BRINGING YOU SUNSHINE TODAY

[FCTP]

Good morning First Coast Tea Party members and supporters.  Today is a great day for the tea party movement.  We’re bringing you sunshine in a world that seems to have lost its way. 

 

We have recently come off a very “taxing” local mayoral and city council races.  We worked side by side with our members to help our candidates in their campaigns.  We were very successful in many of the City Council races and we were disappointed in the local mayor’s race.  Our candidate did not win.

 

We come from a place that most in the world do not understand.  That place is this – “We give thanks in all things” including when our candidate does not win.  We believe all things work to good and sometimes we don’t always get what we want.  Because what we want is not what is best for us.

 

We took last week off to rest up and to evaluate where the local tea party will be heading in the future.  The board has met numerous times to review where we’ve been and where we’re going.  Last night was a break-through night for our tea party and we are seeing Sunshine today! 

 

We can’t share our thoughts with you just yet but we wanted to reach out and let you know – “We’re still here!”  Good stuff is happening and here are just a few:

• City Council:  The new City Council members soon to be sworn in will be looking out for our best interests as taxpaying residents
• Mayor:  The new Mayor will have his work cut out for him and we plan to be keeping a close eye on his decisions
• Membership:  The First Coast Tea Party has had a surge in new members and we welcome you and hope to see you soon at a meeting near you!  Please look for a “Neighborhood Tea Party” in your zip code and join up with local tea party neighbors at the monthly meetings.  These are great groups to get to know your neighbors, hear from a speaker and learn about City Hall, State and National happenings.  Go to http://www.fctpcommunity.org/groups and look for a local Neighborhood Group to sign up and start receiving information about the next local meeting.
• Event:  David Beamer, father of Todd Beamer – an American hero from the 9/11 tragedy, will speak at a First Coast Tea Party dinner event on Tuesday, June 7^th.  For those of us who experienced 9/11 in front of a television screen, we remember the feeling of fear and the surge of patriotism that took place inside each of us.  Mr. Beamer will share how this tragedy changed the lives of his family and changed him forever.  This is a special evening with a great American.  Please bring your family members or friends to this special night.  RSVP online at:  http://www.fctpcommunity.org/events/a-special-evening-with-an
• Event:  Pete Hoekstra, former Congressman who served as Chairman of the House Committee on Education will be our guest at a luncheon on June 20^th.  His topic will be:  “Education Reform, A Novel Idea: Parents.”  Our education system is in shambles.  The educational futures of our children and grandchildren deserve to be in your hands and not in the hands of those who have distorted history in textbooks and who hate American traditions.  We promise this will be a hearty lunch at Maggiano’s and a hearty discussion with Pete Hoekstra. Bring anyone you know who has a special interest in reforming our educational system.  RSVP at:  http://www.fctpcommunity.org/events/luncheon-with-pete-hoekstra  
• Today:  ETHICS ALERT…  If you can be downtown at 1:30 in the City Council Chambers – please be there.  The City Council is chipping away at the Ethics Bill and making it worthless (shameful council members!).  They are afraid the committee will initiate complaints about their own.
• FUN:  A suggestion from Cord Byrd – one of our members.  “If you want to have some fun, call Congressman Corinne Brown’s DC office at [phone] and ask this question –
  • “Why does drug testing welfare recipients amount to an extreme and illegal invasion of personal privacy but the actions of TSA are not?” 
  • Post what the office says when you call.  You can post them at:  http://www.fctpcommunity.org/profiles/blog/show?id=4150782%3ABlogPo...

 

The Board will issue some important information soon.  In the meantime, get involved in the local tea party with some of the events noted above.  Join your neighborhood group too for more information about the future of the tea party.

 

2012 is coming and don’t think for a moment we are sitting this one out!  Not happening!

 

 

There may not be a whole lot of sunshine in the news – but we’ll tell you the truth – it isn’t over yet ‘cause Americans are the best of the best when it comes to surviving through tough times. 

 

Here’s some Sunshine for our fellow tea party members!  Thanks to Marcia for sending this Sunshine video today.  It was perfect to go along with this blog. Have a great day.  We’ll see you soon.

