The Coconut Telegraph New Year's Eve 2009

[Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve] The Marcels - words  by Rodgers and Hart

Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue Moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper, "Please adore me"
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold

Blue Moon, now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-avJPsuArgswn

Happy New Year!

It costs nothing to be nice.  It’s worth a try.

[TSA says no to Director. The G.O.P. was worried more about working people joining a union then they were in trying to keep America safe from terrorist.]

That news item got distorted, and then more incorrect info got added.  People from both Dems and Reps are against that LAX guy getting the TSA Director job.  Regardless of who gets the job, many elected and appointed people are against unionizing TSA employees.  Somehow those 2 "againsts” got muddled into 1.

Firstly, we're just as safe with or without a TSA Director.  TSA is being run the same as always, by it's deputy directors.  Just like Debbie Fredericks, Deputy County Administrator ran the County for many months until the new administrator was hired.   The only thing the TSA Director does is be a public face for the organization. TSA is not autonomous. It is a department within the Department of Homeland Security's control and organization.

I'm pro-unions. They provide a good worker protection mechanism.  But all the reasons I love unions are the exact same reasons TSA (the frontline of our safety security) can not exist in a unionized environment. The TSA, like the CIA and FBI, can not operate effectively if it has to answer to any union policies before making an emergency change. The nature of security means the government is in charge of all activities, unfettered by threat of another organization (union) standing between security being applied, and those applying the security.

Not all occupations/job positions need the worker protection unions provide. The federal government already provides more employee protections and benefits than private employers.  And what happens when the union starts the salary negotiating process?  Do we really want a group of union leaders negotiating, bickering and threatening the Department of Homeland Security?  

I don't want my security jeopardized by a TSA employee who should have been terminated but was not because the union fought the termination. I don't want my security jeopardized by a union calling a strike.

The country's security can only be accomplished by a direct line between employer (feds) and employee (TSA worker) without 3rd party interference.

EZ Keys Definitions

Bubba - Born in the Keys, raised in the Keys, live in the Keys. Receives direct benefits, either legal, monetary or both; based on a family name or history.

Conch - Born in the Keys, raised in the Keys. May or may not still reside in the Keys, but maintains roots in the Keys.

Freshwater Conch - Born elsewhere, long-time Keys resident with extensive business and/or community ties.  Many were bestowed an honorary certificate in years passed.

Local - Full-time Keys resident with business and community ties.  Has homesteaded property in the Keys, or rents and works 12 months a year in the Keys.

Cracker - Usually reserved for those of us born in Florida, though not from the Keys.  May or may not have business or community ties to the Keys.  Has never lived in a state with “New” as part of the name.  See Florida Native for further description.

Migrant -Born elsewhere, may or may not speak English, may or many not have business or community ties in the Florida Keys or anywhere for that matter.

Snowbird - Anyone from a state other than Florida who either day trips, rents or owns non-homesteaded property and stays in the Keys less than 12 months a year.   Easily identified by the brightly colored tropical shirts, sox worn with sandals, pinkish skin and whiny vocalization about how they're offended and how things are done "back home". 

P.S. While I'm not a great fan of Boondocks and the new owners. They have improved the place from what it was 10 years ago.  They have tried many different business models to keep the place alive.

The beauty of the America is there's always somewhere else to go; and if you're not happy with the choices you can go home!

[Big Pine 29] I wonder what Mitch Denker, their lawyer, is up to these days.

[Boondocks] I suspect that the “whiners” are actually “diners” at Boondocks. Of course they go there!

The simple fact they use the words “hired help”, and their need for a V.I.P. Room, shows their arrogance and the fact that they are not locals. Thank you Boondocks for “hiring” our friends, family, and neighbors.

That they mention the “WM restroom trailer” shows their ignorance by the fact that the trailer was a temporary, first class port-o-potty option, and is now gone. Thank you Boondocks for the brand new first class bathrooms.

Their statement about Howard Livingston being an hour late shows their obliviousness to how things can go wrong in the real world, where real people who are trying to make a living, have real lives, and real families, and sometimes things don’t always go the way you want them to. And further shows their perpetual sense of entitlement. Especially at a free concert. Thank you Boondocks for continuing to provide us with top rate, nationally known, free of charge entertainment.

These whiners didn’t have to go somewhere else where everybody knows their name…we all know their name, Mr & Mrs A. Hole.

[Bike path full of people walking dogs] In Valley Forge where the bike path started, people walked dogs who crapped all over, baby carriages three wide, and other trespassing notions. After they were fined $100 for the offence and told the Bike Path was bought and paid for by the Bicycle Collation of America, they got the idea to stay off!

[Sea level on Big Pine] After reading the whole thing I am convinced that before I am 100yrs old I’d better leave the Keys.

Fundraiser at the Dockside Lounge Marina in Marathon yesterday, for the Wounded Warrior Event taking place on January 15 from Grassy Key to the 7 Mile Bridge.

[PCs versus Macs] I have owned PCs for many years and have had nothing but problems with them.  I may not be the smartest computer geek out there, but I switched to an iMac this past year, and am delighted with it.  Yeah, it cost a little more, but it is worth it in my opinion.  It does everything I ask it to, and fast.  I really haven't had any problems with compatibility so far.  For example, I realized that I couldn't play Windows Media files, such as .wma and .wmv, but I downloaded something called Flip4Mac (it was free), and now I can play them--piece of cake.  And I don't have to worry about virus protection like I did with my PCs.

There is a Mac store in Key West on Truman Ave called Macintosh Solutions and they give free classes every Saturday morning.  I went to the class for Mac basics, and I was sold.  I don't think it has anything to do with your intelligence as to which kind is for you.  I think it is just a matter of preference and money.

Why does one or more of you want to try to belittle those who don't agree with you?  It’s childish.

The fish trap exists because of the fish.  Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap.  The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit.  Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare.  Words exist because of meaning.  Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.  Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?  ~Chuang Tzu

[Nature Conservancy Bad] Sea level rise on Big Pine Key:  The graphic was brought to you from the Nature Conservancy.  There is a biased source.  Can you say steaming pile of bull s**t.  

[Word 2003] My right click “Add to Dictionary” function is full, so it says. How to I make more room for the correct spelling of words? I can’t spell for the life of me and Spell Check is the only thing separating me from looking like the moron I am.

[Healthcare] For all you Obama haters my father developed ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in the early '60's.  Guess what happened?  His health insurance was cancelled!  No other carrier would insure him.  This has been going on for 50 years or more.  You don't think it's time for change?  You think Republicans will do it better?  Republicans had many years in office -- they did nothing - except bring this Country down to its knees.

The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk.  This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to.  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Happy New Year!

[14 year old iguana killer disgusting]  I'm with you, Dad, and thank you for being the outstanding dad you obviously are.  The Keys need more of you, especially Big Pine Key, where parents too often deny that their children are causing problems in the community, probably because they encouraged or ignored behaviors such as those of the 14-year-old animal killer.  Too many Keys birds and animals are being hurt by children and "adults" who have no respect for anything or anyone but themselves.

[Sea Level] I’ve been here since the seventies.  The average sea level in my canal has gone up since then.  Undisturbed rock that was always uncovered or regularly uncovered is always underwater now.  Someone explain that one.

Thanks for the great picture of the PC and Mac guys. You outdid yourself. I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair. From now on I will never see that ad and not crack up. And I will be able to spot the Mac users a mile away.

To the women of Big Pine, the Florida Keys and all parts of this great earth. In reading some of the negative posts about the women of Big Pine, I felt it necessary to find a quote worth sharing as it relates to curvy women.  I can't address the issue of bad or missing teeth, but to say I suppose not everyone has a dental plan.  As a matter of fact, I'm sure of it.  Have a little mercy on them and perhaps take a good look inside yourself.  Personality lasts much longer than physical beauty. 

Curve:  The loveliest distance between two points.  ~Mae West

Now Serving All Who Have Served Honorably. https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_blogs/Blogs?action=blogpost&blogkey=newsroom&postkey=now_
serving_all_who_have&adID=VURL_share

[Detroit's 2009 Autorama] Here are a few pictures from this year's Detroit   Autorama, being held this weekend. 

Interpol, the international criminal police organization, is now poised to reside above the United States Constitution - in a place of sanctity beyond our FBI, CIA, DIA, and all other criminal investigatory domestic organizations. http://www.examiner.com/x-3704-Columbia-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m12d26-US-placed-under-international-policestate

There’s never been a year like '09. The year reviewed in song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKYe1KiwywE

What's up with your love affair with Sarah? Threatening people you don't know and calling them a commie exposes you as a nut case.

Watch the bright Moon make its way down to Mars and Regulus night by night.

If Obama is responsible for the attempted attack on an airplane then The Republican party and George Bush are just as responsible for 9/11. I like this outcome better. I don’t remember the Right Man blaming Bush the way he blames Obama. How convenient. Follow the rhetoric folks and you will see it’s not about America coming out of the doldrums of the past administration, it’s all partisan politics. If you believe that the state of America before the election, when our industries were closing left and right and markets were failing, was due to a man that wasn’t even the party nominee for President was responsible there’s nothing we can do to show you how far out there you really are.

Can we blame the next problem in America on someone not yet elected? It seems to be the cool thing to do.

Nira Tocco is have two Open Houses on Ramrod Key this Saturday, January 2 from 9am - 12 noon at 911 W. Indies and at 27437 Tobago Lane

[Mac v PC] It is true that you can customize almost everything on a PC. There is a free application to download for almost anything you can think of (except making my wife learn to cook).

The Iguana Killers Club, IKC, would like to share this great video with all the avid hunters on how to properly shoot and cook the invasive iguana. The IKC bumper stickers have been printed and we expect delivery early next week. These free stickers will be available at numerous locations throughout the Keys or by contacting the IKC. When you sign up to become a member of the IKC you will receive a membership package which includes 12 IKC bumper stickers, embroidered IKC ball cap, 250 rounds of ammo for the IKC41 air rifle, custom printed Dead Iguana Departed, tee shirt, your life time membership card and numerous discount coupons to local businesses that support the IKC. http://www.tampabay.com/video/?bcpid=28597115001&bctid=30465815001

We will work hard take care of each other, while y'all pine for what someone else already has, and try to take it away.

Who says the GOP doesn't have a sense of humor. Lets elect "Dumb and Dumber". In a new interview with Newsmax, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin hinted that a dream ticket of Palin and Fox News host Glenn Beck is not out of the question.

[Facial Recognition] HP computers are racist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DT3tQqgRM&feature=player_embedded

1935 Chevy ad. The first minute is on the Overseas Highway. http://www.autotraderclassics.com/articles/templates/video.xhtml?utm_source=cruiser+email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=
ecrmart3&utm_campaign=dec+cruiser+email&articleId=46283

[Commies not dumping on Sarah so much anymore] Why would we dump on her?  She's the second most-admired citizen, right behind Hillary! 

These are all very special and unique photos of various motorcycle engines, some old, some not so old, all extremely well done. For the historical record. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gordoncalder/sets
/72157612757443903/show/

[Scientist Denier] Yeah, what the hell do scientists know about anything?  Time for my kidney dialysis!

Did anyone notice that Dick Cheney scolded Obama for supposedly treating the most recent plane attack attempt like he was a common criminal and is allowing him to get a lawyer and go before federal court?  Well guess what? Remember the shoe bomber that was caught trying to do the same thing as this guy? You guessed it, the Bush administration allowed him to lawyer-up and stand trial like anyone else. And there’s more! Remember Mohammad Zarkowi the other terrorist that was caught during the Bush administration? Yes sir, folks, he also was allowed to lawyer-up and stand trial in a federal court--not a military tribunal.

Republicans think that as long as they point fingers at what other folks are doing we will simply follow them blindly and not remember their actions. I mean if Cheney thinks Obama is out of line all I can say is Obama is following the same path as Cheney and Bush did.

[Amazing 2 Year Old Golf Prodigy] Watch out Tiger, Quentin Coor is on the green! I like the part where he has to stop to get his diaper changed.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/cspanjunkie/amazing-2-year-old-golf-prodigy

[Red States -- Blue States] Slave states huh? I doubt it, but perhaps this will help left wingers gain a sense of humor. The Democratic left-wing-nut-progressives have been enslaving poor inner city dwellers for years. In exchange for votes, your party offers food stamps, welfare, health care and many other free goodies in the form of taxpayer funded social programs and substandard schools. Keep 'em fed, unemployed, healthy, dependent and dumb--how Democratic!

Democrats cried for years that it's too discriminatory to demand verifying strict qualification standards to receive taxpayer money. Why? If that was required you'd lose most of your voting block. In your new idyllic Democratic Nirvana, the self-righteous, sanctimonious plan to supply goodies-for-Democratic-votes-agenda will have to be paid for by your own party and its supporters. That will surely cause an abandonment of your party's redistribute the wealth agenda. You'll have oil that you won't drill for and complete union control of everything, including a government you can't control.

Let's forget all that and sum it up briefly. You have obviously forgotten one major, very important factor. We still have all the guns and ammunition guaranteed us under that pesky Constitution that you've been trying so hard to void for so many years. During that time we've become quit proficient handling them both too. So, BANG! BANG! Your land has quickly become our land.

For years lefties have said their morals are so much higher than ours. Given that, we must

exceed your expectations of us by not only taking your land but also your women and all your quality made European goods. I know the latter will upset you most and give you a continual hissy fit, but no worries, you'll gleam with joy as you leave the ships at the European shores. You deserve the Socialist Utopia you're trying to create here, so experience it on steroids over there. It's the least we can do after taking everything you own. After all, this is still America, for now anyway.

Here's the latest Progressive-left-wing-nut plan to get votes at American taxpayer's expense. On December 15Th the Democrat's Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security & Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) was introduced by Ill. Rep. (D) Luis Gutierrez. It's locked up in backroom closed doors ready for secret discussions.  If passed it will legalize 12-20 million new citizens. What will that do to public schools, public social programs and Obamacare if it passes? It will give unions access to unknown millions of new low wage workers paying union dues. Could that be why unions are so pro amnesty? How will amnesty affect the unemployed American workers?

You'll hear lawmakers once again promise "We'll close our borders after this bill is passed". Will you believe them this time, even after all the times they've lied and conned Americans on that same promise? Besides the illegals, who will benefit most from amnesty--you the American taxpayer or the politicians? Why is Tiger Woods getting more mainstream media coverage than a bill that as Obama put it, will help "totally transform America"?

Freedom rings in the Constitutional right to carry guns! Isn’t that right lefties?

Piners Craig and Sue Harfield are caught coaching basketball in Marathon.

The Times Square New Year’s ball weighs 11,875 pounds.

[From the Right] Before the end of January ’09 Mr. Obama had appointed his Attorney General, his Secretary of Homeland Security, his Director of the CIA and his Director of the FBI. By March, ’09 he had appointed his chief of the DIA. And the Democrat party controls Congress that controls oversight. Before taking office Mr. Obama had determined that there was no war on international terrorism, and that there was no such thing a terrorist attack. He introduced  mind numbing terms like "Overseas Contingency Operation" and "Man Caused  Disasters." He had decided that AQI and its ilk were simply criminals and as such they must be treated as criminals with all the rights and privileges accorded to persons committing crimes on American soil.

Then came Christmas 2009.  An echo of the words of Mr. Obama’s America hating pal, and racist mentor, Rev. Wright who said “The chickens have come home to roost.”   Mr. Obama’s overarching responsibility is to protect the American Homeland. It is only the incompetence of the panty bomber that saved us from a massive tragedy. Mr. Obama and his minions ignored a trail of evidence and warning that would have put even Inspector Clouseau on high alert.  The Obama admin’s first response was to deny their failure (Napolitano: “the system worked”).  Mr. Obama’s 3 days late first response was to denigrate the severity of the threat: “it was an isolated extremist incident”.  Mr. Obama’s next response was to blame the Bush administration: “systems that have been in place for years failed”. Incredibly Mr. Obama actually praised the work of his Secretary of Homeland Security.  Damnit, Mr. Obama get your head straight: the panty bomber was the failure of the people that you put in place to run the systems, not the fault of the systems. It was the fault of your insanely naïve commitment to the notion that terrorists are nothing more than criminals. Because of that philosophy we are denied gold standard intelligence from our most recent attacker who has “lawyered up”.  Three days after December 25^th, Mr. Obama once again told us that the dog had eaten his homework. "The old systems failed". Whatever happened to Democrats like Harry “The Buck Stops Here” Truman?

The Muslim extremists are at war with us and have been for more than 3 decades; no matter how often Mr. Obama chooses to deny it.

(Part II) It’s not likely that many CT readers read the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, the biggest paper in Broward.  Ft Lauderdale is an iron ringed bastion of Democrat politicians and liberals.  The Sun Sentinel is their standard bearer. The editorial board is solidly liberal Democrat.  In Wednesday’s digital AM paper they ran an online poll that asked who was the most annoying person in the USA in ‘09. The choices included Glenn Beck, Kim Kardashian, Levi Johnston (of Palin fame), Barack Obama, John and Kate, Joe Lieberman, and a couple of others.  Incredibly, Mr. Obama was the “winner” at being a loser. About 32% of the responders have decided that he was 2009’s most annoying person. The runner up was John and Kate at a distant 20%.  Damn, that’s a huge surprise coming from left-turn-only Broward. Frowns on the left, grins on the right.

(Part III) Special to Deer Ed and to an astute poster. You both are smack dab on the mark. Apologies to Deer Ed, sanity on BPK is a precious commodity not to be squandered. The message is the point, the messenger is not. Constructive criticism is noted and appreciated. 

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Thursday December 31, 20099

Wednesday December 30, 2009

[From the Right] It’s difficult to decide what genre of dark wicked comedy the Obama administration’s handling of the Christmas terrorist attack mimics best. Is it the bold boffo of Dr. Strangelove or the bumbling wicked characters of the Coen brothers treatment of The Lady Killers?  Or is it just a simple horror story?  It starts with the father of the Muslim mass murderer-wannabe reporting his son to the U.S. Nigerian Embassy long before the date of the attack.  The wayward son is Al Quada operative, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian. He was well known as a radicalized Muslim by international authorities long before Christmas day.  The Brits had denied him entry; his name was on our own terror suspects list. We had been specifically warned about him by his father!  Umar, in the thrall of Muslim mania, and with the aid of AQI seamstresses, sewed 80 grams of PETN into the crotch of his undies and merrily marched towards his planned meeting with 72 Virgins in the skies above

Detroit. On Christmas day in Nigeria he was able to board a U.S. airliner headed for his heaven over Detroit. He, with the help of an accomplice, had purchased a one-way ticket for cash. He had no baggage or passport. He bought the ticket just before departure. Does it need to be said that all of that was against all of the rules?

As he blithely marched aboard his Delta magic carpet to his up-close meeting with Allah, he was a very happy camper because he planned on wreaking His vengeance on at least 300 infidels.   His monumental climax was thwarted by an episode of fiery premature ejaculation. After he fizzled, the person in charge of keeping us safe by keeping him away from America, Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, proudly declaimed “The System Worked”. Now that is just freaking incredible! 

Next, the Obama admin decided that this entire nasty little mess was nothing but a criminal act, not an act of war. So we now will deal with it in the same court system that we deal with vandals. Nonetheless, our putative crotch bomber Muslim mass murderer, Umar, tells us all about AQI’s role and brags that there are at least 25 of his already trained brethren anxious to get in the knickers of their own personal 72 virgins. Our loquacious leader, Mr. Cool Obama, three days later broke himself away from the 17^th tee at a Hawaii golf course to grandly inform us that this is nothing more than an “isolated incident.” 

Mr. Obama’s words are in stark contrast to the bragging of AQI that their best is yet to come. So now in the aftermath, we must all suffer draconian new restrictions on travel while AQI is giddy with joy at winning another round. Explosion or no explosion, they won.  We are terrified. What do you think, was it the grace of God that saved hundreds of lives on Christmas day? It must have been, because the Obama administration certainly had nothing to do with it.

I had a couple of pizzas yesterday at Slice of Paradise on Ramrod Key. They have a 2 pie special on Tuesdays for $20. What a deal. Did you know that Paradise pizza is in the building that Rob, of Rob’s Island grill, used to be in? http://keyspizza.com/

[Cisterns of Death] The Citizen article yesterday said, as I recall, that the County Health Department had offered to test the unhappy lady’s cistern water on No Name Key, to see if it’s safe to drink. I got the feeling that she had not taken up that offer. Maybe on her attorney’s advice? Maybe a test would show there is nothing wrong with her cistern water?
 
Every time I eat out, I order tap water, with a slice or two of lime, or if no lime, then lemon. Not bottled lime or lemon, but the real deal. The sour citrus juice neutralizes the chemicals, or so a psychic channeling something called “Ramtha” once claimed. Makes the water more to my taste, in any event. A substitute for soft drinks, although I’ve been known to swizzle some ginger ale, and that I especially like with fresh lime juice. Vitamin-C there, too. Fresh citrus somewhat alkalizes my system.
 
If there is no fresh citrus where I dine out, very rare in Key West, I just drink the tap water. At home, that’s all I drink: tap water. I keep a cold plastic bottle of it with the top off in the refrigerator. I’ve heard letting it breathe evaporates some of the chemicals. On hot days working my garden, I drink tap water straight from the hose. What’s gonna become of me, so much inconsistency?

