Congratulations Ségolène Royal

France Votes

Royal and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy appeared headed to a presidential runoff, setting up a stark choice between one of France's most right wing politicians and a liberal who would be the country's first female leader.......here

The voter turnout rate was heading over 80 percent, nearing the record of 84.8 percent

Merkel, Royal and Clinton?

Conch Republic Independence Celebration

The Conch Republic was established by secession of the Florida Keys from the United States of America, on April 23rd, 1982 in response to a United States Border Patrol Blockade setup on highway U.S.1 at Florida City just to the north of the Florida Keys. This heinous act effectively isolated Keys Citizens from the U.S. mainland since the blockade was on our only land artery to and from the mainland. This roadblock portrayed Keys residents as non-U.S. citizens who had to prove their citizenship in order to drive onto the Florida mainland! Hardly an American thing to do!.......more

Charlie And The GOP

After three months in office, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has earned praise from surprising quarters - Democrats, environmentalists and even The Nation, which bills itself as America's leading journal of liberal political opinion.......more

Some Of The Awful Things The Governor Has Done:

•Wetlands regulation. Saying he would veto a bill to strip local governments of the authority to regulate destruction of wetlands by developers - a measure strongly favored by developers.

•Voting machines. Joining with U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a liberal Boca Raton Democrat, to advocate new voting machines that include a paper record of votes cast.

•Teacher meeting. Meeting in his office with representatives of the state teachers union, an organization scorned by Bush.

•Gay marriage. Announcing that he doesn't want the Republican Party to continue funding a constitutional amendment petition drive to ban gay marriage.
And Of Course state action against global warming and restoring civil rights for felons.

How Much Longer Will We Take This?
Campaign Against Alleged Voter Fraud Sought To Bolster The GOP

For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates, according to former department lawyers and a review of written records........more
Compromising Your Countrys Democracy, As Long As Your Side Wins.

The Police In La Habana

Response was quick and expectantly hysterical from at least one Cuban-American blogger to the news that the Police have apparently agreed to play a free concert in Havana in December. Henry Gomez, writing for Cuban-American Pundits, had this to say........here

End The Embargo On The Cuban People

Stogie Interviews The Local Homeless
Meet Randy

He is 29, born In Panama. He has lived in Tampa 5 years. Been homeless 3 of those years. Has no family. Lives on the street. Says he doesn't want help, he just wants a job. He was crying throughout our chat.

Painting Your Heart Out In Ybor

Mayor Pam Iorio calls Paint Your Heart Out, Tampa "...the best all-volunteer program that this community has ever had." And it is!............here

Ava Lowery - Camp Casey Easter 2007

Hamas Says, America and Israel Will Be Annihilated
Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Sheik Ahmad Bahr from Hamas, Declared during a Friday Sermon at a Sudan Mosque that America and Israel Will Be Annihilated and Called upon Allah to Kill the Jews and the Americans "to the Very Last One".....watch it here

HARRY REID: Gonzales Should Resign, Bush Should Fire Him

Sarasota And Largo
A Large Bridge Apart

"The people of Sarasota don't have an issue, you have an issue," Commissioner Fredd Atkins told a reporter asking about Stanton's application. "We have the same rules and regulations for every applicant. ... Any qualified candidate can apply."......here

"He would make a good city manager whether he applies as Steve or Susan,"...Former City Commissioner Mary Anne Servian

Sarasota adopted a non-discrimination ordinance in 2003 that includes sexual orientation.

So Mary, Andy, Harriet, Gay And Gigi. This Is How They Do It In The Real World. Good Job Sarasota.

Just Tell People You Are Canadian

Christian Cox, a US citizen living in London, wrote to the BBC news website to express her concern about the amount of abuse she receives because of her nationality. Ms Cox, 29, says she has been called, among other things, "terrorist", "scum", "low life", and feels that she is constantly being held to account for the actions of President Bush and for US foreign policy.....more

Kucinich To Launch Cheney Impeachment Push

On April 25

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the former mayor of Cleveland who is seeking the 2008 Democratic nomination for president for the second time, has selected a date to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.......more

In Miami, Some Terrorists Are Honored Guests

After a two-year battle with immigration authorities, Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, looking frail and unsteady on his feet, arrived in Miami on Thursday after being released on $350,000 bond by a federal court in El Paso, Texas.......more
Flashback May 2005: Posada Speaks To......Miami Herald
The Bush Dynasty And The Cuban Criminals.......here
What Castro Has To Say........here

Cubana Flight 455
Do They Still Have Orlando Bosch Day?

