Pearce's Paradise

Musical Paradise

2008-04-02T18:13:00.001-07:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

I'm back after a hiatus. This Friday I'll be joining a few friends to enjoy a really neat band, Garaj Mahal, at Skipper's Smokehouse.

I encourage all Paradisiacs to come out to Skipper's for a fun show. Hope to see you there!

The Lotus Pond

2007-12-31T16:53:00.000-08:00

Hi Paradisiacs!

I've been taking yoga classes at The Lotus Room located on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa. Recently the owner, Val Spies, has purchased a property in Citrus Park - a 4+ acre lot with a large log-cabin building which looks like a ski lodge. The space will be called The Lotus Pond.

The Lotus Pond will offer daily yoga classes, healing arts, workshops, and retreats. There will be walking meditation trails and quiet places to find an escape from the busy world.

I'm really excited to have an opportunity to be a part of this new adventure. Tomorrow I'll be attending a special New Year's event - Blossoming Into The New Year!

Join Val Spies and Roger McKeever for a heart opening New Year’s Day yoga practice celebrating all the delights of yoga including introspection, freedom-in-movement, and connecting to your inner joy. Move into the new year with clarity and inspiration, and let the power of this practice be an affirmation of your deeper intentions on and off the mat.

A very Happy New Year indeed!

The Laughing Lizard

2007-11-05T18:19:00.001-08:00

"Gecko"
Watercolor
Image size: 3" X 5 1/2"

Hey Paradisiacs! I just stayed the weekend at The Laughing Lizard bed-and-breakfast on Indian Rocks Beach.

"It's more than just great sunsets
and waves lapping at the shore.
It's wonderful restaurants,
museums, galleries, shops
and so much fun —
even the lizards are laughing."

What a neat place! From their website:

The Laughing Lizard Bed & Breakfast is a tin-roofed, three-story, Key Westy island home built in 2005. Located in the quaint island community of Indian Rocks Beach just south of Clearwater Beach in the Tampa Bay area, this casual B & B is a contemporary throwback to the cottage-style architecture that speaks to Indian Rocks Beach's roots.

Forty-two windows offer an eyewitness view of beachlife as it happens on Gulf Boulevard, the main thoroughfare in a barrier island beach community termed by a USA Today article as "the best beach town of all." Creatively colorful and eclectic guestrooms - all with private baths - make beachlife as exciting indoors as it is outdoors.

In the morning, enjoy a full, southern-style, tropical breakfast in Lizard Hall. Coffee in hand, stroll across Gulf Boulevard to the beach for a morning walk. Ride the local beach trolley to the nature park, historical museum, many wonderful restaurants and other beach destinations. Then sip a taste of afternoon wine and experience the sunset.

Jan & Bill Ockunzzi are the owners and they do a beautiful job.

The only other guest was Brenda, a local writer and editor who is working on a novel. She and a partner arrange writer's conferences and seminars via their organization free eXpressions. They are planning a seminar here in Tampa, so stay tuned.

I had a wonderful, relaxing time and will plan to go again. The rooms are beautiful, quaint and comfortable and the breakfasts are excellent. Highly recommended!

Illuminacion Paradisio

2007-10-27T18:58:00.001-07:00

Wow!!! Hey Paradisiacs! Gala Corina is happening in South Tampa this year!

Gala Corina 2007: “iluminación” opens Friday, November 2

Friday evening, November 2, GALA CORINA, Tampa’s annual arts extravaganza, presents “iluminación,” an eclectic array of contemporary works by local artists in the fields of visual arts, fashion and performing arts. This year’s show opens at 7:00 pm, Friday, November 2 and runs through November 9. The exhibit is located in South Tampa at 3965 W. Henderson Boulevard, near the intersection of Neptune and Grady Avenues (on Henderson next to Lauro’s and across from Wendy’s). The venue has been generously sponsored by Zerep Enterprises, Inc., which also operates the International Eye Center and Body Science Center.
If recent history proves true, opening night will again be a lively pARTy. Last year more than 4000 art lovers showed up to check out the work of new and emerging artists as well as established favorites. This year’s show, “iluminación” includes 155 artists—from tots to seniors—displaying a wide range of work: paintings, sculptures, photography and installations. Music and a non-traditional fashion show will add to the festivities.

Also visit our website for additional information about Gala Corina!

My artist friend Rich Frederick will be there with his latest works.

