Sunday, December 12, 2013

(Ed: The National politics section had been 86d as of last Friday. It does no good and got too mean. I chose not to read those terrible post any longer as is my Constitutional right under the CT Amendment. If you think the posts and images you see daily were bad, you should have see the ones I didn’t post. Don’t get me going on the crap they spew that I don’t post, but still had to read. As of late I’ve been dreading the CT and early Friday in the wee hours while I was tossin’ and a-turnin’, it came to me — It’s the lies, anger and threats of violence in the political section that upsets me. I hate reading that hate. I don’t need it. So there.

When they all learn to play nice I’ll bring it back, but don’t hold your breaths.)

[Winter Guided Walk Schedule] Everyone is invited to join our guided National Key Deer Refuge trail walks designed for outdoor enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels.   In an effort to keep everyone together for the walks, the centralized meeting point will be at the National Key Deer Refuge Visitor’s Center, located in the Winn Dixie shopping plaza on Big Pine Key.  From there, participants will be given maps to the walk site and caravan to the scheduled trail.  A prompt departure to the trail locations will take place at 8:10 am to avoid missing out on morning bird activity, so please plan to arrive early.  Each walk will end by 11:00 am.

Participants are encouraged to bring a hat, sunscreen, bug spray, comfortable walking shoes, water, binoculars, field guides, and dress appropriately for the weather.  A limited supply of loaner field guides and binoculars will be available for participants during each walk. Feel free to ask for one if you don’t have your own.   For more information Events

With these grinder pumps can we have a sink garbage disposal grinder or will we have to install one of those too by law?

The 12 Days of a Keys Christmas (12-14 thru 12-25)

On the first day of Christmas, Mother Nature sent to me
A Peacock in a Pine Tree (on Big Pine Key)
On the second day of Christmas, Mother Nature sent to me
2 Gators at the Blue Hole
and a Peacock in a Pine Tree

Eventually self-driving cars will virtually eliminate accidents and Key Deer road kills.

[“Key West not family friendly”] Like duh. Neither are most major cities in the U.S. for some of the same reasons. Want family friendly? Go to Orlando and Disney World, any dreamy suburbia USA, buy an Apple product. Because all of them provide a reality distortion field from the real world. Key West is at the end of a long road, an adults’ playground, no problem. Provincetown Mass is the same thing, that’s how it gets people to drive all the way. Plus didn’t LA just have 18 cops arrested by the Feds? How about all the gangs, bums, traffic and smog there? At least we can breathe fresh air, see the sunset and sin at the same time here.

Congratulations to Capt. Still Bill and crew Dorsey, Lance, and Cathy for taking 1st place in the lighted boat parade.

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.

After watching the news this morning about how the poor Yankee’s are having troubles with all that ice and snow, it made me laugh at those people driving like fools. It made me realize that I would never buy a front wheel drive car, ever again.

We went to watch the lighted boat parade from Kiki’s Sandbar. “Parade” was bit of a misnomer as the boats were just milling around and turned around at the end of the dock so we never really had a clear view of them.

Also, $5.50 for a very short pour of really bad wine does not bode well for the long-awaited reopening of our neighborhood watering hole. We had Big Pecker flashbacks. Ugghhhh!

Your local Radio Shack next to Winn Dixie on Big Pine now does cell phone repairs–right in the store! We can fix phones that got wet (fresh water not salt water) and replace cracked screens on tablets and phones. Our  prices are very reasonable and repairs are usually done the same day you bring it in. We also have a large selection of remote controlled boats, planes, helicopters and cars and trucks. Stop in and do your holiday shopping. Happy Holidays!

Deer Ed, if you’re counting votes, put mine in the dump the national politics column. Keep the local opinions if they are civil and non-threatening. Keep up the good work, and thank you!

[“O’Reilly nails Key West”] I agree with you. My wife and I lived year ’round on Ramrod Key and then on Sugarloaf Shores for 12 years. We met many people in the lower keys that rarely went to Key West. Key West does little to change its reputation as an adult party town and spring break destination – so that’s what it is.

Can’t anyone say anything nice about Big Pine Key? Quit complaining and enjoy the beautiful place that you call home.

[Visions Of Nature Photography Club] A newly forming photography club sponsored by the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges and our Friends group, FAVOR – Florida Keys (Friends And Volunteers Of Refuges).  Our club is open to all nature enthusiasts interested in nature photography. We hope to have beginners wanting to learn as well as experienced photographers interested in sharing their expertise.  An introductory meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 6:00-7:30 P.M. at the National Key Deer Refuge Visitor Center in the Winn Dixie plaza on Big Pine Key.  For more information Events

[Political Section] Please remember that we all still have the right to not read or look at what we don’t want to, at least the last time I checked.  

