Daily Loaf

Drama! Action! Blindfolds! (Sounds kinky.) I know we’re going to see at least two of those in tonight’s episode of Top Chef…hopefully. It’s that time of the season again: Restaurant Wars! We’ll get to see who works fairly well together for the win and who gets the blame for having the losing restaurant, thus going down in flames.

Yet again, we see drama surrounding Robin and apparently she and Angry Bro (Mike V.) are the ones going at it this week during Restaurant Wars. It looks like, from the video below, that the V. Brothers and Robin are on a team working together in the kitchen for this challenge. With Angry Bro as the apparent team leader, it seems that he thinks it gives him an excuse to give Robin hell this week. I’m very much looking forward to her finally losing her cool and cursing him out, and also interested in seeing how the V. Brothers work together for this challenge, Will Mike will try to throw Bryan under the bus? Twenty bucks says he’ll try to do that to Robin.
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This reporter was at the latest Bill Foster/Kathleen Ford debate last night in St. Petersburg.  Not a whole lot of news being made, with the exception that Foster now says he supports domestic partnership benefits.

Very interesting new poll numbers are out in Florida’s Senate and Gubernatorial races this morning.  The big news here is that even though Marco Rubio is still down by double digits to Charlie Crist in their race for U.S. Senate, Rubio has made up 14% from a similar poll conducted two months ago.

Download the Report here.

Perhaps feeling massive guilt, Commisioners Kevin White and Al Higgenbotham plan to unveil a new plan on finding housing for the homeless at today’s Hillsborough County Commission Board Meeting.

Interestingly enough, Commissioner White, who has been under fire after he was found guilty of sexually harassing his aide back in August, has had a number of supporters come out for him at this morning’s meeting.

Support for a government run public health care option is rising in the U.S.  As activists prepare to protest in front of Senator Bill Nelson’s office today, perhaps the new numbers will inspire him and others to get more behind the idea?

One prominent Florida Democrat has no opinion about a public option,

and,  with just two weeks to go before election day in St. Petersburg, former police chief Goliath Davis weighs in on the recent controversial comments on race made by mayoral candidate Kathleen Ford.

Also in national news, the Obama Administration announced yesterday what they said they were going to do when they came into office – that is, stop prosecuting sanctioned marijuana suppliers or the patients who purchase medicinal pot.

Download the report

Attorney General Eric Holder had said his Justice Department would no longer go after those dispensaries when he took office, but his office did actually continue to do so for awhile.

And in the story I quote from, there’s this little caveat:

And while the policy memo describes a change in priorities away from prosecuting medical marijuana cases, it does not rule out the possibility that the federal government could still prosecute someone whose activities are allowed under state law.

Also, President Obama may be in Tampa next Tuesday.  We’ll report once we have the details.

And, swine flu shots will begin being administered in Hillsborough County schools today.  The School Board issue a press release this morning with results from a survey of parents on whether they will have their kid get inoculated.

The results? 55% said yes, 24% said no, and 21 percent were undecided.  Over 25,000 people responded.

The St. Petersburg Mayor’s race just got a whole lot more interesting.

The Obama Administration is not dropping its jihad against Fox News.

And some in the media are spreading the narrative that Barack Obama simply isn’t tough enough – but Obama’s radio address on Saturday threatening to revoke the health care industry’s anti trust exemption is a pretty serious threat.

Download the report here.

After last night’s brawl following the controversial St. Petersburg City Council vote on vacating the sidewalk of BayWalk, St. Pete for Peace says they’ll demonstrate tonight.

The Public Service Commission today rules on whether to impose a $200 million front end hit to ratepayers in the state.

And the Wall Street Journal blasts the National Football League for rejecting Rush Limbaugh.

Also in the news, as Congressional Republicans continue to criticize President Obama for ‘dithering’ in his deliberations regarding a new strategy and troop levels in Afghanistan, now comes word that there’s a good chance that there will be a run-off in the disputed presidential election there.

That report comes as the deaths of 4 Americans in Afghanistan are announced today.

Oh, and Florida’s unemployment rate is now at 11%.

Download the report here.

Is it episode 8 already? Well, we’re still here, still podcasting about Top Chef Las Vegas (no, this isn’t the Hell’s Kitchen podcast). Unfortunately this week we are sans our resident wine guru, Taylor. Fortunately, Jeff provided us with a different form of bubbly to enjoy during our gab session this week- Stella Artois (whose commercials play during Top Chef- coincidence?).

 At the beginning of the episode we learned that Angry Bro (Mike V.) thinks he’s the Babe Ruth of Top Chef and that Eli still lives at home – he’d admit this on national television, why?

The Quickfire revealed that Charlie Palmer is the guest judge and former boss of the V. Brothers (and swore he won’t play favorites), and their secret ingredient is a potato chip. Classy, Bravo.  They’ve already had to pair shots with dishes, so why not snack food this time around? Personally, I’d pair my Funyuns with a braised lamb shank in a lovely sherry demi glace. Ceveech was a nervous wreck again this week and it looks like she didn’t use her Macy’s gift card from last week’s win to get herself a makeover (your roots are showing, girl). Eli ends up taking home this challenge (cough*finally*cough) and represents for ATL. He also muses that he can be the first to win a Quickfire and Elimination Challenge in the same episode. Right.

