The latest stories from the Florida blogs...
Fried Gator: Add another name to the list of corrupt Republicans in Tallahassee: Charlie Dean
madfloridian: As Florida economy crumbles the religious right files ultrasound bill again
madfloridian: Florida Republicans might reject stimulus cash for jobless
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Call on Committee Chairs to Agenda the Prevention First Act in Florida!
On March 18th, the House Health Regulation Committee heard HB 983, the mandatory ultrasound bill by Rep. Flores (R-114) and Rep. Burgin (R-56). HB 983 passed out of the Committee by a 5-2 vote. Representative Jimmy Patronis (R-6), chair of the Health Care Regulation Policy Committee, gave a hearing to HB 983, yet has not given a hearing to the Prevention First Act (HB 129)!
The Prevention First Act increases access to birth control and helps to reduce unintended pregnancies by guaranteeing access to emergency contraception for rape survivors, protecting the right to birth control for all women, and protecting the right to have lawful and valid prescriptions filled at the pharmacy.
TAKE ACTION:
Contact Chair of the House Health Regulation Committee, Representative Jimmy Patronis (R-6) at (850) 488-9696.
Simply say:
• I am disappointed that Rep. Patronis voted for HB 983, a bill that ties the hands of doctors and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship.
• I urge Rep. Patronis to support commonsense policies that will prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion and agenda HB 129 the Prevention First Act as soon as possible.
• During this economic crisis, the Florida legislature should be spending it’s time on the budget, not on divisive abortion bills.
Then, Call or email Chair Don Gaetz (R-4) at (850) 487-5009
When Calling Chair Gaetz, simply say: Please put prevention first and give SB 310, the Prevention First Act, a fair hearing.
Additional comments to include when calling Senator Gaetz:
• The Prevention First Act is a commonsense measure which reduces unintended pregnancy by increasing access to birth control.
• Expanding access to birth control is the best way to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion.
• Preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing the need for abortion is something we can all agree on.
Please contact us at info@floridachoice.org to tell us the results of your call. Thank you.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Storms Is A Liar
There are widespread reports of the big blowout in the Senate yesterday, featuring the freakishly evil Ronda Storms and newcomer Chris Smith.
Smith, a Democrat, at one point went off on Storms, saying "don't piss on me and tell me it's raining." He was rebuked for the language by committee chair Mike Fasano and he apologized for the choice of words. Who cares? Why did Fasano even make an issue of it? Does anyone actually believe that legislators don't cuss or use colorful metaphors all the time? Does anyone actually think that such language could actually cause anyone any harm? Does anyone think that the problems Florida faces are so minor that we should be worrying about things so ridiculous? Anyone not see the hypocrisy on Fasano's part? What with the content of his brother Tim's blog?
The real problems in this meeting came from Storms. She made a sarcastic remark about President Barack Obama, referring to him as "the messiah," and whining that Obama supporters can't stand to see him questioned. Fasano reprimanded her for the remark, saying that the president should be respected, regardless of who is in the office. She failed to apologize. No surprise there, she's batshit crazy. And remarks like that are to be expected from her. That remark wasn't the problem and, again, we have bigger things to worry about.
But she also repeatedly lied before the committee. And that's a significant problem. Most media reports gloss over the rest of her remarks focusing on the dueling inappropriate comments. The problem is that while those are sexy, headline-grabbing remarks, the fact that Storms repeatedly referred to discredited smears of the president and used ridiculous logic while discussing actual public policies is the real story here and few (outside of NPR) are letting the public know about it.
Storms repeatedly made reference to the "fact" that Obama "promised" to take part in the public finance system for the general election last year, then "flip-flopped" and/or "lied" and opted out of the system. This argument has been widely rejected as not even remotely true, but you couldn't blame an average citizen for believing it, since the media repeats it. Storms, though, is held to a higher standard since she is an elected representative of the people. She is supposed to know better and is supposed to do her homework on behalf of her constituents, not just repeat Fox News talking points.
