Last night the Top 12 performed the hits of the Rolling Stones….

8:00 PM Chuck: Very Stepford Wife look for Katie Stevens

8:01 PM Lorrie: when did they add an announcer other than Ryan?! Chuck: last year Lorrie: I don’t remember that, somehow

8:02 PM Chuck: They only have 450 fans in the audience? What is that hair on Sioban? Lorrie: I always thought there were THOUSANDS in that audience. How underwhelming, to have 450 fans in the studio.

8:04 PM Chuck: how far the Stones have fallen … Lorrie: you mean to wind up as an AI theme? Chuck: Yes

8:05 PM Lorrie: I feel that I may get blasted for this, but I’m not a Big Mike fan

Michael Lynche starts “Miss You”

8:07 PM Lorrie: well, after saying that, I already have to eat a bit of crow and say that I do like what he’s done with Miss You Chuck: Big Mike dances like Boy George

8:08 PM Lorrie: Every time I see him, I want to call him Refrigerator Mike. Chuck: they’re pushing hard to have a guy people like…

And we meet the judges for the first time tonight….

Lorrie: A 12-year-old boy is sitting in for Ellen tonight. Oh, wait. My bad, that IS Ellen.

Chuck: Wow, Simon cleaned up, he’s wearing a cardigan

8:10 PM Lorrie: I guess you called it on the dancing, Chuck. Simon agrees! It’s funny to hear a white guy call out a black guy’s dancing.

Chuck: Ryan is pissing on Simon’s feet to prove he’s the big dog…

8:11 PM Lorrie: Big Mike is as wide as Ryan is tall.

Chuck: first commercial…. Lorrie: and wouldn’t you know, it’s got an AI winner in it. Chuck: and then it’s Coke

8:17 PM Chuck: Man, the interviews are boring…much like my comments

Lorrie: word.

Didi Benami sings “Playing with Fire”

8:18 PM Lorrie: she’s impressive so far… Chuck: She’s trying to act like Mick Jagger.. lips wise

8:19 PM Lorrie: was just gonna say that when she tries, her mouth is almost as big as Mick’s…I think that high note was a bit of a struggle

Lorrie: wow…I did not see that coming from Randy

8:21 PM Lorrie: Didi makes “fire” two syllables. When I was 4, I made “hey” two syllables….Chuck: Van Morrison could make five syllables out of “Heaven” in “Jackie Wilson Said.”

Lorrie: Yeah, Simon talks about DiDi’s nerves and what nerves will do to you. Nerves? On this big stage in front of 450 people? She probably sang in front of more than that in church.

8:23 PM Lorrie: I like Casey’s hair Chuck: he looks like the Little Dutch Girl… Lorrie: you shut your mouth.

Casey James sings “It’s all over now”

8:24 PM Lorrie: This definitely sounds like his style of song… Chuck: It’s the polka version! Some may call it “country” but remember Germany is a country.

8:25 PM Lorrie: He’s got some slide action goin’ with that guitar

8:26 PM Lorrie: I’m in complete agreement with Randy on The Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Johnny Lang reference.

Chuck: Ellen does her first lesbian joke of the season… Lorrie: please, Ryan tries the lame lesbian reference. Fail.

8:28 PM Chuck: Simon is bored with the average performances…the readers are bored with my average commentary…

8:29 PM Lorrie: Wonder what it says about me that I want to see that Miley Cyrus movie? And I don’t even have a kid to use as an excuse to see it. Chuck: no comment

8:31 PM Lorrie: I LOVE that Verizon fios commercial…. Chuck: No comment.

Chuck: I wonder if Aaron will sing Satisfaction or Beast of Burden? Lorrie: I’m trying to remember who Aaron is. I barely care about the male contestants this year.

8:32 PM Chuck: Aaron, the kid from Davenport. the reason we’re doing this chat. Lorrie: Oh yeah. Whatever. You think Siobhan will sing Wild Horses?

8:33 PM Chuck: If she does it will improve that song. My wife loves loves it, but I’m not a fan.

8:34 PM Lorrie: I’m liking Lacey’s story. Chuck: Lacey sings Ruby Tuesday. It makes sense. It fits her voice. But why am I hungry?

8:35 PM Lorrie: Agreed. And on a fashion note, I see that Lacey combined two shirts into one tonight.

Lacey Brown sings Ruby Tuesday

Chuck: It’s the chamber music version of Ruby Tuesday. Lorrie: There’s something about her voice that really appeals to me most of the time.

8:36 PM Chuck: She’s trying to put her hook in the song. Lorrie: I don’t like the “stillI’mgonnamissyou” part. Chuck: I did, but Randy didn’t. Wait, Randy called it the most interesting one of the night?

Chuck: Ellen doesn’t like it when people do things backwards. Lorrie: Kara says “I gotta agree with the guys.” Huh? Does she consider Ellen a guy now?

Chuck: What ‘s up with Lacy’s hooker shoes?

Chuck: Andrew Garcia is up next. What is he going to do if he can’t sing a girl’s song?

8:44 PM Chuck: Garcia will be known for bringing back the Kid ‘N’ Play hat. Lorrie: how funny that Garcia’s dad thought he’d grow up to be a janitor.

Andrew Garcia sings Gimme Shelter

Lorrie: I like the tone of his voice… Chuck: Gimme earplugs… Lorrie: ehh, not lovin’ this version

8:46 PM Chuck: Randy is shaking his head, but I have to say, so far, they’re doing better with the Stones than last season with the Beatles

8:47 PM Lorrie: He’s got his preacher voice on: “whoa, Cheeldren-nah”

Chuck: If Randy says “you know I love you” then you know you suck.

8:48 PM Lorrie: It’s “War”?! All my life, I thought it was “Whoa.” But then again, I also thought that when Michael Jackson sang, “Billie Jean is not my lover” he was saying “Feel the changes at my door.” And when Eddie Vedder sang Yellow Ledbetter, well, I had no idea what the hell he was saying.

Lorrie: Simon’s really raggin’ on Kara this season about her literal interpretation and I’m glad of it.

Chuck: Kara is right though. Don’ t sing a song you don’t understand.

8:50 PM Lorrie: Chuck, I miss Paula. AI blogging so much fun when at least one judge was on drugs. Chuck: I missed Paula when she was there

8:52 PM Lorrie: One of these judges needs to pick up the torch and say things like, “I could feel your heart in that song” and “I can see the color of your soul when you sing.”

Chuck: Someone should drop acid in their coke

Chuck: Katie?! Oh boy, here comes the train wreck.

