Tampa Dream Defenders

Tampa Dream Defenders hopes you've seen all of the facebook invites to our NEXT WEEK'S entire week of events to demand Legalization for all 11 million undocumented immigrants! Each day has it's own event! Wednesday's is a revival of our campaign to demand LICENSES FOR ALL 1.5 MILLION undocumented immigrants in Florida.

Join them here

Coalition of Immokalee Workers Rally & March on Wendy's

Silent street theater explaining the CIW Fair Food Program, followed by a march on Wendy's who has not yet signed on to support fairer wages and working conditions for tomato workers.

Havana Crumbling

Tampa Museum of Art exhibit

 "Faded Elegance: Photographs of Havana by Michael Eastman" 
Review by Lennie Bennett, Times Art Critic
here, For some i took myself Feb. of 2007, here

Tampa Bay Homeless

Judy Prine of New Port Richey
Letter to the Tampa Bay Times
I am deeply saddened by Gov. Rick Scott's decision to veto $1.3 million in funding for a Metropolitan Ministries transitional housing facility. I believe the general public has an overall negative and tainted view regarding the homeless. Most of them are just looking for someone to talk to and for someone who would recognize that they are real people just like the rest of us, but who were unfortunate enough to have been dealt various life challenges.

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WMNF Benefits from the Sunset Tiki Party

info

Free the Cuban Five!

Since the Revolution in 1959, Cuba has been the target of more terrorist attacks than any other country in the world. 3,478 Cuban citizens have been killed in these attacks and 2,099 have been injured. The overwhelming majority of the attacks originated in southern Florida. Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and René Gonzalez, now collectively known as the Cuban Five, were working to monitor the groups who have led and threatened these terrorist attacks. Their work to prevent further acts of terror from being unleashed on the Cuban people led to their arrest by FBI agents in Miami in September 1998.

Join the week of action for the Cuban 5 in Washington D.C. from May 30 - June 5, 2013.

info, Visit their website here

Free Bradley Manning: Demonstration

Saturday, June 1, 2013.10:00am in EDT.
MacDill AFB 6801 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa
info
watch film
WikiLeaks and the Forgotten Man
Tuesday, May 28, 8:00pm
Bula Kafe
2500 5th Avenue N, St. Petersburg
In the outdoor, covered patio!
info

Beckner Strikes Back

A diversity council is no place for bigotry

There is much discussion in the community regarding the Diversity Advisory Council and my objections to the appointment of Terry Kemple to that council. Some find it hypocritical that I would purposefully exclude a prospective member from a council designed to promote diversity and inclusiveness.  My strong objections to Kemple's appointment are not ideological or philosophical. I question his motivation and intention to serve on this committee, as well as the gross misrepresentations he made in the application and essay he submitted to the county.
__________
On Sept. 13, Kemple distributed an email attacking my sexual orientation, warning readers of the homosexual agenda of the council and my attempts to create county law with special rights that exclude heterosexuals. Kemple applied for an appointment to the Diversity Advisory Council on the same date he circulated his hate-filled email. He has opposed the rights of students to form Gay/Straight Alliances, recognition of Gay Pride events, and equal protection under the law for members of the GLBT community. He has fought to keep representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations from speaking in public schools, and he has fear-mongered about those who
are Muslim or practice the Islamic faith.
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Kevin Beckner is a Hillsborough County commissioner elected countywide. He wrote this exclusively for the Tampa Bay Times.

Hands Across the Sand 2013 - Treasure Island

Tampa Bay residents protest against oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Amnesty International Report 2013: Cuba

Repression of independent journalists, opposition leaders and human rights activists increased. There were reports of an average of 400 short-term arrests each month and activists travelling from the provinces to Havana were frequently detained. Prisoners of conscience continued to be sentenced on trumped-up charges or held in pre-trial detention.

here
I hear this from the anti Castro folks down in South Florida all the time but when it comes from an organisation i trust it is disheartening. I am sure this isn't what
Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and all the others who fought and died to free Cuba from Batista wanted.

