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Thanks for Not Being Part of Mainstream Conspiracy
Thank you for your recent unbiased article covering the Ron Paul
“revolution” [Wakefield,
“Uploading a Revolution,” published Dec. 13]. It’s refreshing
and revitalizing to see a journalist reporting on the grassroots
efforts of the American people without seeking to undermine them
(like the mainstream media does) with the sole purpose of
keeping corporate, special interest groups in power and
maintaining a strong hold over our political system and our
freedom. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Maria Ortiz
Miami
We’ll Vote for Ron Because It’s the American Thing to Do,
Darn It!
“That sentiment didn’t play well with the hometown audience at
the debate, but in cyberlandia, where Ron Paul’s virtual kingdom
is being built, the candidate’s appeal springs from American
myths of self-reliance, individuality and disdain for government
in nearly all its forms.” [Wakefield,
“Uploading a Revolution,” published Dec. 13.]
Self-reliance, individuality and disdain for government are
American myths? That is the foundation of the American
Constitution. It is now a myth due to the majority of the people
in power in the government, Congress, Senate and the Bush
administration. It is a reality for the American people who have
been betrayed by all of the above.
All of Ron Paul’s supporters will turn out for the primaries to
vote for him. We will all be in line to cast our votes for the
only candidate that can help turn our country around, the
principled, honest Dr. Ron Paul.
Grace Solis
Miami Beach
A Captivating Tale About a Captivating Tale
The Murmurs feature on ex-mayor Alex Daoud was excellent,
capturing the ambivalence one feels towards this complex
individual when you hear him speak or read what he has to say in
his memoir, Sins of South Beach.
[Murmurs, “The Song of the Ex-Jailbird Mayor,” published Dec.
20.]
You want to like him, you really do! After all, he's remorseful,
isn't he? And, unlike a number of alleged others, he paid the
time for doing the crime. Now he's spilling his guts.
But there is a worm of insincerity that creeps in when Daoud
rambles on about his escapades in South Beach during the ’80s.
Is he making stuff up for self-aggrandizement? (He does seem to
have a terrific ego!) Or is it all true, if often a tad purplish
of prose? As a writer, I use coincidence in my fiction and I
think that there is more coincidence in real life than people
imagine, but the amount of coincidence in Sins of South Beach
made me wonder what was real and what was not. It didn't sit
well with me.
Alex Daoud wants you to see him as a good guy — a good guy who
was tempted by power, money and all of life's good material
things — and who made the wrong choices. So maybe he
embellishes, but his memoir of the swinging ’80s is a must-read
for anyone living or working in South Beach. It explains a lot.
And, if one believes what this
ex-commissioner/ex-mayor/ex-convict has to say, the depressing
point he hammers home is both sobering and dismal: that all the
players then are all still in the game now. The names he names
are still going in and out of Miami Beach's City Hall.
It's an amazing read and he is a fascinating individual.
Jo Manning
Miami Beach
What’s the Rush? Why Not Take Time to Smell the Roses and
Collect a Few More Quotes?
I was very disappointed to read Angie Hargot’s Dec. 13 article
“The Shrinking Canal” without having any real input from elected
or town officials who would have balanced your extremely
one-sided article. I do not understand why you would not take
the time to reach out to the town manager or the town clerk for
an explanation of the facts. I believe a reporter who is writing
a non-emergency article could have taken the time to research
the story fully and not take quotes from only one point of view.
If you wish to discuss this further, I can always be reached at
my office.
Ronald J. Wasson
Town Manager, Bay Harbor Islands
Do
Miami
a Favor, City Hall — Get Out of Coconut Grove
What are the plans, if any, to move something into the
soon-to-be-empty Miami Art and Miami Science museums?
What are the plans to move Miami City Hall to downtown where the
attention of the mayor, commissioners and department managers
are very much needed?
It is a little disingenuous for our City Hall to be located in
one of our city’s most affluent neighborhoods, Coconut Grove.
Let’s get the government closer to the problems that need
fixing.
Perhaps City Hall can find a location closer to downtown. There
will soon be empty museums and there are already lots of empty
condos.
Then perhaps Coconut Grove can take back our historic Pan Am
airport and turn it into a community center and/or restaurant
like that of the Red Fish in Matheson Hammock.
It is also a bit ironic that we celebrate the noble Tequesta
Indian with a statue on the river after we wipe them off the
planet.
Now we are about to design a new Miami Art Museum that is
honoring the history of Stiltsville, the unique historic
community that our government wanted to totally demolish just a
few years ago.
Harry Emilio Gottlieb
Coconut Grove
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