Tidbits

• Oliphant not above the law
  Dear Governor Bush,
  I am wondering just how Ms. Oliphant keeps her position as head
  of the Broward County Election Board when her actions border on the
  incompetent and abuse and are egregiously arrogant.
  Today, a local news station, reported that she fired -- quite arbitrarily --
  two of her workers (one of 18 years and the other of 13 years experience)
  with neither rhyme nor reason; simply they were told that they should either resign or they would be fired; when asked why, they were told by Ms Oliphant that she did not have to give a reason!
  Ms. Oliphant is not above the law. Although on many occasions
  she has certainly acted as though she were.
  I believe that actions of this hubris are illegal by federal or state statute;
  and particularly are a breach of employer-employee relations which should bring law suits galore to her and to the county and state.
  Ms. Oliphant is a public servant with public responsibilities.
  Some person of importance should remind her of that.
  Or perhaps she should simply be fired.
  You already have a couple of good reasons.
  Sincerely,
  Alfred J. Buono, 10/8/03
  
   
• Chinking at last on Bush's armour
  Now that three days have passed since the second anniversary of 9/11, I feel free to follow in U.S. President George W. Bush's footsteps: I, too, will exploit this tragedy to further my career.
  Of course, the stakes are much different. Me, I just need column fodder. Him, he needs cannon fodder — and to pick up his approval ratings.
  Meanwhile the media, or at least some of the more powerful mainstream outlets, are in turn — finally! — picking holes in his armour, by starting to ask the questions that only those dismissed as "conspiracy theorists'' dared pose before.  ... 9/15/03 from http://www.independent-media.tv/index.cfm
  
   
• Ban Private Prisons in Florida
  
  "The Florida PBA has filed a constitutional amendment petition with the Florida Secretary of State that would ban the privatization of correction and probation services in Florida. This amendment, if passed, would be the deathblow to the for-profit private prison industry in Florida."
  
  If you have not done so, please help get The Florida Police Benevolent Association's Amendment to Ban Private Prisons in Florida on the ballot by printing and signing their petition, and mailing it to them.
  
  ----Paul ,  9/14/03
  
  More info: http://www.flpba.org/crimeshouldn%27tpay.html#TOP
  
  The petition: http://www.flpba.org/pics/CA%20Petition%20Form.pdf
  
  Privatization Watch: http://www.flpba.org/private/index_private.html
  
  The Florida PBA: http://www.flpba.org/
   
• Ambassador Joe Wilson on "Sound Off with Sasha this Friday!"
  
  This is a pre-preview of the upcoming show this Friday when the
  guest will be Ambassador Joe Wilson, the last US Diplomat who talked with
  Saddam Hussein before Desert Storm, and the one who exposed the falsity of
  the claim of Iraq's purchase of uranium from Niger.
  He is now calling for the resignation of some of the neo-cons who egged us
  into this war.
  Please mark your calendar, and tune in and call in with questions and
  comments,
  Sasha
  
  "Sound Off with Sasha !"  On Public Broadcasting  from Fort Myers Florida - Florida Gulf Coast University
  WGCU 90.1 * WMKO 91.7
  Fridays at 2 PM EDT
  Hear it on the Web
  www.wgcu.org/fm/streaming.html
  Hotline:239.590.2580 or 888.408.2787
  ....DaveG, 9/3/03
   
• How unions help all workers
  Unions have a substantial impact on the compensation and work lives of
  both unionized and non-unionized workers. This report presents current
  data on unions' effect on wages, fringe benefits, total compensation,
  pay inequality, and workplace protections.
  
  Some of the conclusions are:
  
  • Unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise
  compensation, including both wages and benefits, by about 28%.
  
  • Unions reduce wage inequality because they raise wages more for low-
  and middle-wage workers than for higher-wage workers, more for
  blue-collar than for white-collar workers, and more for workers who do
  not have a college degree.
  
  • Strong unions set a pay standard that nonunion employers follow. For
  example, a high school graduate whose workplace is not unionized but
  whose industry is 25% unionized is paid 5% more than similar workers in
  less unionized industries.
  
