JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

STORMY WEATHER

SUNDAY MORNING TROPICAL STORM HANNA UPDATE: THE  PROJECTED PATH HAS CHANGED- SEE BELOW

Meanwhile, one Broward County Circuit Court (Motto: "Hispanics not welcome") race is headed to a mandatory recount as the battle for second and third place was less than 111 votes, and rumors surfaced that at least 10% of the electorate had cast their votes for Pat Buchanan.  The Herald story is here.

And we couldn't make this up if we tried: The Herald has this headline: "The National Weather Service recommends that you stay out of the Atlantic this weekend."
Gee, with two named storms and two depressions following right behind them, you think they're right?


Two Labor Day Weekend storms bear down on Cuba and the United States.


Sunday morning Update: Gustav is taking direct aim at New Orleans. There is a mandatory evacuation order, and President Bush promises to get the government to provide help as soon as he returns from his ranch and the Labor Day holiday.

Gustav batters Cuba Saturday morning before heading into the Gulf where it's expected to gain strength and then strike somewhere on the Gulf coast. We can all rest assured that the President and his disaster team will react with the same alacrity and professionalism that made us all proud of the Government's rescue efforts after hurricane Katrina.




Ignore what we wrote below: as you can see from the chart, the expected path of Hanna has now changed. Longer range forcasts by the National Weather Service have Hanna striking Sioux City South Dakota, Tallahassee, Buffalo, New York, and Seattle, all within a two day period. Stay tuned. 

Meanwhile Tropical Storm Hanna is making what is known in meteorological  terms as the WHNIIWDT* turn to the west and is expected to pass between South Florida and Cuba in the Florida Straits (defined as "area where hurricanes like to go") before passing over Cuba (Motto: "Bienveniedos:All Hurricanes are welcome here.") and then (as impossible as this is to believe) will be making the "classic Hurricane pivot to the North" where it is expected to follow Gustav into  New Orleans, where Pat Bentar has been hired by the State to sing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" over and over again on the stage in the New Orleans Super-Hurricane Dome.  

Labor Day Hurricane of 1935:
Long time residents of Florida know of the deadly"Labor Day Hurricane of 1935" which struck the Florida Keys, coincidentally, on Labor Day in 1935.  The storm was believed to be the first Cat 5 storm of the 20th Century.  Because most of the Keys were not wired for Cable TV or the Internet in 1935, there was little warning of the impending monster storm. An 18-20 foot storm surge killed over 400 people in the Keys, including over 250 WWI veterans who were in the lower Keys in work camps working on the railroad, which the storm washed away. 

For  those of you with nothing better to do this long weekend, there is a Memorial to those who died in the Keys in this storm at Mile Marker 82 in Lower Matecumbe.  Approximately 300 unidentified victims of the storm were cremated and their remains lie in this simple Memorial.  

Well, that's enough fun and frivolity for one post. The simple truth is that all of us in South Florida feel real empathy for the citizens of New Orleans. The cable news is now full of pictures of people standing in hot lines (again) as they wait for buses to take them out of the path of the storm.  We always feel a little guilty hoping that a hurricane misses us, because our good fortune becomes someone else's misery. All we can do is hope and pray that this storm weakens and strikes the least vulnerable part of the US. 


*(we had no idea it would do this)

26 comments:

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

While you are reporting all about hurricanes Rump, one struck the panhandle on Thursday and he is the destruction it left:

"A graduate of Yale Law School, Canady authored the partial-birth abortion ban that passed Congress, pushed for legislation to end preferential treatment by race in college admissions, sponsored legislation to establish school vouchers programs, worked to allow federal aid to schools only if they allowed voluntary school prayer and sponsored a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling holding flag-burning to be a form of protected speech under the First Amendment.

While working for Bush, Canady defended Bush's school voucher program, which gave tuition vouchers to children from failing public schools to attend private schools at taxpayer expense. The Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in 2006 that the program was unconstitutional."

Cap Out .....

Anonymous said...

In terms of the weather, Rump. , good headline but we figure the likes of Brian Norcross and Max Mayfield (he's still there, right?) will let us know the lastest. We have 20 bags of sand in supply, gas in the grill and NY strips in the freezer needing bbqing, Chateau Bicayne and Bud lite if court is closed with FPL not working. So now onto actual blog topics.

