Your Evening Sift

I'm not sure if you caught it or not but there was a great sunset this evening. Nice way to end the weekend. Enjoy your Sunday evening Sift...

A- Ipanemic introduces us to his wife and announces the imminent end of Ipanemic.

B- The South Florida Traveler has a list of some noteworthy wine and food events going on in March.

C- Tropic of Mom loads up the car and heads to Lion Country Safari in Palm Beach County.

D- Canistel microwave cake anyone? Over at Food For Thought.

The texture was denser and less airy than what I was shooting for, likely the result of the higher-protein, more glutenous all-purpose flour instead of the cake flour, and/or the sticky, dense canistel flesh. This had mostly tiny air bubbles whereas other microwave cakes I've tried have much bigger bubbles (and lighter texture). Less flour would also probably have let the canistel flavor come through even more clearly, though it was still distinct. But this was still nice, with a good flavor and a light, sponge-cake like texture.

E- The Potato Pandemonium was a huge success, according to this generously imaged post from Redland Rambles.

The dinner was a locavore’s dream come true. Many of the ingredients were grown right at Possum Trot – cas guava, carambola, betel leaf, Rangpur lime, passion fruit, eggs from free range chickens, and wood burning in the smoker. All the fruits for the wines — lychee, bignay and araza — came from the grove. Farmer Margie contributed red kale, carrots, scallions, garlic chives, rosemary, parsley and thyme from her Bee Heaven Farm. Purple, blue, red, yellow, white, small, fingerling and round potatoes were gleaned from a field nearby.

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The Fort Lauderdale Duck Fest Derby

Despite all the good intentions of the fine folks at Kids in Distress in Fort Lauderdale, this years Duck Fest Derby was plagued by problems the instant the ducks hit the New River.

Let me explain.

The annual Duck Fest Derby raises funds for Kids in Distress by charging a fee to sponsor a duck in the race down the river. "Your" duck(s) is/are assigned a number and then loaded onto a truck.





So what you ultimately have is a truck packed with rubber duckies.





This truck is then backed up to a ramp leading to the river and the truck bed is lifted. The race is on!!!



Spectators were snapping away and giddy with excitement as they waited for the ducks to race by them.



Even other ducks were quacking about it.



However, right away, people in the drop area noticed that something was terribly amiss.



The ducks, who ultimately report to Mother Nature, were not floating the direction they were supposed to! Whether it was the current that day or the strong wind, they didn't want to head the right way! Mayhem ensued as the ducks backed up and headed up the river. Workers assigned to controlling the floating barriers tried desperately to reverse the duck's direction.





The fire department was called in to help advance the duckies and spectators crossed their fingers and silently hoped that their duck was the one getting hit.





The mass of plastic finally started slowly advancing down the course...



But then...another problem. Ducks were escaping!!!!



Before this latest challenge was addressed, however, the wind kicked up and the sky got dark and the temperature suddenly dropped 10 degrees and, well, the audience pretty much thought they were about ready to get hit by a Class V tornado and reacted accordingly: Run! People abandoned their duck watching and scattered in every different direction as the fire department continued to try to coax the ducks down the course and in the process, managed to snag one of the barrier's wires on their engine. The barrier was pulled out half way across the New River.



My girlfriend and I decided we had seen enough and hurried to get to the car before we were cold and wet. We returned to the now rain-soaked Esplanade Park about 15 minutes later to find ducks scattered everywhere and the fire department still driving the racers towards the finish line.





I don't know if a winner was ever declared nor do I have the final disposition of the race, but if you're down along the New River anytime over the next several weeks and you find a rubber duckie floating along the banks, you'll now know why.


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SFDB Sunday Morning Video

Lace up your boots and go hiking with Ryan Commons as he walks the John Muir Trail. Great story, great music for a Sunday morning...




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The Cooler

The Rubio/Crist senatorial race is taking up more and more of the news as we move through the calendar towards November. Here's your Sunday Cooler.

A- Herald: Pitts, on what motivates Tea Partiers.

But ultimately, people seem moved by something even bigger than race. This is race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, culture, and the fact that those who have always been on the right side, the power-wielding side, of one or more of those equations, now face the realization that their days of dominance are numbered.

There is a poignancy to their responsive fury because one senses that the nether side of it is a choking fear. We are witness to the birth cries of a new America and for every one of us who embraces and celebrates that, who looks forward to the opportunity and inclusiveness it promises, there is another who grapples with a crippling sense of dislocation and loss, who wonders who and what she will be in the nation now being born.

One hopes they will find answers that satisfy them because the change they fear will not be turned back. No one ever volunteers to return to the rear of the bus.

So for all the frustration the tea party movement engenders among the rest of us, one also feels a certain pity for people like the woman last year who cried, plaintively, that she wanted her country back.

As if she didn't realize that it is already, irrevocably, gone.

B- Herald: Marquez, government not doing anything in time of crisis.

With unemployment at record highs, foreclosures continuing to grow (which further erodes the area's property-tax revenues for local governments and public schools) and sluggish sales tax collections, we're facing hundreds of millions of dollars in shortfalls. If you add up the holes in the budgets of the cities, county governments and the school systems of Miami-Dade and Broward it's a billion-plus drops of red ink, easily.

But, hey, what's the hurry? It's only your money, and grandstanding is cheap.

C- Herald: Video, Inside the Newsroom, PolitiFact Florida.

D- Herald: Marco Rubio exaggerates.

Rubio's claim is that 57 of the ideas in his book 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future are now law. Based on our analysis, he has fallen short.

Using the most generous accounting, Rubio might be able to say that he got 34 ideas into state lawbooks (adding together those ideas that we marked ``law'' or ``kind of'' law).

Rubio's campaign had almost two weeks to review our findings, and responded Friday with five pages of explanations. In two cases, their information changed our decisions. We also offered Rubio the chance to address our findings. He chose, through a spokesman, not to.

E- Sun-Sentinel: Dade-Collier Airport, the airport in the boondocks.

