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Wednesday July 30, 2008

[What good are boards that are rubber stamps] ~The Key West citizen. Monroe County Commissioner Dixie Spehar's recent reappointment of Planning Commission member Jim Cameron raises questions about motive, coming as it does right before County Commission elections. The Monroe County Planning Commission is appointed by the County Commission to review all building and planning regulations, as well as development proposals. Once reviewed, recommendations are made and forwarded to the County Commission for final approval. The recommendations of this paid, five-member board are extremely important, and ultimately affect the character of, and quality of life in, the Florida Keys. Areas which fall under the purview of the Planning Commission involve just about every aspect of development throughout the county, to include land development regulations, the comprehensive land-use plan, the working waterfront ordinance, and more.

As with most board appointments, it is customary, yet not a formal rule, for each county commissioner to nominate one Planning Commission member of their choosing. This makes perfect sense, as it allows the Planning Commission and all other appointed boards and commissions to reflect the makeup of the elected officials voted into office. The commissioners' board nominations are almost always approved by the full commission. We say almost because just two years ago Commissioner George Neugent's nomination of Kim Wigington was not approved — instead, then-Mayor Spehar nominated her own candidate, who was approved by the majority of commissioners. Wigington was, and is, Spehar's political rival.

It is important to note that when there are customary practices or formal rules in place that may not suit the immediate objectives of some county commissioners, the commission has been quick to change them. Another example is term limits. In one of the last rule amendments regarding the Planning Commission, the County Commission removed term limit provision. This is convenient, as the reappointed of Mr. Cameron would not have been possible if the term limit rule had not been eliminated.

Current rules dictate that county commissioners specify their choice for a Planning Commission seat 60 days before the term of that seat is to expire. In this instance, that 60 days puts the reappointment right before a primary election in which Spehar is a candidate. That might make sense if those same rule amendments didn't also prohibit removing a sitting member "without cause."

Taken together, that means a new commissioner can be stuck with an appointee whose planning philosophy is in conflict with his or her own.

It opens the door to parting political insults. Spehar initially wanted the County Commission to specify that Cameron serve as chairman, but she withdrew that part of her resolution before it went before the commission. Historically, the Planning Commission chair has been selected by the panel's members — and it should stay that way.

Fortunately, what one sitting County Commission decrees, the next commission can amend. After the November elections, we urge the new County Commission to take the tyranny out of this process and restore a system whereby appointees are selected by, and serve at the pleasure of, individual county commissioners, who are in turn elected by the voters of this county. The sitting County Commission has done everything possible to ensure that county boards and committees reflect only the philosophy of the current majority — the Gang of Three — thus disenfranchising all of those county residents who voted for the other two commissioners. What good are advisory boards if they are merely rubber stamps for the commission majority?

A diversity of viewpoints on these boards ensures a more thorough consideration of data and a diminishing chance for "done deals" to slide through the system unnoticed. This is something the next commission should remember, too, when it is its turn at rule-making.

I am only one resident, but I speak to a lot of residents, and I have not heard one citizen in Monroe County say they want hotels at the Marathon or Key West Airports--most laugh when you ask them the question. Hotel developers at the airports are friends of Mario DiGennaro who want to come into Monroe County, build the hotels, take their pound of flesh from the taxpayers and leave us the mess to take care of after the hotels fail.  We have to vote Spehar, McCoy out and that will help break up two members of the Gang of Three and will help keep Mario at bay and exclude him until his term is up and he is gone.

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will ride the bus with you, when the limo breaks down.  ~Oprah Winfrey

Be Our Guest!  Join Crane Point this Friday for an exclusive live Webcast of the Solar Eclipse in China from 6 a.m. – 9 a.m. This live Webcast features the Exploratorium’s crew showing the eclipse as well as teaching about the sun and more. Totality of the eclipse will occur between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. You are welcome to come anytime, admission is Free and coffee and pastries will be served. Reservations are required. Please email Laura@cranepoint.net. Showing will take place in the Orientation Theatre behind the Museum. Please come in the gate to the left side of the Museum doors and walk to the deck.

A total solar eclipse occurs as the new moon moves directly between the sun and the earth. The moon’s umbral shadow will fall on parts of Canada, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, Russia, Mongolia, and China. The Exploratorium’s eclipse expedition teams will Webcast the eclipse live from the remote Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China near the Mongolian border.  This event is sponsored by NASA, Sun Earth Connection, Exploratorium & Museum Alliance.

A total solar eclipse will not be viewable in the Keys for the foreseeable future, so this is a wonderful opportunity to experience an eclipse! Bulletin Board

[Lobster mini-season] Thank God we haven't legalized rental enclosures or the Mr. and Ms Greedy Low-renters would want to extend this horror for weeks. God save the Keys!

Dan and Lynn of Newman Outfitters on Big Pine are happy to announce we are once again teaching handgun safety.  The classes are on Sunday and limited to 4 students per class.  The cost is $65 and includes all class materials which you keep for future reference, an NRA certificate of completion and a concealed carry application package.  We cover everything from safe handling and operation to care and maintenance and much more.  Because the class size is limited, reservations are required.  To secure your seat, call Dan at 395-1042. 

Seeing all the corruption and developer maneuvering in the Keys, makes me think when I lived in Detroit many years ago. When the city guys and their buds started to make plans to move out the people to make room for high rise condos and super malls, they were “talked to”, usually at night. Things didn't change that much over the years, and people lived happily ever after!

How could anyone in their right mind vote for John McCain? Have you been in a coma for 71/2 years? You vote for the man that accused American troops of torture on national TV. A vote for him is like saying you agree the troops commit torture. Sorry, my conscience won’t allow me to vote for someone like that.

Deer Ed, what’s up? We start out with a wonderfully humorous and eloquently written essay on lobster mini-season and somehow get hooked into reading a vulgar, vile ranting of some sexually depraved 90’s loser who probably couldn’t get lucky in an all women’s prison. Give us a brick (break).

A stranger transforms the afternoon for another man. Currently, Historia de un Letrero is part of the regular programming on National TV in Mexico.  http://en.zappinternet.com/video/nilSqaMboM/HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO

This presidential race is fascinating. The Dems candidate is beautiful, he’s articulate, he’s bright, he’s young, his rise to prominence has been meteoric, he’s incredibly well funded, his image is burnished gold way beyond his years, he’s loved and promoted by nearly all the media, so far he’s fairly scandal free. The media have chosen to give him a pass on Rezko, Wright, and The Ayers.

Bush has been thoroughly trashed by the media, the economy is aching, energy prices are through the roof, the sitting President has abysmally low approval ratings (exceed only by Congress).  Obama's opposition, McCain has only luke-warm support from his party and his base.  Unlike Obama, McCain sure as hell ain't pretty. The media used to love him, now they hate him.  He’s a senior citizen, he votes his conscience, not his party line, and he’s a damn long way from being warm and fuzzy. 

With all of this, the race is still nearly neck and neck.  Some polls put McCain in the lead.  The media talking heads think that Obama should be in front by a mile.  There can be no doubt that there is something off-putting about Obama, he just doesn't inspire trust.  It’s difficult to articulate.  I know that if he showed up looking for the manager’s job at any business that I might own, that I would not hire him.  He lacks the experience to be trusted with the money making decisions.  He’s never met a payroll.  He’s never had to make a decision that had serious consequence.  He’s never been a leader.  He’s never been in harm’s way.  I don’t think that he’s even ever been bruised.  He’s never been challenged.  He’s like a little boy traipsing along following the golden goose, he’s not worked hard, he’s just picking up all the golden eggs that have been dropped in his path.

How to put on a bra when someone is pointing a gut at you. Video

[Human Peace Sign] With the State scaling back on Park Rangers’ hours, we will need to make it 5 p.m. The "Viet Nam Veteran's Traveling Wall Fundraiser" at Bahia Honda State Park on Sept. 11th, 2008 is alive and well. Come be part of the human peace sign. Bulletin Board

Vote for none of the above. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70605

How could Bob Peryam make his answer to Hometown PAC’s questions to all sheriff candidates and not at least mention that his own wife is head of Internal Affairs? What does that omission tell us about Bob Peryam and the need for a Citizen’s Review Board? Everything. How could Ken Davis not mention that Bob Peryam’s wife is head of Internal Affairs? What does that omission tell us about Ken Davis and the need for a Citizen’s Review Board? Everything.

If we already had a Citizen’s Review Board, we could have used it to investigate Cindy Peryam being head of Internal Affairs. Diana Kelly could have used a CRB to investigate Bob Peryam’s affair with her daughter. We could have used a CRB to look into the no-bid consulting contract Sheriff Major Mike Rice gave out to his father, David Rice. We could have used a CRB when five Keys teens were kidnapped by sheriff deputies without warrants and taken to and held incommunicado in the adult section of the jail, where no juveniles are supposed to be held. We could use a CRB whenever we feel the Sheriff’s Office and Internal Affairs are not doing their job correctly. A CRB is made of private citizens, volunteers who have no connection with the law enforcement agency they oversee. A CRB has no power to enforce, but it does have the power to investigate and issue opinions, which function right now is left to private citizens like Sandy Downs. If there had been a CRB, Sandy could have gone there when the Sherriff’s Office launched its terror campaign against her family. If there had been a CRB , Sandy’s son, Preston, might still be alive and she might not even be running for sheriff now. Yeah, we need a CRB, and we definitely do not need in office a sheriff candidate who does not already see the crying need for a CRB that will look over the shoulder of the entire Sheriff Office, including the Sheriff her-himself. Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

Info. Abbreviations and acronyms dictionary: Find definitions for over 4,219,000 abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms

Is it coincidence that these three videos feature woman drivers? Video   Video   Video

I was just watching a rerun of a 2000 episode of CSI Las Vegas.  It was crude compared to present episodes.  Cath said the world population was 6 Billion.   Tonight it is 6.8 Billion.

[Cuban Refugee Tax Holiday] Snopes.com says "Forget about it...the US Government wants taxes from everybody" and that this is a "rumor of resentment".

Happy Birthday Kimmy V. I hope you have a wonderful week.

That was a low blow by Mr Bashinsky yesterday. Just because the Citizen’s editor disagrees with him is no reason to bring up a tragic accident the editor was involved in that has absolutely nothing to do with the Citizen’s editorial policy. Sour grapes.

Congress is ready to go on vacation again!  Nancy Pelosi tells us she is trying to “Save the planet” by going on vacation.  You’ve got to admit it, she’s got balls!  The Dems led by Pelosi and Reid are again proving that they just don’t give a rat turd about our energy price crisis. People are sacrificing food so that they can buy gas to get to work.  The Dem leadership of Congress now is ordering shut down for vacation so that they can avoid the pain that they would feel if they had to vote on the energy bills that could cut energy prices.  In our family, we’ve had to cancel more than one vacation when an emergency arose.  The limo liberal elite sit in comfort pushing and pulling Pelosi and Reid like frenetic little puppets.  Here’s another reason to vote for Americans drilling for American oil.  700 Billion US dollars every year and growing, goes to OPEC countries.  That money should stay in American pockets to pay for American jobs.

Time for some campaignin’ http://www.jibjab.com/originals/time_for_some_campaignin

7 square mile ice shelf breaking up in Canada. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25917328/

I don't think anybody would have ever said anything about short term rentals if the renters had kept their heads down the way they are doing now, under, I am sure, the advisement of the rental agents.

Shoot a sheep. Check your reaction time!  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbod
y/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf

Florida Keys Green Living & Energy Education (GLEE) has hired Bridget McDonald as the organization’s part-time program coordinator. The first employee to be hired by the volunteer organization dedicated to greening the Florida Keys, McDonald was first contracted by GLEE last Feb. to help coordinate the third annual GLEE Expo. Under the direction of the GLEE board of directors, McDonald will help design and implement GLEE’s Green Business Certification program, as well as coordinating education and outreach programs while assisting with fundraising. “I am looking forward to helping GLEE create a more sustainable Florida Keys through new and current programs that are geared to reach all segments of the community including residents, businesses and policymakers,” said McDonald. “We are working toward goals that are crucial to the survival of this sensitive environment we call home, and with the general consensus here in the Keys that the time for adopting sustainable practices is now, I am confident that GLEE will continue to make a positive impact.” For more information, or to become a member of GLEE, go to www.keysGLEE.com

[More about pillows]  Okay, I know this is stupid, but hey, it's a break from all the political hand wringing, so what the hell! The University of Manchester did a study on dust mites. 10% of the weight of a two-year old pillow is composed of dead dust mites and their droppings (that's poop, folks). They live and thrive on your dead skin cells. And that study also found that there were at least 16 different species of fungi living in a pillow, more than on a used toothbrush. So, what to do? You're supposed to wash them weekly in 130F water; warm or cold water won't kill mites. And they just laugh at 20 Mule Team Borax. That lady who's sleeping on 50 year old pillows is a whole lot braver than I am.  As for me, I plan to replace my pillows at about the 5% critter concentration (a year) or else learn to love the little guys - start a little dust mite circus or something. I don't think the University of Manchester is in bed (pun intended) with the pillow manufacturing boys, so just believe it and then ignore it.  Dust mites won't kill you, unless you sneeze yourself to death.  It's just kind of creepy, that's all.

The old days are gone.  Everyone needs to start making their own way the way it used to be.

Thanks Maggie. We love you very much!

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Wednesday July 30, 2008

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Tuesday July 29, 2008

[Lobster mini-season] Their baaaaaack!  Yes those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are here and the Lobster Mobsters are back in town.  You may have noticed them gassing up at the local filling station and also gassing up at a local bars in preparation for a fun filled day or two on the water in search of the elusive langosta.  They come en masse with the obligatory collection of seafaring equipment most important to their quest such as the invaluable boom-box to provide themselves and the neighborhood with all night serenades, massive coolers to store their Bud Lite and Jose Cuervo (an important adjunct to the all night serenade) and a real, official Lobster Kit from Winn-Dixie.  They come complete with the mysterious inability to use a boat ramp without blocking it for an hour while loading their beer filled coolers, the kids, the wife, the family dog, a bucket of Dion’s chicken and the search for the missing boat key that they conveniently left at the rental property that they and the other two crews trashed the night before. 

Finally, after taking up three parking spaces for the truck and trailer they’re off for a fun-filled day on the water.  Already a six-pack and a couple of tequila shooters into the adventure, our captain weaves down the canal on full plane shouting instructions to the crew and digging in the cooler for another can of Bud, the Holy Grail of the lobster hunter. Arriving at their favorite spot out on the water (clearly identified by the sixteen other boats all fighting over the same coral head) they grab the nets and tickle sticks and over the side they go.  Ooops, forgot the diver down flag?  “Aw, forget it, the other boats have one.”  The real fun begins when a lonely pair of antennae is spotted.  Now, with the anticipation of a big surf and turf awaiting them later in the day, they drag themselves, their nets, fins, gauges and gear all over the coral, killing whatever they touch only to find that, after tipping over the coral head, the wily lobster is just too fast for them or maybe it was just a bit too short to keep (assuming that they actually remembered to use the measuring gauge tied to the real, official Lobster Kit from Winn-Dixie).  If luck holds out they may finish the day with their limit of “keepers,” a sunburn, a hell of a buzz from the Bud and Cuervo used to wash down all of that chicken and enough beer left to get back to the boat ramp.  Of course, if they are real pros, this might have been the third or fourth trip of the day; to hell with bag limits.  Weaving back down the canal to the ramp, again on full plane, the launching fiasco of the morning is repeated in reverse with the addition of a loud, drunken argument with the wife as she tries eight times to back the trailer into the ramp while the captain shouts directions and signals wildly with a can of Bud in one hand and hangs on with the with the other. 

Back at the rental, the day wouldn’t be complete without another few hours of ear splitting music and revelry while the bug tails are boiling to the consistency of an inner tube, the steaks are on fire and the captain is dumping the wrung heads in the canal or the neighbor’s trash can to rot and stink. And, they get to do it all over again tomorrow too.

As usual, all good things must come to an end and our adventurers head home with a bent prop, a killer hangover, four savage sunburns, two fighting kids and a dog with the runs from eating a bucket of chicken bones.  Peace once again descends on our little island, life returns to a normal pace and mother nature cries as she sees the destruction of her creation and tries to start the healing process in time for the onslaught again next year.  Yep, there’s nothing quite like mini-season.

[The Hidden Secret to another $1,000,000+ in annual County Revenue Without Increasing Taxes] Oprah isn't the only person in the world who has ideas about how to make money. Here's one of my ideas that was ongoing when Tom Willi canned me. A few of my ideas have been brought to fruition by people that worked for me--most haven't, and here's one of the biggest savers. The reason that some politically-minded folks don't want you to know is that opening this treasure trove might annoy some of the most wealthy and influential part time residents of Monroe County--the folks at Ocean Reef, but I think I have a way to do this without upsetting any residents.

Somewhere around 800,000 vehicles a year cross the Card Sound bridge. Most of them pay a dollar, so the County gets $700,000+, cash money every year from the Card Sound Bridge. The trouble is that it costs almost a half million dollars a year to pay the toll collectors and maintain the buildings there. When I was Director of Technical Services for Monroe County, one of the least popular things I wanted to do was to fully automate the bridge tolls. I found that, for about what it costs for a year to pay all the people that collect tolls 7 days a week, 365 days a year, the County could replace the toll plaza with an automated toll collection system with camera enforcement that would then cost 10% as much to operate. That's right. No people. Pay your money - cash, credit card, SunPass (or a KeysPass) or get a ticket in the mail. That will eliminate several Public Works jobs. It will also put tight controls around the cash at Card Sound. The current controls there would give any auditor heartburn. I suspect that Danny Kohlage hasn't checked in on state of the art cash management at toll booths lately.  

I spoke with Emelio Suarez, who is the director of technology for Florida's Turnpike, who said that the Turnpike Authority might be willing to install, collect tolls and maintain the toll plaza, like they do for a number of County owned bridges in the state, for a cut of the revenue. This was ongoing when Tom Willi made the decision to part ways. I hope Emelio's not waiting to hear from me.    

