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Monday June 30, 2008

A 700 page report was released by the Pentagon today. It said there were not enough troops in the first two years of the war. Repeated request for more troops were ignored. After the fall of Hussein, Washington considered the war was won.

[Spin] I have a feeling the tens of thousands of families that have lost members due to the Iraq occupation, the millions that have been forced to leave Iraq since the war began, and the people seeing another country’s troops riding military vehicles thru their streets daily don’t feel all warm and fuzzy because they can vote for whatever Muslim leader they want (as long as he has been approved by the religious consul). Using your logic Cuba is a great successful democracy because they too have elections. And as you said, "Is their democracy exactly like ours? No, but it beats what was there before". You’ve got to love the 27-percenters’ logic. It spins and spins and spins. If you think militias being allowed to control large portions of a country is a true sign of democracy I’m sure you would love West Virginia to be controlled by a bunch of Catholic nuns. No wonder Conservatives have been getting their arses handed to them the last few years. The GOP is old men with old ideas trying to cling on for political life in an ever changing world. No thanks. You’ve had over 8 years at national decision making and have failed horribly. Fear is all you have left to sell.                               

The greatest tragedy of Bush's War in Iraq is the four and a half million displaced Iraqis who have fled the country to avoid the violence. Consider what it would be like if four and a half million Floridians had to leave their homes, their property, and their country to avoid being killed.  Most of these people have gone to Syria, some to Jordan. They will forever blame the United States for costing them their way of life.  Bush's War has also succeeded in wiping out the entire Christian population of approximately one million Iraqi Christians.  You don't hear about this tragedy, but our occupation brought out the Muslim radicals and our Army provided no protection for Christian churches or worshipers.  The one million Christians have been systematically killed except for a few that have been able to get out of Iraq.  So when the Republican Administration keeps telling you what a success Bush's War has been, say a prayer for these millions of Iraq people who have no home and no future.  And say an extra prayer that only a few terrorists will be produced from these poor displaced people.

[My husband has MRSA] What’s wrong with people who think everyone knows what initials mean for their various diseases with multi letters instead of real names someone might recognize. “Hi Jim, how’re you?” “Oh, not too good. I got UVLR which mutated from a simple case of GLMP.”

The Iraqi constitution is only a bunch of words on a piece of paper.  Little written on it is matched with the reality of that country. If a Christian ran for office he would be gunned down. The Iraqi “democracy” is just another word to them. You can print all the words you want, but they won’t change the fact that Iraq is a theocracy not a democracy. There is a big difference in the two ideologies. A theocracy is not worth dying for.

[Flood Insurance] I think if a house was built after, let’s say 1980 or so, and is on stilts, flood insurance should not be required to have a mortgage. Floods only kill our plants and ruin stuff left under the house. Floods have never damaged a stilt house here. We don’t have high levees to worry about, only the storm surge.

Don’t quote me, but might it not be more accurate to characterize Mario as BEING a cancer rather than his HAVING a cancer? Having cancer is a condition which entitles one to at least a modicum of sympathy. Being one makes one something that needs to be excised.
 
I didn’t come right out and say it that way, but I do view the Gang of Three as something that needs to be excised, all other efforts to turn them in a new (Keys and Keys people) direction having failed, as far as I can see.
 
I read really hot comments in a front page article of today’s KW Citizen, from Frances Leach, about the County cutting out its shuttle, on which many of our seniors rely to get around, as well as for Hurricane evacuation. I play bridge with Frances at the Senior Center, adjacent to the Harvey Government Center in KW. She’s a terrific lady, and if she is all hot and bothered about something, our 5 county commissions ought to get into lockstep and do something about it.
 
[I forgot to mention to unquotable that I heard recently from the person who looks after the Senior Center for the County that it may be on the chopping block itself. I’m sure Frances will be thrilled to hear that.]
 
An excellent letter to the editor from Chuck Chartrand of Big Pine Key in this morning’s Citizen, about closing the Big Pine and other libraries, also is on point. I could not agree more with him and what many people are saying: We are going to close libraries while we move forward with the Vandenberg and sit on the Hickory House Restaurant? As I recall, Mario, Dixie and Sonny voted in lockstep on those two items.
 
It might amaze you to read what I’m about to say, but about three months ago, at a meet-the-candidates luncheon hosted by the Florida Keys Contractors Association at Sombrero County Club in Marathon, Dixie told the audience that there was no such thing at the Gang of Three, and they did not vote in lockstep. I nearly fell out of my chair. Then this awful thought came to me: maybe Dixie really believed what she said. I’m used to politicians saying what they hope they can get away with, but to hear one say something that is more than a wee bit beyond the edge of reality, well, the word “excise” suddenly just floated into my thoughts again. Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

It seems we’re blaming everyone else for high energy prices. How much does a barrel of American oil cost? Is it cheaper than Arab oil?

[Nuclear waste] Yucca Mountain repository was found “faulty”. Like everywhere on this rock, all bad stuff gets into our water.

[Nihilist] I feel kind of sad for the poster who yesterday managed to rag on every side of nearly every issue that we’ve seen under discussion on the site.  He ragged on liberals, conservatives, tree huggers, and just about everything except his dog.  I guess that’s a pretty lonely place to be, but I can see how easy it would be to get there.  Just think, you’d never have to make up your mind about what’s right or wrong, you’d never have to have beliefs in anything, you’d never worry about anything, everything that is accomplished by the hand of man is always wrong.  There’s no reason to excel or to even try because we’re doomed.  There’s a term that describes this poster, he’s a nihilist.  That’s defined as a person who holds “a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless “, his is “a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths”.  I don’t feel too sad though, I think he chooses to feel that way, it’s easy, no sweat ever.  I wouldn’t want to be around if his dog pisses on his leg.

