When I was a kid, I knew we were poor. What I did not know and my mother saved us from ever experiencing was being homeless. But, I have had homeless relatives and homeless friends with whom I went through with them the struggle to come out .

In Palm Beach County there are over 750 homeless families and over 1600 homeless children at any given time.

I know a guy who gives me a ration of criticism for giving money to people along the road. His response is they are all drug addicts, criminals or just plain lazy. He says the solution to homelessness is to make everyone get a job and “learn how to support themselves”.

I can tell you from experience and from learning about it that being poor or being homeless has a lot less do with laziness and a great deal more to do with a few missteps and a lot of bad luck. In our present economy, those of us in the middle class may be simply the loss of a job away from homelessness.

Have you ever begged for money? Panhandled along the busy streets? Begged for food? It is a sad and difficult skill to learn. First, you have to overcome the fear and shame you find yourself in a position of having to do it. You have to harden yourself against the people who look at you with disdain and judgment written all over their faces. You have to prepare yourself for the taunts, insults and, sometimes, the food thrown at you.

One of my bosses here at the law firm, Jack Scarola, has spent the better part of his adult life working with a worthy organization called “The Lord’s Place”. Jack is a past chairman and a regular at what The Lord’s Place calls the “Sleep Out”. If it is like nearly every year, Jack’s beautiful wife Anita will be with him as will many of his friends and family. They will all gather at the Meyer Amphitheater at 6:00 PM and sleep outside all night long.

The Lord’s Place is not a place for a hand out as much as a leg up. It is an organization that will help individuals and families find a place to sleep, a place to eat and will help them get back into the job market. My wife is a principal and many of her students would not have been at school today but for The Lord’s Place helping their family. Sadly, I know about families right now living in their cars, but still trying to get their kids to school and themselves to a job.

Jack Scarola and all the volunteers will not just be sleeping out under the stars in the torrential downpour or through the onslaught of mosquitoes; they are also raising funds to help the Lord’s Place help the homeless by giving them just a little leg up.

So, if you believe as I do; that in a country like America no one and certainly no children should have to be homeless or hungry reach into your pocket and support this worthy organization. It is only a click away right here!

“Antibacterial” – there is just something about the word that inspires a certain scientific clean.

So, it is flu season break out the antibacterial soaps, gels and lotions – Right?

Wrong.

First, a majority of illnesses are caused by viruses and antibacterial substances have no effect on viruses. The flu, for example, is caused by a virus or viruses; using an antibacterial soap or gel will do nothing about the spread of those viruses.

Using antibacterial soap is more about your brain than your skin. Using something labeled as “antibacterial” tells your brain that you are doing something to fight and to protect yourself.

What can you do that really does have an effect? Good old fashioned hand washing with regular soap. The lathering action of the soap combined with the scrubbing of your hands back and forth is what helps to lift bacteria and viruses off your body and allow water to wash them away.

How can you effectively wash your hands? Experts recommend:

Proper hand washing technique makes all the difference in the world when it comes to ridding your hands of germs. Follow this procedure:

1. Wet your hands with running water.
2. Apply soap and create an ample lather.
3. Rub your hands thoroughly for a minimum of 20 seconds (about the time it takes to sing the Happy    Birthday song twice).
4. Dry well with an air dryer or clean, disposable towel. (Tip: If a towel is accessible, also use it to turn off the faucet.)

No water? Look for an alcohol based sanitizer with about 60% alcohol content. Now you know why cowboys were so big on whiskey!

What else can you do? Try some of these things:

1. When washing hands, rub them vigorously on front and back for at least 20 seconds.
2. Rinse hands thoroughly after washing and dry completely.
3. Frequently wipe down surfaces around home and other environments. Try this mixture instead of antibacterial cleaners.
4. Do not go to work, shopping or visit friends while you are sick. Most offices are simply a brewing pot for disease when employees come to work sick.

What else?

