Hillary Clinton: Retro-Candidate

I believe the Florida trounce paves the way for President Hillary Clinton and I think most of her electoral power comes from people yearning for the 90s, when another Clinton was president. You ask what was so great about the last decade? I point you to the current one, this…

And The Pulp Predicts …

Here are some electoral prognostications that everyone can look back on tomorrow and laugh at my utter idiocy: — Mara Giulianti loses Hollywood mayorship. Look, Mara may have all the money, but she knows she’s in trouble. The desperation is evident in her frantic campaigning. Case in point: When voter…

S.V. Date Out at Palm Beach Post (UPDATED)

It’s true, S.V. Date, the Tallahassee reporter and Jeb Bush chronicler, has left the Palm Beach Post. Paul Blythe, the newspaper’s state editor, confirmed that Date resigned on Friday, but wouldn’t elaborate on the reason. If you’ll recall, Date — who has been covering the Florida capital for 10 years,…

Recession? What Recession?

I’ve been hit with several rumors lately that will make excellent future posts, but for now, let’s do a little news-crunching. — First, the Sentinel had a front-page piece on the fed rate cut in Sunday’s newspaper. Written by Harriet Johnson Brackey, it took a pollyanna tone, beginning with the…

The Incredible Shrinking Sentinel

I’m not so much a size guy as a quality guy when it comes to newspaper-watching, but, hey, everybody knows size matters in journalism. And our favorite Sun-Sentinel critic, Palm Beach-based “Ellen Dalton,” snickers at some recent, uh, shrinkage at the Tribune pub in a morning note to the Pulp:…

Fun With Headlines, Etc

Some recent headlines in the South Florida media: — From this morning’s Sun-Sentinel: “Salerno’s legacy: Growth, rancor” Outgoing Sunrise city manager Pat Salerno couldn’t have liked that one. You can hear his eulogy, now: “Yes, he was a good man, full of both great growth and boundless rancor.” At least…

Letters for January 24-30, 2008

Bad Jammer Man Don’t block the doc: Hooray for Jammer Man, until he jams a doctor’s pager in a movie theater or absent-mindedly jams an important phone call, to enjoy his nonfat latte and John Grisham novel (“Jammer Man,” Michael J. Mooney, January 17). Name withheld by request Via the…

Dark Passage

Two hours before sunset this past September 23, sailors aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter spotted the Joe Cool. The 47-foot fishing yacht bobbed atop the waves, the white hull glowing against the azure water. The Joe Cool was 100 nautical miles off-course. By 5 p.m. that Sunday, it should…

Hush, Money

With just days remaining before Floridians vote on January 29, beachfront development is the hottest issue in South Florida’s fiercest political race — that is, if the flow of campaign dollars is any measure. Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti, buoyed by well-funded allies, is running for reelection as a champion of…

A Dose of Feelgood

You knew these words were coming. “West Palm Beach, are you ready to roooooock?” How else would the warm-up band kick off the opening-night party for a bar owned by Vince Neil? Inside the brand-new Clematis Street club Dr. Feelgood’s last Tuesday, it was as though the city were blessed…

For Love of God

I’d been told that Beverly Kennedy has a photographic memory, found the fountain of youth, and never told a lie. What I didn’t know until she rested her hand on the small of my back and started whispering a prayer was that she was a healer too. It was hard…

State Rep. Schwartz Holocaust-Baits For Mayor Mara

Florida state Rep. Elaine J. Schwartz is being accused of using the Holocaust to drum up votes against Peter Bober in his bid to unseat Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti. And after looking at the evidence, the Pulp finds probable cause to charge Schwartz, who represents parts of Hollywood and Pembroke…

L.A. Times’ Editor’s Farewell Note

In case you’ve been busy taking time off the past few days, there are a couple things brewing in the world. First, the stock market is widely expected to crash hard today. Fun, eh? Another is that L.A. Times Editor Jim O’Shea was fired over the weekend after fighting for…

Where Have All The Cheap Beach Stays Gone?

That’s what Bill Barber asks in a letter to New Times: SENT FROM: browardpalmbeach.com DATE/TIME: January 14, 2008, 10:59 am MST SUBJECT: Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotels LETTER: Our family has lived in the west Broward county for over 20 years and every winter we invite family to visit the beach…

Pat Riley Needs To Fire Himself. Again.

Last night, I was listening to the Heat-Bulls game on satellite radio, so I got a little taste of the Chicago perspective. And the commentators didn’t dissapoint. They talked about how Heat defenders seemed to be standing around aimlessly. They mused about how it was no wonder there were so…

Sporty Delight

Actual Horses You won’t hear many complaints from the crowd at Gulfstream Park on a balmy weekday afternoon. The clientele at the track, which opened its 89-day season this month, is heavy on folks from New York and Michigan. For the most part, these are smiling, middle-aged dudes in Hawaiian…

The Dying Light

This is a story about failure. It’s about a particular kind of failure — an American kind. It’s about the failure of art measured in dollars and the failure it constitutes if there’s no place in the market for art that can’t sit neatly on a gallery wall. It’s about…

Are We Really in Good Hands?

Alan Levine remembers the morning in 2004 when Jeb Bush got serious about turning around the North Broward Hospital District. At the time, Levine was Bush’s deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office. He was at his desk about 7 a.m. when the governor came into his office with…

Letters for January 17-23, 2008

Tow Me Not Who ya callin’ predatory? Little or no thought went into this report (“Tow Job,” Ashley Harrell and John Linn, January 3). I was never told prior to my brief interview that the “real” subject was complaints filed against tow companies. Had I known that, I probably would…

Jammer Man to the Rescue

He came into the bookstore huffing loudly into his cellphone, ignoring turned heads and annoyed glares. His voice shot across the room, a harsh, grating sound, like broken glass in a blender. It jolted our hero as he thumbed through a Cormac McCarthy novel about soulless, murderous heathens. “Oh, that…

Sam Zell: Master of the Obvious

Quote from Sam Zell, the new owner of Sun-Sentinel mother Tribune Co.: “I don’t think this company has been particularly well run in the past.” He was addressing the staff of Newsday — and the quote reportedly drew a round of applause from the staffers in the room. Click link…

Mitchell Exits Sun-Sentinel

Ken Mitchell, who was made president of the Sun-Sentinel’s Forum Publishing Group in 2005, has left the company. Don’t know the details, but here’s the corporate memo: TO: Sun-Sentinel Company Employees FROM: Howard Greenberg RE: Ken Mitchell Leaves Sun-Sentinel Company Just a brief note to let you know that Forum…