Your Evening Sift

I heard my first thunder and saw my first lightening of the year out in Doral this afternoon, folks. You know that summer is banging on the door. Joy.

Here's your hot and sticky evening Sift.

A- Mayor Manny shows us the effect Earth Hour 2009 had on the appearance of the city.

B- Matt Meltzer, writing for Miami Beach 411, shares his thoughts on the Marlins stadium deal.

I like the Marlins as they are now. I like being able to go to a game, pay nothing for a ticket, sit wherever I want and not have to deal with crowds. You think a stadium is somehow gonna turn Miami into a sports town? Think again. As a Marlins fan, yeah, I’m kinda excited to get a park closer to home. But as a logical human being, I see nothing good coming out of this. You heard it here first.

C- I loved this Miamism Pix photo taken from inside a house on Miami's Upper East Side.

D- Superb post over at Eye on Miami on what it's like in Key West these days.

On Duval Street, the T-shirt capital of America’s southernmost city, retailers are loathe to say how bad things are. This is where the golden goose was cooked to a crisp, long ago. During the housing market bubble, that started earlier in Key West than nearly anywhere else in the nation, the government went on a wild spending spree; building numerous monuments to itself. But the city made its mark catering to the lowest common denominator forms of mass tourism and failed to protect either the waters or the reef or the fish. It is filled with discount shoppers and other scavenger species. $69 a night. There have been fires of suspicious origin. Stores are closing , with entire inventories and fixed assets snuck out the back door before morning.

E- Random Pixels has the skinny on a new French restaurant opening near Joe's on South Beach.

F- I Shot The Chef makes lasagna from scratch. Yes, even the pasta. You gotta see it.

This was my first time making pasta at home. I’ve made it when I was in culinary school, but that was 10 years ago. I had to use three and a half eggs instead of the two called for in the recipe. Must have been because I had large eggs, not the jumbo size in the recipe. I definitely realized how much it helps to have a pasta roller. Seriously… I have sore arms as I type this. I couldn’t get the dough as thin as I would have liked, but it turned out good enough.

G- Some Cranky Guy played tag with a Lotus on his way home from work today.

H- A bunch of SoFla personalities are going to be in attendance for tomorrow night's Celebrity Happy Hour at the Parrot in Lauderdale, according to The Chowfather.

I- The South Florida Traveler checks out Valentino's in Fort Lauderdale.

Giovanni Rocchio runs the show here and creatively presents everything that comes out of his kitchen. You won’t find the typical Italian dishes here such as pasta covered with red sauce, fettucine alfredo and chicken alfredo, but you are more apt to find a new twist on tradition such as their calamari. Instead of fried calamari, you will receive grilled calamari served with artichokes, pepperocini, radicchio and chili oil - definitely making every bite a memorable play on flavors.

J- I've seen this photo elsewhere in the blogosphere and I am so glad I am able to link to it locally at Incertus.

K- SFDB gets some link love from Smashed Frog.

L- Ipanemic has a whole bunch of fresh, new photos posted.

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SFDB Question Of The Day

After the horrific death of a Muscovy duck in Broward County, officials are concerned that we may be seeing an increase in animal cruelty.

What do you think should happen to the person who killed this Muscovy duck in Miramar?

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The Cooler

Just a few things for you in this morning's mainstream media.

A- Herald: All hail #33.

Slowly, the banner bearing Mourning's now-hallowed number rose to the rafters of the downtown bayside arena, and as it rose, Zo's brave facade fell. Tears began to stream down his cheeks, a huge hand engulfing his mouth and chin to hide his emotion.

Never before in the Heat's 21-year NBA history had the club retired a player's jersey until Monday, and it was as if the honor waited for the man who had to be first after announcing his retirement in January.

No one has played more games for the club, or played with more passion, from the angry scowling and biceps-flexing that marked his on-court demeanor to the courage and will he displayed in resuming his career following a 2003 kidney transplant, to the work ethic that led the Heat to reveal the club's weight room is hereby named in Mourning's honor.

The halftime ceremony honoring him stretched some 35 minutes, longer than a Super Bowl halftime. But never mind. Zo is worth it.

CBS4 has the video.

B- Herald: Editorial, downtown Miami needs to get with the program.

Through the ensuing years, there have been many plans and promises, but downtown revitalization has come in dribs and drabs, without much cohesion. It is time to redesign downtown, keeping and enhancing what works and getting rid of or improving what doesn't.

Yes, city officials can point to all the sleek new high-rise condos downtown. Their occupancy rates, however, are less than ideal -- and that slowdown began before the recession. The rest of downtown? Outside of the office buildings, Macy's and Gusman Theater, it's mostly populated by luggage and electronic shops; and restaurants that cater to the lunch crowd.

This is not going to bring the kind of vitality that can be found these days in Brickell Village, where a Publix and other retail stores cater to condo residents and are complemented nicely with restaurants and clubs. In that little stretch of Miami, urban design -- combining high-density population with pedestrian-friendly streets, shops and restaurants -- works.

The city likes to point to various programs that have improved the streets, particularly Flagler Street, where Macy's is located; but much more is needed.

C- Sun-Sentinel: TGIF, baby.

FORT LAUDERDALE - A city employee is accused of stripping down to his socks and exposing himself to a female co-worker earlier this year. The co-worker said he flashed a sign that said "It's Friday" on one side, and "Let's get naked" on the other.

And then, she said, he did.

Now he's a former city employee.

David Daley resigned last month as Fort Lauderdale's safety coordinator. His co-worker, Daniela Metz, told police Daley took his clothes off — everything but the socks.

D- NBC6: Thank goodness for foreigners.

Thanks to declining hotel rates - 11 percent in Miami this winter - international tourists can afford to stay in better digs on a modest budget. Hotels are giving more rooms to foreign travel wholesalers because Americans aren't shelling out.

E- WSVN: Death by Metrorail.

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Miami-Dade Police and Homicide Detectives are investigating a fatal accident involving a pedestrian that occurred on the tracks at the South Miami Metrorail station.

According to Police, just before 8 a.m. Monday, a man jumped from the platform and into an oncoming northbound train. As a result, the South Miami Station was closed into the late afternoon as detectives investigated.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It's Terrible Tuesday and that's exactly how I feel...terrible. I'm not quite sure what, if anything, is going to follow your morning Sift.

A- Miami Bike Scene has another great video of the March Critical Mass ride.

Approximately 60 cyclists showed up & joined in on the ride. We traversed north on Biscayne Blvd briefly passing through the gridlock caused by Ultrafest & continued up to Miami Shores. We then headed back south via NE 2nd Avenue to 14th Street, which according to Miami's bicycle coordinator Collin Worth, is supposed to get a bike lane sometime in the near future.

B- A Mom, A Blog, and the Life In-Between has a few obsessions she wants to share with us.

