[No To Bridge] The Old Seven Mile Bridge is “structurally deficient” and sections of  the bridge below the waterline have  severe “honeycombing” and “spalling,” according to inspection reports  released to The Citizen on Wednesday.

When asked if the county should take  possession of the bridge from the state, County Commissioner Danny Kolhage responded, “No.”  He cited sections of and photographs in the report depicting large holes in the  pylons — large enough for divers to swim through. “They call them ‘voids,’ but they are holes,” Kolhage said Wednesday after the  reports were released. “There are huge gaps in the pylons. The report says the bridge is in poor condition.” The reports also mention entire seals at  the bottom of the bridge pylons that are  broken off, and severe undermining in sections of the bridge below the waterline.

If the County buys the bridge from the FDOT it will be like a never-ending Hickory House debacle that we’ll be paying and repairing forever. There’s not enough money in the County, and never will be enough money to fix the bridge. The State has to take the responsibility even if it means closing the bridge to foot traffic as well. It’ll be a shame, but who around here has the money to fix a bridge that few ever use.

The KW Citizen had to sue the FDOT to get the report! They want us to take financial responsibility to rebuild the bridge.

[Bus] I can take the bus from Marathon to Key West for four dollars, but if I just want to go one mile its four dollars? Why? This has to be fixed.

[Simple Pleasure] The fragrance from the wild jasmine in my yard wafts through the open windows and delights me.  

[Ask a Scientist] Great site for kids of all ages. Link

[Mini Season] What I learned yesterday sickened me. And these were locals, not raiders from the North, but locals.

First case. 5 guys with three boats between them. They go out on one boat, come home with bugs. Offload the bugs and go out in the second boat. Back again, out again. They will never be caught.

Second case. A family, no less, with a boat on a trailer. They launch the boat, come back and go home with the bugs. Go out again, but this time to a different boat ramp. They repeat this as often as they can. They too will never be caught.

There is a simple solution that will keep everyone except the poachers happy. Change the time from dawn until dusk to from dawn until noon. Rooms are still rented, gas is bought, dinners are eaten at restaurants, everything is the same, except for the multiple trips.

[The Hindenburg] These are original photos from one of the original passengers who still has the clothes we wore that fateful day in 1937. Over the years people have seen parts of the Hindenburg but nothing like this one. These photographs are truly amazing. So is the newsreel. “Oh, the humanity!”

Hangar One at Lakehurst is still standing in what is now a Joint Military base. Every weekend indoor RC and rubber powered flying activities take place in the hangar. About a half mile from there is a small memorial to the Hindenburg. A plaque and white stones outlining of the fallen vehicle shape are maintained for visitors. Inside Hangar One is the Lakehurst Historical Society, a small museum with Hindenburg artifacts. It is available for visitors on weekends. Link

[“North Roosevelt Non-construction”] I’ve got a few ideas on this. I too don’t live in Key West, but I’ve been there many of dozens of times since the construction began and rarely see more than a few folks there, let alone actually doing anything. I know on US1 Radio they have a couple talking heads from FDOT constantly telling us things are good, but nobody believes them, it’s an embarrassment so here’s some ideas:

– Have the folks doing the bike trail take over the work – those guys work their tails off, are making a lot of progress, and work no matter the weather

– Have the folks doing the sewer pipe installation take over the work – those guys work their tails off, are making a lot of progress, and work no matter the weather

– Reinstall the parking meters and have the construction company pop quarters like the rest of us when we park our cars and trucks in Key West.

– Give the construction company copies of the ‘stand your ground’ law and then go explain to the store owners that the slow work by the construction company is a threat to them!

Fanci Seafood still has a few Lobster Kits for $14.95 and Dive Flags for $9. Get them while they last.

Door-to-door mail delivery could be virtually phased out by 2022 under a proposal in Congress. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday approved a plan to move to  cluster box and curbside delivery,  which includes mailboxes at the end  of driveways.

