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Chain of Lakes Exhibition
This is the second art show I have entered at the Ridge Art Association and the first time being accepted! The City of Winter Haven has teamed up with Ridge Art to bring art into Winter Haven City Hall. The art ranges from small to extra large. From terra cotta to mixed media to photography. The pieces hang along the halls and in the chamber. Be sure to look for my four pieces - Reflections of the Heart, Angler, Shoreline Sentiment (my fave, the pink one below) and The Ascent.
For more information about the Ridge Art Association including gallery hours go to the web site or check out the gallery in person at the Chain O’ Lakes Complex (but they won’t be in that building forever….) but remember you have to go to Winter Haven City Hall for the Chain of Lakes Exhibition. The show ends March 31, 2009.
Why Not the News-Chief & The Ledger?
You might have missed this on the Ledger Web site:
The Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star-Banner will merge news operations, according to an announcement by executives of both papers Monday. News and copy desk functions, design, layout and pagination for the two papers will be done in Gainesville.
That was the whole article. I can’t understand how I missed it. It was published in prime time: Tuesday at 11:15 pm. They dropped it in between Florida, Michigan Delegates Forgiven With Prime Seating At Convenion(sic) and Man Charged With Assault Over Butter. I don’t remember seeing one of those cute “BREAKING NEWS” tags most often used when Brittney stubs her toe.
The Ledger story omits some important details. Most importantly that both the Sun and the Star-Banner are owned by the New York Times Company. The same group that owns the Ledger and the News-Chief. I can’t understand why the NY Times Company didn’t supply the Ledger reporter with a few more details. You would think the New York Times Company would throw a bone to their compadres.
At least the Ledger published the story about 90 minutes before the Herald-Tribune, another NY Times Company newspaper, published their version. The Herald-Tribune did announce the papers were owned by the NY Times Company, and some other details.
If it makes sense to combine staff from towns about 40 miles apart, why not combine staff from two papers less than half that distance apart? It would be a logical step toward dropping the recently purchased News-Chief.
We must now ask the accountants at the Ledger and the honchos at the News-Chief: How long before we hear the same news from your offices?
photo credit: lakelandlocal
Obana Nominated By Acclimation
It is finally done.
New York State U.S. Senator and previous presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton moved moments ago that the roll call vote be suspended for Barack Obama to be nominated the Democratic candidate for President by acclimation. Speaker of the House and Convention Secretary Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) called for the vote, which was met with substantial approval. She did, however, rush through the “All those opposed…” question.
Onward and Upward…
Could We Be Seeing Katrina 2???
As of this afternoon, Tropical Storm Gustav had returned to the open waters of the Carribean Sea after spending a day or so crossing the southwestern coast of Haiti, killing 22 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The forecast calls for Gustav to regerate while skirting just off the Cuban coast, and by the time it crosses the extreme western toe of Cuba it is expected to become a dangerous Catagory 3 storm while curving northwest into the Gulf of Mexico.
As you can see by the computer models (top map), most of the major ones tend to be in general agreement that by Monday afternoon Gustav should be approaching the central Gulf Coast around New Orleans.
Believe me, a catagory 3 storm coming close to the Big Easy is something most folks should pray doesn’t happen. Remember, it was only two years ago that Katrina devestated the area, and much of the work to rebuild and strengthen the levee system that is supposed to protect the city (remember, New Orleans is BELOW sea level) has yet to be done.
When I was a kid and throughout my early adulthood, the radio station anywhere in the Gulf South to listen to when a storm threatened was the 50,000 AM bombshell WWL. It’s Web site notes this afternoon that while there are currently no plans to evacuate the City of New Orleans:
…a phased evacuation of South Louisiana may start Friday as they watch Gustav’s track.
“I am very concerned about it,” says Tab Troxler, Director of Emergency Preparedness in St. Charles Parish. He adds that an evacuation this time could be the largest ever.
