Blurbex

This is the latest hurricane prep info from the city of Tampa:

City of Tampa Action & Information

•    City of Tampa offices will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday, August 19, 2008.  This includes Parks & Recreation facilities and programs as well as the after school program.

•    Solid waste collection services including yard waste and recycling will be postponed for Tuesday, August 19.  Residents with regular Tuesday collection will be serviced on their next regularly scheduled collection day, Friday, August 22.  Tuesday recycling and yard waste collection services will be postponed until the next regularly scheduled collection on Tuesday, August 26.  All scheduled commercial collections will be delayed one day.

•    Sandbags: Residents may continue to pick up sandbags until 8 p.m. this evening.  Residents may pick up sandbags at the Himes Sports Complex, 4500 South Himes Avenue; Jackson Heights Playground, 3310 East Lake Avenue; and the solid waste facility at 4010 West Spruce Street.  Tampa residents interested in receiving sandbags must show identification verifying residence within the city limits. Valid driver’s license, utility bill or electric bill will serve as appropriate identification.

•    The Parks and Recreation Department has cancelled the Davis Islands Park Improvement Fund meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 19. At this time a new meeting date has not been scheduled.

City emergency management officials are continuing to monitor the path of Tropical Storm Fay.  Residents are encouraged to stay tuned to local media organizations for storm updates.

Residents with questions regarding Tropical Storm Fay are encouraged to call the Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center at (813) 272-6900.

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In today’s St. Pete Times, political columnist Adam C. Smith says it’s time for Gov. Charlie Crist to forget about any vice presidential aspirations he might still be harboring, citing the “return $50,000 of suspicious campaign donations [to John McCain] funneled through Charlie Crist’s pal and top fundraiser, Harry Sargeant III of Boca Raton.”

Earlier today, Crist appeared on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer and probably did little to boost his chances in McCain’s veep-stakes. Right out of the gate, when Blitzer asked Crist if he’d been through the vetting process for vice president, the governor said he was unable to comment. Blitzer then said, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”

After a brief, awkward pause, Crist responded, “You can take that anyway you want to.”

The balance of the interview consisted of Crist giving his support to McCain, calling him a “maverick” (where have we heard that before?) who opposed President Bush’s 2005 energy policy while Barack Obama voted for it. As he spoke, Crist looked and sounded like he was on autopilot.

When the topic of nuclear energy and Crist’s support for it came up, the guv smarmily pointed out that Blitzer’s mother is a Florida resident. It was a meaningless, patronizing reference (and one that Blitzer quickly moved past) in an otherwise Stepford Wives-like performance. Crist didn’t embarrass himself, but he also didn’t do anything to steal the limelight from Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

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That’s the question progressive District 55 voters should think about before they vote in their August 26 primary. Human rights activists uncovered a 2-year-old video of State Rep. Darryl Rouson on a local talk show and sent it out to media this week that shows the former NAACP president making some inane comments about same-sex adoptions and gays and lesbians in general.

From the video, which CL’s PoHo posted here):

“I think it is wrong to allow adoptions of children by gay and lesbian couples. It sends a wrong message early to a child during formative years that’s hard to overcome just by sitting down and talking to them. …”

“I think lesbianism and homosexuality is morally wrong. The law is supposed to discriminate sometimes, in some respects, it is supposed to discriminate against social order and anarchy.”

In a response to the video, Rouson told the Times he’s “evolved” since that 2006 taping of Florida This Week.

In an interview with me last month, I asked Rouson if any of his values had changed since he changed from a Republican to Democrat to run for the Florida State House seat 55. Here’s an excert:

Did you switch parties for political expediency or a change in your values?

My values have remained constant and consistent for the last 20 years. The ones who are most harping about the political party change are those who feel the most threatened by it. And that is my opponent. No one in the Democratic Party is angry or criticizing the 50,000 change in registrations that’s been occurring over the last several years. In fact, the Democrats are celebrating that, for the first time in 50 years, because of the influx of new registrations of Democrats, we now lead in party affiliation in this county. So, to me it’s a little disingenuous to try and attack me only on that.

