Florida has been a magnet for the same kind of people who started heading for Vegas in the 90s–little or no education, history of legal problems, and crudely but accurately considered as “white trash.” Florida attracts gays from places like Cleveland and Detroit because of the sun–no matter that the laws are at least as backwards as what they left behind, they have The Sun. Ever watch “Cops”? Ever notice how many of those scraggly, can’t-pay-more-attention-to-the-cop-than-my-smoke, still-on-paper, goin’-nowhere-but-the-gutter losers are from Ohio and Michigan? If it weren’t for Florida, we’d be even more saturated with them up here. It’s Jersey on a bad day, with palm trees, and the millions of newcomers seem willing to remain anesthetized by and compliant with a corrupt, backwards state government. Not everybody or everything in Florida is paleolithic, but consider the demotion of this judge in the most populous county (and arguably one of the most liberal) in the Southeast. I don’t recall anything like that happening in Nashville, in the Davidson County Circuit Court. Never heard of anything like that in Fulton or DeKalb Counties in Georgia. Never heard of anything like that here in Cleveland, in either the muni court or the Common Pleas Court. This wasn’t the will of the people (Miami-Dade is generally disconnected from Florida redneckery), but was imposed. By whom was it imposed? The AG? The Governor?

Other states (Ohio and Michigan are the first two that come to mind) fixate on rectionary social politics as a self-destructive way to address economic collapse. Florida showed both states the way, yet Florida has gone from being barely bigger than Metro Detroit to having almost as many people as both states combined. Prop 8 aside, California isn’t known for an incompetent and clearly-biased judiciary. This is more overtly political than when Pataki removed the district attorney in the Bronx because the DA was vocally against capital punishment (in that window when New York revived it). It’s removal of a judge from a position of power because her ruling made a chink in Florida’s comprehensive package of antigay laws–laws which have no rational basis beyond simple bigotry. Now, if Miamians marched in the streets, I’d be impressed, but Floridians seem resolute in their refusal to overthrow their redneck junta and move into the present (let alone future) while preserving the best of the existing Florida.

This guy is not gay. Why would anyone think he is gay?”

Same neuroses, what’s the difference?