Congratulations Judge-elect Suzanne Bass

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Penny Dickerson

As a matter of fact,

YES ~ She Won!

“Penny Pundit” graciously takes a necessary pause from her usual political jabs at public service representative’s pitfalls and piss-fights to unequivocally endorse and promote a woman of integrity, valor, good will, and judicial qualification: Suzanne Bass.
With the utmost respect, I delve into this blog endeavor with the best of intentions because it’s necessary and, well, a nice thing to do. It is as much a political literary pursuit as it is a gift to my good friend of “Circuit-Court-Seat” pursuit who turned the young age of 60 on Saturday, June 9th. Happy Birthday future Judge Bass, you don’t look a day “Over the Rainbow” and on election day: August 14, 2012, the pot of gold called political victory will be yours. Duval, Clay, and Nassau Counties will “even handed” elect Suzanne Bass Circuit Court Judge for Group 34.

As a journalist, I love a good story, and the picture to the left speaks the familiar cliche of one million words. An eager, forward-thinking, young Suzanne sustains that straight forward look which historically defines honesty and strength, but somehow I get the feeling that even as a young Public Defender, Suzanne Bass harbored solid, career aspirations of upholding justice and firmly slamming a gavel. The young defender is soon to meet her destiny; a just reward for challenging an incumbent.

Just like Virginia Slims, “You’ve come a long way baby.” Look at the litany of accolades and accomplishments outlined above. Your current (and prior) legal and community life makes you more than just an “apt” candidate but more so, a definitive, qualified winner. Unfortunately, most community voters aren’t even aware that it is incumbent upon us to elect our county and circuit judges.

Judges are public servants who make some of the most important legal/judicial decisions that affect our community. Yes. Some judges are indeed appointed by governors or presidents, but the election to be held August 14, 2012 is about community. It is the opportunity for a voting populous in Florida’s northern, tri-county to SPEAK their choice by selecting “B” for Bass on their local voting ballots.

Suzanne and I initially met at the San Marco Deli in Jacksonville, Florida. On that day, she was with “what’s his name,” and I was with “what’s his name.” However, since then, she has been steadfast, unmovable, and positioned herself to be in the presence of the most important community leaders as noted in the image left. Pictured is Suzanne with Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown (of course everyone knows his name…a.k.a. “Hizzoner”). From initial meetings she and I enjoyed lunch appointments, discussions, phone conversations, (and my thumb getting slammed in a car door…ahem). I must say, I thought she’d be dead by April from campaign exhaustion, but Madame Bass is a MACHINE.

The beautiful aspect it is that she’s not just showing up in photo images simply for the sake of garnering votes, Suzanne really does love the Jacksonville community, and the rigors of campaigning have simply availed more time for her to do what she loves most: meet the people she’s advocated, represented, and/or mediated for over the past 30 years.

True to her Suwannee, Florida roots, Suzanne easily transitions to Jacksonville’s urban landscape by walking “shoulder to shoulder” with community youth from the Jacksonville Coalition of Kids and/or supporting domestic violence initiatives. She’s military friendly and proud of every American who courageously and unselfishly serves in the United States military.

As an independent mediator (legal proprietor), Suzanne has assisted countless First Coast residents in adoption precedings and/or served as an integral force in their quest to reach amicable solutions when discord threatens what some deem a “traditional” family unit.

Most impressive is that while some candidates for office embrace a posture that simply because they have declared candidacy and are running for public service, the public owes them their vote.

I admire that Suzanne is hitting the asphalt hard and with sincerity, she ASKS future constituents for both support and their vote on election day, August 14, 2012.

