Florida homeowners: When did we secede from the U.S.A.?

by Baitball Blogger Thu Apr 05, 2012 Original

It seemed like a simple cause and effect scenario. The case before the Florida Supreme Court would have decided who was responsible for the repairs of defective construction work in a development. But before the Court ruled on the case the Florida legislature came up with House Bill 1013. What it does is interfere with a basic American principle: the right to due process of law. Due Process is a simple concept. It’s defined as “[f]air treatment through the normal judicial system, especially as a citizen's entitlement.” The key words are “citizen’s entitlement.” For most of us, that translates to, constitutional right. We just assume that the courts will be available to reinforce our rights, when nothing else will. It’s just the ordinary concept of checks and balances. But that’s what the Florida legislature interfered with when it passed House Bill 1013. Homeowners are blocked from relying on the court for remedies for shoddy workmanship. So now, instead of holding the developer responsible, homeowners will have to resort to special assessments among their own members to resolve faulty construction work. In some towns and cities, this will mean hardship for future homeowners because much of this work is performed before the first homeowner moves in. If anyone is expecting the local government to act like some fail safe system, performing building inspections to ensure that work meets appropriate standards, they can check into my website, www.keystoneworksite.com for the rude awakening. There’s a lot about this state that many people don’t realize until it’s too late. When you sign that contract and become a homeowner a transformation begins which turns you into something less significant than what you were before you moved in. Like Pinocchio on Donkey Island, none of us realize what we’re in for until it’s too late. Except here in Florida, where the borders are surrounded on three sides by water I’m always reminded of a school of fish which is herded into one big bait ball for someone’s easy pickings. In this case, the special interest group which benefited from the bill at our expense was the Florida Home Builder’s Association. You can understand why they would lobby for this law, but what’s the legislature’s excuse for it? Or the excuse of the people who voted for them? I mean, who in their right mind elects a politician who turns around and treats them in this manner? If this isn’t bad enough, the bill applies retroactively, which will have the effect of hamstringing the one case which the Florida Supreme Court reviewed in December and might have given the homeowners some relief. Right now the bill is on its way to the governor’s office where Rick Scott’s signature will turn it into law. As long as people continue to vote based on party labels, we’re going to see this drift away from the rights that every American assumes is theirs from birth. It’s just hard to comprehend that this roll back in rights is coming from a Republican led state legislature. The disconnect is classic Florida. The Republicans voters, who claim they are against a government that encroaches on their freedoms, vote for representatives who pass laws which encroach on our freedoms. There is no other way to see it because nothing can be more American than the system of checks and balances, yet the bill will prevent us from setting the process in motion. Even the cry for “no-new-taxes” rings hollow when the kind of laws that continue to come out of a Republican led legislature whittles away at our consumer protection laws. House Bill 1013 is just another example of how we exist to feed the system, but we are never allowed to break even. That’s the reality. If you walk into this state for the sunshine and climate, be prepared to pay for it in ways you never dreamed of. I’ve lived here long enough to know that change will not come from within, so the hope is that someone on the outside will step in and remind our Florida leaders that we didn’t relinquish our citizenship at the border. Of course, the extreme would be to throw up our hands, admit defeat and acknowledge that we no longer are part of the union. It might be easier for everyone concerned to just begin the cumbersome process of updating the textbooks to describe the United States as a nation composed of 49 states instead of 50. Though the whole costly mess can be avoided if you allow Puerto Rico to take our place. This entry was inspired by an opinion piece in the Orlando Sentinel. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/..

My Alcoholic Friend:Final Chapter

Just how much crap is one supposed to take from a sorry-assed person before one says “enough?”

As many of you know from a few past postings of mine, I've been involved with a female who happens to be a hardcore alcoholic with a few mental problems. By involved I do not mean in any type of sexual involvement. That would be the farthest thing from my mind as I have a very low tolerance for drinkers in general.

No, I have wasted my time in trying to help this woman get her act together, and i have just recently realized that I’ve been getting the worst side of the deal. I found this woman living out in the streets and she happened to be doing a little food-stamps sales and a little bit of whoring around with the old men at a county complex in order to pay for her beer habit. All of her so-called friends are nothing but low-life crack heads and pill poppers and alcoholics to top it off. She’d rather listen to those bums than to hear anything that someone who cares about her has to say.

Enough is enough! I’ve had all that i am going to put up with. We’ve been sharing a place for the past 3 months and for the most part it has been a horror story. I leave for work at 6 in the morning and all that she did was lay around drinking that nasty Natural Ice crap which no one in their right mind would consider as a beer. It had got to the point that she’d be drinking when I went to bed at night and she would still be drinking,or drunk, when I got up in the morning. there were burn holes on the couch and beer cans knocked over on the floor with beer still in them. She wouldn’t remember what was said to her only a few hours earlier,much less days before.

She finally did do something that I’d been trying to get her to do for at least the past 10 months. She was getting tired of waking up with the shakes every morning from alcohol withdrawals so she decided to go into a county detox program. I thought that was a good thing and her tri[up to detox lasted for a week before she was released. Sunday,October 9 would have been three weeks for her having been sober. Like I said,would have been. She got a little angry at me earlier in the evening because I got on her a little bit for not restocking the refrigerator with some soda.

That is no big deal but I am a diabetic and I keep cases of diet drinks around the house,which are normally drank by only myself. I keep at least 10 cans in the fridge because I do not like having to drink a warm can of soda when I want one. Ice? That would be great if not for the fact that when I go for ice, the trays are in the freezer and usually empty.

