License to kill common sense in Florida

[Image of Florida state house from dms.myflorida.com]

Here in our town, and in our county, the powers-that-be have decided that because things are so bad economically, we should turn our backs on common sense and throw the notion of restriction and/or regulation to the wind.

So, "they" have decided to move on a number of delayed applications and approve another gazillion new homes in an area where the infrastructure is already strained to the breaking point. But these construction projects will bring jobs, they cry! That's always the mantra of the Chamber of Commerce types. Think of all the money they will bring into the community, they cry.

They don't tell you how paving over paradise creates a host of new problems. They don't tell you these projects will create a need for new schools and we can't fund the schools we have now; that increased traffic will increase congestion, and will contribute to more noise and fouling of the air we breathe; that we're running short of water; that houses already on the market aren't selling; that several major developers have gone broke and their half-completed projects sit unfinished and desolate as the topsoil blows away; that we've got tons of foreclosed homes vacant and deteriorating; etc.


The same thing happens up in Tallahassee, where the state legislators sit in session thinking up new ways to help their developer money-pots rake in even more money. And the sinking economy gives them a perfect excuse to bypass common sense and care for the community.

Rob Brinkman, for example, writing in the Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club newsletter, says that "This year, in the name of economic stimulus, there is a move to drastically reduce the regulation and permitting of new development on the theory that, if only these weren't holding builders back, everyone would have a job and there would be no foreclosures."

Actually, they don't give a damn about foreclosures. There are 300,000 foreclosures in Florida. Slicing regulatory rules to allow developers to bypass normal criteria for paving over paradise is going to do nothing to mitigate the foreclosure problem.

Or, as Brinkman says, the whole idea is "absurd." Unless, of course, you are a legislator and your first obligation is to those who funded your political campaign and not the people whom you are supposed to represent.

Brinkman also notes there "are also at least two proposals to either gut or simply dispense with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the state agency that reviews comprehensive plan amendments."

And here's another absurdity: It appears that the infamous red tide on some of our beaches in Florida may be due, at least in part, to over-fertilization. Some cities are considering regulating fertilizer application. The poohbahs in Tallahassee, to meet this crisis, are considering restricting the right of local governments to regulate fertilizer application.


And so it goes; on and on. And it is probably going on in your state, too, if your state, like Florida, is controlled by the Repugnicans. Got a problem? Any problem? Too much regulation! Let's cut out all the rules and allow our developer friends to do their thing. That will solve the problem!


Sheesh!

Florida wingnuts want control over women's bodies

It never ends in Florida. The rightwingnuts, most of which are also crazy christianists, and Repugnicans, continue to try to impose their religious beliefs, not only on our science classes, but also on our sexual activities.

Part and parcel of the legislative agenda of these rightwingnut christianists is to control what women do with their bodies.

The anti-abortion crowd never gives up and when one door closes, they sneak around the hallowed halls of Tallahassee to find another that might be unlocked.

Now they want to "require women seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound exam and have the option to view the scan. ... "

A similar resolution was defeated last year in the state Senate by a 20-20 vote!


Like I said, the nutcases never quit. So, we're fighting the same battle this year. Now, the rightwingnut christianists are all Repugnicans, so that tells you something right away. And they, like John Boehner, can get all teary as they explain that this is for the good of Florida's women everywhere, and the only reason they want this law is to help the poor, benighted women of Florida who don't seem to be able to think for themselves, blah, blah, blah.

That's all horse-hockey, of course. They don't give a damn about women or what women want! They are Mel Gibson in legislative suits!

This measure is simply another way to get a foot in the door in their attempt to restrict abortions in the state of Florida. They think, in their mealy-minded, christianist, Old Testament godly sort of way, that if a woman has to look at an ultra-sound of the fetus, she will all of a sudden reject the abortion option.

Not only so, but they also think that they, in their legislative wisdom, sitting in seats of power in the statehouse, have the right to tell women what's best for them.


This measure is a slap in the face of every woman in Florida! It says that not only do men know best what women want and what women should do with their bodies, but that fat old Repugnican christianist rightwingnuts in Tallahassee have the right to impose the will of their god on every woman in Florida!

At the present time, there is nothing whatsoever that would forbid a pregnant woman to have an ultrasound. At the present time, however, that decision is made by the woman and her doctor. The way it should be.

Florida Repugnican christianist rightwingnut legislators want to have the power to make that decision for every woman of child-bearing age in the Sunshine State.

My hope is the women of Florida will rise en masse and tell the good ol' boys in Tallahassee to go to hell!

Stephen Wise the unwise anti-evolutionist

Stephen Wise is a Repugnican Florida State Senator from Jacksonville. He's a fan of the non-intelligent nonsense, Intelligent Design. He's introduced a bill into the Florida legislature which would require Florida teachers to "discuss the idea of Intelligent Design."

Why, again, you ask, can't these christianists leave their religion in their churches?

To show you just how unwise (read ignorant) this Repug is, consider this statement: "If you're going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking."

