SFDB October Post Of The Month: The Nominees

As always, here's how it works: I post the SFDB Post's of the Week from October and readers pick their favorite by voting in a poll that appears at the bottom of this post. The voting ends on Wednesday, November 18th, at 9 PM, and the winner is pronounced Post of the Month and given their own special post.

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: "The Saga of the Phone Scam"

Eye on Miami relates how a phone scammer gives them a call and attempts to obtain personal information only to be given data that is entirely useless. It's something I think we've all wanted to do and EoM pulls it off and blogs it for us in a totally entertaining post.


Nominee #2: "For A Moment I Forgot Where I Was"

PhinPhanatic pens a heartfelt and beautifully-written narrative that relates how a Monday night Dolphins-Jets game provided his brother, and other Armed Forces members currently serving overseas, a welcome relief from their situation.


Nominee #3: "Designing Better Bicycle Lanes For Coral Way"

Transit Miami reviews the new bike lanes on Coral Way and offers up some suggestions for improvement. The post not only has some very thoughtful recommendations, it is loaded with photos that show the reader exactly what they're talking about. It's a post that should make everyone hope that someone in the City of Miami, in particular the mayor, reads Transit Miami.


Nominee #4: "Cobaya Underground Dinner Experiment #2, 2.5"

Food For Thought is apparently one of the organizers for underground dining sessions being held in Miami and in this post he chronicles Cobaya Underground Dinner Experiment #2. The post is laden with photos of exotic preparations and narrated with detailed prose. He even threw in a video for good measure. The post has all the elements that we look for in good blogging and as a plus, it was timely.

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

My Choice For SFDB October Post Of The Month Is...

Nominee #1: The Saga Of The Phone ScamNominee #2: For A Moment I Forgot Where I WasNominee #3: Designing Better Bicycle Lanes For Coral WayNominee #4: Cobaya Underground Dinner Experiment #2, 2.5

Free polls from Pollhost.com

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The Fort Hood Shooting: Questions Linger

While the emails that Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan sent to a radical Muslim cleric have been dismissed as inconsequential by the FBI, what has yet to be fully explored is his mental state of mind at the time of shooting.

National Public Radio has found that Hasan's employers questioned his behavior back in 2008.

When a group of key officials gathered in the spring of 2008 for their monthly meeting in a Bethesda, Md., office, one of the leading — and most perplexing — items on their agenda was: What should we do about Hasan?

Hasan had been a trouble spot on officials' radar since he started training at Walter Reed, six years earlier. Several officials confirm that supervisors had repeatedly given him poor evaluations and warned him that he was doing substandard work.

Both fellow students and faculty were deeply troubled by Hasan's behavior — which they variously called disconnected, aloof, paranoid, belligerent, and schizoid. The officials say he antagonized some students and faculty by espousing what they perceived to be extremist Islamic views. His supervisors at Walter Reed had even reprimanded him for telling at least one patient that "Islam can save your soul."

As a sidenote, I'm wondering if Hasan would have received a reprimand had he said "Jesus can save your soul."

But getting back to the topic at hand, this morning CNN has this...

Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- People who knew and studied Maj. Nidal Hasan say he was a loner who had no luck finding a wife, and a criminal profiler said the Fort Hood shooting suspect fits the profile of a mass murderer better than that of a terrorist.

Investigators are searching for any missed "red flags" that might have prevented last week's fatal shooting, which left 12 soldiers and one civilian dead and 40 other people wounded. However, the FBI has said its investigations indicate the "alleged gunman acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot."

"A lot of people are jumping to the conclusion because this man spouted violent Islamic ideology that this is a terrorist attack," criminologist Pat Brown said.

Brown, who profiles killers, said Hasan's profile is that of a loner.

"He was simply a lone guy who had issues, problems, psychopathic behaviors that escalated to the point where he wanted to get back at society, and he took it out on his workmates like most of them do," he said.

Despite many folks, mostly from the xenophobic Radical Right, already concluding that Major Hasan was a jihadist, I think we have a ways to go before we determine for sure what Hasan's motivations were. Was it a cold, calculated terrorist act, or was it a rage-filled outburst by a loner that was fueled by dementia and/or frustration about not being able to leave the armed forces before being deployed to fight in a war he did not agree with?

I've already provided my opinion here, but the jury is still out.