In contrast to Rouson’s past comments, his primary opponent, the Rev. Charles McKenzie, has long advocated for gay and lesbian rights. In my interview with him in May, McKenzie did mention his position on human rights. He’s a longtime fixture in progressive circles and also sits on the board has been involved with the Florida ACLU, which supports same-sex adoptions.

So back to the main question: Do you think Rouson’s newfound tolerance is heartfelt, or just a political ploy?

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Today is the last day to register to vote in the statewide August primary. There’s umpteen different primary races this year — state house, school board, county commission — and you want to have a say (Keep your eye out for future CL election coverage closer to the primary).

If you think you are registered, but not sure, call your county’s election office to check (Pinellas County residents can check online here). If you just moved within your county, you can call and change your address. Otherwise, go online or head to the library to fill out a new application.

Here’s the links to the election offices:

Pinellas County

Hillsborough County 

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Got this from the Darden Rice campaign for Pinellas County commissioner:

Darden asks Rene, “Where’d ya get that yard sign?”

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Yard signs are among the most visible parts of a campaign – and so are their hiccups. The Darden Rice campaign posted a picture today of her opponent’s misspelled yard sign …

“There are just some details you have to get right,” said Darden Rice. “Especially the name of the job you’re asking voters to hire you for.”

Here’s that photo:

Now, do you think former St. Petersburg City Councilmember Rene Flowers has to pay for those signs?

But the real question I have is this: Is a misspelled yard sign really that big of deal to voters? As a Pinellas County resident — with all the issues facing us like taxes, crunched budgets, crime — would a yard sign really make or break your support for Flowers? Or does it make Rice look petty?

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There’s some good news on the preservation front:

The City Council has approved a proposal of Saint Pete Preservation Inc. to preserve some of the Crislip Arcade, one of three arcades left in the city.

From my earlier story on the nine most endangered buildings in St. Pete:

Over the decades, St. Pete has lost many of its early commercial arcades, or open-air shopping corridors. The Crislip Arcade — one of only three left in the city — may be next. The 82-year-old arcade was built during St. Pete’s ’20s boom, and like other arcades, is regarded as a precursor to pedestrian malls and modern shopping malls.

In 2006, 601 Central LLC bought the entire north side of the block and moved out several small retailers in order to build condos. Soon after, the housing market tanked and the block has sat empty since. But on May 1, the developer requested a demolition permit from the city, which is pending.

But due to the efforts of SPP, the developer now must follow some strict rules on how they go about demolishing the building, including:

• No demolition permit will be issued until the developer has financing and has submitted their full development plans.
• The final development will include a ground level arcade that replicates the original.
• Preservation groups must be noticed before demolition so they can grab any historic tiles, blocks, etc.
• A historical marker will be posted on the site.
• An American Historic Building Survey must be completed that documents the history of the building, archives blueprints and photos.
• The Crislip Arcade logo will be remain on the new building.

In an e-mail to supporters, SPP president Will Michaels points out that the application they filed helped halt the demolition process of the Crislip Arcade. He writes:

Saint Petersburg Preservation originally filed an application to landmark the Crislip.  We were advised by City staff that this was the only way to stop the imminent demolition of the building. Although demolition procedures had been initiated, the owners and buyers did not have the permitting or financing in place to actually begin
construction.  Too often in the past historic buildings have been demolished, only to leave a vacant lot in place for years to come.  While SPP has agreed to withdraw the landmark application, were it not for filing it the demolition would have proceeded and none of the ten points in the agreement would have happened.

And though SPP wishes the whole building could be saved, they’re happy that some concessions were made. Plus, since a new demolition permit could take years to procure, perhaps there is hope that another investor will come in, buy the building and find a profitable re-use for it.

This good news comes after the owners of the First Baptist Church announced they would retain that downtown historical building’s facade instead of demolishing the whole structure.

