SELLING -OUT- THE SUNSHINE STATE

This is a book.

A real honest to goodness book you can buy on Amazon, In fact y'all can just click over on the right side of the Beach House here and there's a little box to make it all easier. Now why would Miss Vero advertise a book? Well, if y'all know anything about us at all, y'all know we love our Florida collectible what-nots and dew-hickeys and touristy pre-disney memorabilia. We love to remember Florida in the days of old and this book cover just caught our eye. Just look at those happy folks frolickin' on the pristine beach!

Now, we know that Florida will never be the same as it was in that time and things sure do have to change and progress and keep up, but one thing that has NEVAH changed is that somebody's always willin' to do sumthin STOOPID just to make a little money. Only, maybe these days it's not a just a little money, maybe it's a whole pile o'money.

With that in mind, let's play a little game we like to call "Connect the internet dots"!

For those of y'all that don't want to play, just skip to the summary at the end, but seriously, unless y'all have a party goin' on, what's more important than gettin' a little education?


Now, why are we havin' to read about Florida things in the Chicago Tribune? They posted this story about potential oil drilling offa Florida's coasts:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-offshore-drilling-florida,0,364955.story

And why is our little munchkin, happy-birthday-post-card-sendin', State Senator Mike Harridopoulus (District 26, that's west of the barrier island, so some of y'all can go head and stop reading now) wanting to support this drillin' business?:
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/elections-politics-politics-political-parties/12816048-1.html

Even that-guy-who-used-to-be-funny-but-lost-his-fool-mind-when-he-started-playin-golf-at-Quail-Valley noticed:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/carl-hiaasen/story/1297866.html

But wait! Let's not let those of us on the barrier island be forgotten. Please congratulate our new State Senator, Joe Negon, he got his first assignment!:

"Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, will take King's place leading the communications, energy and public utilities committee. His wife Claudia Diaz de la Portilla lobbies for many clients including the telecommunications industry and Florida Energy Associates, the group pushing for oil drilling. Negron, who won the seat formerly held by Ken Pruitt, also will serve on the energy committee."
http://m.scoopfla.com/roundup/5555/full/%3Bjsessionid=05047727D7DE2F71E6C4784AC6E0DE46.scoopflwap2

Ah yes, Florida Energy Associates, who they y'all ask?:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/article1037146.ece


And why didn't we hear more about the reason President Obama was in, of all places, Arcadia, Florida this week?:
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1047396.ece


"Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric utility, won a $200 million grant and will install 2.6 million smart meters in homes across the state. The units enable homeowners to monitor their electricity use online by the hour, day, week or month."

"The [Obama] administration's announcement of 100 projects across the country that won federal money to help modernize the power grid comes at a pivotal time for Florida. The state's 11 percent unemployment rate is the highest since 1975, and it has lost nearly 170,000 jobs since February."


"This is what the stimulus money was intended to do: Create jobs and improve the nation's infrastructure."

"As the nation focuses on renewable energy, an army of lobbyists and consultants hired by a secretive oil-drilling group are joining with incoming legislative leaders to push for lifting the ban on drilling in state waters in the gulf."

Read the full article from "The Best Newspaper in Florida" and we tend to agree:

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1047396.ece

And Gubna Charlie didn't have a clue?
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/64987-crist-obama-who


Y'all know this is the Sunshine State right? So, why oh Lawd, why are we even talkin' about drillin' for oil off the Florida Coast? Who's puttin' money in who's pockets, hunnies?


And don't that just get y'all to start thinkin' about our local energy sit-che-ation? Honestly kids, why hasn't anyone asked the big question in our own back yard? If a big contract was made quickly with a utilities provider, that would not be in the best interest of the City of Vero Beach, who do y'all think benefited the most?

Would it be ?

A. The City Manager who presented the deal
B. The Ex-Mayor currently on City Council who OK'd the deal
C. Or...?

Cause y'all know this deal like any other energy/politician deal has one thing in common - somebody benefits, and it ain't us kids.

Miss Vero has been interested in this issue and we decide to take a look at the redacted (that means parts that they don't want y'all to read are blacked out) contract. We find it interesting that there's a part that says that a committee should be formed with the OUC at a later date and that perhaps someone like, oh, we don't know, a person involved in the contract negotiation could get a position on that committee, for a yet to be determined sum. A pile o'money sum that might be a whole heck of lot more than a City Council or City Managers salary.

Now, of course, Miss Vero don't know nuthin from nuthin and is pure speculating before our morning bloody mary, which can be dangerous. Perhaps we are some sort of alkehaul savant and can see things picture perfect before the first round, y'all decide, OK?

