Category Archives: florida politics

Sea Level Rise in Miami and Politics. Let’s just say no to the “deniers.”

Sea Level Rise in Miami and Politics. Let’s just say no to the “deniers.”

no

The last election was the first election I participated in a long time. I felt very disenfranchised and I realized how important it was to get people out to vote. I put together a list of clean water candidates because I thought it would bring us together and it did. It did in a way. In a way it didn’t. We really really need to do this all together.

Now we need this more than ever. Miami is floating away.

o-RISING-SEA-LEVELS-MIAMI-CLIMATE-CHANGE-facebook

When Michael Grunwald was here he talked about the tides comes up to his house.

What’s going to happen? What’s going to happen is what has happened. People are going to stick their necks in the sand and its going to get worse and our fellow citizens are in danger.  Please go talk to your party and tell them they need to start paying attention to the infrastructure. Even Libertarians believe in infrastructure. What is up with the denying this? What is the end game of that. Are we selling Miami at a good price? Will Miami be on sale if it gets destroyed? Why is no one helping? There has got to be money involved. Why else would all these people deny that the water is rising in Miami?

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/texas-gop-what-climate-change

Texas Republicans have a new policy on climate change: There is no climate change.

While traditionally the state’s GOP has focused on abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency while ignoring climate change, this year’s temporary policy platform is taking it one step further, calling for party members to explicitly dismiss it, too.

“While we all strive to be good stewards of the earth, ‘climate change’ is a political agenda which attempts to control every aspect of our lives. We urge government at all levels to ignore any plea for money to fund global climate change or ‘climate justice’ initiatives,” the platform writes.

So funny I just wrote the above and then I found this. This article is from 2010. Like most things American until we actually feel the pain we’re not  interested.

http://grist.org/article/2010-09-09-the-rights-climate-denialism-is-part-of-something-much-larger/

“However! It does seem to me that the right’s climate denialism hasn’t been properly linked to the larger phenomenon of epistemic closure on the right. When Jim Manzi, everyone’s favorite sensible conservative, criticized fellow conservative Mark Levin for peddling intellectually shoddy skeptic arguments in his bestselling book Liberty and Tyranny, Levin went nuts, joined by a half-dozen other NRO writers. How could they not? The very same skeptic talking points in Levin’s book appear in thousands of blogs and comment sections across the interwebs. If they are intellectually bankrupt, a whole lot of people are going to look stupid.”

We are sick of talking points. You put them out. The news picks them up and repeats them over and over until you believe it.

This has got to stop.

“The right’s project over the last 30 years has been to dismantle the post-war liberal consensus by undermining trust in society’s leading institutions. Experts are made elites; their presumption of expertise becomes self-damning. They think they’re better than you. They talk down to you. They don’t respect people like us, real Americans.”

And you thought these people just wanted to keep your taxes lower. I don’t think so

“The decline in trust in institutions has generated fear and uncertainty; where there are fear and uncertainty, there are reactionaries to exploit them. Stress reinforces in-group bias — tribalism, nationalism, and xenophobia. Today’s conservative movement has created a self-contained, hermetically sealed epistemological reality, a closed loop of cable news, talk radio, and email forwards, meant to stoke in-group anxiety and reinforce group identity.

Consider what the Limbaugh/Morano crowd is saying about climate: not only that the world’s scientists and scientific institutions are systematically wrong, but that they are purposefully perpetrating a deception. Virtually all the world’s governments, scientific academies, and media are either in on it or duped by it. The only ones who have pierced the veil and seen the truth are American movement conservatives.”

They don’t care about us. That’s for sure.

I was told recently that one of our State Rep Marylynn Magar said at a forum that with the ten bucks we’re saving on our cell phone tax a small family could treat themselves to a Pizza. Where Marylynn is this ten dollar pizza? What does each child get? Here’s a half a slice honey. Eat it and praise RIck Scott!

Or Gayle Harrell saying that people who are sick can go to free clinics and then those free clinic’s funding was taken away.

Sorry rant.

You get the picture. OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.

So what do we do when the people running are OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY? Do we vote for these people even though they are in your party?  Don’t we help our own friends that are out of touch with reality?

How about this? How about YOU take control and not let people run who are OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.

So here’s REALITY so you can be IN TOUCH WITH REALITY.

Climate change is here and residing in Miami.

Goodbye_Miami_Title_Page_-__RollingStonearticle_June_2013

I’m going to post some articles and you can read them. Reading them will put you back in touch with the present and with reality.

Maybe you could send to the people who are running for things like President who live in Miami but have no clue the people will drowning soon and clue them in so they can be IN TOUCH WITH REALITY!

and if they’re not. Please! Just say no.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/miami-drowning-climate-change-deniers-sea-levels-rising?CMP=share_btn_fb

“Climate change is no longer viewed as a future threat round here,” says atmosphere expert Professor Ben Kirtman, of the University of Miami. “It is something that we are having to deal with today.”

Every year, with the coming of high spring and autumn tides, the sea surges up the Florida coast and hits the west side of Miami Beach, which lies on a long, thin island that runs north and south across the water from the city of Miami. The problem is particularly severe in autumn when winds often reach hurricane levels. Tidal surges are turned into walls of seawater that batter Miami Beach’s west coast and sweep into the resort’s storm drains, reversing the flow of water that normally comes down from the streets above. Instead seawater floods up into the gutters of Alton Road, the first main thoroughfare on the western side of Miami Beach, and pours into the street. Then the water surges across the rest of the island.

The effect is calamitous. Shops and houses are inundated; city life is paralyzed; cars are ruined by the corrosive seawater that immerses them. During one recent high spring tide, laundromat owner Eliseo Toussaint watched as slimy green saltwater bubbled up from the gutters. It rapidly filled the street and then blocked his front door. “This never used to happen,” Toussaint told the New York Times. “I’ve owned this place eight years and now it’s all the time.

Today, shop owners keep plastic bags and rubber bands handy to wrap around their feet when they have to get to their cars through rising waters, while householders have found that ground-floor spaces in garages are no longer safe to keep their cars. Only those on higher floors can hope to protect their cars from surging sea waters that corrode and rot the innards of their vehicles.”

miamibeach

Hence the construction work at Alton Road, where $400m is now being spent in an attempt to halt these devastating floods – by improving Miami Beach’s stricken system of drains and sewers. In total, around $1.5bn is to be invested in projects aimed at holding back the rising waters. Few scientists believe the works will have a long-term effect.”

This is from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

I mean really what do you know? Maybe you should call Rush Limbaugh on the phone.

