If you have not yet found the time to catch all of Sarah Palin’s now-legendary press conference, the helpful folks at HuffPo have provided an abridged version which captures all of her rhetorical flourishes (and dead-fish references) in just a minute and a half.
Was this a wack-job move or the first salvo in her campaign for the presidency in 2012? Depending on your perspective, you can read Sarah Palin’s press conference today either way.
The breathless recitation of right-wing talking points and multiple excuses for skipping out on her job, recited as if her inner tape-recorder were stuck on high speed, could be viewed as a slightly unhinged monologue in the Mark Sanford vein.
Then again, a breathless recitation of right-wing talking points could be just the thing her base wants to hear, and you can already imagine the scenario that’s being shaped for future campaigns: “She couldn’t stand to take part anymore in big-government Obamanomics because she’s a maverick! She’s declaring her independence!”
Never mind that Alaska has been lapping up government welfare for years; suddenly when her erstwhile Democratic opponent was doing the doling out, the money was tainted. And no matter that she’s declaring her independence from a job the voters expected her to complete; she doesn’t play by those conventional rules, people!
See video of the conference after the break. Be sure to hang on for the basketball metaphors. Read the rest of this entry »
In a case that suggests the potentially dangerous consequences of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, a gay sailor was found murdered on his base, Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California, early Tuesday morning. He had recently complained to family members that he was being harassed.
The sailor, August Provost, kept his private life quiet for the most part, but trusted that his friends knew, according to an interview with his partner in the San Diego Union-Tribune. His family had encouraged him to report the harassment to a supervisor. It’s not clear whether he did, or whether he even could have; admitting that he’d been harassed could have led to admission that he was gay, which is grounds for dismissal from the Navy. In an online article for San Diego’s Gay and Lesbian Times, the chair of the San Diego Human Relations Commission, openly gay City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez (pictured right), refers to sources on the base that say the harassment was in fact gay-related and that Provost had been facing a possible discharge based on his sexual orientation.
Murray-Ramirez says there was a long delay between the murder and public release of information, noting that U.S. Congressman Bob Filner was on the base Tuesday and was not informed of the murder. The Human Relations Commission is calling for an investigation into whether this was a hate crime. Meanwhile, a “person of interest” is being held in custody. Read the full text of the Union-Tribune story after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
Florida, of course!
But not Disney World — he’s been living in Fantasyland for too long already. No, the Palm Beach Post reports that he will be joining his wife tomorrow, no doubt with tail between legs, at her family’s place in a gated community called Loblolly Bay in Hobe Sound.
And you were dreading your family’s July 4th get-together. Who needs fireworks?
What happens to you if, according to police reports, you put your teenager in a choke hold and punch your 12-year-old in the head?
If you’re Brian Blair (mug shot at right), nothin’ much but some bad publicity, apparently. Check out these reports from Fox NewsRadio, and after the break, TBO.com, in which an assistant state attorney characterizes the incident as “discipline.” UPDATE: The St. Petersburg Times goes into further detail on the case and the reasons for the charges being dropped, referring to a memo from Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters that indicates Blair “took more punches than he gave.” (That would explain his condition in the mug shot).
TAMPA, Fla., (970 WFLA) – The Hillsborough State Attorneys office said it will not file child abuse charges against former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair.
The State Attorneys Office won’t comment, but said prosecutors will not pursue the case against Blair.
Blair was arrested on Father’s Day. He was charged with hitting his two teenaged sons. There were no serious injuries.
After the break, the story from TBO.com: Read the rest of this entry »
Republican pundit David Brooks’ article in today’s New York Times discusses the latest events in Iran, as turmoil from their recent fraudulent election has spilled into the streets of Tehran. In his comments, Brooks observes that “on the big issue, the administration has it exactly right.”
