Katrina causes chaos, a first hand experience

Kartik Krishnaiyer

I just got out of Downtown Miami about an hour ahead of Katrina's wrath. My father was at Cedars Medial Center awaiting cancer surgery scheduled for this afternoon. He had gone through all of the pre-surgical routine including having his I.V. installed and not eating for almost 48 hours. Thinking a weak Tropical Storm Katrina was about 12 hours (or so we thought) away everything was going as planned, then Katrina took a detour. I had sent Beth with my car to go check on Sebastian our lovable baby schnauzer, not knowing the storm had intensified rapidly to become a Hurricane and was closing bearing down on us. Obviously the chaos that ensued on Miami-Dade and Broward roads was an indication that I was not the only one caught flat-footed.

Not only was my dad's surgery delayed at the very last minute as he was about to be wheeled into the operating room, but a long planned trip to California already delayed and contracted by a few days due to the surgery is now becoming a nightmare. I was due to fly out Friday morning at 6:45 but now that flight has obviously been cancelled, as has a slew of hotel reservations and other plans. Katrina has packed an unpredicted punch and perhaps this Strom will remind Miami-Dade and Broward Counties (virtually the only parts of Florida not seriously affected by last year's barrage of storms) to respect mother nature all over again.

Hats off to Broward County Mayor Kristin Jacobs and Sheriff Ken Jenne for their cautious but justified decisions to activate the EOC early and prepare Broward residents as best they could. Unfortunately, not everyone headed their well timed advice.

Raul Martinez retiring as Hialeah Mayor

After nearly three decades leading one of Florida's largest cities, Raul Martinez is retiring this November.

Pat Robertson and Hugo Chavez

an analysis at KartiksWorld.

www.kartiksworld.blogspot.com

Marlins within 1/2 gameof NL Wild Card lead

Following a 9-4 homestand the Marlins have moved within a half game of Houstonfor the NL Wild Card lead. It is going to be an exciting stretch run of the season here in South florida!

Independent Redistricting is all of a sudden a big issue

This election cycle, The Independent Redistricting ballot initiative which is a worthy project to ensure citizen democracy is getting lots of attention both politically and in the statewide press. But why, now when this initiative has been pushed for each of the last four election cycles? In 1998, the constitutional revision commission rejected the initiative by one vote. In 2000, 2002 and 2004 the initiative failed to get the necessary signatures to make the ballot. Each time a ballot drive has begun on this issues it has met hostility from Republican as well as Democratic lawmakers who see Legislative control of Redistricting as a way to protect incumbents.

It is very ironic that the same Democrats (with a few heroic exceptions like Rep. Tim Ryan of Dania Beach and Rep Anne Gannon of Delray Beach) have now embraced the issue that they were so eager to see die in the past election cycles. Perhaps it is because the very same incumbents that are now term limited before 2012 were trying to protect themselves in past cycles by cutting deals with the GOP majority?

Regardless of which party is in power, district lines should be drawn in the public interest. Whether the GOP or Democrats control the process, the last two redistricting processes (1992 and 2002) have proven neither party can control itself and act in public interest when drawing these lines. Florida’s legislative and congressional districts look like something out a Salvador Dali painting rather than a logical map. Politicians of both parties have abused their power and the public trust by drawing districts that maximize partisan and personal advantage over maintaining communities of interest and logical geographic divisions. This Constitutional amendment must succeed if Florida is to have a responsible citizen oriented government.    

Miami and Oklahoma to play in 2007 and 2009

Miami and Oklahoma have signed a contract to play each other in 2007 (in Norman) and 2009 (in Miami). The two programs have been among the most dominant since 2000, sporting the two best records this decade in all of College Football.

The two schools played a classic 3 games series win the mid 1980s with Miami winning all three games in a contrast of styles: OU's wishbone option versus UM's pro style. Vinny Testeverde is thought to have sewn up the Heisman Trophy in 1986 with his play in Miami's 28-16 win that year.

Gore Vidal book review at Kartik's World

www.kartiksworld.blogspot.com

A big week for Rod Smith: Davis and Smith bases differ greatly

Tiger Bay Appearance coincides with Palm Beach Endorsements. Is the race between soccer moms and NASCAR dads?


Senator Rod Smith continued his campaign for Governor this past week with several important developments. First, on Sunday he met with the leadership of Palm Beach County’s People’s Choice Political Action Committee. The group headed by Commissioner Burt Aaronson and Political activists Andre’ Fladell will meet with Jim Davis on June 28th. Following this event, Smith received the endorsements of nine key Palm Beach County elected officials.