[Nuclear waste] The results from the Department of Energy’s own studies are startling: They showed Yucca could not geologically isolate wastes, because water flows much faster from the surface through the mountain to the water table than had been expected.
~Yucca was formed from volcanic ash and is the only repository under consideration in the world that is above the water table, not below it.
~Yucca’s volcanic material is brittle and contains innumerable fractures and voids, some resembling a Swiss-cheese formation.
~DOE says the number of “water-conducting fractures” at Yucca is “on the order of one billion.”
~Fast water paths through the mountain make “geologic containment” a matter of 50 to 200 years, not the 250,000 years intended by scientists and Congress.
~The so-called “dry” rock is over 80% saturated with water, posing serious waste package corrosion risks.
~Yucca’s rock form and chemistry are uniquely conducive to the production of strong acids that can corrode through metal waste packages.
~Scientists agree that the primary risk at Yucca is water transporting radioactive wastes from corroding waste containers to the accessible environment.

Don’t fret, “We’re from the government and we’re here to help you.” Knowing Yucca could never meet geologic isolation requirements in place since the 1980s, DOE contrived a new set of “rules” in late 2001 to enable the Secretary of Energy to declare the repository is suitable anyway.

Deja vu Big Pine Key. The new park is scheduled to be completed about Aug. 5, and the BOCC last month agreed to use reserve funds to fund operation of the park until the new fiscal year Oct. 1 when park operations will be included in the budget. So what's new? They (BOCC) always find the funding when they want to do something. What happened to "We are broke" and "Need to raise taxes"?

There’s been raucous wailing about the price of crude oil, now it’s about $145 per barrel and climbing.  We sweat bullets about the price of gas, now it’s about $4.50 per gallon and still heading skyward.  It’s going to get worse and stay worse for a long time to come.  World wide demand will continue to outstrip supply.  About 66% of all petroleum that we use goes to keeping America moving.  About 62% of that petroleum is gasoline (cars), 24% is diesel (trucks), and the balance is jet fuel, natural gas and “other”. The remaining 34% of the petroleum we use goes to industry, residential, commercial, and the electric sector.  Don’t ever forget that we’re stuck in relying on foreigners to supply 2/3^rd of all the damned oil we need to survive.  We’ve got to change that. It’s dangerous to our national security and ruinous to our economy.  Because the lion’s share of the petroleum is sucked up by cars, that’s going to be our single biggest hurt. 

The first step in the process of abandoning gasoline will have to be a series of nation and industry wide decisions as to what the new energy source will be.  Will it be electricity, fuel cells, bio fuels, or some sort of melding of the technologies?  Now comes the tough and expensive part.  We’ll have to build a whole new nationwide infrastructure to deliver the energy to the vehicles.  Cars with a 100 mile range just won’t cut it, they won't sell.  While all this is going on, we’ll have to have the new technology vehicles designed, built, marketed, and delivered to us consumers.  All this has to be happening while we continue to use our gas burners until they wear out, and remember that the new rides are not going to be cheap.  Whatever happens we still will have to deal with the fact that 1/3^rd of the petroleum we use is required for something other than transportation, like chemicals, medicines, lubricants, industrial needs, etc.  All of this means that we’re going to need petroleum for a long time to come.  We need desperately to quit talking and get on with it.  I guess that now, an awful lot of Americans are realizing that we have some real problems that are going to require real solutions, not just talking points and wispy feel good emotion.  According to Zogby, 74% of us now support offshore drilling and 60% supports drilling in ANWR.  I wonder if any of this will force change on the liberal leaders of Congress who only have a 13% approval rating.  They make Bush look like a rock star or a genius at 27 % approval rating.

General Clark in defending Obama’s lake of leadership experience said (referring to McCain) just because someone gets shot down and spends years as a prisoner of war doesn’t give him the experience to run a country either. Ouch!

Thanks to your Classified Ads, I found the perfect tenant in just two days! I got more calls in response to this ad than the one I ran in the Citizen and better quality people too. Thank you.

[In defense of our local doctor] Liquor stores don't cause alcoholism. An unlocked door won't make a good person steal. Winn Dixie doesn't make people fat. Within a marriage one person may smoke and the other may not. I could go on and on. The addiction is in the person not the supplier. If you attend an AA meeting, The Budweiser distributor isn't there. He's not the one with the problem. Nor is he at fault. Please help your friend deal with the unfortunate situation they are in. I went through a period of time where I couldn't sleep and Dr. Grider helped me through it. He's an asset to our community and I thank him for it.

Bahia Honda with its exotic palm trees and all, is one of the true jewels of the keys. At least until the weekends when the Miami day trippers arrive en masse and trash the place.  Harvesting conch from the water, raping turtle nests for the eggs and general disrespect for the environs.  Adults and children alike are the perpetrators.  It makes me want to puke.

I’m looking for interested individuals or couples for a grassroots "health club" based on the ideas from the book "Younger Next Year" by Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry S. Lodge. This is for helping each other stay motivated with exercise and tips and ideas on eating healthy. A once a month social will be planned around an activity such as a local bike ride or doing a hiking trail or kayaking, etc. Also a once a year event around an activity such as a bike tour through the wine country, inn-to-inn cross country ski trip, etc.  If you are interested please call Candy at 305-289-2112. Please leave name and phone number on recorder if I am unavailable when you call. I will get back to you!

To the a**hole vilifying Dr. Grider. I'd like to punch your lights out. I wouldn't do it, I just fantasize doing it a lot.

[Motorcycle driving test] I don't know where you got your information but as far back as I care to remember you had to do a test ride to get your license.

