Jessica Ehrlich for Congress

Check out Jessica Ehrlich a St. Petersburg native who is running for Congress in Florida's 13th District. She out raises Bill Young. one of the local Republicans who just voted for billions of dollars in corporate welfare to agriculture Interest  but refuse to adequately fund or even take up legislation for a program that provides food aid to 47 million Americans, about half of them childrenWe didn’t just outraise him, we nearly doubled him - almost $154,000 to just $86,000 in the first three months of our campaign. In those three months, we raised more than Young raised in six!
Help her out here

Am I Suspicious?

business As Usual For David Gee

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office did not formally discipline any of its employees in the aftermath of a disastrous series of misjudgments that left a jail inmate going nearly 36 hours without treatment for a fatal stroke, agency officials said this week. Allen Daniel Hicks Sr., 51, was arrested in May 2012 by the Florida Highway Patrol after crashing his car into a guardrail on Interstate 275. Confused and unable to use the left side of his body, he was booked into the Hillsborough jail system and spent much of the next two days sprawled motionless on the floor of a cell. Hicks was finally sent to Tampa General Hospital and diagnosed with an ischemic stroke after a jail nurse found him lying in his own urine. He died from the stroke in August 2012. This year, the Sheriff's Office and Armor Correctional Health Services, the private contractor that handles prisoners' medical care, paid Hicks' heirs $1 million in a wrongful-death settlement.
here and here

Anti-Bullying In Florida

here

Tampa Bay Republicans: Fuck The Poor

Hungry Americans should long remember the vote taken last week by the House to endanger the nation's food stamp program. House Republicans stripped the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program out of the farm bill, where it had been since 1973, and then passed the legislation without a single Democratic vote. House Republicans are fine with spending billions of dollars to subsidize farmers, but they refuse to adequately fund or even take up legislation for a program that provides food aid to 47 million Americans, about half of them children. Every Republican member of Congress from the Tampa Bay area should explain why feeding hungry children is less important than crop insurance for agribusiness.
here
Republican members of the House from the Tampa Bay area who voted for the stand-alone farm bill last week, Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Palm Harbor; Richard Nugent, Spring Hill; Dennis Ross, Lakeland; C.W. Bill Young, Indian Shores; and Vern Buchanan, Sarasota. Only Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Tampa, voted against the bill. I hope you remember them come election day.
Republican Party’s Top Priorities

George Zimmerman: Florida Coward

Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville who is black fired warning shots against her allegedly abusive husband has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.....here. George Zimmerman of Sanford who is white or hispanic what ever he wants to call himself racial profiles, stalks and kills Trayvon Martin a 17 year old African-American kid walking home goes free. You mean to tell me that a man that takes self-defense classes 3 days a week, outweighs Mr. Martin by 70 pounds can not defend himself short of shooting him. This trial was a sham from the begining. They never wanted to prosecute this man and only did it after public pressure. Florida state attorney Angela Corey who was appointed by Rick Scott as Special Prosecutor to investigate the killing and was the one who prosecuted Marissa Alexander was smiling like she just won the Super Bowl after the verdict. They should all be fired. Hopefully the Justice Department will go ahead with it's civil rights case. Mr Zimmerman is nothing but a coward, you don't bring a gun to a fist fight. His name is now synonymous with cowardness and will be for the rest of his life. Get use to it Georgie! Sign the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder here.

Trying To Shield Marco Rubio on Immigration Reform

Legalize Gay Marriage In Florida

Florida Legislators: Bring marriage equality to the ballot. Petition by Matthew Feck of Apollo Beach
Sign Here

A Conversation With Gwen Graham

EDWIN NARAIN STATE REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE

Spoke at the monthly meeting of the East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership. . He wants to replace State Rep. Betty Reed, who is term-limited after serving four terms in the House. The district includes Seminole Heights, East Tampa, Ybor City and West Tampa. Narain is an area manager for AT&T. He serves on the board of the Hillsborough County Head Start Policy Council and formerly was a member of the Hillsborough Community Action Board. He is earning a law degree from Stetson University. As an undergraduate, he was student body president at the University of South Florida. He faulted Gov. Rick Scott for not accepting federal money to expand the Medicaid program. "That is our money," Narain said. "It's shameful we don't expand Medicaid and Obamacare right here in Florida." He also opposes a so-called "parent trigger" bill. Check him out here

