Rick Scott chooses Jennifer Carroll for running mate – Florida Governor’s race
Sep 4th
From Eric Dondero:
Meet Jennifer Carroll. She is the four-term state representative from Jacksonville. She is a Republican. And she is now the nominee of the Republican Party for Lt. Governor in the State of Florida.
From Rick Scott for Governor press release:
Carroll is the first African American Republican woman to be part of a statewide ticket in Florida. She was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad West Indies and legally immigrated to the United States as a young girl. Like Rick, Carroll served in the United States Navy. Her career in uniform spanned 20 years, she started as an enlisted servicemember and worked her way up to officer. She is also a small business owner who believes in conservative principles and knows what is needed to create jobs. She shares Rick’s conservative values – both believe in small government, lower taxes, reducing regulation, personal responsibility and personal freedom. Carroll also opposes using stimulus money to paper over deficits, government control of healthcare through Obamacare, and increased regulation like cap and trade.“I am very pleased to announce that Jennifer Carroll is joining me on this campaign to change Florida for the better,” said Scott. “She is the embodiment of the American Dream. She came to America as a young girl, decided to serve her country with the United States Navy, pursued a higher education, started a small business, and then was elected the first African American female Republican in the Florida State Legislature. Her conservative principles are in line with mine and ensures this fall will present a clear choice between conservatives with business experience and a plan to create 700,000 jobs and liberal Obamacrats who want to bring the failed Obama agenda to Florida.”
“I want to thank Rick Scott for the opportunity to join him in this race as his pick for Lieutenant Governor,” said Carroll. “Floridians are ready to elect a conservative outsider with private sector experience and a plan to create 700,000 jobs. Rick and I share core conservative principles like lower taxes, less regulation, and smaller government. I look forward to campaigning with Rick against Alex Sink, Rod Smith and their liberal agenda.”
Back in November of 2009, we ran an article here at LR. We wrote at the time “Could a Trinidadian-American Female US Navy Vet be the next Senator from Florida?”:
Sources indicate that Governor Charlie Crist will decide by next Friday who the Interim Senator for Florida will be to finish out the term of Sen. Mel Martinez. A short list has emerged, of 3 or 4 names. One of the names happens to be a GOP Rising Star: Rep. Jennifer Carroll, the first Black Female ever elected to the Florida Legislature as a Republican.
Ironically, Crist not choosing Carroll paved the way for her current emergence for Lt. Governor.
VA Republican Bob Hurt increases his lead "nominally"; now 61% to 35%
Sep 4th
Working Class Virginians going for the Republican
From Eric Dondero:
In a ho-hum manner, SurveyUSA reports new poll numbers showing an astounding 26 point lead for the Republican challenger over an incumbent Democrat.
From SurveyUSA:
In an election for US House of Representatives in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District today, 09/02/10, Republican State Senator Robert Hurt defeats incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello 61% to 35%, according to this latest exclusive WDBJ-TV poll conducted by SurveyUSA.Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released 6 weeks ago, little has changed; Hurt is up a nominal 3 points; Perriello is flat. Hurt has increased his lead among men, younger voters, independents, and lower-income voters, and now is at or above 62% among each of those groups.
Interestingly, the poll also shows Hurt gaining among voters who make less than $50,000 a year, over Perriello 64% to 33%.
Hurt has the backing of local libertarian Republicans in Virginia like blogger and former Libertarian Party State Chair Ric Sincere. He has also been endorsed by Sarah Palin.
Sounding Off: Overlooked workers
Sep 4th
We asked our Sounding Off list members:
What workers in your community who are often overlooked should we celebrate this Labor Day?
If the spirit moves you, respond to this question in the comments section here. Or, if you’d like to join the Sounding Off print respondents, click this link to send your full contact information to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
Also, check out past Sounding Off questions.
For some of the responses to this week’s question, keep reading …
Ricardo Morales
Senior, Summit International Prepatory, Arlington
Janitors should be celebrated for their work. They are crucial for a school’s success. If our hallways were always crowded with the notes of heartbroken teens, we wouldn’t be able to learn!
Tracy Begland
Petroleum engineering consultant, Coppell
Para-professionals who work with special-needs children. Because of their presence and skill, special-needs kids are integrated into the school community. Kids of all skill levels get to know, nurture and learn from each another.
