Updated with link and information from El Nuevo Herald, which mentioned the incident in its article. Not only did these exiles think I was a communist, but one of them said I was a spy for Fidel Castro or in his words, “an agent of Cuban intelligence”. You can’t make this stuff up.

I was shooting video and taking photos of the Code Pink protest today at Versailles, in which they were denouncing Luis Posada Carriles as a terrorist.

Naturally, more than 100 Cuban exiles came out to defend Posada’s honor.

Miami police were doing an excellent job keeping the two groups separated, but allowing them to express their opinions, which essentially boiled down to both groups calling each other “terrorista” and “communista” through bullhorns from across the street for what seemed like hours.

Code Pink was on the sidewalk across from Versailles. The exiles were in front of Versailles. I was walking back and forth, along with other photographers and videographers, to capture both sides.

At one point, a man with a Vigilia Mambisa t-shirt approached me and said he has been observing me and knows that I am “un communista“. He arrived at this conclusion because he had seen me conversing with members of Code Pink while I was on the other side.

I pointed out that I have also been talking to members of the Cuban exile group. And no matter what my political affiliations are, I still have the right to film both sides, just as Code Pink has the right to speak their mind and the Cuban exiles have the right to speak their mind.

He said something like, “Communists have no rights”, I have it on video, which I will eventually post.

For the record, I was not hired by Code Pink or any other organization to shoot today’s video or the previous video. I shot these videos to post them on my blog. And even though I personally believe Posada is a terrorist, I make efforts to provide both sides of the story.

I am also not a communist. I don’t support Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez, mostly for the fact that they don’t believe in Freedom of Expression. If you take a look through this blog, you will realize that Freedom of Expression, which includes photography and videography, is a pretty big deal to me.

In fact, some people think I’m “obsessed” about First Amendment issues. And considering some Cuban exiles are obsessed about anything related to Fidel Castro, well, that’s probably a recipe for disaster.

Apparently, some of the Cuban exiles told an El Nuevo Herald reporter that I was spewing pro-Chavez statements to the group, which is complete bullshit. What I was really doing was defending my journalistic freedom to document the event.

Up until the point that I was accused of being a communist, the protest was a perfect example of democracy in action; two opposing sides with two opposing views being allowed to express themselves to the fullest. I was already planning on making that the theme of the video.

But before I knew it, I was surrounded by several Cuban exiles, most of the appearing to be in their 50s and 60s, calling me “communista” and ordering me to leave Versailles. I continued filming, for this was fascinating footage.

Then a man came up to me and grabbed me by my arm, trying to escort me off the premises.

I jerked my arm away and continued filming.

Then this same man knocked the camera away, causing it to shut off.

I responded by pushing him hard in the chest with the heel of my hand.

Then I squared off to fight the rest of them, for I figured they would be coming after me.

Words were exchanged but they maintained their distance. And Miami police were quick on the scene.

Miami police took statements from myself, the assailant and several “witnesses”, who were essentially the same guys who were surrounding me, calling me a communist.

Miami police asked if I wanted to file charges. I said no because my camera was not damaged nor was I injured. And the last thing I need is another legal battle.

However, I still have that option, the officer said.

The man turned out to be a “security guard” at Versailles. He was nothing more than a goon.

I know many of you will have a field day with this. I know many of you will say this just proves that I am a troublemaker with a camera.

And others will say that this just proves that the entire Cuban exile community has no regards for the First Amendment.

So I do want to stress that most of the Cuban exiles were extremely respectful of what I was doing. At one point before the incident I just described, a young Cuban man was threatening to “stick the camera up my ass” in Spanish. He confronted me with a few other men.

I held my ground and said I had every right to be there. And a Cuban exile woman, one who had been leading the crowd in chants through a microphone, came to my immediate defense, telling her Cuban counterparts that I had every right to document the event. They ended up dispersing. She later told me I was “brave”.

I ended up interviewing that young man on camera. You will hear his story when I post the video. He is still an asshole because he kept saying, “I told you so” when cops were investigating the assault incident.

Most of the cops working the protest were Cuban American and they showed extreme professionalism in how they dealt with both sides as well as how they handled the assault incident.

I still need to edit the video, so hopefully I will have it up sometime this weekend.

Carlos Miller

The ongoing battle between photographers and Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers in New York City has reached a boiling point after the latest incident in which a San Francisco videographer was harassed.

A protest has been planned for this Sunday (tomorrow). Here are the details:

Photographers and videographers and anyone else who gets pissed off about this kind of bs will meet Sunday February 10th at 3pm at the Brooklyn Bears Community Garden, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue, entrance on Pacific. If there’s *heavy* rain or snow, we’ll change the meeting place to Freddy’s Bar, 485 Dean St, corner of Sixth Avenue.

If it’s anything like the last New York City photographer protest, where more than 100 photographers gathered on the subway and started taking photos after a proposed ban by the MTA, it should be a blast.

The incident that sparked the upcoming protest occurred last Sunday when an MTA police officer tried to confiscate the video camera of Katherin McInnis, a video artist/teacher who was standing on a sidewalk, shooting video of the controversial Atlantic Yards project site.

The officer also demanded to know if she belonged to an anti-Atlantic Yards group and informed her repeatedly that the project will be completed. Even if McInnis was part of an anti-Atlantic Yards group, it did not give the officer the right to try and confiscate her camera.

McInnis filed a complaint against the officer, according to the Atlantic Yards Report, a watchdog blog that has been monitoring the progress of the planned $4 billion development.

“I feel a certain amount of responsibility,” (McInnis) said. “I know this situation comes up for my students, my fellow photographers, getting harassed in some cases. It’s important that the cops know they can’t take away your camera, and that other people know that as well. I don’t have so much as a parking ticket. He was asking, ‘Have you ever been arrested, have you ever been detained?’” Even if you had [been], you’re still allowed to take photographs.”

The Atlantic Yards project will include 16 buildings and a basketball arena, which would be home to the New Jersey Nets. (And the New York Giants and New York Jets play in New Jersey, so go figure). The project has spurned several legal battles because of its environmental effects.

The MTA cop who harassed McInnis was apparently acting on behalf of Forest City Ratner, the corporation behind the development. Keep in mind that one of the elements of fascism is when police are hired solely to protect the interest of the corporations.

In a separate incident last December, a Columbia University grad student sued the New York Police Department after he was handcuffed, detained and questioned for 30 minutes for photographing the entrance to a subway station.

Arun Wiita, who was working on a photography project, is alleging that he was detained because he looked Middle Eastern. The New York Civil Liberties Union is backing Wiita. The following is from an interview in the Gothamist:

What did the police say when they approached you?

At first an uniformed officer approached me on the SW corner of 207th St. and 10th Ave. in Manhattan; he basically said, “Hey, what are you doing?”. I explained I was a grad student at Columbia and my motivation for the photo project.

He subsequently asked to see the photos and to see my ID, which I cooperated with. I gave him my NJ driver’s license and my Columbia ID.

He said that since I didn’t have a NY State ID he couldn’t run my information over the radio, and he would have to take me into the station at 145th St to check it out “in front of his peers”. He then asked me to turn around and put my hands behind my back and then he handcuffed me.

Four years ago, when the nation was still gripped under the “9/11 changed everything” mantra, the MTA attempted to pass a photo ban on New York City subways.

But there was a huge outcry from the New York Press Photographers Association, the National Press Club, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the National Photographers Press Association as well as the New York Civil Liberties Union. More than 100 photographers took to the subways and started snapping away, daring the MTA to arrest them.

The MTA quickly dropped its plans to ban photography, but not surprisingly, some officers and security guards did not receive the memo. So a year later, they sent out another memo.

But after last Sunday’s incident in which McInnis was standing on a public sidewalk, it looks like we’re back to square one. So even if you’re not a professional photographer, even if you don’t even own a camera, if you live in the area, it is crucial you attend the protest.

Because they might come for you next.

(And if you do attend this protest, please send me a photo or two with details so I can do an update. My email is carlosmiller at magiccitymedia dot com.)

Carlos Miller

As President Bush threatens to veto a bill that would make it harder for the government to spy on its citizens, police are increasingly using felony wiretapping charges to crack down on citizens who videotape them against their wishes.

Welcome to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Here are just a few examples:

• Simon Glik of Boston was arrested in October on felony charges of illegal wiretapping, disturbing the peace and – aiding a prisoner escape – after he used his cell phone to videotape police arresting a drug suspect. Glik, who was born in Moscow, must have felt as if he were back in Russia.

• Brian Kelly of Pennsylvania was arrested in May on felony charges of illegal wiretapping after filming an officer during a traffic stop from the passenger’s seat. The irony is that a camera in the officer’s vehicle was recording the traffic stop as Kelly was recording the officer. Kelly, who was 18 at the time, spent 26 hours in jail and was threatened with ten years imprisonment.

• Michael Gannon of New Hampshire was arrested on two felony counts of illegal wiretapping in 2006 after his home surveillance camera filmed a police detective barging into his home – after specifically being told he was not invited. The detective was investigating Gannon’s son for a mugging. Gannon was so perturbed by the detective’s actions, that he took the videotape to the police department to lodge a complaint. Police ended up arresting him instead. He spent several hours in jail, paid a $10,000 bond and had thousands of dollars worth of his equipment seized.

Last week, a Boston judge threw Glik’s case out, specifically stating that it was his First Amendment right to videotape police, according to the Boston Herald.

Judge Mark H. Summerville ruled Thursday that even though officers “were unhappy” Simon Glik, 31, of Lynn was rolling video on them on Oct. 1, “Photography is a form of expression which is entitled to First Amendment protection just as the written or spoken word is protected.”