The Postal Service is facing billions of dollars in annual losses.

With the county commissioners knowing the Old Seven Mile Bridge is “structurally deficient” and sections of the bridge below the waterline have severe “honeycombing” and “spalling,” how could they even think about taking over the maintenance?

The ‘Ode to lobster season 2013‘, was great! All well put and in poetry form, no less. Most locals in my opinion would like to see mini-season go away.

New Mexico green chile wins best iconic food award. Man, I could bite into that right now! Link

Actual sign in Islamorada. “Swimsuit sale. Buy one, get one half off.”

[“Solar Bigotry”] Wind and solar power do not deplete our finite natural resources–apart from the need to grease the bearings of a wind generator. During WWI and II it became apparent that steam, coal driven machinery would not power battleships adequately, nor fly airplanes, and those that have oil win the wars. Germany didn’t have high octane aviation fuel or enough fuel to drive their tanks. We did and provided it to Britain. That relates to why we don’t exploit our reserves, and why we buy oil at whatever the going price. We defend our foreign sources regardless of how corrupt their governments are. Oil dependency has cost us a great deal and will continue to be important to our future. That is all the more reason to explore alternative sources. Alternative energy sources are needed. No matter the current price of various energy sources. You missed that. Petroleum will always be the most expensive, followed by uranium, and coal. At the end of WWII the Japanese were making synthetic fuel using their trees. It was terrible and inadequate stuff at a cost that was not just Yen. Force solar on you, or anyone? Absolute not. Challenge your original assumptions, yes. You used statistics to support an erroneous conclusion. It is not a matter of what is the cheapest, but what we need to explore and use for the good of everyone.

It is true you have wasted my time. You don’t know me, and have sold me short, and characterized me incorrectly. I wouldn’t try to force anything on a closed minded person. I have dismissed you as being incapable of understanding an alternative viewpoint, much less alternative energy sources. You deferred to facts that are irrelevant to the worth of alternative energy.

[Frond Bums] Hundreds of thousands of Florida residents making less than $48,000 a year That is about 1% of the street people who are begging or unable to twist together some palm fronds for a buck. A bum on Duval street can make about $300 a day! Video 

[Sewers] Cudjoe Garden homeowners are going to sue the Aqueduct Authority if they try putting in the more affordable grinder pump systems with central sewer connection.

ple solution is here folks: Skip that area, do everyone else. Cudjoe Gardens doesn’t want it, and so many others who may have gone without do want connection. After every single home in the entire Cudjoe Regional system encompassing Lower Sugarloaf Key, Upper Sugarloaf Key, Cudjoe Key, Summerland Key, Little Torch Key, Big Pine Key and No Name Key is provided with the appropriate central sewer systems, and if there is any money left over, the FKAA can revisit the Cudjoe Gardens area.

If there is no money left, then Cudjoe Gardens will be in the same situation as anyone else left out — forced to put in their own onsite system themselves. Problem solved, lawsuit averted.

Detroit in bankruptcy is bad, but here’s Detroit’s ‘finest’ in action. There were 15 actual bank robberies in Detroit and that is absolutely priceless! 

[Indecent] Two women being arrested for wearing a one piece bathing suit without the required leg coverings, Chicago, 1922. I’m surprised that the GOP/ Christian Sharia have not tried to bring this practice back.

[Think Positive] The cells in your body react to everything that your mind says. Negativity brings down your immune system.

[Mini Season Internet ‘Troll’] To avoid the insanity on the pristine waters of the Keys on Wed and Thurs my girlfriend and I went out at sunrise on Monday to check out a few spots I have in my GPS. The first spot was in one of the side channels in Jewfish Basin (I wonder when the politically correctors will change that name). The tide was just going slack so we dropped the hook to take a look. The depth was only about 4 feet. It was a true glory hole. It was loaded with some of the biggest lobsters that I have ever seen. They all were in the 2-2½ lb. range. Within less than an hour we had about 30 in the boat. We rang the tails on the water as we did not want to stink up the canal in front of our dock and were we back at the dock by 7am. We are staying home on Wed and Thurs and having a well-deserved lobster feast as we want to stay away from all that insanity created by the Lobster Mobsters. We probably won’t go back out at sunrise on Friday as we a pretty sure that spot will have been raped over.