Say No to Bloomingdale Big Box

Residents opposed to big-box retail and apartment construction have been meeting under the auspices of the Coordinated Active Neighborhoods Development Organization (CAN-DO), also known as, "Say No to Bloomingdale Big Box.
Visit them on Facebook and Sign Petition.
Hillsborough County government has an online page on the Proposed Development on Bloomingdale Avenue Near Lithia Pinecrest Road.
here
Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham said he plans to meet with — "and listen to" Bloomingdale residents on June 10 from 6-8 p.m, at the Brandon Recreation Center, at 502 East Sadie Street.
For more info. More on the May 7 protest here.

Tampa Bay Homeless

Meet Thomas
He is from  Indiana and has been homeless 3 years.

Pam Bond Thinks Banksters Get A bad Rap

Imagine that. Republican Attorney General of Florida, Pam Bondi, is somewhat bored with mortgage fraud, advocates say. When they attend meetings with her staff they get the distinct impression that Bondi feels the banks are the victims, not the borrowers, so why should she investigate them? What does bother Bondi is Urban Outfitters selling funny shot glasses.

here

According to Miami New Times, Bondi has joined a group of 22 other state attorney general in writing to Urban Outfitters to urge them to stop poisoning America’s children.

West Tampa Art

Main Street

GaYBOR Proclamation

In the recent past, it would seem almost unthinkable that the Hillsborough County Commission would salute a group promoting the region to gay business owners and tourists. But something stirred at Hillsborough County Center this week, when the commission's gay board member circulated an annual proclamation heralding GaYBOR Days in the Ybor City historic district. For the first time in the event's six years, a majority of the seven-member board has signed it.  Ken Hagan signed it, a Republican who in the past has declined to sign the proclamation. So did Republican Mark Sharpe. Republicans Sandra Murman Al Higginbotham and Victor Crist did not. Mr. Crist said he first wanted to review marketing brochures for the event that he said in the past have not been "family friendly."
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Is it just me or does Crist remind you of Gene Hackman's character Monroe 'Eagle' Cole in the film
Welcome to Mooseport?

Invest In Florida GOP INC.

For an investment of only $110.00, you can make $52 million
Two months after contributing $110,000 to Gov. Rick Scott's re-election campaign, an upstart property insurance company is likely to reap a $52 million windfall, paid from the coffers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Heritage has donated more than $140,000 to Scott and the Republican Party of Florida in recent months, and spent tens of thousands more lobbying the Legislature. Now it's in line to get special treatment from Florida's state-run insurance firm in the form of an unusual and lucrative "reinsurance quota share" agreement.
here

Hispanic Commission District

From one of my favorite local writers, Sue Carlton,

That's right. The very same commission that could not muster the goodwill to pass a domestic partner registry, the one that thought an applicant opposed to Muslims and gays would be great for a diversity board, agreed to explore giving a Hispanic representative a better shot. Interestingly, in the past when this came up, Republicans on the GOP-dominated board helped kill it, presumably not willing to weaken the stranglehold they enjoy. One of the best things about Tampa and the county around it is who built it. In Miami where I come from, relationships between ethnic groups can be fractious. So it was interesting to settle in a place where Cuban, Spanish and Italian roots have long been part of the fabric.
here
She asked Charlie Miranda, a longtime Hispanic leader in these parts: If this new district thing happens — and that's a big if — might he run? (What fun: outspoken, no-nonsense Miranda, a Democrat by the way, in that political mix.) "No," he says at first, and then, "Possibly."
Charlie Miranda For Hillsborough County Commissioner?

