Celebrating U.S.A.'s 240th birthday today from hot & humid Florida, but wishing I was in Sweden, on a boat in the Stockholm archipelago, eating strawberries with friends, and enjoying the Midnight Sun; Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"

Snapshots, in a few tweets and words, of what I'm thinking about today, the Fourth of July...
Celebrating U.S.A.'s 240th birthday today from hot & humid Florida, but wishing I was in Sweden, on a boat in the Stockholm archipelago, eating strawberries with friends, and enjoying the Midnight Sun; Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"

Before hamburgers, hots dogs, pretzels & beer R consumed today -& B4 we "Let freedom ring!"- there must be #donuts! https://t.co/m9BybGCcwY

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 4, 2016

Before anyone else is awake, we sneak out for a morning run with the boat. ...and maybe some "fika"? ☺️☀️☕️ pic.twitter.com/nXY48b9aYI

— Magnus Lundin (@magnusswede) May 30, 2015

Sun sets over Stockholm @sweden , heading out to the archipelago. Fantastic October evening.

Have a nice weekend! pic.twitter.com/eohvTUHexG

— Magnus Lundin (@magnusswede) October 3, 2014

Midsummer!! 🕶 #swedisharchipelago #yxlan #midsummer

A photo posted by fullofkeys (@fullofkeys) on Jun 25, 2016 at 12:32pm PDT

Above, a great recent snapshot of a boat in an archipelago in Sweden taken on Midsummer Day by super-talented Anni Bernhard, a.k.a. singer Full of Keys, a friend of the blog and someone we adore for a whole host of good reasons, many of which we've written about here in the past.

@magnusswede Celebrating 240th B'day 2day in humid #FL, wishing was on #STHLM archipelago, eating strawberries! :-) https://t.co/FpYZtX8Qs2

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 4, 2016

@magnusswede Just in case, I'll order us a backup boat so daytrip goes perfectly! @chriscraftboats ad fm 1944 @LIFE. pic.twitter.com/Hr6Q4tTWeY

— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 4, 2016

Updated on 2016-07-05

Well, it's the Fourth of July, Birthday #240 for the USA.

Owing perhaps to the oppressive heat and humidity of Florida as I'm experiencing it in 2016. I mentioned strawberries in one of my tweets earlier today to Magnus Lundin, savvy and personable CEO of SISP, the Swedish Incubators & Science Parks, located in beautiful Stockholm, because 
a.) I really do LOVE strawberries, and,
b.) It seems without ever planning to, more often than not, most Fourth of July weekends, at some point, often after watching fireworks, I end up watching Ingmar Bergman's iconic film "Wild Strawberries" because... it's SO perfect, SO summer and SO Sweden!

I can't believe that I and my then-friends put up with this crazy summer heat as a kid growing-up in South Florida in the early and mid-1970's, riding our bikes EVERYWHERE during the day, without benefit of plastic water bottles!

Moonrise in the light of the midnight Sun https://t.co/92EUHiXCRV #moon #midnightsun #Sweden #Norrland #Nikon #D810A pic.twitter.com/nYuCu8YAO0

— Göran Strand (@Astrofotografen) July 1, 2016

Which is to say, for me, it's a perfect film for transporting me away from my everyday, mundane concerns, including helping me to forget how truly hot it is outside, with mosquitos buzzing around aiming to make me their meal ticket, something that was just as true this time of the year when I was living and working in Chicago and Washington, D.C. as it is today back in Florida. 

Part of the genius of this film, at least to me, is that like the best films, it always gives gives the viewer a reason to contemplate a life very different from the one they are currently living, since it has a huge dollop of wistfulness in it, something I, perhaps, already spend too much time considering.
This classic film of remembrance, known as Smultronställe in Swedish, officially opened in Sweden on December 26th, 1957, but for me, it remains a film of #summer.

One of my all-time favorite films, I've probably seen it, conservatively, over two dozen times, mostly on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), though I have a DVD and videocassette of it and many other Bergman films. It's a film that I always gets something new out of, and never tire of watching in part because there's so very much going on, even when it doesn't always seem that way.

It stars Victor Sjostrom, and a 22-year old Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin and Gunnar Björnstrand.  I've got some good clips of it at the bottom of this post for you to peruse.