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The Cooler

City of Miami officials swearing in, under investigation and resigning yesterday. That and more in this morning's Cooler.

A- Herald: Revolutionary for South Florida transit.

Starting Dec. 13, a new bus route will connect Miami International Airport and South Beach -- a heavily traveled corridor used both by commuters and international tourists.

[...]

The new bus route, which will be called the Airport-Beach Flyer route, will give riders direct express service from MIA to Miami Beach via State Road 112, with only one stop at the Earlington Heights Metrorail station before reaching the beach.

[Miami-Dade Transit chief Harpal] Kapoor said the stop at the Metrorail station would enable passengers to transfer to downtown Miami.

Trips from MIA to Miami Beach will cost $2.35 and take about 30 minutes, according to Kapoor.

B- Herald: Miami politics as usual.

Miami Commissioner Angel Gonzalez, facing a criminal investigation, has agreed to resign as early as Friday as part of a deal with prosecutors, several sources say.

[...]

Gonzalez was a civic activist who first caught the attention of law enforcement in the 1990s when he served as director of the Allapattah Business Development Authority, which was partly funded by the city of Miami.

The agency became a major player in the fraudulent 1997 Miami election. Gonzalez and four other authority employees were convicted on felony vote-fraud charges.

[...]

In March of this year, Gonzalez admitted he failed to report about $135,000 in rental income he had collected since 2005 when he filled out financial disclosure forms.

Miami-Dade's Commission on Ethics and Public Trust investigated Gonzalez for receiving $3,800 a month in rental income since 2005 but failing to report it from 2005-07.

C- Herald: The Burger Beast gets his own write up.

Dining with Sef ``The Burger Beast'' Gonzalez and his buddies on one of their perfect-burger quests is a lot like being on the dais at a comedy roast. If something in your past is embarrassing in a funny way, it will be brought up and discussed at length at your expense.

Just don't order a salad with your hamburger -- not unless you want to be mocked for a digital eternity on burgerbeast.com, the culinary blog Gonzalez has built in little over a year into a South Florida phenomenon with bi-monthly burger events that attract hundreds of people.

D- South Florida Business Journal: Hold it. Isn't this the "no growth" guy?

During his swearing in speech on Wednesday, new Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado declared that the city’s treasures needed to be safeguarded, referring specifically to the long-embattled Miami Marine Stadium.

He also said that Watson Island, where a massive two-hotel project was planned and stalled, would be revitalized under his watch.

“We will rebuild the Marine Stadium,” he said. “We will revitalize Watson Island. Our city is full of opportunities and the time has come to recognize its treasures and have faith in their potential.”

E- CBS4: DeFede on Timoney.

A frequent guest on the cable news shows, Timoney raised the department's profile, offering a fresh face for a department viewed with disdain. And many in the community loved the no-nonsense image of this tough Irish cop from New York. But Timoney had his critics and the chief often proved to be his own worst enemy.

F- NBCMiami: Socialists!

There was a long line stretching outside the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo Center at 9:30 yesterday as inside, nurses and doctors were preparing to give out free H1N1 vaccines.

Elisa Quintana lined up with her three children, eager to receive the vaccine.

“They haven’t received it yet and so I found out they were handing them out this morning and I decided to come over and bring them kids,” Quintana said.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

The weekend is almost here which means the SFDB Weekend Widget has risen from the depths of the right sidebar to the top of the page so that you can get a grasp on all the goodness that is coming up in the next few days. Check it out but not before you take a look at your Thursday morning Sift.

A- Obalesque points out to the Little Limbaughs that the "death panels" that they so fear are already here with the current health care system.

Read that closely, wingnuts, as you wave placards likening universal health care to Nazism. You gullible pathetic lickspittles, you.

What you’re reading is proof positive that in fact there exists the “death panels” you rant about, faceless bureaucrats who determine, using dollars and cents, who among the insured will live or die. Except they’re already here, and they’re not your socialist government. They’re insurance company executives modifying their policies to ensure profits for the company’s stockholders.

B- Miami Bike Scene gets a mention in the print edition of the Herald along with some rather embarrassing mistakes that the newspaper made with the story.

C- More Davie Rodeo pictures from Nikon Miami.

D- Knaus Berry Farm is open for the season, according to Mango&Lime.

For those of you who haven’t been there, Knaus Berry Farm sells the most delicious cinnamon rolls, fruit shakes and produce from mid-November through April. The farm is run by the Knaus family.

