Blast Off!

• Florida GOP Police Blotter #15: GOP fundraiser/donor pleads guilty to bribery

  Again, Democrats aren't immune to controversy and corruption. But it sure seems like Republicans pretty much have cornered the market....
  
  Evidently this is especially the case with fundraisers and donors for the GOP, as we saw a couple of months ago. Keeping with the trend, another Republican donor' [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 1:59pm EST
  

• Blast Off! Radio today at 4:00 pm EST: It's not dead yet!

  I know it's been a while since Blast Off! Radio graced the airwaves -- hardly a fitting status for the winner of the 2009 Florida Netroots Award for Best Online Radio Show. But sometimes life gets in the way, and November included a household move, [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 11:49am EST
  

• Paula Hawkins (1927-2009)

  It may seem odd to longtime readers of Blast Off! to see an obituary to a Republican here, let alone a fairly favorable one. But I have personal reminiscences of Paula Hawkins, who died on Friday at the age of 82, and while I no [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 9:53am EST
  

• Teacher suspended for anti-Obama emails: it's NOT a free speech issue

  Predictably, the wingnut commenters are out in force, decrying the suspension of Palm Beach County high school teacher Paula Prudente for sending numerous political emails critical of Barack Obama from her school-provided email account. The wingnut CW seems to be that any teacher who would have, say, criticized [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 2:02pm EST
  

• Surviving the Wingnut Family ... again

  Thanksgiving is a time for sharing and conviviality, for family, food, and football. And for me, at least every other year, it's a time for trying to survive being the only liberal in a family full of arch-conservatives -- and not the basically harmless, small-government, Goldwater kind but the rabid, [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 12:30pm EST
  

• Blast Off!'s back, all right!

  I heard there was another bad video contest brewing over at First Draft. Okay, so their battle is holiday-related ... fine: consider this one based on Halloween. Kind of like a bad Thriller knockoff (as opposed to a good one?)
  
  Sure, it's no Separate Ways (Worlds Apart), [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 9:37am EST
  

• Upon further review...

  I'm not going to do a radio show today. Just wanted to let you know.
  
  This blog isn't dead, nor is the radio show; they're just dormant. With moving, unpacking, and now holiday plans, blogging just hasn't been high on my list of priorities. And, frankly, it's highly unlikely [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 11:49am EST
  

• No Blast Off! Radio until Nov. 23

  Well, it appears my semi-hiatus from blogging is continuing. I'm in a few-weeks-long process of moving back to central Florida, then of course there's Thanksgiving.... Bottom line is that because of travel and personal priorities, blogging is likely to be pretty sparse here through the remainder of November.
  
  As [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 11:04am EST
  

• No Blast Off! Radio today

  As I mentioned the other day, I'm in the process of moving back to central Florida (at least temporarily) this week. In fact, today's the day I'm actually moving my belongings from a south Florida storage unit, where they've been ensconced for ten months, up I-95 to my new home.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 12:45pm EST
  

• Jeff Miller: opposes House health care bill but hasn't read it

  I'm not sure whether it's because he won't read it or can't read it, but U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Land That Time Forgot) has managed yet again to make me wonder how he got elected to Congress in the first place. He hasn't read the House Democrats' proposed health care [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 9:55am EDT
  

• Chartered in the 17th Century, embracing 21st Century diversity

  No one ever will mistake my undergraduate alma mater, the College of William and Mary, for PCU. "The College," which has produced such diverse graduates as Jon Stewart '84 of "The Daily Show," former FCC chairman and noted wingnut Michael Powell' [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 2:47pm EDT
  

• Coffee with the enemy

  Okay, the title is a little harsh ... really, I'm kidding. Mostly. ;)
  
  But I took a few minutes this morning to swing by Pensacola's landmark diner, the Coffee Cup, for, well, a cup of coffee with GOP U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio. I didn't have time to snag' [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 11:35am EDT
  

