Foreign aid: best value for your buck

As every American has an idea on how to deal with the challenges of a balanced federal budget, some suggest that U.S. foreign aid should be trimmed, if not eliminated, as wasteful spending.
 
My late husband worked 25 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, serving in Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Bolivia, Guatemala, the Republic of Upper Volta and Nicaragua.
 
I can tell you that foreign aid is far from wasteful spending, and indeed it’s probably that one part of the federal budget where taxpayers get full return on their money.
 
There are misconceptions about how much of the federal budget is devoted to foreign aid. Many even suggest is up to 25 percent.
 
According to the government website foreignassistance.gov, the federal government disburses about $58 billion a year in foreign assistance through more than 20 agencies. The U.S. Agency for International Development roughly manages $37 billion, less than one-half of 1 percent of the federal budget.
 
Federal spending abroad is crucial to help maintain our leadership in the world while furthering our foreign policy interests in developing democratic governments that in turn create the basis for a free market economy.
 
Those who decry U.S. assistance as wasteful contradict this nation’s long history of helping other nations through programs that alleviate poverty while contributing to health and disease prevention, literacy and small business development, all of which is beneficial to the United States.
 
Spending 1 percent of the federal budget to fulfill these goals is certainly my taxpayer money well spent.

I love my mango tree

I am in the midst of mango season in my back yard. 
 
I got my mango tree in 1992 at Walmart during a tropical fruit sale. The poor bud looked like a fallen branch of a dying tree when I planted it. On windy days it would dangerously bend all the way to the ground and come back up like a spring only to bend again at the will of a breeze.
 
I dreaded a summer storm.
 
It took at least four years for it to grow enough to be called a tree, having to fight Florida's cold spells in the winter, and little or too much rain in the summer.
 
Then one summer, a gust of wind in a tropical storm cut its young trunk in half. You could see the broken limb sticking out lifeless from the ground.
 
But the next summer I noticed some fresh leaves hatching from the otherwise dead stick. The miracle of nature I thought, and left it alone.
 
The tree took off like crazy after that. It seemed as if in agony and hurt, it took its time to heal and when ready, blossomed with vengeance. I never put one ounce of fertilizer on it. The tree did it all by itself.
 
I would witness in awe from the side window of the family room how the tree would change from one day to the next.
 
I was elated when I saw the tree what seemed liked covered with snow in the late winter of 2000. It was full of tiny yellowish flowers that would in time bear fruit.
 
But my first harvest gave me a bad rash.
 
The mango plant (Mangifera indica L.) native to southern Asia, especially Burma and eastern India, produces oleoresin, an oil-like substance present in the sap, bark, leaves, skin and root. The rash is an allergic reaction that takes place on the skin where the oleoresin touches. It's not the fruit that causes the allergic reaction as often believed.
 
I decided to stay away from mangoes for a while anyway, which wasn't so hard since the next year gusty winds took care of the flowers and the tree had no fruit at tall.
 
Then in 2003 the tree went nuts. You wouldn't believe the size of those mangoes and the number of them, and their flavor. Harvested mangoes 9 inches long. I'm not kidding.
 
The next year, on August 15, 120-mile winds from Hurricane Charley completely uprooted my bountiful tree. The tree broke the roof when it fell on top of it breaking our power and phone lines.
 
The sound of chainsaw became an habitual sound in Cape Coral and my back yard. Had to chop the trunk in order to remove the fallen tree from the electric lines.
 
But what do you know, the next summer bush-like branches covered the bump on the ground.
It took the tree four years to recover and bear fruit again.
 
This year I’m enjoying one of my best harvests. Not only these mangoes are huge but they’re like no other mango in richness of flavor. I peeled it and devoured it, the juice streaming down my mouth.
 
I also make mango chutney, mango juice, mango marmalade, mango sauce, mango shakes.
 
Looking at the mango tree is a habit, when I wake up and the sun reflects on its huge trunk and at night when I close the blinds before I go to bed.
 
I love my tree and I’m so proud of it.

Try tortillas this Fourth of July

Celebrations this 4th of July might include less hot dogs and burgers and more tortillas, ceviche, menudo and tostones.
 
