World War III

So unless you've been living under a rock the last few days, you've probably heard that World War III has commenced.  It seems that Isreal has decided to attack the sovereign country of Lebanon because a terrorist group is holed up there.  This is the country that just recently overthrew a puppet government run behind the scenes by the syrians. 

So what is Isreals decision?  Attacking this country, a country with nearly 25,000 american's living there http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/14/lebanon.us.citizens/index.html.  Now the US is having to figure out a way of evacuating it's citizens from this country that is being bombed and shelled on a daily basis by the IDF (Isreali Defense Forces).  They took out Beirut International Airport, they are blocking the countries ports, and bombing all the roads leading out of the country, basically stranding the innocent lebenese citizens, the americans, and anyone else not involved with attacking Isreal. 

I personally feel that isreals actions are uncalled for.  If you want to fight the terrorists and bring your kidnapped troops back that's one thing but the Isrealis are literally attacking the country itself.  Israel's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, told Israel's Channel 10, "If the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years."  http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/12/mideast/index.html

The Lebenese people just recently fought for a new government, all that Isreals actions will do is invite even more terrorists to the region and turn more people against Isreal.  It's time the US take a stand and tell the Isrealis to back down.  By having such a defiant stance and being unwilling to tell Isreal to back down we're just inviting even more attacks on our soldiers and citizens abroad and our citizens here at home. 

Our super smart government.

So I'm watching the news today, cause I have nothing better to do, and they're talking about how there are 25,000 americans stuck in Lebanon, most of whom want or need to be evacuated. What's the government's response? Leave the people there while we formulate a plan. They're basically following the same playbook they used during hurricane katrina. While other governments swiftly moved to get their citizens out, the US has sat on it's thumbs leaving people in harms way.

Then it's reported that people being evacuated will receive a bill for the governments trouble. These are people who were either there studying, vacationing, or working but because Isreal got a bug up it's ass about something, now Americans are caught in the middle of this mess and thanks to the IDF they have no ways to get out of the country.

I can understand the reasoning behind charging someone for evacuation from a hostile area when they go there knowing full well that it's dangerous and violence could break out at any moment. West Africa anyone. These people though are in a relatively stable country. Sure they've had their moments there but the lebenese are caught in the middle. They have a terrorist organization sponsored by syria that is based there but they really don't have the means or public support to uproot them. Then Isreal goes around pissing everyone off and just generally mucking things up even more.

While writing this I've spotted something on CNN that says now people being evac'd won't have to pay. Yeah because american's are sick of stupid policies.

So basically the government needs to get their shit straight. We need to tell the Isreali's to settle and the lebenese government to clean up hezbollah or else.

Impact Fees.... who needs em!

While we're at it, who needs schools either. That's pretty much the stance the Hillsborough County commission took last night when it voted not to raise impact fees on new homes from a mere $196.00 to $1,000.00. Their reasoning is that it would cause the cost of a home to raise where you're average person couldn't afford it. Well I hate to break it to them but the cost of homes are beyond the point where average people can afford them. When a community gets built with homes starting at $350K or greater, do tell what average people can afford them? Teachers, Firemen, Police, your service workers, can these groups afford these homes? No! They would be hard pressed to afford a home at $150K let alone the exorbatant amounts these developers are charging for their wood shack homes they build.

The county of course wants to see what the state is going to do which is typical of Hillsborough. This current commission has always had the mentality of wait and see what the state gives us. Well if their projections are correct and the state gives hillsborough county $140 million, where is the additional $250 million going to come up to make up the $390 million shortfall the school district is facing. One proposal is add a 1/2 cent to the sales tax. I don't agree with that. Why should I be taxed for schools when I have no children. It's one thing if I were to buy a new home that is adding to stress on our roads and schools but when I may not live in hillsborough but end up having to pay for their schools, how does that benefit me? It's time the buck is passed along to the people who causing the problems, the new home owners. They are moving here in droves so they should foot the extra money for the new schools that are required for their children. Hillsborough needs to raise its impact fees and stop rubberstamping new construction. At the pace of growth in this county it'll be so overcrowded their will be no room for new schools, roads, or transit alternatives. What we need is a new commission!

