Who Owns the Water Owns You

This trailer was on the FHD web site but It is so significant, I had to post it here. This is just another reason why we MUST continue on with our own water source.

General Motors – Sad day for America

This will be the largest bankruptcy in the history of our country. God, I hate to see the stock market at the end of tomorrow. Shudders.

Whose fault is this? Who do you blame?

• The Unions? Bloated contracts?

• The U.S. consumer? I own a GM car and it the best car I have ever owned.

• Bad management decisions?

• The Wall Street crisis?

• The government?
  

The taxpayer here has already given $13.4 billion to General Motors. They wanted over $22 billion and now it is reported that GM cars will be produced in China and brought back here for sale.

Millions of American workers out of work and dealerships closed. This can’t be good for America.

Hand holding with Illegals

Protesting immigration police in Greeley

We have a lot of illegal immigrants crying the blues in Greeley, Colorado. Why? They were caught when a prosecutor seized some tax preparations, thousands of them. The ACLU, of course, got involved and two judges say that the seizure was improper. Why? No probable cause.

These are ILLEGAL aliens.

After going through these records it was proved that these illegals had false social security numbers, many of which were stolen. The IRS issues TIN numbers to people without Social Security numbers. So the illegals use false social security numbers to work and use the TIN to file taxes. Where do they learn to circumvent the system? Naw, it can’t be the ACLU or places like The Mentoring Center, can it?

Now here’s the caveat-- undocumented workers can be considered identity thieves only if authorities prove they knew they were using someone else's Social Security number.

Not only did these people cross our borders illegally, which is criminal in itself, but they are using stolen identity, free legal assistance and getting mentored through their illegal activity. Now how much hand holding do we have to put up with here?

Former Stanton secretary drops law suit against Largo

Quoted as saying she didn't want to bring any further harm to "the city I love," Brenda Francisco, 61, who worked for the City of Largo for 31 years and was the former secretary to Susan Stanton, has dropped her age discrimination suit against the city that fired her.

It seems that Ms. Francisco really was fired for her loyalty. Ms. Francisco worked 14 years for Stanton. She was loyal to Stanton and was not happy that she was being replaced by a new city manager and spoke openly about it. Subsequently she was fired too.

As we all know, age discrimination cases are extremely difficult to prove but there is no possible case just for being loyal even if you spent more than 50% of your life and your entire working career being just that.

Jobs in America

3% of illegal aliens do low-paid stoop agricultural labor; the remaining 97% take jobs that Americans want and need

Lake Worth Beach--the best!

The Florida Dept. of Health takes samples of our beach on a regular basis. Click here to see report

Five beaches in South Florida are closed due to bacteria and are under a health watch right now but our beach is in good shape.

Cyber Attacks

You have probably heard parts of President Obama’s speech by now on cyber terrorists. This is an up and coming real potential risk to our country. And it is happening, not only by people hacking into what was considered a secure government system, but to the other extreme of local punks engaging in cyber attacks against private citizens. In either case, both are cyber terrorists.

Nearby to Lake Worth is Tlo Holdings II, Inc., created on February 11, 2005 and located in Boca Raton. This is a company that has been barely mentioned but it devotes a lot of its business to cyber sleuthing. One of the partners, Hank Asher who is president, is applauding Obama for taking a pro-active approach to this very serious and aggressive warfare that is an on-going global problem and poses a very likely threat to our military, banks, law enforcement and even to our power grids. President Obama says that is has happened. Close to home, a breach of security was reported on our computer at Lake Worth Utility.

Asher of Tlo believes that private companies are the key to protecting the US from cyber terrorists more so than the government because a private company can afford to pay for the top scientists in this field. His company developed software that identified terrorists after September 11 and his work led to the arrests of Beltway snipers, Muhammad and Malvo, who killed 10 in the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC area in 2002.

Even Palm Beach County is using his business. The County started a super predator unit and is going to go after these creeps who prey on children. Our State Attorney, Michael McAuliffe, is convinced that it is a huge problem and he will be using Tlo Holdings’ computers and office space as well as their technical expertise, FREE OF CHARGE. Tlo is offering this service to law enforcement all over the country.

Tlo has leased 143,000 square feet in Boca and plans to hire 5,000 employees. Being sued by his former company for a non-compete clause has not deterred Asher in his business. He has given the government a powerful tool to track terrorists.

On an another note, spreading disinformation is unethical in its lack of regard for the truth. This is a prevalent problem right here in Lake Worth with a few hate blogs that have reared up their ugly heads for the coming election.

Another beautiful Sunset on Lake Osborne

Disclaimer: God wrote this story

Creep gets 19 years to Life

The creep, Phil Spector, finally got sentenced for what the Jury said was 2nd Degree murder of Lana Clarkson. It has only taken 6 years and two trials to get to this point of some sort of justice for Clarkson.

Telling his driver that "I think I killed somebody," he went on to tell two juries that Clarkson committed accidental suicide by shooting a bullet into her own mouth while kissing the gun.

Why does it take so long to try celebrities?

Even the birds don't have a chance against developers

Woodstork at Lake Osborne

READ ABOUT IT HERE

Cyber attacks

President Obama is speaking now saying that "we know cyber intruders probed our electric grid." He also said that "acts of terror could come from just a few key strokes."

Please go to Lake Worth Media and read William Coakley's latest article on just this subject.

Where have all the Nuts gone?

