Daily Loaf

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

Is solar PV dead in Florida? – In an important proceeding at the Florida Public Service Commission in Tallahassee, approval of large-scale solar projects is in doubt.

Obama and other world leaders fess up: No climate change deal likely in December – After all of the efforts from people around the globe to get our world leaders to listen up and take action against climate change in December in Copenhagen, it looks like things aren’t going to be changing any time soon.

Tips on heating, cooling and sealing your home to save energy and some green (video) – Did you know that you can save energy and money on your utility bill just by properly using your thermostat and keeping your house sealed from outside air?

Ponzi schemes target green investors – The SEC reports of a $30 million Ponzi scheme involving 300 investors nationwide who participated in a purported environmentally-friendly investment.
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Energy systems 2.0 – We are currently in an energy crisis, yet continuing to rely on old, out-of-date systems of provision that are no longer viable, economically or ecologically.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 »

Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate for NY's 23rd Congressional District

As President Obama’s approval rating continues to slip, it is clear that he will face a much tougher race for re-election in 2012 than he ran last year. It’s like an overdue pregnancy; it’s been nine months, but he has yet to deliver. The markets are still fragile, and the dollar is going down while unemployment numbers are going up. Toss in our sky-rocketing debt and indecisive action in Afghanistan, and it starts to look like Obama isn’t the savior he was made out to be.

One can criticize the policies of Bush, but at least The Decider actually made decisions. Recent polls from a number of sources all show one undeniable trend  — the American people do not think we’re headed in the right direction.

Such a difficult time for Obama, and one might be under the impression that support for Republicans is on the rise. This isn’t exactly the case; CNN reported that approval for the GOP has hit 36%, down nearly 5% from the last poll taken in the summer, and almost at the same point it was in the last few months of Bush’s time in office.

Discontent with the major parties seems to be a growing phenomenon. Millions have attended “tea parties” all over the country, and the philosophy and wisdom of the Founding Fathers is a recurring theme in today’s political arena. Ordinary people are demanding that something be done; they demand accountability, fiscal responsibility and the protection of our most basic freedoms. Partisan bickering and the corruption that plagues Washington has made the American people feel alienated.

As a result, there has been a re-emergence of third candidates. Not long shots like Ralph Nader or Pat Buchanan, whose presidential runs seem futile, but viable and credible candidates with a fair share of support.

The press has taken notice. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is running for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, a seat up for grabs since Rep. John McHugh was appointed Secretary of the Army. Hoffman, a notable New York accountant, has shown favorable numbers in the polls at around 23%. This number is expected to grow as Hoffman continues to receive nationwide attention, thanks to interviews with Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.

His conservative principles have earned the endorsement of powerful Republican figures, including Fred Thompson and Sarah Palin, even against the GOP’s own candidate. Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava, a Republican with an endorsement from ACORN, has a liberal voting record and a platform that isn’t a far cry from the Democratic contender’s.

Hoffman isn’t the only third-party candidate to raise eyebrows; in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District, Modern Whig Party candidate Paul C. McKain has entered the arena in a bid for the seat occupied by Democrat Allen Boyd. McKain, a former firefighter and businessman, has gained a great deal of support among the Republican base as well as the conservative wing of the Democratic Party.

McKain promises to restore true citizen participation in government, pledging to act as a representative of the people, as intended by the Constitution, not as a mouthpiece for special interest groups. In a district where Democrats are a powerful majority, McKain fights an uphill battle, but it’s a battle that he believes he can win.

And with the growing discontent among American voters, it’s possible that he will.

Tom Bortnyk is a columnist for the political blog Informed Dissent.

Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon and pop music sex symbol Lady Gaga, among countless others, addressed the National Equality March on Washington yesterday.

Thousands of supporters descended on the Washington Mall on Sunday, October 11, 2009 in the largest gay rights rally in nearly a decade.