This agreement — which is far from the position voiced by most Republicans — gives added support to Peter Meinke’s “Dear David” letter in this week’s Poet’s Notebook. Meinke’s basic claim is that long-time, and famous, Republican Brooks is slowly morphing into a Democrat, and it’s time that he made the actual leap — not in a self-serving Senator Arlen Specter sort of way, but because Brooks’ views coincide more and more with Barack Obama’s.
Because Creative Loafing Political Editor Wayne Garcia would be far too modest to tell you himself, I’m reporting that this here blog, “The Political Whore,” won first place in the category of Blog-Affiliated last night in the Sunshine State Awards, the Florida-wide prizes given out by the Society of Professional Journalists/ South Florida. New Times Broward Palm Beach’s “The Juice” and the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel’s “Broward Politics” came in second and third, respectively.
And Wayne wasn’t alone in bringing back first-place honors for the Loaf. Food Editor Brian Ries won the top spot in Food/Beverage Writing for “Anywhere But Here,” his story on the lack of healthy food options for Florida families on public assistance. The Miami Herald and MIAMI Modern Luxury took second and third places.
Brian also took a third place in Criticism for his review of MJ’s tapas menu when it was under the direction of Domenica Macchia. And CL’s theater critic, Mark E. Leib, took second place in the same category for his review of the innovative American Stage production of Hamlet. The Naples Daily News‘ Harriet Howard Heithaus took the first-place spot.
Finally, the entire staff of Creative Loafing won kudos for our website, cltampa.com, placing third in the News Web Site category. I like the judges’ citation: This is not your typical news site. cltampa.com represents a new way of presenting news and information to its reader/user. Through a simple design, Creative Loafing offers a wide collection of headlines from just as many distinct sources. (Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers and the Orlando Sentinel took first and second in this category, respectively.)
More judges’ comments follow after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
A small but vocal group of protestors, both gay and straight, stood at the busy corner of 66th St. and 49th Ave. N. in Pinellas Tuesday night, armed with handmade signs and the passionate conviction that the California Supreme Court decision upholding the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage was a slap in the face to gays and lesbians everywhere. With storm clouds gathering above, they stood their ground and talked to CL.
Beth Fountain, a writer and former lawyer, questioned the dense language of the decision, in which the court essentially contradicted its position from a year before.
Like Fountain, musician Lisa Noe of the band Karmic Tattoo wondered why gay marriage could be “OK one minute, then it’s not OK the next.” And Rick Boylan, president of the Pinellas chapter of Stonewall Democrats and the secretary of the state Democratic party, pointed out that, even with the setback in California, the state is still years ahead of Florida in its recognition of gay rights: “We’re still dealing with issues that are left over from Anita Bryant days.”
More interviews after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
Ellen and Portia can stay married, says the court. The rest of you gays? Maybe not.
Today’s decision by the California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples. But the court let stand the marriages that took place between May 4, 2008, when the same judicial body said it could see no constitutional excuse for banning gay marriage, and Nov. 4, 2008, when 52 percent of voters replied, “OK, we’ll give you a constitutional reason, you activist judges you!”
Frank Gorshin in a 1969 "Star Trek" episode referenced by Dave Itzkoff.
In more proof that the blockbuster Star Trek movie has tapped into the zeitgeist, or at least the hype-geist, the Week in Review section in today’s New York Times includes three count ‘em three Trek-inspired stories. Surprisingly, only two out of three use the now-obligatory Obama-as-Spock trope.
• Columbia J-School prof and pop historian David Hajdu on Star Trek as “an early manifestation of our contemporary absorption with the pop culture of the past.”
• Dave Itzkoff’s “Ideas & Trends” piece on the socio/political climate of 1966 (when the TV series debuted) vs. that of 2009
• Maureen Dowd’s dream that Spock/Obama swoosh in and use the powers of logic to save newspapers. (I especially liked the ‘red matter’/'read matter’ pun, though it may work better if you’ve seen the movie.) Read the rest of this entry »
National Public Radio’s intrepid Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg got there first on Thursday with the news that Justice David Souter, a mere youngster at 69 compared to some of the senior citizens on the highest bench, is nevertheless sick and tired of Washington D.C. and is headed back to New Hampshire at the end of the court’s current term. He’s confident, opines Totenberg, that the new prez will select a replacement in tune with Souter’s own moderate-to-liberal bent. She predicts Obama will pick a woman as Souter’s replacement, but says the choice won’t do much to change the court’s conservative bent.
