Sarasota Speaks

If you have not RSVP'd for this month's "Pizza and Politics" event, co-hosted by the Sarasota-Manatee Young Democrats, please sign up by 6pm Thursday. This

Ancient Chinese Stir Fry Secrets: Restaurant kitchens have extremely high powered stoves, flames that jump so high that your eyebrows will singe just standing in the doorway. At home, especially with electric stovetops, we just can't get that kind of heat. To compensate you've got to ...

Ok, this is a personal post, rather than an informative post. So please bear with me.I know this story. I’ve been following it from the very first night, when we received an e-mail alert from a local news station. I watched the search. I work very close to where Denise was [...]

On Sunday, the Miami Herald published an investigation titled “Borrowers Betrayed” revealing that state regulators allowed thousands of ex-convicts to enter the mortgage business. In response, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has called for the commissioner of the state’s Office of Financial Regulation, Don Saxon, to resign.

In Vincent Bugliosi’s explosive new book, “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder”, the former prosecutor presents a legal case that puts the country’s 43rd President on trial in an American Courtroom for the murder of over 4,000 American solders fighting in Iraq.

Several Sarasota County Commissions today said they objected to published reports that say they are being ‘sneaky’ in possibly using property taxes to pay for a new spring training home for the Boston Red Sox.In a meeting yesterday(Tuesday), Commissioners agreed that would not use any sales tax for a new park, but Commissioner John Thaxton admitted that the conversation had grown somewhat ‘muddled’ (roll tape#1 o.q.”right”)On Tuesday, the County Commission rejected 1 possible site – Twin Lakes Park – as a place to move the Sarasota fairgrounds.

In a statement submitted to the platform committees of both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, the Anti-Defamation League reiterated its position on creationism and intelligent design:The platform statement describes ADL’s positions on the issues and outlines recommendations on policy direction that the organization hopes the parties will adopt, according to a [...]

J SARASOTA POLICE DEPARTMENT Peter J. Abbott, Chief of Police NEWS RELEASE uly 23, 2008 Former Golf Course Manager Arrested Detectives of the Sarasota Police

Reminder from: SarasotaVoices Yahoo! Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SarasotaVoices/cal SURE Thursday July 24, 2008 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm (This event repeats

Clean Water Action, a political action committee that has its origins in Ralph Nader’s late ’60s activism, gave its endorsement to local Democratic Congressional candidate Christine Jennings yesterday.In its endorsement letter, the group said that Jennings was committed to protecting “our lakes, rivers, streams and drinking water sources.”Jennings’ campaign, in announcing the endorsement, accused her [...]

Quick name the state the licenses thousands of felons as mortgage brokers… uh, oh yeah, it’s Florida. Great investigative work by the Miami Herald.• Iraq? Afghanistan? Shouldn’t John McCain know the difference? The embarassing senior moments continue to pile up. Even worse, CBS News covered up for him. It’s one thing to be a senile [...]

You know the economy’s in dire straits when the porn biz is a hurtin’.Catfight! Catfight!This just in: More time suckage to be had — TiVo to stream YouTube videos.Defamer’s headline department scores another audible laugh.A couple of weeks ago, my Morning After column bitched to this effect. Thank you, Gawker.If you’ll excuse us, we couldn’t [...]

I do NOT own any Neil Diamond albums, just to make it clear. I am not that old. ;-) But I do like his music. I like his voice; it's got a huskiness to it that is very "everyman" in its warmth. And I like this particular song's extolling the virtues of America, and why people seek to come here.

Watched this video about 10 or 15 times this afternoon. She blows me away ... ROCK ON!

Maybe you noticed I’ve been gone. Or judging from the empty inbox, maybe not. I’ve been doing a little sole searching (fish pun intended), figuring out the future of this Web site. And I realized that it is something I want to stick with and I hope you will rejoin me on the journey. Or [...]

WSLR 96.5 LP FM Sarasota's Community Radio Station welcomes

Hurricane Dolly strengthening as it approaches the southern Texas coast. Hurricane Warning remains in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi...and for the northeastern coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward to the border

Hurricane Dolly strengthening as it approaches the southern Texas coast. Hurricane Warning remains in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi...and for the northeastern coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward to the border

In a few weeks, our family will be heading out for a family roadtrip! The boys were great travelers as little ones — we made countless long trips in the minivan. But in Ukraine we were free of a vehicle, and the trips we took were overnight by train. Lots of fun, [...]

Tonight, ABC is airing their show about Denise Amber Lee on Primetime:Crime. I went to their website to verify that it was on tonight. They have a long article with Denise’s story, along with a short video (that doesn’t seem to be embeddable). Even though I know this story inside out, I [...]

Obama takes on airs of inevitability The Washington Times Barack Obama is only a candidate, but don't tell that to the Germans, some of whom have leapfrogged that whole election thing and already are calling him "President Obama" in

Dining highlights from my trip to San Francisco. By Judi Gallagher I left my heart and taste buds in San Francisco. Yes, there is the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Giants (worth checking out ATT field, if only for the exquisite views of

Taking a peek inside two top gated communities. By Robert Plunket I spent the weekend exploring gated communities out east of I-75, and guess what? Most of them dont even keep their gates shut. So what are they there for? Show? Emergencies? In case

Joan Vennochi of the Boston Globe writes, "JUST LIKE the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama.

A friend of mine had had enough at her job. She's forced to work from open until closing, "managing" a crew of undisciplined, slacker teens and twenty-somethings who have no work ethic. Most of them are useless, yet she has no power to fire them. She complains to her boss and identifies the problems and proposes solutions, yet he rarely does anything about it.

U.S. Senate Hearing on Climate Science - Study Finds 'Mostly Natural' Warming.Senator Inhofe Excerpt: Numerous peer-reviewed studies, analyses and prominent scientists continue to speak out to refute many conclusions of the IPCC. I have documented in the past how the consensus on the “science is settled” debate has been challenged, and in many cases, completely refuted, from the hockey stick, to the Stern Review, to the IPCC backtracking on conclusive physical links between global warming and observed hurricane frequency and intensity.

Since cracks then earth quakes convulsed the economy starting in the summer of 2007, pundits have actively debated about both the depth of the financial downturn and its duration. Over $300 billion dollars has been written down to date. Ultimately, losses could exceed $ One trillion dollars. “It is the economy stupid” seems to be on everybody’s lips.The collective American wallet that for a generation was buoyed by rising asset prices and financial innovations has been zipped up. Consumer spending that represents about 70% of the gross domestic demand has slowed to a trickle because of the following:

The Dining Divas “Eclectic Eateries Off the Eaten Path”Weekly eating adventures in which we set out to explore Sarasota area’s culinary hits (or misses).  The objective is to discover those restaurants, pubs or cafes that are locally owned, have a soul, offer entrees under $15