The rally called upon President Obama to ensure equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. Read the rest of this entry »

Charlie’s lack of conviction on the issues is catching up with him

By Chris Ingram

It hasn’t taken long, but there is trouble in Tallahassee for the Charlie Crist campaign. It seems Chuckles the clown, er, governor is starting to take some heat from within his own tent for lacking any conviction or serious plans for the challenges facing our country.

Apparently some Crist supporters actually do have a brain, a heart, and a concern for the legacy we leave to our children and grand children.

There is an e-mail floating around from Michael Pinson who up until now has been a big supporter of the tan man.  In his e-mail to Greg Truax (a Crist apologist and publisher of the Crist propaganda website called FrontPageFlorida.com – which I used to contribute to), and Andy Graham (a Tampa attorney seemingly attached to the hip of Truax), Pinson raises the point readers of Irreverent View have read countless times, ”Our sitting Governor remains SILENT with no leadership” Pinson complains. Pinson raises other deep concerns including Chuckles’ support of ACORN, SEIU (a labor union), his failure to condemn Obama (hard to do with those pictures), anti-capitalism, pro-immigration, and more. It’s a good read. Really good! I was waiting for Pinson to blame Chuck for his wet newspaper following the downpour we had in the Tampa Bay area last night.

In any event, Pinson dings Charlie on all the important issues of the day — and then some. Michael, when you’re ready to get off the sinking S.S. Charlie Crist, I’d love to have you write some columns for Irreverent View!

Read the rest of this entry »

When I was in public school, I developed such a phobia of sex from my health teachers’ slides of flesh rotting STDs and flamboyant Priests’ speeches about vaginas being highways to hell, that I genuinely feared my dick would spontaneously combust upon touching a girl. Consequently, I was a virgin well into college (actually, the static state of my virginity had more to do with the fact that I couldn’t grow pubic hair until I was 18, but it feels better to blame religion and the government).

But times are changing. Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) just published a pamphlet advising students that it’s their “right” to have an enjoyable sex life. Read the rest of this entry »

Six months after she triumphantly joined forces with Jon Bon Jovi on Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” at the Obama inaugural, Bettye LaVette drops this 23-minute digital-only EP, which includes a studio version of the Sam Cooke milestone and five other classics that she’s performed over the years.

The 63-year-old vocalist, whose career was rescued from obscurity by 2005’s I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti-), breaks songs down to their narrative essence. Her voice is weathered, full of cracks and breaks, kind of like Tina Turner in bad need of a lozenge. It’s a lived-hard voice that, while not adept at soaring melody, is capable of communicating a song’s deeper meaning.

LaVette has the uncanny knack of making you consider anew lyrics that you’ve heard hundreds of times (and perhaps forgotten) . When she sings, on the title track, “I used to go the movies/ And I’d try to go downtown/ Somebody was always there tellin’ me/ ‘Little girl, you cain’t come around,’” stretching the words as a pleading lament, it personalizes the song in a way that I’d not heard before.”

Read more (plus video of LaVette and Bon Jovi at the inaugural).

Check out CL’s main music site.

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

Reconstructing a historic bat tower in Temple Terrace and how to build your own bat roost- Grant Rimbey investigates efforts in Temple Terrace to reconstruct an historic tower for bats, discusses a large community bat roost he designed for the Florida Bat Conservancy, and tells how you can purchase (or build) your own bat roost for your yard.

Summer Solstice: A brief history- Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, occurs this Sunday- June 21st. Here are a few facts you might not have known about it, from Linda Taylor.

Organics: How to eat well without breaking your budget- With the increase of demand over organic food in the last ten years you would think that a wide range of these products would be easily accessible. Here’s some some advice from Kelly Rothwell on purchasing healthy, organic food in this region without breaking your budget.
Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, I received an email from a local filmmaker, Arlen Slobodow of Public Media Productions, asking me to take a look at a 17-minute video he just completed on public health and the environmental consequences of air pollution in the Tampa Bay area.  Because I am such a supporter of local independent media production, things that inspire action for the public good, and combating big polluters, I thought I’d share it.  Also, be sure to check out my interview with the film’s writer/director/producer, Arlen Slobodow, in my next post.