Kelly’s case was dropped a month after his arrest, even prompting Pennsylvania district attorney David Reed to send out a message to all police agencies in the state informing them that citizens have the right to film them, if they are filming citizens.

Unlike Judge Summerville, Reed did not go as far as to specify that citizens have a First Amendment right to videotape police, regardless if they are being filmed or not. The good citizens of Pennsylvania, where the U.S. Constitution was signed in 1787, will have to fight that battle when it arises.

“When police are audio- and video-recording traffic stops with notice to the subjects, similar actions by citizens, even if done in secret, will not result in criminal charges.

And Gannon’s case was also dropped, even prompting state legislators to introduce a bill that would allow residents to film people on their own property, with or without their consent. How’s that for a groundbreaking concept?The need to allow citizens to photograph, videotape and record police is essential if we are going to maintain a democracy that is “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Especially at a time when citizens are constantly being monitored by the government.

If it’s not the increasing use of video cameras at traffic intersections, it is the federal government eavesdropping on overseas telephone conversations, which is a Fourth Amendment violation.

Law enforcement has gotten so confident about videotaping citizens, that they have even resorted to videotaping themselves committing human rights violations, as they did in the case of Hope Steffey of Ohio.

In another story, five Tennessee sheriff deputies were sent to prison after they were recorded beating and torturing a drug dealer.Had the incident never been recorded, the crime would have gone unenforced because nobody would have believed a convicted a drug dealer over five law enforcement officers.

The fact that it went barely reported in the mainstream media outside of Tennessee is a disgrace to what used to be the Fourth Estate.

Here are the details:On July 8th, 2004, five Campbell County sheriff deputies entered the home of Lester Eugene Siler because he was being accused of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school. The deputies ordered his wife and son to leave the house. Then they proceeded to threaten, beat and torture Siler.

At one point, they applied electricity to his genitalia.

But unknowing to the deputies, Siler’s wife started recording the deputies with a tape recorder before she left the house. Deputies Gerald David Webber, Samuel R. Franklin, Joshua Monday, Shayne Green and William Carroll were eventually convicted and sent to prison.

Here is the entire transcript that proved the cops severely violated Siler’s civil rights. Here is an audio segment that was uploaded to Youtube.

Siler and his wife were arrested on drug charges a year later. That still doesn’t justify violating his human rights.

Some cops are so arrogant about being observed, that they have arrested people for simply watching and taking notes of their actions without even filming or recording them.

In September, Mississippi police arrested an ACLU field worker who had asked for the badge numbers of police officers after they had made an arrest in the parking lot of a grocery store.

During the arrest, Brent Cox pulled out a notepad and started taking notes. The police ordered him away, making him stand so far that he couldn’t see what was going on. Meanwhile, other shoppers who were closer to the incident – and who were not taking notes – were not told anything.

When he asked for their badge numbers, they refused. One female officer even covered her badge with her hand. Cox, who has been trained to observe police without interfering, was charged with “interfering with a police investigation”.

Cox spent 14 hours in jail and has yet to go to trial.

And neither have I, even though it will soon be a year since my arrest for photographing Miami police against their wishes.

It makes me wonder if the Miami-Dade court system is deliberately avoiding scheduling my case because they know it would be impossible to find a jury who would not see through the lies of the arresting officers. If so, then they should just drop the case.

And let me continue my Constitutional Right of policing the police.

Carlos Miller

Despite her overwhelming influence that enabled her to silence a community newspaper, Miami Lakes Vice Mayor Nancy Simon was unable to influence the Florida Department of Business and Department Regulation, who found her “guilty of having operated as a broker or sales associate without being the holder of a valid and current license as a broker or sales associate.”

The state regulatory agency filed its report on Jan. 18th, 2008, after investigating the allegations against Simon for several months.

Now it’s up to the State Attorney’s Office to proceed with the investigation, which can land Simon in prison for five years because it is a third-degree felony.

Simon received more than $28,000 in commissions from three separate sales since allowing her real estate license to expire on Sept. 3rd, 2004, according to the report.

Despite evidence against her that include a disbursement statement, a settlement statement and a signed contract, Simon told WSVN-TV reporter Carmel Caifero that she is innocent of all charges.

“But, the fact is, I’ve not made one dime off of real estate for three years, one dime,” she said.

Apparently, denial is not just a river that runs through Egypt. It also runs through the drinking water in Miami Lakes.

Also in denial is Roger Reece, the editor of the community newspaper, The Miami Laker. He insists the paper’s decision to cease all political coverage had nothing to do with the fact that Simon complained about an article that revealed she was under investigation.

In a faxed statement to Seven News, editor Roger Reece wrote, “We don’t believe our role as a community newspaper is compatible with the extensive coverage expectations of local politicians.”

Reece is not only an embarrassment to journalism, he is an embarrassment to the community he supposedly serves.

Thankfully, Caifero is a solid reporter. She was the one who last November broke the story about Simon being under investigation.

But it was Miami Lakes residents Gus Abella and Miriam Mendoza who first reported Simon to the state last July. Simon has since filed a restraining order against Abella, whom she claims came after her in a Publix parking lot.

The petition alleges Abella “came out of his car swinging his hands in the air and screaming at her. The petitioner (Simon) ran to her car and left with her family.”

It should be mentioned that Simon also sped off in her car when Caifero first approached her back in November, only to return a few minutes later.

A few weeks after Caifero’s first story aired, Miami Laker reporter David Snelling wrote an article about the investigation, detailing Caifero’s report. Perhaps knowing all to well that she would have the story killed, he wrote the story without calling her for comment. But nothing in the story was inaccurate.

When the article hit the streets, Simon did all she could to prevent her constituents from reading the article, including going around town and removing as many newspapers as she could from various vending machines, doing her civic duty to protect the First Amendment.

Then she raised hell with Stu Wyllie, president of Graham Companies, which owns the Laker. According to The Miami Herald:

“I called Stu Wyllie and told him I can’t have this outside my door. Stu’s a good friend of mine … In town we’ve known that The Miami Laker wouldn’t write these type of incendiary stories,” Simon said.

“I think that’s why David never called me (for the story). Whoever put him up to this knew that if Stu Wyllie found out, he wouldn’t allow that trash to get into the paper.”

The newspaper then announced that it would no longer cover local politics, something it had been doing for several decades. Last month, 20 members of the Miami Lakes Civics Association stood in front of the Miami Laker building and protested its decision, according to the Herald.

Hoisting a sign that read ”No Censorship,” resident Elena Gonzalez said when she heard that the paper was no longer covering politics, it reminded her of the Cuba she fled in 1961.”This is depriving all of us loyal residents from getting the information we relied on,” Gonzalez said.

Just as upset was association member Lee Medina, who said she has been an avid reader of The Laker for years.

”It’s not fair that the paper is being cornered into this position,” Medina said. “I’ve been living here for 29 years and I always look forward to reading The Laker. If they’re not covering the town’s affairs like they used to, what’s left for a citizen like me?”

Graham Companies, which planned, developed and practically owns Miami Lakes , was launched years ago by former Florida governor Bob Graham and two of his brothers. In fact, Bob Graham, one of the most influential politicians in the history of Florida, still owns a $10 million stake in the company.

With connections like that, it’s no wonder why Simon is so confident she will beat this rap.

Carlos Miller

The horrific video of Stark County sheriff deputies ripping the clothes off of Hope Steffey as she screeches in bloodcurdling protest is shocking on its own.

But the fact that some people on the Internet have defended the deputies’ behavior is truly mind-boggling.

Especially considering that it is obvious the deputies violated departmental policy by having two male deputies participate in ripping off her clothes.

Stark County Sheriff Timothy A. Swanson defends the deputies’ actions by claiming it was not a “strip search”, but an attempt to protect Steffey from injuring herself.

Too bad nobody was there to protect Steffey from the ravaging hands of deputies.

Swanson is refusing to release additional video from that evening.

And there is no doubt there is additional video because footage from a jailhouse surveillance camera shows a deputy filming the scene as deputies escort Steffey to her cell, according to Part 2 of the news story aired on WKYC-TV in Canton, Ohio, which has been doing an excellent job exposing this incident.

Neither part 1 or 2 of Channel 3′s videos have been discussed in the mainstream media outside of Ohio.

But it has spread like wildfire on the Internet since the video was first posted on Youtube.com Friday night, where it received more than 53,000 views in 48 hours. And that was on a weekend, when things are usually slow on the Internet.

Just to give you an example of some of the things being said on the Internet:

Wow. I can’t believe how much you guys are throwing a fit over this. The LEOs knew two things:

1) She was trying to get someone arrested and prosecuted for a violent offense for which he would probably end up imprisoned and beat/raped.

2) She was lying to them.

And you think that they’re wrong for what they did?! What the effin eff?!

posted by jock@law at 6:52 PM on www.metafilter.com

I guess we can’t expect much from a guy who calls himself “jock@law”.

The irony of this incident is that the video was filmed by the deputies themselves, no doubt to protect themselves to lawsuits.

Either that or to satisfy some sadistic fetish in which they get off on watching a sobbing and screaming woman withering naked and handcuffed on the jail cell floor.

Steffey’s ordeal began the night of Oct. 20th, 2006 when she was involved in some type of altercation with her cousin. Another cousin called 911, reporting that Steffey had been assaulted. When Stark County Deputy Richard T. Gurlea arrived on the scene, he asked for Steffey’s ID.

She gave him her deceased sister’s driver license, which she had been carrying in her wallet as a memento. When she realized her mistake, she asked for it back, but the deputy refused.

It is understandable why the deputy became suspicious. Especially considering there have been so many cases of stolen identification over the years. But there is hardly a resemblance between Steffey and her sister, judging by a picture that was broadcast on the news segment.

