Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
JUDGE UPHOLDS PETITION DEADLINE
(ORLANDO, FL - August 29, 2008)
US District Judge Stephen Mickle today told the lawyers running the so-called "Hometown Democracy" campaign that he would not overturn state constitutional requirements in order to put their amendment on the November, 2008 ballot.
"Hometown Democracy failed with the voters and failed in the courts," said Ryan Houck, Executive Director for Floridians for Smarter Growth. "This is a win for the people of Florida who have already said 'no thanks' to this proposal three election cycles in a row."
In June, the lawyers running Hometown Democracy filed a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to get around petition requirements that groups must meet in order for their proposals to be placed on the ballot. In part, their lawsuit sought to overturn the February 1st petition deadline, which was approved by the voters in 2004.
"On one hand, they claim that they want to empower voters by giving them the final say... On the other hand, they mounted a legal freak show to try to overturn a voter-approved petition deadline," said Houck. "Their hypocrisy knows no bounds."
Hometown Democracy's desperate lawsuit also alleged that a number of federally protected rights had been violated. The court ruled that no constitutional due process or equal protection rights were violated.
Hometown Democracy can still have its issue placed on the November 2010 ballot if it is able to submit the required number of signatures. That number will be 8 percent of the total number of voters who cast ballots in the upcoming presidential election. Initiative campaigns - like Hometown Democracy - must reach that 8 percent threshold in at least half of Florida's 25 congressional districts.
Floridians for Smarter Growth is a statewide coalition of business and community groups united to defeat Hometown Democracy because of the devastating impact it would have on Florida's economy and quality-of-life.
(source: http://florida2010.org/home.php)
"Mothership" Needs a Maid...
Capt. Sparky rule #1 of video production is to shoot in a suitable location! The cargo hold would not be one of them. Clean up the foreground at least! Better yet, next time use the toilet. It's where we went to vomit after viewing that garbage.
GET A MAID!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Falcon's Get a Win
FOREST HILL 18, HILLEL 0: Marlon Richardson had two touchdowns, and Jamal Bryan added a rushing score for the host Falcons."We're working toward getting a solid football team, and this is a good start for these kids," said Forest Hill coach Lamar Powell. "The seniors on the team are 0-30 and so this is their first win for us. It's a work in progress, but the kids are feisty and learning how to play good football."
(Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/other/sfl-flsppalmagt29pnaug29,0,6417187.story)
GO FALCONS!
Chef continues Vendetta....
I don't have a brother but I do have an older sister. When you go to war with this family chef you go to war with all of us. Even the members you don't know. The "Fat Bastard" does not write this blog. I'm his "God Mother." When you politicize someone children you better be ready for war.
Keep digging your grave I have all the time in the world. I won't ever run for office or become involved in this rat hole town. Screwing with you is a sport and I enjoy it. It's a kin to a cat toying with a mouse. It's really too bad you don't write your own blog anymore. I guess your just another sock puppet. Ironic, isn't it.
It's almost football time....
Some old school love for our fins! Makes us want to take a trip to Catfish Dewey's......
Chef gets a Ghost Writer.....
It seems the Chef got some help in his kitchen.....Hmmmm.
Who could it be?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
A small group of wealthy extremists and sympathetic journalists have popularized three Florida Hometown Democracy myths
By Ryan Houck
A small group of wealthy extremists and sympathetic journalists have popularized three Florida Hometown Democracy myths.
They say FHD is a grass-roots movement. It is not.
They say it will lead to smarter growth. It will not.
They say it gives power to the people. It does not.
Kenric Ward's July 25 column pays homage to all three. FHD is not a "grass-roots campaign" because grass-roots campaigns inspire supporters. FHD hires them. Since 2003, Hometown Democracy has spent nearly $1 million for paid petition gathering alone -- hardly the mark of a "grass-roots" campaign.
The two unpaid volunteers highlighted in Mr. Ward's column are refreshing, but uncommon examples. If you are asked to sign a petition, the overwhelming likelihood is that you are talking to a paid professional. Some solicitors have been paid $3 per petition.
Mr. Ward notes that "surprisingly few people" have heard of FHD. However, Hometown's problem is not that voters don't care about the issue. FHD's problem is that voters aren't interested in the solution. Even the much-derided "pregnant pigs" amendment collected more than 70 percent of its signatures with unpaid volunteers. Unlike FHD, it qualified after only one attempt.
How is it possible that Hometown Democracy -- a well-funded campaign about a hot-button issue -- could not inspire a greater grass-roots following? The answer is simple: right problem, wrong solution.