So, how would the County collect an extra $1,000,000+?
Raise the tolls to $5.
Automate the toll plaza, tear down the current structures and give the lots to ROGO for the hotels the County wants to build.
Pay the Turnpike Authority to install and manage SunPass.
Offer mail-in rebates for over $50 per calendar year for county residents (not transients) with a Monroe County address and proof of payment to SunPass.

That's just my million dollars worth. Will one of the Commissioners put this on an agenda? Is there anyone at Monroe County that could execute this project?  That, my friends, is the issue. Give it to the Turnpike Authority!

[Cuban Refugees]  One reason they come here is to collect $10,000 from the U.S. government and get free directions to the welfare offices and social security office.  Some of that money then goes to the smuggler who probably stole a fast boat to bring them across.  Did you know that Cuban refugees get a federal tax holiday for, I think, five years.  All of this comes from my Coast Guard tenant who deals with this every week.  It's all a crock designed by politicians to buy the south Florida vote. 

I'm outraged by all of our Government. Lower level units should ok if you do not have a mortgage. Can we have a class action suit against the Government to stop FEMA's total lack of common sense?

Amazing picture of whale taught to blow bubble rings | Metro.co.uk

[Spehar Campaign Fund] Developers know we peasants don't have the power to fight them or the brains to throw them out. The big money guys just laugh at us and could care less if the Keys turn into a Dizzy World full of plastic flamingos and straight shows, as long as they get their pockets filled!

Airbus A380: World's first aircraft onboard showers unveiled - Telegraph

Steve Estes is dead on. I read both the Citizen and the Coconut Telegraph every day from my summer digs in Washington State.  My jaw regularly drops in amazement when I read about the moronic, brain-dead ideas generated by the dull-normals running things in the Keys.  Airport hotels are laughably stupid.  Who wants to come to the Keys and stay at the airport? And when I tell my friends here about the water park, they look at me in disbelief. Water, water all around and you want to build a park - with fresh water no less?  Let's not even talk about sinking the Vandenberg. Franz Kafka couldn't make up this stuff.  It would all be just terribly entertaining except that the poor souls who actually live and work in the Keys are expected to bend over and take it yet again. One of those poor souls used to be me until I got the break of a lifetime and sold my house. So keep up the good fight, guys and I'll see you all in November.

[Good news]  Lost Cargo is back with a truck load of Georgia tomatoes. So sorry I let ya'll down on Saturday. I will also be getting a truck load of fruits and veggies on Wednesday so come see us before you cook up your yummy lobster dinner (bring the tomato lady one).

I'm a little confused here.  Someone who pointed out Drew Trivette's job description which is fact and public record and Mario's position on The Affordable Housing Coordinator which he publicly stated at a BOCC Meeting has their email address posted.  Someone posted a very derogatory statement about Dixie and Hickory House and their name isn't posted.  The posting insulting Dixie is copied and pasted below unless your editing team cuts it out.  Why was this author's email not printed?  I just read the FAQ section under censorship and it says "All articles of a negative nature will have the poster's email address printed at the end of the post. National politics are exempt".  Here is the posting which did not have an email attached to it.  Could there be some favoritism here? (Ed: The post you are referring to only mentioned the commissioner’s funds raised and “Are you angry at what is going on with the county budget and mismanagement of our tax payer dollars?” There was nothing personal in the post.)

Tom Tuell accused me of megalomania and being malevolent, after I challenged him about not seeming to have any remorse of conscience over a woman who died after being struck by his SUV on US 1 on Big Coppitt Key in 2004; and after I said he clearly had no remorse over the bait-and-switch he pulled on Sandy Downs’ letter to the editor, to hurt her sheriff campaign while trying to help Bob Peryam get elected.

During Tom’s and my several day email dialogue, he repeatedly said Sandy is mentally ill, delusional and in need of psychiatric care. He laid the blame for it in the tragic death of her son. He also said Sandy is a conspiracy freak, out of touch with reality, and she had taken me down the rabbit hole with her. He was adamant that he had done nothing wrong over what he did to her letter to the editor, he owed her no public apology on the Citizen’s editorial page, and he seemed very angry that I had said he did owe her such an apology.

I then found myself wondering what had happened after that tragic night on US 1? Did Tom seek out the dead woman’s family? Did he try to get to know them? Did he apologize? Did he mourn the loss with them? Or did his insurance company step in and tell him to stay out of it, let the insurance company’s lawyers handle it? Did the insurance company’s lawyers make it out to be all the bicyclist’s fault? Did her family receive anything at all for her death? Did Tom ever get to tell them he was sorry?

I drove up to the accident scene yesterday. The woman was struck as she left the Circle K property to cross US 1. The intersection is well-lighted. Visibility is good. She would have been plainly visible on or leaving the Circle K property. If it had been me in my SUV that horrible night, I would not have been able to convince myself that I did not contribute to the accident. I would have known that but for me it would not have happened. And it would have torn me to shreds.

Even if she had crossed in front of me without looking both ways, even if she had been drunk, my soul would have been shredded. I would have done everything I could to meet with her family and tell them how sorry I was. I would have leaned on my insurance company to take care of her funeral and pay her family for their loss. If my insurance company had balked, I would have threatened to become the dead woman’s best witness at the trial... Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

If anyone has lost a very large African Spur Tortoise earlier this year in the vicinity of the Big Pine Post Office, I know where he is. 304-3427.  Classified Ads > Lost & Found

That was an excellent editorial by Steve Estes yesterday. He said all of the things I feel, but am too stupid to write.

Trillion dollar wars. Who needs healthcare?

[Down stairs enclosures] I had a beautiful one, I guess not legal, but it had It all. We actually would go downstairs for a vacation.

"We discovered what makes the Northern Lights dance," NASA - NASA Satellites Discover What Powers Northern Lights

Just yesterday Obama said that the surge was having more success than even Bush or McCain hoped for. I find it drolly amusing that some Obamists can actually suggest that Obama should be given even an iota of credit for calling his pandering a “plan”.  These flacks would have you believe that McCain has changed his firm position that we should start drawing down our troop levels in Iraq as soon as the security situation permits.  The formula is simple, first victory, then theater security, then draw down to levels that suit the Iraq people and ensure continued security.  No magic, no fatuous word games. As to "Victory", it sure is looking like the surge bought us a win.  McCain's tenacity and wisdom should receive substantial credit for the surge and its success.  Obama is so shallow and politic that he found it nearly impossible to even acknowledge the obvious success. The McCain protocol says now it's time to look at the rest of the steps.  We are assessing the security on the ground situation, and as soon as is appropriate, we will begin drawing down our troops.  Obama gets zero credit for this.  He and his should be ashamed for trying.

Maybe if we tar and feathered one of the commissioners, the rest would get the hint.   We don’t need any stinking hotels at the airport.  Until all the available rooms in the Keys are booked full for a year in advance we do not need to expand the number of beds in the keys. Besides, who would want to come to Paradise and stay at an airport?  Less development would bring up the land values and the tax rolls.  But again that is common sense; something this commission knows nothing about.

Who wants hotels at the airports? Do the residents of the Keys want them?

The ugly hater guy has a beautiful blond daughter with Herpes.  Is that thing safe to have over in our home?  We hear there is a lot of this is the Keys.  Buckle up and wear condoms.  Except at the reef.  You can get a bunch of stuff from just kissing! 

Prince William County in Northern Virginia, a bedroom community for the nation's capital, made national news late last year with a crackdown on illegal immigration that supervisors believed was triggering higher crime and lower living standards. Prince William County then reported a 19.3 percent decline in crime. Meanwhile, next door in Fairfax County, with the highest property values of any county in America, reports crime up 22 percent. Crime skyrockets in 1 county, plummets right next door

Julian Beever, the sidewalk Picasso. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfn8Dz_13Ms

Its past time for the simpering greens to admit that American resources can be, and are being harvested by Americans without killing the environment.  The current Gulf of Mexico proves that.  Burgeoning caribou herds living near the Alaska pipe line add more proof.  Our national economy and security are worth the risk of scratching the ecological paint.  There is no doubt that America will be able to modify our petroleum dependency, and we must.  However, there is no doubt that without a vibrant economy we can’t.  If we are to make the changes that we need, we must have roaring commerce.  Commerce that now can only be fueled by petroleum.  Only by using our own petroleum can we become free from it and free from our foreign dependence on it.  The Apollo Project was kid stuff compared to this problem.  This problem reaches into and impacts every facet, every nook and every cranny of each of our lives.

Big time prayers coming to you from your motorcycle friends.  Get well soon.  Everyone enjoys Tilden and his Dive Shop in Marathon.  Please send your positive energy his way.    

[What are you Obama supporters thinking] I can't speak for others, but I'm thinking that McCain is the most boring, lackluster individual who ever sought the office.  He looks and talks like he already has one foot in the grave.  I'm also thinking that Bush/Cheney have done more damage to this country than any other executive branch in our history.  Therefore, I would vote for the man-in-the-moon before I would ever vote for another Republican.

No doubt, the information you read about old pillows was propaganda from the pillow companies!  How many pillows are in the landfills and how long does it take each pillow to break down I wonder?  I do wash and dry my pillows regularly so that I can rest well.   I have 4 words for you.  20 Mule Team borax. 

If the, so-called, refugees are that persecuted in their countries why the hell don't they "fix" their governments? The people always out-number the government and military by many times.

In WWII an Army Air Force crew member in a Flying Fortress over Germany was more likely to die in combat than a Kamikaze pilot.

[I miss the early 90s] Acid-washed jeans, hypercolor shirts, power ballads sung by hair bands, less threatening rap music, Superman died, Pauly Shore being all that he could be, (which you might not consider to be much, but our standards were lower back then. Pauly didn't have quite the lofty bar to hurdle). What a time for a Gen-Xer to be alive! I dug going to the hair-band concerts. Not so much the music as for the scantily-clad ladies of dubious virtue, (i.e. sluts.) Sure, there were sluts at Metallica shows, but they were more clothed and harder to woo. And they didn't appreciate the use of the word "woo". You could take the most militant feminist who might find offense with the word "slut", calling it a misogynistic term, bring her to a tailgate party outside a "Poison" show, and have her check out the bleached-blonde gal sporting a tube top, leather mini with fishnets, and stiletto heels drunk on two Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers, and sloppily making out in the bed of a rusted Chevy El Camino with some scraggly, long-haired dude who claimed to be best friends with Bret Michaels' second cousin.  That feminist would say, "Whoa, Nelly! Criminy! Look at that dadblasted slut! That sure as shootin's some slut, by gum!" (That is, of course, if the militant feminist I'm imagining had a penchant for old-timey colloquialisms.) That reminds me, I miss fishnet stockings.

The only time I see them anymore are at Halloween on Playboy Bunnies, sexy witches, and drag queens. And it's been more of the latter since I came to Key West. I think fishnets are especially saucy and they need to make a comeback. C'mon gals, don't be afraid to look like a streetwalking harlot! Harlots need love too. And everything was neon. Clothes, cars, and accoutrements stood the hell out. Hot pinks, fluorescent yellows and greens, botched fake tan neon oranges. It just made that era sizzle, baby! Those bright colors just popped. Reminded you that you were alive, and it was bitchin'--no matter how much retinal damage those hues might have done down the road. The music scene was phenom too, dude. Whitney Houston was still a diva with a golden voice, before she was a crack ho' with a has-been leech. Certain has-been leeches still had careers at this point as well. Milli Vanilli told us to "Blame it on the Rain" and we did, man. We blamed the f**k out of it. It was great until they were outed as lip-syncers and subsequently brought shame to any other duos named Rob and Fab.  And the man who brought us the lady-lovin song, Rico Suavé, that Ecuadorian genius, Gerardo! He was.... he was just....ummmm....hm. Wow, I can't bring myself to wax nostalgic about Gerardo unless we talk about the unifying hatred this nation felt for him. It brought us together like "Hands Across America" except those hands all wanted to crush Gerardo's windpipe.  There we go. One of the early 90's things I miss was hating Gerardo.

I don't know why I'm getting so nostalgic about this recently-gone-by era. It was such a brief period; you have to admit 1990-1992 had a totally different feel than the rest of the 90s. There was an unbridled sense of optimism. Optimism that 1993 crushed like a fortune cookie beneath Rosie O'Donnell's heel.  Cheers had ended it's run, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time, noted weenie-lopper Lorena Bobbitt made guys very concerned about losing their junk, Swedish pop group Ace of Base had drilled maddening tunes into our heads, of which the residual damage on the psyche may never be fully measured. We slipped into a very cold era in '93.  (I'm troubled that I placed the series finalé of Cheers ahead of the 1st WTC bombing). Anyway, for my sake, tonight take a trip back to the early 90s. Fellas, dust off your old 8-Ball leather jacket, throw it over your "No Fear" T-shirt, and splash on some Drakkar Noir.  Ladies, slip on some spandex tights or bleached jeans with a gazillion holes in them, (or spandex underneath the ripped jeans method as I recall), grab a can of Aqua Net and tease that 'do high to the sky. Crank up some Whitesnake or Warrant, or even Color Me Badd, if you're down with some R&B harmony.  Pop open a Crystal Pepsi and picture that fine economy you have to look forward to.

Someone please tell John McCain to quit his damn crying. All you hear from him anymore is whine, whine, whine. Time to send the crotchety old timer to the we’re-way-past-our-time home. He’s a great American, but a cranky old cuss.

I was surprised and dismayed that your allowed the author of "Turning Fl Black" to hide his/her racism, bigotry and lack of cognitive reasoning behind the shield of anonymity.  I continue to hope as a civilized nation we would be above such visceral and hateful emotions.

The Obama fund raiser was a success and had a good turn out of citizens who support change.  There will be a fund raiser every month until election day.

Whoops, that's certainly not the flag pin I'm familiar with. Look's like he's waving the flag for somebody else. Somebody should have "flagged" him before he went on stage. I bet the party responsible for this oversight has been "flogged."

[On enclosures] Come on guys. The person who wrote that email was obviously yanking your chain. I bet their sitting back and laughing at the knee-jerk responses and total indignation of the responders.

[Fat people break ride] The daughter sustained bruises to her back, says the park should examine potential riders more closely if their weight puts them at risk of injury.  Manners said he weighs 276 pounds, his wife weighs 220 pounds and Samantha (age 11) weighs 120 pounds. Water park accident was 2nd of week

I see all the campaign posters have been removed? No more Dixie Hwy on Key Deer Blvd.

Given the current state of the economy, the U.S. has just issued a new dollar bill soon to be circulating.

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Tuesday July 29, 2008

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Monday July 28, 2008

[Airport hotels bad idea at bad time] ~By Steve Estes,
Editor News~Barometer
Finding ways to increase the county's tax revenues without taking more money from the pockets of local property owners is now, and always has been, a good idea. And there are a lot of good ideas out there for doing exactly that. Building new hotels on county land at the Marathon and Key West airports is not one of those good ideas. But, as usual, bad ideas seem to get the most attention with this current commission. The road blocks to this project are immense, and they are such for good reason. Yet we have already asked for, and received, proposals from companies to build these hotels.

First, the project would need a waiver of the Rate of Growth Ordinance policies established by the county to control growth in our fragile ecosystem. And the State Department of Community Affairs, which oversees those growth regulations because we have time and again proven we can't adhere to them, has already said it is not really inclined to allow that waiver to pass muster. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers. We have a prohibition in our own county code against building hotels on airport property, a prohibition that would take several months to lift, if DCA would allow it to be lifted. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers. We haven't yet asked the lodging association what their thoughts are on the county leasing land supported by tax dollars to competitors when the other hoteliers didn't get such magnanimous considerations for their businesses, nor their expertise on whether hotels at the airports would even get used. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers.

We try to wrangle out from under our own prohibitions by trying to tie the hotels to emergency shelters for first responders despite our own established policy of not sheltering in place for major hurricanes, otherwise known as mandatory evacuation. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers. And let us not forget that this entire process got started last year because a developer friend of Mayor Mario DiGennaro came to him with the proposal to make money for the friend's company using county-owned land and offering vague references to a new Emergency Operations Center in exchange for the hotel at Marathon Airport. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers.

Hotel occupancy in the Keys is down. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers. Room rates are falling in response to that occupancy drop. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers. Visitors would be given the choice of staying at the airport, which has never been a pass-through for travelers, or choosing one of our many waterfront properties with a host of additional amenities. Nor has Marathon or Key West ever been a major destination for conventioneers, the usual users of airport hotels. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers. 

We reiterate that increasing revenues without taking money from the property owner is always a good idea. But we have done no business plan, nor have we seen one from the potential developers. We don't know if the promised share of profits will ever materialize. We don't know if a hotel at the either airport can survive in today's lackluster economy. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers.

We face the very real possibility that we'll wind up with a defunct hotel, a blight on the landscape, taking up valuable space at the airports, space we don't have if we are to ever expand the carrying capacity of those airports, from which the county gets no revenue. The taxpayer would absorb the cost of keeping that blight from becoming just another ramshackle building on county property. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers.

No matter how you spin this one, and our county leadership, led by DiGenanro, has definitely pulled out all the stops to spin this one into a golden goose from a dead duck, it comes back as a poorly researched, poorly thought-out plan with little vision and little attention to the details local hoteliers have to live with daily. In short, it sounds like almost every other inane revenue-generating proposal this commission has backed in the last two years. The Vandenberg and the Hickory House come to mind. Yet we proceed in negotiating with potential developers. Why? http://newsbarometer.com

Cuban refugees come here to escape persecution—bull s**t! They come here for economic advantage just like every other immigrant. If they are so persecuted how come they can go “home” and visit whenever they want. (I know, we recently changed the law so they can only go back every three years.) When they do go back to Cuba they are not arrested, molested, persecuted or inconvenienced by the Cuban government. It’s all the fault of the US government’s policy of selling fear. My point is that the American government panders to Cubans to the exclusion to all other legal immigrants. The Us still lists Cuba as a terrorist country!