And the fact that Steffey handed Gurnea her real ID seconds later should have also been an indicator that she was not trying to pass off as her deceased sister.

And even if Steffey was acting irrational and belligerent, which is understandable considering she just had a patch of her hair pulled out by her cousin, not to mention that she was being treated as a suspect, Gurlea needed to maintain patience, professionalism and prudence in order to prevent the situation from escalating.

But Gurlea did the complete opposite, according to the lawsuit.

Gurlea suddenly exploded into a rage, and without provocation turned towards Hope and slammed Hope’s face into the cruiser, breaking one of Hope’s teeth. Gurlea then pinned Hope against his cruiser with his pelvic area and said, “are you going to stop?” Gurlea twisted Hope’s arm high up behind her back, causing Hope to react in pain.

Gurlea then picked Hope off the ground and slammed her, face first, into the dirt road, causing Hope’s nose to hit hard against the ground and causing cuts and bruises. Hope’s chest and lungs were jammed into the ground by the entire weight of Gurlea’s body and knees. Blood began streaming down Hope’s face and neck. With his knees in Hope’s back, Gurlea once again asked “are you going to stop, are you going to

be good?”

Judging by what we’ve seen in the video, this scenario is not hard to believe. Once they arrived at the jail, she was whisked into a room and asked if she had ever thought of harming herself. When she answered, “now or ever?”:

Hope’s legs were knocked out from under her and her face was jammed hard into the floor. No warning was given and no words were spoken by Hope’s assailants. Written authorization for the strip search of Hope Steffey, pursuant to law and policy, was never obtained by the Sheriff’s Office or by any of the John or Jane Does.

Even if Steffey had displayed suicidal behavior, the deputies handled it in the most unprofessional and criminal manner, judging by the deputies behavior on that video. This was, as Steffey’s husband described it, “rape without penetration”.

The fact is, jails throughout the United States need to be professionally trained to deal with suicidal inmates. And most have clear guidelines that do not call for leaving a prisoner naked in their cell for six hours. And even if they don’t have guidelines in place, most are able to deal with suicidal inmates with common sense, unlike the Stark County Sheriff’s Office.

Here is an exert from a 1989 New York Times article about how many jails did not have clear guidelines in handling suicidal patients at the time:

Chief Joseph L. Delaney of the Paramus Police, whose department processes as many as 50 prisoners a week in a detention area consisting of seven cells, said: ”In a detention cell, certain basics have to be provided, such as a toilet, running water, heat and clothing.

But if I feel that someone is suicidal and is going to attempt something before I can get him or her to the county jail or the county hospital for psychiatric evaluation, we’ll strip them of their clothes and provide a heavy paper-type jump suit that if used in an attempt at hanging, it will not support a person’s weight.”

The fact that Steffey was left naked for six hours in a cell is not much different than the incidents that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq a few years ago, which resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of seven American soldiers.

Perhaps these deputies are veterans of the Iraq War, suffering from some sadistic form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

If that’s the case, then God help us because we’re in for the long-haul.

Do you want to know why many law-abiding citizens hate cops?

Do you want to know why many law-abiding citizens fear cops?

Do you want to know why many law-abiding citizens view cops as freedom-stomping, rights-squashing rogue extensions of the government?

Just take a look at this video where a handcuffed Ohio woman, who was charged with “disorderly conduct” and “resisting arrest,” had her clothes ripped off by a gang of male and female deputies from the Stark County Sheriff’s Department.

Hope Steffey was left in her cell naked for six hours for “her own safety”.

She had to wrap herself in toilet paper to conceal her nakedness.

Her husband, Greg Steffey, said his wife felt as if she had been “raped without penetration”.

Deputy Richard Gurlea arrested Hope Steffey even though she was the victim in an assault incident.

Male deputies are forbidden to strip search female inmates, according to Stark County Sheriff’s departmental policy.

Stark County Sheriff Timothy Swanson denies his deputies did anything wrong.

The Steffeys are suing the Stark County Sheriff’s Department for violating her 4th, 8th and 14th Amendment rights.

A look at that video will show you those deputies deserve more than a civil lawsuit.

They deserve to be thrown in a prison cell and stripped naked by fellow inmates.

Carlos Miller

Now that John Edwards has dropped out of the race, the corporate media can finally acknowledge his existence.

Then go back to what they’ve been doing all along; hyping up the race between Hillary and Barack.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the media is more interested in pursuing a juicy story than covering the actual issues or candidates.

In this case, reporters couldn’t help but root for a battle between the two minority candidates; a black man and a white woman. That would be history in the making. A southern white boy born into a poor family only to become president is a story that has been written before.

At the top of the corporate media food chain, the Wall Street bigwigs don’t see Edwards as the rehashing of an old story but as a danger to their greedy livelihood.

Edwards, after all, was the only candidate who rallied against the power of the corporations. If elected, he promised to slash corporate tax breaks and lobbyist influence.

Considering the media is on a quest to dismantle whatever is left of the FCC regulations that prevent them from complete cross-ownership, Edwards was their worst nightmare. So it treated Edwards as the candidate with the long shot, patronizingly referring to him as the “populist” candidate.

Edwards, possibly the sharpest candidate to have run in this election, immediately called the media on its patronization.

“If the word populist means that I stand with ordinary Americans against powerful interests, the answer’s yes, but that phrase is sometimes used in an old, backward-looking way,” he says in an interview with USA TODAY. His brand of populism is “very forward-looking,” based on big ideas that will help all Americans, he says.

USA Today,

March 13th, 2007

Right. “Forward-looking”. A concept so foreign that USA Today needed to put quotation marks around the words. The equivalent of the know-it-all bore at the cocktail party who smugly forms quotation marks in the air with his fingers as he condescends those whom he considers inferior.

Of course, this could be mere speculation on my part. After all, Edwards was my candidate. I voted for him last Tuesday in the Florida primary even though I knew my vote wouldn’t count.

If it ain’t Diebold, it’s the Democratic National Party rendering my vote useless. Hell, I can’t remember the last time my vote actually counted.

Out of curiosity, I checked the archives of a few American newspapers, plugging in the names of a few democratic candidates to see how many times their names had been mentioned in that particular newspaper during a particular time period.

I made sure to put quotation marks around the names, like that smug bastard at the party. And I plugged in both “Hillary Clinton” and “Hillary Rodham Clinton”.

The time periods I used vary according to the archival system of each publication, ranging from 90 days to more than a year starting from Jan. 1st, 2007.

What I discovered was that Hillary Clinton’s name was mentioned almost twice as much as John Edwards’ name, if not more than twice. And Barack Obama’s name was mentioned about 1.5 times as much as Edwards.

One can argue that these results are a reflection of the polls, but let’s not forget that Edwards beat Clinton in Iowa.

More likely, they are a reflection of the candidates’ war chest, proving once again, that corporate America chooses our president.

Here are my results:

The New York Times – last 90 days

“Hillary Rodham Clinton” – 538 results

“Hillary Clinton” 256 results

Total for Clinton 794 results

“Barack Obama” – 614 results

“John Edwards” 355 results

“Bill Richardson – 59 results

“Dennis Kucinich”21 results

But I figured that Clinton will naturally get more coverage by The New York Times considering she is a New York Senator. So I tried the archives of The Washington Post.

The Washington Post – Jan. 1st. 2007 to Jan 17th, 2008

“Hillary Rodham Clinton”- 1,122 results

“Hillary Clinton” – 788 results

Total for Clinton –1,910 results

“Barack Obama” –1,467 results

“John Edwards” –920 results

“Bill Richardson” – 300 results

“Dennis Kucinich”-86 results

Then I checked the archives of USA Today, which I figured might mention the election in between celebrity interviews and casserole recipes. But then I was reminded how Gannett, the company that owns USA Today, doesn’t bother wasting readers’ time with irrelevant information.

USA Today-Jan. 1st, 2007 to Jan. 31st, 2008

“Hillary Clinton” – 208 results

“Hillary Rodham Clinton”- 315 results

Total for Clinton – 523 results

“Barack Obama” –415 results

“John Edwards” –271 results

“Bill Richardson”103 results

“Dennis Kucinich”68 results

Then I went to The Miami Herald, which does a decent job covering politics if it has nothing to do with Cuba.

The Miami Herald– last 180 days

“Hillary Clinton” 797 results

“Hillary Rodham Clinton” 40 results

Total for Clinton –837 results

“Barack Obama” 633 results

“John Edwards”585 results

“Bill Richardson” – 137 results

“Dennis Kucinich” 113 results

And finally, I searched through the archives of Time magazine to see if they had a more balanced approach than America’s leading newspapers. But the results were no different.

Time Magazine – Jan 1st, 2007 – Dec. 31st, 2007

Hillary Clinton – 134 results

Hillary Rodham Clinton –3 results

Total for Clinton –137 results

Barack Obama – 125 results

John Edwards –72 results

Bill Richardson –18 results

Dennis Kucinich –9 results

-30-

Carlos Miller

Using subpoena power that you think would be reserved for criminal investigations, Newark Police obtained the IP address of four police officers who posted anonymous criticisms against the department on a website that discusses local issues and politics, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Three officers ended up getting fired and a fourth officer, Louis Wohltman, ended up getting suspended for nine months for his comments, even though he was off-duty when he posted the comments, which alleged corruption and inefficiency within the department.

Now Wohltman is suing the Newark Police Department for violating his First Amendment rights and invading his privacy. And the ACLU is backing him in the federal lawsuit.

No word on whether the department’s internal affairs division is looking into the allegations of corruption. Or if they were the ones leading the investigation against the four officers.

