Thursday, October 18, 2012

[iGate] The fix is in!  Everyone involved is getting a letter in their file, then a few  months from now they will all be employees of the month.  The administrator does not have the guts to punish employees that did the same thing he did.  The upside to this is that in a few months the administrator will continue breaking the rules (phones, iPads, trips, jobs for friends) and he will be in trouble again.  Remember, this guy was a lobbyist and a used car salesman that could not get hired in one of the most corrupt cities in the world –Miami.  Get out your wallet and hang on for the ride!  The taxpayers have four more years of paying for another administrator with no scruples.   ~isagrand5600@hotmail.com

[“Inconsiderate person leaving his truck and trailer on the boat ramp”] What a stupid post. If there was a reason for blocking the ramp, why didn’t the guy blocking the ramp (you) leave a note explaining that his truck was broken down or whatever? And that you won’t explain your secret reason as to why you blocked the ramp, that only you are privy to makes me laugh. 

Newsweek has stopped publishing! The last issue will be on Dec 31 ending eighty years of the magazine. Only the online version will be available. Another one bites the dust ..

[Word Police] It’s not ‘monies’. Unless it’s a pile of dollars, francs, rubles, yen and pesos, it’s money! Some bureaucrat once decided that “We’ll spend the monies ” sounded better than “We’ll spend the money.” Since then, almost every time someone talks about public money, they use “monies”. Remember when high school English class talked about a collective noun? Money is one of them. 

Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters – Money Honey (1953) 

[Impact Aid] Students are receiving this survey to take home today and have until Oct. 26 to return it. Basically, the survey focuses on federally-connected students including those whose parents are Department of Defense/federal employees, DOD/federal contractors and/or residents who live and/or work on federal property. The survey is used to determine the number of federally-connected students enrolled in the district. This number is then reported to the U.S. Department of Education in the form of an application requesting Impact Aid, which can replace the lost taxes back to the school district, so it is important to get as many surveys back to the schools as possible. PDF

If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it. ~Mark Twain

Bicycle riding bank robber caught in K.W. at Don’s Bar within 3 hours.  Resident Timothy Norris Homrighausen, 53 is a three time loser. In KW even the bank robbers are laid back. Link

[“Inconsiderate person leaving his truck and trailer on the boat ramp”] The only excuse for blocking the ramp is if the fool locked his keys in the truck.

[“In 2006 the U.S.population topped 300 million for the first time”]  Hopefully that will be the last time.

[Love it or Leave It] Here’s a thought, If the only reason you live in the Keys is the warm weather, and not everything else that makes the Keys the Keys, like the animal life, how about doing the rest of us a favor and take little Fluffy to Arizona to live. Better yet, move the hell back where you came from in the first place.

I remember those rubbers. This brand was hands down the most popular. The cool little tin container kept them safe. No circle imprint on your wallet!

[Blocked Boar Ramp] The reason the trucks and trailers get left blocking the ramp is because the owner thinks he, or she, is the only boat-owner on the planet and the ramp is there for their exclusive use. Too stupid or self-involved to take the boat to the ramp first, tie it up, and then go get the tow vehicle. If something truly happened to the owner, then where was the boat?

See Mont Blanc like never before. Video 

[“1 Joint = 1 Beer”] Are you kidding? You are either drinking really good German beer or smoking your lawn grass … man!

I checked out a season of WKRP in Cincinnati 4 days ago from the BP Library. I’ve already voted, and wanted something other than political advertisements to watch on television. I’m returning the set to the library today, the turkey episode is still funny.

Nuclear energy costs the USA five times more than solar energy. Link

[RealityFest] With more and more nudity  taking the “Fantasy” out of Fantasy Fest it is time for a new name, like “Reality Fest”.  The good that has come from it is that this event has proven for anyone to clearly see, once and for all, that Fantasy is nearly always better than Reality.

[High Class Redneck] I saw Billy Bob Thornton play a gig years ago and he said he knew Jim Varney who played Ernest. They were buddies and Texans so he would go to his house and he said Varney had a DeLorean on blocks in the front yard. 