Hometown Democracy has pointed out what every Floridian already knows: Our growth-management system is imperfect. But FHD supporters offer few concrete reasons why their idea will make the system better. In fact, countless business, community, growth management, environmental, planning and labor groups argue that FHD will make the system far worse.
Forcing voters to decide every technical land use plan amendment -- thousands each year -- will not improve growth management. It will eliminate it altogether.
If you think overcrowding in our schools and traffic on our roads cannot get any worse, just wait until you see Hometown Democracy in action. To get a sneak preview, look no farther than St. Pete Beach, the small Pinellas County town that adopted Hometown Democracy-style rule two years ago.Since becoming a test case, endless legal battles and nonstop political infighting have shut down the local economy. When reformers tried to work through the referenda process to promote four changes to the local comprehensive land use plan, citizens decisively said "yes" at the ballot box.
However, only two days after the "will of the people" was heard, Hometown Democracy disciples filed a lawsuit to invalidate the entire election.It seems that the message from Hometown Democracy is: "You can have any opinion you want, as long as it's ours." That is why FHD will not empower voters.
Most voters will become frustrated when they face 200 or 300 technical land use plan changes at the ballot box. Few will see 50-page ballots as an opportunity to become more involved in public planning. Most citizens will become disillusioned and many will decide not to vote. That is why I share Mr. Ward's frustration over scant media coverage.
We should shine the light on Hometown Democracy. Every journalist, every Floridian, should carefully study this proposal. But let us do more than criticize the status quo. Let us look at FHD's proposed solution.
Voters will quickly see that FHD is too radical, too overreaching and fraught with too many unintended consequences.
Houck is executive director of Floridians for Smarter Growth, an Orlando-based political committee
Drautz Out....
"While Barbieri and Hansen were neck and neck, Drautz had picked up only a small share of the votes. He raised only $4,060, with $1,660 coming from his own bank account."
(source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2008/08/26/a1b_pbskuls_0827.html)
Now you can come back to Lake Worth and run for Mayor. Oh, Boy would that be fun!
Lake Worth Approves Sheriff Contract...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
We Found Another Chapter of the League...
Or is that just another "Fat Bastard" Blog........
http://www.secessionist.us/blog/scarletpimpernel.html
Lindsey Confused or Just Misleading...
Editor's note: Mary Lindsey is a candidate for the District 2 commission seat.
They also removed the reference to Tropical Ridge. Mary's page also changed over night. Hmmmm! I guess Mary got so accustom to telling people she wasn't running all Spring and Summer, remember her Domain was bought last fall, that she regressed for a moment.
She used her N.A., the COP program, Hot dog Park, Pool Re-opening, and anything else to appear to care. Don't let her use this community for what ever she thinks her next step will be!
Typical for this flip flopper.
Cara or Mary either way Lake Worth's Screwed!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Palm Beach County Coalition for Immigrant Rights
American Jewish Committee, Catholic Charities Immigration Services, COAKAM-Comite Akateco Qanjobal Maya, Corn Maya (Jupiter), El Sol, Florida State Representative Susan Bucher, Grupo Guatemalteco Broadway, Guatemala Maya Center, Haitian Citizen United Taskforce, Hispanic Alliance of PBC, Honduran Organization of Palm Beach, Kathryn W. Davis Global Education Center, Lake Worth Commissioner Cara Jennings, Lake Worth Global Justice Group, Latin American Immigrant and Refugee Organization, Hispanic Jewish Coalition, Maya Ministry of the Diocese of Palm Beach, Organization Guatemalteca Maya Quetzal, Organization of Maya People in Exile, St. Peter Catholic Church, SEIU-Service Employees International Union
Source: http://www.floridaimmigrant.org/default.asp?PageNum=530
City Website Wrong Again...
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Shanty Towns in Lake Worth.......
Friday, August 22, 2008
One More for Good Measure...
You be the judge, was it the budget or was it personal?
SHERIFF CALLS FPL PROTESTERS' CLAIMS OF ABUSE 'AN ABSOLUTE LIE'
BYLINE: ROBERT P. KING, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer DATE: February 20, 2008 PUBLICATION: The Palm Beach Post
Some of the 27 environmentalists arrested at Monday's standoff near Loxahatchee say Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies punched them, denied them food and wouldn't let them replace their soiled clothing while in custody, fellow activists said Tuesday.
