West Blogs

• Rolltide Symphony in J Minor

  —Pensacola Beach

  We have a good friend who can be seen all over Pensacola this time of year, embarrassing herself by waving crimson flags and shouting, "Rolltide, Rolltide." Check out any sports bar that may be showing Alabama football. You'll be forgiven if you mistake her for a' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 7:14pm EST
  

• Charlie Crist's Options

  —Pensacola Beach

  The Republican Governor of Florida is in deep political trouble. He's the latest target of the tea bagger crazies. Or, as the Urban Dictionary now has it, he's being scozzafavaed.
  
  According to recent polling, right-winger Mario Rubio is on track to defeat Charlie Crist in next year's Republican [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:39am EST
  

• The Wait of Evidence in Pensacola

  —Pensacola Beach

  A man with a criminal record who is a serial liar is arrested for a bar heist that went so bad a patron was shot and killed. The man then tells Escambia County sheriff's deputies the trigger man actually was a black man with the supposed nickname "Black By" [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:58am EST
  

• Beach Life List

  —Pensacola Beach

  Today's edition of the Pensacola Newsletter editorializes by asking the question, How different should beach life be? Curiously, the editorial wimps out on offering an answer.
  
  What the newspaper is talking about is the latest scam by real estate gamblers to try to recoup their underwater investments: [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:51am EST
  

• Using Too Much Health Insurance

  —Pensacola Beach

  If those pesky blogs would just stop reporting on lazy, good-for- nothing people like this kid who want to use too much health insurance, Blue Cross could make more money. It's a "non-profit," after all.
  
  The latest House Republican Plan would fix [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 8:38pm EST
  

• Obama in China

  —Pensacola Beach

  James Fallows translates for us. [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 8:18am EST
  

• Marriage Mill Beach

  —Pensacola Beach

  "Pensacola Beach needs an identity to make it stick out from the pack of destination resorts dotting the Northern Gulf Coast from Gulf Shores to Destin."
  
  -- Kimberly Blair, PNJ, Oct. 28, 2009Who needs a consultant and workshops to come up with an "identity" for Pensacola Beach [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 4:38pm EST
  

• Lonesome Road to Ft. Pickens

  —Pensacola Beach

  As tame as Tropical Storm Ida was as it came ashore over Mobile, it's no surprise that the road to Ft. Pickens is closed once again. "About 80 percent of Fort Pickens Road between the entrance station and ranger station is covered with 500,000 to'" [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:29am EST
  

• Charlie Crist's Coast-to-Coast Charter

  —Pensacola Beach

  After chasing the wind-blown pages of our daily Pensacola Newsletter all over the neighborhood this morning, because once again it's lighter than air, we wound up with some sort of sports half-page, a few classified ads, and the front page. That's it. Here's hoping the fishes enjoy the Local' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:43am EST
  

• Hannity Hilarity

  —Pensacola Beach

  Faux News, at it again:

  The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cSean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footagewww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show
  Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Crisis

  ' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:15pm EST
  

• Celebrating Veterans

  —Pensacola Beach

  Bryan at Why Now? celebrates Veterans' Day with the hope "there will be no need for another generation to put on uniforms and march to war."
  
  We revert to weather history to remember a time, unlike now, when Americans were tough enough to celebrate Armistice Day despite' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 8:55am EST
  

• G.O.P. Talking Points

  —Pensacola Beach

  Did Michael Steele send this out to us?

  [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 7:38pm EST
  

• Convenient Closings

  —Pensacola Beach

  Thursday's annual veterans' day parade in Pensacola has been canceled. It was that terrible storm, don't you know.
  
  The suspicion lingers that a lot of those closings -- schools, speeches, sporting events, meetings, government offices, courts, etc. etc. -- were announced because people just plain need a' [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 3:34pm EST
  

• Ida Idles Over Mobile Bay

  —Pensacola Beach

  
  Florida Governor Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency yesterday as Tropical Storm Ida slowly approached the Panhandle, the Miami Herald reports. The storm "was downgraded... moments after Crist issued the declaration."
  