[“Inconsiderate person leaving his truck and trailer on the boat ramp”]  Boat no where to be seen, trailer and truck on the ramp.  That must have been one heck of a secret emergency.  Why don’t you just tell us what happened? Even with a heart attack or something, wouldn’t the boat be somewhere?

I thought yesterday was Wednesday. (Ed: Yes, I marked it wrong. It’s that time-continuum problem I suffer from.)

[Homeless Shelter] Heated drama brings end of SHAL. The 13-year-old nonprofit Southernmost Homeless Assistance League disintegrated Tuesday, as its board of directors voted to continue running the city’s homeless shelter and no longer serve as an umbrella agency that funnels government money toFlorida Keys service providers. Link

I didn’t start looking into aquaponics until the poop hit the fan and my business took a decidedly southern turn in ’08. Thus, the need to quit smoking and put the money to better use. So was born, or I should say re-emerged my interest in what it takes for basic human needs–like one, being food. We are fortunate to have three acres that includes an area of wetlands on our property. As for the natural setting for the fish: I had to smile a bit for that one. These guys are food not happy little pets. However, you might be happy to know that the little darlings currently have about 5 times their requirements in volume of water, houses for their private nuptials made out of flower pots and a bed of beautiful water hyacinths that sport wondrous spikes of blue orchid-like flowers on occasion growing over their little heads. They do love to eat the hyacinths though. Seriously though, the fish are living in one of those large caged water containers. It’s about 300 gallons. So, as for the natural part of it, it’s all they know and they seem quite nicely adapted to it. The water is pumped from 120 gallon, in ground, open top sump tank to the fish and from there by gravity flows thru a solids collector made from a garbage can. Then the water flows to the grow beds which were made by cutting two sides out of the same kind of water tank the fish are in. I made a couple of bell siphons for the flood and drain action. In the grow beds, to make it easier on me for maintenance, I filled individual 3 gallon flower pots with tumbled lava rock to grow my plants in and filled the grow bed tanks with the filled flower pots. From the grow beds the water empties back in to the sump tank from about a 12 inch height which splashes and oxygenates the water.

My sump tank is sporting a bed of hyacinth, which the fish love to eat. I also raise duckweed in a separate outside container and the wetlands provide us with more duckweed as well. I have planted half the grow bed with water spinach which they also love and it’s a good food for people as well. Various other weeds that grow around here at different times of the year make up most of their diet. However, I do supplement their diet with small amounts of regular Koi and pond fish food on occasion. I add small amounts of micro-nutrients and iron when the plants start to look a little off their prime. No measuring, just instinct for that one.

I have a small floating net coral device that grows filament algae and the fish do eat it. I do not raise my fish in green water though. While Tilapia can do very well in green water and some commercial growers raise their fish that way, I just don’t like the taste that it gives the fish. Our Tilapia have a very nice mild flavor and are many times better tasting than the store bought farm raised kind. As for raising any other kind of fish: Blue Tilapia, which is unrestricted inFlorida, is probably the easiest to grow. They are extremely adaptable to all kinds of water conditions that would kill most other fish. Highly resistant to disease and under optimal conditions can grow a pound and a half in nine months. So for me, Tilapia will be it. If I lived in the north I would probably still opt for Tilapia and heat a green house with manure.

My dream of dreams is to develop small systems and be able to give them to families in need. I started with 120 gallon tank and one 10 gallon filter tank with rocks and Melanga growing out of it my first year. That system will nicely grow about 50 pounds of fish a year and up to a hundred pounds if one is vigilant about keeping the system clean. Not counting the greenhouse, the whole system cost about $250.

That is not enough to substantially feed a family but it’s a start. Probably the better thing to do is build large systems for whole communities. Maybe incorporate them in the community membership gardens springing up all over the country. Interesting about the worms. The system requires less than an hour a week to keep running. Just amazing! I do spend more time in there just puttering around though. We recently took a one week vacation to West Virginia. I filled the top of the tank with hyacinth and the system took care of itself very nicely without any attention for the whole week.