Squirrel eating nut on Lake Osborne

I was reading an article from a guy who lives in northern Wisconsin and he was wondering where all the acorns have gone. He just hasn’t seen that many lately and researchers are apparently baffled over the recent crop of acorns--they are down or just plain disappearing in certain areas of the country. We know what happened out here on Lake Osborne Drive. The hurricanes of 2004 blew down all of our magnificent Oak trees and what was not destroyed by Mother Nature, the County did the rest but eventually replaced our trees out here with puny little sticks.

It got me to thinking about ACORN, the group that you see usually around election time here in Lake Worth, that likes to get in your face when you don’t agree with the candidate they are supporting. The ACLU loves this group so right away it gets my interest. The only thing that they don’t do is steal campaign signs. They leave that up to the pros in College Park. They protest everything even doing sit-ins at houses set for foreclosure defending the deadbeat who got into the bad, ill-conceived mortgage. You know the one--the guy who makes $20,000 a year and buys a $500,000 house. (Mark Bates used that analogy the other night and I thought he had hacked my draft.) This is a group that actually pressured banks to make these mortgages for these deadbeats and you and I are paying dearly for their radical intervention.

You do recall the Rene Varela, (candidate for District 4 Commission seat) incident of last year where the leader of ACORN here threatened him by calling his residence several times saying, “We will bury you” and he did—at the polls. He had his little followers all over this city like ants on honey, bad-mouthing all the way through to election day. Sickening stuff.

Bertha Lewis, the president of ACORN, keeps shouting stuff like racial profiling and telling everyone who will listen that it is some horrible conspiracy out to get her group--that it's all a big lie. They train their people to call everyone who disagrees with them, "racist." ACORN likes to tell the media, that we are all racist scum who are in some sort of a conspiracy to block the vote of the minority. We see that same mentality right here in our own city when you take a stand against illegal aliens, as an example. ACORN turns it all around and plays the race card...they want to blow you away for being whatever they come up with for that given day to help make their pathetic case. Everything you utter is turned around to that one crazy, nutty thought--racist. Really a bunch of cracked nuts.

It is a group to be reckoned with. President Obama’s campaign gave $800,000 to ACORN to help with voter registration that turned out to be highly questionable even with dead people on the lists. Obama owes them, I guess, as Acorn and similar groups that are off the wall will be eligible for $3 billion in federal funding from Obama’s stimulus. It is reported that ACORN's members have gone ecstatically wild over Obama's nomination of Sotomayor, a minority in their eyes, to the Supreme Court. (Who is playing the race card now?) Also, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has set aside $5.5 billion in grants. It was announced late last year that RICO is investigating them in ten states, and charges of embezzlement, wire fraud, extortion and campaign finance violations have been mentioned.

ACORN will be one group that will be allowed to be involved in the 2010 census taking. Any anti-immigration group will be refused along with law enforcement groups and what the government considers "hate" groups. Apparently they are not on the "extremist" list from the Department of Homeland Security and not considered a threat. It is only the far right groups that the present government considers extreme.

Hopefully, ACORN, the leftist group, will disappear into the sunset of history and be forgotten as just another radical, left-wing group that was eventually stopped by the law. Our entire system, based on free and fair elections, will be better for it--but more than likely you will see these little nuts back in Lake Worth later this year.

Commissioner Jennings on the Planning & Zoning Board

Deadline tomorrow on applications for City Boards at 5pm

What Commissioner says about Planning & Zoning--

Planning and Zoning: Interviewing for Five of the Nine seats. The Planning Board’s job is to review and approve development plans. They have the power to approve buildings such as the Lucerne in downtown and the Greater Bay beach plan. Although planning requires consideration of natural resources and population density, most of the recent members are from the development/builder, legal or real estate profession. Help us create a board that reflects all the elements we need to consider when approving development in our city! If you want a say in how high, big, or green we grow, then step right up!

Single Payer Health Care to be discussed at PB County Commission

In a recent study by Harvard University, it was found that the high cost of medical bills are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy in this country. As bankruptcy affects all people in America, all those who filed for bankruptcy were employed prior to becoming ill. Don't lose your job in this country because Cobra is very expensive and more people than not, cannot afford the high cost of medical insurance.

On Tuesday, June 2, the Palm Beach County Commission will consider and discuss a revised resolution to endorse a universal health care system. Floridians For Health Care will be there to support its case for a single payer system and urges everyone to attend this important commission meeting.

The resolution will take place somewhere between 10am and Noon. It is 2nd on the Regular agenda so it is advisable to be at the commission chamber no later than 10am. Fill out a comment card if you wish to speak.

They say that Single Payer Health Care will help those in need from filing bankruptcy for medical costs but come to this important meeting and listen to all of the reasons for supporting Single Payer Health Care and make up your own mind.

Is it time to Re-finance?

I ran into Bret Taylor of the Pier Group the other night and asked him how the real estate business was going. He said that it was turning around although slowly. That is good news. I got to thinking about mortgages when I parked downtown this morning by the former location of Integrity Mortgage that has moved to N. Federal Highway.

The foreclosure rate on prime fixed rate mortgages doubled last year and if you live in California, Nevada, Arizona or Florida, 46% of new mortgages in these states accounted for nearly half of the foreclosures in the country. This is one reason why our State is hurting and why our city is struggling. There is a trickle down effect to this not only in income to the city but by the blight it causes to the neighborhood which increase gang activity, etc.

Perhaps refinancing is the key as President Obama suggested last month.

Click here for Re-Finance Calculator.

GM and bondholders reach deal

General Motors said Thursday in a regulatory filing that it had reached a deal with a committee of its bondholders to give them 10 percent of a new G.M. -- with an option to purchase up to 15 percent -- if they did not oppose the government-sponsored reorganization plan.