Katie Stevens sings Wild Horses

Lorrie: Dammit! What is SHE doing singing Wild Horses?????

8:55 PM Chuck: She says Wild Horses speaks to her? Druggie!!

8:56 PM Lorrie: Already, I want to hate it. I’m so mad that Siobhan isn’t singing this.

Chuck: Sioban will sing “You can’t always get what you want…” Lorrie: Ahhh, that would be nice!

Chuck: Please break the arms of everyone in the audience. I am so sick of them waving their arms in unison.

Lorrie: I just saw Katie spit.

Chuck: Katie is singing the version of the song from Susan Boyle on Britain Has Talent (At least that’s what my wife said.)

8:58 PM Lorrie: I’d rather be dragged by wild horses than have to endure this song from her.

Chuck: Yes, Katie, wild horses can drag you away…want to see?

8:59 PM Lorrie: That party dress she’s wearing is nowheresville. What? Randy! Dawg! Shut up.

Chuck: Why do they like her???

Lorrie: What? Ellen! Ick. WTF is going on with these judges?

Lorrie: Susan Boyle did a great job on the song. Katie? No.

Chuck: Right now I am wishing Megan was here instead of Katie

9:01 PM Lorrie: Megan the one-arm-swinging dancer?! You hated her! That’s harsh. Chuck: Yes, I might even prefer Sanjaya instead of Katie Lorrie: Now you’re just talking crazy talk.

9:04 PM Chuck: Did Michael Lynch sing tonight? Lorrie: LOL

9:05 PM Chuck: O yes, I’ll download Katie on iTunes…

Lorrie: I want to cut this kid Tim’s hair. Chuck: He has the Peter Brady cut…

9:06 PM Peter BradyRRRRRRRR

Lorrie: It’s definitely BradyRRRRRRRRR than Peter’s

Tim Urban sings Under my Thumb

Lorrie: OMG…this reggae beat brings back memories of Jason Castro. Chuck: A bad flashback

9:07 PM Lorrie: Next week, he’ll be singing “Pass the Dutchie” Chuck: He does kinda look like one of the kids in Musical Youth

9:08 PM Chuck: Bring back Katie! Send him home! Lorrie: …pass the dutchie on the lef’ hand side….

9:09 PM Lorrie: Ellen’s comment was funny. Chuck: It did sound like you’d want to order a Pina Colada on the beach…

Lorrie: Again with referencing “the guys” Kara? Ellen may dress like a 12-year-old boy, but she does wear makeup, for crying out loud.

9:10 PM Chuck: Simon says it didn’t work. True dat Lorrie: I agree wholeheartedly with Simon

Chuck: “It was a crazy decision” to do that song that way. Lorrie: Amen to the “I can’t look like the Rolling Stones comment”

Lorrie: You need to get drunk, high and fall out of a coconut tree onto your head a few times to look like one of the stones. Chuck: Nice Keith Richards reference

9:11 PM Chuck: They’re saving Crystal for the end. When do Adam Lambert & Danny Gokey sing?

9:14 PM Chuck: Why is Will Smith’s dad talking about teaching? Lorrie: Wake up Chuck. It’s gonna be ok. Get through this blogging assignment and maybe Catherine will let you listen to your Adam Lambert CD.

9:15 PM Lorrie: My girl SIOBHAN! Love her! Chuck: I see Irish people!! She has a Mary Poppins tattoo! Just like the one I want.

Lorrie: Irish hippy people! She is cool as hell.

Siobhan Magnus sings Paint it Black

Chuck: Paint it black!!! Lorrie: Chuck, you nailed it, didn’t you call it? (Chuck: Did…Before the show.)

Chuck: Do the patented American Idol “kick it up!” UP UP….there you go

Lorrie: She’s got her Molly Ringwald a la Sixteen Candles hair on. Combat boots with that dress. Yes. Yes! BTW, that’s how I dressed in 1992- dress plus combat boots. Personally, I think it still works today. I wish she would move some more… Chuck: This is a singing comp, not SYTYCD. Lorrie: Tell that to Big Boy George Mike.

Chuck: This is how you change a Rolling Stone song, Tim.

9:18 PM Lorrie: YES!!! Chuck: Best so far Lorrie: God dang, that girl can hit that high note like nobody’s business! In the words of my husband: “She busted the balls off that one.”

9:19 PM Chuck: See! Kara is having Adam Lambert flashbacks

Lorrie: I ought to punch Ellen in the face for comparing this amazingly talented girl to Snookie’s Poof

Chuck: OK, I admit I am old. Snookie’s a Poof?

Lorrie: The skeezball on Jersey Shore. Chuck: I don’t watch Jersey Shore. I grew up with real Italians.

9:21 PM Lorrie: I don’t watch it either, but the cast is on every entertainment show I watch, and one of the SNL guys does the funniest impression of her.

Chuck: Snookie is a her? Lorrie: Snookie is a her. A midget “her” She’s almost a midget, I mean. I don’t think she’s 5 feet tall. Or, “little person.” I mean no disrespect.

Chuck: Careful, I HEART a petite woman. Lorrie: She is certainly taller than that. Chuck: She says she is 5′ 2” or meters or something.. Lorrie: So how tall is that in real people measurement?

9:24 PM Chuck: “Hot Tub Time Machine” means that ALL movies have been done.

Lorrie: I want to see that movie! It reminds me of my youth.

Lorrie: yuck. Paige Miles. Me no likey.

Chuck: It’s odd to actually watch commercials and not fast-forward.

Chuck: David Cook is back? Lorrie: Dude, no lie! Chuck: He doesn’t look like his brother Chikezie.

Lorrie: Lee was a cute little boy…. Chuck: Wow, Chicago accents… Lorrie: hmmmm….lookin’ forward to this

Lee Dewyze sings Beast of Burden

Chuck: Beast of Burden…the Bette Midler version?

Lorrie: He’s another whose tone I really love Chuck: Contemporary as Simon will say…Thank god it isn’t as sexual as the original…

Lorrie: He needs to get a handle on that herky jerky right leg movement. It looks weird. Well done, overall.

Chuck: He’s safe…Randy thinks it was dope

9:30 PM Like a hospital gown? Ok, it was less than Ellen expected…

9:31 PM Simon agrees that he doesn’t shine. Lorrie: Is Lee gonna cry? Chuck: I hope so. He needs to stop taking the valium

9:32 PM Chuck: So far…voting for Sioban and Lilly Allen Lorrie: Let it go, Chuck. Lilly ain’t comin’ back… Chuck: They let Anoop in as #13! Bring Lilly back!