Good Job Governor Scott

Palm Beach County's "Snitch On Your neighbor" Program
One place where liberals and libertarians can find common ground is government intrusion into private lives, and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s “Violence Prevention Program” has all the earmarks of authoritarian overreach. Bradshaw, a Democrat, stoked anger amongst conservatives when he suggested the program would be used to target political free speech deemed potentially violent by authorities.
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Florida Governor Rick Scott said, no thanks.
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However, (Please note) Scott’s reason for vetoing funding was because the whole state would have been paying for a local program, and apparently had little to do with public rancor over the proposal. Scott called the program a “very-well-intended project.”

Chris P. Bacon Of Groveland

Join his fan club
here

Tampa's City Council To Exploit The Cuban People

 According to Alberto de la Cruz of the Uber right-wing anti-cuban blog Babalu.
Whose hatred of the cuban  revolution is so strong they rather see their countrymen suffer then to give an inch on this ridiculous outdated embargo.
"Nearly half of Tampa's City Council will be following in Castor's footsteps in May, embarking on a visit to Cuba to meet with officials of the vile and murderous Castro dictatorship so they can "learn" how to exploit opportunities on the island. As if having the Castro regime exploit them was not enough, now the Cuban people have council members from American cities seeking advice from their slave masters on how they can exploit them."

here About the trip Sue Carlton 

"I think that, clearly, the approach we've taken for the last half-century has not gotten us anywhere. It's time to do something different.".....Harry Cohen 

"Tampa is where the future of the relationship between the United States and Cuba will unfold. I truly believe that."..... Yvonne Yolie Capin

The flight is expected to be out of Tampa, not Miami.
Good luck ladies and gentlemen.We are proud of you.

The Story Of Ybor City

Rolling by on Adamo Drive, thousands of motorists have gotten glimpses under the scaffolding of the work in progress, but a huge mural painted to tell the story of Ybor City makes its official unobstructed debut next week. Michael Parker, an adjunct instructor of art at Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City, recruited students to help paint and interviewed residents as part of his research.

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Kathy Castor: What I learned in Cuba

Cuba is changing, however, as I learned on my recent fact-finding visit. Cuba has embarked on meaningful economic reforms, which deserve encouragement by the United States, not continued isolation. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have a window of opportunity to engage and encourage reform in Cuba and should act now. These developments remind me of the historic economic changes in the former Soviet bloc countries. Indeed, I traveled to the former East Germany and Czechoslovakia in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet Revolution. The United States was directly engaged with those nations during their transition, and Americans were free to travel and interact with their people.If America officially acknowledged changes under way in Cuba, it would strengthen the hands of Cubans who want these reforms to succeed, and we could encourage Cuba to go further and faster.
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What They Are Saying
In Cuba, Fidel Castro is the last person to feel the pain caused by the U.S. measures...Cato Institute
The Cuban embargo may well be a case where America can truly declare victory and get out....Patrick J. Buchanan
the US - to take the first step by allowing unrestricted travel and repealing the trade embargo.....Jimmy Carter
The time has come for a fundamental change of direction in our Cuba policy. We can start by ending the embargo.....Chris Dobbs
Sign Petition

The Citrus Taliban: Bigots In Indian River County?

 An 18-year-old girl was arrested for statutory rape over a same-sex relationship in Florida because of bigoted parents, according to the mother of the arrested teen.
Kaitlyn Ashley Hunt was arrested February 16 by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office on two counts of lewd or lascivious battery on child.
Her mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, explained on Facebook that Kaitlyn began a “mutual consenting” relationship with a girl at Sebastian River High School who was about three years younger. The parents of the younger girl were upset by the situation and contacted police, she wrote. “They were out to destroy my daughter, they feel like my daughter ‘made’ their daughter gay,” Kaitlyn mother’s said. “They are bigoted, religious zeolites [sic] that see being gay as a sin and wrong, and they blame my daughter.”
The parents of the younger girl also pressured the Indian River County School Board into expelling Kaitlyn, she added.
  friends and family setup a “Free Kate” Facebook page and online petition in hopes of having the case dropped. Support for the young girl appeared to be strong. The petition had more than 27,000 supporters on Sunday morning.
more, sign petition here

