Well, the Jew-baiting has begun in earnest. And our own Florida House Majority Leader, Adam Hasner, has sunk his worm as far down into the muck as anyone.

The Republican from Delray Beach is propogating an al-Jazeera video that he saw on a right-wing website showing a group of Palestinians living in Gaza supporting Obama. Here's the video:

Sure, it's just a few Palestinian guys who hope Obama can bring peace to their battered bloody region. But it plays into the mindless hate machine the GOP is counting on to win the White House.

Here's the basic political syllogism behind it:

1. All Palestinians hate Israel.
2. Palestinians support Obama.
3. Obama hates Israel.

It is, of course, nonsense, but it's the kind of divisive, insidious nonsense that helps propagandists keep people in a state of hatred and fear to help win elections. And often times the media gives it legitimacy. The Sun-Sentinel's political blog , for instance, played right into Hasner's hands. The headline on its post: "Republican raises questions over Obama that could concern the Jewish community."

What concern would that be? That the endless cycle of war in the Middle East might be broken? That someone might change George W. Bush's backward policies and lead to some progress in the region? Oy vey!

The good news is that this kind of thing only works on the most ignorant and susceptible minds, and those aren't words that come to mind when describing South Florida's Jewish community. More like "smart" and "informed." But the Hasners of the world aren't nearly finished, so prepare for the onslaught of propaganda -- and kindly send it back from whence it came.

Either this is related to the Judge Ana Gardiner expose or it's one hell of a coincidence. Scheinberg allegedly partied with Gardiner while prosecuting a murder trial in her courtroom and talked about the case over drinks at Timpano's.

If this is a sign that Michael Satz is cleaning house on the matter (or at least not circling the wagons around it) then I ask: What is Victor Tobin doing?

Who knows, but it looks like Broward's chief judge is sitting on his hands. The rumor is that he'd like to move Judge Gardiner out of her powerful administrative post (Gardiner is chief criminal judge) and into family court, but she's dug in her heels. Meanwhile, the Gardiner article has been sent to the state Supreme Court by Omar Loureiro's attorney and will almost surely become an issue in Loureiro's death penalty appeal.

Point: The truth will come out and when it does, Tobin will have proven that he's no reformer (unless it's politically expedient, of course) when it comes to Broward's battered judiciary. Instead, he'll have shown that he's just another Broward lackey without the guts to do the right thing.

"Billed as a comedy-thriller, the Actors' Playhouse production of Thumbs provides a brilliantly-plotted mystery, a superbly witty comedy, but not a compelling thriller about an actress suspected of murder and a female sheriff in a life and death struggle."

Sorry, the thing doesn't read. Try to decipher it. There are more roadblocks in that sentence than one of those old Burt Reynolds police-chase flicks. And if you force yourself to get through it, you still have no idea what it means. Read it 10 times and you're even more confused than before.

I'm not linking the story because there's no sense in calling out the writer. Could happen to a lot of reporters on a bad day. But how in the hell did this get past an editor? Who's watching the store over there?

Or, god help us, might an editor have had a hand in creating that monstrosity?

This next nails-on-the-chalkboard moment reeks of an editor's hand all the way. I find that one of newspaperdom's worst sins is the overuse of brackets. Here's an example from today's Miami Herald:

As a surprise for her Dancing with the Stars partner, Edyta Sliwinska presented Jason Taylor with a video pep talk from former Dolphin Dan Marino.

Marino's tongue-in-cheek message: ''If you don't bring back the mirrorball [trophy, which goes to the champion], don't come home.''

That's a quote with two left feet. What a mangling. It would have been easy to briefly explain what a mirrorball is in the next sentence. Or set it up gracefully in the previous one.

Instead, they had to royally [mess] it up.

Brings to mind one word: pathetic.

Florida International University is planning to dismantle its J-school in response to budget cuts. Sources say the situation right now is critical. Miami New Times wrote about it. And more recently the Naples Daily News' Editor Phil Lewis gave Southwest Florida readers the lowdown.

