Beach Peanuts

Jill Cicciarelli: A Symbol Of The Republican War On Democracy

VOTE AT YOUR OWN RISK*

*Freedom Subject To Prosecution

Florida was ground zero for the “election” of George W. Bush, which put in motion eight years of disastrous policies that brought us to where we are today. As a Floridian, I can’t tell you the number of times I was scrutinized over that when asked where I was from when vacationing or making small talk with strangers, which is laughable to anyone who knows me. As if I would have ever have voted for George W. Bush. 

Now Florida has become what I think of as a symbolic ground zero for what Republicans hope will bring them victory again in 2012:

The GOP War On Democracy.

The latest victim? A high school teacher organizing a drive to get her students pre-registered to vote. One might ask since when is a simple civics lesson, and helping young students exercise their right to vote considered a violation of the law?

Since Florida Governor Rick Scott bought his way into office and appointed himself CEO, judge and jury on behalf of the citizens in Florida. Thanks to Scott and his Republican enablers in the Florida legislature, teacher Jill Cicciarelli is in violation of Florida’s new strict election laws, is facing large fines, and could be prosecuted for it.

Cicciarelli isn’t just a victim of the GOP’s war on Democracy, she’s just one of many targets in Scott’s larger war against Floridians. 

Take Rosalie Whiley, She’s a blind woman who wanted to apply for her food stamps online without having to rely on others to do it for her. One of Scott’s first actions of self-proclaimed “Supreme Executive Power” was to freeze regulations subject to his approval. One of those regulations blocked Whiley from getting her food stamps.

Another example is Luis Lebron, a Navy veteran applying for temporary assistance to support his 4 year old son. Lebron was denied assistance because he refused to waive his Fourth Amendment rights and submit to drug testing, another new law which Scott claims is for “the benefit of children.” The law requires those applying for welfare benefits to essentially “prove they aren’t drug users” before obtaining those benefits, a test the applicant must pay for out of pocket, presumably to be repaid if the test proves negative. This law which Scott claimed would save the state money has actually been quite costly to taxpayers, and the numbers of those testing positive minuscule at best.

In both cases above, the court stepped in and ruled in part against Scott’s laws and regulations. In the case of the ruling against Scott's regulation freeze, he disagreed with the court and found ways to get around the ruling by “informally” advising agencies on what rules they should enact. Apparently Scott feels his "Supreme Executive Authority," applies to the Florida Supreme Court as well. As Floridians now know all too well, if the King Rick Scott ain't happy, he'll make sure nobody else is either.

Scott and the Republicans in the Florida Legislature's actions are indicative of the entire party's. They set decades of disastorous policies in motion, and during the younger Bush years they all but destroyed the economy. Typical of the party, they make a mess, and then a Democrat comes into office and tries to clean it up, after which that Democrat is demonized, and the GOP PR machine drives them back into office where the cycle begins all over again.

However, the present situation is a little different this time, because not only is the adult in the White House a Democrat, but he's black, and he's smarter than the entire current crop of Republicans combined. Given those circumstances, they simply can't allow him to improve the disaster they created in any way, because now the American people are onto their game.

Republicans have used every trick in their demented little book. They've tried to insult our intelligence by blaming the results of their policies on a president who's been in office for only the last three years. They've tried to scare people with name calling. Socialists! Marxists! Nazis! Communists! Not to mention morphing all of the above into one gigantic demon never seen before. Run for your lives! The only way to save yourselves is to vote for Republicans, because they're the only party that will keep you safe! Except that myth too has blown up in their faces.

They managed to fool some into voting for them in 2010, Rick Scott among them. They ran on the promise of jobs, a better economy, smaller government, and less regulations and taxes for businesses, which they claimed were evil and prevented job creation.

The result? Well, the jobless are still in line at the unemployment office until the GOP cuts their benefits early. The promise of lower taxes for creation of phantom jobs hasn't panned out of course, another myth. The big GOP solution? Why, more tax cuts of course!

What about 'big government?" Well, that's a mixed bag. It got smaller if you count the axed government jobs, and the ongoing privatization of education and prisons, and government contracts to big donors.

On the other hand, government has stepped in to regulate the uterus and all things relevant to it, which may soon extend to birth control. The GOP won't stop until a woman is forced to give birth no matter what the circumstances. How she plans to pay for raising that child is her problem. If that child grows up and can't fend for itself in the face of the obstacles those politicians put in place, well, they're clearly slackers and they're on their own!

The one single recourse they may have left is their vote, and that may well be the one thing standing in the way of a continued GOP path of destruction when all that party's myths have become glaringly transparent. You need only look to the Occupy Wall Street protests all around the country to see that GOP fallacies have been destroyed much like George W. Bush's bungled 2002 quote: "fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." It seems the days of Republicans reliance on voter misinformation and lack of education are numbered.

