Baker's City Council Seeks BAN on Homeless

If debate started on this on Wednesday why is this the FIRST I've read about it? Where'd they have THIS hiding???

March 15, 2007
City to vote tonight on tent city
The St. Petersburg City Council will debate this evening whether to outlaw a controversial tent encampment that has housed up to 75 homeless people since January.

The city is considering several measures to ban camping and sleeping on public right of way throughout
much of the city, including the tent site at 18th Street and First Avenue N.

The debate is scheduled to begin sometime after 6 p.m. at City Hall, 175 Fifth St. N. The public will be allowed to address the council.

If the measures pass as expected Thursday, it is unclear when they might be enforced.

City officials started Wednesday coaxing those living at 18th Street to a vacant lot the city controls.

The Lakewood United Church of Christ also is considering whether to open its own tent city, despite the city’s objections and questions of its legality.

Deputy Mayor Goliath Davis has said those living on 18th Street will be asked to move or risk being arrested.

By 1 p.m, most of the people living on 18th Street had moved. Of about 60 tents, only 13 remained.

"Arrest is always an option, but it's not the first one we'll utilize," Davis said last week, when asked about a potential police showdown. "Reasonable people will move. If we're put in a position to have to take an enforcement action, I think people in the public will understand that."

-- By Aaron Sharockman, Times Staff Writer


See complete coverage on St. Petersburg's homeless struggle.




March 15, 2007 in Pinellas | Permalink

Bush's Watergate

This could be George Bush's Watergate.

Eight U.S. Attorneys, fired because they wouldn't follow orders by the Bush Administration.

Fired because they refused to go on witch-hunts against Democrats, or ignored the Republicans' blatant disregard for the law. Fired so that they could be replaced by talking heads and loyalists of the Bush Administration.

When Scooter Libby was convicted, I said that this administration reminded me of Richard Nixon's administration -- more obsessed with their critics than with the jobs the American people entrust them with. But this latest White House scandal takes that comparison to another level.

Just what did George Bush, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales and the rest of the Bush White House and Republican senior staff know about the Justice Department firings -- and when did they know it?

Join us in our effort to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to try to cut through the White House's nonsense -- the finger-pointing, the lies, the cover-up. Americans have a right to access any and all records between the Republican National Committee, other Republican party committees, and the Department of Justice in order to get to the bottom of this investigation.

Sign our FOIA request:

http://www.democrats.org/DOJFOIA

"I can accept that mistakes were made."

When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales uttered those words yesterday, he admitted what many had suspected: that eight U.S. prosecutors were improperly fired -- and, because of a Patriot Act provision slipped in by Congressional Republicans, replaced with Bush Administration cronies. The fired attorneys included:


Carol Lam, who prosecuted former Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham for bribery, and who was actively investigating Republican House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis at the time of her dismissal;
Paul Charlton, who was investigating Republican Congressman Rick Renzi for bribery and illegal land dealings, and who had publicly clashed with the Bush Administration over the merits of the death penalty; and
David Iglesias, a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve and the basis for Tom Cruise's character in A Few Good Men, who was pressured by Republicans to indict Democratic politicians prior to the 2006 elections.

In January, Gonzales claimed that he would "never, ever make a change in a United States attorney for political reasons or if it would in any way jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation." Justice Department officials claimed the firings were part of standard personnel turnover.

But when questioned by Congress, Gonzales's deputy, Paul McNulty, claimed they were fired for poor performance -- even though most of the fired attorneys had received excellent performance reviews.

Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and President Bush himself were in contact with Gonzales's office about the attorneys. Just weeks after Bush spoke to Gonzales, they were fired.

ahhhh ... the big confession ...

I gave a faux yahoo link which displays my utter disregard for this bullshit!


Once again, in the Bush Regime the timing of this is just about ... oh --

SUSPICIOUS !!! (look at that pretty flower over there!!)

Hey, you can ride into space now !

Oooh Gonzo been bad ... (this is funny in the comments section)

Everything was Dummy's fault (but we're still doing it all and WORSE) (this is a great article)


The Social Security scare (so you'd give your hard earned 'retirement' to his buddies to lose for you on the stock market ....)

Oooh look at Anna Nicole for awhile .....

Oooh look, bombing is down 30% in Afghanistan .....

ooooh look we just got Saddam in a rat hole ....

ooooh osama bin forgotten looks like jesus and our goal is to STAMP OUT JESUS (can't catch him)

Anyway ... their goal is to save osama for when things really get bad ... how much worse can they get? maybe they'll catch him with jon benet's REAL killer .. maybe he IS Jon Benet's real killer....


oooh, look, saddam is dangling by surprise !


Martial law is so close to being in place but not close enough. What will be next? What will be created (another Sept. 11, 2001) to give this regime the excuse to declare martial law.
First, they have to clear their names so there is this magical confession ... then they feel free to create some more havoc ... and then declare martial law.

I wonder if he (this 911 mastermind LOL) can confess to anything else ?

Flouting Geneva Convention prisoner agreements, perhaps? (That would be fittingly ironic since it's probably how they got him to confess unless he's just going to conveniently heart attack after this mad-cap confession)


Illegal spying on Americans?

Lying to Congress? (don't cheat, read this whole article)


Bombing Somalia?? WTF are we doing in Somalia ?? bombing them with no war declared??
Is this just EXPANDING the war?? By that reckoning we could bomb anywhere.


Being an Illuminist and member of New World Order?

PNAC????

The Signing Statements that subvert our Constitution? Get a look at Bush laughing his ass off in this picture surrounded by his fellow cabal of future prisoners; half of whom he has been forced to leave by the wayside. Because they are f'ing LIARS and THIEVES.

Has this madcap confessor called our Constitution a 'goddamned piece of paper?'