Call the Rush Limbaugh Show Program Line

Between 12 noon and 3pm Eastern Time: 1-800-282-2882

This is from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/blog/2014/10/03/sea-level-rise-in-miami/

“The mean sea level has risen noticeably in the Miami and Miami Beach areas just in the past decade.  Flooding events are getting more frequent, and some areas flood during particularly high tides now: no rain or storm surge necessary.  Perhaps most alarming is that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating.

Diving Into Data

Certified measurements of sea level have been taken at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School on Virginia Key since 1996 (Virginia Key is a small island just south of Miami Beach and east of downtown Miami)[1].  Simple linear trends drawn through annual averages of all high tides, low tides, and the mean sea level are shown below, and all three lines are about 3.7″ higher in 2014 than they were in 1996.”

We have a senator in who lives in Miami who apparently can’t even find the time to go to leading academic oceanographic and atmospheric research institutions in the world?

Just say no.

This is the “World Resources Institute.”

Miami-Dade County, Florida has more people living less than 4 feet above sea level than any U.S. state, except Louisiana.

This fact sheet provides information specific to Miami-Dade County, Florida including the local impacts of—and near future vulnerabilities to—sea-level rise and extreme weather events.

Here is Eye on Miami. You have to go and listen to the audio.

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2015/04/sea-level-rise-in-miami-dr-harold.html

Sea level rise in Miami: Dr. Harold Wanless on podcast, “This Can’t Be Happening” … by gimleteye

Harold Wanless, a leading climatologist and geologist based at the University of Miami, returns to the “This Can’t Be Happening!” program after a year to revisit his claim that global warming and sea level rise are going to be much more dramatic than the consensus predictions of the UN Climate Committee, NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and other groups. With recent reports of faster melting on Greenland and in both the Eastern and Western Antarctic, Wanless tells host Dave Lindorff we are now facing a catastrophe that could see sea levels rising by more than 20 feet by the end of the century, and perhaps, if methane begins seriously erupting from the Arctic seafloor, even reduced oxygen levels that could threaten mammals, including humans.
Are you sick of me yet?
Here is some video. Excellent and well done and also talks about the Biscayne Aquifer and salt water intrusion. Richard Grosso also in this.
This is here. We cannot have anyone running for President who ignores this. Either address it or we will just say no.

Sinkholes: Its the Geology stupid!

#Florida

Sinkholes: Its the Geology stupid!

So after I wrote my blog I was wondering if we get sinkholes here in Martin County. Will my house get get sucked up in a hole. Will I be calling 911 saying “I’m in the ground!” Yikes.

I live on a ancient sand dune by the Indian RIver Lagoon. I live on a hill. I expect my house will be water view in about 50 years if we don’t do anything about sea level rise. I picked this area besides being so close to the lagoon, it was on a hill and out of the flood zone.

So much for planning.

The sinkholes of Martin County.

mimisink will_indian_river_drive_3510696_ver1.0_640_480

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/03/30/192278.htm

RiskMeter’s Top 10 Sinkhole-Prone Counties in Florida are:

  1. Pasco
  2. Hernando
  3. Hillsborough
  4. Marion
  5. Pinellas
  6. Citrus
  7. Polk
  8. Orange
  9. Seminole
  10. Lake

Geology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Florida

During the early Mesozoic Era (251 – 66 mya) the supercontinent of Pangea began to rift and break apart.  As North America separated from Africa a small portion of the African plate detached and was carried away with the North American plate. This provided some of the foundation upon which Florida now rests.

(I love this. Pretty cool if you think about it.)

The Florida peninsula is a porous plateau of karst limestone sitting atop bedrock known as the Florida Platform. The emergent portion of the platform was created during the Eocene to Oligocene as the Gulf Trough filled with silts, clays, and sands. Flora and fauna began appearing during the Miocene. No land animals were present in Florida prior to the Miocene.

The largest deposits of rock phosphate in the country are found in Florida. Most of this is in Bone Valley.

Extended systems of underwater caves, sinkholes and springs are found throughout the state and supply most of the water used by residents. The limestone is topped with sandy soils deposited as ancient beaches over millions of years as global sea levels rose and fell. During the last glacial period, lower sea levels and a drier climate revealed a much wider peninsula, largely savanna.

Science

Really incredible explanation on connection between farming and sinkholes and how the aquifers are pumped out and how cavities are left over and then they collapse.

He brings us up a lot of good points.

http://dep.state.fl.us/geology/geologictopics/hazards/sinkholes.htm

“Sinkholes become more of a problem in areas where sediments that lie above the limestone are mainly clays mixed with sand. Clay causes these sediments, which also range in thickness from 30 to 200 feet, to be cohesive. They are not very permeable to water. In these areas sinkholes are most numerous. They vary in size and may form suddenly. In a few areas of Florida over 200 feet of sediments cover the underlying limestone. These sediments are cohesive because of the clay and layers of limestone they contain. Although there are not many sinkholes in these areas, the ones that occur are deep and wide. These types of sinkholes are referred to as “cover-collapse sinkholes” because cohesive layers of sediment collapse into underground cavities when they form.”

SinkholePoster

Do we really need to be messing around in the land underneath us?

Do we need to look for oil? DO we need to suck the water out of the earth?  Why are we messing with Mother Nature? Do we need to frack?

no. no. no.

We need to find betters ways to preserve  or we’ll be the ones sucked down and yelling “I’m the ground!”

Here is a lesson. I’m not sure what grade it’s for but if your 6th graders can understand this stuff perhaps our legislators can.

http://teachingboxes.org/seaLevel/lessons/lesson4_reefs/index.htm

Coral reefs only grow in shallow, clear sea water (in the photic zone).

Reefs and Sea Level

When sea level is stationary, reefs will grow laterally in a seaward direction as reef sediments accumulate. Over long periods of time reef sediments will accumulate, and the growing pile will buid up in a seaward direction. Over time, this reef material will build broad shoals and platforms just below and near the ocean’s surface. However, if sea level rises and reefs are submerged by deep water, tehy will die. The deep water isolates them form the necessary solar light and warm water conditions they require. Similarly, a drop in sea level could leve them exposed on land.

Image source: U.S. Geological Survey (http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/fact-sheet/fs025-02

There’s even an extra brain teaser on the bottom!

Extra Brain Teaser: read about Florida’s sinkholes and what they tell of about sea level in the past!

Man I love Science!

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/02/28/oil-prospectors-seek-their-next-big-strike-south-floridas-everglades-245596.html

“The letter was printed on plain white paper in plain black type, and but for its unfamiliar globe logo “Total Safety” and its unsettling message, it was no different from most of the junk mail filling the mailboxes of 30 homes in a rural south Florida area called Golden Gate Estates, east of Naples.

