Issues to Waste Your Vote for Rick Scott On

My list of reasons to dis-elect Rick Scott hasn’t grown much in the last week, mostly because he’s been lying low and saying as little as he can, which under the circumstances is probably the smartest thing Rick Scott can do if he wants to be re-elected. His approval rating seems to go up mostly when he does nothing at all. At least I can say SemDem’s post on Monday upped the number on my list to 158, which means I have two more to go before I officially revise it again. Might be a nice way to celebrate Groundhog Day.

Scratch that: A couple of hours after I first made this post, I checked the archive at Rick Scott Sucks, and dug out two more good ones. So it's now at 160, and newer ones start at 146.  Have a look.

 In the meantime, I want to discuss something about reasons that some people out there may vote for Rick Scott, in spite of his monstrous performance so far – and why they’d be wasting their time doing it.

If you have friends planning to vote for Rick Scott, there are two partisan issues that are likely to be at the center of their motivation: Same-sex marriage and abortion. The irony is that Rick Scott has 1) done little or nothing on either issue, and 2) really can’t do anything about either one, anyway.

On same-sex marriage, Scott has done nothing more than affirm his support for the 2008 amendment approved by Florida voters.  It’s just talk, of course, because right now, that amendment will stand or fall based on what is done by courts above Rick Scott’s jurisdiction. He can’t do anything about it.

Abortion, likewise, stands or falls based on Roe vs. Wade at this time. Scott can huff and puff all he wants, but ultimately, the decision is out of his hands. And, as I show in my list, he really doesn’t care about the issue; HCA hospital performed abortions under his watch, and he did nothing to stop them, and said nothing against them. So he’s only “pro-life” as far as it buys him votes. Pro-lifers in Florida are being taken for a ride by him.

So in the end, if your friends plan to vote for Scott based on either of these issues, they’re doing so based on reasons that are ultimately empty. They would be voting for a talking head, not someone who can actually do anything about the issue either way.  They might as well be voting for one of those old fashioned toys (like Woody from Toy Story) that you can make talk by pulling a string on their back. 

We tend to forget sometimes that the executive branch of government isn’t in charge of making law. When a candidate, or governor says, “I plan to outlaw ______,” what they mean is, “I plan to ask a buddy of mine in the Legislature to sponsor a law outlawing ______, which I hope the Legislature will pass. Then I’ll sign it.” Which means neither same-sex marriage nor abortion is a reason for anyone to ignore Scott’s innumerable other blunders and re-elect him.  He can’t do anything about them other than run his mouth.

Given the events of this week, I should also probably add medical marijuana to the list of social issues here which may be decisive for some voters. It’s going to be interesting, because as some commentators have observed, Rick Scott desperately wanted that one off the ballot, because he knew it would raise voter turnout – which is a likely sentence to the outhouse for him. Either way, it still won’t be anything he’ll be able to do anything about. Voting for him won’t budge what voters decide either way on medical marijuana.

There’s an added irony on that one. Doctors have come out with a pill that uses THC (the active ingredient in marijuana which aids the sick), and initial studies show it is more effective than smoking marijuana. The amendment may get on the ballot, only to become moot within a year. And wouldn’t that be such appropriate justice, if Rick Scott gets kicked out of office because of something that shortly thereafter becomes irrelevant?

It’s too bad we can’t take a pill to get rid of all the pain he’s caused people here in Florida.

The only good Rx for Rick Scott is a bootprint in the backside.

Another Major Medicaid Scandal for Rick Scott

#94 of My Stupid State

Crossposted on DKos

Rick Scott's appointed a new finance chairman for his campaign last week: Miguel Fernandez. Congrats, Mike!

And Mike is feeling froggy: He just wrote a $1 million check to Scott's re-election committee. And yes, that's a preposterous amount from one person:

Before Fernandez, an individual had never given a check of $1 million or more to a candidate-aligned committee.

Now, who the hell donates that much money and doesn't expect something in return?

Well, as it turns out, not Mike. Mr. Fernandez obviously expected something-and boy did he get a freaking FANTASTIC deal for his "donation". From the same article:

Two companies partly owned by the finance chairman of Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election campaign [Miguel Fernandez] have won contracts worth potentially billions to serve Medicaid patients in regions across the state.

BOOM goes the dynamite! Make it rain!

And it gets worse...

First, a little background:

The agency that awards these contracts is the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, or the AHCA. The article doesn't make clear what the AHCA is or who runs it. The agency manages the state Medicaid program and regulates our state hospitals. The head is appointed by the governor. In March 2011, Rick Scott picked a lackey for this spot named Elizabeth Dudek.

