Friday, November 9, 2012

 (The Coconut Telegraph is not published on Saturdays – November 11, 2012)

Saturday is the United States Marine Corps’ 237th birthday. Happy Birthday!

In 1965, a massive blackout left much of the northeastern United States and Ontario, Canada, without power. I remember it well. With nothing else to do I lit some candles and took a bath while there was still hot water. It was eerie lying in the tub in a busy city with silence and darkness all around.

The next workshop of our computer club is coming up this Saturday, November 10, 10 am at the senior center.  Hope to see you there.

protected his job. The Big Fish County Administrator walks around with a slap on the hand. go morals Roman. ~conchbubba@yahoo.com

Washington state has approved gay marriage, joining Maine and Maryland as the first states to pass same-sex marriage by popular vote. They also 

legalized pot for fun use.

“Near record low temperatures” and “low near 62 degrees” Overheard while walking through living room from the Weather Channel this evening. I looovve
living in the Keys!

[Aging America] 98,000 Americans  are turning 65 every day.

It looks like it is going to be a beautiful weekend for the Flea Market. There are a lot of new vendors setting up now. Larry is back with awesome fresh
top quality produce. Jack, our favorite Igloo cooler guy, is here. Al’s Watchworld has moved up front and so has Mark with all the carved wood from Bali.
There are tee shirts, jewelry, dresses and housewares galore. Come in Saturday and Sunday 8am till 2pm and enjoy fresh fish sandwiches and dinners from
our Fish Fry. Thanks for supporting us locals.

[New Low-fare Airline] The prices of the air flights in and out of Key West are what inquiring minds want to know. Attention Columnists and reporters: Tell
prices.

Recently most of the Federal government was closed and employees stayed home due to Hurricane Sandy. Here’s a photo of some Federal
employees that went to their office.

The world will end in 43 days on December 21st. Don’t forget, mark your calendar.

[Farm Vehicle] When you live on a farm you learn to make do with whatever you find in the barn. This is a perfect example of why we save everything. This car has been built with all of the junk laying out back in the pile, and under the work bench, and stuffed in the rafters.All this guy needed was a little time on his hands. Spotted in Swan River Mb(?) Its a car? or a truck?

[Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act] This federal law prohibits the killing of migratory birds such as eagles, hawks, and owls. Killing a migratory bird violates
this law and can result in a fine of up to $15,000 and/or six months in prison. So why is okay when the federal government kill eagles, owls and hawks, but
if you or I were to kill one, we would end up in prison?

Monroe County Clerk of Court-elect Amy Heavilin violated a federal law prohibiting local government employees that oversee federal grants and funds to run in partisan elections. Heavilin will not be sworn in as clerk until Jan. 1, which leaves the position temporarily vacant and up for appointment by the governor.
Heavilin said she plans to submit her name for appointment. Link

BayJama Reggae Fest to rock Islamorada. Link

Dear political candidates, congratulations to the winners, kudos to all for giving voters a choice. Now everyone please remove your campaign signs. Thank
you.

We have a freshly smoked bunch of fish today. Just look at that picture. Ummm!

[Words Can Hurt] As a young child I was wisely instructed that: “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can never hurt you”. As this empowering information was reaffirmed by my teachers, I cultivated a tenacious resolve that shielded me against the unkind things that would inevitably be said to me.

Frequently frolicking outdoors, I discovered that my playmates had received the same instruction. However, there were times when we directed indecent
comments towards one another. With feigned pity and disgust, we took great pride in robustly scolding one another for violating the parental admonishment
that we had received.

Gleefully, we would persuasively recite in cadence the aforementioned refrain. Didn’t these unfortunate simpletons know that they had no power to harm us
with their words? Without exception, the ‘name callers’ would abruptly cease and desist from mouthing their insults.
As children we were aware that hurtful verbalizations didn’t have the power to injure. This liberating reassurance freed and protected us from the unkind
utterances that can be expected from kids and mis-guided adults. It formed an indispensable foundation, which prompted us to think, dream, explore and
express ourselves independently of anyone’s opinion or approval.

In stark contrast to this emancipating wisdom, we have a school district that teaches our children: “Words Can Hurt”. A large banner prominently displayed at
the entrance to an elementary and middle school greets our students everyday with this frightening and debilitating notion. Instructional programs within the
school district celebrate and reinforce this dishonest and crippling proposition.

