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"YES, I said "Happy Holidays!" - The Editor
Blog posting has been a bit spotty here the last couple weeks as I've been taking some time off to spend with my family, but I will be returning to a more regular schedule here soon.
In the meantime, I hope you have a safe and joyous holiday season.
Happy Holidays!
- MJ
"One Million Served" Scott Stands His Ground On Guns
Rick Scott took a break from FOX-GOP-TV appearances and showed up on CNN Wednesday for an interview with Soledad O'Brien on guns. When O'Brien asked him what he would be willing to do about gun issues in the wake of the most recent mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, he did what he does best: avoid answering the question. Of course, Floridians know all too well that translates to doing nothing at all.
Evidently he makes no exceptions for mass murder. But then he's earned his "A" rating from the NRA and proved it once again in this interview.
Among the questions O'Brien asked Scott:
“What would you support in terms of legislation, if it in fact comes with that?” O’Brien asked. “Do you believe in stricter gun laws. You’re well supported by the NRA, and historically they have not supported that. How far would you be willing to go?”
“I guess I would like to hear from elected officials: what are you willing to change?”
Scott's version of an answer was pathetic at best, but to sum it up: respect the families, mourn for them, (adding that "he's been to law enforcement funerals,") make sure schools are safe and "think what we can do to improve." "Have a conversation." Throw in a plug for "low crime rates in Florida."
In other words, just boilerplate NRA talking points. Good boy.
No mention of the recent shootings of black children in Florida thanks to the new shoot first and invoke Stand Your Ground later law, courtesy of ALEC and GOP lawmakers, including one who 's also a funeral home owner. (Convenient.) The "thinking how to improve" on that law amounted to "no improvements needed."
Also no mention of the latest Stand Your Ground shooting where a man's complaint over a tardy pizza was apparently "threatening" enough to an uninvolved bystander that he had to shoot him over it. Ready in ten minutes or else? Maybe Scott's still "sitting back and thinking" over that one too?
O'Brien pressed Scott repeatedly for answers to her questions, but she got no further than anyone else does with Scott. She might as well have been talking to a robot. In a way, she was.
Scott also claimed that he talks to families across Florida every day and "listens to get their ideas" and that he even talked to families in Connecticut. Really? Funny, we never do hear just who all those in Florida he talks to are, they're a quiet bunch I guess.
Scott, like the rest of the pro-assualt rifle fans and the NRA, seem to see children and adults alike as collateral damage in pursuit of gun sales and profits while pretending it's all about their rights and freedom.
When it comes to death by firearms, Scott will "think about it." He'll "mourn." Maybe show up at a funeral.
Because "his heart goes out to them."
Because Rick Scott's answer to gun safety and gun laws is to "respect the families" of murdered six and seven year olds by doing nothing at all.
What courage.
Rick Scott Went To Britain, But All You Got Was The Bill, And This "Postcard"
Rick Scott just joined several other governors to request more control over how the Affordable Care Act is implemented in the state, along with a request that Florida still receive full federal funding, and allow Scott control over that too. As always, he claims he's "concerned about the costs to taxpayers."
Funny how that works. His concern over all those costs only seems to come up when it involves something that is desperately needed and wanted by those taxpayers, and is something that would improve their lives in some way. Like getting by from day to day. Being able to afford things of the basic American dream.
Things like health care, and education, for example.
Yet those are the very things he and the legislature will cut to the bone without a moment's hesitation. And they did it with education. Cut it one year, then threw a small bone back this year to appear as if they care about education. Scott "cares so much" about education, in fact, that he's now proposed that state colleges offer bargain basement degrees at $10,000 a pop. As a good education and competitive careers go, I guess he's never heard the phrase "you get what you pay for," nor has he ever been forced to live it.
Now Scott wants to "save taxpayer dollars" as he seeks to control federal funding for Medicaid. As it is now, a family of three with an income of only $11,000 a year makes too much to qualify in Florida. Just try getting an affordable health insurance plan on that kind of money.
$11,000.
Well, this "save money for thee, but not for me" attitude came to light again this week in a painful way, not once but twice.
When it comes to saving the taxpayer, Scott and the legislature have their priorities, and many who can't afford good health care or an education are still paying a high price for things that have no benefit to them whatsoever. They have to go without so that Scott, his cronies, and lawmakers can have more of what they don't need, and dare I say, don't earn:
Florida’s new legislative leaders handed out hefty raises and salaries to many of their top staff members and newly hired talent even as thousands of state workers went for a sixth year without a bump in pay.
Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford, who were sworn in last month, immediately hired new chiefs of staff and paid them more than taxpayers pay state Cabinet officials. They are paying 62 top policy advisors and staff directors more than $100,000 a year. And they gave salary increases totaling $252,000 to their 17 highest-paid employees.
