JD Alexander's Legacy

JD Alexander used his position as Florida Senate budget chairman to help his private businesses and enact revenge on the University of South Florida. Alexander's past legislative moves are still costing the Florida taxpayers.

Alexander attempted to move the USF College of Pharmacy to Lakeland. When that failed, Alexander cut 58 percent of the USF budget. Alexander then successfully made USF's Polytechnic school an independent university. The new school would not be accredited, students or a campus. Former State Sen. Paula Dockery summed it up best.

"So there's $10 million for USF students, then $22 million for Polytech, which right now doesn't have any students," Dockery said.

Alexander didn't care about these problems. A new university would forward plans for road construction for Alexander's plans to build a residential community. A nearby university would also increase Alexander's property values. This is nothing more than crony capitalism. TBO.com reports that the taypayers will have to pay for Alexander's real estate ambitions.

As the Tribune's Jerome Stockfisch reports, Florida Polytechnic University's trustees are asking for an additional $25 million this year, though it has about $109 million to get the university running by 2014. Most of that money was left by USF.

But now the trustees of the unaccredited school with no students say they need more for infrastructure, including landscaping, roads and furniture.

If this university does get off the ground; who wants to attend a school that offers a worthless degree?

Kevin Beckner USF College Democrats Meeting

The Kevin Beckner campaign will meet with the USF College Democrats. This event is to get college students involved with reelecting Beckner to his Hillsborough County Commission seat.

Side note: do not expect Beckner at the meeting.

Thursday, April 26, 2012 - Thu 26 Time: TBD USF College Democrats

Event Location: USF Campus - Fowler

Event Description: Campaign speaking to the USF College Democrats about being active in campaigns and volunteer opportunities.

Happy Earth Day

Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner has some tips on how to save energy and water.

* Switch to paperless billing and join the mail opt-out list to eliminate unsolicited mailings and reduce paper use. Visit the Federal Trade Commission website. * Leave reusable grocery bags in the car so they are handy when you go shopping and you can reduce the use of plastic bags. * Switch your ceiling fan direction to clockwise in the warmer months and counterclockwise in the cooler months to distribute the warm and cool air where it is needed and reduce your energy consumption. For more energy tips visit HERE.

Green options for you to consider:

* Installing a water-saving shower head * Converting to energy efficient light bulbs for your home * Recycling- set up curbside pick up * Making consumer choices that reduce waste * Volunteering to clean our beaches, roadways and parks

The USF Botanical Gardens will hold an Earth Day event today.

Happy Earth Day.

Polytechnic is About Crony Capitalism Redux

Brannon Jordan of the Florida Democratic Party released this statement on Gov. Rick Scott signing the split of the Polytechnic from USF.

Tallahassee, FL – Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman Brannon Jordan today issued the following statement condemning Gov. Rick Scott for signing a bill to create a Polytechnic University in Lakeland, a pet project of Sen. JD Alexander. “This move is nothing more than an appalling and wasteful power play by the Republicans in Tallahassee. The people of Florida didn’t ask for this university, they don’t need it and can’t afford it.”

Rep. Kathy Castor released this statement.

""Governor Scott's decision will harm existing Florida universities and students. The governor's costly decision follows the GOP-controlled legislature's extreme cuts to higher education and will result in more crowded classrooms and possible damage to Florida's reputation. Great universities are built over time with students, faculty and community support. Unfortunately, Governor Scott turned a blind eye to the best interests of our great states."

The Democratic establishment keep talking as if Scott and J.D. Alexander made Polytechnic independent for conservative education idealogy. This was about crony capitalism. Alexander gets a university he needed to justify building a major road that will increase the value of real estate owned by Blue Atlantic. Scott approved the Sunrail line that would run by warehouses owned by Blue Atlantic. Alexander has used the legislative process to enrich his family's company. Polytechnic was about crony capitalists using tax dollars to enrich themselves. Scott may complain about a government takeover of health care. Scott was forced to step down from Columbia/HCA because of the health care provider's massive overcharging of Medicare and Medicaid. Scott and Alexander aren't fiscally conservative when tax dollars are lining their pockets.

Polytechnic is About Crony Capitalism

Florida state Rep. Larry Ahern urged Gov. Rick Scott in a letter to veto making USF Polytechnic into an independent school.

Ahern, R-St. Petersburg, called the bill "a hasty attempt at pleasing special interests without consideration for the students attending USF Polytechnic." He asked Scott in a letter to "uphold the principles of limited government and sound fiscal policy" when making his decision about whether to sign or veto the bill.