The lawsuit comes at the heels of another lawsuit filed last week against the Newark Police Department for arresting a newspaper editor who refused to turn over photographs, which is a clear First Amendment violation.

It also comes at a time when employers throughout the country are increasingly retaliating against employees for expressing their opinions online.

Just last week in two separate incidents in Florida, two men lost lost their jobs in connection with blogs they maintain. It’s gotten to the point where many bloggers insist on remaining anonymous to post their opinions online, which at this point, is still protected under the First Amendment.

But for how long?

The Newark incident marks one of the first times, if not the first time, that an employer used the power of subpoena to track down an employee who was posting anonymous opinions online.

In a related matter, the Miami Police Department suspended officer Geovani Nunez for expressing opinion to a newspaper columnist about what he thought was an unjust arrest.

Apparently, the federal whistleblower law does not apply to police officers.

It is no wonder why so many officers have trouble respecting the First Amendments rights of the citizens they are sworn to protect.

Carlos Miller

With so many people losing their jobs over their blogs these days, it’s no wonder why South Florida blogger Rick was so insistent about remaining anonymous.

On Monday, a Miami Realtor named Lucas Lechuga was fired over something he posted on his Real Estate blog, according to The Miami Herald.

And last week, Palm Beach Post reporter S.V. Date resigned over rumors that it had to do with a “dispute over a blog Date was writing away from work”, according to The Daily Pulp.

And a simple Google search comes up with loads of similar stories of people losing their jobs over the years because of their blogs, including a Microsoft worker, a Starbucks employee, a CIA contractor and a fashion editor.

A few years ago, this site compiled a list of people who had been “dooced”, a term coined by Heather Armstrong, who in 2002, became one of the first bloggers to lose her job over her online words. Back then, the media called it a “web log”.

Today, Armstrong’s blog, dooce, rakes in enough money to support her family in Salt Lake City.

Then there is Ellen Simonetti (pictured right), who was fired from her job as a Delta Air Lines flight attendant in 2005 after she posted “inappropriate” photos on herself in uniform on her blog called Queen of Sky: Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant. To see the rest of her “inappropriate” photos. click here. These are safe to view at work.

And let’s not forget Jessica Cutler (pictured below), who was fired from her job as a Congressional aide in 2004 for her blog called Washingtonienne, where she revealed intimate details of her sex life, which lead to a Congressional scandal. As if that never happened before.

Both Simonetti and Cutler seized the opportunity to publish books about their incidents. Both have appeared on numerous talk shows. And both continue to blog.

Simonetti’s blog now is called Diary of a Fired Flight Attendant. And Cutler’s blog is now called Jessica Cutler Online.

Simonetti, who is suing Delta Airlines for sex discrimination on the basis that they did not fire male employees for having blogs, nows uses her blog to call for clearer defined rules about blogging and the work place. Delta Airlines, ironically, has since filed for bankruptcy.

Cutler, who is being sued for invasion of privacy by a former sex partner and was once described as having “dedicated her life to government service in Washington DC” by a Syracuse newspaper, hasn’t hopped on any noble causes.

But she has posed for Playboy. And she doesn’t hesitate to ask her readers to donate money so she can buy “slutty clothes and drugs”. For more explicit Playboy photos of Cutler, click here. But beware if you are at work.

As of right now, there are no specific laws that protect bloggers from losing their job because of what they write.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization that defends free speech on the Internet, listed the following five methods that would enable one to blog without getting fired:

1. Political Opinions

Many states, including California, include sections in their Labor Code that prohibit employers from regulating their employees’ political activities and affiliations, or influencing employees’ political activities by threatening to fire them. If you blog about membership in the Libertarian Party and your boss fires you for it, you might very well have a case against him or her.

2. Unionizing

In many states, talking or writing about unionizing your workforce is strongly protected by the law, so in many cases blogging about your efforts to unionize will be safe. Also, if you are in a union, it’s possible that your contract may have been negotiated in a way that permits blogging. Some states protect “concerted” speech about the workplace, which means that if two or more people start a blog discussing the conditions in their workplace, this activity could be protected under local labor laws.

3. Whistleblowing

Often there are legal shields to protect whistleblowers–people who expose the harmful activities of their employers for the public good. However, many people have the misconception that if you report the regulatory violations (of, say, toxic emissions limits) or illegal activities of your employer in a blog, you’re protected. But that isn’t the case. You need to report the problems to the appropriate regulatory or law enforcement bodies first. You can also complain to a manager at your company. But notify somebody in authority about the sludge your company is dumping in the wetlands first, then blog about it.

4. Reporting on Your Work for the Government

If you work for the government, blogging about what’s happening at the office is protected speech under the First Amendment. It’s also in the public interest to know what’s happening in your workplace, because citizens are paying you with their tax dollars. Obviously, do not post classified or confidential information.

5. Legal Off-Duty Activities

Some states have laws that may protect an employee or applicant’s legal off-duty blogging, especially if the employer has no policy or an unreasonably restrictive policy with regard to off-duty speech activities. For example, California has a law protecting employees from “demotion, suspension, or discharge from employment for lawful conduct occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer’s premises.” These laws have not been tested in a blogging context. If you are terminated for blogging while off-duty, you should contact an employment attorney to see what rights you may have.

As these incidents and lawsuits continue to rise, there is no doubt that the issue will soon be addressed by members of Congress. That is, if they are not tied up with Jessica Cutler.

As for the recent South Florida cases, Date, who has already published numerous books, including the apocalyptic “Jeb: America’s Next Bush” will probably never look back and continue to unleash his literary creativity without the constraints of the corporate media chains.

But Lechuga may not be so lucky.

The Realtor who ran the blog, Miami Condo Investments, is facing a $25 million defamation lawsuit after blogging that developer Tibor Hollo went bankrupt in the 1980s, and for predicting that at least half of the buyers who purchased units at Hollo’s Opera Tower project would default within six months. Hollo also sued Lechuga’s former employer, Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell of Coral Gables.

On Nov. 25th, Lechuga wrote the following on his blog about Opera Tower:

“‘My opinion is that this development is doomed.”

And on Jan. 10th, he wrote:

“This developer went bankrupt in the 1980′s and I think we’ll see a repeat performance within the next 6 months. What do I know, though? I’m no real estate oracle.’”

Hollo claims he never went bankrupt, even though he lost several properties during the early 1990s.

Robert Jarvis, a constitutional law and ethics professor at Nova Southeastern University, who isn’t involved in the case, told the Herald that he doubts Lechuga will be held liable for defaming Hollo.

”Courts understand [blogs] are written in unedited, unvetted fashion,” Jarvis said. “There’s a lot of hyperbole. That’s why it’s so difficult to win defamation lawsuits.”

Meanwhile, Lechuga gave his side of the story on his blog.

The reason why I wrote the post is because I was receiving a lot of phone calls from contract holders of the development telling me that they had no intention on closing on their condos. In my opinion, a blog is a vehicle to share opinions, thoughts and concerns. I was merely sharing these concerns with potential buyers and contract holders. About three weeks ago, a local newspaper disclosed a story about a class-action lawsuit against the developer filed by contract holders wanting to get out. This topic was an area of concern, and one that I felt needed to be addressed to my readers.

Perhaps Lechuga should hook up with Simonetti, who has become an advocate for employees fired for their blogging. Incidentally, she happens to be working in real estate these days.

Meanwhile, I will see what I can do to persuade Culter and Simonetti to come down to Miami for a photo shoot of them together, which I don’t believe has been done yet.

In an incident that was captured on video, Local 10 reporter Jeff Weinsier was arrested in October on charges that he was “trespassing on school property”.

However, the unedited video of the incident shows that at no point was Weinsier ever standing on school grounds.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office had no choice but to drop all charges against him two weeks later.

Even the fact that Weinsier was carrying a loaded pistol had no legal consequence against him because he had a concealed weapons permit, not to mention the fact that it was discovered after the false arrest.

Now Weinsier is suing the Miami-Dade School Police Department as well as the Miami-Dade School Board on claims of false arrest, infliction of emotional distress and malicious persecution, according to a Local 10 article.

Weinsier filed the suit as a private citizen. WPLG-TV, who owns Local 10, has nothing to do with it.

Meanwhile, it has been almost a year since my arrest and my trial has yet to start.

During that time, the prosecutor in my case was fired, one of the arresting officers’ was killed and my attorney withdrew from representation under mutual agreement.

If I ever go to trial, I might represent myself despite the old proverb that says, “only a fool defends himself in court”.

But it also takes a fool to see that a lawyer did not coin that phrase.

Marc Sarnoff’s next memo to himself should be a reminder to think before he speaks.

The Miami City Commissioner, who ran for office as a voice for the people, revealed that he is just as discriminatory against lower-income folks as any Miami politician who is in the pocket of developers.

The 20-year Coconut Grove resident who apparently never knew or doesn’t care about the bohemian Grove of yesteryear, stated the following, according to theMiami Herald, during a City Commission meeting where they were discussing changing the Grove’s last call for alcohol from 5 a.m to 3 a.m.

“Coconut Grove needs to start servicing the wealthy people,” Sarnoff said, complaining that affluent Grove residents are being forced to go to Coral Gables for their shopping needs.

So much for his political platform which is proudly listed on his Website:

“My motivation is to strive to attain goals that speak to all residents in Miami.”

Perhaps he should add that line to his list of memos to himself.

His most famous memo to himself so far is where he described a conversation with former City Manager Joe Arriola in which Arriola allegedly claimed that Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones was demanding $50,000 from a developer in exchange for her vote.

Not surprisingly, she ended up voting in favor of the developer, Jorge Perez of The Related Group, in December. The memo was mysteriously leaked to the media and prompted Perez to sue him for defamation.