E- South Florida Theatre Scene has their weekly review up.

F- Ipanemic has some Veterans Day thoughts.

I’m not military personnel. But there are plenty who are. And each and everyone of them depend on us. Service men and women are out there trying to do right (hopefully most are, anyway). They’re out there doing good stuff. And the ones that already went out there and did stuff, trying to make the world a better place? Yeah. They need you. Veteran’s Day should simply be a reminder of that.

I hope you did something extra nice for one of them today. Don’t feel badly if you didn’t get them a card, though. Apparently, it’s not really a card-giving day yet. But maybe get them a cake next year. Like Red Velvet.

G- The Reid Report has some thoughts on the rumors that Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones might be under investigation.

The saddest part of this story is that Ms. Spence-Jones has had her ethics questioned so often, and so consistently (including in a case involving her own pastor) that the people who re-elected her must have known at least something about it. And yet, she was resoundingly returned to office. What would it take, then, for a such a person NOT to be re-elected? And if this news HAD come out before the election, there’s a very good chance that most people in District 5 would have dismissed it as lies designed to take a black woman down, and re-elected her anyway. It’s enough to make you give up, especially when you drive through decimated neighborhoods like the ones Ms. Spence-Jones represents, and realize that those most in a position to change their circumstances, the people who live there, have either given up, don’t care, or seem to like the leadership they’re getting.

It’s time for black people in Miami to have a “come to Jesus” moment. We’re either going to demand good leadership (it’s out there folks — look at Miami Gardens) and put our money, and our votes, where our convictions are — or we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.

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Your Evening Sift

It was a fun Hump Day for me and it looks like a lot of folks were busy blogging. Here's a little of what I found interesting all wrapped up into one tidy evening Sift...

A- South Florida Lawyers is having a tough time deciding which Charlie Crist picture he treasures the most.

B- Obalesque reports that the Radical Right is now studying the teachings of Saul Alinsky.

Would that be the same Saul Alinsky, whose name was breathlessly linked to candidate Obama’s by Wingnut Nation to prove the Dems had fallen in thrall to a commie leftwing American-hating radical? I guess it’s okay, though, if Dick Armey and his acolytes study their new master’s texts on community organizing and motivating political actions. It doesn’t mean anything when THEY do it. I guess.

C- Miami Beach 411's Matt Meltzer does an Ironman Triathalon.

Though it took me just under 13 hours to finish, the time went fast. 6 months, and really 2 years, of training and it was all over in half a day. But for the rest of my life, no matter what happens, nobody can take away what I did this past Saturday. And much like that title I earned back in 1997, I will forever be an Ironman.

D- Worst Pizza gives us the results from last night's PizzaCookoff held at an Anthony's Coal-Fired in Aventura.

We have our first ever Pizzacookoff winner! Last night The Sun-Sentinel, WorstPizza, and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, together with almost 70 pizza enthusiasts crowned Mike Lamonica as the King of Homemade Florida Pizza Recipes.

E- Shorter Coconut Grove Grapevine...

I almost swooned at Regalado's swearing in today.

Meanwhile, Eye on Miami maintained their composure and snapped some photos.

F- Redland Rambles has a recipe for a Carambola-Pineapple Drink.

The fresh carambola juice was mixed with (canned) pineapple juice, and then some rum was added. The recipe is: 1 ounce rum, and 1.5 ounce carambola juice, 1.5 ounce pineapple juice, shaken not stirred, serve over ice with slice of carambola as garnish.

G-The Reid Report questions how a "terrorist" like Nidal Hasan worked in the Army for years given the broad surveillance powers that the U.S. Government was granted after 9/11.

Am I the only one wondering why, since a) terrorism was the entire reason for being for the Bush administration and its war profiteers, and b) they were spying on us anyway, supposedly looking for terrorists (and only catching paintballers and a bunch of guys doing karate in Liberty City) … why didn’t they catch THIS supposed “terrorist” embedded in their own military, who was telegraphing all over town that he was an unhappy, mentally deteriorating guy with religious-based anxieties about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and who freaked out fellow soldiers AND fellow Muslims? After their “galvanizing event” (9/11) isn’t that what the Bush administration existed to do???

H- South Florida Beer Blog provides the 411 on the upcoming Urbanite Bistro Beer Dinner.

I- Everyone gets free wifi at airports through January courtesy of Google, according to The South Florida Traveler.

