Independence Day Activities

This weekend is a great opportunity for us to do outreach and collect petitions for our Redistricting petition drive!! I am hoping the the LCYDs can collect at least 250 petitions this Monday, maybe even 500.

'How can we do this?' you ask. Considering that it is less than a week away and we do not have a meeting between now and then that is a good question. While we don't have an official meeting between now and then we do have our weekly get together at Andrew's every Friday night for Drinking Liberally. I strongly encourage those people planning on going to the City of Tallahassee's Celebrate America Events on the 4th of July at Tom Brown Park to be at Andrew's Friday night. We can talk there about arranging for a place to meet up and distributing petitions and other activities. I think it would be nice to watch the fireworks together too.

Though many of you have other plans for Independence Day, you many still participate if you would like. As long as you are somewhere around registered voters from the State of Florida then you can be collecting petitions. I have hundreds of blank petitions available at the Florida Democratic Party Headquarters (where we hold our meetings). Stop by and I will give you as many as you think you might be able to get signed. In fact, I will probably give you more! If each of our active members collects 10 or more petitions this Monday, whether with us or on their own, we will have several hundred petitions.

This is a great chance for us to get out in the community and be seen and to help advance an issue that we really care about.

I would also encourage you to wear your LCYD T-Shirt on Monday. Don't forget that the t-shirts are available at the Florida Democratic Party HQ during normal business hours. The T-shirts cost $15 for our LCYD members and are 100% Union Made!

I hope that each of you can take part in this activity. See you Friday or sooner!

Supreme Court Rules on Property Rights Issue

Check out the link in the title. Although this was not a local issue, the ramifications may be far reaching. Here's an excerpt from the article.

"WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that localgovernments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited incommunities where economic growth often is at war with individualproperty rights.
The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residentswhose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an officecomplex. They argued that cities have no right to take their landexcept for projects with a clear public use, such as roads orschools, or to revitalize blighted areas.
As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences forprojects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order togenerate tax revenue."

What do you think of this?

Operation Yellow Elephant

Please be amused at your own risk.

As the former girlfriend of an army recruiter, I know first hand the difficulties that recruiters face to find viable canidates for enlistment. This is a fantastic idea.

Follow above link.

Biden says he intends to run for president

Sen. Joseph Biden the Democrat Senator from Delaware (and featured in the photographs below with the LCYDs) said on Sunday that he is running for president in 2008. He did give him self till the end of this year to back out of the race if he feels that he cannot raise enough money. He ran for President before in 1988, but dropped out after "a series of disclosures that he had liberally borrowed from other politicians in his stump speeches and after questions about his law school records".

From the Post Story, Biden is quoted as saying:
Going after the nomination "is a real possibility," he said on CBS' Face the Nation.
"My intention, as I sit here now, is, as I've proceeded since last November as if I were going to run. I'm quite frankly going out, seeing whether I can gather the kind of support," Biden said.
Biden said he was taking his "game on the road, letting people know what I think."
He added, "If, in fact, I think that I have a clear shot at winning the nomination by this November or December, then I'm going to seek the nomination."

Photo's from the JJ Weekend

LCYD Members Pose for a photo with the Florida Democratic Party's JJ Keynote Speaker Senator Biden of Delaware.

LCYD Members pose for a photo with the Florida Democratic Party's JJ Keynote Speaker Senator Biden of Delaware

Youth Leadership Lunch Moderator, and LCYD Vice President, Thure Caire stands by Mayor Maddox as Congressman Jim Davis addresses the Youth Leadership Lunch

Congrats to a Couple Young Democrats!

This was in the Tallahassee Democrat this morning (Linked in the Subject).

Congrats to the following:

Alan Brock: Elected National Committeeman of the FYDs
Reggie Cardozo: Elected Vice President of County Chapters for the FYDs
Tamia Booker: Elected Vice President of Social Outreach for the FYDs

Thure Caire, newly elected Executive Vice President of the LCYDs, also served as one of the Moderators for the discussion event featuring all 3 of the Democratic Candidates for Governor.