For the Elimination Challenge, each cheftestant had to use a different cut of pork for their dish and pair it with the pinot noir they chose to use.  Who knew Eli was such a wino, I mean- wine connoisseur? They then had to cook for 150 guests at Charlie Palmer’s fundraiser event, Pigs and Pinot. Of course, the V. Brothers, Redbeard (Kevin), and Ceveech got great reviews, while Ash, Robin and Whatsherface’s (Laurine) dishes were not so popular at this event.

Much to our surprise (hint of sarcasm), Redbeard won with a pork dish again, and Ash ended up getting the boot. (Top Chef Rule #3: Don’t tell the judges that you didn’t cook the dish that you had originally intended to.) It was good that they put Ash out of his misery, though - after learning that he could no longer clean Picasso’s paintbrushes, he felt that the Top Chef life just wasn’t worth living.

Looks like it’s Restaurant Wars next week, so maybe we’ll finally see some action that will have us on the edge of our seats. Well, enough action to keep our interest, at least.

Highlights: Laurine makes cat food, Robin being “passive-aggressive” and at the center of the drama in the house (seen here), asking: “What Would Carla Do?”, our predictions for Padma’s baby-daddy, and the best “That’s What She Said” line of the episode.

Hear the hilarious podcast after the jump:
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Several stories in the news today – such as yesterday’s Mayoral Debate in St. Pete

St. Pete’s City Council again brings up BayWalk

And  there’s a protest at Bill Nelson’s office today on health care – also President Obama is  not popular in parts of New Orleans and San Francisco, which he visits today.

Download the report here.

As we’ve been discussing the last few weeks in the Top Chef Podcast, there seems to be a lot of tension between Robin and Eli. Well, between Robin and almost everyone, it seems. Is it because they don’t respect her as much as some of the cheftestants that were booted before her? Or are they just being childish and disrespectful? Tonight’s episode will give us more drama, as Robin and Eli get to smack talkin’ again and Robin proves that she is not Eli’s mother, as seen in the preview clip below.

Also, the V. Brothers (Hot Bro- Bryan, Angry Bro- Michael) have got their panties in a wad over this week’s guest judge, Charlie Palmer – a famous chef and restaurateur. You see, Charlie used to be both of the V. Boys’ boss, and it makes them quite nervous to be cooking for him in the Quickfire Challenge (or rather, heating up some frozen potato product, as it looks like in the video below). Ceveech (Jen) even looks to be losing her cool during this challenge. I think it’d be really hilarious and ironic if Robin took this win.
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In today’s podcast:

• Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner wants to clear the record on his Kevin White motion from last week, which did not support Rose Ferlita’s call to sue White to try to recoup some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars the County owes due to White’s transgressions.

• CFO Alex Sink on ex-felons’ civil rights: She wants to take some of them back

• Limbaugh wants the St. Louis Rams: TBO commenters just want to bash Al Sharpton

• You’ll never believe who’s against the tent city in Hillsborough

Download the report here.

Also:

Last night Bill Foster and Kathleen Ford battled it out on a debate televised live by BayNews9.  I’ll talk about this more tomorrow, as the two will be engaging in another debate on Wednesday afternoon.

And last, but certainly not least, the Senate Finance Committee will take their vote today on the health care bill coming out of the Max Baucus led group.  This comes the day after the industry group, AHIP – America’s Health Insurance Plans, released a 26 page analysis conducted by PricewaterhouseCooopers, which said that premiums would cost more under the Finance Committee legislation than under the current system.

The White House and Democrats are outraged, but in fact, as several political commentators have been saying, this almost insures that the much vaunted public option will end making it into the final legislation.  Why not?  If the Baucus bill won’t bring down costs (which , along with trying to insure more people, has been the driving goal of the Obama administration during this whole debate), then the public option is really needed, supporters can now argue.

The Florida Democratic Party hosted its annual state conference over the weekend at a Disney resort in Lake Buena Vista.  This reporter was there for some of the events, including a debate between Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg, the aspiring candidates to be the Party’s nominee for Attorney General next year.  I’ll be writing a separate post on that later today.

Saturday, the conference was filled with speeches from some of the party’s leaders, including the woman that so many Dems have their hopes on for next year to be the next governor, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.  In her address Saturday night, she lit into her possible GOP opponent next year, Bill McCollum, saying, “”A career politician like Bill McCollum only talks about jobs and growth, but a leader like me creates jobs and growth. McCollum pretends to have all the answers, a leader asks the right questions.  He puts on a performance. A leader demands performance. He measures results by the polls he takes, I measure results by the progress we make.”

Download the report here.

That’s quite possibly the strongest rhetoric employed so far by the CFO in her campaign against the current Attorney General, but if you can’t get the grass roots of your party faithful up and cheering at your state party’s convention, when can you?

I didn’t arrive at the Conference until around noon on Saturday, which meant I missed appearances by Senator Bill Nelson and Congressman Alan Grayson, who has, pardon the cliche, become a rock star with Florida Democrats after having said Republicans want sick people to “die quickly” two weeks ago.

On Saturday, he said the GOP should be called “The Selfish Party,” and the 2,000 or so delegates in the hall ate it up.

Saturday morning Senator Bill Nelson addressed the crowd, and there were many in the audience who got up when he spoke, calling out “health care now! “  In the Senate Finance Committee, of which he is a member, Nelson did vote on an amendment sponsored by New York Senator Charles Schumer, and on Saturday he told the delegates and others in attendance that “I have heard you loud and clear” on the issue.  Nelson’s Committee votes on their bill tomorrow.

