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2013 November

Sunday, November 17, 2013

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[“Parrotdise Waterfront on Little Torch was sold”]  True.  The new owners are long time bar/restaurant owners and they say that the new venue, named “Kiki’s Sandbar” will be open by Christmas.  They promise a locals friendly place with a nice menu and, of course, the great view of North Pine Channel.  I can’t wait.  Even though the previous owner had no idea what he was doing in the restaurant business, I always enjoyed the bar, the burgers and the view.  I just hope they have WiFi for my afternoon computer stuff.

advert-accurate-home-insp8.14.13

I see Sloan posted on his blog more comments regarding the Krutko case, he still doesn’t get it. With all his legal training, that he boasts about continuously, he can’t comprehend. He boasts that he called for the arrest of the Judge in the case, as well as the State Attorney.

I seem to remember Sloan whining about personal attacks on this site. That puts him in the same boat as the people continuously tormented by Krutko — innocent victims. Maybe one day Sloan will comprehend.

hokeypokey

 

Do they still do the Hokey Pokey? I remember when ever wedding reception had everyone doing it along with the Bunny Hop.

Rowell’s Marina is nothing like Hickory House. You probably haven’t been to any of the meetings on the subject. Rowell’s Marina will actually bring in money to offset the cost of the purchase.

advert-dennis-ward8.16.13

[Rip-off] I too went to the Hideout in Key Largo for their famous (bogus) grouper sandwich and thought it was mushy like tilapia. Beware false prophets!

speccy-ctrl-pnlSpeccy is a free program that tells you everything about your computer’s specifications and it even gives the temperature of your processor and everything else that heats up in your computer. It boggles me how much accurate detail is available at my fingertips with this free download.  Everything you always wanted to know about your computer, but was afraid to ask. I learned that my motherboard is a whopping 241 hot! I’d better call Dell before it melts. 
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The Upper Keys charter school has some real control issues. When does making children walk in circles during recess make any sense? They are like puppies and learn through play. Like young lions play stalking prey or gazelles play running away. This is really messed up. It is not progressive at all. And it sounds like they messed with the wrong person. Link 

Radio Shack Ad pixlr9.16.13

[“Guy walks into a hillbilly bar and orders a white wine”] That Friday joke reminded me of the time in 1974 when I was sitting in the shrimper bar called the Midget at the corner of Green and Simonton Streets and this guy saunters in and orders a Martini & Rossi on the rocks and asks directions to Jimmy Buffett’s house. The knarley bartender asks him why? The guy says he’s a fan and would like to drop by and say hello. I think the bartender threw him out just about then.

shopping cart full 110h

Almost all online shoppers have placed an item in their shopping cart but left the site without making the purchase.

So far, almost 50% of the people slated for grinder pumps have signed the petition to not put grinder pumps on private property. They do not need to be there and it creates an unnecessary burden on homeowners. This substandard design has the very real and documented potential to bring environmental and health hazards to you as well as emotional trauma. With a projected total life span according to the manufacturer of only 25 years including the interim pump replacements, the units are not trustworthy from day one. Call your County Commissioners. Write the governor. (knowing that the requested donation is unnecessary and goes solely to the petition site owner!). Step up! Sign the petition.

direcTV-ad-4.26

People only rain on your parade because they’re jealous of your sun and tired of their shade.

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boat17There are actually six, Armed Services in the U.S. Military.  The four most understood are the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Marines, all serving under the DOD or Department of Defense. But you also have the Army National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard.  Perhaps because the Coast Guard has always served under “other than DOD” is the reason it’s misunderstood.  History has placed it many places, but most recent, the departments of Treasury, Transportation and now DHS or the Department of Homeland Security have been it’s home. There’s good reason for this. Have you ever wondered why Coast Guard personnel ride U.S. Naval vessels while conducting Law enforcement?  Foremost, if an individual uniformed in one of the DOD components, boards a foreign flagged vessel in the performance of human or drug smuggling, this can be considered an “Act of War” by the foreign flag country.  This claim can not be made when the boarding is conducted by the Coast Guard.  