City, Museum of Art settle feud.... We'll See.

So apparently according to the St. Pete Times City, art museum end feud with deal the city and the Tampa Museum of Art have ended their feud over the museums future location. The original plan the museum had was for a grand new building designed by Rafael Vinoly.

Instead now the deal with the city and museum calls for the museum to move into the Pavilion at Rivergate Tower. These buildings are commonly referred to the cubes.


The deal calls for the city to purchase the cubes from the owners of Rivergate Tower for $5.7 million dollars, then spend $10 million to renovate them. The museum will also be looking to construct a new building just north of this site for future expansion.

I thought the whole point was to move the museum away from the water, which will be done if they vacate their current building, but if they're going to construct a new building north of the cubes they will still be building on the waterfront in a sense. I guess only time will tell what the museum plans to do and how well it will be received. I would like to hope though that Dan Kiley Park just north of Rivergate Tower is preserved and fixed up to what it should be. More about the park can be found here, Kiley Gardens website.

The park is a true masterpiece and should be restored to its original state and preserved for the future. The city should also use it to their advantage more. The fact that it has an abundance of trees to provide shade as well as it's location on the Hillsborough river along with the future Riverwalk could be a great selling point for a city looking to grow.

As for the museum I like the plan to move into the cubes but we'll see how I feel when the expansion is announced. I'm sure it won't be cheap but if they are able spare the waterfront and still have an exciting new structure then I'm all for it.

Wachovia SUCKS!

So lately since Southtrust Bank was taken over by Wachovia I have had nothing but problems. I continually get attacked with $10.00 overdraft protection fees for overdrafts under a 1.00. I mean come on, they're going to take $11.00 out of my savings and put it in my checking account to cover the say $.93 cent overdraft and their $10.00 fee. My most recent hassle took place over an ATM transaction. I went to a Wachovia to withdraw 100.00 but when it came time to dispense the cash I get a message saying cannot process at this time. I tried again, this time $60.00, same message. I ended up having to go to an AmSouth to get the $100.00 and was charged a $2.50 fee. I get home to find out that it's showing $160.00 missing from my account. I immediately called Wachovia and they placed a dispute. Did they refund the money to my account? No! That night after I placed the call I transferred $160.00 from my savings to cover the $160.00 until they figured it out. In the process a transaction I had made was now considered overdrawn so they moved money to my account and slapped me with a fee. I called and they refused to refund the fee, even though they screwed up. I detailed the explanation of how had I originally got my $100.00 I would have had more than enough to cover the transaction. Still refused to give me the fee back. I've decided that enough is enough and I'm switching banks.

Today though I read in the Tampa Tribune about a group of nuns whose account was frozen under the Patriot Act because they didn't have a social security number or picture ID on file. Which bank did the freezing? None other than Wachovia. Here's the story.
Frozen Account Ruffles Nuns

Cut dependence on foreign oil.

I read this clip on CNN.com and had a laugh.

President Bush takes his State of the Union message on the road today, traveling to Tennessee to tout his plans to cut U.S. dependence on imported oil. "Here we have a serious problem," Bush said. "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world."

What I found most humorous is that the president says this as he heads to Tennessee on his gas guzzling 747. Yes lets cut dependence on foreign oil but first let my 747 whisk me off to exotic locations.... Ok so Tennessee isn't so exotic but you get my drift right.

Lets cut the number of times Air Force One runs the prez back and forth to Crawford or to campaign for another politico. I think if you're going to suggest to people to conserve you should practice what you preach. It's not that hard, really it's not.

Double Standard?

