I missed the latest in insurance products, but my friend Gabe Zambrano did not miss it.

Insurance company, HomeServe USA, has a fool proof product for you. Well, really its fool proof for them…possibly just foolish for you and me.

HomeServe wants to provide you insurance protection for your water line at your house. They are mailing notices to homeowners who have been deemed to need this product after HomeServe’s “review” of their property. HomeServe warns that damage to your water line could cost you thousands, but for $4.99 a month, which HomeServe will kindly extract from your bank account for you, they will put your mind at ease.

The Sun Sentinel reported on Elizabeth Railsback who received one of HomeServe’s very official looking notices about her property in Southwest Ranches, Florida. HomeServe promises to protect her buried water line for up to $7000 in a given policy year and provide two calls per year to (presumably) repair any problems for a maximum of $3500 per call. All of this is for the small, insignificant really, monthly charge of only $4.99.

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Although a time of giving thanks has been held and recognized by individual colonies and states throughout America since the 1600’s, it was President Abraham Lincoln who declared an official Thanksgiving Day. This thoughtful and gentle man chose to declare that we should take time to celebrate and to give thanks for our blessings and he did so during the single most cataclysmic times in American history.

And, so we gather with family and friends and indulge in turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yams and cranberry sauce to remember those people and things in our lives for which we are so very thankful. We take just a moment to look at our loved ones and recall those times they have brought joy to our lives and often a smile to our faces. We speak to our spiritual beliefs and we draw strength from the essence of our faith.

While you consider your blessings and embrace your loved ones, be thankful for them, embrace them and thank them for what they give to you; what they have given to you; and, well, for just being there.

May each of you find joy and fulfillment this Thanksgiving Day and may you celebrate that throughout the coming years.

We in Florida must stop being distracted from passing valuable and comprehensive laws regulating distracted driving.

We know that distracted driving is the equivalent, in terms of accident risk, to drunken driving.

We know that the brain can perform only a single function at a time and that asking a driver’s brain to operate a 5000 pound piece of metal at 70 mph, when trying to answer the latest received text is asking more from our brains than they can safely deliver.

We know that driving requires focus and concentration and that Sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent – at 55 mph – of driving the length of an entire football field, blind.

There are 300 million wireless subscribers in America and, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, some number of us caused over 3000 deaths last year as the result of distracted driving.

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You are in an auto accident and the other party is at fault. Your injuries are permanent according to your physicians. As is all too often the case, you cannot receive reasonable settlement offers from the other party’s insurance company.

You sue the other driver to collect compensation for your injuries.

Now what?

Under Florida’s jury instructions, the court will typically instruct the jury that, besides out-of-pocket losses, you have the right to prove the following general areas of damages:

• Cost of medical treatment (both in the past and the future)
• Loss of or reduction in the ability to earn money
• Bodily injury
• Pain & Suffering resulting from the bodily injury
• Disability caused by the injuries
• Mental anguish
• Loss of the capacity to enjoy life (both in the past and the future)

You must present evidence that the other party (defendant) was negligent; that the defendant’s negligence caused your injuries; and you must prove the amount of your damages.

Conversely, the defendant has the right to present evidence he/she was not negligent; that the negligence, if any, did not cause any or all your damages; and your damages is unsubstantiated.

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It was contentious and in some races it was downright nasty. So goes the 2012 election season.

I am proud to live in a state in which voters were able to see through the negative hype and the hyperbole that was thrown against three very competent, ethical and intelligent Supreme Court Justices such as Justices Pariente, Quince and Lewis.

This year legislators placed 11 constitutional amendments on the ballot largely because they lacked the political courage to do their job by weighing the value of those amendments as laws. Instead, they passed on to voters the blame should any of the amendments that passed cause budget crisis by denying needed revenue to government. Voters should be commended that most realized the folly of amending our constitution simply because our elected officials want to avoid the blame of doing their jobs.

I wish that we Floridians could count better, or at least faster; particularly in Palm Beach County, but that “chad” is apparently not going away soon.

We have a president and legislators ready to get on with the country’s business; whether they were your or my choice, we at least made it through a democratic process reasonably smoothly.