Video after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

Vice President Joe Biden released plans for a national program on Tuesday at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to focus on training workers for the “green job market”. These green jobs will focus on making public housing more energy efficient by adding solar panels and manufacturing wind turbines.

How do they plan on doing all of this in the heat of a recession? He announced that $500 million from the economic stimulus bill will be used to retrain people who now live in low-income housing for green jobs. He went on by saying that the stimulus bill will create 450,000 new green jobs. Read the rest of this entry »

I was a surgical resident in NYC in 1974 and I had a cold. A friend, an audiologist, gave me a large green herbal capsule and told me to take it. “But, is it FDA approved?” I snorted. “Just take it!” she said. The next day my cold was gone. Incredible! “Why wasn’t this in my medical school curriculum?” I wondered. That was the beginning of my slow fall off the edge of the earth.

Now I have a holistic practice where we go for the least expensive, safest form of treatment, including nutrition, herbs, homeopathics, as well as pharmaceutical prescriptions. We use elegant tests that uncover the underlying causes of illness, instead of “sweeping it under the drug”. Chronic illness only exists for so many people because it is so lucrative for a few.

I sincerely hope that, by supporting “choice” in healthcare, our President really means prevention of illness, treatment of causes instead of symptoms, and coverage of treatments which, although provided by licensed practitioners, are not paid for by insurance. At least please protect us from the fear of our state licensure boards, who have persecuted alternative practitioners for a hundred years. We need a new Flexner report* that focuses on assessment of the present system from a fiscal and humanitarian point of view, not just the “scientific”. Let’s discover together what really works. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday, President Obama officially announced the new rules governing auto emissions and fuel economy standards, effectively bringing to a close almost a decade of debate on the topic. For years, California has been petitioning the Federal Government to increase the mileage standards and reduce emissions. Meanwhile, the auto industry has fought back saying that a patchwork of standards would be crippling to their product development and adding more technology would ultimately hurt their bottom line.

In an interesting turn of events, this week President Obama was joined by Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California as he announced the new standards. It was a symbol of how far we have come or, alternatively, how desperate both sides are to claim this victory. That’s right, I said claim victory. Obviously, California is thrilled at the new mandate but the auto industry too? It turns out they have some reasons to be happy as well. The auto industry has been paralyzed by the years of debate over the new standards which have effectively stalled new car development. Who is going to design cars that will go to market in a few years if you know there will be fuel standards, but don’t yet know what they will be? With a concrete set of rules, they can finally get back to work on our future gas-sippers. In addition, by coming to the table willing to negotiate they were able to have input into the time frame for these new standards as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you been to the grocery store and seen the prices on produce these days? No wonder people don’t want to buy fresh food that’s actually good for them, when they can save a buck by buying processed, pre-packaged food that is full of chemicals and fake ingredients. It’s also dejecting to think how far food travels before it reaches our tables — going from farm to processing and packing plants, then shipped off hundreds of miles away to grocery stores.
I am making a personal effort to buy more locally grown food. It saves me money and it keeps the local farmers in business. Last weekend, I ventured out to Plant City to check out some of the local farmers’ markets and found Parkesdale Farms Market. Parkesdale Farm has been in operation by the Parke family since 1956, growing an array of vegetables, fruits, and various plants and flowers over hundreds of acres. They are now the largest strawberry, citrus, and produce market in Florida. Read the rest of this entry »

Including Obama, it seems. Making sure to decry the evil of “earmarks” — even though they amount to only a tiny percentage of the total spending in the $410 billion omnibus bill — the president signed the bill away from the cameras, apparently quaking with shame. Or at least that’s the way it’s being portrayed. Read ABC’s account here.