  The poor guy can't catch a break. Not only are [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 7:44am EST
  

• Ida - Now They Tell Us

  —Pensacola Beach

  NHC, Monday 9 pm:
  THE LOCATION AND TIMING OF IDA'S LANDFALL WILL HAVE LITTLE SIGNIFICANCE SINCE THE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS COVER A LARGE AREA AND MOST OF THE HEAVIER RAINFALL IS ALREADY SPREADING ONSHORE.Well, at least The Weather Channel got a spike in ratings.' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 10:50pm EST
  

• More Closings as Ida Grows Weaker

  —Pensacola Beach

  Santa Rosa County schools and courts will be closed Tuesday, in light of Tropical Storm Ida, which is growing weaker even as you read this. S.R. county government offices will be closed until Thursday.
  
  The center of the storm is a little more than a hundred miles [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:07pm EST
  

• Ida Radar Over Pensacola Beach

  —Pensacola Beach

  
  
  CLICK THIS FOR CURRENT CONDITIONS [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 4:18pm EST
  

• The Republi-Bluedem White Male Party

  —Pensacola Beach

  While we were busy watching Ida, the Republi-Bluedem White Male Party was deciding for all women in America what to do with their bodies and how they should procreate. Dr. Nancy finds it "Outrageous. Just outrageous."

  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and [...]

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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 3:06pm EST
  

• Ida Goes Extra-Tropical

  —Pensacola Beach

  That was quick. Here's the meteorological explanation:
  THE SATELLITE PRESENTATION OF IDA HAS BEEN STEADILY DETERIORATING DURING THE MORNING. MOST OF THE DEEP CONVECTION HAS BEEN SHEARED OFF WELL TO THE NORTHEAST OF THE CENTER...
  
  WITH IDA MOVING THROUGH AN ENVIRONMENT OF COOLER WATERS' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 11:16am EST
  

• Ida - Monday Morning Update

  —Pensacola Beach

  NPR has a useful and fairly comprehensive update this morning on Hurricane Ida. The short of it is this --
  Ida is weakening. It's a category 1 storm, and expected to weaken further before landfall.
  The center of the storm is expected to hit the shore late tonight, well' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:33am EST
  

• Hurricane Ida Closings and Twitters in Pensacola

  —Pensacola Beach

  By the numbers: All local Gulf Power linemen and other emergency repair workers were alerted Sunday afternoon they will be called in for extra duty Monday afternoon.
  Local news sources are reporting Escambia county public schools, pre-schools, and county offices will be closed all day Monday and Tuesday.
  Most private [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:22pm EST
  

• Ida in the Gulf

  —Pensacola Beach

  NHC English translation:
  Ida is in the Gulf of Mexico, rapidly heading north with a target anywhere within a hundred miles either side of Mobile-Pensacola.The inner center of the storm remains modest in size, but tropical-force winds could extend up to a radius of fifty [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 4:59pm EST
  

• What Can Jeff Miller Say?

  —Pensacola Beach

  Steve Benen:
  For all the talk about vulnerable Democrats having to defend their support for reform, let's not overlook the fact that GOP incumbents are likely to hear more about their vote supporting their version of reform again. After all, the Republican plan was pretty' [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 1:48pm EST
  

• Ida Calling in 36-48 Hours

  —Pensacola Beach

  Ida at present is a Cat 2 hurricane. NHC Advisory: "A hurricane watch has been issued east of the Mississippi/Alabama border to Mexico Beach, Florida."
  
  Highlights from the 11:00 am NHC discussion:
  Hurricane Ida is moving a little faster than projected earlier.This means it will reach the [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 1:10pm EST
  

• Hurricane Ida on Track for Pensacola-Mobile

  —Pensacola Beach

  Ida became a Category 1 hurricane overnight, moved a little closer to the Yucatan peninsula, and is expected to strengthen to a Cat 2 before entering the Gulf of Mexico. She is expected to make landfall somewhere along the "East-Central Gulf Coast in 48" [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:06am EST
  

• T.S. Ida Threatens Pensacola

  —Pensacola Beach

  Believe it. A named tropical storm -- Ida -- has been born off the Yucatan Peninsula and current forecasts have it becoming a hurricane later tonight, then entering the Gulf of Mexico and heading north. It is expected to make landfall somewhere along the central [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 7:28pm EST
  

• Fast History

  —Pensacola Beach

  Say what you will about Wikipedia, this was fast -- and accurate!
  
