Sunday, January 6, 2012

What a great start for our new year.  We have had the very best weather in the country.  Tourism is probably at it’s very best.  It looks like sometime in the upcoming years we may just see a Target and those of us in our community we may just see sewers, both being decades late.  But it sure looks like they are arriving.

[Phony Fish] When I drove a propane bobtail truck for a propane company in the Keys most of the propane tanks were behind the restaurants with the dumpsters. I used to look at all of the empty tilapia fish boxes and laugh to myself about the fresh snapper, grouper, etc they advertised.

[Gun Violence Plecebo] They say that putting a cop in each school in Florida will cost $62,000 a year for each school. What they don’t say is that the cop probably will be a slacker, a lousy cop and about attentive as a bank guard. Just keeping the cop awake at such a boring job will be a task. They also don’t say that the guard might be at the other end of the school having lunch when the crazy killer shows up. In conclusion, school cops will be useless. This is just an expensive feel-good-doing-something-about-it thing.

Be Blessed
Be Watching
Be Prayerful
Love-N-Prayers
Ciao Ciao

Streptococcus is in all our insides.

[Book Review] Destiny of the Republic  is about James A. Garfield, who was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he faught a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment.

Just four months after his inauguration, a crazy office seeker shot Garfield in the back. The wound was not mortal. What killed him was the doctors. The wounded president was the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power over his treatment by ego filled doctors who thought Lister’s germs were all in his imagination. They would stick their dirty fingers and other objects into his wound several times a day looking for the bullet. They didn’t recognize the many obvious signs of severe infection and wouldn’t listen to modern doctors who did.

Alexander Graham Bell worked around the clock, to the point of exhaustion to invent a new device to find the bullet. He almost succeeded, but was forced to return to Boston as his newborn sun died and his wife’s health was in jeopardy.

My ex, had morning sickness at night.

Runners on US1

You can run all you want, but guess what, you will die anyway, no matter what shape you are in. It’s that when you leave, pick up your trash!

FTR, here’s hoping that you get well soon. 

[U.S. Navy Report — Ed Barham, USN] Mr. Barham reported at October 2012’s SAC meeting that they had six confirmed sea turtle nests on the Truman Annex beach and thought there were more that were three or more unconfirmed. There was one disorientation, but got funding for the next year to retrofit the lighting in Truman Annex to turtle friendly lighting. The USN also received several hundred thousand dollars in end of year funding for benthic surveys of all of their [local property] shoreline. Finally, he reported they had crocodile sightings on the installation in the last two months, including a juvenile crocodile at Boca Chica.

I’m wondering what’s up with this deer’s feet? I remember someone commented about this some time ago but i don’t remember what causes it or the cure.

Stop the Fox News takeover! The government is about to change the rules to allow Fox News to expand its empire! The plan could be approved at any moment, so we need to act now to stop it.

The owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, is gearing up to buy the Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times to corrupt our democracy with more of his right-wing propaganda. Until now, federal law didn’t allow someone who owns a television station to also buy a newspaper in the same market, Democrat nor Republican. Unbelievably, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is thinking of creating an exception to the rule that would let Murdoch sneak through.

The FCC has tried this twice before, only to be stopped by public backlash. Let’s stop them again. Use the tool on the right to send a message to the FCC right now before they vote to give Murdoch more power. Link

FTR mantra: The first thing to do when a problem is recognized is to blame someone else.

[Marathon Journal] 1. Desert Storm Commander Schwarzkopf Dies. I served in Gulf War I before, during, and after the war. Being in 7th Fleet, that was based out of YokosukaJapan, was considered the tip of the spear. Our patrol area was the entire area around the battlefield. Schwarzkopf was brilliant. He faked an amphibious assault to cover the real attack from the great desert. In a world with very few true heroes, “Storming Norman” was one of the best of all time. He did not like the moniker preferring “The Bear” given to him by staff and troops. Rest in peace, my friend. 

2. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speech. Upon the 50th year since that “I have a dream” speech, go, see, and hear that speech. Link

The members of St. PaulAMEChurch in Marathon are once again sponsoring a Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration: A Day On, Not a Day Off. Events take place the weekend of January 19-21 at various locales throughout Marathon. 

The first national celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday took place January 20, 1986, and has grown into an event that not only honors the legacy of King but also challenges Americans to a day of citizen volunteer service in tribute to Dr. King. “The weekend events celebrate unity, love, and peace in Marathon while we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and his ideals,” said St. Paul’s Minister Reverend Larry White. “We’re hoping people will come and join their friends and neighbors for a time of service and enjoyment.”

Weekend activities include:
~Saturday, January 19 – Prayer Breakfast and Poetry Contest 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, San Pablo Catholic Church, Marathon $10.00. Donation
~Sunday, January 20 – Combine Worship Service, 11:00 am
Community Methodist Church, Marathon
~Monday, January 21 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jesse Hobbs Park, 41st Street, Marathon. Events include guest speaker former State Senator Daryl Jones. Fun, food, and music. 