As anyone who has been paying attention knows, Obama said, quite clearly and repeatedly, that he would opt in to the public finance system if, and only if, John McCain would agree to stringent rules that would limit not only what the campaigns did, but 527s, political parties and other groups as well. Obama knew, based on Republican history, that the candidate would abide by any agreement, but would then outsource the dirty tricks to these other groups. Obama acted on that knowledge and said that things had to be done fair and honest or that he wouldn't handcuff himself and give McCain an unfair advantage. McCain and his people rejected these conditions, so Obama stayed out of the public finance system. Very straightforward concept. If...then. No if, no then.
If Storms didn't know this, she should've. It's really easy to find stuff like this out. Even worse, though, was the fact that she then twisted the results of the election to support her ridiculous position on publicly-financed elections. Her claim, and I'm not making this up, was that since Obama "lied" about public financing and he won the election, then the people don't support public financing. This is utterly ridiculous. Nobody, not one single voter, anywhere, ever, has voted for or against a candidate solely because of their stance on publicly-financed elections. People vote on other things for other reasons (rightfully so) and Storms is, in addition to her directly lying, being intellectually dishonest with this stupid, stupid claim. Shame on her, but this is business as usual for her and is a clear indictment of the voters of her district who supported her. She isn't qualified to be a dogcatcher, much less one of the people making decisions on our behalf.
Smith, a Democrat, at one point went off on Storms, saying "don't piss on me and tell me it's raining." He was rebuked for the language by committee chair Mike Fasano and he apologized for the choice of words. Who cares? Why did Fasano even make an issue of it? Does anyone actually believe that legislators don't cuss or use colorful metaphors all the time? Does anyone actually think that such language could actually cause anyone any harm? Does anyone think that the problems Florida faces are so minor that we should be worrying about things so ridiculous? Anyone not see the hypocrisy on Fasano's part? What with the content of his brother Tim's blog?
The real problems in this meeting came from Storms. She made a sarcastic remark about President Barack Obama, referring to him as "the messiah," and whining that Obama supporters can't stand to see him questioned. Fasano reprimanded her for the remark, saying that the president should be respected, regardless of who is in the office. She failed to apologize. No surprise there, she's batshit crazy. And remarks like that are to be expected from her. That remark wasn't the problem and, again, we have bigger things to worry about.
But she also repeatedly lied before the committee. And that's a significant problem. Most media reports gloss over the rest of her remarks focusing on the dueling inappropriate comments. The problem is that while those are sexy, headline-grabbing remarks, the fact that Storms repeatedly referred to discredited smears of the president and used ridiculous logic while discussing actual public policies is the real story here and few (outside of NPR) are letting the public know about it.
Storms repeatedly made reference to the "fact" that Obama "promised" to take part in the public finance system for the general election last year, then "flip-flopped" and/or "lied" and opted out of the system. This argument has been widely rejected as not even remotely true, but you couldn't blame an average citizen for believing it, since the media repeats it. Storms, though, is held to a higher standard since she is an elected representative of the people. She is supposed to know better and is supposed to do her homework on behalf of her constituents, not just repeat Fox News talking points.
As anyone who has been paying attention knows, Obama said, quite clearly and repeatedly, that he would opt in to the public finance system if, and only if, John McCain would agree to stringent rules that would limit not only what the campaigns did, but 527s, political parties and other groups as well. Obama knew, based on Republican history, that the candidate would abide by any agreement, but would then outsource the dirty tricks to these other groups. Obama acted on that knowledge and said that things had to be done fair and honest or that he wouldn't handcuff himself and give McCain an unfair advantage. McCain and his people rejected these conditions, so Obama stayed out of the public finance system. Very straightforward concept. If...then. No if, no then.
