Behind-the-scenes airport schemes have Ernie fuming
Ernest Zavodnyik ain't happy about the secret deals being made in
city hall on the acropolis that will be Venice Airport
-- letters, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/27/06
Housing, real estate spiraling down, causing fears of recession
"That's the largest decline on record since 1968, and the speed
of the decline has been breathtaking. It's just like a straight line down."
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/28/06
North Port tells county to FOAD in annexation wars, county to take referendum to
voters
It's an incredibly daring and stupid move on North Port's part,
but hey, it's their city -- at least until March of 2007
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/22/06
Growth is good: Mr. Reynolds goes to city hall
City hall's former personnel director Rollie Reynolds now covers
city hall and golly gee, things are just going swimmingly; coverage of city hall
could only be worse if it were being done by the high school paper (which,
incidentally, doesn't exist); Filibuster! Somebody start a damned filibuster!
Where the hell is Frank Capra when you need him?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 12/20/06
County commissioners balk at raping taxpayers, homebuilders association argues
that rape is required by law
Would the last homeowner to leave foreclosure proceedings to move
to North Carolina please turn out the light?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/20/06
Builders balk at paying their own way, would rather let taxpayers foot the bill
Impact fees? We don't need no stinkin' impact fees!
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/19/06
City hall under siege from electric animals
Don't go outside city hall unless accompanied by electric animal
control
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/18/06
Vandalized clown statues in Sarasota -- the clowns were asking for it
Don't put a clown over Bart Simpson's bed and don't put one on a
street corner -- clowns are evil
-- Sarasota herald-Tribune, 12/18/06
E-vote expert: Jennings was robbed
Oh sure, an expert witness thinks Sarasota County's elections
system screwed over Christine Jennings, but that's not the weird part -- the
weird part is that this is an expert witness who is testifying FOR the
manufacturer of the voting machines used in Sarasota County; it's gotta suck to
be Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent today
-- Pelican Press, 12/14/06
Note to self: do not sell weed on MySpace
Local cops using electronic Roundup
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/14/06
H-T almost smells a rat in airport planning
Could Venice planners and behind-the-scene investors be pulling a
fast one on the citizens? Well, no, kind of, maybe, aw geez, if we write the
real version, our advertisers will kill us
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 03/12/06
Just not in time for Christmas: Wired Magazine recommends taking a pass on
buying Microsoft's Windows Vista
Besides screwing up your HP printer to the point where it is
unusable (and a few other major glitches), there isn't a whole lot in Vista that
you don't already have
BONUS LINK:
Screenshots of the
new Windows Vista OS
-- Wired, 12/13/06
Bypass gets bypassed
State DOT still promising a widening of U.S. 41, doesn't have a
clue how they're going to do it, moves project to the bottom of the in-basket
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/11/06
Where is Fark's obvious tag when you need it?
