Red Alert from Red State Bonehead

Creative Loafing offers a helpful perspective on Rich Swier and his minions.

The stage is set for the day’s main event. Dr. Richard Swier, editor of local conservative blog Red County, will have his chance to appeal the decision of a district advisory committee that denied his “request for reconsideration of instructional material,” a formal complaint originally filed on April 25. Swier sought to have the textbook World History: Patterns of Interaction removed from the school curriculum, believing that it unfairly favors the religion of Islam over Christianity. more...

Dengue, Dispersants, and the Creeps who protect us

Florida Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA and Army Experiments

Wednesday 21 July 2010

by: H.P. Albarelli Jr. and Zoe Martell, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

With little fanfare on July 13, Florida officials released the findings of a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study conducted recently in the Key West area revealing that about 10 percent, or 1,000 people, of the coastal town's population are infected with the dengue fever virus.

In the early 1950s, Fort Detrick, in partnership with the CIA, launched a multi-million dollar research program under which dengue fever and several addition exotic diseases were studied for use in offensive biological warfare attacks.

... three sites in Florida, Key West, Panama City and Avon Park, as well as two other locations in central Florida, were used for experiments with mosquito-borne dengue fever and other biological substances.

The experiments in Avon Park, about 170 miles from Miami, were covertly conducted in a low-income African-American neighborhood that contained several newly constructed public housing projects. CIA documents related to its top-secret Project MK/NAOMI clearly indicate that the mosquitoes used in Avon Park were the Aedes aegypti type. Specially equipped aircraft, in one of the larger experiments, released 600,000 mosquitoes over the area. In one of the Avon Park experiments, about 150,000 mosquitoes were dropped in paper bags designed to open upon impact with the ground. Each bag held about 1,000 insects. Besides dengue, some of the mosquitoes were also carrying yellow fever.

Your insurer is regulated by assholes

So when my insurance co. is faced with claims for my home, or those of my neighbors, what if it doesn't have the money?

Which, according to the Herald Tribune, is likely to be the case. The fine story by Paige St. John says:

Eager to replace national carriers fleeing the state and to reduce government-sponsored coverage, regulators have bet Florida's future on companies they know are shaky. They allowed at least four insurers on the verge of failure to write policies through most of 2009, the Herald-Tribune found.

If my insurer goes broke, will it mortgage its headquarters, auction its desks and cars and jets and fax machines, to come up with the cash for its customers to repair their homes?

If not, they should not be in business. Indeed, they should be in jail.

Why are insurance companies, which essentially are ponzi-style bank schemes, not re-organized to represent the people whose needs they are supposed to be serving?

Reporklicans and hypocrites to boot

At least 116 Republican governors, senators, and representatives have spent the past year railing against the Recovery Act, while simultaneously requesting funds to create jobs in their districts and taking credit for projects at ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

As the independent PolitiFact put it, they're trying "have their cake... and vote against it too." They know the Recovery Act is creating jobs, but they think attacking it will bring them victory in the 2010 elections.

Not so fast. We're preparing to meet every hypocritical attack with press conferences in states across the nation and a rapid-response program to fact check every lie. But we need your help to make it happen.

Please donate $5 or more today to support our campaign against Recovery Act hypocrisy.

Today is the anniversary of the President signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that has saved or created at least 2 million jobs, cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, and made loans to over 42,000 small businesses. And as a former governor, I can tell you it also provided critical relief for state governments facing record budget shortfalls.

But don't take it from me. Listen to Rep. Joe Wilson, who told the Department of Agriculture that the money he was seeking "would provide jobs and investment" for his South Carolina district. Or take it from Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty, who balanced his state budget with the same funds he's so often attacked on TV.

Even the GOP leadership that went all out to kill the bill has gotten into the game -- Sen. Mitch McConnell has bragged about funding for a military project in Kentucky, while Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor sought funds for a high-speed rail project in Virginia to create jobs.