Right away the predictions started to fly on who that replacement might be: Read the rest of this entry »
By David Warner, CL Editor and PoHo contributor
I’m an occasionally conflicted 24 fan. I’ve also been feeling a mix of outrage and doubt about the recent arrest of Youssef Megahed by U.S. immigration officials after he’d just been acquitted of criminal charges. So I tip my hat to Howard Troxler, whose column in today’s St. Pete Times tackles both Jack Bauer tactics and the confusions that surround the Megahed case. Read the rest of this entry »
By David Warner, CL Editor/ PoHo contributor
Sometimes the headlines can make your LGBT head spin. Take the front page of today’s New York Times print edition, where there were two major stories about gay issues, both above the fold. The good news: the Vermont state legislature’s override of Gov. Jim Douglas’ gay marriage veto. The bad: Openly gay Iraqis are being murdered with the tacit and sometimes overt approval of police and families.
Locally, there was good news for Susan Stanton. Fired in 2007 from her position as Largo City Manager after announcing, as Steve Stanton, that she would be undergoing a change of gender, she has finally found another city manager position after two years of searching all over the country — and she found it in Florida, no less. And meanwhile, here at Creative Loafing, Eric Snider’s Devil’s Advocate feature right here on The Daily Loaf is treating us to the enlightened views of evangelist Bill “I don’t hate gays, they just disgust me” [my paraphrase] Keller, and even better (or worse), the comments of his supporters.
On SiriusOutQ, the LGBT satellite radio station I only recently discovered and can now not live without, the news roundups each hour offer the same head-spinning mix. One day you hear the news that national “pro-family” groups plan to combat the Day of Silence — the anti-bullying initiative famously criticized by Brian Blair — by keeping kids home that day if their school is observing it. And then you hear that, for the first time, gay and lesbian parents are being invited to the White House Easter Egg roll.
It’s a contradictory, confusing, exhilarating time to be gay. We’re welcomed, we’re condemned, we’re cheered, we’re murdered. The progress we have made cannot be denied, but the reminders are there every day that the haters refuse to be denied either. Stay vigilant.
A recent gallery from the Times' new mugshot site.
It was an idea so cheap, so lowbrow, so TMZ that you knew “serious” journalism would rip it off eventually. Last year Creative Loafing reported on the success of local mug rags: tabloids devoted to galleries of the recently arrested, with row after row of official law-enforcement head shots showing off alleged perpetrators at their most ignominious. So, perhaps inevitably, the St. Petersburg Times (which noticed the trend in 2007) is now following in the muddy footsteps of Sarasota’s Gotch-ya! and Tampa Bay’s Cellmates — not to mention national sites like mugshots.com — with its own hall of shame, mugshots.tampabay.com. Featuring mug shots of people “arrested in the last 24 hours in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco,” the new site includes a careful addendum clarifying that none of these folks has been convicted of anything.
CL’s Joel Rozen talked to a media historian and a National Crime Prevention Council spokesperson for his story; neither of them saw much value in mug rags either as journalism or as law enforcement tool. Yet the photos are a matter of public record, something that anyone could look up on a county sheriff’s website. The Times is just making access more convenient for the curious. And if we can already see Nick Nolte et al at their worst, why not our friends and neighbors?
Is mugshots.tampabay.com the next nail in the coffin of journalistic standards? Or merely irresistible online junkfood which you clicked on before you even finished reading this post?
Maybe the best part of the story about Republican state committeewoman Carol Carter’s suspension for sending around a racist joke via email: the comment in her follow-up mea culpa about the eight folks to whom she sent the email, at least one of whom had the temerity to forward it:
“I am also sorry to learn,” Carter opines, “that some of these persons are not real team players.”