For those of you who are new to my blog and the wide variety of subjects that I like to discuss, share and analyze here, or newbies to my ever-expanding number of Followers on Twitter via my @hbbtruth handle, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth, I note here that Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman was accorded one of the greatest honors of any film personality I can think of when a few years ago, he was chosen to be the face of the newest Swedish 200 Kronor note, starting last year, replacing Selma Lagerlöf, who was the first female writer to ever win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Designed by Göran Österlund

I previously discussed who the newest faces of Swedish currency were in this April 25, 2012 blog post titled, "Beautiful, just like the original! Greta Garbo will be featured on the new Swedish 100 Kronor note, with Ingmar Bergman on the 200 SEK note, all designed by Göran Österlund, starting in 2015"

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/beautiful-just-like-original-greta.html

-------

Wild Strawberries -Opening Credits (1957)

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/239721/Wild-Strawberries-Movie-Clip-Opening-Credits.html

https://youtu.be/A3n4TxNeaPg

https://youtu.be/41usu9d8Fnw

Dave 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

Happy Holidays from Hallandale Beach: A taste of chutzpah, hypocrisy & incompetency with your eggnog -again!- thanks to Mayor Joy Cooper

Blogger's latest crusade: 'In Satan We Trust' plaques at city halls https://t.co/jaWTp4MK1r

— Susannah Bryan (@savannah1023) December 28, 2015

South Florida Sun Sentinel

Blogger's latest crusade: 'In Satan We Trust' plaques at city halls

By Susannah Bryan 

Dec. 29, 2015 1:52 PM

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-in-satan-we-trust-hallandale-20151229-story.html

I'm torn b/w tweeting this to poke Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper publicly -the same thin-kinned HB mayor who called me a Nazi when she thought I could not hear her, BEFORE a HB City Comm. mtg. started- and my desire to not draw attention to Sun-Sentinel reporter Susannah Bryan, whom, unfortunately, I believe the evidence reasonably shows has done real damage to the community for years by her consciously favoring #frivolous over more serious reporting of issues in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood.

A fact I have written about many times on the blog previously with self-evident examples.

Which is to say, her apathy and HER refusal to report on things when they happen so that HB and Hollywood citizens can know the true facts, and not have to wait until 6-9 months later, or longer, AFTER a formal (and often criminal) investigation has begun.
Which has been Bryan's habit for years, with too many examples to mention quickly here -but then most of you already know some if not most of these examples by heart! :-(

If you hadn't already guessed by the headline, Blogger's latest crusade:  In Satan We Trust' plaques at city halls, this story involves our friend and fellow South Florida civic activist, Chaz Stevens.

In case you forgot some of the unintended irony of this article, which the reporter fails to note, Joy Cooper first ran for the HB City Commission in part, so she said at the time, to complain about what she said was the city's flagrant and self-evident use of religious items on taxpayer property at holidays in ways that she thought were inappropriate.

And once elected, Joy Cooper promptly did nothing about something that she'd previously said was a real problem. Something she'd be willing to sue the city about.

Surprise! 

I wrote about that issue six years ago on the blog: Happy Holidays from Hallandale Beach: A taste of chutzpah, hypocrisy and incompetency with your eggnog; Joy Cooper's change of heart after getting elected is just another one of those things that makes us all shake our heads

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/happy-holidays-from-hallandale-beach.html

And so it goes...

More info about Chaz Stevens at 

http://www.myactsofsedition.com/  @TweetsByMAOS

Dave 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

It's all over at halftime -Angie Harmon wins! THE house in America that I (we) should've gone to today for Thanksgiving is @Angie_Harmon's; @jasonsehorn, PicturesOfAngie, @Madamefigaro, #nfl, #pigskin

Angie Harmon on WhoSay: http://www.whosay.com/angieharmon


                     

I'm off for the night & all day tomorrow. Wanna wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving/great day if you don't celebrate. pic.twitter.com/8rwgWUbtj3
— PicturesOfAngie (@PicturesOfAngie) November 28, 2013

@PicturesOfAngie
                                      
So at halftime of the first NFL game of the day this Thanksgiving, Packers at Lions, I think it's perfectly clear that we have a clear-cut winner.

THE house in America that I (we) should've gone to today for some delicious turkey, sweet cranberries, warm and friendly conversation, and some very informed football talk -via @jasonsehorn- for dessert is Casa Angie Harmon, @Angie_Harmon, whom as I've written here on the blog so many times, we've always admired and adored for so many good reasons.
We thank the rest of you for participating, but we definitely have our winner!

