Posted in Audio Archive, Florida, Tampa Tribune Column on November 16, 2008| 1 Comment »
This not-for-profit audio archive is provided for the listening enjoyment of Daniel Ruth show fans who missed all or a portion of Sunday’s radio show. Audio is in MP3 format and all commercials have been edited out. Feel free to comment about things you heard on today’s show.
This is the first show since Daniel was laid-off by the Tampa Tribune. He talks about this as well as his teaching job at USF.
16 November 08 – Full Show (1:29:49 – 20.5mb)
Posted in Audio Archive, Current Events, Tampa Tribune Column on June 1, 2008| 1 Comment »
As Daniel mentioned recently, he did a spot on Air America Radio’s The Lionel Show back on 14 May 08. Below is the audio from his appearance and the article they talk about.
14 May 08 Daniel Ruth on The Lionel Show
Tampa Tribune article titled ” It’s A Pity There Aren’t 2 More Cells”
Posted in Florida, Tampa, Tampa Tribune Column on March 21, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Daniel’s column on 20 March dealt with the Tampa Chump, I mean Trump Tower on Ashley Drive. The Tribune also had an article on the subject on 14 Feb. You can read it here. Apparently there are two condo customers who want to get out of their Trump condo because they are unhappy the with delays and the possibility the contract will not meet the expected move-in date.
There are been numerous problems with the project including a lack of financing (Trump is basically only using his name, not his money), possible unstable ground near the river, unresolved ownership issues, and unpaid contractors. Now these condo investors are getting a little antsy as each deadline comes and goes. It’s unlikely they’ll have any recourse at this poit since as long as the condo contract hasn’t been broken, they basically just need to wait until the deadline before they can cry about not being able to move-in on time.
Hey, if you’ve got approximately $150K for a Chump Tower Condo, you can afford to wait until the deadline has passed before filing your lawsuit. It’s not Trump’s fault you chose to buy a glorified apartment after seeing too many Apprentice episodes. As the saying goes, there’s a sucker born every minute.
Posted in Current Events, Steve Stanton, Tampa Tribune Column on March 16, 2007| 5 Comments »
Once again, Daniel has another fantastic column on the embarrassment that is the Largo City Commission. You can read the full 17 March article on my Tribune Archive page.
There is certainly plenty of Florida and national precedence that it’s illegal to discriminate against someone and fire them for the sole reason that they chose to have a sex change. Daniel is exactly correct, it will be a Ca-Ching payday for Stanton if the idiots elected to the Largo City Commission haven’t done their research regarding discrimination laws.
I’ll be thoroughly surprised if they “do the right thing” and go back on their threat to fire a man despite 14 years of outstanding service to the city. I really hope they do dig their heels in and continue to side with the far right bigots who are behind this embarrassment. This way Stanton can sue the city for boat loads of money and then the city can raise the taxes of the people they are supposedly representing so they can pay the court settlement that will inevitably follow.
The Largo City Commission was more concerned about offending the religious right when they made their initial decision. Hopefully they have heard the nationwide uproar from the majority of the country who does not support discrimination. If they go through with this, what’s next? Will they fire someone for not supporting the war in Iraq? Will they not hire someone because they have a Vote Democrat sticker on their car bumper?
Like it or not, believe it or not, the far right who think Fox News is actually “fair and balanced” are behind this. They need to learn that discrimination will not be tolerated based on a person’s sexual orientation or preference. And it’s NOT in the bible so stop using that argument.
Posted in Politics, Tampa Tribune Column on March 16, 2007| 1 Comment »
You can read the accompanying 15 March column on my Tribune Archive page.
Daniel wrote an excellent column on 15 March regarding Joe Redner and the possibility he just may win a city council seat this time. I think Redner is more like the everyday average Tampa citizen than Gwen Miller. And as Daniel rightly pointed out in his article, Redner has emerged as the candidate with a keener understanding of the issues important to Tampa voters.
Few Tampa voters took the 10 minutes out of their day to participate in the last election. Maybe the possibility of a Redner victory will get them off their Lazyboy chairs this time and in front of the ballot box. As one man with one city council vote, Redner is unlikely to make the walls of city hall come crumbling down if he wins. So I encourage Tampa voters to give the guy a shot. So what if he has strip club businesses. Direct TV, Dish Network, and Brighthouse all offer porn channels to any subscriber who wants to watch it. The citizens of Tampa don’t seem to have a problem with that since they allow those companies to do business in Tampa.
If you don’t want Redner to win, I suggest Tampa voters get off their ass and vote this time. If they don’t, they will have no reason to complain if Redner wins. I suspect they will see he cares about the city just as much as anyone else does.
What do you think will happen on the 7th try for Redner? Will he win this time? Are you a Tampa voter? Do you plan to vote?
Posted in Politics, Tampa Tribune Column on March 13, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Daniel’s Tribune article on the lack of election participation was really disappointing to me. You can read the March 8 article here. As an active duty military member, I can understand exactly what Daniel is writing about. How many times have we heard someone say we’re in Iraq to fight for freedom and democracy. That same freedom and democracy that inspired just 27,948 of the 179,353 registered voters in Tampa to take 10 minutes out of their day to visit the ballot box.
As a Florida resident who is also a military member, I vote via absentee ballot on every election since I left the Tampa Bay area. I’m registered in St Petersburg but I’m stationed in Utah now. But guess what Tampa, I still voted in the election last week. Why? Why should I care when I don’t even live in the city anymore? I vote because I should vote. Because I care about what goes on in my state of legal residence. I vote because it’s the right thing to do.