I told her to put some cans in the fridge after she removed the last one, and she got an attitude over it. I usually do it 99% of the time, so if one time killed her to do it, then I have no use for her. So she left about 6 hours ago and just recently sent me a text saying that she was staying at a friends for the night. It don’t work that way in my place. We had an agreement that we do not stay out overnight for any reason. This is an infraction that I will not except since her friend are pretty much worthless when it comes to doing anything of value for anyone.

She called me up a little after the text, and it was very obvious that she was drinking. said she wasn’t coming home and then spat out a lot of obscenities before I hung up.

I AM FINISHED with this creature. She knows now that when she shows up on Sunday that her belongings will be outside on the porch. I’ve had my fill and I've much better things to do with my time.

Readers, you do not know the half of what I’ve gone through with this creature, so many of you will call me an asshole or even worse. I do not really care as it is my sanity that is on the line here.

Software Problem Continues

Still attempting for find a free program that will let me post article links which would be hidden behind a set of words. So far, not such luck. I have 4 more versions of blogging software to try. My current one ( Zoundry Raven ) has an icon for the link but it is inoperable. Haven't figured out why as of yet, but I am working on it.

This is not a good day to be having to mess with this stuff, what with the elections going on down here. I will update the election results sometime today. I Hope!

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Those Florida Budget Cuts..

... are really starting to have an effect on the state of the state of Florida.
I see signs on government businesses on an almost daily basis saying that the particular office will be closed on such and such date due to budget cuts. In the county of Hillsborough ( Tampa ), the county commissioners take an occasional furlough due to those lousy budget cuts.
Why am I on this topic? Because of the political bullshit that those candidates for governor (Alex Sink (D), Rick Scott (R),Bill McCollum (R) )are pushing down the throats of the Florida villagers. Not only is the race for the governorship blowing smoke up our asses, but those running for the Senate ( Mark Rubio (R), Charlie Chris (R) are doing the same thing.
My problem with those Republican candidates is that they are still into pushing for more tax cuts for Florida, which will help increase jobs in the state. This crap didn't work under Jeb Bush and it is not going to work this time either.
Who will get these tax cuts? The residents of Florida? Not hardly since there is no income tax on residents. That leaves only businesses which will reap the tax cut benefits. It is reported that Florida business pays only a measly 4% in taxes, if they pay any at all. Some of those running for political office would like to see that tax rate lowered to around 1.5%.
Get real you fucks! Those libraries which close one Friday per month and the furlough which county commissioners and city council members have to take are not due to budget cuts folks. They are due to TAX CUTS brought about by your favorite Republican business lackey.

Life In Tampa...

... just keeps on getting better and better.Not!
Being the "police state" of the United States,the the sheriff's office has decided to put up some new camera equipment in one of our local hotspots for crime.
28 camera's went up in the USF (University of South Florida)area'
You can read more about this at hcso.tampa.fl.us/Articles/Articles/HCSO-Watching-Out-For-You.

The Sounds Of Silence...

... is pretty deafening down here on the Florida Gulf coast while we all sit and wait to see how much, if any, of B.P.'s oil in the Gulf is going to wash ashore here and wreck havoc on the coastline.
Many of the so-called politicians in the state have gotten silent after the spill, especially the majority of our puplic servents, mostly Republicans,who had been running around the state of Florida and many other parts of the country with their " drill,baby,drill" bullshit in order to help the oil companies make a few more dollars.
I sort of remember being told by the oil companies and our political assholes that we have new technology now and that most spill damage could be dealt with in an appropriate manner.
Yes sirreee!

GOP Going Down In Florida?

Lord, I surely do hope so! The Republicans have had most of the control of the state for at least a decade, and they have wasted no time in screwing the state of Florida up.