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Pants On Fire?

I would never, ever, ever dream of characterizing Republicans as liars so that's why the following three examples should be taken as anomalies of the usual honesty and truthiness that we've come to expect from the GOP.

One, from Bark Bark Woof Woof...

Ruth Marcus dissects the lies and distortions put forward by the GOP during the debate last weekend over the healthcare bill in the House -- it will raise taxes, it will put people in jail, it will kill granny, it will make you talk like you're from Encinco -- and asks the right question: "Are the Republican arguments against the bill so weak that they have to resort to these misrepresentations and distortions?"

The short answer is Yes.

Two, from The Daily Show via Discourse...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

And, three, via the Herald...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- E-mails obtained by a Florida newspaper show Gov. Charlie Crist's aides knew about President Barack Obama's visit to Florida in October, though the governor previously told reporters that he was unaware of the trip.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, the White House provided an itinerary and invitation in advance of Obama's Oct. 26 visit to Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Crist's executive assistant responded to the e-mail, saying the governor would be unable to attend.

A day after the Jacksonville appearance, Crist twice told reporters that he wasn't aware of the trip. When asked a third time, Crist said he knew Obama was coming to Florida, but didn't know the itinerary.

Remember, folks, this is just a drop in the ocean of all the honesty that the GOP has exhibited in the last 9 years. Let's not let these little slip ups detract from that, okay?

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"Shiny Fresh Rodent Droppings"

Based upon this post over at the New Times, looks like you might want to stay away from Bayside or a certain Irish place on Lincoln Road if you're hungry.






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Let's Start Acting Like Americans [UPDATED X2]

When you are consumed with fear, this is what you become...

TAMPA - A U.S. Marine reservist attacked a visiting Greek Orthodox priest he believed to be a terrorist, Tampa police say.

When the priest tried seeking directions from Jasen D. Bruce, 28, of Tampa, on Monday, Bruce struck the priest with a tire iron and chased him.

Police say he attacked the Rev. Alexios Marakis, 29, of Crete, Greece, who was visiting St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs and wound up lost in Tampa.

Marakis had performed a blessing of another retired Greek priest in the West Shore area and then accidentally exited Interstate 275 north into downtown Tampa. He followed cars into the Seaport Channelside Apartments on Twiggs Street and got out to ask Bruce for help.

Bruce hit him over the head with a tire iron and chased him for three blocks, to the corner of Madison and Meridian avenues, police say.

"During the chase, the suspect called 911 and claimed an Arabic male attempted to rob him and he was going to take him into custody," a Tampa Police Department news release states. "When officers arrived, the suspect claimed the man was a terrorist."

Marakis, who speaks limited English, was treated at Tampa General Hospital and released.

When it comes to people like Lance Corporal Bruce, the terrorists have won. Rationality leaves and reasons to justify your fear are searched for in the most obscure and least dependable of places. You can succumb to fear and paranoia and live life suspecting everyone that bears a certain last name or particular look or you can recognize and address the threat, acknowledge the risk, and live life without being constantly afraid.

You are 13 times more likely to die in a railway accident than from a terrorist attack

You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack

You are six times more likely to die from hot weather than from a terrorist attack

You are eight times more likely to die from accidental electrocution than from a terrorist attack

You are 11,000 times more likely to die in an airplane accident than from a terrorist plot involving an airplane

You are 87 times more likely to drown than die in a terrorist attack

You are 404 times more likely to die in a fall than from a terrorist attack

The events of last week and the resulting hysteria and, quite frankly, cowardice that some have shown as a result, has given me pause to think about how we are probably being viewed by the real terrorists out there. And how they are probably smiling.

It's been over 8 years since 9/11. Never forget, but never ever give the enemy the satisfaction of seeing you so frightened, so scared, that you can't even think straight.

We're Americans. Let's start acting like it.


******

Now that Mr. Bruce has hired an attorney, he's got an explanation for what happened. The online story has been updated.

TAMPA - The priest was lost in the Channel District and needed directions to Interstate 275, so he tapped a U.S. Marines reservist on the arm and, in a thick Greek accent, asked for help.

That's how police say the incident began.

But Lance Cpl. Jasen Bruce said the man, who was wearing a robe, sandals and a long beard, propositioned him in English and grabbed his genitals.

[...]

