I don't know if you realize this, but our state government has a reputation for corruption. (And all of this was before we elected a criminal to lead us.)
Well, our new Teabag overlords in the state legislature have finally figured out a way to end the illegal practice of taking payoffs under the table for favorable legislation.
They made it legal.
Just a few days ago, the GOP leadership overwhelmingly fast-tracked a law to bring back slush funds that will be, get this, directly managed by our legislative leadership.
The Florida Legislature proved this past week, once and for all, that it is the utter Whore of Babylon.
It is now legal in our state to pay off the Legislature directly. Who says so? The Legislature.
This is not a joke.
This is not satire.
This is Florida — where the laws of our democracy are now openly, officially For Sale.
First time our legistlature has been called a whore, won't be the last.
The teabag lawmakers who even bothered to try to justify it (and really, why bother?) actually said it would be better to take direct payoffs because it is more "transparent". And besides, they are just sick of trying to hide it.
Former gov. Charlie Crist vetoed this last year, saying these funds were a "vestige" of Florida's corrupt political past and pointed out that the MASSIVELY scandal-ridden Florida GOP shouldn't be fighting so hard to bring them back. (A Democratic-controlled legislature banned these slush funds over 20 years ago.)
These funds will be HUGE special-interest fundraising machines for the GOP. Now, our legislative "leaders" are allowed to steer these unlimited amounts of campaign cash directly into separate accounts they control.
The worst thing about this isn't the fact that they will be taking bribes, even though this legislation streamlines the process. The worst thing I foresee is that our corrupt legislators will be able to "shake down" certain groups or businesses for contributions for exemptions to some of the draconian laws they are poised to pass. (So, eh, MickeY, right? Enjoying your little gun exemption? Ya know, some of the boys think it time we allow MAC-10s to be openly carried in the park. I might be persuaded to call it off, but I could use a little more "encouragement"...)
Everytime I think they can't go any lower, they pull out a stick of dynamite.
How bad can it get? At least we are finally seeing the REAL reason he wanted to be governor.
First, let me bring you up to speed with 5 things you need to know:
1. Rick Scott made millions as CEO of Columbia/HCA. Well, technically, he made it through Medicare fraud, but Columbia was the vehicle.
2. After he was kicked out, he used his stolen money to found an urgent-care chain called Solantic. Shocking...Solantic also engaged in multiple, multiple forms of fraud.
3. Scott absolutely hated the health care reform bill. In 2009, he founded a national front group to run ads to tell people just how bad it would be for them. He spend 5 million of his own money just to let us know this...with no ulterior motive whatsoever.
4. He had a COMPLETE lack of interest in anything about Florida--until he suddenly decided to run for office last year. He spent 70 million of his own funds to win it.
5. In case I forgot to mention it. HE. IS. A. F%^&ING. CRIMINAL.
All caught up? Good.
So you may be wondering, as us Floridians are, what was Rick Scott's REAL motive for running? No one, not even his teabag supporters who put him in office say that Scott is interested at all in helping average citizens. His latest budget proves that.
So why? Is he delusional enough to think he can be president? Maybe. Is there another grand scheme I'm still missing? Perhaps.
But one thing several of us have already figured out is that he is hell-bent on recouping the money he spent. Yet look closer. From his budget proposal to policies he pushed just last week, we have one BIG reason he is now our governor.
In just four short years in office, Scottie is poised to make such a massive fortune that he could hire a Koch brother to plunge his toilet!
Wait. Isn't he rich already? He listed his net worth at $219 million When submitting the election forms. That would be plenty for most, but for people like Scott, it is abject poverty when you look at multi-billionaires like the Koch brothers. And for people like that, it is never enough. Its the same reason they fight tooth and nail for extra tax cuts and don't care if we have to cut every social service, kick every poor, disabled kid, and spit on every teacher to get it.
Right now, it is generous to say that Scott has a "questionable" relationship with Solantic. His co-founder at Solantic vehemenently denies that Scott is involved in day-to-day business. In fact, she said that he no longer takes business calls after he was elected. (I would really f%^#ing hope a governor of a major state wouldn't also try to run a business, but she thought it was a big concession.)
But us libral critics, never satisfied, selfishly insisted he do more to sever the financial relationship with Solantic in order to avoid an obvious conflict of interest.
And in January, our ethical governor FINALLY did. He transfered every bit of his Solantic stock.
Case closed.
I should be happy. But for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that he is somehow still invested in Solantic.
Now, Florida does have an Ethics Commmission. But this underfunded, toothless agency did nothing after three visits from Scott's legal team. Want a transcript of the meetings under our Sunshine Laws? Too bad. There weren't any! Whoops. They must have forgot... three times in a row.
Moving on.
Bottom line... Solantic makes money, Rick Scott's wife makes money, and I'm sure somehow, someway, Rick Scott will get a piece of that.
But our governor wouldn't be so blatant as to make any policy to funnel money to Solantic? My God, we would have to be some kind of stupid state to overlook something like that.
You be the judge:
1. Solantic primarily deals with people who have high premiums or no insurance. The main competitor for Solantic are publically-funded state clinics run by the FL Dept. of Health. Scott's budget proposal cuts ALL funding to these clinics!
(Yes, more than one person has pointed out the irony of him wanting pill mills to stay open while completely eliminating clinics that help the poorest Floridians.)