If Storms didn't know this, she should've. It's really easy to find stuff like this out. Even worse, though, was the fact that she then twisted the results of the election to support her ridiculous position on publicly-financed elections. Her claim, and I'm not making this up, was that since Obama "lied" about public financing and he won the election, then the people don't support public financing. This is utterly ridiculous. Nobody, not one single voter, anywhere, ever, has voted for or against a candidate solely because of their stance on publicly-financed elections. People vote on other things for other reasons (rightfully so) and Storms is, in addition to her directly lying, being intellectually dishonest with this stupid, stupid claim. Shame on her, but this is business as usual for her and is a clear indictment of the voters of her district who supported her. She isn't qualified to be a dogcatcher, much less one of the people making decisions on our behalf.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Legislative Round-up
Pushing Rope: Compassionate Conservatism: Making the Unemployed Pay to Be Drug Tested
Pushing Rope: The Impact Fees Tax Shift
Blast Off!: The obligatory blog post about bestiality
Blast Off!: Haridopolos panders again
Florida Citizens for Science: Letter in the Ledger
Progress Florida (Ray Seaman): Stop Trying To Undermine The People's Government
Pushing Rope: The Impact Fees Tax Shift
Blast Off!: The obligatory blog post about bestiality
Blast Off!: Haridopolos panders again
Florida Citizens for Science: Letter in the Ledger
Progress Florida (Ray Seaman): Stop Trying To Undermine The People's Government
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Lawson Calls Crist to Task on Stimulus
Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson (D-Tallahassee) on Tuesday called on the Chairman of the powerful Senate Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means to bypass a lengthy appropriations process and move instead to authorize immediate approval of stimulus funds for shovel ready transportation projects.
He also sharply criticized the apparent paralysis of the governor to create a federally-mandated website outlining the projects for both job seekers and job bidders, and the inability of the state transportation agency to move the proposed road projects from the draft stage to a final product.
“It has come to my attention that the federal stimulus money may be in jeopardy of speedily reaching those Floridians desperately in need of an economic life raft,” wrote Lawson in a letter to Chairman J. D. Alexander. “There appear to be three impediments to jumpstarting our economy via the stimulus package.”
According to Lawson, the first obstacle is the governor’s office, which has not followed the lead of Georgia or Alabama or any of the 26 states which have their websites up and running. “How are potential job seekers or potential job bidders supposed to know what’s available without the transparency the governor once promised? His office’s assertion that the website “is coming soon” is little consolation to those floundering in cyber silence,” Lawson noted.
The second is the perceived foot-dragging by the Florida Department of Transportation which, according to its own website, has not moved any of the proposed projects from the draft stage first outlined in early December. “Has nothing changed since then?” Lawson asked. “Is the agency prepared to explain why nothing more concrete has emerged to put tens of thousands of unemployed Floridians back to work?”
Lawson noted that while the Legislature may be unable to control the speed with which the governor and his agency move the stimulus plans forward, it does have the power to expedite approval of the road projects. It also has the power to remove potential political pitfalls.
“I don’t believe it is necessary to detail for you the concerns I have about legislative meddling in something so crucial to Florida’s recovery and her families’ survival. You and I are far too familiar with the political posturing and machinations that can occur when billions of dollars are at stake and individual lawmakers are deciding where that money is to go. Manipulation of those funds for political purposes is much too tempting, and I fear for the little guy when the big guys are calling the shots,” Lawson wrote.
“I respectfully request that rather than through a special spending bill, we authorize the Legislative Budget Commission, once the DOT submits a project request, to immediately release the necessary funds in order to get them moving.
“I think you will agree that with unemployment close to 9 percent, the last thing our job seekers want to hear is government bureaucracy impeding their ability to earn a living. AWI’s assertion that they’re ‘hoping it will be this year’ just doesn’t cut it.
“Floridians lining up for jobs are more than ready to don the shovels and get back to work. The power is in our hands to help them get there more quickly.”
Monday, March 2, 2009
FL-Sen: Dan Gelber is the Man
The following post reflects the opinions of Kenneth Quinnell solely, and is not necessarily endorsed by other members of the Florida Progressive Coalition.
Florida currently is in the early stages of a U.S. Senate race to replace congressional waste of space Mel Martinez. Provided that Governor Charlie Crist doesn't jump in the race, the seat should be a solid pick-up opportunity for the Democrats. But we certainly don't want just any Democrat replacing Martinez, we want a progressive Democrat who will fight for our values and will work his or her ass off to make America a better place. That's why I'm personally endorsing Dan Gelber and will do what I can to help him win the primary.