Did you know the U.S. Coast Guard has served with distinction, in every US military conflict?  Ask a Marine, who was it, operating the landing craft that put you on the beaches of Omaha and Normandy?  And who was it that got you off of many a beach, when things went wrong?  Did you know that the largest single memorial in the Arlington National Cemetery, is one that honors the loss of over two hundred Coast Guard sailors, all of whom manned a Naval Transport (presumed torpedoed) while loaded with ammunition?  Did you know, that many Coast Guard vessels remained in Vietnam after the war, all too damaged to bother bringing home, and did you also know that Coast Guard patrol craft continue to serve in the current middle east conflict, and have been there since the beginning of the war? It would take way too long to provide you with the details of all the other Coast Guard missions so in short, it’s important to know your history before making a negative comment about anything.  I’ll simply remind you that all Coast Guardsman today fully realize, that the next life they may save, might well be yours.

Bluewater-Ad

[Phony Fish] I found out a long time ago if you rely on a restaurant to supply your fish in the Keys, you will get ripped off. I supply my own fish for my dinner. If you can’t you get what you deserve – the Keys are a place founded on pirates and the big rip off. And it will never change.

hunting deer dead

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin bagged a buck Saturday, which was opening day of deer season — in Vermont, not in the Keys!

She chased me all around the church and caught me by the organ.

coconuts-ad-11.13

[Marathon Journal] The Journal interviewed Monroe County Florida Keys School Board Member John Dick.
Bio: He has been a Marathoner for 23 years. He has been on the School Board for 7 years. I asked him if he would run again, and he said, “I think so.” That is kind of refreshing considering most will demur.

-John recently changed American Legion posts from 154 in Marathon to Post 28 in Key West. The post is named after Arthur Sawyer. Arthur Sawyer was killed in action during WW1. He was born July 4, 1897 and died June 8, 1918. In 1924 he was disinterred and buried in the Key West cemetery. The post was recently rededicated to honor Arthur Sawyer. The new name is the Key West Arthur Sawyer American Legion Post 28.
-Teacher’s Union? The two sides are close to a deal after 27 meetings. John prefers a multi-year contract. He said that it was super working with the union crafting a final deal. That deal should come before the school board within the next 2 weeks.
-What’s happening? Employee benefits continue to grow. Dick indicated that the board worried about the financial liability. A change was made to reduce benefits for new hires.
-Are life skills taught? Yes, cursive writing, checkbooks, art, analog clock, calculators, spelling, and literature. How many of these will continue is anyone’s guess.
-Where does Monroe County School District stand with the rest of Florida? John said that the district ranks well. He believed the ranking is around 10th. Dick also believes that the school is moving up in the rankings as well. Years ago the school was ranked 17th. The quality of education Florida-wide is moving up nationally.
-Last thoughts? In 2015 the half mill tax will go to the polls for approval. With money drying up for education; this half mill is essential. The district is good at obtaining funds from various other sources as well.
-The school board dynamic is improving. The goal is to be number one statewide. The goal of Florida education being number one nationwide is not an unrealistic goal.

-The Journal will interview Islamorada Florida Keys Councilman Ken Phillipson next.

Extra: Marathon needs a public works building to protect valuable assets; so why are we selling land at 104th Street?

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circus tent barker

[Conspiracy] I am so sick of these conspiracy people. They regularly seize on one slip of the tongue, misunderstanding or slight discrepancy to defeat 20 pieces of solid evidence. They take one witness of theirs, even if he or she is a provable nut, as being far more credible than 10 normal witnesses on the other side. They treat rumours, even questions, as the equivalent of proof and they leap from the most minuscule of discoveries to the grandest of conclusions — all the while insisting that the failure to explain everything perfectly negates everything that is obvious. They are the pathetic carnival barkers of the digital world. 