As a Quinnipiac Poll released last month revealed, Florida Democrats are solidly behind a government-sponsored public health care option in any bill that ultimately comes out of the Congress this year, so it’s perhaps no surprise Nelson is getting with the program.

Yet the Democrats’ potential standard-bearer, gubernatorial candidate Sink, still has not expressed her opinion on the matter.

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Stunning.

That had to be the overwhelming feeling among Americans as they awoke to the news early this morning that Barack Obama is this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.  It came in at 5 a.m. East Coast time this morning, and I literally jumped up and off my bed hearing the NPR announcer say at 5:04, “Repeating our top story, Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to enjoy the honor, but the first to win it during his first term in office (and in his first 8 months, to boot).  Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize in 1919 after helping to establish the League of Nations, and Teddy Roosevelt took it in 1906.

But as the Washington Post reports:

In contrast, Obama is struggling over whether to expand the war in Afghanistan, preparing to withdraw from Iraq, and searching for ways to build momentum to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and assemble an international effort to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

Already the conservative media establishment is mocking the prize and our president.  But doesn’t that contradict what they were saying a week ago, when many people were almost as equally surprised that the International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago as the potential host of the 2016 Summer Games?

Former President Jimmy Carter, the 2002 Nobel Prize winner, called the award to Obama a”bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment.”

Download the report here.

Closer to home, the St. Petersburg City Council, or at least one member of it, was apparently stung by the criticism thrown their way by the St. Pete Times and other figures for their vote last week not to allow BayWalk to be given the public sidewalk that is the entryway to the struggling shopping complex.

Councilmember Herb Polson supported a motion to bring the issue back.

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This week, we’re back in the Champagne Room (aka: the podcast bunker) to kvetch about episode 7 of  Top Chef. (What did you think this was, the Project Runway Podcast?)

Was this episode painfully boring or was it just my short attention span? I’m going to sum it up much like the cheftestants had to get the specs for their Quickfire dish, Cookstr-style: Tired, bland, and contrived. Tyler Florence (insert Applebee’s sellout joke here) didn’t even add to the excitement as the guest judge:  he lacks the street cred that the majority of the prior guest judges this season had.

For the Quickfire Challenge, the chefs had to create a dish using the three description words that the Cookstr slot machine gave them. What is “stressed” food, by the way? ‘Stress food’, as in, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s? Or maybe a lobster that was just dropped into a boiling cauldron of water. I digress. Ultimately, we learned that passing off a Middle Eastern dish with Indian curry to Padma just doesn’t fly, Jersey Mike really knows his Asian food- note the sarcasm, and Ceveech sure loves her scallops (maybe we’ll start calling her ‘Top Scallop’ from now on).

For the Elimination Challenge, the players drew knives to see who they’d be teamed up with to cook a potluck-style dinner for Tyler Florence and Macy’s Culinary Council (some great chefs they gave no background info on)…in their own home kitchen. 10 chefs + 1 home kitchen = madness. Each team got a mystery bag of ingredients they had to use in their dish, along with whatever was in the pantry. The only major drama in this part of the episode was the pairing of Jersey and Robin, Angry Brother (Mike V.) losing power to his electric wok, and Ashley’s over salted gnocchi.

Ceveech ends up taking the win, getting a $10k gift card from Macy’s, which hopefully she’ll end up spending on a new wardrobe and on an entire makeover (too bad you can’t buy class). Much to my delight, greaseball Ben Folds was sent packing for her salty gnocchi and all-around bad idea for a dish. The show will feel much cleaner now.

Highlights: The horrid clothes this episode (namely Padma, Tom, and Ben Folds), Ash sure knows how to set a table (is this Top Tablescape Artist?), Hot Bro (Bryan) gets all sassy and puts everyone in their place for ragging on his lil’ bro, and where the heck is Whatsherface (Laurine) this episode?

Hear the hilarious podcast after the jump:
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The latest Senate health bill will cost $829 billion over the next decade AND slightly reduce the federal budget deficit.

That’s according to the official scorekeepers of such things, the Congressional Budget Office.  It said the legislation coming out of Max Baucus’ Finance Committee would also cover 94% of nonelderly legal U.S. citizens, up from about 83% right now — and it would cut the deficit by $81 billion over the next decade.

What does this mean? Theoretically, it should give cover to moderate Democrats, who are freaking out that the legislation would increase the deficit.

And who knows, maybe there might be a stray Republican in the Senate  who could join the lonely Olympia Snowe — not that anybody should take her vote for granted.

Mind you, the Baucus bill does NOT contain a government run public option. , which Many House Democrats, including Tampa’s Kathy Castor, have been on the record saying they would not vote for the bill unless it includes the public option.

Download the report here.

Another ignominious statistic for Florida.  We rank 50th among the states  and D.C. in its percentage of its children covered by health insurance, according to a new report.

It comes from the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based nonprofit foundation focused on improving health care access.

Most disturbingly, the report finds that most states showed an improvement in the percentage of children covered by health insurance — but not in Florida,where coverage of kids fell by 2 percent since 2005.

The killer paragraph in the story in today’s Palm Beach Post is this:

Eighteen percent of children in Florida lacked health insurance, compared to only 3.2 percent in Massachusetts, where health insurance has been mandatory for the past three years. The national median was 8.6 percent.

Meanwhile, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program this morning, where he talked a lot about deteriorating relations between the political parties in Washington.

