Florida Senate Republicans Hate Gay People, Unmarried People, Common Decency

Specifically:

Carey Baker
Rhonda Storms
Dan Webster
Stephen Wise

So says their endorsement of the Hate Amendment.

Legislative Watch -- S2400

S2400: Would require that an ultrasound be performed on any woman obtaining an abortion (Webster): This is a thinly-veiled assault on a woman's right to choose. We talked about this bill on the radio show yesterday and it really does two things. First, it tells women that they aren't wise enough to understand the decision they are making and that if they only saw a picture of the fetus, they'd change their mind. Second, it adds an expensive add-on to the cost of an abortion, pricing poor women out of making this particular choice. These type of laws are never equal. No matter hwo many restrictions you put on abortion, rich women will still be able to get them, but laws like this simply make it harder for por women to exercise their constitutional rights.

Campbell Hates Taxes, Honesty...Republicans?

House District 32 Special Election Candidate Sean Campbell has been going on and on about his "top priority" -- property taxes. And he warns that his opponent, Tony Sasso, will raise taxes if elected. This ignores, of course, the fact that Sasso actually voted repeatedly to cut taxes as Cocoa Beach City Commissioner. While Sasso did vote to increase tax revenue, what this really means is that he voted to support real estate improvements and new growth, things that generate additional tax revenue while maintaining or even cutting tax rates.

So, while Campbell is dishonest in going after Sasso, he is on target in attacking people who say they favor lower taxes but actually vote to increase taxes. It's good to see that he's takign on the Republicans in the legislature, who love to talk about cutting taxes, but actually have done quite a bit to increase them. Like last year when they required local governments to increase their share of education funding -- something they could only do by raising taxes.

But lets not just talk about this in generalities, lets get some numbers, using the Republican way of looking at this, tax "revenue" increases:
*Will Weatherford (R-Land O' Lakes) - Voted to increase property tax revenues more than $550 million
*Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues more than $1.5 billion, for a total of nearly $3 billion
*Ray Sansom (R-Gulf Breeze) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues by $2.7 billion for a total of nearly $7 billion
*Marco Rubio (R-Miami) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues by $3.8 billion for a total of more than $40 billion
*Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) - Voted to increase tax revenues so many times that its hard to keep track, but the total is certainly more than Rubio's

This is the problem with so much of the Republican rhetoric, they create dishonest standards by which to judge their opponents, and don't apply these same standards to themselves.