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The Remarkable Hypocrisy of the Right
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The self-serving nature of the Right has once again reared its ugly head.
The Right---for so long, the self-proclaimed champions of individual responsibility and limited government---is now being revealed for its true cause, the desire to see a totalitarian government, where all thoughts and ideas had to first be approved by first by your government.
The most recent example is this "academic freedom" movement. Turn the page and you will find a column written by an FSU student about the distribution of student funds at FSU. His contention, the FSU student government distributes the bulk of its funding to progressives.
However, this student forgets to mention that student governments are ELECTED, and as such, are accountable to fellow students for their spending decisions. The Right apparently has decided that since they can't win on college campuses, that instead, they must change the rules to predetermine the outcome in their favor.
Maybe rather than going to the strong arm of the legislature, college students on the Right should try to impact student governments the old fashion way: find quality candidates and win student elections. |
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Protecting the People's Voice
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For progressives, this week is a defining moment. Citizen rights are at stake.
This week, both the Florida House and Senate will consider changes to the constitutional initiative process. If these proposals pass, citizens will find a new steel door guarding their government, and only special interests will have a key.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are behind all these changes. By shutting our voice out of the process, they know they and their special interest friends can control everything.
As the article after the flip demonstrates, most Democrats are united in defense of citizen rights. Nonetheless, this is the time to call your legislators and urge them to choose people over special interests. |
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Extending Term Limits
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I was surprised to see so many Democrats in the Florida House vote to extend term limits from eight to twelve years.
First, I can see no way that voters will go along with this Republican-party driven ploy.
Secondly, extending term limits only helps Republicans cement their control of the Legislature. Right now, the Democrats need short term limits to provide open seat pick-up opportunities.
Let's hope that Democrats in the Senate will work together to keep this nonsense off the ballot. |
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Terri Schiavo/Medically Needy
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Isn't it ironic that many of the same members who voted to have the government step into the Schiavo family dispute---arguing that we should "err on the side of life," were the same legislators who voted to permanently end the Medically Needy program during the 2004 session. |
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Republicans can't decide what they stand for
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Grandstanding now about the Schiavo case, Republicans are willing to meddle in the decisions of individuals and families to support life. But in 1999, President Bush, then Governor of Texas, signed into law a bill that allows hospitals to withdraw life support over the obections of the family. This law was used recently in Houston, with no outcry from the President or Congress, as the article in the full story shows. Right to life groups then supported the law.
What do they stand for? |
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A private family matter
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The Schiavo case does not really revolve around the question of whether the husband or parents get to decide. It is about Terry's choice. After hearing testimony from the parents and the husband, other relatives and experts, the court found that Terry would not have wanted to prolong her life in the condition she was in, with no reasonable chance of recovery. It is only because of the parent's refusal to accept this decision and some politicians' desire to capitalize on this right to life/ right to die case that this is even in the news. These decisions are made all the time and government doesn't belong in them.
The following editorial makes some good points on the case. |
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Caution from Washington on Medicaid Reform
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent 33 questions on Governor's Bush plan to modernize Medicaid.
It seems that CMS wants to know how much Medicaid would change under the “modernization” and had a number of questions about the use of managed care.
It seems that CMS and the Federal Government are concerned that the State needs to be more deliberative on its Medicaid Modernization.
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KidCare Enrollment Declining
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The Associated Press is reporting tonight that KidCare, the state's highly successful children's health insurance program, is dealing with declining enrollment.
Sounds like good news, right? Wrong...fewer children are receiving quality health care because the Republicans are making it harder and harder for kids to qualify for the program.
More than 600,000 Florida children are currently uninsured, a number that is only growing, and a growing moral crisis for the state. Democrats would be smart to make providing health insurance for every child a #1 issue in the 2006 elections. |
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Groups oppose allowing more western development in Miami-Dade
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It is nice to see that many of Miami-Dade's political leaders are supporting the efforts by environmental and community groups to oppose development in Western Miami-Dade.
Florida's urban areas need to be extra-sensitive to new development because of the many environmental impacts, especially on water supplies.
Developers and public officials should look to re-development possibilities before trying to develop new land. |
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Democrats and the Military
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It is nice to see the media finally focus on Democratic pro-military initiatives, as highlighted by today's AP article entitiled "Democrats trying to take back issues dominated by Republicans."
For too long, the media has played up the Republican/military connection, despite the fact that this Republican government has allowed our nation's finest men and women to go to war without appropriate training or protective armor, has endorsed cutting back veterans benefits, and even proposed rolling-back combat pay. |
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The Ultimate Social Promotion
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Daytona Beach News-Journal article describes Gov. Bush's new voucher program-I say it is the ultimate social promotion because no standards are required in the voucher school once the "failing" child is sent there. |
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The Road to Public School Privatization???
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Last Friday, the Miami Herald (click on full story to read) reported that the State Board of Education is considering a plan to turn over some of Florida's struggling schools to private companies. The story also noted the problems that occured with a public school privatization experiment in Miami-Dade, when management of a school was turned over to Edison Schools--a for-profit education management company.
However, the article misses one key point---this is the same Edison Schools that the State of Florida purchased last year through the state pension program. At that time, there was considerable contraversy about the purchase of the company, which was nearly bankrupt at the time of the sale. Nonetheless, the state approved the $182 million purchase.
Edison's academic track record was nothing to write home about, as the article highlights. Now that the State now has a stake in turning around the fortunes of Edison Schools, it will be interesting to see how many of these schools conveniently end up under Edison management. |
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