This is mostly unrelated to what's going on in Florida, I know, but it is a step forward for the progressive movement and the country.
...and Rush Limbaugh is still a big fat idiot. Thanks Al!
The most talked about story on the Florida blogs yesterday was Ray Sansom's resignation from Northwest Florida State College. Here's what people said...
Re/Creating Tampa: Sansomwatch - Can this really be the end?
Sherman Dorn: Sansom watch, January 4 edition
Interstate4Jamming2: It Should Never Have Been A Difficult Decision To Make
Why Now?: Kept The Wrong Job
Pushing Rope: Sansom Quits Northwest Florida State College
Progressive Pensacola: Sansom resigns college job
Flablog: Silent Ray speaks!
This is our regular feature where every day I do a post with the top 10 blog posts that I think people should read from the previous day. Posts are included here and ranked based on a combination of originality, focus on Florida, length (longer, more thorough analysis is better), quality of writing and impact of the story.
1. madfloridian - Political caving-in and other stuff since 2000 that has angered me the most: "No, I am not simply being negative. I am looking ahead by looking back. They say that is how you keep history from repeating itself. I have made no secret of the fact that I think Democrats need to bravely stand up and say who they are."
2. FLA Politics - The problem with Florida's traditional media: "When alleged journalists like Lindley describe people like Jim Smith as an individual who 'remains a calm, reasoned, honorable thinker', we see what is wrong with the traditional media."
3. FLA Politics - "Lapdogs": "The Orlando Sentinel editorial board, starts today by calling the kettle black, asking 'Who doesn't like a lapdog?'"
4. Eye on Miami (Genius of Despair) - The Worst Thing I Have Ever Seen Happen in Florida: "Yes, this woman is shouting at Jews: 'Go back to the oven!'"
5. FLA Politics (Tally) - More Meek: "And a Democratic slate that contained Meek, Sink running for re-election, and Garcia, would be a real-life counterpoint to Jeb's remark that the Republican Party can't afford to be 'The Old White Guy Party.'"
6. BeThink - "I'm Dying;" Please Ponder My Plea: "I did not know of him or of his condition until today. When he first approached me, he assured me, I did not need to assist him. He was well taken care of. kwickkick wanted to help me help myself. Indeed, he hoped to lend a hand to all who reside in America. He had only his story, a reminder of what is most important to a person when they learn they are about to pass. Kwickkick offered his plea, to you, and to me, and asked us to ponder."
7. FLA Politics (Tally) - Jeb's view of Property Insurance: "I was cleaning out some old files on my computer when I came across a copy I had made of an op-ed piece former Rep. Don Brown, (R), HD-5, wrote for an obscure panhandle paper (at least that's where I found it on-line back in January of 2007). What's interesting about that is Don Brown was an important member of the committee set up in the waning days of the Jeb Bush administration to reform property insurance. The committee was headed by Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings and produced a report with several suggestions (none of which was "have prices drop like a rock")."
8. The Spencerian - Off the Radar: McKone Challenges Nehr: "Tom McKone is going to challenge bankrupt Republican Peter Nehr in Florida House District 48. Peter Nehr is pretty weak. This should be a pick-up for Democrats in 2010. Put this one on the priority list, House Victory."
9. Radio or Not - Back to school, back to work...: "So, the fact that all three kids started a new school today is where the similarity ends. The Obama girls are going to a very exclusive private school in DC, and Alison is going to a better school than the one I originally lied about my address to keep her out of."
10. Shepherding Truth - An Open Letter to the American Bishops: "Enough! Enough of your distortions of Scripture. You continue to claim that a loving homosexual act in a committed relationship is condemned in Scripture, when competent scholars are nearly unanimous in acknowledging that nowhere in Scripture is the problem of sexual acts between two gay men or lesbian women who love each other, ever dealt with, never mind condemned. You must listen to biblical scholars to find out what Scripture truly has to say about homosexual relationships."
The latest links to the information you need to counter right-wing spin...
Reports suggest Israeli forces using cluster bombs in Gaza
Gay Rights Threaten Freedom of Belief, Conservative myth 2.0
A Final Report Card on the Reagan Years?
New Deal gets a raw deal when conservatives rap FDR
Global Warming's One Percent Doctrine--A Bit More Than One Percent
Good stuff you all should read from bloggers in other states...
