Island Issues

Stop Calling Us Names You #%$&*^!

Stop Calling Us Names You #%$&*^!

I pointed out last week that the folks at Conserve Amelia Now (CAN)  don’t care for me or my opinions and they make that abundantly clear with their comments here and on their web site.

They don’t hold back.

Here’s a sampling with no editing for grammar:

CAN member Brad Coker disputes that he said folks should write to the county telling them to fire me from a job I don’t have. In a comment posted here last Friday he said: “I never said it and I never wrote it. You are putting words in my mouth with the intent to defame.” He’s partially right. He didn’t write it. An angry young woman on that site did and I mistakenly attributed it to remarks he made in the same thread.

To clarify his comments and vividly illustrate the meaning of the term “defamation” Mr. Coker posted the following on the CAN site May 31 saying: “Hey David Scott, I didn’t say anything about writing the county commissioners. i said you were ‘the village idiot.’ Get your facts straight.”

“You’re not funny — although you obviously think you are. Insult journalism is not that thought provoking. You are just an angry, lonely, irrelevant dinosaur.”

“BTW, get a new picture. You look like someone who hangs around playgrounds handing out lollipops.”

If attempting a conversation with this guy I suggest bringing a whip and a chair.

Even though I never mentioned “environmentalist”, activist Christine Harmon posted a definition for me here anyway saying: “Environmentalist = anyone who advocates or works to protect the air, water, animals, plants, and other natural resources from pollution or it’s effects. Not sure why this is a bad thing. A losing position, yes. But, bad, short-sighted, wrong: definitely not. BTW, if you are so confident in your arguments, why must you name call? Make your case based upon facts. OK, that will happen when pigs fly.”

I find it amusing that Ms. Harmon condemns “name-calling” here but remains silent when her fist-shaking comrades sling verbal abuse. She also seems very confused about what’s posted here. Maybe I need to write slower for her sake.

Even when I side with one of these activists about their “pet” projects they’re offended. They don’t like the way I draw attention to their cause. For example, the eternally angry and humorless little Robert Warner called me out for suggesting that people should adopt kittens from the over-populated Nassau County Humane Society. I jokingly suggested the local cops fine people with kittens to help unload some of the excess felines.

The Conserve Amelia Now credo.

Warner implies that was a catty remark saying: “I would suggest you leave our County’s Animal Services folks out of your attempts to be clever though. They have real problems to solve – as do our City and County representatives.” He then referred to me as a “jerk” on the CAN site.

It’s always Bambi versus Hitler with this guy.

Others on the CAN site referred to me as a “pompous ass”, a “small town busybody with nothing to do”, etc. while its president, Chuck Oliva, said I was “a simple-minded fool.”

As I’ve mentioned previously this isn’t a crowd you want to invite to Sunday lunch with the family, unless your idea of entertaining conversation consists of childish rants of radicalized fury, hysteria, and an attitude that those involved in building anything on Amelia Island other than a goat-friendly, dirt-floor yert must be punished and destroyed financially.

Am I confused or are these folks guilty of the same inflammatory rhetoric and childishness they say they find so distasteful? A central component of their anger and outrage is to make paranoid accusations based on their own neurotic impulses such as calling those that oppose their causes — stupid, hate-filled, greedy and mean.

These people really don’t care about the environment. They just hate everybody that drives an SUV, has a hot tub, and lives in a house nicer than theirs. They prefer zero population growth, reduced standards of living, vegetarianism, and want the rest of us to emulate the living standards of the gopher turtle they admire so much. And PULEEEZE, would we just get rid of all those deodorant sprays and plastic straws!

They’re in a constant state of outrage, with lots of wailing and no facts refuting their opposition’s points, only hysteria. They act with stupefied indignation whenever someone disagrees with them.

Soon their default argument will be to throw food. It hasn’t happened here yet that I’m aware of but it’s getting close. For example, just last weekend when Republican Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz finished speaking at a town hall in Pensacola he was hit with a dairy smoothie tossed by Amanda Kondrat’yev, his sore-loser Democratic congressional opponent in the 2016 election. She was apprehended, charged with battery and posted a $1,000 bond.

If you follow our local political, anti-business, and environmental activist tides with any regularity, then you’re familiar with the paradoxical thinking that is a constant — things are getting crazy around here.