The runway is long enough to handle the biggest airliners, even a space shuttle. But at this airport, blue herons swoop in far more frequently than JetBlue.

This is Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, which sees more animals than airplanes. Squatting in the middle of the Everglades, it is home to alligators, snakes, deer, wading birds, buzzards, bobcats and bears.

The airfield is so remote, the nearest McDonald's is 33 miles away. Other than pilots, airboat operators, all-terrain vehicle riders and hunters, few people know it's there.

[...]

For the four employees who maintain it, Dade-Collier is a peaceful — and occasionally spooky — place to work, said Manuel Tamara, who handles the radio and mows the grass with a farm tractor.

He said he and his co-workers frequently see animals' eyes shining in the darkness.

"You know that song, ‘The Night has a Thousand Eyes'? Well this place has 2,000 eyes. There are eyes everywhere," said Tamara, 51, of West Kendall.

F- Palm Beach Post: Editorial, Rubio is just another Republican and the Tea Party is just another political party.

If the Tea Party voters who love Marco Rubio are true to the code they profess, they won't let him slide. They will criticize him for being free-spending, self-serving and hypocritical when it came to himself, thereby hurting his credibility on those points when it comes to public policy. They will ask him to disclose everything, not attempt — like much of the GOP Establishment — to cover up the controversy by conducting an audit of the party's books.

Mr. Rubio countered that Gov. Crist got lots of deserved criticism for a big-spending trade junket. Mr. Rubio also argued that much of the credit-card scandal traces to Jim Greer, whom Gov. Crist installed as party chairman in 2007.

True. But calling yourself, in essence, no worse than your opponent doesn't make you look like a modern-day Paul Revere leading the new revolutionaries. You look like Democrats tolerating the ethics-challenged House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel. And if Mr. Rubio hadn't misused the party credit card in the first place, he wouldn't have had to worry about the records.

Marco Rubio stands exposed as something of a fraud on one of his major campaign issues. If the Tea Party cuts him slack, the party will look just as bad.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It was a real slow Saturday night in the South Florida blogosphere. Here's your quick Sunday morning Sift...

A- Photos, a video and commentary comprise this Miami Beach 411 post documenting last weekend's Burger Beast Burger Tour.

B- Cycling disobedience, over at Miami Bike Scene.

C- Incertus has a nice cat rescue story for your Sunday morning.

And then there's Gladys.

Amy was feeding the outside cats one morning and heard something that sounded like a cross between a groan and a demand. It was on the other side of the fence, and when she opened it, Gladys walked right past her and to one of the food bowls and started eating. The outside cats treated her like she was diseased or something, and honestly, she looked it. Her hind legs were wobbly, she was bone-thin, and she was covered in dirt.

Later on, Amy opened the front door to our Florida room, and Gladys walked in like she owned the place. She'd been a house cat--that was obvious.

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SFDB Saturday Night Turndown Service

Although I always reserve the Turndown Service for the quality stuff, this one seems to be a bit more special for me...



The Avett Brothers, I And Love And You


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Your Evening Sift

I was up in Fort Lauderdale today observing the Kids in Distress annual ritual of dumping rubber duckies into the New River. Let's just say things didn't go as planned. More tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy a wonderfully cool Saturday evening Sift.

A- Did Ipanemic get hitched? You be the judge.

B- Mambi Watch posts a short video that profiles five South Florida Cuban-Americans who have decided not to go back to Cuba.

C- Casablanca Seafood Bar & Grill on the Miami River provided an enjoyable breakfast experience for Some Cranky Guy and Mrs. Cranky Guy this morning.

Now to the food. My wife chose a Spanish Omelette which she reported to be “Fantastic”. She really enjoyed the homemade mushroom Cognac Sauce.

I went wild (for me) and decided on the Shrimp Omelette, which besides eggs, included a combination of shrimp, onions, peppers , Cheese, topped with homemade mushroom Cognac Sauce.

Yeah…I enjoyed the mushroom Cognac Sauce too.

D- Blind Mind has returned.

The more I thought about Blind Mind blog, the more I noticed that its really just a big ball of negative energy, a place where I vent frustrations and occasionally provide something of substance. I had a feeling that I'd get an email or something from my buddy Rick over at South Florida Daily Blog asking what happened to the blog and sure enough, I did. He was surprised to see it gone and suggested a farewell post, you know, in case there were any actual readers out there haha.

I thought about it and I've made the decision to bring the blog back.

E- Last night was yet another party for All Purpose Dark. This time Best of the Best for 2010 in Miami Beach.

In some ways Best of the Best is to the food world was Art Basel is to the art world. Meaning, the same way you can breeze through the convention center during AB and see the work of every significant gallery in the country (and world) without leaving Miami, so too could you roam the Fountainbleau ballroom last night and experience a tasting odyssey of the finest restaurants in the country.

Eater Miami has more.

F- Justice Building Blog celebrates the trouble the Broward County criminal justice system is experiencing.

What's so great about this mess is to see the judicial house of Broweird imploding upon itself in a frenzy of bad karma, back stabbing, greed, and general nastiness.

Broward judges are now treating each other the way they've treated lawyers from Dade for years. And that says it all about payback.

We're getting a bag of popcorn and sitting back and reading the Broward Blogs this weekend. You can't get this stuff from the movies.

G- Take another walk in the Everglades with The South Florida Watershed Journal.

H-Large photo dump from last night's Vierne Culturales, Carnival Edition, at Soul of Miami.

I- Marco Rubio dives even further right, according to The Reid Report.


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SFDB Daily Chuckle

A fridge magnet every house should have.


-via Pensito Review

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The Daily Show: Bipartisan Health Care Reform Summit 2010

Laugh with Jon Stewart as he addresses the recent health care summit.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bipartisan Health Care Reform Summit 2010
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Vancouverage 2010

-via Bark Bark Woof Woof


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The BOB Voting Continues

The Sun-Sentinel BOB Awards voting continues and, well, head on over and vote for who you like. I think it's a great [and simple] way to support the local blogosphere.