In a meeting with the editorial board of the St Petersburg Times, Smith pointed out that typical Democratic candidates get beat statewide because they perform so poorly in the areas North of Ocala (except for clusters of liberal voters around Tallahassee and Gainesville). Smith believes he can change that and if he his four previous elections (two as State Attorney and two to the State Senate) are any indication he certainly has a good shot. Scott Maddox whose candidacy appears dead, ran very strongly in most rural counties in the 2002 Attorney General’s Primary. His statewide loss can be attributed to the strength of Buddy Dyer in Central Florida’s I-4 corridor. With Maddox probably out of the race by the time the primary roles around, smith can count on a stronger unified North Florida vote than Maddox got in 2002 versus Dyer. (In many rural counties George Sheldon who ran third took votes that would otherwise have likely gone to Maddox.) At Tiger Bay, Smith was more diplomatic but still on point. Winning a general election in areas Democrats typically lose is the key. Davis can counter that having run several times for office in Florida’s largest media market enables him, not Smith to reach out to the greatest number of voters. Davis’ profile also it can be argued will play well in the Orlando area, the home of the once famous “soccer moms” that were seen as a swing demographic in the 1990s. Smith’s base and potential swing votes come from areas populated heavily by the national media’s new favorite demographic, NASCAR dads and also rabid College Football fans. (The further west you go in the panhandle though, Florida and Florida State get less popular and Alabama and Auburn get more popular. South Florida which is probably the least meaningful area of the State in a General Election is dominated by University of Miami fans. Despite a huge population, South Florida’s turnout percentage lags far behind the rest of the state in both primary and general elections)

Davis may be looking ahead to a General Election based on recent Congressional votes and his campaign schedule. While Davis leads the primary currently by a very large margin, over half the voters are still undecided, something that clearly favors the lesser known Smith. Whomever wins the nomination, an uphill fight against the GOP nominee awaits.

Marlins record third straight shutout

The Marlins are only a half game out of the NL wild card lead with just over a month remaining in the season. They recorded their third straight shutout, a club record with a 3-0 win over the LA Dodgers tonight. A.J. Burnett pitched 8 scoreless innings following similar efforts by Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett the previous two nights.

Scarborough Country the wrong move for the GOP

Is Jeb Bush or Toni Jennings waiting in the wings?


The GOP seems once again at a loss to find a candidate for the United States Senate. The national and state leadership of the party have determined that Katherine Harris is the wrong move for the party. Yet, the focus for a primary challenge thus far has focused on two totally unelectable statewide candidates. The first Allan Bense, the current House Speaker (R-Panama City) is your stereotypical conservative panhandle Republican, someone who was sure to play poorly in the critical I-4 corridor region of the state. Now, with Bense out of the running the GOP leadership have sought current MSNBC talk show host and former Pensacola Congressman Joe Scarborough to be a candidate.

Scarborough seems like a nice All-American boy, perhaps like one of your next door neighbors. But an uglier side exists to Scarborough. who like so many Republicans preaches about family values and the American way, but practices something very different. In 1998 Scarborough divorced his first wife due to allegations of adultery and excessive partying in the nations capitol. (much like Tom DeLay's first years in Washington.) Scarborough, ever the politician attempted to get the divorce hushed up in Pensacola, a conservative town by trying to file for divorce in Volusia County (Daytona Beach) over 500 miles away from his Congressional district. In the Summer of 2001, Scarborough abruptly resigned from Congress ostensibly to spend more time with his family, but amid rumors that circulated in both Pensacola and Washington about Scarborough womanizing and partying on an almost nightly basis. That same summer one of Scarborough young female aides was found dead in his office, an aide rumored to have had an affair future talk show host.

For many, Republican family values does not extend beyond political rhetoric. For these Republicans, Scarborough would be the perfect candidate. For others who are truly concerned about the family and don't just exploit it in order to garner votes Scarborough will be seen as a cancer. Scarborough for his part looks unlikely to run, perhaps because he knows websites like this will have a field day with his candidacy.

Despite the almost daily excitiement a Scarborough candidacy would provide blogsites like this, could this entire public drama be a smokescreen for the GOP? Are the Republicans actually paving the way for either Governor Jeb Bush or LT. Gov Toni Jennings to seek the U.S. Senate seat? This remains to be seen, but perhaps this whole thing has been a game, a bit of a fun rouse for the GOP? Only time will be tell................................

Should the Trail of Tears have gone further?

