I WANT TO GO TO JAIL

I want to go to jail.

I was having a conversation yesterday with one of those who make this island the place it is.

He started by telling me…..I want to go to jail. Only for 30 days. I need a vacation.

He saw I was looking at him strangely. He said…..I’ve been there before. It’s not bad.

He continued…..I’ll get healthy. No smoking, no drinking. Food not bad. Rooms air conditioned. There are work out areas. I can get in shape. Plus, free medical. I will go to the infirmary, say I have chest pains, and get a free physical.

He was serious. His problem is figuring out what crime to commit. He did not want to hurt anyone. He did not want any bills to pay for whatever he did. days.He did not want a sentence longer than 30 days.

Only in Key West!

My yesterday began with the anti-gravity treadmill. Increased speed a bit. Not time. Crawling before walking.

I am a creature of habit. It was back to Cuban Coffee Queen for cheese toast and cold Cuban coffee. Read the newspapers.

Today was to be haircut day. I still am carrying scabs on my head for what was cut off. Rescheduled the haircut for next thursday.

It was humid. Stopped into Bank of America. Great air conditioning! Sat and browsed some local newspapers.

Don’s Place first last night. Busy. Busier than I have seen in a while.

Chatted with Don and David. David excited. He was wearing a hearing aid for the first time. He could hear!

Don’s wife Stephanie came in. Toni said hello. Her arm finally ok. She had shoulder replacement surgery. A long recovery. I am happy it is all behind her.

John and Billy, too.

It was over to La Te Da for dinner. Wednesday night Tonto is at the outside bar. A terrific lady!

There was  a show upstairs at 8. Ergo, downstairs was packed.

Bobby came in. He was going to the show.

I first met Bobby 20 plus years ago. My then wife and I went to La Te Da  for the Sunday Tea Dance. First time.

We looked a bit strange. Only gay men in those days. Bobby came up and asked why we were there. He explained and we left.

Bocce tonight. Last night of the season. Even though I am not playing, I remain a member.  Stop by to encourage the team. I have become a cheerleader in my old age. Without the skirt.

Many teams tied at the top. Our team one of the them. Based on tonight’s results, the team could end up in third place or sixth. Playing the number one team. Played them under a similar experience last season. They were number one and we number three. we beat them. We ended up in second, they in third.

The Country Commission approved the $12.5 million Peary Court purchase last night. A disgrace!

Three weeks ago, my KONK Life column wa Afghanistan and America’s Heroin Addiction. This week a follow up. Heroin Will Survive New Drug Bill. The new article is available today. Both columns revealing and of current importance.

What goes around, comes around. So true!

On this date in 1536, Anne Boleyn lost her head.

Anne’s move in ousting Catherine of Aragon ultimately resulted in Anne’s beheading.

Henry VIII’s first wife Catherine of Aragon luckier. She kept her head. However, the balance of her life was desolate.

She lived in a castle. One small room. Left the room only for mass. Fasted continuously. Wore the hair shirt of the Order of St. Francis.

Enjoy your day!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT!

Grandson Robert was 12 years old yesterday. God bless!

The celebration might not have been. Robert was born with cancer of the liver. The tumor was larger than his liver. He had two major operations in the first eight days of his life.

God was good!

Lisa cooked a Happy Birthday sunday dinner and a birthday cake. The meal outstanding! As to the cake, very little left. Robert had a sleep over the night before. The guys pretty much devoured the cake.

Ally’s birthday is in two weeks. Yesterday, she looked beat up. Had a bad stomach bug the day before.

Summer vacation around the corner. We talked about what they will be doing. One thing will be Seacamp on Big Pine. An educational sea camp. The kids are excited.

Spent yesterday writing this week’s KONK Life column. Heroin Will Survive New Drug Bill. It is a followup to my article three weeks ago Afghanistan and America’s Heroin Addiction.

The new column hits the stands wednesday.

The first heroin column appears on E-Blast this morning.

My picture on E-blast took me back for a moment. I have not seen it in years. It was taken during my first Greece trip five years ago. I am sitting at a table at my favorite restaurant writing my blog. The bearded Louis.

Stone crab season ended yesterday. A good season. Stone crabs galore. I enjoyed every one I ate. To me, the best of foods. I always say if I knew my meal was to be my last one, I would order stone crabs.

Movie star Roy Scheider had a home in Key West. Scheider of Jaws and French Connection fame. Puchased 630 Dey Street in March 1982. His winter home.

Everyone does everything in Key West.  Scheider was a regular at Camille’s when it was on Duval. He was frequently seen at the breakfast bar chain smoking.