Read More

Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Mike Rios, president of the Puerto Rican-USA/Democratic Hispanic Club said, “You also have to look at how the Republicans turned off so many Latin voters in recent years by the position they took on the immigration issue,” and further said that “if they (Senate) go after this Latin woman (Sonia Sotomayor) , it could backfire on them.” I found his remark to be ridiculous.

The Media as well as the Democrats planted the seed that "race" might come into play. Now the Republicans are taking the hook. Will people EVER grow up here?

Now I don’t mind anyone having pride in someone's success who happens to be of the same sex, race or from the same country their families immigrated from, or even having pride in someone for rising from poverty and becoming an inspiration to all. I root for the Miami Dolphins because I have pride in Florida and they are the closest team to Lake Worth. It is just a normal reaction to have this feeling toward someone for whom you feel a connection. That’s what America is all about and it is equal opportunity to succeed. It should have nothing to do with race or gender. The only racial remarks and hate spewed during the Obama campaign were from the President's own Reverend Wright.

What does Mr. Rios mean when he cites the Republican Party’s stand on immigration? He is not very clear about that at all. Both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are for legal immigration to this country and oppose illegal immigration. Does he really believe that the Senate will give Ms. Sotomayor a hard time because she is Hispanic and most of the illegals migrating here are also?

We already know that she is of fine character. She will be judged on her judiciousness. Since 1789, only 30 of the 144 nominees sent to the Senate for confirmation have been rejected. Sonia Sotomayor will become, after 18 years on the Federal bench, the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States, making us ALL proud because she deserves the job and is the best--nothing more, nothing less.

PB County Grand Jury Report on Corruption

For the one sole LW citizen who does not believe that there is corruption in politics here in PB County or for the rest of us (99.9999999% of citizens) who are well aware of that fact, CLICK HERE for the Final Presentment of the PB County Grand Jury on the investigation of Palm Beach County Governance and Public Corruption Issues.

Dawn of a Brand New Day

There was talk of sunsets last night but actually it was a dawn of a brand new day for our CRA.

A couple of residents, Annabeth Karson and Laurence McNamara, said it well--last night’s meeting was the absolute best. I agreed with everyone there even when they had differences of opinion. It was strange but definitely made me feel that we all had hope here with the CRA as a Board and members really tying to “get it right” and make things fair. There was a free exchange of ideas and no one got upset with anyone for their difference of opinion. The Board really worked as a team.

I don’t understand why a financial requirement is too cumbersome as reported. Grants really should be by need and Mark Rickards thought so too. Ed Grimm was right when he said that the CRA should fund programs that have universal value to the City. I like Shanon Materio’s suggestion about focusing on a section and cleaning it up. I also liked everything her husband said. The public at large would see the benefit and as Donna Ross reminded them, people “want our money to be seen.” Wayne Marcinkoski wants to focus on more things that affect our City and eliminate the first come, first serve entitlement in the grant programs.

I agreed with Brendan Lynch that rental properties should not be considered for residential rehab grants and could see Ed’s point that matching funds might not be fair, that we were asking poor people to come up with money. The only way that would work would be full disclosure of financials. When it comes to virtually free money, there are always people out there ready to scam the system.

CLICK HERE and scroll to page three to see the financial requirements for the Home Repair and the Beautification grants. It will be an eye-opener to understanding what “poor” means for these programs.

Ed was also opposed to having an applicant come up to the lectern and discuss his financials. Anyone going for a grant should not be shy in discussing his income, however, and the people do have a right to that information. Wes said that he was not married to the Residential rehab grant, Wayne was for sun-setting the Commercial grant and Shanon for sun-setting both of the programs.

The CRA’s attorney had one statement last night saying that the Board did not have to allow the public to speak. Thanks for earning your fee last night, Mr. Tolces. Mark Bates, our Financial Director, gave his report and not one CRA Board member cried “foul.” The CRA will most likely have $600,000 less in the coming year to work with. The payment on the Bond for the Gateways is $950,000 a year which includes principal and interest. They accepted the news and talked about it rationally and non-emotionally with Joan Oliva, CRA Director, even telling them that it will be very difficult to fund either program next year.

Herman Robinson was sitting next to me and I asked him if he was trying out for this Board. He answered, “yes,” but that the present Board was great. I think everyone there observing, and those who have applied to this Board, would have to agree to that assessment after last night.

As this CRA Board will be changing soon, the present members actually saw the dawn of a new beginning. Too bad they didn’t see the light sooner. Will it be too late for their redemption?

A Pilot Program for Chickens?

Do you believe in urban chickens? Be part of the team that brings those hens of good tidings to Lake Worth! We are looking for people who want to help organize a chicken pilot program. No we don't mean we're putting chickens in airplanes - we want to create a program for a few designated residents to test out the guidelines of our proposed pro-chicken ordinance. This would involve identifying participants, doing some gathering community support, and bringing the proposal to the city commission.

If you are interested in being either a participant or organizer in the pilot program, please contact us as soon as possible. An organizing meeting is set for next Monday. Please contact me for time and location.
...........................................
The above was in my in-box this morning. The contact info was deleted by me.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME, PEOPLE?
Please get in touch with those commissioners behind this.

Justice being served!?!?

As Kevin McCarty is hauled off to whereabouts unknown today to serve his 8 months sentence, Corrupt PB Commissioner might get
REDUCED SENTENCE

This is how the FBI will get them all.

The Truth about SB 360

Obama Chooses Sotomayor for Supreme Court Nominee

"President Obama has chosen Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the
Federal Appeals Court as his nominee for the Supreme Court,
and has scheduled an announcementfor 10:15 a.m. at the White House.