Maybe we’re finally getting somewhere with preservation after all …

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Now that the Rays have abandoned plans for a waterfront stadium at the Al Lang Field site (for now), preservationists and community leaders are once again petitioning the city to preserve the site as a park.

At tomorrow’s 8:30 a.m. St. Petersburg City Council meeting, councilmember Jeff Danner plans to introduce a resolution to designate the Al Lang Field site as “Downtown Center Park.” The resolution is supported by the city’s Council Of Neighborhood Associations and St. Pete Preservation Inc.

Will Michaels, a CONA board member and president of St. Pete Preservation Inc. sent out an e-mail to members today:

Designation of Al Lang as part of the park zoning will prevent condos and other large buildings from being built on the Al Lang site. It would still allow a Ray’s major league regular season stadium to be built on the site, although that would require a referendum to be approved. The current small spring-training Al Lang stadium may remain on the site. This could be used for high school, college, or Little Leagure baseball, or for cultural activities (plays and concerts), or a new permanent location for the popular Saturday Morning Market, etc. The small Al Land Stadium fits the site and still provides green space and views of the bay for the public. One of our most precious assets is our Downtown Waterfront Park. Placing Al Lang under the downtown park zoning will further help to preserve the Waterfront Park for future generations.

Last year, I reported on residents’ push for this waterfront protection. But the day after I filed my story, the Rays came out with their own plan for the site, completely changing the narrative.

CONA president Barbara Heck already wrote the City Council supporting the resolution, but Michaels says all concerned residents need to contact the City Council to show their support.

(Photo courtesy of Tim Baker)

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Here’s a sneak peak at my news story running in next week’s Creative Loafing:

Don Kobasky is losing sleep over recycling.

The St. Petersburg resident lives across the street from one of the city’s 22 drop-off recycling centers, and from sunrise to well after sunset, he hears the crash of glass.

“There’s nothing worse than working 10 to 12 hours a day and waking up at 3 a.m. to glass exploding,” says Kobasky, a large, tattooed artist who inhabits an apartment across from Crescent Lake Park’s recycling center. “It’s enough to make your brain snap.”

Kobasky doesn’t know what the answer is. He’s called the city’s solid waste department to complain; they responded by putting up a bigger sign informing residents the center closes at 9 p.m.

“But it won’t do much good,” he says.

Though he’s worried about the possible costs, he’s open to a county proposal to fund curbside recycling in St. Pete and the rest of the county.

“It seems like a win-win for everyone,” he says.

But if St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has his way, Kobasky may be hearing glass break for the foreseeable future. As the county picks apart Baker’s arguments against curbside recycling, the mayor is digging his heels in.

When asked if the city is open to the county’s plan, Mike Conners, the city’s internal services administrator and the Baker cabinet member who has taken on the county over their proposed program, replies flatly: “At this point, no.”
(more…)

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Wanna wipe your butt with the U.S. Constitution? We suggest U.S. Constitution Toilet Paper, a brand spanking new ”product” that you can own for the ultral low price of $8 a roll.

Here’s the hilarious sales pitch:

Don’t just tell people that America’s leaders are wiping their butts with the Constitution, hand them a roll of US Constitution Toilet Paper! This custom designed TP looks like the US Constitution, but the words have been updated to reflect the actual modus operandi of our modern government. Highlights include a revised Presidential Oath of Office, tricameral Congress, and Bill of Privileges.

For many people, seeing the Constitution on a roll of TP is sobering. Wiping with the Constitution can be a very emotional experience. US Constitution Toilet Paper causes many people to ponder what our Founders wanted, what America has become, and whether we have lived up to our ideals.

The toilet paper itself is fairly plush. It is printed using soy ink which is organic and biodegradable. This is fully-functional, usable TP! Each roll is individually shrink wrapped for protection during transit.

…Federal Budget Toilet Paper coming soon!

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It was a good intentioned idea. Really.

On Saturday, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office let area residents turn in their rusty, broken and unwanted guns for a brand-new $25 giftcard to Publix or Wal-Mart.