[Zimmerman] “I have been perplexed by the activities of the ‘Black Grievance Society’ across the United States including President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to make the Trayvon Martin death into a racial incident.”      

This letter from the Sheriff of Lee County, FL to the local head of the NAACP pretty well sums up the matter before us all.  It is a masterpiece of reasoned common sense and articulate diplomacy.  It would be hard to add or delete even one word in this absolutely perfect communication. Link

[Javascript and Java are two completely different scripting languages] Java is prone to security leaks and should be disabled in the web browsers preferences. It’s rarely used, so it’s safe to only enable it on sites one trusts. If one doesn’t use Java at all, not even Java based programs, then it also should also be uninstalled in the Control Panel, it can be simply re-installed if the person’s need for it changes.

Javascript is used so much by websites that it, like Flash, is almost unavoidable to surf the web without it. Javascript can be disabled in the web browsers preferences, but it’s actually part of the browser so it can’t be removed. The creator of the browser is responsible for it’s security. Keep your web browser updated.

Javascript maliciousness consists of History Sniffing (clear your history often), Mouse Tracking (can’t help), Pop-up/under windows (can disable popups), Javascript based locks/ransomware schemes and attempting to trick you into installing malware. As long as nothing is clicked and installed, the maliciousness is all contained in the browser via Javascript. So force-quiting the browser, disabling the loading of previous pages when restarting it and resetting the browser caches should clear it. Only if there is a browser or other flaw in one of the other web browser plug-ins you have installed can the malware take further action.

Since Java is highly prone to flaws, it should be disabled in the web browser at least and removed/uninstalled at best to reduce the chances of getting malware.

Flash is another favorite target for malware, it like Javascript, is used so much that it almost can’t be avoided. Flash has to be maintained by the user. Chrome maintains their own Flash, but not for other browsers on the machine. Many modern browsers now come with checks that will disable or advise to update the installed third party web browser plugins before running content on a web site. Some malicious web sites will duplicate this “Update your Flash” window using Javascript to attempt to trick one into installing a bogus Flash, a bogus update for their browser, or bogus other things like driver updates or tainted copies of free/open source software.

The trick to surfing safely is to disable or uninstall all web browser plugin’s not currently in active use as to minimize your exposure window. Trust the source of your downloads and learn how to backup your files and use Windows System Restore feature, everyone gets tricked now and then.

Web sites load so fast and it’s very easy to be hijacked off good sites to go to bad ones in milliseconds. With Firefox and their NoScript add-on, it gives one some time to check the ending site out first before committing to running possible dangerous scripts.

You can use this site here to check the status of their web browser plug-ins and link from there to the updates. (requires all plug-ins and Javascript running). Link 

[“People Magazine Cover”] The only magazine cover T. Martin should be on is “Dead Thug”. No such thing you say? Good.

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott’s letter to the local chapter of the NAACP. Link