1. Frosted Flakes. While I am a lifelong Fruit Loops lover, lately I can't enough of the Frosted Flakes. It's pure sugar and awful for me, but I've been sneaking handfuls in here and there. It began with a plastic bag full of the yumness that my son brought from his father's house. I asked for some, he said no, and my obsession began. He finally relented and offered me ONE flake, but of course, that just wasn't enough.

C- All Purpose Dark says the lobster ravioli is top shelf at Wish.

D- For those of you who like your vege's, Food For Thought has information on a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in South Miami.

E- You can watch the Downtown Bay Forum's "Miami: A No-Newspaper Town?" at uVu Blog.

F- Smashed Frog details her family's search for housing that is complicated by a family member's status as a sex offender.

I am happy report that the home (well, more a shack at this point) was well over 1000 feet as the crow flies from any day care, school or park. God knows how my family member could fly over or walk through houses to gain access to areas off limit to those convicted of what Florida calls a sex offense these days, but we are definitely using the morality compass as we plan our Sex Offender Tour of Homes.

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Your Evening Sift

Before we get to the Sift, I have a few new blogs to introduce and one to remove from the SFDB blogrolls.

New Additions

• Actually, A Pretty Good Guy was on the SFDB blogroll for a while before he took about 3 months off and I discontinued following him in mid-March. Now he's back and says he's here to stay. So, once again, you'll find him on the SFDB South Florida Blogosphere blogroll.

• The Faux Foodie is a foodie blog based in Miami that has been alive and kicking for about a year. As you might expect, content centers around food and drink, but every now and then, Faux Foodie wanders off someplace else and gives us a [pun alert!] taste of life away from the dining room table. There's a lot of culinary resources to be found in the sidebar as well as the blogrolls.
  
  The Faux Foodie uses the Blogger platform and is Twitter-equipped for your pleasure. Posting is inconsistent but it appears as though it's picked up from what it was in its original year.
  
  You can find The Faux Foodie in the South Florida Foodie blogroll.

• Hialeah is in the house with On My Block. Jessica is a Hialeah resident and not afraid to admit it [hey, chill out...just kidding...sorta].
  
  On My Block is another blog that uses the Blogger platform. Looking back in the archives, there are posts about trips to Shark Valley, Robert Is Here, R.F. Orchids, each accompanied by plenty of pictures and narration. Born in November of 2008, On My Block posts about once a week on average, although every now and then Jessica gets crazy and ups that by a post or two.
  
  If you're looking for a bargain, On My Block periodically posts a good deal around town when they see one.

We're going to be moving Mango&Lime, one of my favorite foodie blogs, to the inactive blogroll as there hasn't been a new post there since January 17th.

To all the new blogs, welcome to the SFDB blogroll!

On to your Monday evening Sift...

A- All the paper has been filed in Carlos Miller's criminal case and it is posted for your review.

Today I filed my reply brief to his answer brief, which he filed in response to my original appeal brief. Now it’s up to a panel of three appellate judges to review the appeal to see if I have grounds for a reversal.

B- Random Pixels was there today as The Raven continued to run.

At 5:07, with an ESPN camera crew in tow, the Raven made his way across the beach to the lifeguard stand.

And as a formation of 15 brown pelicans flew overhead the Raven spoke, "Well, I guess you all wanna know."

"Yeah," the faithful answered.

"I'm gonna run," said the Raven.

Applause.

"But," he added, "if i don't feel good one day, I might just do six miles instead of 8."

C- MiamiNights has loads of pictures from the WMC.

D- Heavy duty stuff from Jaded in Paradise.

I’m about to breakdown. I’m breaking. I’m f*cking [-Ed.] up. I don’t want to do anything but go out at night and drink.

At the age of 28, I thought that my parents getting divorce would have no effect on me. I was wrong. I’m in pain, deep emotional pain and I don’t know who to talk to. I’ve been holding it all in the past six months since they made the announcement and right now, my emotions are exploding.

E- Sra. Martinez is a big, big hit with Brickell Life.

The place really delivers and we're coming back for more. Restaurant has seemed to really hit its stride as waitstaff and kitchen we're flowing seamlessly.

[...]

So okay, while the food is great and ambiance superb, what will also keep me coming back for more is perhaps the best bar I've had drinks at in Miami. It's not the Deuce or Fox's Inn, that's for sure. And while the Deuce and Fox's have their special place in my heart and for the rest of South Florida in the know, the bar at Sra. Martinez is true mixology.

F- Local Motion Miami does a bang up review of the Amanda Palmer concert at Lauderdale's Culture this past weekend. Three, count 'em three, video clips are included.

She sang a total of ten songs at the most. But she charmed the audience with a generous number of smiles, stories, and jokes. In fact, the personal nature of her performance – laced with details about her favorite type of pancakes and how badly she wants to get dropped by her record label [see the video below] – made me forget I was in a club. Instead, I felt like I was visiting a friend who happens to be a musician and in between conversation, she played piano and sang some great songs.

G- Good Morning, America visits Miami and forgets where they are, according to MenuPages Blog: South Florida.

H- Food For Thought takes issue with a Miami New Times article that FFT says unnecessarily dramatizes the slaughtering of pigs at West Miami-Dade farms.

The alarmist tone of the article is perhaps best demonstrated by this little nugget, describing a police raid on a farm in west Kendall - "among the meat found in refrigerators was what appeared to be neatly packaged horse flesh." (Gordon Ramsay would be proud.) A full 600 words later it's revealed that "what appeared to be horse meat was found by inspectors to be beef." Well - that sort of changes things a bit, doesn't it?

I- Daily Cocaine asks are French chefs making a comeback?

J- Residents of the Grove are apathetic, according to Coconut Grove Grapevine.

A handful of people do all the work. The rest don't want to be bothered.

K- We've all been where The TinyJEWELBox was yesterday.

My son, using a "dont look now" voice, says, "ummm, Mom, ummm, there's a lizard on your windshield." So I SLOWLY looked over, and there's a huge lizard sitting on my driver's side windshield wiper. I nearly had a coronary.

So here I sit--lizard peering through the windshield right at me, window down, light about to change. For once, gratefully, I didn't disintegrate. And the only reason that I didn't was because I knew that if I took my eyes off of the lizard for even once second, he would scoot right into my car through the open window. And then I knew I would freak out.

L- Incertus has some interesting commentary on anonymous blogging.

I understand the desire to stay anonymous online. When I started blogging just over five years ago, I tried to stay anonymous myself--I chose an obscure pseudonym, and I scoured every post for traces of information that might lead to my personal identity, and it didn't work. I slipped up and a troll from another site started appearing here in the comments calling me by my first name and making comments about Amy. It was more than a little nerve-wracking, and I almost shut the blog down. But the lesson it taught me was that there really is no way to stay anonymous online if someone is determined to out you, and that it only takes one douchebag in a sea of people of goodwill to ruin that. And the web is full of douchebags. Enter at your own risk.

