The Rule of Law is a fundamental principle that our country was founded on. The rule of law respects us as equals. It allows us to organize our lives, plan our futures, and resolve disputes in a rational way. In our country laws are created by elected representatives through a system of checks and balances. This method was created so that the law makers were accountable to the people. Make bad laws and get voted out of office.

Being held accountable for the laws you vote for while a member of congress puts extreme limits on what representative is willing to vote for. Over the years this has proved annoying for Congressmen, Senators, and the President who may want to enact laws that the people don’t want. In the last election we saw the result of congress passing many laws, including a Healthcare bill, that the people clearly didn’t want; the largest single change in the House of Representatives about 75 years. This is a good thing as it allows the people to hold their elected representatives accountable. To get around voting for unpopular laws, congress has delegate it’s law making authority to bureaucrats. This allows unpopular laws, termed regulations, to be enacted without the elected official having to be held accountable for the creation of a new law the people don’t want. Worse yet this allows large corporations to force laws that will benefit the large corporation at the expense of the people without having to have a new law passed.

Case in point: ABC’s Jonathan Karl Reported that The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) is ordering all local governments — from the tiniest towns to the largest cities — to go out and buy new street signs. 3M one of the few makers of reflective sign material successfully lobbied the FHA to change the regulations to include:

• Whenever street name signs are changed for any reason, they can no longer be in ALL CAPS.
• Increase the size of the letters on street signs from the current 4 inches to 6 inches on all roads with speed limits over 25 miles per hour by January 2012.
• Install signs with new reflective letters more visible at night by January 2018.

In Dinwiddie County, Virginia — with lots of roads but not many people — the cost comes to about $10 for every man, woman and child.

“The money is better spent on education, or the sheriff’s department or on public safety than something like that,” said Harrison Moody, chairman of the Dinwiddie Board of Supervisors.

Many local residents in Dinwiddie say their current street signs work just fine, and they see no reason to change them.

“There are a lot of people out there that are hungry,” said Dinwiddie resident Thomas Davis. “Why spend [money] on street signs when everybody can read a street sign or, if you don’t know where you’re going, get a GPS.”

This is a prime example of Too Much Government, and the mentality of ruling elite who think they know what is best for everybody. Don’t think this is Obama or Democrat bashing. These changes to the law were originally started under Bush. Changes in bureaucratic regulations are changes in laws, laws should have to voted on by the Senate, House, and signed by the President. We have allowed our elected officials to horribly overstep their bounds and responsibilities, creating institutions that can create laws, tax the public, and limit individual liberty without being held accountable to the voter.

Who knows better how local dollars should be spent, the federal government or local government? This is a case where the federal government is forcing local government to spend money they don’t have on things that may be good, but take away from much more urgent needs. In Milwaukee this will cost the cash-strapped city nearly $2 million — double the city’s entire annual for traffic control.

This is not an example of the Rule of Law, but an example of am unaccountable bureaucratic dictate. What this change in the law amounts to, is a transfer of wealth from the citizens to 3M. This is a typical and predictable unintended consequence of liberal ideology trying to make everybody “safer” for their own good. The idea that because people might vote out a representative who makes an unpopular vote or decision, it is necessary to create bureaucracies to insulate elected officials is now the preferred method of liberal ruling elites to circumvent the will of the people. The FHA mandates to change signage is an example of an unfunded, unaccountable mandate of elitist big government working with elitist big business to take your money and avoid being held accountable.

What would you tell your elected representative if he/she came back from Washington having voted to force your local town to change and update all its signs during these hard economic times?

Enhanced security procedures involving intimate pat-downs and naked body scanners have spurred concerns and resistance among airport executives and U.S. travelers to the point where even airports themselves are choosing to “opt out.”

Larry Dale, President and CEO of the Orlando Sanford International Airport, first considered opting out through the TSA’s Screening Partnership Program in February.

The SPP allows airports to privatize their security by hiring their own screeners instead of federal TSA agents, he said.

The Sanford Airport Authority board voted unanimously to make the switch after visiting and interviewing other airports that privatized.  They plan to begin moving toward the change after the holiday travel season, Dale said.

Dale said he believes privatizing security will result in more efficient, safe and accountable screening because companies will have to retain travelers’ business and will work hard to do so.

