A tax by any other name ...

When is a tax not a tax?

Well, if you're a Republican legislator in Florida, the answer is easy: when it's a fee.

Citizens all over Florida rushed to their local tax collector's offices yesterday (as in Merritt Island, left) to try to renew their driver's licenses, car registrations, and other vehicle transactions before fees for doing so rose precipitously today. In some cases, the new fees are more than double what they were until yesterday: for example, the fee for renewing your Florida driver's license has gone up from $20 to $48. (Good thing my license is valid until 2017 ...) Florida's online renewal website was overwhelmed and broke down as early as Friday; by yesterday, the site was shut down completely, and the only accessible screen simply advised would-be customers to go to their local offices.

Predictably (and understandably), Floridians are outraged about the new fees:

In Miami: "Why couldn't they wait until the recession is over?" registered nurse Carolina Gonzalez asked as she waited about an hour in Miami to renew the auto tag on her Nissan Sentra. "I mean, there's lots of people without jobs. This is the completely wrong time to do this to people."

In Jacksonville: "The State of Florida is a bunch of crooks. They announce that they are raising the renewal cost of drivers licenses by over 100 percent, then they disable their on-line or phone renewal system so you have to go in person to renew. I will be soooooo glad when I'm out of Florida, never to return again."

In Pensacola: "This is ridiculous," said B.J. Carastro, 85, while standing at the back of the long line at the W Street location. "I can't believe all these rates going up. It is incredible that they will do that to us now during a recession. It sounds like it's an abuse of the citizens."

Naturally, everyone know that the blame for this rests squarely with those crazy tax-and-spend Republicans in the state Legislature.

(Wait ... did you say "tax-and-spend Republicans?!")

See, the Republicans in Tallahassee want you to believe that they're against raising taxes and they would never, never do such a thing to all of us fine Floridians. But suddenly, when they were faced with a downtrodden economy and massive budget shortfalls, they saw the light and raised taxes on motor vehicle transactions. Or did they?

Todd Reid, staff director for the House Majority office, said Democrats were being disingenuous. The state was facing a $6 billion budget deficit, and it was better to raise the drivers license fees than take more money out of education or public safety, Reid said.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, chairman of the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, said the fees needed to increase because they hadn't been raised in 25 years. And, he said, it's not a tax increase.

"It's important to remember that it's a privilege, not a right, to have a drivers license and a motor vehicle registration," Fasano said.

That's right: when viewed through elephant-colored glasses, it's not a tax increase. It's a fee increase. Clear difference, right? Perhaps Sen. Fasano can explain the difference to Floridians' soon-to-be-further-depleted bank accounts.

Obviously, I'm being sarcastic here: there is no difference. GOP lawmakers simply want to be able to say "we didn't raise taxes" and somehow claim they're telling the truth. As usual with Republicans, though, it's a bunch of disingenuous bullshit. Republicans are discovering that you can't run a government with no revenue, even if you want to make it small enough to drown in the bathtub. The Bush crime syndicate discovered this in recent years, when they turned the multi-million-dollar budget surplus they inherited from the Clinton Administration into record deficits (thanks in no small part to illegal, unnecessary wars).

The fact is, Republican lawmakers in Florida are doubly to blame for these massive tax ... er, fee ... increases. Not only are they trying to pull a fast one on the state, but it's their own tax cuts that led to the budgetary crisis in Florida. In short, not only are they lying to the people of Florida, but they're doing so in order to cover their own asses. And the Democratic legislators recognized this by unanimously opposing the fee increases.

Floridians have every right to be outraged at these enormous increases in fees. But let's not beat around the bush: because of their asinine decisions to slash revenue through unwise tax cuts over the last few years and their transparent, hypocritical attempts to package these latest fee hikes as something other than taxation, the Republicans in the Legislature are solely to blame. Let's hope Floridians remember that in November 2010.

From teabagging to fisting

Just when you think the Right can't get any more ignorant, they prove you oh so wrong.

Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors brings the latest wingnut mass psychosexual fantasy into stark reality for us. Particularly in light of the recent Teabaggers' Balls, well, the imagery is startling. As Tengrain says, "Yes, this [at right] is the actual and official logo for the next anti-tax event the mouth-breathers are planning."

