Disney World Says No to Guns at Work

Well it looks like Mickey Mouse & pals had the balls to say no when our irresponsible legislators and senators lacked the courage to do just that. This no would be Disney's response to the infamous although recent Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008, the gun bill that encourages lunatic employees throughout Florida to store their guns in their work vehicles (makes going postal all the more convenient don't you know?)

Disney cited exemption under a clause in the bill due to their use and storage of explosives, which exempts companies from complying with the lunacy bill sponsored by Sen. Durell Peaden who is now having a stroke objecting, "Not Disney...not at all!!"

Don't worry tourists, Disneys zero tolerance for bringing firearms to work will be grounds for termination at most Disney properties not including the Disney Cruise Line parking lots or Vero Beach Resort. On the other hand you may really want to rethink that trip to Sea World where they proudly proclaim supporting employees rights to bring guns to that tourist resort parking lot.

Hats off to Mickey for trying to stop the gun madness that has swept Florida. One can only surmise that the NRA dollars don't seem to sway Disney quite the way they have affected Florida's elected representatives.

Florida #2 Gun Runners!

Much to everyone's surprise Florida lost the number one spot in gun exportation to Georgia according to the latest Brady report. Still Florida managed to export 2,328 guns last year to stronger gun control states (that would be about any state but this one), guns that were then used in crimes.

They couldn't have done it without the help of most of our state representatives and legislators, not to mention our governor. So it's no surprise that while most of the nation shows a decrease in crime according to FBI stats, South Florida shows an increase, especially in homicides.

But if this year has been any indication, you all just wait and watch Florida rise to number one Gun runner in the nation come next year given the faithful support of the NRA lobbyists. Tallahassee has deep pockets, and you can bet it's not to hold any of our homegrown oranges either.

Florida aka the Gunshine State

Florida's lawmaker's have decided to turn this into the Gunshine state. It will be up to Crist to sign Take Your Guns to Work bill, and he has already given every indication he will do so.

God help Florida.

Take Your Uzi To Work Day

Living in Florida has just got a little safer. Yes sir, in the state where you can't order lunch at Wendy's without being annihilated by bullets, nor argue with your neighbor over the lawn without being shot dead, now you get to pack your gun for work. Imagine the convenience when your boss tries to fire you. You won't have to wait for the ride home to point your gun at the guy who cuts you off; you can go postal where it really counts!

State representatives, mostly republicans pushed through HB 503 Take Your Gun to Work this week and although Democrats fought, they didn't fight hard enough. Despite concerns voiced by Florida Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, the voice of reason was drowned out by the gun industry's version of the trinity: The Uzi, the Semi, and the Saturday Night Special. You can bet our NRA butt kissing senators and Crist will do their mighty best to lay alms at the gun industry's feet by passing this through as well. The bill gives employees the right to keep the gun in their car as long as they have a concealed permit. Yeah, we all feel better about that.

On the up side, I hear Florida business owners will be able to deduct the cost of bullet proof vests as a justifiable expense.

Tallahassee, you guys got to be on crack.

Eating Fast Food at Wendy's Could Kill You

It's not just fat grams you need to watch in West Palm Beach fast food spots anymore...better start counting the bullets as well.

Seven people were shot today in Wendy's during the lunch hour when a well dressed gentleman (armed of course because this is Florida where we have laws specifically written to encourage that) opened fire, killing one person, wounding five, before turning the gun on himself. With three of those victims in critical condition the final death count is unknown.

All this from one 9mm handgun. Of course let's not forget to give tribute where tribute is due. The lame duck award goes to our governor, representatives, and congressmen who do nothing to stop the violence from guns spreading over the sunshine state. Why? This is why. Those bullets pay for a lot of Tallahassee and Washington business lunches.

If guns don't kill then we need to start taking a close look at the lunatics holding them because somehow these innocent guns are being walked out of homes and into our lives.

We, the unarmed of Florida, have become target practice for a new breed of gun extremists loose in America. Under all that rhetoric blaspheming the Second Amendment is the ugly truth of it....human beings are now their favorite Bulls Eye.

Guns Don't Kill; Gun Owners Do

It would be so nice if just a day would go by without another senseless shooting. But those are days are becoming rare now, as guns are found in schools, in stores, in homes and everywhere but where they should be...under lock and key.

It doesn't take but a moment of anger and impulse to draw a weapon, that despite all the claims "guns don't kill", sure manages to extinguish that life spark in under a minute. Something Jerome Jackson found out the hard way. He had been arguing with his Lauderdale Lake's neighbor last week over the length of the lawn, when instead of a yelling match or fistfight, a gun settled the score. Jerome is now dead and his neighbor charged with homicide after pulling out his trusty gun from his waistband to settle a dispute that is becoming almost commonplace in Florida. I am starting to see the light behind the guns don't kill mantra.

