Daily Loaf

I told myself I would resist the urge to write about not-governor Sarah Palin this week, I really did.  Even though she keeps “rearing her head” in the news cycle, to me she still feels like yesterday’s funny papers.  But in the wake of the big week she had, I’m going to make an exception and kick a dead horse around a bit here.

First, let’s address Tard-Gate: after Rahm Emanuel used the phrase “fucking retards” to describe some fellow Democrats he saw as uncooperative, Palin called for his resignation.  Okay — she has a special needs child; I can see how that would be an issue close to her heart.  Maybe for once she isn’t just engaging in political posturing, I told myself; maybe he truly offended her (to his credit, Rahm did apologize in video format).

But then she bends over backwards to defend Rush Limbaugh using the exact same insult, minus the “fucking.”  It seems that was acceptable — “I agree with him,” she noted, because “those people are kooks.”  She may also have left it alone, because as Mike Steele knows: if you go against the leader of the G.O.P. he’ll feed you to his audience of demented neo-con zombies like so much bloody entrails.  And Republicans fear losing that voter bloc the way they fear Americans receiving affordable health care.

Even Megan McCain dubbed Palin’s hypocrisy on Tard-Gate “exactly what’s wrong with politics today” before going on to claim that Palin “will continue to turn off young voters, and anybody who says different is smoking something.”  That girl is rapidly becoming my favorite Republican (and not just because she’s a stone-cold fox).

What's that, Meghan? Vote Republican? Well, ethically I can't see how OKOK I'LL DO IT

Next up is Sarah Palin’s keynote speech at the Tea Party convention.  Never mind all of the logical problems with that.  Never mind that most tea party-goers don’t seem too happy with Democrats OR Republicans, and YET their keynote speaker is last year’s G.O.P. VP candidate (I thought it was supposed to be a 3^rd party?).  Forget all about the fact that the whole movement is supposed to be about fiscal conservatism, and that was hardly mentioned by anybody.  I heard a lot of Obama-bashing, evangelical-boosting, and anti-immigrant rhetoric that at one point seemed to call for a revival of Jim Crow laws, but I didn’t hear any ideas about to cut the deficit.  This was the RNC Part Two: same talking points, same old broken-ass, retarded ideas.  And forget that this “grassroots” movement of the common people was charging folks five-hundred-fifty-fucking dollars to attend their convention.

All of that horseshit is of secondary comedic value to me, because Palin actually wrote down some talking points on the palm of her hand, much like a fourteen year old cheating on a civics test.  Because apparently, that’s much better than a teleprompter.  The ink on her hand actually reminds her to “lift American spirits,” which could either be a reminder to boost the nation’s morale, or a reminder for her to drink only locally-distilled bourbon.

Though it’s long been clear to many observers that the Tea Party is an Astroturf organization funded by Dick Armey and other high level GOP operatives, that fact is actually becoming clear now to some of the Tea Partiers themselves, who are now actually protesting their own protest movement — which is itself only about a year old.  It should be clear to all now that this has never been about cutting the deficit.  If it had been, the Tea Party phenomenon would have cropped up when a (supposedly) evangelical Commander-in-Chief sent the deficit into the trillions with unconscionable spending on vast social engineering projects overseas.

The third and ballsiest bit of the half-governor’s amazing trifecta was her unambiguous admission on Faux News Sunday that she would consider a run for President in 2012.   She even had the sack to equate her quitting as governor because the job got too hard as a “win.”  Everyone was being a dick to her, so she quit — and that’s leadership.  By that standard, Obama should just make some whiny noises about the opposition, step down next week, then claim “victory.”

I still kind of want the old girl to make a run for the White House — because I still have a measure of faith in the American people, and I feel that even they will see through the shit that Sarah is shoveling at them.  But then again maybe they won’t, because after all a lot of them are fucking retarded.

Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said that the TPD achieved a 15.8% crime reduction in 2009, leading to a 56% reduction since 2003, the year Mayor Pam Iorio and former Police Chief Stephen Hogue took power in City Hall.

At a news conference at the department’s downtown headquarters on Tuesday, a proud Castor claimed that Tampa was “bucking a trend” in regards to crime nationally, saying, “I don’t think there’s any other city in the nation that has accomplished what we’ve accomplished.”

The department reported 2o murders in 2009, tying it with 2005 for the lowest number of homicides in the department in the past 25 years.  It reported  15,557 total crimes in 2009 (murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft).  That’s over 19,000 less crimes reported going back to 2002.

Castor was asked about how the department categorizes their statistics.  She said going back to 2004, the TPD learned that they were under-reporting crimes in some cases, and over-reporting in others.  She said that the TPD stringently follows FBI Uniform Crime Reporting guidelines precisely, and those numbers get severely scrutinized before being passed up to the FDLE and ultimately the FBI. Read the rest of this entry »

County Commission Chair Ken Hagan hinted today that ballot language for the proposed one-cent sales tax for transportation projects might not be voted on at the BOCC’s March 3rd meeting.

