St. Petersburg Times
Craig Pittman
pub. June 20, 2008
"Hurricane Katrina ripped into Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, destroying 115 oil platforms, significantly damaging 52 more and setting adrift 19. More than 7-million gallons of petroleum products spilled, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. By comparison, in 1989 the Exxon Valdez spilled 11-million gallons in Alaska's Prince William Sound." Read More »
by Paul Begala on the Huffington Post
(a retrospective on a historical campaign)
"Women have been running for President since 1872, when Victoria Woodhull ran on the Equal Rights Party platform. And yet no woman -- from the estimable Shirley Chisoholm to the remarkable Pat Schroeder to the impressive Elizabeth Dole -- has ever won even a single primary. Until Hillary. She not only won 20 primaries, she earned 17 million votes in the primaries -- more than any woman before her. And more than any man before her as well.
To be sure, she's made her share of mistakes. As a strategist I have long seen her effort as an example of a candidate outperforming her campaign strategy at every critical juncture. Still, Jackie Robinson struck out hundreds of times.
The Democratic Party has decided, wonderfully, bravely, remarkably, to double-down on history this election. And so Hillary's struggle against sexism has played out parallel to Barack Obama's graceful and courageous rise above racism. He, too, has endured taunts and threats and bigotry. He, too, has answered hatred with dignity. He, too, knows how Jackie must have felt.
So when Barack praises Hillary's tenacity, her trailblazing spirit, it is not patronizing, as some Hillary supporters have suggested. It is, I think, an empathetic expression of a powerful truth. Nobody -- not even her husband -- can fully appreciate what Hillary has overcome. Except Barack. "
Read More »Impeach the War Criminal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the American Friends Service Committee: "The House of Representatives will vote as soon as (today) Thursday, May 8 on an additional $162.6 billion for the war and occupation in Iraq."
"Sadly, the bill includes $66 billion for fiscal year 2009. This means the funds for the occupation will keep flowing well into the next administration, allowing the new president to continue the war and occupation with little or no accountability to Congress until next spring."
http://support.afsc.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=6561.0&dlv_id=10021
Call now!
Peace,
Barb
Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay
2900 Bayport Drive (off the Courtney Cambell Causeway)
11:30 a.m.--?
Let's give him a warm, democratic welcome . . .
NOT!
Come down & let the repubs know what YOU think!
Come as you are--bring a sign if you can (we'll have extra if you don't).
Let's let McCain know what REAL Floridians think about the war in Iraq, the economy, the environment, etc. etc.
PLEASE COME!
with special thanks to AnneK , KarSTAR, and Mr. Bill, who (unknowingly) inspired me to write it.
One of the curiosities in life is that we sometimes, through pure chance or circumstance, befriend others who we might not ordinarily get to know without stepping out of our comfort zone. My friend Donna was one of those people. I write this in her memory.
We met on the first day of school way back in 1986â�"our daughters were in the same kindergarten class. She was a strikingly beautiful woman, at least 5â��10â�� tall, who looked as if she had stepped off the page of a fashion magazine. She had one of those smiles that lit up a room. She had one of those laughs which caused others to laugh when she did, regardless of whether or not they had heard the joke. She was the mother of six beautiful children: her eldest son was in college, her eldest daughter in high school, two daughters ages 10 & 5, and two sons ages 3 & 1. As a young mom of three (ages 6, 4, & 2) who could barely get myself and my kids organized enough to get out the door without forgetting something important (like my keys or my purse), I was amazed that the mother of six could be so well organized and look so perfect at 7:30 a.m.! Not only did she look perfect, but her children did too. I thought that she must have gotten out of bed at 4 a.m.â�"how else could she do it?
Donna and I were both stay-at-home moms who volunteered to help the teacher in the classroom one day each week. Our daughters, the classmates, became the best of friends. As we got to know each other better, we discovered that we had a lot in common: we shared the same family values and child-rearing philosophies, we were both country girls whoâ��d transplanted to the city, and both of our husbands were avid fishermen (both by choice & necessity as we were not well-off by any stretch of the imagination). Our young sons soon became best buddies too. Their family lived on the next block, so whenever the kids wanted to play weâ��d ring each other by phone and arrange to meet at the corner where weâ��d often trade kidsâ�"usually one of us would take the girls and the other would take the boys. Weâ��d often watch each otherâ��s kids so that we could get our chores and/or errands done. Each of us owned a van with seating for eight, so weâ��d often load up the kids and head out to the park or the library. We were the queens of finding free/cheap things to do with the kids, and spent most school holidays together.
