Posts tagged political
Flagler’s Eaton in spotlight after interview with former Cuban spy
0October 10, 2012
Tracey Eaton was the Havana bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News when he first met Juan Pablo Roque in 2003. This past summer Eaton caught up again with Roque, a former Cuban spy who staged his own defection in 1992, and the interview is garnering major media attention.
“I was back in Havana in 2010 and 2011 working on a book about Harley-Davidson riders in Cuba,” said Eaton, an assistant professor of Communication at Flagler College. “One day I was talking with one of the riders and he told me he knew Roque and asked if I was still interested in interviewing him. Sure, I said.”
Roque, a former fighter pilot, swam to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in 1992 and declared opposition to Fidel Castro. While in South Florida, he became a pilot for Brothers to the Rescue, a group dedicated to searching for rafters in the Florida Straits.
In 1996, Roque slipped back into Cuba the day before Cuban MiGs shot down two civilian aircraft flown by members of the Brothers group, who were accused of dropping political leaflets onto Havana. The attack killed four civilians and outed Roque as a spy, surprising not only the Cuban-American woman Roque had married as part of his cover, but also the FBI who had been paying him as an informant.
Eaton’s interview was Roque’s first in 16 years and was featured on Miami’s Spanish-language cable TV station, América TeVe, for four nights on a show called, “A Mano Limpia,” hosted by journalist Oscar Haza.
In the interview, Roque, who now lives in a cramped apartment and claims he is broke, said he wishes he had done more to stop the shoot-down.
“Perhaps now … I’d try to play a much stronger role in the things that happened,” he said. “I’d try to play a better role. If I played it bad or good, let the people decide. Let those who want to judge me, judge me.”
Eaton’s interview even produced an apology from the former spy.
“If I could travel in a time machine,” he said. “I’d get those boys off the planes that were shot down.”
In addition to the video interview, Eaton wrote two stories on Roque for the non-profit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, which distributed them to a network of news outlet, including the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. The stories generated more than 1,100 comments and were picked up by dozens of websites.
Source: Flagler College
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Voguit to Examine Two-Party System During Community Lecture Series Event
0October 9, 2012
Every election year tells the same story, Republicans and Democrats battle for the right to hold powerful positions in our country with third party candidates often an afterthought. But with nothing in the Constitution or federal laws discussing a two-party system, how did this become the political norm?
“I have looked at presidential elections, congressional elections and gubernatorial elections between 1865 and 1900 and clearly America was voting for Democrats or Republicans,” said Flagler College assistant professor Steve Voguit.
“I am intrigued by this tradition since the constitution does not require political parties at all.”
Voguit will address this topic as he continues the 2012 Community Lecture Series on Oct. 23 with a talk on “United Nation, Divided Nation: Patterns in American Politics after the Civil War.”
“I’ll be attempting to show the solidifying of the two-party tradition and the domination of the Democrats and Republicans at the national level,” said Voguit, who was recently included in the Princeton Review’s latest book, “The Best 300 Professors.” “I will also talk briefly about the political conditions of that time like high voter turnout and very close elections for instance as well as the establishment of tradition in our society in general and in this case politically.”
Professor Voguit earned his M.Ed. and B.S. degrees from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He also completed graduate coursework at the University of Florida, the University of South Florida and Texas State University.
Voguit’s lecture is the second in this year’s lecture series entitled “Reconstruction & Gild: Wealth, Innovation and the Pursuit of Status in Late 19th Century America” which focuses on defining moments in American history during the mid to late 1800s. Speakers will discuss the topic through the lens of their particular discipline.
Tickets are $5 per person for a single lecture, or $15 for four lectures. Active military personnel may attend at no charge. Lectures begin at 10 a.m. in the Flagler Room at Flagler College, 74 King St. Reservations are required, but space is limited. The lecture will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a coffee and pastry reception.
For reservations or more information, call Holly Hill, Assistant Director of College Relations at (904) 819-6282. To watch a live stream of these lectures, visit ustream.tv/channel/community-lecture-series.
Flagler College is an independent, four-year, comprehensive baccalaureate college located in St. Augustine, Fla. The college offers 24 majors, 29 minors and two pre-professional programs, the largest majors being business, education and communication. Small by intent, Flagler College has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, as well as a satellite campus at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Fla. U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review regularly feature Flagler as a college that offers quality education at a relatively low cost; tuition is $23,690, including room and board. A relatively young institution (founded in 1968), Flagler College is also noted for the historic beauty of its campus. The main building is Ponce de Leon Hall, built in 1887 as a luxury resort by Henry Flagler, who co-founded the Standard Oil Company with John D. Rockefeller. For more on Flagler College, visit www.flagler.edu.
Source: Flagler College
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Innocence of Muslims – this is what all the protests murder and killing is about??
0September 21, 2012
Jann Scott’s Journal : Movie Review and political commentary
At first I thought this film was was made by South Park. It is stupid, ridiculous and so poorly made it is silly. Innocence of Muslims is the Muhammad Movie by Sam Bacile. The idea that Radical Islamists are protesting all over the world and killing Americans over it is even more ridiculous.
