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2014 November

Monday, November 17, 2014

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The-Coconut-Telegraph-w-CoconutsSince 2002. Anonymous Letters to the Editor with pictures. Published Monday through Friday by Noon.

stove17
[“Buy locally”] I needed a stove this week, but due to untimely events I needed it delivered and installed. I tried to buy locally, but the best buy for a basic white electric range with no features was well over six hundred dollars so I went online. Home Depot had a banner reading: Get Black Friday Prices Now. I clicked it and got an Amana 5.0 cu ft range, Stainless Steel, self-cleaning oven, free delivery, power cord, installation and removal of old stove, sales tax included, all for $454. I don’t know how mom and pops are going to stay in business.
Springers-ad-750w
[Obamacare] Does anyone know if there are forums being held anywhere in the Keys to provide info on Obamacare? I don’t want to get 10 million phone calls from salespeople pushing their product. I’d like to sit with someone who can help me make an informed decision based on what I perceive to be my future needs.
gas-2[Gas] Last weekend my little boat quit and I discovered I had water in the gas. It had quit on two previous occasions for the same reason and required a tow. Since then I had added a fuel-water separator so this time it did not get into the engine. This boat uses 6 gallon portable tanks and the caps do not leak, so I suspected the source. I buy marine gas 20 gallons at a time from the BPK Shell station to use my Winn-Dixie card discount, so besides what I had put in the little tank directly I also had 5 gallon gas jugs at home from two different fills.

To find the problem I decanted the gas into emptied, cleaned and dried milk jugs and let it sit for a little while before checking for water at the bottom. I discovered water and something else heavier than gas in all the jugs that had the yellow colored gas, and none in the jugs with the blue tinted gas. The different colors makes me suspect that sometimes their marine gas is not really non-ethanol. Certainly it is not the same gas, although from the same pump on different days. The water is worrisome. I have been using their ethanol blend in my vehicles (because the station is convenient and my fills are small) and cannot add a boat water separator because my vehicles have the fuel pump in the tank and run at about 40 psi. Have others encountered similar problems? What tint should unmixed marine gas be?

[Internet] My boyfriend and I just moved to the lower Keys from the frozen north. I work from home and rely on a strong, secure internet connection to conduct my business. It seems everyone you ask has a different opinion about which service is best or the which one is the “best of the worst”. A good Internet connection seems to be a problem for everyone we talk to. I understand that we are living on an island, but what do the residents do here?
johnsons-7.9.14
[Eden Pines property owners] Monroe County’s Canal Restoration Committee will be meeting on Friday, November 21st, 9:00 am, at the Marathon Government Center. They will be presenting an update on our canal system restoration proposal. As a show of support in restoring our canal system, please attend if you’re able. Hope to see you there.
Wanted. Washer/Dryer Shed 8×10 and10x10. Call Dr Paul Classified Ads > Wanted
barracuda17
Funny thing about barracuda, they die really fast if you bring them into the boat, not like dolphin.  So it’s best to leave them in the water unless you want to kill them like a lot of guys do.
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guitat-well-played
[“Guitar Case Smell”] Leave it out of the case. I find that leaving the guitar in my favorite chair makes it impossible to sit there with out picking it up. Then I play it. Scales, chord patterns, songs, riffs, stuff and then I play some more stuff. Most everyday if I want to put my butt in my favorite chair. Touching, feeling, moving it & playing it does the job. A guitar in it’s case it not unlike a boat in harbor. It’s safe, but it was not made to be there.
I’ve asked a local restaurant to offer a fried chicken special one night a week about fifty times with no success. They keeps saying try the chicken tenders. What a waste. However I don’t give up, I just go down to Babaloo’s on Big Coppitt and sit down to a nice 1/2 fried chicken with 2 sides & a sweet tea. Can’t beat it. Also the Coffee Shop has a fried chicken dinner. I had one once, but I think I was eating one of those roosters around Winn Dixie.
hareens-hats10.19.14
[Marathon Journal] A Sombrero Beach resident: “We live on Sombrero Beach Road and have since 1990. My kids went to school here, we had a neighborhood of family’s.  Now it’s awful.  We actually had to purchase the lot next door just so we didn’t have another rental.  I have fought with planning to no avail regarding the development of 2000 Sombrero Beach road that was a single family now to be 3 vacations rentals. ~Joy from Overseas Aero Tours sent from somewhere or another.

