In 2007, there were 168,900 deaths in Florida. 2,328 of these deaths were caused by pain killers (Vicodine, Oxycontin, etc.), 743 deaths were due to benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium, etc.) and alcohol was judged to have been the killer 466 times (it was in the bodies of 4,179 people that died).

The deaths from all illegal drugs (cocaine, heroine, ecstasy, etc.) came in at 989. The real kicker here, numbers of deaths from marijuana: 0. Yup, none, not a single person in the state of Florida died from the use of marijuana in 2007.

And yet marijuana is not only illegal in the United States, but people get arrested and get caught up in the system over a joint. I’m not saying that the USA should legalize marijuana, but at least decriminalize it, this was a big issue for former Senator Mike Gravel who was thrown out of the democratic presidential debates. And of course the rest of the democrats completely ignored the serious issue of a rising prison population due to bullshit.

In the Netherlands, soft drug use is viewed as a health issue, not a criminal issue. Nobody gets arrested for smoking a joint. If a police officer sees someone smoking a joint in a public place where they obviously should not be smoking (ie. not a designated coffee shop or desolate area in the park), that person will get chewed out and told to put it out, they will not go to jail over crap.

Of course, decriminalizing marijuana would eat into the profits of drugs companies, whose drugs kill more people than all street drugs combined.

photo credit: personal collection

Post from: Sirened

Obama currently sits at 1,882 delegates, just 143 delegates short of the 2,025 needed to win. Of course, the Clinton campaign argues that he needs 2,209 delegates to win because of Florida and Michigan.

The Clinton campaign keeps stressing that even though Florida voters knew their votes wouldn’t count, the state democratic party had a record turnout. That’s an incredible overstatement and I haven’t heard or read the mainstream media calling them out on it-and they damn well should!

The reason turnout was so high in Florida was because of a statewide property tax amendment to cut homeowners taxes (at the expense of schools, fire departments, county jobs, etc.) This was a big issue in Florida and Gov. Charlie Crist was a big advocate of the tax cut, even appearing on billboards stating vote yes on the tax cut.

The amendment needed 60% to pass and it got it. Since then, the state universities have been scrambling to cut their budgets while at the same time raising tuition for students; fire stations have closed and state employees have been laid off. This was a tough issue and opponents of the tax cut (like myself) were against it because of the negative impact to the community.

Along with the property tax amendment there was something else on the ballot for Florida voters to decide on January 29th-the democratic and republican primaries. Since Florida is a closed primary, independent ballots only had the property tax amendment on them.

Sure, some people showed up mostly to vote for the candidates, but to say the record democratic turnout in Florida was because of them is a complete lie-but it’s the Clinton’s so could we possibly expect more?

photo credit: personal collection

Post from: Sirened

Hey, remember that fiasco that happened back in 2000, when we elected Al Gore as president but got George “pretend cowboy” Bush instead. Well, now you can relive that moment on May 25th with the HBO film Recount starring Kevin Spacey, Dennis Leary, Laura Dern and Tom Wilkinson. What a great cast! I can’t wait to see how they’ve portrayed my home state at the moment we fucked up the world.

I don’t just blame other Floridians either as I had a stake in the mistake too. In 2000, as a protest vote I decided to vote for Ralph Nader (obviously having no clue it would be so close), then I watched the election coverage and rooted for Al Gore. My best friend still likes to remind me how I helped fuck everything up. Thanks Brian!

Post from: Sirened

Yet another scam…People claiming to be the IRS, asking for your information so you can get your “tax refund.”

Why the health care debate might be a steamy load of crap.

What’s this about a congressman claiming a $300 campaign tab for “lodging” at a bar with no lodging?

From John McCain’s fake blog: Taking economic advice from his even more senile mother.

Jenna Bush is confused and may accidentally vote democrat. My marker slipped…Doh!

Hillary Clinton will be ready on Day 1…to nuke Iran.

Florida thinking to bring Jesus to license plates.

Is Clinton’s Pennsylvania win the closest she gets to Obama?

China and Dr. Evil suing CNN…for 1 billion dollars!

Is it time to give up on looking for a cure for Aids?

Lame duck and bored President Bush appears on dumbass Deal or No Deal, automatically sinks ratings by 27%.

Post from: Sirened

The National Rifle Association has been lobbying Tallahassee for 3 years to allow disgruntled postal workers to have take your gun to work day everyday. A Pasco county republican official, Bill Bunting said “If John K. Jerk comes onto a property trying to do harm, it would be nice to know a responsible employee can run out into his car and help alleviate the problem.” Perhaps, but this argument is premised on two things 1)that the employee can get to his car and 2)that he gives a shit to actually come back.

Also, it should be noted that Florida has some lax criminal laws pertaining to property ownership that allow people like OJ Simpson and others like him (only not famous) to have a tropical safe haven in the sunshine state. Seems like a wonderful little cocktail Florida is stirring up here!

Picture Credit: Flickr Creative Commons 

Post from: Sirened

Giuliani suffered a hilariously crushing loss in Rudy Country and after spending over $35 million is now out of the race. Mike Huckabee was in southern Missouri tonight and told his audience to encourage fellow supporters to vote on Super Tuesday and to keep those who aren’t indoors (ah, good ole’ voter intimidation suggestions from that funny Huckster).