Fausto’s is celebrating its 90th birthday. Its main store today on Fleming, just off Duval. A family business. Quality foods. Surprising however that it has lasted so long. Means whatever they sell has to be good.

I am anti-Trump. No question. I may even be anti-Clinton. I may not even vote.

That being said, the New York Times on saturday did a number on Trump. An unfair one. Front page. The article’s thrust was how Trump behaved with women.

The article should never have been written. It lacked substance. All it proved is Trump can occasionally be an asshole with his mouth.

Trump deserves an apology.

Enjoy your day!

AFGHANISTAN AND AMERICA’S HEROIN ADDICTION

Afghanistanhas poppy fields galore. Poppy seeds become opium. The opium treated becomes heroin.

Today, the United States is facing its deadliest illicit drug epidemic in history. A heroin epidemic. Previous drug epidemics shade in comparison.

Afghanistan is responsible for 85 percent of the world’s opium production. A significant portion of that production has found its way to America’s streets.

I wrote a column in 2014 asking the question why Afghanistan poppy fields were basically untouched during the U.S. war years in Afghanistan.

The U.S. put boots on the ground in 2001. The U.S. military was still fighting in 2014 when the column was written. The U.S. military is still fighting today in 2016.

Not only were the poppy fields untouched by war, even the 3,000 farmers who worked the fields.

During the 15 years since 2001, thousands of Americans have been killed. More maimed. Legs and arms lost. Faces disfigured. Civilians suffered also. Children included. More thousands of civilians than U.S. soldiers dead and injured.

Communities destroyed. Thousands left homeless.

Yet, the poppy fields remain undamaged.

The U.S. spent billions during the early war years to combat/eradicate the opium problem. Nothing worked.

Money played a big part in the failure of the eradication program. Money found its way into the pockets of Afghan governmental leaders. From President Hamid Karzi down. Much went into the pockets of the war lords who owned the poppy fields. Some into the pockets of U.S. persons in charge of getting a handle on the opium problem.

Corruption at every level.

In those rare occasions where some one was convicted of opium violations in Afghanistan, that person walked into jail through the front door. A bribe is paid. The wrongdoer walked out the back door the same day.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan until the fall of 2001. The Taliban made billions from the opium trade. For reasons I cannot determine, the Taliban outlawed opium trade in mid 2000. Within one year, opium production was all but gone. Taliban had effectively destroyed Afghan’s opium business in one year.

The question arises if the Taliban could basically destroy the opium trade in one year, why has the U.S. not been able to do so?

The U.S. government bears significant responsibility for the heroin epidemic the nation is facing.

Bush 2 initiated an opium eradication program. It contracted with DynCorp. to do the work. In 2009, Obama’s administration failed to renew the contract with DynCorp. Since that time, the U.S. has had no eradication program.

Afghanistan has a small one for face-saving purposes. The Afghan eradication program in 2014 reduced the opium problem by 1.1 percent. No big deal. As of this year, Afghanistan is not continuing with the program or any other eradication program.

Heroin is cheap to buy on the streets of America. The cost of a bag of heroin is basically the same as the cost of a pack of cigarettes. In most instances, slightly cheaper.

Cigarettes are differently priced in each State. For whatever reason, the cost of one bag of heroin is similar to the cost of a pack of cigarettes in a particular state.

For example, a pack of cigarettes is roughly $7.75 in Baltimore. A bag of heroin roughly $5. In New York City, cigarettes run around $11-12 a pack. A bag of heroin $10.

Cost is affected also by quality and availability. Which does on occasion increase the price of a bag of heroin to $15-20.

Comparatively speaking, heroin is cheaper to buy than other street drugs.

The heroin trade is sophisticated. One example is that illegal heroin can be purchased over the internet. I tried to understand how. I could not. However, my research indicated it can and is being done safely by sellers and users. The heroin industry has its own computer geeks.

Tens of thousands were hooked on heroin in 2009. Today, millions.

In 2010, U.S. heroin deaths were 3,036. In 2014, 10,574.

2014 was a banner year. The number of deaths keeps going up.

Afghanistan opium production has also increased significantly. From 123,000 hectares in 2009 to 224.000 hectares in 2014. Two hundred twenty-four hectares equates to 6,400 tons of opium. A hectare is equivalent to 2.5 acres.

It is estimated there are 4,5 million heroin users in the U.S. today. 2.5 million are addicts. 2 million casual users.

With daily use, a person becomes physically addicted in 30 days.

The number of U.S. heroin deaths are difficult to estimate. One authority says one every 32 minutes. Another claims heroin deaths are difficult to trace via autopsy. Heroin breaks down in the body within hours to morphine. Coroners record the deaths as morphine prescription ones. It is estimated such coroner determinations result in heroin deaths being under reported by 100 percent.

