The Hav-A-Tampa cigar factory in Tampa will close and lay off 492 employees.

Hav-A-Tampa is a division of Altaic USA Inc., which filed a required notice with the state of Florida that it will shut down its factory at 3901 Riga Blvd. in Tampa and begin the layoffs on Aug. 24.

Some non-manufacturing functions will move to another facility in Brandon, but none of the affected employees will be relocated to that facility, the company said in its notice.

Rick McKenzie, the company’s vice president of human resources, says business has been hurt by rising taxes. A new federal tobacco tax went into effect in April and will help pay for a health insurance program for low-income children.

Congressional Candidate Eddie Adams Jr. gave this statement regarding the closing “There are no good taxes. This is the primary result of taxation on tobacco.  Tobacco has been determined to be a legal product, but Federal government and the state government see this as an easy opportunity to generate money for the Federal and State government.  The more you tax a product or industry the less that product is going to sale.  So now we have Hav A Tampa laying off 500 people that will be looking to the government for handouts.  All because the Federal and State government thought this would be a great way to generate money.”

Congresswoman Kathy Castor’s office did not return our phone call about the plant closing.  Castor has supported federal legislation (HR-1256) that increased taxes on Tobacco products.

The company’s Web site says Hav-A-Tampa cigars were originally trademarked in 1902.

The company operates other production facilities in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In addition to Hav-A-Tampa, Altadis hand-made cigar brands include H. Upmann, Playboy, Dutch Masters, Muriel, Phillies and Romeo y Julieta.

On the Web: HAV A TAMPA

Eddie Adams Jr. for Congress

U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, said he is pleased with the direction food safety legislation is taking in the House of Representatives. The Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) was marked up in the Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday.

“This legislation includes the key principles we established in the bipartisan legislation I introduced with Congressman Jim Costa (D-Calif.) earlier this year,” Putnam said in a news release.

“It expands the authority of the Food and Drug administration (FDA) to quickly respond to threats to our nation’s food supply. It strengthens preventative measures with new science- and risk-based food safety standards. It calls for updated food safety plans within food operations domestically and abroad to identify and prevent potential sources of food-borne illness. And it holds imported foods to American safety standards,” he added.

HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency.  The bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers; and it would disproportionately impact their operations for the worse.

HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply.  The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the bill does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.

You can view the entire bill here

Some of the more alarming provisions in the bill are:

* HR 2749 would impose an annual registration fee of $500 on any “facility” that holds, processes, or manufactures food.  [isn't this every home in the US, every garden?]  Although “farms” are exempt, the agency has defined “farm” narrowly.  [What is the definition?]  And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times. [Yes.  There are laws against this corporate-size-destroys-the-little-guy policy, aren't there?  Are home bread or cheese or lacto-fermented vegetable makers who make for their own families included in this?]

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested.  It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers.  [This astounding control opens the door to CODEX.  WTO "good farming practices" will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides.  Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industry's products.  They will be slaves on the land, doing the work they are ordered to do - against their own best wisdom - and paying out to industry against their will.

There will be no way to be frugal, to grow one’s own grain to feed the animals, to raise healthy animals without GMO grains or drugs, to work with nature at all.  Grassfed cattle and poultry and hogs will be finished.  So, it’s obvious where control will take us.  And weren’t these the “rumors on the internet” that were dismissed but are clearly the case?]

* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including “prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area.”  [This - "that has been used to transport or hold such food" - would mean all cars that have ever brought groceries home so this means ALL TRANSPORTATION can be shut down under this.  This is using food as a cover for martial law.]  Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination.  The agency can halt all movement of all food in a geographic area.  [This is also a means of total control over the population under the cover of food, and at any time.]

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to make random warrantless searches of the business records of small farmers and local food producers, without any evidence whatsoever that there has been a violation.  [If these bills cover all who "hold food" then this allows for taking of records of anyone at any time on no basis at all.]  Even farmers selling direct to consumers would have to provide the federal government with records on where they buy supplies, how they raise their crops, and a list of customers.

* HR 2749 charges the Secretary of Health and Human Services with establishing a tracing system for food.  Each “person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food” [Is this not every home in the US?]  would have to “maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food,” and “establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons.”  The bill does not explain how far the traceback will extend or how it will be done for multi-ingredient foods.  With all these ambiguities, [with all these ambiguities, it is dangerous, period, separate from the money] it’s far from clear how much it will cost either the farmers or the taxpayers.  [It is massive and absurd and burdensome beyond the capacity of people to comply - is this not fascism? - so it is a set up for being used to impose penalties endlessly and/or to eliminate anyone at will.]

*  HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals.  [Does it include judicial review, Congressional oversight, a defined and limited set of penalties and punishments for a defined set of “crimes”?  Or is it entirely ambiguous and left to the whim and sole power of “the Administrator”?  Who is that person set to be?  Is it Michael Taylor, Monsanto lawyer and executive, as Food Democracy has said?  That is, do these bills set up an agency by which the entire US food supply will be turned over to the control of a multinational corporation under WTO regulations (and not to US farmers and not to US laws under the Constitution), with boundless freedom to do what it wants, and one infamous for harm to farmers and lack of safety of food?

Action to Take:

Contact your Representative now!  Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food issues.  Tell them you are opposed to the bill.  Some points to make in telling your Representative why you oppose HR 2749 include:

1.  The bill imposes burdensome requirements while not specifically targeting the industrial food system and food imports, where the real food safety problems lie.

