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Mario Diaz-Balart: Cuban-American Assuager-In-Charge
12/20/2011

South Florida Republican Congressman and resident pinhead, Mario Diaz-Balart, who was elected into Congress by holding onto the coattails of his brother, has released a statement calling President Obama the "appeaser-in-chief." He does this because Congress removed Diaz-Balart's amendment from the 2012 Appropriations bill that would have reinstated Bush-era travel and remittance restrictions to Cuba. Nevermind that Diaz-Balart's fellow congressmen, not Obama, stripped Diaz-Balart's amendment from the bill because when you have been inflicted with Obama Derangement Syndrome, like Mario, everything is the Black Fidel Castro's fault.

While it's not surprising that a Cuban-American hardliner like Diaz-Balart would be upset about the removal of such language, especially when they've proposed it, what is a bit surprising is that they would vote for the bill anyway. Which is exactly what Diaz-Balart did. Yep, joined hands with fellow South Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Shultz and voted "yea."

Sorta like saying how much you hate a certain restaurant and then going there for Sunday Brunch.

That's some outrage, Mario.

In fact, I'm thinking he's earned the new title, "Cuban-American Assuager-in-Charge."

Make sure you make a sign and wear it around your neck the next time you visit the Versailles, Mario.

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A- See Carlos Miller drunk and check out Miami Beach 411's review of Kukaramakara, a Colombian restaurant/nightclub in Brickell.

Colombians would rather have their underage teenagers drink at home with family rather than on the streets with friends.

And it made sense considering my family would always take care of me when I got so drunk that I would pass out in my own vomit.

So when I celebrated my 43rd birthday last September at Kukaramakara, a Colombian restaurant/nightclub in Brickell, I wasted no time in ordering a bottle of aguardiente.

B- CSA Share Week #3 is here and Redland Rambles shows us what to expect in your basket.

C- Coconut Grove Grapevine has images from last night's SantaCon in the Grove.

D- Republican Allen West continues to demonstrate that he lacks the good judgment of a man serving his country and is unfit for duty...at Bark Bark Woof Woof and Eye on Miami.

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Eye on Miami
"Rebeca Sosa Thanks Eye On Miami and We Thank The Commissioner"

Eye on Miami's fight against absentee ballot fraud in Miami-Dade County pays off for them not only with the attention of the county commission but also with their 2nd Post of the Month honors from the SFDB Editors.

Let's check out how the Editors voted...

Here is some of the commentary that the Editors filed after they voted.

Ipanemic:

"Swampstyle. While the writing and content was excellent (and really, well done to Eye on Miami) from all of the nominees, I found the excerpts from the memoirs to be fascinating."

Blind Mind:

"I voted for the Rebecca Sosa article because I thought it was not only great blogging but also because I'm thankful that at least someone had the fortitude to stand up and call out the bullsh*t [Ed.] that takes place in the South Florida political system, regardless of how big or small it was."

South Florida Food and Wine:

"This month I went with the ever informative, ever eye opening...Eye on Miami. I always learn so much from reading "The Eye" and this post was no different; the only addition, their writing made a difference."

Random Pixels:

"I voted for Eye on Miami.

A blogger gets the attention of an elected official. It doesn't get much better than that."

South Florida Lawyers:

"Food for Thought takes my vote -- you know it's a good food post when you are immediately hungry upon reviewing and you make plans to eat there as soon as possible."

You can view all the nominees here and check out all the past SFDB Posts of the Month at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Congrats to Eye on Miami and thanks for the comments, Editors!

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A- Sun-Sentinel: It's beginning to feel a lot like...no, not really, but the tourists are happy.

Indeed, with the first official day of winter on Thursday, South Florida should enjoy glorious conditions most of the week with lots of sun, warm afternoons and little chance of rain. The start of the week also should be breezy.

Monday’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with afternoon highs in the mid to upper 70s and evening lows in the mid 60s. Winds are expected to be out of the east and gust to more than 20 mph.

B- Sun-Sentinel: Because, really, what else is there to do at 4 AM?

Davie—
A 40-year-old man was reported in surgery early Sunday after he was shot in the stomach by his girlfriend, according to Davie police.

[...]

Kristi Ellis, also 40, said she was cleaning the handgun at 4 a.m. Sunday in a residence at 4224 SW 63rd Ave. when the weapon discharged. She called police, according to Chastain.

C- Sun-Sentinel: I give it 2 months.

Judging from its first-day crossing, the high-speed ferry linking Fort Lauderdale with the Bahamas holds promise for speed but faces hurdles on a route long fraught with problems, passengers said.

