do the damn right thing! when?

Mr. Landry is pure American. Ms. Baez, so long ago, brought attention to the downtrodden masses with her guitar, successfully. Three days ago, Mr. Landry mimic-ed her methodology successfully in front of several politicians whom he graciously accounted for as 'caring'. But do they? Does the White House really care, either? BP is still running the show in the Gulf.... clean up? What exactly is the clean up? BP is hiring contracting services that will work at cut rates. Piling sand over large spates of beach to cover up the oil gluts on the shore line... so fucking stupid! As the tide comes and goes it reveals so clearly how the layer of sand cover up and height that BP took it to.

Hundreds of workers in the Gulf Coast cleaning up BP’s oil disaster have reported symptoms of nausea, vomiting, nose bleeds, and headaches, but those “almost all have been heat related,” according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab.



Republican corruption and corporate handiness rules: The natural instinct to “do something!” when in danger has run up against the cold hand of reality. Bobby Jindal thought he had this great idea to spend countless amounts of money – all of which he funneled to a wealthy campaign contributor – on building sand berms to stop the oil in the Gulf from reaching the Louisiana coast. Scientists told Jindal the initiative could harm more than it helped, but he didn’t care, using the lack of an Army Corps of Engineers sign-off to his political advantage. The federal government gave in, and allowed Jindal to go ahead with the sand berms. And they washed out. Firedoglake

Charlie Crist is using the oil spill to strategize his campaign against the machine of wingnutter Rubio: I suspect the goal of painting Rubio as a radical played a role in Crist using his gubernatorial power to call a special legislative session to put a constitutional ban on offshore drilling on the November ballot. Due to the BP oil disaster, support for offshore drilling has collapsed in Florida, shoving Rubio’s pro-drilling stance far outside the mainstream. Sticking the measure on the ballot will keep the issue front and center until the election.

Now, batshit crazy moron's (opps, that's morans!) are accusing the President of using the oil spill to 'push a new energy bill' through the legislature. Fuck... ya know, if this oil spill and it's disastrous effects do not spur, galvanize this country to take a major step into an OIL FREE America... then we are truly captured by stupidity, manipulative fear based morals and point me towards Bimini. Michelle Bachman has capitalized on the oil spill in shoving out more moronic themes of leadership than than Truman Capote ever rolled syllables.

Upper Floridan aquifers are being slowly polluted by Gulf of Mexico waters. Soon there will be crude oil stains in the Okeechobee. It's so intolerable. And there is this video, since removed by BP buying it up from the network: BP employee whistle blowing

And here in FL, NOAA researchers are accused of hording spill demographic information. Yeah, well, they do / are its against the law. I realize we are choking on this steady diet of fear, disinformation, inequity INEQUITY!, spoilage, pollution, corruption, corporate crimes, yet we have to wait for the commissions and government to speak. Not like we can storm the castle with our pitchforks and hammerhandles. We vote in those who are supposed to be doing that. If any point finds any clarity in all of this ... it's be careful who you support and vote for. I feel chumped myself right about now for all the work I've done in the last two years for the Democrats.

NEW ORLEANS (Associated Press) - The plan to start choking off oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico was suddenly halted as government officials and BP said further analysis must be done Wednesday before critical tests could proceed.

No explanation was given for the decision, and no date was set for when testing would begin on the new, tighter-fitting cap BP installed on the blown-out well Monday.

In the meantime, oil continued spewing into the Gulf. AND YOU JUST WANT TO SCREAM!


A hopeful avenue opened up less than a month after the spill: I have assembled a team of the top law firms in the country whose combined experience, knowledge and proven success are available to assist you if you have been impacted by the BP oil spill. Please contact my colleagues at Levin Papantonio at 1-888-435-7001 to discuss your situation or email my law partner, Kevin Madonna, at kmadonna@kennedymadonna.com. / Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s website gives you options if you are Gulf resident ... Gods.... slouches in our direction ... and I am grieved awful.





And what the hell is UP with Al Gore? The best he can do for any kind of leadership on this is to NOTHING? I even googled his name with gulf oil spill and not a goddamn thing rolled up until a page of links later.

