Robin ‘Roblimo’ Miller’s Personal Web Site

Right now the Irish delegation holds the Presidency of the European Union, a position that rotates among member countries. The Irish EU Presidency has corporate sponsors and makes no bones about it. They even list those sponsors proudly on their Web site. Florida legislators ought to do this, too. For instance, Sen. Mike Bennett could proudly proclaim his sponsorship by construction industry groups, which would certainly explain his introduction of this bill, which helps shady contractors get away with duping his supposed constituents.

The Irish EU Presidency recently introduced a motion to bring bad US-style software patents to the EU. When you look at their sponsor list and see Microsoft as one of the sponsors, you say to yourself, “No wonder!”

So take Sen Bennett and other “bought and paid for” Florida elected officials. When you see some of the legislation they introduce and/or vote for, it’s obvious that they’re getting paid off, but it’s often a chore to find out how much and by whom. Yes, we know that in theory Bennett and the rest are supposed to represent the people of the district from which they are elected, and sometimes they do if it doesn’t get in the way of their responsibilities to lobbyists and campaign donors, but if they put “sponsored by” tags on their Web sites, clothing, and campaign literature it would be a lot less suprprising to those of us who expect our representatives to represent us when they go against our interests and represent their financial backers instead.

Call it the Legislative Honesty Amendment

Here in Florida citizens can’t propose laws except by convincing (or more commonly, paying) a legislator to introduce them, and then comes the task of buying appropriate committee chairbeings, Senate and House leaders, and Gov. Bush, who seems to carry a fairly stiff price tag all by himself. But we voters can amend the state constitution directly, even though legislators have recently been passing laws to make this process harder.

Before it gets too hard to get a constitutional amendment through, we ought to pass one that requires all elected officials and candidates in Florida to openly display the names of their largest campaign donors prominently on their Web sites, on all office stationery and campaign literature, and on their vehicles and clothing whenever they appear in public in their official capacities.

I accept the fact that our legislature (and governor, and many local officeholders) are beholden to industry groups and lobbyists more than they are to actual voters. This is the Florida Way.

All I ask is that our officeholders tell us who owns them so that we can make more informed choices at the polls.

Think NASCAR

I should think companies that sponsor Florida lawmakers would be proud to see them wearing logos on their jackets, and I think officeholders and candidates should be just as proud to show pride in their backers. NASCAR drivers plaster corporate symbols all over their cars and uniforms and seem none the worse for it.

And I don’t think any of our esteemed elected representatives need to worry about losing their jobs if they’re honest about sponsorships, either. The Republicans who draw districts in this state have done a fine job of making sure they’ll have a majority with creative boundary lines. They learned the art of one-party politics from the old Soviet Union and are applying it well. My only complaint is that the district-drawers apparently use some mighty powerful reefer to come up with those crazy shapes, and they should be sharing it with the rest of us instead of hoarding.

But they’re Republicans, so I guess we really shouldn’t expect them to share, should we?

The U.S. health care system is sick and getting sicker. Here in Bradenton, one of two local hospitals has stopped delivering babies because half of their OBs took “early retirement,” theoretically because of high malpractice insurance premiums. I notice, though, that these poor MDs could afford to take early retirement, which most Americans can’t. It’s time to break our dependence on MDs and train more LPNs, Physicians’ Assistants, and other civilian equivalents to Army Medics to handle primary care. (more…)

Here’s a tip for anyone who plans to liberate a country from a nasty dictatorship known for torturing and killing dissidents: Don’t use that dictatorship’s most famous prison after the liberation. It may seem like the most perfect detention facility around — already equipped with cells and locks and walls and guard towers — but taking over the old dictator’s torture center and running it as your own makes it look like no true liberation has taken place; that one dictatorship has been exchanged for another.

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