(Saturday, July 27, 2013 The Coconut Telegraph is no published on Saturdays)

[Summer Vacation] Tomorrow’s the last chance to stock up on tarps bungees and reading glasses for the summer. The Big Pine Flea Market is closing for August and September. We will reopen October 5th. Thank you to all our customers!

[Restaurant Review] I am writing to give Bistro 31 on Big Pine two thumbs up. After getting the kinks out (just like most new restaurants must do) and having competitive, but fair prices, I was very pleased with the lunch my Mom and I had there today. The fish was cooked perfectly and we even had the chance to try a couple of new items they are thinking of adding to the menu. Lisa was very interested in our feedback. After trying one of the samples, I actually said out loud, “Mmmmm! That is really good!” I don’t do that very often. They have some great specials for $9. Where else have you seen homemade pierogies, sauerkraut and kielbasa here on Big Pine? So, if you were not impressed the first time you visited Bistro 31, give them another try. They are committed to providing us with great food at reasonable prices and in my opinion are succeeding in doing just that.

[Mini Season Solution] Brilliant idea from the writer suggesting that the hours of mini-season be changed from dawn until noon. Everyone would still have the fun of mini-season and there would be no economic impact to the people who depend on the income this season generates.

We, too, have witnessed people in our development making 3-4 trips each day. We’ve seen them not only change boats but clothing to throw off any suspicion! I have contacted the FWC with my observations without specifically “ratting out” my neighbors, but nothing seems to change. This really has to be addressed and solved. Frankly, I am quite surprised that environmentalists have not led the charge on this.

Mercury is in retrograde which means that a lot of people will make bad decisions. This is one of the worst astrological events that can happen (not a good time to propose).

[Crooks] Steven W. McClelland, 33, a Big Pine Key man who  bought a stolen Monroe County Sheriff’s Office SWAT assault rifle from a teen burglar (cheap) will spend nearly four years in federal prison followed by  three years’  s u p e r v i s e d  release.

[“Lower Keys Bus Fares”] To take the bus from Marathon to KW is actually $2 each way.  It is fixed – it’s called fixed rate pricing no matter how far you are going on the bus.  When you hit 55, you can ride for $1 each way.  With the price of gas, I would quit complaining. If you’re going a mile then either walk or get a bike. This is a great service that is offered at a reasonable price.

People of Walmart or why we don’t need a Walmart in the Keys. Video

[Mini Season] Plenty of tickets, but no arrests. Load the boat up with a bunch of mouth-breathing droolers. Go out and take lobsters for everyone on the boat and claim you didn’t know the law after you drop your catch bag overboard–by accident. The only ones dumber than the Keystone Kopz are those who come down here to take more than they are allowed to. It’s called poaching!

One man had 16 lobsters in his dive bag — 10 over the limit. One of the bugs was slightly undersized. The other diver told Officer Dube he dropped his bag by accident. He was told to go down and get it. When he came up, he had nine lobster in his bag.

The men explained they thought they could fish for everyone else on the boat, but Dube explained that having the lobsters in a bag meant they were in the divers’ possession. They were cited for being over the limit and having the undersized lobster.

[Hickory House Redux] The county taxpayers have already paid $6,700 for the appraisals for the former Rowell’s Marina and property now owned by Boca Developers, but Boca Developers disagree with the appraisal. This is certainly looking more and more like another Hickory House our commissioners want to remove from the tax base.

[Bad Trip] I went with a friend on a dive and snorkel trip from a local dive boat. I wasn’t out to kill the bugs, just have fun and maybe dinner. I won’t mention any names but the Captain took us in twenty-five feet of water and forgot to bring equipment or ask anyone if they needed any. I have access to equipment because I live here. No lobster, no nothing. I am surprised at how the locals are now treating other locals–like tourist. For me I will save my money and no longer support bar businesses or charter business down here anymore. I hope all these greedy people go out of business when, and if, the tourist ever leave. Don’t get me wrong there are still a lot of great people who live here. I’m just sick and tired of getting raped from the business down here all in the name of greed. I miss my old Keys!

Spain train crash captured on security camera. Engineer was doing twice the speed limit. Video

Annual 2-day Marathon Lionfish Tournament this weekend. Link

The next meeting of our Big Pine computer club is coming up this Saturday, July 27, 10 am to noon at the Senior Center. Bulletin Board 

If the BOCC and their lackeys keep pushing the Pigeon Key bridge boondoggle it should be time to roll out the recall option.

[Florida Keys Journal] I had the pleasure of interviewing Marathon Vice Mayor Rich Keating at Leigh Ann’s Coffee House. We talked about being safe and not stealing more than allowed for Mini Lobster Season. Of course, Mini Lobster Season is over by the time this is published, but it is the thought that counts.

