So much goodness out there today it's actually quite overwhelming. It's a long Sift this evening so get your cup of decaf and get comfortable. Here we go...
A- Owenized doesn't think that all Starbucks are created equal and goes out and reviews 11 of them in Miami-Dade and Broward County to prove his point. Wow.
B- Mayor Manny blogs about the upcoming Earth Hour where everyone turns their lights off for an hour and then turns them back on to see what was taken.
C- I am really digging the (covert) overt, from the intermittent cap keys malfunctions to the cool [where] in brackets at the end of the post...it feels good. Today, check out the posts on the upcoming events at Transit Lounge and the not-so-complimentary review of Soyka.
in the nine or ten (maybe more) times i've been to soyka's, spanning well over a year, i've tried burgers and pastas and salads and wood-fired pizzas and the food's been okay at best. and in the process, i've learned a few things...
+ great ambiance
+ adorable, romantic little back alley
- slow service
- shitty acoustics
- less than desirable food
D- Foodtastic! reviews Big Pink, one of my favorite places to casually dine on South Beach and they love it as much as I do.
E- Blog posts about SoFla commutes are always great and Computer Colonics' story about this morning is priceless to anyone familiar with the 826/836 interchange.
Here is how I feel when I occasionally screw up on a highway that plots my death on a daily basis and is completely, and brutally unforgiving when it senses a weakness on my part. In my head, as I am passing the turn and realizing I can’t possibly get over in time to make it, I have an out of body experience wherein I rip my brains out of my skull, hold them in front of my face and scream at them, “What the HELL is WRONG with you? Are you high?”
F- Daily Cocaine visits Amendment XXI and reviews the food and the song...and a murky YouTube is included.
There were a lot of pretty girls, cigarette-smoking, care-free dancing, old friends, and a general damn-good feeling. There was a vibe player. The sound was great, and the Reverend, as I like to call him, took advantage of the crowd's buoyant mood, and soared.
G- Blogs are ganging up on U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Discourse has the links.
H- Eye on Miami details how the "hands off" Republicans have come to the aid of financial institutions in the last couple weeks and haven't batted an eye. Silly Eye on Miami, don't you know they only hesitate and whine when they're helping the poor?
I- Critical Miami captures a cool scene in the Keys and, in another post, continues his well established routine of criticizing, second-guessing and generally hating on SoFla police officers.
J- Coconut Grove Grapevine believes that working artists would be a great addition to the streets of the Grove.
So as not to turn the place into a flea market or carnival, maybe three artists a day will work -- all through permit basis and they will rotate daily or weekly -- there would be a different set of artists each day. The artists will paint on canvas, and I think, add a little charm to the streets. The artists would hand out business cards and direct interested buyers to galleries or their homes for sales, but they would not be selling right there on the street. They would be only working and that would be the objective -- an artist at work, just part of the scenery.
K- Bark Bark Woof Woof explains why Republicans don't want to talk about race.
The reason the conservatives don't want to talk about race is because they know that every time the conversation turns to it, they lose. Their record on race relations is dismal and they know it, and they also know that if they try to run against Mr. Obama on the race issue alone, they will get hammered by the Democrats and anyone else, including moderate Republicans, who recognize that race still plays an important role in our society from education to health care and everything else that defines us. To ignore it, trivialize it, or even resent it -- or, as Mr. Kristol does, stick your fingers in your ears, close your eyes, and yell "Shut up! Shut up!" -- makes it abundantly clear that for whatever reason Mr. Obama brought it up, race has always been an issue in American life and politics and will be long after this election is over.
And this evening I save the last word for babalu, not for what they posted today, but for what they didn't. They railed against liberals as they always do. Val Prieto posted about some home renovations that he's doing. They made fun of Canadians and Henry Gomez even posted on something that was in the Herald 20 years ago.
But today this very, very political blog named babalu could not take a minute or devote one inch of screen space to noting the passing of the 4,000th American soldier to die in combat in Iraq. Maybe because, to them, it's just a number. Maybe because, as they themselves have explained, it's because more people die from lung cancer each year in the United States. Maybe it's because the man that they voted for and then put back into office for another go round is responsible for this God awful needless loss of life and they would just rather not be reminded about that responsibility they share with this president.