ObamaCures.com give you the stuff you need to help that booger win! http://www.obamacures.com/

C Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment was formed during the Second World War by volunteers from Rhodesia. It was disbanded in 1955 and became the nucleus of "C" Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air Service, operational from 1962. In June 1978 "C" Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air Service became 1 (Rhodesian) Special Air Service Regiment until Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980.

[Change registration to vote in primary] I am writing to encourage everyone in our community to vote this August in the primary elections. This summer we only have a Republican primary. Florida is a closed state, which means that you must be registered as a Republican to vote in this primary. I would like to share some information to address some misconceptions about voting in this primary.

If you are not registered as a Republican, it is very easy to re-register on a short-term basis and therefore have an opportunity to vote this summer. There is no time limit on how long you must be registered in that party or stay registered afterwards in order to vote. It does not cost anything. It does not brand you as a Republican forever. It simply gives you a voice in this August election.

An important fact is that you must be registered to vote by July 28 to vote in the Aug. 26 primary. You may also vote by absentee ballot. Unlike in the city of Key West, where you can only vote in your district, everyone who lives in Monroe County can vote for all the county commissioners. The ballots in November are all identical and not determined by your party affiliation. You may choose to re-register back to your original party affiliation, or wait until after the November elections.

Forms for re-registering can be obtained in person at the Lester Building next to the courthouse on Whitehead Street, or downloaded at http://election.dos.state.fl.us/RegToVote/regform.shtml Forms for absentee voting are also available at this site. Information about early voting, or the entire ballot may be found at http://www.keys-elections.org.

The Republican representative for two commission seats, that of Dixie Spehar and Sylvia Murphy, are being challenged in this August primary. Many people have strong feelings about the current County Commission representatives, particularly as the commission has been voting consistently in a bloc of 3-2. Many issues of growth management are before us at this time. Ms. Spehar's and Ms. Murphy's seats are very important positions in this balance. If you would like to have a voice in who will represent you for the next two years on the County Commission, I encourage you to get out and say so - vote!

Ever notice low end computers burn out within days of their warranty expiration date?Considering a computer can be programmed to do anything, I just wonder if they do that intentionally.

What happened to Sunday?

The Pool Store’s new awning looks really good. Kudos to the Pool Store at the light (the only light) on Big Pine Key.

Look you greedy self-centered moron, the Keys are my home, I will die here, and if people like you force drilling in my back yard, I'll bury you there first! Get a bike or walk, you lazy bastard.

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Monday June 30, 2008

Sunday June 29, 2008

Thanks for your Congratulations. My book dedication in Budapest on June 8 went real well, and my book is selling. I want to thank everybody who wished me success, and I promise to give up writing when angels start talking to me.

$4.50 for a gallon of gas. How about $9 or more for a gallon of milk? Can cows be arrested for prostitution?

[Bare Arms] I am an informed and patriotic citizen. I’m grateful that I live in the U.S. where we have the right to bare arms. As a woman, if I lived in one of those mid-eastern countries, I’d have to cover up from head to toe (not just my arms)

I bet the County could save a lot of money by shutting off the AC and opening the windows.  This is the Tropics. It probably would reduce a lot of illness too. I think A/C recirculates all the room borne germs.

The local politicians are typical. When their "piggy bank" is threatened, they use tried and true scare tactics to protect their funding. The first thing they always say that has to be cut back is police/fire protection and services for the sick and elderly.  Then they start on library and school cost reduction measures. Have any of these respected individuals ever reduced their salaries or benefits? Or halted work on their pet projects? Not likely.

On July 1 motorcyclist must pass the riders driving test in order to get the endorsement on their license. Before that riders only had to pass a written test.

Now I am simply confused. How can NASA have documentation supporting both the decrease and the increase of ice in Antarctica?   I have to concede that what people want to believe, they will believe. People believed, less then 500 years ago, that the world was flat. It was accepted as fact---until someone disproved it. I believe that we are all pompous and arrogant and pseudo-intellectual. I believe that the earth will reject our race through natural selection the way it has done with many species that came before us. I believe that our species is doing irreparable harm to this planet. I do not know, nor does anyone else for that matter, the extent of that damage. I believe that our home here, the keys will surely be under water someday. If not from the glacial melt, then simply from the ongoing continental drift that we also know to be fact, but conveniently ignore as well. Will I live to see this? Nope. But then again, the keys are rejecting me by economic selection. So--believe what you will. You can come up with anything to support either argument. Since the internet has provided us with Google, we are now a race of geniuses. There is no global warming. Oh wait, yes there is. The ice is both increasing and melting at the same time. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not increasing...oh wait, yes it is. The left is to blame, The right did it... and so on and so on. We will all just go on with our self-important lives and believe what we want to because we are all smarter than the guy next door. Me? The more people I meet---I more I love my dog.

[Better Living Through Chemistry]  I successfully quit smoking using pills, patches and hypnosis.  If it wasn't for the Doctors prescribing them I would probably still be a stinky tobacco addict.  Sleeping pills are good too--once in a while, since the ill-effects of not sleeping far out-weigh the effect of a pill.  Maybe that's why some of you Big Pine gorillas are so grumpy - you need to take some medication.  There are people down here who abuse alcohol and illegal drugs, but won't touch a prescription which many of us need for pain, anxiety, nervousness.  Dr. Grider does a fine job as does his nice wife.    

A Women’s Poem
Before I lay me down to sleep,
I pray for a man, who's not a creep,
One who's handsome, smart and strong
One who loves to listen long,
One who thinks before he speaks,
One who'll call, not wait for weeks.
I pray that he’s well employed,
When I spend his cash, won't be annoyed.
Pulls out my chair and opens my door,
Massages my back and begs for more.
Send me a man who'll love my mind,
Knows how to answer "how big’s my behind?"
I pray this man to no end,
Always be my very best friend.

