FILE YOUR FLORIDA CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINTS

We are 2 days away from the end of the Florida legislative session and as those of us who eyeball state politics full well know, the pace picks up fast and furious at the end in the frenzy to pass legislation.

The Time is Now.

Time to get the word out before these bills have a chance to slide beneath Gov. Crist's pen.

It was strongly suggested by the Florida Civil Rights Association that those designated as registered sex offenders (RSOs) AND or their family members initiate civil rights complaints.

All the educative information in the world can't base a lawsuit. The RSO community must FILE COMPLAINTS in order to even discover whether their attorneys can assist us or not.

Without a complaint, no attorney can take action on behalf of anyone or any group.

The FCRA also suggested that RSOs as individuals MUST START filing mass individual complaints to the ACLU and the FCRA.

Once the complaints start massing up" (stacking up) this is a good indication that there are similar issues in neighboring counties. (I myself filed a complaint with the ACLU several years ago. Glad I kept a copy.)

This means that we as "individuals" need to initiate the complaint with the ACLU at their web site or send via a letter to their mail box, as well as initiate the complaint with the Florida Civil

Rights Association (FCRA) website or send the complaint via letter to their mail box.

Nothing legal can starts until WE INITIATE THE COMPLAINT(S).

Complaints have been filed from different parts of our state, but the number of complaints sent filed against civil rights violations or constitutional challenges compared to the TOTAL

POPULATION OF RSOs, lacks in the volume of complaints that need to be submitted.

The ACLU and the FCRA cannot divulge your name or address when you file a complaint. They are bound by law to give you anonymity. RSO's or their family need not be afraid to make a complaint. (Those who pass these laws count on your fear working against you).

Filing complaints WILL get them rolling on our behalf. Should we start filling individually, then the civil liberties organization will look at us as a massive group. Both the ACLU and FCRA are looking for commonalities in our complaints.

The web site addresses of the ACLU and FCRA are noted below.

It is imperative that every one make a complaint, even if unsure if the complaint is valid. Let the lawyers decide that. Each of us may not have a case but an RSO or their family member 5 counties over may have the same issue but their complaint may have additional info that will cause the lawyers to assist them. That case can be then used as a precedent forall of us later. FILE YOUR COMPLAINT(S).

The legislative session adjourns in two days. Legislation remains in committee. If a bill has not been made into a law yet by vote and you believe that your civil rights will be violated if it becomes law, immediately write out your complaint and be ready to file.

Don't wait!

Politicians have pushed the envelope sealing closed our lives far too long. We've certainly educated the public, but basically, we are good citizens who believed the system would reverse the error on their own, if we just pointed out the impact on our lives. I don't need to tell you all, the State of Florida has done nothing but continue to roll over us.

Start filling your complaints with the ACLU and FCRA NOW. They cannot ignore a group of determined, helpless, poor class of citizens that want justice and relief from the problems the politicians have caused. (Need inspiration? Just take a look at Arizona).

Importantly, DO NOT CALL THESE AGENCIES. They do not have the staff to answer the

phones. Send your complaint in by mail and ask for confirmation or use their web sites. (I filed previously by web site and did receive a reply via email).

Link to the ACLU here to file a complaint. If the link is broken, cut and paste this address into your browser: http://www.aclufl.org/get_help/index

Address for snail mail complaints:

ACLU of Florida

4500 Biscayne Blvd.

Suite 340

Miami, Fl 33137

Attn: Complaint Form Inside

***

Link to the FCRA here to file a complaint. Broken link? http://fcranews.com/Complaint.htm

Address for those who prefer snail mail:

Florida Civil Rights Association

P.O. Box 593248

Orlando, Florida 32859

Attn: Complaint Form Inside

David Rivera's Fuzzy Fundraising

With the Florida GOP falling over itself in excuses these days, state Rep David Rivera finds himself tripped up over accusations of soliciting campaign donations during the 60-day legislative session.

Denial ain't just some river in Egypt, Dave. And the research reveals a contributor who should have known better.

(...)