Tony in Tampa

His blood pressure spikes over leftist agenda. So he called Rush to tell him about it. RUSH: Here's Tony in Tampa. I'm glad you called, sir. It's great to have you here. Tony: Yeah. Thanks, Rush. Could you imagine if a Republican had this miserable, destructive record that Obama has with the unending golf, the never-ending vacations? You could imagine what the likes of Chris Matthews, that Sleeping Beauty Bob Beckel, Knee-Jerk Geraldo, Juan Williams, and Alan Colmes would do. They'd be crawling the walls! They would be threatening to gas themselves right on the air. It would be a billion-man march. Every street would be clogged with people. You wouldn't be able to get your car out of the driveway! You'd be eating pinto beans for weeks on end. More of Tony's call here

Tony as fellowTampans we suggest you get your head out of your ass, stop making a fool of yourself on the radio and do a little research. You might want to start here and check this out from Fact Check,or you can Google it and you will find all kinds of stuff. Oh wait, this is the Liberal media.

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Shrimp with Lobster Sauce With fried rice and a drink $4.99 at Taste of China in Tampa

Tampa Slumlord William A. "Hoe" Brown

Chairman of the Tampa Port Authority,a Rick Scott appointee and prominent Republican fundraiser, has been running an illegal rental property that Tampa's code enforcement director calls "deplorable" and "not fit for human habitation." "It's shocking. People shouldn't have to live like that," said Jake Slater, Tampa's director of neighborhood empowerment, who termed the squalor among the worst he's ever seen.....more

EMILY’s List Endorses Gwen Graham

EMILY’s List has endorsed Gwen Graham in her race to unseat Congressman Steve Southerland in Florida’s Second Congressional District. EMILY’s List, with more than two million members, works to elect strong female candidates who are willing to stand up for women and families in Washington......here

Rick Scott: Every Floridian Should Be A Republican

Rick Scott spoke to a bunch of Dixiecrats in Graceville, a North Florida town where folks still call themselves Democrats in part because their ancestors did, but they vote Republican in statewide elections. 100 people hung out with the Gov.dressed in jeans and a checkered shirt at the Circle Grill to shake his hand and hear him explain the benefits of Republicanism. It's difficult to find the benefits in Graceville's faded downtown. Lets give the panhandle to Georgia and Alabama or we can ask the Feds to let us become the 51st state. We can just draw a line across the state just below Ocala. .....here

The Lens In St. Pete

Supporters of the Lens have formed a political action committee and launched a website..... here

MacDill Air Force Base In Tampa

 Apparently all it takes to get into MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa which is home to two of the nation's premier combat commands - U.S. Special Operations Command and Central Command is a garbage can. Just ask Suzanne M. Jensen who has done it four times.....more

Flooded Bike Route

In Tampa

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Ropa Vieja
With black beans and yellow rice.
$3.99 at Las Palmas Supermarket In South Tampa.

"To Protect And Serve

Allen Daniel Hicks Sr
Poor guy, he has a stroke on I275 in Tampa and pulls over. When the the cops show up instead of calling EMS they pulled him out of the car, arrested him on a charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer when he did not respond to commands to exit his car and sent him to the Orient Road Jail where he did not receive a medical screening, but was put in a cell where he lay facedown on the floor or tried to crawl using the one working side of his body soaked in his own urine, his brain choked of blood, 36 hours later he was at last taken to Tampa General Hospital and diagnosed with an ischemic stroke. He slipped into a coma and died within three months. His family gets 1 million. How
 sad that we are treated this way by the people we pay to protect us.
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Tampa Bay Newspapers

The Tampa Bay Times on the left, the Tampa Tribune on the right
and Stars and Stripes in the center.

Marco Rubio A Piece Of Garbage?

According to the pitbull of the Republican Party Ann Coulter

It seems he is being courted by the right-wing to take up ban on abortions at 20 weeks. Remember his championing of immigration reform caused him to lose some luster among some conservatives. Rubio is considering becoming lead sponsor of legislation to ban abortions 20 weeks after fertilization. Anti-abortion groups have asked Rubio to take the lead, and while his office says no final decision has been made, the senator is expected to sign on this week after returning from a family vacation. I have always stayed away from this issue becouse i am a man and this is a woman thing and it is none of my business. I can say that i find 20 weeks more then enough time. I mean this is 5 months more then half of the 9 month term.