When I met Donna, I thought that I was strict with my children with regard to manners. Her children were the best mannered children Iâ��d ever met in my lifeâ�"not only did they always say please and thank you, but called people sir and maâ��amâ�" even the one-year-old. I was thankful to know that my children would be held to high standards when they were with herâ�"if they did wrong she would correct them, and when they did right she would encourage them. She was born and raised here in Floridaâ�"the only â��nativeâ�� I knew at the time (95% of folks my age/older are transplants)â�"so in my mind she was the epitome of a proper southern lady, and I mean that as a complement.
As you can imagine, any time two moms go out in public with six or seven kids in tow, people take notice. Not only was Donna a tall woman, but I am a short person 5â��2â��. She was always perfectly dressed and I am the jeans/t-shirt/pony tail type. Our children looked like stair steps when we lined them up. Oh, and did I mention that Donnaâ��s family is black and that we are white? Let me tell you, when we went out in public with our children, we attracted MANY stares. Read More »
* A note to the reader: this post is related to Deborah's post "Divided Party", so it will make more sense if you read hers first: http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/deborahwilliams/CWlg#comment-gGBnVF
Last evening, my husband and I headed off to our favorite Mandarin (their label, not mine) restaurant to enjoy a quiet dinner. He is headed out of town for the weekend, and we've had a stressful week. (They call us the "squeeze generation" for good reason.) We chose this particular restaurant because it is usually quiet and peaceful in addition to the great food. As we began to enjoy our soup, we began to notice that we couldn't help but overhear the conversation in the booth behind me.
As a disclaimer, I must tell you that although hubby and I are both on the verge of 50, we live in FL and in our neck of the woods we are usually still considered "young"--lol. Yes, it's true that 50 is the new 30 (it's all in our heads). But seriously, I don't want to sound "age-ist", I'm just trying to explain Barb's world so you understand my perspective. I will leave it up to each of you as readers to tell me if I'm wrong.
The "older" (than us) folks who were sitting at the booth began their conversation by talking about the debate. One woman said that she was a "liberal democrat" and a man spoke up to say that he was too. Another woman said that she was a republican. Then it took off from there--becoming louder and louder with each sentence. Republican lady became louder and LOUDER as she spouted off every RNC talking point about Clinton and Obama that we deal with every minute of every day here on PB. We tried our best to ignore them and to be as patient as we could, because the truth is that with the large population of retired folks here we have learned to tolerate this. The fact is that lots of people around us are simply hard-of-hearing and don't realize how loud they sound to others.
As we moved on to our spring rolls I was becoming impatient. As repo woman continued on her rant about Hillary's friends and Barack's friends I started muttering to my husband (in a louder and louder voice myself) about McCain's friends. At one point repo woman spouted something so ridiculous that I burst out laughing and had to swallow some wine in a hurry so I didn't choke. Thankfully, I ordered a glass instead of a bottle because already I couldn't wait to leave--and our entrees hadn't even arrived yet. Meanwhile, hubby is looking at me with a "please don't embarrass me" glare in his eyes.
Read More »Dear Floridians on Partybuilder,
As you are aware, our state is once again facing huge budget cuts. State Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman said that this year's proposed cuts "mark a new low" for the "heartless" Republicans in Tallahassee.
What the Republicans want:
reduce per student spending in k-12 education for the first time in 40 yearseliminate Everglades clean-up effortscutting more than 70 CHILD PROTECTION jobslay off almost 2000 corrections officerscut 1/3 of the state's probation officersreduce hospice care for seniorscut funding to county health departments and Area Health Education Centers, which provide health care to children in underserved, rural areas.end hospital care for 20,000 people with catastrophic illnessesreduce access to anti-rejection drugs for organ transplant recipientsYet our Legislature and tax reform commission failed to close any corporate tax loopholes. The property tax relief they offered to us is a joke, as Jeb-clone Marco Rubio said, we could save more money by switching our car insurance to Geico. It was one of the few times he's been right about anything. The republicans in Florida government have followed a reckless policy of raising property taxes by increasing "required local effort" while continuing special interest tax loopholes.
ENOUGH! Please help to stand for the children, the elderly, the homeless, the poor, and everyone whose voice is not heard in Tallahassee by telling our Legislature and our Governor to STOP THE BUDGET CUTS!
Here is a link to add your voice:
http://www.fladems.com/page/speakout/stopthecuts
The is a sample letter, or you can write your own. The following is a copy of my letter.
Read More »
Finally, some one is talking about an investigation of Bush, Cheney & Co.:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Barack_on_torture.html
The following letter to the editor was published in today's St. Petersburg Times
There is bitterness
Let me start by saying I am a fan of Hillary Clinton, but I have to comment on all the ruckus over Sen. Barack Obama saying that he thought some voters of Pennsylvania were bitter. I don't get what all the fuss is about. People are bitter. I am bitter.
