The Political Whore

 Loading …

The third in our series asking the people of Tampa Bay who they are voting for in the Nov. 4 presidential election. And here’s the archive of our featured voters so far. Be sure to join in with your opinion by voting in the unscientific survey above.

Bob Kersteen, consultant, member of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and former St. Petersburg City Council member

He’s voting for: John McCain

Why? “He is the best prepared and has a long record/reputation for soliciting and receiving support from the other side of the aisle.”

What he would say to an Obama supporter: “[Obama] is a relative unknown who possesses little if any executive experience.

Local candidate who most interests him: Congressman C. W. “Bill” Young, “a strong supporter of MacDill AFB, which is a huge economic generator for the Tampa Bay Area. Bill also is very supportive of other projects such as the Tampa Bay Water Reservoir and other projects which would not have been possible through local/county/state funding sources.”

Bookmark It

For those who were away from their television sets Saturday night, here’s one of two appearances by Alaska Gov. and veep hopeful Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live this past weekend:

Bookmark It

 Loading …

Here’s the second in our series asking the people of Tampa Bay who they are voting for in the Nov. 4 presidential election. And here’s the archive of our featured voters so far.

Rob Douglas, concert producer at Jannus Landing
He’s voting for: Obama/Biden

Rob Douglas

Why? “Obama, first and foremost, is thoughtful, articulate, even tempered and above all, intelligent! All traits that have been sorely lacking in D.C. for the last eight years. The way he has managed his campaign thus far is a good indication, I think, of how he would manage the country’s business. Ultimately, I believe Obama represents the future of our people and his opponent represents the past.”

What he would say to a McCain supporter: “I wouldn’t bother. Anyone supporting McCain is either an ideologue, incapable of critical thought or has a vested interest in the status quo. The choices and differences between the candidates are stark as are the stakes. It’s also inconceivable to me that anyone could still be on the fence about whom they were voting for. “

Local candidate who most interests him: “I am a registered Independent and I will vote as a Yellow Dog Democrat. I would like to see [Sarasota Congressman] Vern Buchanan get bounced out on his keister.”

Bookmark It

I love this guy. Thomas Friedman pimped him a few years back in his globalization followup, Hot, Flat and Crowded. Time called him the Hero of the Environment 2008. Now Van Jones — a Yale Law grad, social activist in Oakland, Netroots Nation keynoter and the hottest up-and-coming voice on creating “green-collar jobs — is out with his own book, The Green Collar Economy. It is a great companion to our Fix It Now series and the Green issue we printed in April.

Here’s the cover copy for the new book:

Provocative, personal, and inspirational, The Green Collar Economy is not a dire warning but rather a substantive and viable plan for solving the biggest issues facing the country–the failing economy and our devastated environment. From a distance, it appears that these two problems are separate, but when we look closer, the connection becomes unmistakable.

In The Green Collar Economy, acclaimed activist and political advisor Van Jones delivers a real solution that both rescues our economy and saves the environment. The economy is built on and powered almost exclusively by oil, natural gas, and coal, all fast-diminishing nonrenewable resources. As supplies disappear, the price of energy climbs and nearly everything becomes more expensive. With costs and unemployment soaring, the economy stalls. Not only that, when we burn these fuels, the greenhouse gases they create overheat the atmosphere. As the headlines make clear, total climate chaos looms over us. The bottom line: we cannot continue with business as usual. We cannot drill and burn our way out of these dual dilemmas.

Instead, Van Jones illustrates how we can invent and invest our way out of the pollution-based grey economy and into the healthy new green economy. Built by a broad coalition deeply rooted in the lives and struggles of ordinary people, this path has the practical benefit of both cutting energy prices and generating enough work to pull the U.S. economy out of its present death spiral.

Rachel Carson’s 1963 landmark book Silent Spring was the pivotal ecological examination of the last century. Now, rising above the impenetrable debate over the environment and the economy, Van Jones’s The Green Collar Economy delivers a timely and essential call to action for this new century.

And some video of Jones:

Bookmark It

The renaming of the Hillsborough County Moral Courage Award in honor of power broker Ralph Hughes claimed another victim today: 1996 winner Eileen Hart gave back her award in an emotional moment at the start of this morning’s county commission meeting.

This from the tbo.com coverage:

Eileen Hart wiped tears from her eyes minutes after she gave back her Moral Courage Award at today’s Hillsborough County Commission meeting.