Senate Republicans blocked passage of the $410 billion ominibus spending bill last night. This is not to be confused with Obama’s $787 stimulus package, which has already passed; the omnibus bill represents the balance of the federal budget for this fiscal year, and includes nine spending measures that Congressional Democrats and President Bush could not resolve during his administration. Not even President Obama likes the earmark-heavy bill, explains the Washington Post, though he is expected to sign it. And it’s not just Republicans who have objections. Senators Evan Bayh and Russ Feingold voted no because of concerns about earmarks (8,750 of ‘em, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense). And NJ Democratic Senator Robert Menendez objected to the bill’s relaxation of Cuba travel restrictions. The bill goes back to the drawing board now, with passage expected next week after Republicans are allowed to add amendments, said the New York Times.

If you’ve always wanted to watch someone beat the shit out of Will Ferrell with a baseball bat, have I got a movie for you …

• Finally, Karl Rove and Harriet Miers will testify on the record.
• Obama Administration fleshes out the details of the mortgage bailout plan.
• Chances the U.S. is headed for a Depression: One in five.
• Doctors now using waivers to prevent patients from posting about their visits online.
• Barbara Bush (the old one) goes under the knife.
• Tax laws get tougher for the wealthy, as the wealthy are now expected to pay taxes.
• Facebook battles Twitter in a fight you need your kids to explain.
• “Bucs Lose Buchanon To Lions.” Was 0-16 Detroit really a better option?
• Manny signs with L.A. for $45 million. I know I feel better now.

A dance image from the NEA site, no doubt the kind of thing Senators regard as "wasteful" and "non-stimulative."

If so, it would be a good omen for the art world.
Dreams that the Obamas would usher in a new era of cultural savvy in Washington took a beating last week when the Senate voted against including funding for the arts in the economic stimulus bill, calling theaters and museums “wasteful” and “non-stimulative.” The fact that the thumbs-down vote was 73-24 and included a number of prominent Democrats, including Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer, added insult to injury.
The House version of the bill that was approved earlier today retained $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, and the prognosis for Senate approval is good; the vote is taking place as I write, so we’ll see. But the message from last week’s vote was harsh — and if the Obamas send a sign that their support for the arts is solid, that could help salve the wounds.

The winners, sort of

In keeping with their Obama-inspired “No We Can’t” strategy — that is, flat-out no-compromise obstructionism because it’s the only way they have left to make any political hay — the Republicans unanimously voted against the $787 billion economic stimulus package, despite earlier indications that there might be a few Republican defectors. For those of us who hope that this thing works, we now have an added incentive: If it does work we can rub it in the GOP naysayers’ faces when the party goes down in flames in the 2010 congressional elections.

It’s a new day and the upside down world of dreaming is heating up.  Getting a lot of Obama dreams from fans and foes alike.  One dreamer was deep in a vast ocean and looking up saw Obama treading water at first, then swimming like Phelps passing all the others by.  Dreamer tried to call out. Wanted to say, “Wait for me!” but all he got was a mouthful of saltwater.  Swears he woke up drooling on his pillow.

Have you had an Obama dream?

I’m here, starting this blog for Creative Loafing, to help you understand and appreciate your dreams. I come with a lot of experience-20 years of it.  There’s lots of types of dreams, from BIG dreams that haunt you and you never forget them to garden-variety dreams that help hash through the days events.  There’s body dreams too.

What’s your dream like?

email Dream Momma or leave your dream questions as a comment below.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is undergoing surgery today for what is reported to be early-stage pancreatic cancer. The New York Times reports that the 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is low, due to the difficulties in early detection, but in Ginsburg’s case the cancer was discovered early so her prognosis may be more hopeful.

Obama voters no doubt have been waiting for the president to get an opportunity to appoint a justice. If it’s Ginsburg he has to replace, however, it’s a wash; she is one of the reliably liberal voices on the Court.

