Suwannee Democratic Party

We meet on the first Thursday of every month at 7:00 P.M. at the SOS Cafe in the Spirit of the Suwannee on SR129.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, February 2, 2012, at 7:00 P.M. at the Spirit of the Suwannee.

"We, the Democrats of Florida, united in common purpose, hereby dedicate ourselves to the principles which have historically sustained our Party. We recognize that a political party which wishes to lead must listen to those it would lead, that a party which asks for the people's trust must prove that it trusts the people, and that a party which hopes to call forth the best the state and nation can achieve must embody the best of the state's and nation's heritage and traditions.

The Florida Democratic Party, at all levels, shall encourage voter registration without discrimination on grounds of race, color, creed, sex, age, national origin or physical disability.

What we seek for our state and nation we hope for all people: individual freedom in the framework of a just society; political freedom in the framework of meaningful participation by all citizens."

REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE-BY-MAIL:

1. Convenient - vote from your own home – no driving required

2. Convenient - vote when YOU want to (no election day 7am to 7pm limitations)

3. Convenient – no confusion about polling place, or times, driving, parking, handicap access, etc.

4. Convenient – no waiting in line

5. Convenient – No need to make arrangements for childcare or time off from work

6. convenient – we won’t be calling you over and over, asking you to vote!!!
7. Easy – just fill in the blanks,

8. Easy - you can take your time, no one behind you to feel rushed or pressured

9. Easy – you get to have any person you want help you, or talk about the candidates or issue
10. Make more informed decisions – research the issues and candidates, at home, or the library, to your heart’s content
11. Ensures your vote counts - avoids last minute complications that might prevent you from voting: weather, illness, errands/problems

12. Ensures your vote counts - creates an automatic paper trail – you can look up your vote, to make SURE it is counted (if you vote on election day, or even early vote, your vote could be invalidated, and you have no way of ensuring your vote is ‘in’)

13. Ensures your vote counts - no ‘last minute’ intimidation or objections that can be filed by republicans, to prevent you from voting – especially important in key D precincts

14. Ensures your vote counts – no confusion about the location of your polling place, etc. Especially important for voters that have moved.

15. Ensures your vote counts – avoids any problems that might occur at the polling place that might cause the polling place to turn away voters – out of ballots, not enough workers, building locked, malfunctioning voting equipment, etc.

16. Ensures your vote counts– Increased election process integrity through signature verification

17. Ensures your vote counts– you won’t get turned away if you forget your I'd

18. Ensures your vote counts– IF Republicans send you a letter or phone call telling you to change polling places, you won’t be fooled, because you have already voted!
19. Lower cost – saves you the cost of gas and wear and tear on your car!
20. Feel better about yourself, because you KNOW you’ve done your civic duty, and didn’t let anything get in your way of voting!

How it helps the Democratic Party

Encourages other Democratic Party members to vote.
Helps the Democratic Party keep track of who voted.
Helps the Democratic Party focus our money and volunteers on those who have not yet voted – one less person to contact!
Increases Democratic Party turnout – far fewer ‘aw, the heck with it’ reasons for not voting.

Medicare, Medicaid on the Table 8 cuts Congress's deficit committee might make

Will Medicare and Medicaid benefits be cautiously trimmed or dramatically sheared by a "super-committee" looking for ways to cut federal spending?

That's the question as the committee, composed of six Republicans and six Democrats, tries to figure out how to slash $1.5 trillion from the national deficit in a new round of negotiations. The group must make its recommendations before Thanksgiving, and Congress is expected to vote on them by Dec. 23. Everything's on the table, but here are eight changes to Medicare and Medicaid that the committee is expected to consider:

1. Replace the current Medicare program with a private voucher system. A proposal to privatize Medicare for everyone currently under age 55 passed the House in April — and failed in the Senate. But Republican leaders have made it clear that the Ryan plan — named after its author, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee — is still on the table despite strong popular reaction against it. The plan would replace Medicare with vouchers to help buy private insurance for people who become eligible for Medicare after 2021. Experts predict that it would shift more costs to beneficiaries — both for younger ones using the vouchers and, ultimately, for older ones who stay in the current Medicare program.

2. Raise the age of eligibility for Medicare. The super-committee could adopt a proposal from a bipartisan bill recently introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). This bill — seen by some as a bipartisan model for deficit cutting — would raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67, but only if a provision of the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014. That provision would guarantee Americans who are not old enough for Medicare the opportunity to buy private insurance regardless of health conditions — something they would have to do if the Medicare eligibility age is raised. Most Republicans in Congress have vowed to repeal the health care law. Raising the eligibility age is estimated to save the government $124 billion over 10 years, but if the health care law is repealed, the burden would fall on people ages 65 to 67 trying to buy insurance and on state Medicaid programs and employers that provide health insurance. If the law is allowed to take effect, federal savings would be partly reduced because more low- and middle-income people would be eligible for government subsidies under the law. Next: Raising the costs to beneficiaries.