“We have been told that the AITs will not present any health risks and I have a concern that it is too early to make that determination,” Dale wrote in an email statement.  “Furthermore, as a certified law enforcement office, I cannot employ the bodily contact used in the new pat-down procedures unless I have probable cause and have restrained and hand-cuffed a suspect.  To do otherwise would be a violation of our citizens’ 4^th Amendment rights.”

Delta Air Lines received a mass influx of phone calls in the past month as airport security grew more invasive, said a corporate customer service representative who could only give his last name, Mr. McDonald.

While he could not reveal an exact breakdown of opinions among people who called in, he said people had strong, polarized opinions about the body scanners and pat-downs.  Some people thought they were a good move for security, while others thought they posed serious health and privacy concerns, he said.

Sari Koshetz, regional spokesperson for the TSA, could not be reached for comment.

Travelers whose planes arrived at Gainesville Regional Airport on Thursday evening voiced their own opinions and concerns about the new airport policies they encountered when they flew out from large, international airports.

Mike Crowell, a retired aircraft maintenance manager who worked for Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, Georgia for 31 years, has flown recently from Portland, Maine; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Tampa.  The new airport policies there bothered him, he said.

As a result, he now flies out from small, regional airports, such as Gainesville Regional Airport.  These airports lack the advanced security of large airports and spare travelers the hassle of going through a full-body scanner or enhanced pat-down, Crowell said.

“I think they’re useless,” he said about the enhanced screening policy.  “They’re going about it the wrong way.”

Crowell said he’s concerned to see people he describes as “suspicious-acting” walk straight through the checkpoints while “average Joe” citizens are harassed.

He said each time a terrorist scare happens, the government reacts with new policies that attempt to scrutinize whether every other American flyer will attempt the same tactics as the terrorist.

As examples, he cited security checkpoint shoe-removal after the shoe bomber and regulations on contact lens fluid and drinking water after an attempt to build a liquid bomb.

“They’re not proactive,” he added.  “They’re reactive, and they need to be proactive.”

Based on what he’s seen and heard from friends, relatives and the media, Crowell said he expects a continuance of backlash that will hurt the airline industry if travelers’ concerns are not addressed.

He knows a growing number of people who plan to drive or take trains to reach their travel destinations, and he supports airports such as Orlando Sanford International Airport that plan to privatize their security screening employees, he said.

Crowell discussed his concern about the radiation of the body scanning machines, in addition to his qualms based on privacy issues.  He said he realizes the weakness of the radiation dose for each traveler, but has more concern for the people whose job entails being scanned daily.

Crowell’s friend, a pilot, has to get scanned every day before entering the cockpit, and Crowell said he worries for his friend’s health.

Kenny Patterson, who flew from San Diego to Gainesville on Thursday evening, said the enhanced security procedures have simply gone too far.

He hadn’t thought about the full-body scanners or enhanced pat-downs until he saw a scanner machine while in line at the San Diego airport. He didn’t go through the scanner, but it prompted him to follow the issue later when he saw it on the news, he said.

Patterson said he thinks the full-body scanners, which have been proven to show detailed images of the traveler’s naked body, cross the line.  However, he said his deeper resentment lies toward the more invasive pat-down policy.

Patterson has a wife and three daughters aged 15, 13 and 10.  He said he would not allow his family to be subjected to what he described as an un-thought-out screening process akin to sexual assault, even if protecting them entails finding an alternate way to travel.

The lack of guidelines to govern the conduction of the pat-downs bothers Patterson, he said. In the screening checkpoint, frisk searches are up to the discretion of the screener, and screeners have acted abusively in a handful of publicized news incidents.

On an objective level, Patterson opposes the policies because he believes they are poorly-planned and reactive, he said.

He said he questions the technological efficiency know-how of those in power, pointing to the failure of chemical-detecting powder puffs as an example.

He said he resents the fact that each terrorist attack subjects American travelers to increasingly intrusive pre-boarding routines and the government focuses its efforts on such reactions, rather than proactively focusing on suspicious behavior and mannerisms.

