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.