IOKWYAR

South Florida Daily Blog:

"Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."....Natalie Maines 2003
“Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country,”.....Rush Limbaugh 2013
Maines publicly apologized yet radio stations nationwide started boycotting the Dixie Chicks. Limbaugh hasn't apologized and no one, especially those patriotic 2003 Republicans, is boycotting him for his statement.

here
Because that's the way is in the IOKWYAR* world. *It's OK When You're A Republican.
I miss them, i wish they would come back. She was right! They too were so ashamed of him they kept him in hiding doing this past election.
Dixie Chicks

Editorial: U.S. Should Engage, Not Isolate, Cuba

Thank You, Tampa Bay Times. My Hometown Newspaper
A Cuba without a Castro is now on the horizon, and the United States and Florida should be prepared for the opportunity.This is the time to reconsider the out-of-date hard line from an older generation and end the failed Cuba embargo. The relaxed travel rules implemented last month by the Cuban government will let Cubans who can afford it to travel freely and return to their country. This is good news for the Cuban people who have lived as virtual prisoners on the island nation. It means, ironically, that Cubans now enjoy greater freedom to come to the United States than our government gives Americans

to travel to Cuba.

President Barack Obama could eliminate the remaining travel restrictions

imposed on Americans traveling to Cuba.

Change is coming to Cuba, and this is the time for American engagement instead of isolation.
Read it all here

What Stogie Had For Lunch

 boliche With Yellow Rice And Black Beans
$6.00 At The Interbay Meat Market aka The Green Store
6110 Interbay Blvd, Tampa
Interbay Meat Market
My sister lives in the SOG section of Tampa. She told me about this place and
i must say they make some of the best Cuban food i ever had.

Narcotics Cops In Ski Masks Raid Parrish Home

Ma and Pa Jordan
the husband-and-wife crime wave were at their home in Parrish, just across the Sunshine Skyway bridge in Manatee County, when deputies arrived Monday afternoon. Several deputies, detectives and undercover narcotics cops in ski mask. One of the suspects in this case is dying.She is in her 60s, and confined to a wheelchair. One of the other suspects is her caretaker.He is also in his 60s, and a disabled Vietnam veteran. Cathy Jordan has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) and has depended on marijuana to combat the progressive nature and many of the symptoms of her disease.
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"I know it's against the law, and I know the cops have a job to do. But I have a responsibility, too, and my responsibility is taking care of my wife, They don't have to tell me this is serious. To us, this is life-and-death serious.I am not backing down. If I have to go to jail, I'll go to jail. Just because something is illegal, doesn't make it morally wrong. My wife is dying!".....Bob Jordan

A coincidence? Unbeknownst to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, the people they were investigating have been leaders in a push to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes in Florida. On Wednesday afternoon, two days after the incident, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, filed the previously planned Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act (SB 1250) in the Senate.
two mature plants and various seedlings were confiscated. A real estate agent checking out the house next door snitched on them.

Citizens Property Insurance

The Perks Keep Getting Better
*trove of office sex affairs
*Pornography
*Get to use your corporate credit card at strip clubs
*Luxurious business trips
*Drunken exploits on company retreats
*Large raises for executives
Citizens, is a multibillion-dollar company backed by state taxpayers.
 more
If this sounds good to you, then Citizens is the place for you!
here

.Marco Rubio Supports Legalization Of Marijuana

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Hot Wings
$3.49 At Excel Food and Gas on South Dale Mabry at Bay Ave in Tampa

All this blogging about weed got me hungry.

Hit pause button on red-light cameras

"It's time to hit the pause button on red-light cameras. They have become a bureaucratic nightmare for the state's clerks of courts who process the citations. Drivers cited for running red lights are caught in a maze of paperwork, vaguely worded regulations and an unfair system of fines.

