Beach Peanuts

Next GOP Sequester Public Safety Threat: Hurricane Forecasting

(Source: National Hurricane Center)

After the sequester began in March, Americans all over the country began feeling the cuts that Republicans forced on them because they wanted to preserve tax cuts for the wealthy while killing Social Security and Medicare. While Medicare patients were being turned away from cancer clinics, all Republicans were worried about were White House tours.

Then it was flight delays due to air traffic controller furloughs that were causing Republicans pain, so they complained this week while trying to place the blame on President Obama, knowing full well that the sequester was pushed and voted for by them. (Rick Scott tried his hand at it too, as noted here earlier.) 

Last week, as the hunt for the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings was underway, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was delivering this warning on cuts to Homeland Security and intelligence to the Senate Armed Services Committee:

Sequestration's full impact on the intelligence community and U.S. national security will not truly be felt by Americans until the next terrorist attack happens or the next bomb goes off.

"Unlike more directly observable sequestration impacts like shorter hours at the parks or longer security lines at airports, the degradation to intelligence will be insidious," Clapper told Senate Armed Services Committee members.

"It will be gradual and almost invisible until, of course, we have an intelligence failure," he added during Thursday's committee hearing on emerging national security threats. 

These cuts are just the beginning of some of the things Americans are having to give up merely because the now radical Republicans in Washington want to prevent the rich from paying their fair share of taxes while killing social safety nets.

Yes, Republicans are putting national security at risk so they can keep their precious tax cuts.

Now there's another round of furloughs looming that could have potentially devastating and dangerous consequences for Floridians: Those in weather forecasting systems. The cuts will fall on the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the National Weather Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

It's nearly a certainty that before long we will hear the next round of complaints and false finger pointing from Republicans (probably accompanied by a catchy Twitter hashtag) just in time for Hurricane season. When that happens, just remember who really put Floridians and others around the country in danger just as we're seeing larger and more devastating weather events on a regular basis.

When Hurricane season arrives and those cuts to weather forecasting and hurricane monitoring place Floridians in danger, Sen. Marco Rubio, and these House Republicans from Florida are the ones who are holding public safety hostage to protect tax cuts for the wealthy (and yes, in most cases, that includes them.) 

Give them a (courteous) call and thank them, or let them know what you think. House numbers here, Marco Rubio's number here. (Sen. Bill Nelson voted against the sequester.)

Gus Bilirakis (R)

Jeff Miller (R)

Steve Southerland (R)

Ted Yoho (R)

Ander Crenshaw (R)

Corrine Brown (D)

Ron DeSantis (R)

John Mica (R)

Bill Posey (R)

Daniel Webster (R)

Rich Nugent (R)

Bill Young (R)

Vern Buchanan (R)

Tom Rooney (R)

Trey Radel (R)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R)

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R)

 

 

 

Peter King Is Not Happy About That Rubio Knife In His Back

Hey, remember when Marco Rubio voted against relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy?

And remember when New York Republican Rep. Peter King loudly chastised his fellow Republicans on their "no" votes, but then quickly forgot when they finally made a deal?

And remember when Rubio voted "no" on that one too?

Well, turns out that Peter King actually does still remember, and thanks to Marco Rubio's ego, greed, lust for power, and Presidential pipe dreams, King was reminded of it all over again today. 

It seems that while on his supposedly "quiet" money grubbing trip to Wall Street this week, Rubio set King off all over again, and let's just say it wasn't pretty:

“Being from New York we’re not supposed to be suckers,” Mr. King told Politicker this morning. “It’s bad enough that these guys voted against it, that’s inexcusable enough. But to have the balls to come in and say, ‘We screwed you now make us president?’”

Mr. King went on to urge Empire State donors to cut off Mr. Rubio and any other member of Congress who “threw a knife in the back in New York” by voting “no” on the bill.

“Rubio and these other Republican candidates are coming to New York to raise money,” he said. “I don’t think any senator or congressman who voted against aid for Sandy should get one nickel from New York.”

Ouch. 

Yeah, that Marco. What he lacks in brains, he makes up for in, shall we say......"bolas?" He could just be too stupid to realize how such a thing might look. Or he just doesn't care. His smarts, or the lack thereof have been a topic of debate for years. 

Either way, King needn't worry too much about that knife in his back. There's a lot of time between now and 2016, and Rubio will have plenty of others to use it on before he's finished. 

