Tag Archives: Pensacola

aSide Order

June 9, 2008 Ross

On the food front, uncooked tomatoes are under suspicion.

McDonald’s said Monday that it had stopped serving sliced tomatoes in its restaurants over concerns about salmonella food poisoning linked to uncooked tomatoes.

In Pensacola, our distributor has stopped sales of fresh tomatoes until the FDA can decide whether Florida growers are involved.

Those folks at the Onion News Network are something else.

Now view it again and read the crawl at the bottom.

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

The world famous tram cars on the Wildwood boardwalk see their 60th anniversary this year. To celebrate, they will charge what they charged back in 1949 for a one-way ride, a thin dime. Well, for one day anyway.

To mark the start of the Wildwoods Boardwalk tram cars’ 60th year, a ride on the famous trams will be just 10 cents one-way Wednesday, the same fare charged in 1949 when the trams made their debut.

Patrick Rosenello, executive director of the Boardwalk Special Improvement District, which operates the trams, said the drastic fare reduction – the current rate is $2 each way – was a perfect way to acknowledge an important piece of Wildwoods history.

“I think the trams are synonymous with the Boardwalk,” Rosenello said, adding, “Not having the trams would be like taking the wood off the Boardwalk.”

Another thing synonymous with the tram cars was the warning message the conductor played as they approached walkers in their way. Watch the tramcar please! Some kids and tourists would ignore the approaching tram just to hear the message. Yea, guilty.

Pensacola

How About A Recession Plate For 2.99?

May 24, 2008 Ross

Great story in the local paper today about a small business owner Sharon Ray, 61, owner of Ray’s Bar-B-Que, who recently started selling a “Recession Plate.”

The lunch plate, which includes two mini-barbecue sandwiches and a side of fries, is Ray’s attempt to help ease what she described as “Pensacola’s recession.”

One of the best ways to turn a recession around is not to participate in it, like Sharon Ray. This isn’t a turn lemons into lemonade story. This is a story of how a smart business entrepreneur can preserve her customers and business during tough times. Kudos to Sharon Ray of Ray’s Bar-B-Que. I gotta check them out. Not just because of this article, but because I’ve always considered myself to be a ‘common-sewer’ of fine foods, and will travel for great ribs and a good pork sandwich.

Energy, Media, Pensacola, Politics, Uncategorized

Capitalism Works, When Allowed

May 22, 2008 Ross

On the subject of high gas prices and the dog and pony show that Democrat senators put on in front of the leaders of the oil industry yesterday, a local columnist was chastising capitalism and these CEO’s with all the usual stereotypes and talking points that get the dumb masses riled. Things like these execs are robbing everybody and the title, ‘Capitalism at its finest.’ Hark! An educational moment has occured. Below was my reply to the writer.

Quick quiz: assuming a free economy, which is not the case in the U.S. as pertains to the oil industry, the most regulated and taxed industry on earth, but, in a free economy, if supply and demand are just a cliche as you say, then what or who really determines selling prices? Would you prefer that the government do that?

Do you think that increasing crude oil supply will lower the price at the pump? Its a trick question, but please answer it anyway.

“If they’re so worried about demand, how about this one.”

You didn’t see it did you? They’re not concerned with demand. They know, even if you don’t, that the demand will do nothing but increase as our population, both legal and illegal, continues to grow. My private-school education tells me that when demand outstrips supply, prices will go up. Isn’t that what you are seeing at the pump or is it all just going into Hofmeister’s pocket?

I appreciate your frustration with the high prices. All we need is an energy policy that gets some.

–end of reply

One of the highlights of the senate hearing was this response from John Hofmeister, president of Shell.

“The fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work,” said Hofmeister. The market is squeezed by exporting nations managing demand for their own interest and other nations subsidizing prices to encourage economic growth, he said.

In addition, Hofmeister said access to resources in the United States has been limited for the past 30 years. “I agree, it’s not a free market,” he said.

H/T Troy Moon for the inspiration.

Pensacola, Race Relations, Uncategorized

Kids Killing Kids, In Pensacola?

May 3, 2008 Ross

Kids killing kids goes on in small cities too, like right here in Pensacola, Florida, for example. Philadelphia has been dealing with a record murder rate this year, mostly kids, mostly black. Such was the case last night in Pensacola outside a teen dance.

There are at least two mothers who wish this had never happened. And, had the juvenile justice system not broken down, what happened last night might not have happened at all.

The investigation will hopefully lead to who pulled the trigger among the 16 and 17 year olds present. Whoever the perp(s) turns out to be, the investigation will prompt some questions outside of what happened last night. Like these, did any of the youths held for suspicion of murder have a criminal record? If so, were any of them subsequently found to be in violation of probation? If so, were any of them given a new probation instead of being returned to jail where, obviously, he could not have been downtown last night? According to a source close to the investigation, the answer to all three of these questions is YES.

