BlogWood: Norwood's Fair and Balanced Nattering

Straight Talk demonstration

This morning at 7:30 in front of WMNF: 1210 E. Martin Luther King Blvd., Tampa

Pre-k push puzzles parents

Florida’s church day care voucher program, aka pre-K, aka UPK, is designed in such a way that it will be impossible for public schools to participate. It looks like it may also be nearly impossible for kids to participate.

The state wants parents and schools interested in participating in Florida's new universal pre-kindergarten program to start signing up for the program Tuesday, but it's unclear where they should go to sign up for classes that startin August.

Private preschool owners don't know whether they will qualify for the program or how much money they will get from the state if they do. Public school districts are expected to have a tough time meeting certification requirements.

State officials are advising people interested in state-funded pre-K programs to watch state websites for information. But the website, www.upkflorida.org, offers no information on how to sign up.

''We've been getting many calls from parents asking where to sign up,'' said Susan Morris, early-childhood supervisor for Hillsborough County schools. ``At this time, we're telling people we just don't have enough information.''

Gladys Wilson, deputy director of the state Office of Early Learning, said there's an online application planned but no details are available.
......

Florida voters mandated the program in 2002 by a constitutional amendment that said a high-quality pre-K program must be available to any 4-year-old whose family wants it by August 2005.

Officials say they will need public, private and faith-based programs and even homes to accommodate everyone because public schools don't have enough space.

But there may not be many public schools participating. To be eligible, a district must meet class-size reduction requirements for regular school, another constitutional provision voters approved in 2002. School districts also must certify that they will continue meeting the requirements and need no additional capital outlay funds through the 2010-2011 school year.

''It is anticipated that very few school districts, if any, will be able to certify to the requirements,'' Shan Goff, director for the state Office of Early Learning, wrote in an e-mail Friday.

SUMMER PROGRAM

Under the new state law, school districts are required to provide a 300-hour summer preschool program with certified teachers beginning next year. That's separate from the 540-hour school year program starting this year.

Kris Giordano, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Polk County, said she wished public schools would have a role in the year-round program.

''They're mandated to do the summer program, which is almost impossible,'' she said. ``And they're not being allowed to do the year-round program. And that's too bad.''

Profiles of qualified providers are expected to be posted on a state website. State payments would go to providers as a voucher.

Brothers divorced from reality

President Governor Bush remains adamant that lowering taxes leads to increased job growth, despite real numbers that continue to prove him wrong. President Governor Bush pushed tax breaks and watched as jobs were lost during his first term, the worst record for a President since the great depression. job growth in the state fell to the lowest level since 1970.

State employment figures show that Gov. Jeb Bush has presided over the lowest job-creation rate of any governor since 1970, appearing to call into question his claim that his tax cuts have created new jobs.

Bush, who is proposing $285 million in new tax cuts this year, has for years attributed the state's creation of new jobs during his tenure to his tax cuts, which have totaled $11 billion since he took office.

"This notion has been proven," he said during a Jan. 12 news conference. "It has been proven in our state by the economic data that we see."

But an analysis of statistics from Bush's Agency for Workforce Innovation shows that every previous governor going back as far as Reubin Askew enjoyed higher job-growth rates than Bush — even though those earlier governors all raised taxes.

Lawton Chiles, Bush's Democratic predecessor, had an average job growth rate of 2.7 percent over his eight years, compared with Bush's 1.9 percent over six years.

Republican Bob Martinez, Bush's former boss, had a 4 percent average over four years.

Democrat Bob Graham had a 4.7 percent average, and Democrat Askew enjoyed a 5.1 percent average.

With the exception of Martinez, each of the previous governors, like Bush, suffered through a recession, with Askew taking the worst hit during the mid-'70s oil crisis that devastated the state's tourism industry.

Moreover, each of the four previous governors had significant tax increases during his term.

Chiles raised the intangibles tax on investment portfolios.

Martinez raised the intangibles tax, the sales tax and the real estate transaction tax.

Graham, while he lowered the property tax for homeowners, raised the sales tax a full penny, as did Martinez.

And Askew, who had the highest growth rate of all the recent governors, also had the largest new tax — a corporate income tax, which he pushed during his campaign as a ballot question.

Banned in Tampa: Vicki Santa just makes shit up

I finally got a chance to catch the WMNF newscast from this past Friday. Mitch Perry did a story on a press conference at the station held by the Straight Talk people, and he included part of a short interview with me.

In response to one of his questions, I mentioned that I was still waiting for a written response to a written grievance which I had filed with the station in November in response to my firing.

Mitch, being a fair minded reporter, asked station manager Vicki Santa to respond. Her response boiled down to an assertion that she had tried to schedule a meeting with me, because that’s the way she handles grievances.

Well, that may be the way she handles things, or she may just be making this shit up as she goes (much more likely, in my opinion), but the weakly worded WMNF grievance policy specifically says that a written grievance should be answered with a written response.

In other words, she is completely ignoring the very rules which she is using to fire Connie Burton and myself and perhaps others in the future.

See, when things are put in writing, misunderstandings are much less likely. Memories of meetings with verbal exchanges can and do vary, with different participants often recalling completely different meanings and nuances, or worse.

Still, many people have asked my why I didn’t meet with her and why I didn’t reapply to host my show. (The reappilication process occurs every two years. Every program host must reapply. This was happening about the same time I was fired.)

Vicki put severe restrictions on her proposed meeting time. I was unable to schedule a meeting with her and a volunteer rep who would act as a neutral observer - 2 volunteer committee members both said that they could not take time off work to meet at the times that Vicki indicated were available. I would have had to take time off to meet too, in order to accommodate her extremely limited availability.

I entertained and subsequently rejected the expensive notion of hiring a lawyer to accompany me, mostly due to financial considerations.

The grievance procedure calls for a written response from her - not a meeting. I was following the grievance procedure. She was attempting an end run. I did not trust her motives, and I remain highly suspicious of MNF staff today, especially with the current Straight Talk situation. I was not willing to meet with her without at least a neutral observer to document what was said.

Why should I have bothered to re-apply for my show? Program director Randy Wynne had already let it be publicly known that he had lost all confidence in me as a programmer, and he is the sole decision maker. He was certainly not about to put me back on the air. He is under no obligation to justify his whimsical programming decisions, and, indeed, he rarely, if ever, does bother to justify any of his programming related decisions. I am still suspended - an open ended suspension that has never been lifted. Does this punishment really fit my crime? I seriously doubt it, but I don't know, since official charges were never indicated in writing.

Bottom line - Vicki wanted me out, so did Randy - I don't have the time or resources or energy to fight paid staff over a volunteer position - it was obvious that my "career" at MNF was over - a meeting would have accomplished nothing.

Vicki knows all of this, and this is the way she handles problems - she delays to the point of frustration and hopes that the aggrieved parties will simply give up. (This is not the first time that Vicki handled a rather serious situation involving me by simply delaying until I gave up. The last incident involved a paid staff member destroying station property - property paid for through donations and volunteer labor.) Again, the longer she delays, the more it costs me, a volunteer, time and money, both of which are in rather short supply right now.

Why didn't Vicki give me a written response when it became apparent that we would not be able to meet? Why was I left to glean whatever information I could from news reports rather than receive a written summary of charges from Randy? Why did Randy's story keep changing as I brought up new points? (Perhaps the charges were never put in writing specifically so that Randy could continue to change his story?) At first, it was just one song, then it morphed into a problem with my entire show. At one point, he even mentioned “the n word” (listen to the linked newscast story from November) - what did that have to do with anything?

The ball was left in Vicki's court. She is the one who did not follow up, and her lack of action speaks volumes: by not even providing me with the simple courtesy of a letter, she says that I am not important enough to bother with. If I had unlimited resources, I would still be fighting her on this, and I would eventually prevail, since my firing was obviously arbitrary and Randy's enforcement of the FCC guidelines remains spotty at best, especially as concerns his own morning show. (Randy has aired expletives on at least 3 separate occasions in the past few weeks. Does Randy seek himself out and inform himself that he aired an obscenity and then decide whether or not to suspend himself?)

Reading Connie's grievance, I was struck by the parallels in our cases. Both longtime programmers. Both doing the same kind of politically controversial show that we've always done. Both fired verbally for vague reasons. Neither of us was ever counseled ahead of time - no warnings or other indications that we were skating on thin ice. Connie has been butting heads with management for years. I have had a vague sense that Vicki has had a personal problem with me for at least a year - nothing concrete, just little indications that she doesn't trust or like me.

So, we face a situation where the MNF staff enforces rules against programmers who they don’t like and ignores those same rules whenever it is convenient for them to do so. A lawyer would have a field day with this arbitrary and capricious use of power.

In the meantime, MorningWood is gone - another programmer was awarded that time slot, and I have essentially stopped pursuing my case due to the frustration of trying to wring a response out of Vicki as well as a realistic observation that even if I were to "win" this fight that I would remain a programmer without a show - a Pyrrhic victory at best.

More about my suspension from WMNF

Dicks will be dicks

Dick Cheney, Dressing Down

At yesterday's gathering of world leaders in southern Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the United States was represented by Vice President Cheney. The ceremony at the Nazi death camp was outdoors, so those in attendance, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were wearing dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots. Because it was cold and snowing, they were also wearing gentlemen's hats. In short, they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event.

The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.

Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults.

Like other attendees, the vice president was wearing a hat. But it was not a fedora or a Stetson or a fur hat or any kind of hat that one might wear to a memorial service as the representative of one's country. Instead, it was a knit ski cap, embroidered with the words "Staff 2001." It was the kind of hat a conventioneer might find in a goodie bag.

It is also worth mentioning that Cheney was wearing hiking boots -- thick, brown, lace-up ones. Did he think he was going to have to hike the 44 miles from Krakow -- where he had made remarks earlier in the day -- to Auschwitz?

His wife, Lynne, was seated next to him. Her coat has a hood, too, and it is essentially a parka. But it is black and did not appear to be functioning as either a name tag or a billboard. One wonders if at some point the vice president turned to his wife, took in her attire and asked himself why they seemed to be dressed for two entirely different events.

Some might argue that Cheney was the only attendee with the smarts to dress for the cold and snowy weather. But sometimes, out of respect for the occasion, one must endure a little discomfort.

Just last week, in a frigid, snow-dusted Washington, Cheney sat outside through the entire inauguration without so much as a hat and without suffering frostbite. And clearly, Cheney owns a proper overcoat. The world saw it during his swearing-in as vice president. Cheney treated that ceremony with the dignity it deserved -- not simply through his demeanor, but also through his attire. Would he have dared to take the oath of office with a ski cap on? People would have justifiably considered that an insult to the office, the day, the country.

Felonious Junk: is a vote for reform on the horizon?

As regular BlogWood readers are well aware, in Florida, we continue to punish people after they’ve paid their debts to society by denying them basic civil rights. Jeb! and his GOP cronies strongly support this unfair practice, so it came as something of a shock to learn that some prominent Republican legislators are considering a referendum to do away with this racist practice.

Two powerful Republican lawmakers are urging Gov. Jeb Bush to restore civil rights to felons who have completed their sentences -- and have vowed to support a voter referendum to end Florida's 137-year-old ban altogether if the governor refuses.

Jeb!: "The people spoke? I didn't hear anything..."

It seems that Jeb! lied about the costs associated with Florida’s class size amendment. Is he also planning to pull a high speed train maneuver and attempt to overturn the will of the voters? Florida Politics has the stories.

Damn those dykes: PBS caves under pressure

A cartoon character visiting a farm is apparently too controversial for the corporate overseers at PBS. PBS won't distribute kids' show featuring lesbian couple

A number of local public television stations may run an episode of the animated series Postcards From Buster featuring a family headed by a lesbian couple, despite a decision by PBS not to distribute the program.

PBS said its unusual decision to drop the episode was made independently, not because of pressure from the U.S. Department of Education's new secretary, Margaret Spellings.

Spellings on Tuesday wrote to PBS President Pat Mitchell asking the network to consider removing the department's logo and returning the public money spent on the episode.

"Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode," she wrote.

PBS arrived at its decision not to distribute the episode the same day, but not because of the letter, said John Wilson, senior vice president of programming.

PBS member stations are autonomous and may choose which programs to air in their communities, but when PBS supplies a program, it appears in TV guides and schedules and many stations feel compelled to run it, Wilson said.

The series, designed for children ages 6 to 8, shows the animated bunny Buster visiting real children across the United States.

"This is a show about kids learning from other kids," said Jeanne Hopkins of WGBH-TV in Boston, which produced the program. "We've visited kids who are Muslim, Mormon, Eastern Orthodox, Pentecostal, kids rurally, kids in cities, kids whose fathers and mothers are heterosexual, single parent, living with grandparents."

Privateers whine about the truth

Florida is home to more retirees on Social Security than any other state. Our elected representatives are starting to feel some heat regarding their support of W’s plans to destroy the system in favor of privatized accounts. Oh, and they’re whining about it.

Gladys Van Otteren, a West Palm Beach Republican and mother of six, said she was outraged when she got the phone call Thursday and wondered why whoever is paying for the calls is hiding their identity.

"Somebody should do something about this," she said. "This is going to freak out a lot of older people."

According to a transcript provided by Shaw's office, the automated message starts with "Hi" and continues: "I am calling to alert you that your congressman, Clay Shaw, supports privatizing Social Security. This plan would cost taxpayers $2 trillion. It would also decrease future benefits to retirees by 47 percent. The Social Security Trust Fund should be in a lock box, not a Wall Street slot machine. Tell Congressman Shaw that we want real Social Security reform, not a risky Wall Street gamble."

