BLACK JESUS COMING

Posted on by

The title of today’s blog makes you step back and say…..What?

Black Jesus is the name of a new TV show which airs for the first time this thursday. The show will appear on cable channel Adult Swim. Adult Swim shares the channel with Cartoon Network. It is a Turner Broadcasting production. The show will be available in 96 million homes via pay TV.

The show is today in Compton, California. A ghetto neighborhood. Jesus obviously African-American.

The show claims to be a comedy that does not mock Jesus.

My next KONK Life column will be published this coming wednesday. The day before Black Jesus debuts. The title is Black Jesus, also. The column is not to announce the new show. Rather it asks a specific religious question. My purpose in writing the column was to stir the pot re the religious issue raised.

Met an interesting gentleman at the Chart Room last night. A friend of Emily’s. Emily does the Kentucky Derby every every year. She makes mention each time of a parking lot friend. The friend is Fred Stair, the man I met last night. He is involved with a Churchill Downs parking lot a mere 75 yards from the front gate to Churchill Downs. Called Captain’s Derby Parking.

Fred and I have similar backgrounds. We once were lawyers.

Fred is in Key West scouting a home. He is looking to buy a place here. Good for him! He will be a welcome addition!

Met Andrea at the Chart Room, also. Another friend of Emily’s.

Andrea grew up in Europe. She attended American University in Paris and then the University of California-Davis. She speaks several languages. Lives in Key West.

We got into a discussion of colleges. Turns out her mother went to the College of New Rochelle in Westchester County. I found it amusing. I went to Manhattan College in New York City. My friends and I used to pursue the New Rochelle ladies. Loved them. They were the best!

There is another Celebration of Life scheduled for Peter Anderson today. Loved by everyone! The celebration begins at 6 with a parade along Duval. The parade will start at Mallory Square and end at South Street. Followed by a party at the Southernmost Beach Cafe. Guaranteed the parade route and party will be overflowing!

The mini lobster season ended thursday. Unfortunately, a woman died. She and a friend were standing on their boat when it appeared another boat was going to hit them. They jumped in the water to avoid the crash. The boat did not strike the other. It did strike the two women. One died and one is in the hospital.

The second storm of the season has been brewing for a few days. Bertha. A tropical storm. Winds presently 50 mph. Lots of rain.

Bertha is not considered a danger to the Florida keys. It may roll over the Bahamas and/or Cuba. It has already passed over some Caribbean islands.

There is a benefit to be derived from Bertha. The islands all are experiencing drought conditions. Bertha’s 3-6 inches of water are welcomed.

The House Republicans did it again! They left Washington yesterday for a five week vacation. $174,000 a year, great medical, and a work schedule that amounts to half time over the course of a year.

The sadness is that they left without properly taking care of the immigrant children coming over the Mexican border. The 50,000 plus is now indicated to be around 70,000. View the internet pictures to see how these kids are living. Behind chain and barbed wire fences, sleeping on floors, inadequate medical attention, etc.

I have asked this question before. I ask it again. Would they want their children and grandchildren treated in this fashion? The Golden Rule…..Do unto others as you would have them do unto you…..has been forgotten.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

THE SHAME OF IT ALL

Posted on by

Key West weather is strange. Perhaps weather along the ocean everywhere is.

This morning is absolutely beautiful. Serene best describes it. Nothing moving. The sun bright. The sky blue with a smattering of isolated white clouds.

The weather man says it is not going to stay that way. Predicts 80 percent chance of rain later this afternoon. Hard to believe!

Lobster mini season next week! A big deal! People come from all over to dive for Florida lobsters. The season starts tuesday. Three days. Each day an armada will pass my home as it enters the ocean. The only way to describe it. Each year it reminds me of what the English boats must have looked like heading to Dunkirk.

Poachers show up. I call them thieves. 200-250 lobsters reside under my dock. The dock is 144 feet long. When I go out at sunrise on tuesday, there will be a black rubber suited swimmer picking at my lobsters. One year, I poked the guy in the head with a pole. He shot up, looked at me, and swam away like a thief. Which he was.

I did write next week’s KONK Life column yesterday. The Shame Of It All. About the Detroit water situation. My purpose was to share facts that normally do not appear in the national media. An interesting story. Obviously revealing. Read it when published next week. You will enjoy.

I wanted the column to be a double header. I wanted to explore the children immigrating into Texas also. Shame, again. The two subjects combined would have made for too long a piece. De Boer limits my words.

The children problem is a perfect example of how dysfunctional our government has become. A shameful episode thus far. It is clear the Republican House may do nothing or come up with a bill that will be dramatically short in dollars. Tea party members in the House are flexing their muscles.

Regardless how the problem occurred or whose fault it is, the children are here. A fact of life. We have to do something to care for them. The media generally now is showing the pictures of how these children are living. What happened to the compassion parents and grandparents in the House normally have? Children are children.