Giving the most in raises was Gaetz, R-Niceville, who promoted 10 people who were already making more than $100,000 a year in state jobs. The biggest promotion went to his top aide, Chris Clark, whose salary jumped from $77,000 as an aide in Gaetz’s legislative office to $150,000 as the Senate president’s chief of staff. Clark started in the Legislature in 1994, making $12,771 a year. Gaetz said Clark’s salary is commensurate with those of previous chiefs of staff.]
[State workers, by contrast, have not seen a pay raise in six years. Last year, the Legislature also tapped into their take-home pay by deducting 3percent to pay the annual contribution to the Florida Retirement System. The result is a 15 percent drop in earning power for most state workers, labor unions say.
Nice work if you can get it, right? But you can't.
Speaking of jobs, recall that last week Scott went on yet another "trade mission," this time to Colombia, promising jobs, jobs, jobs, and an economic boom for Florida, just as he did on all the other trade missions to Panama, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Spain and Britain. This one to Colombia was by far the largest one yet, and while Scott wants to "save taxpayers" the burden of the high costs that would allow for funding education, health care, and basic necessities that used to be a given for people in the free world, he's not so concerned when it comes to traveling the world in the name of job and economic nirvana:
All told, those trips cost taxpayers more than $332,000, with some travel and lodging donated by hotels and airlines.]
[Security alone for the trip to Brazil totaled $77,000. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement declined to say how many agents are guarding Scott and first lady Ann Scott in Colombia. Also accompanying the governor's party are his traveling press secretary, a travel aide and Mrs. Scott's chief of staff.
The Colombia trip is costing the taxpayers $197,650.
...the governor’s security alone on his six previous international trips costs Florida citizens more than a quarter of a million dollars. That includes almost $77,000 in security for his trip to Brazil, almost $72,000 for the United Kingdom and tens of thousands more for Panama, Canada, Israel and Spain.
For all he's spent, and all that it's costing the rest of us, one would think that jobs will fall from the sky any day now. I wouldn't recommend holding your breath.
So here we are in Florida which is under the control of a governor and a group of Republicans who are the party of "Pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps," where everyone who expects the basic living necessities that they earned to be there, are considered to be asking for a handout. It's no wonder we can't afford things that used to be there for anyone who worked for it.
Floridians are too busy paying for Rick Scott's boots, and there's nothing left over for straps of their their own.
While Florida's Secretary of State Ken Detzner and Governor Rick Scott continue to suggest that those long lines on election day were signs of a good turnout and a "really good election," it's obvious to most everyone else that they were part of a package created by them along with Republicans in the legislature to suppress the vote. Some Republicans have even said as much, like former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer, who said there were meetings conducted to suppress the black vote, and that the GOP used "phantom" voter fraud as a marketing tool to change election laws to make sure the high Democratic voter turnout in 2008 for President Obama wouldn't happen again.
Now a Republican political consultant who was paid to do "data consulting" for Mitt Romney publicly stated that tactics to produce long lines at the polls as we saw in Florida, and voter ID laws are part of what his "side" does to suppress the vote in their favor.
The consultant, Scott Tranter, who owns Vlytics, the firm that received more than $3,000 from Romney for his work spoke at the Pew Center Monday, where he said this:
"A lot of us are campaign officials -- or campaign professionals -- and we want to do everything we can to help our side. Sometimes we think that's voter ID, sometimes we think that's longer lines -- whatever it may be," Tranter said with a laugh.
In reaction to Tranter's remarks, Michael McDonald, of the George Mason University Election Project was taken aback and said he couldn't quite believe he said what he did. McDonald also spoke of another in the audience, who reacted by saying "Well, at least he's honest." (You can see the video here.)
Immediately after the election, when Governor Scott said that he "did the right thing" by refusing to extend voting days and hours because of the long lines, apparently he was "being honest" as well.
To Scott and the Republican Party, long lines and voter suppression are absolutely the right thing to do if they want to win.
Tranter is only the latest to speak out in public to admit it.
He began in Hillsborough County, where there were few problems, reasoning that he would "learn benchmarks that could be applied elsewhere," but when officials there suggested the same changes that advocates have called for, they were all but rebuffed:
Hillsborough County election officials articulated some of the same points as voter rights advocates when asked Monday how to solve long lines and improve the democratic process at Florida's polls.
Return early voting to 14 days, from eight during this year's general election, they advised. Don't tamp down voter registration by placing additional restrictions on third-party groups. And don't limit early voting sites to libraries and government buildings.
The response from Department of State interim general counsel Gary Holland, on at least that last point: "Talk to the Legislature."
"I was a little taken aback by that," said incoming Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer. "I was like, I thought that's why you were here."
So it would seem this is really a "not listening tour." Should anyone really be surprised?
That wasn't all. Detzner said he would "take what he learned to the legislature," but will that mean anything? After all, the changes Hillsborough elections officials, advocates and Democrats have called for were mostly in place before the Florida lawmakers dismantled them just in time for the 2012 elections, combined with the voter purge Detzner and Rick Scott conducted. That was the point. It's clear to just about everyone that the goal was to make voting harder to attempt to thwart what would be a favorable turnout for President Obama.
