For instance Republicans have announced forcefully there is no need for health insurance reform, that everything is pretty much okay as it stands and the President's plans are going to bring Communism to our shores. It is obvious to any human being that our insurance system is a total rip-off designed to squeeze profits out of sickness, a technique that involves denying coverage, refusing to pay, forcing patients to struggle with mounds of paperwork to get what should be theirs by virtue of premiums paid. Yet when Democrats offer a reform people without insurance shout them down. I recall early on in the campaign a protester injured at an anti reform event had no insurance to cover the costs of the injury!
Consider the campaign of presidential candidate John Kerry, a decorated war veteran running on the Democrat ticket against President George Bush the Younger, a man who evaded military service by joining the Alabama National Guard and failed to report for duty there as required. yet Kerry's war record was wrecked and he lost horribly and the draft dodger (not forgetting the Vice President who famously advised he had "more important things to do" when asked why he was deferred five times) got re-elected by people who loudly proclaim their loyalty to the military and to some brand of patriotism known only to them.
Consider the budget deficit, run up to astronomical heights by a consistent policy of cutting taxes and increasing spending. This craziness took off under President Reagan and has continued to this day. When it is pointed out to conservatives that President Clinton left office with a budget surplus, this achievement, unique is decades of governance, is simply shrugged off. And those famously loud crass "patriots" bay for the blood of socialist "democrats." Do we recall how the right wing nutters warned us ominously of President Obama's plans to take away people's guns? These are the "patriots" who cheered President Bush on as he claimed the right of the President to be above the law, to allow any surveillance of US citizens, to permit torture and to hold suspects indefinitely without trial or even access to lawyers? we still have our guns but our civil liberties are more eroded than ever.
I wish I understood why Democrats can't confront these Republican myths and put them where they deserve to be, out of sight under some moldy militia rock somewhere. But there again, expecting Democrats in leadership positions to stand up for anything to anyone is asking a bit too much. Perhaps I should join the tea baggers and demand to see a Presidential birth certificate. that would show those Dems!
I spend a great deal of time these days standing and staring into space while Cheyenne does her own version of trash clean up. Which prompted me to whip out the pocket camera and produce a series of disjointed pictures. 
This Jeep is a Kaiser 1969 CJ5 and it's owner likes to use it sparingly because he prefers to get around town on his bicycle. Apparently his neighbors (see rant above, I'm guessing) think it messes up the beauty of the roadway. How do I know? Read on. 
They used to have a time limit on street parking in Key West until one day, I'm told someone Important got their car towed while away on vacation. So the new rules state that a car may be left indefinitely on the street if it is in drivable condition with up to date registration. If it has a flat tire or broken window or is filled with junk it is considered abandoned and we (Police Dispatch) can get it towed. It seems the owner of the Jeep is getting called on his anti-internal -combustion stance by his neighbors. So he put a sign in the window for all to see.
This is one of those things about living in cute old town Key West. Your neighbors are right next door and they may not be as tolerant as you might expect in a town packed this tightly together. Europeans have spent centuries learning to try to get along in their tight, cramped cities. It's going to take a few generations for Americans to master the art and here in Key West it's not a lesson easily learned by newcomers all starry eyed about moving to the Southernmost City. You know how I go on about offsets? Look at these three homes near Solares Hill.
Consideration of your neighbors should be in the rental contract or purchase agreement but it rarely is. People who go on to live for a long time, perhaps the rest of their lives, in Key West learn the art and practice it daily. Other people are gruesome neighbors or unhappy transplants and they are the ones that keep forcing their neighbors to call the police. Imagine living across the fence from someone who just drove you crazy?
There is an RV parked on the grounds, possibly to house a caretaker I thought, and "No Trespassing" signs have sprouted everywhere so one assumes work will begin soon to refurbish the building. I hope they lease it to interesting businesses but I wonder what those might be in a Great Recession? Not artists I doubt. I saw this piece of weirdness on Carstens Lane. Cheyenne was restless and I struggled to get the picture before she dragged me away.
I wonder what prompts someone to stick an artificial raven on the porch? So many questions, so little time.
...prompted me to muse about the lawsuit currently being fought between the self styled Secretary General of the Conch Republic, a man who has made a business out of selling passports and paraphernalia relating to the celebration of a brief "Keys secession" in 1982. He claims rights on the annual celebration not on the name itself, so now business people in the Upper Keys want to do the same thing for their islands (which in my opinion in no way resemble any of the precepts that underlie the notion of the mythical Conch Republic) but they don't want to acknowledge his creative drive. And off they all go to court. 
A Cuban American family has gone to court in Miami and been granted a monetary award against the Cuban government which shot down a family member who apparently flew into Cuban airspace (an assertion stoutly denied by family members who weren't there). So now when an incident of hijacking takes place instead of returning the aircraft to Cuba as required by international law the planes are handed over to the grieving widow, as one more way to endlessly sour relations between our two countries. And here it sits, one last symbol of the Cold War stuck in limbo in Key West.
It's a funny old world where this sort of nonsense can go on and on and on. Perhaps one day President Obama will put his big girl's blouse on and not only act like the leader of the majority party in Congress but also end the stupid embargo with a stroke of the presidential pen. I need to ride the Bonneville in the mountains of Cuba. At this rate Cheyenne will be dead before that can happen so I am putting the sidecar plans on hold. Blame the president for that one too.
Neat Stuff (And Tropical Thrills) sells dust catchers and it's located on Flagler Avenue about opposite the Bank of America, that's the bank that's so big it's actually too big to fail, they say.
$32 they cost me including sales tax (which Florida rather urgently needs these days), and they fit like a pair of gloves.
These sandals are rather brighter than my old NothingZ and I was advised that they are actually known as "fuchsia" not "pink," said the design school graduate. I pointed out that I had very little idea what color chartreuse might be so she advised me to drink some, then I'd know. Which seemed like an eminently suitable suggestion. Meanwhile I am now going to be clad in fuchsia. Tres suave, sez I. I did however manage to resist laying into the other stuff for sale in the store:
Out with the old and in with the new. I quite liked the nothingZ with their solid metal rivets for the strap:
Rubber sandals like these are something I had to learn to like and it came from boating. Crocs are ideal around salt water especially in the Keys where shorelines are usually covered by pebbles and rocks and walking up the beach involves some amount of pain for the barefoot boater. More traditional sandals made of fabrics do not stand up to the rigors of sun and salt water like these things. I like wearing them when I walk the dog too because if I come across mud or "impassable" water fords in the middle of the track I can just keep on walking. And around here one is so close to sea level that a high tide or a heavy rain can put water just about everywhere. So my crocs sit by the front door ready for me to slip on at a moments notice.
Jan owns more than one lot and he has a fabulous jungle out back. Cheyenne was happy. 
The weather people spent the afternoon with a hard on telling TV viewers how dangerous everything was and how huge waves could curl round and wipe out the city of Hilo and blah blah blah. I don't miss the hype. Looking out the window we had weather of our own. The cold front arrived:
The rain passed and 15 minutes later the cool air was moving in. Hawaii was still in crisis because the weather morons were still trying to convince somebody "tragedy" was still possible. Chile is really in tragic shape after an 8.8 earthquake: 