Another round of corruption...again with Michelle Spence-Jones

On Wed. January 13th the news in the Miami Herald was of the overwhelming victory in a special election for Michelle Spence-Jones... the City Commissioner who has been charged with corruption and graft over finances in Miami's abused District 5.  It was a very low voter turn out, and the word is apathy  ... she says, "...the people do not care about that"...  But the law does.  [Defiant as she basked in victory before supporters at her Liberty City headquarters, the two-term District 5 commissioner said her easy victory showed that constituents still believed in her. She easily separated from a field of eight others in an election with a dismally low turnout.] Miami Herald   And Gov. Crist, true to his word, has ousted her once again.  Spence-Jones has filed a law suit against the Gov. to overrule his actions. 

[Spence-Jones attorney Dennis Bedard filed an additional motion Thursday. It's a motion some legal experts -- who are split on Crist's decision or how the courts will ultimately rule -- say is the strongest part of his argument.

``She cannot be suspended for conduct before she took office,'' said Bedard.

Spence-Jones was first elected to the Miami commission in 2005 with the backing of then-Mayor Manny Diaz's powerful political machine.

Before that victory, she had served on the mayor's staff as an events coordinator. While in office, she pushed for more affordable housing and has pressed for improvements along Third and Seventh avenues.

But she became the third consecutive elected commissioner from the district to be charged with a felony, cases that have hampered long-term attempts to revive the city's most impoverished community.]  Miami Herald

The tragedy here is not about voters loosing any gain of a qualified, dedicated Commissioner... the tragedy is in the voters being bamboozled by an opportunist politico and grafter.  It's a personal opinion, backed up by legal charges.  Eh? 

Michele Spence-Jones: Bleeding her community?

Let's get on with it:

so... You remember Tammany Hall? The Sons of St. Tammany? Small refresher: (Irish run) Democratic turn of the last century political machine in NYC so notoriously violent and skeezy that Teddy Roosevelt registered Republican?   From the 1790's to the 1960's it held sway over New York  Democrat politics. You know..."nothing dumber than a New York Democrat"?  It rose to enforcement on a constituency of poor and disenfranchised, notably immigrants, who in the early days_ were paid for their votes.   Though Tammany Hall was not completely without redemption; they did represent the Democratic Party...their social contributions included aid to the sick and unemployed, advocacy for tenants and workers.  Precursors to the Social Security Dept and other  massive government social programs...the better to plunder!  Not a bad legacy, if that were all it were.  "Boss" Tweed was notoriously the most corrupt of the heyday sports' who ran the old town through graft and political corruption with a penchant for purchasing votes from the working class / poor and forging documents to transfer city funds into his bank accounts.   It's a well worn warrant of politics and Tammany Hall is a standard bearer for political graft, corruption and manipulation.  

District 5 in Liberty City, Miami, is now exemplifying notoriety like a southern Tammany Hall with Michele Spense-Jones as it's active Boss.   Her methods of graft are 'curious and simple', just like Boss Tweed's, including the use of an established political machine to assist her in retaining her voting constituency by all means including the purchase of their loyalty, as the word is.  Just talk on the street by wiser folks who stand back and watch it all go down with the usual grimace of communal fatigue and ultimately, community defeat.  Beaten down by the 'man' who, in this case, is a grand standing, arrogant woman playing politics for a dime and reversing the argument to proclaim her 'innocence'. 
Last week this came down:

Nathaniel Styles and Harlan Woodard down at Osun's Village in Liberty City are disappointed.   So is Marvin Weeks at Timbuktu.  You can't blame them.  These creative inner city mentors have worked diligently and without much applause to bridge creative / artisan communities between the Caribbean, Mother Africa and south Florida to provide a new, robust tourism base for their chosen community: Liberty City.  Little did they know that Michele Spense-Jones had purloined funds that they had  tirelessly lobbied for!  They felt their work, the work of many volunteers inside and outside of the community, had been unduly swept aside, but they had no genuine idea why.   