I live in the Keys half the year so I only read the posts regarding the Keys. I want to know what is happening locally. I do not like the political stuff at this website. When I want to read about politics, I make up my mind from other sources. I also do not like to see the pro-drug and atheists posts. (I am a Christian and a non drug user) They have their beliefs and I have mine. Neither of us are going to change the other. I think monitoring the input will be your biggest problem. (i.e. when is something, something?) The sewer problem, is it political or not? I do, however, want to know the latest about it. (Ed: Hi You, I’m only getting rid of national politics, the local stuff stays. The religion and pot stuff is fair game and will stay because there is no one to blame [Obama, Bush, et al]. Thanks for your nice comment, I didn’t have to edit out one insult.)

The Moon brightens as it waxes to become full on the night of the 16th. (This scene is drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. For clarity, the Moon is shown three times actual size.)

The new buzz word out there is “selfie”. When I first heard the term I thought it mean something you do behind closed doors when you can’t find a hot date. It just means taking a picture of yourself — big whoop. Maybe I was thinking of a whackie!

I have a Weslo treadmill for sale, it is in like new condition, digitally modern, $25. Classified Ads > Miscellaneous

I for one, would like to see the politics section stay in. It’s better than some of the lame jokes and  videos I saw two months ago. But it’s your show Ed. I’m grateful for the forum you provide.

[National Politics] Hey Ed, I’m amazed, for the first time in quite awhile, I found it very enjoyable reading the C.T. without a lot of political talk. Theres something to that whole “dump the political crap” idea. Kudos!

[Spies like US] Lawsuits begin. IBM executives sued by sheriff pension fund for tens of billions in losses over cooperation with NSA spying programs. Many US tech firms are suffering huge losses or being forced out of countries because of widespread NSA spying.

No more politics. Except political jokes.

Magical Piano. Video

I am definitely in favor of you dumping the political section of the CT. Well , at least the left side of it. Ha ha ho, Merry Christmas!

[Local Politics] Please do not end the discussion of local politics, since our local media does a  generally poor job of that. The Key West Citizen has stopped printing our comments on the web, and we hardly ever have a pertinent letter to the editor in my opinion. The new Keynoter website is not that great either and seems to be just a vehicle for advertisements, so I hope you will continue to look at local issues. I get a better feel for what’s happening from the CT. The national issues could be dropped or just choose a topic each week and let that be it. You will still get the rants, but at least it could develop a thread into a real discussion.

The World Wide Web could be less effective soon as countries and influence zones wall off their respective portions of the Net from one another. Link

[Deleting political comments] As a conservative I was rather offended by the Skinhead picture and reference to the future of our political party. I think it and the other negative comments is designed to shut down the political comments which can be very informative. I don’t think the problem is with the posters, as people will always post negatively, rather the problem is with the editors of this site in choosing the quality of material posted here for others to read. I’ve used a non-valid email address because it also seems the editor of this site likes to post people’s email address online for spamming. (Ed: No kidding? I’ve only seen that when the posts were talking trash and naming names about someone or something local.)

The Lower Matecumbe Mermaids were honored at the 2013 Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice of the Florida Keys Annual Meeting and Celebration for their fundraising efforts for the agency. Every year the Mermaids hold a Christmas party and fundraiser in order to raise funds for VNA/Hospice. These funds assist VNA/Hospice in caring for residents and visitors of the Florida Keys. This year’s party raised $2,450 for VNA/Hospice!

“We are very fortunate to have supporters like the Lower Matecumbe Mermaids,” said Jody Gross, VNA/Hospice President & CEO. “It is contributions such as theirs that enable us to provide care to those in need in our communities.”

Pictured (left to right): Front Row – Kathleen Hamilton, Bonita Hutson, Rose Duke, Pat Woolley, Brenda Rush, Krissy Gustinger.
Back Row – Janet Hnatin, Denise Landin, Natalie Maddox (VNA/Hospice Fundraising Coordinator), Ann Haber, Donna McKenna

[“How many Tamarack Park grinder pumps”] I think none. I believe Duck Key was the FKAA’s first experiment with individual residential sewer grinders. They had about 5 on their own properties, not very old, but they have all needed repairs at least once. I heard that none of the Duck Key grinders are in operation yet. They just sit there and rust. Why would you connect when your septic tank still works? They are ugly forced lawn ornaments.

Did Miss Kitty get mauled by the pitbulls?  It’s a good thing that that long winded trust fund tragedy didn’t have kids.  Poor cat.  Cats are not wild animals, but our inside pets and unless raised with a pack of ugly pitbulls, it is quite likely they tore her apart in the first few days.  R.I.P. Miss Kitty.

 Contact Us. Send us your comments and attach any stuff you want published to this email.    

