New Orleans SWAT Team Raids Saint Bernard Housing Project

Last night at 2:30 in the morning, MayDay NOLA, which had been in the middle of a 17-day occupation of the New Day Community Center, with permission of the leaseholders, had been raided by SWAT team members at gunpoint. It was quite scary......more

Right-Wing Follies on UTube

A model wears a creation with a portrait of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her skirt, by Italian fashion designer Gattinoni for his Spring-Summer 2007 collection at Rome's Auditorium.....more

The Right to Live Here!

The political is always personal. I wonder if the lack of interest evident in our local authorities' attitude toward affordable housing stems from the perception that the problem will eventually get resolved on its own. Or from the fact that they personally happened to buy their first homes when housing was indeed affordable......more

St. Pete's Tent City On My Space

Tony Dungy, the NFL and the IFI

The IFI is one of the leading proponents of SJR7, the proposed Indiana Constitutional amendment on marriage rights, and other legislative efforts to deny equal rights to LGBT folks. Under the guise of protecting traditional family values, it helps spread misinformation that fosters bigitory toward our community and our own families......more

"Silence Is No Longer An Option"
Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins Speak Out
Anti-war protesters filled the streets of Washington on Saturday in one
of the largest protests since the invasion of Iraq. Veterans and military
families joined lawmakers, peace groups and celebrities to urge Congress and
President Bush to bring the troops home now. Protest organizers United
For Peace and Justice estimated 500,000 took part in the demonstration. In
California, smaller rallies were held in San Francisco, Los Angeles and
Sacramento. In Washington, marchers converged on the National Mall for a
two-hour rally........more

Dear Howard Dean: What I wanna know...

I have never lost an election. But my career has never been about winning elections. My career in this campaign is about changing the Democratic Party, it's about changing America, and this campaign is about taking back the White House so we can have health insurance, so we can have a balanced budget, so we can have an inclusive society where everybody believes in each other and believes in America.....more

Keith, Happy Birthday Dude
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George's speech to Parliament, January 2007

Anti-troop supporters at the Nature Coast Coalition for Peace

Brian Moore, a former U.S. Senate candidate and the leader of the Nature Coast Coalition for Peace and Justice, tried to create a forum for diverse and opposing viewpoints on the war in Iraq. He invited representatives from several groups that he thought would defend President Bush’s strategy in the war-torn country and help create a robust debate. Instead, the two dozen people who came to the town hall meeting at the Spring Hill Library Thursday night were largely forced to play devil’s advocate........more

Opposing Viewpoint

Department of Peace

Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace. There is currently a bill before both Houses of Congress. This landmark measure will augment our current problem-solving options, providing practical, nonviolent solutions to the problems of domestic and international conflict.

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Bloody Condi

Drinking Liberally is compiling a bartender's guide of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to sell as a fundraiser for the 2007 Drinking Liberally National Conference (DLNC), scheduled for September 14-16 in Des Moines, Iowa

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Lee's Summit, Missouri
"My overall view of President Bush is I don't think we could have a better leader" Dwight McGarrah

The bedroom community of about 80,000 just outside Kansas City has a median family income of more than $70,000 and is largely made up of people who are white and well-educated. But while concerns about the war in Iraq, the economy, health care and education are on the minds of many here, a random sampling found few who blame Bush.......more

Progressive Talk Radio – Why not in Tampa?

Many people believe the time has come to have voices heard on our local airwaves other than Rush Limbaugh and his extremist imitators. Several progressive talk radio shows are now available, and most are entertaining and informative. The only way these shows will ever be heard in our area is for our local station managers to know that people are interested.....more

Lawmakers call for Bush impeachment

Two New Mexico lawmakers have introduced a measure calling on Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The measure alleges that Bush and Cheney conspired with others to intentionally mislead Congress and the public about the threat posed by Iraq in order to justify the war. It also cites the administration's warrantless wiretapping program and alleges the torture of prisoners and the denial of constitutional rights to enemy combatants.......more

No Impeachment, Prison

Web a hot medium for campaigns

Howard Dean may have been the first presidential candidate to actively use the Internet to advance his candidacy, but it has already become obvious that he won't be the last. What is also becoming obvious is that politicians in the 2008 presidential campaign can -- and will -- use the Web for things Dean may never have considered........more

Love the Warrior, Hate the War
Why progressives have more in common with the military than they think

When Army Col. Ike Wilson returned home in March 2004 from a 12 month deployment in Iraq, one thought remained with him: “Why such a deliberate plan to fight the war, but none to win the peace to follow?”.......more

Attack on Iran would be catastrophe

"It would be absolutely counterproductive, and it would be catastrophic," ElBaradei said at a discussion on nuclear proliferation at the World Economic Forum. The Bush administration in recent weeks has toughened its stance against Iran, which the West has accused of seeking to secretly build an atomic bomb, raising fears among political and business leaders that the U.S. plans an attack.......more