It's the idiot gun owners that do. Eureka!

You would think with all the senseless gun violence escalating in South Florida our legislators would do everything in their power to control the spread of this gun epidemic. But not Florida's Senator Mel Martinez. No, he along with a good many other senators are doing their best to push through a bill allowing firearms to be carried in our national parks. I did write him to question why and his response was that "inconsistencies in firearms regulations for public lands are confusing, burdensome, and unnecessary." Which of course explains everything.

Because just imagine if a burdensome regulation had somehow limited Jerome Jackson's crazy neighbor from ever owning a gun....he might actually be alive today.

But the legislative attitude seems to be more along the lines of heaven forbid we burden a gun owner.

It makes one wonder if the money from gun lobby groups now dropping into the laps of greedy, irresponsible legislators will ever dry up...and when the people being so mercilessly gunned down by the the people holding the guns will stand up for their rights.

Enough already, enough.

Florida's New Dress Code

"No hats, no hoods, no sunglasses or no service" ... at Florida banks.

Florida has another claim to fame this year. Let's hear a drum roll for the number of bank robberies in our sunshine state which has increased 40% in 2007. So the Florida bankers here have decided to prohibit the wearing of sunglasses, caps, and hoods which bank robbers use so often to prevent easy identification.

Anyone who walks in with the dated robber fashionware will promptly be shuffled off to a separate and secured area. Next year just watch, we will be doing our banking business in the buff. Oh Florida, wouldn't it have made a whole lot more sense not to have armed every idiot in the whole state with their choice of assault weapon to begin with?

Now you will have to excuse me, but I think I will start to work on my ab toning just in case they add more clothes to the list.

Disneyworld? Or Armpit of the South?

Technically Orlando is in Central, not South Florida, but it deserves a special mention, especially since it is home not only to Disneyworld, but to the largest redneck population in Florida, hands down in any contest. Orlando stands as a perfect example on the need for gun control laws in Florida. We don't have much in the way of gun control laws here for those of you planning on moving or visiting...just a lot of guns, bullets, deaths, injuries, which are increasing every year. Homicide rates are increasing in Orlando as much as they are here in Broward county, as the American gun industry consistently provides such a nice variety of arsenal to pick from.

Last week an eight year old boy was arrested in Orlando for bringing his uncle's semi automatic gun to school, (not his uncle, not his aunt, just him). It warranted only a brief mention in Orlando papers, but the astonishing news was in reading the many comments from gun fanatics there expressing concerns NOT for what could have happened to the other students....but that their guns stay their guns.



Dear, dear me but it certainly appears that we must bid an adios to Clint Eastwood with his sexy hat and masterful holster! That sexy Marlboro cowboyman of yesteryear has given birth to a rather smaller, pointier head disappointing version complete with over-sized buck teeth and all of a high school education (this probably overly generous). Optional accessories include pick up truck with gun rack of course, and a pack of younguns practicing with their own rifles, while a chorus of proud voice resonates 'My kids respect guns'.

Too sadly it looks like our future hopes are only our future dopes. Never mind being afraid of criminals with guns, until we start intelligence screening at time of gun purchase, we had better beware the typical Florida gun owner.

Even more sadly, and I try not to despair, there will never be another Clint Eastwood.

Death by Mall, South Florida Style

I love my malls...and I have my favorites. I used to love the Mall at Macys in Plantation which was beautiful but went under for reasons never understood (by me). I love the Galleria Mall in east Sunrise but it means putting up with traffic on Sunrise Boulevard. Aventura is a great mall but it's so far for me in North Miami Beach. I never liked the Sawgrass Mall which smells like some kind of bologna and where the tourists run like wild buffalo. Those who know better go to Sawgrass only for what they need and leave as fast as they can. Broward Mall is still there, which is about all you can say about it. Pembroke Mall gets the most crowded award with parking during holidays an absolute horror show. There is a new Mall coming to Davie, The Commons, but it will be some time down the road, especially since Weston is fighting its coming as if it were the Antichrist. Ah Weston, you can be so compulsively anal about anything that is not masterly planned for at least fifty years...

So you can imagine how happy I was to discover the Boca Town Mall this year which I described to a friend as absolutely mind blowing. What bad choice of words....for that is exactly what happened to poor Nancy Bochicchio and her seven year old daughter Joey just last week in the mall's parking lot. And before that was a woman and her two year old who had been kidnapped at the same mall and eventually released unharmed in August. And before that was poor Randi Gorenberg who was last seen leaving the mall, only to be found shot and thrown from her mercedes this past March. Coincidence? Just now Boca residents are questioning why no news coverage was given to these earlier incidents, and the security services at the Boca Town Mall never made customers even aware. The suspect's sketch is the most information Boca residents have received thus far.

