Monday, May 21, 2012

Important News From the Campaign Trail

ON FRIDAY an important announcement may have gone unnoticed by those who haven’t been avid fans of nude sunbathing for more than a few years.  Bare Platypus immediately recognized the name of a long-standing foe of nude beaches who is now making a bid for a seat in the US Senate: Former Congressman David Weldon.

For years Weldon represented a Florida congressional district that included parts of the Canaveral National Seashore (specifically, the Brevard County zone; Congressman John Mica represents the more northern parts).  During his tenure, Weldon authored the infamous “Weldon Amendment” to a US Department of the Interior appropriations bill, prohibiting any funds going to the Department if they would be used in any way to establish a clothing-optional beach in violation of Brevard County law.

For its part, Brevard County prohibited nudity which is a shame because Playalinda Beach (the portion of the CNS around parking lot #13) has a rich tradition for skinny-dipping that goes back decades.  People still swim and sunbathe in the buff there, but they get no signage supporting the practice. They potentially face an occasional fine if Brevard Sherriff’s personnel have nothing better to do than issue citations on a given day.

The important message for today is that it would probably NOT be a good thing for nudists if Dr. Weldon---he is a physician, which has always made his phobia with the naked human body a puzzle to us---replaced Senator Nelson.  Currently, to do so Weldon would need to win the Republican primary and then defeat Nelson, a former astronaut.
Winning the Republican nomination currently means defeating two challengers: US Representative Connie Mack (son and namesake of a former US Senator from Florida) as well as George Lemieux, who served a brief tenure in the Senate as a replacement to Sen. Mel Martinez prior to the election that put Marco Rubio in office.

Those who value nude recreation in Florida would do well to see that Dr. Weldon remains in the full-time practice of medicine.

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