But Detzner appears to be ignoring that inconvenient reality. These were his responses to suggestions yesterday:
On restoring early voting times: "When you look at the turnout, which was larger than it was in 2008, that obviously speaks to the point that people were satisfied with the current law. People responded, reacted and turned out in greater numbers."
Not much to add to this, accept to point out that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. There was a large, and I might add, determined turnout because voters already knew officials in Tallahassee were doing everything in their power to keep them from voting.
On the law governing conduct of third-party registration groups, which was later eased by a federal judge: It allows elections officials to identify those who commit fraud, he said.
Again, voter fraud is nearly non-existent. There's actual math to prove it.
And on the state's troubled scrubbing of ineligible voters from registration rolls: He said those identified are given "due process to give them notice and ample time to have themselves be removed or be prosecuted."
Due process....for actual eligible voters who were purged and have to go through the process of proving they were eligible all along? As for those who were properly purged from the rolls, there's actual math there too, and there were so few it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Still, there was one thing Detzner picked up on and claimed he would look into. Technological issues due to the "lengthy ballot" and those long amendments. Do we assume that means amendment written in full which voters will have to spend time reading before voting will still be around in the future? Just need to beef up issues processing those endless ballots?
Detzner summed up his findings in a repeat from what he said when the election was over:
"We had a really good election."
On what planet? Given his "responses" I doubt many will be confident in "positive" changes being made when this so called "listening tour" is over. Detzner appears to be listening only to the voices in his head, not those of people who actually want to make the system work for voters. After all, the next election in 2014 will be a tough one for Republicans in that their candidate for Governor is quite possibly the worst on record. The majority of Floridians are counting down the days until he's out of office and hoping the state will still be afloat by then. Detzner and his Republican crew will have a lot of hurdles to overcome.
It's foreseeable that the turnout to oust Scott will be enormous, and short of entirely doing away with the democratic process altogether and appointing Scott as emperor, what can we possibly expect then?
Whatever the Republicans try, the national spotlight will be on them. Make no mistake, we'll all be watching.
On Holding Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage, An "Unfiltered" Response For Bilirakis
As Republicans in Congress continue to refuse to cut taxes for the middle class by using misleading language and reasons for doing so, the middle class will no longer take their inaction sitting down. They're actively fighting back and letting their representatives know how they feel.
In his district in Florida today, Congressman Bill Young's office will be the site of a "Day Of Action" by the Tampa Bay Bush Tax Cut Coalition Florida, where they will hold a press conference followed by a meeting with Young.
Meanwhile, in Rep. Gus Bilirakis' district, constituents are receiving the typical one sided emails from Bilirakis, a message which asks for "input" from recipients. The only problem with his message is that any "input" requested must be in the form of his already dictated multiple choice questions and answers. This is a typical response and "request" from Bilirakis that those in his district are used to getting.
In this message, he uses the same false talking points to mislead voters that all the Republicans are touting to scare and intimidate those who would benefit from the tax cuts, when he's actually holding them hostage to protect the wealthy.
These are the only questions Bilirakis offers to his constituents, and the only answers permitted in the lists are "Yes, No, and Unsure:"
Again, this is a typical message from Bilirakis, and emails sent to his office either get only a vague response, one informing the recipient that he's already doing quite enough, thank you very much, or no response at all. Bilirakis has a "safe seat" in the House, and therefore apparently doesn't feel the need to reach out further.
From the looks of the sign above which I spotted on the street in his district over the weekend, that may no longer be the case.
Make no mistake, Bilirakis and his fellow Republicans in the House could vote for those tax cuts for the middle class right now, but instead they're holding them hostage because they want to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, and they know it. Bilirakis knows it. If he doesn't vote for the tax cuts, the middle class will see an average increase in their taxes of $2,000 a year.
What's going on is simply this: President Obama is asking Congress to move forward on a plan that would prevent 98 percent of American families from paying higher taxes next year. The Senate has passed that bill, and the President is ready to sign it -- but the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives won't even bring the bill to the floor for a vote. House Democrats have filed a petition that would force a vote if it attracts 218 signatures. If a bill has enough votes to pass, Congress should vote on it and pass it.
Problem is Bilirakis, Young, and all House Republicans are sitting idly by and refusing to sign, or do anything to help the middle class. In other words, Bilirakis is not acting in the best interests of the voters who put him in office. As that handmade sign illustrates, he's acting in the best interests of Grover Norquist who says no tax cuts ever, for any reason, and he continues to work for the wealthy and will protect them from having to pay their fair share of taxes just like the rest of us.
Voters in his district are fed up with Bilirakis' inaction, and aren't willing to be dictated to by him any longer. He may not care to hear what his constituents have to say, but that's too bad. They should continue to do so, and give him a call:
Representative Gus Bilirakis
(202) 225-5755
(Photo: Martha Jackovics)