[The post Sunday from the person (also known as ignorant dips**t) saying that downstairs enclosures only contributed to lowering the class of the Keys because it allowed people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford to live here a way to do so, has, for the first time in all my years here, made me sorry to be a part of this community.  Have we sunk so far down the human scale that we measure a man's worth by what he can afford? That makes me truly sad to be part of what the rest of you call the human race. It is ignorant beliefs such as that which has brought our way of life to a state where we are hated the world over. 

Measure a man by the good he does for others, by the tenderness and compassion with which he treats family, friends and strangers. And in that measure, foul poster, you come up far short. I will take the good man who lives here because he wants to, over the rich man who lives here for the buck he can turn later.  You, the hypocritical, narrow-minded, intolerant transplant from somewhere that actually let you live at birth, are a festering boil on the backside of mankind. We can do without you. We wish we were doing without you.  Please don't post here again, for your sense of worth isn't worth the electricity it takes to transmit the garbage and filth you spout. Your opinion belongs in the annals of history with the snot rag and the used toilet tissue.  Go away. Learn some compassion and tolerance, and only then come back.

[No Name Key wanting electricity] Maybe you should have gotten your head out of the sand before you bought on No Name Key.  Did you not notice that it didn't have electricity?  Duh.  When we were house hunting here many, many years ago, we looked at a house on No Name...oops, no electricity, never mind. We went on to other islands that had the power.  Why didn't you?  Because you saw a "diamond in the rough" that could turn into a money maker for you later on.  I have no sympathy for you folks on that island that are crying for commercial power.

Someone gave credit to Bush for the drop in price on a barrel of oil. That is incorrect. Americans have reduced their driving by an estimated forty billion miles. The demand for oil has been reduced thus reducing the price per barrel by $20. It’s supply and demand at work. There is no need to drill in our sacred areas. We must become energy independent by other means. We put a man on the moon ten years after we put our minds and money to it. We can do the same thing to achieve energy independence.

In science fiction the basic premise for time travelers is that they can’t change the past because it will screw up the future. That is basically the same premise as the Chaos Theory (a butterfly flaps its wings above a pond and creates a ripple on the water that, etc, etc.). So how come when I save a deer’s life and that deer goes on to breed or when man saves a critter from extinction that doesn’t change our future?

Are you angry at what is going on with the county budget and mismanagement of our tax payer dollars? There is something you can do! When I first heard about this switching party crap I thought it was a crock, then I looked at the ballot Dixie vs. Kim Wigington and Sylvia vs. Gary Bauman. You can not assume you will be able to vote and take these seats back in Nov; it may be too late by then. If you are a Democrat like me, and if you are angry at the shenanigans going on with the County Commissioners that are costing you a lot of money, please become a Republican for a day. I could not believe how easy it was. You just go to the supervisor of elections office, ask to change parties to vote, they right there print you out a ballot, you vote, they give you a form to change your party back to Democrat and change is on its way. You may live a little distance from a location to do this and may say “I don’t have time”, but is it worth another $2.5 million for another Hickory House, $2 million for sinking a ship or other foolishness we can not afford?

Dixie has raised $28,695 to Kim Wigington’s $14,367. Gary Bauman has raised $11,678 to Sylvia’s $9,975. Your vote is more valuable than these dollars. You can not afford to not switch parties and vote Republican for a day.

The BOCC is considering some sort of Iguana law in recognition of the iguana infestation. My neighbor and I have just about eliminated iguanas in our patch of paradise. We both are great shots with out pellet guns. We used to be overrun with the critters. I hope the BOCC doesn’t plan to spend any money on this problem, but if they do spend money, they should do it in the form of a bounty. That is one sure way to control any species except cockroaches.

What in God's name are you Obama people thinking? This man has zero experience to run this country. He attended a church for twenty years that preached hatred of white people and our country. People get your heads out of your arses and smell the coffee.

The truth hurts. “Survived by his…” http://www.thefunnystuff.net/viewmovie.php?id=902

[Downstairs enclosures constitute a state of lowness that will destroy the beauty of these islands by allowing persons who would never be able to afford to live here, a ticket to areas of high financial value] I usually ignore the babbling and get a good laugh at some of the nonsense posted by the few, the uninformed and the just plain stupid. But this comment pisses me off. People like you are the problem. Clean your own toilet, pickup your own palm fronds and God forbid, do your own dishes. I guess I should be nice; you probably earned your money the old fashioned way: you married it or got it from Daddy.

Tom replied in an email to me, which initiated a chain of emails between us. In his last email, he wrote that I suffer from megalomania and am malevolent, and I am never to contact him in any way ever again. I collected everything I had in writing about this megalomania and malevolence, and all that led up to it, and put it into a Tom Tuell page at goodmorningkeywest.com and goodmorningfloridakeys.com. I found it ironic that even as Tom sent me his goodbye email, the Citizen featured me in its editorial cartoon as Sloan Quixote, resting on my dragon steed from jousting with the Gang of Three windmill, even as two other windmills loom behind that one. I was told that Tom Tuell has nothing to do with the Citizen’s editorial cartoons, and I’m wondering if the artist who did that one of me, which really made me laugh, will do one about Tom? And one about Harry Sawyer? Sandy’s campaign slogan is “We’ll all play by the same rules.” We really should, don’t you think? ~Sloan Bashinsky Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

[Flood Insurance] If we get a surge big enough to topple a stilt house everything from Key West up to and including Miami will be history.

[Downstairs enclosures constitute a state of lowness that will destroy the beauty of these islands by allowing persons who would never be able to afford to live here, a ticket to areas of high financial value]  Oh my God! I live in a downstairs enclosure. I have a graduate degree and am currently working toward my doctorate. I have been here for about 5 years and have done a series of menial jobs to keep you, massa, in food and sundries. And you are right, I really can't afford to live here. And while I am not working at my menial job, I am out destroying the beauty wherever I can. Before my divorce, when I lived up north I made 6 figures year in and year out, but here I can only find jobs that you would never consider doing, my stuck-up friend. I think I could contribute to the 'beauty of these high-priced islands', by finding you and removing you from them. You condescending a**hole! People with money that think they are better than those without, are truly the needy. Did you ever consider that the scarcity of middle-class here is partly responsible for the recession the keys are in? I'll bet you have a portrait of Dick Cheney on your wall.

Obama’s trip was not the tour de force that the major media wants you to believe it was.  Many European politicos and citizens viewed it with deep suspicion.  Der Speigle On Line reports: "...some political experts thought [his Berlin] speech was an “unsuccessful sermon” or amounted to nothing more than empty rhetoric”.  An advisor to Helmut Kohl called it “[an] ambivalent appearance”.  He also said ““His opponent, John McCain, has been coming to Germany every year for decades. He (McCain) knows all the most important politicians personally. An appearance by him would be far less spectacular.”  Klaus Bölling, a former government spokesman under ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, told SPIEGEL ONLINE: “It was a sermon and an unsuccessful one at that.  The intellectual gulf between him and John F. Kennedy could not be overlooked.  Apart from the niceties and talk about Berliners’ love of freedom, there wasn’t a single original thought”. 

What do Gordon Brown, Francois Sarkozy, and Angela Merkel all have in common?  Each of these are newly elected heads of European States and long time avid friends of America.  Each defeated opponents who were rabidly anti American. In recent years European politics have moved toward the center and right of the political spectrum. It began with conservative electoral victories in Germany and Poland in 2005, and was followed by similar electoral results in Sweden in 2006 and in Finland and France in 2007. That fact is never commented on by major media.  When it gets down to the nitty gritty, Obama might even be too far left for our European friends.

[Dual corner mounted urinals] That configuration is for the ADH folks, those that are double-hung.

[I’m opting to save the money and not buy flood insurance] You might as well, government bailouts are falling from the sky these days.

[Downstairs enclosures] Without that state of lowness, as you put it, soon enough the people that wait on your fat ass at restaurants and check you out at the grocery store won't be able to afford to live here.

I can think of something Obama said during his trip that has substance. He told the people of Germany that the war on terror in Afghanistan should not be one nation’s burden, but should be a shared burden of all free countries. He then said that the Europeans should send more troops to Afghanistan to help stop the escalation of war by the terrorist. Sorry some don’t find that a subject of substance.

Last month they had a reunion in Hawaii for kamikaze pilots, nobody showed up.

And on the 8^th day he invented lids.

After reading who the contributors were to the current group of candidates for County Commissioner I have no doubt which ones will be in the developers’ pockets. “Follow the money!”

[Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets]  Pilots must always maintain the coolness factor.  It's a regulation somewhere.

[No lemons or butter] Don't worry W/D will be stocked to the gills for Mini Lobster Season, it always is. They’ve got to keep those tourists happy don't you know.

[Arms are for hugging. Make love not war] Let's make love and bash the war.  Naked war protesting?  We could be onto something here.

Did you know there’s a river behind the Taj Mahal and camels can walk on water?

[Downstairs Enclosures for bums] Who’s going to bring you your double martini and your eggs Benedict, man?

The true revolutionary is guided by feelings of love.

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Monday July 28, 2008

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Sunday July 27, 2008

There’s a swell cartoon (by McIntire [sp] I can’t read his name) in the Citizen today titled Sloan Quixote. Is shows Sloan Bashinsky in a suit of armor with a bent lance astride an iguana. He has an angel on his shoulder. Sir Sloan’s noble quest is directed towards windmills labeled Gang of Three.

Our elected officials make the taxpayers bail out Investment Banks, Savings & Loans, Chrysler Corp, Freddy Mac and Fannie May to the tune of billions and billions of dollars with no return on the taxpayers’ monies or hold any executive accountable, but we can’t provide basic health care for all Americans. Can you spell political contributions?

Arms are for hugging. Make love not war.

[Bar Wisdom]  The best way to save water is to order your drink with only one ice cube.

Looking at the contributor’s list for the upcoming election you can really get an idea of the direction each candidate will take if elected. Some have almost all developers supporting them while others have the average citizen supporting them. This list of contributors tells the whole story. Notice what candidates get the support of the electrify-No-Name-Key-crowd.

[The most important thing on this planet is water] There are alternatives to oil but there is no alternative to water. You can go three days without oil, but three days without water and you’re dead! Check out this invention by Dean Kamen, inventer of the Segway.  http://gizmodo.com/370698/colbert-first-vid-of-dean-kamens-miracle-water-distiller

[Flood Insurance] I admit it’s a gamble. I don’t think our stilt homes are in danger of destruction from floods because we are at sea level not eight feet below seal level like New Orleans is. I don’t think the keys are in danger from a storm surge large enough to topple a modern stilt home. I’m opting to save the money and not buy the insurance.

To the person who said the "jerks" on No Name Key are wanting electricity.  May I remind this person that the State's Mandate was imposed on the 43 homes on No Name Key the same as the rest of Monroe County residents. Likewise, the EPA listed Bahia Shores on No Name Key a "hot spot" in every report since 1992.  So obviously septic tanks are not good to have in the keys.   If this person really believes that having electricity on No Name Key is wrong, please disconnect from the grid immediately and spend $50,000 to $75,000 for solar panels, batteries, inverters, generators, etc. to stores that power when the sun is not out.  The Solar experiment is a lie and a failure. Without commercial power they create their electricity by polluting the air. There is one person on No Name Key that truly lives solar and it can be best described as primitive camping--he lives alone.  I do believe the Federal and State both have a Clean Water Act and a Clean Air Act.  It's time to get your head out of the sand and allow others to clean up the environment on No Name Key and stop the damage being done by others.

Obama will probably get elected and we will have four more years of his enemies trying to tear him and our country apart just like they did with the Clinton administration.

The power of beer. The more I drink the better you look. http://presscue.com/node/36499

[Sloan] This morning’s Key West Citizen editorial cartoon contains an interesting likeness of yours truly on his trusty steed, which caused me to laugh. Perhaps I should share what I imagine was behind it.

At the Key West Chamber of Commerce county commission candidates forum this past week, we each were asked different questions that we had up to two minutes to answer. The first question asked of me was what did I think where the three greatest dangers facing the Keys?

“The Gang of Three,” I said into the microphone from where I sat at a table beside several other candidates. When Ed Scales, the moderator, asked what I had said?, I made my way to the podium where he was, took his mike and said louder, “The Gang of Three.” Then I went back to my seat and sat down. Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

The Congressional hearings this week, to explore the possibility of impeaching Bush, were a futile waste of time.

Plan ahead.

McCain’s people were looking all week for something to exploit about Obama’s tremendously successful trip. They found it in Obama’s not visiting wounded troops. McCain’s already released his second negative ad.

[Ebonics] I be hooked on Ebonics

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

The new DeWalt Nail Gun was developed under a DoD contract for the Army and Navy construction engineers. It is really an incredible piece of equipment and would make a welcome Father's Day, Birthday, Anniversary or Christmas gift.  It can drive an 8-D nail thru a 2 X 4 at 100 yards. This makes construction a real breeze. You can sit in your lawn chair and build a fence. Just get the wife and kids, or mother-in-law, to hold the fence boards in place while you sit back, relax with a cold beer, and when they have the board in the right place, just fire away. With the hundred-round magazine, you can build a fence with a minimum of reloading!  Bonus: After a day of fence building with the new Dewalt Rapid Fire Nail Gun, the wife will not ask you to fix or build anything else, ever again.

I'm amazed people disagree so much to Obama’s ideas, but then the same people must love Jessie Jackson. Jessie hates him because he went before a black forum and told them that its time for black men to stand up and support their children and work to improve their families. He told the Euros that they also have a responsibility in Afghanistan to fight terror. He let them know it’s their war also and in their best interest to send in more troops. Yet American republicans disagree with those very issues. It’s a shame. They will say he has no experience but all I say is remember when this country was formed by our forefathers? They didn't have any experience at all with that and look how well they did. I'm sure republicans also disagree with them, yet they fall at the feet of John McCain who does nothing other then whine like a baby every time you see him on TV. Watch him. He’s like the crotchety old man that yells at the local kids for walking on his grass. For heavens sake, McCain forgets what the hell he’s talking about half way through a sentence. I will gladly vote for the empty suit before I vote for a Bush clone. We cannot afford another republican in office. And by the way, thanks republicans for pressuring Bush into saving the irresponsible people concerning their mortgages and adding taxes to it that didn't exist before. Nice tax hike Republicans. Sneaky little devils.

I thought my cat was cool drinking from the faucet!

[Blame the slave owners for Ebonics?]  As I recall all schools were integrated before 1968. That is by my math is 40 years ago. It is typical for the blacks to blame their shortcomings on the white race. Ebonics is a load of crap, even Oprah said it on national TV. The fact is that most black students are the most disruptive influence in the classroom, and destructive to the property. I went to a beautiful school in Wheaton, MD. My son went to the same school many years later; by then the school was 60% back--the overflow from D.C. I was shocked at the condition of the school. If you want a comparison, just look at the Supper Dome after the blacks got through with it. Was that the fault of the slave masters too?

Robert Mugabe, that prime example of black statesman blames the problems of Zimbabwe on colonialism. He has been running the country for almost 30 years! Where is colonialism? Where are the slave masters?

[More bar wisdom] I like watching trials because it's nice to see someone else besides me in trouble and losing their stuff.

[Previous Comments about Commissioner Spehar]   No, it's not a conflict of interest for any one to contribute $500 to a candidate.  Sure sounds like sour grapes to me.  I looked at the contribution list and certainly had a different opinion from the previous writer.  Those supporting Dixie financially appeared to cover a very diverse base of supporters covering all economic levels and interests.  I guess some people see ghosts everywhere they look. 

I went to W/D today and they were low on butter and lemons. I guess people are stocking up for mini-lobster season.

On Friday McCain said that Obama’s plan to remove troops from Iraq over 16 months is a good plan depending on things on the ground. I don’t know what to say except that it appears McCain is going to vote for Obama. That really shocked me. Even McCain is giving credit to Obama for forward thinking. This will be a fun week to watch the republicans try and spin this into a completely different message. This should be good. Get out your popcorn. OK Repubs tell us what McClain "really said".

[Eye piercing] This is probably the next thing we will be hearing lawsuits about. There are some bored people out there that will do anything for attention. http://www.styledash.com/photos/eye-jewelry/944064/

What does Obama mean when he says that if we elect him, we will get change?  Obama has all these new programs planned to help everyone.  To pay for all of these new programs, Obama will have his hands in our pockets taking our money and all we will have left is “change”. This is the change he is talking about!

It’s been suggested that Obama’s recent trip was a kumbaya happening. The warm reception was evidence of nothing more than diplomatic hospitality.  The Berlin speech reeked of phony!  The major media did not report that the crowd in Berlin had been packed in and pumped up by the two free rock concerts, free beer and brats immediately preceding his speech.  It was Portland Oregon déjà vu!  Obama couldn’t even arrive at a solid catch line, he had to steal Bono’s words with the “This is our moment” crap.  That line was plagiarized from Bono’s remarks at the 2005 Live 8 in London it was directed at the G8 members then meeting in Scotland.  I found Obama’s remarks to be the nattering of a post nationalist eager to curry foreign favor. Obama was shameless in his failure to visit wounded American soldiers in Landstuhl only because he was denied the opportunity to politicize the visit.  All in all Obama’s visit accomplished his goals.  He had the nearly undivided attention of the mass media, he made some foreigners feel good, he dazzled the world with his smile, and he made soaring speeches that were without substance.  Think about it, I'm sure you remember how good his speeches made you feel, but can you remember anything of substance that he said?

I’d rather have gambling boats back in Key West than a cheesy water park in that old city.

[Downstairs enclosures are a key ingredient to the keys’ viability] Hardly, they constitute a state of lowness that will destroy the beauty of these islands by allowing persons who would never be able to afford to live here, a ticket to areas of high financial value.

