Nobody asked me, but -
. . . This is so rich - Because of the Irving Libby trial, the African country of Niger is back in the news and we are back in the soup on the pronunciation sweepstakes, all talking heads being extremely careful to not slip and utter anything sounds anything close to the dreaded "N" word. Har har dee har har.
. . . If the Super Bowl demonstrated nothing else, it proved that Billy Joel can no longer sing.
. . . Do three of Indian Rocks Beach's elected officials still get together after City Commission meetings? Mayor Bill Ockunzzi and Commissioners Jim Palamara and Ed Piniero used to be familiar figures in IRB watering spots. Didn't look too good.
. . . Who's counting? Who do you believe? Largo's Rec Department boss claims 200 people (wow!!) were roistering around at the recent MLK festivities in Central Park. An objective observer counted a scant 100, if that. And the Big Paper covered it like it was a space launch (in contrast to when thousands turned out for a Halloween fete at the same locale and the BP was notable for lack of coverage).
. . . Our recent reading reminded us of the Oscar Wilde case and how mock bravado can backfire. Wilde was accused of having a relationship with a young fellow named Lord Douglas (a vice whose name, in those days, could not be uttered, but, in these days, is quite acceptable) and sued for libel. Turns out it was true and off Oscar went to Reading Gaol. There must be a lesson in that.
. . . One figure, recently departed from these shores, submitted a bill for reimbursement to his new employers that included $138 or so in gasoline tickets (five fill-ups!) in five days. The guessing is that many of those dollars went to foodstuffs - another ripoff?
. . . Cookie Kennedy came close last March to being elected mayor of Indian Rocks Beach. Victor Wood wasn't too far off the pace either. The shift of a few votes would have put Bill Ockunzzi out of office. Some folks in IRB are now playing the "would've should've" game because of the mess in that otherwise charming burg.
. . . A fully functional judge illegally uses a handicap space to park his expensive vehicle. Why does this not shock or even, for that matter, surprise us these days?
. . . Unexpected expertise - we never knew until recently that one of the members of the Indian Rocks Beach City Commission is an expert on journalism. Herr Prof. Doktor Ed Piniero recently lectured the public on the subject.
. . . Shocking observers (and several elected officials) is the proposal by the "diversity obsessed" city manager of Largo plans to earmark a whopping $250,000 (quarter of a million dollars) for an MLK monument in Central Park. Apparently he thinks the $15,000 already approved by the City Commission is too niggardly.
. . . Does anyone really seriously think Barack Hussein Obama really has a chance to be elected president of the United States - even if, by some miracle, he got the nomination? No way, Hosay!
. . . Story behind the story? There's got to be more than just a notion by the mayor to have a different form of government in Clearwater. Why does he really want to get rid of Ole Bill (Learn on the Job) Horne as city manager?