(Saturday October 19, 2013 The Coconut Telegraph is not published on Saturdays)

[Saving Our Reefs] Years ago Dr. Brian LaPointe was the primary scientist instrumental in forcing our Federal and State governments to admit that land based pollutants affect marine ecosystems and can kill corals. It’s a no brainer but it took years for our local and national governments to admit this and to stop flooding Florida Bay with dirty water.

As a result of this flooding, we saw a proliferation of coral diseases (Black-band, Red-band, Dark Spots, White-band, White Plague, White Pox, Yellow Blotch — just to name a few) that devastated corals on reefs throughout the Keys. Since the flow was reduced, our corals have recovered somewhat. The ugly point about the attached articles is that the dirty water that has polluted Indian River Lagoon is going to be re-released into, you guessed it, Florida Bay. The sad fact is, the resultant flows, if they are allowed, will make any damage that would have been done by widening our shipping channel and resultant harm by increased shipping and larger cruise ships seem like child’s play in comparison.

When Key West stopped the cruise ship industry from widening our shipping channel, we won by a vote of 71%, despite being heavily outspent by the opposition. Although most of us in Key West, rightly so, were concerned about the channel widening, the effects of too many one-day tourists clogging our streets, and bigger cruise ships, that’s not what that whole issue was about. The channel widening in reality was of minor concern to the cruise ship industry (and also to the farm industries and the oil industry that watched this issue closely).

It was about the next step that would bring the issue of our marine sanctuaries from Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas, Monterey, and Alaska, and, ultimately, all our parks: their charters, rules, scientific research, funding, etc. before this hideous Congress we have now — so our parks and marine sanctuaries could be gutted and exploited for short term gain. We stopped this when we stopped the widening. We did this together. And for this we should be proud.

Now we have the issue of flooding Florida Bay with dirty water. This must go before the public. We have the voice. We used it recently. And if we gather together, perhaps we can stop this all this insane madness once and for all. It’s a story worth telling, for when it comes to water coming from the mainland, we, all of us in the Keys, live downstream. For all our sakes, let’s make sure that the water is clean.

Below are two articles about the polluting of Indian River Lagoon which will directly impact the Florida Keys and an article I wrote with background info that ties everything together so readers could be brought up to date. Article 1   Article 2

~Joel Biddle (Joel was Educational Director for Reef Relief when it was under the direction of founders Craig and DeeVon Quirolo)

Do you know that none of our elected County Commissioners will have a grinder pump to deal with nor will they have to keep a 6400 watt generator in case the power goes off.

Is pressure cooking healthy? Absolutely! Link

What is the problem with making affordable health care insurance available to every American?

The state attorney general’s lawsuit, which claims NOAA — in violation of the Magnuson Stevens Act — disregarded the devastating economic impact on fishing communities such as Gloucester generated by its staggering cuts in catch limits, now includes the state of New Hampshire as a co-plaintiff.

Come on, Keys, can’t we do the same thing?  Fight!

The naming of Indian Key. Part 1  Link

Totally awesome parachute jump from 24 miles high over New Mexico with speeds breaking the sound barrier!! The Byrds got nothin’ on this guy! Video

But in an obscene twist, Monsanto’s vice president is receiving this year’s World Food Prize — for creating and spreading genetically engineered (GE) crops! To make matters worse, a top executive at the chemical-biotech company Syngenta is also receiving this year’s prize.

She met him on the Internet. He said he lived in a gated community. 

[Key West Gets History Back] The Monroe County Public Library last week received an important collection of more than 1,000 historical documents and photographs that includes an 1823 letter that essentially founds Key West as a U.S. Navy outpost. Link

Generator. Honda EU 2000i. Great Generator. Quiet. Efficient. Great for power outages or hurricane season or portable work stations. Will not hurt computers run off of it special Honda feature. Call for more info. Classified Ads > Tools

It looks like tho one who is responsible for this whole grinder pump debacle is Comm Sylvia Murphy.

Gardeners set sights underwater.   Link

[More bar wisdom] I’ve been to all the liquor stores, but I still can’t find this “Responsibly” they keep advertising.

Funny help with spelling and grammar. Link

[Things that took me 52 years to learn]
1.) Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
2.) If you have to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings”. 
3.) There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness. 
4.) People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them. 
5.) And when God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories, decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle. 
6.) You should not confuse your career with your life. 
7.) No matter what happens somebody will find a way to take it too seriously. 
8.) When trouble arises & things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution & is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy. 
9.) Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. 
10.) A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. 
11.) Never lick a steak knife. 
12.) Take out the fortune before you eat the cookie. 
13.) The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above average drivers. 
14.) You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment. 
15.) Your real friends still love you anyway. 

Accused pot dealer busted near BPK CVS Pharmacy. Randolph Hodgkins of BPK, 59, had about a half pound of marijuana, packaged for sale, with him on his bicycle. After witnesses reported seeing a transaction, he was arrested.

They’re making Indian motorcycles again in the USA and they’re looking real good. Link

[“How can a grinder pump with mechanical parts can be cheaper to install than a lateral pipe running to a sewer line”] Well, that’s precisely FKAA’s assertion in a bait and switcheroo game after being granted its $4500 per customer hookup charge. There was little talk about grinder pumps before that, if you recall. Greed knows no bounds.