Yup. He'd probably agree with the notion that if you're going to teach astronomy, then you have to teach astrology - you know, the "other side" in order to have critical thinking.

Obviously Senator Wise doesn't know critical thinking from a critical coma.


There is no "other" side when it comes to evolution. The theory of evolution is the ONLY scientific theory that explains the origins of life and is THE theory upon which all biological science is based! Intelligent Design, which is essentially nothing more than Creationism in a new dress, is not science at all, but religion.

Religion does not belong in the science classroom!

As a judge said in 2005 when the courts barred a Pennsylvania school district from teaching Intelligent Design: The attempt to introduce ID into the schools was an example of "breaktaking inanity." He said further that the evidence was overwhelming - ID is a "religious view," and not scientific.


So, Senator Wise, in his profound ignorance, is raising this whole stupid issue again, and it may even end up in the courts which will cost the State of Florida gobs of money and if it passes, will do nothing more than confuse our already confused public school students.

Perhaps Senator Wise could go back to school. Perhaps he could study evolution. Perhaps he would find out that some humans have evolved less than others - most of whom are now Republican politicians.


An article from Jacksonville.com is here.

Happy Holidays from Weston, Florida

These images were taken on December 25, in the Town Center of Weston, Florida.

The problem of the disappearing Jesus

[AP Photo by J. Pat Carter]

Wellington, Florida is a snazzy, upscale community in Palm Beach County, Florida. During the Christmas season, folks in Wellington put up a nativity display on the lawn of the local community center, along with other religious symbols such as a menorah.

The Jesus used in that nativity display is an original ceramic figurine, made in Italy, and valued at approximately $1,800.

Sounds good, but baby Jesus tends to disappear.

That pissed off the leaders of Wellington so they put a GPS unit inside the figurine. Last year, when baby Jesus disappeared, they were able to track it to an apartment where they found it face down on the floor. Police arrested an 18-year old woman.

But a question remains: Why would anyone place a figurine worth $1,800 in an untended outside display?


Similar thefts of Jesus figurines, as well as other religious symbols have led New York-based Brickhouse Security to offer some 200 nonprofit religious institutions the use of security cameras and their GPS product free for a month.

Just another way that Jesus brings "peace on earth and goodwill to all"!


A final thought. The earliest Gospel, Mark, does not mention Jesus' birth, nor does the latest Gospel, John. Only Matthew and Luke take an interest in when or where Jesus was born. Unfortunately, they got their wires crossed or their sources mixed because they don't agree on very much.

But even more curious is that after the miraculous birth we hear nothing of Jesus in any of the Gospels until he is an adult, except for the little tidbit about his parents leaving him behind in Jerusalem where he proceeded to "teach" the teachers.

Just think: If they had had a GPS unit, they could have sewn it into his robe and bingo, they would have known immediately where he was!

More importantly, they could have kept track of everything he did from his birth to his baptism, a period the Gospel writers ignore completely.

That would give christianists more material to argue about.

School children without a home in Marion County, Florida

[Photo of homeless by Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino]

There are almost 43,000 students attending public schools in Marion County, Florida.

As of about a month ago, more than 1,000 of those students were homeless. No doubt that number has increased over the past several weeks as additional families have lost their homes to foreclosure.

Contrary to the thinking of some pundits on the right, most people do not choose to be homeless. As Mark Imes, CEO of Ocala's Independent National Bank and Chairman of the board for the United Way, explains in an article at Ocala.com, "...they're homeless because they lost a job, or had unexpected medical bills, or had to stay home with a sick child, or had expenses to take care of a parent. As time passed quickly, the rent fell too far behind and they moved in with family members, found a motel room, or stayed in their car until they could earn enough money to catch up."

But for many, it's too hard, if not impossible to catch up. Unemployment in Marion County continues to rise and community support systems are overburdened with needy people.

And children suffer. It's not easy to do homework when you're sleeping in a parked car.

Homelessness is by nature unstable. Moving is part of the game. "[A]nd each time this happens to a child, they face new educational and social challenges. They must change schools. They must change friends. Each time it becomes more and more difficult to fit in."


Mr. Imes notes that the United Way is focusing on this issue and intends to work toward "mobilizing community resources" to deal with it.

Unfortunately, that won't be enough. The system is broken. The state of Florida, and other, local governmental agencies, have chosen to focus on the needs of the rich and powerful rather than the poor and oppressed.

And if there are 1,000 homeless children in Marion County, Florida, one can only imagine how many of our youth are living on the streets in the major cities of our nation.


Why is it that we can find the massive amounts of money needed to beat up on a non-threatening country like Iraq, and bail out the scumbags who created this housing mess, and throw money at CEOs who ran their companies into the ground by making stupid business decisions, and cannot take care of our fellow citizens who find themselves without the resources to exist at even a marginal level?


Sometimes I'm not very proud of my country.

Obama, the man with a plan - a "Job's Summit"

While John McCain flits about the country ranting that Obama "pals" around with terrorists, and is going to raise everyone's taxes, and is no doubt a socialist (in McCain's mind, that's a really dirty word), Barack Obama has taken action to begin the discussion on how to get the country's economy back on its feet.