“One of these days, a terrorist is going to sneak in a rectal bomb that doesn’t get picked up by the body scanner,” Patterson said.  “And what’s going to happen then? Are they going to make everyone do a rectal search? If they did, I guarantee you airports would be empty.”

Greg Weston, who works at Gainesville Regional Airport’s rent-a-car service, hasn’t flown in a long time and would prefer to drive for eight hours to reach a destination than submit to the new TSA policies employed by large, international airports.

“I think it’s a little invasive,” he said. “It’s kind of unnecessary.  I guess I can understand the desire to make people safe, but it can go too far.”

Marco Rubio

WASHINGTON — On the same day in June that the U.S. House of Representatives passed expansive Wall Street reforms, an influential hedge fund manager who strongly opposed the legislation was holding a fundraiser in his Manhattan apartment for Marco Rubio.

Rubio was in Miami but collected thousands of dollars for his U.S. Senate campaign that day, and people associated with the hedge fund contributed $117,000 overall as his long-shot bid took off.

Now as Rubio and other newly elected Republicans take office, the financial industry is depending on their clout to undo some of the regulations.

The same is true for the health care industry that poured millions into candidates like Rubio who pledged to “repeal and replace” the landmark legislation Congress approved this year.

Elected to great fanfare, Rubio, 39, will be one of the most-watched lawmakers in Washington. A review of the roughly $20 million he collected provides a window into what issues he could champion — and who may have his ear.

Rubio said no person or cause has undue influence and the campaign was a grass roots effort, drawing $7 million in small donations from regular people. “I’ve always told people they buy into our agenda, we don’t buy into theirs,” he said. “We tell people where we stand on the issues, and if people want to help us get elected, with some exceptions, we’re willing to accept their help.”

Conservative donors and interest groups such as the Club for Growth contributed heavily, as did the securities and investment sector with nearly $600,000.

The health care industry gave over $270,000. Real estate interests gave $350,000, according to data collated by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

The oil and gas industry, which has been fighting to drill in the waters off Florida, gave the pro-drilling Rubio at least $109,000.

Taken together, his financing shows a politician with strong grass roots support, but also one closely aligned with the establishment GOP and the hard-line posture that drove the election.

“If you’re looking for him reaching across party lines hither and yon, you are probably expecting too much,” said Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics.

His numbers, while sizable, are only part of the story.

Outside groups spent a record amount this election and Rubio got more than $2.5 million from GOP-leaning groups. His largest backer overall was Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, which invested $1.9 million in ads attacking Rubio’s rival, Gov. Charlie Crist.

The groups, which do not disclose their donors, are pressing for tougher illegal immigration laws and to prevent Democrats from letting some tax cuts expire.

Rubio emphasized the grass roots. Through Election Day, he took in more than $7 million in donations of $200 or less — 36 percent of the $19,717,639.65 collected since the campaign began in May 2009.

Rubio started out the traditional way, focusing on big donors. But almost all the Republican players were backing Crist, long seen as a shoo-in for the Senate seat. July 2009 campaign finance reports showed Crist raised $4.3 million to Rubio’s $340,000. Rubio considered running for state attorney general.

Instead, he began an aggressive small donor campaign and it worked in waves, cultivating an outsider image. Rubio’s Federal Election Commission filings shows page after page of $1, $5, $10, $50 and $100 contributions from Florida and beyond.

“I love Marco Rubio. He is the future of the Republican Party,” said Bernadette Zgorski of Churchville, Md., a tea party activist who gave Rubio $50. She said it was the first time she ever contributed to a candidate.

One man in the Panhandle showed up to an event with a box full of wrapped coins, $70 worth.

“He did not become the Republican nominee and win this race because of the traditional large special interests,” said Rubio fundraiser Ana Navarro. “We all know where they were a year ago, they were all fighting Marco Rubio. That’s one of the beauties about Marco, is that he is fairly free. He’s not particularly indebted to special interests.”

Special interests did start to pay attention when Rubio began to erase Crist’s lead, however.

By the time of the fundraiser in Manhattan, Crist had left the GOP, knowing he would lose the primary, to run as an independent. Rubio’s fundraising soared. He posted record numbers for Florida — $4.5 million in the second quarter of 2010 and $5 million in the third.