Which brings us back to New Smyrna Beach High School's student government association and Jill Cicciarelli, the teacher who dared to pre-register students so that they could exercise their right to vote. Under Rck Scott and Florida Republicans new election laws, that right is no longer a simple matter. The fear of prosecution has already been an effective way of suppressing the vote. While they may not have become another ACORN, the League of Wommen Voters in Florida no longer runs the risk of registering voters. 

Now we have a high school teacher who may face prosecution for helping young, impressionable students who are getting a real education on how democracy works, and how easily it can be taken away. For them, and all Americans, that vote may be all we have left.

We vote, so we are the very people Rick Scott and the Republican Party are afraid of. We can't afford to let them take that away too. 

And neither can this country.

Magical Thinking: To Marco Rubio, Facts Don't Matter

A Family Matter Of Facts

(Photo: Marco Rubio U.S. Senate)

Marco Rubio came to Tampa today to speak about job creation during a lunch at the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Sticking to the Republican script, he blamed regulations and political rhetoric for preventing businesses from hiring, according to The Tampa Tribune.

Interesting excuses for the senator who not only voted against merely discussing the recent Obama jobs bill, but is also the co-sponser of another bill that would actually kill one out of every 10 federal jobs.  He's also a firm believer in less taxes for the rich along with the rest of his Republican colleagues, despite the fact that Miami is second among the least equal cities in the country in income inequality, and that Florida has a staggering unemployment rate.

But then Rubio isn't big on details like that any more than he is on the details of his family history, which came up again today. When asked about his alleged embellishments by reporters, he denied that he has told different stories at different times. 

Rubio continues to deny those claims in the face of videos and news reports that quote him giving a different story until he changed his Senate bio last week after the Washington Post found that Rubio's parents left Cuba earlier and for different reasons than Rubio's longstanding political narrative had asserted. 

In fact, American Bridge sent out a memo that found at least twenty instances where Rubio had the chance to correct the record in various news reports before the Washington Post evidence came to light. It was only then that he changed his official bio to reflect the actual date that his parents left Cuba. 

Rubio continues to brush off the embellishment.

From The Tampa Tribune:

"The bottom line is the story's the same one, and I think it's been blown way out of proportion by some people in the media."

"There's no disparity, it just more detail," he said.

Details, details. So he got the dates wrong. No big deal, right?

Rubio said he feels "outrage at the way the story's been exaggerated – I mean the bottom line is, I got the dates wrong because they happened 15 years before I was even born."

Oh, well....he got the dates wrong, but only because they happened 15 years before he was even born. How dare the media and voters be so demanding of facts! How can they expect Rubio to know when his parents left their homeland? Hello, he wasn't even born yet, so....duh?

Since his family history is such a big part of his life, which shaped him into the person he is today, or so he tells us time and time again, speech after speech, perhaps he might have taken the time to look into such "minor" details, like what year they actually left, and the reasons why. It's not like the evidence wasn't there for Rubio to discover for himself. If it's as meaningful as he claims, surely those aren't minor details one would forget.

Unless of course "forgetting them" makes for a better story?

For someone who aspires to higher office, and perhaps the White House, I'm not sure which quality in a person is worse: Someone who knows the facts, but chooses to embellish them, or someone who doesn't and isn't even the least bit curious enough to look into the facts for himself. Haven't we had enough Republicans running the country this way already? From Iraq, to jobs, to historical rates of income inequality, ignoring facts has brought us to where we are today.

Nice Try, But Marco Rubio Misses The Point

Marco Rubio embellished the facts?

Sure. But then this isn't exactly earth shattering news to some of us from his "home" state.

1956, 1959...who's counting?

He based his information on his family's "oral history."

He's "outraged" that he could be accused of "embellishing" his family history for political gain. (Seriously?)

Rubio has now changed his Senate bio, even though he writes that the Washington Post's claims were "incorrect." 

Then there's this, from his "explanation" today in Politico:

If The Washington Post wants to criticize me for getting a few dates wrong, I accept that. But to call into question the central and defining event of my parents’ young lives – the fact that a brutal communist dictator took control of their homeland and they were never able to return – is something I will not tolerate.

Actually, he won't tolerate getting caught.

Who, exactly is missing the point here? Note to Rubio: they were criticizing you for "getting a few dates wrong" as you put it, not your parents, but please, do go on and continue using them yourself for political gain.

For someone who aspires to be (gulp) VP or President someday, an excuse tantamount to "the dog ate my homework" isn't going to cut it.

Go ahead, change that bio. Write about your outrage to your heart's content in Politico. When you're not blocking a vote for ANYTHING that makes this country great as you so fondly claim, by all means, spend the remainder of your day acting outraged on FOX-GOP-TV. Go for it.

