the 941

Quick name the state the licenses thousands of felons as mortgage brokers… uh, oh yeah, it’s Florida. Great investigative work by the Miami Herald.

• Iraq? Afghanistan? Shouldn’t John McCain know the difference? The embarassing senior moments continue to pile up. Even worse, CBS News covered up for him. It’s one thing to be a senile senator; there are dozens. But we’ve already had one senile president in my lifetime and frankly, we were lucky to escape the ’80s as well as we did.

• Two words: Barack Oboner.

• That rumbling you hear is the conservative movement retrenching. Or maybe it’s the movement’s death rattle. We can always hope.

• And speaking of Republicans who actually think, Ron Paul is planning to bring his r3volution to the venue across the street from the GOP convention. This is going to be fun.

• Here is the man talking about the REAL ID Act:

• There are two ways to travel to Afghanistan, like a soldier or like a politician. You want whats behind door number two.

• Blackwater: The U.S. government will always need us.

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Planned Parenthood Opening First Health Center in Manatee County

Barbara Zdravecky, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, will discuss how crucial it is to have Planned Parenthood health services available in Manatee County due to its astonishingly high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Out of 67 counties, Manatee has the 17th highest teen pregnancy rate in Florida. Nationally, Florida has the 6th highest teen pregnancy rate and the 2nd highest HIV/AIDS rate in the country.

The center is located at 1105 53rd Avenue East in Bradenton.

The ribbon cutting will follow a press conference that begins at 5:30 p.m. Other luminaries scheduled to attend include: Karin Grablin, Board Chair, Planned Parenthood, Senator Mike Bennett, County Commissioner Gwen Brown and Greg Porges, Esq., Campaign Steering Committee Member.

As the most trusted provider of reproductive health care in the country, Planned Parenthood knows best that women, men, and teens in Manatee County need access to quality and affordable health care.

“Like many communities across the country, Manatee County has a growing need for affordable health care and access to reproductive health care services,” said Zdravecky. “The Planned Parenthood Manatee health center will bring much-needed health care services to the members of the community, regardless of their income.”

Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida was founded in 1966 and provides vital sexual health services and comprehensive education to women, men and teens in the Sarasota, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Ft. Myers, Lakeland and Winter Haven areas. Services include birth control; cancer screening; pregnancy testing; options counseling; adoption referral; first trimester abortion; mid-life services; annual GYN exams including Pap smear; STD testing and treatment; HIV counseling and testing; vasectomy services; and colposcopy and cryotherapy surgical procedures.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., is the world’s oldest and largest reproductive health care and advocacy organization with 847 locations across the country. Its 99 affiliates serve nearly five million Americans annually.

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Coming soon to a battlefield near you: paratrooper dogs. Really. We’re not kidding, though we wish we were.

• Europeans may thrilled at the prospect of an Obama presidency, but the man himself isn’t giving much time to continental journalists.

• If they are lucky enough to still have a job, most Americans can’t afford a vacation, but Europeans are flocking to Florida.

• How will the American TV networks handle their Chinese overlords during the Olympics?

• The speculation on potential running mates for Barack Obama and John McCain continues unabated. Yes, Hillary and Mitt are still in the running.

• A Vermont librarian, all 4-foot, 10 inches of her, stood up for privacy against a large group of cops - and won.

• Want to spend a frightening afternoon on the computer. Sit down and do a search for: REX 84.

• It’s time: Send Karl Rove to jail.

• As if the bad press from the Jena 6 wasn’t bad enough, violent racism continues in Louisiana.

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Mote Marine Laboratory to present first Eugenie Clark Award

The Board of Trustees of Mote Marine Laboratory will be hosting world-renowned oceanographer and explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle – a Mote trustee ? at a special dinner on Tuesday, July 22, at Marina Jacks, 2 Marina Plaza, Sarasota. The evening, organized by the Chairman of Mote’s Board of Trustees, Judy Graham, will begin with cocktails at 6 p.m. followed by a seated dinner at 7 p.m.

The highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the inaugural “Eugenie Clark Scientific Explorers Award” to Dr. Earle by Mote President Dr. Kumar Mahadevan and Dr. Eugenie (Genie) Clark, Mote’s founding director, whom the award was named after.

Former chief scientist of NOAA, Dr. Sylvia Earle is president of Deep Search International and chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. She was an Interim Executive Director of Mote Marine Laboratory in 1966 and is currently a member of Mote’s Board of Trustees and chairman of Mote’s Research Committee. Her research concerns marine ecosystems with special reference to exploration and the development and use of new technologies for access and effective operations in the deep sea and other remote environments. Dr. Earle has led more than 60 expeditions and logged more than 6,000 hours underwater, including leading the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970 and setting a record for solo diving to a depth of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet).

The Eugenie Clark Scientific Explorers Award established for the extraordinary accomplishments, endless passion and exemplary goodwill of Dr. Eugenie Clark, the award is presented only to those who display similar qualities and characteristics in the advancement of science. Founder, first director and resident world-renowned scientist of Mote Marine Laboratory, Genie’s contagious love for life in the sea is continually passed on to people the world over.

