Smashed Frog

• Going Harvard on Nancy Grace

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  Nancy Grace continues to get hers.
  
  Three years past the death of Melinda Duckett finds CNN and talk show host Grace continuing to squirm on the hot seat of a defamation suit filed by the young mother's parents. Duckett--just 21 years old at [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 5:45am EST
  by Sunny

• Georgians for Reform

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  Passing along an opportunity to get involved.
  
  Georgians for Reform.
  
  Georgians For Reform works to make communities safer and protect our children through education, awareness, and treatment.
  
  We recognize that registration and residency schemes do not and can not work. [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 11:55am EST
  by Sunny

• Mike Haridopolos Blackberries Disinterest in Family Rights to Privacy

  Number of comments: 15
  
  
  The Blackberry is the new doodling.
  
  Instead of drawing box after box after box on a legal pad, apparently working (playing?) on one's phone is the newest form of expressing disinterest.
  
  Reportedly, state Senator Mike Haridopolos is a not so closeted Blackberry [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 6:03am EST
  by Sunny

• A Slip of the They?

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  Most wouldn't think of the word "they" as a pejorative.
  
  Yet the 911 audio report of the Tiger Woods holiday fender bender certainly spins the situation from bad to worse. Around 00:25, "...they're laying on the ground....", is cited by the concerned [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 6:00am EST
  by Sunny

• Wool Over My Eyes

  Number of comments: 0
  
  
  After getting slammed while sitting in Black Friday traffic a few years back, I've learned to stick to thrift shops on the traditional first day of holiday shopping. Yet somewhere between Goodwill and Salvation Army, I got the urge to work in a visit' [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 12:28am EST
  by Sunny

• A Thanksgiving Buzzkill

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  Happy Thanksgiving. [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 12:15am EST
  by Sunny

• Bubble-Wrapping Our Kids

  Number of comments: 0
  
  
  A youthful family member recently explained the whole concept of Wii.
  
  With a vision of long ago street kickball games replaying against the back of my eyelids, I asked why the kid just didn't round up a couple of friends, go outside' [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 5:48am EST
  by Sunny

• Organizing Genius

  Number of comments: 3
  
  An engineer meets a frog who offers the engineer anything he wants if he will kiss the frog.
  
  "No," says the engineer.
  
  "Come on," says the frog. "Kiss me, and I'll turn into a beautiful woman."
  
  "Nah," says the engineer. "I don't" [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 6:37am EST
  by Sunny

• Pulp Diction

  Number of comments: 0
  
  Jon Stewart "goes Tarantino" on Nancy Grace
  
  Check it out, beginning on or about 07:00.
  
  Enjoy.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:01am EST
  by Sunny

• Child Safety Zones Work

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  Take a few moments today to read Dr. Jill Levenson's 11/14/2009 op-ed over at the Miami Herald here.
  
  (Many thanks to Eye on Miami (11/15/2009) for posting the following comments by a self-described child advocate who has yet to conduct one [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 6:33am EST
  by Sunny

• Breaker! Breaker! Education Discrimination?

  Number of comments: 5
  
  
  Question to ponder this weekend.
  
  Can a private vo-tech--conducting CDL training here in Florida--discriminate against acceptance of an ex-felon for training solely on the basis that the school cannot guarantee job placement upon course completion? [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 9:57am EST
  by Sunny

• Obama's Low-End Option

  Number of comments: 0
  
  
  Will we stay or will we go?
  
  The NYT (11/11/09):
  
  (...)
  
  

  General Eikenberry sent his reservations to Washington in a cable last week, the officials said. In that same period, President Obama and [...]

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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 6:07am EST
  by Sunny

• Howard Cosell Here...And That Man Can Sing

  Number of comments: 2
  Throwing a dedication out to all America's vets.
  
  Marvin Gaye. 1979
  
  
  
  Thank you for your service to our country. ' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 7:32am EST
  by Sunny

• The Rothstein Hot Seat

  Number of comments: 8
  
  
  When it comes to ill-gotten gains, no one scatters faster than the recipients (or the perceived recipient of).
  
  
  The Palm Beach Post (11/8/09):
  
  (...)
  