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Sunday July 27, 2008

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Saturday July 26, 2008

Dixie Spehar's Campaign’s latest contributor's list reads like the "who's who" of developers on the loose.  They must be projecting 4 more years of influence. Ed Swift, Safe Harbor Marina and even our own County Mayor Mario DiGennaro and Buddies are lining her campaign coffers with gold.  Why would most of her other campaign contributors be from outside Monroe County?  Ask Dixie at the next political forum what she has promised to get all this attention from developers inside and outside Monroe County? I think we are in for it!

Note: notice that Jim Cameron contributed $500, but it only became public yesterday after she anointed him to the Planning Commission two weeks ago.

Is that not a conflict of interest?  Should she have disclosed this to the Citizens? http://monroe.perfectvote.com/Data/Forms/00193/00264.pdf>

Bush passed a Bill yesterday to fight AIDS. I’m glad he’s finally done something positive for the less fortunate.

The Royal Poinciana trees are really ablaze. They look so spectacular for months at a time, in the heat of summer – I wish I could do that!

Downstairs enclosures are a key ingredient to the keys’ viability. They are the answer to affordable housing. I don’t care what agenda CNS’s have, downstairs enclosures are more important than most people think. That is saving the keys. We don’t have any downstairs enclosures on our properties, but we still support the effort to make them legal. It can be done and should be done.

[Pillow love] I've read that something like 50% of the weight of old pillows is dead mites and other disgusting creatures.  If you are sleeping on ancient pillows, you're sleeping on dead vermin. You can get pillows at Sears and K-mart for about $20, so it makes sense to replace them regularly. Foam pillows may not feel as cozy, but they're a heck of a lot more sanitary.

[Flood insurance] I agree it is a racket. It covered next to nothing in Georges. Had I put all my downstairs enclosure storage items in my outside storage shed all the damage would have been covered. That makes total sense because flood insurance is a government program. I dropped flood insurance. It is a total hoax.

[Political Trip] Obama decided to take a workout break instead of visiting injured young American service people because he couldn’t have campaign photographers take campaign pictures of the event. 

Here are the questions County Commission candidates will have to answer at this Tuesday’s Key Largo Chamber of Commerce candidates forum, Elks Lodge, MM 92 bayside, starting at 6:30 p.m.

1) What are your thoughts on current and future spending?
 We are spending too much, and we need to focus on that right now.
 2) What is your view on CommuniKeys?
 I just read the CommuniKeys Mission Statement off the Monroe County Website. The intent is good but it looks like fertile ground for a lot of disagreement between individual fiefdoms. And it doesn’t’ look to me that it gives protection of the fragile Keys enough priority.
a.) How should it be implemented?
 I’m not sure it should be implemented. I need to talk to a few people, like our County Commissioners, other people I know, to give a more precise answer.
 3) Do you think county tax dollars should be allocated in proportion to taxes received by area?
 No
a.) Why or why not?
 As the CommuniKeys Mission Statement says, we are a chain of interconnected islands and communities, and what happens in one link in the chain affects the other links. It looks to me like this is moving in the direction of serious micromanagement at a time when we are struggling just barely to stay afloat. I believe a blunter approach is needed at this time.
4) Other than staff, how would you cut the County’s budget?
There is fat in the sheriff’s budget, excluding Trauma Star, which I discuss in the Trauma Star question below. Too many “assistant” and “administrative” and “executive” positions relative to deputies on the road. Ocean Reef Club substation is unnecessary. Only road deputies need take-home cars. All effort should be made to require deputies to live in the Keys, where they work. I think over one-half of our road deputies live on the mainland, drive back and forth to work.
For now, I would issue stop-work orders for Key West airport and Nelson Government Center on Key Largo. We need the money for more critical concerns.
5) Regarding employee benefits package: What would you change?
I would try not to cut any benefits. I would not add any benefits, because we don’t have the funds.
6) What is your position on TDC taxes for non-tourist related expenditures?
From what I hear, TDC is not getting sufficient grant requests to use funds it has available. From what I hear, TDC gives grants to art projects. I suppose this somehow is related to tourism, in that it makes the Keys more attractive to visitors to have art attractions. However, let me speak to something in particular, which might represent a larger picture…Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

A Benefit for  Florida Keys Council of the Arts, Aqua Nightclub and the Florida Keys Council of the Arts invite you to our Summer Fun in Support of the Arts.  Starting Tuesday, July 29 - 6:30-8 PM.  For 8 consecutive Tuesdays, the Aqua Idol Benefit will sponsor the Arts Council. All funds raised will support the Arts in our community.  Vote for your favorite Idol.  Every dollar is a vote.  So, please join our Board, Members and Friends, have a drink, a laugh, and listen to our talented local performers giving their all for the Arts.

It's frightening to think so many people are following the empty suit Obama.  He may be able to steal former President’s thoughts and theories but he certainly hasn't any of his own.  He was lucky enough to be entitled to quite an impressive education.  He's articulate in public speaking, but so is Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan.  Not to mention the nut (can't say Rev) Wright.

The best way to complain or compliment WD is to send an email to corporate office (they will respond quickly) or call them directly. It is of no use to complain to the management at BP/WD they really don't understand that we are not Miami. If WD had more employees with Johnny's work ethics they might have a better store.

[Taxes] It seems like somebody (letter to an editor, politician, neighborhood association, county staff or some poster on this site, to name just a few) suggests a new idea every day that encourages the government to confiscate more of our money through various means (taxes, fees, doc stamps, ad valorem, ad nauseum) and then to subsequently have the village idiots (some of the county commissioners and their unelected and largely unsupervised staff) dispose of it for us through exponential expansion of government (mostly to justify their existence) and competition with private businesses (purchasing real estate, owning closed restaurants, [Key West's McWater park], building new meeting halls where old ones are sufficient, new airports, new airport hotels, giving away money to sink tourist attracting reefs or participating in some other development scheme).  Government needs to stay out of people's business, both personal and commercial.  This is what the founders of this once great country intended when they compiled our legitimacy documents (Bill of Rights and Constitution).  

If you are sick of the County Commissioners throwing away the money they have confiscated from you, stop giving them your money.  Less government = lower taxes is a no-brainer equation.  Throw the bums out next election. We have the power to do so.  Really!  Vote for no one if you aren't satisfied with any candidate's position on anything.  In fact, don't vote for anyone unless you trust them enough to give them the cash from your wallet to spend for you.  That's about what it amounts to, isn't it?  Dissolve many of the un-elected bureaucrats positions and their agencies--that's where a lot of the waste originates.  It's time for change, isn't that the Democratic political mantra this season?  What we need is change for the better, not change just for the sake of change.  Less government, lower taxes, less interference in people's lives, both personal and commercial and no governmental competition with private enterprise. Throw the bums out.

As for those darned old TLC (Tri-Lateral Commission ) and CFR ( Council on Foreign Relations ) types.  JFK gave a speech at Columbia University 10 days before he was murdered, wherein he stated his desired intention to "return the United States to its Constitutional monetary system"  ( that's spelled: no more Federal Reserve).  You know that Constitutional amendment which states that "only Congress shall  have the authority to print and coin our currency and regulate the value thereof".  The Fed is the biggest rip-off scam ever perpetrated in this land.  That pesky, darned U.S Constitution is always in the way.   Constitutional money, a real no-no with our global masters. As for JFK, ten days later...and the rest is history, as they say.

I remember a stump speech that Reagan delivered in 1979 wherein he made negative statements about the Tri-Lateral Commission.  A short while into his Administration, he "got the word". Sure seems like somebody taught ol' Ronnie a quick lesson in submission. There truly are negative forces, alive and well, behind the scenes of this nation's economic and political systems. 

Debt, glorious debt, more debt!  More economic slavery to a handful of international bankers, yeah, more slavery, more, more! Oh yes, and let's not forget that ever-nagging national debt.  Just who-in-the-hell do we, the people, owe that debt to?  Remember it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.  

Youth football season is approaching fast and practices are just around the corner.   If your kids are interested in playing football this year and you live in the Lower Keys, you need to be at the Sugarloaf cafeteria on Tuesday, July 29^th at 6:30pm for a parent meeting and information session.  Flag football is open to kids ages 5-7 and tackle football is open to kids ages 8-14. 

[Turning Florida Blue Fundraiser]  How about naming it Turning Florida Black?  A whole hour and a half to meet the candidates. How many are going to be there, and how much time do you think they have to tell their tale in one and a half hours? Wow that is one hell of a short party.  Thirty dollars for some blues music, when I can go to Key West to hear some of the best blues bands for free--minus the BS of candidates for our offices. I am just shaking in my blue suede shoes at this one. After reading everything that the media presents as "true", and seeing some of the bashing of candidates not only on this site, but others as well, I will download my own music, mix my own drinks, and pray that a better Party is coming.

Obama is a runner, he runs for his own aggrandizement.  He announced his astonishingly egocentric ambition to be President only 143 days into his 6 year term.  His arrogance is stunning. Our Founding Fathers were men of incredible courage; each was called to service by honor.  Each knew that that his service put his life at dire risk.  Each was a man of sacrifice and wisdom.  To suggest that Obama is of that caliber is fatuous and an affront their memory. Obama has not shown this voter that he has any of the "character" attributes.  One would consider each of those attributes to be of vital importance in selecting our president.  To be fair, he is very pretty.  When he is scripted he is very eloquent, but only when scripted.  He does have a lovely smile.  He makes people feel good. 

It appears that maybe Obama is the man for the times. He was very well received and respected in Iraq. The leader in Afghanistan has said he feels assured that he would be able to work with Obama. He was very well thought of by the Israelis and the Palestinians--two sides that usually don't agree on things. European leaders have said that he was appreciated by them because they felt that America has acted as if Europe doesn't exist anymore and is of no importance. It makes a person feel that for the first time in years other nations are starting to want America to be at the forefront of world issues. Even the generals on the ground in Iraq felt very confident in his ability to be a commander in chief. If you don't think the world thinking positive again about an American leader is valuable then maybe your understanding of world importance could be brushed up a little. It’s as if the current American veil of secret meetings and arrogant leaders is being lifted and when that happens the entire world works together to handle world problems. It seems Obama is returning America back to us Americans. It’s not being held captive in secret meetings and threats of vetoing anything that a small group of leaders feels trumps American citizens’ requests. All we are going to get from the current administration is Bush’s legacy building.

Putting Sonny McCoy in charge of opening relations with Cuba.  What a fine idea.  I’m all for it.  I propose that he immediately move to Havana and open his office in one of the old dilapidated buildings on the Malecon.  From there he can direct the whole program of détente.  In no time, after playing nice with Raul and Fidel, we would see daily commercial flights between The Sonny McCoy Memorial Airport Terminal and Resort in Key West and Jose Marti International in La Havana.   It would be a win-win for everyone.  La Havana would get all of his grandiose expertise in the areas of wastewater projects, public safety infrastructure and unrestrained development, the developers, under the guise of affordable housing for the cities less fortunate, would get a whole new area to turn into mega-resorts and condo complexes that no one could afford and we could get back to some sort of fiscal responsibility in County government.  What a grand idea!

Democrat presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama expressed disappointment upon learning that the 200,000 Germans who enthusiastically attended his recent stadium speech in Berlin will not be allowed to caste absentee ballots in the upcoming US Presidential election. Republican candidate John McCain expressed relief, and was heard to comment, "Whew! I was worried about that. However, do you think they would let us drill in the Black Forrest?"

[Short term rentals]  I see too many weekly renters.  That was one of Dixie’s big lies. She promised to put short term rentals on the agenda for BPK to allow them. She served 2 terms and not a word was spoken. Perhaps the light will go on. Tax revenue.

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Saturday July 26, 2008

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Friday July 25, 2008

I had flood insurance on the first home I owned in the Key's back when Georges went through. It was on stilts as are probably 50% of the homes. Everything I lost of major value including my pickup was under the house and wasn't covered. So just what good is flood insurance?

Flood insurance on stilt homes might be in case those homes are ever knocked over due to a flood, but I don't think that has ever happened. If not, I say get rid of mandatory flood insurance for stilt homes. I think it's a racket.

Dennis Kucinich is going to testify before Congress this morning at 10am to try to get Bush impeached for exceeding his presidential authority in starting the war (the hearings won't go anywhere). We need a Ken Starr whose attack dog tenaciousness was wasted on Bill Clinton whose only crime was lying to congress under oath about cheating on his wife which was none of congress' business in the first place.

America cannot forget those who have sacrificed all, and supports all who have served and are serving. This is a vital lesson for our youth. Gone but not forgotten.

I wish China Garden had their delivery menu online and had pictures so I knew what I was ordering. I can’t remember the names of the dishes.

YouTube - This is How We Roll in India

[Pillow Love] I have been sleeping on a set of feather pillows for a long time.  These were the pillows that my great grandmother slept on all her married life.  In fact, they were the pillows in the bed that she died in, and my grandfather (her son) brought them home to sleep on.  I inherited this pair from my grandparents after they passed.  No, they did not pass-on on these pillows.  I am 51 years old and these pillows have been in the Keys for 4 years and show no signs of difficulty.  They remain the most comfortable thing I've ever know in my life.   I do not know of any maladies associated with feather pillows unless a person is allergic to the duck’s down.  The "pillow post" got me to thinking about how old they really were and how well they have held up.  They don't make things like they used to.   If anything ever happened to them, I don't know what I could do.  They are irreplaceable!

Whoever borrowed my blue bicycle from Coconuts please return it for a $100 finder’s fee. The lock that is on the bike is worth up to a thousand dollars and the lock’s value diminishes the day after tomorrow.

Driving from Key Largo to Key West this week, I decided to play a game while I drove.  I decided to take a drink every time I saw a Kim Wigington campaign poster--you know, those sky blue ones with her photo on it?  Well, by the time I hit Marathon, I was in love and by the time I hit a Key Deer Blvd, I was a free man.  Cheers to Kim Wigington, the sexiest candidate out there, “hic”.

See if your brain is as old as your body, or, perish the thought, older!
Flash Fabrica Game:
1. Touch 'start'
2. Wait for 3, 2, 1.
3. Memorize the number's position on the screen, then click the circle from the smallest number to the biggest number.
4. At the end of game, computer will tell you how old your brain.
Good luck . http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.html

I just got back from running some errands around town.  I stopped and bought gas and was amazed and very angry that I had to pay more than $4.00 for each and every gallon of the stuff I pumped into my car.  While paying for my gas I picked up a bottle of water to wash away the bad taste of the price of fuel.  Just to take the edge off of my anger I stopped at a local watering hole for a few cold beers and was happy that I could enjoy an ice cold beer for a decent price.  I was mad that gas was over $4.00 a gallon and it really angered me that bottled water was actually $16.00 a gallon.  I thought, “Thank God that beer is still a bargain”. The cold brewski I was sipping was just $27.00 per gallon ($18.00 at happy hour).  It’s all a matter of perception and priorities isn’t it?

It must be this tropical climate but some things won't heal down here. Just when it seems that something is almost healed someone comes along and picks the scab off, like short term rentals, downstairs enclosures and electricity on No name Key.

I look forward to the opening of the new Big Pine Park. Hopefully with the new community center there will no longer be an excuse for the County Commissioners not to hold their meetings there so that those of us in this area can attend the meetings considering we have so much at stake here and the Lower Keys has one of the biggest tax bases for the County.  I just read that the state of Florida has a Recreation Department Association program which just gave Fellsmere, Fl $138,000 for park improvements.  What the Keys need are commissioners that can think out of the box and find out about things like this and what other areas have done to solve some of their problems. We are unique but not totally different. Long before the sewers were put in the area which I came from, the residents were assessed an additional tax to be put aside for the purpose of financing the sewers.  Had we follow this example 20 years ago when the talk of sewers was beginning we would have had the money and the sewers by now.  After the opening of the new park, the next important thing will be the election.

Fishy pedicure.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=aLLzKDhNz8o

There was a poster near the ball field on Key Deer Blvd for Dixie Spehar last week. It’s no longer there! I sure hope she removed it, but I fear that some anti-democracy jerk took it down.

Did the FEMA program for inspections of downstairs enclosures expire in December of 2007 as mentioned here yesterday? Can we get an answer on this from the county? Who has the power to give us the correct answer? Who has the answer?

If Monroe county wants to save money, why don't they make the prisoners  mowing the right of way use push mowers instead of nice riding mowers? And I mean the old fashion un-powered ones.

The animal shelter on Industrial Road on BPK just got a new two year lease extension--which is good. Keys Energy, which owns the property is thinking of installing solar panels on their lot next to the shelter—which is good too, but a better idea would be to use the area above the animal shelter to install more solar panels increasing the electric output greatly. That would allow the shelter to remain there indefinitely.

About time they got hip!

The Health Care controversy has been muted of late, but like the Terminator, it will be back.  Some of the talking points include claims that 47 million or so Americans have no health insurance, some claim that we just can’t afford health insurance, and some state that health care is just too expensive.  Some say that children are being deprived of health care.  Some say that the only answer to our health care problems is to scrap our existing system and adopt a socialized system.  Should we be paying the health care costs of illegal aliens?  Government statistics show that about 45% of those without insurance will have insurance again within four months after job transitions.  One prominent study places the total for the long-term uninsured as low as 8.2 million.  That’s only about three percent of Americans that are legitimately chronically uninsured. Scrapping our health care delivery system to meet the needs of 3% of our population is insane.  There is no doubt that our health care system is too expensive.  Lincoln Navigator and Toyota Prius cars are too expensive, because of that fact, should we junk them and revert to horse drawn carts?  Hell no, our health care model is the best in the world, but it needs tuning.  Let’s reform it, let’s update our health care system, let’s cut waste, fraud, and over regulation.  Let’s revisit and reform our health delivery system to care for that 3% who really do need the assistance.

Dear Keys Energy Customer,
Just a little note to let you know we understand your anger in the recent price hike. But it should be noted that you have no choice. We are a big company and you will pay what we tell you. You have no choice. We have the power…you need the power. So Sad, too bad, sucks to be you. We have posted a little picture to help outline our response. Have a nice day and keep those checks coming, loser!