Mars rover Opportunity’s current view. Link

springers-ad12.30.12

[Spam] More people read emails that deal with finances or travel than any other category of spam.

neptune clam

 

[Oldest Clam] Scientists discovered world’s oldest clam, killing it in the process. The clam was 507 years old, and the scientists were screwing around with it in their effort to prove climate change — because old clams are “palimpsests of climate change.” Link

[FKAA] The question has been asked a few times but never answered, “What if I don’t give FKAA an easement on my property to put in one one their damned grinder pumps?” Here’s the answer being given by FKAA: If an easement is not “given” to FKAA, then you will be responsible to buy, install and maintain your own grinder pump. Furthermore, the make model and specifications will have to be approved by FKAA to ensure compatibility with the rest of their infernal LPS sewer system. And if you do not install one and connect, then County Code Enforcement will act against you with a typical fine being $250 per day as a lien against your house until they own it. They also reportedly have the option of condemning your house and forcing you out.

And here you thought you were protected by a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. No, you are not really sovereign of your own person or property, you are not really represented, and those excessive fines you are supposedly protected from are apparently not excessive in the opinion of the people imposing them. Tough luck, sucker. You better act now to get grinders off private property.

johnsons-ad-7.25.13

[Bring Back Free Mulch] The Monroe County Commission will decide Wednesday whether to place its $14 million-a-year trash contract out to bid or renew the contract with its four current providers for another 10 years.

It’s really amazing that we truck all our yard waste out of the Keys. Waste Management makes a lot oft trips up to the landfill with our mulchable yard waste. I think it’s foolish to pay for that and it’s a terrible waste as well as being environmentally irresponsible. It was in Waste Management’s contract at one time to mulch and deliver on request the free mulch, but that has ceased it seems. Please make it so.

When I first realized that you could no longer get the loads  I made some inquiries as to why that program was gone.

My first answer from one Waste Management manager was that the mulcher we had at Cudjoe had been removed to Punta Gorda area to help with hurricane debris removal.

My second call to a Waste Management  manager resulted in the answer that the FL Dept of Agriculture was concerned about spreading Citrus Canker and had ordered them to discontinue the program. (as if driving up the road with a load of yard waste would not spread the disease more easily than mulching it and leaving it in the Keys where we do not have a big problem with Citrus Canker )

In my next call to the  FL Dept of Agriculture I was told there was no such prohibition.

My next inquiry was to County Commissioner George Neugent who seemed totally unconcerned about the issue, even though at that time, I believe, the program was still in the contract with the County.

I do not know if that is now included in the present contract, but it should be. I think it would save us money and allow us to keep valuable organic compost here in the Keys.

sue17

 

Photo by Sue Swank

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It just occurred to me that you could substitute Miranda rights for wedding vows — verbatim!

chamber-ad10.17.13

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. Remember this, rock bottom is good solid ground, and a dead end street is just a place to turn around.

gun bang[“Envelopes peeked into”] Be very careful when you suspect the post office is up to something not quite right. They might reach a breaking point and do what is natural by going postal!

Wounded Warrior Project fraud follow up and a note on charitable giving. Link

[“Why not make health care free or affordable to everyone?”] Because there is no such thing as free, everything has a cost, Even the air we breathe is not free, because it requires energy from food to inhale which is not free. Even food stamps is not free food, it’s taking from others net gain, the same amount of energy was required to produce it.

90/10 insurance, isn’t even 100% coverage, and it costs about $750 a month for a 50 year old non-smoker. So where is $750 a month per person is going to come from?

What needs to be done is find new technology that will reduce medical insurance costs to something like $100 a month or 10% of income for full coverage, even dental, without losing quality of care.