True, it was a little badly-timed considering the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that unequivocally gives us, the common folk, the right to bear arms. (Bear arms, not bare arms, mind you.) But something else struck me: If the deputies were trying to rid the streets of guns, why did they hand out Wal-Mart giftcards? Doesn’t Wal-Mart sell guns and amunition?

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The St. Pete Pride weekend kicked off last night with A Taste of Pride, a reception at Nova 535, where I got a chance to talk with Janice Langbehn, the grand marshal of Saturday’s parade. Langbehn seems a bit abashed by the lofty title, but her story needs to be told, and the Pride organizers made a brilliant political decision in helping to draw renewed attention to that story this week.

In Miami last year, Langbehn was about to embark on a cruise with her partner of 18 years, Lisa Marie Pond, and three of their four adopted children, when Pond suffered a brain aneurysm and was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. According to a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the hospital, the staff “refused to accept information from Langbehn regarding Pond’s medical history, informing her that she was in an antigay city and state and that she could expect to receive no information or acknowledgment as family.” Langbehn and her children were denied access to Pond for nearly eight hours. When the family was finally allowed to see her, the priest was administering last rites. Langbehn, with the help of Lambda Legal, is now suing the hospital and staffers for “negligent infliction of emotional distress.”

What happened to Langbehn — a heartless, by-the-book bureaucratic foul-up if there ever was one — could become even more commonplace after November’s election. If demagogues convince Florida voters that a same-sex marriage ban, already a law, should also be enshrined in the state constitution, the same thing could happen to anyone in Florida who defines family as other than one man/ one woman in a state-approved union. Unmarried heterosexual couples, senior citizens living together as companions, committed same-sex partners raising a family in relationships lasting 10, 20, 50 years — all of them would be at risk of being treated the same way as Janice Langbehn was treated.

Only if Amendment 2 passes, it won’t be just boneheaded hospital staffers denying people their civil rights. It’ll be the Florida Constitution.

If for no other reason than to show the world that you don’t want that to happen, march in the Pride parade Saturday and show your support for a grand marshal who deserves all the support we can give.

Later this week, I’ll be posting my interview, captured on ImGay.TV, with Lambda Legal’s Beth Littrell, who’s handling Langbehn’s case. And on Saturday, look for Creative Loafing staffers, including myself, riding the Azalea fire truck in the parade and handing out copies of the Openly Gay Issue and special CL “branded” condoms — much better than “beeeeaaaads.” And check out CL’s booth at 25th & Central.

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Drugs, of course!

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement just released its latest report on some of the more common drugs found in dead Floridians. Researchers at the state’s Office of Vital Statistics compiled toxicology reports on the 8,620 people who died last year with drugs in their system (whether it was the direct cause of death or simply present in their system).

Some highlights for the morbidly curious:

• The top three drugs found in dead people were ethyl alcohol (as in beer, wine, liquor), benzodiazepines (like Xanax, Valium, Rohypnol), and cocaine (see: Chris Farley).

• The drugs that caused the most deaths were cocaine, methadone, all benzodiazepines, oxycodone, ethyl alcohol, hydrocodone and morphine.

• The most lethal drug was (surprise!) heroin.

• Cocaine deaths have slowly increased since tracking began in 1987.

• Researchers found more prescription drugs than illicit drugs in dead Floridians, both as a cause of death and just being present in the body.

Take a look at the full report here.

(Photo Credit: PRNewsFoto/Medco Health Solutions, Inc.)

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No, he doesn’t refuse to wear a flag lapel pin because he hates America. No, he isn’t Muslim. No, he didn’t say if the political winds change he will stand with Muslim terrorists.

Chasing and debunking the flat-out lies that have been hurled at Barack Obama is a full-time job for some folks, and yet I still get several smearing e-mails a week, some from my own distant relatives. There is no doubt the Obama e-mail myth phenomenon is part viral, part political strategy, yet many of them are passed along by well-meaning people who are mostly duped by out-of-context or completely fabricated information.