The Bahamas Express ferry company made Friday's first passenger trip in three hours each way, with customers asked to arrive at least 90 minutes before the trip and needing at least 30 minutes for immigration processing on arrival. That meant at least five hours from terminal entry to exit each way.

[...]

But the maiden voyage had its glitches. Passengers bristled at slow check-in in the Bahamas, a lack of ice and bottled water for sale on board and the ferry's duty-free shop not taking credit cards. Most vexing, Bahamians complained about lugging their bags up and down stairs, suggesting the ferry company add more ramps, especially for coolers toted to be filled with frozen foods in Florida.

D- Palm Beach Post: Life in South Florida.

WEST PALM BEACH — The traditional 100-watt light bulb is being phased out, and consumers are confused about what to buy as a replacement for the iconic household item.

[...]

"Most people don't know what's going on," said Pedro Villagran, manager of Light Bulbs Unlimited in West Palm Beach. "I have people coming in who are freaking out. Some people think all bulbs will no longer be available."

E- Palm Beach Post: Yeah, but did he have a take-home car and a big pension?

WEST PALM BEACH — A man died this morning after being shot by an officer while trying to rob a McDonald's restaurant on Okeechobee Boulevard near Congress Avenue.

A homeland security agent walked into the restaurant at 2421 Okeechobee Boulevard just after midnight and shot the man as he was trying to rob the eatery, West Palm Beach Police Spokesman Chase Scott said.

F- CBS4: Life in South Florida, Part II.

According to Miami police spokeswoman Kenia Reyes two neighbors were fighting in the 100 block of NW 56th Court when one of them grabbed a gun and fired a shot. The bullet, however, missed its intended target and instead grazed the arm of a 74-year old woman standing nearby.

G- NBC Miami: The Fins win but does anyone really care?

Bush rushed for a career-high 203 yards and his 76-yard TD run helped seal a 30-23 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in Miami interim coach Todd Bowles' debut after Tony Sparano was fired last week.

A- Mike LaMonica has some tips for you if you're crazy enough to do something or go somewhere with Carlos Miller.

Once we went out with Jim Winters on the Jim Winters bus and we saw a hellacious hit and run car accident. Jim slammed on the brakes and Carlos flew out flip cam rolling right up into this gigantic guys face. The guy was the size of a half a house and threatened to give Carlos an enema with the camera. Carlos didn’t back down. He must be part hockey player because he’d lose teeth if it meant getting a story. To this day, I’m surprised I haven’t seen him spitting bloody Chiclets.

B- Justice Building Blog somehow manages to pair flashy South Florida lawyers and their extravagant holiday parties with the morbidly obese in one post...and it works.

C- Ain't much going on in downtown Miami on the weekends, as Swampstyle shows us.

On any given Sunday afternoon Downtown Miami is a ghost town, just a few obscure shops open for clueless tourists lured by cheap merchandise and luggage. Downtown street rhythm is mostly a mainstream tick-tock schedule of Monday through Friday 9am to 6pm.

D- It's Old School Sunday at The305.Com so there's a number of posts that take us back in time...including this one of some Air Florida flight attendants of the '70's.

E- Discourse shares some thoughts on the end of the Iraq War.

It’s clear to me that the entire affair was a major strategic disaster for the US, one entirely self-inflicted by the Bush administration. The war was prefigured when Bush moved half the US army to the Iraqi border. Having done so, he lacked the guts or the imagination to bring them home without attacking, but then the attack had always been his (and Cheney’s) intention. Bush-Cheney achieved their goal of killing Saddam Hussein, but as far as I can see got nothing of value to the US. Indeed, the strategic victor of the conflict was clearly Iran. There is even a plausible account that Iran manipulated the Bush administration into the conflict through its dupe, or even double-agent, Ahmad Chalabi. Regardless, the cost to the US in blood, treasure, and international influence, was and remains enormous.

F- The Reid Blog looks at what is driving an attack on Newt Gingrich by his own party.

It really depends on whether the two pillars of the right who oppose Newt: the corporate/Wall Street wing, and the “thought leader” wing, can bring him down, over the objections of the “talk radio listener/Ayn Rand” wing, which currently is the biggest mover of the party ideologically (with apologies to the Christian rightist wing.) And what that wing wants, as GOP strategist Mike Murphy pointed out on Meet the Press this morning, is not an “electable” candidate or even an intellectually or ideologically consistent one. They want one who will turn to Barack Obama onstage during a debate and call him a “Kenyan socialist” to his face. They want one who will spend the campaign attempting to publicly humiliate Barack Obama, and punish him for having the gall to get elected and take over “their” White House. Newt most definitely is that. If Romney isn’t that, will the tea party remnant let him get the nomination???

G- Your .gif of the day at Nikon Miami.

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