The Gang of Eight - Sí, se puede!

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Yesterday our gang of eight (a symbolic number of citizens) visited the offices of congressman Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio. We were on a mission and to make a statement:  19,000 signatures of  Floridians against the Gang of Eight's Immigration plan were handed over to regional Directors, Michele McGovern for Senator Nelson and to Greg Langowski of Senator Marco Rubio's office. We told them why we were against the Plan and why we believed it would hurt American citizens and our country.

As friend Joyce Tarnow says and what our local Gang of Eight advocates, "E-Verify is the answer.   By disallowing illegal aliens to hold jobs in the U.S. they go home.  It works, as the situation in Arizona proves when they passed mandatory E-Verify.   Remember 1986.  Congress gave amnesties to three million illegals and promised to secure our borders and to seriously go after interior enforcement.  Oh yes, and Congress promised there would be no more amnesties.  Amnesty happened for well over three million and they were then allowed to bring in extended family.   Another draw is the birthright citizenship interpretation of the 14th Amendment which awards citizenship to any child born in the U.S. of illegal aliens."

Our local Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, believe that it is a self-defeating, déjà vu comprehensive mess of a plan that undermines border security and will destroy the middle class. We will end up with the Haves and the Have Nots. We will have dwindling water resources, overcrowding and increased pollution but most importantly, less and less jobs for American middle class citizens. That's the message we presented yesterday and how disappointed we were with Marco Rubio, a senator with whom we usually agree.

Also, yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve the nation’s proposed immigration law on a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5. It now goes on to the Senate. "The move came as the committee reached a deal on one of the final snags threatening the legislation —  and agreed to hold off on another particularly controversial amendment, which would have added protections for same-sex couples."

When the committee voted to approve the legislation Tuesday evening, a cheer and applause rang out through the room, as immigration advocates leapt to their feet, shouting “Yes we can!” and “Sí, se puede!”   This is where we are heading folks but the cry should be No, no debemos. When speaking about Rubio, Billy Kristol said, “He should say, I made a good faith effort, but you know what, this is not a piece of legislation.”

Read more... at The New York times.


Heading home, we came upon a Border Control car. We all drove by giving the driver a thumbs up. He's trying to do his job. Now it will be up to our elected representatives. Are they up to the task?

The Michael Bornstein "employment review"

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The Bornstein Love Fest

When you think of how the public employment review for Lake Worth's city manager came about, it was all Scott Maxwell wanting to rant and publicly humiliate Susan Stanton, our former manager. He couldn't stand her. It started BEFORE he became elected. She was too strong-willed for him. There had NEVER been a public vetting before Stanton or before Scott Maxwell.  The employees had been complaining BIG time about her. It didn't matter that many of them were incompetent and just plain not performing, some not even showing up for work. Employees are our most important asset they said, even if customer service was totally non-existent and no one answered the phone.

Stanton went through an extensive public vetting with matrices and ratings that were ALL in the Sunshine. Last night's "review" was nothing but a cheerleading session for Bornstein. We never found out one thing about his first year other than the employees like him, the public likes him (one referring to the review as a "roast") and so does the commission. Commissioner Amoroso even jokingly said, "He is sexy." We were not told how any commissioner rated him or his own self-evaluation during Unfinished Business. Perhaps he revealed that at the end of the meeting. All we knew was, he's a likeable fella.

Barbara Jean Weber

Treated like a rock star, one member of our public even wore a special piece of jewelry of a bow tie in honor of him. The entire audience was there to worship him and not one thing was learned about his performance that has been kept a secret for over a year. All we know is what we see--crime, slum, blight, and the lack of transparency, short meetings and decisions being made out of the knowledge of the public and that he has no stomach for lawsuits as most all have been settled for unimaginable amounts of money. But then, as the mayor said, it is a "trickle down" management style. Who is at the top of the organizational chart that directs the style?  The Commission. And we still can't get a department to answer the phone.

