Tuesday, January 22, 2013

[Bad Day at Eagle Rock or ‘Tis the Season] It took me 40 minutes to fill up my boat. There was a tourist lady blocking access to the only  pump where I could fit, and no one in the station could find her. I waited patiently. When she reappeared she went back to her SUV and began to stock her cooler with her purchases while still blocking the pump. Eventually she left. Then the pump wouldn’t flow because they were having a changing of the guard in the office. It took 40 minutes total to fill up, but I was patient.

I boated and had a wonderful time. I love the back country.

When I returned to the ramp I had to wait for another tourist (New York) to launch his 16″ boat. He had a lot of trouble backing the boat to the water. His wife assured us that he was a charter captain. Her elderly husband said not on this kind of boat, as if that made a difference. The other waiting boaters were grinning at his ineptitude. We all watched while he drained his boat of rainwater while blocking the boat ramp. I waited patiently. After he launched he and his wife struggled to tie it to the dock. He got in his boat then unfolded a lawn chair and started going through his fishing tackle while his car and trailer still blocked the ramp. I’d had enough tourism for one day and politely hollered, “Yooohoooo! Would you move your car please?” Wifey had some fake excuse for not paying attention about blocking the ramp and moved the car and trailer and all was well again in paradise.

[Slavery] An, evidently, guilt ridden poster stated that the slavers captured the African blacks and then forced them into slavery. By all accounts this was not the procedure at all. When the Slavers arrived on their shores their was a ready market all set up and waiting for them, African tribes were in constant struggle with each other and the victors enslaved the conquered to be sold to foreign slavers and other tribes. Slavery was a universal common practice at that point in time, with the biggest slave merchants being Africans themselves. 

To take things out of context makes an easy point for one’s opinion, however it has little bearing on reality. The reality being that the U.S. was a pioneer in sharply curtailing this disgusting practice.

Just for giggles I was checking the weather wherever I could think of in our great country.  I could not find a single location that had better weather than we are having right here in the Florida Keys.

How I long for a good Chinese restaurant.  Am a Marathonian and who’d a thunk that Big Pine has a better Chinese restaurant than Marathon!  Don’t take that personally Piners (hint at The Four Agreements). 

[“Neighbor dumps yard waste and other household stuff in street”] Waste Management will pick up anything organic in a trash can. The county will have to be notified for the other junk usually. 

I’m thinking of changing ISPs to Comcast because of their screaming fast download speed. Does Comcast slow at peak hours like DSL? I already know of their bad reputation for customer service. Has their reliability improved over the years and how much does internet only cost per month? I’m not interested in bundled services as I don’t think they are a good idea and only save you a few dollars.

[Cardinals] I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but cardinals are around my house all year long.  I even have one male cardinal that appears to be in love with himself.  He will spend all day looking at himself in one of my truck mirrors.

[Fat Albert on the Skids] It looks like the Navy’s new super radar at NAS Key West will do everything Fat Albert does at far less cost than maintaining the blimp base. The new radar even serves the KW Airport. They no longer have their own radar there.

[Inauguration Review] The most exciting thing about Obama’s inauguration was Jason Wu’s dressing of the First Lady. She looked great in that fitted coat and stiletto-heels and spats, walking and waving with the President from the Capitol to the White House. The speeches were the same ol’ same ol’, but, boy,  they sure made a handsome couple!

[Passwords] Use an accented as your password. No one will ever guess it. ñ

Have any of you watched Braking Bad, the popular cable series about a high school science teacher who partners with a f**ck-up kid to make meth and sell it? I watched it for long enough to realize that it’s the same story over and over through all the seasons I watched. They have great success and the f**k-up gets greedy and f**ks it all up, over and over.

[Citizen of the Day] He said he loves the beaches and being able to bike everywhere on the island.

[Blimp Site to be Deflated] One of the two blimps at Cudjoe beams Radio Marti to Cuba. That useless transmission costs Americans millions of dollars each year even though no one in Cuba ever sees it, but transmitting the signal makes the Miami Cubans feel good. There’s no word on what will happen to the station. They will probably transmit from an airplane out of NAS.