2.  Small farms and local food processors are part of the solution to food safety; lessening the regulatory burden on them will improve food safety.

3.  The bill gives FDA much more power than it has had in the past while making the agency less accountable for its actions.

HR 2749 needs to be defeated!!  Please take action NOW.

Hillsborough County residents voted overwhelmingly last year to support continuing a county program that buys and preserves pristine land.

But county commissioners may not let that happen.

A majority of commissioners said last week they will not support a property tax rate increase under any circumstances this year, with so many people struggling to make ends meet.

“The priority for me is not to have any property tax increase whatsoever,” said Commissioner Jim Norman, who led the discussion during a budget workshop Thursday.

Voters passed the extension of the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program by nearly 80 percent in November. The vote gave the county permission to pay for up to $200 million in new land using property tax money.

However, Florida residents statewide had also voted months earlier to support reforms that curb property tax spending, Norman noted. Four other commissioners joined him in stating that they, too, will oppose any millage increase.

County Administrator Pat Bean’s budget proposal does include a modest tax rate increase of about 2 cents on every $1,000 in property value. And that’s without purchasing any new land.

The county’s top budget officer says a further tax rate hike would be needed in order to start buying desired property. The alternative is further scaling back other county programs already facing more than $140 million in cuts to make way for land buying, said county budget director Eric Johnson.

Another option is to delay any land purchases for the next two years in the hope that the economy recovers. But if that happens, the county may have squandered potential bargains available now.

Johnson plans to bring the topic up again to make sure the board understands the implications of refusing to raise the tax rate even modestly.

“We’ll do whatever the board wants us to do, but we just want to make sure they understand the consequences,” Johnson said.

Commissioners reached Tuesday indicated that there may be some confusion. Those who spoke strongly against millage increases last week said they now want to hear more information about the ramifications for ELAPP.

The county is preparing a package of possible land purchases that could be made through ELAPP to expand on its current 43,000 acres of holdings. It would take on debt in order to make the acquisitions.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe said he wants to understand why the county takes on debt rather than paying cash.

“There are technical questions I would want to ask,” said Sharpe, while restating his opposition to any tax rate increase. “We have time to work through this.”

Ditto for Al Higginbotham and Kevin Beckner, who along with Commissioner Rose Ferlita voiced opposition to a millage increase last week.

Beckner left some wiggle room. He said he wants to see the county get “lean and mean” but is also seeking information about all available sources of money to the county that might fill a gap in balancing the budget this year.

Beckner said he knows that some commissioners are dead set against any tax and fee increases.

“I’m not advocating it,” he said. “But we need to look at how we get as lean and mean as possible, then go back and look at what hole is left and figure out how to fill that.”

Norman has also said he is willing to consider fee increases for programs that he does not consider “basic government services” but that residents say they are willing to support to keep in place.

He said that may free up money to pay for ELAPP purchases.

Jan Smith, a longtime advocate of the ELAPP program who helped lead the effort to extend it, said she understands commissioners’ desire not to burden taxpayers further. But she said she also hopes they consider voters’ expressed desire to keep the land-buying program alive.

“I would hate to see the board of county commissioners turn down a purchase when the public very vociferously stated what they wanted to be done,” Smith said.

-Original Source

Eddie Adams Jr. is a congressional candidate in Tampa.  He is running against the incumbent Kathy Castor (D).  This marks the third attempt by Eddie to run for this congressional seat.

I have had the esteemed pleasure of speaking with Eddie on several occasions. I invite any readers to try and meet him at any of his events.  He is a very friendly person.  When Eddie gives rousing speeches on Federal topics, one feels reenergized.  He touches on many of the hot issues including Federal Reserve, Energy, Taxes, Obamacare, and many others.

Eddie is a native of Florida.  So he isn’t a transplant that is running for office.  He was born in Lake Wales, Florida.  So why should you support Eddie Adams for Congress?

Eddie has a big heart!  Even while running for Congress he still has time to help others.  Eddie will be putting on a benefit concert on the 4th of July at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa.  The benefit will be held for Every Day Blessings Orphanage in Tampa that is on the verge of shutting it’s doors.  Eddie has basically organized the entire benefit concert.

If that wasn’t enough, Eddie has been very active in his local community.  From being a member of the board of directors for the YMCA to the Temple Terrace Chamber of Commerce.  He is an active part of the community. This is exactly the type of person the community needs to send to Washington to represent it.

To find out more about the Eddie Adams campaign you can visit http://www.adamsforcongress.org

A report on $85 billion in stimulus funding slated for direct spending on and tax incentives for energy and transportation programs prompted Congresswoman Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, to review the importance of clean energy jobs to Florida’s economy.

In a Monday morning teleconference Castor, a member of House Energy and Commerce Committee, said clean energy creates “good paying jobs for people of all skill levels and diverse educational backgrounds.”

The Pew Charitable Trusts report issued June 10 analyzed the role of clean energy in economic recovery.

The report arrived at a critical time for legislation, Castor said. It shows that between 1998 and 2007, Florida gained 2,277 jobs from companies involved in clean energy.

The numbers provide a glimpse of what jobs in the future can be, Castor said.

The clean energy sector is “poised for explosive growth,” said Lori Grange, interim deputy director of the Pew Center on the States, in the teleconference.

The Pew report tallied jobs, businesses and investments in 50 states that would contribute to clean, renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the conversion of water and other natural resources.

An independent nonprofit founded in 1948, Pew has primary offices in Philadelphia and Washington.

(ORIGINAL SOURCE)