When officers arrived, police say, Bruce told them he heard the man say "Allahu Akbar" – Arabic for "God is great."

"That's what they say before they blow you up," Bruce said, according to police.

But at a news conference today, Bruce's attorney said his client didn't understand what Marakis said.

"Lance Cpl. Bruce defended himself with the full legality of the law for being sexually attacked and potentially robbed," lawyer Jeffrey Brown said.

[...]

In 2007, Bruce was accused of pushing a tow truck driver in the back and chest when his Jaguar was about to be towed, records show. Bruce told police the truck driver had grabbed him to stop him getting in his car.

Bruce pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery, records show. Adjudication was withheld.

So the Greek priest, who doesn't speak much English, grabbed Mr. Bruce [who understands Greek??], sexually propositioned him and then later yelled "Allahu Akbar."

Uh huh.

And Iraq has WMD.

******

From the comments we get a tip that someone who uses Mr. Bruce's name and looks a lot like him may have done some [NSFW] modeling. If this is the same guy, you gotta wonder if the Corps knows about this.

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Happy Veterans Day

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Thank you, gentlemen.



For an interesting local story, check out this video at CBS4.


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The Cooler

Lots of Veterans Day stories out there as you might imagine, but here are some other things that caught my eye in this morning's mainstream media.

A- Herald: Pitts.

If you study the list of recent American casualties, you find names redolent of every other place on Earth, names that smell of Scottish highlands and Korean marketplaces, Yemeni ports and Nigerien mosques, Russian steppes and Mexican farms.

All of them choosing to make their lives here in the land of burger joints, rap music and amber waves of grain -- a land where, it is boasted, a man is not his past, a man is not his culture, a man is not his tribe. A man is a man.

It is an ideal never fully realized and yet, an ideal soldiers with names from every other place on Earth sign up every day to defend. That ought to tell you something. It ought to make you proud.

And it ought to leave you impatient with the shrill, intolerant voices who would have us believe Nidal Malik Hasan is every Muslim in America.

B- Herald: More Rothstein.

Ed and Carol Morse -- who were family friends with Rothstein -- sued Boca Raton decorator Jan Jones in 2006 claiming he botched their job. Rothstein told the Morses earlier this year that they had won the breach-of-contract case and that the decorator owed them $23 million, sources said.

It wasn't true. In fact, the Morses lost the case.

Rothstein also produced purported federal court orders signed by a judge, saying the Morses could claim the judgment by seizing a Cayman Islands bank account belonging to the decorator, sources said.

There were no such court orders, nor any fat bank account, court records show.

To confiscate the money, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer allegedly told the Morses they had to post a bond 2 ½ times larger than the judgment, or $57 million, the sources said. The large amount was required as a guarantee in case bank officials confiscated the judgment from the wrong account, Rothstein told them.

So the couple wired the $57 million to Rothstein in installments earlier this year, the sources said. It is not clear whether Rothstein paid any of that money back.

C- Herald: Let us pray.

The already sordid tale of the Rev. David Dueppen and his baby's mother, former stripper Beatrice Hernandez, turned even tawdrier Tuesday as the two traded intimate and bizarre allegations in a Miami-Dade courtroom.

Dueppen said he'd been abused as a child, making him unable to resist Hernandez's demands for sex.

Hernandez said Dueppen threatened to ``disappear her'' by sending monks in brown robes to ``shoot'' her if she revealed the baby's existence to the church.

D- Herald: Video, Manny's last day in office.

E- Herald: Morin.

F- Herald: They write letters.

Why he won

Your Nov. 4 news coverage of the election of Tomás Regalado as Miami mayor glossed over the real reason that so many of us voted for him. It is not, as the article implied, because we are old and Cuban (as I am not), but because Regalado has an abiding interest in what residents really want and need.

His ideas may not be as sexy as outgoing Mayor Manny Diaz's ``vision'' of a ``world-class city,'' but this does not mean Regalado cannot bring about positive change. I happily voted for Regalado because I am ready to see the era of ``government for the developer, by the developer'' close. Real improvements to our quality of life may not be splashy or get national press, but I believe they will create the long-term conditions for economic growth and social development that all the concrete in the world cannot.

WENDY STEPHAN, Miami

G- WSVN: Life in South Florida.

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Police are searching for a man who opened fire on a garbage truck driver.