Carlos Miller continues his push for votes and I can't help but note his latest plea and the reasons why, he says, he wants to win so badly.

Some of my readers are probably wondering why I am making such a big deal about this. Well, when you blog day in and day out about the same subject and don’t get paid a dime for it, little things like this make it seem rewarding.

For me, winning the contest was never about the $100 gift certificate from Target. And it’s not necessarily about the bragging rights, although that part is fun.

For me, winning the contest is about further establishing my blog as a legitimate source of information about police abuses. It’s about making more people aware of these incidents that occur on a daily basis.

It’s about sending a message to police and judges that people are paying attention.

And there's no better way to send that message and gain legitimacy for your blog than to brow beat your readers and stuff the ballot box with repeat votes [which, admittedly, is allowed] in order to win this local newspaper recognition. C'mon. Not only is this argument patently disingenuous, it's not fair to the work and writing that Carlos does.

Look, I think we all can agree that the BOB Awards has its problems. While I was initially kinda harsh on the awards, I hope that everyone recognizes that the Sun-Sentinel's efforts, no matter how flawed they may be, are giving some well-deserved attention to the local blogosphere. That's always a good thing. Let's try to keep it at that rather than to make the thing a mandate on how legitimate our blogs may or may not be.

With that said, good luck to all the blogs in the running, including Carlos Miller.

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The Cooler

Lots to cover in today's Cooler so let's get right to it.

A- Herald: He should have been speeding and running red lights like everyone else.

Heat point guard Carlos Arroyo was arrested Friday in Coral Gables and is facing charges for a traffic violation and resisting arrest.

According to the arrest report, Arroyo was spotted at 8:41 a.m. driving slow enough along the 7100 block of Old Cutler Road to the point that he was said to be impeding traffic.

[...]

Arroyo is charged with operating a vehicle at a low enough speed to impede traffic, resisting arrest without violence and failing to obey a lawful order.

B- Herald: Video, sex offender homes are torn down under the Tuttle.

C- Herald: The PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter is coming to the Herald.

Beginning Sunday, The Miami Herald, in partnership with The St. Petersburg Times, will launch PolitiFact Florida to check the claims of politicians and their campaigns as a regular feature of The Miami Herald.

The feature is patterned after PolitiFact.com, the award-winning fact-checking site created by the Times in 2007. The Florida site can be accessed online at www.PolitiFact.com/Florida and uses the Truth-O-Meter to rate the accuracy of statements by candidates, elected officials and political parties.

PolitiFact Florida will appear both online and in the papers. It will initially examine the 2010 campaigns of candidates in the Sunshine State and be expanded to include statements of state and local officials.

D- Herald: Rubio not a Boy Scout.

U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio admitted Friday that he double-billed state taxpayers and the Republican Party of Florida for eight plane tickets when he was speaker of the Florida House.

[...]

``Certainly this has eroded some of the support Rubio had,'' said Republican consultant Chris Ingram, a Rubio supporter from Tampa. ``When you project yourself as something of a Boy Scout and people start seeing you're not much different than a lot of these other guys, that can be damaging.''

E- Sun-Sentinel: Big Brotherish, no?

OAKLAND PARK - In a bold new tactic aimed at deterring prescription-drug abuse, Broward sheriff's investigators have set up a sign along Commercial Boulevard warning that they are watching who is going into nearby pain clinics.

The confrontational message, displayed on a large electronic board typically used for traffic alerts, is aimed at the pill traffickers and addicts who frequent pain clinics to fraudulently collect potent pain pills and prescriptions.

The sign reads, in large orange letters: "Undercover narcotic operations in progress. Do you feel lucky?"

F- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

G- Palm Beach Post: Of course. He's an Ozzy fan.

PALM BEACH GARDENS — For Ozzy Osbourne fans, it was a chance to get up close and personal with the legendary rocker.

But one fan attending the rocker's book signing in Palm Beach Gardens tonight, instead found himself drawing the attention of Palm Beach Gardens police officers.

Officers found marijuana and fireworks on the man, Gardens police spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy said. The man was in the Barnes & Noble bookstore at Legacy Place, where Osbourne was promoting his autobiography.

Officers saw the man smoking the marijuana in the store around 8 p.m., Lovejoy said. When the officers approached, the man took off running.

H- Palm Beach Post: Crist is a disgrace!

Asked whether he agreed with the labels some Tea Partiers have plastered on Mr. Obama — communist, fascist, tyrant — Gov. Crist said, "I don't think any labels are justified."

I- CBS4: Video, sorta like pigeons.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Blogs come and blogs go but I always find it strange when they just evaporate suddenly without a trace. Here's your Saturday morning Sift...

A- Without a word, Blind Mind is no more. *sigh*

B- Charlie Crist clears up any rumors about whether he's staying a Republican at The Reid Report.

C- Lots of new faces over at The Street.

D- A guest blogger at Eye on Miami gives us a great update on the Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department.

Staff is now better trained and the organization is being run like a business. A formal volunteer program was established in 2006. Stress-relief improvements were put into place, such as installation of sound-proofing in adoption areas, purchasing beds and toys, and building an air-conditioned cat room separate from the dog area. In 2008, microchipping of adoptable animals was introduced and has greatly improved lost and found procedures. Also that year, vaccination of dogs at intake began, and has substantially reduced infectious disease in the kennels. New corporate partnerships were forged; a 2-for-1 cat adoption program began; outreach initiatives were put into place, such as advertising campaigns that have increased visibility and thus adoptions; even the Animal Planet reality show “Miami Animal Cops” has helped carve out a new face for ASD.

E- Redland Rambles illustrates what to expect in Week 13 of your CSA share.

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Your Evening Sift

The whole weekend lies in front of us. Oh, how I love Friday nights. Enjoy your evening Sift, readers.

A- Large photo dump from last night's grand opening of Q American Barbeque at Soul of Miami.

