The End Of The Florida Everglades

The rescue of the Florida Everglades, the largest and most expensive environmental restoration project on the planet, is faltering. Seven years into what was supposed to be a four-decade, $8 billion effort to reverse generations of destruction, federal financing has slowed to a trickle. Projects are already years behind schedule. Thousands of acres of wetlands and wildlife habitat continue to disappear, paved by developers or blasted by rock miners to feed the hungry construction industry........here

So far, though, most presidential candidates have yet to utter the word "Everglades." In the only mention that has made news, Fred Thompson, a Republican, suggested he might allow oil drilling there.

Ralph Nader; President Of The America I'd Like To Live In

Ralph Nader Sues The Democratic Party

Consumer advocate and three-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader sued the Democratic Party on Tuesday for conspiring to prevent him from running for president in 2004. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Nader, his vice presidential running mate Peter Miguel Camejo and a group of voters from several states.......here

Florida Needs to Get Geeky

Jimmy Wales started Wikipedia in 2001 and moved from California to St. Petersburg, Fla., soon after because of the cheap cost of living. However, as Wikipedia has grown into one of the 10 most-visited Web sites on the Internet with more than 8 million articles in 250 languages, attracting talented tech workers to Florida has been a challenge........more

Ron Paul on Jay Leno

Samm Simpson's Encounter With Senator Bill Nelson

Last Saturday I happened to see Senator Bill Nelson in the hallway at the Democratic convention in Orlando. The Saturday night dinner - which I didn't atttend - had been in progress for fifteen minutes and Senator Nelson was in a side hallway, looking for an open door. Here's the exchange - to the best of my memory......here
"We are not on the same side, you signed the Military Commisions Act last October, you took away the writ of habeas corpus!

Screw The Florida Democratic Party

This has been a terrible time in our state to see the way the state Democrats broke the rules deliberately, worked with the GOP to do so. And then accused Dean of stealing our votes. Amazing how many fell for it all........here

With Bill Nelson Leading The Way.

In Burma, Child Soldiers Bought And Sold

The former Burma is so desperate to replenish its army after desertions and attrition that children are bought and sold by military recruiters. They are beaten and held as virtual prisoners while the government denies it is happening........here
Why Doesn't China Do Something. Am I Suppose To Watch And Enjoy The Upcoming Olympic Games?

Tampa Bay's Dropout Factories

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
East Bay, Hillsborough, King, Leto, Plant City, Robinson, Jefferson, Tampa Bay Tech, Bloomingdale, Wharton

PINELLAS COUNTY
Boca Ciega, Clearwater, Dixie Hollins, Dunedin, Gibbs, Lakewood, Pinellas Park, St. Petersburg,
Seminole, Osceola

here

Sunday Show Roundup: The Rhetoric of Iran

Weekend Protests Target War Funding

Tens of thousands of people across the United States staged demonstrations over the weekend to protest the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq and the White House's reported plans to attack Iran. Organised by a diverse array of anti-war groups, the nationwide protests were held in more than 10 major cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle......here In Orlando....here

Congratulations

Litbrit And Susan Smith
Winners of the First Annual Netroots Awards.......here

A Liberal Re-Thinks Ron Paul

Let's Bomb The Persians 2

Neo-Con Guru Norman Podhoretz

A senior foreign policy adviser to the Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani has urged that Iran be bombed using cruise missiles and "bunker busters" to set back Teheran’s nuclear programme by at least five years. The tough message at a time of crisis between the United States and Iraq was delivered by Norman Podhoretz, one of the founders of neoconservatism, who has also imparted his stark advice personally to a receptive President George W. Bush......more

Dean Lashes Out At GOP

Chairman Howard Dean on Saturday criticized Republicans in Congress for not supporting legislation to expand a popular children's health care program........here

"The Republican leaders have made their choice. They want to stay in Iraq and deny our kids health care, America cannot afford four more years of a president who borrows for the war and denies health insurance for our kids"

Bush vetoes 3.5 billion for SCHIP wants $46 billion more for wars.......here

How Do You Spin Something Like This?