He did take a couple of slaps at Barack Obama, saying he thinks that the President has an opportunity to find common ground with his opponents, but “doesn’t seem like he’s ready to take on that challenge. I think there would be huge support for him to move away from the orthodoxy of his party on some positions, and move to a third way.”

Yet later on in the conversation, Bush gave props to the Prez and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, saying he was “encouraged and excited ” that Obama has taken on the teachers’ unions and demanded accountability, saying he and Duncan are deserving of high praise on that front.

On health care reform, the former governor wasn’t nearly so magnanimous, calling the proposals in Congress ‘missed opportunities.”

Speaking of MSNBC and health care reform: One of that cable network’s stars, and a hero amongst much of the left wing in the U.S., Keith Olbermann went over the top last night with an hour-long “Special Comment” special devoted to him talking about the health care debate.

I only saw a few moments of it, but this review in Salon.Com seems to capture its essence, calling it “Olbermann’s Wasted Moment.”

Last but not least, the Hillsborough County Commission deadlocked yesterday on a proposal to sue Kevin White to recoup some of their financial losses due to his conviction on sexual harassment charges.

But as I noted in my blog posting on this yesterday, an interesting little event occurred at the end of the vote on Commissioner White’s financial situation yesterday.

That is a new ordinance that the County Commission will need to approve on issues like sexual harassment, which is a major reason why a federal judge ruled that the County was liable in the White lawsuit.

Commissioner Kevin Beckner asked Attorney Renee Lee to see if protections could be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Lee responded that that could be added.  But then Commissioner Jim Norman objected, saying he was disturbed by that exchange, calling it a ‘back door attempt’ to change the language in the County’s Human Rights Ordinance.  Norman said he’d call for full-blown hearings if that were to be the case.

In a brief interview late yesterday, Commissioner Beckner told CL that he thought Norman overreacted to his suggestion.  This story isn’t over.

In the wake of last week’s vote by the St. Petersburg City Council not to vacate the sidewalk that leads into the BayWalk retail complex, a vote that BayWalk owners had demanded before they would consider investing more money in the struggling mall, the activist group St. Pete for Peace says they will not protest on the sidewalk for at least the next year.

On the organization’s website, the group writes:

The recent Baywalk/sidewalk proposal was an attack on free speech and would have set a dangerous precedent for our city and our country.  In last week’s city council vote, everyone’s First Amendment rights were maintained and our right to demonstrate was upheld.  This is what we were striving for all along.

If the city and/or Baywalk’s owners again try to ban protesters from the public sidewalk in front of Baywalk, we will re-assess our position and again struggle to maintain people’s rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

This clearly puts the onus back on the owners, C.W. Capital, to put their money where their mouth is (okay, lame expression).  For months, they and their supporters in St. Pete have said that, despite the withering economy, they would only reinvest and could only re-market the complex by insuring that protestors could not disturb customers.  St. Pete for Peace has called their bluff.

Download the report here.

We knew that the Kevin White case was going to be brought up again today by Hillsborough County Commissioners at their bi-weekly meeting.

But we didn’t know that Commissioner Rose Ferlita would be announcing that she plans to ask her fellow commissioners to sue White to get back some of the taxpayer funds that are associated with his sexual discrimination lawsuit.

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The woman who hopes to become the first to lead the great state of Florida, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, is reporting that she raised $1.6 million over the past three months. Her top Republican Party opponent, Attorney General Bill McCollum, has yet to announce his fundraising totals over the past quarter year.

Sink is in better shape financially at this stage of her campaign — a little over a year before the general election — than were Jim Davis, Bill McBride or Lawton Chiles, the last three people to run for the Democratic nomination for Governor.  All three of those men lost.

For those who like their politics hardball, the Sink-McCollum race promises to provide the goods.  The Florida Republican Party has acted scared about Sink for a while.  The day after she announced her candidacy, the party, never known not to be in good stead with the financial industry, blasted Sink for her longtime banking ties (she worked in the industry for 26 years, ending her career as Bank of America’s president of Florida operations in 2000).

Download the report here.

The possible wild card in this race is whether Lakeland State Senator Paula Dockery gets in the GOP race.  Read the rest of this entry »

Today the U.S. Supreme Court officially begins its new session, with Latina Justice Sonia Sotomayor bringing her perspective to the bench, succeeding David Souter.

USA Today reports that former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said over the weekend that she regretted that some of her decisions “are being dismantled” by the current Court, led by John Roberts.

When asked how she reacted to having some of her rulings “undone,” the first female Justice ever named to the High Court responded, “How would you feel?  I’d be a little bit disappointed.”

Download the report here.

Meanwhile, with concerns escalating that offshore drilling could be coming to Florida, there will be a debate in Tallahassee later this month on the matter.

This comes after nearly 20 local governments and chambers of commerce have gone on the record in recent weeks proposing resolutions to oppose any move by Congress or the state Legislature to promote offshore drilling in Florida (Sierra Club member Phil Compton proposed that the Tampa City Council follow suit last week, and the Council is working on such a resolution).

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Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson has made a name for himself over the past year — mostly among Netroots Nation Democrats who have been impressed by his fiery partisan language.

But the Orlando freshman has been catapulted into a whole new world of media coverage over the past 48 hours, after this statement: “The Republican health-care plan: Don’t get sick….if you’re sick, America, the Republican health-care plan is this: Die quickly!”

After being blasted by the GOP for his remarks and called upon to apologize, Grayson did — to the dead.