That case is still pending, but just last week, Spence-Jones agreed to pay $8,000 to the Florida Elections Commission for “violating election laws by improperly giving cash to poll workers and failing to properly disclose her role in political ads during her 2005 campaign.”

With business as usual in the city, it’s enough to drive one to drink. Especially now that it turns out the commissioner who was described by the media as an “activist” turns out to be an “elitist”.

At least according to Coconut Grove nightclub owners, who insist they will go out of business if they are forced to stop serving alcohol at 3 a.m. Maybe they should have offered Sarnoff $50,000. That always seems to work with city officials.

Sarnoff, however, seems pretty much set against the nightclubs, according to this line from the Herald.

No longer, Sarnoff said from the dais, would the Grove serve primarily as a shopping mecca and playground for bar-hopping, loud-music-thumping college kids from the University of Miami and other schools.

Sarnoff didn’t explain exactly which rich Grove residents are being forced to shop in the Gables between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. because of this unruly element. But perhaps it is longtime Grove resident Sue McConnell, who is described as a “strong Sarnoff backer” and stated the following:

“These are the kind of people that carry weapons with them.”

Just to prove her point, the Herald pointed out that “reputed gang member Victor ‘Magic’ Lopez” was arrested in connection with a double stabbing last year at a Coconut Grove nightclub called Vision. The incident occurred at 3:30 a.m.

The commission plans a final vote on the issue in the coming weeks. If passed, it would only affect those establishments in downtown Coconut Grove. As my clubbing days are over, I really don’t care what they end up doing.

But they better not mess with the Loggerhead’s 5 a.m. cut-off time.

Armed with nothing but a camera, Seattle photographer Bogdan Mohora was thrown in a jail cell last November and told he could be charged with disorderly conduct, inciting a riot and endangering a police officer after he photographed police making an arrest on a public street.

He was standing 100 feet from the officers when he snapped the photo.

Police kept him in the cell for an hour, allowing him to contemplate those threats before he was released. They didn’t even bother filing a report on the incident, which is a violation of Seattle Police Department policy.

Officers James Pitts and David Toner ended up getting reprimanded for their actions after the ACLU stepped in. The Seattle Police Department also agreed to pay Mohora $8,000 to prevent further legal action from occurring.

I hope Mohora invested some of that money on a telephoto lens.

New Jersey police have apparently taken on a Soprano-like attitude towards photographers.

Today’s article is about a photographer from the Herald News, a paper based out of Passaic County, who was arrested after taking pictures of a house fire.

Yesterday’s article is about a photographer and editor from the Brazilian Voice who were arrested in Newark after refusing to give police photos of a dead person.

Today’s article states that Leslie Barbaro was charged with “obstructing a governmental function when she allegedly crossed yellow caution tape.”

The article also states that Barbaro took a photo that shows Paterson Police officer Eddie Pichardo blocking her as two pedestrians walk behind him.

However, the Herald News did not include that photo in their online story.

Perhaps police made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

Today’s article is about a photographer from the Herald News, a paper based out of Passaic County, who was arrested after taking pictures of a house fire.

Yesterday’s article is about a photographer and editor from the Brazilian Voice who were arrested in Newark after refusing to give police photos of a dead person.

Today’s article states that Leslie Barbaro was charged with “obstructing a governmental function when she allegedly crossed yellow caution tape.”

The article also states that Barbaro took a photo that shows Paterson Police officer Eddie Pichardo blocking her as two pedestrians walk behind him.

However, the Herald News did not include that photo in their online story.

Perhaps police made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

Update: The photographer’s name is Geraldo Carlos. As of today, he has not been deported.

Carlos Miller

What is it they teach these officers in the police academy anyway?

Obviously not basic First Amendment rights because these arrests continue to happen.

But this case will probably get all the Constitution-quoting xenophobes to side with police because the photographer was an illegal immigrant.

Never mind the fact that the photographer was the one who got police involved in the first place by reporting a body he had come across to his editor, who did what any normal person would do, and called police.

However, when police arrived, they handcuffed Brazilian Voice editor Roberto Lima to a bench until he agreed to hand over the photos that his photographer took, according to his federal lawsuit.

“I offered Newark police the original photographs as long as I could keep copies, but they handcuffed me to a bench until I agreed to give them all copies and originals,” Lima said in a statement. “They ordered me not to publish the pictures, but freedom of the press means that it’s my choice, not the Newark Police Department’s.”

The Associated Press reporter, Jeffrey Gold, neglected to mention whether or not the photographer was also handcuffed.

But he was an illegal immigrant from Portugal so maybe he has no rights.

Or maybe he does.

The lawsuit comes about two months after state Attorney General Anne Milgram said Deputy Chief Samuel DeMaio should be disciplined for questioning Lima and the photographer about their immigration status.

This must have confused DeMaio because it was only a few months earlier that Milgram ordered police to notify federal authorities when they believe a suspect is in the country illegally. However, this was only meant for suspects arrested for “indictable offenses or drunken driving.”

In other words, even Milgram is aware that photography is not an indictable offense.

The policy was prompted after a suspect in the slayings of three college students in Newark was found to be an illegal immigrant who was free on bail on child rape charges when the young people were killed.

Because we all know that child rapists who are in this country legally are safe to walk our streets.

It wasn’t too long ago that I considered The Los Angeles Times the best newspaper in the country.

It was just as thorough, compelling and international as The New York Times, but with much better writers. Whereas the New York Times maintained a degree of Fifth Avenue pretentiousness, the LA Times possessed a certain Hollywood flair.

As recently as the late 1990s, the writing styles of these newspapers were clearly defined. The New York Times was Philip Roth and Norman Mailer. The LA Times was Charles Bukowski and James Elroy. And The Miami Herald, which was once a very well-written newspaper, was Elmore Leonard.

One of the best articles I’ve ever read was an LA Times preview of the 2002 Rose Bowl game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a game I saw live and will never forget. Of course, as a Canes’ fan, I’m biased.

Unfortunately, The LA Times is quickly becoming another corporate rag, another irrelevant bundle of wasted ink space. Especially after the Tribune Company fired Managing Editor James O’Shea this week for refusing to cut $4 million from the newsroom budget.

But like the true journalist he was, O’Shea went down swinging, unleashing his true thoughts about Tribune to the newsroom:

One thing I want put on the record, though, is that I disagree completely with the way that this company allocates resources to its newsrooms, not just here but at Tribune newspapers all around the country. That system is at the core of my disagreements with David. I think the current system relies too heavily on voodoo economics and not enough on the creativity and resourcefulness of journalists….

The Tribune Company also owns the Sun-Sentinel, which means the Sentinel will remain in the passive mode against the Miami Herald rather than capitalize in what could be the fiercest newspaper battle in the country.

O’Shea is the third LA Times editor to get ousted since 2005 for refusing to cutback the newsroom budget, starting with John Carroll, who ended up cutting 200 jobs only for the Tribune Company to demand more cutbacks. He refused and stepped down.

But despite Carroll’s refusal to further trim the budget, the Tribune Company reported a profit margin of 20 percent that year, which would be considered an excellent year in almost any other industry.

Back in 1999 when I was covering night cops for the San Bernardino Sun in an area which had recently been named “Murder Capital of the United States”, I would read the LA Times every night after I came home from work.

This was how I would unwind from the constant barrage of fires and murders and drive-bys and rollovers accidents, none of it which could go uncovered because we were in the midst of a bloody newspaper turf war with the Riverside Press Enterprise.

Back then, I didn’t have a computer. I didn’t have a TV. And I didn’t have the corporate cynicism I have today.

But I did have Column One, the daily article posted on the left-hand column of the LA Times front page that at least back then, would tackle a wide-range of compelling subjects from the Sunset Strip to the Gaza Strip.

Although these articles were extremely long, they had the ability to grasp my attention until the end. Subconsciously, these articles became nightly writing lessons for me in the same way Edna Buchanan inspired me to eventually become a newspaper reporter 15 years earlier.

It might seem laughable now, but my goal back then was to write for the LA Times. I envisioned myself globe-trotting through some exotic country where I would write stories and process photos while sipping exotic beers served by exotic – and erotic – women.

I envisioned my byline on Column One with the added difference that it would be my photos running with the article rather than some separate photographer, as usually was the case.

When I was recruited by The Arizona Republic in early 2000, I figured I was on my way to reaching that goal for it was a huge leap for me circulation-wise and salary-wise. At the time, the Republic was the 13th largest paper in the country, making it a “a major metropolitan newspaper”, which basically means, I had reached the Big Leagues.

It was only a few years earlier after I had returned from Europe where I was working for a 3,000 circulation paper on the border of New Mexico called the Deming Headlight. Nobody can deny I had paid my dues.

At that time, the Republic, like the LA Times, was family owned, which means they had an emotional investment in the community they covered, something that is lacking with most newspapers today in this age of media conglomeration.

I had developed a reputation as a solid breaking news reporter, so I was recruited to be an online reporter for the Republic’s new website. Things went very well for me during the first six months. And there was never a lack of breaking news. And I loved the challenge of getting the story up on the website before the 5 o’clock news.

On many occasions, I would write the story in my head as I drove back to the office, dictating the words through a cell phone to an editor who would post the story. Under the guidance of online editor and techno-guru John Leach – a journalist who was ahead of his time – the Republic was poised to become one of the top multimedia newspapers in the country. And I was proud to be part of it.

But then Gannett fucked it all up.

I was only six months into the job when they announced the purchase. Just a few hundred miles west, the LA Times was getting purchased by Tribune. It was a horrible way to kick off the millennium. A sign of things to come.