He made the comment at the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce luncheon with members of the  Tampa City Council, Hillsborough County Commission and Hillsborough County School Board.

The timing is important, since the Tampa Bay Partnership, which will be spearheading a campaign in support of the proposal,  say they are holding back on any type of marketing plan until they see the actual language that would go before County voters on November 2.

Hagan said that governance and accountability issues, as well as community meetings currently going on right now about the proposal, could delay the discussion and formal vote on the language scheduled for the first week of March.  “It’s very likely it might be that meeting after the 3rd, maybe two meetings after the 3rd,” he speculated.  “We’re shooting for that.  But I guess you have noticing requirements.  You have to do it 10 days or 14 days in advance of that, so it’s making that a little tight.” Read the rest of this entry »

For any of you citizens who are absolutely freaked out about the escalating federal deficit, a story in Monday’s USA Today should cause you to shudder.

The paper reports that Social Security’s annual surplus nearly evaporated last year for the first time in 25 years as the recession led hundreds of thousands of workers to retire or claim disability.

“Things are a little bit worse than had been expected,” says Stephen Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration.   “Clearly, we’re going to be negative for a year or two.”
“The moment of truth has arrived,” says Rep. Paul Ryan R-Wis., top Republican on the House Budget Committee. “This is a wake-up call.”
Since 1984, Social Security has raked in more in payroll taxes than it has paid in benefits, accumulating a $2.5 trillion trust fund. But because the government uses the trust fund to pay for other programs, tax increases, spending cuts or new borrowing will be required to make up the difference between taxes collected and benefits owed.

Experts say the trend points to a more basic problem for Social Security: looming retirements by Baby Boomers will create annual losses beginning in 2016 or 2017.

But will anything be done about that?  As I blogged earlier on Monday, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Meet the Press said that in addition to raising taxes, Congress needs to look at ways to deal with Social Security.  But he said that it’s obvious that nobody in elected office wants to touch the “third rail” of American politics, to our detriment. Read the rest of this entry »

The political book Game Change continues to dominate the best-selling charts, a month after its publication date.  Yours truly provides a review.

Everyone admits the federal deficit is becoming a serious problem.  But nobody agrees on what to do about it.  Which is why economist Jeffrey Sachs’ piece in the current Time magazine is worth discussing and dissecting.

Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha died yesterday at 77.  A controversial career and a controversial man, no doubt.  But also a man whose war record gave him cover to denounce the Iraq War back in 2005.

Download
the report here.

It’s been exactly four weeks since Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime was published. Co-written by New York magazine writer John Heilemann and Time magazine’s Mark Halperin, it’s become an instant bestseller (currently #1 on the NY Times list) and reviewed in such non-political journals as Entertainment Weekly, so great is its gossip factor.

And it’s that gossip factor that has led commentators to blast it for being completely superficial, such as Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald, who wrote last month that

the book is filled with the type of petty, catty, gossipy, trashy sniping that is the staple of sleazy tabloids and reality TV shows, and it has been assembled through anonymous gossip, accountability-free attributions, and contrived melodramatic dialogue masquerading as “reporting.” Read the rest of this entry »

Here in the US we’ve had 0% job growth in the last 10 years.  That’s right, there’s been no net increase of jobs in 10 years.  There are multiple reasons why this is happening. Some of it is because the consumer economy is retracting and frankly needs less and less workers. Technology is also replacing millions of people and we’ve outsourced jobs overseas as a way to continue to cut labor costs out of production. Put it all together and there has been no job growth in the United States.  This is a reality that we knew was happening but we chose to ignore it during the good times. But as this recession continues, it is becoming increasing impossible to maintain our ignorance.

Even as we look forward to this recession ending, over and over again you hear the phrase ‘jobless recovery’.  And this makes a lot of sense considering we didn’t have job growth in the last 10 years when the economy looked like it was in good shape (Ha!).

So, when you mix a jobless recovery plus 10 million unemployed in the US, what are you looking at?  Well, it isn’t going to look pretty, that’s for sure. Literally  millions will remain unemployed or under-employed and that will not bode well for our future. But it is wrong to believe that we can’t create a solution to this.  We need get out heads out of the sand and recognize that the old model of the consumer economy’s measurement and monetization system no longer is sufficient to meet our needs. We have to come up with a new economic model.  It isn’t as hard as one might imagine. Frankly, it’s the strong suit of the United States—creating new solutions is what we do best!
Read the rest of this entry »

Longtime Pennsylvania Democratic Representative John Murtha died Monday afternoon due to complications from recent gallbladder surgery.

The controversial lawmaker was 77 years old.  He was first elected to Congress back in 1974.  A former Marine, he became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress.

