Time To Use Action To Send A Message To Congress

Instead of words, use action. Keep your kids out of school, ditch work, and don't pay your property taxes. Pull your money out of the banks. We all could use a month or two of vacation just like our Capitol Hill legislators. Take it. There are plenty of us doing just that.
When all the banks were on the brink, and they decided to add insult to injury with ridiculous fees, I pulled my money out of the bank. Now you cannot do that with business accounts(unless you shut it down), but you sure can do it with personal accounts. I did close one business, and have been turning in sales tax of $0. It's up to the economic climate whether I re-open. If you desire to pay bills, then pay them with postal money orders. The post office needs and wants your business. For the ridiculous amount of interest you get, it is no longer necessary to use banks.
We are rapidly turning into a third world country. I used to think the Doomsday Preppers were out of their minds, but now think they've got a point.
Our government has shut down 17 times in the past. What that really means is only essential services are provided. Essential services are: police, fire, weather, post office, corrections, medical services at federal facilities, armed forces, and air traffic services. What will hurt is that a federal government shutdown causes a large number of civilian federal employees to be furloughed. Military personnel are not furloughed, but may not be paid as scheduled.
The exact details of which government functions would stop during a shutdown is determined by the Office of Management and Budget. However, some specific aspects have applied to all shutdowns in the past. Among these is the closure of national parks and passport offices. Members of Congress continue to be paid, because their pay cannot be altered except by direct law.
Shutdowns in the past have affected the Washington, D.C. municipal government, putting a stop to schools and to utilities such as garbage collection.
Nice huh?

Jacksonville Residents Are Mad As Hell

I agree with almost all of your comments. Our City Council members aren't economists. They are ignorant of the basics in management, how to invest, and unqualified, with the exception of one or two, in how to make our city thrive. Finally, I see many of you ranting about the lack of leadership in our elected officials. Now is the time to watch, or re-watch the 1976 movie Network, where the quote "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" originated.
It's uncanny that nothing has changed since that time, and the movie is the classic example of how it is our fault that we are in this horrible predicament. Here's what I'm doing. Until we get people running for office that are really qualified to hold that office, I don't intend to pay my property taxes. I own my home, and it takes seven years for a property to become delinquent. Many builders use this method until they sell property. They pass the unpaid taxes onto the buyer. As it stands now anybody can get signatures on a petition and run for office. We need that changed. We need to have background checks done on each candidate. I can tell you there's not ONE Council Member that hasn't been either arrested, broken the law, but didn't get caught...yet, been a slum lord, cheated in business, used non-profit status for personal, and illegal gains, abused family members, and the list goes on. Get them all gone!
Last point. Most of you are trapped in a credit card culture, and cannot do what I'm going to do. Get out from under that system. Wealthy people don't spend money in the same way the poor and middle classes do. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison, David and Charles Koch etc. are some of the people all of you need to read about. Throughout their lives they have had a plan. They have not merely existed from day to day. They all learned to think critically, and interestingly enough, none are religious. They are either agnostics or atheists. They do not base major decisions on chance, a sign from god, or what is popular. They were allowed in their formative years to explore, make mistakes, and their home environments were more laboratories for growth, then adherence to the beliefs of the time. Education was the key; not religion.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-09-25/story/council-approves-hike-property-tax-rates#comment-751580#ixzz2g1Eeb2t1

Jacksonville's City Council Hates The Homeless,Poor,Seniors,and Fire/Police

I hope you're reading through the floor amendments. Pure unnecessary spending. The only issues we need to spend money on are helping the homeless,fire, and police. The rest are pet projects, special interest groups-those items not universally used by the public.Council members hated the Mayor's budget because it was what we could afford.Florida has been the hardest hit state during the economic downturn.People will not be able to pay their property taxes if they are raised this year.That will add to the building vacancy problem not help our Jacksonville economy.Facts are facts.We don't take in enough money so we get our taxes raised.That won't work.Especially since our state opted out of Medicaid.That means our health care coverage for the poor and seniors are out of reach.That should be of major concern.It will dramatically increase the need for food,shelter,and emergency medical care that will not be paid back.We do not need to create more city jobs.The city workers we have now are not doing their jobs.Try to get in touch with a city department,like code enforcement,and see what happens.Try to contact your district council member on a topic he/she doesn't personally support and see what happens.I'm sick of hearing that sucking noise from our City Council, that means more money is being taken from me. Take a close look at your utility bill and see how many times the same tax is taken out for our do-nothing city.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-09-25/story/jacksonville-council-leaves-tax-rate-air-recesses-early-wednesday-until#comment-751213#ixzz2fuK09I3f

Write Your Congressman- Especially Those Republican Representatives

Written to Ander Crenshaw today.