Whatever the reason, shame on them.
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23 comments:
personally, im more interested in Vals remodeling than I am some number that libs are crying over. War is war. We need to stop crying about the soldiers who died and accept it as the cost of our freedom. If we want gas, we have to fight for it and some body has to die. For every one of ours, 1000 of those ragheds get killed. I think thats a pretty good percentage rate.
You're right rick we should bring all the troops home right now, let Iraq devolve into an even bigger mess and really make those 4,000 deaths meaningless.
What a jerk.
I'm not really into making big posts with 4,000. I think it has that sense for some like people who oppose the war were just waiting for it.
It kind of is just a number in that it really doesn't mark anything significant. The 4,000th death died for the same cause as the same reasons as the 3,999th death. The number itself is meaningless.
1 soldier is already too many to lose to a meaningless war; I don't think there's a need for glorification of an arbitrary number; especially when the more morbid of the pseudo-conservative crowd claim how the number is dwarfed by every other conflict we've engaged in.
@pototo
Take this from someone who is more "conservative" than I'm sure you could ever dream of being:
This isn't a liberal or conservative thing. The people over there aren't fighting for our freedoms, Iraq never threatened those. They're not fighting for cheaper oil, it's never cost more. They're not fighting for any of our interests. Not a single one.
Forget liberal or conservative. Every single reason this administration has given for the war has turned out to be false. Some of these reasons have turned out to have known to have been false while the administration was using it as evidence. We've never had a discussion of what the goal is in the country. We don't have an idea to end it; and this country, conservatives especially, has never been of the opinion that we should be engaged in perpetual war.
We're doing the types of things these days that we decried the Soviets for - empire building, spying on citizens, manipulation of the media, voting fraud. And while all this is going on, thousands of the best people we have in this country are dying in the middle of the desert for absolutely no strategic, logical, or moral reason. You can gloss over that fact all you want; but to do so requires a great and, at this point, a willful ignorance of the actions of this administration.
This is not simply a war over in some far off place; it's a war here, in this country, about what our mission as a nation should be. Simply downing out the voices of others because they don't agree with you world view is the very definition of being unpatriotic.
I'm guessing something else pototo is not interested on is "poner el muerto" (being the dead one). Otherwise he should be volunteering to go fight for his gas. Jeez, the idiot can't even spell his slurs correctly.
Re. J: Damn, that's not a very controlling proposition for the Grove street art, isn't it? Three artists only, local artists only, canvas and oil only, no-selling-painting only, etc. Ah, but they can paint whatever they want. Whew.
That's very bohemian, carefree and unstructured.
Alex C: Mentioning it, even discussing it, isn't glorifying it. And while it is a number for many of us, I can assure you it isn't for 8,000 mothers and fathers and countless relatives and friends.
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It's sad that 4000 people died there.
It's sad that people die here of violent crimes. In fact, more people have died stateside.
It's sad that over 50K people died in Vietnam.
What's sadder is when people use this as an excuse for political points especially as done by the so called "progressives" (since they're not liberals anymore).
Frankly, I'm sadder that one of my closest friends was murdered here in Broward County a few weeks ago.
There's needless loss of life anywhere we go and no Dem or Republican is ever going to stop it.
More solidiers have died under the Dems than the GOP since 1945.
I don't see you calling Truman, JFK, and LBJ satans
More solidiers have died under the Dems than the GOP since 1945.
You are a real piece of work, Cohiba. You even use the "they did it, so it's okay that we're doing it" argument with American lives. God, you're pathetic.
Your "sadness" is impressive.
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Sr Cohiber: Sorry to hear one of your friends was murdered right here in Broward County. But as you know, there are plenty of murders in South Florida each year, and after all, your friend's death is just a number, really. The price of living in an open, free society like ours is that unfortunately, as you put it, "people die of violent crimes," but more don't than do, so it's acceptable collateral damage. Right? So get over it, liberal. I mean, progressive.