Marco Rubio Votes "No" On Sandy Relief, Again

Once again Sen. Marco Rubio is playing politics at the expense of disaster victims. 

In December of last year he voted no on a $60.4 billion appropriations bill for Sandy relief, complaining that it was "full of pork." 

Yesterday, he had the chance to do the right thing again, and once again he said no to $50.5 billion in aid to Hurricane Sandy victims. 

When it comes to helping out in a disaster, Rubio picks and chooses who deserves aid and who doesn't.

In March of 2012, Rubio sided with the oil companies when he voted against the Restore Act, the post BP Gulf restoration bill. His excuse then was similar. He said at the time "I will not support raising taxes to pay for BP’s mess or to pay for new spending projects across the country that have nothing to do with Gulf Coast restoration."  He also claimed it was a "federal power grab." Translation: Claim outrage over something to create a distraction while giving a pass to to BP. After all, the real victims aren't big donors like the oil and gas companies are.

Rubio also didn't have a problem when he asked for help for agriculture back in 2011 when Florida suffered a deep freeze. In a press release at the time, he said this:

“We hope you will expedite Florida’s request for a disaster declaration so our agriculture community can begin the long road to recovery from the devastating weather conditions,” members of the delegation wrote to U.S.D.A. Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“This past December was one of the coldest in Florida’s history with consecutive days of sustained hours of temperatures below freezing. The extreme weather caused significant crop loss and damage across our state.”

“The agriculture community is vital to Florida’s economy and a disaster declaration is necessary to help this vital industry recover from December’s severe weather,” said Senator Marco Rubio.

But hurricane victims, or those that have suffered damages thanks to an oil spill? Nope. Sorry folks.

In those cases, Rubio gives the victims the deep freeze.

It's All A Big Joke To Mitt Romney

Romney seems to think "taking care of your family" and doing something about climate change aren't the same thing. He's not interested in doing either one.

 

Would You Trust Mitt Romney And Rick Scott To Handle The Next Florida Disaster?

(Photo: Martha Jackovics, from The 5 Spot, Seattle, WA.)

Yesterday while Mitt Romney was busy staging his campaign event disaster relief event in Ohio, (cough-cough) reporters asked him 14 times if he still stands by his statement that he would get rid of FEMA, handing disaster relief back to the states, but he ignored them, refused to answer, and kept loading a truck with items the Red Cross neither needs, nor wants, so they could drive that truck to an undisclosed location somewhere in New Jersey.

A fair question right before people are expected to vote for him and it deserves an answer, but I guess Romney expects votes based on just how awesome he tells you he is, since he hasn't answered reporters questions, nor given an interview in weeks. Still, voters deserve an answer.

Well, Charles P. Pierce over at Esquire provides a glimpse at how a President Romney would handle a disaster. (Besides collecting canned goods which are no help at all.) He writes about how then Gov. Romney dealt with flooding in Lowell Massachusetts back in 2006, which rankled even conservatives in the state.

The entire region was under flood warnings, but the problem was especially acute along the Merrimack River, especially in the city of Lowell, where Romney's response was considered, well, leaky. The right-leaning Lowell Sun was particularly displeased:

We find it inconceivable that Gov. Mitt Romney claims the state can do nothing to help those residents still struggling to rebuild homes and businesses after the May flood. Massachusetts is sitting on millions in unspent emergency funds from Hurricane Katrina and more than $1 billion in cash reserves, yet Romney has failed to even respond to the Lowell delegation's requests to discuss additional aid for victims. The governor's spokesman — since Romney can't be bothered to comment now that the photo opportunities have dried up even though some residents' basements haven't — said the state will not consider spending its own money for flood victims until it's clear how much cash the federal government will give.....

....Look, America, we here in the Commonwealth (God save it!) may not know much, even though we occasionally act like we know everything, but, trust us. We know this guy. There's a reason why he's going to lose this state by more than 20 points. The only thing about him that you can depend on is that there's never any room in the lifeboat for The Help.

On top of this, just try to imagine a President Romney gutting FEMA and turning over disaster relief to the states. Can you imagine what would happen in Florida? How would Gov. Rick Scott handle disaster relief when the next hurricane hits our state? The last time there was the threat of one, Scott showed up about three days later to tell people to "be prepared" after the threat had passed for the most part.

When a hurricane, or other disaster hits Florida, do you really want to hear "we're Mitt Romney and Rick Scott, and we're here to help?"

