Rick Scott claims he "didn't have anything to do" with voter suppression law that he signed!

In 2011, the worst election law in modern history since the Jim Crow era was passed right here in Florida.

Getting fined thousands of dollars for turning in voter registration forms late. Early voting cut (which led to lines as long as 9 fucking hours in South Florida). Provisional ballots for women who changed their names or college students (in other words, likely Democrats). Voter caging. Forbidding video to catch said caging, and so on and so on.

It was disgusting and rushed through the State Legislature. Floridians called on Governor Scott to veto the bill.

Scott told the critics to go fuck themselves:

Ignoring the objections of critics, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law on Thursday a contentious elections bill almost certainly headed to court.

And it did head to Court. And Rick Scott used OUR taxpayer money to vigorously defend this monstrosity. His administration spent more than $500,000 in legal fees to defend these anti-voting measures.

Oh yeah... and we later learned from the former state GOP chairman Jim Greer that whole purpose of the law was in fact to discourage minority voters.

So Scott got the law he wanted. Only, for 2012, it backfired. Big time.

People were willing to stand in lines until the wee hours of the morning. Elections officials in South Florida were so overwhelmed they shut down leaving people screaming "LET US VOTE"! (That still gets me that that happened right here in America.)

But ass-head Rick Scott STILL wouldn't allow one fucking hour of extension despite the pleas from election officials--prompting Dems to file an emergency lawsuit to circumvent him.

My point here is that this WAS Rick Scott's law. He called for it. He signed it. He defended it. And even when it was clear that it was hurting Florida citizens, he STILL fought for it. After the election, he said the law was "the right thing to do!"

Until last week. Suddenly realizing that he has to win re-election to continue to be governor, and simultaneously thinking we are all fucking idiots, he tried something new.

NO, he didn't apologize and promise to make it all right. He now claims he had absolutely nothing to do with his signature law.

Scott met with a group of black legislators last week. (At least he managed to not insult them this time.) They were furious with him for many reasons, but mostly for his infamous voter suppression law. Scott, being the masterful diplomat (snark), responded:

Scott agreed with black lawmakers that the 2011 election law contributed to the chaos at the polls in November, including long lines all over the state and up to seven-hour waits in Miami-Dade. But Scott, who is seeking re-election in 2014, said it was largely a decision of the Legislature. "It was not my bill," Scott said. "We've got to make changes, I agree. … The Legislature passed it. I didn't have anything to do with passing it."

Yeah. He said that. He had nothing to do with passing it. I'm still trying to comprehend why stories like this don't make waves. Try to imagine Obama telling a group of Republicans that he agrees with them that the Affordable Care Act is really bad and that he had absolutely nothing to do with passing it. Would he still have any credibility left as a politician? How is it that Rick Scott gets away with this crap!? So OK. Scott was just a helpless bystander to this travesty. Nothing could have been done. Got it. So naturally, he is going to push to reverse it - right? Nope. He steadfastly REFUSES to restore the number of days for early voting. In fact, he is now proposing a scheme to give "flexibility" to elections supervisors, meaning they would be allowed to limit early voting to EVEN LESS time than we have now! During the meeting he wouldn't even agree to revisit his harshest restrictions in the nation regarding the voting rights of citizens who have already served their time in prison:

Once you're out as a felon, you should spend time making sure you're doing the right thing before you get those rights back.

Scott went on to say that restricting their voting rights is somehow why Florida's crime rate has dropped. So everything is good, except for when everything isn't, and Rick Scott is blameless regardless. I guess I should be happy for some measure of progress. At least he didn't blame Obama this time.

Mental Health/School Safety Funding CUT to Pay for Gun Maker Tax Subsidies (Thanks Rick)

The rest of the nation may be looking for ways to stop gun violence. Here in Florida, our GOP overlords pride themselves in doing the opposite.

Florida now ranks 49th in mental health care funding, mostly due to multi-million dollar line-item cuts last year that targeted the mentally ill. (For cripes sakes, even though we are the fourth largest state, Mississippi now spends three times as much in mental health than we do!)

But we rank #1 in gun ownership! Yay us!

I have mentioned in previous posts how the NRA writes legislation and gets an average of one new gun-friendly law passed every year. The laws get wackier and wackier as it gets easier and easier to buy weapons; but it has gotten damn near impossible to get any help obtaining mental health care in Florida.

Well done, Rick Scott:

In 2012, a tough budget year when the Legislature cut funding for school safety by $1.8 million and Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $5.7 million for mental health programs, lawmakers were able to find more than $10 million for economic incentives that went to violent film productions, bloody video games and gun manufacturers.

Our Central Florida Recovery House and Mental Health Center were cut by $1.6 million-- but that same amount went to subsidize gun manufacturer Colt to bring us 63 jobs. (At that rate, since Rick Scott promised us 7 million jobs when elected, I guess we can expect to pony up $182 billion?)

Then we gave taxpayer money to a gun parts maker and to Kel Tec (which manufactured the gun used to kill Trayvon along with several assault rifles used in recent mass shootings). We also generously ensured they had plenty of customers due to the dozens of gun-friendly laws passed, which allowed us to become the first state in the nation to pass 1 million concealed weapons users. (Yay us!)

Adam Putnam, our Agriculture Commissioner, was beaming with pride about that statistic and even held a press conference when we hit the millionth concealed weapons' permit holder.

He'd still be talking about that if a certain incident didn't overshadow that two days later on December 14th.

The GOP legislators who are desperately trying to shield guns from any responsibility in gun violence are trying to lay blame on video game and film manufacturers. Since tens of millions of Florida taxpayer incentive money went to entertainment companies that make violent films and games, that rings hollow as well. At the very least, since Rick Scott has no trouble handing our money over to these characters, he could at least expand Medicaid coverage and give desperately needed help to thousands of Floridians suffering mental health disorders under his regime. But don't expect that anytime soon. Our GOP lawmakers can just retreat to their gated communities and let everyone else deal with their consequences. Oh, we are number one in gated communities as well.

Yay us!!

The Cruel Tale of Rick Scott's Rescue Puppy

I've said this before, I'll say it again.

Rick Scott is a fucking ASS-HOLE!

Asked last week what had happened to [Rick Scott's adopted rescue dog], Scott's current and former communications director refused to answer...

But he wouldn't say where the dog was and accused reporters of "surfing some old Facebook or website pages.'' At one point an exasperated reporter asked Burgess if he had killed the dog, and Burgess denied ever killing a dog, but still wouldn't say where Reagan was.

Backing up....

