Please visit http:\\GenesShorts.com
There is a new My2Bucks website called Gene’s Shorts. It’s still in its infancy state and I will be filling it out with the fun widgets as time progresses.
That doesn’t signal the end of My2Bucks.com as I do plan to post things here as well.
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Posted in My 2 Buck$ of the Day
Currently there is 1 hurricane (Danielle), 1 Tropical Storm (Earl) and 2 others that are being closely watched.
Hurricane Danielle
| As of: 11amLocation: 24.4° N, 55.9° W or approximately 770 miles Southeast of BermudaMaximum sustained winds: 105 mph or Category 2. Gusting up to 120 mphMovement: NW 15 mphPressure: 28.64 inches or 970 mb |
Hurricane Danielle is expected to turn more to the north by the weekend bringing the storm very close to Bermuda on Sunday. Though the eye is expected to remain east of Bermuda, the island will be heavily impacted by this strong hurricane. Danielle is expected to reach Category 3 intensity before the weekend.
Tropical Storm Earl
| As of: 11amLocation: 14.9° N, 37.1° W or approximately or approximately 1735 miles east of the Northern Leeward IslandsMaximum sustained winds: 45 mph. Gusting up to 55 mphMovement: W 17 mphPressure: 29.65 inches or 1004 mb |
As with Danielle, Tropical Storm Earl is not forecast to be a threat to the U.S. The same weakness that Hurricane Danielle found that has her turning toward Bermuda is expected to remain long enough for Earl to follow the similar path.
Also watching
There is a strong looking system just west of the coast of Africa that is expected to strengthen to storm status and a system brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. One of these is expected to become Tropical Storm Fiona over the next few days.
Also, there are a series of storms currently crossing Africa that can be seen in the last picture from NOAA. (H/T to Joe Bastardi)
Comments Off on Eye on the Tropics –Danielle, Earl and more – Aug 26, 2010
Posted in Hurricane Season, My2bucks Eye On The Tropics, weather
Tagged hurricane computer models, hurricane Danielle, hurricane season, Hurricanes, spaghetti models, Tropical Storm Earl
Almost 30 years ago my grandfather passed away at 82 years old. At the time, I was a college student around 20 years old. After his passing, I took ownership of 3 items that belonged to him: a windbreaker jacket that he had just purchased only a couple of months before, a religious item that I still cherish to this day and a type-written list which I found morbidly depressing. For some reason, I had held onto this list – possibly because he kept it in his wallet.
Unfortunately, I misplaced this paper which was a list on why it sucked getting old. It mostly talked about aches and pains and I found some sort of solace by holding onto the list and that he was no longer suffering from anything on the list.
Now I’m in my late 40’s fearing – not the aches and pains aspect of aging. It’s too soon for that. Nor am I worrying about the chronic hospital & doctor visits that seem to occur with the elderly.
No. I’m more superficial than that – especially since I’m not yet eligible for AARP, though I will be before Obama’s first term is up.
Here is my list of things I fear about when it comes to aging – in no particular order:
Andy Rooney eye brows:
This seems to be a frightening condition that afflicts the old. Somewhere along the line, old men stop trimming their eyebrows, have super-fast growing eyebrows or have scissor-resistant eyebrows. In any case, old people have repulsively thick and long eyebrows which can be used to re-grow lost hair on their heads or used to trim lawns.
Man boobs
I really don’t need to clarify this, do I? I am definitely not referring to obese men who have breasts along with their huge stomachs. No, I’m referring to relatively thin men who have put on a couple of pounds – in the pectoral muscle area. I used to think the Seinfeld gag of the Manzier or the Bro was hilarious but unrealistic. Now I find it terrifying.
Lack of color coordination
I recall laughing at the style of clothes my grandparents wore. Lime green or lemon yellow pants, orange shirt with some pattern on it, knee high socks with a white belt and matching white shoes.
Then men my dad’s age started dressing in the same style.
How did this happen? Unless I can move in with one of my kids who will buy my clothing for me as well as dress me each day, I seem destined to become a fashion horror story. Worse yet is the realization that I won’t even be aware that this has happened.
I am petrified of the day I wander into a Rack Room Shoes and stop at the white Dr Shoal’s thinking if they have it in a size 12.
Belt line to my man boobs
As a kid, we used to laugh that Fred Mertz had a belt line above his stomach and that Ricky Ricardo’s wasn’t much below that. As an adult, I found out that Desi Arnaz was in his 30’s during the run of I Love Lucy which was quite comforting since this indicated that the freakishly high belt-line was a fashion trend of the times. As a result, I wasn’t really bothered when I saw the elderly with their belts so high.
Of course, that ended when the next generation’s beltline began rising.
Initially, as we gain weight, it seems like the belt line sinks since we don’t want to admit that we need a larger belt size. It works in conjunction with the deep breath we take when we close the pants 2 sizes too small.
Then somewhere along the line we opt for the above the gut belt. I wonder how much of it is because we repeatedly tell the kids to raise their pants above their crotch.
Whatever the cause, I think I’ll have to accept that with each passing year – as a senior citizen – our belt line increases annually. I just pray I can keep my belt below my elbows.
Turkey neck
This one scares me the most. One day your neck looks fine, the next day there is a huge flap of skin dangling. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with weight gain or loss. I see it on so many men and there is no way to hide it. With every other affliction, there is something you can kind of do to cover it up but with turkey neck, all I can do is gobble. I think surgery is the only hope and I’ve never heard of a turkey-necktomy.
I assume they can cut the flab, but then there is the scar running down the center of my neck. I knew someone who had a face lift and because the way they pulled his face, he had to shave behind his ears.