Hispanics accounted for 56 percent of the U.S.’s population growth from 2000 to 2010.
 
The 2010 Census counted 50.5 million Hispanics in the United Sates, making up 16.3 percent of the total population. One in 6 Americans is Hispanic.
 
Those who now fear Hispanics will sing the national anthem in Spanish or that English will cease to be this country’s language, you can relax.
 
Naturalized foreign-born U.S. citizens and immigrants in general are the most devout and patriotic of Americans.
 
People who complain that Mexican, Colombian or other Latin American flags are waved at gatherings would do well to understand that waving a flag from one’s native country has nothing to do with feeling less American. For most immigrants, to live in the United States is a success story, one that is envied around the world.
 
Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban origin or descent remain the nation's three largest Hispanic country-of-origin groups, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Immigrants from El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Colombia comprise the combined fourth largest group.
 
More than 6.6 million Hispanics voted in the 2010, a record for a midterm election, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center. Hispanics also were a larger share of the electorate in 2010 than in any previous midterm election, representing 6.9 percent of all voters, up from 5.8 percent in 2006.
 
With the coming congressional reapportionment changes, Hispanics will likely play a larger role in national politics in the future. Florida, a key swing battleground in recent presidential elections, has gained two House seats due in part to the growth of the Hispanic population.
 
We will do well this 4th of July to reflect on the dramatic shift in the racial and ethnic makeup of the American population. Fewer than half of the nation’s 3-year olds are Caucasian, supporting the premise that the America of tomorrow will be comprised of a “minority” majority.
 
This new tapestry of people in America will continue to live under the “All men are created equal” of the Declaration of Independence, no doubt, for centuries to come.

Providing the social conditions for a free market economy to work

Some people are suggesting that it’s time for U.S. citizens to pay for the benefits they enjoy.   

I do believe the price we pay for living in the United States today is truly negligible. Paradoxically, that may be why our economy continues to lag.

The tax revenue as a percentage of the GDP is only 24 percent in the United States compared to the United Kingdom, 34.3 percent; Sweden, 46.4 percent; Spain, 30.7 percent; Germany, 37 percent.

The Unites States’ tax-to-GDP ratio is more in line with developing countries, South Korea, 25.6 percent, Turkey, 24.6 percent, Chile, 18.2 percent, Mexico, 17.5 percent.

This is perhaps why the American people cannot afford the benefits most developed nations afford, among them, affordable health care, free higher education, state-of-the art public transportation services and a fair policy of social welfare.

But we all seem to be OK with this state of things. In effect, I have trouble sorting out my feelings about this. 

On the one hand, I do not want to pay more taxes simply because I cannot afford to pay more.

On the other hand, if what I pay in increased taxes means a decrease in my expenses in gasoline, health care and college education I can see why this would make sense - of course as long as I trust the government to do its job.

Now, would allowing the government to take care of the cost of some of my wellbeing be better for the economy in the long run? 

I was in Spain last year and saw first hand the benefits of a country with an incredible amount of citizen services. I also watched its economic downturn.

Spain is the fifth largest economy in the European Union. What came to be known as the “Spanish Miracle” gave Spain the fastest economic development in Europe since the 1960s.

But this success proved to be unstable basically because  what drove it was a housing bubble, much like the one in the United States.

The problem there as here was the lack of competitiveness in a global economy. Many of the jobs created during the housing bubble were low wage and low skill while the more lucrative industries remained sluggish.

But for the sake of comparison let’s look at what happened in Germany.

Germany saw its highest rate of economic growth in two decades, with an annual 3.6 percent GDP growth in 2010. German households have the second lowest (after Sweden) debt levels in Europe. Germany’s budget deficit is the lowest in Europe. Its unemployment rate is 7.4 percent.

Now remember that the tax revenue as a percentage of the GDP in Germany is 37 percent and in Spain, 30.7 percent compared to the U.S.’s 24 percent.

What’s the difference in their economies?

Germany is a manufacturing and export powerhouse. Their high taxes pay the incentives to entice world investors to come to this country by providing all the services developed nations are expected to provide like affordable health care, an education system that technically trains its workforce, and a transportation system that is an energy saver.