A. Men.


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My Blogging Pet Peeves

Last August, I posted SFDB's 9 Priciples of Blogging as a sort of guide to good blogging as I tend to see it. As a follow-up, I wanted to share a short list of blogging pet peeves that bother me when I surf the net and visit some of the 373 feeds I have in my Google Reader.

> Long post titles

Like "The Park Was A Great Place To Be On Sunday." The title is a concise description of the post and not another sentence of it. Personally, I try not to exceed 4 or 5 words when I can.


> "Continue reading" or "read below the fold" annotations on long posts

While I totally understand the reasons for doing it, I clicked once to get to the blog. Do I really want to click again and wait for the page to reload so I can finish the post? Short answer: no. Just keep the whole thing on one page or, better yet, shorten it up.


> Cut & paste of an entire news article

If I wanted to read the whole thing I would follow the hyperlink that you have most graciously provided. Post the good stuff, link me to the rest. Please.


> Vulgar language

Probably just me...but if the only way you can express yourself is by a 4-letter word, I'm not going to waste my time reading the rest of the post because I can almost betcha it isn't worth my time.


> Watermarked pictures

So if you rely on your photography to pay the bills I can understand this, but if you do it just because you don't like people using your photos without asking, then, sorry, I don't see the point in spoiling an otherwise perfectly good image.


> Horrible grammar

Hey, everyone makes mistakes and that's one reason God made spell check. Use it.


> Asking for money "to keep things going"

How much does it cost to host a blog? $100 a year? Maybe $200? Asking your readers to defray the costs of your passion is, in my opinion, about as cheesy a thing a blogger can do [especially if you're driving around town in a Cadi...no names]. If you're hurting that bad, switch to Blogger.


> Sloppy website

Different font sizes, embeds that bleed over into content, broken links...all of these indicate to me that the blogger doesn't care to spend the time to get their formatting correct. I, in turn, don't have the time to read their content.



Can you think of any others?

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SFDB March Post Of The Month: The Nominees

As always, here's how it works: I post the SFDB Post's of the Week from March and readers pick their favorite by voting in a poll that appears at the bottom of this post. The voting ends on Friday, April 3rd, at 6 PM, and the winner is pronounced Post of the Month and given their own special post that weekend.

Here's a chance for all SFDB readers to get involved and tell us what post you enjoyed the most. So without further delay, I present the nominees to check out and consider [click on the "Nominee #" to be taken to the post].


Nominee #1:

In a wonderful post titled "The Secret Diaries of AC Weinstein," Eye on Miami shared with us what they knew about the late AC Weinstein and created a bit of mystery and intrigue about the man and what he may have left behind.


Nominee #2:

Vivir el Presente told us what running meant to them in a post that was sure to touch the emotions of anyone who has done any long distance running, and perhaps even some who haven't. "Life, The Universe, and Running," was March's 2nd Post of the Week.


Nominee #3:

Dolce Miami took us all to Tallahassee with him as he and a number of other South Florida high school students traveled to Florida's capital to present their concerns about funding for public education to our state legislators. "On the Hill" gave the reader hope for our younger generations and, at times, disgust in the adults who affect their future with their decisions.


Nominee #4:

In "Touring Little Havana With Dr. Paul George," Miami Beach 411 familiarizes us with "Cultural Fridays" in Little Havana and the tours that Miami historian, Dr. George, gives of the area. It's an information-packed entry with lots of links photos and a video.


So there's your four nominees. Vote below and be part of the process that determines SFDB's Post of the Month for March.





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The Cooler

The mainstream media apparently had a slow Sunday. Here's just a couple of things for you this morning.

A- Herald: They write letters.

It's a bad call

It's difficult to understand why we are closing schools, cutting student programs and asking teachers to take a salary cut to keep our schools going, yet we are planning to spend millions of dollars to build a stadium for the Marlins. As I watch baseball games on TV, it appears they are ill attended.

In these dire economic straits, hitting a ball with a bat is not as important as educating our children, who don't seem to know the difference between ''I'' and ''me'' these days.

FLORENCE ROSS, Pembroke Pines

B- Sun-Sentinel: Davie Police troubles continue.

DAVIE - A rookie police officer accused of slamming a 10-year-old boy against his cruiser for skateboarding in the street has received a two-day suspension and ordered to attend anger management classes.

"He threw him like he was a rag doll," said the boy's father, Joseph Smith, who witnessed the April 6, 2008, incident and filed a complaint the next day.

[...]

According to [Internal affairs investigator Sgt. Kelly ] Drum's report, the boy was skateboarding in front of his home when the officer pulled up and told him to ride in the cul de sac.

The boy told Rodriguez his father wanted him to ride near the house where he could watch him. At that point, according to the boy and his father, who was watching from inside the house, Rodriguez jumped out of his cruiser, grabbed the boy by one arm and slammed his chest against the car.

Smith said he immediately dashed outside to defend his 65-pound son, who had burst into tears.

"The cop told me, 'I'm the authority and no one tells me no,'" Smith said last week outside his Orange Park home. Smith said his son's feet were dangling in the air while Rodriguez had him pinned against the car.

C- CBS4: Video, The Raven reaches 100K.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Yeah, it's Monday. Sorry.

Here's a look at what was posted in the SoFla blogosphere as you slept.

A- Ipanemic has a bunch of new photos posted for your review.

B- Miami Bike Scene takes a good look at the functionality of the new bike rack unveiled this weekend in Peacock Park in Coconut Grove.

In these photos below I demonstrate the best way to protect your bike using a U-lock to this style of rack. You don't really have many options. By locking the rear rim & tire (inside triangle of frame) a thief cannot remove the back wheel or steal the bicycle. If you're using a larger U-lock you may get the rear wheel & seat tube. The front wheel is still subject to theft but a cable in conjunction with a U-lock can help prevent that. You can also secure a seat post using a cable.

C- Mood Vane provides us a quick look at the performance Totem Pole gave at Radioactive Records in Lauderdale last Thursday night.

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Favorite Fever Foto Of The Week

-miami-fever.com


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Your Evening Sift

Man, is it the end of the weekend already? Nope. I have one more day off. Heh. Here's your thankful-that-I-have-one-more-day-to-my-vacation evening Sift...

A- Shorter babalu...

When the White House agrees with fanatical Cuban hardliners, it momentarily stuns us but we quickly recover and respond by saying something stupid anyway.

[click for larger image]

B- The Burger Beast is running a poll to determine the worst fast food burger. Get over there and vote.

C- Check out what one developer is doing in Overtown to create a greenway along the FEC rail corridor at Transit Miami.