Analyzing Rivera's campaign finance report, I counted at least 80 individuals and political action committees who are actively lobbying the state legislature during the session. The number doesn't include family relatives of lobbyists and company principals.

For example, lobbyist Ron Book, his wife, and his daughter contributed $12,600 to Rivera. His client Auto Nation's PAC gave $2,000. Nine employees from another Book client, Biscayne Bay Pilots, kicked in a combined $3,100.

Riviera insists his fundraising is on the up and up.

(...)

A loophole allows state legislators running for federal office to solicit and accept contributions during the session but only if the donations cannot be construed to improperly influence the member's official act, decision, or vote.
(....)

As the state House's budget committee chairman, Rivera has significant clout over the state's multibillion-dollar budget. He holds the purse strings for every project in Florida. So even if he is not directly violating the contribution ban, it doesn't look good when most of the $700,000 he raised in the past quarter came from lobbyists and special interests.

Anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?

Read more over at Riptide 2.0 (2/22/2010).

Walk in MY Shoes

Google CEO Eric Schmidt threw bloggers under the bus during his recent schmooze with The American Society of News Editors. "There is an art to what you do," he said to the real journalists. "And if you're ever confused as to the value of newspaper editors, look at the blog world. That's all you need to see. So we understand how fundamental tradition and the things you care about are." (Read Write Web, 4/10/10).

Interestingly enough, "fundamental tradition" is exactly what found journalism toppled by bloggers in the first place. I understand reporters report information, but explain editorials, opinion, investigative reporting? Previous to everyday man's access to an instant publishing format, the story behind the reports (otherwise known as the truth) did not get out to the public. As a result, bloggers uncovered--and published--what editors did not or chose not to reveal to the public.

Those who control journalism can no longer slant public opinion as a sole entity. Take the sex offender issue. Newspapers delivered old research and equally dated statistics to the front doorsteps of Americans up until last year, about the time grassroots efforts finally broke through with the truth. Blogging the facts--bolstered with instant communications and the instant ability to organize through the Internet--tipped public opinion. (Unfortunately, many found themselves personally impacted through the laws before the profession of journalism chose to actually interview persons knowledgeable of the facts, people other than those who stood to gain from a propoganda campaign, i.e. politicians and law enforcement administrators).

As you read, a Floridian with an agenda has pulled a Lawton Chiles with her Walk in My Shoes campaign to draw attention to child abuse. Along her trek to Tallahassee, the press has covered the daughter of a very influential Florida lobbyist and served as a conduit to report "the facts" regarding child abuse as interpreted by Lauren Book-Lim.

Word to journalists. Is fact-checking still a part of your job?

If so, why does it take a blogger to direct your attention to Book-Lim's oft-cited incorrect statistics?

Her mistruths prove why most recent videos of Mrs. Book-Lim have been removed from Florida's online news sites.

And that, Mr. Schmidt, is why bloggers will always flutter about your precious journalists, to serve to remind of the unreported truths.

Paradise by the Felony Dashboard Light

It may be Sunday in Florida, but for two high school seniors arrested over in Polk County for parking with their respective teenage girlfriends, it's no Happy Days come Monday morning.

The young men--who engaged in consensual typical teenage behavior with their respective girlfriends--are eighteen-years-old. Unfortunately, because of the age of the girls--fourteen and fifteen years of age--both have been charged with a felony, specifically lewd battery and lewd battery and lewd molestation.

Reportedly, both boys have been suspended from their high school baseball team. Worse yet, the typical school disciplinary action for any community violation when enrolled in a public school is a formal hearing where the outcome is often abeyance school in lieu of expulsion for the student.

Talk about collateral consequences? Kiss your high school graduation good-bye. Any potential scholarships? See ya. Making matters even worse, one of the seniors was a "...promising second round pick in this summer's major league baseball amateur draft."

(Key word. Was).

Now, the kid (along with his buddy) may spend this summer as a first round low level sex offender. Bye, bye Future.

The local sheriff sums up the entire situation in a logic attributable to Larry the Cable Guy.