But Sheriff Ric Bradshaw called the accusations "an absolute lie." He said it's part of a pattern of falsehoods by protesters whose actions snarled traffic on Southern Boulevard for five hours while shutting the Palm Beach Aggregates rock mine and a Florida Power & Light construction site. "Did they expect that they were going to the Ritz-Carlton day spa? No. It's a jail," Bradshaw told reporters. But he said booking photos, videotapes and interviews with sheriff's employees confirm that no abuse occurred.
Instead, he said, deputies gave the defendants bag lunches and access to toilets, only to have some activists respond by stripping naked or smearing food on their cells' floors and windows.
Their credibility is about zero," Bradshaw said.
But one protest organizer, Lake Worth City Commissioner Cara Jennings, said several of those arrested have called from the county jail to report the abuse.
"I was getting calls at 2 in the morning from a young man who had just been punched in the face," said Jennings, who is a member of the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition. She said others urinated on themselves while being held in a sheriff's office bus for two hours, then reported being denied a change of clothing.
Jennings said she initially complimented the deputies Monday afternoon for their "diplomacy," which included hours of negotiations about what it would take to get the protesters to move. "We were very impressed up until we heard from people who were in custody," she said.
Coalition co-Chairman Panagioti Tsolkas said nobody hit him in jail, but he saw and heard things to corroborate the allegations.
"I was not directly assaulted," said Tsolkas, who was released on his own recognizance Tuesday. "I was denied access to the restrooms."
The coalition and supporters of the radical movement Earth First! organized the blockade, which drew more than 120 people from as far away as London to protest FPL's plans for a gas-burning power plant.
More than two dozen activists refused to leave the mine's entrance, saying they were willing to go to jail. Ten locked their arms together using tubes and duct tape, making it harder to arrest them.
"These people disrupted a private business, they disrupted public transportation, they caused the county a great deal of expense," Bradshaw said.
He added: "It's outrageous what they did, regardless of what their message is."
The protest drew about 80 sheriff's deputies and dozens of fire-rescue workers. Traffic slowed or stopped for hours on Southern Boulevard, largely because dozens of trucks could not enter the rock mine.
But Jennings said the sheriff's office made the decision to deploy so many people, and she maintained there was no reason for the protest to stop traffic.
"Honestly, we didn't think it would take such a well-funded sheriff's office five hours to remove the blockade," she said.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said eight activists were released on their own recognizance after a jailhouse court hearing Tuesday morning. Jennings said 15 remained behind bars that afternoon, with bail totaling $10,000.
More Issues Between Com. Jennings and Law Enforcement...
This is an example of Com. Jennings misusing her office!
CITY OFFICIAL'S POLICE SCRUTINY CREATES A STIR
BYLINE: NICOLE JANOK, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer DATE: September 1, 2006 PUBLICATION: The Palm Beach Post
After three police officers had stopped in front of her home, City Commissioner Cara Jennings said all she wanted to do is see what had happened.
But the officers, who had stopped a man for running a stop sign on his bicycle, were unfamiliar with the commissioner and became concerned as Jennings approached an officer for more information. According to a Lake Worth police observation report, on Aug. 20, Jennings tried to speak with officers Callie Culpepper and Martin Kimberly while they were questioning Edward Pac III, a friend of Jennings who had been stopped.
When Jennings asked why three officers had responded to the area, Culpepper asked Jennings to stand across the street on the sidewalk until she was done questioning Pac. Jennings then told police officers she was a commissioner.
"I'm the commissioner, he is my friend. . . . I have the right to know what's going on," Jennings said, according to the report.
Jennings continued walking toward Culpepper, who asked her repeatedly to stay back. According to Kimberly's report, Jennings had interfered enough that she could have been placed under arrest for resisting arrest because "she was jeopardizing officer safety for myself and officer Culpepper."
But Jennings said Thursday that she wasn't aware that the officers felt her actions were threatening and was surprised to see a possible resisting arrest charge in the report.
"I think it's appropriate to observe the police in action as long as they do so in a way that is a non-threatening, and that was the intention of what I was doing," she said.
Jennings said she frequently identifies herself as a commissioner and thought the officers would know who she was because they were in front of her home.
"I identified myself as a commissioner, in part, so the officer would hopefully not be threatened by me as I was inquiring to what was going on," she said.
Jennings said she was not trying to assert any authority over the officers or help her friend by identifying herself as a commissioner.
After the officers gave Pac a verbal warning, Jennings told Culpepper that the incident was "an inappropriate use of police resources" and she would be contacting Police Chief Bill Smith.
