Frederick Douglass

Fox News put on a screen shot that claimed abolitionist Frederick Douglass debated Abraham Lincoln. That would have been difficult. At the time, black men could not run for the Senate.



Lincoln debated Stephen Douglas. Historians are quite certain that Douglas was a white dude. These Fox News anchors are just conservative talking heads that don't do things like fact-checking and reporting. If they did, they wouldn't have punked themselves.

The ultrasound bill will not make it to Charlie Crist's desk. Which I'm sure doesn't bother the UnDecider. The Florida Senate vote was split 20 to 20. Republicans were having a hard time saying they were pro-life, as they were cutting state funding to adoption.

Surprisingly, Republican Jim King made the best argument against the bill.

Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said the bill violates Republican principles of less government. “This is not less government, it’s more government -- it’s government intrusion.”

“Unless you ovulate or have ovulated, we have no business as males interfering with this decision,” he said.

Sen. Ronda Storms had the audacity to say that "women use abortion or self-induced miscarriage as entertainment." I have heard abortion described as many things, but never entertaining. This is the same woman that claimed sex education would lead to "prematurely deflowering kindergartners and first- and second-graders."

I have followed Storms's career for years and she continues to out bat shit insane herself. Truly scary and amazing.

The Florida Senate has scrapped the horrible CSX deal.

Claiming the huge bill loaded with projects for other regions like South Florida was being weighted down by the controversial rail deal, Senate Transportation Chairman Carey Baker, R-Eustis, said he would gut the CSX legal protections and framwork for the deal to buy the 61-mile line.

"It's been a long shot," said Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster. "'It would have been a difficult vote."

Senators had prepared a raft of deal-killing amendments to the bill that had been slated for debate in the chamber today -- making changes like restricting state funding for the deal until federal money was appropriated, stripping the liability protections for CSX or prohibitng hazardous waste from being transported on the rail line.

"All we had to do was lose one amendment and it was going to be dead anyway," Webster said.

Sen. J.D. Alexander is attempting to derail (pun intended) rail funding from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Alexander badly wanted the CSX deal to go through. Now he is throwing i hissy fit because he didn't get his way.

The blog Stop CSX in Polk County broke the story that Alexander's was purchasing Phoenix Industries. Alexander owns Altantic Blue. The company bought Phoenix Industries, a frozen food vender that does business with CSX. The transporation bill would have placed CSX's new hub near Alexander's warehouse. One needs a scorecard to track Alexander's conflicts of interest.

It's a shame that Rev. Wright turned on Barack Obama this past week and is trying so desperately to sabotage Obama's presidential campaign. Won't know the real answers behind his public meltdown for years, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, no one cares that John McCain proudly accepted the endorsement of a whacked-out preacher who blames the sins of New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina.

White crazy's okay, I suppose. We're used to that.

I'm not really concerned one way or the other about Wright or Hagee. I'm concerned about health care. Getting our troops out of Iraq.

Hell, Obama's answers about gas prices are better than McCain's.



Let the mouthbreathers who are easily manipulated worry about how what's good for one candidate isn't good for another.

I'm concerned with what really matters.

Equality Florida and Gay American Heroes went to Tallahassee, Florida on April 28, 2008 to stop bullying against LGBT people. The date was picked for the memory of Ryan Keith Skipper Skipper was an openly gay man that was brutally murdered. Skipper would have been 27.

I'm not crazy about the idea of making laws against teens to stop bullying. I doubt it is going to work. Kids can often be cruel to one another. They are developing emotionally and don't understand the consequences of their words. Schools should discourage xenophobic behavior. We should not throw kids in jail for name calling. I will note that I am not aware of what kind of legislation Equality Florida and Gay American Heroes are proposing.

That doesn't mean we ignore the thread of violent bullying. Eight Lakeland tennagers assaulted a female classmate and placed the video on Youtube. The girl knocked consciousness and suffered hearing and vision loss.

I back legislation against violent acts on gay and transgender people. Conservatives need to grow up and realize these people are targets for violence. Ofcourse, demonizing gay teens is a campaign strategy for Republicans. Ask Brian "Bubble Bee" Blair.