Antibacterial soaps and other liquids do more harm to the environment than they do good. Nearly all antibacterial soaps and liquids contain triclosan and triclocarban; and both are environmentally unfriendly.

Finally, a growing number of experts believe that we are slowly building up to the existence of “super bugs” and the fear is we will have nothing that will be strong enough to combat them.

Laws involving things like injury from automobile accidents and coverage in automobile insurance should not be “gotcha laws”. But, that is what the new personal injury protection laws which took effect on July 31^st will do.

Last year, Florida’s governor and legislators championed a revision to Florida’s “Personal Injury Protection” (PIP) laws under auto liability insurance statutes. The insurance industry complained to the legislature that they were suffering rampant fraud in the PIP industry and needed this relief or they would go out of business, the sky would fall or life as we know it would end. Effectively what they have done for consumers is to create stumbling blocks to coverage and for insurance companies they have drastically reduced the potential exposure when consumers suffer injuries in automobile accidents.

Traditionally, PIP provided up to $10,000 coverage to drivers and passengers of vehicles involved in accidents. The idea was to allow payment of a set amount of money for the treatment of injuries, regardless of fault. That way, consumers were able to seek and pay for injuries they suffered in auto crashes.

The new law provides you only $2500 of the $10,000 PIP limits if you do not present to an emergency room within 14 days after the accident and receive a diagnosis of “an emergency medical condition”. What is an “emergency medical condition”? The law does not clearly set forth exactly what that means. Is a herniated disk that has not begun to exert pressure on nerves or the spinal cord represent an “emergency medical condition”? What if that herniated disk further herniates on day 15 and begins to compress the spinal cord?

In addition, although recognized by physicians in the U.S. and in many other countries as highly effective treatments, acupuncture and massage therapy will no longer be covered at all under the new law.

What did insurance companies promise to do in exchange for these unfair restrictions on PIP coverage? They were supposed to reduce auto insurance/PIP premiums by at least 10% in the first year. Insurers were supposed to file rates by January 1, 2013 that reflected a 10% reduction.

What did insurance companies do? Many have already filed for rates that show no reduction and in some cases, have filed for rate increases. Insurers have claimed that the lack of reduction is really a reduction; because without the new PIP law they would have filed for substantial rate increases.

What do consumers get?

We get to pay a premium for PIP coverage that is calculated on $10,000 in coverage; while only receiving $2500 in coverage if we do not immediately rush to an emergency room and get lucky enough to have an “emergency medical condition” that actually gets diagnosed.

We get to pay a premium for $10,000 in coverage that is no less cost than it was before Florida legislators and the governor squandered away our rights under PIP insurance contracts.

So, consumers get a “gotcha” when they find out they only have $2500 coverage for what evolves into a serious medical condition.

For the tenth year, at 8:30 in the morning on Sunday, December 16, 2012, Jack Hairston III, affectionately known as “Jack the Bike Man”, opened the large overhead door of his warehouse to welcome a large crowd of families. They had all been gathered there before sunrise for a chance to receive one of 1000 new or refurbished children’s bicycles. Jack’s bicycle charity for kids has given the gift of “freedom”, which only a bike can give to so many needy children in our community.

As we gathered to help Jack distribute his bikes, those new to this tradition tried to make sense of the chaos of people gathered outside Jack’s nondescript warehouse in West Palm Beach. Families and their young children dutifully formed a line and received a numbered ticket which they could redeem for a bicycle; indeed, some families received as many as six tickets!  The parents or older siblings clutch these tickets in their hands, some for a couple of hours, until they reached the front of the line. There, they were met by volunteers who fitted the children with bicycle helmets, mandatory for children in Florida. Once fitted, they proceeded to the next line, where they were greeted by Santa and had their pictures taken. After that, additional volunteers ushered them through finding just the right bike. This process was at times difficult. In fact, at times it was nothing more than controlled chaos as volunteers handed small bikes over the heads of families anxiously awaiting this moment. Finally, the moment of truth, as a glowing smile appeared on the face of a young boy or girl as they sat on their new bicycle. On this day, Jack and his volunteers would experience at least 750 of these magical moments, one for each bike given away.