Cloud for Dummies. Request your free eBook. Link

County horses around with Equine Law. Link

Political advertisement paid for and approved by Rick Ramsay Republican for Sheriff

[“The Homestead Exemption, for instance, is in the constitution and that’s a good thing because if changing it wasn’t a constitutional issue we would see all sorts of legislative conniving and mischief”]

 AAAAAAAAHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh!  NO,  Deer Ed,  Please tell me I didn’t just read that!  That’s so wrong I don’t know where to start.  Wait,  yes I do.   FL State Statutes – Sections in the 700’s – the home of just some of the Homesteadregulations. Of course the legislature can change the state statutes – and that’s where every single one of these changes needs to be made. 

The poster said “If there is something in the constitution”  – but these changes are not in the Constitution. Where are they again? They’re in the State Statutes!

Then the poster said “The Homestead Exemption is in the constitution…”  Again,  one more time,  no,  it isn’t. Where is it race fans?  It’s in the State Statutes.

Then the poster said something about preventing the “legislative conniving and mischief”.  Who do you think panders to the developers and real estate people?  Making it nearly impossible to get the Constitution changed is the whole point, that’s how to prevent the damages.

Wednesday, the Citizen newspaper had a great summary of all 12. And they had legitimate,  rational, logical reasons for NO to all 12.  And I agree with them.  One of their most frequently used No reasons was – wait for it –  All 12 are State Statutes and should be changed in the State Statutes. Don’t use the Constitution to make changes that can and should be made in the State Statutes.

Wait another minute. I just had a thought. That person’s post is a sucker joke, and I got all fired up for nothing. Or else, that poster’s a real estate person,  trying to sound all simple and folksy

[WKRP] I thought Less was the weatherman too. I remember his Eye Witness Weather report. He stuck his head out the window and told them what he saw. Cracked me up. The funniest episode was when Johnny Fever ate the Hash brownies and thought the Phone Police were coming to get him. The Turkey episode was hilarious too.

Fla. Bay benefits from environmental crime fines. Link

[Grab a Handful] American Cancer Society recommends new breast self-exam technique. Squeeze a breast; you could save a life. Link

I really miss my wife. She was everything to me, the dream you never want to wake from. I would like this song please for her. Link

Atlantic commercial grouper harvest is shutting down. Link

Independent voters can be developers and real estate salesmen too.

[Capt Doom and Gloom] with. The pity is, we cannot do anything about it, except “supposedly” vote for or against each item.Floridais a nut house of political connivances. Where are the guillotine’s when we need them? Seems that all the extra equipment we will have to buy and install just to take a dump, is a bit over kill.  Who designed this mess, and why do we need special pumps and grinders AT SEA LEVEL with no grades to climb?  Who’s brother-in-law own the pump company, the grinder company, and the design company? Remember the millions of gallons of Road Line Paint, and the millions of reflectors, the Aluminum Railing BS? Something smells a bit tainted here and it sure ain’t my septic tank!

Where have all the good food joints gone? After coming to the Keys since 1970 and living here for the last 15 years, it is getting to the point I cannot find a decent chow hall or libation station anymore. Also they have priced their business right out of my wallet! Guess I got to learn to cook. Is it legal to have a still in the Keys?

Inside-out Caramel Apples. Link

Yet more proof that drugs make you dumber. Link

Why do Republicans support subsidies for big oil that doesn’t need it, but are against government supporting research for alternate energy. Are they all brainwashed?

One thing for sure, the Presidential Debate had no shortage of bullshit from either party.

[Fair and Balanced] Remember when we were told to watch Fox News on a Sunday night that was going to air something about Obama and we watched but never saw anything! Well, read below and click on the video to see why it got pulled before it could air Now we know why Fox News never broadcast it as they had originally planned to. This piece was pulled. This is the clip that got pulled due to pressure from the Administration. Link

[“I guess we can always find a way to scream at our President when gas prices go up, but hell, I’m much happier paying even $4.00 a gallon now compared to the record prices of $7.25 a gallon when the last republican (sic) was in office.”]  Huh?  Are we talking about the same planet?

[Turn Around] If any grownup American really thinks, or believes, that either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will turn the US around, then that American is not grown up but is still wearing diapers. It really doesn’t matter which one of them wins,America’s slide will continue. Although I don’t care for Barack Obama being our president, I hate it when people enter a game and then don’t play by the rules.

