Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Tuesday. It's better than Monday. Enjoy your rather large morning Sift.

A- If you're up for getting into it with a Miami Herald security guard, Carlos Miller helps out.

Naturally, this calls for the Third Annual PINAC Photo Protest where we will converge upon the Miami Herald building this Saturday to determine exactly what location can we legally photograph the building without getting yelled at by a security guard.

B- The recent news that Baltimore is considering selling ad space on their fire trucks has Obalesque thinking.

What you want to do is sell the rights to the elected officials themselves. In Baltimore, for example, there should be an open auction at which the Mayor, City Council and school board are sold to the highest bidder, and obligated to wear the winners’ logo prominently on their outerwear. Instead of referring to the “District 4 Representative,” he or she should be known as “Councilman AT&T “ or “Mayor BankAmerica.”

C- The Chowfather describes what was for "dunch" during the latest Cobaya dining experiment.

"Bacon Bits" were platted next. On the left is a lamb belly that was spiced rubbed, cured and rosemary smoked. It's resting on a naked potato salad, minted greek yogurt and pomegranate dots. The second bit featured a local goat belly that was spice rubbed, cured and sage smoked. It is sitting on on a duck egg frozen custard and crumpet. I enjoyed both bites on this unique bacon as well as the supporting cast.

D- Random Pixels posts a copy of an anonymous email that makes some unsubstantiated allegations against a few Miami-Dade Police Department employees.

E- Conservatives love to complain about judicial activism, except when it's one of their own doing the talking...at The Reid Blog.

How radical is Tony Scalia? In his highly political dissent from today’s 5-3 decision striking down three out of four provisions of Arizona’s “papers please” law, Scalia launched into a political tirade, which wandered back into the recesses of American history, to a time (a better time, in Scalia’s imagination) when a state was a sovereign — like a country — that could exclude freed slaves and “Coolies.” Seriously.

F- Downtown Hollywood is dying, reports Eye on Miami.

Sunday, June 24th about 4 pm I took a walk around Downtown Hollywood Florida. Harrison Street was all but deserted with dozens of empty stores and for rent signs. Most of the restaurants on Hollywood Blvd. and Harrison street seemed dark - I had to press my nose against the glass to see in. None seemed very inviting so we ended up driving to a restaurant out of the area.

G- Gas prices are going down so shouldn't we be crediting the President, asks Bark Bark Woof Woof.

After all, the right-wingers were all blaming the high gas prices on him last winter, so it's only natural to think that he actually did something to bring the prices back down. Ah, but I know what you're thinking... it's a plot to win the election. The president artificially raised prices last winter only so he could drop them in the summer and have them reach the level that Newt Gingrich (remember him? He's the GOP nominee) promised last February.

H- Some Blogging Guy wants you to know that traffic on I-95 is still bad during rush hour.

When I manage to get onto I-95, it is one solid block of cars. It takes time and effort to slowly, one lane at a time, push my way left until I am in the correct lane, right next to the Lexus Lanes. My average speed is 9 miles per hour on many days, if I am lucky, 15 or 20, with numerous stops along the way.

I- Shorter Gun Free Zone...

Be afraid of idyllic spots in the wild.

J- Twenty new photos are up at The Street.



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