Neighbors from Sombrero Beach Rd are going to the 11/17 [tonight] meeting at the firehouse at 5:30 PM. Some new commissioners have been appointed by the council. It will be interesting to see how that works.

NMBYism is still strong for the right of staying in your own home without any new development. You see, there is a development going up on Sombrero Beach Rd. The housing will be for middle and moderate income. The make-up of Sombrero Beach Rd. is the same income restriction as above. The code outlines the legal status of a development. Work force housing that exists all over Marathon will not devalue property. Sombrero Beach Rd is a heavily used road to the Beach, schools, and Comcast. With the rising number of cars using Sombrero Beach Rd, that argument is weak about travel up and down the Road. It will be interesting how this all plays out. I was a Planning Commissioner for 6 years serving as it chairman for a year and a half

samantha17
How did I not discover Samantha Fish before? I was checking out the sound of Joe Moss from Chicago who is playing Mangrove Mama’s this Friday (You bet I want to go! Dude can definitely play a guitar!), and I saw Samantha Fish had a few on YouTube. She looked pretty hot and I decided to see how she sounded. She has soul, awesome voice, amazing guitar, charisma, great musicians accompanying, 24 years old with nice legs in a mini skirt- what’s not to like? Hours of video later, I am mightily impressed, This one, “I Put a Spell on You” was the first I heard, and I was hooked.
[“Guitar case smell”] Key West Chemical sells a product called Bloc Out that contains an enzyme which kills whatever is making the odor. It hasn’t really got a fragrance you’d notice. It cost under $10 for a quart. I don’t remember if it is in a spray bottle, but I’m sure you can rinse out a window cleaner bottle and spray it from that. I used to keep a couple of dryer sheets in mine. I like this Bloc Out better.
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Testing football helmets
in 1912.
[“Fantasy Fest”] If you don’t like it, don’t come. It could not be more simple to explain. As for the Key West politicians hoping to garner a few votes in the next elections, I’d suggest that they do some research on how cities like Ft. Lauderdale discouraged Spring Break and the disastrous economic results that followed.
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[Recession] Japan’s economy makes surprise fall into recession on fear of dramatic sales tax increase. Link
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Walmart’s
lower prices are because Walmart is more productive — more efficient — than its competitors. This gives it lower costs than its competitors and because its costs are lower than theirs it is able to charge less than they do while still making a profit. Walmart buys a single item by the truckloads, Mom and Pop’s buy only one or two items at a time.
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wd-40-ad
Is this ad potty mouth or do I just have a dirty mind.
[“Buy locally”] I can relate to the person who couldn’t find what they wanted locally and had to go online to buy the stuff. Local places can not stock every color, every model, every size. It’s impossible and foolish. That’s why online shopping will be the winner. You can get exactly what you want and for the best possible price. The only thing mom and pops have going for them is you can get what you want (but not exactly wheat you want) right then and there.
Nira-Tocco-6.14
[“Fantasy Fest”] There are people around who haven’t figured out that ribald behavior is what attracts lots of people who spend lots of money during Fantasy Fest. People who want to attend a family friendly Halloween street festival will find one in Orlando that is bigger and better. Cleaning up Fantasy Fest will likely reduce significantly the financial benefits we enjoy as a consequence of allowing visitors to engage in bad behavior. If you don’t like what is happening on Duval Street during the Fest do what I do: don’t attend. Fantasy Fest, in its current form, brings in a lot of money during what would otherwise be a financial dry season between the summer and winter tourism surges.
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Sailin’ on the Wind
– Track 11 of the CD Team Babu – a compilation of tunes done by local talent here in the lower Keys. To own a copy of this CD go to Link All monies from the proceeds will be given to locals Barbara Anne and Mickey Foster in their time of need.
Proud member of house trailer crowd here. Sorry to burst your self-righteous bubble, but the house trailer crowd was here long before the carpetbaggers. Go Walmart!
spotify-logo
Does anyone use Spotify?  Can a person download music from it to their computer? Link
[“Minimum wage”] Of course the business people are going to claim that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs, raise prices, and generally screw things up.  Why would you ever expect them to say anything else?
[Humor] Does anyone know a good honest divorce lawyer in the Lower Keys or Key West?
accurate-home-insp-750w
[Obamacare Law] Voters deceived. “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” says the MIT economist who helped write Obamacare. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.” Link
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[Pot wrecks your brain] Just keep telling your selves it ain’t so. A new study out of the University of Texas’ Center for BrainHealth and the Mind Research Network is showing brain differences in regular pot users—differences that have already been reported in lab mice. The study, published in PNAS, found that 48 “chronic” users who smoked at least four times a week had less gray matter in the orbitofrontal cortex than 62 control subjects who didn’t use pot, reports the Los Angeles Times. The orbitofrontal cortex “helps us determine what is good for us and what keeps us sustained,” the lead author tells the Washington Post. It’s unclear whether these “shrunken brains” are the result of chronic use or contribute to the tendency to use in the first place. Link
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shed17
A 10 x 15-foot wooden shed where the “Harley-Davidson Motor Company” started out in 1903.
Marijuana conference signals emerging pot market. Medical marijuana businesses are coming to Las Vegas, and some people believe legalized recreational marijuana might not be far behind. Link
fanci10-16-14
[Trailer Trash] How funny it is to hear the people in their modular homes on stilts trash the people that live in trailers/mobile homes. I guess they forgot their high horse, I mean house, had a trailer hitch when it arrived here as well.
sir17
My 3 year old grandson just said, “Good morning, Sir.” to a woman with a severely short haircut. I need to teach him about alternative lifestyles.
[“Homeless”] I think Mayor Cates and Commissioner Weekley, each in their own way, do care about homeless people, but not in the way I care for them. Homeless people are a difficult situation for any city, and Key West perhaps is a national model for just how difficult a problem it is – a problem with no solution, absent a Divine Intervention or, yeah, killing all the homeless people. It’s the radicals, the people who remind me of Nazis when they speak of and/or treat homeless people abusively, I would like to see have dished back to them what they think and say about homeless people; dished back physically. Karma will take care of that, if they don’t change their ways.
sink cruise ship[Let’s go on vacation and be sick]  From Reuters — A cruise ship with 172 passengers and crew members suffering from a gastrointestinal ailment caused by norovirus was met by public health officials when it docked in California on Sunday, authorities and Carnival Corp said. The outbreak marks the second time in less than a year that the highly contagious virus has spread on the company’s Crown Princess ship, which is part of its Princess Cruises fleet. On the latest trip, the ship carried more than 4,100 people on a cruise that departed nearly a month ago from Los Angeles and included stops in Hawaii and Tahiti. More than 100 people aboard the cruise ship were sickened by the virus during an April trip.

