Monday, December 2, 2013

Remember walking on the beach. Feeling the ocean up close, digging your toes into the sand. Picking up a small pebble, a sea shell, bird feather and storing it away among your treasured things. Have a blessed holiday.

[Burning] Monroe County is in the process of partnering with a Lower Keys businessman, to incinerate your green waste without a purpose, and create more global warming gases.  Where are the clean air advocates?  Where are GLEE and Last Stand?  The chambers?  They had something to say about the trash haulers, why are they standing in silence now?  No matter how clean the regulatory agencies claim that the air curtain incinerator is, it still releases toxins, diverts money and attention from recycling, and tends to excuse extreme extravagance on the grounds that we can always “burn our trash.”  The County should not be putting such monstrosity in anybody’s backyard.  Contact your Commissioners and let them know that this is not acceptable.

I went to a credit union over a decade ago and never looked back. They offer much lower fees, better yields, easy financing, excellent service, and great security with knowledgeable people watching your assets (credit card usage, etc.).

Banks are greedy and have proven to pull out all the stops to find ways to generate revenue. I fired several banks before going to credit unions due to incompetent personnel and actual errors in statements and amortization tables. Remember ATMs, a “free” way to do business since it would eliminate the need to go to a teller (and the teller’s job). Well, they downsized the tellers as predicted and super sized the fees.

Some states, like Tennessee, even give favored tax treatment to interest earned at credit unions.

Mixing outrage and pleas of financial hardship, commercial fishermen and charter captains will pack every Keys meeting to forcefully argue against proposals for new no-take zones throughout the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.  The Keys fishing community who live upon the water will not go quietly into the night.

[Marathon Journal] The Florida Keys Journal interviewed Marathon Florida Keys Mike Cinque. Cinque was elected to the Marathon City Council in 2007 from the Planning Commission. In 2009 he was elected Mayor. In 2010 he was Vice Mayor. In 2013 Mike was Marathon Mayor again.

-What now? Mike is doing some annual rehab work. He talked about re-thatching the Stuffed Pig Tiki hut. He runs two trailer parks. His projects are long term mostly.

-Best Mayor Moments: Mike got to represent the city at the state and federal levels along with school ceremonies. He was particularly proud of his consensus building efforts.

-Run again or Monroe County Commission? He answered not now, which is typical. Mike said that he had too many things to do at home right now. He might be interested in running for Monroe County Commission at a later date. Cinque would wait on one of the existing commissioners to retire before he gave any thought of jumping into an election.

-Trucking, horses, boating, and other fun things like an old poker game sometimes even to Texas Holdem. He has two horses in training. Mike knows horse whisper Pirelli. He goes boating once in a while to fish or whatever. Mike talked about the fun at a casino with Texas Holdem.

-City Future: He talked about green operations, saving money and the environment.  Pigeon Key, Boot Key, natural resources, Turtle Hospital, Dolphin Research Center, education, and health care all figure into the city’s  bright future.

-Any Last thoughts? Mike was very honored to have served his city. He is still giving back to his city. He reminded me of Youth Day December 8 at 1 PM to 6 PM at the Stuffed Pig. There is National Pig Day March 1 and 2 at the Stuffed Pig of course. February 28 sees Grace Jones and Creative Kids Care events.

The Journal will interview Marathon Florida Keys Councilwoman Ginger Snead next. 

How dare you accuse the Shell gas station owner of gouging us so he can afford to drive a Maserati.  Get your facts straight,  he actually drives a really cool Rolls Royce.

How dare you accuse the Shell gas station owner of gouging us so he can afford to drive a Maserati.  Get your facts straight,  he actually drives a really cool Rolls Royce.

[“No Windstorm Insurance July 1 permits for new construction or substantial improvement”] Ah, there lies the loophole! How much is considered substantial? 51%? Of what? Structure or value? Pull one permit for 50% and complete before January 1 and then pull another early next year? Wonder what a half renovated house would look like. Would it be vertically split or horizontal? (just kidding). What if HARC or the building dept has “substantial” change orders?