President Obama has made it clear he knows that we're not out of the woods yet, and he's focused on creating jobs. Honesty with the American people is one of the obligations of leadership.

In stark contrast, Republicans are engaged in a hypocritical campaign of attacks -- and they're proving what we've said all along: Their opposition is about politics, pure and simple.

We're going to prove that it's not winning politics -- but we need your support to expose their hypocrisy:

https://my.democrats.org/hypocrisy

Fight the merger

Comcast's pack of sleazy wolves are not what this nation needs to rebuild some semblance of open, public, communication. Take action now to stop this disaster - or, if the folks in power have no scruples, then make sure they can't say they allowed this to go forward in blind ignorance of the facts:

"Crist may have just handed the election to Rubio"

Florida Governor Crist claims he had no idea President Obama was visiting his state

The thunderous crashing sound off in the distance is Crist’s Senate candidacy hitting the ground in a million tiny pieces while his Senate opponent Marco Rubio phones in an order for a ‘Thank You’ basket to send Charlie’s way....

The Problem With Charlie is now one of accountability, credibility, and truthfulness. more...

And if Gov. weren't intent on proving he's a total asshat already:

The public option has Crist riled

You can take the Asshat out of Florida...

St. Petersburg Times: Newest senator takes low road

Published Wednesday, October 21, 2009

In just six weeks, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux has succumbed to Washington. In his initial floor speech, LeMieux opted for partisan rhetoric over honest debate about the growing federal deficit. Florida's junior senator squandered a golden opportunity to use the bully pulpit he'll command for just 16 months.

In Tallahassee, LeMieux, Gov. Charlie Crist's former chief of staff, was credited with helping the governor's populist appeal. But Wednesday, he sacrificed candor in a predictable play to a partisan constituency. He reasonably equated Congress to a family who recklessly relies on credit cards to pay the bills. But he implied the runaway spending stems from Democratic control, ignoring that it began under President George W. Bush.

LeMieux really lost the high ground when he bragged that Crist and the Florida Legislature have cut spending by nearly 10 percent, or $7 billion, to balance the budget. LeMieux's omission: This year's state budget was balanced only because of $5 billion in federal stimulus dollars and $2.2 billion in new taxes and fees. Florida didn't live within its means. In fact, it was more like the spoiled offspring of a wealthy family who called Mom or Dad for a bailout.

Congress needs to make some hard choices, which would include both reducing spending and raising taxes, to address the deficit. But LeMieux did nothing to advance that cause. He lambasted congressional spending after building a career in Florida accepting its largesse. He bemoaned both the current health care system and Democratic reform plans, but offered no solution of his own. He championed further tax cuts but criticized potential cuts to Medicare, thereby defending an entitlement that is among the main drivers of the deficit. LeMieux can't have it both ways. He can't work for solutions and join the partisan fighting that does neither America nor Florida in particular any good.

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1045859.ece

Dented equipment ready to fail in Sarasota

Via the Brad Blog:

The November 3rd Election Day is nearing, so naturally the words "glitch," "hiccup," "snafu," and "snag" are back in the headlines, instead of the word "failure," which would be the appropriate one to use in such cases.

Today, it's our old friends in Sarasota, under the continuing and now-legendarily failed direction of Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent and her latest failed voting system, this one an optical-scan system made by Diebold, featured in the Charlotte Sun's"Scanning glitch in vote machine test": more...

Yes, but how many were elected representatives?

Feds: 223 Gang Arrests in Florida

Saturday, October 17, 2009

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WASHINGTON — U.S. immigration authorities say 223 gang members and associates were arrested in Florida in the last fiscal year.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Operation Community Shield led to 1,785 arrests in 89 cities nationwide. The arrests were made between Oct. 1, 2008, and Sept. 30.

The 223 gang members and associates arrested in Florida faced charges of attempted murder, robbery, and various drug and weapons charges.