Of course that isn’t going to work because it would lower incomes that attract the intelligent into the field who are responsible for the tech innovation required saving lives. Also insurance companies would lose people who need jobs, as they only pay $1 for every $6 they take in.

nira tocco realtor 9.12
[Peeping Postal] I’ve seen the same occasionally, the corner flap opened. Unless you can narrow it down to local perps which I doubt they would want to alert and simply take the entire envelope. I would then suggest it’s an automatic system in place at mail sorting facilities to sniff inside for the presence of toxic substances before it contaminates further. Flap tears doesn’t occur on all mail because many mailers get verified or their items inspected in bulk, why it likely occurs on certain mail you get a lot of for some reason. 

help wanted sm[Winn-Dixie To Hold Job Fair In Big Pine Key] More than 50 positions available. Winn-Dixie is holding a job fair to accept applications and conduct interviews for various positions at the Big Pine Key Winn-Dixie store. Thursday, Nov. 21, and Friday, Nov. 22, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Winn-Dixie is recruiting for various in-store positions including cashiers, baggers, deli, bakery, grocery, dairy, meat and seafood departments. With competitive salaries and great benefits, the grocer hopes to fill various openings at the Big Pine Key store. It is recommended candidates apply online prior to the job fair. To view open positions and/or to apply online, visit Events

[“Noticing dualies with nothing in the bed”] Some recreational vehicles use a fifth wheel configuration, requiring the coupling to be installed in the bed of a pickup truck as a towing vehicle, much like a tractor and trailer semi. The dually’s rear tires provide extra support and insurance against crashes from rear flats. Since the bed coupling is heavy, it’s likely used only when towing the fifth wheel RV to save on fuel costs. Since 5th wheel RVs are heavy, they more than likely contain more heavier items like a normal home has, suggesting they likely live in one, thus can afford to spend the bigger bucks for the duallie and it’s higher workload capacity. Since higher workload capacity is suggestive that the person owning one engages in plenty of physical labor which makes one very thirsty for beer, it’s probably not a good idea to engage them with ignorant comments about their precious trucks.

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isaksen-flood 4.23.13

[Spam] People receive about 416 emails a month. you spam filter hides most of them from you.

question mark red spin[“Constitutional Question”] Answer to #5: Powers not delegated to the United States or prohibited by it to the States are:
B. Reserved to the States or the People.
The Federal Government was supposed to be very limited in the powers it exercised. Those powers are described as “limited and enumerated”. All other powers not specifically given to the Federal Government were to remain with the States or the People.

Question #6: The Declaration of Independence states that the purpose of government is:
A.     To establish order and protect the people.
B.     To secure the rights of the people.
C.     To provide for the welfare of the people.
D.     To legislate and tax.

Free copies of the Constitution are available at Jigs and coming soon to Coconuts!

[Conspiracy Man] Interesting article based on False Flag operations conducted by our own government. Link

fanci-11-2-13

[Quality of life in the Philippines] Years ago stepping off base in the Philippine islands we were utterly shocked by the level of extreme poverty confronting us. Crossing over the bridge there was young girls dressed up in small skifts[?] begging for change to be tossed. If one missed there was teams of small boys jumping in to dive down to get them. Nobody had shoes, barely any clothes. They bathed, drank and pooped in the same polluted river. Tossing some trash, a man was waiting inside the dumpster already to go through it. I won’t mention what the women would do in the bars, but it’s far more demeaning than in a strip club. I can see why Imelda Marcos would cherish all her shoes, especially if one grew up not having any. Humans were designed to walk on soft sand or dirt, not the flat hard punishing surfaces favorable to the wheel. Having shoes is a luxury in the PI, eating dogs, cats and rats also. Death by typhoon was blessed relief for many there.

Mutant-Mosquito[Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes] I urge you to reject Oxitec’s bid to experiment with genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys.This is real folks.

Oxitec admits their system isn’t foolproof. About one female is accidentally released for every 1,500 male mosquitoes and the consequence of being bit by one these genetically engineered female mosquitoes is unknown. Biting female mosquitoes could inject an engineered protein into humans along with other proteins from the mosquitoes’ salivary gland. Oxitec has yet to conduct or publish any study showing that this protein is not expressed in the salivary gland and therefore cannot be passed on to humans.

