In Honor of Judge Farina

I offer this heartfelt tribute:

Chief Judge Farina "Simply Tired Of All This Crap."

I kid, Judge, I kid. Young gun Billy Shields breaks the real story:

Chief Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Joseph P. Farina will not seek re-election when his term ends next year, court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler confirmed today.

Farina will not be a candidate in January for the post he has held for more than a decade. His replacement would take over July 1, Sigler said.

Farina sent a memo Monday evening to employees and voiced his gratitude for the opportunity to serve as chief judge.

“Whatever our circuit has accomplished, attained or achieved, we have done it together as a team of dedicated judges, general magistrates, child support hearing officers, judicial assistants, bailiffs and personnel,” he wrote. “I have been proud to represent you and advocate on your behalf.”

Thanks for your service and dedication, Chief.

Early Vote, You Plebes!

Since most of you will be out "pollwatching" on election day anyways:

In Miami-Dade, which has 764 polls, Democratic observers number about 450. They will focus on what key members call ''voter protection'' in minority, elderly and traditionally strong Democratic precincts.

According to a Miami Herald computer analysis of precinct designations, the Democrats are devoting two-thirds of their poll watchers to precincts where less than 25 percent of the voters are black.

Their observers include immigration lawyer Ira Kurzban, lawyer and former Orange Bowl Committee president Albert Dotson Jr. and Miami-Dade prosecutor Abe Laeser.

Some 250 GOP lawyers and other volunteers for McCain's Miami-Dade campaign are designated as poll watchers in exactly the opposite way: They are committing two-thirds of their poll watchers to precincts heavily populated with African Americans, Haitian Americans and other minorities, according to the Miami Herald analysis.

Party officials said they stationed observers in areas where GOP candidates traditionally have not performed as well as Democrats.

Among the Republican observers: Raquel Rodriguez, former general counsel to ex-Gov. Jeb Bush; Paul Huck Jr., former general counsel to Gov. Charlie Crist; and state Rep. J.C. Planas, R-Miami.

Oh the good old days, I remember Chief Justice Rehnquist used to go to the polls back in the 60s.

Wait a minute -- Paul Huck, Jr. is a Republican pollwatcher? For this election? Doesn't he know he's a plaintiff's lawyer now? Lovable Paul is actually gonna spend election day possibly monitoring a African-American or heavily Haitian precinct -- oy.

Oh well, we still love him.

Inexplicably, They Still Write Letters.....

You all know my opinion of the Herald's letters page. Yet sensible lawyers continue to write in, hoping against hope that something halfway intelligent gets printed amid the dreck and noise of that usually inane page.

Our latest victim -- dashing Ervin Gonzalez, who heroically tilts at windmills, perhaps seeking to educate South Florida voters one small mind at a time:

Voters should be careful when voting for constitutional amendments. Florida's Constitution should not be used to legislate matters that are best handled by elected lawmakers. They have been charged with creating, amending and abolishing laws to support the needs, health, safety and welfare of state residents.

Amendments should be limited to matters of great fundamental importance such as guaranteeing basic freedoms, setting forth the separation of powers and other principles that we are entitled to enjoy in a free and democratic state.

Sounds reasonable, no? Except when the Herald surrounds it with letters by crazies who think Barry "Hussein" Obama was born in Indonesia and is best friends with Josef Stalin. Then I think some of the subtlety gets lost.

Ervin, next time just write an op-ed, dude.

(BTW, I haven't seen Ervin in a while, so I wasn't sure which of the above photos is correct.)

Antonio Ginatta Is One Smart Attorney.

Good morning dear readers, and how was your weekend?

Well it's a glorious Monday, the weather is cool and breezy, and -- waddya know -- Ted Ginn is a Miami Dolphin.

Did any of you humpers get out there for the Herald Hunt? If you did, you got beat by Miami attorney Antonio Ginatta, who had to solve a ridiculously absurd final clue but who won nonetheless:

This year's winner: a team of five Miami Central High School alumni in their mid-30s, some of whom flew in to town just for the Hunt.

''It was a lot of work, a lot of stress,'' said Antonio Ginatta, a Miami attorney and member of the winning team, which also included Frank Estadt, a Phoenix restaurateur; Greg Nguyen, a Miami high school teacher; Beesham A. Seecharan, a New York attorney; and David Jones, a Miamian who quit the Hunt about an hour before his teammates cracked the code.

Suffice it to say that the final solution involved giving a name, a telephone number and map coordinates to a person in a pink flamingo T-shirt standing on the corner of Northeast Second Avenue and Fifth Street.

Now that's mighty impressive Antonio. The last time I participated in the Herald Hunt, it was still called the Tropic Hunt, and they held it in Coconut Grove.

If I recall correctly, Tom Fiedler and I had smoked a big doobie around lunchtime and I got lost somewhere near Peacock Park, looking for giant inflatable cue balls, where I wound up taking a nap until it the whole thing was good and over.

So yeah Tony, that's a big improvement on my performance.

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SFL Friday -- Stayin' Alive

It's Friday again, huh? I hope you all -- like myself -- have fabulous plans for the weekend.

Speaking of fabulous plans, did any of you catch this BBC report on the salutary effects of Bee Gees music on cardiovascular health:

US medics have found the Bee Gees' 1977 hit Stayin' Alive is an ideal beat to follow to perform chest compressions on a victim of a cardiac arrest.

Research says it contains 103 beats per minute, close to the recommended rate of 100 chest compressions per minute.

An author of the study said many people were put off performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)as they were not sure about keeping the correct rhythm.

He said CPR could triple cardiac arrest survival rates when performed properly.

The study by the University of Illinois College of Medicine saw 15 doctors and students performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on mannequins while listening to Stayin' Alive. They were asked to time their chest compressions with the beat.

Five weeks later, they did the same drill without the music, but were told to think of the song while doing compressions.

The average number of compressions the first time was 109 per minute; the second time it was 113 - more than recommended by the American Heart Association, but better than too few, according to Dr Matlock.

"It drove them and motivated them to keep up the rate, which is the most important thing," he told the Associated Press.

I always knew that music could drive up your heart rate, but now there is scientific evidence it can save your life! So keep that Bee Gees Greatest loaded up, you never know when it might come in handy.

Well that's it fellas, I'm off to beat an early retreat. As some of you have already predicted, I have a very busy weekend ahead of me.

I hope you all have a great one.