RandySF
RandySF's JournalJeb Bush's Florida Recount Role Examined.
WASHINGTON — When it became clear that the disputed Florida election could deliver the White House to his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush immediately recused himself from any official role in the recount, promising to avoid even the "slightest appearance of a conflict of interest."
He directed his staff to spend their time on government business and pledged to do the same. Vowing that no political work would be done on the taxpayers' dime, six staffers took unpaid leaves to volunteer on the recount.
Despite that hands-off policy, the Florida governor's office in Tallahassee made 95 telephone calls to the George W. Bush presidential campaign, its advisors, lawyers and staffers during the 36-day recount period, records show. At least 10 calls came from an office number used primarily by Jeb Bush, including one call to a private line in George W. Bush's gubernatorial office in Austin.
Another call from Jeb Bush's number went to Karl Rove, his brother's campaign strategist. One went to the Texas governor's chief of staff, Clay Johnson. Another went to Michigan Gov. John Engler, who soon flew to Florida to monitor the ballot recount in Broward County. Additional calls were logged to cell phones assigned to Bush campaign staffers.
In an e-mail this week to The Times, Jeb Bush said he could not recall the purpose of the calls. "I have no clue what these calls were about," he wrote.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/14/news/mn-22362
Terri Schiavo’s Husband Speaks Out On Jeb Bush’s Presidential Bid
In his announcement Tuesday that he would explore a 2016 presidential bid, former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) promised to focus on “ideas and policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all Americans.” But he made no mention of his most controversial act during his two terms in office: his attempts to take custody of Terri Schiavo and overrule her husband Michael’s decision to remove her feeding tube, fifteen years after cardiac arrest had left her in a vegetative state.
ThinkProgress spoke with Michael Schiavo and the attorney who represented him in the matter, George Felos, about Bush’s presidential candidacy. Both expressed concern that Bush’s record was one of government interference and opposing individual liberty.
“If you want a government that’s gonna intrude on your life, enforce their personal views on you, then I guess Jeb Bush is your man,” Schiavo explained, adding, “We really don’t need another Bush in office.”
Felos described Bush’s actions interference in Schiavo case as, “An egregious example of the fat hand of government inserting itself into a family’s medical decision and the obtrusive hand of government trying to override their decision.”
Though Michael Schiavo got a court order in 2002 to remove his wife’s feeding tube — he said his wife had not wanted to be kept alive artificially — Jeb Bush intervened, pushing the state legislature to pass an unconstitutional bill in a special session giving him authority to order the feeding tube reinserted. When a state judge ordered it removed again, Felos told ThinkProgress, Bush “manipulated the organs of state government in order to try to evade the court order.”
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/12/17/3604615/michael-schiavo-jeb-bush/
Florida Man With Shovel Wins Gunfight
As Allopenna was in his truck, a man approached the driver’s side door and without warning fired five shots from a handgun, Doll wrote. Allopenna was struck three times.
Injured, but not giving up without a fight, Doll said Allopenna managed to get out of his truck and grab his attacker. At that point, the attacker demanded everything Allopenna had.
A witness to the attack stepped in at that point, striking the gunman with a shovel.
Allopenna took the shovel from the witness, Doll said, and “continued beating the suspect.”
When deputies arrived on the scene, they recovered a handgun on the sidewalk near Allopenna’s truck, Doll noted.
http://patch.com/florida/newportrichey/cops-florida-man-shovel-wins-gunfight
Jeb Bush: Gays Like "Polluters, Pornographers, Drunk Drivers"
During his first and unsuccessful bid for governor in 1994, Bush argued in an editorial that LGBT people do not deserve special legal protection. “We have enough special categories, enough victims, without creating even more,” he wrote.
In the editorial, published in the Miami Herald that summer, Bush drew a parallel between legal protection for gays and the question, “[Should] sodomy be elevated to the same constitutional status as race and religion? My answer is No.”
