It’s happening again: According to a story in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, a whole bunch of trailer trash retirees are being evicted from a waterfront park and being replaced with rich condomites. Developer Mark Flannagan is quoted as saying, “Affordable housing doesn’t belong on the water.” Darn straight! We don’t want affordable housing anywhere along our coast. The fact that hundreds of senior citizens will have no place to go doesn’t bother us. Well, maybe it bothers us a little. It bothers Flanagan enough that he’s offering to build replacement housing “at cost” as long as the goverment provides free land. In other words, he wants a government subsidy to help him get richer and perhaps help ease his tiny, shriveled little Republican conscience. State Senator Mike “Road Rage” Bennett (R - Construction Industry) wants to make sure he gets it, too.

My ‘Roblimo’ online nickname comes from my former occupation as a limousine owner/driver. As limo guy, I served several hundred wedding parties, so I have a good idea what make a wedding (and reception) work smoothly and what can screw it up. Let’s start with my pet peeve: Too many bridesmaids.

A while back, I wrote a little piece, with photos, about the contrast between two slumlord-owned properties and the slumlords’ own houses here in Bradenton. A couple of reader comments added to that story were along the lines of, “They don’t look so bad to me, and I don’t consider the owners’ homes mansions.” Mmm. I didn’t have permission to show the insides of those properties, or even to take photos of the exteriors from anywhere other than the sidewalk, so I couldn’t give you full impact. In any case, those two properties are finally getting fixed up. So I have pictures of a new slum for you, and these are interior pictures. Take a look at them. Then ask yourself, “What kind of sleazebag tries to profit from renting out an apartment in this condition?” and, “Why aren’t there laws to prevent this?”

My wife and I were watching an insipid TV show last, and I thought I heard a Chevy ad start with the words, “Introducing the 2007 Chevy Tahoe.” Debbie said, “That can’t be right.” So, using the magic of our Tivo-style personal video recorder, I rewound to watch the ad again. (Broadcasters, please note that I used a PVR to watch - not skip - an ad!) By gumph, they were introducing the 2007 Chevy Tahoe. Debbie said, “They must be talking about next year.” But they weren’t. GM is really and truly starting to sell a 2007 model vehicle right now, in January, 2006. And the Tahoe isn’t the only 2007 GM model coming out this month. 2007 Chevrolet Suburbans and Yukons (GMC-branded Tahoe clones) are also on their way to dealers.

The only reason I can think of for this calendar change is that GM expects 2006 to be such a bad year that they’ve decided to skip it entirely and go straight to 2007. I have no idea how accountants and investors (and the SEC) will react to this exciting development, but I’m sure we’ll find out before long.

Back in the 20th Century,
California was “the land of fruits and nuts.” It was where you went if
you were too strange to make it anywhere else in the country. It was
our nation’s haven for artists, gays, people who followed or started
non-mainstream religions, and those who wanted to make experimental films
or music. I grew up in that California. Now California is rule-bound
and insanely overpriced, so those people move to Florida instead.

Both California and
Florida have a pall of impending disaster hanging over them. Realizing
your whole life can come crashing down in the next earthquake leads to
a “drink and make merry today, for tomorrow we may die,” attitude. In
Florida you’re more likely to be blown away by a hurricane than crushed
by an earthquake, but the attitude is the same.