But for those of you reading these words out in Hawaii, there's still some time for you to chew over these inspired recipes via nos amis @Madamefigaro: On mange bien!

Une recette de tourte de dinde au foie gras ? Joyeux Thanksgiving made in France ! http://t.co/gdomyU9roo pic.twitter.com/WV0mLxx32R
— Madame Figaro (@Madamefigaro) November 28, 2013

Above, Angie on the cover of the September 2000 issue of Texas Monthly, the very-popular and critically-acclaimed magazine I frequently bought over the years at The News Room on the corner of K St. & Connecticut Avenue in Washington D.C., next to the Farragut North Metro station.
Back when I was living and working up there.

As it happens, I bought this particular copy, though, that sweltering first weekend of September 2000, after flying into DFW from DC for the wedding of my dear and oh-so-talented friend Shannon, in Sulphur Springs, TX, where her parents and sister had then-recently moved to from Hope, Arkansas.
Hope being where Shannon was born and grew-up and where more famously, Bill Clinton was born.
I bought it at the Walmart on the way to "dry" Sulphur Springs, where the cashiers looked like young Lynda Carters. 
Really :-)!

Shannon's mother knew Bill Clinton as a kid from across the street, of course, and Shannon had a wonderful photo of herself and BC on her desk for years at the Washington bureau of Nippon TV, at the National Press Building, from when she'd been in high school and was in Little Rock for some event while Clinton was governor of Arkansas. (Girls State?)
Shannon was a savvy and resourceful TV producer and sometimes on-air talent, thanks to her fluent Japanese that sometimes had her traveling across the globe following President Clinton or some other important story that Japan & Nippon TV were interested in.

Since I had roughly an hour drive ahead of me once I arrived in north Texas that Thursday afternoon, I stopped off at a Walmart along the way on I-30 so I could grab some soda, junk food and odds & ends for my hotel room, since with temps around and above 105 in the shade -if you could find some shade- I knew I'd need to keep my cold Coca Cola intake high for the duration.

The magazine rack with Angie's "Hey pardner" smile was one of the first things that I saw in the store and into my basket it went, toute-de-suite! 
And I still have it, too.

For those of you who may've forgotten, as well as those of you who are new to the blog, your faithful blogger -Dave- was born in San Antonio, and my mother's side of the family has been living in the beautiful Hill Country of Texas since 1855: Bandera.

Sweet & sublime as always! SVT's 2012 St. Lucia telecast from Uppsala Cathedral -with Astrid Cederlöf as Lucia- was loaded with Swedish goodness, including ABBA's Benny Andersson on piano and Helen Sjöholm singing; There's no substitute for such sheer genius & talent!

sannasonja's YouTube Channel video: Benny Andersson on piano, Olle Moraeus on violin - "En skrift i snön" on SVT's Luciamorgon telecast from Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden. Recorded December 7, 2012 for broadcast on Dec. 12th. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/cTatkGocfCY

Sweet & sublime as always! SVT's 2012 St. Lucia telecast from Uppsala Cathedral -with Astrid Cederlöf as Lucia- was loaded with Swedish goodness, including ABBA's Benny Andersson on piano and Helen Sjöholm singing; There's no substitute for such sheer genius & talent!

All screenshots appearing on this page of SVT's St. Lucia telecast are December 13, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved. 

The sweetness and the utter simplicity never disappoints.

Church choirs singing traditional Lucia and Christmas carols, the reading of the Lucia text, and as always, all done with no self-conscious showboating or self-congratulatory displays -and no distracting applause from the audience.

All done in one hour.

Above and below, my screenshots of 14-year old Astrid Cederlöf as Lucia.

By now, after a few years of watching this, and having gotten into the swing of how things go, there are certain songs that are always performed that are now so familiar to me that I can already hear the upcoming refrain, chorus or key musical notes even before the chyron disappears from the TV screen.

Correct, like hearing the first few notes of an ABBA or Beatles song.



To me, this year's telecast seemed much more subdued than the previous two Luciamorgon telecasts.

Whether that was the plan or just the way it all worked out, I can't say, but it did seem like there was noticeably less energy in the room, maybe almost too subdued.
Was it because I already knew that this year's telecast was NOT LIVE as the last two had been, where anything done LIVE always offers up the possibility of something interesting and unexpected happening?

