Please , Please use the correct term as demanded by the Constitution...Natural Born Citizen.  It makes many arguments by the callers silly! Why not clarify Natural Born Citizen, Citizen, and Naturalized Citizen?  These terms mean different things and not all are interchangeable. Your audience could benefit from this lesson.

FYI  John McCain was not born on base but at the local hospital and that is why the need for a "law" clarifying the intentions of the Constitution and Founding Fathers .  It was done! ( There is evidence that Obama sponsored an addition to that bill that would have covered him...it was not passed)

You have made many statements showing a lack of homework on the issue....Please do it!

FYI things I believe:

There has been no court case that was not dismissed before "findings of fact".  All were determined to have flaws or the " Not having Standing" to bring the action.

If his father is Obama senior and mother was a minor he was a British citizen at birth...Just being born on US soil does not always make one a citizen.  ( My research shows that the Founding Fathers intended there to be no conflict of interest.)

Laws have changed since that time and some matter.  Dual citizenship was NOT allowed at the time. 

So many statements are made, and left to stand as fact, that this entire issue can not really be discussed with clarity. School, adoption, passport records,  scholarship applications, and so many more issues are still cloudy to me.  Did Nancy Pelosi actually send a different certification for placement on the ballot to the two states who require certification of birth status?  This is just one of hundreds of questions I am still wondering about.  In this age of fast communication and false copies a court case with a full disclosure is the only hope to know the partial truth, at least.

I am not blaming you, just informing you of a few things I have learned in hours and hours or research and discarding often made comments as wrong. Oh how I would like for some to be correct!

Our local politicians issued a statement saying something to the effect that the public was informed of the questions and voted for him anyway so...they would be no part of overturning the vote of the people.  That was supposed to be the end of it?

I believe his lack of ethics as well as felony statements made by Obama over the years, as to citizenship and legal name, as well as his use of multiple social security numbers and loss of Law License make much better facts to prove his lack of eligibility for the Office of President.

I no longer think the country can survive the monetary crisis to come.....I want to come back in 25 years and read the historians view of all this!

Thanks for listening.

JOYCE

An historic moment in politics!!!  For the first time in our country's history, a politician has admitted a mistake and says he wishes he could have his vote back!!!  WOW!!!  Attaboy, Ritch!  Whatever the issue was doesn't matter, the statement was truly refreshing!  God Bless, Skip

You know that I am an X-dem turn Independent. I agree with your callers and say this is a distraction. I also believe that there are serious questions on where Obama was born.  I believe also that if there was not a question, Obama would lay out the paperwork.

Dean

Nice to see some interest in this, finally...  Info has been out there even during the 2008 campaign about Soetoro not meeting the qualification requirements to be president.  Lot's of people in the political parties, elected offices, bureaucrats, media, etc., should be called to account for this con job... 
 
Dennis

Robert is confusing the issue of citizenship with the Constitutional requirement to be "a natural born Citizen" in order to be eligible to be president or vice president - Article II, Sec 1, para 6.  (This is not a requirement for any other office - Senate, House etc.; these lower offices only require citizenship.)

Unfortunate Conception
 
To my “Birther” friends:
 
In response to those of you who, from time to time, send me info on a “Certified Birth Certificate” from Kenya and similar “evidence” of P-BO’s extra-American origin, it pains me to say that I think we're whippin' a dead horse here.  I believe there's a 50/50 chance he was born in Kenya, but this is not proof of it.  There are a number of entries at Snopes and Truthorfiction, among others, that debunk this.  It may no longer be posted, but someone even tried to sell a "certified copy" of the Mombasa BC on eBay.  There is no question that his people have the resources & contacts to plant a fake Hawaiian BC as well as the birth notices in the newspaper archives (even microfiche can be doctored); that’s a long way from proving that they did so.
 
At least as disturbing as the questions surrounding his birth, if not more so, is the mysterious absence of any substantive documentation from his college years.  With all previous presidents, their respective alma-maters were all too anxious to brag on the academic achievements of their former students and alumni as it tended to enhance the prestige of the institution, as well as to provide promotional benefit (“Chance of a lifetime – come to our school and you, too, may become president!  Act now – opportunities are limited!”).  Instead, there’s an empty stretch in his life that makes Nixon’s “18 minute gap” look like a technical glitch attributable to a low-bid government tape recorder.
 
Assuming someone had incontrovertible proof of his Kenyan birth, what could be done with it?  The man has been sworn in as President of the United States of America.  As such, the Attorney General, the Department of Justice and the FBI (those who might be tasked with gathering any evidence that might be used against him) are all subservient to him.  The only way he might be removed from office (Constitutionally) is through the impeachment process which requires a simple majority in the House to indict (which we would have), and a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict (which we couldn’t even come close to).  An alternative scenario might be that, when confronted with the Kenyan BC, Obama would throw up his hands in a gesture of defeat and announce "Okay, ya got me.  I quit.  I'm goin' back to Chicago.  Sorry for the inconvenience."  As welcome as this would be, I think it highly unlikely.  We need to focus our efforts on issues where we have a realistic chance of influencing outcomes, not on the "chasing of the wild goose."
 
Skip

Bill, what's the outfit that's running the hokey, fraudulent pro-Altman ads?  [Can't catch the ID; they ID themselves too quickly - for a really, really good reason.]

I haven't heard such a high level of lying since Altman guaranteed that we (the county) could, you know, just abrogate Certificates of Participation -- in order to "sell" the monstrosity in Viera.

He's the only guest I attacked(verbally, of course - dammit) during 10 years of Live Tuesday Programs at Cablevision, on Magnolia. [George Thompson said, "Dan! You can't do that"..."Like hell," sed I.]

Thanks/regards,  Dan

Bill:

You asked me to get back to you after I had my trial.  Yesterday, Judge McKibben granted my Motion For Involuntary Dismissal on basic evidentiary grounds.  Very simply, the system authorized and implemented by the legislature does not comply with the Florida Evidence Code on the issue of hearsay.

If Judge McKibben had denied my Motion, I was prepared to mount a defense on the merits because of the short yellowing issue.  The City of Cocoa Beach has intentionally shortened the yellow light to an average of from under 3 seconds to as low as 2.5 seconds, which gives the motoring public over the age of 55 (elderly) between 0.5 and 0.7 seconds to stop.  Younger drivers are also prejudiced.

These times are not in compliance with FDOT standards.

We are filing suit against the City next week requesting an injunction and refund of all fines paid, which right now is just under 1 million dollars.

Let me know when you want me to come on your show.

Truly yours,

Steve Koons

This is why I don't live in HOA Nazivilles. Really? Kids can't play outside?

What a bunch of Meister Berger Berger Miesters.  

Penny

HOA proposing rule to fine parents if kids play outside

Updated: Monday, 04 Apr 2011, 4:42 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 04 Apr 2011, 6:23 AM EDT

By Holly Bristow
FOX 35 News

EDGEWATER, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - If one homeowners association in Edgewater has its way, children will not be allowed to ride their bikes and play out side, without the direct control of a "responsible" adult. The Persimmon Place HOA came up with a new proposed list of rules ( see rules below ).

Part of rule number 4 states that "children will not be permitted to run, play tag, or act boisterously on the association property."

The proposed rules also say no playing in common areas or parking lots including the driveway. Some families who live there are outraged.

Five-year-old Maddox rode his bike around the cul-de-sac in front of his mother’s town home Sunday afternoon. If some members of the Persimmon Place HOA have their way, by this time next month, his mother would be fined for this. "I don't think you should take the right way to ride your bike and play kickball and yell and scream outside," said Keller.

But according to the new set of recommended rules and regulations for the association, that's exactly what would happen. Rule number four starts by saying children will be under the direct control of adults at all times. "Children will not be allowed to run, play tag, or act boisterously on the association property". It also states that there is no playing in common areas or parking lots including driveways and no playing in front of the rear of units. "As you can see everything is pretty much common areas except that 3 feet we own," said Keller.

FOX 35 stopped by one of the HOA board members homes asked why they're trying to stop kids from playing outside. All she would tell us. "It's been blown out of proportion," said one board member. Then she told us to leave the property. If the new rules are passed, the proposed fine for a child caught playing in the drive or in the common areas is $100. "They're going to have to get that money out of me because that's not going to happen. They can ticket me all they want. My kids are going to play," said neighbor Shonna Mayer.

All homeowners will get their chance to vote on these new rules on April 27. Over 50 percent, which would be more than 25 homeowners would have to vote in favor for this to pass. They've contacted a lawyer who is researching the legalities of this and they plan on fighting this.

I've been so disappointed to miss your show most of this week.  I'm attempting to get our new house in order and have barely had time to breath.. and I can't find my clock radio to save my life... I'm convinced it's hiding in a box somewhere with my hair brush and my daughter's social studies homework...

I really like the column this week and your nephews take on the Koran burning.  Yes, we CAN do these things because we have that freedom here, but SHOULD we?  Common sense did not prevail in this instance and I fear for the lives our military men and women not only overseas but right here in our own country. 

