JOBS LOST UNDER RICK SCOTT | Pink Slip Rick Scott

JOBS LOST UNDER RICK SCOTT | Pink Slip Rick Scott

Why can't Obama just release his own birth certificate... and be done with all of this B.S.?

Happy Passover

Passover humour is the best

Expecting too much from our elected officials

"Everybody goes to clinics, to doctors, to hospitals, so on. Some
people go to Planned Parenthood. But you don’t have to go to Planned
Parenthood to get your cholesterol or your blood pressure checked. If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that’s well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does."
- Senator Kyl 4/8/11

I had just left college, with a fire in my belly, when the government shutdown in 1995. I understood the arguments on both sides, both then and now, but am baffled by the lack of honesty. If you really think that a policy rider is important, then stand up for it. I was listening to some of the debate today during lunch. It's kinda stressful as a school teacher, right before standardized testing begins so I thought, maybe I had misheard the statement, not paying full attention between bites. Then I heard the quote again on the ride home. After hearing it this second time, I decided to find out where Sen. Kyl got his stats from.

As I crawled, in my metal turtle, through afternoon rush hours traffic, I called a random Capitol Hill office number and the person was nice enough to give me Senator Kyl's office number. My purpose was simply to find the source of the statistic the Senator had used on the floor.
The Washington Post's Ezra Klein highlights this chart showing exactly what Planned Parenthood does:

I was lucky enough to work on the House side of Capitol Hill 17 years ago. I knew even then that everything the Congressman said on the floor (Speeches, and or recorded debate) was all researched before hand. Very, very rarely did the Congressman go in front of C SPAN cameras having to give a speech unprepared. I do not believe the Louisiana delegation was that far ahead of the curve. That means, that most, if not all federal legislators probably follow the same formula.

When I called the office, (I presume) an intern answered the phone. This young man could not answer my question. He first told me that he was not certain that the Senator had said this. I assured him that it had, and asked him where the statistics could be found. He told me he did not know. I asked to be placed on hold, and to be put through to a staffer who could help me. He refused saying the office was too busy at the moment. This interchange makes me think there was no basis for this information. I feel like a broken record here; if you are going to make a statement that could possibly be recorded, then stand by it, and explain it.

Hangover II sequel

We are really looking forward to the new Hangover sequel... Here is the trailer...

This phone contraption can cause problems

“Who are these evil teachers who teach your children, these evil policemen who protect them, these evil firemen who pull them from burning buildings? When did we all become evil?” said Canterbury, whose union endorsed Bush in 2000 and 2004 and John McCain in 2008.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52359.html#ixzz1IJBEonIC


I was energized (read agitated) enough today to call my local Florida state representative asking about a bill that is detrimental to state employees. I called the local office number for my legislator and was greeted by a pleasing voice on the other end. I asked the woman what the status of HR 1405 was. It was explained to me that I had called the Florida state house. I replied by saying that it was a local measure and was told to hold on while she looked it up. I was then told that the legislator did not sponsor it. I then asked if she could just tell me the status of the bill. The bill has passed out of committee.

Once a bill has passed committee it needs to be passed in the exact same form by the membership of both chambers. I explained my opposition to the bill, and asked that the legislator, (MY legislator), vote in opposition to the bill.

At this point in the conversation, and I've been on numerous of these calls, the person/ constituent is thanked for their participation in the process, and told that their opinion will be passed along to the elected official. Something like this is standard boilerplate script, even if the request goes against the position of the elected official.

This person I was talking to did not say anything like this. I thought this was a standard call, because I'm pretty certain that the legislator in question supports my position. However, the person representing the office on this call , heard my request and then told me "There is nothing we can do it passed committee".

Regardless, of the fate of this piece of legislation that was the absolute wrong thing to say to me. If you hire people that can't properly handle standard constituent communication, or exude a defeatist, I don't care attitude to my interests, maybe I don't care whether you get reelected. This is not something that will encourage me to vote for this person in the near future.