As we promised - THE SUMMARY:

Florida is the Sunshine State, we should harvest our obvious sunshine and not our perhaps oil underwater.

Gubna Charlie hugged Mr. Obama when he received his "Stimulus Package" but was no where to be found when Mr. Obama came around for a second date.

Politicians take y'all's money when ya ain't lookin (and anybody else that'll give 'em any).

The City of Vero Beach City Council, or maybe just a few specific individuals, are up to some serious shenanigans

Vote the incumbents out of office and start askin' questions.

Fix a martini and order a book to soothe our nerves, been thinkin' too much lately.

OK, that last suggestion was for us.

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

GREETINGS FROM GREEN ACRES!

...and remember them at election time!




THE TALLY IN TALLY

The more I pay attention, the more I realize just how short sighted and self serving some politicians can be. And the less I'm able to put an optimistic spin on the bills I see advancing in the Florida Legislature this year. I can't say there aren't any good ones but they're not moving along as fast as the bad ones.

Over the last week, I sent a letter to 5 different committees consisting of a total combination of 76 congresspersons and if I subtract the handful of automated replies, I can count 4. (Two of which were from the same guy and he isn’t even my representative.)

Not one was from the four committee members I wrote asking not to include nuclear in our "renewable" portfolio standard. But I did get a reply from Governor Crist's Energy office basically reiterating what I wrote- but it included "If you hold strong feelings about this decision I would encourage you to contact your elected state Legislators".

Righto Guv'nor. Thank you for the advice.

In the name of economic development a bunch of politicians are using our economic woes as a way to get rid of all the checks and balances we have pertaining to growth and environment (as inadequate as they've been). There's somewhere around 300,000 empty houses in Florida, we're closing down schools, more and more people are out of work, more and more water restrictions are being mandated and all they can do is use it as an opportunity for a free for all. Even if you're an anti-environmentalist and/or pro-growth you can't like the bills being pushed through. Some of them not only weaken or eliminate any checks on growth and the environment but they take decisions (power) from local governments and the people themselves.

Senator Bennett, chairman of the Senate Community Affairs Committee is pushing a bill to get rid of the Department of Community Affairs or merging it with another government agency. Even if you're a developer like Senator Bennett, the DCA works for you. The St. John's Water Management District says we'll be out of sustainable water supplies in 4 years. Other areas of Florida are already running out of water. The Tampa area with an aquifer, a huge reservoir and a desalination plant just banned all lawn watering.

That alone reminds us of the need for the only real growth management tool we have- the DCA. I know there is room for improvement in our growth management regulation but getting rid of it altogether is not in anyone's best interest. Not even if you want to build and sell houses. Go right over the IR County line in Fellsmere and there are thousands of acres of land that just like in Fellsmere were once zoned agricultural but are now annexed to Palm Bay. They're in the St. John's Water Management District too and there'll be no agency coordinating regional impacts. Remember, SJWMD's job is to find and allocate what water there is, not to say where we can or can't grow. Not to mention the impact Palm Bay's development will have on IRC roads from Babcock and U.S. #1.

Another bill wants a 3 year moratorium on impact fees and it would take away an individual county's right to decide whether or not to partake- or if they want to let off on some but not on others as was currently proposed.

Another bill will make it easier to get a permit to pollute surface water and destroy wetlands and harder for agencies overseeing wetlands and surface water to use their rules to refuse permits.

Another bill dubbed “streamlining” would weaken environmental protections and includes a moratorium on new or more stringent protections for three years.

Another bill advancing is making a one size fits all law for fertilizer run-off. Communities would have to prove they need stricter rules than the state if they should live near some watershed they want to protect such as the Indian River Lagoon or the ocean. This would impose extra expense and difficulties for local governments that want to prevent water problems rather than mitigate them.

Last but not nearly least is the Paid Petition Circulators bill designed to limit our ability to promote constitutional amendments through the petition process. In the future, anybody could be affected by this bill as a citizen, even those pushing for it. It's especially egregious because it invalidates a petition signed in good faith by a registered voter through no fault of their own. Sometimes we have no other redress but the citizen's petition process.

All those bills are being pushed in the name of economic development. Florida's economy cannot recover without clean, adequate or affordable water supplies, if the roads are jammed or in poor repair, or if we have ever rising property taxes- and still no "good" or sustainable jobs.

