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2014 March

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

CT-Banner7.3.13Published by Noon–No Saturday Edition

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tugboat raccoon

[Shirking Responsibility] Tugboat Tilly was purchased by some dreamer on Stock Island, but he couldn’t afford the dockage or anything else so they evicted him and towed his boat to near the main shipping channel off Key West, where due to neglect it sank. Now the County is forced to use most of the $650,000s it gets from boating fees to remove derelict vessels. The estimated costs of $500,000 to remove it will practically use up the entire year’s worth of boat removal money just because of one irresponsible dreamer.

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[Canals] There exists an opportunity for the Eden Pines Canal System to be included in the County’s Canal Restoration Demonstration Program. Rhonda Haag, Monroe County Sustainability Program Manager and AMEC representative Wendy Blondin will be outlining the proposed project at a neighborhood meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 5, 2014, 6:30 pm at 29023 Pine Avenue, Eden Pines, Big Pine Key. Eden Pines property owners are encouraged to attend this informational and educational gathering. 

breakdance guards

If I were to give up Sarcasm, that would leave interpretive dance as my only means of communication

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Gun Range blues; how we got to this point. Link
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[Stand Your Ground] The neighbors of the guy shooting outdoors on Big Pine Key better be careful how they treat him.  He might start to feel afraid for his life and you know what happens next!

Rolls-Royce-Ghost

 

Rolls Royce’s newest Ghost II just premiered. The luxury car retails for about $275,000.

[Foreign Aid] I think that the entire Fox News Team should get their Bushmasters with 30 round clips and parachute into the Ukraine and kick out the Russkies.  They could even take the Big Pine shooter and Sarah Palin with them, it sounds like they are ready to go. 
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[News Hierarchy] I’ve noticed that I see the same stories repeated over a period of a week or so. I’ve observed that they usually start with the NY Times or Wall Street Journal then go to NPR radio and lastly to Wired or Popular Science magazines.

rich man laying on money

 

Bill, as in billion, Gates has regained the title of world’s richest man at an estimated 76 billion dollars of worth. It is good to be King.

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Those nice folks at Fox News will only be happy if America attacks Russia in defense of Ukraine. Can they really be serious?
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[Rich and Poor] I can have empathy for the poster that opened the C.T. last Friday and his remarks about the K.W. police force and those dratted rich souls that inhabit the Keys, I too suffered that same malady, but thankfully, by the time I was 10 or 11 years old I had seen enough of the world to realize that it really doesn’t spin for most folks as this fellow sees the situation. Maybe it is taking a little longer for this person to realize this reality and understand how and why things are like they are, but eventually I am sure he will come to understand other views. It just takes longer for some than others.

mardi gras beads

[Fat Tuesday] Mardi Gras started in New Orleans today. The Iditarod dogsled race started in Alaska today too. Mardi Gras seems like it would be a lot more fun and warmer.

[March Madness] Word on the street is mutants are backing Sloan for Mayor of Key Weird, and normals are pondering that road less traveled by us.
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mount_everest_trash_clean_up_060311

 

[Litter Bugs] There are an estimated fifty tons of trash on Mt Everest left by climbers over the years–some dead bodies too. Now they are trying to make climbers carry some of that trash off the mountain on their way down. That doesn’t seem practical seeing as most climbers die on the way down, mainly due to exhaustion and lack of oxygen. I can’t see them worrying about trash when they can’t hardly see straight and are just trying to get down alive. 

Singapore is the most expensive city in the world to live in. A pint of beer in a nice restaurant costs $14 and it costs three times as much to operate a car as it does in New York City (#26). Paris, Oslo, Zurich and Sydney are the others topping the list. Tokyo fell to number ten from number one last year. Mumbai is the cheapest city to live in.

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[Crook] Some creep held up a 12 year old Boy Scout Friday in New Town, Key West.

constitution signing

On March 4,1789 The Constitution of the United States went into effect

isaksen-flood-roof 4.23.13 
[Trailer Trash] Robin Grabey, 52, of Big Pine Key, was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon after getting caught stealing a couple of bath towels from the Seahorse Trailer Park’s laundry room. She pulled a knife on the owner and threatened him. She was arrested at her trailer. 
bacon-church
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[Taking the Plunge] It appears 42-year-old Michael Schmidt of Homestead jumped off the 70 foot Jewfish Creek Bridge Saturday. He’s dead.

monarch butterfly wings move[Monarch Butterfly Population Status] The overwintering numbers are in from Mexico and once again it’s bad news. The numbers are not a surprise; as early as May, we predicted that the population would be lower this winter. The total area  occupied by monarch colonies at overwintering sites in Mexico this winter was a mere .67 hectares, down from the previous all-time low of 1.19 hectares reported last year.