On second thought, they would probably never say such a thing, much less do it.

If you haven't already done so, think before you vote.

Second Storm Threatens Tampa, RNC, And Romney

GOP Triple Threat: Isaac, Paul And Romney

As Tropical Storm Isaac continues to strengthen, its impact on the RNC in Tampa is still a bit of an uncertainty, but it's not the only tempest the Republicans and Mitt Romney are concerned about.

There's a mighty wind blowing in from Texas, and this one is called Hurricane Paul.

That's Ron Paul.

By Monday, Isaac will still be south of Tampa Bay and potentially pass west of the area on Tuesday, but Paul supporters seem to be a more easily predictable threat. So much so that Mitt Romney's nomination has been moved up in the schedule out of fear of the Paulites.

Romney was originally scheduled to be nominated as per tradition just ahead of his convention speech scheduled for Thursday. Now due to the "perfect storm" of Isaac and Ron Paul, his nomination is being moved ahead to Monday.

In what's already been more than a bumpy ride of a campaign, the threat of disaster for Romney isn't over yet.

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours.

(Photos: National Hurricane Center, Wikipedia)

"If You See Something, Say Something?" Where Do We Start?

I Can See Clearly Now 
 
(Illustration: Beach Peanuts)

Last week Gov. Rick Scott announced he was joining domestic security officials to launch an "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign in Florida. 

From his press release:

The initiative features a toll-free, statewide hotline and online reporting form for citizens to report suspicious activity.

“As we draw closer to the 10-year anniversary of 9-11, there is no better time to remember the many lives lost that day a decade ago, and to remind citizens of the need to remain vigilant,” said Governor Scott. “This is another tool that citizens and tourists can use to contact authorities when they witness something they know is out of place.”

Wake up and smell the irony, citizens of Florida!

Something was a tad suspicious and out of place just recently, but I can't quite put my finger on it.......oh that's right! The governor's transition e-mails! The ones which he literally can't put his fingers on because they were deleted. I guess that would fall under the "If You Can't See Something, We Must Have Deleted It" department?

Good thing Gov. Scott called for an investigation to find out how those e-mails got deleted during a "chaotic transition run by a largely out-of-state staff still learning Florida law"..........except that those conducting the investigation also happen to work for Scott. Gosh, I wonder how that will turn out? I'm guessing he'll release the "findings" soon, something like: "The e-mails were indeed "mistakenly" deleted, but it won't happen again" or they'll find the company which deleted them entirely at fault as a scapegoat. 

The Florida Democratic Party in turn put out their own tongue and cheek press release highlighting several items:

Thursday, August 11th – Said individual lied to Floridians about the state’s credit rating.

Monday, August 16th (sic) - Florida Supreme Court ruled said individual violated the Florida Constitution by exceeding his authority.

Thursday, August 18th – Said individual lied to the Orlando Sentinel about the quality of state workers' health care.

Friday, August 19th – Said individual admits to deleting public record emails belonging to the citizens of the State of Florida.

Sunday, August 28th – Said individual admitted to knowing about public record destruction four months before acknowledging the law had been broken.
 
We appreciate your attention to this very serious matter.

The ACLU came out to criticize the governor, saying: the program will inevitably result in profiling and spurious tips:

"These turn in your neighbor programs produce unreliable information and are little more than a government sponsored invitation to view everyone as a potential criminal and act on racial and ethnic stereotypes," Simon said in a statement. [Howard Simon, executive director ACLU Florida]

Bailey rejected that. [Gerald Bailey, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner]

"When it comes to suspicious activity, it's not a particular type of person you're going to be looking for, but behavior," Bailey said.

That would be the same Gerald Bailey charged with investigating Rick Scott's missing transition e-mails. Potential conflict of interest anyone?

The head of FDLE, Gerald M. Bailey, is employed at the will of Scott and the Cabinet. That relationship could pose a conflict for the department's investigation, [Alex] Sink said. Sink, a former state CFO, lost the governor's race to Scott in November.

"This is outrageous," Sink said. "Clearly there were laws broken. There should be an independent investigation into why these transition e-mail disappeared into thin air." 

If Bailey defends Scott on the new program, will he also defend Scott in the deleted e-mail investigation? 

What about the hypocritical behavior we see on an almost daily basis? Here's another revelation too recent to make the "list" from the Democratic Party: Scott will tell you that demands to cut spending means "making the tough choices," which translates to cuts in everything from education to unemployment benefits. 

