Retain Justice Polston

Ok, I promise this will be the last post on merit retention this election cycle!

But, Justice Ricky Polston of the Florida Supreme Court is worthy of retention.

Though technically born across the state line in Alabama (ick!), he grew up on a small family farm here in Florida.

As a young man, he earned a degree in accounting from that institution that shall never be named in this blog. He later went back to the same place (a glutton for punishment?!) to earn a law degree.

As an attorney, he defended the state against suits filed to ban the "Choose Life" license plates ye socks may have seen on vehicles cruising around this little corner of heaven.

He has also publicly defended the state's school voucher program.

Privately, he and his wife raised four children before adopting six more from the state's foster care program.

He brings a lot to the bench.

Vote YES to retain Polston.

Vote Yes on 8!

In all the recent excitement about circuit court judge retention, it seems yours truly overlooked one of the state constitutional amendments that will appear on the November ballot in this little corner of heaven.

Amendment 8 seeks to eliminate the hard caps on class sizes that were imposed on our public schools this year.

The proponents of the caps had a noble intent of improving teacher-to-student ratios. But, as is so often the case, good intentions have led us down a road to . . . well, you know.

No one likes these caps. Students are being denied elective courses. Teachers are being shuffled like so many cards in a deck. Administrators can't balance their budgets for this new house of cards. And, property owners are being asked to pay more taxes to make up the deficits for all of this.

Even the two major candidates running to become our next governor agree on this one.

The hard caps are bad.

Vote YES ON 8 to get rid of them. Give educators the flexibility to structure their classrooms to best serve our children. And, give taxpayers a break in the process.

We tighten our belts . . .

. . . and the gutless wonders keep trying to reach into our pockets!

It seems to me they should do some more belt tightening of their own.

I know making budget cuts isn't fun, but the public sector shouldn't consider themselves immune to the economic ills that are hitting the private sector.

In this case, the ranting applies to the Orange County School District and the "Special Referendum" they have placed on our ballots in this little corner of heaven.

They want to raise our millage rate to supplement their income to the tune of about $400 million dollars.

This will cost the average household approximately $125 MORE than what they already pay in county school taxes every year.

The demand comes at a very unfortunate time.

Yours truly would suggest Superintendent Ron Blocker and his board are shirking their duty to live within the people's means.

They need to go back to the drawing board.

Crist campaign is toast

Our illustrious governor was twice burned yesterday.

And, that's not a tasteless reference to his famously perennial suntan.

Ye socks who have followed his inexplicable career to date have no doubt noticed his predilection for hitching his wagon to greater stars in the political universe.

Remember in the rosy days following the dawn of the ObamaNation how he gleefully embraced the disaster-in-waiting otherwise known as "the stimulus plan?!"

More recently, he's been pimping whatever conservative credentials he thought he had left by invoking the name of his supposed-mentor Connie Mack.

I can only imagine how he felt when his hug buddy paid a whopping 27 minutes of lip service to the future of Florida's Space Coast. It was painfully clear the real presidential focus was on getting away from Cape Canaveral as quickly as possible to attend a big Democratic fundraiser down in Miami. His announced policy shift essentially left the country's space program in shambles, and thousands more Floridians worrying about their jobs.

And, as for Mack, he walked away from Crist's senate campaign in the wake of his veto of the education bill.

Whispers abound this morning that Mitt Romney will soon be joining Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani in endorsing Crist's primary opponent Marco Rubio.

Methinks in the past 24 hours or so that Charlie may have discovered just how few real allies he has.

So, could he seriously be considering a run as an independent?!

Stranger things have happened, I suppose. I mean, this IS Florida, after all!!

Crist statements smell fishy

Yours truly has never been a big fan of our too-tan governor. And, his stock dropped precipitously in this little corner of heaven when he embraced TheObamaNation's wreckless "stimulus" plans to rob future generations. The image of that embrace will always be on my mind when I see his name, particularly on a ballot.

Recently, however, we Floridians have further been shamed by our illustrious chief executive. And, not just by his Q-tip hair.

Now, I don't expect him to stay in Tallahassee 24/7. Wouldn't wish that on anybody. A chill just ran down my spine thinking about it. But, with all this great state has to offer, it is really perplexing why our governor is perpetually traipsing around the other 49 states and the District of Columbia. I guess he's more interested in building a national profile than actually doing the job he was elected to do . . .