We need more data. If something goes wrong the consequences could be catastrophic not only for humans but also the whole ecosystem. I don’t want this experimentation done in Florida or any part of our country. Sign the petition: Link

Read more about it: Link

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[“Tea Party is leaving copies of the Constitution at only the gun shop”] I am the person distributing the copies of the Constitution. It is being done entirely on my own and I am not affiliated with any political party. When people ask me about my party affiliation I tell them American. Since this is something I am doing on my own, and at my expense, I cannot put them everywhere. However I am attempting to find other stores willing to have a brochure display on their counter. Sadly, many people now believe that anyone advocating following the Constitution is a radical. (Yes, even people who have sworn an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

It is my belief that having a public that is educated, rather than indoctrinated is the solution to many of the problems our country is facing today. If we wish our elected leaders to do their job correctly then we need to know what they are supposed to do, rather than accepting their interpretation of their jobs and responsibilities. At the Federal level this is all spelled out in the Constitution. If the health food store is willing to have a brochure display with copies of the Constitution for free please see my post from yesterday and e-mail me.

Flea-Market-ad10.9.13

We have been searching the internet and calling grinder pump manufacturers at various companies trying to find a currently installed LPS sewer system of similar size and numbers using low flow “progressive cavity” pumps like the E/One model specified by FKAA. Nothing comparable has been found to date. We have also not yet found an LPS sewer system where such a pump is pumping such long distances as designed here. The Cudjoe Regional System (encompassing everything from Sugarloaf to Big Pine) appears to be a grand LPS experiment to see if it will work, and for how long. Hell of a job you are doing FKAA and County. Let them know that we need to stop this idiotic experiment now. “Dump the pumps” and do it right or don’t do it at all. If you don’t have the time or money to do it right the first time, where are you going to find time and money to do it all over again?

waving hanky tear[“Cruise ships”] I just heard the news that the cruise ships might leave Key West behind. Boo hoo. So what we will lose? the 5% we get from the T shirt industry? Can you imagine the floods of people walking up and down Duval St each day not being there! It would be like in the 60’s and 70’s with quality, quiet, rich tourists, who each would spend about as much as one deck of a sleazy cruise ship. Talk about cattle boats. I hope they take their untreated sewage with them and do not keep dumping it out in the Gulf Stream.

Keep pressing for 21st century sewage treatment for our waters because it comes in with the tide no matter how far out they dump it. Yes business in Key West would change for the good as quality could move back in place of the complete crap that is for sale from China.

Yippee, goodbye cruise ships! The number one worst thing to happen to the Keys, Alaska, Hawaii and don’t get me started on how they have ruined some really beautiful spots in Europe. Floating cesspits. Bah, humbug.

[Citizen of the Day Says] She said she loved growing up in Key West for the people, colorful culture and being surrounded by water.

ad-manley-deboer6.27.13

Is it now the purpose of the U.S. Dept of Defense to turn upon its own civilian population, divest itself of the assets it holds in stewardship for future generation’s public wealth? Are we being sacked by the war industry through our own DoD? How will that show up in the history books?

“That the U.S. Empire collapsed when its military activities abroad gutted the budget surplus, led to borrowed money from economic competitors, and then turned upon the U.S.  land holdings and sold them off.  Sacked from within.” 

middle-finger-statue-detroit

 

[Sticking it to the ex] Man buys house and erects middle finger statue in back yard. Link

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My wife calls me “Laxative” because I make shit happen! 
cuba-hostales11.7.13

[“Envelopes peeked into”] They looking for your weed downm at the post office they know u wont report it!

envelope2

 

[Peeping Postal] I’ve gotten them too and wondered who was peeking. I just got another one Friday myself and am sending it to the CT.

[“Dually trucks”] I think the commenter the other day meant that rednecks like duallys because they are a sort of status symbol for them, not because they are cool. 
religion politics zone

[“We all know we need to reform our health care system”] Then why haven’t you Regressives ever tried? You are so fond of quoting the Constitution when it suits you, but ignore it when it doesn’t. That’s why the rest of us are weary of the Tea Party. A few years ago Republicans offered one half baked suggestion to fix health care in this country that mostly supported the status quo. There hasn’t been a peep from them since–only to deny insurance to all.