B- Super chef Daniel Boulud is coming to Miami, according to this news alert from Food for Thought.

C- Mango&Lime has a bunch of pictures from last night's Burger Bash and a wrap up.

In all we had a lot of fun. Yes, there were a lot of people; 2,400 voting chips were handed out last night and that probably doesn’t include the chefs, their staff and the festival staff. We frequently got bumped by people but it wasn’t entirely unbearable. Would I pay to go again? I’m not sure.

D- Another cost cutting suggestion is offered to the City of Miami by Miami For Change via a business website.

E- Swampstyle is headed abroad for some art work and schnitzel, no doubt.

F- The Burger Bash wasn't the only thing happening on South Beach last night as All Purpose Dark shows us.

While others were busy Burger Bashing last night I made my way to the Temple House in South Beach for a Grand Marnier-drenched soiree. The building used to be a synagogue and was renovated by a wealthy entrepreneur who now throws parties there. So it felt slightly salacious downing French cocktails where folks used to say kadish on Yom Kippur but isn't that what makes South Beach so interesting? All that contrast. Or maybe it's just a lack of tact....

G- It wouldn't be the same if a week didn't pass without some kind of drama at Coconut Grove Grapevine.

There is a sick old man who has been scaring people around town for quite awhile, using my name and the Grapevine for his tirades. He basically has no life and is jealous of our success, he does nothing for the Grove, has never done anything postitive for any businesses or anyone in the Grove and is a parasite and cancer on the Grove. I have ignored it for many years, he has cyber stalked me for about two, but now that he is scaring people, I have contacted the proper authorities and also ask that you do, too.

H- Eye on Miami tries to make lemonade out of lemons in the District 25 congressional race.

Here is my take on the Congressional District 25 race. The voters there will most probably put in someone I don't like. After all, they kept Mario Diaz-Balart there all those years. So why not get an added benefit: It will open up a County Commission seat in District 11. Yes, we might get another ass in the County seat but I don't think we could do worse. I believe Martinez can do less damage in Congress (many others to dilute his votes) and it will be the ego boost he craves.

I- Random Pixels accuses the Miami Seaquarium of using the SeaWorld tragedy to get exposure.

In what has to be one of the most disgusting and callous acts of self-promotion in its long history of disgusting and callous self-promotion, the Miami Seaquarium Thursday capitalized on the death of the Orlando killer whale trainer by cranking out a press release inviting the South Florida media to do a puff piece on the Seaquarium's killer whale, Lolita, which the whale's trainer insists is a happy camper.

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Flashback Friday

Haircut 100, Love Plus One


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The Blogosphere We Call Home

Breaking down the blogosphere....



Lots of other interesting stats here.

The Difference Between Democrats And Republicans

These two clips encapsulate the difference between the two political parties quite nicely, I think, when it comes to how serious the two parties are about reforming health care and, quite frankly, their empathy for their fellow Americans.

Democrats...



Republicans...




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The Miami Herald And Cuba

Miami Cuban-American hardliners love to rip on the hometown Miami Herald for what they view as the paper's kid gloves treatment of Cuba.

But this week, the death of Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo has prompted some extremely hard hitting commentary from the Herald in the form of an editorial, a political cartoon and today's letters to the editor.

All of this will probably be ignored by the hardliners and their extreme dislike and smears of the Herald will no doubt continue because, after all, the Herald will never suggest that Castro be hung from his testicles on the Paseo del Prado. But I think it's important to note the reality of the Herald's coverage, and not just the picture that a certain very angry and extremely biased portion of South Florida's population likes to paint of it.

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The Cooler

Sloooow day for news results in a thoroughly uninspired Cooler.

A- Herald: BOLO for MIB.

Four men sitting in a car outside a Miami-Dade home were shot Thursday night. Authorities said their injuries were not life-threatening.

Three men and a 17-year-old male were sitting in the car when a man dressed entirely in black walked up to them and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon, said Detective Roy Rutland, a Miami-Dade police spokesman.

``Apparently he walked up, knew who he wanted to shoot, shot them, and fled on foot,'' Rutland said.

B- Herald: A taste of what to expect from Rubio and his staff.

Miami lobbyist and Rubio donor Ana Navarro said he should have released the card statements himself.

``Marco's chicken sandwich cost a lot less than Jim Greer's lobster dinners, but that does not mean the culture at the Republican Party does not need to change,'' said Navarro, referring to a $7.09 charge at a Chick-fil-A in Tallahassee. ``From top to bottom, people need to understand that one has to be extra conscientious in spending other people's money.''

Rubio's campaign advisor, Todd Harris, explained some charges Thursday that were picked up by the party. A $765 charge at Apple's online store was for a ``hard drive to store political files.'' Purchases at Winn Dixie for $53.49 and Farm Stores in Miami for $78.10 were for ``soft drinks.'' Two bills from Happy Wine in Miami were for ``lunch,'' though one of the charges is listed in a party report as ``beverages.''

Harris said a $368 car rental in Las Vegas in 2007 was to meet a donor. Asked for the name of the donor, Harris snapped: ``I didn't ask and it's not your or anyone else's business.''

C- Herald: Morin.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

E- CBS4: Video, looking for a Happy Meal.



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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

The weekend is just about here! Check out the Weekend Widget at the top of the right sidebar to see if there's anything you might be interested in doing. And enjoy your TGIF morning Sift...

A- Sex and the Beach discusses their humor and refers to SFDB as the "finest curator of local blogs," so, of course, they get a link.

B- If you missed last night's South Beach Wine & Food Festival Burger Bash, don't fret. This Burger Beast post will make you feel like you were there.

• 27 hamburgers prepared by a culinary team of 120 representing 10 states in a 25,000 sq/ft tent

• Over 7,500 lbs. of 10 different varieties of ground meat to make up 48,600 burger portions

• 400 lbs. of smoked bacon

• 500 lbs. of coleslaw

• 1.5 TONS of Idaho Potatoes

• 6,000 Tater Tots

C- Bark Bark Woof Woof gives us his take on yesterday's health care summit.

