Category Archives: Florida

Economy, Energy, Florida, Politics

Obama's Oily Rope-a-Dope

President Obama announced today that he is opening up some areas for oil and gas development. Some in the Gulf of Mexico, some in the Atlantic. Alaska, not so much. Alaska needs more study. ‘More study’ is political-speak for ‘it ain’t gonna happen.’

Nevertheless, the President seemed to echo what he said in his State of the Union Address in January.

But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. (Applause.) It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. (Applause.) It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. (Applause.) And, yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America. (Applause.)

And today, President Obama said . . .

But the bottom line is this: given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth, produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we’re going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy.

Don’t think for a minute that the President is serious about drilling. Just like he isn’t serious about nuclear energy. Seen any new refineries being built? Seen any new oil drilling going on? Seen any new nuclear plants being built? NO! What we have seen is ANWR and Bristol Bay being held hostage, and the closing of the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. With no place to put nuclear waste, how many new nuclear plants will be built?

Today’s show at Andrews Air Force Base was a political rope-a-dope. His goal is far from using and getting more of our own energy resources. His goal is cap and trade legislation that will do exactly the opposite of what he said he wanted to do today. It will kill economic growth and jobs, depress business, and raise costs. We will pay more for electric and all other products because of tax pressure put on the industries that produce them. And in the end, the redistribution of wealth in the name of social justice.

NPR is trying to make sense out of Obama’s statement. Here’s what they came up with . . .

Much of the speculation for the administration’s reasoning has been on the need to get Republican votes for Obama’s climate legislation. Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are trying to hammer out a bipartisan climate bill, but Graham is getting no GOP backing on this, and Graham himself has said that he couldn’t support a bill that “doesn’t have off-shore drilling in a meaningful way.”

The New York Times’ John Broder writes that today’s proposal by Obama could “help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation,” . . .

He is repeating his SOTU line in order to get support from Republicans for his cap and trade agenda. Combine this with Obamacare and the American Dream will be history. America will have its newest founding father.

Links:

2010 Election, Economy, Florida

Khavari Economic Plan For Florida

Khavari Economic Plan would improve medical care quality and availability, reduce costs in Florida

Miami, FL Mar. 22 — Noted economist and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Farid Khavari congratulated President Obama and Congressional Democrats for passing the Health Care Reform bill, but cautioned that states must take action on health costs now, or face bankruptcy by 2020. “No health care plan of any kind can succeed until we reduce costs dramatically. Florida must prepare for over a million new Medicaid enrollees. The federal government is supposed to pay for the extra cost, but only until 2016. Then Florida can look forward to billions per year in additional Medicaid costs even if Washington chips in the usual 54%.

Rising unemployment will increase Medicaid enrollment even higher,” Khavari said. “All states face similar problems.”

Khavari continued, “Bill McCollum’s response to Health Care Reform is to threaten suit on Constitutional grounds. Alex Sink has said nothing at all on the subject—but she just found out a week ago that there is huge unemployment and a lot of foreclosures happening in Florida. Neither of them has offered a plan to fix our health care before it bankrupts our state and our people.” McCollum is Florida’s Attorney-General, and a Republican candidate for governor. Sink is Chief Financial Officer and a Democratic candidate for governor.

“My detailed plan to improve efficiency in health care delivery is on my website for everyone to see. You can read my newest book there for free. We can make quality health care available 24 hours a day to everyone, for much less than we are paying now. Stop and think about the fact that Florida right now spends about $5,000 per year per Medicaid recipient. That’s what many so-called Cadillac health plans cost. Does anyone believe that Medicaid patients have the same quality and availability of care that executives get? We can do better for half the cost,” Khavari said. “Taxpayers are paying for waste and fraud that has grown under Republican administrations. For this kind of money, we could send every Medicaid patient to Switzerland for health care and save 30%. Now imagine what we could do if we got good value for our money.”