Right after Rick Scott defeated perennial loser Bill McCollum to win the GOP nomination for governor in 2010, apparently some highly-paid consultant said he needed to look a lot less like the evil man that he truly is and adopt a rescue pet.

So it came to be. Rick Scott made a HUGE deal on his candidate Facebook page that he had rescued a puppy Labrador Retriever. Bastard even scarred it by naming it Reagan (after holding a "fun" contest): "The Scott family is proud to announce that the name (chosen by you) for their newly adopted pup is Reagan! Thanks to everyone who participated in the fun contest".

YAY! What fun!

Florida teabag wingnuts took to the comments page praising him for naming him after their conserva-demigod. Others took the mandatory practice of slamming Obama for some crap like Bo being an elitist puppy. (Yeah! That fucking Obama and his dog that everyone still knows is alive, safe and cared for!)

The puppy was in the newspapers up till the day before Scott's swearing-in ceremony.

That was the last time people saw him.

He then disappeared.

When the Tampa Bay Times dared to ask where the dog was, they got dodge after dodge. Burgess first said he was desperately "working on an answer". OH...not because they gave a shit about what happened to the dog but because of the "potential PR nightmare if the Tampa Bay Times doesn't receive a photo of Reagan next to the today's copy of the Tampa Bay Times."

Yes. He wrote that. I don't know what's worse. That he expects us to believe he had to "research" that he was missing? Or that he was less worried about the poor dog being gone than he was about this turning into "Seamus II". (Or Pam Bondi's "puppygate" all over again. Our rightwing AG was in hot water for stealing a dog from a Katrina family.)

Burgess tried and tried but just couldn't determine if the dog was really missing or just playing a 2 year-long game of hide and seek or had somehow buried himself after accidentally murdering himself. Failing any good spin, he referred all questions to a new comm director, Melissa Sellers.

She brilliantly answered that she was "far too busy" to answer any questions about some dumb dog. (After which she assuredly must have said something like "And that's the end of that chapter!").

Then another spokesman took the prize by pretending Rick Scott had only ever had the one dog, Tallee.

Fed up with the embarrassing fiasco that is Scott's communications team, the Tampa Bay Times bypassed them all and just decided to ask the fucking governor himself, whom none of these redstate geniuses ever bothered to brief with their spin.

Essentially, Rick Scott said the dog was a terror (he liked to bark a lot) and that he just had to get rid of him.

Another GOP politician treating a dog the same way he treats people.

SO to sum up, Scott needed a campaign prop. He didn't need it after the election. Almost immediately after he was elected, he got rid of him. And everyone on his team thought everyone was too dumb to notice. (They have a point... we did elect this asshat to our highest office.)

It's a sad story in many ways, but don't feel too bad. At least the poor thing isn't with Rick Scott anymore.

2:56 PM PT: So where is the dog now? Depends on who you believe. According to Fox News, Rick Scott gave the dog to back to his former owner. The Raw Story says he went back to the rescue shelter. The Times article reports he went to a private business in Naples called All Pets Grooming and Boarding. And the Jacksonville paper just admitted they don't know where the hell the dog is. No one does. I just hope he's okay.

Satan Worshippers Hold Rally for Rick Scott

Just in case you had any doubts about Rick Scott, Here you go

Rick Scott Even Refuses to Say He'll Stop Selling Guns to Mentally Ill; Soledad Furious

I really hate this man.

Rick Scott, as pointed out by Soledad, is heavily supported by the NRA. The video is painful to watch as our idiot governor REPEATEDLY dodges every one of Soledad's questions on what he supports and refuses to name one damn thing that will change in this Godforsaken state. (She starts getting ticked around 1:15)

YES, that is our governor.

Background checks? Guns to mentally ill? Guns for those with a history of domestic violence? Giant assault rifles and high capacity magazines? Gov. Crome Dome can't take a stand on any of that because some bullshit about letting people mourn. But oh, I'll tell schools they better review their safety policy. (This from the man who in his first year stripped our schools of 1.3 billion. Thanks asshole.)

Soledad was furious, and so was I. I live here.

Why won't Rick Scott say anything about anything?

Because Florida is the NRA's playground. They ALWAYS try their luck with the FLorida legislature before going to other states:

YOu may know us from the Stand Your Ground law made famous by the death of Trayvon Martin. Turns out many killers with a long history of violence use this law to go free.

Thanks NRA.

Earlier this year, Lex Luther and the state legislature pushed a RIDICULOUS bill backed by the NRA to force all local governments to rescind ordinances banning random shooting in populated areas.

Thanks NRA.

It gets worse. My own idiot legislator pushed a bill written by the NRA to make it a crime for a doctor to ask about guns in the house and get fined $5 million for doing so. (A psychiatrist asking Nancy Lanza if she kept her guns would have gotten him in big trouble here).

It was thrown out for being anti-First Amendment (and a lotta stupid, even for us), so asshole Rick Scott spent a lot of taxpayer money to appeal.

Thanks NRA.

As crazy as these bills are, there are always new ones that get considered that don't pass. (Can you imagine? Last year it was the one that would allow firearms outside of clothing on college campuses).

Every single year, one new law gets passed here that the NRA supports or even writes for our inept legislators. We are the experiment. The NRA is the mad scientist.

And Rick Scott is our fucking idiot.

Democrats Blast Rick Scott for Helping Allen West's Quest to Overturn Election

.

Allen West. Worst Congressman ever. Unstable, erratic, extreme, and bigoted. Hates gays, women, is a proud Islamophobe, equated food stamps to slavery, and actually claimed that 80 House Democrats were communists.

How bad was he? In a GOP-gerrymandered district where a right-wing incumbent should have won easily, and where outside groups significantly outspent and smeared his Democratic opponent, Allen West STILL lost!!!

Allen West was too crazy for even Florida Republicans. (And they elected Rick freakin' Scott!)

And let's be clear. Despite Allen West's mad rantings, he did in fact LOSE the election. Under Florida law, a taxpayer-paid recount occurs when a race is within 0.5 percent or closer. Allen West lost by 1,907 votes, which is more than that. Case closed.

If a judge orders a recount anyway, so be it. But he will still lose.

Enter Rick Scott. Aka, Dr. Evil but less comical.

Scott is a close friend of Allen West. They are both teabaggers and often praise each other.

Now, you might have heard a few stories in the national news about Rick Scott pissing on Florida voters. Well, it seems Rick has had a change of heart. Now Scott is suddenly saying, (I shit you not), that he is determined to protect "the voice of the voters".

