Your report confirms something I've been saying for a long time: We have the finest government money can buy. And it's not just on the state level either. The worst part is that the public is duped into believing that their vote is important. Politicians are not in office to do the bidding of the voting public. They are there to serve corporations and special interests who pay for their campaigns, vacations, hunting trips and anything else they want.
Lobbyists will stop at nothing to engineer the legislation their clients desire, even abandoning their own principals for the almighty buck. Perhaps we should be voting for lobbyists instead of politicians. At least we would stand a chance of reaching our so-called leaders.
-- Bob Dalzell, St. Petersburg
Giving away our power
Re: MoneyWorld.
You knocked my socks off. Your investigative feature on lobbyists is one of the best (if not the best) feature I have read in 29 years as a subscriber. To hold my interest as it did is strong praise from me, because for 15 years as a citizen advocate, I have been doing battle with and against (90 percent against) many of those same influential powerhouse lobbyists that you detail and portray so well in this report.
Due to my experiences and knowledge, I generally give short shrift to the usual commentary written about who influences whom and why certain legislation is passed, because to those who truly know what, how and why things go on in the halls of capitols, it is frequently time wasted to read about what not only continues unabated, but is constanting growing to a catastrophic result: The total exclusion of the citizen as a consideration in their government's actions. And the simple truth is, the overwhelming majority of citizens just don't give a damn.
Therein lies the true constant of why "the people" do not control their own governmental destiny. By being apathetic, by not voting, by not staying informed and participating, they automatically give the power to those we criticize for greedily taking what those citizens so freely give. Can you blame the lobbyists?
Perhaps this in-depth, well written and educational report will help wake up some of the population of dummies who are the reality of why this happens, especially in this very important election year. One can only hope.
-- Ernie Bach, Largo
Why do we vote?
Re: MoneyWorld.
I don't think I have ever been as sickened by an article as this one. Why do we, as citizens, bother to vote for our so-called representatives if all they do is the bidding of the lobbyists? We, the citizens, are no more represented than the people in some Third World country. It is all wrapped up in a pretty package so we think we have government "by the people, for the people."
-- S. Mattox, Dunedin
Insurance not the villain
Re: Workers' comp is dying at the hands of the Florida Legislature, by Martin Dyckman, March 7.
Once again, insurance is unfairly attacked by a columnist. Martin Dyckman was irresponsible for not attacking the employee leasing company's apparent intent to leave Charles Jones to pay for thousands of dollars in medical bills and future lost wages caused by his job-related injuries.
Dyckman's column lets the employee leasing company off the hook with a slap on the wrist, so he can attack the Legislature and fault the workers' comp insurance carrier, Unisource Administrators of Sarasota, who wasn't even involved in the failings of Jones' employers.
The employee leasing industry is infamous for so-called "losing paperwork" to avoid paying for employees workers' comp insurance. This is a story that needs to be told. If Dyckman had decided to take Jones' case to expose the underhanded practices of leasing companies to make a profit, while exposing employees to harm, then it would have been a public service.
Instead, the column uses Jones' accident to set the stage for attacking workers' comp reforms, which is unfortunate. Even worse, Dyckman uses Jones' case in an attempt to create sympathy for trial lawyers who have made millions of dollars off of the Florida workers' compensation system.
It was hard for me to determine which person Dyckman felt sorry for - Jones, who was wrongly injured, or Leslie Riviere, a plaintiff's lawyer who complained she now has to find other ways to earn a living because of the workers' comp reforms passed last year.
Stories like Dyckman's fan the flames of false impressions against insurance companies in Florida. We invite Dyckman to call us to get the facts straight and learn the other side of the story. If not, then we will be sure to offer our viewpoint in the future.
Please visit Florida Insurance Council's Web site for more information: www.flains.org.Guy Marvin, president, Florida Insurance Council, Tallahassee
-- The point of Jesus' death
Re: The Passion of the Christ.
Last Sunday, two columns, one by Charles Krauthammer and the other by Roy Peter Clark, expressed concerns that the telling of the story of the Passion of Jesus, as described in the Gospels, was hurtful and insensitive to Jewish people. Clark stated his preference that Jesus be described as a teacher of the spirit of the Jewish law, beyond its letter, and Krauthammer stated that Mel Gibson's movie took gratuitous liberties to make Jews look as responsible as possible for Christ's death.
But neither of these approaches reflects the reality, as described in the New Testament and prophesied by Isaiah in the Old Testament, that the suffering and death of Jesus was the very act that would enable the possibility that any person could be forgiven by God, and therefore was a great victory, much less a crime or even a tragedy. In God's eyes, the instrument bringing death to Jesus was incidental. Jesus submitted himself to death because God the Father wanted a perfect sacrifice to be made available for those who accept it to cover the punishment of their sins. Jesus would not have died had it not been consistent with the Father's loving will for all mankind. And, of course, Scripture goes on to state that Jesus was resurrected about three days later, proving his deity and giving Christians a hope that he lives today to guide them and bring them to heaven.
Jews have indeed been wrongly blamed throughout history as bearing a special responsibility for Jesus' death. Those who assign such blame do so at their own peril, as God tells Abraham in the book of Genesis that he will "bless them that bless thee, and curseth him that curseth thee." We should not ask "who was responsible for Jesus' death?" but rather allow God to ask us, "How are you going to respond to it?" Our response will determine whether we will be granted forgiveness of our sins as a gift from God, and therefore also our eternal destiny.
-- Andrew D. Smith, St. Petersburg
Valuable commentaries
Re: Times' coverage of The Passion of the Christ.
We want to express our appreciation for the way in which the Times has opened its pages to articles by scholars and commentators who have forthrightly addressed the problematic aspects of Mel Gibson's cinematic treatment of the Passion.
It would be inappropriate for the Jewish community to comment on how the Christian world should understand its faith or its history. But it is not inappropriate for the Christian world to acknowledge that the manner in which that understanding has been expressed over the centuries has had profound - and often tragic - impact on the Jewish community.
We believe that the articles you have featured by Christian scholars and other commentators have rendered a significant public service to both communities by highlighting that tragic history and warning of the possible consequences of reviving it. For this service we believe that both communities owe you a vote of thanks.
-- Dr. Bruce Epstein, Barry Augenbraun, Pinellas co-chairs; Jack Ross, Hillsborough chair, Tampa Bay Jewish Community Relations Council
An American hero
That was a beautifully written report on Stetson Kennedy by Diane Roberts (The Ballad of Stetson Kennedy, March 7). He's a genuine American hero of the best, modest type at a time in our history when his life must have been in constant danger.
Roberts writes about it so well, as she usually writes, and she should turn it into a book. Those violent desegregation days are fast being forgotten under the pressure of events since then. That was our second Civil War, though smaller in scale.
-- W.H. Riddell, Tampa
[Last modified March 14, 2004, 01:05:29]