Florida Republican Party Imploding Fast!
by davidkc Sat Apr 03, 2010
Let me get you non-Floridians up to speed: the Republican Party in Florida is imploding - Fast. Every day this week has revealed another layer of a growing scandal of corruption, greed and unlawful activity that has burst out into the open sunshine, bringing the possibility of a federal investigation and tainting just about every single Republican leader and top political candidate in the state - including the top candidates for open Senate and Governor spots. Jump down for the details and get out the popcorn.
The Florida GOP scandal revolves around Jim Greer, who was handpicked by Gov. Charlie Crist three years ago to lead the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF). Greer resigned his post in February amid a growing chorus of criticism by the state's Republicans for his lavish spending of party funds (where have I heard that before?) and for the feeling among the party's wingnut base that he was trying to snuff out Marco Rubio's Senate bid.
It was all downhill from there for the Florida GOPers. When RPOF auditors conducted their annual audit in March, they discovered that Greer had been skimming off RPOF donations through a stealth company. When Greer was ousted in February, another reason for his fall was that Republican leaders had discovered that he had made secret contract with party executive director Delmar Johnson, his loyal aide, to pay Johnson a 10 percent commission on all major donations to the RPOF. The skimmed funds were funneled to a company called Victory Strategies that was believed to be owned by Johnson. But last month RPOF auditors discovered that Johnson was not the sole owner of the shell company:
...party auditors conducted their annual review and discovered that (Greer) owned 60 percent of the company — Victory Strategies LLC — and Johnson owned 40 percent. The audit revealed that the company received $133,005 in fundraising commissions and another $66,250 for consulting services in 2009.
That revelation led the current party chairman, John Thrasher, to refer the matter to Attorney General (and current candidate for governor) Bill McCollum, who has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to investigate.
But wait, it gets better! On Wednesday, as RPOF officials had been piling on Greer for weeks, the St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald dropped another bombshell: RPOF officials had offered Greer a questionable secret severance package that appeared to absolve him of any financial wrongdoing and pay him $124,000 to remain as a consultant for a year.
The previously undisclosed severance documents, obtained Wednesday by the Times/Herald, were signed by top party officials, including current party chairman John Thrasher and leading lawmakers who helped oust Greer amid intense concerns he used the party coffers as a personal slush fund.
"All RPOF expenditures made during Chairman Greer's term as RPOF Chairman were proper, lawful, appropriate," the Jan. 4 severance document states. It also specifically clears Greer of any questionable purchases put on the party's credit card.
Jason Gonzalez, the party's lawyer, said Greer never signed the agreement, so it is invalid. Internal party documents show party officials revoked the severance offer Feb. 17. Greer's attorney, Damon Chase, argues the agreement is binding, and the documents obtained by the Times/Herald include Greer's signature.
Greer has also accused associates of incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Speaker-designate Dean Cannon of offering to pay him $200,000 of "hush money" to stay quiet about the severance agreement, and yesterday he sued the Republican Party of Florida, alleging that the party violated the terms of the secret severance agreement. (!)
Greer's suit seeks unspecified financial damages for breach of agreement and names as defendants the party and current chairman John Thrasher, a state senator from St. Augustine.
But the stain from Greer's criminal probe, and the revelation by the Times/Herald that party leaders signed the golden parachute agreement to oust him, seeps deep into the party's ranks.
"Wait until the IRS gets in it," said Allen Cox, the party's vice chairman under Greer. "Who knew what, and who agreed to it? There's a smoking gun here."
There are many more allegations flying around too, including revelations of lavish spending on RPOF credit cards by Dean Cannon and Marco Rubio. And yesterday, Charlie Crist and Florida's Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink (who will likely be battling with AG McCollum in the governor's race) called to bring in the feds. The move by Crist, who had steadfastly stood by Greer, marks his clear decision to throw his pal under the bus.
The prospect of a federal investigation will intensify the scrutiny of the state GOP, which is reeling from the discovery this week that Greer siphoned party donations to a shell company he owned, and the disclosure that top officials planned to pay him a $125,000 golden parachute if he resigned.
At the same time, new records obtained by the Times/Herald expose how another top GOP lawmaker — incoming Speaker Dean Cannon — used a party credit card to charge $200,000 in a 2 1/2-year period ending in early 2009. The charges include more than $3,000 in personal expenses, some of which he didn't reimburse until just weeks ago as controversy swirled around the use of party credit cards.
For Crist, his statements represent a reversal from his ardent support of Greer, who he handpicked for the chairmanship and supported to the end, despite demands dating to December for Greer's dismissal and a thorough investigation.
Crist said he took "responsibility" for putting Greer at the helm, and that he became disillusioned after the recent revelations.
The calls for the federal investigation mean this GOP scandal is not going away anytime soon, which can be nothing but good news for Alex Sink and Kendrick Meek.
J. Larry Hart, a former state and federal prosecutor not connected to the case, said the Republican Party situation suggests the possibility of a number of violations, regardless of the circumstances.
"Even thieves can be victims of theft," he said.
With the impending entry of federal authorities, the situation is likely to get worse for Greer and other Republicans, said Charles Rose, who teaches at Stetson University College of Law.
"Once the federal government gets involved, they have infinite resources," said Rose, a former prosecutor and defense attorney. "You can't win."
It couldn't happen to a slimier bunch of a-holes!
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/3/853750/-Florida-Republican-Party-Imploding-Fast!

This is just part of the problems in which the Republican Party finds itself in. Finally, many of the residents of the state are noticing that the GOP here have done nothing but waste precious money for stupid shit while giving those bigger GOP donors tax breaks and other assorted goodies!
Have you heard about the tax break for yacht buyers?

Offensive tax break
I am shocked about the idea of giving a tax break to yacht buyers in this economy. How do you think it feels to read about this tax break when people are losing their homes, losing their jobs and trying to put food on the table?
We will see who actually voted for this break and remember them at election time. It's enough to read about all the terrible things happening to families and then see this nonsense. All I can say is that it must be nice to be able to own a yacht in these chaotic times. Christine Robinson, Largo

Republicans in general..

A questionable agenda
One party in Tallahassee is for $80 million in tax breaks for businesses, for making it tougher to prosecute public officials for taking bribes, for decreased penalties for public officials who fail to disclose financial information, for allowing legislators to vote on bills that result in personal gain for themselves, and for a union-busting plan to end teacher tenure.
This same party is passing resolutions against health care for 30 million more people who don't have it now, against the voters' class-size mandate, for disallowing any attempt to get federal dollars to pay for our children's health insurance, disallowing any attempt to get federal dollars for unemployment relief, disallowing any attempt to make the budget process more accessible to the public, or to increase public access to public records. And that party, dare we speak its name, is the Republican Party?
Question: What would possess someone to cast a vote for this party?
Robert E. McCallion, St. Petersburg

This state is supposed to have a Democrat majority, but the Republicans always manage to win the elections whenever they come around. Maybe the folks here have finally caught on to the flim-flams that the GOP has been pulling on them. I would hope so, but, I don't have much faith in a population such as is down here. The uneducated are easily led by the wolves in sheeps clothing.
The opinions posted here come from:
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/letters/wednesday-letters-leadership-in-tallahassee-is-lacking/1083952

Tampa Bay Still Low on Jobs...