[What the Hell is Ebonics]  It's not a language,  that is for sure. In the S.E. part of Nigeria live a tribe of Africans called Ibos. They do not speak Ebonics, that's for sure. In the 1960s they fought a war of independence against the Nigerians, they were called Biafrans. Their language is a Bantu dialect mixed with a bit of English, and a bit of French and just a pinch of Arabic. I think Ebonics was invented for Black Americans who only went to school for recess, and learned the language from their mother’s who didn't go to school at all. You might axe (that's Ebonics) me, why doesn't he acknowledge them as African-Americans? I will tell you. I have known black Africans, and found them to be proud and dignified.

I don’t care what John McCain said. I don’t think American servicemen committed torture. I believe they may have made some terrorist uncomfortable to get information. Just because McCain says they disregarded the Geneva Convention doesn’t mean that they did. But then I think Obama’s on the right track when he said that if he found out terrorist were attacking troops in Afghanistan then retreating back into Pakistan he would give clearance for our troops to cross the border and go get them. Now that sends a message I can agree with. "Yes we can."

If people in favor of drilling everywhere are really in favor of making us independent of foreign oil supplies the place to start is conservation. Simply reduce the amount of oil we are using. Small cars and motorcycles are patriotic. Drilling for oil in North Dakota and off Florida's beaches will take at least ten years to get online. You can dump your SUV right now!

[Insurgent or terrorist]  Every now and then a poster at this site manages to make my jaw drop.  Yesterday was one of those occasions.  A poster defended the horror of the Muslin fundamentalist terrorist killers of “eight or nine Americans”, our young soldiers who were fighting to free terrorist infested Afghan territory.  The poster objected to the use of the term terrorist, he preferred the kinder and more genteel term “insurgent”.  The poster also chose to infer that these dead young Americans were nothing but “invaders”.  The poster forgets 9/11, the poster ignores the reason we are in Afghanistan. The poster is beneath scorn.  The poster apparently feels empathy for the terrorists and looks on our soldiers as Ulooj. This is probably the same poster who said that we should "caulk (sic) one up for the insurgents" when he cavalierly posted about the deaths of our young soldiers. What can be said about that mind set?  Nothing good, but the term "escoria" does come to mind.

Calling all geeks and dorks, this card is for you.

You bet that Obama will keep us pristine!  “Unfortunately the trickiest deodorant problem a girl has isn’t under her pretty little arms.”  That was an ad catch line for Pristine, a genital deodorant for women that began marketing in the late ‘60s.  The other day a poster said that O’s policies would keep us from drilling our American oil thus keeping us “pristine”.  Pristine, the product, and the adjective, “pristine” match O’s policies perfectly.  Neither the product nor the policy attack the cause of the problem, all they provide is the cover of a flowery odor.  Obama’s energies policies would only make a small segment of our populace feel good because we would be modifying our oil consumption, while for at least a decade the our working and middle class folks would be strangled with the unending staggering costs of our dependence on foreign oil. You can bet that the moneyed folks will be able to afford it.   Obama’s policy ignores the national security ramifications of our dependence on foreign oil suppliers; it ignores the hundreds of billions of dollars fleeing America for foreigner shores.  His policies deny American workers American jobs.  If it won’t fix anything, if it covers up a problem by smelling good, and if it makes some folks feel good, it must be Pristine.  I guess that works for him.

It has been in my thoughts for some months now that Key West’s future lies in looking toward reestablishing ties with Cuba. Before the rift between Cuba and America, Key West and Havana were sister cities. There was a lot of back and forth between them. County Commissioner Sonny McCoy once slalomed non-stop to Havana behind a speed boat. He is still known and liked there. I was told recently that Sonny is one-half Cuban. I have felt for quite a while that he is a hidden treasure in Key West. That he should be Key West’s ambassador to Havana. That as he once was used by Key West to restore and rejuvenate a dead Duval Street, he could restore Key West itself by reconnecting it to Havana and Cuba.

Now that Raul Castro has taken over, now that it appears a new and hopefully saner administration will take over the White House, it is time for Cuba and America to bury the hatchet and return to civility and trade. And the best place to launch that dente is from Key West, which historically is Havana’s sister city in America. We have an international airport and the working waterfronts to do it. We are the closest American city to Cuba. It makes sense. It’s doable. And it’s time. And Sonny McCoy is the perfect person to bring it off. Five times mayor of Key West, then Key West’s County commissioner and our County mayor, it’s a no-brainer to make Sonny the Conch Republic’s official ambassador to Havana. Do it now, so a dialogue can begin right away with Havana. In this age, the World Wide Web opens doors, allows unrestricted travel online. Let Key West City set up an official public Cayo Hueso - Cuba website. Create blogs for individual dialogue, galleries for swapping photos. Create a direct link between Key West City and Havana officials, and put Sonny in charge of Key West’s side of it. Both cities need the old ties between them reconnected. It will be a breath of new life for them both.

P.S. Here’s a prominent Key West businessman’s reply to a draft of the above: “The Government might be able to come down hard on individuals who trade with Cuba but what would they do if a whole City defied the prohibition? It would certainly bring us national attention and could boost tourism in a time when it certainly needs a boost.” Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

I listen to C-SPAN on TV while at work and every time I hear someone propose drilling off-shore or in parks, I look at the tube to see what party he represents and every time it’s a Republican. What’s wrong with this picture?

It seems like Citizens Not Serfs is just really a front for their fight with FEMA about getting their own downstairs area set up, and are using other issues as a smokescreen.  I don't object to anyone fighting with FEMA, and having their own agenda, but do it openly, not under the guise of "protecting the keys". I wonder how long C-N-S will be around after they get what they want at their house. I base my comments on having been to their meetings and read their posts on CT.

Sunday July 27, there will be a "Turning Florida Blue" Obama fundraiser at 111 West Indies Drive, Ramrod Key.  The time is 5-6:30pm.  Barbecue, beverages and blues music will be provided.  Many candidates for local offices will be present and available for questions.  A donation of $30 per person payable by check to "Presidential Victory Campaign" will be collected at the door. Come join and support the movement for change. Bulletin Board

Drilling in our parks will take a decade before we see any advantages, by then we will have solved our energy problem, but the parks will be forever ruined.

I don't care who collects the shopping carts from the parking lot that lazy uncaring shoppers leave all over the place, but I do care that those stinking carts are never cleaned, especially the kid’s seat which stinks of diaper dew and brownie butter. There should to be a law that people have to bring the carts back and stick them through a cart washing machine to get their $10 deposit back. My food is in those dung buckets!

http://www.osampump.com/

Look at it this way, if you are white Obama is half white; if you are black Obama is half black. So everybody should be happy, right? He’d be perfect if he had a little Jew in there too.

It never ceases to amaze me, when a certain food or food group is not selling well, it seems to automatically become the super-healthy-life-extending-best-thing-you-can-eat-food. Why is that? It is marketing or BS?

Penguin love walk.

The most important think on this planet is water, so why haven't we developed systems to supply all we need? It seems as though the bottled water companies control too much of the politicians for fun and profit! 

It looks like someone’s been feeding the deer, but I guess it doesn’t matter up north. Maybe they’re llamas!

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Friday July 25, 2008

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Wednesday July 23, 2008

[Thank a veteran]  Yes, thank a veteran for their willingness to serve and being prepared to protect our nation. Blame the dumb-ass politicians that lie in order to profit off their blood and lives for the wars that you don’t believe in. The soldiers, sailors and airmen that put the uniform on don’t make the decisions.

[ACLU] How much more do you need for yet another complaint against the County mayor? You were monitoring him for a while. Are you still?  Where is the line between abuse and violation of rights? What irony, usually a fool goes down with the ship, but in this case, a ship, the Vandenberg, takes down the fool.

[Too old and out of touch with younger Americans] My comment is not to defend McCain. It's about our younger generation. I spend a lot of time with them and while they are well educated, some of them are out of touch with reality. Since they were born everything has been handed to them. Cell phones, air conditioning, microwave ovens, computers, cushy jobs, nice cars, the list could go on forever. Some of them think we should just make all our cars electric and our houses solar. Great ideas but a long way from reality. Until we discover the Dilithium Crystal used in Star Trek, we're going to need oil for quite some time. Like it or not, it is reality.

What is the deal with the FEMA enclosure inspections after Dec 2007 to be ruled illegal? Is that true? Will they continue anyway? Are they still doing them?

Get your tomatoes today! Lost Cargo Trading Post will be closed Thursday July 24th to celebrate daughter Lauren's birthday.

This is getting confusing. I've been told that thousands of years ago our wonderful island chain was a beautiful reef which is now exposed. It appears to be true because if you dig a hole you will find fossilized coral. Now I hear Mel Fisher found a submerged forest. Which is true? I guess the good news is that regardless of what this planet does, it won't occur within the span of a human lifetime and hopefully future generations will be able to slowly adapt to it.

[Net neutrality "Depth & Dumb"] That was witty.

General Motors announced yesterday that it will collaborate with the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) – more than 30 of the top electric utilities in the United States and Canada — to accelerate the introduction of plug-in electric vehicles like their new Chevy Volt.

Remember all of the promises that were made in the past about lowering taxes, smaller government, fixing the tax code and reducing the national debt? None of it has happened.

Jeez, there was just four foot long black snake on my porch on my stilt house. It freaked me out! A couple of years ago I saw one sticking its head in the cat door. That was worse. That really freaked me out. I gave the cat hell for not being on the job.

Russia is showing its irritation with U.S. intervention in its back yard by selling more weapons to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Mr. Chavez is to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday with a reported billion-dollar shopping list of armaments, including submarines and helicopters. It is the controversial Latin American leader's third visit to Moscow since 2006, when he purchased $3 billion in Russian weapons systems.

The Florida Turnpike south was shut down at 8 this morning when a motorcycle slammed into a tractor trailer truck that was stopped at the toll booth. Ouch.

Have you ever noticed that everyone calls it the Florida Turnpike when its real name is Florida’s Turnpike?

Is it true that feather pillows, treated or not, are not good to use in the Keys because they rot, get mildew and can cause scalp problems?

Al Jazeera barely reported Obama’s trip, but did focus on Obama saying that Jerusalem should be the capitol of Israel. They didn’t like that. On German TV they only mentioned Obama’s trip ten minutes into the news and just before the sports report.

[Obama’s presidential bid is a clear and present danger to the United States] For heavens sake, I couldn’t read beyond that ridiculous comment. What’s next "Obama is for really bad sunburns and is to blame for the St. "Obama’s presidential bid is a clear and present danger to the United States "For heavens sake. I couldn’t read beyond that ridiculous comment. What’s next "Obama is for really bad sunburns and is to blame for the St. Valentines Day massacre". Enough of the stupid fear-mongering. It worked the last election it’s not going to work this time. It’s like when The Who sang "We won’t be fooled again".

Many of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, just over 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, NM. This is a well-known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies and organizations. However, what you may not know is that, in the month of March 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people were born:  Albert A. Gore, Jr.,  Hillary Rodham,  John F. Kerry,  William J. Clinton,  Howard Dean,  Nancy Pelosi,  Dianne Feinstein,  Charles E. Schumer and  Barbara Boxer.

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep? Certainly hope this piece of information clears up a lot of things for you. It did for me.

We must prevent commissioners from actively seeking ways to resurrect the horrendous FEMA pilot program which mandated a downstairs enclosure inspection prior to receiving a home improvement permit.

Citizens Not Serfs discovered this pilot program expired last December 31, 2007.  Accordingly, we advertised and broadcast the expiration date throughout the Keys.

Send this letter to the commissioners: This pertains to the horrendous FEMA pilot which expired last December 31, 2007. This pilot was wrong for many reasons but when I found out it was not uniformly enforced throughout the Keys I was furious. I'm sure you believe all Keys homeowners should be treated the same by FEMA.  The lack of uniform enforcement and the unsuccessful results are enough to reject any effort to extend the pilot.

Monroe County Citizens are being told the FEMA pilot which mandated an inspection prior to receiving a home improvement permit did not expire on December 31, 2007. We know the 12-31-2007 date is accurate because it is the only date specifically enumerated in the Federal Register. Nowhere in the Federal Register will you find another date specifically extending the 12-31-2007 expiration date and any extension had to be announced and advertised prior to the December 2007 expiration. Expire means "dead" "over" not subject to any Lazarus type definitions.
boccdis1@monroecounty-fl.gov
boccdis2@monroecounty-fl.gov
boccdis3@monroecounty-fl.gov
boccdis4@monroecounty-fl.gov
boccdis5@monroecounty-fl.gov

[Colder ocean temp] Last year on this date the ocean water temperature off the Keys was 90°.  Today it is 86° with all that that implies.

Yesterday a poster claimed that al Malike endorsed Obama’s withdrawal plan.  That's false. (Der Spiegel wrote al Maliki’s comments were) "misunderstood and mistranslated'' and were not "conveyed accurately'' according to an al Maliki spokesperson.  This whole withdrawal issue is nothing more that a political contrivance.   Bush, McCain, al Maliki, the Iraq populace, and Obama, all want the US draw down to begin just as soon as circumstances on the ground permit.  The difference is that only Obama is trying to make political points by demanding a time table. Even Obama has got to know that leaving Iraq without troops is a gilt edged invite to catastrophe.

Obama’s trip is a waste of your money.  Obama is a rookie ideologue who ignores facts, he has his own flawed theories.  Obama is visiting an Iraq that is now a functioning Democracy thanks the surge that was engineered by Mr. McCain et al.  Had we listened to the caterwauling of Obama, Iraq would probably now be a terrorist state totally owned and operated by Iran. 

[Doesn’t thank the troops for their service in Vietnam] You opened a can of worms, my friend. Don’t say anything negative about veterans even though I agree with your statement that the Vietnam War didn’t do a thing to make our country better, but the troops didn’t choose the war.

Best aviation photography. Slide show

[Wetstock--global warming meets the trailer park] That's one of the funniest things I've ever read here.

Holy Phone booth Batman!  Watch out, Obama’s changing again!  Obama was speaking yesterday about troop levels in Iraq.  He mentioned that some tribal chiefs in Iraq were worried that Americans leaving too soon would be very dangerous to their new Democracy.  Obama said that he told them not to worry.  He said that his troop drawdown process would be cognizant of that danger.  Now folks “drawdown” is a Bush word, it’s a McCain word, it’s a sane word that means some troops leave, but a sufficient number stay to secure the status quo.  Until that utterance, Obama’s thought out, specific, and constant word of words was “withdrawal”.  Specific words have specific meaning, this one means all troops leave, get out, and leave the field to the natives.  Obama’s liberal progressive base must be spewing spittle all over the Daily Kos and California left wing blogs.  Lattes, white wine, and brie have got to be littering leftist floors.  My congratulations to Obama for finally recognizing the damage that a precipitous abandonment, ie withdrawal, would wreak on our new democratic ally, Iraq.  Congratulations Barak “Barry” Obama on your latest change, it’s proof that even a know-it-all knuckle-head green-horn can learn.

If we can get Obama elected that will give us the breathing room necessary for the alternative energy vehicles and household energy to get to market. That way we can prevent drilling offshore and in our National Parks. Remember that once we allow the oil companies to drill there’s no going back. Pristine will never again be pristine.

[I don’t thank the troops for their service in Vietnam] Isn't it nice that some have the stones to sacrifice all for what they believe so trolls like you can sit on their fat ass and spout their ignorance? Oh, and may I remind you during the Vietnam conflict it was an all draft army.

What in the hell is Obama up to?  According to World Net Daily, July 16, 2008, Obama said in a recent speech that “U.S. needs a "civilian national security force" that would be as powerful, strong and well-funded as the half-trillion dollar Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force”.  In the July 2 speech in Colorado Springs, Obama insisted the U.S. "cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set." We know for sure that Obama wants a Big Brother government, and we know that he wants to grow government.  But this is brand new, and it’s dammed scary.  There is a YouTube video of the speech, at about the 16-minute mark, it shows Obama adding the following lines:  "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."  What’s really spooky is that according to World Net Daily, the words were edited out of the transcript of the speech.  You’ve got to wonder why!  You’ve got to wonder what the “national security objectives” are that he’s speaking about.  Even worse, you’ve got to wonder who in the hell are the “we” he’s speaking about, and when and how did these “national security objectives” get formulated?  You’ve got to wonder why the news media have missed this story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df2p6867_pw

[Clear and Present Danger B.S.]  Your posting doesn't even come close to passing the laugh test.  Supplying you with more oil only serves to feed your addiction and postpone the inevitable.  Alternative energy is the only answer and is much more likely to occur under Obama's leadership than McCain’s.  The oil industry's stranglehold on the Federal government and its elected politicians must be broken, but not likely to be accomplished under a Republican president.  T. Boone Pickens has an interesting idea (Over the next four years, Pickens plans to build 2,700 wind turbines that would supply 4,000 megawatts — enough to power 1 million homes.) that might work if it weren't for the many fat cats in the oil industry who would resist.

I'm curious about what constitutes who is protected and who isn't when someone writes in about them.  Today Obama, a government official was bashed.  The poster wasn't named.  McCain, a government official was bashed and no poster's name.  Bush, a government official was bashed and no posters name.  Jimmy Buffet, a public figure was bashed and no posters name.  Mario Di Genarro, a government official is bashed and the poster's name is printed.  Drew Trivett, a government official is bashed and the person's name is printed.  Obama and McCain were certainly personally attacked far harder than Mario or Trivette but no names behind it.  Ed can you tell us why?  (Ed: FAQ page > Censorship > "All articles of a negative nature will have the poster's email address printed at the end of the post. National politics are exempt.")

If the young people of America vote, Obama will get elected. If they don’t it’ll be more of the same, because old folks are mistrustful of change.