But nothing at all in the Sun-Sentinel (or Palm Beach Post) and only a brief mention in a Miami Herald story last month that the journalism school, which has 2,000 students, could be a casualty of the cuts. Ho hum.

If newspapers don't care about losing such a valuable resource, why should anybody else?

This is intriguing for two reasons. One, I just wrote about Scheinberg's alleged ex parte communication with Judge Ana Gardiner during a murder trial two weeks ago. We can only speculate on why the veteran prosecutor might be leaving the job, but, if this holds true, it seems more than a coincidence.

Two, the Rothstein firm was recently in the headlines after lawyer Melissa Lewis, who had recently made partner at RRA, was murdered in Plantation. Charged in the murder was Tony Villegas, the estranged husband of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler employee and Lewis best friend Debra Villegas.

Prosecuting Tony Villegas for State Attorney Michael Satz is ... Howard Scheinberg. My, but this town gets curiouser and curiouser.

I haven't been able to confirm the move yet, so take this with a grain of salt. I asked SAO spokesoman Ron Ishoy if it was true and he sent me back an email that said, "I'll ask Howard when I see him."

When Ishoy brings the answer (supposing he actually bumps into Scheinberg), I'll update this post forthwith.

I have to say, Sam Zell made a good deal here. In New York's Dolan family, he found bigger suckers than himself. Or perhaps just bigger egos. That's the wild card in the newspaper biz. Publications often go for more than they're worth because some billionaire dreams of controlling several thousand barrels of ink each day.

If I was a Sentinel employee-shareholder-owner, I'd be happy about this. You broke even on Newsday during a recession. Of course, at the same time, your company became less influential on a national scale. But that's no big deal. Media has been consolodating for a long time and now the trend, brought on by the horrid ecomony, is toward fragmentation. Ultimately, Tribune and McClatchy will likely be sold off for parts. It can be a good thing, I think.

On that note, a few worthy reads, if you missed them. First is Richard Pachter's review in the Miami Herald of Alec Foege's book, Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio. I link this mainly because the same guys that sank radio are now running the Tribune Co. But relax -- the newspaper industry has already fallen, so the damage will be limited this time.

Also, we have Sally Kestin's Sunday piece is called an investigative report, but it's more a feature with a very hard edge. It's also the kind of thing that will give the Sentinel loyal readers, as opposed to the Help Team's pandering BS.

Next is Peter Franceschina's story on a jewelry burglary. Ah great deadline work, beautiful craftsmanship done on the fly. When that muscle memory (or God's voice, whatever you want to call it) kicks in, the journalist enjoys his most thrilling moment.

It's all about Hanley.

The Marlins just signed Ramirez, a beautiful ballplayer, to a six-year $70 million deal. And it's enough to give me some faith that management cares at least a little about the team and the fans, rather than how much money they can squeeze out of a Major League franchise as they can without spending any money.

You see, I saw some of the best players of my generation destroyed by greed, starving on moneyball salaries, dragging themselves to other cities looking for a heavy major league niche, angelheaded sluggers burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry diamond under the night game lights ...

You get the picture (with apologies to AG). I speak of the Huizenga holocaust of 1998, the slow decimation of the 2003 World Series team, the unloading of Miguel Cabrera (along with Dontrelle Willis) last season, and all the small slaughterings in between. I kept following through most of it, hitting a handful of games a year with the fam. But this year, I was done. It was enough. I didn't really make a conscious decision, either, it just happened. I didn't care anymore.

But securing Hanley Ramirez has given me some new hope. The suspense now is to see how the franchise will crush it again.

The 60-year-old Merzer, who began working at the Herald in 1979, accepted a buyout from the McClatchy-owned newspaper and was feted at a farewell get-together yesterday, according to sources. Also confirmed to have taken the buyout in the newsroom were editorial writer Susana Barciela and photographer Nuri Vallbona, both well-respected newsroom veterans as well.

Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal offered the buyouts to staff last month in an attempt to trim two percent of the staff from the newspaper, which is facing record budget shortfalls and losses in circulation.

