Miami

Palin Quoted Writer Who Once Lamented Failure To Assassinate FDR

September 10, 2008 by admin

Thomas Frank has an interesting little scooplet: It appears that during her convention speech, Sarah Palin quoted an anonymous writer who, it turns out, once lamented that Franklin D. Roosevelt's would-be assassin hit the wrong man.

Here's what Palin said in her her speech:

A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman. I grew up with those people. They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America...

The anonymous writer who , it turns out, is the right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler.

Event: Kate Voegele, Virginia Coalition, Lesley Roy at Bluebird Theater, Tue, Sep 16 9:00p

September 9, 2008 by Steve Hanson

Kate Voegele The musical landscape is teeming with singer/songwriters, many of them quite capable, but only a handful have something truly distinctive to offer. Kate Voegele belongs in the latter category. Don't Look Away, Voegele's first full-length album (MySpace Records), is a revelation, as the 20-year-old writer/singer, belying her tender years, delivers songs of depth and insight with a powerfully seductive voice that maintains a fierce presence amid dynamic rock grooves and infectious pop hooks. Produced by the veteran Marshall Altman (Matt Nathanson, Mark Broussard), Don't Look Away is a bravura effort from an old soul with a youthful spirit; think of her album as a female parallel to John Mayer's Room for Squares*at once a zeitgeist-capturing landmark and the launchpad for a viable career. Voegele, a Cleveland native now in her sophomore year at Miami of Ohio, is no neophyte; indeed, before she'd finished high school, the youngster had notebooks filled with songs and was regularly performing live with the poise of a veteran. Kate was 16 when some rough demos she'd recorded with her father led to an opening slot at a stop on John Mayer and Counting Crows' 2003 shed tour, followed by second-stage appearances in front of Patty Griffin, Aimee Mann and Mindy Smith.

10 Stories to Read

September 8, 2008 by Kenneth

This is our regular feature where every day I do a post with the top 10 blog posts that I think people should read from the previous day. Posts are included here and ranked based on a combination of originality, focus on Florida, length (longer, more thorough analysis is better), quality of writing and impact of the story.

1. FLA Politics - Florida remains a slave state: “Notwithstanding Florida’s newspaper companies’ relative silence (with occasional exceptions like this extraordinary work)*, the existence of Florida’s ‘Modern-Day Slavery’ is no secret.”

2. FLA Politics (Project Vote) - How To Keep People From Voting: Make The System As Complicated As Possible: “While many see voting as an implicit right in a representative democracy, decisions in America about who can vote and how are actually controlled by the states and vary greatly from state-to-state, even from county-to-county.”

Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor

September 6, 2008 by Kenneth

The line above was the thought that occurred to Jody Finver, an inventive creative worker in advertising, after Gov. Sarah Palin poured scorn on the world of community organizing. On Saturday the Obama grassroots in Miami – i.e. community organizers – celebrated the opening of a campaign office for Community Organizers for Change. It’s at 3674 Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove, Miami, and the phone number is 305 447-1452, in case anyone wants to call and offer help.

Speakers at the opening were just about every one of the 40-plus who attended, led by C. C. Holloman, who claims the title of Community Organizer and nothing else. Featured was Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, along with Simon Rose, who’s backing the lease on the storefront office, and Jody Finver, who recited the sharp post she put up on DailyKos after the dust settled last Wednesday.
You can read her piece at this link.

It turns out others had the same idea – so obvious that one wonders why all those ardent Christians at the Republican convention didn’t think of it – and at least one other post on DailyKos followed.

A revelation to me was the address of a website in Alaska devoted to Palin, called Mudflats. Useful to keep in mind.

Trying to recover from a weekend of Miami shenanigans...oh, and a little thing called the Democratic National Convention.

September 3, 2008 by Steve Hanson

Trying to recover from a weekend of Miami shenanigans...oh, and a little thing called the Democratic National Convention.