What an appalling perspective, but I'm certain you don't see it.
Considering the comments by pototo, anon and cohiba, I'm glad that babalu didn't mention that soldier #4,000 was lost over there. I can only imagine how insulting they would be. The comments by the three of you are infuriating, but Cohiba's really bothered me. Squathole summed up my opinion on this one pretty well, but even more so, since There's needless loss of life anywhere we go as you put it, then we might as well stop trying to put a stop to it. What's the point in trying to do better if we are going to fail. Open the jails, let the murderers out, start more wars with no point, take police off the street.
But I'm sure I will be called the crazy one, the one who is exaggerating because those ideas are crazy, continuing a war with no end in sight, no plan and no purpose, now THAT makes sense.
you miss the point rick. wars suck. all life is precious and it's sad when anyone has to lose a life.
What makes this war anymore just or unjust than Vietnam? or Korea?
Was our national security threatened in those 3 conflicts?
It's easy to monday morning quarterback. surely, knowing what we know now, GWB made the wrong decision. LBJ and JFK made the wrong decisions. Based on their decisions people died.
I want this war to end as much as the next guy. The question is do we say, have a nice day, you're on your own like we did in Nam? or can a better solution be reached. I'm not a general and don't purport to be one. We have civilian control over the military and while that's the way it should be, the politics of war complicate things and usually make matters worse.
I don't have the answers and neither do you. But using the war for political purposes is sad just as much from the right than from the left.
As I've said a million times, if the war is unjust as you say it is, then you are morally obligated to stop it and not fund it. Your Dems refuse to do this because of political expediency. That's more unfortunate. The Congress can end this war very quick by stopping the funding. The "progressives" have been in charge for 2 years now. So what gives?
No, YOU miss the point, Senor. Nice try to deflect though.
The discussion was about why babalu didn't bother to mention this figure, not about whether wars suck or are right or whatever else you want to make this discussion into to avoid addressing the original point.
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Or maybe, beause to the boys at Babalu, it might be a real, solemn occassion, and making political and blog hay out of it just seemed a bit disrespectful.
Your epilogue for Babalu is now recorded in cyberspace, Rick. Concisely displaying your use of the deaths of 4000 Americans to take a petty blog swipe.
Once again the archives of both of our blogs pretty much speak for themselves and show the true measure of their respective contributors.
No, Val, I think you, George and Henry have clearly annunciated why you guys don't say anything as the numbers tick higher. We both know why that is and for you to be less than honest about it at this point is all the more shameful.
"Boys at Babalu," Val? Nothing, absolutely nothing could be more accurate.
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Rick, at least they can claim to be boys, which is a higher level than I think you can claim based on what I've read here. Val (and others) at Babalu have raised money and done things for the soldiers and most especially for the wounded. They have actively supported those serving by deed, not word. When a disabled veteran was robbed recently in Miami, Val jumped in to help them deal with the loss, so that work with disabled children as well as war veterans was not impacted. What have you done other than belittle and posture? Val has also supported embeds, such as myself. Have you done even that? What shame there is lies on you.
Laughing Wolf
Laughing Wolf: It's obvious that you are not a regular reader here otherwise you would have seen where I noted Val's assistance and even complimented him on it. If you read with any consistency you would also find where I've both complimented and criticized babalu writers where I thought it appropriate.
I'm not questioning Val's or "The Babalu Boys" patriotism although, as you'll note, Val resorts to that predictable conservative tactic in his response to me.
In fact, it's his loyalty and his patriotism that make this omission at babalu even more glaring and, I might add, obviously motivated by his own political concerns. I think you'll find if you take a tour around conservative blogs yesterday that the majority of them were doing one of two thing: 1) ignoring the casualties like babalu did, or 2) criticizing those who didn't. So babalu is my no means out of the norm for the wingnut blogs, but it is local and as such falls within my commentary.
In addition, other writers on babalu have minimized the casualty count in the past as being something relatively small when you compare it to, say, drunk driving deaths or lung cancer rates.