FL Sec. of State Ken Detzner, (who, again, I need to remind you replaced the previous SoS because he was disgusted with Rick Scott's voter suppression tactics), ordered a team of "auditors" to essentially harrass the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections.

(The harrassment apparently worked. Gertrude Walker was hospitalized today.)

Detzner's spokesman said the auditors were sent because of concern that "fair elections were conducted in all of the St. Lucie County races, not just the highest profile contests".

Riiiiight. Auditors were sent to this one county because Rick Scott is really concerned about the Soil and Water election results in St. Lucie. Allen West's Congressional race just happens to be one among them.

Not only is this action not justified, but this is a blatant attempt to undermine and pressure the elections chief.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz ain't having any of that mess:

"All votes in this election were counted fairly and accurately, and Allen West has lost beyond the mandatory recount range. Having Governor Scott intervene is outrageous and inappropriate. After disenfranchising Florida voters by cutting down early voting days and creating extraordinarily long lines at the polls, Governor Scott is now trying to blatantly overturn an election result he disagreed with and undermine Gertrude Walker, a three-decade veteran of the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections office. Governor Scott needs to remove himself from this process immediately."

Rep. Alcee Hastings also jumped in:

“It was Governor Scott who cut early voting hours, created long lines during early voting, and imposed unprecedented burdens on county election offices. Despite his repeated efforts to disenfranchise voters, the people of Florida’s 18th district chose Patrick Murphy to represent them in Washington, and by a margin that does not necessitate a recount. “Governor Scott’s efforts to interfere with a local official who has decades of experience and overturn an election conducted in full accordance with the law are a gross misuse of power and an unwarranted intrusion into the electoral process that should cease immediately.”

Florida has a bad reputation. The reason? Republicans, who hate government, completely run our state government. Look at just this past week: we got results from a government study to determine if texting while driving is bad (newsflash: it is), Rick Scott hired a laid-off banker who abused his unemployment compensation to head the agency that doles out uneployment compensation, and we got the results back from the Stand your Ground panel--no changes needed to the law! (The fact that it was made up of people who wrote the bill had no impact, I'm sure). I never have a shortage of material to write about for this series.

I have hope, though. Election day was a great day for me. Florida might finally be saying "Enough!" Election day might even be better in 2014, when Rick Scott can join his buddy Allen West in the unemployment line.

Rick Scott Crosses the Line From Crime to Treason

Yesterday was the glorious vision of Rick Scott and our one-party system: a day actually referred to as "Color-Free Sunday". It is typically the largest African American voting day because black churges organize "Souls to the Polls". But this year, as the former head of the FL GOP admitted, they had to keep nonwhites from voting.

Yesterday we had chaos in South Florida. People who stood in lines for literally over 7 hours on Saturday and didn't make it in were promised they could pick up and vote using absentee ballots from 1-5 pm: only to have the Miami-Dade elections office shut down after less then two hours. Over 180 angry voters, Hispanics, blacks, whites, all screamed "We want to vote!!"

Think about that for a second. In our own country, people were screaming to vote.

I was shocked when I read that. Republicans watchin at the elections office had a different reaction. They had their cars towed!

Welcome to Rick Scott's Florida.

As much as I eviscerate my state, I will tell you that people here are so damned determined to vote despite the best effort from the state GOP to turn our state into a fucking third-world country. Maybe its BECAUSE we live in a virtual dictatorship. But as bad as voting was this weekend in Democratic areas, it will be worse tomorrow: on Election Day, there will be even fewer polling precincts this year than in 2008.

Gov. Voldemort has actually said voting has gone very smoothly here and denies that there has been any problem. His new Secretary of State, Ken Detzner, (the last one resigned in disgust, by the way), said only an actual emergency would allow more early voting hours... which is utter-fucking crap. Because in my own county, a suspicious package was placed at a Democratically-leaning polling district which shut the polling station shut down for four hours. EVEN THEN, Rick Scott said NO--even to make up the damn hours lost by some right-wing whackjob.

A judge had to intervene to extend the hours we were promised only after the state Democratic Party sued.

Senator Bill Nelson in a letter to Rick Scott:

You should be doing everything in your power to make sure everybody has the chance to vote, and that their vote is counted. Instead, Gov. Scott, you are allowing people to be turned away and jeopardizing the credibility of Florida's election.

Former Governor Crist:

The only thing that makes any sense as to why this is happening and being done is voter suppression.

It's one thing to steal and get rich off of Medicare fraud. That's just another day here in Florida. But Amercicans have fought and died for our right to vote. So let's call this what it is. Treason.

Voter suppression is Treason, governor.

And that is something even Florida won't tolerate.

It's not enough to defeat you in 2014, Rick; your traitorous ass needs to be thrown in prison. Or at least exiled to a third-world dictatorship you so obviously envy.

5 Ways a Romney Victory Will Ruin Future Campaigns

Don't get me wrong. I am feeling a lot better about Obama pulling this off. But it is my nature to worry--I thought there was no way Rick Scott could win either.

I am not fearful for myself personnally; I make good scratch and actually would do well under a Romney presidency. I do fear the devastation to the middle class Romney will certainly try to inflict, not to mention the rights he will try to destroy, but at least I am finally confident that our leadership in the Seante will stop him where they can. (Although it will suck that we will have to fight for our basic rights consistently-again).

What I fear about a Romney victory on Nov. 6 will be the devastation to our democracy. There will be 5 takeaways campaign strategists will use for future campaigns:

1. Outright lies will become a legitimate campaign strategy. Journalism, fact checkers, and even facts, will be attacked as partisan if they contradict a politician. I get that lies are part of politics, but in the past, if you were called on it, you were shamed and IT STOPPED! In the new environment? A candidate will literally make things up, and not only will there be no consequence, but there will be reward. As long as there is money to keep pushing the lie, and fake news sources (hello FOx) to ignore or stand by it, we will be bombarded with so many lies in future campaigns that our outrage over Romney's blatant, debunked lies about everything from welfare to Chrysler will be considered quaint.

2. Bigotry, even hate, will be used as just another election tool that can work. Questioning someone's Americanism, religion, patriotism, birth, intelligence, college transcripts, you name it, will become par for the course in a campaign. Especially if the candidate is "foreign" looking. But as disgusting as those tactics are, I promise you that after a Romney victory you will see more-- and worse.

