BUBBA SYSTEM

Posted on by

Bubba system. A term used mainly in the Florida keys. Means friends taking care of friends. In Key West, Conchs taking care of each other as well.

Almost a year ago on July 14, 2015, my blog was titled Bubba System At Work. Concerned the Key West City Commission and its treatment of Uber. Uber drivers were being arrested.

Key West is still with out Uber. Many want it. Tourists and locals alike. Thus far, their requests ignored. The City Commission finally discussed the issue last night. Passed the buck.

The City Commission entertained allowing Uber to operate on the island. Fifty persons present. Many spoke. The City Commission decoded to delay a decision. The excuse was that the Florida legislature was studying the issue and Key West should take a wait and see attitude till a State decision was forthcoming. It was contemplated the decision would take one to two years.

A bubba decision! There is no reason why Key West could not take a position at the present time. No State law prohibiting Uber. No assurance the State will take a position at any time.

What the City Commission did was take care of their local friends. The people who own the cab companies.

Money was not involved. Perhaps if it was, a swifter decision could have been made. Like the $12.5 million Peary Court decision. A bubba action if there ever was one. Key Westers are still waiting to find out who the principals are who will benefit from the decision.

Vote those City Commissioners not acting in the best interests of Key West out next election! Replace them! How many times do the people of Key West have to be screwed before they act/react?

Yesterday was cholesterol blood work and an echo test. See my heart doctor next thursday for the results.

Following the blood letting, I went to the Creperie for breakfast. Second tine I have been there. Should go more often. Terrific food! Great coffee!

The Creperie is in K-Mart Plaza.

Started my night on the town with a visit with Mark Watson at the Back Door Bar. Zoey joined us. First time I met Zoey. Charming company. Zoey works at Havana on Duval. The old Camille’s.

Orlando and American medical treatment discussed at length. Good conversation.

Then to Duffy’s for another Maine lobster. I’m hooked!

This week’s KONK Life hit the stands yesterday. My column this week is The Rape of Social Security. Read it. Revealing.

The column was posted thus morning to my Key west Lou website. It can be read there also.

One of the Orlando victims is Patience Carter. She survived. Shot in her legs.

A 20ish Afro-American. Lovely.

Yesterday morning, I came across a video of her reading a poem she had written while in the hospital concerning the shooting. Tears sliding down her cheeks.

I noted she was an intern at FOX in Philadelphia.

Read the Wall Street Journal yesterday at breakfast. Patience’s picture on the front page. Large. The by line stated she got out of the Pulse Club ok. However went back in to find her friends. That is when she was shot.

Rudolph Murdoch owns FOX. He also owns the Wall Street Journal. Patience has a great career ahead of her. A jewel inadvertently discovered. A star rising out of tragedy.

I am considering a trip to Europe. Italy. Greece too dangerous. Italy has some safe spots. If I go, it will be to two places. One is Courmayeur. I have visited before. Chalet living half way up Mont Blanc. The other, Camogli on the Italian Riviera.

We shall see.

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was running for the U.S. Senate. A race he lost. He said on this date that a house divided could not stand. He was paraphrasing a passage from the New Testament: “…..a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

We are a divided nation once again. The issues different. Yet we are divided. Divided for many years.

How long can we survive so divided? The division is like a cancer eating away at a body. Will it be cured before it is too late?

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

SAD ORLANDO HAPPENINGS

Posted on by

Another sad occurrence in the Orlando area yesterday. A 2 year old boy taken away by an alligator. The place was the Seven Seas Lagoon at a Disney hotel. The boy was running through one foot of water when the alligator attacked.

There were signs nearby No Swimming. The parents were nearby on the beach.

Alligators are a growing problem in Florida. I wrote about their danger several months ago. One or two had shown up in the Florida keys.

The mass shootings the other sadness. Forty nine dead. More than fifty injured. Most, very seriously.

I am not going to bore you with details. We all know them. Some observations, however.

Patience Carter was one of those shot. Her legs. She hid in a bathroom stall while the killer was shooting people on the other side of the stall door.

She wrote a touching poem of the incident. It is all over the internet. I recommend you view it.

One of Patience’s lines: “The guilt of being alive is heavy.”

Religion is taken to the extreme in our country. God is invoked many times tastelessly. Whether correct, immaterial. There is a time to refrain from adverse comments. Especially extreme ones. Regardless of personal beliefs.

There are those of us who believe we are all God’s children.

My observations motivated by the comments of three ministers re the Orlando shootings.

A Baptist minister in California thought the 50 deaths were good. Rid the world of 50 pedophiles.

Another in Tempe, Arizona uttered a similar line. The dead were sodomites. He referred to them as perverts.  Claimed as per the Bible, they should be put to death. Even went so far as to say that a righteous government would execute them.

Then comes Pat Robertson. Purportedly a man of God. Has spewed hatred over the years. He recommended good people sit on the sidelines and let homosexuals be killed. Let the Muslim and homosexual societies fight/kill each other.

With Trump suddenly going down in the polls, some of his followers are taking attacking positions. My blog comments reflect it. This blog. The blog I write every morning. The venom falls from their lips.

A scary situation.

Yesterday was Flag Day. Flags at Bayview Park flown at half mast. Half mast in sorrow for the Orlando attack. I assume flags were at half mast throughout the country.

I was up at 4:30 this morning. Have a very early morning visit with Dr. Mc Ivor. My heart doctor. Fasting blood work and an echo test. I wanted to be sure to get the blog out before leaving.

Enjoy your day!