Darden Rice Beating David McKalip in Fundraising

More evidence that Democrat Darden Rice is going to beat tea partier David McKalip in the St. Petersburg City Council District 4 race. Rice is nearly doubling McKalip in fundraising.

Darden Rice, 43, a community organizer, has raised just over $31,000 between April and the end of June, putting her total at $56,225. She's spent a lot of it – about $20,000 since March.

David McKalip, 47, a neurosurgeon, posted a fundraising haul today of $21,750, bringing his total to $30,543. Most of that is already gone. Since March, McKalip has spent $26,297.

Rice is one of the few Democratic candidates loved by the progressive base and the establishment. McKalip is best known for sending out a racist email portraying President Obama as a witch doctor. McKalip is also known for reciting bizarre conspiracy theories at tea party meetings. Occasional PR contributor Alex Pickett said this about McKalip.

Good post. For those of us who attend St. Pete City Council meetings, this wingnut McKalip is the bane of our existence. Almost as annoying as that environmental wacko guy. His name escapes me (thank god).

The District 4 race is a rising Democratic star vs a doctor that repulses people. Darden Rice couldn't have picked a better Republican opponent.

Side note: I'm disappointed that McKalip isn't campaigning in his doctor's coat. McKalip was using that shtick when Congress was writing the Affordable Care Act.

St. Petersburg Times Drops Lawsuit Against St. Pete

Alex Pickett wrote about how the city of St. Petersburg was banning street solicitation. The law was made by the St. Petersburg City Council to crack down on homeless people panhandling on the medium of roads. The St. Petersburg Times's street solicitors was going to be effected by the passage of the law. The St. Peterburg Times decided to sue to city.

The St. Petersburg Times has announced they are dropping the lawsuit.

Here's the proposed deal: Times Publishing Co., the parent company of the St. Petersburg Times, will drop its suit if the city agrees not to pursue legal fees.

And it is over. Many poor people that sell the Sunday Times for extra cash will be financially worse off. Apparently, campaign contributions can be free speech (which I agree with), but selling newspapers or panhandling is a public nuisance.

St. Petersburg Cracking Down on Street Soliicitations

St. Petersburg has been nationally known for aggressive tactics against the homeless. Those acts included destroying the tents of homeless people. St. Petersburg is making an attempt to ban solicitations on road mediums. Panhandlers will not be the only people punished. Newspaper venders, charities and firefighers will be effected by the ban.

Alex Pickett has covered the homeless situation in Tampa for years. His friend G.W. Rolle is formerly homeless. Rolle has started the homeless newspaper Homeless Image and is an activist for homeless rights. He explains why the solicitation ban goes too far.

Many people see the Sunday sale of the St. Petersburg Times as a way to weather a bad situation. I wouldn't say that the selling of the St. Petersburg Times was my sole savior. I would say that the film Easy Street and my ability to speak publicly lifted me out of homelessness. I will say however that the selling of the St. Petersburg Times kept me out of homelessness and that I was able to pay a weekly rent due to it. Had it not been for the St. Pete Times on on those Sundays, it is easy to see myself slipping back into homelessness.

Read Rolle's entire letter.

Froggate

Via Alex Pickett: Glenn Beck placed a frog in boiling water, in an attempt to prove Barack Obama has galvanize America against federal spending. Beck used the analogy that citizens will react to Obama, in the same manner frogs will jump out of boiling water. The problem with Beck's thesis died in the water.

GLENN BECK: Barack Obama has galvanized the country because of the shear size of the bills he's proposed and the number of the bills... The numbers of the bills. The urgency he's been placing on the bills. He's forced us to think and get involved. We have not like John McCain been boiled slowly. We have been tossed quickly into boiling water and don't forget what happens... when you throw them in. When you throw frogs into boiling water. (Throws frogs in boiling water.)

GLENN BECK: Okay. Forget the frog. I swear, I thought they jump right out.

Beck started his broadcasting career as a morning radio shock jock. Morning shock jocks lack common sense and will slaughter wildlife for ratings. Bubba the Love Sponge was charged for killing a hog on his radio show. He was aquitted by a jury. The hog was less fortunate.

