ANTHRAX SCARE

 

Lazy me. Just got out of bed. After 10. The blog is really late this morning!

Sorry.

A wild afternoon in Key West yesterday. A scary one. An anthrax scare.

The place was the main Post Office. A letter to Key West postal authorities said there was anthrax in the envelope. A white powdery substance was observed.

The authorities were immediately called. Police, fire and federal people. Properly described as…..the hazardous material team.

Everyone appeared trained and knew what to do. The reaction was prompt to this first time Key West danger.

All this began around one in the afternoon. It was reported there were 15-25 people in the building at the time. Employees and customers.

Following is what I have been told by several sources. The media as yet has not covered this aspect of the situation. The decontamination of the humans involved.

Those in the building were taken outside. They were required to disrobe. Small plastic swimming pools, the kind kids use, were strewn on the lawn. They were told to  stand inside and then were hosed down. What happened with their clothes, I do not know. Some peoplewere  taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure.

The entire clean up took four hours.

Preliminary tests of the purported anthrax suggest the white powder was not anthrax and was a hoax. Let us hope that is the final determination. The authorities have already determined that the envelope was sent from a confined Maryland prisoner. Not his first rodeo. He did the same thing once before.

Yesterday’s TV/internet show was fun. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. For whatever reason, I especially enjoyed doing yesterday’s show. At the end, I felt like I had gone 4 for 4 at the plate.

Post show comments indicated everyone liked a bit of this and a bit of that. No one issue particularly stood out.

It was me and Krystal alone doing the show. Jenna was having her hair done. We did it! No problems.

Anna has been my housekeeper for 8 years.

Anna came over from Poland many years ago. Works hard. She is living the American dream. Her own home and car. Money in the bank. A one month trip every other year to Poland.  With husband and children. To complete the scene, she is on her second or third husband.

Anna brought me a bag of fresh tomatoes yesterday. It was obvious they were not store bought. Nor from any farm in the Keys where there is no room for farming. She said they were from the Florida City or Homestead area. Made sense. They sit on Florida proper as the last two cities before persons enter the Keys.

Home grown/farm grown are not like the ones you buy in Publix. No shine to them. These were Mother Nature’s natural offspring. Dull colored with a dark line here and there.

I look forward to tasting one today.

I was tired tired in the afternoon. It had been a busy week for me. I climbed in bed and slept for three hours.

Spent some time at the Chart Room last night. Everyone there. Peter, Che, Frankie. David, Sheila and Jean. Also, Mike. From Michigan I recalled. We met last year. He was down this year with 9 other high school buddies. They were celebrating their 50th birthdays. Mike and I talked about Michigan basketball. Actually the events of the Final Four. Mike was not happy Michigan lost to Louisville. He was convinced Michigan would win it all next year.

I intended to meet Don and Chris at the Chart Room. My Syracuse friends texted me earlier in the week that they would be in Key West friday night. If they are in Key West, you can be sure they will be at the Chart Room.

Not last night. I got stood up. They went first to Seven Fish for dinner. They texted Emily they would be over soon and I should wait. I said tell them no. My feelings were hurt! Not really. It was just that I had been drinking for two hours and needed to eat. Soon!

I started my drive home. Stopped at Tavern ‘n Town and enjoyed a steak at the bar.

Key West’s popularity is amazing. Every one wants to visit or actually become a Key Wester. I can understand. When I was in Greece last summer, every one wanted to be an American. So it is.

Utica is my home town. Last night a Key West party was held in Utica. It was called Key West Fest. At the Holiday Inn on Burrstone Road. The party was sponsored by radio station 92.7 FM The DRIVE.

They ate and drank Key West style. Key West music in the background. A temperature of 34 degrees outside. The party was held to warm every one up.

Enjoy your Saturday!

 

SCREWED AGAIN!

Bend over folks. It is happening again. The American people are being screwed.

I apologize for the descriptive words used. However, I want there to be no doubt about what is about to be reported.

TV, the radio and newspapers will be redundant today with the announcement of the possible failure of the U.S. Post Office. The Post Office has a $5.5 billion payment due wednesday and a $5.6 billion payment due in September. It will not be able to meet either. Unless of course there is a Congressional bailout.

How did this crisis come about?

There is no question e mails, Federal Express and other new methods of communication have had their effect on the Post Office. But not to the extent as another cause. The major cause!

The Republican Congress in 2006 passed legislation that Bush 2 signed into law. It was the Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act. It requires the United States Postal Agency to pay $103.7 billion into a fund. The purpose of the fund was to pay health benefits of Postal retirees for seventy five years. You read it correctly! The law compels the post office to prepay retiree health benefits for seventy five years.

As such, the law requires the prefunding for people not yet even in the employ of the Postal Service. Perhaps not yet even born.

The most egregious part of the legislatioon is the time frame within which the $103.7 billion is to be paid. Payment is accelerated. It has to be paid in full by 2016. That means within ten years of its becoming law.

What went on in the back rooms of Congress and the White House, I do not know. How such stringent legislation could be passed is difficult to comprehend.

What happened?

Whatever it is, it is happening all over again. It is one surprise after another.

What I am about to express is not a political statement. Rather it is fact.

The American public has been caught sleeping again. Just as it was when Republican power deregulated banking rules which assisted the mortgage crisis to occur, fight Obamacare which would provide health care to most Americans, and got us into an ill conceived war in Iraq. The same Republican Party that is attempting in several states to cut the pensions of public employees.

Bottom line. The present postal problem is a Congressionally created deficit approved by President Bush only six years ago. It was lunacy to assume such a large 75 year obligation could be funded in full in ten years. Or maybe not lunacy. More like they did not care. Or maybe were not paying attention.

Before this day is out, the Republicans will be shouting that the plan was self funding. It payed for itself. Smoke and mirrors. It was a gigantic give away that has blown up in everyone’s face. Sooner than anyone conceived.

I was going to get into the price of gasoline this morning. A gallon of regualr has dropped $.20 in one week. Good. But how? Normally it moves the other way. Upwards and more expensive.

My day yesterday was good. Blossom’s for lunch. Cuban cheese toast and coffee. Watched the Olympics with the grandkids. Wrote in the afternoon and evening. Never got out.

Pay attention today as this postal crisis develops.

Enjoy your day!