Dudek is a vocal supporter of Rick Scott. She features him on the ACA home page, which no other non-executive agency does. Last year, when Scott came under fire for making up outrageous estimates for Medicaid expansion, (deemed false by Politifact), Dudek pretty much said "F__ my reputation" and supported his bogus numbers with no basis whatsoever.

Under her, patient complaints have grown as hospitals have been allowed to gouge and aggressively bill. (By the way, remember HCA? That was Rick Scott's company involved in the $1.7 billion Medicare fraud where he took the Fifth 75 times. Coincidentally, HCA is now raking in record profits due to turning away patients, aggressive billing, and cutting staff to dysfunctional levels. Well-played.)

But that's not the worst of it.

Florida moved Medicaid into so-called “managed care,” which carves up the state into 11 regions where private insurers can compete to serve Medicaid patients in those districts.

The article mentions this, but fails to point out this was done under Rick Scott, nor does it mention that the idea was the brain-child of Mr. Fernandez to begin with. In fact, Rick Scott came under fire for taking a $125,000 campaign donation last year from the same Mike Fernandez soon after Rick Scott overhauled Medicaid into these private districts.

Rick Scott wouldn't talk about it, of course:

Since this happened all the way last year, our pathetic media forgot about it.

Fast forward one year: one of Mike's companies that he just threw together, Better Health, won THREE contracts from Dudek's AHCA potentially worth billions allowing it to serve three of the larger districts: the Panhandle, Central Florida and South Florida. Another company he owns won the right to service HIV and Aids Medicaid patients in 10 out of the 11 districts.

Again, Congratulations Mike!

All of this would be bad enough, but this being Florida, it gets worse.

As the article mentions, Better Health, Inc. is a PSN (Provider Service Network), which means it has to be a majority-owned by a health-care provider. Tell me how shady this sounds to you: Fernandez owns 49 percent of this company, and some Coral Gables doctor owns 51 percent!

These shady companies are nothing new under Rick Scott's regime. They are primarily nothing more than conduits for campaign cash for GOP candidates and campaigns. Now, I can't say for certain that Better Health, Inc. is one of these companies, but their "official" website doesn't fill me with much confidence. Putting aside that it was clearly thrown up in an afternoon, (and from the looks of it--back in 1995), look at the company information under "About Us" and "Our Senior Management Team". See what I mean? As far as I can tell, Fernandez and the doctor are the only employees.

You would think one of our news teams would want to look into this. But as it so happens, only Jacksonville's paper even bothered to cover this story and they only picked up the headline of Scott's newly appointed finance director donating a million and getting a windfall in return. Delving into Mike Fernandez' connections to the new law, details about his shady company, and how the hell it beat out other qualified applicants to get picked---well, you won't find that anywhere.

A competent Attorney General would investigate this. But we have PamBo. A functioning legislature would demand answers. Ours legalized bribery so don't expect much there either.

Spokespeople for the AHCA, Rick Scott, and Mike Fernandez have all made statements that seem pretty well-coordinated. They all talk about how fair this process was; how it was oh so "competitive"; no "favoritism"; used "objective criteria", and some other catchwords to essentially say move on, nothing to see here.

All I can say is, taking them at their word, Better Health, Inc. must have given one heck of a pitch to AHCA.

UPDATE: La Gitane just gave me a pic from the website. This no look good:

Just How AWFUL is Our Attorney General in Rick Scott's Florida?

#93 of My Stupid State series

Crossposted on DKOS

Rick Scott said this week he will vote against a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the medical use of marijuana, which would be shameful enough if he also wasn't trying to stop the people of Florida from even having the opportunity to vote on this compassionate measure. Rick Scott turned to his young, lackey Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to try to stop it. Out of all the issues facing Floridians, she has made keeping this proposal off the ballot her top priority by arguing the 74-word summary is confusing.

(Mind you we had 11 amendments in 2012, none of which came from citizens but from the GOP legislature, that were purposefully written to be as confusing as possible. One columnist compared them to a Chinese menu written upside down in Hebrew. Yet PamBo had no problem with those.)

It was PamBo who did her Master's bidding and led the fight to deny healthcare to millions of Floridians with a Quixotic attack on Obamacare, costing our state millions. In fact, over a million in legal fees alone has been spent on a pointless defense of Rick Scott's long list of controversial legislation: ruining our states pension plans, requiring drug tests of state employees and welfare recipients, cutting teacher's salaries, and purging voters.