Val's claims they were indeed solemnly observing the occasion at babalu and not making political hay out of it, are, well, hilariously shameful themselves. I'm not sure whether that observance was after the very solemn home remodeling post or before the dignified roasting of Canadians that they did.
Which prompts me to request that any reader who observed any conservative making political hay out of casualties that have resulted from a ginned up war by a bunch of neocon Republicans, be sure to let me know.
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Sr. Cohiba,
I know I'm getting to this late and it might not even be read, but here goes.
What's sadder is when people use this as an excuse for political points especially as done by the so called "progressives"
It is important to be very clear about what phrases like "political points" mean. Let's spend some time with this.
If by "political points" you mean "a cynical way to stick it to the republicans", then you must be making the assumption that the Democrats secretly support the war.
Rather than go back and forth on this, I'll just ask the question, Do you think most Democrats in office support the continuation of this war?
If you don't believe that they do, then the Democrat's raising of the issue is actually a way to encourage a withdrawal. Not a scoring of "political points" but the application of political pressure. I don't see how this is out-of-bounds.
This goes to the next point,
There's needless loss of life anywhere we go and no Dem or Republican is ever going to stop it.
To make this statement in the context of the Iraq War, to actually believe that it represents any sort of shorthand to logical argument, betrays a profound error in thinking about what has happened over the past 5 years.
Here is the reality, the Bush Administration pursued a policy of unilateral action and pre-emptive warfare against a nation that he knew represented no threat to any US interest - a plainly unnecessary war. In doing so, Bush is responsible for all of the lives lost. Although no lives are worth more than others, the loss of 4,000 American lives needs to be recognized as particularly tragic in light of what our own Gen. Petraeus has said many times, that there is no strictly military victory to be had in Iraq.
We knew, Sr. Cohiba. We knew that, even with competent leadership, that we could not rebuild this nation. Bush Sr. ceased the first Iraq War because of that knowledge. So, these lost lives beg that the scarlet figure 4,000 be sewn on each war-supporters, enablers, political power-brokers shirt, to be worn as a penance, not for some political vendetta but as a lifelong reminder of the sin they have committed.
- Gus
Youre not still blogging on my dime, are ya Rick?
ordinarily i wouldnt mind, of course, but given this sewage post, I prefer my tax dollars be spent elsewhere.
A flag for the lapel, anyone?
A-Cab is right. No hard and fast rule need be applied to the mention of the 4000 lost. Needless in the extreme? Yes. In a way that few other lives, lost in other conflicts, were. And yes, to cling to the truth that people die in war is to give justification to this one, where all manner of justification has dissipated, proven a farce.
But to criticize over a mention, or lack thereof? Isn't that the type of petty detail which maturity should demand we leave alone? Surely the inability to admit a mistake looms larger, and more meaningful.
Keep your focus, Val! This isn't about me, you silly buffoon, it's about you and babalu. Sheesh. As a side note....is Fidel dead yet? Pinky swear that you'll give me the scoop first.
Nonee: Yes, you're probably right on the leave alone part. Sometimes I write and address things that I should probably just steam over in private. But that's the way things have always been and for things to be any different wouldn't be me.
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@ val
That is really such a cowardly route to take; although it's not surprising considering you never have the sack to actually get into a substantive debate with anyone with an opposing opinion for fear that your shockingly limited world view ensures that any such confrontation would end up making you look foolish to everyone but the most die-hard, and thus necessarily ignorant, readers of your blog.
When you folks over there can actually come up with your own opinions and not base them on wild leaps of logic and reason, then perhaps people who aren't insane can take your seriously. Until then, you're that old schizophrenic guy outside of Versailles selling little Cuban flags and telling black-bag stories to anyone who comes around.
The funny part is that given the political positions that you and your crew over at Babalu have taken, Cuba would be almost assuredly be an infinitely more messed up place than it is today if it was run the way you and your group of flunkies seem to think is indicative of the proper role of government.
"I prefer my tax dollars be spent elsewhere."
Yeah, we know. Like Iraq. One trillion and counting.
November can't come fast enough.
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