Full of energy and excitement for this neighborhood, the urban pioneer developer sees a bright future where others see parking lots, homeless people, and dilapidated buildings. So enthusiastic is [Brad] Knoefler that he has alread jumpstarted the project by re-landscaping a half-block pilot phase behind the 697 N. Miami buliding, which abuts the FEC rail line.

D- Miami Bike Scene has an April Fool's Day Loose Cannons update.

E- Grove residents are nuts about their bike racks as this post from Coconut Grove Grapevine illustrates.

F- Bark Bark Woof Woof elects not to take the Limbaugh Challenge.

I don't need to take the challenge. I already did. For almost six years I worked in a company where Rush Limbaugh was on the radio in both the warehouse and the office every day.

[...]

I got used to the three hours of incessant narcissistic, privileged, patriarchal, homophobic, misogynistic, hypocritical and pompous arrogance. Yes, I will admit he can be very funny, the same way Andrew Dice Clay is funny, and yes, Rush Limbaugh does have a great deal of insight into what it's like to live in world of entitlement and barely-concealed contempt for people he thinks are less than him. Most of it, though, seemed to grow out of an undercurrent of envy for a world of stature and class that he could never achieve, even if he was the richest man in broadcasting. The one thing he couldn't have was the true sense of dignity and security that are natural to people who don't feel as if they have to prove themselves to anyone or impress the rest of the world with their greatness. In other words, all the bluster and bloviation and cruel humor he exuded was there to cover up for the fact that he's nothing more than an overpaid carnival barker, and he's scared to death that the world will find out.

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SFDB Post Of The Week

SFDB selects its Post of the Week by going back and reviewing all the Sifts that we've done over the past 7 days. We find the best post of the week and note the runners ups as we judge them to be.

It was kind of a tough week in the South Florida blogosphere. In looking back over the Sifts, nothing really jumped out like sometimes happens so I had to dig a little. I hope you agree with the choices I made...

Winner: Miami Beach 411 continues to produce some excellent blogging from its list of paid contributors. This week, Maria de los Angeles posted a comprehensive piece about a a monthly event that takes place in Little Havana called "Viernes Culturales" (Cultural Fridays) and an associated tour of the area that is given by Miami historian, Dr. Paul George. Like most good blog posts, Maria's makes generous use of pictures, a video and lots of good links to additional information. Touring Little Havana With Dr. Paul George is the name of the post and this week, it's SFDB's Post of the Week.

Runners-Up: Coconut Grove Grapevine proposed an interesting idea of having a free shuttle run tourists into the Grove from outlying areas that generated a fair amount of discussion in its comments section. Carlos Miller, acting more like a cub reporter than a blogger [which, by the way, I consider a good thing], obtained a copy of an arrest report from a local police department and included it in his follow up to a story that he has been intensely following. And in yet another Miami Beach 411 post titled The Changing Face of South Beach, Doug Eames does a great job examining the changes that South Beach is experiencing and what the future holds for the popular area.

'Til next time, people, keep on blogging!

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A Coupla Hours @ South Pointe Park

Wow. Just wow.

That sums up how I felt about yesterday's visit to the newly refurbished South Pointe Park. Even though it was a Saturday afternoon, the park was comfortably attended and quiet. Evidence of the work that has been done on the park was apparent as the sod was still fresh (and NOT St. Augustine grass! Woot!) and the trees were propped up, but the facilities were in overall excellent condition.

Me, my father and my girlfriend spent some time walking around the park and taking in its views and undulating elevations. We also found a nice spot under a palm tree and spent a 1/2 hour just relaxing and watching the activities around us.

The beauty of this park is something that everyone needs to experience, if for no other reason than to regain some faith in our government that they can get things right every now and then.

Here are a few pictures...













As we left, I spotted a younger couple walking into the park, carrying a Joe's plastic bag no doubt stuffed with claws waiting to be devoured. Those two had it right. Drive over to South Beach. Stop by Joe's and then hightail it over to South Pointe to have an afternoon feast on the soft lawn of the park as a cool breeze blows in off the Atlantic.

That's some quality South Florida living for you.


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The Cooler

Lots of good stuff in this morning's news. Here's some of it.

A- Herald: What's going to happen to the Bacardi building?

Later this year, Bacardi USA will move out of the striking, mural-bedecked buildings -- monuments, really -- it has occupied on Biscayne Boulevard since the distiller's departure from Cuba, lock, stock and rum barrel, after the 1959 Revolution.

With construction well under way on its new Coral Gables headquarters -- inside the shell of a bland, neo-Mediterranean developer's special -- a suddenly pressing question is being aired in preservation and architectural circles:

What will become of the celebrated buildings once Bacardi goes?

B- Herald: Will JT retire as a Dolphin?

[Jason] Taylor could, in fact, return to the Dolphins one year after being traded, if that is what he really wanted.

[...]

No team except the Dolphins can fulfill Taylor's desire to remain close to his family.

The Dolphins, believe it or not, also offer Taylor his best opportunity for ending his stellar career with a rally rather than a disappointing collapse.

If Taylor decides he would like to finish with the Dolphins, he would have to commit to their offseason program -- the one he so famously missed last year, the one that so famously helped Miami win the AFC East division in a stunning surprise.

C- Herald: The Raven nears 100K.

On Jan. 1, 1975, he vowed to run eight miles every day for a year. Then two. And then, as time passed he found himself racing Irene and her 84 mph winds, bouts of heat with three-digit temperatures, and stomach-curdling food poisoning.

He's run from Walkman to iPod, through seven presidents. From Miami Beach being filled with white-haired folk waiting to die to celebrities looking for a place to live, Raven has never missed a day.

[...]

Slower but still smiling, Raven continues a journey that starts and ends on the shores of South Beach. His mane of graying hair floats in the wind. His shoulders lurch forward, a movement suggesting it might have been wiser to quit many years ago.

But he runs still, because he knows there's something insatiable about this ritual and the only friends he has will be there to run with him. And that when he runs, the regrets of an unfulfilled destiny can seem as frothy and impermanent as his New Balance footprint in the sand.

The whimsical thought -- run eight miles every day -- will reach a milestone Sunday, when local eccentric Robert ''Raven'' Kraft will log mile No. 100,000.

Truth is, Raven is seriously considering not making it to 100,008. He likes 100,000 -- it's a round, lyrical number grandiose enough to contain all the stories of hail, hurricanes and heartbreak.

D- Herald: Morin.

E- Herald: Hiaasen.

But here's the deal. If government is serious about rebooting the economy, reforming healthcare and improving public education, everybody's going to pay for it -- just like we're paying for this brilliant, trillion-dollar adventure in Iraq (which, by the way, Boehner thinks was a swell idea.)

The difference is that much of the money spent here at home will have a measurable impact on American children, college students, seniors, veterans, working families and small businesses.