• Crist: backpedalling from Obama as fast as he can

  I find it difficult, if not impossible, to believe that President Obama was making a two-day trip to Florida and the state's governor didn't know about it. But that's Charlie Crist's story and he's sticking to it:
  
  Gov. Charlie Crist is a busy man, trying to do his' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 6:08pm EDT
  

• GOP still has glaring historical error on website

  Okay, maybe I'm too pedantic for my own good. But if I were running a website for a major political party, especially a site for which the party paid $1.4 million, I'd want to make damn well sure everything on the site was correct and accurate, wouldn't you?
  [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 3:48pm EDT
  

• Coming full circle

  I have an announcement to make: Blast Off! is undergoing another change of location. Or, to be more precise, I am.
  
  Finding it difficult to secure gainful employment in my desired locales (greater Orlando, the Tampa Bay area, or south Florida in particular) while residing all the way up [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:58pm EDT
  

• Opt-out: still a bad idea for Florida

  Normally I don't re-run blog posts, but in light of the announcement today by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Noballs) that the Senate would move forward with the "public option with opt-out" on health care reform, I think it's important to reiterate what I said on October 8: Florida will opt [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 5:14pm EDT
  

• Blast Off! Radio today at 4:00 pm EDT: Is it 2010 yet?

  We're still more than a year away from the 2010 election, but things are really beginning to heat up here in America's Wangâ„¢ despite the cooler temperatures. While the gubernatorial race between state CFO Alex Sink and state attorney general Bill McCollum hasn't really hit its' [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 12:24pm EDT
  

• Drill here, drill now, you're dumb

  As you know if you've been reading Blast Off! for a while, I do a lot of driving around Florida. And in doing so, I see a lot of bumperstickers. Now, while the morons who still display Bush-Cheney '04 stickers barely outpace those who have removed Huggy Bear's name' [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 11:17am EDT
  

• Clarence Thomas: oral arguments are pointless

  I guess it's not surprising when a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who hasn't asked a question of a lawyer in oral arguments since 2006 says that he doesn't see a reason even to have oral arguments. But as a lawyer, I find it a little distressing to hear' [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 2:30pm EDT
  

• Pace: the final frontier, chapter 14 — Windfall for the wingnuts

  When last we visited the constitutional clusterfuck that is the Pace (Fla.) school prayer issue, we learned that after securing a remarkably undeserved victory in federal district court, the crazed fundies who populate Santa Rosa County next planned to go after the consent decree itself -- the very agreement [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 1:28pm EDT
  

• Maurice Ferre: GOP plant?

  There's an old saying: where there's smoke, there's fire.
  
  Former Miami mayor Maurice Ferre's recent, sudden, and somewhat unexpected entrance into the Democratic U.S. Senate primary race in Florida to take on presumptive frontrunner Kendrick Meek is generating a lot of smoke around the state ... mostly because [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 12:10pm EDT
  

• No Blast Off! Radio today

  Due to travel and, frankly, sheer exhaustion, I'm going to have to cancel Blast Off! Radio for today.
  
  Normal crappy blogging should resume tomorrow at the latest, and barring catastrophe of some kind, the crappy radio show will be back in its regular time slot next week.
  
  Thanks' [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 11:22am EDT
  

• Stuff you may have missed

  I keep saving little bits of tid to use on the blog and then I manage to let it go because more timely things come up. Please allow me to clear my saved browsers and hit you with some knowledge about, well, how deranged the Right is in this country [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:25am EDT
  

• Florida attorney general race: the GOP has problems

  In the battle to be the next Attorney General, the difference between the two parties couldn't be more stark. For the Democrats, two influential and successful state senators, Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber, are vying for the nomination. And, as we were reminded last weekend, either one would be' [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 6:28pm EDT
  

• Can't blog ... tweeting

  Seriously, it seems like Twitter almost is taking over blogging. It's easy to do, it's often funny and informative (whether you're looking for links or one-liners), and it's a hell of a lot easier to do from a Blackberry than a blog post! The biggest challenge is fitting thoughts [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 5:16pm EDT
  

• Stuff you may have missed

  I keep saving little bits of tid to use on the blog and then I manage to let it go because more timely things come up. Please allow me to clear my saved browsers and hit you with some knowledge about, well, how deranged the Right is in this country [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 9:27am EDT
  

• Blame Canada

  Turns out those crazy Canuckistanis, with their poutine and their curling and their evil socialist health care which they don't seem to want to give up despite its evil socialist nature, are fond of a certain DFH blog and blogger from America's Wangâ„¢.
  