  • The impact of unions on total nonunion wages is almost as large as
  the impact on total union wages.
  
  • The most sweeping advantage for unionized workers is in fringe
  benefits. Unionized workers are more likely than their nonunionized
  counterparts to receive paid leave, are approximately 18% to 28% more
  likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are 23% to 54%
  more likely to be in employer-provided pension plans.
  
  • Unionized workers receive more generous health benefits than
  nonunionized workers. They also pay 18% lower health care deductibles
  and a smaller share of the costs for family coverage. In retirement,
  unionized workers are 24% more likely to be covered by health insurance
  paid for by their employer.
  
  • Unionized workers receive better pension plans. Not only are they
  more likely to have a guaranteed benefit in retirement, their employers
  contribute 28% more toward pensions.
  
  • Unionized workers receive 26% more vacation time and 14% more total
  paid leave (vacations and holidays).
  by Lawrence Mishel with Matthew Walters
  August 2003 | EPI Briefing Paper
  Full story: http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm?id=1503
  ...JH, 9/15/03
  
   
• The National Resources Defense Council posts the Bush record on the environment at:
  http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003.asp
  and it's horrible!!
  ....Barry, 8/12/03
  
   
• Baghdad Independent Media Center: http://www.almuajaha.com/
  
  "Al-Muajaha is an independent newspaper that aims to represent all levels of Iraqi society. The staff is a group of Iraqi students with varied backgrounds, unconnected with either the previous Ba'athist regime, or with the successor American government. We represent no political party or faction; we are truly independent.
  Al-Muajaha aims to fill the information gap between Iraq and the rest of the world, to help the world understand Iraq and to help Iraqis understand the world."
  ... PaulM, 8/8/03
  (Note: our Florida IMC is http://tallahassee.indymedia.org/ , and there are efforts underway to set up an IMC in Miami
  
   
• The Clinton Era
  
  After much arguing and deliberation, historians this week have come up with a phrase to describe the Clinton Era. It will be called: SEX BETWEEN THE BUSHES.
  
  The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta announced that Clinton has proven that you can get sex from Aides.
  
  Gennifer Flowers was asked if her relationship with Clinton was anything like Monica Lewinski's. She replied, "Close, but no cigar."
  
  The FBI has coined a technical term for the stains found on Monica's dress: "Presidue."
  
  Clinton now recruits interns from only four colleges: Moorhead, Oral Roberts, Ball State and Brigham Young.
  
  Did you know that Clinton had asked to change the Democratic emblem from a donkey to a condom? It represents inflation, halts production, and gives you a false sense of security while you are being screwed.
  
  Arkansas is very proud of Bill Clinton. All these women coming forward, and not one is his sister!
  
  Finally, Hillary Clinton recently went to a fortuneteller who intoned, "Prepare to become a widow. Your husband will soon suffer a /violent death!" Hillary took a deep breath and asked, "Will I be acquitted?"
  ....minnicklaw, 8/8/03
  
   
• In 1758 philosopher David Hume wrote: "Nothing appears more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers."
  .... from On the First Principles of Government by David Hume
  
   
• Who Made George W. Bush Our King?
  Nat Hentoff: Some of the most glorious illuminations of the Bill of Rights in American history have been contained in Supreme Court dissents by, among others, Louis Brandeis, William Brennan, Hugo Black, and Thurgood Marshall. Equal to those was the stinging dissent by judge Diana Gribbon Motz when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (8 to 4) gave George W. Bush a fearsome power that can be found nowhere in the Constitution—the sole authority to imprison an American citizen indefinitely without charges or access to a lawyer.
  This case is now on appeal to the Supreme Court, which will determine whether this president—or his successors until the end of the war on terrorism—can subvert the Bill of Rights to the peril of all of us. ...
  http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0331/hentoff.php
  ....jkeels, 7/30/03
  
   
• Why would we want to impeach the best President we've had in 10 years?  I guess some folks would just do anything to keep America divided.  ... Sharon, 7/28/03
  
  
  Sharon, those folks you speak about are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. They think that the increasing poverty, death and destruction they see around them is all there is.  All minds, Sharon, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
  
  Yes, Sharon, George W. Bush is the best President we have ever had in this country, maybe in the entire world, or even in all worlds that have ever or will ever exist.  To question this would be like doubting whether  love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.   Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no President George W Bush!  It would be as dreary as if there were no Sharons. There would be no innocent faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which purity and innocence fills the world would be extinguished.
  