OK so basically all my information is from what I've watched or read in the news. Apparently the NAACP is on thier highhorse about the Jennifer Porter case. For those who don't know Jennifer Porter was a Tampa, FL. dance teacher who on March 31st, 2004 ran over 4 children with her car killing two. St. Pete Times Coverage She then left the scene of the accident called her parents who helped her hide her car, wash it and try to conceal the incident from the police. Eventually she did come forward with a high priced attorney at her side.

Usually I sigh in disgust when I hear them scream about injustice because they are usually at the defense of some loser who deserves to be in the predicament he or she may be in. This case though I'm going to side with them. They are angry over the fact that Jennifer Porter who is white was given three years probation, two years house arrest, and 500 hours of community service. The other case they brought up was that of Jean Claude Meus WTVT Investigative Report, a black man who on May 11th, 2001 supposedly fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of his truck striking a minivan driven by Nona Moore killing her and her daugher lindsey (both white).

What is shocking of the Jean Claude Meus case is that he received 15 years in prison. Two people died in that accident but Mr. Meus stayed at the scene of the accident. Two people died in the Jennifer Porter accident but Ms. Porter left the scene and with the help of her family tried to cover it up. How can one person be put in jail for a good portion of their life while another gets let go with a slap on the wrist. Jennifer Porter should be spending the 15 years in jail not Jean Claude Meus.

I can say this time the NAACP has found a reason to cry foul. These two cases show the injustices within our court system. It shows that apparntly if you're white and can afford a high priced lawyer you will get off scott free and if you're black you're pretty much screwed. I think it's time I write the governor to express outrage over this injustice, I would suggest other do the same Governor Jeb Bush. I'm sure he's sick of me writing but maybe this time he'll listen being I won't be griping about high speed rail or other transit alternatives he feels florida doesn't need.

Pack em in.

There's an article in the Saint Pete Times today Bridges may fail in Category 4 Storm that talks about pinellas counties possibilities in the event of a category 4 storm. Of course it is all guesswork but the scenario is not pretty. Depending on direction, wind speed and amount of storm surge pinellas county could become two seperate islands with the lower lands submerged beneath the gulf and bay. Worst of all most if not all the bridges could be damaged and impassible leaving pinellas to depend on airlifts and boat rescue ops. Not pretty for the near million people who live in the county.

What does the county as well as the cities within the counties do? They allow construction of more condo towers and residential redevelopment which essentialy crams more people into a limited space. While I love new high-rises, seeing what happened in south florida after hurricane wilma, you tend to wonder if that is what's best for a state under constant threat from hurricanes. Seeing some of these high-rises, with a majority of their windows gone, makes one wonder if our building codes are not strict enough or just not being adhered to. No matter we continue to build. In typical florida fashion I'm sure most of these high-rise condo dwellers will stay put further straining out local resources who should be more focused on rescue and recovery and getting the county accessible for those who need help. Evacuation that's another story....

Apparently if pinellas were to issue evacuation orders they would cover somewhere near 300 - 500,000 residents who live in flood zones. Now you put those people on the road with the evacuees from other counties and you have a gridlock situation possibly far worse than what was seen in Texas for hurricane Rita. Florida needs to focus on the evacuation. There needs to be other modes of transportation built to get people out of highly populated areas in a timely manner. One way to do that would have been the high speed rail system but alas florida voters in their all knowing wisdom decided to vote for the repeal of the amendment for high speed rail. Luckily though, the legislature has taken a 'not so fast' approach to totally shutting down the possibility. Now we need a governor who will support alternative modes for florida and implement not only the high-speed rail but other rail and transit options in the major population areas of florida. Not only could they help our current traffic situation but they could also expedite a speedier evacuation of large amounts of people.

It's time florida and floridians start focusing on what matters. A new $40 million dollar sports center in hillsborough is not a necessity. Increased transportation , infrastructure, and school funding is more important. Instead of focusing on supporting or not supporting gay pride lets focus on what matters to all of hillsborough, not just a select few. Florida as a whole needs to wake up and demand their politicians focus on needs for the state, not special interests. It's time florida catch up to the 21st century and act like a state others look to and model themselves after.