Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Ybor City March

Paul Camp and Andrew Huse, USF Librarians, share a 1938 film featuring the Ybor City cigar-making community.

Everglades Earth First! Shuts Down Florida Power Plant Construction

Early Monday morning dozens of concerned community members from Palm Beach County and all over the nation put their bodies on the line to halt construction of FPL’s West County Energy Center (WCEC), demanding energy efficiency, truly clean, renewable energy and a moratorium on development in south Florida.......here

Spike Lee At USF

March 4, 2008 - 7 pm
Sun Dome
Tickets: Free for USF Students with valid USF ID
$3- USF Faculty, Staff, and Alumni with valid USF ID
$8- Public

Florida Gov. Crist: Health Insurance For All

Insurance with "robust" benefits would be available for as little as $150 a month. Young adults could stay on their parents' health insurance until age 30. Every Florida child would be eligible for KidCare health coverage regardless of family income. Gov. Charlie Crist went to bat Tuesday for Florida's estimated 4 million residents without health-care coverage, and he was clearly aiming for a home run......here

2010: Jim Davis vs. Mel Martinez

Other names of possible Democratic candidates for Martinez's include Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, state House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, and Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio........here

Kathy Castor Endorses Obama

Barack Obama has just received the endorsement of freshman U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, who also is a superdelegate to the Democratic convention.....here
“It is time for our party to coalesce around Barack Obama’s nomination for President. I ran for Congress in 2006 to fight for a new direction for our country. Senator Obama offers the most determined and coherent plan for a new direction and change and I am proud to endorse him for President of the United States.”

Rightwing Previews Its Anti-Obama Attacks

It is a fundamental rule of politics: If you don’t define yourself, you will be defined by your opponent. Barack Obama’s charisma and inspirational message may have his supporters fainting in the aisles but his bio and voting records are a blank slate for Republicans to fill........here

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

"Spreading Democracy" on This Day of Fidel Castro's Retirement

And who, while decrying the dictatorial splinter in the collective cornea of yet another palm-tree-lined nation doing us no harm, all the while ignoring the beam lodged in their own myopic eye; and who, to this day, and despite mounting evidence to the contrary, tell the citizenry that promoting freedom is what they've been doing all this time.......here

Time to Retire America's Failed Cuba Policy

This is the event that fifty years of U.S. policy was designed to stop
Fidel Castro has announced his retirement. He will be replaced in a peaceful succession, without the violent upheaval that U.S. policy makers have been predicting since the 1960s.
Now that Fidel Castro has announced his retirement, it's time to retire our Cold War era Cuba policy..........It failed........here

Freedom In Cuba?

Representatives of the students of the University of Ciencias Informa'ticas (UCI) interrogated the president of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcón, on the policies of the government.In Spanish

The United States Embargo On The Cuban People

The United States embargo against Cuba is an economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed on Cuba on February 7, 1962. The embargo was enacted after Cuba expropriated the properties of United States citizens and corporations (notably those that belonged to the United Fruit Company and the ITT)........Wikipedia
The only candidate I see who is even close to ending the embargo is Barack Obama. He has stated that he favors a loosening of the travel ban so that Cuban Americans can visit family; he also wants fewer restrictions on remittances. Further, he is the only candidate who believes we should be in dialogue with governments that have been determined enemies.......here
Mario Diaz-Balart - Ileana Ros-Lehtinen - Lincoln Diaz-Balart - Mel Martinez
46 YEARS - END THE GODDAMN EMBARGO

Creationism in Florida

The southern racists refused to allow desegregation, despite the fact that they were (a) wrong and (b) breaking the law of the land. Having failed, their children and grandchildren are fighting to impose another evil on children - not racism, but ignorance. Like creationism, racism was once a fashionable pseudoscience. It’s still there, it has just gone out of fashion. The sooner people discard both lies, the better........here

No Sympathy For Florida and Michigan

It isn’t up to Howard Dean. As Chair of the DNC, he has to follow the rules, and the rules for the primary elections were adopted way back in August of 2006. State Parties violated the rules, knowing in advance exactly what they were doing and what the consequences would be. Just because a great injustice has happened in Florida and Michigan, it doesn’t mean we should abandon the process and the rules – that would be a greater injustice........here

Gnooze

Monday, February 18, 2008

The Foreclosure Express Driving Into Florida

The bus tours that have motored across foreclosure-littered neighborhoods of California, Nevada and other slumping states are pulling into the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County. Two local real estate firms in Port St. Lucie and Tequesta are planning their first tours of bank-owned properties Saturday........here

Tampa Bay Online Engages In Censorship

Tampa Bay Online, which is somehow partnered or owned by The Tampa Tribune and WFLA News Channel 8 has decided to remove reader comments en masse. On February 10, the website posted a story about a group of people protesting Scientologists. A day or 2 later there were over 100 comments, most not favorable to Scientology but none that used profanity or otherwise violated the website's Terms Of Service........here

Who Signed The GOP Anti Gay Petition?

The names of thousands of Floridians are turning up online, for signing a petition supporting a gay marriage ban in the state. Those who posted the names call it a public service; but we found many others who call it an invasion of privacy........here

Earth First Conference In West Palm Beach

Alaina is an activist from the native St'at'imc people of British Columbia, fighting to keep her ancestors' land from being lost to ski resorts and the 2010 Winter Olympics. Ron Huber is trying to protect the livelihood of Maine's lobstermen from the invasion of "resort wannabes," 23 years after he squatted in treetops to stop loggers in Oregon. Both were in the wilds of northwest Palm Beach County on Friday, part of an international gathering of Earth First! activists who came to trade tales, talk tactics and express solidarity with their imprisoned allies........here