As of Thursday, Jennings said she has not spoken to Smith, but still plans to contact him about the incident.
What Is Cara Doing Between Meetings.....
Here is the proof.
We have uncovered a letter to the editor of the San Diego Union from Com. Cara Jennings!
Wednesday Nov 14th, 2007 6:11 PM
As an elected City Commissioner in the State of Florida, I attended the No Borders Camp in Calexico California last week to learn more about the issues facing border communities and to see for myself the point of entry for many immigrants who eventually make their way to my city - Lake Worth, Florida. Upon arriving at camp I was invited to meet with U.S. Border Patrol District Commander Mr. Villareal who assured us that he supported our constitutional rights, had no interest in attacking the campers and would maintain open dialogue to ensure the safety of both the campers and border patrol agents. For five days we camped without incident under the watchful eye of the border patrol; campers on both sides of the border wall held workshops and cultural events focused on the impacts of immigration.
After a week of camping along the border wall, I was shocked by the actions of the Border Patrol on November 11 when they violenty attacked demonstraters holding a peaceful protest near the U.S. port of entry. I personally witnessed border agents beat, tackle and shoot pepper spray bullets at demonstrators who were following the directives of the agents to move back. As we tried to calmly disperse, the man walking next to me was shot multiple times in the chest by an agent standing only 10 feet away. A young man also trying to disperse along the sidewalk had his head bashed into the concrete wall, he fell to the ground in pain. While being forcefully detained, batons and guns pointed towards me, pepper spray burning my eyes, I reflected upon my conversation with Mr. Villareal and wondered what happened to his end of our agreement and our shared to desire to protect civil liberties.
Is this the mission of the border patrol; to brutalize any person who disagrees with the federal governments outdated, in-humane immigration policies? If this is the way Border Patrol agents treat law abiding U.S. Citizens, what type of violence do they inflict upon undocumented immigrants? Now that I have experienced the cruelty of the Border Patrol I realize the journey from Calexico to Lake Worth has an added danger unknown to many tax payers - the unregulated aggression of border patrol agents.
Cara Jennings Commissioner
District 2
City of Lake Worth
WOW...It's Been a Month...
Dolphin Boy as Shaggy?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Cara's Vision for Lake Worth...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Area 51 Website wants to recall Jeff Clemens...
http://www.recalljeffclemens.com/
The website is hosted by a Utah based company, BlueHost.com. The WhoIs search reveals that a $6.95 dollar per month hosting plan gets you a free domain name. This unnamed group has spent money in this effort! The site has no political disclaimer and is asking for donations to fund the effort.
They want the checks to be sent to:
"Please Contribute to:
RECALL JEFF CLEMENS
P.O. Box XXXX <------------------- from website!!!!
Lake Worth, Florida"
Site in 2 parts it was to large for one screen shot.
"MotherShip" Media finally gets it right....
Lt. Dutch Boy must be a reader.....HEHHEHEHE! We know that you update the scroll bar for the "Mothership!"
Well, by 10:30 AM today, Lt. Dutch Boy and the "Mothership" finally got it right! We contacted the City Clerk, just to add insult to injury, who stated that:
"No. the City’s website listed the meeting as cancelled. There is a 12:30 PM special commission mtg. on Aug. 20th to take action on election items previously scheduled on Aug. 19th."
We guess they need another decade of experience to get it right......
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
No Regular 6pm Meeting Tomorrow....
"City of Lake Worth residents, businesses and employees are advised that City services, facilities and offices will be closed on Tuesday, August 19, 2008. The August 19, 2008 City of Lake Worth City Commission Meeting has been canceled. A special City Commission Meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, August 20, 2008."
"Mothership" Media and it's decades of "Media Experience" has posted wrong information! No 6pm Meeting tomorrow!!!
The Special meeting mentioned in the Press Release is a 12:30 PM to vote on the four ballot items for the November election. We emailed a commissioner to confirm this information!
Toga Boy has a very interesting article on the city's poor communication skills.
Read More
Nice Pics of Fay from the "Fat Bastard"...
Click Here for More Videos and Images from his personal webpage....
Monday, August 18, 2008
Blackman goes LIVE....
Listen Live http://stream.netro.ca/lakeworthtalk Until tonight at 8PM
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Food pantries seeing surge in need from middle class
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Patricia Zander was comfortably middle class before medical problems forced her to leave her job as a nurse practitioner.