An interesting article on how Gainesville is taking a better path to economic development:
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/03/the-rooftop-revolution?cmpid=WNL-Friday-March20-2009

Green For All's web page on the Economic Recovery Package:
http://www.greenforall.org/resources/recovery-package

"The package includes BILLIONS of dollars in funding for green job training, weatherization, and greener, more energy efficient infrastructure."

There’s still some process to go through before any of those become laws or regulations so we still have time to have a say before they come up for a vote. Below are two links to letters to get you started...

A pre-written letter from Audubon in favor of saving the Department of Community Affairs:
http://audubonaction.org/campaign/save_florida_growth_management

A pre-written letter from Audubon in favor of protecting wetlands and water resources:
http://audubonaction.org/campaign/no_to_env_ponzi_scheme

TTFN, LDouglas

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

GREETINGS FROM GREEN ACRES!

A TALE OF TWO VEROS...

Today's post is required reading kids, no excuses!




We're off to another Florida Legislative session. Take your hand off the mouse. Now quick tell me, who's the Adjutant General of Florida?
Time's up.

Very impressive if you know and if you don't, don't feel bad. I didn't know we had one, let alone whom. I found that information on the Project Vote Smart web-site. But more on that later.

The first order of business for anyone politically minded and wanting to have a say this session is to have our elected officials contact info at hand so you can strike while you’re hot. This information is printed in the newspaper once a week and can be found anytime on the internet. But I found a couple web-sites that have done some legwork making it easy for us to bookmark and refer to when we're ready. But before I get to that, I want to bring up the subject of gerrymandering. If you want fair elections and fair representation it's important to end it.

Take a look at these two district maps as a good example:

Senator Ken Pruitt District 28 map:
http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Tab=legislators&Submenu=1&File=index.html&Directory=Legislators/senate/028/map_data/

Senator Mike Haridopolos District 26 map:
http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Tab=legislators&Submenu=1&File=index.html&Directory=Legislators/senate/026/map_data/

Notice how zany the lines are drawn and how you and your closest neighbor could have two different politicians representing your interests? District lines are supposed to be drawn to keep each district nearly equal in size in population. But they're being used by both Democrats and Republicans to draw lines so they can choose their voters instead of letting voters choose them.

According to an editorial in the PJ a while back, elections in Florida are among the least competitive in the country because of it. Every ten years after the census, they get to redraw the lines and the next census will be completed in 2010. So if you're not comfortable with being gerrymandered to suit a politician or political party, Fair Districts.org has a petition you can print and sign (and pass out) to get an Amendment on the 2010 ballot that will require districts to be compact and community based. There are actually 2 that need to be signed. One for congressional and one for legislative. Keep in mind if the amendments do make it to the 2010 ballot, they need to pass with 60% support in order to become law.
http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/

Here's an in-depth article with more information on gerrymandering:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/1/123636/3880/459/703315

Here's the PJ Editorial:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/feb/19/support-change-in-drawing-lines/


Now for the contact info

From the *IRNA* web-site:
Email, Write or Call Your Elected Officials (local, state and federal level):
http://indianriverna.com/index.php?action=website-view&WebSiteID=258&WebPageID=6065

Representatives Debbie Mayfield and Ralph Poppell (as far as I know) only allow e-mail through their web form while Governor Crist and Senators Haridopolos and Pruitt have regular e-mail addresses you can add to your address book if you don't want to use the web links in the link above.

Governor Crist: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com

Senator Mike Haridopolos: haridopolos.mike.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Ken Pruitt: pruitt.ken.web@flsenate.gov

The Project Vote Smart Web-site lists all our elected officials, even the obscure (to me). Like Douglas Burnett, the Adjutant General. In case you didn’t know, the Adjutant General is the head of the Department of Military Affairs. Project Vote Smart is a good web-site because it also lists our public officials you rarely hear about and has biographical information, voting ratings and interest group ratings among other things for our re-elected politicians.
http://www.votesmart.org/search.php?search=32958&x=9&y=10


One more thing (for now)

Both the Florida House and Florida Senate web-sites have a feature where you can track any of the bills you're interested in. You'll have to register but it's a short process.
Go here:
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/MyHouse/login.aspx

Once there look below the Login and Reset buttons to Not Registered? Click here: and click. Type in your information, select how often you want to be updated and then click Submit.

They'll send you a confirmation e-mail to make sure it's a valid e-mail address and you'll have to reply in some way to it. After that, you're set to sign in and go down through the list of bills and select those of interest to track.

There's probably something in this legislative session for everybody. Here at the Beach House we're finding out that we're politically aligned on some things but at opposite poles on others. Or maybe on none at all. But that's what makes the world go around.