Why Gelber? The reasons are many, but let's start with a big first one -- he's as progressive as legislators come. Dan is a thoughtful man who actually takes the time to understand the issues and how government actions affect people in the real world. And he's a big fan of things like logic, reason and evidence. Combining these things, he comes down on the right side of the issues about as often as anyone I can think of, particularly in the Florida legislature. Take a look at his voting record and you'll be pleased to see such a principled, liberal record from a member of the Florida legislature. And when people hit him with the same old, tired conservative Rush Limbaugh-style attacking points, he's prepared for them and can counter them as good, if not better, than the best pundits and bloggers out there.
We know how Dan thinks and feels on the issues because he doesn't shy away from taking a stand and he comes right to the people and tells us what he's doing and why. A simple look at his blog (http://www.dangelber.com/blog/blog_archive.php) will show you that he's not afraid to take his case to the people. And that use of the blog is another big reason why I support Gelber -- he's on the cutting edge of online technology. As I mentioned, he's a blogger, but he's not just any blogger. Take a look at the average blog from a politician and you'll quickly be asleep. Most of them tend to be boring -- lacking in any passion or anything that might give us some insight into what the politician is thinking or feeling. There isn't anything dangerous on the average politician's blog -- nothing that could get them in trouble. Gelber, on the other hand, is a real blogger. He writes like a blogger who happens to be a politician, not the other way around. We know what he thinks and he doesn't hold back when he goes after the other side. And he does it with a personal touch -- we actually get to know Dan. The Netroots activists of Florida recognized the quality of his blog last year at our statewide awards ceremony by voting him the winner in four categories in our Annual Netroots Awards. That made him the top winner. Bloggers and online activists recognized him as one of us.
With the legislative session that starts today, Gelber is going even further with the use of new media, by livetweeting the Florida legislative session that will meet over the next 60 days. This isn't unprecedented at the national level and I some legislators in other states have done similar things, but Dan is breaking new ground here in Florida. And with the decline of our state and local media, we'll actually know more about what's going on in the capitol by reading Gelber's tweets than we will from reading our newspapers or watching the local news. Gelber has also been a repeat guest on our Florida Progressive Radio show on BlogTalkRadio and has made public appearances at our Netroots events. The point is he's a big supporter of the Netroots and shows that by participating in the things we do even more than many of our bloggers.
Maybe the biggest reason I want Dan Gelber representing me in Washington, though, is that he is a fighter. I've alluded to this a couple of times in terms of his blogging and things like that, but he doesn't just sit behind a computer and throw darts at the opposition, he gets out in the real world and mixes it up with Republicans as often as he can. He knows the legislative rules better than they do and despite being in a steep minority in the House, he was able to slow down Republican activity with procedural moves when they decided to ignore even basic rules of decorum and professionalism and prevent Democrats from even exercising their rights to free speech on the legislative floor. Gelber outmaneuvered Republican "star" Marco Rubio and forced the Republicans to back down and do the right thing. And he has a long track record of fighting the excesses of Florida Republicans, something that will serve him well when fighting Washington Republicans, who are mild compared to the subspecies we face here in Tallahassee. And it isn't just on the floor of the legislature, either, when election time comes around, we know which side Gelber is on and we don't have to worry about him using his position to help Republicans get elected.
None of this is to say that I would have any problem working to make sure that Kendrick Meek or Kevin Burns (or a number of other Democrats if they jumped into the race) won in the general election. Meek has a great voting record and it would be great to have more African-Americans in the Senate. Similarly, Burns would be the first openly-gay member of the Senate and that would be a significant step forward for America. I do question Meek's priorities, though, and I'm unconvinced that Burns could win the general election at this point. I want a proven fighter representing me. I want someone who is on the right side of the issues, knows how the system works and who believes in expanding the tools we use to change our country. I think that candidate is Dan Gelber.