Or maybe it was just because yours truly was already pretty tired and stayed-up all night thru to watch the telecast, which was 1 a.m. Eastern my time that Thursday morning, 7 o'clock in Uppsala.

When that opening framing scene outside Uppsala Cathedral came onscreen, it looked SO very dark and very cold!
I practically shivered vicariously when it came on and I thought about how mornings like that can make you exhausted even before the day begins.
Thoughts of warm tomato soup and soup crackers went thru my head.

This is what it looked like outside the Cathedral in Uppsala an hour later, at 8 a.m., looking more like 6 p.m. in Bloomington, Indiana, about mid-January.

sannasonja's YouTube Channel video: Helen Sjöholm & Benny Andersson - "Vinterhamn" on SVT's Luciamorgon telecast from Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden. Recorded December 7, 2012 for broadcast on the 12th. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/Xqtr219lt40

sannasonja's YouTube Channel video: Helen Sjöholm & Benny Andersson: "Nu tändas tusen juleljus" on SVT's Luciamorgoon telecast from Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden. Recorded December 7, 2012 for broadcast on the 12th. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/fsnbicyYNcU

The above was short and sweet, but still my favorite from that day!

The person who uploaded these vids onto YouTube, 

https://www.youtube.com/user/sannasonja/ is also from Florida! 

The video of the entire telecast is on SVT Play's website for another 28 days, as of today, then will be permanently deleted. 
http://www.svtplay.se/video/907512/lucia/?tab=undefined&sida=1

As usual, the SVT audio and video quality is amazing, so be sure to click the opposing arrows in the far right corner of the video and hit fullskärm to enable the full screen, 
And be sure to watch for Olle Moraeus on the violin.

My last two blog posts on the Lucia telecasts by SVT were: 
2010 St. Lucia Day in Stockholm: traditional songs and sweet sentimentality that ring true across the miles; SVT's Lucia program is sublime!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-st-lucia-day-in-stockholm.html

2011 St. Lucia Day in Göteborg is an hour away on SVT; will they strike gold and be sublime yet again?

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-st-lucia-day-in-goteborg-is-hour.html

Sweden.se's Vimeo video: Swedish Lucia for Dummies. Lucia Day - a feast of candlelit processions, saffron buns, mulled wine and talking animals. Here’s how to make the most of it. http://vimeo.com/55253944

http://www.sweden.se/lucia

As a bit of a Lucia bonus, here's a short video of some kids in a Lucia procession who made their way out to the glass cage in the Great Square in Malmö, Gustav Adolf Square, where   this year's Musikhjälpen took place two weeks ago, and where Robyn famously performed in 2010, as I wrote at the time.
Robyn rocks Malmö at Musikhjälpen 2010 as amazed fans watch her like a goldfish in a glass bowl at Gustaf Adolfs Square
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/robyn-rocks-malmo-at-musikhjalpen-2010.html

Below, Kodjo and Gina interact with the kids inside their glass cage studio: 

http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/908558/varldens-sotaste-luciatag/?tab=undefined&sida=1

More videos of the show's dozens of musical guests performing can be found at
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=3946 and
at http://www.youtube.com/user/poriel2

Two views of the entertainment world of Christmas 1957: Pre-Christmas shopping and American comedy as seen thru the eyes of Jack Benny, and Ingmar Bergman's masterful 'Wild Strawberries' opens in Sweden the day after Christmas and becomes a classic from Day One

MiscVideos78rpm YouTube Channel video: The Jack Benny Program - Christmas Shopping (Original air date: December 15, 1957). 

Uploaded December 23, 2012. http://youtu.be/u17Xo0dqJ34

And on December 26th, 1957, Ingmar Bergman's classic film and screenplay of remembrance, "Wild Strawberries" -Smultronställe- officially opened in Sweden, the same year that he had directed his first film, the classic, "The Seventh Seal." 

Both are among my all-time favorite films, and in the case of Wild Strawberries, I've probably seen it -conservatively- over 20 times, mostly on Turner Classic Movies/TCM, and it's a film I always gets something new out of, and am always trying to persuade people to see for the first time.
Starring Victor Sjostrom, and a then-22-year old Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin and Gunnar Björnstrand. 