Pam's House Blend: Why blacks should support gay marriage
Open Left: Northern Racism--Yes, I Know It Exists
The Democratic Strategist: Let’s face it. All too often Democrats end up just yelling at each other when they try to discuss long-term political strategy – with the challenges that confront us, it’s urgent that we figure out how to do better
AMERICAblog: More from Josh on the tax cuts
Down With Tyranny: Does Obama Have What It Takes To Rescue America From The Bush Economic Miracle?
Daily Kos: Why the Employee Free Choice Act Is So Important: The Power of Organization
Open Left: A Bit Of Deep Background On Israel And Palestine From Robert Fisk
Rankings of states on various topics have been coming out fast and furious lately and Florida's numbers don't look good. Here are the latest numbers:
Florida is No. 3 is prison population, with more than 100 thousand
Florida is No. 2 in foreclosures
Florida is No. 50 for children's health care
Florida ranks last in access to emergency care
Florida ranks No. 50 in education funding
The Florida health care system ranks No. 50
Florida ranks No. 50 in high-school graduation rates
Florida ranks No. 1 in the number of convicted public officials from 1998-2007
This is our regular feature where every day I do a post with the top 10 blog posts that I think people should read from the previous day. Posts are included here and ranked based on a combination of originality, focus on Florida, length (longer, more thorough analysis is better), quality of writing and impact of the story.
1. Pam's House Blend (Waymon Hudson) - Words Matter: Hate and Bigotry: "My answer to that is that we use the same words. Hate is hate. Bigotry is Bigotry, whether you hold up a sign that says 'God Hates Fags' or call us pedophiles and incestuous on national TV."
2. Progress Florida (Ray Seaman) - Jeb's Ghost of Fiscal Years Past: "However, there is one person which did a lot to weaken Florida's government and sow the seeds for the economic downturn which has the entire state scrambling: Jeb Bush."
3. FLA Politics (Tally) - Debbie W-S Trashes Jeb: "Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz talks about why Jeb would NOT make a good senator and also is clear that she's not interested in the job."
4. FLA Politics (alachuagreen) - Why is Charlie Grapski still in jail?: "January 1 marks Charlie's Grapski's 83rd day in the Alachua County Jail, where he is being held without bond. Who is Charlie Grapski? And why is he in jail? Please be patient,. I will be posting much more about this extraodinary case of political corruption, false arrests and prosecutorial abuse."
5. Smashed Frog - Puzzling Over Adam Walsh: "Incredulous bloggers nationwide are all over the closed investigation. And the more questions that are asked, the more possible answers pop up. "
6. Talk to Me - Political Squawk: Adam Walsh and William Dillion: "Surprise doesn't begin to cover the response dissecting the-snap-the-lid-shut ending after nearly 30 years of many questions that yet remain unresolved."
7. Eye on Miami (Genius of Despair) - Why Does the Miami Herald Kiss the Ass of Florida Power and Light?: "We readers all know Florida Power and Light are trying desperately to expand the definition of CLEAN ENERGY and do away with the current words of RENEWABLE ENERGY so that nuclear and clean coal (oxymoron) can be somehow included in Crist’s statement. All of this word wrangling is because Governor Crist has set a goal, that 20% of all electrical power should come from 'renewable energy.' So before your eyes that statement is going to change, it will be massaged by FP&L lobbyists/brass to include UNRENWABLE energy and the reporter is not quoting any environmentalists with their side of the story of why this betrayal of the public trust should not happen."
8. Adam4PD - Remarks upon receiving the Duisberg Peace and Justice Award: "I want to thank everyone for this tremendous honor. Believe me, it is not false modesty when I say that I feel unworthy of this recognition. As many of you know, I just finished an unsuccessful campaign for public office. The best part of campaigning is the people that you meet. And it was just about a year ago that I met Peter Duisberg for the first time. Since then I have had about a dozen contacts with Peter, and on every occasion that we speak he expresses to me the absolute imperative of Peace."
9. Eye on Miami (Livelivebythesea) - Reflecting on the New Year...and life!: "We have however, reinvigorated the values that made this a great nation when we voted for our first African American president. We will need his vision and leadership to regain the economic, political, and moral high ground. We will need to have the American fortitude and courage to support, and follow good leadership, and to reject petty partisan attempts to abrogate power back to those that have brought us to this low state."
10. St. Petersblog - Wacky Florida as wacky as ever: "I felt pressured to write some kind of a Top 10, or a look back at 2008 or some kind of bullshit low hanging fruit post like every other blog out in the interether but I’m too damn lazy. Fortunately the AP had enough good sense to realize what a goddamn goldmine Florida is for weird news stories and produced this look at the year in news."