... which is no surprise to those of us living in this town.
If you are an hourly worker here in Tampa, then you know how rough it is trying to find even a temp job, much less a permanent one.
So how bad is it here?
Florida's unemployment rate was 11.9 percent for January, tying a high which was set almost 35 years ago, while Tampa was even higher at 13.1 percent.

A group of state economists recently predicted unemployment in Florida would top out at 12.3 percent by this fall before a slow crawl back toward the single digits.
"Unfortunately, we caught the brunt of this recession," said University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith. "I think we're in the last phases of the labor market's worsening."

I've been fortunate enough to find a somewhat steady job through a day labor temp service, but that job is subject to end at any time without notice. Many down here in Tampa are not that lucky and are etching out an existence on only a few hours of work per week. Some good news may be forthcoming though.

The St. Petersburg Times reported last week that Florida had lined up 900 projects that could result in nearly 10,600 short-term jobs but was held up waiting for federal approval. Under the Back to Work program, stimulus funds would pay for up to 95 percent of salary and training costs for new hires if employers agree to keep those jobs until at least September.
Some of the most stunning statistics out Wednesday were on the local level, with the Tampa Bay area posting the highest rate among major metropolitan areas.

The last time state unemployment was at 11.9 percent was May 1975, the highest point since the state started tracking such data in 1970. Comparable figures for national jobless rates during the Depression era are not available but were believed to be about 25 percent.
Florida's unemployment rate remains substantially higher than the national average, which was 9.7 percent in February and appears to be near a peak.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/workinglife/article1078706.ece

Tampa Bay Area Unemployment 12.3%..

... and it is not going to get better any time soon. so, if you are seeking work in this area, my suggestion to you is to stop wasting your time here and look for work elsewhere. Of course, with Christmas only a few days away, you might get lucky and find some seasonal work at WalMart or other such retailers in the area.
For those of you who wish to know, the unemployment rate for the entire state of Florida now sits at 11.5%, which really sucks if you live in the state.
Florida lost a total 16,700 jobs during the month of November, the worst in the nation. The unemployment rate of 11.5% is the highest in 34 years which is 1.5% higher than the national average.
Of course, the 12.3% rate for the Tampa Bay area makes it the leader for those without work than all of the other metro areas in the state.

November's rate is the highest posted in Florida since May 1975, when unemployment peaked at 11.9 percent. Several economists predict the state will break the 12 percent mark early next year before gradually retreating.
It could take until 2019, state economists project, before unemployment in Florida gets back to a more palatable 6 percent range.
With more than 1 million jobless out of a statewide labor force of 9.2 million, Florida was singled out by the Labor Department as the only state in the country to post a statistically significant increase in unemployment in November. Seven other states that posted significant changes in unemployment all saw their rates go down. In fact, 36 states and the District of Columbia all saw a dip in unemployment last month.
About 9,200 of the jobs Florida lost in November were tied to construction, most of them specialty trade contractors, Rust said.
More than two-thirds of Florida's job shedding over the year has been tied to three industry sectors: construction; trade, transportation and utilities; and professional and business services. Health care has been the only growing industry for much of the year.

SOURCE:http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/personalfinance/

79 Metro Areas Are Recession Free...

... according to an MSNBC and Moody's Economy Adversity Index. The index measures the economic health of some 381 metro areas, covering all of the states.
Using this link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33312701/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy) you can just click on the state in which you are interested, and you'll get some figures like the employment rate, single family housing starts, housing prices, ect. The map notes that 11 states are going through a time of recovery, though industrial production and other areas are still below normal.
I'm living down here in Tampa Bay, Florida, and we are not going to see any kind of better employment, or industrial production any time soon. Therefore, I'm not even going to comment on this state.
Speaking of the econony.
You may well know by now that those of you who receive Social Security checks will not be getting a " cost of living " increase in 2010. This will be the first time that this has happened since 1975! As if it isn't hard enough to live off of one of these checks as it is for most people, now you have to spend even more time in trying to decide if you should buy food or get your scripts filled! this is rediculous, folks. That is some 50 million people who will not be getting a raise. Some will suffer more than they should be. Are food and medicine prices going to stop going up in 2010? I doubt it.
SOURCE:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33324352/ns/business-personal_finance

HART Line Bus System...

...is the public transportation system down here in Tampa, Florida. It really does need to be replaced. Actually, the system is fine, it is the bus drivers who need to be canned and sent back to working at McDonalds or wherever the hell it is that they came from.
Hart Line bus drivers seem to be the laziest driver's that I've ever run across during my stays in various cities.
My actual complaint with these drivers is that they seem to not understand what being on time is. These drivers seem to think that they have their jobs in place, so fuck everyone else! At least that is the impression that myself and many other riders have.
Three days ago I was at the Hart Marion Street Transfer Station in downtown Tampa waiting for a route 1 bus to leave. This bus was due to depart at around 7:35 pm and this station was its point of origin, so there was no reason for this route to begin late. But nooooooooo! The driver of the bus finally came out of his little break-room at 7:45! Ten minutes late at the outset! What the fuck is that kind of service! Then the man wants to drive like he's in a NASCAR race at Daytona or somewhere! Of course, the driver didn't appologize for the late start. He said nothing to the riders on board.
This is not the first time that these drivers have come out of their little break-room late. On the same route a few weeks back, the criver was no where to be found. The security guard in the area had to go and find the man and bring him to the bus! What kind of shit is this?
And this service wants to raise its rates? It already cost riders 3.75 per day for an all day pass to ride the buses. A one-way trip cost you 1.75. Of course, with discounts for being poor or whatever, you can get on cheaper. That ain't the point. The service sucks no matter what the cost is!
I will say that HART does have a few very good drivers who know about customer service and about being on time. these few will bend over backwards in order to please their passengers. The other drivers should take note.
HARTLine, get with the program!

