Tag Archives: Pensacola

Obama’s Buck, Cutting Coast Guard Oil Response Center

He said many times over the last few weeks, that the buck stops with him regarding the mitigation of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak and protecting our shores and wetlands from oil contamination.

So while we hear the administration pumping its chest about fixing this problem and how responsible it is and how it was on top of this situation ‘from day 1,’ this news seems to put his whole case for their leadership and experience in oil industry regulation right in the toilet.

Three months before the massive BP oil spill erupted in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration proposed downsizing the Coast Guard national coordination center for oil spill responses, prompting its senior officers to warn that the agency’s readiness for catastrophic events would be weakened.

Have you heard that on pMSNBC? Apparently it snuck by editors at the Washington Post.

Accidents happen, “but what you’re seeing here is the government is not properly set up to deal with this kind of issue,” said Robbin Laird, a defense consultant who has worked on Coast Guard issues.

And this . . .

President Obama’s $10.1 billion spending plan for the Coast Guard would scale back funding and active-duty personnel by 3 percent. As part of a proposal to cut 1,100 military personnel, it would decommission the National Strike Force Coordination Center in Elizabeth City, N.C., and reorganize parts of it elsewhere.

The center serves as the national command for the Coast Guard activity responsible for sending technical experts and specialized equipment such as pumps and chemical dispersant monitors to support on-scene commanders.

Are we feeling confident that this administration knows how to protect us? Is Obama’s lack of executive experience beginning to show yet?

WaPo Link: Obama plans to cut Coast Guard personnel

BP’s $25 Million For Florida’s Panhandle

Gov. Charlie Crist (NPA-FL) visited the Florida Panhandle a few times since the Deepwater Horizon incident. Hearing from residents and industry leaders about how the already weak economy is worsening because of the bad publicity, BP officials agreed to support an advertising fund to help offset the economic damage with an advertising effort to promote business in the Panhandle.

So far, and according to RicksBlog . . .

State Senator Don Gaetz says that, as of Friday, May 21, BP has not given Florida the $25-million block grant for tourism advertising that BP CEO Tony Hayward promised Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday.

According to State Senator Don Gaetz . . .

state officials are still negotiating a ‘memorandum of understanding’, which must be completed prior to receiving the funds.”

Well, that’s how it started. From there it has gone to a gimme-fest by politicos all over the state. Developing a memorandum of understanding over the $25 million seems only prudent. Especially when you have people like Kendrick Meek showboating for $100 million.

Aside from all that, take a peek at how the Panhandle is going to be ‘promoted.’ No, take a long look at it, and a peek is all you’ll see. Links to the proposed ads as produced by VisitFlorida.com are here:

Link to spots: http://www.2150.tv/getpass.html

password: visitflorida (case sensitive)

There are currently 2 versions of the spot – a general Florida version and a more Northwest Florida oriented spot.

Take a look at those ads. If that’s what they call focused on the Panhandle, I think we need to look to another ad agency with a more effective message. VisitFlorida.com’s website is nothing but a glorified Yahoo travel site. You’re lucky to find beach shots with sugar-white sands, and no mention of the timeliness of the ads and the beautiful conditions that exist in this part of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.

But you will find this . . .

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Update

There continue to be no confirmed oil sightings associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Florida’s shores at this time.

The great majority of the hotels/motels are inland. There is no evidence there of any emphasis placed on fighting the negative impression created by the news media and environmentalists.

Considering both ads, if I had to put a percentage to it, as for how much of it is ‘focused’ on the Panhandle and how much of it is generic to Florida, I’d give the Panhandle less than ten percent. And if you don’t live in the area, like 100 percent of the target audience, you wouldn’t recognize anything to do with the Panhandle. It’s a sham.

It seems apparent that Charlie Crist and Alex Sink care more about getting the money to promote Florida than the Panhandle. The place where Florida’s economy is most severely impacted.

Give money to Crist and Sink, and you can kiss it good-bye. Especially in this political season. All the Panhandle is left with is hope. Nothing has changed.

The Real Target In BP Class Action Is . . .

The strategy is starting to dribble in as to the so-called real cause of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, otherwise known as an oil spill. (I hate it when the language gets abused like that.)

A local (Pensacola FL) environmental group called The Emerald Coastkeepers has taken the lead in keeping locals informed on both the progress and criticism of BP and its efforts to stop the gusher of a leak at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Chief spokesperson for them is Chasidy Fisher Hobbs who was published in today’s paper as saying . . .