Ear hair / nose hair
I’m not talking about hair on the rims of the ears. That is very common and people under 80 usually remove that. I’m taking about the thick dark hair that grows from within the ears. Why does the hair grow so dark when the hair on the hair, chest and back are gray or white? If left untreated it becomes a train wreck. I CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF THE EAR HAIR!
Worse yet, the ears and nose continue to grow as we age. Either that or our faces shrink.
I still have many years until I will encounter many of the above conditions. My dad has reached a couple and he has me by a few decades – so I definitely still have time. But that doesn’t prevent me from dwelling on the inevitable.
Mr. Obvious says that voters are angry. Some know why but most don’t.
Many believe that as long as the candidate currently holds an office in Washington, they should go. It doesn’t matter if they’re replaced by the extremely rich (Jeff Greene-FL Senate), the horrible ex-CEO (Carly Fiorina CA Senate), the CEO whose company was involved in the largest Medicare Fraud case in United States history (Rick Scott FL Governor) or the candidate with incredibly divisive positions (Sharron Angle NV Senate).
Jeff Greene is rich. Very, very rich. He is on Forbes 400 list. Nobody seems to care how he made his way on this list.
Greene essentially invested in the tanking of the housing market. So as the subprime market fell and millions of Americans lost their homes, Greene found his investment increased by 1400% in 18 months for a nice little profit of $800 million.
There’s nothing illegal or unethical about that. Just a little smarmy.
He is a political outsider though in 1982 Greene ran for Congress in California as a Republican. When Chris Matthews asked Greene if he had voted for Reagan in either 1980 or 1984, he responded that he could not recall. That would be believable had he not run as a Republican during that mid-term election between each of Reagan’s elections.
In 2008, Sarah Palin and the rest of the Republicans started throwing out the name Bill Ayers at President Obama. They said he ‘palled around with terrorists.’ It was debunked however the message still exists. You look at who the candidate associates with and you can determine who they are.
I learned that lesson very young. In my first professional job, I was told to cease talking to one of the employees in the department. They were planning on moving her out and she wasn’t well liked. If I was seen associating with her, I could expect the same fate.
Greene is friends with ‘Hollywood madam’ Heidi Fleiss, Lindsay Lohan and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. In fact, Tyson was the best man at Greene’s wedding.
During the 2000 and 2004 elections all we heard was we wanted to elect someone we felt we could have a beer with. Palin was the mom next door. Today we want the political outsider and we don’t care how rich they are.
Some of these ‘outsiders’ will spend more of their personal finances on their elections this year than many of us will earn in our lifetimes.
It seems he is taking his outsider status too far. In fact, he apparently is trying to come off as bipartisan. While speaking to a Sarasota media forum recently Greene said, “Whether I was a Republican or Democrat, who cares?”
Really? Democrats do? And so do Republicans.
Worse still is that if Greene defeats Kendrick Meek in the Democratic Primary this month, he is going to after Governor Charlie Crist’s lack of party affiliation.
Salon wrote a great piece this week on the type of boss Greene is. Read the story here: Jeff Greene is a nightmare boss
Apparently he’s spoiled, abusive and cheap but the worst thing I found out about Greene was a story mentioned in Salon that kind of was brushed over.
A deckhand on Greene’s 145-foot yacht was injured. Greene lied to the insurance company by telling them that deckhand Harlan Hoffman did not work on his yacht.
It took 8 months and legal action to resolve the case and get Hoffman’s bill’s paid.
Insurance fraud is when someone lies to the insurance company in order to get them to pay the bills when they shouldn’t have. What is it called when you lie to the insurance company so they won’t pay the bills in order to keep your rates down?
Greene’s former personal chef, James Battles, sued him last year alleging that Greene ‘demanded round-the-clock attention and would berate and humiliate Battles when he sought reimbursement for food paid for out of his own pocket.’
‘Battles said Greene fired him after he was hospitalized for exhaustion before one of Greene’s parties. The settlement is confidential and Greene declined to discuss the case.
Another example of what we might expect from Greene: During the 2000’s, Greene owned more than 8,000 properties. He threatened to get a city council aide fired who was advocating on behalf of one of Greene’s tenants who complained about the heat and water problems. When threatened to escalate the issue to then Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, Greene responded “Ha, ha, ha. I know Rocky personally. He and his wife were married in my house. I’ll see to it that this council aide will be fired.”
Hollywood director, Richie Cunningham and Opie wouldn’t vote for Greene. During the 1990’s, Ron Howard rented a luxury home owned by Greene when the house was flooded from a leaky roof. [Read story here]
“If you look at the record and the outcome, he committed fraud and that’s why it was so expensive for him. With what I know about Jeff Greene as a tenant, I certainly wouldn’t vote for him, and I wouldn’t relish the idea of him being in the Senate.” – Howard, who won a $616,000 judgment from Greene, said during an interview with the Washington Post.
What is also surprising is that with only a couple of weeks to go until the Florida primary, very little is known about Greene yet he is up by double digits in the polls. The other problem is that most people still know very little about Kendrick Meek as a result Greene and his aggressive advertising campaign is making him a more familiar name.
I’ve seen countless ads and received a number of mailers from Greene. I am still waiting for Meek to show up.
You can be sure that if the Democrats elect Greene as their nominee, Governor Charlie Crist (I) and Marco Rubio (R-Teabagger) will not let Greene off the hook so easily. In fact, they will probably make Greene appear to be a spoiled rich man with a bad temper and no understanding of politics who today has decided he wants to be a senator.
I suspect that Democrats will run from Greene as they learn more about him and wouldn’t be surprised if Obama endorsed Crist in return of Crist’s supporting the Stimulus Package.
