.  He's done a good job for Florida and he doesn't deserve any taint on his image for the actions of his 30 year-old son.

It's election night and Central Florida had one big mother of a storm this evening. The news reporters talked about it affecting the vote. I can see how it affects turnout. Who wants to stand in line while there are tornado warnings in your area. However, I'm not clear how they determined the weather would swing the vote one way or another.

Are we to believe that Democrats may win because Republicans wouldn't vote in a thunderstorm, or vice-versa? It may be possible. Does one party tend to vote earlier and another wait until the last couple of hours? I'm a Republican, and I voted early last Friday. I suppose we'll have to wait and see how things shake out.

It's no surprise that the Associated Press already declared Bill Nelson the winner for the Senate race. If the Republican party couldn't support it's own candidate, Katherine Harris, why should anyone else support her?

The Republicans are otherwise doing well so far. Charlie Crist is ahead of Jim Davis (no, not the creator of Garfield) for governor, and Ric Keller is ahead of Charlie Stuart for Congress.

The office elections are shaking out as I thought so far. The issues are more important on my mind, though. According to the election results posted right now on the Orlando Sentinel, all of the ammendments appear to be heading in the YES direction. That just tells me there's no end to the ignorance of Florida voters.

I guess I'll see the final story when I wake up tomorrow morning.

 Since resigning from Congress last Friday, Mark Foley's been showing an interesting series of excuses for his pedophile behavior.  I wonder which PR consultant is giving him clues on what to feed the press?  Basically, he's trying to divert the blame by becoming a victim himself:

• He blames alcoholism
• He blames sexual abuse by clergy
• He's announced that he's gay
• He's entered rehab for alcoholism

Foley's lawyer, David Roth, announced that the former Congressman is cooperating with law enforcement, preserving all e-mail and records, and anything else that investigators may want.  Isn't that precious?  After years of inappropriate behavior on juveniles, he's playing nice.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate thoroughly.  Of course, there's also a Congressional and FBI investigation.  Who gets to nail him first?  Probably an imprisoned father who doesn't like pedophiles.

My suggestion to Mark Foley is to visit the find his prison name so he's prepared for what awaits him.

It's the day after Primary Elections in Florida, and now we have results. In some cases, things didn't work out quite the way the experts predicted, but I'm OK with that. Most notably, Katherine Harris won the Republican primary for Senate. That means she goes head to head this November against the incumbent, Bill Nelson. You may recall that Katherine Harris now has her own definition in the Urban Dictionary. For his part, Bill Nelson has no relation to Major Tony Nelson from I Dream of Jeannie .

Now I have to come clean. As a Republican, I actually voted for Katherine Harris in the primary. Yes, she's nuts. I honestly wouldn't be proud to tell people she's my Senator, either. However, I don't believe she's going to beat Bill Nelson for the Senate. Bill, despite being a Democrat, just hasn't done anything stupid enough to warrant getting fired. Let's face it, there's a lot of power to being the incumbent in a political race.

So why did I vote for Crazy Katherine? Purely for entertainment value. The other contenders in the Republican primary also had no chance of beating Bill Nelson. Hell, I wouldn't vote for any of them for a county office. If one of them actually won the primary, we'd be in for a boring election season. That's not so with Katherine Harris in the race. I firmly believe that she's committed to our entertainment value, just as she's demonstrated in the race up to date.

What happens if she actually wins? Although that's a scary thought, I still think it provides entertainment value. Florida is not without its share of crazy politicians. Just look at Corrine Brown or even Katherine Harris. Both serve in the House of Representatives . They come from different parties, but both are just as wacky as a pair of raccoons breaking into a trash can. They make noise, they make a mess, and you get mad when they run off with something you didn't even want.

She probably won't win. If she does, I'll cringe to think that I was a part of the reason for her election. Then, I'll think, this is just what the Republicans need to stick it to the Democrats. The Republicans aren't offering her any support, so she's the perfect weapon when logic just doesn't prevail. As we all know, that's politics.

That's right, I placed my vote in Seminole County. Interestingly enough, I had the option to place two votes. It seems the volunteer clerk who checked my ID and made sure everything was proper...didn't make sure to only hand me one ballot sheet. Actually, I didn't even notice until I finished my ballot. Then I realized there was a second ballot sheet to fill out.

That seems odd. The mailer I received from the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections only listed one sample ballot. Upon review, I noticed it was the same ballot.

That's when the old Boy Scout in me took over. Before I considered the evil possibilities, I told the desk clerks that I received two ballots. That definitely got the attention of one volunteer, but not the lady who passed the ballots to me. They started checking records to see which one she recorded, but that didn't matter. It seems these ballots aren't numbered. I passed the blank one back and left them in their frenzy while I walked over to insert my ballot in the voting machine.

The guy stationed by the machine asked what was the issue. When I told them that I received two ballots, he just said "Don't matter. No big deal." I guess they didn't have much of a turnout, so why not double-up on the ballots for each voter?

As much as I like the idea that my vote counts more than others, I don't need to cheat. With the low voter turnout, my vote really does count more than those who never bothered to vote.

All that's left now is the waiting.

It's election season. That means we get tons of news about things done and said by people seeking office. This year, we get the ever entertaining Katherine Harris running for Senate. She's on the Republican ticket, but the Republicans in power don't seem to want her. Considering some of the things she does and says, no wonder. Consider this piece on the Orlando Sentinel's political blog.

It's so awful that you almost have to laugh. Does this idiot realize that she's just insulted millions of voters by declaring that anyone who is not Christian is evil?

Separating religion and politics is "so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," Harris said.

Oh, well then feel free to insult the voters. They don't matter. Just believe in God and He will elect you to the U.S. Senate. Wow. That's a strategy I've never heard before. Good luck with that, Katherine.

I'm not picking on Katherine Harris because I'm anti-Republican. Far from it, I'm a registered Republican. No, I'm picking on Katherine Harris because she's just flipped out.

The part that's really scary is...she's not in last place. Consider these results from a Hispanic Chamber of Orlando straw poll:

U.S. Senate: Will McBride, 125; Bill Nelson, 70; Katherine Harris, 37; LeRoy Collins Jr., 18; Peter Monroe, 5.

Of course, it just keeps getting worse. Now she has her own entry in the Urban Dictionary.

Katherine Harris is by no means the only loony candidate this season. She's just the most promising one for our entertainment purposes this season. What truly frightens and tittilates me at the same time is the notion that she could represent me in the U.S. Senate.