Cut To The Chase. Stop the Rhetoric. It's Time For Answers.

I'm tired of the sound bites from the so-called Conservatives. I'm tired of hearing how tax cuts will solve all problems. We can't pay the interest on our Treasury Bills owned by the Chinese or other foreign governments with tax cuts. The Chinese want cash payments.

I've asked a series of questions below. "Tax cuts" are not an appropriate response to most of the questions asked below. They are designed to require discussions of real solutions.

It's time for the trickle-down economists, free market (i.e., too big to fail) "Conservatives" and their Tea Bag friends to weigh in with some specific answers. Liberals and progressives and blue dogs need to provide new ideas as well.

Feel free to ask your conservative friends for "solutions" instead of name-calling and fear mongering. "No" is not a policy. "No" followed by a tired old talking point sound bite--about smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom-- isn't a sufficient answer for these hard times, either. Changing the subject is not an answer, either.

More importantly, ask everyone applying for the job of our next Senator or Congressperson, their specific answers to the following questions:

1. Are you in favor of cutting or increasing military spending? And whichever answer you pick, please state by what dollar amount you want to either cut or increase the spending annually?

2. Are you in favor of keeping our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? If yes, for how many years? How are you going to pay for that cost without borrowing?

3. Are you for or against increasing the use of private military contractors throughout our military?

4. Are you for or against offshore drilling off the coast of Florida and throughout the Gulf of Mexico?

5. If you are in favor of offshore drilling, are you in favor of controls regarding: (a) who does the drilling and (b) where they will sell the oil?

6. If you are in favor of no regulations on offshore drilling, how can you guarantee that drilling off our coasts will: (a) provide oil to be used in the United States, or (b) reduce the price of gas here, or (c) not endanger our national security?

7. If every oil deposit known to exist in the Gulf of Mexico was available tomorrow to be pumped, do you know for how many days the oil reserves in the Gulf would fulfill the daily demand of the United States' oil consumption? (I'll give you the answer to this one because it is surprising. According to a report recently published by the non-partisan Collins Center For Public Policy, the Answer is that all of the Gulf would only produce enough oil to last 7 days at the rate of current U.S. consumption of 20 million barrels per day.)

8. Are you in favor of keeping Medicare in its present form? If so, how do you propose to fund Medicare for the next 50 years?

9. If you are not in favor of keeping Medicare in its present form, how would you change it and when would your changes go into effect?

10. Are you in favor of keeping Medicaid in its present form? If so, how do you propose to fund Medicaid for the next 50 years?

11. If you are not in favor of keeping Medicaid in its present form, how would you change it and when would your changes go into effect?

12. Are you in favor of keeping Social Security in its present form? If so, how do you propose to fund Social Security for the next 50 years?

13. If you are not in favor of keeping Social Security in its present form, how would you change it and when would your changes go into effect?

14. What programs or areas of the Federal budget would you cut to pay down the National Debt?

15. How quickly would you pay down the national debt?

16. How do you propose to raise additional revenue to pay down the national debt?

17. What freedoms do you believe are being infringed upon by the Federal government, and what do you propose to do to correct that?

18. Regarding the freedoms that you believe are being infringed upon by the Federal government, please list all of those which were enacted since January 20, 2009.

19. How are we going to make health care affordable and keep costs from going up at 10 times the annual rate of inflation (which is what we have been experiencing each year for the last 10 years?)

20. How do you propose to create jobs in America?

21. What financial system reforms are you in favor of ?

22. What renewable sources of energy do you support and how do you suggest that we transition toward use of more renewable sources of energy? What role, if any, should the Federal government play in this transitioning?

There is no more time to rely upon the same old talking points. Don't let them get away with it. Make them answer these questions. Don't let them change the subject.

These problems aren't going away every time they change the subject.

Demand that the media ask these questions daily and in all candidate debates, and then demand answers.

A Lot Can Happen In A Couple of Weeks....

So much has happened within the last couple of weeks since I last blogged, that it's hard to decide which singular topic to discuss. So, in honor of Spring Training, let's touch a few bases...

Texas School Books (The Continued Dumbing Down of America):

I lived in Texas for 3 years. Having experienced Texans first hand, it concerns me deeply that the content of school books for our nation's schools are determined in large part by what a conservative, politicized panel in Texas believes should be contained in our children's books.

Among other very troubling things, they want to take Thomas Jefferson out of the history books. (Read that again.) Seriously.

It's no wonder why many Americans are not smarter than a 5th grader. (I think they'll have to change the name of that TV show when the new Jefferson-less books are printed.)