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Tampa And Miami In Cold War Over Cuban Trade

We Were Here First
Tampa, whose Cuban population first came from the island in the 1800s, has spent the past decade on a careful plan to build relationships with Cuban officials.
here
Help, end the war on the Cuban people, they are being held hostage by a 
rabid  right-wing anti-Castro minority in South Florida.

The Stogie: 2073

A group of North Florida lawmakers met with governor Chiles in the South Florida capital "Progress" on monday to voice their concern with the large number of bars, casinos, marijuana dispensaries, brothels and womens health clinics that have sprung up along the state line on the South Florida side. Since the the creation of the new state of South Florida in 2026 North Florida residents have been flocking over the state line to get the services they cannot get at home. Governor chiles voiced concerns of her own. the north has installed checkpoints on interstates 75 and 95 and other major roads headed north. South Florida residents feel like they cannot leave the state without their cars being serched.
More on what this blog and the state of Florida might look like 60 years in the future.
click here

Work Will Make Tampa Roads Safer For Cyclists And Walkers

Work will be getting under way this summer to make some of Hillsborough County's most dangerous road segments safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Tampa Bay is one of the nation's most dangerous metro areas for pedestrians and bicyclists. According to a 2011 study by the group Transportation for America. Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner took note of the grim statistics and asked the Metropolitan Planning Organization to study bike and pedestrian safety in unincorporated areas of the county.

here

The Heart Of America: Ocala, Florida

Larry Klayman the Judicial Watch founder, conservative attack dog and wingnut lawyer says he will save the legacy of the country’s founders with his “citizens’ grand jury” investigating the Obama administration. It was for that reason that I took it upon myself to exercise the God-given rights of citizens to control their own fate and initiate citizens' grand juries in a place that represents the heart of America: Ocala, Fla. Ocala, which sits in historic Marion County, is a place that is down to earth, generally conservative in its way of life and thought, and very religious and forward thinking. The list of criminal charges emanating from Ocala is growing, and it could prove endless. This is the same guy that said jews are behind gay marriage and the IRS Scandal.
here
Religious and forward thinking?

Lakeland Preacher: Live Porn Free

Baptist preacher Jay Dennis of the First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland, Florida launched a campaign at the Southern Bapstist Concention annual meeting in Houston this week to get “One Million Men” to destroy their porn stashes and live “porn free.”
here

Europe's No Fly Zone

Bolivian President's Plane Rerouted

I find it disgusting how European powers and the US have always treated Latin America. First the colonization and pillage of their natural resouses, surviving Washington's 20th-century history of backing repressive regimes and now the humiliation of one its leaders. France, Italy, and Portugal  should be ashamed. Could you imagined if this happen to our president. Why because he is a leftist they think they can get away with it. And what gives Austria and Spain the right to board and search his plane. This is a violation of national sovereignty. Hopefully these country's were not following orders from the Obama administration as President Morales seems to think
 Morales again blamed Washington for pressuring European countries to refuse to allow his plane to fly through their airspace on Tuesday, forcing it to land in Vienna.
and they were just kissing Americas ass. South America's leftist leaders rallied to support him and he warn that he would close the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia if necessary.
more
The Guardian is reporting: The Obama administration has taken a step that will resound through Latin American history. Someone almost certainly in Washington – arranged for France, Italy, and Portugal to deny his plane use of their airspace. It was forced to land for refueling in Austria.
here

Tim Hardaway Use To Hate Gay People

Former Miami Heat player Tim Hardaway use to hate gay people. He responded to John Amaechi's coming out in 2007 by declaring "I hate gay people," But he has changed his views. He was the first petition-signer on the Equal Marriage Florida effort to put a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing same-sex marriage in the state on the November 2014 ballot and has become an advocate for LGBT youth.