For the aforementioned reasons and more, future Circuit Court Judge Suzanne Bass has garnered endorsement and support from some of Jacksonville and the surrounding area’s leading media,political, and civic voices including:

The Florida Times-Union
Former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney
Former Fernandina Mayor Bill Leeper
State Representative Mike Weinstein
State Representative Reggie Fullwood
John Thrasher
Nassau County Clerk of Courts’
Asian American Alliance

BEACHES, BALDWIN, ORANGE PARK MAYORS ENDORSE SUZANNE BASS FOR CIRCUIT JUDGE

The mayors of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Baldwin, and Orange Park officially announced their endorsements of Suzanne Bass for Circuit Court Judge for the 4^th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Jacksonville Beach Mayor Fland Sharp
Atlantic Beach Mayor Mike Borno
Neptune Beach Mayor Harriet Pruette
Baldwin Mayor Stan Totman
Orange Park Mayor Gary Meeks
Former Atlantic Beach Mayor Billy Howell

JAX CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ENDORSE SUZANNE BASS FOR CIRCUIT JUDGE

Elaine Brown
Matt Carlucci
Lad Daniels
Alberta Hipps
Suzanne Jenkins
Ginny Myrick
Matt Schellenberg

SIX PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE JACKSONVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION

Jephtha Barbour
Reginal Luster
Marc M. Mayo
James F. Moseley, Jr.
Mary K. Phillips
Carl M. Stewart

Whether she’s networking with women at the I.M. Sulzbacher’s luncheon or enjoying a light moment with community pillars like Carlton Jones, Suzanne Bass is taking her candidacy serious and hasn’t made haste with letting the community know that she is not only in the “race,” but in the race to win it. (even-handed).

Oh 2012, how I love thee with all your national attention recently focused on “Wit Romney” challenging my hero and POTUS over silly semantics that describe the Private Sector as “Fine vs. Good.” (Go with “Adequate” Mr. President).

Nationally, the gasp and grind and giggle is all part of what makes every four-year, national election season tense and temperamental for candidates, but also contemplative and cautious for the American voting population. Your conscious decision to vote on August 14, 2012 is about restoring a healthy (and respectable) legal tone to the city of Jacksonville’s judiciary community by voting and electing Suzanne Bass, Circuit Court Judge Group 34.

In order for the aforementioned to be successfully accomplished, I additionally, encourage you to choose the candidate who has accepted ACCOUNTABILITY as the foundation for both her candidacy and service. If you’d like to follow the progress of the Suzanne Bass for Circuit Court Judge campaign, make a donation, volunteer, and/or keep up with her growing media mentions, please refer to the following website: www.suzannebassforjudge.com

Suzanne Bass is mentioned in Folio Weekly’s cover story: May 12, 2012
Focus: “…A Rare Election Season Challenge…”

http://www.folioweekly.com/folio0515wkl006.php

AUGUST 14, 2012

Penny Dickerson 2012

“Miss Jail 2011″ Pageantry trends and spin

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Penny Dickerson

http://thestir.cafemom.com/beauty_style/118575/miss_jail_beauty_pageants_are

Just when I thought I’d never hear Burt Park’s version of “There she is…walking on air she is,” a new-aged, exploitative She has stepped into stilettos and left her prison cell to run for the coveted title, “Miss Jail.” My mind flutters with a fury of thoughts running the gamut from, “How does one acquire false lashes behind bars? Is there a Loreal make-up room and Tre’ Semme hair salon likened to Project Runway? And my final itchy inquiry, what viable social platform does an ex-con covet that will advance a humanitarian cause?

In my Billy Crystal voice, “Pageantry has been veddy veddy good to me,” so don’t get my post-reign, tiara-stained views twisted, I just thought I’d never see the day. I recall pageantry being loads of fun and a respectable venue to pursue higher education via scholarship acquisition, but if you’re convicted of running drugs or kill your pimp, I mean really, fun for you behind bars should be squinting in dim light to find jagged-edged, puzzle pieces rendered unidentifiable by a rat’s vicious gnaw. Fun for you should be the day Warden Big Bertha provides a random drawing for a pack of tampons with the hygiene string still attached. THAT, my dear, is a prison privilege.

Jail, prison, lock-down, lock-up, or the hole should be a place for conscious reflect and punishment by means of denying one access to life’s divine privileges and for the female gender, lack of fashion access should top the list. Jurors across the country would be riddled with shock and appall to know their well-reasoned convictions allowed a murderer to one day strip from her over-sized prison blues and don a sequin or beaded gown with a slit up to there. I’ll bet they are also provided Nair; the mere ridicule forces poetic rhyme.