The husband of my very best friend is in the Army stationed at Ft. Lewis in WA.  She tells me often of the protesters that station themselves outside the gates on days when soldiers are returning home; how she has to explain to her 3 children that a sign that says "Your Dad is a Baby Killer" is not true.  Some of these people even attempt to throw things onto the buses of soldiers from an overpass that runs in front of one of the gates.  My heart hurts for her and her family, not to mention my 2 cousins in the Navy who have endured similar situations.

God Bless your nephew and hope he makes it home safe.  I know your son is considering a similar path.  It's incredibly honorable but incredibly difficult.  I wish him luck in his decision.

Enjoy your weekend Bill!  It was great to meet you the other night.

Have a Great Day!

Corin

I just wanted to say thanks for today’s column.

My step-son is on his way back to Iraq shortly or might be there already.

You know how they don’t want everyone to know exactly what is going on and when.

I too think that those that want to take a stand should go where the issue is an issue.

Be it with our county leaders here or in Washington; go to the source!

Those like Jones don’t have the courage!

They like the fact that our men & women fight over there for the rights of those back here at home.

They are just looking for the attention; they are not willing to die for anything.

I will see you next Wednesday at the diner! Might have a few friends join me, you are forewarned.

Have a great day!

deb

I trust this note finds you and yours well!

Listen to your show every morning..KEEP POUNDING, brother!

TRUMP the chump...VOTE GREEN : RECYCLE CONgress in 2012!

God Bless You and America!

Roger

"Success" is more than hobnobbing with celebrities and accumulating 
wealth.  Much of Trump's wealth was acquired at the expense of all the 
people he "stuck it to" each time he declared bankruptcy without ever 
missing a beat in his extravagant lifestyle.  He's the embodiment of 
the Democrat's definition of "Republican".  If he got the nomination 
they'd have a field day, and I'd have to "waste" my vote on a write-in.

Chris in Eau Gallie

Hot stuff this morning!!

Matt's story from what I've heard on the streets is right on.  I wish he would quit advocating CE though, jeez.

Ask him if he visited any Podunk's in Michigan, ya know MI is full of them.

My hometown of 1700 does have a library, doc and dentist in the town, so maybe we don't quailify.  Teddy Nugent used to live there, I don't no if still has his house there or not.

Palm Deputy Maor moving to North Port, ugghhh! Watch out Christine Marfut.

Feldman leaving , Bilias from Cocoa Beach leaving what's up with all the switching around?

And the planners and CIty Managers have done a great job on property values.  If I were them I'd ask for a refund on my college degree.  Their philosophoy of micro- managing what individual's do with their property is diminishes the value of property, and it is begining to take its toll.

When government makes people dependent on them, the people will demand the government maintain what they have been providing, and when government can't do it, people blame the government.  This is why government should not make people dependent. When you depend on yourself who's to blame when you fail. Fredrick Bastiat pegged it senturies ago.

Penny 

The State spending cut is not redistributing wealth.  They have a true multi-billion dollar shortfall and have to make cuts.

Unfortunately for years of Charlie Crist they depleted trust funds and reserves.   They should have begun cutting in 2006, not 2011.

Clearly much of this must be due to balancing the budget because otherwise they’d finish with the same multi-billion deficit.

Note as well the ‘budget’ of $66 billion or so includes a lot of Federal money transfers and interfund transfers.  The $3 billion is not really a loss of 5%, but more closer to a 10% reduction.

Scott

OK Bill. Here is how I really feel. Like Earl says you have the right to be wrong and wrong you are!!! I could go on and on with why but feel it's best you view these you tubes just to straighten your thinking.  Also, could you do me a favor and see that Earl gets these and tell him Rick is with him 100% when it comes to these monsters. That said please go to www.americandigest.org and watch the 2 10 minute you tubes that Anne Bernhardt taped. One video breaks down the Koran and the deals with Lindsey Grahams comment to Bob Shafer last Sunday. When she's done you just my ask where has this girl been.

PS, I stand with her and Terry Jones.........

Palm Bay has 600 to 800 reconnects a month out of 35,000.  reconnects equal $18,000 to $24,000 per month.  $216, 000 to $288, 000 per year.  I wonder where it all goes to? They have at least two full-time employees disconnecting/connecting.If they get behind the meter readers can do the job.They are insured but not bonded. The utility workers will not try to contact the resident even though the resident can pay by check if the resident sees the utility worker. You will avoid the shut-off but not the reconnect fee.  As it stands now only one extension is allowed in a 12 month period.

I am not going to be able to make the meeting.  citizen input is near the end and Kristine told me that there is an item on the agenda that will take a lot time.  She told me that she will bring it up in new business I guess.

Dean

I listened to the exchanges this morning and would like to note several observations

1. The disturbing lack of understanding of the religion of Islam's goals. Which to be brief is - Kill the infidels. There is no compromise as this is a violation of the Islamic law. To moderate the laws of Islam is apostasy, punishable by death. Thus the non-existence of "Moderate" or aka "Good" Muslims. The "Good" Muslims as far as Islam is concerned are the "Fundamentalists" which by some opposite day definition we have be sucked into calling "Radical Islamists" The true radicals are the ones who believe that they don't have to follow the Koran word for word.

2.That the Pastor of the church is not "Acting very Christian". First and foremost the Pastor must protect his flock from accepting pagan religious teachings, which apparently many so called pastors are doing now by shirking their religious instructions. Islam is a pagan religion on par with Zeus worship. The god Allah is not the god of Abraham nor of Jesus. To accept this is blasphemy to the Christian faith. It is every pastors obligation to teach this.  

3.Making things harder for the military. What is making things harder for the military is that we are not fighting a war as a war. We are fighting an enemy whose ultimate goal is our total destruction. And they use every means at their disposal. Which include pumped up outrage for every offence. And we acquiesce at every turn little by little.

And every time we capitulate their resolve grows stronger as they consider us weak. Note the increased violence as the Weak One now in office has cowed at every turn

Mark

Bill , The Saudi Arabians shred your personal Bible at their  airports . Since 09- 11 ' 01 , I have been saying : We need to  mail a postcard to each Muslim in the U.S.A.    They must mail it back and check either box a )  I swear on the Qoran that i will never attempt  or suport any violence against an American or a jew  in any way !  or  b )  I will follow the Koran teachings reguardless of U.S. laws  .     Anyone checking b )  should be deported by the feds at once or put under surveilance  !                Ken

Enjoy your program and tried without success to get on air today to make the following comments:
1. The Koran teaches the killing of Christians, Jews and nonbelievers. Earlier passages promote peaceful relations, but these passages are abrogated by later passages advocating killing of all nonbelievers.

2. The Gainsville Pastor is either of great courage or crazy because he is risking his life. I think his act is symbolic drawing attention to the evil in this book and in this religion. IE the killings in response.

3. I agree with Bruce our most immediate threat is the DEBT that is taking down our country and destroying our economy. But after that the next threat to our country is Islam. It won't happen in our lifetime but Islam will not relent until we are destroyed, most likely from within.

4. I don't agree with Bruce that the solution is Isolation and withdrawing as a world leader. He is being intimidated by Muslin Terrorism just like the PC Correctness crowd. We have to define and understand Islam for what it is. We have discourage it here and around the world and fight it when we have to.

200 years from now the Gainsville Pastor may be compared to the Boston Tea Partys as some one who stood up against evil and performed an act in defense of our freedoms.

Jim

The Teachers Union has told the teachers that pink slips are ready and the principals have a list of those ready to be fired because of the expected decrease in the budget that doesn't exist yet-Frank

If you had given me any time to respond to Bruce . . .  ; 0 )

The coming “economic collapse” may make for entertaining radio but it’s not happening.  GDP grew at a nice clip of 3.1% and is showing no.  The stock market recognizes this and anyone who has been brave enough to “bet on America” has been rewarded handsomely.  As far as the deficit and debt, it’s nothing that a modest federal tax increase and some sane foreign policy couldn’t fix.  We pay less as a percentage of GDP in federal income taxes than we have at any time since WWII.  If we get out of these insane wars and collect a modestly higher federal income tax the curves will be bent in the right direction.  I don’t want to sound like I’m whistling past the graveyard, that’s not my point, we do have some serious long term fiscal problems.  But we will grow our way out of it regardless of what the political class tries to do.  The U.S. economy very resilient.  We’ve had a huge housing collapse but we are starting to come out of it, the rest of the economy is in full gear.

Michael

I've tried, but I don't know how to find the real answer.  What is 
the total non-governmental employment number?  Unemployment, number or 
percentage, tells us the percent of unemployed actively looking.  But 
total private sector employment will tell us where we really stand.  
If that number is not growing faster than our working age population, 
we're going deeper in the hole.  If it is growing faster, good.

        As for that "Pastor".  There ain't no cure for stupid.  But (!), I 
have a real problem with people so thin skinned and poorly founded 
their theology that an insult becomes a justification for murder.  
Summary:  stupid is bad.  Murder is worse.

Pat Galbraith--not too seditious, yet, today.

OK, sedition.  Question for Frank Zilaitis.  Sovereignty.  Why is the 
"Sovereign" exempt from punishment for injuring a subject?