here

Happy Independence Day Tampa Bay

July Fourth events in bay area.
here

Jeb Bush Fundraises For Tea Party Governor

Jeb Bush on Tuesday attended a fundraiser for Maine’s Tea Party-backed Gov. Paul LePage. LePage is best known nationally for comparing Obamacare to Hitler’s Gestapo and telling the Portland NAACP branch to “kiss my butt.” Last month in the midst of a budget squabble with the legislature he said regarding State Sen.Troy Jackson, “Sen. Jackson claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.” Even his own party is embarrassed of him.
here
At Salon: Why is “sensible” Jeb Bush fundraising for nutty Paul LePage? The Maine governor seems to embody
everything Bush criticizes about his own party.
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Alan Grayson: Republicans Are Callous Bigoted Tools

Many of them (Republicans), as I said before, are callous bigoted tools. I take no pleasure in saying that. Well, yes, I do, actually.-Rep. Alan Grayson.
Alan Grayson: A Congressman with Guts

None Of The Above

Right Wing blogger Javier Manjarres has a poll on his blog Shark Tank on who should run For president in 2016. Here are his choices.
 Sarah Palin, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Allen West, Donald Trump or Rick Santorum. Right now Rand Paul is winning. If this is all they got, they are in trouble.
here
Sorry, none of the above was not listed.

florida's Land And Legacy Amendment

There's a once in a lifetime opportunity to ensure Florida protects its precious waters, wildlife, and open spaces, and we can't afford to let it pass us by. Florida’s Water and Land Legacy Campaign is working to place an historic conservation amendment on the November 2014 ballot that would ensure Florida is annually investing in critical land conservation. We need to gather 150,000 more signatures from Florida voters in the next five months. Please sign petition

Ben And Duncan's Family Blog

Copper And Wool the blog of the Kirby Family adventures from Gulfport, Florida and beyond. Ben Kirby of The Spencerian and his wife Duncan have started a new family blog. Welcome back, we have missed you guys.

Check them out here

3 Boys Farm Tee Shirt

One of Stogie's favorite local blogger Litbrit and her husband own 3 Boys Farm (Fresh, Florida organic pesticide-free grown food year-round). Check out their new T-Shirt.

here

Court Replaces Voting Rights Act with Katherine Harris Acts

Grand OLD Party

Greg Palast writes, they might as well have burned a cross on Dr. King's grave. Last year, the GOP Secretary of State of Florida Ken Detzner tried to purge 180,000 Americans, mostly Hispanic Democrats, from the voter rolls. He was attempting to break Katherine Harris' record. Detzner claimed that all these Brown folk were illegal "aliens." I'll admit there were illegal aliens on Florida's voter rolls – two of them. Let me repeat that: TWO aliens'–One a US Marine serving in Iraq (not yet a citizen); the other an Austrian who registered as a Republican. We can go from state to state in Dixie and see variations of the Florida purge game.

here

They know this is the only way they can win. The wealthy are but a few, and the idiots who keep voting against their own interest are dying off. Officials in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama — all states that were covered by the Voting Rights Act right up until Tuesday morning — started announcing their states' previously blocked voter ID laws would take effect immediately. They must not realize that the more they push the more we thrive. Look at what happen in this past election, their best effort at voter suppression failed. We came out in huge numbers. They lost hispanics, African Americans, women, young people and even the Cuban Americans in Miami voted  against them, something that i tought i would never see in my lifetime. They are making fools of themselves all over the country. (Michele bachmann, Jodie Laubenberg,Todd Akin, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Paul LePage) Look at what happened in Texas this past week, this wasn't just a state thing the whole country saw it. The only reason they control the house is becouse of gerrymandering. Just look at what they are doing to Wendy Davis:

the good ol' boy network in Texas has pretty much ensured Ms. Davis won't be reelected in 2014. After SCOTUS gutted section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the Republican leadership is now free to implement the previously ruled unconstitutional gerrymandered redistricting in Texas. Wendy Davis represents a district in Fort Worth that contains a vast majority of minority citizens. The new district as of today has split those minority citizens placing them in three different white districts. This will not only make her reelection almost impossible, it also takes away the strong advocacy that Ms. Davis has provided during her tenure.

here

The Republican party is history.

Tampa Bay Homeless

Meet Marco
He is from Detroit. He has been homeless 2 years.

The Stone Soup Company

What Stogie had for lunch
Lobster Bisque
At The Stone Soup Company in Ybor City. More here.