Congrats to all!

Once again, Facts Don't Concern Conservatives

The autopsy conducted on the late Terri Schivo was intended to definativly answer the lingerring questions of her family. The autopsy revealed was Schivo was irrevesibly brain damaged and blind. This should have been consoling to those who cared about Schivo. Instead members of her family and undaunted conservatives decided to raise more questions, and disrespectfully drag-out this ordeal.

Schivo's sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, took the stage at the National Right to Life annual convention in Bloomington, Minnisota and plead ignorance about Terri's bulemia, and instead hinted that abuse by Michael Schivo, Terri's husband, could have caused the collapse 15 years ago. Governor Jeb Bush claimed a front page headline (Tallahassee Democrat 6/17) with a pledge to, "...investigate wether her husband took too long to call for help on the night she collapsed..." (Democrat 6/17 A1)

The family's willful ignorance of Terri's condition while in a vegitative state is probably indicative of their behavior when she was struggling with bulimia. What would have happened if they had been as supportive then, before money and publicity were involved?

The continued politicalization of this poor woman's death is repulsive. Why hasn't anyone made an effort to use this tragedy in a positive way and publically address the growing problem of bulimia and anorexia? That would be a cause worth keeping Terri Schivo's memory alive for.

Poll Updates

The latest poll, by Strategic Vision, has Nelson leading Harris in a potential US Senate matchup in 2006.

Nelson: 48%
Harris: 42%
Undecided: 10%

Nelson was trailing other Republicans in the poll but were leading others as well.

The poll also included the Governor's race and how people felt about a ban on Same-Sex Marriages.

Another poll, SurveyUSA, did a survey of all 100 US Senators and their approval ratings. Overall, Nelson's approval rating is around 47% according to the SurveyUSA poll numbers. 49% of both Democrats and Republicans approve of his job. However, 32% of Democrats and 26% of Republicans disapprove of his job. Meaning more Democrats disapprove of Nelson than Republicans. However come election time, they are much more likely to approve and vote for Nelson. Nelson's best numbers come from Moderates and Conservatives and his worst numbers comes from liberals.

http://www.surveyusa.com/50StateTracking.html

Polls this early are fun to look at but can't be taken too seriously until later this year, around December.

Blog wars

This last weekend's events in south Florida went very well, and hopefully I will have some pictures and more information to post in the next couple days... I did want to post this Adam Smith story from yesterday's St. Petersburg Times titled "Florida's new political blog wars". Note which Blogs it mentions and which Blogs it leaves out.... It chooses the right leaning Sayfie Review over The Fort Report but it does mention Mike's 'not affiliated , but still a YD' Blog Florida News.....