In both situations, it was a case of an older newspaper owner passing the paper down to his children, who could not resist the temptation of a multi-million deal. Locally, it is known as the Joe Robbie syndrome.

Gannett, the largest newspaper company in the country and owner of the USA Today, is renowned for its McNews style of cookie-cutter journalism. It is known for its shallow articles and colorful graphics.

Gannett is a very formulatic newspaper company and it implements rules that state only a certain amount of stories can jump from the front page to the inside pages, which means that if you have a late-breaking story, you need to keep it under eight inches, even if you have 12 inches of substantial material.

This forces the reporter to cut relevant information from the story, making it less balanced. Gannett also has a tendency to shy away from the controversial stories and focus on fluff.

The bigwigs always claimed that numerous reader surveys stated that they prefer shorter, less informative articles. They insisted that we were only giving the readers what they wanted.

But in the almost four years I was there, I did not see a single survey, yet I spoke to numerous readers who indicated otherwise. My suspicion is that the only readers who took the survey were the corporate advertisers, who wanted more space for their ads.

The first thing Gannett did after buying the Republic was dismantle its online department. They figured they didn’t need two reporters covering breaking news for the website when they could have all the reporters on the newspaper staff produce stories for the website – in addition to their normal duties of writing articles for the print edition. Then they shipped me out to a bureau in Mesa, a city of Mormons and Meth-heads, to do just that.

And that was where I met the Boss from Hell, the man who became my nemesis over the next three-and-a-half years. He was a vindictive bastard. One day I will write about him.

I couldn’t help but think of him when I read O’Shea’s final words for my nemesis was nothing like that. He was a complete corporate sell-out who ended up running the newspaper and running me out of the newspaper in the process, not to mention running me out of the newspaper business itself.

In hindsight, he did me a huge favor because today every newspaper in the country is becoming Gannettized. Over one million readers served, not a single one informed.

Below I posted O’Shea’s farewell email to the newsroom; a man who stands true to his Irish heritage by standing up for literary and journalistic quality.

The corporations may have won the battle. But never underestimate the troopers who are still out there.

-30-

One thing I want put on the record, though, is that I disagree completely with the way that this company allocates resources to its newsrooms, not just here but at Tribune newspapers all around the country. That system is at the core of my disagreements with David. I think the current system relies too heavily on voodoo economics and not enough on the creativity and resourcefulness of journalists….

This company, indeed, this industry, must invest more in solid, relevant journalism. We must integrate the speed and agility of the Internet with the news judgment and editorial values of the newsroom, values that are more important than ever as the hunger for news continues to surge and gossip pollutes the information atmosphere.

We need to tell readers more about Barack Obama and less about Britney Spears.

I made these farewell remarks in the newsroom today and I wanted to share them with everyone in case they took off the holiday and were unable to attend. I wish all of you the best and thank you for all of the help you’ve given me over the last 14 months.

By now I am sure you have all heard I am leaving the Los Angeles Times after 14 months as editor of the paper. I will never forget the day that I walked into this newsroom, which was furious about the firing of my predecessor, Dean Baquet. As I entered the Globe Lobby, the security guard handed me a pass. It was good for one day. I remember thinking this was going to be one of the toughest days of my life. Actually, today is probably a little tougher. I am leaving here after making many great friends and before I got a chance to do everything that I wanted. But that’s life and I accept it.

I know there’s a lot of talk about why I am leaving so let me set the record straight. In discussions about the current and future budgets, it became clear that Publisher David Hiller and I didn’t share a common vision for the future of the Los Angeles Times. In fact, we were far apart. So David decided he wanted a new editor. As I’ve said on numerous occasions over the past 14 months, I intended to stay here and lead this newspaper to the greatness it deserves. But David decided he wanted to terminate my employment and get another editor. I wish the new editor the best.

Although I didn’t really accomplish all of the goals that I set when I arrived, I know that this newsroom today is better off than when I walked into the door, and I am proud of all that we did together. We’ve accomplished a lot in just 14 months. When I came to this newsroom, I pledged to maintain the quality of the LA Times, and I did, even though I had to cut budgets and shrink the staff.

Despite those cutbacks, we successfully transformed this place into a true interactive newsroom with a web site that is far more successful than when I came. In fact, traffic on LA Times.com was up by a staggering 187 million page views over December 2006, an extraordinary achievement and one that should generate pride in our ranks. Our coverage of the fires that’s truly worthy of a Pulitzer Prize is just one example of why record numbers of print and online readers depend on this newsroom. During my tenure, we also turned around a Sunday magazine that was drowning in red ink when I arrived; it’s now rebounding and is in the black. With a modest investment in new resources, we created a new fashion section that generates millions in new print and online ad revenues and a successful new Calendar weekend section. The formula for success? A small investment in new resources more than pays for itself with added revenues. We also created a new multi-media Guide section and web site; we redesigned Travel; we stopped the bleeding in circulation by being one of four papers in the country whose daily circulation was up in the last reporting period; and we broke news, the heartbeat of a newsroom, lots of it. The Sheriff Corona story; the diversion of U.S. anti-terrorism aid in Pakistan; I could go on and on. The quality of the paper under my time as editor didn’t decline. I am proud of that given the financial pressures we faced. And most important, there’s a talented stable management team in place that cares about the news that flows out to the public under the name of the Los Angeles Times.

This is an incredibly talented newsroom and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know many of you. I think Steve Lopez is the best daily newspaper columnist in the nation, one of a few that I would compare favorably to Mike Royko. And that’s saying a lot for someone from Chicago. There are lots of others who I could name but I don’t have the time. I didn’t get the time or opportunity to get to know some of you better and I regret that. One criticism I accept is that I spent too much time in my office and not enough time in the trenches, where I belong. So I apologize if I seemed a bit remote. As anyone who knows me well will tell you, that is not like me. I didn’t make enough time to do what I’m really good at: rolling up my sleeves and editing a story.

This is a tough time in the company and the industry. I understand that. I spent much of my career covering business and economics. I understand the realities of the bottom line. I am not some naïve, starry-eyed journalist who can’t accept economic reality. I know you have to cut back in hard times. I’ve done that more often than I care to mention. I also know this is a time of transition with change sweeping throughout the industry. But when you don’t agree with the future course of the newspaper it’s best to simply move on. There are plenty of other challenges out there for me and I don’t intend to sit around idle. There are bike rides to be had, books to write and hopefully another opportunity or two to make a difference. I am not a quitter.

One thing I want put on the record, though, is that I disagree completely with the way that this company allocates resources to its newsrooms, not just here but at Tribune newspapers all around the country. That system is at the core of my disagreements with David. I think the current system relies too heavily on voodoo economics and not enough on the creativity and resourcefulness of journalists. We journalists have our faults, but we also have a lot to offer. Too often we’ve been dismissed as budgetary adolescents who can’t be trusted to conserve our resources. That is wrong. Journalists and not accountants should seize responsibility for the financial health of our newspapers so journalists can make decisions about the size of our staffs and how much news remains in our papers and web sites.

The biggest challenge we face — journalists and dedicated newspaper folks alike – is to overcome this pervasive culture of defeat, the psychology of surrender that accepts decline as inevitable. This mindset plagues our business and threatens our newspapers and livelihoods. I believe that when Sam Zell understands how asinine the current budgetary system is, he will change it for the better, because he is a smart businessman and he understands the value of wise investment. A dollar’s worth of smart investment is worth far more than a barrel of budget cuts.

This company, indeed, this industry, must invest more in solid, relevant journalism. We must integrate the speed and agility of the Internet with the news judgment and editorial values of the newsroom, values that are more important than ever as the hunger for news continues to surge and gossip pollutes the information atmosphere. Even in hard times, wise investment — not retraction – is the long-term answer to the industry’s troubles. We must build on our core strength, which is good, accurate reporting, the backbone of solid journalism, the public service that helps people make the right decisions about their increasingly complex lives. We must tell people what they want to know and – even more important — what they might not want to know, about war, politics, economics, schools, corruption and the thoughts and deeds of those who lead us. We need to tell readers more about Barack Obama and less about Britney Spears. We must give a voice to those who can’t afford a megaphone. And we must become more than a marketing slogan. I know I can rely on this newsroom to do this.

Lastly I want to make it clear that I didn’t quit. Anyone in a top newsroom management job during tough times always wrestles with a crucial question: Where is the line? At what point do you go from “I can deal with this” to “this is simply wrong. ” When I was Managing Editor of the Chicago Tribune, I always thought my line was 600 newsroom employees. If the publisher demanded cuts that would take the newsroom below that level, I would leave because I felt staffing would slip to a level that would not allow me to sustain the quality newspaper that the community deserved. The Trib had 610 people in the newsroom when I left.

So when I got here, I wondered anew: Where’s my line: Would it be a newsroom of 800 people? 700? But then I realized the folly of that kind of thinking. I’d been around the accountants and their “metrics” too long. The line you draw is this: Do I believe in the course we’ve set for the future? If the answer is Yes, if I thought the LA Times could resolve its problems by getting smaller and smaller, by being gradually diminished, then I would stay. If not, (and I don’t) then I told myself to take a stand and say enough is enough. If you have to consider closing foreign bureaus and cutting back in other parts of the paper to free up the money needed to cover the Olympics and the most historic political campaign in modern times, well to me that’s no plan for the future, that is not serving the interest of readers. It is simply stupid. Even though we face tough and demanding times and I sympathize with those who face daunting revenue challenges, I don’t believe that we will succeed long term by giving up; by taking steps that I think will gradually diminish newspapers. I decided to take my stand and say: Change the way we do things. I made that decision and I will live with the consequences. And when I walk through the Globe Lobby for the last time, I can guarantee you that I won’t regret taking that stand. I believe history will prove me right. When this industry stops relying so much on cuts and starts investing in Journalism, it will prosper because it will be serving the best interests of our readers. That’s when we will prosper. I wish you all the best and with that its time to say of my tenure here:

Dash 30 Dash.

