Tag Archives: Florida

Sometimes Don’t You Wish Someone Would Just Admit They Made A Mistake

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Today The Blaze posted a story about a young Florida lifeguard, Tommy Lopez, who saved someone’s life on Monday and was fired for his efforts. Mr. Lopez rescued a person drowning on a part of the beach he was not hired to patrol. He was fired.

There is, however, an update to the story. It states:

“This event caught me by surprise just as much as it did everyone else,” Ellis said (Jeff Ellis, head of the lifeguard company involved). “We’re reviewing everything that has occurred, and we will either concur with that or we will override what happened based on what we find out.”

“If he left his chair and we had a beach full of people and they were left unprotected, that would be one thing,” he added. “If he left his beach and another guard immediately took over and covered so that the beach was protected, that would be an entirely different thing.”

This is the video from ABC News: 

I just have a simple question, “If he left his part of the beach and no one drowned during the time he left, is it more important to save the life of an actual drowning person or to stay at your post in case someone might drown?”

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Something That Needs To Be Fixed Before November

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I think I am right in saying that most Americans want an honest election in November–regardless of who wins. Florida has taken steps to make sure that at least they get it right.

On Wednesday, PJ Media reported that Florida had discovered up to 53,000 dead voters who are listed on the state’s voter rolls. Obviously they have purged the voters from the list.

In this day when supermarkets track your every purchase and your cell phone reports your location, how is it that states can’t keep track of who is no longer eligible to vote? It’s simple–Florida (and most other states) were using a database that was not adequate to purge dead voters from voter rolls. Florida is now using the Social Security database, which should be more accurate.

The article concludes:

Consider the case of Lafayette Keaton.  Keaton not only voted for a dead person in Oregon, he voted for his dead son.  Making Keaton’s fraud easier was Oregon’s vote by mail scheme, which has opened up gaping holes in the integrity of elections.  The incident in Oregon just scratches the surface of the problem.  Massachusetts and Mississippi are but two other examples of the dead rising on election day.

Florida should be applauded for taking the problem seriously, even if Eric Holder’s Justice Department and many state election officials don’t.

If we are to remain a representative republic, we need honest elections.

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How Americans Are Misled By The Dominant Media

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The American Thinker posted an article today detailing how the dominant media manipulated the American public in its reporting of the killing of Trayvon Martin. The article gives a very specific and detailed account of the techniques used–I strongly suggest that you follow the link and read the entire article, although I will try to sum it up here.

The article cites the basic narrative:

The Trayvon narrative can be summarized as follows: a black child was walking innocently through a gated community after buying some candy at a store, when a white racist stalked and murdered him for no reason but his color.  The police, who are also racists, let the white man go free.

This narrative is similar to those used in previous racial disinformation campaigns:

  • 1987 – White racists have raped a young black girl and left her in a trash bag.
  • 1996 – White racists are burning down black churches across the South.
  • 2005 – White racists at Duke University have raped a black woman.

Like the Trayvon narrative, the earlier narratives were untrue.  However, they remain widely believed as a result of the massive media coverage used to bring them to national attention.

The article also points out that in the news coverage of the events in Florida Trayvon Martin was referred to as Trayvon and George Zimmerman was referred to simply as Zimmerman. The article also points out that when the media reported that Trayvon Martin was killed in a gated community, readers (and listeners) were left with the impression that it was an upper class white neighborhood, when in truth it was a mixed-race middle class community. The words you use to describe something as basic as a neighborhood can add a whole other dimension to a story. That is what was done here.

Creating unnecessary racial tension is not smart. People who are neighbors are quite capable of living in peace if allowed to do so. The kind of reporting we have seen in the death of Trayvon Martin is not helpful to anyone.

 

 

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An Apology Is Definitely Required

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Today’s Daily Caller asks the question:

Has Obama called David and Elaine McClain to make sure they’re holding up ok? They’re the elderly Florida couple whose address Spike Lee tweeted because he thought it was George Zimmerman’s. Presumably because he wanted people to go there and discuss things calmly.

That is the danger of stirring up unrest without bothering to find out what the facts are.