USA Today: 1000s of Americans move to Mexico for health care

by Eclectablog Tue Sep 01, 2009
USA Today is reporting that "thousands" of Americans are moving to Mexico to receive inexpensive health care:
As the United States debates an overhaul of its health care system, thousands of American retirees in Mexico have quietly found a solution of their own, signing up for the health care plan run by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).
One of the biggest arguments against changing our system in the USA is that our system is SOOOOOOOOOOO good that foreigners come here to get treatment.
Seems that's only part of the story. In Mexico, they run a program that costs between $90 and $250 a year for "legal foreigners". They have 1,507 clinics and 264 hospitals across Mexico and thousands of Americans are moving there to take advantage of it.
The program has helped people such as Ron and Jemmy Miller of Shawano, Wis. They decided to retire early, but knew affording health care was going to be a problem.
Ron was a self-employed contractor, and Jemmy was a loan officer at a bank. At ages 61 and 52, respectively, they were too young to qualify for Medicare, but too old to risk not having health insurance.
"We knew that we couldn't retire without Medicare," Jemmy Miller said. "We're pretty much in Mexico now because we can't afford health care in the States."
It's a pretty no-frills system. Pre-existing conditions aren't covered for the first two years and the hospitals aren't anything fancy. But at $250 per year, it's a very enticing situation.
Perhaps health care reform advocates can use this bit of news next time they hear the tired excuse that foreigners come to America for treatment because what we have here is so damn awesome.
Bob Story, 75, of St. Louis, had prostate-reduction surgery at an IMSS hospital in Mazatlán and discovered that patients were expected to bring their own pillows. It was a small price to pay, he said, for a surgery that would have cost thousands of dollars back home.
"I would say it's better than any health plan I've had in the States," he said.
My, my... Maybe that puts their other front-page article, For Florida, 'the end of an era' of growth into perspective.
I'm just sayin'...
UPDATE: First of all, the intent of this diary isn't to show that we should all go to Mexico for our treatment or even that it's right that some Americans do. Only that there are other options to our system and these can WORK.
Also, I don't think anyone is claiming they ran to Mexico for high-end or emergency treatment. Only for the routine care that is out of the price range even for so many Americans.
Again, I think this just highlights that there are other options and that our so-called "best system in the world" maybe isn't the only answer.
What pisses me off so much about the anti-reformers' arguments is that there is a blindness to two things. First, that there are other ways of doing health care that give better outcomes than ours and, second, that if we do anything remotely similar to single-payer, we'll have a system exactly like Canada/Sweden/England/fill-in-the-blank.
Why can't we have a system that incorporates the best parts of all these other systems, avoids the well-documented pitfalls and problems with them, and truly is "American"? That's a little thing called leadership and we should be able to learn from other countries and come up with a new-and-improved approach.

Life On The Streets Of Tampa: Let's Meet Anna

Anna is one of those people who has been living on the streets for the past 5 months. This is not her first time in the great outdoors.
Anna is somewhere around the age of 54, 5 feet 7 inches, and she probably weighs in at about 110 pounds. Anna is a pretty womean for her age. She's been lucky that the beer that she drinks every day really hasn't aged her all that much. Yet. Anna has been a heavy beer drinker for at least the last 20 years and she loves the " Natural Ice " brand of the stuff.
So how did I come across Anna? I had arrived in Tampa back in June, and, with nothing better to do I went looking for some of my old friends. It took about a week before I ran into an old friend named Waymon. I've known Waymon for over 10 years, so he was the logical first choice in seeking out the past. My, how Waymon has changed! H'es been a heavy drinker since his late teens and he hasn't slowed down over the years. In Fact, he's gotten worse! Anyway, I stumbled onto he and Anna sitting in a breeze-way next door to a grocery store. Waymon was sauced on his wine and Anna was looking pretty well-lit on her beer.
Anna is one of those people who should be drinking nothing harder than Kool-Aid, or maybe a diet Pepsi. She can handle one beer, and even two without going into the "stupid zone", but after three or more, all hell will break loose! I'm not talking about the usual drunken rants and raves. Hers is a little different than most. She likes to mumble on an almost non-stop basis. This can get pretty annoying to most people, especially non-drinkers. She knows very few of those, by the way. Three beers or more also makes her hear things. I'm not speaking of alien voices or the usual shit inside someones head. I'm talking about not hearing what someone has actually said to her. Sort of like selective-hearing. What one says, and what one hears is not the same thing, no matter how clearly the comment is. Anna has this down to a tee.
I should note that when not partaking in her beer habit to the extreme, Anna is a very sweet, and intelligent woman. When she gets going though, it doesn't take her to long to get what I call " stuck on stupid." I'll explain that one in my next post.

Tampa Florida: Land Of The Lost..

