WELCOME TO FLORIDA

Governor Rick Scott has a million of ‘em . . . jokes? NO! Not a jokin’ around man our Gov. These are Special deals for Special folk - corporate type folk, that is. His latest little "gimmick" is the "WELCOME TO FLORIDA" sign with his name on it. It should say: "WELCOME TO FLORIDA, CORPORATE AMERICA; HAVE WE GOT A DEAL FOR YOU!" And, I believe it should be posted alongside another sign that reads: "GOODBYE, LOSERS - TEACHERS, STUDENTS, ELDERLY, UNDER-EMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED. DON’T LET THE DOOR SMACK YOUR BEHIND ON THE WAY OUT!"

Were the Florida voters asleep when this man was elected? And are we still sleeping? Something needs to be done! In a very short time, he has managed to cut jobless benefits and Medicaid reimbursement rates, and passed nearly $4 billion in budget cuts that will result in the lay-off of thousands of teachers and government employees. Not one bill has been passed to create jobs, which was what he promised to do when he campaigned. The cuts to Medicaid Reimbursements affect our elderly in a big way - and not in a good way. Nursing homes are losing their Medicaid reimbursements to the tune of $180 million – but not to worry because at the same time, a bill has been passed which lowers the minimum number of hours of direct care that homes have to provide for their residents – in other words, we’re giving you less money with which to care for your residents, but you will be allowed to spend less time caring for them.

And how about education? Have we lost sight of the fact that our children and grandchildren will be America’s leaders in the not too distant future? Don’t you think we should provide for them the best teachers and schools so that they will receive the kind of education they need to become enlightened citizens and leaders of a great country. It boggles the mind to know that we can raise incomprehensible amounts of money to fund a political campaign, but we can’t come up with enough money to keep our schools open or pay our teachers a living wage. Potentially great teachers choose careers other than teaching because they (who knew?) need to be able to pay their bills and put food on the table. When did we decide that paying less taxes was more important that educating our children and insuring this country’s future?

Oh, and yes, our illustrious Gov. returned a basketful of $$$$ to Washington, depriving Florida of high speed rail and the thousands of jobs that would have been created through that project . Way to go, Gov. – creating new jobs and all.
Time to wake up and smell the stench! Something’s rotten in Tallahassee - and it isn’t fish.
"WELCOME TO FLORIDA - WE USED TO BE PROUD"

MONDAY BLUES

What is it about Mondays? I no longer have to go to the office on Monday morning, since most of my work is done from home these days, and the Wash-day Blues are a thing of the past (most young people have no idea what that is), and being the first day of a new week, Monday should bring with it a sense of anticipation, even excitement. Instead, it's Monday . . . ugh!

Hmmm - see, on the weekends, we keep pretty busy with yard work, family time, church on Sunday and then Sunday dinner with the kids and we have very little time to dwell on the problems of our world, our country, our state, our community, our finances, our health, etc. And then comes Monday and it all comes flooding back. There is on-going strife in Lybia, on-going war in Afghanistan, on-going bombings in Iraq, on-going nuclear danger in Japan, on-going search for folks lost in the earthquake, on-going politicking in Washington, on-going on-going on-going. It is harder and harder to maintain a positive attitude in today's world.

I'm considering turning off the radio and TV and staying off the internet for a while to see if I can be like the ostrich. He seems to be able to pretend that life is good if he can't see it; I think he may have something there! Life is good. You know what? I'm still breathing and I feel pretty good. Chocolate and red wine are still very tasty; my animals still love me and loving on them makes my blood pressure come down; the birds are still singing in the back yard and the hummingbird is still a beautiful little gem; the roses are blooming and there are tiny tomatoes on my plants in the garden; new mown grass still smells wonderful and even the weeds have pretty little flowers on them. Life is good.

Happy Monday!