Obamacare is the law of the land. The majority of Americans voted it into law. Get over it. If you really want healthcare reform stop hindering it and try to make it work. Or are those more of your empty words? This is real healthcare reform and it’s the law!

alex17

It would be wrong to judge all Liberals and MSNBC by their new talk show host, Alex Baldwin. Wouldn’t it? (Ed: He’s already been canceled for his gay racial slur.

[Regressive Hypocrisy #6] Republicans love to say they are pro life. They are not! They only care about the fetus before it is born, not after. They voted to cut the SNAP program and WIC program that provides poor children and infants with food and formula. They cut Headstart that gives poor children a chance in life. This is not pro life. This is pro fetus.

Well now that another Veterans Day has passed and it is safe for former vice president Dick Cheney to come up out of his bomb shelter, vault, root cellar back into the daylight. Every year on that day he hunkers down and locks himself in. He gets out his most prized possessions, his five deferments that kept him safe and sound during the Vietnam War. Or perhaps his secret copy of the map of Saddam’s’ hiding places of weapons of mass destruction. Whatever he does he is thankful for all he has received — his immense wealth from oil. What a great patriot.

[Why Obamacare will never be a Hurricane Katrina]
1. Bush’s political party didn’t design and enact Hurricane Katrina.
2. Bush didn’t have 5 years to craft his response to the hurricane.
3. Bush didn’t have the power to redesign the hurricane as he designed his response to it.
4. The Republican Bush believed he could not simply bully past the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans and the Democratic Governor of Louisiana and impose a federal solution, but the Democrat Obama and his party in Congress aggressively and voluntarily took over an area of policy that might have been left to the states.
5. The media were ready to slam Bush long and hard for everything — making big scandals out of things that, done by Obama, would have been forgotten a week later (what are the Valerie Plame-level screwups of Obama’s?) — but the media have bent over backwards for years to help make Obama look good and to bury or never even uncover all of his lies and misdeeds.
6. If Bush experienced a disaster like the rollout of Obamacare, the NYT wouldn’t use its front page to remind us of something Bill Clinton did that looked bad.

I’m fairly certain there are no members of Congress registered as Tea Party. There are certainly members whose ethical and political beliefs lean towards the values expressed by the Tea Party. There are only a handful of representatives in the two houses which vote along a Libertarian/Constututionalist line. They are nearly always outvoted by those who favor big government. Rand Paul is trying to get a bill passed to require Congress to read bills before voting on them. Fortunately not everyone believes that “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” is good enough. Another bill was brought before the House which would have required all new legislation to cite the article and section of the Constitution giving Congress the authority to legislate on the subject at hand.

If you want to find out how your representatives stack up in relation to following the Constitution, which they have sworn to uphold, check them out here Link

I only count 10 members of Congress whose voting record shows them complying with the Constitution 90% (This includes the Tea Party -leaning members of the time or more. There are 43 members whose voting record shows them complying with the Constitution 10% of the time or less. There are 263 members whose record shows them complying with the Constitution 50% of the time or less. So, my question is, do you really think that the 10 guys who nearly always get outvoted are the problem?

By the way, the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. What does that make those who swear to uphold it, yet continually violate it?

[“FTR” Obama lied”] Thank the Lord that “W”, failed businessman, Bush and Halliburton The Dick Cheney didn’t lie to get us into a war. Politicians don’t lie, it’s for your own good! Just ask them

from the right

Friday a snarky poster suggested that certain Republican legislator’s refusal to vote for the Senate Hurricane Sandy relief bill was hypocritical. It’s hard to tell whether the snarky poster’s source is “thepoliticalfreakshow.us” or “freakoutnation.com/”, or perhaps “thinkprogress.org.” all not so deep thinking progressive Pro_Demoman_Propaganda_Poster_by_TankTaurorgans not known for objectivity. Each mouths the same progressive propaganda.  In any event the progressively snarky poster would be well served by expanding his/her reading list and seeking truth rather than sucking up nothing but progressive propaganda and parroting it. Original thought is rarely seen from our Democrat/Liberal/Progressive  fellow travelers, but it would be interesting if they would only try.

