Be INFORMED

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tampa to Enact Panhandling Ban…

    …. and I say that it is about damned time as the massive amount of panhandling has gotten out of control in that town.

   It seems as if these people hang out at most every major traffic intersection in the city, especially on the north side, which is pretty much the “ transient “ hangout area.

   North Nebraska Avenue and Fowler Avenue has at least one panhandler at each divider every day of the week. A few of them hold up their “ I’m hungry “ or “ Need a job “ signs from sunup to sundown, and, at the end of the day they go home to their mobile homes right down the street. Most do have a job; drinking 4-packs of beer all day long in between their sign holding stints.

   They have become a nascence to the motorist who pass by these places on a daily basis, and Tampa is finally doing something to slow this activity down without banning it outright.

   The Tampa City Council passed an ordinance banning panhandling for 6 days out of the week ( Mon-Sat. ) but it is allowed on Sundays, so far. The ordinance passed by a vote of 6-1 on October 6,2011 and is set to go into effect on November 1, 2011 after the final vote on October 20,2011, and it is signed off on by the mayor ( Bob Buckhorn ) who approves of this ban. Good for him.

The ordinance will ban most roadside panhandling 6 days per week, but, newspaper sales would be allowed every day. Charity drives and panhandling would be allowed on Sundays,  but the 10 most crash-prone intersection in Tampa will be off-limits to everyone at any time.

  I have nothing against most of the panhandlers as I do know quite a few of them.Unfortunately, those are the ones who give panhandling a bad name as they are the drunks/crack-heads who blow the cash given to them by the motorist trying to help them out. Hey drivers, you aren’t helping them! You are enabling them!

   Did you know that every time one of these people is arrested for an open-container violation, which you helped support, it cost the taxpayer somewhere in the area of $87 and change for every day that they are locked up for only 1 $1.07 can of beer? It is usually a 5-day minimum stay in the county hotel. On top of that, the jail system charges each resident $25 per day for their visit,and how much of that $25 do you suppose they actually collect from a drunk who has been arrested? I’d say next to nothing based on what I have heard from the drinkers themselves.

   A 6 day a week ban on begging is a good start, but the work needs to begin on getting rid of them totally, particularly those who claim to be homeless but actually have places to live in.

    Did I mention that many of the same also get a monthly check from the government in the form of S.S.I. or either S.S.D.?

Sunday, October 09, 2011

GOP To Create Abortion Bill Because They Have NO Jobs Bill

  You have to love those Republican House critters! Instead of debating the American Jobs Act, or even voting on it, they would rather face that toughest of issues which is of virtually no concern to most Americans at the present time. That issue is restricting abortion. The Republicans cannot come up with their own jobs bill because they have no ideas on job creation, other than more tax cuts, that the American public would like, so they’ll concentrate on something that will please their hard-core ( Christian ) supporters instead.

    These clowns are once again ignoring the wishes of the vast majority of Americans who list jobs and the economy as their top priority. They will not vote on the American Jobs Act for one reason only, that being that it is an Obama administration idea. They must not let Obama get any credit for job creation as that might help with his re-election, no matter how much they fuck the economy up.

Jed Lewison has an even closer look at all of the absurdity in the Republicans House.

Instead of jobs bill, restricting abortion rises to top of House Republican agenda

Fri Oct 07, 2011                                             Original

Even though poll after poll lists jobs and the economy as the top priority of most Americans, House Republicans can't find the time to even bother to vote on the American Jobs Act. Instead, they're going to spend next week focusing on the divisive social issue of abortion:

House Republicans next week plan to pass legislation that would close what they say are loopholes that allow last year's healthcare law to be used to provide federal support for abortions.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the House would consider H.R. 358, the Protect Life Act, on Thursday. The bill, offered by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) so that federal funds would be prohibited from being used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage for abortion services.

Here's an idea for Republicans: why don't they just go ahead and pass the jobs bill before sucking up to their socially conservative base? Then they can spend however much time they want cuddling with their wingnut friends. But first, do something for the American public.

p.s. The health care reform law signed by President Obama doesn't cover abortion services, but the one signed by Mitt Romney for does cover abortion services. I wonder when Rick Perry is going to figure that out. It's pretty astonishing that he hasn't jumped on it already.

Originally posted to The Jed Report on Fri Oct 07, 2011
Also republished by Daily Kos.