[Locals asked to leave restaurant] Just because you are a local (and I'm not sure you are} does not entitle you to go to the front of the line.  I find it hard to believe you were kicked out of any Keys establishment without provocation.  My guess is you are a loud, obnoxious northerner posing as a local.  Most of the folks I know that winter here, when asked, would tell you they are from the Keys making you believe they are locals.  I have been coming to the Keys for 20 years and have lived here permanently since 2000 and I have never asked for any special locals’ treatment.  Get in line, wait patiently like the rest of us, be polite or go somewhere else where you can be seated immediately and made to feel important.

[Finds the 14 year old iguana killer disgusting] I'm not his Mom, I'm actually his Dad.  So respecting life (not killing things for the pleasure of it) is a gay thing?

Yes, we both eat meat, but we don't go out and kill living animals just for the hell of it.  I will kill, if I feel my life is being threatened and I have no other choice, but that doesn't mean I don't respect life.  There is a difference.

[Obama] Sometime back before we put our new President into office I heard him speak. He was great. I am a center-to-the-right voter and I was moved by this man. I did not vote for him and no longer want to hear him speak. As in race horses breeding and class will beat speed, time and time again. He is fast. We wanted change so very badly we made a poor choice. I am sure we will start to repair this in November.

[Red States -- Blue States] This is an old one but a good one and a reminder that Key West maybe really doesn't belong in Florida (though Big Pine might). Perhaps it will help right wingers regain their own sense of humor.

Dear Red States, We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us.  In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

[Howard Livingston's Blizzard] We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.  We started ours out with a bang.  Thanks to The Weather Channel and 40,000 pounds of block ice, we had the first White Christmas ever in the Keys.  This is without question the very best Christmas I have ever had.  They started making snow at about 7:30 in the morning and I have to say we still have a pile left in the front yard.  The snowmen however, did not fare so well, as they fell victim to the tropical sun and 78 degree temps.  It was great to see so many kids and adults enjoy snow for the very first time.  The staff from the Weather Channel could not have been nicer and some even stayed an extra day to soak in a little more of paradise from my boat.

Special thanks to Adam Berg and Michelle Birnbaum for making this a special day for everyone.  After the show was over and the cameras were off, Adam jumped back in the snow and played with all the kids.  He is such a cool guy.  Also thanks to Ken Wells Jr. for giving Adam his aerial sleigh ride back to the Key West airport.  There is a wonderful video capturing the day by Craig Hollenback. Check it out at www.conchrepublicradio.com  Thanks for everything Craig!

I see that the commies are not dumping on Sarah much because we know who you are.  Think they are worried?  Watch it!

Having worked in the restaurant business for years down here it is impossible to make everyone happy this time of the year. Things are so busy and everyone wants special treatment, and there is not enough to go around. If you want to be treated special stay home and cook this week.

[Grouper ban] All they did was make it more of a challenge to catch them and not get caught. I'll still get my Jewfish. Screw them. Most of those making the fishing rules probably can't tell the difference between a grouper and a grunt.

[Water] Scientists have been discovering that water has some unique and amazing qualities. Not only is it the basis of all life, but we are now finding that water has memory. Water can be changed, not only by it's physical environment, but by consciousness and thought! Experiments were done where polluted (dead) water was frozen into crystals. The crystals were deformed and without geometric design. Then the same water was exposed to people thinking thoughts of love and gratitude, and intentionally directing these positive intentions to the water. The water was frozen into crystals again. The water that had been polluted now formed perfect geometric snowflake crystals!
 
So what does this mean? Is it possible that mere thought could help clean up polluted water? Further experiments have shown that the water which has been exposed to positive intention (especially thoughts of love and gratitude) and then used to nourish seeds, produced plants that grew faster and produced healthier plants.  So how can this help our waters here in the Keys?
 
If water which has been exposed to positive intentions can produce healthier plants, perhaps it will work for our ocean and bay. Could it be possible that our beautiful Florida Keys water could become healthier if we all remember to send love and gratitude to our water every time we see it? If we take time every day to bless our water with love, appreciation and gratitude is it possible that we could create a better environment for our coral reefs, fish, birds, dolphins and manatees?
 
Each time we cross a bridge, go fishing, go out in our boat or swim in our beautiful ocean or bay, we can take a moment to send positive intention to the water. We can think  "I love you, beautiful water!  Thank you water, for the life you give us! Thank you for the home you provide for all the sea life, coral reefs, birds and other wildlife here in the Keys!"
 
And let's not forget our drinking water. Research has shown that if you write the words "love" "gratitude" and "health" on your bottled water, it actually changes the molecular structure of the water, making it more healthy to drink! 
 
Sounds like science fiction? Could it be possible that our thoughts could help clean up our water, and help us live healthier, more sustainable lives here in the Keys?
 I believe everything on our planet is alive. Everything is energy, and energy emanates vibrations. Our thoughts and feelings give forth vibrations, and at a quantum level everything is connected. Everything affects everything else. So it is not unrealistic to believe our precious waters can be affected by our intentional vibrations of thought.

Big Pine 29 bust via private emails.  Please contact me at so I can ask you if you know about something I'm trying to find out about. Thanks. keysriderfive@yahoo.com

[Fisherman basher (Grouper Ban)] I can't possibly imagine anyone more ignorant than you. You are assuming that all fishermen are raping the waters for all the fish they can stuff in their fish box. Most every charter captain I have ever met is concerned about the environment and the future of the resources that makes them a living. In fact this is an economic disaster for the charter fishing business and the Keys economy will suffer.

You obviously don't fish, but maybe you eat fish. Well, start digging deeper in your wallet, bubba!

[Why all the chatter about the Big Pine 29 Bust? Are the old dopers just reliving the good old days in the Keys?] Probably, and sometimes the ol' memory needs a jog for that process, so lend a hand!

[Facial Recognition Door Lock and Time Clock] Forgot to punch your time clock? Don't worry, your face did it for you. Ditch the keys and throw away the time cards, now all you need is your face. Wholesale electronics giant Chinavision is offering a facial recognition door lock for around $465.

[Panty Bomber] The Christmas day failed Muslim plot is not an isolated incident. Our President has put every one of us in real harms way by insisting that these killers are nothing more than common criminals. I urge all to check for yourselves. Simply do a web search and scan the data from the search term: “USA terrorism arrests 2009”.  In under a minute you will see articles outlining at least 8 plots and over a dozen arrests of persons plotting or conducting terrorist attacks on American soil just since last January. Gang, we’re are not in a crime wave, we are at war!

[Blue Moon] Party planners take note. For the first time in almost twenty years, there's going to be a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve.

I remember the last time this happened. December 1990 ended with a Blue Moon, and many New Year's Eve parties were themed by the event. It was a lot of fun. Don't expect the Moon to actually turn blue, though. The Blue Moon is a creature of folklore. It means that it’s the second full Moon in a calendar month.

Blue Moon by Ella Fitzgerald http://s0.ilike.com/play#Ella+Fitzgerald:Blue+Moon:
462650:s33662.15567.13456156.1.1.82%2Cstd_11c5f89e7365da6a1cdb53d5d71d8663

[The Party of No is required to vote no] Let me see if I've got this right, it's wrong if every Republican votes the same way, but it's somehow right when every Democrat does the same?

[Comments on Sloan and Right Guy] To all the Sloan apologists: We are not trying to stop Sloan from posting here (at least I'm not) but would like to see Deer Ed use his vast editorial powers to reduce the length of those overly long posts. Back when this forum was called Kudos and Whiners and when Sloan posted almost every day his posts only displayed the first couple of lines and then had a link to the rest of the text. It was a nice setup because you could discern from those first few lines whether or not he was on his meds and if the post was worth reading. I consider it purely a technical matter as the long posts disrupt up the flow of the page.  That the content is the insane ramblings of an egomaniac is beside the point.

To the From Das Reich guy. Now calm down buddy. The "suck my *****" comment was merely an expression and not an invitation. I know that the possibility of such an encounter has stirred feelings in your loins that have been dormant since the Hoover administration, but I'm just not that kind of guy (not that there's anything wrong with that). You are probably not familiar with many colloquialisms from this century so I will forgive your ignorance.

Is "Obamaphile" and “Mr” President the best you've got? You really are a one trick pony, with nothing more to offer than extreme partisan politics. I hope that when I reach your age that I am still able to converse on a broad range of topics and not in binary like you.

Deer Ed, I think I captured your likeness pretty closely! I imagine all editors with cigar in hand, like Perry White or J. Jonah Jameson.

[Big Pine 29] What good, good memory we have of the old days. Yes “Ping Ping” was there. I just had to see if anyone was really paying attention. You get an A, or should it have been a BP30, 31, 32? We will never know the real truth. That was a lot of big trucks in one spot, though. Right my new friend?

[Are the old dopers just reliving the good old days in the Keys] Nope, just trying to remember the good old daze!

[No to TSA Head] Over 4 months ago the president nominated a well qualified man to head the TSA that oversees transportation security. Well the No People didn’t want the man put in place because he would have allowed the employees to join a Union. The G.O.P. was worried more about working people joining a union then they were in trying to keep America safe from terrorist. Now the No-ers will try to blame the president even though their own Senator, Jim DeMint, blocked the nomination. The constant No, no, no to everything our President does is starting to take its toll on Americans. Take a look at the President’s approval ratings as they are indeed climbing up again. FOX News is even seeing the President’s ratings go up. Why don’t the republicans just go home for their last 2 years? It’s easy to call in no for everything. Thank heavens the American people are not as dumb as repubs wish they were, and are starting more and more to side with Obama. I now return you to your daily bashing of our elected president.

[If PCs are complicated and difficult to make it do what you want it to] Nowhere did I say it was complicated and difficult. You just interpreted the words "choice" and "education" to mean that. Like I said, Macs are for the technologically (and in your case the intellectually) impaired. How's that AOL account working out for you?

[IKC taken seriously] If you’re looking for new members I would think that you would post your meetings on the Coconut Telegraph Bulletin Board, along with a point of contact or website.

[Intelligent Thinker's Movement] What a concept! Herman Cain: T*H*E New Voice

[From the Right: I am ... I suppose... I will...  I must... I can... I'm a...] Oh man, bummer. You caved. They finally got to you.  You bought into their personal attacks.  But see, here's the thing - most can't (for a lot of reasons) come back your words, so they make you the subject of their responding.  You've never made it personal until this last post.  Get back to your base - reality.  It's about issues, not what people say about the town crier.  Focus. You're just the piano player. (Ed: He does try to keep himself separate from his posts by referring to himself in the third person as if it was his alter-ego writing. He mostly writes,“This Right Winger …” or “The Right Winger …” It’s bad enough that I have to add the first person “I” to most other posts written by those who try to exclude themselves personally from their own posts, but anyone writing in the third person drives me nuts.)

[Another snowbird story] I was riding my bicycle down the road by Venture Out. A car pulled up alongside of me and the driver screamed and cursed at me to get on the bike path. I was hugging the right side of the road and there were almost no cars on it, so he could have easily gone around.  I responded to him with all my love and kindness, something to the effect of, "Go f**k yourself, a**hole." Big surprise--the car had NJ plates. He then went down to the end of the road, turned around, swerved over and screamed at me again. You’ve just got to love these folks.

The bike path was flooded in areas and was full of people walking dogs otherwise I would have been on it.

[New Year's Eve] Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Years Eve. Middle age is when you are forced to. And old age is when you can’t.

[You in your esoteric rambling have insulted half of the Earth's population which is very insensitive of you]  That is stretching fact as far as possible to find an offense to take.

Orion's Belt points the way down to rising Sirius. Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon form the nearly equilateral Winter Triangle.

Why is Al Qaeda trying to destroy Detroit? We've already done that ourselves.

People are mad that Obama is playing golf in Hawaii. They weren’t mad when Bush went horseback riding in Texas during crisis. The world has changed. A President doesn’t have to be on Pennsylvania Ave to preside.

Learn about sea level rise on Big Pine Key. http://frrp.org/SLR%20documents/FINAL%20-%20Aug%2021%20-WITH%20COVER.pdf

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Wednesday December 30, 2009

Tuesday December 29, 2009

[The Panty Bomber] Seriously, if you're looking forward to 72 virgins on the other side, how smart is it to blow up your underpants while wearing them?

[Sloan would be better read if he wrote concentrating on one point instead of a whole litany] Use your Scroll Wheel. He is Kafka incarnate, stream of consciousness prose style. Editing is physically and mentally impossible.
 
Everything you said is correct, but I hope he never changes. Buried among all the angst are occasionally words profound and wise.

[Naked Calendar] Sixteen women in the Florida Keys are going 'green' and naked for a good cause. Titled "Women Sustaining the Earth" the calendar features the women whose ages range from 44 to 78 years old and is sold online to raise funds for 'green' causes. The first printing of 500 calendars, which sold out almost immediately, benefited a Florida Keys community garden effort. The second printing benefits a nonprofit organization sustaining Nancy's Secret Garden in Key West.

Erika Biddle, who hosts an environmental radio show in the Keys, came up with the idea. "The calendar project was inspired when I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger say on the news, 'If the environmental movement wants more participation, the environmentalists should be more sexy'," said Biddle who was one of the models. In the calendar some of the models are topless, others draped in fabric or foliage; their images are paired with statements on nature and the environment. "None of the women are model figures, like size 4 or something like that," said Biddle. "They are real women in a real environment, and I think people will relate to it."

Like Biddle, the calendar's four photographers donated their time to create its images of environmental and personal grace. "These are women who are at the apex of their personal power, whether they're 40, 50, 60 or 70," said photographer and project editor Carol Tedesco, "so I took it upon myself to make it my job to reveal the spirit of the women."

"Miss July" Rosi Ware of the Key West Garden Club posed for a back-view shot wearing a sarong skirt and long necklace. "I don't see why you can't have fun and be sexy as well as helping the environment," said Ware. "As long as people don't mind looking at a 54-year-old woman with no clothes on, that's fine with me."

Calendars are $25 each, including postage and handling within the continental U.S., and can be ordered through keywestcalendargirls.com.

[White House Glossary for 2009] 

Angry mobster – a person waving tea bags in public that is not happy with government wasting the taxes he/she pays.

Beer summit - a new way to publicly embarrass the police when they act stupidly.

Bipartisan bill – bunch of democrats +1 republican.

Climate change – formerly known as an Academy Award winning idea about a global warming.

Closing Gitmo – let’s not do it but say that we did.

Enhanced revenues – higher taxes.

Fat cat bankers – all fat cats that are not cabinet members, presidential advisers or campaign contributors.

[One lion male mated 157 times in 55 hours] So Tiger got the wrong nickname?

All Marathon residents pay the same tax rate for Marathon Fire Rescue services. But there are a lot more medical calls for Marathon Fire Rescue to go to Key Colony Beach than any other part of Marathon. So all Marathon taxpayers are paying for those KCB area calls. Subdivisions that have higher number of calls should pay more because they use the service more.  It’s easy to do by adding an extra tax line just for KCB taxpayers.

[Locals asked to leave restaurant] I feel for you, but telling someone you are a local does not make you a local. Almost all tourists and snowbirds I have had a difficult time with insisted that they were locals. The restaurant mentioned yesterday is not local friendly. They just say they are to get the summer business.

“The system worked” Janet Napolitano, aka Janet “Incompetano”, Mr. Obama’s  Secretary of Homeland Security, commenting of the attempted terrorist mass murder on Christmas day in the skies above Detroit.

[Browser not installed on Windows 7] I upgraded to Windows 7 and Internet Explorer was pre-installed. it's the big E on the bottom right!

[Drivers’ License Security Act] I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes.  I'm half blind, Can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. I have bouts with dementia, poor circulation, I can hardly feel my hands and feet anymore, can't remember if I'm 89 or 98, have lost all my friends, but, thank God, I still have my driver's license.

[Cisterns] Part of what prompted me to drive up to No Name Key yesterday was an article in yesterday’s Key West Citizen giving a lot of coverage to the commotion a No Name Key woman is making over her having to use cistern water in her home for drinking water. She maintains it isn’t safe to drink; she has opinions by experts, one expert was from Texas somewhere, backing her up. She wants the Aqueduct Authority to run Aqueduct water onto No Name Key, so she won’t be at risk. I thought that if I was on the Aqueduct Authority and she came before me, I would say, “File your lawsuit, Bitch. You bought that home knowing it was on a cistern. Caveat f**king emptor!”

To the 9 anti-Sloan posters, please folks, just use your scroll wheel. You do not get to be the keepers of what Deer Ed posts. This is starting to smell like attempted censorship by gang rule.  Please Deer Ed, don't succumb. Rambling is not against CT's posting rules.  Boring and irritating yes, but worthy of the delete button no.

We're bigger than that, we know how to scroll and leave others alone to get along in life. What happens when we all decide we don't like (just as an example) the word Red.  Does that mean every poster has to stop using the word Red,  and Deer Ed can't post anything containing Red?

The bigger picture is where does personal judgment end and censorship begin? I know I'm always preaching the good of the group prevails (or should).  But that's when the group is in danger or jeopardy.  Long, tacky, boring posts present neither. Yes, Sloan’s website is an option, but if leaving him on CT preserves, for us all, the right to post, then on he stays; and scroll wheel I will do.

[IKC] That club has too many rules.

[Big Pine 29 Bust] Why all the chatter about this? Are the old dopers just reliving the good old days in the Keys?

[Obama to Blame] Obama’s administration has dropped the ball again. First the terrorist father calls and warns them about his son. The political correct Obama administration fails to follow up on this and puts over 200 people at risk.

When being interviewed Sunday Obama’s security chief said the system worked and now today after being told how stupid that sounded she corrected itself and said the system failed.

Will Obama fire her for saying that or does he believe she is right?

Can Obama stop sunning on the beach and playing golf to address the American people. Why is he hiding? 

[Mac vs PC] A commercial made it easy for you to determine which computer is best for you. If you look like the Bill Gates guy, buy a PC; if you look like the gay simian guy, buy a Mac.  

[Earth can take care of herself] How do you know that the earth is a her, because it is big and round? You in your esoteric rambling have insulted half of the Earth's population which is very insensitive of you. They have sensitivity classes out there that may help. I am glad, however, that the Earth can take care of itself unlike a lot of the people who voted democrat. 

The 2010 Bocce Season begins January 11. You need at least 4 players per team. If you don't have 4 or more persons, come out on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. and meet others who may be looking to form a team. Bocce equipment will be available on those nights for practice.

Jan 11- April 14th League Bocce
April 17th - Bocce Playoffs
April 18th - Bocce Party

The cost is $100 per team and $20 per person. Captains meeting and League fees due Jan 4th at Big Pine Key Park at 6pm by the bocce courts. To sign up a team or for more information: Call Inez 305-923-9552. Hurry, team slots are limited!

See the Bigpinekey.com Bulletin Board for information regarding our 2010 season or come on down to the park on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. to see what it's all about. Bulletin Board

[IKC] I’m always surprised at how gullible readers are. Some can’t recognize humor or irony.

[Foreigner] Abdulmutallab received a valid U.S. visa in June 2008 that is good through 2010.  Abdulmutallab claimed to have received training and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen, law enforcement officials say.  Are there many other resorts in the Middle Keys that use visa workers other than Hawks Cay?  

When Hawks Cay hires and pays locals a living wage versus busing in immigrant workers from Homestead and exploiting third world visa workers, they will be accepted in the Middle Keys as a decent employer.  Different owner - same game.   ~anonymousinthekeys@yahoo.com

Weird News Photos. Weird News Photos: Strange Santas | NBC Miami

[Too Hard to Edit] Was that the same person whose eyes spin around when they try to think?

[Gay Son] To the Mom who wrote in yesterday that her 14 yr old son would never ever kill any living thing and that the "other 14 yr old iguana killer is disgusting and must be a redneck. Lady, it’s time to start considering that your 14 yr old son is probably gay. Stop confusing the kid. Respecting life is an all or none thing so I hope you and your son don't eat anything that was harvested just to feed you since that would not be "respecting life. It’s people like you who say, “Well, that's different."

I wanted to spend the holidays with loved ones, but instead I'll be with my family.

I wonder what Sloan's reaction will be to all those negative posts about him yesterday. I suspect he will either ignore them or spin them in his head to become some kind of spiritual affirmation. Unfortunately he won't try to step back and examine why so many people would react to him that way. Sometimes, Sloan, the majority is right. Speaking of right, the arrogant From the Right guy should also try a little introspection.

[Henry Woods in coma] Henry is one of the sweetest persons I have ever met. I met him while he was running for Supervisor of Elections. We asked him to please explain the issues on the ballot. His knowledge and experiences poured out of him. Get well soon Henry. Henry Woods in coma | KeysNews.com

The Iguana Killers Club, IKC, would like to share this great video with all the avid hunters on how to properly shoot and cook the invasive iguana. The IKC bumper stickers have been printed and we expect delivery early next week. These free stickers will be available at numerous locations throughout the Keys or by contacting the IKC. When you sign up to become a member of the IKC you will receive a membership package which includes 12 IKC bumper stickers, embroidered IKC ball cap, 250 rounds of ammo for the IKC41 air rifle, custom printed Dead Iguana Departed tee shirt, your life time membership card and numerous discount coupons to local businesses that support the IKC.  (I think this guy should have gutted the iguana before cooking it.) http://www.tampabay.com/video/?bcpid=28597115001&bctid=30465815001

Grouper Ban begins Friday. No-take rule extends from January through April in Atlantic Ocean.

Grouper recipes. Florida Seafood Recipes - Grouper: Seafood and Aquaculture.

[Every Republican voted against healthcare] When you are a card carrying member of the Party of No its required to vote no. Now they are required to say that even though the Repubs had the single payer option removed and then had the buy-in for Medicare removed, you have to say they had the same old “No” into the program. Insurance companies stocks have gone through the roof thanks to the Nos.