Ms. Sotomayor, 54, will be the first Hispanic to serve on the
Supreme Court if her nomination is approved by the Senate."

READ THE ARTICLE

Abuse of Power

I’ve talked about abuse of power lately. All you have to do is remember Tony Masilotti, Warren Newell, Jim Exline, Ray Liberti…Mary McCarty will be sentenced to prison on June 6^{th. --} Remembering them and then relying and putting your faith in elected officials to make all the right decisions for you and for me, is nuts! But that is what some people continue to argue... "well, we voted them in and we can vote them out...this is a Republic!" Not good enough. Even the LW Herald is against public speaking. Lois Frankel, Mayor of West Palm Beach, in my opinion, is a prime example of this abuse although I will admit she raised a great son!

I don’t know how many times I have to keep saying it—I hate the Mac McKinnon philosophy. It is just so naive but mostly it is just plain arrogant but it is also the sad truth of the matter. These people get elected and then all of a sudden they have all the brains; we have none. They have all the power and we are lucky if they nod our way once we give them our vote.

Just the other day I wrote that we should be allowed to vote on anything that affects our valuable assets, the expenditure of huge amounts of money such as Frankel's City Center, etc. without a commission being the sole decider which prompted a condescending lesson in US history by a local resident and ridicule with a graphic. This does not negate the fact that our elected officials, more often than not, do not listen and do not care about their constituents or what they want. It is all about what they want. That's the bottom line.

It is the same thing as giving someone your General Power of Attorney. You trust them to do the right thing by you and then they go and steal all your money. Elected officials have all the power and we are at their mercy. Take the Iraq War as an example of our system depending upon our elected officials to make correct and just and legal decisions. We have a Congress that is the only power that can declare war. What happened in Iraq? President Bush invaded that country and overthrew a dictator there who was eventually hanged by the people. To date, we, as a nation, have spent going on $671 billion dollars of our Treasury and for what? The damage that was done is monumental. We elected a President and we were stuck with his criminal acts until we voted him out.

I keep hearing that one main argument that we can vote the bums out if we don't like the way they are leading, well yes, we can—we can also impeach, but just consider all the damage that can be done in a very short time span. After the government managed to KILL 4,300 American men, so far, since the war began on March 19, 2003, we finally got rid of George Bush nearly 6 years later. Look what happened to our entire economy? Where were the protections? When our elected rep can tell me that 6 out of 10 people do NOT want the Stimulus Bill and then votes for it anyway, what does this tell you? It tells me that I have no representation.

On a local level it is imperative that we stay on top of local officials and hold them accountable. More people should engage them by coming to commission meetings and speaking out. We need to see you at commission meetings and our elected commissioners need to hear what you think, whether they want to or not.

We have commissioners who never return phone calls and never answer e-mails. As a citizen, I don’t like being ignored. People don’t mind this type of abuse when things are going THEIR way...they don't notice it. They will be the first to scream bloody murder if things are not to their liking. I want to point out that we all need to stand up. We are all susceptible to this abuse at any given time. We are not represented when elected officials do not respond.

It was just reported in the news that the City of Lake Worth has agreed to outsource our planning and building services to Boynton Beach. Don't you think we should have at least been given the courtesy of knowing that the city was considering that action? Did the Commission even know? If they did, why didn't they tell us? Is this not important? Pretty soon we won't have a city at the rate we're going. We pay these people's paychecks, don't we?

Corruption abounds and it has and it is happening right around us. When elected officials have the power to directly influence the lives of others, then it is imperative that we keep them in check. An example of abuse is voting on a contract and having no idea what it says. An abuse is voting on an issue and not asking one question or never doing your homework on it. We have been witness to horrible decisions and our City is suffering.

If we don’t speak out, elected officials could ramrod everything of a personal nature through. We petition only as a last resort, when democracy has taken a trip south and there is no other alternative. Even with that right, it is very difficult; and as Carolyn Wright found out in West Palm Beach, it is impossible to fight a corrupt city hall. The more that we can vote on issues, and vote on things that will affect our lives, the better chance we will have to stop the egregious abuse that abounds and elected officials from doing whatever they please because they can.

To vote on our beach or our golf course should not be a problem to elected officials, unless, of course, they feel that they might lose at the polls in the direction that THEY want to take. It also should not be a problem to those few who cry, "trust your elected officials to do the right thing by the people." Thank God our Electric Utility is protected under our Charter. If they ever entertained the sale of it, it would have to go to a vote of the people. Our beach and our golf course are worth much more in dollars as is our history.

Voting is not mob rule as suggested by a possible candidate--just assurance that we won't have tyranny--and the more that we can vote on, the better off we will be.

Operation Medicine Cabinet

OPERATION MEDICINE CABINET

SATURDAY, MAY 30,
9:00AM-4:00PM

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, in partnership with CVS, Walgreen's, Walmart, & the PBC Substance Abuse Coalition, will hold OPERATION TRI-COUNTY MEDICINE CABINET on Saturday, May 30, 9AM - 4PM.

Anyone who has any unused, expired, or old prescription medications can turn them in at the participating locations below, and receive a $5.00 gift card to CVS, Walgreen's or Walmart, while supplies last.

OPERATION MEDICINE CABINET will be held at the following six (6) locations in Palm Beach County:
- Boca Raton: Town Center Mall, Boca Raton, main parking lot (please enter from Glades Rd.)
- Boynton Beach: Boynton Beach Mall, Boynton Beach, parking lot in front of the food court (please enter from Congress Ave.)
- Palm Springs: CVS, 10th Ave. and Congress Ave., Palm Springs
- Palm Beach Gardens: Walgreens, PGA Blvd. and Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens
- Wellington: Walgreens, Wellington Mall
- Belle Glade: PBSO District 5, Belle Glade

Questions?