********************************************************************
Is there any info or rumor about some hearing at REG with FACDL/NACDL vs MVZ that happened after his trial on Thursday or Friday in Judge Tunis' ct? We've heard only rumors, buy nothing reported by HR, to confirm anything. We didn't hear if the PDs were involved or not. What gives with this, or is it a nothing?

Anonymous said...

On a different note, we all should take notice of the irony in St. Paul on the eve of the Republican Party convention. A few days prior to the Dems Convention, the good old Reverend Dobson and his lost flock was praying for rain to ruin Obama's acceptance as President. Obviously, the (G-0-D) he was praying to seem to think it was fitting to rain on the republicans instead. I'll stick to my God and pray that the hurricane weakens and spares lives and property.

Anonymous said...

rump

i'm a long time reader and contributor to the greatness of this blog. and i say it is about time you begin 2 censor STUPID posts.

fjs

Anonymous said...

Not to get off message but our Clerk Harvey Ruvin may need our help to keep his job.

Contributions: $222,436.19

Expended in the primary: $150,314.65

Ruvin spent $150-K and only got 50,000 votes. He spent $3.00 for each vote he got. His opposition David Nelson spent zero dollars and raised zero dollar and got 25,000 votes.

Ruvin won the primary against Nelson on Aug 26, but at what cost? If he plans to win in November against McGillis and Perez he had better get that campaign machine going!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone noticed that McCain's Vice Presidential pick's foreign policy experience ia as Mayor of Wasilla or backwards "ALL I SAW"

Didn't she play "Karen" on "Will and Grace"

Anonymous said...

Didn't she play "Karen" on "Will and Grace"

LOL

Naw she is agaist gay marriage. She played the wicked witch on the wizard of oz.

Anonymous said...

Circuit Court race headed for manual recount

Broward County election officials announced late Saturday night that they would return on Sunday morning to start the manual recount of a local judicial contest.

The race being reviewed is that of 17th Circuit Court, Group 3. The candidates were Bernard Isaac ''Bernie'' Bober, who captured 38 percent of votes during Tuesday's primary election. But only 111 votes separated second-place finisher Mardi Anne Levey (30.91 percent) and third-place candidate Pedro E. Dijols (30.79 percent). Either Levey or Dijols would face Bober in November.

Under state law, machine recounts are required if the margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent. If the machine recount then shows a margin of less than 0.25 percent, there is a manual recount of any undervotes or overvotes.

A three-member canvassing board must oversee the recount, which begins with a review of the machine count. It is then followed by a manual recount of ballots.

''We are doing our best and we are willing to stay into the wee hours in the morning,'' Broward Mayor Lois Wexler, who is serving on the canvassing board, said late Saturday.

In its announcement on Saturday, Broward election officials said they would reconvene the canvassing board at 8 a.m. Sunday to begin a manual recount of the ''undervotes and overvotes'' -- those in which a voter has either marked more than one candidate or left the ballot blank.

The manual recount is being held at the Voting Equipment Center, 1501 NW 40 Avenue, Lauderhill. It is open to the public.

Anonymous said...

I'll be the first to say it: Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, say it loud and make the message prime:

FOR THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
IT IS NOW SHUMIE TIME.

Anonymous said...

Rump, the astonishing news out of Dolphins camp is that they just waived future superstar Junior Glymph. The season is lost What were they thinking?

Anonymous said...

While out at Houston's last night for dinner, my waitor came over and said "I'm going on Shumie Time...Jessica will be your server for the rest of the evening." I just about lost it.

Anonymous said...

SHe has more executive experience then Nobama and as much foreign policy experience

Anonymous said...

000
WTNT32 KNHC 311750
TCPAT2
BULLETIN
HURRICANE GUSTAV INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 28A
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072008
100 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 2008

...GUSTAV WEAKENS A LITTLE MORE...BUT STILL A MAJOR HURRICANE...AND SHUMIE TIME IS COMING.

A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHERN GULF COAST
FROM CAMERON LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO THE ALABAMA-FLORIDA BORDER...
INCLUDING THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. A
HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED


AND THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS CALLING IT 'SHUMIE TIME" FOR THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS!!!!

Anonymous said...

FROM AN MSNBC TRANSCRIPT

Jim: "Ray, the mayor was heard to use the term Shumie time, I believe, when describing to people that the time to get out is now. Can you explain that?"

