Category — Florida

So, current governor, Rick “the fraudster” Scott, mistakenly said that he was in favor of the Medicaid expansion when he was running for re-election, but has ‘corrected the record’ to show that he always against it, even when he said he was for it.

Then you have former governor, John Ellis “JEB” Bush, who says that he isn’t a Latino, even though he checked the box on his voter registration form saying he was, and signed the form under penalty of perjury.

There are a lot of Republican officials in this state who haven’t mastered the concept of checking boxes.

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter assigned to the Louisiana National Guard at Hammond, Louisiana crashed during a training mission at an Eglin AFB range about 10 miles from my house last night. In addition to the 4 National Guard crewmembers, there were 7 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

At the time we had dense fog, the visibility wasn’t better than a block at most, and it would have been worse over Choctawhatchee Bay. They took off from the Destin airport and headed North to the Eglin Range on the other side of an arm of the Bay.

They were probably using nightvision goggles which eliminate depth perception, and the fog would have distorted things. Debris and remains have been found on a beach.

The BBC reported on the crash, but they made it sound like it occurred near Pensacola, rather than almost 50 miles away.

It is unlikely any one survived, but they are still calling it a search and rescue mission. It couldn’t really get started until this morning when the fog began to lift.

If you live in the state of Florida and are not part of the 1% hide the women, children, dogs, livestock, and wallets because the legislature is back in session for their annual 60 days of lunacy.

Expect to see more ‘tax breaks’ for the wealthy and big business while the ‘fees’ paid by everyone else are increased.

In the picture of the bush below this was the white bloom alone on the lower right of the bush. The true color is rusty brown, the picture is lighter than reality.

The French made quick work of the murderers. The one that ‘got away’ may have already fled before the siege at the Kosher supermarket, and is being hunted in Syria.

The group calling itself Al Qaeda in Yemen is taking credit for the attacks, although one of the whackos claimed to be associated with the Islamic State movement in Syria and Iraq. The Yemen conflict is actually tribal in nature has been going on since the 1960s. Fundamentalist groups use the conflicts like Yemen, Syria et al. for recruiting and have no real interest in the reason for conflicts. It is about power, not ideology.

The French police officer killed while trying to stop the attack on Charlie Hebdo was also a Muslim, which is a bit of a problem for the right wing hate groups in France, as is the fact that the murderers were all French citizens.

In other news closer to my home, the high climbed above 40 yesterday, above 50 today, and is forecast to hit 60 tomorrow. I’ll get a picture of one of the pathetic frost-bitten camellia blooms.

Well, at least Amendment 1 passed and Amendment 3 failed. Those were my ‘wins’ this time.

Amendment 2, the medical marijuana initiative got 57% of the vote, but you have to get 60% to pass an amendment.

After all of the noise about anger with incumbents, that’s how people voted in Florida in the final analysis, for incumbents. Sad really.

It took me less than 5 minutes at a little after 2PM CST as I was the only one in the place.

From the signs just outside the exclusion zone I see that Amendment 1 is supposed to be ‘a land grab’. I’m not sure how dedicated funding to a trust to buy land translates into a ‘land grab’, but some people seem to believe it.

Amendment 2 is supposed to support drug abuse. How replacing Oxycotin and other addictive narcotic pain killers with marijuana supports drug abuse is beyond me, but some people believe it enough to have signs printed.

So far my vote has counted, as I can see them in the counts in Okaloosa County.

The polls are open in West Florida from 7AM to 7PM CST, so if you haven’t already voted by absentee ballot or during early voting, make the effort to get to polls tomorrow.

Let’s see if we can have an election that actually reflects ‘the will of the people’ rather than the will of those people who bother to vote.

I’m voting NO on Amendment 3, because it is another political power grab to give power to lame duck governors.

I’m voting YES on Amendment 1 to help preserve some of what people love about Florida before it is all paved over or covered with over-priced McMansions on small lots.

I’m voting YES on Amendment 2 because it doesn’t legalize marijuana, it makes it a prescription drug which has fewer side effects than the drugs now prescribed to treat specific symptoms of a limited range of medical conditions. Medical research says it works, so it should be available.

I’m voting against the retention of any of the current judges on the First Circuit Court of Appeals because of the outrageously expensive palace they had built for their new offices and court house. That was not ‘judicial’ use of public money.

Early voting in Okaloosa County for the General Election started on Monday, October 20^th and runs through Saturday, November 1^st from 9AM to 7PM CDT daily.

The locations are more convenient than last time for the South County.

[Thanks for reminding me about Early Voting, Steve.]

This is a light year for ballot initiatives for the general election in November – only three. The first two are citizens’ initiatives placed on the ballot by gathering voters’ signatures. and the the third is an initiative from the legislature that got 60% of the votes in both houses.

Initiatives require a 60% ‘yes’ vote to pass and amend the Florida constitution. The short version is that I’m voting ‘yes’ on Amendments 1 and 2, and a definite ‘no’ on Amendment 3. After the fold I’ll give you links to the text and a brief explanation of the three Amendments.

[Read more →]

The polls close at 7PM CDT on the Panhandle, so it you haven’t voted yet, go do it.

There were actually two other people voting when I did, which is unusual for any election, but especially a primary election at my polling location.

This Tuesday, the 26^th is the primary election in Florida. The polls are open from 7AM to 7PM and you really need to vote, even if you don’t belong to a political party.

Under Florida law if an election will be decided in the primary because other parties aren’t contesting it, everyone gets to vote in that primary, which means there are a lot of Republican primary races that I get to vote in 👿

The other thing that happens in primaries is that governments try to sneak referendums passed the voters by putting them on the primary ballot. My county government is attempting to do this to get approval for another tax giveaway to businesses. You need to let them know you are watching them.

In order to generate “local excitement” [sell stuff] the chamber of commerce is once again annoying people with the Billy Bowlegs Festival. This year the unavoidable part runs from Thursday, June 5^th and finishes up on Saturday. The really obnoxious parade on Thursday screws up traffic and sends a lot of noisy people through my neighborhood.

Almost at bad as the parade traffic jam are the Friday fireworks. I know a lot of people enjoy fireworks, but they probably have not seen what loud noises and flashes of light can do to people and aircraft – I am definitely not a fan.

With luck it will rain the rest of the week… 😈

The day care center for the delusional and deranged known as the Florida Legislature is open in Tallahassee for the next two months to see how much more can be looted for business interests and how dangerous they can make the state for visitors and residents.

There will be new giveaways to commercial interests that never generate permanent jobs or tax income for the state, new guns laws to terrorize even more people, new restrictions on voters who don’t support the Republican Party, and new obstacles for women seeking to make their own decisions. That is always the plan and goal of the legislature.

Anyone who thinks the voters can throw these clowns out hasn’t studies the creative redistricting maps they have created to prevent it.