Saturday, November 21, 2009

Library should improve

its Internet service

The computer system at the Key West public library is one of the most poorly managed systems that I have ever seen. It is the only sector of the [Monroe County] library system that needs to be closely rationed, yet it is the first one put out of service when staff is short.

It's not as if the employee at the Internet access desk is so overloaded that the person at the reference desk could not take on the added chore of passing out the coupons. It is painfully obvious that neither employee is at all busy.

Today, the wireless network is down. Library employees know about the problem and have reported it to the central office in Marathon, and so I am told, "They will fix the problem when they get around to it."

I understand that funding is short due to the economy, but the solution should be to find more efficient ways of providing a minimum level of service rather than curtail the one service that the community uses the most.

John Meaker

Key West

Lose the silly lanyards,

go for flashy armbands

We think Mandy Bolen made a great call with the lanyards. They have to be the dweebiest fashion accessory of all time.

They started in national security jobs like [the National Security Agency]. Dweebs then thought it cool to seem like security-clearance guys by wearing them in all sorts of non-security places like tennis tournaments and -- ugh -- the streets of Key West.

Parrot Heads tread a fine line between retro-righteousness and Star Trek dorkiness. The Citizen is doing them a tremendous favor if Mandy's public call-out results in even one enlightened Parrot Head forswearing the lanyard for, say, a flashy armband.

Rick Boettger and Cynthia Edwards

Key West

Let New Yorkers get

their pound of flesh

I rarely agree with anything the Obama administration comes up with, but bringing the 9-11 hijackers to New York City to face justice is an excellent idea.

Here are my suggestions:

1) Fly them into JFK airport on Thanksgiving Day.

2) Let the media know the exact time of their arrival.

3) Since the federal government owns the auto industry, provide a free 12-passenger van to the terrorists.

4) Use some [National Educational Association] NEA grant money to paint the van with big al-Qaida logos and "9-11 Terrorists Here" decals.

5) Make sure all available police are tied up working the Thanksgiving parade.

6) Release the terrorists on their own recognizance.

7) Give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the keys.

Thomas Tobin

Key West

While does the world

tolerate Somali pirates

It's impossible to get all the nations of the world to agree about anything, but the exception to that might be the need to stop piracy on the high seas. The killing, capturing and ransoming of crews and vessels is intolerable, and the financial burdens for these crimes are born by consumers as insurance, transportation and other costs skyrocket.

It's incomprehensible why the maritime powers continue to passively allow a ragtag bunch of thugs in small speed boats to prey on their ships, close international sea lanes and terrorize commerce -- for which they pay the pirates hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom.

The best defense is often an effective offense. Instead of futilely trying to patrol thousands of square miles of open ocean and then respond to attacks after they occur, the naval powers should initiate a coordinated attack on the vipers nest. The pirates operate out of three modest-sized and lawless ports along the Somali coast. Blockade those ports, interdict all traffic leaving or entering and when power crafts full of young, heavily armed males claim to be fishermen, arrest them. After interrogation and trials, the guilty should be punished to the full extent of international law.

The result of these common-sense acts of self-defense would be swift cessation of piracy and a return to security for merchant crews and cargo.

Roger C. Kostmayer

Key West