How to successfully prosecute the Boston bomber

Democrats now involving themselves in our buying habits

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As we all know, government is more intrusive than ever. Now we have the Democrats heavily suggesting that consumers need to know more about certain companies and where our money goes when we buy a particular product. They only want you to support those companies/corporations that support progressive causes and they want to save you from yourself. If they had their way, no one would have a mind of his own. But their main goal is to bring down big Republican donors such as the Koch brothers.  Here is what was sent out by a local liberal--

New App Helps Consumers Avoid Koch Industries and Monsanto Products and Trace Corporate Ownership of Everything in Their Shopping Cart.

Giving consumers the info that they need to make conscious buying decisions.

May 15, 2013

Given the byzantine corporate ownership structures of practically every item Americans purchase, it takes near encyclopedic knowledge to know which companies you are supporting when you buy, say, toilet paper.

A new free app will help conscious consumers know whose pockets they are lining, and help them avoid supporting right-wing causes and truth-obscuring corporate conglomerates like Koch Industries and Monsanto. The free downloadable app scans everything in your shopping cart and traces the ownership all the way up to the parent company. Sometimes that trail will resemble a complicated family tree, since parent companies don't always want you to know who their offspring is. Just by way of example, Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper and Dixie Cups are all products of Georgia-Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries.

The Brothers Koch also have gotten their corporate hands into the seemingly progressive yoga pants industry. But when you buy stretchy Lycra-containing pants for your downward dog, they are made by Invista, a textile company Koch bought.

The idea for an app for more consicious-shopping first germinated at a Netroots Nation gathering, when Darcy Burner, the former Microsoft programmer, suggested some app developer work on it. A group calling itself Buycott was already at work on the challenge, ultimately making the app even more sophisticated than Burner envisioned. It took 16 months for freelance programmer Ivan Pardo, 26, of Los Angeles to develop the app that allows you to scan the barcode of any item in your shopping cart and find out who your purchase is enriching.

But it goes beyond that, as Forbes.com's Clare O'Connor reports. Users of the app  "can join user-created campaigns to boycott business practices that violate your principles rather than single companies. One of these campaigns,  Demand GMO Labeling, will scan your box of cereal and tell you if it was made by one of the 36 corporations that donated more than $150,000 to oppose the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food." Monsanto, of course, comes to mind, but it has plenty of company including: Coca-Cola, Nestle, Kraft and Unilever.

On a more positive note, Buycott has campaigns to support companies that support progressive causes, like Absolut and Starbucks, both of which have supported marriage equality. The app is free and downloadable to the Android or iPhone.

The Academy of "Negative' Learning

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Tonight, portable units at the Charter school come back on the agenda--

Back in June 2011, the Planning & Zoning board approved the Site Plan to allow a Charter School at 1200 N.  Dixie Highway. The vote was 5 to 2.  Those who dissented, Chair Lynda Mahoney and board member David  Brodie, said it was not in keeping with the city's Master Plan or what its vision was/is for the Dixie Corridor. Those board members who did approve, told the school that portables, are not traditionally allowed in the HIC zoning district but would be allowed for 16 months only and then they had to erect permanent buildings.

There were ten Conditions of Approval and William Waters, Community Development Director, informed them in writing to remind them of the agreement. I doubt if many of them have been satisfied.

Now months after the deadline to build permanent buildings and remove the portables, the Academy for Positive Learning  became the school of negative learning for trying to pull a fast one on the City of Lake Worth--it says that if it installs skirting around the bottom of the portable units and tie them down it will be, voila, permanent! All along they knew this was not acceptable by the entire former Planning & Zoning board at the time and not acceptable by the City of Lake Worth and against  the Conditions of Approval. But here's the good part:  And on April 13, 2013, the newly politically appointed Planning & Zoning Board consisting of Rinaldi,  Rice, Sherwin, Parrilla and Zacks approved the school's charade and total lack of compliance and granted  their wish.

Recommendation by Lake Worth's Building Official:

"It is strongly recommended that no application, or variance, or exception be entertained for the Academy of Positive Learning at 1200 North Dixie Highway due to Life-Safety requirements, safety, health and general welfare concerns for children who currently are enrolled azt this educational facility.  it is further recommended that the relocatable/portable.modular classrooms now in use b removed from the property at 1200 North Dixie highway prior to the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.