People affiliated with Elliott Management, the $17 billion hedge fund run by Paul Singer, were Rubio’s second highest contributors, with $117,000. Singer gave to many Republicans (the June fundraiser was for several candidates), hoping to fight what he deemed overreaching policies of Democratic financial reform.

Rubio generally agrees that some of the restrictions are burdensome, a spokesman said.

Rubio, in all, got at least $600,000 from securities, investment, financing and banking interests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tallied reports through Oct. 13.

Wall Street had been contributing to Democrats, who held the White House and Congress after 2008. But while the reforms were weakened somewhat, what passed was still substantial.

Rubio’s top donor was the conservative activist group Club for Growth, with $328,500. Group spokesman Mike Connolly said it liked Rubio’s message of fiscal discipline and smaller government. After the election, Rubio called to thank them.

“We have very high hopes for him,” Connolly said, calling Rubio “a principled leader.”

Under the category “industry: Republican/conservative,” Rubio took in $965,000, second only to retirees who gave $1.5 million, many of them uneasy with changes in Washington.

Rubio got at least $26,000 from people associated with Koch Industries, an oil giant run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch who have criticized the health care overhaul and question climate change.

Florida business — including Flo-Sun, a sugar company run by the Fanjul family — also helped Rubio. People associated with Publix Supermarkets gave over $11,000. Rubio also got money from South Florida fuel distributor Max Alvarez, who sought favors from Rubio when he was a state legislator.

In Washington, Rubio said federal spending, tax policy and national security will top his agenda.

“There’s a lot of other issues this institution deals with and I want to learn about them and be informed,” he said. “But ultimately we’re going to do what we think is right by the people who elected us.”

WASHINGTON — Mickey Mouse could not bring down ACORN, but a prostitute and her pimp may.

After sporadic controversy in recent years over the national community organizing group’s political activities, a firestorm has erupted with hidden camera videos showing workers dishing advice to a couple wanting to set up a brothel.

It was a ruse — mini skirt, fur coat and all — but several ACORN workers seemed happy to oblige. In Brooklyn, an employee instructed the couple to not reveal their line of work in seeking a home and to hide earnings in a tin can in the back yard. In Baltimore, a counselor advised how to shield a home full of underage girls from El Salvador.

With their shaky, poorly-lit cinéma vérité aesthetic, the videos have enraged and emboldened critics. Powered by YouTube and Fox News, they have inflicted more damage than past repeated attempts by conservative talk show hosts to link election impropriety to President Barack Obama.

Today conservatives are shouting a collective TOLD YOU SO. Viewers of Glenn Beck have taken up his edict to call newspapers and demand front-page coverage.

And lawmakers jumped to action, calling for a federal investigation and voting Monday to cut off taxpayer funding. Longtime critics renewed calls for the IRS to investigate ACORN’s tax-exempt status.

ACORN calls it a right-wing sham — “Journalism by Borat,” seethed spokesman Scott Levenson — and says a few bad employees, who have been fired, should not indict an entire organization.

The group, formally the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, announced Wednesday it is ordering mandatory training for employees and an independent review.

But it questioned the motives of the admittedly conservative movie makers and called for copies of unedited tapes. “I will clean this house,” CEO Bertha Lewis pledged on CNN.

Even so, the damage may be hard to overcome. Washington has reacted with remarkable speed and force:

• On Friday, the Census Bureau said it no longer wanted ACORN’s help with the 2010 population count.

• On Monday, the Senate voted 83-7 to prohibit housing and community grant funding for the group, citing the videos. Both Florida senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican George LeMieux, were in the majority. House Republicans quickly introduced legislation to do the same and sent a letter urging Obama to take a stand.

• On Tuesday, Sen. Mike Johanna, R-Neb., demanded Attorney General Eric Holder launch an investigation into ACORN, which he said may “have been engaged in illegal activity” by aiding and abetting tax evasion, prostitution, human trafficking, fraud and conspiracy.

• On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, took to the House floor to condemn the group. “I for one will not sit idle and allow my taxpaying constituents to be swindled by an organization that receives millions in federal funds.”

According to lawmakers, the group has gotten about $53 million since 1994. An ACORN spokeswoman said less than 5 percent of its operating budget is federal funding, with the bulk coming from private and foundation donations.