[Lights Out] On Jan. 1 manufacturers will stop producing 60- and 40-watt incandescent lightbulbs in order to comply with the Energy Independence and Security Act, which requires household lighting to be 27 percent more efficient. The typical American home contains more than 40 standard light bulb fixtures, so a lot of homeowners are not too happy about the legislation. However, there is a benefit to doing a complete changeover: You’ll save an average of $143 per year on your electric bill.

Does your Christmas list include fishing gear, electronics or even a tricked out Yamaha sports bike? Check out the Sheriff’s auction.  Link 

[“I propose drug testing be mandatory for all workers in the Keys”] Except for cops and politicos of course!

[“Shell BPK/Ramrod/Summerland shady gas prices”] Yes they bought them and cleaned the places up. It’s a shame they are charging even more than Key West, 4 cents more as of today. Gas prices always been higher in the Keys, but it seems these richie rich types are pushing the limits, likely paid way too much for those stations. People with that much money were likely forced to invest for citizenship or tax purposes. By the way Fl. minimum wage is $7.79 hr. so paying $8 an hour under the table and running that risk seems to be an unnecessary need for them to take. All I can suggest is boycott them and contribute to GasBuddy.com. If and when Tom Thumb BPK renovates their pumps and tanks will see a price hike there also.

[Cudjoe Key] Wastewater construction is in full swing and there is plenty of dust and mess to go around.  If you have not been here since the construction started, you are in for a real surprise when you get here.  There have been a number of complaints raised by residents who have found trash, mud, dirt and unnecessary damages  caused by the crews.  Jan Edelstein volunteered and has had success as our liaison to the FKAA which has resulted in corrective actions by the contractors.  Thank you, Jan!

[Septic Tanks] From the Florida Administrative Code referring to septic tanks: “any existing and prior approved system which has been placed into use and which remains in satisfactory operating condition shall remain valid for use under the terms of the rule and permit under which it was approved.”

However, if a central sewer system comes along, you must connect says another rule somewhere else. Seems to me that if the central sewer does not come by your house, your trusty old septic tank should be fine. Face reality- if you are that far off the developed area, you pose no environmental hazard at all with a septic tank and decent drain field. Dump the pumps! Stop LPS sewers. Stop hassling the isolated property owners.

I call for a nonbinding referendum calling for the Florida Sportsman Magazine’s dissolution of bras on their female cover models.

Don’t forget, when the grinder pump in your yard quits working you can contact your local government officials and thank them for giving you the opportunity to deal with it.   Then you can go for a ride on the new-old Seven Mile Bridge that you were sacrificed for and look down at the water, it will cheer you up.

Habitat’s Holiday Parade Party, Sat, Dec 7th at  5:30 pm until parade passes by (parade starts at 7:00 pm), Hosted by the Chelsea House, 709 Truman Ave. Key West. Give your first gift of the season to Habitat this year. Before you take your front row view of Key West’s Annual Holiday Parade you can sip champagne or a sparkling beverage while you nibble holiday desserts & treats from some of the finest local bakeries and restaurants. Very special gifts will be available at a Select Silent Auction. Enjoy your holiday favorites and sing carols along with vocalist Karen Heins accompanied on piano by Linda Sparks.  Come dressed for your photo with Santa and Mrs. Klaus, of course. Enjoy all this for only a $20 donation at the door.

For more information or to get involved call the Habitat for Humanity office in Key West. Events 

[Citizen Of The Day Says] I love being able to meet so many people from all over the world.

Protect Sea Cucumbers! Sea cucumbers are popular for aquariums and for use in medicine in Asia.  Link

[Gravity is Hard To Beat] Still to be verified but from a good source: Indian River County has grinder pumps, but a bacteria found in raw sewage is being found in quantity in the Indian River and has been linked to recent manatee deaths there. A big problem with pressure sewer systems is that leaks are injected into the ground and are difficult to locate or even know they exist. With a gravity sewer, leaks usually manifest as infiltration or inflow and can be found by just looking in manholes late at night. Please protest LPS sewer systems and grinder pumps. They are not a real improvement. Gravity sewers or nothing at all!

[Conspiracy Man] It seems a possible cover-up is taking place between NASA and our government. It was reported by NASA, on Nov. 27th, that Comet ISON had disintegrated as it entered the suns gravity and spun out.  No further details have been given by NASA as of today. The truth is that Comet ISON fragmented as it did it’s sling shot effect when circling the sun. It turns out that NASA’s estimate of the Comets size was inaccurate.