The song that fits

Left and right
Like day and night
That's what makes the world go round
In and out
Thin and stout
That's what makes the world go round
For every up there is a down
For every square there is a round
For every high there is a low
For every to there is a fro
To and fro
Stop and go
That's what makes the world go round
You must set your sights upon the heights
Don't be a mediocrity
Don't just wait and trust to fate
And say, that's how it's meant to be
It's up to you how far you go
If you don't try you'll never know
And so my lad as I've explained
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
You see my boy it's nature's way
Upon the weak the strong ones prey
The human life it's also true
The strong will try to conquer you
And that is what you must expect
Unless you use your intellect
Brains and brawn,weak and strong
That's what makes the world go round

From Disney's "The Sword in the Stone"Composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

TTFN, LDouglas

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

WEDDING CRASHERS FOR CRIST

If this looks familiar this evening, y'all are either one of the 220 guests at Gubna Charlie's wedding tonight or one of the many protesters. Of course Miss Vero had to decline the invitation, because well, we just couldn't be in two places at one time!

Let's take a little trip down to Jose Lambiet's page2live for all the details:

http://www.page2live.com/tag/crist-wedding/

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

GUBNA CHARLIE CHECKS IN

Gubna Charlie came to Barefoot Bay about an hour ago to hand out recovery checks to Brevard, Volusia and Saint Lucie counties for damages resulting from Tropical Storm Fay. Thank you to our Supreme Sebastian Source for takin this photo and sending it to us, while the event was happening. Isn't technology amazin, kids?

Aww, he's not so bad, that Charlie- Is that old (and yes we do mean old) John McCain thinkin out loud?

MELBOURNE — Sen. John McCain acknowledged in an exclusive interview Friday that he probably would be better positioned in must-win Florida if he had picked Gov. Charlie Crist as his running mate.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article860402.ece

Looks like the Democrats maybe winning this year boys, that's sure gonna put a wrinkle in Mrs. Palin's wardrobe plans:

http://gawker.com/tag/that.s-elitist/


http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200810u/palin-clothes

Sour apple martini anyone?

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

VEGAS ODDS ON CRIST HITCH - 20 TO 1

GUBNA CHARLIE LAST WEEK

Uh, excuse me, John, I got engaged for you...

GUBNA CHARLIE THIS WEEK

Well at least, the only skeleton in my closet is me...

Thought we could use a little humor today (as always, thank you Republicans). My Goodness children, after all the antics on the comment playground yesterday, Miss Vero thought we'd hafta separate y'all. We certainly did not want to bring up the Miss Gloria thing again, but that seems to be a hot button, that we will from now on avoid. Our issue is still the primary election snafu, that is happening now and we predict will be a problem again in the November election.

We hear Mr. Colman Stewart will be addressing the subject today and we urge y'all to go out and hear what is said (and report back to us!):
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/sep/03/irc-elections-candidate-schedules-press-conference/

Now excuse us while we answer the giant pile of emails that y'all have sent (thank you, thank you!) and plan a little sumthin for y'all in celebration of our hundred days of blogging, which we have determined will be September 16th. That is a special day for Miss Vero and we believe some sort of festivities are in order. Let's all put our glad pants on and find a way to party together.

Any suggestions?

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

DISASTER!

Well, now y'all know how we feel about that.


But come on, disaster? Yes it rained and yes, it flooded, but Miss Vero has been around Florida too long to think this is unusual. The only thing new is the availability of digital cameras, internet access and political photo ops -Hello Gubna Charlie! Like we told y'all yesterday, we live in a swamp.

We finally ventured out and went to visit our good friend, Dr. John, who made the very precise observation that if y'all fly over the state, it'll make you wonder how it's possible for anyone to live here at all. Among his many abilities, Dr. John is also a pilot. We are still wondering why WZZR doesn't give him his own damn show.

We have another friend from high school who went on to become a hydro geologist for Dade County and when we asked him about the aquifer, he told us - well let's just say it's not pretty. And for all of y'all that are out there splashin around in the new "lakes" in your neighborhood, well hunnies, look up these words - "cesspools" which are sometimes inhabited by "watermocasins". If those two ideas don't get y'all out them damn puddles, we don't know what will.


MISS VERO'S SECRET



Ok, it's time to fess up. We've been listening to Rhett Palmer. Yes we know, crazy, but true. But kids, ever since he made the claim that he was at Woodstock, we have wondered what else would come out his silly mouth and now that it's election time, he's had a lot of the local candidates on and we get to hear what comes out of their silly mouths too.