“Over the last few days, the ship began seeing an increased number of gastrointestinal illnesses, caused by norovirus,” said company spokeswoman Susan Lomax. “In response, we have enacted our stringent disinfecting protocols developed in conjunction” with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ship, which docked in San Pedro early in the day, will undergo a deep cleaning before embarking on its next voyage Sunday night, Lomax said. The ship is next set to cruise the Mexican Riviera, she said. Those set to board ship for its next cruise will be notified of the virus outbreak, with a CDC official on the vessel to conduct an inspection ahead of its departure, a CDC spokesman said. Outbreaks of norovirus have been reported by nearly a dozen cruise lines sailing from U.S. ports in recent years. The outbreaks are unpleasant but usually mild and typically stem from many people confined to a small area, lackluster hand-washing and buffet-style dining, experts have said.

Norovirus is the most common cause of contagious gastrointestinal illness, with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea the typical symptoms. The CDC estimates that there are about 20 million cases of norovirus in the United States each year, resulting in 570 to 800 deaths. The virus usually clears up in one to three days, the CDC says.

Carnival Corp is the parent company of several cruise lines, including Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Lines.

I know there has been a lot of concern over the re-platting of the Sombrero Beach Road Property. I’m hoping that tonight’s planning commission meeting will provide useful information for everyone. There is a lot of emotion involved and passions are running hot. As always, we here in Marathon are all doing what we think is best for our community. That is one of the things I love most about our City. However, at this point we have some differences.

At tonight’s Planning Commission meeting you will be provided accurate and correct information. I think that once you hear what is actually happening and how, among other things, the units will placed, your concerns might lessen at least a little bit.

As you may or may not be aware, I am representing the gentlemen seeking this re-platt. I’m asking only that you keep an open mind while listening to the presentation at tonight’s Planning Commission meeting. The meeting will be held on Monday November 17th, at 5:30 at the Government Center.

