Nobody asked me, but --
. . .Junkets apparently are part of the compensation package for Largo commissioners. One of them had a pointless trip to Denton, Texas, in August, and another will be at a clambake in Deerfield Beach in December. No shortage of boondoggles for these folks.
. . .Will someone please give Ann Coulter a calm down pill?
. . .If you live in Belleair Beach do find it troubling --
-- That a Belleair Beach police car (unoccupied) was parked recently near a popular eatery in Belleair Bluffs well after midnight?
-- That a Belleair Beach city employee was seen riding around in Largo on a weekend in a city vehicle?
-- That one on-duty Belleair Beach police officer on the night shift travels way down Ulmerton Road, at least 20 minutes away (a 40-minute round trip), on his lunch time?
. . .We've got to end this nonsensical and out of date electoral college business and award the presidency to the person who gets the most votes. The EC once made sense; no more.
. . .One character in Largo (he never fails to bloviate on camera every chance he gets) is, by his own admission, scared to death of hurricanes. When he hears of one, he says, within 500 miles of Largo he gets out of town. Luckily, we don't get hurricanes here.
. . .Is this nepotism? The nephew of one local elected official is now a member of the police force where the elected official serves. Nepotism, by the way, comes from a Latin word that means nephew. (!)
. . .Whatever became of Corinne Calvet?
. . .The chairperson of the County Commission is under the misapprehension that she can tell her fellow commissioners what to do. She regularly gets slapped down. She is the first, as it were, among equals -- i.e., the presiding officer only, nothing more.
. . .Ian Beckels, a commentator on a local radio sports program, is a jerk. A former football player of no particular distinction, he recommended that the Red Sox just "lie down and get it over with" in their fracas with the Yankees. This clown ought to be shipped back to Canada, from whence he came.
. . .Nothing is too good for our Congress Dep't -- During the recent flu shot flap, all members of Congress made sure they got their shots.
. . .Anyone who gives money to the Catholic Church is helping to pay off for the criminal misdeeds of priests who committed the homosexual rape of children and other terrible things.
. . .Lots of folks wondering why Susan Latvala, currently chairperson of the County Commission, wanted to gut part of the powers of the Clerk of the Court, who oversees and audits the commission. A move, perhaps, to put the fox in charge of the hen house?
. . .It was wonderful hearing Tim McCarver, a Cardinal, and the Buck lad, a St. Louis home boy, strangling on their saliva as the Red Sox swept the World Series, four to zip.
. . .Temper of the times -- check the e-mail exchanges between elected officials and hired hands and you can sometimes tell who's a-feudin' and a-fightin'.
. . .We have reason to know that on Thursdays folks are jumping on line at www.clearwatergazette.com to read the latest edition of this publication. The calls and e-mails start in the afternoon -- even before the paper is delivered to some places.
. . .Candidates for office in Largo's March election will qualify in the month of December. Gigi Arntzen, a prominent figure in Largo doings and now a candidate, says that allowing candidates an early qualifying date gives everyone time to find out who has qualified (some pick up cards and never turn them in). She points out that time is needed to order signs, brochures, and just plain campaign.
. . .Today used to be Armistice Day. World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. That was the war to end all wars. What a laugh.