Florida Senator Thrasher Sells out GOP conservatives in bid for cabinet position in a potential Romney administration

According to  Paul Senft with the Republican National Committee From Florida  It appears that Florida's Republican Senator Thrasher has sold out conservatives in a bid to obtain a job with a potential Romney administration. 

Charlie Christ RINO at left and Thrasher right.
  We got rid of Christ now we have to get rid of Thrasher

According to the Fist Coast Tea Party:


Thrasher is the driving force and power broker behind Moving Florida's Presidential Primary To January 31, 2012


Background:   Florida's full allotment of delegates is: 99
If the state moves it's primary up  (Note: They did.) the RNC will penalize Florida and they will get only 48 delegates

With the total delegates available in the six or seven states that are attempting to go before Florida, there will only be 212 delegates available. With a normal distribution of delegates among the candidates it is probable that several candidates will have 75 or 80 delegates if they are in the lead. Florida would be in a position to really lock up the lead and momentum for a candidate if it voted to go March 1,2,3,4 or 5 and still had its full allotment of 99 delegates. There is no penalty provided in the RNC Rules for those five days. It would be possible, with the proper definition of proportionality for a candidate to get 60 to 80 of Florida's delegates and thus have a nice lead. (Again IF we were at full strength)

If, on the other hand, Florida goes as early as is being discussed (January 31), we will have little, if any, impact on the delegate count for any candidate. Further, we will be slapping the RNC in the face after they gave the convention to Florida and we have not given the new rules a chance to see if they work.

Moving the date will cut our delegation in half and diminish the voice of the people, us.  This is due to one man's grab at power and will silence the voice of the people, us.  


Comments below are from several members of First Coast Tea Party


"So Mr. Thrasher, in the guise of making FL more influential in the election, is actually doing the opposite.  The end result is that our voice will not count as much and the establishment candidate (this year's John McCain) will get the nod.

It is apparently too late for Florida Republican'st to reverse this decision.

 They have passed it and we have lost 1/2 of our delegates so Romney will have an advantage.  Please understand Romney is a business whiz, but if you think he will get rid of anything; think again.  He will not get rid of dept of ed, or epa or any of the rest of it, because he is an establishment candidate and folks of his ilk only just manage what the dems put in since they would love to have done it themselves but for the republican party platform!

Comment by Debbie
My observation; the recent upset of the establishment presidential candidates at P-5 has caused discontent in the GOP.  These establishment republicans were afraid of the power of grassroots voices if there were to be 99 at the RNC.  This way there will only be 48, which is not a great enough number to make an impact.  I also heard that Thrasher might have a place in a Romney cabinet.

Thrasher has apparently been promised a job by the Romney campaign in his cabinet and heaven knows if there is anything that will make someone turn on their electorite, it is a political favor in return for doing it.   Perhaps Romney wants the Florida voice quieted some and this will favor Romney mostly (and perhaps Romney is more concerned about Cain or Perry than he might care to admit since they both came in ahead of Romney in the straw poll).   William I udnerstand you need an explanation about losing delegates ahead of calling, but I got a call about this earlier to day, and called right afterwards and asked my caller to call Debbie.  The caller is a member of one of the republican groups and also said if Thrasher does this it will hurt Lennie Currie's reputation (don't know how, but that's the skinny).

Gary Indiana memories from the 1950's

Steel Mill and Smelter, Gary, Ind

Seal of the Great City of Gary Ind.

I didn't grow up in a steel mill town in the late 1950's and early 1960's but I visited one. My mother's family lived in Chicago so we drove over from Grand Rapids to Chicago about every 3 or 4 weeks. I always knew when we were getting close to Chicago because we'd pass through Gary, Indiana. The sky's were yellow and the air was full of sulfur and smelled like rotten eggs. I hated driving through that town. It smelled so bad I didn't belive human beings lived there. Today they don't. The air is crystal clear in Gary today. The steel smelters are gone as are the jobs and hope. It was the unions and environmental regulations that killed Gary. Too bad threre couldn't have been some compromise. You can see what Gary looks like today here. Gary Indiana Ghost-Town.

Iron Ore Freighter 

Wonders of Modern Dentistry and Where To Go For The Best Dental Service In The World

The Most Fascinating, Interesting, Comprehensive and Upbeat Article On Dentistry You'll Ever Read.

How important are teeth?  How important is your overall health to you?  How important are your looks?  Your teeth give your face it's shape.  Not just your pretty smile but the actual shape of your face.  From a purely superficial "good looks" stand point I'd say that's pretty important.
  