Fox News reported:

An elderly Florida couple have been forced to move into a hotel after their home address was wrongly tweeted as belonging to the man who shot teen Trayvon Martin.

The tweets were traced back to a man in California and the address was also reportedly retweeted by director Spike Lee to his almost 250,000 followers.

The couple, aged 70 and 72, have been harassed with hate mail, been hassled by media and had scared neighbors questioning them since the tweet, their son Chip Humble told the Orlando Sentinel.

Fearful for their safety, and hoping to escape the spotlight, the couple have temporarily moved to a hotel.

We need to take a really good look at this event and, as the President said, do some serious soul-searching.

 
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Has Anyone Bothered To Check The Facts ?

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The killing of Trayvon Martin has brought all sorts of people with all sorts of political and ideological persuasions out of the woodwork. There are rumors and pictures flying–some accurate and some not so accurate. According to the Los Angeles Times, the New Black Panther Party has offered $10,000 for the citizen’s arrest of George Zimmerman. There have also been death threats against Mr. Zimmerman and charges that he was not arrested due to political connections. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have gotten involved. Have any of the people screaming bothered to check the facts? This is the kind of rhetoric that results in lynchings–it needs to stop.

A local Florida reporter has taken the time to clear up some of the misstatements and misinformation that is out there. Rene Stutzman at the Orlando Sentinal has done some investigating and dispels some of the rumors that have been circulating.

1. There is a rumor that the county Medical Examiner refused to release Trayvon Martin’s body to his family for three days. That is simply not true–the coroner released the body to the funeral home after 39 hours–the funeral home did not pick up the body for another 24 hours.

2. Rumor has it that the Sanford police did not collect George Zimmerman’s clothing as evidence. That is also not true–clothing from both men was collected to be examined as evidence.

3. One story says that George Zimmerman was not arrested because he has a relative on the police force. First of all, he has no relative on the force. Second of all, Florida Statute 776.032 expressly prohibits police from arresting someone who had a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm. Legally, the police could not have arrested him.

It is a tragedy that Trayvon Martin is dead, but we need to be careful not to make him an angel in death when there are some real questions as to what kind of a person he was in life.

ABC News reported yesterday:

Family attorney Benjamin Crump told ABC News that Martin had been slapped with a 10 day school suspension after a bag with suspected marijuana was found in his backpack.

Last year Martin was suspended for spraying graffiti on school grounds. The Miami Herald reported that the school guard who stopped him searched his backpack and found 12 items of women’s jewelry and a flathead screw driver that the guard believed to be a “burglary implement.” But Martin was never charged or specifically disciplined for the incident.

It is a shame that Trayvon Martin is dead, but that death has nothing to do with racism–it seems to have more to do with being in the wrong place at the wrong time and some very bad decisions made very quickly by both parties involved. I am not sure George Zimmerman should be charged with anything. Evidence suggests that he was pretty badly roughed up when police interviewed him. Hopefully, the hysteria will die down soon enough for the truth to come out.

 

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This Is Not Good For America In Any Way

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America is not a racist country. America is a country that (like all other countries) has citizens who are racists, but America is not a racist country. To assume, because a young black man was killed in Florida, that it was an act of racism is not a reasonable assumption–particularly before we know the facts and before the man who did the shooting has a fair trial. However, that doesn’t stop some people from doing really stupid incendiary things.

Breitbart.com reported yesterday that the New Black Panthers have offered a $10,000 reward for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot Trayvon Martin. At least the poster says they want him alive–not dead or harmed.

The article reports:

Several dozen supporters of the group known by its acronym NBPP — unrelated to the revolutionary Black Panther Party active in the 1960s-1980s — meanwhile protested for the third time this week at the police headquarters in Sanford, Florida.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” leader Mikhail Muhammad told the Orlando Sentinel. “We don’t hate anyone, we hate injustice.”

Activists had called for the mobilization of 5,000 black men to capture Zimmerman. And Muhammad said the NBPP was receiving donations from black entertainers and athletes, with a goal to collect $1 million by next week.