9:35 PM Lorrie: Glee! I love that show. Chuck: I won’t watch until they release the box set. Chuck: The fast forward button is not working!

Chuck: Paige…oh….joy Lorrie: Ditto

9:37 PM Chuck: They just said Paige has “it.” Is she Clara Bow? (Very old reference there…)

Lorrie: yeah…totally lost on me. Sorry.

Chuck: Here you go…

Paige Miles sings Honky Tonk Woman

Chuck: Paige starts Honky Tonk Woman? omg Lorrie: Honky Tonk woman?! God help us.

Chuck: oh…dear…lord. Lorrie: is she wearing a jumpsuit? Chuck: She is wearing a romper. Lorrie: LMAO. Romper!

Chuck: So she is the prostitute? Lorrie: from singing in the church to prostitute. Her mama is proud

Chuck: She is neither a woman nor from a honkey tonk.

9:39 PM Chuck: Again, please tie all arms down at the next show….

Lorrie: he blew her nose….Yikes. That is barely better than that contestant and his “onesie” who didn’t make Top 12

9:40 PM Chuck: Randy is insane…Ellen is also insane….Kara is also also insane

Lorrie: Agreed

9:41 PM Chuck: Simon is a bit better. “Taken into account your voice sucks…you sounded great”

She has a sore throat? They’re playing the sympathy card…

9:42 PM Chuck: Aaron Kelly – Why does he deny he is from Davenport??? Lorrie: Would you admit to being from Davenport? I mean, have you BEEN there? Chuck: I’ll edit that out for you

Chuck: He doesn’t sound like his mother? The woman who adopted him? We need to explain genetics to the kid

Aaron Kelly sings Angie

9:43 PM Chuck: I said he’d sing Angie …. to someone….somewhere

Lorrie: You are 2 for 2 Chuck: I like the way you count.

Chuck: It’s 1977 and a kid is singing along with “Angie”…and not getting it.

9:44 PM Lorrie: 12-year-old girls named Angie all across the country are crying at this moment… Chuck: good one

Chuck: My wife thinks he is doing a good job, but there is no pain in his voice

Lorrie: I like his voice. He’s just such a baby-faced thing! Randy mentions Aaron’s tender moments….that sounds funny coming from The Dawg

Chuck: Randy thinks he sounds like Justin Timberlake? Someone lock up Britney.

9:46 PM Chuck: OK, Ellen is still crazy. Lorrie: Don’t even try to compare this little pimply-faced boy to Siobhan. Puh-leeeeze. Thank you Simon for clearing up that whole Justin Timberlake thing.

9:47 PM Chuck: Has Michael Lynche sung already? Lorrie: LOL

Lorrie: Crystal. Yes! Chuck: finally

9:48 PM Lorrie: I think it’s a clear sign that I’ve been writing far too much about dentistry when I look at Crystal’s smile and I think “congenitally missing teeth.” Chuck: yes, time for a career change

9:50 PM Lorrie: As much as we love her voice, my husband and I call her Crystal Dirtysocks because she looks like the kind of girl who, no matter how hard she scrubs, always looks dingy.

Chuck: Are you prejudiced against the perpetually earthy? Lorrie: I bet she smells like patchouli

Chuck: Our local Fox newscaster is wearing the latest Amish fashions? Lorrie: LOL. She was! I bet she churns butter during the news breaks..

Chuck: Crystal is from a small town? EVERYONE is from a small town this year! When do we have John Mellencamp night? Lorrie: Crystal would NAIL that night.

9:53 PM Chuck: Her Daddy shows his feminine side…

Crystal Bowersox sings You Can’t Always get What you Want….

Lorrie: Why Chuck….are you 3 for 3???? Chuck: I do like how you count.

9:54 PM Lorrie: I think you must have had a main line to the contestants this week. Were you holding out on me?

Chuck: You can’t always get what you want…hmm where have I heard that?

Lorrie: I like her version of this. Chuck: Funny thing…I haven’t liked a Stones song made since 72…

Lorrie: I know…on that e-mail quiz where they ask Beatles or Stones? You always choose Beatles, right? Chuck: exactly!

Chuck: She is channeling Janis Joplin heavily this week…. biggest applause of the night

9:56 PM Lorrie: My husband thinks Crystal probably could store a spare pick in that space in her teeth. Is it mean for me to laugh at that? Chuck: yes, but if we had real health care…

Lorrie: oh sheesh, you Socialist. Let’s stick to the Idol, if you don’t mind.

9:57 PM Chuck: When will Crystal admit she is pregnant?

9:58 PM Lorrie: Oh, hell yes. Simon is right on that Siobhan was the one to beat tonight.

Chuck: Simon called Crystal the front-runner. That’s always the kiss of death. She turned that back on Simon well

Lorrie: yeah. She grew up hard, Man! She can dish it.

And we get the end of the show recap….

Chuck: Hey…Michael Lynche performed?! Didi did too!

Lorrie: Ready for a pick of the Bottom 3?

Chuck: Andrew or Katie is going home and….Tim

Lorrie: Andrew, Katie and Tim

Chuck: damn

Lorrie: Dang it!

Chuck: we agree

Lorrie: Top 3- Siobhan, Crystal and Lee

Chuck: Sioban, Crystal, and Lilly Allen!

Lorrie: LOL

Chuck: The way Lilly sang 19th Nervous Breakdown…chilling!

Chuck: and I have Didi #4

10:03 PM Lorrie: My pick for who’s going home is…Katie

Chuck: I say, Andrew

photo credit: donbuciak

That will also be true of our coverage of the Polk Neighborhood Stabilization Program (Polk NSP). Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to give $4.92 billion dollars to local communities to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties. Approximately $14.5 million was given to Polk County to purchase and rehab at least 61 homes in the county. That program became Polk NSP. This week the organization announced they were open for business. Familiar with the process to this point, we met with the two principles to discuss the project.

The Goal

The goal of Polk NSP is to remove foreclosed, empty, or blighted homes from the market and place these homes in the hands of homebuyers who can afford to live in them. No one can purchase the inexpensive homes and flip them. The homebuyers must agree to live in the homes for a set number of years. Polk NSP will target 10 areas of the county that are in greatest need of help. These are low to moderate income communities hit hardest be the recent recession.

The Companies

The county commissioners chose not to implement Polk NSP on their own, but instead brought in development experts to manage and implement the program. They allowed various organizations to apply to manage the funds. In the end, they chose the process offered by a team of two Polk County organizations.