Destiny DeLaRosa
Stay-at-home mom and blogger, Richardson
Definitely the city of Richardson’s citation writers. Day after day they drive around in inclement Texas weather working nobly to beautify our community. That is why, I, Destiny DeLaRosa (off of Wildwood Lane), will be celebrating their unwavering dedication to this fine city!
Austin Schubert
Senior, Plano East Senior High School
Construction workers; they are outside in the 100 degree heat every day fixing our roads, schools, etc. These men and women make the community look amazing and also keep us safe. We need to appreciate everything they have done to make the community a better place.
Renee Costello
Senior, Rockwall High School
We should be grateful for the sanitation workers, custodians, and those who do the dirty work we won’t do ourselves. They make the world we live in clean and hygienic, and impact our lives every day.
Doug Valentine
Librarian, McKillop Elementary School, Melissa
We shouldn’t overlook all of the people working on Labor Day to make it enjoyable for the rest of us. Convenience store clerks, waiters and waitresses, mall workers and countless others are there to make sure everyone else has an enjoyable day off.
Alexandra Sabater of Lakewood: Thank you to the industrious immigrants who travel far and risk much to join our community. Not only do they work hard to improve the lives of their own families, they also keep our children safe, our homes livable inside and out, our businesses growing, and our city vibrant.
Rebecca Bielamowicz of Oak Cliff: Can all of our beloved fast-food workers please stand up? Overworked and underpaid, you spend the last day of summer behind cash registers and greasy deep fryers filling customers’ whimsical requests. Knowing that you’re working while I’m lounging by the pool is enough to stave off any fast-food cravings that I might have; I’ll eat at home if it means that you have one less customer to serve so that you, too, can catch a break on Labor Day.
Elizabeth Moore
Junior, Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, Dallas
Policemen are sounder-appreciated. Notnecessarilyby the community as a whole, but by the young adults and teenagers. Kids don’t understand that police aren’t “out to get them”; they’re here to protect and serve their
community.
Casey Boland
Social studies teacher,
Lake Highlands High School, Dallas
Janitors. When things aretidy and replenished, no one notices, but if theymiss one speck of dust in an unused corner, they are reviled as lazy bums. They clean up our most intimate messes, and they make our lives healthier and more beautiful, but we ignore their existence.
Grace Cicardo
Junior, Ursuline Academy, Dallas
Those who have worked in the hot Texas summertime: construction workers, lifeguards, and gardeners, just to name a few who have braved the scorching heat all summer long.
Tehjal Suri
Senior, Parish Episcopal School, Dallas
They say a man’s best friend is a dog. But not all men know how to take care of these creatures or many other animals. Thanks to the veterinarians for all their help for keeping our loyal friends alive.
A letter from Hosam Smadi
Sep 4th
Smadi Letter
We’ve just received this interesting letter from Hosam Smadi, the admitted plotter of last year’s fake bomb attack on the 60-story Fountain Place in Dallas. First of all, he extends greetings to Dallas Morning News readers. As you can see from the letter, in which he described himself as “half Muslim,” he feels he was entrapped and that certain people were attempting to wash his brain. Odd, since he already pleaded guilty. I don’t know why he felt the need to write at this time, as he awaits sentencing for what could be 30 years in prison. His lawyer, Peter Fleury, told Federal Judge Barbara Lynn in May that Smadi suffers from schizophrenia and depression and that doctors have prescribed drugs to treat both conditions.
The bombing attempt was a “complete aberration from the rest of his short life” and Smadi is “completely remorseful for his conduct,” Fleury told the judge. She is expected to sentence Smadi later this month. Hard to say whether a letter like this would help his case.
Should a religious school reject the child of gay parents?
Sep 4th
There’s a really interesting discussion going on over at Texas Faith about whether a religious school should reject the child of gay parents.
The DMN’s Wayne Slater posted the question, which stems from a decision made by St. Vincent’s Cathedral School in Bedford. Wayne’s intro captures the dilemma well:
Olivia Harrison’s parents thought that St. Vincent’s Cathedral School in Bedford would be perfect for their 4-year-old daughter. The couple believed that, as nondenominational Christians, their values would align with those taught at the school.