• • •

ACORN was founded in Arkansas in 1970 as an advocate for the poor. With chapters in more than 40 states, the group helps first-time home buyers and tenants. It champions better schools and higher wages for workers.

In 2004, ACORN gathered enough signatures for a constitutional amendment to raise the minimum wage in Florida. It passed overwhelmingly. The group has fought utilities in Orlando and predatory lending in Miami-Dade.

“There is nothing else that covers the issues and does the multiple things,” said Florida director Stephanie Porta. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe in it.”

But ACORN has also engaged in politics. Though ostensibly nonpartisan, the group has been accused of being a front for Democrats, including Obama. As a young lawyer, he represented ACORN along with other plaintiffs in a case against the governor of Illinois, demanding that the state better enforce a new federal “motor voter” law, which allowed people to register to vote when they got their driver’s license.

During the 2008 election, ACORN boasted that it signed up 1.3 million voters, though it was later revealed that 30 percent were rejected for a variety of reasons, including duplicate or incomplete forms.

Some were flat-out fraudulent, leading to investigations in several states and giving weight to Republican complaints. The St. Petersburg Times reported in October how one person tried to submit a Florida registration form for Mickey Mouse. In Nevada, names of the Dallas Cowboys were submitted.

Last week in Miami, authorities announced the arrest of 11 former registration canvassers who submitted nearly 200 bogus forms.

But prosecutors say the Miami workers appear to have been motivated by money, not partisanship. They were paid $8 to $10 per hour to gather signatures and some apparently thought it easier to just make up names.

The workers were turned in by ACORN.

“We think this demonstrates the seriousness with which we take protecting both our good name and the integrity of the voter registration process,” said Brian Kettenring, former Florida head organizer and now deputy director of national operations.

The Florida Division of Elections said it had no concern about voter fraud.

“The department has not received any evidence of widespread attempts to defraud the system,” Secretary of State Kurt Browning said in a statement.

• • •

ACORN’s election activities stirred complaints throughout the 2008 campaign and were constant fodder for conservative pundits. But it mostly remained on the periphery.

A fake prostitute and pimp changed all that.

The guerrilla videos were made by 20-somethings James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, who is a journalism student at Florida International University.

O’Keefe, 25, last made news for undercover videos shot at Planned Parenthood, where he asked that donations be used for abortions of minority babies.

“Why go after ACORN?” Giles told the New York Post. “Because I love America, I love God, and corrupt institutions don’t help that.”

ACORN said it was appalled by the workers’ responses in the videos but also suggested they could have been doctored. The group contends O’Keefe and Giles went to several other cities, including Miami, and were turned away.

On Wednesday, ACORN said the worker in a video from San Bernardino, Calif., was hip to the game and played along by saying she once ran a prostitution business and shot her husband dead in self defense.

Police issued a statement saying both of her former husbands are alive.

SOURCE

Charlie Crist

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida's Governor Charlie Crist
announced, on September 11, his approval of the planned Port Dolphin Energy,
LLC, deepwater port project which will provide a new source of natural gas to
the state.

As part of the federal permitting process, Gov. Crist is required to express
support, opposition, or take no position at all for the proposed Liquid
Natural Gas receiving terminal.  His favorable decision is an important
milestone for Port Dolphin, which is a subsidiary of  Hoegh LNG, a worldwide
leader in development of floating solutions in the LNG value chain.

Port Dolphin plans to construct a deepwater port 28 miles off the coast of
Manatee County. Liquid natural gas (LNG) tankers arriving at the port would
link up with a natural gas pipeline running from the offshore terminal to Port
Manatee and then inland for four miles before interconnecting with the state's
natural gas pipeline grid. The LNG would be returned to a gaseous state
onboard the vessels and fed into the pipeline to serve customers throughout
west central Florida.

"We are pleased with Gov. Crist's decision to approve this very important
project.  When completed in 2013, Port Dolphin will be able to provide Florida
utilities with another source of clean energy," said Sveinung J. Stohle,
president and chief executive officer of Hoegh LNG.

The venture is expected to generate more than $150 million in direct economic
impact to Manatee County and the Port of Manatee during the next 20 years.