With the elimination of its biggest competitor, SOLANTIC profits will explode.
By pure coincidence, Rick Scott's wife's company doesn't accept Medicaid, but SOLANTIC does accept private Medicaid HMO reimbursments! (ca-ching)
No conflict of interest there.
3. As you learned if you watched Jon Stewart's hilarious take on Ric Scott last Thursday, the man signed an executive order requiring random drug testing of state employees at least once a quarter along with all applicants for state jobs. He is also pushing the right-wing legislature to use drug test harrassment for another group the GOP hates...welfare recipients.
We are talking hundreds of thousands of Floridians here going to clinics several times a year at least to get these tests. Hey, guess what clinic offers drug testing as a primary service?? Rhymes with MOLE-ANTIC!
4. Biggest one so far. The Palm Beach Post did a great article on this. Although Gov. Mr. Burns hates "Obamacare", he is gladly lobbying like hell for a massive federal block grant from a state waiver that the Act allows. The article says this type of grant is worth BEEEEELL-IONS.
Slick Rick's health policy adviser, Michael Cannon, said it would be in the form of health vouchers that consumers can use as cash for direct-pay medical care. This benefits particular clinics where patients like to pay cash.
Clinics like, (wait for it)....SOL..... (OK, I think you get the point now.)
Thankfully, our Florida Commission on Ethics has to decide whether that last one is a conflict of interest. Yes, that commission.
By the way, the commission has 9 members... 5 of which are picked by the governor. So... ya know. Just count on him to do the right thing.
I heard about Jon's Rick Scott rant at work this morning. Although there was no shortage of material, I was wondering what it would be. Killing jobs? Killing education? Pill mills?
Nope. It was something I missed.
Stewart: Drug Testing State Employees? Did he campaign on that?
[plays Rick Scott's campaign commercial pledging to drug test welfare recipients]
So close!
He wanted to drug test welfare recipients but ended up drug testing anyone who wants to work for the state of Florida! Gov. Scott simply mixed up which group of worthless, public teat sucking leaches he wanted to kick in the nuts.
The entire segment on teabag governors is hilarious, but if you just want to see his entire rant on Rick Scott, it starts at 1:48.
Jon hit the nail on the head. Welfare recipients are always a conservative target and held in the lowest regard. So why not harrass and embarrass them to fire up the teabaggers for your campaign?
But in the short time since Gov. Skeletor's election, the teabaggers have gotten excited about a NEW target--dedicated state employees! (Fuck you teacher! Bite me firefighter!)
So what better way to fire up your base than by harrassing these NEW targets?
Oh, and make a little scratch while you are at it. His company Solantic (now owned by his wife) happens to be in the drug testing business. Just sayin'... Man's gotta get something for the 70 mil he put into this thing.
It's almost 15 years late, but I was wondering when a real news organization would ever call out the obvious fraud on anything. If you are like me, you've been frustrated that an obvious propoganda arm that has no journalistic integrity whatsover has been allowed to pretend otherwise.
In fact, Fox News has been a bully.. using its pundits to go after any real news organization that gets in its way, or dares to challenge their phony "fair and balanced" meme.
But Fox News hit a little too hard against CNN. And Nic Robertson had had enough.
Fox News claimed that Reuters crews and CNN were lured into being "human shields" by Khadafi's buses that toured the destruction in Tripoli to prevent allied forces from bombing.
Nic Robertson lost it:
Outrageous and absolutely hypocritcal. When you come to somwhere like Libya, you expect lies and deceit from a dictatorship. You do not expect it from the other journalists.
He rants about Fox News claiming that they refused to send anyone on the bus because it was all propoganda. But they did, and Nic calls them on this lie.
They sent a Fox News toadie to go along with the 40 real journalists with a hand-held camera who even admitted to them that he had no idea why they sent him.
I urge you to watch the video. You can see his anger building as he talks. He basically says he has no idea why the hell Fox News is even there. The FAUX correspondent NEVER LEAVES HIS HOTEL ROOM!
I see him [Steve Harrigan] more times at breakfast than I see him out on trips.
I don't know who he's talking to here to pick up and find out what the story is. When we go on these government trips... it is for a simple reason. We don't want government officials to film it themselves, edit it themselves, and hand it off to us. We want to look for ourselves...That's why we go. BECAUSE WE ARE NEWS PROFESSIONALS!
This follows Bill Keller, chief editor for the NYT, on his comments going after not only Fox but their idiot viewers.
When Fox cried about it, I loved his statement:
I don't think anyone at Fox believes they are producing even-handed, impartial coverage," he said. "...To say otherwise, to pretend to be something else, does strike me as cynical."
Has Florida finally elected a certifiable whack job as governor?
Pill mills are a huge business here. Crack is so 1980's, and Meth is last year. Drug dealers have blatantly moved into strip malls. They set up these storefront operations that dispense dangerous narcotics like tic-tacs.
Last month, drug agents raided dozens of pill mills (I guess we can now call them "Scott Shops") in South Florida. It was a series of busts, from Palm Beach to Miami, that included more than 20 arrests and the seizure of more than $22 million.