But the school thought otherwise. Jill and Tracy Harrison are lesbians and a school administrator told them the school was not “a good fit for their child.” The administrator explained that the private Christian school would be teaching values and morals contrary to what the child would be learning at home, and that would be confusing for the child.
Two cherished rights were in conflict. On the one hand, freedom of religion. On the other, freedom from discrimination. Perhaps it would have been nice for the school to admit the 4-year-old, but it didn’t. Its criterion was that the values taught in class shouldn’t be different than those learned at home.
But what if the parents were agnostic or Muslim? Would it be okay to reject a student? What if the parents believed abortion was acceptable? Or were soft on the Trinity? Or drank Chardonnay on weekends? Good enough to reject the child? What if – for the purpose of this question – one of the parents was having an affair, a “moral” choice clearly in conflict with the values taught at school?
Read the link I posted above to see what Texas Faith panelists thought about where schools should draw their lines. Share your comments at that link.
‘Going halfsies’ with your student on education costs
Sep 4th
Our Tuesday Viewpoints page will feature an op/ed by financial planner and author Mitch Anthony, a piece that particularly caught my attention this morning because of this sour economic news and a handful of personal conversations with college graduates in the last couple of weeks.
I’m sure Mitch Anthony and his Financial Life Planning Institute are making their own nice nest egg through their multi-faceted operation. This is no endorsement of all that. But he makes a lot of (common) sense with his column arguing for why parents who can afford to pay their students’ entire college tab should instead go “halfsies” dollar for dollar. I’ll post a link to the entire column when we get it through the production system later today. For now, here’s an excerpt:
I have seen what happens to many young people who take what I call the “Budweiser Scholarship” of a parent-paid education. Often, 18- and 19-year-olds are clueless about what they want to do with their life and $20k-$40k/year is an awfully steep price for discovery. … As I share this idea around the country, I find I’m not the only parent who has decided to avoid spending tons of money on unsettled youth with whimsical aspirations and no financial responsibilities…. And the truth is that most people facing retirement years just can’t afford to flush multi-thousands of dollars, no matter how much they love their children.
This advice from Anthony hits home sharply with me because our older son has just finished his undergraduate work and is now facing “what to do with the rest of my life.” Ditto for many of his friends. Matthew knows what he wants to do — write — but he is now facing the cold reality of the (lack of) financial aspect of that decision.
It would have been difficult for me to have agreed with his more-pragmatic dad to try Anthony’s “dollar-for-dollar” approach to his college expenses, but in retrospect I wish I had opted for some version of it. While the graduating seniors I know haven’t simply chased “whimsical aspirations” — and many of them, including Matthew, worked through school to create savings for post-college — there is a mighty disconnect between their college studies and real jobs in a real world. Or even in their liberal arts curriculum and the real world. Did I not see this coming? Yes. But it’s far more unnerving now, when jobs are even scarcer and our retirement investments — like everyone’s — have been hit hard by the recession.
Yet as Matthew decides whether, indeed, to continue his post-graduate work, we scurry to make sure he has health insurance and continue to supplement his savings until he finds a “first step” job. We are not alone in making these commitments and decisions; other friends are doing the same for their children.
In contrast, I know another May graduate, whose parents didn’t cover nearly all her college costs — although they could have easily afforded it — one who knew she was totally going it alone financially as soon as she left campus. Facing a fast-approaching deadline, she found a good first-step job (with benefits) and a coop housing arrangement that allows her to really pinch her pennies. (This is a living setup that would be quite the culture shock for many of our upper-middle-income children. Much more of a boarding-house concept.) Frankly, she seems much clearer about “what to do with the rest of my life” — or at least, what to do in terms of working toward a first goal. Perhaps that’s all just a coincidence.
No huge wisdom in this … just musings, as I know a lot of parents are still “learning on the job.” And what better way to learn than from the mistakes of those of us who have already traveled this road.
Eddie Bernice Johnson keeps trying to excuse her ethical lapse
Sep 4th
In her multiple attempts to explain her unethical behavior, Eddie Bernice Johnson has now officially exhausted every lame excuse. Previously, she said it was no big deal. Then she said there were no better applicants. Then she said she was unaware of the rules. (Along the way, she said she was recovering from surgery, hence her slow response.) And now, finally, she says that she didn’t do it — her staff is to blame.