For a governor that billed himself as a decisive leader, Scott has become the Hamlet of Tallahassee. Polytechnic would have no accreditation, students or buildings. The controversy surrounding Polytechnic makes it politically unwise for Scott to sign a new independent school, at a time when other state universities are facing budget cuts. The reason Scott hasn't vetoed the Polytechnic legislation is because Scott is a crony capitalist.

It is no secret that J.D. Alexander pushed for an independent Polytechnic school because it would increase the value of his Atlantic Blue property. A new independent university would mean a new road near 30,000 residential units Atlantic Blue plans to build.

Scott killed a federal rail project approved by the legislature and former Gov. Charlie Crist. Scott used a faulty report by the by the Reason Foundation to justify killing high-speed rail. Scott claimed that Florida would have to spend too much of its tax dollars. The federal government was set to give Florida $2.4 billion for the high-speed rail project. The rail line was projected to create 48,800 jobs, at a time of staggering unemployment in Florida.

Scott suddenly supported a rail line when J.D. Alexander pushed for the SunRail line. The reason Alexander wanted to SunRail line approved is because the rail's hub would go by frozen food warehouses owned by Alexander's family company Atantic Blue. The state would be financially responsible for any SunRail accidents caused on CSX lines. The first seven years of fares would not pay for SunRail. None of this is fiscally conservative. Scott approved it because the very fiber of his being screams crony capitalist. Scott desperately wants to approve Alexander's Polytechnic real estate scam. The only question is does Scott have enough political capital to get away with signing the Polytechnic legislation.

The Pakistan ATM Machine

I attended the Lara Logan lecture at USF tonight. I was in agreement with Logan that Pakistan is not ally to the United States. Logan is convinced that the ISI knew Osama bin Laden's whereabouts. Bin Laden wasn't hiding in a cave. He was in a comfy compound near a military academy. This is like Timothy McVeigh going into hiding near West Point.

I asked Logan why the United States, under the past two administration's, have giving money to the Pakistani government. The United States has become the ATM machine for a corrupt regime. Logan told me that was a good question. She has asked several government officials and they all told her that Pakistan has to be paid off because it is a nuclear power. Never mind that the Pakistan and Taliban run joint military operations against the U.S. military. Or that the Pakistan aid money is used to buy the Taliban IEDs and assaust rifles.

Logan said she doesn't buy any of the arguments for providing aid to the Pakistani government. Logan used the analogy that if this a dating relationship there would have been a break-up a long time ago. Logan pointed out the blame for staying in this dysfunctional relationship with Pakistan resides with policymakers with no understanding or real accountability with the lives of soldiers they sacrifice.

I also asked Logan why the Republican presidential candidates can only discuss Israel and Iran. Do they only have a map with two countries or are they too dense to know of other countries in crisis. I cited Syria and Sudan as two example.

Logan's description of the GOP candidates was hysterical. Logan described Mitt Romney as a member of "a cult." Logan mentioned that Rick Santorum used to bring a model fetus on the floor of the Senate. She said even Republicans don't want Gingrich.

Logan made a slight dig at bloggers earlier in the lecture. I mentioned that I was a blogger.

Logan: Your not living in your mother's basement.

Hussey: And I'm not wearing pajamas.

One young man made the mistake of getting on Logan's bad side with a WikiLeaks question and left the microphone with his tail between his legs. Logan feels strongly that WikiLeaks got an Afghan man killed.

I hope there is video of Logan's lecture. It was fantastic.

Update: Logan's hysterical account of meeting Michael

“It had about 13 hours of interviews over two days with a gazillion al-Qaida and Arabic names thrown in there, and lots of nuance and it was very, very intense,” she said. “So when I jumped on the plane and rushed down to see a Michael Bublé concert in San Jose, it was sort of surreal. I remember when Michael walked up to me and said … ‘I hope you’re going to do a good interview.’ I said, ‘Listen, the last person I interviewed was a FBI agent and I made that f----- cry.’”

Lara Logan Coming to USF

CBS News foreign correspondent Lara Logan will speak at the USF Marshall Center on April 3. The lecture is free. I would advise you to get there early to get a seat.

Logan has been one of the few journalists in American media to provide insights to the ugly side of war. This is a must see lecure.

University Lecture Series Presents Lara Logan
When: April 3, 2012 at 8:00 p.m.
Where: Marshall Student Center Ballroom, USF Tampa campus

The Atlantic Blue School of Polytechnic

"So there's $10 million for the USF students, then $22 million for Polytech, which right now doesn't have any students," Dockery said.