Monarch numbers will rebound but only if the weather allows AND there is enough milkweed to increase the population. While we will never get back to the large populations of the 1990s, there is still enough milkweed to produce monarchs in sufficient numbers to colonize 3-4 hectares of the forests in Mexico. However, given the current size of the overwintering population it is likely that it will take 2-3 years with relatively favorable breeding conditions for the population to attain such numbers.

For a more detailed discussion of the monarch population status please visit Link

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confucious-say[The Wisdom of Confucius]
Confucius say okay to let a fool kiss you but don’t let a kiss fool you.
Confucius say is better to lose a lover than love a loser.
Confucius say man who mix Viagra and Ex-Lax won’t know if he’s coming or going.
Confucius say drunken man’s words are sober man’s thoughts.
Confucius say marriage like bank account: you put it in, you take it out, you lose interest.
Confucius say kiss is shopping upstairs for downstairs merchandise.
Confucius say better to want mate you don’t have than to have mate you don’t want.
Confucius say Viagra like Disneyland: one-hour wait for three-minute ride.
Confucius say joke like sex; neither is good if you don’t get it.
Confucius say if you argue with a fool you become a fool.
Confucius say a man that gives away his money to the poor soon becomes the poor.
Confucius say those who would rule the world usually cannot rule themselves.
Confucius say logic is the blessing of the intelligent but the curse of the inept.

(Ed: Confucius say baby conceived in backseat of car with automatic transmission grow to be shiftless basted.)

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[Citizen Of The Day Says] He likes to take advantage of the nice climate with a cup of cof­fee on his front porch and enjoys sharing what’s important in his life with his best friends.

spaghetti-meatballs-4It’s Italian Tuesday at Springer’s Bar and Grill. Today’s special is spaghetti and meatballs, just like mama used to make. It’s sure to fill the belly and warm your heart.  So come on in for a plateful of Italian lovin’ and don’t forget the vino.  Molto  Delizioso!

Also tonight performing on the patio we have The Doerfels at 6:30. So join us for dinner and stick around for the music. Who knows, a little dancing might be involved.

Always something special at Springers.

Using the term climate change is just fine. I think most folks would agree that the climate does change from day to day, month to month. Global Warming, not so much. I think we are in a cooling cycle that may last a few hundred years or 25 or 96. I’m not really sure, neither is anyone else. The sky is not falling & the term, climate change, is very acceptable. Lets use it.
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flower3.14

 

[Mystery Flower] Mystifying and beautiful, the “Magic Dogwood” – Cornus florida subspecies urbiniana – is a rare Mexican version of the common American Dogwood tree.  Looking like exotic Chinese lanterns, these incredible blooms dazzle the eye by the hundreds each spring.  Like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike.  This is a very hard-to-find tree.  I don’t know any other source for fresh seeds. 

[“Bought an Intel iMac circa 2006”] Great, welcome to the club. However iMac’s of that era came with OS X 10.4 or 10.5 both which is obsolete and insecure online. If it was upgraded to OS 10.6 that operating version is presently not getting security updates. If it was upgraded to 10.7, the last version it’s capable of running, it is still getting security updates but for not much longer, perhaps until June next year. Unfortunately you can’t upgrade the operating system any further and that is why it was only $105. On the other hand, I just reinstalled Windows Vista on my friends $98 XP era Intel Core 2 Duo laptop, it’s quicker than heck (via tweaking Windows appearance features) and Vista is still supported for another 3 years.
Radio-Shack-1.2.14

partyman dance

[Party Animal] My complaint about the loud party last Saturday night is that they didn’t invite me.

party pooper4

 

[Party Pooper] I did not want to hear the party on sat night in Eden Pines but was forced to. The problem is that it is a residential area and is slowly being transformed into a commercial area. Gun ranges, live bands, illegal renters, sigh.

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[Homeless] There has been way too much discussion about the homeless problem in the city of One Human Family.  It’s only a problem because Key West makes it a problem.  No matter what crusade the city tries, they will never rid the city of homeless men and women.  If you are homeless, why not go where it’s warm?  The city was forced by the courts to build K.O.T.S.  There is not enough room at K.O.T.S. for all the homeless, (10-15% at best) and with the proposed reduction in military, the ever failing economy, housing foreclosures, rising unemployment, amnesty for illegals, etc, the situation will only get worse.  Eventually the city will be forced by the liberal leaning courts to do more.  