As a taxpayer, I've got no problem with that. It makes more sense than starting a faraway war on a whim.

F- Herald: They write letters.

Re the baseball stadium: Whenever politicians in Miami-Dade talk about ''community'' and ''world-class city,'' something is about to happen that the taxpayers do not want.

HILARY LANGEN, Miami Beach

G- Sun-Sentinel: Do they really want us to use mass transit?

Passengers could pay more to ride Tri-Rail starting in June.

But looming larger this fall, there could be drastically fewer trains on weekdays and no service on weekends.

Tri-Rail's board of directors will hold a public hearing April 24 to discuss raising fares by 25 percent, the first increase since 1995. If approved, one-way fares to travel the full 72 miles between Miami International Airport and Mangonia Park would rise from $5.50 to $6.90 on June 1. A monthly adult pass would cost $100.

H- Sun-Sentinel: Buy your iTunes now.

LOS ANGELES - — The world's largest music store, Apple Inc.'s iTunes, plans to boost the price of many singles to $1.29 April 7, breaking the psychological barrier of 99 cents in what could be the first big test of how much consumers will pay to download songs.

I- Palm Beach Post: That's a lot of cookies.

J- Palm Beach Post: Slideshow, Spring Bling on Singer Island.

K- CBS4: Bad news, good news.

The Marlins announced Friday that unemployed people living in South Florida residents could get up to four free tickets to some Monday home games this season, free for the asking.

To collect the tickets, fans must bring their government-issued unemployment documents to Dolphin Stadium.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

See what happens when you post on a slow Saturday night? You might just get a space all to yourself in the Sunday morning Sift...

A- Ride a long with Miami Fever as he paces a Lambo somewhere in Miami.

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SFDB Saturday Night Turndown Service

Jose Gonzalez, Heartbeats

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Your Evening Sift

I spent a nice day down on South Beach so expect to see some pictures some time tomorrow here at SFDB. Here's your Saturday evening Sift...

A- All Purpose Dark tells us and shows us what Sunday brunch looks like at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami.

So you take a deep breath and heave yourself from the sun-filled dining room that offers views of Brickell and the sparkling bay and make your way over to the dessert annex - yes, it needs it own room - and follow the suggestions of the young pastry chef who is patiently manning the multi-tiered display of sugary confections that you almost, almost, feel guilty destroying with your gluttonous fork but you do so anyway because this is the Four Seasons and it's Sunday morning and you probably won't eat for the rest of the day, hell, the rest of the week because it's all. Just. So. Good.

B- Carlos Miller apparently thinks an SFDB post that I did earlier today was all about him.

Yes, I have weaknesses. I have imperfections. And believe me, I have stress. We all do.

But I’ve never been accused of rape. Ive never been accused of slipping a pill into a woman’s drink to knock her out. I’ve never been accused of holding a gun to a woman’s head. And I’ve never been accused of threatening to kill a woman. Especially a woman I supposedly love.

C- Rakontur features another outstanding article yanked from the Miami Herald's archives. This one is a 1982 investigative piece written by Carl Hiaasen.

D- Miami, bro shares her exploits from last night that started at Churchill's and ended at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

After the show, as we ladies were leaving, my friend suddenly felt ill and passed the f*ck [-Ed.] out. She hit the band's van and then the gravel, and luckily one of the roadies, who looked a little too clean cut, helped her into my car. I have to say, the whole crew of them were compassionate as my girls rushed to the aid of my lightheaded friend. In order to avoid the fright of the Jackson emergency room, I rushed my friend over to Mt. Sinai, which is a pretty clean, quiet place.

E- Local Motion Miami has a few photos from last night's wine tasting at the Cork and Bottle in Kendall.

F- Shorter babalu...

Let's protest going green by driving up our electric bills!!!

[click on image to make bigger]

G- The Chowfather gives Boubon Steak a great review.

Had another great meal over at Bourbon Steak. This place is a steak house but there really is much more to this place than that. I went with the 18oz bone in ribeye and it was excellent. Cooked perfectly (medium rare) and packed with flavor.

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SFDB's Make Me Laugh

More Colbert Report....





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SFDB Ecard Of The Day

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A Coupla Things

I don't have the time this morning to devote to a full-blown Cooler, but I did want to mention this Sun-Sentinel story that reports on some alleged activities involving a couple of Davie police officers.

DAVIE - Two police officers have been relieved of duty after one was charged with beating his pregnant wife while another was charged with raping a woman while his wife slept in the same bed, police said Friday.

The more recent arrest took place Thursday, when Officer Stephen Kenneth Olenchak, 34, was arrested for two counts of rape. According to an arrest report, the victim told investigators that Olenchak brought his wife a drink before going to bed on Sunday. When his wife fell asleep, he then brought the victim something to drink, according to the report.

Davie Police spokesman Lt. Bill Coyne said police are investigating whether drugs were used in the drinks. According to the report, Olenchak then fondled and had intercourse with the victim, who said she did not consent and was not coherent enough to call out to Olenchak's wife for help.

At one point, the report states, Olenchak's wife got up to use the bathroom, and the victim said she "looked like a zombie."

[...]

Earlier this month, police arrested Vally Getejanc, 25, who has been with the Davie department since September 2007. Getejanc has been charged with one count of battery for a February 27 incident during which he was accused of throwing his wife to the ground. The two had been married just four days, and the wife was five months pregnant, according to an arrest report.

The incidents, if substantiated, are certainly troubling in a number of ways. I'm on record here and at the old Stuck on the Palmetto, and at other places in the SoFla blogosphere, of reminding readers that police officers are humans just like everyone else. They make mistakes. Unfortunately, the difference between PO's and regular citizens is that people expect them to be perfect and immune from the stresses of what can be an extremely taxing and frustrating job. When they prove themselves to be human, their imperfections are often times held in the spotlight and criticized by some, who, quite frankly, apparently forget their own faults and weaknesses.

In the coming days, these two Davie police officers are probably going to be skewered in the media and on blogs as just 2 more examples of what is wrong with police officers as a whole. That's the way it's been, that's the way it will always be.

But here at SFDB I'd like to remind everyone about all the good work that law enforcement officers do in our communities and the fact that these are but two of hundreds, if not thousands, of law enforcement personnel that serve and protect us on a daily basis. They're not robots. They are humans. When they make mistakes, let's make sure we deliver the appropriate corrective action. But let's also make sure we don't unfairly stereotype a profession and a group of people because of the inappropriate actions of a few.

And the other thing: because I'm going to be busy most of the day, and because, once again, a certain babalu contributor has been unable to stay away from SFDB and the comment boards, comment moderation will be on. Feel free to comment, but the comment will be held in abeyance until it's approved. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm finding that this is the only way to deal with some of the South Florida blogosphere's more infantile inhabitants.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Hope you're enjoying Saturday morning surfing. Here's a few things I found this morning floating around the SoFla blogosphere.