Carter’s timing was especially unfortunate, as Janet Zink’s story in the Times points out: She sent the email on Friday, “the day the Republican party announced the selection of its first African-American chairman, Michael Steele.”
The Carter flap follows in the wake of two previous instances of GOP racist email dunderheadedness, thanks to jokesters Al Austin (former state party finance chair) and David Storck (former county chair). Read the full text of the latest witticism (which is based on the assumption that Hurricane Katrina is a surefire laugh-getter) after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
ABC Action News reports that Marion Lambert’s pet project, that huge, controversial Confederate flag at I-4 and I-75, has been refurbished and is due to be hoisted today at 2 p.m. Landscaping for the surrounding park area is near completion. Thanks, Marion, for making your flag nice and pretty for our Super Bowl guests — and, of course, national TV coverage.
See past CL coverage of Lambert and his flag here.
…neither a Kennedy nor a Cuomo nor any other famous name. It’s Kirsten Gillibrand, a congresswoman from upstate known for “bold political moves and centrist policy positions.” Gov. David Paterson’s selection of Gillibrand might qualify as a “bold political move” in itself; those centrist positions of hers have won her the endorsement of the NRA, she’s only been in Congress (her first elected office) since 2006, and the selection is already drawing fire from downstate liberals.
The votes have finally been counted in Hillsborough County, and shockingly enough, the good guys (or rather, the good guy and gal) won. And both wins could pretty much be considered upsets. Kevin Beckner, whose lead in the county commission race had been evident since election night, pulled ahead of incumbent Brian Blair for good with the final count: 55.26% to Blair’s 44.74% (259,831 to 210,399 votes). Yup, he trounced him.
And, with a justice that can only be called poetic, incumbent incompetent Buddy Johnson — the man who presided over the Hillsborough vote-count debacle — lost to Phyllis Busansky in the race for Supervisor of Elections.
Ya think Buddy will call for a recount?
UPDATE: The answer appears to be no. Johnson conceded defeat at about 6 p.m., according to TBO.com:
“Anything we can do to make her transition smooth, we will,” Johnson told reporters. “There’s a lot of big issues to deal with.”
The supervisor dodged questions about his handling of the election but praised his staff.
“The pressure they have been under in this election is tremendous.”
The Times reported that Johnson also said: “You may not have seen the last of Buddy Johnson.”
Here’s Mike Deeson of 10 Connects’ report.
It’s November 6, 2008 in Hillsborough: Do you know who your county commissioner is?
No, you don’t. And that’s exactly what Kevin Beckner’s campaign manager, Mitch Kates, predicted. He’s currently slightly ahead of incumbent Brian Blair, who has yet to concede as early votes are still being counted.
Check out Kates’ prescient concerns from this video, shot at 10:30 p.m. on Election Night at Gaspar’s Grotto in Ybor City:
It might be a little premature, but some local wag circulated this email inviting folks to the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners’ meeting today to celebrate the putative last day of Brian Blair, even though the vote-counting isn’t yet complete in the race between him and Kevin Beckner, who is currently in the lead:
Fellow Celebrators,
Tomorrow is what I’m calling the Not-So-Regular BOCC Meeting. You may not have realized it yet, but it will be Brian’s last meeting as commissioner. Beckner will be sworn-in on November 18 and he will assume full duties as of that date. I confirmed this with Commissioner Ferlita’s office this morning.So what should we do tomorrow to mark Brian’s passing??? Should we bring in a cake??? Should I bring my guitar and we sing, “For he’s a jolly good fellow”??? Should we pass around copies of the want ads???
It might be better if we use this as an opportunity to educate and motivate the others on the board, kind of like a “lessons learned” session. In other words to convey to them that having powerbrokers with money behind you sometimes leads to a false sense of security, and that as powerful as the special interests are, they can’t save you if the public believes that you’ve betrayed their trust.
