MUCH LEGISLATION ALREADY INTRODUCED

If you're interested in seeing what bills have been introduced in the House and Senate in Florida, you can go to the internet and type in myflorida.com. Once that page comes up, on the left hand side click on Government. Then under Legislature, click on either the House or Senate. Next click on calendar with the latest date. Up will come the dates and times of various committee meetings, committee assignments, and then a listing of each bill and who introduced or co-introduced the measure. You can then click on back and pick up the committee staff report on a bill including the latest action and where the bill is presently pending. If you see a particular bill you would like more information about, just email me or give me a call. I'll be glad to assist in any way possible.

HOLLY/NAVARRE FIRE DISTRICT HAVING PROBLEMS

I've been advised that the Holly-Navarre Fire District is having trouble getting its statute codified as required by law. That group has been working for years to make a difference in the way service is provided to the area and I commend them for their actions and activities.

FLORIDA'S STATE LIBRARY IN JEOPRADY

I hear there is a move in Tallahassee to do away with Florida's State Library. Just received further information that the circulation books and other items may be given to Nova Southeastern University and Broward County. I certainly don't know how such can happen without Legislative approval. So, I'm not going to get too upset until I see the measure beginning to move through the legislature. If you are concerned, be sure to let your State Representatives and Senators know.

THANKS FOR THE REMINDERS

Thomas Strider has sent me some very interesting items title, "I've Learned". I'll give you just a few of them and from time to time will drop in others.

I've Learned.That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

I've Learned.That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.

Good ones, don't you think? Maybe you could add some others.

FORMER ACADEMY LIFE INSURANCE POLICYHOLDERS MAY BE ELIGIBLE

The Academy Life Insurance Co. is seeking immediate contact with an estimated 110,000 current and former service members who may be eligible to receive payments from a fund established as part of a settlement it reached with the Justice Department December 19, 2002.

Col. Steve Strong, director of legal policy in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness said the insurance company will mail notices and payment applications to the last address it has for thousands of former policyholders it believes are eligible. Notices were to be mailed by February 24, he added.

Eligible persons have until June 24 to file, he said. After that deadline, applications won't be considered. Payments of up to $200 per policy are part of a $160 million settlement reached against the company for defrauding service members from 1991 to 1998.

For more information on eligibility requirements or a notice and application, call Academy Life at toll free 800-523-5625.

SHOULD PARENTS BE GRADED ON THEIR SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT?

Parents in Lebanon, PA, may soon be getting report cards of their own: The school system's superintendent is proposing that parents be graded on how involved they are in their children's education. Under the proposal, parents would be evaluated in areas such as attendance at parent-teacher conferences, whether they retur4n papers they have to sign and whether their children come to school healthy and properly dressed. Parents who do not live up to any other responsibilities would be contacted by an outreach worker who would try to help them become more involved. And parents who cannot or will not cooperat6e would have an "adult mentor" assigned to their child. Proponents of the plan point to research connecting parent involvement and student academic success Critics say the plan is demeaning and insulting and question the appropriateness of a government agency critiquing and evaluating parenting skills. Sue Ferguson, of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, said schools would be better served by collaborating more with parents and getting to know them personally, rather than filling out evaluation forms that could alienate them, If you want to see more on this, go to:
http://www.arizonarepulbic.com/news/articles/0207fgradinparents07.html

What do you think of this idea? <mailto:jmelvin@gulf1.com>

WILL MONEY ALONE PRODUCE BETTER RESULTS?

Last fall Minnesota voters approved new public school taxes of nearly $150 million dollars a year to improve their children's schools. Polls report that, nationwide, 75 percent of Americans are willing to raise their taxes by $200 to $500 per year to improve their schools. Americans agree to tax themselves because they continuously hear that schools could be improved if only there were more money. Maybe we're afraid of what would happen if we didn't provide more money. The percentage of Americans who have "a great deal" or "quite a lot of confidence" in our public schools has been falling steadily, from 58 percent in 1973 to 36 percent in 1999;. According to Stacy Becker, Americans can't necessarily conclude that they spend too much or that all expenditures are unwise. We want our teacher to be paid well, and our class sizes to be reasonably small, but perhaps we don't know how to spend money in the ways that will improve student achievement. Want more information on this, go to:
http://www/twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/opinion/5185105.htm.

We all need to review this article and do more thinking!

WILL THEY NEVER GIVE UP?

Well the Socialists and Marxists are at it again! The battle over Scouting is heating up again. 
Months ago I reported that the Bar Association in San Francisco wrote the policy which led to the Superior Court banning judges from participating in the Scouts.

Now, as predicted, this initiative is speaking and is now being considered by the Supreme Court of California.

According to published reports, the Supreme Court already demands that judges divest themselves from groups that discriminate against women and minorities.

Rules also forbid membership in organizations that discriminate against lesbians and gays with the exception of the Boy Scouts. But now that appears in jeopardy!

Scout spokesman Greg Shields call the proposal "unconstitutional."

The proposed policy would be just as inappropriate as a policy forbidding judges from being Roman Catholic or Baptist or Orthodox Jewish or any of numerous faiths which share the Boy Scouts' views.

Here we go again with a Bar Association" attempting to legislate!

INTERESTING READING

My good friend, Bob May, sent me the following definition of a "Liberal".

"I once heard a 'Prominent Member of Congress Define a Liberal.! He said a Liberal was a Flaming so called 'Progressive' who just got elected to Congress, just knowing he was God's gift to Washington. Upon his arrival in D. C., he bought a big elegant townhouse close to the Capitol so he could keep up his love of 'jogging' daily - he mad the mistake of jogging to work on Capitol Hill his first day, and got 'mugged' three times by three different crack heads before reaching his Capitol Hill Office. Upon reaching his office penniless, shaken, skinned and scratched all up, and scathing with rage, he holds an 'impromptu' press conference sporting a new tie that shows a Congressman armed with an AK47 and says 'Kill em Al;; - Let God Sort it Out' and announces he is a 'Newbor4n Conservative'!

The best comparison of a "Liberal" is a saying by Will Rogers. "Never try to teach a PIG to SING!! - It's a waste of your time and ANNOYS THE PIG!!"

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Two words muddle America's entire dialogue on race. The phrase 'affirmative action' should be set aside as an overly-broad, unwieldy formulation.

"If someone dislikes hip hop, it would be wrong to say he hopes to 'end music.' No one who disputes global warming theory could be accused fairly of wanting to 'stop the environment.' Yet this exact problem befalls critics of racial preferences, the peculiar institution through which government discriminates for and against citizens based on skin color. "..Americans - - Left, middle and Right - should retire \the term 'affirmative action." Instead, we should discuss the pros and cons of particular racial policies - outreach, public-sector anti-discrimination laws, private-sector anti-discrimination laws and racial references. An accurate debate is likelier to ensure over these practices if we address them specifically rather than try to navigate the clumsy expression 'affirmative action.'" (Columnist Deroy Murdock.)

Comments should be sent to:  jmelvin@gulf1.com