3. Raise costs for most beneficiaries. The federal government currently pays 75 percent of the cost of Medicare Part B, which covers doctors' services and outpatient care, with beneficiaries paying the remaining 25 percent through Part B premiums. Beneficiaries' share could be increased — for example, to 35 percent by 2019 under the bipartisan Lieberman/Coburn proposal, saving the government about $241 billion. This plan also would change the annual Part B deductible (currently $165) and the Part A deductible for hospital stays (currently $1,132 for each hospital benefit period) into a combined annual deductible of $550. Since the vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries do not become hospitalized every year, this proposal would cost most people more money, but save Medicare an estimated $130 billion over 10 years. The super-committee also could increase copayments for some services so that beneficiaries pay a greater share of the cost.

4. Raise costs more for wealthier beneficiaries. People with incomes over a certain level already pay higher premiums for Part B services and Part D prescription drug coverage. The super-committee could reduce these income levels so that more people pay the surcharges. Or it could require the wealthiest to pay premiums for Part A (hospital insurance), which has always been premium-free for everyone who has qualified for Medicare. The Lieberman/Coburn plan raises costs for higher-income people in a different way. It creates an annual out-of-pocket spending limit of $7,500 for most beneficiaries, but wealthier people, depending on their income, would have to pay between $12,500 to $22,500 in deductibles and copays in a year before hitting their out-of-pocket cap.

5. Reduce help from medigap supplemental insurance. This proposal has surfaced from time to time in the past. It's based on the idea that the 9 million people who buy private medigap policies to cover their Medicare deductibles and copays are insulated from the true cost of their care and therefore use more services. The Lieberman/Coburn plan would require policyholders to pay the first $550 of their annual out-of-pocket costs and would further limit medigap coverage. Next: Reducing Medicaid assistance.

6. Reduce Medicaid assistance. People who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid — the state-run health program for those with low incomes — represent about 15 percent of people in Medicaid but consume almost 40 percent of its spending. People in this group are generally older and sicker, and many of them live in nursing homes where, once their own financial resources are depleted, Medicaid pays the bill. Federal funding for Medicaid could be slashed, or the states could be allowed more leeway to reduce their own spending by raising the bar for eligibility and cutting payments to nursing homes. A bill to provide this kind of flexibility to states, introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Phil Gingrey, M.D., (R-Ga.) is estimated to save $2.1 billion in federal funds over 10 years.

7. Cut Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. Doctors are already under threat of a nearly 30 percent cut in reimbursements from Medicare under a law that was passed in 1997, but these cuts have been staved off by Congress every year in short-term "doc fixes." If the super-committee fails to act, another 2 percent cut to Medicare provider payments would automatically take effect in 2013. The committee could recommend further cuts in provider payments — for hospitals as well as physicians — but much would depend on whether it uses an ax or a scalpel, analysts say. The American Medical Association and other medical groups warn that across-the-board cuts would result in more doctors refusing to accept Medicare patients and add to an already critical shortage of primary care physicians, especially in rural areas.

8. Lower government's bill for prescription drug coverage. Leading Democrats have long pressed for the federal government to negotiate prices for Medicare's Part D prescription drug program to lower costs. Currently, it's up to the individual private drug plans to negotiate prices, and they have far less bargaining clout. Republican lawmakers oppose direct government negotiation as interference in the open market, and specifically prohibited it when they designed the Part D benefit in 2003. Democrats also have proposed requiring drug manufacturers to offer rebates to the government for drugs used by Part D enrollees who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid — just as the companies have long provided rebates in the Medicaid program itself — at an estimated saving of $50 billion over 10 years. Both approaches remain politically contentious, and the drug industry would mount massive lobbying efforts against them.

Contact your elected officials to vote no on any cuts to Medicare and Medicaid!

Let me repeat that, in case you didn’t hear me the first time. The GAO says that our Government HAS HANDED OUT $16 TRILLION TO THE BANKS. That little gem appears on Page 131 of GAO Report No. GAO-11-696. A report issued two months ago. A report that somehow seems to have eluded the attention of virtually every network, every major newspaper, and every news show.