The U.S. has failed to properly fund the heroin problem. The DEA, CIA and DOD are not provided sufficient funds to effectively seek out and eliminate heroin use.

The CIA uses the term “blowback.” Blowback is the “consequences at home of operations overseas.” The U.S. failure to renew the DynCorp. contract in 2009 a perfect example.

Another blowback was Obama’s desire  when he took office to reduce the number of U.S. combatants in Afghanistan and the costs of the war generally.

Millions of addicts require billions of dollars to treat. The U.S. has yet to address the problem. Medical care for in patient treatment is estimated at $25 billion a year. Out patient, $10 billion a year.

At some point, the U.S. has to confront the medical needs head on.

Heroin is a hell of a problem! One we are not yet as a nation facing.

The primary campaigns reflect the failure to address the heroin problem. I do not recall any candidate speaking to the issue.

TRUMP…..GOD HELP US!

Indiana pretty much sewed it up for Trump. Good for him! Bad for America!

I fear he is going to go all the way. The campaign will be dirty. The end will find him left standing. The four years following will tell whether I am correct. I hope I am wrong.

The American people are angered. About everything. Politicians are the first they can get at. They are doing it by nominating outsiders to be their leaders.

Sanders is another example. He has won a lot of States. He won Indiana last night. I suspect he will come up short, however. He will end up the also ran.

Sanders represents an extreme. His not bad in comparison to Trump’s way of thinking.

My blog talk radio show went well last night. I worked during the day fine tuning the show. I went on the air five minutes late. Technical difficulties. If you tried and failed to hear the show, it is archived on Blog Talk Radio, You Tube and my website Key West Lou.

The anti-gravity treadmill later this morning. I am going to cut the time back to 15 minutes. Monday proved to be too much.

Perry Court. Why did the Key West City Commission approve a $12.5 million dollar transfer of land authority money to make the transaction work? I thought the people voted down the acquisition of Perry Court. The Key West political powers are a conniving group.

My column Afghanistan and America’s Heroin Addiction appears in this week’s KONK Life which hits the stands today. Heroin is an issue to which we have closed our eyes. Time to wake up! Read the article. An eye opener.

Audrey Hepburn was born this day in 1929 in Belgium. She spent the World War II years in Nazi occupied Holland with her mother. She is reported to have suffered many hardships.

My friend Anna was born and raised in Navaro, Italy. She lived through a Nazi occupied Italy during the War. Though Anna was probably 10 years younger than Hepburn.

Anna was four when the Americans arrived to free Navaro. Anna’s recollections are many. During the occupation, the German soldiers and the executions against a brick wall not far from her home.

As to the Americans, she distinctly recalls their arrival. She was given gum by one of them. She had never seen gum before. Did not know what it was. She ate the gum as if it were candy.

Enjoy your day!

BACK TO BODY OWNERS

Today, I return to my beloved anti-gravity treadmill. At Body Owners. It has been more than three months since I last worked out on the machine.

First, it was a broken toe. Then, chest pains. I plan on starting slow. I am going to let the machine do half the work.

Sunday yesterday was the same as always. I wrote my KONK column. Took a little longer yesterday. I had research to complete. The title: Afghanistan and America’s Heroin Addiction. The problem overwhelming.

What stands out is most are not discussing America’s heroin addiction. Do you recall any of the primary candidates mentioning it?

The column publishes wednesday.

Dinner last night at Roostica. Spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce as my grandmother made it.

I intended to go to Publix afterwards. Absolutely nothing to eat in the house! I was too lazy. Have to get there sometime today.

Big Key West week ahead! The Key West Songwriters Festival. Twenty first year. Wednesday through sunday. More than 100 participants. Singers and music emanating from every nook and cranny. A music lovers delight!

My Canadian friend Suzan Hebditch leaves this morning. One of the items we discussed over dinner friday night was the immigration issue. Suzan believes the U.S. is screwing up. Disgracefully so. Besides her Canadian friends, she is in constant touch with many Europeans. All think we should be doing our part and taking in more immigrants.

I disagreed. This is an unusual group seeking asylum. I believe taking more than the 10,000 projected for this year would throw our lives and economy into disarray. Not a selfish position from my perspective. We have to be concerned for our own first. God bless Germany who is willing to take in one million more.

Sounds like I am American First. Not so. No way. However, I find nothing wrong with being concerned for me, mine, and my country re this point.

Suzan can be emotional. Strong in disagreement. Did everything but hit me.

On this day in 1933, the Loch Ness monster was sighted. Its first modern day sighting. Is the monster for real?

Enjoy your day!