Let’s take a look at the Sandy relief bill that was demanded by the Senate. The bull bill would have cost us well over $60 billion.  It was a huge Democrat sausage stuffed with pork. The greasy Democrat pork nearly outweighed the relief. Items like millions to repair the roof of the Smithsonian in DC which was not damaged by Sandy. Millions to spend on berm work at Cape Kennedy. The pork-barrel Democrat feast included more than $8 million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments. It also includes a whopping $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to fisheries in Alaska. $13 billion would go to “mitigation” projects to prepare for future storms. $58.8 million for forest restoration on private land.

$10.78 billion for public transportation, most of which is allocated to future construction and improvements, not disaster relief. $17 billion for wasteful Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), a program that has become notorious for its use as a backdoor earmark program.

It’s no surprise that the Republicans did the right thing by opposing the pork-ridden $60+ billion Senate bill. The Democrat bill demanded funding for more than $10 billion more than damage estimates.

Much, if not most, of the Democrat Senate “relief” act was aimed at either mitigating future events or repairing or replacing federal assets, not assisting the immediate victims. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that at least half the funds will be disbursed after 2015—not exactly time-sensitive, emergency spending.

In January ‘13 the Republican House voted in a relief bill. It eventually became law and was for $50 billion. Unfortunately it too was laden with Democrat pork, but the humanitarian need for aid trumped. “Never let a crisis go to waste” is a quote from D/L/P heavy hitter Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff and now mayor of Chicago.

Even with all those tax dollars and Obama’s FEMA to spend them, Team Obama’s distribution of those funds has been severely screwed up.

On 10/24/ the NYT published a story chronicling how bad the recovery monies had been managed. They reported that a year after the storm, at least 26k people are still out of their homes.

Even with $50 billion in aid to spend, Team Obama’s FEMA screwed the pooch. On October 25, ’13, the New York News reported: “Fighting for payouts from FEMA, insurance companies: 155,287 sought some form of FEMA assistance, and 88,750 didn’t make the cut. Link

CBS Philly had an interesting story on Oct 28, ’13 titled: “NJ Shore Towns Still Waiting For Federal Aid One Year After Hurricane Sandy.” You can read it at Link

A tip of the FTR fedora to those Republican legislators who refused to vote for the wasteful Democrat pork that was hidden in a sorely needed relief act. They saved us over $10 billion. And a single digit salute to the Democrats who delayed aid for Sandy’s victims by trying to rob the taxpayers with a Democrat pork sausage bill.

tech17Part 2) It’s hard to tell if an ever increasing number of Democrat legislators who are bailing on Democare and Obama have really come to their senses, or are simply  shielding themselves from the political firestorm that is engulfing Obama.

In the House of Reps thirty-nine Democrats defied President Obama on Friday and voted with Republicans to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. The “Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013″would  allow insurance companies to sell, for one year, less-expensive health-care plans that had been canceled because they did not meet Obamacare’s requirements to carry various benefits. The bill would also would also let Americans keep, or sign up for, health plans that do not meet Democare’s requirements, for one year. The reason for the bill is the fact that about 5 million Americans had had their health care policies because of Democare. Forbes reported that Obama officials back in 2010 predicted that 93 million Americans would have their plans cancelled as a result of Democare, aka the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare including a vast amount of those with employer-sponsored plans.

There are mutterings that the bill might just pass the Senate, but Obama is livid, he promises to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

Thirty nine tips of the FTR fedora to the 39 Democrat legislators who did the right thing. I wonder how many Democrat Senators will follow their lead. Think about that, that number of rebelling Democrat Representatives is about 20% of all the Democrat Representatives. Even two Florida Democrat Representatives voted with the Republicans.

Part 3) Sometimes paper is good. Link