[Cheaters] Lance Armstrong is without a doubt the greatest cheater in the history of sports! No one can even come close to him, not the Chicago 9, not Pete Rose, not Tonya Harding.

In 1901 Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 81, after a record 63-year reign that included 63 little wars.

Water, water everywhere; and not a drop to spare. Water grabbing to follow food supply speculation. Where are the checks and balances? Link

[Subs]  I think that we should all purchase our subs wherever we desire.  If you do not like the way they make it, make your own.  Most of the time I do make my own, but whenever I purchase a sub or feel lazy it is always Subway.  In my opinion you are getting your money’s worth, even if it is only 11.13 inches long.  Foot long may very well just be in a name.

Trader Vic’s Gold Rom is lousy. Save your money and liver. I confused it with Trader Joe’s who doesn’t make any bad products. I really like Captain Morgan’s spiced rum. I’ll be drinking that with Coke until I find out there’s something bad in the rum. I already know what’s bad in the Coke.

The European Space Agency‘s Huygens probe set down on the Solar System’s cloudiest moon in 2005, and a time-lapse video of its descent images was created. Huygens separated from the robotic Cassini spacecraft soon after it achieved orbit around Saturn in late 2004 and began approaching Titan. For two hours after arriving, Huygens plummeted toward Titan’s surface, recording at first only the shrouded moon’s opaque atmosphere. The computerized truck-tire sized probe soon deployed a parachute to slow its decent, pierced the thick clouds, and began transmitting images of a strange surface far below never before seen in visible light. Landing in a dried sea and surviving for 90 minutes, Huygen’s return unique images of astrange plain of dark sandy soil strewn with smooth, bright, fist-sized rocks of ice. Video

[“Not one restaurant knows how to make a real hamburger”] Who comes to the Keys for hamburgers? The restaurants here have really become crap with the exception of the few gourmet places Cudjoe and south. I heard the big tiki on Ramrod changed their menu and everything is fried or has cheese on it. Grilled cheese, cheesy fries, 5-way fries, cheesy mac, cheese on fish. TGIF used to put cheese on everything including the damn seats and we see what happened to them. Coming to the Keys for beef is like going to Missouri for fresh seafood, it’s dumb. 

I was just flashing back the days when sitting at a bar and the old style juke boxes would kick on out of nowhere and would start playing the most popular tracks like “Strokin”. My how times have changed.  Clarence Carter – Strokin’

[Blimp Site in Demise] I’ve noticed a quite a few new signatures on the TARS petition from Big Pine. Thank You! Please pass the link along to anyone you can. We need a ton of signatures to get a response from the White House. Hey, if a “Death Star” petition can get the numbers it got, we shouldn’t have a problem! Remember, this system is not only in place to detect illegal narcotics shipments, it’s also here to interdict anyone who may wish to enter this country illegally

The site here on Cudjoe provides numerous jobs to locals and outside of that, we use many local contractors. So, please help! Take a few minutes out of your busy day to go and sign the petition and tell our government that this system is important to the security of all of us. Link

[Cardinal Rule] I have them around all year too, but as a rule they never sing until spring.

[Blimp Site] The Tethered Aerostat Radar Sites, which include the Cudjoe Key Blimp Site, may be closed. We think these sites play an important in our war on drugs, protecting us from terrorism as well as keeping a watch on our borders. There is currently a Petition on the White House Website which will explain this better. 

You can go to the White House web site, open an account and sign the petition. It is pretty self-explanatory but, basically, you will have to open an account by giving your name, where you live, and your email address. After you do this, you will receive a message in your email in-box. You will need to go to that email and click the link back to the website in order to confirm that your email address is a real one.

Here is the link to the White House web site and the petition. Link

Never underestimate a woman‘s ability to make a big deal out of nothing.

[Submarine Sandwiches] The secret to a good submarine sandwich is the dressing. The dressing they use in the best places is oil and vinegar–with an unhealthy measure of sugar and salt added. The sugar is the trick.

Food Stamps and welfare are at such highs because we’ve been in the worst recession since the Great Depression and more people need help in order to avoid a total crash and seeing long bread lines again.