Is Iraq a Democracy?  You’re damned right it is.  Iraqi Constitution: paraphrased: The Republic of Iraq is an independent, sovereign nation, and the system of rule in it is a democratic, federal, representative (parliamentary) republic. Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation: No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam. No law can be passed that contradicts the principles of democracy. No law can be passed that contradicts the rights and basic freedoms outlined in this constitution.

Now take a look at Article 14:  Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, origin, color, religion, creed, belief or opinion, or economic and social status.  Your may find some familiar language in Article 47, I’ll paraphrase: A nominee to the Presidency of the Republic must be. An Iraqi by birth, born to Iraqi parents.  Fully qualified and must be over forty years of age.  Of good reputation and political experience, known for his integrity, uprightness, fairness, and loyalty to the homeland.  Free of any conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude. 

You know I kind of like some that language, it would impact on one of our current Presidential candidates. Iraq sure is a democracy.  Do they have thieves and charlatans in government?  Yes and that’s not a good thing. Thank God we don’t have any thieves and charlatans in our government.  Is it just like our democracy?  Get real!  But it’s a mega leap for those poor Iraqi slobs who had suffered under the bloody heel of Saddam The Dead.  Or those same people if they were now under AQI slave rule.  They are where they are now because of our policies and our troops.  That may piss some bozos, but there are legions of people like me who are damned proud of it. What about Korea?  Is Korea a “great and wonderful country”?  No, but it’s a dictatorship that appears to be giving up its nuke weapons capability thanks to the Bush initiatives.  That too is a damned good thing that probably will piss off a bunch of bozos only because it's yet another Bush accomplishment.

Google Antarctica Ice and see what comes up the most.

Yesterday a poster challenged us petro posters to come clean.  I’m the petro poster that angered some fuzzy thinking types.  Good idea.  I’m strongly in favor of accessing our own oil and simultaneously conserving while developing/implementing new energy technology. 

We’ve got a boat with a175hp, a middle aged car, and a 10 year old Ford truck with 170k miles on it.  Our gas bill averages about $250 per month. About 62.5 gallons per month. 

Yesterday a poster sniffed that Bush should have learned from Uncle Joe Stalin.  I don’t understand the post, but I do know that Stalin won, he beat Germany.  I also know that Bush won his first Iraq war, he beat Saddam.  Bush then won his second Iraq war and he beat AQI.  Yesterdays poster should be re-educated in liberal think, he actually made reference to a Presidential candidate’s race by stating that he preferred the “colored” candidate in spite of his “coloredness”.  I thought that was verboten, and it’s a pretty damned dumb statement.  Do you suppose that this posters musings represent a large slice of like thinkers?

Can anybody tell me why our flood insurance went up from $402 a year to $5,730? I have breakaway walls and my house is on stilts. Our house is on higher ground. The back of our house is a canal and bay area. When the two inspectors inspected our house after Hurricane Wilma, they changed our AE Zone to VE Zone. I don't mind them increasing our flood insurance but this much of an increase is too much.

Heavy weight no nonsense news site.  Look all over this site it can’t hurt to read what the world thinks of current events. http://worldreports.org/

The oil companies have 68 million acres of oil leases they can drill on and get oil from. Are you really naive enough to think they paid big money for these leases without knowing there was oil underneath before they purchased them? Come on now. If McCain’s plan to remove the federal tax on fuel for awhile is so great why hasn’t Bush done it yet? Kudos to Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger for refusing to give in to the drill madness. He said he believes California’s coast line is a world treasure and worth fighting its drilling. See, I’m fair and balanced.

Whether it is a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, a parliament, or a communist dictatorship; voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.    ~Hermann Goering, Nazi

[Smart man for President even if he's colored] You got to be kidding! There hasn't been too many of those, or you mean like Chaka Zulu. Dingane, Papa Doc, Idi Amin, Jomo Kenyata, Keneth Kaunda, or Robert Mugabe. Who else did you have in mind? All of history’s colored statesmen have been corrupt bloody dictators. History has proven that.

I think nuclear power plants are safe, especially the new ones with recirculating cooling systems. What I don’t understand is how come no proponent is willing to address the very dangerous waste they produce. If they ever approve the Yucca Mountain repository then I will be all for nuclear energy. But that’s not going to happen at that location.

Testimony of illegal alien care from just one Florida hospital. Something has to be done. This is one of the times when we do need more government. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLJxmJZXgNI

Where is the shade in the new park on Big Pine Key to protect us from the scorching heat? Where are the trees? Don’t they know what a park is? Who is going to play there when its a 135° on the ground?

Tucker, I love you!  Let's get married.  I want to have your baby.  Quick!

No new taxes!

The American government sees the recent elections in Zimbabwe as a sham and wants action taken yet sees nothing wrong with manipulating the so-called elections of puppets Karzi in Afghanistan and Maliki in Iraq.  No wonder we're so disliked around the world.

Why is the president of the United States entertaining Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, at Camp David when his own State Department has singled out the Sheik’s homeland, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), for its continuing violations of human rights?

I want the person who said to get a fish to know that I can afford a dog and its shots and anything else the dog would need. I already have a canal full of fish I take care of, so I already have fish for pets. Thanks for the suggestion.

Betty Boop wants to know if she made The Crazy Fish Bar a wi-fi hotspot would anyone use it?

[Water vapor and greenhouse gas] For god’s sake engage the brain box just a bit. In your blind bumbling you have totally missed the point. The whole purpose of the post was to make the point that water vapor is not a man made gas, but a natural phenomena that totals over 90% of so-called greenhouse gases. Think just a little bit before jumping all over someone who was basically making the same point as you were.