Please visit www.pbso.org, scroll down to the OPERATION MEDICINE CABINET LINK (on right side) for information, or call the OPERATION MEDICINE CABINET
hotline: (561) 688.3804.

Thanks to Terrie Rizzo, VP of the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee for this information

The Wall...Remembering

Remembering
Clarence Jones

Lake Worth High School Alumnus, Class of '60,
killed in action in Viet Nam

Fishing on Lake Osborne

This is a shot taken from the same location I take most of my Lake Osborne sunset photos and it was soon after daybreak. This fisherman was beating the boat traffic, the noise and the weather, getting in a little fishing quality time.

A lot of beautiful quiet things happen across from where I live. The lake was stocked a few years back by the Florida Fish and Wild Life with bass, both small and large mouth. No sharks.

Fishermen have complained for quite some time about fishing on Lake Osborne because of all the water skiers and jet ski boats but they are rediscovering it now that the boaters have gone to greener pastures. Talk about decibels. For years, every weekend and every holiday, boats would be out on the lake en masse and they always would come too close to shore and scare our wildlife that also disappeared and has started to return. The only way to shut the noise out back then was to close your windows or leave for the day.

Years ago the Ski Club of the Palm Beaches was determined to build a quality ski club and to promote the sport of water skiing. They did just that by convincing the PB County Parks and Recreation that their vision would enhance visitation if it was built at Lake Okeeheelee. Since the price of gasoline has gone up for these recreational sports and the skiers have moved on to Lake Okeeheelee, fishing is more active than ever here at Lake Osborne.

Six to ten pound bass are not unusual and nothing tastes quite as good as catching your very own.

NO to SB 360

The Democratic Executive Committee says that "SB 360 will damage both the coasts and the Everglades. It does away with the DRI requirement. DRI's require large developments to be reviewed for significant impacts by the State. This prevents developers from placing significant developments into environmentally sensitive areas."

Call Gov Crist and tell him to vote NO at 850-488-4441

Remember our Heroes

The rain has kept some from doing what they planned over this Memorial Day weekend. At least Suzanne escaped and is in England having a great vacation. Katie and her family are going canoeing and someone else was going to relax and show me what having a life was all about by going out and killing sharks for the thrill of it.

If you want to attend a Memorial Day Event, the closest ones will be Lantana and Boynton Beach.

MONDAY

Lantana—11:45 AM TO 2PM 3691 Seacrest Blvd.

Boynton Beach-2pm, 1611 S. Seacrest Blvd

The Power should be in the hands of the people--not a Select Few

As I am a firm believer in the people's right to vote, especially when it comes to our assets, I am disturbed at what has and is taking place within our City. I don't believe in the old Mac McKinnon argument, "Why do you want to vote? You elected us; let us do the job." Forget that. Good people with good intentions can get corrupted. Power can corrupt. We got Michael Singer, right? We got the illegal labor hiring hall. We got the seniors kicked out of the Senior Center and gave Compass a lease for $1,000 a year for 20 years when our own city departments need more space. We had a commission that obligated us to a 40 year water deal with PB County essentially taking us out of the water business forever.

Look at all the developers, lobbyists, Realtors, environmentalists (green people) and others hanging around city hall. Even our new city manager said that there are a lot of angry people who have met with her. Elected officials need to listen to the people and allow us here to vote on major issues that change our city, such as land use changes as an example. Florida Hometown Democracy will change all that.

We have a few residents who have become vocal in our community and take stands on certain issues that affect, not only our assets and the cost, but affect the design and look. They say that they know what the people want. You don't know unless people vote at the polls! Those of us, who have been here for decades, some over 50 years, have NO clue, according to them. We live in some other century and the attitude is move over, the younger, hippier, more knowledgeable people are taking over. One actually told me, “and you sound like nobody I have ever heard before.” Right. I come from another planet. There is another citizen who stays angry all of the time and who is now taking time out of his "having a life" and connecting the dots to prove some conspiracy that those he hates have thwarted progress according to what he believes progress is. Geez, being concerned about the rights of the citizens and their right to vote is a strange phenomenon, I guess.

Some of these people mean well but what happened to our fundamental right under the Constitution? We ALL own these assets.

Take our beach, for instance. They want to take our upper level parking away and plant sea grass and install bike paths in its place. A commission sanctioned a fixed survey taken by 200 or so people and now we hear that this is the “will of the people.” I heard a few people for whom I would consider intelligent actually say this. Sickening. They even want to knock down a sea wall. “Let’s just spend the millions, we have it,” they say. They have said that, gee, there will be a drop off place for coolers and kids and that anyone should want to walk from the lower level up to the beach. No problem, says an icon in the community. I say, let them park below and leave the upper level parking for the rest of us who DO want it to remain. Once they get to the top of the dune, we will be there with an oxygen supply. If this is about what the people want, then think about ALL of the people. However, from day one, I have always said this should go out to a vote. This is an asset whose value is incalculable and our elected officials are responsible for its neglect.

Next it is our golf course. When we have something spectacular, there are always some who all of a sudden experience that light bulb sensation going off in their head...let's change it for the greater good of all, they cry, as if they really know what that is. It seems the next brilliant idea is to take some of our golf course away for a bike path…several miles of it all the way up to 20th Ave North. An 18 hole golf course would cost about $25 million or more today to build and we have some people who actually want to take some of it and pave it over for bike riders right at the edge of the Intracoastal Waterway. Any city in the world would die to have a golf course like ours. I have no idea if a bike path is a good idea or not, but if there is any intention to take away any square inch of our golf course, it should be by vote of the people.