Ray: "Yes Jim, we did a little internet research and learned that the term is a viral internet term originating in Miami, where it actually was used regarding a local lawyer and the time to go home. A group of people started using it to indicate a whole host of things, like it is time to stop work, or time to leave the party, or time to end a relationship, and the term has just taken off, mostly among young people, coast to coast."

Jim: "Shumie time indeed."

Anonymous said...

I second the earlier post about the irony of the rained-out Republican Convention. Another piece of irony: the communist government in third-world Cuba seems to be doing a much better job of hurricane damage control than our present government. Poor John McCain can't buy a break--the only thing that could make it worse is if the hurricane destroys some of the oil rigs in the Gulf that McCain wants to expand and causes a massive oil spill.

Anonymous said...

this just in BREAKING NEWS Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans has accused the Bush Administration of creating Hurricane Gustav to displace and kill african americans. more at 11.

Anonymous said...

This is interesting. We were complaining that Dijols was ousted as a Hispanic in Broward.

But the individual who captured the highest number of votes... here is his bio in brief part:

"Bernie, 49, has been an Assistant Public Defender in Broward County, Florida for over 21 years. He was born in Havana, Cuba to Cuban-Jewish parents and his family fled Cuba after Castro came to power."

Here is Dijols in brief part:

"Pedro E. Dijols is a Circuit Court Judge in the 17th Judicial Circuit, in Broward County. Born in New York City, Judge Dijols graduated from North Miami Beach High, received his Bachelor of Arts from Biscayne College and a Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University Law School. He is admitted to the bar in both New York and Florida and served as Associate Counsel to the New York City Department of Corrections in the Investigation and Discipline Division before returning to Florida to serve as an Assistant State Attorney for Broward County State Attorney Michael Satz."

Perhaps we unfairly judged that coup d'etat, because we merely looked at the name (Bernie Bober), and didn't realize that a Cuban-Jew from Cuba and APD was ousting a Hispanic-American from New York and former ASA and former Assistant Statewide Prosecutor.

Of course, there are lots of other things that can be said. Was the Broward voting public similarly confused?

Anonymous said...

Rumpole- I'm one of your fake bloggers but I'm not using that name tonight. For reasons I'm sure I can even fathom, I have done the unthinkable and rushed to New Orleans to protect some property for reasons I cannot explain on the blog.

So here I sit, on one of the rare pieces of high ground near Lake Pontchartrain, boarded up in a house, with a generator. I have water, food, a working cell phone, and my laptop.

Now just after 9pm we are feeling the effects of Tropical storm winds and already I am regretting the decision. However, I am here for better or worse. I will do my best to keep in touch.

Your pal, one of your loyal fake bloggers.

Anonymous said...

Hurricane Gustav: How You Can Help

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gG5Tfh

Anonymous said...

Things worse. I really wish I had not come here.

Anonymous said...

Ohboy did I make a mistake!

Anonymous said...

I have to say........the Shumie time stuff...........has totally lost its luster. It's just not funny anymore. I'll tell you what is amusing though........it's amusing that a college/law school educated person thinks months and months of revisiting the same joke is funny. Amusing and sad.

Anonymous said...

McSame picked Palin whom..somehow to get the disgruntle hillary supporters and with her comment of 18 million cracks in the ceiling well, as Lloyd Bensten put it to Dan Quayle:

"Gov, I served with Hillary Clinton; I knew Hillary Clinton; Hillary Clinton was a friend of mine. Gov. you're no Hillary Clinton"....

Rumpole, can you put this picture of the City Hall that Palin was in charge of in Alaska. So we can compare this to the White House...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

http://media.photobucket.com/image/wasilla/doug1550/319098225_e3fb99541f.jpg?o=14

Anonymous said...

Rumpole- its been a rough night but things have quieted down and now it seems the storm is going to hit just south west of me and maybe just maybe the worst is behind me.

Anonymous said...

Bernie Bober is a great guy and will make a great judge. I did a case with him many years ago, and he was a total gentleman to the pushy Dade County attorney. His brother, Carlton Bober used to be a public defender in Miami.

Anonymous said...

11:02 PM re: Shumie time-

I read the blog and found Shumie time amusing. But I have also seen the reference on other blogs, other websites, a you-tube video. It is indeed a viral phenomenon. I have not heard it used in public, but a friend of mine was the person who heard the surfer in California yell it to someone else. So while the humor may have worn off, the term has taken hold in the public lexicon, for better or worse.