the 941

 I get Congressman Vern Buchanan’s weekly newsletter most Thursdays. This week, he touts that he recently voted to override a presidential veto, something that’s becoming increasingly populat on Capitol Hill, as even the most die-hard Republicans are looking to distance themselves from the moldy stench of Bush’s final months in office.

But this was more than politcal posturing; it was a smart vote.

To quote the newsletter: “Congressman Buchanan recently voted to override President George W. Bush’s veto of the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act”, a bill protecting physicians from a 10.6 percent cut in their reimbursement rates when caring for Medicare patients.

‘My district is home to 176,000 seniors age 65 and over,’ said Buchanan. ‘We already have a shortage of doctors who are willing to serve elderly Medicare patients. Forcing doctors to absorb further cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates will make the problem worse.’”

Whether you agree or disagree, drop Buchanan a line at:

Sarasota District Office
235 N. Orange Avenue
Suite 201
Sarasota, FL 34236
ph: (941) 951-6643
fx: (941) 951-2972

or

Bradenton District Office
1001 Third Avenue West
Suite 380
Bradenton, FL 34205
ph: (941) 747-9081
fx: (941) 748-1564

You can also send an e-mail to: http://buchanan.house.gov/contact.shtml 

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President George W. Bush claimed last week that the source of all our economic troubles was that “Wall St. got drunk.” Finally the man is talking about something has has knowledge of.

• Former NASA astronaut makes claims about alien contact.

• Exploring Bush’s historic abuse of power. Read the whole Salon.com series here.

• Is Obama in serious danger of sliding too far to the middle to call himself the “change” candidate?

• Are we still moving toward martial law?

• If cities are not liable for dangerous streets, why are we still liable for paying taxes?

• You know the banking system is insolvent when…

• Gas prices could drop to $3.50 by Labor Day. Who ever thought that would be an enticing price to pay for petrol?

• Osama bin Laden’s driver: Flight 93 was shot down by U.S.

• This needs to be the next Olympic sport:

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Quick name the state the licenses thousands of felons as mortgage brokers… uh, oh yeah, it’s Florida. Great investigative work by the Miami Herald.

• Iraq? Afghanistan? Shouldn’t John McCain know the difference? The embarassing senior moments continue to pile up. Even worse, CBS News covered up for him. It’s one thing to be a senile senator; there are dozens. But we’ve already had one senile president in my lifetime and frankly, we were lucky to escape the ’80s as well as we did.

• Two words: Barack Oboner.

• That rumbling you hear is the conservative movement retrenching. Or maybe it’s the movement’s death rattle. We can always hope.

• And speaking of Republicans who actually think, Ron Paul is planning to bring his r3volution to the venue across the street from the GOP convention. This is going to be fun.

• Here is the man talking about the REAL ID Act:

• There are two ways to travel to Afghanistan, like a soldier or like a politician. You want whats behind door number two.

• Blackwater: The U.S. government will always need us.

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Planned Parenthood Opening First Health Center in Manatee County

Barbara Zdravecky, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, will discuss how crucial it is to have Planned Parenthood health services available in Manatee County due to its astonishingly high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Out of 67 counties, Manatee has the 17th highest teen pregnancy rate in Florida. Nationally, Florida has the 6th highest teen pregnancy rate and the 2nd highest HIV/AIDS rate in the country.

The center is located at 1105 53rd Avenue East in Bradenton.

The ribbon cutting will follow a press conference that begins at 5:30 p.m. Other luminaries scheduled to attend include: Karin Grablin, Board Chair, Planned Parenthood, Senator Mike Bennett, County Commissioner Gwen Brown and Greg Porges, Esq., Campaign Steering Committee Member.

As the most trusted provider of reproductive health care in the country, Planned Parenthood knows best that women, men, and teens in Manatee County need access to quality and affordable health care.

“Like many communities across the country, Manatee County has a growing need for affordable health care and access to reproductive health care services,” said Zdravecky. “The Planned Parenthood Manatee health center will bring much-needed health care services to the members of the community, regardless of their income.”

Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida was founded in 1966 and provides vital sexual health services and comprehensive education to women, men and teens in the Sarasota, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Ft. Myers, Lakeland and Winter Haven areas. Services include birth control; cancer screening; pregnancy testing; options counseling; adoption referral; first trimester abortion; mid-life services; annual GYN exams including Pap smear; STD testing and treatment; HIV counseling and testing; vasectomy services; and colposcopy and cryotherapy surgical procedures.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., is the world’s oldest and largest reproductive health care and advocacy organization with 847 locations across the country. Its 99 affiliates serve nearly five million Americans annually.

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Scott Proffitt, one of the owners of downtown’s Main Bookshop, attended the City Commission meeting on Monday and offered his thoughts on the new lease Marina Jack negotiated with the City of Sarasota.

City investigates sweet deal for marina interests

The City Commission received the results of a review of the leases negotiated with Marina Jack, O’Leary’s and Mattison’s restaurants at  Monday’s Commission meeting and these results were mixed.

Where Mattison’s Restaurant was paying almost $17 per square foot (for those who have never understood this square foot thing, you take the rate per square feet and multiply it by the number of feet rented.  This is the annual rent.  Divide by 12 to get monthly rent and then the other issues are who is paying property taxes, water, common area maintenance, electric, etc…) Barry Abramson, of the eponymous Abramson & Associates, who performed this review, felt this was a “not unreasonable” rate.  Considering that much of Mattison’s is open space I would say that the City is doing very well indeed.

Marina Jack, on the other hand, pays 3 percent of gross revenues to the City of Sarasota, and pays no ad valorem taxes.  Go ask any restaurateur if they would be happy paying 3 percent of the gross sales in rent, much less no taxes.  On top of this, the lease is now extended to like 2047.  Who gets forty-year leases?  These are the deals that make citizens lose faith in government.  These arrangements are why the city is cash-strapped and having to let go of employees.  I would go so far as to question as to whether the city could go back and renegotiate, citing the mental competency of any commission who would agree to a forty-year lease.  I am well aware that Marina Jack (Jack Graham Inc.) would argue they have had significant capital expenditures (they built the restaurant) but they have been able to amortize that over the last forty years of incredibly favorable terms they received from the city.

To be fair, several current commissioners are questioning this truly unconscionable lease arrangement.  The most noticeable at this meeting being Kelly Kirschner who appears to be concerned over this situation and aware of the anger many taxpayers feel at the loss of significant revenue the city tossed away.  Whether anything can be done to ameliorate the situation is another matter.  Perhaps Jack Graham Inc will feel so guilty they will offer to change the terms of the lease out of civic duty?

Scott Proffitt has a little extra time on his hands these days while he is working on the repairs to his book store. Main Bookshop suffered severe damage when the sprinklers system went off a couple months ago. His “Inside Flap” column will be a regular feature on The 941 as long as he feels like writing it. 

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The numbers never lie. John McCain may appear to be close to Barack Obama in some national polls, but when you break it down by state and start counting electoral votes, McCain is headed for Mondale country.

• I would not have thought it possible, but the Republicans have hit another new low in their exploitation of 9/11.

• Television news have given up its last shred of respectability.

• Attorney General Michael Mukasey is asking Congress to subvert the Constitution.

• The rest of the neocons are not planning on giving up power anytime soon. Some are calling for George W. Bush to become president-for-life.

• Electronic strip searchs coming soon to an airport near you.

• Today in the GOP veepstakes from Robert Novak, Politico and The Washington Times.

• If you think the economy is bad now, some respectable people are calling for it to get much, much worse. Why? Something about$675 trillion in derivatives coming home to roost.

• Today’s small moment of sanity: a federal court has tossed the FCC’s fine against CBS for the “wardrobe malfunction.”

• Protest the war, get beaten by FBI agents. Sigh.

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Coming soon to a battlefield near you: paratrooper dogs. Really. We’re not kidding, though we wish we were.