Our golf course was opened in 1925 as a nine-hole course. It was designed for the common man and when it was first opened, residents could buy coupons good for 15 days of play for $5. In 1947 the course expanded to an 18 hole course and it has remained one of the best and affordable anywhere around. Through the last decade, we have neglected this wonderful and valuable asset.

Next we will all hear that this is what the people want, "historically," of course. Why is there always a segment that wants to screw everything up—change things for their own selfish reasons without it going to a ballot? If you want to get down to "historics," or anything the least bit relevant, then the people voted and defeated the Beach Plan only 7 years ago. This, too, was taking away upper level parking. The power should be in the hands of the voters when it affects things of this magnitude; should it not?

A beach is a beach and a golf course, is just that. It is not a bike path or any other kind of path other than walking the course from hole 1 to the 18^th with dreams of playing the course par or under and eventually getting to the 19th hole. It does belong to Lake Worth taxpayers.

Tonight's Sunset

The $154 million 3rd Finger Salute to Democracy and Citizen's Rights

Lois Frankel learned from a Republican

When I was very young, perhaps around 7 or 8, my Mom taught me a valuable lesson and to this day it remains as one of the most defining moments in all my years of living and learning.

We walked to Woolworth’s downtown West Palm Beach from our residence a few blocks away. This was when we had the old library, the one before the next old one that was demolished at the foot of Clematis. I asked my Mom to buy me this pink rubber ball. I liked bouncing balls back then and doing tricks with them. It had to be a high-bounce pink rubber ball. No other color or type would have been acceptable. Needless to say, my Mom said “no.” The ball only cost 10 cents and sells today for $2. It was not the price so much as it was expecting to receive something just because you asked for it and wanted it and expecting someone else to pay for it. That was the lesson. As she controlled the purse strings, I waited until I could figure out if it was that important to buy it myself.

We all want things; we sometimes dream of things that we can’t afford like that home on the ocean, that new Ferrari, etc. But we, for the most part, do not go out and buy them. Credit card debt, the mortgage debt, etc. is getting a lot of us in trouble, however, for trying to buy those dreams, knowing that we can't afford them, not really. We, the common citizens, have learned now that it is not smart to buy something we can not afford. Government, however, never seems to learn from its mistakes on taxing and spending. Look where we are today with over a 11 trillion dollar debt which will double in 10 years.

Lois Frankel took lessons from former President Bush by giving the people of her city the middle finger as more and more of her constituents were losing jobs and losing homes. Unemployment was on the rise. Lois wanted her new city center, an ode to herself, and bulldozed it through in spite of the objections of those citizens who signed the petition and their right to vote challenged by Lois all the way up to the Supreme Court of Florida, where the people won, again. All they wanted was the right to vote on spending $154 million dollars. She said that the citizens had no say in her spending this money which was THEIR money. She had a big fear that she would lose at the polls and she would not get her way. It was all about Lois.

The case was settled by the PAC but it was after Lois had already built the Center, after her total contempt for the voters who put her into power to do the will of the people. The PAC in no way stalled Lois' progress on this being built. And that's all it was for Lois Frankel. She had a dream; she built it and now all residents there are paying for it, never having a vote on the tremendous expenditure. The citizens of West Palm Beach are now indebted for a very long time in the worst economy in 50 years or more. Lois Frankel said screw you, it will be built. It wasn't her money and never should have been her decision.

There is no difference in my mind with what Lois did and my asking someone to pay for that pink rubber ball just because I wanted it. The Taj Majal has been built and it is a sight to behold, no doubt about it. Some say to forget about it; we can’t cry over spilt milk now. It’s there so enjoy and be proud of it. But the people had no choice. Their voice did not get heard at the polls. They are stuck with the bill and we should not forget that democracy got trampled by a mayor and a majority commission unconcerned about the debt and a mayor who was contemptuous of the voters.

The rubber ball of politics keeps bouncing and politicians keep spending and we, the people, continue to do our best in voting in those for whom we hope believe in democracy. We will always have elected officials such as Lois and the people will pay dearly for their egos. We need to be reminded of people like her, an elected representative who does not and will not represent the people who elected her to her believed position of supreme power and one who does not consider the consequences or the very people who elected her when she makes these decisions.

Lois had a quote back then-- “It's inappropriate and it's unnecessary and it's unfair, ... We're circumventing the will of 6 million voters." I have no idea what she was talking about but that's exactly what the voters were crying back then. Many people are forgetting what Lois did but those of us interested in democracy will never forget. She says we can afford it and it takes a lot of money to make a lot of money...this is about progress."

Another quote she referenced in January 2008 at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast was--"You’ll notice on the big screens a promotional ad for the City of West Palm Beach dating back to 1928. It reads, 'Behold your City… a City’s greatness depends upon the vision of its people'.” That's PEOPLE, Lois, not you and not a few other commissioners.

For a visual tour of the New City Center, CLICK HERE

The 3rd Finger Salute

Thanks to Katie Mcgiveron for the title of this article.

Nathaniel Brazill gets all emotional

Did you see any tears then?

Nine years ago, Nathaniel Brazill shot down Barry Grunow, his teacher at Lake Worth Middle School, for NO reason. He was mad and frustrated that day. Now he wants to get out of his 28 year sentence. He says he is sorry. He says he gets “choked up” when he thinks of his former teacher. He has learned the con now. Just the thought of 19 more years in a little cell must be getting him even madder.