In my opinion if I’m not being called outrageous by these people then I’m not being outrageous enough. I assume I’m doing something right when I reduce them to a sputtering name-calling rage.

They won’t be happy until Arbor Day is celebrated with the same religious intensity as Christmas and loggers with crosscut saws become as popular as tobacco company representatives handing out free cigarettes to high school kids.

I’m not objecting to folks criticizing me. I encourage it. Sometimes I’ve earned it. I never delete or edit any remarks, unless they are profane, which rarely happens. So, please continue to comment and if you disagree with me, then factually tell me where I’m going wrong.

***

And Now For Something Completely Different: Linda and I attended a “We the People” session at the Plantation home of that group’s founder and president Deb Boelkes this past Monday, June 3, where we heard from state Representative Cord Byrd about what’s going on in Tallahassee along with about 70 other like-minded attendees. If you’re interested in area politics and want to keep abreast of what’s happening hereabouts without the chanting, fist-shaking and profane outbursts then contact Deb at Deb.Boelkes@BWRising.com and tell her you want to come to the next meeting and would like to be on her mailing list. Deb informed us this past Wednesday that Rep Byrd’s office told her that Mr. Byrd is scheduled to appear on the nationally televised Laura Ingram show (Fox News) tonight, June 7, between 10 and 11 pm.

***

Sgt. Norman Holcombe in Europe June 1944

The Greatest Generation: Watching and reading news accounts about the 75th anniversary of the successful D-Day invasion accounts got me thinking about my late Uncle, Norman Holcombe, my mother’s youngest brother, who was one of the Fourteen thousand young Canadians that stormed Juno Beach. It was because of people like my Canadian Commando uncle that the allies succeeded in June 1944. The initial battles for their beachhead cost 340 Canadian lives and another 574 wounded. John Keegan, a British historian, said of the invading Canadian 3rd Division: “At the end of the day, its forward elements stood deeper into France than those of any other division. The opposition the Canadians faced was stronger than that of any other beach save Omaha. That was an accomplishment in which the whole nation could take considerable pride.”

My Uncle Norm was a favorite relative of mine and I still vividly recall the stories he related about losing childhood friends to German snipers, warming his hands on the barrels of just fired machine guns in The Netherland’s winter, and filling his canteen with a newly discovered Normandy beverage of Calvados. He brought home Nazi flags, a Lugar, and other wartime paraphernalia, stuffed them into  a chest, then went to work creating several businesses and raising a family. When he visited me when I lived in Europe I gladly drove him to some of the places where he fought and listened intently as he regaled me and my friends with his always fascinating stories. We’re all proud of these men for their courage and dedication and it will never be forgotten.

***

Looking Back: Some fifty years ago, October 1969, while sitting in a cocktail lounge at New York’s LaGuardia Airport awaiting a shuttle flight to Washington, D.C., I watched on TV as baseball’s New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves, 7-4, to complete a three-game National League Championship series sweep sending the Mets to the World Series. The Mets went on to beat Baltimore four games to one and win that Series. Not only was the Braves’ loss in the first ever baseball playoff, but it was also Hank Aaron’s last post season appearance.

1969 World Series program

I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back, the ’69 Mets had one of the best major league pitching staffs ever assembled with starters Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Gerry Gentry and Tug McGraw and Nolan Ryan anchoring the bullpen. They were the best pitchers in baseball, but nobody knew it until much later.

The same with the Mets’ batting order, which had Bud Harrelson, Tommie Agee, Donn Clendenon, Ron Swoboda, Ed Kranepool and Cleon Jones, a solid group of hitters indeed.

I mention this because as we approach the 50th anniversary of those “Amazing Mets” there will be celebrations of the team’s first ever World Series victory and how they unexpectedly went from “worst to first.”

Sadly, two of the best players on that 1969 team — pitcher, Tom “The Franchise” Seaver, and shortstop Bud Harrelson — are both suffering from dementia with Seaver’s so severe he can no longer travel to participate in any of the upcoming celebrations.

As a Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves fan, I didn’t like seeing my favorite team lose, but I’m very fortunate to have seen the “Amazing Mets” pull off their unlikely win and witness some of the best players in the sport perform, including Seaver and Harrelson.