In fact, you can always tell a Rick Scott initiative by asking three questions:

• Is it unConstitutional?
• Is it designed to HURT rather than HELP Floridians?
• Will Bondi fight for it?

In FL Democrats' obsession over Rick Scott, they often overlook this crucial piece in the GOP's oppressive regime--- one who is a character all of her own. But who exactly is Pam Bondi?

PamBo is Florida's Attorney General. Before being AG, she was only known for being a right-wing talking head on Sean Hannity's show on Faux News.

She is the most ideological AG in Florida's history and probably the nation's history. She is exactly what the wingnut powerbrokers wanted when they took over Tallahassee in 2010: a partisan who would finally implement a doctrinaire conservative interpretation of the law. (Or should I say "misinterpret", which is why she costs the state so much in fighting battles based on ideology rather than law. But her anti-intellectualism is part of her base's appeal).

Bondi is dishonest. She is also, frankly, stupid. She is rightfully considered the worst AG in the country today by many members of the American and Florida bar.

I will just point out a few things to enhance my points:

Ideologue

Its easy to forget that Pam Bondi doesn't work at Fox News anymore since she's been on there more times than when she was actually working there. Whether its to lie about the healthcare navigators, defend herself from turning her office into a partisan hackshop, or just to bask in the hollow praise of the idiots at Fox and Friends, you will always see her dumb smile. She's so well known at Fox that she even made that part of her pitch to voters.

If you have been reading the MY STUPID STATE series, you may wonder why no one has tried to stop Rick Scott with all the clearly illegal things he is doing. Well, its because Democrats here have also lost 10 out of the 11 cabinet races, and elections have consequences. We now have a Fox News lackey as our Attorney General and, so far, has ignored everything he has done. So, for example, when we expect our AG to fight against Scott's illegal voter purges, instead we have PamBo vigorously defending the voter purges (both in the Courts and on Fox News) even after knowing the majority of people kicked off were legitimate!

Incompetent

Every state in the union was awarded 25 billion from the five largest banks due to mortgage fraud. Our state led the nation in bad foreclosures, but unfortunately for us, each state's AG was responsible for handling the funds. Our idiot AG struck a horrible, horrible deal that didn't give the money to the distressed homeowners, but to our corrupt legislature who were already in bed with the mortgage companies to begin with.

Not like Bondi really cared. She has always put the fraudulent mortgage companies first. In fact, she abruptly fired two assistant AGs because they were successfully fighting mortgage fraud. She claimed they were fired because of poor performance, despite the fact that they received glowing reviews right before their firings.

Corrupt

Even worse than politically motivated firings is her reluctance to pursue charges against people who give her money. Donald Trump ran a get-rich quick seminar that fleeced Floridians and New Yorkers out of tens of thousands of dollars. When this scam came to light, the New York AG immediately filed charges. Pam Bondi's office told the Orlando Sentinel on September 14 of last year that she was studying the New York case and was planning on taking action here as well.

Three days later, Sept. 17--Trump cut Bondi a LARGE check for her re-election this year. Bondi then miraculously decided not to press charges.

So how much does campaign cash trump justice for PamBo? She literally moved an execution date for a prisoner because it coincided with a fundraiser. Yeah, that stuff happens here. She was called out on it, apologized, and it was never to be heard from again in our media.

Just recently, she used taxpayer money to sue to stop the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay. WTF?! you might be asking. Why is she trying to spending money to fight a cleanup in a Bay that isn't even in freaking Florida? Big agriculture wants her to. And she works for the special interests, not the people of Florida.

Awful

And when she is not being just awful at her job, she is just being plain awful. She took a Louisiana family's Katrina dog and refused to give it back to them when they were finally able to track the St. Bernard down. The children's pleas for their dog back fell on deaf ears, and PamBo even accused the family of neglecting the dog. (I guess it was their fault for allowing the dog to be washed away in the hurricane).

The case was settled. The family got the dog back but PamBo was allowed to visit and promised to provide for the dog with food and medication for life.

She stopped after one month.

Thankfully, PamBo is fighting for her political life and will be defeated unless our incompetent State Party doesn't screw this up. Even though she has clearly been obsessed over fundraising and has been campaigning vigorously, she leads only slightly against her two potential Dem rivals: George Sheldon and Perry Thurston.

This race deserves some attention. More so than any other cabinet race.