On fire/EMT services, you're well on point, Bill...  Maybe we could re-visit my previous essay on the topic:

"The Great Ambulance Ride" or

The Case for Privatizing Ambulance, EMT and Fire Services - February 17, 2010

There’s been some discussion lately regarding the cost of an ambulance ride.  A case can be made that, whatever the cost currently is, it could be reduced substantially by moving these types of services (ambulance, EMT and fire dept. functions) to the private sector, as has already been done successfully by many municipalities throughout the US.

Let’s first establish a premise; it goes something like this:  To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, “The government that governs least, governs best”.  It then follows that government should be limited to performing duties that cannot reasonably be performed by the private sector such as national defense, judicial and law enforcement functions.  Since government is the only entity under our form of government that we have empowered to legally use force (including the force of arms and deadly force) to accomplish its assigned tasks, our military services and police departments must be government operations.  Not so with fire department, ambulance or EMT personnel, as force is not employed in the normal course of their duties.  The litmus test question is “is the use of force required to accomplish the job?”

If the answer is no, there’s no logical reason that these services be staffed by government employees, as these same functions can be performed by private sector companies who have a profit incentive to contain costs, as well as the threat of competition to provide service at closer to market established prices with the savings passed on to the taxpayer, insurance company or individual who gets the bill.   This is not a new concept; as an interstate trucker for many years (covering all of the lower 48 as well as several Canadian provinces) I had occasion to observe many ambulances sporting private company logos, as well as many that were operated by hospitals and medical centers, most for profit, some not.  Privately operated fire departments are less plentiful, however many do exist.

When these services are provided by government, there’s little or no incentive to contain costs, as the poor, bedeviled taxpayer has no choice but to pay whatever the taxing authority hits him with.  As an illustration, early in the school year one of our beloved Scorps suffered a broken wrist at football practice.  Satellite Beach was Johnny on the spot, responding with two fire trucks, two police cars and an ambulance.  No question their prompt response was appreciated and the responders were excellent at their jobs; however, since there was no suspicion of foul play and the kid wasn’t on fire, the ambulance with the EMTs would probably have sufficed.

My purpose here is not to be critical of our dedicated, very professional and highly trained first responders.  It’s merely about who should employ them.  Some years ago there were about half a dozen occasions when I, myself, had need of their services to attend to my parents as they suffered the usual maladies of old age (they were in their early 90s when they went home to be with our Lord).  Whenever I called, it only took a few minutes till they were on the spot and working their magic.  I have no doubt in my mind that these folks enabled us to enjoy several more years together that we wouldn’t have had without their dedication and skill, and for that I’m truly grateful.

To summarize my argument, ceteris paribus, private enterprise can do most jobs much more efficiently and cost effectively than government, as they have a motive (profit) that government, by its very nature, can never have.  As an afterthought, the same logic could be applied to running a railroad.  (I’m still really po’d at our elected ferroequinologists.)

Have a great day & may God continue to bless us all,

Skip

People really need to start asking themselves, what is government’s role in society? 

This morning hook and ladder, resuce and sheriff at my neighbors house.  Don't know why but they were there for less than 1/2 hour and left without a citizen from the residence.

One of them took a walk past my house toward the end of the street, probably looking for a place to turn the hooh and ladder around.

Indian Harbor is volunteer.

We had a great volunteer department in our rural area with emt training.

Penny

Didn't vote.  No simple solution.  But I have a broken record litany 
I've been using for more than a year.  I applies to all levels of 
government.  All does not include too many exceptions - although many 
keep asking "but what about---".  Here goes.

How many agencies, commissions, committees ad nauseam exist in the 
County government?  What does each do?  Is it absolutely necessary 
that the County do this?  What does each cost?  Does anybody know?  I 
sometimes add, "Or care?".

All levels of government should be audited on a regular schedule.  
Internal audits - continuously.

this one's not seditious,  Pat

I don't like to toot my own horn but I will.  I had commented that those we elect may come down with a severe case of amnesia once they take office.  they will forget what they were ielected to do.  power and money have that effect on people.

Dean

I'll weigh in on the Muslim rights thing.  There are no Muslim 
rights.  This is a secular State where all "minorities" are equal and, 
in toto, make up the majority.  So Senator Durbin and company want yet 
another law designating another minority with yet another hate crime.  
One more law that will mean nothing which ratchets up our disrespect 
for law one more notch.
I did notice one "minority" missing though.  Jews.  Maybe we should 
ask the Imam-in-Chief de jour about them.  Remember, we are in a deep 
deficit so I'm so glad to see the Senate spending time and funds on 
such important work.

ever wonder why I'm seditious?  Pat

I tried to get a Code of Ethics put in our Charter but the Charter Review voted it down. 

They are all afraid of Ethics although they ALL believe in ethics, ask them.

Of course if the County management would follow and enforce the rules of their employee hand book, we wouldn't need a Code Ethics or silly things like Civility Acts.

In order to have a civilized society, don't we have to have the brain power to be civilized?

If these folks didn't learn how to be ethical and civil when they were kids, they shouldn't be setting behind a dias or legislating

What are they putting in our water?

Penny

How safe are these Segways?

The inventor of the Segway died by loosing control of a Segway drove it right off a cliff. 

"Police are investigating, but it is believed he lost control of the machine as he travelled along a bridleway close to his estate near Boston Spa, West Yorkshire.

The narrow pathway used by walkers is littered with tree roots and is rutted and uneven for most of its length.

The Segway was found in the river near his body, indicating that he was still riding the scooter when he drove over the cliff.

Segways are banned on British roads for safety reasons, but are legal on private land. Mr Heselden had bought the Segway company in a deal last December and planned to further develop the machine.

Using horses would also give the stable at Wickham park a purpose.

Great idea!

Missed you this week and your comin' back on wide open Wednesday!

I will try but I don't know if I will get a chance to call in tomorrow but I would like to know if the public would like to spend money on RFID devices much like the ones put in semi-tractor trailers, to track government vehicles.

As far as I know right now, the County does not have these devices and I question what type of trip sheet do they use for our vehicles?

I can think of several good reasons, right off the top of my head to purchase and install them: 

- Employee safety

- Speed of vehicle

- Location of vehicle and driver

- Patterns of use for fuel efficiency

- Vehicle Maintenance

- Idle time of vehicle

- Response times to calls

- Time spent at location

So...my question to the public is: Would you vote for the County to purchase tracking devices for our government vehicles? 

My bet is majority would rather spend money on RFID devices for government vehicles than tens of thousands on Segways for the police.

Penny

Mr. Anderson,

Thank you for taking the time to address some issues on Bill Mick's program this morning.  I do have some questions as it pertains to the Clerk issue and how much it will cost the taxpayers for any mess up on his part.  I contacted my county commissioner as soon as this happened, but have not heard anything in response.  So, since you were willing to address this issue on air, I thought you might be able to answer some other questions that have not been answered.

1.  How much, and how far in advance did the County Commission know about the outsourcing of employees at the Clerk's office?  You mentioned on air that you had some advance notice of this and I believe, that you acknowledged the County Manager certainly had advance notice of this from Scott Ellis.

2.  I have not been able to locate a license for the outsourcing company the Clerk said that he "vetted".  Per DBPR, this type of business must be licensed.  Do you have that information?  (FYI Source 2 is a fictitious name for iplacement, inc., the owner of that name.) 

3.  While a contractor is fully aware that he/she is working for the county and has to operate under its terms, that doesn't mean that a contractor can assume the duties of a "county commissioner" so to speak, just as, I believe, a subcontracted employee cannot fully assume the duties of the Clerk.  I would be interested to know whether or not the outsourcing company is bonded and in what amount for such duties as notarizing documents, handling passports and performing marriages? (Just as a notary is required to post a bond). It is my understanding that the Clerk has sworn these outsourced employees in 4 times now to cover himself.  WHY? if this is not an issue?

4.  I think that the county commission should be transparent here and post how much money this will cost the county taxpayers (ie.  the cost of breaking the insurance contract, the cost of county employees who will be affected by the insurance change, the cost of the current lawsuit, and the cost of any other lawsuit that may come, the cost of hiring an independent auditor, the cost of 143 fines at $500 each for the unauthorized disclosure of SSN's to 2 companies (the outsourcing company and the new insurance company), so that would double it, right?)

5.  Finally, I have heard that the courthouse is to receive a facelift.  If this is true, how is this economically prudent?  Where is this money coming from? 

Final thought, I think that if this were Scott Ellis, he would have already been lynched.  So why the double standard from the county?

Thanks for your time.

Pam

I didn’t call in today because this was so far off topic, and I also want to be sure I have my facts straight.  Apparently the school board in its infinite wisdom has directed the principals of the high schools to cut 1 faculty member from each department as a way of cutting the budget.  OR, Mr. Elliott at Satellite High has taken this upon himself.  I don’t know at this point.

This is not where the budget needs to be cut.  Yesterday, he fired Mr. Liscom who has been the choral director for over 20 years, and one of the best and most caring teachers they have.  I am absolutely stunned and outraged by this and want to know where the directive comes from.