A- Discourse has a great video featuring the Party of Zero.

B- En Vivo y En Directo tells us why we need to try Stone India Pal Ale.

If you’re not familiar with India Pale Ale, it’s beer with a kick. The opposite of smooth. Rather bitter, and full of flavor. Something that will put your taste buds to work (and is nothing short of greatness IMO). Take a swig of an IPA and the flavor will linger in your buds and on your mind, whether you want to or not.

C- Eye on Miami posts a video taken at a local jazz concert this week and discusses why they just aren't able to get into that particular genre of music.

For the past few years I have been trying to acquire a taste for jazz. I keep going to concerts hoping. Last night we went to see Chick Corea and John McLaughlin with good friends: I did like the concert, but I didn't love it. I always dread bass solos at jazz concerts. The bass solos last night were pretty good in comparison to other bass solos but the saxophone solos really grated on me for some reason. Usually I don’t mind them. Whenever he started I said to myself "Not again!" And, then I thought maybe it will be better this time...but it wasn't.

D- Miamism has their usual weekly mojito review, this time from Scorch Grillhouse. Outtakes included.

E- The TinyJEWELBox relates an experience that a lot of South Florida English speakers will relate to.

We all went to the exam room. The doctor was a gorgeous Latina. The receptionist was there as well. The doctor asked if I spoke Spanish, I said no. She asked if I understood Spanish, I said no. She asked both questions in English. And that's where the story gets bizarre.

From that point, NOBODY in the room spoke English, including the husband. All communication was directed to him, in Spanish. After every volley of conversation, he would have to tell me what was going on. If I asked a question in English, they would turn to him and answer in Spanish. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.

F- Coconut Grove Grapevine gives us a rundown of Earth Hour events in the Grove.

G- Rakontur shares a clip and some photos from the filming of a new documentary they're doing on Miami-Dade's backyard fighting circuit. Raw stuff.

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Your Evening Sift

It was a wonderful day for golfing with the Old Guy up at Heron Bay. Some laughs, some curses and some mulligans. Fun stuff.

Here's some of the highlights from today's SoFla blogosphere wrapped up in your evening Sift.

A- All Purpose Dark says the burgers at Bourbon Steak are not to be missed.

We tried the all-beef (above) with roasted peppers, arugula, special sauce and balsamic onions. The beef was flavorful and cooked perfectly; the toppings were fresh and added nice texture without overpowering the burger and turning it into a sloppy mess. We also tried the lamb burger undressed, or "no carb" (you skip the bun and get the 6 toppings as a side salad) and were blown away by its wonderful flavor. I later got the kitchen to divulge that they add a pinch of garam masala to the lamb mixture which gives it a fragrant kick.

B- Maria de los Angeles, writing for Miami Beach 411, turns in an epic post (photos, videos, and in-depth narrative) recounting a tour of Little Havana and its neighborhoods during a recent Viernes Culturales.

The tour lasted about an hour and half, during which time we learned about the architectural details and history of many homes and lo-rise apartment buildings built mainly after 1920s. I’ve driven past these streets many times, but never bothered to notice so many interesting facades – art deco, Mediterranean revival, masonry vernacular and bungalow styles abound. Some homes boast oolitic limestone, which had been quarried in the area.

C- MenuPages Blog: South Florida has the news that yet another steak house has opened in South Florida.

The much-anticipated BLT Steak, Miami's first Laurent Tourondel restaurant, is officially open at The Betsy Hotel on South Beach. The restaurant held a grand opening party yesterday evening where the entire menu was served buffet-style.

D- The City of Miami, um, supported Bike to Work Week this morning along the Venetian Causeway, according to Transit Miami. Interesting.

E- Ever wonder what life is like on a Friday at the Starbucks in Mary Brickelll Village? Brickell Life has the answer.

Strange phenomenon the Starbucks laptop guy. There are two dudes in here that were set up and cracking away at their keyboards before I sat down and I imagine they are going to be here long after I'm gone. I'm coming up on an hour and a half already and strangely, I'm kind of enjoying it. Music is cool, coffee is decent and people watching is fairly amusing. I never took myself to be one of these people, but for today my transformation is complete.

F- Miami Fever has some new images posted. Is it me or do a lot of them seem to possess a certain theme?

G- Florida Speaks posts the 2nd part of a series they're calling "A Blogger-Driven News Distribution Network." This time they address "The Solution."

As the title of the post suggests, I think we should create a blogger-driven news distribution network. What exactly does that mean? I think it means that we, the bloggers, take up the role of providing Floridians with news on state and local (and some national) political news. If we don't do it, it isn't really going to happen. We'll continue to get a diminishing amount of information that doesn't provide citizens with what they need, provides it in a biased fashion and fails to provide sufficient context and background to help citizens make wise decisions for themselves.

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Friday Flashback

R.E.M., The One I Love



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SFDB Question Of The Day

I have my weekend activities widget up in the right sidebar, as I usually do this time of the week...

What do you plan on doing this weekend?

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SFDB's Make Me Laugh

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The Cooler

Here's a few of the stories that that caught my attention this morning.

A- Sun-Sentinel: The Dolphins #1 Fan.

FORT LAUDERDALE - The sentencing hearing of a drunk Dolphins fan who killed a father and his 2-year-old girl on Interstate 95 was filled with tears, and a gently spoken but firm demand from the grieving widow and mother.

From the witness stand, Dawn Mazer looked at David Whiting, after showing the judge a half-hour video about the devastation Whiting has wrought on her family. She asked Whiting, 50, to accept the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, without possibility of parole.

[...]

Whiting, 50, was returning from a Dolphins game to his West Palm Beach home.

On Thursday, emergency workers who responded to the wreck teared up when they recounted in court what they saw. They said they were struck at Whiting's "cold" demeanor after the accident.

"It was a bad scene," testified firefighter paramedic Frederick Sampson of Pompano Beach Fire Rescue. "I asked him, 'Do you realize what's going on around you' He said he really didn't know, that he was just glad the Dolphins had won."

B- Sun-Sentinel: Because there just aren't enough Taco Bells in the world.

Even though the economy has taken a bite out of sales and expansion plans, Tijuana Flats, known for its Tex-Mex food and irreverent marketing, is opening 11 new restaurants in Florida over the next year.

A Wellington eatery opened last week, the Orlando area chain's first in Palm Beach County. Two more are slated for Coconut Creek and Miramar. The company is scouting sites in West Palm Beach.

Tijuana Flats first entered South Florida in 2002 with restaurants in Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach. The chain has gained a loyal following since founder and chief operating officer Brian Wheeler opened the first restaurant in 1995, fresh out of college.

C- Herald: Slideshow, the Miami-Dade County Fair.

