Friday July 30, 2010

[Monica Acevedo] The State’s minimum sentencing guidelines for Monica’s crimes are 71 months. I wonder how that translates to bubba time.

[Two Acts of Kindness] Having sworn off lobster mini-season for the last 10 years because of all the crazies out there, I helped out a friend yesterday and went out to look for lobster with him. I witnessed instead, two acts of kindness. We got to the place we were going to snorkel for lobster off Sugarloaf Key and a boat pulled up to our boat and asked if we had our limit. We said no, and they asked if we would like some lobsters. We said yes, thank you. I couldn't believe it --  they gave us 5 lobsters! We thanked them again and they went on their way.

A little later the current was ripping and we being older and in not as good shape as we used to be, were having trouble getting our limit. A guy that was working a ledge near our boat asked if we could use some help to get our limit, again we said yes. He dove up three lobsters for us and that gave us our limit, we thanked him and left to go home. When I got home I gave my neighbor a couple of lobsters from my share for his dinner. What goes around, comes around.

[Bad Gas] I cancelled my account with Amerigas May 5 and changed to Suburban Propane. The reason is that I learned that Amerigas was going to charge me $4.80 per gallon for propane because I didn’t get regular deliveries scheduled in advance. They had changed their methods and expected me to call them when my gas got low.

I had been an Amerigas customer for many years. They stopped in every few months (we only use the gas for cooking) and filled the tank and billed me. The rate for Propane is about $2.50 per gallon.
 
I called Suburban Propane and learned that I could get new service from them with deliveries scheduled in advance and their price for Propane was $2.40 per gallon. They came the same day and replaced the Amerigas tank with their filled tank. I cancelled my Amerigas account the same day.

Although I had called Amerigas to remove the tank it sat in my driveway for over a month. Today July 29 I received a final bill from Amerigas for $115.19. The invoice had no information whatsoever as to why I owed this so I called their local number. Then I was diverted to the wonderful options of press 1, etc. after about 10 minutes of that nonsense my call was routed to the local office that I had called to begin with. I was informed that this is a Service Termination Fee that I am obligated to pay. On the back of my statement it explains that “This fee covers the labor required to shut off and/or remove the Amerigas tank at the location and any other costs incurred to terminate service.” (Suburban disconnected the tank, Amerigas only had to pick it up).

It seems to me that if a consumer cancels because they have found other purveyors that are far less expensive and give better service, the consumer should not be penalized. The contract with Amerigas does not give an amount that you may be charged nor was I told when I cancelled the service that there would be a fee. This practice makes it impossible for a consumer not to be screwed by Amerigas. You can’t cancel your old account, you just have to pay double the going rate to get your propane.

When will businesses learn that when times are difficult you must enhance customer services and stay competitive with your rates? It is too bad that Amerigas’ only way of getting money from me is to screw me. I would have gladly kept them if they’d charged me a fair rate for the propane to begin with.  ~donnawindle1@gmail.com

[Sloan the Holy Stud] Totally true.  Yes, I had great sex with Sloan!  Afterwards, while we were cuddling, two of his Angels made my body physically shake uncontrollably.  His Angels made themselves known to me and this paranormal experience has prompted me to tell you that these entities really do exist around Sloan.  I am not Keys Diseased; we were not drinking or on anything but Sloan really does have special powers which he uses for good.  This will be exciting to see what he does for the Keys after he gets elected. 

[Open Cuba] I would love to be able to go to Cuba.  I have a family member that lived there and I would love to visit the area with them to talk about how it was and is.  It's also so close we could take the boat.  How convenient is that?

Is there any way to detect from which interior walls of a house a dead animal (probably mouse or rat) has died?  No, my nose has not helped pin point which wall the stink emanates.  

Mario DiGennaro had no experience when he was appointed to the BOCC.  Do you feel he understands how this county works today after 4 years in office?  Do you think he has tried to take full credit (article in the KW Citizen) for having the State Legislature authorize $200 million for the Keys wastewater?  Where is that money Mario?