The Saga Continues

“],[“

Episode I

Episode II

Episode III

Episode IV

“]]”>

By Carlos Miller

One month after he announced he could no longer blog because his anonymity had been threatened, Stuck on the Palmetto blogger Rick made another announcement:

That he is launching a new blog.

This time he insists that he will only be posting in the beginning and in the end of each day, assuring concerned citizens – not to mention concerned employers – that he will not be blogging on company time.

The new blog, titled The South Florida Daily Blog and subtitled A Review and Discussion of South Florida Blogs, promises to retain that divisive nature that made Stuck on the Palmetto a favorite among so many people.In fact, he has already established a list of VIPs with special invites that are allowed to see the new blog.

The rest of us will have to wait until Feb. 4th, which is when he officially launchs the blog.

Rick even snubbed Alesh from Critical Miami, who has long been the central point of information within the South Florida blogosphere, opting to give Gus of Miami Beach 411 the scoop.

Gus, who made sure to flaunt his privileged status by mentioning he recently had dinner with Rick, took a swing at Daily Pulp blogger and journalist Bob Norman.

After seeing how (Rick) was treated by the so-called “real journalists,” I sure can understand being gun-shy to post his true feelings on sensitive issues.

Sensitive issues like gay inmates being isolated from general population at the Broward County Jail; an SOTP post that riled Norman and eventually lead to Rick’s decision to shut down his blog.

Norman first posted his reaction to Rick’s take on the subject by posting the following on his blog on Dec. 6th:

Rick at Stuck on the Palmetto got going this morning with a rather rancid take on Michael Mayo’s column in the Sun-Sentinel about the isolation of gay inmates at the Broward County Jail.

His post on the column, illustrated with a bar of soap, ends thusly:

“Hey, if the guys wants to mix with general population, let them mix with general population.Better yet, before they transfer, let’s give them some high heels, lipstick, pink tutus and a big, Costco-sized tub of Vaseline.”

Yes it’s insulting. Yes it’s stupid. Yes it’s demeaning to a large class of people.

And all that’s fine with me. Unfortunately, it’s not funny, ranking right up there with Judge Jerry Levenson’s idiotic “tight end” remark in court (only without the public’s interest being involved). There’s your crime.

That post lead to a heated debate between Norman and Rick in the comments section where Norman asked Rick “who pays you to blog all day.”

That question prompted Rick to make an SOTP post where he announced he would take a break from blogging because Norman had threatened to out him, not to mention that Alesh “piled on”.

Rick ended up killing SOTP a few days later, an incident, which according to Gus, revealed “a very ugly side of the Miami blogging community.”

No matter where you stand on the issue, nobody can deny that SOTP played a vital role in the South Florida blogosphere. It is likely that The South Florida Daily Blog will refill that void, possibly even better than SOTP ever did.This is how Rick describes the new blog:

“It’s about spotlighting the extraordinary, the controversial and the informative in South Florida blogging. It’s about promoting and supporting the local blogging scene. It’s about being a central point for South Florida blog readers to go and hang out and discuss ideas and local issues.”

The concept of launching a blog to review other blogs is not exactly new in the South Florida blogosphere. Last year, Manuel A. Tellechea launched A Review of Cuban-American Blogs, in which he spends a good portion of blog space mocking the Babalu Blog.

Knowing Rick, the Babalu Blog will most likely be one of his favorite targets. But I’m sure he has other targets in mind as well.

And I doubt he will shy away from the “sensitive issues”.

So here’s looking forward to the new blog.

Miami Police Officer Geovani Nunez is one of those rare breeds of officers who doesn’t give a damn about that Blue Code of Silence that requires officers to remain silent about the misconduct of fellow officers.

Not surprisingly, he ended up getting reprimanded by the department for his “disloyalty”.

But what is surprising is that the suspensions he received were “sustained” by the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel, the agency that is supposed to serve as a voice for civilians who wind up victims of police misconduct.

In fact, this might mark the first time in the CIP’s seven year history that the complaining party was the Miami Police Department. So much for that small glimmer of hope to keep things honest in this city.

Perhaps the CIP was trying to get on the good side of Miami Police Chief John Timoney, who has repeatedly snubbed their demand that he testify about driving a free Lexus for more than a year without reporting it.

Perhaps we need to create a civilian’s investigative panel to investigate the Civilian Investigative Panel for they are clearly working against civilians when they reprimand an officer who had the guts to speak his mind about what he thought was an unjust arrest last year.

The story, reported in this week’s Miami SunPost, stems from a SunPost article written by Rebecca Wakefield last year.

In that article, Wakefield interviewed Nunez about the arrest of Club Space owner Louis Puig and Club Space’s general manager Markus Westreicher over an alleged noise violation in downtown Miami, home of one of the few 24-hour liquor districts in the world.

Nunez, who was working off-duty that night, was ordered to pat the men down, but couldn’t understand why they were being arrested. He said there were no citizen complaints nor did police ever use a noise meter.

According to Wakefield’s column, Nunez said:

“I’m watching this, everyone on the scene were all dazed and confused as to what they were going to charge them with,” Nunez recalled. “The [law enforcement statute] book is open in the trunk of Officer Simmons’ car and they are scanning page by page. That right there told me they didn’t know what they’re doing.”

Nunez said that after the men were arrested, Miami Police Lt. Bernard Johnson walked up to him and said:

“Your loyalty lies with the city of Miami. I don’t care if you disagree with the arrest. It’s a good arrest.”

Nunez, who had already been reprimanded by the department for questioning the arrest at the time he was being interviewed by Wakefield, said he was unafraid to go on the record.

“I’m tired of the silence,” he replied. “They can stick that blue line up their ass.”

The charges against Puig and Westreicher were dropped in part because of Nunez’ comments in Wakefield’s story.

But the 14-member CIP still believed that Nunez was out of line because he spoke to a reporter without going through a public information officer, who every police reporter knows, are purposely kept out of the loop in order to maintain that Blue Code of Bullshit.

Incidentally, Nunez has retained the same lawyer who represented Puig and Westreicher, Alex Fox.

Only one member of the CIP, Cornelius Shiver, voted against reprimanding Nunez. Shiver, in fact, saw MPD’s suspension against Nunez for what it was – “retaliation”.

“Not only did I see it as retaliation, but I see some issues internally in the department,” Shiver said Wednesday. “The complaining party is the city of Miami Police Department — that should raise a red flag right there.”

I’m glad I never filed a complaint with the CIP after my arrest, even though several people advised me to do it. It is obvious they have no respect for Nunez’s First Amendment rights, who spoke to Wakefield on his own time.

Last thing I need is for them to “sustain” my arrest for expressing my First Amendment rights.

Ed. Note: Photograph replaced in 2016. Links changed from Miami SunPost originals to Archive.org. RIP SunPost.

Carlos Miller

OK Exilo Extremo, we get it. You believe Luis Posada Carriles is a hero. A freedom-fighting champion of democracy. Unwilling to spare the life of a man, woman or child in his quest for a free Cuba.

A real Jose Marti. A mad bomber with more blood on his hands than the Unabomber. A CIA-funded terrorist who proves the American policy on terrorism is as hypocritical as its wet foot/dry foot policy.

You revere this man so much that you would never tolerate anybody speaking the truth about him, especially a group of pacifist women from San Francisco.

Fortunately, you represent only a minority of Cubans in Miami. A very vocal minority. But still a minority.

If given the chance, you would attack these people, even though they might be standing on U.S. soil and protected under the First Amendment, something that you have no clue about considering that Cuba never had any such policy in place during it short history of revolving door dictators after its independence from Spain.

However, your numbers are dwindling. Your attacks are weaker. Your lunges are feebler.

You are a dying breed of sheep. There was even a real sheep in attendance during Saturday’s counter-protest. An ironic fluff of symbolism surrounded by an ironic group of freedom fighters.

Your kind is dyinglike the dying terrorist you revere and the dying dictator you abhor and the dying presidency you supported. In case you haven’t noticed, nobody is saying Viva Bush anymore. Isn’t it time you removed the bumper sticker?

Even today, your sons and grandsons and even your sensible sister is voting for Obama. Your daughter is voting for Hillary because she believes it’s time for a woman to take charge. And the sole politician who courts your vote doesn’t even bother donning a guayabera anymore. Not to mention he is dying in the polls.

And even though you successfully intimidated a group of six Code Pink members on Saturday, including five women, you only did so because they are not from here and were unable to decipher your bark from your bite.

Those of us who live here know your bark is all you have left. It’s the bark of yesteryear. Back when your bite was so ferocious and widespread that even those exiles who disagreed with you kept their opinions to themselves for fear of being assassinated or car bombed.

But now you’re too old to play soldier in the Everglades, so you spend your days playing dominoes in Maximo Gomez Park. Who the hell was he anyway? Do your kids even know Cuban history? Do they even know American history?

Let’s hope they know and respect the American Constitution because you sure as hell never did.

-30-

Below are photographs taken by my good friend and photojournalist, Danny Hammontree, whom I met two years ago after I had wrote a story about how he had a run-in with a protester after he photographed her. Danny also took the photo at the top of this blog. I just haven’t figured out how to put the credit below the photo without screwing up the whole page.

And here is a photo slideshow compiled by Al Crespo, a renowned Miami photojournalist whom I had also met in the trenches. Crespo, a Hemingwayesque veteran who won a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department after they shot him three times with rubber bullets during a protest, told me “welcome to the club, son” after I told him about my arrest.

