Let's see who votes for oil and who votes for Florida

Beautifully put, Dave. I think you may need to consider going into politics, sir!

Dave, I have chosen to refer to any Florida legislator that ignores Florida's best interests in favor of the oil lobby 'carpetbaggers' as the 'latter day scalawags'. I can't think of a more appropriate term.

I would suggest also sending letters to newspapers in Tallahassee, Marriana (Coley's hometown) as well as to our local dailys.

I prefer to refer to them as "protectors" or the future unemployed.

Dave, great summary of the situation.

and, it's not just this generation of Floridians...it's our children and grandchildren too. I am proud to say that my son, and his children joined me as I know your daughter did too. My grandkids are still talking about the day " we held hands to save our beach."

There are some things in life that are worth standing up for and our beautiful coastline is certainly one of them.

Thanks for your leadership and thanks to all the people who care about Florida. How could we have elected all these people who obviously do not?

We need leadership in Tallahassee that represents Florida's citizens...not Texas oil! Time to clean out the house...and the senate!

Can some supply the phone #'s (or the best way to reach their offices) of Gaetz, Coley and Patronis, for everyone here?

I will robo call them every morning.

That is perfect.

I am also reminded of the visionary people who saved our lands that have become the National Parks. To think of never watching a wolf at sunset in Yellowstone; not to climb to the crater at sunrise on Maui; never to glide through the Everglades River of Grass...or never to see the dunes of Grayton Beach...

and to think that the man who was the superintendent of schools in Okaloosa; a man who is apparently quite wealthy in money; to think that this man can not now stand up and say he will work to save our coastline.

It is beyond belief.

And, if he and the others can not see beyond the dollars in their reelection campaign coffers, then we the people of Florida, must stand up to him--to save our coast for our children and grandchildren and all the other "unborn" Floridians.

The frustrating thing is this isn't just about Floridians. Our coast is literally the country's backyard! I wish there was some way to make the many people in the southeast that own property here aware of this so they can make their opinions known! Wouldn't it be a coup if we could get Karl Rove and/or Sean Payton on record as opposing the drilling?

Are these politicians stupid?

Considering the current mood of the electorate AND the recent shows of the public's lack of support for offshore drilling, I would think voting for this would be political suicide.

Only reason I can think of that anyone would even consider voting for this is $$$$ in donations and kickbacks. :angry:

Don Gaetz has done a great deal of good for the Panhandle, as Superintendent of Schools in Okaloosa County and as our Senator. He has been very responsive and does a lot of community outreach to stay in touch with his constituents. I sure hope he is listening well to the grassroots' clear opposition to offshore drilling!

do you still have the info about where the % of US consumed oil comes from...and did you have a primary source document for it? I know you posted it somewhere, but my first search didn't find it. Thanks,

Susan, do you have any insight into why he is reluctant to take a stand against the drilling? Also, why does he want to increase class size? If I'm not misinformed, he filed a bill to increase ...Session :Bills : : flsenate.gov

I think it is in the Oil drilling forum thread.

Here are a couple different sources:

Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries

(most up to date numbers and tells top 5 imports)

If the Iraq War is About Oil, then How Much Are We Getting?

(scroll down on this one and it will break it down by country and ALSO show how the amount we get from the Middle East by percentage is decreasing)

The Oil Drum | Where Does the US Import Oil and Other Petroleum Products From?

Oil Imports and Exports - Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding Energy

(simple bold graphs)

GW,

I've no idea about his stand or lack of it on offshore drilling, only know what I have heard from what others have said here.

As to class size, I have listened to several radio and TV discussions of this, and my understanding is not that he wants to increase class size. He, and a number of principals, want to be able to continue to use a whole-school average to achieve the proper class size, rather than having an absolute max number for every single classroom.

I understand why. If you're operating on the absolute no-more-than-___ students in a class for such and such a grade, the logistics can be nightmarish under all kinds of common situations. Say you have 2-3 full Algebra classes (or whatever) and you get a new student transferring to the school in, say, February. With individual classroom absolute maximum rules in place, you have to hire a teacher mid-year, and find another classroom and divide up the 3 other classes so some students from each class will become part of the 4th Algebra class. This is disruptive to all the students and teachers.

If, however, you can use whole-school averaging to achieve class size, and you have the full Algebra classes, but you have several other classes that aren't full, you don't have to disrupt all your Algebra students and teachers mid-year for a transferring student.

There are plenty of other situations where the averaging makes more sense. Not a perfect system, as there will always be some classes with more than the ideal # of students, but logistically and administratively, as well as common sensically (is that a word), the averaging seems more practical and doable.

okay that makes sense. In your opinion is this what this bill does?

I haven't read the bill. But based on what I have heard, that is what it sounds like to me.