Mel Martinez Votes Against Minimum Wage

Senator Mel Martinez (Wingnut- FL) voted against the Minimum Wage Bill
voting against the working people of Florida.
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A bill to watch

(HB 213)  Electronic Voting System Paper Records
 
 
 
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By the Numbers

State of the Union - By the Numbers

In his 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush will hail the state of the union as "strong", pointing to the growing economy, new jobs, and record home ownership. But for Americans worrying about how to make ends meet around their kitchen tables at night, the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Just look at the numbers, and how Bush's rhetoric has failed to match reality throughout his presidency...
Education

The Reality
  • Average cost of a public four-year college in 2000, annual: $9,958
  • Average cost of a public four-year college in 2006, annual: $12,796 1
  • Maximum Pell grant in 2001 school year: $3,750 1a
  • Maximum Pell grant in 2006 school year (inflation adjusted): $3,558 1b
Bush's Rhetoric
  • 2005 State of the Union: We'll make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.
  • 2004 State of the Union: I propose larger Pell grants for students who prepare for college with demanding courses in high school.





Healthcare

The Reality
  • Americans without health insurance, 2000: 38.2 million 2
  • Americans without health insurance, 2005: 46.6 million 3
  • Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage, 2000: $135
  • Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage, 2006: $248 4
  • Percentage of annual bankruptcies due to medical bills: 55% 5
Bush's Rhetoric
  • 2006 State of the Union: Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care. Our government has a responsibility to provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility. For all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and help people afford the insurance coverage they need.
  • 2005 State of the Union: we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage
  • 2004 State of the Union: To make insurance more affordable, Congress must act to address rapidly rising health care costs.
  • 2003 State of the Union: Our second goal is high quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
  • 2001 State of the Union: Many working Americans do not have health care coverage, so we will help them buy their own insurance with refundable tax credits.
Energy

The Reality
  • Average price of home heating oil on January 3, 2000: $1.15/gallon
  • Average price of home heating oil on January 1, 2007: $2.42/gallon 6
  • Increase in average price since January 2000, percent: 110%
  • Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 3, 2000: $1.31
  • Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 1, 2007: $2.38 7
  • Increase in the average price since January 2000, percentage: 82%
  • ExxonMobil profits in 2000: $7.9 billion 8
  • ExxonMobil profits in 2006: $36.1 billion 9
  • ExxonMobil's profit during the second quarter of 2006, per second: $1,318 10
  • America's Annual Consumption of Gasoline (million of barrels per day) 2000: 8.472 10a
  • America's Annual Consumption of Gasoline (million of barrels per day) 2005: 9.125 10b
Bush's Rhetoric
  • 2006 State of the Union: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology.
  • 2005 State of the Union: To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy
  • 2004 State of the Union: Consumers and businesses need reliable supplies of energy to make our economy run -- so I urge you to pass legislation to modernize our electricity system, promote conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
  • 2003 State of the Union: Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment
  • 2002 State of the Union: Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil.
  • 2001 State of the Union: We can promote alternative energy sources and conservation, and we must. America must become more energy-independent, and we will.
Stagnant Incomes
The Reality
  • Median household income in 2000: $47,599
  • Median household income in 2005: $46,326 11
  • Decrease from 2000-2005: $1,273
  • Salary full-time minimum wage employee without vacation, 2006: $10,712
  • Average time for top CEOs to earn that sum, hours: 2.06 12
  • Federal minimum wage in 2000: $5.15/hr
  • Federal minimum wage in 2006: $5.15/hr
  • Loss in purchasing power, full time worker annually: $1,562
Climate Cooking
The Reality
  • Year Bush stated that the emission targets of the Kyoto Protocol were "not based upon science": 2000 13
  • Decrease in NASA budget for Earth science and observation in real dollars since 2000, percentage: 30% 14
  • Year with US highest average temperature ever recorded: 2006 15
Retirement Insecurity
The Reality
  • Workers without defined-benefit retirement plan at work, private sector 2006, percentage: 80% 16
  • Baby boom Americans approaching retirement: 76 million 17
Iraq War Fiasco