  Revelations that Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein's nearly $1.4 million in political contributions since 2006' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 6:32am EST
  by Sunny

• Filling the Void

  Number of comments: 20
  
  
  
  The void over at the Florida House Public Safety & Domestic Security Committee is beginning to fill with education.
  
  The Miami Herald (11/4/09):
  

  (...)
  

  Marti Harkness, a criminal-justice analyst, told the House Public Safety & Domestic Security Committee that studies from [...]

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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:47pm EST
  by Sunny

• 300 Feet

  Number of comments: 5
  
  
  What does a 300 foot buffer zone look like to you?
  
  For St. Johns County, Florida, a child safety zone looks a little something like this:
  
  "...County Commission adopted a Child Safety Zone ordinance prohibiting registered sexual offenders and predators from loitering" [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 6:17am EST
  by Sunny

• How Safe Are Trick-or-Treaters?: An Analysis of Child Sex Crime Rates on Halloween

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  
  Halloween has never proved one of my favorite holidays.
  
  Certainly as a kid, yes. But I must be one of the few adults who prefers a movie over the macabre because over the years, the true October surprise (IMHO) is the morphing [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 10:10am EDT
  by Sunny

• As the Crow Flies

  Number of comments: 1
  
  
  Don't be surprised if the next law pitched targets public school transportation.
  
  Somer Thompson had some walk to and from school. Many have been surprised at the distance and questioned why the young girl didn't ride a bus.
  
  Most school systems do [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 6:14am EDT
  by Sunny

• Can We Better Search for Missing Children?

  Number of comments: 9
  
  Procedures kicked in for persons registered as sex offenders after 7-year-old Somer Thomspon went missing earlier this week.
  
  At this time, investigators indicate that questioning of the 161 offenders living in the 5-mile radius of where the child lived has led to the conclusion [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 3:45pm EDT
  by Sunny

• Pawlenty Flat Screens MSOP TVs

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  I can see why Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is busy figuratively pulling the plug on the "...two dozen 50-inch flat-screen TVs from a Moose Lake sex offender treatment program...", 25 TVs for $1,500 apiece, $700 for each individual mounting bracket.
  
  This program [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 6:06am EDT
  by Sunny

• The Law Visits the Frog

  Number of comments: 20
  
  
  While watching the silver mushroom of a mylar balloon scream across the sky like some sort of flimsy space capsule, I thought to myself, if we all find out that kid is safe at home with his grandmother, I'll freakin' scream.
  
  Just the [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 6:57pm EDT
  by Sunny

• Democratic AG Hopefuls Play the Julia Tuttle Fear Card

  Number of comments: 14
  
  
  Over the weekend, Dem vs Dem squared off over issues facing Florida and when the focus turned to crime, I'm uncertain as to which Attorney General hopeful threw human rights under the bridge best...state Senator Dave Aronberg or state Senator Dan Gelber.
  
  As' [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 6:06pm EDT
  by Sunny

• Social Epidemics

  Number of comments: 2
  
  
  The recent closing of the Georgia offender camp may be much more than an official act by local law enforcement.
  
  Malcolm Gladwell--author of The Tipping Point--offers the following on social epidemics:
  
  "...epidemics behave in a very unusual and counterintuitive way. Think," [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 6:13am EDT
  by Sunny

• Sex Offenders Losing Their Religion?

  Number of comments: 22
  
  
  Heard an interesting local reaction to the lawsuit filed in North Carolina which disallows those persons forced to register as sex offenders from attending church.
  
  Or as Sara Totonchi, policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights, calls such practice, "...criminalizing" [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 6:06am EDT
  by Sunny

• Outage on HBO

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  Outrage debuts wide scale on HBO this week, asking us to consider whether gay politicians who work against gay rights should be outed.
  
  They fight against same-sex marriage. They fight against funding for AIDS research. They fight against adoption by gay parents. [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 5:50am EDT
  by Sunny

• The Books on the Julia Tuttle Causeway

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess the following spin by the Book Ends is the new soft sell to Florida lawmakers in their continued joint push for an increase in statewide residency restrictions from the present 1000 to 1750' [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 7:00am EDT
  by Sunny

• Pitching a Tent

  Number of comments: 5
  
  
  SNL has historically proved way slow on the uptake regarding the poke of the finger at residency restriction laws.
  