Philadelphia has a plan, borne out of desperation perhaps, but it deals with the problem where it exists. On the streets and with the kids. This is more than a law enforcement problem, this is a societal problem of broken families and broken hope, where being bad is cool. Can Pensacola put 100 men on the street to save a generation in trouble? How about 10? The community must stand up to the challenge.

Judiciary, Pensacola

Judge Rejects Fraud Claims Against State Farm In Katrina Lawsuit

April 21, 2008 Ross

As a follow-up to mass tort attorney Dickey Scruggs’s bribery charges in his class action lawsuit for Hurricane Katrina victims, adding insult to injury, he also loses his case against State Farm for fraud. But wait, there’s more! Any attorney that worked with Scrugg’s in this lawsuit can not represent any policyholder against State Farm in any Katrina related claim.

The case was a key lawsuit filed by embattled tort attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, who sued on behalf of dozens of storm victims claiming that State Farm routinely denied claims based on bad faith and fraud. Scruggs has since pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in an unrelated case and no longer represents storm victims.

Senter ruled earlier this month that attorneys once affiliated with Scruggs on the case could no longer represent any policyholders in lawsuits against State Farm over Katrina damages. The judge said the attorneys knew Scruggs paid two sisters who once worked for Renfroe $150,000 a year and planned to use them as so-called “whistleblowers” after they secretly copied thousands of storm damage reports. Senter said “these payments were clearly improper.”

Do you think it’s part of a conspiracy like this guy?

Pensacola, Uncategorized

Today's Special

April 17, 2008 Ross 2 Comments

And on the local scene, today’s issue of the Pensacola Independent News caught my attention. The cover story, ‘Eat, Drink, and be Merry Guide. ‘ Restaurants and various eateries are nicely laid out geographically for the whole market area. Must be hundreds of establishments listed there. It would be hard to get them all.

Anyway, being the cheesesteak lover that I am, I looked for cheesesteaks and found two places in the area that have cheesesteaks. Lenny’s Sub Shop on North Davis, and Sidelines on the beach. I haven’t been to Lenny’s yet, and I went to Sidelines for their wings, so if you’re like me, you might want to try them out.

In the Pensacola area, I can add another restaurant, and another place to get a cheesesteak. That would be Philly’s at 3900 Creighton Road and our family business. If you haven’t had a cheesesteak from Philly’s, you haven’t had a cheesesteak. Well, that’s my opinion of course.

This is a great opportunity also to thank my customers, who are also my friends and neighbors, for supporting Philly’s since 1999. Out-of-towners longing for a cheesesteak so far from Philly should make plans to stop at Philly’s while in the Pensacola area. We are located near the Pensacola Regional Airport (PNS).

Philly’s website and menu

Phone & FAX 850-969-0087

Pensacola, Politics, Uncategorized, War On Terror

Progressive News, Truth Deficit Disorder

April 14, 2008 Ross

Given the circumstances days before Gen. David Petraeus’s progress report to Congress, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) laid down a pre-condition that there better not be any good news, no sugar coating in his report, especially regarding recent fighting in Basra, I was pleasantly surprised to see some unanimity in the reporting of the conclusions of his appearance before Congress. With one exception, the ‘premier’ outlet for progressive news, GoLeftTV.

GoLeftTV says the story was ‘Petraeus’s admission that we are not making headway in Iraq.’ This is about 180 degrees from what I heard of the two days Petraeus spent on Capital Hill. I heard Gen. Petraeus say that much progress has been made in the last year and since his last report to Congress. Pressed for an answer as to when our troops can come home, he said that we have not turned that corner yet, we’re not at the point yet where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The bottle of champagne is pushed to ‘the back of the refrigerator.’ But, there is every expectation that the end game is achievable if we and the Iraqi government keep at it, and every expectation it will be an utter failure if we were to leave prematurely.

To settle this dichotomy from what I saw and what Farron Cousins saw, I sought to get the left’s perspective on the Petraeus report. I did what any good liberal would do. I watched PBS’s NewsHour program Saturday night where Mark Shields and David Brooks were on the panel with Jim Lehrer discussing news of the week, including the Patreaus testimony as relates to the war in Iraq. They were honest enough to interpret the Petraeus testimony exactly the same as everyone else. Everyone else except GoLeftTV, the progressive news source. It was good to see that I had seen the same testimony as David Brooks and Mark Shields.

