[Freedom of Information] Big Pine Key resident Larry Murray on Monday sued the Monroe County School District and Superintendent Mark Porter asking a court to compel compliance with outstanding requests for public records.

Murray is a former School Board-appointed member of the district’s advisory Audit and Finance Committee and last year unsuccessfully ran for the District 3 board seat won by Ed Davidson. Link

[Bad Editor] Editor, I have so far refrained from complaining about the so-called editing on this forum but I guess I finally have had enough. My posts are so routinely chopped, rearranged and re-written that there is no point in bothering to contribute anymore. I can’t be sure that anything I read on here bears the slightest resemblance to what was originally submitted. You hide behind the “just editing so that they can be understood” excuse while routinely letting all manner of grammatical and spelling errors appear.  The truth is you just enjoy the power trip of rearranging other peoples work to suit your own agenda. Since we are powerless to stop this manipulation of our voice the only way to win is not to play. (Ed: I think I know the post he’s referring to and I did get carried away, but I’ve been trying to refrain from my “power trip” lately)

The first meeting for the Big Pine Haunted House will be held on Monday, Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the News Barometer office. We’re accepting any and all Halloween decorations and props. Anyone interested in participating in setting up or playing a part please give us a call. Events

[Fat Deer Key] Some guy beat another over the head with a golf club because of a Facebook disagreement on Fat Deer Key in Marathon. What is Fat Deer Key? Is it an island or a street? I’ve never heard of it.

[Poker Run] I find it difficult to believe that our county not only tolerates, but actually spends money to promote an event which requires thousands of motorcyclists, if they wish to fully participate, to stop at five bars as they ride down US. 1 to Key West. 

I woke up this morning because I heard an alligator’s mating call, but it was only my snoring that woke me.

The 19-hour raise of Costa Concordia, in 2 minutes. The captain said he didn’t abandon ship, he just fell overboard and luckily landed on a lifeboat seat. Video

Rowell’s Marina, Monroe County’s latest boondoggle for the politically connected residents of Miami and Key Largo. Once the county takes ownership all the fees event organizers are currently paying will be magically waived just like they are at Higgs Beach.  In a couple of years the marina will be further in the red, poorly maintained and you won’t be able to give it away.  Call it what you want, but this is Hickory House the sequel.  Monroe County taxpayers have been screwed again, but this time by the gang of four. Grab your ankles and smile! 

[“Remove Guitar Pick Guard”] This video will show you how. Video 

“Living on an Island” boat tour of house for sale on Cedar Drive. I hope to meet YOU in the Keys real soon! Video
Sincerely, Nira

[Spies Like Us] Brazil is divorcing itself from NSA-Net. Brazil plans to remove itself from the U.S.-centric Internet over Washington’s widespread online spying following revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted President Dilma Rousseff communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company’s network and spied on Brazilians who entrusted their personal data to U.S. tech companies such as Facebook and Google. Link

[Boating Tip] I’ve been having problems with my bilge float switch getting stuck open and running my battery down and not coming on. I’ve returned one and the manufacturer gladly replaced it. “Sorry.”

I was talking with my nerdy friend about far out nerdy stuff and he told me he had taken a float switch apart and discovered that it was a ball bearing which completes the circuit and then shuts it off. But they used to use mercury. I asked if maybe he thought some 2 cycle oil building up in the bilge could maybe corrupt the bearing’s path and like leave the circuit stuck open or closed? Probably.

So I squirted some run-of-the-mill Ajax dish detergent in the bilge. Let it soak. Hit the switch that is hard wired to my instrument panel and ran some through the system. I came out the next day with a 5 gal bucket  full of sudsy water. Filled the bilge and whamo! it worked perfectly again. Not good for the bay, but better than 20 gallons of gas 50:1 with 2 cycle and my boat on the bottom of the bay. 

[“Guitar work”] You may wish to address your query to the good folks at Pimentel Guitars. Link

[Diagonal Parking] Parking in Russia video. This is why all parking lots should be diagonal parking to make it easier to enter and leave the spot. No weeds, trees, bushes, etc., to block your vision. No bumper stops or curbing either. K.I.S.S. Principal. Video

Has anyone considered a conspiracy of government mind control in the recent shootings? Nothing our government does would surprise me. 