In short, their high taxes provide the right social environment for a free market economy to work.
Shouldn’t we have a major change in mindset and a true and honest way to confront what will face eventually in the future?

Send all pervert priests to jail

In my view, the $1.8 million study released last month by New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice about sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests was an effort to minimize the scandal.
 
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned the study, and it was based on surveys sent in 2003 to all dioceses and religious communities in the U.S.
 
However, researches did not have access to confidential Church files; on the contrary, steps were taken to protect the confidentiality of each priest and diocese.
 
This is what makes this study dubious.
 
Nevertheless, the study found that about 4.3 percent of all priests between 1950 and 2002 had allegations of abuse.
 
Incredibly, 6 percent of those abused by priests were younger than 7, 16 percent of the victims were ages 8 to 10, 27 percent, ages 11 to 14, and 51 percent, ages 15 to 17.
 
Males between 11 and 14 accounted for more than 40 percent of all victims.
 
Church apologetics argue that this pedophilia crisis was time-specific, that the incidence of abuse hit a climax in the late 1960s and continuously decreased to the mid 1980s. They argue that seven credible cases of abuse in 2010 is not a crisis in a Church that numbers over 65 million parishioners.
 
I’d say one case in a Church that proclaims the Word of God is one case too many.
 
The researchers argue that the reason why the incidence of abuse spiked dramatically from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s is because of the moral decay in those years and that the “sexual revolution” played a role.
 
Who of all people have the training to advice against a moral decay if not Church ministers?
 
I’d say that clerical pedophilia (a sexual attraction to adolescents, often boys) continues to be a serious problem in the Catholic Church.
 
According to the study, the bishops have tended to focus on the perpetrators of abuse rather than the victims, which led to psychological therapy and counseling for the perpetrators in the false belief that they could be “cured” and returned to active ministry.
 
This belief continues today, as the Church has not taken radical measures to rid pervert priests from its ranks.
 
If I were a parent with young children, I would never send them to a parochial Catholic school. Just imagine my teenage girl going to confession with one of these perverts.
 
One simple solution would start clearing the Catholic Church of priest perverts: Place them all in the hands of the U.S. justice system and send them to jail.

Businesses who hire illegals should be shut down

On May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 2007 Arizona state law punishing businesses that hire illegal aliens.

States can now shut down businesses that hire immigrants without legal documentation to work.

I agree with this, and here’s why:

Although immigrants account for 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, they make up about 15 percent of the workforce. They are over represented among workers largely because the rest of the population in the United States is aging.

Immigrants and their children have accounted for 58 percent of U.S. population growth since 1980.
It’s difficult to measure how much of this immigrant workforce is undocumented, but probably a good many.

Unscrupulous employers hire these workers because they know they have a workforce that’s loyal and hard working. Employers pay minimum wage with no benefits and workers have no recourse for labor disputes. These undocumented workers are the least likely to cause problems, and employers like that.

Poor immigrants in general have historically been the source of cheap, exploitative labor, but immigrants who do not have legal documents to work present a far better target for abusive employers as they are in a far more vulnerable position to be victimized.

That's why many businesses prefer to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, or at the minimum prefer to avoid any requirements that might be a financial burden to them.

This is why I welcome the U.S. Supreme Court decision to punish businesses that don’t comply with the law and hire workers who cannot work legally in this country.

Low U.S. fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigration is likely to be the only source of growth in the prime age workforce — workers ages 25 to 55 — in the decades ahead.

Short of a major immigration overhaul, if businesses continue hiring undocumented workers, the illegal crossings at the border will certainly increase in the years ahead.

Tea party nut for president

Sarah Palin seems energized by the latest events in Republican politics. She’s touring historic sites on the East Coast this weekend in a big bus tour, and it’s being rumored she will announce her presidential candidacy.

Funny, if she runs, she might face Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota who is just as nutty a tea party holler as she is.

Poor GOP!

Party members are scrambling to get out from under tea party kidnapping.

Remember the Christian Coalition, the arm of the Religious Right organized to further their anti-abortion agenda? It effectively ruined the Republican Party and helped elect Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.

The very same thing is happening today.