Did you know that BP’s first quarter profits for 2010 were more than $5 billion? Yet, a half-million dollar investment for an acoustic shutoff valve to protect our Gulf was not worth the investment.

In the interest of full disclosure, did you know that the President of Emerald Coastkeepers is mass tort lawyer, left-wing talk radio  co-host, and FOX News contributor representing ‘balance,’ Mike Papantonio? And did you know that the President of the Waterkeeper Alliance is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?  Kennedy also doubles as co-host with Papantonio on the Ring of Fire radio program, formerly associated with Air America Radio. (Air America eventually went bankrupt for the last time after their listener base dwindled to relatives and employees. That, and a lack of sponsors willing to underwrite their efforts.)

Not that there’s anything wrong with any of that in and of itself. But the big omission here, and not just from Chasidy’s article but from the mainstream media overall, is the fact that both Papantonio and Kennedy are on the class action case against BP and have been from day one.

And on day three Papantonio laid out his cards to another lefty talk radio host, Mike Malloy. Papantonio has a much juicier target when it comes to this case. Bankrupting BP is just a distraction for him. He’s after something BP can’t give him, Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration.

Because you know, it’s all their fault. Cheney and Bush developed an energy policy with energy people. (Oh the nerve.) And then they didn’t make an acoustic shutoff valve mandatory, LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES have. And that’s why there’s oil coming out of the ground. It’s all their fault. That was the sum total of his case as he explained it to Malloy and his several listeners.

Papantonio did not say how he could prove that an acoustic shutoff valve would not and could not also fail.

I have my own theory for why we are seeing oil coming into the Gulf a mile deepwater_horizon_rigbelow the surface, and it has nothing to do with Dick Cheney and the Bush administration. It has to do with the Coast Guard pouring water onto the oil rig for three or four days until it sank. It wasn’t until the rig sank that the pipeline broke, putting oil into the Gulf.

It is also a testament to the failure of BP, the EPA, and the MMS, to have a plan B in the event of just such a catastrophe. It also brings to focus the consequences of environmentalists and spineless politicians seeking their favor of pushing oil and gas drilling off of land and shallow waters where it is more readily available, into deeper waters where the risks are greater.

Leaving the fire burn and surrounding the rig with sea booms, and letting smoke get in the air until a ‘fix’ can be made, sounds like a better choice to sinking the rig, putting oil in the water, and moving the workplace a mile under water.

Update 5/24/2010: And for your video amusement, Papantonio: BP – The Very Corrupt Side of Dick Cheney

Cape Wind, Nation’s First Wind Energy Project

After only 10 years (only?) of obstructing from politically connected democrats in the State of Massachusetts like the Kennedys past and present, the Cape Wind project met its last hurdle when on April 28, 2010, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced his approval of Cape Wind with a favorable Record of Decision for the project to be constructed on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts.

This marks not only a first for wind energy in the United States, but real progress in green energy and green energy jobs. The project’s approval also means a boost for Pensacola’s GE who will be manufacturing hundreds of turbine generators for Cape Wind.

Link: CAPE WIND APPROVED by Federal Government as America’s First Offshore Wind Farm; Project will Add Clean Energy Jobs for RegionWind Energy? N.I.M.B.Y.

Khavari Brings Message To Gulf Breeze Democrats

On Saturday April 17th, Dr. Farid Khavari, Democratic candidate for Governor of the State of Florida, brought his message to the Fourth Annual Luau Gala in Gulf Breeze presented by the Santa Rosa County Democrats.

There were about 50-60 people there who took in some Hawaiian music and dance, some good BBQ from Billy Bob’s, and the reason they all came, to hear from the candidates.

The lack of any local news media was disappointing. What you don’t know can hurt you. The print and broadcast media did you no public service in this vital election cycle by not telling you about the candidates that came to speak. They ranged from local school board, U.S. House and Senate seats, and Florida Governor.

But there is a bigger problem with the Democratic Party of Florida that spells bad news for Floridians. Which is, they have already given millions of campaign cash to their anointed candidate, Alex Sink, before the primary process is over. The party leadership and the Sink campaign are not interested in the Democratic process. They made up their minds on who they want to see in Tallahassee months ago. Additionally, they run from any opportunity to sponsor a debate between the two top and credible Democratic candidates, Sink and Khavari. In fact, they won’t have them in the same room together. Don’t forfeit your right to an open and fair primary process. Tell party Chair Karen Thurman and Executive Director Scott Arceneaux that you want a public debate between Alex Sink and Farid Khavari. Floridians have a right to know just who has a plan for them, and who has smoke and mirrors.  Their phone and FAX numbers are Phone:850.222.3411, Fax: 850.222.0916

Besides having a real economic plan for Florida to stimulate the economy and create jobs without deficit spending, something the others do not have, Khavari demonstrated how his message appeals to all Floridians; Democrat, Republican, and Others. His policies are more about helping Floridians instead of special interests. He does bring people together for the good of the State of Florida, breaking through the political party walls that we’ve become used to, if not tired of.