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Tagged Charlie Crist, Florida, Jeff Greene, Kendrick Meek, Marco Rubio, Senate
Regardless of which side of the political aisle you reside we can all agree on one thing – the media has gotten lazy and have failed in their jobs.
In an effort to reduce costs and be the first to publish or air a story, they have accepted a single source as fact without verifying the source or seeking a second validating source. They also use Twitter to get quotes.
We see the laziness in the media with the coverage of the 2010 Florida Senate race. They publish attacks from Kendrick Meek against Charlie Crist on positions dating back to his recent stand against offshore drilling. Marco Rubio’s attacks date back to Crist’s infamous hug with President Obama after Governor Crist introduced Obama to a Florida crowd where the president spoke of the stimulus package.
Rubio cites that Crist is really a Democrat while Meek argues that Crist is really Conservative. Both agree that it is a show designed for November.
There are numerous areas where the media fails here.
First and foremost, they ignore Crist’s record as governor for the full 3½ years he has been in office. They also ignore his time as Florida Attorney General. His record speaks for itself and we will delve into it shortly.
They also let Meek and Rubio’s comments lay there unchallenged. For example, they stop with the attack on Crist’s support of the stimulus package ignoring the benefits that have come from it. Many people drive every day, as I do, through highway construction sites that have received stimulus dollars but it goes generally ignored by the media.
Read more about Florida Recovery.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist
The media also allows Meek and Rubio to spew their rhetoric with regards to Crist’s changing position for campaigning. Of course, all candidates alter their position to put themselves in the best political light with the voters. That’s why you need to look at the way candidates work while in office.
Of course Rubio does not want the light to shine on him as his record is horrible. This will be further addressed in a later article.
Examining Crist’s record:
Home Foreclosures:
In March 2008 – while George W Bush was still president (in other words: pre-hug), Crist created and accepted the recommendations of a HOPE (Home Ownership Promotes the Economy) Task Force which addressed specific strategies to address foreclosures affecting Florida’s families. [Read the recommendations]
Health Care:
Even before the Healthcare debate took to the Federal Government during the Obama administration, Florida, under Governor Crist, had already established the Cover Florida Health Care Access Program to help those without health insurance get quality affordable healthcare coverage.
Early Voting:
Seeing the state-wide long lines, Governor Crist extended the hours for early voting in Florida ensuring that everyone who wanted to vote in the 2008 November General Election got to vote. This was in direct opposition to the Republican Party who wanted to minimize the hours as the speculation is that the more people that can vote, the more that Obama would have benefited. – Obama went on to win Florida.
Environment:
Crist was against off-shore oil drilling both before his failed attempt to become John McCain’s Republican running mate in 2008 and now. He called for a July 2010 special session of the Florida Congress to address getting a Constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would permanently ban offshore oil drilling off the coast of Florida. The Republican led Congress, in a fit of immaturity, adjourned both houses in less than two hours.
Crist also supports the Everglades restoration.
Gambling:
Crist struck a deal with the Seminole Indians on a casino deal that so angered Rubio and Conservatives that they took him to court over the decision.
More background: There was a timeframe established by the federal government, with which Florida was able to negotiate with the Seminoles for revenue on casino earnings. Once the deadline passed, the state of Florida would have wound up with zero. The Florida legislature clearly had no intention of striking a deal and once Crist took the initiative by signing a deal that would generate billions of dollars for Florida over a 25-year period Rubio and the Republican legislature became offended and went on to file a lawsuit which the legislature won.
Though Crist lost that case, he invariably won the war because this bought the legislature time and pressured them to work out a deal with the Seminoles.
Education:
Crist vetoed the GOP supported teacher pay and tenure bill known as SB-6 in April. This garnered Crist much needed teacher and union support at the same time solidifying his fate with the far right. This is another example of Crist doing what is best for Floridians.
Corporate rate hikes:
Crist stood up to State Farm after they requested a 47% rate hike.
“State farm has been charging some of the highest rates in our state for a long time. They haven’t been very friendly to our people and if they want to leave the state goodbye.” – Charlie Crist
He also called the Florida Power & Light’s proposed $1.3 billion rate hike ‘excessive.’ As Florida Attorney General, Crist got FPL to freeze its electricity rate.
As Florida Attorney General:
America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh publicly had filed the paperwork for Crist’s gubernatorial candidacy as a result of his work with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Crist stood against the Republican Party’s position with regards to the Terri Schiavo case. If you remember that case, Fox News turned her life support battle into a public circus and the far right fringe used Schiavo as a political football. Even President Bush ended his vacation early to sign a bill attempting to extend her life support. Crist’s position was that government should not get involved in these types of cases.
As Governor he vetoed a measure that would have required women to pay for an ultrasound prior to getting an abortion.
Obviously, a little research will bring back even more cases where Crist has legislated in the best interests of Floridians not necessarily in the best interests of Charlie Crist’s political career.
Much of what you read here is no longer being covered by the media.
How long ago was it when Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek was being identified as ‘the likely Democratic nominee’? Out of the blue came ‘billionaire’ Jeff Greene. How many people can name another candidate?
Unfortunately, the media will not provide us with enough information to make a smart choice in November. In fact, they may try to steer us in a direction that will inevitably be bad for Florida. That is why we owe it to ourselves to research and read as much as we can about the candidates.
Study their actual records, not just how they campaign. Once you examine Crist’s political career and compare it to Rubio’s – it becomes a no-brainer. And the Meek – Greene primary should be nowhere near this close. Just examine how Greene made his billions. Same with Rick ‘Medicare Fraud Champion’ Scott in the Republican primary for Florida Governor. That should eliminate both from contention.