[History of liberal vs conservative] Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups, Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement..

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. Those became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud or Miller. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history. It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.

I got my first iguana when I was 10. It was 1964 when I was staying at my grandparents’ and my Grandmother came into the kitchen screaming that an iguana was eating her prize orchid. I grabbed my Daisy and put 10 BBs into the darn thing before he keeled over. Grandma bought me a Nylon 66 as a reward. That 22 got me enough kills that summer to join the IKC.

Gramps sponsored me and introduced me to the guys at the clubhouse. What a great group of guys. Long live the IKC! 35 years a member and still going. My grandson joined last year at 10 too. The family that kills together stays together. No one in my family has ever been arrested or divorced. My son graduated college and my daughter is a Pediatrician. I guess they are all pretty well adjusted. No alcoholics or drug abusers, regular church going God-fearing people. We eat meat and think global warming is the biggest joke since Chicken Little said that stuff about the sky.

[Bare Naked Islam] Kudos to the Coconut Telegraph poster who told us about this site. http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/ 

[Big Pine 29 Bust] Whoever posted that "Ping Ping" was not arrested doesn't know what they are talking about.  Nelson "Ping Ping" Jamardo was convicted and got the heaviest sentence of all the defendants.  He got out of jail earlier than expected for testifying against other dopers.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski has signed into law the compulsory chemical castration of some sex offenders. The practice has been tried in other countries, but usually on a voluntary basis. According to its politicians, Poland now has the severest legislation towards pedophiles in Europe. Under the law adults convicted of raping a child under the age of 15 or committing incest will be forced upon release to take drugs to reduce their libido. The practice is commonly referred to as chemical castration. The Polish law was drafted following a high profile case last year, in which a 45-year-old man repeatedly raped his daughter and fathered two children by her.

I declare the Polish joke officially dead, as Poland is now the smartest country in the world: chem-stration!

“The System worked.” On Today and in other interviews yesterday morning, Department of Homeland Secretary Napolitano attempted to use her own ignorance as a shield.  Each time she was hit with a hard question, her response was to the effect “yeah, we're wondering about that ourselves.“  She also continued to point the finger back at George Bush, repeatedly mentioning that the security procedures in place were formulated under the Bush administration.  Whatever happened to “change you can believe in”?

Before she was appointed to her current job, she was governor of Arizona, and according to some who earn a living in the security world, not very overloaded with security training or experience.

[Windows computers--If you know what you’re doing you can configure them from bare bones to internet uber-machine] So, if it's complicated and difficult to make it do what you want it to, it's somehow better? Makes sense to me (he said laughingly).

Israel recalls all of its ambassadors worldwide. Sign of the times or shades of WW2? http://www.eutimes.net/2009/12/israel-recalls-all-of-its-ambassadors-worldwide/

American car brochures bring back lots of memories! If you like cars, this site contains color brochures for most brands back to the 20. Click on the brand and then the year-model; once you click on a particular year-model, all the pages will come up in small print. On some, the page numbers are shown below; click on the number to enlarge. On others, it seems you have to click on the page itself to get an enlargement. http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch1.html

If health care is a right lets get everyone insured. If health care is a privilege we need to stop making hospitals take people into there rooms that can't pay.

Everyone in the country legally should have the right to have access to health care and all do. You don't however have the right to expect someone else to pay for it. Anything that is forced on you by the government is neither a right nor a privilege. Mandates are forced on subjects; citizens have the right to choose. The problem is exaggerated by those that want to create the urgency toward this reform as opposed to a meaningful one.

[Snowbird Hating] We are now stocked up on water, food and toilet paper, our vehicles are on jacks and we are locking ourselves in our house until April or until the danger of the northern snowbird invasion has been officially declared over.

[Boondocks] They have to remember who feeds them April to Dec. The last time I was there I felt like I was in the way of the hired help.  They took out the VIP Room which replaced the dance floor and put in tables. You can't dance on the stones downstairs. MM 24 Band was an hour late starting and the toilet is a trailer out back. We left there and went some where else where everybody knows your name. ~bluebirds531@hotmail.com

No Name Key Bridge connects Big Pine and No Name Keys. In the old days, there used to be a wooden bridge connecting the two islands. But that bridge burned, and for some years after that, there was no bridge. I first came to Big Pine Key in March 1986, spring break of my second semester in law school, to fish for tarpon in Bogie Channel with people from my hometown, Birmingham, Alabama. I was staying that trip at my father’s home on Lower Matecumbe Key. The charred remains of the old bridge were still sticking up in the channel. About half-mile toward the backcountry from the old bridge I caught and released a big tarpon, using live mullet on a boat rod. Wore me out. Never wanted to catch another tarpon that way. Never did. The old wooden bridge is where the Old Wooden Bridge Fish Camp at the Big Pine Key edge of the new bridge got its name.
 
I had a brief conversation with a fellow, who looked close to my age, throwing a cast net for pin fish, to use as live bait. He said he catches big snapper under the center of the bridge, and it was going to be a good tide soon. It was still running in, almost full. When the tide began to turn, he said, which I knew, was when the fish bite the best. I wished him luck, remembered all the times I had thought I would spend a lot of time on that bridge fishing, talking with interesting people from wherever, and had never done it. Maybe some day I would get around to it, I thought. Maybe.

The President was right on target today when he went before the world press and told the protesters in Iran and their government that the US supports their rights of protests and that they should demand and receive a full accounting of the people jailed or killed because of the crackdown against their rights. He made it clear that their voices should not be dealt with by violence.

[From the Right] I am a certified old fart, and it’s likely that the some readers of this site probably do get a severe case of agida when they wade through my postings that require some measure of thought and some appreciation of facts.  I suppose that we should give some thought to dumbing down our comments for them. Perhaps we should remember that the Obamaphiles amongst us are easily smitten with simple Left Wing propaganda. So, in the spirit of Right Wing comity, I will just ignore their squeals and simply suggest that they either take antacids or not read my postings if it causes them pain. We all know that the truth hurts.

I must respectfully decline one posters silver-tongued plea that “Das Reich” guy “suck his (the Obamaphile’s) thing”.  I can understand the magnetism that a truth teller such as me, can have on a repressed personality, but I’m a card holding heterosexual. It may not be appropriate to inject fact or truth into this discussion, but the “Das Reich” guy spoke of was a Socialist, Adolph Hitler.  Just maybe the poster lusts for fellatio from a Socialist, as in Socialized Medicine? After all, he does have a man crush on Obama.

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Tuesday December 29, 2009

Monday December 28, 2009

[Mac vs PC] If you like to finagle and customize your computer and download a lot of free stuff, the Mac is not for you. If you want to limit your computing experience a Mac is for you.

Windows computers are in over 90% of homes and businesses. Mac is in just about 3%. All free downloads are made for Windows machines (PCs). If you have a problem, chances are pretty good that your friend has a PC and can tell you how to fix it. Not so with a Mac.

Mac does have snob appeal; it’s like an exclusive club for people who pay too much for a computer that is limited as to what it can do—and then brag about it!

[Catin' Around] A scientist studying lions commented that lions are really boring, the laziest of all the cats. They will lie in the same spot for twelve hours and not move a muscle. Lions are vigorous when it comes to reproductions. The same scientists observed one male mated 157 times in 55 hours!

[Any information on the Big Pine 29 bust can be posted here by simply clicking I Have Something to Say . The bust is public knowledge and was all exposed in court; so what’s so secret that the officer knows, and why won’t he publish it here?] There may be names associated with this event that have not received much public disclosure and I can see a need for privacy.  I'd prefer to keep this a private matter as well, but I don't know how to do that other than to exchange information via private emails.  I'm not about to post my home address here.

156 countries sing All You Need is Love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh7D2g5v-Sg

Photos comparing the Normandy of 1944, shortly after the landing of allied troops, with pictures taken today, in the same locations. Slide Show

[Volcano] This natural-color image of Mayon was captured on Dec. 15, 2009, by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. A small plume of ash and steam is blowing west from the summit. Dark-colored lava or debris flows from previous eruptions streak the flanks of the mountain. A ravine on the southeast slope is occupied by a particularly prominent lava or debris flow.

Ashfall blanketed at least three towns in Albay, raising new health fears for thousands already bracing for an eruption that could come at any time. Health officials warned the tiny particles could cause respiratory problems or skin diseases, and could affect the thousands of people crammed into evacuation centers. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1550.html

[To the commie that keeps dumping on Sarah]  See kids, this is what happens when a man lives to be 70 and never gets laid.

Christmas at the super secret headquarters of the Coconut Telegraph.

[Iguana Killer] To the so-called 14-year old who claims he just shot his first iguana.  You better be glad you are not my child.  That would be the last living thing you ever killed.  Of course, my children would never have done it in the first place.  They have been raised to respect life.  From your comments, it is obvious that you think killing this defenseless creature was funny.  Yes, I believe you described yourself pretty well, but maybe left out a few other choice words.  The term "redneck" comes to mind.  By the way, my 14-year old read your comments and said you are disgusting to him, and he hopes he doesn't know you at school.

Parrotdise Waterfront
New Year's Eve
Special For Two $150
(Reservation required, add taxes & gratuity)

Appetizer Choice
1. Fish Dip
2. Conch Fritters
3. Shrimp Cocktail

Bottle of Wine Choices
1. Red Rock Merlot
2. Rancho Zabaco Zin
3. Lange Pinot Gris
4. Groth Sauvignon Blanc

Entrees Choices
1.Twin Florida Lobster Tails
2. 6oz. Filet Mignon with One Florida Lobster Tail
3. 22 oz. Cowboy Cut Ribeye

Dessert for Two
"Tres Leches"

And a Bottle of Champagne!
http://parrotdisewaterfront.com/ 

Is our guacamole bug-proof? Miami-Bound Beetle Hates Your Guacamole | NBC Miami

Firefighter Jim Ryan, who worked at Ground Zero on 9/11and for 3 months afterward, died of pancreatic cancer on Christmas Day. Ryan, 48, wanted to go to D.C. last month to campaign for legislation compensating those who got ill from working at the site. "It's all about the guys to come after me," said Ryan, who was too sick to go. "And there's going to be plenty of them."

We eat regularly at Boondocks and are locals. We even eat there with our puppy when there are not a bazillion tourists in town. I guess that is the only time we are welcome.  My husband and I stopped by Sunday and while wondering out loud how soon an outside table would be available, a young man at a nearby table offered it to us as he was leaving. That was our most hospitable encounter that day at Boondocks. I had just sat down when I was told by a "supervisor" that there was a wait list for tables and I had to sign in and could not sit down.  So I went upstairs to sign in. Gee, no one pounced on the table while I was gone!  Must really be in demand. We sat down at the table again.  The waitress came over but was clearly worried about being yelled at, said she had already been yelled at by management (it was a busy day, why would you abuse your staff?). We told her we were local, would be here long after the transitory tourists had left, and there was no indication when we arrived that we had to "sign in". Further, there was no race to seat others at the table when I got up to comply with instructions to "sign in." The table was still available.

Maybe they could have averted this uncomfortable situation by instructing their wait staff to tell people coming in that there was a wait for tables and could they just please sign up with the supervisor at the "hostess" desk upstairs? Okay, so we played by the rules, signed in, stood around waiting for a table or staff interaction, saw nothing happening at the table and sat down at it again. It was clear that no one was being seated at the empty outside table.  This time we are visited by another "manager" who says she is sorry but people have been waiting 20 minutes for the table we just sat at (really? where are they?) and she "has to ask us to leave". We mentioned to her that no one was being seated at that table.  She reiterated that we were being asked to leave the premises. So we took our puppy and left. 

All the way out, even while pulling into traffic, it was clear that that table was still not occupied.  It sure looked like the people waiting for tables were waiting for tables inside, not outside. The management did not manage an overflow crowd well, did not communicate effectively with incoming patrons, did not even post a crummy little sign saying "please check in with hostess before sitting down".  Any or all of these minor actions would have prevented us from being asked to leave by the manager-bouncer person and there would have been a system in place in which both potential patrons and overworked wait-staff would have played by the same rules.

Despite Boondocks’ claims that they love locals and want to take care of them we sure got screwed over; and they think we will be coming back when the tourists are gone and they really need local money. They better think again.  We have been in the Keys since 1982 and we are locals.  Trust me, we will tell this story to everyone we know and work with in the Keys. Boondocks’ lip service to locals on US 1 radio is only that. We will tell all our friends that if they want to take their family and puppy to a nice place in the Keys to eat, we recommend Keys Fisheries in Marathon. That’s where we went, and we were not insulted.  Locals have options.   ~keyslocal@live.com

[Mac vs PC] Macs are best for the technologically impaired. They limit you choices and have a "big brother knows best" attitude concerning their products. They’re good for people who could never program that VCR to stop blinking 12:00 AM. PCs have a vast amount of choices. You can configure them from bare bones to internet uber-machine. The trouble there is that you have to know what you are doing and be responsible to educate yourself about the basics of the technology. The picture explains it even better than I could ever do. The type of people that Macs appeal to still have AOL accounts.

[Power is Intoxicating] This is really worth seeing: our Democrat leadership with a steady hand on the ship of state. This clip of a floor speech of Senator Baucus, given just after lunch, just might give you some idea just how much really hard work went into the Senate version of Obamacare. Waitress, I'd like another very, very dry Grey Goose vodka martooni pleash. By the way, honey, you sure have a cute pooper. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Y9X5ggxzA

[Long Beach Rd lost 200 ft. of beach front] Hey, hey, hey, no one called anyone a lair. I grew up here, been here a very long time and I said, “Look at the tide line on the old bridges. It has not changed. They have been in place for well over 80 years. The water has not risen.” Take your meds and have a great New Year.

The Iguana Killers Club (IKC) should not be confused with the International Kennel Club. The Iguana Killers Club was established in 2009, after receiving a Federal grant to rid the invasive iguanas from the Florida Keys. There has been some concern about how the IKC disposes of the numerous iguana carcasses each day. At its last meeting the IKC drafted rules of deposal to be written into their bylaws after being approved by majority vote from the active members.

1. No iguana carcasses will be disposed of the in the local waters or canals unless it has been gut cut to insure that the carcass will sink immediately.

2. No iguana carcasses will be placed in unattended neighborhood trash cans for disposal without prior permission of the owner of said waste containers.

3. No iguana carcasses will be tossed into the woods as there are sanitary and environmental concerns and issues unless it is wrapped in plastic. Recycled plastic is recommended.

4. No iguana carcasses will be left to rot at the point of termination.

5. No iguana carcasses will be thrown to the roaming unleashed dogs.

6. No iguana carcasses will be comingled with the key deer carcasses or dumped on the refuge burial site.

7. No iguana carcasses will be left on the side of the road for the Department of Transportation or the Big Pine Key road prison crews to dispose of.

8. No iguana carcasses will be burned unless the carcass has been verified as dead by another member of the IKC.

9. No iguana carcasses will be sold as edible meat unless the funds collected are donated to a local humane charity.

Hopefully the new by-laws of the IKC will clarify the procedures of disposal to be followed when disposing of any iguana carcasses by any IKC card carrying member. The IKC always strives to continue to uphold the high standards of the Nationalist American Sportsmen Association. 

[Game] If you draw a crooked line the snowman will bust up. Line Rider

Acevedo makes the big time!  The Miami Herald named its "Winners and Losers" for the year in the Sunday edition.  Randy was listed as loser #1.

Little Torch Key is the next island down US 1 from Big Pine Key. I had a young buck Key Deer in my neighborhood. It particularly liked grazing (to the nub) my salad greens and sweet potato vines. I told it to lay off, if it didn't want to end up in my stew pot. I wasn't serious, just pissed off that I had gone to all of that work to feed a Key deer. But then, a neighbor raised peacocks and barnyard chickens and ducks, and they had a fine party in my garden, too, and made a heck of a lot more noise than the buck Key deer. I had a gang of raccoons and feral domestic cats in residence, too. And snakes and all sorts of lizards and birds. Sounds pretty idyllic, looking back on it. All but the woods rats that took over the trailer and made it easier for me to move out and head to Key West to live.

[Big Pine 29 Bust] I really don’t understand why the big deal about the Big Pine 29. But anyway “Ping Ping” wasn’t even there. He was never arrested for that, he was left out. That’s why he was pissed.

[Dognappers] Don't discount locals for stealing designer dogs and then selling them.  It's not always Spanish speaking people from Miami. People want money and that's an easy way for them to get cash.  They are the lowest of the low and deserve what comes their way for doing it.  People get very attached to their animals and worry if they are suffering.  Without knowing what happened to this little black and white dog (Shitsapoo) the owners, their children and grandchildren will have to wonder forever.  Some people are just nasty buzzards.

[I’m not aware of any process Mac does better than a PC, especially graphics] There is a reason that virtually every professional computer graphics person in the world uses a Mac rather than a PC.  As a layout person for a large national magazine once told me, "Trying to do graphics on a Windows machine is like trying to lace your shoes with mittens on."

[Grouper Ban] Yippie, the groupers get a break from slaughter!  Where is the Tourist Development Council on over-fishing?  When there are no more slow moving, slow producing grouper in our waters, the fishermen will have to find something new to kill.  Why don't they hunt the pythons?  It's amazing how the powers that be are doing very little to control over-fishing in exchange for tourist dollars.  The grouper are like under water puppy dogs and it's a good thing they are off the menu for a few months.  Since TCD sank the Vandenberg maybe they could become pro-active on the massive over fishing so there may be fishies left fifty years from now for the tourists yet to come.  

We can help by only eating sustainable fish and by being ethical anglers.  Ethical is a word we do not hear much in Bubbaland.  Try it on for the new year.

[Not been to Petronia St in years] Neanderthal and a recluse I see. And I couldn’t help but notice there were no black people. Did you noticed anything else, like you growing a tail? I bet you wear glasses too, maybe it’s time to spend some money to get yourself some new specs. I don’t know where they went, they were in church! Who else do you wish to pick on tomorrow?

[Profiling is Better] The reaction to the latest airline incident was predictable: increased screening for all airline passengers instead of increased screening for the ones who have the highest probability of causing a problem. I know this is profiling and not politically correct, but it works. How many 70 year old ladies have been caught trying to take down a plane?

[Drivers’ License Security] "As expected, a large majority of states and territories—46 of 56—have informed DHS that they will not be able to meet the Dec. 31 REAL ID material compliance deadline. As the National Governors Association has said, the states have made tremendous progress in driver's license security but simply cannot fulfill the requirements of REAL ID. That's why Secretary Napolitano has supported the efforts of Governors and Congress to enact PASS ID, which puts states on the path to implementing national standards for identification documents and will enhance security across the country.

"In order to ensure that the millions of Americans traveling this holiday season are not disrupted, DHS is extending the Dec. 31 REAL ID material compliance deadline. The May 10, 2011, deadline for full compliance remains in effect, and the Department will continue to work closely with states to meet this deadline. However, Congress must act to address systemic problems with the REAL ID Act to advance our security interests over the long term. DHS is committed to moving forward to implement this key 9/11 Commission recommendation—just last week, the Department announced the availability of $48 million to states for the Drivers License Security Grant Program, to help prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents."

We want a leader with great poll numbers. Then why the outrage when the most important poll taken in this country is the President’s election by the majority of the American people, yet you complain about that poll result because your side lost. Playing with poll numbers is a fools folly at best, but keep swinging slugger.

A friend started to install the Windows 7 Upgrade on his Windows XP Sony Laptop.  I told him that is not the way to do things. We downloaded a test program from Microsoft that checks your system to see if all is well for the upgrade or clean install. We found out Windows 7 will not run on that computer unless you go through all kinds of BS to update everything -- all drivers and software. Also, to run his existing programs, you have to do a duel OS install and keep XP in operation.

Windows 7 does not have any browser and you have to get a third party browser to get online!  Many of the tools and goodies XP and Vista had are gone. Windows 7 is not ready for prime time by any means. I will stick with Vista or XP for at least a year or until the red flags are off W7.

[Nature or civilization] There is in modern civilization, which poignantly presents in the Keys, a deep and pervasive drive to subordinate Mother Nature to human desires, drives, dreams. This is a truly peculiar stance for humanity to take, inasmuch as people are simply tenants at sufferance on this planet. I told someone the other day that Earth can take care of herself, shake people off her any time she wishes. I should have added that even though that is true, we still have a solemn, reverent duty to be good stewards of this planet, which we simply are not.

Just what a motorcyclist needs for riding on the freeway. Look out you handheld cell phone using drivers! Each mini gun fires at a rate of 3000 rounds per minute.

During initial test and evaluation it was demonstrated that a single 2 second burst would blow a 40 foot RV with tow car clean off the road leaving an open and unobstructed route ahead. It will vaporize an SUV in seconds!  Tests further indicated that after two or three handheld cell phone using drivers in a row were eliminated, others put away their cell phones or voluntarily pulled off the road and became a "non threat."

[Too Hard to Edit] Hi there, are some questions I have ,that maybe you could answer #1 why is it that .All the bacteria problems are near waste water treatment plants.#2 the brainiacs that say be prepared ,and then make it so everyone is dependent upon, the electric company #3.systern systems are now under attack why because ? is it for safty or is it because there is no profit if anyone is looking you will find that prepared means depend on your services.And you can leave if there is a storm.Because you, now have No water No electric waste water is flooding the streets .And you are ,Not prepared ,you are now .Slaves to systems that are now under repair.I do not live on No Name key but Thay are prepaired for the worst, we on the rest  of the Keys are not . Than You for making ,Prepaired into, A word with no meaning

[Sloan] That was the longest post I have ever seen yesterday! Does Sloan think people are going to read the whole thing? He must be dreaming--oh, that's right--he is.