GoLeftTV decided instead to report that we are not making any progress in Iraq, and, Bush lied. According to Farron Cousins, Bush’s description of progress was contradictory to the message carried by Gen. Petraeus. This interpretation is patently deceptive and dishonest and proves that truth deficit disorder is not limited to the Clintons as this video will attest. The Petraeus analysis, thankfully, is the first minute and a half.

Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics

Big Education, Not So Big Students

March 29, 2008 Ross 1 Comment

Ever notice how politicians in both parties always want to spend more on education at all levels? There never, never seems to be enough money. After all, spending more on education is a feel-good type exercise. It makes our caring-karma glow and helps politicians get re-elected. But what good does it do our children? Why are we not seeing positive results there? Could it be because of the K-Mart (no offense to K-Mart) mentality of educating our children. That is to say, quantity rather than quality, like the editor writes. . .

The problem at the bigger, higher-profile institutions like the University of Florida and Florida State University is that they have been trying to handle too many students with increasingly tight budgets.

Yes, the budgets have risen in total dollars, but not enough to offset the rising costs of providing high-quality education to growing numbers of students.

Time is long overdue to expect more for our money which is already ‘invested’ into educating our children, and to dispel this blank-check, or bottomless-pit theory that if we just spend more money on education that we will get bright and educated children. We’ve had bright and educated children in our history with much smaller expenditures than what we are seeing today.

In financing education in Florida, the lottery shell-game that we all bought into years ago ‘has come home to roost.’ And while some politicians are quick to trash BIG OIL, BIG PHARM, BIG INSURANCE, and BIG ENERGY on costs, where in the world are they on BIG EDUCATION? The assumption that spending more money because costs are rising, instead of addressing the rising cost is where we lose focus on the important thing, teaching our children to be bright, productive, and able to think and reason on their own.

To borrow an overused phrase and campaign slogan, it’s time for change we can believe in. It’s time for politicians to step up and attack the ‘rising cost’ factor like they are so quick to do with other industries, instead of the taxpayers’ wallet. But first, they have to come to terms with their biggest obstacle, BIG LABOR, teacher’s unions.

related link: PNJ editorial, No free lunch on tuition

Judiciary, Pensacola, Politics

Lawyers Bribing Judges?

March 21, 2008 Ross

Last week, mass tort lawyer Richard (Dickie) F. Scruggs, who squeezed hundreds of billions of dollars from tobacco companies, pleaded guilty to trying to bribe a state court judge in Mississippi. This, concerning a mass tort scam on insurance companies over Hurricane Katrina victims and his fees. His son, David Zachary Scruggs, reached a plea agreement today with federal prosecutors who had charged him with a role in a conspiracy to bribe a state court judge.

Is this part of a ‘design to dismantle the plaintiffs bar’ as has been suggested, or simply a matter of law enforcement? Kudo’s to the judge who did not take the bribe.

Media, Pensacola, Politics, Uncategorized

What Recession?

February 28, 2008 Ross 1 Comment

Who better to comment on the financial misdeeds of President Bush (who he affectionately calls the ‘shrub’) than Air America Radio investor and talk show host Mike Papantonio?

According to Papantonio, Bush has this economy in ‘a full-blown recession.’ Actually, he is hoping the economy goes into a recession, or at the very least convince you that the economy actually is in a full-blown recession.

Probably not as good a record as say, Air America Radio, but here are some facts about our economy that the rabid left either ignores or lies about.

Since losing 4 million jobs after the combined effects of the Clinton recession that Bush inherited, and the attacks on 9/11, and devastating hurricanes, that snake-bit president has presided over 54 months of continuous job growth, creating over 8.3 million jobs since August 2003.

Despite all the catastrophic spending the economy of this country has so-far withstood (war and hurricanes), deficit spending is below 1.5% of GDP. That’s lower than the average of the last 40 years.

In true liberal fashion, this significant bit of dishonesty with smoke and mirrors is this statement that we are in “a full-blown recession”. The lesson here is simply this. The economy is still growing. Only in liberalspeak can they both be happening at the same time.

This claim of a recession employs the flawed liberal logic that an increase is a cut. Even the left-leaning Christian Science Monitor has to admit that the economy has grown by “1.4 percent for the calendar year, whereas the economy normally posts growth of 3 percent or so.” In other words, because it did not GROW as much as it has in the past (another fact Papantonio ignores), it must be a full-blown recession.

The unemployment rate was 5 percent in December. This is below the average of each of the past four decades. Of course this must be bad news.

Real after-tax personal income per person has increased over $2,800 – or 9.6 percent – during this snake-bit administration. The truth is the poor are actually getting richer.

And, if you are happy with the price of gas and food nowadays, you can thank the environmentalist movement, and wimpy politicians who won’t stand up to them, for preventing us from using our own resources while making the problem worse with bio-fuels.

The Lunch Counter