“Dear Sir or Madam,” it read, “Total Safety US, Inc. is currently going around your area gathering information on households for Dan A. Hughes, so we can develop a contingency plan. We need the name of the main contact of the household, the number of people in your household, address and a number where you could be contacted in case of emergency, if you have transportation to evacuate and if you have any special needs in transportation.

With a little research, one of the many perplexed recipients, a retired artist by the name of Jaime Duran, learned that Dan A. Hughes was a Beeville, Texas-based oil outfit and that the company planned on drilling a test well on the pasture alongside his log cabin, less than 1,000 feet from his front porch.

The geological traits that make Florida good for oil exploration might also make it particularly environmentally risky. Andrew Zimmerman, an associate professor in the University of Florida’s geology department, tells Newsweek that the state’s oil is found in cracked, porous limestone formations. This is also the same rock sourcing drinking water. Plus, south Florida already has its share of water problems. In addition to water managers constantly balancing over-wet or over-dry conditions, they are often being caught between the two bad choices of over-drawing from aquifers or dumping fresh water into the ocean. Lake Okeechobee, which is also a major player in the region’s water sources, is another ongoing problem, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has recently diverted polluted water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers from the lake to prevent its 80-year-old dike from bursting. That has dealt a near deathblow to these rivers’ estuaries, with locals complaining that the lake’s waters containing agricultural chemicals from nearby farms have killed numerous manatees, dolphins, fish and oysters.”

In a worst-case scenario, drilling could have deadly consequences.

Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that smells of eggs but rivals hydrogen cyanide in its potential to kill and is often present in fields with sour crude oil, the kind found in south Florida.

You have to watch and listen to this video! Lets not be the one’s who get sucked into the ground.

Florida Inc: It’s all about the water: muck fires and sinkholes

#Florida

Muck Fires: What is that awful smell?

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/local-news/martin-county/smoke-from-palm-beach-county-wildfire-smelled-throughout-treasure-coast_55076727

“Earlier Monday, smoke from a more than 10,300-acre wildfire in Palm Beach County could be smelled throughout the Treasure Coast thanks to winds out of the south.

muck fires

The fire began July 8 with a lightning strike in the Arthur R. Marshall/Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and is about 75 percent contained, a release states.

Reports of smoke came in from throughout the Treasure Coast, as far north as Sebastian in Indian River County, according to information from the St. Lucie County Fire District and Yunas.”

This is what was reported to us and we  just knew there was more to the story.

Last week  we all woke up to not just smoke but a really nasty smell. There was a fire in Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and other brush fires around. This smell was nasty and we are not the only ones who woke up to this and had to endure for days. It smelled like plastic burning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muck_%28soil%29

“In the terminology of North American agriculture, muck is a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland. Muck farming is controversial, because the drainage of wetlands destroys wildlife habitats and results in a variety of environmental problems. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months. Oxidation also removes a portion of the soil each year, so it becomes progressively shallower. :

http://www.news-press.com/story/news/2015/07/09/smokey-smell-caused-by-estero-bay-state-preserve-burn/29906137/

“A pervasive, smoky smell throughout south Lee County, Estero and into Cape Coral Thursday was the result of a muck fire in the Everglades District, according to the Florida Forestry Service.”

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-05-10-florida-muck-fires_x.htm

“Basically, a muck fire is going to burn down until it hits water,” said Sean Gallagher, a spokesman with the Florida Division of Forestry. “It burns with such intensity that it lights the dirt.”

Muck ignites from the burning brush above and from lightning strikes. Enough oxygen penetrates the parched, loosely packed peat, causing underground embers to smolder for weeks. The muck can cook and kill roots, causing trees to topple. After their leaves dry out, they kindle more brush and the downed trees themselves.

Muck is soil rich in carbon-based compounds from dead plants and organisms, usually more than a third of the soil content.

It becomes flammable when the groundwater dips below normal for an extended period of time.

Burning muck can lower the ground elevation enough to ultimately change swamps into lakes or ponds.

Firefighters cut fire breaks around the muck and till up the ground so they can see the glowing hot spots and soak them.

“Before farmers and developers drained natural wetlands, muck fires were much less common because low-lying areas stayed underwater throughout the year.”

The reason I bring this up is because Maggy Hurchella brought this up in her pleas to SFWMD this past winter. Drought=muck fires.

Sinkholes are the results of groundwater pumping. watch this video. warning language. totally worth the watch.

Florida Sinkholes are Swallowing Cars: America’s Water Crisis (Part 2/3)

Why do I bring this up? Because there are lots of clueless people managing our water and their mismanagement is hurting us. Their leader of course is Rick Scott and politics and Florida Inc is in charge of our future.

Right now they are not doing a very good job!

Sinkhole-zones-in-fl

Florida Inc: Thank you League of Woman Voters!

Florida Inc: Thank you League of Woman Voters!

Gerrymandering has been going on in Florida for a long time and it truly has been a bipartisan activity. It took the very awesome and very bipartisan League of Woman voters to get the whole mess straightened out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering

“In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Women_Voters

“The League of Women Voters (LWV) is an American civic organization that was formed to help women take a larger role in public affairs as they won the right to vote. It was founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote.[3] The League of Women Voters began as a “mighty political experiment” aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities as voters. Originally, only women could join the league; but in 1973 the charter was modified to include men. LWV operates at the local, state, and national level, with over 1,000 local and 50 state leagues.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Women_Voters_of_Florida

“The League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVF) is a civic organization in the state of Florida. The League’s bylaws mandate that the organization will not support any candidate or party, but the League’s members do advocate on policy issues.

The Florida League got its official start in the state in 1939, when women in Winter Haven, Winter Park and St. Petersburg initiated the Florida League of Women Voters, following some earlier efforts. Its first project was a study of state government with a particular focus on the State’s Constitution. Early advocacy efforts encouraged the Florida Legislature to end the process of gerrymandering.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/gerrymandering-florida-districts-lawsuit/2014/06/02/id/574522/

A case brought by the League of Women Voters and Democratic-leaning plaintiffs could force the Republican-controlled state legislature to redraw Florida’s “lopsided” election districts before the midterm elections,  The Washington Post reported.
Both houses of the Florida legislature are controlled by Republicans as is the governor’s mansion. Republicans had invested heavily  in winning the legislature in advance of the once-in-a-decade redrawing process.”

To The Point with Michael Williams this past Sunday, July 19, 2015: Pamela Goodman, Florida League of Women Voters
“Egregious behavior of the Florida Legislature.”