It’s time for Key West to live up to One Human Family and designate a place for those who don’t want to go to K.O.T.S. or are afraid to go there (for good reason).  This would have to meet certain requirements.  1) away from residential homes.  2) easily patrolled by the KWPD.  3) an area unused at night.  I believe there are three places that would meet this criteria. 1) Truman Waterfront, until the commission decides what to do with it.  The city has done nothing with this land for 12 years.  Lots of room, even parking for those with vehicles.  2) Rest Beach.  This beach has been ignored by the city or county and has fallen into a shambles. It is unused even during the daytime.  3) Indigenous Park. More unused land even in the daytime.  It too has parking for vehicles.

There would also have to be certain rules.  Not allowed in until the park closes.  Pack up and not leave anything behind when the park opens.  The KWPD, a few years ago, received a grant to pay for four officers to enforce “quality of life” ordinances.  More than enough to patrol the area seven nights a week.  Key West Police could still enforce no sleeping in public because they have provided the homeless an alternative. 

snow-ct
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from the right

Thanks to the poster who urged the CT community to make up their own minds whether or not Rick Scott had any guilt in the massive fraud and theft case committed by his employees. That poster provided a link, I’ll repeat it and urge you to check it out for yourself. Link

rick-scott-voting-rightsIf you read the article you will see that it is about two low level employees of Scott’s company, HCA/Columbia, a health care giant with about 130 thousand employees. His company was the largest employer in Florida.  The informants provided valuable information to the FBI which assisted the FBI and the DOJ in investigating the multi million dollar theft from the public. The informant’s information led to several arrests and convictions of HCA/Columbia employees that were mid management in the organization.

Then the informants made it very clear that they “think” that Scott knew of the ongoing theft. The informants offered no data, no proof, nor any evidence that Scott even knew of the thievery. Nonetheless the informants “think” that Scott “must” have known.

The informants “thoughts” are the exact opposite of the investigators from the DOJ and FBI who examined all of the evidence, interviewed scores of people, pored over reams of documents and came to the conclusion that Scott neither knew of, nor had any responsibility for the thefts.  Please remember that Scott, a Republican head of a massive business enterprise, would have been a juicy target for Democrat Attorney General, Janet Reno. If Reno’s DOJ’s could have had Scotts bald scalp, she would have had it.

The FBI and the DOJ were so convinced that he was without guilt in the affair that they did not even bother to interview him.

During Scott’s administration we have paid down much of the debt accrued by Crist. Our unemployment rate is significantly lower that the national rate. We have a balanced budget and a “rainy day fund”. Teachers have gotten raises and the performance of our students has hugely improved. Scott has cut taxes, and new businesses are coming to Florida.  We are having one of the best tourist seasons ever. Republican governance works.

But what of the character and reputation of Scotts Democrat opponent Charlie Crist?

Fact:  Broward Ponzi schemer, convicted felon, and Broward political force, Scott Rothstein, has testified, under oath, in federal trial that he bribed Crist when Crist was governor so that Crist would appoint  Judges of Rothstein’s choosing.  Link

Fact. Rothstein and Crist were close friends. Link 

Fact: The Daily Kos, a left wing publication, published a story on Sat Jun 09, 2012 at 11:36 AM PDT. The headline of the story was: “FL former Gov. Charlie Crist in alleged blackmail/coverup of sex, drinking scandal.” Read it for yourself. Link

Fact: Jim Greer was handpicked by then Republican Governor Charlie Crist to be the head of the Republican Party of Florida. Greer was subsequently arrested and charged with bilking the Republican Party of Florida. Greer was charged with   one count of organized scheme to defraud, four counts of felony grand theft and one count of money laundering. Link

Fact: One of the most powerful lobbyists in the state, Brian Ballard, says former Governor Charlie Crist authorized fund raising payments to former state GOP Chairman Jim Greer. Greer was arrested in June of 2009 for paying himself and the party’s executive director, Delmar Johnson, a commission on the money they raised for the party. A Special Prosecutor on Public Corruption said Greer put together a secret deal to steal money from the party. Link

Fact: As Attorney General of Florida, Crist was warned of massive mortgage fraud in Florida.  He did nothing, then when he was Governor he expressed shock at that fact. Link

While Crist was Governor, Florida was on the skids, he led us to be awash in debt, and our unemployment rate was greater than the nations.

Please send me your comments at 1776ftr@gmail.com