He recounted his appearance at an April 15th Tea Party in Punta Gorda, FL as an invited speaker. First of all, how many Democrat candidates have you ever seen speaking to an audience of Tea Partiers? What is different about Khavari, aside from his message, is that the courage it takes to speak at a Tea Party comes from the strength of his conviction that his platform is for all Floridians, not just Democrats or Republicans, and his concern for the people of the State of Florida.  Khavari said “First, it was very hostile, but later I was very welcome after I spoke.”

This video needs a disclaimer. It is my first one and I see it begs for the use of a tripod. OK, next time.

Related links: Dr. Farid KhavariKhavari for Governor

Khavari Coming To Gulf Breeze Saturday

The details of Khavari’s visit are in this post. You’ll have to ask the Pensacola News Journal why you haven’t heard of him anywhere else locally but here.  Dr. Farid Khavari is a Democrat candidate for Governor of the State of Florida. And he continues to be the only candidate with an economic plan for Florida and Floridians that is proven and in writing. But for more background of who he is, his background, and his platform, please read on.

Khavari seeks Dem nod for governor of Florida

By Grace Nasri, Iran Times, 9 April 2010.

Iranian-American Farid A. Khavari is one of a handful of candidates seeking to become governor of Florida, but first he must pass through the Democratic primary, scheduled for August 24.

Khavari, who was born in Yazd, is an economist, author and small business owner.

The leading candidate on the Republican side is Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is running against State Senator Paula Dockery in the Republican Primary.

The Democratic candidates so far include Marc Shepard, a substitute teacher and former aide to State Representative Barry Silver, Alex Sink, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Joe “T.J” Allen, founder of the International Caribbean Association (ICA), Michael E. Arth, an urban designer and policy analyst and Khavari.

When the Iran Times spoke with Khavari several months ago, he laid out why he felt he was the best candidate for the job. “There are two main competitors: Alex Sink who is the Florida CFO. She has been endorsed by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has endorsed the former congressman and the present Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Both of them are not popular among the average people. Alex Sink is also the former CEO of the Bank of America. I get more support from the grassroots than they get. They are the agents of big businesses and big banks.”

As an economist, the main issues Khavari focuses on include economic security and sustainability and what he calls a green economy. His ideas for change are documented in his nine published books, which include: Oil and Islam – The Ticking Bomb (1990), Environomics – The Economics of Environmentally Safe Prosperity (1993), and Towards a Zero-Cost Economy – A Blueprint to Create General Economic Security in a Carefree Economy (2008).

The Iranian-born candidate gained national attention after he proposed creating a publicly owned bank. Khavari told the Iran Times, “The centerpiece of my economic plan is to create The Bank of the State of Florida. This will power the economy to create full-employment, prosperity and economic security for all Floridians. It will make Florida economically recession-proof.”

According to his plan, the bank would act as a depository for state funds but would also offer loans to Floridians at low interest rates. The plan also would allow the bank to open up frozen credit markets, save homeowners thousands of dollars in payments, produce major revenues for the state, and allow the state’s own debts to be refinanced at much lower rates. Khavari believes these benefits are possible because of the “fractional reserve” banking system used by all American banks when they make loans.

Khavari explained, “Using the fractional reserve regulations that govern all banks, we can earn billions per year for Florida’s treasury, while saving thousands of dollars per year for Florida homeowners. For $100 in deposits, a bank can create $900 in new money by making loans. So, the BSF [Bank of the State of Florida] can pay 6 percent for CDs, and make mortgage loans at 2 percent. For $6 per year in interest paid out, the BSF can earn $18 by lending $900 at 2 percent for mortgages. The BSF can be started at no cost to taxpayers, and we’ll be a permanent engine driving Florida’s economy. We can refinance state and local projects at 3 percent, saving taxpayers billions and balancing state and local budgets without higher taxes.

“The state would earn $15,000 per $100,000 of mortgage, at a cost of about $1,700, while the homeowner would save $88,000 in interest and pay for the home 15 years sooner,” Khavari said.