[Cancer equates to Evil] As time passed, I came to understand that whenever I dream of someone having cancer, that is a message to me that he or she is infected with Evil. We all have seen “godfather” things Mario has done that caused us to shake our heads. Like when he had Kay Thacker evicted from a county commission meeting by a deputy sheriff after she gave a “thumbs-down” signal to a county commission vote that did not suit her. Like when he violates the Sunshine Law, and then acts as if he is is above it. Like when he votes to approve a waterfront development project the first time comes before the County Commission, before it has been publicly vetted, and after the County Attorney tells him it is out of order and/or will not likely be accepted by the Department of Community Affairs.
 
Like when Mario called me the evening of the last primary election in Key West, which left incumbent Mayor Morgan McPherson running slightly behind former Mayor Jimmy Weekley in a runoff. Mario was all agitated, commanding me to do all I could to get “that boy” (Morgan) reelected. “We need that boy.” Many times Mario said this, assuming I was in full agreement. Not once did he ask how I felt about it, which was that I was stunned to learn only just then that Mario was apparently linked at the hip with Morgan. More than stunned, I was terrified. Terrified for Key West, terrified for the Keys, and terrified for Morgan and his family.
 
I got my first close-up view of the “cancer” in Mario during a private conversation in his county commissioner office at the Marathon Airport, when I was running against incumbent commissioner George Neugent in 2006. A get-together suggested by Mario. During that visit, it did not seem to me that Mario heard or took in anything I said, about anything. He seemed to be all output and no input. The only thing he said that rang true to me was, “People tell me Sloan is crazy, and I tell them he is crazy like a fox!” Today'sFloridaKeysDrivel

Doctor Grider Support Group:

[Support group for drug addicts]  Take responsibility for your own actions.  Blaming a Dr. for prescribing legal meds which you sought or blaming a drug dealer for selling illegal drugs to you indicates to me that you have a serious character flaw and are unwilling to look in the mirror and admit the real source of your troubles.  Get a life and quit being a leech.

Hey bwitched53@yahoo.com, Why doesn't your loved one take responsibility for their drug addiction.  The Doc tries to help people, that's what doctors do. Who knows what they are telling him and what evidence they have "proving" their pain.  Have you even tried talking with Doc Grider?  He is a very reasonable and caring man.  Instead of bashing him on a public web site try putting your anger to a better use by helping your loved one receive treatment.  Doc Grider has helped my family numerous times, from stitches late at night to visiting my terminally ill Dad at home, on a Sunday morning, to make sure he was comfortable.  Just think, the few minutes it took you to bash Doc Grider could have put to better use by letting your fingers do the walking in the yellow pages and looking under "Drug Addiction Treatment".  Quit enabling your loved one by doing nothing, other than blaming Doc Grider.

I just read the hurtful post about a local Doctor and had to respond. This person is the most caring Doctor. He will meet you at the Office on weekends, after hours, and even on holidays. He will even return calls on the off hours. He is like the old fashioned doctor that made house calls. He and his staff are professional. I don't know what the lower keys would do without him.

I would like to defend Dr. Grider and I feel that the poster should give Dr. Grider an apology.  He has helped thousands of people in need.  If he prescribes a drug for someone that is none of your business.   I have been to his office when I was hurting and in need from acute bronchitis as well as a broken finger.  He has helped my husband with a case of MRSA.  Please give credit where credit is due.  If you have a problem with that office there are ways to try to understand. If your loved one has a problem then you should have them go to counseling and if you like go with them.  Since you are asking only for yourself and waited for years to ask I am wondering how much you really care.  Take a trip with your loved one next time and ask questions at that visit and maybe you'll have a better view.  Is your loved one drinking alcohol along with the drug?  This might be part of the problem.  Don't blame Dr. Grider he is a good and caring doctor.

There are support groups for addicts. I believe there is one at St. Peters Catholic church in Big Pine. I believe it's called Al-Anon.  But before you start accusing a doctor, what have you done to stop your family member's problem?  An addict is an addict no matter what his drug of choice is.  They will take whatever they want. If they no longer get pain killers, they'll get street drugs. So, then, are you going to blame drug dealers?  It is his or her responsibility to stop taking pain killers when they are no longer needed. By blaming someone else, you are ignoring where the blame is actually due.  If you don't believe they need pain killers, then why don't you get the guts to go with them to their doctor's appointment and tell the doctor that your loved one doesn't need them?

This is Domino, the Valerie the Cat Lady's Kitty.  He is very nice to the foster cats which visit on occasion. Please spay / neuter your pets since we have so many down here in Paradise. Who's going to trap / neuter / release after the Cat Lady relocates this fall?  Nobody can take her place, but we will need a compassionate person to follow in her footsteps to keep the kitten population down.  There are 70 kitties available right now in the shelters and they cost a whole lot less than dogs and keep themselves spic -n- span.  You’ve got to love those automatic kitty litter self-cleaning boxes.  An only cat is a lonely cat.  Someone is waiting for you at the Shelter.

[Email from France] The illegals have more rights than locals.  I chatted with a neighbor yesterday who complained about an Arab kid doing mischief on his roof.  The young lad like to walk on roofs, breaking tiles, removing some and using others to fix his own roof.  After countless roof leaks, the neighbor took pix of the evidence and had local Gendarmes come and witness the damage.  They too took pix and documented the vandalism.  Well, guess what happened next?  The file got returned to the neighbor "for insufficient evidence."  I keep hearing such stories over and over again.  The cops are to the point where they are afraid of the illegals that outgun them.   Pop up ads increasingly are in Arabic on French sites, making you wonder what kind of gov’t largesse is being dished out now.  It stinks!

Redneck Water Skiing.