Mitt Romney repeatedly ignored the rule that once he had his time answering a question, when a new question was asked, he was to answer that question and not return to an earlier question. The moderator tried many times to stop Mitt from doing that, and he talked through her every time, as if he were the boss of everyone there and watching on, as if he were, hmmm, a king. No doubt, the lemmings salivating for Mitt to get elected thought he had a divine right to ignore the rule President Obama did pretty well obeying.

If I were President Obama, I might finally have just said, out of order probably, “Look, if the son of a bitch won’t play by the rules for this forum, do you think he will be law-abiding if he is elected president?” Then, I would tell the moderator, out of order probably, “You should have cut Mitt off the first time he talked through you and went back to another question, and if he didn’t obey you, you should have stopped the forum. If you let him do it again, I’m leaving and you can face the music with your producer and network for why you did not run the forum the way you were supposed to run it. If you think I’m joking, let Mitt do it again and see what happens.”

Governor Romney, Why did you not know that if you earn 20 million a year and pay the required tax (14%) that it is wrong. Don’t you realize that most of us only earn about 50 thousand a year? You should give your money to us so we don’t become the 47% who leach off the Government year after year. 

Mitt said we are all children of the same god. Doesn’t the Mormon god have planet Saturn-like rings and long hippie hair. 

Our President turned Romney into an agitated stammering mess. If Romneys that sensitive and is that out of control with his emotions after a simple political debate he wouldnt even come close to standing up to other world leaders. Romney may be a nice guy but hes far away from being a world leader. He folded like a cheap tent. Obama 12.

[Currency] We can all run around the barnyard all day clucking like a bunch of chickens, and it isn’t going to amount to a pinch of horse dung if we, as human beings, don’t find a way to keep our money under control , not all the deep speeches, the pontificating by one and all, in the end the law of economics will win when we can no longer kick the problem down the road. all one has to do is engage the old brain and allow common sense in for a few moments, and folks should see the validity in that statement.  “their ain’t no free lunch”  human nature will do it’s best to defeat this principle and to the extent that they accept mediocrity is the governing principle on this fact. Blaming Bush, or Obama is just sheer nonsense, but our highly overrated experts, and the great unwashed will continue down this road to serfdom in their quest for the quick fix, in the meantime the only realistic path for most citizens is to learn to fly under the radar.

[Captains of Industry] I think this hits the nail on the head. Rockefeller made his fortune on Standard Oil, creating and building refineries to produce safe burning kerosene, this was before cars and electricity, but kerosene provided light at night in homes, and on streets. Dale Carnegie, saw and developed steel. Henry Ford developed the assembly line to manufacture affordable cars. Steve Jobs made Apple and Gates did Microsoft. Private business men creating major earth changing events for mankind. We have smart, smart people in this country and in the world, and if it was possible for solar power, windmills, etc to be a viable solution to our energy needs it would be developed by these type of men–smart, driven men, capitalist to the extreme. Yea, the green energy concept sounds great, but the government throwing money to companies that go bankrupt is just plain criminal. So lets call it what it was, all those dollars were nothing more than payback to President Obama bundlers. I know the wind blows, and the wind doesn’t blow, I know the sun shines some every 24 hour period, I know batteries run until they need to be recharged. I also know the govt has no business in the green energy business.

As the GOP and Fox News goes on and on with their drumbeat theme of Obama’s “weakness” with regard to our security, defense and foreign policy, the President is quietly going about the business of killing off our enemies the right way,  with inexpensive small scale, safe for us, precise and deadly unmanned drone attacks

[“Gas prices $7.25 a gallon”] I don’t know what your smoking but I want some. That has to be the most dishonest and ignorant comment I have ever read. 

I don’t see any Obama signs in people’s yards, probably because there are so many nuts on the other side.

Spain’s Muslim problem. Americai s not that far down the list. Vid

Oil and natural gas production are both up 14% under Obama. That’s even more than under Bush, the oil man’s reign.

There was a picture threatening Congress about gun confiscating in yesterday’s CT. Where do you paranoids get this stuff. There has never been, and is not now, any plan to confiscate any weapons. The only plans now are to keep assault weapons out of the hands of whackos and other criminals. Start paying attention to what’s really going on instead of what right-wing blogs say. Remember those blogs all are posted with a pre-conceived agenda.