Swan Development Advisors will manage the program. The company, headed by Bruce Lyon, will undertake all of the paperwork needed to satisfy U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The company managing home rehabilitation, and handling training prospective home owners will be the Keystone Challenge Fund. Since 1991, Jeff Bagwell, President and Executive Director of the Fund, has worked in Polk County to provide education and affordable financing to low and moderate income homeowners.

To insure proper management of the funds, the two organizations proposed a unique method. HUD sets strict limits on how much of the money is used for administration and how much for home purchase and rehabilitation. Rather than mix the two amounts, Swan will simply get the administration funds, and Keystone the rest. The company will use a third-party, Baylis & Company CPA, to manage fund distribution.

The Homes

Polk NSP has already started the home buying process. They are bidding on the purchase of homes in 10 targeted areas in Polk County. Those areas were chosen as they exhibit a greater than average number of foreclosures, financed through a higher numbers of subprime loans, and are likely to face further foreclosures through loan defaults.

Homes can be purchased only if they meet certain criteria of location, condition, and price. Polk NSP hopes to demolish only a few “blighted” homes. The rest will be rehabbed to specific standards. Lyon mentioned they will replace roofing and appliances if the items have only a few years of life left. He and Bagwell emphasized they want to make sure new homeowners aren’t faced with such large replacement expenses in their new homes.

In addition to selling homes, Polk NSP will purchase and rehab a certain number of dwellings to be offered as rentals. The cost of the rentals will be based on the Fair Market Rents (FMR) index. Currently, Polk County FMR for a two-bedroom dwelling is $720.

The Polk NSP goals for the dwellings are:

Acquisition/Rehabilitation/Financing/Resale for Homeowners (Activity 1):
20 units for moderate-income households (≤ 80% Area Median Income — AMI)
41 units for middle-income households (≤ 120% AMI)
Timeline is January 2009 through July 2013.

Acquisition/Rehabilitation/Financing/Resale for Single- or Multi-family Housing (Rentals) (Activity 2):
50 units for low-income households (≤ to 50% AMI)
Timeline is January 2009 through July 2013

Demolition of Acquired Foreclosed Upon Homes and Redevelopment (Activity 3) (Includes demolition and redevelopment strategies)
22 units for low-, moderate-, and middle-income households (≤ to 120% AMI)
Timeline is January 2009 through July 2013

When a home is sold, the purchase price is returned to the Polk NSP coffer and used to purchase and rehab another home for sale. Lyons said that the lower-than-expected prices of the homes will enable Polk NSP to purchase, rehab, and sell more than the expected 61 homes.

The Targeted Areas

The following 10 communities are the target areas for Polk NSP. The links lead to PDF maps of the areas.

Auburndale, Combee / Eaton Park, Inwood / Jan Phyl Village, Kathleen, South Lake Wales, Poinciana, Wabash, Wahneta

The Financing

Homebuyers who meet income eligibility requirements are given considerable help by the program. First, the homes are sold at the lower of the appraised value or amount Polk NSP has put into the home (purchase price plus rehabilitation costs). Lyon mentioned they are bidding for homes that are far below the normal costs. This enables Polk NSP to sell the houses are a greatly reduced price.

Bagwell also mentioned that the program allows Polk NSP to help homeowners with funds for principle reduction. This gets the lower income buyers in with little personal up-front funds. This doesn’t mean the program is placing people in homes they can’t afford. Polk NSP will target low (<%50 of AMI) to moderate (<%80 of AMI) income households, but will use standards to place people with home payments that are affordable for their inclome level.

It also doesn't mean anyone can buy a home and flip it for more than they paid. According to Lyons, the County will maintain a second mortgage on each home to forestall that option.

In addition, Bagwell said the prospective homeowners must attend education classes that cover every aspect of home purchase and loan repayment.

The Sellers and the Vendors

In addition to helping the low-to-moderate income families, Polk NSP is geared to help area banks and contractors. Banks are able to move forclosed homes off their books, and area contractors will be given the opportunity to bid on rehabbing the Polk NSP homes.

Conclusion

Polk NSP is just beginning. Their proposal looks strong, and the goals are lofty, but achievable. Over the next few weeks, we will continue to follow Lyon, Bagwell, and the Polk NSP staff to report on the progress of the project. Longer articles on the details of the home purchase and rehab process will follow. Expect a detailed article on the numbers of Polk NSP. What income levels are needed for approval. We’ll sit in on the education program for home buyers. Like the red light camera story, we’ll see Polk NSP evolve over the next few months.

We’re starting coverage at both Lakeland Local and Metro I4 News, but expect the majority of the articles to publish at Mi4.

Take a moment and study the graphic above. You are looking at the arc of job losses during the last three recessions, 1990, 2001, and 2008-09 and counting. The graphic traces how long it took once the economy began to shed jobs until it returned to original overall number of jobs. One caveat: these are raw numbers, not adjusted for overall population increases, so the relationship between the three lines might adjust subtly if you plotted job losses per population. But the trajectories wouldn’t change.

Let that picture sink in.

We are riding the green line right now. This period of job loss already exceeds by an order of magnitude anything anyone my age really remembers. And the overall economic condition is different – and far worse – than anyone except the very eldest among us remember. The economy has already been in recession for more than a year, and the downward slide is accelerating. Most modern recessions run their course within about a year, as you can see here.

No recession since the Great Depression has lasted even 600 days. But 400 or so days into this one, no one sees an end yet, and it’s getting worse. I can’t emphasize that enough.

Friday morning, I ended up in a civil and intellectually stimulating argument on WLKF with Mayhem-in-the-Morning host Seth Mela. (I was listening because my wife Julie was on to promote First Friday. It was a little surreal to talk economics with guys who had called her a “hottie” a few minutes before, but I couldn’t help myself.) Mela had been attacking the government spending in the proposed versions of stimulus plan, echoing the Rush, Hannity, and Joe-Not-A-Plumber mantra of pork barrel, private sector, socialism, etc….I swear, it’s like a chant at a football game.

And here at MI4, I noticed Mr. MacMeekin recently used the same spiel. Echoing Rush’s party line, both Mela and Mr. MacMeekin insist that the New Deal didn’t help pull us out of the Depression. MacMeekin even goes farther, saying that World War II didn’t do it either. Only the conditions caused by World War II and the Depression lifted us out of the Depression, he argues, which I find to be a classic angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin bit of obtuse thinking. It’s sort of like saying the gas in my car doesn’t work, it only allows me to drive from one place to another.