If the House fails, Obama must show he has courage. Immediate courage. He must act. Even if he bends the rules a bit. It would not be the first time for him nor the first time a President has done so.

Recall Reagan  and Iran Contra.

Drones are frequently in the news these days. Never in a good way. Yesterday was different. An 83 year old Wisconsin man had been lost for three days. He had Alzheimer’s. A drone was sent up to hopefully locate him on the third day. It did. In 20 minutes. The man was lost in  a bean field.

Drones apparently do have a good side.

Enjoy your day!

 

HEMINGWAY EVERYWHERE ONE LOOKS

Posted on by

Getting out of the house yesterday started with a mid afternoon appointment with Dr. McIvor, my heart specialist.  I was almost an hour late. McIvor said you should not have worried…..it took me 45 minutes to get in from the hospital!

The Boulevard construction has us totally screwed up. Now only one lane each way into town. Yesterday’s problem was at the triangle at the end of US 1 and the beginning of Key West. They were rewiring and otherwise working on the triangle. Police trying to help. Directing traffic. It took me 40 minutes to travel 2.5 miles. From where I enter onto US 1 at Key Haven until I reach Key West.

Part of my examination was my blood pressure. The nurse took it. It was high. To be expected! Took it 15 minutes later and everything was ok. McIvor said I was in good shape…..see you in 3 months.

It was well after 5 by the time I left the doctor’s office. Headed over to Don’s Place. Enjoyed time with Jimmy and Joanie, Erika and Hershel, and Grant.

My next stop was downtown. Duval! I wanted to see how Hemingway Days was doing.

Everywhere I walked there was a Hemingway. More than 130 are entered in this year’s contest. There was one or more in every bar and on the streets. Sloppy Joe’s had quite a few holding court.

Hemingway was a bit of a drinker. Quite a bit. He also was a bit paunchy. Today’s Hemingway Days activities  besides drinking include two athletic events. A 5K race and a paddle boat race. Not Hemingwayish.

Most of the contestants actually look like Hemingway. Not just his famous beard. The paunch!

Today is the actual look a like contest. Sloppy Joe’s at 1. Today also the famous Run of the Bulls. A sight to see!

Soapbox time again! Something is bothering me.

The 50,00 plus children who immigrated here. Washington is not doing enough. The Republicans are bucking the President. In the meantime, the children are in a downward spiral situation. Katrina all over again.

Don’t believe me. Go to the internet and search through the many photos appearing of the children. A picture does say a thousand words. We should be ashamed!

Illness is creeping in. Some of the kids are not getting proper physicals or follow ups. More children will get sick. What ever the bugs, they will find their way into our lives.

We need a better system/organization to deal with the situation. Obama’s $3,7 billion request would help.

My grandfather came over from Italy at the age of 12 around 1910. Alone. He never knew his parents. He grew up alone on the streets of Naples. When he arrived at Ellis Island, he had some communicable disease. Typhus, I think. Though I am not sure. Ellis Island had a hospital. My grandfather was hospitalized for three months before he was permitted to enter the United States.

The 50,000 plus children are living in makeshift facilities without proper care. There are those trying to help. Trying soon will not be enough.

I became aware that Florida is starting to receive some of the children. The Governor and his people are concerned. About communicable diseases.

Today is the anniversary of Don’t ask, don’t tell. Clinton put it into effect in 1993. I thought he was crazy at the time. He was avoiding the issue. I have since changed my mind. He was correct. He sensed the country was not ready to accept gays. His program turned out to be a bridge to today. Smart guy, that Clinton!

Tomorrow is the anniversary of man stepping on the moon. July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong. I shall never forget. The greatest happening in my 79 years.

Enjoy your day!

CHART ROOM LAST NIGHT…..HEMINGWAY AND OTHERS

Posted on by

I wrote of Peter Anderson yesterday morning. Indicated he was ill and things did not look good. They were not. Peter passed away yesterday. Key West has lost one of its finest citizens and a most loved neighbor. May he rest in peace.

I started my yesterday with a gym visit. The first in ten days. Albert was waiting for me. The hour was grueling, especially since I had been away so long.

While Albert was abusing me, we talked about the children immigrating from Latin America. Albert shared an observation I had not considered. Imagine how bad/desperate things must be for parents to send their children off alone to the United States. How they must have scrapped, borrowed and perhaps stolen the $7,000 necessary to pay a coyote.

For two reasons. First, to make sure their children avoided the death and rape that might confront them if they remained at home. Second, for the better life America promised.

The Republicans in Congress make me sick. Almost to a person, they are opposed to the help the President wants to provide. Senator McCain was on television this morning saying in effect…..Put them on planes and send them back!

There is a child problem ongoing in South Sudan. Children are dying daily of malnutrition. A humanitarians crisis. Money needed from all over the world to help these children. The United States is doing its part. Last week, we sent $22 million. Total sent by the United States this year $456 million.