D- Herald: Some murals for Miami-Dade County Jail?

Painter and sculptor Romero Britto was arrested in Miami Beach early Thursday on drunken-driven charges.

The Brazilian-born artist was driving his 2001 Bentley south on Washington Avenue about 3 a.m. when police saw him swerving between lanes, said Miami Beach Detective Jenny Velazquez, police spokeswoman. Blood-alcohol tests put his level at almost twice the legal limit, Velazquez said.

E- Herald: Video, WMC @ The Shelbourne.

F- Herald: Shake-up at the USAO in Miami gets a whole 3 paragraphs.

Two federal prosecutors in Miami are being reassigned for their roles in the secret tape recording of a defense attorney and his investigator in a criminal case.

Court documents show that prosecutor Karen Gilbert voluntarily stepped down as chief of the Miami U.S. attorney's narcotics section. Prosecutor Sean Cronin asked to be transferred from the criminal division.

The U.S. attorney's office acknowledges serious mistakes in a decision to have witnesses tape conversations with defense lawyer David O. Markus and investigator Michael Graff. Markus wants a federal judge to order the government to pay his fees and costs because of the misconduct.

Markus represents Dr. Ali Shaygan, who was acquitted of 141 counts of illegally writing prescriptions.

For those not in the know, David O. Markus blogs at Southern District of Florida Blog.

G- Palm Beach Post: Shaving heads for cancer.

And brag they did at Palm Beach Central, which pulled off the nation's top high school fund-raiser so far this year for St. Baldrick's Day, said a spokeswoman for the 9-year-old charity. In the school's first year with the program, a total of 102 students and faculty were shaved down to bare or nearly bare scalps. The school raised more than $39,000 in pledges and threw in proceeds from ticket and T-shirt sales to reach $45,000.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Finally. The end of the week. Which means, among other things, a slowdown in blogging. Here's your slim TGIF morning Sift.

- Miamism dips into the coffers of Miami Fever to find this week's Miamism Fridays photo, and it's a good one.

- 305 photographs a couple wall murals around South Florida.

- Carlos Miller has obtained and posted a copy of the arrest report for a woman accused of unlawfully filming police in Palm Beach County.

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Your Evening Sift

Well, Dad is here. His Southwest Airlines flight got into Fort Lauderdale right on schedule. However, if any of you out there want a real challenge, try to concentrate on writing with Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity blasting in the next room. This, folks, is not going well.

Here's your frustrated evening Sift.

A- Artlurker reviews the Abstract Cinema and Technology exhibit at MOCA North Miami.

Curated by MOCA Executive Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater in association with MOCA Exhibition Coordinator Kevin Arrow the exhibition showcases a large number of works of various sizes and lengths by a range of artists who broke boundaries in film making since 1921 and those currently working with abstract moving images. Similar to the Pivot Points exhibitions showcased by the museum in 2007 there were no heady and hard to fathom or tenuous concepts; to the contrary this inviting exhibition, which presents an engaging vista of seductive screens is both interesting and beautiful in its simplicity.

B- Random Pixels comments on what was discussed at yesterday's panel discussion titled, "Miami: A No Newspaper Town?"

C- The Tiny JEWELbox's Kindle is causing a stir in public places.

I still can't take it out to read in public much. I went to Starbucks once, grabbed a tea and a scone and curled up in a stuffed chair. I pulled the Kindle out of my bag and prepared to read. I only had an hour to spare. But when folks realized what it was, they started asking questions--What is that? How does it work? Where did you get it? Can I see it? A crowd gathered. The hour passed and I hadn't read a page.

D- Have a soft spot in your heart for chihuahuas? I Shot The Chef has something you might be interested in.

A friend of mine came across this little tiny (5 pound) chihuahua a few days ago. Stephan and I just couldn’t let her go to animal control. She looked as if she had been well fed, but had not been to a vet (or bathed) in many years. She was quite the stinker. Its sad that someone can neglect such a precious creature.

E- How difficult is it to get to Florida's capital? Eye on Miami takes a look and tells us.

It has always been hard to fly from anywhere to Tallahassee: the only people who can afford to fly there at the last minute are special interests. The cost of getting to Tallahassee is a high barrier to public involvement in the making of laws: the worst kept secret in Florida.

Here are few examples. Would you like to fly next Monday from Miami, for a last minute appeal on an issue that concerns you? The lowest fare is $818. You can fly to Los Angeles, the same day, non-stop for $637. Next Monday, you could fly back and forth to Washington, DC twice for the cost of flying to Tallahassee and still have enough left over to make a sizable political contribution.

F- Brickell Life tells us about the efforts of one Democrat to make newspapers non-profit organizations.

[Democratic Senator Benjamin] Cardin's Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.

Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements. Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.

G- The South Florida Punch takes a look at Wine 69, which has apparently changed its approach to fit the times.

Recently, Wine 69 stripped the tables of its white linens and altered its prices to meet the pressures of the lagging economy. Wine bottles drank on premises are being sold at retail value, plus a $10 corkage fee. Happy hour/early bird specials have also taken over. Arrive between 6 and 8 pm, and flights cost the time that you order. So, if you order a flight at 6:16pm, you will pay $6.16 for it. That’s a nice deal, since these are regularly priced from $13-$16.

H- South Florida Theatre Scene offers their weekly wrap up.

I- Incertus reflects the sentiments of the many Americans who don't hang on Sean Hannity's every word.

And when I see the way people talk about Barack Obama's presidency, I am befuddled. I understand that the economic problems the country is facing require "immediate action," but I didn't expect to wake up on January 21st and see that all the problems are fixed. Did the pundits? I didn't expect to wake up on Februrary 21st and see everything fixed. And I didn't expect to wake up on March 21st and see everything fixed.

[...]

But I have not nor have I seen an iota of "disappointment with" or "frustration with" Barack Obama, and I find the suggestion, widespread among the punditocracy, that he has somehow already failed us after only 2 months in the White House to be childish and absurd. All the laypersons I know expect the recession to go on for some time. We don't have a sense of the economy as a dirt bike that stops and starts and jumps and crashes and rights itself and jumps again... we have a sense of the economy as a super-tanker at sea, one that takes a long time to turn, or stop, or start, the kind of ship you'll lay on the beach for hours before you surprise yourself by realizing that it was once nearer your left, and now it's nearer your right.

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SFDB Ecard Of The Day

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Condi Rice Is No Limbaugh Republican

Classy:

RICE: My view is, we got to do our way. We did our best. We did some things well, some things not so well. Now they get their chance. And I agree with the president; we owe them our loyalty and our silence while they do it. […] These are quality people. I know them. They love the country and they won’t make the same decisions, perhaps, that we did. But I believe they’ll do what they think is best for the country.