Speeders Beware

Your Neighbors Might Have You On Their Radar
That's the message police departments across the country are trying to send by loaning residents radar guns and turning them into neighborhood speed watchers.......here

Harry Potter Is A Lefty

Harry Potter is a left-winger and the seven books by JK Rowling are a diatribe against Thatcherite Britain, a French philosopher said on the day of the last novel's publication in French.......here

Alex Jones' Endgame - Trailer

Lets Move To New Hampshire

Free State Project

The Free State Project is an effort to recruit 20,000 liberty-loving people to move to New Hampshire. We are looking for neighborly, productive, tolerant folks from all walks of life, of all ages, creeds, and colors who agree to the political philosophy expressed in our Statement of Intent

Free State Project

70 Years Later, Florida College Fountain Finally Works

Frank Lloyd Wright

Was an architectural genius, but a giant fountain he designed for a Florida college was a dud. Engineers could never make it work right. Now, nearly 70 years after Wright first planned it, the fountain finally gushed into the three-story high dome of water he envisioned. More than 1,000 people cheered its opening Thursday at Florida Southern College, but behind the so-called "Water Dome" were modern engineers, technology and computer control........here

Florida Prison Guards Disciplined For Allowing

Gay Wedding

One prison guard was fired, another resigned and six others were handed suspensions for allowing what the Florida Department of Corrections calls a gay wedding between two female inmates at the Lowell Correctional Institution.......here

On Oct. 27th: End This War

Members of Democracy for America Prefer Gore

Members of Democracy for America (DFA), prefer Al Gore as the Democrats’ 2008 presidential nominee. According to an ongoing poll, the former vice president and recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize attracts nearly 30 percent of the vote as a write-in candidate. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is second with 22 percent, followed by former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), both of whom have garnered about 17 percent of the vote.....here

Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton lags far behind the quartet with 5 percent.

School Board Police Arrest Reporter In Miami

Taser Gator

University of Florida police were justified when they used a Taser against a student who refused to stop questioning Sen. John Kerry at a campus event, according to a state investigation released Wednesday.......here

Vote For Our Hometown Favorites

Best Writer: Litbrit

Best National Blog: Pushing Rope, Best Media Blog: The Buzz, Best Professional Blog: Samm Simpson, Best Candidate Website: Lee Nelson, Best Local Party Website: East Hillsborough Democratic Club, Netroots Candidate of the Year: Mary Mulhern, Netroots Activist of the Year: Susan Smith, Netroots Organization of the Year: DFA, And Best Local Blog: Tampa Bay Blue

Vote.......here

Florida's Butterfly Population Struggles

The Queen Butterfly at Buttonwood Canal in the Everglades

"These represent the first butterflies lost from Florida that we know about," Marc Minno, an entomologist who conducted monthly surveys for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told the Herald. "There are things down there that are just hanging on by a thread.""Clearly, the diversity of the butterfly population has been compromised," said Dennis Olle, president of the Miami blue chapter of the North American Butterfly Association.......here

Scientists said the destruction of the butterflies' habitat the strongest factor in their disappearance.

John McCombs Shows His Ass

Why Should Venezuela Keep Their Oil, We All Know Exxon/Mobil Needs It.

The Big Show: Kenneth Quinnell With Samm Simpson

click here

Florida Netroots Awards

Nominations Now Open

click here

Bill Maher Challenged On 9/11 Live

Why I'm A Liberal

"Today, Republicans in Congress chose to side with President Bush and leave millions of children behind. Bush Republicans will spend billions of dollars on their failed strategy in Iraq, but have no problem denying millions of children the health care they need and deserve. This is shameful" .....Dr. Howard Dean

Prehistoric Florida Swamp

Shiny amber jewelry and a mucky Florida swamp have given scientists a window into an ancient ecosystem that could be anywhere from 15 million to 130 million years old......here

Burma's Secret War

Florida NAACP Plan For March In Tallahassee

Justice For Martin Lee Anderson

Members of the NAACP from around Florida will march from the Capitol to the U.S. Attorney's office Tuesday, in an attempt to bring pressure for federal charges against those cleared in the boot-camp trial in Panama City last week......here

Boycott Panama City

The Foul Stench Of The GOP

Florida Stinkers

Gus Bilirakis, Ginny Brown-Waite, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, Adam Putnam, Tom Feeney, Ander Crenshaw, Ric Keller, Jeff Miller, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Cliff Stearns, Dave Weldon

SCRIP........here

Yuck, Who Votes For These People?

Stephen Colbert to Run for President

8 More Guard Units Headed for Duty

The Pentagon is preparing to alert eight National Guard units that they should be ready to go to Iraq or Afghanistan beginning late next summer, The Associated Press learned Wednesday. The U.S. military is reaching out to more Guard units in an effort to maintain needed troop levels, ease some of the strain on the active duty Army and provide security for ports, convoys and other installations......more

Dean: Bush Republicans Have the Wrong Priorities

When the Republican Congress didn't do their job, President Bush turned a blind eye and signed bill after bill, passing $3 trillion in new spending. Yet he's now hiding behind an insincere claim of fiscal discipline to defend his immoral decision to deny millions of low income children health care here at home while spending billions of dollars on his failed war in Iraq......here

800,000 Healthy Children or 1 Week in Iraq?