Florida Keys Journal will have its vendor tent up for the use of the MLK celebration & providing free iced bottled water. For more information on activities, volunteer service, or to make a donation, contact Rev. Larry White at Larry6974@att.net. Proceeds benefit youth scholarships.

3.  List Key Colony Beach candidates are Ryan Schraffenberger, Patrick Farritor, Jeff Vorick, Jerry Ellis, and Rob Sutton. Top three elected. Journal will try to interview each one. Key Colony Beach is ramping up for the March 2013 elections. Just when you thought campaigns were done, the little city that could will withstand the whirlwind of another election. I can’t wait for the games to begin. Or, this might be brain dead boring. Both of which I will enjoy – exciting election or boring. ~Publisher@MarathonJournal.US

The future of drone surveillance: swarms of cyborg insect drones 

The Sons and Daughters of Italy proudly present the 3rd annual “Carnevale In Venice, Key West”  Saturday, 23 February, at the elegant Gardens Hotel, 526 Angela Street, 5:30-8:30PM.  Enter the magical world of Carnevale in Venice at this masked festival in Key West.  You will be treated to all things Italian inside this lush tropical garden.  Your general admission donation is only $20 or $25 at the door and a limited number of VIP tables near the band are also available at $40/seat.  Entry donation includes homemade Italian hors d’oeuvres from our “Cucina” and Italian dessert.  Enjoy continuous entertainment featuring the incomparable Peter Diamond Band, theatrical performers, cash bar, a fabulous silent auction, and lots of “Viva Italia”.  Start planning your mask and Carnevale attire to compete in our Gala Costume Contest with great prizes!  For more information Bulletin Board

You know you’re a redneck when:

1. You take your dog for a walk and you both use the same tree.
2. You can entertain yourself for more than 15 minutes with a fly swatter.
3. Your boat has not left the driveway in 15 years.
4. You burn your yard rather than mow it.
6. The Salvation Army declines your furniture.
7. You offer to give someone the shirt off your back and they don’t want it.
8. You have the local taxidermist on speed dial.
9. You come back from the dump with more than you took.
10. You keep a can of Raid on the kitchen table.
11. Your wife can climb a tree faster than your cat.
12. Your grandmother has ‘ammo’ on her Christmas list.
13. You keep flea and tick soap in the shower.
14. You’ve been involved in a custody fight over a hunting dog.
15. You go to the stock car races and don’t need a program.
16. You know how many bales of hay your car will hold.
17. You have a rag for a gas cap. 
18. Your house doesn’t have curtains, but your truck does.

19. You wonder how service stations keep their rest-rooms so clean..
20. You can spit without opening your mouth.
21. You consider your license plate personalized because your father made it.
22. Your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.
23. You have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say ‘Cool Whip’ on the side.
24. The biggest city you’ve ever been to is Wal-Mart.
25. Your working TV sits on top of your non-working TV.
26. You’ve used your ironing board as a buffet table.
27. A tornado hits your neighborhood and does $100,000 worth of improvements.
28. You’ve used a toilet brush to scratch your back.
29. You missed your 5th grade graduation because you were on jury duty.
30. You think fast food is hitting a deer at 35.
31. You live on Big Pine Key!

God bless you. 

If banning guns worked, Washington, DC would be the safest city in the country. Since 1976, it’s been illegal in Washington, DC to own any handguns or to keep any type of gun in your home unlocked and fully assembled. However, Washington, DC is known as the “murder capital of the United States.” 

Fire Congress and start over! There only achievement is getting reelected.

Wars are preferred to be held in jungles, fields, deserts, and pastures, e.g. in some other country’s back yard. In WWII war encroached unforgivably into cities; destroyed churches, killed women and children. War got moved to jungles, but with television it came in living and dying color into our homes at dinnertime. Intolerably, awful. Then war got moved into multinational deserts and remote mountains. As the population of the earth grows there may no longer be a place to have a war. “Another war” you say? We are getting too civilized for that! 

Wife texts husband on a cold winter morning: “Windows frozen.” Husband texts back: “Pour some lukewarm water over it.” Wife texts back five minutes later: “Computer completely screwed up now.”

A solar eruption gracefully rose up from the sun on Dec. 31, 2012, twisting and turning. Magnetic forces drove the flow of plasma, but without sufficient force to overcome the sun’s gravity much of the plasma fell back into the sun.

The length of the eruption extends about 160,000 miles out from the Sun. With Earth about 7,900 miles in diameter, this relatively minor eruption is about 20 times the diameter of our planet.

Iran before and after they found God.

 

[Carjacking] When you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. So you shift into Park, unlock your doors, and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, that is when the carjackers appear out of nowhere, jumps into your car and take off. They practically mow you down as they speed off in your car. I bet your purse is still in the car. So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity are now compromised!

If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you read this.