Why is the assumption here that the killing was racially motivated? What positive contribution do the New Black Panther Party make to the dialogue? I really do think everyone should stop what they are doing and go home and let the law enforcement people who actually know what they are doing handle this. I am beginning to wonder if George Zimmerman is being railroaded by people who have no knowledge or interest in what the actual facts of the case are.

 

 

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The Bottom Line Here Is That We Don’t Know What Happened

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There are a lot of statements being made about the killing of a young man in Florida. The uproar is not over the killing of a young man, but the fact that the young man was black. The fact that the person who killed him is of mixed racial background (not white) is somehow being overlooked in the screaming.

Yesterday Fox News in Tampa Bay reported that there is a witness to the part of the events that seems to be so jumbled up. According to the testimony of this witness, what George Zimmerman has been saying (self-defense) is true. Meanwhile, the black community is being stirred up without anyone truly knowing what has happened. Why is this?

A young man has been shot. The details are sketchy. Let’s not be so quick to yell racism and hold the trial in the press. That is divisive and does not do anyone any good. What we need to do is pray for the family of the youth that was killed, and those who are in the area need to do anything they can to lessen the grief of the young man’s family. Stirring up trouble does not help anyone. Let’s come together and find out the truth.

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The Role Of Internet News Sites

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English: Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator from Florid...

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The Weekly Standard posted an article yesterday about the role of an Internet blogger in bringing to light the errors in a very negative Reuters story about Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Matt Lewis, a blogger for the Daily Caller, pointed out the errors in the story, forcing Reuters to correct five of the items listed in the story. Reuters has admitted that the story is regrettable.

The article at The Weekly Standard reports:

It was so bad, in fact, that the editors and writer involved have been asked not to talk about it. (I reached out to editors David Lindsey and Eric Walsh, but have not heard back.)

The article, by David Adams, had intended to detail why Rubio was an unlikely pick for Vice President: “Rubio may not be as coveted as Gingrich or Romney would have it appear as they press for votes in Florida, where more than 450,000 Hispanics identify themselves as Republicans,” Reuters David Adams wrote. “Despite his reputation as a watchdog over federal spending, Rubio, 40, has had significant financial problems that could keep him from passing any vetting process as a potential vice presidential choice, Republican and Democratic strategists say.”

But after pressure from the Rubio staff, Reuters was forced to issue corrections that quickly became a larger talking point than the article itself.

Without the work of Matt Lewis, this story would have been allowed to go unchallenged, and a good man would have been smeared in the press. That is the reason why we need the Internet and Internet news sources!

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Why We All Need To Pay Attention To The People Around Us

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Unfortunately, terrorism isn’t someone else’s problem–it’s ours. According to Fox News in Tampa Bay, Florida, Sami Osmakac has been arrested in Florida and charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Mr. Osmakac is a naturalized American citizen from Kosovo.

CBN News reports that:

The U.S. Department of Justice said Osmakac recorded an eight-minute video shortly before his arrest, saying he wanted to bring terror to his “victims’ hearts” and get “payback” for the wrongs he felt were done to Muslims.

The irony here is that the United States intervened in the former Yugoslavia to stop the killing of Muslims.

Fox News reports:

Among Osmakac’s alleged bomb targets were nightclubs in the Ybor City area of Tampa, the operations center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Ybor City, and a business in the South Tampa area.

As part of the second portion of his planned attack, Osmakac allegedly told the undercover FBI employee that, after the car bomb was detonated, he wanted to wear an explosive belt and “get in somewhere where there’s a lot of people” and take hostages.

I simply don’t understand the need to kill innocent people in the name of Allah.

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The Double Standard At Work

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The Boston Globe is reporting today that Boston will ban smoking in public housing, beginning in September 2012.

The article reports:

The policy is aimed at protecting nonsmokers, especially children, from breathing in secondhand cigarette smoke from neighboring units, which can cause asthma attacks, respiratory infections, lung cancer, and heart disease.

“We feel this is in the best interests of our residents,’’ said the Boston Housing Authority’s spokeswoman, Lydia Agro. “When you have buildings with multiple apartments next to each other, there is no way to contain the smoke.’’

Meanwhile, back at the ranch… WTSP Channel 10 in Tampa Bay, Florida, reports that the Florida law requiring welfare recipients to pass a drug test is a violation of the 4th Amendment.