Now, sure, the wingnuts might not have considered the sexual connotation of "fisting" when they came up with this logo. But, then, they obviously didn't think about the meaning of "teabagging," either, even going so far as to identify their activities with that word; that is, "teabagging" wasn't just a pejorative, snarky description laid on them by us DFHs. Nope, I think they're just that ignorant.

But the ignorance doesn't stop there. Indeed, amidst all the rhetoric from the Right about how President Obama is turning the country to socialism and comparing him to Lenin and Stalin and all that, you'd think these folks might be a little sensitive to the feelings evoked by a red raised fist. Not understanding what I mean, Mr./Ms. Wingnut? Here, let me make it as simple -- and visual -- as possible:




I'd like to think these delusional "9/12" wingnuts were just being ironic ... but I don't think they deserve that much credit.

An open message to the teabaggers

Some people just can't let go, and so I'm not going to even read further personal attacks in Comments from stubborn folks who won't listen and who make amazingly illogical and unfounded assumptions. Those comments don't deserve my time or attention, frankly.

However, others are reading and telling me what's being said, so I'm going to say all of this One. Last. Time.

First, I went to the Pensacola Tea Party last Wednesday with the sole intention of observing, taking some pictures and videos (with my crappy camera), and posting those things on my blog. That's it. I certainly had no idea before the event that there was going to be an "open mic" there; only once I saw the "open mic" did I even entertain the notion of saying something. Nothing was planned in advance other than going and watching. I did not bring along a cameraman.

Even when I'd more or less decided that I wanted to say something, I wasn't going to have any record of it until a friend of mine, who'd arrived on his own with another friend, volunteered to film it. And I said, "Sure, why not?," thinking it would be fun to post to my blog. Period. I don't know how it spread beyond this blog, and I don't think it particularly matters. I reported on what I did, what I saw, and what I heard, and that's all there is to it.

As for my opinion, I did and do think the Tea Parties are ridiculous (in light of the tax cut that nearly everyone attending will be receiving); hypocritical (why weren't these happening during the Bush years?); highly partisan (sponsored and promoted by Fox News, locally organized by the Republican Club); and motivated largely, if not completely, by hatred of President Obama. I didn't originally say that the attendees there looked like asses, but if the shoe fits ...

And I've been quite vehemently called a "troll" by someone who wasn't there, who seems to believe that freedom of speech applies only when it's your speech, and who doesn't really seem to get the meaning of the term. While reasonable minds may differ on the definition, I rather like this one from the Urban Dictionary:

One who purposely and deliberately (that purpose usually being self-amusement) starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers. He will spark of such an argument via the use of ad hominem attacks (i.e. 'you're nothing but a fanboy' is a popular phrase) with no substance or relevance to back them up as well as straw man arguments, which he uses to simply avoid addressing the essence of the issue.

Well, let's make a little checklist:

• Started an argument without listening to other arguments -- nope
• Engaged in ad hominem attacks -- no, unless you count the ones against me
• No substance or relevance -- no way; I had plenty of both, in the form of facts
• Straw man arguments to avoid the essence of the issue -- uh uh; I have done quite the opposite

Look: I don't have anything personally against any commenters or anyone who attended the Tea Parties. But at least have the decency to admit that, yeah, maybe you should have been doing these rallies for the last several years instead of just after President Obama took office; and figure out how to argue on the facts (as you see them) rather than resort to personal attacks. Attacking me personally only makes you look like you can't argue on the facts.

Besides, the tea parties are so last week ...

UPDATE (11:25 pm 4/22/09): Oh, almost forgot -- here are some of those facts to which I referred (click each image for larger version):


No, wingnuts, in this case, up is not down and down is not up:


Here's one from last year's presidential campaign that should help put things into perspective for even the simplest of minds:


That unfamiliar pain you're feeling right now, teabaggers? It's called "the truth." Yes, I know it hurts.

(Special thanks to (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone and the Deranged Leftwing Baker for supplying these terrific images.)

More from the Pensacola Tea Party: Maybe they're just warming up?