 From the Right

When making prepared remarks, Mr. Obama carefully parses every word. He considers every nuance, and every point he is trying to sell. But, he’s not so good when off script.  In the debate Obama made several comments that prove that he and his knew from jump street that the Bengazi assault was the act of terrorists, not an out of control mob. This brings into question what motivated Mr. Obama to have his minions purposefully attempt to misleadAmerica. Team Obama specifically set out to convince America that the para military attack was “only” the act of an out of control mob 

Because of the debate we now know that Mr. Obama was fully aware of the attack while the attack was in progress. Obama said: “So as soon as we found out that the Benghazi consulate WAS BEING overrun, I was on the phone with my national security team and I gave them three instructions.”  You will note that Obama clearly states that he took action while the attack was in progress. His remarks reveal that he was well aware of the import of the attack. He knew that a terrorist attack was damaging, perhaps crippling to his claim that AQI et al had been defanged.

Mr. Obama specifically listed three things that he ordered his minions to accomplish. He listed two perfunctory things, then he said: … “And number three, we are going to find out who did this, and we are going to hunt them down, because one of the things that I’ve said throughout my presidency is when folks mess with Americans, we go after them..” It is crystal clear that Obama was not instructing his minions to track down a mob; he was tasking them with tracking down a small group of individuals.

Then we have to add that that the Bengazi Consulate had been the target of two precursor attacks. The most recent was a bomb that blew a hole in the security wall big enough to permit assaulters to rush through. Certainly Mr. Obama’s daily security briefings had reported these assaults on our Consulate. On the other hand we now know that Mr. Obama holds the daily security briefing in scorn, beneath him.

The day after the attack Mr. Obama gave prepared remarks in the Rose Garden. The remarks confirmed that Mr. Obama and his minions were well aware that the assault was not mob violence.  The remarks were carefully prepared and were read from a teleprompter.  In part, he said: “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.”  Please take careful note that Mr. Obama did not speak of mob violence, he spoke not of, nor did he  even attempt to blame a video for inciting riot. That came later.

Obama knew the attack was not mob violence even while the attack was in progress, but he was faced with a nasty Hobson’s choice. He, nearly immediately, had to decide which way to try and steer the public perception of the attack. If the public perception was that the attack was mob violence, then it tended to prove that his foreign policy was being spat upon by the Libyan street. Not a good choice, not a good narrative. But, if he chose to label the attack as terrorism, the public perception would certainly be that AQI was not vanquished. He simply feared that if that was to be the narrative, if AQI and jihadist terror are alive and flourishing, Obama’s constant bragging and preening would be shown to nothing more than empty bragging and preening.

Obama chose the lesser of the two evils and dispatched sundry apparatchik such as Ambassador Rice and his press flak, Jay Carney to spread the falsehood that the assault was mob violence incited by a web video. Even Obama himself perpetrated the lie.  In a speech at the UN, Obama strongly suggested that the attack was mob related violence precipitated by a web video. About a week after the attack he went on TV, the Letterman Show, and tried to sell the mob story. He did his very best to convince the audience that the assault was a natural outflow of mob violence caused by a web video. But, Obama was not on teleprompter, when he candidly said: “… what also happened was extremists and terrorists used this as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies.”  Deer Friends, it was not an extremist mob that assaulted Bengazi, it was a coordinated, planned, and well executed attack. In his words, Obama does not deny that the attack was accomplished by terrorists, he admits that.

Nonetheless, for 9 days Obama and his minions did all in their power to hide the truth about the attack.  The truth is that Obama’s claims that AQI and its allied organizations are flourishing. Obama’s claim to have defanged them is a massive falsehood.  Had not a wave of events crashed down on him, Obama would still be trying to deceive the public with his mob story narrative. That narrative is the lesser of the two evils. His acts have not been even remotely Presidential.

Part 2) Here’s some more Obamaspeak from the debate: “the point is the commitments I’ve made, I’ve kept.” Deer Friends, keeping promises is a very good thing. Unless you didn’t keep those promises, then you need excuses. In the next breath, Mr. Obama said: “And those that I haven’t been able to keep, it’s not for lack of trying and we’re going to get it done in a second term.”