1. Donate to George Sheldon!
2. Spread the word on PamBo! Share this post. Write about her in your local paper or on a blogpost. Talk to your friends when they bring up how much they hate Rick Scott.
3. Get Pam Bondi Out of Office Facebook Page

Send this Fox News flunkie back to Hannity and out of office so we can put someone there who will actually fight for Floridians for a change.

Bondi serving drinks on a bizarre trip to the Caymans

Crist Only up by Two...So?

The way I see it, if you watch the polls and live by them, you're going to end up in a straitjacket someday, so the latest PPP poll showing Rick Scott only down to Crist by 2 points, while a sad case study of how remarkably out of touch some people in Florida can be, doesn't mean it's time to throw in the towel. Not that I expect readers of this blog to do so anyway, but here's some things to use to remind friends and relatives of yours with less starch in their spine not to give up.

Scott is down 2 to Crist, and only up by 6 on Rich, in spite of the fact that neither Democratic candidate has done any real campaigning yet -- not one TV ad, not one serious fundraiser. What do you suppose will happen when the Democratic candidate starts putting Scott's record on the block? How about what happens when we have some ads using the same pathos Perry Thurston invoked, by using Christmas presents to represent the 40 children who died under Scott's mismanagement of DCF? That's going to make Scott's "Crist the opportunist" ad look like the sourest grapes in the vineyard.

This is why I made my list of reasons to dis-elect Scott. Use them. 

Let's also remember that this was a poll done AFTER Scott did his worst to trash Crist with this year's chosen game show buzzer for the right wing:  Obamacare. In Virginia, the Democratic governor was thrashed with the same baton, and still won, although by a slim margin. But so what? Scott won by a slim margin, too. That's all it takes.

Finally, many, many people in the poll still said they were not sure who they would vote for. You can be sure the undecideds turned that way, to some extent, because they fell for some of Scott's cheap election year tricks, like extending the tax holiday longer.  Well, we have louder buzzers than that still in the arsenal we haven't even pressed yet.

10 months and a bit more still remain. I'm sure we can all remember past elections with up and down polls. They run in a cycle. A candidate, one observer pointed out, always dips some when they go from "maybe I'll run" to "yes, I'll run."

So, keep going, keep passing that list around, and remind any people you know who might spend Election Day on their rear ends, that a few hours in line is a small price to pay to avoid four more years of Rick Scott.

On MLK Day: Florida State House Candidate Threatens to Hang Barack Obama

This is just disgraceful...

As Americans honored the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, a Republican candidate for Florida House District 68 said President Barack Obama should be hanged for war crimes.

"I'm past impeachment," Joshua Black wrote on Twitter. "It's time to arrest and hang him high."

Really? You are going to go there? Today?

Black, 31, of Pinellas Park, moved to Florida in 2007 after practicing street evangelism in St. Louis and works as a taxi driver. According to his campaign website, Black entered politics in 2012 when he tried influencing the presidential primary.

The website says: "Republicans have a serious communication problem. Everything we say sounds like spears."

Hours after the tweet, Black defended his comment.

Obama should be held responsible for ordering a drone strike that killed an American citizen overseas, he said.

"He should be executed for treason," Black said. "I think the appropriate punishment is death. They killed Benedict Arnold. (Obama) shouldn't be allowed to kill Americans without a trial."

The political newcomer said he doesn't fear U.S. Secret Service agents showing up on his doorstep. Many voters might agree with his position, he said, adding: "I guess they're going to call me a racist now."

...or sadly, a typical teabagger. Your choice.

How's that rebranding going, GOP?

On this MLK Day....

After Sarah's Racial Attack Today, A Quick Recap of Her Racist Past

Mr. President, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and all who commit to ending any racial divide, no more playing the race card,
--Sarah Palin's words of wisdom for today

Classy, Sarah. On MLK day, no less.

Racists hate being called racists. Anytime you call them out on their racism, they attack you for "playing the race card." And Sarah has had plenty of practice.

Chris Mathews called Sarah Plain, correctly, the "poster face of racism".

When Obama defeated Hillary in 2008, her comment was Sambo beat the bitch.

It was Sarah Palin who, with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball, started the Muslim traitor "palling around with terrorists" theme that quickly engulfed the McCain campaign. Those that questioned her racial baiting weren't from "the real America" and she spoke fondly of the "pro-America areas of this great nation" (wink, wink).

She has claimed that Obama is single-handedly leading this country to ruin, yet simultaneously says he's a lazy black guy.