This is basically a "teaser" video because I have a number of other pictures and videos to post, but I just don't have time right now. I'm spending the weekend with my kids, you know, so I'm trying to shoehorn in whatever blogtime I can finagle in the midst of all that. Priorities, you understand ... forgive me, please.

Anyway, for starters, check out the enthusiasm (or, to be accurate, the lack thereof) of the gathering in downtown Pensacola last Wednesday. This also gives you an idea of the size of the turnout ... in short, "modest" would be kind.

If this is indicative of the "tea party movement" overall, I think America can rest easy.

"Come on, you guys, let's keep it going!" BWAHAHAHA!

2-4-6-8, who do we appreciate? Ayn Rand, Ayn Rand, goooooooooo Galt!

Okay, they didn't chant that last one ... but they should have.

Hoping to have all video and pictures up by late tonight. Thanks for your patience.

DFH blogger speaks at Pensacola Tea Party ... and lives to tell the tale

If you were following my livetweeting today from the Pensacola Tea Party, then you already know: I gave a little speech. Hey, I'm a sucker for Open Mic Night ... what can I say?

Seriously -- I didn't realize there would be an opportunity to speak, but they were practically begging folks to come up and say a few words ... and I was right there ... well, with apologies for the picture quality, now you can see and hear for yourself:

I enjoyed the part when I asked, "How many here make less than $250,000 a year?" and there's a big cheer ... then it goes quiet again when I tell them they'll pay less in taxes under the Obama plan. That's about when the murmuring started ...

My favorite part, though, is as I continue to gripe about the years from 2000 to 2008 (yeah, it's '01 to '09, but you have to "speak to your audience," y'know), and then I hit them with "place the blame where it belongs: squarely on the Republican Party and the Bush administration," they pretty much lost their shit at that point. That was fun.

But, like all good villains, I reveled in the booing just a bit ... although I should have closed with "Enjoy the rest of your teabagging!" Maybe I should have paid more attention in rehearsal ...

(Special thanks to Sid for acting as cameraman.)

UPDATE (7:17 pm 4/15/09): Lots more pictures and video to share, but I probably won't get to it until late tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

UPDATE (1:20 pm 4/16/09): Well, um, maybe late tonight? Hard to say. Real life is happening, you know? Out to do stuff today and tonight, then on the road tomorrow. I'll get those other things posted ASAP, though.

Thanks again for your patience, and for all your kind words here and elsewhere. I really appreciate it.

UPDATE (8:28 am 4/18/09): Finally starting to get more stuff posted, including the firsthand account of how the video happened, Olbermann and Garofalo weighing in on the video, interviews on the Richard Hunter Show and PaxLive, and more raw pics and video. There will be much more throughout the weekend, so please continue to check in when you get a chance. Thanks!

UPDATE (1:50 am 4/19/09): Why the hell am I still awake, especially when it's almost 3:00 am in the Eastern Time Zone, where I am as I write this?

Anyway, the emcee of the teabaggers' ball, Pensacola Republican Club president Troy Schoonover, evidently isn't too happy with me. Check out what he emailed me Saturday night, and my response thereto. We're having some fun now!

Blast Off! Radio PRIMETIME: Teabags and pirates and whiskers on puppies

NOTE SPECIAL TIME FOR TODAY'S SHOW: 7pm EASTERN

I knew the rightwing nutjobs were angry because Obama and the Democrats spanked them (electorally, of course -- even though some would have preferred literally) last November, but their behavior is landing them somewhere between "ridiculous" and "dangerous" on the scale of douchebaggery. I mean, laughing and pointing is great and all, but when Glenn Beck pours faux gasoline on an actor and pretends to be President Obama holding a lit match, well, a rather broad line has been crossed.

So on this Tax Week, we have a lot to discuss on Blast Off! Radio, which moves to a special evening time just for today (real life interferes sometimes with blogging -- yeah, I know it's hard to believe). Besides the Beck fiasco, we'll get ready for some teabagging ... wait, that came out wrong ... um, we'll look at the latest from the wingnut "Tea Parties" in Florida and around the country, we'll laugh at the Predictable Outrage from the Right over Obama's handling of the Somali pirate situation and the addition of a puppy to the First Family (preview: Fox News' Brit Hume thinks the puppy is "girly"), and we'll talk about the latest corporate slap in the face as Amazon.com summarily removes rankings from gay-related books. All this plus, as always, your calls, emails, and chatting.