The article reports:

In 2003, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from Michigan backed that up saying, “Michigan law authorizing suspicionless drug testing of welfare recipients was unconstitutional.”

…As we 10News reported Wednesday, attorneys from the ACLU are already working on a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of these drug tests.

First of all, I would like to state that as someone who has never smoked or used illegal drugs, I don’t have a horse in this race. I do, however, possess a rather ironic sense of humor, and I think looking at these two stories together is very interesting. Which is more harmful to a child–a parent who smokes or a parent who uses illegal drugs? Before you answer than, consider the people the parent comes in contact with in obtaining illegal drugs. Smoking is legal; illegal drugs are illegal. Why is the ACLU fighting the drug test and not the smoking ban? This seems a little odd to me.

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Why Are We Making All This Noise About Straw Polls A Year Before The Election ?

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Dewey Defeats Truman

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Many of us are not thriving in President Obama’s economy. I understand that. I also understand that there is something in human nature that wants bad things to end. However, we have somehow descended into a political system that is in campaign mode all the time. The presidential campaign starts the day after a new president is elected. We need to stop that. I realize it gives us more time to size up the candidates, but other than the political junkies, no one will be paying attention until next June anyway. What has happened to our political system?

There was a Republican straw poll in Florida yesterday (the day after the Republican debate). Yesterday’s Washington Times reported that Herman Cain received 37 percent of the more than 2,600 votes cast.

Another Washington Times story posted the numbers for all the candidates:

Herman Cain, 37.1%
Rick Perry, 15.4%
Mitt Romney, 14.0%
Rick Santorum, 10.9%
Ron Paul, 10.4%
Newt Gingrich, 8.4%
Jon Huntsman, 2.3%
Michele Bachmann, 1.5%

William Kristol at the Weekly Standard posted an article partially explaining the results. He points out that even though Rick Perry did not do well in the debate, the disappointed voters did not move their support to Mitt Romney. Mr. Kristol also points out that the debate and straw poll will result in Rick Santorum and Herman Cain both getting more serious consideration by the voters. Mr. Kristol also suggests that a lot of people will be carefully watching Chris Christie’s Reagan Library speech on Tuesday.

The bottom line here is that the debates are not necessarily constructive at this time. They are something of a ‘gotcha’ game where the Democrat party can do opposition research. I really question the wisdom of starting the debate process this early.

 

 

 

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Do Politics Influence Where People Choose To Live ?

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Map of USA showing states with no state income...

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Yahoo Finance posted an article yesterday entitled, “States Where No One Wants To Buy A New Home.” Since I live in one of the states on the list (Massachusetts is listed as number 7 of 10), I read the article.

The map above shows all the states with no state income tax in red and the states that tax only interest and dividend income in yellow. I am not sure how much of a factor this is in the number of housing starts. It is interesting, though, that none of the states with no state income tax are on the list of states with the lowest number of housing starts.

The article reports:

Surprisingly, our list of states where few permits have been issued recently is different from the typical list of the worst housing markets. California, Nevada and Florida are always on those lists because homes are vacant and home values continue to drop. But the three are not on this list. It may be that prices have dropped so low in these markets that home inventory has begun to move, even if only tentatively. Instead, markets where housing permits are very small in relation to total homes are markets in which builders have abandoned any hope of near-term sales.

In case all you really wanted to do was see the list, here it is:

  1. Rhode Island
  2. West Virginia
  3. Illinois
  4. Michigan
  5. Connecticut
  6. Ohio
  7. Massachusetts
  8. New York
  9. Maine
  10. Pennsylvania

What in the world do these states have in common? I suspect there are a lot of reasons for the number of building permits to decrease in these states. Michigan for instance has lost a lot of businesses due to the tax policies of recent state administrations. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island all have state income taxes and business environments that do not necessarily encourage businesses to migrate there. New York is a very expensive place to live, although I believe the current governor is trying to ease the burden on the state’s taxpayers. It is interesting to me that these are all states in the northern areas of the country. Could it be that as the baby boomers age, they are simply looking for warmer places to live?

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