She once said that black people don't understand the word slavery; while lecturing people last year that slavery was just like our national debt. (And preceded her idiotic statement "This isn't racist, but...")

As governor, she refused to recognize Juneteenth (which is Freedom Day for slaves) in violation of Alaska law and refused to do it even after she got sued for failing to carry out her gubernatorial duties.

Alaska is a state where 35% of the people are black, Asian, or Alaskan native, yet she couldn't find one minority to put on her staff and worse, said "she didn't have to."

She fiercely defended Rush Limbaugh's racism; and defended Laura Schlesinger for using the n-word 11 times in a racist rant. (I'm sure she only got upset when she found out Laura earlier called her a moron.)

And this is just a partial list concerning her disregard for African Americans. Jews, Muslims, gays, Asians, Hispanics all had their turn. But its really all of their fault for playing the race card and trying to "divide" us.

Poor Sarah. Why can't she just insult and degrade you people IN PEACE!!?!

Today We Learn Christie Held Hurricane Money Hostage; Today Rick Scott Campaigns With Him

Today, things got much worse for Chris Christie, who is still reeling from the Bridgegate scandal and the mountain of subpoenas. Today we learned he was not above extortion:

Two senior members of Gov. Chris Christie's administration warned a New Jersey mayor earlier this year that her town would be starved of hurricane relief money unless she approved a lucrative redevelopment plan favored by the governor, according to the mayor and emails and personal notes she shared with MSNBC."

"In this account -- supported by email, public records and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer's own diary entries -- Christie's inner circle was willing to cut off devastated constituents, muscle a friendly mayor and arrange public funds to finance a study for a project the governor supported."

What a scumbag. No wonder he and Rick Scott are buddies.

Most GOP politicians would tell Christie to stay the hell away, but that doesn't take into account just how bad Rick Scott is. State Senate President Dan Gaetz said that Christie would bring some much needed "positive reinforcement to Gov. Scott."

How low do people have to think of you to think you'd get a boost from Freaking Chris Christie right now?

Someone this bad, and someone who loves to surround himself with like-minded individuals. Rick Scott probably thinks Christie is a rank amateur:

Christie screwed over middle class commuters for a few days, Rick Scott literally stole from the elderly.

Christie hires thugs. Scott hires thugs but unlike Christie, doesn't fire them. He has had a record number of resignations due to corruption, and instead of condemning any of them he has said, EACH AND EVERY TIME they get caught, that they have done a "great job."

(It became a meme here.)

So today in Central Florida you got two political criminals for the price of one:

Don't try to get in, by the way. There are a TON of security guards making sure only high-paying donors get in to see these two clowns at the posh Orlando Country Club.

Unless you are at the event, you won't be seeing any pictures today of Scott and Christie together. There are no private cameras and absolutely no press--the event is closed to the media. I am told that the staff was sufficiently threatened to ensure there would be no leaks (ala Romney--you know how it is getting a bunch of rich, white folks talking in a country club.) I suppose the speakers could just try and not say anything offensive, stupid, or incriminating, but these are Christie and Scott supporters we are talking about here. Its just easier to try to threaten the "help" not to repeat what was said.

My idiot GOP Rep. John Mica said it was packed and praised both men:

"The governor [Chris Christie] handled the situation, I thought very well, and his leadership has been outstanding,” Mica said. “Gov. Scott also has proven to be one of the most responsible effective governors we have in the nation."

The DNC with Debbie-Wasserman Schultz was outside the club right now giving a press conference nailing these two slimeballs. Ironically, Rick Scott is probably going to need every penny of the $2500 per person invites to run damage control from this event.

You are welcome, Charlie.

Do ANY Intelligent People Support Rick Scott?

Note: This article is by Independent Thinker, the latest author to join The Seminole Democrat. If you would like to write for us, contact us

Part of my effort to create the non-partisan list of reasons to dis-elect Rick Scott has included making sure all the points in it are sound by looking for any contrary arguments by intelligent Rick Scott supporters. One of the problems with doing that is that I can’t seem to find any intelligent Rick Scott supporters.

Not that I haven’t looked. I’ve been surfing around taking part in online discussions at various newspaper websites and blogs, hoping to find some iron to sharpen iron. Instead, I mostly seem to be running into rubber chickens instead of iron. Nearly every Rick Scott supporter I find is presenting nothing but the same talking points. (To be fair, some who oppose him do that, too, but they are balanced out by many more who at least present some reasonable arguments.) But again and again, this is all I see:

“Rick Scott lowered the unemployment rate!”