... and that is putting it mildly, my friends.
I've lived here three times since the early eighties and it has turned worse in this over-grown town each time that I come here. I'm speaking of the work here, the people, and the attitude in this shithole.
Tampa tries to make itself llok like a modern town with all of the trappings of a big city, but once you have been here for any lenght of time, and not as a tourist, you soon see that this place is one big rat-hole!
One of the bigger problems here in the Tampa Bay area, other than the Rays, is the county and the city's way in which they deal with the homeless. Believe me, there are many homeless in the Tampa area and they are spread out all over the place. This is particularly true in the Northern section of the town, as well as downtown, and the South side. Every where that you go in Tampa is a haven for pan-handlers and such. Some of these folks are unable to work, or to find any work in the first place. I have a soft spot for those types. But, the fact is that many of the beggers are just to damned lazy to go out and look for work. That takes effort and doing such a thing would take away from their beer drinking time. In some cases, that is all of the day. I have no sympathy what-so-ever for those types of homeless. With the drinkers, you may as well throw in the crack-heads, and the pill-poppers. these fucks always are broke in the mornings and are out bumbing smokes and what ever.
I write all of this for one reason. Since I've been here the past few months, I've taken one of these homeless alcoholics under my wings, so to speak, just to see if I could get them to get their act together. To see how bad that they really wanted to quit and to get off of the streets.
I am not some rookie at this type of thing folks. Having been an alcoholic and a drug addict, and on the streets myself once, I know what kind of effort and work that it can take to get oneself off of the shit and off of the streets. It ain't easy, but, you have to really want to do it for yourself. If you do not, then there is no one who can help you no matter what they try to do for you.
With that in mind, my next post will introduce you to Anna, an alcoholic who lives on the streets of Tampa, and one person who surely has no business being in her situation. Anna is one of those drinkers who you can't talk to without her getting defensive and using the " it's not my fault " excuse. One who wants to change things in her life, but does nothing to make things happen. I think that you will find her an interesting study, and story. Stay tuned.

Tampa Homeless/ Police Harassment

Yes, it has been a few days since I last posted anything. There is a very good reason for that, trust me. How about a case of pneumonia? I've been laid up and feeling very miserable for just over a week. Being a diabetic doesn't help, either.
Anyway, on to the topic at hand. This will be the shortened version.
I've been in Tampa for slightly more than 6 weeks, and I've been stopped by the police on the North side of town for a total of 5 times already. Five fucking times! For what? How about for just hanging around and talking to some of the homeless people out on the streets, who have happened to be drinking at the time. Open containers of beer or whatever are a crime in the city of Tampa. Apparently, so is being around someone with a container in their hand or close by.
I'll have a story for you the next time that I post which will show you just how hard up the Tampa Police Department is in writing tickets and arresting citizens for having an " open Container." One officer tried his best to get me to say that an empty bottle belonged to me. This was after the real drinkers had told the idiot that I do not drink! Stay tuned!

Tampa Economy: Unemployment Up...

...and that comes as no surprise to me and many others trying to make a living in this over sized town.
The unemployment rate for June was 10.6% statewide,and the rate sits at 10.7% for the Tampa/Hillsborough County area. That is up some 0.5% from May.
Some more numbers of notice:
392,800
Number of jobs Florida has lost over the past year

88,500 Lost jobs in professional and business services

86,300 Lost jobs in trade, transportation and utilities

80,400Lost jobs in construction

10,000 Added jobs in health care and social assistance, the state's only growing sector

$100M Amount in extended unemployment benefits paid out to Floridians as of Friday

31,513 Number of Floridians expected to exhaust extended unemployment benefits through September.

131,893 Number of Floridians expected to exhaust extended unemployment benefits through December.

Sources: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation; Florida Employment Law Project

The government and other agencies which keep track of such things keep telling you and I that this recession is easing up a bit. That may be true in other areas of the United States, but that isn't happening in the state of Florida. It appears to be getting worse here as the weeks go by, and many of the residents of this state are paying the price.
Unless you are one of those wealthy retiree's that the state is catering to, stay the hell out of this state. You will not find any real work here if you are an hourly worker. You will certainly not be able to live here in any manner to which you may be accustomed. Times are very tough in this area. You'll do better elsewhere.

Riches For The Corrupt, Crumbs For The Rest Of Us

From ( http://www.alternet.org/workplace/141275/we_offer_riches_and_perks_for_corrupt_cronies%2C_and_crumbs_for_everyone_else/)

