sandy feet’s weblog

Out with the Old…..

The time has come to bid a fond adieu to this blog. As of right now I will be shutting down all commenting (take that you mailbox-muddying, sex pill pushing spammers - ruiners of my morning mailcheck!) though the stuff that is up here will stay up for the foreseeable future. Who knows, I may even fire the old girl up again some other day but for now say bye-bye to the old and…

In With the New

Welcome to the new blog - “being sandy feet” that already has some groovy new stuff on it (the site feed link is http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeingSandyFeet so put that in your reader). If you go there you will learn the real reason why …

This concerns an agenda item for this week’s BOA meeting:

The meteorologists tell us that we are somewhere in the middle or maybe even the beginning of a very active storm period. It’s late in the hurricane season but as I post this Wilma is forming off the Yucatan, and even if we avaoid a direct hit this year, by next June the anxiety starts all over again. At 400+ miles away, Rita didn’t even qualify as a near miss, but anyone who didn’t notice how much destruction we experienced from being on the safer side of a cat. 3 hurricane that hit a long way away really wasn’t paying attention. And if you need a reminder, I have a slideshow …

One day, a couple of decades ago, Amazin’ Walter turned to me and said, “Hey! I have an idea!”

He used to say that a lot and it usually made me groan because most of his ideas were (and I suppose still are) pretty darn good — but they almost always required a lot of work on someone’s part. Often that “someone” ended up being me. For example, the very first Sandcastle Days - held way back in 1987 - all started with Amazin’ Walter saying this very self-same thing to me.

On this particular day, the idea was the “unlitter” campaign which, in its earliest stages, merely meant insinuating this new word into the English language every chance we got. Our …

Raybo Islander-Manogod A Series Of Unpopular Views

Operation: Drive Your Chevy… Build A Levy

Within 24 hours, volunteers could have formed a wall of SUV’s sizable enough to save the Big Easy.

Stuck in the mud is togetherness

If we really wanted to be humane as a group of humans Sacrifice would be a preventative measure Instead of a shallow reaction to catastrophe

Override the martial law with a single humanitarian law wherein; No value is to be acknowledged to any piece or part of a declared disaster area, whether damaged, undamaged, or repairable, outside of living life. Only empty handed living beings beyond the line.

If we spent more time and money on securing for all we would not need to rescue so many.

Giving and healing shouldn’t have anything to do with money. …

Sorry, but I can’t just let this one slide by.

I am astonished that some people can accept the following statement as a truth, just because they read it in an e-mail:

“most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. … All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to Heaven.”

Where Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and lots of pretty virgins await them, no doubt.

You don’t have to do much research to learn that “The Five Pillars” of Islam (faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting and pilgrimage) - the core practices upon which the Islamic faith is built - …

Those who know me will not be surprised by this link.

Chris Chandler is a friend of a friend.

tSomething’s In the Air But It’s Not on the Airwaves

Texas School Funding Measure Defeated

Well. The Texas state legislature had plenty of time to discuss sexy cheerleaders and gay marriage. They decided on an official Texas state this and an offical Texas state that. But once again they raced - and got beaten by - the clock when it came down to financing our schools.

Why on earth do we keep electing the same incompetent nincompoops year after year?

In the past few weeks much has been made of the fact that two of the candidates - Rick Wells and Joe Buck - have not participated in the SPIRIT online forum. it has been suggested that they are “afraid” or that they “have something to hide.”

I won’t pretend to know why these two candidates are not participating. Perhaps they are not fast typists. Perhaps they are suspicious of the motives of the group conducting the forum and convinced they have been set up to lose. I don’t know, and it is not my place to speak for them.

I do know that I will be voting for Joe Buck — in spite of the fact that he has not participated …

(Edited) Alderman Ridolfi wrote a lengthy letter to the editor of the PI/SPI Press this week. Since that fine publication has yet to move its letters online, I cannot link to it though I certainly would if I could.

In brief, he talks about the need for a comprehensive plan that will make the island more attractive to tourists, many of whom might decide to retire here thus bringing more jobs and prosperity to the Island. He then goes on to say:

“I understand the work schedule of many people does not allow them to come to city meetings, and they get a second-hand version from other who may have their own agenda.”

Hmm. You suppose he is talking about Liz over at …

As long as I am on a religous theme (yes, I will get back to the BOA meeting soon!) I received the following missive in my e-mail box. It was written by a friend of my sister’s and an edited version of it was published in the Grand Rapids Press yesterday.

What would Jesus do? This is a favorite Christian saying. I’d like Christians to read this list of questions in light of actions taken by President George W. Bush:

Would Jesus have lied to his followers in order to engage them in an attack on another people?

Would Jesus have bombed another country, especially when there was a peaceful alternative available to conflict?

Would Jesus have ordered 152 people to their deaths and …