HB 1219’s explosive provisions came up all of a sudden, in the last two weeks of the session, clearly a strategic move to limit public discussion on the controversial issue. 20 years of protecting Florida’s beaches from oil spills could be gone in a matter of days in the blitzkrieg, but the oil production advocates on the phoner said that’s not important. What does matter is that Florida is losing out on millions in revenues from state and federal oil leases that could materialize. (And more importantly, lawmakers might miss out on the more than $1.1 million in campaign contributions that petroleum interests have made in the past 15 years.)

It’s about “hard cold cash” for the state “as opposed to political rhetoric,” said Barney Bishop, the head of AIF, who wouldn’t reveal the oil production members of his association who are pushing the legislation. “We’ve never identified who our members are. Our members just brought this idea to us. It was a unique idea. The fact that it was a 20 year [prohibition], that doesn’t mean a doggone thing. That’s really a non-issue.”

Orlando economist Hank Fishkind put the state’s proceeds at more than $1.5 billion a year for 20 years, or $31 billion.

Yes, they flat out dangled lots of cash. Want to fix your budget crisis, Florida? Just drill, baby drill. Pretty odious stuff, especially the shadowy timing of this and the use of Dean Cannon, the next speaker of the House, to introduce the bill and push it through a House council vote along party lines, 17-6. The change in state policy would allow the Cabinet to consider proposals for oil drilling from zero to 10.35 miles offshore. The federal moratorium from 10.35 miles to 200 miles out likely would fall, too, if the state lifts its ban.

Other points made in the phoner, which replicated a presentation given by the same cast of Big Oil players in front of the House policy council yesterday: Cuba is going to drill if we don’t; new technologies make drilling safe and less unsightly; Hurricanes Rita and Katrina proved that major storms don’t cause production spills; oil will remain the energy option of choice for the U.S. through the next generation; tourism, a big revenue producer for the state, is a very energy-dependent industry; and two federal studies of continental shelf drilling shows that there would be “no major negative impacts expected.”

You can download a .pdf of the Big Oil slideshow.

• McCain figures out the Interwebs enough to crib some talking points from Wikipedia.
• Russia rampages across Georgia as the West ponders how to stop the fighting.
• This week’s reason to hate Bush’s guts: The administration’s proposed rule changes gutting the Endangered Species Act.
• Oil goes down, stocks go up. See a pattern?
• There must be something in the water, other than the swimmers that is.
• The Boss to play the Super Bowl in Tampa.
• Hillsborough electric rates set to spike 40%.
• Spain’s basketball teams (male and female) need some sensitivity training.
• The Rays start dropping like flies.

• You know things are bad when oil prices plunge on fears that Americans won’t be able to afford gas anymore.
• State Farm Insurance plans massive 50%-90% rate hike on the homeowners insurance of Pinellas County residents.
• The three biggest myths about offshore oil drilling.
• There seems to be more to that Jesse Jackson “I’m gonna cut Barack’s nuts off” video. Maybe.
• Hollywood stunner: Andy Dick arrested on drug and sexual battery charges!
• Speaking of actors in cuffs, there may be cell phone video of Josh Brolin and Jeffery Wright getting arrested at the W wrap party. Early reports don’t sound too flattering for the cops.
• The Dark Knight is poised to cash in big time. CL critic Lance Goldenberg loved it, by the way.
• “I’m Brett Favre. You may remember me from Super Bowl XXXI.”

• The Feds move to rescue Fannie and Freddie.
• The July 21st edition of The New Yorker is sure to turn some heads.
• Bombs away?
• In the wake of IndyMac biting it, you might be wondering how many banks will fail before the economy rebounds? You don’t want to know …
• McCain in the NY Times: “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption.”
• Anheuser-Busch sells out to InBev for $52 billion. Bud Light suddenly tastes so much better now that it’s a product of Belgium.
• Down goes Miss USA!
• I go on vacation for one week and the baseball team goes completely to shit.
• Speaking of baseball: Home Run Derby tonight!

• Obama gives Clinton $2,300. (Side note: The Times should be shot for using that picture.)
• Novak says Colin Powell will endorse Obama at some point, but not because he’s a fan of Barack. No, he’ll do it to spite W.
• Speaking of traitors to their party: Time has a story on Joe Lieberman that made me puke in my mouth a little.
• Don’t blow your top trying to figure out the energy crisis, there’s a mountain of a solution out there.
• North Korea dynamites the cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear power plant.
• One barrel of oil = 28 Subway footlongs.
• This weekend’s viewing: WALL-E is a “Pixar masterpiece.”
• “Six Crazy Hollywood Stories You Probably Haven’t Heard.”

See you at Radiohead tonight?

• Please God, let it somehow end tonight.
• Myanmar tries to pick up the pieces.
• McCain denies he didn’t vote for Bush in 2000, which is puzzling since it was the best news about him in a week.
• “She said, ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’ Piculas said.”
• The DC Madam’s suicide notes. Notes, plural. Uh-huh.
• Oil: Still cheaper than a house made of gold bars.
• When Yanks vs. Sox turns deadly …
• Come and get it: Free Nine Inch Nails.

Prediction: Hillary by 8.*

• What does it all mean? Five things to pay attention to when watching primary results tonight.
• Cash crunch: Obama is flush while Hillary is drowning in debt.
• A match made in heaven: Bush & Deal or No Deal.
• Oil: Still cheaper than a fake Marilyn Monroe sex tape.
• Happy birthday DARPA.
• Earth Day hits the funny pages.
• Gas is so expensive, Bay area residents are actually riding the bus.
• First the Harry Potter chick, now it’s “racy” pictures of Miley Cyrus.

* – Prediction arrived at by determining what Clinton margin of victory would be the most inconclusive. 8 points is short of the blowout Team Hillary needs, but it’s not close enough for Obama to declare victory.

“Mr. Sinbad! Mr. Sinbad! Do you have any comment about your trip to Kosovo with Hillary Clinton?”

• Good bye , Eliot Spitzer.
• Obama wins Mississippi, which doesn’t count toward the nomination since the state’s full of black people and Hillary didn’t win it.
• Spin control: Geraldine Ferraro.
• Leave it to the Dems to fight over what a “winner” is.
• Oil at $110 a barrel: Still less expensive than a new kidney.
• Your tax dollars at work: Tampa Rep. Victor Crist proposes a law regulating the amount of toilet paper in restaurant bathrooms. Square-sharing to remain legal.
• War with Iran? Not on Admiral William J. “Fox” Fallon’s watch! In other news: Fallon just resigned.
• Spokesperson Dana Perino comes clean on the Bush Administration’s monetary policy: “I’m under strict instructions, and have been from the beginning, to not talk about the dollar, and I’m not going to get fired to satisfy your question.”