Perhaps you could bring this up one day?  Not the specific teacher, but  the policy in general.  As I am sure you and your listeners would agree, there is plenty of room for cuts at the administrative level that could and should be addressed before firing the good teachers while keeping the bad.

I feel certain that there is probably nothing I can do about this as an individual, but I have to try.  I would like to know what to do.  I have written a letter to Mr. Elliott that I have not sent as yet because I wouldn’t want to make the situation worse for Mr. Liscom. 

How can I find out if this is a school board directive or an individual decision on the part of Mr. Elliott.

Thanks for your help

Robin

I have to admit that I was shocked that state employees are not already being drug tested!!  And I cannot believe that anyone would fight it.  Try to get a job in the private sector.  We’ve been getting drug tested for years! 

As you know, I work for Harris, but I’ve also worked for other companies in the area and I’ve been drug tested at every one, except for a local car dealer (more on that later).  As a defense contractor, Harris is required to drug test because we receive taxpayer money!  Isn’t that interesting?  So, doesn’t the state run on taxpayer money?

I mentioned that I worked for a local car dealership for about a month after a layoff—not a fun time.  The dealership was the ONLY ONE that did not drug test in the area and, you guessed it, workers flocked there for jobs.  My fellow employees were smoking pot on the property!  Then they were taking customers for test drives (see a problem there?)  Well, I finally left that job; couldn’t stand working with those potheads. 

I agree with some of the callers that $3M sounds high for the drug testing.  They should put it out for bids; I think the state would get a better deal.

Have a Mickalicious day!

Lisa

Probably should add prison inmates to the list to be tested.

When I was in the Army, everyone was regularly or randomly tested.

However, when you start testing government employees, I'm sure the unions

will strongly object and probably get their way.

Mac

HAY BILL CAN WE BRING CARTER BACK AS POLICE CHIEF? RICH, INDIALANTIC

RICH & CLARA

You ask what is the motivation for them to do their job? What about when they have failed to do their job to protect me and my daughter when a vindictive and vile person, her mom, filed over a dozen false reports against me accusing me of heinous crimes against my child and yet when they determined the initial report and all subsequent reports were in fact untrue, they did not follow the letter of the law and go after her with False reporting charges... Instead they would rather just ignore them.  Josh

Anybody remember George Bush?  Anybody remember him going to Congress 
for authorization and funding for Iraq?  Anybody remember the 
intelligence?  From the Clinton Administration and the Brits?  Anybody 
remember what the media called him?
        What is the media saying now?

just wondering,   Pat

Two quick points.  First, have you noticed that some Arab League 
states are complaining about the violence of air control.  Welcome to 
war.  You break things and kill people.  If you have a problem, get 
off you dead fat asses and do it yourself.  That should be interesting 
to watch.
        Second, what is that court (Tampa) thinking?  Or is it?  Sharia las, 
any religious law, does not function in our courts.  This is a secular 
state.  Period.

and getting more seditious,  Pat

His new name is oBOMBa

Randy

Re:  The (full size) school bus photo on your web page...  Ya couldn't find a "short bus?"  Skip

I don't believe that we should worry about much of anything.  Why should we care about what is happening in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East In Europe. Why should we care about the rising cost of crude oil. Why should we care about who controls Congress.  Why should we care about Libya and the maniac in charge.  Why should we care about the IRS and now they are getting aggressive in collecting back taxes.  Why should we worry about red light cameras, or even cameras being put into our neighborhood.  I think we should just enjoy life for what it i..  After all, next year is 2012.

Dean

If we're going to deny the Daily Bread a site because of one, or even 
several, drug deals, how sit any middle or high school?

Just asking,  Pat

Just got my first official campaign info and contribution request from
Mikey Haridopolos for US Senate 2012 in today's mail. Sent from a mail
center in TOPEKA, KS from a RNC provided list.

Should be like the Brits and have only 6 months for this stuff instead
of 2-4 years. Not to mention with only 2 five (5) cent stamps. Wish we
could send mail for that 10 cents a letter.

Vern

Hey Bill, I enjoy your show. I saw a county truck on Saturday that was going from garage sale to garage sale...

Robert

I couldn't agree with you more about unions. The unions have created an illusion by seemingly providing all the goodies for the employees, while the business or government (taxpayers)  that actually provides the benefits are the bad guys. So typically you see their loyalty is to the union and not their employer, Wisconsin a perfect example. My proposal is why not have union employees actually be employed by the union and the business or government entity negotiate a contract with the union, then let the union decide how many people and the benefits for those doing the work. That way the government entity can say I have 20 million for that task and the union can decide if they want 20 people our 2000 people doing the job. If the union can't perform then you contract with a new union. In  other words the union would have some accountability which it does not now, and they would now have the headaches of dealing with people like Dave.

Kevin

PEOPLE LIKE DAVE the union dude on Bill Mick's WMMB AM  (AND WORSE, SCARE ME AND MAKE ME FEAR MY SAFTEY)

Probably not dave YET.. but certainly others..

The issue here isn't the people's right to "collective bargining" aka contract but the *states* right to free and fair contract.

Over many many many years.. the states and fed have contracted with unions in a situation where there were unable to fairly modify the contract to keep up with competitive issues.   Over most of that same time, the UNION has become the same size or bigger than the state it self.  It has becom "the governement" -- the UNIONS power is too great, the UNIONS influence in GOV is too great.  The PEOPLE are tired of it and want it to change.

I am always amazed that the same people with "individual contracts" hate company's like Halliburton.  A lot of the hate is because they have "no competition bidding" -- JUST LIKE UNIONS

The people want and the states need to change those contracts.  ALL contracts OTHER than UNION contracts have responded to changes in the economy.

The conversation this morning about unions was quite interesting.  The callers sure added a different perspective.

Here are my thoughts about unions.  First of all, I abhor them.  For some background, my father used to be a VP of a trucking firm in Ohio.  The unions there were very powerful and when the truckers went on strike, it was a scary time.  As a child, my family had to move out of our home because the unions threatened to “blow up” our house unless their demands were met.  So, you can see that unions are not a favorite of mine.

I understand history and know that unions served a purpose in the early 1900’s, but to me, today they are passé.  Unions promote mediocrity; it’s all based upon “time in grade” and not ability.

Although John Thrasher’s bill may look like a “poke in the eye” to the Democrats, I actually like that the Government would no longer be deducting the union dues from the employees’ pay.  Why don’t union members pay on their own?  My husband and I belong to professional groups (not unions).  We receive an invoice every year and, therefore, we see what we have to pay the groups.  I think if union members saw what they were paying, they would rethink union membership.  Also, the fact that unions support Democrats would be enough for me to give up my membership.

Another thing about government union members—why do they think they should have pensions? Pensions in the private sector are long gone.  Why do they think they should not contribute to their retirement plan?  In industry, we’ve been doing that for years.  The same goes for healthcare—all of us have to contribute a portion of our pay to healthcare (if it’s even offered to us.)  So, I support the Wisconsin governor’s proposals.  Our states are going bankrupt!  Do the government workers want a job or NO job?

Thanks for letting me chime in.

Lisa

That law allows the President to to declare  a 90 cooling off period 
in the event of a labor dispute.  It can only be used on nationally 
critical industries - do we have any left? - and has been rarely 
used.  The only President, that I can recall, to use troops was or 
dear progressive Woodrow Wilson.

lucky I took history when it was actually taught,  Pat

Woodrow Wilson could not have invoked Taft - Hartley provisions because it was not passed until 1947, under Harry Truman.  Truman invoked it 12 times.  Most recent use was by "Dubya" in 2002 (injunction against Longshoremen & Warehousing Union).  The Act provides for defined "cooling off periods" under certain circumstances when the national health or safety is deemed to be at risk.  Many of its provisions have been watered down over the years.  For example, one of the original provisions prohibited unions from contributing to federal election campaigns, a ludicrous concept in today's corrupt political environment.   Jim is right to the extent that the intent of the act was to impose curbs on the previously almost unrestricted powers of labor unions, although those curbs have been greatly relaxed over the years by subsequent legislation rendering them much less effective than originally intended.  There's a lot more in the Act, too much for this note, but this oughta help.  God Bless, Skip

I can't believe that some people are taken back about government workers
salaries and benefits. Their salaries and benefits have been out of line
with us the common worker for decades.  I am still waiting to hear the
repeal of legislation for congressional salaries. If I am not mistaken a
salary increase goes into effect automatically with no vote at all to
either accept or reject the increase.  I believe Congress should be
under the same rules as most of their constituents are.  They get an
increase if they deserve it, and who better to decide that than the ones
they are suppose to be working for. You and me.

Dean

Two weekends ago my wife and I had the occasion to stop at Shells for lunch. We had Clam Chowder. It was delicious. I mentioned that I had heard you brag about Shells on the air and that you are correct about their food.