"As a daddy, if my 14-year-old little girl is engaged in that conduct with an 18-year-old man, the safest place he could be is in the county jail," Judd said

(BTW. The parents of the girls have elected to press charges).

Speaking of the Polk County sheriff, he found himself featured between the newsheets of Playboy. Sheriff Grady Judd was quoted in the "Newsfront" segment of the magazine (page 127) for coming down hard on about a dozen law enforcement officers who, after working a drug bust last year, chose to bowl a bit of Wii after all the excitement died down. (The Sheriff had refused an interview, but because of his status as a public official, the request is merely a journalistic courtesy),

The Florida state legislature spends oodles of time passing unfunded mandates to help protect students, most recently in the form of bullying legislation.

If I were the parents of those two eighteen-year-olds, I'd want to know why the Legislature has neglected to consider legislation which would require an overview of the Florida sex offender statutes during mandated sex education instruction for all high school students, both male and female.

As the current abstinence policy is certainly not demonstrative of learning gains. I'd say, hold the Florida Legislature accountable, because honestly...

...aren't we about tired of making criminals out of our young people?

Merit Pay Bill in the House

Most who frequent here have personally encountered the collateral outcome of legislation burned through the Florida legislature to plop quickly onto the Governor's desk for a much politicized signature.

Although many fought and called and emailed and faxed, our state legislators severely took advantage of a people without power and the Jessica Lunsford Act was passed. The easy pile-on via use of a fear-based issue continues to this day as an easy mark for state legislators, who seemingly every session, target this constituency and their families with severe lawmaking based on years-old research and statistics.

I knew the state legislature would eventually get a little bit cocky with their success and pick on the wrong people.

This spin around Tallahassee, the GOP majority has educators in its sites. Unfortunately, quite a different subgroup.

These people have power and also, intact civil liberties which permit them (and their families) the right to vote.

The Merit Pay Showdown is scheduled today in the House.

Should the bill sweep through as expected, the unexpected is rumored.

Governor Charlie Crist has intimated he will wield his veto pen.

We wait and watch for a hopeful slap down.

Vote these people out of office at the first opportunity.

The Pope and the Boy Scouts of America

Easy subject matter today.

Should the Pope Benedict XVI resign?

(At the very least, perhaps be charged under Florida law with attempt to conceal)?

Oh, silly me.

The Pope is above the law.

So back to the original question.

Should the Pope resign?

The Washington Post (3/26/2010):

(...)

The Vatican is confronting what observers describe as its gravest test in years, with officials fending off allegations that Pope Benedict XVI mismanaged abuse cases that occurred years before he ascended to the papacy in 2005. No leading Catholic authorities or organizations have called on Benedict to take personal responsibility for the scandals, and Vatican watchers in Rome strongly maintained Thursday that there is no serious threat to the pope's position.

Yet the scope of the abuse cases emerging in Europe and new allegations this week that a Vatican office led by Benedict -- then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- failed to defrock an American priest who had allegedly molested as many as 200 deaf boys have again shed a spotlight on Vatican secrecy over such sensitive issues as church finances and abuse cases. It has put the ancient institution, famous for centuries-long debates over changes in church policies, under intense pressure to update its response time.

And how about the actions of the Boy Scouts of America, keeping confidential two decades worth of files on suspected molesters among its troop leaders?

Both cases substantiate the research.

(...)

Also, 93% of child sexual abuse perpetrators are known to their victims (Berliner, Schram, Miller, & Milloy, 1995; Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000); about 34% are family members and 59% are acquaintances (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000). Perpetrators reported that their victims were strangers in less than 30% of rapes and 15% of sexual assaults (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997). In Wisconsin, it was found that none of the recidivistic offenses in the study sample were for predatory sex crimes involving strangers (Zevitz, 2006b). The myth of stranger danger may lead to a false security for parents, whose children are at greatest risk of being abused by someone they know and trust (Berliner et al., 1995). (Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2007, pp. 1--25).

In summation:

The perpetrator is known to most of the victimized, not the Friendly Stranger hanging out in one of Florida's child safety zones.