  Not believe in a Good George W. Bush! You might as well not believe in Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. You might get those folks you mentioned to have men to search Iraq high and low, under every rock and deep in every bunker, but even if you don't find them what would that prove?  Just because no one can see these weapons of mass destruction, that is no sign that they are not there.   The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the weapons there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
  
  You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest mean, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond that is our Good Lord George W. Bush.  Is it all real? Ah, Sharon, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
  
  No Good George W! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Sharon, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of humankind.
  
  ... WF (with apologies to Virginia, Santa, and the New York Sun editors of 1897...)
  
   
• Vote stealing Florida style (Flash animation)
  http://www.bushflash.com/gta.html  -- (more on the voting machine scandal )
  
   
• Bush stonewalling will bring on probe
  ...The other reason the inquiry is proceeding relates to the preposterous assertions by Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the famous 16 words were ''technically'' accurate because of the attribution to the British. This is false.
  In fact, the Bush speech hyped the claim by using the verb ''learned'' instead of simply using the word ''said.'' It also fudged the significance of the allegation by saying the Iraqi effort had occurred ''recently'' when the only possible contact with Niger was in 1999. And it was simply incorrect when it used the phrase ''significant quantities of uranium'' when in fact there was no credible claim relating to quantity at all...
  http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/201/oped/Bush_stonewalling_will_bring_on_probe+.shtml
  ....jk, 7/21/03
  
   
• House Democrats Storm Out of Ways and Means Committee
  
  PentaPost reports, "The House of Representatives erupted into open warfare today when Democrats stormed out of a Ways and Means Committee session and the panel's chairman called in the Capitol Police. The day began with a fairly ordinary procedural fight over [a] pension bill. Committee Democrats complained that the Republican majority had not given them enough time to review a substitute bill that they had received shortly before midnight Thursday. Most of the Democrats then moved to a nearby library to plot strategy after they demanded that Republicans read the legislation line by line. Infuriated, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) instructed the Capitol Police to remove the Democrats from the ornate library... After the one remaining Ways and Means Democrat got in a spat with a GOP committee member, Thomas dispensed with the reading of the bill altogether and pushed through the legislation, without a single Democratic vote."
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11104-2003Jul18.html
  
  Dispute over pension bill gets heated
  By Marilyn Geewax, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
  Tensions spill over and police are called as some Democrats boycott the House Ways and Means Committee.

  Bill Thomas (R-CA) Tries to Turn Capitol Police into Storm Troopers to Intimidate Dissenting Democrats
  
  "Instead of demanding that Stark leave, or even just threatening to call security if he did not leave, Thomas called the Congressional Sergeant of Arms who was told, falsely, that physical threats had been made, and that the police should be called to 'clear the room' - not the committee room, but THE LIBRARY where Democrats were gathered to discuss a hotly debated pension bill. So, imagine the shock the Democrats had when policemen stomped into the library saying they had orders to remove them forcibly if necessary!! Stark, of course, was not in the room. When the Democrats refused to leave, Thomas immediately knew he had to back-pedal. He 'rescinded' his order to the police, saying it was a 'mistake.' But the Democrats refused to allow this outrage to pass and are demanding a resolution on the incident."
  http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/4445/index.php
  .... BillY, 7/20/03
  
   

• Governor's partisan foe going national
  TALLAHASSEE - Tony Welch, the Democratic spinmeister whose zingers got under Gov. Jeb Bush's skin during two elections, is taking his partisan act national, aiming directly at the governor's brother.
  Welch, the Florida Democratic Party's leading verbal attacker for four years and currently the state teachers union communications director, will begin a new post July 1 as press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. He'll likely become a fixture on cable television talk shows, ripping President Bush and putting Florida's political importance back in the spotlight.
  ''Everybody expects a really competitive race in 2004, and I want to be a part of that,'' said Welch, 37, a graduate of the University of West Florida and a former reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat.
  ...JKeels, 6/18/03, from
   http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/6077544.htm
  