Have you looked over Mario’s contribution list (close to $93,000)?  Look at the high percentage of contributions that are from developers and contractors.  Truman waterfront is up for development as could be Wisteria Island again. Do you think these developers and contractors are trying to get their foot in the door by donating thousands of dollars to Mario’s campaign to get his vote when these issues are brought back before Key West and Monroe County?  ~keyscares@yahoo.com

In Alaska one out of every 64 people has a pilot's license.

Mario DiGennaro or David Rice? What lousy choices.   ~Sjktt4@earthlink.net

[Boiled Alive] The person carrying on about boiling live lobsters must not live here.  Our lobsters die when you wring their tails.  Maine lobsters that have the claws are the ones who are boiled whole.

[Pagans unsavory characters] There is only one Pagan here, south of Tampa, so you are wrong. There is a support club in Key West. They are not a gang. The Bloods and Crips are gangs. There is not a clubhouse here. It is my home in Big Pine that you are referring to. There has not been more then 1 Pagan in this house – ever. There hasn’t been any down here since Daytona Bike Week in Feb. Stop the gossip and fear mongering.

[Law of Random Numbers] If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.

Pets that eat geckos or other lizards have the tendency to get worms.  If they are on a worming regiment they will probably not have a problem.

[Aluminum boat lifts] I agree these aluminum boat lifts are popping up everywhere. They are intrusive and a possible hazard to boaters. Who is responsible for injuries if someone was to run into one of these things, the owner or the installer?

This is kind of like Bill Maher's New Rules: When you do the crack, you won't be Black. Congress Reforms Cocaine Convictions | CommonDreams.org

[Willy Peppers] These are actual peppers from a garden.  They are called 'Willy Peppers' The farmer says they can grow up to 18" long! Sort of brings tears to your eyes doesn't it?

[Night Lights] No one is complaining about ambient lighting. For over twenty years I have put up with the very bright lights across from me. I never need to put a light on at night as my neighbor across the canal keeps my house bright enough. Some people are very thoughtless. You only need one outside light on. A 40 watt bug bulb works fine.  Turn the bright lights on only when you need them.

[Adult Only Popsicles] How about a Margarita Popsicle? Mojito? Kahlua? Champagne or White Wine? This could be fun. Popsicles for Adults Only | Taste of Home Community

[Grave Error] I can't even find words to describe the disgrace this is to the families and brave soldiers that gave everything affected by this tragedy.  As many as 6,600 Arlington graves mixed up (AP)

[Genius] Our society is creating a new class, the self-declared genius. The combination of money and stupidity taken to the extreme and, presto, The Magnificent Overbearing A**hole. We have a growing population of them and those that migrate here will be easy to spot in the fall and winter.

Creepy Jesus

That Coll guy wants to do away with any oversight on greedy developers and practices fraud in his own business? Yeah, I can’t wait to vote for him!  ~dmcurl@bellsouth.net

The Pagans Motorcycle Club didn't get their bad reputation for nothing.  I know one very well.  Many men are dead from that association alone.  If you run with the pack...

[Outdoor lights on at night] When termites are swarming and flying around at night looking for a place to start a new colony because the old one got too big they are attracted to lights, just like moths and many other insects.  I keep my lights off.

[Shirley Sherrod and the Media] Am I the only one who remembers “Jimmy’s World”? In September 29, 1980 Janet Cooke of the Washington Post wrote a gripping profile of the life of an eight-year-old heroin addict. Her story contains many of the same elements, racism, inadequate or no actual vetting of the facts before publishing. Janet Cooke even received the Pulitzer Prize for her work. Her story was followed by a surge of news reports that created an environment of social outrage before anyone discovered that the story was fraudulent! At that time Marion Barry, the mayor of Washington, D.C. and other city officials organized an unsuccessful all-out police search for Jimmy. The mayor went as far as falsely claiming that Jimmy was known to the City and receiving treatment at a local hospital. Cooke finally confessed her guilt after being pressured by the editors of the Post.

