Category Archives: Miami

My colleague Tony Alfieri had a nice column in the Miami Herald about what sort of person should replace the departing US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Marcos Jiménez, the incumbent, is due to resign tomorrow. Time for a woman in this job?:

… history teaches that since 1828 the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District has been led by a woman only once, in 1962, when Edith House served for eight months as acting U.S. attorney by court appointment.

A career prosecutor, House served as an assistant U.S. attorney for 34 years both in Jacksonville and Miami. …

By rough count then, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District has been led by men for 176 of the last 177 years, give or take eight months.

Meanwhile, however, the White House has let it be known that it plans to name Alexander Acosta, a Miamian who now heads the Civil Rights Division in main Justice, as the interim US Attorney. It's an odd appointment for two reasons: Jiménez, the incumbent, was lobbying for his deputy (with about 20 years of experience) to get it, and while Mr. Acosta has a sterling record any Federalist would be proud of, he's only 36 and has very little relevant experience.

The Herald reports that Acosta will likely be a candidate for the permanent appointment; I see this move as being a stepping stone to a local judgeship.

Foreign poll watchers can observe … the last few hours of voting, long after the machines were set up… Previsously the official position had been that the foreign poll watchers were not welcome.

The Herald reports on its blog,

International observers won a victory in Miami-Dade on election day. After meeting with Supervisor of Elections Constance Kaplan at 1 p.m. Tuesday, she officially gave then the go ahead to observe inside pollings places, but with a department escort.

The observers had been barred after Miami-Dade commissioners voted against giving them access.

“We think it's a real victory and shows an openess by the county to display some openness in the process,” said John De Leon, former local president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Among those who will visit up to 20 precincts before the end of the day are representatives from Pax Christi USA, a national Catholic peace and justice movement group and California-based Global Exchange, an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. The groups are affiliated with Miami Workers Center, which will make the groups findings public after the polls close.

Representatives from countries including Great Britain, South Africa, Nicaragua, Mexico and Haiti will be visiting the polls.

It wasn't as easy as it should have been to find a place to get a Kerry-Edwards yard sign. The local office I got via Google gave me a second number for the “field office”…but either they said it wrong or I wrote it wrong. My next call was to an office with nearby address, but it just had an answering machine saying it was the “finance office”.

There wasn't an obvious way to find the local Miami offices from the front page of the main Kerry-Edwards web page, at least not without filling in a form. They have a link to a page that would sell me a Kerry-Edwards yard sign …but they'd have to mail it, and it didn't come with wires to hold it up.

Going deeper down the Google list, however, I found Miami for Kerry, which boasts an impressive number of local offices. I called the closest — answered on the third ring which was not encouraging, but may be excusable on Debate Day given the office is very near the campus. The person answering the phone was not nearly as good as Rebecca, but she told me what I needed to know.

Last night the K-E people did a great job of getting students with signs to dominate the campus, and dominated the backdrop for the live outdoor MS-NBC broadcast, although I don't know what the cameras chose to show.

I'm trying to decide if I even want to venture onto campus today.

Tuesday, September 28, 4 p.m., Bill Cosford Cinema

A Personal Conversation with Ralph Nader. Council for Democracy and the School of Communication are proud to be hosting a campus visit by independent U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Nader will first discuss the major points of his campaign platform and then answer audience questions. Refreshments will be served. For more information, visit www.CouncilforDemocracy.org. Open to the UM community only.

Should I go? Is there any point in asking him why he wants to destroy the country?

LOCATION           A  B  C  D
MIAMI FL           5 17  X  X

COLUMN DEFINITION   PROBABILITIES IN PERCENT
A IS PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO  2PM SAT
FOLLOWING ARE ADDITIONAL PROBABILITIES
B FROM  2PM SAT TO  2AM SUN
C FROM  2AM SUN TO  2PM SUN
D FROM  2PM SUN TO  2PM MON

Hurricane IVAN

CHANCES OF CENTER OF THE HURRICANE PASSING WITHIN 65 NAUTICAL MILES OF LISTED LOCATIONS THROUGH 2PM EDT MON SEP 13 2004
LOCATION A B C D E
MIAMI FL X X 3 12 15

COLUMN DEFINITION
PROBABILITIES IN PERCENT
A IS PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO 2PM SAT FOLLOWING ARE ADDITIONAL PROBABILITIES
B FROM 2PM SAT TO 2AM SUN
C FROM 2AM SUN TO 2PM SUN
D FROM 2PM SUN TO 2PM MON
E IS TOTAL PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO 2PM MON
X MEANS LESS THAN ONE PERCENT

FORECASTER AVILA