Not that I care.

I’m actually glad some lunatics are going to run against Barack Obama, assuring his victory at the polls in 2012.

I thought it amazing that Newt Gingrich outright rejected Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan on NBC, although he later recanting his objection.

Yet, a few Republican senators voted against “Ryancare” this week.

In a special election for a U.S. House seat, in a predominantly Republican district in New York, voters rejected GOP candidate Jane Corwin and voted for Democrat Kathy Hochul. Corwin campaigned in favor of the Ryan Plan. 

Now, while one could finger the Ryan Plan as the culprit, what really happened is that Independent candidate Jack Davis (tea party proponent) came in with 9 percent, stealing votes from Corwin, who got 43 percent.

Florida Legislature Republicans are scrambling with these same divisions in open challenge with their own tea party governor, Rick Scott.

I’ll say, let ‘em fight. This is the only way the tea party’s real agenda — make abortion effectively illegal — will never advance.

Serious attempt to turn Florida into a Taliban-like state

With the passage of the Religious Freedom Act (HJR 1471) by the Florida Senate on May 6, a proposal to amend the state Constitution to allow the state government to allocate taxpayer money to religious organizations will be on the ballot November 6, 2012.  The House passed HJR 1471 in April.


The amendment essentially removes Article 1 Section 3 of Florida’s Constitution, known as the Blaine Amendment.


The Blaine Amendment refers to amendments that exist in 40 state constitutions that forbid direct government aid to educational institutions that have any religious affiliation.


In 1875, Republican Congressman James G. Blaine proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prohibit government funding to sectarian schools run by religious organizations. The amendment passed by a vote of 180 to 7 in the House of Representatives, but failed by four votes to achieve the necessary two-thirds vote in the Senate and it never became law.


But some states, including Florida, decided to incorporate the language of this amendment into their own constitutions.


The proposed language to repeal the Blaine Amendment reads as follows:


“Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to provide that no individual or entity may be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious identity or belief and to delete the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”


The Florida Legislature sought to overturn the Blaine Amendment because they claimed it was an attack on “religious freedom.” 


What were they thinking? 


This is a blatant attempt to incorporate religious dogma into public affairs in total disregard of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.


Anyone who thinks the Blaine Amendment is antiquated is wrong.  The antiquated ones are the members of the Legislature who are trying to make Florida a Taliban-like state!


On November 6, 2012 vote NO to this amendment.

2011 Florida Legislature Review

We have learned in the 2011 Florida legislative session that Republicans being the supermajority in both houses doesn’t really amount to much in regards to “conservative” legislation, except in what relates to abortion issues. That’s why they were elected. At least they were true to their tea party constituency.

The biggest loser of the Republican fiasco was Gov. Rick Scott. He didn’t achieve many of his top priorities. The Legislature only passed $308 million in tax cuts - hardly the $1.7 billion he asked for at the beginning of the session.

Gov. Scott’s wrestling with public employee unions didn’t go anywhere. He did not even get a plan to ban automatic payroll deduction of union fees from public employees.

Issues like increasing health-care costs for state workers, a wage freeze and the 3-percent paycheck deduction for retirement were hardly winning issues for Gov. Scott. These issues have been on the legislative agenda for a while. Most public employees knew what was coming regardless of who was governor or what political party for that matter. This was simply economics.

It’s funny. The only job that legislators have in the 60-day legislative session is to pass a balanced budget. Yet, it was in the wee hours of the 60th day that legislators got down to a debate and actual confrontation between the House and Senate members in order to pass the $70 billion budget with no new taxes. It would have been much better for Florida voters to watch this confrontation throughout the 60 days instead of waiting till the last minute.

The Legislature actually passed several “liberal” issues like SB 1446/HB 449, allowing some ex-felons to apply for an occupational license and public employment before having their rights restored. SB 450/HB215 protects from civil litigation people who offer temporary housing, food, water or electricity to an emergency first-responder or immediate family member of an emergency first-responder.