   
• Hello Friend of PCC-You know we have taken a stance against building another airport under the current circumstances; you likely agree or may have a different view. Regardless of where you personally stand on the airport, the overwhelming number of average citizens in Bay County have wanted to see the public vote on the airport and would be willing to abide by the outcome.
  We have learned that the chamber of commerce over in Bay County is asking its members to vote in the new above on-line poll against having even a referendum on the airport; please, if you have not already done so, vote yes at www.wjhg.com and urge sympathetic friends/colleagues to do likewise-these polls can sometimes influence public opinion, even though they are not scientific, more on the strength one side or the other can mobilize. Under the current circumstances, however, we are also having our court suit heard a week from today and of course Judges just occasionally look at the news also. Thanks for your help and more later. John Hedrick, Chair, Panhandle Citizens Coalition; 6/16/03
  
   
• Who killed Black Radio News?
  http://www.blackcommentator.com/44/44_cover.html
  ... RT. 6/15/03
  
   
• Haney Creek Greenway Group
  
  We need HELP, visit our web page www.hcgreenway.org .
  SFWMD is close to issuing a ERP for application 001206-4 to fill 7 acres of the wetlands
  ...HELP, 6/5/03
   
• This is very powerful:
  http://www.bushflash.com/memorial.html
  ... kg, 6/3/2003
  
   
• The new touch screen voting machines leave no paper trail
  for recounts;  also,  I am told,  they have built-in modems which can be

  activated from anywhere to make changes in the machine counts.

  Read about it.  http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm

  ...Al, 5/27/03

   (WF: see also voting machines)
  
   

 