And the cameras are more about raising money for local governments

than reducing accidents.".....Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court Ken Burke.

here

Cameras in Tampa Bay

Medical Marijuana Has 70 Percent Support in Florida

As many as seven in 10 Florida voters support a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana — more than enough to ensure passage and possibly affect the governor’s race — according to a new poll from a group trying to put the measure on the 2104.
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Connect Tampa Bay

To Help People Save Themselves

Connect Tampa Bay is bringing together citizens from across Tampa Bay who want more transportation options so that we can create jobs and improve our quality of life. We just started out and need your help to reach our goal of 2,000 supporters. We are up to 1572 in just a six weeks, help us get to 2,000!

These folks have come to save us from ourselves, join them.

here

Florida Welfare Drug Testing Program

Lets Talk About The Fourth Amendment Mr. Scott

The 11th Circuit Court voted unanimously to uphold the 2011 decision by an Orlando,
court that the tests violate the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizures. Republicans across the country have sponsored these types of bills in state legislatures, purportedly to protect children from being raised by drug-addicted parents and to stem the tide of drug use among the poor and unemployed. Aside from the testing being unconstitutional, however, that rising tide of poor and unemployed people using drugs has turned out not to exist.

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Mindy McCready: Ten Thousand Angels

Hundreds Gather To Mourn At Mindy McCready’s Florida Funeral

Mindy McCready is, finally, presumably, at peace. The long-troubled country singer’s family held her funeral Tuesday in her hometown of Fort Myers, Fla. The service, which took place at the Crossroads Baptist Church, was open to the public. According to People, around 400 attended to pay their respects.
The family requests that donations be made to the
Mindy McCready Children's Trust
 c/o John Ammons, Edison National Bank
13000 S. Cleveland Ave., Ft. Myers, FL 33907
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Friends Of Stogie

In Tampa

The Republican Savior?

A New Face Doesn't Improve Bankrupt Ideas.

One of those ideas is the undermining of public schools. Under the guise of helping lower-income parents, Rubio is offering the Educational Opportunities Act to move students from public to private schools, most of which are church-affiliated, at taxpayer expense.

Rubio, like his fellow Republicans, would transform public education from a process where students collectively learn from secular teachers about civic duty and virtue and turn it into a private commodity where education is faith-based and teachers must be of a certain religion to get a job.

In Florida, voters dislike the idea of taxpayer-funded vouchers going to religious schools so much they rejected a constitutional amendment in the last election.
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Pic Thanks To All Hat No Cattle

Nazis In Ft. Lauderdale

Get the fuck out of the neighborhood, pack your bags and leave.

Stogie's Oscar Picks: Anne Hathaway

Well i only got 2 out of 7 right. But my favorite did win.  Congratulations to Anne Hathaway for her Actress In A Supporting Role Oscar.
here

Best Of Babalu: Senator No

The folks over at Babalu are gushing over their new found friend Cuban-American Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. After all he did vote against Senate rule changes to modestly curb filibusters, aid for Superstorm Sandy victims and the Violence Against Women Act. He also was one of only three "no" votes against Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry's nomination to be secretary of State. And he publicly skewered President Obama’s nominee for Defense secretary, former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel. Lets hope he is not around if another Sandy ever visits South Florida or the coast of Texas.

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Mindy McCready: I'll See You Yesterday

Mindy McCready's publicist said that there are preliminary plans being made for a tribute in Nashville to the late singer who committed suicide this weekend and a song has gone online which was reportedly her final recording. Her funeral is scheduled for Tuesday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m. at the Crossroads Baptist Church at 10721 Palm Beach Blvd. in Ft. Meyers. The public is welcome to join the family.

We Won, The Left Has Won

Rush Limbaugh Said So
They have created far more low-information, unaware, uneducated people than we’ve been able to keep up with.
here
Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Ay My Oh My What A Wonderful Day

Stogie's Oscar Picks

Best Picture: Lincoln
Actor In A Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
Actress In A Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Actor In A Supporting Role: Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Actress In A Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
Directing: Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
Foreign Language Film: "No" (Chile)

In Defence Of The Cuban Tomato

“On my dinner plate, there are not any tomatoes and there are not any potatoes,”....Yoani Sánchez

This is not true. I was in Cuba Feb. 2007. Not only were they plentiful but smelled and tastes wonderful.
 I could not stop  bragging about them after i got home.