The Legislature also dealt with several housekeeping issues. SB 1886/HB 1039 bans bath salts, HB 125/SB 344 bans abuse involving sexual contact with an animal. HB 61/SB 228 prohibits students from wearing saggy pants in school. SB 888/HB 75 decriminalizes sending sexually explicit text messages, photos or video via cell phone or other device by minors. SB 408/HB 803 allows insurance companies to offer comprehensive sinkhole coverage. SB 722/HB 4075 classifies as not dangerous dogs found as part of an animal-fighting ring. SB 476/HB 883 forbids local governments from treating “vacation rentals” differently than other homes. SB 818/HB 7095 limits ability of doctors to dispense prescription drugs. SB 330 makes it illegal for a candidate to falsely claim military service.

On the weird side, the Legislature tweaked Florida’s elections laws seemingly to favor the GOP constituency. (SB 2086/HB 1355). SB 155 limits instances when doctors can ask patients if they own firearms. SB 234 cancels the penalty for a concealed weapon permit holder if he/she shows a gun by “accident.” HB 45 prohibits local governments from legislating on firearms. SB 204/HB 30 outlaws synthetic marijuana.

On the Republican agenda, other than abortion, four main issues: teacher evaluations, tax cuts for businesses, local control of development and Medicaid reform.

SB 736/HB 7019 makes teachers’ evaluations based on student test scores. Administrators will be able to more easily fire teachers with weak evaluations. HB 7185 gives a tax break of $1,100 a year on average for 15,000 small businesses as the first step in an effort to cut the state’s annual $2 billion corporate tax. HB 7005 pays for a tax cut for businesses by cutting state benefits for unemployed Floridians. Instead of making the maximum $275 weekly benefit available for 26 weeks, the state would use a sliding scale based on the unemployment rate. Benefits would be available for no more than 23 week and no less than 12 weeks.

HB 7207 shifts review and regulation for development from the state to local governments with repeal of 1985 Growth Management Act. SB 1972/HB 7107, 7109 reforms Medicaid, placing the program’s 3 million recipients in managed care. HMOs and other large, managed-care networks will bid with the state on managing any of 11 regions in state. It also makes it more difficult for recipients to sue Medicaid doctors and hospitals. This law must get federal approval before implementation, which is probably unlikely under the current administration. Might have to wait until ObamaCare kicks in.

This session was surely a hands-on learning experience for Gov. Scott. I guess he’s realized government cannot be run like a business. The “let’s go to work” mantra didn’t amount to much. We’ll just have to wait and see if the tax cuts trickle down and create jobs.

Abortion politics is weakening America's democracy

Now here’s an interesting twist that would make sure pro-life Republican legislators win elections.  I guess they figure the tea party vote won’t be enough now that redistricting is about to change their power entrenchment in Florida.
 
In this Legislative session, six abortion bills have passed in the Republican-controlled Florida House to place additional limits on abortion rights. We know pro-lifers won’t rest until they make abortion altogether illegal in the U.S.  That’s why they have to make sure more pro-life politicians are elected to public office.
 
However, because redistricting might not work on their favor due to the Fair District amendments to the Florida Constitution passed last year, they have figure ways to curtail the vote of younger people, minorities and low-income residents who most likely would vote Democrat.
 
Rep. Dennis Baxley, the Ocala Republican who sponsored a bill to shift the revenue of Choose Life license plates’ from counties to the Ocala-based Choose Life Corporation is the same guy who has sponsored a convoluted bill geared at ripping apart election laws that in the past have made it easier for Floridians to vote, and replacing them with laws that could bring election outcomes in the Republicans' favor.
 
The “Election Transparency and Accountability” bill calls for far less time to vote as it cuts the two-week early voting to two days. Early voting enhances turnout, and usually greater voter turnouts can favor Democratic candidates.
 
The bill also makes it far more difficult to vote. For 40 years, Floridians who've recently moved have been able to update their addresses at the polls on Election Day. You won’t be able to do that anymore.
Rep. Baxley insists that obliterating the address-change option at polls would curb voter fraud. What? Has fraud ever been fraud tied to updating addresses at the polls?
 
It just so happens that college students, low-income and minority voters disproportionately fill the ranks of those who ask to update their addresses on Election Day. These tend to vote Democrat.
 