State acknowledges red tide/fertilizer link
State capitol memo to lame duck governor spells out what the rest
of us already knew; environmentalists claim minor victory; state counters by
denying the existence of the Gulf of Mexico, thus making red tide a theoretical
exercise... again
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 12/10/06
Taxpayers League looking to increase membership
A mere 300 members nearly upset the applecart; Herb Levine
wonders what 600 or 900 could do
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 12/06/06
It's just like old times: Hunt leaves office and the investigations begin
State Attorney's Office is looking into Sunshine Law violations
in Barefoot Bay
-- TCPalm, 12/02/06
Police nab suspects in Golden Beach home burglaries
Stolen TV? What stolen TV? Oh... that stolen TV... Nope, never saw it before,
officer
BONUS LINK:
Sheriff's
Office arrest cards with photo goodness of these these three Einstein clones
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/05/06
Holiday alert: Don't invite Gary Norris to your Christmas party
School superintendent has a habit of eating everything in sight
and won't leave until you actually throw him out the door
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/05/06
The hell with moving the airport -- Let's just get the FAA to
close it
The U.S. is losing one airport every two weeks under the exact set of
circumstances that Venice is about to enter
The FAA is much less interested in preserving airports than it
used to be and is increasingly allowing cities to close them down outright under
certain scenarios -- like the scenario that Venice is poised to enter
-- General Aviation News, 03/24/06
Airport build-out buildup
Gondo Article |||
Ed Martin column
It's party time for the guys in the Tower of Babel
Sodom meet Gomorrah, Cain meet Abel
Have a ball y'all, see the lepers crawl
With the call girls under the table
Watch 'em dig their graves
Cuz Jesus don't save the guys in the Tower of Babel *
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/24/06 & 11/30/06
* Bernie Taupin, Tower of Babel, 1975
Open the pod bay door, Hal: Electronic voting machines gain self-awareness
Recount battle goes from weird to weirder as officials are
shocked to discover that electronic voting machines are actually alive and have
their own candidate preferences; PETA to weigh in on feeding and care issues
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/30/06
County to look at mail-in ballots
Kudos to the Pelican Press, who has been at the forefront of
forcing the county to look at the Oregon system of voting
-- Pelican Press, 11/30/06
Developers suddenly popping out of nowhere, all clamoring to build at the
airport
Sharks are in the water and Venice island residents are chum,
only a month after the elections, too -- what a coincidence
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/29/06
Day 1 of the Jennings/Buchanan vote test finds Talking Barbie code embedded in
voting machines
"Math is hard"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/29/06
Alright, Grove Terrace: What is your major malfunction?
Public housing project has never looked weirder -- no manager due
to no money, no money due to consulting on construction that now won't happen,
nobody in charge, and a city council that says it's not their problem
-- editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/28/06
North Port dragging its feet in peace talks with county
Venice could be dragged down in county's peace talks by North
Port's plans to finish Death Star; North Port City Commissioner Palpatine
unavailable for comment
--editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/27/06
Grove Terrace: The rich get richer, the poor get the picture
Gondo story |||
Herald-Trib story
Plans to tear down Venice's HUD housing project still look good,
plans for rebuilding look not so good; residents to be asked if they wouldn't
mind being relocated to either the Moon or Mars (at their own expense, of
course)
-- both stories 11/24/06
Jennings pushing for revote, iVotronic machines headed for the dumper
Vern Buchanan's "paperless-thin victory" still up in the air
-- Pelican Press, 11/22/06
Upscale island condos cause Jim Myers to soil underwear
Planning Commissioner (and former city council hand puppet) Jim Myers
is "excited" about upscale island condos (Note to self -- Do not shake Jim
Myers' hand. Ever.)
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/22/06
Rebooting the
ecosystem
Extinction is looming in the coming decades, but global warming could be stopped
in one of two ways: either change our energy models entirely or re-engineer the
planet; because humans are phenomenally stupid, guess which way we are likely to
go?
-- Wired, 11/22/06
Bullshit meter hits the red in VHA public housing story
From the story: "Venice Housing Authority is once again out of compliance with
HUD rules -- but this time it has a plan and a new enforcer to help it get back
on track" -- yeah, and how many times over the past decade have you read that?
Favoritism, uncollected funds, mismanagement, this story is as old as it gets
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/22/06
An Inconvenient Truth released on DVD
today
Venice's future in about 40 years is under 40 feet of water, due
in a large part to carbon footprints left by -- you guessed it --
overdevelopment; this film is a must-see for all Floridians
-- ClimateCrisis.net
You can have control over the money, but we ain't handing you the fire and
police chiefs
Voters tossed city's Financial Director's job into pool of
municipal employees but won't let the city manager have final say in firing the
city's top firefighter or top cop
--editorial, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/20/06
Airport developers move in
Topic avoided by Gondo "reporter" in this story, but of major
importance: Harry Walia, who wants to build a
hotel complex with circus amenities, was one of John Simmonds' larger campaign
donators, this in spite of Simmonds' statements that he refused to accept
campaign donations from developers and Simmonds' threat of a libel lawsuit when accused
of accepting development money
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/19/06
Wired
Magazine on Kathy Dent: The problems with iVotronic machines that Dent never
told you about
iVotronic machines were responsible for losing 436 ballots in a
North Carolina election in 2002; the same machine was also used in another Florida
election in 2004 in which 134 ballots were recorded as blank
-- Wired, 11/17/06
Will the marketing genius who thought this up please step
forward so you can be shot?