November is 4 months away. We have plenty of time to educate Floridians.
Gene
Florida cannot afford Marco Rubio. A couple of Google searches supported that.
During the 10-year period that included Rubio’s roles as Florida House Majority Leader and Speaker of the House, he saw his income more than quadruple.
In 1999, Rubio reported his earnings at $99,000. In 2008, it was up to $414,000.
Much of Rubio’s earnings during this period was work for multiple law firms including Broad & Cassel, ‘a well-connect statewide firm that had done millions of dollars of legal work for the Florida House.’
Between 2002 and 2005, Broad & Cassel billed Florida taxpayers $4.5 MILLION for legal work. An audit of the firm’s work was conducted but never released. Just remember, Florida’s congress is overwhelmingly controlled by the Republicans – about 67% of the Florida House and Senate. Rubio is a Republican.
The question is – what did Rubio really do for these law firms? It does seem interesting that Rubio received money from companies that billed the very state that Rubio represented. Broad & Cassel billed Florida an average of more than one million dollars per year for four years.
Asked if he would have been hired by Broad & Cassel had he not been Speaker of the House Rubio responded, “It’s hard to tell with a hypothetical. I certainly would have worked somewhere. I had made a career of working at big firms up until last year when I went out on my own.”
True, but would he have been compensated $1.2 million for 4 years?
During his time at Broad & Cassel, Rubio “said he reviewed zoning applications, but he never appeared before a board or a commission on a land use matter.”
During Rubio’s final year as Speaker, he ‘secured a special line item in the budget that gave Jackson Memorial Hospital an additional $20 million in 2008. Several months later, Jackson hired Rubio as a consultant under a $96,000 a year contract.”
Since leaving state government, Rubio received lucrative deals with:
What I found most interesting was the last paragraph in the I-Team investigation
Despite his income, Rubio’s net worth is surprisingly low. In 2008 he listed his net worth at just $8,300. A self described fiscal conservative, Rubio is carrying almost a million in debt — including two mortgages on his current home and more than $100,000 in student loans.
Rubio’s annual salary bump also is interesting considering he had stopped payments on a Tallahassee home which was heading into foreclosure. Rubio claimed that he stopped paying on the home during a dispute with the bank. He has since caught up with the payments once news for the pending foreclosure became public.
Rubio is also currently under a federal IRS investigation over the potential misuse of Republican Party credit cards for personal expenses.
At the very least, it appears that Rubio has benefitted as a result of his time in public service at a very high cost to taxpayers but clearly he has difficulty managing his personal finances.
Can we really afford to send Marco Rubio to Washington?
Sources:
Politifact – Charlie Crist’s first TV ad focuses on Marco Rubio’s money
Posted in Democrats, Politics, Republicans
Tagged Charlie Crist, Florida, Marco Rubio, Senate
If there seems to be a single issue that rallies the Teabaggers, Liberals, bigots and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad it is their stance on Israel.
On-line friends (Twitter and bloggers) have surprised me with the speed with which they pounced on the ‘big, bad Israel’ position. I expected it from the Ahmadinejad’s of the world as well as the anti-Semites. But Progressives who claim to be hate-free and open-minded?
Even before the first video hit YouTube, I found many liberal friends chastise Israel for attacking the poor Flotilla with nothing but humanitarian aid and love for the desperate Palestinians in Gaza.
With the same conviction that we mocked when Republicans blindly supported a president and the lies that led us into 2 wars, many liberals charged that Israel was guilty without ever hearing a single fact.
I even read comments where people said that they will never be convinced that Israel could be justified in Flotilla-gate. Wow. And they call themselves liberal.
They quickly dismiss any comments and evidence coming out of Israel and denounce anyone who supports them. Just as quickly, they post stories linking to anything promoting the Flotilla (or anti-Israel) cause without seeking supporting evidence.
They post every country that gives dollars, arms or aid to Israel but ignore which organizations support the Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas. [Hint: you may want to read about IHH and their ties to Hamas]
Just who agrees with my liberal friends who stand united against Israel?
Let’s start with former grand wizard of the KKK and possible US presidential candidate – David Duke.
Duke’s post has an interesting choice of photos: A slew of sheets with eyes cut out – just like those worn by the KKK. Above the Klansmen is the word – Kohanim (Jewish high priests). Duke clearly is equating the Jewish supremacy with his White supremacy. Fascinating if not also hypocritical – and laughable.
Comments Off on Standing Against Israel – Strange Bedfellows indeed
Posted in Democrats, My 2 Buck$ of the Day, Politics, Republicans
Joe Wilson is best known for yelling ‘you lie’ at President Obama during an address to Congress last year and became a hero to Rush Limbaugh and the Teabagger crowd.
On Wednesday, he Tweeted on his @CongJoeWilson Twitter account
I was so honored to serve customers at Wendys in Irmo!
It linked to a blog post on his campaign website complete with a photo op. Here’s the posting:
How’d you like to have a Congressman serving you up lunch? For some folks at Wendy’s in Irmo, Joe Wilson was the guy manning the drive-thru window, as part of his Joe Means Jobs tour.
The event that attracted all the TV cameras was Congressman Wilson donning an apron serving up some lunch.
Unknowing customers got quite the treat when they pulled up to have Joe serve up their burgers and fries at the drive-up window. The Irmo Wendy’s employs around 11 to 13 workers per shift. Being up close during the busy lunch hour gave Joe a firsthand idea of how hard South Carolinians are working.
In case you’re curious, Joe says his favorite item at Wendy’s is the Chili.