Sounds about right to me.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall is the place to go for up to the minute updates on who is supporting the President’s plan to thrust the elderly into poverty.

WMNF cancels "Straight Talk"

WMNF says it wants to be more inclusive. The station says it wants more minority voices on the air. Talk is cheap.

Straight Talk, the hour-long talk show hosted by outspoken African-American activist Connie Burton, has been taken off the air by the management at WMNF-FM 88.5, who said it no longer met the mission of the public station.

Station manager Vicki Santa said the show, which aired from 9 to 10 a.m. on Sundays, had aligned itself with the singular viewpoint of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, a St. Petersburg militant group that counts Burton as a member.

Burton, 48, the former president of the Robles Park Tenants' Association, championed the rights of public housing residents, but became a bitter critic of the Tampa Housing Authority after she was evicted when a son was arrested on drug charges.

Burton's run as Straight Talk host lasted nine years, ending at WMNF on Monday.

"Somewhere along the way, Connie became part of the Uhuru movement," said Santa, "and the show became a voice for that movement and no other voices were being heard."

WMNF's mission statement on its Web site says it "celebrates local cultural diversity and is committed to equality, peace and social and economic justice."

Santa said the action to drop Burton's show also was taken because of a recent board decision barring organizations from controlling programs on WMNF.

"This was not a quick and arbitrary decision," said WMNF board member Jeanne Holton. "I think these discussions have been going on four or five years.

"The role her show plays for the African-American community is an important one. But I think it is true that our mission was no longer being met."

Burton said there was no justification for dropping the show. "They considered Straight Talk to be a thorn in their side. It's been a point of contention with them, based on their core listening group."

She said she believed her talk show dovetailed with WMNF's mission. "That's what our show is about - issues that concern poor, working class people."

The Uhurus denounced the dropping of Straight Talk as "unjust" and called it an attempt "to stifle the African-American voice" in a press release. The Uhurus will have a press conference at the station on Friday at 10 a.m. and intend to picket WMNF on Monday, the release said.

Burton has seven days to appeal the decision to remove her as volunteer host, Santa said, and in the meantime station officials are considering how best to fill the Straight Talk spot.

Burton has lived for most of two decades in public housing at Robles Park.

In 1996, she was accused of shoving a Tampa police officer and trying to incite a riot after she co-hosted a party with a convicted drug dealer. As a result of pretrial intervention, the criminal charges were dropped when Burton agreed to work to ease tensions between public housing residents and police.

In 1999, the Housing Authority used the so-called "one-strike law" to begin eviction proceedings against Burton after a son was arrested for marijuana possession. A jury upheld an eviction order, but a judge threw the decision out, and a new trial is pending.

In recent years, Burton used the WMNF airwaves to fire back at police and government officials. She accused former Tampa police Chief Bennie Holder, an African-American, of being insensitive to the needs of blacks. She called Housing Authority boss Jerome Ryans, another African-American, a "thin-skinned parasite."

On a recent Straight Talk program, one of Burton's guests criticized police, saying, "The Africa n community needs to understand that the pigs are not their friends." Burton issued a denunciation of those who "lick the boots of white power."

That kind of talk brought mail to WMNF news director Rob Lorie, saying Burton's show was dragging the station "down into the mud."

But Santa said dropping Burton's show doesn't mean WMNF will no longer air the views of Burton or the Uhurus.

"It's not about silencing," she said. "It's about finding a different way to bring together as many voices as possible."

Yeah - it’s about finding some token Uncle Tom types who don’t make waves. It’s about staying within the comfort zone of the white folks who run the station, because despite all their lip service about being progressive and inclusive, all programming is filtered by two aging white males.

Connie has seven days to file an appeal. The appeal goes to Vicki and then the board - the very people who just fired her. She’ll be lucky if Vicki even bothers to answer. I’m still waiting for an answer to the written grievance which I filed in November. Management at WMNF is encouraged, but not required to answer such filings, which essentially makes the whole process worthless.

The aging white hippies who consider themselves the station base and who claim to have an open mind are hypocritical punks. They can’t stand uppity niggers and they get upset when rap or hip hop goes out over “their” airwaves.

The show that got me into trouble included lots of “urban” music (much of the show was a tribute to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who had just died), and whenever I played a little rap, complaints from the conservative old farts would start rolling in.

Of course, Vicki will say that Connie’s situation has absolutely nothing to do with mine. Bullshit. Lets do a little compare and contrast.

Both Connie and I were long time station volunteers fired with no warning whatsoever for supposedly violating station policy. Neither of us was reprimanded or counseled ahead of time, nor were we given any but the very vaguest of guidelines for planning and producing a show. For some time, both of us had been producing, with no repercussions, the same kinds of shows that got us into trouble and then we were suddenly let go.

At WMNF, the rules are enforced arbitrarily. One need look no further than program director Randy Wynne’s own morning show (yes, Randy, the one man who decides who gets to host music shows, decided that he was the only programmer capable of doing the Wednesday morning show, despite a backlog of competent volunteer folkies who are just chomping at the bit to get on the air - but that conflict of interest is for another conversation.).

Anyway, Randy has been airing banned FCC words quite often lately. According to his own newly revised (after they fired me) policy, he should no longer be on the air, since his sloppy programming is quite obviously putting the station’s license at risk. Yet he remains, while other programmers are punished, or not, according to his whim.

The paid staff who manage the station are entrenched and powerful. They run roughshod over the volunteers who supposedly make up the heart of community radio. People like Connie and myself do not have the financial resources to hire a labor lawyer, and I don’t have the time or the energy to engage in a fight to regain a volunteer position.

But Connie’s a fighter, and she has Uhuru on her side, so she probably has a better chance of being reinstated than myself, but that will only happen if the station is shamed into doing the right thing. I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, talk has started anew about forming a union for volunteers. Not surprisingly, the hypocrites who are paid to run the station and who claim to be pro union and pro labor are adamantly opposed to a change that would result in volunteers being treated fairly.

A member of the WMNF community sent this via email yesterday:

To elaborate, from what I read and heard, Straight Talk was cancelled because it violated the mission statement of WMNF and violated a recently created policy that says something like "WMNF gives shows to individuals not organizations or groups."

We've held at least one meeting recently on the mission statement. I
was at that meeting from beginning to end. The message I took away from
that meeting is that it was to begin a conversation about whether we
needed to look at what the mission means and how we evaluate whether a
particular show meets that mission. Another message that came from the
meeting was whether we should change our mission to meet changing
community needs. WMNF management stated very clearly that this was the
beginning of a conversation and no conclusions would be reached. So,
when was the conclusion reached? What happened to community dialogue
and the creation of a process that we all feel that we can live with?

There is no clear evidence that I have seen or heard that Straight Talk
violated the mission of the station as I understand the mission. How
will I know as a programmer whether I might be in violation of the
mission statement unless I clearly understand what the standards of
evaluation are and the process by which it is evaluated?

Recently we had program changes. Based on whatever standards
established by the News and Public Affairs Director, Straight Talk was
re-issued its same one hour time slot to produce the show weekly by the
same producer. Did the application for Straight Talk say it was an
application for a group? Since this is a new standard, were they told
about this and given an opportunity to adjust their approach to the show
and re-issue an application?

Is this policy going to be strictly applied to all shows? Larry Lisk
and the Suncoast Blues Society, Greenwaves and the Sierra Club, Sunday
Forum and the Democratic Party, Mike Eisenstadt and his focus one
section of the Tampa Jewish community, Radio Nation and their alignment
with a narrow political wing of the Democratic Party, etc. Under this
new policy are collectives of any kind exempt from applying for shows
like one permutation of the women's show used to be?

I am most concerned about procedures and policies being followed
randomly and disciplinary actions not being issued even handedly. If
over time, a programmer has been given due process about any violations,
given guidance on how to correct that problem, given an opportunity to
make changes, and they still don't change, then they should lose their
show. However, haven't we seen recently, over the word "fuck," that
some programmers are given suspension, other infractions are ignored
unless reported by someone outside the community, and other programmers
are fired?

And, please let's deal with the difficult topics of racism, sexism, and
classism at the station. It is easy to understand while looking forward
in preparation for a process that we are all well meaning people who see
things for their inherent value rather than what is on the surface.
But, let's look backwards a minute to evaluate where we are today.
Where are the radical, let alone radical black voices that used to be on
the WMNF airwaves? Why must people of color continue to fight for the
same time slots late at night and on weekends? Isn't the statement, "we
want more people like us" another way to institutionalize those isms?

WMNF has become a mainstream, wishy washy, non-controversial outlet for a narrow bunch of aging, financially secure and increasingly conservative types who like to consider themselves revolutionary, but whose philosophy and lifestyle is straight establishment.

For all their talk about community, they really don’t want to share “their” station with anyone who has the temerity to think and act for themselves, and by arbitrarily purging controversial programmers from the station, they further erode the eclectic spirit and energy that WMNF was founded with and claims to identify with even today.

It’s time for a change.

Social Security lies

Editorial: Social Security/Blacks get more, not less, from it

Of all the lies -- let's call them by their right name -- that the Bush administration is spreading about Social Security, none is as vile as the canard Bush repeated last Tuesday, when he said, "African-American males die sooner than other males do, which means the [Social Security] system is inherently unfair to a certain group of people. And that needs to be fixed." That is an entirely phony assertion; it has been debunked by the Social Security Administration, by the Government Accountability Office and by other experts. Bush and those around him know that. For them to repeat what they know to be a blatant lie is despicable fear-mongering.

......

Bush didn't make up this phony line on his own; it comes from the Heritage Foundation......

• Heritage failed to factor in the progressivity of Social Security benefits; on a taxes-paid to benefits-received ratio, those with lower incomes get more back. Blacks tend to earn less than whites, and thus their Social Security benefits are larger in comparison to taxes they pay.

• Social Security is more than retirement benefits. It also includes survivor and disability benefits. Blacks benefit disproportionately from those programs. While blacks are 11 percent of the workforce, for example, they are 18 percent of those receiving disability benefits. Almost half the blacks receiving Social Security -- 47 percent -- are getting disability benefits or survivor benefits.

The Social Security actuaries found that Heritage had exaggerated substantially the amount blacks pay in Social Security taxes and low-balled the benefits they receive. "In fact," the actuaries said, "results from more careful research reflecting actual work histories for workers by race indicate that the non-white population actually enjoys the same or better expected rates of return from Social Security than for the white population."
......

Social Security is a complex program, so it's easy to tell outright lies or make misleading statements about it with little fear of contradiction from the general public. All Americans should be on notice that the Bush administration, in its drive to start dismantling Social Security, isn't telling the truth on several fronts.

Gay couples give up

SP Times:

Three gay couples dropped their lawsuits Tuesday challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act, saying they don't want to risk having the U.S. Supreme Court set a legal precedent by rejecting their cases.

The suits were brought by gay couples married in Massachusetts and Canada who wanted Florida to recognize their marriages. Florida law only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman, and the Defense of Marriage Act allows states to disregard gay marriages performed elsewhere.

Ellis Rubin, the couples' attorney, said a key factor in their decision was the Supreme Court's recent refusal to hear a challenge to the Florida law that bans gays from adopting children.

"That ruling strongly suggests that our case would not be favorably received," Rubin said.

Two of the lawsuits were dismissed by a federal judge in Tampa last week. The third case, filed in Miami, had not been heard.

If the dismissals had been appealed, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta would have heard the case, and its ruling either way would almost certainly be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Rubin said he felt chances were "very slim of us prevailing" in an 11th Circuit appeal, "and that would establish precedent for other judicial circuits."

Defending marriage

Baptists have the highest divorce rate of any Christian denomination, and are more likely to get a divorce than atheists and agnostics, according to a national survey. ......

Alabama, with a population of 4.3 million, has more than one million
Southern Baptists and a majority of evangelical Protestants. The state
ranks fourth nationally in divorce rates, behind Nevada, Tennessee and
Arkansas, according to U.S. government statistics.

Barna Research Group interviewed 3,854 adults from the 48 continental
states, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent. The survey
found that while just 11 percent of the adult population is currently
divorced, 25 percent of all adults have experienced at least one divorce,
the survey showed.

Twenty seven percent of those describing themselves as born-again
Christians are currently or have previously been divorced, compared to 24
percent among other adults.

"While it may be alarming to discover that born-again Christians are more
likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in
place for quite some time," said George Barna, president of Barna
Research Group.

Let Terri die

Terri Schiavo may finally get to die.

The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the state which sought to overturn a decision that declared “Terry’s Law” unconstitutional. With the passage of the law, Jeb! long ago accomplished his goal of pandering to the religious right, those folks who believe that some life is precious (as long as the life in question is either in the womb or in a vegetative state... other life, such as the life of an Iraqi or the life of a death row prisoner just isn’t as important), so the Governor really doesn’t care what happens to Terry now.

High Court Declines Schiavo Case

George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, said that his client was ``very pleased'' with the court's decision and that ``it effectively ends Gov. Bush's interference in this case.''

Yet Felos was hesitant to predict whether the continued legal motions would mean Schiavo is kept alive for weeks, months or longer.

``Up to now we've had this pattern where the Schindlers file a frivolous motion, the trial judge denies it, but he permits them a stay or a postponement while they appeal it,'' Felos said. ``The parents' appeal is denied, and then they file a new motion. We're kind of at the beginning of the merry-go- round again.''