At Florida Politics last week they debated whether Florida Democrats should focus on improving their showing in big counties or rural counties. Florida News noted that Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher back in 1994 aired a campaign ad implying Jeb Bush helped Fidel Castro by backing a free-trade agreement.
Sayfie Review gave Katherine Harris' entry into the U.S. Senate race far less play than it did Gallagher's and Charlie Crist's long-expected announcements for governor. Meanwhile, Blogwood bashed Harris as "a staunch opponent of medical choice" and knocked incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson for voting for a bankruptcy reform bill opposed by many consumer groups.
The political blogosphere is taking off in Florida, but no one really knows yet whether it's a blip in how political journalism and communication work in Florida or the start of a dramatic change.
New Internet sites devoted mainly to state, local or regional Florida politics seem to be popping up every week. Most of the new ones are left-leaning. Some encourage online dialogue. Some are solo political rants about the news of the moment. Some, like Sayfie Review and the Fort Report, mostly aggregate daily articles from across the state. Others critique the reports and reporters themselves. Most are free to anyone with Internet access, but at least one newcomer, Florida Insider, charges a $149 annual subscription fee for its essays, analyses and tips on political doings in Florida.
"You're seeing a revolution out there. It is a revolution as momentous as the printing press," Carol Darr, director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, told reporters and academics from the Southeast gathered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last week.
The broader national story of the influence of the Internet on journalism and politics has been well-told: Bloggers basically pushed CBS News anchor Dan Rather into early retirement after leading the charge in questioning the authenticity of documents concerning President Bush's military service. Bloggers and the Internet helped catapult Howard Dean, who started out as the obscure governor of Vermont, into a well-funded frontrunner for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
"In the old days, the agenda-setting and the issue-framing was a closed shop," said Justin Sayfie, a Fort Lauderdale lobbyist and top Republican fundraiser whose Sayfie Review reaches about 5,000 readers every day. "You had the big media organizations, and their reporters were basically controlling the issue-framing and agenda-setting. Now that power to frame issues and set agendas is democratized."
Sayfie's political bent is more subtle than many of the other bloggers, usually shown by how prominently he highlights stories, rather than through overt opinion. Seeing the growth in Democratic-leaning, opinion-heavy blogs, though, Sayfie plans to start a more opinionated conservative blog later this summer.
Some national blogs - dailykos.com, for instance, or andrewsullivan.com - are so well read by political junkies and insiders that the bloggers have become virtual celebrities themselves in the mainstream media world. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., a prospective presidential candidate again in 2008, recently paid homage to the new medium and invited some of the most prominent bloggers to dinner at his Georgetown house.
But as the blogging world grows increasingly crowded for national politics, getting noticed in the blogosphere becomes tougher. That may be where state politics come in. "If you want to be prominent, the national stage is getting crowded, said Mathew Gross, Dean's former Internet director, who participated in the roundtable organized by UNC's Program on Southern Politics, Media & Public Life. "On the state level, it's still wide open."
Some of those on the front lines of Florida's blogging community say they're mainly looking for an outlet. If they gain some prominence in the process, so be it.
"There are a lot of people frustrated by the political process, and blogging is a very empowering activity," said Derrick Newton, a Democratic consultant in Miami who recently started contributing political analyses to the Florida Politics blog.
Readership remains small, but often includes opinion-makers and influential people - be they political activists or elected officials. Subscribers to the Sayfie Review daily newsletter, for instance, range from Gov. Jeb Bush to people in the White House to almost every Florida political reporter.
"There's really no money in it, so it's a labor of love. I like to share my opinion," said Norwood Orrick, 40, who owns a computer shop in Tampa and says a few hundred people check out his Blogwood site daily. "Hopefully, we can persuade the persuaders. You're aware of the regional blogs, so perhaps our coverage will help influence your coverage."
Bloggers and blog readers are sure to grow along with broadband Internet access. So too are the sticky issues that accompany them. The Federal Election Commission is now grappling with whether bloggers should be regulated, and some experts see the blogs as the next big loophole for bypassing campaign finance restrictions.
Most bloggers don't consider themselves journalists, and don't feel bound by any presumption that they must be fair or balanced. But that doesn't mean they're immune from libel laws. One particularly biting anonymous Florida political blog, the Grapefruit, disappeared a couple years ago soon after it posted an account of a state senator frolicking with lobbyists in a hot tub at a St. Petersburg hotel.
Frontiers are fraught with unforeseen problems and issues, and online politics is no different. But I don't have time to think about those right now; I have to check whether this column got decent play on the Safyie Review.

Re-Districting Petition

I am happy to say that we have found a contractor willing to work with the Leon County Young Democrats on the Re-Districting Petition drive. At the past few meetings we have discussed taking part in this drive, and the reception has been positive. There were unresolved issues about the potential for payment for working with the petition drive. Now I've found a group that will pay us $1.00 for each fully completed three-page petition that we turn in, and is understanding of our group's abilities.

