Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Coffee sure tastes a lot better on chilly mornings like this one. Grab a cup and relax with a fairly busy morning Sift...

A- Searching for Signs is asking his readers for their input...

I would like to try something with this post. I’m also going to ask for reader participation. Here it goes:

All you Republicans/conservatives out there: tell me something you like/admire/respect about Democrats/liberals.

Democrats/liberals: tell me something about Republicans/conservatives you like/admire/respect.

B- Eater Miami continues to post the results of their year-end survey, this time getting ideas for top restaurant standbys.

Lee Klein, restaurant critic/Miami New Times: Do the ice cream and cereal aisles at Publix count?

Michael Schwartz, chef/owner Michael's Genuine Food & Drink: Michy's and Clarke's

Jonathan Wright, chef, The Setai: Hakkasan

C- Radio or Not shares her story and battle against skin cancer.

I am now a two-time skin cancer survivor. I spent a few hours today in the office of a skin cancer specialist, who painstakingly removed a squamous cell carcinoma growth from my nose.

D- A special Miami Bike Rides is coming up on January 9th, according to Miami Bike Scene.

E- The Chowfather stops in a Dania Beach institution named Tarks.

Tarks specializes in clams, oysters, seafood and wings. (raw, steamed and fried). My favorites include the gator tail, clam chowder, conch salad, dolphin sandwich, raw oysters, steamed clams, fried clam bellies, and shrimp grilled w/ BBQ or garlic sauce (not like the traditional New Orleans BBQ shrimp but a tasty alternative) Their wings garner rave reviews but they are breaded and on the heavy side and not my thing. They have reasonably priced daily specials plus a kids menu.

F- Is the ambrosia beetle a big scam, Obalesque wonders.

I don’t care much for what I see coming straight down Florida’s Turnpike, and no, it’s not a flock of beetles. To companies like Asplundh, it’s Opportunity on a Rolling Cash Register. To taxpayers, it’s a giant Wet-Vac sucking dollars from your pockets to underwrite another corporate gift. To the avocado industry, it’s a huge profit-puffer as the excuse to hike prices gets written in headlines.

G- The Herald did a good job on the Allen Stanford story on Sunday, according to Miami-Dade Dems, and it should teach us all a lesson...

Let us go back to the lesson of the day. We need to take money out of politics. This aspect of our political life attracts crooks and Ponzi artists. We little grass-roots donors are honest pips on a deck of marked cards. It is becoming more clear than ever that our political leaders are either crooks or deliberately oblivious to where a substantial portion of political money comes from.

This has got to change.

H- How South Floridians define winter, courtesy of The South Florida Watershed Journal.

That being said, Floridians know winter when they feel it:

* In the day, if the mercury doesn’t break above 70 – That’s winter!
* Or during the night, if the mercury doesn’t break 40 – That’s also winter!

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