In Operation Community Shield, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies share information and resources to arrest, prosecute and imprison or deport gang members.

Florida immigration officials say the operation has helped dismantle or disrupt numerous gang and drug trafficking organizations. Link.

Teabaggers Stupify Even Republicans

In Florida, Republican leaders were elated when popular Florida Gov. Charlie Crist agreed to run for the Senate. He has adopted policies such as an aggressive approach to global warming that appeal even to Democrats. Those very policies infuriated conservatives, as did Mr. Crist's decision to campaign with President Barack Obama on behalf of the president's $787 billion stimulus package.

"He was Judas to the Republican Party in the state of Florida and across the country," says Robin Stublen, 53, of Punta Gorda, co-state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, a loose national coalition. "He sold us out for 13 pieces of gold."

A spokesman for Mr. Crist said the governor made sure stimulus dollars went to items important to Florida voters.

Mr. Crist has drawn a primary challenge from Marco Rubio, a former Florida House speaker, who is aggressively seeking tea-party members' support. #

Another distinction for Florida

A recent string of arrests of public officials in Florida has led Gov. Charlie Crist to ask for a special grand jury. It will examine whether Florida has, as the governor suggests, a "culture of corruption." Link.

More:

"It's obvious to me that something's wrong," said Crist, who noted he has removed 30 officials from their jobs since becoming governor in January 2007. "Fundamental problems within the system ... may be in fact cultivating a culture of corruption."

A similar effort a decade ago by former Gov. Jeb Bush to toughen laws that would make it easier to ferret out public corruption was largely rejected by Florida's Republican-dominated Legislature.

Crist's decision to have the high court impanel a statewide grand jury comes just two weeks after one of his top campaign contributors, Dr. Alan Mendelsohn of Hollywood, surrendered to the FBI on charges he ran a multimillion-dollar fraudulent fund raising and lobbying operation.

Three prominent politicians in Florida's second-most populous county, Democrat-controlled Broward County, were arrested last month on federal corruption charges, accused of accepting thousands of dollars in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen seeking illegal favors.

Crist issued executive orders suspending Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion - who just hours before his arrest voted on the county's annual budget in a late-night meeting - and county school board member Beverly Gallagher from office pending the outcome of the case.

The third person arrested, former Miramar city commissioner Fitzroy Salesman had lost his bid for re-election earlier this year. More...

A case that gathered far more publicity statewide involved former House Speaker Ray Sansom, a Destin Republican who was forced from his post in February after a state grand jury indicted him for perjury and official misconduct. The latter charge was recently dismissed.

Republicans have a Health Care Plan

The next time you get Vern's frugging "Poll"

Consider the context in which Vern Buchanan offers his kneejerk questions:

Surveys designed to persuade rather than survey are a common though dirty tactic in the political arena, the text equivalent of telephone push-polls. The sending of polls for fundraising purposes is also widely considered unethical, a practice known as "frugging" -- fundraising under the guise of research. In August, the RNC suggested in a similarly formatted "Future of American Health Care Survey" that "GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system." Following on outcry from Democrats, a Republican Party spokesperson called that survey "inartfully worded."

More context

Another near first-place triumph for Penile State

Florida has the second-lowest rate of health insurance for people younger than 65 in the country, trailing only Texas, a new U.S. Census survey shows. Excluding Medicare-eligible senior citizens, one in four Floridians lives without any form of medical coverage. Link.

Bye-bye, Charlie

Watching Charlie on CNN push his Cover Florida health plan was hysterical. In two years, the program has signed up a grand total of 4,000 people. Like everything else, Charlie got it passed in the Legislature, grabbed some headlines, and abandoned it until dusting it off for a political campaign. If this is the answer to the nation's health care woes, it's time to bring on the death panels.

"Cover Florida is an oxymoran,'' says Beckey Cherney, president and CEO of the Central Florida Healthcare Coalition. "If you held it up as a national model, it would be what you would not do.'' link