The Mystery plant is not limber caper! It is blacktorch, Erithalis fruticosa. It is identified by the shape of the leaves and the unopened flower clusters in the photo. It is common in lower uplands in the Keys and the edges of hammocks. The small flowers are white when opened and the fruits are black. It is the most important early food of the white crowned pigeon (May and June). It was almost eliminated from Big Pine Key in the eighties by over browsing by the Key Deer. It is still common on most of the Lower Keys, and is abundant on Wisteria Island.

The photo is not a good one for identification.

[“Guitar work”] Your question comes up two or three times a year on a blog I visit daily. Go to mandohangout.com and scan the repair and archives links. Likely, there are guitar blogs that advice, but it boils down to various glues used at different periods. Of course, there are luthiers who will do it for you, but there are also do-it-your-selfers who can be found at the above site.

[America the Dangerous] Guns and the topics of ownership are at the forefront again because of another shooting. I have had personal carry permits for handguns since the 70’s – starting in Ft.Lauderdale – when you actually had to have the sheriff and the County Commissioners OK the permit. It was OK to carry it in the open, but to hide it in Ft. Lauderdale in the 70’s you had to have a permit.

In over 40 years of carrying my weapon I have stopped 1 armed robbery – upon myself. I have been glad more times than I could count to have had a weapon with me, but only on that one occasion did I have to brandish it and intend to use it. That one time is the only time. I was very wise to have had it because those robbers intended to harm me.

I am blessed to live in a Country that allows me to protect myself. Most police officers are more than 5 miles away or about ten minutes away from any crime being committed. The time it takes to get armed protection is way too long to wait. A True TV show called “Panic 911” shows what happens when you do and do not have a gun handy.

I believe in that everyone who passes comprehensive firearm use training and a background check should be allowed to conceal a personal firearm. I am thankful for a local shooting range on Big Coppitt to hone my firearm skills.

Gun laws are strictly enforced when they are enforced. Regarding this latest mass shooting: How can someone pass a personal background check when he has shot out the tires of another’s car? Could another armed civilian or enlisted man have prevented this amount of murder?

[Gun Nuts] Maybe, just maybe, they ought pass a Barney Fife Law. One bullet allowed in left shirt pocket, no safari jackets. That should slow them down!

Crackdown coming on troublesome liveaboards. No more free lunch! Link

Gun nuts hearing voices.

I have a home in “The Villages” in Florida. We are not all old. I do not have a golf cart. There are over 100,000 of us here. We are selling over 300 homes a month. Get your info straight.

Chocolate Babies are chocolate flavored mellocreme candies shaped like babies about 1 inch long. They have the texture of candy corn. In the days before political correctness they used to be called by another name beginning with N.

How does a citizen protest what the County is doing? What are the legal steps and who would we contact? Should it go to the State or the Fed? Can a person make a motion at an official political meeting? What is impeachment and how do we do it?

[“Wanted: Cheap waterfront lot”] I’ve got just what you need. $1000 week, plus water, shitter, and electric. How old’s your daughter?

I tie knots in my wife’s dental floss all the time. he, he, he! 

[“Whatever happened to Howard Livingston’s son”] He got out when the gettin’ was good!

[Captain Doom and Gloom] The Flying Dutchman Returns. It is about time governments turned to do this and made their blood sucking freeloaders earn their own responsible keep.

What we need in America is a King with big balls and the right ideas to make America the land of the free and the home of the hard working SOBS we used to be. Let the low renters, the welfares, the illegal’s, and the inept die off or get the flock out of here! Link

“Creative Accounting” Despite grossing 475 million dollars worldwide (approximately 15 times its production budget), Return of the Jedi is considered, as far as Hollywood accounts are concerned, to have never turned a profit. Now start bitching and moaning about paying your taxes.

[Obamacare] Miami-Dade County is cutting its county Health Care Planning department on Oct. 1, the same day residents across the country can sign up for health insurance in state exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. This is an irresponsible, politically motivated action designed to undermine Obamacare at all costs.