{Note: At the time of this posting, this posting was removed from Wilson’s campaign website however the Tweet was still up on his Twitter account.}
Even his campaign’s jobs posting admits to the photo op – ‘the event that attracted all the TV cameras …’.
Unknowing customers received quite the treat when they saw Joe serving them their food. Seriously, how many Americans would recognize their United States Congressman or Senator on the street? Unless of course, they saw the TV camera and ‘Joe Means Jobs’ on his apron.
Lastly, this Joe Means Jobs is all well and good but get real – if the jobs are at Wendy’s, then we’re in some serious trouble. When I was a child, fast food restaurant jobs were filled by high school dropouts in the morning and high school students during the nights and weekends.
My first real job was at Burger King and I don’t recall any real adults there except the manager and the assistant manager who left for a brief period to attend BKU (Burger King University) – I’m not making that up.
The articles that hit the papers were titled:
It’s no lie. Joe Wilson serves up fast food.
It’s cute but I’m kind of put off by the title because it trivializes the level of the disrespect Wilson showed the President. Republicans were even offended and told Wilson to apologize to POTUS. That is until Rush Limbaugh hailed Wilson as the conquering hero and the martyr because he was pummeled in the media for his offense.
From the It’s no lie article.
“We have some of the highest taxes in the world,” said Congressman Joe Wilson. “That makes it very difficult for us to compete with Europe, with Asia. So we need to reduce taxes.”
A simple Google search indicates that Wilson is referring only to the Corporate tax rate. Documentation does support that numerous states have higher corporate tax rates than many other countries.
What Wilson is ignoring is that the tax rate on individuals in the United States ranks among the lowest worldwide.
What this tells me is that Wilson’s priority is to the corporations.
He was honored to serve Wendy’s customers and corporate interests. As far as his Individual constituents – not so much.
Lower the Corporate tax rate – More Individual jobs at Wendy’s.
Sources for Tax Rate information:
U.S. States Lead the World in High Corporate Taxes (2008) – TaxFoundation.org
Tax Rates Around the World (Corporate and Individual) – last updated Jan 2010 – Worldwide-Tax.com
Think your taxes are bad? (no date but I suspect it’s from 2006) – MSN Money Central
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Posted in Barack Obama, Democrats, Politics, Republicans, US Congress
Tagged Joe Wilson, Tea Party, Teabaggers
A very important public meeting is scheduled for tomorrow – February 9th from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. to allow residents to discuss the pediatric cancer cluster in the Acreage.
Details from the original story is here.
The location of the public meeting is Seminole Ridge High School – 4601 Seminole Pratt Whitney Road – Loxahatchee.
Update on the story:
Florida Governor Charlie Crist has weighed in stating that he will appeal to the federal government for their assisting into the investigation. This comes one day after Florida health officials said that there were no plans to search for the environmental cause of the cancer cluster.
“This is of grave concern to me,” Crist said. “The people deserve every ounce of energy that can be put into this situation to reveal how this happened, what the cause might be and what can be done to help these residents.”
“This investigation will continue as long as it takes to get to the root of this issue,” he said. “The people deserve nothing less.”
Dr. Alina Alonso wanted to “clarify statements that may have led to confusion.”
Through a spokesman, Alonso said late Thursday that she “welcomes the governor’s involvement.”
“I want to reiterate that the investigation is in no way finished, but rather is at a point where the Palm Beach County Health Department needs the guidance of elected officials, universities, research facilities and federal agencies to look further into the elevated rates of cancer,” Alonso said in a statement, adding that she “would like to clarify statements that may have led to confusion.”
Alonso said the next step was to raise awareness about childhood brain cancer. Florida Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros rejected that saying that The Acreage residents are “beyond aware.”
“We want to do everything we can and use all our resources to give as much information,” Viamonte Ros said. “And not just awareness, but certainly to be able to find a cause, if there is one, or certainly to be able to answer questions.”
But Viamonte Ros believes that state health officials have exhausted their research options and have “reached the point where we need federal guidance to review what we’ve done and better clarify what the next steps should be.”
State officials additional plan to contact the National Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, Crist said that they state was now working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The good news is Florida Department of Health’s Chief of Staff Robert Siedlecki Jr. said that state officials will test the water and soil at cancer-stricken children’s homes.
“If they want us to test it, we will.”
“We have to try to figure out what is happening,” Commissioner Shelley Vana said. “You can’t just leave them hanging like that. I do understand that it can be difficult to find answers, but we have make an attempt.”
“My heart goes out to the Acreage families who are experiencing the heartache of cancer,” he said in a statement. “I cannot imagine the pain these parents, grandparents, children and their loved ones are feeling. I support the calls for further investigation and thank Governor Crist for committing to get to the bottom of this.” – Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach)
Anyone with additional information regarding the investigation, please provide any details in the comments below.
Also, if you plan on attending the February 9th meeting (or if you attended after in concludes), I would welcome the comments.
There will be a live on-line chat during the Tuesday night meeting with Palm Beach Post reporter Jason Schultz.[click here]
Sources:
Crist vows to investigate Acreage cancer cases
State officials agree to test soil and water at Acreage homes of cancer-stricken children
State officials agree to test soil, water at homes of Acreage kids with cancer
Posted in Politics
Tagged Bill Nelson, Cancer cluster, Charlie Crist, Florida, health, Palm Beach, The Acreage
The for-profit National Tea Party Convention kicked off Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee at 3 p.m. Thousands Hundreds showed up to register for the 3:00 – 6:00 registration period.
From 7 – 8, the Teabaggers gathered for a Meet and Greet with hors d’oeuvres.
I wonder what they noshed on during this hour – Slim Jims, hot dogs, American flags?