But as the US Drug Enforcement Agency put it, we can only arrest so many. We are the number #1 state for "pill mill tourism" and supply the entire eastern U.S. with illegal prescription narcotics like Vicodin, Percocet, and others. The pill mills kill 7 Floridians a day.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration says that only a good state database can stop it in its tracks. Every law enforcement agency in the state wants the database. Even the GOP Governor of Kentucky (who's state is inundated with these pills) is trying to talk sense into Gov. Voldemort.
Even our right-wing Senate President and his AG won't stand with Rick on this one. Only House leader Dean Cannon, desperate for some teab lovin', is sticking by Rick on this. Cannon jumped on board after Slick Rick shocked everyone by saying he wanted to kill the database because it was an invasion of privacy!
Are you *&^%ing kidding me!? Everytime I register my car I go into a state-run database, and no one calls that an invasion of privacy! But drug-dealers?
By the way, Scott is not only against the database, but also decided to shut down the only office fighting the pill mills once he took office. The FL Office of Drug Control, which was making at least some headway into the pill mills, is no more.
I guess after making his fortune defrauding seniors, he has a soft spot for phony medical businesses.
As the advert says, if you are from out of state and looking for prescription drugs, remember: Florida is open for business.
And yes, Carl, it appears we did elect a whackjob for governor.
Rape is defined as "unlawful penetration through either physical force or duress".
Our teabagging legislature is on the verge of forcing a woman who wants to terminate her pregnancy to submit to a completely unnecessary medical procedure that also happens to be the most instrusive: a vaginal ultrasound.
This is not for any medical reason. None at all: they admit it is all ideological. It is about pressuring a woman to not exercise her legal right by being violated and psychologically traumitized.
The bill will be repeat of the one that failed last year. The process will go like this:
1. The woman will be probed against her will
2. She will then be lectured by the doctor
3. She will then have to PAY FOR IT
These are the same teabagging SOBs who were screaming about government intrusion of health care. And what exactly is more intrusive than forced violation for the sole reason of ideology!?!
This awful bill was attempted last May by zealots in our legislature, some of whom referred to abortion as a holocaust, but thankfully, a few moderate Republicans voiced concern and it was vetoed last year by Charlie Crist.
I was one of many who contacted my representative about this. Last year, I had someone who was GOP but was at least reasonable. (This year I got this guy.)
When I wrote about what they wanted to force women to do, several people who had the procedure done posted about it:
prgsvmama26: its a vaginal probe that looks like a straight dildo and is covered with a condom. Trust me, I had one. It is invasive when you have consented to it. I only had one with my first pregnancy and refused them for every other one.
Annie R: I had it done too, with my permission and still cringe to this day. And it was definitely vaginal. It felt like an assault. I cried during and after. I just wrote Crist and explained it from start to finish, trying to appeal to his "humanity."
Now, those term-limited moderate members are gone--replaced with teabaggers. We have no semblance of sanity this year. Our governor Uncle Fester has said he will support it, along with a dozen other bills that promote the forced-birth agenda:
A ban on coverage of abortions through private health insurance!
A bill making it harder for a minor seeking an abortion to obtain a court order to avoid having to tell her parents or guardians.
A bill requiring a physician to determine the age of a fetus before performing an abortion. (WHAT?!?!)
An outright abortion ban (that is hoped to go to the Supreme Court).
A bill to give to give all revenue from specialty plates to a religious, anti-abortion organization. (Thanks to Jeb Bush, our idiot state created the first state-sponsored fund-raising vehicle for anti-abortion zealots. Here in Orlando, the head of a religious organization oversees the distribution of funds.)
If you live in Florida, contact your representative and tell the bastard to try focusing on jobs for a change. I am always for letting them know how you feel, but I am not delusional into thinking that many of them give a rat's ass about their constituents (at least as long as Rick Scott is allowed to stop the anti-gerrymandering amendments).
This bill, along with the others, will most likely pass. So the our best chance is to fight it in court. Show some love for Florida Planned Parenthood. As you can tell, they are going to have quite an exhausting year.
Florida was hit extra hard by the recession, with the GOP focused for years on giveaways that only benefit the superwealthy, the working class saw sky-high unemployment and the worst housing crisis in the nation.
Homeless children in this state have reached an epidemic proportion. It's so bad that the CBS show 60 minutes showed a heart-breaking tale from my own Seminole County (where I get the name SemDem).
It's the kind of story that would make most people misty-eyed. But what does Florida's Mr. Burns want to do? The criminal that the teabaggers put into office?
The contempt he has for the homeless is so great, he is even cutting a homeless awareness day, designed to bring attention to the plight of the families in our state that are living in thier cars in Wal-Mart parking lots, which costs NO MONEY WHATSOEVER.
Fucking. Monster.
(Again, I'm not exaggerating. I met a mom with her two daughters begging for money at the Wal-Mart on Colonial Dr., and one entire family living in a van at the Sanford Wal-Mart.)
Even if you think the $7 million that helped the 74,000 people last year is too generous, how can you, Mr. Teabagger, justify our governor demanding an extra $343 million for his OWN OFFICE BUDGET?
Evil.
If didn't make it to the Awake the State rally, then donate your time, write a letter to the editor, volunteer to canvass, contribute, or at the very least, DON'T BE AFRAID TO SPEAK UP TO OTHERS. Get Pissed Off.