Sen. Paula Dockery's remark summed up the insanity of making a USF Polytechnic an independent university. The Florida House voted 86-31 to make Polytechnic independent. The Senate, where JD Alexander rules, as Budget Committee chair, voted 36-4. With the exception of the House and Senate members that voted against a bill that sole purpose was to increase the property values of Alexander's family-owned company Atlantic Blue. Alexander needs the university to justify the state building a toll road near his ranch.

The proposed 110-mile road stretches through the ranches, farms and swamps of inland Florida, from Collier County to I-4. In real estate, that's a good thing. Land prices typically skyrocket for property adjacent to newly built transportation facilities.

Nearly all of Blue Head Ranch, a massive piece of property controlled by one of Alexander's companies, lies directly in the path of the proposed roadway. The company, Atlantic Blue, plans 30,000 residential units and 11 million square feet of nonresidential development on 7,500 acres of the ranch, according to its website.

USF Student Sit-In Tomorrow

The Students for a Democratic Society will stage a sit-in on March 1. Students will meet at 12:00PM at Cooper Hall. The SDS is asking you to leave your classes at noon. I am not willing to go that far.

The SDS is protesting the 8 percent tuition hike appoved by the Florida House. The SDS and USF students have reason to be angry after JD Alexander tried to pass Draconian cuts. The Florida legislature has done little to properly fund K-12 and state university education. On the other hand, Florida tuition rates are still lower than many parts of the country.

I do encourage students to become politically engaged and discuss ways to make education better in Florida.

Update: There will be protests on state campuses across Florida. The part I like best is students will protest outside of Mike Haridopolos' office.

Students from the University of Florida will rally outside Senate President Mike Haridopolos's office on the UF campus, where he teaches a political science course. Florida State University and Florida A&M University students will march from their Tallahassee campuses to the Capitol. University of South Florida students will stage a walkout from classes then walk across campuses. Florida Atlantic University students and teachers will hold a joint teach-in. University of West Florida students will gather on the campuses' main lawn, and at the University of Central Florida, students will construct a "Wall of Debt" out of bricks representing individual students' loan burdens.

FLA Senate Vote on USF Polytechnic

A potential future fiscal and education disaster just happened because of the Florida Senate. The Senate voted 35 to 4 to make USF Polytechnic an independent school.

The Senate has approved Sen. JD Alexander's vision to immediately create the state's 12th university out of the University of South Florida's branch campus in Lakeland.

Alexander's plan short-cuts a plan already laid out by the Florida Board of Governors to allow USF Polytechnic to split off. The BOG voted in November to allow the campus to do that only after meeting certain benchmarks, including accreditation, increased enrollment and construction of several buildings on its new greenfield campus site in Lakeland.

I wonder if Alexander is going to ask if the school is named after him.

Polytechnic will lose its accreditation once it breaks off from USF. There is no guarantee that the new school will get its accreditation back... ever. The students at Polytechnic are against the split. The faculty is concerned about their future. No one would have proposed the split of Polytechnic from USF, if Alexander wasn't in the Senate. This is a horrible idea.

Rick Scott Doesn't Answer USF Cuts Question

WTSP News asked Gov. Rick Scott if he supports Sen. JD Alexander's proposed budget cuts. Scott blandly drones on without actually answering the question. Scott does say that he supports USF being forced to use its "surplus." It makes me realize that Scott doesn't even understand Alexander's proposal.

USF has $100 million in cash reserves. Alexander is attempting to take the reserve money away from USF, in order to balance the state budget. Scott is speaking, as if Alexander wants the reserve money to help fund USF. That could be further from the truth.

Scott tells Noah Pransky that USF Polytech should go through a Board of Governors rteview, before becoming a state university. Pransky takes this comment by Scott as support for USF.

SCOTT: I don't believe that any university should be harmed for the help of another university.

The sad fact is that Scott thinks that the Polytech school isn't part of USF. They are the same university system.

In the interview, Scott never actually says if he is for or against the USF cuts. Scott is a favor of going after the USF cash reserves. USF officials warn if they lose the reserves the university could wind up operating in debt. Scott is no friend of USF.

Alexander the (Less Than) Great

It has been a bad week for Florida state Sen. JD Alexander. That translate into a good week for Floridians.