Dr. Dean On Partial Birth Abortion Ban

Individual freedom should apply to abortion decision. I believe that the issue of abortion is a medical rather than a political decision. I don't see how a government regulation that tells doctors how to practice medicine can be supported. Republicans claim that they are the party of individual freedom, but they are the first to tell other people how to live their lives................ Howard Dean, Dec 3, 2003.................here

NRA Boasts About Working Out Of White House

The National Rifle Association last year spent $6 million supporting some political candidates and attacking others. The independent Political Moneyline website reported that 85 per cent of that expenditure went to Republican Party candidates.

Politicians Duck For Cover At Talk Of Gun Control

The response of America's political leaders to the deaths at Virginia Tech was so muted it was no louder than a sob. Among two firearms used by Cho Seung-hui was a legally bought Glock 19, loaded with a high-capacity magazine that could hold 15 bullets at a time. This magazine was illegal until 2004, when a federal law controlling the possession and sale of semi-automatic assault weapons lapsed.....more

You Chose 08: John Edwards

WMNF 88.5 Needs Your Cash
Raised so far: $129,118.00 from 1308 generous supporters!
Now it's your turn!

Ronda Probes ChildNet

A Florida Senate committee is preparing to investigate the scandal at ChildNet, the Broward child welfare program embroiled in allegations of forgery, fraud, kickbacks and security problems.......more

"I'm not looking the other way if you are going to be a bad actor. I am not going to shelter you from criticism."

Iraqi Boy Scout Jamboree

"The Runaway Presidency"

The United States of America was born during the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason. America was conceived by a learned generation angry with power-mad absolute rulers. On the eve of the country's birth, as popular outrage bubbled to the surface, Great Britain's King George III and monarchs of other nations were above the law. An adage at the time was "the king can do no wrong."........more

Bush and Cheney function as kings. This isn't what America's founders had in mind.

Statement of Howard Dean on Virginia Tech Tragedy
“Today our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the students, faculty and administration officials at Virginia Tech. Our nation is devastated by this tragedy and mourns with those who lost loved ones today.”

Charlie Joins Tax Protesters

Protesters came to Tallahassee Tuesday to urge legislators to pass a property tax reform measure. Gov. Charlie Crist attended the rally. "You have the power," Crist told the protesters. "You're making the difference. This is your state. It's your money, and you're going to get it back."...........more

Mayor Of Nagasaki Killed by Mobster

Backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Iccho Itoh was campaigning for his fourth term in office before Sunday's elections. He was an active figure in the movement against nuclear proliferation, heading a coalition of Japanese cities calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
"Mayor Itoh had a strong and boundless passion for peace," said Sunao Tsuboi, leader of a survivors' group based in Hiroshima, a city also flattened by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945.......more

things that make you say "hmmm"

Truckloads Of Food Worth More Than $40 million Are Being Thrown Away

After FEMA Ran Out Of Storage Space

As many as 6 million prepared meals stockpiled near potential victims of the 2006 hurricane season spoiled in the Gulf Coast heat last summer when the Federal Emergency Management Agency ran short of warehouse and refrigeration space. Most of the meals were commercial versions of the military's Meals Ready to Eat, which were ruined despite being engineered to withstand the demands of desert and jungle climates......here

Al-Jazeera Big, but Not in U.S.

Al-Jazeeras English language television has gained strong viewership across Europe and in parts of Asia, Australia and even in Israel, according to station executives, but no major cable or satellite provider in the United States is carrying the channel - a decision the network blames on political pressure but which U.S. carriers deny......more

Sarasota Clowns Headed To Auction

After a rough six months on the streets, the 50 clown statues scattered throughout the city are heading to market......more

The Nightwatchman - Tom Morello

A28: Impeachment Summer Begins This Spring!

Let's put the word IMPEACH! everywhere on April 28. If you're in Miami you'll be able to voice your opinion directly to George Bush himself. It just so happens on the day of nationwide impeachment protests Bush is scheduled to give the commencement address at Miami Dade Community College.....here

St. Pete for Peace will be providing transportation from St. Petersburg to Miami

E-mail dianelee33176@yahoo.com for more info

Most Knowledgeable Americans Watch 'Daily Show' and 'Colbert'

Bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News

Democrats and Republicans were about equally represented in the most knowledgeable group but there were more Democrats in the least aware group.......here

Big Media Hall of Shame

Sarasota Protests Genocide In Darfur

Nearly 500 people rallied here Sunday to call attention to the genocide in Darfur, the region of Sudan whose humanitarian crisis has spawned calls for intervention from grass-roots organizations around the country.......more

stopdarfurgenocidesrq.org

Barack Obama At The Cuban Club, Ybor City

Nice Crowd

What We Wanted To Hear

Kate Was In Da House

Greetings

Fans

At The Cuban Club

The O-Train Comes to Tampa

Obama’s fresh wind

Who's Next, Mr. Deggans?