She could write a book on how to avoid taking responsibility.
She has said one thing that makes my head explode. She offers this as an explanation/excuse:
“I did not have an ethical alarm go off.”
That, in a nutshell, is the problem! That is a clear sign that she is unfit to represent her community, that she cannot be trusted. Her mismanagement of the situation only helps to bolster the case made by her own admission: Her ethical barometer is broken, if it ever worked at all.
And now, for a little fun on the subject. Our letters are running 65-4 against EBJ. But only one has offered us a limerick, this coming courtesy of reader Bruce Davidson:
They’re planning for college,…my nephew and niece.
But tuition always always seems to be on the increase.
They could make and sell pottery,
Or win the lottery.
Or say they’re related to Eddie Berniece
But tuition always always seems to be on the increase.
They could make and sell pottery,
Or win the lottery.
Or say they’re related to Eddie Berniece
Second drill joins effort to aid trapped Chile miners
Sep 4th
A second drill that will widen a supply chute to 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine, and could aid their rescue, arrived Friday at the site where the men have been trapped for nearly a month.
The T-130 excavator arrived at the San Jose mine after engineers resumed drilling a rescue borehole after a brief halt to allow the walls of the shaft to be cemented.
The second drill arrived in pieces, transported on five trucks to the site of the copper and gold mine in Chile’s Atacama desert, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Santiago.
“I feel so much emotion and I’m impatient to begin work as soon as possible,” Juan Castillo Olea, who drove one of the trucks carrying the machine parts, told AFP.
Engineers on Monday began using the Strata 950 to drill a tunnel down to the men, briefly pausing operations Thursday afternoon to shore up the walls of the rescue shaft. On Friday they resumed the operation, which could take up to four months.
The T-130 is faster than the Strata 950 and will be deployed initially to enlarge the supply chute to a diameter of 30 centimeters (12 inches).
The process will allow teams of nutritionists, doctors and the miners’ relatives to send larger objects down to the 33 men, according to Andrew Sougarret, the engineer coordinating the operations.
Engineers are also examining whether the supply chute could be enlarged further, giving rescuers a second potential rescue route, a back-up option, he said.
Work on the main rescue tunnel resumed overnight, a rescue worker told AFP.
“The machine began working again at midnight. The delay had been programmed to allow cementing operations,” he added, asking to remain anonymous.
Drilling had been halted Thursday afternoon once the crews reached 40 meters (130 feet) deep to cement the walls of the bore hole “to ensure no water can seep in through any cracks,” the National Emergencies Office said.
Officials have been working to keep up the morale of the miners, trapped since August 5, amid warnings that it could take until Christmas to get them out.
Official estimates are that it will take three to four months to extract the men from 700 meters (2,300 feet) below the earth’s surface. They have been told salvation is more than two months away, but not given a precise date.
Drilling was also stopped briefly on Wednesday after a geological fault was found, but Sougarret said such stoppages had been foreseen in the risky operation.
The miners have been given nutrition, water, clothing, medication and even entertainment — videos and playing cards — to while away the long wait. They have already set a record for the longest time trapped underground.
Since Thursday, they have also been fed proper, hot meals of nutritionally balanced dishes, which “was well received by some of the miners,” according to the National Emergencies Office.
And they will soon be able to see and talk to loved ones through a video link, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said Thursday.
The morale-boosting technology will be made possible by lowering a fiber-optic cable to the men, who were cut off deep down in the San Jose mine by a cave-in.
Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera said the cable would also allow the men to watch a live broadcast of a friendly soccer match between Chile and Ukraine next week.
“On Tuesday, they will be able to see the match between Chile and Ukraine, as the same time as all Chileans,” Pinera said at a press conference.
One of trapped miners, Franklin Lobos, was a former professional footballer in the 1980s, and even made Chile’s national team.
Mozambique police quell fresh riots
Sep 4th
Police in Mozambique fired rubber bullets and live ammunition to quell more demonstrations against rising food prices, as the death toll from the unrest climbed to 10 with more than 440 injured.
“Police fired live ammunition but did not fire directly at the crowds. Two people were hit by stray bullets,” said police spokesman Belmiro Mutadiwa.