Maybe that’s why I found a recent e-mail from West Tampa civic activist (and admittedly hardcore Democrat) Jason Busto so refreshing. Busto was responding to a friend who had forwarded another of those Obama e-mails when Busto wrote (I edited only to capitalize some formal nouns or for grammar):

Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:29
Subject: RE: Obama

Yes indeed. Obama, the first Democrat to run in three elections that motivates and inspires Democrats, Independents and Republicans, and the first person who is likely to win the presidency in 4 presidencies by more than a 1-2% margin, is in fact a closeted racist, self-hating, pro-Islamist, America destroyer who has honestly done nothing worthwhile in his entire 46 years of living.

I thank the writer of the original mail for shining the light, as i was almost duped by his razzle dazzle.

Specifically on the subject matter cited, I suppose we can wait for another mixed race candidate to run, one who hasn’t bothered to honestly share his or her personal life discovery through books that he himself wrote, from which now sentences from them have been taken out of context and made to reflect a hidden agenda which is not his. This is a standard propaganda tactic, one which Ann Coulter made a fortune doing, one that was used to undermine a much weaker personality candidate named John Kerry.

Emails, commercials, the paid political pundits and scare campaigns will now begin in full earnest. they will do everything to keep the bush administration political patronage and machinery in power. If you are interested in helping them, then by all means, please do take note of the nonsense below.

However, if you do want to end the war, repair our national infrastructure and economy, get America working again, and just right the wrongs of the past 8 years, I urge you to abstain from these fear-fests. They are intellectually unworthy “of our great country”. Please listen to what is really being said and consider the motives behind the words. are the speakers of such ideas really thinking about what is best for America, or you and me for that matter?

Please do not forward these messages until you have vetted them. rumors and fears will spread like fire, and America needs Americans to take it back.

http://www.factcheck.org/

Lets throw fear out with the Bush administration. We have let our nation be controlled by their fearful manipulating for too long.

Nobody is perfect. We all have warts, but Obama is going to be a great president.

yours,

jb

(Crossposted from The Political Whore.) 

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Hate to make today a Bob Norman pimpathon, but this piece he wrote about how the media handled the tomato-salmonella scare is just too good not to share:

First you must understand that the tomato story was perfect for newspapers. Think about it — nothing like deadly tomatoes on a dull news day. Tomatoes are everywhere! In our homes, restaurants, spaghetti sauce, salads … everywhere. The odds that any Sentinel readers would be affected by the salmonella scare was about the same as one of them getting stuck in a pool drain or killed by a candle (both old Help Team bugaboos). Since April, one person has died nationally with 167 reported ill. And Florida tomatoes weren’t affected at all.

But don’t let the facts get in the way of a sensational lede story. On Tuesday, the Sun-Sentinel put the story on the front page with a large bold headline headline: “HOLD THE TOMATOES.”

The article wasn’t about how Browardites were coming down ill. There were, of course, no illnesses here since the tomatoes were fine. The local hook was that some restaurants had pulled tomotoes from their menus even though they were believed to be safe (the entire headline, including the smaller print: “Many Fast-Food Restaurants Say: HOLD THE TOMATOES”).

The article itself was basically a primer on different types of tomatoes and the finer points of the salmonella you weren’t going to get in Florida.

Fine. Okay. The Sentinel, however, wasn’t finished with this juicy story. They put the Help Team on the job and the next day came out with this lead front-page headline: “Florida’s tomatoes declared OK to eat.”

Forget that Florida’s tomatoes were never declared not OK to eat in the first place. Just pass the pizza pie. The article rehashed the previous day’s information and, admirably, contained a bit of self-referential criticism on the absurdity of the piece appearing in the newspaper at all….

So, how did the Tampa Bay dailies do?