The fragile myth of the deserving rich

"Control in modern times requires more than force, more than law. It requires that a population dangerously concentrated in cities and factories, whose lives are filled with cause for rebellion, be taught that all is right as it is. And so, the schools, the churches, the popular literature taught that to be rich was a sign of superiority, to be poor a sign of personal failure, and that the only way upward for a poor person was to climb into the ranks of the rich by extraordinary effort and extradordinary luck......more

There was that tongue again

When the President lies he’s got this weird nervous tick: He sticks the tip of his tongue out between his lips. Like a little boy who knows he’s fibbing. Like a snake licking a rat. In his State of the Union tonight the President did his tongue thing 124 times — my kids kept count......more

Dean Responds to President Bush's State of the Union Address

The Real State Of The Union

"Democrats welcome President Bush's call to achieve 'big things' for the American people, but he should remember that the American people know actions speak louder than words. For too long, the words from this President have not matched the action required to solve the problems that hard working Americans face. From the escalation of the war in Iraq' to his new health care tax to the energy crisis, once again tonight, we heard more hollow promises and empty proposals that just won't fix the problems.......more

Where have you gone, Howard Dean?

Once a formidable political force and the supposed embodiment of a Democratic renaissance, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, appears to have left and gone away. Though his job is still one of national prominence, and his party "thumped" Republicans in the most recent election, the former Vermont governor seems to have become merely a shadow of his old self......more

I’m beautiful and Rich—now get out of my city!

The beginning sounds like a real act of self defense. However, the suggestions that Ms. Rich Diamonds comes up with aren’t funny at all. In fact, Ms. Diamonds advocates the beating up of St. Petersburg homeless because, like, they really shouldn’t be in her city, right?......more

Well Said Mr. Webb

"The president took us into this war recklessly, We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable — and predicted — disarray that has followed."........more

CNN wants your thoughts on the State of the Union

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Blog for Choice Day

What kind of legacy will we leave for our daughters in the future? Will we send them back to the dark ages of back-alley abortions and unregulated, unsafe medical procedures? Or will we fight with all we have to guarantee them the same legal rights that have protected us for the past thirty-four years? This, I believe, is the real challenge......more

Andy Griffith vs. Patriot Act

SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH CONDOLEEZZA RICE
"We Feel We Have a Responsibility to the World"

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses America's new engagement in the Middle East, the path to stability in Iraq and explains why Washington is unwilling to compromise in its position against Iran......click here

Alan Colmes is a Punk

U.S. Troops' Deadly Weekend

The deaths come as the U.S. begins to deploy thousands of additional troops into Iraq, the first of 21,500 meant to bolster forces that must confront Shiite and Sunni Arab gunmen in a complex peacekeeping and counterinsurgency mission.....more

St. Petersburg Police On YouTube

Hillary's in. Well, whoopty-doo

Unelectable, and rightly so

Everybody must surely realize that 30 to 40 percent of this country -- the same hard-skulled core of lunatics who still support our Criminal-in-Chief -- will simply never, ever vote for Hillary Clinton. Of the remainder who might vote for Hillary, at least half were opposed to the war from the outset. Remember, the Iraq War was never particularly popular; Zogby figured 42% of the US was opposed before the first bomb ever fell; most of these, obviously, were Democrats. And Hillary, these early war opponents will remember, was an active, enthusiastic accomplice to the crime......more

Massive peace march in Washington, D.C.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
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The death of the American gentleman

It would not be asking too much for America's most famous businessman to simply behave like a gentleman. With great wealth and fame come responsibility, the foremost of which, for a man of power, is the proper treatment of women.....more

Compassionate Conservatives Run Amok In St. Petersburg

The city of St. Petersburg's battle against its homeless residents escalated today when police slashed their tents to the ground and threw them away. Homeless bystanders stood by and watched in shock, many with tears streaming down their faces.....more

Help pours in for St. Pete homeless

Sell Crack = 5 Years, Sellout Your Country = 30 Months

Former Representative Bob Ney, the only member of Congress to admit guilt in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison, longer than had been requested by the Justice Department.....more

We have a chance to rub her nose in it

The White House had suggested the federal government should take charge in Louisiana because Blanco was a Democrat, while leaving Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, in control in his state......more

House Rolls Back Big Oil Subsidies

The legislation would impose a "conservation fee" on oil and gas taken from deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico; scrap nearly $6 billion worth of oil industry tax breaks enacted by Congress in recent years; and seek to recoup royalties lost to the government because of an Interior Department error in leases issued in the late 1990s......more

http://www.exxonsecrets.org/

The Internet Gets America's Vote

A lot can change in four years. According to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the number of people who used the Internet as their main source of information about the 2006 midterm elections more than doubled from the last round of midterm elections in 2002.....more

Surge of the Power Morons

Thoughts on The Surge

What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy

The human mind isn’t very well equipped to make sense of a figure like $1.2 trillion. We don’t deal with a trillion of anything in our daily lives, and so when we come across such a big number, it is hard to distinguish it from any other big number. Millions, billions, a trillion — they all start to sound the same......more

Abandon Ship?