Of course, if you have any questions or would like to discuss this project with me directly, I’d be happy to do so. You can call me at (305) 942-9519 or respond to this email if you’d like. ~ Joshua Mothner

Radio-Shack10.31.14
Somebody told me that the round house on Cudjoe Key will look like a big brazier [brassiere] on a plate from the satellite image in Google Earth. Is that true?
skunk smell
[Skunk Water Well] Does anyone else up here in the Torches have Skunk water coming from their wells? Can anyone tell me how to get rid of it for good?
In response to FTR’s question, I believe that EVERY elected position should have term limits, not just those in the County.
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Charles-Eimers-memorium
Candlelight vigil for Charles Eimers
Thursday, November 27 at 6:00pm at the Southernmost Beach (Atlantic Ocean end of Duval Street) Key West. Events
[Wildlife Services kills 476 Species of Animals] The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a program to kill wild animals — around 1.5 million of them every year. Over the years it has killed 22 million animals spanning 476 species. U.S. taxpayers fund the slaughter. Formerly known as Animal Damage Control, the program is now called Wildlife Services. The Center for Biological Diversity called on the USDA this month to put an end to the indiscriminate killing. Amy Atwood, a senior attorney at the Center, called Wildlife Services “an out-of-control, rogue agency that traps, shoots, snares and poisons more than a million native animals every year, many unintentionally — including at least 13 endangered species” like grizzly bears and wolves. In fact, it is responsible for making some species endangered, including gray and Mexican wolves, black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs.  It’s time to put an end to this band of glorified hunters.
Isaksen11.5.14
Americans are using less water, though people in the Northwest individually use more than the national average and Idahoans use more than people in any other state.
Term limits should be universal not just a local issue. Thanks FTR.
mall17
[“There is nothing to do here”
] I think when city people write that, they really mean “no malls” or megaplex theaters. That’s what city people do.
[“Questioning if voting is for real”] Of course voting is a joke. As a matter of fact electing anyone for terms longer than four years is ridiculous. Even the president should serve only at the will of the majority vote of congress. The prime minister system that many countries use is actually better than the two party system, which really doesn’t work well. Third party candidates for president never get elected and if popular only destroy one of the other candidate’s possible win. Democracy’s never work very long, that’s why this country was created as a Republic on a gold standard and it worked pretty well (except for Lincoln and the civil war) until 1913 when bankers took over. It’s been downhill since. What comes next will be a break up or revolution or both.
BP-Flea-Market10.10.14
[“No fried chicken dinners“] Why? Because the KW chickens are an endangered species, that’s why!
theater masks
Fringe Benefits
 lives up to the cliché about good things in small packages. For the 2014 edition, Fringe will present Alice’s Parlor: The Short Plays of Alice Gerstenberg in the Historic Rectory of St Paul’s Church December 3-5 & 7 at 8:00pm; tickets are only $20. Audiences can view a special sneak preview of selected plays during the Art! Key West festival Thanksgiving weekend. Link
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vomit-cruise-226x300
Another cruise ship disease. Norovirus outbreak on cruise ship strikes 172. The Crown Princess cruise ship was at the centre of another outbreak of the vomiting bug last April. I guess it’s still safer to take a cruise than it is to go to Sierra Leone. Link
Why are all the rich and famous selling off their mansions? Seems every time there is an ad for real estate online, some super rich person is selling out. Do they know something we don’t?
[“Newbie”] I’ve been here several decades and Big Pine is the best and so too are the people. The people giving others a hard time about who is local and who isn’t should just go somewhere else with their inflated sense of self. I’ve heard all of their crap and sometimes it’s all I can do to not comment. Too many posers and these amateurs, and I do mean amateurs, are the first to run their pie hole. Again Welcome, newbie!
manley-deboer-7.11.14
I need to talk to the dish satellite tv installer. I’m coming to BP next week with my receiver and dish and want them hooked up. Please email me deanhguy@hotmail.com
The problem is not the immigrants coming into the US, but the bad ass trash their countries are getting rid of. They are chasing out their trash and plucking over us. The best way to stop this invasion, and that is exactly what it is, is to jail those who hire or deal with the new world order riffraff and give them 20 years hard labor in the same cell with their illegal slaves. Same goes for any politico who gives away our tax money to these blood suckers! Enough of this BS!
dollar sign carry
The construction bill for Key West’s new City Hall came in at $15.2 million — $1.8 million more than what had been budgeted for the main part of the project that has already cost $2.1 million for designs and demolition. Architect Bert Bender earlier this year priced the entire project at $15.5 million for everything down to the furniture. “This is a gigantic ‘I told you so,’” said Commissioner Clayton Lopez, who along with Commissioner Teri Johnston were practically the last holdouts on the restoration project championed by Mayor Craig Cates. “It’s unfortunate but true,” Lopez said. “It’s kind of ridiculous that we keep finding ourselves in this position.” Lopez was referring to this month’s decision to find an additional $500,000 to build an elevator at the new fire house on Angela Street, which is a project that includes building a parking lot and a “transportation hub” for buses and other drop-offs downtown.
I guess everybody’s forgotten about the sewer fiasco? Must be that time of the year to make money from the tourists and forget what is more important. I wonder how wide the sewer company’s big guys are grinning on their the way to their banks with the grinder pump profits? After all, we did vote the same old crooks back into office that were the cause of this con, right?
Coconuts-sign-ad-750w
I checked the arrest log today and could not believe how many arrestees are living in the ‘streets of Key West’. It’s ridiculous. Go to detox!
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hilton17[Captain Doom and Gloom] Some idiot wants to do this in the Keys for the homeless and other useless eaters! Yes, they are Old Shipping containers all duded up to look like homes. How low can people go to make a lousy buck?  It is culling time in the old corral for sure!