We Offer Riches and Perks for Corrupt Cronies, and Crumbs for Everyone Else

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Posted July 14, 2009.
If you defraud banks and customers of billions, you get taxpayer money. But if you are poor like Tearyan Brown of Trenton, N.J., you are in trouble.
Tearyan Brown became a father when he was 16. He did what a lot of inner-city kids desperate to make money do. He sold drugs. He was arrested and sent to jail three years later for dealing marijuana and PCP on the streets of Trenton, N.J., mostly to white kids driving in from the suburbs. It was a job which saw him robbed at gunpoint and stabbed in the chest. But it made him about $1,400 a week.
Brown, when he got out after three and a half years, was done with street life. He got a job as a security guard and then as a fork lift operator. He eventually made about $30,000 a year. He shepherded his son through high school, then college and a master’s degree. His boy, now 24, is a high school teacher in Texas. Brown would not leave the streets of Trenton but his son would. It made him proud. It gave him hope.
And then one morning in 2005 when he was visiting his mother’s house the cops showed up. He saw the cruiser and the officers standing on his mother’s porch. He hurried down the block toward the home to see what was wrong. What was wrong was him. On the basis of a police photograph, he had been identified by an 82-year-old woman as the man who had robbed her of $9 at gunpoint a few hours earlier. The only other witness to the crime insisted the elderly victim was confused. The witness told the police Brown was innocent. Brown’s friends said Brown was with them when the robbery took place.
“Why would I rob a woman for $9,” he asks me. “I had been paid the day before. I had not committed a crime in 20 years. It didn’t make any sense.”
He was again sent to jail. But this time he was charged with armed robbery. If convicted, he would be locked away for many years. His grown son and his three young boys would live, as he had, without the presence of a father. The little ones—11-year-old twins and a 10-year-old—would be adults when he got out. When he met with his state-appointed attorney, the lawyer, like most state-appointed attorneys, pushed for accepting a plea bargain, one that would see him behind bars for at least the next decade. Brown pulled the pictures of his children out of his wallet, laid the pictures carefully on the table in front of the lawyer, looked at the faces of his children and broke down in tears. He shook and sobbed. It was a hard thing to do for a man who stands nearly 6 feet tall and weights 210 pounds and has coped with a lot in his life.
“I didn’t do nothing,” he choked out to the lawyer.
He refused the plea bargain offer. He sat in jail for the next two years before getting a trial. It was a time of deep despair. Jail had changed since he had last been incarcerated. The facilities were overcrowded, with inmates sleeping in corridors and on the floor. The gangs taunted those who, like Brown, were not affiliated with a gang. Gang members knocked trays of food to the floor. They pissed on mattresses. They stole canteen items and commissary orders. And there was nothing the victims could do about it.
“See this,” he says to me in a dimly lit coffee shop in downtown Trenton as he rolls up the right sleeve of his T-shirt. “It’s the grim reaper. I got it in jail. I was so scared. I was scared I wouldn’t get out this time. I was scared I would not see my kids grow up. They make their own tattoo guns in jail with a toothbrush, a staple and the motor of a Walkman. It cost me $15, well, not really dollars. I had to give him about 10 soups and a package of cigarettes. On the street this would be three or four hundred dollars.”
Under the tattoo of the scythe-wielding, hooded figure are the words “Death Awaits.”
He had a trial after two years in jail and was found not guilty. The sheriff’s deputies in the courtroom said as he was walking out that they “had never seen anything like this.” He reaches into his baggy jeans and pulls out his thin brown wallet. He opens it to show me a folded piece of paper. The paper says, “Verdict: Defendant found not guilty on all charges.” It is dated Jan. 31, 2008.
But innocence and guilt are funny things in America. If you are rich and guilty, if you have defrauded banks and customers and investment firms of billions of dollars, as AIG or Citibank has, if you wear fancy suits and have degrees from elite universities that cost more per year than Brown used to make, you get taxpayer money. You get lots of it. You maintain the lavish lifestyle of jets and spas and million-dollar bonuses. You live a life of unchecked greed and have too much in a world where most have too little. If you are moral scum in America we take care of you. But if you are poor, if you are, say, Tearyan Brown and African-American and 39 years old with four kids and no job and you live in the inner city, you are in trouble. No one comes to help you. You don’t get a second chance. This is what being poor means.
Brown found that life had changed when he got out. He had lost his job as a fork lift operator. And there were no new jobs to be found. He had faithfully paid child support until his arrest but, with no income, he could not pay from jail and now he was being hauled into court by the state every few weeks for being in arrears for $13,000. The mother of his three youngest boys goes to court with him. She explains that he paid regularly while he had work. She explains that when she works on the weekends Brown takes the kids. She asks that he be forgiven until he can get a job and begin paying again. But there are no jobs.
“I would not be in arrears in child support if I had not been incarcerated for something I didn’t do,” he says. “I will never get above ground owing $13,000. How can I pay $120 a week when I don’t have a job?”
Brown lives on $200 a month in food stamps and $40 in cash. Welfare will pay his apartment for another four months. He is barely making it. I ask him what he will do when he loses the rent subsidy.
“I’ll be homeless,” he says.
“My son says come down to Texas,” he adds. “Start a new life with me. But what about my three little boys? I can’t leave them. I can’t leave them in Trenton. They need a father.”
Brown works out every day. He does calisthenics. He is a vegetarian. He volunteers at a food pantry. He attends the Jerusalem Baptist Church with his little boys. “They are church kids,” he tells me proudly. “They are pretty much raised by the church.”
He is trying to keep himself together. But he lives in a world that is falling apart. The gangs on the streets of Trenton carry Glock 9-millimeter pistols and AK-47 assault rifles. When the Trenton police stop a car or raid a house filled with suspected gang members, they approach with loaded M-16s. A local newspaper, The Trentonian, reports the daily chronicle of crime, decay and neglect. The lead story in the day’s paper, which Brown has with him, is about a young man named James Deonte James, whose street name is “Lurch.” James was charged in the death of a 13-year-old girl during a gang shooting. He is reputed to be a “five star general in the Sex Money Murder set of the Bloods street gang.”
In another story, an ex-con and reputed mobster, Michael “Mickey Rome” Dimattia, was arrested in his car after a woman behind the wheel was seen driving erratically. “Mickey Rome,” dressed in a black bathrobe with a red scarf around his neck, was found to be wearing a bulletproof vest, with three guns stuck in his waistband, and had a crack pipe, crack cocaine and prescription pills in his pockets. He had been convicted in 1990 of killing a 17-year-old boy with a shotgun blast to the head. He served less than three years for the murder.
A feature story on Page 4 of the paper is about a man with AIDS who raped his girlfriend’s son 55 times and infected the boy with the virus. The boy was 9 when the rapes took place.
“There are thousands more guns out there than when I was on the street,” Brown says. “It is easier to buy a gun than get liquor from a liquor store.”
He says he rarely goes out at night, even to the corner store. It is too dangerous.
The desperation is palpable. People don’t know where to turn. Benefits are running out. More and more people are out of work.
“You see things getting worse and worse,” he says. “You see people who wonder how they are going to eat and take care of themselves and their kids. You see people starting to do anything to get food, to hustle or rob, to go back to doing things they do not want to do. Good people start doin’ bad things. People are getting eviler.”
He pauses.
“All things are better with God,” he says softly, looking down at the tabletop.
He is reading a book about the Bible. It is about Jesus and God. It is about learning to trust in God’s help. In America that is about all the poor have left. And when God fails them, they are on their own.

