KWTN: The Blue Paper

RICK BOETTGER: Minority Treason

by Rick Boettger

Our national debt and deficits are “clearly unsustainable!” Right? And “our government is broken.” Right?

WRONG. These two blatant falsehoods mirror at the national level the harmful lies told by our humble Monroe County government, but cause vastly more harm to the American people, right back down to us here at the end of the road. Please allow me to set the record straight.

People have been predicting doom from our national debt since the founding of the republic. Thomas Jefferson said our debt was “swindling futurity,” just before he saddled “futurity” with the Louisiana Purchase. Which was the best deal, the largest expansion of our great land, and the greatest proportional explosion of our national debt in our country’s history. In point of historical fact, our national debt is our best friend, not our enemy.

RICK: Cynical Charades

by Rick Boettger

The way the County is abusing me is nothing special, I assure you. It’s just business as usual. Your government scorns you, at all levels, and laughs at you behind your back even when they are making believe they are sincerely listening to your heartfelt concerns. A flamboyant trick they have learned is to convene big, showy meetings with us citizens, listen closely to our carefully-prepared presentations, give us big pats on the back—and then flagrantly ignore everything we’ve said, as they go on to do exactly what they were going to do anyway, usually involving big raises and more assistants for themselves.

Examples of the grand showy meetings which I personally attended were on parking, road construction, airport extensions, and—numerous times—Australian pines. You attend meetings like these with the hopeful feeling that your government poobahs actually give a damn about your ideas, worries, and desires, and that they respect what in many cases is public expertise far greater than their own. They put on a great act.

RICK: Stimulus-ation

by Rick Boettger

The individual-sized, sealed bottle of Heinz catsup finally clued me in that things had gone too far. Luxury had become invisible, the daily norm on a cruise ship that charges roughly as much as Little Palm Island per day. You can have thyme-dusted lamb chops for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and butlered into your suite for a midnight snack if you wish, all served on fresh white linen, with premium pinot noir and a cognac. All prepaid, so anything you want to eat or drink is spirited to you anywhere on the ship by armies of smiling staff without bills or tipping. It is as though we have entered a new post-money stage of human society where everything is free, everyone is confidently pleased with themselves, no status differences matter, and even the tuxedoed workers are overjoyed with their jobs.

This high luxury is so over the top that it is like a fanciful dream, and I’ll pretty much forget it as soon as I have to bring my own plates to the sink again (our suite is cleaned at least four times a day), which should take about a week once we return to our regular lives in Key West sans butler. But I come from rather humble, lower-middle-class roots. My mother was a waitress, and she never had a single meal as luxurious as each one we could have in a month on this ship.

RICK BOETTGER: Public Enemies

By Rick Boettger
From the Karaoke bar on a Regent cruise ship somewhere in the South Pacific.

Our Monroe County government is screwing us out of millions of dollars, right now, legally, smugly, self-righteously, without a smidgen of regret, and there is nothing we can do about it but vote them out of office in the next election. It is my solemn duty to convince enough of you to make the right choice between A] Rick is nuts; and B] Danny Kolhage and the entire sitting County Commission are taking more out of our pockets than Monique Acevedo allegedly ever did or dreamed of. The correct answer is: both of the above. For B is true, and it is, indeed, A, making me nuts.

Fortunately, we have most of a year for me to get you too as angry as I am at our venal and heartless government, or at least motivated enough to rise from your lounges and vote for candidates who give a damn about us. For sure, Danny and the Commissioners don’t. I am charging them with being Public Enemies 1-6, and wish I could put their mug shots up in the Post Office.

How are they robbing us? Simple. They are taxing us and hoarding literally tens of millions of dollars they have no intention of spending. Just because it makes them feel all safe and secure to have a big pot of our cash in their bank. And the hell with the library hours, raises for anyone doing real work, or—Hah Hah!—any kind of tax breaks for the recessionstrapped citizens of Monroe County.

RICK BOETTGER: My Blind Side

by Rick Boettger

The widely-acclaimed “feel-good movie of the year” is The Blind Side, about a poor hulking black kid rescued by a well-off white family. The teen is walking in frigid weather wearing a t-shirt and shorts when the upper-middle-class mom, played by Sandra Bullock, makes the snap decision to take him into their home. He ultimately bonds with all, including the cheerleader and bright son, and goes on to an NFL career. A rough but heart-warming road to a happy ending.

What really got my attention was an interview with the real-life mom, when she said, “He had a greater impact on our lives than we had on his life.”

Say wha’? The young man has a crack-addict birth mom and inept foster care, ends up in a prosperous home with loving guidance towards college and a dream career, and the family got the best of it?

Surprise! That’s not smarmy B.S. It is true, as I can attest from my own story. And boy, do I owe you a feel-good story, not from my travails of the past, but from what I am going to be putting you through in this new year. I’ll have long scary tales to tell of my battles against a powerful nemesis that will make Publisher Cooper’s past spat with ex-Police Chief Buzz Dillon seem like a junior-high food fight. Best to lead into my seemingly-hopeless and dangerous upcoming war stories with a heart-warming tale of my own, a similarly valiant struggle against hopeless odds with a warm fuzzy ending.

Rick Boettger

Rick Boettger does not take phone calls or answer email; however, if you snail mail him an intelligent note, he may invite you to his home to ply you with good drink or strong coffee to see things his way or teach him a lesson.

If you insist on new-age communication with Mr. Boettger, send your e-mail to kwtnblue@bellsouth.net and we will forward it to him whether he wants it or not.

To read Rick's current KWTN articles, look under Categories in right column, click on his name.

For earlier articles, please look under Categories and go to the year you want, then click on his name in that Categories list!

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