Update: NPR court expert Nina Totenberg reported today that if the Obama administration does have to replace Ginsburg, the nominee will undoubtedly be a woman. The short list, she said, is likely to include Harvard Law School Dean and Solicitor General nominee Elena Kagan, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, among others.

It’s old news that Barack Obama (and/or his speechwriters) has a way with words. But his remarks today about religion strike me as among his most moving to date. The speech, in its embrace of difference and its vision of faith as uniter rather than divider, signifies a profound paradigm shift from the previous administration.

I liked this passage in particular, clear-eyed but hopeful:

“I’m not naive,” President Obama says. “I don’t expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish. … But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, and perhaps allow God’s grace to enter that space between us, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding.

“This is my hope. This is my prayer.”

Read more at USA Today’s ‘The Oval’ blog.

A new report from the Congressional Research Service shows just how much — or how little — of Obama’s new $825 billion economic stimulus package is going towards agriculture and food programs.

$27 billion is slated for food-related issues, with the vast majority — $21 billion — going to bolster the nation’s food assistance programs, like food stamps, WIC and some school meals. In 2008, food stamp program (SNAP) costs rose nearly $4.5 billion to $37.655 billion. More than 28 million took advantage of SNAP last year, the largest number of participants since its inception. Considering the state of the economy, that upward trend looks like it’ll be getting worse this year.

Here in Florida, Read the rest of this entry »

Governor Rod Blagojevich hits the televisions this week in his “shock and awe” media blitz in which is says stuff crazy enough to make us all forget about his impeachment trial.

Today he reveals he considered naming Oprah Winfrey to the U.S. Senate, telling “Good Morning America” the idea of nominating the talk show host came to him as he explored potential candidates for the job that federal prosecutors allege he tried to sell to the highest bidder.

“She seemed to be someone who would help Barack Obama in a significant way become president,” he said. “She was obviously someone with a much broader bully pulpit than other senators.”

The governor worried, though, that the appointment of Winfrey might come across as a gimmick and that the talk show host was unlikely to accept.

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen to welcome back into the fold a Bishop who is on record as denying the Holocaust. Bishop Richard Williamson of Great Britain (left) was excommunicated 20 years ago on grounds that his consecration and that of three other bishops had not been papally approved, according to an AP report. The rehabilitation of the bishops is part of an effort to re-establish relations with a religious order that had split from the Church in 1970 in protest of the reforms of Vatican II. As the NY Times points out, this sends warning signs that Benedict himself may pull back from those reforms, which included condemnation of anti-Semitism. Combined with the Vatican’s pointed criticism of Obama for his executive order returning federal funding to international organizations that practice or advise abortion, it looks increasingly like this Pope and this White House are going to be at odds. Good thing, that — although the specter of a Vatican that offers even tacit approval of anti-Semitism at this particular historical juncture is anything but reassuring. In fact, it’s pretty outrageous.

Obama was inagurated on Tuesday, and in the frenzy of media coverage you may have missed what’s really important — sustenance. No worries, we have the entire week distilled down to a mere few links. Just for you:

• Listen to the inaugural episode of Nosh Pit, CL’s new food and wine podcast.
• Brush up on Girl Scout Cookie gossip.
• Bourdain calls Alice Waters “very Khmer Rouge”.
• I call Alice Waters out for $500 dinners.
• Three new Tampa restaurants (and Cupcake Spot) are scheduled to open this weekend. Taylor already ate at one of them.
• Three words: waffle fry butts.
• Obama orders a medium-well cheeseburger. For. Shame.
• Chocolate and bacon cupcakes with peanut butter icing.
• Argentina kills our last bets hope for quality beef.
• USDA releases ineffectual, voluntary rules for the term “naturally raised”.
• Ingredient Basics: Garlic

In the inaugural episode of Nosh Pit, CL food editor Brian Ries and Cl wine editor Taylor Eason talk about Barack Obama’s first meal as president, plus new restaurant openings in the bay area and the worst of the worst chain restaurants:

Download.