A few things that made us laugh and cringe:

So we're driving back from Dr. John's yesterday and Rhett is telling this story about trying to interview Mike Wallace and things keep going wrong and he doesn't get the interview. Then "by divine intervention" he meets Wallace in a movie theater and because he's been such a pest (he even knows he's a pest!) he finally gets the interview. Now the funny part is when Rhett says "divine intervention", his co-host David Walsh (who we love!) says "because God has nothing better to do than intervene for you"!

Then one day, Rhett has all four republican Indian River County Sheriff candidates on his show and announces that "one of these men will be the next Sheriff". Ok, so that pretty much means that if you are a democrat or non-party affiliate you're screwed in Indian River County. Hmm, should we even be surprised?

Speaking of republican conservatives, what's up with Charlie Wilson? He proudly runs his "conservative" radio and print ads taking the moral high ground and NOT wanting to teach sex education in schools, but is well known around town for leering at every blond that crosses his path.

Yes, let's apply the "just say no" technique to sex, because it worked so well for the drug problem.


Oh yeah children, Miss Vero is calling everyone out on the playground today.


Overheard and reported to Miss Vero:

At Tuesday's soggy county commission meeting, commissioner "A" asking commissioner "B" if commissioner "C" is "Miss Vero". Now y'all know we love the attention, but don't these people have more important matters of discussion or a county to run while a "disaster" tropical storm is looming? Ooops, rhetorical questions, sorry.


We were actually thinking of attending that particular meeting but an email from the Indian River County Emergency guy Tony Carper (no offence but we really miss Nate McCollum), said to stay home. Stay home means don't go anywhere right? So we didn't go, we watched the meeting later that day on their website and we noticed for the first time that they have something called an "invocation" before the meeting, which is a prayer!

Let's review:
Things that don't exist in Iran - Atheists, Homosexuals and Sex Education.
Things that don't exist in Indian River County - Atheists, Homosexuals and Sex Education.


Miss Vero is one that does not like to mix religion with politics or vice-a-versa and yesterday,when we were done laughing at, um we mean, listening to Mr. Palmer we turned our attention to NPR where this interesting discussion of that particular subject was featured:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93844916


And here's the article - "More Americans Question Religion's Role In Politics,
Some Social Conservative Disillusionment"

http://people-press.org/report/445/religion-politics


We said this before and we'll say it again, Miss Vero would like to point out that we feel the same way about some one's religion as we do about some one's penis - only bring it to light when asked and never, ever, try to shove it down some one else's throat.

The last time we uttered those words was in our very third installment of the Beach House (read May 2nd post "Forgotten Vero Beach") where we discussed the French Quarter restaurant. Maybe it was all the disaster flooding that ironically had us dining there again last night.

Kids, the place was packed! Chef Ian sure is doing something right, maybe it's the Thursday night lobster special. We were just happy to see one of our favorite people, Miss Anna, formally of Charlie's South Beach (another closed Vero restaurant). We can always count on Miss Anna to be absolutely charming and we adore the fact that her wine knowledge always makes us happy.

HERSTORY TOMORROW

We hear that there's a luncheon tomorrow, sponsored by NOW (the National Organization for Women). Here's the contact info:

Indian River NOW: Celebrate Women's Equality Day. Marsh Landing Restaurant, 44 N. Broadway, Fellsmere, 11:30 a.m. $16-$20. at the door. Registration: (772) 794-7773

http://marshlandingrestaurant.com/

Miss Vero has fond memories of way back when little Miss Vero had herself a job as a press liaison in Washington D.C. for NOW. But that was then and this is NOW now. A tamer version of the fiesty NOW, this is a quaint little group in Indian River County that are giving a forum to the women candidates and more importantly commemorating the anniversary of the woman's right to vote. Fellsmere, for all of y'all that don't know, was the first city in Florida to allow women to vote - five years before the 19th Amendment.

http://www.flcities.com/membership/city_trivia_fellsmere.asp

So it's fittin that there should be a luncheon at Marsh Landing and we think we will pop in and say hello to Miss Fran Adams, the queen of Fellsmere and Miss Sarah the mayor (if she's in attendance). In case y'all haven't noticed we sure do like Fellsmere. Did y'all noticed they weren't whining about floodin, they just got out the ole airboats and got around just fine. Not like these people:

ELITIST GOLFERS

Told to us by a John's Island resident - "Apparently after just getting off the phone with "God" and demanding that the rain stop, the next call was to the club demanding that the golf course open. Whomever this particular person is darhling, could not understand why his demand was not met and complained loudly to other club members."