He is one guy who got what he deserved, perhaps even less than he deserved but especially a whole lot more than what Barry Grunow deserved or the Grunow family.

Perhaps if he is allowed to fulfill his entire sentence, he might learn what he didn't in school-- that there are consequences to actions and the action can then create an effect that can result in punishment or reward. Killing someone in cold blood because you are mad is the most despicable and cowardly act of all. Let the murderer stay in jail. No more interviews.

Pam Grunow still cries to this day

Tax Deeds

DELINQUENT TAX ROLE FOR 2008

Anyone dying to buy tax deeds out there, here is the list. Go for it!

CRA--will property taxes affect their Grants?

On Tuesday, May 26th, there will be a CRA Workshop to go over the Residential Rehabilitation Grant and the Commercial Enhancement Grant. Along with these discussions, Mark Bates will bring the CRA an update on the City of Lake Worth Budget.

This should be very interesting particularly as it was just reported that 17,532 homeowners in PB County have yet to pay their ad valorem for 2008. In addition, 33,000 non-homesteaded property owners have outstanding tax bills. This comes to $252 million owed to PB County.

You can bet budgets are being looked at very closely and seriously, not only in Palm Beach County, but Lake Worth as well.

This should be an interesting revelation on the 26th and the CRA may very well come to the conclusion to have a Moratorium on all Grants at this time. I would approve.

Reply to E-Verify

I received a reply to my E-verify article of earlier today. It is really well written and his story is worth the read. Click HERE and scroll down.

To answer a stupid charge from the pit bull that I am anti-Hispanic when part of my own family came from Cuba, is about the most ridiculous lie yet. Grow up kid. Go fishing. Oh, and my community was here before the single family houses were on Lake Osborne Dr.

Coakley responds to Stafford cabal

We've already seen pics of the "cabal" which shows Stafford and his 4 cabal inmates ...a loving community indeed. Notice that whether its water, electric or Greater Bay... the cabal always prefers supporting the carpet baggers who periodically attempt to loot our city like Greater Bay's Willard.

And why is it that when the city is really threatened with losing millions... they say absolutely nothing or just look the other way? Now they're telling the public... THEY can identify who the bad people are? It's just another pathetic and feeble effort to get public attention drawn to their dying breed. They have no issues other than to react to ours, they have no platform other than to react to ours, they have no mission other than to undo ours, and they have no credibility other than to ride on ours if they can get us to react.

Their own behavior defines them as "corruption itself" because without their support, corruption couldn't flourish as well as it does in our city. As long as they continue supporting the wasters and carpetbaggers, they will fail most miserably in their evil mission.

William Coakley

Going Green

Several inches of rain over the last few days has our lawn, once again, green!
This is what "Going Green" means to me.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

This is a long Memorial Day weekend. We want all of you bloggers who are now starting to get excited about the local elections and who have declared you are working on up-coming conspiracy theories and fiction pieces, to relax and have a cold one. Don't let your vivid imagination get in the way of an enjoyable weekend.

E-Verify is American

Did anyone listen to former LW Commissioner, Scott Maxwell’s Talk Radio Show last night on illegal immigration? If you missed it, turn on 1230 AM in West Palm Beach every Thursday night at 8pm and you will learn a lot on our illegal immigration problem and how it is affecting our country financially. He has expert guests on his show that DO know the stats on this subject and will have answers to all your questions.

This illegal situation in our country is a phenomenon that our government has allowed. No one really understands why the government has allowed it to get so out of control. Officials are conflicted in what this country stands for particularly when they think of the Statute of Liberty. Democrats, afterall, have always stood for civil rights for all but they have extended their liberal view to an irrational state. The Statue is the symbol of freedom and republicanism. It is not the symbol of illegal acts and in no way does it symbolize open borders. We are a land of laws.

Our country has always welcomed the immigrant. It is the “illegal” part that is the problem. The illegal alien has taken advantage of our open door, look the other way policy, and can you blame him? Illegals are only trying to have a better economic life—find a job and support their families just like you and me. Certain liberal groups along with some elected officials have helped then come here. They think that they only answer to a higher power than American law.

President Obama has made a decision to crack down on the employer, the one who is really causing the problem. Without jobs, the alien would not be here, crossing our borders and becoming a dependent on social welfare at the expense of legal Americans. Jobs that used to be filled by native high school graduates are down 20% and jobs for teens have dropped 23%. Illegals have taken over these low end paying positions.

E-Verify is the answer. All Republicans voted to extend the E-Verify program. Every single Democrat with the exception of seven, voted to end the program. It was the Republicans who were watching out for American jobs.

We were supposed to find out yesterday if President Obama was going to extend the program. I have not yet heard a thing.

Florida Hometown Democracy keeps gathering support

Secretary Tom Pelham of the DCA said today that the requests for new developments from 10,000 to 100,000 new homes each seem to be in anticipation of the proposed Florida Hometown Democracy amendment to the state constitution. Just what we don't need--more development and more empty units for sale in our State and more impact on our resources. Haven't developers ruined enough in the State of Florida? Read Bruce Ritchie's BLOG and learn more.

Here's a guy who SWITCHED ALLEGIENCE He now supports Florida Hometown Democracy.

This Bill will encourage development in dense, overgrown areas too. Even our own Karen Marcus wants the Governor to veto SB 360 in fear that it will overburden the taxpayers of Florida. Developers will get a free ride on transportation issues and the hands of local officials will be tied.