The Governor's positive support is a major step in the permitting process that
is expected to be completed by 2010 as federal, state and local regulatory
agencies review and act on the permit application. Construction of the port
project is scheduled to begin in 2011.

"This approval marks more than 3 years of development work on the project, and
confirms Hoegh LNG's strategy to design and develop a new competitive LNG
market access into the Florida natural gas market," added Stohle. "This is one
of several projects of similar kind we have in our portfolio, and we are very
pleased with the support the U.S. federal and Florida regulatory authorities
have afforded us in this development. Port Dolphin will offer our customers
new LNG import capacity and thus the possibility for marketers to diversify
their sources and increase the security of supply to their consumers in the
United States, while LNG owners are offered an alternative and flexible
solution for access to the attractive Florida natural gas market." 

The project could serve more than a million homes with energy when it is in
full operation.

Considering the Environment 

The project will adhere to several conditions relating to noise, construction
management and environmental impact mitigation.  As part of the federal
permitting process the USCG published an Environmental Impact Statement which
confirms that Port Dolphin will not have any long term major impact upon the
sensitive and important environment that it will operate in.

Hoegh LNG 

Hoegh LNG is a fully integrated ship-owning company offering long-term
floating production, transportation, re-gasification and terminal solutions
for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The company operates a fleet of four LNG
carriers and has two innovative Shuttle and Re-gasification Vessels (SRV) on
order.  In addition to transporting the LNG, these vessels will act as
floating terminals while delivering the natural gas to the market. Hoegh LNG's
strategy is to add value to its customers by broadening its service scope to
include solutions for floating production, re-gasification terminals and
delivery of natural gas. The company is developing  two deepwater terminals
based on SRV technology in Florida and UK. In addition to the head office
centrally located in Oslo, Hoegh LNG has established presence in London (UK)
and Tampa (Florida). 

SOURCE  Port Dolphin Energy, LLC

Sveinung Stohle, President and CEO, Hoegh LNG, +47 4003 9969; or Harry
Costello of Hill & Knowlton, Inc., +1-813-221-0030

Bill McCollum

Attorney General Bill McCollum says he has some concerns about the gaming compact that Gov. Charlie Crist signed with the Seminole Indian Tribe on Monday.

But he says the ultimate decision as to whether to accept the deal is up to the state Legislature.

McCollum still insists that until an agreement is approved by lawmakers, the Seminoles are operating cards games at their casinos in violation of state law.

The tribe has continued offering banked card games and class III slot machines even though the Florida Supreme Court threw out the original compact with the state that permitted them to operate those games.

The justices ruled Gov. Charlie Crist lacked authority to enter that agreement without legislative approval.

Meanwhile, Crist says he’s more concerned about what happens if the Legislature doesn’t approve the new deal which would provide the state with a minimum of $150 million a year for 20 years.

Nearly all the money would be used for public schools, state and community colleges, and state universities.

“My concern if we don’t, the Legislature doesn’t, is that the federal government will allow them to do it anyway and then we won’t get a dime of the money,” said Crist.

“Right now the Seminole Indians in my judgment and I think anybody else who looks at it from a law stand point, are committing a crime in the state of Florida but we have no way to enforce that. It can only be enforced by the federal government. However, if the get a compact, whatever terms the compact are, if the Legislature approves it and it goes through and so forth of course then it’ll be the law of the state,” said McCollum.

The agreement signed Monday by Gov. Crist and the tribe would allow blackjack and other banked card games at all seven Seminole Indian casinos -including Broward County locations- not just the four that the Legislature authorized when setting parameters on the deal last spring.

Bill Nelson

BARTOW | Health care reform will pass Congress this year, but without many of the current provisions in House Bill and without a public health-care option, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson predicted today during a swing through Polk County.

Nelson was in the county to tour Summerlin Academy, a military-style public school in Bartow, and for a lunch with members of Citrus Mutual in Lakeland.

During a question-and-answer session with Summerlin cadets, Nelson said the House version of health-care reform cannot get the necessary 60 votes to avoid a filibuster and pass in the Senate.

Nelson later told The Ledger in an interview that he doesn’t think the option to have a public health-care plan can draw the necessary votes to pass the Senate.