“The statement that the governor must stand up for all people on all matters is just silly,” Bush wrote, arguing that government does not defend every Floridian “with equal verve and enthusiasm.” He listed a string of examples: “Polluters, pedophiles, pornographers, drunk drivers, and developers without proper permits.”
Bush wrote the piece in response to a Herald editorial suggesting that he and his opponent in the Republican primary, Ander Crenshaw, held views on homosexuality that made them bigots. (The editorial focused on Crenshaw, now a congressman, but singled out Bush for reportedly saying employers and landlords should have the right to reject employees or tenants because of their sexuality.)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/jeb-bush-in-94-sodomy-shouldnt-be-given-same-protections-as#.qn933JwJPj
I endorse Gavin Newsom for Senator
He's bright, wonkish and as progressive as Barbars Boxer on the big issues. Best of all, sending him to Washington will keep him out of the Governor's Office in 2018. 
Agent Carter was fun. (No spoilers)
Two hours of Agent Carter was already morning entertaining than Agents of SHIELD, and I see it doubt a much better job connecting the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you've enjoyed the movie, you'll like this show.
Florida man arrested while wearing t-shirt that says 'I have drugs'
HUDSON (FOX 13) - A Florida man arrested on drug charges all but advertised he had them with his clothing.
John Richard Balmer, 50, is charged with possessing methamphetamine and marijuana.
A photo posted on the Pasco County Sheriff's Facebook page showed him wearing a t-shirt that said, in large print, “Who Needs Drugs?”
Underneath that, in smaller type, it said “No, seriously, I have drugs.”
Balmer was arrested Monday at a Kmart in Hudson, Florida.
According to an arrest report, Balmer tried to hand a small bag of drugs to someone standing behind him, but that person wouldn't take them.
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/27775533/2015/01/06/florida-man-arrested-while-wearing-t-shirt-that-says-i-have-drugs
One problem with 401k's is the lousy choices you get.
I had a 401k with an old job that never seemed tot take off and it was frustrating. I left the job to move to CA and rolled it over to an IRA and, since then, the wider variety of choices allowed me to double my return. Meanwhile, I looked back at my old funds and they are pretty much stuck in the doldrums. So now, instead of the 401k at my current job (which my employer will NOT match), I take the money I would have invested at my current job and build a portfolio based based on my successes with the IRA. Where in the world do employers find these turkeys?
Bay Area DNA start-up wants to assist customers with designing their own creatures
A Bay Area synthetic biology company has drawn interest– and $10 million in funding from investors– to help them fulfill their dream to “democratize creation” by providing DNA-mapping for future customers interested in tinkering with genetics or creating their own creatures if they so choose, reports the San Francisco Gate.
“Anyone in the world that has a few dollars can make a creature, and that changes the game,” Cambrian Genomics founder Austen Heinz said. “And that creates a whole new world.”
Heinz’s company currently uses lasers to create custom DNA for major pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and Thermo Fisher Scientific. He would like to open up his services to customers interested in altering the genetic codes of plants and animals, and even new creatures designed on their computers.
Scientists already modify the DNA of living organisms for many reasons: to make plants resistant to herbicides and pests, or to make research animals mimic human conditions and diseases.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/bay-area-dna-start-up-wants-to-assist-customers-with-designing-their-own-creatures/
I think Mia Love will be cover for every racist Republican in Congress.
Incoming Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) on Sunday said that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) should remain in Republican leadership despite recent reports that he spoke at an event for a white nationalist group in 2002.
"These groups are awful. And the last thing I want to do is give them any sort of publicity or credibility, and I can say, as far as I'm concerned, with Representative Scalise, he has been absolutely wonderful to work with," Love said on ABC's "This Week."
When asked if Scalise should remain as GOP whip, Love indicated that his apology was enough.
"There's one quality that he has that I think is very important in leadership and that's humility. And he's actually shown that in this case. And he's apologized, and I think that we need to move on and get the work of the American people done," she said.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mia-love-scalise-white-nationalist-group-speech
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