First, if anyone had any delusion that there would be negotiating or compromise, they missed the point. It was never about that. It was about both sides having a chance to make their case and defend it.

D- Fratelli Di Bufala in Miami Beach gets a visit by Worst Pizza.

The pizza itself has potential. The sauce was sweet, and pretty smooth. The crust was extremely tasty, and crisp. The cheese just didn’t taste right. It was way too watery (I know I keep referring to it as watery, but there is no other way to put it) and because of that it had an overbearingly bland taste.

I guess Fratelli Di Bufala deserves another try, with one of their different pizza makers. Perhaps I will go back the next time I am down in South Beach and see if there is a new Pizziola behind the counter. If so, I hope the pizza I eat tastes a bit better then this pie did.

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Your Evening Sift

Man, I am so ready for this week to end. Enjoy your Day Before Friday evening Sift...

A- Life in the uninsured lane is shaky, according to Hidden City.

Last night I started to feel some stickiness in my throat. Today it has blossomed into a deep, hacking cough. Normally I would shrug it off and keep working. Now I worry that if I don't keep myself in bed and kick this as quickly as possible it could turn into something that would ruin the rest of my life through medical bills. Sure, staying in bed is a logical course of action, anyway, one too often ignored. But it is my only option today: no quickly called in prescription for me.

B- The new Miami City Manager is a picky foodie, according to this post from Eater Miami.

Not everyone was in love with the Kitchen Aid dinner at Tap Tap last night, featuring an unprecedented mix of chefs---Morimoto, Boulud, Wessel, Garces, hello--cooking to benefit Haitian relief efforts. Seems that former Wachovia Bank president turned Miami city manager Carlos Migoya just didn't think it was up to his standards. Says our snitch, "He left in a huff because he didn't like his seat. He thought the place wasn't his 'quality'. He was a real primadonna. When he left, he had a snarl on his face."

C- Nikon Miami plays around with his camera settings and snaps a few photos of some special cars.

D- Actions will speak louder than words when it comes to Miami City Commissioner Carollo and cycling, according to Transit Miami.

E- Miami For Change offers 5 ways that the City of Miami could save "real" money.

3. Cut all City travel, period!

Tomasito in DC and New York? Doing what exactly? Have you heard of Skype? Teleconferences? It's a crisis after all, act like it. And what good is an audit if you don't create strict preventive policy after? Oh yeah, Tomasito only likes to bitch, not lead.

Oh, and we hear Paris is lovely this time of year. How do we know? City bureaucrats went there to "study" subway systems. A subway in Miami? It should cost less that your trip to Paris.

F- Coconut Grove Grapevine says something called the Peacock Tour is coming to the Grove this Spring and guess who is involved?

The Peacock Tour is coming this spring. Six foot tall painted fiberglass peacocks will fill the village and stick around for six months.

[...]

This first event in March, will allow guests will have the exclusive opportunity to see the fiberglass peacock as a blank canvas before the artists take brush to them.

Each peacock will be sponsored by local businesses and individuals and will then be decorated by local artists who will each incorporate their own themes. A “who’s who” of artists has been commissioned so far including renowned pop artists Romero Brito and Ed King, marionette pioneer Pablo Cano, sculptor Paula Turk, and post modern cartoonist, Lebo. Doreen LoCiero, a celebrated local artist, will serve as Artistic Director of the exhibit.

G- Under the Sun looks back at Que Pasa, USA? and growing up in Miami.

To outsiders, Miami is a place where anything goes, explains Under the Sun’s Trina Sargalski, “but not in my house.”

Sargalski grew up far from the neon and nightlife. She grew up in the ”ultra-suburban outpost” of West Kendall.

In this piece, she revisits the Miami of her youth– freestyle music, chaperones, and the clever, low-budget sitcom Que Pasa, U.S.A.?

H- REV Miami has video and photos from this year's Artopia.

I- The Reid Report details the American Express bill that the fiscally responsible Marco Rubio rang up.

How does building a “members only” dining room fit in with Rubio’s supposed tea party ethos? How does spending donors’ hard-earned money at Macaroni Grill fit in? How does getting a $130 haircut make him any different than, say, John Edwards, who Republicans derided as a phony for getting pricey hair-dos? The bottom line is that the narrative Marco Rubio has constructed about himself over the last several months, and that the RedStaters and tea party people have sold, mostly to themselves and the credulous punditocracy, is an utter fraud.

J- It's probably my AT&T crappy DSL connection, but I can't get All Purpose Dark's video to play. She sports a pretty spectacular hair do in it so try to check it out anyway.

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SFDB Not-So-Random Thought Of The Day [UPDATED]

So we're surprised when a killer whale lives up to its name?

Really?

And isn't that "killer" status one of the reasons why the exhibit is so popular in the first place?

.......




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Coconuts And Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio worshippers are besides themselves with outrage over this...



Did ya hear that? He said "coconut!"

RACIST!

"Coconut" is defined by the Urban Dictionary as...

n. a person who is tan on the outside (mexican, indian, philipino) and white on the inside

Nevermind that Marco Rubio is paler than many Anglos [and certainly Charlie Crist] or that the guy who said this later explained that...

I said "coconut" meaning simple, goofy, bananas...wasn't even aware it could be a racially charged word.

Nevermind that the video clearly doesn't indicate that the comment was meant as a racial slur.

Nevermind that the purveyors of this outrage were posting these images just a few short months ago...







This tantrum comes just a few weeks after someone had the temerity to say that Rubio was "a slick package from Miami."

These Little Limbaughs better cowboy up and stop being such delicate flowers because between now and November things are only going to get worse in the Florida senatorial race. Both sides haven't even started to throw rocks and already Marco's posse is wailing hysterically.

Save it for October, boys, when it actually might count for something.

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The Cooler

Lots of news out there this morning. Here's just some of it...

