Parental rights? Insurance woes; IRS, hit men; Trump; abortion; political kooks; robocalls

Imagine your child had diagnosis, but you couldn't treat it

I would like to ask all parents to consider how they would feel if their child had been diagnosed by a medical professional with a condition that required treatment, but a political agenda prevented them from obtaining the care their child needs. Further, without the prescribed treatment, their child could die.

This is what is happening now to parents of transgender adolescents and teens in our country. They, in consultation with their child’s pediatricians, may have determined a course of treatment to relieve the devastating symptoms of gender dysphoria their child is suffering, but are being prevented from treating it due to elected officials who have no qualifications to make such determinations. The result is skyrocketing rates of suicide in the LBGTQ community.

Instead of jumping on the “anti-woke” bandwagon, think how you would feel if your child were to commit suicide.

Gender identity is not a choice, it is a realization of who this person truly is and we all should respect that. Transgender people do not pose a threat to others by simply being themselves. There is no harm to society by allowing these young people to be themselves.

There is great harm to society by hatemongers waging war on children and families in the name of politics. By the way, “woke” is not a pejorative word. It simply means being aware of the history of persecution of innocent people in our country. We should be aware of history and repel the persecution going on today.

Rachel Scott, Stuart

Blame lawyers for insurance woes? LOL

I have spent months reading and hearing that lawyers are the reason insurance rates are at fault.

I spent 55 years as a trial lawyer and will say in most instances, it's the carriers' own fault because, 90% of the time, a lawyer would not be involved if the carrier did the right thing.

Some examples:

1. A client had a slate roof damaged by a severe storm with many slates lost. The insurance company offered $13,500 when the estimate from a slate roofing expert was $33,000. The company's "expert" was 125 miles away, but he wouldn't take the job. A lawsuit followed and was settled for $38,000.

2. A client had a small kitchen fire with smoke damage. He had stained woodwork and the company would not pay for new wood that was blistered and burned, but wanted just to re-stain it along with the stained doors on the cabinets. It would have looked like a patchwork quilt. A lawsuit followed and was settled two years later for the estimate gotten by homeowner.

3. New home construction: A homeowner and family of four was on the second-floor deck for a cookout and the deck collapsed. No lag bolts were used, which was required by code. The builders used nails instead. The company would not pay. A lawsuit followed. The jury awarded what was asked for, plus two times the damage.

The point is, don't believe all you hear about it being the fault of the lawyers. "Your in good hands" until you have a claim.

Edward Marasi, Port St. Lucie

Fair and balanced? IRS treating criminals fairly?

You gotta love the IRS!

It was very thoughtful of the agency to remind us to declare any income that was generated through illegal activities, such as drug dealing, burglary, prostitution, etc. I'm quite sure that it got the attention of all criminals who dutifully file their federal and state income taxes.

However, for the purpose of being fair and balanced, the IRS should also remind us of the deduction side of such activities. For example, anyone working as an organized crime hit man should be able to deduct the cost of ammunition as a business expense. That just makes sense and is fair, isn't it?

I guess you can see where I'm going with this logic. Actually, I can't go on. It's just too easy. Unbelievable!

Gary M. Lavorgna, Vero Beach

Death penalty for child molesters?

The rape of a child is a horrendous crime. It’s a lightning-rod issue that crosses party lines in condemnation. Yet perhaps rational minds might step back before leaping onto the "child sexual battery death penalty" express.

The state Senate meets for only 60 days, but proposed and patted members' backs on offering the “death penalty” for child sexual battery. Is that the best way to serve the needs of Florida children?

Here’s why one can look cynically upon this legislation as smoke and mirrors.

It costs not one red cent toward the needs of children. No food for starving homes. No aid for children affected by inflation and insurance hikes. No helping hand to homeless children.

Let’s actually address the reality of child rape.

• According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 4 girls are rape victims (usually unreported).

• According to the CDC,1 in 13 boys are rape victims (usually unreported).

• According to the CDC, 91% of these rapes are by family members or close relatives.

So the reality is that, unfortunately, in equity of judgment, “Old Sparky” will be roasting thousands of potential sexual battery perpetrators. Most will be parents or foster care parents. Look around you, senators; statistically speaking, at least one of you likely could be on the wrong end of "Old Sparky." That is unless you add an exemption to the law for family child sexual abuse and call it the "Incest is Best” statute.

Peter Degen, Port St. Lucie

Do you want lawmakers deciding whether you can end pregnancy?

The rationale that pro-lifers give for being against abortion is that it is murder of an unborn human being. I don't agree, but respect their right to their opinion.

Sen Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, joined other Republicans in the Florida Senate and House in wanting to ban abortion after six weeks. I don't agree, but that's their right.

Here is where their argument on abortion gets murky. Grall and her followers make objections to the six-week rule for what seem like very reasonable reasons, but contradict their "life begins at conception" rationale against abortion in the process. They are arrogantly telling women that Grall and others will decide when women can have what they describe as a murderous procedure.