The Reality
  • Number of US troops killed in Iraq prior to "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003: 139
  • Number of US troops killed in Iraq as of January 22, 2007: 3,056 18
  • Number of Iraqi civilians killed in 2006, according to the United Nations: 34,452 19
  • Number of US troops wounded in Iraq prior to "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003: 542
  • Number of US troops wounded in Iraq as of January 10, 2007: 22,834 20
  • Total US military expenditures (including Iraq/Afghanistan) in 2006: $522 billion
    (Includes China, Russia, the UK, Japan, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Italy, and Australia) 21
  • US Federal Discretionary Budget spent on Military not including Iraq, in 2006, percentage: 48.7%
  • Amount spent on Education, percentage: 6.7% 22
Bush's Rhetoric
  • 2006 State of the Union: Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning.
  • 2006 State of the Union: As we make progress on the ground, and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels -- but those decisions will be made by our military commanders, not by politicians in Washington, D.C.
  • 2005 State of the Union: As those [Iraqi] forces become more self-reliant and take on greater security responsibilities, America and its coalition partners will increasingly be in a supporting role.
  • 2004 State of the Union: Month by month, Iraqis are assuming more responsibility for their own security and their own future.
  • 2004 State of the Union: Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations
  • 2003 State of the Union: The British government has learned that Saddam
  • 2003 State of the Union: [Saddam Hussein] clearly has much to hide.
  • 2003 State of the Union: Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction.
Debts and Deficits Climbing
The Reality
  • US Trade Deficit, October 2000, monthly: $33.8 billion
  • US Trade Deficit in October 2006, monthly: $58.9 billion 23
  • US Current Account Deficit, FY 2000: $435.4 billion 24
  • US Current Account Deficit, FY 2006: $900 billion 25
  • Loss of value of U.S. dollar relative to the Euro, January 24, 2000-January 23, 2006, percentage: 23%
  • US Budget Deficit in FY 2000: $236 billion surplus 26
  • US Budget Deficit in FY 2006: $423 billion deficit 27
  • US National Debt in FY 2000: $5.7 trillion
  • US National Debt in FY 2006: $8.5 trillion 28
  • National Debt Increase 2000-2006: $2.8 trillion
Household Debt Surpasses Savings
The Reality
  • Personal savings, November 2000: –$56.2 billion 29
  • Personal savings, November 2006: –$95.0 billion 30
1 Costs include tuition, fees, room & board. MSN Money 2000/Associated Press. "The Real Cost of College: Going Down?" January 14, 2005. College Board. Trends in College Pricing 2007.
1a US Department of Education. "FY 2003 Budget Summary." February 4, 2002.
1b Constant Dollars as taken from College Board. "Total Pell Grant Funding Declines for First Time in Six Years." October 24, 2006.
2 US Census Bureau.
3 US Census Bureau.
4 The Kaiser Family Foundation. "Employer Health Benefits 2006 Annual Survey." September 26, 2006.
5 Health Affairs Health Policy Journal. "Marketwatch: Illness and Injury Contributors to Bankruptcy." February 2, 2005.
6 United States Energy Information Administration. "U.S. Weekly No. 2 Heating Oil Residential Prices-cents per gallon." January 4, 2007.
7 United States Energy Information Administration. "U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices-cents per gallon." January 5, 2007.
8 CNN Money.
9 CNN Money.
10 CNN.com "ExxonMobil makes more than $10 billion." July 27, 2006.
10a US Energy Information Administration. Annual Energy Review 2005. July 27, 2006
10b US Energy Information Administration. Annual Energy Review 2005. July 27, 2006
11 Constant Dollars. US Census Bureau, Table H-8. Median Household Income by State: 1984 to 2005
12 Forbes Magazine. "What the Boss Makes." April 20, 2006
13 The White House. "President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change." June 11, 2001.
14 New York Times, Blinding Ourselves in Space, January 21, 2006.
15 National Climate Data Center. US Department of Commerce. "Climate of 2006 – In Historical Perspective." January 9, 2007.
16 Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States, March 2006.
17 The Seattle Times. Retirement of baby boomers may reverberate in workplace. January 22, 2005.
18 iCasualties.org. "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count." January 17, 2007.
19 UN Assistance Mission for Iraq. "Human Rights Report." January 16, 2006.
20 iCasualties.org. "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count." January 17, 2007.
21 sCenter for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "US Spending vs. the World." February 16, 2006. (*latest available data for China and Russia are for FY 2004)
22 White House Office of Management and Budget. "Table S–3. Growth in Discretionary Budget Authority by Major Agency." February 6, 2006.
23 U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics. "Trade Deficit Decreases in November, 2006." January 10, 2007.
24 Economic Policy Institute. "Economic Snapshots." March 14, 2001.
25 Economic Policy Institute. "Current Account Picture." March 14, 2006.
26 White House Office of Management and Budget. Historical Tables
27 White House Office of Management and Budget. "Table S-1. Budget Totals."
28 Bureau of the Public Debt. "The Debt to the Penny." January 16, 2007.
29 Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Personal Income and Outlays." December 22, 2000.
30 Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Personal Income and Outlays." December 22, 2006.
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Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Listening Session




Friends,
 
Attached is a flyer to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Listening Session this Thursday, January 25th at 10am at the Joseph Meyerhoff Senior Center.
 
Please pass this flyer along to anyone you feel might be intersted in attending.
 
If you have trouble opening this document, or have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Jodi Bock Davidson, District Director
Office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
10100 Pines Blvd.
Pembroke Pines, FL 33026
954-437-3936 office * 954-437-4776 fax
jodi.davidson@mail.house.gov
 
(Click the above image to visit our homepage and subscribe to Rep. Wasserman Schultz's e-newsletter.)