I picked up Pedro today from Arbor Ponds Apartments. He used to be one of Larry's specials. Larry retired about a year ago and he always had loyal specials. Larry was very committed to his people that he would carve out the time even if they were only going 5 dollars. He is a vanishing breed. Tom 123 always believed that Larry had "left handed specials" because they always came thru the dispatch office and not the cell phone...that is another matter.

Anyway...Pedro says hi Larry and he still works at Hilton and wants you to give him a call..I thought you might want to know this...

As you know, I never really have specials..they just never seem to work out. but if anyone wants to ride with me just call 813-253-2424 and ask for cab #497...I will come and pick you up.

From an e-mail circulating… > > I don’t know what you guys are paying for > gasoline…. but here in California we are also paying > higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum > for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of [...]

Check them out.

Remember that MOSI plan to build an operating monorail system in 2006? Here's the end result - at least for now, fiscally speaking.

Fox News should be banned. Seriously, I'm a huge First Amendment defender, but when a major network shows such disregard for truth, facts, and history, I gotta shut 'em down.

While discussing the possibility of a Lincoln-Douglas style debate between Clinton and Obama, Fox put up photos of Lincoln and Douglas.

Except they didn't show Stephen A. Douglas' photo. They used FREDERICK DOUGLASS' PHOTO.

Fox News is not a legitimate news organization.

I guess we know the answer to one question: Is Fox smarter than a fifth grader? NOPE.

YouTube - Richie Havens Freedom Woodstock 1969

Here’s a quiet flip-through I recorded of Graphic Design: The New Basics by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips. You know, for those of you who order books online but want to at least see some of what you’re getting. I recommend clicking ‘watch in high quality’ once you get to the YouTube page (bottom right under the video).

A classic, from the deep archive. YouTube - Buffalo Gals

That’s it! This man is nuts. There is totally no way I’m going to vote for Rev. Wright as our next president. Of course, I still might very well vote for Barack Obama, even thought it seems that no, he really can’t bowl very well. Face it: Barack Obama has some nutsy friends. [...]

Last year we lost the bright young lady who essentially acted as our company stage manager, Erica Porch, to better opportunities outside the Sunshine state.

And now, almost a year later, we're losing another quality SM - Jennifer Longmuir.

Jenn came to us through an acquaintance (and, in a way, a pair of our season ticket holders). Jenn and I actually met up at the neutral ground of the Seminole Heights Starbucks (it was before Cafe Hey existed, ok?!) to discuss the opportunity we had with Gorey Stories. She proved such an asset on that one that Katrina Stevenson brought her back for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

But, our loss will be Seattle's gain, as she pursues a theater management Master's degree track at Seattle University.

Congrats, Jenn! Enjoy the northwest, and best of luck to you in your future endeavors!

Reverend Wright is nothing new. His form of racism has been around forever. He has just packaged it in an eloquent, high-tech form.

If you ever surf the cable channels in Tampa you may have come across one Dr. Conley on public TV. Lucius Conley says the same things that Rev Wright says, he is only not as educated. He can't help it, his African brain is wired differently then European brains.

Dr. Conley puts forth a philosophy opposite from Dr. Martan Luther King; he believes in "Black Nationalism" It is a sort of self-imposed apartheid that Wright, Obama's wife, the Black Panthers and others have adopted. Mrs Obama wrote a Masters paper on it in school.

Out of all the questions that were asked of Rev. Wright at the Washington press conference the only one that should of been asked was if he believed that Jesus was a Black man. This is what Dr. Conley, Rev Wright, Barack Hussein Obama and others believe. They believe that the Black race is the premier race on Earth and it was only a fluke of history that White people got the jump on them. Jesus was, of course, a Jew. He probably had dark hair and olive skin. Simple as that.

I don't find any of this amazing. What I do find amazing is how the press and the American people with the Internet at their disposal, have turned a deaf ear to this. Maybe now the truth will come out.

Rev wright must simply understand that philosophy, science, literature, the reformation, the age of discovery, and every invention on Earth never came out of Africa. They essentially invented nothing. There are reasons for that which have nothing to do with the make up the human brain. There is no difference in any human brain. At least the DNA stand tells me that...not Dr. "Racist" Wright.

…it’s John McCain. Kind of goes against the big, bad, mas macho Republican image. Crooks and Liars » Why is McCain hiding nearly all his finances?

I have (finally) separated my personal Flickr account from Jobsite's.