FSU President T.K. Wetherell and Florida Senator Jim King (R-Jacksonville) ought to reprimanded for insensitive statements. Governor Bush needs to help clean up the mess

Florida once again has a black eye nationally. This time you can thank the NCAA's politically charged President Miles Brand (who as Indiana University President fired Bobby Knight as Head Basketball coach to appease the national media), and an overeaction from two of Florida's leading legislative figures of the past twenty years Former Democratic House Speaker, and current Florida State President T.K. Wetherell and former Senate President Jim King (who served in the House with Wetherell) for the flap.

Two weeks ago, the NCAA announced its long anticipated ban on Indian mascots in postseason competition. Florida State President T.K. Wetherell reacted with venom and hostility the second the ban was announced claiming he was given no advance notice and claimed he would paint the Seminole symbol "three times as large at Doak Campbell Stadium," something that would surely intimidate FSU's rival, Miami who comes to town in less than a month sporting a six game winning streak in the series. Wetherell claimed he had no knowledge of the NCAAs plans even though blog sites, including our sister site Florida College Sports had advance notice about the ban a full month earlier!

Most neutral observers are in agreement that the NCAA under Brand overstepped its bounds. Given the opportunity, most institutions would follow the examples set by Ole Miss when they banned the Confederate Battle Flag from home football games (largely because Mississippi State was using the flag as a tool to lure African-American ball players away from Oxford and towards Starkville), and St John's when they changed their name from Redmen to Red Storm and move towards a more sensitive course with counsel from the NCAA instead of ironclad doctrines. However once the NCAA had issued its ruling the other affected member institutions such as the University of Illinois (whose Basketball team nearly won last seasons NCAA title) while disappointed about the ban, sought counsel and did not issue bombastic statements and seek political intervention to berate the NCAA, unlike FSU. Florida State University's leading advocates reaction to the ban has been at best childish and at worst racist. The whole university culture needs to change as demonstrated by this episode: the Seminole nation is not willing to even make an effort to understand what offends so many people about their nickname and gameday rituals.

This past week, Senator King urged an anti trust investigation into the NCAA even though the State of Florida has no jurisdiction in the matter and Wetherell stated "maybe the Trail of Tears should have gone farther, I don't know," referring to the Oklahoma Seminole tribe who has been less eager to embrace Florida State's use of the nickname than has the politically charged Florida tribe. King added that the Oklahoma Seminoles who endured great suffering during the Trail of Tears inflicted during Andrew Jackson's administration, were simply Indians who gave up and took the cozy reservation life over a fight like the Florida Seminoles. (If anything it is the opposite: It was the Florida Seminoles who defied American law and cut and ran into the Everglades thus inflicting great losses on American soldiers during the Second Seminole War of 1842-1845: I am not passing judgement on the Florida Seminoles actions and believe they were brave and heroic, but am pointing out that the Oklahoma Seminoles are the ones who complied with the law and the will of the political leadership at the time) Jeb Bush's friend and appointee to the FSU board of Trustees stated FSU Trustee Richard McFarlian alleged that Oklahoma did not have real Seminoles. Does Jeb Bush support McFarlian, King, and Wetherell's statements? Is Governor Bush as the most visible Floridian going to continue to allow Florida to look like an ignorant racist backwater state in the eyes of many in the elite Northern dominated media, an instituion always looking to belittle Florida and the South in general? Will Governor Bush continue to allow Florida's many critics the ammunition for which to laugh at us, thus undermining his own national (and international) efforts to portray Florida as a haven for business and tourists. Could the behavior of Florida lawmakers undermine Florida's efforts to get such international prizes as the FTAA and numerous conventions? While this may all seem like a strecth if Florida gets portrayed the way Mississippi and Alabama did by the media in the 1960s and 1970s, who knows how serious the consequences will be?

Florida State University is a major state university in the nation's 4th largest state. It is an institution whose academic reputation has grown immeasurably in the past decade thanks in large measure to its former President Sandy Dalemberte. FSU's boosters in State Government and its current President, a former FSU football player and House Speaker have an obligation to apologize to the citizens of our state and to work with the NCAA to ensure that the Seminoles remain the Seminoles. Anything less would be betrayal of the institution and state they claim to love so much.

US Airways ending Fort Lauderdale-Central America nonstops

US Airways announced Monday morning that it will be ending all service from Fort Lauderdale to Central America. Service to Guatemala City will be shifted to Charlotte effective November 9th and nonstop service to San Jose will be suspended. Earlier this year, US Airways ended nonstops from Fort Lauderdale to Panama City and San Salvador due to poor passenger loads. US Airways also announced that they would add an additional daily flight from Fort Lauderdale to both Kingston and Santo Domingo effective November 10th. This would give Us Airways a total of two daily nonstop flights from Fort Lauderdale to both cities.