It doesn't change the facts. It's more than just "getting a few dates wrong." It's not just Marco Rubio's bio. It's the Marco Rubio brand:

 

Facts matter.

Once upon a time, even to some in the Republican Party I believe, facts mattered.

(video h/t: Steve Benen)

Mitt Romney's Housing Plan

 

GOP Sen: Many Florida Hispanics Have No Business Voting

Sen. Alan Hays (Photo: The Florida Senate)

Republicans are looking for ways to curry favor with Hispanic voters in Florida in light of upcoming efforts to get a Hispanic dominated district. 

Nationally their efforts to woo hispanics with Marco Rubio haven't been terribly successful. Though he did win a seat in the U.S. Senate, the on again, off again Tea Party  "Darling" struck out with some Florida voters last year because he didn't support the Dream Act, but did support "English Only" policies. At present, things haven't improved, since he's recently been dancing around that giant elephant in the room: immigration.

Now it looks as though local efforts in that redistricting effort may have hit a bit of a snag as well. Consider this comment, made at a recent reapportionment committee meeting by Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla.

From the St. Petersburg Times:

"Before we design a district anywhere in the state of Florida for Hispanic voters, we need to ascertain that they are citizens of the United States," Hays said. "We all know there are many Hispanic-speaking people in Florida that are not legal. And I just don't think it's right that we try to draw a district that encompasses people that really have no business voting anyhow."

That's right folks. If you're Hispanic, or don't speak English you clearly can't be in the country legally. So sayeth GOP Sen. Alan Hays! No vote for you!

If Republicans want to woo Hispanic voters, this probably isn't the way to go. 

Gov. Rick Scott Feels Election Laws He Seeks To Change Are "Conducted Fairly"

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit  by the ACLU challenging Florida Republican backed election laws.

The dismissal doesn't end the case, however.

From the St. Petersburg Times:

Under the federal Voting Rights Act, certain sections of the law must still be approved, or precleared [sic], by a court in Washington. The act applies to five Florida counties - Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe - because of past racial discrimination. State elections officials contend the act is unconstitutional as it applies to those counties and should be struck down.

In his order, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled that no harm was being done because the law had not yet been implemented or enforced in those five counties while the Voting Rights Act preclearance process continues. Moore disagreed with the American Civil Liberties Union and others challenging the law that implementation should also be halted in Florida's 62 other counties.

The Republican-backed law's supporters say it is aimed at curbing voter fraud. Opponents, including most Democrats, say it will hurt minorities, younger voters and the elderly and also suppress voter turnout.

Naturally Gov. Rick Scott jumped at the chance to weigh in on the ruling:

"I have always been confident that our elections have been conducted fairly and meet every legal requirement," the Republican governor said. 

Really Gov. Scott?

If you've "always been confident that our elections have been conducted fairly and meet every legal requirement," then why are you, the Secretary of State, and the Republicans seeking to change the laws in the first place?

Follow The Money? Good Luck!

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Citizens United decision, it's become pretty difficult to find out who "occupies the wallet" when it comes to political donations. In fact, that's the whole point.

Other than well known friend of Wall Street candidates like Mitt-I'm-Just-A-Middle-Class-Gazillionaire-Romney who has raised a mere $1.5 million in "pocket change" from banks, hedge funds and the like just since this spring, you don't hear much about where all that money comes from. Until recently it went largely unreported by the traditional media where the big bucks behind Herman-A-Noun-A-Verb-And-999-Cain were coming from. (Spoiler alert: "Have a Koch and a smile" with your slice!) 

If you listen to the corporate media, they would have you believe that President Obama is the Wall Street candidate (fat chance) and Herman Cain is just another uninformed Republican to replace lost Sarah Palin ratings. The latter may be true, but the average Tea Party voter is gullible and the Koch brothers know that. Add campaign cash competition from Karl Rove and the money-grubbing slug-fest is on.

The New York Times has an interactive feature on their website that illustrates the path campaign dollars travel from the smallest to the largest donations and numerous avenues they can take to buy the next election. It shows just how easily following the money on the campaign trail, one can get lost. 

While the paths on this horse race may well be "paved with gold," one can only wonder what we'll find in the winner's circle. 

As the saying goes, let's hope there's a pony in there somewhere.

The Job Killing Republican Party

Employed (With Benefits!) Job Killer Marco Rubio

Yesterday the Republicans in the Senate voted to block President Obama's $447 billion jobs bill from moving forward. Among them was Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who also recently announced that he would cosponsor another bill that would kill one out of every 10 federal jobs.

Two Democrats joined the Republicans to block the bill, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Jon Tester (D-MT). 

Never mind that the bill not only would create jobs, but it would cut payroll taxes, extend badly needed unemployment benefits, and fund infrastructure and road repairs, and would be paid for by an increase in taxes from the wealthy who would barely notice the difference.