[In the case of the Osun's Village grant, prosecutors discovered, the victims didn't even know they were victims.
In 2004, architect Harlan Woodard and his partner, Nathaniel Styles, needed grant money for Osun's Village, a special district along Northwest Seventh Avenue where they hoped to remake the business facades with modern architecture reflecting African heritage. They took their plan to Carey-Shuler.
``This project is really to reconnect the people to who they are,'' Woodard said Friday. ``We wanted this to be an area that is primed for transformation.''
But no money ever arrived. They forgot about their request.
Later, Weeks (Marvin) in passing mentioned the grants to them. Woodard later searched the Internet -- and discovered county records showing that Carey-Shuler had set aside $25,000 for their project.
The slap in the face: MMAPP had given the money to Karym Ventures, which opened a spa and cafe just nine blocks from Woodard's Liberty City office.
Woodard said he and his partner never had any agreement with Spence-Jones to work together on the Osun's Village project.
When Scruggs and investigator Robert Fielder met with Woodard and Styles, they showed them an unsigned letter under their organization's name. It had been used to give MMAP authorization to hand the money over to Spence-Jones. ``We are victims of identity theft!'' Woodard told Scruggs and Fielder.] Miami Hearld 11-21-09


To bring a renewable vitality into a community with a median household income of $18,809.87 is a service that speaks about the quality of their character and their dreams.   Neither Harlan nor Nathaniel or Marvin Weeks did anything outright to provoke the enmity of Spense-Jones, it was more that they stood in the way of her own needs: ``Shoes, clothes, perfumes, etc.,'' Fernández Rundle said. ``Many might say such uses of the public's money did very little to improve the lives in Miami District 5's community.'' 

District 5, Liberty City is a community of 3.5% combined Latino, .06% White, 1.7% mixed racial identity and 94.7% African American citizens.   It spreads across 6 square miles of inner city Miami.  To many Floridians, Liberty City was a 'watchword' for violence, stemming from the "Liberty City Riots" of 1980 (an unfortunate injustice clearing guilty cops from the death of a black motorcyclist) and the area is blight with drug gang violence.  It was home to Carrie P. Meeks a FL state Representative, District 17,  of great respect and acclaim.  [Her son, Kendrick Meek is the only candidate at this point to oppose and run in the current Senatorial race against Crist & Rubio...SUPPORT HIM!]  Liberty City is also home to the Miami Workers Center. A strategy and organizing center for low-income communities and low-wage workers in Miami-Dade County. Initiated in March 1999, the Center’s mission is to work to end poverty and oppression. 

The inner city political career of Michele Spence-Jones has enjoyed a short ride of profiteering plenty.  Mud clings to her skirts throughout it, repeatedly investigated for years.   She cultivates the 'community' with the help of a considerable politic machine as the protege of past Mayor Manny Diaz (whom has not outwardly denounced her, yet is distancing himself abjectly).  As an account from Spense-Jones' point of view reads over at New Times, the main witness against her will recant: [Barbara Carey-Shuler is apparently backing off her sworn statements against her protege.]  New Times - 11-16-09   This certainly does not read...since Ms. Carey-Schuler has agreed to testify after charges against her have been dropped under the provision of her testimony.   Spense-Jones' attorney claims that Ms. Carey-Schuler contacted him saying 'her testimony was taken out of context'...does anyone think that this is out of context: [``Did you in any way intend for Karym Ventures to get the money from Timbuktu and Osun Village?'' prosecutor Richard Scruggs asked her, in a transcript of her sworn interview released Friday.
``Absolutely not,'' Carey-Shuler replied. ``I intended for it to go to groups that I allocated it to at the budget hearings.''] - Miami Herald
What remains in light of this fact is really, what does the evidence say and who's zoomin' who?   In the New Tiimes piece a neighborhood supporter of Spense-Jones, Leroy Jones, decries KDI (Woodard and Styles) as angry for not receiving the funds (ah, yeah, well, dude...obviously you've gotten YOURS) ... [Jones says his organization Neighbors for Neighbors Association had partnered with KDI Architecture, a company owned by Woodard and Styles, on a $500,000 project to renovate building facades along NW Seventh Avenue with Afrocentric designs. "KDI has been paid $71,000 by the city but they have never submitted any drawings," Jones says. "Michelle took the position that they needed to turn in the plans before the city gave them any more money."]  but if you check the city planners office you will find the submissions from KDI presented over a year ago.  You feel me?!  GAD! 

here be monsters:  Michele Spense-Jones is a pariah on Liberty City.  Ultimately it's Liberty City who looses.  Someone who now defines audacity in running for the seat she has just been suspended from!  Tragic.