Category Archives: Pensacola

2010 Election, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

Pensacola News Journal Pulls Political Opinion Piece

The article by columnist Mark O’Brien entitled Hayward is a candidate of hype was pulled from the PNJ website late yesterday. It no doubt had something to do with a barrage of hate-mail from Hayward supporters, or the fact that Hayward was the newspaper’s endorsed candidate, or that one of the papers’ major advertisers is a contributor to the Hayward campaign. Or all three.

From memory now, since I didn’t save a copy, O’Brien wrote an opinion piece on Hayward that was less than flattering but all based on substantiated fact. Including his receiving campaign contributions from the Levin Papantonio law firm and their involvement in the BP lawsuit, and subsequent comments made by Hayward on the campaign trail. Not mentioned in that article, is Papantonio’s participation in a class action suit against BP. At any rate, aside from a columnist, O’Brien is also an opinion writer. Much the same as Juan Williams does, or did, double duty as a reporter, columnist, and opinion commentator for NPR and FOX News. O’Brien does both opinion and reporting functions.

The pulling of this piece from their website without comment shows the priorities are less about journalistic integrity than political and financial expediency. It’s no secret that the Levin Papantonio law firm is a big advertiser in the paper. It takes a willing suspension of disbelief to think that that was not part, if not all, of  Executive Editor Richard Schneider’s motivation.

Seems like only a couple days ago that the subject of journalistic ethics and objectivity came up. At issue there was who was paying the bills for the reporter. This brings a new twist to the topic which is, who is paying the bills for the paper?

Former link location: Hayward is a candidate of hype

Update Nov 1, 2010: Correction in today’s PNJ.

In Sunday’s column, Mark O’Brien erroneously stated that mayoral candidate Ashton Hayward III had urged the Pensacola City Council to hire the Levin Papantonio law firm to pursue possible legal action against BP for the April 20 oil spill.

Hayward did not specify any law firm when he urged the City Council to consider legal action.

Apparently everything else in the article was correct.  If you entertain conspiracies of coincidence, Johnson provided Hayward the cover that he needed. Both he and the candidate are allied to the law firm that was hired. Whether by contributions or the Emerald Coastkeepers club, the end result is the same. LP is on the case.

At least the paper did not attempt to deny the genesis of the article, that ‘Hayward is a candidate of hype.’

Florida, Pensacola, Uncategorized

Joe Bonamassa At The Saenger

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This is BIG. Just last year he played in Royal Albert Hall, and recently won best blues guitarist of the year. And now, my favorite blues guitarist ever, after finishing his latest European tour, IS COMING TO PENSACOLA’s Saenger Theater on December 1, 2010. Get your tickets early. It’s gotta be sold out soon.

Here he is performing ‘Stop’ at Royal Albert Hall.

And here’s a studio recording of the ‘Ballad of John Henry.’

This is just the tip of the iceberg of this guy’s talent. Uh, see you there!

Links: Saenger Theater, Pensacola |  Joe Bonamassa

Pensacola, Politics

10.2.10 March In D.C

The big gathering in front of the Lincoln Memorial happened today. It was quite a collection of anti-capitalists, big government statists, and other groups that don’t like America very much, expressing their anger at republicans and the Obama administration. The criticism of the Obama administration was about his not doing enough to transform America into the warm and fuzzy socialist state that they want.

Mike Papantonio and Rick Outzen were there.

Check out the list of sponsors, or as the Left would say, big corporations who are bankrolling the protest march of Lefties. They include BIG LABOR, BIG LAW, BIG SOROS, and an assortment of Communist and Socialist organizations in this country.

2010 Election, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

In Florida, What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Especially when it comes to learning about who is running for governor in Florida in 2010. There is only one candidate that actually has a plan to reduce the state’s debt, recover the billions of dollars lost by the Sink-McCollum-Crist triumvirate, create the environment for permanent private-sector job creation in the state, and reduce the cost of living for Floridians, putting Floridians in a financial position to keep their homes out of foreclosure, all without raising their taxes or borrowing more money. But you will never know it from reading the ‘Election‘ pages of the Pensacola News Journal. That candidate is Dr. Farid A. Khavari.

That there is a political media filter at work, and being perpetrated on you, is obvious with a cursory glance at the 2010 Elections pages of the Pensacola News Journal.

I don’t know why this is. Only the News Journal knows for sure. Where Independent candidate Farid Khavari is concerned, I know it’s not because they are not aware of him or his platform. There was a time when the newspaper was motivated to inform the voting public of their options. Now our options get filtered for us. Or more correctly, on us. So the question becomes whether this filter is a result of an agenda or something else?

But more important than even that, the consequences of electing the wrong candidate will cost us all.

Related PNJ links:

2010 Election, Economy, Florida, Pensacola, Politics

Privatizing Citizens Is Wrong

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Let Floridians save 30% while the state earns billions!