How much is $16 trillion? That is an amount equal to more than $50,000 for every man, woman and child in America. That’s more than every penny that every American earns in a year. That’s an amount equal to almost a third of our national net worth -- the value of every home, car, personal belonging, business, bank account, stock, bond, piece of land, book, tree, chandelier, and everything else anyone owns in America. That’s an amount greater than our entire national debt, accumulated over the course of two centuries. A $16 trillion stack of dollar bills would reach all the way to the Moon. And back. Twice. That’s enough to pay for Saturday mail delivery. For the next 5,000 years. All of that money went from you and me to the banks. And we got nothing. Not even a toaster. I have been patiently waiting to see whether this disclosure would provoke some kind of reaction. Answer: nope. Everyone seems much more interested in discussing whether or not they like the cut of Perry’s jib. Whatever a jib may be.

In the next few weeks, I’m going to be writing more about this. But right now, I wanted to keep this really simple. Just give folks something to talk about when they’re standing next to the coffee maker. The Government gave $16 trillion to the banks. And nobody else is talking about it. Think about it. Think about what that means.

I am a disabled veteran of Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom (OEF/ OIF). I have seen and served our great nation during peace time, and during war. I have been to many far away and distant lands and placed in harm’s way for what we all hold dear as Americans - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As I watch civil unrest sweep across the nation and world I see one truth that has become self-evident. That truth is that the very freedoms that I have sworn to defend and protect whether it be during peace time, a national tragedy (September 11, 2001) or at war have been taken away by local police who have become in essence simple thugs. These thugs, be it Wall Street or the local police, have stolen our hard-earned liberties like thieves in the night, and the treatment of peaceful protestors has made this more apparent than ever.

I have seen peacefully protesting veterans holding American flags dividing law enforcement and Occupy Wall Street protesters being knocked down and toppled, all while police stomp and soil the American flag during apprehension in Boston, Massachusetts. I have seen a protester New York City holding an American flag asking authorities “Is this what you represent?” as he is forcibly thrown to the ground, gasping for air with an officer’s knee on the young man’s neck, prior to arrest. And finally a fellow veteran of the Iraq War asking the police, “Why are you doing this to non-violent protesters?” Stating “This is not a war zone,” and that “There is no honor in this,” referring to police in riot gear assaulting peaceful protesters. After seeing this unacceptable and egregious abuse on peaceful protesters, I can no longer stand idly by entrusting New York City's “finest” and other cities' law enforcement to “protect and serve” for the common good.

I as well as your appointed office have taken a sacred oath to America to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; and bear true faith and allegiance to the same. To do anything less would be criminal and a disservice to our nation, your constituents and the Bill of Rights. That is why I am STRONGLY requesting that you ensure the safety and security of the protestors and their First Amendment rights by activating the National Guard. By activating the National Guard you will preserve the rights of peaceful protesters and prevent the uncontrolled and unlawful abuse of protesters from local law enforcement. This simple act will show all Americans that our government is listening and its system of representation remains guided by the unalienable rights of its citizens and the Constitution.

I ask for your immediate call to action, and ask that you answer the call of liberty in these difficult and dire economic times!

W.C. Fields was lying deathly ill in bed at a hotel. His close friend walked in and saw Fields carefully reading the Bible.

"W.C.," he said, "what are you doing? You know you've never read that book in your life!"

Unfortunately, and with much less humor, that is exactly what our state legislative leaders have been doing these past 11 weeks during their redistricting "listening tour" throughout the state. Ever since a remarkable 63 percent of Florida voters passed Fair Districts Amendments 5 and 6 last November, legislative leaders have been looking for loopholes to protect their seats, including using taxpayer dollars to fight the amendments in court and creating a calendar that will prevent fair and efficient elections in 2012.

Why is redistricting so important? For years, Florida has had some of the least competitive elections in the country, stemming from scores of "races" with no challengers. Why? Because for years, politicians picked their voters instead of voters picking their elected officials. The good news for voters is that the passage of Amendments 5 and 6 will end gerrymandering and restore a much higher degree of competition and accountability.

Unfortunately, our legislative leaders are incumbents and, predictably, are determined to protect their seats to the end, through delays and litigation.

Watch them as they pass the biggest scheme of all: a delayed time line, which in the words of their own attorney is likely to result in chaos and confusion in the 2012 election.

How are they doing this? Unlike other state governments that are already drawing maps and soliciting real input, our Legislature has used these 26 public meetings (with no new, legislatively drawn maps presented) as a stalling tactic that will result in a schedule likely to prevent candidates from even knowing what districts they might run in until after the deadline for filing has passed.

Who does that help? Incumbents, naturally. Uncertainty as to what a district will look like helps incumbents because they are already known to the voters and can raise money, making challengers reluctant to throw their hats in the ring. The current time line is designed as an incumbent protection plan.

