Friday, March 15, 2013

(Ed: My Deer friends, I hate computers! Sorry for yesterday’s absence, but I tried, from 7am until noon, to post the CT.

My biggest concern for publishing the Coconut Telegraph is that my computer won’t work or the Internet won’t work. I bought a backup laptop to solve the first problem and a $587 smart phone that can be used as a wi-fi hotspot to solve the second problem.

Yesterday morning AT&T’s internet went down in my area and didn’t come back until 6am this morning. I thought no problem, I have this fancy mobile hot spot I can use to connect the laptop to the internet and publish the CT– not! My smartphone hot spot uses Sprint and it didn’t have enough signal strength bars (they said I need at least 3 bars and I only get 1) so no hot spot, no CT. I hate computers!)

I’m calling Comcast today to see if they have Internet service for my area and At&T for new cell phone service as they are the only ones that have a strong signal at our corporate headquarters.)

The election of Pope Francis is the first good news to come out of the Catholic church in many years. Kudos to the Cardinals for electing the first Pope from the Americas. I suspect it wouldn’t have happened if he weren’t half Italian, the Italians have a hard time trusting anyone else. It would be wonderful if Pope Francis continued the work of Saint Francis of Assisi whose job it was to rebuild the Catholic Church as per God’s personal memo. 

[Name That Flower] Any idea what this thing is? 

[Mexican-American War] In 1916, President Woodrow  Wilson sent 4,800 U.S.  troops into Mexico to capture  revolutionary Pancho Villa. 

The ex-resort cats are a wonderful group of cats, all friendly, non-aggressive, and happy to get a bit of attention every day.  Our two in/outside cats don’t even use the litter box I keep available in case they were stuck inside the house all day, they want out. Countered everything you said.  

I think the only reason you are getting scratched and bitten as you say, as no self-respecting cat would ever willing go near a person with such a mean disposition like you, is that you are very likely the commercial fisherman who is catching cats and using them for bait in your traps.  There are a lot of people looking for you.  What you are doing is a criminal offense.  Truly you are a miserable person, I hope you don’t choke on your own bile someday, but it’s highly possible.  I hope you do jail time for your crimes of animal abuse.   

[Game over] Twins who are Amsterdam’s oldest prostitutes retire after 50 years selling sex. Sisters Louise and Martine Fokkens, 70, have decided they are too old after bedding a total of 355,000 men. 

The British colonial government was not adverse to calling on unlikely policeman to suppress White slave revolts –Blacks.

Blacks were admitted to the colonial militia responsible for policing White slaves. The aristocratic planters had felt the necessity to “arm the blackmen” to assist in suppressing White slave revolts.

Armed Black Militias patrolled the Carolina’s from the end of the 17th century to at least 1710 when Thomas Nairne reported that Blacks continued to be members of British colonial militias organized by local governments.

In Maryland in 1715, a reward was offered to American Indians who were recruited as bounty hunters to capture runaway Whites and return them to their masters, “for the better discovery of and encouragement of our neighbor Indians to seize, apprehend or take up any runaway servants.” It was decreed that for every fugitive White laborer the Indians caught and brought “before the magistrate, they shall, for a reward have a match-coat paid him or them, or the value thereof…” Link 

You’ve got enough girls to look at. Us women like eye-candy too, we just don’t drool when we stare. If the Bar is changing, that new breakfast guy is a certainly a step in the right direction. Yum-me! I’d let him kiss my grits! 

Fanci Seafood just finished making a new batch of  Stone Crab Cakes. Come and get them while they last! They’re so delicious and full of stone crab. 

Good thinking,Einstein! Happy birthday! (March 14) 

Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter’s 10 commandments for the music business. 

Actor Will Sampson (he always plays the Indian) has two very talented sons. Link 

There should be one line at Winn Dixie for people who have their shit together.

I miss you Boo, I know you don’t think of me. Maybe in another life. Be safe. Ciao. 

Fashion designer creates drone-proof clothing for privacy. Link 

Electric fence experiment ends as expected. Video

[“Yes, Winkers, you tear that man’s calf open”]  The person who wrote that would not be welcome around my person, my family, my pets or my property.  Talk about attitude!  Worried about a cat looking “judgmental”?  Paranoid, much?

Fresh, delicious Smoked Kingfish is in the case at Fanci Seafood on Cudjoe Key.

[No CT Thursday] Technical difficulties? See, I really think the world did end in December and the government has been covering it up. Ed is uncovering this!

Please join my team for the Redbone Island Walk at Founders Park in Islamorada on Saturday, March 23. You can sign up to walk or you can donate toward the important research to find a cure for this debilitating disease that shortens the life expectancy of its victims.  ~Thank you, Susan K. Miller Bulletin Board

Deer Renter, That addendum is not enforceable in court. Landlord pays entire upkeep on your shack unless you are negligent and flush little kittens down the toilet.  Have the repairs done and have the vendor send the entire bill to the fat landlord who will end up taking your entire deposit no matter how nice you are.

The pot at the end of the rainbow. Happy St Patrick’s Day!

[Republican Sleaze]  Bush and that other oilman Cheney (former Halliburton executive) exempted the oil industry at Halliburton’s request from the Clean Water Act. You can always trust Republicans to put American’s profit above America’s welfare.

[Crooks] “Cash For Clunkers” I am aware of several people (some advised by dealers) to go buy a $500 car and get over $4,000 for it in trade from the government.