A- Herald: Making Hialeah proud.

President Barack Obama nominated Miami native Wifredo Ferrer as the new U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida Thursday.

[...]

His résumé was an easy sell: He is a one-time federal prosecutor in Miami and is currently chief of Miami-Dade County's federal litigation section. He's also the former deputy chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

The son of Cuban immigrants also was valedictorian at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High, first in his class at the University of Miami, and president of his class at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

B- Herald: Maybe if they built a baseball diamond...

While the county mayor Wednesday rejected ``a cash bailout at Jackson,'' the public health system's chief executive said she is working hard to finalize the details of a restructuring plan to lessen the $229 million loss anticipated for this fiscal year.

[...]

In his State of the County speech Wednesday, Mayor Carlos Alvarez said, ``Our public hospital is ailing and there's no magic pill to cure it.

``We know we have a moral responsibility to the poor and uninsured, but a cash bailout at Jackson is not the answer. A Jackson that is not fundamentally sustainable short-changes patients and taxpayers. Some tough choices lie ahead, but it is in all of our best interests to ensure Jackson succeeds. It will.''

C- Herald: Because it's Miami.

Suspended West Miami Mayor Cesar Carasa just won't give up.

The ex-mayor, who is facing charges that he exploited his official position after making more than $70,000 in long-distance phone calls to the Dominican Republic and China on his city-issued cellphone, says he is running for office this election season.

[...]

Carasa's attorney, Bruce H. Lehr said Wednesday there are ``no legal limitations preventing [Carasa] from running because he hasn't been convicted of anything.''

D- Herald: Ground Zero.

The Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force kicked off the first of its mortgage-fraud summits Wednesday in the epicenter of the nation's mortgage-fraud crisis and pledged to begin finding solutions.

The interagency task force -- established last November by President Barack Obama to combat financial crime -- is a team of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, financial regulators, and inspectors general dedicated to curbing mortgage fraud, predatory lending, and other financial crimes.

There are 23 task forces and 67 mortgage-fraud working groups throughout the country.

``Nowhere is the problem more serious than here in Florida,'' said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman.

E- Herald: Editorial, stop coddling the Cuban dictatorship.

The United Nations, European Union and the Organization for American States should be speaking up and taking action. Surely, when suicides occurred at the U.S. prison in Guantánamo, they did, as did this editorial board.

But on Cuba, the U.N., EU and OAS prefer silence -- or mealy-mouthed statements about sovereignty that excuse Cuba's 51 years of grave human rights violations.

F- Sun-Sentinel: Train wreck waiting to happen.

FORT LAUDERDALE - Gary Kerpan confessed years ago to snatching a 12-year-old girl, raping her, stabbing her, and killing her. Now that he's out of prison, he hangs out in Fort Lauderdale's Stranahan Park.

He is one Fort Lauderdale's homeless.

G- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

H- Palm Beach Post: Pictures of Tiger Wood's mom's house in Jupiter.

I- South Florida Business Journal: Good health care in Palm Beach.

Delray Medical Center and Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center were the only South Florida hospitals recognized by HealthGrades as being among America’s 50 Best Hospitals.

Both are owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. and have made the list for the last four years.

J- CBS4: Video, Icon sales are getting better, but still slow.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It's cold. It's windy. And it's time for your Thursday morning Sift. Enjoy.

A- Food For Thought reveals his 5 favorite Cuban sandwiches in Miami-Dade County.

Enriquetas may not be much to look at, and it may not be in the toniest part of Miami (its location, near the warehouse district / art district that is Wynwood, is what a realtor might call a "transitional neighborhood"), but their Pan Con Lechón - tender shredded roasted pork, splashed with some garlicky mojo, topped with sautéed onions, and smushed into toasted buttered bread - is my favorite. I like mine with a side of tostones, with some more mojo for dipping. You won't be very kissable afterwards, but you'll be satisfied.

B- More on the Sun-Sentinel website's virus infection from Carlos Miller.

C- South Florida Theatre Scene has their regular weekly review up and ready for your review.

D- All Purpose Dark attends the Mouton Cadet's 80th anniversary party at the Raleigh Hotel and makes us all jealous.

A few more snacks - trays of strawberries, pressed panini sandwiches and more chocolate cupcakes - and there it was with its playful sheep kicking up its heels on the label, almost like a carefree French schoolboy, a schoolboy who probably drinks this stuff from a thermos for lunch everyday - Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 1999, a bottle of wine that goes for upwards of $500. It's a glorious wine, fit for a glorious night, which it was. Standing out on 8th floor terrace of hotel we looked out on South Beach and toasted the festival.

E- Marco Rubio used his GOP credit card on personal expenditures but no one probably cares, according to Bark Bark Woof Woof.

I don't think this is really going to be a big deal in the campaign; the GOP works on the principle that it's okay for them to do things like this because it's okay for them to do things like this. What's ironic is that one of the mantras of the Republicans is that they are the party of personal responsibility and fiscal discipline...for everybody else.

F- Radio or Not has Keith Olbermann's latest commentary on health care. It is a personal message involving the struggles of his father that is very, very powerful.

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Your Evening Sift

What a dreadful night it is here in Broward. Rainy, windy and the temperature seems to be dropping as I write this. Stay dry and enjoy your evening Sift...

A- The Sun-Sentinel website is apparently infected with a virus or something, according to this rather confusing post at Man or Maniac?.

B- The Burger Beast gives Michael's Genuine Harris Ranch Black Angus Burger a perfect 5 out of 5 stars.

Out of the park. Honestly, this is the real deal. I loved the freshness of the burger. I loved their house smoked bacon. I loved their fries (best I've had in a long while).

C- Places to go if you aren't going to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, courtesy Mango&Lime.

D- Relive the inaugural Burger Beast Miami Burger Tour with Blind Tastes.

All in all though, I thought the Burger Beast Miami Burger Tour was planned properly and executed well. The Beast did a great job making sure everyone was set up for a good time and the value for the dollar was phenomenal. Big thanks to the Burger Beast and the Miami Tour Company!