Children chronically exposed to such indoctrinating propaganda can be traumatized. Where will an antidote that remedies the contamination of these young
minds come from? What other fallacious doctrines are the taxpayers paying for?

Instructing children that the words of another may damage them, diminishes their capacity to learn and feel good about themselves. It’s a cruel hoax that
provides a convenient diversion.

Creating a classroom environment that actually provides a nurturing experience where analytical reasoning, skill mastery and academic achievement
internally generate a student’s confidence, self-esteem and imagination is challenging; and far more humane.

[Love Story] When I was a child my family used to sometimes take our vacations, in British Columbia. We had a favorite place to visit, mostly because
of the fine fishing, and my sister and I would frolic in the nearby woods.

While we sat around our campfire in the evening, the local Indians would go from camp to camp selling their wares. They would also tell of the Legends of the
area. This one Legend always stuck in my mind.

It seemed that on this particular lake two Indian tribes made their homes. They were, however, at war, with one another from years before.

There was an Indian Maiden in one camp who was in love with a young Brave in the other camp. They used to stand, on the shore, each on their respective
side of the lake, and chant Indian love calls to each other…even though they were warned by their Chiefs that nothing could ever come of it. One day they just
could not stand being apart any longer.

That evening, on a cold Fall night, they each jumped into the lake and swam towards each other in the Moonlight. When they reached each other in the center
of the Lake, they embraced and, very quickly, froze to death. This act so impressed the Brave’s Tribe that they named the Lake after the young man.

I will never forget those wonderful vacations that we spent at Lake Dumbsonofabitch.

[Fundraiser] Island Christian School is fundraising in the community for their senior year missions trip to the Cayman Islands where they will do service at an orphanage
and bring toys and supplies. The funds raised will go to transportation and lodging and donations to the orphanage. All tips, monies collected at the car wash
and 10% of what SeaSide Dawgs makes during this time will go to the fundraiser. For more info Bulletin Board

[Rockwell Retro Encabulator] At last in plain English. How your computer works. Video 

N. Key Largo sewer project in jeopardy. Link

Keys events celebrate military veterans. Link

To the “old white man” who was at the embassy when Saigon fell. You sir, exemplify everything that our great nation was built on. And for that, I wholeheartedly
salute you. You sound like my kind of people. I’d love to buy you a drink. Stop by Coconuts on a Sunday or Monday afternoon and tell the bartender who you
are.

As a middle of the road female Independent, the modern GOP extremism as totally alienated me. I would never vote for one of these socially conservative
politicians even if their economic platform appealed to me. Once more for the record, we are not a Christian nation to be ruled by biblical principles. We are
a wonderfully diverse democracy, which should be celebrated, not stifled. And the beating the GOP took should open their eyes to this, or they will become
nothing but a footnote in the history books (please keep your damn hands off my body!)

The Dow lost more than 300 points the day after the election. Gee, it seems to me I read numerous times on this very forum how much the stock market
loves Obama

[Sarcasm] All right Barack, I voted for you again, now I want a raise in my monthly government check and an increase in the food stamps I get, I have had two more kids and want supplement income for them, My mother in law watches my kids and you said you will pay her for that. Also, I need a new cell phone and
a new car to drive my kids to Miami because the health care is not so good here in the Keys. My trailer is falling apart and need you to send money to fix it
up. Barack, send over your government benefits worker to tell me how I can get more government money. Oh, and thank you for not asking me to get a job. Not that I ever would. Damn Barack, you sure know how to talk it up. Hurry up and tax those rich folks so you can get me more cause the $72.000 you give me
every year is not cutting it.

Shirt pocket notes.
1. I guess Obama’s chair got the last word in with its discussion with Clint Eastwood.
2. Radios favorite Conservative Rush Limbaugh says that Obama lost the election because Latinos think of him as Santa Claus giving out freebies. I hate to
tell the guy that the Latinos I see working around the Keys year round seem to be pretty hardworking. Its easy to judge how hard someones working when you
drive by in a Limo. I’m not seeing these lazy beggars the republicans are saying won the election for Obama.
3. Poor old Ted Neugent. What a cry baby. Suck it up tough guy.
4. Here’s the most interesting fact from the election. I read that of the 10th richest counties in the U.S. Obama won 8 of them. Kills the only people wanting a
handout voted for Obama claim.
5. This election saw fewer Republicans voting this Presidential then the last one. Millions less. We can assume they are tired of the constant right-wing 
whining themselves.