How important is being able to eat?.  Without your incisors you can't cut your food.  Without your cuspids you can't tear your food and then there are your premolars.  Without these you can't crush and tear your food.  You need both your cuspids and your premolars working together, cutting, tearing and crushing.  And last, but not least, the grand daddy of all teeth, the molars.  Without these guys you can't grind your food or open beer bottles. (Disregard the last comment I don't know what I was thinking.) 

                                       

Graphic from Evansville Pediatric Dentistry

This was the "state of the art" when I was a kid. (Note: I don't think the men in this picture are actually Dentists.  They look more like actors for the Ritter Dental Equipment Company, then again with those tie's they could be CIA or U.S. Navy C-130 pilots.) 

Co-incidentally a short history of the Ritter Company can be found here. )  The Knight Ritter company ceased to exist in 1997.

The photographs below are the last models of dental chairs and "Operatories" (As they say in the business.) that they produced.

The 1997 Knight Operatory 

The Last 1997 beige Knight Operatory

Knight Ritter was bought out  and became the MidMark company, an international medical and dental equipment company.  Their website can be found here.  Their latest models look like this.

I provide these photos so that the next time you go to your dentist you can determine how current his equipment is.

This one is my personal favorite.  I think the high intensity lamp looks like a "bot" from some science fiction movie.

When I was a young boy in the 1950's a trip to the dentist was a harrowing experience.  Expecially since my family dentist,  Dr. Paul Nelson, believed that young boys who needed novicane injections where sissys.  I think there may have been one or two occasions in my whole experience with Dr Nelson that he obliged me by giving me a shot and this was only in extreme cases when he knew he as going to drill into and expose the root nerve of the tooth.  Consequently, as an adult I've never required, asked for, or had Novocain or other pain medication when I've had dental work performed.  I amaze and confuse my doctors.

The use of the simple dental dam not
 only helps to keep the tooth being worked
 on dry it is also psychologically less stressful
 for the dentist to work in this environment.

Nicely Positioned Dental Dam.  Looks
 like this baby needs a crown. There is
 almost more amalgam than tooth.
  Not much holding this bad boy together.

Shock and Awe, Shucks

I am fascinated and awe'd at how seemingly effortlessly a good dentist today can go in and reconstruct a badly decayed tooth.  They really are like artists and believe me, your tongue is one of toughest critics out there.  When it's all over you instinctively run your tongue over the newly restored tooth searching for flaws.  For the most part this is usually an exercise in futility.  I have rarely been disappointed with the smoothness, contour or fit of a restored tooth.   I always try to imagine as I sit in the chair, tilted back like an astronaut about to take off in Challenger, what is going on in my mouth as the high speed super sonic drill is breaking away pieces of decayed tooth enamel.  I can almost see the drill as it approaches a nerve or skirts along the gum line spattering slavia, small pieces of tissue and blood.  Once the decay has been removed and the mouth and cavity cleaned, the dental team goes into high gear.  It may supprise you to learn that many dentist often spend time in advance of your appointment planning out their approach and the materials/compounds they will use on your proceedure    





 While the chair on the left does predate my own experience the basic design has not really changed all that much even to this day.  In 2011 my six year old can still identify this as a dental chair.

The basic hand tools, and I stress hand tools, of the trade have not changed all that much over the years.

Going to the dentist has been a lifelong experience that I have only come to appreciate in the last 10 or 15 years of my life.














Many people are not aware that dental hygiene in America was almost non-existent. until a campaign to teach dental care to soldiers was initiated by Union Doctors during the Civil War. The details of this campaign can be found in this excellent publication by the U.S. Army's Borden Institute Here.  

U.S. Army Civil War Field Dentisty

Many volunteers for service in the civil war were rejected because they did not have a sufficient number of teeth with which to chew their food. Civil war soldiers were required to have a minimum of four (4) opposing front teeth Given the Civil War soldiers diet of hard tack and tough salted beef or pork (jerkey) one can understand why.  If a soldier didn't have teeth he couldn't eat the food supplied by the Army.    Hungry soldiers don't make good fighters.  The complete history of dentistry in the U.S. Army can be found here.

Dispite the work of Army dentist in the Civil War oral hygeine didn't really take off  until the 1950's.  Most people didn't brush their teeth in America in the early and mid 1900's.  Brushing didn't really become wide spread in the United States until after WWII in the 1950's when massive numbers of returning veterans brought back their "habit" learned in the service of good dental hygiene.  And again, we have to credit the U.S. Army for this development.  And you thought it was Mom who was behind making you brush, but it was really good old dad. Thanks dad.  Thanks General Patton!


Current Information you can use.  The information I'm about to give you is going to save you thousands of dollars, open up your life to a new experience of exotic travel, if you don't already live in Asia, and best of all it's going to result in your having the most positive and rewarding oral hygenic experience of your life.