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/florida-lawmakers-say-they-destroyed-redistricting-documents/2157636

Lawyers for the defendants have told the court that none of the documents sought by the plaintiffs have been “deleted, destroyed, lost, misappropriated, or otherwise became unavailable for production” and that they produced more than 20,000 documents in response to the request.

http://tbo.com/news/politics/subpoenas-issued-in-challenge-of-state-senate-districts-20150420/

“The subpoenas were sent April 2 and include Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando; state Sen. Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who served as head of the Senate redistricting committee and then Senate president; former state Rep. Dean Cannon, who served as House Speaker when the maps were passed; and state Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who filed a last minute redistricting amendment that was ultimately passed by the Senate.

Much like the congressional lawsuit, plaintiffs again allege that lawmakers violated anti-gerrymandering provision added to the state Constitution by voters in 2010. The amendments say, in part, that politics cannot play a role in the redistricting process.

The subpoena list is also full of state redistricting staff and outside political consultants, many of whom were also involved in the congressional lawsuit. That includes Gainesville-based GOP consulting firm Data Targeting.

Records released as part of the first lawsuit show the firm drew both congressional and Senate maps and submitted them through third-parties. Firm founder Pat Bainter said the anti-gerrymandering amendments are unfair because it makes it nearly impossible for people who work as political consultants to take part in the map drawing process, which should be their right as a state citizens.”

HAAHAHAH That’s rich!

not fair

“One of those is the seat held by state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, which contains parts of Indian River, Martin, Palm Beach and St. Lucie Counties. The lawsuit says Negron’s coastal district was intentionally pushed north into Indian River County to “avoid including Democratic voters to the South.”Pushing the district north opens up a gap in the south between Negron’s district and the seat held by Lake Worth Democrat Jeff Clemens. That gap is filled by a portion of state Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Royal Palm Beach, that “strangely protrudes” into the Palm Beach County, a Democratic stronghold.

“The Legislature intentionally disregarded political and geographic boundaries to favor particular incumbents and the party in power,” read the lawsuit.”

So what happened.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-redistricting_559e995be4b01c2162a60530

“TALLAHASSEE, Fla., July 9 (Reuters) – The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the redrawing of some of the state’s U.S. congressional districts before the 2016 elections.

The state’s high court found the legislature’s redistricting plan was “constitutionally invalid,” the latest decision in a long-running legal battle over gerrymandering in the state.

The court said two of the state’s 27 congressional districts, currently occupied by Democrat Corrine Brown of Jacksonville and Republican Daniel Webster in the Orlando area, need to be redrawn, as well as adjacent districts.

These districts have been the subject of litigation. A circuit court judge ruled last year that the legislature’s 2012 maps “made a mockery” of anti-gerrymandering provisions in the state’s constitution.

“The court has made it abundantly clear that partisan gerrymandering will not be tolerated,” said attorney David King, representing a group of plaintiffs led by the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause. (Reporting by Bill Cotterell and Letitia Stein; Editing by Bill Trott and Mohammad Zargham)”

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2015/07/gop-continues-to-fight-tooth-and-nail.html

GOP continues to fight tooth and nail for its gerrymandered district maps, despite ruling by Florida Supreme Court firmly against its Congressional district gerrymandering … by gimleteye.

You can read the entire decision from the Supreme Court of Florida there.

“Supreme Court of Florida
 ____________  No. SC14-1905  ____________
THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA, etc., et al.,
 Appellants/Cross–Appellees, vs.
KEN DETZNER, et al.,
Appellees/Cross–Appellants. [July 9, 2015] PARIENTE, J. In this appeal involving legal issues of first impression, we review a trial court’s finding that the 2012 “redistricting process” and the “resulting map” apportioning Florida’s twenty-seven congressional districts were “taint[ed]” by unconstitutional intent to favor the Republican Party and incumbent lawmakers.”
Remember them. The same folks who wouldn’t listen, carried on in the shadows, think we are their personal property. If you think about it we are the employees of FLORIDA INC. (I’d like raise please and some health insurance for the same price you guys get!)
 “– 18 – proposed maps in their names to the Legislature, which were drawn  by the consultants. What is clear to me from the evidence, as described in more detail below, is that this group of Republican political consultants or operatives did in fact conspire to manipulate and influence the redistricting process. They accomplished this by writing scripts for and organizing groups of people to attend the public hearings to advocate for adoption of certain components or characteristics in the maps, and by submitting maps and partial maps through the public  process, all with the intention of obtaining enacted maps for the State House and Senate and for Congress that would favor the Republican Party. They made a mockery of the Legislature’s proclaimed transparent and open process of redistricting by doing all of this in the shadow of that process, utilizing the access it gave them to the decision makers, but going to great lengths to conceal from the public their plan and their participation in it. They were successful in their efforts to influence the redistricting process and the congressional  plan under review here. And they might have successfully concealed their scheme and their actions from the public had it not been for the [challengers’] determined efforts to uncover it in this case. The closer question is whether the Legislature in general, or the leadership and staff principally involved in drawing the maps, knowingly joined in this plan, or were duped by the operatives in the same way as the general public.”
Who is
http://ballotpedia.org/Ken_Detzner

“Kenneth W. Detzner (b. 1952 in Chicago, IL) is the current Republican Florida Secretary of State. He was appointed on January 18, 2012, by Governor Rick Scott, and confirmed by the Florida State Senate in late February.[1]Detzner previously occupied the secretary of state’s office for a short period in under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, during its transition from an elective cabinet post to a gubernatorial appointed post. Bush named Detzner his chief of staff until appointing him to serve as interim secretary of state.”

where do we go now?

So last week I wrote a lot about the Pacific Legal Foundation.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/09/panthers-manatees-and-bears-oh-my/

Here we learned about the connection between our Florida Bear, Florida Panther and Manatees and the work these people to protect nothing.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/10/who-is-the-pacific-legal-foundation-and-why-are-our-panthers-manatees-and-bears-their-business/

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/11/bring-it-on-home-the-pacific-legal-foundation-and-martin-county/

Here we able to see that not only are they here in the universe but also very good friends with our Economic Council of Martin County.

Then I wrote this about our local liberty caucus and apparently outed someone that was sort of kept under wraps.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/11/the-very-funny-local-liberty-caucus-striped-men-in-tights/

None of this made me happy. In fact it just made me sad. What is worse than a bunch hypocrites?

Then I wrote this.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/13/burts-bees-the-documentary/

Who was the true libertarian.

Burt was of course. He was the only one that talked the talk and walked the walk. He said ““A good day is when no one comes over and I don’t have to go anywhere.” He wanted to be left alone BUT he also left everyone else alone.

To me the rest are a bunch of hypocrites because you can’t say you want to be left alone and have freedom but then intrude on other people.