  Well, perhaps it would be more [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 9:44am EDT
  

• The new GOP.com: a minority report

  Earlier today I told you about a rather glaring and embarrassing historical boo-boo the Republican Party committed on their brand-new (and very, very RED) website. Well, the site had a lot of errors (not just historical -- like having no one shown under "Future Leaders") ... so [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 7:21pm EDT
  

• Playing the race card in Georgia

  But he says he's not a racist! Look at his NAACP membership card from 2005, not the mannequin in the KKK costume!
  
  
  I just have to say that it couldn't have been easy for that reporter to walk into that restaurant, let alone do the interview. Kudos to [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 2:31pm EDT
  

• Republicans get an "F" in history

  So this morning, while on Twitter making fun of Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele and his almost-too-laughably-stereotypical-to-be-true decision to call his new blog "What Up?," I noticed that the RNC's website had taken the clever step of superimposing people's faces over the "O" in "GOP." Gives [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 1:11pm EDT
  

• Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Orly Taitz

  Sometimes, moronic idiots get what's coming to them.
  
  This may never have been true more than it is today, as Leader of the Birthers Orly Taitz ("J.D.," DDS) has gotten her richly deserved smackdown (PDF) in federal court.
  
  When a lawyer files complaints and motions without a' [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 11:08am EDT
  

• In which Ken Quinnell says nice things about me

  Over at the FPC Blog, Kenneth Quinnell posted a little retrospective of the Florida Democratic Party convention, and was kind enough to mention me a few times.
  
  Hoping to get around to doing my own summary of the weekend today, time and energy permitting.
  
  But for now [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 8:43am EDT
  

• Blast Off! Radio today at 4:00 pm EDT: Florida Democrats, health care, equality, and more

  It's been a big week both in Florida and nationally for Democrats and especially the progressive (or liberal, if like me you're still okay with that label) side of the party. Today on Blast Off! Radio, we'll take a look back at The Week (And Weekend)' [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 1:07pm EDT
  

• Premature election?

  Got an email overnight from the Maurice Ferre 2010 campaign. He's the former Miami mayor who somewhat belatedly has tossed his hat into the ring for the open U.S. Senate seat next year.
  
  Here's the email, in its entirety save for a curious link to an op-ed [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 10:11am EDT
  

• Florida Attorney General debate, thread 3

  Question: individual rights -- red-light cameras, texting while driving, etc. -- how would you handle it?
  
  Gelber: No one should be texting while driving. I'm sort of a "crazy dad" in that way. As for red-light cameras, I know Florida seems to be more vigilant against speeding while in' [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 11:01am EDT
  

• Florida Attorney General debate, thread 2

  Question: What will you do in the arena of civil rights?
  
  Aronberg: I worked in the Senate to compensate Allen Crotzer. The goal is do justice and get it right, because you may never have another chance. Under Bob Butterworth, we were a leader in civil rights -- can [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 10:33am EDT
  

• Liveblog: Florida Attorney General debate, Aronberg vs. Gelber

  Note: language is paraphrased except when in quotes.
  
  After some technical difficulties, both mine and the debate's, we're underway in the Florida Attorney General Democratic candidate debate between Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg. Moderator is Prof. Susan McManus of the University of South Florida.
  
  Gelber won [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 10:13am EDT
  

• 2009 Florida Netroots Awards: And the winners are...