Seems that some golfers are impatient to get back to their resource draining pass time, even Miss Vero got an email from our own club that assured us that all was being done to solve the drainage problems. One more time people - WE LIVE IN A SWAMP!

We're still sorting out our emails but here's a really great picture from our friend and beach real estate queen, Barbara Martino-Silva, who ventured out on the beach after the storm: http://activerain.com/blogsview/654336/WABASSO-BEACH-LIFEGUARD-STATION

And check this out! Another friend, who would like us to call him the "Irritable Chimp" (and Miss Vero will happily comply), sent us the coolest thing ever! We just, love, love, love this: http://verotube.com/

OK! We done wore out our welcome today! We know y'all were a little disappointed this week, cause we didn't keep y'all that entertained during the storm, but we sure hope we made up for it today. Thanks for all the emails!

Time to mix up the martinis and get ready for the weekend, see y'all Monday!

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

THE COUNTING QUESTION

Question:

Is this man...

1. Shredding paper
2. Voting
3. Both

Answer: #2 Voting! - although #3 could possibly be true.

A couple of weeks ago, Miss Vero was flippin through the channels and saw Indian River County Elections Supervisor, Kay Clem, doing a demonstration with the new voting machines that we'll be using in the up coming elections. We wondered if the demonstration would be on the Election web site or TCPalm, but try as do, we cannot find it. We thought maybe TV 10, but getting information from there is like collectin hen's teeth. The TV 10 website has been "under construction" since before we started blogging: http://www.wwcitv.com/

The Vote Indian River County website does not show a demonstration, but tells us that it is a voters responsibility to "Familiarize himself or herself with the operation of the voting equipment in his or her precinct ." http://www.voteindianriver.com/content.aspx?id=237

Now, we don't know about y'all, but Miss Vero is mighty skeptical about these types of things and sure 'nuf after a little checkin, some other folks with the same Sequoia voting machine are not convinced either: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/evoting/index.html

Another blogger in Connecticut, even suggested that the similarity to a paper shredder was all too obvious: http://ctbob.blogspot.com/2006/09/susan-bysiewicz-demonstrates-new.html

Even the PJ ran an article about our voting machines that was met with overwhelming apathy: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/jul/01/30gtnew-voting-system-fails-test/?feedback=1#comments

What do y'all think? Should we be concerned about the candidates, the charter issue or just plain concerned that our little ole vote is even counted? Miss Vero sure do wish Gubna Charlie would stop gallivantin around and provide us with that paper receipt he promised: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/us/02voting.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/P/Presidential%20Election%20of%202000&pagewanted=all

Oh my goodness is right! This election year has got our head spinnin! Now y'all know that the only party that Miss Vero subscribes to is the cocktail party, that being said we believe it's time for a little party action of our own!

Have a good weekend kids, we hear WPTV will be broadcasting the news from the Driftwood at 5 o'clock today, maybe we'll see y'all there...

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

IT'S NOT JUST THE YANKEES

If y'all are wondering, the map is referrin to a New York Times article in 2007, that marvels at the capacity of Florida to absorb our many visitors:

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/05/162-the-united-states-of-florida/

Which has nothing to do with the recent Time magazine article, describin the doom and gloom of the Sunshine State:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1821648,00.html

But is somewhat related to this article about how realtor's should market to Brits: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2008/07/14/0714realtors.html

Who really like our beaches and post pictures that we should be seeing:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1034882/Hes-The-moment-6ft-shark-leapt-water-just-yards-surfers.html

And get exclusives with Gubna Charlie, who is visitin (at our expense) with his Finance-cee (supposedly at her expense):

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Florida-Governor-Charlie-Crist-Tells-Sky-News-He-Wont-Rule-Out-Becoming-Vice-Presidential-Candidate/Article/200807215033735?lid=ARTICLE_15033735_Florida%20Governor%20Charlie%20Crist%20Tells%20Sky%20News%20He%20Won't%20Rule%20Out%20Becoming%20Vice%20Presidential%20Candidate&lpos=searchresults
(my, those Brits are wordy)

Which brings us, as they say, to the bit about Vero, which is that the place for all things British will be missin out because it closed last year: http://www.britishflorida.com/index.php/BRITISH-SHOPS/Tearooms.html

There will be a test, Miss Vero hopes y'all were payin attention.

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

CHARLIE'S ANGELS

What ever happened to her?...