We need oil and we need it now. Its time to demand our politicians ignore the eco freaks and ask for the Keys to be the part of the state that asks for oil rigs in our waters. Its time to take the bull by the horns. I ask every Conservative to call their county government officials and start calling Charlie Crist and let him know the Keys are fine with oil drilling off our coast. Join our group Conservative Conchs for Keys Drilling. Soon I will post our website. Drill the Keys and screw the Arabs. Join the CCKD.

Attached is the screen print I promised 10 weeks ago from the Nantucket Steamship Authority ship’s wireless.  It looks like you have been upgraded from blocked for porn to blocked for adult language!

Click on the apple, it will keep you out of trouble for awhile! http://www.ferryhalim.com:80/orisinal/g2/applegame.htm

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Sunday June 29, 2008

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Saturday June 28, 2008

[Libraries to Stay Opened] Mario DiGennaro yesterday announced that, by popular demand, the libraries will remain open, but he will further cut back on the hours. Write the date down because it is the first time I can think of that he listened to his constituents. I think the mounting pressure for the commissioners to give up something themselves (their offices and staffs) got their attention.

Sal Gutierrez is going to be on channel 79 television on Sunday at 7:00pm. Tune in.

So you think that global warming is a fact, we hear it yelled at every roof top. But not all agree nor does all the data. Believe what you want I for one do not know what is going to happen or what causes it, but you are foolish if you think you do. I like this quote from FOX News. Do you sense any spin in this article? Seems like some speculation is added by "scientists" that do not want to admit to the possibility the sun is a possible culprit. "Global warming on Neptune's moon Triton as well as Jupiter and Pluto, and now Mars has some [scientists] scratching their heads over what could possibly be in common with the warming of all these planets. Could there be something in common with all the planets in our solar system that might cause them all to warm at the same time?" http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258342,00.html

Thanks for trying to help make the citizens aware of what Monroe County is about to do to our library services. For many years, I was the Branch Manager of the Islamorada (Helen Wadley Branch) library.  I am now retired, and each month, when the bills are paid, I'm nearly broke, but I would gladly pay more taxes to keep our libraries open if there were no other way to meet our County budget requirements. If we start losing things like our access to libraries, we lose our claim to humanity.

I would like to know if there is a support group for family members and loved ones that have become drug addicts due to the local Dr Grider, aka Dr Feel Good, who keeps filling narcotic prescriptions whether or not the person needs it, and also filling them for many years. If there is then maybe we could put our minds together to see if this pain can be stopped. ~bwitched53@yahoo.com

It’s too bad Bush isn’t interested in learning because he would have been aware of Stalin’s almost catastrophic mistake of dismantling the Red Army, purging its high command and destroying its officer corps months before Hitler invaded Russia. That mistake wouldn’t have been repeated in Iraq when he dismantled their Army. Let’s get a smart man for the next president, even if he is colored.

Very soon China will be the largest English speaking country in the world. I wonder if they’re angry when they hear “Press 1 for Chinese”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqfunyCeU5g

I am an informed citizen. I am pleased that the US Supreme Court has finally interpreted the Second Amendment as meaning that the individual citizen has the right to bare arms. Wearing long sleeve shirts all summer is too hot!

Larsen A and Larsen B were ice shelves in Antarctica. The first one, that melted was there forever. It was larger than the state of Rhode Island. My nemesis wrote that the ice is increasing there.  Things that make you go 'hmmmm'.

[Antarctica ice increase] Google “Antarctica ice increase phenomena”. You can bring up many posts with that info. One of the best, in my opinion, is NASAs. The latest satellites  images show Antarctica’s ice increasing at a rather rapid clip.

[The Hungarian sells second book] Congratulations Imre.

[Hey, Petro Puss]  That began a posting yesterday. Well folks that clever little greeting spoke volumes of the intellect of the greeter.  I will agree with that poster that speculators are one of the causative factors of the current crisis, and that they do damage the oil industry.  But, the real reason for the price is always basic supply and demand.  Demand is sky high and growing, supply is low, therefore prices are high.  My deep concern is not totally about the price, I’m deeply worried that we depend on foreigners for more than 2/3rds of our oil.  We’re vulnerable to being cut off.  No oil, no economy!  That’s why we need to supply our own oil.  The “68 mil acres and unused drilling leases” argument is nothing but a lame liberal talking point, it’s without merit.  Big oil is big oil because it’s smart and doesn’t drill where it can’t make money.  If it’s probable that there’s no oil on a current lease, they won’t drill.  If they don’t use the lease, they lose it.  It will cost outrageous amounts of money to drill on the new offshore sites.  If they weren’t convinced that there was oil there, and money to be made, they wouldn’t screw with it.

[Water vapor is the most damaging component of all the green house gasses] Where did this come from, a new Al Gore movie? Millions of tons of water vapor are created each day by evaporation from the world's oceans. It is essential to life on Earth and, by the way, is not a gas by definition, but the vapor form of liquid water. This linked site might be a bit complicated for that reader, but it explains how water vapor is important to our ecosystem: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html Read and get educated. Ignorance is annoying.

Cretins and Archimedes principle quoting bipeds, check out this web site  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/16/glaciers.climatechange

If you can’t afford the minimal adoption fee to adopt a dog from a shelter you certainly can’t afford veterinary care, routine vaccinations, heartworm preventative and flea and tick preventative for a dog.  Get a goldfish.

To the person who felt that Fred Colvard was wrong on teachers’ current salaries. You missed the mark. Below is a direct quote from that e-mail.

In 2004, Monroe County voters first approved the flexible funding formula which allowed the School Board to transfer $8.3M from the capital account to the operating account and those funds were to be used as raises. At that time, the teacher payroll was approximately $25 Million and based on the average teacher salary ($41,618.), teachers should have been entitled to as much as a 33% raise in 2004/2005. Instead the increase was only 15%....Unfortunately, in reviewing previous school board budgets, it appears that monies are being allocated to areas of administration rather than instructional.