“The public option is only one of hundreds of issues concerned with health care reform,” he said. “Public option means different things to different people. Some people think of it as socialized medicine, but that type is not, and has not ever been, considered. Still, any public option will not pass.”

The Senate has not written its version of the health-care reform bill yet. Work on that will begin Sept. 8 when the Senate reconvenes, and it will come out of the Senate Finance Committee, on which Nelson sits, probably sometime in late September.

“A big part of (the bill) will be shoring up Medicare and Medicaid. We do not have a bill yet because the Senate does not have consensus. We tried all summer to get consensus,” he said.

“I want consensus so that we can have as many people as possible with health care coverage, and we cannot get the 60 votes in the Senate with any public option,” Nelson said.

Nelson said it’s easy to understand the need for reforming health care in America.

“Go talk to someone whose employer’s insurance company has dropped coverage for the company,’’ he said.

For Nelson’s thoughts on other legislation pending before Congress and his answers to questions posed by Ledger readers, check back here and read Tuesday print edition of The Ledger.

Seminoles and Charlie Crist

The Seminole Tribe of Florida voted to approve a gambling compact with the governor Friday at a closed-door meeting of its tribal council in Hollywood, according to people close to the negotiations.

But in what may be a deal-breaker for lawmakers who must ratify the agreement, the council refused to accept some provisions sought by legislative leaders.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the tribe have until Monday to meet the deadline set by the Legislature to complete an agreement to authorize slot machines, blackjack and other banked card games at its tribal casinos.

If Crist signs the agreement, he is expected to call a special session in October to have lawmakers sign off on the deal, as required by law.

The governor wouldn’t comment on the tribe’s decision Friday. “Stay tuned for details Monday,” he said at a Fort Lauderdale news conference to introduce his Senate appointee, George LeMieux.

LeMieux, Crist’s former chief of staff, served as the governor’s lead negotiator with the tribe.

Earlier this week, the governor and the tribe agreed to a plan to pay the state $150 million a year in exchange for operating the games at all seven of its casinos. But that went farther than the guidelines set by the Legislature, which authorized the card games only at the tribe’s Hard Rock casinos in Hollywood and Tampa and its two other casinos in Broward County.

Tomorrow, Thursday August 27, 2009 there will be an Energy Rally in Ybor City.  The Florida Energy Forum is hosting the event at the Ritz Theatre which starts @ 11 AM.   So just who is the Florida Energy Forum?

“The FLA Energy Forum is a growing community of concerned citizens committed to two goals – achieving energy security for our country and holding our elected officials more accountable in shaping energy policies.

We understand Florida’s unique energy challenges and are working to unite a diverse group of Floridians to better educate ourselves about energy issues and to support a balanced approach to increasing American supplies of energy.  We support expanded conservation efforts, development of renewable energy sources and increased domestic exploration of traditional energy sources.”

I have called several elected officials to see if they would be able to make it out tomorrow but I have not found a single one that confirmed.  So one has to wonder if this will be a feel good rally that elected officials will not pay any attention to.

Interesting enough Rep. Kathy Castor’s office whose Congressional District this event is in will not be attending.  Castor voted in favor of Cap & Trade.  Her competition (Eddie Adams) has confirmed that he will be attending the event.

Alan Grayson

Congressman Alan Grayson was joined by US House Committee on Health Chairman Frank Pallone and members of Grayson’s Health Care Advisory Board Thursday for a lesson on how one local company provides health care to employees at a fraction of the cost.

The plan was created 18 years ago by I-Drive hotelier Harris Rosen to provide health care to his employees, now numbering 4,500.

“We said, ‘look, we’re going to say goodbye to the insurance company, and we’re going to take over primary care ourselves,’” Rosen said.

As a result of the plan, Rosen pays about a third of the national average per employee for healthcare.

How?

“If you smoke, we won’t hire you,” Rosen said. “If someone’s obese, we put them on a protocol.”

Rosen said failure to meet the company’s health requirements can lead to termination.

But, employees get plenty of help – including discounted gym membership and exercise classes, free weight watchers, and yearly check ups with a doctor for $5.

The focus is on wellness and prevention something Congressman Grayson says should be applied on a national level.

“The government plan can be made much more fruitful through learning about successful private industry options like this,” he said.