Police took action to disperse groups of people after they began burning tyres on the streets and stoning cars.
“Six people were wounded of which two were hospitalised and 50 were arrested during demonstration in the main market in (the central town of) Chimoio,” said Mutadiwa.
Health Minister Ivo Garrido said the death toll rose from seven to ten due to three earlier deaths being registered Friday.
“The total number of deaths from the first day of the riots until 7 am (0500GMT) this morning is 10,” Garrido said in a statement.
“In the last 24 hours I can confirm that we registered three deaths directly linked to the demonstrations, which puts the total number of deaths to ten,” he added.
The violent demonstrations began on Wednesday with the government saying the price rises were “irreversible.”
The Red Cross said isolated cases of unrest also erupted Friday in the outskirts of the capital Maputo, with people setting fire to tyres in the streets during demonstrations.
“Individuals set fire to tyres in the street, but fled when police arrived,” said Red Cross spokesman Americo Ubisse.
“These acts appear when the police are not there. People disappear when the police arrive,” he added.
Long queues for food and fuel formed in the streets of Mozambique’s capital earlier Friday as shops reopened following Thursday’s unrest.
The UN‘s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) meanwhile said it would hold a special meeting on September 24 to discuss rising world food prices, with an official admitting there was “a lot of volatility” in cereal markets.
The FAO official rejected comparisons with the situation in 2007-2008, however, when food shortages and the resulting price rises sparked riots throughout the developing world.
Maputo residents left hungry after two days of store closures formed 20-metre (-yard) queues outside bakeries Friday, but complained they could barely afford to buy bread after a 17-percent price increase.
“People don’t have money to buy food,” domestic worker Elisa Aldino told AFP, visibly angry as she queued for bread at a bakery in a middle-class neighbourhood.
“They don’t have enough. If they don’t have money, they sleep without eating.”
Long queues of cars had also formed at petrol stations around the city.
Heavy police patrols continued throughout the city Friday, as small vendors reopened their stalls and small trucks loaded with people and produce took passengers to markets.
Government spokesman Alberto Nkutumula said the two days of unrest had cost the economy 122 million meticals (3.3 million dollars, 2.6 million euros).
Prices in the import-dependent country have risen on the back of a South African rand whose value has appreciated 43 percent against the Mozambican metical since this time last year.
Mozambique’s state utility company implemented a 13.4-percent rate increase Wednesday, while the state water supplier raised prices in and around the capital, state newspaper Noticias said.
The price of bread has also risen 17 percent, increasing pressure on struggling households in a country with a per-capita income of just 794 dollars (620 euros) a year.
The violence is the worst in Mozambique since 2008, when six people were killed in protests against a public transport fare increase.
Drilling to reach trapped Chile miners resumes
Sep 4th
Engineers Friday resumed drilling after operations were briefly suspended in the battle to reach 33 miners trapped in a collapsed Chilean mine for almost a month, a rescue worker said.
“The machine began working again at midnight. The delay had been programmed to allow cementing operations,” he added, asking to remain anonymous.
Drilling had been halted Thursday afternoon once the crews reached 40 meters (130 feet) deep to cement the walls of the bore hole “to ensure no water can seep in through any cracks,” the National Emergencies Office said.
Officials have been working to keep up the morale of the miners, trapped since August 5, amid warnings that it could take until Christmas to get them out.
Official estimates are that it will take three to four months to extract the men from 700 meters (2,300 feet) below the earth’s surface. They have been told salvation is more than two months away, but not given a precise date.
Drilling was also stopped briefly on Wednesday after a geological fault was found, but the chief engineer overseeing the rescue operation, Andre Sougarret, said such stoppages had been foreseen in the risky operation.
The miners have been given nutrition, water, clothing, medication and even entertainment — videos and playing cards — to while away the long wait. They have already set a record for the longest time trapped underground.
Since Thursday, they have also been fed proper, hot meals of nutritionally balanced dishes, which “was well received by some of the miners,” according to the National Emergencies Office.
And they will soon be able to see and talk to loved ones through a video link, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said Thursday.
The morale-boosting technology will be made possible by lowering a fiber-optic cable to the men, who were cut off deep down in the San Jose mine by a cave-in.