I think you better review the e-mail again. He was discussing what happened in 2004. He was explaining where the money went. It sounds pretty suspicious to me. I’m voting for Fred Colvard. He has the education and experience. His opposition is worried about their high priced salaried mystery jobs. Spend, spend, spend! No end in sight, Acevedo!

Just look what a lot of oil money can do. And they say oil will be up to $160 a barrel in the next 2 months! Slide Show

[Why am I not surprised] We just paid North Korea $2,500,000of tax dollars to blowup a 28 year old,  probably worn out, pile of tubing to make us look important.

Not only can you lift a new baby by the umbilical cord, if you have a tank of helium you can inflate them and have a hell of a conversation piece at your next party! Way better than Mylar and the cord makes for a handy tether.

Folks in Marathon got treated to an unusual sight as the new Coast Guard manned surveillance blimp hovered over the Mosquito Control hanger at the Airport yesterday. Evidently, one of the Mosquito people are good friends with the company that owns the blimp and they stopped on the way to NASKW where they’ll be delivering the blimp.

To all posters who comment on oil. Let's come clean with some personal info. Who are the worst offenders? I use 80 to 90 gallons of gasoline per month. I'm self-employed. That includes my work truck, personal vehicle, and my boating. I'd like to think that's lower than the average. What are your numbers?

Don't get me wrong, I like dogs, cats, and all animals, but enough is enough. When I cannot walk down my street without fear of attack from an oversized meat eater or step in something icky, and having to worry about my kid being mauled by a mutated mini T-Rex, I think these culling laws are viable. To bad they don't include some sectors of humanity!

It just doesn’t make economic sense to keep sending trillions of our American dollars to fat cat oil poobahs who hate our guts.  These goons hold the power to shut us down in their grubby fat little hands.  The rest of the world has joined us in being petro dependent.  The oil poobahs no longer really need us as customers and that contributes to our current plight.  Your argument that exploiting our own resources is deadly to the ecology is not just flawed, its flat wrong.  Hurricanes Katrina and Rita proved the safety of off shore drilling.  Norway, Brittan, and a host of other countries have vast offshore petroleum production facilities that do not sully their shores.  Coal and shale oil can be exploited with minimal impact on the environment.  Nuclear power is safe and economical.  I can’t fathom why or how so many of you want to shut the whole thing down so that we’d return to the 17^th century and probable conquest.  I find it very sad that you claim to value the environment above all else.  If you truly believe that, it means that you are prepared to sacrifice the health, the security, the well being, and the lives of your fellow Americans to massage a gauzy political shibboleth.  I doubt that you really mean that, because if you did you would be living the life of Ted Kaczynski, the Uni bomber, another liberal lover of the environment.  You and yours would be living in a wilderness shack without electricity.  We all live on this planet; the vast majority of us live modest lives, certainly not the Al Gore, Clinton, or Obama lifestyle. 

Those of us who live here on Big Pine love and respect our environment at least as much as you do.  Please give some thought to the fact that your arguments would have more credence and I would have more respect for you if you would assure us that you do not drive, have electricity, use medicines, or consume food.  The final fact is that we simply must regain energy independence so that we can endure while we are fashioning new methods of electrical production and new technologies that will permit us to live absent fossil fuels.  Even we evil and greedy conservatives are aware that petro supplies are finite.  Now, sadly this entire fur ball has become a partisan issue, and far too many of our liberal friends are stuck arguing against common sense solutions to this dangerous issue.

The Gasoline crisis, petro chaos, off-shore drilling, domestic policy---blah blah blah. None of this would have happened if not for the pressure and greed of the big-three auto makers and the influence their lobby had over the lawmakers.  We should have been implementing alternative fuel sources years ago. Geeze, couldn't anyone see the increasing demand versus the limited resources of oil? The Middle East has us by the short hairs and until we start getting away from petroleum (which will take decades) we will be owned by them. This country is in a lot of trouble. We have not yet begun to see the domino effect of these price gouging fuel prices. I was at the Winn Dixie the other day and saw a gallon of milk for $7 dollars! Oh, my God. Like many of us in this small community, we know each other by face and not necessarily name, and one of those people told me to buy the Winn Dixie brand which I did and I was grateful. I am not an alarmist, but some of the things predicted in the bible are starting to show up in daily life pertaining to the cost of food and it being a precursor to the End of Days.

Is Imus a mullethead?

[Four years from now no ice in Antarctica in summer] Look at the bright side - we'll all be able to visit Antarctica in the summer without bringing our thermal undies!

“Reefpublicans” and “Democrabs” are to congregate in the Lower Florida Keys Saturday, July 12, when the 24th annual Underwater Music Festival puts an undersea spin on the upcoming 2008 presidential elections.  The quirky underwater concert takes place at Looe Key Reef, an area of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary located approximately six miles south of Big Pine Key. Each year, the subsea songfest draws as many as 600 divers and snorkelers to explore the colorful diversity of marine life that characterizes North America’s only living coral barrier reef.  The 2008 festival is to salute November’s “eel-ections” with underwater appearances by divers costumed as “Barackuda Obama,” “Hillary Clintuna” and “John McClam” among other political notables.  Set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bulletin Board

Whatever benefits the Iraq war has produced I cannot justify the cost in lives and money that has been expended. The Iraq war has sidetracked almost all our resources from the war on terrorism and our real mission which is to destroy Al Queda.

It is the angry, helpless people who do not bring their guns with them.

[Climate Change a Myth] "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism." (C.C. Horner - Regnery Publishing 2007)  It is 350 pages of hard facts and figures, charts and graphs by scientists and other experts in the field of climatology exposing the Global Warming hype and hysteria as the ideal scare campaign for those who want to establish global governance with a goal of strict control over corporate and individual behavior and making billions of dollars along the way for well connected politicians like Al Gore, environmental groups and individuals with much to gain by selling solutions to a non-existent crisis.  