Rich

Don't you remember Newt Gingrich saying that if Republicans were 
elected there would be a vote on - a whole series - within 100 days? 
And we had those votes.  Win, loose or draw, the House voted.  When 
Republicans took, barely, control of the Senate there was Tommy 
Daschle screaming No Vote! No Vote!  Welcome to history revisited.

seditiously yours,  Pat

P.S.  the only people I hear talking about a government shut down are 
Democrats and the media.  Heard anyone else?

Private Unions have to be concerned about "pushing" their Company too far...They could put them out of Business!   However Public Unions believe that could not happen to a City or a State.      Tony

When the workers on a private sector job opt to unionize and threaten their employer with collective action (e.g. strike) to achieve their goals (usually higher pay and/or benefits in exchange for less work), their employer has every incentive to exercise his sharpest negotiating skills to come to an agreement that best protects his company's interest.  Why?  Because it is his money and that of his company and stockholders that is at stake.  When the same scenario is played out in the public sector, the workers are making similar demands; however, it is our elected representatives (or their appointed bureaucrats) on the employer's side of the table, who, by the very nature of the beast, have little interest in keeping costs contained because the money they are negotiating to spend is not their own - i.e. they have "no skin in the game."  They are spending "other peoples' money on other people," which Professor Friedman has so wisely taught us should be avoided whenever possible.  (See attached previous memo for the lesson.)  This merely addresses the economic component of the argument; the issue of any one group of people being able to hold the nations' taxpayers hostage to its demands is yet another.  God Bless, Skip

During the morning news that leads into your show, in the “Wisconsin Report” there was a woman protester who yelled, (paraphrasing) “Just because you were elected doesn’t give you the right to make decisions!” She was hollering at the Governor.  Isn’t is ironic that Wisconsin (one of the most liberal states in our country) is having these issues with unions?  The unions have strangled this country for years…  time was the unions were needed in this country, but that time has come and gone.  They need to be controlled and/or eliminated!

In my opinion you should take that comment and use it… she is protesting the very thing the Jackass in the WH is and has done to this country.  It is ironic that this moronic woman just doesn’t get it.  A perfect example of “they are amongst us and they vote!”

Keep up the good work Bud, you should come to see us once in awhile.  We miss your smiling face as SHS football.  I hope Tyler comes back to help this spring.  His calling just may be as a coach!  He did a good job with the Freshman.

Dan

You must have had an effect on the Palm Bay Code Enforcement division. I noticed they changed the signs on the side of their vehicles to Palm Bay Code Compliance.    

            Good work and I enjoy listening to your AM show. Cannot wait until we have another Tea Party Cruise

                                                            Dick

Bill thought you might like to know that I am still waiting to hear from any politician who can tell me what do their health insurance premiums cost monthly or for the year? Rick

As a teacher I'm ok with the inc of 5% to retirement funds I suppose, as long as the State does not reduce its contribution.

Course its going to kill me, since my spouse gets laid off in April from USA. Not going to be easy when house hold income is cut in 1/2

Anyway

This sounds like the lottery to me. More money for education was a joke. As soon as they started the lottery they decreased the general budget funding for education. So it ended up a wash.

Before you start bashing gov workers in Florida, research what the benefits they get in others states. Especially the northern ones. My daughter went into teaching. I said honey there is only one thing. Consider another STATE!

If the kid does not want to wrestle a girl, thats his choice and he can make it.

Im all for equality, but we have no boys Volleyball here and guys can't go out for the girls VB team so why can a girl go out for a boys sport?

it is sad the Teacher's Union in Wisconsin and many other states are run by Gangsters...........the Protesting and angry Teacher's Union in Wisconsin will be locking horns with the Tea Party folks who support Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's state budget cuts and to make teachers and other state employees pay a little more for their retirement fund and health insurance to save the state of Wisconsin from bankruptcy.......cuts (austerity measures) have to made somwhere wether people like it or not in a bad economy .....kudos to the new Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker standing up to Teachers Union Thugs

thank you

Larry

I have had the "pleasure" of visiting the Peoples' Republic of Madison.  There isn't a Leftist cause they won't support.  With the exception of the western end  of the campus of Univ. of WI (where the Engineers are), that city is so Liberal, they would make Hugo Chavez look like a Conservative.  Fidel Castro would be made out to look like Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan.  The only two people I can think of that are more Liberal than the majority of folks in Madison are Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, and I'm not really sure about Carter.

Mike

Bill, Concerning whats going on in Madison, Wisc, where is Obama in all this?  When Egypt was having their upheaval, he was on TV CONSTANTLY spewing his opinions and advice (which was mostly wrong to begin with) but here he has major civil unrest in our country which he is supposedly the leader of and he barely makes a statement?  When you consider that lots of the people protesting there are rent a mob crowd brought in by the unions, and we know Obama allegiance to the unions, small wonder he has went dark.  Wanda

Thank you so much for being a part of the Brevard 912 meeting last night. Your presence brought out many who had not attended a 912 meeting before. Comments from you and Commissioner Infantini were an important contribution to the program.

Barbara Knick

Organizer

--
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."  Thomas Jefferson 

http://brevard912.net

I pay school taxes so my kids can learn how to read, write and do artihmetic not go to protests with teachers.

Our teachers went on strike in the late 70's and we the students lost alot of respect for them as they encouraged us to misbehave in the classroom because there were scabs teaching us.

Nasty!

Penny

It was great seeing you last night and you did a totaly AWESOME job last night at the meeting.

1) A nuisance -  a person that does not realise their property rights end at my property line!

2) Wrestling - Been there a seen that, my son did NOT back down from wrestling girls, he took them down and pinned them immediately, there was no sparing or practice given to a girl in his matches. The mixed matches normally don't go far enough for the boy to have to touch the girl inappropriately.  Most girls, especially in the higher weight classes, lack the upper body strength that the boys have.

The boy could put the girl in some very ugly holds, split, figure 4 where her head is in his crotch etc. most of the male wrestlers will NOT put the girl in these holds.

Boys and girls should NOT be allowed to wrestle each other.  It is a full contact body sport  where I would not want my daughter on the floor in front of hundreds of people being man-handled by a boy.

Penny from Melbourne

I don't listen to all of the program every day I am not sure if anyone has brought up the fact (I am sure you are aware) that by contributing 5 or 6% to a 401K our actual take home may be more due to the "pre tax" deduction.  There are formulas to calculate the break points based on an individuals deductions to determine if 5,6.7-12% would net you more in your pocket.

Vic-Palm Bay

Matt,  you are 1000% percent correct about what you said this a.m. about Wall Street causing the housing market bubble and collapse (at least they should get the lion’s share of the blame).

There is a great book that just went to paperback called “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis.  It should be required reading for anyone who thinks they know anything about the housing bubble. 

I almost lost control of my car when that one guy called back and was comparing entitlement to bonuses in the private sector versus govt worker pensions and his premise was that private businesses are run efficiently, create profits, etc. and throw off bonuses.  Except that’s not what happened.  They ran the companies into the ground, and still came out as millionaires and billionaires. 

And that was the saavy business crowd, not the folks like Franklin Raines who “never ran a business”.  He probably belongs in prison too, but that’s an aside.

The supposed best and brightest on wall street, the so called experts, couldn’t buy enough of this crap paper that the banks were creating.

And nothing in the community redevelopment act forced wall street to buy crap paper and nothing in that act forced Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s et al to give it their blessing as “investment grade” paper, which opened the door for companies like AIG and the pension funds to buy it and back it.

Additionally, all these credit default swaps, etc. they were made whole, i.e. 100% on the dollar, nobody took a haircut on what they were owed.  It was all made whole.

I could go on for hours on this stuff.

The first thing you should do when anyone tries to argue this stuff is ask them to explain what a CDO and a credit default swap is and to explain how it works. If they can’t, they are just repeating right wing talking points.

Wall Street was so hungry for this crap paper that collateralized debt obligations weren’t enough.

They had to go out and create SYNTHETIC collateralized debt obligations to feed wall street’s appetite for crap paper, all deemed investment grade paper by moody’s and S & P. 

That’s like me and bill gambling on whether Matt will pay his mortgage.  Has no legitimate place in the market, and Phil Gramm snuck in an amendment during the 90s to prohibit states from regulating it.  You and I can’t legally bet on the super bowl but they can bet billions on whether suckers will default on their homes, and the bet makers have no legitimate business interest in the outcome.  And it’s still all perfectly legal.

Anyways, it’s a great hour of radio. 

Michael

While the citizen showing for the 2 Feb special session regarding red light cameras was heartening, I am disheartened by the lack of citizen involvement at "normal" council meetings.  Having attended all of the meetings over the past 4 months, I can assure you there is alot more "bad government" going on than just the red light cameras.  We need sustained citizen involvement to demonstrate to council its not just a few of us "troublemakers" who feel city government is running amock with our checkbooks.

I continue to address council during citizen comment time regarding their tendency to govern more like an HOA than a responsible government, attempting to fund all sorts of non-governmental "amenities," versus making the difficult calls to discontinue non-governmental services in order to balance the budget.  During last night's (16 Feb) budget discussion, all 5 members bemoaned the city's $750,000 deficit, yet the first 3 council members to talk only discussed means of generating more revenue.  It wasn't until Councilmember Rhodes spoke up was there any mention of the potential to make cuts.