I am fully in favor of gay marriage but only among Democrats. Anything that contributes to their non-procreation is a plus for all!

Ever notice when a food or medicine is not in the lime light and making lots of profits it all of a sudden becomes good for you health wise and the advertising becomes something seen every other ad? Bananas and aspirin are prime examples as are many seasonal foods and victims. Who is to know what is legit anymore and not just a con to get our money?

“term limits are sorely needed here in Monroe County” Very true, but it will not make any difference because those ‘Officials’ will still have their powers under the tables. They will just go into real estate or open a Walmart. Once a crook always a crook.

“About roof gutters and drains into water storage tanks.” If I did install these, would the County tax me on the water usage, the installation permits, the loss of profit to the Water Company? What else will they stick up my arse to make a buck from this idea?

What is the difference between a Conch and a Local, and which one has the higher status?
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As the Obama presidency winds down what will FTR write about in 2016? All the cry baby Democrats as usual!
The Obamacare deception of ‘stupid’ Americans.

The liberal elites rely on lies to pass their paternalistic agenda.
Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of Obamacare, admitting that the administration conned the American public and blaming dumb voters for the flimflam

Mr. Gruber, an MIT economist, received a $297,000 contract for his 2009-10 work on health care reform and helped lead the charge for the Affordable Care Act. In a video from an October 2013 panel at the Annual Health Economists conference, Mr. Gruber explained how Obamacare was sold to the public: “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically, that was really, really critical to get this thing to pass.” In another 2013 appearance, Mr. Gruber declared that one provision of Obamacare was included because “the American people are too stupid to understand the difference.”

Mr. Gruber also expressed his disdain for Americans’ intelligence with a comic book he co-wrote on the virtues of Obamacare. In one panel, he boasts that “I was part of the team that came up with the reform that changed the way Massachusetts handles medical coverage for the uninsured.” Congress should investigate whether Mr. Gruber’s emails and comments as part of the Obamacare legislative team explicitly advocated deceptive packaging or expressed derision for the American public. Our President no only allowed this ,he requested it & he paid for it with our money.

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Jonathon Gruber did not lie. When Gruber claimed “the “stupidity of the American voter” made a certain amount of duplicity essential to the passage of Obamacare” he was speaking from experience and he was talking specifically about Democrats. No republican voter was fooled or was going to be fooled he knew that.

Remember not a single Republican voted for Obamacare. Not a single Republican lost an election for not supporting Obamacare. On the other hand 16 Democrat Senators and 70 Democrat congressmen, yes 70!!, have been thrown out of office not just for supporting a policy thier constituents did not. But for genuinely and correctly thinking their fellow democrats were stupid enough to just do what they’re told.

But this is not my point. Democrat leaders are also lying to you about climate change. I know that is a difficult pill for you to swallow. I know your entire sense of self is based on you thinking you’re smarter than me. That your “belief” in science is infallible. But you’re willing to close your mind and ” believe” because to not believe defies the reason for your existence.

Things have changed. What Obama has done for you is left you alone and naked in your beliefs and your hatred. No one will look at you the same. They may not yet have courage to publically call you a coward but that is what they are thinking.