Bottom line--When the city grants a special exception(s) the applicant must comply with all the conditions. To do otherwise, is disrespectful at best. We cannot continue to give exceptions to businesses or residents who constantly believe they are playing some sort of game and are out to win by hook or by crook. We can only hope that they are teaching their students to obey the rules even if they want to change them.

Vacation Rentals in Lake Worth

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1023 N 'L' Street

Prices on owner's Facebook page just a few days ago--
nightly prices have now been deleted--

Per night (USD) $175 - $250

Per week $1,085 - $1,505

Per month $3,750 - $5,320

• Bedrooms...3
• Sleeps...8
• Minimum Stay 2 nights

This is one of the "vacation rentals" operating in our city...a business that was opened in an historic residential district AGAINST our ordinances...against our laws. The owner of the property, Carol Lewis calls her house a "HOTEL" but she is operating it like transient housing.

See her Facebook page where she calls it a "hotel."

I have a big problem when people buy property in our city, knowing the laws but still want to do what they want.  And now, they want our city commission to change the rule just for them so that they can have a commercial transient housing business in our neighborhoods.

True, this property is well maintained but think of the problem that will be created down the road when others come in and do the same thing under the guise of "vacation rentals" and do not take care of the property.  Houses of ill-repute right next door to you...day laborers coming and going. Don't we have enough people breaking our laws? Anything is possible and if the can of worms is opened, every bad nightmare is probable. We can't take care of our hundreds of code issues now.

The commission, instead of thinking about the money it will make on a business license and bed tax or even stretching the issue to protect "property rights," needs to do the best thing for our city and that's to enforce the laws on the books and PROTECT ALL THE REST OF US. We don't need to cater to the very small minority or change our laws that are already fair, for those who want to use this city for their own special interests.

This issue was to be decided by the commission tonight but instead, our city attorney will talk about it at the end of the night during his segment of the agenda. The City is paranoid about lawsuits and this vacation rental owner has suggested just that. Hopefully, the city will do the right thing.

Obama's Timeline on September 11, 2012

What did Obama do on 9-11-2012?  How did Obama spend that long night of Sept. 11, 2012, while his charges were busy dying in Benghazi?

The Timeline

Ron Klein, Lobbyist

Even though Obama had pledged not to accept donations from federally registered lobbyists, we all know how long that lasted. Former congressman, Ron Klein, was a registered lobbyist and a top bundler for the Obama re-election campaign. He has now registered again as a federal lobbyist.

Read more...

Know Thy Enemy

And the enemy is NOT patriots or T-party members or American citizens that are not Democrats.

“Western countries have been claiming that the FSA is comprised of somewhat “secular” people and that jihadists have only joined the fight but they are not part of the FSA. Well, you cannot get more al-Qaeda’ish than calling a brigade “Osama bin Laden,” states the description accompanying the video.

Obama supports these terrorists. Read more.

Bradshaw program flashback from Nazi Germany?

Comment Up - Originally published on 5-2-13
UPDATE:  Gov Scott vetoes Ric Bradshaw request See page 25 last para

If Rick Scott ever needed to veto anything in his entire life, this is it.

A new $1 million dollar program led by Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw aimed at “violence prevention” is encouraging Floridians to report their neighbors for making hateful comments about the government, a chilling reminder of how dissent is being characterized as an extremist threat.

“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw said. “What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’”


What the hell is going on in this country? I didn't vote for Bradshaw. I guess he will be knocking on my door. Go out and catch the criminals, will ya!

Here in Lake Worth, free speech is already becoming a memory and it is politically incorrect to talk against any elected official or on the decisions they make. Any person threatening bodily harm to another should  be taken seriously but our Constitutional rights could and most likely will be infringed based on a "he said, she said."

This policy, if enacted, will be a civil rights lawyer's dream. What comes next?  Freedom of the Press?

Lake Worth Residents write the editor of the Palm Beach Post

PALM BEACH POST
May 20, 2013

Know-nothing answers too common in D.C.