Leaving out Thomas Jefferson? Really? What, was he too unimportant, or was it that he spent too much time with the French? He didn't do much other than write the Declaration of Independence, act as our country's second Ambassador to France, serve as our first Secretary of State, and our Third President. Plus, he was probably the greatest realtor in U.S. history. They may not realize in Texas that Jefferson brokered that "Louisiana Purchase" that more than doubled the size of the U.S. (and made a part of Texas part of our country). But, I guess the Texas school book advisory committee overlooked that ironic fact. Do you think they decided to leave it out because we bought the property from France?

Leaving Jefferson out of our children's history books, however, leaves room for a few pages about the conservative views of Phyllis Schlafly...seriously. After all, Phyllis has good Texas values-- she was an anti-feminist, she vigorously opposed the United Nations, and was a huge supporter of Pat Buchannon when he ran for President. So I guess that trumps Jefferson's resume.

Remind me again why we needed to water all those Strawberries?

This week it was reported that Hillsborough County strawberry farmers are letting their end of the season crop die on the plants and not be harvested because the prices have dropped so low due to oversupply. The farmers intend to plow them under rather than have them picked. (Really, in this economy with so many people in need of food? How about opening up the fields for U-Pick operations?)

Just a few weeks ago, the farmers told us that they had to run their sprinklers for days on end to keep the strawberries from freezing--so much so that the excessive pumping caused dozens of sinkholes to form all over the Eastern part of Hillsborough County. Neighbors' wells ran dry so they had no water in their homes, and many houses were damaged or rendered completely uninhabitable by these sinkholes. Interstate-4 was closed between Tampa and Orlando to repair sinkholes on the Interstate highway resulting in traffic delays and detours and spending of extraordinary money for road repairs and extra police activity associated with the detours.

We don't have an unlimited supply of potable water and we have a record number of people on food stamps. What a waste, on so many levels.

"It's a Big F$cking Deal..."

The Health Care Bill passed and was signed into law this week. Joe Biden aptly summed up its historic importance with a few choice words. You're right, Joe, it is a BFD. And that was before the death threats to members of Congress began and the frivilous lawsuits were filed to try to get some activist judges to unwind the health care legislation (and before the commencement of "Armageddon").

And, Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse:

• Unemployment in Florida hits a record high.

• The legislature proposes a bill to "streamline" and "speed up development permitting" and to eliminate environmental review permitting for developments of up to 40 acres (so long as a licensed engineer signs off on the developer's plans). Just what we need, a faster path to more development without environmental oversight--do you think we need more empty houses and empty strip centers? More parking lots and fewer wetlands?

• The legislature proposes a bill to completely gut and dismantle the Public Service Commission as retaliation for the PSC having the nerve to turn down a utility rate increase for the first time in years. (I smell lobbyists and much higher electric bills!)

• The Hillsborough County Commission's tragic comedy of errors continues. If we fire the 3 Musketeers, we have to pay them an outrageous amount for work they won't perform for the county. So, instead, the Commissioners put them on a paid leave of absence so they get paid an outrageous amount (including , for two of them, the raises they gave themselves??) for work they won't perform while they stay home, take a trip, or meet with their lawyers.

• The Florida Retirement Plan Pension System is in the red. Now, I know that Bill McCollum sits as a member of the State Board of Administration that is in charge of overseeing that pension fund, but we need to realize that he's been way too busy filing politically motivated health care suits and holding press conferences to do much overseeing of the nestegg of our teachers, firefighters, state employees, etc.

Read and Ponder.....Then Get Active. There's alot of things to pay attention to and get involved with--we've all got alot of work to do....

Pick an issue that matters to you and get busy.

We Know It's A Big Tent, But Will There Be A Circus Inside?

As "Big Tents" go, the City of Tampa is a fairly large one.

Many diverse people call Tampa "home." People of all ages, cultural backgrounds, political parties, races, and religious beliefs, as well as a large group of non-believers who do not believe in God or an organized religion of any kind all live under this Big Tent as Citizens of Tampa.

Our City government is managed by a City Council and a Mayor. We have tried to tamp down the political rhetoric (and to save money by not having primaries) in City elections by denoting the races for these elective offices as "nonpartisan."

But for some reason, Tampans can't seem to navigate a nonpartisan path toward a clear separation of church and state when it comes to expressions of religious affiliation at our City Council meetings.

I know it has been way too long since civics was taught in our public schools, but certainly we've all heard of the concept of the separation of Church and State? Remember how our country was founded by people who wanted to escape a situtation in which their governments in Europe were telling them what religion they had to follow or what prayers they had to say before meetings? (Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.)

It's long been said that if you want to create acrimony and divisiveness during a dinner conversation, simply bring up either politics or religion. There are just too many vervent views and passionate opinions attached to those subjects, and most people cannot sit idlely by when someone brings up a topic that offends their heart-felt personal opinions on religion or politics.

Nonetheless, in our non-partisan Tampa City Council meetings we begin the meetings with "Let Us Pray" and allow the Clergyperson du jour to say a group prayer for everyone in the tent.