Despite that lengthy career, he received the most notoriety of his career back in 2005, when he became an outspoken and respected critic against the Iraq war.  He had supported the 2002 resolution to go to war, but he later blasted the Bush administration’s war effort, calling it a “flawed policy wrapped in illusion.” Read the rest of this entry »

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful, creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

Conservatives like to talk of the need for more religion and less government in our communities. They long to live in a world where their brand of Christianity is represented on every street corner. They refer to taxes as if paying anything for streets and schools is an act worse than women in the workforce and homosexuality combined. Fundamentalists preach a gospel that combines the sweet mixture of Jesus, intolerance, salvation and a guaranteed tax-exempt status.

“It will save the world,” they say.

Sometimes you want to tell them to fly to the moon, right?

Now you can suggest a more fitting destination.

Tell them to move to Colorado Springs.

Read the rest of this entry »

When the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson killed himself almost exactly five years ago (February 20, 2005), he entitled his suicide note, “Football Season is Over.”   Although the famed writer was obviously in an extremely depressed state that led him to end his life at the age of 67, the fact that the hardcore football enthusiast had mentioned in his last written statement that there would be no more games for 8 more months was not insignificant, as Rolling Stone magazine noted when they published the note later that year:

February was always the cruelest month for Hunter S. Thompson. An avid NFL fan, Hunter traditionally embraced the Super Bowl in January as the high-water mark of his year. February, by contrast, was doldrums time. Nothing but monstrous blizzards, bad colds and the lackluster Denver Nuggets. This past February, with his health failing, Hunter was even more glum than usual. “This child’s getting old,” he muttered with stark regularity, an old-timey refrain that mountainmen used to utter when their trailblazing days were over. Depressed and in physical pain from hip-replacement surgery, he started talking openly about suicide, polishing his .45-caliber pistol, his weapon of choice. He was trying to muster the courage to end it all.

Then, on February 16th, Hunter decided to leave a goodbye note. Scrawled in black marker, it was appropriately titled “Football Season Is Over.” Read the rest of this entry »

On NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday morning, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed the current economic morass and what exactly might help change the situation.

Paulson and Greenspan agreed that the single factor that could jump-start the economy is unknown, since it will probably come from “innovation,” defined by Greenspan as:

Innovation by definition is not forecastable, so we don’t know where the jobs are coming from.  We don’t know how this market is exactly in terms of dynamics going to move forward.  But we know that this process is under way, and there’s every reason to believe that it will continue to do so.

Both men also were asked by host David Gregory about the situation with the U.S.’s escalating debt, and what problems might ensue from that.  Both said Washington was essentially dysfunctional, or more accurately, irresponsible, in not doing anything serious to begin addressing the problem.

MR. PAULSON:  Oh, I, I just have no doubt that it is by far the most serious long-term challenge we, as a nation, face.  All these other issues are–economic issues are minor compared to that, that the, that–and it’s a generational issue, because it, it’s–there’s no way we’re going to, to deal effectively with, with the deficit without reforming the entitlement programs–Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.  And it, it doesn’t have to be a, a crisis.  This is something that can be handled.  But one of the things I, I, I talk about in my book and one of the lessons that just hit me right between the eyes, being in Washington, is it’s very, very difficult to get Congress to act on anything that’s big and difficult and controversial if there’s not an immediate crisis.  And so this–so what it’s going to take to, to, to get leaders on both sides to come together and deal with this, I, I think is a huge question.

Greenspan then said that taxes need to be raised (something that seems both Republicans and President Obama are obviously reluctant to do). Can Obama begin to seriously balance the budget without raising taxes, even on people making less than $250,000 a year?  We’ll write more about this tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »

In her single most high-profile speech since her national debut at the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin blasted President Obama and gave homage to the Tea Party movement on Saturday night at their first national forum in Nashville.

Palin scored a direct shot 30 seconds in when she welcomed the C-SPAN television audience, saying at least they hadn’t been denied access to this event vs coverage of any health care negotiations, a slam at what Obama has admitted in recent weeks has been a less than successful attempt at transparency.

For 40 minutes, Palin delivered a folksy, sassy, snarky attack, lightened on occasion to pay homage to the Tea Party movement  (by which she was paid $100,000).  Attempting to take the attention off herself and onto the nascent political force (and as well as deliver another shiv to Obama), Palin said:

“This is about the people, and it’s bigger than any one king or queen of a tea party, and it’s a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter.” Read the rest of this entry »

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND, UCAN, FSP, FHD/Amendment 4 activist
The views expressed are my own and may not be the same as the organizations to which I am a member

The controversial Lithia Pinecrest Road Widening Project in east Hillsborough is generating a lot of energy as it makes its way toward a review by the Board of County Commissioners. And now that we’re getting close to the review, the Brandon Chamber is generating enough spin to light Raymond James Stadium. They are hoping to ram the widening project through approval, no matter what concerns the local residents may have. And when the Brandon Chamber speaks, everyone downtown listens and falls in line.