Friends Of Stogie

At Gaspar's Patio in Temple Terrace

Small business owners bash Hillsborough Commission

Hillsborough County Commissioners approved a $6 million road project that will rein in a Bass Pro Shop in Brandon. During their meeting Wednesday, 12 supporters of small business spoke in opposition to the subsidy. Bill Place, owner of Ace Golf stores in the Tampa Bay area, was disappointed in the commission’s decision, but not surprised.

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“I mean, if you were required to pay for those improvements like many other businesses have been required to pay for your own improvements. It would just blow me away that you would walk away from this opportunity for $6.25 million.”..... Kevin Beckner

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Ropa Vieja With Moro And Yuca
$6.50 At LA Teresita Grocery, 3302 W Columbus Dr, West Tampa

Yoani Sanchez: Trade Embargo A Failure

what she’s had to say as the world’s best known critic of the Castro regime that was the most controversial, at least in the United States. She’s urged the end of the U.S. government’s trade embargo against her homeland, calling it a failure. she called the embargo “a fossil of the Cold War that does not have any sense in the modern world in which we live.” She added that its existence gave the Cuban government “the best argument . . . to explain its ineffective economy.”
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Cuba Journal is reporting that Secretary of State, John Kerry, is reviewing policy that could pave way for renewed relations.
here

Help, end the war on the Cuban people, they are being held hostage by a small minority in South Florida. End The Embargo, Stop The MCM.

Rick Scott Wants To Eliminate Business Tax

Ybor City Fiesta Day 2013

Fiesta Day is a free, family-oriented “street festival.”  Celebrated for 66 years, it features ethnic food and entertainment along famed Seventh Avenue.  Fiesta Day started out as a “verbena” or day of rest for the immigrant, cigar workers who settled Ybor City from Spain, Cuba and Italy.

info

Owlcatraz In Boca Raton

“It is so exciting to now have a name for our beautiful stadium, and I couldn’t think of a better way to do that than by way of philanthropy. This gift is a true representation of The GEO Group’s incredible generosity to FAU and the community it serves. It is especially meaningful because George Zoley, GEO’s chairman, is a two-time FAU alumnus and former chair of our Board of Trustees.”..... FAU President Mary Jane Saunders

here

The GEO Group, which runs especially controversial prisons and wants to name Florida Atlantic's football stadium, tried to scrub abuse allegations from Wikipedia. The internet struck back.

here

Friends Of Stogie

In Tampa

Corporate Welfare In Tampa Bay

Hillsborough County commissioners approve $6.25M subsidy for Bass Pro Shops

Hillsborough County commissioners have approved spending $6.25 million to bring a Bass Pro Shops store to the Brandon area. The vote was 6-1 with

Commissioner Kevin Beckner casting the only "no" vote.

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Again Mr. Beckner does the right thing. Remember these other folks come election time. We can start here
Mary Mulhern, for Hillsborough County Commission, District 7

Tampa Bay Bridges Are Falling Down

I-275 & Cypress St.
Florida Has 304 Structurally Deficient Bridges, Five Of Them Are In Tampa Bay.
Johns Pass over Boca Ciega Bay - I-275 & Kennedy Blvd.
Crosstown Expressway & SR 585 - SR 39 over the Hillsborough River (Has been rebuilt)
I posted this back on August 2, 2007 with all the talk in DC right now on our Infrastructure, here it is again.

here

The Llong Arm That Controls Them From Havana

In Spanish
Brazil’s most influential magazine, Veja, published a story this weekend alleging that Cuban diplomats were working with Brazilian leftists to organize protests against Sánchez during her stops in the country, where she is expected to stay for a week.

Viva Florida 500

In 2013, Florida reached a significant milestone, the 500th anniversary of Juan Ponce de León's arrival on Florida's east coast. What makes this anniversary so unique is that Ponce de León's convoy of explorers was the first group of Europeans to document such a landing and give a name to Florida—La Florida.

here

.City of Tampa's 25th Annual Black History Celebration .