***

The FBI’s Least Wanted: In mid-July 2016 FBI Director, James Comey, conducted a televised press conference and ticked off a list of crimes that Democrat Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton committed. However, he said there would be no prosecution of Ms. Clinton because, he said, she didn’t intend to commit those crimes. Just a week or so ago Special Counsel and former FBI Director, Robert Mueller, conducted a similar briefing saying that after two and one-half years of investigations, costing taxpayers $30 million, his group couldn’t find a single crime that President Donald Trump committed, but insisted that the President probably intended to commit crimes, and somebody might want to do something about that. In other words, Clinton was not guilty of the crimes she did commit, while President Trump is not “not guilty” of the crimes he didn’t commit. Both of these guys once headed the FBI, once the most powerful and most respected law enforcement agency anywhere. They shamed that agency and are a disgrace for besmirching the reputation of it and its valued agents.

***

Experts in misery, havoc and confusion.

Blowhards: New and special technology is now operational at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its National Weather Service (NWS) as the 2019 hurricane season, which began June 1, cranks up. Three new satellites and an upgraded NWS weather forecast model will aid NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, which anticipates a “near-normal” Atlantic hurricane season: nine to 15 named storms, with four to eight of them becoming hurricanes.

Since hurricanes are among the most dangerous disasters to wreak havoc, destruction and misery throughout the United States then why not name them after similar adversities. Since there are four to eight of these destructive forces expected to tear across the U.S. with devastating results then lets name them appropriately e.g. Hurricane Pelosi, Hurricane Schumer, Hurricane Nadler, Hurricane Schiff, Hurricane Ocasio-Cortez, Hurricane Waters, Hurricane Bernie, Hurricane Omar, and so on. As we approach an election year they should be delighted with the name recognition opportunity.

***

Things I Wish I’d Said: “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” – Oscar Wilde

 ***

I Don’t Make This Stuff Up: Friend, and Tampa-based “American Spectator” writer Larry Thornberry alerted me a couple of weeks ago to the fact that the owner of the life-size replica of Noah’s Ark in Northern Kentucky has sued its insurers for refusing to cover rain damage.

According to the news item Larry sent me — Ark Encounter — which unveiled the 510-foot-long model in 2016 says that heavy rains in 2017 and 2018 caused a landslide on its access road, and its five insurance carriers refused to cover nearly $1 million in damages. In a 77-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Ark Encounter asks for compensation and punitive damages.

In other “crazy news” reports I read recently it appears that New York Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kirstin Gillibrand wants to expand Social Security to people living in the United States illegally. While campaigning for President at an Iowa town hall recently, she said she wants to expand Social Security to cover illegal immigrants. She added that ‘Immigration is not a security issue.” Yeh, sure lady! Whose vote are you after with these insane thoughts and who agrees with this nonsense? And what are people in New York thinking when they vote for someone like you?

***

A Quote That Should Make You Think: “The move away from an emphasis on genuine academic achievement and meritocratic promotion has done a disservice to the least well-off while offering more opportunities for the rich and connected to buy the trappings of success for their offspring. – John V.C. Nye, “Make School Hard Again” via Georgia Public Policy Foundation.  

15 Comments

Stephen Hall - 10. Jun, 2019 -

As a pamphleteer, Dave, you have no equal. And, you aren’t afraid to attach your name to what you believe, which in this age of obscenely juvenile anonymous social media postings is a breath of fresh air.
BTW, did you know Thomas Paine personally?

Patrick Keogh - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Dave:

I worked for the Amazin’ Mets selling Rheingold beer opening day at the Polo Grounds in 1962. Worked opening day at Shea Stadium too in 1964. Left NYC and the Mets in the middle of the 1965 season; same year Casey Stengal left. Mets never had a winning season until they won the World Series in 1969. It was Amazin’. The Failing Fake News New York Times had a great 50th commemorative insert a couple of weeks back. Shea Stadium was demoed after the 2008 season.

Will - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Dave, I just started reading your column in the last couple of months and thoroughly enjoy it. My wife and I just hit the 5 yr mark here at Amelia and just love it. My views on development align with yours, and I am so tired of hearing about Amelia Bluff. The decision is made, let’s move on to bigger things like getting those da$m kids out of the yard! On a more serious note, see you at PJ’s. Bring ?lollipops. Maybe you’ll get lucky. ?