The Pacific Legal Foundation is actually exploiting libertarianism if you think about it.

Why can’t they stay home and leave us alone?

Because they are not true libertarians. They are wolves in  sheep’s clothing.

So what happens is they start something and we have to send our Big Guns out like David Guest from Earthjustice. What it becomes is a battle between the lawyers. (Thank goodness for David. If not for him and all the other dedicated people we would be screwed)

Even the bible warns us

http://biblehub.com/matthew/7-15.htm

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
 wolves

Which, just like our friends the vultures is really an insult to the wolves.

So enough of that you get the picture. Where do we go from here?

We could rail back and yell and scream and be vindictive but does that really get you anywhere?
They, like us, have a right to be.

I think the people are trying to take care this by changing to no party affiliation. I think we’re sick of all of it.

I found this

http://www.no-party-affiliation.com/

and this

http://ivn.us/2013/07/28/who-are-no-party-affiliated-npa-voters-in-florida/

  •  Over 25% of registered voters in Florida are NPAs or minor party members
  • Over 33% of these voters show up at the polls on election day
  • Over 60% are under age 50
  • Over 25% of voters under 30 register as NPAs
  • Over 50% of these voters are in the age group 30 – 49
  • Young NPAs are turned off by major parties because of negative campaigns

Things have got to change. It cannot be business as usual.

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/10/21/florida-voters-shifting-to-no-party-label/17665303/

The Democratic advantage among registered voters in Florida continues to narrow slowly, according to the latest figures from the state Division of Elections.

But the closing of the party gap comes as the overall numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans are down from 2012 election levels. Meanwhile, there has been an uptick in voters who declare themselves free agents from the major parties and sign up as “no party affiliation.”

Age and negative perceptions that many new voters have of both major parties are credited for the shifts in registration.

We have talk and we have to find things we agree on. If not, i doubt we have any panthers, black bears or manatees and we certainly will not have clean water.

What do you think? How can we move forward?

Bring it on Home: The Pacific Legal Foundation and Martin County.

Look who is right here in our hood! Bring it on home! Let James help you cause we sure do got dem blues!  A love affair with the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Economic Council of Martin County. Wow! Who would have thunk?

The Pacific Legal Foundation.

Pacific Legal Foundation

Stuart FL
772=781-7787

and look who’s with them in the same building. The Economic Council of Martin County.

The Economic Council of Martin County.
1002 SE Monterey Commons Blvd, Suite 201
Stuart, FL 34996
772-288-1225

 

Mark Miller is the Attorney for both Stuart and Palm Beach Gardens of the Pacific Legal Foundation.

http://www.pacificlegal.org/releases/3-12-14-mark-miller

“PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL; March 12, 2014: Florida attorney Mark Miller, a veteran of business, property rights, and constitutional litigation, has joined Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) as managing attorney with PLF’s Florida (Atlantic Center) office based in Palm Beach Gardens.

It’s a privilege to join Pacific Legal Foundation and be part of America’s most successful legal organization that works to defend and advance freedom,” said Miller.  “PLF is dedicated to ‘rescuing liberty’ from coast to coast.  I’ll be promoting that mission aggressively throughout Florida and along the Eastern Seaboard, by putting my legal skills to work on behalf of property rights and other constitutional liberties, and to help victims of overreaching government.

In 2012, he served as lead local counsel for former U.S. Representative Allen West in the 2012 election battle for the 18th District congressional seat in Florida.”

http://wlrn.org/post/lawsuit-filed-federal-court-against-floridas-beer-growler-ban

“Mark Miller, an attorney with PLF, said he wants a court to rule a state law prohibiting craft breweries, restaurants and taverns from selling or filling beer growlers unconstitutional.”

Then this happened

http://www.flgov.com/2015/05/14/governor-scott-signs-bill-legalizing-64-oz-growlers/

Personally, I don’t have an issue with the case. I have issue with the camaraderie between this group and Rick Scott who calls himself the Governor but really and obviously in cahoots with a very right winged agenda that is affected us, our water and our Florida Black Bears, Panthers and Manatees. I’m sure they are the one’s distributing all the “land grab propaganda” that we had to deal with.

It’s so  sad is that what the Libertarian party set out to do has morphed into a group that is totally operated and owned by  a bunch of old rich white  guys. The very freedom they want has been taken away. I feel bad for you Libertarians! You want freedom but you don’t want us to have the freedom to swim in clean water.

Please don’t think I’m Libertarian Hater. I am not! There are parts of the platform I really appreciate like the leave me alone stuff and no government intrusion stuff. What a bunch of hypocrites you guys are! You working for the people are intruding on our very right to have clean drinking water. Let’s have a conversation about the first amendment and my right to free speech which has been taken away by a bunch of legislators that have no idea what they voted for.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/06/18/m-the-florida-legislature-really-hates-health-care-workers/

In this particular case it is illegal for me to ask my patients if they have a gun even though its required of me through my computer program. In the end I get punished not the makers of the computer program or the people who require me to ask this question. Who does that? 

You have way become  hateful and single minded there is no talking to you. All you know is the talking points that have drummed into your heads. Were you all hypnotized? Did the legislators go to a meeting and have some strange hypnotic music? You must have  because I cannot think of one rational reason that our entire GOP Florida Legislature would hate Floridians so much and really go against your own party standards of state rights and local control. Please explain the hypocrisy! Libertarians should be against the wasting of water and sending millions of gallons of water out tide. That’s how I know these are not Libertarians. But boy they got them fooled.

Now check this out. Guess who is a partner with the Economic Council of Martin County?

Yes! 200 points for you. The Pacific Legal Council.

http://www.mceconomy.org/p/8/community-partnerships

Remember them? The ones that wanted to buy the land and then they didn’t.

Speakers at the Economic Council of Palm Beach 2014

Pacific Legal Foundation was there.

http://www.economiccouncilpbc.org/p/54/2014-board-of-directors-meeting-keynote-speakers

Here is a good article by our good friends at Eye on Miami.

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2009/08/wade-hopping-follows-jim-king-by.html

Hopping was also chairman of the Pacific Legal Foundation. The PLF “was established in 1973-74 by a group of attorneys from California’s Justice Department to counter reform of the welfare system and the liberal public interest legal groups that were pressing for better environmental and health regulations. Especially targeted were the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund. Governor Ronald Reagan of California appears to have provided the required financial links to Pittsburg billionairre Richard Mellon Scaife who funded the initial office in Sacramento.” The PLF’s interest in Florida coincided with the acceleration of government initiatives to protect the the Florida Keys and East Everglades in the early 1990’s.