Said one attendee – ‘Why do I want to meet and greet with some whores? And what the hell is a d’oeuvres?’
I’m sure the crowd looked similar to the 2008 Republican Convention but with a much lower income level.
Tom Tancredo was the kickoff speaker. I agree that he was the perfect choice. The former Colorado Representative and failed 2008 presidential candidate ran on a single issue – screw illegal immigrants. He will be replaced by Lou Dobbs in the 2012 Republican primary.
He said that President Obama won the 2008 election because “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”
This is a bigoted remark because he is implying that blacks, Hispanics and immigrants lack the intelligence to pass a literacy or a civics test. Interestingly, people who most support this inane comment would have a greater likelihood of scoring lower than the people Tancredo was referring to.
So far, the biggest news to come out of the Tea Party convention is the fact that former Congressman Tom Tancredo apparently pines for the era of Jim Crow restrictions on voting rights. (The Tennessean)
“Thank God John McCain lost the election,” Tancredo said. He felt that McCain was shaping up to be a repeat of ‘Bush 1 and Bush 2.” I actually agree with Tancredo here. Where are my pills?
He also preached to the choir by saying that America “put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House … Barack Hussein Obama.”
At least Tancredo didn’t call him Barry like opening night singer Lisa Mei in her Teabagger classic hit “Where’s the birth Certificate, Barack Obama.”
Obama ,tell us where were you born?
‘Cause the media won’t do their job anymore
You’re grandmother in Kenya said you were born on foreign shores
So Barry tell us where oh where were you born?
And Mei, his first name is spelled with just 1 ‘r’. It’s not ‘Barrack’.
On her blog, she describes herself as ‘a wife, a mother, a Christian conservative.”
Also from her blog: “I decided to work on my own music and really turned the heat up during last Fall’s election cycle with my tribute YouTube video to Governor Sarah Palin and a campaign song I co-wrote with my friend “Big Dawg”. We have written several new conservative/patriotic songs (many of which were #1 songs at www.soundclick.com) inspired by the Tea Parties and we have more in the works to help get the message out – that NOW is the time for all true Patriots to speak out.”
Ray Stevens was the other singer. I listened to his political song ‘We the People” and found it quite humorous and enjoyable. Stevens has been on the music scene for over 5 decades and in 1962 recorded the top 5 hit ‘Ahab the Arab’. I took the time to listen to a couple of his songs and particularly enjoyed ‘Mississippi Squirrel Revival’ about a squirrel that gets loose in a church.
Then Teabaggers were rewarded with the Teabagger movie – Tea Party, The Movie. This 2009 documentary (?) chronicles the Teabagger movement. Of course it seems as though they are the first group to protest government since the Revolutionary War. They obviously ignored the grass roots movement that overwhelmed the election process in 2008. Many of us got into blogging during that grass roots movement.
Friday’s breakout speaker was author, conservative thinker and anti-environmentalist Steve Milloy.
“But the left is well-entrenched. They own almost every university in this country. We have a battle because the left has become entrenched and it’s because we let it happen. But we need to get active on the local level and get in schools. Don’t let your schools show An Inconvenient Truth unless they show the other side too. We just need to get involved in every institution.” – Milloy on Fox News
Universities open our minds up to new ideas, creative and individual thought and intelligent debate. This is what the so-called ‘left’ has done to our universities. Obviously, Milloy would like the opposite of that – minds closed to new ideas, no debate and definitely no individual thought.
Also, what exactly does someone who is an ‘anti-environmentalist’ stand for? How can you be against the environment?
After Milloy there are a couple of breakout sessions. Dr. Rick Scarborough from Vision America will discuss “Why Christians Must Engage.” This is an obvious attempt to try to bring onboard the far right fringe Evangelical Christians that have thus far resisted this movement. Scarborough’s 2006 book is entitled ‘Liberalism Kills Kids.’ Enjoyable and uplifting.
Concurrently, there is the SGP (Smart Girl Politics) session “How to do Voter Registration Drives and Where to Find Conservative Voters” and “Women in Politics.” I wonder if they’ll discuss ACORN – Hmmmm.
At 11:15, there will be 3 simultaneous sessions:
Young Americans for Freedom will discuss “How to Involve the Youth in the Conservative Movement” (I remember that from the 1980’s);
Numbers USA will present “5 Easy Fixes to the High Cost of Mass Immigration” (anyone see Lou Dobbs?);
Dr. B. Leland Baker will discuss “US Government Bankruptcy – Facts for Citizens Who Don’t Have Finance Degrees” (In other words people they can spew their bullshit to).
After lunch you can vomit to the speaking of Judge Roy Moore and Tom Fitton from the extremely conservative and hate-filled Judicial Watch. If you have some time, you may want to check them out.
In the afternoon, there will some more fun-filled breakout sessions that I know I need to see. Hopefully, they’ll share these on YouTube or HateTube or TeabaggerTube.
Tomorrow is pretty much more of the same starting with Ana Puig’s presentation “Correlations between the current Administration and Marxist Dictators of Latin America.” Wow, that’s a mouthful. These are the types of discussions that make for some great Daily Show segments.
The convention concludes tomorrow night with a banquet and a keynote address from the Queen Teabagger, Sarah Palin.
This past week, I went through the arduous debate between going to Nashville, spend $558 to attend the convention and banquet and listen to racist, hate-filled bullshit or stay home with my wife, drink topical drinks (it’s going to be in the 80’s this weekend) and possibly catch a movie.
I guess I could still catch a flight tomorrow to Nashville and spend $358 for the dinner with Sarah Palin. I better get a signed copy of Going Rogue – and a freakin’ wink – and a damn ‘you betcha’.