Charles Koch, the billionaire rightwing libertarian, bought hiring rights for Florida State University's Economics Department for a pawltry 1.5 million dollars. Since the guy makes 3 million an hour in investments, you'd think FSU would have sold out for at least an hour of his time.
The contract specifies that an advisory committee appointed by Koch decides which candidates should be considered. The foundation can also withdraw its funding if it’s not happy with the faculty’s choice or if the hires don’t meet “objectives” set by Koch during annual evaluations.
Grants from Koch also supported the "ideological transformation" at the Economics Dept. at Gulf Coast University:
At Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, every student who majors in economics and finance gets a copy of Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged…FGCU now has a core group of a half dozen economists whose research supports the ideas of free-market capitalism, still an unpopular subject in most faculty lounges. They teach this material to more than 250 economics and finance students (one class is titled “The Moral Foundations of Capitalism”), organize lectures by leading thinkers, publish their research in well-respected journals and hold influential positions in groups that promote free markets.
Yale University was at least offered 20 million, but they turned it down because they proclaimed no one should dictate hiring or curricula. But that's why Florida has no ivy leagues.
Mike Haridopolos: Another Corrupt Overly Coiffed Politician Running For The U.S. Senate
...My advice to Senator Haridopolos is to
a) Quit running for U.S. Senate and concentrate on the job you are getting paid for by the People of Florida.
b) Once your term is up, Go into the private sector and see how the real world lives (My God, the man only knows academia or elected politics) and
c) If you are going to write a tome for academia, for pete’s sake put some effort into it. You latest example doesn’t even meet the standards of a paper written by a Freshman on a Florida State Football Full Athletic Scholarship who got his Girlfriend to write it for him the night before it was due.
My advice to Florida Republicans: Do not elect this man...
You see, I know my state... the stupidity can fill a book. (And rest assured that when I finish it, I won't charge you $152,000 for one copy.)
Our state government is hopelessly broken, and has been for a long time. I can't believe a year ago I thought we hit rock bottom when our GOP overseers used our money to fight the "immorality" of gay adoption, (even trying to tear kids out of loving homes); while simultaneously refusing to pass a law banning animal bestiality. (Goat sex? Cool. Gay adoption? Ewwww).
But here we are. Two months into 2011, and its getting bad to worse. But there is ONE thing we cannot let our state legislators destroy. It is the ONE thing that is the single worst thing that Rick Scott has done.
I'm not talking about last Friday, when high-speed rail officially died.
I'm talking about the ONE thing we can't let rail or the budget or even our hot, sexy goats distract us from. It is the single chance we have to end the stupidity.
We must demand that Rick Scott stop illegally obstructing the implementation of the Fair Districts Amendments.
Floridians overwhelmingly passed these two Constitutional Amendments to end gerrymandering last November--our only bright spot last year. These amendments would stop our incumbent legislators from drawing their own districts.
I don't need to lecture anyone why gerrymandering is bad. But it is worse in Florida than anywhere else. It is why lawmakers feel they can get away with anything, even hot goat sex.
It is a big reason why in a state where there are approx. 100,000 more Democrats than GOP, NOT ONE state legislator lost his seat even in the blue wave election of 2008. In fact, of the hundreds of state legislative elections in the past decade--only 10 have lost. The incumbents don't even bother campaigning. Our Congressional districts aren't much better. They look like they were drawn by a meth addict. Corrine Brown lives in Jacksonville but somehow represents Orlando. My Congressman's office is in St. Augustine--100 miles away from my house in Winter Springs!
Wingnut lawmakers tried to stop it. They passed their own amendment proposal that was purposely written incoherently which, if passed, would have thrown out the Fair District Amendments. A judge saw through the scheme and threw it out. GOP PAC money poured in to defeat the amendments, but it failed as well. Even in this nutty state, the amendments passed with a whopping 63% of the vote, and in a red-wave election to boot.
Of course, a federal lawsuit was filed against it... and not one, but THREE very expensive law firms were hired by our GOP Speaker to help overturn the amendments. (Apparently, we can't afford teachers but we can afford to pay high-priced lawyers to overturn our own damn vote!)
However, all of that hard work and dirty tricks to keep the amendments off the ballot, fight them when they were on the ballot, and trying to sue to stop them now were all for naught. WHY?
Rick Scott is simply not going to implement them.
Just three days in office, Gov. Rick Scott blocked paperwork needed to make the Fair Districts laws take effect. He didn't tell his constituents. It was only discovered by an attorney who called to check on its progress at the Deptartment of Justice. (Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires Florida to submit any standards to be pre-cleared through DOJ.)
The Counsel to FairDistricts Now called the Secretary of State’s office and was told, “We cannot tell you why, only that we were directed to do so.” (Rick Scott's new Sec. of State actively campaigned against these amendments.)
Another official said that he did not know if the paperwork would be resubmitted.
Seriously. Our Governor, elected with under 50% of the vote, apparently has dictatorial powers and can alone choose not to implement Constitutional Amendments that passed with a super majority.
Except, these aren't "rules, regulations, or contracts of the previous administration"! THEY ARE GODDAMNED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS! There is nothing to "review" or fine print to examine. There is no cost-benefit analysis to conduct. These are not new state rules imposed by an underfunded state agency. THESE ARE AMENDMENTS APPROVED BY FLORIDIANS!