© 2009 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

I bring this up to your attention because the preceding article ties into the post which I have been doing on the economic problems which the poor in Tampa have been going through as of late. I've been focusing mostly on the working homeless, and I'm now going to add into the equation the problems which these workers have with the Tampa Police Department constantly harassing them and writing tickets for "open container" violations. This practice is a total waste of taxpayer money. More on this next time araound.

State Of The Economy: Tampa

As you are all aware of by this time, the economic state for many lower income residents of Tampa is in a major degree of shambles. sure, the minimum wage is at a whopping $7.21 per hour, but with rises in the price of food, drugs ( legal ones ), and tobacco, that wage increase has been totally snuffed out of existance.
Want to have a really shitty time trying to live on minimum wage in this area? then might I suggest that you get sick for a week? That is what I did from the 4th up till now. I went and caught a bad case of pneumonia. Is there a good case? This illness has set me back almost to the starting point once again!
On Monday the 6th, I had just a bad headcold, which I could live with. On Monday, after going to a temp service and getting only a few hours of work per week, I finally got a decent job with 10 hour days, six days per week. Yippeee?! After spending Monday going from the high heat and humidity into a nice ice-cold truck on a regular basis, I got a little bit more sicker. Tuesday? Forget about it! I couldn't even move!the lungs were aching,the muscles were sore, and I'm not sure what the rest of me was doing. I'm a type 1 diabetic, so this shit did not help me much. So imagine. No income coming in, and plenty of income going back out. Needless to say, the job was taken over by someone else. Another one bites the dust!
There are many more people in even worse situations than I, and I do not see how they manage to pull living off on a regular basis. Perhaps this is why so many of the poor in the Tampa area drink and do drugs. I guess that the escape, even though temporary, is a means of management for the people here.
I'll have more on this after my illness is finished with me.

State Of The Economy II: Tampa Florida...

...and it got just a little bit worse for those low income, hourly workers today. This would be concerning the new Florida excise tax on cigarettes which went into effect on July 1,2009. Another blow to smokers and tobacco dealers everywhere.
Yesterday I wrote that I would be introducing you to some of the cast of character's who actually have to resort to all kinds of tricks in order to feed themselves since the work environment here in Tampa is the pits. That will have to wait for another day.
The state of Florida has added an excise tax of $1 to each pack of cigarettes sold in the state.Rolling tobacco such as "Tops" and "Bugler" are also hit by this tax.So why is the state doing this? The excuse as of last week was that the state has to come up with the cash somewhere because the state's tax revenues are down. The state is not making any money so let's just raise smoker taxes and fuck them even more!
The better off will grumble and grip about the increase, and a few may even decide that it is time to quit. Those who are not so well off will feel the increase the most. Granted, some will opt to give up the habit. Great for them!
This tax increase will definitely be a burden to those who are working at the minimum wage level. Let's look at the price increases on a few brands of smokes.
"Remington" brand of little cigars. This brand is the low-budget, generic brand of smokes that anyone could afford, whether homeless or not. This is the last resort brand for smokers in the Tampa area. The price per pack on June 30,$1. Price on July 1,$2.25 at one nearby store.
"Winston" brand from RJ Reynolds, my personal favorite. June 30,$3.89 per pack. July 1,$4.99. "Marlboro"? Forget about it! June 30,$4.89 per pack. July 1,$5.99.
This is at a store in my neighborhood. I have seen some selling for as much as $6.99. This is ridiculous! Tampa has a bad enough problem with folks getting robbed by crack-heads and other druggies, not to mention people who just plain need the money. I'm wondering how long that it will take before we are getting held up for cigarette money or the smokes themselves.
Though I now believe that smoking is not so good for the person, the state should not be placing the cost of their ineptitude on the lower-wage workers who just happen to smoke.
As an after thought, I should note that Cigars are exempt from the excise tax. I would guess that since most cigar smokers are just a little bit better off than most of us, it just wouldn't be fair to tax them along with you and I.

State Of The Economy: Tampa Florida ( Continued )

Maybe I should clarify a few things before continuing on with this topic.
When dealing with the " state of the economy " here in Tampa Florida, I am talking about the economy of the hourly worker. I'm not concerning myself with salaried workers at this time because they seem to be not suffering as much as the hourly employee is.
I am also concerning myself with those hourly workers who now happen to be living on the streets behind some building, or who are sleeping in cars, Salvation Army centers, or other homeless shelters, ect.
Many of you readers will think of the homeless as that group of people who are to lazy to work or who are either drug addicts or alcoholics. While it is true that a few of the individuals that I have hung out with are one or both, most are actually hard-working and have ended up on the streets because they could no longer afford to live the way in which they were accostumed to living, because of company downsizing or whatever.
So. Are we all on the same page now? I hope so, because the reader is about to get educated on how life is in the world of reality. Stay tuned folks because this could very well be you in our currant economy, and in that which is still to come.
Tomorrow you will meet a few of the players in this saga, and in the days to follow I will take you out with them in their daily struggles to find even temporary work in order to put food in their mouths.