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.

Tampa Treasure

A New Direction for America

The New Direction for America advances the right priorities – to make our nation safer and our economy fairer; to make health care and college more affordable; to energize America with energy independence; and to guarantee a dignified retirement for all Americans. These initiatives – the product of a united Democratic House Caucus working together with our Senate colleagues - are our priorities for the 109th Congress. We are committed to building an America where all families can live and prosper in diverse, safe, and vibrant communities.....more

"In this House we may be of different parties, but we serve one country."

Democrats took control of both the House and Senate today for the first time in the presidency of Republican George W. Bush — and promptly embraced at least some of the trappings of bipartisanship.The House made history by electing Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as its first female speaker, putting her behind Vice President Dick Cheney in the line of succession to the presidency......more

Liberal Media Bias

Something taken as a given by most conservatives, and even many moderates and a few liberals, is that there is a bias in the mainstream media that favors liberals. The problem with this is that there is actually no evidence to support this claim. And I mean that literally -- no evidence......more

Operation: Save Bush's Legacy

If press reports are correct – that George W. Bush will approve a troop “surge” in Iraq of 17,000 to 20,000 soldiers – the follow-up question must be whether the escalation will do anything but get more Americans and Iraqis killed while only forestalling the defeat of Bush’s war policy......more

And So It Begins…

It's a cliché to say that the 2008 battle for the presidency is the most open and competitive in our lifetimes, but a general examination of the race can't begin without pointing it out......more

Dems to Inherit Agenda Dominated by War

Now the majority party, Democrats will inherit an agenda dominated by the war in Iraq when the new Congress convenes Thursday, increasing their exposure to what has mostly been a politically damaging issue for Republicans.....more

God tells Pat Robertson of mass killing in US

"I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.".......more

US plunges to 53rd place

Cuba, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea: The worst violators of press freedom

New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones.....more

Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents

Librarians took them off the shelves and dumped them

Like Borders and Barnes & Noble, Fairfax is responding aggressively to market preferences, calculating the system's return on its investment by each foot of space on the library shelves -- and figuring out which products will generate the biggest buzz. So books that people actually want are easy to find, but many books that no one is reading are gone -- even if they are classics......more

Officers Won't Let Protesters Cross Bridge

Police took 10 war protesters into custody Monday at the Golden Gate Bridge after a three-hour standoff that backed up New Year's Day traffic and frayed tempers of tourists and bicyclists hoping for a jaunt across the span. The confrontation began at noon when about a dozen members of the women's peace organization CodePink prepared to walk across the bridge as a vigil to remember the 3,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Officers from the California Highway Patrol, the Golden Gate Bridge District and the San Francisco Police Department barred their way and also refused to let tourists onto the span.....more

Ret. Col. Ann Wright

"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq."
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, 21 July 2003

A UFO at O'Hare? Some Pilots Thought So

Federal officials say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over O'Hare Airport last fall.....more

Socialist senator makes US history

"Anybody read your website?" he asks the BBC brusquely at the beginning of an interview ahead of taking his seat in the Senate. Assured that millions do, he says: "OK, let's talk to them.".......more

Howard Dean in December 2003: The US is No Safer with Saddam in Captivity than Before. And Now?

Dean's candidacy catapulted to near coronation by an otherwise disdainful media corps precisely because he alone of any major candidate opposed the war from the outset. He gained unflinching grassroots support that translated into historic amounts of money, nearly all from small donors, because he literally spoke truth to power. Most regrettably, this weekend's confluence of Saddam's execution with passing the 3,000 mark in the number of American soldiers dead in Iraq proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dean was right three years ago. At the time Dean made his much-criticized remark, about 500 American's had died in Iraq. Five times that many have died since.......more

Darfur, Uganda and the U.S. campaign to destabilize Sudan

In a little publicized speech earlier this year to the conservative think tank Freedom House, President George Bush had this to say when asked about U.S. efforts to end the unfolding tragedy in Darfur: “We [himself and Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo] talked about the need for a parallel track [a parallel track to the fighting in Darfur], a peace process that needs to go forward, that there needs to be unity amongst the rebel groups,” he said. This seems a strange means by which to achieve peace in Darfur, creating unity between the rebel organizations and isolating the national government. A more fair and realistic approach would be to engage both the government and rebels to negotiate solutions to common grievances......more

Help stop the genocide in Darfur!

Wal-Mart hosts Communist Party

US retail giant Wal-Mart has set up a new branch of the Communist Party at its China headquarters after allowing unions to operate in its stores earlier this year......more

Kucinich for president 2008
kucinich.us
YouTube

2006: A Deadly Year For Journalists

A new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists found that at least 55 journalists were killed this year in direct connection to their work. The most violent country was Iraq where 32 journalists lost their lives......more

3,000 US servicemen and women have been killed by a war that was declared "accomplished" in May 2003.

North Koreans Hail Rise of 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il

Why does the Kim Jong-il regime starve its population in order to build nuclear weapons and feed its military? According to this tribute to Kim Jong-il published by the country's state-controlled newspaper, the threat of a 'U.S. imperialist attack' means nuclear weapons and a strong military are absolutely essential......more

The Juche Idea