Another excuse from Scott's deputy communications director was that census data has not been transmitted to the state yet. What the hell this had to do with getting pre-approval from DOJ is anyone's guess.
Yet there is no indication that Rick Scott will move forward with this. As I write this, he is working hand in hand with his allies in the state legislature, who hate these amendments more than he does.
These bastards will stop at nothing to defeat these amendments using any legal or illegal maneuver. But fair elections are the only chance our poor state has in ending all of the nonsense.
Fair Districts Florida has converted to Fair Districts Now for the definite upcoming legal battle. If you know a redistricting lawyer or just want to help, Email Ellen Freidin of FDN.
The greed that led teachers into the profession has now corrupted it. I am sick of all these "fat cat" teachers. States are broke... we can only afford to give extra tax cuts for the superwealthy or keep a few teachers, not both people!
You read the title of this post right. I am not exaggerating in the least. Just more wingnuttery from my state legislature. This time from new freshman teabagger Sen. Jim Norman.
Jim Norman of FL District 12 is one of those newbies pushed by teabaggers in the last election. Like many of his kind, he has a history of ethics problems. But in a state where a criminal can be elected governor, a state senator with a mountain of ethics complaints and an FBI probe gets a chairmanship.
Sen. Norman introduced SB 1246 last Friday, which would make it a 1st degree felony to photgraph any part of a farm (even from public property) without written permission of the farm owner first.
WHY is he doing this? Is he insane? No, the voters here are... but that's another post.
The intent of this stupid bill is to prevent someone from an animal rights group to pretend to be a farm worker and secretly film torturing or abusing of farm animals on private property. Now, this is already illegal here, mind you. The infiltration, that is: not the farm animal abuse. Animal rights here are looked down upon almost as much as worker rights. (When voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2002 to stop the practice of putting pregnant pigs in ultra-confining cages, the legislature went ballistic--long story short, the requirements for citizen intiatives now demand a super-majority.)
Yet, somehow, these videos are still getting made. Logically, the next step is to arrest someone with a wide angle lens who happens to snap a picture that includes an open pasture.
Seriously.
Last January, I took a picture of a church near Geneva. There is a cow behind a fence in the background. If this bill becomes law, I can look forward to being charged with a first degree felony on par with murderers and bank robbers.
Oh, here is one I found of a nearby farm with some horses I thought were adorable:
GUESS it will be jail for me!
I wonder if someone forgot to tell these FLeabaggers that the Constitution they profess to love includes a first amendment as well.
Part VII of My Stupid State: The title of this post says it all. But instead of a "Thank You for bearing all the load", the workers are pissed on, attacked, and lectured on the "need to sacrafice".
On the other hand, because of corporate tax loopholes, the corporations in this state don't pay. We have the highest concentration of rich people here because of three reasons:
1. The rich here don't pay any state income tax 2. Our legislature eliminated the intangibles tax on multimillionaires 3. Although we have a sales tax, it is not for the rich. We eliminated taxes for sales items only they can afford!
This lack of sacrifice is justified by saying they are the "job creators"--even though they aren't hiring. We have the 3rd highest unemployment rate in the nation.
Thanks to our new governor, its going to just get a lot worse.
In less than one month in office, Rick Scott ranks the most unpopular newly elected governor in U.S. history, with a favorability rating of just 28 percent. (Although the WI Scott is giving him a run for his money.)
Rick Scott proposed to absolutely decimate education here in florida, while slashing thousands of government jobs that benefit the most vulnerable among us. He has proposed cuts to every government agency across the board (oh... except his own. He wants to double his own office).
In addition, Florida heroes such as school teachers, health care providers, corrections officers, police and firefighters face severe cuts in pension and health care benefits.
Gutting jobs seems to be all he is good at. Exactly one week later, Mr. "Let's Get to Work" made up lies and then threw away a fully-funded high speed rail project that would have brought tens of thousands of jobs to the state in our construction industry alone--just because he hates Obama. (Even Jeb Bush scratched his head on that one.)
Big surprise: on Monday Governor Skeletor, who up till now has only met and consulted with Teabaggers, lectured a group of corrections officers in Tallahassee on the need to sacrifice. Forgetting that he wasn't talking to his lap dogs, one employee spoke up and hit him with facts (rated truthful from Politifact):
"You said to hold you accountable," the employee, speaking from the audience, said to Scott. "State employees have seen, since the Bush administration, a reduction in state employees. I have been with this agency for many years. And I've seen where our staff has been significantly cut. We are required to do more with less. State employees haven't received a raise in five or six years. You're asking us to contribute to our pension plan and contribute more to our insurance!"
Then he hit him with this nugget:
My question is simple: What have you required for the wealthiest Floridians to contribute to the state revenues?"
Rick Scott took a day to answer-literally. The next day he spoke to another group and started by saying someone had asked him why he didn't want to "tax rich people more." (Yes, he lied again...but get used to it.) He answered his own question by saying he needs to cut taxes for the wealthy so that (get this) rich people will live here and create jobs.
PROBLEM with that, tricky ricky, is that the superwealthy DO live here, including the GOP's richest patrons, like fat-ass Limbaugh.
As I mentioned, the superwealthy love living here because they don't pay any state income tax, our legislature eliminated the intangibles tax on multimillionaires, and we eliminated taxes for sales items only they can afford. Thank God... now they can buy that Yacht, which is tax-exempt by the way.