Sloan would be better read if he wrote shorter missives, concentrating on one point instead of a whole litany of thoughts. I’ve been to his website and found it too difficult to keep track of his email back and forths. He should take the time to edit them before he posts them. His back and forths are too confusing to make sense most of the time. What’s the point of having a website if the writing is too confusing?

[Sloan] I'm having nightmares myself now that Sloan is back. Between him and the Right Guy I don't want to read this column any more.

[Sloan] Please, no more of his whacked-out dreams!  No one except Sloan cares or can understand his mindless ramblings, and I find it painful to try. Enough already.  I thought we got rid of him.  Between him and the From the Right guy, the Coco Telegraph is not fun nor informative any longer. 

[Sloan] In my dream, a certain poster could even ruin a wet dream. Whew, I think he really did shit his pants!

[Sloan] Yesterday must have set some kind of record for obnoxious posts with Sloan and From the Right. The one thing those two have in common is advanced age. These old farts have lost all perspective and are going to try to impose their views upon us no matter what anyone says. This used to be a nice little forum where folks could post their views is a fairly short form. But now it is as if we have been taken over by some geriatric cyber-freaks who have diarrhea of the fingers (This is why I wouldn't let you be a friend on Facebook, Sloan). And the From Das Reich guy can suck my thing.

You two should go get a room and invite Sal and Sandy while you're at it.

[Sloan] I'm sorry, is it Monday already? I must have fallen asleep reading Sloan's megalomania.

Dear Ed, If Sloan is going to contribute regularly again; I humbly request that you warn us ahead of the post the way that you warn us about the From the Right guy. (P.S. I happen to like the From the Right guy)

[Sloan Bashinsky] Sloan, you can't lose what you've never found.

[Sloan]  Ed, you promised! (didn't you).  I thought that horrid little man was gone for good and here he is again. Is there a law that says you have to publish his moronic drivel? If so, I'm out.

[Muslim Terrorist] Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident aboard Northwest Airlines flight #253 and is closely monitoring the situation.

Passengers may notice additional screening measures put into place to ensure the safety of the traveling public on domestic and international flights.

As always we encourage the traveling public to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior or activity to law enforcement officials. We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.tsa.gov for updates.”

[From the Right] Why has every Republican Senator voted against the current version of Obamacare? That's a fair question tossed by Democrat poster yesterday.  First, most of them voted against it because it will wreck our economy, it will pile on debt on top of the new Obama nation breaking highs of debt. The vast majority of Americans see the economy as a more urgent priority than Obamacare. Second, most Americans don't want increased government intrusion into their lives by Socialized medicine. Americans strongly opposed to Obamacare outnumber strong supporters by about 2-1. Third, about 80% of all Americans are satisfied with their existing health care. Fourth, no Republican senator wants to see the quality of American health care deteriorate to Canadian or British standards. Fifth, no Republican senator wants to see seniors and baby boomers suffer the horrific decline of Medicare that must ensue if Obamacare is enacted.  Sixth, no Republican senator wants to see any American citizen in threat of jail if he refuses to buy health insurance. Seventh Republican senators don't want illegal aliens stealing our health care dollars. This list could go on and on, there are at least 20 more strong and cogent reasons that I will list to kill Obamacare if anyone demands it. The poster who asked that question is either misinformed or just foolish if he thinks that Republicans are any different from himself or his neighbors. The list of most wealthy Americans has more Democrats than Republicans. The fact is that there are far more very wealthy legislators that are Democrat than Republican. The fact is that Republicans give much more to charity than do Democrats. The fact is that the average Republican and Democrat are just about even in terms of income.  The myth that Republicans are wealthy fat cats is the hate propaganda of class envy pushed by unionists. It is revealing that the Democrats have to rely on hate and jealousy rather than the wisdom of their political positions. It reveals them as being arrogant elitist who are disdainful of their constituents.

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Monday December 28, 2009

Sunday December 27, 2009

[Dinner Review] Two of us went to Ambrosia (the former Santa Maria at the Atlantic side of Key West) Japanese restaurant. The owner was the only Japanese, the sushi chefs were all Mexican. The sushi was fresh and delicious and the décor was right out of South Beach--beautiful and hip. Dinner for two with a couple of beers was $70. I’ll go back, the place reeks of class.

For dessert we went to Better Than Sex on Petronia St. It is a small and charming place that serves only dessert. They have wine and beer, but we had coffee with our desserts (it comes in a giant mug). I had their signature dessert Better than Sex ($14)--it wasn’t. My companion had a pear cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream ($12) that had a delicious crispy top. The pear filling was fresh and good.

All the desserts are made there. The atmosphere was warm and cozy with cloth draped walls and everything else was red. The tables and chairs were mismatched and there were sofas to sit on too.

Neither one of us had been to Petronia St in years and couldn’t help but notice there were no black people to be seen. I don’t know where they went.

[No] Has anyone ever wondered about every Republican Senator voting 'no' on health care reform?  That must mean that they, all their relatives, and all their friends have never experienced any kind of hardship dealing with medical issues. Never been refused medical insurance, never had their insurance cancelled.  They must be so wealthy that they don't have to worry about anything - except paying more taxes. 

[Big Pine 29] "Ping Ping ratted them out." He might have, because he served very little time. The 29’s lawyer told me they got caught because there were 29 Cubans milling around in an area where there were never Cubans on a Sunday morning. They stood out like a sore thumb.

[Deadly Cisterns] No Name Key resident Beth Ramsay-Vickrey maintains cistern water poses a significant health risk, including death even thought humans have been drinking cistern water since time began. Some people will say anything they can think of to make up for the mistake they made by buying on an island with no electricity or running water.

[No Marathon Marathon] Forget the technicalities of a sanctioned race; just have a race in Marathon and call it a marathon. So what if they cross the same rout twice. It’s an event that would be good for the City’s image. Key West had a half-marathon recently. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

[Illegal contractor who fell through the former Mayor of Key West’s cistern] After review by KW Code Enforcement it was determined that Commissioner Jimmy Weekley was telling the truth when he said the carpenter fixing the floor (so the plumbers could put in a new toilet) was just a handyman and the job was too small to require a permit.

Wisteria Island owners have made plans to developed Christmas Tree Island just across the channel from Key West. They will start by putting in a marina and mooring fields and then probably fight the City for years in order to build more than the 22 homes currently permitted.

Mac’s operating systems are not written by Microsoft. They are written by Macintosh (Apple). The other inaccuracy from that post was the writer said “Mac World is over except for motion graphics”. What does he mean by that? I’m not aware of any process Mac does better than a PC, especially graphics. I’m also not aware of any video card made for a Mac computer that is any faster than those made for PCs.

[A Pound of Meat] Have you ever noted how hard it is to get a pound of meat from the deli at Winn Dixie? 9 out of 10 times when I ask for a pound of meat I get a half pound. I even hold up one finger when I say “One pound.”

[Big Pine 29 bust] Why won’t the officer tell us all what he witnessed during that famous bust?

The 82 year old Pope held midnight mass at 10 pm. It's now called "The Early Cardinal Special".

[IKC Propaganda] I am only 14 years old and yesterday I shot and killed my first Iguana. Then I read the Coconut Telegraph and learned through studies that I am going to grow up to be a loose screwed mentally handicapped child molester or some other deranged type of person. If I had of known this I would never have shot the Iguana. Maybe I should become a Catholic priest.

[Big Pine 29 question contact information to answer any questions. Can we communicate privately with help of Coconut Telegraph editor, as an arranger] Sounds good but I'm not too clear on how to do this.  Can you explain? (Ed: I’m confused too. Any information on the Big Pine 29 bust can be posted here by simply I Have Something to Say . The bust is public knowledge and was all exposed in court; so what’s so secret that the officer knows, and why won’t he publish it here?)

[Unedited] TO THE COMMIE THAT KEEPS DUMPING ON SARA  WHY DONT YUO GO BACK TO THE COMMIE   COUNTRY YOU CAME FROM  AND TAKE  YOUR COMMIE  WIFE WITH YOU    we know  you

All I can say to the snowbird from PA is welcome back! Come "home" soon and have a safe trip.

The trouble with resisting temptation is it may never come your way again.

We don't need no stinking Code enforcement!

If you love high poll numbers and feel they prove you’re a great leader you’re going to love Fidel Castro. He gets real great poll numbers. The wacked out leader of Iran may be the craziest man on the planet, but like the republicans say, "He gets great poll numbers." I don’t want a President that worries about poll numbers. I want a President that makes the tough decisions.

Outstanding work on healthcare Mr. President no matter what that Party of No says. Gee, I wonder how good the Communist leader of China’s poll numbers are. In fact he may be the Party of No’s leader when looking for great poll numbers.

Pastor Morris O. Wright died. I recollect that he was the homophobe who tried to stir his Stock Island flock into walking down Duval Street with baseball bats and clubbing every queer they saw.

He thought he was man of god. Maybe he was just a Neanderthal with a clerical collar.

[Airplane Security] Everyone should fly naked. Disposable body suits. Change into one at the airport, pick up you stuff at the other end eliminate all carry on. Exceptions for medications with prescriptions.

[Long beach Rd. lost 200 ft. of beach front] I’m the man who lives on long Beach Rd. I have lost 200 feet of my yard in the last fifty years. It was not due to beach erosion. There is none in my area. You can call me a liar if you want to, but I’ve lived here and know what I see. The area in front of my house is very shallow and any rising water is easily seen because of the slight incline of the sea bottom.

You people have your minds made up not to believe in facts. I think it’s like someone else said, that if you admit to climate change you’ll have to do something about it.

It looks as if the outboard motor thieves have started a new business: stealing designer dogs. Does anyone want to bet that these people are coming down from Miami, and that English is their second language?

John Paul II was Pope from 1978 until his death on April 2, 2005. Attached is a power point slide show which was made in 2007 on the 2nd anniversary of his death. Slide Show

Since his little affairs have come to light, several of Tiger Woods' sponsors have dropped him. However, Pfizer has decided to sponsor him. They are making a new drug called Tiagra.  It's good for 18 holes.

Christmas Nightmare From Big Pine Key
 Dear Santa,
I really do hate to bother you after such a hard night’s work you just had, but it’s about my Christmas present that made me feel like shit yesterday. A dream that kept recurring leading up to and through yesterday. A veritable nightmare. Was I that bad this year? The dream went sort of like this (It will take a little while to tell)…

Starting with the punch line, I was told by God to run again for the county commission, next year (2010). Run against George Neugent, again. Meaning, I, suppose, a move back to my rat-infested trailer on Little Torch Key, which lies in the heart of George’s voting district - District 3. His county commission office is located on the next Key up, Big Pine Key.
I was told in the dream that for years the darn capitalistic tree huggers have viewed Big Pine Key and its little No Name Key next-door neighbor as The Heart of the Resistance, Mother Nature’s last stand in the Keys, to be protected at all costs, not only because of their natural value but also because of their symbolic value. I was told in the dream to play close heed to Mother Nature, because she actually was a true fiscal conservative’s best friend.
 
In the dream, I felt a growing distemper in my soul over news stories I kept reading in the local gazettes and hearing on the coconut telegraph about the commies living in homes on No Name Key pressuring the County Commission and the Aqueduct and Electric Authorities to bring, at taxpayers’ expense, water, sewer and electricity to No Name Key. Commies who had purchased homes there knowing there was no public water, power or electricity. Commies who somehow had gotten in into their liberal heads that they were entitled to special treatment just because they wanted special treatment. Commies who seemed to think they were not themselves responsible for their not having public water, sewer or electricity in their homes.
 
It reminded me of people who bought homes under the flight path of a commercial or military airport and then complained about the noise of landing and departing aircraft. That the County Commission and Aqueduct and Electric Authorities were even listening to these commies boggled my mind. I knew that if I had been on the County Commission, I would have told the commies to take a hike when they came begging for relief from their own decisions, relief that would cost taxpayers, espcially this taxpayer, money.
 
Something else chewing on me in the dream was seeing that George Neugent’s bosom buddy, David Rice, is going to ruin, er, run for the County Commission again. David served on the County Commission until he resigned in 2006 (albeit a bit belatedly, the resignation) to run against the commie Ron Saunders for the State Legislature. During that race, I developed a deep dislike of Ron Saunders because of the truly dirty campaign he waged. That, and he owned a dacha in Tallahassee, where he lived when he wasn’t living in his home in Key West. A dacha the likes of which David Rice also would have purchased, if he had beaten Ron, which Ron kept pointing out in his dirty campaign.
 
Through Ron Saunder’s insane capitalistic buddy, Sandy Downs, who was running for sheriff, I had learned that David Rice, all the while he was sitting on the County Commission, was making a wonderful fortune off mental health deals he, a psychologist, had going with the Monroe County Sheriff Office, where his son Mike was #3 in the chain of command and oversaw the part of the operation that did business with his father’s company and with his father personally. George Neugent told me this arms-length deal was perfectly okay, part of our God-given free enterprise system, a sure sign of David Rice’s business brilliance and acumen. Our sheriff back then, Rick Roth, was a Republican, so of course the commie-posing-as Republican County Commission would rubberstamp any budget Sheriff Roth presented for approval, for David Rice’s benefit. That was the true commie way, learned by American Republicans from the Politburo.
 
I was reminded in the dream that when I ran against George Neugent in 2006, he kept saying at candidate forums, if Sloan got elected, he would bankrupt the county. What caused George to say that was Sloan kept saying he was against any more new development, period the end. He kept saying the Keys already were way over-developed, and not a person in at the candidate forums or in the Keys could look in the mirror and honestly say any differently. That is what would have bankrupted the county, if Sloan got elected: He would have opposed all forms of new development. Well, guess what? The County went bankrupt, pretty near, without any help from Sloan. And what caused it to go busted was, yep, George Neugent, David Rice and other commies posing as Republicans betting the entire conch farm on new development.
 
Hell’s bells, the commies posing as Republicans on the County Commission would have done those now deep-sixed developers and other nearly deep-sixed developers a real big favor if they (the commies posing as Republicans) had told them (the developers) to take a hike. Thanks but no thanks. We, as God-fearing, flag-waving, patriotic American elected officials are supposed to put the health and welfare of developers and the free enterprise system first. We are not supposed to succumb to a clever capitalistic tree-hugger plot to approve developments that are going to go under and poison the people’s minds against God-fearing American developers. Furthermore, we sure as hell can’t let our misguided developer comrades tear down any more trailer parks and run off their and our hired help. Who would take care of our dachas, hotels, motels, inns, restaurants, marinas and golf courses, if we didn’t have poor people living in the Keys?
 
Then I was reminded in the dream of my own dacha on Little Torch Key, the single-wide, rat-infested trailer I have been letting a poor person live in for nothing, just to keep the place attended at no cost to myself. I was reminded that when I was moved out of that rat-infested dacha, to Key West, by God, I unclaimed my homestead exemption because it would have been totally un-American and totally unpatriotic and a major theft of taxpayer dollars for me to continue to claim the homestead exemption and not live there. Then I was reminded maybe there are more than a few properties in the Keys being claimed as homesteads even though the owners live somewhere else, or live somewhere else most of the time. I got sort of burned up thinking about that, because it sure looked like a commie plot to rip off hard-working American taxpayers who live full time in the Keys. I got to thinking I would try hard do something about that, if I got elected.
   
Then was yelling loud and long in the dream about the fact that we still don’t have countywide sewerage treatment. Countywide sewerage treatment that should have been put in place on David Rice and George Neugent’s watches, and on the watches of their fiscally-irresponsible commie-posing-as-Republican predecessors, when the county had the tax papers’ funds to get it done. Instead, the taxpayers’ money was spent on commie-posing-as-Republicans boondoggles and ego edifices. I was reminded that I have yelled long and loud about people with perfectly good operating private sewerage treatment plants having to give them up to tie onto the countywide system, without being fully compensated for the taking of their private property by the county commies.
 
Then I started hollering in the dream about the fact that George Neugent lives in Marathon, where David Rice also lives. Now there’s nothing wrong with living in Marathon, but most of George’s District 3 lies below Seven Mile Bridge and is rural. Many of George’s constituents are farmers, actually. They practice the revered horticulture of our nation’s Founding Fathers, hemp growing and rope making. Most of George’s District 3 has about as much relationship to and sympathy for Marathon as the capitalistic tree-huggers beloved Key deer have for the Sombrero Country Club, where George plays golf frequently with his Politburo comrades.
 
Now there’s nothing wrong with playing golf at the Sombrero Country Club, or playing golf anywhere. I used to love the game and I still sometimes go out for old time’s sake. In 2006, when I had a summer membership at Sombrero Country Club and played a few rounds, mostly alone, and hit a lot of balls on the practice range, I learned that very few people living south of Seven Mile Bridge play golf at Sombrero County Club, or at Key West Golf Club. They live in a part of the Keys where downstairs enclosures are a really big deal. Not something George Neugent has to fuss with, as his dacha, like my rat-infested place on Little Torch Key, is one-story. Built right in a flood plain, George’s and my dachas are legal, but for someone with a newer two story home, the downstairs of which, on the same level as George’s and mine, is illegal.
 
What’s wrong with that picture, I was asked in the dream? What’s wrong is older homes in the flood plane were grandfathered, newer homes where not. And, yes, the commie-posing-as-Republicans county government did not enforce the new code and people kept building homes with downstairs enclosures, or adding them on, and nobody ever said anything. And nobody ever told subsequent buyers of those homes that the downstairs enclosures were illegal, and all of this was known to the commies-posing-as-Republicans County Commission, who were in bed with the commie Realtors, who very definitely did not want home sellers, or Realtors, to be required to tell home-buying prospects the truth about downstairs enclosures in the Keys.
 
Then FEMA (the commie side of the federal government) got involved and started telling the county and owners of downstairs enclosures that they had to remove them, even though they had been de facto legal as far as the county was concerned. Bending to the commies in FEMA, the commie County Commission and commie Code Enforcement started putting pressure on owners of homes with downstairs enclosures, even as the commie county commissioners fought the commies at FEMA, even as the commie county commissioners keep saying they would do nothing to jeopardized people in the Keys getting flood and windstorm insurance, which the FEMA commies kept threatening to cut off, if they didn’t get their way with downstairs enclosures. If that wasn’t then taking of Americans’ property without due process of law, then what in the hell was it?
 
The way I a true fiscal-conservative American looked at it in the dream,  if you build in a flood plain, you assume the risk of living there. If you can’t get insurance to protect against hurricanes, big winds, rising water, then that’s part of the price of living in the flood plain, and in America. You have no right, Constitutional or otherwise, to have such insurance. If you think you do, then you are a commie. If your commie mortgage lender who jumped through hoops to loan you the money now wants to foreclose because you don’t have flood and wind insurance, then that also is a risk you assumed by buying a home in a flood plain in America. Like mortgage lenders would foreclose in this upside down real estate market, where so many Keys properties are seriously in arrears mortgage-wise. Think of the money people would save by not having wind and flood insurance. With the savings, they could self-insure. What could be more fiscally conservative and American than that?
 
I then found myself thinking in the dream of how much I hate the thought of running for office again. I saw myself saying at candidate forums that I don’t want the job, don’t vote for me; I’m only running because God made me do it. I’m only running because I say things nobody else will say; because I’m not worried about not being elected; because Rush Limbaugh is even too far left to suit me. If he had a home in the Keys, he would want federal flood and wind insurance. He would want special deals with the sheriff office. He would want to get hauled for free to a Miami hospital by Trauma Star’s helicopter the commie-posing-as-a-Republican former sheriff promised Keys people they wouldn’t be billed for using, then he billed the hell out of them.
 
I found myself saying in the dream, if I by some fluke get elected, I will not serve. I saw myself running as a write-in candidate, an Independent. Running write-in would save me the filing fee, but would get me invited to all of the candidate forums. I wouldn’t get invited to any of the Republican candidate functions, but then, I never got invited to any of the Democratic candidate functions before, either. I thought that if had it my way, all races in the Keys would be non-partisan. If I had it my way, a candidate could only serve one term. And then I suddenly the world turned upside down; I was the the state mental. I heard a voice, causing me to shake in terror and puke up all of my Christmas turkey: “You will run as a republican, if you know what is good for you.” The filing fee for running as a member of either a Republican or Democrat, is a good bit more than running as an Independent, because Independent candidates don’t stand for election in the partisan primaries.
 
Some time passed in the dream before I was able to get a grip on myself. Then, I found myself thinking, okay, if my Great White Father in the Sky is going to make me do this, I will go out of my way to piss people off. I will hunt up things to say and do that cost me votes and earn me the undying criticism on commie Keys blogs such as the Coconut Telegraph Gossip Column of bigpinekey.com and the Topix blogs, where I have been vilified plenty in the past. I found myself thinking that I haven’t given those kindergarten commies anything to complain about yet. Kid gloves is all they had gotten from me up to now. I found myself thinking plastic explosives, stinger missiles and neutron bombs. I will teach them the true meaning of democracy, free enterprise, property rights, and God-fearing.
 
