Maureen Rupe is probably best described as a citizen volunteer and activist. She serves on many boards including a hospital board in Brevard County. She is also an self-described avowed socialist and we disagree with her on almost everything.
During the County Commission meeting on January 22, 2019 concerning the dissolution of the Children’s Services Council (CSC,) Commissioner Bryan Lober said that he had gotten many emails and phone called that were largely in favor of voting to dissolve the CSC.
Please find below records from my cell that may pertain, even if only in part, to the CSC. The records may well be overly inclusive as I do not recall the nature of each and every call. Again, these are from my cell phone. I will request that [District 2 Administrative Assistant] Kika check the call log, in the office, to see if it is notated which particular calls pertained to the CSC. It is unlikely that all calls pertaining to the CSC were notated as quite a few were in favor of dissolution without any particularly noteworthy or unique commentary.
Rupe responded with an email to County Attorney Eden Bentley: (more…)
For some reason this just made us laugh. Someone actually counted the number of missed shots by stormtroopers in the escape sequences from the Death Star in the original Star Wars film, which is Star Wars IV, which is Star Wars “A New Hope.”
We have to admire their tenacity though. We can only imaging huddling over a video screen counting shots, verifying the, “was that one or two?” etc.
Stormtroopers are the intimidating enforcers of the Empire. When Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO came to the Death Star and rescued Princess Leia, these armored soldiers were quickly dispatched to stop their escape. Find out how many times stormtroopers fired blaster shots as the rebels looked to flee the battle station!
Still, watching all of the scenes did remind of all the fun we had watching the original Star Wars in the theater, how good it was, and how it has withstood the test of time.
Democrats and the mainstream media were willing to throw away “due process” in order to believe all women during the Kavanaugh hearing, but have a much different attitude regarding the Fairfax accusations.
The Democrats have a real issue with their attacks against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh by a woman “must be believed” and then saying in Virginia and Minnesota, “nothing to see here, move along…” and basically accuse the alleged victims of lying without any investigation.
However, to be fair, both parties play the same game. When it is the “other party,” you attack. When it is “your party,” you defend, hide and obfuscate. (more…)
a slip of the tongue that is motivated by and reveals some unconscious aspect of the mind
Wikipedia says:
A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of thought. The concept is part of classical psychoanalysis. Classical examples involve slips of the tongue, but psychoanalytic theory also embraces misreadings, mishearings, temporary forgettings, and the mislaying and losing of objects.
The reason we are talking about this is that during the comments on the Waste Management contract at the Palm Bay City Council meeting of February 7, 2019, Councilman Santiago makes this statement which can be found on page 5 of our transcript: (more…)
Yesterday we posted our concerns and conclusions in comparing and contrasting two petition drives to get items on the ballot in two Brevard County cities – Cocoa Beach and Palm Bay. The end results were not the only things that were different as the answers the two petition groups got from and continue to get from elected officials and the staff of cities and government entities were different.
Today we want to start examining the Waste Management contract proposal that was discussed in Palm Bay at the City Council meeting of February 7, 2020. We had looked at the issues in a post called “Okay, Who Has the Naked Pictures?,” but we want to consider the comments from the dais – from the five Council members including the Mayor.
To refresh your memories, here is what we said the other day:
The first is Agenda item New Business – 9 (NB-9) which is:
Consideration of 90-day negotiation period of Solid Waste and Recyclable Materials Collection and Disposable agreement with Waste Management, Inc.
But there is more to it than that as provided by the item cover memo: (more…)
UPDATE: We have Updated this post with a note at the bottom reflecting a comment from one of the Palm Bay petition organizers.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Our plans for this post and a post on the Waste Management contract in Palm Bay changed dramatically as we started putting them together and started writing them. We believe that the petitions and the Waste Management contract have a common theme – a common story line that runs through them. We will discuss that track in detail. However, this story – the story of two citizens groups in two Brevard County cities – has many twists and turns. It is not a story with one conclusion or one central point. It is a story that has many tracks and destinations, none of which we can answer because ultimately, none of the tracks have a satisfactory conclusion and all tracks leave more unanswered questions. Sit back, take a sip of your coffee and marvel at what is going to be a bumpy ride.
A group of citizens in Palm Bay and Cocoa Beach each had the same desire, but different concerns. Both wanted to put a question on their local ballot this past November. As the respective City Commission and Council would not support the changes, the citizens went the route of collecting signatures on petitions to have their items placed on the ballot.
The Cocoa Beach group wanted to put a referendum on the ballot limiting the height of buildings in the City and strengthening the regulations which citizens had previously approved and were now under attack by four members of the City Commission as well as influential outside interests of real estate agents, hoteliers, and builders.
The Palm Bay group wanted to roll back or restore the language in the City Charter concerning the ability of the City Council to use “special assessments” that voters had changed in 2016. It was felt and argued by many that voters were deceived in 2016 as to the amounts the City Council would tax people in order to build roads in their area. Often times, these were roads that had been promised to the residents before and never built and the tax assessments were in some cases, more than the value of the land itself. People were angry, upset and felt betrayed by members of the City Council and the solution in the group’s mind was to roll the wording of the City Charter back. (more…)
Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.