NASA claimed the Comet was less than 2 miles wide, when it’s actually over 12 miles wide. It turns out that the Comet did not disintegrate, but that it fragmented into 2 colossal pieces with a smaller cluster of rocky debris in the center, in between the 2 giant pieces. The cluster is holding together, and is still taking the projectedtrajectory towards earths path. The problem now is that as it continues to travel its path through earths orbit, the cluster will begin to separate.

Since Comet ISON is a unique Comet in its behavior. There is no telling if these fragmented pieces will collide with the earth, as earth passes through the Comets tail between the end of December throughout the middle of January 2014. In 2009 this crop circle was discovered, and looks exactly like what Comet ISON looks like today with it’s fragmented pieces, and something that resembles the earth behind it. Could this have been a celestial warning? Video 

[Petition] I talked to a guy at the Cracked Egg this morning who lives on No Name Key. No matter whether he is forced off his septic tank to a grinder pump or an aerobic system, he is looking at being forced to connect to commercial power. With impact fees and wiring his house for conventional power, he is facing a bill of about $35,000, he said. If he had a gravity connection in the road even if it led to an FKAA owned grinder pump in the right-of-way, he could save most of that $35k. We need to push hard to get rid of all grinder pumps on private property. The Petitions against grinders are picking up momentum again.

The Underseas dive shop on BPK has a paper one available to sign if you prefer. Stop the atrocity, Dump the Pumps!

The Fonky Drawers song by Cooyon Duhon. Pull up those pants!

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[Ammo] 250 rounds of 5.7 x 28 Hornady ammo. SS197SR 40g V-Max. factory sealed $100. Classified Ads > Miscellaneous

[“Clean and reputable place to eat and shop”] Nearly all the bars are fine, as catering to tourists is part of their business as we locals can’t be in them enough. A few on Duval St. on the south side are gay, a few on the northside feature nude women. There is also a nude woman bar on Truman. Otherwise you’re safe unless there are hardcore bikers parked out front then perhaps you might want to order your foo-foo drink someplace else.

Far as food goes, they are all pretty decent despite some of their appearances. There are a few places that have bars with only beer and wine license, their food may be intentionally lousy, small portions or overpriced. They don’t make money serving food, but must do so to have the liquor license. Some like to gouge, small portions or offer foo-foo food, even use cheaper fish. The best restaurant I’ve found that consistently provides good food, decent portions and reasonable prices is El Siboney in Key West.

I hardly think the Rowell property purchase is a “brilliant move” when they are paying 250 K more than the appraised value and have no cogent business plan for it.  Yes, it’s great that the commission wants to create more parks – more power to them, but they are using the infrastructure tax money to do so and that is not what we voted for. That is why Danny Kohlage voted against it – correctly in my opinion. Man, I  don’t know how long you have been here, but  Danny Kohlage is the last person I would ever accuse of  being “blinded by the obtuse and myopic vision”. He goes by the book. We voted for that infrastructure sales tax.  To use it for things other than sewers first, is not what was intended. The grinder / low pressure system  being proposed is the cheapest way out – for now,  but a lot of information has surfaced that shows it’s not the best solution.  I wish you luck with Rowell’s purchase, but the  5 million should go back to the infrastructure projects as was intended.

[Free Movies] Friends And Volunteers Of Refuges 5th season of outdoor films begin this Wednesday Dec 4. Films are shown at the National Wildlife Refuge Trails Parking lot located 1/4 mile north of Blue Hole on Key Deer Blvd, Big Pine Key.  FAVOR’s outdoor films are shown on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays; starting in December and continuing until the end of March.

Short films start at dusk with feature at 7pm
Bring your lawn-chairs & refreshments, FAVOR supplies free popcorn!
Dec 4th Raccoon Nation
Dec 18th  Private Life Of  Deer
Jan 8th  When Dolphins Cry
Jan 22nd  Do The Math
Feb 5  Otter 501
Feb 19   Shark Reef / Scourge of the Lionfish
March 5 Cape Spin!
March 19th  TBA  Menu > Continuing Events

[Digging up the Past] Delray’s diggers find scrap metal, pride and fellowship. Recycling the hard way.  Is this what we are coming to? Video

[Gas Gauging] Yeppers, I filed a lengthy complaint regarding the scammy Shell stations here on BPK, Ramrod, and Summerland Keys. Maybe they will start paying their employees fairly, and will stop gouging there fuel prices. Pam Bondi is on it!