This stuff in nothing new. We need to put an end to it.or we really will have zombie Apocalypse. Only in our case its the zombies of the extreme right.

Who is the Pacific Legal Foundation and why are our Panthers, Manatees and Bears their Business?

Remember when Michael Grunwald was here and he said “Big Sugar has a right to be in business” and everyone groaned. Well, that’s true. They do. What I don’t think they have the right to get subsidies to stay alive when the rest of the businesses have to put themselves out there and if they succeed they succeed and if they don’t they don’t.

The same thing goes for Pacific Legal Foundation. Conservatives you can’t have it both ways. You either believe in state and local rights or your being a hypocrite. I’m beginning to think more and more every day its the latter. These people tell you one thing and they do another. In other words your being duped. If you want to believe something believe it but don’t be duplicitous.

Yesterday, I wrote this blogpost about how Pacific Legal Foundation is the common denominator with issues with our Florida Panthers, Florida Black Bears and Manatees. They were also on Lawsuit for the Chesapeake Bay.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/09/panthers-manatees-and-bears-oh-my/

You can check them out here.

http://www.pacificlegal.org

This is the libertarian’s party environmental platform.

https://www.lp.org/platform

“We support a clean and healthy environment and sensible use of our natural resources. Private landowners and conservation groups have a vested interest in maintaining natural resources. Pollution and misuse of resources cause damage to our ecosystem. Governments, unlike private businesses, are unaccountable for such damage done to our environment and have a terrible track record when it comes to environmental protection. Protecting the environment requires a clear definition and enforcement of individual rights in resources like land, water, air, and wildlife. Free markets and property rights stimulate the technological innovations and behavioral changes required to protect our environment and ecosystems. We realize that our planet’s climate is constantly changing, but environmental advocates and social pressure are the most effective means of changing public behavior.”

Let me repeat “environmental advocates and social pressure are the most effective means of changing public behavior.”

(P.S. It looks like they believe in climate change)

So it’s hypercritical for the Pacific Legal Foundation to mess with the free will of our Florida Black Bears.

That’s my logical conclusion.

Duplicitous

So is the Pacific Legal Foundation a libertarian foundation. I don’t think so.

I think they are a Koch Brothers, Scaife Foundation lackeys hiding out in bosom of an unending cash cow and really sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong but where their masters want them to go.

Not free thinking at all. Not what I would expect from Libertarians.

It’s this behavoir, this intrusion into our Legislature this past year that I think made our head’s spin.

Who is the Pacific Legal Foundation and why are our Panthers, Manatees and Bears their Business?

certpacificlegalfnd

Or anything else for that matter.

Just as a reminder we live in a democracy and we vote these people in to represent us. 

About a month ago there was an issue up in Brevard, incited by some behind the scene bs getting all down on Thad Altman for being ok with the purchase of the land to send the water south and not dealing with his section of the Indian River Lagoon.

You can’t have it both ways. Pick a way and do that.

But what we ALL can’t have is people from other places making rules for us. If you want to be an elected official you talk to us your constituents not to the Pacific Legal Foundation or Citizens United. You work for us. If you work for them then give up your office and work for them. Can’t have it.

Other bloggers, writers in other states – we all need to compare notes. I guarantee the same thing is happening everywhere and one day we’re going to wake up and say “What happened?” (as we float down to Miami in our Kayaks.)

We all got upset when Pam Bondi signed on to a lawsuit for the polluters in the case of Chesapeake Bay. Most of us felt that Florida had no business being involved and using our tax money on a case not in our state when her job is to work for Florida. Pam Bondi! You work for us!

What we witnessed this past year was Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature making Florida their own personal slush fund at the expense of all of us. The Tea Party was given verbiage to incite them like “Land Grabs” and they went out like the sheeples they deplore and worked tirelessly for the 1%. Tea Party you have been duped. Brainwashed. You are not free. You are slaves for the Koch Brothers.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pacific_Legal_Foundation

The Pacific Legal Foundation is a Sacramento, California-based legal organization that was established March 5, 1973 [1] to support pro-business causes. In recent years, it has taken a lead in pursuing anti-affirmative action policies.

legal

It is the key right-wing public interest litigation firm in a network of similar organizations funded initially by Scaife Foundations money across the USA to support capitalism and oppose environmental and health activism and government regulation.

The organization has been  partially funded by a range of corporations and conservative foundations, including by the Koch family Claude R. Lambe Foundation in 1998.

The Koch brothers — David and Charles — are the right-wing billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners.

These people don’t believe in freedom they believe in pushing their own agenda that call conservative and they have their own Tea Party out their representing them.

Florida is not the Koch Brothers private playground.

And they may be treading into waters other people would not want you to go. After all, one of the reasons given not to buy the land was because of endangered birds that were there. You effectively would take that away from SFWMD and Big sugar and I don’t think they would be too happy about that.

“Tobacco Industry associations

PLF is listed as a “key third party ally” in a September 14, 1999 Philip Morris document.[6]

In 1989, Philip Morris began funding the organization through its Mission Viejo (gated-community land-development company) subsidiary, mainly because the organisation was active in the property rights area and had won cases limiting the States’ ability to expropriate or regulate private property. The Mission Viejo subsidiary was interested in fighting a no-growth initiative which had been blocking some of their development projects. At this stage Philip Morris only gave an annual grant of $5,000 each year, just to keep the organisation on side and available, but it may have also funded specific legal projects.

By 1991 the PLF had a major budget crisis. It was in deficit to the tune of about $1 million, which was about a quarter of its $4 million annual requirements. Not long after, Roy Marden, the Philip Morris executive in charge of maintaining relations with the right-wing think tanks and advocacy institutes, joined the PLF board. Overnight the funding increased substantially to $10,000, and then $22,000 by 1993. Philip Morris also began to utilize the PLF to undertake hidden media and political activities on its behalf.

For instance, it enlisted the organization (together with think-tanks like the Reason Foundation, Hoover Institute, Heritage Foundation and Claremont Institute) to write op-ed pieces that were planted in newspapers attacking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its determination that Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) was a carcinogen and its attempt to regulate Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). (See page 4 of this planning document.[7])

At this time Philip Morris was also heavily funded two of PLF’s unacknowledged offspring, the National Legal Center for the Public Interest and the Atlantic Legal Foundation. The Washington Legal Foundation was another of a similar kind favoured and funded ($200,000) by Philip Morris, but it was independent of the Scaife-funded, PLF-based network. [8]

The PLF also intervened successful in Keller v. California State Bar, where it established a legal precedent that California lawyers could challenge the use of their dues to the state bar for political purposes. This was an successful attempt to block collective actions by the more liberal Californian lawyers who were involving themselves in such policy areas as class-actions and product liability.