I am disgusted at the terrorist tactics the Republicans are using. You are killing, starving, and not listening to the people. The "Let them eat cake" attitude, the non-leadership of Boehner, and the looming economic crash can all be averted. Your suits cost more than I make in a year. You have taken our jobs overseas. You are regressive, not progressive. I am sick of the filibustering which, in most cases, is a tantrum thrown by an adult. I believe all Republicans have committed selfish acts and are guilty of treason. You all need to be in jail. Pass the budget; you spent the money. You tagged onto bills selfish pork. Obama is the first President in decades that actually went to Congress to make them decide what to do about Syria. Stop playing stupid with our Health Care reform. Obama was re-elected because we want to begin somewhere with a national Healthcare system. We the people have been trying to get this done since Truman was in office! I am tired of the bickering. Listen to the Senate, and work together!

Vist my website at http://crenshaw.house.gov

Jaacksonville's Congestion

Mass transit will never make it in Jacksonville.We're lucky to have a bus system.It's terribly difficult to get around the city even with a personal vehicle.Parking is miserable,especially for handicapped drivers.The worst area to drive,park,or do business is the Town Center.It's hot,spread out over way too much area,and littered with turnabouts that always seem to be "coned-off" for valet parking.Pedestrians literally take their life in their hands trying to cross streets.You cannot just go to a particular store quickly.I've found the prices to be astronomical compared to online and self-contained Malls. Try finding a bathroom at the Town Center! I avoid it like the plague.It seems that entire area is not only ugly, but a hodgepodge of what should be downtown.Thus,its name Town Center.It takes about 10 minutes from UNF to reach the Town Center.Buses run every 60-66 minutes.http://www.unf.edu/Parking/JTA_Bus_Routes_that_Serve_UNF.aspx
Most of the people I see shopping there are students and young families.The restaurants are always packed.Few shopping bags are seen.Most of the clerks are students.
The same designer of the Town Center must have designed our gazillion dollar courthouse.Or maybe it was a relative of his/her.
Okay, to sum it up,stop electing your cousins to office and let's get some real help with our congestion problems.However,congestion problems are just the tip of the iceberg.It's our leadership that's the problem.

Stop Electing Deadbeats

If I've said this once, I've written it more than a hundred times.We are not checking our elected and appointed leaders out.If they belong to a particular church,social group, or know insiders then they've got the job.
Once upon a time I knew a teacher that was not only an alcoholic, but a hard core cocaine addict. She'd been arrested multiple times for abusing drugs and driving intoxicated,but had connections through a Presbyterian Church in town(you can guess which one). Her parents kept her out of jail for years because they contributed huge amounts of money to the church, and consequently to our elected officials. Guess what? Due to her irresponsible lifestyle she contracted AIDS.Do you know how many students were victims under her care?She taught the physically impaired, and emotionally impaired in Duval County.There has been no repercussions for this
heinous behavior.To this day, she has never stopped drinking,shooting coke,or delivering a dose of AIDS to anybody that will have sex with her.All the cards are stacked in her favor.The only thing I could do was take her off my friend list until she got help.She hasn't, so we're no longer friends.
This isn't the only horrible story out there.Politics draw people like the Anthony Weiners, and Todd Akins,( Missouri's Republican Senate candidate, that questioned whether women can become pregnant when they're raped) of the world. Jacksonville leadership is no different.
Jacksonville churches and non-profits have swindled millions from the tax payers. The hurdle I see is getting people to run for office that will stand up to liars,thieves,and the manipulation of crooked business practices. The Jaguars have to be one of the most pitiful enterprises in Jacksonville history. They can now be called a drain on Jacksonville's economy.