I think that after political ads that certainly crossed the line of civility, if not truth, our elected officials are ready to move forward with the country’s business in a way that contains an element of cooperation that exceeds what we have seen in the last (4) years.

I think it is fair for all of us to stand together and expect that our elected officials work together to solve OUR problems.

I think it is fair for all of us demand that legislators pay attention to the problems and needs of the MAJORITY of US.

I think it is fair for us to demand that WE be more important than lobbyists and campaign contributors.

I think it is fair for all of us to demand that legislators do their job.

So, let’s not only feel free to write legislators; let’s actually make our voices heard. Let’s call legislators out who seem to not be doing the job in OUR best interests.

Let’s force ourselves into the process and make sure WE are part of the solution rather than being apathetic and being part of the problem.

Thanks to all of you who voted!

Vote!

It may be a long line. It may be a wet line. It may be a cold line. But, we owe it to ourselves, our children and our country to exercise the power given to us by the constitution.

Vote!

It is about balancing power and controlling those who work for “we the people”.
A monumental war was fought to be able to establish the voting power each of us has.
Native Americans fought for the right and many died for it.
African Americans fought to be given their constitutional right to vote; many of them died for it.
Women marched and battled to be granted the right to this power; many of them were beaten, abused and ostracized for it.

Vote!
It is your voice in government; your key to unlock the doors of the legislature.
It is a power that political parties still respect and fear will actually be exercised by citizens.

Vote!
“A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large,
in voting at elections is one of the most important rights of the subject,
and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law. ”
–Alexander Hamilton

Vote!
“Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress.
If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate
ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.”
–James Garfield

Vote!
“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate–look to his character. ”
–Noah Webster

Vote!
In Florida, we should both recognize and cherish the right and privilege of voting. We have, more than once, been at the pendulum of politics and have had our votes counted…or not

Vote!
We consistently have adhered to the principle that the will of the people is the paramount consideration. Our goal today…[is] to reach the result that reflects the will of the voters…. The laws are intended to facilitate and safeguard the right of each voter to express his or her will in the context of our representative democracy. Technical statutory requirements must not be exalted over the substance of this right.
–Florida Supreme Court

Vote!

And, thank you for your efforts!

Why Three Republican State Senators support Justices Lewis, Pariente and Quince (and you should too)

Three more Republican officials are urging voters to VOTE YES to support the retention of Supreme Court Justices Lewis, Pariente and Quince, in direct opposition of the Republican Party of Florida’s unprecedented decision last month to go after the Supreme Court justices facing merit retention on Tuesday.

Senator Paula Dockery, from Lakeland; Senator Dennis Jones, who represents Seminole; and Senator Rene Garcia, from Hialeah, recently sent a letter Friday asking the Republican Party’s eight-member executive committee to reconsider its “unprecedented insertion of politics into what has been a system that has served Florida and her citizens well.”

The content of the entire letter explains exactly why these three Senators are challenging their own party politics – because what is happening is inserting a political agenda into what is supposed to be a nonpartisan and nonpolitical question – and urging voters not only in the Republican Party, but ALL voters to vote YES to retain these three justices on the bench:

“We the undersigned are deeply concerned over the September 21 decision of the eight-member Republican Party of Florida executive board to recommend a “no” vote for the retention of Justices Lewis, Pariente and Quince.

Since the passage of the merit selection/retention system into our state constitution in 1976, both major political parties have maintained neutrality out of respect for the independence of the judiciary and the strong desire of the citizens of Florida to keep politics out of the courts.

The Justices who are up for merit retention on the November ballot have served ably and honestly in their roles as Supreme Court Justices.  Each was retained by the voters in 2006 and immediately after their respective appointments.

As policy makers, we respect the balance of power between our three branches of government.  Each of us has been disappointed in one ruling or another from this and other courts.  But the need for a fair and impartial judiciary far outweighs our individual disagreements with any specific opinion. We encourage the RPOF to reconsider this unprecedented insertion of politics into what has been a system that has served Florida and her citizens well. We hope that additional Republicans will make their voices heard over the upcoming weeks so that voters understand that Justices Lewis, Pariente and Quince have served with distinction and deserve to be retained on the court.”

Voters in Florida who want a nonpartisan judiciary should retain Justices Lewis, Pariente and Quince on Tuesday.