A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."........here
In summary, on the most critical political question of the decade, a freshman state senator from Illinois was able to figure out what an experienced member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee could not - that Saddam Hussein was no longer a threat and that an invasion of Iraq would harm America’s national security interests. Over the next few weeks, Democratic voters will have the opportunity to decide whether which of these two leading candidates has the best judgment to lead this country during this next critical period........here
I am going to have to put with all the media crap here in this state as the media and Democrats here trumpet their importance. I will have to watch as they write and say devastatingly ugly things about the man who is trying to rebuild the party throughout the country. But I sure do hate seeing it play out here like it has........here
Michael Keller was once a software executive from Florida. Then came September 11, 2001. A few weeks after the al-Qaeda attacks on America, he joined the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in November of 2005. In this revealing collection of e-mails and photographs, Keller shares his first-hand experiences in the War on Terror.......here
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated yesterday across the country and in the Tampa Bay area; major parades were held in both St. Petersburg and Tampa. Because of construction in West Tampa, the parade was held for the first time in East Tampa along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard......here
Since 2001, a 9-year-old border collie named Radar has been patrolling the runway and chasing away any birds in sight. Birds being sucked into aircraft engines is one of the most persistent safety problems at airports. Border collies scare the birds but don't harm them.......here
Sunday, Jan 27, 2008
An estimated 8,000 homeless women and men are living in makeshift camps scattered throughout the woods, cars or other parts of Central Florida. "Nobody wakes up at the age of 18 and says my career goal is to be a homeless person in a camp off John Young Parkway," Executive Director of the Homeless Services Network Kathy Jackson said. Jackson said there are more than 140 camps of homeless people in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties........here
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy..........Martin Luther King Jr.
Oprah doesn't really seem to respect the intelligence of her audience at all. Obama slaps the faces of his supporters with his traitorous praise of Ronald Reagan, the man who singlehandedly destroyed the working people, the economy, and the mental health safety net in this country.......here
Buyout industry executives with multi-million dollar incomes have been exploiting a tax loophole that allows them to pay a lesser tax percentage rate than most of the workers in the companies they manage. This is a disgrace! Tell all the presidential candidates to pledge to close the buyout industry's tax loopholes
Why vote for Sen. Obama? Because his opponents, Democratic and Republican, now tout the "hope" and "change" on which Sen. Obama has campaigned from the start. No candidate has more directly and correctly addressed the unease that pervades the country after seven years of a terrible presidency........here
According to a statement issued by the governor’s office in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, Dr Pallavi Patel and two other women will be honoured by the governor on March 11 at a ceremony to be held in the Capitol Courtyard........here
McDonald's Corp. has voluntarily pulled its sponsorship of report-card covers in Seminole County, Fla., public schools. "This is a good day for parents and children in Seminole County and anyone who believes that corporations should not prey on children in schools," said Dr. Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.......here
Canada has put the United States and Israel on a torture watch list, according to CTV. A Canadian government document cites the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and interrogation techniques that include "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation."......here
If national Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean was contemplating spring break in sunny Florida, he might want to reconsider. "He would not be welcome," says Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democratic former state senator. Not a very friendly stance for the head of a city known for its embrace of tourists seeking suntans and all things Disney........here
The Democratic National Committee's Executive Committee on Friday approved 25 delegates -- seven of whom are LGBT -- to the 2008 Denver Democratic Convention's standing committees on platform, rules and credentials........here
It seems unreal to see Bush, the conqueror of other peoples’ raw materials and energy resources, setting out guidelines for the world careless about how many hundreds of thousands or millions of people die or how many clandestine prisons and torture centers must be created to attain his objectives.......here
Back when moving the California primary up to February 5th was being debated, opponents insisted that the candidates would never actually campaign here as they do in Iowa and New Hampshire, and besides, the nomination will be decided well before February 5th anyway, so what's the point!? Oh really?.......here
Now there's a new way to take our country back: DFA Wireless. When you call with DFA Wireless, 10% of your charges go directly to Democracy for America. Now the phone calls you make every day will build our movement and fight for a progressive America.......here
State Sen. Ted Deutch asked the Democratic party chairmen in four states with presidential nominating contests before Florida to relent and allow presidential candidates to campaign in the Sunshine States.......here
Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.
Saturday, January 26th, 7:30pm
Is Hillary Clinton breaking her pledge not to campaign in Florida? Democratic rival Barack Obama raised the question - even though he insists Florida's vote won't matter - one day after a poll showed him 21 points behind in the state. An Obama campaign memo Tuesday pointed to "signs that she may be planning to campaign in the state, inquiring about large venues and increased organizing activity." In fact, the Clinton campaign inquired Tuesday if the Miami Beach Convention Center will be available for a "rally" on Jan. 27, two days before the state holds its earliest primary in history......here
Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich was missing from the stage at last night’s Democratic debate hosted by MSNBC in Las Vegas after he lost a last-minute legal fight with the network over his participation. Democracy Now! decided to break the sound barrier and give Kucinich a chance to take part. In an exclusive broadcast, we re-broadcast excerpts of the debate and give the Ohio Congressman a chance to answer the questions he might have faced if he hadn’t been silenced......here
I am speechless at the banning of Kucinich from NBC Debate tonite by the Nevada Supreme Court a few minutes ago. An outrage and a real loss for democracy. It is another example of corrupt, corporate control of politics that makes Democrats and Republicans sound and act so alike. Any dissenting candidate that can threaten the corporate bottom line will be marginalized and muzzled.......here
Hear David Barsamian speak live at the Musicale in a benefit for WMNF! Before David speaks we'll have the Tampa Bay area premiere of the film Meeting Resistance. 