The Chevy Volt In Miami

Imagine A 40 Mile Daily Commute Without A Drop Of Gas
The Chevy Volt was first shown in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Volt is powered by a 16 kWh lithium-ion battery to power the vehicle for 40 miles of all-electric range. An on-board “range-extender” engine and generator set, powered by gasoline or E85, is used to extend the vehicles range to more than 640 miles......here

Florida Subpoenas Allstate

Allstate Corp
The largest publicly traded U.S. insurer, was subpoenaed on Tuesday by Florida regulators in an ongoing probe into possible industry collusion to thwart state efforts to slash homeowner insurance rates. Calling the industry "tenacious" and "greedy," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, said the investigation would shed light on the failure of Allstate and others to provide meaningful rate relief to Florida customers despite legislation earlier this year to lower rates.......here

Cheney's Law

Angola, Florida

Story Of Early Florida Black Settlement Emerging

For 10 years, they fought, hid and prayed for freedom here by the river, those 750 fugitive slaves, free blacks and black Seminoles who drifted west from the middle of Florida to form the largest community of its kind in the early 19th century South. Then, in 1821, their settlement, which they had named Angola after its kindred region in West Africa, was burned and looted and destroyed, probably by order of Gen. Andrew Jackson.......more

Racist Explains Hip Hop Culture

"There are many humorous things in the world; among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than other savages."
- Mark Twain

King George Collects $1M From Pinellas County Republicans

We only had less than 48 hours to get this together, but still between 75 and 100 folks cooked in the sun from 9am-11:30am to let King George know we're going to keep working to stop the war and save our constitution. We were moved twice, and prevented from getting within 100 yards of the president, but that's fine. ABC, NBC, the Trib, The Times, WMNF, and a couple of indies all stopped by.........here

Mike Fox 727-320-4502

Vaxjo, Sweden

Cities Take the Lead on Climate Change

When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, most people doubted the ambitious goal would have any impact beyond the town limits. A few melting glaciers later, Vaxjo is attracting a green pilgrimage of politicians, scientists and business leaders from as far afield as the United States and North Korea seeking inspiration from a city program that has allowed it to cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993.......here

A Travesty Of Justice In Bay County, Florida

No Justice For Martin Lee Anderson

At 6:30 in the morning on June 5, 2006, Martin Lee Anderson is admitted to boot camp. At 9:06 am the use of force begins. At 9:45 am the paramedics take Martin Lee Anderson At 1:00 pm he was transported by air to Pensacola to the hospital where he died the next day......here

Watch The Murder.......here

Venezuela's Oil Revenues Staying In South America

Police cars, helicopters, radio stations, health clinics and fertilizer -- the deep pockets of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez benefit leftist allies and the poor from Bolivia to Nicaragua, but rankle opposition leaders. Chavez is using Venezuela's soaring oil revenues to spread aid to Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina and especially to Bolivia, where
He has helped President Evo Morales meet social spending promises to the indigenous majority that elected him in 2005.......more

Howard Dean On The Nobel Peace Prize

I want to congratulate our former Vice President Al Gore

For winning the Nobel Peace Prize today. No other person has worked harder or done more to draw much needed attention to the crisis of global climate change, one of the most critical issues facing our planet. Future generations will thank him for his work to save our way of life. But the fight is far from over.
His example should motivate each one of us to commit ourselves to doing everything we can in our own lives to save our precious planet."

http://www.draftgore.com/

High Tech Killing

Centrist Democrats And The Tactics Of Ridicule

The tactic of ridicule is being used quite widely in Florida now. It is working. Florida worked with the GOP here to get the vote through for the early primary. Then they immediately started the ridicule of Howard Dean and the DNC. It was well orchestrated indeed. They covered up their own dirty deeds by shifting blame and filing lawsuits........here

What Saudis Watch

DiCaprio, Clooney And Howard Dean

Farragut North

Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney are to star in a film loosely based on the rise and fall of presidential hopeful Howard Dean. The Warner Bros production will be based on a stage-play written by Beau Willimon.........more

Waste Management: Wanted New PR Firm

King George Is Coming To St. Pete

Roosevelt Blvd Bush Rally
Friday, Oct 12, 9:30am to 10:30am

Bush will be using the phenomenally-expensive-to-operate Air Force One for -- among other things -- a whistle stop to speak with deep pocketed Republicans in Pinellas County. We'll be in the street at St. Pete/Clearwater Airport -- where he'll be flying in and addressing the press -- to let him know we think he has a few more important concerns right now. At the airport, across the street on the west side of Roosevelt or down 140th and 144th Aves, or 46th St. N.