“Rick Scott reduced the state debt by $5 billion!”

“Charlie Crist oversaw the biggest jump in unemployment in state history!”

And so on. They’re all the sort of thing my non-partisan list tackles. But as yet, I haven’t found anyone who can advance a response to any of them that I present.

It’s not likely I will, either. When Rick Scott supporters sign on to places with usernames like “Global Warming Scams” (that’s a real handle for someone on the Orlando Sentinel boards), it’s pretty clear I’m not dealing with someone who can give me a challenge.  GWS’ favorite posts include things like, “Yawn,” and slogans like, “Pick Rick!” He also creates rants like this one which describe Scott in fanatical, messianic terms:

Watch and observe the Greatest Governor the Great State of Florida has ever had.Governor Scott refused to take the bait from the clowns at the sentinel and blew them and their idiotic questions out of the water.We are blessed to have this Great Man as Our Governor, and we will all be dancing in the streets when this Man is re-elected by the biggest landslide in Florida's History.All of the useful idiots who complain about this Great Man will never admit the wonderful thing He has accomplished for Our State....Our State is in much better shape than it was before He became 

Governor.Christ/Morgan?????...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahsLive with the Man fools, because He will be ruling you for a long time.It's HISTORIC!!!!

Not exactly a brain trust, is he?

The most intelligent Rick Scott supporter I found so far goes under the username “sixzz,” and he haunts the boards over at the Tampa Bay Times web site. The best he could do involved an exchange where he said that Florida has created a lot more jobs than other states, and I replied that the state with the 4^th largest population had better be close or at the top in that category, otherwise we’d better check it’s residents for a pulse. He replied that well, Florida has created more jobs per capita. That’s nice, but even if true (I couldn't verify it one way or the other), my answer is still the same. With our population 4^th among states, verging on 3^rd, we’d better have the chance to create the most jobs of any state, even per capita, and even if Donald Duck were our Governor (instead of Goofy). And never mind all the other factors involved, like our excellent climate and lack of state income tax, which Scott can’t take credit for – although I expect GWS would say he could.

Otherwise, the only type of person I find who supports Scott, does so for selfish reasons. On one board I found a man who said he'd never vote for Crist, because while Crist was governor, he said, Crist signed off on some bill regarding the regulation of fuels and ethanol, which required this man to have to haul large containers of gasoline down to his marina so that he didn't have to put ethanol in his Sea-Doo. I feel sorry for him -- don't you? Even if all of that was true, it's nice to know he plans to make a voting decision that affects millions, based on such substantial grounds.

Anyway, if you know an intelligent Rick Scott supporter, tell me where I can find them. And while you’re at it, introduce me to the Tooth Fairy if you get a chance.

Florida Universities Must Now Allow Guns on Campus

#85 of My Stupid State series

If you read yesterday's post on the Florida Theater Killing and think that the solution here is more guns, then you are either a lunatic... or a Florida legislator. Regardless, I have some good news for you. As of yesterday, Florida Universities must now allow guns on campus.

So think about my grade very carefully Professor.

The link to this breaking story accompanies a video: 1 in every 14 Floridians now carries a gun, the highest in the nation. Go us.

When Florida approached 1 million concealed weapons permits in December of last year, Rick Scott was ecstatic. It was deemed worthy of a press conference so his Agriculture Commissioner could give a formal announcement. (Yes, you read that right. The Agriculture Commissioner because in my stupid state, our Department of Agriculture issues the concealed weapons permits. Since it is most certainly NOT a law enforcement agency, it cannot screen applicants against the FBI's criminal database. Because who would want that.)

The celebration was short-lived. The morning after the press conference was the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Rick Scott took to the airwaves to say... nothing. He even refused to say he wouldn't sell guns to the mentally ill. I thought that day the same thing I do today.. just another day in the gunshine state.

FL Movie Theater Killer Tries to Invoke "Stand Your Ground"

#84 of My Stupid State

Cross-posted on Dkos

Curtis Reeves claimed that he was attacked first -- by a bag of popcorn. So when popcorn was thrown at him he responded the way you would expect any elderly Floridian would: gunning the guy down with a .380 semi-automatic. Chad Oulson, a husband and father, paid for that lack of phone etiquette with his life. (Serves him right, say the comment boards.)

Mr. Reeves claimed he was "in fear" for his life. Saying you were "in fear" is the foundation you need to invoke "Stand Your Ground" (SYG), or the "Shoot First" law as it is known here in Florida.