Part 3) Thanks H.

An independent voter’s quest to make sense of the constitutional amendments. 

Amendment 1.
This seems pretty straightforward, an attempt to stop Obamacare by prohibiting the individual mandate.
In the Florida Constitution ? I thought that this was a Federal thing ?
Well, lots of us have problems with it so it so it will probably pass.
Then what ? Lawsuits. Who pays ? Us. My lawyer is a reasonable guy. Not him, idiot, the million dollar a year guys with the expensive suits who work in Miami and Washington. 
I wonder how many lawyers are in the State legislature. Google says. 45 out of 160 are lawyers 
Hmmm ?
Keep reading. 
What’s this two thirds majority thing ? Any change at all needs a two thirds majority to pass.
That means it’s impossible to modify it, Google “number of health care lobbyists in Florida”. 
Holy $h!t. ! 
Don’t read that soap opera about Mario Rubio and the healthcare lobbyist Amber Stone, you have a job to do.
The job’s done. This one is a big NO !

Amendment 2
This looks like a good thing, a tax discount for combat wounded veterans 
I thought we already had that?
It says “. Extend to Not residents of Florida when they joined up”
So if you were combat wounded in Korea and retired here 10 years ago, you get a discount. That’s a nice thing to do, but how much money is involved ’cause this could cut property tax revenues at a bad time. And whose idea was this anyway?
OK, if it was not a Veteran’s organization, then who ?
Follow the money. 
If a combat wounded Michigan resident wants to retire, the State of Florida will give him a property tax discount. This sounds like the Real Estate/Development people again. 
What does the League of Woman Voters say ?
They say that it makes no sense for the State to cut the tax money that goes to cities and counties, but they say it politely.
Well, it looks like this is another NO. 

Amendment 3 
So there’s a limitation on the total amount of tax money that the State can take from us ? Who knew? And they want to change the way that they figure it ? That’s the amendment. It says here that the amount of tax depends on the total income of Florida residents now, but they want to change it to depend on the inflation rate and the number of people in the state. Just thinking about how this changes things gives me a headache. Keep reading and it may make sense.
It says that any extra money collected will go to education. That sounds like what we used to call a ” deal sweetener”, but keep reading. It says that if the schools don’t need extra money, we get it back. Schools don’t need money !? Is someone using drugs ?
Read the whole thing again and read what the League of Women Voters says. OK I did that and still don’t get it. Well, you know what they say a when you’re not sure if food has gone bad,
” When in doubt, throw it out “. Amen to that. Another NO.

Amendment 4

Look at the size of this thing, four paragraphs. Take them one at a time and don’t scan ahead. 
(1). This says that it changes lots of laws dealing with property tax. 
(2). This says that even if the value of your property goes down, the assessment can go up, and this amendment fixes that. Yeah, but the way it gets fixed is for the legislature to pass a law fixing it, all the amendment does is say that the Legislature CAN fix it. Good luck with that. 
(3). It looks like you need a calculator for this one. OK, but use nice round numbers.
So, suppose the County needs to collect 100 m dollars, and 80 m of that is going to come from homesteaded property, and 20 m from the additional tax on non- homesteaded property and that this can only happen by increasing the cap, which is what this paragraph deals with. 
This amendment changes the cap from 20 m to 10 m ? Not quite, but that’s the idea.
But the County still needs 100 m right ? And now they only get 10 m from the non- homesteaded property. That’s a total of 90 m, so where does the other 10 m come from ?
There’s only one other place, from your homesteaded property. You mean that this amendment cuts the tax on non- homesteaded property at the expense of those of us who are homesteaded?
You got it. Vote NO on this one.
What about paragraph (4) ? That looks like the small print on the bottom of a phone bill, and who cares, this was a NO after paragraph (3). 