Elsewhere, the system that Weather Underground identifies as “Invest 95″ is expected to reach Tropical Depression status within the next couple of days. This storm, currently located a few hundred miles east northeast of Puerto Rico, could become a Catagory 1 hurricane late Sunday or early Monday. While most of the computer models predict an eventual path toward the northeast and open Atlantic, a couple see this system being forced westward over Florida late next week. Just another storm to keep a close watch on…
Tudor Busy Working The Crowd In Denver
Doug Tudor, the Democratic candidate for the 12th Congressional District seat, is busy this week in Denver getting his name and information out to party officials and leaders hoping to earn endorsements and contributions in his bid to unseat Republican incumbant Adam Putnam.
Susan Smith, one of the bloggers at the Democratic National Convention posing on the Florida Progressive Coalition Blog, notes that:
Last night Doug Tudor (Congressional candidate for FL-12) and I attended the Democratic Governors’ Association party at Elitch Gardens (a big amusement park), and then we took a taxi to the Crowne Plaza for the New Mexico Delegation party where we met up with members of the Florida delegation and our friends from Democracy for America. After mingling and networking there (we’re trying to introduce Doug to as many people as possible), we returned to the hotel around 12:30am.
And ya know, it’s even a bit refreshing when a candidate actually admits making a mistake. It shows that he is, after all, human. From Doug’s campaign blog:
Last night I put together 50 or so packages that I intended to hand to various party officials. The literature introduced me, asked for an endorsement, and asked for a campaign contribution. In the packages for Speaker Pelosi (D - CA), Representative (Robert) Wexler (D - West Palm Beach), and Representative (Kendrick) Meek (D - Miami), I included picture of the person and me.
Sooooo, on the flight from Chicago to Denver, I was excited to see Rahm Emmanuel (D - IL). I hurriedly put away my carry-on luggage, grabbed one of the packages, and went to introduce myself. He was gracious, non-committal, and wished me luck.
About seven hours later, I was rearranging my backpack. It was then that I realized that perhaps the reason Representative Emmanuel wasn’t as receptive to our campaign as I had hoped, was that I had handed him a package addressed to Representative Wexler, which contained a picture of the two of us. My lavish praise for Wexler’s book, “Fire-Breathing Liberal” probably didn’t help either.
Okay, live and learn. As Paula told me, “Attention to detail, Master Chief.”
Everyone knows that Tudor is on an uphill course in battling Putnam, who has absolutely no idea of how the working class live. After all, he comes from a silver spoon lifestyle, related to the Ben Hill Griffin wealth and having become a rising star in the Republican Party by smoochin’ the backside of the Bush/Cheney right wing clique.
If you want TRUE change and not four more years of the same failed leadership, I encourage you to support Doug Tudor in his campaign. Please visit his Website and learn more about this military veteran who brings sound judgement and real concern for the working men and women of the 12th District.
Let’s Support John Russell in FL-5
Congratulations to John Russell for his victory in Tuesday’s three way Democratic primary, earning the right to challenge GOP incumbant Ginny Brown-Waite in November. He has my support, and I hope he’ll have yours.
Apparantly, the extremely low turnout caused the results to be closer than most people expected, with John gathering just under 51 percent of the vote. I would expect this to change greatly in the general elections, as we are predicting to see a great many more people casting their ballots, many for the first time.
I’ve noted here before that John has improved from his first attempt at the office four years ago, when he earned more than 40 percent of the ballots cast and surprising Brown-Waite. He’s learned from the mistakes of that campaign, and is a much better candidate for it. John is extremely knowledgeable about many of the issues which concern voters in the district, which are well covered on his Web site. As a health care professional, John is in a unique position to work with a Barack Obama administration in finding solutions to our health care crisis.
From the Tampa Tribune endorsement:
“He wants an orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as possible; supports creating a national health insurance program; and pledges to fight for a new energy policy that is environmentally friendly and reduces the country’s dependency on oil.
“In addition, he supports an immigration policy that would crack down on employers of illegal immigrants and he opposes drilling for oil off Florida.”