Alexander is the Robert Byrd of the Florida Senate. Byrd was the king of pork spending. Byrd even tried to move the CIA to his home state of West Virginia. Byrd was able to use his position as chairman of the Appropriations Committee to pass his personal pet projects.

Like Byrd, Alexander attempted to take the Tampa-based USF's College of Pharmacy to Lakeland. It is no coincidence that Alexander's district covers Polk County. Alexander failed to be able to move the College of Pharmacy. Alexander used his position as chair of the Senate Budget Committee to strip all funding from the USF College of Pharmacy.

In November of last year, Alexander then made a move for the USF Lakeland-based USF Polytechnic. Alexander wanted USF Polytechnic to be independent from USF. Alexander didn't care that Polytechnic had no campus or would not have accreditation.

The bill doesn't address accreditation, but state Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, who supports the move, has said the new institution could get quick provisional accreditation.

A top accrediting official said there's no such thing.

"The lawmaker can make the campus independent, but it will not be accredited," said Belle Whellan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges Commission on Colleges.

"Until the (SACS) board approves them as an institution, they don't exist as far as we're concerned."

And that means it can't receive federal grants or student aid. Other universities wouldn't accept its credits.

Students at the Polytechnic school overwhelmingly do not want to be separated from USF. Last year, the Board of Governors voted to delay a decision to split the Polytechnic school from USF.

There are good reason the Polytechnic school and USF is against the split. Under the USF umbrella, Polytechnic has the resources of USF. As an independent school, Polytechnic would have less resources and prestige. Alexander cares about none of this. Alexander was defied by president Judy Genshaft. Alexander was going to legislatively enact revenge. Alexander cut 58 percent of USF's state funding. This was too much for even fellow Republicans to stomach. The Florida Senate killed Alexander's Draconian cuts.

The Senate budget committee has decided to drop controversial language that would have held back $25 million in funding for the University of South Florida until it handed over all the property of USF Polytechnic as part of an initiative to make the Lakeland campus independent.

The budget conforming bill containing the change (SPB 7100) would still create an independent Florida Polytechnic University, but the change seemed to largely soothe Tampa Bay area lawmakers who had sharply criticized withholding the money.

In other news: Alexander fought vigorously to make sure that there was no government oversight of the Senate private prison bills. Alexander claimed that private prisons would save the state money. There would be no way of finding that out since Alexander co-sponsored a bill that would make private prisons exempt from state financial review.

The good news is prison privatization is dead.

After three hours of often-emotional debate Tuesday, the Florida Senate slapped down a controversial plan to put a private company in charge of 14,500 prisoners in South Florida, killing a proposal that potentially meant millions of dollars for the Boca Raton-based Geo Group.

The plan, a top priority of Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, would have privatized 28 prisons and work camps in South Florida. But though it had the clout of the legislative leaders behind it, it divided the Senate and a final vote was delayed for more than a week while both sides wrangled votes.

The proposal split the Senate, which voted 19-21 on the measure, SB 2038.

Gary Siplin was the tiebreaker. I'm speechless. Siplin is not known for doing the right thing. Ever.

Update Alexander is now going after the USF cash reserves. Alexander got hammered at the hearing by fellow senators Jim Norman and Gwen Margolis. Alexander really went over the line when Norman is the voice of reason

A Senate budget hearing is taking place over the next two days, and Wednesday, Senator JD Alexander went round and round with other senators.

Jim Norman, from Hillsborough County fought against Alexander saying, "This acceleration is on the backs of these students who are in college and I am, you don't bargain futures like this, even in this appropriations process," Norman said.

But Alexander instantly responded, "That's not a factual statement. It's being made to inflame folks in an attempt to protect what I believe is an indefensible policy of maintaining too high of a cash balance in universities."

Senator Gwen Margolis, from South Florida told Alexander, "This is probably the worst message you can send to university presidents. Just spend your money, cause they're going to take it away if you don't."

The cash reserves are rainy day funds. If there is an emergency, USF will need that money. Alexander is losing face with this petty feud with USF. He had to back off his original cuts. Now he is going after reserve money. Alexander has literally lost his mind. The Senate freed up $25 million for USF. The university is still facing a dramatic shortfall.

SlutWalk

The title may throw some people off. What feminist organizers of Slutwalk are trying to do is stop having women being accused "of asking for it" when they are sexually assaulted. The goal of the event is the raise awareness of the dangers of sexual assault.

SlutWalk is coming to NYC!

SlutWalk first began in Toronto, where on January 24th 2011, a representative of the Toronto Police gave shocking insight into the Force's view of sexual assault by stating: women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized".