Rick Scott’s proposal to privatize Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is simply a bad idea. It would guarantee increased rates. There is a much better way to fix Citizens. Citizens is a mess with potentially huge exposure. That can be remedied, with 30% savings for all Floridians while the state treasury can earn billions per year. You don’t need to be an economist to understand this. It is just common sense.

Citizens is in trouble because it guarantees private insurers’ profits, and foists all of the risk onto Florida taxpayers. This is an obvious recipe for disaster. Citizens covers the riskiest 22% of Florida homes, nicely protecting the private insurers at our expense. Private insurers exploit Floridians worse each year. State Farm raised rates 14.7% and dumped another 125,000 policyholders this year. Was there a hurricane I missed?

Citizens should offer all homeowners in Florida coverage identical to what they have now from private insurers, at a 30% discount. Just bring your policy to an agent and save 30% by switching to Citizens.

Adding the “safest” 78% of Florida homes to risk pool would dilute Citizens’ risk to the lowest in the nation. Then Citizens could reduce rates by 30% to its existing customers, too. Even the worst hurricanes affect only a small percentage of Florida’s 8 million homes.

Six million new customers, saving only $500 per year, is $3 billion per year. That would generate at least $25 billion per year of economic activity in Florida, creating 30,000 jobs. The state could earn $5 billion per year in profit. Citizens would no longer be just the largest property insurer in Florida, but the safest and most profitable in America.

$25 billion in economic activity this year will make $50 billion next year, and another 30,000 jobs. And so on.

No need to argue about “socialism.” The state is already in the insurance business, with no realistic way out. The question is, shall we make some money at it and save Floridians billions per year? Or encourage more private insurers to suck even more blood out of our families and our state’s economy?

When everyone works for the state, we call it socialism. What do we call it when the state works for everyone? Common sense.

Sincerely,

Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D.

Economist and Candidate for Florida Governor (Independent, 2010)

Economy, Florida, Pensacola, Politics, Supreme Court

Hearings On Obamacare Begin Tomorrow

Hearings on the State of Florida (and dozens of others) v United States begin tomorrow at U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Florida. The state is challenging the health care legislation on several angles, not the least of which is that the Federal Government can not force citizens to buy health insurance or a certain kind of health insurance if they don’t want to.

Pensacola

New Philly’s Opening Soon

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Thanks to the support of our loyal customers these past 11 years, we are just days away from opening our second shop in the Milestone Shopping Center (Publix), at Nine Mile & Pine Forest Roads. This location is a palace compared to our ‘world headquarters’ on Creighton Road. You’ll enjoy more seating, a soda fountain (no more cans) and the same hours of operation, same menu, and the same prices. And, two large handicap accessible restrooms for your convenience.

We’re excited about it! Our customers are excited about it. Exactly when we open depends on getting all the necessary inspections completed. Barring any further delays or complications, I’m looking at Thursday, August 26, 2010, for an opening day.

The phone number at ‘Philly’s Nine Mile’ is 850-473-6780. Call ahead, take-out, or dine in.

Looking forward to serving you soon.

Energy, Florida, Pensacola

New BP Claims Facility Opens Tomorrow

Beginning Monday, August 23, 2010, all those who have a claim to file must do it through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility run by Kenneth Feinberg, President Obama’s pay czar. Claims will be accepted from August 23 through November 23, 2010.

According to their website . . .

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), administered by Kenneth R. Feinberg, has been established to assist claimants in filing claims for costs and damages incurred as a result of the oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon Incident of April 20, 2010. Claims previously filed with the BP Claims Process have been transitioned to the new GCCF Claims Facility for review, evaluation and determination by the GCCF.

The rules for settling with BP include agreeing not to sue them later. If you think you have a claim, it’s your choice. Settle with them now, or go to court and wait years for whatever is left over after the lawyers take their share.

People affected by the spill seeking final settlements will face a choice: If they decide to sue instead of accepting a settlement, they could face years of litigation; and if they decide to accept the settlement, it could come before the full damage from the spill is known.

The new rules for the claims process were released Friday by Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was chosen by President Obama to run the fund and who previously oversaw claims for the victims of 9/11.

Beginning Monday, the claims will begin to be handled by Feinberg rather than BP, which is still footing the entire $20 billion bill.

Who gets paid and who does not will depend largely on how much proof there is that losses were caused by the spill and not by something else, such as the recession. Feinberg’s guidelines say that key factors include a claimant’s geographic proximity to the disaster and how much the business or property is linked to “injured natural resources.”

Feinberg elaborated on his reasoning during town meetings this week in Louisiana. “How close are you to the beach? To the gulf?” he said. “. . . That’s a major factor.”

For instance, fishermen, shrimpers, and seafood processors as well as hotel and restaurant owners with beachfront property in areas where oil washed ashore will have the easiest time getting reimbursed. An ice cream parlor or golf course miles from the affected shore but along the main highway headed to the beach would not be eligible, according to documents obtained by the New York Times.

Link: New rules limit claims for oil spill |  GCCF – Gulf Coast Claims Facility