[Tax Credit] It wasn’t Bush’s fault either. Jimmuh Cawtuh caused all of it.

There’s a new Pope.  Do you think Francis will blame Benedict for all the problems he’s facing? 

FROM THE RIGHT

[Yesterday’s FTR] Certainly we will all remember the chin music from the left about how The Obama had improved our national image overseas. They told us that The Obama is wildly popular overseas.  Well, that was then, this is 4 years later. Politico.com has just published a Gallup poll on that very issue. Here’s the first few lines from the article: “Worldwide approval of U.S. leadership dipped considerably during President Barack Obama’s fourth year in office — but it increased in Mexico (Gee I wonder why). The median approval rating for U.S. leadership for 130 countries was 41 percent in 2012, down 8 percentage points from the 49 percent approval during Obama’s first year in office.”

Part 2) Team Obama keeps stepping on its tongue about the White House tours debacle. First The Obama sternly told us that he had not ordered the WH tours shut down. He and his told us that it was the Secret Service that had canceled the tours. He told us it was the only option if they were to avoid furloughs. Please remember that when the tours were canceled, the staff conducting the tours was either moved to other duties, or furloughed.

Then yesterday, The Obama’s mouthpiece, Carney, assured us that it was The Obama himself who had made the decision to shut down the tours. Carney expanded on that by saying that the tours are labor intensive.  But he didn’t tell us that if The Obama would only cut one golfing trip, thousands of kids could have toured for 3 months. Or perhaps some of his mega donors who have paid $500k to meet with him, might ante up.  Deer Friends, the truth matters. It matters to all except Team Obama. Or perhaps if we didn’t fund research as to find out why lesbians tend to be fat (do they really), then we might be able to take kids on tours of the Peoples House.

[Today’s FTR]  Former Az Congresswoman Gabby Gifford was horribly wounded by a pistol wielded by clinically insane stalker a few years ago. Her wounds physically devastated her and ended her stellar public service career. Her husband is Mark Kelly, famed astronaut.  Recently Gifford and Kelly have become highly visible passionate advocates for gun control. It’s interesting that Kelly recently visited an Arizona gun store and bought a faux assault rifle, an AR15 lookalike.  The rifle is not an assault rifle because it’s only capable of semi auto fire like many classic hunting rifles. He said that he was buying it as a device to demonstrate how easy it is to buy rifles that look like assault rifles.  He said that he intended to give the rifle to the police after he takes delivery of it.  That is very interesting.  Kelly also purchased a .45 cal pistol. He intends to keep that gun, perhaps for protection. That certainly is understandable and proper. Buying and possessing firearms is a right that must never be abrogated.

Speaking of gun control, yesterday a poster wrote: “91% are in favor of universal gun control.” That statement is not true. What is true, according to polling, is that 91% favor background checks for gun purchases.   We already have background checks for gun purchases from dealers. That law is not enforced. The have been hardly any prosecutions for violation of the existing law. The Democrats, by 79%/17%, favor STRICTER gun control.  Republicans oppose it by 68%/24%. Link. The real kicker is that Independents also oppose stricter gun control by 48%/46%. That certainly shows that most of us have decided that they can put up with the current level of government intrusion into our 2nd Amendment rights. But that a many, if not a plurality, of us don’t want any further erosion of our rights.

Part 2) Let’s think about money, your money.

Obamacare is going to cost us nearly double the tax money then was initially promised. The Joint Committee on Taxation recently released a report on taxes and Obamacare.  It concludes that 21 tax increases included in Obamacare, actually will total an increase in taxation of $1.580 trillion. That’s nearly twice the $569 billion promised by Team Obama. Couple that with the February 2013 report by the Government Accounting Office that Obamacare will not reduce the cost of health care but will actually add $6.2 trillion dollars to our debt, and you have more excellent reasons to scrap Obamacare and to replace with a program that will actually bring down the cost of health care.

Speaking of Obamacare: AP is reporting that the draft web application for Obamacare is at least 15 pages long and is as daunting as doing a long form tax return. So much for the promise that it will be easy and simple to enroll.

The Senate Democrats have put forward a budget to compete with the House Budget just passed. The House Budget will balance the budget in 10 years. The Senate budget calls for never balancing the budget; it demands ongoing deficits and debt.
The Democrat Senate budget calls for the Department of Defense to overpay contractors by 5%. It funds $154 million for the military for “alternative energy research”. It pays $26 per gallon for that alternate fuel.

Attn pet owners: CBS Miami is reporting that Obamacare will be driving up veterinarian fees and costs. Many of the medicines and devices developed for humans are also used on animals.  The increases in Obamacare taxes on medical materials will be passed on to pet owners.

Part 3) I disagree with yesterday’s poster who claimed that GWB got us into the current mess. I urge that poster to take the time to examine the record. If he does he will find that GWB and the Republican controlled Congress led us out of the recession that was in place when GWB took office. The record also reveals that in spite of 9/11 and rebuilding our military, by 2006 our economy was booming. Federal tax revenues were increasing. From 2004-2007, the last year of Republican controlled spending, our deficit declined each and every year. In just the first year of Democrat controlled spending, 2008, our deficit nearly tripled.  That geometric increase in spending and debt It has continued each and every year since then. The slide into the current recession started in late 2007 just one year after the Democrats took control of Congress.  Link
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals

Respectfully submitted: FTR@Reagan.com