Khavari has also gained national acclaim for his plan to establish a state-owned bank, which would save state and local governments billions per year in interest expense, while offering 2% fixed-rate mortgages and other programs to save Floridians more billions per year. Since announcement of the Khavari Economic Plan, gubernatorial candidates in California, Oregon, Vermont, Michigan and Illinois have declared state-owned banks as part of their platforms. “Our Bank of the State of Florida will balance state and local budgets without higher taxes. We can finance the reforms we need to make the best quality health care in the world available to every Floridian, 24 hours per day, and reduce costs for everyone, including private insurers ,” Khavari said.

Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is an economist and author of nine books, including Environomics. His latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, is available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.

2010 Election, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

Khavari labels Alex Sink’s business plan “empty rhetoric”

Press release from the Khavari for governor campaign follows.

Miami, FL Mar. 18 — Noted economist and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Farid Khavari dismissed Alex Sink’s new “Business Plan for Florida” as “nicely written but completely lacking substance.” Sink, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer and another Democratic candidate for governor, unveiled her plan Wednesday.

“Last week, Alex Sink finally recognized that we have a lot of unemployment and foreclosures in Florida. That’s a big step for her,” Khavari said. “We have over a million people out of work here, 800,000 homes in foreclosure, and more job losses and foreclosures to come unless we do something. Apparently it takes three years for a multimillionaire ex-banker to catch on.

“Alex Sink has held one of the most powerful jobs in Florida for three years now. She is in an ideal position to fix Florida’s economy and she is counting paper clips and canceling Blackberries while the State Board of Administration has lost tens of billions of dollars on her watch. If she had any idea how to create even one job or stop even one foreclosure, why didn’t she do anything about it?

“Let me offer Ms. Sink a little lesson in economics,” Khavari smiled. “You can’t create jobs with subsidies and tax cuts. Businesses will not hire people unless there are customers for their products and services. With rising unemployment and escalating foreclosures, high interest rates and reduced credit, insurance and health care costs out of control, how many people can afford to buy anything? No customers, no jobs, it’s really not so difficult to understand.

“Here’s another lesson in Econ 001: when you create one good job, the economy naturally creates two more jobs within a year, and those jobs create more. When you lose one good job, you lose two more within a year, and more after that.

“My economic plan for Florida was released nine months ago. It explains step-by-step, with specific examples, how to create 1,000,000 new private-sector jobs in Florida, without subsidies. All you need is leadership. You have to focus on the demand side. When there is demand, businesses will hire people regardless of subsidies and taxes.”

Khavari has also gained national acclaim for his plan to establish a state-owned bank, which would save state and local governments billions per year in interest expense, while offering 2% fixed-rate mortgages and other programs to save Floridians more billions per year. Since his announcement, gubernatorial candidates in California, Oregon and Illinois have declared state-owned banks as part of their platforms. “Our Bank of the State of Florida will balance state and local budgets without higher taxes, and make Florida recession-proof forever,” Khavari said.

Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is an economist and author of nine books, including Environomics. His latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, is available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.

Pensacola News Journal links to articles, press releases, and editorials on Dr. Farid Khavari, democratic candidate for governor of the state of Florida, HERE.

Pensacola News Journal links to articles, press releases, and editorials on Alex Sink, democratic candidate for governor of the state of Florida, HERE.

Economy, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

Liberals And Free Speech, Part 2

The political tsunami that swept our country yesterday, paving the road for the socialization of health care and the end of the private health insurance industry, is one for the history books. It’s an issue that has been brewing for the last 60 or 70 years that seemed to be coming to a head last week. And so it was that I set out to see what the Left had to say about it.

I thought I would find something on the Ring of Fire. But I was wrong.

So I asked a couple questions to a post entitled ‘This Week on Ring of Fire’ . . .

All that, and no mention about ‘deeming’ major legislation to be passed without a vote? No whisper about the constitutional issues with it all?