Better yet – I think I’ll stay home and start Friday night martinis now. My brain hurts just researching and writing this post. No wonder why only dumbasses fall for the Teabagger movement.
Additional sources:
National Tea Party Convention site
Tea Party Fireworks: Speaker rips McCain, Obama, ‘Cult of Multiculturalism’ – ABC News
Lisa Wei with Jim Robinson, founder and CEO of Free Republic
Posted in Barack Obama, Democrats, John McCain, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin
Tagged Lisa Mei, Ray Stevens, Steve Milloy, Tea Party, Teabaggers, Tom Tancredo
The Florida Department of Health confirmed that The Acreage in Palm Beach County is encountering a higher than normal number of brain and central nervous system tumors and cancer in children, especially girls.
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and other state lawmakers are calling for a probe to determine the cause. One environmental expert said that the cancer cluster did warrant national attention.
Health officials state that they may never be able to determine the cause. Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the Palm Beach County Health Department, said that there are currently no plans to conduct environmental tests.
“We really don’t have one thing,” said Alonso. “From what we’re seeing now, there is nothing that is going to say, ‘Aha this is the cause of the cancer.’”
Nelson said environmental tests should start “as soon as possible.” He pledged to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get them to “lend their resources and expertise to the investigation.”
“Residents still don’t know a cause or what’s responsible for these cases of cancer,” Nelson wrote to Florida’s surgeon general on Tuesday. “And we can’t work to fix the problem or hold someone accountable until we can answer these questions.”
“We need to give them the resources to make sure they can identify a cause,” said State Representative Joseph Abruzzo (D-Wellington).
Environmental tests will not occur until the department finishes analyzing the interviews over the next two months.
Authorities have identified 13 cases of brain cancer or tumors among children and teenagers in the community from 1993 and 2008.
There was a significant jump in the number of cases after 2002 said Tammie Johnson, a state epidemiologist. There is enough data available thus far to label these cancer cases a cluster.
Two more children were diagnosed with brain tumors in late 2009 generating fears that the cancer cluster is continuing to grow.
Homeowners should insist on federal assistance said Peter deFur, president of Environmental Stewardship Concepts in Richmond, Virginia. He added that the CDC should conduct a health assessment which would include reviewing residents’ medical records and performing blood and environmental analysis.
The Acreage is a semirural community in northwest Palm Beach County. As the name would suggest, homes are built on at least a single acre lot. There are farms in the area and farm equipment is stored on those lots.
Quick aside: I looked at the area a dozen years ago about a year before my divorce. I really have to say that I liked the rural feel of the community and loved the idea of hiring and working directly with the builder that would construct my home. I suspect it is this reason that I have been watching this story develop. My daughter was 6 years old when I looked at the community.
The state Department of Environmental Protection, which is not part of the cluster investigation, isn’t planning to conduct any tests, spokeswoman Cristina Llorens said Tuesday. The agency randomly sampled 50 wells last year and declared that ground water quality in The Acreage was “generally good,” despite some elevated levels of radiation that could come from natural causes.
Excessive radiation can cause brain cancer.
Environmental concerns in the area:
deFur said that The Acreage may be experiencing a “cumulative risk situation” where stresses on top of stresses exceed what people’s systems can handle.
The fact the health department found a greater disparity in girls than boys raises a question of whether a hormone-disrupting chemical could be involved, he said.
“For everybody to have a comfort level, you need to know the source,” said Michelle Damone, board president of Indian Trail Improvement District. “Without knowing the cause of it, how do you go and correct it?”
Next phases:
The state health department expects to complete the second phase of the study by mid-March, 2010. They plan to conduct interviews with 12 of the 13 families and review the cancer rates using updated population data. Note: The thirteenth family could not be located as they have moved from the area.
If a third phase occurs, it may include environmental tests which would take up to one year to complete.
A fourth phase would be a large-scale federal or university-based project.
As mentioned earlier, additional studies are not currently planned.
“Everybody is exposed to a multitude of things,” said Becky Samarripa, whose 15-year-old daughter had a tumor removed in 2008. Still, so many of these children went to the same schools, play in the same soil and drink the same well water that tests in at least one of those areas should be warranted, she said.
New York law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, affiliated with environmental activist Erin Brockovich, has been conducting water analyses since late last year.
Public meeting:
Officials plan to discuss the investigation at a public meeting.
Date: February 9, 2010
Time: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Seminole Ridge High School
4601 Seminole Pratt Whitney Road
Loxahatchee
Sources:
Link to study: Acreage SIR Recalculation Population Estimate Methods and Results
Cancer cluster designation rattles The Acreage
New data confirms Acreage cancer cluster; health official puzzled on cause of children’s ailments
Posted in Politics
Tagged Bill Nelson, Cancer cluster, Family, Florida, health, Palm Beach, The Acreage
Actually, they have reshaped it.
In case you missed it, our fine United States Supreme Court led by Justices John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy ruled in a 5-4 vote that corporations cannot be restricted on political contributions in candidate elections.
The majority said that this was a vindication “of the First Amendment’s most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech.”
But since when did corporations become citizens? Yes, I know that they pay taxes but not the way citizens are required to. We definitely don’t have the same loopholes. Nor do they have the same bankruptcy laws. Nor do I have shareholders that invest in me.
So far the media has been relatively quiet about this. Surprisingly so considering the magnitude of this decision.
President Obama called it “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”
For the first 24 hours following the decision, I was furious. I came to the conclusion that Americans were no longer part of the election process. As it was, corporations wielded a mighty big sword by utilizing corporate lobbyists to do their bidding for them in Washington.
Add the money they can now freely contribute and there is no way common Americans can have any quality time with our politicians.
