charli's Blog

I about fell off the couch when I heard that on the 5:30  PM, 5-6-08, segment.   Any of you who have been here  all your lifes, or at least since the mid 70's know the state is already split.... Florida and North Cuba.  Heck!  When I moved to Miami Beach in the early 60's it could have been called "South Brooklyn" or "West Israel".  ;-)

The early Cuban arrivals wanted to be Americans.  Then the arrivals in the 70's pretty much succeeded in taking over.  The early arrivals wanted nothing to do with the latest arrivals.  They are the ones who coined the phrase "North Cuba".  I remember the bumper stickers saying something like "Going to Miami?  Take your passport!"

I went to my 20th High School Reunion in 1987... went shopping at my old favorite spots... no one spoke english.  Went to where I used to work and went up to a sales person.  She pretended to not be able to speak English.  I reminder her who I was!  I then reported her to our old boss!  A few years later I went back for my hubby's 25th... it was worse!

Okay.  Split the state... but do not make South Florida the 51st state... cede it to Cuba or South America!  During the last reunion visit, most of the hotels were owned by South Americans!  Went back after Hurricane Charli for a HazMat conference.   Nothing had changed!

Can we start a petition to get a "revoketion" (sic) of the amendment?  We should.  Many early voters voted "for" without the full knowledge of what would happen and regret voting "for" and then finding out they weren't going to save that much.... my boss is one of those and now rues his vote. 

I loved tonight's (Friday... since the new moderation rules went into effect and I have no idea when this will be posted....) blip about the ineffectiveness of the past legislative period... time spent on trivial things like the bulls parts, Rhonda's personal agendas, the state song, etc. 

I work for the county.  They are cutting back on a lot of things... like raises.... but not on expenses for employees such as parking in the county parking lots. 

As I said, can we put a "revoketion" on the ballot?  If anyone knows how, please spread the word.

Anyone read the full article in today's Trib?  Someone mentioned about the "de old...", "Wid my brudder... " , etc.   I don't know about you, but I never sang it that way... I said "the...", "With my brother..."  But the proposed change to one section really cracked me up... Change "Still longing for de old plantation" (What's wrong with the old Plantation?  It was a nice little town back in the day!).... to "Still longing for my childhood's station..."????  What the heck does that mean?  Station in life?  A train or bus station?  How about using... "Still longing for a peaceful nation."

Sen. Jim King, Jacksonville, stated that "The tune stays the same, but the meaning becomes totally nondemeaning to any race or religion or anything else."  Okay... change the Pledge of Alligience back to the way it was written... with the "under God" part.  As it is now it is demeaning to people who do not believe in A god, but do believe in their country.

When you click on the story you see "go to blog".  I don't see a blog... so I am going start one.

Why should FL apologize for slavery?  It was the way of life back then.  At the same time white women were "enslaved".  They have been thoughout our entire history, are still  in many countries.  In early US history the only "employed women" were hookers.  We women worked hard, are still working hard, to get recognition, fighting for jobs, etc.  No apology from FL.

I don't see FL making formal apologies for the "enslavement of women".  I don't see where FL made a formal apology to the Jews.  My friend, from jr hi, a jew in Miami Beach in the late 50's was made to sit at the back of the classroom! 

As I said, slavery was a way of live... started long before the US.  I don't agree with it but, as someone said, (and I paraphrase....) "People who want to ignore history are doomed to repeat it." 

You are Americans... not African-Americans.  If you want to use both terms... it's American-African!  You were born here!  I wasn't, but I say that I am an American because, although  born in France, my parents were American.  I am not a racist.  I just can not tolerate people who want things to change because of their heritage, with disregard for other people.   

Once again, since FL became a state, we are going to be blamed/held responsible for the election mess.  Just because we changed our voting date should not have an effect on the election.  There must have been some reason for the change... or some research prior to changing the date and its effect before opting to change the date.  It's bad enough that we are lost in the dark ages by not allowing Independants to vote in the primaries.  Independants are independants because they want to vote for the "Best Man" not a party, if disappointed with the current presidential party actions.

The primary votes should count... no extra election either at the polls or by mail in.