Remember, it’s your last chance to say goodbye to him as a commissioner.
And don’t forget, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the evil-doers show up to pay their last respects and tell him what a wonderful job he’s done. I know the rest of he gang of 5 will be singing his praises tomorrow.It would be interesting if he didn’t show up tomorrow, fearing that he might have to face those goodbye speeches from the diehards.
Wayne is otherwise detained, but he forwarded this letter from Senator Joyner and Senator Justice to Governor Crist regarding the issues with the Hillsborough County Elections office. Will Gov. Charlie get involved? Stay tuned …
Nadine Smith, co-chair of the Vote No On 2 campaign, sent a letter to supporters today expressing her reaction to Florida voters’ approval of the constitutional gay-marriage ban. She expressed profound disappointment at the outcome, but she also saw a “silver lining” in polls showing support for domestic partnership and civil unions, and in the large coalition that formed to fight Amendment 2.
And maybe there’s another reason to hope: the man America elected last night.
In his victory speech, Obama said that his victory was the answer to “anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible… It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight…”
I watched that speech with my partner at Georgie’s Alibi in St. Pete, and you should have heard the cheers when he said the word “gay.” So he mentioned us – big deal, right? But it is a big deal; despite all the progress gays and lesbians have made since Stonewall, most U.S. politicians still treat gay rights as the issue that dares not speak its name. But here was our new president, including gay people in his vision of a truly United States.
And it made me think. Seventy-one percent of the black voters interviewed in Florida exit polls said they voted Yes On 2. That’s the biggest percentage of any group measured, except for Republicans. Ninety-six percent of black voters said they voted for Obama, who was on record as an opponent of the amendment.
It’s possible that Obama’s stance wasn’t widely circulated among the black community — or that even if it had been, it would have not affected the pro-amendment vote. Still, this won’t be the last time a state tries to codify discrimination against gays and lesbians — so it will be interesting to see whether, as president, Obama will once again take a stand. His reaction will be a good indication of how serious he is about uniting everyone.
Voter Mark Michan told CL this morning that he had to alert officials at his Ybor polling place that the third page of his ballot was missing. Included on page three were state amendments 6 and 8, and the referendum on veto power for the countywide mayor position. He voted at 7:40 a.m. at the New Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 2511 E. Columbus Dr., and says that after he raised the issue, officials located a shrink-wrapped bundle of the third pages and distributed them. Michan is worried that this means anyone who voted between 7 and 7:40 a.m. at the church will have their votes invalidated. He called Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson’s office but no one has called him back. CL called the “Election Day Questions” number on the Supervisor’s website several times as well as the Election Day Media Requests number, but could not get through.
UPDATE: Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena, an Obama supporter, said another precinct, in West Tampa at the West Tampa Convention Center on W. Columbus Avenue, had a similar problem this morning, with voters getting only one of two ballot pages for the first two hours of voting this morning.
We’ve reached the Hillsborough supervisor’s office and are told they will look into the problem and tell us what happened.
UPDATE 3:03 p.m.: No word from elections office but Times is reporting that Buddy Johnson acknowledges these problems occurred at four different precincts:
Earlier today, county elections supervisor Buddy Johnson said an unknown number of voters were only given half of their ballots at at least four precincts this morning.
Johnson said his office has gotten calls from voters complaining that poll workers gave them only one of two ballot pages. He wasn’t sure which specific precincts had problems.
Here’s the full Times story.
Rev. Bruce Wright, the noted (and in some circles notorious) homeless rights advocate from St. Pete, talked with Kelly Benjamin in St. Paul. In the video he explains why he’s protesting at the Republican National Convention and participating in the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.
Kelly Benjamin, who reported for CL on the arrests of journalists (including himself) at the RNC convention in 2004, ran into the same over-reaction by cops at this year’s convention.
Over-reaction is an understatement; his blog post and video (above) reveal just how brutal the treatment of journalists and protesters was. (Amy Goodman got off easy.)