Good stuff you all should read from bloggers in other states...
Democratic Strategist: Fire on the Mountain: Blue/Green Coalitions and Why They Work
MyDD: The Demise Of The Southern Strategy
Open Left: Needed: Frames For Progressive Swing Voters
Open Left: Are The Culture Wars MUCH Realer And Deeper Than Obama Realizes?
Open Left: The "Arab Rejectionism" Dodge
Open Left: Should We Judge Anyone By Anything They've Done?
Discourse.net: Please Tell Me This "Famine of 2009" Stuff Is Wrong
Wonk Room: Conservative ‘No-Bailout Alternative’ For Automakers Amounts To Union-Busting
Pensito Review: Poll: Education Level, Not Race, Drove Prop 8 Win
Down With Tyranny: Will The Next Spree Of Gerrymandering Help The Republicans Get Back Control Of Congress?
Eschaton: Statehood
The latest links to the information you need to counter right-wing spin...
Remarks made after September 11, 2001, by our "media experts" at the time
5 Disastrous Decisions That Got Us into This Economic Mess
GOP Exposed: the 'first shot' against organized labor
400,000 Documents Show ‘It Is A Myth’ That Fannie And Freddie Caused The Housing Crisis
Challenging the 'Bush Kept Us Safe' Meme
Report: Abortion does not lead to long-term depression
Al Gore leads new ‘Reality’ Coalition to debunk ‘clean coal’ myth
Fox News repeatedly echoes only opponents of Employee Free Choice Act
Good stuff you all should read from bloggers in other states...
Open Left: How About Strident Action On Behalf Of Democrats?
Open Left: The Psychological Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives
Open Left: What Is Conservatism? Conservatives Have No Idea
AMERICAblog: A reader argues that small stores matter
Open Left: Centralization of Governing Authority on the Presidency: Part II
Frameshop: Frameshop: 10 Phrases That Will Shape Politics In '09
e.politics: Politics is Viral — AND Local
AMERICAblog: Another $500 a person handout?
Open Left: More Spending Is Not Necessarily Progressive
Open Left: Creating Space for Disagreement
Open Left: An Activist Plan For The Democratic Trifecta
Democratic Strategist: Federalism and the Economic Emergency
The latest links to the information you need to counter right-wing spin...
Will Repugs who see their world ending ever be able to overcome their deep-rooted racism?
Send an e-mail: Urge Obama: Reverse Bush's Final Attack (NARAL)
Send an e-mail: Tell Obama: Pre-K is a Top Priority (NSFS)
Send an e-mail: Urge Obama to Establish Women's Office at Cabinet-Level (NOW)
Sign the petition: Repower, Refuel, and Rebuild America (PEW)
Sign the petition: We need a ceasefire now in Gaza (Credo)
Sign the petition: Food Democracy Now! (AFSU)
Sign the petition: Bush: Take Responsibility for the Financial Crisis (IAP)
Sign the petition: Tell Congress: HUNGER HURTS Hard-Working Families! (FA)
Sign the petition: Values Over Dollars: Fair Path to Citizenship! (CARE2)
Sign the petition: Help Us Kiss Diabetes Goodbye (ADA)
Sign the petition: Fair Pay for Women Now! (IAP)
Sign the petition: Obama: Stand Up for Gay Americans, Say No to Rick Warren (CARE2)
Jeb was governor during a time of budgetary surpluses, and like his brother, demonstrated a striking lack of fiscal responsibility. Instead of wisely investing in public education, laying the foundation for universal health care, or putting a down payment on a green economic future, Jeb sold off the surpluses he received to tax cuts which mostly benefited wealthier Floridians at the expense of the middle class and the poor.
At the same time, Jeb loaded up state government with Bush family lackeys who proceeded to weaken public institutions from within. Perhaps the most notorious of these situations was the Office of Financial Regulation, whose job it is to protect Floridians from fraud. OFR allowed former felons, including those previously convicted of racketeering and fraud, to attain mortgage licenses:
During an eight-month investigation, The Miami Herald analyzed computer records for more than 222,844 Florida mortgage professionals, examined thousands of records from the Office of Financial Regulation, reviewed hundreds of court files and interviewed dozens of regulators, brokers and victims.
The newspaper found:
• From 2000 to 2007, regulators allowed at least 10,529 people with criminal records to work in the mortgage profession. Of those, 4,065 cleared background checks after committing crimes that state law specifically requires regulators to screen, including fraud, bank robbery, racketeering and extortion.