For years, the Boca Raton woman got by on her savings. But this year, with her money gone and her disability check eaten up by the high prices of gas and food, she was forced to ask for help.
Read More http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/08/16/a1c_foodpantries_0817.html
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Drautz's unrealistic? Alien Pod in Boca...
A few highlights from his days in Lake Worth.
Pee Pee Doorhangers
Lake Worth, OHWhen it comes to urinating in public, Lake Worth is No. 1.
“It’s a huge problem,” said Lake Worth Mayor Marc Drautz.
So huge that Drautz decided to use his neighborhood crime walks as an opportunity to remind residents not to use their city as a big outdoor toilet.
To do that, the mayor ordered up some door hangers. And being that Lake Worth is a city of many languages, he decided to point out this problem without relying on any words.
The computer image on the door hanger shows a stick figure standing the middle of a residential street.
“Don’t stand in the middle of the street?”
That’s what I said to myself when I saw the image, which was circled in red with a red slash through the middle of it.
But it turns out that what I thought was a dotted line in the middle of the road was actually supposed to represent staccato bursts emanating from the stick figure.
Computer whizzes don’t do clip art
Drautz admits that he, too, was confused when he first saw the door hanger.
“I thought it looked like somebody walking down the middle of the road,” he said.
The mayor called the effort a “first draft” and said that it’s just plain difficult finding computer clip art to remind people not to urinate in public.
Although, he said, even if people just think the door hanger is urging residents not to stand in the middle of the street, it isn’t a total loss.
“That’s not a bad message, either,” Drautz said.
Found in the Palm Beach Post
Confedrate flag flies over city hall...
Thursday, April 27, 2006 8:53:50 AM · by Guard Dog · 117 replies · 1,770+ views
Palm Beach Post ^ 4/27/06 Jane Musgrave
One of the most divisive symbols of the country's racist past — the Confederate flag — flew over Lake Worth City Hall on Wednesday without raising a peep of protest. Mayor Marc Drautz, who cleared the way for the symbol of the South to be hoisted, suggested that would-be protestors may not have recognized the red-and-white-striped flag for what it was. And, he acknowledged, that's just the way he wanted it. When the mayor, for a second year, gave Palm Beach County members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans the go-ahead to raise a flag to mark Confederate Memorial Day,...
Wife beats him in the street...
Marc Drautz of Lake Worth told police his wife, Yasmine, punched him in the face during an argument Saturday. Read more
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thanks for stopping in!
What's an Alien to do?
Thursday, August 14, 2008
More Biased Reporting by the "MotherShip"...
and
No mention of Vespo filing....
They do promote two other potential District 4 candidates on their site scroll bar; Suzanne Mulvehill and Barbara Aubel.
Is "Mothership" Media a PAC? You be the judge!
An observation: At 12:28 AM the "Mothership" showed 83 users on-line. Do they think people really believe that?
A very common way to fake user counts is to use a JavaScript counter. The script DOES actually increment the visitor count, though it does so based on a fixed algorithm involving the current date, not the actual number of visitors. We noticed that the "Mothership" does have issues with its system clock. It's just one of those things that makes you go Hmmm.....
Google "Fake user count" and you will find tons of different ways to do it.
Imaged blurred as to not violate site copy right. Email us and we can provide a clear image.
Exline Lies to Lake Worth Herald...
Really?
Photo 1:
Photo 2:
You can clearly make out the headlights. THIS IS NOT A CAR BACKING OUT!
The COP car impacts the rear of the vehicle. It appears to us, from watching the video, that he left the Parking Space as the teens approached him. The teens continued forward and Mr. Exline hit them!
Dee's email to Commission and Staff...
Note the colorful use of language!
From: laurencedee@bellsouth.net
Date:
Wed, Aug 13, 2008 2:47 pm
To:
"Pamela Lopez" "Armand Harnois" "Cara Jennings" "Chris Catuccy" "Dave Mulvay" "David Vespo""Jeff Clemens""Jo-Ann Golden" <"Kenneth White" "Mark Bates" "Mona Feigenbaum" "Retha Lowe""Walt Smyser""Cynthia Hammond" <"David Murphy" "Debby Cox" "Jacqueline Wildman" "Joni Taurosa" "Laura Hannah"..... (We had to shorten the list it goes on and on)
John Rinaldi falsely accuses the McNamara/McCauley lawsuit over their illegal flippable Beach contract,while misleading Lake Worth Citizens. Greater Bay vague Contract promises Lake Worth $500.000 if the contract is not sold to another party, but he does not mention our parking revenue and retail rental annual losses of minimum$665.000 to OUR City.! He mistates that we lose $500.000 because Greater Bay people are staying in his B. & B. so he has to kiss their AAAAAA......!