Does Sarah Palin believe that gays and lesbians are diseased and in need of a cure? That’s what her church seems to believe. Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out wants to know whether Palin agrees. Any Log Cabin Republicans want to weigh in?
Inside the layoffs at the Trib, as reported by intern Jessica DaSilva. Commenters praise her passion (admirable) while criticizing her spelling (lamentable). As for Editor Janet Coats’ quote that the Tampa Tribune is an “add-on” to TBO.com, not vice versa: Is this a bravely candid acknowledgment of the reality of today’s media, or (like Jessica’s spelling) the death knell for journalism as we know it? Or both? Opinions vary, but to newspaper editors everywhere, the debate is familiar.
See Wayne Garcia, Creative Loafing’s Political Whore, any minute now on Studio 10, the morning show on Tampa Bay’s 10/ WTSP TV. He’ll be talking Rays, Republicans and other endangered species with host Holley Sinn.
At least in the NY Times today. Not only does he get coverage for his invite to McCain’s weekend veep auditions, but he also gets the featured spot (with photo, in print edition) in a story about how budget-strapped state legislatures are trying to find low-cost options for covering the uninsured.
All the slams against Crist’s veep appeal notwithstanding — he’s too moderate, he’s too “single,” his hair is whiter than what’s left of McCain’s — the buzz does seem to be getting a little louder. The Romney/ Jindal/ Crist face-off this weekend might be almost as much fun (or every bit as excruciating) as those ubiquitous Alltel battling-nerds ads.
OBAMA IN OREGON: Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of 65,000 on Sunday in Portland; another 15,000 couldn’t get in. How well will he pack the St. Pete Times Forum Wednesday?
(photo by Ryan Harvey)
So, among the items in the shrunken section formerly known as ‘Metro’ in the St. Pete Times was this tidbit: “Obamania, or Obamaybe Not?” — in which the writer raises the specter that “snubbed Floridians” might “stay home and sulk” rather than attend the Obama event in Tampa on Wednesday. Really? Biggest political celebrity in years, who attracted 2,000 without hardly trying last time he was in town, and now arrives with nomination in reach? Who are these “snubbed Floridians,” anyway? As far as I can tell, they’re a projection conjured up in the minds of “snubbed” St. Pete Times political reporters who haven’t been paid sufficient homage by the Obama people, and so have been harping endlessly on his failure to campaign here — whereas I suspect most voters (except for the Clinton-or-else crowd) see that both Democratic candidates have been hobbled by an impossible situation aggravated by the FL legislature and the DNC, and will gladly turn up to see either.
McCain on the plane: Temper, temper
Crocodile Tears Dept.: “It’s sad, because clearly she’s a bright and intelligent person.â€
Ashlee sings in Ybor for only 10 minutes — and that’s a problem because…?
Disappearing signs of Irvine
So will he really show up here?
Thar she blows.
It’s Christmas in February for JFK conspiracy theorists… either that, or a script by a would-be Oliver Stone.
Bill Clinton’s goat gets got.
McCain gets senior Bush endorsement, but aides don’t want his son to stand too close. (What, no hugging?)
Church to married couples: Every day for 30 days, whether you want to or not.
First beef, now lollipops?
Anyone else notice the ad in Sunday’s St. Petersburg Times from Ron Sanders, pastor of Largo’s Lighthouse Baptist Church? Don’t know how you could have missed it, especially if you were reading the coverage of the St. Pete Pride parade. In the Tampa edition, the ad ran on the story’s jump page; in St. Pete, directly across from it. The good reverend suggested in his missive that God sent Katrina to New Orleans to punish the city’s tolerance for gays, and that St. Pete is in for a similar disaster. Further, he suggested that gays are courting destruction: “There will come a day when they will answer to God for this… PAYDAY, SOMEDAY!” I have to assume that, if the Klan were to submit a racist threat to run on the same page as coverage of the next MLK parade, the Times would reject the submission. So can someone explain why this ad is any more acceptable?
