KEY WESTERS MAD

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The Bill O’Reilly thing was the talk of the town yesterday. People were upset. Properly so. The Watters’ report was irresponsible and non representative.

The Key West Citizen ran a major article re the problem front page in yesterday’s paper. It turns out the Mayor was interviewed/filmed and pictures taken of typical Key West places of interest. Like an art gallery. Neither the Mayor nor the art gallery appeared in the film.

I spoke with two of the “stars.” Both felt they had been made to look like fools. They each claimed there was more to the interview that the brief comments shown. Their words had been supportive of  Key West. The feeling was that the portion shown represented slanted cherry picking on Watters’ part.

Time to bury Bill O’Reilly’s fifteen seconds in Key West. It is not worthy of further discussion.

Last night was Chart Room time. Peter and I sat at the round table and chatted for two hours. Peter is a smart man. A world traveler. We spoke of many things. I enjoyed my time with him.

Then it was over to Don’s Place. The O’Reilly thing dominated the conversation.

Yesterday morning was my TV/internet show. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. WOW! is the only way I can describe the reaction to the Iceland story. Some were shocked. Others believed that in today’s world such could happen.

I squeezed in an hour of private time for Louis in the afternoon. Stopped at Higgs Beach, pulled my old sand chair out of the trunk, and spent an hour on the beach. Taking in the usual beautiful sights…..women running around in two piece bikini/thong type bathing suits. Yes, I am a dirty old man. I like to look!

A very sick turtle was found more than a year ago in the keys. The poor thing had lockjaw and several infections. He was undernourished because he could not eat. The Turtle Hospital has fixed the turtle up. He is being returned to the ocean today at noon. At Higgs Beach behind Salute’s. A huge crowd is expected. I hope to be there. I am plan on taking the grandkids.

Enjoy your day!

 

SUNDAY AT THE BEACH

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A peaceful Sunday. Another do nothing day.

Watched Meet The Press from bed. Spent a couple of hours at Higgs Beach in a sand chair. Read the Key West Citizen and watched bikini clad ladies romp around. Enjoyed a fish sandwich at the bar at Salute. Then home for some reading and television. Early to sleep.

To err is human. Perfect I am not. Occasionally, I make a mistake. I did in yesterday’s blog.

A lapus lingua. I called George Clooney Robert Clooney. What can I tell you? Several of you pointed out the error. Thank you. I never mind being corrected.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. My blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou. Nine in the evening. One half hour. Interesting matters to be discussed. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

I plan on chatting about the present Egyptian situation. All kinds of things happening. You may not be aware of some.

A second issue for discussion is the new way terrorists are planning on blowing up planes, places and people. Breast implants. For real. London’s Heathrow Airport is on alert for them at this moment.

I find many things to be irritable about regarding the breast implant situation. One is the apparent ineptness of TSA and Homeland Security to get airport screening right. Recall two years ago the furor over the new x-ray screening machine. Well folks, the machine is now obsolete. It only is able to discern things outside the body. It does not have the ability to get into a female breast or body cavity.

Enjoy your day!

PIER HOUSE TO BE SOLD?

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I walked out on the deck first thing this morning. I could smell rain. It is coming. The sky is gray. The sun has difficulty breaking through. A rainy day will not hurt.

There has been a rumor floating about in Key West the past several months that the Pier House was for sale. The grand dame of Key West.

The rumor appears to have legitimacy. This week’s Keynoter reports a sale is imminent. A Dallas corporation is interested. The corporation presently owns Key West’s La Concha. The price is not known. It is thought that it will be in the $60 million area.

Dick Jacobs and his group have owned the Pier House since the 1980s. Jacobs is best known as the owner of the Cleveland Indians baseball tea. I recall several years ago that Jacobs was celebrating some event. He brought the whole Cleveland baseball team to Key West to party with him. The party was held in the Wine Galley.

Jacobs unfortunately died in 2009. His family has been operating the Pier House since.

New owners sometime mean changes. I hope the Chart Room and Wine Galley are left alone. You cannot make better what is already perfect. This includes much of the staff also.

Decided to go to the beach yesterday afternoon. Higgs Beach. Me, my sand chair, and towel. I was able to get into the chair with no difficulty. Getting out was another story. Oh, my back!

My back is actually much better. It generally only hurts when I sit in a straight backed chair or try to sit up in bed.

Stayed at the beach a while. Packed. Lovelies running in and out of the water. Good for my old eyes!

Grabbed a fish sandwich at Salute’s afterwards.

Dinner last night was with Lisa and the family. A good meal!

Jake is loved by the entire family and he loves them. What a lucky dog!

Jake and I are having bonding problems. I tend to move towards him too fast when I come in. He jumps and barks in defense. And he does not stop! I am going to have to crawl in on my hands and knees. My deep voice is a problem also. Lisa keeps telling me to talk soft.

My blog talk radio show tomorrow night. Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou. Nine in the evening. www.blog talkradio.com/key-west-lou.