E- Miamism reviews the three most expensive homes sold on Miami Beach in January.

F- Searching for Normalcy goes out on a date to a Heats game and takes her camera. Check out how many empty seats are at Heat games these days.

G- Miami For Change documents an interesting series of events occurring in the City of Miami Film Office.

So Parente is fired due to the City's financial crisis,

Then he says he'll work for $40,000 a year,

And now he is being replaced by a Tomasito supporter?

Unless Mr. Gottlieb promises to make less than $40,000, how exactly is the City better off financially on this one?

H- REV Miami officially declares their anniversary party a huge success and has photos to share.

Our 1 Year Anniversary Celebration was an amazing happening that culminated after a whole year of focus, work, and love. I heard from almost every direction, "this was the best lineup I've seen" or "every single band sounded amazing."

All the bands came out and blew the roof off White Room, and I especially give props to ArtOfficial and Radioboxer. ArtOffical was their typical selves, the most talented band in Miami (have you ever seen them not play well?). Radioboxer played their hearts out, culminating with lead singer Vanne jumping on the drum set, ripping her shirt off (PG version, of course), and making the crowd go crazy.

I- New faces from Miami's streets are posted at The Street.

J- Smashed Frog shares some news and looks back at the past 4 years.

My loved one has satisfied the obligation owed to the state of Florida.

Most beloved Froggers will catch my drift immediately. For those who have arrived here in Paradise and somehow managed to avoid the criminal justice, allow me to clarify.

Five years has come down to two words.

Probation DONE.

K- I do think Jeb Bush believes Sarah Palin is stupid after reading his recent comments at The Reid Report.

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11 Characteristics Of Influential Bloggers

According to Tamar Weinberg:

-Consistency

You don’t necessarily have to pump out content hourly or even every day, but if you want to be a successful blogger, you should try to stick to some sort of schedule.

-Eloquence

They always have something insightful to say, and it shows in every single blog post that they write. It’s pretty clear that their content exudes intelligence and occasional wit. They treat writing like an art and their art is viral. You can tell that you’re reading blog posts of brilliant writers. They’re that good.

-Uniqueness

Darren Rowse wrote a great post about how you can be a unique blogger. Here’s a hint: it requires not doing what everyone else does. There are so many blogs out there that regurgitate news, causing clutter in the blogosphere. Darren suggests having a memorable design, trying your hand at being a character (e.g. Fake Steve Jobs), and being a vault of resources (e.g. Smashing Magazine), among other things.

You can find all 11 at the link but make sure you read "Passion:"

Most bloggers, though — at least those who have kept at blogging for such a long time — are the true examples of passion. It’s very hard to provide regular content for readers on a consistent basis, and there are countless bloggers who do so regularly. I’m amazed to see how some people, especially those operating a one-man blogging operation, can do it with different topics every single day.

Word.


-thanks to Carlos Miller for the heads up email


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CPAC 2010: Rage Within The Machine

The Daily Show addresses the recent gathering of douchebags, otherwise known as CPAC.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CPAC 2010 - Rage Within the Machine
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

-via Bark Bark Woof Woof

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The Cooler

An iPhone helps catch a couple South Florida hoodlums. That and more in this morning's Cooler.

A- WPLG: Your South Florida moment of the day.

PLANTATION, Fla. -- Residents of a Plantation neighborhood have been waking up recently to find their front yards destroyed by pigs running wild.

[...]

The animals lurk in the woods of a rural community during the day. At night, their snouts get busy, rooting in the soil for food. One homeowner's yard has been hit several times. He put up a wire fence to keep the hogs off of his lawn.

B- WPLG: Coming soon to Ebay.

HIALEAH, Fla. -- Thieves broke into a Hialeah cosmetic supply business over the weekend, making off with $150,000 in high-end beauty products, according to Hialeah police.

[...]

The theft was caught on surveillance video at about 7 p.m. Sunday. Police said three thieves broke a hole in the warehouse wall to get inside. They took their time cleaning out the warehouse, using the company's forklifts to move the merchandise around and making off with $150,000 worth of products.

C- CBS4: Video, iPhone's MobileMe kicks butt.

D- NBC Miami: Slideshow, python patrol.

E- Herald: But will it change anything?

A jailed Cuban dissident on a hunger strike for 83 days died Tuesday, his mother reported, the first time in nearly 40 years that an island activist starved himself to death to protest government abuses.

It was the first time an opponent of the communist government died during a hunger strike since the 1972 death in prison of Pedro Luis Boitel, a poet and student leader who fought against both the Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro dictatorships.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a 42-year-old plumber and bricklayer, stopped eating solid food Dec. 3 to protest what he described as repeated beatings by guards and many other abuses at his Kilo 7 prison in the eastern province of Camagüey.

Active in several dissident organizations, he had been arrested in 2003 amid a government crackdown that sentenced 75 government critics to lengthy prison terms, and Amnesty International declared him a ``prisoner of conscience.''

F- Herald: The show can go on.

Dressed to the nines, four drag queen performers -- backed by dozens of vocal gay Beach residents -- came to City Hall asking that they be allowed to continue entertaining at the Palace restaurant's weekly Sunday brunch.

The queens' brunch on Ocean Drive prompted a royal row recently when guests at the Palace's next-door-neighbor, The Tides South Beach hotel, complained about the noise.

The Tides, at 12th Street and Ocean Drive, wanted the Sunday shows stopped.

A few compromises were reached: The drag queens may entertain Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The shows will end at 10 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.

G- Herald: Because it's Miami, Kris.

Dinner for two is $400 at Thursday's burger bash, and $700 for Friday's champagne barbecue. A bargain compared with Saturday's tribute dinner, where two tickets tops the $1,000 mark.

Not hungry? Stop by a 60-minute wine tasting Sunday for a mere $85 a head.