You may not remember that in 1970 the environmentalists began their Earth Day amid deep anxiety over global cooling and the Washington Post warned that "the worst is yet to come," in a piece titled: "Colder Winters Herald Dawn of New Ice Age."  In a November 23, 1992 edition of Newsweek an article titled: "Return of the Glaciers," said, "The advent of a new ice age, scientists say, appears to be guaranteed.  The devastation will be astonishing.  Many of the world's great cities will be crushed to rubble; most of the world's agricultural breadbasket will become wind-swept tundra; countless species will fall extinct as their habitats are frozen out of existence."   Pretty scary stuff, eh? 

Climate runs in cycles and the media blindly follows along. Over the years the media has printed the horrors of:  1932 "Catastrophic global cooling."  1929-1950 "Catastrophic global warming."  1954-1976 "Catastrophic global cooling."  1981 - present "Catastrophic man-made global warming."

When the politicians and the environmental zealots start wringing their trembling hands and whimpering about the latest "global crisis" you can bet they're in it for the money.  Relax everybody.  The polar caps are doing just fine and the sun will come up tomorrow just like it has for quite some time now.

[Lost keys in Keys] Big Pine Key area. If anyone has recently found a set of keys please call 305 393-7782.  They have been missing for a week. 
Classified Ads > Lost & Found

Anyone looking for a good physical therapist? Try Bay Shore Physical Therapy in Marathon. Arjen Holdinga and staff are outstanding.289-8270 Business Directory > Medical

Here is my little container garden. Cucumber, tomato, squash and green and banana peppers. As they mature, I plan a replacement so we have fresh home grown goodies all year round. Try it, it's fun and it will save you money. Also, rather than cursing the fact that the chickens are all over the place; encourage the creatures to live on your properties and gather the eggs. Cluck, cluck! You can't get more "free range" than these eggs and they taste great.

[George Carlin and Don Imus] That is not a good comparison. Imus is broadcast over the public airways and works for a radio station. Yes, George found a way to make fun of everything and in so doing offended many. I do not necessarily agree with all of his opinions, but they sure were funny as hell. Imus is a racist and I have never heard him say anything of any value. He needs to go and disappear and while they are at it, take the fat Rush Limbaugh with him. I wish that the dems never got the majority in Congress. Ever since that happened, the conservatives blame them instead of the dork that is responsible. Governor Bush, that is. What George Carlin called him as that was the last political office to which he was elected legitimately(?).

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Saturday June 28, 2008

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Friday June 27, 2008

[Two big bucks items that the County is missing for potential savings]
1. Copy machines. There are huge Xerox copy machines in almost every office in the County. The last Director of Technical Services pissed off a commissioner's aide (guess which) by suggesting that they share a machine with the Marathon Airport. Nope. Didn't happen. "Too much confidential information" said the aide, in an office governed by Florida Sunshine laws. (Little do they know that investigators can snoop at any time, copying their "confidential information" for anything run through the machine to a disk drive--The marvels of modern technology!)  Now, both this commissioner's office as well as the Marathon Airport pay thousands per year each for a lease for 40,000 copies per month for a shiny new Xerox machine and a total of almost 1,000,000 pages per year from one building! Do you think they're actually copying that many? Nope. Not 10% of that, I'd guess. There are 4 or 5 of these Xerox machines at every facility.

2. Telephone maintenance. There is a full time technician from AT&T that is on site at Monroe County for which the County pays over $120,000 per year. He's made a career there and has worked there for more than 20 years. Yes, onsite at Monroe County as an employee of Bell South, now AT&T. He's a great guy, but the County has likely paid more for his services than any other single employee.  Considering the fact that he brings his own tools and truck, $120k isn't a terrible deal, but I know of no organization of fewer than 1,000 employees anywhere that has a full time tech who does nothing but telephone and wiring work.  Get rid of this contract by invoking the non-funding provision of the contract and bid out for a pay-as-you go contract for service. The huge Nortel switches the County owns have capacity for four times the current size. The County bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of options that have never been implemented by AT&T and it is hopelessly outdated. There are piles and piles of purchased and unused telephone equipment lying in rooms all over the County.  There are a number of local wiring and computer companies who would love to have this contract or get wiring contracts and save the County thousands. 

The County should follow the School Board's lead, who implemented a telephone system that is much less expensive to operate and gets rid of expensive customer AT&T services.  If you don't believe any of these things, file a Sunshine request with the Clerk of Court for information about BellSouth AT&T payments and payments to Xerox and Budde's. The smoking guns are there.

A technical services director was fired about a year ago for, among other things, raising these issues of waste to the previous Administrator's attention. Gee, no one wants to look bad, do they?  Let's see if the new Administrator has the guts to clean this up.

I just heard from Diana Reed from Channel 7. She spoke with Jimmy Buffett's lawyer who said that they are sending me a letter stating that Jimmy did not coin the phrase.

He also said that Jimmy is aware of this, but they have to do this when they become aware that someone is using the name or they will lose their trademark. I hope you all can join us at Margaritaville on July 19th for our "Buffett Bash".  It probably won't do any good, but we'll have a hell of a lot of fun. ~The Conch Republic Coconut Telegraph ‘till the fat lady sings.

We are against energy independence at all costs because sacrificing the environment is not worth it. I’m sorry that I can’t give you the web links and statistics you crave, but our argument is very basic: the environment before anything else. That argument is the reason your “liberals and Republicans” will never see eye to eye. I did like the simplification the other day when someone wrote of the two parties: The party of Us and the party of Me. That really is how it is.