So why is it so many Tampa residents didn’t vote last week, even though they have the right and freedom to do so? Quite simply, because they don’t care. Oh sure, you’ll here excuse after excuse about how they forgot, didn’t have time, or didn’t think their vote was important. Sorry folks, those reasons are not good enough for me. Apparently Tampa residents prefer to simply pay their taxes and have no say in the city government that determines everything from how much taxes are to how many police are employed by the city.
Each and every resident who chose not to vote is saying this. No matter how many military members died to give me the right to vote, I don’t care. Maybe I should use some catch phrases that Republicans like to use and adjust them for possible use as get out the vote signs during the next election. See if any of them sound familiar.
If people want to show their support for us military members, forget the flags and car magnets, get out and vote next time. This Tampa election, and probably so many others in FL and around the country every year, is an embarrassment when people don’t vote. If you don’t want to vote, fine, don’t vote. But I say we have a ballot measure that automatically raises taxes by 20% unless 3/4 of the eligible voters vote. If 3/4 of the people vote, no tax increase that year. If they stay at home like they did in Tampa, taxes go up. I guarantee people will vote next time.
Posted in Tampa Tribune Column on March 11, 2007| 2 Comments »
The Tampa Tribune lists Daniel’s most recent column on their web site but they only show the last 12 and then drop the oldest one as new articles are written. I’ve saved his articles on my Tribune Archive tab at the top of the blog for those of you who want to look back at what he has written.
Posted in Current Events, Steve Stanton, Tampa Tribune Column on March 9, 2007| 11 Comments »
Also, this topic was the call of the week from Shane. See the post and hear the clip here.
Daniel spent quite a bit of time Saturday on the Steve Stanton case. He called it High Noon meets The Crying Game. He also wrote an excellent article in his Tampa Tribune column. You can read it here. Stanton, was put on paid leave (precursor to getting fired) fired as the Largo, FL city manager after he announced he has chosen to undergo a sex change operation to become a woman. The council voted 5-2 in their decision.
Some of Daniel’s points were:
He has simply come to terms with his gender identity and is seeking the proper medical procedure to accomplish that. After 14 years of faithful, incident free government service, he was let go.
A recent poll was taken and 51% of respondents said the city council was wrong, 25% said they were right, 24% were not sure.
Should the City Council have taken more time to study the issue? 63% agreed, disagree 26%.
Do you think a public official that has a sex change operation has the right to keep their job? 68% agreed, 17% disagreed.
Could you work for a person who had a sex change operation? 78% Yes, 12% No
The rest of the survey was much the same. Daniel thought the firing was an overreaction by the City Council. I agree. This is just moronic to fire someone who did nothing legally wrong. The city of Largo can anticipate a HUGE judicial settlement if they choose to go through with wrongfully firing someone without just cause. So what if they guy wants to be called Susan rather than Steve. Why should anyone care?
The City Council of Largo, FL has shown what buffoons they are and in my opinion they are a complete embarrassment. I hope Steve/Susan Stanton gets such a large payout that the city of Largo has to declare bankruptcy.
There is an excellent interview with Steve Stanton on Creative Loafing. Click here to read the article.
What do you think? Click on the comment link and post your opinion.
Posted in Tampa Tribune Column on February 28, 2007| 5 Comments »
Daniel wrote about the Steven Green slumlord case in his Tampa Tribune column yesterday. It really is a joke how Green can even remotely suggest he his a “victim of circumstance”. If he’s a victim of anything, he’s a victim of getting caught. If he was so sure of his innocence, why did he choose to plead guilty to federal charges of failing to file tax returns in 1999, 2000 and 2001, and using a false Social Security number on an application for a $9 million mortgage? Yes your honor for I plead guilty. however, it’s not MY fault.
Thanks to the media, this story got local attention and exposed the plight of tenants who were the unfortunate victims of his money greed. If you listen to Green, it’s Hillsborough County’s fault for condemning the apartments as code violations accrued again and again. Hey, if they didn’t inspect, there wouldn’t have been any code violations.
And his “I’m a good guy because I give to charity excuse” is insulting. Do we allow bank robbers to get away with the robbery as long as they donate a portion of their crime profits to charity? No, of course not. Green is getting off easy with a 33 month sentence, probation, restitution, and fines. He should be forced to live in the same dump apartments he chose to purchase and rent to others.
What do you think? Post your comments.
Posted in Tampa Tribune Column on February 27, 2007| Leave a Comment »
You can read the full Tampa Tribune column here
Nice column Daniel. Yes, many cats really do like to play and/or be swung around in a paper bag. I had a cat that absolutely loved it. I really don’t know what the big deal is if animal rights groups are upset over this campaign. I don’t suspect Checkers is encouraging cat owners to forcefully stuff their cats in paper bag. Trust me, any cat with just a little personality and curiosity will very willingly venture into that paper bag all on their own. I don’t see that as mistreatment of an animal. I’ll admit, Rapcat is not exactly the best promo gimmick on the market today. It certainly doesn’t make me want to run out to get my Rapcat toy and order a burger and side order of fries in the process. I hope Checkers isn’t hoping to increase sales with the help of Rapcat.
All you need to do Daniel is get yourself a paper bag or two and maybe even decorate it. Then give it to some cat loving friends of yours and you will see, the paper bag is one of the cheapest cat toys available today. Your cat owner friend will love you for it.
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