Foreclosure crisis and local action: Report from Miami Gardens

This morning an email came in from Andre Williams, a city councilman in Miami Gardens, about what he and his city are doing to combat the foreclosure crisis while the government in Washington flails about. Mr. Williams: today you're a guest blogger. Keep up the good work. Readers: click on the links he provides, and you'll be wiser and more motivated.

Here's his email:

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for all of your hard work on behalf of the Democratic party in South Florida. As you may know, I am a proud Democrat and a hard working and productive City Councilman in Miami Gardens, the largest African American city in the state with a population of 115,000. We were very active with organizing the vote in our city for President-elect Obama.

I wanted to share some exciting, substantive news with you and the rest of our Democratic colleagues about the work that I am doing on behalf of our residents which has captured the attention of TIME magazine and our local media. I believe it is a great story the party can tell about one of its local elected Democratic officials.

TIME magazine continues to follow our extraordinary efforts in Miami Gardens to provide assistance to our residents facing foreclosure. This is the link to the most recent article: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1860879,00.html.

The magazine has followed me for the past several months to chronicle my efforts to engage lenders on behalf of our residents who are in jeopardy of losing their home. The magazine's first article may be found here: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1826970,00.html.

Local television and print media has also taken an interest in our work: http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=284936 and http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2051&Itemid=1.

While federal assistance has been largely inadequate, we are committed to saving as many homes as we can from foreclosure in Miami Gardens.

Regards,

André L. Williams

Councilman

City of Miami Gardens

Rudy: Corrupt and cavalier, and then more

If your Republican friends are trending toward Rudy, here’s something you should feed them: it's a link to The Real Rudy.

It's a news release from the Florida Democratic Party on why Rudy wasn’t paying attention much to the 9/11 Commission back in 2002 – he was busy getting filthy rich, and in dubious fashion. And there’s a neat Florida link to this story. Go check out the FlaDems news release and don’t neglect to follow the links therein to the Time Magazine and New York Times articles.

It makes me cringe at the way big money and fears of terrorism will work together with the industry devoted to data mining. The result could be a United States with a thoroughly controlled citizenry and a disastrous appetite for unending war.

There. Scary enough?