Because Florida moved its primaries before Super Tuesday, the republicans were stripped of half their winner take all delegates (so McCain only got 57 delegates instead of 104) and the democrats were stripped of all their delegates. So no voice for Florida democrats?? Ah, not so fast, since Hillary took a resounding number of Florida and Michigan votes, the Billary machine will be working like Vietnamese slave labor to get those votes counted.

I’ve been watching CNN all night and they’ve not once mentioned that one reason a lot of registered democrats voted was because there was also a property tax amendment on the ballot. They did however mention that a lot of Florida democrats didn’t know their votes wouldn’t count (which is true). But good ole’ Hillary put a big smile on her face and said that Florida democrats spoke loudly, without mentioning either of these other factors. Again, yay democracy!

John McCain and his triumphant 57 delegates from the NY Times.

Post from: Sirened

Anyways, since Mike Huckabee is a social conservative and former baptist minister, I felt I owned no better t-shirt to wear than my God Bless Playoff Beards shirt (from ADBTEES). I told Mike Huckabee that I loved him on The Colbert Report, he really does have a great sense of humor to go along with his social policies that would set us back to Medieval times. At a rally in Jacksonville, he asked one man who said he already voted for him if he could go vote for him again since this is Florida and all (yeah that’s a felony but it sure was funny!).

Mike Huckabee’s two big slogans are “I Like Mike” and “Us Against Them.” The first one is pretty straight forward but the second can certainly mean a lot of things. And as displayed by that last picture, it’s really never too early to get polarizing messages out to our youth.

I will say this, Huckabee had a larger and louder crowd than Rudy 9/11 had, but there was also far less media since Bush was doing his State of Disunion speech. Anyways, based on this small sample I project Mike Huckabee will finish 3rd today in Florida. Good news for Giuliani is that all his hard work in Rudy Country should pay off by finishing ahead of that pesky Ron Paul.

And again, with the hockey playoffs coming up, I encourage you to swing by A Drunk Buffalo T-Shirt Company and pick up a God Bless Playoff Beards shirt. And Mike, in the slim chance you win the republican nomination; make sure to keep your promise to make Stephen Colbert your running mate!

Post from: Sirened

Rudy ‘9/11′ Giuliani is in the last throws of his presidential campaign so I figured I would go check him out at today’s Clearwater/St. Petersburg airport rally. It’s ironic that Rudy “tough on terror” Giuliani would hold this important rally in an airplane hanger where there was no absolutely zero security to enter. I thought my laptop bag might get checked but nope-all clear!

There was a surprise appearance by actor Jon Voight, who despite meeting Rudy for the first time last Tuesday is a very big supporter. Thank goodness Rudy has the Jon Voight endorsement since he did not land the endorsements of Florida republican senator Mel Martinez, Governor Charlie Crist, the Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel or the Miami Herald-but hey, it’s still Rudy Country baby!

Texas Governor Rick Perry came out to endorse some non-Texan hot sauce and also rest his small body on the head of a giant bald man.

There were probably no more than 200 people at the rally and about 50 of them were members of the media. I was interviewed by the local CBS and ABC stations. There wasn’t a whole lotta’ pickens!

All in all it was a fun morning of terror promotion for the fascist former mayor and war profiteer. After the dust settled I couldn’t help throwing the Rudy sticker on my forehead for one last picture. Good luck with 3rd place tomorrow 9udy!

Post from: Sirened

Here’s Florida Senators Bill Nelson (D) and Mel Martinez (R) standing side by side doing this odd political thing called bipartisanship. Their joint venture here is to encourage voter turnout from all Floriduh voters. Mel Martinez says “don’t be fooled that your vote won’t count.” Umm, actually…if you’re a registered democrat your vote truly will not count towards the democratic nominee.

The voices of Florida and Michigan democrats were stripped because their states chose to move up their primaries. So while you can vote for the democratic candidates and have your votes shown on television, they do not actually count. However, have no fear Florida and Michigan democrats, your supreme rulers will still be able to cast their super delegate votes at the convention. Thus they will be the voice of you, except they will still be them-yay democracy!

After this video was shot, Mel and Bill went to IHOP where they discussed how fucked Floriduh is over pancakes. After they finished eating, Mel threw scolding hot coffee in Bill’s face and left Bill with the check (allegedly…because I just wrote it in this blog).

Post from: Sirened

Anyways, both the democrats and republicans are holding primaries in Florida on January 29th. But if that date doesn’t suit you, you should consider voting early, which is what I did.

As long as you’re in the county you are registered to vote in, you can swing by the public library with your driver’s license and they’ll give you your respective ballot. This was my first time doing the early voting thing (aside from casting an absentee ballot from overseas once) and I must say I was pleased with the process, especially with it being Florida and all.

I much preferred voting in the library to voting at the precinct on Election Day. First off, if you’re serious about voting, who knows what might happen on Election Day. What if your house burns down or you get kidnapped? Chances are you won’t get to vote and that’s a bummer. Then again, if you die before the election date, should your vote really count anyways? That’s some food for thought but beside the point.

Secondly, if voter turnout is high on January 29th, you may have to wait a decent bit at your precinct. That could mean missing out on the bus to Suncruz Casino. But with early voting the process is at your leisure and chances are you won’t have to wait (I didn’t). So get out there and do some early voting this weekend!

Crazy old guy (Ron Paul) image from this joint.

Post from: Sirened