City hall
plays gay joke on employees
Venice hands out t-shirts that say PRIDE to all employees, shirts
worn every hump day to work; city forgets to tell employees that
wearing PRIDE on your shirt anywhere else in the country and in the world would
mean that... YOU ARE GAY!!! Not that there's anything wrong with that (are the
shirts available in rainbow colors?); Next up: PR blitz with the title
"Government And You"
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/17/06
BONUS LINK:
Wikipedia entry
on PRIDE -- People Rejoicing in Diversity Everywhere
BONUS LINK:
Google international search on PRIDE-Fest
BONUS LINK:
Looking for the lesbian lover of your dreams? Try PrideBride
Sharkey's Restaurant to city hall: Have you lost your minds?
Owners of Sharkey's speak out publicly on the civil court war
that stretches back to the Hunt/Calamaras administration
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 11/15/06
Sarasota vote snafu figure
involved in bribe scandal
Gee, what a Florida surprise: the election company executive responsible for the touch-screen
electronic voting machines in Sarasota County has a checkered past that
includes involvement in several election bribery scandals
-- Dan Hopsicker, 11/15/06
The hunt for the Anti-Hunt
Barefoot Bay wishes it had looked on the internet before George
Hunt was hired; residents would like to beat their Board of Trustees to a bloody
pulp with clue sticks
-- TCPalm, 11/14/06
It's 2000 all over again
New reality show casts Christine Jennings as Al Gore, Vern
Buchanan as W, Kathy Dent as Katherine Harris; Michael Moore written out of the
script
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/14/06
Dam it, George!
Out in Barefoot Bay, our former city manager, George Hunt, spent half of a
million dollars on state required dams; the state is doing final inspections and
will likely order a
total rebuild -- turns out that the state has this bizarre and heavy-handed requirement that dams
should be built above the actual water level -- who'da thunk it?
-- TCPalm, 11/10/06
VHA
board looks in mirror, discovers that you really can't fix stupid
The residents and their attorney, the press, and city hall have
been telling the VHA board all along that their plans for demolition and
reconstruction were based on stupidity, board finally has a DOH! moment of
epiphany
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 11/10/06
CQG to Venice: Suck it
In the wake of John Simmonds' victory, one thing becomes apparent
-- the CQG is still in power, rest of Venice will get brass chin slaps for
another year
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/09/06
Bradenton Police Department's Shakedown Unit modifies its rules
Back-alley shakedowns and kneebreaking will now be limited to just one knee
BONUS LINK:
This story
gets Farked
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 11/09/06
Simmonds wins
by 416 votes
Plus all other local races (Sarasota County results ONLY)
-- SRQ official election results
Kathy Dent bitches about paper ballots
Dear Kathy: STFU. Really. We mean it.
-- SNN, 11/07/06
Votes lost in Sarasota -- attorney for Jennings calls for state mandated recount
VIDEO: Attorney Kendall Coffey smells a rat
-- SNN, 11/08/06
Zavodnyik, Simmonds square off on growth
Zavodnyik profile |||
Simmonds profile
Simmonds states growth is a dead issue, points to his experience on council as
an example of how well he's controlled growth -- yeah, that's turned out so well; Zavodnyik's
jaw drops to the ground
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/04/06
BONUS LINK --
Simmonds' YouTube meltdown clips
as mentioned in above articles
Sarasota has the
Nazis, Englewood has the Klan
No hate groups in Venice because, well, what would be the point?