[Help Wanted] The Cudjoe Key Blimp Site is looking to fill an open Laborer position, full-time with benefits. Applicant must be physically fit and drug free. If interested in applying, please email your résumé to Classified Ads  >Help Wanted

[Flagler’s Train] Sanctuary Friends Foundation ‘Friends in Focus’ will be showing Flagler’s Train, a PBS documentary which chronicles the imagination and achievements of Henry Morrison Flagler, who spearheaded the development of the Overseas Railway. The program features archival photographs, personal correspondence, original drawings of the railroad project and newspaper articles of the day, tracing daily reports of the human struggles and technological achievements needed to complete the Florida East Coast Railway. 

All are invited to enjoy the films free of charge including popcorn. For more information see Bulletin Board.

[Fish Feel Fear and Pain and Stress] The jury’s verdict is in, and it is unanimous: fish feel pain. “In the scientific community, the question of whether fish are capable of experiencing stress, pain and fear is nearly undisputed,” the Food Empowerment Project states.

“Fish feel pain too,” agrees Discovery News’s Jennifer Viegas in her analysis of Penn State professor Victoria Braithwaite’s book on the subject, Do Fish Feel Pain? A 2009 study published in “Applied Animal Behaviour Science” also concluded that fish feel pain and that even after the pain is over, they alter their behavior in response to their memory of it. A 2003 study found ”profound behavioural and physiological changes” akin to those higher mammals exhibit in response to pain.

That throws a wrench into the arguments of a couple different interest groups. One is people who fish. They often justify their pastime with the claim that it doesn’t hurt their prey. Those who throw fish back in the water after hooking them claim “no harm, no foul,” as though the hook they ripped out of a fish’s mouth (or left in) didn’t hurt. Those who keep the fish they catch can’t possibly watch the desperate thrashing (like that of the tuna in the video below) and believe the fish are not suffering, but if they do, they are now on notice: the fish are feeling pain, stress, and fear as they struggle to breathe.

We knew this without the “study” but many folks don’t want to acknowledge that any life form other than ‘human’ is capable of feeling pain or having emotions.

[MRSA Infected Help Needed]  I need to get at least a couple weeks of one of the antibiotics. This is my home address. 

Dan Schramm, C23 9th Avenue, Key West, FL 33040

 If any reader (I noticed one) would like to help, you can give my email and address.Thanks much. Not to gross you out, but I included a photo of one of the smaller wounds on my arm. The others are much more gross. It freaks me out every time I change the dressings, like 3 times a day.

Deer FTR, I’m so very sorry to hear about your health issues. From what little you have shared about yourself personally, I think you must be a tough guy who will beat this with time and patience. You have my prayers for a speedy recovery.

For the last few years, your comments have been a must-read for myself, my husband and my neighbors. Many a glass has been raised to you around the dining room table and bar after a particularly thought provoking piece. Seeing the right turning arrow on the Coconut Telegraph is something I will miss until your health allows you to return. Check back in and let us know how you’re doing! 

[Westie Puppy] Congratulations!  Your puppy is adorable.  I have had a Westie for over two years and he has brought me much joy – some frustration, of course, but they are a sweet, fun-loving companion.

[Judge Judy] Why our country is going down the drain. This is a very good example of how we are spending our money on social programs.  How did we ever get to this? Link

My 5 year old niece’s dog had 9 puppies. I went over to see them and she told me they were Republicans. I figured she didn’t understand the meaning of the word and let it pass. A month and a half later I was talking to her and she said they were Democrats. I asked her why she called them republicans when they were first born and why are they Democrats now. She said they were 9 weeks old now and their eyes opened.

The Conservative gang that can’t shoot straight is still in the news with Oliver Stone like craziness.

Meet Tea Party hero Orly Taitz — the worlds most heralded Birther. She went before U.S. District judge Morrison England with what should have been a routine hearing and turned it into a Donald Trump sideshow. She thinks the country’s judges are all dishonest in fact she said “We are looking for one honest judge who will look at the case on its merits”.

The judge did indeed hear the case and went on to say “Your argument doesn’t make any sense whatsoever”. Orly wanted the judge to order a temporary restraining order that would stop the tally of electoral college votes and deny Obama a second term. This makes attempt 14 times she has wasted tax payers money in an apparent witch hunt. This is really where the crazy hits the road.

She believes the President is using a stolen Social Security number and that Obama is using a fake last name. One of her main reasons to believe its all fake is because of the font size of the type on the Presidents birth certificate. So the party trying to make excuses for losing the election (other then that Romney was a bad candidate with no plan) continues on with its crazy ways that is helping to expose the delusional Right more then they know.

In other news Clint Eastwood was seen reviewing a map of Hawaii with and empty chair trying to determine if Hawaii is a part of the U.S.

Does anyone know why Republicans never said anything when their party started two useless wars on our credit cards and never said boo, but as soon as a Democrat came into office, they screamed and hollered about the debt?

Definition of insanity: Swearing in almost exactly the same congress and expecting different results.