The Miami Cuban Mafia

La Familia
here
Help, end the war on the Cuban people, they are being held hostage by a small minority in South Florida.
Stop The MCM.

Friends Of Stogie

At Gaspar's Patio in Temple Terrace

The Sugar Reform Act

You don't normally see DWT championing bills introduced by anti-Choice fanatic and far right extremist Joe Pitts (R-PA). But when he introduced H.R. 693 last week, a new day of bipartisanship may not have dawned. Congress has tackled this before but between Fanjul DC consiglieres Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the legislation has always been derailed. Now the grotesquely corrupt Wasserman Schultz has accumulated even more power than ever before and she is working assiduously to shore up the interests of her benefactors, regardless of what it costs the very people who vote her into office year after year after year.

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Yoani Sanchez: Rude Welcome In Brazil

Small groups of protesters met Sanchez when she arrived earlier Monday at two airports in Brazil's northeast. They called her a "mercenary" who was being financed by the CIA and tossed photocopied U.S. dollar bills her way. One protester got close enough to pull her hair.

more
At Cuba Journal
At Babalu
 "Send out mobs of thugs to yell insults and physically threaten your opponents."
Wait isn't that what the anti-Castro folks in South Florida do to pro-Castro people all the time?

Stogie Recommends: Hubris The Iraq War Hoax

Hubris: New Documentary Reexamines the Iraq War Hoax

A decade ago, on March 19, 2003, President George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq that would lead to a nine-year war resulting in 4,486 dead American troops, 32,226 service members wounded, and over 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians. The tab for the war topped $3 trillion. Bush did succeed in removing Saddam Hussein, but it turned out there were no weapons of mass destruction and no significant operational ties between Saddam's regime and Al Qaeda.

here

I was never fooled ny the Neo-Cons or the MSM back then. I started this effort on March 19, 2003 to try to show my friends and family the mistake we were about to make. Now here we are 10 years later. Thank You to Rachel Maddow,  Michael Isikoff
and David Corn for their efforts.
Howard Dean's Statement

I Want A Job With Citizens Property Insurance

As Insurance Premiums Rose, Citizens Execs Got Big Raises

>Traveling and dining at four-star locations across the globe.
>Weekends at a $633-a-night resort in Bermuda.

> booze-filled company outings. Dinner at Ocean Prime, an upscale seafood and steak restaurant that boasts of "an award-winning wine list." The tab: $918.34 for seven or eight officials, who dined on gourmet meals and gulped down $369 worth of Grey Goose vodka and red wine.
here
All on the company credit card. Sounds good to me, where do i apply? 

Melinda Gayle McCready RIP

How Sad
November 30, 1975 – February 17, 2013
Fort Myers, Florida
We have lost one of our own.I will miss her.

Marco Rubio Water Bottle

No Tiene Vergüenza

Republican Marco Rubio of Florida., has hauled in some serious cash since his water sipping moment Tuesday during the Republican response to the State of the Union. Reclaim America, Rubio's PAC, has raised more than $100,000 by selling more than 3,450 water bottles since Wednesday. the white water bottles, which bear the name "RUBIO" in bright red letters, come with a minimum donation of $25.

"Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you … he hydrates you too," 

here

Pic thanks All Hat No Cattle

The Citrus Taliban: Hillsborough County Bigots

We all know someone who lives within Hillsborough County's borders. We should feel sympathy for those people, regardless of their sexual orientation, for having to live under the leadership of uninformed individuals only act as if they truly care about the well-being of all of Hillsborough County's residents.Four commissioners became tools of the far-right group The Florida Family Association,

Plans to unseat the four dissenting commissioners have already began
Steve Blanchard

10th Annual Hillsborough County Neighborhoods Conference

The conference will offer Hillsborough County residents the following opportunities:

•Free educational workshops that include: how to make neighborhoods safer, friendlier and more attractive, grant writing, stretching your homeowners association budget, a county program about recycling cooking oil, and trash pickup.