The Saint Petersburg Times ran a story in May 2007 about Gubna Charlie's romance with former beauty queen, fear factor contestant, divorcee and mother of two:
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/22/State/No_fear_in_dating_the.shtml

But last week, we hear that Gubna Charlie is engaged to another recently divorced mother of two, who in December 2007, denied any romantic involvement with Crist to the Saint Petersburg Times:
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/03/the-governors-g.html

Lisssen Charley, Imma gonna haffa haff a

few more of feese to go fru wiffit...

OK children, according to The New York Daily News,
this woman is a spendaholic socialite, who we predict,

Mr. Charlie will not be able to maintain.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/06/05/2008-06-05_potential_veep_charlie_crist_has_glam_ru.html

But wait! There just might be another single mom with two kids on the horizon-

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2008/07/05/m1a_kigel_0706.html

Miss Vero senses we should keep on eye on her,

it's like a day at the race track and this political pony

is the dark horse chompin at the bit.

But the big question is -

who is it that Gubna Charlie's really interested in?...

Damn it! Why doesn't he call, why?!

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

THE THIN MAN

For all of y'all that take the New York Times regular on Sunday, y'all probably read the interview with Gubna Charlie. He's very likable in this article and we wouldn't mind seeing ole Charlie running with the ancient John McCain. In fact if y'all remember, we imagined just such a scene in our first blog about Charlie -"The Power of Crist Compels Me" (May 13th). Miss Vero still wishes that we could get that man a sandwich to help fill out that suit or a nice gay stylist to actually get him a suit that fits. Miss Vero always wondered why we just couldn't get a paper receipt when we voted, like at the grocery store and it seems that Gubna Charlie has wondered the same thing. We're beginning to like him. A little. If-in y'all don't take that really informative yankee paper, Miss Vero generously provides y'all the link:
http://http//www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22wwln-q4-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin


Speaking of State politics, Miss Vero likes to play a little game called connect the newspaper dots and we found these bits of Charlie- related- to-Vero news that informs us of two important things;

#1 California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger (who Miss Vero remembers, but Gov Arnold does not remember Miss Vero - really it's true!) came to Florida last year for a photo op and Florida Climate Summit with Gubna Charlie and they looked like Batman and Robin ready to fight the energy crisis:
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jul/13/summit_builds_enthusiasm_going_green/?breaking_news

#2 If you get a lobbyist and pay Stan Mayfield some money, y'all can get all that pesky energy bill stuff to go away, not by some silly ole democratic voting process!
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080622/NEWS/806220655/1417/RSS02

And finally a little Mayfield related story in between all of the PJ "dribble"-Honestly, why would anyone expect a doctor to properly fill out paperwork?
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/jun/24/30gtcelano-makes-costly-mistake/



THANKS FOR HANGING WITH MISS VERO

Once again, Miss Vero must thank each and everyone of y'all that are readin faithfully and sending in such nice emails and info. Please be patient, we have already told y'all that (unfortunately) we are only one damn person and we are trying to answer and deal with technical thangs as fast as we care to. If-in y'all had problems with the links in the past few days go back and check again, we're pretty sure we done fixed it.

If-in there's some other issues y'all have - sugar- fix you a cocktail or two and keep drinkin 'em until that particular issue just fades away...

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

MISS VERO IS WATCHING

Miss Vero offers y'all news from Tallahassee - a dreadful place and so far removed from our watchful eyes. Good thing Miss Vero has a well connected pal in that big white tower (the most phallic building in the world, but don't take my word for it):
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/events/phallic/mostvotes.php

Miss Vero regularly receives tips (no pun intended - ok maybe a little) about our local reps. So as always, Miss Vero generously shares:

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/04/powerful-state.html

Seems like our little gov Mr. Charlie is not the only one lookin to move on up. Florida is a primordial soup if-in you are some one with political aspirations.

Enough politics already! Time for a cocktail!

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

CRIST MYTH TIME

We certainly have received lots of emails after the last two posts especially after Friday's Deluxe Edition of the Beach House! Thanks so much kids, Miss Vero loves your luvin. One story that was particularly favored was concerning our own Mr. Charlie Crist and after all the stuff people have been forwarding to us, we believe that the article on Gawker is the best. This is one sex tape Miss Vero never wants to see!:
http://gawker.com/tag/everyone-is-gay/?i=393751&t=sex-tape-will-prove-mccains-maybe-running-mate-un+gay

Now y'all know, Miss Vero has already brought this subject to light in the May 13 post -"The Power of Crist Compels Me". We thought that we would reference it again, since y'all seem so fond of it.

Miss Vero sincerely apologizes for cuttin it short today, we have some business to attend to. Miss Vero Suggests that if-in y'all are new to the Beach House, that y'all catch up on older posts. Think of them as "Project Runway" reruns.