Beck has the same mindset as Bubba. Their only focus is ratings. Tim Hattrick, Beck's former Morning Zoo co-host, described Beck's ratings obsession.

"It was impossible to talk to him about anything without reference to how to bring it into the show. I never once saw any evidence that he could turn it off. In that sense he was a one-dimensional person. But he was great at being a grandstanding, pompous idiot and shaking the brushes for attention."

Beck compared himself to Howard Beale of the film Network. The Beck/Beale comparison is apt. The Mad Phophet show featured spirital phonies and freaks worthy of reality television. Beale gave a pompous speeech and fainted on-air for dramatic effect. William Holden's character Max Schumacher believed Beale was too mentally unstable to be on television. The network fired Schumacher. Beale was taken from the news department and placed in the entertainment department. Journalism and Beale's well-being did not matter. Corporate profits were the bottom line. Beck is Beale without the self-awareness.

HOWARD BEALE: Television is not the truth. Television is a goddamned amusement park.

Update: I am not so sure Beck actually threw a frog in boiling water. Review the video and decide for yourself. The incident still strikes me as an attention grabbing stunt.

Tampa Tribune: Start Paying Bloggers

I have received a lot of emails from bloggers that are concerned about their work being used by the Tampa Tribune without consent. I have blogged about Pushing Rope content being used without permission. Tina Dupuy and Alex Pickett have written about similar experinces. I have decided to start the Facebook group "Tampa Tribune: Start Paying Bloggers." The group is to help bloggers whom have had their work used by the Tampa TribuneTBO.com without their consent. This is a place for us to organize, share ideas and post updates. WE also want to know if your work has been used by the Tampa Tribune without consent or credit.

Tampa Tribune: Start Paying Bloggers

Tampa Tribune Runs Tina Dupuy Column Without Payment

L.A. blogger/stand-up comedian Tina Dupuy freelanced the op-ed "'Birthers' are clinging to unreasonable doubt" to the Tampa Tribune. The Tampa Tribune/Media General ran her column without giving her payment. Dupuy has worked for many alt-weeklies and did not send her work to the Tampa Tribune as a letter to the editor. She expected payment and has taken action by posting a Youtube video.

I have written about the Tampa Tribune running Pushing Rope content without my consent. PR bloggers Alex Pickett and Litbrit have had their posts run without their permission. The Tampa blog Sticks of Fire have also experienced the same problem. This takes serious chutzpah on the part of the Tribune.

Odd fact: I'm partly the catalyst for Dupuy becoming a columnist. I wrote these words on a defunct blog. Dupuy has posted my quote on her blog.

"But her blog posts are humorous and on target. She writes better than many columnists."
-Michael Hussey

In an interview, Dupuy explained why she became a columnist.

It's a great exercise as a writer. A guy wrote on his blog that I wrote better than some columnists. You'd think I'd be flattered. Yet, I immediately thought, "Wow. I'm a loser. I should submit my work to newspapers." So I started doing that. A couple of pieces have gotten published. Which may have not happened if I wasn't obsessively writing a blog almost everyday for two years.

I still believe Dupuy is a great writer and the Tampa Tribune should pay her for her work. The Tribune's use of bloggers' material is getting ridiculously out of control. I'm sure many bloggers would allow their content to be used for the exposure. Dupuy and PR bloggers don't need the exposure. If the Tribune wants our content than pay up or stop reprinting our words.

The Magic of Coincidence

Alex Pickett reported earlier today Creative Loafing has been bought out by Atalaya. People will be shocked (shocked, I say) to learn CL political editor Wayne Garcia is leaving to teach at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications.

I want to say thanks to everyone who read The Political Whore, and the journalists who chose the blog the Best Media Blog in this year’s Sunshine State Awards. Thanks to everyone who read the print edition for all these years, and — I hope — for many more to come. Thanks to all the staff and friends at CL, who have worked through some good times and bad times.

We like to thank Wayne for help bestowing Best of the Bay awards to Pushing Rope and Litbrit. Wayne has certainly helped expand the audience of the Pushing Rope community.

Update: The blog Political Whore is dead.