What kind of spin are they using?

Here’s an example. Countywide Commissioner Kevin Beckner is holding citizen outreach meetings around the county. They are calling them Coffee with Kevin meetings. Citizens are invited to attend and let Beckner know what matters to them. A Coffee with Kevin meeting was held at the Bloomingdale Library on Saturday, February 6, 2010. One of the attendees was George May, the former chairman of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce. Even though he’s no longer chair, he’s actively implementing their agenda by attending public meetings and making sure that elected officials get etched in their brains what the chamber wants.

At this meeting both myself and another resident expressed our concerns regarding the Lithia Pinecrest Road Widening Project. The project, if approved, will widen Lithia Pinecrest from 2 lanes to 4 lanes between Lumsden Rd. and Fishhawk Blvd. We tried to impress upon Beckner that the Lithia widening is a bad idea. It will not solve the traffic problem and is not the best solution for the congestion that occurs during peak periods. The majority of traffic is originating and terminating from points south of Bloomingdale, but primarily from Fishhawk. The culprit is the lack of capacity for the heavy east/west traffic. Lithia is used primarily to access alternate east/west routes (the ultimate destinations being downtown Tampa and I-75). It would make more sense to widen Bloomingdale which, by the way, is not a constrained road and could be considered for widening. We wanted Beckner to realize that area residents are concerned about the commercialization and more intensive growth that will come with the approval of the widening project. They want their strictly residential neighborhoods to remain rural in nature and not become another SR60 or Fowler Ave. And they know that studies show that new and expanded roads actually draw additional traffic (called “induced demand”). Adding commercial development just makes it that much worse. After all, speculators have already started applying to build strip malls along Lithia Pinecrest, anticipating the widening will be approved. The Board of County Commissioners shot down the latest one, but it’s just a matter of time before they start rubber-stamping approvals for more strip malls and more intensive home development (apartments etc) to make use of the increased road capacity. Beckner is not a rubber-stamper by any means, but the Team Sprawl caucus certainly is. And they’ve got their rubber stamps inked and ready to begin stamping as soon as they get passed the 2010 elections.

I told Beckner that the Brandon Chamber is pushing this because they want to extend the commercialization beyond SR60 and replicate it along Lithia Pinecrest.

At that point, George May interrupts and starts yelling that I’m a liar.”

Get ready, here comes that spin I told you about -
In an agitated manner, he rambles that the chamber is pushing this project because they are interested in safety and the quality of life…it’s got nothing to do with commercialization or business development.

Oh, sweet mother, now I’ve heard everything!!!!

Safety???
Oh, so let me understand this – a four lane road carrying more traffic is a lot safer than a two lane road carrying less traffic???

The quality of life???
I suppose their quality of life will improve if they get another 5 or 10 strip malls??? Maybe George May should run for office. And maybe his first campaign promise will be, “A chicken in every pot, and a strip mall on every block!!!

Not about business development???
That’s like a car dealer telling you you’re getting the car at below cost. If you believe that one, you’ll probably order the undercoating, as well.

I’ve heard spin before but this one should get an award for hilarity.

The next public meeting will be on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at the Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon. If you live in the Bloomingdale, Brandon, Valrico areas and think we’ve got enough strip malls to hold us for a while, you may want to attend this public meeting and let the county know what you’re thinking. The chamber already has and Team Sprawl is mesmerized.

Years in the making (and weeks and days in the hyping) the new Tampa Museum of Art opened its doors on Saturday morning, after a half hour of speeches by luminaries who had been instrumental in helping to create the $34 million waterfront structure, near where its previous incarnation was based.

However, there is much more than just a new museum for city dwellers now.  There is the revamped Curtis Hixon Park, which was filled with parents and their young children playing,  as well as joggers, and just curious citizens checking out what Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio hopes will become a destination point for residents and visitors alike for decades to come. Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama visited Maryland today to speak on proposals to help small businesses prosper, and in turn creating job opportunities to help alleviate the current unemployment concerns.

Later during a conference call, chief economic advisor Christina Romer and Small Business Business Administrator Karen Mills discussed the President’s plans to excite growth within small businesses and decrease unemployment.

The unemployment rate has come down 3/10 of a percentage point from 10.0 percent to 9.7 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor in an announcement this morning.

“The president’s focus now is giving small firms incentive to continue to hire now and not later,” Romer (pictured above) said, “one way of doing this is lending.”

Mills said there are banks who have been lenders to small businesses, but now they don’t have enough capital and they don’t want to take on the risk of lending at this time, despite the economy’s progress. Read the rest of this entry »

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they have been purchased by Boston-based hedge fund manager Jeff Vinik.  In addition, Vinik will also now own the home of the Lightning, the St. Pete Times Forum, as well as two parcels of adjacent land.