[The FTR Guy] After glancing at the FTR Guy’s column for the 2nd day after the election, why does this matter to anyone anymore? This person is a wing nut.
In the past I suggested he should be moved to the recycle bin. Now I say put him in there permanently. If this can’t be done, I have one more request where
him and his ideas (mostly lies) should be put. Try the toilet bowel along with a couple of good flushes.

The United States of America passed away late last night with an almost silent whimper. She was 236 years old. The grand old lady died of neglect,
stupidity, arrogance and pure abuse at the hands of both her leaders and its ignorant populace. She will be survived by the Socialist Democratic Republic of Obamerica or SDRO.
Also killed in this same massive, catastrophic, progressive wreck were personal freedoms, American values, exceptionalism, The Constitution, economic
growth, conservatism, fiscal sanity, American unity, free markets, life’s sanctity, marriage between man and woman, Republicanism, free will, self-reliance
and many more so mutilated as to be unrecognizable any longer.
May she rest in peace and God bless her!
July 4, 1776-November 6, 2012

[Obama Won And America Lost] The lib dems will be screaming when the health care costs/taxes etc. kick in in the future. All the liberal benefits will have to
be paid for and taxing those above $250,000 will not do it. America is on it’s way downhill and will not be a world power in the future. We will be Greece.
Dems will end up taxing America out of existence because when we are weak the Chinese will eliminate us.

[“Can someone remind Trump what happens to rich loudmouths in a revolution”] In the case of this country, some of them became President of the United
States after the American Revolution.

How aggressively will the main stream media investigate & report on the upcoming Benghazi hearings? Can we expect the same aggressive, in depth, hard
nose reporting they showed investigating Nixon? Or can we expect the usual sugar coated “Nothing to see here reporting” given to us since ’08? Our
embassy was attacked & burned and 4 Americans murdered, one our ambassador. Add the terror attack was blamed on a video. That turned out to be a lie
to the American people from “the most transparent administration ever”.

During Watergate no one was murdered yet the media coverage was epic & demands for Nixon to resign resonated across the country. My guess is the
media’s response will be, “Nothing to see here folks, let’s move on, heal the country & our economy.”

[We Will Be Slaves] It is indeed interesting to be regaled on this site by some of the posters whom are so immersed in extolling their superior views
regarding the political climate that they now feel emboldened to state who should be allowed to voice their opinion, and who shouldn’t. They have even gone
so far as to telling us where we should locate our property and lives, I don’t believe the founding fathers had this belief system in mind when they set out the
framework of our country, of course it seems of little note to so many these days to regard freedom as much of a virtue, conformity in all things seems to be
more and more the word of the day to carry us forward, and to completely disregard anyone who does not accept and practice the posters ideology, these
are thoughts that go against the very essence of what the founders had in mind for this country, the journey we are presently on into collectivism, and full blown
socialism which eventually ends in virtual mind numbing slavery, can be a very incremental process, but people can be indeed lulled into the song of the
snake oil merchants. Men do indeed mean to govern well, but they mean to govern.

[Eternal Life] I met a fairy who said she would grant me one wish. Immediately I said, “I want to live forever.” “Sorry,” said the fairy, “I’m not allowed to grant
eternal life.” “OK,” I said, “Then, I want to die after Congress gets its head out of its ass!” “You crafty bastard,” said the fairy.

In yesterdays post the FTR person stated that Blacks vote in blocks based on race rather than on the issues, this is a simple minded (ie stupid) comment
which is not factual, all one needs to do is go back to the 2004 election between Bush and Kerry to see clearly that the Black vote in that election went 88%
to Kerry, who was not black [Ed: Either was Bush] the last time I checked. The fact is the Black vote is based on issues not race as the Republican party has
always opposed measures which improve the life and equity of the minority population. Check out this link before making anymore racist statements. Link

[Early voting] The big problem with people is that even if they had two months to vote, for them to get off their lazy butts and just go do it.

After those old white guys dealt with the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito, they were only expendable, just a footnote in history. As the world turns.

What has the current federal administration done in the past two days to increase jobs, without increasing the national debt?

 From the Right

Thank you Deer CT left field friends for thinking of me. It is flattering, but it does reveal something of your thought processes. Many of you seem to think
that the Obama win is of less import than this Olde Fart expressing his opinions. That’s very strange and in a perverse way flattering. Its revealing how hard
wired our Democrat and left field friends are to silence any opposition. Their mantra is “shut ‘em up or get ‘em outa Dodge”.