Prime Rib Dinner    Live Music

[“Why support a NJ owned franchise”] Because their subs have both high quantity and high quality of taste. Sort of like a Starbucks of submarine sandwiches. People get addicted to the quality and constancy. A $13 Giant Italian will serve 2-4 people, so there is value as well. Their bread is large, soft and tasty; not thin, tough and bland like the local Cuban style bread used at many local Keys deli’s. Their choice of meats, cheeses and spices are all carefully selected, controlled and consistent at every 600+ locations. Usually when ordering a Jersey Mike’s sub, you let them make it as originally intended, but do have the option of altering it.

Subway grew faster as a chain because they were always skimpy on the higher priced ingredients which returns better margins for the business owner but eventually has the negative effect that people seek better value and taste elsewhere.

If a Jersey Mikes Subs opened in a good location in the Keys, with high traffic and parking (like on Marathon or tourist area Key West), even next store to a Subway, it would be swamped for business and the Subway would be gone, along with those annoying supermarket deli’s with their long checkout lines.

I’ve always detested Subway for their cheapness, glad they are finally getting burned. I grew up near Pt. Pleasant and we always delighted going to the beach to get one of Mike’s quality subs, it took them 20 years to get to 600 stores, but it’s because people have to realize what they have been missing.

[How Cold Was It] “It was so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk.” Here’s a cold twist.

[Homesick] I was in Key West the other day and I saw a bumper sticker on a parked car that read, “I miss Detroit.” So I broke the window, stole the radio, shot out two of the tires and left a note that said, “I hope this helps!”

[“Removing Roach Stains”] Put all the roaches in the cookie tins—no more roach stains!

Dear Springer’s,  advertising a 10 oz cut of prime rib is akin to teasing a hungry dog. My god man, prime rib should start at 16 oz. I know that the price of beef has gone up, but 10 oz, really? 

“All of the money for NASA‘s space exploration was spent here on Earth.” Private companies are doing it better and far cheaper.

[Jersey Girls] Kudos to whoever modified the cattle crossing signed. I laughed so hard I almost pooped my pants. Who says people down here don’t have a sense of humor. And it beats the hell out of all the rednecks posting their views on guns. Bring back humor to this site–please. 

[“The west coast of Florida is considered the “trailer coast”] Somebody hasn’t taken a road trip in 20 years. You have to watch what you say about trailers, you mess with one, you mess with the whole park. 

[Guns] Malls and businesses have the right to post a sign that says “No Firearms” but the sign means nothing. state law supersedes any sign on a private establishment and the state law is, if you have a CWP you can carry.

That said, if you’re caught with your gun in the mall or place of business that has a “No Firearms” sign posted, they can ask you to leave and you may do so without harm nor foul. If you refuse to, you may be charged with Trespassing if law enforcement is called.

If a business has a No Firearms sign, I don’t go in. I can shop all day on the internet and cost those closed-minded shop keepers their profits as easily as I can support those who support my rights.

See you at the Daddy Bones bar-b-que restaurant in Key West for their Gun Rights Party.

[Captain Doom and Gloom] The US economy is the steam engine of world business…the biz of America IS biz. The whole house of cards would come down if only the US defaulted on the Ponzi scheme. That, in turn, would facilitate the ushering in of the NWO, giving the UN the reins of world power. That thought alone is scary enough…but what if another currency was simultaneously introduced while the dollar was rendered practically worthless? An entire pecking order would be up shit creek without a paddle. A more orderly transition likely is being contemplated, one that preserves max transfer of wealth while ensuring stability in financial markets. Question is, what’s next? America Should Declare Bankruptcy Video

“food stamp participation, number of persons on disability, long term unemployed is at near record highs”  It is to deplete the national reserve value so the government will crash or declare bankruptcy, then we are open to civil strife and instability until Martial Law takes control, then we are all up shits creek with out the preverbal paddle! Remember Orwell?

There is something that turns me off when I read a post with ‘folks’ used instead of ‘people’ in a line.

“World Murder Rates Link” I think I’ll book a New Zealand cruise! Link

Obama on Inauguration Day, a very historic day in America. He  extended his wishes to the President and his beautiful family. Just as  many classy, patriotic Republican Americans did, it was a real sign of  support to a President and a country that voted him in. 