For More Info....Mike Fox 727-320-4502 Or tampabaydemocracy@yahoo.com

Ron Paul: Blowback

Friendly Protesters Greet Dean in Tallahassee

"In the big picture of what really matters to the country, this is a very small blip. This is a fight among politicians. When politicians fight, people get annoyed and get all bent out of shape. At the end of the day... once we get passed all this — which will be relatively soon — we've got some serious months of campaigning ahead of us.......here

Fulfilling His Priestly Duties

Argentine Court Convicts Priest

A panel of three federal judges sentenced Christian von Wernich , 69, to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of direct participation in seven murders and direct or indirect involvement in 42 cases of kidnapping and torture........here

"False testimony is the devil. It is filled with malice," he told the court. Von Wernich has long claimed that he was simply fulfilling his priestly duties.

Che Guevara: Forty Years After His Murder

The 40th anniversary of the death of one of the most influential figures of the last century -- Latin American revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara. On October 8, 1967, Che was captured by Bolivian troops working with the CIA. He was executed one day later.......here

The bestiality of imperialism, a bestiality that knows no limits, that has no national frontiers.

Walmart Intercom: 9/11 Truth

John Lennon Monument In Iceland

Happy Birthday
A pace monument that commemorates the life of the late John Lennon has been unveiled in Iceland by his widow Yoko Ono. The so-called 'light tower' will be lit annually on Oct 9 until Dec 8, the day on which Lennon was murdered in 1980. "I hope that the light from the tower will shine, not just physically on those present at the unveiling, but will be beamed across the world so that the message of peace will be delivered to all people," Ono said. Peace messages from around the world will be placed within capsules surrounding the tower.....here

Imagine all the people living life in peace.......John Lennon

Breakfast With Howard Dean $100

Okaloosa County Democrats will be on their best behavior Wednesday when Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean visits. Toni Craig, who chairs the Okaloosa County Democratic Executive Committee, said the ongoing tiff between Florida’s Democrats and the national committee will be set aside when Dean arrives for an 8 a.m. breakfast at Harbor Docks restaurant in Destin......here

A Nobel Candidate

Al Gore is not running for president. But might the publicity and sheen of a Nobel Peace Prize change his mind? Some Democratic activists sure hope so. Grass-roots Gore loyalists have been buzzing for weeks about the Nobel Prize announcement scheduled for Oct. 12 in Oslo, Norway. Gore was nominated for his work on global warming, and several longtime Nobel observers believe this could be the year that a champion of climate change gets the prize. “We feel that if [Gore] wins the Nobel Prize … then he can’t not run for president,” says Roy Gayhart, a San Diego-based organizer of a California draft Gore group.........here

GOP '08: Feel the Excitement!

Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg Headed For Key West

When workers at Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk finish scrubbing the Vandenberg clean of asbestos, petroleum and toxic PCBs, the ship will be towed down the Atlantic coast and sunk about six miles southeast of Key West – the largest artificial reef in Florida.......here

They Are Destroying The Female Species In Congo

The Democratic Republic Of Congo

In Congo, since ten years ago, the war started in ’96. After the genocide in Rwanda in ’94, all the one who made the genocide arrived in Congo and stayed there in camps. And in ’96, when the war started, they went out from the camps and went inside the forest, and then they started killing and raping the Congolese population. Three years ago, we had the report from International Rescue Committee that already four million people died in Congo.....here

The Hospital Of Panzi In Bukavu

Run for Congo Women

The Hidden History of 9/11/2001

Clinton-Obama 2008

Giuliani Predicts
Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, frontrunner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, is predicting that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will team up to form the Democrats' White House ticket. "That's the candidacy we are going to be facing, and that is a very formidable candidacy," he said in an interview conducted late last week......here

Sunshine State Losing The Snowbirds

For almost a century, Florida has been a magnet for mobile Americans. The state's plentiful sunshine and open space have attracted "snowbirds" fleeing winter, retirees living out the last chapter of their lives. Florida's pull has been weakened mostly by rising costs. Though real-estate prices are now falling, the median price for an existing single-family home, at $231,900 remains 64 percent more than five years ago. That kind of price appreciation has increased property taxes, especially for newcomers and for snowbirds, whose primary residence is out of state........more

James Oddo - Get The F*** Out Of My Office