I envisioned our election process being taken over by corporate interests. Debates, primaries and caucuses get sponsorships. (McDonalds Super Tuesday)
Whichever candidates best supported the corporate needs would receive hefty campaign contributions and a chance to represent their state or district for the next term.
And it really isn’t difficult to “drown out the voices of everyday Americans” as President Obama put it. The corporate lobbyists are always in the politicians faces and politicians are oblivious as to what we are saying outside the Beltway.
Initially, I believed that Republicans would now win every election. But that isn’t true. Many Democrats also put corporate interests ahead of American citizens. So in that regard much wouldn’t change.
What would change are the politicians who nobly put their constituents before the corporate interests. Their reelections would be in doubt.
And unless you have the corporate political machine behind you, you can forget any political aspirations you may have.
The point to remember is that we are a Representative Democracy. We elect people to represent us in the political process.
The added dollars coming from corporations will mean that ‘We the People’ will only be made aware of the candidates engulfed in that machine.
And as a Representative Democracy, the Supreme Court has determined who ‘We the People’ will rely on for determining which candidate we will ultimately vote for.
But isn’t that the way it seems to be anyway?
Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority:
“When government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought. This is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves.”
This will also ensure that Fox News can provide 24 opinion on their ‘news’ station.
What is bizarre is that this does not explain how restricting corporate campaign contributions would use censorship to control thought. Campaign finance restrictions didn’t dictate the message, it just attempted to balance the process so ‘We the People’ had our voices heard – not ‘We the Corporations’.
In fact, stronger campaign finance restrictions were necessary in order to give our elections back to the people and really permit our voices to be heard.
Today, pork projects are given to districts so the politician can get support for his reelection. Watch how the pork projects will go to districts where the corporate dollars are flowing in from.
I hear Honda needs a new automotive facility in Alabama.
Anyway we spin this, this is bad for democracy. It’s bad for the country. And worst of, it will be bad for Americans. The Supreme Court has failed us.
United Corporations Supreme Court - Great job, fascArt {h/t BuzzFlash}
Comments Off on SCOTUS Kills Democracy
Posted in Barack Obama, Democrats, Politics, Republicans, US Congress
Tagged scotus, Supreme Court
Open call to anyone in Massachusetts:
Did you vote for Scott Brown over Martha Coakley because of any of the following reasons?
If you answered yes to any of the above list, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Did you want to punish Coakley because it seemed as though the Democrats took this race for granted?
This is a major election.
You don’t vote for the person who says that they’ll put TV’s in the school cafeteria.
You don’t vote for the popular kid who makes us laugh.
You vote for the geek with the pocket protector who knows the US Constitution backwards and forwards, understands the needs of Americans and has the will and determination to make sure that We The People are provided with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Any research would have easily shown that Brown does not support equality and does not believe that all Americans have that unalienable right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Posted in Democrats, Politics, Republicans
Tagged Martha Coakley, Scott Brown, Tea Party, Teabaggers, US Senate
If I hear just one more time the following “We’re taking back our country” I am going to thoroughly lose it.
The last time was from a good friend of mine – who is a Republican – who posted this on a Republican website (which I read as well).
These F*^king people think the country belongs to them. They are less than 30% of the country and they believe that the other 70% don’t matter.
‘We’re taking back our country.” Look at what you did with that country since you took control of it in 1994. Add the presidency in 2001 and you really sent us into the toilet.
Now you’re resisting every attempt to fix your mess.
Are you familiar with the following?
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
All Men are created equal.
We have the Unalienable Right of Life, Liberty AND the pursuit of Happiness.
But all you hear is ‘creator’.
And then you misinterpret His words. It’s pathetic.
President Obama hadn’t even completed the swearing in ceremony and the f*^king teabaggers were obstructing, insulting and criticizing everything.
Instead of addressing what Obama was saying, the teabaggers were saying that he talked too much. That would be so their stupid lemmings would tune out mentally.
The President of the United States talks to students as other presidents have done and the right wing claims that it is indoctrination. You can’t have the president talking to the children. They may realize that their parents are ‘morans.’
The fact is – because of the Neo-Cons (remember them?) this country has an out of control deficit, in a war that we should never have been in, are in an insane amount of debt to China, still dependent on foreign oil and without any sort of healthcare reform.
We have a little banking (Wall Street) problem and people are losing their homes at a frightening pace.
We have a Supreme Court that now believes that the rights of the corporation outweigh that of the person. (Hey SCOTUS – all men are created equal not all corporations are created equal)
Bigotry is on the increase and the division of opinion has never been greater.
Teabaggers talk about the Constitution (only really the Second Amendment) but definitely don’t care about equality.
I’m still trying to understand how Teabaggers don’t see that Fox News and Rush Limbaugh deliver right wing propaganda but believe that the rest of the media is liberal.
How can the Teabaggers be so lazy? Pick up a newspaper. Read the internet. Fact check your Fox News resources. You will find out as I did in the early 2000’s – that Fox News is full of shit.
Not all Teabaggers are dumb. I know this. They are just lazy. It’s easier to believe Fox News. After all, it has the word news in it! And Rush Limbaugh agrees with them. And Drudge posts it on the internets.
If Rush and Sean say it often enough and convincingly enough the Teabaggers will believe it. The Neo-Cons had seen a ton of waning support and changed their name to Teabaggers and their lemmings are so dumb that they couldn’t tell the difference. At least I know Liberals and Progressives are the same.
One final plea: Teabaggers – stop being ditto heads. Start thinking for yourself. Research what they say. You will find, as I did, that much of what they say is pulled right out of their backsides.
My 2 Buck$ 