By charging him with second-degree murder, the Pasco Co. Sheriff has said that he wanted "to make sure" SYG was taken off the table. To put it bluntly, he can't.

Not only can Mr. Reeves try to get off with SYG at trial, FL law experts say he has at least a fair chance if he can convince a judge that he reasonably feared for his life before shooting:

Florida theater shooting: Will suspect's age open door to stand your ground?

“Elderly people are a little bit more vulnerable than regular adults, so what may give a younger person a black eye could mean a cracked skull for a septuagenarian – that’s certainly a factor that may be figured in,” says Bob Dekle, a former Florida prosecutor.

....

"Don't be quick to condemn" Reeves’ response to the popcorn attack, wrote Plant City defense attorney Ronald Tulin on his Facebook page. He noted that Florida law allows deadly self-defense in order to “prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. Attacking a senior citizen is a forcible felony in Florida.”

As I mentioned in a previous post, perpetrators in Florida have more authority to shoot and kill than U.S. troops have in war.

Worse, it says that anyone can shoot anyone if they "reasonably believe" that they or someone else is in imminent danger. So the burden of proof is highly subjective. We know that throwing popcorn at someone isn't going to kill them; but what is important is if Mr. Reeves can convince a judge that HE reasonably believed he was in danger.

Worse still, people a lot more horrible than Mr. Reeves have gotten off using SYG. The majority of people in Florida who claim SYG have a criminal record. And they have been successful in exploiting the SYG law: 70% of people who claim SYG go free! Mr. Reeves, as far as I can tell, had no criminal record.

If you don't think he could get off here in Florida, think again. People have gotten off using Stand Your Ground after shooting someone laying on the ground, performing gang retaliation with AK-47s which led to a 15-year old's death, threatening unarmed utility workers who walked on a yard, and killing a wife's lover in a jealous rage.

Just google "crazy stand your ground cases" and you'll see what I mean. The Tampa Bay Times keeps a record of Stand Your Ground cases. Floridians shooting people in the back, shooting at people delivering papers, shooting at misinterpreted deaf people, drug dealer shoot-outs, etc. etc. etc.

This ALEC/NRA-written law was inflicted upon us by Jeb Bush, (proving to everyone that a more intellectual W. would have been much worse). Although Rick Scott bears plenty of responsibility. After Trayvon's murder, Rick Scott responded to the outcry by appointing a "task force"--which consisted of ALEC members and drafters of the original bill. Surprisingly, they recommended no changes. Not even a tweak so that people who initiate the confrontation can't later claim they felt threatened. So, you know, if a rapist chases a woman and she knees him he won't be able to shoot her and request SYG protection because he felt "threatened". (I know only a complete idiot would accept that defense... but look where I live folks!) Rick Scott wouldn't even support that one simple change.

The clear racial bias, the unequal application, the fact that homicides have increased while empirical studies have found it simultaneously does not deter crime has not and will not stop Stand Your Ground.

Only changing the regime in Tallahassee will.

I only thank God that this guy didn't have a gun or we'd have another victim to mourn today.

UPDATE: So this just happened today

155 and Counting

Just a note that my list of non-partisan reasons to boot Rick Scott is now up to 155. His flip-flops on transportation and DCF spending, his desire to blow $100 million in taxpayer dollars on tourism advertising (can't the private sector do that if it's such a good idea?), and his dodging of questions from the media are the new highlights.

I don't have to do anything but watch, and he pretty much delivers himself into my hands.

So Who Is the WORST Florida House Member?

A recent expose I read on how truly awful House GOP member Bill Young was got me thinking... Who is the worst Florida member of the House?

This will be for Florida Congressmen only. I don't want to do this right now for the state delegation because the post would be waaaay too long. Soliciting male prostitutes, legalizing bribery, dwarf-tossing jobs bills, farm photographing felonies, million dollar fines for asking about guns will have to wait when I have time.

I only mentioned current House members-(sorry Foley. sorry West). Again, I don't have time to do an all time top five. Also, although I didn't intend this, all of them are teabaggers:

Trey Radel (R-FL19)

The media here failed to cover how truly awful this guy really is. Trey Radel was born wealthy and entitled. He never attempted to hide his reputation as a colossal partier. A failed actor and comedian, he made a living doing Hate Radio (a big industry here in Florida) and running Spanish porn sites.