I am never sure what I am going to talk about till the last minute. News changes by the minute and my thoughts with those changes. Tomorrow’s topics may include the aftermath of the Boston bombings, the dirty Tulsa dentist who gave over 60 people HIV, the news that food poisoning is on the rise, and/or  kilt wearers having a higher sperm count. One of them, all of them. Whatever. Join me.

My friday morning Key West Lou Legal Hour is available on You Tube. The Tuesday evening blog talk radio show is archived. If you miss either show at the scheduled time, you can still catch it through either of these sources.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

BOB BURTON GONE

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Bob Burton passed on over the weekend.

Bob was one of Key West’s nicest people.

I first met Bob and his partner Jack Baron 25 years ago when I started coming to Key West. They ran the Jack Baron Art Gallery in Duval Square together. Jack did the painting. Bob handled the business end.

I loved them both. There was no other way to feel about them.

Jack died several years ago. I am confident Jack was waiting to greet his life long partner at the Pearly Gates. Probably chastised him for taking so long.

I was privileged to be invited to their 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st and 52nd anniversary parties. Outstanding! Although same sex marriage was not yet legal anywhere in the United States, these two gentlemen considered themselves married all those years.

May Bob rest in peace.

Yesterday morning was spent working on this morning’s blog talk radio show. The Key West Lou Talk Show. Then I was off to Higgs Beach. The temperature was 80 degrees.

I did not wear a bathing suit. Too cold for me! I was in a tee shirt and shorts. Eighty is warm to the tourists. They fly down for a few days. Their blood is still thick from the northern cold weather. Mine is not. I experience cold easily. Strange as it sounds, eighty is cool to me this time of year.

I sat in my sand chair for 1.5 hours and read. Tourists all around me running in and out of the water.

I am presently reading two books at one time. I am still reading the one about President Grant. I am also into a book on Eisenhower titled Ike’s Bluff. It was the Ike book I was reading on the beach.

The more detail I read about the various lives of our Presidents, the more I wonder why anyone would want the job. Grueling. Crushing. The pressure never lets up.

Picked up the virus infected computer. Virus gone. I was worried. Thought the computer was gone.

Then to my heart doctor for a routine visit. Everything A-ok.

I have written in this column, in a KONK Life article, and discussed it on my TV/Internet show. Pythons!

The State of Florida sponsored python hunt is now up to 800 participants. I think the State and hunters are crazy. They remind me of the people who went out in all size boats to capture the great white shark in Jaws. The python hunt scenario is a disaster in the making. A hunter is going to get shot by a fellow hunter or crushed by a python. Guaranteed!

Completed another Key West Lou Blog Talk Radio Show this morning. Amongst other things, chatted about a woman’s vagina and an incestuous relationship. Nothing bad. But real and truthful for sure.

I suggested that a woman’s vagina is more regulated than assault weapons. Think about it. I am correct.

As regards an incestuous relationship, one of sorts exists between the military, the military industrial complex, and Congress. Right on, again.

The statistics/analytics were available to me immediately following the show. A number listened in. No one called in, however. Please, I am trying to develop a talk show. I need you to participate. It costs nothing and gives you the opportunity to be heard.

The stats told me something interesting. People listening to the blog talk radio show are reading this blog for the first time. I would like it to work the other way, also. Go from Key West Lou to the talk radio show.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY A MIXED BAG

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Good morning!

A lovely Key West morning! Sun is bright. Sky pure blue. No clouds. Water blue. A bit of wind.

The weather lately has been amazing. We seem to have left the rainy season. It is cooler, however. No 80s. Mid 70s by day. Mid 60s by night. No need for air conditioning. Sleep with the windows open and a light blanket for cover.

My morning yesterday was quiet. As I have suggested before, the way a Sunday should begin. I laid in bed watching the morning TV talk shows. Meet the Press, The Chris Matthews Show, etc. Shows that feed the political junkie me.

Later, grabbed a beach chair and towel and drove over to Higgs Beach. Stopped on the way to buy the Sunday New York Times. $5.50! Outrageous!

Read the paper and watched the ladies a while. Got hungry. Stopped in Salute’s. Enjoyed a fish sandwich at the bar.

My intent later in the afternoon was to be at the Big Ten Sports Bar to watch Syracuse’s first basketball game of the season. Never made it.

When I returned from Salute’s, I took a quick shower before heading over to the Sports Bar. Laid on the bed for a few minutes. Turned on TV. One of my all time favorite movies was playing. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. Starred William Holden and Jennifer Jones. 1955 vintage. I decided to watch the movie. Never made it to the Sports Bar. Missed the Syracuse game. I must be getting old!

I knew William Holden. Back in the 1970s, I used to go to La Costa a couple of times a year. A spa outside San Diego. Holden was generally there. We became La costa friends.

I used to go to lose weight. He went to dry out.

The thing that sticks in my mind about him was that he was always the gentleman.

We used to spend our evenings smoking cigars and chatting. I rarely smoked a cigar back then. Do not now. However, there was nothing else to do in the evening at the spa.