As the city's major protective service, the Toronto Police have perpetuated the myth and stereotype of 'the slut', and in doing so have failed us. With sexual assault already a significantly under-reported crime, survivors have now been given less of a reason to go to the Police, for fear that they could be blamed. Being assaulted isn't about what you wear; it's not even about sex; but using a pejorative term to rationalize inexcusable behaviour creates an environment in which it's okay to blame the victim.

Last year seven women reported being sexually assaulted at the University of South Florida. Only two of two reported cases resulted in arrests.

In August, a freshman said she was raped after a party by two men who took the sleepy woman back to her room. Afterward, she ran for help, and police searched her room for evidence. She gave them the names of the men she said attacked her, and police collected their DNA.

But prosecutors said proving a lack of consent beyond a reasonable doubt would be difficult.

It doesn't matter if the young women ran from the men. She may have "asked" for sex.

Prosecutors didn't want to handle the USF cases because the women knew the men. The fact is women are more likely to be raped by someone they know. The legality is difficult and there is the possibility that a mentally unstable woman could accuse an innocent man. However, the lack of prosecutions are going to make sexually assaulted USF students less likely to go to law enforcement. What woman would want to be accused of asking to be sexually assaulted and watching the perpetrator go free.

SlutWalk will be held on August 20th between 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. A location has in New York City has yet to be named. Contact slutwalknyc@gmail.com for more information.

Pam Iorio At USF to Speak About Light Rail

Mayor Pam Iorio will be the keynote speaker at the “University Area Transportation Summit.” Jim Davis will also be a speaker. The event will be held at USF and is hosted by Moving Hillsborough Forward. Check out the USF web site for more information.

Where: University of South Florida
Galleria at the University Research Park building,
3720 Spectrum Blvd.

When: Wednesday, July 14,
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m

Gunman At USF

There is a report of a gunman on the University of South Florida Tampa campus. An alert has been sent out and all buildings have been advised to lock their doors. The gunman has been reported near the location of the Science Center and Bio-Science buildings. Do not go near those areas.

Update: The Associated Press confirms the gunman is by the Bio-Science building. Student and facilty is advised to keep all doors locked.

Update: the USF homepage posted this message.

USF Tampa—Reports of a gunman on campus in lot 2 near Bioscience building, which is adjacent to Administration building. Tampa Police Department and USF Police Department investigating. Stay inside and lock doors. Avoid area. We will update as details become available.

USF hasn't updated their homepage. Apparently, things are back to normal on campus.

News crews are now on campus interviewing students.

ADSmithNRA tweeted this message.

If students could be armed then wouldn't be problem!

Is this guy doing a Marco Rubio impression? The Virginia Tech shooting happened because a nutty student brought guns on campus.

The massacre prompted rapid changes in Virginia law that had allowed Cho, an individual adjudicated as mentally unsound, to purchase handguns without detection by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). It also led to passage of the first major federal gun control measure in more than 13 years, a law that strengthened the NICS, which was signed by President George W. Bush on January 5, 2008.

The NRA has been against any forms of background checks. I am more to the center than most progressives on gun control. I don't want an alcoholic behind the wheel of an automobile. I don't want a person as mentally unbalanced as Seung-Hui Cho owning a gun. Why does the NRA want to make it easier for nut cases to own guns?

Update: The lockdown is over. I have been on campus and there was never a sense of panic. I have not heard if the gunman has been arrested.

Update: this is coming from the Fox News web site. Take it with a grain of salt.

DEVELOPING: A reported gunman on the loose at the University of South Florida may be targeting his girlfriend who works in the campus library, according to WTVT.

Update: Ann Curry, of MSNBC, reports the gunman called campus police and gave his location. No arrest has been made. Curry tweets nothing about the alleged gunman targeting a girlfriend. This may have been a prank call. I walked by the Bio-Science building near the Bio-Science building when the alarm went off. I saw a two police cruisers but nothing unusual.

USF Diabetes Research

Jim Johnson is asking people to become a supporter to USF diabetes research. You don't have to donate money. All you have to do is sign the petition. The goal of the petition is to raise awareness about diabetes and USF's research program.

Jim is asking people to forward the petition and help raise awareness. The goal is getting "friends" for USF's research program. The petition's purpose isn't for fundraising. So sign the petion.

Another Buddy Johnson Screw Up

Photo by the Miami Herald

Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink put her foot down and got Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson to deliver more voting booths to the USF voting precinct.