I found myself thinking in the dream that I will teach the gadfly commies at Key West Citizen and The Keynoter the true meaning of the term “Republican.” I even found myself thinking I will join the Democrat county commissioner, Kim Wigington, in hollering for lobbyists to publicly register, so we will all know who is pushing our county commissioners and county staff to be fiscally irresponsible. I found myself thinking I will threaten to bring lawsuits against the county and its elected officials, on behalf of its citizens, for mal- and mis-feasance. Sue them personally, go after all of their assets, to reimburse the taxpayers. I found myself thinking I will lampoon and attack every commie I see, their official political labels will be irrelevant. The Red-hater Joseph McCathary will end up looking like a Junior Leaguer compared to me.
 
I found myself thinking in the dream, yeah, maybe if I take that approach I will be able to drag myself out of bed each morning; maybe knowing what a bad boy I will be each day will give me incentive to keeping moving. For sure, my trying to be reasonable, trying to use persuasion, trying to use logic, trying to use compassion, trying to use fiscal common sense, trying even to use God, didn’t stem the tide of the godless commie insanity that drives our county government. The only thing that had any impact on the big commie locomotive racing uncontroled up and down The Overseas Highway (US 1) was Hurricane Wilma. Quite a derailing that fair lady brought to the Keys way of life. Quite a derailing. Even someone so fiscally-scewed-right as me can see it just don’t pay to piss off Mother Nature.
 
I found myself thinking in the dream that I could model myself in Wilma’s likeness without too much trouble. I saw that I could talk at candidate forums about how frenetic George Neugent got every time I went after his bosom buddies, the Goodmans of Cudjoe Key, who run the local Republican Party. They finagled a Limestone Mining mangrove-cutting permit from the commie-infested Department of Environmental Protection, which allowed the the Goodmans to chainsaw an entire island of mangroves in front of their home, just so they could have a better view, according to what they wrote on the application for the cutting permit. George Neugent never saw anything wrong with that. In fact, he denied the Chainsaw Massacre even happened, even though plenty of photos were taken by DEP and others that it indeed did happen. If George had been true to the faith, he would have howled bloody murder for DEP to fine the Goodmans the million or so they owed in fines, which would have lightened the taxpayers’ load, especially this taxpayer's load, in funding the commies at DEP.
 
I found myself thinking in the dream that George Neugent, David Rice and the Goodmans are fused at the hip: they claim to be fiscal conservatives, but they behave like the Politburo. I found myself thinking that when I ran against George in 2006, I ran the most friendly campaign anyone had ever seen. But when I run next year against him in the Republican primary, it will rival the dirty campaign Ron Saunders ran against David Rice, who was plundering the county treasury through a sweetheard Politburo deal with the sheriff office.
 
I found myself thinking in the dream that I will shine the light of democracy and free enterprise on George Neugent, David Rice, the Goodmans, and lots of other commies in sheep’s clothing, who have been getting away with stuff at the tax payers’ expense, especially this taxpayer’s expense – like that cute little deal the Marathon Politburo had with Cape Air to provide the Marathon country club set county-taxpayers-subsidized air service to Ft. Meyers. A deal that nearly got me kicked out of a county commission meeting, so upset was I over it, even as everyone else in the room seemed behind it, since nobody else in the room spoke out against it. Not even any of the tree huggers spoke out against it. Birds of a feather, one and all.
 
I found myself thinking in the dream, maybe if’ I’m lucky, the commies will all band together and have me killed. Maybe they will get some help with that after I lay bare the marijuana and other drug dealings of going on inside the Monroe County Sheriff Office. Drug dealings that don’t get taxed. Taxes that could lower what the taxpapers, especially this taxpayer, pay to keep the sheriff office running.
 
I found myself thinking in the dream that I just can’t wait to see the twitter on bigpinekey.com’s Coconut Telegraph and the Keys Topix blogs. And I just can’t wait to see the commies come screaming out of the woodwork, er, mangroves. And I just can’t wait to hear from the New Age policitcal-correctors, who don’t even believe the devil exists. So correct that they died and don’t even know it yet.
 
Then I woke up. From the smell, I knew I had shit in my pajamas. Thank God, it was only a dream. Thank God.
 
Sincerely, and please, Santa, is there any chance you can just stay at the North Pole next Christmas? 
 
Sloan Bashinsky

In the mid 1950's one of the earliest (if not the first) known appearance of Frankie Avalon was with Jackie Gleason live on the Jackie Gleason Show performing "Tenderly".  Look at the other films on the side bar.  They don't make them like this any more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxzCS1vlhTI

[From the Right] It’s fascinating how two intelligent people can view the same set of facts and circumstances and arrive at two diametrically opposed conclusions. Yesterday a poster praised the current Obamacare plan. The poster said that Americans were becoming more and more favorably impressed with the plan. I believe that poster is taking as fact what he simply wants the facts to be. It’s called magical thinking.  The latest polling (12/21) revealed that only 19% of likely voters strongly approved of Obamacare while 45% are strongly opposed. Even the RCP site says that as few as 36% of those polled were “favorable” versus 53% were “opposed”. Folks, that tells this dude that people like the plan less and less as they learn more about it.  The Democrat slogan machine is getting old and creaky if it still is relying on calling the Republicans “the Party of No”. I doubt that there are more than a fist full of uninformed Americans who don’t realize that the Democrats completely and utterly shut out the Republicans in making the latest Obamacare mess.  The Democrats rule the roost. It’s the Democrats who are saying “No” to the  American voter. My guess is that as more and average working people realize that they will be forced to submit, that they will be paying more, not less, that there are no substantive measures that will actually reduce the cost of medicine in the bill, that even more  support will evaporate. My guess is that Legislators home for the holidays will be deluged with angry average Americans in opposition to the bill. The bill will actually raise both our deficit and our debt. Big insurance is all for it because they will pick up about 35 million new customers who will be forced to buy policies.  We will know more in about a week.  This bill is so atrocious that it angers everyone. There is no coming to together for a common good, there is no compromise, there is only divisiveness and rancor. Hells Bells already there are a bunch of states that are trying to figure ways to get out of it. We are being forced away from the high ground, and are being herded like sheep into a middle ground made up of quicksand. We all should be giving a lot of thought as to why the urgency, why the rabid pursuit of this particular goal when only 22% of us believe health care should be the most important issue facing our nation. It's not about health care.

(Part II) Did you ever hear of Jane Hamsher?  She is a very liberal activist and founder of the liberal Firedoglake  web site. How about Grover Norquist, the conservative chief of Americans for Tax Reform? These two persons of wildly disparate political belief have joined together to call for an investigation into the activities of Rahm Emmanuel, O’s pugilistic Chief of Staff. The investigation is to determine specifically what role Emmanuel played in the failure of Fannie Mae.  Emmanuel was a Board Member of Fannie until 2002.  Emmanuel was but one of the coterie of very liberal Democrats who have reaped huge benefits from Fannie while they drove it and our country into the toilet. The Chicago Tribune published a story that said that Rahm’s board used accounting tricks to puff profits even while Fannie got deeper and deeper into a swamp of bad loans.  The profits funded big bonuses for Fannie Execs, including Emmanuel. When Emmanuel left in ’02 he walked with a barrow load of bucks. Hamsher and Wright have asked Emmanuel’s pal Erick Holder, Attny General, to open and investigation.  Frankly I doubt that Holder will do anything, but at least it’s a crack in the wall. There should be more press on it later.

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Sunday December 27, 2009

Saturday December 26, 2009

(eD:  No edIT SatuRDAY!!!!!!......b-cuz u assd 4 iT!!!!!!!!!

Wishing you all a very Merry Holiday and a Happy and Healthy New Year ...from a snow bird in Wisconsin going through a snow storm right now.

Harry the sunglass guy has returned to the Big Pine Keys flea Market after four months of hospitalization. He went in for minor surgery and received the wrong medicine that caused him to go into a drug induced coma. (Beware of Key's hospitals). Harry’s better and would like you to stop buy and see him this weekend at the flea market and say hello.

The Florida Keys Dragon Boat Club    your dragon boat club sends best wishes and Happy New Year to all , remember we get out on the water twice weekly on Newfound Harbor for paddling fun ,exercise  and challenge.

http://www.floridakeysdragonboat.com

Captain John Duke

Coastal Sailing Adventures Inc

28555 Jolly Roger Dr

Little Torch Key , Florida

33042

305 304 5100

http://www.sailingkeywestflorida.com

http://www.floridakeysdragonboat.com

Ghost of Christmas Past.

LET IT SNOW! | KeysNews.com Christmas Snowfall report from Summerland Key.

Subject: ALLAHU AKHBAR GAME

http://www.tapuz.co.il/North/images/nassralla_game.swf

Sarah Palin wins the liar of the year award from a non partisan news organization.She is now fit to lead the Republican party.

Thank you my LORD and Savior for your gift of JESUS CHRIST our king.

Does anybody you know actually celebrate Kwanzaa? I worked with several Africans who considered it a joke. I think Festivus has more followers. To me it is a racist holiday made up by a sadistic Marxist, but those are just the facts so don't let them influence you.

I absolutely loved the Christmas Day Coconut Telegraph.

Thank you.

Barbara

REWARD There is a -- $2,000.00 reward -- for the return of this dog.  It is a black and white Shitsapoo. It was taken from inside a home on Big Pine Key Christmas Eve while the owner was out. It is a female.  She weighs 4 lbs. She is 2 years old.  Please call Terry at 305 304-1801.  Classified Ads > Lost & Found

Is there anyone in the Keys who services pinball machines?  Not video, but classic pinball.

Big Pine 29 question contact information - answer any questions

Can we communicate privately with help of Coconut telegraph editor, as an arranger?

The so called Iguana killer does not even live here- he lives in the midwest and gets his jollies from jerking our chain. I would tell him to get a life, but it would be a waste of time; this loser is beyond help. Have pity on him.

LOST DOGS!!! BE AWARE!!  SOMEONE IS STEALING DOGS FROM BIG PINE KEY!!!

On Dec. 17,and Dec. 24 - dogs were stolen. The first dog is a 9lb shih-tzu, name of Fenny, she is white and tan, and answers to her name Fenny. The second dog is a 4 lb shih-tzu/poodle, her name is Mia, she is very shy, all black with a white mustache. These dogs were both taken between the Catholic church and avenue A. on a Thursday morning. Please please, look for these sweet doggies. And be careful if you have a small dog, someone is taking them.

If you have ANY clues whatsoever, call the newspaper, but first call Kathy Vowels at 304-8752 or 872-8916.

Thank you for any clues you can give.

You're not going to believe this one! Video

Big Pine 29--One of the ones arrested was a Monroe County school bus driver, but I don't recall her name. I think some Key West people were arrested, too. It was a lot of fun if you weren't one the ones indicted.

Sarah Palin wouldn't know a nuclear weapon if she was sitting on it. SHE IS SITTING ON IT!

This goes to show how the American way of life is nothing but get rich quick junk companies. Nothing here is important to the extended existence of Mother Earth!

BUT if all that matters is money....then!

http://www.comcast.net/slideshow/finance-beststocks09/

http://www.comcast.net/slideshow/finance-beststocks/top-stocks/

More bar wisdom.

"I went to college. I know what it is like to be drunk and out of control ..."

The next window display at Artists in Paradise, Jan 1-15 will be Gale Upmal with her watercolor batiks on rice paper and Keys style furniture. 

She is the president of the Lower Keys artists network and

Manager of the Artists in Paradise Gallery. 

Gail is a member of the Key West Art Center in Key West

Subject: May they all come true?!

http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/pdShell.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/
&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3173936/graphic1

ALLAHU AKHBAR GAME 

http://www.tapuz.co.il/North/images/nassralla_game.swf

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!

Our days have been so filled with fun and excitement since we were announced the winner of The Weather Channel's Guaranteed White Christmas.   I wanted to write you a long Christmas letter with wishes of great things for this holiday season and for 2010!   Instead I will wish you a great weekend in a short e-blast, and hope that you'll tune in to see us LIVE on The Weather Channel on Christmas morning. 

Here are the details as we know them right now....

Starting at 7:40 AM Eastern Time TWC will be broadcasting LIVE from my yard (with SNOW!!) on TV.  They will go back and forth from Summerland Key to the Studio until 2PM Eastern time.  

However - if you go online to The Weather Channel's website, they will be broadcasting continuously from 7:40 AM (EST) to 2PM (EST).  You won't miss a thing if you watch online!!   I was going to go to their website and find the exact link to their White Christmas broadcast but I haven't had a chance.   I'm sure you are all online savvy enough to find it on their website! 

With the snow that they are planning, grandson Michael will be making snowmen and we'll have a snowball fight or two.  I'm not sure which hold the most excitement for Michael right now, snow?  or Santa?  

The band will be performing at least one or two songs during the day, including "Local On The Eights" from the "Blame It On The Margarita" CD and a new song that I've just finished writing!!  We're not sure when the performance will take place, so we hope you'll keep The Weather Channel tuned in while you are enjoying your Christmas morning.

From our family to your family - we wish you a wonderful Christmas.  May you have the warm tropical breezes that many of you desperately need right now, and may the tides always pull you back.

Merry Christmas

Howie and the Mile Marker 24 Family

IKC Guy

Keep up the good work. Hoo Ahh! Thank you.

To th ex customs officer at the BP 29 bust.  island@bigpinekey.com thanks.

To th ex customs officer at the BP 29 bust.  chefcheb@comcast.net

Thanks to the poster I went to real clear politics and saw Mr.Obamas low approval ratings. How can one man be so unpopular so fast. This man has become a laughingstock to most Americans with the quickness.

WE HOPED FOR CHANGE BUT I GUESS WE WASTED OUR VOTE ON ANOTHER TYPICAL backroom dealing POLITIICAN

The 10 Key Largo wood rats that Disney is donating to the North Key Largo wildlife refuge had better start breeding like horny rats before an invasive Burmese python eats the rats for breakfast. Awhile back the refuge tracked an endangered wood rat with a GPS tracking collar and they located it, in the belly of a large python. If these rats were developed from stem cell research using genes taken from Mini and Mickey what are they going to name these new rats?   Minickies

EVER  WONDER WHAT
SANTA
LOOKS  LIKE IN THE
SUMMERTIME  ??? Sorta  takes the joy out of Christmas, doesn't it  ?

Our next computer club meeting is coming up this Saturday, December 26, 10 am at the Senior Center.  Hope to see you there. Bulletin Board

WTF2 - didn't know CT published porn

Yesterday I found myself reminiscing my love affair with the Keys, which began in 1956, when my family stayed at the Ocean Reef Club. Back then, it was a very laid back, rustic, affordable resort. Anyone could stay there, well maybe anyone white. That was the first time I fished the flats, something that would become the engine that drove my returning to the Keys time and time again, for forty years. Much of it was spent staying in the home my father purchased in 1963 on the Atlantic side of lower Matecumbe Key. It was romantic. I longed for the Keys when I wasn’t down here. I often wept when I left and again on returning. But no more. The romance is gone. The sentimentality has vanished. I don’t feel that love anymore, and what came to me yesterday was my getting involved in Keys politics is what killed the love affair. Now it’s mostly just a job, living in the Keys.
 
I thrashed around a good bit last night trying to get down to the topic of today’s post. Maybe some of what I got up in the wee hours to write will some day make its way into public view. Right now, what seems to be coming forward from last night was a dream at dawn in which our State Attorney Dennis Ward came to me and lamented that I had not made a post today. I awoke knowing that was a left-handed way for the angels to tell me that I was suppose to write about something that had to do with Dennis. More particularly, about something that had to do with crime. But what?
 
I got to the what when I arrived at Sippin’ Internet Cafe around 9 a.m., very late for  me to get started, but it was a long night and I was late finally crawling out of the sack for the last time this a.m. — unless I get a nap in before noon. Anyway, arriving at Sippin’, right off I note Key West the Newspaper (kwtn.com) is out early this week, because of Christmas being tomorrow — Friday is KWTN’s regular publication day. The front page feature, FIRED WHISTLEBLOWER WILL SUE SCHOOL BOARD, caught my eye immediately.
 
Before reading it, I read the Key West Citizen front page piece, “Fraud’s role at debate,” about the recommendation of what I imagination was of one of the School Board’s bean counters to factor fraud into the school budget, so henceforth the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars by the likes of the wife of our recently deposed Superintendent of Schools, now a convicted felon out on probation, thanks to a local elected judge, won’t upset the financial applecart in our school system, because the theft already was factored into the school budget. What? We give thieves the green light by telling them we expect them to steal from the school system? Excuse me, but I think I would give serious thought to firing that bean counter, were I the new School Superientendent of Schools.
 
The only part of the KW Citizen article I liked was this quote from School Board member Steve Pibramsky, who, along with School Board member John Dick, had aggressively pursued allegations of the thievery in the face of severe public criticism from segments of the public (bubbas) and from one School Board member, who was in bed with the Superientendent and his wife. The two other School Board members took a more conservative (wait and maybe we will see) approach that might have, if used by Pibramsky and Dick, resulted in much more harm being done to the school system, if not the outright escape of the thief and her husband, who had promoted her in the first place, against the rules, to a position for which she had no legal qualifications, and then he ignored reports from school system employee Cathy Reitezel of what his wife was doing, and then he tried to cover it all up — or so a grand jury convened by Dennis Ward determined, and then a jury agreed, when it convicted the Superientendent. His wife still awaits trial.
 
Anyway, here are Pibramsky’s quoted remarks in KW Citizen today: “I think the school district has a vast majority of honest, forthright people. However, the culture has been too political, too steeped in patronage and cronyism. When someone sees something going wrong, they are afraid to speak up for fear of retribution. Good people have to be protected and bad people have to be ousted immediately.”
 
Amen. However, tell that to Cathy Reitzel, who was the State’s primary witness before the grand jury and later in the Superintendent of School’s trial. Tell that to Cathy Reitzel, who was told to resign or be fired, by the new Superientendent of Schools after he was appointed by Governor Crist. Tell that to Cathy Reitzel, who was fired and now has obtained counsel to sue the School Board, including members Pibramsky and Dick, for going along with the firing of Cathy Reitzel, but for whose whistleblowing and testimony the State might not even have been able to prosecute the old Superintendent and his wife. Read all about that in today’s Key West the Newspaper front-page FIRED WHISTLEBLOWER WILL SUE SCHOOL BOARD piece.
 
Maybe the School Board ought to ask Governor Crist to fire the new Superientendent of Schools. Maybe the voters ought to fire the School Board for letting Cathy Reizel be fired. Maybe the voters ought to fire the judge who put the old Superientendent of Schools on probation. Maybe the voters ought to quit voting into office Superiententends of Schools who have no teaching degree and have never taught a day of school in their lives (our recently convicted Superientendent). Maybe the more things change, the more they stay the same. Bubba Wubba (politics, cronyism, favoritism, nepotism) still seems to rein supreme in the Keys. Kill the messenger still is business as usual.
 
Sloan Bashinsky

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Saturday December 26, 2009

Hey folks. Dan at KeyToons here. If anyone will miss reading the Coconut Telegraph on Christmas Day, I thought I might offer my services and substitute for our venerable editor on Christmas.

The website will be at http:// www.keytoons.com/bigpinekey.html

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Sing this to the tune of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow."

Oh the weather outside is frightful

and I'm feeling kind of spiteful

And I've got places yet to go

Goddamn snow, goddamn snow, goddamn snow

But I'm glad I still have some power

I shoveled but my mood is sour

Cuz I'm watching the drifts that blow

goddamn snow, goddamn snow, goddamn snow

When the plow finally comes to help

I hope that my face won't offend

I swear at them and I yelp

As they bury my car once again

At least I can say I'm retired

that's why my wife seems inspired

to stay in the house while I go

goddamn snow, goddamn snow, goddamn snow

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Friday 

Wednesday December 23, 2009

If you enjoy the holiday decorations on the power poles from Summerland to Big Pine, please help our Big Pine and Lower Keys Rotary continue this tradition for years to come.  Our club has been putting these lights up for over 10 years and we need your help as we have maintenance and electricity costs each year and this year we had to buy new some new lights.  Please make a donation at your local bank.  Donations may be made at First State Bank in Big Pine to Shana, Centennial Bank in Big Pine to Sheila or TIB Bank in Big Pine to Pavlina.  Thanks so much for your support.  If you can't make it to these locations during business hours and would like to make a donation, please feel free to contact Tammy 395-3700.

We are wishing you and yours a healthy and happy holiday season. 

Isn’t it a felony in Florida to act as a contractor without a license?

You think global warming and sea level rise is a bitch now? Try living in Clovis times 12,500 years ago when the sea level was 400 feet lower and in only a few thousand years rose to the present level. There’s good text about this in "Florida's First People" (ch.1) and ,"Roadside Geology of Florida", (chapter entitled "The Pliestocene Republic"). At 400 feet in elevation, big Pine had a very nice a view of the ocean about 10 miles south of Long Beach.

The way out Right Guy told me I was wrong about my Obama facts. Sorry, but they were spot on. I did notice that his slandering of O. was a bit expected and that his anti-American President insults are indeed in step with the hippies of the 60s. Since he mentioned I must be smoking ganja because I support our President and will proudly continue to do so, I must point out he may be enjoying a good supply of unhappy-pills himself and getting them from his government socialized Medicare. I also notice that in his postings besides throwing in a bunch of cherry picked stats his posts are for the most part very hollow. Entertaining, but hollow none the less. How many years did he travel with the Deadheads in the 60s? Roll another my friend and enjoy the season. 

Follow the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook. Search for “MCSO – Florida Keys”.  You can also follow them on Twitter at “mcsonews”.

