Protest Against David Jolly

A group of senior citizens and the Florida Consumer Action Network will deliver a fake Medicare voucher to the campaign office of Republican congressional candidate David Jolly.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 5th, at 10:30am.

WHERE: David Jolly Campaign Headquarters, 4585 140th Avenue North, Suite 1004, Clearwater.

WHO: Pinellas County seniors, members of the Florida Consumer Action Network, members of the Florida Association of Retired Americans.

David Jolly lobbied to privatize Social Security. Jolly is no fan of the social safety net.

Tallahassee Protest Against Government Shutdown

In Tallahassee, seniors and students gathered to protest the federal government shutdown. The protesters demand that GOP Rep. Steve Southerland vote to end the shutdown with s clean CR bill.

Religious Leaders Band With Dream Defenders

Religious leaders joined the Dream Defensers during their third week of protests inside the Florida capital.

Imam Rashad Mujahid of the Masjid Al-Nahl mosque in Tallahassee reflected on the role of faith when petitioning a government to change policy.

“One’s faith helps one endure the setbacks sometimes these things take, Mujahid said. “Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, these are people of faith who had a certain discipline and a certain patience that allows them to see beyond their present circumstances.”

It is nice to see an Imam, Rabbi and Episcopal priest band togethet for a good cause. Unfortunately, so much religion had been decisive in our political discourse.

In other news: The Tallahassee Democrat reports Trayvon Martin's parents have taken no position on the Florida boycott started by Stevie Wonder.

Dream Defenders Freedom Rides

The Dream Defenders are attempting to repeal Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. The Dream Defenders have staged a sit-in in front of Gov. Rick Scott's office. Scott has spoken to the Dream Defenders. Mostly, Scott has avoided the capital.

The Dream Defenders are staging freedom rides acrosd the country to bring more protesters to Tallahassee.

FREEDOM RIDES WILL BE DEPARTING FROM MIAMI, ORLANDO, JACKSONVILLE, TAMPA, ATLANTA, WASHINGTON D.C., RALIEGH, NEW YORK CITY, AND PHILADELPHIA. IF YOU ARE IN OR AROUND THOSE CITIES WE HAVE MADE IT EASY FOR YOU TO BE A PART OF THE MOVEMENT MOMENT OF OUR LIFETIME.

You can join the freedom rides by filling out the online form.

Justice For Travon Rally Photos

Stogie has pictures of the Justice For Trayvon Martin rally at the Sam Gibbons Federal Court House in Tampa.

Justice For Trayvon Rally in Tampa

There will be a Justice For Trayvon rally on July 20th. Here is the information.

WHERE:Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse

WHEN: 12:00 PM

Contact: PUSH – Persists Until Something Happens 813-325-7715 Jebony21@gmail.com

Check this link to find a rally in your part of the country.

Code Pink Disrupts Obama's Drones Speech

I continue to marvel at how Code Pink gets past Secret Service and police security. The drone campaign has been a major cause for Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin. She has written the book "Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control." Benjamin and Code Pink traveled to Pakistan to raise awareness on President Obama's drone campaign.

Here is Obama's response to Benjamin. Whatever you think about Obama (and I have my misgivings), he is a skilled politician. He doesn't get rattled when he's heckled.

Protesters at John Breenan Hearing

Spencer Ackerman took this picture before the start of the John Brennan confirmation. There is already a huge crowd of protesters.

Update: Politico reports that the hearing was temporarily suspended because of the Code Pink protest. How those women are able to sneak into high security places continues to amaze me.

Gun Control Vigil at Vern Buchanan's Office

This likely will not change Rep. Vern Buchanan's position, but gun control activists and religious leaders plan on holding a candlelight vigil outside the Congressman's Sarasota office. Activists also plan to give Buchanan a letter urging him to support gun control legislation.

The candlelight vigil will be held today.

The vigil is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. Thursday outside Buchanan’s office at 111 S. Orange Ave.

Naked Protest on Speaker Boehner

This is the best news story of the day. A group of naked protesters stormed into House Speaker John Boehner's office.

BuzzFeed reporter Chris Geidner, who was tweeting from the scene, reports that the protesters were demonstrating against budget cuts to federal funding to fight AIDS, and entered the office chanting: “Boehner, Boehner, don’t be a dick. Budget cuts will make us sick."

No word on if Boehner wasat his office at the time of the protest. I imagine all the nudity would have made Boehner go from orange to beet red.

Occupy Tampa Black Friday Protest

Occupy Tampa will be meeting at Voice of Freedom Park to protest Black Friday. Occupy Tampa has several different activities planned.

The details for our Black Friday actions are solidifying. The actions will be taking place Thursday Evening and Friday Morning. Thursday evening we will have actions going in Tampa, as well as a Light Brigade contingent heading to Orlando to assist with an action up there. For the Tampa actions, we'll meet up at Voice of Freedom park at 9pm and go over the details. Friday morning at 7 AM we'll have a series of carpools going to support a big action with Our Walmart in Orlando.