I find this HOA mindset is endemic within council as well as in the minds of past council members (which is obviously why we're in the deficit straights we're in).  After I gave my initial comments (a copy of which I have attached), a former council member (who typically attempts to counter my comments with such snappy retorts as "that's the way we've always done it," and "cutting means laying people off!") took to the podium and suggested that while my views on limited government were correct in reference to national government, they were anathema to city government where government was designed to provide the citizens with "amenities," not just basic government services.  I found it most telling that he used HOA examples to support his contention, saying things like "that's why people decide to live in places like Montecito or other nice communities, because they want amenities and are willing to pay for them."

Bottom line: SB government is--literally--broke because this sort of thinking has driven excessive spending over the years.  Limited government is good government, and good government is good government regardless of whether or not its national, state, county or city.  The time for like-minded citizens to start standing up for their convictions at council meetings is NOW! 

Hope to see you tonight.
Gregg

Nobody on Wall Street would have gotten or be getting anything were it not for GOVERNMENT shipping trillions (TARP, Stimulus, Federal Reserve buy-up of crappy mortgage paper) to them.

The private sector cannot print it's own money.

Of course, had the State and Local government not gotten carried away with spending the Bubble windfall (not like they were not warned for YEARS) they would not have had the problem with the crash.

Federal insurance and Federal backstops and Federal subsidies worked with artificial interest rates by the Federal Reserve to create the situation where we got a Housing Bubble.  Wall Street and greed simply used what tools government made available to them to loot us just as Washington had been looting us.  The crappy mortgage paper would never have been issued if each bank had to own it rather than be able to, under Federal programs of purchase and/or insurance, dump it as soon as they wrote the paper.

No Freddie, no Fannie, no FDIC, no Federal Reserve interest shenanigans and no Housing Bubble.

Scott

Great show except when you have Matt Reed on. If someone calls with a different view he talks over them until you have to take a break. Mr Reed is impolite, rude and not nearly as smart as he thinks he is. 
 

Respectfully,
Lou

Matt  is sooo right! The housing bubble and subsequent collapse is the result of deregulation of the banking industry that was started in the Reagan Administration. Derivatives and mortgage backed securities were illegal prior to the traitor Reagan making them legal. If it wasn't for Reaganomics we wouldn't need so-called Obamacare today!   Dave

Matt completely avoids the point that, size of the company notwithstanding, no company can use force to compel you to do business with it - government can (and does).  God Bless, Skip

Let's not lose sight of the fact that negative public opinion of corporations is largely shaped by a media that is exclusively Liberal. A business cannot levy taxes, cannot declare war, cannot tell you what kind of light bulb you use, cannot tell not to build on land where some snail resides. In short, they cannot take away your freedom(s). Like business, government has its own interest in heart, however government does not rely on the results of their actions to grow, and have no competition. The same cannot be said of business, which must produce a quality product to survive. The money that any business spends on itself, be it bonuses or investment, comes from willing patrons. The same cannot be said of any government's coffer, which is filled solely by coercion.

Take care, and good show!

Greg in Melbourne

Where can I get 9% compounded interest on my savings?

Where can I get an additional 3% COLA?

ANS: Be a government employee 5 years from retirement age and join the Florida employee DROP program.

I have not seen one thank you letter to the editor for the 33 million in Brevard school district taxes that were put into the state retirement last year.

Bob 

Just wanted to point out that when so-called "conservative" Andy Anderson is not building new roads in the middle of a budget crisis he's building new parks next to existing parks.

There is an existing Canova Park already. To the north is a separate beach crossover next to the land formerly known as Patsy's shell shop. On that land there is the brand new unfinished park that Andy Anderson initiated a vote on. The construction has halted because the contractors went under.

The park cost 675,000 to build and is supposed to create revenue through clubhouse rentals. Andy Anderson voted yay on this along with all the other commissioners with the exception of Infantini.

You can put this all together I'm sure. New park fees to cover operating costs, yet the county is still building new parks.

The way I see it, Andy Anderson is just another big government liberal, and he just does not get it. 

Enclosed are the minutes that speak for themselves. Note Anderson and the rest voted yay on something when they had no idea of the operating costs.

C

1.       I was so disheartened to hear you tell the story of your son and his reading capability while receiving “A” grades.   This is the problem with public schools.  The children are unprepared for the world and the workforce.  If you had not stepped in to help your son, he would have ended up in the workplace (not a good job) expecting people to understand his limitations and praise him for them.  The workplace is competitive; there is no concern for one’s self-esteem.

I’m reminded of myself when I transferred to a public high school after 8 years of Catholic schooling.  Yes, there are lots of jokes about “the nuns” and Catholic schools, but I received a good education.  When I arrived at high school, I practically sailed through 9^th grade because I was so far ahead of my peers. 

2.       Regarding the charges for use of the beachside parks, I am appalled.  Just as others who called in remarked, we already pay for these parks in our taxes.  Did anyone do a cost-benefit analysis?  How much are we paying the toll takers?  Did you find out who on the County Commission proposed this idea and who voted for it?

Thanks for the good work that you do.

Lisa

With County revenues declining (17% - 20% next budget year), we must place limited resources in public safety priorities such as the Fire Department and road maintenance. I refuse to allow property taxes to be increased on all homeowners in order to susidise facilities utilized by a few. The "user fees" for Futch Park and Lori Wilson Park are pilot programs to study feasibility. The issue is that the beach parks are operated with general taxes. In order to keep some beach parks open and provide year aroud Life Guards (which I have soley opposed), we must find a way for the users of these facilities to supplement operational costs. Unlike traditional parks which have rather large income sources from Little League and other team sports activities, these parks have no supplemental revenue for operations.

It may not be a popular approach in the short-term, but in order to keep some parks open, we must make an effort to find funding. I will not take funding from essential government functions such as road maintenance or fire services to operate non-essential operations such as parks. I will not support any increase in property taxes, especially to pay for Life Guards or parks maintenance and operations.

The Commission will examine impacts and determine if this is the proper approach after the study period. Please keep in mind that many of these facilities had parking fees in the past. The fees were removed when the County revenues skyrocketed during the housing bubble. This was an unfortunate decision made by past Commissions that the current Commission must address.

Respectfully,

Andy Anderson

Andy Anderson

Brevard County Commissioner

District 5

We could move the homeless to the unused parks.

Hey they could feed the cats then! Win-win

Oh and then Daily Bread could move there and use the facilities onsite.

John Rodes park a possibility? Might be the sale Trudie is looking for.

Debbie

I began visiting this area back in the 90’s and moved here permanently about 4 years ago.  I won’t even use the parking meters at the beaches.  When I visit the beach, I drive south of Melbourne Beach to the free parking areas at the beach. 

Lew

Melbourne

I just tuned in and I am a litle confussed about this parking fee.  Are
you saying as a resident of Brevard county I will have the privilege of
paying twice for using a county park.  Here I thought paying once was
crazy because I never used the park. Are these parks going to come off
as a budget item?  Just thought I would ask.

dEAN

considering i go there just about every week to walk an hour on the beach,
looks like i'll be parking across the street and walking over.

seems to me there are some sticks in the mud that want to thin out the crowd there.

peace,
db

Maybe ‘free’ resident passes, and charge out of county visitors would be a nice option.

Debbie

Bill,  Do we know who the person is that proposed the $5 parking fee and which county commissioners voted in favor of this new tax?

How much are the attendants being paid, and what will be the total cost of their salaries (taxes and work comp insurance)

The Florida Today states it may generate $150,000 a year at each park, but at what cost?    Wow, at the rate you could hire 4 full time employees for that park!  Maybe this is to lower the unemployment rate in Brevard?

Always listening

Dave

Bill, Wasn't Dave griping just a couple weeks ago about not getting a raise in his state job (which I pay for through taxes) and that he supported Obamacare because his fully adult 25 year old son needs the health coverage (which I also am paying for)  but he has the luxury of paying more for things  while I the taxpeyer go to Walmart because I don't have the dispoable income to pay more for items?  It's great to live on principle when you have the taxpayer supporting your causes.  Wanda

Yeah, right, it's WalMarts fault for putting temptation in the kids way...  By that logic, it was the banks fault for tempting Bonnie & Clyde.  Perhaps, absent that temptation, they might have chosen a more meritorious vocation - they might even have become politicians!  God Bless, Skip

Not surprised with the Scott budget, At last we have someone that didn't rely on UNION vote to get elected. I only hope he gets support.