SFDB Favorite Comment From Yesterday

"This proves that Venus doesn't have to sound like she's having an orgasm everytime she hits a ball."

- Blind Mind, A South Beach WTF Moment

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The Cooler

The Marlins stadium deal is still being talked about and a some Puerto Rican singer is getting a lot of attention for being a jerk off. That and more coming up.

A- Herald: Tighten your belt today if you're a student at Plantation High.

It's ''Pull Up Your Pants Day'' at Plantation High, where teachers are weary of seeing students walk around with saggy pants.

When a colleague suggested such a day to reading teacher Diana Carter, she didn't think much about it. But then she caught a clip of President Barack Obama being interviewed on MTV in which he said there didn't necessarily need to be a law against droopy drawers.

''Having said that,'' Obama continued, ``brothers should pull up their pants.''

''I became inspired,'' Carter said.

B- Herald: Wow. Fred Grimm takes on his own at the Herald.

The sobering facts were out there.

But they were obscured by a kind of dreamy denial that loomed over the stadium deal.

As if the unfavorable economics could be wished away.

As if the myth-laden sport of baseball (America's if not quite Miami's game), nurtured an ephemeral, unfounded optimism that this deal -- despite so many local public works projects that have gone badly -- will work out.

Call it the mendacity of hope.

[...]

Magical thinking was not just confined to county commissioners or Marlins fans. The Miami Herald's editorial page seemed to ignore the hard work of its own reporters to embrace the dream.

C- Herald: Speaking of the stadium.

Fresh from arguably the biggest victory in team history -- approval for a stadium to call its own -- the Florida Marlins still must clear a string of obstacles before ground can be broken this summer.

The biggest obstacle: borrowing more than $300 million that will go toward construction of the 37,000-seat stadium in Little Havana. To do it, the county must sell bonds -- backed by the promise of payment from tourist taxes -- in a market roiled by the worst credit crisis in decades.

Adding to the urgency, the bond sale needs to be well under way before the planned groundbreaking this summer. If the county determines it can't sell at the right price, the stadium deal can still be killed by July 1. But after that, there's no turning back.

D- Herald: What a wanker.

Police are investigating merengue star Elvis Crespo after a woman said she saw him masturbating in plain sight on an airplane from Houston to Miami last week, the Associated Press reported.

The pilot radioed ahead, and cops were waiting for him, according to a Miami-Dade police report. The Puerto Rican Grammy Award winner, 37, told them: ``I don't recall doing that.''

E- Herald: Morin.

F- Sun-Sentinel: Hollywood PD gets a license plate recognition system.

HOLLYWOOD - Meet the Hollywood Police Department's new license plate scanner. It already may have met you.

The multi-camera and scanner system, mounted on the trunk, hood, or roof of a cruiser, takes pictures as the officer drives through the city looking for stolen vehicles and criminals. The camera is capable of snooping through as many as 10,000 license plates a shift, leaving officials a bit giddy about its effectiveness.

"These things are awesome," said Hollywood Police Lt. Scott Pardon, whose traffic unit, in just a few weeks, recovered one stolen car, one stolen tag and made two arrests. Hollywood is not the only place where police cars have eyes.

G- WPLG: Yeah, but what about the taxes.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A Fort Lauderdale homeowner has decided to raffle off his multimillion-dollar home.

The waterfront mansion has six bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, plus a gourmet chef's kitchen, saltwater pool and a movie theater.

Miles and Laura Brannan who own the home said they don't want to move, but because of the economic crisis they've had to make tough decisions, and selling their home is one of them.

With no buyers to be found, the Brannans have decided to raffle off their home.

They plan to sell 300,000 tickets at only $10 each.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It was a busy night in the blogsosphere so take a seat and get comfortable. Here's your Thursday morning Sift...

A- Miami Dish loves churros late at night and shares with us their favorite places in Miami-Dade County to get them.

We’ve been blessed with lovely, temperate days late into our “cool season.” Cool weather is prime time for churros, starting with the holidays when out-of- town guests crave the doughy fried treats after holiday gatherings. Really, any cool night is perfect. Churros are also an ideal, all-absorbent snack to cap a long night of overindulgence; take note all of you WMC’ers.

B- Obalesque has questions about Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's breast cancer.

Do you imagine your position as a member of Congress has nothing to do with the way your capacity to handle your cancer influences your attitude, energy, confidence, and function as a mother, spouse, and professional?

Was this issue of any even minor significance to you before you discovered your own cancer? So despite your statement that “it’s not about me,” it is, in fact, only about you, and moving forward, it is likely to remain so, something to gain political points, perhaps?

Yes, I think maybe it has something to do with this. But that’s just me, a cretinous citizen of the United States with the minimal health insurance coverage I can afford, dealing with the physicians and hospitals on my plan as best I could. I’m glad I had that much. After all, not everybody can afford the coverage and care we buy for our elected officials, who go on to crusade for a cause they personally endured.

C- Tilefortlauderdale leaves Roxy in a newspaper box outside a Winn-Dixie.

Roxy, a cashier at the local grocery store, is on a secret mission. She says that desperate times call for desperate measures, so when she sees people coming through her line who she knows are struggling really hard to feed their families, she conveniently forgets to scan many of the items in their cart.

D- Computer Colonics gets shrill.

This is how it starts people. The government points to a group, villifies them and sets loose the dogs. They trash the Constitution by writing laws to go after individuals retroactively and they whip people too damned lazy to research the facts into a mindless frenzy.

E- Depth of Field posts a nice portrait.

F- Bark Bark Woof Woof on paying taxes.

Sure, paying taxes is not everyone's favorite duty, and a lot of people would like pay as little as possible -- so would I. I would also like to fly first class for free, not pay rent on my house, and, while you're at it, have the physique of Michael Phelps. It ain't gonna happen (especially the last part). But if we expect to have the services we've come to expect -- indeed, become entitled to -- such as decent roads, a strong defense, safe airways, secure financial institutions, clean water, good and productive schools, and help for those who can't help themselves, then we have to pay for them. The government, be it state, local, or federal, has to get the money from somewhere, and if it's not in the form of taxes, we have to borrow it from somewhere else. Lately it's been from the Chinese. Not to go all xenophobic, but I would rather have the money come from us rather than be in hock to a country that doesn't have the same outlook on basic forms of human rights that we do -- or at least aspire to.

G- Miami Condo Investments gives us a good idea of what kinds of views $385K gets you these days in Midtown. As always, check the comments.

H- From Lola's Lips loves Baleen's, although the wine may have had something to do with it.

The atmosphere was tres chic and the view stunning, I can only imagine a calm, cloudless night. The food was magnificent even though my tuna was not prepared as I had ordered. One significant note - I have no idea what our tab was but I know it was on the heavier side. If you want to splurge, consider Baleen for stuffing your face because I can't imagine that you will not love it.

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