Supermajority misinterpretated by this carpet bagger, would have not lost our 95 year Police Dept.
Our City CRA could have helped finance our LWPD but it takes intelligence to realize this!Not crookedness!Who are these people who feel they have the right to throw 95 year protection out?Because of the 3 Commission Strongarm, Vespo,Clemens and Lowe incompetance to manage our City services which we pay the highest taxes for in the County,and their crooked voting system???
Mary Lindsay is Greater Bay's most ardent supporter, and wants them to take away our Beach for more than 23 years with their full control or flipp it's lease for a few millions and let us go to hell!What is she getting?
Rinaldi's E-mail adress has BS in it, an American expression I believe, meaning BULL SHTT!
Dee McNamara
Com. Dave Vespo Files...
August 13, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CALL COMMISSIONER DAVE VESPO: 561-254-0354
CURRENT LAKE WORTH CITY COMMISSIONER
DAVE VESPO
TO ANNOUNCE 2008 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Commissioner Dave Vespo announced his re-election campaign today by filing the needed papers with the Lake Worth Office of the City Clerk.
Commissioner Vespo says, “After two and half years of progress, I am seeking re-election to continue Lake Worth’s march toward an improved quality of life for all Lake Worth residents. It’s time to feel proud again.”
On the important topic of public safety, Commissioner Vespo says, “I worked tirelessly in negotiations to bring in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department to help restore public safety.”
On beach redevelopment and provision of city services, Commissioner Vespo says, “Upon re-election, I plan on completing our sorely needed beach renovation and continuing to improve the quality of our public services for all of our residents and businesses.”
During his two plus years in office, Commissioner Vespo passed and enforced ordinances that will continue to improve the quality of life for city residents. Commissioner Vespo took the lead in passing an anti-dumping ordinance that removed unsightly bulk items which used to pollute the streets. Commissioner Vespo put forth an anti-solicitation ordinance that stopped traffic jams on Lake and Lucerne Avenues where trucks used to stop freely to pick up day laborers. Commissioner Vespo saw to it that a Certificate of Use Program was established to alleviate overcrowding of residential structures which drains City services and addresses un-safe and un-sanitary conditions. Commissioner Vespo made sure that ordinances were passed to remove abandoned vehicles cluttering our streets.
With his experience in banking and finance, Commissioner Vespo worked to establishe new financial accountability at City Hall through the addition of an internal auditor and the initiation of other financial controls. Commissioner Vespo continues to push for improvements in customer service and oversaw a complete overhaul of the city’s organizational structure, including replacements of nearly every department head in the city. Due to Commissioner Vespo’s efforts, residents are now able to pay utility bills online & receive city documents electronically and further information technology upgrades are on the way due to his leadership.
Under Commissioner Vespo’s watch, the city funded many improvements to city parks including reconstruction of the Seawall at Bryant Park, restoring the fields at Memorial Park, completely renovating the beachfront pool, improving the basketball & tennis courts at Sunset Park, and initiated many more capital projects.
Commissioner Dave Vespo is married and has one son. He and his family have lived in Lake Worth for the past eleven (11) years. Commissioner Vespo has been active in many community organizations including President and Treasurer of the Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce , President of the Lake Worth Playhouse, Chairman of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee, Member Police Pension Board and thirteen (13) years in the financial services industry.
Help Commissioner Vespo finish what he started. Re-elect Commissioner Dave Vespo this November 4th!
"Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Dave Vespo, City Commissioner District 4"
(source http://www.DaveVespo.com.)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Gunman kills Arkansas Democratic Party chairman
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A man barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters Wednesday and fatally shot the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase.
Police identified the suspect as 50-year-old Timothy Dale Johnson of Searcy, a town about 50 miles northeast of Little Rock. They didn't know a motive. However, moments after the shooting, Johnson pointed a handgun at a worker at the nearby Arkansas Baptist headquarters. An official there said he told the worker, "I lost my job."
Read More http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATIC_PARTY_SHOOTING?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
People’s Republic of China: The Olympics countdown – broken promises
With the Olympics less than two weeks away, it is time to assess progress made by the Chinese authorities to improve human rights in line with their own commitments made in 2001 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Beijing to host the Games. Regrettably, since the publication of Amnesty International’s last Olympics Countdown report on 1 April 2008, there has been no progress towards fulfilling these promises, only continued deterioration. Unless the authorities make a swift change of direction, the legacy of the Beijing Olympics will not be positive for human rights in China.