Although, one can still receive world class, state of the art dental care in the United States the cost has become prohibitively expensive.    For the last few years I have been having all my dental work done in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  The dentist and dental clinics in Chiang Mai are world class.  They all speak English and  many in fact have advanced degrees in variouis dental specialties from Universities in the United States and Europe.

Traveling to Thailand for Dental Care

The cost of a round trip ticket to Thailand from almost anywhere in the United States is less than $1,500.  That's about the same as the  cost of a root canal and a crown.  If you have a few cavities, need a cleaning, a root canal and a crown or two you can easily spend more than $4,000 or $5,000 in the USA for this work.  In Thailand you can get a root canal and a crown for about $600 or around 20,000 Thai Baht.


My advice,  Save your self some money, have a nice vacation and have your teeth put back into tip top shape all for less than staying home.  If you have children and they need dental work bring them to Thailand,  not to save money, although you will, but to give them the best dental care they can possibly get anywhere in the world from Dr. Nik Kantaputra


While there are many great dentists and clinics in Chiang Mai, my personal favorite is Dr.  Piranit Nik Kantaputra or just Dr. Nik.
Dr. Nik is a specialist in Pediatric Dentistry and also a world renowned lecturer on the subject of  Microcephalic Osteodysplasdtic Primordial Dwarfism and on Pediatric Dentistry. Here is a link to some of his publications.  Dr. Nik also runs a dental clinic in Chiang Mai called Dentaland which you can see here at Dentaland or here.  Dr. Nik has an advanced degree from the University of Minnesota and he is on the faculty at the University of Chiang Mai, Thailand  One final interesting point.  In the Thai language or, an approximate transliteration of it "Teeth" are called,  "Fun" and a Doctor is called a "Maw".   So you see they really do have maw fun over in Thailand. 

Dr. Nik always involves and keeps his young patients involved.  Note:  Dr. Nick offers his young patients there choice of very cool eye gear for the procedures.

Dr. Nick has an incredible talent with young people.  He has developed techniques and procedures which he teaches to other Dentist all over the world.

 If you appreciate the art of dentistry you might find the following additional links of interest.


History of Modern Dentistry

Going to the Dentist in the 1960's

Journal of Forensic Dentistry

Death at the hands of your dentist

1960's Crest Commercial

1960's Crest Commercial 2

1960's Crest Commercial using Asian actors.

Street Dentists

Chiang Mai Thailand Great Flood of September 29 2011

Taken on Sept 28th the day before the waters came

Taken Sept 29th the day the water came

Taken on Sept 28th the day before the waters came

Taken Sept 29th the day the waters came

Taken Sept 28th as the waters started to rise.  Look at the
following photo taken the next day.  Strangely
I captured the same white van.

Same Van following day with water much higher.  This time stuck in a sink hole

Novice Monk walking through the flood waters back to temple

Downtown Chiang Mai  Sept 29th 2011

Chiang Mai Police handing out food packages for flood victums

Chiang Mai Police handing out food packages for flood victums

Businesses and residence protecting shops 

Resident taking bottled water home

Some inhabitants break out the boats for transportation

Some inhabitants break out the boats for transportation

Some inhabitants break out the boats for transportation

Police and Emergency Rescue Personnel in Life Jackets

I believe this is the Governor or Mayor of Chiang Mai's house

Residential Street new the Ping River

Resident hoping the water won't get deeper

Novice Monks

Entrance to Buddhist Temple

Properties along the ping river

Flooded Street near the Ping River

Young boy in make shift boat

Teachers and Public Schools

The patina of sainthood I once allocated to school teachers was lost when I saw the modern day "union thug" school teachers rioting in Wisconsin earlier this year.

 Teachers as Thugs

It seems to me that teachers don't teach much anymore. Rather they dispense government propaganda on subjects ranging from Global Warming, Gay Rights and the rights of illegal immigrants and other "protected classes" to alleged genocide and environmental damage the United States has caused the world to suffer since this country was founded. They encourage students to report on their parents for anything from having legal weapons in the house to smoking tobacco. (I don't own weapons or smoke. But I have had 2 children in "government" schools and know first hand what's going on these days.) Teacher salaries, pensions and benefits are very nice by anyone's standard.

Teacher Salaries and Pensions

They certainly aren't in it for the kids these days. A 100,000 a year pension is very generous.

Did you know that as a parent you must affirmatively opt out of many government programs at public schools. I have in mind health testing here. If you don't state in writing that you do not wish to have your child tested for "eye exams and OTHER health services" your 12 year old daughter could receive abortion counseling and an abortion without your consent. Schools offer and provide a plethora of services today from breakfast, lunch and dinner food services to eye, dental and other "health services to various psychological services. All of these programs have noting to do with education.

Government does not create wealth. It confiscates it's citizens wealth and redistributes it. This stimulates nothin.