Sunday, March 8, 2009

Slavery Alive and Well in Florida

Immokalee is the tomato capital of the United States. Between December and May, as much as 90 percent of the fresh domestic tomatoes we eat come from south Florida, and Immokalee is home to one of the area’s largest communities of farmworkers........more

Clearwater's Ban Of Mural

The city of Clearwater may have backed itself into a legal corner in its efforts to regulate a painting of fish........more

Skyway Jack's - St Petersburg, Florida

This is the restaurant that Cracker Barrel aspires to be, a down-home country kitchen with kitsch and outstanding breakfast fare...........here

Tampa Heights Sanitarium

Dr. Hiram J. Hampton owned and operated the Tampa Heights Sanitarium in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, advertising his services........here
Local lore oft repeats the story that the Hamptons' backs are turned deliberately to the city.

Let's Find 10,000 Floridians Who Support SunRail

As the state legislature considers the final approvals to start construction on SunRail, it's time to rally the troops.This is a grass-roots group consisting of Floridians who believe Central Florida needs to expand its transit offerings - starting with SunRail...........here

The South Florida Blog War

Random Pixels: Blinded By Hate
I despise Fidel Castro and everything about his "revolution."Castro has enslaved and deprived an entire nation of hope, democracy and freedom for half a century. I despise all that he is, just as I despise all dictators. Imagine living in a country where every basic freedom is denied and the state decides at every turn what's good for you and what's not good..........more

Friends Of Stogie

At Baba Louies

El Goya Reunion In Ybor City

Club Czar in Ybor City returns to its roots for one night this week to celebrate Tampa's golden days of drag. The reunion event will star the same queens who performed there in the early 1980s when the bar, then called El Goya, was the only gay nightspot in Ybor...........more

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Strip Club King: The Story of Joe Redner

Loved...Admired...Hated!!! Charismatic to some and revolting to others. Joe Redner is most often associated with owning one of the most famous nude clubs in America...

3 Mile Sauce and Salsa In Ybor

While walking around the Ybor Saturday Market the other day, I ran across a booth selling one of my favorite things: hot sauces!.............more
3 Mile Sauce and Salsa

Florida's CSX Deal

Florida's CSX deal..from $491 million in 2006, to $650 million in 08, to 2.6 billion this year. And as this powerful editorial in The Ledger today points out....no one in the Republican legislature really pays much attention to it..........more

Tampa Man Wants His Cats Back

Peter Bordwell, whose 156 rabbits and four cats were confiscated for improper confinement six weeks ago, was in court Friday pleading for his kittens back..........here

Friday, March 6, 2009

Free Pizza In Downtown Tampa

Pizzaiolo Bavaro 514 N. Franklin St will offer free pizza tastings next Tuesday, noon to 2 p.m........here

Adam Hasner Is A Hate-Monger

Rep. Adam Hasner apparently opposes freedom of speech for Muslims. A group of Florida Muslims wants to go to the capitol during the session and lobby on behalf of education, healthcare and the economy...........here

Friends Of Stogie

At The Tally Ho

No Fun In Milton, Florida

here

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Tedd Webb's Obama Laundry List

It is amazing how much damage President Barack Obama has done to this country in his first 3 weeks of power. Most presidents govern… Obama rules..........here

Florida Republican Hypocrites

Here is a list of the hypocrites who were so bold, so principled about their opposition to the stimulus bill. Instead of spending their time trying to help fix a problem, they complained for political capital........here

Adam Putnam, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Tom Rooney, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ginny Brown-Waite, Cliff Stearns, Bill Posey And John Mica.

Matt Damon for U.S. Senate

With Democratic Party career politicians Gelber and Meek repeating the same tired old imperial foreign policy platitudes as the Republicans on the Middle East that will keep us in perpetual war that is draining our economy at the very time we are sinking into another Depression, the Democratic nomination race for U.S. Senate is shaping up as just another right wing echo chamber that shuts out any discussion of an alternative foreign policy and will deny Florida voters a fundamental choice that is at stake in next year’s election. Matt Damon has the potential to add that voice to the debate, and actually be electable...........more

Downtown Tampa

From Ballast Point

Project 3.0 In Ybor City

A hundred years ago, it served as a horse stable for Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Most recently, it housed a micro-brewery. Today, the 103-year-old building in Ybor City is reinventing itself again, this time as a model for sustainable development..........more

Friends Of Stogie

At Chubby's

PoHo: Is Rush Limbaugh the New Face of the Republican Party?