During the primary, I’ve noted that among some of my fellow political bloggers that John is not well liked for a variety of reasons. John Russell is a passioniate spokesperson, and sometimes that passion has gotten him into trouble. It is an issue that he needs to work on in order to be successful in November and in Congress. But I’ll take a fighter like John Russell any day over four more years of the same, tired bulls**t we’ve heard from Ginny, Adam Putnam, and their like.
Please visit John’s Website and learn about his views on the issues that are important. And if you live in the Fifth Congressional District, I would ask your serious consideration for John Russell to serve as your Representative in the United States Congress.
Thank you, and may Almighty God Bless America.
7am-7pm Make Your Voice Heard
While We Slept…
Gustav became a hurricane overnight with highest sustained winds of 80 MPH, and the computer models are now moving the storm slightly further to the south than a few hours earlier, when it was expected to traverse the width of Cuba. Now, the National Hurricane Center track takes Gustav south of the island nation, which would allow it to continue growing over the extremely warm waters.
The long term forecast, which is almost always changed at some point in time, have Gustav entering the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday afternoon, possibly as a dangereous Catagory 3 hurricane.
A couple of the computer models show the hurricane clipping western Cuba, a couple of others predict it will clip the Yucatan Penisula of Mexico. Regardless, everyone who lives on or near the Gulf Coast from northern Mexico to the West Coast of Florida should pay close attention to this storm. It could be a long Labor Day weekend for some.
Uh-Oh! Here Comes Gustav!
Your friendly neighbourhood blogger has been watching what had been called “Invest 94″ since the meterlogogical types began tracking it early last week. During the past copule of days, I didn’t bother posting anything regarding it believing that it would simply remain well south and eventually make landfall in Central America, if not peter out entirely.
So much for predictions.
“Invest 94″ has grown from a mere depression to officially become Tropical Storm Gustav within a few short hours, and is predicted to become a hurricane by the time it clips the boot of the Haitian coast tomorrow.
The computer models shown by the folks at Weather Underground generally call for Gustav to remain south of Cuba over the next few days. From there, a couple keep the storm over the Carribean before making landfall along the coast of Belize, while others have it crossing the western coast of Cuba, then entering the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Hurricane Center forecast (see above map) show Gustav clipping the Haitian boot, then weakening as it travels the width of Cuba..
As we know from recent experience, forecasting where and how strong a storm will be is still very much an imperfect science. And we are within the so-called “Circle of Uncertaity”, so we’ll definately need to watch this storm closely.
And as for “Invest 95″, the NHC says:
SHOWER ACTIVITY HAS BECOME A LITTLE MORE CONCENTRATED TODAY ABOUT 600 MILES EAST OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS. UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY BECOME MORE FAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AT IT MOVES SLOWLY NORTHWESTWARD.
The computer models in this case call for the system to remain over the open Atlantic in a northwestard direction during the next several days
Thank God For PBS!
From Robert Blanco of USA Today:
The Democratic Convention kicks off tonight in Denver. You’ll find complete coverage on PBS and cable news, but not on the Big Three broadcast networks, which insist that the events have become scripted exercises in public relations and are not longer newsworthy.
Compared to what? Deal or No Deal? High School Musical: Get In the Picture? How I Met Your Mother? Please. Once every four years, America’s two major political parties gather to state their case to the people they serve. The networks used to think providing them time to do so on the airwaves that still, supposedly, belong to the public was in the public interest. Sadly, that practice, along with the concept of “public interest”, has gone out of style.
While much of the constant coverage has been funnelled off to cable news networks with the broadcast networks only airing one hour in prime time, I certainly agree that the American people, who will eventually have to decide who their next leader will be, deserve better.
With the technology of digital television making it possible for individual stations to broadcast additional signals (sub-channels) on their newly acquired frequency band, this is one area where the networks can — and should — provide a feed for affiliates to provide continuious coverage of special events such as this.