What we have witnessed with the Shirley Sherrod story thirty years later is history repeating itself. In 1980 everyone received their news via newspapers, today its CNN, FOX, MSN, etc. and the internet. We live in a twenty-four hour news cycle with an Internet savvy public. Taking the time required to actually check the facts could mean losing the dramatic “Breaking News” headline. Hopefully Fox News and the other news providers will do less dissimulating to dazzle us and more reporting the facts. Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and the others should show more respect to the awesome power they have being able to speak to the American public and at least get the facts right.

With the size of the audience that CNN and Fox News have they should be held to a higher standard than a small town reporter.  The amount of irrefutable harm caused by just ten minutes of misguided reporting cannot be calculated. Maybe the news channels should have a time dedicated each day for retractions?

[The End of News] Shirley Sherrod is suing Andrew Breitbart for intentionally trying to ruin her by carefully splicing a video and presenting it to the media as fact. The medial all ran with the story creating frenzy against her. Not one outlet bothered to check the facts.

[Garages] I wish I had a house as nice as this garage.

[AA Basher] Alcoholics Anonymous may as well qualify as a mainstream cult. Factually the AA organization and other 12 Step offspring like Narcotics Anonymous (NA) are in fact evangelical religious sects, enjoying the same tax dodge as churches. A typical AA meeting is conducted in a formal liturgical method: The attendees at said meetings must open by stating their names, and confess that they are alcoholics. The members chant the 12 Steps aloud as sanctioned by The Big Book, the official "Bible" of AA. 'Twixt prayers and chants, each member is required to speak, usually a confession of any backsliding into "devil rum." Meek, depressed, and downtrodden individuals are often belittled and bullied by more aggressive members, especially if the individual is a female. Remember, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded by Midwestern businessmen from a different era, when women were looked upon as only fit to be housewives and doormats for the whims of the husband. (Rather like the views of many fundamentalists, today.) Women in AA, especially those perceived as having low self-esteem, are excellent fodder for predatory males in group sessions. Mental abuse is the norm for the downtrodden female, and actual cases of physical and sexual abuse have occurred. AA is trapped in a sexist and classist time-warp, and "uppity" women need not apply.

A problem drinker is encouraged from his/her first meeting to keep an open mind. Actually, what AA considers an open mind is anything but. An individual cannot deviate from AA dogma. A person conveying any differing opinion to those in The Big Book is castigated as being in denial by other members. Even relative social drinkers must confess aloud that they are alcoholics. The naïve and unaware initiates in AA are subjected to what is called "Boot Camp Indoctrination." In the armed services, recruits arriving for basic training in their respective branches of the military are subjected to mental and physical torment to break down individuality to the lowest level, then re-tooled into a new military standard (see the movie Full Metal Jacket for an excellent portrayal of this). The 12 Step program requires a person to hit rock bottom before they can truly see the light about their "disease." One must forfeit any esteem of one's being -- "let go, let God." No other treatment for their drinking problem is condoned. Alcoholics Anonymous is the only path to recovery, no glimmer of heresy is allowed. Just like religious fundamentalists, only their way can lead the AA member to the Promised Land of sobriety.

OIL SPILL

BP won't pay for oil classes at FKCC. Students must pay for oil classes | KeysNews.com

[Pipeline Monitoring] We don't need to worry about terrorists, we are doing a fine job of killing our own county ourselves. Gov't warned company about oil pipeline monitoring (AP)

NATIONAL POLITICS

[Presidential Pole] I too didn't realize what that really was about. It seemed harmless and a play on words. People are taking jokes too seriously anymore. Sorry, I got it from the web and just copied it.

[The View] FTR, I'm so surprised and very pleased that you wanted our President Obama to address the Boy Scouts of America.   Are you the same guy who didn't want him to address our school children at the start of the school year?  You went on and on about that one.  What has changed?  Have you finally come to your senses?   By the way, President Obama sent a video address to be played at the Boy Scout convention to 45,000 scouts just as our former President Bush did in his first term.  I don't remember anyone complaining about that.  Presidents can't be everywhere.  I'm sure there are thousands of events that have to be turned down each week.