• More than half the people who wrote mortgages in Florida during that period were not subject to any criminal background check. Despite repeated pleas from industry leaders to screen them, Florida regulators have refused.
• Confronted with a growing epidemic of mortgage fraud -- Florida now has the highest rate in the nation -- the number of license revocations declined over the last five years, leaving borrowers at the mercy of predatory brokers.
• During the peak of the housing boom, the Office of Financial Regulation ignored a state law enacted in 2006 that compelled it to perform nationwide criminal background checks on applicants. That failure allowed people convicted in other states -- and in federal court -- to peddle loans in Florida without any scrutiny.
• Regulators allowed at least 20 brokers to keep their licenses even after committing the one crime that seemed sure to get them banned from the industry: mortgage fraud.
We're paying the price now. However, if Jeb runs for US Senate, Florida voters may have the last laugh.
House Speaker Ray Sansom and Senate President Jeff Atwater on Tuesday officially released their call for the special budget-cutting session set to start next week and it closely mirrors the trust-fund raids and cuts Gov. Charlie Crist recommended.
Of particular note: It says higher cigarette taxes are off the table, but making "minor adjustments to existing user fees" and higher "fees and fines relating to traffic enforcement and civil and criminal fees, fines and penalties" are in the mix.
Also included in the call is the governor's request to use fund transfers to help bridge the $2.3 billion divide and to consider a small-business loan program -- although the official call limits it to $10 million in loans and calls it a pilot program. The governor's budget office wanted a program of $50 million to $100 million.
So major and devastating cuts to education, health care, and infrastructure will continue on while the economic recession deepens - just peachy.
It should be widely known that like previous budgets, it didn't have to be this way. Hiking cigarette fees and raising revenue through other means (online sales tax, intangibles tax, closing sales tax loopholes, and/or closing loopholes in the corporate income tax) could have easily been implemented and erased the budget deficit while protecting public education, Medicaid, and key projects.
We don't have the final budget yet - we won't see one until the end of the special session which begins January 5th. However, a budget is the codification of a people's values and priorities. I'd like to believe that Floridians want stronger public schools and affordable and reliable health care, and don't mind having the wealthy pay more for their sailboats.
But even as Washington tries to rescue the economy, the nation will be reeling from the actions of 50 Herbert Hoovers -- state governors who are slashing spending in a time of recession, often at the expense both of their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation's economic future.
...
So why are we doing this to ourselves?
The answer, of course, is that state and local government revenues are plunging along with the economy -- and unlike the federal government, lower-level governments can't borrow their way through the crisis. Partly that's because these governments, unlike the feds, are subject to balanced-budget rules.
Krugman later goes on to argue this as a case for more centralization at the federal level on large spending projects such as infrastructure and health care. He also says that even if states were able to deficit spend, it would be difficult for them to do so.
Still, it would make more sense for states (such as our own) to have more flexibility in the budget process.
Balanced budgets make for great politics, but they don't make a whole lot of economic sense. I love it when I hear politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, who say things like "your family has to balance their checkbook, and so should your government." Again, great politics - but no single American family is supporting a multi-million dollar education system or health care system not to mention funding ambitious infrastructure projects to keep the lights on and the water flowing. No one American family has to protect a state of 18 million people from the sometimes harsh forces of the market. Deficit spending is helpful in times of economic stress to put people back to work and move essential projects along at far cheaper prices than during an economic boom.
Repealing the balanced budget amendment in Florida will likely never happen because of its political infeasibility. However, it is a cautionary tale against bumper sticker solutions to big and complex economic issues.
Builders and developers all over South Florida seem to have adopted the principles of Chairman Mao, who in a 1960's speech said, "The environment is here for the plundering". The environment means absolutely nothing in comparison to the dollar, and as long as there is an area large enough to put a store or a shopping center on, someone is going to try to grab it.
This time the plunder in question is the Everglades Corporate Park, with a ten story hotel and hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space. The complex slated to be built in Sunrise, is the first such development ever to be considered to be built on the west side of the Sawgrass Expressway.
It is to be built on a parcel of land next to a wide canal at the beginning of the Everglades. If the developers and lobbyists have their way, it will be a hotel looking out over the wetlands, surrounded by office and commercial space. The canal will have a seawall, further spoiling the natural beauty of the site.