Voter registration will be more difficult. Vote registration organizations like the League of Women Voters will have to submit applications within two days instead of 10 — or get hit with financial penalties. What? Isn’t quite the opposite true — that everything should be made easier for people to register and vote?
 
This country is being held hostage by the pro-life crowd, and because of that Americans are facing a debilitating democracy.

John Paul II beatification a disgrace

If there’s any dignity left in the Catholic Church, the beatification of Pope John Paul II, set for May 1, should have followed the church’s strict guidelines for sainthood instead of fast tracking it as a political move to continue the silence of the Church’s pedophile scandal.
 
In the Catholic Church, becoming a saint is a long and complex process that takes many years. In the case of John Paul II, however, Pope Benedict XVI waved a rule requiring a five-year wait to even start the process of beatification.
 
Pope Benedict XVI couldn’t wait the required time to beatify his predecessor yet it took him at least 25 years to convince the hierarchy in Rome to remove Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado from the priesthood.
 
Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican-born priest who worked mostly in Spain and Italy, was found guilt of raping an inordinate number of underage males, had two women and fathered six children dating back to 1956.
 
John Paul II was a close friend of Maciel, and he remained silent throughout his papacy. On John Paul II’s three visits to Mexico, Maciel stood at his right hand. Later, John Paul II referred to him as “an efficacious guide to youth” and he heaped praise on Maciel on the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in 2004.
 
It was not until John Paul II’s death that the Vatican finally followed up on the allegations, which resulted in Maciel’s removal from the priesthood.
 
The scandal of pedophile priests is not just the conduct of the priests themselves but also the cover up of the Catholic hierarchy, which not only failed to report abuse allegations to the civil authorities but also continued to reassign the offenders to other parishes.
 
So is the Catholic Church now naming John Paul II as the patron of pedophile priests?

Cracking down on illegals bad for Florida economy

Rep. William Snyder’s (R-Stuart) Arizona-style immigration bill passed the Economic Affairs Committee, setting the stage for a full House vote.
 
This is one more effort to attract tea party conservatives to Republican ranks.
 
The problem is the Florida core economy (agriculture, construction and tourism) would probably collapse without the “illegal” cheap labor.
 
So the GOP’s paradox is that the people who mainly oppose an Arizona-style immigration law are at the same time the GOP business community.
 
Let’s see the economics of cracking down on illegals in Florida:
 
Businesses continually compete for good workers at good “prices” (low wages). Technological breakthroughs and mechanization along with a great pool of workers often creates greater productivity, meaning less worker pay for a better product.
 
A large pool of workers (legal or illegal) is causing that some sectors of the Florida economy are becoming more like Third World economies, based on low-wage, low-skill and low capital investment.
 
If given the choice, most business people would prefer lower immigration and a somewhat tighter labor market for their businesses if they could be sure that their competitors would be operating by the same rules.
 
The problem is that in this global economy businesses cannot afford to compete unless they adjust to the wage and worker condition levels of the rest of the world.
 
This is why it’s important for the federal government to come up with an immigration control bill that is consistent to the needs of today’s global conditions.
 
Pandering to tea party followers with being tough on immigration is really very stupid.

Deregulation good for economy. Maybe.

Floridians might have jobs galore pretty soon if all the deregulation bills now in the Legislature pass for the governor’s signature.

It’s open, free for all market. Just be sure as a consumer what you’re getting into when you shop for services in Florida.

Supporters say the idea is to make it easier for small business owners to set up shop. For example, interior designers who can’t get a license will now be able to expand their business. They accuse currently licensed designers of being a “cartel” that monopolizes the market.

Opponents say regulations protect consumers while giving them a way to know if services are properly delivered.  For example, SB 1330/HB 0885 would take away the Office of Insurance Regulation's ability to approve rate hikes and would allow companies to increase rates by 30 percent or less each year.

CS/HB 5005, “Deregulation of Professions and Occupations,” is a massive deregulating bill that affects athlete agents, auctioneers, auctioneer apprentices, barbers, body wrappers, charitable organizations, community association managers/firms, condominiums and cooperatives, dance studios, employee leasing companies, hair braiders, hair wrappers, health studios, home inspectors, interior designers, interstate movers, landscape architects, nail specialists, mobile home lots, mold-related services, motor vehicle repair shops, professional geology, professional surveyors and mappers, rooming houses, travel agents, talent agents, telemarketing, timeshares, yacht and ship brokers, water vending machines, television tube labeling, sales representative contracts.