Space and time do not permit me to share with you all the excitement, snark, and substance that will be part of tonight's special primetime show. So, I guess you'll just have to tune in and hear it for yourself:

TIME: 7:00 pm Eastern TONIGHT

Click here to listen

Call in number: (646) 716-7543

E-mail: blastoffradio-at-gmail-dot-com

If you listen to one webradio show this week, make it this one. Hell, even if you listen to a bunch of them, don't miss this special edition of Blast Off! Radio. It's going to be one to remember!

(cross-posted at FPC Blog)

Yet another reason to avoid Brevard County

Okay, I admit it. I'm a little harsh on Brevard County, Fla. I mean, granted, it's the home of the Stupidest Fucking Morons on the Planet and all that, but after all, it's also the home of my two children (and the birthplace of one). Hell, I haven't lived there myself in nearly three years. So maybe I ought to let up a bit.

On second thought: NO.

The most important story in Brevard today, based on its placement on the front page of Florida Today? The Obama smackdown of GM? Some big local crime or scandal?

Nope. It's the impact of the new tobacco tax taking effect tomorrow. And it sure wasn't hard to find a representative sample of Brevard's finest citizens to gripe about it.

"It's a rich man's luxury now because poor people can't afford it," Kim Dean, 38, a Port St. John telemarketer, said Monday. Dean started smoking when she was 9 years old and smokes a pack a day.

"Money's tight, and there are going to be a lot of angry smokers out there," said Dean, who stocked up on cigarettes Monday for herself and a friend at the Knox McRae Food Store in Titusville.

The chance to save money ends Wednesday, when the 62 cents-per-pack federal tax takes effect.

Hold on there a second. She's 38, and she started smoking when she was nine?! Are you fucking kidding me? Her lungs must look like Dick Cheney's heart, all crusty and shriveled up. I'm grossing myself out just thinking of it ... almost 30 years of smoking, generally a pack a day, and she's not even 40 yet? Hell, I'm surprised she's still alive.

But forgive me if I don't shed a tear for the "angry smokers out there." They should think of it more as an incentive to quit, like a woman quoted later in the article who plans to give up smoking and save the estimated $3,100 annually a pack-a-day smoker spends on cigarettes. And I'm no Carrie Nation on this, I assure you -- I've been an occasional cigar smoker for almost 20 years myself, and the taxes are increasing on cigars from a nickel a stick to 40 cents. Still, that only increases the cost of a box by $7.00 ... and yes, it pales in comparison to the 62-cents-per-pack cigarette tax hike. And I don't smoke a box of cigars a day ... I don't even smoke a box in half a year, I imagine.

Anyway, that's what passes for front page news in Brevard County. Guess they won't be adding tobacco parties to their "tea parties" anytime soon.

But ... smoking since she was nine? Damn.

Haridopolos panders again

This is getting ridiculous. Here we are, in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis since World War II (brought on by Republicans at both the state and federal levels, naturally), and Sen. Mike Haridopolos (R-Indialantic) just won't stop beating a tax-cut horse that should have expired long ago.

[Haridopolos'] proposal would put before voters in 2010 a proposed constitutional amendment to cap local taxation. It includes provisions for local governments to exceed the limits by a vote in local referendums.

More than 20 lined up in the Senate Community Affairs Committee to oppose the idea.

"Our state taxation system must allow for the levy of sufficient taxes," said Marilynn Wills, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. "This proposal would cause continual shrinkage in the amount of revenue available to meet Florida's … needs."

Haridopolos, a Merritt Island Republican* set to be Senate President in 2010, said he will work with all opponents as he did in 2008 to defeat a similar -- flawed by Haridopolos's reckoning -- proposed amendment put on the ballot by the Taxation and Budget Revision Commission and thrown off by the Florida Supreme Court.

There were further complaints. "I'm not sure how this thing works," said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida Association of Superintendents of Schools. "It's as close to creating governmental paralysis as anything I've ever seen."