The project, to be located just north of Sunrise Boulevard, will overlook the River of Grass that we are trying so desperately to restore. This will only serve to set a precedent that other money hungry developers will be quick to follow, and so far, it has been quietly shepherded along by a compliant City of Sunrise and the same set of lawyers and lobbyists that are behind the proposed Lowe's/Kohl's development in Coconut Creek.
Kentucky-based Sawgrass Investors, and its team, which consists of the high-powered Ruden McClosky legal and lobbying firm and a former Coral Springs mayor, Rhon Ernest-Jones, whose firm is engineering the project, along with the development's lobbyist, Dennis Mele, have entered the back door of the City of Sunrise in the same quiet, underhanded fashion in which they infiltrated the Coconut Creek City Commission. In their bid to obtain a key zoning change and avoid environmental scrutiny, they have been busy stuffing a couple of key Sunrise commissioners' pockets with cash for their reelection campaigns.
County records indicate that some campaigns received more than $12,200 on June 27, including contributions from Sawgrass Investments and the project's engineer, Rhon Ernest-Jones. The sum also includes money coming that day from other Ruden McClosky clients with interests in the city, including H. Wayne Huizenga and builder Terry Stiles.
The only dissenting vote by a Sunrise Commissioner came from Sheila Alu: "I don't think I've ever been more opposed to anything in my eight years being on this commission," Alu said on the dais. "As you can see how close this area is to the Everglades, the only thing that buffers it is the C-13 canal... I am going to do everything in my power to fight any negative impact that this development could possibly have on the ecosystem."
It is time to give Ms Alu some help, and stand up for the Everglades. If Florida is really going to make some progress in restoring the Everglades, we must see that this kind of development is stopped before it begins. Please join me in an e-mail campaign to let the City Commissioners know that the environment is more important than filling some already well-stuffed pockets. The e-mail addresses are:
sbferen@cityofsunrise.org;rwishner@cityofsunrise.org; drosen@cityofsunrise.org; salu@cityofsunrise.org ; jscuotto@cityofsunrise.org
go to http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2008-12-11/news/glades-grab/ to read an article by Bob Norman of the Broward/Palm Beach Post
Does Sansom serve his district? Perhaps. He did get $122.5 million for Northwest Florida State College last February, more than any other college. But do you really serve your constituents by handing forkfuls of cash to a state college with one hand, and with the other vote for some of the deepest cuts to education and health care in the state's history? I don't think so - far more people in Sansom's district will be hurt by those cuts than will benefit from whatever is developed at the college.
Apparently the one person Sansom seems to truly answer to is Bob Richburg, the President of Northwest Florida State College, and Sansom's future boss. The St. Petersburg Times/Miami Hearald Tallahassee bureau has the goods:
In a collection of e-mails reviewed by the St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau, a portrait emerges of Sansom, a rising power in the state capital, as an eager-to-please subordinate to college president Bob Richburg.
In the e-mails provided in response to a public records request, Richburg's many requests for assistance are greeted with enthusiasm and optimism.
• "I will get to work on funds."
• "I will get right on this."
• "Just give us the word."
• "This looks great! Next step?"
This is exactly what isn't supposed to happen in a representative democracy. It's fine to have regular conversations with community leaders within a representative's district - in fact I believe it's a really great thing to do. However, to allow one particular leader to monopolize a representative's attention and top of that have that person use the relationship for financial and/or political gain is absolutely terrible.
Sansom has to go. You can take action at www.SackSansom.com
Good stuff you all should read from bloggers in other states...
techPresident: David Plouffe: The Obama Campaign Used Grassroots Data and Computer Modeling to Allocate Resources in Real Time
Down With Tyranny: In Tennessee, the myth of "clean" coal meets the reality of crumbling infrastructure
Open Left: Maddow: Did America Get Punked On the Bailout? Yes...Now Here's What to Do.
Open Left: The Best Public Policies of 2008: Broadcasting Successes
Open Left: In a Recession, Should States Raise Taxes Or Slash Spending?
Open Left: "You Have An Ideology; I Have An Idea."
Open Left: Experts, Citizens, and Democracy (Core Dilemmas of Community Organizing)
Daily Kos: Our Broken Health System: It's Not Just about Insurance
Open Left: The End Of Racism? Not Exactly...
Pam's House Blend: Time to stop the gay v. black competition
Why Now?: Assumed Knowledge
Open Left: America Not Very Ideological As A Nation
MyDD: Dems Have Majority of Congressional Seats in 2/3 of States
Posts