Don’t have 60 votes? Eh, no big deal. Well, don’t have 51 votes? No problem. Let’s just skip the voting part, let the RINO’s (Representatives In Name Only) take care of substituting that process with another one.

No mention about the process at all? Like President Obama as much as said to Bret Baier when he dodged his question about the ‘process.’ The end justifies the means.

Is the ROF ducking the most important issue facing America today?

Background Note: For those not familiar with the Ring of Fire, it was an Air America Radio program, hosted by a local (Pensacola, FL) attorney named Mike Papantonio. It still is, only Air America went bankrupt for the last time a few months ago. And at its outset, Papantonio boldly claimed (paraphrasing here) that his show and network was going to be the answer to Rush Limbaugh. He mentioned Rush by name, and then some. And being a fan of Rush, my interest in this show was piqued.

What followed that was a real gem. Follow the comment thread, if you can stand it, to see what the ‘process’ was to getting an answer from the show’s producer, Farron Cousins.

Continue reading Liberals And Free Speech, Part 2 →

2010 Election, Florida, Politics

Khavari On Teacher Pay Legislation

Miami, FL Mar. 17 — Noted economist and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Farid Khavari spoke out today against proposed legislation tying teachers’ pay to students’ test scores.

“This idea is completely unfair and we need to stop Senate Bill 6 before it gets started,” Khavari said. “There are too many variables beyond teachers’ control. Teachers have little say about curriculum, and no say about tests, scoring or how student results would be evaluated.”

“Too many teachers are buying basic classroom supplies from their own pockets,” Khavari continued. “Many districts are suffering from lower funding and lack basic necessities. Further, this bill would penalize teachers who work with economically disadvantaged kids, who need extra help just catching up to grade level.”

“We must remember that teachers are the key to our society’s future. We need to find ways to pay them more, not less. When I see teachers working second jobs to make ends meet, it breaks my heart.”

“I urge all Floridians to contact their legislators and demand that this bill be killed,” Khavari said.

Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is an economist and author of nine books, including Environomics. His latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, is available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.

2010 Election, Economy, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

Farid Khavari Interview, Florida Gubernatorial Candidate

Tampa community radio station WMNF 88.5 FM did their due diligence last week by informing their listeners on a candidate running for governor of the State of Florida. They broadcast a telephone interview with Dr. Farid Khavari in Miami.

There are two audio links below. The first one contains the interview. The show begins with listener comments about a previous show about oil drilling in Florida. The Khavari interview begins about 5 minutes into the show. The second link starts with the listener comments about the Khavari interview.

The interview: RadioActivity for 2/16/10
Listener comments: RadioActivity for 2/17/10

As Dr. Khavari explains his plans, his platform, you can also find it in writing on his website. You won’t find any smoke and mirrors there. You will find smoke and mirrors on the websites of his challengers, Alex Sink and Bill McCollum.

Links:

Note: Those within reach of Pensacola may pick up a Khavari for Governor campaign data sheet and bumper sticker at Philly’s, 3900 Creighton Road.

2010 Election, Economy, Florida, Politics

Alex Sink's Plan, More Of The Same

Last week, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, and the Florida Democratic Party’s anointed choice to replace Governor Charlie Crist, Alex Sink, had a sit-down with some small business owners to discuss how they can prosper in this tough economic climate. I don’t support Alex Sink. I support Farid Khavari. The reason I’m including this article about Alex Sink is that it does show you how ill-equipped and unprepared she is to help small business and Florida’s economy.

She stressed the need for small businesses to be able to get loans for their businesses. Unfortunately, there were no new ideas from her, just more of the same bailout mentality.

And when asked about Dr. Farid Khavari’s plan for a State bank, she flat-out ignored his existence and said we have plenty of banks already, including national and international ones. And haven’t they done so well for us?

Hear her Q&A at this LINK.

What Alex Sink is talking about amounts to just more smoke and mirrors. In response to Sink’s confidence in the federal solution and big banks, Khavari spokesperson Bob Waterstripe called her out for a debate and said this . . .