With all the DSL chatter I thought I would throw my story in. I've had it for a few years and I'm happy with it except for one thing. I had a very old modem with only one port on it. Whenever I have company with a laptop (which is quite often) they have to unplug my computer to use theirs. I called BellSouth to get an upgraded modem and they said it would cost me $50. After spending a little time with them on the phone they sent me a new modem with four ports and a wireless for free. They earned their keep. 

The first meeting of 2009 for the Lower Keys Artists Network will be held Monday, January 4th, 7 PM, at The Artists in Paradise Gallery, Winn-Dixie Shopping Center, Big Pine Key.  "Recycle, Redesign and Reinvent your art with Collage" Big Pine Key artist Connie Hauk will demonstrate the use of basic design and color  principles to transform discards into divas! She will use existing art work and found papers to make into new compositions and ATC's (Artists's Trading  Cards). Bring some of your own magic markers and try your hand at making your own design for your ATC.

Hauk is an exhibiting artist at Big Pine's Artists in Paradise Gallery  and the Key West Art Center and is a signature member of the Florida  Watercolor Society. She has lived in the Keys since 1985 and has  taught adult watercolor classes for the past 35 years. She is currently the art instructor at the Big Pine Elementary Academy. She  will be offering a series of watercolor classes in Big Pine Key on  Tuesdays starting January 19th--intermediate classes from 9-11 and  beginners from 1-3pm. Contact number for information on classes:  395-0346. Come to the gallery on January 4th for her inspiring demo.  The public is invited to attend and the meeting begins at 7 p.m.  Refreshments will be served and please bring a chair along with some magic markers For further information call Dale at 872-9404 or the gallery at 872-1828.

I agree the Vandenberg was a great investment. I look forward to diving the Vandenberg someday!

The Oriskany was sunk off Pensacola and was a project similar to the Vandenberg and was $10 million over budget. Economic impact of the Oriskany http://uwf.edu/haas/pdfs/impactStudies/Oriskany_Final_Revised_1_16_08.pdf

Is someone actually quoting from Wikipedia, the do-it-yourself encyclopedia? On the Taliban? Stop smoking dope!

I always tip my garbage man at Christmas. He does the work of 2 people, does it very well, is polite and always waits if I 'm still bringing out the cans, and our street doesn't look more trashed after he leaves (unlike the recycling guys).

Maybe I’m just a knuckle dragging Neanderthal (God, I hope so), but Palin sounds pretty smart to me.

Coral reefs all dead by 2050. http://www.vimeo.com/7962248

Knock yourself out killing iguanas, but please dispose of the carcasses in some other way then throwing them in the canal.

Compliments to the happy indoor-cat owner.  Too bad all the outdoor-cat owners around here have yet to see the light and do things your way.

How come only Republican scientists deny climate change is encouraged by CO2 emissions? Did they go to different schools?

[Stupid Memorial to Homeless] I have to agree that it's a sad state of affairs when they can find the money to erect a memorial instead of finding the money to build shelters.

[Afraid of Shadow] I notice today that we are getting lots of low life, young, strange people in Big Pine Key. Today I was at Winn Dixie and I saw a young man that looked like a gangster.  At the check out his wife, small kids and friend were covered with tattoos as they presented their food stamp card.  They did not have enough money on the card to pay for their groceries. They had to return some items.  They kept two pizzas, but the eggs and chicken nuggets, etc were all returned.  It was scary if you were there.  Not good for Big Pine.  I lived here for 20 years and it was never like this.  What's happening with our town?  I was holding my wallet so tight.  I never did that before. This is what our taxes are going; to lazy bums to fill their stomachs and to give them strength to break into our cars, homes, etc. 

Let’s look out for each other.  Let’s try to keep Big Pine as Big Pine.  If you see anything that is out of the norm call 911.

I’m looking for any and all information related to the Big Pine 29 drug bust in November of 1980 on Long Beach Road.  Does anyone remember the major players?

“Wrong Number” From Carol Burnett http://www.funnieststuff.net/viewmovie.php?id=976

[Style] Gordon Brown vs Barak Obama. Video

[Obama Popular Around World] Democrats couldn't care less if people in Indiana hate them, but if Europeans curl their lips, liberals can't look at themselves in the mirror.

The IKC guy is not worried about our environment.  He's using that excuse to kill.  He's also the guy that bragged about killing men, women and children in Vietnam.  I bet he also killed family pets when he was a kid. 

To the poster who commented that he thinks teaching children to kill iguanas is a great way to teach them about the environment. Have you taught them to recycle plastic products and paper?  Have you taught them to recognize all of our endangered plants and animals in the Keys?  Do they save electricity and water in your home?  Do they shop and take their lunches to school using recyclable bags?  Or do you just teach them to kill?

MYCP mentor program participants from Coral Shores High School and Treasure Village Montessori. Today, more than 30 million people around the world have been displaced due to war and violence. Of that number, nearly 10 million refugees are children. Last week the mentor program offered through Monroe Youth Challenge Program made it possible for 31 youth to attend the “Torn from Home: My Life as a Refugee” Exhibit in Miami.

The students were mentors from Cheryl Cooke's Leadership Class at Coral Shores and mentees from the middle school at Treasure Village Montessori escorted by Julie Clark.

At the exhibit they went through a hands-on journey into the lives of children who are forced to flee their homes and seek safety in a new land. They explored what it means to be a refugee to better understand their hardships and hope for a brighter future.

Isis Majeska, a 7th-grade student at TVM, said, “The feeling I had when we left the exhibit was grateful because I saw some of the things we take for granted are the things the refugees want so badly.”

The purpose of the trip was to give the mentor-mentee pairs more time to get to know each other better as well as have discussion around the poignant issues of the humanitarian needs of refugees.

[Sneaky Bastards] More than 80 percent of Americans agree that Congress drafts lengthy, complex bills to hide spending on special interests and to prevent constituents from understanding what's in them before a vote is taken, according to a new survey.

Merry Christmas from the Abyss! Pennekamp Dive Sites

Some of you think the passage of the health care reform bill will be a good thing for the Nation? Just wait until the health insurance companies start canceling Medicare Advantage Plans for the millions of seniors who have them. Yes, I'm aware that there is a provision in the Senate version of the bill which "grandfathers" those with Medicare Advantage Plans in the Sunshine State. However, seniors in the other forty-nine states will not be so lucky. Seniors, this will be your reward for working hard, playing by the rules, and paying into the system all your lives. President Barack Hussein Obama scares me. Hopefully he will only have four years in office. I will not vote to re-elect him. I also won't vote to re-elect any Congressman or Senator who voted for passage of this convoluted two thousand page health care reform bill.  

[Lie of the Year] Congratulations are due Sarah Palin. McClatchy the non-partisan Pulitzer Prize winning fact checking organization named Sarah Palin’s lie that the President’s healthcare plans would have death panels the lie of the year. Congrats Sarah you’re the number one liar this year. I can see why the way out Right Guy loves you to pieces .You can put lipstick on it and dress it up, but you end up with a pretty liar.

[Government For Sale] Democrat Senators (Nelson, Baucus, Conrad, Landrieux, et al.) had "serious reservations" about the healthcare bill have now all voted in favor of cloture.  It turns out they’re nothing more than ordinary whores after all.  Now that their states' treasuries are going to benefit greatly from additional taxpayer dollars, their reservations seem to have vanished into thin air. I'm disgusted by the whole thing.

"There was no such thing as a Taliban until the Afghanistan’s civil war in the wake of Soviet troops’ withdrawal in 1989, after a decade-long occupation. But by the time their last troops withdrew in February 1989, they’d left a nation in social and economic shards, 1.5 million dead, millions of refugees and orphans in Iran and Pakistan, and gaping political vacuum that warlords attempted to fill. Afghan mujahedeen warlords replaced their war with the Soviets with a civil war."

"In 1994, a group of provincial vigilantes led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, the administrator of a religious school, rose up against these forces. He and his followers called themselves "the students" -- the taliban in the Pashto language."

"Taliban (Pashto, ‘seekers’) An Islamic fundamentalist political and military grouping that controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until late 2001. The Taliban militia was formed by Islamic theological students in the south of the country in 1994 with the intention of unifying Afghanistan."

I could go on and on.  The bottom line is they didn't exist in 1985! http://middleeast.about.com/od/afghanistan/ss/me080914a_2.htm

[Also Apple has a One-to-One program whereby a person can set up an appointment with an Apple expert in person]  I've gone to the Apple store with my iPhone and everyone I ask for help starts the conversation with "do you have an appointment?"  I guess that would have been fine for tech help, but all I wanted was a case. 

Orion's Belt points the way down to rising Sirius. Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon form the nearly equilateral Winter Triangle.

[Going Rogue by Sarah Palin] Definition of the word rogue from Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1561
1 : vagrant, tramp
2 : a dishonest or worthless person : scoundrel
3 : a mischievous person : scamp
4 : a horse inclined to shirk or misbehave
5 : an individual exhibiting a chance and usually inferior biological variation

Need I say more?

When we were kids it wasn't called ADHD, it was called "Tommy needs and ass whoopin!"

Ahmadinejad on nuke deadline, “We Don't Care.” Iran's president on Tuesday dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, and claimed his government is now "10 times stronger" than a year ago.

Don't you find it very interesting that after Monday (M) and Tuesday (T), the rest of week says WTF?

Why can't the traffic light on Big Pine flash during late night and early morning hours? It really sucks to have to sit there waiting to make a left turn to go to work in Marathon, when there is not another vehicle in sight on US 1.

Very cool remote controlled jet plane!  RC SR-71 Jet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDbQ5xvsrIU&feature=related  

[Healthcare] I guess what they don't understand is that we don't need their bull shit. I'm not going to be forced by any government to pay health insurance for my family. It's time I look out for myself and do what all the other government officials do.

WTF2?

[To butcher a beautiful Christmas song add one pop star and a microphone.]  Right on!  Also the national anthem, any hymn, and nearly every song that's been previously covered that the star feels the need to 'cover'.

What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?  Claus-traphobic!

[From the Right] I sincerely appreciate the readers concern caused by the absence of my posting Monday.  I’m happy to report that I am alive and well, hunkered down in the Right side bunker preparing for the long battle ahead.  It pains me to admit error, but I do admit error. In a liberal moment, the old CT address was put on my posting the other day, it got blocked by the Deer Ed’s filters. Sorry about that error.  None the less, I offer congratulations to all the celebrants who are in ecstasy at the latest Senate vote on Obamacare. Please enjoy the warm tingling feeling down your left legs. You guys seem to have won some big stuff for all us Americans. Let’s take a look at some of that big stuff: 1.] Soon, thanks to Obamacare we will have an additional 31 or so million folks clamoring for “free” health care. Those new patients will be competing for the attention of fewer and fewer Doctors. Yep, patient care will have to suffer. Doc’s will be getting paid less for each patient (20-25% less), so they’ll have to see more patients just to stay even. That’s big! 2.] Medicare and Medicaid benefits will have to be slashed if the “diminished deficit” claims are to be met. The Senate says that they will cut Medicare by a half of a trillion dollars. Yep, old farts will get much worse treatment. No doubt about it, they will suffer because of the cuts. It’s just a pity about those old farts. If Congress does not cut Medicare/Medicaid, then the national debt must soar by an additional half a trillion dollars. Congress has never, repeat never, cut Medicare/Medicaid, nor will they now. So much for “bending the cost curve”. Well, this bill will bend it. It will bend it up, straight up! Ooops, I almost forgot that in order to meet the Senate’s fiscal promises, they will also have to remove two hundred and fifty billion in doctors’ payments from the bill and hide it in new legislation yet to pass or even be proposed. If they don’t, the cost of Obamacare and national debt will increase by at least another one quarter of a trillion dollars. Let’s gut check the math, half a trillion plus a quarter of a trillion equals three quarters of a trillion dollars worth of hit on the deficit over and above what it is now. Look out moon, here comes our national debt. That’s pretty freaking big. 4.] Yes, it looks like that soon we’ll be the happy payers of new taxes that start when the bill is signed, but we’ll just have to wait 4 years until the benefits start. Another freaking Big deal! 5.] Congrats to Nebraska; their Senator, Ben Nelson, took a dive on his anti abortion principles in exchange for a deal that exempts Nebraska from paying it’s state share of Medicaid, forever. Bless you Senator Nelson for your morality and principles. Hey, it’s just a bad break that we Floridians will have to chip in to pay it. Whoa, come to think of it, at least Louisiana, Connecticut and Iowa also got really sweet and very similar deals. What the hell, we Floridians have got plenty of money; it’s only fair that we carry the load of other states. After all, we Floridians are all wealthy. So, there are still about 3-4 pages more of wonderfulness, but that’s almost enough for today. Our liberal pals have a notoriously short attention span so we shouldn't over burden them. You have to admire the Democrat Senators lack of respect for their constituents. Why? Because at last check, those who strongly favored socializing our health care system were outnumbered by nearly 2-1 by those of us who strongly opposed it. The next set of elections should be very interesting. You can tell the American public is just thrilled, tickled pink. On 12/21 Rasmussen reported that Mr. Obama’s approval index has soared to -21, yep that minus twenty one. His next lowest was minus 19.  Minus 21 is a new record. Way to go O, that’s change that I can believe in.

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Wednesday December 23, 2009

Tuesday December 22, 2009

[Cats are smart, too] I own four cats, all indoor, and they are well behaved.  I am able to get them to stop in their tracks using one hand signal; what one would see a policeman use when directing traffic to stop.  They all know what it means, and if they try to jump on a counter, eat another's food, or jump into someone's lap, holding up my hand results in them either sitting down or walking away.  They also know when I want to hold them as I "invite" them to jump up by tapping my chest.  Two of the cats will fetch and none scratch on furniture.  As with other animals, it takes a little patience to train them, but once it's done, they can be as great a pet as any dog.  Plus, they are soft and furry, sleep most of the time, and use a litter box. 

The only upside to this cold weather is that there are no no-see-ums.  We really have nothing to complain about it's just going to last a couple of days.

One of the most beloved Christmas songs of all times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5GnNSb8TJI

[Local Wins Lottery] Does anyone know the person who won the $3,000,000 lottery in Marathon? Perhaps they'd loan us the money for a sewer system! Lucky number: 6-8-11-16-17-48 X 3

[Where’s From the Right?] Oh no! Please tell me the From the Right guy is okay. He was conspicuous by his absence yesterday.  I hope his type-A-uptight ass didn't have the big one.

This is not directed at the writer as I do not know you or your reputation. Hopefully you are one of the good guys and are just venting, but as I said before, just because you are a licensed contractor does not mean you don't do unscrupulous things.

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. ~Calvin Coolidge

[Stupid Memorial] Homeless in America for 20 years. National Homeless Person's Memorial in Washington, D.C. We have erected instead of corrected, how sad. 20th Annual National Homeless Person’s Memorial – Washington DC: Commemorating the Lives of Those Who have Died While Homeles.

Hi! This is Lynn from Newman Outfitters.  Dan and I want to send out wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2010.  We also want to thank all who visited our shop this year.  We truly appreciate your business and do our best to give the best service possible.  It wouldn't be possible for us to be here without you. Dan has decided to keep the shop open this Wednesday from 9 to 6 and Thursday, Christmas Eve, from 9-2 for any last minute shopping for all you shooting sports enthusiasts out there. Don't forget we are giving 10% off our already low prices on any long gun in stock. Dan just got in a supply of great air rifles and all the cool stuff to go with it. 

We have held the line on price for the past 2 years on our handgun safety training classes for as long as we could.  After the first of the year, we have to increase it to $75 due to increases in the training materials and shipping costs.  If you have been considering taking my class, you can lock in 2009 prices by stopping in.  Dan will be happy to write you a gift certificate which will be good all year  (a great stocking stuffer) 

A big thank you to all our customers for your support and Merry Christmas!

[Empire] Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire on love and at this hour millions of men would die for him. ~Napoleon Bonaparte

Lost glasses. While shopping on Big Pine Key, Flea Market/CVS/Dollar Store last Saturday (12/19), I lost my prescription eyeglasses. They are Rose colored frames marked Cazal, with slightly blue-tinted lenses. If found, please call Pat at 872-3270.Thanks. Merry Christmas! Classified Ads > Lost & Found

[Sarah Mania] Sarah Palin's Greatest Hits. Oh, yeah, she’s real qualified to be president. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrzXLYA_e6E&NR=1

[Vermont's Independent US Senator]  Ed, you put up the wrong Vermont Senator’s Picture. That’s Senator Leahy. The Guy this post is talking about is Senator Bernie Sanders who, by the way, is a Jewish kid from Brookyln, NY. He went to the University of Chicago and moved to VT after college and worked as a carpenter. He was elected Mayor of Burlington VT 4 times. The last time against a candidate backed by the Democratic and Republican parties. He served 16 years in the House before being elected to the Senate.

[Don’t believe government] One side says healthcare will save money the other side says it’ll cost money. Everyone skews their numbers to enrich their position. If only there were someplace we could go for the truth.

I did do the research on the history of the Taliban. In fact go to Wikipedia and type in Taliban history and it will give you the history which verifies my postings. The Taliban did exist in ‘85. They were a part of the Mujahedeen the same way the tribal leaders we use now to fight Al Qaeda are used by the Iraqi government. There’s actually a timeline for the Taliban which coincides with the Mujahedeen. It’s right there.

[On the verge of making the health care more accessible] It’s going to be pretty hard to access it when the system is bankrupt and doctors and hospitals are no longer in business.

[Bailout] Only two car companies received bailouts and Chrysler will never be able to repay the loans they received and might not be an auto maker much longer.  Only GM has repaid some of the loans, and despite your rosy forecast some of our money will never be recovered from GM.  At the current stock price we would have to sell 300% of our stock to recover all our funds. 

I saw it in the paper, the Democrats saved Key West and made it what it is today.

[Babysitters] Woof! Meow. Slide Show

The sad fact is, what God told Abraham in Genesis about the coming strife between Isaac’s seed (Judaism, Christendom) and Ishmael’s seed (Islam) leaves Isaac’s seed no wiggle room to complain about Islam’s treatment of Judaism and Christendom, unless they wish to complain to God.

Long Live the IKC!  I fondly remember when I got my 50 kill patch, many years ago.  I received mine from the founder of the IKC a kindly, elderly gentleman.  He said some kind words and thanked me for my dedication to eliminating the foreign pests and for protecting our Keys from invasive species.  He went on to tell stories of an iguana free Keys back in the days before snowbirds invaded our islands every winter.  He said Ted Williams was a member of the IKC many years ago and was a major force in starting the IKC.  He said Ted was the one that pointed out that if something was not done the Islands would be over run by these pests.  Ted said the islands had no naturals enemies of iguanas and it was our duty to kill everyone one of these nasty creatures (Ted used more colorful language). The old timer said Ted would shoot iguanas from his porch between fishing trips during his winter visits before baseball season started.  He said back then there were not as many and it would take a lot longer to get your 50 kill patch.  He said he thought of eliminating the 50 kill patch award because a good hunter could kill 50 today in a long weekend.  He decided it was better not to eliminate the patch, he thought it would be a good incentive to new members.  He told me that he had over 5,000 kills by then.  If he were alive today he would probably be killing 50 every weekend like he said. 

How I would have liked to shoot iguanas with Ted and the old man.  We must persevere and pass on these glorious traditions to the next generation.  Again, congratulations for your 50 patch, I can't make the rally but let me encourage all to support the IKC with a honk and a wave and let me also encourage everyone that lives in our island paradise to kill the iguanas and eat more iguana and save the Keys. 

To simply and efficiently butcher a beautiful, traditional Christmas song add one pop star and a microphone.

The Golf Cart Parade ruled.

[NASA Calendar] To celebrate the 10th anniversary of people continuously living aboard the International Space Station, NASA is providing a special 2010 calendar to teachers and the public.

The calendar contains unique images and highlights historic space exploration milestones and educational facts about the international laboratory. Each month has its own theme and offers a glimpse into topics such as a typical day in the life of a crew member, the staff that supports the station, and the massive dimensions of the orbiting research facility.

The calendar is available for free download at http://www.nasa.gov/station

[Polls] I find it very telling that the man from way out right was reminding us in the early stages of Obama’s Presidency that even though the President had a very high approval rating and a majority of the country’s support that the majority isn’t always right. He said at the time that a President shouldn’t always go along with the majority and should do what’s right instead of what’s popular. Now all of a sudden the Presidents ratings have slid and all of a sudden we are being fed poll numbers and told that Americans are unhappy with the President. Methinks the way out Right Guy is counting on all of us having very short memories of his ever changing positions. Or maybe that he has been all of a sudden "reborn" into the belief that maybe poll numbers do matter. I’m thinking it’s not the later, but then he changes his position more times then as he so aptly stated about democrats, a "crack whore". I’m using his rhetoric not mine.

[Green Religion] Let’s talk religion. I’m talking about the newest religion, Green religion. Just like other religions, all the facts, by non-believers are dismissed as twisted lies. Only what is preached by their preachers can be believed. And they believe, beyond a doubt.  There is no use in talking facts with them or trying to reason with them - - they believe. Their biggest preacher is Al Gore. And like other big name evangelists he is in it for the money and fame. Climate change is a given, has been for thousands of years, but being caused by humans, just doesn’t make sense to me. Sorry I’m not a believer.

To the person who found my Z-card and returned it, I owe you a drink!