	George W. Bush on sacrifice: "I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war." Houston Chronicle, January 2002 But here's The Real Bush War Record
	Action! Stop "Patriot II" Secret arrests. Unrestricted wiretaps. Church surveillance. Patriot II (officially known as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act) is a follow-up to Ashcroft's USA PATRIOT Act. Like most sequels, this one is even worse than the original. Patriot Act II would extend the unconstitutional reach of USA PATRIOT by granting sweeping new powers to the government, including unchecked government surveillance, secret arrests, and wiretapping of churches, synagogues and mosques. It gives John Ashcroft and the Justice Department the ability to label political protest groups as "terrorists," and even strip their members of U.S. citizenship. Take action to stop another federal power grab before it happens.  http://ga1.org/campaign/patriot2 .....JohnK, 5/10/03
	The two faces of Rumsfeld --- 2000: director of a company which wins $200m contract to sell nuclear reactors to North Korea --- 2002: declares North Korea a terrorist state, part of the axis of evil and a target for regime change (more) Taliban appears to be regrouped and well-funded A new hierarchy of leaders has emerged across parts of Afghanistan. KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – As the fiery chief justice of the Taliban's Supreme Court, Abdul Salam shook the world once, proclaiming the right to execute foreign aid workers accused of converting Afghans to Christianity. Today, not only is Justice Salam back, talking to a foreign reporter for the first time since the Taliban fell a year and a half ago, but he says the Taliban are back as well. Regrouped, rearmed, and well-funded, they are ready to carry on guerrilla war as long as it takes to expel US forces from Afghanistan. (more) ....jk, 5/9/03
	The Secrets of September 11 The White House is battling to keep a report on the terror attacks secret. Does the 2004 election have anything to do with it? April 30 — Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks. http://www.msnbc.com/news/907379.asp?0cl=c1#BODY ... MichaelW, 5/1/03
	I found this to be an interesting read. It provides an alarming insight as to why Senator Nelson caved on the Estrada nomination. http://www.harpers.org/online/jesus_plus_nothing/jesus_plus_nothing.php3?pg= ....DaveG, 4/27/03
	You may know these sites already. I just discovered them, so excuse my enthusiasm. Listen online to various voices of protest: http://www.chumba.com  This is a great web site with lots of music to listen to and several good articles (check out the "this just in" link.) "Jacob's Ladder (Not in my Name)" plus much more. http://www.notinournamemusic.com/home.php  Saul Williams music, lyrics, videos... http://www.systemofadown.com/montage.html  Be sure to watch "Boom," directed by Michael Moore. Billy Bragg's "The Price of Oil" can be heard and lyrics read at http://www.billybragg.co.uk Ani DiFranco: "Self Evident" can be heard and lyrics read at http://www.righteousbabe.com John Mellencamp, "To Washington" http://mellencamp.com http://marchofdeath.com  has "March of Death" to listen to and read the lyrics. Zach de la Rocha & DJ Shadow. ...kg, 4/20/03
	Bush Ignored Repeated Warnings about Destruction of Iraq's Priceless Heritage PentaPost reports, "In the months leading up to the Iraq war, U.S. scholars repeatedly urged the Defense Department to protect Iraq's priceless archaeological heritage from looters, and warned specifically that the National Museum of Antiquities was the single most important site in the country. Late in January, a mix of scholars, museum directors, art collectors and antiquities dealers asked for and were granted a meeting at the Pentagon to discuss their misgivings. McGuire Gibson, an Iraq specialist at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, said yesterday that he went back twice more, and he and colleagues peppered Defense Department officials with e-mail reminders in the weeks before the war began. 'I thought I was given assurances that sites and museums would be protected,' Gibson said." History will record that Bush was warned - just like 911.  But let it happen anyway. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A19691-2003Apr13 .... BernieW, 4/19/03
	Do you know how many of your hard earned tax dollars are going for Armaments (guns) or Human Services (butter)? THE "GUNS" REPORT The proposed 2004 Military Budget is $399.1 billion (a $48 billion increase). This figure does not include a requested $79 billion for 6 months for the War on Iraq. A Yale report estimates that an additional $300 billion will be needed to "secure" Iraq over two years of occupation. By 2035 the estimated cost of "missile defense" program pushed by Bush et company is $1.2 trillion. Here are the amounts that a sampling of "defense" contractors raked in. WINNERS LIST      "Defense" contracts for 2001/2002      Wackenhut $17.3 million      Thales-Raytheon $ 119 million      Rand $ 146 million      Phillip Morris $ 299 million      Rolls Royce $ 611 million      Johns Hopkins $ 729 million      Alliant $ 1.2 billion      Bechtel $ 1.7 billion      TRW $ 3.9 billion      Northrup Grumman $ 13.9 billion      Boeing $ 31 billion      Halliburton unlimited contracts While the budget is touted for fighting terrorism, the bulk of the funding goes for buying weapons, manufactured by corporations like those above. Even worse, V.P. Cheney still makes about a million dollars a year from Halliburton while holding the office of U.S. Vice President. All U.S. wars will directly enrich him and that corporation. THE "BUTTER" REPORT Trillions of dollars in "corporate welfare for "defense" corporations, but look what is happening to the human services that your tax dollar should be paying for. LOSERS LIST Cuts in Social Services      $61 million cut in child care for poor working families      $172 million cut in funding for health resources including care for HIV and AIDS      $286 million cut Environmental Protection Agency      $305 million cut in funding for public housing, energy and security      $340 million cut for Center for Disease Control      $395 million cut for Head Start      $684 million cut in job training for workers and youth      $1.4 trillion proposed by Bush administration for "diversion" of Social Security to pay for other programs in the   next 10 years The house budget plan requires Congress to cut $265 billion from entitlement programs over ten years, $165 billion of which would come from programs for low-income households. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that Medicaid will be cut by $92 billion and the State Children's Health Insurance will be cut by $2 billion from FY 2003 to 2014. from: http://www.gp.org/articles/gunsnbutter.html  posted by JH, 4/14/03 More tidbits...  (see also tidbits 2002   tidbits 2001   tidbits 2000)   Check the new WhoseFlorida for updates

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