[Obamacare] It seems to me that if Obamacare was any good Obama and his family, members of Congress, their staffs and all federal employees would be in it. There would be no exceptions. The cost of running one system instead of two would be enormous. Also, having two health care programs, one for the “ruling class” and one for the ‘working class” cause deep animosity and jealousy. If the plan was any good then no one would have to forced into it.

[“All insurance people ask those questions when you’re applying for insurance”]  That’s a private company that you’ve chosen to do business with, not a govt agency you’re forced to deal with.

Just the other day Mr. Obama gave a real stem-winder of a speech that praised his and the Democrat accomplishments during their reign. Somehow someone failed to get that message to the Census Bureau.

On Monday the Census Bureau released a truly damning report about our economy and the state of the middle class. They reported that in the last 4.5 years the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000.

In fact, real median household income dropped in every year of Obama’s first term. In 2008, when he was elected, it was $53,644. In 2009, the year he was inaugurated, it dropped to 53,285. In 2010, his second year in office, it dropped to $51,892. In 2011, his third year in office, it dropped to $51,100. And, in 2012, his fourth year in office, and with the recession ended 4 years earlier,  it  again dropped to $51,017

As a result there are now a record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty. Deer Friends, that’s about one out of seven Americans now living in poverty. In 2008, the year Obama was elected, people in poverty represented 13.2 percent of the national population. In 2012, they represented 15.0 percent of the population.

In a separate report, just released, the Department of Agriculture reported that 23,116,928 American households were enrolled in the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—AKA food stamps—during the month of June.  Incredibly that outnumbers the 20,618,000 households that the Census Bureau estimated were in the entire Northeastern United States as of the second quarter of 2013. “The northeast” includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Thus, in June, the households receiving food stamps exceeded the total combined households in all of these states. The 23,116,928 household on food stamps in June was an increase of 45,908 from the 23,071,020 household on food stamps in May.

It just keeps getting worse. Deer Friends, our nation deserves better.

Part 2) As you know, we soon are going to have a huge battle as to whether or not we should raise our debt ceiling. The Right says “hell no”, the Left says “hell yes.” As you consider the merits of each side, please bear in mind that the sequester has had no apparent effect on our lives, and has saved us a pile of money. Nonetheless, the Obama admin wants to borrow even more money to spend.

Then please consider the fact that even with our crappy economy, the Congressional Budget Office tells us that Federal revenues are hitting an all-time high.  Don’t you wonder why if we’re taking in a hell of a lot more money, and spending a hell of a lot less, why on earth would we want to raise our debt limit?

Government spending is already at record levels, in excess of 24 percent of GDP. And while in the past, government spending was largely comprised of non-mandatory program spending, now 44 percent of all federal outlays come from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. And still the left stubbornly refuses to even consider reform of those programs.

All three programs are growing faster than inflation, and—when joined with $1.7 trillion in new Obamacare spending—will drain about 18.5 percent of the nation’s total economic output by mid-century. Because that is about the historical annual average of total federal tax revenue, it means all other government programs—national defense, veterans’ health care, transportation, federal law enforcement, and others—would effectively have to be financed on borrowed money. That’s a crappy idea. A really crappy idea and a frightening thought.

The lefts addiction to entitlement spending and it’s reluctance to reform entitlement programs is driving us deeper and deeper into debt. We’ve got to bite the bullet and get our fiscal house in order.

Part 3) Some CT community members expresses pride in Mr. Obama’s tactics and handling of the chem warfare in Syria. Mr. Obama’s first two Secy’s of Defense, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta are of a different view. Each has slammed Obama’s conduct. They say that his actions have weakened US credibility and thus hugely increased the likelihood that Assad will remain in power. Link

Bruce Pardy, an expert on environmental law and governance at Queen’s University, said the IPCC “has run into difficulty again. That is not surprising, since the IPCC claims to be a scientific body that in reality is an intensely political organization.”

He said their mandate to offer policymakers a consensus view from scientists was “asking for trouble” all along, because science is not done by consensus, “but requires independence, disagreement and debate. Climate science is notoriously uncertain…. Moreover, the IPCC appears to believe that it has a role in developing or influencing policy, which is not a scientific matter. Policy depends on values. Values are not scientific. When scientists take positions on policy, they forfeit their claim of being objective observers.  Instead, they reflect their own preferences, and can no longer be relied upon as neutral sources of facts.”