Sink hears businesspeople tell her they can’t get capital/credit. Then, when asked about the Khavari plan including a state bank, she says we have plenty of banks and they can meet the needs of business. FL’s share of $30 bln TARP money is about 2 bln, $100 per FL citizen. This will have no impact, at best a few thousand jobs. We need a MILLION.

In fact, $2 billion is almost 4 times LESS than the banks made in overdraft charges in FL last year. Over a MILLION are unemployed in FL and over 800,000 FL homes in foreclosure. Khavari has a plan to create a million FL jobs without subsidies and the proposed state bank will stabilize and rejuvenate the housing market as well as the entire economy, saving $100s of $1000s per family.

Sink declines to even acknowledge Khavari? No surprise; she won’t even answer a straight question on anything. As CFO she stood by while $10s of BILLIONS were lost by the SBA on phony deals. Crist, McCollum and Sink, as the 3 trustees, met twice a month for 15 minutes to oversee the SBA (per Crist, St. Pete Times). Most of us take more time than that on our household bills. Sink’s well-publicized Blackberry crackdown nets $250K, enough to pay the interest on $50 billion for about 40 minutes. YAY! Now she’s counting paper clips. You can bet the cost of counting them is 200x the cost of the paperclips.

Here is a little advice to Ms. Sink: Take care of the tens of billions, and the paperclips can take care of themselves. What about a debate between Sink and Khavari with Rob Lorie as moderator?

Links: Sink at the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce

Aside from losing $60 billion of Floridians’ pensions (along with Crist and McCollum), she has a record in BIG BANKING too.

Florida, Pensacola, Politics

Let Me Be Clear, Liberals And Free Speech

9 Comments

Liberals, including the so-called mainstream Democrats in Escambia County, continue to demonstrate how very un-democratic they are. Their actions speak louder than their words.

The new Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, James Turner, endorses Alex Sink in his first press release. Months before the Democratic Primary, bypassing the ‘democratic’ process. Not totally surprising either when you consider that the Florida Democratic Party has already given one candidate, Alex Sink, $1,321,502.20. What’s the point in the primary process again?

Then there’s the way Liberals treat Conservatives. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve had the pleasure of being banned from Mike Papantonio’s website, ‘by popular demand’ according to Scotty the administrator.  That’s lawyer-speak for Mike doesn’t want any conservatives posting on his website, which tends to be populated by a handful of lemmings that are just as rabid as he is. I guess the big talker can’t handle it. The Pensacola News Journal however, tends to respect political discourse even though they don’t engage in it themselves. I’m still waiting, however, for their editors to engage in some. Nine months and counting. . .

My next experience of being ‘banned in Pensacola’ is on Escambia Democrats.org. The official website of the Escambia County Democratic Party. They have a peculiar way of welcoming users. I was a registered user there yesterday. After participating in the public forum for registered users, today I get this:

Login

Your login is blocked.

And when I go to any other page on the website, this blurb pops up.

“Login denied! Your account has either been blocked or you have not activated it yet. Did you not get an activation e-mail and follow the validation link?”

Showing an unwillingness to deal with, discuss, or debate issues seems to be a soft spot over there. Here is the explanation from the admin, Henry Coe, Jr.

The reason you were blocked is because what you typed in response to the article had nothing to do with the article. Being that you are treasurer for Escambia County Libertarian Party, what ever that is, I suggest you post your political spin crap on your own website.

I’m not apposed to real debate or real conversation in relation to articles, but you were redirecting the topic and interjecting spin with your posting on our forum. I have better things to do than to spend my time keeping up with people who are manipulative and abusive.

Have a nice day.

The forum article was about man-made global warming mis-statements or some such. I suggested that, in light of more revelations from the Jones guy, that that post should be updated, and something like isn’t it time to move on? But since it and my comments were removed, I think Mr. Coe’s note makes my point. And for further clarification, here is a portion of the Escambia Democrats’ ‘about’ page . . .