In March 2004, the Chinese authorities amended the Constitution to include the clause: “the State respects and protects human rights”. While human rights encompass a broad range of issues, Amnesty International has been monitoring the Chinese government’s performance particularly closely in four areas with a direct link to preparations for the Olympics and in line with the core principles of the Olympic Charter. This report provides a final summary and updates developments in these four key areas which are: the continuing use of the death penalty; abusive forms of administrative detention; the arbitrary detention, imprisonment, ill-treatment and harassment of human rights defenders, including journalists and lawyers; and the censorship of the internet. For further details, readers should refer to previous Olympics Countdown reports published by Amnesty International.1
In fact, the crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified because Beijing is hosting the Olympics. The authorities have stepped up repression of dissident voices in their efforts to present an image of “stability” and “harmony” to the outside world. This has resulted in the detention and imprisonment of those who wish to draw attention to the other side of the picture, which includes human rights violations perpetrated in preparation for the Games.
Read More http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/089/2008/en/824a9d66-5724-11dd-90eb-ff4596860802/asa170892008eng.html
Arctic cold war gets hotter again - August 13, 2008
Canada and the United States have announced a joint survey of the Arctic continental shelf, in the latest move in the ‘claim the Arctic chess game’.
Canada’s icebreaker Louis S. St.-Laurent and the US Coast Guard’s Healy will sail in August, rendezvousing around September 8 to collect information that could end up being submitted to the UN as part of a claim for rights to the sea floor (Canadian government press release). The Healy is also undertaking a separate cruise to produce a 3D map of the Arctic seafloor (US press release).
“These are places nobody's gone before, in essence, so this is a first step,” says Margaret Hays, head of oceanic affairs at the US State Department (Reuters).
Of course America will first have to ratify the treaty that allows sea floor claims (something Canada has already done).
Headline watchArctic rivals break ice, exchange expertise – CanWest News
Previous moves in the Arctic game from the Great BeyondMapping the Arctic dispute - August 06, 2008Sea floor claims madness - April 21, 2008Russian pole stunt’s American origin - February 19, 2008Northwest passage in ice opens – September 17, 2007
And related from NatureThe long summer beginsArctic mapping redraws bordersRussia at forefront of Arctic land-grab
Image: Healy stock photo / NOAA
"MotherShip" Continues to Push West Palm Water on Lake Worth...
Don't believe the B.S. or you'll be drinking it!
More from today's Palm Beach Post:
Deal fines West Palm, allows 10 years to fix water plant
WEST PALM BEACH — The city would get 10 years to switch to new drinking-water treatment methods and would have to pay a hefty fine for neglect of its water plant that led to a fecal bacteria outbreak last year, according to a proposed settlement with the Palm Beach County Health Department and the Department of Environmental Protection.
The city has to pay the agencies $445,195, which includes $385,950 in penalties for breaking health standards and $59,245 to reimburse the agencies for long hours spent at the water plant last fall trying to solve the city's problems.
Read More http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/08/12/0812wpbwater.html
West Palm Beach has a real hot line on how to get into hot water
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
It's time that somebody says something nice about West Palm Beach drinking water.
I'll admit, it's hard to defend some things, such as the way the water treatment plant has been draining its peanut-buttery sludge into a residential canal north of the water plant. And I'm not going to suggest that the actual taste of the city's drinking water - with its biologically diverse blend of secret herbs and spices - is special in any sort of pleasant way.
Read More http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/08/12/a1b_binocol_0813.html
West Palm City Water Saga Continues...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
There is one indisputable truth about the dumping of sludge by West Palm Beach into a poor neighborhood: It wouldn't get dumped into an affluent neighborhood.
On Tuesday, The Post reported how West Palm Beach violated state law by sending sludge from the city's water plant into a canal north of the plant without a permit. Historically in Florida, water plants were built in poor neighborhoods, and West Palm Beach was no exception. The canal is in an African-American area; residents noted correctly that the city would not let it happen where residents are richer. Those in Pineapple Park, a racially mixed, blue-collar neighborhood that flooded during Hurricane Frances because of the city's ineptitude, would agree.