Well, that's just it, Dr. Blanton. Haridopolos and his cronies in the Legislature want nothing more than to paralyze state government, so they can claim that it never worked in the first place. Of course, government led by Republicans notoriously doesn't work well, especially now that they've entrenched themselves as the party of free spending, high debt, and economic ruin, but that's not going to stop ol' Mikey from pandering like his political life depended on it (which, because he can't really do anything else right, it probably does).

While the proposal isn't, strictly speaking, a tax cut, it would drastically limit state revenues at a time when revenues ought to increase, or at the very least not be capped. It's irresponsible, it's dangerous, and it's classic Haridopolos. This joker is in line to be Senate President in 2010 ... and that, as much as anything else, ought to tell you what bad shape the Florida Legislature is in these days.

So pander away, Mikey ... and run the state even farther into the ground than you and your pals already have. After all, that's really what you want, isn't it?

---

* He's always been identified -- including in the linked article, at first -- as being from Indialantic, so I don't get the Merritt Island reference. In any event, he's from and he represents Brevard County, which almost makes him batshit crazy by definition.

Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Sarah Palin

Given the fact that I still can't believe Huggy Bear and the Republicans were stupid enough to put the certifiably moronic Sarah Palin, America's Clown Car, on their presidential ticket last year, it always makes me smile to see further political misfortune befall the Alaska governor. So today I have a big grin on my face, as Sarah America finds herself behind the eight-ball with the IRS:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) owes income taxes on nearly $17,000 paid to her as travel reimbursements when she spent nights in her Wasilla residence, according to a state legal opinion that the payments were not legitimate business expenses, a state official said yesterday.

During her first 19 months in office, Palin charged the state $16,951 in "per diem" allowances for spending 312 nights in her home. The allowances were intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while she was traveling on state business.

The state this week reversed a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, said state administrator Annette Kreitzer. Payments to employees charging "per diem" expenses to stay in their own homes will be treated as income subject to taxes, Kreitzer said, and the state will update the employees' W-2 forms.

[...]

Palin said many of the per diem expenses occurred while plumbing was being repaired in the governor's mansion in Juneau. She said she could have billed the state for hotel or apartment lodging but opted against that, "knowing that we're going to spend quite a bit of time here [in Wasilla], especially those months where the remodels were taking place in the governor's mansion. And we would disclose my per diem, we wouldn't try to hide it."

On the initial expense reports, Palin wrote "Lodging -- own residence" or "Lodging -- Wasilla residence" more than 30 times on the days she charged a per diem, the reports show. But in two dozen undated amendments, the governor deleted the references to her residence or home.

Oopsie! How are the Republicans, who spent an inordinate amount of time bleating about tax problems by former Cabinet nominee Tom Daschle and new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, among others, going to defend their sweetheart on this one? And more to the point, how will Gov. Palin explain her apparent attempt to cover her tracks?

Oh, I'm sure the mainstream corporate media ultimately will treat this as they do all GOP scandals -- by mostly ignoring it. But that won't absolve Gov. Palin from responsibility ... and maybe it would be a good idea to launch an investigation into those amended records, hmmm? Or is it just another case of IOKIYAR*? (I fear the latter ...)

Well, no matter what happens from here, the bespectacled governor's reputation will take a hit, and her supporters will have to contort themselves pretty wildly to establish how this differs from the other recent income tax incidents. Still, Sarah, you should take solace in one fact: this award includes no taxable income! So celebrate, Sarah, because today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

---

* "It's OK If You're A Republican," for the uninitiated.

He's only human, born to make mistakes

I'm not happy to see the Obama administration hiccupping its way through key appointments, with both HHS nominee Tom Daschle and chief performance officer Nancy Killefer having to withdraw their names because of furor over unpaid taxes, but I have to admit that it's refreshing to see a president who can admit mistakes.

"Did I screw up in this situation? Absolutely. I'm willing to take my lumps," Obama told NBC's Brian Williams, one of five interviews he gave yesterday afternoon. Obama told the network anchors that there are "not two sets of rules" for people, and said that average taxpayers deserve to have public officials who pay their taxes on time.