•Free registration, which includes: an official tote bag, continental breakfast, access to exhibits and an awards luncheon, and admission to workshops noted above.
Call 813-307-3564 to register or for more information.
Hillsborough Community College's Dale Mabry Campus
4001 Tampa Bay Blvd. Tampa 
8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 16.

Cuban Blogger Yoani Sanchez

 Prepares 'Victory' Tour Abroad

Cuba's best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, said she plans to make good use of "my victory" when she leaves on an 80-day-tour of more than a dozen countries on Sunday. Sanchez, under Cuba's sweeping migration reform that went into effect this year, was granted a passport two weeks ago, after being denied permission to travel more than 20 times over the past five years.
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Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville

A Florida woman who fired warning shots against her allegedly abusive husband has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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Judge James Daniel Got Justice? NRA How About Some Help Here.

Jefferson High School Wall of Shame

In the Jefferson High School teachers lounge, teachers had been keeping a “Wall of Shame”  The white board contains anonymous quotes and questions from students.

"Hawaii is a state?", "Didn't Japan invade in N.Y.?", Who is our king?",
 "Was Bush the president during the Great Depression?", "Where are the Irish from, Ireland?"
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Are we a country of morons or is someone not doing their job?

The Tampa Bay Hiker

A blog about places in the Tampa Bay Area where you can walk in the wild.

here

Best Of Babalu

Chavez Death Watch
New Hugo pix nix rumors of his impending death.
here

Walmart Sues Hillsborough County

A rezoning denial that had been viewed as a major victory for Carrollwood residents who rallied to defeat plans for a Walmart Neighborhood Market has been appealed.

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Forget The Waltons, shop local. Try Sweetbay, Publix or the dozens of Mom & Pop stores where employees earn a living wage and are treated with respect and dignity.

Carrollwood Against Rezoning

Late Night With Marco Rubio

Florida Black History Month Contests Worthless

Our Black History Goes Unwritten

Dear Governor Scott,

Again, you have forwarded electronic propaganda while ignoring another electronic plea to address Florida’s frame-ups. The subjects you chose to propagandize today are Black History and racial diversity, as they pertain to Florida’s educators and children. Slain civil rights worker – and educator – Harry T. Moore is my hero. Florida Today writes a great deal about him so that Brevard’s children will know what to write in essays about Black History Month. Florida Today doesn’t write anything about Crosley Green, the victim of a “the black man did it” frame-up.  I’m aware of a closer-to-home “the black man did it” frame-up that the Press Journal should be writing about and isn’t – another black man incapable of changing the length of his hair or his physical size at will, despite police and prosecutors contrary claims. I['m] hoping that particular conviction gets cleared up in the near future.....Sincerely, Susan Chandler
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Did Crosley Green Kill Chip Flynn?
A Jury Said Yes; A Judge Sentenced Him To Die.
But Five Top Detectives Say Green Is Innocent.
here

WrongWayRubio

Sen. Marco Rubio has a vision for America that's out of step with our middle class values. WrongWayRubio.com is dedicated to shining a spotlight on Sen. Rubio's extremist positions, numerous ethical lapses, and the “wrong way” he’s trying to lead our nation.

here

Local Environmental Hero Honored

Keep America Beautiful (KAB) presented Ruskin, Fla., resident Jim Igler with its top volunteer accolade when he was presented the Iron Eyes Cody Award during KAB’s 60th anniversary National Conference, which recently took place in Washington, D.C. The Iron Eyes Cody Award was created in honor of KAB’s landmark public awareness campaign of the 1970s, which is credited with awakening the environmental consciousness of an entire generation of Americans.

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Friends Of Stogie

In Temple Terrace

Tell Rep. Castor: Help Rep. Alan Grayson and Rep. Mark Takano

 take Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits off the chopping block.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be in the fight of our lives to save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits. House Democrats can help take these programs off the chopping block by co-signing a letter written by progressive champions Rep. Alan Grayson and Rep. Mark Takano that draws a line in the sand on benefit cuts.

Sign The Petition
here