Oops. Almost forgot. Syracuse won. Beat San Diego State 62-49.

Billy Kristol was on one of the talk shows yesterday morning. He is a very much respected conservative. He spoke of the Republican Party debacle.

He expressed the need for the Republican Party to accept new ideas.

Regarding taxing the wealthy more, he said go for it! Let me quote him. Taxing the wealthy “…won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires…half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood and are hostile.”

Think about Obama’s proposed tax hike. Only four percentage points more. From 35 per cent to 39 per cent.

When Clinton was President, the federal tax rate was 39 per cent. Where Obama wants to take us now. The country prospered. Everyone made money big time. Even me. If you add the New York State income tax onto the 39 per cent, I was paying close to 50 per cent of my income in taxes. I did not mind. Nor did anyone else. The economy was booming! Money was flowing in!

The 4 per cent is nothing more than pocket change to today’s rich.

We have been paying 35 per cent for years. Is the economy booming? Has it boomed in recent years? The argument against raising the tax on the rich is a bogus one.

Grandkids day! They are off from school. Today is Veterans Day.

Enjoy your day!

A DISAPPOINTING EDITORIAL

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A political Sunday of sorts.

My morning started with the TV talk shows. Meet the Press and Chris Matthews, amongst others. Only one item discussed. The Presidential election.

Afterwards, I continued work on Friday’s TV/Internet show. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. Additional topics include differences between the Catholic Church and a Polish coffin maker, an expensive Anaconda, recent U.S. Supreme Court activity involving police drug sniffing dogs, Jack the Ripper, the 1965 blackout, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and John Kennedy.

Remember, I have changed broadcasting studios. As of Friday, I will be broadcasting via TV and the Internet. The show will be available on Comcast Channel 87 through out the Keys. It will be available world wide on the internet. www.tvchannel19.com.

Ten o’clock in the morning my time.

Decided to get some beach time. Grabbed my sand chair and headed over to Higgs Beach. A lot of people. More than I had expected. It is getting a bit cooler. The coolness did not disuade any one from swimming. Except for me. I put my foot in and decided the water was too cold.

I brought Sunday’s Key West Citizen and a book with me.

The Key West Citizen is a good and interesting local newspaper. Never many pages. However whatever its weight, it compensates with thought provoking material. Yesterday’s editorial was no exception. I was provoked.

The editorial came out in support of Romney for President. That did not bother me. Although I am an Obama supporter, every one has a right to their own opinion.

What disturbed me was the manner in which Romney was supported. Both candidates have warts. The editorial found Romney free of warts. The editorial was a boiler plated recitation of his alleged virtues. Romney was made to appear as the seconnd coming of a Messianic figure.

The editorial disappointed me not as to its conclusion, but the manner in which it was arrived at.

Sunday dinner was the best! With Lisa and the family. Politics was a part of our evening. Political discussions amongst Lisa, Corey and I are interesting. We are not always in accord. As to Obama however, we are.

Turned out Robert and Ally had been involved in the Presidential election this past week. Both attend Montessori. First and second grades. The school conducted a mock Presidential election. They both voted for Obama. The results will not be announced till Wednesday.

I have always considered such school elections as representative of the thinking of the community. The youthful votes cast generally reflect parental poitions. Such elections are a good barometer of the real result locally.

Enjoy your day!

SUNDAY

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I sometimes think I have too much on my plate.

Yesterday, I worked on the Epilogue to my trip. The photos. Still organizing and selecting. A real task when there are 600 pictures.

Work done, I decided to go to the beach. Read the Sunday papers and look at the lovely ladies.

I went to Higgs Beach. My intent was to sit in my sand chair a couple of hours. Then walk over to Salute’s for a fish sandwich.

It was not to be.

Higgs Beach stunk! In fact, most of the Atlantic side beaches smelled. Including Smathers.

Like dead fish.

It was Isaac getting the last laugh. Isaac had thrown seaweed and fish life onto the beach area and beyond. You could see where the water had come over the sea walls. The sidewalk and grass still had sun bleached brown sea weed splattered about. The water at Higgs Beach was also a disaster. Brown. Isaac had churned the bottom. The water not yet settled.

No Higgs Beach for me!

I drove to Fort Zachery Taylor Beach. Also on the Atlantic. But around the corner of the island. Fort Zach’s Beach was clean. I could see my toes in the water. There was no smell.

The beach was packed. Everyone out enjoying a lovely Sunday. Many probably transfixed from Higgs to Fort Zach.

Dinner last night with Lisa and the family. Robert and Ally a joy. As always.

Part of the meal consisted of corn on the cob. Robert had no trouble devouring his the normal way. He has teeth in front. Ally does not. Lisa had to scrape the corn off the husk for Ally. Ally put away two cobs of corn in that fashion.

Stopped at the Chart Room for a few drinks. Knew no one. All tourists.

Duval was also packed with tourists. In Key West enjoying a fun filled weekend. Merchants had to be happy. The visitors were.

Enjoy this last day of the Labor Day Weekend!