[...]

Clay Johnson III, who ran President George W. Bush's transition team and later served in the White House as presidential personnel director, said he is surprised to see three of Obama's nominees weighed down by tax troubles considering that paying -- or not paying -- taxes has long been the top concern for vetters.

"It's huge," Johnson said. "Do you pay your taxes? . . . It is something that is checked religiously."

Well, yes, the tax issue is critical. It goes directly to trust in our elected and appointed officials, and irregularities impugn the credibility of those found in arrears. However, setting aside the rampant corruption of the Bush crime syndicate, I honestly can't recall a single instance of Drunky McStagger ever admitting that he was wrong, at least not immediately, directly, and sincerely. Can you?

Yeah, he should have done a better job of oversight, but gee, our president is human. Imagine that.

Civil disobedience update: the IRS is mad at me

Back in April, I told you about my first real foray into civil disobedience, my participation in the War Tax Boycott. I withheld 15% of my total tax liability as a protest against the use of federal tax funds to operate an illegal war in Iraq and Afghanistan (never mind the fact that the war has been handled incompetently at nearly every turn).

The IRS has begun to catch up with me, though. On Wednesday -- Christmas Eve, for Jeebus' sake -- I received a certified letter from the IRS informing me that I would be subject to various legal penalties, including liens on my property, if I didn't make arrangements to pay up immediately. Of course, after two divorces and being unemployed since September, my only "property" of any appreciable significance is my car, which they are welcome to have ... but that's beside the point.

My mother, who was visiting at the time, was aghast that I would have done such a thing as not paying my full tax burden in order to make a statement, and she strongly urged me to pay my back taxes immediately. Since my children were in the room, too, I thought it was an excellent opportunity for what I like to call a "teachable moment."

"The problem with American society today," I began, understating the number of problems severely, "is that too few people are willing to stand up and make a statement against the government. They'd rather let the government, which presumably is elected by the people and works for the people, 'do' things to us -- to accept the rulers' decisions passively rather than try to shape them actively." I paused for a beat. My mother blinked almost imperceptibly but said nothing, and I continued. "Well, I'm not going to sit here on my butt and watch the government walk all over us without a fight. If they want to throw me in jail, fine. But someone's got to make a stand. Otherwise they'll keep 'doing' to us until there's nothing more to do."

The point I was trying to make is a simple one: there seems to be a strong value attached to not "making waves." Don't speak out against bad policy decisions, just let things happen as they will, because "they don't affect me anyway." Well, they do affect me, and they affect you, too. I realize not everyone is willing to risk losing property or worse to send a message that the war is wrong, and I realize that, in isolation, my own meager statement is almost meaningless. But it's not an isolated message, and there are many things you can do that won't subject you to the kind of risk I'm taking. I don't know what's going to happen to me from this point forward, but I know that I'm not paying those taxes unless and until the war is over.

Look, I'm no hero, and I'm certainly no saint. But if I can teach my children one thing, it's that sometimes, a principle is more important than the possible consequences.

(cross-posted at Pax Americana)

Someone give Gov. Crist a fiddle ...

... because he might as well fiddle while Florida -- at least its economy -- burns down around him.

Just take a look at section B of the Palm Beach Post today. The front page of the section alone has three articles about the drastic measures Palm Beach County and its municipalities are having to take in order to contend with the cuts in revenue caused by the heinous Crist/Rubio tax cuts.

At the top:

Cuts prompt exodus at state attorney's office
-- Longtime homicide prosecutor is latest to resign

With the office's budget cut 6 percent this year and projected to be slashed another 10 percent for the year beginning July 1, career prosecutors are jumping ship, too. The latest: Homicide prosecutor Patrick McKamey. His last day on the job is Friday. McKamey is joining the criminal defense law firm of Perlet & Shiner, where he will make more than the $80,000 he's paid as a prosecutor.

Husband and wife Heidi Perlet and Marc Shiner also are former Palm Beach County prosecutors, as is another attorney in their firm, Darren Shull.

McKamey, 40, has been a prosecutor for nearly 12 years. With no pay raises or cost-of-living increases for two years, McKamey said he has taken a pay cut when inflation is factored in.

