South Florida Sucks!

Oh, the memories!

Hours after the "Jackbooted Thugs" [Quote from Tom DeLay.], (who we now refer to as hero's in the war on terrorism), had taken Elian from his family's home in Miami this post appeared at freerepublic.com

"Daivid," a towering intellect writes:

The local CBS affiliate (channel 4) and the local Univision affiliate (channel 23) have interviewed photography experts explaining that the ?happy? picture of Elian meeting with his dad is a fake. They have pointed out to several reasons for their conclusion, such as:

1. Elian had a very short haircut, almost a fade, this morning before the raid. After the raid, the ?happy? pictures show Elian with much longer hair on the sides and a different bang cut on his forehead.

2. The shades from Elian?s father and Elian do not match. For example, the father looks very dark while Elian looks almost pale. Elian plays outside every day in Florida sun, the father stays indoors, therefore Elian should look darker than his dad

3. The reflection of Elian?s father on Elian is suspect. It only occurs on Elian?s face but not on his body, at least at the same degree."

Well, there you go! Certainly, Miami's hysterical T.V. stations couldn't be making this up. Besides, Marisleysis said it! She's not crazy or anything. She knows things!!!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier!

Then, of course, days before the seizure of the baby Elian, Alex Penelas, then mayor of Miami-Dade county, [Now residing in the political wilderness.] warned the federal Government he wouldn't police the streets if violence broke out. (Not that the "exile" community in Miami would ever get violent! See below.)

At a frantic press conference the mayor said:

(cubanet.org)

"The federal government is provoking the community," Penelas said. "We do not condone inappropriate behavior. But I have a responsibility to tell the federal government when they've gone too far. And they've gone too far.

"If the Justice Department's handling of this matter . . . leads to civil unrest and violence," he said, "we are holding the [federal] government responsible.

Penelas...said that local law enforcement officers would not assist federal authorities in "repatriating the boy."

Weeks later on Nightline, when he was sitting right in front of Janet Reno, he was asked by Ted Koppel whether he blamed her for what happened. He just sunk down in his seat and made gibbering noises. Most of the program involved citizens of Miami-Dade berating the mayor for pandering to one segment of the community, ignoring the rest.

We're not violent! (Miami Vice is just a T.V. show.)

(CNN)

"Miami residents are bracing for a threatened one-day general strike by many of the city's 800,000 member Cuban-American community to protest the raid removing 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez from the home of his Miami relatives. [It was a little difficult getting around for a few days because of all the roadblocks etc.]

Protesters predicted Tuesday's threatened general strike would turn the city into a "dead zone," [Wonder why Miami is one of the poorest cities in the U.S.?] while Miami City Manager Donald Warshaw said the day would simply be "business as usual."

Some demonstrators threw rocks at police and others set fires in the streets. More than 200 people were arrested, according to police.

How do "some demonstrators" wind up in 200 arrests?
In most places this would have been called a riot, but in Miami it's just "business as usual." After all, the "exile" community was letting off a little steam. They were angry. Miami-Dade is a county of some million people, most of them not Cuban, but we all had to put up with their little temper tantrum.

Jim Mullin of the Miami New Times wrote on the 20th of April of local leaders being concerned about the perception around the country that Miami's Cubans operated by "mob rule." Nothing could be further from the truth.

Mullin compiled a list of about 70 violent acts, including bombings, assassinations and a bazooka attack, dating from 1968 to 2000 involving Cubans in Miami.

Check the link for all of them, but I picked out a few to illustrate the point that Miami isn't ruled by Mob Rule.

1968 From MacArthur Causeway, pediatrician Orlando Bosch fires bazooka at a Polish freighter. (City of Miami later declares "Orlando Bosch Day." Federal agents will jail him in 1988.)[Then later pardoned by George Bush senior.]

1976 Car bomb blows off legs of WQBA-AM news director Emilio Milian after he publicly condemns exile violence.

1983 Miami City Commissioner Demetrio Perez seeks to honor exile terrorist Juan Felipe de la Cruz, accidentally killed while assembling a bomb. (Perez is now a member of the Miami-Dade County Public School Board and owner of the Lincoln-Marti private school where Elian Gonzalez is enrolled.)

1993 Inflamed by Radio Mambi commentator Armando Perez-Roura, Cuban exiles physically assault demonstrators lawfully protesting against U.S. embargo. Two police officers injured, sixteen arrests made. Miami City Commissioner Miriam Alonso then seeks to silence anti-embargo demonstrators: "We have to look at the legalities of whether the City of Miami can prevent them from expressing themselves."

April 11, 2000 Outside home of Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives, radio talk show host Scot Piasant of Portland, Oregon, displays T-shirt reading, "Send the boy home" and "A father's rights," then is physically assaulted by nearby exile crowd before police come to rescue.

And who could forget the mob that attacked the CNN tent in front of Elian's family's house?

I thought at the time this was as bad as it could get in South Florida, I had been through Andrew too, but then the 2000 election happened. That's when I decided after 30 years, I couldn't stomach the stupid people and the weather and the roaches and all the tourists anymore. It's been five years but it seems like yesterday and I couldn't be happier to be out of there. Thank God, I wasn't there for the Schiavo circus!