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Re/Creating Tampa

A blog about lots of stuff, but mostly Tampa and Florida

  Archive for November, 2008

101 Free Thinking Books

Written by dave in Sunday, November 30th 2008 under Reading   
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Allan at St. Pete Times “It’s Your Times” page posts a list of 101 books describing, defending, and explaining atheism, free thought, and secular humanity.
I would comment at their site, but many failed attempts to start an account, and several email exchanges with the webmaster which never resolved the problem, leave me effectively banned from [...]

Interview with Jeb

Written by dave in Sunday, November 30th 2008 under Art, Florida   
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So, trying to put the nicest spin I can on this, I hope Republican stalwarts pay attention to what Jeb has to say. Here are some of the points I hope they pay attention to.

“I think we need to change the tone of the conversation as it relates to immigration.”

“We have to actually be proposing [...]

Eagles Out My Window

Written by dave in Friday, November 28th 2008 under Florida, Tampa   
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We’ve converted one of our rooms into a home office. The windows look out over the backyard and there’s always a lot of critter activity, winged insects, butterflies, squirrels, and birds for me to watch when I turn away from my computer screen.
I’m pretty sure I just saw a bald eagle flying by a few [...]

Sansom Should Decline Offer

Written by dave in Friday, November 28th 2008 under Florida   
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Alex Leary has a good piece about Representative Ray Sansom’s unfortunate coincidence. It seems that no sooner did he help increase government funds allocated to Northwest Florida State College from $1 million to over $25 million than he got a job at the college. Quid pro quo? Sansom and NFSC president Richburg deny it, but [...]

Bailing Out the Auto Consumer

Written by dave in Thursday, November 27th 2008 under National Politics   
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This is a great idea -
“…offer a 50 percent rebate check to every purchaser of a new, American-made car produced by any auto company that signs up for a voluntary restructuring program with the federal government. The rebate would be paid by the Treasury Department, and then exchanged for preferred stock in the company that [...]

Area Man Tasered for Bad Taste

Written by dave in Thursday, November 27th 2008 under Local Politics, Tampa   
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This article (Tampa police use Taser to subdue agitated lawyer by Rebecca Catalanello and Janet Zink, Times staff writers) has two things I hate - Taser abuse and historic preservation codes.
First, as City Council member Joseph Caetano notes at the end of the article, “You can die from being Tasered.” That’s right! And, this guy [...]

Contracting Our Government

Written by dave in Thursday, November 27th 2008 under Humor, National Politics   
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I suppose one of the things that identifies me as a liberal is that I don’t get the joke “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
The anti-government logic of many conservatives baffles me. It seems self-hating. After all, aren’t “we the people” the government of the United States of America? If you don’t [...]

Florida’s Green Mayors

Written by dave in Tuesday, November 25th 2008 under Florida   
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Florida mayors pledge “to reduce carbon emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012; strive to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities; and to urge Congress to pass the bipartisan GHG reduction legislation.”
74 reasons to be thankful.
Donald Wolfson Atlantic Beach FL
Susan Gottlieb Aventura FL
Ben Nelson Jr. Bonita Springs FL
Eric Feichthaler Cape Coral FL
Frank Hibbard Clearwater FL
Rebecca Tooley Coconut Creek FL
Debby Eisinger Cooper [...]

Civic Literacy

Written by dave in Tuesday, November 25th 2008 under National Politics   
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Wayne Garcia at Creative Loafing saw the same Intercollegiate Studies Institute study I saw, but he also located the test they gave.
My score - “You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97%” [/blush]
You can take the test here.

The Bailout in Perspective

Written by dave in Tuesday, November 25th 2008 under National Politics   
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Thanks to BoingBoing for this providing this little calculation to put the bailout into perspective.
Bailout costs more than Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, moonshot, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq war, Vietnam war, and NASA’s lifetime budget — *combined*!
In doing the research for the “Bailout Nation” book, I [Barry Ritholtz] needed a way [...]

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