[Presidential Pole]  I have to admit I missed the really negative implications of the presidential pole cartoon.  I took it as a play on words that his poll numbers were going down.  To me a hangman's noose is a Halloween decoration or something out of the Wild West used on horse thieves in old TV shows. 

[Don’t Encourage Woman Voters] Obama on The View and Nixon on Laugh-In is a huge difference. For one thing, Nixon wasn't a sitting president at the time. He was a candidate. During the September 16, 1968 episode of Laugh-In, Nixon appeared for a few seconds with a disbelieving vocal inflection, asking "Sock it to me?" An invitation was extended to Nixon's opponent, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, but he declined.

Spending an hour in the midst of that estrogen laden mind poison called The View is a transparent attempt to curry favor with women voters, the unemployed and the retired. Just modern politics I suppose. Nixon was trying to dispel his image as humorless. It took all of about five seconds. Obama is trying to build an image on the strength of daytime TV. It's one more example of a taint on the office of the president. It’s right up there with bowing down to Saudi royalty, returning the bust of Winston Churchill to Britain and holding court with one of the great haters of all time, Louis Farrakhan. Maybe Michelle is proud of her country for the first time. In November it should be become clear that she is in the minority.  

[Police State] The White House has asked Congress to make it possible for the FBI to demand that Internet Service providers turn over customers' records in cases involving terrorism or other intelligence issues without first obtaining a court order. White House Pushes for Warrantless Access to Internet Records | CommonDreams.org

[Small Business Support] Oh no the horror. The President actually stopped by a small business to support new options for helping small businesses survive. It was indeed a sub shop. I can see the rage in Party Obstruction’s eyes. How dare he make it easier for small businesses to thrive and the fact that he went to a sub shop is a disaster. What’s next, going to a school and telling kids to study hard and make their own way in life? If he does that I’m definitely not going to vote for him. Who the hell is he to tell our kids that they need school to succeed? What’s next the terror of him picking up a piece of litter from the ground?

You folks are really embarrassing yourselves trying to find fault with him.  You seem petty to the ninth degree and Americans are seeing it and, trust me, they are not laughing with you. Your stupid nit picking is helping him more then you know.

You heard it here, FTR loves Boy Scouts! Who gives a crap about that exclusionary, homophobic organization? Stop getting your kerchief in a knot, FTR.

[Presidential TV] The View or the Boy Scouts? Screw the Boy Scouts, there’s more people watching The View and it’s a lot more interesting. Who cares if he talks to the Boy Scouts (a homophobic organization)?

[High school activities President Obama didn't participate in]  I couldn't be more of an apple pie American, yet I never played Little League. I still don't know what Pop Warner is. I couldn't get a date for the prom, never played football, didn't have a drive-in in my town and never saw a drag race.   My high school experiences involved doing homework, practicing piano, meeting friends at the library, volunteering in our local hospital, and being editor of my high school year book.  Do nerds get to be American, too?  

Since Obama played basketball instead of football, does that count?  Should there be a check list of all candidates to see if they drag raced or went to drive-ins?  The poster's comments were not funny.  They were ignorant.  He represents the views of much of the older population in our society.  Life is change.  Get over it.  We will never go back to the Leave it to Beaver days.  America will continue to change.  Our generation was different than our parent's generation.  Our children are different than we were.  That's the way it goes.  Embrace change, don’t fear it. 

[Financial Crisis] The poster stated since the financial crisis occurred before the election, the fault lies with who was in charge at the time – President Bush. Bush never spent a dime of Treasury money, but Congress sure has. Democrats controlled Congress at the time. All that is really moot as the true crisis had its beginning long ago, when no iron-clad disciplines were placed on our politicians spending and they treated spending like confetti; which in one way is really is, via the printing press. PHDs may abound, but their actions are like drunken sailors in a house of ill repute, and I can say this from experience.