• Europeans may thrilled at the prospect of an Obama presidency, but the man himself isn’t giving much time to continental journalists.

• If they are lucky enough to still have a job, most Americans can’t afford a vacation, but Europeans are flocking to Florida.

• How will the American TV networks handle their Chinese overlords during the Olympics?

• The speculation on potential running mates for Barack Obama and John McCain continues unabated. Yes, Hillary and Mitt are still in the running.

• A Vermont librarian, all 4-foot, 10 inches of her, stood up for privacy against a large group of cops - and won.

• Want to spend a frightening afternoon on the computer. Sit down and do a search for: REX 84.

• It’s time: Send Karl Rove to jail.

• As if the bad press from the Jena 6 wasn’t bad enough, violent racism continues in Louisiana.

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Mote Marine Laboratory to present first Eugenie Clark Award

The Board of Trustees of Mote Marine Laboratory will be hosting world-renowned oceanographer and explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle – a Mote trustee ? at a special dinner on Tuesday, July 22, at Marina Jacks, 2 Marina Plaza, Sarasota. The evening, organized by the Chairman of Mote’s Board of Trustees, Judy Graham, will begin with cocktails at 6 p.m. followed by a seated dinner at 7 p.m.

The highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the inaugural “Eugenie Clark Scientific Explorers Award” to Dr. Earle by Mote President Dr. Kumar Mahadevan and Dr. Eugenie (Genie) Clark, Mote’s founding director, whom the award was named after.

Former chief scientist of NOAA, Dr. Sylvia Earle is president of Deep Search International and chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. She was an Interim Executive Director of Mote Marine Laboratory in 1966 and is currently a member of Mote’s Board of Trustees and chairman of Mote’s Research Committee. Her research concerns marine ecosystems with special reference to exploration and the development and use of new technologies for access and effective operations in the deep sea and other remote environments. Dr. Earle has led more than 60 expeditions and logged more than 6,000 hours underwater, including leading the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970 and setting a record for solo diving to a depth of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet).

The Eugenie Clark Scientific Explorers Award established for the extraordinary accomplishments, endless passion and exemplary goodwill of Dr. Eugenie Clark, the award is presented only to those who display similar qualities and characteristics in the advancement of science. Founder, first director and resident world-renowned scientist of Mote Marine Laboratory, Genie’s contagious love for life in the sea is continually passed on to people the world over.

In other Mote news:

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Scott Proffitt, one of the owners of downtown’s Main Bookshop, attended the City Commission meeting on Thursday afternoon and had some thoughts about what went down, namely the latest proposal for the redevelopment of Palm Avenue:

CITY CANS FOURTH PLAN IN TEN YEARS FOR PALM AVENUE PROJECT

Now, some people would say that the fact that the City has been unable to complete a satisfactory deal on the last three attempts says more about the City than about the various developers and their proposals.  And certainly our city has shown incredible ability to fail to take action on many issues in the past.  In this case however, the developer, Buck-Leiter Palm Avenue Development LLC, was changing the deal.  Chief City Planner Steven Stancel prepared an analysis of the changes that indicated the City might have to come up with an additional three million dollars.  There seemed to be a general consternation among some commissioners and staff regarding the transfer of the property to the developer along with having to front all sorts of expenses in a confusion of graphs and extrapolations in a fifty-year deal with the LLC.    Stancel bluntly said the current proposal was  “substantially different from the original proposal”.

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Congress was busy this week, working up a new Bill of Rights:

That was from the Onion News Network in case you were getting worried.

• And in the scary but true category, Democratic president candidate Barack Obama appears to be calling for a national police force as powerful and well-funded as the U.S. military. Do we really need a home-grown Stasi? He needs to come clean on this right away.

• More agitation about Bush’s crimes.

• The LA Times continues its “Countdown to Crawford.”

• But the good news is the ballot measure to rename a sewage treatment plant in honor of George W. Bush is going forward.

And since its Friday, we should wrap up with a little John Stewart.

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