By the mid 1990s the PLF had offices in Sacramento, Anchorage and Seattle and ran several key issues and programs:

  • Judicial Responsibility Project
  • College of Public Interest Law
  • Limited Government Project

It also sloughed off the Center for Applied Jurisprudence which focused on commercial “free speech issues” (i.e., the right to advertise harmful products) and “regulatory reform.” Philip Morris was giving them a $25,000 retainer by this time (and presumably paying also for work done on their behalf).

In 1997-1998 the PLF joined forces with the $10 million funded (by Philip Morris) National Smokers Alliance, in a fierce and vindictive legal attack on Professor Stanton Arnold Glantz, a leader of California’s main anti-smoking organization, Americans for Nonsmokers Rights[9] and attempted to brand him in the public mind as having something to hide … a destroyer of legal document (a ruse the tobacco industry used itself on a massive scale). Glantz had received documents from the early tobacco industry whistleblowers, and he had established the first public-access Internet web site revealing how the industry operated.

Anti-Environment Policies

According to ExxonSecrets.org, the Pacific Legal Foundation has received $110,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. The website goes on to state that:

Anti-environmental from the start, PLF’s early actions supported the use of DDT, the use of herbicides in national forests, and the use of public range land without requiring an environmental impact review. They also supported at least six pro-nuclear power cases before the early eighties while accepting funding from Pacific General Electric (PGE), a utility which has gained a great deal through the development of nuclear power in the Pacific Northwest. In the 1980s, PLF won several cases that are considered landmarks by those working on property rights issues today: Nollan v the California Coastal Commission and First Church, both Supreme Court victories which provide precedence for the takings litigation pursued today (Oliver Houck, “With Charity For All,” Yale Law Journal, 1993). In October 2003, PLF Vice President M. David Stirling had an Op-Ed published in which he defended President Bush’s environmental record and condemned former President Clinton for endorsing the Kyoto Protocol.”

Yikes!

Their the merchants of death! DDT for everyone. You get DDT and you get DDT!

SO Pacific Legal Foundation if you want to help people and their freedom please do so but please stop trampling on us. Florida is not up for grabs. We don’t care what Rick tells you. It’s just not true.

Rick Scott and his love affair with Pacific Legal Foundation!

http://blog.pacificlegal.org/plf-and-the-crafted-keg-work-together-and-free-the-growler/

Today Pacific Legal Foundation and The Crafted Keg received long-awaited news:

Governor Rick Scott signed the bill freeing the 64 ounce beer growler in the State of Florida!

For years, Florida law prohibited craft beer brewers and sellers from offering their beverage in the standard-size container used throughout the country.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150417/NEWS/150419897

Florida Gov. Rick Scott plans to sue the CMS, accusing the agency of unconstitutionally trying to force the state to expand Medicaid by ending funding that now helps Florida hospitals pay for uncompensated care for low-income and uninsured patients.

But Todd Gaziano, a senior fellow in constitutional law with the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, said the Florida situation presents the same legal issue as the one in NFIB. Still, he said, the argument of unconstitutional coercion in the Florida case, is “far from a slam dunk.” The Pacific Legal Foundation filed a separate lawsuit challenging the ACA.

“It’s the kind of claim that should not be dismissed at the outset,” Gaziano said. “It’s a claim that presents a reasonable legal argument.” But he conceded that the claim is not as clear, even if the government’s object is the same: to apply pressure on the state to expand Medicaid eligibility.

Sad but true Folks.

Sad but true.

Panthers, Manatees and Bears Oh my!

I’ve been thinking about the hunts that have opened up on our Florida Bear, and all the craziness that going on with hunting in our state parks and people wanting to take the Florida Panther off the endangered species list.

http://news.yahoo.com/florida-discusses-reduced-protection-endangered-panther-221628769.html;_ylt=A0LEVijTW55V3BcAPC0nnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEzMjRzaXV2BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDRkZHRTAxXzEEc2VjA3Nj

“ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – Florida’s wildlife agency may cut back on its efforts to save the endangered Florida panther two decades after helping return the big cats from the brink of extinction, according to an agency memo.

Carole Baskin, founder of Big Cat Rescue, told the commission the memo implies that the state is moving toward removing federal protections from the panthers and eventually allowing hunts.”

http://www.news-press.com/story/life/outdoors/2015/01/02/panther-deaths-top-critter-story/21195203/

The downlisting came after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was petitioned by Pacific Legal Foundation, a private property attorney lobbying firm in Sacramento, Calif. Oddly, both the Endangered Species List and Pacific Legal Foundation were created in 1973.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_black_bear

Before Florida was settled by Europeans, Florida black bears occupied all of the Florida mainland, and even many of the Florida Keys, with a population around 12,000.[7] The current range is much more sporadic with isolated groups living mainly in protected areas in Florida, Southern Alabama, Southern Georgia and Southern Mississippi.[2][3] Most major populations of Florida black bears live in protected areas. These include Ocala National Forest, Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, Apalachicola National Forest, Osceola National Forest and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.[6][7] A study of the Okefenokee-Osceola population found over 500 bears in two study areas. The current bear population in Florida is estimated at more than 3,000 bears.[8]

Here is a chronological history of the Black Bear in Florida.

DSC_0015

http://myfwc.com/media/425848/bear_managment_timeline.pdf

Bear hunting was closed on Eglin WMA in 1958, Big Cypress WMA in
1960 , and Ocala NF in 1961.

GFC created definition and list of Threatened Species under Chapter 16E of the Florida Wildlife Code and includes bear as a Threatened Species.

1990

“USFWS petitioned to list the Florida black bear as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.”
You get the picture. We had them. They were hunted into extinction. We managed them. They came back. Now we’re going to kill them.
“Florida wildlife officials moved forward Wednesday with a proposal to allow black bear hunting for the first time in more than two decades.”
Manatees
“The potential change in the manatee’s status is being considered under pressure from the Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian group that generally opposes all environmental regulations.”

“The Pacific Legal Foundation is a Sacramento, California-based legal organization that was established March 5, 1973 [1] to support pro-business causes. In recent years, it has taken a lead in pursuing anti-affirmative action policies.”

It is the key right-wing public interest litigation firm in a network of similar organizations funded initially by Scaife Foundations money across the USA to support capitalism and oppose environmental and health activism and government regulation.

The organization has been [2] partially funded by a range of corporations and conservative foundations, including by the Koch family Claude R. Lambe Foundation in 1998.[1]

So the people behind taking the Manatee off the endangered list is the Koch Brothers and the Scaife Foundations.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article15524330.html

But still, with 6,000 or so manatees swimming around, there’s a chance that the feds will indeed pronounce them merely threatened. That’s the same status that was conferred on the Florida black bear — with only 3,000 left in the state.