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Bill Clinton comes to West Central Florida tonight. He’ll be speaking in Sarasota at the Van Wezel Center at 7:45 p.m.  The event is being sponsored by the Ringling College Library Association. More on how the former commander in chief might, just might, have an impact on the Florida governor’s race later in the post.

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Kathy Castor is in the news. The Tampa Democrat is calling on the EPA to review the controversial mall proposed  in Wesley Chapel next to Cypress Creek, near the border between Pasco & Hillsborough counties.  The conglomerate trying to build the mall has been engaged  in a battle with  local environmentalists for years.

Less than a month ago, the Army Corps of Engineers lifted a suspension of its permit. That came after the developers agreed to pay a $297,000 fine for discharging muddy water into Cypress Creek, which is a tributary for the Hillsborough River, Tampa’s main source of potable water.

Castor is also defending herself against charges that she supported a vote to maintain funding for ACORN, the community activist group that has received an avalanche of negative publicity in recent weeks.

Download the Mitch Perry Report here.

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Governor Charlie Crist made the rounds of the cable networks this morning, and part of that offensive included contrasting the health care reform plans being promulgated by President Obama with his own modest endeavor here in Florida.

That’s despite the fact that (as the Miami Herald reported in August), the governor’s plan, called Cover Florida, had attracted only 3,757 people to the program, in a state with over 4 million uninsured.

Crist’s response when asked about that on CNN?  “It’s over 4,000 now.”

CNN’s John Roberts asked Crist how he could criticize big-government programs while boasting about  the growth of the state’s health care program for children, Florida Kid Care, which expanded to cover tens of thousands more kids this year.

“That’s for children,” the Guv responded.  Roberts rightly shot back, “What’s the difference?” Crist repeated, “It’s for children.”

However, it was a kinder, gentler, love-in type of interview over at Fox News’ Fox & Friends program. (Download the Mitch Perry Report below.)

Host Steve Doocy cheerfully advised (rather than questioned Crist) that the feds in Washington could do well to take up what Crist has accomplished so far in the Sunshine State.

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There are currently 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.  But according to a report leaked to the Washington Post last week,  the top commander on the ground there, General Stanley McChrystal, wants to increase the troop strength by up to 40,000 more troops.

Meanwhile, back at home,  the American populace (as measured by public opinion polls) seems to be growing weary of the war, approaching its 8th anniversary.  Some legislators (such as House Appropriations Chairman  David Obey of Wisconsin) have already gone on record as saying they are dubious about spending more on the war if there isn’t more progress on the ground.

What does Barack Obama do? (Download the Mitch Perry Report podcast after the break.) Read the rest of this entry »

The big news internationally today is President Obama, along with Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy, accusing Iran of building a secret underground facility to manufacture nuclear fuel.

What this means for the immediate future is uncertain;  the U.S. was prepared to begin talks with Iran next Thursday.  Do those talks continue now?  Conservative critics will have a “told-you-so” field day, but short of going to war, what’s the best strategy going forward?

For better or worse, the rest of the world looks to the President of the United States for answers.  For many of us, we’re happy it’s Barack Obama who will be providing the answers in this case, and not George W. Bush.  But as Joe Biden said during the general election campaign, crises are bound to happen that will test the mettle of this 47-year-old man.

Speaking of Obama, some interesting new poll numbers came out of the CBS News/NY Times poll released last night.

First of all, POTUS’ approval ranking is at 56 percent— that’s higher than other recent polls that show him right at the 50% mark.

Download the report here.

But more interesting  is the public’s show of disfavor with Obama’s stance on  Afghanistan, which at this moment is actually unclear: We don’t know if he’ll go along with the recommendations of General Stanley McChrystal to increase troop levels in Afghanistan.

The other interesting parts of the poll indicate strong support for a government public option in health care reform.  But in both this poll and an NBC News/WSJ survey, a lot of folks still don’t understand what the plan actually is.

That same poll shows that if health care doesn’t happen, the American public is prepared to blame Republicans for that failure.

Locally, I attended a fund-raiser for Miami Beach State Senator Dan Gelber, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General next year.

I spoke with former Tampa area Congressman Jim Davis.  Now working as a lobbyist for the Tampa law firm Holland & Knight, the former U.S. Representative, who had been in public office for much of his adult life until losing to Charlie  Crist for governor in 2006, confessed that he may get back in the political arena soon.

I always admired the late Tim Russert, but he always annoyed me when he would ask his guests at the end of his program, “Are you going to be running for president?”  When it was somebody like Condi Rice, the question always just seemed silly.

But I went into that mode at the end of our conversation last night, asking Davis if he was thinking of running for office.

Yes, he admitted, he was.  With one son in college and another about to enter university life, he admitted to feeling a bit of empty nest syndrome.

What about Tampa Mayor in 2011?  “I’m not ruling it out.”

Speaking of Tampa, the City Council debated converting wastewater into potable water again last night.

The effort is being led by Charlie Miranda, who went over the top in classic fashion raising the specter of tainted water, arguing in support of “your river water.”

(Listen to WMNF’s audio story here.)  Mayor Iorio clarified her position after the meeting by saying that, although she does believe the public needs education on the volatile issue, she does believe it is possible to treat reclaimed water to drinking water standards.

Miranda wants the issue on the 2011 March ballot (when voters will decide on Iorio’s replacement).  That’s a year and a half away.  That should give everyone in the city plenty of time to discuss the pros and cons of the issue.

Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena has previously said that such an important issue should be decided by the Council, and not the public.  But it’s not like voters won’t have any time to weigh in.  In politics, a year and a half is an eternity.  Let’s have the debate.

And Florida Senator Bill Nelson’s amendment to require pharmaceutical companies to give bigger discounts to Medicare on drugs given to seniors with low incomes went down to defeat, when the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee , Montana’s Max Baucus, joined two other Democrats and all of the Republicans to quash it.

This week, we’re back in the Champagne Room (aka: the podcast bunker) to rag on episode 6 of the new season on Top Chef.

I have to admit that the “Angels and Devils” theme for the Quickfire Challenge was a bit cheesy (and so were some of the dishes, and I’m not talking dairy here). The cheftestants had to create a duo dish using one main component two ways. Some of the chefs were a bit peeved at Robin’s win with her apple salad and apple crisp. Was Eli right to mock her for playing the cancer story card? No. But I do have to say that Penn and Teller were awesome. Anyway, we welcomed back the lovely Michelle Bernstein from Miami (a past judge on Top Chef) as guest judge this week.

For their Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to deconstruct a classic dish but keep the same flavors of the original dish. The judges table was very- how shall I put this – bitchy this week. The claws were out with Padma and Michelle and it was no-holds-barred with the critiques to the chefs on the bottom of the barrel this week. It was also great to see Michelle put Toby Young in his place concerning the pronunciation of “paella” (and the city of “Barthelona”).

We also got to see Ben Folds (Ashley) on top again this week (surprisingly), as well as Redbeard (Kevin) and Angry Brother (Mike V.). From all of the flack and hate comments we received over last week’s post/episode, I won’t reveal the winner or loser. (But, seriously, why listen if you haven’t seen the episode yet?)

Highlights: Eli hates on Robin for pulling the ‘cancer card’, Ron “The Chowder King”’s not-s0-deconstructed paella, how to pronounce “paella”, Jeff’s new bell, Katie’s thing for married chefs, and our response about the spoilers from last week’s episode.

Hear the hilarious podcast after the jump:
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The Tampa City Council will revisit the issue of reclaimed water: specifically,  whether to put on the ballot a referendum asking citizens if they want to drink highly treated wastewater.

Actually, the Council agreed to do so back in June. But the controversial nature of it apparently demands more discussion.   Just a few weeks ago, the issue was discussed at Council and both Linda Saul-Sena and John Dingfelder again spoke strongly against it.  Saul-Sena had said that she had read an op-ed where Mayor Iorio spoke against it.

Miranda said that in fact wasn’t the case. Nevertheless, recalcitrant Council members have put the issue back on the agenda for today’s meeting.

Water is always a political issue in the Tampa Bay area, but it has been an especially potent one in 2009.

The Council voted 6-1 earlier this year to ban lawn sprinkling, going far beyond what any other local government did this year, as the drought dominated news headlines back in the spring.

Miranda’s proposal is hardly radical, as he is sure to tell the Council and those watching today’s meeting. Other places in the country are using this method. And the fact that the city dumps 55 million gallons of reclaimed water every day into the Bay is hardly a reason to maintain the status quo.

Last night the Council approved Mayor Pam Iorio’s $754 million budget, with the main topic of discussion being whether they should restore $1 million into making Zack Street in downtown an “avenue of the arts.”

Actually, the city wanted $2 million. The Council stripped that money out of the budget earlier in the month. Last night, neighborhood services administrator Santiago Corrada showed up, hat in hand, politely asking the council to restore a million.  They did, with Mary Mulhern and Linda Saul Sena saying “nyet.”

Download the report here.

Today the St. Pete City Council meets. Councilman Karl Nurse is expected to ask a committee to use new revenue to come from energy franchise agreements to help pay for energy efficiency upgrades to homes and businesses that would reduce the use of electricity. This is good timing, as a new report says Florida hasn’t been spending much money at all on such weatherization actions.

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Politico reported yesterday that Florida Senator Bill Nelson is part of a select group of Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee (now in the thick of the health care debate) who are being targeted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee — even though he’s not up for re-election for three more years.

The website reports that:

The NRSC already has its eyes on Democrats up in 2012 — and plans to bombard Democrats who sit on the Finance Committee with attacks on their votes on controversial amendments during the Committee deliberations beginning Tuesday. Its top 2012 targets on the Committee: Nelson and (Kent) Conrad, as well as Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.

This is the same Bill Nelson who has become the target of criticism from Florida progressives because of his declaration that he’s against a government-run public option? Yep.

Download the report here.

The White House deal with the drug companies has been blasted by liberals, but it’s been part of the calculus of President Obama and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to try to bring all the warring parties together to get a health care bill passed.

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The Pinellas County Commission meets today.  Soon the Commission will decide what to do with about a million dollars designated for homeless initiatives. Seventeen different providers have submitted applications for funding, including Catholic Charities for its Pinellas Hope Project.

Last Friday, Pinellas Hope broke ground on phase two of its Tent City project for the homeless.

Catholic Charities has said they’ll need $600,000 to keep Pinellas Hope going. And if they don’t receive that funding from the County, they say their Tent City project could be in serious trouble.

Meanwhile, across the Howard Frankland, Catholic Charities got a boost last week in their campaign to build a Tent City in the East Lake Park District of Hillsborough County.

Recently, the hearing officer that the group has been trying to persuade to get the project going, James Scarola, reversed his previous opposition and now is in support of the 250- bed facility.