The power of the sun is now helping the operation of the visitor center of Florida's Natural in Lake Wales. Solar panels were installed a little more than a week ago on the roof of the Grove House which will save an estimated 30 percent of energy usage.......here
Burger King is telling suppliers it may stop buying tomatoes from southwestern Florida, where farmworkers have fought to get the second-largest hamburger chain to pay more for its produce and help boost field-worker wages. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has tried for more than a year to get Burger King Corp. to join deals signed by rivals McDonald's Corp. and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands Inc........here
At the party, you'll have a chance make new friends and see old ones! Hear Kevin speak about his platform! Find out what specific jobs the campaign has for volunteers and learn what each job entails! There will be food, beverages, and interesting conversation!
Backers of a proposed amendment to bar same-sex marriage in Florida are scrambling to find 20,000 signatures to get the measure on November's ballot after the Secretary of State announced Monday that a counting mistake put them well short of the required 611,000 signatures needed........more
Right now, the beloved JFK is sitting in Virginia waiting for a new home, and a group with First Coast ties has a plan for a new life as a museum in Florida. Retired Navy Captain Rick Hoffman, who lives on the First Coast, is working with a group called the JFK CV-67 Memorial Foundation that wants to turn the former JFK into the John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum........here
You still haven't signed the Florida Hometown Democracy petition? If you are a Florida voter, and you haven't signed it yet, please do so today and mail it in. Time is running out for us to make the 2008 ballot........here
Thomas N. Tift isn't sure he's ready for this — a major conference sponsored by his tiny organization, which hasn't yet seen its second birthday. But the Methodist layman isn't backing off. He said South Florida needs an alternative voice — i.e., a more liberal one......more
From the 14th-floor balcony of a hulking Soviet-era high-rise, Yoani Sánchez enjoys a spectacular view of the city where she was born 32 years ago. There is Revolution Square, with its image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and towering monument to José Martí, surrounded by the sprawling capital......here
To help a new generation of combat-wounded veterans make the transition to an active civilian life with the extra challenges that come with a physical disability, a pair of local Iraq veterans will pedal across south Florida next week......here
While Howard Dean acknowledged the potential convention fight in Denver over who wins the Democratic nomination would generate huge public interest, he said it would actually be "a nightmare" for him........here
Sustainable Table celebrates the sustainable food movement, educates consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food. The program is home to the critically-acclaimed, award-winning Meatrix movies - The Meatrix, The Meatrix II: Revolting and The Meatrix II½.
A Hillsborough county volunteer fire department, that lost its certification because of a scandal, is still benefiting from tax payer dollars. Initially they received hundreds of thousands of dollars to run the place, now they are profiting from the sale of the property. Community Activist Terry Flott says everybody should be outraged at this........more
The Democratic National Committee chairman showed up in a T-shirt, faded jeans with worn- out knees and a pair of beat-up New Balance running shoes for a DNC service project at Manual High School. This is a very gutsy, risky thing to do, and I think it’s a great way to save a school,” Dean said. “That’s what makes education work — when a community cares enough to do this. This could actually be a model for the rest of the nation — if it works.”.........here
The vast flow of people into Florida from elsewhere in the United States has been the defining feature of the Sunshine State's 20th-century history, draining swamps and spurring development, swelling the economy and shaping politics......here
A thick herd of manatees greeted Blue Spring State Park specialist Wayne Hartley as he started his manatee count during a recent Florida cold snap. Among them swam Lunatic, Law, Liege and Lili — manatees he named when each was a newborn calf and all of whom descended from Luna, a matriarch whose family tree of 35 sea cows spans five generations. "Luna was one of those who had a calf every two years," said Hartley, sighing in his reminiscence. "I can remember when she died. They picked her up in Lake Monroe Fla.". But Luna's legacy — and those of a dozen other matriarchs — lives on among the more than 260 manatees that take refuge at the Orange City, Fla., park every winter. Their family trees — recorded throughout Hartley's 27 years of tracking the manatees — serve a vital purpose for scientists, too.........here
The Republican Party in New England's only "red state" may be going the way of the Old Man of the Mountain, the craggy icon of independence that crumbled a few years back in a rock slide. In the last election, Democrats took both seats in Congress for the first time in nearly a century and both houses of the legislature for the first time since 1874. Democratic Gov. John Lynch won a second term with a record 74 percent of the vote, and lawmakers recently authorized same-sex civil unions and a smoking ban in bars and restaurants........more
Though they've been snubbed by their party's presidential candidates, Palm Beach County Democrats seem to be more fired up about Florida's Jan. 29 primary than local Republicans. One indicator: Democratic absentee ballot requests outnumber Republican requests by more than a 2-to-1 margin in the county.......more
The role of religion in politics and government has been a major point of contention between social conservatives who prefer more religion in public policy, and liberals who want to maintain church-state separation. This issue was addressed in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's "Dueling Columnists: Religion in Government". Here's an atheist's perspective........here
The Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida urges the National ACLU Board of Directors to call for the convening of hearings by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives to determine whether to recommend Articles of Impeachment against President George Bush, and Vice President Richard Cheney to the House.......here
Monday, January 14, 2008 7:00 PM, As Part Of MLK Celebration
