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March 2004

Where's the evidence - ANY evidence - that privatization of government services is either cheaper or better?  Convergys??

Bush reaffirms his desire for privatization
Gov. Jeb Bush is putting privatization on the fast track. Perhaps for the benefit of those not convinced by his three statewide campaigns, who dozed through both Bush inaugural addresses and managed to miss six State of the State speeches, the governor signed an executive order last week. It revealed that "it is a priority of this administration to improve the way state agencies deliver services to its citizens."

Who Cares what the people think?

Panhandle airport supporters say straw poll vote shouldn't matter 3/15/04

"Who cares about what's going on in Haiti?"

Is this a big deal?  The US organizing a coup and kidnapping a president of a sovereign nation?  Well not really - not if we're content to live in a nation fast moving towards totalitarianism.  It's just another step along the way.

Life, I am told,  was not too bad in Hitler's Germany (if you were the right color, the right race, the right religion, the right mindset...).  There was order.  There was a fierce sense of National Pride.  There was the feeling that the homeland was setting things straight, taking its rightful place in the world.  That the world would be a far better and more correct place.  And the streets were safe.  There was prosperity in the land - not peace, of course, but a great sense of destiny being fulfilled and feeling a special part of the new order.

And, I suspect life will not be so bad here either as we sit back and let totalitarianism take hold.   At least not for a while... (check out Karl Jaspers' "Fight vs. Totalitarianism" for a glimpse of how it works...)  (... and here for how it might look in America now)

And it will probably be OK for those of us who are willing to look the other way when someone else is being jailed, beaten, or killed by our government.  It will be for "our own safety"  of course.  The people will be labeled "terrorists" or something worse, and well, they probably deserved it...  The papers and TV said so, so it must be true.  And so it goes...

Why be absolutely incensed and outraged at this fellow Aristede's ouster by our government?  Firstly, because it is wrong.  Because we are responsible - yes, you and me and all of us who call ourselves Americans.  We are personally responsible for what our government does.  

Secondly, because we still can be outraged and not be jailed, beaten or killed for our beliefs.  At least not too overtly (see Miami FTAA).  We still can display our thoughts and feelings about what our government does in our name.  As long as we do it in a "free speech zone."

Don't know about the situation in Haiti?  I say, find out.  And then ask why our papers and TV have painted a different picture for us. (See this summary for background information on Haiti and Aristede).  Then go to your local paper and see how  they present the story.  Like this bit from the cover of this evening's St Pete Times website:

Rebels, U.S. Marines Enter Haiti Capital
Rebels rolled into the capital Monday and were met by hundreds of residents dancing in the streets and cheering the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In streets, anarchy and joy
Click here for photo gallery
Analysis: Tense diplomacy led to exit

.... Quixote, 3/1/04

February 2004

Disagreeing with Federal Policy = Terrorism???

Education Secretary Rod Paige again apologized Friday for calling a teachers union a "terrorist organization," yet reaffirmed his criticism that the National Education Association obstructs federal education policies.
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/florida/article/0,2071,NPDN_14910_2689144,00.html

Some more on Privatization:

The insidious ruse of privatization 2/22/04

Payroll test proves problematic
Convergys, the private company contracted to run the state's personnel systems, flunked its first test in a trial run on a small sampling of the state payroll, with a 37-percent error rate in calculating employee payments, according to the Department of Financial Services. 2/22/04
Graham: Privatization not always better
Senator criticizes Bushes' many outsourcing initiatives
Sen. Bob Graham, who did some selective privatization of state services as governor more than 20 years ago, said Friday that Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, President George W. Bush, have shown a "naive" belief that the private sector can do things better than government. 2/22/04
DMS reviewing Convergys contract 
Hoping privatization will be an election-year embarrassment for Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, Democratic legislators said Thursday that the state's $278 million Convergys contract is "a disaster" for taxpayers and state employees. 2/20/04
Democrats want privatized jobs to stay in state  Members of the Legislative Budget Commission say it's time to pull the plug on Convergys, and DMS Secretary Bill Simon says his lawyers are "reviewing the contract." 2/19/04
Bush getting a game plan for privatization 
It may seem a little like Bobby Bowden's deciding he needs a game plan five minutes into the third quarter, but Gov. Jeb Bush is ready to map out a businesslike approach to this privatization stuff. ... breakup of the old Labor Department, brought in Convergys to take over state personnel ...2/16/04

More evidence surfaces each day indicating that our elections may be compromised by the electronic voting machines (see 2/14/04 verified voting newsletter, and voting machines).  No surprise that JEBush's administration declares the voting machines just fine and dandy.  Will we have a "free and fair" election come November? 

State rules touch screen ballots out of recounts
TALLAHASSEE - The Department of State has notified elections supervisors that touch screen ballots don't have to be included during manual recounts because there is no question about how voters intended to vote.
Florida bans recounts of touch-screen ballots
State elections officials banned any attempt to recount votes cast on touch-screen voting machines Friday, reversing an earlier decision as counties prepare for the presidential primary less than a month away.
During the recount of January's close legislative election in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the state decided to leave it up to each county whether to print out images of each ballot from the voting machines.
Settle paper-trail issue
Palm Beach Post Editorial
By default, 2004 likely to be a paperless test.
Don't Rush The Printers
Palm Beach County commissioners should be suffering from buyer's remorse.
 

January 2004

Pres Bush's State of the Union speech - he says we're doing better.  What does that mean?
Check out the scorecard:
http://i.tompaine.com/scorecard/scorecard.cfm

And how about our Governor's budget:  http://www.ebudget.state.fl.us/  --- see also the news clips

December 2003

Here's the latest on the St Joe / Panama City Airport boondoggle being foisted on Florida:

Bay County voters to have say on airport (reports AP)
(But according to the 12/17/03  Panhandle Citizen's Coalition press release, the referendum is scheduled after the fact - St Joe's stock up $1.72 on the news and CEO Rummell's shares scores him $1.7million - see press release here)

On the Medicare Prescription Bill:

Fine print reveals real costs of Medicare prescription-drug plan
President Bush signed this largest expansion of the giant entitlement program into law with much fanfare, even though it won't come into effect until 2006, at the halfway mark of his second and final term if he wins re-election next year. It is probably a good thing that there is some time between his signature and implementation, because what you see now is most likely not going to be what you actually get
Sign now, pay later
President Bush signed the Medicare prescription drug bill into law Monday, calling it "the greatest advance in health care coverage for America's seniors since the founding of Medicare." As details of the law emerge, however, that grandiose claim may not ring true with most Medicare recipients.
Santa stuffs stockings with debt, high costs
 Daddy! Daddy! Tell us a Christmas story!"
"All right, children. Settle down and I'll tell you about how Santa brought all the grandmothers and granddaddys the gift of Medicare prescription drug coverage."
AARP moving to center, resisting ties to one party, leader says
Elderly voters typically favor Democrats, but the group is taking a more centrist stance, leader says.  (See Killing Medicare for more on AARP's cave in...)

Some of the Best of 2002, .... 2003

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