Skeet Taylor - 07. Jun, 2019 -

We watched a Mets versus Nationals game about two weeks ago. Nationals were up two runs, top of the eight with a relief pitcher getting a little shaky. Two on base for Mets with there top hitter coming up. So they walked him thinking they’d pitch to the next one and end the inning. The batter was zero home runs and a .125 average. Had been called up the week before, took an Uber to NY. Guess what, bases loaded home run, his first ever. How cool is that? Mets won.

Vince Cavallo - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Dave, one does not have to be a “tree hugger” to believe there are separate issues at the crux of each of the Amelia Bluff and race track development controversies. The issue regarding the Amelia Bluff development fiasco is: can an administrator without the authority to do so, bind the city to a change in the Florida Land Use Map? In my opinion the city is not bound by the unauthorized actions of its employees. I think there is legal precedent on this issue. Regarding the race track development proposal, the governing rules and regulations regarding the airport property concern the limitations on property obtained through the federal surplus property program. The property was ceded to the city to be run as an airport. Some exceptions are allowed for an airport authority to use the property to raise funds from non-aeronautical activities provided the income accrues to the airport. (These regulations are more stringent for property obtained from the surplus property program than an air port developed by the City or privately.

IMO nothing is gained by calling each other names or impugning anyone’s political beliefs based upon their position on either development. I have no position on Amelia Bluff albeit I think the law was circumvented. Regarding the race course development, I think this is a ridicules idea clearly beyond the ideals of this island community.

Debra Boelkes - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Thanks, Dave, for the nice thumbs-up to We the People. We definitely welcome new members all the time and we have NO membership dues, so hope anyone interested in conservative education for grown-ups will feel to contact me for more information about these monthly gatherings.

Of course, we always enjoy having you and Linda with us….and thanks for bringing copies of my favorite local source for misinformation, the “News Wrecker” with you!

Gina Calogero - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Not all of those involved with CAN are tree hugging lefties. Just so you know I am a conservative but don’t believe in unnecessary overdevelopment. I don’t live in a McMansion nor do I drive a Beemer. I do however enjoy the beauty and tranquility of this island and have joined the fight against paving paradise. I really don’t care what you label me. Sticks and stones. On this topic I agree to disagree. I am way too old for playing tit for tat. On a lighter note. My great uncle was the head groundskeeper at Shea and at 12 years old I watched the Mets in the 69 World Series from a press box. The thrill of a lifetime!! I also fell in love with Bud Harrelson from afar?

Skeet Taylor - 07. Jun, 2019 -

I looked on the internet at the menu for Pogo’s kitchen. I don’t get it. Really expensive can’t be that good.

Robert Warner - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Projecting again, Dave. Good to know you pay attention. By the way, you understand we talk among ourselves in code as well. It’s called rational thinking, and we pass our coded messages around surreptitiously – in civil, complete sentences. I once thought you could do better, but Chuck Oliva has you pegged.

Artro - 07. Jun, 2019 -

As a retired Builder/Developer it is so puzzling to hear these tree
huggers rant and rave about
save the planet and for gods
sake don’t you dare build another structure on these
hallowed grounds.After all that protesting what do they live in? A cave no, a tent no, their Beemer course not. They reside in a 3000 square
foot McMansion with pool
and hot tub. An old but fitting saying, People living in
glass houses should thank the good lord and stop throwing stones at anyone!

Jenny Steele - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Call them out Dave – hate trolls! You are funny and we all think so!!!

Glen - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Good job T-Rex ?. Seems you are placing light on the kind fellows, ouch. And yes, you are funnier they they seem to be. Seems odd they view you as a Dinosoreass , when their view is settled science of which no such thing exists.

I will send you more information on the effects of export control if you are interested.

Tom Yankus - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Spring Training 1970 da’ Mets trained two blocks from my home at Payson Field in St. Pete which was in the Azaleaville area of town. Often I watched practices with hitters in the batting cages and that great pitching staff throwing on the side. Memories.

T. Frothingill Bellows - 07. Jun, 2019 -

Dave , in my experiences through life I have discovered that those of us Conservative minded thinkers feel Liberals are just people with bad ideas, conversely, the vile hate full left looks at us as bad people with ideas. If I don’t like something, I just don’t do it or support it, on the other hand, if they don’t like something or are “triggered” by it, nobody should be allowed to do it.

chuck hall - 07. Jun, 2019 -

freedom of speech! Go Dave!