In a press release, Vinik said he was psyched to be owning the National Hockey League franchise:

“Buying the Lightning and joining the Tampa Bay community is a dream come true,” Vinik said.  “I’ve been an avid hockey fan my whole life and I pledge to our fans that I will work my hardest to build the Lightning into a world class organization both on and off the ice.  I hope to bring a high level of excitement and intensity back to Lightning hockey, with a goal of having the team consistently compete for the Stanley Cup.  I have a passion for the game and will do my best to restore a winning culture at the St. Pete Times Forum that all of our fans and partners can be proud.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Hillsborough County Commission re-voted on suing The Pimpin Commish, Kevin White, so he could abstain this time around (hey, abstaining might have been a good idea while on that trip with his former aide too). There is no do-over available for White regarding that ill-fated trip so taxpayers got the $500,000 bill for his actions. When fellow Commissioners finally voted to sue him last month in an attempt to get him to to pay his share of the sex suit costs he defiantly refused to offer up a dime and told his fellow commissioners they couldn’t get blood out of a turnip (right before he voted against suing himself which was a violation of state law). White is up for re-election for his district three seat this year. I hope his district doesn’t turn out to be on the produce aisle as well when it is time to vote because I don’t think we can afford this turnip.

We learned that ex Commissioner Brian Blair, who is now running for State Rep, is being endorsed by the FOP. You just can’t make this shit up.

President Obama told the nation he wants government to behave like a cash strapped family last week in between blaming Bush, taking jabs at the Supreme Court, and complaining about how hard his job was during that State of the Union address. He then unveiled his multi-trillion dollar budget this week that is threatening to the country’s bond rating. This on the heels of lawmakers voting to raise our debt ceiling another 1.9 trillion (yes, I said trillion!) Is that what a cash strapped family should do? Get more credit? This vote was directly down party lines. Did they learn nothing from Brown’s win? Hey, maybe Commissioner White should follow his party’s example and take out a big loan so he can afford to pay his share of the sexual harassment suit!

If you think the embattled local Workforce Alliance has wasted taxpayer’s money on food, entertainment and parties for themselves, check out Speaker Pelosi’s charges for over 2 million dollars on flights the past two years using Air Force aircraft, according to a report released by Judicial Watch.

On a good note, the Florida Chamber sponsored effort (Floridians for Smarter Growth) to derail Florida Hometown Democracy (FHD) missed the deadline for their competing ballot amendment which did not get the required number of signatures.  FHD is a grassroots effort to save what is left of Florida by giving voters the last word on growth instead of politicians. According to a statement put out by FHD, the Chamber ….I mean Smarter Growth admitted to spending over 4 million dollars in an effort to derail FHD and failed! Every now and then the good guys win one! Don’t rest easy though because the Chamber group is now said to be creating all kinds of new names for the same group so if it doesn’t say FHD beware! Remember to give yourself a vote on sprawl and vote yes on Amendment 4 in November and tell a friend!

Photo credit: Nikki L @ Fickr.com

The first Tea Party convention gets under way this weekend in Nashville, with special guest Sarah Palin;

The new Tampa Museum of Art is finally opening tomorrow.  Everybody’s psyched, except some local graphic artists and designers;

And Super Sunday is just a couple of days away.  We’ve got a few things to say about, and feature some video of the Who performing “Behind Blue Eyes” before the assembled national media yesterday;

Download
the report here.

Where is the leadership? Where is the outrage? Is the BOCC in bed with Kevin White? Who elected these people? Oh wait, we did.

By Chris Ingram

Are any of my Tampa friends as outraged as I am that the BOCC let Kevin White have a “do-over?” Where’s the outrage (and accountability?) What kind of message do you think the commissioners are sending to our kids that they let this little piece of crap have a “do over” after he costs the county nearly a half a million bucks (defending his sexual harassment case in which he was found GUILTY!)?

Why don’t they stand up to him and tell him to go pound sand? Why haven’t they called for his resignation? You wanna know why? There isn’t a one of them any better than Kevin White.  They’re all afraid of pissing off some small constituency of supporters. And they all have fragile egos and a low sense of self-esteem which prevents them from doing right. They are all, in a word, politicians.

But we elected them. We get what we deserve. Where’s the outrage? Throw all the incumbents out. And lets let the taxpayers get a “do-over” — for once!

Post your comments and let us know what you think about Kevin White, Renee Lee, and the Hillsborough County Commission (and all of its leadershipless commissioners who should be ASHAMED of themselves for playing this game with taxpayer’s and their money).

For more details about this story click the following links:

White accused of sexual harrasment

White broke ethics law

Commission shows lack of leadership willingness to stand up to scumbag White

How to get a scumbag out of office

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of www.IrreverentView.com. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@411Communications.com.

Over 100 million people are expected to view Super Bowl XLIV this Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. on CBS.  And though the last two championship games have been thrillers (and actually there have been better games in the last decade than traditionally was the case in most of the earlier games ), former Indianapolis Colts coach and Tampa Bay celebrity Tony Dungy is predicting that his former team will blow it open in the 4th quarter.