They are, in fact, choosing for women how to deal with their pregnancy. If pro-lifers believe abortion is murder, why is it less murder in the cases pro-lifers choose to exempt?

It seems to me the difficult decision of abortion is best left to the woman seeking it, not to lawmakers, Frankly, it's none of their business.

Joan Fox, Vero Beach

Bridge action shows good things come in threes

On a recent Tuesday around 10 a.m., I was heading west on the Merrill P. Barber Bridge (Because of the number of cars and their speed, I call it the Barber 500.).

When I touched the gas pedal, my car began to rev, as if it were about to blow up.

Unfortunately for everyone behind me, I was in the left lane, only able to muster a very unpopular 5 mph. I managed to limp into the right lane, where the car came to a standstill, never to be started again.

Along came two beautiful, young women bridge walkers, who motioned me to get off of the road. When I told them my car would not move, they said, "Put it in neutral and turn on your flashers." Then they climbed over the barrier, pushed my car to the side of the road and leaped to safety before I could get their names.

Waiting for the tow truck, along came one of  Vero Beach's finest, the caring and calm officer Paul Wichert. Just having him there with me made the situation tolerable.

As a bonus, he left his flashing lights on, so the bridge traffic slowed way down. He looked under my hood and correctly determined my transmission was leaking.

He also told me to stand far away from the car in case "some numbskull driver slams into your car and then your car slams into you."

So, two kindhearted and brave bridge walkers, plus one concerned and calming policeman add up to good things that always seem to come in threes.

Rory Geeseman, Vero Beach

Urge Florida lawmakers not to mess with robocall bill that's working

Lawmakers in Tallahassee are considering disastrous changes to Florida’s Telemarketing Act that would make all telemarketing robocalls legal, including those made by scammers (House Bill 761/Senate Bill 1308).

In 2021, the Florida Legislature unanimously passed bipartisan legislation to prevent robo-dialed telemarketing cold calls (and text messages) in Florida.  These changes have been wildly effective in reducing these intrusive calls.

In 2021, the number of Federal Trade Commission complaints from Floridians regarding unwanted calls was 388,227 and rising, up almost 100,000 from the previous year. Our law went into effect July 1, 2021, and in 2022, the FTC reported “only” 211,635 complaints. This is an astounding 45% decline in Floridian complaints compared to 2021.

Our telemarketing law as presently written is an important law that shields the privacy and tranquility of Floridians from robodialed telemarketing harassment. The current law is straightforward: If you want to call or text in mass using an “automated system,” you simply must have written consent to do so. Our Florida law is the gold standard and is being copied by other states across the country.

The time, sanity and tranquility of Floridians are valuable treasures and are not to be trifled with. Consumers simply do not want telemarketing robocalls. Florida had 4.1 billion robocalls in 2021, and 140 million fewer robocalls in 2022 as a direct result of our law.

Our law is working, so I urge Florida citizens to call their representatives and tell them to vote “no” on the proposed bill, which would blow up our law and make all telemarketing calls legal.

Billy Howard, Tampa, is an attorney who specializes in consumer rights particularly with regard to robodialers.

Politicians not crazy just because you don't agree with them

I was glad to see that a couple of people accepted my challenge to try to name Democratic officeholders as crazy as the Republicans I called out in an earlier letter. But I think they made weak arguments.

For starters, they named non-officeholders Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Stacey Abrams and Karine Jean-Pierre. That tells me the real pickings were pretty slim. To be sure, I did mention Donald Trump, but his devotees keep referring to him as "President Trump," so I might have been confused.

Now, some Democrats may have questioned their election losses, but none that I'm aware of has called for an insurrection (crazy), accused voting machines of fraud (also crazy) or pushed for so-called election integrity measures that are nothing but pure partisanship in action.

"I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is certifiable," one correspondent writes, without offering any evidence. Carolyn Maloney, Kaiali'i Kahele and Maxine Waters get the same argument-free treatment. Others named may have stretched the truth or made mistakes on occasion (what politician doesn't?) but not to the excessive, willfully ignorant lengths of Trump, George Santos and many others in the GOP.

Just because you disagree with someone's politics doesn't make him or her crazy.

Conrad deFiebre, Stuart

Public officials should be held accountable to higher standard

The GOP’s proposal to exempt the twice-impeached former president from being held accountable under the law for his crimes is the most obnoxious example (yet) of pandering to his demagoguery and authoritarianism.

In a democracy, we demand and expect that public officials be held to a higher standard than the rest of us, and that’s true for every official, from the cop on the beat and the town mayor to the occupant of the Oval Office.

That’s why guys like Derek Chauvin and Rod Blagojevich go to prison. It’s why voters in most states have the power to recall officeholders, and it’s why three U.S. presidents have been impeached.

Parroting the line that “everybody makes mistakes” is no way to justify supporting a person who has repeatedly shown no respect for the rule of law, or the most basic standards of decency.

He may not be ashamed, but the sycophants who squawk in service to him should be.

Donna Dupuy, Stuart

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Parental rights? IRS & bad guys; Trump; kooky politicians; robocalls