[No Name Key Electricity] Grosso letter neglects to mention State Law. I read a copy of Mr. Grosso’s letter to the BOCC -- what a joke it is.  Mr. Grosso spends his entire letter explaining the difference between a county ordinance and a county resolution.  But Mr. Grosso never mentions the controlling State law, or that the State law is the only thing that matters.  Any and every local ordinance or resolution conflicting with State law is not valid.  The BOCC can tear up (rescind) that local 1951 resolution giving electricity to NNK. They can use it for toilet paper for all I care because it doesn’t matter. The BOCC cannot tear up, rescind, or change the State law which gives electricity to No Name Key.  Why did Mr. Grosso neglect to mention that part in his little letter to the BOCC? Is he unaware of State law?

Commissioners, stop wasting taxpayer time and money, we’ve had enough of this!

About the global warming post. I don't think anyone actually skewered the data (pierced with a sharp object), but I'm pretty sure they skewed them (distorted, depicted unfairly). Yup! I know I'm an obnoxious pain in the butt, but it's a whole bunch of fun to ding these posters who just won't lighten up.  Merry Christmas!

I made a vow to my wife that I would be sober the last 50 years of my life. Now I just have to figure out a way to live to be 150.

Thank God they are going to pass health care. Now, all the dead beats and minimum wage earners will have to pay or lose their driver’s licenses or go to jail. No more free health care. Everyone pays!

[Mac World is over except for motion graphics] Wrongo, wombat breath!  Windows has always been just a poor copy of the Mac operating system.  I mean, how much faith can you have in a machine in which you have to go to the “Start” to shut it off?

[Paintball splotched iguanas] I think that shooting paintballs at snowbirds could become a sport down here. Even the mentally challenged IKC guy could hit one of those super-sized New Jersey women. The only problem is, unlike the iguana, the Jersey women will fight back.

To the guy on Long beach Rd. that has lost 200 ft. of beach. I believe that is called costal erosion and not caused by the ocean rising. I have seen no true science that backs up the oceans rising. Man should try to be good stewards of the planet and do their best to protect it, but politicians skewing science for their benefit is wrong. I saw the news report about the volcano that is erupting 4,000 ft deep in the ocean. They said the amount of CO2 put out in one day is more than mankind emits in ten years.

Someone wrote into the KW Citizen's Voice today "Joggers, walkers and others: Beware. The 29800 block of Newfound Harbor Rd. on BPK has aggressive pitbulls on the loose. One of them chased and attempted to bite me."

2010 Hooters calendar. Look in private! .pdf

[Let's take a survey] Lately I've seen several posts about our President's approval rating. I would like to see how our C.T. contributors stack up compared to the rest of the nation. Regardless of the content of your next subject, please participate by simply writing 'approve' or 'disapprove' at the end of your post. No explanation, just one word. I want to keep it fun. Even if you're writing about the pretty flowers in your back yard, join in by taking a moment to type one word. I'll count the total number of posts, calculate the percentages, and post the results the following day. If you don't participate, I'll list you in the category of 'no opinion', which means you still participated. (Ed: Forget it.)

Do you wish you could find quality customer service?  Is it just a pipe dream to want to be able to walk into a shop and have someone greet you with a warm, “Hello Julia.”  My dream has become a reality.  When I walk into Now Showing Video on Big Pine Key, the soft spoken, kind hearted young gentleman, Jose, greets me warmly by name with a welcoming smile every time I enter the shop.  Whenever I need help choosing a good movie, Jose patiently helps me make the right choice for myself.  Jose is always courteous, kind, well mannered and eager to lend a hand to all the customers.  This is such a wonderful breath of fresh air.  I always leave with a lighter step and a feeling as if I was given a gift, and I was the gift of a personal touch in this so impersonal world of ours.  Some will say “Well that’s what quality customer service is all about.”  For me it’s also a feeling of just having visited a friend. I’d like to say, Thank you Jose.

[IKC] Does anyone know how to get in contact with the mercenary iguana killer? We have an active home owners association where I live and at the last meeting there was a lot of serious discussion about the invasive iguanas in our community. The iguanas are breeding faster than we can execute them. There was a rough count done by the owners/renters over the last month and it was just over 300. They range from about 4 feet to new born. Not only are they defecating all over the place but they have eaten almost every flowering plant in the neighborhood. We consider this to be a serious environmental issue as all the feces are flowing into the canals during the heavy rains. At the association meeting it was decided by majority vote 121/34 to hire someone to eradicate the iguanas and we set aside a good portion of our remaining 2009 budget to fund this endeavor. We also would like to find out when the IKC is going to have their next rally at the traffic light on Big Pine Key. Any additional information you could provide to our association about this gentleman or the Iguana Killers Club (IKC) would be appreciated.

The only downside with Mac computers are that some attachments that people send via email cannot be opened.  I have had Windows based laptops for years and recently obtained a Mac and I have found that the ease with which I can maneuver between programs and use various applications is absolutely worth the higher price tag.

Also Apple has a One-to-One program whereby a person can set up an appointment with an Apple expert in person and pick their brains. There are even workshops that you can attend for a minimal amount of money for the program.  

Macs will soon be ubiquitous.  

Watch out when coconuts fall off the palm trees.  They could kill a little dog if they hit her/him square on the head or “brain” a human or break a windshield of a car.

Think of the secrecy that used to surround the Russian space program.  Now we can watch their launches on TV and know there's also an American on board! http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1547.html

Somebody call 911 and get them over to the From the Right guy's house! He didn't post on Monday. Something serious must have happened to him. Strange that Sloan returns the one day the FTR guy takes off. I guess the CT can only support a certain amount of wackiness per day.

[From the Right] Global climate change is as real as a sunrise. But come to think of it, sunrise occurs at a different time each day on a repeating cycle. Come to think about it a little further, the climate changes a little each day. Come to think of it yet further, about 10 thousand years ago, the gulf coast was about 100 miles west of where it is today, and the Florida Keys were more like a ridge than just low islands. Yessir,  the seas are rising, but then they’ve been rising for at least the last 10 thousand years. If that isn’t true, then I’m just a goofy liberal. You just got to wonder just how fast the seas are rising.  NOAA says that the sea level around Florida has been arising about 0.73 foot since about 1913 till now.  I suppose that’s as far back as they have decent records. It’s important to note that NOAA says that’s pretty much a straight line increase, no hockey stick graph there.  So, if we take that trend back 10,000 years the sea level would be expected to have been about 73’ lower than it is today. Well, son of a gun, that’s just amazing! That’s just about where the water levels were 10,000 years ago. The New York Times reported on the archeological find of a 10,000 year old village site in N. Florida that was nearly 100 miles from the coast then, compared to its present distance of five miles from the Gulf of Mexico. I guess it was the campfires from that ancient village that caused the global warming 10 millennia ago. Or maybe it was aboriginal SUV’s. You know there just might be a message here. Yesterday’s poster was right on in his observation of the water line on our 100 year old bridge bases.

You can check out the water level on bridge bases in the years between 1905-1935 in the photos at:  http://overseasrailroad.railfan.net/constr.htm. Take a look at the bridge bases for yourself. To these old eyes they sure look a hell of a lot like they do today. The waterline sure looks just like it does today, about a 100 years later. But then again, maybe Mr. Bush snuck in and raised the bridges. He’s the denier-in-chief you know.

(Part II) In 2009 it was reported that GM had posted a managerial net loss of $1.2 billion. Then there is the issue of our “equity share”. On December 20^th, 2009 “The Street.com” reported: “GM YTD -76.56%, that means down 76.56%. As of December GM (now MTLQQ.PK) was down to .05360, that’s down 2.72%. Further, as of Saturday, 12/19, GM has no plans to sell any GM (taxpayer) stock until next year (AP report). That sure as hell doesn’t sound like good deal to this Right Winger.  As to Afghanistan: This Right Winger believes that Mr. Obama did the right thing in authorizing a surge, he just took too damned long to do it. But he did exactly the wrong thing in telling our enemy when we would begin to leave the fray. The enemy could not have been given any more valuable intelligence. With Presidential pronouncements, the enemy needs no spies. He is doing exactly the right thing in the Predator surge, but he is doing exactly the wrong thing with his new warm and fuzzy rules of engagement. The new rules will cause the deaths of American soldiers. The Obama supporter is dead wrong about the reason for our Afghanistan incursion. We went there not to spruce up their government, but to seek out and kill those who attacked us. The secondary mission is to do whatever it takes to make sure that those who attacked us do not have safe haven in Afghanistan. If that means making a new, honest, and Democrat government, then that’s just dandy. As to Mr. Obama being modest: The poster must have found a first rate supply of ganja, or he's overdosing on giddy pills. The only President we have had that even approaches the level of self love, hubris, and bragadociousness, was Mr. Clinton. The proof is to be found in the number of time he uses the word “I” in any of his speeches, and observe the absurd condescending attitude that he displays. If you doubt that then consider his insistence in rushing pell-mell into passage of a bill that flogs health insurance and does nothing to actually bring down the cost of delivery of health care. Mr.. Obama most certainly does not have “broad shoulders”, he is combative and confrontational to his critics. Mr. Obama has the sloping shoulders of a self righteous leftist ideologue; he is anxious and eager to blame others for his misadventures. Indeed, it is Mr. Obama and his crew of “organized ones” who have perfectly played the role of 1960’s hippie protestors. The Obama praising poster was wrong about the facts. Only he knows if he was misinformed, careless, or lying. His assessment of Mr. Obama is deeply flawed.

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Tuesday December 22, 2009

Monday December 21, 2009

[My real estate value has been cut in half thank to Code Enforcement for not doing their job] Did you call Code Enforcement?  I hate to have to explain this to you but they do not have ESP!  Tip them off and help them do their job and help your neighborhood in the process!

Marathon Boat Parade in Boot Key Harbor.

[Insults] Poor quarter truth man. The President is on the verge of making the health care system more accessible and available for average Americans and all he can do is compare the people voting for it as crack whores. Some folks just don’t have dignity to allow others to their own opinions without trying to disgrace them.

The good old cars weren't that good! http://www.iihs.org/video.aspx/info/50thcrash

[God damn Comcast]  My internet has been down since midnight.  I called at 2.07am to complain. They said it was down for maintenance to give us better service in the future.  Screw the future. I can’t sleep and need the internet now!

[Iguana Killers Club (IKC)] Was the poster who bragged about all the Iguanas he killed kidding?  Was that a sick joke?  Did he think that he was being funny by mentioning the people he killed during the war?  If the posting was a joke, it was a sick joke.  If the poster wasn't kidding, he is a very sick individual who needs help.  In either case he’s sick. I hope he doesn't live anywhere near my family.

[You Can't Go Back] Remember the Tea Party activist that yelled "I want my country back"?  Right-wingers don't seem to realize that our country is changing and will never be the same.  Our President is the perfect president for this time in history.  America cannot continue to operate and govern in the same manner as it has in the past.  Change is part of life.  The world continues to change.  By 2050, experts say that the Caucasian Race in America will be the minority and that the population will increase from today's 300 million to 450 million.  Our planet will look different, our wildlife will change and our needs as a society will conform. The simple fact that the Internet Age and Technology Age are here to stay require that we have a President who understands this and embraces it. 

Did you know that President Obama is the first President who has had a computer on his desk in the oval office?  How sad that our last President and the last Republican candidate couldn't even operate a computer!  The last thing our country needs is someone who can't keep up with changes and wants to hold on to the past. There are those who say that President Obama should not continue to blame President Bush for handing him the mess that we are in.  They say that after a year, President Obama is responsible for everything.  That is Republican nonsense.  You cannot fix disasters of those magnitudes in one year, many years or maybe even ever!  He did inherit this mess.

Those who desire to go back to the "My Three Sons" or "Leave it to Beaver" days where families were white, housewives didn't go to work outside the home, the children were all smart and well-behaved, the moms wore aprons and pearls when they cooked and everyone attended Protestant churches on Sunday and lived in suburban homes with backyards. Good luck.  Change is absolute and necessary.  President Obama is smarter than the right-wingers know.  He understands this.  Part of being intelligent is being able to adapt to change.  Charles Darwin said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change".  H.G. Wells stated, "Adapt or perish".   

[Local Contractors] The major reason the home owners have a dim view of local contractors is they don’t hire licensed contractors. Their buddy has a handyman or they find a number off Craig’s List or something of that nature. I am a local contractor with 27 years experience. I have to charge a certain price for each task to survive. That rate includes taxes, incorporation fees, license fees, Continuing Education, tool costs, gas and wear of my vehicles, labor costs and Workman's Compensation.

You had a great experience because you hired a licensed contractor. Kudos to you. Most prefer not to get building permits, pay under the table and circumvent any law the can to save money. Those illegal contractors are nothing more than thieves. Stealing the food from the mouths of my children and my employees’ children.

I have jumped through every hoop the state and county put before me like a trained show dog. I pay my taxes and get no support from the very legislation they said would protect me. It was just another form of government corruption.

In a related matter: I haven’t heard what happened with the illegal contractor who fell in through the former Mayor of Key West cistern or if the Mayor was fined. It wasn't on code enforcement’s web site.

The US1 radio auction benefits US1 radio and its advertisers.

[Debating Sarah Palin] The people down here who think they could beat her in a national debate are the same ones who think they could be better than an NFL quarterback, or whip one of the pros in the UFC matches. Dream on. They made a movie about you, and the guy's name is Walter Mitty.

[Ocean Rising] I also have been here over 50 years and I am sure there has been some changes in the high tide line, I just have not seen them. To the man on Long Beach Road, you saying that the water has moved in 200 feet closer to your home, I guess you should start building an ark. If you look at the tide lines on the old bridges I think you will find there is no difference, I know that’s tough for some of you, just go look. Be fair and tell me what you see. Those old bridges that carried the train and have been here 70 or 80 years.

[Noise Pollution] I am convinced some environmentalists want us to live in tents with no candles because they pollute. Now they have come up with wind turbine syndrome. This is a disease that is caused by the noise from wind turbines (which is a lot). Symptoms include nervousness, irritability, inability to concentrate, depression, erectile disjunction and a whole host of others. There is even a book out about it. The trial lawyers will have a field day.  I wonder if any of these symptoms show up if a person can hear a nearby street or freeway.  I know one thing, the environmental elites want you to cut back, but won't practice what they preach. I wonder if the No Name Key lady's northern home has heating and air conditioning and a flush toilet.

Last Friday was the Lower Keys lighted boat parade. I didn’t see it (I didn’t even know about it), but on her way home, my wife stopped around the South Pine Channel Bridge and watched with a bunch of other people. She said it was great and everyone liked it. Would any of you who took photos please send them to Ed so we can all see the boats.

[Seasons Greetings from Hamburg, PA] It doesn't get any better and prettier. My neighbor had my sidewalk and driveway shoveled by 7 am. I just love this snow, just love it!

Most of the stuff our tax money is paying for in our massive military budget is useless in the war against al Qaeda  and the war in Afghanistan.

When I checked my mailbox around 4 p.m. today, there was an envelope from the White House. In it was a classy, embossed-in-gold Christmas card, featuring the Great Seal of the United States on the front. On the inside, in gold letters was, “May your family have a joyful holiday season and a new year blessed with hope and happiness,” purportedly hand-signed by Barack and Michelle Obama. I started feeling even worse.
 
Finally I wept. It was all I could do.
 
Then, I lay down and fell somewhat asleep — the third nap today.
 
Coming out of it, I realized the incoming Season’s Greetings card was behind it all. After connecting those dots, I quickly started feeling better. Then I felt much better. The spirit signal (ED: Yes, this is from Sloan) that I was on track.
 
This may all seem like gobblygook to some people; science fiction to others. Think more along X-Files. Dark side of the Force. Spiritual warfare. Think shaman work. A shaman absorbs internally the spirit disorder being addressed. This is known to all shamans. Someone has to do it, I am trained for it, and I have the spirit link with President Obama to do it.
 
Barack and I became soul-linked when I contributed $2,300 dollars to his campaign at the instigation of the angels who look over and keep after me. I wrote about that a few days ago, and of my frustrating experiences with the Obama camp and my attempts, unsuccessful, to get the $2,300 refunded. My mailing address is still in the Obama camp’s computer; that’s how they knew where to send the seasonal card, which has a silver and black sticker on the back flap saying, “Paid for by the Democratic National Committee. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”
 
I wonder how much all of those fancy holiday seasonal cards cost to make and mail out? I wonder how many were sent? I wonder how many hungry people that money could have fed? I wonder what a President is doing sending seasonal cards he and the First Lady probably didn’t really sign, to people he doesn’t even know? Well, President Obama knows me, or at least his soul does. His soul is screaming for help, and he doesn’t even know it.

Does anyone else think this was all show for the U.S.A.? Iraq says Iranian troops left disputed oil well

Vermont's Independent US Senator is an avowed Social-Democrat, not a Socialist. If you don't know the difference please don't use either term.

[Taliban/Reagan Photo] Saying the Taliban existed in 1985 doesn't make it so. The Mujahidin were tribal warriors who banded together to fight the Soviets.  After they won that war, the Mujahidin tribes turned on each other fighting over who would control Kabul and thus the country.  The winner of that fight became known as the Taliban.  Others such as the Northern Alliance were the antithesis of the Taliban and fought against them and Al-Qaeda.  If you remember history, our first allies in the war in Afghanistan were Mujahidin like the Northern Alliance.  You couldn't miss it, it was on CNN and NBC too.

Try arguing facts instead of throwing stones. You’re the last one that should be comparing IQ's with Ronald Reagan.  Even better, do a simple Google search on "Taliban History" and you will see they did not exist until the mid 90's.  Better yet, take to heart a quote by that famous Republican Abraham Lincoln "It is better to remain quiet and thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt".

Note: No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

[Business Idea: Fishing lessons] There are already a multitude of fishing Instructors in the Keys, most of you know them as fishing guides.  Call a guide and let them know that you are primarily interested in learning how to fish.  You should get a good idea which ones sound like they are willing to spend the extra time explaining the process as they go about setting up and how they choose the fishing spots  and gear that they do.  Most Captains will rather fish from their own boats.  They are set up and equipped just the way that they like.  If, however, you would like for them to guide you on your own boat most will. Be warned that the rate will probably only reflect the difference of the cost of fuel, bait and Ice, from the rate of a normal charter on their boat.

[About tipping people] This one is the best. My newspaper guy left me a Christmas card. Inside the card was an envelope with his name and address on it (no stamp). I should have just mailed back a card. Talk about a not-so-subtle hint!

Animal training involves hand commands, so is it possible for a pet to learn sign language? If 18-month-old Millie is any indication, than yes.

According to the (UK) Daily Mail, Millie, a red fox, was found when she was six weeks old, being chased down a country road in North Devon, England by three boys. A family scooped up the traumatized canine and soon discovered that the malnourished pup was deaf. Unable to care for her, the family brought Millie to rescue expert Beth Tyler-King. When the family asked if she could take in the fox cub, Tyler-King was ecstatic. "Would I?" Tyler-King blogged at Still on the Track. "I practically hugged her! It has been my life-long dream to hand-rear a cub ever since I played with three of them at an animal sanctuary many moons ago."

As exciting as it was for Tyler-King to hand-raise a fox cub, Millie was even more special due to her deafness. As soon as Tyler-King, who herself lost 95 percent of her hearing at age 4, found out Millie was deaf she began signing to the fox, she tells Paw Nation. Millie surprisingly seemed to understand and even understands facial expressions Tyler-King tells us.

The commands are simple. Tyler-King puts her palm out facing downwards and wags her finger if Millie is being naughty. Millie understands these kinds of commands perfectly and often is found looking at Tyler-King for direction.

Millie shares Tyler-King's home with 30 hedgehogs, five owls, seven dogs, 14 cats, five pigeons, a dove, a parrot, and a squirrel. So far, the fox hasn't shown any aggression to any of the other animals. "In September last year (four months after Millie arrived) I was given two kittens to hand rear," Tyler-King blogs on Still on the Track. "When they were four months old I introduced them to Millie and they are now all the best of friends, often sleeping together and playing together. Sometimes when I give Millie a piece of tripe, one of the kittens will literally take it out of her mouth and Millie lets her! I am then running after the kitten retrieving the tripe to give back to poor patient Millie!"

Sounds like it's time to teach those kitties the meaning of the finger wag.

[Met (opera)] Sorry Deer Ed, obviously I did not learn my lesson about abbreviations from yesterday.

Met = Metropolitan Museum (of Art).

[A Mac is the Lamborghini of computers]  Sorry to say Macs are mostly PCs in drag because everything now have the same parts as any PC. The operating system and software are also written by Microsoft, and third party programs will run on Windows 7 with a free downloadable sub-routine. The Mac World is over except for motion graphics.

[Agree with me or you’re a drunk] This type of language and thinking is the downfall of most all blogs. Sensible people do not want to read this degrading slang, they want factual statements where the writers are sure of their offerings and will stand behind what is written. It is called civility!

[Corruption--Jess Shows, former director of Pigeon Key Foundation stole $30,000 from them]  Will he be shipped off to the same resort as the, Land Trust and School Board people?

The perfect gift (instead of divorce). Video

[Global Warming:  Just because some zealots were trying to skewer the data, doesn't mean that man isn't exacerbating that change] Yes it does. The zealots have been tampering with the data for thirteen years trying to prove that we are indeed changing the climate.  They are now and have been in the past nothing but bold faced liars who are making money from this imaginary scare.  Every bit of evidence from the decreasing temperatures, to the increasing polar ice has been ignored and when someone calls them on it they say that global warming can make it colder. People, it is all bull! 

To a zealot it is justifiable to tell any lie and berate anyone who disagrees with them.  When the climate does naturally change someday, and it will, I am sure that the effects of man will have nothing to do with it. if you want to change the argument to lets reduce our emissions in order to reduce air pollution that is a good argument, however there is not the global catastrophe associated with air pollution that there is with the slow incineration of the earth, therefore there’s no money to be made.