Among the pending motions is one asking the 2nd District Court of Appeal to reconsider and grant a new trial based on statements last year by Pope John Paul II declaring euthanasia a sin. The Schindlers contend their daughter, who was raised Catholic, would never violate a papal decree.

Crist is still not gay

State: Crist sheds lightweight image

...as he went from table to table with his girlfriend alongside...

Not gay, and still trying to prove it by hanging with some manly assholes, namely Clay Roberts, Katherine Harris' director of elections, a man right in the middle of the 2000 theft.

(Thanks to MT for the tip!)

Troxler on the lessons of Wal-Mart

Columns: Heed lesson of Wal-Mart: know plans for the land

The moral of this story is that it is not too late for YOU as a member of your own community to have a say. The use of the land all around you has been designated in your local government's comprehensive plans and zoning maps; if you don't like it, there still might be time to change it. But most people don't pay attention until that "public hearing" sign goes up on the site - and by then it can be too late.

Through your City Hall or county courthouse, through your neighborhood or civic association, through the Internet, through any way that you can, exercise your role as a citizen to inform yourself about your own community's plans. We all have busy lives, and sometimes the subject seems boring and technical. But in the end, all that bureaucratic stuff turns out to matter after all, as it did in Tarpon Springs.

More on Wal-Mart

I'm back...

Just got back from a DC inauguration trip late last night. A cancelled flight followed by a delayed one led to an arrival in Tampa just a few hours later than planned, so things weren’t too bad travel wise despite the snowfall.

My traveling companion and I arrived in Washington early Thursday, and hit the ground marching. With thousands of others, we walked down toward the Capitol from Adams Morgan. The march ended near the parade route, and security was restrictive, which created a bottleneck at the entrances. Fascists Supporters of the president, ticket holders easily identifiable by their expensive furs and “W” paraphernalia, were lined up waiting to get in. This presented an opportunity for heckling that I simply couldn’t resist.

I spent a few minutes inquiring as to why the younger ones weren’t over in Iraq, supporting the troops by taking their places, and informing the older ones that they had blood on their hands. This actually went over pretty well. I pissed off a lot of assholes.

We then meandered over to a public entrance on Pennsylvania where the atmosphere was heating up. As some “anarchists” mounted a traffic control box and tried to ignite an American flag (ironically, the anarchists weren’t quite organized enough to really get it burning), a steady stream of GOP types (remember: furs, American flags, and W W W W W.... fucking everywhere) streamed by toward another ticket holder’s entrance.

Myself and those in the growing crowd near me amused ourselves by making life as miserable as possible for them. A gauntlet of sorts was very informally formed, and, according to the WaPo, some were offput enough to forego the parade and watched on TV instead. Good.

At one point, I was almost on autopilot as I routinely peppered the attendees with rude but entirely justified adjectives like fascist and chickenhawk and war monger. Suddenly, a large GOP goon with a young child in tow turned abruptly and challenged me. He was offended by my remarks, and I guess he wanted to teach his 6 year old son a lesson in how to deal with a God and America hating progressive protestor.

After allowing him to spew some venomous bile at me, and giving him ample time to turn back and head towards the gates, I realized that he was waiting for a response. He was right up in my face at this point, and threatening to hit me, so I taunted him some more.

I clasped my hands behind my back and encouraged him to attack me physically. I told him that since he was about 50 pounds heavier and 4 or 5 inches taller that it would be much like his President invading a much weaker counter simply to prove some meaningless point. I also reminded him that his son was with him and that the kid would probably love to see his asshole daddy arrested and taken to jail right in front of him.

At his point, some progressives in the crowd started yelling at ME to leave this hulking bully alone for the sake of HIS kid. Now, this guy brought his child into this unfriendly crowd, and instead of simply ushering the kid through to the gates, he decided to stop and confront me simply because I was using my American right to freely express myself.

Throughout all of this, anyone could see that the kid was mortified, and I did feel kinda sorry for him, especially since he’ll probably grow up to be just like his dad, if he doesn’t die in a folly of a war first, but I did not pick this big asshole out of the crowd. He stopped himself and his kid to start a shouting match and threaten me physically. I saw no reason to back down for the kid’s sake.

And others running the gauntlet were a little pissed too.

"They need a new law for these protesters: 'You cross the line, you do the time,' " said Kenneth E. Boring, 80, still apparently irritated by the experience as he waited to leave Reagan National Airport.

He and his wife Dottie, 59, of Dalton, Ga., are members of Republican Eagles, the elite GOP fundraising group, but they watched the president's speech from the Willard InterContinental Hotel. The security line was too long, they said, and made longer, in their opinion, by the protesters.

"It's time to put a stop to all this nonsense, protesting and causing confusion," Boring said.
......

Justin Moidel, 17, who lives in the Pittsburgh area, attended the swearing-in with friends, but after venturing outside the security gates for food, the group ditched plans to return for the parade because of the angry protesters and daunting lines at the weapons check.

"I liked being part of history, and the passage of power," said Moidel, who said he considers himself a conservative Democrat. "But the long lines and being protested against. . . . There was one lady who yelled at me, 'Are you prepared to die?' I guess she thinks Bush is an aggressive leader who will get us into war."

Uh, Justin, you’re 17. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get drafted into the war which our aggressive leader has already gotten us into, you fucking moron. And Ken: no matter how much you were inconvenienced by me and others like me, you’re going home to a warm safe bed. American soldiers and Iraqi civilians wont be experiencing a feeling of safety for quite some time, and it’s all because your president lied his way into a needless war.

Anyway, the heckling was great fun, because pissing off republicans is something I’ll never tire of.

We left the heckling area just as a phalanx of riot-geared strorm troopers was preparing to close in on the protestors. GOP convention experiences taught us to move quickly and get the hell out if we didn’t want to spend the rest of the weekend in jail. Fortunately, few were arrested, but pepper spray was liberally used, and I think we left at just about the right time.

Friday, we joined a few dozen other activists and helped deliver a
70 foot long spine to the DNC. We think it’s time the DNC got a backbone and started acting like an opposition party instead of simply rolling over and acquiescing to every GOP atrocity. Personally, I woulda rather delivered a big pair of balls, but the spine, provided by some activists from Seattle, was quite impressive and made for a great visual.

The Backbone Campaign

Pictures!

Norman tries to look tough

Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman has come up with a brilliantly shortsighted plan to deny healthcare to felons who have paid their debt to society.

Leaving aside the fact that healthcare is increasingly turning into a privilege that only the wealthy and those who are lucky enough to work for a company that provides decent benefits can enjoy, Norman’s idea will end up saving nothing, since the folks who are denied care through Hillsborough’s indigent health plan will not stop getting sick. The costs are not going to go away, and the taxpayers will end up paying.

As officials look to trim costs for the county's indigent health care program, a Hillsborough County commissioner wants to kick people off the plan if they are convicted of three or more felonies.

``They're continuing to break the law, and they're on our plan,'' Commission Chairman Jim Norman said. ``You're knocking granny in the head. She's paying your health care.''

If his idea is adopted, everyone on the plan would start with a clean slate, meaning prior convictions would not count toward the three strikes. But once someone racked up three felonies, the county would consider the person ineligible.

Norman also would consider counting first-degree misdemeanors as strikes.

Norman has not made a formal proposal but is working with auditor Kathleen Mathews to determine how much the change could save and how it could be implemented. Early estimates show about 9 percent of people on the plan have a combination of three or more felonies and first-degree misdemeanors.

The plan served more than 27,000 people in 2003.

Some county commissioners and county health care advisory board members don't think it's a good idea.

``Whether you're a convicted felon or a priest, you should get health care,'' said John Weiss, a health care advisory board member and occupational therapist. ``I would not discriminate against someone with a criminal record.''

The Hillsborough County HealthCare program, widely referred to as the indigent health care plan, began in 1992. It is paid for through a half-cent sales tax, and provides health care for low-income residents who do not have private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare.
......

Critics fear Norman's idea could be more costly in the long run.

``Even if someone commits three crimes, someone is going to have to pay for [their health care],'' Commissioner Thomas Scott said. ``If they go to Tampa General, taxpayers are still going to pick it up. It might be a wash.''

Commissioner Kathy Castor said she was willing to consider Norman's idea. Still, she has reservations.

``I'd like to know the indirect costs,'' Castor said. ``If they're not being seen in our clinic system, are they coming to our emergency rooms and being treated there at a greater cost to taxpayers?''

Norman contends that giving people health care throughout the year costs more than a visit to an emergency room.

Sadly, No!
Jim, the truth is but a quick Google search away: it is always cheaper to send folks to the doctor regularly than to rely on emergency rooms as the primary source of care.

Castor also is concerned about the potential administrative cost associated with determining who is a repeat felon.

Figuring out who is a felon can be tricky, as the state found out during the 2004 election cycle. The state eventually determined its list of felons was flawed and tossed it.

``We have to err on never getting anybody off the plan,'' Norman said. ``We have to validate, validate, validate.''

Triple validation... I’m sure that wont cost much to administrate...

Wal-Mart is coming

Wal-Mart swallows another town... (Because 3 miles is just too far to travel...)

baynews9.com - News : The verdict is in

After a lengthy debate, the Tarpon Springs City Commission voted 3-2 in favor of building a Wal-Mart Supercenter on U.S. Highway 19.

Residents and city commissioners debated the issue from 6:30 Tuesday night until about 6:45 this morning.

The controversial topic had hundreds of people voicing their opinions at city hall on both sides of the issue.

Pre-k parsimony

Pre-K schools: Funds too low

The Policy Group for Florida's Families and Children estimates it would cost $3,862 per student to create a "high quality" program.

"What (Bush) is talking about is a voucher slot that just pays for a child's seat," Gellens said.

Danny Morris, president of the Florida Association for Child Care Management, said he told lawmakers that $2,700 per student was the minimum to operate the program.

But $2,500, he said, is close enough.

Jeb! budget will kill the poor

In Florida, the governor traditionally suggests a spending plan, the legislature has its own ideas, and a final product usually emerges late in the legislative session.

Jeb! unveiled his budget proposal yesterday, and, despite the fact that Florida has tons of money in the bank, he plans on paying for a mediocre religious studies Pre-k program by driving working Floridians with medical problems into poverty.

The Medically Needy program receives most of its funding from the federal government, but Jeb! just hates spending money on poor people, so it’s out, even though he indicated last week that programs like this would be preserved in his soon to be revealed plan to kill Medicaid.

Some news outlets are putting a pretty face on an increase in education dollars, but Jeb! has no choice in this, as funding is required to finance the voter mandated class size amendment as well as Pre-k. (Jeb! hates this, because poor people can benefit from smaller class sizes too.)

Further, Jeb! will expect college kids to ante up more cash for school, which, hopefully, will dissuade some poor people who may have benefitted from smaller classes and who really could have used a high quality Pre-k program, as mandated by voters, from pursuing higher education goals.

Of course, tax cuts for non-poor people are a big part of Jeb!’s proposal, as businesses and wealthy investors both win substantial tax savings.

What? Jeb! is also suggesting a nine day sales tax holiday? Gee, that should help the poor. Oh, wait...

The Herald:

Gov. Jeb Bush, who rode into the Capitol six years ago with a promise to make government smaller and a zeal for cutting taxes, reasserted his conservative side today, proposing a budget that calls for substantial tax cuts while eliminating programs intended to help working Floridians with massive medical bills stay out of poverty.

Bush unveiled a $61.6 billion budget for the coming year that calls for nearly $300 million in tax cuts -- including eliminating a tax now charged on beer and wine sold at bars and restaurants, offering a nine-day sales tax holiday for clothes, books and school supplies, and cutting by half the state tax charged to wealthy investors who own stocks and bonds.

SP Times:

Democrats assailed Bush's priorities, saying he is favoring the rich through tax cuts while squeezing middle-class Floridians with higher tuition, and hurting the poor by cutting health care.

Bush's plan to revamp Medicaid includes wiping out Medically Needy, a program that serves uninsured people with catastrophic illnesses. A similar proposal by the Legislature two years ago was dropped after touching off a firestorm of criticism. Other, deeper cuts in Medicaid angered lobbyists for hospitals.

"We were all asked to step in with an open mind to discuss reform. If that's reform, we're not there," said Tony Carvalho, a lobbyist for teaching hospitals, including Tampa General. "We are very disappointed in the level of cuts in the Medicaid budget."

Crist is not gay!

This is NOT Charlie Crist’s cup of tea!

Having thoroughly researched the subject, Florida’s Attorney General Charlie Crist, gearing up for a run at the Governor’s office, wants everyone to know that even though he is a dapper dresser and well tanned and neatly groomed and not married that he is not gay!

Oh, wait. That’s not the right link. Let’s try this one.

Attorney General Charlie Crist called in to a popular area radio show Monday evening to deny he is gay, taking the offensive against a small but potentially damaging rumor at the outset of his campaign for governor.

``No, man. No. I love women. I mean, they're wonderful,'' Crist said after a local radio personality who's friendly to him, Dave McKay, asked bluntly, ``Are you a homo?''

Damn. I fear this means an end to Charlie’s pledge to host weekly Tea Dances if elected.

Jeb! subsidizes the rich on the backs of the poor

Good news! Florida has extra money to spend this year! Now we can afford to produce a meaningful Pre-K program uh provide adequate medicaid coverage to seniors and the poor uh lower tuition costs for needy students uh cut taxes for wealthy investors and businesses.