The legislators' published plan is to wait to finalize district maps until the end of the legislative session in March 2012. By law, the courts and the U.S. Department of Justice must have more than 90 days after passage to review the maps.

Under the present time line, it is highly unlikely that districts will be finally approved before the June 8, 2012, deadline for candidates to file papers to run. Due to the likelihood of litigation, districts may not be finalized until August 2012, which would mean Florida's maps would be approved later than almost every other state in the nation. And with a primary election scheduled for Aug. 14, 2012, this time line seems impossible to meet, which could mean delays in sending ballots to military voters and problems for new candidates.

Very simply, the current time line for redistricting set by the Legislature is unfair to Florida voters.

In other states that have public hearings, citizens are allowed the opportunity to comment on legislative-proposed maps. For example, after maps are finalized in Arizona, they are made available to the public for comment for 30 days before final passage. In Florida, Redistricting Committee Chairman Will Weatherford has said citizens may have only a two- or three-day comment period before any votes are taken on a proposal.

Fortunately, elections supervisors all over the state are paying attention. At every redistricting public hearing, the local supervisor of elections has expressed concern with the Legislature's proposed time line and has recommended accelerating the time line to help ensure more democratically run elections. For supervisors, redistricting comes with a host of responsibilities, including sending new district information and voter registration cards to everyone in their county well in advance of the primary election date.

The League of Women Voters of Florida also calls on the Legislature to expedite the redistricting time line now. Along with its coalition partners, the league has proposed — to legislative leaders — a sensible time line pursuant to the Florida Constitution in which maps are drafted by October and approved by the first week of the legislative session in mid-January. This way, citizens will have ample time to review the maps and provide substantive input, and candidates will have enough notice of district lines to start communicating with voters and launch credible campaigns.

In addition to the Legislature setting an unfair and potentially disastrous redistricting time line, it is also spending taxpayer dollars to fight new redistricting standards in court. In a direct insult to the 63 percent of Florida voters who approved the Fair Districts Amendments 5 and 6 last November, the Florida House joined a lawsuit filed by U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown and Mario Diaz-Balart asking the court to strike Amendment 6 from the Florida Constitution. Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who headed up the "Nix 5 and 6" campaign during the 2010 election, is the defendant in the case, meaning that Florida taxpayers are paying to both sue and defend the same lawsuit.

This decision comes after the Florida Legislature used every trick in the book to unsuccessfully oppose the Fair Districts Amendments, spending more than $1 million of taxpayer money from 2008 to 2010. The Legislature has also set aside $30 million for court battles expected as part of the redistricting process.

The league asks that the Florida House immediately withdraw from the lawsuit and respect the will of the majority of Florida voters, who want the new redistricting standards to be applied. Legislators should be working to uphold the constitutional provisions — not spending public money to protect their own seats. If the Legislature would stop trying to get out of following the new redistricting standards and instead apply them as the voters intended, there would be no need for litigation and no need for the massive amounts of taxpayer money it is planning to spend.

On that note, how much time and public money has the Legislature already spent since June 20 on its statewide "listening tour"? After 26 hearings, 18 days and 85 hours of hearings, 1,364 miles traveled and mileage reimbursed, and hundreds of hotel rooms and meals, how much did Floridians pay for this "listening tour" that has resulted in no proposed maps, few questions answered and public requests ignored? Imagine how many maps could have been produced as options with all that time and money.

It is part of the Legislature's job, for which its members are paid with taxpayer money, to draw the new district maps. Legislators have had the census data for more than five months. It is time for the public to see what they are considering.

Stop looking for loopholes. Drop the lawsuit, stop spending taxpayer money and follow the law of the land.

Pamela Goodman is first vice president and redistricting chair of The League of Women Voters of Florida. She is past president of The League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County and former president/CEO of The Limited Express retail clothing chain.

As I reached my middle sixties, I decided to explore what activities are available to folks my age.

I visited the Senior Center on Nobles Ferry Road. The Senior Center is operated by the Suwannee River Economic Council. Breakfast and Lunch are served Monday through Friday. Activities include a movie day, a Bingo Day (no money), and various presentations of interest to seniors. There was a old tube type TV set that had seen better days. I decided to ask the Suwannee Democratic Executive Committee(SCDEC) to donate funds for a purchase of a new TV set. The SDEC members voted to give me $250.00 for the purchase of a new set. I went to Walmart to see what was available. They had a 32 inch Emerson HD flatscreen on sale that fit the budget limits. I purchased the set and took it to the Senior Center. The Economic Council staff purchased a wall mount bracket and installed the set.

I was happy with the installation, and so were the other seniors. They say it is better to give than to receive. I agree, especially if the present is paid for by someone else's money! I think we did a lot to donate something which will continue giving for years to come.