Please take a moment and read yesterday’s CT political section. Our CT left fielders were either braying or chest thumping or they were demanding that
voices critical to their candidate be silenced. Not surprising, but revealing. It would have been surprising if even one of the Obama fans even mentioned
what they expected Mr. Obama to accomplish in his last 4 years. It would have been astounding if even a one them would have described to us how he/she
expected Obama to accomplish those expectations.

But, it didn’t happen. Instead they bitched about nonsensical stuff. One even bitched about the slot that FTR pays for in the CT. Why, why do you left wingers
torture yourself by scrolling through the entire web site to the very bottom, then carefully read every sentence of these humble postings, and then consider
every nuance, if it annoys you so much? Deer Friends, that is really weird behavior. I urge you left fielders to quit reading the bottom CT slot, take a nice
warm bath, have some chamomile tea, contemplate the wonderfulness of the Obama, chant, and don’t think about FTR. If all else fails, sit in a circle and pick
the lint from your collective navels. You will feel better soon. You will feel better for a few moments, but it won’t last for long because FTR is here to stay.

The Obama fans should be happy, very happy with the election results. They should be expressing glee and pride in the victory. You would think that they
would be assuring all in the CT community that Obama will lead us to a shining city on a hill. Or maybe even try to convince us that Obama will get around to
honoring a few of his ’08 promises. But they don’t, that’s revealing.

The election of Obama and his crew was a disappointment to very nearly half of all American voters. In only 4 years Obama has managed to divide this
nation as sharply as it was before the civil war. In this election we Republicans lost because the Democrats managed to convince millions that Romney was a
murdering rapist of downtrodden businesses. And it helped the Democrat cause in that Obama has cast himself and big government in the role of Santa. The
Dems managed to convince millions that success is nasty and must be crushed. The Democrat class warfare has succeeded in convincing millions that
those who have achieved must be punished. Think of that: punish success and reward failure.

The election was a loss for the Republicans and the nation, but it was not a mandate for Obama or his policies. The turnout was substantially lower in 2012
than it was in 2008. The margin of Obama’s ‘12 national victory was less than a third of what it was in ’08. (2% vs. 7.2%). That is very good, just not quite
good enough. Romney would have made a great president, but he was a lousy candidate.
In order to win in the current world a presidential candidate must be wildly charismatic, photogenic, and a striking orator. While Romney had none of that, he
did have the visions, the plan, and the skills to rescue us. Once again the voters chose glitz above substance. I suspect that the next Republican candidate
will be someone very much like Marco Rubio who has much substance and a modicum of glitz.
The election did not a damned thing to change the balance of power in Congress. Obama won by a sliver and he is now a short timer. He has very little
political capital. Obama is certainly more egomaniacal than he is an ideologue, so there is a very good chance that he will worry more about how history
views him than he will worry about pleasing his base. It is very likely that he and the Reps will come to compromise on the tax issue. Obama knows that if he
continues to devote his energies to his class warfare by punishing the achievers with higher taxes, the Reps will bar it from happening. Then we will go over
the fiscal cliff and we will be in Obama recession ver2.

If that happens, Obama will go down in history as the President who ruined our economy. If you think that’s nonsense, please remember that our recovery
from recession and debt that began in 2001 was going strong under Bush until 2007 when the Dems took control of Congress in ’07. There wasn’t a damn
thing that Bush could do to stop the Dems from profligate spending and refusing to regulate the banking industry. After only 2 years of Dem control of our
purse strings, our economy crashed. Bush, not congress, was blamed.
Here in Monroe County, Romney did pretty damned good. In the final vote count, Obama won by only 126 votes. Deer Friends, that’s about three tenths of
one percent. In contrast, in 2008 Obama won Monroe Country by 5 percentage points (1962 votes). Here’s a real kicker, in Monroe the number of Obama
voters declined in 2012 from 2008. The number of Romney (Republican) voters increased in 2012 over 2008. The Dems decreased by a larger
percentage than did the Republican increase in voters. Deer Friends, we Republicans are gaining.
The midterm Congressional elections are only a heartbeat away.

A special note to all the CT left field critics: The facts are that the Republican message is growing in strength locally and nationally. Read it and weep. Now,
it’s time to go to work.