Over his 29 years, Merzer traveled the world for the Herald, covering famines in Africa and wars in the Middle East. Closer to home he's written about Hurricane Andrew, the September 11 attacks, and Elian Gonzalez, among countless topics. He was, in short, one of the newspaper's great resources.

"What we’re really going to miss is his skill," one staffer told me. "He covered eight hurricanes in 13 months and literally ran out of verbs to describe hurricanes. I look at him as almost like an indicator species. Like when a certain kind of butterfly dies and you know the entire ecosystem is in trouble. We're in a crisis situation."

The newspaper's top-heavy management -- which includes four managing editors -- weren't offered any buyouts, said the source.

Ostrow, in his first public statement since the May 2 arrest, also provided some new details to help fill in some of the holes from this morning's Sun-Sentinel scoop.

"It’s a humbling experience and I’ve taken steps to go into recovery," Ostrow said. "Whatever price I’m going to have to pay, I’m going to be a man about it. I have people around me who are supportive, thank God, and I just have to remain to be persistent and consistent in my behavior and be positive."

The veteran 52-year-old attorney, who is running as a Republican for Broward Public Defender, said the arrest occurred while he was standing in a security line at the Tallahassee airport at about 11:30 a.m. (rather than p.m. as the Sentinel reported). He said he and a friend accompanying him on a trip to file his campaign papers were singled out for a search and that agents found the offending substance in a jacket pocket. He bonded out of jail later that same day.

While it might be assumed the arrest will end Ostrow's challenge of Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, the lawyer said he didn't want to comment about the campaign. Ostrow, who put $200,000 of his own money into his campaign account, indicated he would challenge the legality of the airport search but said his first priority is getting his life together and personally moving forward.

"It has done its damage already and it's irreversible in that respect and I have to deal with it," he said.

-- Michael Mayo writes about Alex Arreaza's campaign to get WSVN-Channel 7 to take Help Me Howard! taken off the air. Why? Because Alex is running for public defender against the show's star, Howard Finkelstein, and feels he should get equal airtime. Mayo agrees with Arreaza. I think I would too -- if the show was political. It's not. Finkelstein is also basically grandfathered in, since he had been doing the show long before he became Public Defender. But you have to give Arreaza points; he got some good publicity out of the idea, which he definitely needs to combat the well-known Finkelstein.

-- Speaking of publicity, what about that Tiffany Shepherd? She's the former Port St. Lucie High School biology teacher who claimed she lost her job because she got a job as a bikini girl on charter fishing vessel. Now Playboy is knocking on her door.

"I'm still thinking about it. It's a really big decision," she told the Palm Beach Post's Cara Fitzpatrick.

If you want to stay in suspense about what she's going to do stop reading now because I'm going to spoil the ending: Hef, get the mansion ready, Tiffany is coming to town. That's the Pulp's prediction. I opined last week that this whole thing was a publicity stunt (and was called a sexist pig in the process). And damn if it wasn't a good one.

-- And we have the Miami Herald breaking news about the impending death of Florida's fledgling film industry. Why? The state is cutting $25 million in incentives to film production subsidies. Writes Douglas Hanks:

Broward and Miami-Dade counties report a record number of movie and television productions since 2007, double the decade's last high-water mark. Film offices point to about $50 million in local spending from the productions in both counties this year. But with only $5 million to dole out for projects shooting after July 1, local film offices are bracing for lean times.

Marley and Me, which filmed in the Sun-Sentinel newsroom among other places, received $1.6 million in state subsidies in exchange for spending $11 million locally, Hanks reports. Not sure if this is a fair measure of the value of the subsidies though, since the movie is based on a former Sun-Sentinel columnist and is set in South Florida, though.

Regardless, this is no doubt an example of how a bad economy feeds upon itself in what can become a vicious cycle.