As we collected our thoughts at the end of the day, we all experienced the true meaning of giving – making a direct impact on our community for those less fortunate. In a world in which we know all too well that tragedy and sadness can strike without warning, Jack took the sadness away and gave us all a new view on what is really important.

I am without understanding for the events that occurred in Newton, Connecticut or how the needless slaughter of 20 innocent children and (6) educators could happen.

Our thoughts, our sympathies and our sorrow go out to the parents and family of those murdered by Adam Lanza. Although we have some understanding of the loss suffered by those who lose loved ones, it is not typically in the horrific ways in which these survivors lost loved ones at Sandy Hook Elementary School in nearly the blink of an eye.

My wife has been a lifelong educator and is currently a principal of an elementary school herself. She knows each one of her students, she cares about each one of her students, and would do anything to protect them from harm. I am sure that was exactly the sort of emotion going through the minds of the principal, the young 29 year old intern, the special education assistant who tried to shield her students, the school psychologist, the first grade teacher who saved 15 or 16 of her children, and the aspiring substitute teacher; all needlessly killed.

How do we explain a man who comes to a school filled with innocent children with “hundreds of rounds of deadly ammunition” for his rifle and “two semiautomatic pistols, with multiple high capacity clips”? How do we explain to school children and those who try to educate them that they are at this sort of risk and that “code reds” are a reality in a civilization that by this time should be much more evolved?

As the people in the community of Newton, Connecticut work through the shock and the loss, we hope they will ultimately find relief for their losses and comfort for their grief.

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.

The good news is there will be no “hanging chads” this year in Palm Beach County.

The bad news is we now know that the absentee ballots will be not only lengthy, but based on what is known so far, it is going to be confusing.

The Supervisor of Elections allowed over 60,000 absentee ballots to be mailed out to Palm Beach County residents that were flawed. The supervisor caught the problem and submitted a revision to the printer, but allegedly the printer still sent the incorrect ballots.

What is flawed? Each section of the ballot has headings separating the various offices for which voters are casting their ballots. So, for example, the race for President & Vice President has a very clear heading that identifies the office and lists candidate choices. Immediately following that section is a new heading identifying the office of senator and then lists the senatorial choices.

The ballot proceeds like this, in a reasonably orderly fashion, until it gets to the merit retention vote for Supreme Court Justices Lewis, Pariente, and Quince. At that section, the ballot seems to merge from Tax Collector to the Supreme Court Justices, with no real differentiation.

The ballot is long, the type is small and the candidates are many; so any wrinkle can create problems. I mean little did I know that we would have not two or three choices for president, but 12 choices for the office of president (including comedienne Roseann Barr).

So, if you are voting by absentee ballot in Palm Beach County, let’s try to avoid press pictures of balding heads bent over tables trying to discern voters’ intentions. If you have questions, call the Supervisor of Elections office and ask questions until you receive sufficient answers. Their telephone number is 561-656-6200 and the website for the supervisor is: http://www.pbcelections.org

Many people are voting by absentee ballot and we all want each voters’ ballot to count so in addition to carefully reviewing your ballot and read the instructions included with the absentee ballot.

Here are the instructions on the Supervisor’s website:

It is imperative that when you vote by absentee ballot, you follow the instructions included with your absentee ballot very carefully!  Detailed instructions are provided on the actual absentee ballots, as well as special instructions on the secrecy sleeve enclosed in the absentee ballot kit mailed to you.  A voter must personally vote the ballot, unless assistance is required due to disability or inability to read/write.

Remember to sign your “Voter’s Certificate Envelope” or your vote will not be counted!