We're already an all-white town
-- Tolerance.org
John
Simmonds on the CQG: "If there are political bosses, I don't know who
they are."
"No one who has presented plans for zoning changes,
annexations, buildings or other things that might benefit individuals, law
firms, developers or others has ever asked me to support anything."
-- ROTFLMAO -- good one, John, you are such a card; Stop it, my
sides are hurting
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 02/22/06
The buying of an election: Simmonds and the CQG raise $20,000 in campaign
contributions (so far), compared to $4,000 for Zavodnyik
Simmonds may hate growth, but growth sure loves him
-- Ed Martin, 10/27/06
Vero Beach is the new Venice
Hottest real estate market in the state, second hottest in the
nation
-- TCPalm, 10/26/06
Feds ignore RFID
security study
A Homeland Security advisory panel finds serious
privacy and security problems with RFID; the report is
stalled, while the government rolls out new ID cards using the controversial
technology
-- Wired, 10/30/06
Zuma
Dogg fights city hall
This nutcase regularly has his
manic fits at city council meetings on behalf of Venice Beach -- strangely
enough, this has nothing to do with Venice Florida where this would be normally
expected
BONUS LINK:
This story
gets Farked
-- YouTube
Videos from the final stop: The Bay
Indies Candidate Forum
David Shapiro
John Simmonds
Ernest Zavodnyik
-- Venice Florida! dot com via YouTube, posted 10/28/06
Laura Benson on negative ads: "We deserve to be dug into"
VIDEO: Politicians strip off the pretenses and talk
honestly about negative ads -- somebody at the GOP just got violently ill; you
won't believe this video even exists
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 09/27/06
McKee gets
McPissed
Joe McKee finally busts his cherry in Venice's political rite of
passage and acts like he's never heard of the practice before -- he's now
accused of libel by a public official; In other news, grass is green, sky is
blue
-- The Venice Resident, 10/26/06
Hey C.J.,
can we play, too?
Venice Florida! dot com's Patten responds to C.J. Fishman's line
of crap about how the Committee for Quantitative Growth is the voice of the people;
To C.J.: in case you lost our number,
it's right here
RELATED:
Fishman's original letter
RELATED: Video of Fishman's 2005 'I
own your ass' speech to city council
RELATED:
Fishman ignores Sue Lang's request for a CQG application to join
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/25/06
Ernie
gets a web site
Zavodnyik hits the internet -- Simmonds still holding
with page not found
-- ErnieForVenice.org
Damned by faint praise: Gondo, H-T both barely endorse Simmonds -- it's
that growth thing that bothers them
Gondo article |||
Herald-Trib article
Gondo:
"Simmonds
said he can't recall voting against an annexation... If we were making a decision purely of growth issues, we'd lean
to Zavodnyik;" H-T chides Zavodnyik's anti-growth views, saying it could land the city
in a lawsuit, forgets that Zavodnyik is an attorney
-- 10/22 & 10/23/06
Harris loses steam, wanders around aimlessly in debate
Blames her ADD performance on non-independent journalists;
Nelson: "At least she didn't embarrass herself"
BONUS LINK:
This story
gets Farked
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/24/06
Your wallet, your vote
Taxes, growth, insurance will be the key factors in
voters' minds when they hit the polls
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/23/06
Bradenton Police Department is now a very profitable shakedown
operation: BRILLIANT!
1.) Pull over motorists, make them empty their pockets
2.) ???????
3.) Profit!
BONUS LINK:
This story gets Farked
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/22/06
A jail in the city limits of Venice?