Someone said, “Imagine Obama as the next president.”  So, I did.  I imagined a massive individual tax increase, a wide expansion of social giveaway and handout programs creating yet another generation of welfare slugs and more attempts at restricting individual rights and freedoms. I imagined a purely socialist agenda to grow big government and increase governmental control over as much as possible, a cut-and-run military policy while B.O. tries to appease our enemies with simple minded, empty dialogue and an economic policy designed to punish business both big and small with excessive taxation and heavy handed regulations. I imagined a president without a shred of foreign policy experience and a president whose only stated domestic policy was “change” yet never really explained what the “change” would be.  A president who, during his campaign, was squirming to distance himself from close friend and domestic terrorist Bill Ayres of the Weathermen who has said he is “not sorry” for planting bombs on American soil and said that “We didn’t do enough!,” friend Louis Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam and the so-called Reverend Wright, a self-righteous bigot who preached hatred for whites, Jews, and said “God damn America” in the church that Obama attended on a regular basis for twenty years.  Let’s not forget another close friend, fund raiser and big money man Tony Rezko who helped Obama buy his million dollar plus mansion and is under indictment and facing trial in federal court for bribery, money laundering, wire fraud, mail fraud and extortion, and imagine a first lady who openly expressed contempt for the United States of America.  I imagined a wolf in sheep's clothing and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. 

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Wednesday July 23, 2008

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Tuesday July 22, 2008

Today is the morning after. The morning after the Big Pine Key candidates forum. A packed house. A real sho’ nuff town hall affair. Moderated by US 1 Radio News Director Bill Becker and Big Pine News/News-Barometer Publisher and Editor Steve Estes.

The District 1 county commission candidates went first. That showed me what chair to take when the District 3 candidates’ time came, so I could speak first. Although I had lost plenty of marbles, I had enough left to understand the element of surprise. The very first thing out of my mouth was I was the wing-nut candidate. The next thing out was two days ago I gave Heather Carruthers my unqualified endorsement. Then I said why. I minced no words. I was not nice. In fact, I was not nice the entire evening. It was the first time I ever really had fun in politics. Sorry you weren’t there.
 
Afterward, an attractive young woman, young compared to me, came over and told me that it was a really nice thing I did, endorsing Heather. I screwed up and thanked her. There was nothing nice about it. It was necessary. Cold-blooded. I was the hit man, and I executed the two Republican candidates in plain view of maybe 150 witnesses. No way, I told them, could I follow in Ralph Nader’s shoes and put the worst president in American history in office. A president with no Iraq exit strategy, because he never intended to leave Iraq. He intended to stay there and get all of its oil. Yep, I used that analogy to explain why I did not want to split the vote. And then Sonny McCoy came in right behind me and started talking about all the trees he once had planted on Duval Street, and other things that had very little to do with being a county commissioner. It was pitiful. I felt sorry for him. But not sorry enough to be nice.

The funniest part came during the sheriff candidate’s part of the forum. Just after Sandy Downs explained the Asset Recovery Fund for us — cash, cars, boats, houses, etc. seized in drug busts — she said the fund is larger than the sheriff says it is. She said it is doled out by Asset Fund Directors to their pet causes. That wasn’t the funny part. The funny part came when sheriff candidate Bob Peryam followed right behind Sandy, and started out thanking God for the Asset Recovery Fund — but for it his baseball league on Big Pine Key would not exist! There you go, Bob, right out of your own stupid mouth, you proved just what Sandy had said was going on, even as I wondered how many people in the room got it? Even as I wondered how many people in the room were blinded by your clever attempt to cover up your gaffe, by saying some other things the Asset Recovery Fund is used for. All of which sounded nice, but it didn’t erase from my mind that at the very top of your thank-God list, Bob, the Asset Recovery fund is used to fund your baseball league on Big Pine Key.
 
After the sheriff candidates had finished, Sandy told me that a fellow came over and shook her hand, and said he had refused to sign her petition when she was gathering petitions to get on the ballot, but he would sign it now. He had heard her. He had listened. Sandy is not a bearer of glad tidings. She is not nice. She is a stone killer. She is — sorry Bob, but you brought God into this — a God-trained assassin. She tells the electorate what is really going on in the sheriff’s office. She says what the other sheriff candidates, including Phil Mandina, easily the most qualified sheriff candidate, which Sandy made perfectly clear last night, will not say. Pay very close attention to what Sandy has to say in the coming days. She is the only sheriff candidate who will tell you what you don’t really want to know about the sheriff’s office. Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

[Howard and the MM24 Gang]

As we drive down this road in Minnesota, heading toward Rochester MN, we are seeing field after field of wind turbines!  They are HUGE!  New fields of wind mills are being built as we pass.  We are so impressed that the local economy is so supportive of this alternative, renewable fuel! 

The utilization of petroleum impacts everything that we eat and drink, our shelter, our utilities, our healthcare, every single facet of our existence and our being.  Petroleum is as necessary to our lives as is oxygen.  Nonetheless, we have foolishly permitted our nation to become reliant on foreign powers to supply us with at least 70% (and growing) of our petroleum.  Our current oil price crisis is a serious annoyance, but as yet not a real and imminent threat to our security.  That could change in an instant.  If just a few of our major oil suppliers were to jointly agree to refuse to sell us oil, the consequences would be horrific.  We have only about a 30 day strategic reserve of oil.  Without oil imports, transportation and commerce in our nation would come to a halt.  Food shortages would erupt almost immediately.  Our nation would slow then soon simply stop.  The top 5 US suppliers are Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria.  Only Canada is a stalwart ally of the US.  The last 4 countries provide the US with almost 4 times as much oil as does Canada.  Do you believe that those 4 countries hold the best interests of the USA near and dear to their heart?  For just a moment forget the annoyance and the fiscal impact that our current oil price problem has generated.  Remember that now we can still buy all the oil we want if we have the money.  Imagine the consequences if we could only buy ¼ of our oil needs.  Our foolhardy dependence on others sends 700 Billion dollars a year into the pockets of foreigners.  That money should stay in circulation in the USA, funding American jobs and American prosperity.  There is no doubt that we must immediately develop new modes of transportation and that we must swiftly cast off our petroleum Jones, but we just can’t do it overnight, it will take years, perhaps a decade. 

In the short term we can end our reliance on foreign oil simply by drilling in America for American oil. New oil could be flowing within 18 months.  Simple demonstration of our national  resolve to do this will break the market.  Oil prices will immediately plummet.  Obama, and his supporters, have persistently declared their opposition to Americans drilling for American oil.  We can be sure that if Obama is elected he will reinstate the Executive ban signed by Bush 1 and Clinton, but recently discarded by Bush 2.  Please note that Bush’s action alone caused the single biggest drop in oil prices in recent history.  We can expect that Obama would veto any legislation that permits American drilling for American Oil.  Obama truly wants our oil foreign dependency to remain unchanged, it’s key to his plan.  He truly wants oil prices to remain at stratospheric levels.  Obama’s policies are a clear and present danger to our economy and to our security.

If it's true what government and military officials have been saying for the past couple of years, i.e., that our troops are exhausted and our Armed Forces are generally stretched thin; then how does shifting these same forces from Iraq to Afghanistan change those realities in the long run and in the bigger picture?  I remember the Pentagon stating after 9/11 that the terrorists have no nation of allegiance.  Hence, no nation is "available" (as it were) for military attack. Evidently, someone didn't get the word (as they say in the military) as that issue pertained to Iraq. The point is this.  We are told that Bin Laden is in the tribal areas of Pakistan.  We damn sure know that among that gang of maniacs that struck on 9/11, most were from Saudi Arabia.  That is not to ignore the realities in the theater of Afghanistan, but where's the U.S. political---thus military cajones to go after the criminals-at-large in Pakistan?

Cut-off the head.  Bin Laden and his commanders are, by all intelligence reports, in Pakistan.  Sever the head, and just perhaps that tail, in Afghanistan, will suffer the result, thus making the mission a hell of a lot easier for those "exhausted and thinly-stretched" troops.  How can any other strategy hold the hope for a withdrawal from Afghanistan one day in the future, like the one that is being presently debated regarding Iraq? I remember a Lebanese Middle East analyst from the U.N. stating on C-Span last year that most Americans fail to understand that "it is Pakistan and Saudi Arabia who are our real enemies in that region."  

[Thank a veteran] I don’t treat their sacrifice lightly, but the last time a veteran did anything for us was in the Second World War and Afghanistan. None of the other deaths so far has done anything to make us stronger or better—they are just lives wasted for politicians. I don’t thank the troops for their service in Vietnam. That war just made our country worse. Can we just thank them for the wars that protected Americans or do we have to thank them for all the stupid wars like Iraq or Vietnam? All our other wars were for naught. I’m so opposed to the USA being the world’s policeman that I’m trying to shock you to get your attention on this terrible issue!

I’m sure glad I didn’t buy on No Name Key and be constantly bombarded by the few jerks that want to change that island for the worst. It must be awful having to battle the electricity dependent people every two years or so.

Sloan was right-on with what he had to say about Sonny and Carlos the 2 architects running for County Commission. With the overdevelopment and budget problems in the county, we need new, intelligent blood on the commission to make decisions. I am tired of the dog and pony shows at the commission meetings.  If it were not so sad, it would be funny, but it is our tax dollars and our beloved Keys that are suffering from the self-centered, stupid decisions made by some commissioners.

Mario, your arrogant, demeaning ways are going to come to an end very soon as we elect Heather Carruthers, Kim Wigington, and re-elect Sylvia Murphy.  It then will not be fun for you to play dress up and insult caring, intelligent tax-paying citizens. When that happens you will be told to go to the corner and play with your marbles.

If you do not follow politics closely, as one who does, I strongly encourage you to talk with Kim and Heather and learn what they stand for and why they are running for County Commissioner. Ladies, you have my vote.  I’m a believer! ~ keywestislandgirl@hotmail.com

The Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bike Ride across Iowa (RAGBRAI). We camped overnight in Harlan, Iowa this year (they vary the route and towns they pass through every year). Here’s what a local had to say.
This town is full of people, bicycles, tents, big buses, campers, etc.  Everywhere you look you see all of this.  In back of two of our condos are a bunch of tents.  Last night I got up at l:30 and there was a strange light over in the Baptist parking lot green area.  I knew there were three tents over there but at l:30 in the morning someone was trying to put up a tent.  As I watched it 'popped' up. Then the guy stood up and I could see what was happening.  At first all I saw was something with a strange light but he must have been all bent over struggling with the apparatus that would become a tent.  It was kind of weird. This morning most of the tents are down and wrapped up again.  There is one big one behind the condos yet and this odd one that popped up last night at l:30 is also there.  I figure if he had been out that late, maybe he is in there trying to sleep it off. We drove around yesterday afternoon and found the fairgrounds was covered with buses and tents.  Lots of lawns had tents.  This is a weird goings on in a small town and while it is interesting to see, I am glad that it only happens quite a few years apart.  You weren't allowed to drive around the town square and for a block all around it.  (Who'd want to in that crowd?)  I guess the bars did a whopping business.   Mickel’s Cafe was very busy yesterday and all afternoon and they had even set up a business in the Vets Building across the street.  They said they fed around 3500 people there.

Marketing for the Artist Sponsored by The Florida Keys Council of the Arts and The Studios of Key West Thursday, July 24, 5 PM, TSKW - 600 White St, Followed by a wine and cheese reception. The seminar will be led by special guest, Jane Innis, the advertising representative from the national magazine ArtNews.  She will be joined by Nance Frank, owner of Gallery on Greene, and Carol Shaughnessy of NewmanPR.  There is no charge for the seminar, and the refreshments are courtesy of ArtNews Magazine. Bulletin Board

Deer Ed, Have you had any feed-back from Jimmy Buffet or his legal posse yet in response to the Margaritaville protest?  You know, Jimmy Buffet, that Alabama guy who once penned "I don't make my music for money, I make my music for me." Viva la Coconut Telegraph! (Ed: Not yet, but I’m sure we are next.)

[Criticizing Hungary] You are right I would have gotten 5 years in a prison here and that is about the same as being in a Mexican prison. The system is supposed to project law and order. That is the biggest pile of crap you have ever seen. This is a country where you would get four years for murder. If you steal under $150 worth of goods it is non-prosecutable, because it's considered “theft to provide a living”. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. As you must know, before 1990 there were no privately owned companies or corporations in Hungary. Everything was owned by the state. Oil companies, sugar factories, electric companies, steel mills, and so on. All these big companies after 1990 were in private hands, and guess who the owners--communists were. To this day these people help themselves to millions of dollars from public funds and nothing is done about it. The prosecutor that hands down heavy sentences to kids for smoking some grass in a park does nothing about the thieves that rob the country blind. That is Hungarian justice, are you still surprised that I criticize? It will never get better here until these corrupt are drawn and quartered.

The Marathon Jaycees are excited to host a ‘Kids’ Night Out’ on Saturday, July 25th from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. for children age 6 to 12.   The night will include pizza and refreshments, crafts, movies and games. Bulletin Board

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Tuesday July 22, 2008

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Monday July 21, 2008

As someone who was a Jimmy Buffet music fan long before there were parrot head groupies, and as a resident of the Keys, I offer this observation of Mr. Buffet's present station in life:  You have to admire those talented people who start their artistic careers as unknowns and then go on to the big time.  You have to further admire those few who take a portion of their good fortune and return it to the place of their humble beginnings as a benefit to their former communities.  I don't see that Buffet has anything more to offer than any other Key West T-shirt shop or local burger and beer joint.  Where is his magnanimous benefit to Key West? The same applies, for example to Michael Jackson.  Here is a person who made untold multi-millions in his pop career. But, take a cruise through his hometown of Gary, Indiana and see Michael's benefit to his former community.  The downtown section of that city is in shambles. 

And then there are those souls like Dolly Parton.  Here is a woman who grew-up in abject poverty---Appalachian style---in East Tennessee.  After years of her being popularly and financially successful in her music career, she made a positive difference. She invested a sizeable portion of her financial good fortune and returned it to her home county. Her gift, Dollywood, employs thousands of people today and provides for thousands more through that employment.  The contrast between this woman and that of Jimmy Buffet is glaring in this regard.  Although I'm sure a few people are employed in Jacksonville, Florida busy brewing his Land Shark lager.  When is enough money enough?  Oh that's right, those pesky property taxes on Palm Beach. 

Jimmy's latest assault-by-attorney on the Coconut Telegraph seems foolish and petty in light of his numerous other interests and enterprises. 

Hey Jimmy, be a "Doll". How about a blessing for those here in the Keys that have bought your music and promoted your career for decades?  Here's an idea. How about putting your legal team to work in researching possible investment ideas for Key West?  Show us in a meaningful way, that you wish to benefit your former community. Be a hero.  And please, how about laying-off this blog site.

Be a blessing--not a pain.  God bless Dolly!   

Notwithstanding the anecdotal reports by posters that believe that sea level has risen sharply in the recent years.  It looks like the facts don’t support their beliefs.  According to USGS Sea level has risen at about 8.5 inches in the last 75 years as recorded at Key West, Florida.  If you look at the graph in the SOFIA SFRS article entitled “The Florida Keys: What is happening to the reef tract and why?” you’ll see that the rate of increase seems to remain constant.  The graph begins circa 1910.  The data line has vast swoops up and down, but the overall trend line does not display acceleration as years pass.  The doomsday prophets would have you believe that we are getting deeper and deeper into global warming.  A growing number of scientists challenge the doomsday global warming prophets.  I have to wonder why so many of us are convinced that our current sea levels are the “proper” levels and that they should not change.  Changing sea levels are nothing new, In November 2002, Mel Fisher found an underwater forest near the site of the Henrietta Maria slave ship about 35 miles off of Key West.  It appears to be a burned forest of prehistoric pine land and radiocarbon dating of cones and wood dated them as being 8,400 years old.  8400 years is not even an eye blink in time.  I kind of doubt that Florida Paleo Indians cruising South Roosevelt Drive in their Paleo SUVs checking out Paleo Indian chicks were responsible for that rise in sea level.  Do you think that they thought the Paleo sea levels were the “proper” levels?

New Mexico’s governor Bill Richardson would be the perfect vice president for Obama. In addition to Richardson’s vast foreign policy experience, he would bring Obama the Latino vote that Obama is missing.

McCain said even though there were no WMD in Iraq he would do it again. McCain’s too old and out of touch with younger Americans.

Yikes, two posts on the sea level rising yesterday. My god, it’s not global warming, we’re sinking!

Have you ever heard of the Bakken Formation? The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April  that only scientists and oilmen knew was coming. Man, was it big! It was a revised report (It hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota; western South Dakota; and extreme eastern Montana. The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil.  The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion. 'When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea' says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst. 'This sizeable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years.”

It's a formation known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly referred to as the Bakken and it stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada. For years, U.S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the big oil companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves and this country now has access of up to 500 billion barrels.

Because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 per barrel. That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 41 years straight. If that didn't throw you to the floor, then this next one should, because it's from two years ago.

U.S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World! Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006
Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world, and has more than 2 trillion barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. What is going on? They reported this stunning news: The United States have more oil inside their borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates: 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia, 18 times as much oil as Iraq, 21times as much oil as Kuwait, -22 times as much oil as Iran, 500 times as much oil as Yemen, and it's all right here in the Western United States.

How can this be? How can we not be extracting this? Because we have not demanded legislation out of the Congress in Washington allowing its extraction, that's why! James Bartis, lead researcher with the study, says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East, more than 2 trillion barrels--untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post. So, you don't think Big Oil will drop its price, even with this find? Think again. It's all about the competitive marketplace, and if they can extract it (here) for less, they can afford to sell it for less - and if  they don’t, others will. The price will come down, it has to.

I did notice one thing about the Wetstock crowd. I’ve never seen a group of men with larger boobs. For heavens sake, gentlemen, do some damn sit ups.

[Florida State Capitol Building] Yes, some people have seen this building already, as it was built in the late 70's, some 20 years before Jeb was Governor.  Perhaps you have not been out of the Keys or seen another state newspaper in that time. And yes, they are almost done with the conspiracy of planting very large trees in a 10-mile radius of the Capitol building so that people will not be offended by its phallic appearance!

Can it possibly be that the American people have become so deaf and blind as to let Obama happen?  His own mouth, his own words, his book, his background, and his questionable experience and religious turn-arounds have all proven who he really is. I hope and pray the People wake up before it's too late.