And somehow the socialist Democrats are responsible for all the bad stuff that happened from the Depression forward and none of the good stuff. Like I said, it’s a very strange post.

But it makes for a useful jumping off point for rummaging through the nihilistic silliness Rush-the-Plumber conservatives are now spouting. What follows is very long. I’m sorry. It’s as much a way to collect my thoughts for future use as it is a post, but I hope you’ll read through it. It’s a piece-by-piece examination of the general criticisms one hears of the stimulus plan and my reaction to them.

1) Why do we need a stimulus? And did the New Deal work? Actually, I’ll take the second question first. I am neither an economist nor a historian. But I can read graphics and assess arguments. Herbert Hoover, a Republican, was president between 1929-1933. His record combating the Depression is more complicated than the popular perception that he did nothing and just let everything play out. But he clearly looked at direct government intervention far more skeptically than did the subsequent Franklin Roosevelt administration. And it wasn’t until the very end of his term that Hoover backed a major stimulus bill, which Roosevelt, a Democrat, greatly expanded on with the New Deal. So did the late Hoover and then Roosevelt approach work?

MacMeekin says no. Key quote: “Massive federal programs of the Roosevelt Era were more an effort to improve conditions than they were a statistical success.”

First reponse to that: Economies do not exist to produce statistics; they exist to “improve conditions.” What else the hell is the point?

Second response: Consider this string of unemployment numbers from the U.S Commerce Department: 1929-3.1 percent; 1931-16.1 percent; 1933-25.2 percent; 1937-13.8 percent; 1938-16.5 percent; 1940-13.9 percent. You tell me, did it work? It’s always difficult to prove causation, as opposed to correlation. But clearly, New Deal policies coincided with a time that saw the unemployment rate drop from 25 percent to 13.9 percent by the eve of World War II, while the rough approach advocated by Rush-the-Plumber crowd these days concided with a time that saw it go from 3 percent to 25 percent. Those seem like statistics to me, but perhaps Mr. MacMeekin can explain how they are not.

Liberal economists make a convincing – to me – argument that the recession between 1937 and 1938 came about because Roosevelt bowed to pressure to cut spending before the economy was fully ready for it. But even that recession didn’t send the economy back into collapse. And WW II finished things off by artificially repressing demand and hyperstimulating production.

Perhaps most importantly, people alive at the time perceived that the New Deal worked because they kept voting for Roosevelt over and over again, setting the tone for a national economic and social consensus that lasted until Reagan and probably would still be in place without the backlash to the civil rights movement and 60s era social turbulence. I’ll take my chances with the Roosevelt approach, which also gave millions of idled men something productive to do and left behind lasting, valuable public facililites. I grew up across the street from one in Palatka, FL: the Ravine Gardens State Park, built through a New Deal program. I still, from time to time, go walking and picnicking there with my parents and kids when we visit.

Why do we need a stimulus? is a related, but different question. It has everything to do with two numbers: $2 trillion and 0. The first number is the amount of domestic product that economists predict that will be idled over the next two years. The second is where is the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate stands right now, meaning it can’t be lowered. Most, if not all, recessions in recent history resolved themselves after the Fed lowered interest rates and made money cheaper, thus spurring investment and spending. Virtually every economist I’ve read agrees that interest rate changes (known as monetary policy) have far more power to affect the economy than normal tax cuts and spending plans (known as fiscal policy). However, because of the zero percent interest rate, the Fed cannot do what it has done in every other recent recession. That leaves only fiscal policy with the capability of bridging the $2 trillion, 14 percent gap between real and potential GDP. In that gap lies misery.

To his credit, Mr. MacMeekin very accurately describes the macroeconomic problem. “Today we have a glut – a massive oversupply of houses, autos, computers, appliances, most everything.” Yes. That is true. The credit bubble drove the economy into overcapacity. Mr. MacMeekin completely misunderstands what caused this, and I didn’t see anything resembling a solution or even willingness to address it beyond letting a lot of people die off. But he does accurately describe the problem. My own feeling is that we need to manage the process of matching capacity with real aggragate demand in a way that preserves our police forces, hospitals, water and sewer plants, schools, transportation and energy grids, and basic society in a form that we recognize in 10 years.

Government spending, to my mind, is the only possible tool available to us to accomplish that. All other countries are tanking right now as well. There’s no one to swoop in with money to buy our stuff. And we don’t have money to buy their stuff. Tax cuts right now will just add to the overcapacity. People will either save them, which provides little economic activity, or they will spend them in an artificial boomlet that will prop up capacity temporarily while producing nothing useful. Giving a tax cut to someone who loses their job is not nearly as helpful as allowing that worker to keep his or her job by direct government investment in production.

We will finance this stimulus spending by borrowing more money, which, of course, is dangerous. But we are very fortunate in that U.S. Treasury bills are one of the very few places where people and countries who do have money feel safe putting it. We may eventually very well default on our bonds one day or see a dollar devaluation. That’s a risk. But understand, there is no private sector job creation right now, and it’s hard to see where it will begin again. I think the almost inconceivable social risks of sitting around and watching unemployment surge to 25 percent in five years outweigh the fiscal risks. But I’m definitely out of my field of expertise here, and I’m open to reasoned argument.

2) Stimulus and Pork: Perhaps the most annoyingly stupid aspect of this debate is the, “Oh, it’s all pork, not stimulus, yada, yada…” line.

Take one of the celebrated “pork” projects: Resodding and landscaping the national mall. For a relatively small amount of money, that project would have helped a sod producer, landscaping designers, and landscape workers. And it would have refurbished a vital national symbol that has been allowed to wither into embarrassing condition without creating new overcapacity. But no, Republicans and so-called centrist Democrats would rather give tax cuts to people in the hope that they’ll create new capacity on top of the overcapacity we already have and must destroy.

As President Obama said, spending, of any kind, is stimulus. Certainly, there are debates over what’s most effective. But nowhere is it written that road-building is stimulus, and everything else is pork. That’s just head-smashingly stupid. Read this terrific story in the New York Times about Japan’s decade-plus-long economic morass, which avoided depression through massive and often wasteful stimulus spending focused on beautiful bridges-to-nowhere and other capacity-increasing projects.

Money quote from the piece:

Moreover, it matters what gets built: Japan spent too much on increasingly wasteful roads and bridges, and not enough in areas like education and social services, which studies show deliver more bang for the buck than infrastructure spending. (Emphasis mine)

“It is not enough just to hire workers to dig holes and then fill them in again,” said Toshihiro Ihori, an economics professor at the University of Tokyo. “One lesson from Japan is that public works get the best results when they create something useful for the future.”