[National Politics] Shall we discuss politics or attempt to eliminate such discussion? To this pilgrim to do such is in reality an impossibility or at least close to it. A very crafty old Speaker of the House once said, “All politics is local” and unless one’s mind becomes totally vacuous  to not speak politically one must have a difficult time doing the requirements necessary to sustain life. Indeed in our everyday conversations we are talking politically whether we are even aware of the fact or not.

Admittedly political rants can at times become overbearing, but by the same token so can most any topic. I see the political banter thrown back and forth on these sites and consequently the accusations of hate. I suspect that the term is largely used when one party has a differing view of the situation. In an attempt to make a point the subject of the grinder pump situation can become tiring, but so would paying for a boondoggle for the rest of our lives, to be led into a life of virtual poverty because the subject was boring, is being extremely shortsighted; be it grinder pumps or how our country is managed.

Who would dare speak out negatively about repairing the old Seven Mile Bridge at the BOCC meeting with that gang there? (Ed: Who is that gang?)

This is a 1992 17′ 6″ Key West Center Console in very good condition. It has been in dry storage for most of it’s life. It has fish finder/depth sounder, Pioneer CD player w/ remote, GPS, Icom Marine VHF radio. All rigging is there, turn key, ready to go. The engine is a 1992 85 HP Suzuki (low hours) w/ tilt and trim. Come with the trailer. Truly a well kept boat. Needs a new top (small hole).  Everything else is fine. Classified Ads > Boats

I’m with you 100%, Ed — ditch the political rants, especially if it makes your day better. You shouldn’t have to look at that every morning!

Congratulations to the newly elected officers at the Big Pine Key Senior Center. Mr. Jim Olsen as president, Mr. Bob Davis as vice president, Mrs. Shirley Wagner as secretary, Mrs. Liz Eubanks as treasurer. These folks, like many before them, along with the many people involved in activities hosted at the Senior Center, serve the community in a wonderful way. The BPK Senior Center is oft overlooked and taken for granted in our community. Kudos to those who participate and give the Senior Center the vitality it needs to carry on its work.

There’s enough coverage of everything political that Ed can read or print whatever he chooses and none of us will be losing anything.  If he chooses to drop all political commentary, fine.  If he chooses to cover only local politics and issues, fine.  Either one will be thoroughly discussed in plenty of places. Anyone who wishes to be informed will have no problem finding sources, it doesn’t need to be here.  I got annoyed when one of my favorite tv sitcoms turned into a half-hour commercial for politics. I can understand preferring a source of entertainment be maintained as such.

[Citizen Of The Day Says] She loves the outdoors and fishing of all sorts, especially in stone crab season.

B-24 Liberator being build at the Willow Run Assembly Plant. Video

[Sarcasm] A newspaper without controversy doesn’t sell. It takes a lot of bad news to sell all the good news that finances newspapers. Editors can and must eliminate hate mail and reduce redundancy but they should print anything God let’s happen so long as it is injurious or pornography.

Under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 It is illegal in the United States to distribute or publish email addresses without express permission of each email addressee.

Apparently all of those folks complaining about politics on the CT have forgotten how to utilize the delete key or at least the up & down keys on their keyboard. Deer Editor, I understand that this does not apply to you; as you are forced to read and attempt to correct each of these messages. Thanks for being here and I wish you and your family an enjoyable Holiday Season!

Why are so many post’s links broken here? (Ed: Sorry, but I wasn’t aware that any were broken. Please let me know which ones so I can investigate.)

[Modern thinking] A drunken 16 year old punk drives over and kills four people, gets probation.   That means because it was only///////the first time he did, it he gets off so as not to damage his self esteem, probably, but if he does it again they will throw the book at him, maybe even increase the length of his probation.

[Ants] What you get when you pour molten aluminum into an ant hill. Finally a good use for fire ants. Video

Key West High School’s winter holiday concert. The choir director is James Carter and the band director Gary Hernandez.

I never venture into the political section and won’t miss it.

[“Selfie”] If you don’t think this is a selfie look carefully at the face visor.

I just watched that documentary Death By China on Netflix. It points out that about 90% of the Tilapia in the world is raised there under very questionable conditions. They also produce most of the shrimp sold in the world. Enjoy your “grouper” sandwich, Glasshopper

[Editor Sucks] i dont care about the political crap on here cause i never read it. what upsets me is the way ed ruins posts so much with his careless editing. i put a post on here a week ago about how foreign countries can buy land here and we cannot buy land there. I mentioned 3 asian companies. Ed decides he is going to make my post really fantastic, so he hads the sentence of” these oil rich countries are buying up all our land” are you kidding me? there are no oil rich countries in Asia. This kind of sloppy, irresponsible editing can be dangerous. I am afraid to post anything up here anymore after that know that it will not even remotely resemble my post. I am sure even this post will be turned around to make me look like a fool again. My advice to you is edit only punctioation and correctness. If the post is not suitable then dont post it, however i want my opinion up here, not yours, and i certainly dont like you making a fool out of me because you dont know your geography.. in the future, mark my name down on paper and if you have to change one word of my post, then dont print it…period

