Going Green Tampa Bay Expo at USF

St. Patrick's Day may fall in March, but beginning April 7, everything will be coming up green at the University of South Florida. USF will be hosting Sustain-A-Bull, a week-long series of events dedicated to promoting a greener lifestyle in the Tampa Bay area.......here

www.goinggreentampabay.com

The ABCs of the Florida Legislature Funding of Education

I apologize the title was meant to be used on "FOOL's Day" But given the Educational Policies of the Florida Republican Legislature everyday is FOOLS DAY!......here

Australian Cockroach In Florida

They were introduced to southern U.S. presumably from Australia, and now appear to have become naturalized at least in Florida..........here

Florida Sues BlueHippo For Deceptive Ads

The Florida Attorney General’s office has filed a lawsuit against a company which advertises it can help consumers who have poor credit purchase computers.........here

11th Circuit Rules In Favor Of Wildlife In The Florida Keys

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that will impact wildlife in the Florida Keys. Specifically, the court ruled in favor of a number of endangered and threatened species.......here

Joe Garcia On The War In Iraq

Florida's First Black Governor

Although Charlie Crist has genuinely earned the affection of the state's African-American legislators, it's quite a stretch to call him, as some do, "Florida's first black governor." The second, perhaps, but not the first. That distinction, were he to claim it, would belong to Reubin Askew, who served from 1971 through 1978.........here

U. South Florida Protesters Grill Burger King

Chanting slogans such as "freedom for farmworkers" and "down with the king," a group of University of South Florida students gathered outside a Burger King on Monday to protest against the low wages paid to the farmworkers who pick tomatoes for the multinational corporation..........more

Joe Garcia Takes On The Miami Cuban Mafia

Joe Garcia has been fighting this corrupt Cuban mafia for years. This corrupt group is a major source of funding for the Florida Republican Party, and it flexes its political muscle via the three south Florida Cuban Republicans -- Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- and Democrat Debbie Wasserman-Schultz........here

Darcy Burner: A Responsible Plan to End the War

Endorse the plan: Stand with Congressional candidates like Darcy Burner and Donna Edwards, and military leaders like Major General Paul Eaton and Captain Larry Seaquist.......here

Fred Taylor for Florida Senate

If you are a registered voter in State Senate District 11, please take a moment to fill out this form......here

Viva Ceasar Chavez!

Si Se Puede

All Religions Are Fairy Tales

It looked harmless enough, but the words on a billboard un-nerved so many people that a popular restaurant nearby actually lost business..........here

Anti-Illegal Immigration Groups Grow In Florida

Citizens of Dade United is among a growing cohort of anti-illegal immigration groups in Florida trying different tactics to drive out undocumented immigrants. They have turned to legislators in Tallahassee for help in the wake of Washington's inability to find a solution.........here

Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean

Has stopped work on a poll about continuing a popular land-buying program, saying there are still questions about whether it should be extended. Bean challenged the poll, saying county officials and program supporters must answer questions about the county's ability to pay for managing more land. Bean also questioned whether voters would support continuing the program in the current anti-tax atmosphere...........here

Tampa Bay Beagle Rescue

Tampa Bay Beagle Rescue was started in 1999 by a single woman, Betty Roberts. By 2003 she had gathered volunteers and they forged a non profit organization. They are the only non profit rescue group in Florida dedicated exclusively to rescuing beagles and beagle mixes from shelters and abusive or neglectful situations........here

The Ghosts of Ybor: Charlie Wall

It may have been the South, but in the early 1900s Tampa, Fl, specifically its Latin community known as Ybor City, was more reminiscent of the Wild West. Gambling parlors and whore houses were located on every corner, shootouts between police and gangsters were a regular occurrence, election ballot boxes were stuffed, police and politicians were on the take, and very few residents found any of this to be odd........here

Send Your Panties To Burma

It's an international women's protest against the brutal military dictatorship in Burma, and it's called "Panties for Peace." This creative group learned that the thuggish military men oppressing the people of Burma are not only brutal, but also very, very superstitous. It turns out that one of their phobic beliefs is that they must never, ever come into contact with female undies.........here

McKay Bay Nature Park

Yesterday I had to take a load of stuff out to the city dump just south of Ybor City and thought, just in case, I'll take my Polaroid with me. Funny, I've been to the city dump several times and really never noticed a park out this way..........here

Streets Of St. Petersburg, Florida

The Ybor Festival of the Moving Image

Hillsborough Community College presents the 6th annual Ybor Festival of the Moving Image, Thursday, April 17 through Sunday, April 20, 2008. This eclectic film festival explores the cinematic world of independent filmmakers, offering a spectrum of features, documentaries and personal films, plus live performances, workshops and lectures.......here

Sophie Scholl At Cafe Bohemia, St. Petersburg

The true story of Germany’s most famous anti-Nazi heroine is brought to thrilling life in the multi-award winning drama SOPHIE SCHOLL-THE FINAL DAYS. Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.........more

Wednesday, April 2, 8:00pm, Cafe Bohemia, 937 Central Ave., St. Pete

Florida Dems - Stop Your Whining!