  "Tancredo Walks Off MSNBC Set" - Friday, Nov. 6, 7:00 pm CDT:
  

  As a Republican student activist, Tancredo spoke out in favor of the Vietnam War but did not serve. After graduating from college in June [...]

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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 12:48am EST
  

• Back Asswards Rescue

  —Pensacola Beach

  Harvard Prof. Elizabeth Warren:
  "Let's face it. This is sort of how we went about the rescue -- we rescued at the top and we left the bottom to kind of fend for itself -- and that's showing up in the unemployment numbers."

  
  

  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, [...]

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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:22pm EST
  

• The Greatest Divide

  —Pensacola Beach

  House G.O.P Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) doesn't know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. And he's the G.O.P.'s top lawmaker, for gawd's sake? There's a rather large difference between the two.
  
  Another Republican congressman, Todd Aiken (R-OH) can't remember the [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 7:59am EST
  

• Reconstructing Afghanistan

  —Pensacola Beach

  U. of Texas Law Professor Sandy Levinson:"Anyone who believes in the fantasy of nation building in Afghanistan should, at the very least, read about the failure of Reconstruction in the South, where the local insurgency, led by the Ku Klux Klan, prevailed over the Union forces led by now-President" [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 6:12am EST
  

• Pensacola Beach Tax Omens

  —Pensacola Beach

  WEAR-TV in Pensacola admittedly is far from the most reliable news source. For what it's worth, however, it has been reporting this past news cycle that Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Michael Jones "began working" on his long-overdue Pensacola Beach ruling "this week."
  
  Very odd, that. We can't' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 5:23pm EST
  

• Torture in Brief Form

  —Pensacola Beach

  Arar vs. Ashcroft
  "This is precisely how the character of a country becomes fundamentally degraded when it becomes a state in permanent war."
  -- Glenn Greenwald
  Facts (HT Amy Goodman):
  Arar’s life-altering odyssey is one of the best known and best investigated [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:15am EST
  

• A Book By its Cover

  —Pensacola Beach

  Yes, yes, we know. Don't judge a book by its cover... it's not the beauty outside, but the beauty inside... there's no such thing as an ugly male... all of that.
  
  But, seriously, take a look at any photo of the defeated "Conservative Party"' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 6:01am EST
  

• The Tricare Lie Crawls Out of Its Grave

  —Pensacola Beach

  Like a lot of other blogs, we've been spammed today by an anti-Health Care Reform prevarication. We offer no opinion on whether it was posted by an uneducated fool or a deliberate liar. Both kinds of people disgrace democracy. What you are seeing here and here and [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 5:14pm EST
  

• Pensacola Political Logic

  —Pensacola Beach

  Pensacola Beach people can have no more than the idle curiosity of friendly neighbors about today's referendum inside the limits of the City of Pensacola itself. We don't even get to vote for a majority to govern us on the beach, much less do we have a voice on the' [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:19am EST
  

• Pensacola Beach Tax Lawsuit Update

  —Pensacola Beach

  Pensacola lawyer Danny Kepner gave beach residents an update last week on the still-pending residents' tax lawsuit. In short:
  The law suit involving most of the residential leases on the Pensacola Beach (approximately 2400 parcels) was argued by Danny Kepner on May 2, 2008 before Judge Michael Jones.' [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 7:05am EST
  

• Lieberman Goes All-In

  —Pensacola Beach

  President-in-His-Own-Mind, Joe Lieberman, Sunday, Nov. 1, on the Tee-Vee: "The government going into the health insurance business -- I think it's such a mistake that I would use the power I have as a single senator to stop a final vote."
  