Dungy, who has surprised some observers this year with his audacious and frank commentary as part of the excellent NBC pre-game show on Sunday evenings, says he believes the game, in which the Colts are 5 1/2 point favorites, won’t be close. From William Rhoden’s blog in the NY Times:

asked whether he felt Manning would need a last-minute game-winning drive in the Super Bowl to secure his legacy, Dungy said: “I believe that if they’re in the game Sunday and they need to drive to win the game, he’s going to do it. I don’t think the game’s going to come down to that. I think they’re going to be so far ahead that people are going to say, ‘Oh, ho-hum, he played a good game, they won by two scores, the Colts won their second championship.’ He’s going to have those rings Sunday night. I don’t think it’s going to be close.”

Dungy said he based his confidence on the Saints’ performance against Minnesota in the National Football Conference championship game.

“Minnesota is playing in New Orleans, they turn the ball over five times, have two or three stupid penalties and still lose in overtime. I don’t see how it’s going to be close. The Colts aren’t going to turn it over seven times.”

(Yesterday Dungy’s son, Eric, a senior who played for Plant High School’s championship football squad this past season, was among those who represented the team in getting a commendation from the Tampa City Council.) Read the rest of this entry »

Florida U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio yesterday publicly walked back his comments regarding counting undocumented immigrants in the census count.

As the Miami Herald’s Beth Reinhard reports, the former House Speaker’s comments have antagonized some Latino officials, like NALEO’s leader, Arturo Vargas:

“Mister Rubio needs to read the U.S. Constitution because it says the census is an enumeration of all persons,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. “It doesn’t mean all citizens. It doesn’t mean all people who are white. It doesn’t mean all voters. It means all people.”

Rubio’s comments come as the first National Tea Party Convention gets underway in Nashville.  Rubio won’t be present, but former Alaskan Governor and now Fox News commentator Sarah Palin will be (an actual listing of public speakers reveals no other boldface names, with the exception of former Colorado GOP Representative and former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, best known for his zealous anti-immigration stance, and Judge Roy Moore of Alabama).  Read the rest of this entry »

After years of stops and starts, the new Tampa Museum of Art is scheduled to be open to the public tomorrow morning.  There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony beginning at 10:30 a.m., and the museum doors open free to the public at 11 a.m.

But there are some local art designers in the area who are a bit bummed out about the new logo for the museum (shown at right).  More specifically, they’re upset that it was designed by a South Carolinian, and not a designer living in the Tampa Bay region. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a House in Washington…

Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to reinstate “PAYGO”, the pay-as-you-go spending policy that requires expenditures to be financed with currently existing, rather than borrowed, funds. On the surface, this appears to be a fiscally responsible guideline; during the Clinton years, PAYGO helped control the deficit and, coupled with the economic boom and a number of other factors, lead to the budget surplus.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that nothing about this bill address fiscal restraint. In fact, the opposite is true; underneath the smoke and mirrors is a provision to raise the debt ceiling by nearly $2 trillion. Dig deeper, and you’ll uncover the troubling fact that the bill also includes exemptions for nearly 40% of all spending – over 160 spending programs. That’s right… it’s a pay-as-you-go policy, but on almost half of all expenditures, it’s all go and no pay. Read the rest of this entry »

For the third Tampa City Council meeting in the young year, members of the public who oppose beginning Council meetings with an invocation again spoke out against the practice today, but for the first time a member of the Council publicly reacted to their concerns.

Two weeks ago, the group Atheists of Florida came to the council chambers to denounce the practice which kicks off each council meeting , a practice that sporadically has been a source of controversy over the years.  But nobody from the council responded.

Six people who oppose starting government meetings with invocations pleaded with City Council members Thursday to end the practice. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s another scandal emerging from inside the top ranks of the Florida Republican party.  And Paula Dockery doesn’t like it one bit.

Pinellas County Commissioners got some sobering news the other day.  They’ve got to cut $80 million from their budget in the next two years — $60 billion this year.

It was just a week ago that President Obama came to Tampa to give out over a billion dollars to the region to begin working on a high-speed rail line.  He also fielded questions from the crowd — and one of those questioners is still basking in the attention.

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the report here.

Creative Loafing’s Green Community welcomes a new contributor from Repower America, a group dedicated to transitioning America into a clean energy economy.

Hello and welcome readers! The goal of this blog post will be to focus on environmental issues, clean and renewable energy news, and the need for action on responsible energy legislation. We’ll be discussing why these issues matter, and hopefully educating and learning from each other.