Justices Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis, and Peggy Quince were all appointed to the Florida Supreme Court in the late 1990s.  According to timeframes established in the Florida Constitution, each of them has stood for merit retention in 2000 and 2006, and each of them will do so again in 2012.

In 2000, Justice Pariente received a “YES” vote for her retention from 71.8% of the electorate, Justice Lewis received a “YES” vote from 71.5%, and Justice Quince received a “YES” vote from 71.7%.  In 2006, their “YES” votes were 67.6%, 67.1%, and 68.2%, respectively.  In short, the people of Florida have overwhelmingly approved Justices Pariente, Lewis, and Quince – twice.  Yet, in 2012, a number of groups, now including the Republican Party of Florida, have publicly advocated removing these three justices from the Florida Supreme Court.

So what has changed since 2006?  Have these justices lost all of the legal skills that got them to the Florida Supreme Court in the first place?  Have they stopped working hard, deciding to coast through their final years on the court?  Have they been implicated in some sort of unprofessional or unethical conduct?  The answer is NO, NO, and NO.  The intelligence, work ethic, and fine moral character of each of these justices remain fully intact.  In fact, they seem to have gotten better over time.

The Florida Bar conducts surveys of its membership for their positions on merit retention.  Lawyers ought to have the best sense of whether a judge or justice is qualified for his or her position.  The poll includes lawyers from all parts of the state, from all types of legal practice, and from all political and ideological persuasions.  In the Florida Bar survey conducted in 2000, 84 percent of Florida lawyers supported retention of Justice Pariente, 88 percent supported retention of Justice Lewis, and 83 percent supported retention of Justice Quince.  By 2012, the levels of support from Florida’s lawyers had increased to 89, 92, and 90 percent.

What has changed is not the justices but the political landscape.  In 2010, Republican state legislators sponsored proposed Amendment 9 to the Florida Constitution, which would have barred any law requiring people to obtain health insurance, such as Obamacare.  But the legislators failed to write a clear and concise ballot summary for Amendment 9.  By a 5-2 vote, the Florida Supreme Court, affirming the ruling of a trial court, held that the ballot summary did not comply with Florida law.  The legislators did not correct their error before November, so Amendment 9 was not on the ballot in 2010 (although a revised version will be on the ballot this November as Amendment 1).

Tea Party activist Jesse Phillips launched a campaign of retaliation against the five justices who held the ballot summary invalid.  His organization, “Restore Justice 2012,” has been raising money throughout the state for two years.

Mr. Phillips’ effort has been aided by out-of-state political action committee (PAC) money.  The Super PAC “Americans for Prosperity,” founded by ultraconservative billionaire oil barons David and Charles Koch, has paid for television commercials attacking Justices Pariente, Lewis, and Quince.  Groups like “Americans for Prosperity” are emboldened by the results of the 2010 Iowa merit retention elections.  There, five out-of-state PACs spent nearly $1 million to unseat three Iowa Supreme Court justices as payback for a decision permitting same-sex marriage.  It was the first time that so much money had been spent on a merit retention election – and the first time that an Iowa Supreme Court justice had not been retained by the voters.  In the post-Citizens United world, these out-of-state groups can spend unlimited funds trying to influence the outcome of our Florida elections.

The Republican Party of Florida recently announced its opposition to the retention of Justices Pariente, Lewis, and Quince, thus removing any doubt that this unprecedented attack is all about politics.

If the justices are removed from office, Republican Governor Rick Scott will get to choose their replacements.  In one fell swoop, Governor Scott would select nearly half of the Florida Supreme Court’s seven justices.  That is a fact that you will never hear in the slick TV ads paid for by “American for Prosperity,” or the internet videos produced by “Restore Justice 2012.”  And it explains why three qualified Florida Supreme Court justices, who have been approved by Florida voters twice before, and who are supported by 90% of Florida lawyers, are facing a multi-million dollar campaign to remove them from office.