Ideas and Concerns Voiced by Voters

Here are some of the ideas and concerns voiced by voters throughout Florida:

"When I enlisted into the United States Navy in 1971 posted benefits included free medical care for life for career military members. Over the years it seems that promise has disappeared, many benefits taken away and the cost pushed onto us for our service to this country continues to rise. At one time, retirees had free dental as well.

It is appalling that the Joint Chiefs fully support raises in TRICARE, possibly tripling existing costs to veterans. I guess their salaries support their decision. Though I do not agree with this ridiculous raise, at least I am situated where I can absorb the cost but there are many, many veterans who will suffer greatly because big government evidently don't care. The great state of Florida has a large population of retired veterans who will feel an enormous impact and I am sure some of that impact will be absorbed by the state, what can't be will impact the vet who can't afford needed care.

I am ashamed and gravely disappointed in this apparent disregard for veterans who dedicated the prime of their lives to support and defend this country."
   n D.T., in Orange Park

"Energy independence could be an avenue to securing our borders, we can create energy from farmland – and create security from American energy!"
   n D.B., in Gainesville

"Understand some college students struggles and inabilities to successfully complete their college degrees without enough financial help. I am in my fourth year of college, and was not able to receive financial aid for all years. Thus resulting in, me having to pay my own way throughout a lot of it." We must educate our children... and ensure a growing, diverse economy, which will lead to prosperity for all Americans." I agree with your words. WE NEED HELP. Some want to prosper, but don't exactly have the funding to do so."
   n C.B., in Wesley Chapel

" 1. Bring our troops home NOW.
Not one more American should die for Bush's greed.

2. Raise educational standards and help the teachers teach analytical thinking.

3. Restore the funds to our treasury that has been given the millionaires by this murdering crook.

4. Create a national health care system and dissolve the too-powerful leeches, the HMOs.

5. For God's sakes, stay clean and clear out the lobbyists.... don't let them write the laws."
   n A.B., Tampa

"Think about the poor and middleclass people who have paid for all the tax cuts for the very rich. Particularly services to the mentally ill have been cut to those who can't work or function without them. People who can't work because of a mental disability can't pay for the doctor and meds they need."
   n P.G., Gainesville

" Please support the Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act (H.R. 583/S. 424)

43 million Americans have doctor-diagnosed arthritis and 23 million have possible chronic joint symptoms.

300,000 children have a form of juvenile arthritis including juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and scleroderma.

9,500 Americans died due to arthritis in 2003.

Americans with rheumatoid arthritis die 5 to 10 years earlier than persons without arthritis.

Arthritis costs our country $86 billion annually; $51 billion in direct medical costs.

50% of Americans with rheumatoid arthritis are forced to stop working within 10 years of diagnosis.

Americans with rheumatoid arthritis face a significantly increased rate of cardiovascular disease.

These are a few of the hard facts about arthritis. Fortunately, there is increasing hope for Americans living with the daily pain and physical limitations associated with arthritis. The legislation proposes to strengthen arthritis public health initiatives, which would ensure that more people are diagnosed early and avoid pain and permanent disability. Research has shown that people who started disease modifying medications within the first year of their disease were less likely to experience disability than people who started treatment five years after the start of the disease.(8) While there are new medicines to treat arthritis, recent news stories about a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes associated with some therapies have shown that more effective and safe treatments must be found. The bill proposes to ensure that our limited federal funding for arthritis research is used in the most strategic manner possible. Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment are especially important for children with arthritis. Unfortunately with a severe shortage of pediatric rheumatologists, many families drive several hours to see a physician for treatment. The legislation authorizes a prevalence study of arthritis in children and helps ensure that there are more pediatric rheumatologists to treat them.

When you are elected to congress, please help the 66 million Americans living with arthritis by cosponsoring and supporting the Arthritis Prevention, Control, and Cure Act.