I think this is a great opportunity for us to aid a cause we support and effectivly fundraise at the same time. If you are interested in supporting this effort, please let me know. I hope all of us will be able to get involved.

I look forward to discussing this at the next executive and regular meetings, June 22nd and July 11th respectivly.

B103 Fundraiser

The LCYD's have been participating in the B103 fundraiser for about 3 weeks, and it's paid off. A few weeks ago, our organization was awarded $300 from the station after our group was mentioned on a "bonus" Friday. Although I've been listening to the station since we started, I will be out of town this Friday, June 10, and therefore unable to listen. It's important that we don't miss an opportunity, so it's crucial that other members listen to the station in my absence. Although it's preferable to listen from 6am-6pm, the main time to listen is in the afternoon, specifically from 2-6pm. The time to pay the most attention is on the hour, a quarter after the hour, and a quarter before the hour (3:00, 3:15, 3:45, eg). Remember, you only call the station when you hear a woman's voice give an individual's name and the organization they're with. Example: "...we'd like to thank...Alan Brock with the Leon County Young Democrats..." If you're unsure, just call anyway and they'll explain to you the difference.

The number to call is 422-1031 and our contact info to give them is (850) 222-3411 and LeonYD@yahoogroups.com.

I'd appreciate any help this Friday. Any additional funds we collect as an organization makes it possible to sponsor events that are fun and effective.

Fool's Gold

From an LCYD Member:

I was raised by a die-hard Republican and a true-to-the-bone Libertarian. At first glance one would think that these two could never get along. After all, Republicans are at the forefront of a massive culture war aimed at depraving individuals whereas the Libertarians argue for the destruction of the government powers that allow intervention. However, these two parties have not always been so distant. There was once a time in which both parties shared a banner of fiscal conservatism and small government. These days it is more likely to see a Democrat advocating small government in Florida than it is to see a Republican. True to behold the Sunshine State Republicans have all but turned their back on the Reagan-ite economics of old to embrace a new platform of spending voters’ money on… well, themselves.

Among the many bills passing through the legislature this session, there was a fairly innocuous elections reform bill. It started off with only mild travesties: damage to the early voting system, the devolvement of constitutionally elected elections officers, and various other undercuts to the voting system. At that point the most damaging clause within it was the increase of powers to the Secretary of State, a partisan appointed officer which a few years ago the legislature tried to do away with. Overall it was a bad bill, but not horrible, not terrifying. Once the amendments started hitting the floor all of that changed.

About six in ten Americans believe that candidates spend too much money on their campaigns. This is quite a few voters when one considers the margins on which elections are won these days. Apparently, though, Florida Republicans have not heard this news. In a startling amendment by Representative Reagan, wording about campaign finance changed to increase the amount spent by the state government on each candidate by over 400%. The cap on government campaign “give outs” increased from $5,000,000 to $2 per registered voter, or $22,000,000. This money is not covered in any of the budgets and has no financial backing. The amendment passed along party lines with nearly all Republicans voting for and nearly all Democrats voting against. The Republican owned legislature easily passed the amendment.
This amendment is even more hypocritical and cynical when taken in context with some of the Democrat offered amendments. For example, Representative Gottlieb offered an amendment which would make paper trails for electronic touch-screen voting machines mandatory. Florida is currently the only state to employ such machines. A paper trail would let voters verify that their vote had been correctly counted and ensure that there was no tampering with votes. One would think that in Florida above all other places the verity of votes would be an important cause to all legislators, not just Democrats. But the security of Democracy is not a high priority to Republican legislators these days. Once again the vote was divided along party lines, this time with the Democrats voting yes to safeguard people’s votes and the Republicans voting no. The reason the Republicans gave: it would cost almost $6 million.

The Republicans have turned their back on the people and the people’s money. They would rather spend $22 million a candidate than a simple $6 million to ensure democracy. The fiscal conservatism of the GOP has vanished into legend leaving us only with empty promises and lies. People need to recognize the Florida Republican party for what it is – Fool’s Gold.