Two weeks ago, the commission voted to rename the award, which is given to citizens who challenge government, for controversial political activist Ralph Hughes. When Hart, who won the award in 1996, learned Hughes was a conservative power broker who helped finance commissioners’ political campaigns, the award lost its meaning, she said.

“It’s pathetic that they would name an award for a person when it’s a nonpartisan award,” Hart said outside the commission chambers. “It should have nothing to do” with politics.

Now, that took moral courage!

Hart is now a contender for our own Moral Courage Award, which CL took over after the county sullied it beyond repair. Here are the details on how you can nominate someone for their moral courage.

Bookmark It

It may have been nearly two decades ago, but the face of Democratic consultant Mitch Kates is unmistakable in the photograph of wrestling legend Killer Kowalski, who died this weekend. The photo ran in the New York Times and Boston Herald, among others, showing Kowalski putting his trademark “claw” hold on the grimacing face of his “nephew,” Mitch, as the caption put it.

(from the New York Times/Jon Chase of the Associated Press)

Truth be told, like so much in wrestling, it isn’t quite the way it appears to be. Kates was not Kowalski’s real nephew. But in speaking with Kates about the wrestler today, his love and admiration for Killer was a strong and real as any blood relative.

“He trained me,” Kates recalled. “He was the guy that I went into the business with. A couple of people commented that we had a familial resemblance. So one of the gimmicks that I had was to wrestle as his nephew.”

(more…)

Bookmark It

This just in from USF:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. kicks off USF Lecture Series Sept. 4

TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 26, 2008) – The University of South Florida’s University Lecture Series (ULS) commences with political speaker and activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and continues with a stellar line-up featuring an eclectic range of public figures.

Kennedy will speak on the topic “Our Environmental Destiny,” Sept. 4, 7 p.m. in the new Marshall Student Center Ballroom on the Tampa campus.

Author of the 2004 Crimes Against Nature, Kennedy is a highly sought-after speaker. He serves as chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and is president of the Waterkeeper Alliance . Both organizations seek to protect local waterways.

Other speakers during the coming academic year are:
• Dr. Drew Pinsky , Oct. 8 7 p.m. – “Loveline With Dr. Drew”
• Kelly & Becca , Oct. 21 7 p.m. – “Let’s Talk About it” (Free)
• Ben Stein , Nov. 5, 7 p.m. – “Ben Stein on Life”
• Austin Gutwein, Nov. 6, 4 p.m. – “Hoops of Hope ”
• Danny Glover & Felix Justice , Jan. 15, 2009, 7 p.m. - “An Evening with Martin and Langston”

All ULS events are free for students with a valid USF ID, alumni and faculty pay $5 with a valid ID and the general public is admitted for $10 (unless otherwise noted). Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tickets are now on sale at the Marshall Student Center Ticket Office located on the first floor of the new Marshall Center. The ticket office only accepts credit or debit, no cash or checks. For more information visit: http://uls.usf.edu/.

Bookmark It

Obama clarifies and defends his energy policy proposals in this contentious interview in Nevada with Jon Ralston.

• Bruce Ivins e-mail indicates he was maybe kind of a loon, so it’s certain he perpetrated a solo biological weapons attack on liberal members of our government and the media (though the e-mails never mention anything close to that). Case closed.
• Bush slams China’s human rights record — in the most gentle way possible, of course.
• “Sure I’ll plead guilty to murder, But I gotta have the Colonel and Papa John as witnesses.”
• Hillsborough to spend $50 million on park maintainence and a scaled down version of Jim Norman’s field of dreams.
• How to: stockpile cheap(er) gas.
• Headline of the week: “I’m a breastfeeding fiend.”
• Favre goes to the Jets. Get your Jeff Garcia jerseys here.
• Case closed in the death of Heath Ledger.

Bookmark It

As the debate over “The Surge” continues, here’s a look at Baghdad from a journalist who actually lives there.

• Obama flip-flops on offshore oil drilling.
• Inflation on the uptick.
• A new book claims the Bush administration faked evidence against Iraq in advance of the war.
• Republican voter numbers in decline. 
• Supermarket chains wheel and deal to stay competitive.
• Anybody seen about 120,000 gorillas?
• Morgan Freeman gets banged up in a serious car accident. Fortunately, doctors think he’ll be available for the next Batman movie.
• Jazz is for loners.

Bookmark It