That seemed plenty enough for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which last month (not long after legalizing silencers for hunting weapons) voted to reinstate bear hunting.

If the FWC figures that it’s okay to hunt a beloved species with a population of 3,000, imagine what kind of sportin’ activities those good ol’ boys in Tallahassee can rationalize now that we’ve got twice that many manatees terrorizing Florida’s waterways. Imagine the fun.

Three of our beloved on endangered species list. One libertarian organization from California making the rules.
Who owns the Florida Legislature so they are complicit with the whims of the very libertarian whims of the Pacific Legal Foundation?

Big Sugar Summit: Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director, Center for Responsive Politics

DSC_0067

Big Sugar Summit: Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director, Center for Responsive Politics

sheliakrumholtzcenterresponsivepolitics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Responsive_Politics

“The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on elections and public policy. It maintains a public online database of its information.

DSC_0073

Its website, OpenSecrets.org, allows users to track federal campaign contributions and lobbying by lobbying firms, individual lobbyists, industry, federal agency, and bills. Other resources include the personal financial disclosures of all members of the U.S. Congress, the president, and top members of the administration.”

DSC_0072

https://www.opensecrets.org

https://www.opensecrets.org/resources/learn

“Just as water flows downhill, money in politics flows to where the power is. And the Center for Responsive Politics is there to help you follow the contours and learn about these connections. This section of the Action Center contains a wealth of information about the unhealthy influence money can have on our elections and government politics.

The Basics. From frequently asked questions to our money-in-politics glossary, from the 10 Things Every Voter Should Know about money in politics to our Follow the Money Handbook, and iPhone App, this section of the Action Center contains a wealth of information about the unhealthy influence money can have on our elections and government politics. Begin your learning here.

DSC_0069

Sheila Krumholz has been the CRP’s executive director since December 2006, having previously served for eight years as the CRP’s research director. She first joined the organization in 1989 and served as the assistant editor of the first edition of the printed volume Open Secrets.”

DSC_0068

On Scandal this past year even Olivia Pope made sure her candidate had “Big Sugar” money. I can’t find the clip but I think it was when she was prepping the very awesome Susan Ross character.

Shelia told us this: “Votes still trump money and that’s bad news for Donald Trump and good news for Democracy.”

DSC_0074

Big Sugar Summit: Daren Bakst, Heritage Foundation

@PatrickMurphyFL

@Heritage

@darenbakst

Big Sugar Summit: Daren Bakst, Heritage Foundation

DarenBakstheritagefoundation

Daren Bakst is a Research Fellow In Agricultural Policy, Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity at the Heritage Foundation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation

“The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies drew significantly from Heritage’s policy study Mandate for Leadership. Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the United States.

When people get upset because our US Congressman Patrick Murphy voted for the “Farm Act” I get upset. The issue with this act is that there are sugar subsidies and food stamps in the same bill. I understand why people are upset but I could not take what little food people have out of their mouths. It’s a conundrum and for that reason they must be separated.

I want to save food stamps for another day because it is a complicated subject. There are people who need them and there are people who take advantage and we need to have a better system like input from health care workers that are actually in people’s homes.  I can hardly tell someone to eat good whole foods, fruits and vegetables when they get 50 bucks a month, is 90 years old and all they can afford is stuff in a can that is full of sodium and stuff in a box that is processed and filled with sugar.  I hope we can engage in  that conversation one day.  I do begrudge people that do not have  compassion for people that out of no fault of their own cannot afford food. We have to retain our compassion. We just have to find a better way to do this. Nothing is black and white. Certainly not the lives of our elderly population.

At any rate there were cuts in food stamps.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2014/02/04/congress-oks-food-stamp-cuts-in-farm-bill

But check this out regarding the sugar subsidy.

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/28/175569499/farm-bills-sugar-subsidy-more-taxing-than-sweet-critics-say

“Critics say U.S. sugar policy artificially inflates sugar prices to benefit an exclusive group of processors — even though it leads to higher food prices. But this year, prices fell anyway. Now, the government could be poised to use taxpayer dollars to buy up the excess sugar.

Sugar costs are a complicated combination of import restrictions, production quotas and a kind of guaranteed price.

“The U.S. sugar system is essentially a Soviet-style control on production,” says Chris Edwards, an economist at the Cato Institute.

The effect of these policies, he says, is that U.S. sugar prices normally remain artificially high — sometimes twice the world price. (Last year, the price of sugar around the world averaged 26.5 cents per pound, compared with 43.4 cents in the U.S.) That hurts food companies and leads to higher prices at the grocery store.

“The core goal of policymakers has been to push up U.S. sugar prices to the benefit of U.S. sugar growers,” Edwards says.

A big part of this policy is a sweet loan program for the processors that refine sugar. To pay growers like Gravois right away, processors can take out government loans. The sugar itself is the collateral.

This leads to an interesting choice: If sugar prices go up, processors sell it on the open market and make a profit. If prices fall, they can just hand over their sugar to the government and keep the loan money.

Representing Big Candy is Bob Simpson from Jelly Belly, who also chairs the National Confectioners Association. “We’d just like them to compete on a fair, open market without the intrusion of the federal government,” he says.

He says Jelly Belly opened a plant in Thailand, partly to get cheaper sugar for markets overseas.

Defending Big Sugar is Jack Roney of the American Sugar Alliance.

“There’s really no reason for contention about U.S. sugar policy. It’s the most successful of any U.S. commodity policy,” says Roney, who adds that in most years this program costs taxpayers nothing — unlike other farm supports.

He blames falling prices on Mexican imports which, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, are not controlled by tariffs.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-sugar-subsidies-need-to-be-rolled-back/2013/11/25/6082490a-53af-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html

“The Agriculture Department lost $280 million on the sugar program in fiscal year 2013, with more losses expected next year. A surge of imports from Mexico has driven down U.S. sugar prices — to the point where it’s profitable for processors to take advantage of a U.S. law that lets them forfeit the sugar they posted as collateral for government loans and keep the cash. Stuck with mountains of excess sweetener, the government has two choices: hoard it until prices go up or sell it at a huge loss to the few ethanol makers willing to take it.

280 million dollars is a lot of money and would buy my gramma’s a lot of fruits and vegetables. I don’t think even the Heritage Foundation would argue with that. After all, they have gramma’s too.

So let’s have this conversation and let’s tell Congress what they need to do. Obviously they can’t figure it out themselves.

Here is Daren’s video. Please watch and lets start talking about this!