I watched Friday’s hearing by the House Ways and Means Committee with members questioning the former, “retiring” IRS director, Steven Miller, about political targeting of conservative groups. Many groups requesting 501(C)4 (tax-exempt) status seem to have “collectively” been placed into groups for processing. However the processing in some cases never happened.

Mr. Miller could not recall names. He could not recall who knew what and when. I can’t help wondering what this know-nothing’s salary has been over the years, and what his pension will cost you and me. When all was said and done, I know as much about this IRS scandal as I do about Benghazi. Memory lapses in Washington are common. We are living in a climate of mismanagement, under an administration that cannot direct a one-car funeral and an IRS basking in the glory of its power.
HELENE JARVIS
Lake Worth


AP too obvious in its support of Dems

With its editorial “Indefensible overreach,” The Post made a fleeting effort to appear even-handed in its criticism of the Obama administration, in this case the Department of Justice’s surveillance of the Associated Press. The reference to “conservative” tea party IRS harassment was supposedly balanced by recognition of the press’ moniker as “liberal.” So, to all it should appear that the administration is an equal-opportunity extraconstitutional offender.

I’m afraid the paper has missed the larger issue. The AP dalliances of this administration are no demonstration of non-partisanship. Rather, it’s confirmation of an administration that operates with a “the ends justify the means” mantra. The common thread is the glaring reality that constitutional limitations need not apply to an Obama administration that will do anything to advance an agenda that satisfies the progressive power brokers and the “hope and change” they seek. “Scorn” is an embarrassingly low bar of condemnation.
RON OHMAN
Lake Worth

Michael Bornstein, Mr. Nice Guy

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Tuesday night's commission meeting does not include the much heated Vacation Rental issue even though the commission voted to bring it back at the May 21 meeting. Instead, Glen Torcivia, city attorney, will give a report, one of the few he has ever given. The report is NOT in the back-up. This commission was to evaluate him and his firm after 6 months nearly 6 months ago and so far he has been allowed to continue with no commission statement of any kind.

Prior to that, the city manager's review is on the agenda. There is no matrix form in the back-up. There is no self-evaluation report included in the back-up. All of this is probably unnecessary as it will be a slam dunk that his evaluation will be "over the top," as this commission, along with the public,  adore him and consider him to be "Mr. Nice Guy," and what they consider a different but refreshing  kind of "drug."

Even though the city manager report category appears on every agenda, he has never given a  report. This verifies that this administration, supported and encouraged by this commission, is not transparent and believes that the public has no need to know what the city manager is up to.  We know what he wants to achieve, which is no different than the wish lists of past administrations, and all of those "wishes" take millions and millions, $63 million for a starter if he goes forward with an overhaul of our roads and infrastructure in a city that doesn't have a pot.

With Susan Stanton, we could see results:
Reduced general fund spending by 19%
Reduced the PBSO contract by $1,200,000
Reduced the city's contribution to the Police Retirement fund by $200,000
Reduced the city's contribution to the General Employees' Retirement fund by $1.3 million.
Reduced electric rates by 5% and transferred $500,000 less from the utility to the general fund.
and many more too numerous to mention.

One thing on which we all agree is that the city manager's job is difficult. However, it was made easier by the former city manager who had to make a lot of tough and unpleasant decisions to get the city going in the right direction. It was headed towards municipal bankruptcy when she began her employ in April 2009 because of previous administrations robbing reserves with no idea of where the money was spent. Housekeeping was in order and Susan Stanton terminated many, replacing them with top-notch professionals.

As far as transparency, the Stanton government was the most transparent city government (excepting when staff tried to hide things from her) in my memory... everything was aired in the public domain. Meetings were often and they were always long. We were  beginning to see the light when she was fired because of politics and egos and the Commission did not think that she was "Ms Nice Guy. Scott Maxwell, Pam Triolo and Andy Amoroso replaced her with someone with "personality" and a ready smile, Michael Bornstein, and discussion on city business got shorter and shorter.