Despite Scarola’s previously declared criticism of the project, County Commissioners themselves have been stunningly in support of it when it has come before them.  All that is, except for Commissioner Kevin White, who represents the East Lake Park area.

Homelessness has been a problem in American cities for over 20 years now.  The Tampa Bay area has not fared well in its treatment of the homeless, according to the National Coalition of the Homeless.

Also today, at noon, MoveOn.Org is hosting a pro health care reform rally in Tampa, in front of the Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters at 4350 Cypress Street in Tampa

Download the report here.

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On Sunday, President Obama did what no President before him has done since the major television networks added their Sunday morning public affairs programs  — he did “The Full Ginsburg.”

Derisively named after Monica Lewinsky’s attorney William Ginsburg after he took on all 5 such shows in early 1998, the President — already criticized by some for being overexposed — went full tilt on Sunday, giving 15 minutes each to the networks, including CNN and Univision.

But not Fox.

Download the Mitch Perry report here.

Whether that was appropriate or not can be debated.  Unlike their cable brethren, Chris Wallace & friends don’t bring the ratings numbers that George Stephanopoulous or David Gregory do on Sunday mornings.  Read the rest of this entry »

This week, we’re back in the Champagne Room (aka: the podcast bunker) to rag on episode 5 of the new season on Top Chef.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the theme of this episode, cowboy/ranch-themed cookery, and that the Quickfire and Elimination Challenges went along with the main theme. I do wish, though, that the viewers would’ve chosen rattlesnake as the Quickfire ingredient over cactus. Rattlesnake “ceveech” anyone? It was also nice to see “What’s-her-face” (Laurine) pull out from the middle and get recognized for her food. Is she the next Carla? I don’t think so, but we have yet to see.

For the Elimination Challenge, I thought it was great/hilarious to see that the chefs had to not only cook outdoors on a camp site, but sleep there as well. We really got to separate the chefs from the line cooks when we saw who utilized their makeshift kitchen properly and who didn’t get that raw fish and 150-degree weather don’t mix. And Ron “The Chowder King” will now be referred to as “The Voodoo King” after voodoo ritual he performed on his tent.

Highlights from our Podcast: Angry Brother’s incessant cockiness and whining, Ben Folds (Ashley), really needs a shower, Padma’s “cowgirl chic”, Frenchy (Mattin) makes the judges sick (literally), and Chef Tim Love’s p-p-p-poker face.

Check out season 4’s Richard Blais’ post on his thoughts about last week’s episode and on the Wonder Brothers, Bryan (”Hot Brother”) and Michael (”Angry Brother”) Voltaggio.

(Editors Note: There is a spoiler concerning the gender of the winner of this season of Top Chef in this episode of our podcast. It may or may not be correct, but don’t listen if you don’t want to hear our speculation.)

Hear the hilarious podcast after the jump:
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This week, we’re back to rag on episode 4 of the new season on Top Chef. I do have to say, since they’ve been cutting the fat (2 people went home this week) it’s been getting better.

This episode had French written all over it: a Quickfire judged by Daniel Boulud featuring escargot (snails), an Elimination Challenge involving pairing classical French sauces with French-related proteins (i.e.: frog’s legs, rabbit, lobster), and a dining table filled with some of the most famous French chefs of our time: Joel Robuchon (The “Unicorn”), Daniel Boulud, Hubert Keller, Laurent Tourondel, and Jean Joho.

Highlights from our Podcast: We slip into French accents to set the mood, Jeff describes how dirty “Ben Folds” (Ashley) is, the debate over Frenchy’s (Mattin) sexuality and if he has a thing for Jersey Mike, Katie thinks “Ceveech” (Jennifer) and “Angry Brother” (Mike V.) are ‘banging’ out a lot more than dishes, “Jack Black” (Jesse- pictured at right) finally gets set free, and we take a stab at predicting our trifecta for the finale.

Check out season 4’s Richard Blais’ post on his thoughts about last week’s episode, and about the common ingredient used last week: mustard (plus a great recipe for agave nectar mustard).

Hear the hilarious podcast after the jump:

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After a break for the past couple of weeks, Brian invites Grayson and Alex from GNATV.com to come in and talk about their new season of video restaurant reviews and such. They’re embarking on a four-episode adventure into the fine art of backyard gardening, mainly so Grayson can sate his incredible appetite for parsnips.

We also talk about Brian’s Smorgasbord IKEA stories, and next week’s Best of the Bay debut party. Buy your tickets now!

Download the episode here.

This week, we’re back for round 3 of the new season on Top Chef. (Editor’s Note: Our podcast was more exciting than this episode, so listen to it even if you haven’t seen the episode yet.)

The quickfire challenge was to make and “out-of-this-world” potato dish and the cheftestants served up some interesting spuds. I was very impressed with Ashley (”Ben Folds”) for pulling off gnocchi in 45 minutes. But Jennifer (”Ceveech”) ended up taking the win with mussels in a potato broth (I did not agree with this win, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear my reasoning).

For their elimination, the chefs had to cook for 300 airmen and their families at an Air Force base. The catch- they had to use some canned items and their kitchens had no burners, just large ovens and tilt skillets. For some reason, the chefs decided to pair up into teams, even though they were not instructed to. This, obviously, became the demise for a few of them. Highs: The Atlanta “fat kids”, Eli and Kevin (”Redbeard”), pulled off some delicious-looking pulled pork and Southern potato salad and the less hotter brother (Michael V.) did some slab bacon in a lettuce leaf – because bacon makes everything taste better, even salad). Lows: Laurine and Preeti’s dull pasta salad and Michael I.’s (”Jersey Mike”) Greek oil-poached shrimp salad. After not getting why she was in the bottom three again (and arguing about it), Preeti (”Phranc”) was sent packing.