At first I thought this film was was made by South Park. It is stupid, ridiculous and so poorly made it is silly. Innocence of Muslims is the Muhammad Movie by Sam Bacile. The idea that Radical Islamists are protesting all over the world and killing Americans over it is even more ridiculous.
Are we at a cultural divide or what? But in all seriousness , we have to remember that people from this religion attacked our country and blew up the Wold Trade Centers not once but twice. Now they are trying to storm our US Embassies in the Arab world over a stupid movie?? Is that what this is about. Insult??
America is going to have to rethink how we are going to deal with these people. They are at war with us and there doesn’t seem to be any room for negotiation. How do you negotiate with barbarians with 4th century interpretations of the Koran.
We never should have given these people their freedom when we discovered oil there. But now that we ( the civilized world) have, we are going to need to take it back: country by country. The civilized Arabs like the Saudi need to help us too.
The US, France, Britain, Russia and China need to go back in there with an army of 5 Million Allied troops, conquer all of these bad countries and put an end to this bullshit. Old school. WWII style. We need to get rid of the crazy Mullahs. shut down the bad Mosques, kill a bunch of these people, imprison the rest and drag these tortured desert maniacs kicking and screaming into the 21st century. We need to civilize them the same way we did the Nazis and Japanese. They won’t quit til we do.
Where are Patton and Romel when we need them back in Egypt , Lybia and Tunisia?
I know our president apologized to them. But there is a hard rain a gonna fall on the Arab world. and it is about to come from all of us. My hope is that all of the big powerful countries of all religions will join together and teach these people “what would Mohamed do” he’d kill them.
We had North Africa during World War II. We never should have let it go. We backed the Arab Spring and now they have all gone power mad, are stealing our money , our good will and are killing Americans. Time to bring this to a swift end. We need to conquer and Occupy the Middle East and have good peaceful Muslems run things. But not with out the boot of Russia, China, and the USA.
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Floridians select St. Augustine as their favorite city
0July 2, 2012
“Just ask a local.” That phrase is widely accepted as the best advice anyone can offer with regard to finding the true story of a destination. So that’s exactly what Public Policy Polling did earlier this month. Renowned for their work in political polling and their ability to pick the “winners,” the folks at Public Policy Polling decided to survey Floridians to determine which city in the Sunshine State was their favorite – and which city they most disliked.
The survey of 642 voters representing all of the state’s geographic regions, ages, political affiliations and races showed that St. Augustine was their favorite Florida city. Although the results may not have been surprising, the margin of victory for the Oldest City was impressive. For example, it was “leagues ahead of the home of Disney World, Orlando” which finished second. In fact, St. Augustine was viewed favorably by 76 percent of the respondents and seen negatively by only five percent. Orlando got a 64 percent favorable and a 13 percent negative. Next came Tampa with a 61 percent favorable and 13 percent unfavorable, followed by Key West which received a 60 percent favorability rating and 12 percent who weren’t that thrilled with the city. Which city finished last? Miami had a 36 percent favorable rating, while 35 percent of Floridians viewed the city negatively.
It is important to note that no one paid Public Policy Polling to conduct the survey. They just wanted to find out what the results would be if they “just asked a local.” Needless to say, when residents of Florida’s Historic Coast are asked their opinion of the survey, the answer is: 100 percent favorable!
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Jann writes to Jane Brautigam Boulder City manager
0December 20, 2011
Dear Jane
First let me say, I think you have been doing an excellent job as city manager. This coming from someone who has been critical of most city officials over the years. In part it is my job. Also, though I have never met you, you have given me nor anyone concerned with free press a reason to complain. It is a far sight from your predecessors. I think you have resolved the public access TV issue remarkably well. Though we don’t have free public access TV anymore , we do have educational access TV and it fills the void for all citizens interested. Having BVSD run it is a good move, because they don’t cause problems.
I also think the city and police have interacted well with the occupy Boulder movement. Tonight they are camped on the front lawn of the municipal building. That’s very nice. They are our children. And they are doing what we did’; protest the injustices of powerful corporations who don’t pay taxes and big banks who attempt to enslave us all. So they need protesting.
Personally, I would have suggested that the kids protested the homes of Boulder bankers who swindle people, rather than the city manager who is trying to keep the lid on all of it.
In any event I support occupys political tactics. I think when a group who are trying to fight for freedom and against greed or intolerance, run into road blocks, they will change the rules in public policy. I certainly did. They people who stood up to the city over lack of free speech concerning public access TV, took radical steps to be heard. I did from 2005 to 2007. The city council and the city manger were under daily attacks by video, blogs and speech at council. Did it solve anything ? It showed without resolution they would remain under siege.
Much holds true with occupy Boulder. Until the banks and corporations are held accountable by the city, occupy is not going away. That is the issue. Not the protesters. They are Boulders children carrying on.
Jann Scott
from Boulder Colorado