Wild Strawberries, 1957, Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Opening scene)
Rafael Lasevitz YouTube Channel, Uploaded April 6, 2015
https://youtu.be/NeJQXA6CCuA

A better version of this amazing scene and other clips from the film are at 

https://www.tcm.com/video/1196578/wild-strawberries-1957-movie-clip-my-name-is-isak-borg

MiscVideos78rpm YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MiscVideos78rpm

President Reagan's Address to the Nation About Christmas and the Situation in Poland -December 23, 1981; Lech Walesa and the Solidarity trade-union movement in Poland

ReaganFoundation YouTube Channel video: President Reagan's Address to the Nation About Christmas and the Situation in Poland — December 23, 1981. Uploaded December 10, 2012. http://youtu.be/9kiFK6xxE08

ColdWarWarriors YouTube Channel Solidarity Poland 1981, Uploaded on May 28, 2010. http://youtu.be/peT3-xSzj08

https://www.youtube.com/user/ColdWarWarriors

When you live in a city run by turkeys... you recognize them on sight

Above, the candy corn-beaked turkey and Publix Ligram Pair Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers that greeted everyone this morning for breakfast at my sister's home in Pembroke Pines, Thanksgiving Day 2012. 
This candy and cookie-based turkey hybrid was her boss' wife's brilliant idea, and as we all chowed down our breakfast, it sat there quietly on the table, mocking our notions of actually eating healthy this weekend.
But on Monday... with our trip to Sweden approaching, we're going to start eating more healthy -again- in earnest, and get back into the sort of daily exercise regimen that once had been our daily routine up in the Nation's Capital.


sisko923 YouTube Channel video: Publix Thanksgiving "Salt and Pepper" Commercial. Uploaded December 26, 2008. http://youtu.be/BVLOydduvqg

Happy Holidays from Hallandale Beach: A taste of chutzpah, hypocrisy and incompetency with your eggnog; Joy Cooper's change of heart after getting elected is just another one of those things that makes us all shake our heads

December 25, 2009

Dear faithful readers: 

On this day, as any other, a trip on Hallandale Beach Blog's Time Machine is never for the faint of heart or the intellectually dis-honest.

First, the set-up piece:

-------

RESIDENTS: KEEP RELIGION OFF DISPLAY - COMMISSION AGREES, CHANGES HOLIDAY PLANS

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Thomas Monnay
October 8, 1997

Arnold Lanner wanted to please Jews and Christians when he persuaded his fellow commissioners to approve funds for a menorah and a Christmas tree for the city's holiday lighting display.

The move, however, has landed the city in church-and-state hot water

Several upset residents, including Alan R. Griffith, a lawyer, have warned officials against using taxpayer's money to erect religious symbols on public property.

The lighting display, the city's fifth in a row, kicks off Nov. 22.

"We hold both the city and its employees responsible for making such an unwise decision accountable," Griffith told commissioners in an Oct. 1 letter. "Please be advised that we take the Constitution very seriously and will, if necessary, seek help of the courts to protect its provisions."

Joy Cooper, an activist who also criticized the proposed use of religious symbols, said she would be willing to sue the city.

"The government has no right to get involved in religion," Cooper said.

She is concerned that city officials might some day add a cross or a nativity scene to the display.

Fearing a nasty court challenge from the residents, commissioners on Tuesday backed down from their plan with a 4-1 vote, leaving Lanner an angry man.

The symbols would have cost the city $3,000.

"I'm very unhappy about it," Lanner said. "I feel it's a holiday that denotes the two major religions [Christianity and Judaism)."

When commissioners unanimously approved Lanner's request in January, they thought the city was "mature" enough to deal with the change. But the public protest continued to mount as the holiday season approached.

City Attorney Dick Kane has told commissioners that it is probably illegal to use tax dollars for such purposes, but Lanner is not so sure.

Lanner said he could not understand why the federal government can spend tax dollars to erect a giant Christmas tree on the White House lawn and Hallandale can not do something similar.

He pointed out that Broward County's main library, a tax-supported facility, also displays a Christmas tree.

"Where do you draw the line," Lanner said. "It's kind of saying Christmas doesn't exist; it's kind of saying Hanukkah doesn't exist."

Commissioner Sonny Rosenberg said many Jewish residents requested that a menorah be part of the holiday display. But the latest uproar made him realize that there are more people who don't want one.