BuyBlue

Some really interesting reading if you haven't yet checked it out.

For instance:

Curves currently has a 0% BuyBlue rating due to political contributions for the 2003-2004 election cycle. Curves executives contributed exclusively and heavily (over $112,000) Republican. Curves does not have a political action committee.

In addition to being solidly red, Curves CEO Gary Heavin, is firmly against women's rights. The things you have heard are in fact true, Heavin has spent huge amounts of cash (upwards of $5 million) funding extremist anti-choice organizations such as Operation Save America. One would think that Heavin would be supportive of women given that is his customer base and you'd be wrong. It is time for women across America to stand up and shut this guy down.

I could not agree more - if you know anyone who goes to a Curves Gym, make sure they know what their membership fees are funding!

Republicans Redefine Dignity

From an LCYD member:

The home page of the Republican Party of Florida reads "Good government is based upon the individual and that each person's ability, dignity, freedom, and responsibility must be honored and recognized". One must wonder, then, what the Republican Party considers as an individual, or if they know the definitions of the words "ability", "dignity", "freedom", or "responsibility". Twice in the last few months the Republican Party through the tool of state government has tried to directly interfere in the lives of the individual.
We all remember the Terri Schiavo case. A woman, who had been in a permanent vegetative state for 15 years, was not allowed the dignity to die as she had wished. This was a woman who had anticipated such an event and had personally asked her husband to remove life support in such an occurrence. Such decrees are known as a living will, and under Florida statutes her wishes should never have been disputed. However, the Republican owned Florida government had other ideas. Using power never granted to them under any constitution or law the Florida executive and legislative branch Republicans, as well as the national executive and legislative branch Republicans, attempted to stop the removal of a feeding tube that would have allowed Terri Schiavo's wishes to be granted.
However, the Republican Party's "recognition" and "honor" of Schiavo's dignity and freedom did not stop there. Not only was the efficacy of her living will turned into a circus of illegitimate political power, it was turned into a circus the entire world could see. For weeks it was difficult to turn on the news or look at a paper without seeing a headline about some new power ploy. Eventually, thanks to the relative neutrality of the judicial system in the U.S. (the one branch that Republican leaders are constantly attacking) the feeding tube was removed and Terri Schiavo's dignity and personal freedom were respected.
Now a new case of personal freedom is being tried by the Florida government. A 13 year old girl in state custody attempted to have an abortion procedure on April 26. The girl did so through all of the proper channels -- she was well informed by a counselor, discussed the physical and mental harm it might incur, and had a trained adult discuss all the options with her and her caseworker. According to Florida law a minor does not need to seek parental permission in order to have an abortion (though, unfortunately, this will soon change thanks to a ballot initiative). However, even though it was well out of its range of powers, the Department of Children and Families had a court issue a stay to the abortion. In essence, the DCF wished to force the minor to have the child. It is a well known fact that Republican governor Jeb Bush has enormous amounts of pull within the Department. Once again the Republicans wished to interfere with personal freedom.
Thanks to our GOP deemed “activist judges” the girl was allowed to go ahead with the abortion, but not until after the media and legal attention that caused undue psychological harm. For reference, the stalled abortion also placed the girl at further risk of physical harm, but the abortion was still safer than childbirth would have been.
For what the Republican party claims to be it is amazing what they are not. Repetitively they have attempted to destroy a person’s claim to freedom, dignity, and responsibility. We, as citizens of Florida, can no longer allow the unchecked hypocrisy of a government party that’s apparent main goal is to undermine us as individuals. Perhaps it is time for the Republican website to cite the party’s true stance. "Good government is based upon the disregard of the individual and that each person's ability, dignity, freedom, and responsibility must be ignored".

LCYD Elections, Monday June 6th at 7pm EST!

LCYD Members;

We have Elections this Monday, June 6th at 7pm at the FDP Headquarters.

