SELLING -OUT- THE SUNSHINE STATE

This is a book.

A real honest to goodness book you can buy on Amazon, In fact y'all can just click over on the right side of the Beach House here and there's a little box to make it all easier. Now why would Miss Vero advertise a book? Well, if y'all know anything about us at all, y'all know we love our Florida collectible what-nots and dew-hickeys and touristy pre-disney memorabilia. We love to remember Florida in the days of old and this book cover just caught our eye. Just look at those happy folks frolickin' on the pristine beach!

Now, we know that Florida will never be the same as it was in that time and things sure do have to change and progress and keep up, but one thing that has NEVAH changed is that somebody's always willin' to do sumthin STOOPID just to make a little money. Only, maybe these days it's not a just a little money, maybe it's a whole pile o'money.

With that in mind, let's play a little game we like to call "Connect the internet dots"!

For those of y'all that don't want to play, just skip to the summary at the end, but seriously, unless y'all have a party goin' on, what's more important than gettin' a little education?


Now, why are we havin' to read about Florida things in the Chicago Tribune? They posted this story about potential oil drilling offa Florida's coasts:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-offshore-drilling-florida,0,364955.story

And why is our little munchkin, happy-birthday-post-card-sendin', State Senator Mike Harridopoulus (District 26, that's west of the barrier island, so some of y'all can go head and stop reading now) wanting to support this drillin' business?:
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/elections-politics-politics-political-parties/12816048-1.html

Even that-guy-who-used-to-be-funny-but-lost-his-fool-mind-when-he-started-playin-golf-at-Quail-Valley noticed:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/carl-hiaasen/story/1297866.html

But wait! Let's not let those of us on the barrier island be forgotten. Please congratulate our new State Senator, Joe Negon, he got his first assignment!:

"Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, will take King's place leading the communications, energy and public utilities committee. His wife Claudia Diaz de la Portilla lobbies for many clients including the telecommunications industry and Florida Energy Associates, the group pushing for oil drilling. Negron, who won the seat formerly held by Ken Pruitt, also will serve on the energy committee."
http://m.scoopfla.com/roundup/5555/full/%3Bjsessionid=05047727D7DE2F71E6C4784AC6E0DE46.scoopflwap2

Ah yes, Florida Energy Associates, who they y'all ask?:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/article1037146.ece


And why didn't we hear more about the reason President Obama was in, of all places, Arcadia, Florida this week?:
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1047396.ece


"Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric utility, won a $200 million grant and will install 2.6 million smart meters in homes across the state. The units enable homeowners to monitor their electricity use online by the hour, day, week or month."

"The [Obama] administration's announcement of 100 projects across the country that won federal money to help modernize the power grid comes at a pivotal time for Florida. The state's 11 percent unemployment rate is the highest since 1975, and it has lost nearly 170,000 jobs since February."


"This is what the stimulus money was intended to do: Create jobs and improve the nation's infrastructure."

"As the nation focuses on renewable energy, an army of lobbyists and consultants hired by a secretive oil-drilling group are joining with incoming legislative leaders to push for lifting the ban on drilling in state waters in the gulf."

Read the full article from "The Best Newspaper in Florida" and we tend to agree:

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1047396.ece

And Gubna Charlie didn't have a clue?
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/64987-crist-obama-who


Y'all know this is the Sunshine State right? So, why oh Lawd, why are we even talkin' about drillin' for oil off the Florida Coast? Who's puttin' money in who's pockets, hunnies?


And don't that just get y'all to start thinkin' about our local energy sit-che-ation? Honestly kids, why hasn't anyone asked the big question in our own back yard? If a big contract was made quickly with a utilities provider, that would not be in the best interest of the City of Vero Beach, who do y'all think benefited the most?

Would it be ?

A. The City Manager who presented the deal
B. The Ex-Mayor currently on City Council who OK'd the deal
C. Or...?

Cause y'all know this deal like any other energy/politician deal has one thing in common - somebody benefits, and it ain't us kids.

Miss Vero has been interested in this issue and we decide to take a look at the redacted (that means parts that they don't want y'all to read are blacked out) contract. We find it interesting that there's a part that says that a committee should be formed with the OUC at a later date and that perhaps someone like, oh, we don't know, a person involved in the contract negotiation could get a position on that committee, for a yet to be determined sum. A pile o'money sum that might be a whole heck of lot more than a City Council or City Managers salary.

Now, of course, Miss Vero don't know nuthin from nuthin and is pure speculating before our morning bloody mary, which can be dangerous. Perhaps we are some sort of alkehaul savant and can see things picture perfect before the first round, y'all decide, OK?

As we promised - THE SUMMARY:

Florida is the Sunshine State, we should harvest our obvious sunshine and not our perhaps oil underwater.

Gubna Charlie hugged Mr. Obama when he received his "Stimulus Package" but was no where to be found when Mr. Obama came around for a second date.

Politicians take y'all's money when ya ain't lookin (and anybody else that'll give 'em any).