The Tampa Tribune went much the same route as the rest of the dailies, playing up the voluntary ban by some large corporations before declaring tomatoes safe the next day. June 9’s blog “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” (never mind that salmonella isn’t exactly a brutally deadly thing, although one death was linked to the tainted tomatoes) and June 10’s “Tainted Tomato Varieties Pulled From Supermarkets” vs.  June 11’s “FDA Clears Bay Area Tomatoes; Harvesting Stopped in South Florida”  and “Florida Tomatoes Rejected Over Scare.”

At the Times,  the paper led with a pretty balanced and non-tabloidy FAQ on the story that pointed out the voluntary nature of the ban and that no Florida cases had been reported. The story was very low-key and non-inflammatory. (It appears from the Times’ website that an earlier headline online about tomato-borne salmonella sickening dozens “nationwide” was replaced with a more precise headline that didn’t lead you to believe that every state was affected.) The paper even did a good story two days later on what the scare cost Florida growers: $500 million.

(photo by Manjith Kainickara)

(Crossposted from The Political Whore.) 

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… and fails to pay his taxes, only in this case, it is employment taxes and not property taxes.

Congressman Vern Buchanan owes the IRS some big cash, according to the Sarasota daily and our CL blog, The 941, down there:

As reported in today’s Herald-Tribune, our local congressman, Republican Vern Buchanan, is again in hot water with the IRS.

This time, Vern has failed to pay more than $550,000 in federal employment taxes.

Buchanan’s seat has been targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program as it supports a candidate it calls “the incumbent,” Democrat Christine Jennings who arguably was robbed in the 2006 elections when the ballot design caused 18,000 undervotes in Sarasota County.

(Crossposted from The Political Whore.) 

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You may want to invest in a good pair of walking shoes, because we will all be walking a lot more in the near future.

The website Walkscore.com lets you input an address and calculate a score for a neighborhood based on how close it is to grocery stores, restaurants, entertainment, schools, parks and a host of other amenities. The results are listed under their respective categories on the left side of the screen along with their distance in miles. Scores range from zero (Driving only — you can only walk to your car) to 100 (”Walker’s Paradise”).

Click on an entry and it will show you where it is located on the (Google) map, as well as provide a bubble complete with an address, phone number and a clickable link to a Google search of that entry.

Walkscore.com is especially helpful if you are moving to a new neighborhood because it helps to know the likelihood of being able to leave the gas-guzzler (aren’t they all nowadays?) at home and walk.

My own Pinellas Point neighborhood got a meager score of 51, which means that some places are close by, but a car or public transportation is still required for most trips. I could easily walk down the street to a restaurant or a drugstore, but if I was feeling picky I would need the car.

On the upside I did discover a number of restaurants in my area I didn’t know of that are within easy walking or biking distance. On the downside, plenty of the listings were for places in downtown St. Petersburg, about seven miles away, that may be within walking distance by European standards but that I wouldn’t walk to myself often.

Another major drawback, and a factor that could seriously affect walkability, is that the ratings don’t take crime statistics into account when factoring the scores. The site searches under plenty of relevant categories that would be moot if the neighborhood isn’t safe enough to walk around in.

With gas prices on the rise, however, it certainly helps to know if your new neighborhood is walkable.

(photo by alexandralee).

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First off, before I go any further, let me say: I don’t condone speeding. All you road-ragers weaving in and out of lanes scare the hell out of me, and put all of our lives in danger.

That being said: There’s no fucking way I’m going 65 mph on I-275. Just no way. I don’t even think my car will allow it: It gives this horrible hum and shakes if I go below 70.

But to us “responsible” speeders (that is, those of us who speed in the left lane, until someone going faster comes up on your rear, in which you change lanes and let off the accelerator as necessary), we have one problem: state troopers. Especially that one that is always on the Pinellas side of the Howard Franklin Bridge.

And what do state troopers love more than those tough-looking hats they wear? Speed traps!

They sure are crafty, those bears. But the Internets is even craftier.