To Flee Or Not To Flee How Republicans Handle A Failing President

For the legislators of today, this problem is largely framed in terms of Bush's proposal to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq. In the next few weeks, the House and the Senate will take up resolutions opposing the "surge." Though these measures will be nonbinding, they will amount to a no-confidence test for the Bush presidency......more

Escalate

Tampa Bay's Hottest Blogger
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Glaciers' retreat in Greenland keeps mapmakers busy

All over Greenland and the Arctic, rising temperatures are not simply melting ice; they are changing the very geography of coastlines. Nunataks — "lonely mountains" in Inuit — that were encased in the margins of Greenland's ice sheet are being freed of their age-old bonds, exposing a new chain of islands.......more

Dean appearance at Patrick’s side fuels speculation

Gov. Deval Patrick was followed throughout Martin Luther King Day by Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, stirring speculation that the governor is already being eyed by power-brokers on the national political stage.“This has been an xtraordinary day for me to come to this state because of Gov. Patrick,” said Dean......more

The New Anti-American Axis: What Holds it Together?

“What do the leaders of the 'Bolivarian revolution' have in common with those of the 'Islamic revolution?' Nothing. Nothing but an anti-imperialist ideology that has grown in proportion to the stubbornness of George Bush's America.”.....more

MLK: An Unrealized Dream of Justice

The memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has never had more urgent relevance than it does today. America is at a crossroads moment, much as it was when he was murdered.
Five days ago, President Bush marked the boundaries of the national crossroads by escalating the war in Iraq and recommitting himself to "victory." Five days before King's death in Memphis, Lyndon Johnson gave an equivalent speech to the nation, although with an opposite purpose. The date was March 31, 1968.....more

35% of Americans

Who Are These People?

The collapse of the Bush presidency is truly historic. It is always worth remembering that when Richard Nixon was forced to resign the Presidency, his Gallup approval rating was 25%. The 35% Rasmussen figure for Bush is above the low points measured by most other polls (which is why it is the favorite metric for Bush followers), but it is still abominably low.......more

McCain Spends MLK Holiday Pandering to the Far Right

Nearly 24 years after voting against creating a holiday honoring Martin Luther King, John McCain is spending today at the inauguration of Alabama Governor Bob Riley who is a member of an organization that has been criticized for excluding African Americans. The "Grand Master" of the Grand Lodge of Alabama admits he knows of no African American members among the groups 30,000 plus membership.......more

A Time To Break Silence
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Africa's inferno

A humanitarian disaster is unfolding right now in the Darfur region of Sudan, and it could be prevented. More than 300,000 people, most of them ethnically African, have been killed in the past two years. Some 3.3 million have been forced to flee into camps as a campaign of terror by Janjaweed militias and the army of the government of Sudan clears large areas of the region.....more

Ten Problems With Bush's Latest Iraq Plan

On January 10th, President Bush presented his "new plan" for Iraq. Bush's proposal has ten serious problems. It wasn't a plan: A realistic proposal starts with an accurate assessment of the current situation and then presents a detailed program for achieving a set of measurable objectives given time and budget constraints. Bush's "plan" has none of these elements. It's wishful thinking wrapped in sophistry......more

Lisa Strikes Back

Dear Joe Scarborough,

Why are you trying to turn my webpage about you, What Liberal Media? into What Death of an Aide? by threatening me with a lawsuit? Resumes are important, Joe, and you fit the mold of my political comedy website, All Hat No Cattle -- People pretending to be what they are not. Gee, you like Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, and they make fun of you, too! My feelings are hurt......more

New postal law lets Bush peek through your mail

Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions......more

Rattled America will find it can't spin itself out of this one

And who will trust the Americans now, after this and Abu Ghraib and hurricane Katrina, to get any process right in any country including their own? Not the British soldiers on the ground in Helmland Province, Afghanistan. Not the Australian "security guards" in downtown Baghdad. Not the Iraqi dentists, doctors, nurses, restaurateurs and university lecturers daily fleeing the country. Not the children with toothache. Not the pregnant women with nowhere to go to give birth. Not the grandmothers of dead babies in humidicribs whose electricity gave out. Not the middle-class parents afraid to put their children on school buses lest they never see them again......more

Santa Claus and bare-breasted women

The decision to let Shelton Brothers sell Santa's Butt Winter Porter and two other European beers reverses a decision last fall to deny the company's application to sell the beers in Maine.
After the denial, the Maine Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Belchertown, Mass., company in U.S. District Court in Portland accusing the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship.....more

The Candy Desk

With Democrats back in control of Congress for the first time in years, much is changing in the nation's capital, including a longtime tradition in the U.S. Senate: the "candy desk." For a decade until his defeat last year, Sen. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, stocked the desk with donations from home-state candy makers including Hershey Co. and Just Born Inc., maker of Hot Tamales and Peanut Chews.......more

Martin Luther King Celebration in Ybor

In the spirit of unity, many cultures will come together to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the International Bazaar in Ybor City on Sunday, January 14, 2007, from 3-5pm. The Musical Celebration will be followed by an open consultation on Peace, Race Unity, Equality and Freedom.

Hosted by The International Bazaar
Sponsored by CDTB

From DFA Tampa Bay organizer, Susan Smith. Let's wear our DFA (or Mary Mulhern) t-shirts and attend this event.