For months now, we've been hearing rumors that the county
wants to park a new jail within our city limits -- we think the rumor
has legs and here comes the first sales pitch
-- Pelican Press, 10/20/06
Simmonds on growth: "New homes are important for the city's tax base"
Simmonds has home court advantage in a debate sponsored
by pro-growth CQG stronghold Roatary Club; Zavodnyik holds his own with
hostile crowd
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/20/06
Gondo's Charter Amendment endorsements
Gotta admit, this is one fine editorial; Venice Florida!
com agrees with the Gondo 100% on the charter amendment issues for the
very exact same reasons that the Gondo spells out -- seriously -- no
joke
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/20/06
Goodbye, Mr. Hunt
Venice's former city manager leaves another town in the wake of scandals
and controversy; this is obviously the work of the Venice Taxpayers
League... again...
-- TCPalm, 10/19/06
Existing taxpayers to get screwed again:
City to pass law that will give developers yet another major break, will
allow city to front money to developers
Developers will be required to pay impact contributions up front, but would be
paying only part of the cost of the improvements their projects have
made necessary; work won't get done until it's fully funded from other projects
or the city decides to front the money
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 10/18/06
Why
can't the voting machine companies get it right?
With election season upon us, Wired spoke with two top election computer scientists and came up with
a wish list of features they would include in
a voting machine if they were asked to create
one
-- Wired, 10/18/06
ED MARTIN:
Save our constitution by voting NO on Amendment 3
If a majority of Floridians vote for a change in our constitution,
shouldn't that be enough? Not according to a number of big business PACs
-- Venice Gondolier-Sun, 10/13/06
Global warming from the transportation industry's view
You would think that transportation industry trade magazines, whose
readers' livelihoods depend on burning massive quantities of fossil
fuels, would poo-poo the threat of global warming, but you would be
wrong
-- Canadian Transportation & Logistics Magazine, 10/06/06
Little League's problem parents and coaches are no match for this umpire
"He'll make it pretty clear where you can put your problem"
-- North Port Sun-Herald, 10/15/06
State Rep Mike Grant disses Rigby for attempt to grab part of NOAA $4.7
million red tide research funding
"I'm not dealing with the guy anymore. Don't even
mention his name to me as having a cure for red tide"
-- North Port Sun-Herald, 10/13/06
County to have ability to veto municipal annexations? Yeah, that'll go
over well
Joint planning negotiations take a harsh turn, Venice city officials put
out bids for bomber airplanes, tanks, and armored personnel carriers;
county commish Thaxton to issue response from an undisclosed location
-- editorial, Venice Gondolier-Sun, 10/13/06
Who the hell is Bryan
Worthington?
Longtime online friend of Venice Florida! dot com puts on a campaign
worthy of the state house race... uhhhh, he's running for Charter Review
Board
-- Bryan4Charter.com
The Everyone
Orchestra
Bluegrass gets turned on its ear in this obscure kickass music clip from
Oregon pickers The Everyone Orchestra
-- YouTube
HERB LEVINE:
Council, CQG need to take a second look at their growth policies
Fresh on the heels of Fishman's self-immolation, Levine opines on why
council's and CQG's policy on growth has turned into economic suicide
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/10/06
Harris makes a grab for oil PAC money by supporting offshore gulf
drilling
Drilling for oil in the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico? What could
possibly go wrong?
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/10/06
Fishman has a snit, Martin takes a hit
CQG chair C.J. Fishman comes out swinging with an 'interesting' set of
facts aimed at debunking
Ed Martin's recent column; Fishman insists the CQG is open to the
public -- hey C.J., can we join?