Where did this money come from? Was it part of a House bill? Was it appropriated? If we can help these kids on a foreign shore, why can’t we help the children who have made it to our shore?

It is all politics. Disgustingly so.

Dinner was with Lisa last night. The grandkids are away visiting their other grandparents.

Stopped at Don’s Place afterwards. Quiet. Chatted with Randy. Met a new person. Ann Marie. Lovely. Just got hired to work the outdoor bar at La Te Da. Good for her! A great job!

Then to the Chart Room for what turned put to be a big night.

I was supposed to meet Sheila. She was there. As was David, Jean Thornton and granddaughter Paris, and several others.

Friends Hank and Pat from Melbourne. I met Hank for the first time last year. He comes to Key West each year to participate in the Hemingway Look A Like contest. He has been doing it for 21 years. He is still waiting to win. Don’t know why he has not. He looks like Hemingway!

Dianne was back. Have not seen her in a year. She is a good friend of Sheila’s. Dianne is an artist from Champagne, Illinois.

A fellow sat next to me at the bar. There was an empty seat between us. He had white hair and beard. Looked like Hemingway! No question about it. I asked if he was in the contest. He gruffly said yes and then ignored me and everyone else, except for an occasional word or two with Emily. A most impolite individual. I hope he loses.

Billy and Cindy Schott showed up! Great people! Friends from Texas.

Billy and Cindy married in Key West in 2011 on Smathers Beach. They visit Key West frequently. This trip they are here till the end of August.

Billy has an interesting job. Something to do with college football and TV. His title is Big 12 Conference TV Liason.

Billy and Cindy know everyone. On the drive down to Key West, they stopped to visit their friend Kyle Chandler. I knew nothing of him, had never heard his name. Chandler is an actor. Has several featured roles in movies and television under his belt. He is presently starring with Sissy Spacek in the new television series being filmed in the upper keys. The show’s base of operations is Islamorada. Where they met up with and spent some time with their friend.

It was a big night at the Chart Room.

Enjoy your day!

 

THE SHAME OF IT ALL

Posted on by

ABC News ran photographs on the internet yesterday of some of the children who have come over the border into Texas. The 52,000.

Here is what I saw.

Children sleeping on bathroom floors, in orderly fashion next to each other. More sleeping on shower floors. Not in orderly fashion. On top of each other in many instances. The floor in each room reported to be concrete. Nothing between the kids’ bodies and the concrete. Some standing crowded almost like sardines in what was described as a holding room.

The news report stated the areas where the children were held were fenced in  by chain link and barbed wire. It was further reported that the children are only allowed 30 minutes outside each day to play.

ABC’s report further indicated that many of the children still appear dehydrated and hungry. The report also stated some of the children were sick and could not eat.

Is this how we treat children in the United States? Regardless of how they arrived here?

This is not a Republican/Democrat thing. This is a humanitarian crisis. Political differences and hatreds should be set aside. We are duty and conscience bound to react. To do the right thing. To be God like. To help the children.

The President says he needs $3.7 billion of immediate money to take care of them. Congress is making strange noises. The usual noises. We are hearing every reason why the money should not be made available.

I listened to Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, being interviewed on TV yesterday. He disgusted me. He not only was against providing the money, he appeared infuriated that the President had even asked.

I could not help but think how Senator Johnson would react if some of the children were his grandchildren.

We should be ashamed. We will be ashamed big time if the money is not appropriated.

In the meantime, it was announced yesterday that Congress will be adjourning for a five week vacation starting August 1. Congress does not work enough as it is. Especially the House of Representatives. They only work tuesday, wednesday, and thursday each week. This was the brain child of Eric Cantor who was recently defeated in a primary.

I am still without wheels. Parts did not come in from Miami. Hopefully, today.

Being stuck home has its advantages. I worked on my Greece book most of the time. I am happy to report big progress. I have completed the second draft. Will start editing over the weekend. I am confident I will have it to the publisher this month.

The Key West Citizen’s World Almanac section had an historical note of interest yesterday. Fifty years ago Key Westers were complaining that the Key West Country Club was charging $3.50 on weekends for a round of golf. What a joke! Today it would take 25 to 50 times more, depending on which fee structure applied. Those must have been the days!

Too many telephones, too many cell phones in the Keys. As of 6/1/15 there will be a new area code. An additional one. The 305 will still be available. The new code will be 786.

I seem to learn something new each day. Sometimes several items. China has a one baby per couple policy. Get pregnant a second time and forced abortion applies. I discovered yesterday that Vietnam limits the number of new borns, also. Two to a couple.

Abortion is obviously in play. Contraception has to come into play. Our recent Supreme Court decisions would not fly in China or Vietnam. I doubt if any have complained on religious grounds. Go along, get along. Actually stay out of jail or worse.

Enjoy your day!