Run again? Why? Still issues to work on. City hall, beautify city, bike path, old town upgrade, and work with county on sunset park, old seven mile bridge, airport and services, share of Mayfield $$, and build up reserves needed for emergencies like hurricanes.

After this next term you term out, how do you feel about that? The time span is about right, he said.

He is looking forward to Jesse Hobbs unisex restroom, Boot Key Island – Harbor – Marina, possibly selling 104th Street, and finding better place for the Public Works building after the city hall project.

What’s the latest controversy? Rich couldn’t think of any, which should be the right answer in any case. He felt that the council is a healthy mix of different talents and opinions.

How’s the charter business going? Keating said that the business is doing well; the fish are still there in numbers. He talked about coming from a fishing family. Family is doing great.

Last thoughts: we discussed a number of things, but the mayorship came up as a question since I was asking the questions, you know. Rich worried about his business, but I pointed out that was why they make a vice mayor. I also pointed out that he would regret not doing mayor at least once.  ~Publisher@MarathonJournal.US

[Another One Bites The Dust] Does anyone know what happened to ZaZa and if they will ever open again. I loved that place.

[Chilis] Get your New Mexico roasted green chiles here. Link

[Crook] BPK man, stolen gun buyer gets 4 years. Link  

[“Bus Rates”] A bus ride is like visiting a house of ill repute. The price is always the same, when you get off is up to you.

[Cudjoe Gardens Lawsuit] I agree with yesterday’s post. If an entire neighborhood wants a more expensive sewer system than the rest of us, figure out the total cost of the upgrade and let them pay for the difference. The $4500 per unit fee was based on the current design. I hope that the judge who hears the case sees this post.

I just did a weeks worth of cardio after walking into a spider’s web.

[Cudjoe Gardens Lawsuit] I agree with yesterday’s post. If an entire neighborhood wants a more expensive sewer system than the rest of us, figure out the total cost of the upgrade and let them pay for the difference. The $4500 per unit fee was based on the current design. I hope that the judge who hears the case sees this post.

[Lobster mini season] Everyone seems to be in a good mood. Lets make it a holiday!

[Sewers] Cudjoe Garden homeowners are going to sue the Aqueduct Authority.  I did not know the FKAA had a propaganda department? Nice try, Dude, but we the sheeple know what is going down and it isn’t for the betterment of us, but for their bank accounts in … what is the name of that island?

When I found out shrimp cocktails had no alcohol, I really lost interest.

[Snakes] You might need these guys in the Glades & Upper Keys. I wonder when they’ll come to BPK? Back in the day, some of the “Bogie Channel Yacht Club” guys found a 10’ rattler on Lower Sugarloaf, Oceanside. Very big rattler and the snake’s skin was planked and hung on the porch at Coconut’s. It’s probably still there. Joe Britz will know.

The old, never used, 7-Mile Bridge is structurally deficient. Who cares, let it fall into the ocean and make an artificial reef.

[“Lobster mini season abuse”]  Yes, I to know a number of people that have made multiple trips out during our short mini season.  I have also witnessed a number of people on boats that are going out on second and third trips in a day.  They are often switching boats with other people on the boats, but what they have not typically done is switched whatever they were wearing.  The easy solution for this would be to do the same as hunters have to do with their catches.  The permits they were issued when they purchased their license must be secured to each carcass, and can not be removed.  There still would be the cheats that would be having their 90-some-odd-year-old grandmother purchase a license, but the major abuses could be minimized.

Top 12-string guitar songs of all-time. With videos

[Follow The Money] Some of the hottest journalistic action is still in following the money. But don’t look to your local newspaper, newsmagazine or public radio station for enlightenment, because the money trails today often radiate from a handful of the nation’s wealthiest “charitable” foundations, and end with those media outlets themselves.

Zimmerman, by a trial forced by the media, was found not guilty. Now the people he helped save in the car crash won’t comment on what he did because of the media. The media always showed a picture of the teenager when he was a kid at 12 years old, giving the impression that he was a little sweetie.

[Zimmerman] The media should not be trusted–ever! Afterburner with Bill Whittle: The Lynching – YouTube

Zimmerman and the Kill List: Unable to dazzle their citizens with brilliance, governments compel obedience through social engineering, manipulation and intimidation. Subtle indoctrination or targeted force, the aphrodisiac of power must be accommodated.

Bastardizing those who dare to challenge the decisions of the powerful has been refined into an exact science. The sycophants of the ruling elites dogmatically peddle their partisan perspectives. Few question their credibility or veracity.

Orwell described political language as being: “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable”.

A surveillance state that compromises our liberty has been proffered as a means to keep us safe. Unfortunately, over the July 4th weekend in Chicago, with its strict anti-gun laws, 74 citizens were shot and 12 killed.

Rather than honestly addressing the cause of this slaughter, the administration chose to vitiate the Zimmerman trial for political purposes. Their malfeasance and misdirection authenticates the rants of race baiters and profiteers.