Kate In Her Hot Mama Jeans

Creative Loafing has a new website and I’m one of their contributing writers. They invited me to their launch party and I thought it’d be fun. That’s what I get for thinking. I put on my hot mama jeans, did my hair, and even applied some goddamn makeup. One of my favorite Republicans, Jim Johnson, said he’d meet me there so I stuck the boys with my mom for the evening and took off for South Tampa..........more

Cigars, Casitas and Children's Books

We took a trip to Ybor City, once the cigar capital of the world,where Cubans, Spaniards and Italians lived and worked........more

The Travel Slut's Gasparilla Photostream

here

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Tampa

here

Florida-Seasoned Craig Fugate

President Obama intends to nominate the head of Florida's emergency management office to lead FEMA, a post that came under national scrutiny in 2005 over what many said was the inept response to the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina.......more

Tedd Webb: Obama And The Communist Party

The "changes" Barack has instituted are not new, they are the platform of the Communist Party USA, seriously. In 6 weeks Obama has managed to get this country on a collision course with Capitalism.............more

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Florida's Proposed Breeder Police Legislation

My great state has offered up twin bills, SB 2002 and HB 1249, to promote healthy dog breeding practices through warrantless home searches and a maze of often dubiously helpful restrictions for anyone housing ten or more dogs...........more

Friends Of Stogie

At The Tally Ho

Paving Paradise

Florida's Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss

Stogie Recommends

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Nude Nite in Tampa

We got our hands stamped at the door. Fantastic. That ink never comes off with one washing. Now I have to go to work tomorrow with "NUDE NITE" on the back of my hand...........more

Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo Zoom

Join Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo for the fourth annual ZOO Zoom, a 5K run that winds through the Zoo and along the scenic Hillsborough River..........here

Latreasa Goodman Of Fort Pierce, Florida

Last Saturday called police to complain that a cashier–citing a McDonald’s all sales are final policy–would not give her a refund..........more

The Cracking Reservoir

I guess the great job HDR did on designing the Cracking Reservoir and the 6-Lane Cluster Study of Lithia Pinecrest warrants another contract to the tune of over 1.5 million dollars to the firm for another PD and E study, this time for Van Dyke Road..........more

Monday, March 2, 2009

Friends Of Stogie

At The LA Hangout

Libre Air: Castor Seeks Flights To Cuba For TIA


Tampa International Airport could become the fourth U.S. airport to serve U.S.-Cuba charter flights under a request by U.S. Rep Kathy Castor, D-Tampa........more

RuPaul Coming To Ybor City

The daring diva comes to L'Olivier Restaurant & Cabaret in Ybor City this weekend to promote his show, along with the release of his new album, Champion...........here

Hanging Dog

Ballast Point Park

Ybor City's Ferlita Macaroni Factory To Be Demolished

Less than six months after a wrecking crew tore through the 1913 Gary school, another historic building is on track to meet the same fate...........more

L'Olivier: Kicking up its heels in Ybor City

L'Olivier is the newest distraction in historic Ybor City. Is that like Oliver!, the 1968 musical? Or "Cousin Oliver" from The Brady Bunch? We sent Wingman correspondent Wade Tatangelo to find out. Here's his official report...........here

West Central Florida Beekeeper's Co-op

Eden's Nectar
Is the brand of honey that is always sold in the region where it is extracted from the hive. How do we do this? By representing your local beekeeper's and marketing their product direct to you..........more

Friends Of Stogie

At The Tally Ho

Circulo Cubano de Tampa - Ybor City

On October 10, 1899, Cuban immigrants formed a recreational society known as El Club Nacional Cubano. Three years later, the society of three hundred members changed its name to El Círculo Cubano...........more

Destination: Spring Break in Ybor City

Looking for rich Spanish cuisine or some of the best nightclubs in the state? It is all less then two hours away in the colorful city of Ybor in Tampa.........more

Everglades Bike Ride Set for April 4

In support of the proposed RIVER OF GRASS GREENWAY BY THE NAPLES PATHWAYS COALITION. A unique opportunity that combines cycling, nature, history and culture.......here

10 Worst Cities For Commuters: Tampa Number 6

Tampa commuters are victims of urban sprawl. As late as 2005, 25% of area properties were classified as investment properties; this rate was almost double the national average..........more

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Guerrilla - The Taking of Patty Hearst

Wednesday, March 4, 8:00pm
Cafe Bohemia, 937 Central Ave. St. Petersburg

TAMPA MARATHON ON BAYSHORE

With an approaching rainstorm, the runners are on their way down Beautiful Bayshore Blvd in Tampa Florida. The temperatures were cool, but the spirits were high as thousands made their way to Macdill Air force Base for the turnaround point..........more

Alina Meador Of Brandon Captures Tampa Bay Area Spelling Bee

Fifteen of the area's pre-eminent middle schoolers gathered at Saturday's spelling bee at Admiral Farragut Academy to compete in the art of reciting letters from memory...........more