3. Voter suppression tactics will be standardized in modern GOP campaigns. Romney is already training people to lie to voters to supress teh vote on election day. Here in Florida, people are getting phone calls and letters telling them the wrong dates and times, and I'm not even sure that is illegal here. (If it is I can say there are no consequences, because it keeps happening.) Our legislature worked overtime last year to make it as difficult as possible to register and allow voting for likely Democrats--from essentially banning third party registration outfits, shredding absentee ballots for fake "handwriting analysis", purging eligible voters, forcing provisional ballots on students and women, etc. These are tactics that make third-world dictators blush. A Romney victory, however, will mean refighting the Jim Crow laws that we thought we put to bed half a century ago.

4. Its all about money: Candidates will spend more time fighting over a billionaire's favor, not the public. Romney's entire campaign was financed with 32 billionaires. Obama primarily took in small donations and gave him a run for his money. The take-away from a Romney victory will be candidates running to billionaires and their SuperPACs to curry favor for votes.

5. Secrecy will be the new normal. Did we ever see Mitt's tax returns? Does anyone really know how he made his money? Never mind it has been the standard for 4 decades to release 10+ years of taxes. Putting that aside, has anyone EVER figured how what Romney is going to cut to reduce the deficit?? Somehow we are going to keep our popular deductions, the superrich will get a 20% tax break, and our defense budget will rise by 2 trillion. My now discredited Orlando Sentinel endorsement failed to say how in the hell any of that is going to happen... but it doesn't matter. They didn't ask and I guess its too much trouble for them or anyone else in the MSM to try to get answers.

With a Romney victory, you will see an immediate change under GOP campaigns from the national all the way down to the local level. I fear down the line that even non-GOP campaigns will feel they have to respond in kind.

Romney's campaign was the ugliest and slimiest in modern history... and if he is victorious, I fear that soon his campaign will be the standard, not the exception. Even worse, one day, his campaign will be considered "tame".

It doesn't have to be this way. Vote, then get others to vote, then volunteer, then rest. Thank you.

Seminole Democrat 2012 Florida Voter Guide and Endorsements!!

Early Voting starts Saturday, October 27 thru Saturday, November 3, 7am-7pm

For all Floridians: Find your early voting locations by visiting your respective SoE site. You can find your SoE here.
In Seminole County, its at your local library or SoE office.

FOR ALL FLORIDIANS:

• President: Vote Barack Obama/Joe Biden
• Senator: Vote Bill Nelson
• Congress: Vote for the Democrat!! (same for state races)
• Constitutional Amendments: Vote NO on all Amendments--especially 5 and 6!!
  (All amendments were placed by the GOP legislature-not one by citizens. They are all are either misleading, a blatant power grab, or roll back your rights).
• FL Supreme Court: Vote YES to retain all Supreme Court Justices!
  R. Fred Lewis, Barbara J. Pariente, and Peggy A. Quince (The GOP and the Koch Brothers are spending millions attacking them so Rick Scott can pick 3 new right-wing judges. Don't let him!)

Specific to my own Seminole County:

• Congress, District 3: Corrine Brown
• Congress, District 7: Jason Kendall
• State Senate, District 20: Leo Cruz
• State House, District 29: Mike Clelland
• State House, District 30: Karen Castor-Dentel
• State Attorney: Ryan Vescio
• Seminole County Commission District 5: Gail Ellis
• Seminole County Commission District 4: Rick Russi
• Winter Springs Commission District 3: Pam Carroll
• City of Oviedo Councilman, Group III: Stephen Schneck
• Soil and Water Group 1: Tom Johnson

Printable Voter Guide to take to the polls!

Handy Chart to Explain the Different Types of Rape

Thank you GOP...

Obama WON the debate! Take a minute and hit the snap polls!

click HERE for a list of snap polls from CNN, CBS, Yahoo, and the like.... Don't allow the GOP to spin. Let everyone know that this was DEFINTELY Obama's night!!

Still Wondering How Rick Scott Won? You Need to Read This...

Crossposted as a Rec/Resc. diary on DKos



For those of you who don't know Florida, we are solid red in the north (especially the panhandle, which is called "Lower [or Baja] Alabama"), purple in the middle (Tampa thru Daytona) and deep blue in the south--especially Miami-Dade County (ranked one of the most liberal counties in America).

In 2010, during Bobblehead Rick Scott's gubernatorial fight with Alex Sink, he got creamed (expectedly) in Miami-Dade County on early voting and Election Day voting. But then something strange happened: Rick Scott won his seat with 20,745 absentee ballots from none other than Miami-Dade County.

His signature issue, (besides gutting education funding, killing high-speed rail, and anything else that makes Florida suck more), is voter suppression. On the heels of his ban on voting by freed prisoners and his now infamous voter "purge", he supported and signed into law last year a large series of voter suppression initiatives that cut early voting and essentially eliminated voter regisration drives.

All of this done in the name of "in-person voter fraud", of which he could find not one single instance of.

Yet strangely, governor Lex Luther and our GOP-controlled legislature, who claimed to be champions of curbing voter fraud, didn't curb the one election fraud issue that not only exists but is unfortunately very common here: absentee-ballot fraud.

None of this is more true than in Miami-Dade County, where absentee-ballot fraud is utterly rampant:

Absentee vote fraud destroying Miami-Dade elections - Miami Herald A dramatic increase in absentee voting in recent years means that absentee ballots are increasingly, and disproportionately, deciding our elections. But in many cases absentee voting patterns are so far out of sync with the rest of the county’s voting that it is obvious that something is seriously wrong. We have even reportedly seen cases of absentee ballots found in a local mayor’s car.

Five losing candidates in the August primaries have filed lawsuits in Miami-Dade alleging absentee-ballot fraud; and two ballot collectors (called "boleteros") were arrested.

The top boleteros are Republican, and each has teams of volunteers who have access to hundreds of voters. They are technically tasked with offering to help elderly or infirm voters fill out their ballots and ensure they get mailed. Yet in reality, many of them, shall we say, go "above and beyond" their job. There is ample opportunity to sway, bribe, or cajole their voters.... if not outright fill the ballot out for them and forge their signature.

Yes, that has definitely happened, as you can see if you read the whole article. Candidates in Miami-Dade are often contacted by boleteros promising a certain number of votes for a certain amount of money. This is not a new issue. Back in 1997, the Miami mayor’s race was overturned because of more than 5,000 fraudulent absentee ballots.

Boleteros are well-established and very prevalent in the Republican-heavy Cuban community in Miami-Dade. And Rick Scott was not above hiring them.