With economic growth driving billions of added dollars into the state's coffers, Florida will have enough money to boost spending on essential programs and cut taxes as well, Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday.

``We can do both,'' he said a day before issuing his budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The governor said Florida will have $4.5 billion more coming into the state treasury - at least.

Although Bush won't lay out his full plan until today, he has outlined some of his priorities, including reforming the $15 billion health-care program that pays for most of the nursing home care in the state and expanding reading initiatives.

The governor last week said he would propose an increase in the current $57 billion budget ``well below'' 5.6 percent, which is the anticipated growth in personal income in Florida.

The governor's budget proposal is just a recommendation to state lawmakers, who will write a state budget during the two-month legislative session that begins March 8.

The governor's goal of tax relief will find a warm reception in the Legislature, where Republicans far outnumber Democrats.

Lawmakers last year cut taxes for businesses, shoppers and drivers to the tune of about $220 million. More than half of that break went to businesses, which got about $125 million in relief.
......

Bush has been coy on details, but the top budget-writer in the House said last week he wants lawmakers to repeal what's left of the intangibles tax on stocks and bonds this year.

Because Florida’s sales tax based revenue system simply isn’t regressive enough.

More here.

Buoyed by Wall Street's recent endorsement of Florida's fiscal thriftiness, Republican Gov. Jeb Bush is expected today to unveil a spending plan that cuts taxes, borrows less and reins in social service spending.

Manufacturers, researchers and investors are expected to see a windfall, environmental preservation will proceed without going deeper into debt and the impoverished sick could feel the pinch.

Wal-Mart to suck the life out of another community

In case you missed it, here's why Wal-Mart sucks.

Now, Tarpon Springs can look forward to a future of low paying jobs, no local merchants, and a slow erosion of everything that sets the community apart from everywhere else.

Tampabay: No smooth docking for Wal-Mart

In this Greek-settled city, the best coffee in town is still at Mr. Bill's Donut & Deli.

There's off-the-boat fresh fish for sale at the Sponge Docks' seafood markets and a family-owned department store still sells postal-worker uniforms on a tree-lined main street. It is an artist's colony and fisherman's haven, unlike any other place in Pinellas County.

But the distinct character Tarpon Springs has honed over the past century is now under assault, some residents say, with the city divided over a plan to build a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter on the Anclote River.

A Greek-style big-box store, with some 900 parking spaces and a drive-through pharmacy, garden center, supermarket, and tire and lube service station, would sit on a sandy hill on the river bank.

Neighbors have rallied to oppose it, citing concern about gopher tortises and other wildlife. They worry about light and noise from the all-night store, and the impact on the city's signature mom-and-pop stores. And then there's fear of traffic nightmares on already jamme d U.S. 19., with estimates that a Wal-Mart could generate as many as 16,000 extra trips a day.
......

The battle mirrors others waged across the nation against the world's biggest retailer. Most times, the opponents have lost.

In Tarpon Springs, that's the likely outcome. The city attorney has said the City Commission has virtually no legal option but to approve the project at a meeting tonight.

Wal-Mart still sucks

Wal-Mart is a union busting, small business killing, community poisoning, government subsidized, sweatshop supplied, job killing peddler of cheap ass Chinese crap.

Wal-Mart pays janitors $2.00 per DAY and takes out life insurance policies on other low paid employees, betting that their lack of decent, affordable healthcare (pdf) will lead to an untimely demise. Wal-Mart threatens the hard working middle class lifestyle by keeping wages and benefits at miserly levels.

Wal-Mart discriminates against women.

And despite the claims of their current high profile PR campaign of lies, Wal-Mart does not create jobs, and Wal-Mart does not provide adequate benefits to their workers or to the communities in which they do business.

Here’s the SP Times offering Wal-Mart some free ink to go along with the paid ads purchased in Tampa and elsewhere around the country. See, it’s easier to lie about reality than to actually do anything about it.

Claims that Wal-Mart drags down the nation's pay and benefits do not square with Michael Martin's experience.

"I'm making more after working four years at Wal-Mart than I did after nine years at Winn-Dixie," said the 32-year-old produce department manager. "I left Winn-Dixie because I couldn't get a promotion. Here I got one after six months."

And so went Martin's third media interview Thursday. By midafternoon he and a half-dozen fellow volunteers at a Tampa Wal-Mart Supercenter had talked of their experiences to three local newspaper reporters and four television stations while a Wal-Mart spokesman flown in from corporate headquarters listened nearby.

The media event, one of 14 in hand-picked markets nationally, is part of a stepped-up nationwide PR campaign to silence the world's largest retailer's army of critics: retail workers unions, academics, lawyers, preservationists and politicians who have been attacking the discount store giant and much of what it stands for.

Like a sleeping bear that has been kicked awake, Wal-Mart said the company has decided it must be far more aggressive about fighting back.

"For too long, others have had free rein to say things about our company that just are not true," said Lee Scott, president and chief executive officer. "Our associates (Wal-Mart-speak for employees) are tired of it, and we've decided to draw our own line in the sand."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. took out full-page ads in 100 newspapers nationally on Thursday including the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune, Florida Sentinel and Weekly Challenger as well as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
......

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which has been trying to organize Wal-Mart workers, has a corporate campaign attacking Wal-Mart for its affect on competitor pay and benefits in union markets. In California, union workers went on strike last year when their employers demanded and got wage and benefit concessions to better compete against Wal-Mart's pricing.
......

In California, Wal-Mart said its average hourly employee earns $10.15 an hour. A recent University of California-Berkley study estimated Wal-Mart workers there earned $9.70 an hour in 2004, or 31 percent less than the $14.07 average paid those who work for other large retailers.

The study also says families of Wal-Mart workers use 40 percent more in taxpayer-funded health care and 38 percent more in other public assistance programs than the average for other large retailers.

"I'm rather skeptical of the facts Wal-Mart is putting out," said Elizabeth Drea, a spokeswoman for the UFCW Local 881 in Chicago. "They're trying to do a glossy PR campaign to gloss over the reality."

Avoid Wal-Mart. You don’t need any of their chintzy plastic junk. And you do have choices. Do business with local merchants. If you must shop at a large national chain, be an informed consumer and consider retailers other than Wal-Mart.

Another corporate Welfare Daddy abandons its family

Closing to cost bay area 1,900 jobs

The Tampa Bay area's coveted financial services industry suffered another damaging blow Wednesday when JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced that it will close its credit card call center by the end of the year and eliminate 1,900 jobs.

The news, long rumored, was denied by company officials for months until employees were notified in "waves" during midmorning gatherings. It comes just six months after Capital One did the same thing, closing its credit card call center in Tampa and releasing 1,100 workers.
......

Like Capital One, the Chase Credit Services operation received millions of dollars in tax incentives for creating the jobs that are now vanishing.

In June 1997, the company pledged to add 1,330 jobs in the Tampa credit card center, which handles customer service, debt collection, technology support and fraud. In return for the promise, JPMorgan Chase was eligible to receive payments staggered over 10 years of up to $5-million in reimbursements under the state's Qualified Target Industry Program for state taxes paid.

QTI, as the program is sometimes called, was created in 1994 by the Florida Legislature to lure companies with high-paying jobs through the use of tax incentives.

As of June, JPMorgan Chase had received more than $3.1-million through QTI, state records showed.

"It's possible they may not receive any more reimbursements," said Scott Openshaw of the governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, which approves state incentives.

JPMorgan has earned tax incentives for its other divisions as well, among them nearly $1 million for its treasury operation and another $274,000 for its trade services subsidiary in a program that could net the company $4 million if it meets job-creation goals. Another JPMorgan subsidiary has so far been paid $175,000 in incentives that could total $2.5 million if the company creates enough jobs in billing services.

Here’s what I wrote about the last Big Corporate Welfare Daddy that pulled up stakes:

Well, it looks like our little $4 million welfare experiment, our pansy-ass coddling of “needy” people companies is turning into a huge failure. We give these shiftless irresponsible louts our tax dollars, we pay these unrefined yahoos to make babies jobs, which they happily do as long as the free money is coming in, and they just sit around all day sucking from the welfare teat and getting fat off the public dole as we hard working tax payers put in extra hours to support their dysfunctional lifestyle shareholders.

We do all this hoping to give them a leg up, a little push down the road to success, but all we end up doing is making them weak and lazy. And then, when these wily welfare daddies sense a better deal elsewhere, they up and leave us in the lurch. They abandon their children employees, shirking all responsibility, leaving the state to provide for their former charges, and shack up with the first sugar daddy they can find.

Here’s an idea: instead of throwing away literally millions of dollars on tax breaks for these greedy capitalist pigs, why don’t we shift those funds into education or healthcare. It seems to me that a well educated, healthy workforce would provide a real and sustainable incentive for drawing new business to the state.

GOP's anti-democracy agenda: 2005 edition

The GOP’s annual “Democracy?!? We don’t need no stinkin’ democracy!" anti-citizen initiative push is getting underway.

After falling short in 2004, legislators say they're determined this year to make it harder for citizens to amend the Florida Constitution.

Six amendments approved by voters in November are the latest among dozens proposed and adopted in recent years. The process increasingly frustrates lawmakers and others who say it has been hijacked by special interest groups.

As opposed to the Legislators themselves, who everyone knows never listen to lobbyists or special interests. The same arrogance that leads the Leg to believe that it can arbitrarily take away the only option the people have to directly affect the laws of the state is on display in the effort to water down the new minimum wage law (a citizen initiative passed in November after the Leg refused to consider raising Florida’s minimum wage).

Voters who overwhelmingly approved a higher minimum wage two months ago might be expecting it to take effect by May as the ballot language suggested.

Not so fast, say business lobbies that failed to defeat the proposal in the Nov. 2 general election.

They are urging the Legislature to step in with a law to minimize the measure's effect on restaurants, retailers and other businesses faced with paying minimum-wage workers an extra $1 an hour.

"Florida employers need certainty and predictability in application of the new Florida minimum wage, avoiding costly and unnecessary litigation over wage issues," says a position paper presented to lawmakers Wednesday by a lobbyist for the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Florida Restaurant Association.

Supporters of the new $6.15 hourly wage say the amendment to the state Constitution is clear and that courts, not legislators, should resolve any disputes over what voters meant.

"What I see happening is a bill that would try to blunt the effect of the constitutional amendment, and put barriers in the way of providing enforcement of the minimum wage requirement," said Robert Williams of Florida Legal Services, which represents the organization known as ACORN that gathered signatures to put Amendment 5 on the ballot.

Jeb! got away with overturning the High Speed Rail Amendment last year, so now the GOP thugs think they can ignore any citizen initiative they don’t like.

Let’s look at some myths and facts surrounding the citizen initiative process in Florida.

Myth: Florida's initiative process is "out of control", and voters are being faced with an unreasonable number of initiative proposals.

Fact:
Of the 50 initiatives that were filed for the 2004 general election, only six of them made it to the ballot. Florida's constitution has been amended only 16 times in the state's history through citizen-petitioned ballot initiatives while in that same time the state legislature has amended the constitution 70 times and passed over 10,000 laws. Fully 95% of measures proposed by the state legislature make it to the ballot, while only 14% of citizen initiatives successfully overcome the many hurdles to qualify. Florida doesn't even rank in the top five states with the most ballot initiatives over time.

Myth: It is too easy for citizens to qualify ballot initiatives - as evidenced by the Florida Constitution being amended 95 times since 1968.

Fact:
Florida already has one of the most stringent initiative approval processes in the country. Amending the state constitution through ballot initiatives involves a lengthy and costly process of filing initiative language, securing valid signatures and having those signatures approved by the state Supreme Court and the Secretary of State. While it is true that the state constitution has been amended 95 times, most of those amendments came from legislature, while only 16 of those amendments came from the citizen initiative process. Amendment 2 does nothing to reduce the number of measures referred by the legislature or another governmental body in Florida - it only seeks to reduce citizen-led initiatives.

Myth: There are certain issues that just don't belong in our state constitution.

Fact:
While it's reasonable to argue that certain issues don't belong in the constitution, this argument is a red herring. The constitutional process is the only option available for sponsors of ballot initiatives in Florida (unlike most other states). Furthermore, voters have ultimate control about what stays in or goes out of the constitution - the will of the people does and should prevail. Lastly, establishing a statutory process would allow citizens to pass laws that may not belong in the constitution. However, proponents of Amendment 2 oppose creating a statutory process, thereby proving that at the end of the day attempts to restrict the process are nothing more than attempts to stifle the voice of citizens. Don't be fooled by their rhetoric - Amendment 2 takes power from you.

Myth: Voters would rather leave lawmaking to elected representatives. Florida's initiative system is a threat to representative government because it undermines the ability of elected leaders to govern the state by creating costly and inappropriate laws.

Fact:
That's for voters to decide. Voters are typically hesitant to do anything to weaken their power. Most voters who learn that Amendment 2 is a power grab by special interests in the state become vehemently opposed to this measure. The state legislature already refers more measures to the ballot than citizens. Why limit the process for citizens and not politicians? Ballot initiatives serve as an effective system of checks and balances because they allow citizens to take matters into their own hands when politicians refuse to deal with issues the way that people want.

Myth: Florida voters are being hoodwinked by special interests who place difficult to understand initiatives on the ballot and who suppress public debate on issues.