Bigotry and hate speech targeting, among other characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity continue to permeate the airwaves through personalities such as Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Michael Smerconish, and John Gibson......more

Dean's War On Easter

“This press release, absent any reference to Jesus, without whom the Easter resurrection story is meaningless, is apparently a sad reflection of a ‘lowest common denominator’ religious outreach of the Democratic party, Wake up and smell the Easter lillies! This kind of outreach will not pass the smell test of any evangelical.”........more

Grandmother Blogs From Baghdad

Jane Stillwater is an unlikely war correspondent. She's 64, a self-described Berkeley "flower child, 40 years later" and broke. So how did this mother of four grown children end up in Baghdad, churning out commentary ranging from shock at Thursday's bombing of the Iraqi parliament cafeteria, to the weirdness of touring Saddam Hussein's bathroom?......more

On the Net: http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/

Toss The Feather

How Much Do We Spend On Defense?

Dolphins and sea lions to patrol the waters of Washington state's Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, which is home to nuclear submarines, ships and laboratories. They are better than anything we have ever made," said Mike Rothe, head of science for the Navy's marine mammal program......more

Stanton Will Not Sue The City Of Largo

Because I think that there's a time for healing as opposed to the decisive process of litigation. I always said from the first time that I really wanted to educate. I wanted to educate, to make people understand that just because you're transsexual doesn't mean you cannot lead, doesn't mean you can't be a productive person. I think I can do that better as an advocate......more

Kurt Vonnegut is The Resident's People

Florida A&M University’s Marching 100

Will play at the Barack Obama Rally Sunday in Tampa

The $25 fundraiser is intended to draw young people and those new to politics

12:45 p.m. Sunday @ The Cuban Club, 2010 Republica De Cuba in Ybor City

Tickets are available on line at BarackObama.com

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding,

This is America, not the damned Titanic

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say.

I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!.......here

America's Pimp 'n' Ho Culture Gets Real
A lot of people owe a lot of apologies to a lot of people

On the same day that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper declared the three white Duke University lacrosse team players innocent of the alleged rape of an African-American stripper, MSNBC canceled its simulcast of the Don Imus radio show for a racial slur against the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team......more

Other Thoughts......Imus isn’t the real bad guy.....Who did Imus hurt? .....Imus Fired: Who's Next?

A 14-Hour Film And No Room For Latinos And Native Americans?
The War On PBS
“The War” On PBS, scheduled to premier in September. includes no interviews with any Latino veterans even though over 500,000 Latinos served in the war. The documentary also includes no interviews with any Native American veterans. In response to protests, Ken Burns (filmmaker) announced this week that he would create additional content that focuses on the stories of Latino and Native American veterans.

Amy Interviews Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez Associate Director of the Center for Mexican-American Studies at the University of Texas.....here

Stinky Florida No. 2 For Pollutants

A report issued Thursday puts Florida second nationwide for increases in a major pollutant linked to global warming. From 1990 through 2004, Florida's carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption grew 37 percent.....Florida politicians are taking notice. Two bills addressing global warming and clean energy sailed through committees Thursday.......more

Sons And Daughters Of Hitler Day

Praising Dixie

Years of relatively routine proclamations by Hillsborough County commissioners setting aside a Southern Heritage Month or a Confederate Memorial Day appear to be at an end. Commissioners Jim Norman, Ken Hagan and Brian Blair had already signed the document. Commissioners Rose Ferlita, Kevin White and Mark Sharpe refused.......more

"Whether you support the Union or the Confederate at that time or at this time, there were people's ancestors who were killed, If it were one of your ancestors, you'd want them remembered, too."......Brian Blair

Brian Blair, Jim Norman, Ken Hagan, Al Higginbotham and Kevin White

Up Developers Ass

Officials at the county's Environmental Protection Commission were told by a majority of commissioners who oversee the agency that state and federal rules suffice in protecting wetlands from development, and that it was wasteful to have separate local regulations.....more

"That is a copout, That is terrible news."......Jan Platt

Who Elected These Guys?

Vox Populi Ruffles "Media Lizzys" Knickers

Finally, I stand by my statements about being a Republican - no matter who the elected leadership is. It is the principles that matter to me, not the leadership. It's a bit like loving the Atlanta Braves, no matter how good or bad a season - and whether or not they make it to the playoffs. I'm a Republican. Full Stop......here

Kurt Vonnegut

1922 - 2007

vonnegut.com

Priest Cruises Biscayne Boulevard
Looking For Boys To Have Sex

Three men have accused a former Broward County priest awaiting trial on sexual molestation charges of paying them for sex when they were boys and turning them into prostitutes......more