For more information about this legislation or other policy initiatives, please contact the Arthritis Foundation's Office of Health Policy and Advocacy at (202) 887-1700."
   n D.K.N., Gainesville

"Help protect north central Florida from big business interests that further degrade Florida habitats. Florida Rock intends to place a large sand mine near Johnson, FL not far from the Keuka mine that already exists in the area. Although certain technologies may exist to ameliorate the environmental impacts, mining generally causes negative impacts to ground water and habitat destruction. The sand hills of central Florida are a unique system, not unlike the dune and swale systems of the Great Lakes ecosystems, much of which have been destroyed by industrial interests along the southern shore of Lake Michigan.

Mining also caused disruption of the soundscape which disrupts the rural flavor of north central Florida. Please help stem the development of the Florida Rock mines, as they are a result of the explosive population growth and new building construction that Putnam and Alachua counties are currently experiencing. The real driver for all this industrial and residential growth is poor planning resulting from rapid and uncontrolled population growth."
   n J.M.

"Make a re-investment in high-quality, well-funded and well-rounded (get the arts back in there!!!!!) PUBLIC EDUCATION a priority. PLEASE. This is the most important thing we can do-- we have been paring down the educational system farther and farther, losing sight of the fact that well-rounded, confident and intelligent young people are the key to maintaining our American Innovation and leadership in worldwide industry, academia and social advancement. Including arts and music in public education, and encouraging teachers to use their creativity in encouraging the creativity of their students, is CRITICAL (CRITICAL!!!) in building a thinking, problem-solving, articulate and ABLE citizenry and workforce. These are the people who will develop the alternative energies that bring us out of dependence on oil-- and these are also the people who will value social service over personal gain. Corruption is a problem? Arts and music-- those things that teach us to relate to emotions and the spirit, to each other; that teach us to connect with, articulate, and understand higher sensibilities-- are the key to teaching values that will not tolerate corruption.

Thank you.

Good Luck! Help make Florida a Frontier State in the development of alternative energy!"
   n S., Jacksonville

"Push for solar grid tie-in systems. If every rooftop in America had a Photovoltaic (pv) system (electricity producing solar panels) producing energy that feeds into the existing grid system, we could eliminate the need for nuclear power all together and greatly reduce the need for coal at the power plants. I have lived totally off the grid for 22 years and am quite familiar with the pros and cons of such a situation. Did you know that the world-wide demand for solar panels right now is so strong that there is a minimum six month wait for them here, effectively stopping their installation? Is there any incentive what so ever for Americans to manufacture, let alone USE them? Only in a very few states. In Florida we have NASA which uses them, Disney uses them, billboard companies use them, even the government uses them on the highways. Why not the general public?

Even as the horse drawn carriage has moved to the shadows of the past, it is time for fossil fuels to do the same. By encouraging the use of renewables new fields of opportunity WILL open up. Why, for example, do we not have some sort of incentive to have solar water heaters &/or pv systems here in the "sunshine" state? For a moment we had an exemption from sales tax on alternative energy parts, but even that is now gone.

The financial institutions view pv systems and water heaters as not adding to the value of one's property. In fact, they do NOT really want to loan money for installing these things on a house, saying that these things, which are bolted to a roof and wired together, can easily be removed and hidden in the event of a "bank repossession", but they readily loan money on easily hidden/destroyed objects, like cars. How can we make THESE people see that it is an investment in our future?

Money controls our country and that's a fact, like it or not. (Even you are asking for money, no?) One of these systems costs an average of $15,000. How can we reward lenders and the public for installing pv systems on all new construction? We make them build buildings that can withstand higher wind speeds by strengthening the building codes. Could this be a starting point? How can we recapture the cost of private installation here in Florida? If it could increase the value of the property, it would be a no-brainer."
   n T.T., Ocala

"Stop the locals from allowing every bit of waste water that Gainesville produces from going down sinkholes. No water leaves Alachua County on the surface. All waste water is directed to a sinkhole. With the growth we are experiencing comes larger volumes and more polluted surface waters from year to year in Gainesville. This water is very dirty and this action is a crime and a health hazard. Surface waters need to stay on the surface soaking in the ground in the natural way to cleanse and purify before re-charging the aquifer."
   n G.C., Hawthorne