Chip LaMarca is the only Republican on the Broward County Board of Commissioners, so you might think he would be the last one to spearhead a move to literally unleash known violent criminals back on our neighborhoods.
But LaMarca was behind the undoing of the doggy death penalty ordinance that was put into place by the fellow he vanquished, former Mayor Ken Keechl. It was a politically popular move on LaMarca's part because the poster dogs of the repeal movement were Brandie and Gigi, a couple of great family dogs that really didn't deserve to be executed.
But a Sun-Sentinel story on the matter shows that the vast majority of the 56 dogs that had been put down because of the ordinance were marauding pit bulls and Rottweilers that bounded onto people's property and mangled other pets and, at times, children.
Vicious beasts of that ilk may now be given a second chance to maraud and maim. Obviously I'm having a little fun here with the headline, but it really is a little unsettling.
-- The Sentinel (alas, the wife of the Pulp again) also posted the investigative report on BSO's Sue Gunzburger investigation that was apparently sparked by her opponent, Steve Geller, or someone from this camp. That thing caused a big splash during the election and may have turned the election for Gunzburger in the end. But here's what I find hilarious: BSO censored a bunch of the report with a black marker, including the name of the complainant.
Note to BSO corruption chief Al Lamanna: I know you used to be with the FBI and all, but in Florida, it's against the law to hold back public information when an investigation is over. By the way, we're still waiting on that first case. Again I know it's not uncommon for a federal agent to work a few cases for many years gathering "intelligence" but never making arrests, but that's not what we expect from local detectives. You've got three detectives working full time on corruption and nothing in well over a year. What gives?
Inside, read important news concerning the comment section. It should be good.
So I was away from the blog yesterday and the saw this morning that the spammers had had their way. So this morning I went on a spam-killing mission of epic proportions. It's like killing Orcs from the Ring movies; they're easy to take out, but there are so many of them, it's a bit of a task.
This should not be a problem for much longer. Why, you might ask? We're getting a new commenting system, and I think it's going to be OK. Instead of Captcha, they're changing it to Disqus, the same system used on CNN.com if you want to see an example (scroll to the bottom of the link to see it in action).
Once it switches over (and I'm hearing it should happen this week), you'll be able to comment on others' comments directly so nobody will have any problem knowing who you're talking to or about. It's also got the ability of rating other people's comments, and it's got connectability with Facebook, Twitter, etc.
It allows you to create a profile for yourself (with any name and avatar of your choosing), which I think is awesome. I really encourage folks to create a profile because it brings more quality control and personality to the discussion. Or you can remain just as shadowy as you want to be.
It's gonna be an upgrade, I'm pretty sure, and it should also bring us some more protection from the spammers.