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/08/06
Farley slithers out from under a rock, hisses and misses
You know things are at an all-time low for John Simmonds when David
Farley has to come to his rescue, and yet it happened; Farley's reading
skills haven't improved -- he references an article by Herb Levine that
Levine never wrote (uh, Dave:
check the byline and next time, have your wife proofread your stuff)
-- letters, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/08/06
ED MARTIN:
Vern Buchanan, Katherine Harris are ethically challenged
Turns out it's a congenital disorder, the two pols just can't help it
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/06/06
Hunt
threatens more legal actions -- hilarity ensues
Out in Barefoot Bay, Richard Bleau is running for a spot on the trustee
board; Bleau and our former city manager do not get along at all, so
what's Hunt's SOP? Why, threats of yet more lawsuits, of course
-- Unofficial Barefoot Bay We Site, 10/06/06
HOPSICKER BITES BACK:
Herald-Trib royally botches their 9/11 fifth anniversary issue
In their fifth anniversary of 9/11 issue, the
Herald-Trib went after author Dan Hopsicker over his use of quotes
from former Atta girlfriend Amanda Keller; turns out Hopsicker was
right, the H-T is full of crap, and Hopsicker is pulling no punches:
"Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter
Heather Allen may just live in a blissful world where statements by FBI
agents can be accepted at face value. A willing suspension of disbelief
can be a wonderful thing to have... if you're on your way to Disney
World. But its not very becoming in a
reporter. Not a real one, anyway."
-- Mad Cow Morning News, 09/05/06
REGINA LYNN:
Wired's
cybersex expert chimes in on Foley
You cannot apply a blanket law to online sexual activity among
adults; if there is a crime here, it's related
to the ages of the boys and also to their vulnerable positions as pages.
It is not the internet or cybersex itself
-- Wired, 10/06/06
Just because he's quitting doesn't mean he can't stay
School board bickers internally over whether or not to beg Norris to
stay on as Superintendent -- looks like Norris is out, but don't place
your bets yet
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/-6/06
Black is up for the Golden Tuba
or whatever it is that the Florida League of Cities gives out for
Manager of the Year; note to Black -- take a look at other acceptance
speeches, like those given by Marlon Brando and Bono, and then do the
opposite
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/06/06
ED MARTIN:
Democracy is owned and paid for in Venice
Lifting the veil of secrecy that covers the CQG
A select group of businessmen, developers and their attorneys choose who
does and does not get a seat on the Venice City Council dais; their
decisions are certain and final as to who will represent them and not
you -- Ed Martin blows the lid off of the secret society known as the
CQG
BONUS LINK:
Ed Martin on the Simmonds vs. Zavodnyik council race
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/29/06
County should honor paper ballot petition
When more than 14,000 registered county voters petition for a charter amendment
that requires voting machines
with paper ballots, elected officials should feel obligated to
honor their request -- but then again, this is
Florida after all, what did you expect?
-- editorial, Pelican Press, 10/05/06
And the city funded this?
Bob Rigby's secret anti-red tide formula is bleach
Bob Rigby's it'll-cure-what-ails-ya secret red tide formula, the same
one that former Mayor Calamaras funded with city money, is out -- IT'S
BLEACH; Rigby's formula also promises to reduce body fat, increase
breast size and enhance male dangly parts
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/04/06
Ah the joys of growth
Three stories in today's Herald-Trib highlight the wonderfulness of
development -- I feel warm and fuzzy, how about you?
-->
Developer in Murdock walks away from development
-->
Businesses along U.S. 41 Bypass in Venice are doomed due to planned road
expansion
-->
Another 8,000 homes are coming, this time in Lakewood Ranch
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/04/06
Satan Claws is coming to town
Haliburton's poster child Dick Cheney to get chummy at the Hyatt because
the last time an elected White House official visited Sarasota, things
went so well; local Republicans look forward to greeting protestors: "We
revel in their protests"
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/04/06
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR.:
Will the next election be hacked?
Fresh disasters at the polls -- and new evidence from an industry
insider -- prove that electronic voting machines can't be trusted
-- Rolling Stone, 10/05/06
Funniest Mark Foley link yet:
Nude summer camps alarm lawmaker
Back in 2003, the St. Pete Times reported that Mark Foley wanted to
eliminate nude summer camps because they are a breeding ground for pervs
-- well, that and the fact that he wasn't invited to tour the dorms
-- St. Pete Times, 06/19/03
Stairway to Heaven
-- the Irish flamenco version?
Best Led Zep cover you'll hear today
-- Rodrigo y Gabriela live in Dublin, via YouTube