Fact:
While the subject matter of ballot measures can sometimes be confusing, Florida voters are smarter than they are given credit for. Initiatives pass because people vote for them. If voters do not support an initiative they simply won't vote for it. The people have the power to support or reject laws they disagree with. Initiatives that pass do so because they reflect the will of the people. If the Chamber of Commerce and other powerful interests in Tallahassee are so concerned with the level of public education surrounding ballot initiatives, they should consider requiring the creation of state-sponsored voter pamphlets, public forums and other public information campaigns. Many other states already have these systems in place and they have resulted in a better-informed, more civically engaged public.

Myth: Citizens support restricting the ballot initiative process.

Fact:
A Mason Dixon poll conducted earlier in the year concluded that only 39% of voters support restricting the initiative process. Voters believe that the initiative process is an important check and balance on government because it allows citizens to take matters into their own hands.

Deadly chase leads to lawsuit

Another deadly chase, another lawsuit.

The family of a man killed during a police chase last week has filed a notice that they intend to sue the city of Temple Terrace for unspecified damages, their attorney said Wednesday.

George Anacleto Galindo, 50, died Jan. 6 after visiting his father with relatives at St. Joseph's Hospital. About 10:40 p.m. on Jan. 5, a Mitsubishi fleeing Temple Terrace police ran a red light at North Armenia Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, crashing into the Galindo family's Buick.

Jeb! plan: Destroy Medicaid to save it

Medicaid is essentially health insurance for low income families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Like health care costs in general, like private insurance, costs have been going up lately, but a big part of Medicaid cost increases is due to an upsurge in enrollment (pdf), and, in fact, Medicaid costs have risen slower than private health insurance premiums. See, during rough economic times, more folks find themselves in need of this social safety net, so more people are being served, at a less inflationary rate than would be provided privately.

Jeb! illustrates the severity of the Medicaid crisis by playing with percentages. He adds up both state and federal contributions and uses that total to achieve his 25 percent of the state budget fear mongering rhetoric. Medicaid costs are big, but 60 percent of that 25 percent is covered by the feds.

But don’t worry: Jeb! now has a plan to solve the Medicaid “crisis”, and though he’s not really sure what the plan entails, he does know that it will save the state oodles of money, because, well, because patients will get vouchers and HMOs are really great and it’s really unfair to deny them a chance to profit from the suffering of our poor.

Jeb! pooh-poohs the notion that, much like his brother’s Social Security “reform,” this privatization scheme is simply much ado to give cover to the ultimate goal of severe cutbacks or even the complete abolishment of the Medicaid program (with an added bonus of enriching campaign donors in the process), and he really hopes that no one in Florida notices that Tennessee, having started down the road to Medicaid “reform” last year, is in the midst of dropping over three hundred thousand people from it’s Medicaid Tenncare coverage right now.

Jeb! is praying that everything works out, and as soon as his spokesman Dr. Adams locks in some lucrative state Medicaid contracts, he’ll study up on the proposal and share his views with the rest of us.

Gov. Jeb Bush asked state lawmakers Tuesday to overhaul the state's ''unsustainable'' healthcare system for the poor by making it run more like a private insurance plan -- or risk drowning the state in red ink. ......

The plan, one of the most ambitious in the nation, seeks to shift the day-to-day business of managing Medicaid from the state to an as-yet undeveloped pool of insurance companies, health-maintenance organizations and physician networks who would somehow control costs without shortchanging 2.2 million of Florida's poorest and sickest residents now on Medicaid.

Bush said he didn't know whether Medicaid clients would have to pay more money out of pocket for premiums and co-payments nor did he know the cost for the entire program, which would have to be approved by both the state Legislature and the federal government. Regardless, he acknowledged that spending would likely be capped. Right now, Medicaid largely guarantees a host of budget-busting services.

Coupled with the fuzzy details, the plan's strong reliance on the private market worried social-service advocates and Democrats. They say they are concerned that Bush's proposal is a fancy and confusing way to simply cut the program and halt its growth, as Tennessee's governor did Monday, leaving 323,000 people in that state without coverage.
......

The state Senate's Democratic leader, Les Miller of Tampa, said he didn't have as much faith in corporate America, but noted that something needs to be done to control Medicaid costs, which have ballooned along with private insurance.

''The governor still hasn't addressed the growing trend by large, successful corporations to shift their employee healthcare costs onto Medicaid as a way of boosting their bottom line,'' Miller said. ``He hasn't told us how, in a state still struggling to account for the latest private contracting scandals, the private sector will be held accountable under his plan to privatize Medicaid; and he hasn't told us how this buffet-style plan will significantly save Florida's taxpayers any real money in the long run.''

THREE FUNDS

At it's heart, Bush's proposal is simple: Rather than have 47 different programs to fund, Bush wants to eventually establish three pots of money for care: Basic, catastrophic and enhanced. Each Medicaid recipient would be assigned a ''risk-adjusted'' premium, paid by the state, based on his or her health.
......

Dr. Nelson L. Adams, a founder of Sunrise-based PhyTrust physicians network, was tapped by Bush to tout the reform Tuesday, but later said he wasn't sure how everything was supposed to work. Adams said he hoped the proposed reform could make it easier for minority-owned networks such as his to provide services to their communities. ''If a patient spoke exclusively Spanish, would the patient be more comfortable with a Spanish-speaking doctor and a network that has an arrangement with Sedano's [supermarkets] instead of Walgreens?'' Adams said.

Reciting a Bible passage, Adams said groups such as his would heed the call to help those to whom little has been given. The reference drew a chuckle out of the devoutly religious Bush.

''I never thought we would have scripture quoted,'' Bush said. ``Why not? We may need it.''

The SP Times has a decent primer on the Medicaid program.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has tons of useful info and background on the state budget problems and Medicaid.

530,000 Children left behind

Record Number Of Applications Floods KidCare

Florida ranks third among the states in numbers of uninsured children, estimated at 600,000, Ray said.

The Legislature last year ended a 70,000-child waiting list for KidCare and provided open-enrollment periods. Lawmakers also tightened requirements, but changes led to additional paperwork and confusion for parents trying to renew their policies.

The state dropped about 78,000 children recently after their parents didn't provide paperwork in time.

Since legislators streamlined the process during a special session in December, about 27,000 children have been reinstated, Naff said.

Remember: the Leg ended the waiting list by simply eliminating it. They just tore up the waiting list. Problem solved.

Now, 78,000 more kids were just kicked out of the program, and though 27,000 managed to scratch their way back in, there’s hundreds of thousands of uninsured kids, so Low-income families face rush for insurance plan

Nearly 50,000 low-income families who were swamped in a paperwork logjam last month remain out of the state's Healthy Kids insurance program.

But state officials said Monday that those children can reenroll anytime, and the lessons learned from that chaos should make it easier for them to reenroll into the system.

Healthy Kids Executive Director Rose Naff expects about a third of the 50,000 seeking coverage renewal to qualify for the state-subsidized health insurance program, and she said all of those who do qualify will get in.

But there is no such guarantee for the 180,000 children from about 100,000 families who are expected to apply for the first time this month, the only open-enrollment month for the program until September.

Those children will have to compete with each other and with those renewing their coverage for roughly 70,000 slots, and Naff said the program has received applications for more than 40,000 children in the first week of the period. The deadline for open enrollment is Jan. 31.
......

But (Chief Financial Officer Tom) Gallagher said people need to apply as early as possible, as the 70,000 available slots could fill up before the deadline.

The rush to apply to the program, which has more than 280,000 enrolled children whose parents pay $15 or $20 a month for health coverage, could be a sign of the difficulty parents in the state have finding affordable health coverage.

70,000 available slots. 600,000 uninsured kids. 40,000 applications in one week.

The kids whose parents fail to get applications in immediately will once again fall through the cracks. It’s far cheaper to keep these children healthy now with preventative medicine than to try to treat them in emergency rooms when things get really bad, but Jeb! and the rest of the GOP gang just hate the idea of poor people getting a break on anything, so the waiting list, which shed a continuous light on the problem, will never reappear, and we’ll only hear about the great uninsured masses once or twice each year.

4,000 Children left behind; Jeb! “Pleased”

Ban on letting gays adopt stands

Silently sidestepping a controversial question, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal by four Florida men who unsuccessfully challenged the state's ban on adoptions by gays or lesbians, the only blanket law of its kind left in the nation.

The refusal came after a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled against the Florida men last year. When asked to reconsider, the full appeals court split 6-6, leaving the ruling intact. Under Florida law, gays and lesbians are permitted to serve as foster parents and legal guardians, but cannot permanently adopt.

Douglas Houghton of Miami, Wayne Larue Smith and Daniel Skahen of Key West, and Steven Lofton, a Florida resident when the case began, were represented in the appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union. The case was initially filed against the state of Florida in 1999.

Lofton and his partner began caring for a number of HIV-positive infants more than a decade ago, among them a 13-year old boy who is no longer HIV-positive and who now lives in Oregon with Lofton. Smith and Skahen are legal guardians of a 7-year-old and foster parents of an 8-year-old. Houghton, a trauma nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital, is the guardian of a 12-year-old boy.

''I certainly don't intend to just give up and lay down,'' Houghton, 42, said Monday. ``I think the majority of Americans are fair-minded people, and if they truly understood what we are talking about and what the issue is, they'd be OK with that.''

`A HARD DAY'

Smith, a lawyer in Key West, called Monday's refusal of the court to hear the case ``a huge disappointment.''

''It is a hard day to feel good about living in Florida and being a part of the legal system,'' said Smith, 49, who along with Skahen has been a foster parent to 23 children over the past six years. ``I'm saddened, but not for me. I believed when we started this case -- and I believe today -- that the law is wrong and it's a huge disservice to kids in need in Florida.''

The ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, which represented the men along with the ACLU of Florida, argued that the state unconstitutionally discriminates against gays trying to adopt.

''The plain and wellunderstood purpose of the ban was to tell gay people to go back into the closet,'' ACLU attorney Matthew Coles told justices in a filing.

GOVERNOR `PLEASED'

Gov. Jeb Bush, who has defended the law, saying that children should have a father and a mother, welcomed the court's decision.

''I was pleased that they realized that our state laws are constitutional,'' Bush said Monday while visiting a South Miami middle school. ``This ends what's been five or six years now of litigation regarding a state law that passed many years ago and that I think is the appropriate law for our state.''

Civil liberties advocates now intend to focus their energy on Florida's Legislature, which has the power to change the 1977 law, passed at the height of celebrity Anita Bryant's anti-homosexual campaign. Activists argue that the law arbitrarily rules out potential parents for thousands of abandoned children desperate for a family. Supporters of the law contend the state has the authority and obligation to promote traditional father-mother families.

''There are close to 4,000 foster children adrift in a foster care system that has been ridden with scandal,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. ``People need to be judged on their individual fitness to be able to become an adoptive parent.

''There is only one group of people who are categorically excluded: gays and lesbians,'' Simon added. ``People who have a history that may indicate danger to children -- substance abuse, domestic assault, those people are not categorically barred.''

Jeb! wasn’t the only one lauding this non-decision decision.

Florida Christian Coalition executive director Bill Stephens welcomed the Supreme Court's decision, saying, "We're just pleased that children are going to get protected, that courts are doing what's in the best interest of children and keeping them in heterosexual homes."

He and other supporters of the ban said the court's ruling promotes the most stable and helpful family arrangement for children.

"Marriage is the union of one man and one woman because it's best for our children and best for our society," said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a Christian law organization in Orlando, which filed a brief in the case.

I guess everyone can agree that kids are better off in the care of a loving, heterosexual Christian than to be forced into a lifestyle like this.

Frank, 14 going on 41, explains very patiently that their school merges two grades together with older kids like him directly tutoring the younger ones. Tracy, also 14, tugs at her skirt and quietly plays with her braids. Bert, "almost 11," stops talking about his swim team just long enough to tease Tracy over whether her braids are real. Wayne and Ernie, 8 and 5, are almost impossible to tell apart-even if they ever would stop giggling and sit still long enough.

And all the while, Steve Lofton and Roger Croteau-"Dad and Rodge"- alternately beam and nag. "Use your napkin." "Come here, let's blow your nose." "Do you need some help with your sweater?"

What their home lacks in silence it makes up for in warmth. Every kid knows he or she is loved completely and unconditionally. And everyone who comes into contact with them-from the mailman who admires their crazy home-made mailbox to the waitress who quickly surrenders all efforts to keep silverware on the table-can't help but see that the kids are the center of Steve and Roger's universe.

They may not be Ward, June, Wally, and Beaver Cleaver, but in just an hour with them it becomes clear that they're a family by any definition. Except Florida's.

No gay people in Florida can adopt children-period. Frank, Tracy, and Bert have never known any other family. They came home to Steve and Roger when they were infants. All of their memories-first days of school, 5th birthdays, first vacations to California-are with Steve and Roger and each other.

But because of Florida's ban on gay adoption, they have no guarantees. The state is now actively looking for another adoptive family for Bert-starting the process of taking him from the family he's been part of since he was nine weeks old. Meanwhile, 3,400 kids in Florida are ready to be adopted, waiting in foster care. The state's gay adoption ban helps keep them there.

I really didn't feel like bothering

But I must respond to this excited nutcase with a blog and way too much time who is picking a fight over my post on the Tampa Fox News reporters who were fired several years ago over a dispute about a story they were doing.

Following is the entire accusatory post, with my answers to the rather overwrought charges and assertions as called for.

