Friday, August 31, 2007

Jailed In New Orleans Without Charge

Roderick Dean, a former corrections officer, recounts his harrowing ordeal two years ago when he was arrested and jailed without charge on August 11, 2005 - two weeks before Hurricane Katrina. When the storm hit, Dean was in New Orleans Parish Prison where he narrowly escaped drowning after the jail flooded. He was never charged and released four months later......more

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Hands Across the Border

Georgia, Florida, and Alabama
It's the 16th year of the Hands Across the Border highway safety awareness campaign. State troopers, police officers, and sheriff's deputies from Georgia, Florida, and Alabama work together to set up road checks.......here
Officers, deputies and troopers already conducted a sobriety checkpoint at the Georgia-Florida line on U.S. 319 Tuesday night, issuing around a hundred citations and even making some DUI arrests.
In The Name Of His Father
Wellstone Democrat
The Wellstone legacy has become so intertwined with progressive politics, its origin is all but forgotten. The "Democratic wing of the Democratic party" has been kicked around by Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, small-town Iowa state Rep. Ed Fallon and other Democrats nationwide. Paul Wellstone's name and some actions are being used to channel the inner liberal of the country's most prominent Democrats.......more

Portable Surveillance

In Brandon

Photographing 'Nowhere People'

Florida
Nationwide Is Not On Your Side
Nationwide Insurance said Tuesday it will reduce its catastrophe exposure in Florida by dropping more than 40,000 homeowner and commercial property policies.......more
Bush Photo Opp
At Dooky Chase's
Bush said Tuesday he wanted to celebrate the spirit of New Orleans. He chose to do so with Leah Chase, considered this proud, still-struggling city's Queen of Creole, known as much for her famous cooking as her warm personality........more
Katrina's anniversary must be approaching.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Florida Beaches
Sun, Sea, And Some Crushed Glass
Officials in Florida have come up with the sharp idea of using recycled glass to replenish denuded beaches. The glass grains would be mixed with sand and sprinkled on the shore. But you won’t get splinters in your flip-flops: sand and glass are both made from silica.....more
Howard Dean
"It's about time that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned, From illegally firing US Attorneys to limiting voting rights to warrantless wiretapping, Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department has promoted a culture of lawlessness designed to serve the Bush White House's narrow political agenda, not the American people. Gonzales now joins a long list of Republican officials resigning under a cloud of scandal, but these resignations cannot purge the Bush Administration of its problems. The true problem rests with the Bush White House itself, which continues to put what's best for the Republican Party ahead of what's best for America."

Friday, August 24, 2007

Kennedy Blvd. Over I275
Another Tampa Bay Structurally Deficient Bridge
What Stogie Had For Lunch
Beef Stew
Red Beans And Rice And Plantains
$5.99 At.......Rosa's Market 4209 W. Martin Luther King Blvd Tampa
FEMA Leaving Florida For... Alaska?
Right in the middle of hurricane season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is shutting its doors and moving out of Florida - the state ranked third nationally for the number of natural disasters. Where are they headed? Alaska. Yes, you read that correctly, Alaska - which ranks 28th on the natural disaster list........here
Howard Dean
Draws Battle Line
Howard Dean set out to draw clear distinctions between his party and Republicans at the 2008 Democratic National Convention year-out kick-off party Wednesday in Denver, heaping criticism on the GOP ethics scandals of 2006 and President Bush's handling of the Iraq war.....here
"(Democrats) are out of touch with voters in the West and they are out of touch with voters in the rest of the country," Lindsay said, adding that voters supported Bush's tax cuts and his efforts to "secure the homeland."....... Republican National Committee spokesman Paul Lindsay

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Under Surveillance
At The Hard Rock
The St. Joe Co.
Targets Florida's Panhandle
Florida's panhandle is sometimes called "the Forgotten Coast." It's an area of sandy beaches, pine forests, wetlands and meandering rivers. It's one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America and Florida's last untapped region. But that's beginning to change.......here

Local Bumpers 8

Liberals Read
Conservatives Want Slogans
Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry's trade group says she knows why - and there's little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation. "The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,'" Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page.".......here
Porn And Pancakes
In Ft. Myers
An ad for a Florida church's outreach program is raising some eyebrows. In Fort Myers, the billboard is advertising porn and pancakes. A local church says it's an ad for a men's breakfast aimed at reaching out to those who are addicted to porn.....here