Check with the Occupy Tampa website and Occupy Tampa Facebook page.

Romney Avoids Addressing Climate Change

Mitt Romney ignores a climate change protester at a rally. A President Mitt Romney would ignore climate change.

Codepink At the RNC

I saw Code Pink the two days I helped TheContributor.com cover the Republican National Convention. Code Pinks was able to sneak into The Tampa Bay Times Forum and disrupt Paul Ryan's speech.

Code Pink managed to sneak into Condeleezza Rice's speech in Ybor City and stage a mock arrest. I wasn't even allowed to stand outside the entrance of the building. Code Pink gets in. These women are ninjas.

My favorite Code Pink protest is the members dressed as vaginas. You can tell how comfortable people are with their own sexuality by how they deal with seeing women dress as giant vaginas. I find it clever and amusing. Conservatives are repulsed.

RNC Protest Arrest

A member of Occupy Tampa has been arrested.

1 arrested while walking back to camp. Charges unknown##

Occupy Orlando Banned by Questionable Law

Mayor Teresa Jacobs has approved a law especially made for Occupy Orlando. The resolution forbids "occupy" from using Orange County Administration Center, as a protesting and camping area. The language of the bill isn't designed for any other citizens except Occupy Orlando. I fail to see how the resolution does not violate the 14th amendment.

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Resolution -County Admin Center(1)

Occupy Tampa Protest at Outback Steakhouse

Occupy Tampa is getting extremely organized. They recently staged a protest at WalMart. Occupy Tampa protested against Outback Steakhouse's support of SB 2106.

The Republican leadership words the language in a way that doesn't reveal that food servers would have their wages reduced from $4.65 an hour to $2.13. Republicans in the Florida legislature has no problem reducing taxes for corporations. If you are a waiter or waitress trying to survive in a bad economy then you are screwed.

The legislation guarantees that servers will receive $9.98 an hour if they have a bad shift with tips. If you honestly expect restaurant owners to comply with the law in a right to work state than you have a disconnect with reality. It is easier for employers to use threats of termination. Servers will have no one state agency to file complaints.

Occupy Tampa Protest at WalMart

Occupy Tampa staged a protest at an area WalMart. The protesters chanted, "Fair Labor, Worker's Right." WalMart has fought against the attempts of their employees to unionize.

UAW Protest of Romney

Alex Leary reports that the United Auto Workers will protest Mitt Romney's appearance at the Daytona 500 tomorrow.

UAW will taunt Romney from the sky while he attends Daytona 500 on Sunday. Plane banner: "Mitt Romney: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

Romney may now lose his home state of Michigan for being against the auto bailouts. The Republican talking point that the auto bailout was bad will likely cost Republicans Michigan. An NBC/Marist poll has President Obama leading all Republican candidates by wide margins. Presidents Reagan and Bush I won Michigan. The current Republican Party is so far to the Right that they have no interest in appealing to working class voters.

The Obama campaign feels that the GOP candidates have handed them political gold. Team Obama is running this ad in Michigan.



I had my own skepticism about the auto bailout. I wanted to see auto jobs saved, but felt that the major American auto companies were too flawed to turn their businesses around. The Obama's administration's restructing of the industry got rid of dead weight, such as General Motor's CEO Richard Wagoner. The end result is that 1.45 million jobs were saved. That is 1.45 million good reasons for the UAW to protest Romney.

Occupy Tampa Live Feed

If anyone is interested in the daily events of Occupy Tampa, you can now watch the live feed.


Streaming video by Ustream

Occupy Orlando Members Found Not Guilty of Trespassing

Occupy Orlando sent me this press release.

Not guilty verdict casts serious doubt on 39 outstanding Occupy Orlando trespass cases
City urged to respect judgement of Orlando residents and save tax payers money

February 4, 2012 - ORLANDO, FL - With Friday’s jury verdict of not guilty in Florida’s first Occupy trial for trespassing, the attorney representing defendant Megan Vermeer has called on the city to drop the charges in the 39 remaining tresspass cases.

Defense attorney Shayan Elahi says the verdict of not guilty by Orlando residents proves that Occupy Orlando was not tresspassing at Senator Beth Johnson Park. “To procede with more trials after this not guilty verdict would waste the court’s time and tax payer dollars at a time when neither has the resources to spare.”

“All Occupy Orlando arrests were for trespass,” says Elahi. Expecting different outcomes from the remaining 39 cases with the same operative facts “cannot be justified as good faith prosecution,” he said.

A jury found Megan Vermeer, 20, not guilty of trespassing. Vermeer was found guilty of the city ordinance.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is not a fan of protests. Dyer ordered Orlando police to arrest members of Food Not Bombs for feeding the homeless in public parks. The Orange County Democratic Executive Committee passed a resolution asking Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and the City Council to stop arresting members of Food Not Bombs. Count on Dyer taking every member of Occupy Orlando to court for trespassing. These jury trials are going to get expensive for taxpayers.

WFTV has a video story on the Vermeer verdict.