2005-01-08 Posts like this are why I sometimes hate blogging. Norwood has written a blog post full of several factual errors. Either Norwood has no idea who Steve Wilson and Jane Akre are - or he pulled a Glenn Reynolds and wrote a post that simply served his political bias. In this case, Norwood's hatred of Fox News. I'm no fan of Fox News, but Wilson and Akre are two of the strangest and most crooked media people I have read about.

”Posts like this?” Uh, posts like yours, the type of which you would ordinarily write only under threat of death or serious dismemberment, or posts like mine, which you will endeavor to attack in a rather erratic and ineffective but quite vicious fashion, much like a kitten going after a dangling piece of string? Just asking...

Anyway, your thesis seems to be twofold: Norwood sucks, and so do Steve and Jane. Let’s proceed...

Wilson and Akre were a (maybe still) married investigative news team working for WTVT in Tampa - before Fox News owned the station. The couple contended that the station censored their story on Monsanto. Wilson admited [sic] in court there was very little difference between what the station wanted and their version.

OH. MY. GOD! Steve and Jane MIGHT be living in SIN?!?

I don’t have the time to research the ownership issue, but WTVT was certainly a Fox affiliate at the time of Wilson and Akre’s firing, else Fox News would not be part of the lawsuit. I fail to understand what possible difference it could make as to who the actual owner of the Fox News station was at the time of the incident.

I’m not gonna make any cheap quips about spell checkers. Oh, wait...

Norwood linked Wilson and Akre's webpage asking for financial donations for them to repay millions in Fox legal fees since they lost two case against the media giant. John Sugg Reports, "After Akre's verdict was overturned, the couple turbocharged their fundraising by claiming they may have to pay Fox's legal costs, which, they say, 'could amount to maybe $3-million.' That's a gross exaggeration. Fox won fees only for the relatively minor portion spent during the appeal. Wilson acknowledged he has no basis for the $3-million figure, but justified it by saying that Fox might -- just might -- someday be awarded other fees."

Now this is a huge distortion. At the time Sugg wrote this piece, he well knew that Fox was suing Wilson and Akre for $1.7 million. So, yeah, Fox might someday be awarded those “other fees,” like if they win the suit which Wilson is soliciting funds to fight. The notion that the couple were only ordered to pay appeal related fees is also directly contradicted by Project Censored. (same link as previous)

Wilson and Akre are so broke that they bought a $1.4 million home in Jacksonville, Florida. Jeremy Voas of the Metro Times asked Wilson how he got the money to pay for the home. Wilson refused to give him a direct answer. He would not even say if he's still married to Akre. Voas also reports on how Wilson ambushed Dr. Kenneth Burnley and kept intentionally bumping into the man while interviewing him on camera. This turned into a shoving match. Wilson said in his on-air report, "If there’s any accountability, Dr. Burnley apparently figures it’s not to us."

I guess this paragraph is in support of the “Jane and Steve suck” part of the thesis? It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Monsanto story or with any “factual distortions” on my part.

Wilson is also a raving egomaniac. The man represented himself in court and lost! He tells progressives that he's fighting for the little guy while he's stuffing $5 thousand of their money he got from them off the internet under a mattress. Me thinks Wilson is hiding money from the IRS.

Let’s see... he testified about the $5,000 in court... he was hiding it from the IRS! He stated that he stashed it, in the form of a cashier’s check, possibly under his mattress, in order to prevent the funds from possible being seized by the IRS. That does seem a little fishy, and may be worth looking into, but it happened way back in 1999, and the matter seems to have been resolved in Wilson’s favor, since he was able to later return the money to the charitable account without repercussion.

Again, I never alluded to this incident nor did I make any “factual errors” regarding this incident.

As for his egomania, well, yeah, the guy is one of those tabloid style TV reporters. If he wasn’t full of himself, he wouldn’t have much of a career potential.

I wonder if Norwood will correct his post after he reads the trackback I put on his site. If he doesn't then he's as guilty of the same dishonesty as that he accuses Fox News of.

Uh, my post was rather tame and pretty neutral. I concentrated on Wilson and Akre’s recent filing with the FCC challenging WTVT’s license renewal, and I encouraged readers to contact the FCC themselves if they felt so inclined. I included links to Wilson and Akre’s site and a brief summary of their situation for background.

Readers who bother to click through to the Jane and Steve page can see Jane and Steve’s version of events and decide for themselves. They allude to Sugg’s article and refute many of the charges he makes.

The “factual errors” cited by this strident blogger seem, at best, to be differences in opinion or interpretation. I have no idea why this person has chosen to pick a fight with me about these secondary issues.

Update: Norwood has not changed his post on Wilson and Akre. I don't think bloggers should take this man seriously.

I read your post when you first wrote it. Then, jaw dropping ever further in a stunning real-time show of utter disbelief, I read it again. I found it so thoroughly without merit that I deemed it unworthy of a response - I did not take it seriously.

Then you came and left a trollish comment on BlogWood with the laughable assertion that I should change my blog post to reflect your opinion. Uh, that’s why you have your own fucking blog, dumbass - so you can spout misconceiving fact-challenged hastily (if at all) researched non-spell checked crap without bothering those of us who are not brain addled twits.

Bugger off, you blathering bitch.

Warm, safe, round liquidy goodness

There sure are a lot of SUV crashes in the news lately. Rollovers are common, and fatalities are rising, yet many people invoke safety to justify their new SUV.

Big feeling of invincibility in an SUV, of a high and mighty driving position that gives you that commanding sensation, so strong and so powerful that you are willing to overlook that it's just an illusion, deceptive and harmful given how SUVs actually have more accidents, actually cause more accidents than passenger cars because they can't maneuver in emergency situations and can't stop in rain or snow and tend to flip over easier than Paris Hilton after a dozen Bacardi shooters.

And then you hear that, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, minivans are 10 times safer than SUVs in a crash. Whoops.

Truth is, small, nimble passenger cars may not survive a head-on collision with a Freightliner quite as well as your bigass Navigator, dude, but they do a hell of a lot better avoiding it in the first place. Which is why rates of serious accidents and incidents of death are actually lower for smaller cars than almost any lurching monster truck on the road. Period.

So, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary, why do folks continue to feel safer in a truck which was never designed with safety in mind? Well, first there’s

air bags everywhere. Then there's this notion that you need to be up high. That's a contradiction, because the people who buy these S.U.V.s know at the cortex level that if you are high there is more chance of a rollover. But at the reptilian level they think that if I am bigger and taller I'm safer. You feel secure because you are higher and dominate and look down. That you can look down is psychologically a very powerful notion. And what was the key element of safety when you were a child? It was that your mother fed you, and there was warm liquid. That's why cupholders are absolutely crucial for safety. If there is a car that has no cupholder, it is not safe. If I can put my coffee there, if I can have my food, if everything is round, if it's soft, and if I'm high, then I feel safe.

Oh. Cupholders. Shit. Now my Yertle link is useless. Oh well. Back to Morford, where we learn

how the U.S. consumes 20 million barrels of oil each day, with passenger vehicles burning up three quarters of the total -- and SUVs alone burn half the total for all passenger cars, far more than their fair share and more petroleum than our entire country produces in a year.

And then you learn how that little pip-squeak tyrant Saddam was sitting on 10 percent of the world's oil reserves and that he might have once thought about threatening the nearby 60 percent owned by our buddies the terrorist-lovin', women-slappin' Saudis, and you realize that anyone who thinks we're in Iraq for democracy or humanity's sake is absolutely full of Rumsfeld.

Look. I know many people who own SUVs. Good people. Lovely people. Friends. Family. I know their arguments for owning them. I know that they know, deep down, that most of those arguments hold little sway and most are rather hollow and the result of slick marketing and just a little bit of fear.

And I know there is no accounting for taste and that a big part of the sad American ideology is a willful separation of cause and effect, and that there are worse atrocities in the world than owning a shiny black knobby-tired 5-ton Ford Expedition that never sees anything more rugged than a pothole in the Krispy Kreme drive-thru.

But, really, we have to just admit it: the SUV is hypocrisy incarnate. It is the perfect emblem for the American view, for our position in the world: gluttonous, vain, mostly useless (over 85 percent of SUVs never see a dirt road, much less need 4-wheel drive), ugly as hell and as graceful or practical as a school bus on an ice-skating rink.

The Idlewild Baptist Central Campus Illegal Tire Dump and Mosquito Farm for Christ

Discarded tires adorn Idlewild Baptist’s Central Campus

Idlewild Baptist Church is described in today’s SP Times as “one of the state’s largest.” It has 9,000 members, is very politically connected and active in getting its members elected to public office. At least 2 members serve on the Hillsborough County Commission.

Idlewild is building a new $73 million arena church, because, as anyone who knows Jesus’ teachings can attest, Christianity is all about ostentatious displays of excess wealth.

Drive down a shady neighborhood street just off N Dale Mabry Highway in northwest Hillsborough and suddenly, one of the biggest churches in a state of big churches looms ahead. Yet the future Idlewild Baptist church is screened from the nearest road by cypress swamps. So far, only construction workers, neighbors and church members have seen it.

That will change in September, when the 9,000-member church moves to its new campus. The main entrance road, mile-long Exciting Idlewild Boulevard, will become a public road. People will be able to drive right up to the $73-million church and campus, all 143 acres of it.

How big is the church building itself? Air Force One, the president's jet, would fit comfortably inside the 5,152-seat sanctuary, though the tail would jut among the ceiling beams.

In the past two months, 1,100 members have taken tours of the new church. It's intended for more than just exciting the faithful.

"One of the motives for the tour is to get our people familiar with the building so it's not strange on the first Sunday," said Ken Smith, Idlewild's minister through administration.

Without help, you could get seriously lost. The new church has a pair of two-story classroom wings with warrens of rooms, plus a two-story office section for Idlewild's 66 full-time staff members.

In the midst of such scale, the new church will have features that most pastors could only dream about. The children's wing will have a room exclusively for nursing mothers. The youth wing will feature its own auditorium, plus a game room with foosball, pingpong and a snack bar.

The 35,000-square-foot "Gatheria," with 25-foot freeze-dried palms, will be much more than a grand lobby. It will boast top-notch acoustics, and the roof of its centerpiece bookstore will function as a stage. Rigging above the arched windows will hold backdrops for productions.

The Gatheria will accommodate as many as 400 diners for Wednesday night supper, and as many as 800 for banquets, said Norman Childers, one of 35 volunteer tour guides.

I’m fairly familiar with Idlewild. BlogWood’s $73.84 Worldwide Headquarters Campus and Recreation Area in Tampa Heights abuts an Idlewild church property which they quaintly refer to as their Central Campus.

Our neighborhood would be described by a realtor as transitional. Some streets feature well maintained owner occupied bungalow style houses, while many streets remain populated by residents of flop houses and other blighted rental property. This neighborhood has a pretty good racial mix, but as the transition progresses, the mix is becoming lighter and lighter.

Still, if you asked a casual observer, most would probably say that the neighborhood is predominantly black and poor.

Perhaps tellingly, Idlewild has seen fit to, uh, segregate its Central Campus from the big house church. The Central Campus has its own, separate (but equal?) web site, and, coincidentally, the only pastor on the Idlewild staff who is of African American descent.

Seeing as the Central Campus is just south of the original Idlewild Church in Seminole Heights, it would seem that Idlewild is abandoning its roots, but I’m certainly not one to point out the hypocrisy of a Christian organization. Oh, wait...

Anyway, even as this mega-church is works to complete its opulent new monument to greed and excess uh, Christ, yeah, that’s the ticket... they’re honoring Christ, they are ignoring pressing needs at that separate place where they let brown people worship - The Central Campus.

I’m not even going to mention the fact that they hire off-duty deputies to keep the poor and homeless out of their faces whenever more than 2 or three of them gather, because I fully understand the need for people to worship without being bothered with all that messy alms stuff or having to actually gaze upon people in need.

See, through a series of non-occurrences which can only be attributed to a combination of excessive consumption and sheer laziness, I just happen not to have any pictures of those deputies. I am, however, in possession of a series of photos which depict the Idlewild Baptist Central Campus Illegal Tire Dump and Mosquito Farm for Christ which has been located right next door to me ever since I moved in.

When I first moved in, I called Idlewild and asked them to clean it up. They promptly ignored me. Well, they didn’t completely ignore me - they hired a lawn maintenance crew who consolidated and moved the pile of tires to its current location.

I’ve complained several times to the city about it, to no avail. You can view my most recent complaint here. The city has been coming down hard on code violators. I was tagged twice in the last few months for minor eyesores that were not posing a danger to anyone, but I can’t get the city to get Idlewild to remove a nasty old pile of tires and an old gas tank and other debris.

However, despite what many people might think, I’m sure that Idlewild’s strong ties to local politicians have absolutely no connection to their flaunting and intentional disregard for the well being of their Central Campus neighbors.

Now, before I start sounding too harsh about this, I do want to give Idlewild credit for having installed what amounts to the nicest playground for many blocks in any direction. Children and cats share the tire pile regularly and both have a grand old time gallivanting amongst the debris.

So I guess they have done something for this neighborhood. Oh, and the stinky, sticky discarded mattress which used to sit a few yards from the tires is now gone. We’ll give them credit for that, though the neighborhood kids do miss their trampoline.

Man dies for muffler

Tampa area cops have a wicked reputation when it comes to high speed chases. They love to give pursuit, even when there is little justification for their dangerous policies.

Last night, another innocent person was killed and two more are hospitalized because a Temple Terrace cop decided that a minor traffic violation was grounds for initiating a reckless high speed pursuit through crowded urban streets.