  Yet, it took less than a week for baby bro--Thursday's SNL: Weekend Update to zap Julia Tuttle's cousin, Atlanta's Tent City.
  [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 5:58am EDT
  by Sunny

• Georgia's Julia Tuttle: The Woods of Cobb County

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  Well, it was bound to happen.
  
  The state of Georgia can now boast their own version of the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
  
  For those persons deemed sex offenders who are unable to locate housing due to residency restrictions, state probation officers have directed [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 3:00am EDT
  by Sunny

• STUNG in Broward County

  Number of comments: 7
  
  
  This past July, I posted a bit of construction news swirling about Broward County Schools regarding an alleged three-quarters of a million dollars repair ripoff of the South Florida school district.
  
  Broward County Schools is back in the news after three public [...]
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  Posted: September 28, 2009, 2:41am EDT
  by Sunny

• Florida Does Dallas

  Number of comments: 2
  
  
  Per the census, the recession has most folks hanging out at home together, but not in a temporary sort of way.
  
  Families are bunking up multigenerationally, tying together their collective financial binds in order to survive.
  
  As reported by the [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 6:19am EDT
  by Sunny

• When in Vermont....

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  Miami-Dade still smells dirty a few days after dismissal of the ACLU suit regarding the area's Draconian residency restriction laws, but up Vermont way, a judge didn't take too kindly to the same sort of segregation.
  
  WCAX News (9/18/2009):
  

  The mayor [...]

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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 6:12am EDT
  by Sunny

• Miami-Dade Courts--By Any Other Name--Still Smell Dirty

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  Wow.
  
  Paint my face dumbfounded.
  
  A Miami-Dade judge dismissed the ACLU suit against Miami-Dade County.
  
  Like we didn't know that wasn't going to happen.
  
  Judge Pedro P. Echarte Jr. (no relation to Ron Book that I'm aware of) bought Miami-Dade' [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 6:00pm EDT
  by Sunny

• 2009 Netroots Activist of the Year

  Number of comments: 5
  
  
  I'm an accidental activist.
  
  Several years back, my family was very much effected by the actions of one of our own. We didn't think so at the time. Although floored our loved one would be caught up in a police sting for chatting [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 6:10pm EDT
  by Sunny

• Patrick Swayze, Point Break

  Number of comments: 1
  
  
  Although Ghost and Dirty Dancing are the first films to pop into the minds of many Patrick Swayze fans, my fave is Point Break.
  
  Patrick as Bohdi, Keanu Reeves as Special Agent surfer Johnny Utah (THE best named character in the movies!) [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 6:32am EDT
  by Sunny

• Steve Nunn

  Number of comments: 6
  
  
  Keep an eye on this story.
  
  The Lexington-Herald Leader (9/12/2009)
  
  Former state representative and one-time gubernatorial candidate Steve Nunn remained in a Bowling Green hospital Saturday after he slit his wrists following his former fiancee's slaying.
  
  On Friday, Nunn was' [...]
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  Posted: September 12, 2009, 6:35pm EDT
  by Sunny

• Brian D. Sweeney, United Flight 175

  Number of comments: 3
  
  
  September 2006--as a participant in the 2996 project--I was assigned the privilege of memorializing Brian D. Sweeney, a passenger on United Flight 175.
  
  Of Viking Heart was written in tribute to a man I never met but came to know only [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 8:36am EDT
  by Sunny

• Low Rent

  Number of comments: 1
  
  Question of the Day.
  
  Can a Florida landlord charge more than the security deposit?
  
  I've perused the Renters' Rights Handbook and can't seem to find the answer.
  
  Regarding yet another House, Obama's speech to Congress last night inspired a bit of [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 6:22am EDT
  by Sunny

• Mark Foley Radio

  Number of comments: 6
  
  
  He's baacckk. And on the radio.
  
  "Inside the Mind of Mark Foley" will expose the inner workings of Washington D.C.
  
  (Straight off the press release, Froggers. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.)
  
  Yes, the man who dove [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 6:07am EDT
  by Sunny

• What Rednecks Heard Obama Say to Kids

  Number of comments: 0
  
  
  Couldn't resist one last laugh at the expense of all the haters who live among us.
  