“Our bank will save people about seven years of their payments over the course of 30 years, just on interest costs. We should work to support ourselves and our families, not the banks. What we have now makes everyone work for a few greedy fat cats,” he said.

Khavari was born in Iran in 1943, but at the early age of two, his family moved to India where his father – a leader in the Baha’i community [second most widespread monotheist religion in the world founded in 1844] – had work. After two years in India, the family returned to Iran. Khavari later served two years in the Education Corps as a teacher in the village of Liavole Oliya in northern Iran, where he built the school.

Khavari later went on to study at the University of Hamburg and the University of Bremen in Germany, where he earned his doctorate in economics. Two years before the 1979 revolution, Khavari and his late wife, Louise, emigrated to the United States, settling in Miami in 1978. In December 1978, Louise died while under medical care. The following year, Khavari’s father was executed by the regime because his father refused to renounce his Baha’i faith, Khavari said.

He told the Iran Times he has not returned to his native Iran since June 1977. In 1985, Khavari married his current wife, Janilla, with whom he began a family. Armin was born in 1987 and Bianca in 1988. Khavari and his wife run a small business in Miami and have lived there for more than two decades.

Khavari’s website says: “I am the only candidate with a specific plan to fix Florida’s economy. I am not a politician, I’m an economist … Florida has huge economic potential, but what we have are huge economic problems. Wall Street, the banks, and the politicians have screwed it up royally this time. We can’t look to Wall Street, or the banks, or Washington, or our Florida politicians to solve these problems. Our Florida politicians helped create this mess, yet not one of them has a plan to fix it, only plans for how to get elected.”

He told the Iran Times, “I am getting everyday more and more attention locally, nationally and internationally. Our campaign is developing to a grassroots movement. In order for us to win the election and realize our economic plan, we must get our message to the average people in Florida. This requires plenty of small financial contributions as well as volunteers. Our campaign is built only on people power.”

The deadline for candidate filings is June 18, so Khavari won’t know for certain how many opponents he will have until then. Khavari’s campaign website is located at http:// www.khavariforgovernor.com.

Farid Khavari, Gubernatorial Candidate Coming To Gulf Breeze

Democrat candidate for Governor of the State of Florida Dr. Farid Khavari will be in the area next week. He will be speaking at the Fourth Annual Luau Gala in Gulf Breeze presented by the Santa Rosa County Democrats.

Do you care enough for Florida’s economy to support the only candidate with a plan that will generate jobs and opportunity, while lowering costs for every citizen in the state? Of course you do. Whether you’re a republican, or libertarian, never mind the D. He’s not a politician. He’s an economist. He’s not a teleprompter kind of guy.  His platform is what is important. And it is superior to all others of both parties.

From the Pensacola News Journal . . .

When: Saturday, April 17, 2010.  3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Where: Shoreline Park South, 801 Shoreline Drive, Gulf Breeze, Fl

Admission: $25 for adults; $10 for students; free for children 12 and younger.

Phone: 623-2345.

Link: Khavari for Governor

Obama, Tea Party Core Group On The Fringe?

Commenting about tea partiers and what has become a spontaneous tea party movement, President Obama is of the opinion that the tea party movement stems from a core group that is on the fringe. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Actually, if he were speaking about the Progressives and that movement that helped get him elected, he would be more correct. The Moveon.org’ers, the KOS’acks. Those are the ones who lay claim to Obama’s election, and they are anything but mainstream democrats, let alone mainstream Americans.

Obama calls them an outgrowth of a core fringe. The AP calls them a  leaderless coalition, born in communities from coast to coast shortly after Obama’s inauguration last year. One that seems to have some staying power. And Progressive talk radio calls them a product of big business, the Republican party, and the Chamber of Commerce. What? There’s your fringe.

Granted that there are fringers at both ends of the political spectrum. But the tea party movement was not born from them. The phenomenon now known as ‘the tea party movement’ was born out of the love of this country by Americans of both parties and their desire to thwart Obama’s desire to fundamentally change it. That, and the desire to not burden future generations of Americans with insurmountable debt in the process.  Fundamental change like government control of one private sector industry after another is also high on the tea partiers’ disapproval list.

The tea partiers reject the notion that President Obama is America’s new founding father, and believe that he is taking the country in the wrong direction. If Democrats are looking for a way to effectively deal with the tea party movement, they might consider turning this ship around.

Links: Obama takes care in sizing up ‘tea party’ movement – Yahoo! News. | Papantonio Explodes on MSNBC

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.

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