I’m sure that friends and family of George Galindo will find some solace in the fact that through his demise we were able to remove the scourge of a modified-muffler Mitsubishi from the streets of Tampa.

The high-speed pursuit of a felon with a history of dangerous driving ended in west Tampa late Wednesday, when the fleeing car smashed into a Tampa family's Buick, killing one person and injuring two.

Police say the impact killed Buick driver George Galindo, 50, and injured his brother and sister-in-law, who had just left St. Joseph's Hospital after visiting the Galindos' ailing father.

The white Buick overturned and hit a black Saturn, leaving that driver with minor injuries and major damage to his car.

After the crash, suspect Dwayne Devon Brown abandoned the red Mitsubishi he had been driving and tried to run from the scene, police said, but officers caught and arrested him. He faces a dozen charges, all but one of them felonies.

Temple Terrace police defended the decision to chase Brown - even though officers initially wanted to pull him over only for traffic violations, including having an expired tag and a modified muffler.

Tampa police and Hillsborough sheriff's deputies do not chase suspects for traffic violations. And Wednesday night, Tampa police refused Temple Terrace's request for help with the pursuit after Brown drove into the city of Tampa.

"It is truly unfortunate that Mr. Galindo was killed and others were hurt," said Temple Terrace Deputy Chief Patricia Powers. "But the facts of the case warranted him being apprehended. This was in line with our policy."

Brown, 27, was initially seen at 10:36 p.m. on Busch Boulevard near 56th Street in Temple Terrace. An officer saw the Mitsubishi cut across two lanes of traffic and then noticed it had a modified muffler, according to a criminal affidavit.

Powers said the officer also discovered the tag on the car had expired. The officer tried to pull Brown over, but Brown drove through a Walgreens parking lot and turned his headlights off as he got back onto 56th Street, according to officials.

He drove north in the southbound lanes, prompting the officer to warn dispatchers and other officers that Brown might be drunk, Powers said.

Two more Temple Terrace officers joined in the chase, turning their emergency lights on as they drove south down 56th Street toward Busch Boulevard. Brown sped toward the officers, forcing them off the road, Powers said.

"At that point, it became aggravated assault on an officer," Powers said.

The officers chased Brown as he sped west into Tampa. Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said dispatchers there got a call at 10:39 p.m. from Temple Terrace seeking help with the pursuit, but the Temple Terrace dispatcher said the car was not stolen and that Brown's violation was "just traffic."

"We don't pursue on traffic," McElroy said. "We also don't pursue on DUI."

At 10:50 p.m. the Mitsubishi was going south on N Armenia Avenue at an estimated 60 mph when it ran through a red light at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and slammed into Galindo's Buick, according to a Tampa police report.

Commission heal thyself? Uh, no.

State law prohibits gifts valued at over $100 from a lobbyist to an elected official. Thankfully for Hillsborough County Commission members, not everybody who appears before them and, uh, lobbies, is legally a “lobbyist.”

Since the people lobbying the commission are not lobbyists, it follows that commissioners are not beholden to the state law, which means that commissioners can keep enjoying swank soirees in the rarefied confines of the Luxury Skybox maintained by the Tampa Sports Authority.

Following this logical argument further, we quickly realize that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” which naturally leads us to the conclusion that commissioners are special people who should not have to abide by the same rules as other county employees.

Confused? Well, shut up and smell the roses and read on.

Hillsborough commissioners will keep their free luxury box tickets to Tampa Bay Buccaneers games.

A proposal by Commissioner Kathy Castor that would have prohibited board members from taking such pricey freebies died Thursday for lack of interest.

Castor wanted to prohibit commissioners from accepting gifts valued at more than $100 from citizens or groups with business before the county.

Other board members said they regard them as no different than campaign contributions, which are limited to $500 per person or business. And they said the average person doesn't make any distinction either.

"Shakespeare once said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," said Commissioner Ronda Storms, who emphasized that she doesn't accept free Bucs tickets anyway.

"I think we need to be intellectually honest here. One hundred dollars is a hundred dollars, whether it's a gift or a campaign contribution," she said.

Newly elected Commissioner Mark Sharpe said he has been invited sometimes to more than a dozen events in a day, some of which involve complimentary tickets. He wouldn't be able to afford to attend some of them if he had to pay for everything, even though they provide a valuable opportunity to interact with constituents.

"I can't quote Shakespeare, but I can quote my wife," Sharpe said. "And my wife is very clear about our budget."

Castor's proposal comes after the St. Petersburg Times ran a series of stories detailing how Tampa Sports Authority members dole out free luxury box tickets for Bucs games at Raymond James Stadium to themselves and other public officials.

The tickets are valued at $457 each. In the past two years Commissioner Ken Hagan has gotten 11 tickets, worth roughly $4,385. Commissioner Tom Scott has accepted four tickets. Commission Chairman Jim Norman, who sits on the Sports Authority, has taken free tickets to more than 80 games since 1994.

Norman spoke very little during the discussion, other than to admonish Castor once again for initially floating the proposal at a meeting two weeks ago without notice. Board protocol requires commissioners to place items on their agenda in advance.

Hagan said no other counties he polled have adopted gift rules as strict as what Castor was proposing, and said state ethics rules already require disclosure of gifts. Those rules prohibit elected officials from accepting gifts valued more than $100, but only if they come from lobbyists.

The Tampa Sports Authority is not technically considered a lobbyist, though its members and staff often appear before commissioners on issues that require a vote. In fact, the county has voted in the past 13 months to take over ownership of Raymond James Stadium and the St. Pete Times Forum from the Sports Authority to get rid of the property tax bills on both.

Castor noted that commissioners have adopted a policy that prohibits county employees from accepting gifts worth more than $100. Her proposal died when no other commissioner offered a second, which was needed to bring it to a vote.

"I don't know why it's okay for employees to live by these rules and not commissioners," Castor said afterward. "I think the board missed an opportunity to adopt a new ethics policy that's broader than the state statute, which is very weak."

During the discussion, the board's other new commissioner, Brian Blair, actually thanked Castor for turning down free tickets to the Outback Bowl college football game at Raymond James. He said it allowed him to claim two additional tickets so that he could bring his two sons to the game.

Poor Mark Sharpe. Unlike most people, his entertainment budget is actually constrained by his income. He can’t afford to do everything that he wants to do. Dammit - that’s just not fair!

The Tribune has more.

Accepting freebies is OK, Hillsborough County commissioners concluded. That's just a perk of elected office.

Tickets to sports games? Sure. Dinner at pricey charitable fundraising events? No problem.

They are following state law, and the county need not develop a stricter policy, commissioners decided Thursday.

Commissioner Kathy Castor proposed a policy that would prohibit commissioners from accepting gifts or other items valued at $100 or more. A similar policy exists for county employees but does not govern commissioners.
......

Her effort to rein in gift acceptance comes after published reports detailing instances of Tampa Sports Authority members eating, drinking and watching Tampa Bay Buccaneers football games at Raymond James Stadium for free. That practice bothered Castor, especially in light of the commissioners' decision last month to take over the St. Pete Times Forum in a property-tax exemption deal benefiting (sic) the Lightning hockey team.

Commission Chairman Jim Norman sits on the sports authority board and said he has accepted free tickets to football games. He said the state law is adequate. ``We're all held accountable by state statutes,'' Norman said. ``You can't [have] across-the-board restrictions that take away our ability to do our jobs.''
......

Some commissioners likened campaign contributions to free gifts, arguing that if they enforce a policy prohibiting acceptance of gifts valued at more than $100, they also should reject campaign contributions greater than that amount. State law caps contributions at $500 per election.

Florida achieves consistency in education

Florida’s new pre-K plan is being assaulted by critics for its lack of quality.

A leading children's advocacy group gave Florida's new prekindergarten plan a failing grade Thursday, saying the standards fall below those of almost every other state that offers pre-K.

The program meets just four of 10 quality marks established by the National Institute for Early Education Research, said Linda Alexionok, prekindergarten director for the Florida Children's Campaign. And that's being generous with two, she said.

Georgia met six of the standards and South Carolina met eight. Arkansas hit all of the measures, which include such items as curriculum requirements, class size and teacher qualifications.

The 2002 constitutional amendment mandating universal pre-K in Florida called for "a high-quality program as defined by professional standards," Alexionok said.

But lawmakers chose to ignore the standards, she said. If they had listened to recommendations from the Children's Campaign and others, she said, the program would be stronger.
......

Steve Barnett, executive director of NIEER, was less charitable than the Children's Campaign. He said Florida's plan attains just two of the 10 measures.

The Children's Campaign gave lawmakers the benefit of the doubt on curriculum and teacher training, saying the law was unclear but appeared to lean toward attaining the goal.

"We don't make judgment calls," Barnett said. "If you don't meet one of the criteria by just a little bit, we don't say, "Well, you mostly made it."'

Attaining just two of 10 standards would place Florida at the very bottom of all states offering prekindergarten, Barnett said. Its low rating would be matched only by Pennsylvania, "and they at least require a teacher to have a four-year degree."

Yeah, but people like Barnett are completely ignoring the good news: the level of quality for pre-K is on a par with other grades, so there should be no culture shock for kids graduating into the elementary system. After all, Florida spends more than Mississippi, so what’s the problem?

Florida ranked 47th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in spending in 2001-02, the latest year in which data is available allowing national comparisons.

Adjusted for regional cost differences, Florida spent just under $6,500 per student -- more than $1,200 short of the national average.

Reporters fight Fox News lies

A court recently ruled that Fox News has every right to air lies and distortions - it’s not technically illegal. As a result of this ruling, the two Tampa reporters who have been fighting Fox for years over their unjust firing have been ordered to pay millions in Fox legal fees.

Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, the two former FOX Television (WTVT-13) journalists have filed appeals of a ruling that they must pay the legal costs and fees the broadcaster incurred defending itself in a landmark whistleblower case the reporters filed in 1998. The journalists estimate FOX spent than a million dollars on its defense.

The ruling assessing the fees came on the heels of a ruling overturned a August 2000 jury verdict and $425,000 award to FOX investigative reporter Jane Akre. Although jurors concluded she was pressured by FOX lawyers and managers to broadcast what the jury agreed was "a false, distorted or slanted story" and was fired for threatening to blow the whistle, the jury decision was reversed on a legal technicality when a higher court agreed with FOX that it is technically not against any law, rule or regulation

In setting the jury verdict aside, the appeals court ruled that in order to be protected by Florida’s Whistleblower Act, the alleged misconduct must violate a written law. The court said the FCC’s prohibition against news distortion is merely a policy.

Well, it’s license renewal time for WTVT in Tampa, and every citizen (pdf) has a right to file a comment with the FCC, including Steve and Jane.

Two TV journalists have challenged the broadcast license renewal of WTVT Fox-13 asserting it deliberately broadcast false and distorted news reports.

Reporters Jane Akre and Steve Wilson filed the petition Monday against the Tampa station, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's Fox Television conglomerate.

The 98-page petition to deny the station's pending license renewal presents the Federal Communications Commission with support for the claim that the licensee is not operating in the public interest and "lacks the good character to do so."

The challenge stems from what the reporters describe as a year-long experience working at the station where they resisted their managers who, they allege, repeatedly ordered them to distort a series of news reports about the secret use of an artificial hormone injected in dairy cattle throughout Florida and nationally.

The petition also charges WTVT violated federal rules about keeping viewer complaints and comments on file. The reporters say no communication regarding the dispute over the hormone story was found in the files even though there were several examples of letters that should have been there, they said.

"The public interest is by law the primary obligation of every broadcaster who uses our public airwaves to make their corporate fortune, especially when broadcasting the news," said Akre in a release.

Unfortunately, the current chairman of the FCC is on record as saying that he has “no idea” (pdf file) what the public interest is, so it might be a little hard to make this charge stick, but it’s good to see someone fighting the evil empire.

How You Can Help Steve & Jane

Links for this post liberally stolen from Seeing The Forest - a Weblog of Politics

Troxler touches on redistricting

Columns: Democracy drowning in snake oil of incumbency

Competitive democracy no longer exists in Florida at the legislative level.

That is no exaggeration. Democracy has ceased to exist when it comes to electing the Florida Legislature.

Our legislators, because they have the power to draw their own voting districts, have drawn their maps in such a way that they cannot be seriously challenged.

Republicans have their own districts. Democrats have their own districts. The incumbents on both sides are fat, happy and safe. They cannot be defeated.

Here is how many incumbent members of our 160-member Florida Legislature were defeated in this past November's general election:

Zero.

Zero!

If we were talking about communist China or the old Soviet Union, you and I might be feeling smug and yukking it up right now. But we're talking about our own democracy. It has disappeared.

Troxler later alludes to a still quiet attempt by Betty Castor and Bill Nelson to spearhead a citizen initiative to put redistricting into the hands of an independent commission. That’s an idea which should have huge support, and it’s a “right thing to do” issue - difficult for those in power to credibly oppose.

Of course, Jeb! & Co. will do their level best to weaken the voice of the people through legislation that puts increasingly high hurdles in the path of citizen initiatives.

Commission to discuss Bucs freebies

The Tampa Sports Authority is in charge of most of the professional arenas and many public sports facilities in Tampa, and it members get some pricey perks for their “volunteer” efforts. Tickets to Bucs games, a luxury skybox, and expensive catering at taxpayer expense are all part of the mix.

Nearly three dozen of Hillsborough County's best-connected citizens gathered at Raymond James Stadium last Sunday to watch the Bucs defeat the first-place Atlanta Falcons.