This is part of my MLK Day blog, at the suggestion of a poster... you'll have to go to my blog about MLK Day and Presidents' Day  to see what we are talking about, but.... Why do we not have a day dedicated to NASA and the space program?  They got us to the moon, into outer space, satellites that can view the planet for security and weather.  We have lost astronauts who got nothing more than a memorial at Cape Canaveral. 

You can post your comments on my blog, but please contact Crist, NASA, and any other group that you can.  Post email links to the agencies so that everyone else can contact them. 

I was out of school for many years, as was my daughter when the teaching of evolution in schools was "banned"... that Creationism and the newly created Intelligent Design was bought into the school system and Evolution was put on the back burner. 

First off, Creationism is religious.  Religious thoughts/theories/stories/old folk tales are not supposed to be taught as the only reason for something "being" in public schools where students are of all religions or of none.  The Bible is a "rip off" of the Torah... which is based on stories through the first centuries of "intelligent" human beings and their experiences, and passing on those learnings.  Not eating seafood and pork is a good example... the sickness that followed if the food was not prepared properly.

The Intelligent Design teachings are a farce... a compromise.  There was no intelligence in the design... look at the history of mankind. ;-)  (Women should have been put first over man.... God should have created Eve first.  Without her there would have been no humans born... and men have a habit of not following instructions... think of xmas eve and the new bike... a man will put the thing together without reading the instructions and the first time the child gets on the bike, a wheel falls off.  A woman will make sure the wheel does not fall off!  (I just got a new chair at work.  the men in my section told me to call Facilities to put the chair together.  Someone else had gotten a new chair.  I put my chair together... no problems... the chair put together by the men in Facilities... I watched them... didn't read the instructions... the person had to call Facilities to fix the chair this AM... my chair is working perfectly!)

Evolution has proof... fossils that predate the so called dates in the Bible and Torah... that predate the existance of "human" life on this planet.   Other findings have proven the beginning of this planet, without life, that also predate the dates set by the Creationist and Intelligent design theories. 

Creationists believe in the depictions of early artists that the first humans, Adam and Eve, looked like us, but Evolution shows they looked more like apes. 

I have talked to some really religious friends and they agree that one can believe in the Bible teachings while in church, but that education needs to be factual... in other words... your knowledge teaches you the truth, your belief teaches faith... but they all agree that religion should not take over what science has proven... or we will be back to the days of the Inquisition.

This has been buging me for a long time.  When I was a child, Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays were days of celebretion of the 2 greatest presidents this country had.  We had the day off from school, governments shut down in honor of the two.  We all had to do projects about both presidents before their b-days. 

Then they created MLK Day and lumped Washington and Lincoln days into "Presidents' Day".  Face it.... we've had some lousy presidents that do not deserve to be honored... the Bushs come to mind... MLK Day was declared a legal holiday... governements "shut down", kids got the day off from school, etc.  MLK was a good man... but....   Presidents' Day is pretty much unobserved except for eastern Hillsborough county that let's the kids out of school for a day at the Strawberry Festival.

Am I the only one to think that something is very wrong here?

This is a short survey, based on comments from many people about the elections... please post your comments.  TIA

What is you sex and race?

If 4 people were running for/applied for a position in govenrment or your company, how would you vote for them?  Heritage, age,  and religion are not part of the equation.  

You have 4 selections with 4 criteria...

1.  A white man with: plenty of experience, some experience, little experience, no experience

2.  A black man with: plenty of experience, some experience, little experience, no experience

3.  A white woman with: plenty of experience, some experience, little experience, no experience

4.  A black woman with: plenty of experience, some experince, little experience, no experience.

Please explain you choice:

In other words, would you pick a white man with little experience over a black women with plenty of experience?

It's about time that the state went after AllState.  I have heard horror stories of people paying for insurance for years only to make a small claim, have to argue to get the claim paid, and then get cancelled!  During the devasting hurricane seasons a few years ago, AllState still made money!  Over the years since they were established, 1931, they have made billions!

I know of one elderly couple who paid Allstate for over 40 years... made one small claim, searched for the cheapest repairs... got an argument from AllState on the claim... which was eventually paid, and were then cancelled!  Over that 40 years they had paid AllState enough money to equal the value of the home. 

