January 2008 - Posts
By Mark Potter, NBC News Correspondent
MIAMI – After enduring the desperate battle over vote counts in the 2000 presidential election debacle – and all the "Flori-DUH" jokes that followed – then fighting over the validity of touch screen voting in the 2004 and 2006 elections, Florida Democrats were eagerly poised for a nice clean shot at 2008. After all, what could possibly go wrong now?
Well, here's exactly what went wrong. In the fourth largest state in the country, with its mother lode of delegates and no shortage of big-money donors, the Democratic candidates are no-shows in the 2008 Florida presidential primary.
That left the state wide open to the Republicans, who had a field day in all that open space, and with all that free air-time right before Super Tuesday. For local Democrats there was the sickening realization they may have just shot themselves in the foot with many of the state's famously independent voters come November.
CONTINUED >>
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON – Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Dozier's ancestors fought in the Civil War, both World Wars, and Desert Storm, so it seemed only natural that he would serve in the military, too.
"He's been playing soldier since he was a tiny boy," his mother told Tennessee’s Jackson Sun. Dozier would dress in camouflage as a child and play army in the woods behind his Chesapeake, Va., home.
He joined the Army for real in 1997, later left to attend Middle Tennessee State University, and re-enlisted in 2005. Before deploying to Iraq in August, he asked his father, "Is it weird to really want to do this?"
"No," his father replied, according to Virgina’s Daily Press, "This is what you're trained to do."
 |
| Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP |
| The parents of Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Dozier, of Chesapeake, Va., Carl Dozier and Martha Cabe, center, and widow Amy Dozier, second from left, receive flags from Brig. Gen. John Johnson, during a burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Tuesday, Jan. 22. |
Dozier was trained as a sniper team leader in Iraq. He and five other members of the First Armored Division were killed Jan. 9 by a bomb blast in Sinsil, north of Baghdad. When two soldiers appeared later that day at his father's door, his dad knew something was wrong.
"How bad is it?" he asked them, according to the Daily Press. "As soon as they started saying, ‘The Secretary of the Army regrets to inform you ...’, I knew how bad it was."
CONTINUED >>
By Don Teague, NBC News Correspondent
DALLAS – I was driving my 15-year-old daughter, Rachael, to school the other day.
"Do we have to listen to the news," she asked, already switching the tuner from AM to FM.
"No, you can change the channel," I answered, as if I had any actual say.
After 30 seconds of scanning every station, she remembered nobody plays music in the morning.
"Ugh," she said, digging in her backpack, "I forgot my iPod."
So she scrolled through my iPod to see if by some miracle my musical tastes have changed.
"Slightly Stoopid, ewww."
"G. Love, as if."
"The Cure, puh-leeze."
She kept scrolling.
"Anything but Linkin Park," I said, "not at 8:20 in the morning."
She suddenly stopped scrolling, and shot me what I can only call an "accusatory" look.
"What’s this?"
"What?"
She showed me my own iPod.
"THIS…Do you seriously have Britney Spears on your iPod?"
I tried to use my grownup voice.
"Yes. It’s her new album. It’s surprisingly good."
"Dad," she said earnestly, "Britney Spears is not a good role model, she’s disgusting."
Before I could respond, Linkin Park began destroying my car speakers.
CONTINUED >>
By Stephanie Himango, NBC News Producer
MIAMI – On Tuesday, one year after moving here from Illinois, I got a firsthand look at one of the key issues shaping southern Florida – migration from Cuba.
Just before dawn, I was out for a run near the waters of Biscayne Bay. I had nearly reached the Rickenbacker Bridge when I saw ahead of me in the lifting darkness a group of people walking toward me on the same tree-lined path.
Not fully awake, despite the fact that I was running, my first thought was this might be a bunch of teenage kids who were up to no good. After all, why would any group of people be walking together in a tight-knit pack on a running path just before daybreak?
I moved over to a parallel path closer to the water, one with fewer trees and better light. As I passed the group, I observed it was made up of mostly men, but a few women as well. Again, without full light it was difficult to tell. Some of the men walked slowly with their hands folded gently behind them, a posture that was slightly comforting to this lone jogger.
I continued my run over the bridge and started back when I heard a siren and soon saw red emergency vehicle lights ahead. Then I saw a single helicopter flying overhead.
As I got closer, I could take in the whole scene, and I suddenly knew exactly what was happening before me. The group was now accompanied by a fire rescue truck, a police car, and a couple of law enforcement officers standing near them.
Everyone in the group was seated on the same running path, quietly, seemingly peaceful in their place, some without shoes, one with gray hair, and a few with sheets or blankets wrapped around them.
They were Cubans. They had made it. Dry feet. Success.
The group will very likely be allowed to remain here under the U.S. government policy known as "wet foot/dry foot." Had they been interdicted at sea, they would most likely have been sent back to Cuba.
CONTINUED >>
By Tom Junod, NBC News Producer
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Another page has turned in the post-Katrina history of Louisiana.
Bobby Jindal, the 36-year-old son of Indian immigrants, was sworn in as the state’s governor today. A two-term Republican congressman, he takes over from Democrat Kathleen Blanco, who was at the helm when the storm hit and was blamed both for her handling of floods’ immediate aftermath and for the slow pace of the state's recovery.
 |
| AFP - Getty Image |
|
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal smiles at his wife Supriya Jindal after taking the oath of office in Baton Rouge on Monday.
|
Voters in the state cast their ballots for change, and with Jindal they certainly have a fresh face. He's the youngest currently serving governor in the United States and the first ever of Indian descent.
CONTINUED >>
By Mark Potter, NBC News Correspondent
MIAMI – In Miami, the U.S. Coast Guard is urging Cuban-American families to stop financing the dangerous business of smuggling people from Cuba to the United States.
So far, though, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears as the lucrative trade in human cargo continues to grow and more men, women and children die at sea. Based on recent reports, the Coast Guard believes as many as 65 people may have died in Cuban smuggling trips since Nov. 24.
"I find it particularly frustrating and deeply disturbing that some in the South Florida community, and some Cuban-American families in particular, continue to support illegal and life threatening migrant smuggling," said Rear Admiral David W. Kunkel, Commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District.
Arguing that paying migrant smugglers directly funds organized crime, Kunkel added, "Some members of the community are also tacitly supporting these criminals by failing to report suspicious activity or looking the other way."
CONTINUED >>