While Fort Lauderdale is the busiest domestic airport in the state, it appears to be flopping as an International gateway alternative to Miami. Fort Lauderdale is the nation's fastest growing (and most congested) domestic airport, but in the past year and a half has had severe reductions in International service including the loss of AeroMexico service to Mexico City, ACES service to Bogota, and American Airlines service to Caracas. US Airways had ambitious plans for a Fort Lauderdale hub to rival American's Miami operation, but thus far US Airways has found the endeveor to be rough going and thus is pulling back except from markets such as Santo Domingo and Kingston which rely primarily on Broward County traffic, rather than connections or Miami-Dade traffic.

Dames Point Bridge answers

We've had a number of questions in the last three weeks concerning Jacksonville's Dames Point (Napoleon B. Broward) Bridge since we discussed the possibility of a new St John's River on the site of the current Shands Bridge south of Jacksonville and Orange Park. Here is a link to an excellent site describing the bridge's history and photos.

Lightning strikes, Florida style.

Florida is the lightning capital of America, and has led the nation in lightning related deaths since 1990. Sunday's Florida Today had an excellent piece on the phenomena that is making Florida infamous yet again.

Florida fails on lobbyist regulations

According to this morning's St Petersburg Times , Florida ranks in the bottom tier in lobbyist regulation and disclosure according to the Center for Public Integrity. Could this be a boon for Tom Lee's fledgling campaign for CFO, considering it was Lee who pushed Lobbyist reform that was rejected by the Conservative Florida House last session? With business leaders already implying they will line up behind Rep. Randy Johnson (R-Celebration) or likely Democratic candidate Alex Sink, Lee may have the flexibility to tackle this issue yet again. next session.

Palm Beach Democrats backing off Maddox?

Maddox Suffers Another Blow


Scott Maddox's campaign for Governor will suffer another blow this weekend as leaders of the People's Choice P.A.C. of Palm Beach County dine Sunday night with Senator Rod Smith. In May, before Scott Maddox announced his candidacy for Governor several leaders of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party including Congressman Robert Wexler and local leader Andre Fladell announced support for Maddox according to the Palm Beach Post's George Bennent. The same group will dine with Congressman Jim Davis on August 28, and is likely to support either Davis or Smith over Maddox based on recent indications. The group claims to control the votes of as many as 75,000 likely Democratic Primary voters, a daunting number in a primary which is likely to only have between 500,000 and 750,000 votes cast statewide. Many Democratic strategists consider the group's leader Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson to be among the most influential and important Democratic leaders in the state.

Despite the sheer numbers the group claims to represent, the Democratic clubs that make up the P.A.C. largely endorsed Bill McBride over Janet Reno in 2002, and saw McBride get less than 33% of the vote in the areas they represent. The group also got beat badly in a hotly contested judicial race the same year. Despite this track record in the last Governor's race, the group is seen as an important factor in the 2006 race by each of the campaigns.

Rod Smith is thought to have a substantial advantage in courting this important group largely because he has had a much stronger presence in Southeast Florida thus far in the campaign than Jim Davis, and also because he is backed actively by Agricultural and Sugar interests, both of whom have lots of sway in local Democratic politics. Rod Smith is also thought to be favored candidate of Labor throughout the state. Jim Davis to this point has made little impression on the Southeast Florida poltical scene, though he is organizing successfully by all indications in Central and Southwest Florida, including in his home area of Tampa.

Bush continues to fail on Iran

Commentary at www.kartiksworld.blogspot.com

ESPN.com reports Coker gets a five year extension

As reported by Florida College Sports last week, Miami head Football coach Larry Coker was given a contract extension for a reported 5 years according to ESPN.com

Summary of highway bill funding for Florida

President Bush signed a $286 Billion transportation bill yesterday.

Among the projects for Florida:

• An additional $ 10 million added to the already funded $80 million for I-75 expansion from four to six lanes in Collier and Lee counties.
• $10.4 million to build an interchange at Interstate 95 and the Pineda Expressway for the extension project that will connect beachside and the Suntree area to I-95 just north of Melbourne.
• $ 3 million to Miami-Dade County to help plan the proposed $ 1.5 billion tunnel under Biscayne Bay from the Port of Miami to Downtown.
• $ 4 million for proposed route 9B which will link route 9A and I-95 on the southside of Jacksonville. The route 9B when complete will carry the Interstate designation I-795.
• An additional $13 million for South Florida's Tri Rail Commuter rail system.