In other Mote news:

(more…)

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Mote Marine Laboratory has been caring for two pygmy killer whales, Dallas and Pete, for the last few weeks. One of the animals had another CT scan on Thursday and both are on the road to recovery and, hopefully, re-release into the wild. (Photo by Marc M. Ellis/Mote)

In other environmental news this week:

• Coral reefs are in big trouble. And not just from global warming, but from escaped farmed algae.

• New technology allows windows to collect solar energy for power generation. Yes, you can still see through them.

• How do we make air conditioners greener? This could save us a lot of money down here in the subtropical part of the United States.

• Stick this in you pipe and smoke it: your skin is producing marijuana-like substances.

• Further proof that Republicans really hate everyone: the government has again devalued human life, literally.

• Bush punts on global warming policy until the next president takes office.

• This looks like fun. Stupid fun, but fun nonetheless.

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Vern Buchanan, our local U.S. Representative, sends out e-mail newsletters on a regular basis. This week’s asked a simple, yet profound poll question:

What do you think is the SINGLE most important action we should take to lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil and reduce the cost of gasoline?

The poll then goes on to offer six choices for answers.

Build more nuclear power plants
Invest in alternative energy
Drill in Alaskan reserves
Drill off the coast of Florida
Conservation
All of the above

The poll’s answers were all reasonable, and this would not have been the typical political push poll, but the whole thing was prefaced by this sentence:

 In 1970, we imported 24 percent of our oil from overseas. Today, that figure is 70 percent.

Talk about planting the desired answer in people’s heads.

And in case you are wondering, the correct answer is Invest in alternative energy.

Building more nuclear power plants is poor solution as we have no idea what to do with the waste and it needs to be safely stored for at least 10,000 years.

Additional drilling in Alaska or the Gulf won’t bring gas prices down anytime soon as it would likely be a decade before any new oil entered the market. And, because oil is a global commodity, just because it’s pulled out of the ground here, does not mean it will be used here. Were we to drill more here, we’d be taking all of the environmental risk without getting much payoff.

Conservation is essential, but the only way we are going to solve the energy crisis is to take the lead in alternative energy.

The United States has been the greatest breeding ground for innovation in the last 100 years. You name it and we either invented it or perfected it. Guess what the brass ring for business is going to be in the next century? You got it - alternative energy.

We’re fools not to invest and invest heavily in the future. Tell Buchanan that this is where he needs to focus his legislative energy for however long he remains in the House of Representatives.

Turn the page for details about Jennings’  earning the Sierra Club’s endorsement. (more…)

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Sea turtle nesting season is in full swing along the Gulf Coast and our friends at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium are tracking local nesting activity of loggerhead sea turtles each night.

Last week, the first hatchlings were reported, from a nest of eggs deposited on May 8. More baby turtles should be popping out of the ground each night for the next several weeks.
It has been a splendid season for nesting as the number of turtles coming ashore and laying eggs is up significantly over 2007.

Stay tuned each Monday for further turtle nesting updates.

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“Kickstands up (or KSU, in bike speak) at 11 a.m.,” the email says.

The weather forecast isn’t too sunny this Sunday, but a handful of Angels wheel into the Mobil station on Clark Road, studded belts and black tanktops, sunglasses and spunk. I bum a sticker-covered helmet from national president, Marsha Wolak, and hop on the back of Rita McClain’s teal and beige Harley.

McClain, who works for Sarasota County, tells me that, with her bike getting over 50 miles a gallon, it’s a much more economical means of work commute than the typical four wheels. “A lot of us are riding our bike more than just for recreational reasons these days!!!,” Wolak later adds.

After a few photo ops, we line up and file out in orderly fashion.. I haven’t been on a motorcycle since last August (coincidentally enough, also a Harley) but have always enjoyed such rides. The wind in your hair — however helmet-matted, feeling at one with the bike and the road, and yeah, just lookin’ like a bad ass.

The ladies are point-on when it comes to proper signaling and keeping a safe speed and distance from each other. We cross paths with fellow bikers heading in the opposite direction, acknowledging each other with a nod and a smile. By the time the group reaches U.S. 41, a few heads have turned. I take my leave of the Divas in a steakhouse parking lot a few moments later.

And with a few hugs goodbye, the kickstands go up again, those Angels bound for Casey Key.

For more on the Diva Angels, check out my cover story this week.

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Bears. Bears. Bears. Polish sausage. Ditka. Ditka. Ditka.

We can only hope it was good sausage.

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Members of the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement are itching to get out of the US and really, who can blame them? Of course, Texas and Vermont make a point of trying to exit the union most years. Who’s ready to take up the cause in Florida?

• Maybe it is time for a second American revolution…

• Good news: the excuse-the-criminal-acts-of-the-telecom-companies FISA rewrite is on hold at least until after the holiday weekend, so there’s still hope of stopping this travesty.

• Man wants out of unbelievably hapless witness protection program.

• No, you aren’t imagining it; you are getting much less for your dollar at the grocery store, even though the packaging wants you to think you’re still getting a deal.

• More news you’ll never see in the mainstream media: why agrichemical giant Monsanto may destroy the earth. If you eat, you need to watch this video.

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