The proposed jobs bill is also extremely popular among Americans according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. The poll shows that when given the details of what's in the bill, 63 percent of Americans favor the bill, only 32 percent oppose it, and 64 percent agree that it's a good idea to raise taxes for the wealthiest among us in order to pay their fair share.

Here's a little bit of what Marco Rubio and his Republican job killer colleagues snatched away from Floridians with their "no" votes:

Taxes:

The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Florida, 410,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act. 

Infrastructure:

The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $1,578,600,000 in Florida that could support a minimum of approximately 20,500 local jobs. 

Jobs:

The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $1,669,500,000 in funds to Florida to support up to 25,900 educator and first responder jobs.  

School Funding:

The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs.  Florida will receive $1,280,300,000 in funding to support as many as 16,600 jobs. 

Construction, Jobs:

The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Florida could receive about $2,701,800,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.  

The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Florida could receive $288,400,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.  

Unemployment Benefits:

Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 148,500 people looking for work in Florida from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks.  And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.  

Payroll Tax Cuts:

The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Florida, with a median income of around $46,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,430. 

You can see more of the plan here.

Basically, if you're out of work thanks to the economic policies the Republicans put in place over the years, you can now thank them for killing your chances of getting back to work anytime soon. 

If you watched last night's GOP "Debate" you know that the Republicans have no jobs plan, and don't seem to be in a hurry to find one anytime soon. The only jobs Republicans may have inadvertently created last night would be those of a few additional fact checkers. 

No, there's a good jobs plan out there, but it was proposed by President Obama. The Republican's only immediate mission in life is to make him a one term President, so those jobs must be blocked at all costs.

The only job the Republicans are interested in is their own. You pay their salary so that they can come to work for a couple weeks, obstruct anything the Democrats and the President try to put forward, then take a couple weeks off, do fundraisers, and then start the entire cycle all over again, as unemployment lines grow in their districts.

Nice work if you can get it, huh?

It's pretty clear who the real job killers are: The Republican Party, and of course, Florida's own Marco Rubio.

Rick Scott Petitions Court To Throw Out Discriminatory Protections Of Voting Rights Act

(Image: Beach Peanuts)

How far are Republicans and Florida Governor Rick Scott willing to go to thwart the will of Florida voters for fair voting in the state?

Far enough to file a petition in federal court to throw out parts of the Voting Rights Act.

At taxpayer expense.

From The Miami Herald:

Gov. Rick Scott and Secretary of State Kurt Browning filed a petition in federal court Tuesday asking the court to throw out a section of the Voting Rights Act, one of the vestiges of the Civil Rights movement that has provided an extra layer of protections to minorities voters for the past 45 years.

The federal law requires that all changes to voting and election law in five Florida counties -- Hendry, Collier, Hardee, Hillsborough and Monroe –  be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal court because of their history of racial discrimination against voters. The lawsuit alleges that the pre-clearance requirement, first established in 1972, is antiquated and unconstitutional.

This is just the most recent blatant attempt to undercut the will of voters who won the Fair Districts they voted for.

Republicans tried, and failed to get another misleading Amendment on the ballot that could have fooled voters into undoing the previous Amendments. 

When that didn't work and a judge ruled against them, they proposed changing the way the courts worked. They even proposed allowing Gov. Rick Scott to pick the Florida Supreme Court judges himself. (What could possibly go wrong there?)

They voted to rollback automatically restoring the civil rights of felons, namely the right to vote, and made several other changes to Florida's election laws like early voting and voter registration  regulations.

Now they want to throw out parts of the Voting Rights Act that protect areas with a history of voter discrimination. All at taxpayers expense, joining the taxpayer funded health care lawsuit to block voters from the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

Self-proclaimed "fiscal conservative" Rick Scott will apparently spare no taxpayer expense when it comes to blocking them from policies they're clearly in favor of. He also doesn't seem to be concerned at how much money is being spent to fight back against his policies in just the nine short months he's been in office.

Florida is well on its way to a deteriorating quality of life that residents soon won't easily be able to afford, thanks to an unpopular Governor they don't want.

Now Rick "Supreme Executive of Deleted Emails" Scott would also like to claim their right to vote him out of office in the next election.

Sunshine State? Welcome to the dark side.

 

Voting Open For 2011 Florida Netroots Awards

Voting is now open for the 2011 Florida Netroots Awards, thanks to Kenneth Quinnell and the Florida Progressive Coalition.

Beach Peanuts is honored to be nominated again this year, not only for "Best State Blog," but for "Best National Blog" as well, where I face stiff competition from some of the state's best writers and bloggers.

Voting will be open until October 21, and you can vote here.

Good luck to all the nominees!