Davis visits Martin County: Is the I-95 corridor the key to statewide success?

Democratic candidate for Governor Jim Davis visited heavily Republican Martin County yesterday, his first visit to the county during this campaign. Davis, who has been tagged by many in the party and political community as boring and too wonkish on policy tried to act folksy with the crowd in Stuart. Davis trails Republican Charlie Crist by a wide margin in theoretical head to head general election polls.

If any Democrat is going to win a statewide office in 2006, they will need to shave votes off the enormous Republican margins coming from counties along the I-95 corridor such as Martin, Indian River, Brevard and St John's. Each of these counties has over 100,000 residents (Brevard has over 500,000 residents and is an under appreciated vote gem in statewide politics) and the Democrats typically are not competitive at all in these places despite some strong Democratic activism in the areas. Three other I-95 counties, St Lucie, Volusia and Flagler are also very important and when Democrats have carried these three counties they have won statewide elections. This part of the state has been forgotten by Democratic strategist but worked relentlessly by the GOP, and the results have shown.

The death of Peter Jennings and the future of network news

A full analysis at Kartik's World.

Maddox-Florida PBA feud a major factor in Governor's race

The St Petersburg times has an excellent article dissecting the background of the current feud between Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Scott Maddox and the Florida PBA and organization that for much of Maddox's lifetime was led by his father. The Maddox campaign has suffered many recent setbacks due to the accusation of fiscal inproprieties at the Florida Democratic Party including a lien on the party's bank account placed by the IRS for a failure to pay Federal payroll and social security taxes in a timely fashion. Maddox has also been rocked by important defections from his campaign, including the loss of his finance director who has served in the same capacity with John Kerry's campaign in Florida and the possible loss of key political support throughout the state. These developments all seem to have Maddo's campaign in a downward spiral where his long term viability in the race for Governor is being questioned by even his most die in the wool supporters.

Source: Coker getting an extension

A source has indicated to Florida College Sports that Larry Coker will be getting a contract extension from the University of Miami sometime this week. Despite playing for the National title his first two seasons as coach, Miami has slumped badly the past two seasons. Last season Miami lost a home game to Clemson, its first loss to a team that did not play in a post season Bowl game since 1979. Miami also lost to a 6-5 North Carolina team, that was under .500 at the time of the game, the first loss to a team with a losing record by Miami later than the third week of the season since 1978. Clearly Larry Coker needs to prover himself all over again to Hurricanes fans and alumni if not to Paul Dee and Donna Shalala.

Injuries continue to bite the Marlins.

The Marlins in the heat of a pennant race have lost three starters for the foreseeable future. All Star Paul LoDuca strained a hamstring and is out at least a week. Carlos Delgado, the Marlins second leading home run hitter has been placed on the 15 day DL and Juan Encarnacion, third on the team in Home Runs is out indefinitely.

The Marlins are depleted and are having trouble scoring runs with the aforementioned players on the shelve. Thankfully, when Dontrelle Willis pitches like he did today you don't need a whole of runs to win. Willis ran his record to 15-7 with a brilliant performance pitching 8 shutout innings in a 2-0 win over the Reds at Great America Ballpark.

WESH revamping news lineups

After several months of declining ratings, WESH-CH 2 in Orlando has revamped its news anchors and lineup according to the Orlando Sentinel. WESH has been very cautious for years with its news product and has done the lest tinkering of lineups, production or presentation of any Orlando media market TV station.

New Flights to/from Florida announced this week

• Song announced a daily Orlando-San Fransisco round trip effective Novermber 1st
• Song announced an additional Los Angeles-Fort Lauderdale flight bringing the total to two dailies
• Air Tran announced new nonstops from Orlando and Sarasota to Detroit. This service in addition to the existing nonstop on Air Tran from Orlando and Tampa to nearby Flint.

NCAA bans Indian nicknames in postseason

The long anticipated ban on Indian mascots came down halfheartedly from the NCAA yesterday. The ban only applies to postseason competitions sanctioned by the NCAA (which means Football is not touched since the NCAA has no postseason division I-A tournament) and would require schools to patch up any symbols that according to the NCAA are "hostile or abusive."

Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell said yesterday that changing the FSU nickname "was not an option," and that he had a mind to "paint the Seminole logo three times as big at Doak Campbell Stadium." Wetherell even indicated that FSU is prepared to sue the NCAA to keep its nickname. Florida State boosters have ahead a similar angry public reaction.While the NCAA is being currently run by too many do-gooder liberal politically correct types who bungle almost every major decision that they make, FSU's reaction is equally if not even more disturbing.

Nicknames such as the Redskins (Miami of Ohio) and Redmen (St John's) were offensive and were changed by the institutions prior to this ban. Others like the Seminoles (Florida State) and Illini (Illinois) represent the glorious past of the area and states which these schools reside in. Any attempt by the NCAA to change these long standing and traditional nicknames was bound to meet with a hostile reaction from the institutions themselves.

This having been said, and despite FSU's decades long mantra that the nickname is approved by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the depiction of the Seminole log on Florida State's merchandise, the use of a spear on its helmet, the FSU fan war chant, and the stereotypical mascot Chief Osceola borders on offensive to even the least racially sensitive person. Indian leaders around the country have asked the NCAA over and over again to impose a ban on the names and despite yesterday's actions they still want more- a total ban which prohibits the use of the names in the future.Other schools with Indian mascots such as the aforementioned St John's, Marquette and Syracuse as well have voluntarily changed their nicknames despite resistance from the fans. Florida State's administration needs to show some leadership and sensitivity to the reality of today's world and to the NCAA as well and change its nickname.

(Please comment on this at www.floridacollegesports.blogspot.com)

Congressional leaders warn Florida about the pace of Everglades cleanup

Today's Tallahassee Democrat has a story about the concern Congress has about florida's lack of commitment to Everglades restoration and cleanup. Four senior members of House, from both parties signed a letter that stated they would oppose any proposal to relax deadlines or ease requirements for reduced levels of phosphorus in the Everglades by Dec. 31, 2006. These deadlines were relaxed by Florida in 2003 when the Legislature with overwhelming bi-partisan majorities passed a law that was signed by Governor Jeb Bush and opposed strongly by most leading Environmental groups. The new law was immediately challenged in court by a group that included among others U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fort Lauderdale) and the Miccousokee Tribe of Florida.

Bense won't run against Harris

No surprise here. The big question now is whether Katherine Harris will get a primary or if she will have a clean shot at knocking off Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in November 2006.

Miami Heat mega deal

Antoine Walker to the Heat highlights the largest trade in NBA History.

The Miami Heat were just 3 minutes away from maaing the NBA Finals last season and yet this morning pulled the trigger on what is a very risky deal, whose upside questionable. Nobody questions that Antoine Walker and Jason Williams two of the players acquired by Miami are very talented. But both are troubled players whose lasting legacy to their previous teams are ones of attitude problems and unfulfilled potential. In the exchange, the Heat gave up Eddie Jones, the teams best defender, Rashual Butler who could produce instant offense off the bench and probably gave up any chance of resigning three point sharpshooter Damon Jones.

Why Pat Riley feels he needed to totally overhaul a team that was so close to winning the Eastern Conference is up for speculation. Could Riley be interested in seeing Stan Van Gundy fail, so that he can re-insert himself as coach? Conspiracy theories aside, how do these trades make any sense for the Heat?

Shaq re-signs with the Heat

Shaq, ever the team player gives Miami some salary cap room to maneuver

ESPN.com is reporting that Shaq has agreed to a $100 million/5 year extension with the Heat. Shaq had opted out of his previous contract that would have paid him $30 million for the upcoming season. The $10 million in savings allows the Heat the be more aggressive in the free agent and trade market.

Hispanics sue city of Kissimmee

The City of Kissimmee's multi member district commission plan has come under attack from leaders in the local Hispanic community. Osceola County has become heavily Hispanic in the past ten years, but political representation in the county has not been growing at a similar rate. The City Commission has never had a Hispanic on the board.

Yet again, Lenny Harris comes through in a pinch!

Just call him clutch. During his 18 year MLB career, nobody has gotten more pinch hits than Miami native Lenny Harris. Even more impressive nobody in the history of the game has gotten more pinch hits then Lenny Harris. Tonight, Harris did it again knocking a three runs on a clutch pinch hit single that carried the Marlins to within 2 games of Houston in the Wild Card Race with a 6-5 win in St Louis. What's even more amazing about Harris is that at 40 he is arguably more clutch than ever, and probably will be a key cog as the Marlins push towards postseason yet again. Anyway you cut it, Lenny Harris is a titan of the game, one for the ages.

Bush on North Korea: The US punts

Right now at Kartiks World.