In fairness to the country in which I reside and love, this millennium trend has taken place in apparently more liberal parts of the world like Brazil and Russia where murder is really code for mean. I can hear foreign judges across the globe now: “I hereby sentence you to 15 years behind bars for drug trafficking and carrying a concealed weapon, now sashay your buxom self to prison and be the beautiful winner you are.”

There may be good intent of reforming one’s character, in addition to providing social outlets for inmates, but allowing male guards and a prison populous the opportunity to applaud, cat-call, and whistle for their designate delight just don’t seem right. Who does one complain to when a fellow contestant wardrobe shreds or sneakily puts glue inside platform shoes? Nobody. She also tied a man to a tree and shot him at point blank rage, so feel lucky!

While it wasn’t reported, I imagine the previous year’s winner’s farewell speech including trite salutations like, “I’d like to thank the victim’s family for giving me this opportunity to mock his death by promoting glamour and glitz, and to the crew in cell block 152, thank you (sniff, sniff) thank you, for pooling your commissary funds to purchase bobby pins and endless cans of Aqua Net.”

I am stymied about the mind over this comical discovery, and ask employers around the globe to look closely at resumes that may not disclose exoneration and restoration of one’s civil rights, but under accomplishments – with silicone, breast-implanted pride – includes the title, “Miss Jail.”

Undoubtedly, it would be in a 16 pt. font, bold, italicized and comic sans serif appropriate.

Penny Dickerson 2011

MAYO CLINIC: Money woes eliminate Medicare & Medicaid patients

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Penny Dickerson

Residents in need of specialized health care have been blessed to have one of the countries prestigious Mayo Clinics located in Jacksonville; however, recent state cuts to eliminate both Medicare and Medicaid will literally “cut-off” many who have lost insurance and can’t afford to pay “cash” due to the recessive state of our nation’s economy. Bureaucracy & budget cuts now eliminate access.

I have the good fortune of being a coveted, Mayo Clinic patient. At the beginning of treatment, I was gainfully employed and paid egregious health care premiums to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama (Corporate headquarters for my former employer). After jumping through preexisting condition hoops, pushing paper back and forth, and pulling out my few buds of hair, I was finally approved to receive a medically necessary “Neuro-stimulator” to combat nerve damage and chronic pain resulting from multiple, cancer-related surgeries. I am lucky.

The high-tech spinal cord implant is costly and manufactured by St. Jude’s Medical division. The coordination of many medical professionals and representatives was strategic to take me from the initial “trial” phase of the implant to the more complicated neurosurgery. Time lapsed. Blue Cross Blue Shield took their time. My employer grew weary of continuing to afford time off. By the time I finally completed the trial and had my next surgery, four months and more than $200,000 in total cost has been incurred including office visits, labs, image studies, physical therapy, and I choose to include “out of pocket” expenses for frequently driving to the south’s, sprawling Taj Mahal and valet parking. The latter wasn’t a requirement, but just in case you don’t know anything about Mayo Clinic, the only thing worse than missing a scheduled appointment is being a milli-second late. Valet parking saved me on many tight-squeeze days.

Most of the aforementioned is behind me, but my FMLA ended with reasonable employer notification, and COBRA was gleefully offered. Who can afford to pay $600+ a month for health insurance premiums? No one I know. I was granted Social Security following my initial cancer diagnosis, so I am entitled to Medicare Part A & B. The latter would be a blessing if I lived in a state with a sane governor or didn’t need my spinal cord implant serviced by both the hospital of my choice and the facility best equipped to monitor its functionality and progress.

There has never been a more important political climate than now for Americans to use their voice regarding the state of health care. This issue directly affects me, and I’m sure countless others you know and love. Specifically, the elderly population who command the highest need for world class, specialized health care. For this populous, it’s dire. Use your voice! Write your legislators, congress, and health care lobbyists.