Passing comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation not only can create thousands of new jobs here in Florida, but can also help us to rebuild our economy, strengthen our national security and leave a cleaner and healthier planet to future generations. I am also going to try and have guest contributors discuss the importance of this issue, and hopefully provide us with different perspectives on its importance. My hope is that this also will become a hub to connect you to the goings-ons in the community. I’ll open up this post with what I feel is the most apropos: The Presidents’ State of the Union speech.
Read the rest of this entry »

A week ago Barack Obama and Joe Biden spoke at a town hall meeting in Tampa for nearly an hour and a half.  The big news was the announcement that Florida would receive $1.25 billion to begin construction on a high-speed rail line.

It was the president’s first appearance after his State of the Union address, and the first of several stops in the past week out in the country, escaping the Washington D.C. cocoon that he yesterday urged Democratic Senators to flee as well.

But the most spontaneous moments occurred when the president fielded questions from the crowd at the Bob Martinez Sports Center on the University of Tampa campus.   One such question came from Clearwater small businessman Steve Gordon, who asked Obama why the federal government couldn’t make small business loans directly to people like himself.

If you’ll recall, what followed was an extremely lengthy response from Obama explaining that the Small Business Administration didn’t have the capability to go across the country and process loans directly to small businesses like Gordon’s.  At the end of his response, he did tell Gordon that he should give his card to his “body man” Reggie Love.

As we write in our current piece in CL, it was a demonstration that A) there are no easy answers for the president when it comes to addressing individuals having tough times in this economy, but B) the problem that this ‘great communicator’ occasionally has, which is that some of his responses aren’t in digestible sound bites.  It’s not a matter of dumbing things down so much as it is directly communicating to people.  That’s our take anyway.

But back to Steve Gordon.  The NY Times has a fascinating Q&A with the 53-year-old Clearwater citizen in today’s paper, including Gordon’s own admissions about why his credit isn’t the greatest right now.

We urge you to read the entire exchange, but we want to show you Gordon’s response when asked what type of reaction he’s received, from banks and others, about his question. (Incidentally, Gordon said he arrived at the Martinez Sports Center approximately 2 1/2 hours before the event and chose his seat in a location that he thought would attract Obama’s attention.  Obviously it worked.)

Q. What’s been the reaction from banks since you asked the question?

A. It’s been really good. I have a bank meeting this afternoon, from a bank that called me and said they want to help. And then I talked to someone yesterday who said he’s on the board of directors of a community bank, and I’ve got a meeting with them on Friday. I got another call from an investment banker who wants to meet me Thursday. So I did get three calls from banks.

And I had 15 or 20 calls from across the country from businessmen that called just out of the blue to thank me for asking the question.

Of course, we thought a couple of other questions were extremely entertaining, if only to see the president have to quickly think on his feet.  The first, from a USF student about why he had not criticized Israel and Egypt in his State of the Union, put Obama immediately on the spot.  Then there was the question from a woman who spoke about the problems of her brother and the criminal justice system, and how hard it was for him to gain employment because of that.  It’s a critical question, though frankly people were more stunned than sympathetic in the crowd when the woman said her brother had had 33 drug felonies!   And let’s not forget the question about same-sex couples as well.

When Lakeland State Senator Paula Dockery announced her candidacy for the GOP nomination for governor last fall, she said one reason she was running was to take back her party from some of the corruption among executives and major fundraisers for the state party in recent years.

That sentiment is what ultimately led to the demise of party Chairman Jim Greer.  Now Dockery is again calling for more accountability within party ranks after the Orlando Sentinel’s report yesterday that Delmar Johnson, the 30-year-old executive director and chief fundraiser for the Republican Party of Florida, made over $408,000 last year. That was more than triple what the soon to be departing Greer made.  The story reports that:

Nearly $200,000 of that came through a contract signed by Greer and Johnson naming Johnson as the party’s chief fundraiser. That contract was apparently never divulged even to senior members of the party’s executive committee. Read the rest of this entry »

The Board of Pinellas County Commission had a very sober Tuesday as commissioners listened to officials tell them they need to cut $80 from their budgets for the next two fiscal years of 2011 and 2012.  The BOCC agreed to do a 60/20 split, meaning they will try to cut $60 million from next year’s budget and $20 in 2012.

At a workshop with the Sheriff’s Dept. and other constitutional officers, discussions about consolidating services were conducted.

Commissioner Ken Welch said the board is looking at furloughs, “which we never looked at before.” He also said that they were looking at early retirements as well, but “at the end of the day there’s no way to avoid layoffs.”

Among the departments where Commissioners seemed to agree would be a place to raise fees would be for parks, like Fort De Soto.

However, despite the $60 million the County will need to find places to cut, there is no discussion at all about a millage increase.  That’s because Commissioner Welch broached the idea, and got a thundering silence in response.

County citizens better be prepared for reduced services.  Commissioners were informed during Tuesday’s meeting that they would be reverting back to 2003 level.

To say that charging to visit parks in Pinellas will be controversial is an understatement.  A surfeit of comments on the Web site of the St. Petersburg Times indicated that many citizens are extremely unhappy about the prospect.