The City of Vero Beach City Council, or maybe just a few specific individuals, are up to some serious shenanigans

Vote the incumbents out of office and start askin' questions.

Fix a martini and order a book to soothe our nerves, been thinkin' too much lately.

OK, that last suggestion was for us.

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

GREETINGS FROM GREEN ACRES!

A TALE OF TWO VEROS...

Today's post is required reading kids, no excuses!




We're off to another Florida Legislative session. Take your hand off the mouse. Now quick tell me, who's the Adjutant General of Florida?
Time's up.

Very impressive if you know and if you don't, don't feel bad. I didn't know we had one, let alone whom. I found that information on the Project Vote Smart web-site. But more on that later.

The first order of business for anyone politically minded and wanting to have a say this session is to have our elected officials contact info at hand so you can strike while you’re hot. This information is printed in the newspaper once a week and can be found anytime on the internet. But I found a couple web-sites that have done some legwork making it easy for us to bookmark and refer to when we're ready. But before I get to that, I want to bring up the subject of gerrymandering. If you want fair elections and fair representation it's important to end it.

Take a look at these two district maps as a good example:

Senator Ken Pruitt District 28 map:
http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Tab=legislators&Submenu=1&File=index.html&Directory=Legislators/senate/028/map_data/

Senator Mike Haridopolos District 26 map:
http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Tab=legislators&Submenu=1&File=index.html&Directory=Legislators/senate/026/map_data/

Notice how zany the lines are drawn and how you and your closest neighbor could have two different politicians representing your interests? District lines are supposed to be drawn to keep each district nearly equal in size in population. But they're being used by both Democrats and Republicans to draw lines so they can choose their voters instead of letting voters choose them.

According to an editorial in the PJ a while back, elections in Florida are among the least competitive in the country because of it. Every ten years after the census, they get to redraw the lines and the next census will be completed in 2010. So if you're not comfortable with being gerrymandered to suit a politician or political party, Fair Districts.org has a petition you can print and sign (and pass out) to get an Amendment on the 2010 ballot that will require districts to be compact and community based. There are actually 2 that need to be signed. One for congressional and one for legislative. Keep in mind if the amendments do make it to the 2010 ballot, they need to pass with 60% support in order to become law.
http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/

Here's an in-depth article with more information on gerrymandering:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/1/123636/3880/459/703315

Here's the PJ Editorial:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/feb/19/support-change-in-drawing-lines/


Now for the contact info

From the *IRNA* web-site:
Email, Write or Call Your Elected Officials (local, state and federal level):
http://indianriverna.com/index.php?action=website-view&WebSiteID=258&WebPageID=6065

Representatives Debbie Mayfield and Ralph Poppell (as far as I know) only allow e-mail through their web form while Governor Crist and Senators Haridopolos and Pruitt have regular e-mail addresses you can add to your address book if you don't want to use the web links in the link above.

Governor Crist: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com

Senator Mike Haridopolos: haridopolos.mike.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Ken Pruitt: pruitt.ken.web@flsenate.gov

The Project Vote Smart Web-site lists all our elected officials, even the obscure (to me). Like Douglas Burnett, the Adjutant General. In case you didn’t know, the Adjutant General is the head of the Department of Military Affairs. Project Vote Smart is a good web-site because it also lists our public officials you rarely hear about and has biographical information, voting ratings and interest group ratings among other things for our re-elected politicians.
http://www.votesmart.org/search.php?search=32958&x=9&y=10


One more thing (for now)

Both the Florida House and Florida Senate web-sites have a feature where you can track any of the bills you're interested in. You'll have to register but it's a short process.
Go here:
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/MyHouse/login.aspx

Once there look below the Login and Reset buttons to Not Registered? Click here: and click. Type in your information, select how often you want to be updated and then click Submit.

They'll send you a confirmation e-mail to make sure it's a valid e-mail address and you'll have to reply in some way to it. After that, you're set to sign in and go down through the list of bills and select those of interest to track.

There's probably something in this legislative session for everybody. Here at the Beach House we're finding out that we're politically aligned on some things but at opposite poles on others. Or maybe on none at all. But that's what makes the world go around.

The song that fits

Left and right
Like day and night
That's what makes the world go round
In and out
Thin and stout
That's what makes the world go round
For every up there is a down
For every square there is a round
For every high there is a low
For every to there is a fro
To and fro
Stop and go
That's what makes the world go round
You must set your sights upon the heights
Don't be a mediocrity
Don't just wait and trust to fate
And say, that's how it's meant to be
It's up to you how far you go
If you don't try you'll never know
And so my lad as I've explained
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
You see my boy it's nature's way
Upon the weak the strong ones prey
The human life it's also true
The strong will try to conquer you
And that is what you must expect
Unless you use your intellect
Brains and brawn,weak and strong
That's what makes the world go round

From Disney's "The Sword in the Stone"Composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

TTFN, LDouglas

MWAH!

missvero@live.com