  Steven Benen, before Lieberman went all-in: [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 12:12pm EST
  

• Standard Warning

  —Pensacola Beach

  [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 1:01am EST
  

• Let 'Em Eat Candy

  —Pensacola Beach

  "Lack of health care led to 17,000 US child deaths"
  

  "If you are a child without insurance, if you're seriously ill and end up in the hospital, you are 60 percent more likely to die than the sick child in the next town'" [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 7:08pm EDT
  

• Genoese Democrats

  —Pensacola Beach

  One of the lowest circles of Dante's hell is reserved for corrupt traitors to country and family; the kind of politicians who would eat their own children for a slight advantage.
  Ah Genoese! men perverse in every way,
  With every foulness stain’d, why from the earth
  Are ye not [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  

• Pensacola Beach Deja Voodoo

  —Pensacola Beach

  UPDATE BELOW

  "We want to still have a view of the Gulf and great public access."
  --Beverly Boswell, Pensacola Beach
  
  Every ten or fifteen years the Santa Rosa Island Authority or its hireling manager gets the urge to re-make Pensacola Beach. They claim the beach is falling behind [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 10:39am EDT
  

• No, Virginia, There Never Was a Santa Claus

  —Pensacola Beach

  Hard on the news of plunging circulation numbers around the nation, Megan McCardle for The Atlantic says the party's over:
  I think we're witnessing the end of the newspaper business, full stop, not the end of the newspaper business as we know it. The economics just aren't there. [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 8:12am EDT
  

• Joe Lieberman: Icon of the Obama Administration?

  —Pensacola Beach

  “I have long supported the goal of universal health care.”
  -- Joe Lieberman, 2006 (on the campaign trail)
  * * *
  "I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill."
  -- Joe Lieberman, [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 6:03pm EDT
  

• The New Revival

  —Pensacola Beach

  "Meanwhile the two priests continued to walk among them; they repeatedly mounted on the benches, and trumpet-mouthed proclaimed to the whole congregation, 'the tidings of salvation,' and then from every corner of the building arose in reply, short sharp cries of 'Amen!' 'Glory !' 'Amen!'"
  
  [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 7:58am EDT
  

• Panhandle Fantasies

  —Pensacola Beach

  The grisly Billings murders have their sensational aspects, which is why the news media keep desperately flogging it with breathless "breaking news" cable TV reports and front-page headlines. At bottom, however, we've always thought it was merely a story of a bunch of profoundly stupid low-lifes' [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 9:57am EDT
  

• Real People in Real Trouble

  —Pensacola Beach

  St. Petersburg Times:
  A growing number of Americans who are 50 to 64 are losing their health insurance, casualties of rising unemployment and the increasing number of businesses that can't afford to cover their workers.The AARP estimates more than 7 million people in this age group are uninsured, a' [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 7:34am EDT
  

• Fox News and the Locofoco Connection

  —Pensacola Beach

  "Because traditional journalistic organizations have understood the Administration's push back against Fox an attack on journalism generally, and not as an attack on the newly emerging partisan press, these organizations, by rising to the defense of Fox News are helping to dig their own graves."
  [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 3:54pm EDT
  

• Wall Street Bankers Hit the Tables - Again

  —Pensacola Beach

  Robert Reich:
  "The Street is back to where it was in 2007, but most of the rest of us are poorer than we were then -- largely due to the meltdown that occurred because Wall Street overreached. The oddity is that we bailed out the Street, including Griffiths and" [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 3:00pm EDT
  

• Pensacola Charter Question

  —Pensacola Beach

  We don't mean to step on anyone else's turf to argue for or against the proposed new charter for the City of Pensacola, which goes to a vote in late November when almost no one will be looking. Progressive Pensacola is doing a fine job describing the contending theoretical' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 7:58am EDT
  

• The Greatest Play That Wasn't

  —Pensacola Beach

  "That was very clear, and very simple."
  
  Some people have sympathy for the umpire here. We have sympathy for the catcher. Check out here the greatest play of the year, that wasn't.
  
  Dept. of Copyright Claims
  10-21 pm
  There was a Youtube and a separate TV' [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 6:07pm EDT