This past weekend found him up in Michigan, lying to the GOP faithful. Ok, maybe "lying" is too strong a word. But, he was certainly stretching the truth beyond the point of decency when he claimed credit for cutting Florida's budget from $73 to $66 billion. Ummmm . . . . Last I recall, the budget numbers are smaller because the recession has caused tax revenues to plummet. And, I also recall how Crist actually vetoed a trimmer budget passed by the state legislature in January.

Even more galling, Crist spent today making the rounds of the cable news networks. I guess he'd rather lie to the talking heads than to his actual constituents. Ok, again, maybe "lie" is too strong a word. But, I saw at least two interviews that made me want to retch.

The first was on MSNBC's Morning Joe, where he nearly dislocated his shoulder trying to pat himself on the back for improving Florida's public school system. I'm pretty sure all the accountability measures created by his predecessor (Jeb Bush) deserve the actual credit. But, I guess that's one of those inconvenient truths he'd rather ignore. Any efforts Crist may have made have been completely overshadowed by his out-of-state travels, tv appearances, and presidential hugs.

The second was with John Roberts on CNN, during which he sounded like a only-slightly-less-socialist version of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He was practically crowing about his version of a "public option" for health insurance: CoverFlorida. What a pathetic joke that has turned out to be. With premiums in the $150/month range, the governor has persuaded a whopping 4,129 people to sign-up since he took office. (We have a population of more than 18 million the last time I checked . . .)

I don't care how many dollars Charlie Crist raises from his out-of-state buddies, or how many times his grinning mug graces the airwaves. I'm just not buying his brand of politics any more. And, I definitely don't want to see it transplanted from Tallahassee to Washington, DC.

Sorry, Charlie.

Amendments run amok

Ye out-of-town socks may be unaware of the school budget shortfall we are projecting in this little corner of heaven--to the tune of $125 million.

The bean counters estimate a significant chunk--about $50 million--could be made up if we added 4 children per classroom.

Unfortunately, we are forbidden by the Florida Constitution from doing so. It seems back in the glory days of 2002 when the state was flush with cash, 52% of voters injected an amendment limiting class sizes.

I think it was about the same time that voters amended the state constitution mandating a high-speed rail link between Orlando, Tampa, and Miami. That never happened, for some reason. But, the class-size thing did. I wonder why one amendment is enforced and the other isn't . . .

Anyway, I thought constitutions were supposed to be frameworks for government. That being the case, why is Florida's constitution open to so many ridiculous amendments? Such things as bullet trains and class sizes should be statutory or policy decisions. I know, I know. Back in 1968, when the constitution was enacted, everybody was all about "power to the people." But, what about our state's elected officials doing the jobs we hire them to do at the ballot box?

Clearly, our constitution is anything but a framework for government anymore. I say we should consign it to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

We have precedent.

Florida has actually had 6 constitutions over the years:
* 1838 - prepared with an eye on statehood (which was achieved in 1845).
* 1861 - created to allow the state to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.
* 1865 - designed to return the state to the Union by abolishing slavery, among other things.
* 1868 - the so-called "Carpetbag Constitution" that created a very powerful governor.
* 1885 - the post-Reconstruction document that cut-back executive powers.
* 1968 - the current version that has us in such a pickle, ironically designed to simplify its predecessor (which had grown to include 149 amendments totaling 50,000 words . . . the US Constitution by contrast only has 6,000 words)

Just as we are all discovering in our private lives, it's time for our government to get back to basics.

And, in Florida, that may mean it's time for a constitutional convention.

12 Action Steps to Stop Cheating our Children

Ok, I'm not even going to acknowledge what transpired in Baton Rouge last night. Rather, I am going to continue telling you socks how great Mike Huckabee is. Polls out today, show that he has finally broken into the "top tier" . . . at least in Iowa. He's edged past both John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in that state, and is definitely on a "vertical" trajectory!

Anyway, here are today's action steps for your socks with kids:

1. If you are a parent, attend PTA and parent-teacher conferences.

2. Never miss a musical performance or shool play your child is involved in.

3. Volunteer to help out in at least one school activity a year.

4. Attend a school board meeting, but be careful! You might be tempted to run for a seat on the board!!

5. Know how your child's school test scores compare to other schools in your community, state, and nation.

6. Know how much your district spends per pupil in education.

7. Know how much teachers, coaches, principals, and superintendents are paid.

8. Ask the local school district for a breakdown of the school budget: administration, athletics, academics, and the arts.

9. Find out how serious your school is about the arts.

10. Ask for test scores of a class over a five year period--stagnant, declining, or improving?

11. Visit a private/parochial school and ask how their expenditures compare to public school spending.

12. Talk to your state legislator and express your interst in their voting record on education.