In the latest twist from the Larry Deetjen Racist Airport Blowup saga, an unexpected object was found while city employees cleaned out the suspended city manager's office: A Confederate flag.
The flag was found rolled up on a shelf in his office. Whatever the reason for it, I think it's a safe bet that the find isn't going to help his argument that he's a man of all the people, regardless of race, color, or creed.
"I guess he was a closet racist, or not quite, since it was found on his shelf," quipped one city insider and Deetjen critic. "But that's not far from his closet."
More About O'Neal The Miami Herald followed the Pulp post (and cited it) about O'Neal Dozier this morning. Darran Simon wrote about the "Jeb Bush ally's" incredible anti-Islamic remarks on the Steve Kane show yesterday morning. Then Simon -- who got help from fellow reporters Marc Caputo, Lesley Clark, and Ashley Wilson -- dug pretty deep into the issue.
Quoted Dozier this way: ''I don't look for everyone to believe what I believe, because everyone is not as astute about religion as I am. That's my life.''
Substitute "astute" for "ignorant" and you got something there. And I think it's funny that the guvna is finally "distancing" himself from the rev, since Dozier has been verbally bashing gays for years (he once told me they make God want to vomit -- that's O'Neal for you, he seems to believe his little mind, and gastric system, are replicas direct from the creator). I think a lot of this has to do with competition. Dozier and some of the other Christian ministers simply don't want the competition from Imams and such. They want the youth to themselves. Some of the greatest African-American activists I have ever known have been Muslims.
Strong story, but I just wish they'd have mentioned the thing about Muslims wanting to cut off all our heads. When I asked Dozier on the radio show if he knew of any heads being cut off by Muslims in Pompano Beach, he replied, memorably, "I'm not going to take that chance."
Weekend Reading Some interesting stories I've neglected to tell you about, in case you missed them:
-- Kevin Deutsch's follow-up story about a 20-year-old woman who confessed to being an accomplice to the murder of a cab driver. And you thought all those "stripper with a heart of gold" stories were crap. (Okay, maybe they are. The woman, Ashley Samone Ramirez, was scared shitless of her boyfriend, the triggerman, who had a bad habit of pointing guns at her head and dragging her around by her hair).
-- Ana Ribeiro's original story and folo on the "Bodies" museum exhibit were great. This is truly weird and twisted shit: Unclaimed Chinese corpses, some of them with bullet holes in their skulls, manipulated into poses and paraded around America.
-- The Sentinel's John Holland tells us about the City of Hollywood's abhorrent practice of stealing cars from people. God, I hate that.
-- Joe Kollin gives us a helpful tip when y0u go to court: Don't show the judge your ass.
-- Brett Sokol does the Miami Vice thing -- with help from Edna and Carl -- in the latest edition of Ocean Drive.
-- I think this article by the Herald's Nicole White is crap, but it's still interesting.
-- This sory in the Palm Beach Post by Rochelle E.B. Gilken takes you to a place nobody ever wanted to go. If this SOB ever goes free again, there's something wrong with the system.
-- This little piece about a teen who died in a one-car crash in Fort Pierce by Allyson Bird in the Palm Beach Post took me back. Same thing almost happened to me. At about 17, I lost control of an old Volvo on a country road and was sliding at about 45 miles an hour at a tree. I swear I watched myself looking at that tree coming at me, expecting to die when my it struck my head. I hit the brake as hard as I could and turned the wheel with everything I had. The wheels caught the edge of the road and the car flung into a furious 180 before coming to a sudden stop. And I was sitting there still and silent as can be, facing the wrong way on the road, barely believing that I was still alive. RIP Wayne Lincoln Jr.