Infuriatingly, the Senate version of the stimulus bill trades out direct aid for states, almost all of which would go to help stave off major health care and education service cuts, in favor of pointless tax cuts. That state aid would go immediately into economic circulation by paying doctors, nurses, or teachers, and it would provide a vital service in the process by keeping people healthy and/or educated. Without it, the Polk School District will be furloughing employees. And much worse will come next year.

Building, say, an unnecessary freight superhighway designed to give a private company a dominant future business position with $600 million in tax money isn’t as effective as sustaining the vital economic and social activity around which communities have built their existence.

3) TARP and Stimulus: These are not the same things. Not. The. Same. Things. Mela and Mr. MacMeekin conflate them because Rush conflates them because people hate the TARP, otherwise known as the bank bailout. I also lament the TARP, but the Rush-the-Plumber crowd does not acknowledge the very plausible alternative to it. Had we definitively defeated the baliout back in the fall, it’s entirely likely, though not certain, that massive portions of the nation’s financial system would have gone bankrupt. The practical impacts of that – ATMs not working, runs on banks, insurance policies gone, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria – would have caused the government to nationalize banking because there would have been no other choice. I probably would have preferred that becasue we may still have to do it, and at least we’d have it over with. But it’s a very tough call. No TARP very, very likely would have meant nationalized banking and insurance. Which of you good conservatives is down with that?

4) Socialism: And honestly, when did socialist become the rhetorical equal to child molester? What is it you think socialism is? Isn’t it just the population, through tax money levied by its elected representatives, paying for and administering a service for the benefit of itself. Guess what, folks. You already live in a highly socialized country. We have socialized national defense, socialized law enforcement, socialized firefighting, socialized foreign intelligence gathering, socialized space travel, socialized water and sewer treatment, socialized enforcement of private sector contracts through the socialized court system and that socialized police force I metioned before. We drive on socialized roads, take our children to socialized parks, and often bury our dead in socialized cemeteries. We have socialized insurance of private sector bank deposits. And we already have a half-socialized health care system. The best, most financially efficient health care system in America, the VA health system, is completely socialized. Socialism encroaches on and/or enhances our quality of life every day. World War II, which most people other than Mr. MacMeekin consider the ultimate nail in the coffin of the Depression, was the greatest act of socialism in the history of mankind – by far. The Marshall Plan, which rebuilt Europe and set the conditions for a half-century of peace and prosperity on that heretofore fractious continent, is probably the second.

Go back and look at that recession history graphic. Mr. MacMeekin and Seth Mela think economic conditions were better before all those socialists started trying to provide basic economic and social security, before the hyperstimulus of World War II worked its grisly, murderous magic. Really? There were eight recessions in the 27 years between 1902 and the crash of 1929. Four of them lasted longer than the longest of the 10 recessions in the 63 years since World War II ended. Eight longer recessions in 27 years is better than 10 shorter in this 63-year post war period? Really? You want to go back to the pre-Depression national economic and social structure? I do not. Most importantly, I don’t want my kids returning there.

There are completely legitimate arguments to have over the role of government. European countries tend to inject it more heavily in their societies than we do – see media, telecommunications, health care, public transit, energy production, and private sector job protection. But don’t kid yourselves, the difference in their brand of socialism and ours – even under St. Reagan – has always been a matter of degree, not kind. We’re not nearly the rugged individualists we pretend to be, thank goodness.

6) Depressions Kill and Destroy. A couple of years ago, I took a walk with my grandmother and other members of my family to the homestead where my deceased grandfather lived as a boy. The lot’s within sight of the St. Johns River. The remains of the house stand within a mini-wilderness of untended trees and underbrush. You can tell the house was once a nice, very comfortable place to live, probably about the size of my own house. My great-grandfather was a prosperous agricultural businessman in land boom Florida. Then the land bust and Depression came. It ruined him, and he sank into alcoholism. My grandfather, as a teenager, found my great- grandfather dead one morning not far from this house. Watching my grandmother walk through a place that represented so much loss for the man she loved was an incredibly moving experience. I’ll never forget it.

My great-grandfather died more than seven decades ago. No one has ever cleared the house and built on that valuable piece of property. It stands as a monument to the awesome and lasting destructive power of economic collapse.

One of my favorite quotations – which I’ve heard attributed to Karl Jung – is: “Those who will not learn will be made to feel.” I don’t pretend to have the answers to what’s coming. I don’t for a second think any stimulus package alone will fix what ails us. But it can help treat symptoms. It can help keep people alive and reasonably productive, while sustaining industries and services vital for our long-term well-being. And it can occupy some of the hordes of young men the marketplace is disgorging into idleness. The alternatives to massive government intervention is – for me – too hideous to contemplate. There’s this sense out there in the ether that this long overdue reckoning is just a matter of taking our flat screens to the pawn shop and keeping those wretched poor kids from wearing the expensive shoes they have no business wearing. We’ll all just tighten our belts and mosey happily onward. It’s like people think the Great Depression was some sort of rustic camping trip where we all learned thrift and got back to nature. It wasn’t.

A good argument can be made that the global economic trauma of the Great Depression brought us Nazisim, Fascism, and internationally viable Communism. It can be argued that nuclear weapons and 6 million murdered Jews are just as much monuments to the Depression as the ruins of my grandfather’s childhood home. What will be the monuments of this looming depression, in a world of far more people, far more heavily armed?

Those are the stakes.

I have a good, relatively stable job, good health care, a ridiculously reasonable house payment, and a paid off 10-year-old Honda that runs like a top. But I know well how much luck contributed to this hard won security and how fragile it is. The misfortunes of friends and acquaintances and faceless people you read about in the shrinking newspaper are always just a heartbeat away from my own life. It’s like that for all of us.

You’re certainly under no obligation to take my word for anything. And I encourage you not to. But don’t take anybody else’s either. You owe it to yourselves, your children, and communities to get informed. Turn off Rush. Read. Think. Don’t just spout “socialism, pork, libruls, and TARP,” as if repeating them often enough turns the chant into an argument or a point. By all means, refute anything I say because I want to be wrong about all of this. But don’t bring weak factless aspersions backed by rants on the Sean Hannity show. If you want to blow up government efforts to stave off a new depression, at least have a good, soundly argued reason. Come strong, because this is not a damn game.

So, who will it be?