In the latest controversy from the governor's office, you probably won't be surprised to learn that as Scott and the Legislature "tightened your belt" and gave tax cuts to big businesses, he also recently blew nearly $80k on renovations to spruce up his new chief of staff's office and Scott's executive suites, courtesy of the taxpayer. This "makeover" was for a new chief of staff who Scott values to the tune of $189k a year. Rather than taking a 3 percent cut in salary like other state workers, Steve MacNamara gets a 26 percent raise over the last guy. Scott's known for generous salaries for his staff, and MacNamara's even tops those in states like Texas, New York and even California. (Almost brings to mind another scandolous adventure in high-end decorating: the Taj Mahal courthouse in Tallahassee.)

So many other examples are so well known and egregious there's no need to "say something." He's just getting started on his four years of austerity fame: Medicare Fraud, health care cuts, high-speed rail. Drug testing welfare recipients, blocking food stamps from a blind woman, cutting unemployment benefits. Killing jobs, slashing education, cutting insurance regulations. 

Scott gets state health care at a discount, thanks to taxpayers.

While you sit in traffic for hours on end, Scott breezes over head in his own private plane, avoiding both gridlock on the highway AND the Commision Of Ethics. 

In the event of a catastrophic hurricane, Scott has a back up roof stashed away in storage. Don't you?

One almost wonders if he got the idea for "If you see something, say something" from one of several groups out there who already do so, like Awake The State, Pink Slip Rick, and It Gets Worse, just to name a few.

Why stop with the governor's office? There's plenty of "suspicious behavior" to scrutinize elsewhere in Florida government. There's an almost endless supply of "see something, say something" to go around. 

How about the Florida Legislature's redistricting roadshow? There are town hall meetings where you can certainly "say something," but Legislators won't, and you'll see no maps. 

The Legislature? Where do we start? Just try and name a Republican that has no scandal attached to their name.

There are so many chapters from the Adventures Of Mike Haridopolos that you could write a book! In fact, just to keep them all straight, Progress Florida has devoted an entire website, DirtyHari.org, to documenting them all.

Don't forget BondiGate, the foreclosure investigations and firings by the Florida Attorney General. 

The list goes on and on. So much to say, so much to see, and probably so much more we aren't even aware of. Yet.

Three years to go in the Rick Scott Administration and counting....

Irene Is Gone But Hurricane Bachmann Still Threatens The Country And She's Moving South (UPDATED)

The Face Of The GOP: Be Afraid

(Updated Below)

A good friend who comes from Michele Bachmann's home state once told me this in response to a question about what exactly makes Bachmann tick:

"She really believes in what she says."

That's the scary part.

Hurricane Bachmann is making her way through Florida right now and she's shown that she's not above exploiting natural disasters to claw her way back to the top in the polls since her numbers fell after winning the straw poll in Iowa. Whether she believes in what she says or not, this statement of hers over the weekend deserves some much needed attention:

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

First of all, she said this while making a campaign speech/sermon at a mega-church, and the response was laughter. Mind you, this as Hurricane Irene was still unfolding and killing people in the process. Since videos of the statement surfaced (she made it twice during separate campaign stops) some have made the claim that she was joking.

Really? She was just joking....at the same moment that people were dying in the storm? (Bachmann "Humor" Update Below)

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the face of today's GOP. If you thought the Republican response to Katrina was a "joke" the next disaster will be a riot if the Republicans get back into the White House. Sadly we won't have to wait that long. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said once again, as he did for tornado and earthquake aid earlier, that Republicans won’t allow emergency aid in the wake of Hurricane Irene unless Democrats meet GOP demands: dollar-for-dollar spending cuts elsewhere. Of course that probably translates to another attempt at safety net blackmail instead of cutting oil subsidies and asking the rich to pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us.

Hilarious.

That brings me to the second point. Hurricanes and earthquakes are God's way of telling politicians to cut back on spending? Really? I could have sworn they were God's way of punishing homosexuals? What about abortions? No matter though. Apparently God multi-tasks when handing out punishment, and Michele Bachmann has all of those wayward souls covered. She and the hubby "pray away the gay" (funding provided by Medicare) and counsel women against having abortions. Never mind that when those children grow up, President Bachmann would then rob them of affordable health care while lowering their wages if they're lucky enough to find employment, as she rakes in her family farm subsidies. (Subsidies aren't "socialism" if they go to Republicans and billionaires.) Isn't that, after all, what Jesus would do?