[Captain Doom and Gloom] “Redneck Manor Manners” All parties are BYO Booze, Bimbo, Brats, Beasts and Toilet paper. Allow the kids to swim naked, if they are under 25. Bathe if you have to. Brag about how your toe fungus is healing. Braid your underarm hair and your wife’s too. Brush your tooth and carry your toothbrush with you. Burn the sauerkraut. Butt into conversations like you own the place. Fart down wind. Feed the Sheriff’s K-9 your neighbors dog. Have a special table for BBQ sauces. Have Yankee Go Home signs for laughs next to the Rabble Flag. Invite all your friends on your invitation for free eats. Invite the Sheriff for free booze. Invite your wife if she is sober. Left handed nose picking only. Let the dogs and cats run free to have fun too. Lime the Right Of Way for truck parking like a football field. Line up all the beer kegs by number. Make all guests wear baseball caps with crosses. Mark your trees HIS & HERS. Pass out String Bikinis to the teens for the pool. Place garbage cans at each end of the picnic tables. Play nothing but Johnny Cash and Hank Williams songs. Polish the spittoons. Run the garden hose through the ice bucket for the Wet T Shirt Contest Say all the dishes are finger food. Shave if you want to. Shoes optional. Shun anyone that is intelligent. Soak all tables and seating with bug juice. Underwear optional. Use small rolls for the foot longs. Use squeeze bottles with your family crest for condiments Zit Pinching Contest for the kids up to 35.

“Sewers” It has been over 3 days, so I guess the local mentality has long stopped thinking about the sewer fiasco? Like everything else in these Keys, out of sight, out of mind, but never out of my wallet.

“Carrying a Gun Changes People” This is good. This makes people have guts to defend themselves if needed. If the bad guys have weapons, guns, clubs, spears, swords, nukes, bankbooks or whatever, then those who do not always fall prey to those who do. This is the way the world works. It is not a fairyland or a One Human Family fiction, it is a survival of the fittest jungle out there. There is no difference in the base intelligence of bugs, animals and so called humans. We are all from the same amoeba, but supposedly have ‘evolved’ into a higher species. This is debatable. Bugs raid, maim, kill and eat their food source exactly like humans do. If humanity were going to make it, there would not be overpopulation, wars, careless destruction of the planet and we would not shit where we eat. Guns are not the problem, humans are. The only human that MIGHT need a weapon is a Game Warden in the wild, else he is food to! Utopian thinking? Of course. You cannot train the inept in only a few hundred thousand generations, right?

“Some things a politician can write-off on his income tax”’  Deodorant: This is one of the biggest items. Hair cuts: As part of his Professional Image. Shaving Gear: As part of his professional image. Suites: As part of his professional image. Shoes: As part of his professional image. Travel: As part of his professional dealings. Vehicles: As tools and equipment. Office Expenses: As tools and equipment. Life Insurance: As professional protection fees. Medical Expenses: to protect his professional health. Body Guards: As professional protection. Entertainment Expenses: Associated with his professional needs. Housing Expenses: If he has a home office (of course). Pool Maintenance: See: Health expenses. Lawyer Fees: Course of doing business. Account Fees: Course of doing business. Advertising: Course of doing business. Family Costs: If used as show front in advertising. Pets: See: Family Costs. Service Help: As tools and equipment. Income Tax Fees: Course of doing business.   Now what can you write-off with your job?

“Travel” Ever notice people who travel a lot do not like people who travel with kids? There seems to be a widening gulf between singles, older couples and the family clan type cruises and vacation travel packages. The “we have to suffer with them and so do you”, screaming brat syndrome is getting to be the dividing wall between mature adult groups and the breeder types who bring their mutated offspring to annoy everyone around them. This is a good sign that people are starting to defend their rights to privacy and decency without having to put up with the yellow pools and garbage strewn dining rooms left by the uncaring Mommies and Daddies. Pets are next! It is about time!

Today in 2010, the website Wikileaks  released the “Afghan War Diary,” containing more than 75,000 secret documents from the United States’ war in Afghanistan, so Julian Assad, it’s founder, was arrested on rape charges.

[Rule of law] Maybe if people would educate themselves and not listen to everything the press says it would be obvious why the jury returned the verdict they did. Nah, while you’re absolutely correct, we’ve become a nation of opinion based on political correctness and feelings as opposed to the Nation of Laws we were founded on.