Hillary Rodham Clinton? Nah, won’t happen. Evan Bayh? Doubtful. While most folks remember his daddy, the younger Bayh is still an unknown to many. Tim Kaine? Nice thought, but I just don’t see it.

While Obama promises change, he really needs someone with significant experience within the Beltway. Someone he feels truly comfortable with, but who won’t overshadow him. And someone that people will recognize who will can provide guidance and direction in those issues and other areas where the candidate is still lacking.

My guess? Put the smart money on U.S. Senate collegue Joseph R. Biden, Jr. of Deleware. He’s been representing the First State in the upper house for 36 years and is knowledgable in many areas. He is not only Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, but served for 16 years on the Judiciary Committee…an important note as the next president could see two or three vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court.

That’s my guess, so we’ll find out together.

After those assurances made almost exactly one year ago, Creative Loafing has let film critic Lance Goldenberg go.

Local writer Philip Booth broke the story Thursday with an eloquently angry post on his blog Scribe Life. That same day, St. Pete Times� TV/media critic Eric Deggans blogged about his disappointment at hearing the news in a post on his blog The Feed. Deggans� post included quotes from both Goldenberg and CL editor David Warner, as well as the full statement issued by Warner.

Acknowledging both of those blog posts and the overwhelming support Goldenberg received in comments on both blogs, CL writer Wayne Garcia posted briefly � almost begrudgingly � about Goldenberg�s departure on the CL blog Political Whore. Garcia�s blog post included a statement from CL editor David Warner, who said that the concern about this news is understandable because �Lance has been a reliably expert voice on film in Tampa Bay for many years.�

In his published statements (on Political Whore and The Feed) and his blog comments (on The Feed and Scribe Life), Warner explained that CL�s decision to release Goldenberg � who has been a freelance writer for CL, not a full-time CL employee, all these years � was based on �the fiscal realities that are facing everyone in the newspaper business.� Warner assured readers and advertisers (smart move on Warner�s part to be concerned with advertisers, because they ultimately control the fiscal realities in the newspaper industry) of CL�s commitment �to reviewing and reporting on the local film scene and the many film festivals Creative Loafing has always covered in depth.�

I have so many questions and comments that I don�t know where to begin.

I suppose I should start by acknowledging my discomfort in writing about this topic. I�m a blogger, remember, so technically I�m part of the newspaper industry�s problem in the first place. (I�ll save that discussion for another blog post.) However, I hate reading about the exodus of film/book/art/music critics over the past year or so. (33 film critics since January 2006, according to The Movie Cricket.)

I spent several hours today writing a long article about this, going through all my questions and reactions point by point. After re-reading my final draft, I realized that it didn�t work and deleted it. All of the thoughts that have been swirling in my head since I first read about Goldenberg�s departure relate to one central concern:

Will Creative Loafing continue to write about, support, critique and draw attention to local films, filmmakers, film festivals and theaters?

I certainly hope so, but Creative Loafing�s track record has me a little worried. The same week that Tampa�s CL let Lance Goldenberg go, Atlanta�s Creative Loafing laid off senior editor Scott Freeman and arts/entertainment editor (and occasional film reviewer) David Lee Simmons. Jonathan Rosenbaum, head film critic for the Chicago Reader, retired in February after 21 years. Art/film critic Felicia Feaster left Creative Loafing in Atlanta in April. The Chicago Reader lost several talented, dedicated staff writers in December.

Hopefully, the national advertising agency Creative Loafing signed on with recently can bring in those crucial advertising dollars.

When long-time writers like Goldenberg depart, readers notice the difference. Readers also notice when a paper loses some of its local focus or replaces thoughtful critical analysis with brief infotainment sound bytes.

Local film fans will be watching. I certainly will be, and I�m keeping my fingers crossed.

(cross-posted at www.tampafilmfan.com)

Lakeland Government Television premieres today on channel 615, featuring City Commission meetings as well as those of the Utility Committee, Code Enforcement, and other government entities. In addition, viewers will be able to view crime watch and safety-related programmes produced by the Lakeland Police Department.

Previously, meetings had been shown on the county’s government channel, but not always live because of programming conflicts. The new city-related service will eliminate that issue.

He’s actually on the far left of the photo there. You’ll have to go to the original to barely see Obama’s face as he walks from the bus to the trailer. He waited almost almost 20 minutes to get out of the bus after he arrived. I mention that only becuase I’m looking at the photo timestamps.

That’s Obama’s bus arriving about 3:33. Coming from the east on Highway 92. I mention that in case you read something different elsewhere.

When Billy wrote about Obama coming to Lakeland I thought it was nice Lakeland would get a look from the national press, but not something I’d bother going to see. Even today at lunch, I told a friend I doubted I’d try to see Obama. I’ve never considered a politician as someone I’d want to “be close to.” Standing in a crowd hoping for a glimpse of a celebrity has always felt like a cult of personality. Even if that person could be President.

Then I came home from lunch and found an email informing me that the area around PJ’s Dream Home Center of Lakeland was looking like the scene of a prison lock down. Police parked along the street, all PJs entrances closed, and an Orlando TV station was pulling their truck in behind a nearby liquor store.

Ok, the last didn’t seem unusual, but the rest screamed Obama.

So, I figured I had a need to follow up on what we’re posted this week. I went to PJs. Actually, I ended up to the parking lot of the liquor store. Four or five people stood outside debating how Obama would arrive. The consensus was that he’d land a helicopter in the cattle field next door.

I couldn’t see Obama choosing to evade cowpies if there was any another route. That route ended up being a drive up US 92 from Winter Haven.

Obama finally showed up and went into a trailer to talk. I’m sure you’ve seen the video on the regional news.

While I stood there, a rumor was passed along that after the meeting Obama would go to Munn Park. So we wasted a few minutes and went to Munn. The park had a few dozen people there for the same reason.

About 4:30 a Lakeland Police Department officer walked through the crowd to inform them that Obama had changed his plans and would not come to Munn Park.

A few in the crowd didn’t believe the officer and decided to stay. I decided to go.

The moral of the story? I think I’ll leave tracking the politicians to Billy. Now, if you hear Elvis Costello is tuning his guitar at Mollys, or Milan Kundera has stopped by the library to renew his card, you give me a call, send me a text, or drive by and pick me up.

Billy Townsend noted on the talk around town earlier in the week on the Lakeland Local blog. The visit would come during First Friday, a monthly gathering sponsored by the Downtown Lakeland Partnership. Although Townsend’s wife, Julie, organizes the First Friday event, she reportedly has heard nothing from the Obama campaign.

