To all our RepubliGun Fiends

"It may be mail fraud" - or astroturf fraud

AMY GOODMAN: This information, the companies trying to get out their workers to protest the climate bill in these last weeks of the congressional recess, comes after the Times exposed a public relations firm hired by the pro-coal industry group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, recently sent out at least fifty-eight letters opposing new climate laws to members of Congress. An investigation by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming found a total of thirteen letters sent by the firm Bonner & Associates were forgeries. The committee is currently investigating another forty-five that were determined to be fake. The letters purported to be from groups like the NAACP and Latino groups, as well. Kert Davies, what do you know about this?

KERT DAVIES: Key point. This is not the American Petroleum Institute alone. So, big coal, who played nice, who played white hat with the Waxman-Markey team and got what they wanted in the bill, is also attacking the bill, going at it from all sides. So, they actually would love to defeat the bill in the end, but they’d love to appear to be playing nice.

That campaign is so underhanded and despicable, to pose as the NAACP and send a letter to a congressman saying you oppose a piece of legislation. Imagine if Greenpeace sent a letter posing as the American Petroleum Institute supporting legislation. It may be mail fraud. It may be—there are a number of laws that may have been broken here. And I think the truth is yet to be known on the extent of it and who was behind it. Democracy Now, 8.21.09

Sell risk to yourself, and pocket the savings

Bob Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, had calculated in March that homeowners could save an average 24 percent on their premiums, based on special session legislation passed in January.

[Property Insurers] "made $150-billion over the last three years," he said. "That's $525 for every man, woman and child in America."

Hunter outlined several reasons why insurance companies weren't lowering their rates more than expected: some companies use affiliates that sell reinsurance essentially to themselves. . .

Not only are the actual savings closer to 12 percent, they do not include numbers from the state's biggest carriers. St. Pete Times

Tampa continues to rack up recognition

Forbes:

Tampa came in last on our list of cities best for young professionals. Behind Detroit. Behind Indianapolis.

No stranger to awards, Tampa is also home to Dale Mabry Hwy.:

Dale Mabry Highway, originally built as a military transportation route between air fields during World War II, has been cited in the Wall Street Journal as a "blue ribbon contender" if "prizes were given for the ugliest urban road in America". link

The Penile State doesn't understand where Forbes gets its data. One look at the list of corporate sponsors for Fetish Con dispels any suggestion that Tampa is not a magnet for the best and brightest...