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On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:08:34 -0400, Oscar wrote:

On 3/30/2012 11:14 AM, iBoaterer wrote:
In ,
says...

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:22:21 -0400, X ` wrote:

...I like this, a lot.

Travelers Can Save The Next Trayvon Martin By Avoiding Florida

A crucial fact thus far left out of the debate surrounding the shooting
of Trayvon Martin is that Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which is
keeping George Zimmerman out of jail, affects more people from outside
the state than it does Floridians.

According to census data, 19,057,542 Americans lived in Florida in 2011,
a year in which the state claims 85.9 million tourists visited. Florida
law must, in short, not only protect the liberties of Floridians, but
also the wellbeing of tourists and tourism, the state's largest sector.
The piece of legislation allowing residents "to stand [their] ground and
meet force with force, including deadly force," which left Zimmerman
legally unencumbered to shoot an unarmed teen, has consequences for all
those visitors. The law's existence also ought to have consequences for
the state.

In 2003, the advocacy group Oceana began a boycott of Royal Caribbean
Cruises, demanding the company install wastewater purification systems
and stop leaching toxins into the seas. Royal Caribbean, a company with
a market cap over $6 billion, agreed to the changes after receiving just
90,000 pledges from cruisers who said they wouldn't book trips until the
cruise giant quite literally cleaned up its act. That same year, Royal
Caribbean took roughly 3 million people to sea, meaning a mere three
percent of its customers affected a major policy shift by threatening to
withhold their dollars.

Because tourism is such a big business, travelers are more empowered
than other sorts of consumers to make demands. (Ask a Burmese official
about it some time.)

If tourists boycott Florida -- as tourists boycotted Arizona after
controversial legislation was enacted there in 2010 -- the state will
have to choose between economic Russian roulette and putting the guns
down altogether. As long as Florida depends on tourists' money -- to the
tune of roughly 9.3 percent of G.D.P and a million jobs -- the state's
government has a motivation to protect citizens of Oregon, Illinois and,
for that matter, Brazil, Germany and Japan. A simple reminder of that
fact might go a long way pushing politicians to eliminate a law that
demonstrably endangers the safety of everyone in the Sunshine State.

By pledging not to visit Florida (sorry Grandma), non-Floridians can
affect change.

There are major issues at play in the Trayvon Martin case -- race and
the second amendment among them. Given the gravity of the situation,
neither truth nor reconciliation are likely to arrive anytime soon.
Still, supporting an immediate solution to an immediate and
non-ideological problem could be the first step towards a resolution
that, tragically, will never bring a young man back to life.

HuffPost

Punish Florida because Zimmerman's guilty.

Punish Florida because of their stupid draconian laws, yes. A tourist is
not safe if a vigilante like Zimmerman is allowed to shoot and kill
someone because they are walking around with a bag of skittles.

Oh wait, he's not been tried yet. In fact, the investigation's not even complete.

True, so why are you defending him so?

More happy horse**** from the happy horse**** crowd.

That's just stupid.

You sure are. I don't think anyone is defending Zimmerman at this point.
He does have the right to have the full benefit of the justice system.
He also has the right to a trial and be judged by a jury of his peers,
if he is charged. Fence posts such as yourself would strip him of those
rights.

I really don't think he gets it.

Maybe he's really not pretending.

That would be a shame.

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