One of them was a person Rick Scott paid several thousand dollars to: Ms. Emelina Llanes. And much like her boss, Ms. Llanes is very ethically challenged:

But [Police Chief] Bolaños and another city employee told Miami New Times they saw Llanes go door-to-door at a Hialeah public housing building for the elderly during the city’s 2011 mayoral election, collecting ballots from elderly residents: “When she came out, we approached her because we believed she was carrying ballots,” Bolaños says. “She started yelling that she was being violated and that she had chest pains.” The ex-cop says Llanes, who allegedly had the ballots in a bag, ran into an apartment. When two Hialeah Police officers responded to the scene, they found no ballots, and Llanes denied the accusations.

Ms. Llanes is currently charged with illegally collecting ballots, which include a forged one on behalf of an elderly woman whose ballot was filled out even though she is currently unresponsive in an assisted living facility.

It is illegal to go door-to-door to pick up absentee ballots from elderly residents. Also, you also cannot ever be in possesion of more than two absentee ballots at one time. However, boleteros have been spotted with stacks, even bags full.

I grant you, this is circumstantial evidence at best. Sure, it is possible that unlike the seniors who voted in-person, maybe all those absentee ballot users in Miami-Dade overwhelmingly wanted Rick Scott for some reason. And sure, maybe Ms. Llanes and other boleteros in Miami-Dade were particularly honest in Rick Scott's 2010 gubernatorial election. We can't prove it. I get that.

But we could investigate. A task force could be created to get to the bottom of the problem.. something for some reason our leaders don't want to do.

I suppose some citizen journalists could go to these elderly voters and ask if there were any issues with someone collecting their ballots. You would also be able to tell if certain voters were comatose, unresponsive, or senile, which would wave some serious red flags. The only problem is the legislature mandated that if you vote by mail and request an absentee ballot, it must be kept secret. This is the same legislature, mind you, that mandated that if you vote early, your name will listed ONLINE along with when and where you voted! Because, you know, all the rampant problems with early, in-person.... voting?

(Granted, there is a strong argument that the secrecy helps prevent people from being targeted by boleteros from certain campaigns, but I really think its obvious they already know.)

Rick Scott and this legislature KNOW there is a problem with absentee-ballot fraud. The reason they don't care is that it normally benefits their party greatly. Rick Scott, of course, insists that nothing was shady in his election.

After all, stealing money from the elderly's Medicare is one thing, but stealing their vote? That would just be rude.

Romney DID win the debate. But here's 7 things to make you smile...

On DailyKos this morning, I noticed a few Recommended authors posting that Romney lost the first presidential debate for 2012. They even argued that he lost big time. This was behavior I usually spot on conservative blogs or FoxNews, putting yourself in an alternate reality bubble if you don't like the one you're given. I posted my own diatribe, which made it to the top of the REC list. I felt a gutcheck was needed, but also a pickup that is based on reality. Here is essentially what I said:

Democrats differ from Republicans in that they are rooted in reality. We cannot, CANNOT, attack the other side for their fantasy world of no fact checkers and imaginary skewed polls if we are going to make a fantasy that last night was somehow a good night for our President.

It was frustrating. Romney lied, lied, and lied again, and Obama not only let him get away with it, he oftentimes nodded his head in agreement.

Nothing was said last night about 47--the precentage of Americans Romney wrote off AND the ranking of job creation that Romney owned as gov. of MA. Nothing on Bain Capital or Romney's hidden money or affection for China.

Obama was passive, listless, and defensive. Romney came off as the winner. Yes I am angry, BUT... here's 7 things that make me feel better (and hopefully you too):

1. This was a needed wake-up call for POTUS. For those of us who are fans of the president, we know there are two Obamas. One is the overly nice guy who bends over backwards for the opposition, and the other is campaign kickboxer/middle-class champion who beats the hell out of the other guy. After his assessment of this, expect to see the kickboxer in the next debate.

2. Next presidential debate is townhall style. Big advantage for Obama. He can connect to folks. Romney? Not so much. He has this thing about commoners. He always comes across as condescending and awkward-- a unique Romney trait.

3. Any bump won't last more than a week. The veep debate is Oct. 11. Biden has the advantage of being seen as the underdog. That's a good thing in a debate. Biden is one tough SOB and I know he's been itching to ream Paul Ryan and his awful budget.

4. Now Obama gets to be the underdog. Before this debate, the polls showed that most people thought Obama would crush Romney. Lowering expectations right before a debate is something both sides try to do. Now that Romney has established himself as a seasoned debator, Obama gets the advantage.

5. First debates don't matter. George W. got his butt handed to him in the first debate with John Kerry. For those of you old enough to remember, Ronald Reagan was UTTERLY DEMOLISHED in his first debate. Remember how those turned out??

6. Romney sucks and is too far behind. There is nothing Romney can do to erase the epic ton of gaffes that has made him the most unlikable and worst challenger in modern presidential history. He will get a small short-lived and small bump from this, but he can't erase the large deficit in all the battleground states.

7. This is my favorite. SUPERPACS will stop diverting money to downballot races. No doubt snake oil saleman Karl Rove is on the phone asking for millions for Romney that otherwise would have gone to much closer Senate and House races. SuperPac money in the presidential race is wasted (Just read this). This is great news for us.

Finally, bonus. #8.

This should be a wake-up call to all of us. If you were thinking of sitting this election out... DON'T! If you haven't volunteered, canvassed, phone-banked, registered voters, poll watched, etc. DO THAT NOW!! This is not and has never been in the bag for us by any means. Complacency can cost us this election. Obama got that message last night and will step up.... will you?

Help Me Fight 3rd ATTEMPT by Rick Scott to Replace Supreme Court Justices

Crossposted as an Election Diary Rescue on DKOS.

An independent judiciary is to tyrants as sunlight to vampires. €”Martin Dyckman

As you may well know, our Florida state legislature is overwhelmingly Republican (even though our state has more Dems). On top of that, we have the worst, most radical, most tea-party aligned governor in the nation who rightfully has the lowest approval ratings of any governor in modern history.

The only thing that has kept our state from sinking into complete tea party excrement is the Court system. Our Florida supreme court is evenly balanced, and they have been a voice of sanity in this crazy state. And boy have they paid a price. From having their funding cut, to REPEATED legislative attempts to curb their authority, to the current disastrous Amendment 5 on the ballot this year that would give the Legislature direct authority over the courts! (Dear God, people.. VOTE NO ON ALL FLORIDA AMENDMENTS THIS YEAR!!)

But the most cynical and devasting attack would be the removal of three sitting state supreme court justices who have previously ruled against governor egghead. They have CONSISTENTLY, for two years, been the target of the governor and his right-wing ally'€™s wrath: Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince. If Scott is successful in getting rid of them this election, he will get to replace all of them....