A Holiday Gift For Everyone
A Free Cook Book
Ron Mills
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Insurance Reform Update

message From Rep. Martin Kiar:
Hello,
 
As you are aware, this week the Florida House, Florida Senate and Governor are convening together in a Special Session to address the crisis we are currently all suffering from. Attached is an update that I have prepared. Please let me know your thoughts and I would truly appreciate it if you could forward the update to your email lists.
 
Very truly yours,
 
Martin David Kiar


A Holiday Gift For Everyone
A Free Cook Book
Ron Mills
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CREW beta-project - We need your help!

   
CREW - Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington
 
CREW is unveiling a revolutionary new tool that gives anyone with an internet connection the power to investigate the federal government. It's the CREW Open Community Document Review System, and we're giving you the first chance to use it.
As a part of our ongoing efforts to expose government corruption and clean up Washington, CREW makes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documents and information from the federal government. In response to our FOIA requests we receive thousands of documents ranging from memos to emails to personal handwritten notes. Just last week, we posted dozens of documents from the White House's Council on Environmental Quality relating to climate change. We also have several pending FOIA requests with the Secret Service for White House visitor records from folks such as of Jack Abramoff, Grover Norquist, and Ralph Reed.
Starting today, you can help us review documents CREW receives from the government, and root out instances of illegal and unethical behavior. You can browse our collection of documents, send links to individual document pages to your friends, conduct searches of our document collection to find that needle in the haystack and more. By using the combined power of thousands of individual activists working together to review documents we can quickly tag and sort tens of thousands of pages, discover new information and make it all searchable for you, your friends and other activists.
In the past, when CREW received boxes of documents in response to its FOIA requests, the only way we were able share them with the public was by posting huge PDF files on our website. Now, with CREW's new document review system, not only can you help us search and tag these documents, but every page of every document will have its own unique URL so that you can link to a particular page from your blog, forward interesting nuggets that you find to your friends, or share pages on sites like Digg and Reddit. As an example, take a look at this note from Julie Finley, a major conservative fundraiser, to Gale Norton when she was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior.
We are very excited about this new system and already we have plans to add new features and tools. We need your help today, not only to review documents, but to test the tool. What works? What doesn't work? What do you like? We look forward to getting your input. If you find a problem that needs fixing, or if you've got a great idea for future features, post a comment on our development blog.
We hope you find this new tool as exciting as we do.
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Florida Democratic Party Goes Hi- Tech

Thurman in Cyberspace

The Florida Democratic Party is planning to air regular podcasts with Chairwoman Karen Thurman and other party leaders on its website. The feature begins today with Thurman talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Watch it here.
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Bush is out of control

Fasten your seat belts.  President Bush is going to announce his new "strategerie" for Iraq next week.  A surge.  A surge right over the cliff.
 
Mr. President, it's over.  You've lost control.  Here are the facts that matter:  80% of Iraqis want us to leave; over 40% of Iraqis are now unemployed;  no place is safe or normal due to insurgency and civil war – women can not even give birth safely, due to the total breakdown of a once excellent healthcare system (WPost 1/4/2007).
It is over.  The world knows it, America knows it, your own military knows it (only 35% believe in your policy).  Shifting generals and overruling your advisors is moving the deck chairs on the titanic. Hardly anything is going right, even Saddam's execution was a disaster you couldn't control, Mr. President.
The Iraqis are going to take their country back in whatever form, regardless of what we do, however we do it, whenever we do it.
 
Don't delay the inevitable Mr. President.  Vietnam taught us that lesson. It took 7 years and over 35,000 more deaths after 1968 when the handwriting was on the wall. Vietnamization. Pacification. Search and Destroy.  Winning the Hearts and Minds. None of it worked.
 
This is no longer a military battle, a war, it's a political battle.  We are not the surge protectors.  We are not the NYPD.
It is time, Mr. President, to adapt the late Senator George Aiken's strategy for Vietnam:  declare victory and get out.


A Holiday Gift For Everyone
A Free Cook Book
Ron Mills
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2007 Election Dates for Broward County

2007 Election Dates for Broward County
Date
Jurisdiction
Election Type
02/13/07
Cooper City
Primary Election
02/13/07
Dania Beach
Primary Election
02/13/07
Hollywood
Special Election
03/13/07
Coconut Creek
General Election
03/13/07
Cooper City
General Election
03/13/07
Dania Beach
General Election
03/13/07
Davie
General Election
03/13/07
Hallandale Beach
General Election
03/13/07
Miramar
General Election
03/13/07
Oakland Park
General Election
03/13/07
Pembroke Park
General Election
03/13/07
Plantation
General Election
03/13/07
Pompano Beach
General Election
03/13/07
Sea Ranch Lakes
General Election
03/13/07
Sunrise
General Election
03/13/07
West Park
General Election
03/13/07
Hillsboro Beach
General Election


A Holiday Gift For Everyone
A Free Cook Book
Ron Mills
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