That's right, the main source of revenue for this state is the sales tax, and by sheer coincidence we exempt most things that only benefit the wealthy. Here are some examples:
-University stadium skyboxes -Yachts -High-end legal fees -Accounting fees -Charter fishing-boat fees -Ostrich and racehorse feed -Complimentary meals served by hotels -Wine bought for taste testings -Racing dogs -Tickets for the Super Bowl
And while lobbyists for special-interests are able to exempt everything from bottled water to space planes, a low-income single dad buying a used pair of kids sneakers gets hit with a 7% sales tax. Its his fault for not being rich.
But these uber-wealthy folks ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT CREATING JOBS. Our unemployment rate is 12%, much higher than the national average. Certain industries it is even worse (construction is at 20%). I guess giving Rush Limbaugh even more money does not mean he's going to hire more people. (He's got all the drug mules he needs, I guess.)
But the hundreds of millions we lose in not having the rich pay taxes is nothing compared to our lousy corporate tax loopholes. 98% of corporations pay nothing! We already have one of the lowest corp. tax rates in the nation, but Rick Scott wants to completely eliminate it. Doesn't matter since some our biggest employers don't pay a dime in corporate taxes anyway. Why should they?
By the way...this costs us over $1 billion a year!
Again, our low corporate tax rate that nobody pays anyway IS OBVIOUSLY NOT CREATING JOBS! That's because we have a severely lacking supportive infrastructure, very low education funding, a very high drop-out rate, high poverty, and a state government that doesn’t know how to govern wisely or effectively. Given Rick's latest decisions, he is making each one of these points even worse.
Businesses are not coming here. The super wealthy already don't pay taxes. But SOMEBODY has got to start plugging this hole.
SO what does Scottie do?
As all teabag governors do.. try to "balance the budget" on the backs of the most vulnerable among us, along with the evil government workers. Over 70% of our state employees make UNDER 40k. So taking from their retirement seems like the logical thing to do in this bizzaro world we live in here.
Then there is the REAL money savings!
Under Scott, here is wasteful spending that needs to be tackled:
-Poor, elderly and disabled citizens would no longer be provided eyeglasses, hearing aids and dentures. (Get a job, freeloaders!) -Severe cuts in Medicaid (What.... ever) -Services for abused and disadvantaged children (Buck up, punk!) -Programs that combat homelessness and suicide prevention would be cut. (Cost savings if they are successful.) -Florida will no longer cover kidney dialysis or organ-transplant medication. (But if you want to buy a racing dog, we got your back!) -And, of course, lets not forget to wipe out the Office of the Homeless, which creates programs and shelters for the state's RAPIDLY EXPANDING homeless.
He wants to end Homelessness Memorial Day... [Laura Hansen, CEO of the Coalition to End Homelessness] said "strikes me as particularly absurd," adding that no state costs were tied to the date.
Nice! Scott is trying to out teabagger the others. (Take that Wisconsin!--NOBODY touches my governor!) My man creates more homeless and THEN kicks them in the stomach by cutting their lifelines. And just for laughs, he takes away a day that only recognizes that homeless people exist, which costs NO money! Next year he plans on urinating on them when they sleep. (Gotta stay on top if you want the teabaggers to stick with you.)
A few weeks ago, Teabag Guber Rick Scott released his budget, which guts children's healthcare and education, along with cuts in every state agency sans one--his own. The bastard is requesting 420 staffers and a $343 million increase for his OWN budget.
Well of course, you say. It's Rick Effin' Scott. Shamelessly stealing from old people for years means its no big thing to kick kids in the teeth while simultaneously looking out for #1.
BUT it's just Rick right?
If only. Our top two legislators: the ethically-challenged FL Senate President Mike "Hair"idopolos and the power-hungry FL House Speaker Dean Cannon where not to be outdone in douchebaggery.
These two teabaggers have backed up their man Rick Scott in every way...all the while crowing about cutting spending and lecturing Floridians on the need for painful sacrifice.
Of course, these lectures on sacrifice are only meant for the working class. You know, the freeloading teachers, firefighters, health-care workers, etc. I think we can all at least agree that we have way too many of these fat cats in Florida. And I for one am sick and tired of teachers always flaunting their wealth in my face.
Slash them all, I say. (And they say too.) Of course, to help them with all this fiscal belt-tightening, Dean and Mike obviously needed to hire a slew of assistants. These included 61 who are who are now paid over $100,000 each with taxpayer funds.
Naturally, the salaries went up across the board in this tea party legislature. However, the top aides to Dean and Mike are now raking in $146K and $175K respectively. In other words, 3.5 and 4 times respectively the amount Dean and Mike are paid! (Cripes, if we really want to save money, Mike and Dean should quit and let these two "advisors" actually take over their damn jobs. It would be a lot cheaper for us!)
The video above is laughable, but the money shot is when Cannon talks down to us simple-folk and explains that we obviously "don't understand the experience and qualifications" of the people who are getting these big six figure salaries. Right--including his new highly-paid spokeswoman who apparently has NO prior experience. (P.S., if she is the spokeswoman, why is she letting Dean defend her salary? DAMMIT, Dean, what am I paying her for?)
Hey Florida?
HAD ENOUGH?