First book of Government: Psalm 2009
Obama is the shepherd I did not want.

He leadeth me beside the still factories
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party
He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.
He has anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.
I am glad I am American,
I am glad that I am free.
But I wish I was a dog,
And Obama was a tree.

The snowbirds come year after year only to cause problems, all the while thinking they own our community. The Keys are much better off without the traffic and extra town “Mayors”.

[Street gangs in Helena, Montana]  It’s gangs like these that the people of Helena have to put up with. They’re a bit different from the problems in other cities.  It proves that every State has their own unique gang problems.  They roam the streets and yards night and day.  They hang out in even the best neighborhoods and you cannot legally shoot them.

[County’s 1951 resolution is irrelevant] For some reason, some County Commissioners (with guidance from that one NNK person) keep focusing on the 1951 County resolution (which allows electricity to No Name Key). Yes Commissioners, you can rescind that local Resolution but that’s irrelevant as the important part, and what you seem to keep forgetting, is that you cannot rescind State law and what you keep forgetting it that State law is controlling.

The Comp Plan has been brought up as well, but that too is irrelevant as a Comp Plan is little more than a local guiding document (key word being local), it is not law. A Comp Plan cannot conflict with State law; any part that does is void and invalid as a local comp plan does not take precedent over State law.  Commissioners, keep remembering and repeating this one basic principle: State law is controlling.

As you have been told by the County attorney (as was reported in the paper last week), “enabling [State] legislation that established City Electric more than 50 years ago gives Keys Energy carte blanche to extend electrical power anywhere it sees fit”, and “that the County Commissioners cannot stand in the way of electrical power being extended to No Name Key”. That’s because it’s State law and State law controls, takes precedent, and overwrites anything locally enacted.

That one NNK person is up to her old smoke and mirrors tricks (mislead, misstate, and misdirect) trying to get you to focus on the wrong issues.  Commissioners, stop focusing on the irrelevant local 1951 resolution or other local nonsense, and start focusing on the only real issue: that State law is controlling and you cannot rescind State law.

[No (runner's) marathon in Marathon] Traditionally, a marathon consists of a race of about 26 miles, the distance from Marathon, Greece to Athens. The story goes that Phiddipidies ran the distance to report that the Persians had been defeated by Greek armies at Marathon, ending their attempt to conquer Greece. He then collapsed and died.

 A marathon would need to begin on the west end of Long Key and end at the west end of the Seven Mile Bridge. Marathon (and Key Vaca) are just not long enough to host a marathon unless it ran a circuit around the island which can't be done without crossing the route twice, a practice not allowed in competitive running events.

Ah, The Glenn Beck Christmas Special forging new traditions with bulls**t, mediocrity, and volume.

This is a very inspiring story about a really tough kid. NorthJersey.com: Sawyer Rosenstein, young space enthusiast, rises above tragedy

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.  ~Benjamin Franklin

[500,000 guns] The Swiss have a low crime rate. EclippTV :: Video :: Why Switzerland Has The Lowest Crime Rate In The World

Has anyone seen paintball splotched iguanas around?  If so, in what colors?

Seasons Greetings to all of you! It seems that a great portion of the US will have a white Christmas this year.   If you are in the Mid-Atlantic region and digging out from under all the snow you’ve received. If you are in the Northeast and still receiving more snow on top of the foot or so I truly hope you are enjoying your white prelude to Christmas.

We are overjoyed with our upcoming special day that The Weather Channel has arranged for us. Grandson Michael is telling everyone he sees ‘I won, I won’ and is already digging out his seldom worn mittens.  I wonder if they’ll still fit.

The Weather Channel has aired a 30 minute special about the Guaranteed White Christmas.  It has aired a few times already and they are going to run it again on Monday and Tuesday.   Both days at 3pm eastern time.  So if you missed it before, set your DVR or Tivo or if you are available, take a break from Christmas cookies, wrapping gifts, shopping, and all the other fun and exciting things you have going to watch this special.   

We were simply amazed at some of the other entries for the White Christmas contest that they show during this special.  They are wonderful entries.  We still have to pinch ourselves to see if we’re dreaming – it’s amazing that they picked Michael’s video out of the hundreds of very good entries they received. 

Make sure to watch us on Christmas Day from 8AM to 2PM with The Weather Channel’s Adam Berg broadcasting live from our yard covered with real snow in the Keys.  As a special surprise on Christmas day, I’ll be performing a new Christmas song I’ve just written (I hope it will be done by then).  I hope you’ll tune in wherever you are.  We promise we’ll wave to you!

We wish you the very best for the Christmas Season.   May the tide always pull you back.  ~Howie Livingston www.milemarker24.com

Things you notice when you’re over sixty.

[Who Benefits from Radio Auction] I asked US 1 radio the same question when I called to bid, who does this benefit?   They told me no one. It's something they do to give their listeners a good deal and their advertisers some publicity.  I got a good deal on one gift certificate, but what I really wanted was some of the certificates for a local restaurant. They won't let you bid on anything until it's talked about on the air. After listening to that auction for several hours, they finally put the restaurant up.  But instead of letting them go for bids, they sold them at $60 for $100 worth of food.  A good deal yes, but then I couldn't get through.  I would have gladly paid more than $60.  So much for "auction".

Proper pruning explained by the Monroe County Extension office. Caring for Plants - Monroe County Extension Office - UF/IFAS Extension: Solutions for Your Life - Institute of Food and Agric.

[Some Observations] They sure look like snow clouds overhead. Who does benefit from the US 1 auction? I noticed that one out of ten vehicles on the highway is an RV. I hope it's filled with money, we could sure use it.

Healthcare Dictionary: Pyr·rhic victory  (pĭr'ĭk) n. A victory that is offset by staggering losses.  That's the term that perfectly describes the apparent skirmish won by Obamacare in the Senate. Note the use of the term skirmish, not war. That’s yet to come. I’ll bet that there are many Democrat Senators who do not have a Merry Christmas when they think about the fact that by a ratio of 46-19 American voters strongly oppose the bill.  Paybacks are a bitch.

The Party of No says Obama is trying to rush the Obamacare vote. The Republicans conveniently forgot that we’ve been trying to “rush” that vote for almost forty years. How much longer do they want to wait while people are dying daily because insurance companies are refusing to honor their commitment?

[Adrenaline Rush] Here's a cure for boredom. http://www.tubewatcher.tv/198

Soldiers use old art form to deal with the war. Making paper. Soldiers use new art form to deal with war | KeysNews.com

Message to the proud member of the IKC: How does an out of state person join the IKC?

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Monday December 21, 2009

Sunday December 20, 2009

Is this a good time to prune my garden in the Lower Keys? I know certain times of the year are better than others and certain times of the month are too.

[Global Warming] I think it is amusing and tragic that the right completely dismisses climate change because of the revealing emails of some misguided researchers that were uncovered recently. Just because a few zealots were trying to skewer the data doesn’t mean the climate isn’t changing. It doesn’t mean that man isn’t exacerbating that change.

[Get “In God We Trust” off our money. Changing a few words on paper or in a recitation will not change the nature or beliefs of this country] That is not the intention of separation of the Church and State clause in our Constitution. No one wants to change anyone’s beliefs. The intention was to keep any religion or belief out of government decisions. All religions are protected in another area of the Constitution. The separation part is intended to establish that all decisions will be based on law. It established us as a government of laws (not religion) which is better for all.

[Agree with me or you’re a drunk] That was a good example of assumptions based on nothing but a person’s shallow opinion. The original poster was complaining about junk mail and the second poster disagreed so assumed the first poster was a drunk. I assume the second poster is a jerk.

[Drones] The Air Force is fighting tooth and nail against unmanned planes of any sort. They remind me of the fight the army waged long ago against using bi-planes to drop bombs (they only wanted them to be used for observation). Another stupid fight was the British in the Revolutionary War. They wouldn’t let their soldiers fight the rebels from behind trees and insisted they stand out in the open where they could be shot by the colonists who were firing from behind trees.

[We’re in the money] CityBank said it’ll pay half of its $40 billion bailout loan and Wells Fargo is paying back their entire $25 billion dollar bailout loan by selling some of its stock.

[Mac's twice the price of PCs] They are both excellent computers like a Lamborghini and a Cadillac are both excellent cars that both go over a hundred miles an hour. But the Lamborghini is far more elegant even though they both do the same thing well. A Mac is the Lamborghini of computers.

Medicare buy-in is the new name for the public option. Medicare isn’t supposed to be good. If you want good health insurance buy some additional private insurance.

Marathon should have a Marathon. It’s almost a no-brainer. I wonder why they haven’t held one on that island yet.

[In defense of The Deer Editor] I’ve always thought it less than intelligent when people write intelligent remarks and then throw in some initials that only they understand, but the majority of us do not. I’m comforted when Ed places the (?) next to those initials. It lets me know that I’m not a total fool.

[Corruption] Jess Shows, the former director of the Pigeon Key Foundation stole $30,000 from the nonprofit. He’s expected to turn himself in to police yesterday. This, on the tail of the Bahama Land Trust $400,000 fiasco, makes one wonder if it’s in our interest to support these non-profits because they have so little accountability. They are often used as free money for those who can get their greedy hands on it.

[Ocean Rising] A guy yesterday said he was with a bunch of fisherman, one of which has lived in the Keys for 50 years, he said he hasn’t seen any sign of the ocean rising. I think their observations might have been clouded by fishing beer or politics. 

I live on Long Beach Road and when I moved here in the 60s the tide was over two hundred feet from my house. Today the tide brings the water to within fifty feet of my house. If that’s not water rising, I’m a Republican!

[Christmas Blessings] Be thankful for what you have. Merry Christmas! Slide Show

[Local Contractors] I realize that homeowners don’t have a positive experience with local contractors (Understatement?).  I would like to make note of a very positive experience.  I recently hired Dodge & SeaMark Construction (Kenji & Kelly) to do a cement dock project.  It was a positive experience from start to finish.  They did what they said they would do and when they were going to do it.  Obviously, I am pleased, and relieved that they were so professional.  If you are planning a project, I suggest you put them on your list to call.

Result of leaking Acetylene bottle stored in plumbers van that was accidently ignited by activating a remote door lock device. Boom!

[War] Numbers are telling! Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know | CommonDreams.org

It's all the Vandenberg's fault that I am now scuba dive addicted.  Lessons, gear, charters are not cheap but worth it.  For some reason, I need seafood after the dive and always go out to dinner in Key West.  Now certified, it's all I think and dream about.  There are so many neat places to dive in the Keys that it will take about a year before going to Bonaire and Australia.  The first place I had to explore was Key Largo and it is a sure thing that I can never snorkel again since it's just not fun like scuba diving.  Beware that it is so addicting and exhilarating that nothing really compares and it goes right up there with great food and sex.  Don't be afraid to get certified if you are healthy and have no major health issues at any age.  Sharks won't hurt you down there; we are their biggest enemy and are making them disappear.  Ear fear was my problem at first but I watched this 55 minute video.  http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/  Take the giant stride and then try the Vandenberg and you may be hooked thru the gills.  Fun is the best thing to have.

Sarah Palin shot a reindeer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6slCpQ45Ts

Keep on truckin’, but hopefully not like these guys! Video

Go Tea Party!  This will split the GOP and insure victory for the Dems so they can continue helping the little guy get back on his feet.

When I first became a sponsored member of the (IKC) Iguana Killers Club I never thought that I would be able to proudly achieve the silver status of 25 confirmed Iguana kills. I was recently awarded my gold status pin for 50 single shot kills with never a miss. My next award will be the platinum pin for 100 kills which I will quickly dispatch to the heavens of dead Iguanas. I don’t cut off the tails for proof of the kill, I cut off the right front foot and nail it to the wall in my deer skinning shed. This is reminiscent of my cutting off the right ear of a dead Viet Cong to confirm the kill. Young, old, male or female, it doesn’t make a difference in the kill count. I’m looking forward to our next meeting and Iguana barbeque where I will get a chance to greet and meet the new members.  I still have some mangrove smoked Iguana left over from our last cook-off. Thanks to our local officials there is now a Federal funded program to help kill off the remaining Iguanas in Monroe County. The Feds are going to supply the high powered air guns, do the required training and pay a reasonable bounty on all confirmed Iguana kills with the recently approved $346,000.00 grant. To be eligible for the grant money you must be a member of the IKC. Sign up today. I’ll keep you posted when I hear more.

The IKC will be holding a rally at the traffic light on Big Pine Key and all members are encouraged to attend, proudly wearing their confirmed kill patches and carrying their weapons. We will have a membership table where you can sign up to get your membership card. The IKC has the full support of the NRA. We now have a junior division, male or female for those under the age of 17 that enjoy the thrill and sport of hunting. We also just received our first shipment of Iguana cook books with 100 great receipts which we will be selling at the rally. Please show your support for the local IKC by honking your horn or dropping a donation into the ammo box. Our new motto is “DID” Dead Iguana Departed.

Yes, I'm happy with President Obama. I think he came into a big mess left by the previous administration and is working tirelessly to fix it. From the front lines of the tourism industry I can say people are buying more and spending higher amounts per purchase. Yay, I love the Keys.  Happy Holidays to all our locals, visitors and snowbirds!

[Business Idea] Teach those of us who do not know how to fish and harvest our own lobster and stone crab.  Teach us to be ethical anglers and how to properly release them back into the water.  Teach us how to use O rings so we don't hurt sharks.  Teach spear fishing and how to clean a fish.  There are a lot of us who do not know how to fish and we want to learn.  You can thank me by letting me in free because this could be a good gig down here.

Sarah Palin is successful due to two unflattering assumptions: Americans have the attention span of hummingbirds, and can be counted on to forget even recent history.

2,000 trapped as Eurostar trains break down

[Vandenberg Good for Keys]  Without the accounting facts to substantiate recent statements, can anyone show any increased revenues? If revenues did increase, where are their increased payments to the County? 

A few benefit, at the expense of the many.  The good of the majority desecrated for the whim of the minority.  Yes, it's a done deal and the ultimate insult to the taxpayers. TDC folks decided nobody needs to, or will monitor the money the boat generates. So there will never be any way to prove its financial impact.  It will always be nothing but rhetoric.  But what is tangible, provable is the impact on the taxpayers.  Not only did taxpayers pay for something from which they will never benefit, but that paying increases their personal financial burdens.

Keep telling everyone to go dive that boat. At least somebody who sells air will make a few dollars.

[Does your dog leak]  Here is what worked. In the morning heaping spoonful of plain low fat yogart, mix three opened capsules of vitamin corn silk and vitamin cranberry in addition to squirting apple cider vinegar in to their doggie mouth every day.  Immediate results and no more “whoopsie-daisey”.  Large dogs benefit from glucosamine chondroitin crushed in their food.  Today would be a good day to take it for a nice long walk, but they may catch cold at the swimming hole.  Dogs are not yard ornaments or feel happy when chained and tethered.  They told me to tell you this.

[Brain Atrophy] What is it about living in the land of sun and beautiful scenery that makes the residents so brain dead? The Keys please my eyes, but not my mind. I miss the Met (opera), but not its environment.

[Golf is Sexy] It’s no wonder that male golfers love to play golf as there seems to be a lot of sexual connotation with the language of golf.  Ace: expression for one in the hole. He gets a lot of aces  Backdoor: the balls roll around and come in from the backside  Banana Ball: slang for something that moves wildly from the left to the right  Big dog: he drove it home with his big dog driver  Bo Derek: you scored a 10 while on the course  Cabbage: thick rough patch around the hole  Cat box: a trap that male golfers look for  Choke down: Hold your grip closer to the shaft  Dance floor: doing it on the putting green  Dawn patrol: the first one to get it on  Dead: when your balls stop just shorter than the hole  Dimples: makes your balls go higher  Down: going down on the head of the shaft  Dog track: not in good condition, worn out, too old  Hooker: shapely sharp curves from the left or right  Face: where the head comes in contact with the balls  Frog hair: closely cropped around the hole  Foursome: four players playing with each other  Grooves: keeps the balls up on your face  Hangman: 9 tries’ getting into the hole  Head: the part farthest from the base of the shaft  Hole: place where you put the balls with your shaft  Honor: the privilege of being the first  Hose rocket: your large shank  Lie: a position to lie on the ground to align your shaft  Mixed foursome: the female is paired with a male on each side.  Threesome: similar to a foursome  Nineteenth hole: Getting lucky in the bar after the game  Shaft: the head is attached to the shaft  Stroke play: the number of strokes it takes to finish  Stiff: balls next to hole but not falling in  Signature hole: most aesthetically pleasing and most photogenic. 

What is with this US1 radio auction? Who benefits from this?

The Guy From The Right cracks me up. He's like a modern day Tokyo Rose--all gloom and doom propaganda with daily wishes of failure for our President and our country. If you're so unhappy here dude, why do you stay? We could arrange for your deportation to any country that would have you; or you could stop bitching and start helping out. Do you really think one man caused this colossal mess in just 10 short months? Get real and for Gods sake, quit whining!

[No Name Key Electricity] County Commissioners:  The local County ordinance preventing electricity to portions of No Name Key wasn’t legal, valid or enforceable from day one as a superior, controlling and contrary State Law was already in place. State Law takes precedent over (overwrites) local laws; no local law is valid, nor can it be enforced, if it conflicts with State Law.

That one No Name Key anti-electricity person can not sue the County because the County did not enforce a non-legal and invalid local ordinance.  But the thirty-plus pro-electricity people can sue, and do have legal grounds to sue the County if the County tries to enforce that non-legal and invalid local ordinance; one which is invalidated, overwritten and void due to the controlling State law.  And, if that happens, you can be damn sure that damages will come into play because that local ordinance wasn’t valid from day one. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

[Sarah Palin will eat our lunch in a debate] I doubt it. She’d better stick to mooseburgers.

[I Like Obama] Someone asked if Democrats are happy with their vote for Obama and I must admit I’m very happy. The more rhetoric the right puts out the sillier he makes them look. For example, two automakers are paying back their loans that kept their businesses afloat and have streamlined to become more profitable. The right wanted them to fail because of some ridiculous "survival of the fittest" mentality used for animals. And remember when the right told us Obama wants the government to take over private business and the automakers were the perfect example? Well folks, the automakers are not only paying back their loans with great interest but the government is selling 100% of the shares the automakers put up for collateral. You can’t get anymore free enterprise then having someone put up collateral and when they pay it back you get it returned.

I’m happy that while the Right was skewing the President for not sending more troops to Afghanistan he not only let the Defense Dept. have a large say in the decision, he got other NATO countries to step up and provide 10,000 more troops that would have been American of they didn’t. I’m also happy the president is sending more and more Predators into the enemy’s homeland to kill them where they are and expanding their range. The right continues to bash the President and he sits back and makes sound decisions without bragging about it in the press like some past Presidents on both sides have done.

I am indeed very happy with America’s leader. I find the day in and day out bashing of him to be a disgrace. The right has turned into the modern hippies of the 60s in their disregard for American’s leaders, but that’s okay. The President has big shoulders and can take it.

The Afghanis have been put on notice that their blank check and use of America’s children to protect their own country is not unending. It’s time for them to ante up for themselves. Thank you Mr. President. I now return you to your bashing of the leader of the free world. I will indeed proudly vote again for President Obama.

[Short-Term Rental] It finally happened, the house next door was sold, then turned into a rental property, had the downstairs enclosed, and made into a second rental space. The tenants moved in, parked their pick-ups and boat trailers all over the place, left their trash cans out, made all kinds of low rent noise and smelled bad.

My real estate value has been cut in half. Thank you Code Enforcement for doing your job.

Overhead baggage compartment rage. Video

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Sunday December 20, 2009

Saturday December 19, 2009

(eD:  No edIT SatuRDAY!!!!!!......b-cuz u assd 4 iT!!!!!!!!!

USNS Vandenberg response: I have no (zero) relationship or involvement in the Vandenberg project. I do not personally know anyone who was involved in this project.  No I do not have a “sink the Vandenberg” decal on my car. I am a resident of Key West who has made over a dozen dives on this wreck and truly appreciate the efforts of those who did put this project together.  While moored on the wreck I often initiate conversation with folks on the other boats and have met divers from North Florida, Virginia, and Georgia. I have no idea who is on the commercial charter boats; however, can tell you they often have a good number of divers.  I see no need to go into what monies a tourist spends when traveling down to the keys on a dive trip but to imply the dive boat/shop operators are the only ones benefiting from this attraction is simply not true.

The investment spent on this tourist attraction will continue to provide tax revenue to Monroe County for many years. The ship requires no maintenance or additional government funding to provide financial returns. Anyone who promised instant returns on this investment was correct; it has been providing returns since the day it went down. Is the Vandenberg going to generate three million dollars in tax revenue this year, of course not.  Certainly this was not meant to be a get rich quick project ,if someone made claims this would be a quick return on investment then shame on them.  

Regarding your concern over my personal and aggressive comments, please take a look at who started the negativity on this subject by berating the person who was simply commenting on how they are enjoying this dive site. Demanding your tax money back is a silly and ignorant comment, sorry if the truth stings a bit.  If each of us demanded a tax refund on projects we did not agree with can you imagine the results? I am not familiar with Tom Willi or the waste water funds you are noting.  If you have a problem with Tom Willi, so be it, I do not know him or care to meet him. Local politics in this county is a tragedy and I am not going to waste time debating these issues. I will continue to dive the Vandenberg and encourage every diver I know, even those from out of state to enjoy this awesome resource.