Notice that Obama did not start this discussion in Washington with lobbyists or Wall Street Bankers. The discussion began today in Lake Worth, Florida, at the Palm Beach Community College. The hoi polloi were welcome. You didn't even have to be a Democrat.

It's form was a round-table, and Obama invited the Democratic governors of Michigan, Ohio, New Mexico, and Colorado. Also asked to participate were Eric Schmidt, the chairman and CEO of Google, and former Federal Reserve Chairman, Paul Volcker, who is an Obama campaign adviser. Finally, he invited a small business owner from Miami to join the group on stage.

Obama led off noting "This is not one of our usual rallies ... This is a more serious discussion about the economy."

As the conversation continued, Obama promised that, if elected, he would invest in the country's infrastructure. He would invest in renewable energy. He said that it was critical to focus on job-creation and how to curtail the rapidly increasing costs of healthcare.

We're in a crisis, he said, and thus we need "the best ideas, the brightest minds, the most innovative solutions from every corner of this country."

Victoria Villalba, who owns Miami's Victoria and Associates Career Services, joined in the conversation by joking "I'm a small business owner and I'm not Joe the Plumber!" She went on to explain to Obama that she pays the cost of her employee's healthcare plans and is concerned about the rising costs. Insurance for one 61-year old employee costs her $1,200 per month.


Republicans, of course, mocked the summit, and claimed, again, that Obama's policies would raise taxes. Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman, said this: "During the last eight years, the federal budget has grown by 40 percent and the American people have seen how well that kind of change works -- yet Barack Obama is simply offering more of the same."

Boy, I'm confused. Is he talking about Obama or McCain? McCain has been a Bush sidekick during those eight years; has voted for Bush budgets during those eight years; has voted against financial regulation during those eight years; and has said he plans to continue most of the current Bush agenda if elected, including tax cuts for the rich.

And Bounds has the gall to claim that Obama offers "more of the same"?

Sheesh!

The lies of the Florida Republican (Christian) Party

According to Joe Follick of the Star Banner's Tallahassee Bureau, hundreds of leaders of the Republican Party of Florida held their quarterly meeting yesterday at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.

What ensued portrays once again the moral degradation that seems to typify most Republican organizations these days. It is truly a party without a soul. It is a party of predatory swine, feeding from the swill at the bottom of the trough.


Jeff Kottkamp, the Lt. Gov., told the poohbahs assembled that the Republicans would win in Florida, just like they always have. He said that the Republican Party stands "for faith, for family, for lower taxes and job creation, not the party that wants to raise taxes, to kill the economy."

He said that with a straight face!

Then Paul Senft, who hails from Polk County and is a national committee member, brought up the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - the guy that said "God damn America." McCain has studiously avoided any discussion of the Rev. Wright, and suggested that his minions do the same. (Evidently, McCain has lost control of the troops. And he wants to be "commander-in-chief"!)

Senft, believing that the Republican Party is the party blessed by God, and a true Christian party, went on to say, "I want you to pray hard between now and Nov. 4. I know that everybody in this room has not been in a church where the pastor said, 'God damn America.'"

How would he know that? Notice, too, that Mr. Senft conveniently "forgot" to mention that this is really old news and that Obama not only resigned from Wright's church but roundly condemned Mr. Wright's comments.

That's bad enough on the part of Senft. He wasn't done, though. Senator Obama's tax and health care plans are "Marxist," he said. "It's Marxist. It's communist. But let's just call it socialism."


Where, oh where, do these morons come from? These are Bush's people. These are the people that have controlled the government for eight years! These are the people who have run this country and the state of Florida into the ground.

YOU, MR. SENFT, AND YOU, MR. KOTTKAMP, REPRESENT THE PARTY THAT KILLED THE ECONOMY!!!!

And Mr. Senft, do you really believe that if you pray to your god she will help you win the election? Does your god commend your gutter-tactics and your lies and your character-assassination?

"Marxist?" "Communist?" "Socialism?"

You really ought to make up your mind, because those words all refer to different things. Marxism is one particular form of communism. Communism is a political system. Socialism is an economic system in which the government controls some of the economic engines that run the society.

Furthermore, the United States has always been "socialistic," at least in part. What do you think public schools are? What you think NASA is? What do you think Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are, if not "socialistic"? What about the Post Office? The military? The judicial system? The Interstate Highway system? The TVA? The Veteran's Administration?

You use those words to attack the character of a sitting U.S. Senator with whom you want to disagree but can't figure out how to go about it because you and your Republican friends don't even care enough to discover what it is you disagree with!

Furthermore, when you call upon your god to turn the election your way, you are connecting your political system to your religious beliefs which could lead, if you had your way, to some kind of a Christian United States, which was one thing of which the so-called "founding fathers" were deathly afraid!

You also debase your faith and your fellow citizens by pretending that your Christian god loves you and your Republican friends more than she does the other people of our land. If that is true, Mr. Senft, your god stinks to high heaven!


The Republican Party is dead! Long may it stay that way!