He wanted to go to Congress so he did an extreme makeover as a "family values" Republican and won over the easily gullible tea party wing. For his primary, he bought domain names of his opponents to smear them. People who have met him tell me he sounds and acts like a typical frat boy.

He is right-wing to the core: anti-immigrant, anti-education, and anti-poor. In September, he cynically voted for Republican legislation that would allow states to make food stamp recipients pee in cups to prove they're not on drugs. The next month, police busted him on charges of cocaine possession. The Florida teabags still stand by him.

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL3)

Right out of the gate, he showed his bigotry. He announce he could support "birther" legislation and thought a tax on tanning beds included in the Affordable Care Act was racist against white people.

Last October he argued that defaulting would be good because it would bring stability to world markets. Soon afterwards, he stated furloughed workers should not receive back pay, but voted for it because he didn't know what "fuloughed" meant.

WaPo ran a feature on him for saying he is against Big Government but supporting the most wasteful cases. He is a strong advocate of sugar subsidies for the sugarcane industry here in Florida which are the definition of big waste the Teabags are supposedly against. This is how Yoho defended them in the WaPo:

“I ran on limited government, fiscal responsibility and free enterprise, but when you’ve got programs that have been in place and it’s the accepted norm, to just go in there and stop it would be detrimental to our sugar growers.”

Gus Bilirakis (R-FL9)

Typical rubberstamp teabagger who wasn't going to make this list because despite being the standard teabag awful he didn't stand out, except for defending Gitmo by saying conditions were better there than here.

The reason this guy is a special kind of scum to me was he was a member of the "Foley 5" and his response to the cover-up for his buddy Mark Foley's sexual advances toward a 16-year old boy was this: "We have no stance on that right now - we'll worry about that after we win." Scuzzball.

Steve Southerland (R-FL2)

Insensitive gasbag invoked the shooting of Gabby Giffords to make the case that his salary of $174,000 per year as a representative was “not enough".

Vern Buchanan (R-FL16)

Named Most Corrupt Congressman several years running.

Since 2010, 11 individuals and corporations tied to Rep. Buchanan have been fined for illegal conduit contributions to his campaign. He came under investigation by the House Ethics Committee because one of his former business partners said the congressman pressured him to sign a false affidavit to cover up his role in the scheme.

He has lied about his income on his financial disclosure forms, has been accused of tax evasion and fraud, and used campaign donations to take lavish trips.

Go here to vote on the poll. You can also leave a message in the comments.

How Unpopular is Rick Scott? Christie Coming to Florida Next Week for "Positive Reinforcement"!

#82 of My Stupid State

Only Rick Scott could look at someone involved in a serious scandal of political retribution and think "I gotta get THAT guy to help me!"

And because Chris Christie can't think of anything more helpful in rebuilding the shattered trust of his state than flying to Florida to raise campaign funds, this happened today:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who dominated politics and cable TV news this week, is headed to the Sunshine State. He's coming to Florida next week to help raise campaign cash for Gov. Rick Scott, who is seeking re-election, according to the publication National Journal.

It's a standard move for a high-level politico, like Christie, who's thinking of running for president.

....

National Journal said Christie would headline fundraisers next weekend in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando.

You would think Christie would be seen as pretty toxic at this point. But THIS> IS> FLORIDA!:

"We always welcome Gov. Christie to Florida," said state House Speaker Will Weatherford, another top Florida Republican. "An unfortunate situation has taken place and he's addressed it. He's not hiding from it. I think he handled it well."

Yeah, he's doing just great!

From the same article: State Senate President Don Gaetz, which the article names as one of the highest ranking Republicans in the state:

"Gov. Christie has got some image problems right now but I think he has a lot of admirers in Florida. People like his New Jersey style, and hopefully he will be of some positive reinforcement to Gov. Scott."

That's right... Senator Don Gaetz, one of Rick's biggest supporters, thinks that Chris Christie is needed for postive reinforcement of Rick Scott!

And what the heck does this say about what Christie must think of Rick Scott? People now associate Christie with making "Buono voter's children" inhale fumes for four hours out of sheer political spite... so what better way to make himself look better than having his picture taken with Gov. Toxic.

Hey, I may be cruel and petty, but at least I'm not THIS guy!

And Christie would have a good point. After all, its not like he's responsible for the largest Medicare fraud case in US history. And Christie always knows he can count on Florida to put corruption in perspective. We are so bad Christie is coming here to look good--and Rick Scott, who has had record resignations in his administration due to scandal/corruption, welcomes him with open arms.

Christie is his kind of people.