Under Surveillance

At The Hard Rock

The St. Joe Co.

Targets Florida's Panhandle

Florida's panhandle is sometimes called "the Forgotten Coast." It's an area of sandy beaches, pine forests, wetlands and meandering rivers. It's one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America and Florida's last untapped region. But that's beginning to change.......here

Local Bumpers 8

Liberals Read

Conservatives Want Slogans

Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry's trade group says she knows why - and there's little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation. "The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,'" Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page.".......here

Porn And Pancakes

In Ft. Myers

An ad for a Florida church's outreach program is raising some eyebrows. In Fort Myers, the billboard is advertising porn and pancakes. A local church says it's an ad for a men's breakfast aimed at reaching out to those who are addicted to porn.....here

Welcome to North Korea

Obama Calls For Easing Cuba Embargo

Obama's campaign said Monday that, if elected, the Illinois senator would lift restrictions imposed by the Bush administration and allow Cuban-Americans to visit their relatives more frequently, as well as ease limits on the amount of money they can send to their families......here

Brian Blair And Ken Hagan

Facing Re-Election In 2008

With three commissioners up for re-election next year, activists and some political watchers say the wetlands issue - and the hundreds of people who turned out in protest - could influence those races.......here

www.jadellkerr.com

Drug Addicts Flocking To Florida

While more than 30 other states have taken steps to monitor the legal sale of heavy-duty painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin, Florida has stalled -- and that has black market dealers and addicts flocking to the state.......here

Florida's Representative Allen

Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot

Florida state representative Bob Allen, stripped of his committee assignments this week by a house speaker seeking his resignation over a gay sex scandal, made more enemies with an apparent slur against Florida's Latino leadership........here

"The fact that he's comparing the consequences of the allegations of his sexual misconduct to the plight of dissidents trapped in Castro's gulag is at best absurd and at worst insulting. He needs to go," Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera

Presidential Advance Manual

How to Stop Dissent

The first step to keeping demonstrators out of events, the manual tells the president's event staff, is to encourage the Secret Service to "ask the local police department to designate a protest area...preferably not in view of the event site or the motorcade route." As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event, the manual instructs.......here

Howard Dean's

Educated Elite

For too long that "educated elite" theme has been allowed to go on. They must find it easy to dumb down education systems when all the while calling educated people elite. We must not allow them to use the two words together in a negative way against any candidates.......more

Protesters At Cheney’s Place In Wyoming

Demonstrators gathered Saturday afternoon at the rustic crossroads of U.S. Highway 22 and the Village Road to protest the war in Iraq and local resident Vice President Dick Cheney. Following anti-war speeches and folksy, 60s-style sing-a-longs, the crowd of about 250—ranging in age from toddlers in strollers to a 92-year-old woman—marched peacefully along the mile-plus county bike path before assembling outside the gates of the tony Teton Pines Country Club where the vice president owns a home........more

Florida To Cash In On Caviar

It's not likely to replace the orange as the Sunshine State icon, but caviar could be the state's next cash crop as University of Florida experts look for this fall's harvest to prove there's a fortune to be made with farm-raised fish roe. Caspian Sea sturgeon, prized over their American cousins for their distinctly flavored eggs, were first brought to Florida fish farms about six years ago.........more

Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota also has gotten into the sturgeon business with a 20-acre farm and 53 tons of fish.

Mack's Apples

Londonderry, New Hampshire

A Londonderry apple farmer has posted his political opinions along Route 28, but not everyone likes what he has to say, and some have taken action in the form of vandalism. Mack's Apples owner Andy Mack is not afraid to share his opinions about President George W. Bush. "He's an absolute total disaster for this country, for the world and for the planet," Mack said......here

"I don't agree with Andy Mack's politics, but as far as the veterans at this post, we'd all grab a rifle to defend his right to say what he wants," said Jack Courtney, senior vice commander of American Legion Post 27

Clergy Used In US Martial Law