Penny Dickerson 2011

~ Please CLICK the important link below ~

http://www.heartland.org/healthpolicy-news.org/article/27913/Mayo_Clinic_Makes_Medicare_Medicaid_Cuts.html

Editorial: Shands Hospital Print Layout

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Penny Dickerson

Minority Writers Seminar 2011 – Nashville, Tennessee

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Penny Dickerson

Click link to view full photo album of the seminar’s presenters and events

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1822885303541.2097254.1582474487&l=e78587b134

“The Disparity Despair”

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Penny Dickerson

Medical disparities: Confronting race in care | jacksonville.com.

Disparity is such a powerful word. I phonetically love the wicked hiss of the s, but the prefix dis (or should it be diss?), really says it all.

I also appreciate how a unified cabal of urban slang warriors decided one more haughty “s” should alter the definition so that it short-means: disrespected.

It doesn’t matter what noun it’s paired with, the end result is that someone, or some entity, always seems to get “dissed.”

Disparities are curiously present in all things that liberate and uphold one’s civil rights including gender, class, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual preference, and politics. I must commend the daunting word for always resonating both irony and equity; rarely is anyone disparity spared.

The single disparity that relentlessly musters a “jerk my chain” cliche is: medical, which is what prompted me to expeditiously hyperlink.

Health Care, including affordability and access, has become a hotbed of discussion for social injustice. It’s heated, it’s controversial, it’s personal. Disparities usually are.

Given my medical history and challenges as an African American woman whose economic level has shifted from comfortable, middle-class to will kill for food, I am a life-time member of the coalition to abolish disparate conditions.

Sharing related reading is a mere mission I gladly embrace, because arming the masses with knowledge is the hallmark of every abolitionist’s success.

I trust you’ll enjoy the shared read and further encourage your due pause for thought. May it ignite discourse and inspire you to use your voice to eradicate what’s disparate. Survey what you believe has dissed you most.

Florida Governor Rick Scott Cuts Air

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Penny Dickerson

Floridians will lose their alienable right to breathe thanks to Governor Rick Scott.

It appears that air is the latest culprit to suffer the governor’s magnificent machete as he swings without aiming to cut-off funding for everything from aid for the disabled, medicare and medicaid, funding for HBCU’s, teacher’s compensation, high-speed rail, and just last week signed into law a controversial election bill restricting early voting.

Air is next. I can see it now:

Florida residents will have to prove their daily consumption in order to gain access to air and even then it will only be available at state rest stops along the I-95 corridor. Air will be distributed based upon income, tax bracket, social status, and, well, political party.

I see many democratic voters falling faint from lack of air.

“I see dead people,” said Rick Scott.

Floridian’s will have to pay a non-refundable, $20 fee to renew their driver’s license and only then will they have a special air hologram placed on their laminated necessity. All non-drivers will have to take a mandatory drug test, an x-ray to determine lung capacity, and then write a haiku before being awarded an Access Card for air.

It’s coming folks. As sure as I sit here gasping for breath, I can feel the Rick Scott squeeze and choke hold suffocating me as the air around me leaves the room. Operatives from the Scott administration have apparently already been dispatched around the state to implement his triadic cut, slash, and restrict tactics.

Of course this sounds ludicrous, and it is also with “jest” that I offer the aforementioned. However, the following links illustrate the severity of the governor’s quick-cut political management that is destined to dethrone Florida as both the sunshine state and the U.S. tourism capital.

New signs have already been ordered:

“Welcome to Florida…bring your own air.”

Or even better,

“Welcome to Walt Disney World. A breath-taking family adventure.”

OR better yet,

“Welcome to Florida…our beaches, like our people, are breathless.”

He’s killing us Florida. He must be stopped. He simply must be impeached, and the following links support my demands:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott cuts all funding to state’s HBCUs

http://aareports.com/2011/02/florida-gov-rick-scott-cuts-all-funding.html

Is it time to recall Rick Scott?

http://fcir.org/2011/02/22/is-it-time-to-recall-rick-scott/

Pink Slip Rick cuts jobs.