This is why Scott has been hellbent on removing them from the bench. There have been THREE blatant attempts so far to get rid of them:

1. The first came when Tricky Ricky worked with the GOP legislature to divide the court in two branches, and pledged to put these THREE judges (who have been there the longest) on a newly created "criminal division". Almost worked but it fell apart at the end.
2. The second came when Gov Scott attempted to smear these particular justices by ordering state law enforcement to investigate if they used court employees to help prepare election documents. This is common practice among all judges; and they were cleared of any wrong doing. Rick Scott was furious.
3. Now #3. The Florida GOP, in an unprecedented partisan assault, voted last week to formally oppose these three Supreme Court justices during their merit retention this Fall. They said they were "extreme" and cited their disapproval in a nine-year old murder case (yeah, right). Up until last week, there was only a shadowy tea party group, Restore Justice 2012, whose sole purpose has been to push these three justices off the bench. But the FL GOP adds more funds and muscle.And now, the Koch Brothers have gotten into the act.

Those two greedy bastards are spending millions to run attack ads against the justices. Again, unprecedented. Their front group, Americans for Prosperity, released the first of what they said would be series of ads. If you care to see it, look just below. The attack is some garbage about the Supreme Court rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment against Obamacare. (BTW, the three justices were joined by two others in ruling that the non-binding amendment included a misleading summary that made numerous promises such as ensuring €œaccess to health care services without waiting lists.€)



This merit retention system of judges was put in place to keep the state’s high court above politics. The intent was never to try to pack the court with ideologues.

This is so bad that even JEB Bush came out against it. (He's a saint in Florida politics.) Other Republicans have called this out for what it is. The former RPOF chairman said this action should scare Floridians to death. All the newspapers, the other Supreme Court justices, along with 23 former presidents of the state bar, have also all decried this as a power grab. (To which Rick Scott would say, "well duh...")

Please HELP! Destroying the Court will give Scott unlimited power, and my state can't handle much more. This is perhaps the most important statewide election this year, and the GOP is counting on people not being too engaged on this.

This merit retention election will determine whether Scott gets two more years in office... or two decades of his bitter legacy!!

Two PACS have been created to fight this injustice, and they need help: Defend Justice Florida and Democracy at Stake.

Websites for the justices:

voteyesjusticelewis.com

voteyesjusticepariente.com

voteyesjusticequince.com

Finally, here's a sticker for your car. First time I used zazzle. If I get any royalties, I promise it will go to help fight for these folks. (I think it's just a few cents per sticker, but I'll kick in a few bucks as well. The goal here is awareness anyway.)

LINK IS HERE



In a way, Rick Scott IS on the ballot this year. EVERYONE who votes for Obama and Nelson, please vote YES to retain all the FL Supreme Court justices this election!

"Conservative Values" FL State Legislator Linked to Prostitution Ring

Crossposted as an Election Diary Rescue on DKOS.

Every two years it seems to happen. A sactimonious a$$H... GOP legislator here in Florida gets caught with his or her pants down.

Of course you remember the infamous Mark Foley, whose penchant for male pages was largely ignored by his peers and made his chairmanship of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children seem somewhat ironic.

Or, you may not remember Bob Allen, who claimed he was offering the undercover officer money to give him a blowjob because he was fearful of "black guys".

And the lesbian affair/travel scandal from our complete fiasco of a Lt. Governor, Jennifer Carroll.

As of today, we have someone new. The man the Christian Coalition of Florida gave the aptly named "Faith and Families Award" to: right-wing state representative and teabagger darling, Mike Horny Horner of Kissimmee.

Orlando Sentinel:

State Rep. Mike Horner of Kissimmee, a leading Osceola County Republican and a rising star in state GOP circles, abruptly ended his re-election campaign Monday after he was named as a client in a prostitution and racketeering case... "I deeply regret decisions I made that are causing my family unjustifiable pain and embarrassment …," Horner said. "My family still deserves better from me, as do all my friends, supporters and constituents." He did not respond to requests for an interview.

Horner is no ordinary state representative. He was a fast-rising star.

He was named president of the powerful Kissimmee/Osceola Chamber of Commerce, funneled money to Disney (a requirement here), was a massive fundraiser for the state GOP, and thus had the backing of every big name Florida conservative, including JEB, Marco Rubio and NRA president Marian Hammer. They eve n made a video for him, along with other prominent Florida conservatives, extolling his virtues. Such "integrity"! So much "character" this guy has!

(Although I agree he was "in step with conservative values"--meaning he is a complete assh&*e. The guy has a wife and small child at home! The last frame may break your heart.)



And if you can stomach it, more crap:

Conservative values, my ass.

Thankfully, this was a gauranteed seat for the GOP that we can now definitely win.

The Democrat is Eileen Game for state House District 42, a Polk County business woman.



Even though it's a conservative district, with Horner out, a new republican will only have six weeks to put his or her campaign together, raise money, meet voters... and not even have his or her name on the ballot!! Horner's name has to remain because the deadline to change it has long past.

We need more Democrats DESPERATELY in these final two years of the Rick Scott regime.

1. First, Like her on facebook
2. Donate! Just a little bit... a couple bucks. She's raised several grand and matched that with her own contributions. Our money will go farther because all the funds for Horner have, as of today, been wasted!
3. If you are in District 42 (straddles Osceola and Polk) or live in St. Cloud, Lake Wales or Frostproof, please consider volunteering.
4. At the very least, if you are in the district, ask her for a sign!.

Let's take Florida back, one district at a time.

Want to know HOW FAR Florida's governor will go to STOP you from asking a question?

Crossposted on DKos as a Rec diary

A young mother wanted to speak to her governor during his recently completed "listening" tour of public education. This was the start of something bad:

To be considered for meeting the governor, each parent had to fill out a form with a driver's license, Social Security number and date of birth. Similar forms are routinely required from those who attend gatherings with a president of the United States, but contrary to the claims in Tallahassee, they have never been routinely required for a meeting with prior Florida governors.

As appalling as that is, what is happened after the check was even more appalling... .

For almost 20 years this young mother has held a sensitive job as a child care worker and Medicaid provider who screens young children. This type of work requires a flawless background with rigorous background checks. She always passes with flying colors.

This time, all she wanted to do was sit down in the school library at the school her own child attends while her governor "listens" to their concerns.

But she was denied. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement told her she failed her background check.