Dissension and distrust resultant from this government’s double-dealing is abhorrent.  Running out of scapegoats and alibis, government coercion has set the tone for media spin and compliance. Coalescing this synergism provides comfort and access, as the administration’s narrative is presented as fact.   

All the while, Americans are being placed on the president’s “dispositional matrix”. This is a complex grid of individuals who the government considers threatening. These suspects can be traced, captured, interrogated or targeted for death. These decisions are made in secret at the White House. Foregoing due process, names are placed on this matrix with little or no evidence. Misidentifications frequently surface.  

We’ve become desensitized to the euphemisms of counter-insurgency. Terms slipping into the lexicon such as extraordinary rendition, targeted killing and enhanced interrogation are bantered about without blinking an eye; when in fact they mean kidnap, assassination and torture.

This matrix isn’t just a kill list, or even a capture-or-kill list. It’s a complex grid interfaced upon enormous databases. It will virtually contain all of our personal information and in-depth biographies. It will know our location at all times. It will also contain a range of options for our disposal, if it’s thought that we threaten the government. 

[Obama Speech] I watched his speech (and that is all it was) and found nothing new about how he will grow jobs, without creating new debt. It really was the same old, same old stuff he has given speeches on previously. The guy doesn’t know how to get things done. Speeches (even to his constituents) just doesn’t get his responsibilities off the hook. His newest mantra is that the problems we have go back decades. He may be right about that, because over this time, the socialistic goals for a nanny state has made significant progress. Low information citizens don’t see it, I believe.

[“It is true you have wasted my time”] One more name-caller who blames others for their own closed mind. Need an example of how you blame others? You chose to comment back and forth-you are wasting your own time. Now go away.

There  is a myth that is being promulgated by Team Obama that NY’s health insurance premiums will be slashed by 50% thanks to Obamacare.  It just isn’t so.

To start, New York is a special case, because it is already one of the most regulated — and expensive — insurance markets in the country. The state’s regulators dictate the benefits that must be offered in every individual policy sold in the state, and according to the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, there are 62 such regulatory requirements on each policy in New York. Plus, New York is one of a few states that already forces insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions. In other words, the current New York market already has in place the key Obamacare regulations that will drive up costs in most states. But, and it’s a huge Butt, NY does not have the individual mandate that forces everyone including the young and healthy to buy insurance. That pocket picking of the young and healthy mandated by Obamacare will offset the costs of insuring older and sicker New Yorkers.

Then there is the completely separate issue of young folks refusing to buy the insurance, and then just paying the much smaller fine. Over a short time that will drive up premium costs and/or increase taxes.

Another issue is the subsidies that will be paid to some folks to purchase health care insurance. That too will drive up premium costs and/or taxes.

A Deloitte analysis released in March predicted average premiums for individuals purchasing insurance on their own would fall 13.9 percent in NY State. Another study, released by the Urban Institute last year, found that under Obamacare, average individual premiums would fall in New York, but only from $5,620 annually to $4,860 — or roughly 13.5 percent thus making it still one of the most expensive health insurance markets in the country.

While NY may, (underline may), get a small rate reductions, the residents of the vast majority of states will suffer a massive increase. In the vast majority of states, Obamacare has the net effect of raising premiums by a lot, which has given rise to the term “rate shock.” In California, for example, a healthy 40-year-old today can pay $94 per month in the individual market; that rises to $234 a month under Obamacare: an increase of 149 percent.

It’s understandable that team Obama feels the need to spend $700 million just to promote it. It’s understandable, but demeaning that Obama has seen fit to beseech his glitterati pals to push Obmacare. It sure looks like Team Obama is getting panicked. Remember that the damned thing wasn’t even supposed to cost one trillion.

The Wall Street Journal weighed in on the topic. They said: “Healthy consumers could see insurance rates double or even triple when they look for individual coverage under the federal health law later this year, while the premiums paid by sicker people are set to become more affordable.”

Here in Florida, many, if not most folks who currently have health insurance can expect at least a 20% increase in your premiums. Don’t believe me, read it for yourself at: Link

You really should check out the article at: Link

Deer Friends, there can be no real reduction in the cost of health care until we figure out a way to actually make the delivery of health care less expensive. Everything that Team Obama is doing now is aimed at insurance. There is -0- effort to actually make it less expensive to treat the sick. Levying taxes on medical devices as does Obamacare certainly is not the answer. We must figure out how to make hospitals more efficient, drugs less expensive, medical apparatus such as CT machines less expensive. Obamacare does not a damned this to actually reduce the cost of medical care, it increases it.

Part 2) Obama, in his much touted speech the other day speechified that “deficits (are) tumbling.”  The fact is that the deficit in 2007, the last year of Republican governance was $116 billion.  Today, the deficit is about $760 billion, many times the maximum deficit during the previous admin.