State Senator Frederica Wilson has her undies in a bunch over the term “illegal alien,” and has sponsored a bill to eliminate the term from state documents. To paraphrase my favorite alien, Yoda: “Mmm, very rude, this term to Frederica is.” Indeed. But don’t worry, even if Sen. Wilson gets her wish, you’ll still be able to say it out loud whenever you like. No one is going to rob you of your rights to be as ignorant and unsensitive as you wanna be.

The term “illegal alien” refers to immigrants who are in the US without legal permission; it was coined back in the 1700’s, when the country was becoming legal itself. But now the term is generally used when referring to those pesky folks from south of our various borders like Mexico and South America and wherever. You know, calling them “illegal aliens” just makes things easier, it reminds everyone what a nuisance they are. The nerve they have, sneaking into our country to look for work so they can afford food. .

It is an odd term, to be sure; although, so is most of what President Bush says, so I wouldn’t know where to start correcting US government language. Or what about “novus ordo seclorum,” which is right here on my dollar bill? I don’t even know what that means.

Sen. Wilson does get a bit carried away with the situation, however, trying a little too hard to rally the P.C. police to the front lines. Her remarks include this:

”All of us are immigrants except the American Indian,” Wilson said. “Now how would we like it if they called us aliens?”

Well, two things: one, when white people first started showing up back in the day, some American Indians actually did think they were aliens. Which is funny. And second, I’m actually not an immigrant. I was born here in the US. So were my family members from, like, 5 generations ago. For whatever it’s worth, you aren’t an immigrant either. So you might want to get off the “immigration” cross, there might be someone who needs the wood for a raft.

State Senator wants ‘illegal alien’ outlawed [Miami Herald]

Only 23 more days till the Ultra Music Festival , with at least 40 top name DJ’s and bands of the techo/dance world. Tickets have been on sale for quite awhile – get them soon because more than 50,000 people are expected.

Miami Metroblogging will provide frequent updates.

So my sister and her fiancee were in town this past weekend. They’re getting married in June and guess what the leitmotif of their wedding is gonna be? That’s right, you guessed it, shells.

Now in the old days I’m sure if you came to Florida seeking shells, you’d just skip on out to the beach, plop yourself down on the first patch of sand, close your eyes, bury your greedy meathooks in the wet grit, dump it all in a bucket and call it a day.

In the modern age of consumerism, dredging, and manicured white sand, there are no more sea shells on the sea shore (nor is Sally selling them on the pricey waterfront anymore) so if you come to Florida to collect shells, skip the beach entirely and head straight for the marvelous commercial establishments hawking all sorts of crustacean lucre along with huge helpings of nostalgia for the old days when you could actually find this stuff on the beach…
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“Worth every penny” is how food enthusiasts are rating those $300 passes to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival–hose hefty prices kept us away, sadly, but we’re already saving our pennies for next year’s event. Apparently, it’s a can’t-miss affair, and we love all the stories:

* Festival-goers enter the huge tent and are promptly handed a wine glass, which they carry from station to station and sample all the different vintages of the moment. True wine tasters are supposed to employ the “swirl, suck, and spit” method, not swallowing anything which would taint the pallete. Of course, everyone sucked their glasses dry and swallowed every drop.

* Food was also available for the tasting; the most common offering? Ceviche.

* The Food Network flew its most popular personalities down for the festival to host live cooking expos, with Rachael Ray and Emeril Lagasse and the rest of the clan. In an informal poll of festival-goers, we found Paula Deen’s expo to be most popular. Suspected of having a little too much of the wine herself, she took the stage and promptly announced “I don’t feel like cookin’!” and just talked to the audience the whole time. It makes us wonder what is in that bottle in the picture above…

* Martha Stewart’s cooking expo was described as “like an elementary school classroom,” with everyone sitting politely watching her methodical placement of each knife, spoon and dish exactly where it needed to go. It was refreshing for some, while others were unnerved by the audience’s silence: “Everyone just sat and stared. It was an outdoor tent in South Beach, and you could hear a pin drop.” Perhaps she should have had a little of what Paula was drinking, no?

* For photos of the event, click here.

TV adds sizzle to South Beach celebration [Palm Beach Post]

On Thursday night, against my best instincts, I went to Casa Tua – the famed “intimate, romantic, discreet, exclusive, etc., etc.” dining establishment at the corner of 17th and James.

It wasn’t my idea. Friends in town from New York had heard about it for years and wanted to go.

I read the negative reviews on Zagat, and still I went. Sometimes we get ourselves into these stupid situations even when we know better. There were a couple of positive reviews written by people from the Midwest – who probably think Olive Garden is also a great Italian restaurant. At least Olive Garden prices match the quality. Not so at Casa Tua

Anyway, we arrived at 9:30, our reservation time. We sat outside under candles ( listening to 17th Street traffic ) until our table was ready. Impressive to a New Yorker maybe, but I can do that in my back yard.

Finally, we sat inside. The room was brightly lit, not so romantic. I had a tasteless beef carpaccio for my appetizer. For the main course – I had lamb chops – acceptable, but no better than I might buy at Publix and cook myself. The others had bland risotto and overdone lobster pasta. One of us had the audacity to order a $300 bottle of wine – pushing the total bill up to $800 for four!

Forgettable meal, Memorable price!

When I can afford to go out to a restaurant again – about three months from now , I will go to Vita – the place I had suggested to my Northern friends, who later agreed with me.

Oh, and there were no celebrities either.

On Monday of this week, 108 low-wage janitors, groundskeepers, and maintenance workers at Nova Southeastern University were thrown out of their jobs. This turn of events comes after the workers fought a year-long campaign for a decent paycheck, affordable health insurance, and the democratic right to form a union.

The some 350 workers at Nova have been living in fear that they would lose their jobs for speaking up in search of respect in the workplace since they voted and won a union last October. It was clear from that very day that Nova had no intention of improving the lives of those cleaning and maintaining its campuses, and instead announced they would cancel their decade long contract with UNICCO Services Company. Nova instead brought in multiple companies in a “divide and conquer” strategy to defeat the workers’ spirit.
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A great turnout at BarCamp at University of Miami School of Communication. Click the links to see who presented.That’s me showing MIami Metblogs to the crowd of bloggers,entrepreneurs, press and students. Two new bloggers ,students at UM,will be joining us shortly and we look forward to their take on Miami life from a student point of view.

For those of you interested in the Miami ( and worldwide) blogosphere BarCamp Miami is taking place at University of Miami this evening. It’s THE place to be if you have a blog or want to write for one ( such as Metroblogging Miami ) or simply learn about the whole culture. Click on the link for further information. Bring a laptop – plenty of wifi to go around.

Miami Herald features queen Jill Bauer has been chronicling her quest for love via the internet–she registered on personals sites Chemistry.com, Match.com, and Jews-only JDate.com (Jews get all the fun web s!), and has found success in meeting various men for dates. She’s not, however, having much success in turning those dates into the romance she craves.

It’s refreshing to see people unabashedly using the internet for matchmaking–personals ads often have a negative, tawdry connotation, but there’s nothing wrong with finding love however you may. So it’s hard to not sympathize with Miss Bauer as she stumbles along. But perhaps men might be more interested her if she didn’t write about her dates in the Miami Hearald, trashing the losers for all of the city to read..and include her picture in the paper, so guys can match her face with her name.

It’s just a thought.

Race for beau can be romantic [Miami Herald]

I actually was admitted to UM ,back in the days, but my parents wanted me to go to school in the Frozen North. This quote came from MySpace.