POLITICS

Where is the little blonde reporter from Folio now?????  If she is soooo interested in Clay County Politics.

Somebody's got some 'splaining to do...

From News4Jax.com...ironic how there is no mention of this on MCS

GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Clay County Clerk of Court James Jett is defending his use of a county-provided SUV to drive to his St. Augustine Beach condominium, to church on Sunday and to a political rally.

"It may not have been smart, but I didn't think there was anything wrong with it," Jett told Channel 4's Jim Piggott on Wednesday.

OK kids.  It's finally official.  We can all breathe easier now.  Bush finally won....sort of. According to a Gallup poll, as of 04.23.08, "W" became the unpopular president in recorded US history.  With a 69% disapproval rating, he ousted former top leader, Harry Truman, who had a 67% rating in Jan. of 1952 at the height of the Korean War.

Mr. Bush celebrated the event with a taped appearance on the game show, "Deal/No Deal," in support of a war veteran.  (What a guy)  See?  Even a lame duck finds time to get another photo op.  I have to admit it.  It was great timing.

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times this morning that got me thinking @ all of the shenanigans, hissy fits, or just plain BS we have seen on the presidential debates over the past months.  I didn’t get to see the latest, but heard it was a tad on the disastrous side.

The article has to do with what we have all seen at one time or another on TV or heard or read.  When the respective news organizations want a more detailed, professional explanation of something pertaining to the war &/military, they turn to what they all call, professional analysts who are, almost without exception, retired military officers.  All fine & well, maybe.

As I usually do in the AM after reading the news, I go to my favorites on the computer to catch up on other news sources.  On one of them, I ran across one that put my radar into overdrive.  It said that over 90% of historians questioned, assess Bush's presidency, so far, as a failure.  You bet your baklava I had to read this one.  N.B.  For those of you who are new to the blogs, you should know that Uncle Rich is no fan of "W".  In fact, the kindest thing I can say @ him (after all, this is a family type blog) is that after next Jan. 20th, he'll be back on the ranch where he belongs, doing things for which he is well suited.  That is, unless, he made other arrangements with yet another one of his signing statements or executive orders.  He's been know to do that, you know.

Spending a couple of decades in newsrooms in rural Florida and small-town Georgia, I've gotta tell you, the nasty politics in Clay County pales by comparison.  Some of the dirty tricks I've seen played in the name of campaigning, in places like Marianna or Macclenny or Tifton, aren't even fit to be retold in public forums.

Still, we've got some local folks trying to play dirty.  As usual, it's the anti-Beseler faction of campaigners.  The Sheriff had to put out a press release to let folks know that the aggressive, harrassing telephone solicitors telling folks they "work for the Fraternal Order of Police and are collecting money for Sheriff Beseler" aren't connected in any way to him.

This out of Washington, DC., March 20, 2006.  I. Lewis, "Scooter," Libby was disbarred by a DC court for perjury until 2012.  The ruling was for his perjury in the Valerie Plame case, while working as assistant to Vice President DICK Cheney. In other words, regardless of who you work for, naughty, naughty.  Dasn't do.  Just because your boss is a high ranking schmuck, doesn't mean you'll get off scott free.

On the other hand.....Vice President, DICK Cheney, in an interview with Martha Raddatz of ABC news, answered the comment (about staying in Iraq) from Ms. Raddatz, where she stated, "Two thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting, and they're looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives, said, "SO?"

After watching the speech on TV, disregarding what I normally do, which is listening to the opinions after a speech, & reading the downloaded text of Obama's speech, I'll do something else I rarely do.  I'll go out on a limb.

Hillary, John...Watch your six.  JATFUR.

RichK

Seems like everybody gets to decide about gambling in Clay County, except the folks who live in Clay County.

Up until last year, the decision about things like adding poker rooms or slot machines at the Orange Park Kennel Club rested with the Board of County Commissioners, the elected representatives of all Clay County residents.  Ah, for those good ol' days.

First, a little Tallahassee tango fixed it so the decision on poker rooms was switched from the BCC to the Orange Park Town Council, which decided potential tax revenue outweighed all those pesky quality of life questions.  It's a case of officials who don't seem to grasp that "just because we can doesn't mean we should."

Have any of you heard about this?   Someone just sent me the link.

Check it out at www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-global-tax-proposal-up-for-senate-vote/

Since I'm running for the District 3 seat on the Board of County Commissioners this year, I received an invitation from the Northeast Florida Builders Association to attend a day of personal candidate interviews with the builders. I've let them know I won't be attending.

It has nothing to do with the fact that I want local government to adjust its approach to growth management and stop its continued ill-planned and rampant growth, or that I'm positive the builders will find one, maybe even both, of my opponents imminently more endorsable according to NEFBA's own interests.