What's worse is that, to this day, they won't tell her why she was rejected! From the same article:

Gretl Plessinger, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, refused to disclose why La'Tasha Reed Dullivan flunked its background test to attend a session of the governor's education "listening tour.'

Mrs. Dullivan was furious. So she ran a check on herself, forking over the $24 for access to the database.

What did find? Nothing. Nada. Zip.

No trace of criminal history.

Nothing evil--except her party registration. Democrat.

Outrageous! - says the governor's staff. They certaintly don't tell law enforcement to weed out Democrats! (Except when they do).

The FDLE won't say why she "failed" either, despite repeated requests from the press. (Nasty buggers they are. No wonder Scott hates them so.)

The FDLE put out a statement that these background checks are common. This is complete and utter crap. No other governor has ever subjected their citizens to a background check just to talk with them. The Tampa Times investigated and found that not Crist, Chiles, Graham, or even JEB did such a thing. Bush's former Chief of Staff said Bush never asked for a backround check just to meet with her boss; and Charlie Crist was downright disgusted when he was asked, saying "I never did that!''

Scott's people, growing tired of a new scandal every week, are throwing the FDLE under the bus. They are saying they must be going rogue and doing this without their knowledge. Once again, COMPLETE AND UTTER CRAP! You can't pull a stunt like this without the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the state knowing about it--and in this backwards state, that person is the same freaking guy who gets elected governor. (BTW, Dick Rott used this position as an excuse to order the Sumter Co. Sheriff to remove anyone wearing an anti-Scott T-shirt in a public square last year.)

Running these types of background checks on EVERYONE who is selected to be in an audience with the guber is expensive, offensive and wasteful. FDLE is underfunded and overwhelmed. The limited resources need to go to serious crimes, including dealing with the uptick in murders under the badly-written Stand Your Ground law you may have heard about. Just like public education, which was cut by $1.3 billion in 2011, FDLE succumbed to the Tallahassee Teabag budget ax along with those other government "parasites" in mental health and child protective services.

(And, before I conclude, allow me to quickly remind everyone what a total asshole Rick Scott is: he appointed a monster to head the Department of Children and Families who justified Rick Scott gutting his own agency by $179 million, even though we have an epidemic of child deaths, by saying "I believe in the protective power of prayer and hope".

Seriously dude, F&*K YOU!! And to cap it off, Scott requested a 116% increase for his own office. Ass......hole. OK, I'm done.)

I'm sure the woman didn't miss much. Scott mostly talked during his "listening" tour and the complaints fell on deaf ears. But he could have at least a shred of decency and allowed someone to ask why they are being screwed over before ignoring them.

What I find most ironic is that this squeaky-clean woman couldn't get an audience with a governor with an actual criminal history.

But then again, this is Florida....

Updated Romney Sticker

Great Week for Rick Scott: Got to Screw Over Teachers AND Unemployed

From the My Stupid State series. Crossposted on DKos

TEACHERS:

From the moment on that God-awful day Rick Scott took office, he has been on an unholy crusade to ruin public education.

Despite Florida already ranking near the bottom in education, the bald-headed bastard proposed completely gutting k-12 education by $1.75 billion. But it was MUCH worse than even that: Although he justified the cut by saying we have a huge state deficit, he planned to use that money not to pay down the debt, but to give it all away through massive corporate tax breaks. It was so bad that Rachael Maddow devised the "Rick Scott test" as a metric to measure how bad the other governors were. Thankfully, Rick Scott's GOP legislators bravely rolled over pushed back... and only allowed a $1.3 billion cut, which is still a freaking state record.

With our schools in free-fall, programs cut, teacher take-home pay decimated, and children suffering, even this pathetic and apathetic state gave the legislators an outcry. The shell-shocked legislature restored about 75% of the funding (but not before the requisite bashing of non-political state employees).

Unfortunately for Scott, trying to make teachers destitute, give them unfair higher standards than charter schools, and attempt to drug-test them like criminals, for some reason, had a negative impact on his polls (among other things). After almost two years of refusing to set foot into a public school, he suddenly realized that our children's teachers were much more popular than he was. (Actually, I think he's only slightly ahead of toxic mold, which at least has a reason to screw over people.)

Hence, this week, Gov. BatBoy announced, with much fanfare, a "listening" tour of some of our public schools, closed to the public, of course.

From what I hear in these closed sessions, he brings a giant banner that says "Promise Kept-One Billion for Education". Apparently thinking we are all f-ing idiots that he gutted education by $300 million more than that last year.

The sessions are primarily Rick Scott giving out his talking points, ("listening" means listen to me, dammit), and questions afterwards. Although these sessions are invite-only, his handlers couldn't find hardly any teacher in favor of his asshattery, so he has been getting a mouthful. Rick Scott heard horror stories of trying to teach starving, neglected, and homeless children with few resources... and then condescendingly told them that eveyone asks him for more money. (If the hungry 3-year old was a big corporation, then we'd talk.)

The teachers he has talked with point out he didn't say he would do anything different. Condescending, unhelpful, and an asshat. Mission accomplished.



But just in case you think his contempt is limited to teachers, wait until they get unemployed.

UNEMPLOYED:

Florida is now DEAD LAST in the nation of unemployed workers receiving benefits.

Why?

Early this year a new policy was enacted that requires all new claims to be filed using a convoluted online service:

This might explain why in the first quarter of 2012 more than 60,000 workers were denied benefits for procedural reasons, an increase of more than 200 percent from the year before.

No live person, no phone calls, no letters. Plus, only online documentation of job searches. Next session the legislature is planning on eliminating all notices through the mail as well, so you had better get your email! One lawyer in that article said the process has turned into a game of "gotcha". Make it hard to do, easy to make mistakes, then deny.

The U.S. Department of Labor is currently investigating. (Wait your turn, Labor!)

Florida is the ONLY state in the union that is requiring online only. Every other state has at least a telephone application option for those unable to do it online.

So you are an older, low-wage worker with a family and got thrown out with no notice... very common now in this GOP hellhole.

Naturally, the first thing you are going to want to do is buy a computer and get cable internet service.

Can't afford it? GET A JOB! (Oh right...) You say you worked construction and aren't tech savvy? Well, maybe you shouldn've taken a few courses. It's not like tuition suddenly skyrocketed under this regime.

Online forms not clear? Yeah, no kidding. They are notoriously and (problaby purposefully) confusing. But that just means you have to WANT it baby! We can't afford to pay for people to answer your questions. Learn how to talk to the paperclip guy!

And God help you if you do it wrong. (Seriously, you better pray if you made a mistake.)