Obama has abandoned you. But what is worse is the realization that he never respected you. He was using you and blinded by your adoration you abandoned reason.

from the right
ON FRIDAY A POSTER WROTE: FTR is obsolete, partially because of the false notion that Keystone Pipeline will no longer be “cost effective.”

pipeline17FTR’S RESPONSE: Oh horrors, I’m obsolete: I’ve been consigned to the dust bin of history, packed down next to buggy whips, church keys, rotary phones, and the left’s respect for the American ethos.

But, if this Olde Fart is obsolete, then so is Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu, and a whole host of other Democrat legislators who are now hot to have the pipeline put in place. Obsolete too are the mega money investors who continue to push for the pipeline. Obsolete too are the unions that are clamoring for the pipeline to be built.

It is true that the spot price for crude has dropped considerably. Obama and Democrat policies had nothing to do with that drop, in fact they fought tooth and nail to keep energy prices high. But they failed. The relatively low price of crude today is in spite of Obama and Democrat policy and goals. Remember when Henry Chu, later Obama’s Energy Secretary, infamously argued that gas prices in the US should equal those in Europe. At that time in Europe, gas cost the equivalent of $5.00 in American dollars. To achieve that goal, Obama refused to open federal lands and offshore sites to exploration. At the time that Chu made that statement U.S. gas cost about $2.00 per gallon. It ultimately boomed to nearly $5.00 per gallon. Team Obama had accomplished their mission of forcing you to pay more for energy.

It took private industry, on private lands, to bring down the cost of the energy you use. Plus in the recent weeks the Saudi’s have been flooding the market with crude. It has and always will be: big supply = low prices.

Team Obama and the Democrats are desperate for you to forget that the policies of the Democrats and Obama have resulted in the longest and weakest recovery from a recession…. ever. We will never forget. We still have not recovered to our 2006 levels of employment and growth even though the recession has been over since June of 2009, more than 5 years ago. In November 2006, just prior to the Democrats taking control of Congress, our unemployment rate was 4.5%, today it is 5.8%. In 2006 our national debt was about $8.5 trillion. Today it is $17.5 trillion.

The Keystone Pipeline is vitally important to our national interests. To our economy, and to our national security. Even though many from left field believe that our guarding our national security is an obsolete concept, it is not. Many from left field are content to continue the downward spiral of the middle class, and the growing ranks of the poor, the Right fielders are not.

immigration17Part 2) As the Immigration showdown looms, the left, certainly, will howl that the Senate has already passed a “comprehensive” immigration bill, but that bill has been killed in the House. The left will howl that the whole mess can be avoided if the House simply passes that bill, then Obama will sign it, and all will be sweetness and light.

Sounds like it makes perfect sense, at least until you check out the bill.

The bill is S 744. It passed in the Senate with a few Republican Senators voting for it. Hopefully you’re wondering what it provided and if the bill were to be enacted would it be in our national interests.

You can read the bill and various opinions about it by simply running a web search and use the search term S 744.

Frankly, there are certain parts of the legislation that seem to make sense. But on balance, and by looking deeper into the bill, I’m of the opinion that the bill should not become law.

It’s rare that unions and I agree on anything, but the bill has been receiving strong union resistance. Unions and I are convinced that the bill will rob jobs from American workers and will even further degrade the middle class. One of the more persuasive unions is USCIS, the union representing 12,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adjudications officers and staff, and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council. These people work the front lines and see daily the impact of illegal immigration. They too condemn the immigration bill, S. 744.

The cost of the benefits to be received by the illegals covered by the bill will be in the trillions. The bill fails to make securing our southern border the first priority. The Obama’s admin record of handling criminal illegal aliens is abysmal, and the bill will degrade it even further. If the bill passes the House or if Obama grants amnesty (illegal in and of itself), it will be every much a magnet for waves of illegal immigration as honey, B.S., and dead bodies are a magnet for flies.

The very sorry truth is that the driving force behind Obama’s obsession with this issue is not humanitarian. It is craven politics. The Democrats and Obama see the putative immigrants as a gold mine of new Democrat voters. Never forget that the Democrats had full control of Congress from ’07-’09. Then they had full control of Congress and the White House from ’09 until ’11 but they did not act on immigration.

Obama’s imperious threat to grant amnesty is yet another example of his and the Democrats cynicism and lack of respect for those they govern and the rule of law.