They settled into padded chairs, as they do for every home game, to witness the action from one of the stadium's 196 luxury suites. They dined on beef tenderloin, grilled chicken breast sandwiches and key lime pie, and washed it down with Heineken beer, Dasani spring water and Absolut vodka.

And they didn't pay a dime.

These privileged few are unpaid members of the board of the Tampa Sports Authority, their family members and guests. The sports authority is the governmental agency that oversees a stadium built by taxpayers and safeguards their interests in dealings with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs provide the suite and the parking each season, a $150,000 value. Taxpayers pick up the food and drink check, which was $935 for last week's game after the $150 tip to the servers.

The value of one ticket to the Sports Authority box: $457.17, including food and parking.

The typical board member who uses all of his luxury suite tickets - each gets at least two tickets to every game - will spend more time in the luxury box than the board room.

One board member, Johnny Dean Page, a semiretired TECO Energy executive appointed by the Hillsborough Commission, has attended more Bucs games this season than board meetings.

The arrangement seems a little sleazy at best, and one Hillsborough County Commissioner wants to put an end to the practice of Sports Authority members passing on valuable tickets to County Commissioners. Kathy Castor was shouted down the last time she brought up the subject, but now she has placed it on this week’s County Commission agenda.

Fellow board members silenced Hillsborough County Commissioner Kathy Castor three weeks ago when she wanted to rid them of their habit of accepting lavish gifts like free skybox tickets at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games.

"Out of order!" some declared. Others sat mute. Castor's motion, which wasn't on the official agenda of that day's meeting, died.

"That was unfortunate," Castor now says.

That was also last year. In their first 2005 meeting on Thursday, commissioners will be forced to finally discuss freebies - thanks to Castor's resolve to place the topic on the official agenda.

Agenda Item F-1 would prohibit commissioners from accepting gifts or other items of more than $100 value, a rule that already applies to other county employees. If commissioners pass it, the rule would also match a similar gift ban approved by the city of Tampa last year.

Castor's motion follows a series of stories in the St. Petersburg Times last month detailing the free skybox tickets at Raymond James Stadium, valued at more than $450 each, that members of the Tampa Sports Authority receive and hand out to elected officials. Many of those officials, including county and city officials, oversee the authority's budget.

"Accepting these gifts creates a clear conflict of interest or at least the appearance of impropriety," said Castor, who said she got more than 50 complaints after the stories appeared in th e Times . "I want it to be simple, so there's no confusion: Commissioners can't accept anything over $100."

Such a rule would certainly change the game day habits of three commissioners.

In two years, Ken Hagan has gotten 11 tickets to six games. Not including a game he didn't attend, that's about a $4,385 value. Tom Scott accepted four tickets. Jim Norman, who sits on the authority board, has attended about 80 free games since 1994.

You know, it’s really not surprising to learn that the body which is supposed to represent the public in dealings with the Bucs is in bed with them, but billing the citizens for about $1,000 per game for fancy food is just pure arrogance.

Washington Guv race

Excellent run down from Orcinus

Provisional ballots blow

The numbers are in for provisional ballots, and they’re not encouraging for those who believe that every vote should be counted. Actually, with this rejection rate, provisional ballots serve little purpose other than calming a distressed voter (voter valium?) and being used by GOP types who love to say things like “yeah, but even if that minority/poor/ex-felon/unlucky voter is, uh, mistakenly disenfranchised, a provisional ballot can always be cast...”

Nearly two-thirds of provisional ballots rejected in Florida

Nearly two-thirds of provisional ballots cast on Election Day in Florida weren't counted, mostly because the people casting them weren't registered to vote, state officials said Monday.

Preliminary figures, culled by the state from county elections officials, showed that of 27,742 provisional ballots cast, 9,915 were counted and 17,827 were rejected. The number could be revised but isn't likely to change dramatically.
......

An analysis by the Tallahassee Democrat, which polled counties about rejected provisional ballots, found that slightly more than 7 percent were tossed because voters had been purged from the rolls either because they hadn't voted in several years or were found to be ex-felons.

State law requires county election officials to drop voters if they haven't voted in the last two federal elections.

State law also requires that a voter file a provisional ballot in the correct precinct, not just the right county. Lots of other needlessly strict rules are also used to disqualify ballots.

Don't drink the water!

Today’s Miami Herald has a little puff piece on Crystal Springs, which provides much of the drinking water for Tampa and lots of profits for Perrier and Nestle.

The Herald piece marvels at the pristine beauty of the area, and lauds the current owners for making the spring available to a few lucky people each year. Unfortunately, the article leaves out a big chunk of history, and completely ignores the fact that the spring was usurped by greedy capitalists 8 decades ago, but I’m happy to fill in the gaps.

Stolen from the public in the 1920's, Crystal Springs has never been able to escape its various owners’ avarice over the years, and remains mired in controversy even today.

Florida springs can be pretty spectacular places. With millions of gallons of fresh water flowing daily, they make up the headwaters of rivers, provide drinking water for millions, and create unique environments for a wide variety of flora, fauna, and recreating humans.

Crystal Springs is a typical Florida spring. It feeds Tampa’s Hillsborough River, the primary source for the city’s water, providing the majority of its flow in the dry season. It teems with life, and the clear waters provide perfect conditions for snorklers and more casual observers. In years past, the spring has been a popular swimming hole, fishing spot and picnic area, despite the fact that it has been privately controlled for decades.

The original developer of the land, who sold plots for farming from 1915 or so onward, promised free access to the springs for perpetuity, and even promised to turn over ownership to the citizens once a certain threshold was met. At one point, the spring was legally declared a park and preserve, but ultimately, the developer, A. B. Hawk, was unable or unwilling to make good on his promises, and after some very shady litigation and title transfers, the spring ended up in private hands.

By the mid 1920's, a man aptly named Waters legally owned the rights and was already closing off the area and bottling water from the spring. Residents responded by repeatedly tearing down his fence.

Ownership changed hands over the years, and in 1975 the spring was bought by its current owners, the Thomas family. The Thomas family makes money by selling bottling rights to Perrier / Nestle, and this water is sold under the Zephyrhills brand name.

The Thomas’s closed the spring area to the public several years ago. Many say that the park was closed in order to hide the increasingly industrial nature of Perrier’s pumping program.

Perrier was originally operating under a permit that allowed 300,000 gallons of water to be taken daily. They wanted lots more, but were denied a permit to increase their pumping to over 3 million gallons a day in the 1990's. Various courts found that this level of pumping could adversely affect the water supply for Tampa and surrounding areas.

Somehow, though, they were able to wrangle permission to increase pumping somewhat as long as they replaced to water they took with an adequate substitute, so now they truck in water stolen from up the road and dump it into the Hillsborough river (pdf file) to replace what they’re stealing from the spring. Someone, somewhere saw this as a logical solution.

Anyway, the Thomas family is all about making as much money as possible form the land which they control, and this means increasing the amount of water they can legally draw from the spring. Part of this fight involves public relations, and so, in order to be seen as good stewards of the land, they now let hand picked groups of students and other academic types enter the area to interact with nature.

Then they con news outlets into running happy little stories that make it seem as if the Thomas family is more interested in preservation than environmental rape. These stories will be prominently featured the next time a permit for increased pumping is sought, and the family will be portrayed as misunderstood environmentalists who are actually doing us all a favor by stealing our drinking water and selling it back to us in an overpriced Zephyrhills bottle.

Lots more info here. (Compare to the fake history according to Nestle.)

You can help by not consuming Zephyrhills brand water. Nestle, which killed third world babies in the 1970's with its misleading marketing for baby formula, is also infamous for sucking springs dry, destroying local ecosystems around the US and the world all in the name of corporate profits.

Today, most people see no problem in the fact that corporations have figured out a way to charge premium prices for a basic necessity of life. Not everyone can afford to pay corporate prices for clean water, but much of society shrugs carelessly as companies like Nestle steal what is rightfully ours and sell it back in pretty packages to the lucky few.

Working class squeeze

Here in Tampa, home of the comically Orwellian Victory Lofts, city living at its finest: dwell in the familiar environment of a Disneyfied urban reality stage set, surrounded by people who look and act just like yourself. Walk to Hooter’s and revel in the big city lifestyle that will make you the envy of all your friends back in Polk County, or Hooterville, or wherever, and rejoice in the fact that you can count yourself as a member of the elite, for, Not Many Can Afford Downtown Housing.

Developer Frank DeBose heads a Hillsborough County board intended to encourage affordable housing, but he doesn't include that type of housing at the Pinnacle Place twin condominium towers he plans downtown.

Requiring developers to include lower-priced homes could discourage them from building in Tampa, said DeBose, chairman of the county's housing finance authority.

Instead, DeBose said, incentives such as tax breaks or other taxpayer-financed subsidies would be a better way to encourage construction of affordable housing.

That pretty much sums up Tampa’s problems: the developers write and enforce the rules. Frank is happy to do the right thing, and take full credit for it, but only if his largesse is financed by taxpayers.

In Miami, an effort for affordable housing is being renewed.

Affordable housing remains elusive for low- and even moderate-wage earners across the country, including South Florida, as monthly rents continue to outpace salaries.

According to a recently released national report, Florida is the 13th least affordable state for rental housing.

Locally, housing advocates vow to resume a six-year push to require builders of new developments to set aside a percentage of units for low-income workers.

If successful, that push could create more mixed-income communities and add needed homes for lower-income families, said John Ise, former director of the South Florida Community Development Coalition.

''We don't need to create exclusively low-income communities, but a good mix,'' Ise said. ``Wealthier communities need to open up and start accepting affordable housing.''

A report released Dec. 20 by the Washington, D.C.-based National Low Income Housing Coalition notes that a Florida worker must earn $15.37 an hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. Even when the state minimum wage jumps to $6.15 an hour this year, that threshold will be about 2 ½ times the new wage.

Meanwhile, the American worker continues to be squeezed.

Teresa Geerling is living the future of life in the middle of the American workforce.

After years cleaning the insides of airplanes and polishing their outsides, Geerling was laid off from American Airlines last year. The job was physically taxing for Geerling, 50, but the nearly $32,000 annual pay and health-care coverage helped provide a typical middle-class life in this small midwestern community.

Now, she works the overnight shift at a local hospital as a nurse's aide while completing course work to be certified as a medical assistant. That would seem to be a smart move, because unlike airlines, which are contracting, health care is one of the industries that many economists believe could generate millions more jobs in the decades to come.

Yet rarely has Geerling's work life been so precarious.

If she can't stay on her husband's health plan, her costs for health insurance offered by the hospital will be $200 a month, more than five times as much as at the airline. There are no pension benefits beyond the option for a 401(k) savings plan and few job protections. She makes $2 an hour less than before; to have a chance at higher pay, she will need to continually train herself in new areas.

Geerling is at the leading edge of changes that herald a new era for millions of people earning around the national average, $17 an hour.

This new era requires that workers shoulder more responsibility and risk on the way to financial security, economists say. It also demands that they be nimble in an increasingly fluid job market. Those who don't obtain some combination of specialized skills, higher education and professional status that can be constantly adapted will be in danger of sliding down the economic ladder to low-paying service jobs, usually without benefits.

Meanwhile, those who secure the middle-class jobs of the 21st century will have to make $17 an hour stretch further than ever as they pay more for health care or risk doing without insurance and assume much or all of the burden for their retirement.
......

Over the past two decades, companies have moved en masse away from traditional pensions in which employers pay the cost and employees get a set amount after retiring. Employer-based health care coverage has fallen as well, not just for workers in low-wage jobs, but increasingly for those in middle-class jobs. One analysis estimates that there were 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than there were just three years earlier. Overall, nearly 1 in 5 full-time workers today goes without health insurance; among part-time workers, it's 1 in 4.

Those who manage to keep their benefits often must pick up their share of the higher cost. Employee contributions for family coverage were 49 percent higher in 2004 than they were in 2001, and contributions for individual coverage were 57 percent higher, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Jobs that provide both a middle-class wage and benefits, even for workers without advanced degrees, still exist, often in union environments. But they're getting harder to find.

The trend of shifting risk and responsibility to the worker is confirmed by a LA Times study.

A broad array of protections that families once depended on to shield them from economic turmoil - stable jobs, widely available health coverage, guaranteed pensions, short unemployment spells, long-lasting unemployment benefits and well-funded job training programs - have been scaled back or have vanished altogether.

"Working Americans are on a financial tightrope," said Yale University political scientist Jacob S. Hacker, who is writing a book called "The Great Risk Shift." "Business and government used to see it as their duty to provide safety nets against the worst economic threats we face. But more and more, they're yanking them away."

And things aren’t like ly to get better any time soon, as the NLRB lists ever rightward.

The Republican-dominated board has made it more difficult for temporary workers to unionize and for unions to obtain financial information from companies during contract talks. It has ruled that graduate students working as teaching assistants do not have the right to unionize at private universities, and it has given companies greater flexibility to use a powerful antiunion weapon - locking out workers - in labor disputes.

And in a decision that will affect 87 percent of American workers, the board has denied nonunion employees the right to have a co-worker present when managers call them in for investigative or disciplinary meetings.

The party-line decisions have been applauded by the Republican Party's business base, which sees them as bringing balance after rulings that favored labor during the Clinton administration. But some academic experts on labor relations say the recent rulings are so hostile to unions and to collective bargaining that they run counter to the goals of the National Labor Relations Act, the 1935 law that gave Americans the right to form unions.