It's our turn to get angry. The Awake the State rallies are across the state on March 8! Click the link to find the closest near you!
Cutting to the chase.. the organizers of labor, civil rights, and Dem Party groups under the banner of AWAKE THE STATE are organizing Florida statewide protests on March 8, the start of the legislative session. Because of Florida's geography and the difficulty of getting working people to the Capitol, the rallies will be at various sites in major cities accross the state. It has gotten attention in our local media, by several prominent Democratic legislators, and is even now being targeted by the Koch-headed teabaggers, who are planning counter-protests.
Across the world, ordinary hard working people are standing up to their dictators. In our own nation, specifically Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio: unions, teachers, service workers, and many other employees who sacrifice so much and get pissed on and scapegoated by the GOP are FINALLY standing up the puppet teabag dictators in the statehouses.
If people can come out in subzero weather in the cold states, we can come out in 70% weather to turn up the heat on our right-wing legislators and corrupt governor. It's our Turn.
Have you had enough? You didn't vote last November, so at least take time to fight back now!
Across the world, ordinary hard working people are standing up to their dictators. In our own nation, specifically Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio: unions, teachers, service workers, and many other employees who sacrifice so much and get pissed on and scapegoated by the GOP are FINALLY standing up the puppet teabag dictators in the statehouses.
Come out and join us March 8, the first day of the legislative session. Allowing exemptions and loopholes for the superwealthy and big corporations while trying to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, the suffering middle-class, and our public servants is deplorable.
If people can come out in subzero weather in the cold states, we can come out in 70% weather to turn up the heat on our right-wing legislators and corrupt governor. It's our Turn.
By now you know that our Voldemort-looking and acting guber killed the rail project.
I predicted that he would on the Jan. 12 post of my blog. Not because I am clairvoyent, but because I know him. It didn't matter that the federal government was willing to pay nearly all the cost nor that private companies were willing to cover any additional costs.
It was Obama's idea. And for this crook, that was enough.
Rick Scott couldn't just out and out say NO, although he wanted to. He had to go through the motions and say he was giving it "serious" consideration, although the ones who were paying attention knew all along that he was looking for excuses to kill it without having it look blatantly ideological and partisan.
So he started to do what he does best. What all crooks do. LIE.
You don't need to look far to see how well he does it. There is no shortage of material. Heck, you can see it in the clip I have of him in the introduction of this diary, where he won't even acknowledge his own damn signature on incriminating documents.
You can see just last week in my last post, where the SOB vowed not to cut education... and then proposed to gut it almost completely to the tune of $3 billion.
So Rick Scott kept making arguments, some of them recycled in his hastily organized "press conference", (where he never takes questions). All Lies. Let's review:
LIE #1: Governor Voldemort claimed that cost overruns would put Floridians on the hook to fork over $3 billion in matching funds.
UN-F&^King-BELIEVABLE. The federal government has already put aside $2.4 billion in stimulus funds for Florida's portion of the national project. Worst case scenario would be $280 million, and the consortiums of companies set to bid on the line had indicated a willingness to put up their own money in return for a contract! In all, eight consortiums made up of international companies representing 11 countries had lined up to bid on the train that would have run from Orlando International Airport to downtown Tampa, with stops at the Orange County Convention Center, Walt Disney World and Lakeland.
Here's the other thing, the company chosen to build the train would have been contractually bound to cover any cost overruns in construction, as well as any operating deficits for up to 20 years!Companies had said they were willing to accept those terms!
LIE #2: Few would use it, and low ridership would have required state subsidies.
This one really pissed me off. Rick Scott compared the high-speed rail to Amtrak in certain cities. OF COURSE no one rides Amtrak! They don't own the damn railroads! In the most bass-ackward outdated arrangement, Amtrak has to work around the more profitable freight-carrying trains, and this means simple trips can take days and costs tons of money. Anyone with any knowledge would know this and to use that comparison to a dedicated HIGH SPEED RAIL LINE is blatantly misleading. But again, Scott is trying to make excuses.. not look at facts. (When he slammed the Amtrak ridership from Washington to Boston, PolitiFact Florida noted that an 7.15 million people rode regional rail lines in the Northeast last year.)
By the way, the bid documents mentioned in the debunk of LIE#1? They were being written to obligate the bid companies to cover operating losses due to low ridership. (Which again, they indicated they would agree to).
LIE #3: If the project was shut down, the state would have to return the $2.4 billion to Washington.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Transportation called him out on this lie. This issue is one that could have been negotiated... if Scott had ever even bothered to raise it with federal officials. Of course, if you've already made up your mind...
LIE #4: His phony concern about government spending and the deficit.
Hey Gov. Skeletor (and you stupid teabaggers who put him there): Rejecting these federal funds for transportation and infrastructure will NOT reduce the deficit one penny! The funds have already been allocated!! They are just going somewhere else....like wine country.
As far as waste goes, did I mention that we already spent $66 million on this project?
LIE #5: It's better to invest in our ports and expand our highways instead of rail.
First off... Ports? How the F*&K is that going to solve our congestion problem?! For when I travel from Orlando to Tampa taking a fucking canoe from the Atlantic to the Gulf? And you can bet that if Obama HAD offered to upgrade our ports with stimulus funds, this teabagger wouldn't have had any of it.