All paid members should try and come to this meeting and elect your new Executive Board. It's important that you all give your voice to this election process by showing up and being involved. If you wish to seek a position, please show up and have someone nominate you or nominate yourself. All are welcomed to run as long as they are paid members of the group.

This is the Order for which the Offices will be considered:

1. Administrative Vice President
2. Community Affairs Vice President
3. Political Affairs Vice President
4. Student Affairs Vice President
5. Treasurer
6. Executive Vice President
7. President

A Call In Number will be made available later this week so that if you can't be in attendance at the meeting on Monday, you would still have the ability to take place, run and vote in the elections. If needed, contact Alan Brock if you have any problems in this regard.

I hope ALL MEMBERS will come out and help elect our new Executive Board. I look forward to seeing you all there on Monday night.

Thanks.

You Know You're A Republican When.....

.

..Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

...trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

...A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

...Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

...the best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

...providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

...global warming is junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

...being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
_______________________________________________________

Where has the posting gone people?!?!?!?

Compassionate Conservative – The Ultimate Oxymoron

From a LCYD Member:

These days we hear a lot of talk about the compassionate conservative. This is a Republican who cares, truly cares about the people. They believe in raising teacher salaries (link to Chris Petley’s article), in freedom to live in the way you choose, and in the discrimination against all those that are dissimilar to themselves. They believe in the ability to choose, in equity of access to important social structures, and the privatization of programs so that millions will be put below the poverty line. But above all they believe in liberty, in the freedom that America was built on, and that if you ever piss them off you are a terrorist and have no right to phone calls, bail, or the justice system.
Hold on a second. Those ideas aren’t nearly as congruent as they should be. How can freedom and discrimination live together? How can tax breaks and social programs be friends? Quite simply, they can’t. The Republicans are lulling the nation into complacency while they destroy the government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Nothing can illustrate this more than the failure of house bill 1303 this past week; a bill entitled “Student Safety and Campus Violence Prevention Act”. The bill was one designed to help protect students within schools by requiring that each district develop a set of comprehensive anti-harassment/anti-discrimination rules. Some of these rules included things such as providing teacher training on bullying and harassment and using the Florida hate crimes statute (section 877.19(2)) to define categories of discrimination and harassment. Sounds threatening, doesn’t it?
For some reason, it did. Advocates for the bill were told by the chairman of the education committee, Representative Arza, that he would make sure the bill died in committee. And he did. As the bill came into debate Rep. Arza began to walk around the committee, laughing and joking with the other Republicans there. A student who had traveled all the way from Miami out of support for the bill spoke for about four minutes about the horrors she faced every day before the “compassionate conservative” Rep. Arza rudely interrupted. He then called on a known “right wing nutcase”, forced a vote (while one of the bill’s main supporters was out of the room; coincidence? I think not) and the bill was slaughtered, even as Rep. Gottlieb tried to table it for further consideration. The “compassionate” Rep. Arza shot a hateful glance to the students standing there and left with a half smile upon his face.
Two weeks ago ten people were murdered in a school shooting fueled by the discrimination and harassment that student faced in the school. Studies show that thousands of students drop out or do not attend school every year because they are afraid. Florida has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country. Yet, the “compassionate conservatives”, those who supposedly believe in freedom, education, and the people, literally butchered a bill that at no fiscal cost offered a chance for students to stop feeling afraid. The question now to ask is: How many thousands of lives have been destroyed because of the failure of this bill and others like it at the hands of the “compassionate conservatives”, the Republicans?
The Republicans are playing the oldest game in history. They are using blanket lies to screen their actual goals and actions. The scariest part is that the nation is believing it! “Compassionate conservatives” cannot exist because compassion is what creates the party lines -- in politics you can’t play for both teams. It is time to hold the Republicans accountable for their lies and to wake up the nation so they can see the Republicans for who they truly are: the Cruel Conservatives.