Of course, the evocative beheading of Daniel Pearl tops the list. That is to draw you in and make you murderously happy to have "that bastard" in our clutches. Don't fall for it !!

I feel like ToTo in Wizard of Oz. I am like that lil puppy trying to draw back the curtain and reveal the TINY TINY man that is manipulating (not very successfully) the world from behind the shrouds of the decency of the American people. Stop being so FUCKING POLITE. Call your REPRESENTATIVES and DEMAND that they HOLD HIM TO ACCOUNT. PLEASE. He is making a police state of America and if we keep being polite about it it will be TOO LATE. Call today !! Don't wait !

Maybe the confessor can also explain these 25 reasons to IMPEACH OR IMPRISON GEORGE W. BUSH !!!!!!!!!1. He lied us into war in Iraq. According to the U.S. media-ignored British "Downing Street Memo," he "fixed" intelligence around a pre-determined policy of preemptive war. Results: 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths; about 1800 U.S. soldiers dead in two wars, 100s of thousands wounded and traumatized.

2. Under his watch, the U.S. suffered its worst terrorist attack on its soil. He opposed an official investigation, then stalled for months on testifying before a hand-picked committee. Finally testified behind closed doors.

3. He was "elected" under dubious circumstances in 2000.

4. He was "elected" under dubious circumstances in 2004.

5. He has approved (and his Attorney General Gonzales has re-defined) torture at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and elsewhere, while simultaneously opposing the International Criminal Court established to check such abuses. According to Amnesty International, the United States has established a Soviet-style "gulag" of torture around the world.

6. He failed to support the Kyoto Protocols, reducing greenhouse gases, but worked to open up Alaska's ANWR to drilling-despoiling an eco-system and increasing greenhouse gases.

7. He chose Halliburton toady Dick Cheney to be his running mate-twice.

8. He has attempted to pack the courts with ideologue-judges intent on overthrowing Roe v. Wade, and institutionalizing the police-state abuses of Patriot Acts I and II.

9.His "No Child Left Behind" education policies have replaced learning with testing and allowed military recruiters access to our schools, cajoling our children with military options before their minds have had a chance to open, question and challenge.

10.He is attempting to dismantle the Social Security system that has ensured "peace and freedom" for tens of millions of working Americans for seven decades ("peace" of mind and "freedom" from economic crises)-- rights hard-won by Labor and Progressives in decades-long struggles.

11. He has allied himself with Right-wing ideologues to curtail or abolish stem-cell research vital to the conquest of debilitating and fatal diseases.

12. He has failed to develop a coherent energy policy-except to prosecute wars for other peoples' resources. He fails to acknowledge the reality and impending disasters of Global Warming.

13. He has continued the Globalization project of his predecessors: outsourcing jobs, hollowing our middle class.

14. He has undermined the legitimate protective protocols of the C.I.A., politicizing the agency, awarding positions on the basis of ideological orthodoxy rather than merit and astute analysis.

15. He has subjugated his Administration to Neocon ideologues like Richard Perle, William Kristol and Douglas Feith; men who have endorsed the "settlement," expansionist and Wall-them-in policies of Ariel Sharon, sowing the seeds of anti-Arab racism, war and destruction in the Middle East for generations to come.

16. In spite of his rhetoric about freedom and democracy, he has allied himself with dictators in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt and elsewhere. He has increased the flow of arms to these states and others, fomenting instability, turmoil and war.

17. He chose Rumsfeld as DoD Secretary twice, in spite of Rumsfeld's obvious failure to adequately plan for the post-Saddam era in Iraq, inducing massive "collateral damage," the looting of ancient treasures, and infrastructure destruction in a country we were legally and morally bound to rehabilitate.

18. He endorses the weaponization of space, "Rods from Gods," and other exotic, Star-Wars technologies to establish a twenty-first century American global empire that is doomed to create an arms race with China and other opposing coalitions, sowing discord and wasting the resources of the world.

19. He has presided over the most egregious media consolidation in the nation's history. While we have had "yellow journalism" and other media abuses throughout our two centuries of Republic/Empire, we have never suffered the consolidation of power that we have today. He has presided over the emasculation and cowering of PBS, while his disinformation troops have peddled fraudulent stories and comments to "reporters" like Judith Miller, Armstrong Williams and Jeff Guckert-"Gannon," poisoning the well of information, adding to the general confusion and Goebbelsization of our news.

20. He lied about, misled, or misunderstood the astronomical costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He continues to do so, diverting tax money for education, health care, the EPA, transportation and social infrastructure into war-making and destruction.

21. He has continued and enlarged the depraved Clinton policy of using depleted uranium on the battlefield; a policy bound to cause massive suffering and death to Americans and others for generations to come.

22. He has alienated our traditional allies and more than a billion Muslims around the world. He has ransacked the good will extended to the nation after the 9/11 attacks, leading a crusade of vengeance and reprisal, most often against innocents, judging without sufficient evidence, arrogating to himself a crooked, self-righteous Texas sheriff's power to execute without justice.

23. Under his watch, millions more Americans have been added to the ranks of the uninsured while health-care costs have exploded. His answer to these and other pressing social problems appears to be faith-based charities-in other words, preaching to the choir while stealing from the pews.

24. Under his watch, the North Koreans have, apparently, developed eight nuclear weapons and Israel has continued to increase and refine its arsenal-now estimated as high as five hundred.

25. He has murdered the English language.

Gary Corseri has published 2 novels, 2 poetry collections, the Manifestations anthology [edited], and his work has appeared at CounterPunch,Common Dreams, The New York Times, Village Voice, Axis of Logic, Dissident Voice, Redbook and elsewhere. His dramas have been presented at PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He can be reached at: corseri@verizon.net.