Under this rotating visiting "preacher" policy, "Let Us Pray" really means, follow along with me while I pray out loud the way that I like to pray in my particular religion.

So, unless it's your particular religion's day to have your type of prayer delivered at City Council, you aren't really too happy, are you? Are the Jews in the tent offended when the prayer ends with "...in Jesus' name we pray..?" Or is the Muslim citizen or the Methodist quadriplegic offended by being asked to stand for the prayer? And if you are an atheist, this whole process makes you want to vehemently object to it at every meeting for the 3 minutes you are allowed for your public comment on City issues, until it stops. (Excuse me, but can someone at the dinner table please pass the salt for these wounds?)

Some say this topic is "the third rail" and cannot be touched by any politician for fear of committing political suicide. After all, members of City Council are politicians. They need to be liked. They need votes. They don't want to be labeled as anti-religious.

Our City Council members have been struggling with this prayer at the beginning of meetings issue for many years. The concept of having each Council Member take turns to invite someone to give the Invocation has led us to the current failed policy. And for those who need a history lesson on this issue, you may recall that on July 29, 2004, Michael R. Harvey of the Atheists of Florida was invited by a City Council member to give equal time to the atheists--essentially, to give a non-invocation for the non-believers. Well, that invitation so offended three Council Members (Kevin White, Mary Alvarez, and Rose Ferlita) that they walked out of the meeting and all City Council business had to be cancelled for the day. How can this not be deemed a huge policy failure?

The 2004 walk-out was clearly the "Jump the Shark" (Google it later) moment for our City Council. They should have recognized that this rotating Invocation policy is generally offensive to nearly everyone, on some level, at every meeting, because we are mixing someone's brand of religion with fixing potholes.

Signs that our Big Tent is turning into a Three Ring Circus include the recent dust-ups over the Pledge of Allegiance and the atheists' refusal to say "Under God" as part of the Pledge. They prefer the pre-1954 version of the Pledge that did not contain the words "Under God." In yet another Jump the Shark moment, they were chastized by an Assistant City Attorney and a Council Member for saying the Pledge without the Under God words. (Isn't it ironic that the words that follow "Under God" are "...indivisible, with liberty and justice for all?")

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is about last week's episode that is bringing us together or has in any way promoted liberty? Just asking....

So, what's the solution? Try this.

I make a Motion that the City Council no longer have an audible Invocation at the beginning of the City Council Meetings.

If you are on the City Council and you personally feel that you need to begin your day with a prayer in order to be able to bring your "A- Game" to the council chambers, please do whatever you feel is appropriate for you, personally, before you come to the public meeting. Phone your particular clergyperson for inspiration or guidance as necessary. Read from the Bible, or the Torah, or the Koran, or from any other inspirational text; or perhaps read a whitepaper on the issues you are going to work on in the meeting. In other words, do whatever works for you personally, to help you best prepare for and perform the job you were elected to do.

The same advice goes for those citizens attending the meetings, both believers and non-believers. Let's commit to make these meetings solely about City Issues.

If (and only if) the City Council unwilling to end the failed policy of having each meeting begin with an Invocation, then I make an Alternative Motion: please stop the clergyperson du jour policy and the audible prayer and adopt a Three Minute Moment of Silence instead. (Three minutes is a long time in this context. Most moments of silence in public gatherings are less than one minute.)

Three minutes is the amount of time that is typically allowed to each citizen to address the Council on City issues and, in my view, it would be more than a sufficient amount of time for each person in the tent, in their own way, to either pray silently, or to meditate, or to rehearse silently their speech to the council, or to think about and commit to respecting the rights of others in the Tent, and to make a personal pledge that we are at this particular meeting to try to make our City a better place in which to live.

After all, we only have so much time allotted to solve the problems facing us in our City, and after this 3 minutes of silent reflection ends, we've got a lot of work to do. Why take up time at every meeting arguing about the prayer?

Think of it this way--a 3-minute quiet period of reflection, a cooling off period, followed by everyone in the Big Tent bringing their "A-Game" only on City Business. (Do I hear an Amen?)

It's time for a new policy. It's time to recognize that our Big Tent is leaking all over us in national media stories and is starting to look way too much like a Big Top. Circuses only stay in town a few days. We have to live here together year-round.

Council Members, please remember that the summer rains are soon coming and we have still not solved our street flooding issues. We have an unprecedented budget crisis and necessary City services are being curtailed.

In other words, we've got more important City Business to work on rather than arguing at each meeting about the Invocation. If members of the City Council still think the rotating Invocation policy is a good one, please re-read again the true meaning of what "Let Us Pray" means above...)

Dare I say, we have more problems than we can say Grace over?

It only takes 4 votes. Do I hear a second to my Motions?