CL's Obama Cupcakes

Not only did he publicly and deliciously diss George W. Bush in his forever-etched-in-textbooks inauguration speech, now Barack Obama is actually following through on the what seemed like over-the-top promises he fed us during the campaign. I ate it up like cold pizza leftovers but shamefully and silently thought, “Whatever, like he’s ever going to do anything he’s promising.” But, ohmigawd, he is. Unlike so many other politicians, not only is Obama clearly in love with his wife, his rhetoric wasn’t said in a void. Closing Guantanamo Bay? Check. Read the rest of this entry »

The University of Tampa and the University of South Florida both have lively websites, and both ran stories today on student response to the presidential inauguration. Anecdotes include a UT student from Trinidad who was in D.C. but probably had a worse view of the proceedings than her classmates back in Tampa, and a USF student who found a way to spend some quality time with the president (or at least a facsimile thereof) without leaving the Marshall Center.

Yep, our new president likes his burgers medium-well, as shown in this video of his first ride on Air Force One. He also prefers cheddar, lettuce, tomato and dijon mustard. Ooh. La. La.

Catch all the glory of the video, from a National Geographic Channel series titled “On Board Air Force One”, after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

Our sister paper the Chicago Reader weighed in earlier this week with an informative piece by Deanna Isaacs that criticized the Obama arts platform as “optimistic but vague.”  Arts bloggers are rushing to fill that vacuum with specific proposals —  like this one from Tyler Green, who recommends a White House arts adviser.

Mark Swed, on the LA Times‘ “Culture Monster,” says he’s willing to believe that Obama is an “arts president.” But he was underwhelmed by the all-star quartet (Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill, Gabriela Montero) that played on the inaugural program, calling it  “a little hokey.” More interesting is Swed’s list of musicians he’d like to see at the White House.

Yeah, this picture is worth a thousand words. The National Mall, Washington D.C. at noon, Jan. 20, 2009..

Celebrate Barack Obama’s historic inauguration by getting free stuff! Ain’t America grand?

• Free copy of New Yorker inaugural issue for registering on the website
• Free Obama sticker from MoveOn.org
• Free Jack & Coke, button at TGI Fridays, plus more if you’re a member of the restaurant’s rewards program
• Taco Bell is apparently selling tacos at $.20 each (limit 10)
• Free donuts at Krispy Kreme
• Free makeup at department stores (Macy’s, Dillard’s, Nordstrom and a whole bunch more) as part of a class action lawsuit settlement

“…his appreciation of the magic of language and his ardent love of reading…”

it’s been a long time since we’ve had a president who possessed either of these qualities, so it’s heartening to read the NY Times’ account of Obama’s love affair with books. As for our soon-to-be-ex-president, Bush apparently made reading into a competitive event with his pal the veep. While it seems unlikely that we’ll see the same kind of thing happening with Obama and Biden (”Hey, Joe, I’m way ahead of you on the complete works of Doris Lessing“), check out the Times story to see if your reading list jibes with that of the Reader in Chief.

I love Alice Waters as much as the next worshipper of good food and local ingredients, but she’s best as an inspiration. An icon of a movement. Whenever she gets her hands dirty trying to foment grassroots change in the way America eats, Waters comes off a bit lofty.

She’s in DC this week with a cornucopia of big name chefs to try to get the word out about keeping it local. How? $500 dinners cooked by the chefs in the homes of Washington’s power elite: Read the rest of this entry »

When Chad and I were asked to create art for Manifest Hope:DC we were honored beyond words.The opportunity to be part of history and even art history was something we couldn’t pass up. For this monumental exhibit we created two pieces, “Hope is Dope” and “The Great Communicator.”

Now, here we are, at the center of the universe… Washington DC. The vibe is indescribable… Read the rest of this entry »