Jobsite's account name is jobsitetheater. You can either search for us, or just follow this link.

Feel free to add us to your contacts or subscribe to our feed. I've moved over all the photos that were on my Flickr, and we'll be adding a lot more as we go on.

Enjoy!

I love Luci. She's the most realistic mom I know my age. She doesn't pull any punches with her two girls, and she's been brutally honest with them about sex and drugs, including revealing plenty of anecdotes about her own experiences, thus ensuring her two girls will, most likely, never have sex. Forget about telling your kids "just say no" and giving them that "why buy the cow?" crap; if you want to make sure your kids never do drugs or have sex, let Luci tell them stories about her high school boyfriend using sandwich bags for condoms.

Here's her most recent "Joy of Motherhood" e-mail:

"Randi Sue is going to a marching band party tonight. Damn, I should have put her on the pill during Spring Break... This is an actual conversation we had a couple of days ago while she was filling out the forms to pick her classes for next year:

MA: Maybe next year you'll get to touch Meat's (the kid she has a crush on) meat!
RS: I'm not ready to touch anybody's meat thank you.
MA: Wow. By your age I was already slinging it around like confetti. Of course it wasn't any fun. It was like being poked with a big inexperienced finger.
RS: Sigh.
MA: Covered in a Ziploc bag with a rubber band at the top since my 'boyfriend' was too embarrassed to buy condoms.
RS: Is there any question in your mind as to why I want to be a psychologist?
MA: Hey, if you even get a high school diploma, you beat your old Ma.
RS: If you keep talking to me I'm going to put in the wrong numbers and end up in a 'How to give a blow job' class.
MA: Don't be silly. You only need to take that if you're not going to college.

End scene.

I want my Parent of the Year award and I want it now!!!"

.... Tonight, on a very special Blossom

As the end of the semester draws near and I can breathe a little more deeply, I turn my attention to things on the home front that desperately need my attention. You know the sort of thing I speak of: the fence that's half-installed, half lying in a tidy pile in the side year; the living room walls that need trim paint; and don't even get me started on my fireplace. So I figure that since my classes are technically over I can start with something small and get a jump on the summer, even though I have to grade some papers for my grad assistantship.

I have caulk. I have knife. I have prior experience, albeit it wasn't necessarily a GOOD experience. So I settle into my bathtub and take out the old crappy caulk. When I've got the bulk of it removed I reach for mineral spirits, acetone, or even rubbing alcohol to remove the skin that's left and clean up so I can caulk.

Nothing. Nada. I have nothing on hand that will do this. Now, since I need to caulk the tub so I can, oh, I don't know, shower in the near future, I'm debating a run to Home Depot when I realize that, as a proper Italian, I do have something on hand that'll get the job done.

I go to my refrigerator and pull out... Yup, you guessed it: booze. See, in my fridge I have raki, a yummy little bottle filled with, as far as I can tell, ethyl alcohol mixed with some anise for flavor. Despite its yummy peppermint taste, I can't drink the stuff much, like more than a very diluted shot once every few years. I honestly can't say why this stuff is even in my fridge, but at the moment I don't care because it's saving me a trip to the store and a lot of work in cleanup.

So I clean up the caulk in the tub, then wash my hands in raki. Then I notice that I have some caulk on my leg, so I use a little more raki to get that off. Oh, what's that- a spot on my foot? No problem, I just scrub with a bit of raki and it comes right off. It's about this time when I realize that the bathroom reeks of liquor, which means I must smell like a wino with an expensive palate. Of course, I just caulked the tub, so I can't take a shower.

And then I remember: I have a class tonight. Yes, I know I said I was done with classes, and I am - technically. I mean, I'm not a student in a class meeting this evening. No, my class tonight is the one I'm TA'ing. So NOT appropriate to show up smelling like I just, well, bathed in liquor.

But at least the tub looks better.

Here is a headline that is missing from the media around the state of Florida: Low Pants Controversey Grips Florida — Locals plead Tallahassee for Action (maybe now the legislature realizes how ridiculous their attention waste of time on the matter looks.

Here's some commentary about that guy living in one of the towers at the Towers of Channelside, and how lonely and bored he is. The latter which becomes pretty evident in the story pretty quick. The question is, who could view such solitude as a bad thing? I wouldn't. It would be an opportunity.