The highway argument has been used REPEATEDLY by anti-rail advocates, including the guber. In just about every op-ed by these jokers (most with ties to the auto or oil industry), they argued that we should expand I-4 instead.
Okay, here's the problem geniuses. Orlando to Tampa is 84 miles driven. According to figures by Rethuglican Congressman Mica: 73 miles of I-4 will cost $2.9 BILLION dollars (in 2000 dollars). So the entire amount we would receive wouldn't even cover it, and WE ARE GETTING NOTHING AT ALL from the feds to build an extra lane! That's kinda like someone offering to buy either your family or someone else's family a 4-bedroom house and willing to cover almost all the cost, but you turn it down because you want your own family to pay for a used mobile home that costs more. Savvy business man my ass.
PS... don't look for any investment in any transportation project anytime soon. The Florida Dept. of Transportation is rudderless because it is one of Scottie's botched appointments.
LIE #6: He would wait until the FDOT updated ridership and revenue projections -- scheduled for completion within two weeks.
No dice. He couldn't be bothered to wait for the report he said he was waiting on.
Tricky Ricky is basing all of these "facts" on information provided by a Glenn Beckian, Libertarian think tank--the "Reason Foundation", which is known for being anti-rail. (Several commenters pointed out that a certain Koch brother sits on the Board of Trustees.) He also received advice and information from the ever-so-slightly right-wing Heritage Foundation. (I get my own "facts" from Fox News, thank you very much.)
So to recap, he dismissed the entire project with NO ridership study, NO contruction bids, and not even consultation with the FL Senate or House! Yes they are wingnut, but they are none too pleased.
Sen. Thad Altman, R-Vier: "There's no rational reason at all not to allow that to happen -- unless you're afraid of what you might here. We might hear that this thing will work."
LIE #7: "Let's Get to Work!" He will create 700,000 jobs in 7 years.
Oooooooookay. In the short time he's been guber (one month), he is proposing to cut hundreds of state jobs, including teachers and those who serve the neediest among us. With today's announcment, you can add an estimated 48,000 jobs to the pot. These were desperately needed in a state where unemployment is a whopping 12% (and 20% in the construction industry).
Maybe dumbass meant to say LOSE 700,000 jobs in 4 years.
Barely ONE month in office, and already he is the most unpopular governor in our history. And this unilateral dismissal was so shocking, without even consulting his supposed GOP "allies" in the wingnut legislature, that he is being attacked by both the left AND the right on his sudden action. Not that it will make a difference.
And the saga continues.... One month down, 47 to go...
UPDATE: At least we have ONE legislator who is fighting for Florida jobs. It's the lone statewide Democrat: Senator Bill Nelson. He is working with several lawmakers, including the mayors of Tampa and Orlando, to see if he can do an end run around the governor. STOP and think about this for a second. A US Senator is doing the governor's job--working with local leaders to try to bring jobs and economic development to Florida--because our OWN governor is trying to take it away.
Governor Rick Scott did not stop at rejecting what he & his bosses at the Tea Party and his communication team now is trying to brand as “Obamarail” (to maintain the indoctrination of the Tea Party faithful) and before whom he presented his budget.
Oh No! Scott went on to insult the 20 black lawmakers at a luncheon, all Democrats, at the mansion Tuesday, Scott saying that he grew up in public housing “just like you” when speaking to the Black Legislators and said he supports diversity, regardless of race, he doesn't believe in quotas and defended his decisions such as cutting funding to workforce education.
I grew up probably in the same situation as you guys,” Rick Scott said yesterday while addressing a group of state legislators. “I started school in public housing. My dad had a sixth-grade education.”
In the same breath Scott went on to further insult the lawmakers with the follwing:
That he is ending the state’s support for the only 2 historically black colleges: Florida A&M University and Bethune Cookman University.
Abolish a state office that helps minority-owned businesses get state contracts
He will lower unemployment benefits and health care funding for the poor
He also refused to appoint more minority judges and officials
"If you think I'm going to pick someone who's different from my judicial philosophy, it's not going to happen."
It has been said that Scott is assuming that all blacks grow up poor and their parents are uneducated which upset some of the Lawmakers in the room who comes from all spectrums of life, not just public housing.
Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, whose mother has a master’s degree, said he was shocked at Scott’s comments at yesterday’s lunch and considered walking out. “He just assumed because he was sitting with a bunch of black people that we had all grown up in public housing,” Smith said. Scott is “tremendously disconnected” from the realities of being black or Hispanic in Florida, Smith said. “He doesn’t see the need for diversity or inclusion,” Smith said. “Any diversity that happens (in his administration) is going to happen by happenstance.
This guy does not stop. He just keeps on giving, so sit back-grab the popcorn and watch him work. He has already lost 30,000 plus jobs by turning down $2.4 billion in federal funds for high speed rail.
Florida cannot recall a Governor, but thanks to Rick Scott, a new recall bill is being proposed (another gift from Gov. Scott).
This series is where I document what happens when a state full of Democrats elect a veto-proof, right-wing legislature along with a teabag, criminal governor to lead us. (Once again, yes--an actual bona-fide criminal who literally stole from seniors, who subsequently elected him.) This is my documentation of my beloved but idiotic state's slow descent into chaos.
This is our state. It is blessed with many natural gifts, but its people determine its fate. Florida does NOT need to be like this.