Thankfully, the only broadcast service offering gavel-to-gavel coverage of both conventions will be PBS with Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill, and company during the three hour prime time period (longer if the action hasn’t ended). And in Tampa Bay, WEDU-TV3 will be the area’s station to watch. While I usually have a beef about Channel 3’s public affairs programming (they seem to believe that Polk County somehow isn’t part of the Tampa Bay area, and that if something doesn’t happen along the coast from Pasco to Sarasota, it isn’t worth talking about), I congratulate the team there for providing this service for those of us who either cannot afford or otherwise unable to afford cable/satellite TV.
Tampa Bay’s other public broadcasting affiliate, WUSF, will feature coverage from National Public Radio on it’s FM station at 89.7. Monday through Wednesday, it will be a one hour Convention Summary from 7:00 until 8:00. Then Thursday, when Obama will be officially named the Democrats’ nominee, the coverage will fill three hours from 8:00 until 11:00 PM, followed by a live call-in programme featuring the candidate.
If you happen to have a digital radio set, WUSF2 will provide NPR’s contant feed throughout the evening.
“When You Get Spanked, You Feel It, But It’s All Good Now.”
The words above were spoken by former Hillsborough County Democratic Party Chairwoman Lynn Marvin to The Buzz, the political blog of the St. Petersburg Times, after getting a day’s worth of good news entering the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Not only did the delegations from Florida and Michigan have their full voting strength restored by the party’s credentials committee Sunday, but the Sunshine State delegates will have prime seating for the convention at the front of the podium. Only the delegations from Illinois, Delaware (the home states of soon-to-be nominee Barack Obama and VP choice Joe Biden), and host state Colorado have better views.
However, with the good comes the bad. Florida’s delegations is split between three hotels far from the Pepsi Center near an industrial park which, according to the Times‘ Political Editor Adam C. Smith, “featuring views of warehouses, Interstate 70, and an occasional shuttered strip joint.” And the speakers for the morning delegation breakfasts aren’t what you would consider exactly A-list. While Smith notes there has been some talk that Joe Biden may pay a visit, the early schedule shows such guests as New York Governor David Patterson and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D - MD).
If you’re interested in what’s happening at the Democratic gathering this week, and you’re like me — too cheap or otherwise simply can’t afford to pay for cable or satellite TV — chances are we’ll miss all except the most major events on the schedule. But there are some Floridians who will be covering the events in detail:
Florida Progressive Coalition Blog: This is the official state blog credentialed by the host committee. They will have full access to all events, and members of their team will be seated with the Florida delegation.
Convention Buzz: The St. Petersburg Times has a team in Denver, led by Political Editor Adam C. Smith, but this blog will also feature three delegate bloggers.
Convention Ears: Here’s the Tampa Tribune blog from the Mile High City. It will be led by Political Reporter William March and writer Billy House.
Taking Names: And, from the east side of the I-4 Corridor, Scott Maxwell is representin’ the Orlando Sentinel keepin’ an eye on the delegates from the area.
Miami Herald at the Democratic Convention: The team from the Herald’s political blog Naked Politics is there, too. Beth Reinhard and Lesley Clark will be joined by feature writer and author Dave Barry.
And before I head out the door to work, I should mention that while the Lakeland Ledger is not sending anyone to Denver, political reporter Bill Rufty has a good piece in today’s edition, remember the late Polk County Sheriff Monroe Brannen, who he says knew how politics truly worked:
When he walked into a political meeting, even in his 80s long after leaving office, many people would stand when he came in. He just had that presence.
His greatest loves were politics and getting out and meeting people. At his funeral he was described as “Polk County’s senior statesman.”
Brannen didn’t think much of the Internet, or even television as campaign tools.
Oh, he knew they worked and reached a lot of people, but he said it separated the voter from the candidate, and that, in his opinion, was inexcusable.
Brannen felt that a candidate’s character is best shown in person.
“You just can’t get the measure of a man if you can’t shake his hand and look him in the eye,” Brannen once said.
It still works today, if candidates would only make the time to do it.