I introduce you to Speedtrap.org, the most complete listing of speed traps in the country, compiled by the National Motorists Association. From the homepage, you choose the state and the site lists each city and/or county with entries, which are written by readers. There’s over 200 Florida locations listed. Sure enough, someone posted something about the Howard Franklin Bridge trooper:

Jurisdiction (city, county, etc.): Tampa-St. Petersburg , Florida
Speed Trap Location: Interstate 275
Nearest Reference Point: Mile Marker 31-39
GPS Coordinates: n/a
Time of Day: AM Rush Hour
Level of Enforcement: High
Type of Enforcement: Radar, Laser, Vascar, Airplane
Date: 7/2006

Then, the poster follows the info with a brief description, in this case a Bay News 9 feature on the crackdown.

I’ve known about this site for some time, but only recently has it been updated with all sorts of new speedtraps. So read up and, please folks, don’t barrel into me at 90 mph.

(Photo Credit: cesarastudillo)

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The St. Petersburg Times has an interesting profile on Tampa’s favorite (confederate) son, Marion Lambert. The South Tampa beekeeper has been a media darlin’ the last week, ever since a massive confederate flag flew on his property at the intersection of I-4 and I-75.The Times article painted the man generally as a gentle Southern enthusiast, who snookered the county officials when he applied for the proper flag permits. But when I interviewed Lambert on Friday, I saw an angry, almost bitter man.

True, Lambert is a gentleman. Before he arrived at his house from a late bee removal job, his family showed me some true Southern hospitality. Then he gave me a nice tour of his five-acre farm.”I’m a very liberal person in my heart,” he told me during our first few minutes together. “I’m a very conservative person in my brain.”

He even used to be a hippie. Well, I’ll be …

But don’t let Lambert fool you: he knows full well that this stunt is divisive, even if he doesn’t believe in the flag’s links to slavery. In one of the most unusual analogies I’ve ever heard, he compares the flag going up to “childbirth,” in that the act will cause a lot of pain and agony, but in the end a more perfect truth will be born.

Did I mention the guy is a born-again Christian?

“We found ourselves marginalized, put on the back table of the community,” he said, railing against the decision to remove the confederate flag from the county seal and other slights. “The only way we could get their attention is to slap them in the face, and slap the community in the face.”

He knows the power he has over the commissioners, especially after they practically begged him to not fly the flag at last week’s commission meeting. This is how he describes county commissioner Rose Ferlita:

“I saw Rose Ferlita look at me like a puppy instead of an angry dog.”

An edited version of the interview will hit the streets and Web site on Wednesday, but for now, here’s the full version (after the jump): (more…)

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As any other office troll would attest to, we get a lot of spam here at CL.

A lot.

Since my hiring two years ago, I’ve clicked through more junk e-mail than my entire life beforehand.

As you might have guessed, most of it is of the “male enhancement” variety. Much to the chagrin of spammers everywhere, I always delete these e-mails without opening them.

Well, now those spammers have gone to just insulting me:

Bastards.

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Last night, I had to recycle something fierce.

I was on vacation in Iowa all last week, and when I came home there was a mound of soda cans, plastic jugs, beer and wine bottles against my back door. (Thanks roomie!) For the rest of Pinellas County, this wouldn’t present a problem: you just carry the items a few feet to the curb.

But, alas, I live in St. Petersburg, where the only thing lacking more than curbside recycling is police officers.

As the last bit of light left the sky, I loaded the recyclables in my car and trucked them to a nearby recycle center at Crescent Lake. I pulled in just as another guy in a red Jeep threw his last beer bottles in a huge green dumpster and left.

I parked and began throwing my own recyclables in. The cans clinked. The paper swooshed. And the beer and wine bottles crashed. Loudly.

As I strolled back to my car, I heard a disembodied voice yelling about “smashing glass.” It was dark and I couldn’t find the man with my eyes. I called out, “Where are you yelling from?”

“Right here,” he replied. I looked behind a dumpster toward the street and spotted him: A hefty, middle-aged man. Despite the lack of light, I knew his face was beet red.

(more…)

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