  What Rednecks heard during Obama's speech to School Children.
  
  
  
  Classic.
  
  Kudos to Richard Coughlan. View more of his work here.[...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 6:05pm EDT
  by Sunny

• Sex Offender Laws: The Perfect Storm

  Number of comments: 8
  
  
  Laurie Essig over at Class Warfare points out how easily she could become a persona non grata.
  
  I have most certainly urinated in public (if national parks are public) with children, had sex as a teenager, and gone streaking (as a teenager). [...]
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  Posted: September 07, 2009, 10:10am EDT
  by Sunny

• Chris Matthews Sucks

  Number of comments: 12
  
  
  Is the government doing enough to keep children safe from sex offenders?
  
  And with that question, I--in my Pollyanna hopeful way--really thought Hardball's Chris Matthews would impartially explore why the present laws did nothing to protect (or help) Jaycee Dugard?
  
  Instead, he' [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 4:23pm EDT
  by Sunny

• Bailing on Jaycee Dugard

  Number of comments: 6
  
  My air conditioner is leaking like a sieve, so like every penny-pinching American, I repaired it myself.
  
  I stuck a 30-gallon tub inside the air handler to catch the water.
  
  Now, one must remember to check the 30-gallon tub on occasion and not [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 5:48am EDT
  by Sunny

• Jaycee Dugard: NIMBY Proves Just That

  Number of comments: 14
  
  
  
  Let's go ahead and kick the giant elephant out of the room.
  
  The guy who kidnapped an 11-year-old girl and held her hostage since 1991 is a registered sex offender.
  
  That being said...
  
  The state of California enacted sex offenders' [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2009, 9:25am EDT
  by Sunny

• Extremism Works for No One

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  Many Smashed Frog readers deal every single day with the ramification of laws fueled by extremists and passed by politicians who smelled an easy vote-getter.
  
  I think we would all agree that--whether right or left--extreme views serve only to shut down the truth [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2009, 6:41am EDT
  by Sunny

• Edward Kennedy

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  Farewell, Senator.
  
  "The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die."
  
  Edward M. Kennedy
  1932-2009
  
  
  
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 6:33am EDT
  by Sunny

• Tears Over Tier One

  Number of comments: 6
  
  
  A scenario much too familiar.
  
  The Concord Monitor (8/24/2009):
  

  A 20-year-old college student went online in a New Hampshire romance chat room one afternoon and struck up a conversation with a 14-year-old girl. She said she was a virgin who lived [...]

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  Posted: August 24, 2009, 6:24am EDT
  by Sunny

• Dear God. Please Protect Florida from a Senator Crist

  Number of comments: 5
  
  
  Please. I'm begging Floridians.
  
  Do NOT elect this man to the Senate.
  
  We've all poked fun at our Governor for the whole Crist-Christ thing before, but now, Charlie appears to be buying into his missing "h".
  
  Apparently, his prayers have served [...]
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  Posted: August 22, 2009, 10:48am EDT
  by Sunny

• Bookville

  Number of comments: 9
  
  
  It's official.
  
  The Julia Tuttle Causeway has changed her name.
  
  Among South Florida locals, she has been christened Bookville.
  
  Fred Grimm, columnist for The Miami Herald--who I've recently decided to officially adopt as a kindred spirit--recently addressed the most recent honor [...]
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  Posted: August 21, 2009, 6:03am EDT
  by Sunny

• Booking a Home in Miami

  Number of comments: 8
  
  
  I've never doubted the capacity for the innate goodness of human beings.
  
  And we are witnessing such by those who have reached out to assist their fellow man in moving on, literally and figuratively.
  
  Folks who called the Julia Tuttle Causeway home' [...]
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  Posted: August 19, 2009, 6:37am EDT
  by Sunny

• Dan Gelber Tackles a Monster

  Number of comments: 11
  
  
  BBC ran the story Florida faces sex offender early last week.
  
  Pay particular attention to how Florida state Senator Attorney General wannabee Dan Gelber dances around this "monster" of an issue.
  
  I myself very much enjoy the reporter's depiction of residency' [...]
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  Posted: August 15, 2009, 10:32pm EDT
  by Sunny