A suggestion to everyone... put the money you would pay any insurance company into a savings account...  You will have the money to pay for any small problems, and if you don't have any for years, you will have the money to pay for major repairs.

First off... I am not a bigot... but what is with the the big to-do about Black Heritage and Hispanic Month celebrations?  My boss takes off time from work to go to meetings for the County's event... time he needs to be doing his job. 

The Hispanic "celebration" is geared mostly towards the Cubans.  What about European Heritage Month?... after all, most of us are of European background... heck, the original settlers of this country were from Europe. .. blacks, white, spanish, etc. 

Black and Hispanic Months get all sorts of events around the county... "picnics" in the County Center park, famous people, etc.

May is "Senior Citizen" month... what to they get (and the timing is terrible as May is my birthmonth and I am rapidly approaching the "senior" years)... a banner is tacked up high on the wall at the County Center... no parties, no picnic.

I recently received an email from a special "employee's committee"  that I am a member of regarding the addition of Asians as a special group... The committee is represented by 3 groups of people in each department... other than the BOCC... hispanics, black americans, and Others.  It was suggested that the reps not be "labeled"... this was "voted down"... as was the Asian rep suggestion. 

something is VERY wrong here.... we are ALL Americans!  No hyphenation is necessary.

Am I the only person in the US to realize that making "rabbit ears" obsolete is a serious problem?  How many of you have small battery operated TV's as part of you hurricane supplies?  I have a small palm sized one that I need to use as a first responder for the Solid Waste Mgmt. Dept. in case of an emerengy like a hurricane. The converter box is twice the size... and will it work without electricity?  Brighthouse moving the county's channel to one that requires extra $$$ was bad enough as we are told to turn to the channel in case of an emergency situation.  We all know that satelite and cable TV are the first things to go during a storm. 

And... have you tried to complete the online form to order the box?  I tried at least 10 times and kept getting told that my address was incorrect or not in an acceptable format! 

What’s right with Tampa blurb about woman donating time to teach Spanish to young school children….

I was appalled by this story.  From what I could tell, the woman that was featured was not speaking “true” Spanish.  It sounded to me like “Cuban” Spanish… Fidel is getting his wish… take over the USA. 

It is wonderful to expose children to different languages.  I was one of the lucky ones.  I was born in France but came to the USA when I was 9 months old.  However, my mother was also born in France… the daughter of an American diplomat and a French woman.  Because of her father’s occupation she also lived in Germany.  She spoke “true” French and German, as well as several other languages because of her father’s job and relocating.

As I was growing up, I was exposed to these languages.  Then I moved to Miami Beach in the early 60’s where Spanish was a required course in junior high.  It was not real Spanish… it was Cuban Spanish!  Then, when I got to 10th grade, going for my second year of French, the teacher was from South America!  He constantly corrected my accent until my mother came to class one day and corrected him.  I passed the class with flying colors!

Years later, many many years later, when my daughter was in high school, we took a tour of Europe.  Our tour guide in France complimented me on my accent.  When we got to Spain, the tour guide commented on the Spanish spoken by me and the students on the trip!  And the students were so confident with their Spanish.  They could not understand anything said to them!  No one could understand the students!   

The young children that this woman was teaching Spanish to are not learning the true language…  Sure, if they go to Miami they will be understood, but going to Spain will end up in frustration.  Cuban is NOT Spanish!

Bush is one sick puppy!  Comparing the current situation to Nam... we had no right being in Nam, and no reason to be in Iraq.  It has been proven that we have no right to be in Iraq, other than the Bush family needing to keep the oil flowing and padding their pockets.  And now the most disgusting thing is happening on TV... the commercials of the wounded crippled soldiers or families of those who lost loved ones over there now supporting the "war".  How much were these people paid to lie about their true feelings?  I have yet to talk to someone who thought the "ads" were good.  Everyone at work thought they were disgusting.... and one young man, who lost his brother over there a few months ago, was crying during the discussion of the ads. 

Fox 13 is now on my "do not watch list", as is Channel 10 "WTSP".  I am thinking of upping my cable so that I will have more channels to watch... without "ads".  This is hard for me to say as I have been a long time Channel 13 watcher.  I will miss Paul, Dave, etc.