We have a President who gives “shout outs” at speeches. A President who holds events at the White House that includes rappers with criminal records, a President who blatantly interjected himself into the Trayvon tragedy based on a year’s old photo of the perpetrator that in no way reflected who Trayvon was when he was when he died. The same President has signed the NDAA, ObamaCare, the Patriot Act and recently resigned the NSA’s search and scour everyone’s info program. In addition, we have AG Holder who somehow decided he could hold Zimmerman’s gun from him even after he was found not guilty as he was charged or of a lessor charge.

Gone is the rule of law and the Constitution. Gone is being innocent until proven guilty and gone is being judged by a jury of your peers. Instead we have the rule of political and public pressure regardless of what law says. Fundamental change is Obama speak for repatriation and a class war he’s declared against those who built this nation.

Obama’s speech yesterday on expanding the middle class and not the upper class was covered on all news channels. When it ended I switched to FOX for their negative comments and they hadn’t even covered it. They were in the middle of their continuing prosecution of the IRS scandal. No mention of the speech.

This is a direct result of our business friendly laws (they say there aren’t enough of them) that have deemed corporations “people” and have allowed one entity to control all media we see, be it left tilted or right tilted. That was a big mistake and contributes to our decline as a nation. It we want the true news we have to go to overseas sources and news agencies. I think it’s a shame. 

A lawyer advising National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has said his asylum status has not been resolved and that he is going to stay at the Moscow airport for now. Isn’t it something when a person rather live at a Moscow airport than in the US?

Rain, heat wave, fires, floods. I started to worry until I checked with my local National Republican Committee. There is no climate change.

Obamacare, or the fear of it, has reduced insurance rates in New York by almost fifty percent! Critics won’t give it a chance to work. They say it must be perfect or initiated by a Republican before they’ll consider it. National healthcare is a good thing for everyone. It must be given time to work. Medicare took a long time to get it right. There were so many abuses the program was in jeopardy, but after many years they’ve got it under control and it works beautifully and is continually improving.  It’s the same with Social Security which was violently protested ny naysayers, but today I don’t think there are too many who will call for its repeal.

Presently we are being abused and cheated by the American medical system and Republicans like it like that or by now they would have proposed at least one suggestion to stop the abuse. They haven’t, they just say no.

I guess the reason for posting poll numbers is to somehow think its a way of swaying opinion. I would like to take a shot at that myself. Weve seen Obamas numbers now lets look at the leading Republican holding office and see what the American people think of the job hes doing. Then compare numbers.

lets see according to an NBC/WSJ poll released Wednesday twice as many Americans view him negatively then view him positively. Ouch. Fact is the poll also uncovered that John Boehner is barely ahead of Edward Snowden the American traitor.

Only 18% of Americans have a positive opinion of the leading Republican.

Polls really don’t tell us much but if we are to believe poll numbers are the end all Im thinking Obama isn’t really doing that bad compared to leading Republicans.

The Wall Street Journal that was involved in the polling isn’t considered the liberal media by any stretch of the imagination.

Good to see both sides polling numbers.

Last Sunday a poster wrote a quote from Romney spoken shortly after the killing of Martin, which in effect stated that a “thorough” investigation was needed. Romney’s statement was timely and correct. It was made not long after the episode occurred.  In the several hundred days since then one of the most probing investigations in Florida’s history, examined all the facets of the episode.

Yesterday a poster complained about my response to that posting. The intent of Sundays posting was crystal clear. The poster was trying to convince us that because Romney had urged a “thorough” investigation, then conservative folks such as myself should not be criticizing Team Obama’s nascent civil rights investigation into the affair.

Yesterday’s poster attempted to harpoon me for posting that s/he had written: “Team Obama’s setting up on Zimmerman was perfectly acceptable and any argument to the contrary was unfair.” In fairness, those were not the precise words of the poster.  Nonetheless the Sunday post was most certainly intended to convince us that a new Justice investigation into Zimmerman was perfectly acceptable and desirable.