Stop Attacking And Blaming Howard Dean For The Mess You Are In

The vote for the change was 115-1. Thats right, Democratic lawmakers were complicit in this mess, and made no real effort to stop it.........here

Representative Jack Seiler

Treasured Maps Of Early Florida

Panfilo de Narvaez and some 400 conquistadors came to Florida looking for gold in the spring of 1528. Eight years later, four survivors arrived in Spanish Mexico. They were the remnants of the first European expedition into the interior of America. So the European experience in America began not at Jamestown or Plymouth Rock, but more than 75 years earlier at Boca Ciega Bay - near Tampa........here

Florida's Latest Attraction

It's breakfast time in Orlando and thousands of people are clambering aboard tour buses all over the city ready for fun in the Florida sunshine. One group, however, won't be following the others to Disney World or the area's many other theme park attractions. They'll be taking a shopping trip in the company of estate agents and mortgage brokers, hoping to find a bargain among a selection of repossessed and run-down homes........here

Don't Shortchange The 'Working Poor' In Florida

And I would ask our elected leaders to stop before each vote they cast on safety-net services and ask themselves: "What if it were my grandmother in a nursing home where there will be fewer personnel to bathe and turn her? What if it were my autistic child on a waiting list to be helped in developing social skills? What if it were my sister in an abusive marriage, or my disabled brother deprived of helping hands?"..........here

Butch Harrison: A Real Florida Cracker

Harrison, known as the Florida Cracker Storyteller, spins tales about the Florida of his youth and carries his listeners away to another time and place. He looks the part of a Florida Cracker because he has lived it. Harrison grew up in South Florida, with the Everglades, the Florida Keys and the ocean serving as his playground. And he grew up understanding and appreciating Florida’s natural beauty.........here

High-Class Squatter In Ybor City

Playwright, sculptor and artist Blake Emory works on a stage in an Ybor City building where its owners let him stay, for now, and direct art shows......here

How Lethally Stupid Can One Country Be?

So, happy anniversary, America! You put these people in charge, and then -- after seeing in explicit in detail what they were capable of -- you actually did it again in 2004! You stood by in silence watching the devastation wrought upon an innocent people, produced in your name and financed by your tax dollars. And you continue to do just that again, now in Year Six.......here

Ybor City Scrapbook

From March 1994 to August 1998, I lived in the Tampa Bay area. This is my collection of Ybor City overviews and memorabilia.......here

Florida Lawmakers Busy With Daylight Saving Time

One Florida lawmaker wants to end the annual rites of springing forward and falling back.State Sen. Bill Posey wants the state to stop using daylight saving time.If approved, Florida would become the third state to shun daylight savings, which was used during both world wars and Congress ultimately made a law in 1966.........here

Rising Sea Eats Away At Florida Coastline

Global warming is boosting the sea level along Florida's gulf coast and already causing profound environmental changes, scientists say.......here

Florida Red and Blue

Some conservatives will stop at nothing to roadblock progress for GLBT people -- even if straight people will also be affected in big ways. And they never seem to miss an opportunity to pander to their anti-gay base, especially considering that it's already been uncovered that the Florida GOP has directed large sums of money to conservative anti-gay marriage groups to underwrite their efforts to pass this discriminatory amendment.......here

Legacy Trail Opens In Florida

Bicyclists are celebrating today's official opening of a 10.6-mile rail-to-trail that links Sarasota and Venice. The Legacy Trail takes the place of an abandoned CSX Transportation railway line that was purchased for $14.5 million in 2004. It's one of more than 1,460 rail-trails in the US that stretch across nearly 14,000 miles of landscape.......here

Extremist of South Florida - Joe Kaufman

For the past couple of months, Joe Kaufman has been smearing Muslims in the Tampa Bay area, if one didn’t know any better one would think that Joe lives in our community, but he doesn’t. So why the interest in Tampa, Kaufman?? A reason maybe the fact that Kaufman has discredited himself in South Florida so much that not a single mainstream media outlet would dare quote him. He’s proven to be a very bias and unreliable source.......here

Marilyn Garateix's 50 Years Of Fidel

I have never met the man, but he has been a never-ending presence in my life. My parents, grandparents and other adults in my family despise him. They had to adapt to a new country while mourning the loss of their homeland to a revolution they vehemently opposed. And they blame Fidel for everything.......here

Slave Labor in Florida’s Tomato Fields

You can act now to urge Burger King to do the right thing and treat these workers with common human decency and respect. Sign the petition to eliminate modern-day servitude in America’s produce fields and join an industrywide effort to eliminate slavery and human rights abuses from Florida’s fields........here

Paul Cejas: Florida Clinton Donor

He is only one of the Clinton top donors who are demanding their money back from the DNC because of the Florida sanctions..........here

Howard Dean Warns Bickering Has To Stop

Democratic Party chief Howard Dean says Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and their supporters should beware of tearing each other down, demoralizing the base and damaging the party's chances of winning the White House in November.......here

Hot For Teacher In Tampa, Florida

Florida Streamlines Food Stamps Process

With the economy in trouble, more people need help, and food stamps are one form of assistance. In the Central Florida region, more than 320,000 people are receiving food stamp assistance -- that's 50,000 more than a year ago. For those who are shy and do not want to apply for help in person, Florida is helping lead the way in getting to people in need......here

To sign up for food stamps, please.......click here

Florida Forever Coalition Growing

Because of the enormous grass-roots support for Florida Forever — and the urgent need for land conservation funding in our state — more than 100 groups, businesses, and associations have now joined the Florida Forever Coalition. In addition, 38 counties have now passed resolutions in support of Florida Forever.......here

Florida Lawmakers Float LGBT Rights Bill

Thirty-seven Florida lawmakers have sponsored a bill that would prohibit discrimination against gay men and lesbians in public and private employment, housing and public accommodations. State Sen. Ted Deutch introduced a measure that would amend the the Florida Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act to include sexual orientation.......here

Howard Dean Threatened By Clinton Donors

It is not just Pelosi who is being threatened by top Clinton donors, Howard Dean is as well. This is alarming, but maybe it is good we are finding out about it. Here are details on Patricof, but other large Florida donors are threatening Dean with funds being withheld........here

"He's got to exercise some leadership, and the sooner, the better,".......Alan Patricof

Howard Dean Is Exercising His Leadership, Please See The Florida Democratic Party. How I Miss Bob Graham And Lawton Chiles