"When you get to that crossroads financially, you start losing ground," McKamey said. "I made the financial sacrifice as long as I could to do something I love. It was a hard decision. I struggled with it for months."

McKamey is married with a 2-year-old son, and he said that was a factor. "If I were still single, I could have weathered the storm."

Earlier this month, Michelle Marken quit the office after about seven years. She too blamed the lack of pay or cost-of-living raises now and in the foreseeable future. Marken was making $67,729 and prosecuted difficult crimes against children cases, in addition to arson cases. She has gone to work as a prosecutor in Virginia.

"This is the second year we're going to be stagnant," said Al Johnson, a 15-year veteran of the office. "Basically, there is no future in the state of Florida in the state attorney's office - that's what the legislature is saying."

[...]

"You cannot put a three-year prosecutor in crimes against children," Johnson said. "Patrick's caseload doubled in the last three weeks."

It could get worse before it gets better. In order to make payroll if next year's budget is trimmed 10 percent, [State Attorney Barry] Krischer says he will have to lay off some attorneys. This on top of other experienced prosecutors he lost in recent months. Among them: Stacey Ibarra, who went to the statewide prosecutor's office, and Jennifer Millien, who joined the U.S. Attorney's Office.

[...]

[T]here were 5,131 active felony cases as of April 14, including 2,141 that were 6 months old or older, Johnson said. "The less time you can devote to each individual case, you're going to see more cases fall through the cracks. We cannot concentrate on every case.

"The public is suffering now. They just don't know it yet."

These are real consequences, folks: the real effect of the few hundred dollars that Crist and House Speaker Marco Rubio have put back in a few Floridians' pockets (mostly wealthy homeowners who don't really need the extra cash).

Want more evidence?

$36 million in school cuts seen; officials say it could be worse

Palm Beach County schools will need to cut $36 million from its budget next year after legislators approved the 2008-09 education spending plan they plan to finalize on Friday.

The cuts amount to a 2.7 percent budget reduction, slightly better than the state average.

Florida would spend about $130 less on each of its 2.6 million public school students next year [according to] the state budget. In Palm Beach County, the per-pupil cut would be $117.

[...]

District officials point to school districts such as in Broward and Miami-Dade counties that drew up multiyear contracts promising rising salaries to teachers.

Now those districts may have to go back on their promise or lay off teachers to make ends meet. Miami-Dade Superintendent Rudy Crew already recommended the school board suspend raises negotiated two years ago.

It's the same thing that happened in the early 1990s, when Palm Beach County schools had to renegotiate its contract with teachers after it couldn't afford promised raises.

Okay, so let's see what the damage is so far: we're sloughing off law enforcement personnel left and right, our public schools are suffering cuts they can't afford, and attorneys and teachers alike are losing or are at risk of losing their jobs. Nice work, Charlie!

But wait -- there's more!

Delray residents pitch in on budget

Facing a difficult budget process in the coming months, the city should consider freezing employee salaries, combining the police and fire departments and dissolving the community redevelopment agency.

The recommendations were among the dozens of cost-cutting ideas residents offered at a small forum Tuesday night at the Delray Beach Golf Club.

[...]

Delray Beach, like most Florida cities, is bracing for a bloody budget process this fall because of a decrease in tax revenue from the voter-approved property tax amendment combined with a failing economy and stagnant housing market.

The city must approve a budget by the start of the new fiscal year, Oct. 1.

Kucera urged commissioners to spend wisely and find small ways to increase revenue, such as increasing parking fees. Other residents proposed increasing the fines for driving and code violations, charging user fees for parks and using the tennis complex for more events.

We shouldn't have to do this, Charlie, not in an already sluggish economy. And we likely wouldn't -- at least not to such a great extent -- but for the hard-on you and Marco have for burnishing your Good Republican Credentials (an oxymoron if there ever was one) by pushing through tax cuts the state neither needs nor can afford.

Let me put it more simply, Charlie: you are slowly strangling Florida. Is that what you want your legacy to be? You can be the governor who forced Florida into bankruptcy! Congratulations, Gov. Crist!

