From CivicConcern.org:
When the Florida Legislature convenes the special session scheduled to begin September 18, it will cost taxpayers $40,000 a day. To date, legislative leadership is insisting they will focus solely on making essential budget reductions, despite calls from all sides that they take up two urgent issues they failed to address during the regular session.
Lots happening in the blogosphere this past week, so lets get on with it.
In the battle between the DNC and the FDP:
Kos, the man behind Daily Kos himself, weighed in with: Florida losing delegates? No way. College Progressive wrote: A Floridian's Advice to the FDP, message to the DNC. SemDem wrote: DNC Play Right into the GOP's Hands in Florida. HiBob wrote: The Florida Primary delegate issue is only a trap. Tally has a similiar idea: Primary Candidate. The Florida College Democrats have posted their stance as well: The FCD's Stance.
And in other news:
Ken Quinnell writes: Shame on Congressman Boyd
jpfdeuce writes: FL-10: Are we even trying?
And kudos to the Putnam Report for getting featured on Think Progress with this: Adam Putnam's Office Edits Its Own Wikipedia Entry ... Scrubs Negative Facts.
Me and my big fat, um, keyboard! Back in Februrary and March, I wrote a few diaries over at FLA Politics on how the Florida Democratic Party and the Netroots should get together. Specifically, I suggested that they invite the Netroots to do a blogger panel at the state convention. Want to know how the FDP responded?
RockRichard, a Florida soldier serving in Afghanistan, is returning home for a two-week respite before returning to duty. Please check out his diary: Tomorrow, I go to America.
Florida has 33 fallen heroes who lost their lives in their service to the war in Afghanistan. They will not be forgotten.
Remember that old environmental expression: think globally, act locally? Well, some folks in the Big Bend region of Florida are doing just that and they need your help. Allow me to introduce you to a newly formed non-profit organization called Sustainable Big Bend which is designed to be a community resource center for sustainable living.
Initial elements of Sustainable Big Bend services to be offered include:
• Green Living Center
• Regional Green Marketplace
• Local Food Network
• Green Living and Energy Expo
• Community Resource Library
• Green Home Certification
• Community Calendar of Green Events
• Trading Post and Service Exchange
The Big Bend region of Florida is made up of Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Franklin, Gadsden, Leon, Liberty and Madison counties.
Now, you're probably thinking, isn't that a really conservative part of the state? Yes and No. There's actually a Democratic stronghold in Leon county that filters out to its neighboring counties. The organization itself is based in Wakulla county where lots of people, regardless of their political ideology, love the outdoors and are supportive of local farmers. The same can be said for other counties throughout the Big Bend. So, there are real opportunities here to expand people's horizons and introduce them to newer ways of thinking about the environment.
That's where you come in.
Sustainable Big Bend needs your help raising funds so that they can open up a Green Living Center in Tallahassee.
The center will provide a physical presence for businesses and organizations to showcase their green and sustainable services or products in a storefront setting. The center will also provide a distribution point for another SBB initiative - a local food network. The network will provide an opportunity for individuals and families to buy shares of locally and organically grown food while supporting local food producers.
The goal is to open the doors to the Center on October 1, 2007. This new environmental education and business building effort needs to quickly get up and running to capture the energy of this fall season and encourage our community to buy green for the holidays. In order to do that, they need to raise an additional $5,000 by August 30th so they can pay the rent for the new facilities.
BTW, if you live in the Tallahassee area, The Green Living Center needs volunteers for moving in on Saturday, September 1st at Noon at site of the new facility 1022 North Monroe St, next to Decent Pizza.
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Sustainable Big Bend, but I do live in the area and would love to see this as an addition to my community.
There are lots of online tools out there for political engagement. In this series of diaries, I'll introduce you to some of the many resources out there to help you take advantage of what the Internet has to offer. In the first of this series, I introduce you to a couple of catch-all resources on blogging.
Talk of the blogs ...
Sinfonian at Blast Off! writes: Broward County lets students count volunteer hours for political campaigns
Ray at Build Florida's DECs wrote: Let's focus on Republicans in County Commissions
Speaking of County Commissioners, Tampa Bay Blue has this: Ken Hagan, Hillsborough Commissioner, Wins 'Cheap Shot of the Week" for Puttinig Developers Ahead of the People's Business
Tampa Bay Blue also has a lovely "Photo of the Week" featuring Republican Sheri McInvale Indicted in Orlando
Gatordem at Florida Kossacks writes: Leaving Money on the Table and Kids Uninsured
Speaking of SCHIP, Eddie has this on Focus on Feeney: Sorry Tom, Your Excuses Are Bunk
Over at Florida Praxis vrej has an article called: Bright Futures: Florida's Most Popular Welfare Program
Clint Curtis, candidate for Congress in District 24, wrote a piece on Daily Kos called: Let's Kick a Republican to the Curb
Chris Chiari stopped by to chat with us and we discussed things such as the upcoming special session, education, property insurance, and election reform.
Susan S, of Daily Kos, GusWatch, DFA and just about everywhere else, joined us on the radio show today. The show was the second in our series of shows profiling members of the Democratic/progressive/liberal activist/blogger/Netroots/party community. Listen to the show at BlogTalkRadio to learn more about Susan. She did a great job on the show and always does a great job elsewhere...
You can also check her out at Kos and GusWatch.
On Wednesday August 15th at 7:30 PM, Florida Netroots will be holding a live chat with Chris Chiari, candidate for State Representive in District 91.
District 91 compromises of parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties running from Palmetto Park Road in Southeast Boca to Dania Beach Blvd. in Broward County, and includes the following cities: Boca Raton, Hillsborough Beach, Deerfield Beach, Lighthouse Point, Pompano Beach, Sea Ranch Lakes, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale and includes both Port Everglades and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport.
Chris Chiari will be facing incumbent Republican Ellyn Bogdanoff, who also has a challenger in the primary by the name of Darin Lentner.
Everybody's favorite DEC chair, Alison Berke Morano, joined us on the radio show today. The show was the first in our series of shows profiling members of the Democratic/progressive/liberal activist/blogger/Netroots/party community. Listen to the show at BlogTalkRadio to learn more about Alison. She did a great job and we've invited her to be a regular co-host on the show, she'll be on the Wednesday and Sunday shows.
You can also check out her thorough review of Yearly Kos on the FDP website.
Inspired by GusWatch and The Putnam Report and my recent adventures at YearlyKos, we're now announcing the launch of a new network of WatchBlogs for the Republicans who are attempting to destroy Florida's future. GusWatch and The Putnam Report have agreed to be part of the network. We have created blogs for each of the other congressional Republicans from Florida, the cabinet, the Florida House and the Florida Senate. What we really need to make this work is volunteers. If you live in the district of one of these people, send me an e-mail at quinnelk@hotmail.com and I'll add you as a blogger to the relevant site. If you are outside a particular district, but are an interested party, you can also join up. Note that these sites are designed to watch the Republicans from a progressive viewpoint, so, if you aren't a progressive, then don't ask.
In an attempt to Better Know Florida, this blog is going to include a series of diaries profiling state and local elected officials or candidates. Last week, a survey was posted asking readers for their recommendations on who to profile. So, who is the elected official or candidate for office at the state or local level that readers thought the public ought to know more about?
I'm back from Yearly Kos and slowly recuperating from a lack of sleep. I saw some Floridians while I was there like Ken Quinnell of the Florida Progressive Coalition, Larry from Miami-Dade Dems blog, Susan S and a cohort of her friends from the Tampa area, candidates Michael Calderin and Clint Curtis, and Tallahassee City Commissioner Andrew Gillum.
So, what's been going on here in Florida?