This web site is designed to help people be informed.

Specifically it is designed for Escambia County Florida Residence. More specifically than that is it is use to help support, educate and inform Democrats in Escambia County Florida, though we are glad to share and thank you for finding and using our web site.

.

.

We have a forum where topics can be started by anyone and forum conversations can be had by anyone who is a member of this web site.

So you can see why I was surprised to see the ‘blocked’ response. I didn’t see a ‘Democrats Only’ notice. I wonder if I would be accepted if I changed my voter registration to Democrat? They have such an open tent. At least that’s what they claim. RicksBlog is not as sensitive to speech, although all of my comments there are queued for moderation, including one on the ‘IN rising star.’

Other traits, aside from the normal name-calling, of Left-oriented blogs or websites is the tendency to keep their blogrolls free of conservative blogs. There seems to be this need to create a cocoon of liberal opinion and not allow opposing views or blogs that may contain an opposing view. Reference Coe’s comments above, and RicksBlog and the Pensacola Beach Blog blogrolls for example. The latter of which has some old and inactive blogs listed. You will see that The Lunch Counter is not on either of their blogrolls. And it’s not because I haven’t politely asked.

Now let me be clear, (oh I like that pompous phrase, don’t you?) bloggers have control over what they include or exclude on their sites. I’m not suggesting otherwise. I’m merely noting the pattern of liberal bloggers as I see it. Your mileage may vary.

A look at the LINKS page here will show that I encourage all opinion, no matter how nuts it is. I have a special category for The Left because I think people ought to be able to see what others have to say. So I offer up the most vocal and rabid among them. Especially since some of them have the eyes and ears of The White House.

Aren’t political blogs in Pensacola fun?

Florida, Judiciary, Politics, Race Relations, Supreme Court

Black Conservatives Condemn Grayson Remarks

Members of the Project 21 black leadership group are condemning remarks today by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) comparing today’s Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to the Dred Scott case.

The decision in Citizens United eases certain restrictions on the free speech of businesses, associations, organized labor and certain advocacy groups with regard to their participation in political campaigns.  In response, Grayson said: “This is the worst Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case.”

In the 1857 Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court ruled that black Americans who were either slaves or the descendants of slaves could not be, and never had been, U.S. citizens.  The decision, formally known as Scott v. Sandford, also invalidated the 1820 Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in portions of U.S. territories in the west.

Project 21 members said:

Bishop Council Nedd II: “In Dred Scott, the Court equated people with property.  The Court’s decision today was about giving people a voice.  There is no correlation between the two.  Congressman Grayson needs to apologize.  His flippant and unenlightened statement offends me personally, and it disrespects generations of black people who suffered from slavery.” (Council Nedd II is the bishop of the Chesapeake and the Northeast for the Episcopal Missionary Church.)

Horace Cooper: “Where has Representative Alan Grayson been?  He compares today’s landmark decision – in which free speech trumps FEC restrictions – to the awful ruling that black people are nothing more than property.  He’s off base yet again.  It’s more than a little ironic that Democrats praised Dred Scott when it was handed down over a hundred years ago, yet now stand opposed to fundamental freedoms such as free speech today.”  (Horace Cooper is a former visiting assistant professor at the George Mason University School of Law.)

Ellis Washington: “As a black man, I am outraged that Representative Grayson would equate the bondage of slavery with today’s Court ruling extending freedom of speech to businesses and corporations in the political process, and having the courage to bring modern jurisprudence in line with the guarantees of the Constitution.  In other words, the Court held that money equals speech and radio shows, media entities and corporations equal people.  The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech for everyone!”  (Ellis Washington is a former editor of the Michigan Law Review.)

In his majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote: “Our nation’s speech dynamic is changing, and informative voices should not have to circumvent onerous restrictions to exercise their First Amendment rights.  The censorship we now confront is vast in its reach.”

Project 21, established in 1992, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (http://www.nationalcenter.org).