“Some scientists  have a casual feeling about climate change”]  Where did you get this “some” from? Fox News?  the bar?  97% of actual climate scientists agree on this. Link

Jam packed Fantasy Fest schedule. Link

[“Grinder pump with mechanical parts can be cheaper”] It is because the way they spin the deal. You the tax payer will pay for the pumps or the PVC pipe either way, but you were told you had to pay for the PVC pipe yourself. In fact your tax money is being conned from you for the much more expensive grinder pumps. It is pure politics, and kick-backs!

[“Traffic Pattern”] BS! The street needs to be finished ASAP, but because the junk shops along that stretch scream the loudest, you would think Key West was losing millions per day. Just look at the shops along there and have a good laugh.

[Murphy’s Law #12] Whenever two approaching boats pass in a narrow channel they will both pass at the narrowest point.

I have to admit, after initially being a skeptic I have, of late, found Rhino, of Pirate Radio 101.7 fm,  to be a competent radio DJ  who has achieved a sensitive, pleasant balance between chit chat and playing an insightful extended mix of old and new music, along with mostly relevant intelligent commentary on the genre.

Florida edible landscaping website. Better beat the iguanas to it! Link

[Joke Friday] A really huge, muscular guy with a bad stutter goes to a counter in a department store and asks, “W-w-w-where’s the m-m-m-men’s dep-p-p-partment?”
The clerk behind the counter just looks at him and says nothing.
The man repeats himself, “W-w-w-where’s the m-m-m-men’s dep-p-p-partment?”
Again, the clerk doesn’t answer him.
The guy asks several more times: “W-w-w-where’s the m-m-m-men’s dep-p-p-partment?”
And the clerk just seems to ignore him.
Finally, the guy storms off in anger.
The customer who was waiting in line behind the guy asks the clerk, “Why wouldn’t you answer that guy’s question?”
The clerk answers, “D-d-d-do you th-th-th-think I w-w-w-want to get b-b-b-beat up?”

How comfortable is the Little Rooster Alarm Clock Vibrator? Women,perhaps if you wake-up getting off with a Little Rooster,life would be less miserable for all of us. Programmable throughout the day thereby keeping a smile on that sourpuss. Video

[Captain Doom and Gloom] “Country hijacked by a few extremists and shut down” Who is at fault for this? You voted these screwballs into office. You set them up as your ‘leaders’. You let them spend all your hard earned income for BS things and to support useless trash world wide. You just did not do your homework or give a shiite, but hopefully next time you will wise up.

“Giant sardine, how many pizzas this could make” No, but I could imagine how many baby sardine’s it would have bread if not killed by those mutants. Why do hunters and fishermen always pride themselves after capturing the breeder size animals? Catch and release those big ones so they can make more tasty small ones. Nobody makes crackers that big anyway.

“Dear all Men” Reply: Deer Ms. Frustrated, we men knew this when we let you talk, walk up-right and vote, those were some of  our mistakes! ~Sincerely, Your Hubby

“No Grinder Pumps” Yeah team! Now what is next that we can bitch about to save us poor citizens mucho mullah from being spent on useless tourist projects? Let’s do this, if you want a pet project built or something modified, you pay for it. You get donations from whoever else wants those thingies to be done, but have it cleared by the floundering fathers so thingies don’t go nuts, like mauve street signs or fur covered park benches, etc. The junta is there for good reasons–sometimes.

[Make Up Your Minds] The Tea Party, Fox News Republicans are supremely conflicted.  They have been trumpeting that our Government defaulting on our debts doesn’t mean anything.  If so, then why rail on about raising the debt limit if it is meaningless in the long run, according to their train of thought?  They should get their stories straight

[Republicans are so out of touch] The poster omitted how the Republicans are only concerned with money matters, never what’s good for Americans. Just read any of their posts. All they talk about is money. They haven’t had a social idea in sixty years.

[When Parasites Attack] The Electronic Benefits Transfer system went down for a couple of days and there was a food stamp feeding frenzy.  Link

The Demo that knocks the Repubs everyday, cracks me up. What a mind it must have to rant on anything the Right does and never say anything constructive. Seems to be a typical Democrap!

[Republicans are so out of touch] Let’s see, I have a daughter that can’t control her spending on the emergency credit card I gave her for college. I’ve pleaded, lectured, set goals and even made her work for what she spends so she realizes it’s got value and doesn’t come out of thin air. But she doesn’t learn, each month the bills increase and for frivolous items, parties and trips. My wife says we need to do something, we can’t cover the monthly payments. I love my daughter, but she has a spending problem. So I will have to call the bank and cut off the card. She’s going to cry, accuse, spew hate and venom, promising never to speak to me again. But it’s the best for her, unfortunately she won’t realize that until she’s much older.

Methinks the out of control spending of Liberal Democrats on the taxpayers credit card is much of the same situation. What does every man, women and child owe China now? Over $50,000 each? I sure could use that money right now, with us four $200,000 could buy a nice duplex and we could rent it for additional income which we would spend in the economy and assist others with making their living. Yea, I guess we Republicans are really so out of touch now huh