Carlos Miller

Like many news organizations these days, The New York Times is asking its readers to do its work for them.

Its latest venture is a program cleverly titled “Polling Place Photo Project” in which they are asking readers to submit photos (free, of course) of polling places throughout the United States during the primaries and general elections.

“By documenting local voting experiences, online users can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America,” stated a Times press release, neglecting to mention that it would also save them a bundle from actually hiring photographers.

The creators of this project obviously have never been down to Florida, where basic First Amendment rights like photographing the democratic process will immediately lead to police tackling and arresting you.

In 2004, photographer James S. Henry was photographing voters outside a polling place in West Palm Beach when he had the misfortune of encountering sheriff’s deputy Al Cinque.

Cinque ordered Henry to stop photographing and tried to grab his camera. According to witnesses, Henry ran off and the deputy tackled him, punching him in the back. When Henry tried to pull out some identification cards, the deputy punched him again.

Cinque’s claim that Henry “tripped and fell” is not only one of the oldest lines in the Code Blue book, it was also refuted by countless witnesses.

Henry was arrested for disorderly conduct – an old standby when police can’t think of any actual laws that were broken – and resisting arrest without violence.

The charges were eventually dropped.

So my message to The New York Times is I would gladly photograph polling places for you, but only on two conditions:

1. You pay me my photographer’s daily rate.
2. You pay for all my legal expenses, including bail, when I do wind up in jail.

Thanks again to Enhager for the tip.

With all the murders down here, you would think that South Florida cops wouldn’t need to stage a murder to get their point across.

But this is the Hollywood Police Department, whose officers are better known for running drugs and money for an organized criminal gang, who as it turned out, were just acting like an organized criminal gang. They were actually Feds.



Those Hollywood officers who have not been incarcerated are concerned about their pensions, so they will do whatever they can to oust City Commissioner Beam Furr and replace him with Peter Hernandez.

Even if means creating an alarming political ad that insinuates that Furr is directly responsible for the ten murders that occurred in his district last year, not to mention an 11th staged murder.

The staged murder in the photo comes complete with yellow police ribbon, sheet-covered corpse and and an authentic walkie-talkie carrying cop.

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

The flier tells voters “10 out of 14 murder victims in the City of Hollywood were killed in your District last year.” The mailing also shows Hollywood police Lt. Jeff Marano peeking under a yellow sheet covering most of a body — only the feet and a hand stick out.

It looks like a scene from CSI: Miami. This is Hollywood, after all.

The Miami Herald insists that the ad was paid for by the Tallahassee Police Benevolent Association, which is based almost 500 miles north of Hollywood and might as well be in another state.

The Sun-Sentinel states that it was the Broward PBA who paid for the ad, which makes more sense.

As they say in certain parts of Miami: Yo ne creo en el Herald.

But then again, the Sun-Sentinel reporter did call it a “yellow sheet”.

As a Florida resident, I really did not appreciate the fact that sleeping Wackenhut guards were being paid to protect FPL’s Turkey Point nuclear facility.

And I did not appreciate the fact that Wackenhut was being investigated for overbilling taxpayers millions of dollars.

And I can’t stress how much I disliked a [__Wackenhut guard__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/an-open-letter-to-wackenhut-chairman-and-ceo-gary-a-sanders) violating my First Amendment rights at a Miami Metro Mover station last May.

So I took great pleasure in producing a video of a group of Florida activists who were also disappointed in out local security company.

But knowing how stubborn Wackenhut CEO Gary Sanders is, I didn’t expect him to [__resign within hours__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/detail.html) after I had posted the video on Youtube yesterday.

Perhaps the video was the wake-up call he needed. Enjoy.

As a Florida resident, I really did not appreciate the fact that sleeping Wackenhut guards were being paid to protect FPL’s Turkey Point nuclear facility.

And I did not appreciate the fact that Wackenhut was being investigated for overbilling taxpayers millions of dollars.

And I can’t stress how much I disliked a Wackenhut guard violating my First Amendment rights at a Miami Metro Mover station last May.

So I took great pleasure in producing a video of a group of Florida activists who were also disappointed in out local security company.

But knowing how stubborn Wackenhut CEO Gary Sanders is, I didn’t expect him to resign within hours after I had posted the video on Youtube yesterday.

Perhaps the video was the wake-up call he needed. Enjoy.

Update: Just remember, you heard it here first.

Pittsburg Post-Gazette

The Washington Post

CNN

Philadelphia Inquirer

The Miami Herald

Houston Chronicle

He was the mellow one. The one officer who did not lose his temper the night of my arrest. He did not utter a single word to me during the time I was detained, but I believe he did not agree with the arrest.

Unfortunately, that is something I will never confirm. He was shot and killed Tuesday in a hail of bullets. He was only 30 years old.

Miami Police Officer James Walker is described as “soft-spoken” and “compassionate” by fellow officers. Another colleague said he had a “knack for calming people down” during domestic disputes. A childhood friend remembered him as a “quiet person” who “never bothered anyone.”

Although I’ve been extremely critical of the officers who arrested me, I know they are not lying about Walker.

On the night of my Feb. 2007 arrest, he had remained in the background as the four other officers surrounded me. If you look closely at the photo on the header of this blog, you can see his left arm behind the third officer from the right.

The close-up photo of Walker above was cropped from the photo below, which was taken seconds after the photo in the header. The photo underneath that photo is the same as the one on top of it, but cropped to where you can see Walker emerge from behind the officer. This was the last photo I took before they pounced on me. You can see the cop on the right getting the signal from the sergeant, who is out of the frame to the left (you can see his stripes in the header photo).

It all started because I had been taking photos of the officers as they were conducting an accident investigation. It was for an article I was working on. They got annoyed and ordered me away from the scene. I refused, insisting that I had every right to photograph them. The sergeant ended up escorting me across the street to the sidewalk on the other side.

They ordered me to keep walking north. I refused again, citing my First Amendment rights to stand on a public sidewalk. I snapped a few more photos.

They lost their temper and pounced on me. One of them bashed my head against the sidewalk. As I told the internal affairs investigator in the following weeks, I am not sure which officer did that.

But I am positive it was not Walker.

During the 90 minutes I spent handcuffed in a Miami police precinct as they filled out the arrest report, I studied each and every one of the officers involved in my arrest. I was able to get a sense of their personalities. I saw how they interacted with each other.

Walker stuck out in my mind because he seemed to march to the beat of his own drum. I remember thinking he looked very young. He was very skinny for a police officer, as if he had never set foot in a weight room. The newspapers say he weighed only 130 pounds.

Despite his light frame, he had a certain confidence about him. Not arrogance or bravado like some of the other officers. Just a certain coolness that he was comfortable with himself.

We exchanged glances several times and he appeared just as curious about me as I was about him.

Not once did he glare at me or shoot me a disapproving look as some of the other officers did. But he never looked away either, like some of the other officers did when I locked eyes with theirs’.

It seemed as if he was telling me that he had no part in this arrest.

Whatever his true thoughts were, it was clear to me that this officer had respect for his fellow man. And for that, he gained my respect.

May he rest in peace.

What do you get when you have a United Nations newsroom that includes a Jewish-American publisher, a Swedish-American executive editor and a Cuban-American sports columnist whom the locals call Le Bastard?

Well besides outsourced production to India, you end up with a lot of pissed off readers when the sports columnist writes the following line about fired Miami Dolphin coach Cam Cameron on The Miami Herald’s website:

” … he was eventually starting a United Nations huddle of a Mormon quarterback, Mexican receiver, Somoan fullback and some guy named Lekekekkkkerkker.”

Feedback from angry readers reached publisher David Landsberg and executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal, who gave the orders to remove the line from Dan Le Batard’s column before it made print.

It’s quite impressive how quickly the Herald reacted in this matter because it took them years before they reacted to the onslaught of racist, derogatory comments left daily by readers in the comments section of certain articles.

It was only last month that the Herald announced it would start requiring readers to register before they are allowed to leave anonymous comments blaming all of Miami’s problems on blacks and Cubans.

And even though editors removed Le Batard’s offensive comments before they made the print edition, the fact that the original column will always be floating around in cyberspace makes it more permanent than something that might end up in the bottom of somebody’s bird cage.

Herald Watch tracked down the original comments with Google cache. And Jim Romenesko posted the news on his blog, which means it was quickly read by journalists throughout the country.

The problem is, being a Mormon does not necessarily mean you are a foreigner as Salt Lake Tribune columnist Paul Rolly points out in the bottom of his column.

Yes, Utah may seem like a foreign country, but who are we to talk? We live in Miami. And although quarterback John Beck attended Brigham Young University, he was actually born in Mesa, Arizona, which is another Mormon enclave.

And the “Mexican receiver,” Greg Camarillo, was actually born in California, so he is just as American as Le Batard, who was born in Miami to a Cuban family. In fact, according to a person claiming to be his cousin, Camarillo’s parents were also born in the United States.

Just to clarify, Greg Camarillo, my cousin, is American. He was born in Northern California. And both his parents were born and raised in Los Angeles. He is simply of Mexican heritage. But either way, what LeBatard said was sick. He disgusts me and he should be fired.

And “Samoan fullback,” Reagan Mauia, was born in American Samoa, which happens to be a U.S. territory, meaning it falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Government.

Besides, having been born in 1984, he was named after the sitting American president, which should grant him some type of diplomatic immunity from overreaching columnists.

But I must say, although Dolphins offensive tackle Cory Lekkerkerker was born in California, he should be stripped of his citizenship for not having the sense to change his Dutch surname to something easier to spell and pronounce.

Thanks to Enhager of Los Angeles for the tip