CS/SB 524, “Seaports,” deletes provisions relating to statewide minimum standards for seaport security.  And SB 436, “Seaport Security,” deletes provisions requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to establish a statewide seaport access eligibility reporting system.

Deregulation is a difficult balancing act. It is true that that an unregulated marketplace opens opportunities for entrepreneurs. However, it also opens the doors to scams, exploitation, fraud and rip offs.

(This is good news for the TV guy “for the people.”)

As much as we hate it, the “heavy hand of government” often slaps the citizenry when businesses get carried away and abuse consumers.

Take for instance, HB 451, “Commercial Parasailing,” now in the Legislature, which provides licensing and liability insurance for persons conducting commercial parasailing operations. This bill comes in response to 27-year-old Alejandra White’s injuries last year, after she was dragged at 40 mph when a towline connecting the sail to a speedboat snapped off Clearwater Beach.  She smashed into several umbrellas - before finally slamming into a 4-feet wooden volleyball pole.

I believe deregulation is a good idea in general. It’s good economics at this time. I just hope the efficiency of the marketplace works out and people don’t blow it.

Performance benchmarks for excellence in teaching

Now that Gov. Rick Scott has signed into law the merit pay system, school districts have to submit their evaluation methods before June 1. They must make sure teachers are paid according to how well their students perform.

May I suggest that as part of an evaluation method, individual, quantifiable goals are set for every school and indeed for every classroom at the start of the school year, and hold the teacher accountable at the end.

Classrooms with students of varied levels of intelligence and language skills, and economic and cultural backgrounds are difficult to measure on an equal basis.

Teachers have often pointed out that this diversity is what prevents them from accurately measuring how a teacher performs.

I submit that it’s the other way around. A diverse classroom should serve as a benchmark of excellence in teaching. 

When my children attended school, I could recall as good teachers those who made an extra effort with students who didn’t master the English language, the ones with learning handicaps or those children from households with problems.

We are usually too quick to stress that parents should be more involved with the school. Yes, no doubt parents are key to their children’s education, but nowadays, only the parents who can afford to do so are fully involved in their children’s education. Most parents have to juggle with a bundle of obstacles and limitations.

I’m not justifying irresponsible parents. Some are. But most are parents who would love to have the means to stay home 24/7, have a partner that shares responsibility or enough money coming at the end of the month to pay the bills.

I think it’s good to give teachers incentive to achieve or reward good performance. Forget about seniority and focus on specific goals for each classroom. You achieve your goals, you’ll be rewarded accordingly. You don’t, maybe teaching is not for you.

Catholics, please don't come home

The Catholic Church has been running a series of advertising asking Catholics to “come home.”

I don’t think many Catholics will come home unless the Church provides divorced couples with “amnesty.” The Church’s process of “annulment” is a joke.

But this is just one of the many reasons Catholics have departed the Church, by far not the most important.

The biggest reason Catholics have abandoned Rome’s institution is because they are disgusted with the way bishops throughout the world under the precise orders of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have handled the sexual abuse of minors by priests. (And they want to canonize John Paul II?)

In this the season of Lent, Catholics are asked to pray, repent and do almsgiving, yet the Church’s hierarchy continues to exist in a sinful manner, showing no repentance or at least Christian compassion to the victims of sexual abuse by priests. They are more interested in the safety of the criminals than the children who have suffered their abuse.

Organizations like the Voice of the Faithful and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have been the only Catholic groups that have responded to the cry for help by the victims. Yet, these organizations are constantly vilified and censored by bishops.

So now the Church figures it can run sweet commercials to touch Catholics who’ve quit the Church.

Please!

My question is why haven’t more Catholics left the Church or at least called their bishops accountable for the crimes that priests have committed against children and adolescents?

If Catholics were loyal to the teachings of the Church, the hierarchy should have been completely disbanded by now in demonstration of Christian compassion toward thousands of children’s suffering.

