14 Stories to Read

This is our regular feature where every day I do a quick post with the top posts/stories that I think people should read from the previous day.

1. Legislative Watch: Dan Gelber - Today's Budget Debate, Aikane Leo - Senate vote keeps CSX-Orlando on track, Florida Kossacks - Dems: Don't Team Up With the Forces of Ego, BlueHerald 2.0 - Teh Stupid...It Burns!, Why Now? - Our Legislature Is Different, Change in Tallahassee - Senate Democrats Throw Floridians A Financial Lifeline, Change in Tallahassee - House Democrats: “The budget takes us down a disastrous path,” Incertus (Brian) - A Trifecta of Stupid, Pensacola Beach Blog - Will the Light Shine on Florida's Department of Children and Families?, and Florida Netroots - Legislative Update.

2. Flablog - Rubio the Righteous: "This is a bit rich even by Florida standards: Rubio defends covertly helping a friend and political contributor saying his actions were done to strike a blow at the Department of Transportation's 'cozy' ties to 'monopolistic' contractors."

3. Bigot Brian Blair: Ybor City Stogie - Brian Blair Plays Intolerance Card, Progressive Homeschoolers of Florida - Hillsborough County Commissioner Blair Intolerant of Tolerance Day at Local Schools, and Pam's House Blend - Commissioner Brian 'Killer Bee' Blair has conniption over Day of Silence.

4. Florida Netroots - Want more progressive candidates?: "Then help them get on the ballot! There are two ways to get on the ballot in Florida: 1) writing a check, 2) gathering enough signature via petition. If you’d rather have a candidate spend their money on the actual campaign, rather than on getting on the ballot, which is some cases amounts to thousands of dollars, then sign their petition."

5. Congressional Races: Miami-Dade Dems - Joe Garcia vs one-note incumbent, FLA Politics (Progressive Florida) - Several US House Seats up for grabs in Florida, Ybor City Stogie - Joe Garcia - A Different Kind of Campaign, and ThinkProgress - Wexler: ‘What is the definition of winning?’

6. The Creationism Bill: Florida Citizens for Science - House bill suddenly sees action, and Ybor City Stogie - Florida As Intellectual Ghetto.

7. Smashed Frog - United States of Florida: "But allow me to explain why this Florida blog concentrates so much on national politics. We can bang our keyboards all day long in earnest attempt to change the way business is done in Tallahassee, but the truth remains--the Democrats are the minority party with a minority voice."

8. Ybor City Stogie - Camp Equality In Orlando And Ft. Lauderdale: "The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced today that it is launching a national program to help elect fair-minded candidates and defeat discriminatory ballot measures. The program – called Camp Equality – will train nearly 1,500 people in 14 cities to work on political campaigns."

9. Grassroots Brevard - Petition Packet Party v2.0: "Last night’s petition packet party was a great success. We are going to do this again on Tuesday, April 22nd @ 7pm @ the DEC office. This will be for our canvassing efforts throughout the county before the May 19th deadline. The Brevard County Young Democrats will be canvassing every Saturday beginning April 26th (where we will be working the Titusville area). Here is what we are asking of the candidates and volunteers participating..."

10. Interstate4Jamming2 - New School To Honour Two Civil Rights Activists: "Last week America remembered the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his efforts to better the lives of people of color, championing the cause of equality for all the nation's citizens and ending the disgrace of segregation. Locally, two names from Winter Haven stand out for their work along those same lines, and their work is being honoured."

11. becoming change - michelle obama is the real deal...: "today i had the honor and privilege of meeting and listening to Michelle obama in tallahassee, and i can tell you with every ounce of political experience i have she will be like no first lady that this country has every experienced."

12. Also check out CG Radio and Situation Awareness radio.

13. For more, as always, go to the FLA Politics daily round-up, Political Newsclippings from The Spencerian and the Evening Sift from South Florida Daily Blog.

14. Finally, check out our national coverage at our new blog, Florida Speaks.