Category Archives: Miami

In Airlines Cutting Fares for Holiday Season the Washington Post asks,

Nashville for Thanksgiving, anyone? Miami for Christmas?

Yes, Miami for Christmas. That's the ticket for me.

This place really is amazing. This morning's Herald had this beauty: Balloon birds = lights out,

A run-in between a singing Hannah Montana balloon and a flock of birds knocked out power to a Miami neighborhood Monday.

The incident unfolded about 7:30 a.m. outside Jose De Diego Middle School, 3100 NW Fifth Ave..

Fire officials said the balloon may have scared about 300 birds that roost on power lines near the school, knocking a line loose when the birds fled.

It caused a power outage in a five-block radius for a few hours, and forced the rescheduling of an event at the school with Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

All the birds survived.

The small pink-and-silver Hannah Montana balloon was the only thing that did not emerge unscathed — though it did greet Miami Fire Rescue personnel with the teen singer's hit The Best of Both Worlds.

Rube Goldberg would be proud.

Power was out in my neighborhood for most of Saturday afternoon. I wonder if we had a balloon too?

Just spent an hour and a half before class handing out Taddeo leaflets at my local precinct. The isn't that long, but it is moving slowly — voters say it's a 40-70 minute wait.

One thing slowing the count is that many student voters are being rejected for social security mis-matches. It's a suspiciously large fraction of them. Originally the clerks were failing to give proper instructions about how the provisional ballots worked, and but for the presence of the voting rights attorney organized through the Obama campaign, those students would not have cast valid ballots. Fortunately, he was there, and the he explained to them what they had to do. Then he straightened out the clerks, and by the time I left the trickle of rejected voters had not lessened but it seemed they were being treated better.

Another issue is that all the students in two large dorms seem to have been sent erroneous voting cards which show their voting location to be my precinct when in fact they vote on campus. (I think I heard it was Eaton and Hecht, but I'm not sure.) If you are a UM student, look for signs by the entrance to your dorm giving you instructions where to vote, or call the elections department.

I hope this is simple error and not malice…

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

MiamiHerald.com has taken the data about waiting times at South Florida polling places and mapped them to make them easier to use on a somewhat real-time basis.

(Thanks to MM for the pointer.)

Meanwhile, I'm working through my sample ballot, and (in response to actual popular demand) plan to post a personal voting guide Real Soon Now™.

Even the traveling press isn't being told exactly where George Bush will be in Coral Gables tomorrow.

This is all the White House will say:

Coral Gables, Florida
2:35 p.m. EDT – EVENT: REMARKS AT A CONGRESSIONAL TRUST 2008
3:25 p.m. EDT RECEPTION
(CLOSED PRESS)
LOCATION: Private Residence
Coral Gables, Florida

3:45 p.m. EDT – 4:30 p.m. EDT EVENT: MEETING WITH CUBAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY LEADERS
(TRAVEL POOL COVERAGE AT END)

LOCATION: Coral Gables Location
Coral Gables, Florida

I suppose they know that if they let anything out, the demonstrators would be out in force. Probably headed by an army of retirees who have seen their savings start to evaporate.

Yes, George Bush is afraid of angry grandmothers. Probably with good reason.