The Ybor City Stogie

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Marco Rubio Stop Ripping Us Off

Rubio had missed 92 of the year’s 284 roll calls, a 68 percent attendance rate. here

South Florida Sun-Sentinel lead editorial, entitled, “Marco Rubio should resign, not rip us off.”

If you hate your job, senator, follow the honorable lead of House Speaker John Boehner and resign it. Let us elect someone who wants to be there and earn an honest dollar for an honest day’s work. Don’t leave us without one of our two representatives in the Senate for the next 15 months or so. You are paid $174,000 per year to represent us, to fight for us, to solve our problems.

Did GOP Hillsborough County Commissioners Sabotage GO Hillsborough?

The odds of the county even producing a ballot measure for Hillsborough County seem to dwindle, in part because of the reluctance of commissioners such as Murman and Higginbotham to stand by the process. Commissioners, who always seemed intimidated by the Tea Party activists from the get-go on this effort, have certainly created enough doubt for the most ardent pro-transportation tax advocate to feel skeptical right now, to say the least.

Mitch Perry
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Tea Bagger Sharon Calvert attended every meeting.

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This was meant to fail from the beginning!

Read what this blog has been posting about this sham here

Local Hero Wendy Bradshaw

Polk County teacher has posted her resignation letter online and it's gone viral. Wendy Bradshaw said she can't justify making students cry anymore. She said the problem is standardized testing. here

Publix One Penny More Per Pound Of Tomatoes

Dozens of protesters gathered outside a Publix super market on Bay Street Sunday in Sarasota to encourage the grocer to join the Fair Food Program. For five years, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has prodded the corporation to join the program, which helps improve wages for farm workers by asking retailers to pay one penny more per pound of tomatoes. It also calls for a code of conduct to prevent wage theft, human trafficking and sexual harassment in the fields. here

Florida’s New “Religious Freedom” Bill

Is already gaining traction, It begins with an Indiana-esque guarantee that most businesses and corporations may legally turn away gay couples if doing so “would be contrary to [their] religious or moral convictions.” Similarly, the bill allows private adoption agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex couples if such placement goes against “the religious or moral convictions or policies of the agency.” In other words, an adoption agency needn’t even articulate a specific religious reason why it would rather keep a child orphaned than place her with a loving gay couple. The agency need only state that its “policies” mandate such homophobia, and it is protected by the bill. here

Movie Night at the Museum with Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation

10.29.2015 - 6:30 pm

info

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Ask the PSTA to Choose Zero Emission Buses!

On Wednesday, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority
( PSTA ) will decide on how to replace its oldest buses: with new zero emission electric buses , or with diesel buses that will spew carbon and smog - forming nitrogen into the atmosphere for years to come. You can make a difference by telling the PSTA how you'd like to see this public agency to spend your tax dollars: buses that will burn diesel and pollute until 2030 , or zero emission electric buses whose source of energy will get cleaner every year they're serving our community, as we move forward with solar power. Last week the finance committee recommended buying 9 new diesel buses based on outdated information, instead of diesel hybrid or electric. info

Hillsborough County GOP E-Mail Scandal

Hillsborough County Commissioners Sandy Merman and Ken Hagan possibly violated Florida Sunshine Laws when they failed to produce Emails they said didn’t exist. It was not until community activist Tom Rask threatened to sue that Hagan and Merman agreed to release dozens of previously hidden emails relating to county business.
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Ms. Murman is sorry

“I didn’t mean any harm”

And Hagan blamed his staff.

here

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

Marco Rubio's Dirty Energy Policy

Marco Rubio portrays himself as a leader for the future. But the energy policy he has outlined is stuck in the past, relying on the dirtiest fuels and playing to energy industry campaign donors at the expense of jobs, public health, consumers, the environment and global security. It is a backward approach that fails to recognize the importance of renewable energy and the clear threat of climate change, and it would be particularly harmful to Tampa Bay and Florida. here

Florida Frackers Not Giving Up

Bills that would allow energy companies to frack in Florida died last spring, when the regular legislative session imploded over health-care issues.

But they’re back.

The two Republican lawmakers who sponsored the legislation, Sen. Garrett Richter of Naples and Rep. Ray Rodrigues of Estero, have filed new bills (SB 318 and HB 191) that would amend state laws on the exploration and production of oil and gas in the state.

here

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Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have put forward their own bills to ban fracking. The legislation (SB 166 and HB 19) is sponsored by Sens. Darren Soto of Orlando, Dwight Bullard of Miami and Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth and Reps. Evan Jenne of Dania Beach and Lori Berman of Lantana. Going a step further, Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, wants voters to consider banning fracking through a constitutional amendment.