Daily Loaf

And he’s Florida’s own!

Early Wednesday morning, Joshua Basso, 29, ran out of cell phone minutes. Looking for sex, he dialed the only number that would work: 911.

Basso called a 911 operator, and made several sexual comments about her body before asking to come over to her house and have sex with her.

After being arrested, Basso said he “did not think he would get into trouble for calling 911.” Basso has admitted to making inappropriate 911 calls in the past, because he previously gave the operator a false name and address. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

City of Seminole recycling and sustainability discussion - A local activist held a discussion on recycling and sustainability at the Seminole Community Library on Monday, November 9.

1890s Ybor City: Green and sustainable (plus vintage postcards) – Grant Rimbey explores the green and sustainable nature of pre-urban renewal Ybor City.

BPA in plastics linked to aggressive behavior in children – Did you know that exposure to the BPA in the “bad” plastics has been linked to aggressiveness in children, as well as other diseases in humans?

Energy systems 2.0 – We are currently in an energy crisis, yet continuing to rely on old, out-of-date systems of provision that are no longer viable, economically or ecologically.
Read the rest of this entry »

Talk about recycling with a purpose: The new Navy Ship, USS New York, came into New York harbor this week sporting more than just 361 crew members – contained in the ship is 7.5 tons of recycled steel from the World Trade Center.

The 25,000 behemoth was built in Virginia and is the length of two football fields. Written on the bow above its crest is written “Never Forget”. Built in Louisiana, it made its way into New York harbor earlier this week, performing a 21-gun salute in front of Ground Zero and docking until November 11 so that the public can climb aboard and get a firsthand glimpse of it.
Read the rest of this entry »

This past friday, the “godfather of neoconservatism” Irving Kristol died after complications with lung cancer.  He was 89.

As a writer and editor, Kristol’s ideas had a profound affect on American politics and ideological identities, influencing major political figures such as George W. Bush.

Coined by notable socialist Michael Harrington, the term “neoconservatism” referred to a new brand of conservative thought that rejected the liberal programs of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, favoring instead a limited welfare state in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Motivated primarily by their Christian faith, Neocons went against traditional conservatism by favoring a bigger government for the cause of social justice and supporting the poor (hence the label “compassionate conservatism”).

Writer Michael Lind, himself a former neoconservative, claims that many neoconservatives preferred to be called “paleoliberals”, as the original movement in the 1970s were comprised mostly of disillusioned liberals and Democrats. Although now primarily identified as a Republican ideology, neoconservatism has deep roots in the political Left.

Kristol himself famously described a follower of this movement to be “a liberal who has been mugged by reality.”

Neoconservatism became a popular subject in 2001, when the Post-9/11 Bush Administration had a radical shift in policies towards the ideology. Neoconservative thought would dominate the Bush Administration’s policies for the remainder of his time in office. Bush’s interventionist foreign policy was praised by Neocons, and it was the ideology’s advocacy of welfare programs that lead to Bush’s support of Medicare Part D, offering prescription drug benefits. It also motivated Bush to support the bi-partisan No Child Left Behind program.

Irving Kristol was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Bush in 2002, who described him as “a wide-ranging thinker whose writings have helped transform America’s political landscape.”

Kristol is survived by his wife, historian Gertrude Himmelfarb, and his two children, Elizabeth Nelson and William Kristol, founder of the Neocon think-tank Project for the New American Century and editor of The Weekly Standard.

Eight years ago today, nearly three thousand lives – the majority of which were civilians – were taken in a despicable act of terrorism.

It is likely a day that will not be forgotten by anyone who witnessed the events unfold, or the countless lives that were affected by the tragedy. It is a day when all Americans, regardless of race, sex, religion or politics, join in solidarity for the victims of what many consider to be the darkest day in American history.