One can spot evidence of the recession in the South Beach Wine and Food Festival's seventh year. Delta pulled back its sponsor dollars, events have been slower to sell out, and it's easier to find tickets under $100.

[...]

``As much as it's affected us all -- and the festival -- people still want to forget about the problems of the recession,'' said Kris Wessel, owner of the Red Light Little River restaurant in Miami and a festival chef. He's making a grilled bleu cheese sandwich and steak for the BubbleQ and shrimp-stuffed squash for the Haitian dinner.

``I don't know how people continue to pay for these tickets,'' Wessel said. ``But they're doing it.''

H- Herald: They write letters.

Government harassment

The man who crashed his plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas, has a lot of people saying he was crazy. I don't think he was. He was just like the rest of us -- tired of being harassed by his government.

The U.S. government has empowered the Internal Revenue Service to create a system of complicated rules that even its own workers don't understand. Most people acknowledge that the government has to have an income to function -- to take care of the needy, protect us and build infrastructure.

This is a great country, and its intentions are noble. There is no other country in the world like the United States. But let's not wind up resenting our own government. Let's make the system of taxation simple and fair -- even it means throwing the whole thing out and starting over again.

DONALD L. MILLER, Miami

I- Sun-Sentinel: Jeebus.

A 20-year-old Delray Beach man was arrested Tuesday on accusations that he forced four teens to perform sex acts on one another at gunpoint, firing his weapon when they did not obey.

J- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Happy Hump Day, readers. It was rather slow in the South Florida blogosphere last night so your morning Sift shouldn't take but just a minute.

A- Nikon Miami posts a nice image of the City of Miami that is apparently taken from a non-traditional vantage point, although it's hard for me to tell the difference.

B- A recent series of posts at Miami Beach 411 got noticed at 305.

That story was one of a three part series, and it grabbed me for several reasons. Firstly, it's well written, it's highly personal without being disengaging. Secondly, while I have never personally battled with addiction, I have been close to several people who have. It's scary. It's all consuming. And this story expresses that. You have to read through all three chapters of the story, and I certainly will not recap it, because it's not my story to tell, but I will say this: Often, it's difficult for people to separate themselves enough from addiction to be able to clearly tell a story about it's destructive forces. I think Jane came as close as they come, especially with as recent as some of these incidents seem to be in her life.

C- Superbee looks back at the "good times."

The summer is a blur of humidity and thunderstorms and creme brulee and water-view lunches at Smith & Wollensky (ew.) and Hey-Ya blaring from club-to-club as the Vodka Redbulls stacked up and the tip of my housekey turned green. The drugs were good, and the booze was expensive but worth it. It was the summer of hot-pink nightclub canister lighting and the solidification of the Stripper Pole as a bar fixture. We were all so young and good looking, and energetic, and fun, and there was so much money to be made, and spent, everywhere. I never wanted it to end - it wasn't Miami in the 70s... it was BETTER. And I knew it was ephemeral, but it never felt like it was going to end... so it just... wasn't.

D- Shorter Carlos Miller...

When it comes to the Sun-Sentinel BOB Awards, "we" means "me."

E- Bark Bark Woof Woof takes a quick glimpse at the attitudes behind health care reform and what's driving them.

It may seem naive, but the way the Republicans are reacting to the televised healthcare summit tomorrow, it would appear that they realize that six hours of dialogue with the only teabags being the little ones on the coffee service table will take a lot of wind out of their gasbaggery. Their biggest fear isn't that Congress will pass the bill but that the public will finally figure out that the GOP was opposed to something that the majority of the people want for no other reason than political gain and breaking President Obama.

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Your Evening Sift

Better late than never. This is the way things are going to be through Friday, readers, as work is kicking my butt. Enjoy your Tuesday evening Sift...

A- Ipanemic is going...somewhere.

I’ve been making arrangements lately to leave this life o’ mine here. Temporarily. I don’t know for how long. Hopefully, I will be gone no longer than a month.

B- BMX action in Kendall from Miami Bike Scene.

C- So you wonder how many people are taking the bus these days? Check out the photo over at Transit Miami.

D- Spokes 'n' Folks provides a video and yet another example of why I don't ride a bike in South Florida any more. These are the kind of asshats that are out there.

E- Blind Tastes discusses the social aspects of the underground dining experiences that he's been part of over the last year.

That original group of eleven strangers has ballooned to a head-scratching 281 people! Thirty-six people attended Cobaya Gras, undoubtedly our most entertaining and fun event yet, with plenty more wanting in on the action. Once again I was in awe of the spirit of the attendees and the chefs who traveled to Hollywood from as far as Pinecrest(!!) to eat, drink, and be merry. And in a rainstorm nonetheless! I spent a decent amount of time getting to know everyone I hadn't met yet and occasionally stepped back for a quiet moment by myself where I watched everyone interacting with one another. People of different ages, genders, and backgrounds interacting with one another, all united by the need for sustenance and the passion to do obtain it as creatively as possible.

F- Hidden City, not surprisingly, takes a very classy approach to the Sun-Sentinel BOB Awards.

But I want people to read Hidden City because they enjoy it, because they take away something of value: a laugh, a tear, a new perspective. Getting new readers though winning a dubious poll by annoying the hell out of my audience through endless vote-begging spam just doesn't feel right to me.

So by all means, vote if you are so inclined; anything which brings new readers my way is a good thing, even if few of them stay. (And hey, I could use the $100, too.) But if you're really interested in doing something for me, all I ask is this.

Do you have a site of your own, or even a Facebook page? Post a link back here. If you have Twitter and read something you like, pass it on to your followers. When you are having a glass of wine with your friends, should someone ask you to suggest something to read, ask if they know about Hidden City.

G- Yet another South Florida lawyer gets accused of criminal behavior and South Florida Lawyers is on it with commentary and a copy of the Information.

H- Miami for Change is running a poll to determine which famous bald guy the new Miami City Manager looks like the most.

I- Incertus gets a national link.

J- Food for Thought receives an important email and updates a post from yesterday.

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