“Thank you for contacting the Attorney General’s Office regarding Price gouging, in the Lower Keys on fuel. Our staff will process it as soon as possible and, if necessary, respond appropriately. We appreciate hearing from concerned citizens such as yourself. If you wish to keep abreast of the activities of this office, you may wish to consider a subscription to our electronic newsletter Weekly Briefing. Or perhaps our Consumer Alerts. Should you wish to subscribe to either, or both, publications, please visit our subscription page.

Has anyone else noticed how the Shell station cartel has 2 cash registers in each store? They use one for cash sales and the other for credit/debit. I suspect that the Florida Dept of Revenue and the I.R.S. are getting screwed along with the customers that still patronize them. I buy my gas for my truck in Marathon when possible. I use rec 90 in my lawn mower and buy it at the B.P.K Fishing Lodge. Their pumps are accessible by land or sea and it still costs less than Shell.

[“Bleeding, to drunk to drive a new truck or tricycle. R.I.P. OZ, we had some good times.”] Yep, sounds like a real good time–not. I have known OZ since he came to the Keys and there were very few good times.

[Key West orchid Society] Since I’m busy at this time of year like everyone else,I’ve thrown together a quick, abbreviated edition of your Newsletter. Remember there is no regular meeting in December. Instead we are having our annual luncheon at Square One in Duval Square. It’s next Sunday, Dec. 8 from noon to 3pm. If you haven’t made your reservation, do it ASAP. Fill in the form, or call Jay at 305-294-8131.

December Newsletter at Menu > Ongoing Events

[House Prices] Remember back in the day when Bush was President and people in the Keys were flipping houses and everyone was congratulating each other on being millionaires? And someone in Port Pine Heights wrote that his $68,000 house was worth 3/4 million. Those were the days!

[“Scam employees into working for 8 bucks and hour”] Damn, I wish I made $8 per hr.

[Captain Doom and Gloom]  DEF: Life n. That time between a mysterious darkness and another mysterious darkness in which you try to understand why you are not a super rich millionaire or at least hung like a horse!

DEF: Children n, Those little people who take half of your party life away and castrate the rest of your existence.

DEF: Politician n, A useless eater bent on making you feed him, house him and respect him without returning the favor!

DEF: Groom n, The guy at the end of his rope who cannot understand why all his buddies are laughing at him and snickering at the bride.

Afghanistan President Karzai is mad that the US is killing Afghans when we know the Taliban are based in Pakistan. Admiral Mullen testified to the U.S. Sen­ate, that the Haqqani network — a leading insurgent group allied with the Taliban — is the veritable arm of the ISI – Paki­stan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

So if they know that the terrorist bases–the Taliban bases, the Haqqani bases – are in Pakistan, how could they be killing people and bombing in Afghanistan?  “This is a betrayal”, Karzai said.

[Delusional Democrat] Yesterday a leftie posted that Democrats don’t like socialism, yet goes on to explain they approve of the Federal Government managing their healthcare and it’s costs. First off rates are now higher for nearly all, Obamacare is form of supplemental welfare and it’s not fair. Slow creep takeover is exactly how the government started with Fannie and Freddie so many years ago, they started to offer the lowest mortgage rates in the country to now over 95% of home loans are now under government control. In 2008 they exploded taking on to much bad mortgages that failed when prices dropped, that subprime mess was Dodds and Franks (D) doing. They used the government control of the mortgage market to shape economic policy and it failed very badly thus the poor economy. The alternative to socialism is a free market economy, where there is no government interest and very few controls other than to prevent fraud or monopolies. It doesn’t concentrate failure for all like when the gov is only market.

[Regressive Hypocrisy #17] In 2010 Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) praised the Tea Party. He said, “it’s been entirely positive and extremely helpful. It has put a lot of energy in our primaries and I think it’s going to produce victories in Nov.” Today he changed his mind. The Tea Party approval rating has plummeted and he is fighting for his seat in the next election. Now he criticized the Tea Party and told the GOP, “it’s time for people to stand up to this sort of thing”. He is now on the Tea Party’s enemy list. Flip-flop?