Everyone contact Gov Crist and tell him to veto this bill. Executive Office of the Governor Switchboard: (850) 488-7146. We can't find out if he signed this Bill today or not. If he did, he might just as well forget being Senator.

Obama says, move Gitmo prisoners here!

This is just another reason why I might just CHANGE MY POLITICS

I am all for the rights of people but these are supposed TERRORISTS...people wanting to destroy our country! I totally agree that we have to have a balance between personal liberties and national defense. Charge them with a crime or let them go back to where ever we moved them from. Simple.

The "Resource" Center aka Illegal Labor Hiring Hall

Even signs on both sides of the parking lot
attracted NO employers or workers today

One lone car

Let's blame it on the weather

GM willing to give albatross, the UAW, 39% of its company

The UAW, realizing that if they do NOT negotiate, there will not be any labor jobs to worry about any longer. And although the Unions are one of the main reasons why our country is in the shape it is in, it has taken the big probability of bankruptcy to even get them to the negotiating table.

Read about it HERE

Father Skehan

I am definitely not the one to be talking about a priest or anything religious. I don’t even believe in formal religion, for the most part. This is not to say that I don’t believe in good and evil and right and wrong. Basically, I believe that you get your just rewards right here on Earth.

If you recall, Father John Skehan, 81, pleaded guilty to embezzlement from the church in Delray Beach where he had been a priest and sentenced to 14 months. Grand theft is not something to be taken lightly and raiding the church’s coffers, setting up slush funds and fake records to hide his sinful act, cannot be cast aside or forgotten.

The fallen priest has developed prostate cancer. He also has diabetes and asthma. These afflictions happen to a lot of people, even priests. They happen to the elderly even more often; that is the normal outcome of the progression of age. Things happen.

Father Skehan did apologize for his actions, unlike Father Guinan who got 4 years. The Church and its parishioners have forgiven him. It just seems to me, if the victim has forgiven him, then the Court should allow him to be home, under house arrest, to serve his sentence. Locking him up in jail serves no purpose. He has already received his reward for his crime and his betrayal.

Eco Centre

Eco Centre
nearly one year later

Read the article--

Romano’s Eco-Centre

Directly across the rail road tracks that symbolically divide the city in many ways from the “haves” and the”have nots,” is John Romano’s Eco Centre which was born nearly one year ago.

Lake Worth is lucky to have one of the most unusual and efficient office buildings along with trees growing on its roof! Every time I drive down Lake Avenue, without fail, I glance up at the roof just to see if they’ve grown a little bit taller.

With 82 environmental features, Mr. Romano designed his four story, 33,000 sq. foot building with the idea of a healthy and tranquil working environment, not to mention saving on our precious water resource. The building has its own waste water treatment system, saving about 200,000 gallons a year from being totally wasted away and rain water is collected on the roof for toilet flush.

Now let’s get this economy turned around so that everyone can rent in the best building anywhere.

Straticon's Response to P&Z's suggestion that they might be responsible for huge containers at Gulfstream property

I am not responsible for the storage containers. We are building a hotel on the beach for the Schlesinger family who owns the Gulfstream. They are probably storing items there for the Omphoy on the beach.

------Original Message------
From: Lynn Anderson
To: Jeff Hardin
Sent: May 21, 2009 7:42 AM
Subject: Gulfstream Hotel

Hi Jeff-
Straticon's name was brought up last night at the P&Z meeting as possibly being responsible for the storage containers at the Gulfstream Hotel property.
Any comment?
L
...................

Surely this is not a PROPER land use for the Gulfstream property. Last night one of the Board members said that ANYONE can have a container such as this on their property as long as it is not on a foundation. Rachael Bach admitted that there was nothing in the Code. What about set-backs at least? If there is nothing in the Code then Code must be changed. I remember an owner on Lake Osborne Drive who had a POD on his property for over a year. He was renting it out for storage for his business. It was a blight on the community and someone taking advantage of poorly written protection for residents.

Also, one other interesting observation, there were members of P&Z that approved Minutes from the December 21, 2005 meeting who did not attend the meeting and were not members of that Board at that time. My question, other than just approving on the written form of the minutes, how can anyone approve something if they were not there?

P&Z

Senate says "no" to Obama

President Obama wanted $80 milllion (I said million this time, not billion for a change) to close down Guantanamo Bay Prison by January 22, 2010.

HE WAS DENIED on a vote in the Senate of 90 to 6. Finally a vote that makes sense.

“The American people don’t want these men walking the streets of America’s neighborhoods,” said Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota. “The American people don’t want these detainees held at a military base or federal prison in their back yard, either.”

History of Guantanamo Bay

Citizen tells off the Governor

Dear Governor:

Yesterday I wrote you a highly complementary letter. I mentioned that I had been a staunch Republican 40 years, even to the point of being a member of the Republican Executive Committee of Seminole County. I did not and do not like any of the Bushes' so I've been a wanderer. I was thinking yesterday with you as leader, perhaps I might return to the party and work in your behalf because you had demonstrated intelligence superior to your predecessor as far as conservation and preservation are concerned.

I'm glad I did not send that letter yesterday because I learned this morning that you had appointed another FOX to watch the "HENHOUSE'" at the water management district in Palatka. It is a terrible shame if you are playing politics with something as important as our water supply. Continuing to appoint subjective pro-growth participants but no environmentalists to sensitive leadership positions is indicative of a lack of understanding of the dire circumstances we will face when there will be too little food and water, too few forests and wetlands and no wildlife habitat for future citizens.

The value of nature and natural systems to life on this planet is so high it cannot be determined economically. To replace it with the asphalt and concrete of sprawl is idiocy.

Gordon Williamson