Sunday Morning Coming Down

This is the Miami Herald's final word on the battle over the County's Libraries.  The libraries as currently configured spend about $50 Million Dollars, The library special taxing districts raise about $30 Million Dollars.  Completely funding the library system is estimated to cost $64 Million Dollars.  Raising the additional $34 Million Dollars would require raising the millage rate for the libraries $17 dollars per $100,000 of valuation. The paper rightly reads the mayor and commissioners as not wanting to raise taxes and not wanting to cut services.  The public says they want good properly staffed libraries, that are open at convenient hours and not far from home, but I'm not sure they want to pay for that service. I am an avid reader, I don't use the library as much as I might because I still buy books.  Electronic books, the Internet and having a Barnes and Noble on the corner a five minute walk away give me choices others may not have.  My library...

Since leaving the Miami Herald and passing on my 2-3 days of walking as a form of exercise I have been more concerned about calories, weight, and health.  I had an ipod nano with a pedometer that kept track of steps while working and listening to the radio while walking on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. 35,000 steps in two days was the work routine.  I slept well on nights after work but was stiff and sore as well.  The ipod was stolen, replaced by a cheaper mp3 player with a radio, no pedometer. I'm on my third pedometer and am happy with it so far.  It automatically tracks all steps and aerobic steps taken if the walk is ten minutes or longer.  It figures how many steps per minute, calories used while walking and keeps tabs on my steps, speed, and calories used while walking on a daily basis for up to one week. I'm not sure what my ultimate daily walking goal will be.  I was a jogger who used to jog during the week to train for 10k races on the week...

Stanley McCrystal spoke of the need for public service and I agree completely.  He rightly says that public service goes beyond just serving in the military and there are many areas where some public service can go a long way. My own ideas about serving in the military have switched about 180 degrees.  I'm not sure having an all volunteer, professional army has worked out as intended.  There are many good things you learn in the military but making it entirely volunteer have sheltered a lot of folks from serving and really put the burden on others.  Politically I doubt we would have been as adventurous as we have been had we needed to draft young men and women to serve.  It's a little bit unseemly when poor rural areas, military families, and the urban unemployed are recruited for jobs others are too busy to consider. Going where services are needed is something we need  to relearn. Life really is a twelve month, daily activity and there is way too much...

I just finished a piece in the Daily Beast about "medical marijuana".  I think there are medical uses for weed. I think the medical uses of marijuana should be legitimately researched and I think there is a place for the recreational use of marijuana and filling the jails with nonviolent drug offenders isn't working. I've read reports about marijuana storefronts in the Los Angeles area that made it seem like they were going to be like Starbucks and I believe the County responded by establishing some zoning restrictions to slow their growth in the real estate market.  Now folks on the beach and elements of the medical profession are doing there best to expand the market by handing out prescriptions after dubious medical exams. I'm a reasonable person and this isn't good for either medical marijuana or the controlled use of a drug for recreational purposes.  South Florida has its share of bad doctors that have given palliative medicine a bad name.  Rural are...

I've enjoyed the past four years, and you are a great player.  Good luck wherever you land. Four NBA Finals, two NBA Championships in Miami is probably more a city deserves.  You don't need to go on ESPN to announce where you will be taking your family.  I know the summers are hot in Miami, the traffic stinks, and maybe you aren't a beach person. Personally, I think Pat Riley is more than a little bit full of himself and the Triple A will miss you!

The Miami Herald posted a list of the 500 best paid employees.  The County Attorney's Office, Fire Department, and Police Department have lots of folks being paid over $125,000.  In fact the top twenty make more than $250,000. The figures for salaries are published and are on the County's website. The Miami Herald had previously published a piece about the Mayor's budget for the coming year and the proposed cuts in jobs that would be needed.  Cuts are proposed in almost every county department but a lot of the cuts this year are planned for the Police and Corrections Departments. The plan is to attack wasteful administrative spending while saying that the officers on the street will not be affected.  Last year the Libraries and Fire Rescue were scheduled for huge cuts. The proposed cuts last year were delayed or reduced through the use of fund surpluses mostly from other departments. Budgeting County Services for a growing population of over 2.6 million folks...

Lilli Li is the new, youngest participant in the U.S. Women's Open, at age 11.  Lexi Thompson had been the youngest participant at age 12 in 2007 and Michelle Wie won the Women's Public Links Championship at age 13 and joined the LPGA Tour at the age of 15. All three of these golfing prodigies have faced resistance because of their young age.  Lilli is reported to have started taking golf seriously at the age of 7. Michelle Wie could hit the ball a long way and even played in a PGA event and shot a round of 68 at the Sony Open.  Much was written about pushing her too far and too fast and based on raw talent and expectations and unfair comparisons to Tiger Woods she did alright but was not the savior of the LPGA. In response to Michelle Wie's early experience Lexi Thompson and her parents also warned about going pro before she was ready but also turned pro at age 15.  She has won 4 tournaments and is the current Nabisco Champion which is one of the LPGA majors. ...