Back to the current disaster in the making. Potential President Bachmann's stand-up tour is moving South. After charming the silly socks off parishioners in Lutz, Bachmann moved on from getting heckled in Naples over her proposal to open up the Everglades to drilling "safely" while also proposing to kill the EPA, she's heading to Miami. No doubt she'll continue to push a Marco Rubio VP slot while she's there. (Good luck with that!) Maybe she can charm them as she did in Lutz with this line:

“You’re Cuban, yay!’’ Bachmann exclaimed in response to a question about Fidel Castro from 66-year-old retiree Gabriela Menendez, who has lived in the U.S. since 1961. “You made it out, yay! We’re glad that you’re here.’’

Maybe ask another senior citizen if they're "old enough to remember Ronald Reagan?" (Go ahead, scratch your head over that one for a moment. I'll wait.)

Whatever she says, I'm sure her views on God and natural disasters will be a big hit to those who still remember Hurricane Andrew and lived to tell the tale. 

They might be surprised to hear that they suffered the brunt of too much government spending back in 1992.

They may also be surprised to hear that if another one comes their way, praying for help may do them absolutely no good if President Bachmann or the Republicans are in charge.

UPDATE:

Bachmann confirmed that her comments on hurricanes and earthquakes were indeed jokes, and has responded to criticism of her natural disaster "humor."

From The Hill:

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) said Monday that her comments that a recent earthquake and Hurricane Irene were a message from God were a joke, Reuters reported.

“Of course I was being humorous when I said that. It would be absurd to think it was anything else,” Bachmann said at an event in Miami.

“I am a person who loves humor. I have a great sense of humor.”

It's "absurd" all right.

Thanks for clearing that up "Dr. Bachmann."

Hurricane? Ron Paul Says "Let's Party Like It's 1900!"

I've heard people complaining lately that nobody in the media is covering Ron Paul, in spite of the fact that he's running for President.

My first reaction was "There's a good reason for that. He's Ron Paul."

Well, I read something today that changed that initial reaction.

Since he won't go away, and is currently number four in the latest polling for candidates in the GOP clown car, maybe he does deserve more coverage. Granted, I'm not a member of the traditional media, but I'll jump in anyway, because this little item deserves all the coverage it can get:

Ron Paul slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and said that no national response to Hurricane Irene is necessary.

"We should be like 1900; we should be like 1940, 1950, 1960," Paul said. "I live on the Gulf Coast; we deal with hurricanes all the time. Galveston is in my district.

"There's no magic about FEMA. They're a great contribution to deficit financing and quite frankly they don't have a penny in the bank. We should be coordinated but coordinated voluntarily with the states," Paul told NBC News. "A state can decide. We don't need somebody in Washington."

Yeah! Who needs FEMA? 

Really? I'll bet the people of his district in Galveston might feel a little differently about that, especially if they have to rely on Ron Paul to act in their best interests the next time a hurricane comes their way. Do they agree with Paul, that "We should be like 1900?"

Like this 1900, from the NOAA website?

On September 8, 1900, the greatest natural disaster to ever strike the United States occurred at Galveston, Texas. In the early evening hours of September 8, a hurricane came ashore at Galveston bringing with it a great storm surge that inundated most of Galveston Island and the city of Galveston. As a result, much of the city was destroyed and at least 6,000 people were killed in a few hours time. The following is the account of Isaac M. Cline, the senior Weather Bureau employee present at Galveston, of the events leading up to the storm, his personal experiences in the storm, and the aftermath. The horror of Galveston is only partly described in this work. He was probably somewhat still in shock when he wrote this report as he lost his wife when his house collapsed during the storm and virtually all of his possessions. In a later biographical work, he referred to the shooting of hundreds of looters by vigilantes in the aftermath of the storm and the cremation of hundreds of unknown storm victims who otherwise would have decomposed where they lay. This particular report is excerpted from the Monthly Weather Review for September, 1900. 

You can read the entire account from Isaac M. Cline here.

Doesn't that paint a rosy picture of Ron Paul's vision for America 111 years later?

It's bad enough that the current Republicans in Congress want to cut funding for weather satellites and hurricane hunters from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, all of which provide critical information and help predict the path of a hurricane. That's not nearly good enough for Ron Paul. He not only doesn't want "demon big government" to prevent disaster, he doesn't think it should lift a finger to help in the aftermath either.