"He said he's going to send more booths out there,'' Sink said after her phone call with Johnson. "But he said there's a space issue" and the university is going to have to expand the amount of space being used for student voting. Sink, a Democrat who has spent Tuesday working with the Obama campaign, said the Obama campaign will work with university officials to get the issue addressed quickly.

Student were waiting inline 2 to 3 hours to vote. That is inexcusable. Voters, please vote for Phyllis Busansky and Buddy Johnson packing.

Joe Biden in Tampa

Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden was at the University of South Florida yesterday. Biden quoted Sen. Bob Casey, "You can't call yourself a maverick when all you've ever been is a sidekick."

Biden scored the first three presidential and VP debate as wins.

"If this was a best-of-five series it be over."

The Obama campaign has been counter-attacking the negative McCain ads and talking points. "I guess when you vote with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, your best hope is to attack your opponent 100 percent of the time," Biden told the crowd. The McCain attacks are turning people off.

Tim Sloan attended the Biden rally wearing a shirt that said "Bush's last day, the end of an error." He lauded Biden for pushing back against the McCain attacks.

"McCain said he wouldn't run a campaign like this," Sloan said. "Even in his ads, it's all about the negatives of Obama instead of what he would do."

John McCain has failed to give voters a reason to vote for him. The McCain campaign message is don't vote for Obama because he is an unpatriotic terrorist-loving Muslim. McCain supporters have been shouting "treason," "terrorist" and "kill him" when Obama is mentioned at McCain/Palin rallies. The Minutemen and Little Green Footballs readers aren't enough to get McCain into the White House.

Change We Need Voter Registration Event

Forest Whitaker is coming to the University of South Florida. Academy award-winning actor is stumping for Barack Obama and getting students registered to vote. The event is hosted by University of South Florida For Barack Obama.

Change We Need Voter Registration Event

Time and Place
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2008
Time: 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: USF Public Health Auditorium
Street: 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd
City/Town: Tampa, FL

Contact Info
Phone: 8138575704
Email: cfreundlich@floridaforchange.com

Bible Research Center Behind USF Student Harassment

"We don't preach a feel good message. We preach a feel bad message."

Larry Keffer

Just as I suspected: the street preachers behind the sexist harassment of a USF student is the Bible Research Center. What they specialize in is starting altercations with the public and police. They then place their skewedly edited videos on Youtube, portraying themselves as innocent bystanders. An easy way to spot them around Tampa is they carry a sign about 20 feet high. They have been cited for noise violation for using megaphones. There is this caption from a video of the preachers being cited in Ybor City.

So, I begin to preachbut no one is checking my decibles. (their spelling)

I didn't lower the volume.

When the preacher returned from being cited, he informed the other preacher that he told the officers he would turn down the volume if he "could see the decibel meter." They do to make themselves feel like little martyrs. What they fail to mention is they have been cited by noise violations for years. Businesses and patrons have complained. The officer knows they are playing a game every time they ask to see the decibel meter. The officer angry because he is tired of playing this charade with the preachers.



Street preacher Larry Keffer attempted to get a gay man arrested. He then verbally attacked the female officer on his megaphone after she didn't arrest the man. Keffer refered to the gay man as a she in a caption.

She said, "He wins."

Keffer got into a well-publicized run-in with strip clubowner/political activist Joe Redner at Mons Venus. Redner attacked the preachers with bullhorns after they refused to turn down the volume. The preachers called dancers "whores" and patrons "masturbators." On the public access show the Bleeping Truth Keffer bragged coming back to Mons Venue with louder equipment.

I'm amazed that he says we came to an understanding and lowered our volume. Actually, after his litte air horn debacle, I actually went out and bought a larger megaphone. One that had a hands free, so I could have a headset. And it was actually much loader. So, and we we're louder.

Keffer and his crew are breaking the law. The reason they haven't been arrested is because law enforcement doesn't want to deal with the controversy of arresting members of a Christian group. There are many bar strips and adult establishments. The Bible Research Center goes to the Mons Venus and Ybor City because they know they will receive media attention.

Keffer admitted calling women whores at Mons Venus. Fellow evangelist John M. Kranert called a USF student a "whore" and "prostitute." The BRC come on the USF every few weeks and verbally attack women regularly. They feel they can get away with harassment because of the First Amendment have an attched to video equipment stronger than Linus to his blanket. If anyone attempts to stand up to them they post the heavily-edited incident on Youtube and ask the police to arrest the person. These people are sick.