Bob

I'm setting here looking that Scott's budget now. His Executive Office is untouched. And he's adding positions. Apparently it takes a lot of your rich buddies that you just gave hugh taxes too to bring the government to it's knees. Not to worry though. Rick and his family have plenty of food to eat. A nice home. Excellect health care and plenty of money. Rick's ok. David

I use a BP VISA card.  I get 5% off on gasoline, 2% on travel and 1% 
off everything else.  At the gas pump your Zip is used to confirm ID.  
It's part of the security system.  I wonder what's going to happen at 
CA gas pumps - besides higher prices.

never from LALA land,  Pat

A "permit" is nothing more than physical evidence of "permission" - same root word.  A "right" is not a right if you have to obtain permission to exercise it.  (Convicted felons and lunatics excepted.)  The presumption (default position) should be that one has the un-infringed right unless or until he does something to forfeit that right.  There, I solved another one.  God Bless, Skip    

I would not be offended if a doctor were simply reminding me of dangerous age appropriate behaviors, and mentioned guns.  It is NOT necessary for them to know whether or not I have a gun to bring my attention to gun safety.

He didn't ask me if I had buckets filled with bleach water sitting around when he told me to be careful of leaving things like that sitting around now that my son was toddling around and top heavy with a big noggin which makes them suseptible to drowning.

Penny

Learning About Islam… February 10, 2011

The question “Is it fair to paint all Muslims with a broad brush?” has been raised.  If we are to understand even the question, let alone the answer, we must first be prepared to do at least a bit of homework, maybe a lot, and secondly, be prepared to have our pre-conceived notions altered by what we learn – in my case, dramatically altered.

·        Until fairly recently I shared the widely accepted belief that Islam was a religion of love and peace, and that it had been hijacked by a relatively small number of radical bad guys that really weren’t true believers in the faith but merely needed it as a cover for their nefarious deeds.   After doing a bit of homework I now realize the error of my way and that I was believing what those who mean to harm us wanted me to believe.  We need to distinguish between the hard-core fundamental Islamic faith as presented in the Qur’an and those who subscribe to that faith as explained to them by “moderate” Imam’s who have told them whatever message they deemed appropriate to the occasion.  The vast majority of Muslims are victims of Islam, mostly because they lack any kind of in-depth understanding of their own religion and its basic tenets.   As Christians we are commanded to love them and present the Gospel to them.  The evil is in Islam itself, rather than in those unfortunate souls who’ve been duped into subscribing to it.  We can use, for illustration, the Christian teaching of “Love the sinner; hate the sin,” not to suggest that Muslims are sinners any more than anyone else; we all are, and are all in need of God’s saving grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ’s payment for our sins on the cross.

·        In his presentation, Usama Dakdok took pains to explain that, since there is no such thing as moderate Islam, there can be no “moderate Muslims.” Having said that he further defined “moderate Muslim” as one living in a country where Islam did not (yet) have the upper hand.  He provided many verses from the Qur’an to support his points, but sadly my note-taking skills are inadequate to the task of reproducing them here.  (Ya gotta watch the DVD or attend the meeting – the guy is really good.)

·        Disclaimer:  Before you “Snope” me on the following several points, I’m aware that there has been a Muslim presence in America since the time of our founding, (many were brought here as slaves) and in nearly every other nation throughout history.  However, it’s only recently that their numbers, as a percentage of the population of nations commonly regarded as “western,” have become significant enough to warrant concern.  For us, that’s a big part of the problem – we’ve been snuck up on.

·        Until recently, Islam’s (overt) presence was pretty much limited to the old Ottoman Empire countries (third world, developing countries, your choice of terms) where any degree of literacy was reserved for the elite.  As such the unfortunate masses that inhabited those countries were reliant on the clerics for whatever instruction they received (as well as, in the many cases where famine was the norm, for their very subsistence).  This resulted in huge masses of people, virtually entire populations, being blindly led into voluntary submission to the only masters they had ever known, believing that Islam was the true faith and that Sharia was just law.  To borrow Glenn Beck’s illustration, the chickens wouldn’t have been so happy to accept the free food from Frank Perdue if they’d had a true understanding of his motives concerning them.  Unfortunately for both the chickens and the masses, their options were similarly limited.

·        This began changing only about a generation ago when, largely on account of demographic shifts caused by birth rates that have declined below replacement levels and the need for more young people in the work force to support their (unsustainably) generous welfare and retirement schemes with their taxes, a few countries began to relax their immigration laws and welcome these newcomers, mostly from North Africa and the Middle East, with open arms.  The idea was that these folks would be appreciative of their new-found opportunities, would learn the language of their new country and rapidly assimilate into the society, causing barely a ripple on the host country’s social “sea of tranquility” (with apologies to the moon)  – What could possibly go wrong?  Well it turns out that, as with many things in life, if some is good, a lot ain’t necessarily better.  When the first (measured) influx of new workers was seen to be having some desirable impact on their economic problems (a larger working pool to support those on the dole), other countries adopted similar policies and the immigration rules were further relaxed in the “beta test” countries.   The unfortunate result was wave after wave of “…huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” most of whom had no desire to assimilate, but, observing the generous benefits available from the welfare programs they were ostensibly imported to prop up, jumped onto the wagon they had been hired to pull.  Partly due to cultural reasons, but mostly due to their sheer overwhelming numbers, the assimilation plan has been supplanted by one which is seeing them just plain taking over, i.e. the parasite becoming larger and stronger than the host and devouring it.  (Need I mention that, as these groups migrated, they brought their Imams with them?)  For more on the above, I heartily recommend Mark Steyn’s book, “America Alone.”

·        Trivia:  On my first (and only) visit to Oslo, Norway, being curious I asked my cab driver what the population of Oslo was.  His answer:  “With or without the Pakistanis?”  That was about 1979…

·        Very few new converts to Islam (especially those in “western” countries) take the trouble to learn the language that would enable them to read the Qur’an as originally written, thus they are missing the “true tone” or “nuances” inherent in the text.  That’s understandable as very few of us Christians have bothered to learn Hebrew and Greek, the original language of our Scriptures.  Many of our pastors frequently feel led to explain the deeper meaning of a particular word or phrase from the original, as something may be lost in the translation to English.  One of the most popular examples is the three Greek words that are all translated as “love” but actually mean three distinct things:  romantic love (your spouse), brotherly love (family & close friends) and unconditional love (the love God has for us, His children).  Without the pastors’ explanation, much of the lesson would be lost.

·        While it may be true that only a small percentage of the (conservatively estimated) 6 million in the US who self-identify as Muslims mean us harm (at present), simple math tells us that if 10% of these folks are of the radical persuasion, that’s 600,000 people we need to be concerned about.  Even if it’s only 1%, a very conservative estimate, that gives us 60,000 with the same mind-set as those who (very successfully) pulled off the 9-11 attacks.  For me, that’s scary to contemplate; even scarier when you allow for an administration that may be sympathetic to their cause and a Congress that may be indifferent to it.

·        In all previous wars, our enemies were readily identifiable and made no effort to disguise the reasons for the conflict or their motives and objectives; most were disputes over territory, resources, or in the defense/overthrow of an oppressive régime.  This time, for those charged with keeping us safe from “all enemies, foreign and domestic,” it’s a whole new ball game with very different rules.  It’s an admittedly lame analogy, but do you remember the old “Let’s Make a Deal” TV show where the contestant had to guess what’s behind one of three doors?  Well, now there’s suddenly a fourth door that even Monty didn’t know about, and nobody, including the show’s creators, has a clue what could possibly be behind it or what to do now.   (Even with only three doors, choosing the wrong one could be a bummer.)

·        Although I rarely find myself agreeing with Juan Williams, I heartily share the concerns which got him fired from NPR (a ludicrous decision on their part).   During an interview on Fox News, almost as an aside, he mentioned that, when boarding an airplane, if he notices a fellow passenger wearing “Muslim garb” he gets nervous.  I think he’s voiced a perfectly sensible concern in light of current threats, real or imagined.  If, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a half dozen Japanese soldiers in uniform happened to board the bus my mom was riding, I can only imagine she would have been concerned.  Fairly or not, as humans we have instincts that kick in to alert us to impending danger; fortunately, attempts by a politically correct society to condition us to ignore these warning signs don’t always trump common sense.  Maybe the old adage “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you” has more to commend it than we realized.

·        Although Islam does teach against lying in the broader sense, there is a doctrine that I believe is called “Al-Takeyya.”  In his presentation the other night, Usama Dakdok pointed out the passages in the Qur’an (or maybe it was the Hadith) explaining that lying (including under oath), dissembling, prevaricating or distorting the truth, including denying one’s faith, is quite acceptable as long as it’s done in service to Allah or in furtherance of his cause.  Sadly, I failed to take note of the reference, but trust me, “I seen it.”  Ever since the Cairo speech in which Obama plainly stated “I’m a Christian” in the presence of an almost totally Muslim audience, I’ve wondered how he was able to get away with it in light of the Qur’an’s command to kill infidels.  Why wasn’t he attacked?  It may be a bit convoluted, but bear with me – the logic goes something like this:  Obama was born to a Muslim father, so their rules make him a Muslim, his lack of choice in the matter, being a baby, notwithstanding.  Under Sharia, a Muslim who renounces his Islamic faith and converts to another, especially Christianity, becomes the most (new word alert) infidelest of infidels and is deserving of death by decapitation, a rather severe punishment by any standard.  The answer to “why no attack?”  Al-Takeyya.  What the crowd heard and saw was “I’m a Christian, wink wink, nudge nudge” and tacitly understood that he had to say that for the folks back home watching on TV; i.e. he didn’t really mean it.  Obama’s no dummy, and realizing the high bar that JFK had to clear in order get elected (just for being Catholic) wisely concluded that the bar would be set even higher for a Muslim; ergo, better join a “Christian” church (in the case of Jeremiah Wrights’ church the term is applied loosely) in order to be able to exploit the label that goes with it.  Let’s face it, even our first black president (Clinton) needed a few white votes.  This begs the question of whether or not Obama had presidential aspirations twenty years ago; however the same argument holds for any political ambitions he may have had.