Amendment 6
OK. This one is about abortion and it’s a pretty hot issue, but isn’t this a Federal issue, and don’t you have more immediate things to worry about like making money, getting the car fixed, and that pain you’ve had in your knee for the past five years ? Just forget this one, there are still 6 more amendments to look at. Don’t get lazy, just do it. So here’s another one of those things where people use the amendment to stand up for what they believe, why bother. Well if you want to pay for what you believe, go ahead and vote for it. But remember that if it passes, all those Miami and Washington lawyers will get richer using your tax money to fight over it and , win or lose, nothing will change because it’s a federal thing.
What’s this last sentence about ” right to privacy “? When ” right to privacy” shows up in a discussion of abortion, it usually means abortion counseling, so this is to cut off money for that.
So if a fourteen year old girl gets pregnant, she has no one to talk to about it except her parents ?
Only if she can talk to her parents, and if she’s pregnant, chances are that they haven’t been doing much talking. So she ends up talking about it with her friends who probably watch that MTV tv program that glorifies pregnant girls in high school ? That’s right, and she ends up having a baby without any discussion of how it’s going to change the rest of her life. Too bad, but what does that have to do with me ? Try this. Who do you think is going to pay for this for the next eighteen years ? 
Another. NO. 

Amendment 7

What the …. What happened to number 7 ? Google it to find out and then take the day off.

Geez, you just spent more time online with this one than any other, and you actually read Article 1, Section 28 of the Florida constitution. 
Go over it all to get it straight. Amendment 7 was the first try at what was Amendment 8. Last December, a judge threw it out because it said that it was ” consistent with the First Amendment of the US Constitution ” and that wasn’t true. He gave the Attorney General 10 days to change it.
Why the Attorney General ? Who knows ? You already spent way too much time on this one. 
Anyway, Amendment 7 is now Amendment 8. So why not deal with Amendment 8 later ? Because while trying to find out what happened to Amendment 7, you saw that almost a million dollars was spent fighting it. Fighting it ? You thought that the religious people would support it.
That’s right so I had to follow the money and found out that the money came from School boards and teacher’s associations. This means that it’s not really about religion at all, but about school vouchers. 
It works like this. If Billy is going into third grade he isn’t just assigned to a school. He gets a voucher for the average amount that it takes to educate a third grader for a year. Billy’s parents decide which school is best for Billy, send him to that school, and give the school the voucher. It’s just like giving the school money, except that it comes from the education portion of the property tax. That way, Billy goes to the school that his parents think is best for him, the good schools get the most money, and everybody wins, so the theory goes. What’s the problem ?
The problem for School boards and teacher’s unions is that under a voucher system, Billy’s parents can also send Billy to a private school, which the public school people don’t like. 

Where does religion fit in ? Remember when you Googled private schools ? You found out that there were two classes of private schools with almost no schools in between. The expensive private schools that charged as much as colleges , and the struggling schools where ordinary people paid some tuition and the kids sold magazines, candy, and had fund raisers to keep the schools going. How about that school in Connecticut that charged $41,000 a year for third grade and the kid didn’t even live at the school ? Anyway, most of these struggling schools are church related, mostly Catholic and Lutheran .
The Florida Constitution now makes it impossible to have a voucher system because, at the start anyway, the private schools are mostly religious and the constitution says that no state money can be given to an organization that is in any way associated with a religion. Amendment 8 changes that. 
So Amendment 8 doesn’t give money to religions. No. It makes it possible for the legislature to make laws that might transfer state money to organizations that are connected with a religion. 
But, like that CT poster said, they could give money to some wacko religious zealot ? They could, but you’ve got to give them credit for a little bit of common sense, and if they tried, the fight would be legendary.
So this is about school vouchers, and you can’t have school vouchers without changing what the Florida Constitution says about religion. But this only makes it possible for the legislature to discuss vouchers, because without it, it would be a waste of time because a voucher system has to start with schools that are tied to churches ? Why is the title of Amendment 8 ” religious freedom” ? Because someone thinks that their side will win if it’s called that. 
What are you going to do ? I ‘m a little afraid about changing the relationship between church and state in Florida, but I think that they might be on to something with that voucher system. After all, there are people willing to pay $41 ,000 to send their kids to third grade in a school that they choose rather than the one that the school board would choose for them. I’m going to vote for this because the schools need to be better and I think that vouchers could be the way to do it.
We should at least make it possible.
So you spent more time and wrote your longest post about an Amendment that’s not on the ballot. I hope you didn’t bore everybody . Look at it this way, you finally got a 
YES on Amendment 8