I am bitter that our economy is in the tank, bitter that every time I go to the gas station I feel like I have to take out a second mortgage just for a fill-up. I am bitter that locally we don't have elected officials with the foresight to build real mass transit. I am bitter that, like the majority of Americans, I fell for the line George W. Bush presented before the Iraq war. I am bitter that this war has cost more than $500-billion while the infrastructure of our own country is crumbling. I am bitter over extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and secret prisons. I am bitter that the prices of staple items are rising faster than my paycheck. I am bitter that friends and neighbors are losing their homes because they can no longer afford their mortgage while the CEO of Countrywide gets $20-million in stock.
Recent polls show that close to 80 percent of Americans feel our country is headed in the wrong direction. Bitter: The word seems to fit.
Daniel Kanouff, Tampa
Why are we DEMOCRATS arguing about this? As if there aren't more important things to worry about. Did anyone notice that John McCain is now attempting to bribe us into voting for him? Can we get real please?
Anyone who has never misspoken in their entire lifetime should be entitled to write the next post about what Obama said about this or what Hillary said about that. The rest of us should quit playing games and concentrate on how we're going to get out of this mess that GWB has gotten us into.
Instead of arguing about who's more bitter than who, how about if we all try to do better, as Hillary suggested.
Let s/he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Peace,
Barb
Keeping in mind Annie B's post earlier today:
http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/annieb2008/CWtD
There has been a great deal of discussion and argument here on PB regarding Rev. Wright on Obama's side and Hillary's bible group study groups.
My question is, should God damn George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld & co for their crimes against humanity that were done in America's name? If you heard your pastor say that in your church, how would you react?
As we listen carefully to the hearings today in the capitol, I thought it might be helpful to remember what Nancy Pelosi said last week (regarding the recent violence in Basra):
"We have to know the real ground truths of what is happening there, not put a shine on events because of a resolution that looks less violent when in fact it has been dictated by al-Sadr, who can grant or withhold that call for violence."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9370.html
Are we any closer to the end of this war than we were five years ago? If we are not, is there any end in sight? How long and at what cost are we willing to continue this war?
From the MSN homepage, a slide show reflecting upon the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
http://lifestyle.msn.com/specialguides/staticslideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=6652144>1=32001
We have many miles to travel before we reach the mountaintop.
Peace,
Barb
Day after day when I log in to Partybuilder, I am greeted by one angry post after another aimed at one candidate or the other. Here's what I'm angry about: The other day, I got a call from an old friend whose son grew up with my kids. (Mine are 27, 25, & 23 now). We hadn't talked in about four years, so we spent a good bit of time catching up. As we mentioned name after name of other kids who'd graduated h.s. with ours, the conversation shifted to those who'd joined the military and how many tours of duty each of them had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Two students from our kid's h.s. have been killed since the war began. Many have served multiple tours and come home again, for which we gave thanks. One young Marine came home on leave and was killed in a suspicious accident--he ran into the back of a stopped semi going 80 mph (he was on leave from a tour in Iraq). One young man is on his fourth tour--but he is extremely depressed because his fifth tour has already been scheduled for Sept. This morning, I opened my St. Petersburg Times and saw this
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/article441186.ece
"When she got the call early Sunday that her fiance, Spc. P.J. Miller, 23, died in an explosion in Baghdad, she stopped breathing and lost consciousness. An ambulance took her to a hospital in Gainesville, where she is a student at the University of Florida. She was sedated and monitored for two days. Now Nelson, 26, goes between sobbing and a glazed look, her eyes flat."
"'He was so perfect,' she said softly."
Read More »
Howard Dean met with Florida Democratic leaders today and issued this statement:
http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/dean-congress-members-issue-statement/
Now let's make sure that Florida votes Democrat in November!
A speech on the housing crisis,
he agreed with bin laden,
http://firstread.msnbc.com/archive/2008/03/25/805136.aspx
and he said "I don't care . . ."
http://www.huffingtonpos.com/2008/03/25/mccain-says-us-succeeding_n_93251.html
and virtually nothing he says or does receives any scrutiny, in the media or on this site.
McSHAME.
My husband, like me, was wiping away tears. Because although he is a republican and I am a democrat, we both know that Barack is right about this. We will never solve anything unless and until we can work this out amongst ourselves.
When we first moved to Florida 30 years ago as newlyweds, we were often shocked to see the extent of segregation that still existed in the south. We were very young and very poor, but with some help from his dad we scraped together enough money to buy a modest home. I'll never forget how the real estate agent looked at me and said "You know, the black people live right over there" as he pointed down the block. He seemed surprised when I told him that was of no concern to me. He was about 60, I was 20 at the time. I had grown up in NY and my husband had grown up in NJ. Although our parents and older relatives often expressed what we thought were "old fashioned" opinions about race, our experiences growing up had helped us to at least try to be more open minded. Read More »
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