Hopefully the public will learn what all has been accomplished over this past year--if there are any concrete plans and solutions. Hopefully, on Tuesday night we will walk away convinced.

Read the PBPost editorial which says Bornstein, like a politician, is taking his message to the streets.

Remember Amnesty 1986

From NumbersUSA

Tomorrow,  members of grassroots organizations from around the country will launch a coordinated event to send a message to their US Senators: Remember 1986!

In 1986, our government promised to secure our borders. Instead, they granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and never enacted real solutions to stop illegal immigration.

In Palm Beach, fellow NumbersUSA activists will be delivering the NumbersUSA petition to the offices of Senator Rubio and Senator Nelson. They will meet with staff members in the offices to discuss the major flaws in the Gang of 8's amnesty bill including the language that would allow 33 million new foreign workers to live and work in our country while 20 million people here today cannot find a full time job.

The group will start with a meeting in Sen. Nelson's office then head to Sen. Rubio's office for a press conference before sitting down with Rubio's staff. The petitions will be delivered to the following addresses on tomorrow, May 21st:

10 a.m.: Sen. Bill Nelson's West Palm Beach Office
413 Clematis Street, Suite 210, West Palm Beach, FL  33401

1 p.m.  Sen Marco Rubio's Palm Beach Gardens office
4580 PGA Blvd., Suite 201, Palm Beach Gardens, FL  33418

You are welcomed to join us and give your support.

Chinese Hackers (criminals) are Back

The Chinese hackers were behind scores of thefts of intellectual property from U.S. companies as well as government documents over the past five years. Now they're baaaack!

Click here to see what Obama is doing about it.

Rose and a Hibiscus

Spotted at Home Depot today, a stunning Rose and a beautiful Hibiscus. I am assuming that this is a Hybrid rose. The colors were unusual: three colors with white surrounded by red on the outside, and yellow in the center. The Hibiscus flower was also unusual with four distinct colors.

Mess of the Week revisited

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It just gets worse. Now these people are having a weekend yard sale with furniture and crap all over the place. The side of the house has cars on the lawn and mattresses for sale. The absolute worse part of this, besides the fact that those living in this house are chronic violators, is--

NO PERMIT

Yesterday the Vice President of this Neighborhood Association stopped and asked them about a permit. "What permit?" they asked. They were told about it but what the heck, right? This is what happens when our rules are not enforced...it snowballs to the point of no return. What used to be a wonderful neighborhood is getting more and more blighted and the City does NOTHING.

The Smooth Line of Bologna

Since becoming president, Obama’s questionable character has shown itself repeatedly: his “green-energy” program, which looks like a means to repay rich, fat-cat donors, his “fast-and-furious” gun scandal, which apparently entailed illegally selling US guns to Mexican drug dealers so they’d use the guns to kill people and create anti-gun fervor in the US; his continual, and very public, practice of encouraging supporters to aggressively attack those opposing him, so they’d do exactly what his supporters embedded within the IRS have done.

Like a common bully, he publicly jeers at and insults his opposition, and his supporters love every word of it. They support him for who and what he is; because he divides rather than unites Americans; because he seeks to publicly humiliate half the US population; because he plays dirty; because he talks a smooth line of bologna.

Read more... on Obama's travesty of leadership.

Kavasutra downtown Lake Worth

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Never having been a business that particularly pays attention to our laws, and a business that loves to throw it all up in our face, the Kavasutra created an impassable walkway last night. When you tried to stroll by it was an obstacle course and those blocking the sidewalk stared like we were the ogres for bothering them.

These owners, one of whom is Dylan Harrison who will be sentenced soon to prison time for his admitted distribution of an illegal substance as well as manufacturing and selling a misbranded drug, have been made aware of our ordinance on many occasions. Why is this allowed to continue?

Quote of the Day - Obama

"My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government."

 ~ President Barack Obama

More Creeps

More creeps and this time it involves ILLEGAL ALIENS in Utah soliciting young girls for sex.  Just the types we want to give amnesty to, right? Knowing our government they would probably give them free condoms.