Wondering if your favorite shopping spot is safe? Check the list of malls around the country that indicate the crime rate for their area. Here are some of the top ten with Aventura taking first place in the country! Congrats Miami!

Rapes, armed robbery, car theft, car break ins, child abductions, pick pocketing....these are only a few of the more garden variety of crimes at your local shopping outlet. I won't even begin to talk about the crazy sniper shootings that recently made the news. But when I checked back even my old Malls had quite a history. A security guard was shot at the Broward Mall by someone trying to shoplift, a woman was raped in the Galleria Mall shopping lot, a man robbed the Polo outlet at Sawgrass and ran shooting through the Cheesecake Factory. Sawgrass Mills was sued & paid out a $325,000 settlement a few years back for negligence in failing to provide adequate security after a woman was assaulted in the parking lot and evidence in the case revealed that the Sawgrass Mall, which is one the largest malls in the country as well as Florida's largest retail & entertainment center and a major tourist attraction, had non-functioning security cameras, minimal security protection for their parking lots and inadequate lighting, all of which created a dangerous lure for criminal activity in its parking lot.

In case you thought the Mall you loved actually loved you back. Never mind wearing comfortable shoes, better to pack a bullet proof vest the next time you hit Dillard's after Christmas sale.

It won't stop me shopping. But it sure has me wondering what kind of damage the NRA has done to this country by making sure every criminal out there is well armed. Why have our legislators let this lobby monster grow unchallenged? When do we stand and say stop to another holiday killing, another school shooting, another needless death courtesy of the NRA?

Nancy Bochicchio and her beautiful daughter Joey are paying the price along with the rest of us. Guns do not make us free, they are making us prisoners in our own country.

Guns in the Sun

Ever give any thought to pulling out your 357 magnum in the express checkout line when the idiot in front of you unloaded more than the 7 item limit? Well, you are not alone....Miramar City Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman pulled out his big gun (45 caliber) on a fellow shopper the day before Thanksgiving while waiting in line at Winn-Dixie . After arguing with fellow shopper Lazavius Hudson over his choice of the regular check-out lane instead of the express lane at the Winn-Dixie about 10 p.m., Salesman pulled out his gun to make his point.

Poor Hudson who is only eighteen years old, had gone in to buy eight cases of soda when he got into it with Commissioner Salesman, who in turned whipped out a gun and threatened the student, causing him to wisely take off. When police arrived, Salesman showed them his gun permit, but after police saw store video surveillance the commissioner was arrested on a charge of improper exhibition of a firearm which has people wondering. Say what? Point your gun at someone and nothing happens? After a few news editorials the charges are being reviewed and may be upgraded to a felony.

If I wasn't such a gun control advocate, I would actually say hats off to Salesman for actually dislodging an illegal express lane shopper....but Salesman is a perfect example of why I would never own a gun... it would be too tempting to use it on my fellow Floridians. I know a lot of people who believe guns keep them safe and keep Americans free, but I think it keeps them stupid.

Stupid enough to shoot guns in the air, with bullets that come down killing four year olds. Stupid enough to shoot drunkingly out a car window and paralyze a teenager for the rest of her life. Stupid enough to kill your wife and then yourself when she asks for a divorce. Stupid enough to pull a gun out in an express line at Winn Dixie. So much for the dated argument only criminals have guns. Not that they don't, Florida criminals usually have the more expensive automatic weapons....which is why we have lost how many police officers this year alone in Florida? I stopped counting at the fifth death in Miami & Broward alone.

Yet Florida proudly remains a gun toting, good old boy redneck state where anyone can buy a gun and carry it, legally or not. Somehow in a land of South Beach bars, international investors, models, and mansions, the Tallahassee force behind the sunshine state still wear their racoon hats and pack a pistol...and city commissioners threatening to shoot our high school students and are not charged with anything more than a misdemeanor. Boys will be boys mentality has become our state motto.

Here I must waggle my finger. Tut tut...City of Miramar, your police force is sleeping with your city commissioners, a rather nauseating scenario so don't visualize too hard, but at least have the decency to change the damn sheets. Charge the son of a gun (truly he is now isn't he?), baker act his drunken thoughly commissioned ass & get that gun permit yanked.

State Attorney's office....I guess you'll just have to patiently wait, as you seem to do so well, for when he blows away the ten year old kid down the block for egging his house next Halloween.

Florida, hang your head in shame.