Alan Grayson: Uncle Sam = Big Brother?

In George Orwell's novel 1984, "Big Brother" is the dictator of Oceania. No one knows whether Big Brother is a real person, or simply the personification of the dictatorship. Big Brother spies on every citizen through "telescreens." Everyone is reminded constantly, "Big Brother is Watching You."
more

Check out
Republican Dirty Tricks

Florida Elections Chief Ken Detzner

Not our job to measure voting wait times
Florida’s top elections official said Friday the state has no plans to measure where polling place lines are longest, despite the eight-hour wait times that some voters endured last fall.
here

The Cuban Sandwich Show

The Cuban Sandwich Show (July 8-August 8) is an annual one-month long series of arts and cultural events about Tampa. Events include cinema, visual arts, music, culinary arts, poetry, happenings.

info

InVision Tampa

Using federal grant dollars, InVision Tampa is creating a master plan for the City Center of Tampa, Fla., spanning from downtown to Ybor City on the east, Armenia Avenue on the west, and north along historic Nebraska Avenue to Hillsborough Avenue.

info

Tampa Bay Homeless

 Meet Shawn, he is from Alabama. He has been homeless 1 year.

The Merchants Of Ybor

Gaby and Manny of Mace Multimedia having having lunch at
Stone Soup Company in Ybor City. It's nice to see Ybor City merchants supporting each other. 
STAY LOCAL!

.Mi Gente Tampa Bay: Florida Kid Care

Local Artist Manny Potter

mannypotter.com

David Warner's Story

Our own David Warner editor at CL Tampa had his  civil union certificate signed by Howard Dean who in 2000 was the first governor to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples. His  husband was on the fundraising team for Dean.
Read his story here

Speak up Tampa Bay: Homelessness

Rick Scott Preemptively Blocks Paid Sick Leave

Florida’s Governor Rick Scott is the latest Republican to block any initiatives in his state to enact paid sick leave for workers. As attempts to dehumanize the workplace go, few could be more sadistic than forcing workers to come to work sick, but that’s precisely what the Florida legislature and Governor Rick Scott recently did. This throwback to the Satanic mills era of industrial relations came in response to a successful petition by 50,000 voters in Orange County, Florida, to place on the ballot an initiative to guarantee a certain number of paid sick days to all workers in the county. Governor Scott and the state legislature did this at the behest of some of Florida’s largest employers, including Disney World, which might otherwise have suffered the inconvenience of employees being able to go to the doctor without losing their jobs.  A survey by the advocacy group Restaurant Opportunities Centers United found 64% of food service workers have reported working while sick.

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Imagine learning that your favorite restaurant doesn’t provide paid sick days for its employees. This would mean that criminally underpaid chefs and servers would have to come to work every day, even if they’re sneezing up a storm, in order to make ends meet. Pretty gross, right?
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Tampa Bay Driverless Cars

Tampa became one step closer to driverless vehicles on Florida highways.

The Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority (THEA) voted to develop a survey on implementing autonomous vehicle technology in Hillsborough County. The study is a collaborative effort between the THEA and the University of South Florida Center for Urban Transportation Research.

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Ybor City

 

 Lazy Afternoon

Kevin Beckner Is Making Progress

The Tampa politician brings some much-needed sanity to the Hillsborough County Commission. Beckner at a victory party celebrating the repeal of Hillsborough gay pride ban at Hamburger Mary’s in Ybor City.

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Tampa Bay Homeless

 The city is one step closer to enacting a new set of restrictions on homeless people.
Council members discussed two proposed ordinances that would add more restrictions to an existing six-day-a-week ban on roadside panhandling. The first would ban panhandling near downtown, Ybor City, banks, ATMs, sidewalk cafes and transit stops in an effort to stop people from begging in places others can't easily leave. The second would prohibit people from storing their property in public, urinating in public, and sleeping or camping in parks, on sidewalks or in public rights of way.
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thankfully we have  Mary Mulhern who said the city must first increase its shelter offerings before passing an ordinance like this. Courts have ruled that cities must ensure there are adequate alternatives before banning behaviors — such as sleeping on sidewalks — that are closely associated with homelessness. She was the only council member to vote against both proposed ordinances.