[From the Right] A lot of these Obamaphiles seem to be in a constant state of denial. They seem to be incapable of acknowledging any error or fault on the part of Mr. Obama. As part of their defense mechanism they slew and skew any criticism. For example, I recently pointed out that while BP was a villain in the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe that Team Obama did not do the job that it previously promised that it would do. Even though Team Obama did not supervise and regulate  offshore drilling practices, the Obamaphiles refuse to acknowledge that Mr. Obama has dirty hands. In fact, by their non feasance, Team Obama became an enabler, an accomplice to BP’s deeds.  Indeed, the Bush admin cited BP’s Deepwater Horizon with many violations. Team Obama had not examined the rig in an appropriate or timely fashion in the weeks leading up to the explosion. Even so, incredibly, Team Obama was days away from given them a major safety award.  At least one CT Obamaphile is incapable of understanding the foregoing. You’ll note that the Obamaphile will not refute any of the above.  So, my Deer Friends, don’t hate the Obama admin, just recognize how deeply flawed they are. Please remember that Mr. Obama would be impotent if he did not have a Democrat controlled Congress.  The Obamaphiles also get very angry when it is pointed out that the Democratic Congress has given Mr. Obama every piece of legislation that he asked for so that he could cure our current fiscal calamity. He declared that without his legislation, were doomed to 8% unemployment and housing foreclosures. He got his way, now Unemployment is knocking on 10% and we will have one million foreclosures this year.  It was Mr. Obama himself who assured the nation that passage of his policies would halt the recession, cure unemployment, cure the sick, make the lame walk, heal the wounded, make the blind see, feed the masses and make wine from water. Mr. Obama got everything that he asked for. My Deer Friends you don’t have to be FTR to know that none of what he promised has come to pass. Is he a false prophet?  Mr. Obama did inherit a mess, but he has morphed it into a catastrophe. The dog that ate Mr. Obama’s homework is long gone, it’s way past time for him and his to man up. Unless you’re an Obamaphile, you have to know that we are now much worse off than we were 22 months ago, when Mr. Obama was elected. Even more telling is to realize that we are worse off by several magnitudes compared to when the Democrats got control of Congress a little more than 31/2 years ago, that was day one of our current calamity. My Deer Friends do not despair, in about short 97 days the midterm elections will be upon us. If you’re not a registered voter, “git ‘er done”. Please contribute to the candidate of your choice in Florida and nationwide, and please consider an agenda of common sense. It’s time to ditch the Big Daddy knows best, and Daddy will take care of everything governance. It’s time to move on and up. It’s time to again hear about prosperity, and pride in America. It is time to again to respect ourselves and our nation. Until we move on we’ll be sink deeper and deeper into the depths of entitlement debt. I believe that the balance of power will shift in November, and then the repair work will commence. If the theme wasn’t already spoken for, I’d like to break into singing “We shall overcome”.

(Part II) On the view yesterday, Mr. Obama proudly declared that in the last 5 months we have added 600K jobs in the private sector. Congratulations, Mr. Obama may have told the truth, but maybe he did not.  First the unemployment rate has remained virtually unchanged during that time period. Or is it that 600K jobs is just a tiny drop in the bucket? Then don’t forget that Mr. Obama has spent about $600,000,000 (six hundred million) up till now in pursuit of adding jobs. So it cost you and me six hundred million dollars in order to add 600K jobs. I’ll admit that I’m no math whiz, but it sure looks like it cost about one million dollars for each job. Maybe not such a good deal.

NO NAME UTILITIES

I want to thank Sloan for enlightening us on so many behind-the-scenes happenings between the players in this No Name Key fiasco.  These pro-utilities people on that island have to be some of the most conniving, underhanded, manipulative, deceitful people I have ever seen or heard of.  This gets just more and more interesting and scary at the same time.  Something is definitely fishy with some of the members of the FKAA board and the way they believed some of this hogwash.

I truly hope that the solar community on No Name wins this battle once and for all.

Friday July 30, 2010