On Sept. 26 Kelvin Clark who works for Waste Management, was pulling out of the complex on Powerline Road before 6 a.m. when he said he saw a black Mustang spin out of control next to him. "I said, 'Man, this man is gonna rum up under the truck, so I better move out of the way,'" said Clark.

The car came to a rest facing Clark's truck and the man, who Clark described as a white male about 6 feet tall, short brown hair and tattoos on his arm, got out. "He said he is an ex-Marine, he'll snatch me out of the truck. I guess he looked at the size or whatever and thought twice about it, and then he stepped back and he said he would shot me in the head. I grabbed the door out of his hand, I said I have to go to work."

Clark said when he drove off he heard a gunshot. "He shot through the window." A bullet shot through the passenger side window of Clark's garbage truck. Clark calls the incident a bad case of road rage and said the man was intoxicated. "The guy was drunk though. He was really, very drunk," he said.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It's a slow Veterans Day morning in the SoFla blogosphere. Enjoy your morning Sift...

A- South Florida Lawyers wants to know who "the others" might be.

B- Holy Crap posts Part II of the story detailing how he got his Florida concealed weapons permit.

Guns are usually the first things people think about but the license also covers blades, sprays, etc. The class itself lasted till about 3:30 PM when I finished my qualifier at the range.

C- Bark Bark Woof Woof has a video of President Obama's speech at Fort Hood yesterday.

D- The Reid Report marks Veterans Day.

With the country having just memorialized those murdered at Fort Hood, and with our troops dying in increasing numbers in Afghanistan, and still dying in Iraq, it’s another sad Veterans Day. Still, here’s to all of those who have served, in wars past and present (including my next door neighbor, who returned not too long ago from his latest tour and is now enjoying civilian life.) To the old, and the young, the grizzled veterans and those just returning from war (and those still there) thank you and may God bless and keep you and your families.

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Your Evening Sift

Here it is. Your Tuesday evening Sift, freshly prepared and ready for your review. Have fun.

A- Man or Maniac? dissects the Sun-Sentinel's Culture section and finds a lot lacking.

It's the kind of sloppy layout that would embarrass a high school newspaper in Podunk, but it's what passes for "style" at the stinking corpse of what was once a mediocre metropolitan newspaper.

B- Under the Sun has some pictures of the Miami Beach Half-Marathon that you may not have seen before.

C- Eat It, Miami checks out Jaxson's Ice Cream in Dania Beach.

If you're ever in the mood for a root beer float, I suggest going to Jaxson's before you've eaten anything. I made the mistake of going there for dessert, after brunch. I eat a lot. I'm skinny, but I eat at least twice as much as most normal people. I felt like I was going to pop after consuming about half of my float. By the time I got down near the bottom, I was pausing between bites, hoping against hope that I would finish. I decided I did not want to throw up in the restaurant, though I'm fairly certain that's happened before.

But this paragraph is classic...

I'm imagining what a Barton G root beer float might look like. I guess it would probably be called the "Root Beer Float Your Boat" and it would be exactly like any other root beer float you've ever seen in your life except that it has a tiny sailboat in it and it costs $85. Plus, when you notice the cute little toy boat and remark to your fellow diners "Oh hey, a tiny sailboat! How clever!," the waiter runs over to your table and informs you that it would be more accurately described as a "schooner" since it has two masts, and also that you shouldn't have worn white since it's after Labor Day. God I hate that place.

D- South Florida Beer Blog does a great interview with Bob Gordash, the founder and president of the company that brews Holy Mackerel beer.

SFBB: What sets your beers apart from others?

BG: If you are speaking about your average every day mainstream beer such as Bud, Miller, Corona, what sets our beers apart would be summed up in one word “flavor”. We’re not interested in producing beers that are void of flavor, watery and as these companies promote as having no after taste. Our goal is to produce beers that are loaded with flavor and that purposely leave an after taste that says “give me some more!”

E- Bark Bark Woof Woof's quote of the day is spot on.

F- The Top 10 ways Miami is not a metropolis, from Miami for Change.

2. Everyone in town speaks English

1. The Mayor (elected with less than 30,000 votes) never went to college...

G- Brickell Life has a gripping post recounting his recent visit to Sago Palm Work Camp up in Pahokee.

The thing that struck me the most about entering a prison for the first time in my life were the sounds. The thundering clash and heavy clunk of the locking steel doors behind you has to be one of the most sobering noises in all of humanity. Once you hear that sound for real, there is no turning back.