I am disappointed in this episode yet again. The dishes in the elimination challenge weren’t that impressive – as we said in the podcast: “If you (the viewer) can cook one of these dishes at home, you’re (the cheftestant) probably packing your knives.”  Maybe when they start knocking more people off we’ll be able to get down to the more talented contestants and also get to know their cooking styles better.

The only highlights from this episode: Padma’s “desert skank” wear and massive amounts of cleavage at the air base, Ron the “Chowder King”, and all of our Top Gun jokes (bonus: Jeff sings some more).

Check out season 4’s Richard Blais’ post on his thoughts about last week’s episode, discussing the simple vs. contrived dishes (cooking for the diners vs. for the judges).

Hear the Top Gun Chef podcast after the jump:
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Download the podcast here.

Get your very first taste of what is expected to be the beginning of some great changes in St.Petersburg. The newest party, G.L.A.S.S, begins 9.9.09 and will run every Wednesday night from 10-2 a.m. at Vintage Ultra lounge. The party will feature a variety of entertainment and interaction, and of course, most importantly, great dance-able music all night.

Two really exciting elements: Designer Go-Go Statues, in which two go-go-dancers/models will be outfitted weekly by local designers, and a Performance Art Cabaret showcasing local talent from around the bay. There will be ongoing drink specials, in addition to a “Wheel-O-Specials,” which will determine a new drink special every 30 minutes, and there will be giveaways from local businesses.
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It’s the musical that had to be written. And only Gil Perlroth could be trusted to bring it off.

When Gulfport:The Musical premieres in January, 2010 at the Catherine Hickman Theater as part of the town’s centennial celebration, it will feature the book, music and lyrics of one of the most prolific and successful playwrights in the Tampa Bay area. At age 81, Gil Perlroth (pictured) has written over 20 shows, including the recent hit at the Venue Theatre, Ain’t Retirement Grand?

After the break, read more about Gulfport:The Musical and listen to my interview with Gil Perlroth on Creative Loafing’s ArtsSpeak podcast. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, we were fortunate enough to get Jeff Houck back in the studio to join the old gang so we could rag on the new season on Top Chef.

This season we have 17 fresh faces, many of them with titles and accolades under their belts – not to mention all of the tattoos and piercings all over their bodies. During episode one, we meet the new cheftestants, get to see the new Vegas style twist to the show (winning $15k and/or immunity for every Quickfire Challenge), and learn that a seitan-filled chile relleno just doesn’t cut it to stay on this show.

During episode two, the remaining 16 got to have a battle of the sexes challenge and cater for a bachelor/ette party. While the girls talked a big game, it turns out that they just couldn’t stand up to what the guys dished out and another female got sent home.

Personally, I’m somewhat disappointed with the females this season, besides “Ceveech” (Jennifer C. – but she annoys me anyway). I wanted to see some more Jamies (last season) or Elias (season 2). Luckily, we have some really talented male chefs (3 from Atlanta) who are all executive chefs and sous chefs – with awards out the wazoo – who are rockin’ it out every week.

Highlights: Todd English’s sex appeal, the Gay List (we’re up to 3 now), Rule #1 in Top Chef, the Cain and Abel of this season, and the chefs get all wet.

Check out season 4’s Richard Blais’ post on his thoughts about the episode and cast (he’s totally blogging for us now).

Hear the hilarious podcast after the jump:
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The GammaTesting.com guys dive deep into this ’90’s-era, comic-inspired, morally-devoid, open-world, super-dude action game and revel in the freedom of movement and wide range of epic combat options. Of course, no amount of car-throwing, copter-jacking or disease-tendrilizing can overcome brutal and blatantly manipulative boss fights, like the final one in Prototype.

Still, epic is good. Listen up! (Then check out all the other Gamma Testing episodes.)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep15: Prototype

This is it — the final episode, where we learn who is the Master of the Top Chefs.

I was quite impressed with this episode because they did away with the drama and really focused on the food (well, there was some nail-biting drama at the final judging). The chefs had to cook a four-course meal that told a story about their culinary career: Their earliest food memory, the experience that made them want to become a chef, their first restaurant, and where they’re heading in the future with their career. Their dishes were gorgeous (except for Michael’s whole fried fish) and made me want to reach through the screen to taste them.

Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and the five former Top Chef winners joined the judges to feast upon the cheftestants’ dishes (yes, Hosea is still alive). We also got to see some old pictures of the chefs, from childhood to their early career days — not pretty pictures, these guys definitely were late bloomers.

Highlights: Rick Bayless’ orgasmic mole (mo-lay, as in, the sauce) which took Jay Rayner’s “mole [mo-lay] virginity”; our fantasy Padma-on-Kelly chick fight; Keller’s former life as a dirty hippie; Chiarello’s diss at James Oseland; Jay wanting to bathe with Gail in Chiarello’s food; and the revelation of the winner.

At the end of our podcast, we discussed the new season of Top Chef and ragged on the newbies (and their crazy body art), but tune in next week to hear our rants on the first and second episodes of the season. Yes, we’re continuing this podcast — much to your delight.

Hear the exciting podcast after the jump:
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