"If it's illegal, I think we ought to obey the law," Rosenberg said. "We don't always [do that), but in this case we will."

Lanner is still not convinced.

"I think we have to be more lenient as far as religion is concerned in the city of Hallandale," Lanner said.

City officials launch the display each year with a lighting ceremony and entertainment in the Diplomat Mall's parking lot. It illuminates Hallandale Beach Boulevard with thousands of colorful lights.

Cooper and Griffith, who have small children, said they love the event. But they want it to remain a holiday display _ not a religious celebration.

"I like it the way it is now," Cooper said. "I don't think it needs to be bigger, I don't think it needs religion in it.

----------
In the City of Hallandale Beach, though there are literally dozens of self-evident public safety and Quality-of-Life issues that city employees really ought to be spending their time on first, something I only mention here constantly, city employees are often dispatched to work on matters that seem to have very little to do with the real priorities of a living, working city.

In my opinion, that's the case with the city's annual holiday lights display on Hallandale Beach Blvd., often BEFORE Election Day in the first week of November, as was the case last year.
Really

Above, South Beach Hoosier photo of holiday light display on HBB, looking southwest from in front of Boston Market, November 6, 2009, a month before the official ceremony.

This attitude by HB City Hall is nothing new, though, as the year of Hurricane Wilma, three years ago, city employees were busy working on putting-up holiday lights in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall (on the U.S.-1 side, due to road construction on HBB) even while there were complaints
about piles of garbage and debris on city streets and curbs all over the city, even right near City Hall, many of which I saw for myself.

In fact, even as I saw the lights go up, the STOP signs in the city's very own parking lot were lying on the ground, where they'd remain for WEEKS.
Why?

Because that's the way they like to do things.
Logic and reason?
Where do you think you are?

Who has time to deal with public safety when there are holiday lights to go up?

In fact, the first day that they city started putting those lights-up three years ago -a three day process as it turned out- I was talking on my cell phone to a Miami Herald reporter about the city's rather dismal cleanup effort compared to next door Aventura and Hollywood as I came across the workers wrapping lights around palm trees.

And what about the Sun-Sentinel article at the top of this post from 12-years ago, that revolved around city residents' concerns about the city placing religious items, to wit, a menorah and a nativity scene, on city property, including "activist" Joy Cooper among others?

When push came to shove, though, what has history shown us has actually happened in the intervening years?

Well, since I've been living here, it seems like every mid-December, I suddenly see a giant menorah emerge out of nowhere, placed near the entrance to the city's beach at State Road A1A and HBB.

It's NOT sponsored by some private group, it's the city's.
(And in any case, it's PUBLIC property.)

No, there's nothing there that says a generic "Happy Holidays" nor are there cheery plastic candy canes, but rather an actual menorah, often propped-up by sand bags as I recall.

Frankly, it looks both sad and pathetic, especially after it's fallen and is just lying there on the ground.

What do you know, here's a photo I snapped of the menorah from last year, Dec. 26th to be exact.

Above,looking east from State Road A1A/S. Ocean Drive sidewalk.  December 26, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

And more recently you ask? Well, how about Dec. 19th, last Saturday?December 19, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier

And what about the situation right in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall itself?

Here are some photos I took on of light displays there, one of a menorah and the other of a three-piece silhouette that, to my eyes at least, looks exactly like your standard generic Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus.

Not exactly Sugar Plum fairies or Nut Crackers or reindeer...
Or am I wrong in my description?


Above, December 24, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier looking west at entrance to Hallandale Beach City Hall on U.S.-1 from the sidewalk in front of Village at Gulfstream.


December 22, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Directly in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall.


Dec. 22, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier. Directly in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall.


Dec. 22, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier. Menorah decoration in front of Chabad of South Broward, on HBB, which suffered a lot of flooding damage a week ago.
Nobody cares about this one being here since it's on private property.

Dec. 20, 2009 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The U.S.-1 sign right near the religious displays in front of Hallandale Beach City Hall.
To the right is the near pitch black HB City Hall parking lot, a recurring Guest Star of so many
previous posts here on the blog for obvious safety reasons.

Not that that the city has shown the slightest inkling to resolve the self-evident public safety
problem there they all know about...

That's how they do things in the City of Hallandale Beach under Joy Cooper and Mike Good.

Thanks for taking this trip aboard the Hallandale Beach Blog Time Machine.