Just as Washington, D.C. and New York City host formal ceremonies in remembrance of those lost, students from colleges and universities all over America take part in the 9/11 Never Forget Project. Co-sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation, the Project’s goal is to publicly display thousands of American flags – one for each victim of the attack. I had a chance to partake in the event at Florida State University. Read the rest of this entry »

The Seminole Heights Community Gardens has teamed up with Green Florida to plant a native and edible garden for a local community member in honor of those lost eight years ago on 9/11. The event will take place this Saturday, September 12th and SHCG are looking for volunteers to to help with setting up the garden and asking for donations from local community groups.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Doors, by local theater artists Jack Holloway and Joe Winskye, is a not very interesting play on a very interesting subject: the American paranoia about terrorists since 9/11. If a play could be judged solely by its theme, this Hat Trick Theatre production would win lots of prizes for timeliness and good sense. But satisfying plays provide more: suspenseful action, three-dimensional characters, and inventive dialogue, for starters. Even more to the point, successful plays keep sending new information our way every few minutes: new conflicts, dilemmas, encounters, ideas.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Political correctness (adjectivally, politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term applied to language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen by some as seeking to minimize offense to gender, racial, cultural, disabled, aged or other identity groups. Conversely, the term “politically incorrect” is used to refer to language or ideas that may cause offense or that are unconstrained by orthodoxy” (Wikipedia definition).

Here’s a good place to start: she thinks you’re ugly, you are seriously impaired, 9/11 could have been an inside job, and religion might be the root of all evil. When was the last time you enjoyed a friendly discussion in mixed company that involved any one of those possibilities? For some reason, I have always been iconoclastic and politically incorrect. I see nothing wrong with seeking the truth where ever it may have gotten lost. In fact, I think that looking behind the façade of political correctness is a virtue. Let’s be real. Do the people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan think we are the “good guys” as we murder their brothers and sisters and label it “collateral damage”, or do they blame the other guys? Read the rest of this entry »

[Editor's Note: Jennifer Huntsman is a US Army Reserve Signal Captain stationed at MacDill Air Force Base with Joint Communication Support Element (JCSE). She has just returned from deployment in Qatar. Jenny writes for The Daily Loaf about life in the military.]

I am home.  I have been back in Tampa for about a week now, but it feels as though I have never left.  Our flight was long and we first arrived in the U.S. through the Baltimore-Maryland International Airport (BWI).  A military flight to Maryland is a humbling experience.  I smelled very bad and I slept on a toy train at BWI’s Observation Deck.  There was a large homecoming at the Tampa International Airport.  Balloons, banners, friends, families, coworkers, even news crews were all waiting for our arrival.  I had so many strangers come up to me to tell me thank you, God Bless, and welcome back home.  When I saw my loved one my heart skipped a beat, I missed him so much.  Coming home is what we’d wished for throughout the whole deployment.

Just a week ago I remember talking with my coworkers of what we were excited about when we arrived back home. Read the rest of this entry »

The revelations of what the Bush administration was considering in the wake of 9/11 have been chilling, and nowhere is the scope of these measures summed up better than in the opening paragraph of Michael Isikoff’s current story in Newsweek:

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Department secretly gave the green light for the U.S. military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the United States, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights in order to combat the terror threat, according to a memo released Monday.

Read the whole story here.

And now for something completely different. Nature includes many oddities, but few as counterproductive (evolutionarily speaking) as this: Fainting goats.

• In memorial …
• Obama goes on Letterman, clarifies that “the failed policies of John McCain” are actually the pig.
• Sex with underlings, bribes, buying coke at the office — is the Interior Department hiring?
• Ike preps for a visit to Houston.
• Walter Sobchak is a neocon who doesn’t roll on Shabbos.
• Will the sad quality of AT&T’s network doom the iPhone?
• The Rays get a season-defining win.
  
• This week’s ESPN NFL power Rankings are out. The Bucs slip five spots to number 20.

The Republican National Convention is now over. Last night, John McCain turned out the lights with a meandering speech that can best be summed up as follows: I was tortured harshly questioned, so now it’s my turn to be president.

• McCain gets heckled by Code Pink. The ugly green screen is back. Tom Ridge calls the Republican nominee “John Bush.”
• “McCain Vows to End ‘Partisan Rancor.’” Can we hold him to that?
• “Given the sharp political divisions she inspires, Palin’s initial impact on vote preferences and on views of McCain looks like a wash, and, contrary to some prognostication, she does not draw disproportionate support from women.”
• Palin’s Troopergate (Troopergate II?) just got a bit more serious.
• Republicans using 9/11 for political purposes? Well, I am just shocked!
• Merrill Lynch on the brink of failure?
• The jobless rate hits a 5-year high.
• The Rays win, avoid a sweep by the Yankees and do little to instill confidence in the faithful.