 

[amanda choate]

Isiro, my point is that the law implies that those who receive our tax dollars should good actors. I say that that thinking must apply to all who receive our dollars. IF you are saying the moral obligation is higher for someone who receives the check as welfare well that doesn't maek sense to me. Because we are saying that our hard earned money deserves to be used by good actors, not malingerers.
We are not saying that malinering is the moral hazard, but drug use. I agree, barely. But what I do agree with is that it is important to know that those monies are spent on good actors.

[FCTP]

I have a niece who is 21 years old and is a drug addict. She has been helped by her family for years and my brother is almost broke from doing all he can to assist her and help her with treatment etc.  She is not willing to help herself.  She and her friends have figured out how to work the system and they are smart at it.  She gets what she wants from government welfare and we know she is using the money for drugs.  We applaud these efforts because she will now have a hard time qualifying for welfare.  These kids know the system well and they know how to work it.  This is a good thing and I know from personal experience.

[Isirio Abelon]

Amanda, amen to that, but in the contrary, if you are a drug addict, there is a help, a help to strengthen your life not to depend on someone's money for the rest of your life. The welfare money is intended to someone who are in need until you get on your own two feet. WELFARE means, provision for the indigent, or unemployed. Caprice. Adios.

[tamara stephenson]

We could just legalize drugs, and all of this would be a moot point.

[J.R.]

Taxpayers should never have to support anyone's drug habit or malingering. If someone is on drugs, the chances of their getting a job are slim and none, or holding a job if they lucked up and got one. I had to pass a drug test and an FBI check to get my job, which I didn't have to worry about in the least. I can't see why a person would object to this unless they were drug users. If they made people on "welfare" pick up their checks, knowing they would be subject to random drug tests with no advance warning, you'd probably see the welfare roles drop. If they're not on drugs, what's the problem?
The fact is, having a dependent society promotes permanent progressivism that is consuming this country, for it guarantees a permanent voting bloc for progressives. Except in severe cases that can be documented as to inability to work or provide community service in order to receive taxpayers' money, there's no reason for anyone to be a career "welfare" recipient. Ronald Reagan had it right, the emphasis and impetus must be oriented toward putting people to work, not faciliting a permanent dependent class.

[amanda choate]

A dollar is a dollar. Somehow you place a higher burden upon the person receiving the dollar as a welfare check versus payment for some other means. The implication is this, if you are on welfare and using drugs, then drug use is the cause. I do not disagree. However, with that same logic applies to all.

[Isirio Abelon]

Welfare money is supposed to be a temporary support from the government until you get on your feet! not a support for your drug habit.  How can you ever get out from your mess if you can not take care of yourself. However; there is an alternative if you do not agree to be tested for drugs, then just simply deny any supports from the government!!!. I support Gov. Scott.

[John Harvel]

I think you should be tested for drugs before you post on this site. Tamara... if you can't pass a drug screen there's not much hope of getting a job or off welfare. Our failed war on drugs policies have nearly all places of employment drug testing. Test all or none? To bad they don't test for stupid.

 

On the other hand, testing welfare recipients will only raise the cost of welfare. What a novel idea... more government mandated bureaucratic involvement in peoples lives. We can go half way around the world and take out a weird beard but we can't take out a few drug cartels. War on drugs? Why is it always a compliance issue that costs the individual. Why in some blind politically correct fashion do we always address the wrong issue, using the wrong methods?

 

Isn't the issue Welfare?...  From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. 

 

It's Friday June 3, 2011 and we have spent almost $20 billion on the war on drugs this year. After four decades, We The People are still supporting the profiteers and bureaucrats who impose their will on the individual. Now, go have a double martini and ponder your fate.

[tamara stephenson]

It sounds to me like the state is punishing the poor for being poor. Punish the children of the poor for their parents' perceived misdeeds. No thanks. Drug test all or none.

[amanda choate]

If we are saying that you must be adjudicated innocent in order to sit on the couch all day, then so must all who feed from the public trough be so adjudicated. It is about a moral society. If you are using my money, then I expect your best effort, and that starts with being drug free. Direect or indirect, there should be moral equivalency. The dollar has no morals, only those to whom it are given are being demanded to prove their innocence.