But with $60 million to balance, there may be plenty of other items that will ultimately upset the rank and file in Pinellas.

Over a dozen local business officials flew to Washington on Wednesday to meet with Florida lawmakers, urging them to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate change policies.

John Ferrari is with DwellGreen, a Sarasota-based company that does home performance evaluations.  He says the message he wants to bring to Florida Senators Bill Nelson and George LeMieux is that  “the time is now and we as a country cannot wait any longer for legislation that includes a carbon cap on emissions.”  Ferrari charges that the U.S. is at a pivotal point when it comes to getting behind alternative energy sources, asking, “Do we want to be seen as a world leader?  If we don’t do anything, the Chinese will carve out to be a leader on this, which would be a shame.  We have all the ingredients, we just have to act.”

Dan Alberts is with Conduit2Green, a St. Petersburg-based company that provides energy saving, power correction and LED lighting products to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Read the rest of this entry »

As faithful readers know, we’ve been closely following the actions over at the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority in the past couple of months, as we began delving into the issue over the lack of international direct flights at TIA.  We’ve got more on the intrigue there;

Daily Kos hired a professional pollster to ask the most leading questions possible to make parts of the Republican Party look like wingnuts.  Mission accomplished, apparently.

We all know that President Obama was in Tampa last week.  Our featured article in this week’s CL newspaper takes a slightly different view than the post we published online last week.

And we  have a slightly different, special podcast today.  It’s actually a dialogue and/or debate with Tampa and global activist and occasional CL contributor Kelly Benjamin, talking about radio and television personality Glenn Beck.

Download
the report here.

And

Steve Burton

This morning St. Petersburg Times transportation reporter Steve Huettel reports on the job status of Louis Miller, the executive director of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority.  The story comes as Miller today is in Tallahassee, where as President of the Florida Air Council he is discussing with lawmakers the legislative priorities of the council going into the regular session next month (please read  below for more details).

Miller has been under fire the previous two months, specifically after Channel 10 reporter Mike Deeson first reported that he had decided to demolish the former Continental Airlines reservations center at the airport unilaterally, without getting the board’s approval (at the last board meeting, the board’s counsel ruled that he was within his legal rights to do so).  It was later revealed that Miller had consulted only with Authority chairman Al Austin, who just happens to also own commercial property near the airport.  Among the reasons that the two agreed that it was wise to raze the building was the vacancy rate in the Westshore area being over 20%.  But at the Aviation Board’s January 7th meeting, board member Steve Burton called for a delay in the demolition until the board could get a full report on what led to Miller’s thinking.  But Burton was on the losing end of that fight, 3-1. Read the rest of this entry »

A Daily Kos Republican Poll released on Tuesday reveals that 58% of the GOP don’t believe Barack Obama was born in the U.S.

By a 39 to 32% margin, Republicans surveyed said they believe Obama should be impeached.  Those are just some of the interesting figures revealed in the survey of 2,003 self identified Republicans conduced by Research 2000. Read the rest of this entry »

Hillsborough County Republican Party Chair Deborah Cox-Roush says that South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint will headline the party’s Lincoln Day dinner on March 6.

Cox-Roush said she heard last week that DeMint would be in Florida early next month, and so she and one of her Committee members contacted the Senator, and he agreed to speak at the biggest one night affair for the party.

The 58-year-old DeMint was first elected to the U.S. Senate back in 2004, after serving six years in the House of Representatives.

He’s perhaps best known nationally for declaring last year that health care reform would be President Obama’s “Waterloo.” Specifically, he said, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”  Recently however, he has tried to back away from those comments, as critics consider the line to be an example of Republicans set on obstructing the President’s agenda.

DeMint was also one of the first Senators to publicly back Marco Rubio in his fight for the U.S. Senate seat against Charlie Crist.

Deborah Cox-Roush is neutral in the Rubio/Crist battle.  She admits that yesterday’s Rasmussen poll (that shows Rubio leading Crist by 12%) is “great” for the Rubio forces, but says “were still very early in this game,” and that you can never rule out Charlie Crist, whom she refers to as “the quintessential campaigner.”

The Hillsborough GOP Chair also is excited about the Republican National Committee naming Tampa as one of three cities still in contention for the 2012 Republican National Committee, where’s she hoping the area’s bid, rejected twice before in the past decade, finally breaks through.   Tampa’s competition this year is Pheonix and Salt Lake City.

Leading off our posts this morning is a subject that we’ve been following closely – the move to scale back the small class size amendment;

We like and respect NY Times columnist David Brooks, even though he is the embodiment of the Washington establishment.  But his column today is silly;

We blogged last night about the latest developments in the Crist-Rubio battle royal.  New rumors have the Governor contemplating running as an independent, as Rubio’s lead grows.

And Blaire Yancy today has a piece on the primary Senate election in Illinois.

Download
the report here.