H- Get a peek at UM's new football uniforms at Rakontur.

I- Food for Thought runs down some of the Community Supported Agriculture ("CSA") programs that are available this time of year.

If you're not familiar, the idea of CSA programs is to make it easier to get fresh, locally grown produce, while simultaneously supporting your local farmers, by buying in advance a subscription for the season of a share of the farm's harvest.

J- Spokes 'n' Folks reports on a new bike share program that has started in Broward.


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A Couple Blog Things

Comments continue to be moderated more often than not because of persistent spamming that is only now starting to wane after reports were filed with the appropriate ISP's. I apologize for the inconvenience but things will get back to normal as soon as possible.

I'm not adding these blogs to the blogroll just yet but I wanted to just post the links to a few blogs that are on my "following" list that are being considered.

Eater Miami




The Florida Gadfly Blog




Blind Tastes




Broward Bulldog




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Was It A Terrorist Attack?

By definition, "terrorism" is...

The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

Last Friday, an Army Major by the name of Nidal M. Hasan [pictured above], shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas. It's been reported that Hasan, a devout Muslim, was scheduled to be deployed overseas, and did not want to be put in the position of killing fellow Muslims. It's also being reported that Hasan may have had extremist views and ties and uttered "Allahu Akbar!" or "God is Great!" before shooting.

The big debate for the past couple days has been whether this was a terrorist attack or just some mentally ill and stressed out American who lost it and, by the way, was Muslim.

Jonah Goldberg of the very conservative National Review Online says it wasn't a terrorist attack...

Much of the chatter over the weekend was whether or not the Fort Hood shooting can be classified a "terrorist attack." It seems to me this reveals one of the shortcomings of the language of the war on terror. I know there are all sorts of legalistic definitions about what constitutes terrorism and what doesn't. But it seems to me a case could be made that this was, variously, an act of war, an act of treason, or a war crime, but not an act of terrorism.

Terrorism is, by conventional definition, an attack on civilians intended to strike fear in the non-military population in order to advance a political or ideological agenda. Hasan didn't attack civilians, he attacked uniformed members of the U.S. Army in advance of their deployment to the frontlines. It was an evil act, but was it an act of terrorism?

...and I agree with him.

Some of the Radical Right are working overtime to come up with ties to terrorist groups or radical clerics and so far they have had a hard time digging up anything substantial. The evidence collected indicates that Major's actions were not motivated by religious zealotry but by an emotional breakdown at the thought of being deployed and having to engage and possibly kill people of the same faith and, therefore, it doesn't meet the definition of an act of terrorism, in my opinion.

This, of course, does not minimize the seriousness of the attack or the lives lost, but serves only to place it in the proper context.

Anyway, what do you think: Was the shooting a terrorist attack or not?

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Overheard @ Scott Rothstein's House

"Yes, Madeline, as Evidence Custodians, you and I will have to keep this piece of property in tip top shape by driving it down to South Beach every Friday and Saturday night."



-Photo via The Miami Herald


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The Cooler

The Herald dominates this morning's Cooler as we take a look at the interesting news of the day.

A- Herald: Cuban bloggers.

The government has long tried to control Cubans' access to the Internet, putting restrictions on computers and subscriptions, keeping prices high and blocking access to unfriendly sites, including most alternative blogs. It also has assigned university students of computer sciences to post comments supporting the government and attacking its critics.

But Cubans have found myriad ways to get around the roadblocks: Passwords for Internet access sell on the black market for $10 a month. People with access download information to CDs and USB thumb drives and pass them on to others, who then copy the data and pass it further on. One file being passed around instructs cybernauts on how to get around government blocks on the unfriendly blogs and other websites.

B- Herald: Scott's toys go bye bye.

Federal authorities are seizing Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein's properties -- sports cars, waterfront homes, power boats and bank accounts -- as part of a criminal investigation into his alleged multimillion-dollar investment scam.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Monday, two FBI agents, an IRS agent and two truck drivers were spotted in downtown Fort Lauderdale seizing Rothstein's fire engine red Ferrari Spider convertible.

[...]

FBI agents were also seen shortly before 11 a.m. at Rothstein's Fort Lauderdale home at 30 Isla Bahia Dr. Agents appeared to be logging in information about Rothstein's cars, including a silver Rolls Royce, a white Bentley with a blue convertible top and a white Cadillac Escalade. A few FBI agents and an IRS official were outside manning the gate while several others were inside.