[What's going on] I'll tell you what's going on, there are certain people on No Name Key that are using wastewater to propagate personal gain. You all knew what you bought when you bought it, so don't whine and blame commissioners and, as of yet, unelected commissioners for your mistakes and don’t use wastewater issues to raise the value of your property. People on No Name Key do live without grid electricity and live pretty darn well. You can live just as well if you are willing to put some effort into it. If you really want $300 to $400 electric bills have at it. There were and are now plenty of properties with electricity on Big Pine. Sorry to the unwilling and unprepared “campers”.

If we didn’t go into Iraq Al Queda wouldn’t have been there in the first place. Remember Osama hated Saddam because he wouldn’t turn Iraq into an Islamic fundamentalist country? So the "imagine if we didn’t go into Iraq" people better stop and think Gee, that’s right we told them to come into Iraq and to “bring it on”. People are not buying fear anymore. We’re all sold out.

[Coconut Telegraph] That was a nice protest at Margaritaville this weekend. Too bad Buffett only notices money and not people.

Globally, no one believes that sea level over the last 100 years has risen by more than 3mm/year steadily - there is no acceleration observed as you might be led to believe, and these measurements have become extremely accurate.

Using this most extreme 3mm per year number for 30 years, the sea level rise would be 90mm, or less than 4 inches (25.4mm = 1 inch). If you've measured 8 inches, this isn't caused by global sea level rise - this phenomenon is something that you are observing local to your observation point. For example, limestone or sea walls sink (and rise) and shorelines change continuously as a result of erosion, which can be caused by tidal and storm water action. 

It is a lot more likely that you are observing the sinking of your land, rather than the rising of the water. 

Global sea levels are observed objectively by so many independent agencies that there is no doubt about the accuracy of the measurements. Sea level changes measured at any one point are different - continental shifts are still happening, and land masses are rising and falling. You must remember that our earth's crust if a relatively thin shell floating about on a liquid sphere of molten metal. This is not religion and debatable - this is physical science and indisputable.

I encourage you to learn to know what to believe and do your own research. You can't look out your back door and make assumptions about the state of the entire world's climate. http://science.howstuffworks.com/question356.htm

SEPA Synod (Lutheran) youth who have worked in the Keys this month will be working with Habitat for Humanity at 313 Truman Ave. tomorrow (Monday) from 9 -1 finishing the painting for Ms. Clementina Richardson.  I want to thank those of you who have covered this repair over the past couple of weeks - we need volunteers to do the "nitty-gritty" inside work now, so if you could mention that, it would be great.  Folks should contact Susan at 305-872-4456 ext 112 OR email opsdirector@habitatlowerkeys.org.
 
Also, a small SEPA group will be learning a lot about our environmental issues by spending the morning with T.R.A.S.H.E.D. in the Keys cleaning up various spots on Stock Island.  For information on exactly where they're working, call Mike Basham at 305-434-0058.  Thank you for all the good things you all do for our communities' organizations.

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Monday July 21, 2008

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Sunday July 20, 2008

[Sloan Bashinsky supports his opponent] I would not be able to sleep at night, if my non-affiliated candidacy for Sonny McCoy’s county commission seat split the vote and threw the general election to Sonny, or even to his Republican primary opponent, Carlos Rojos. I have seen enough of both men at meet-the-candidates events in one-on-one conversations, and in what they have done that made the news, to know without any doubt that neither of them should be on our County Commission. In fact, the very thought of either of them being there is downright frightening. To borrow a phrase from Tom Willi’s recent email to the County Commission, in which he told Sonny and County Commissioner Dixie Spehar to campaign hard because the alternative was downright frightening. The Democrat candidate for Sonny’s seat, Heather Carruthers, has clearly and convincingly proven her devotion to the Keys in her tireless work with FIRM, she has well accounted for herself at meet-the-candidate events and in my private conversations with her.  I give her my full support and ask every Keys voter to vote for her in the general election on November 4. Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

[Sea rising] I have been here since 1976 and have seen the average sea level in my canal rise at least 8 inches.  The last time I looked this canal was connected to the Oceans of the World.

[California 1850s] Do you know what happened this week back in 1850, 158 years ago?
1. California became a state.
2. The state had no electricity.
3. The state had no money.
4. Almost everyone spoke Spanish.
5. There were gunfights in the streets.
So basically, it was just like California is today, except the women had real boobs and the men didn't hold hands.

[Willi: Why are the people trying to deny a taxpayer a living] The former county administrator just did the gang of three’s bidding. If he cannot have his rights restored then the County should exempt him from paying his share of taxes.”

How utterly disengenuine, and written in true disinformation style so typically of Willi.  Was it the 3-gang's bidding that Dave Koppel get any extra money for doing his job, or the Sterling Consulting (his friend) get 1/2 mill dollars, or that unqualified and undereducated staff get promoted and paid?  And it's not "now all of a sudden" he's always been a guy bad for Monroe county. He was afraid of losing his job (backing the developers and the limelight, being approached by people who traded him favors).

This does not have anything to do with his rights. He voluntarily, knowingly, with the advice of his lawyer entered into a legally binding contract. How is that in any way taking away his rights?  He knew what he was signing when he signed his name and took the $288,000.  Is this what his new and future business clients can expect--that he signs contracts and then tries to break them when they inconvenience him?

Let's call this "aw-shucks, toe in sand, poor Willie" act what is really is--a gimmick to let Willie out of his legally binding contract.  ~susanrheim@aol.com

I agree 100% with the person sending in that comment about real choices for our country's energy problem. Most people just don't get it because they believe all the alarmist nonsense on the news stations. One thing is for certain: if we continue to do nothing (thanks Congress) about future energy requirements we are totally screwed.

Viva the Coconut Telegraph!  Kudos to Ed for working to keep this small bastion of free speech alive and well.  Salute! 

John Wayne McCain the low IQ moron. Who in their right mind would vote for 4 more years of the most corrupt administration in our history? The world is paying the piper. There will be many war crime trials soon. McCain is more of same. Only you racist bubbas would think he’s the man.

I was in Marathon’s Kmart yesterday and someone was smoking a cigarette inside. The whole store smelled from just one cigarette. Its only been a couple of years when everything smelled like that. Banning smoking in public places is a good law.

Obama’s headed for Iraq, his roadies include 3 heavy duty talking heads, one each an anchor from NBC, ABC, and perky CBS.  The acolyte anchors have promised us that they won’t use North Korea TV covering Kim Jong Il as a role model.  Yeah, sure!  The term TV toadies comes to mind.   I hope you remember that Obama has consistently voted against anything that was in support of this conflict. In fact if Obama had had his way, this trip would be impossible.  Had we pulled out as he demanded, Iraq would now be Iran East with AQI ruling the landscape with even more brutality than Saddam.  Even a BPK old timer should knows that a badly timed pull out is almost always a recipe for leaving a big mess behind. That won't change!  If Obama had has his way the Muslim fundamentalists would reign supreme in that part of the world and they would have a nearly impregnable base from which to further metastasize.  John McCain was absolutely correct in his demand that the surge go forward.  Bush 2 won the first Iraq war, he defeated Saddam.  John McCain’s surge won us the second Iraq war.

205 pound Anderson Silva from Brazil is the fighter to watch in the UFC. He’s smart, fast and a hell of a fighter. I watched last night’s fight at Rob’s. He’s got about a million TVs all set to the same channel, everywhere you look there it is. It was pretty cool. To top it off Rob had happy hour prices during the whole thing! I’d go back tonight, but I don’t think my liver wants to go.

Yesterday I was invited to a birthday party. It was a fairly big do, with lots of booze and food. I criticize Hungary all the time, because I have something to compare it to. Compared to how I lived in the USA, this country a load of crap. This guy I have known as a friend for the past five years got on my case about criticizing the country, and I have not contributed anything in the last forty years. This pi**ed me off to no end, and I told him, "You sunofabitch, while you supported the Communist block with your labor for forty years I was ducking bullets to make sure that there will be less communists in this world. And this is true about all the Hungarians that didn't leave the country back in '56. They are no better than low-down collaborators. For all those years there wasn't a work stoppage here, not one general strike. Not one protest about people who disappeared from one day to the next. This is a nation of sheep, the powers that be could drive these people to the slaughter house tomorrow and they wouldn't raise a finger. Of course they do not have the means, only the people in power have guns. Do you catch my drift? A Hungarian citizen can't own any kind of firearm, unless he goes through such a screening, and paying of fees that most give up half way through the process.

I am told by friends that the USA isn’t what it used to be like either. And when I saw and read about the police confiscating guns in New Orleans I believed it. I ask where was the conscience of those policemen? Where does the nation’s most corrupt police force come off acting like the Gestapo? Those citizens should have shot all those God damned cops and lynched the police chief tied to a burning cross. I hope that Americans don't become a bunch of Hungarian tit sucking sheep.

Dead woman tied and weighted and dumped overboard near the 7 Mile Bridge. There sure a re a lot of unsolved murders around here!

My thanks to the poster who suggested that John McCain has had few accomplishments.  I guess that the poster has had lobotomy, because most everyone else has a substantial memory of the many times that Mr. McCain has been on the opposite side of a Bush initiative.  Thanks to this poster I was moved to learn the following:  John McCain has sponsored 537 bills since Jan 21, 1993, and 31 were successfully enacted (Exceedingly Good, relative to peers).  Here’s the committees on which he’s the ranking member: Armed Services, , Commerce, Science & Transportation, , Indian Affairs, , Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security,’ Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety, Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism, Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation, , Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security.  Here’s the rest of the committees that he serves on:  E/O Subcommittee on Airland, E/O Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, E/O Subcommittee on Personnel, E/O Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, E/O, Subcommittee on SeaPower, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 4, 2005, he been described to have sponsored 131 bills since Jan 4, 2005.  2 bills have been enacted into law (Average, relative to peers).  According to the Senate website, Obama is not the ranking member on any committee, but does sit on the following committees:  Committees on Foreign Relations, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Committee on Veterans Affairs, and the Committee on Health Education and Welfare.  I believe that Obama sits on at least one sub Committee, but his web site required signing in and providing identification so I demurred, and I could not immediately find record of it.  Don’t you folks really wish that the Democrats could come up with something more “fresh” or closer to the truth than the wheezing “Bush clone” tripe?  Now you've seen the facts. Obama is a rookie, McCain is an old salt, a maverick who follows his beliefs not his handlers, and only rarely my conservative views.

[Random turd] I was there and saw one float by too. It had corn in it and it came from that fat guy with a ponytail. How disgusting.

[While precincts of enforcement foster dragoons, the gods are forbidden to lift the veil]  Warning: extreme strength street drugs suspected in BPK audience.  Beware undesirable side effects, speaking in tongues, irresistible urge to prophesy doomsday.

Fuel use is down and so is the price of a barrel of oil. We don’t need no stinkin’ drilling offshore or in our National Parks. Just use less oil. If we can hold on for a few more years America will be energy independent in a few years. When this country gets behind something there’s no stopping us. That’s the America I remember. The can-do nation. Any new oil we drill for in America will only slow down our change to energy independence and innovation will suffer. President Carter tried to make us energy independent, but he was derided for his efforts. When Reagan took office he undid almost everything Carter tried to do and it’s been downhill since.

 “A stunning sell-off dragged oil prices to their biggest weekly drop ever and gas prices at the pump slipped by the more than they have at any point since February, giving consumers a rare breather in a year of record fuel prices.”   Wow!  Did conservation cause the drop? Did alternate fuel cars cause the drop in prices?  No, hell no!  The drop was caused by two factors.  First the Bush2 junking the Bush1 and Clinton Executive ban on drilling.  The second cause was the tidal wave of pressure on Congress to lift its ban on Americans drilling for American oil.  These two things spooked the speculators.  When the Democrat Congress’s ban is junked the world oil prices will fall faster than a…well, you know.

[Packin’ a lunch] A good reason for school uniforms. School uniforms also cut down on peer pressure from the rich kids with all the cool clothing and the poor kids with Kmart clothes.

People wanted Obama to visit Iraq before he won the nomination? I guess then you could have cried he was being overly assumptive. The man just won the nomination so now that he did he’s going. Here’s how sequences go:  first you win the nomination then you visit the places where your decisions and policies will be needed. It’s like saying why isn’t George Bush visiting the unemployment line yet? Well, because he still has a job. It’s amazing how an intelligent person running for President makes Republicans think. Bush sure did some major dumbing down in his party. And I applaud Bush for doing what Obama suggested in talking to the Iranians. To bad he had to be pressured into it. But none-the-less Bush is right in speaking with the Iranians. See, fair and balanced!

[It's called humidity] Gee, that appropriately rhymes with "stupidity".   One of the all-time dumbest posts I have ever read.  Thank you for pontificating on a subject for which you have no clue whatsoever.

I commend President Bush for finally talking to our enemies, the Iranians, even after criticizing Obama for suggesting it. In typical, Bush-speak he said we weren’t talking to the Iranians, we were only there to listen. What a dunce.

Happy hour at Parrotdise Waterfront from 4-7pm 
Mondays, in the bar 2 for 1 on Big Pecker Wines 3pm until close. Thursdays Ladies Night in the Bar 2 for 1 on all drinks 3pm until close.

[I sometimes had clients like Mario when I practiced law. They thought they knew everything, were impossible to truly represent. And sooner or later I fired them] Thank you Sloan. Once again you have added to the already overflowing ammunition supply which will be aimed in Mario's direction at the 2010 election. Take heart, truly Mario's Monroe County political days are numbered. This is not a secret; the Republican party leadership know he is not electable, politically astute or adept. 

Prior to Mario, when in the history of Monroe County has the ACLU ever had to comment on the behavior of a BOCC member? Prior to Mario, when has the state attorney ever received so many sunshine law violations complaints? The only way Mario is ever in another political office is if lightening strikes him twice and he gets appointed by some fool in Tallahassee. More likely his next public service will probably be an appointment to some position in Tallahassee. ~susanrheim@aol.com

The good ol’ days.

For Pete's sake how many of you with the bruises on your a** from falling off the turnip truck still don't know the documented truth? Al-Qaeda is and always has been a CIA black-op organization. Obama is a rich white guy with a tan who will say and do exactly what his masters in the Council on Foreign Relations and Trilateral Commission, (front organizations owned by the World Bank), tell him to. John McCain is the same kind of stool pigeon. Nobody is going to get anywhere near our White House unless given permission by the Bilderbergs and World Bank, (who also own the Federal" Reserve). The last guy we had who tried to stand up to these cockroaches was John F. Kennedy, and after that everyone is terrified to make a peep that might anger them. We can't vote them out because they have the voting machines hacked. The only way to get rid of them is to march en masse on D.C. and NYC and arrest them ourselves. That's what George Washington and the rest of our forefathers would have done, but they weren't doped-up idiots who believed all of the king's propaganda.

Has anyone seen this yet? They made sure from most angles it's obscured by trees, but this is the new Florida State Capitol building designed while Jeb Bush was in office. Squint your eyes a bit and see if the tall obelisk with the two round domes on either side resembles a part of the male anatomy. Looks like Jeb wanted to be sure everyone can see what Florida really stands for--the big bamboo.

I am coming down the home stretch with the Viet Nam Veterans Traveling Wall Fundraiser scheduled for Sept. 11th, 2008 at Bahia Honda State Park. Get ready to rise up and support our finest.

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Sunday July 20, 2008

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Saturday July 19, 2008

[Vietnam War] It was to stop Communism from spreading. It sounds foolish now, but from the 1950s through the 70s Americans were almost with Communism. China, North Korea and Russia were already communist and many people thought Democracy had to make a stand in order to prevent Communism’s spread. Don’t forget the McCarthy hearings in the 50s and how many lives were ruined by the fear of Communism. history shows that Communism won't spread because it's a flawed political system.

[Questions from GLEE to Sheriff’s Candidate Sandy Downs] What green actions have you / do you take in your personal and professional life?

I come from a family of farmers.  We have always recycled everything from metal to buttons.  We patched buildings, fences, and clothes much like the Keys residents did in days gone by.  In the last 30 years, society has become accustomed to everything being brand new and shiny, and anything old is simply tossed away.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Buy it brand new, it's cheap at Wal-Mart.  Never do we consider what is raped and pillaged from the earth to make these "new" shiny items, nor do we consider where all the discarded items will go!

We can't go on living like this.  We are taking too much from the earth's limited resources, the population is growing bigger every day.  The US can't be gluttonous pigs any longer and expect the rest of the world to not despise us.

I have taught my children, all 6 of them this message.  I have sent them every summer to work on our family's farm.  They harvest the vegetables and fruit and then can them for use later. We have always had a close kinship with nature.  My children wear old clothes, fix everything they can that is broken, and waste almost nothing. They certainly do not take Nature for granted, or our resources.  All of my children have chosen to live here in the Keys, though one son is at U of F getting a Doctorate degree, and his major is Horticulture.  He primarily studies trees, ways to grow more in less time, and ways to save the sick and injured ones. My husband is an arborist.  Trees are our business. We mulch everything we can and give it away.  My husband saves fronds for the weavers, gives tree stumps and branches to the Boy Scout camp for firewood and saves coconuts for cancer patients or whomever wants them.

2 of my sons are fishermen.  Their life is the water.  We take the Keys and its beauty very seriously as we have already seen the decline in just 6 short years here.  We fix everything we can so there is less to discard. We reuse what would be trash to most people, parts on engines, metal, wood, clothes, fishing line, etc.

I also spent 6 months living at Arcosanti and studying the city built to co-exist with environment, manage a growing population burden, and live within our own means "locally".  We recycled EVERYTHING including water, garbage, etc. We grew most of our food, and lived in very small spaces so that the environment could be saved for all to enjoy.  Grand, spectacular amounts of it! Google it.  It is well worth the study and well worth the trip if you can go there. Take your kids.  It is near Scottsdale AZ and was created to be a model for the future 30 years ago.  The future is here now!