My advice to all Catholics would be to go to www.Catholicscomehome.org and express your disgust and why you’re not going to come home.

U.S. salary levels closer to developing world

Not too long ago, if you were looking for employment, you would rather work in the private sector not only because your salary would be higher but the benefits were abundant.

Much has changed in the last, say, 20 years.

Today, the public sector often “steals” the good workers from the private sector, enticed by salary levels as well as great benefits.

In a simplistic view of things, I believe two things have happened at the same time:

1. With so much partisan entanglement in the nation, the public employee has sought to secure his or her job from the whims of such a political environment through their unions. Tempted by this de facto tenure, the public sector has been able to hire the brightest and the best of the professional world, which in turned responded to the increasing demand for good customer service from the small municipality to the more complex federal agency. And of course, these well-paid employees were not likely to accept bribes in order to compensate for low pay.

2. The economic downturn over the last few years has forced the private sector to keep salaries stagnant and eliminate benefits such as retirement pensions paid for entirely by the company. Instead, they have shifted to providing benefits through 401(k) saving plans or similar systems where the employee must contribute.

Also, the workplace has been getting tighter, to the employer’s advantage. The tight job market makes it difficult to negotiate a better wage. In a job market like today where there is a big pool of applicants and a small number of openings, companies are able to leverage the pay and benefits on their terms. Ironically, workers have not been able to benefit from an increased level of productivity (read exploitation).

The current cry of several state governors around the nation to cut the states’ pension programs is just an effort to lower salary and benefit levels in order get closer to the private sector’s remuneration levels.

However, this might be dangerous in the long run.

Decreasing salary levels around the nation may result in households not able to keep up with the cost of living. Then, the decline in consumer spending could prolong the economic recovery.

What we ought to do is increase the level pay in the private sector with the creation of industry in the U.S. that would offer meaningful employment to Americans instead of having the public sector absorb the professional pool.

On the other hand, U.S. salary levels might be at last getting closer to those of the under developed world. Then, we can bring back the manufacturing that other counties have stolen from us with cheap wages.

Osama bin Laden's new strategy

No one really knows what’s going to happen in the Middle East, not even the experts. I would venture to speculate based on media accounts and recent history that no one should underestimate Osama bin Laden’s intent for a new radical Islamic region. The uprising in Egypt may have been a blessing in disguise.

Where is he anyway? No one seems to know despite all the technology available these days. It’s believed he’s hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Who knows? Wherever he is, he’s probably not gathering signatures to qualify as a candidate in any of the new democracies eagerly hoped for by the West.

One Associated Press story caught my eye this week reporting that Iran is sending two warships through the Suez Canal, something that hasn’t been done since 1979. The vessels are bound for Syria for a training mission.

Where is al-Qaeda in all this?

I think it would be wise to remind ourselves that all that Osama bin Laden ever wanted was to get rid of the U.S. presence in the Middle East.

The U.S.’s invasion in Iraq helped keep tyrants like Libya Muammar Khadafi at bay preventing in the long run Osama’s dream of a united Arab world. 

So, in a change of gears, the best way to bring about Islamic unity would be to play the U.S.’s game and trigger a call for democracy that perhaps would bring down the Arab tyrannies who, friends or not of the U.S., have kept the region relatively calmed.

Of course, once the U.S. is out, Osama bin Laden can turn to his own building of an Islamist region – (democratically of course). No more people blown up with bombs, no more suicide-bomb attacks, no more airplane terror.

In the end, Osama bin Laden must have realized by now that unmitigated violence to bring change in the Arab countries backfires and people repudiate it. Efforts by al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have only brought greater oppression to the people. Eventually people get fed up with it. Look at the Irish Republican Army or the Basque separatist group ETA in Spain, perhaps the last of Western Europe’s terrorist groups. Instead, in a democracy-like regime, al-Qaeda has a chance to become a populist advocate.

With the military in the middle and old guard cronies trying to hang on, and with foreign capitals resorting to calls for stability and ''orderly transitions'' (read let’s keep the status quo) the brave ones who are standing in the streets day after day calling for democratic change could be short-changed beyond their expectations.