To quote President Obama, when speaking of the GOP: "You're on your own!"

And then some, says Ron Paul!

Ron Paul may have some warped romantic vision of the good old days before there was "modern technology" and an evil organization like FEMA, but many of us who live along the Gulf Coast and have lived through actual hurricanes don't share it.

Meanwhile, back to those of you who say there's not enough coverage of Ron Paul?

Well, there ya' go!

Disaster, Hostages, Eric Cantor, And Rick Scott

We've all witnessed Republican desperation in the face of lost power since the 2008 election, and it hasn't been pretty. They've done a lot of stupid things and said "no" to virtually everything Democrats and President Obama have tried to do since then. It was bad enough that they stood by insurance companies against Americans and their right to basic health care without fear of going bankrupt, now they're doing everything in their power to take it away and undo the protections it provides, while they get their health care on us. 

That's just one on a list of so many ways they've gone to bat for the plutocrats (many of them those very congressmen and women) and are in the process of doing their level best to aid the corporate takeover of America itself.

The Republicans seem to wear cruelty as a badge of honor in their race to the bottom, each one seeming to stoop to a new low as if it were a contest. They've done some pretty outrageous things, but I think we have a winner today.

It's tough to choose, but I think the new low (at least for today) goes to Eric Cantor (R-VA). 

Today, when the death toll from the tornado in Joplin, Missouri stands at 119 as of this writing, Cantor has taken an opportunity to use the tragedy to his, and his "bully boys club" colleagues' advantage. He's simply going to hold those tornado victims "hostage."

From Think Progress:

President Obama pledged full support to the state Monday, telling survivors, “We’re here with you. We’re going to stay by you.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), however, said that before Congress approved federal funds for disaster relief, it had to offset the spending with cuts to other programs.

From The Washington Times:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday that if Congress passes an emergency spending bill to help Missouri’s tornado victims, the extra money will have to be cut from somewhere else.

 “If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. The term “pay-fors” is used by lawmakers to signal cuts or tax increases used to pay for new spending.

You see, it's not enough that the Republicans already voted for cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to update weather satellites that provide the warning systems in disasters like the tornadoes we've seen in the Midwest this past week, and hurricanes.

In other words, they've said "we can't afford warning systems that would potentially save lives" because we really need to divert more of our budget to the rich folks in the form of things like tax cuts, because the majority of the nation's wealth being held by the top two percent just isn't quite enough. The have-nots will just have to make due (or die trying) so that "haves" can have lots more. 

Eric Cantor would prefer to withhold aid to those tornado victims who have lost everything, so that rich folks like, oh I don't know, say Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott, can maintain the kind of living they've become accustomed to.

Rick Scott just made cuts to insurance in Florida. In the event of a hurricane, Floridians will now pay more for less, with limited coverage. But this won't be a problem for Scott, who is way above the rest of us down here when it comes to hurricane preparedness. Scott already has an extra roof for his $9.2 million home waiting around in storage, should he lose the one he has. Scott divulged this information while warning residents yesterday to "be prepared" for hurricane season which begins next week. 

It was part of Scott's joking explanation about why his home city won't get hit. "We will not have a hurricane in Naples, Florida. I guarantee it."

As bad a "comedian" that he is, I truly wish he would give up his day job to work on his stand-up routine and turn the state over to someone who has a clue how to run one, but of course, that won't happen. It will be a true disaster if he's tested by a hurricane while in office, but it's those potential victims who don't have homes, much less a spare roof in the waiting who will suffer the most.

Which brings us back to the results of a disaster, what's happened in Joplin, Missouri, and Eric Cantor who wants to hold disaster victims hostage, with aid for those "have nots" as ransom.

People like Eric Cantor and Rick Scott, who laud their wealth and power over others as they play with people's lives hiding behind a podium in front of cameras, are cowards. Plain and simple. In a fair and just world, they would be held accountable for their actions. In a perfect world, a coward like Eric Cantor would have to actually face the people who have so little left while he tells them he wants to take away even more. If he's willing to hold the residents of Joplin hostage, I think he should hop on a plane and tell them so in person.

I'd love to see him go to Missouri with a camera crew and a podium and really show those victims in Joplin what a tough, powerful man he is, and there's no need for him to spend a single cent of tax cuts dollars to do it.

The plane ticket's on me.