Amendment 9
This one gives a homestead exemption to the surviving spouse of a first responder or serviceman killed in the line of duty.. You read it, and can’t find anything fishy, but the first 8 amendments spooked you so much that you think that something is wrong. Take a deep breath! 
These guys get killed protecting you, leave a family behind, maybe a small insurance policy and some money from a fundraiser, and then their families are on their own. They deserve more than that 

But suppose a cop from Wisconsin yadda yadda yadda, you know , the argument that you made in amendment 2 ? First of all, how many are there ? Second, no matter where they come from, they still deserve a break. And lastly, and most important of all, if we give this break to Florida first responders and servicemen, getting a few people from out of state is worth it. Sure, it cuts tax revenue a little. But you pay what you owe. 
Finally ! A solid YES

Amendment 10
This one is about Tangible Personal Property tax. Call it TPP so you wont have to keep typing it.
TPP is a property tax on things other than real estate. Some States tax cars, boats, airplanes, and even household goods. Most States are getting or have gotten rid of this tax. In Florida, cars, boats, planes and the like are exempted, so the tax falls primarily on businesses, you know, equipment,tools, that kind of thing.
So this is about a tax on business. They want an exemption for amounts between $25,000 and $50,000. That’s not much. No, but that does represent a lot of money because there are so many small businesses.
They want to get rid of the tax altogether, but that would be too much of a change at one time.
Their idea is to target different sectors of the Florida economy, and give them a break first.
What’s the effect ? First of all, if,for a fixed budget, you lower tax on one group, it has to be made up by another. Second, the hoped for effect is that by lowering business taxes, more businesses will come into Florida. All of this is complicated by the fact that it has large effects on some counties and virtually none on others. The last thing is that paragraph (2) allows a city or county to give more exemptions if they want to. 
For Monroe County, the numbers tell the story. Monroe County is the 39 th most populous out of the 67 counties and ranks 44 in TPP tax but 26 in TPP on targeted businesses Since our real estate tax is so high, we are ranked dead last, 67 out of 67 ,in the amount of TPP tax relative to total tax. This means that Monroe County taxes would be among the least harmed by the amendment , and County businesses among the most helped.
So what’s the bottom line ? This helps Monroe County businesses without cutting taxes too much, and allows the County to give TPP tax breaks to certain sectors, say, boat repair,or restaurants, or something that they think needs a break from this tax. And yes, you bet that the lobbyists are circling on this one. I think that if you vote yes on this one, it will help Monroe County. If you lived in another county, maybe no would be your choice. Whether or not it
Is good for the State of Florida overall, who knows, but this tax hits the businesses that use lots of equipment more than any other, and that makes no sense.
You intend to vote on every amendment, so on this one, vote YES.

Amendment 11
Here’s one more change to the Homestead Exemption. This one deals with low income seniors .
Your first thought was that this was going to let a Billionaire with a good lawyer get out of paying taxes on his mansion. You have to start trusting people , there’s no way that can happen.
There’s also no way you’ll live long enough to qualify for this either. So what are you going to do?
You want to cut taxes, yours most of all, but you have to start somewhere so why not for a person like this. An elderly longtime Florida homeowner is a taxpayer, so it’s not as if you’re giving more money to some freeloader. How would you like it if after all those years of paying taxes that kept going up and up you had to leave your home because you couldn’t afford them any more ? That’s a little melodramatic isn’t it ? It is, but it’s still true.
YES on amendment 11

Amendment 12
You’ve got to be kidding. In your Google search of this one, you didn’t even find anything interesting to read. Do we get to vote for homecoming king and queen next time ?
I thought that the Constitution was supposed to contain important things that could only be changed by the voters. They probably put the state university system in there long ago and now we are stuck with this. It’s probably important to someone, but not me. Let the frat boys and sorority girls fight this one out. You know that if you don’t vote yes or no on this one, you are making a liar of yourself. You said that you would vote yes or no. The time that it would take to form an opinion on something like this would be wasted time.
Leave this one blank. 

1 no

2 no

3 no

4 no

5 ?

6 no

7 ?

8 yes

9 yes

10 yes

11 yes

12 blank