Please understand that I have no special expertise to qualify me to comment on matters Islamic (or on much else, for that matter); however I do enjoy studying history and trying to learn the lessons from said study.  I’m convinced that we’re literally in a life or death struggle for the future of our nation, and that we ignore the lessons of history at our peril.  Recalling to mind the TV news images of the many thousands of revelers rejoicing in the streets in most of the Muslim countries’ capitol cities in the wake of 9-11, especially those whose governments profess to be friends of America, serves to underscore that we’re not just dealing with a few nuts here.  They may not all be “extremists” in the strictest sense of the word, but those who contribute to the charities that finance the terrorist groups and those who lend their tacit approval to their actions and are in sympathy with the cause of establishing a global caliphate pose just as much of a threat as the dudes with the bombs.

Many thanks are due to Usama Dakdok and his presentation for much of the substance of the preceding, but I wish to state emphatically that most of the analogies and conclusions, as well as all of the errors are mine alone.  His lessons and other good stuff are available at his website (thestraightway.org), and his ministry is highly worthy of our support.

We are being set upon by evil on all sides (Islam is not our only threat), but, as always, hope can be found in Scripture:  “… But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” Romans 5:20.  That may be a bit out of context, but, according to Al-Takeyya, I’m allowed.

May God, in His mercy, see fit to wake us from our ignorance and apathy and stir us to action before it’s too late.

Skip

I am becoming more dismayed everytime I seen something about the Clerk
of the Court office.  I can't believe some of the things I am hearing
about such as the two new employees (physic?), the firing of some
valuable ones,  wasteful spending on the new logo and the crackdown on
the remaining employees.

What do you say about getting Mitch on your show?  I think it is time he
explains what is going on and also give us a chance to call in.

Pat

Dear Chairman Fisher and Commissioners,

Thank you for taking time to hear us this morning.

We would like to give special thanks to Commissioner Anderson and Commissioner Infantini for actually reading and understanding the resolution, thank you for your vote!

Chairman Fisher we apologize that we didn't adequately express the importance of bringing the resolution back before you. 

Unfortunately, we did not present the resolution clearly enough to clarify that we were not increasing the number of permitted signs.  The guidelines in the Resolution were straight from the existing sign code with the addition of A-Frame and feather banners to be included as one of the types of permissible temporary signs.  Currently they are not mentioned in our code.

Also, had the resolution passed it would have reduced paperwork by allowing signs to be displayed with one permit until the sunset date of December 31, 2011.

Restaurants would have benefited tremendously as they use the A-Frame (sandwich boards) to advertise their daily specials. Our intention is NOT to create sign anarchy.

Also attached is the fee schedule for temporary signs from the P & D Dept. which clearly shows the "Temporary Sign Application fee is $50" and the "Temporary Sign Daily Rate is $4.00". 

We would appreciate it if a public apology were made by Commissioner Bolin to F.A.C.E.OFF Brevard as we did NOT "misrepresent" the fee schedule as you accused F.A.C.E.OFF Brevard of doing. We do not understand why you made this accusation.

It appears that Commissioner Nelson was misinformed by county staff which led to statements during the Commissioners discussion about portable signs being allowed for every store in a strip center, i.e. 10 signs for 10 stores. Your expressed concerns about each business in a strip center having one portable sign is currently allowed by existing code. Our draft resolution would not have changed that code. 

Knowing that our county, our home, is having financial problems we are willing to donate our time and skills, outside of our full-time jobs, in an attempt to help provide solutions and ease the strife of these economic hard times. Facts are facts, and I would hope that the sniping could be eliminated, it is detrimental to progress and the success of everyones effort.

Thank you again for your time and I am sure we can work with staff to come up with an excellent sign code revision.

Penny Canales and Scott Cuthbert

F.A.C.E.OFF Brevard

Penny and Scott,

Nice letter.  Also, I am so sorry for how Scott was treated.  It seems the Chair allows some commissioners to call people back up to the podium to answer questions and clarify their position but others are not permitted to do so.  We’ll work on that for next time.  I so appreciate all you two have done to help the small business owner.  Unfortunately, Brevard County only wants to call up employers for space jobs and nothing else.  Oh well, we’ll keep working on them.

Trudie

Trudie Infantini

I was listening to the 8:30 hour this morning on the way to work (running late) and heard you sharing about us no longer teaching history, citizenship, standing and opening a class with the pledge and we need to get back to that.  AND I agree, but I thought about a meeting I was at Monday evening:

40+ young men from ages 11 to 17 and 10 to 12 adults gathered in a room talking and chatting.  They are all wearing a uniform with our nation's flag on the shoulder.  One young man comes to the front and they all quiet down.  They are asked to not only rise, but come to attention...and they do.  The flag of this group is carried in next to and slightly behind the American flag.  They are posted and the entire room salutes and recites the Pledge as one voice.  There is then an invocation asking God to bless our meeting.  The meeting begins after that.  The group is told about upcoming outdoor activities and events and what classes will be taught tonight.  One class is Space Exploration and the other is on Citizenship in the Nation.  I taught 12 young men about documents like the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, The Constitution, and the Amendments to the Constitution.  We discussed the 3 branches of government and how they were designed to function, the boys made some remarks about some of them not seeming to function that way. They were assigned the homework of looking up and reading each of these documents and being ready to discuss them next Monday.  Every single young man in that meeting and in class is there voluntarily, the combined salary of all the adults in the room for that organization is $0 (no stimulus or anything!).  Here is the really crazy thing; this meeting goes on EVERY Monday night at this place and in fact there are over 100 similar meetings going on every week in this district.  Of course I am talking about Boy Scouts.  While we do need to move our nation's educational system back towards where we started and we do need to know history, economics, and faith, there are organizations filled with CITIZENS who are doing this every day and we need to be in support of them because it took 100 years to make political correctness the norm and it will take a long time to fix that, in the meantime, we need to grow organizations that train young men and women to be citizens of this nation in all that entails.  They will be the ones to fix what we have screwed up if we invest in training them now.

Just my two cents on the state of the nation.

Let not your heart be troubled…

Dave

Multiculturism not only applies to Islam.  I give you La Raza.  But, 
in the case of Islam, name one predominately moslem country that has 
any semblance of freedom.  I can name only one and it's on the edge.  
For any thinking Islam is a religion of peace and understanding I 
recommend living in any middle eastern country for one year.  Watch 
and listen.  Then contrast wherever you chose with Israel. Then come 
back and tell me about it.
        I graduated from a high school in Brooklyn where there were at lest 
three language spoken at home - English, Spanish and Italian.  I'm 
pretty sure Polish and German too.  Cool, but learn to use the English 
language.  It is the first or second language of most every educated 
person in the world.  I wonder why.  But one thing is embarrassing.  
American's lack of knowledge of a second language.
        The only goal of Ikhwan is the Caliphate.

seditiously yours,  Pat

Saw this on his Facebook this morning

Charlie Crist

Today, I will be in Tallahassee continuing my efforts to protect Florida's beaches and ban oil drilling off of Florida's shores. Join me at 12:30pm on the front steps of the Historic Capitol.  Dale

Bill, the first caller (Paul fm Cocoa?) probably attended Usama Dakdok's presentation last night (as I did).  Paul is spot on and, if anything, is understating the problem.  Too much to put here, but my worst suspicions were confirmed and then some.  Muslims are victims of Islam, and the only "moderate muslims" are muslims who live in a country where they, as yet, don't have the "upper hand" (phrase straight fm the Qur'an).  As we discussed, their aim is a GLOBAL Caliphate, and they are permitted, even encouraged to say and do ANYTHING that they perceive to further that cause, up to and including lying and denial of their own faith e.g. Obama's "I am a Christian" assertion.  More when we talk, but for now, trust me, last night was a real eye opener from a solid born-again Christian (Dakdok) who really "knows his beans" about Islam.  God Bless, Skip 
PS - the joint was packed last night - you'll probably be getting more calls on the issue... 

In earlier e-mails I have send we shall see the reaction people when budget cuts are made. The reality check is here.

 Why should we make parents responsible for giving their children breakfast in the morning and a bag lunch for the afternoon.  Why should we make parents responsible for any part of their childrens education. Why should we ask state employees to contribute to their own retirement.  Why should we ask anyone to take responsibility when the taxpayer has been there to pick up the tab. Mostly conservatives, tea party members and followers of, and a majority of independents have clamored for reductions in various programs and entitlements. You are now going to get what you asked for and what has been sorely needed.  Can you handle it?.

Dean