What Is Next for The North Central Florida Tea Party?

We had two men take their time last week to come to our tea party meeting and speak on topics that will affect us, our children and grandchildren in the near future if we don’t get the word out.  Both men, for different reasons should have been home with their families.  We really appreciate them taking their time to come out.  I will address what they each spoke about, and what we can do about it, in a separate article.  We  did not have a good turnout and it is always disappointing when we work so hard to get the speakers, set up the meeting, etc. and then have such a few people appear to be interested enough to spend a few hours learning about something that they can then pass on to other people!
We know that everyone cannot come out each time.  We have a huge email list and when over 150 people open an email newsletter and then we get the information out in the local newspapers, radio, etc., it is disheartening to say the least when we only have about 30 people come out.  Don’t get me wrong: I very much appreciate everyone who comes out – many are doing many other things to help get the message out to others, and that is great too.
If you listen to the news networks you know that the tea party and other like-minded groups are making a difference. We are usually mentioned in the context of standing in the way of something they want to do.  We stand for constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, and most important, the preservation of our inalienable rights!   Don’t you think we should be standing in the way of anyone who doesn’t want to follow those principles?  We can continue to have this influence and even grow it…but we have to show that we have strong local groups who are ready to speak out on the issues that are affecting us.
If you are already a member of a tea party group, make a special effort to attend the meetings and make phone calls, etc. on the issues when you are asked to do so.  Remember that just because the Republicans now control the Senate, we CANNOT go back to sleep and expect that they will do the right thing!  All of our elected representatives need to hear from us on a regular basis so they know what we expect them to do!  
If you have any ideas/suggestions for our group, please email us at info@northcentralflorida912project.org.  Be prepared to help out with whatever you suggest!
Second request for input into having a Christmas Party/Planning Session on Thursday, December 11th.  We would furnish the coffee/tea, etc. and everyone can bring a dessert or other snack.  We can even plan on a pot-luck if there is enough interest but we need to know quickly.  Please email the info@ address or call Sharon at 386-935-0821 to let us know if you are interested and can attend.

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ELECTRIC BILLS RISING IN THE FUTURE - What is the Reason?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a “rule change”, which, if implemented will make drastic changes in the way that Florida electric companies are able to furnish electricity to their consumers. 
If you are a member of an electric co-op in this area, you receive your electricity through Seminole Electric.  The local co-ops strive to provide affordable, reliable electricity to their members.  75% of your bill is fuel costs.  In response to another government rule in 1978 Seminole Electric spent $530 million to build a state of the art coal plant (that government rule restricted power plants from using oil or natural gas); Seminole’s coal fired plant came on line in 1984, the Act was repealed in 1987.  Six years ago Seminole made $230 million in improvements to this power plant.  It is now one of the top six cleanest coal plants in the world.  Now, if this proposed “Clean Power Plan” is finalized, all this money will be down the drain and Seminole Electric will have to build or purchase new power generation to replace the electricity produced from its coal fired power plant.  This will cause major increases in our electric bills.  This could be the same scenario for other Florida utilities that own and operate coal fired power plants. 
If you are concerned about this and are a co-op member go to www.action.coop and send in your comments to the EPA.  If you are not a co-op member and still want to comment, go to www.tellEPA.com  Postcards are available in the Co-op offices for members.  The comment period ends on December 1st.   At the end of this bewsketter I am going to list the contact information for our U.S. representative and Senators.  Please contact them as well and let them know what you think about this over-reach by a government agency!

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Free Trade Agreements - Good For America?

Are you familiar with the so-called Free Trade Agreements that the U.S. has been approving, especially since the 1990’s?  If so, have the promises of prosperity and jobs for Americans come true?  After NAFTA went into effect in 1994, one million American jobs were lost in manufacturing!  Other trade agreements have followed with more and more job losses.  Go visit the areas in our country that used to be booming manufacturing cities with all the affiliated businesses and see what they look like today! 
There are several Trade Agreements that could be voted on by the lame duck Congress in the next month.  Contact your Senators and Representative and tell them “do not vote for these Trade Agreements”!  For more information on this, go to “Choose Freedom-STOP FREE TRADE AGENDA” action page on www.jbs.org.

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Lame Duck Congress to pass Spending Bill?

Are you happy with what the President is doing with Immigration?  Congress will be in “lame duck” session during December and will pass some kind of spending bill.  We are asking that you contact your Representative and Senators and tell them to pass a short-term spending bill.  This will allow the new congress to deal with the issue when they are seated in January.  If they pass a long term spending bill, it will run to September 30, 2015 and will be hard to make any changes to it in order to curtail any spending on Obamacare or Immigration.

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