[Grinder pump] Apparently shallow-buried grinder pump high pressure sewage lines spring undetectable leaks which bleed raw sewage into the shallow water table. Raw sewage then migrates into the ocean. Deep-buried, low pressure, gravity sewage line leaks cannot get out of the pipe into the water table because the water table’s pressure is higher than the gravity line’s pressure. Gravity line leaks can be detected and repaired. The point of sewering the Keys was to eliminate septic systems and cesspits, but it appears grinder pump sewage systems, which may work okay on the mainland, are not what the Keys need.

[“The bands inside the expensive hotels are even better”] I am sure if you went to Vegas you could find even better bands than the salsa/disco they play on Miami Beach. Methinks you missed the entire tone of the commenter. Any night of the week in the lower Keys you can hear live music within a five mile radius, and most of it is far better than average. But then again, you may miss the traffic noise, trendiness, crowds, high prices, rude people and occasional gunfire that you will find on South Beach.

[?] What’s with the new church/bar? in Big Pine? I thought Baptists didn’t drink?

Before you sign your grinder pump agreement and give up your right to protest, read this link. This is your future with a grinder pump, and disaster for all! Link

[Captain Doom and Gloom] “O’Reilly Nails Key West” Great job Bill, and keep the compliments coming and the Griswold families out of our party animal town! Yeah, Bill for spreading the word!

[Freedom of Post] Let posters post what they want. That’s the beauty of freedom and your blog. Control freaks need to find themselves a real island with conch shells to listen to the void in their cranium.

Deer Friends I was out of town last Wednesday, and did not post. On Thursday I failed to even read CT. And so on Friday I was surprised to read that our Deer Ed was contemplating cutting the politics/religion section.  I hope that he does not take that decision.

I agree that there are many political posts that are inane, cruel, and even ridiculous. The amount of venom that some posters express is troubling but revealing. Many of the political postings are childish and reflect very poorly on the poster.  But it is the expression of free speech. Free speech is one of the most important foundation blocks of our Republic. And there are plenty of postings concerning national politics that are well written and worth reading — from both sides.

Of course our Deer Ed can publish whatever he wants, it is his venture, his venue. But I hope that he will consider the fact that no one forces anyone to read CT or to read about sewer grinder pumps, or about, how they hate the notion of God. But people do read it.

Some people complained that CT has too little local gossip, and perhaps, to little local politics. Please remember that our Deer Ed does not write the CT, his copy comes from you, he publishes what is submitted. I suggest that those who want to read more local gossip, submit more local gossip. Or are the complainers too lazy to do even that? The CT is what its readers make of it. If you want to read about fishing, post about fishing. If you want to read about football, post about football.  If you want to read about local businesses, post about them. All of that would make the CT an even better read.

Last Wednesday I posted about the potential impact of the ACA on local volunteer fire departments. Is that not important to you? Perhaps those who object to the politics section care not who their next governor, or national legislators, or President will be. They should, it will directly impact each and every one of us. That’s politics.

The very fact that many readers are asking that the politics/religion section be discontinued is proof that they do read the section. They simply disagree with what they read and they want to silence it. Or perhaps they feel threatened by views contrary to theirs. I’ve noted that over the last months there seems to be more and more postings from the left and from the right that are well thought out and present cogent views.

I hope that our Deer Ed and the CT community will remember that all politics is local. We live in a terribly dangerous time for our nation and for the world.

It seems to me that a publication like CT is an important offering of varied points of view that our local people need so as to help them make informed decisions on the critical issues at play. I ask our Deer Ed not to discontinue the Politics/Religion section.  It would be a damn shame if the equivalent of bathroom wall graffiti caused the silencing of real political discourse.

(Hi FTR, I should have consulted you first, but the idea came to me in the middle of the night and I stopped the national politics section immediately and feel better already. I’m not stopping it for moral or political purposes. It’s that I have to read and edit every post and follow every link to insure they are what they say they are, and often they are not. The lies, exaggerations and hate are too much for me to read every morning and chose which ones to post. I don’t want that. I hate that part of the job more than you know.  If I could somehow just copy and paste the posts without reading them I wouldn’t have this lousy feeling every morning when I publish the CT. I hope to keep the FTR Show going because I think he’s entertaining, does his research and writes the most outrageous things about the Left–and he pays me too! I haven’t worked out how to handle the rebuttals yet as this all came to a head just last Friday. But I did make you a new Politics Zone sign that is Twilight Zone inspired.)