 Paolo Soleri was the man behind it all and he was brilliant in predicting the calamity that was to come if we didn't change our ways.  If we don't start respecting Mother Earth again…she will bring us to our knees.  If you can't afford the trip to Arcosanti, just take the whole family to see Wall-e the movie. (Ed: Because of space limits please follow the link to the rest of Ms Downs answers http://sandyforsheriff.com/questions_from_hometown_pac.htm )

State Representative Ron Saunders will be convening a Wastewater Summit on Wednesday, August 13^th, 2008 at the Marathon Government Center beginning at 5:30pm.  All governmental entities involved in the completion of the county’s wastewater system are invited to attend. The meeting is open to the public and will be televised. 

Senate Bill 1552 authorizes state bonding of $50 million a year for four years for the completion of the Florida Keys wastewater system.  Representative Saunders requests that all participants present their budget requests for fiscal year July 1 ’08-June 09 ’ and July 1 ’09-June 30 ’10.  Please format your request as to how your entity would propose to use a portion of the $50 million bond for each fiscal year.

The summit is being held solely for information purposes and there will be no decisions made or votes taken.

Please notify our office as to your attendance by phone at (305) 853-1947 or by e-mail at holly.merrill@myfloridahouse.gov.  We request responses by August 6, 2008. 

Telemarketer revenge. I’ve got to get one of these! Video

What’s going on with central sewers for Big Pine Key and No Name Key – find out NOW before you vote. The Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce sponsors a candidates forum from 6 to 9 p.m. (Monday) July 21 at the United Methodist Church on Key Deer Boulevard, Big Pine Key.  Why you should attend and be informed:

Why I will not vote for Murphy.
(1)   Commissioner Murphy has already voted against sewers for No Name Key (See BOCC Agenda and Minutes of May 21, Item J2, even though NNK was designated a “hot spot” in all EPA Report from 1992 to NOW because EPA found “severely degraded inshore or near shore waters.” 
(2)   Commissioner Murphy tells lies. She said on tape with a reporter “I don’t have time for folks on the FEMA list.”  Then at the next public meeting she tried to explain that she meant that she is only a commissioner and she can’t do anything about those folks problems.  (The tape is clear what she really said)
(3)   Commissioner Murphy voted against removing the prohibition in the Comp. Plan that “prohibited central sewers” to NNK (See BOCC Agenda and Minutes of June 16, Item M3).  Apparently, Ms. Murphy does not care about State law that mandates that we all be incompliance with the sanitary wastewater quality standard by July 1, 2010.  On sewers, please know that residents of NNK, at their own expense, advocated for the “small pipe” systems and now that the Board member, engineers from both County and FKAA, and the County Administrator have seen them in action, the BOCC has directed FKAA to design.  This system costs 70% less that the systems used by FKAA.  In fact, this information was provided to the County and FKAA in the December 20th, 1999 Technical Memo from County’s Consulting Firm CH2M Hill, Inc. who evaluated all systems available to meet the state’s water quality standards. The Report stated that the “use of high quality grinder pumps (aka small pipe) is cost-effective… grinder pumps are a viable alternative for wastewater collection in the Florida Keys.”  Commissioner Murphy stated on the record “What is your rush?” “It’s pointless the County is out of money.”
(4)   She does not vote on the merits of the issue or for the benefit of the residents, but votes politically whatever she thinks George Neugent will vote.  She was called on to vote first on a NNK item and she voted “no”, then GN voted “yes.” When asked “why” she voted no, she said “I made a mistake and I didn’t know George would vote for it.”  If you have watched the BOCC lately, you will clearly see that it is Murphy and Neugent that created the “block of three” vote.  Mayor Di Gennaro has pled that they vote on the issues, not just always created the 3/2 split.  (Wouldn’t that be nice for a change?)

Why I will vote for Gary Bauman
(1)   We (residents of NNK) have met personally with Mr. Gary Bauman, and listened to many of his public speeches and he has consistently supported central sewer systems for “everyone” including “cold spot”.

He understands the State Mandate on this issue.  Also when asked what he thinks about the FEMA list, he found it unfair and damaging to the residents and he listed about six things that he has already done (verified).   He got involved as a citizen – just image what good he could do as a commissioner.

Why I will vote for Commissioner Spehar
(1)   She has been diligently looking for grants and other funding options.  She understands that the County must move forward on the State sanitary wastewater mandate. She is working to “find solutions” not just making excuses.
(2)   She has strongly supported NNK getting included in the Lower Key wastewater system.
(3)   She strongly supported NNK being re-designated the “hot spot” it was as in the EPA Reports.
(4)   She traveled with County Administrator to see and evaluate the “small pipe” system and strongly supports it.  If it works for NNK, there is no reason it can’t be used everywhere in the keys.

Why I will not vote from Kim Wigington
(1)   I spoke with Kim at a recent BOCC meeting that dealt with a No Name Key (NNK) issues. I knew nothing about this lady and still don’t. I asked her if she had a speaking schedule so I could attend.  She said “no.”  She said she was meeting on Big Pine Key but it was a homeowners meeting and open to members only and she could not remember the date.  Again, I expressed an interest in learning more about her position on issues related to BPK and NNK. She offered no suggestions and appeared “disinterested” in even talking with me. I obtained no information and her web-site does not provide her political position on any real issues.
(2)   Ms. Wigington is being promoted hard and fast by Ms. Putney in emails and blogs.  I will never vote for “anyone” that Ms. Putney openly supports again. Everyone that Ms. Putney has “helped” get elected has sponsored Ms. Putney’s land use prohibits and restrictions on Big Pine Key and No Name Key.  The BOCC Mission Statement addresses the health, safety and welfare of the residents ahead of the species and habitat of the Key Deer.  It is time to elect officials that live up to that mission statement for the residents and stop allowing Ms. Putney and the Key Deer Alliance (controlled by Putneys) to dictate our private property rights.  According to the Lopez Study, “the Key Deer is overpopulated and more development may occur on Big Pine Key and No Name Key without harming the deer.” Putney was instrumental in developing the Master Plan of Future Land Use for Big Pine Key and No Name Key and the Habitat Conservations Plan. Both of these documents have severely damaged our private property rights and created many lawsuits (just one class action case has 2000 property owners suing) and now we –the taxpayers--must pay the price of these lawsuits caused by commissioners listening to the Putneys and putting endangered species ahead of our private property rights. No wonder this county is broke!  ~mbakke100@hotmail.com

Wetstock 4

[Turd Floating] What makes you think that it was a man that did that? I think it was the Bacon Grease Lady.

Please help me! Now that we have only a year to go, according to some climate experts, has anyone notice even a small rise in water level? Or, is going to all rise overnight like a flood? God promised us no more floods and created rainbows to remind us of the bargain. I trust God a lot more that the hypocritical energy pig, Al Gore, who I can hate because there is no controlling legal authority that says I can’t.

A poster yesterday thought it necessary to rub our noses in the sad fact that 9 brave American soldiers have just been killed in the line of duty while serving their country in Afghanistan.  This poster legitimized their killers by labeling them “insurgents” and trivialized their deaths by saying “caulk (sic) one up for the insurgents”.  What can be said about this disgusting mind-set that takes perverse pride in the death of American service people?  This hateful poster considers their sacrifice nothing more than some bizarre scoring coup on the part of AQI.  This attitude makes one wonder what is the real focal point of this posters hatred?  Is it America, is it the soldiers, what could he hate so much that he finds fulfillment in the deaths of 9 fine young Americans?  AQI murdered these youngsters, the same AQI that would take great joy in sleeping in his bed after ritually beheading him because he is an American

The Skegzess, our weak-kneed national leaders opine on high, aloft a primordial hill, in the shadow of a stolen capitol. They utter corrupted verbiage. They defile our mother language for their perverse designs to lord. They rape sanctified words and deflower truth by cruelty.  They're handsomely attired, rather quite demure.  They pose for the cameras, in vain, appearing to appear, as if one with their victims while they secretly snicker and sneer. They aim to convince the great and the small that our collective conscience is clear.  They are beholding to lobbyists with aims of deceit which are underwritten by these crafty creatures, each one snake-bitten.  With venomous fears their prey is smitten.  With words of endearment, snares they set.  They use icons and relics while coercing respect.  They forge fright from wars' charmed glories while preventing bards from telling true stories.

They spew tainted words without shame, their weapons of choice for mass delusion, while aiding plastic gods in pious collusion.  "Just say no to violence" is taught in schools as recruiters for carnage seek out brass balls.  Lies are their ladder reaching atop, a heaven-filled hell of misery and slop. With sinister pride and State-ordained hate, sworn never to harm the oil nor wine.  Animal Farm rules; its leaders are swine!  They are all piggin'-out on human hearts, of the elders and the youthful upstarts.  We have appointed fellows who define crayoned law, while holding the law-abiding in obedient awe.  While precincts of enforcement foster dragoons, the gods are forbidden to lift the veil.  Voices of reason seem left to wail.  Under layers of rags and filthy indeed, hide trolls of terror who never bleed.  They promote devilish doctrines and  preach to the lame, while judging the truly righteous to be insane.  They've expelled common sense and treat it as buffoon.  On their altars of injustice, ascending fires rage while condemning humankind to come not of age.  The words of the wise are deemed to be wicked while the feet of these fools are shod crooked.  To have their rags torn to shreds and their agenda expelled, let us tell the truth---which is their dread---but a fitting death-knell.

China is so ready!

Use your mouse to fly you over the mountains, left or fight, up and down. http://www.electricoyster.com/electric3d/index.html

I hope the newspapers cover the Jimmy Buffett demonstration.  Notice how he gave away $500 a week or so ago?  He better not go after this site.  The Editor must spend a lot of time publishing every single day.  God bless you.  We love this website.  Thanks!

One of my main political provocateurs told me that he watched Republican challenger Kim Wigington crush incumbent Republican County Commissioner Dixie Spehar at a candidates luncheon yesterday. He added that Democrat Heather Carruthers will crush Republican incumbent Commissioner Sonny McCoy in the general election.
 
My provocateur is a Republican and his name is prominent in local political circles. His remarks about Heather sounded to me like his way letting me know that he will support and vote for Heather in the general election, where I will be on the ballot as a non-affiliated candidate for the same county commission seat. It caused me to wonder if maybe I should have listened more closely to Mayor Di Gennaro at the recent county commission meeting, when he told me to go play with my marbles I had lost. For sure, every time I have run for public office, it felt to me like losing my marbles.
 
Moreover, I have felt since Heather entered the county commission race, and have said so and written, that she would make a good county commissioner, and that Sonny needs to go. And Dixie, too. Deposed County Administrator Tom Willi’s recent public endorsement of Sonny and Dixie should have removed any lingering doubts that they both need to be replaced.

Summer in Baghdad. 114°F today.

If McCain has been a politician in Washington for all of these decades how come nothing he has accomplished comes to mind? We know as much about Obama a new political figure as we do about John McCain a lifelong political figure. Other then McCain being a former POW what has he accomplished? He’s as empty a slate as Obama is. McCain just seems like a Bush clone.

The City of Marathon has unveiled a new green initiative website. Recommended by the City's Green Team, the site provides a number of links to green energy information including websites about state financial incentives for solar and other renewable energy systems, Governor Crist's plans for reducing energy consumption in the state, and local environmental group GLEE's new carpooling website.        The website also lists five recommendations for Marathon citizens to begin the process of reducing greenhouse gases in the City. Approved by the City Council earlier this year, the list includes suggestions such as replacing light bulbs with CFLs, taking cloth bags to the store and turning up thermostats.

Marathon Mayor Pete Worthington indicated that he hoped that citizens in the community would follow the lead of the City Council and begin to look for ways to reduce energy consumption. “We did a complete audit of our energy usage and are now planning ways to reduce that,” Worthington said. “There are many tools for discovering ways to save money and the site points to some of them.” The green page provides information for obtaining the new batch of recycling bins that the city recently purchased. http://www.marathonflorida.org/green

[Cute little poodle turd] I think I speak for most of us in saying, we would like to see less of the type of low rent posting on the only forum we have in the Lower Keys to vent more important stuff!

Why be normal?

Well it worked.  I am totally and completely off politics just as they want all of us to be. These blood sucking con artists work much better out of the public’s sight. I don't care or will waste my life worrying who should be elected and what any of them have to say. It isn't worth thinking about because my vote doesn't mean crap any more, it is all a big show and whomever they want in office as their mouth piece will be there no matter what we sheep think or do. God Bless America or what's left of her!

Attention Eden Pines Animal Lovers.  Someone is poisoning the cats again.  Bring your kitties inside where they belong.  To the sociopath who does this, I hope to see you get your Karma.  Call the police whenever you see suspicious activity for immediate response.  Click them at www.tipsubmit.com to make anonymous reports.   

When I see a thin man with a fat woman it reminds me of sink holes.

Dominique is so cute.  Clap, clap, clap for the Catman! 

I saw the scrap metal thieves yesterday.  They are driving around in a white Ford F-150, pulling a trailer made out of an old pick-up truck bed.  The truck had the name of a recycling business on the door, but it wasn't anything local.  When I saw them, they were targeting No Name Key and the area around Doctor's Arm.

The hypocrite of hypocrites has to be Drew Trivette.  He voted to do away with the affordable housing coordinator position at the BOCC meeting but yet he bought his own home under the affordable housing law.  Then he proposed that Monroe County lift the affordable housing deed restriction from his house.  I'm still confused about how he got his job.  Job requirements are 10 years management experience.  Ten years ago he was in high school.  He never held a manager's job at a 7-11,  let alone a government position.  Job requirements are a Masters Degree in planning.  He does not have one.  Maximum salary for his position is roughly $90,000 and he started above $115,000 but he sits at a BOCC meeting on how to cut County Expenses.  How long will Mr. Trivette swim now that Sir Willi isn't here to keep him afloat?  One of the last things Willi did was to give Drew's wife a job in the budgeting department (without a degree in accounting).  Anyone want to bet she is making more than the job description allows her too? ~debbieplunket@gmail.com

Sue your attorney?  I think he probably kept you from the grey-bar hotel--think about it.

Jump Blues and R&B pianist Screamin' Jay Hawkns was born on this day in 1929 in Cleveland, OH.  Hawkins is best known for the 1956 hit "I Put a Spell On You", later covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I’ve got to get me one of those nose thingies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orNpH6iyokI

Are you sure about the oceans rising with every degree of temperature rise? Or are you just repeating what someone told you? Have you heard that they now figure that with a temperature rise in the atmosphere, the air will be able to hold enough water to actually lower the levels of the oceans? It's called humidity.

This is the best optical illusion I have seen in a long time. Stare at this picture long enough and you can see a giraffe!

I was watching the news a few months ago and our Imperial President was the news.  His "staying the course" hot-war in Mesopotamia was again being sold.  With that news, I needed some fresh air.  So I stepped onto my balcony.  It provided a good view of the Key West Naval Air Station and the tarmac at its Boca Chica site. Then, suddenly, I took note of two birds roaring, invading balmy skies. It was two F-16's, bold in the wild blue.  Then, suddenly, I took note of two doves lit on the power lines along U.S. 1.

The two peaceful ones winged their way from the Atlantic, as did the two F-16s. Two birds of war and two birds of peace, sharing the same sunny skies of the Keys.  The two war birds were loud and rude.  The two birds of peace were serene on the scene.

Bush's birds, raged with a madman's anger. Nature's winged angels were in contrast to that.  It was an odd occurrence---seemed to me.  Man-made objects bent on destruction---awful. They were sharing the heavens with divine creatures without death-dealing instincts---heavenly.  Military machines busting the sound barrier and the Creator's dear ones quietly aloft.  It was just one of those passing moments that seemed curiously odd to me.

I used to just pack a lunch when I went to school. Kids these days are packing much more. Video

Victoria Falls, Zambia. The Devil’s Swimming Pool. http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/devilspool.asp

Now is Bubba going to try to use the drive-thru at the Burger King (background).

The Democrats don’t have enough of a majority in Congress yet to push thru legislation that the Republicans don’t like. That explains the wide dislike of Congress. I agree. The Republican controlled (because of the lack of more democrats) Congress is a waste and has been for almost 8 years.

A day at the beach (China). And I thought it was bad at the Jersey shore!

A game I can’t figure out how to play. http://electricoyster.com/fireballs/index.html

Obama was a shiny brand new rooky Senator almost 3 years ago when he first made his demand that we bug out of Iraq.  Only later did he decide to actually visit Iraq.  Within a few hours of his arrival in Iraq he decisively said that he had neither seen nor heard anything to change his mind.  Not a surprise.  Shortly later on leaving Iraq he again said that we should bug out.  Had we listened to Obama, Iraq would now be an Al Quada/Iran controlled nation.  Think for just a moment about what the ramifications of that would have been.  Iraq is now a Democracy and will likely be an American ally.  Obama’s current fact finding trip is nothing more than a replay of his first.  He will learn nothing that could educate him as to the reality of the situation.  The only “facts” that Obama will invest in are any that he feels will benefit him politically.  This trip is actually a shameful campaign dog and pony road show paid for with your tax dollars.  This charade is being staged for the benefit of the media.  Are any of us so seduced by this poseur that we can actually believe that he is genuinely interested in learning the on-the-ground facts of Iraq?  What facts can be learned by giving a campaign speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin?  He actually asked to speak in this venue which is reserved for heads of state.  What secrets will be pried out of Iraq mud by the presence of three perfumed and polished talking head network anchors?  Will perky Katy Couric trip over a Rosetta stone that will reveal AQI plans to build Baghdad neighborhood outreach centers, ala young Obama in Chicago?  The whole damned thing is outrageous political theater paid for with your tax dollars.

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Saturday July 19, 2008

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Friday July 18, 2008

I was anxious to finish our business but the gentleman told me that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health.  He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.  He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.  I was surprised, and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?'  He smiled as he patted my hand and said, “She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is.”

[Below is a copy of Tom Willi’s letter which was read into the record at the recent county commission meeting] Due to a schedule conflict I will not be able to attend this afternoon’s session. Please read the following statement into the