I can see it now: Tallahassee, 2011. "Sorry we don't have a gold watch to present to you as you head off into the sunset, Charlie, but here's a hearty pat on the back for burying the state in mountains of debt. You did more to destroy the state in four years than Jeb! could do in eight. Way to go!"

The picture's not much better in the rest of the country, thanks once again to Republican asshats making the decisions in Washington. Why, just look at the Post's Business section, starting on pages 10B and 11B of today's paper. The headlines alone are sick-inducing:

Flouring Dilemma: Global demand finally affects U.S.

Consumers continue to see grim prospects
(featuring a graphic headed "Confidence free-fall")

State incentive fund to lure big biotech dries up

Nursing home costs up, especially in Florida

Sounds just peachy, doesn't it? I know, I know ... no one could have predicted that we'd be paying nearly $4 a gallon for gas and having stores ration flour and rice and ... well, that's a bunch of bullshit, and Charlie, you know that as well as anyone. What the fuck were you thinking, pushing tax cuts in the midst of a recession that threatens to become a full-fledged depression?

We're going to remember this, Charlie. And I for one won't let you forget.

(cross-posted at Florida Progressive Coalition Blog)

The importance of being civilly disobedient

I am now a criminal.

Not in the felony sense, but not in the speeding ticket sense either. Today I made the conscious decision to participate in the War Tax Boycott.

Because, as many of you readers know, 2007 was an extraordinary year for me income-wise, (thanks to a certain game show) I just couldn't afford to forgo all of my tax liability this year, and so I did have to write a large check to the U.S. Treasury. But, after some calculating, soul-searching, and thinking about symbolic value, I deducted 15% from the amount I owed, and I wrote the following letter* to accompany my tax return:

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April 15, 2008


Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service Center
Atlanta, GA 39901-0102


Dear Sir or Madam:

After careful consideration of the consequences and balancing them with my strong feelings against contributing fully to the illegal, unethical, and unnecessary war presently being waged by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, I hereby declare myself a War Tax Objector and am withholding 15% of my total tax liability for the 2007 tax year. The 15% amount is intended to represent a compromise or median point between the percentage of U.S. income tax revenue currently spent on the military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan (7%) and the percentage of revenue targeted to military expenses in toto (31%). I simply cannot justify making a full contribution to the deaths of thousands of U.S. and coalition soldiers and exponentially more Iraqi and Afghan citizens, nor to the destruction of the rule of law in America by the regime presently in power.

I understand that this is an illegal act under current federal law, but based on my own values and morals, I believe that the war and occupation themselves are illegal and that my decision to conscientiously object to funding these military actions is a necessary act of civil disobedience in order to express my outrage at the federal government’s continued adherence to a dangerous and destructive military strategy. There was, as we now know with certainty, absolutely no defensible reason to invade and occupy Iraq, and while the military operation in Afghanistan arguably was justified by the search for Osama bin Laden, the apparent abandonment of that mission has made our efforts there futile and has created an increasingly unstable environment for their citizens and our soldiers alike.

Of course, I know that the withholding of a mere $[amount deleted] will have little if any direct effect on U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, I am heartened by the hope that a similarly concerted effort by many American taxpayers, coordinated by the organizers of the 2008 War Tax Boycott (http://wartaxboycott.org), might deliver the message that the country is tired of the warmongering elitists who presently control our government and, indeed, dominate our discourse through the mainstream media. Just as importantly, though, it will allow me to live my life having reduced the stain of blood on my own hands that results from funding a war and occupation that never should have happened and that ought to end immediately.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
[Sinfonian]

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Maybe this is a futile gesture, and I'm just setting myself up for an audit, or worse. Or maybe this is just another step in standing up as a citizen and saying that I'm sick and tired of watching the Bush crime syndicate run roughshod over the Constitution. Either way, I'm okay with it. In fact, I feel good about it.

Taking action is empowering. Everyone ought to try it sometime.

(cross-posted in substantially the same form at Pax Americana)

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* Looking back at the letter now, I should have added a sentence about how I planned to use the withheld money in ways that will help change the current state of things, such as donations to progressive candidates and causes. But, frankly, I forgot, and I've already mailed it with my return. Oh well.