Thanks again kids for all the luvin, keep them emails comin!

MWAH!
missvero@live.com

THE POWER OF CRIST COMPELS ME - AGAIN!

By this time y'all know that our skeletal little gov, Charlie Crist was in town. The PJ informed all the good citizens of Indian River County that Mr. Charlie would arrive at 3:55pm Wednesday and Miss Vero decided to send her top correspondent, Lil' Miss Sunshine, out to do some reporting. Lil' Miss Sunshine is a sweet-talkin busty blond that is more welcome at a Republican gatherin than cash money. Ok, maybe not more welcome, but just as.

Lil' Miss Sunshine arrived 30 minutes prior to the ETA only to witness people already leavin the party. Lil' Miss Sunshine reported seeing the Queen Mother of Vero Beach, Miss Alma Lee Loy being escorted to her car and had a pleasant exchange of hellos. Then Li' Miss Sunshine ran into a big time developer friend, who told her that his office received a call about 1:00pm telling him to quick get down to Piper at 2:30. Hmmm....

After sweet talkin the guard, (see, I told y'all she was good at that) Lil' Miss Sunshine proceeded down the tarmac to the event tent. She noticed lots and lots of Piper employees (I think the PJ mentioned over a thousand) in brand spankin new white T-shirts with colorful Piper advertising on the back. They had finished their casting call as extras in the musical "Pay the Piper" and were lining up for free ice cream at the craft services truck.

What she witnessed after that was disturbing, because aside from the Piper extras the only people present were Republican candidates and Media, blowing smoke up each other's behind.


So here's what Miss Vero has to say about this. If all you have is your vote to give the gov, shouldn't it count for somethin? Why was the general public excluded from this event? Why not hold it at Dodger stadium and let all the constituents see their public servant and let all the candidates shake some hands? Why is he just the behind closed doors, Republican's boy and not the Governor of the People of the Great State of Florida?

Mr. Charlie did speak for 5 minutes and apparently had time to sign a few autographs. Take notice kids, that he gave them from behind.

THE POWER OF CRIST COMPELS ME!

Last night, Miss Vero had the pleasure of cocktailin at the incredibly artistic home of the Countess de Roseland, where the the topic of discussion turned to politics. No one was in any sort of agreement as to their favorite presidential pony, positive proof that friends can have different opinions without clawing each others eyes out. One of the Countess' guests made a very good point that she would withhold her decision until the candidate's running mates were announced. Miss Vero thinks this to be a wise position, considering that Mr. Gore had chosen Mr. Lieberman in 2000, which was just one more thing to bring him down.

The scuttlebug around town and on the web is that our own Florida gov, Charlie Crist, may be tapped on his skeletal shoulder to assist the ancient Mr. John McCain. Sorry, but Mr. McCain is old and if you haven't noticed, it's because you're old too. If you don't believe Miss Vero, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jaohn+mccain+older+than+dirt&search_type

The very prestigious St. Petersburg times thinks that Mr. Crist's chances "aren't bad"

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/17/State/Vice_President_Crist_.shtml

After taking a good look at that photo, Miss Vero's gaydar was on high alert and sure enuf, after much web searching, we found a plethora of articles alluding to the fact that Mr. Crist is gay. Finally, some good news!

Imagine if you will:

Mr. Crist becomes Vice President and the old geezer Mr. McCain gets ridden a little too hard in celebration by the current hottie Mrs. McCain (She 'd be so thrilled to add to her vast holdings with a prime piece of DC real estate), and Mr. McCain having a massive coronary kicks it in the act and our little Charlie becomes President! Then, Charlie gets up in front of the whole damn country and announces he's gay, ha, ha, ha and all you red state bigots are just gonna hafta live with it! Dick Cheney threatens to whip out his trusty hunting riffle, but the new Secret Service hog ties him and and makes him Grand Marshall of the gay pride inaugural parade!

Yes, I'm bored, isn't it obvious? Miss Vero is constantly forced into her own world when faced with Vero Beach statistics such as these:

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=city&city=Vero+Beach

If there was one thing that Miss Vero could do for Mr. Crist, it would be to get him a sandwich. Jumpin-jesus-on-a-pogo-stick! Doesn't that man ever eat? Can't someone find a collar to fit his little chicken neck? What, no gay stylists in Tallahassee? Probably not, Miss Vero has recently spent much time in Tallahassee and wonders how anyone can live there, let alone a decent gay man.

Well kids, Miss Vero has many errands and shopping to do today and cocktail time is calling, so...

MWAH!

missvero@live.com