To make things worse, West Palm Beach was less than candid at first with state regulators who asked about the sludge dumping. It was another problem the city's utilities department wanted to hide, rather than fix. The regulators pointed out that even if the city had asked for a permit, the state would have said no. Having treated the neighborhood so badly, the least West Palm Beach could do is send a personal apology and a promise to do better. Mayor Lois Frankel owes those constituents a visit.
(source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/08/13/a10a_wpb_edit_0813.html)
Mark Warner to deliver Democratic convention keynote
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign announced Wednesday that Warner will deliver the speech on the convention’s second night, Tuesday August 26 — that’s also the night that Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York) will also speak in prime time. Clinton came very close to winning the Democratic presidential nomination, dropping her bid for the White House and backing Obama just two months ago,...
Read More Visit http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
Russian convoy heads into Georgia, violating truce
Read More Visit http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GEORGIA_RUSSIA?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Mothership Advocates Lagoon Pollution.
"The dense mire it leaves has a look and consistency similar to peanut butter. The sludge comes from water that was used to wash the filters that trap microorganisms and other impurities.
After being sent into the Carver Avenue canal just north of the plant, the water eventually drains into the Lake Worth Lagoon."
Monday, August 11, 2008
What a Treat....
Age: 81
Personal: single
Professional: Retired owner of coin laundry chain and real estate broker
Political background: State representative from 1968 to 1970. Former member of the Lake Worth Police Pension Board. Ran unsuccessfully for District 2 seat in 2004 and for mayor in 2005
Positions on issues: Favors supermajority initiative, building height and development restrictions; opposes beach redevelopment plan and day-labor center; wants to end commission control of the public utility.
Deep Well Injection....
"It is an easy thing to believe because we wish nothing more than to be far removed from our waste, but it is not true. A toxic stew of ammonia, fecal coliform, and volatile organic chemicals is rising to meet our drinking water through the very underground injection control wells put in place to rid us of the waste."
(source: http://florida.sierraclub.org/Miami/cons_deepwell.htm)
"The health of Carysfort Reef off the coast of Florida has declined in the past 25 years. Corals that were healthy in 1975 are visibly sick by 1985, and dead and broken by 1995. (Photo by Phillip Dustan, College of Charleston courtesy NASA) Government officials admit these events are occurring where sewage waste injected into Florida's underground sources of drinking water is migrating into coastal waters."
(source: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2003/2003-06-11-01.asp)
So, if waste water is migrating to our reefs why won't the effluent from the RO plant? Remember, the "Mothership" opposed using Lake Worth's out fall to dispose of the effluent because it would damage our local reef system. The image above proves Deep Well Injection will do the same damage over a longer period of time. If the Alien expert wants an RO plant he will need a plan for the waste water it will generate that won't break the bank.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Green Party on "DECENTRALIZATION" and "COMMUNITY BASED ECONOMICS"
Establish some form of basic economic security, open to all. Move beyond the narrow "job ethic" to new definitions of "work," jobs" and "income" that reflect the changing economy.
Restructure our patterns of income distribution to reflect the wealth created by those outside the formal monetary economy: those who take responsibility for parenting, housekeeping, home gardens, community volunteer work, etc. Restrict the size and concentrated power of corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological innovation."
Green Party Presidential Candidate....
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thank You...
To the readers who wanted alien patrol badges, we are looking into getting them made.
How Much Will You Pay to Not Drink Crap...
The question becomes are you willing to spend $522 to not drink a glass of water filled with crap?
Do we really...
(source: http://www.topix.com/city/west-palm-beach-fl/2008/02/west-palms-water-system-chief-ken-reardon-resigns)
(source: http://www.kpchapman.com/2008/01/24/water-survey-finds-12-felt-sick/)
(source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1083848/west_palm_beach_boil_water_notice_expected_to_last_several/index.html)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Intercepted Message from High Command to the Mothership
Alien Activity Report 2....
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Our Best Day Yet...
Trash Site Awakens from its Sleep...
We did see the several You Tube videos posted yesterday. So there is movement behind enemy lines. We guess only time will tell.
Who do we have to thank for the latest revival of the beast? We would bet that the unsubstantiated allegation from "the town confection maker", that served to benefit the Lindsey Campaign, played a large part. It would seem the bumbling fool misjudged his enemy's intelligence and conviction. We think Gen. Yamamoto said it best.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
We hope that the "Fat Bastard" keeps the best interest of the city at heart but we fear that he won't. We hope that he doesn't become what the alien propaganda has always claimed he was. We beg the "Fat Bastard" to behave himself and not let his message board become the wild west of Lake Worth!