The episode has been fully investigated by State, Local, and Federal authorities. The FBI has publicly stated that they found no evidence that Z is a racist. Z has been found to be not guilty after a grueling trial. Any further federal investigation is nothing more than a sop to Obama’s base, and a racially political ploy.  I stand by my posting.

Having said that, I think we all would be interested in the critic posting his/her views on the Justice Department commencing a new investigation targeting Zimmerman. But it’s likely that the critic really has no view.

Part 2) Democrats currently outnumber Republicans, in the voting population of the U.S.  Nonetheless, a poll has just revealed that 53% of Americans believe that Obamacare should be repealed, only 40% believe that it should be kept in place. 47% feel that Obamacare will cost more money, 34% feel that their costs will remain the same, and only 11% believe it will save them money.

[Alternate Energy Bad] Warning! democrats the following post has math and science so you may want to skip to the one that says anyone who likes the color orange is a racist. The problem for the left when they talk of the “value” of solar power is solar power follows simple and basic principles of math and physics. Let’s take a typical problem set and work through it. The following are the conditions: Zone 4 solar hours = 4.5. Florida is given a solar hour rating of 4.5 this the number of hours the sun shines each day with enough force to drive an electron from a thin wafer of silicon averaged over one year

Cost of a kilowatt hour = 0.08 cents. This is the average wholesale cost of one kw of power supplied to a residential home for one hour. It is true there are taxes and fees added to this number. Cost of a 5kw residential solar system = $30,000.

Now for some very simple math: 5kw X 4.5 solar hours X 365 days per year X 0.08 cents per kwhour = $657.00 per year of solar power created $30,000.00 \ $657.00 per year = 42.6 years before you break even on your investment

Now I can already hear the lefties who ignored my advice screaming and jumping up and down shouting “you’re not allowing for an increase in fossil fuel costs”. And that’s right they claim solar pays for itself in under ten years. But for that to happen fuel prices would have to quadruple to nearly $16.00 per gallon. This is not likely to happen. They will point to charts showing how fast the price of fuel has risen over the last six years and extrapolate this rate out ten years.

Now you can understand why Obama is desperate to close coal burning utilities, refuse the Keystone pipeline and perpetuate anti science mythology surrounding the fracking of shale oils. His “energy policy will necessarily cause energy prices to rise”. It is highly, highly unlikely this administration will be able to artificially drive up the cost of fossil fuels enough to come remotely close to providing a “value” to solar power.

“But, but, but you’re not telling them about all the government incentives” the excitable lefties are screaming. This is also true, there is anywhere from thirty to fifty percent incentives to purchase solar systems provided by state and federal governments. In other words you could receive a rebate check of up to $15000.00 for a 5kw residential system and this would dramatically increase the “value” of a solar power system.

And it is here that lies the true evil of the left vision of “value” energy systems. You see a black man or Hispanic man like myself we can’t afford $30000.00 for a system that will reduce our energy bill by 50.00 a month for the next forty years. No this “rebate” is exclusively designed to fit snugly into the pocket of the wealthy white progressive democrat. Fifteen thousand per system and adding up to hundreds of millions every year being transferred from programs to pay teachers provide services to poor minorities,’provide food and shelter for the homeless ending up in the bank accounts of rich democrats. And the rest of have to sit here and be smugly lectured on the environment.

Solar power is a lie. The rare earth minerals needed to build the units are mined and sold almost exclusively by China causing our current president to sit mute as gross human rights violations are perpetrated least his anti science agenda be up ended by a lack of resources

Solar power is a lie. With the recent discovery of 10’s o thousands of billions of barrels of shale oils a world that consumes 80 billion a year will not run out for hundreds of years

Solar power is a lie. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. But you can now see why they desperately need you to believe it is. It did not cause the modest warmIng trend near the end I the last century and no number of computer programs written by leftist hacks will make it so

Solar power is a lie. And understanding this simple truth does not mean we do not support actual alternatives

Solar power is a lie. And the lefts insatiable need for moral relevance will never make it so.