Banning Rock Music and Raising Chickens

Liberty Seeker:Your hearts in the right place, and I've written all of these members,plus the Mayor,Commissioners,our skin-head Governor,AND have attended and helped write group letters from the JCCI.I've written to all of our Representatives,and Senators.I write to Obama and get answered.I'd like to recall Lori Boyer,District 5 for spending her time trying to ban rock music, instead of getting the people of the Larsen Community off Emerson Rd. water!
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=327173
District 4 Council "Bumblefarmer" Redman, spends his time trying to pass the chicken law,albeit unenforceable,and unhealthy, and hobnobbing it with Boyer also trying to ban rock music.What these council-members don't know about their own constituents fills volumes. I have asked for transcripts of people in favor of these ideas, or numbers indicating for and against and have received nothing.Redman needs to be recalled too.
Years ago a very savvy business leader once told me,"If you cannot walk among those you lead by yourself, and climb the steps to any front door,ring the bell and have a productive conversation, then you are no leader."
My last point is that our Council-persons believe that their personal god has anointed them to lead. We are a community of BOTH believers and non-believers. We are a diverse community of sexual orientations. It is Medieval to think religion is the foundation of progress. We all deserve to be treated equally, and live to our fullest potentials.We all are responsible for what happens in our lives.The Sisters of Mercy lobbing a medallion atop the infamous Doll House did not cause its destruction.Progress did, and the owners were paid for the property.
http://residentnews.net/category/top-news-stories-resident-community-new...

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Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-09-10/story/jacksonville-city-council-adopts-higher-tax-rate-may-lower-it#comment-748013#ixzz2emt0h3mV

And the Prices Keep Going Up

That's exactly why the Council has to raise taxes. There's not enough revenue coming in from property owners since the economic crisis began.Foreclosures were the result of people getting into home ownership when they couldn't pay their mortgages for a variety of reasons.Some were getting qualified by bank hired slave "signers"  to sign loans, at minimum wage. The banks were "cooking the books" and selling these bundled mortgages to investors.Nobody went to jail.Nobody had to pay back the ill-gotten funds to mortgagors.Our bankers were the cause of this problem.Our bankers are still running the city with their agents of choice...attorneys.Nobody wants to get involved with these yellow-bellied bankers and their assassin lawyers.The Council is part of this scheme, and have handsomely lined their pockets from it.It's the well that keeps on giving.Each Council member plays good-cop-bad-cop.Most non-profits,and private public/government funding is as crooked as the St.Johns River.Most churches are a part of this non-profit bamboozle under the name of god,or charity.It's very profitable.Until the public grows a pair and stops paying,electing,and jumping on the credit band-wagon this will not stop. 

Farmer Boy and the Princess of Noise

12:14pm Sep 9 Renee Soforenko If we keep electing uneducated,backwoods,pompous morons to the City Council seats then we will continue to line their pockets with sweet deals,while our pocket-books run out of money, which translates to no jobs,and further loss of property.You must remember a majority of the Councils, not just this one,bring to the table only as much financial experience,and logic as they have from personal experiences. Most of them run for office because they can under our present structure. Our system requires filling out forms,a petition of signatures,and the payment of fees.That's pretty much it. http://election.dos.state.fl.us/publications/pdf/2011/2011CandidatePetit... After they get into office, they make decisions on what is good for themselves not the public.District 5,Lori Boyer is on a rampage to stop rock music. She bought an attorney, and claims the legislation will be complete by the end of the month.She cites "tests" done last Spring during a Rock Concert as the only criteria for the legislation.No matter how many e-mails and phone calls against the action.The Council "cherry picks" events they like.A group of four people began this witch hunt, and are personal friends of this Councilwoman. District 4,Ron Redman is a farmer,as stated in The Resident Newspaper, that is determined to allow backyard hens in every neighborhood. The legislation is unenforceable as to how many clucks to a yard. I'm highly allergic to poultry when it's alive. It carries Salmonella naturally and is a question asked when you go to an ER..."Have you been to a farm recently?" Jacksonville has become the home of the Christian Taliban.The movement against rock music is the same old slave-owner prejudice resurfacing as that "jungle music" Southern Baptists, and others have been so opposed to in past generations. Again,appearing in The Resident Newspaper,Father Fred describes how a group of nuns dressed in their full habits, went across a four lane highway to lob a medallion on the roof of the infamous Doll House. The article went on to describe how the efforts of these nuns led to the destruction of that terrible place. Never mind the Planning Board, and DOT had planned this for years and paid the owners for that property in order to tear the roads up again and redesign that part of the transportation system.My thoughts were,"Oh my, are we back to believing in warding off evil spirits by tossing salt over our shoulders, or burning heathens?" The only people that seem to love wars, and justify superstitious behaviors seem to be Muslims and Christians. They demand we all believe like they believe. You cannot run a town on belief systems. Those are private. http://residentnews.net/2013/09/03/doll-house-demolished-due-divine-inte...