C- Herald: Lawrence Taylor is a true South Floridian.

Former New York Giants great Lawrence Taylor was arrested Sunday night for leaving the scene of a crash in Miami-Dade County, according to jail records.

Taylor, 50, was booked into jail at 9:57 p.m. and released a short time later on $500 bond.

The crash happened about 6:30 p.m. in the northbound lanes of the Palmetto Expressway at Northwest 103rd Street, authorities said.

The crash tore off the front right tire on Taylor's 2009 Cadillac Escalade, and he drove about two miles on the axle before stopping, authorities said.

D- Herald: Don't make a "bad face" in Miami-Dade.

Troubled Coral Gables High student Andy Rodriguez packed a knife to school not because a classmate had threatened him but because the other teen looked at him with a ``bad face.''

So when Rodriguez and Juan Carlos Rivera, 17, bumped elbows in the school hallway Sept. 15, fists flew and Rodriguez fatally stabbed Rivera with a box cutter, the suspect told Miami-Dade detectives.

``I took it out of my pocket, and I got him like that, from the side,'' Rodriguez, 17, said in a video-taped statement, adding, ``Here in the side, and the other one, I think -- I don't know -- maybe around the back.''

F- Herald: Op-Ed from a Muslim in Miami-Dade.

As a military veteran I know there are many proud and patriotic American Muslims serving their country in uniform.

News coverage should not make American Muslims uncomfortable. They bear no responsibility for the actions of a deranged individual.

Nor should anyone say, ``I told you so,'' if for no other reason than out of respect for 13 dead victims at Fort Hood.

G- Herald: They write letters.

Postponed election

Sarah Palin wrote on Facebook, ``The race for New York's 23rd District is not over, just postponed until 2010,'' in responding to the defeat of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

I guess the race for the White House is not over either, just postponed until 2012.

HUGH C. RIDDELL, Miami

H- Sun-Sentinel: Now that's embarrassing.

The Dania Beach Fire-Rescue Department on Monday said it will investigate why a wheel from a rescue truck came loose, struck the exterior of a nearby business and prompted one person to be taken to a hospital.

Responding to an emergency, the truck was eastbound in the 2300 block of Griffin Road with its lights and sirens on when a front tire accidentally detached just before 10 a.m., said Fire Division Chief Ben Rudbeck.

The tire struck a business building and scattered debris, leaving a man at the business "shaken up," Rudbeck said. He was taken to an area hospital to be evaluated but the tire "didn't hit anybody," Rudbeck said.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

I have a good day of blogging in store for you right here at SFDB. We'll start out things with a surprisingly lengthy morning Sift...

A- Mango&Lime shares their experience at this years Ribfest in Homestead.

Twelve ‘ribbers’ competed this year. We split up and each of us bought ribs from a place of our choice. We then reconvened at our picnic table to sample them and pick our favorites. Of course we didn’t settle for one round. In all, we tasted ribs from seven of the 12 ribbers. We also had some sweet corn lathered in butter and salt. Luckily no one was tempted by the deep-fried Oreos or one-pound cookies.

B- Soul of Miami unleashes a boat load of photos from Sleepless Night, if you can get the page to load.

C- There's an Emerge Meet Up/Critical Mass Ride this Saturday that is not to be confused with the regular "last Friday of the month" Critical Mass ride, according to Miami Bike Scene.

D- More faces from Miami's streets are posted at The Street.

E- Dayngrous Discourse likes the Dennis Kucinich health care plan.

I have to agree with Congressman Dennis Kucinich on this one and I think that no matter where you stand on the left or the right you'll see he makes some very good points. Personally, I don't know anyone who doesn't want affordable health-care. Who wouldn't? The real problem is the industry.

F- Camera Ephemera posts a night image taken alongside Lauderdale's Riverwalk.

G- We're starting out dry season awful low, according to The South Florida Watershed Journal.

The result is that the swamp is at a two-decadelow for mid November.

Keep in mind that swamp stage is still high relative to what we’ll see later in the winter and spring.

H- Sounds like Flablog is done.

As regular readers and RSS feeders already figured out, Flablog is on hiatus. Your correspondent's newspaper is for sale and he has no way of knowing how any prospective buyer and new management might feel about extracurricular blogging.

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