Naturally, this is something Rick Scott is very proud of. NOT KIDDING. Check out the new verbiage that just went up this week on the main claims page for the FL Dept. of Econ. Opportunity:



Yes, thanks to our illustrious governor, claims are down!! But not because people are back to work--it's because Gov. Dick Rott is purposefully being an ass to people simply trying to apply for their benefits!

It's called kicking someone when they're down. No wonder Mitt Romney loves the guy!

FL GOP Spends YOUR Money to Fight Latino Resident Citizens from Claiming In-State Tuition!

Crossposted as a Rec'd diary on Dkos

Maybe your state fights for their citizens. Mine fights against our people... and then bills us for it. That is what happens when your state is completely run by the GOP.

The party that is currently screaming fiscal restraint is spending mad taxpayer money defending its hateful ideology. Millions have so far been spent fighting (and losing) to stop healthcare reform, the privatization of prisons, drug testing of welfare recipients, drug testing of all state workers (except legislators and Rick Scott), voter suppression laws, radical gun laws (Docs vs. Glocks), redistricting, and the shifting of pension costs onto state workers.

And this latest expensive failure just happened: Our tax dollars went to defend what the judge correctly described as a "blatantly unconstitutional" policy to deny American citizens the right to in-state tuition unless their parents could prove legal residency.

Naturally, we were the ONLY state that had this ridiculous requirement.

The US District Judge wasted no time shredding this idiotic policy:

The plaintiffs included four high school grads born and raised in Miami, one born in Los Angeles but raised in Palm Beach County. All had been denied in-state tuition. The effect, as Judge Moore noted, was that these young Florida citizens who happened to be children of undocumented immigrants were charged a state college tuition rate triple that paid by fellow state citizens. Judge Moore tossed the policy, telling the state what their lawyers already knew. That the Supreme Court applies “a form of heightened scrutiny when evaluating alleged violations of the Equal Protection Clause that arise from a state’s denial of a benefit to a child or creation of an additional obstacle to a child solely by virtue of the parent’s unlawful or immoral behavior.”

Keep in mind that was a GOP policy that had widespread, legislative GOP support. Nevermind that is was illegal and UNCONSTITUTIONAL. It was brown people we were talking about, so they didn't care. Hispanic Floridians should pay for the sins of thier parents. In this case, the sin being wanting a better life for your family and being exploited by an employer that brought you here. Regardless of that, these children were US CITIZENS and FLORIDA RESIDENTS.

But to the GOP, it's all about the parents.

Sort of like having me go to jail if my Dad was caught bribing a legislator.

Oh wait, that's not illegal in florida anymore. (Seriously, last year legislator bribery was FREAKING LEGALIZED!)

Couple of things before I get off my soapbox:

1. It is telling that the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights organization that normally takes on hate groups like the Klan, is now taking on Rick Scott's GOP regime in Florida.

2. It is also telling that the Courts consistently smack Rick Scott's GOP bullies down (which is why he is hellbent on going after our impartial Courts.)

3. It it telling the lengths the FL GOP will go to in order to hurt minorities. I am willing to bet any amount of money that they would have no trouble with these children if they were working back-breaking labor in our farms and orange groves.

4. It is not just telling, but appalling, that none of the handful of GOP Hispanic legislators supported repeal. Rubio? He was FL House Speaker when this nonsensical bigotry took effect in 2005. One guess as to where he stood on this.

5. Florida doesn't even have an immigration problem that needs solving. Our biggest problem with "illegals" are Europeans who overstay their visa.

6. If you think this legislative bigotry is isolated, think again. Rick Scott and the GOP wanted LEGAL IMMIGRANTS to carry their papers at all times to be checked... and get fined and jailed if they didn't have their papers with them!

7. Still not convinced? That bill I just mentioned for #6? There was an even more radical bill that Rick Scott promised to sign. It was similar to the Arizona law, but included a racial exemption for white people.

The GOP is going to begin a massive "Hispanic outreach" in the weeks prior to this election. Please, keep this in mind when they tout their diversity. Nice rhetoric doesn't make up for being attacked by actual legislation.

Justice Department: Florida dumping disabled kids in nursing homes for adults

Article by Christian Dem in NC. Crossposted to DKos.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division got word that Florida officials have been sending sick and disabled children to adult nursing homes. It found the goings-on so egregious that on Tuesday, it sent a "what the hell is going on here?" letter to Tallahassee.

Hundreds of Florida children are spending their formative years in hospital-like institutions, sometimes growing up in the equivalent of hospital rooms with virtually no education or socialization, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division wrote in a 22-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi’s office is defending the state against a previously filed lawsuit that claims the institutionalization of children violates federal law.

The letter, written by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, is the federal government’s first attempt to weigh in on the controversy. At the end of his letter, Perez outlined a series of steps the state could take to reduce its reliance on nursing home beds for frail children. If state leaders fail to “correct” the practice, Perez wrote, “the Attorney General may initiate a lawsuit” of his own.

Some youngsters remain in nursing homes for much of their lives: “a number” of kids, the report said, have spent a decade or longer institutionalized, including some children who entered the facilities as infants and toddlers.

Read the full letter here. It alleges that disabled children often spend years in nursing homes--at least 50 haven't been home in five years. According to several advocates for disabled children, state officials have sent children to nursing homes even when they are more than capable of living at home with their parents. Perez accuses the state of cutting millions of dollars from programs that support disabled children and turning down federal money that would allow them to stay at home. The state even went as far as to repeal state rules that restrict the number of children that nursing homes can take in, and increased their per diems in order to encourage them to take children in. According to Perez, this is not only a flagrant violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but also does serious damage to children.

The letter makes for horrifying reading. Civil Rights Division investigators visited nursing homes in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa and St. Pete. In one facility, the kids living there never leave their floor except for medical appointments or community outings. At another, the entrance to an outdoor area is in the smoking section for adult residents.

Some of the stories are absolutely gut-wrenching. For example, one mother wants to bring her five-year-old daughter home from a facility where she's spent three years after being rendered a quadriplegic in a car accident. But she can't because state officials told her she may have to wait as long as 10 years to get home-based care. Another family had to fight for years to bring their son home after he nearly drowned. The doctor prescribed home-health care to deal with his breathing problems, but had to sue the state to get it to provide the necessary care.

State officials claim that Justice ambushed them with the letter, and didn't provide them with an opportunity to comment before it was released. But this seems hard to believe, given how far back this appears to date. This, friends, appears to be "compassionate conservatism" at work.