  The 2009 Florida Netroots Awards winners were announced this afternoon in Orlando at the Florida Democratic Party convention. Finalists previously had been revealed on the Florida Progressive Coalition blog. There were a record 645 voters this year, shattering last year's record and dwarfing the 100 or so who voted [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 7:46pm EDT
  

• Netroots Awards coming up ....

  The winners of the 2009 Florida Netroots Awards will be announced in a few minutes. They'll be posted online as soon as possible, but I'll be livetweeting them as they happen. Stay tuned....
  
  UPDATE (2:48 pm 10/10/09): It'll take me a while to post the Netroots Awards winners,' [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 2:43pm EDT
  

• Journalism and the impact of blogging

  Next session is with Mitch Perry, who recently joined Creative Loafing in Tampa; William "Windy" March, who blogs for the Tampa Tribune (and its affiliated media outlets) at "March on Politics;" and Adam Smith, proprietor of "The Buzz" blog for the St. Petersburg Times.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 2:27pm EDT
  

• Netroots Coalition meeting: Susan Smith talks about muckraking

  Next session: Susan Smith of the Hillsborough County DEC is sharing some of the wisdom she acquired at Netroots Nation regarding "muckraking," or digging for information by using the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), public information, and state-level processes.
  
  Susan recommends a ton of Internet resources, including the [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 12:59pm EDT
  

• Netroots Coalition meeting: Larry Thorson & Rick Spisak

  The first two presentations in the Netroots Coalition meeting at the Florida Democratic Party convention were about some of the nuts and bolts of blogging and activism.
  
  Larry Thorson of Miami-Dade Dems kicked things off with "How To Be A Reporter." Larry, who was an AP reporter for [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 12:25pm EDT
  

• Alan Grayson rocks the house

  Biggest cheers of the day so far go to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who just gave the briefest yet most well-received speech of the morning. I'll paraphrase a couple of his remarks (which I livetweeted) for your enjoyment:
  
  "Democrats are the party of people with a conscience. We'" [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 11:31am EDT
  

• FDP Convention: an introduction

  Well, here I am, all set to start with the Netroots Coalition session at the Florida Democratic Party convention. But we feel like the Coalition of Misfit Toys because the general session with all 3,000 or however many attendees is right across the hall. So, you know, we have a [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 10:47am EDT
  

• See you in Orlando!

  I'm on the way to Orlando for this weekend's Florida Democratic Party convention. I'll be involved, of course, with the Florida Netroots Coalition activities throughout the day tomorrow, including my appearance along with Steve Schale, political strategist presently involved with the Dan Gelber for [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 9:53am EDT
  

• "Opt-out" compromise: a bad idea for Florida

  Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), after consulting with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of the five Democratic senators who voted against Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W. Va.) public option proposal in the Senate Finance Committee last week (another was Florida's own Bill Nelson)*, is circulating a compromise health care reform [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 6:12pm EDT
  

• Tom and Andy, make way for Bob and the Kennedys

  I really like this idea:
  
  Following a trend around the state, the Hillsborough County Democratic Party has dumped Jefferson/Jackson from the name of its annual fundraising dinner and replaced it with Kennedy/Graham. "I just don't think people relate to Jefferson/Jackson," said party chairman Pat Kemp. "And some people'" [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 7:54pm EDT
  

• George Will needs a mirror

  Conservative columnist and baseball fan George Will is getting some well-deserved heat from the liberal blogosphere for yet another hack job of a column, wherein he takes President Obama and the First Lady to task for -- get this -- using first-person singular pronouns too much in their presentations [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 1:25pm EDT
  

• It's about love

  Every time I see one of those horrible "Yes On 2" bumper stickers, which still adorn a number of cars in Florida, I am saddened to consider the hate one must have in one's heart in order to vote to deny basic rights to a [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 10:45am EDT
  

• Blast Off! Radio today at 4:00 pm EDT: Building the perfect spine?

  In the last week or so, we're seeing some curious behavior from certain Democrats in Congress. Formerly a largely meek and subservient species, they're beginning to show -- finally -- that they're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. And by "it," I' [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 11:46am EDT