Unfortunately, there are some who chose a very historic day to use it  to spew hatred and negativity. President Obama is a popular president  and FTR is a bitter old man who hates to lose and is unpatriotic to the  max. He could have used this one day to reflect on all the reasons why  he loves our country, but he chose not to. I challenge him to tell us  all the reasons why he loves America without making it political. It  would be a refreshing change. I think there are many who would like FTR  to recognize that his old tactics of doom and gloom haven’t worked.  Maybe some self reflection might lead him to take a new approach to  spread his conservative agenda. Show a little kindness, love for your  country and support for your country and it will be amazing how much  can get done and how much our country will be able to work together to  continue to be the best country in the world!

[“The list of Obama’s unfulfilled promises is long and shameful”]  FTR should be the one ashamed because it is folks just like him who obstruct all those promises. Instead of faulting the president for failing to keep his pledges FTR should be bragging that he’s done his share to stop the President. You’re to blame.

FROM THE RIGHT

Apparently yesterday’s critic who beefed about my posting concerning Nagin, ex-mayor of N.O. and now charged with a slew of felonies concerning  public corruption, totally missed the point. My posting was perfectly clear. I specifically stated that various major media outlets had presented the fact of his indictment, but had chosen not to identify him and his corrupt cohorts as being Democrats. The point is and was that the major media chose not to identify him as a Democrat; they chose not to identify his codefendants as Democrats. You can be rock solid certain that the media would have howled if Nagin et al had been Republicans.  It is just another episode of the mendacity of our maliciously biased media. It’s just another example why the Republicans can’t get their message out.

C’mon you liberal critics, think…think….think, just try it, you might even like it.

Part 2) While there is a firestorm of anti Second Amendment rhetoric in play around the nation, we are approaching another genuine, not ginned up,  crisis that will directly impact our nations fiscal health.  Very soon Obama will demand that our national debt ceiling be raised.  He will argue that the Republicans are attempting to shut down government solely to make political points. He will try to demonize the Republicans. I don’t think that that tired progressive cliché will work this time.

I suspect that the Republicans are ready to agree to a short term increase in the debt ceiling. But their bill authorizing the extension of the debt ceiling would require the House and Senate to pass a budget blueprint for the next fiscal year—or else members of Congress wouldn’t be paid. The new bill would only require Congress to obey existing law. Essentially it means “no budget, no pay”.

By including the requirement that a congressional budget be passed, House Republicans are acting on their frustration with the Senate, which, contrary to existing law, hasn’t adopted a budget since 2009. Both chambers are supposed to pass one by April 15 each year, then reconcile their differences and pass a compromise.

By including the requirement that a congressional budget be passed, House Republicans are acting on their frustration with the Senate, which hasn’t adopted a budget since 2009. Both chambers are supposed to pass one by April 15 each year, then reconcile their differences and pass a compromise.   It is astonishing to me that the media permit Obama to get away with his blatantly false assertion and propaganda that Congress should pay for its spending.  Damnit, its Obama and the Democrat’s in the legislative branch that has permitted, even encouraged our reckless spending.

Part 2) This Olde Fart is heartened by two ground swell movements that seem to be gathering traction. The first is reflective of the abysmally low approval ratings of the Legislative branch of our government. It’s on par with cockroaches.  A movement is gathering traction to adopt term limits for our federal legislators.  Such a measure could be enacted if it exempted current legislators. It’s suggested that Senators be limited to 4 six year terms, and Representatives be limited to 10 two year terms.

The second is the abolition of the Electoral College.  The idea is worthy of serious consideration.  In the most current election, it would have made no difference.  But, in GWB’s first election, he lost the popular vote, but won in the Electoral College.

Part 3) It’s interesting to note that Gallup just released an article that tells us that Obama’s average popularity during his first term stunk (or is stank correct). He ranked 10th behind Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Bush 2, Bush 1, Nixon, Truman, Reagan, and Clinton.  Only Carter and Ford fared worse. That’s pretty interesting, not surprising, but interesting; you can read all about it at Link