Waterboarding At A Strip Club

New Pushing Rope contributor Alex Pickett underwent waterboarding in 2008. Alex was only able to last a few seconds. You can read his description of his experience. It's worth checking out: I'm confident Alex is the only journalist ever to be waterboarded while strippers were watching.

Nazi Blog Bites Back

Anchorage Activist, at the blog White Reference, has taken exception to Alex Pickett's post. Activist takes exception to Jud Süß being labeled as anti-Semitic. Activist claims that the movie is pro-jewish. Joseph Goebbels selected Veit Harlan to make propaganda films. Goebbels was thrilled with the results of the film.

"An anti-Semitic film of the kind we could only wish for," Goebbels wrote in his diary. "I am happy about it."

Activist did not take exception with Pickett's description of White Reference as a Nazi blog.

(2). This blog, White Reference, is a "Nazi" blog. Not that this hurts my feelings; if being considered "racists" and "Nazis" hurt our feelings, we would not be racial nationalists. Besides, we know that lefties consider anything and anybody to the right of Barack Obama to be "racist" and "Nazi", so those designations lost their sting a long time ago. But if the TBO blogger had done any homework, the person would know that national socialism is a subset of racial nationalism. While racial nationalism is a philosophy, national socialism is a specific form of governance within that philosophy. More precisely, this blog promotes white nationalism, although I also recognize racial populists (like the BNP and the Council of Conservative Citizens) as being pro-White, and I do believe that Germany's National Socialists started out well.

Most people would be outraged by being called a Nazi. Not Anchorage Activist. The blog links to to the Klu Klux Klan web site. The KKK's history of lynchings is not about ethnic pride. The KKK are more than willing to murder. Check out the comment section in the White Reference post.

"""By 2012, White people will be looking for a tough White leader to kick that nigger out of the White House. """

But they won't be looking for someone who they would consider a "racist". That "label" automatically looses all democrat votes, most independent votes and many republican votes. Pride in ones race and racism need to be split just like the BNP did.

These commenters makes Freepers seem civil.

Goebbels himself said Jud Süß is an anti-Semitic movie. Why Activist has to go through the motions about lying about the movie's content is tiresome. Does anyone seriously believe White Reference would give Schindler's List a rave review?

Anchorage Activist is a Sarah Palin supporter. What a base Palin is building for the GOP. White supremists, birthers and tea baggers will chase people out of the Republican Party.

Note: No one on this blog works for the Tampa Tribune or TBO.com. Our posts have been running on the site without our consent. We are attempting to resolve that issue.

SB 166

Via Alex Pickett: Florida Sen. Jeremy Ring (D - District 32) is the author of SB 166. The bill would restrict citizens from finding out about donors to public facilities. Because why would the public need to know who is coughing up cash to public institutions.

An act relating to public records; defining the term “publicly owned building or facility”; creating an exemption from public-records requirements for information that identifies a donor or prospective donor of a donation made for the benefit of a publicly owned building or facility if the donor desires to remain anonymous; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption under the Open Government Sunset Review Act; providing a statement of public necessity; providing an effective date.

These donors are people whom contribute to political campaigns. A donor can give money to a pet project of a politician and remain anonymous under this potential law. The Sunshine law was created to curtail abuse from government. SB 166 would encourage back room deals.

Saggy Pants Bill Back

Via Alex Pickett: Let it be known repeated Florida State Senator (and noted fence jumper) Gary Siplin has reintroduced the baggy pants bill.

An act relating to the indecent wearing of below-waist underwear; prohibiting a student from exposing below waist underwear in a specified manner while on the grounds of a public school; providing penalties; providing an effective date.

Siplin sponsored a similar bill last year. That bill never made it to the floor. In 2007, the baggy pants bill died Committee on Education Pre-K - 12. The moral of the story if first you failed once, you will be granted plenty of other opportunities to fail again. Siplin is an opportunist of extreme proportions.

Here is a video of Siplin pulling a Clay Davis on a reporter.

Creative Loafing Interviews Homeless Men

Creative Loafing's Alex Pickett interviews two homeless men in St. Petersburg.