Other local Democratic activists, including the county’s state committeewoman, have also been left in the dark about a possible visit. One item that may lead people to believe that it may happen is that according to Lakeland Ledger political reporter Bill Rufty in his blog Thursday afternoon, city police information officer Jack Gillen told a reporter that he could not comment when asked if the Obama campaign had contacted LPD regarding a possible local stop.

While I’ve never been to First Friday before, this will give me the perfect excuse to do so today. After all, as Rufty mentioned in his posting, the Obama campaign is known for spontaneous campaign stops not listed on his official schedule. I’m sure today will feature the largest crowd in the history of the monthly downtown event. Hopefully the restaurants along Kentucky Avenue will be ready.

Apparantly, both were owned by Metromedia Restaurant Group of Plano, Texas, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection Tuesday. Metromedia is the parent company of the two national chains.

Another chain owned by Metromedia, Pondrosa Steakhouse, put 59 of it’s Florida locations up for sale or lease last month (none in Polk County).

As the economy continues to falter, and customers cut back on their eating out or choosing lower cost options such as Golden Corral and similar style buffet restaurants, we’ve seen a number of eateries across Polk County falter in recent months. Sadly, I can’t see where the process will end soon, and that means more people out of work locally.

How Does Spot Work?

1 An individual or journalist creates a pitch that outlines an untold story in a local community.

2 Members of your community vote, with their money, on what stories are most important to them.

3 A journalist researches the facts and puts together an article. Editors provide check-and-balance on the story.

4 Spot.us publishes the story in its news feeds and works with local media outlets to have the articles published more widely.

I came across an odd campaign mailer today. It’s a glossy, professionally-produced piece. On the front it reads, “JD ALEXANDER STEPPED UP AND JOINED THE FIGHT.” Flip it over, and it continues: “When Bartow residents needed help in their fight to keep “stinky garbage” out of their neighborhoods…”

There’s a Ledger pullout quote from June 10 quoting JD as saying “…we don’t need stinky stuff a mile and a half a from the downtown of our county seat.” Imagine that, the champion of turning 60 into the mother of all truck stops is a NIMBY.

I assumed at first that it was a JD campaign mailer. He’s advertising more than Barack Obama on local television these days. (Every time I procrastinate at the gym, I look up, and there he is on the wall of televisions, saying something in closed captioning about “helping.” Nothing about all his work for Atlantic Blue or Highlands Cassidy or Phoenix or the Heartland distribution node on 60, but whatever, it’s a campaign, and I digress.) But the mailer’s not from his campaign, as a quick second look can tell. The man in the family picture on the front isn’t JD at all. He looks a lot more like Anderson Cooper actually.

No, this mailer is, in fact, an “electioneering communication” paid for by “Floridians for Conservative Values,” one of those shadowy third-party shell groups designed to funnel money to campaigns without funneling money to campaigns. This one should really be called “Floridians for Sugary Values.” U.S. Sugar has contributed $135,000 of the shell’s $271,000 raised since 2006. Florida Crystals Corporation kicked in $80,000.

All of this leaves me with a thought: It’s awfully decent of U.S. Sugar to have such regard for Bartow, particularly at a time when the company has been negotiating its own billion dollar demise.

Now, the cynics among you might question the company’s sincerity. What’s that you say, maybe Big Sugar just likes having a big corporate ally working in Tally? Maybe all JD’s TV advertising and Tallahassee fundraising and third-party mailers (four months before election day) show a case of the nerves brought on by the late-breaking candidacy of Scott Thompson of Winter Haven. Maybe they’ve heard the same rumors I’ve heard of bad polling.

It would be a shame to think Floridians for Ulterior Motives, errr Conservative Values, isn’t altruistic. So say it ain’t so those of you in JD’s orbit. Come on Jack, Sam, Seth, Twyla, or anybody else, drop me an email at bi_town1@hotmail.com, and tell me JD ain’t scared.

From the blog’s About page:

This is a blog about all the stuff on the internet that catches my attention. I try to focus on Tampa, but my mind wanders. The other pages, Eating Tampa, Greening Tampa, Reading Tampa, and Screening Tampa are more focused.

Re/Creating Tampa is ably written by David Davisson, who says of himself: “I write for my blogs and have started working on a book. When I�m not writing or looking at stuff, I�m working slowly on re-habbing our house in Seminole Heights.”

But my advice to everyone today is simple: As the headline suggests, enjoy the region’s Busch Gardens and Sea World parks while you can, because more than likely big changes are on the way.

As many of you heard Monday, Anheuser-Busch has agreed to be sold over the weekend in a $52 billion deal to Belgian beer giant InBev. The deal will not be finalized until year’s end, but reports indicate that the frugal European corporation wants to sell off those divisions of A-B which are not directly related to it’s core business…beer. That means that Busch Entertainment, the nation’s largest theme park operator, will probably be on the block.

In Central Florida, that will have a big effect. In the area, Busch Entertainment operates:

In Tampa: Busch Gardens Africa and Adventure Island
In Orlando: SeaWorld, Discovery Cove, and Aquatica

I certainly would not expect any of the parks to close, but the number of possible takers are few, expecially in today’s economy when businesses are having to tighten up as much as possible. The parks would bring approximately $5 billion dollars plus.

July 21, 2008
Noon to 1 pm
at the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce
(Yes, you read that correctly.)
35 Lake Morton Drive
Lakeland, FL

This meeting is focused on the business that blogs, hopes to blog, or wonders why customers always ask for the company “blog.” It doesn’t matter if your company is for profit, not for profit, or wondering what this “profit” thing is that everyone talks about. We’ll mainly discuss some of the problems and opportunities blogging brings to your business, but the floor is open to any of your questions.

By July 17, please email me at meeting [at] lakelandlocal.com if you plan to attend the Noon meeting. I’d like to give the Chamber a head count.

•

July 28, 2008
6:30 to 8:30
at Mimi’s Cafe
3770 Lakeside Village Court
Lakeland FL

This is a casual meeting of a very informal network of Polk County bloggers. You’re invited even if you have never written a single blog post.

We spend the time talking about blogging — how, why, and where. Members are known to take the conversations far afield. Yes, “conversations”. This isn’t the traditional one member speaks at a time kind of meeting. We split up into small groups to chat.

It’s a restaurant and you can eat, drink, and be merry if you wish. If you plan to come please do me a favor and email me so I can call the restaurant with an idea oh how many will attend.

So, by July 21, please email me at meeting [at] lakelandlocal.com if you plan to attend the dinner meeting.

Thanks.