That's an insult to all the people of Plantation. But before I go on I want to say the obvious: Day's death isn't the dispatchers' fault (there were actually two, one from Sunrise and one from Plantation). That blame falls squarely on her ex-boyfriend, Carlos Cevallos, who shot himself after killing Day. I'm not sure anything could have been done to stop Cevallos. The dispatchers likely were faced with an impossible situation and they tried to do the right thing.

But the truth is they performed miserably and they didn't help Day at all. The first thing Day says on the tape is for them to listen to her. But the initial Sunrise dispatcher didn't listen. Instead, he repeatedly cut her off and asked for her address, which was meaningless at the time. When he finally realized she was trying to get to the Plantation police station, he called Plantation and got the second dispatcher on the line.

The two dispatchers exchange information while Day screams for them to hurry. They still aren't listening.

"Tell someone to intercept me on Fifth Street!" she screams.

That's where the police station is.

"Okay, what's the problem ma'am?" asks the Plantation dispatcher.

Back to square one. She tells him that she's being chased by someone who is going to kill her.

"How do you know him?"

"Please! He's going to kill me dead!"

"Ma'am do you know him?"

Who cares? This is clearly a life-or-death emergency and she's trying to get the background story. It's like asking someone whose car has plunged into a canal how they got in there instead of just telling them how to get out alive. I'm not an expert on what to do in Day's situation, but you would hope to get better instruction from the police. As one of Day's relatives tells the Herald, they might have told her to keep driving and stay in her car. When the dispatcher hears (if she was listening at all) that someone was chasing the woman with a gun near the police department, she should have immediately sent some officers to the lot. That would seem obvious. But none of that happened. Nothing happened at all.

"Listen, stop yelling," says the Plantation dispatcher after trying to get her location, "because I can't help you when you're yelling."

"I'm stuck now, I'm stuck now! He's going to shoot me!"

Those are Day's last words on the tape. She was in the police department parking lot at that point. And Cevallos soon shot her.

Now here we are almost two weeks later and Toman says the dispatcher did "fine"? That may be the scariest part of all of this. I'm sure this tape will be used in law enforcement instruction classes in the future -- but it looks like Plantation police aren't going to learn anything at all.

UPDATED: The wife of the Pulp was on the same wavelength today. I laughed when I saw the "Ilene Lieberman Park Directory" sign. And that post was proceeding by this from Russell Small.

Oh and another one comes to mind: Pat Salerno Drive in Sunrise. ROTFLMBO.

-- Also, you may notice that I revised the post below about The Paper. I corrected some errors that a reader emailed me with and realized as I went over it that it was a bit too harsh, even for the Pulp. Some of those Cypress Bay kids might wind up doing great things; the show's just a disappointment.

-- Oh, and I just saw the word "webinar" for the first time. I don't like it.

As Obama spoke, Sanchez popped up in picture-in-picture and said:

You're watching Barack Obama at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Indianapolis. This is a key primary state. And you are also watching 7 News here ... uh, I mean, CNN, tonight at 10 o'clock as we bring you this story and many others. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

Strangely, CNN didn't cut to a commercial break and as Obama kept talking, you could only imagine Sanchez' "d'oh!" back on the set. Channel 7, of course, refers to WSVN, the local Fox station where he first made his name hyping homicides and fatal car crashes.

-- I thought this was a gaffe headline on the Sun-Sentinel homepage: "Tebow helps circumcise impoverished kids in the Philippines."
But it's true. The UF quarterback is getting out the snippers for the whippers.

-- On first blush, it looks like a gross overreaction by the University of Central Florida: The school fired long-time baseball coach Jay Bergman for allegedly "sexually harassing" male equipment manager Chris Rhyce. What did Bergman do? Well, he pretended to "rape" Rhyce with a baseball bat while a baseball staffer held him down on the field. Sounds like normal asshole jock hazing to me. Reprimand, sure. But termination doesn't sound justified. Since when are baseball teams supposed to be politically correct? The Pulp could change its tune on this one, though. More information will emerge, as Rhyce has claimed that Bergman had been giving him a, um, hard time for a while. If this turns out to be a pattern of, say, homophobic B.S. from the coach, then the U might be in the right.