Florida currently is in the early stages of a U.S. Senate race to replace congressional waste of space Mel Martinez. Provided that Governor Charlie Crist doesn't jump in the race, the seat should be a solid pick-up opportunity for the Democrats. But we certainly don't want just any Democrat replacing Martinez, we want a progressive Democrat who will fight for our values and will work his or her ass off to make America a better place. That's why I'm personally endorsing Dan Gelber and will do what I can to help him win the primary.
Why Gelber? The reasons are many, but let's start with a big first one -- he's as progressive as legislators come. Dan is a thoughtful man who actually takes the time to understand the issues and how government actions affect people in the real world. And he's a big fan of things like logic, reason and evidence. Combining these things, he comes down on the right side of the issues about as often as anyone I can think of, particularly in the Florida legislature. Take a look at his voting record and you'll be pleased to see such a principled, liberal record from a member of the Florida legislature. And when people hit him with the same old, tired conservative Rush Limbaugh-style attacking points, he's prepared for them and can counter them as good, if not better, than the best pundits and bloggers out there.
We know how Dan thinks and feels on the issues because he doesn't shy away from taking a stand and he comes right to the people and tells us what he's doing and why. A simple look at his blog (http://www.dangelber.com/blog/blog_archive.php) will show you that he's not afraid to take his case to the people. And that use of the blog is another big reason why I support Gelber -- he's on the cutting edge of online technology. As I mentioned, he's a blogger, but he's not just any blogger. Take a look at the average blog from a politician and you'll quickly be asleep. Most of them tend to be boring -- lacking in any passion or anything that might give us some insight into what the politician is thinking or feeling. There isn't anything dangerous on the average politician's blog -- nothing that could get them in trouble. Gelber, on the other hand, is a real blogger. He writes like a blogger who happens to be a politician, not the other way around. We know what he thinks and he doesn't hold back when he goes after the other side. And he does it with a personal touch -- we actually get to know Dan. The Netroots activists of Florida recognized the quality of his blog last year at our statewide awards ceremony by voting him the winner in four categories in our Annual Netroots Awards. That made him the top winner. Bloggers and online activists recognized him as one of us.
With the legislative session that starts today, Gelber is going even further with the use of new media, by livetweeting the Florida legislative session that will meet over the next 60 days. This isn't unprecedented at the national level and I some legislators in other states have done similar things, but Dan is breaking new ground here in Florida. And with the decline of our state and local media, we'll actually know more about what's going on in the capitol by reading Gelber's tweets than we will from reading our newspapers or watching the local news. Gelber has also been a repeat guest on our Florida Progressive Radio show on BlogTalkRadio and has made public appearances at our Netroots events. The point is he's a big supporter of the Netroots and shows that by participating in the things we do even more than many of our bloggers.
Maybe the biggest reason I want Dan Gelber representing me in Washington, though, is that he is a fighter. I've alluded to this a couple of times in terms of his blogging and things like that, but he doesn't just sit behind a computer and throw darts at the opposition, he gets out in the real world and mixes it up with Republicans as often as he can. He knows the legislative rules better than they do and despite being in a steep minority in the House, he was able to slow down Republican activity with procedural moves when they decided to ignore even basic rules of decorum and professionalism and prevent Democrats from even exercising their rights to free speech on the legislative floor. Gelber outmaneuvered Republican "star" Marco Rubio and forced the Republicans to back down and do the right thing. And he has a long track record of fighting the excesses of Florida Republicans, something that will serve him well when fighting Washington Republicans, who are mild compared to the subspecies we face here in Tallahassee. And it isn't just on the floor of the legislature, either, when election time comes around, we know which side Gelber is on and we don't have to worry about him using his position to help Republicans get elected.
None of this is to say that I would have any problem working to make sure that Kendrick Meek or Kevin Burns (or a number of other Democrats if they jumped into the race) won in the general election. Meek has a great voting record and it would be great to have more African-Americans in the Senate. Similarly, Burns would be the first openly-gay member of the Senate and that would be a significant step forward for America. I do question Meek's priorities, though, and I'm unconvinced that Burns could win the general election at this point. I want a proven fighter representing me. I want someone who is on the right side of the issues, knows how the system works and who believes in expanding the tools we use to change our country. I think that candidate is Dan Gelber.
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