Florida woman says local Republican Party has been taken over by gay thugs. Link

[“American economy put in the most incompetent hands one could imagine”] I think this guy watches FOX news because they don’t talk about anything good that comes out of Obamaland. For you FOX newsers, the stock market has broken all records in the history of Capitalism in these last weeks. If that isn’t competent leadership, I don’t know what is.

[Obamacare Website] The plans are from $700 to $3,000 a month. In real life I just got full coverage for $180. No further comment needed.

[“Regressive Hypocrisy”] The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. It seems the Right in their selective interpretation of the Constitution only know one Amendment and that’s the right to bear arms. They ignore the 4th and support spying on Americans.

[Living Wage] This photo was taken outside Henry Ford’s automobile factory after he announced he would be paying wages of $5 per day,  January 5,1914.  He wanted his workers to have a shot at buying what they were building.  This was the start of Detroit’s tremendous growth spurt during which many businesses prospered and the middle class got a big boost up.  Why don’t Republicans get this concept?  It’s like they want it all for themselves.

The Tea Partiers are so afraid that someone will get something for nothing that they get ulcers.

It’s getting curiouser and curiouser. In yesterday’s CT Politics and Religion Section, a poster used science fiction as an explanation of why Obamacare was wrongheaded. Put on your tinfoil hats.

Why did we go into Afghanistan? There is no oil there, there are no natural resources that could benefit us. Their governance and life style are stalled in the 15th century. Before we went into Afghanistan, the country was a hot bed of tribal conflicts that guaranteed that the nation would remain a 3rd world backwater. For at least two hundred years, it was common belief that Afghanistan had never been conquered. Even the mighty Soviet Union/Russia was defeated and forced to withdraw.

So why did we commit billions of dollars and thousands of our service people to an assault on the Afghanis?  The simple and honest answer is that the nation was a hotbed of Muslim fundamentalist terrorism. It housed training camps for terrorists. It provided money for terrorist by being one of the world’s top producers of opium, the precursor to heroin. The nation was home base to the 9/11 tragedy operatives. The nation presented a clear a present danger to us because of the terrorists it trained and harbored.

GWB, acting, with nearly total support of Democrat legislators, instituted the conflict shortly after 9/11. At any time in the ensuing years the conflict could have been ended by defunding it. The Democrat legislators nearly universally supported the efforts to behead terrorism, and never even threatened to defund it.

Even Obama signed onto the effort when he took office and he even copied GWB’s surge tactic. But, he decided that he would surrender the field and flee from the nation in 2014 without any consideration as to the state of the original mission, to behead terrorism. He decided to lose.

But Obama also elected to follow GWB’s lead in attempting to keep an American military presence in country. To date, he has failed. Just as he failed in Iraq.

During Bush’s prosecution of the war, 575 of our service people were killed. So far, on Obama’s watch about 2292 American service men and women have died.

When we withdrew from Iraq as a result of the nation being mostly stabilized, it was anticipated that the new President, Obama, would negotiate a peace keeping American presence in Iraq. Obama failed to get that agreement.

Largely as a result of Obama’s failure to reach agreement with Iraq, it is now wracked with terrorist attacks. Muslim fundamentalism is surging in that nation. Iraq is quickly becoming a client state of Iran. Without doubt it will become a hot bed of terrorist activity aimed at us and the rest of the free world.

The bottom line is that our national effort to behead terrorism in Afghanistan has failed. That nation will nearly certainly begin again to be a keystone of terrorist activity. In that Obama has decided to fail, we should immediately withdraw all of our troops. Not an additional drop of American blood should fall on Afghani soil.

Obama’s legacy in the mid-east will be a massive increase in fundamentalist Muslim power, and a massive decrease in American influence in . He will leave a mid-east that is exponentially more dangerous than when he took office. It is nearly certain that Iran will have nuclear weapons. It is also nearly certain that the only way that can be prevented will be an alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia which would lead to a preemptive strike against Iran by Israel from Saudi bases.

The next few years bode ill for mankind.