Our Castro-Loving Commie

Al Fox,  an outspoken activist for normalized American relations with Cuba, gets pulled over on  Dale Mabry for driving 63 mph in a 45 mph zone by Tampa PD super DUI cop Ray Fernandez. The same guy that was involved in the Shnitt, Bubba the Love Sponge DUI arrest. Fernandez called Officer Dean Uno to administer field sobriety tests. Uno arrested Fox after he said Fox failed tests of walking in a straight line and maintaining balance on one foot. Fox said he failed the tests because he is an old man.
He blew a 0.000 blood alcohol level, twice, records show, at the Hillsborough County Jail,
and his urine tested clean.
In an interview Thursday, Fox, who was joined by attorney Joe Lopez, said he thinks something other than public safety motivated the officers. Fox has made enemies with his advocacy of ending the trade embargo and travel restrictions to Cuba.Fox says Uno acknowledged knowing him that night.

"I recognize you," Uno said at the jail, according to Fox. "You're that Cuba guy, aren't you? You do that Cuba stuff."

"I took it to mean you're that Castro-loving commie, aren't you?" Fox said.

Lopez said he intends to file a federal lawsuit against the city for violation of Fox's civil rights. He called the actions of Fernandez and Uno "suspicious." In a report, Fernandez wrote he observed Fox "to have glassy eyes, very slurred speech and had the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath." Lopez's replies: Fox was wearing glasses that night, his speech does not sound slurred in the video of sobriety tests, and Fernandez must have had an amazing sense of smell to detect less than one beer on Fox's breath.

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Good luck Mr. Fox

Did They Really Say That?

Rubio captivated more than 700 people at the Hillsborough
GOP's annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday night.
"We are watching the growth of the greatest messenger that American exceptionalism has ever known,"
Hillsborough Republican Chairman and state Sen. Tom Lee.

"Marco is moving from being a Republican leader to an American leader,"
gushed Republican consultant Adam Goodman of Tampa.
here

Ireland Nugent Meets Winter The Dolphin

Ireland Nugent, the 2-year-old Palm Harbor girl who lost part of her legs in a lawn mower accident, met a new friend today: Winter the dolphin.
here

Heart And Rush

2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Congratulations to 2 of my favorite bands Heart and Rush.

SEIU Florida Endorses Darden Rice

- Service Employees International Union

“Our members have decided to stand behind Darden Rice in this important election, because we believe we share a common vision for a stronger and more sustainable St. Petersburg. We are confident she will bring people together and has the skills necessary to get the job done.”
– SEIU Florida President, Monica Russo
here

Call Rep. Castor

Please ask her to sign the letter urging President Obama to reject Keystone XL.
Rep. Castor hasn't signed Rep. Grijalva's letter urging President Obama to reject Keystone XL - she needs to hear from you. Please make a quick call now.
Rep. Kathy Castor: (813)871-2817, Report your call here

Obama Administration: Power to Wage Endless War

Obama Administration Claims Power to Wage Endless War Across the Globe
"This is the most astounding and most astoundingly disturbing hearing that I’ve been to since I’ve been here," said Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine. "You guys have essentially rewritten the Constitution here today."

Nicco Is Looking For A Home

Nicco Is The Man
This colorful German Short-Haired Pointer mix was given up by his owner
for reasons no one can figure out.
info, Check out the cats here.
Cheaper then kids.

2,275 Homeless In Hillsborough County

Advocates for the homeless found a total of 2,275 homeless people in Hillsborough County — about half the number from two years ago — in a count and recount this year. The good news: The drop suggests that several new efforts to address homelessness are making a dent in the number of people living on the streets, in emergency shelters, in transitional housing or in jail.
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Pic: Cowboy, i first met him on September 21 of 2011. He is now working at the yellow food stand across from
the Marion Transit Center and living in a motel. Stop in and say hello, try their chili dog.