"Coral Reef Geo Thermal Observation"
Acrylic & Mixed Media on Canvas - 2007

Gala Corina is always a good time for Paradisiacs to enjoy!

Microscopic Paradise

2007-10-16T18:46:00.003-07:00

Michael W. Davidson

Florida State University
Department of Chemistry and Institute of Molecular Biophysics
Tallahassee, Florida, USA

Multiple exposure of concentrated DNA solution of nucleosome corelength DNA molecules in ammonium acetate buffer (25x)

Hey Paradisiacs!
via our local Trib I found this beautiful website" Nikon Small World

The Nikon International Small World Competition first began in 1974 as a means to recognize and applaud the efforts of those involved with photography through the light microscope. Since then, Small World has become a leading showcase for photomicrographers from the widest array of scientific disciplines.

A photomicrograph is a technical document that can be of great significance to science or industry. But a good photomicrograph is also an image whose structure, color, composition, and content is an object of beauty, open to several levels of comprehension and appreciation.

Here's another beautiful image:

Many more beautiful images at the links. Enjoy!

Nothing So Secret

2007-09-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Jackson Pollock

Guardians of the Secret, 1943
oil on canvas

Administration Leaks Confirm AT&T and Verizon's Role in Warrantless Wiretapping

...the Administration went to work on gathering political support for its proposal to grant retroactive immunity to the telecommunications giants. Over a dozen government officials spoke to the Associated Press "on condition they not be identified because sensitive negotiations with Congress are ongoing." Despite the oft-repeated litigation position that naming particular telecommunications companies was too sensitive:

One of the officials said the defendants in suits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union — Verizon and AT&T — would be the key beneficiaries of the proposed legislation.

The ACLU and EFF are co-lead coordinating counsel in the consolidated NSA surveillance cases against Verizon and AT&T, so its not hard to figure out what the Administration official is talking about. In order to support their arguments for immunity, the Administration felt it necessary to name the particular companies that would benefit, and thereby confirm what it contends elsewhere is a secret.

So how do we explain this apparent discrepancy?

The information is only "secret" when its discussion would be helpful to the courts in reviewing the legality of the surveillance and thereby it is kept "secret" to prevent the millions of ordinary Americans who have been illegally surveilled from establishing what has been going on and stopping it.

On the other hand, when the Adminstration believes that the information helps its efforts to strong-arm Congress into more concessions and a retroactive 'get-out-of-jail-free' card for the telecommunications carriers, they freely discuss it with the press, albeit "anonymously."

Something is very wrong here. The government's state secret argument rests on its solemn assertion that there will be "grave danger to national security" if this information is revealed, even in secret to a federal judge. Now it looks as if the government doesn't really believe this, and instead is turning the state secret privilege into just another political tool to shield judicial review of its actions.

What a bunch of weasels. It's the Rule of Lawlessness.

New Movie coming to Paradise

2007-06-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

SiCKO is coming!

Michael Moore's new film opens generally on June 29th but sneak previews are scheduled for this Saturday. Nearest one is in Sarasota for any who can't wait. Might be worth rounding up a posse next week for the opening. Until then here's a review:

Anger is contageous in Moore's new 'Sicko'

By Gene Seymour / Newsday

What's most striking about "Sicko" is how composed, even serene it is compared with Michael Moore's previous acts of cinematic insurgency. The puckish ferocity and combative mischief that marked such previous Moore polemics from 1989's "Roger and Me" to 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11" is on relatively low boil in this one -- at least until the climax where he takes a bunch of chronically ill Americans on a boat to Cuba for some accessible pharmaceuticals and treatment.

You may have already heard that he's probably in a little hot water for that.

But overall, the net effect of "Sicko's" penetrating and devastating inquiry into the way America takes care of its ill and dying is to transfer the anger to the audience rather than have Moore's own outrage spread all over his film. Which makes this movie, by a considerable distance, the writer-director's most effective provocation yet.

Those who already have their backs up whenever they hear Moore's voice won't want to see or hear what he has to say about insurance companies that deny benefits and even life-saving surgical procedures to their clients. But he pretty much lets those clients and even some former employees of those companies speak for themselves.

And by the time you've heard a doctor working for one of those companies speak with remorse about such denials to seemingly incredulous congressional investigators, you wonder if you'll ever feel secure about the prospect of getting sick in the United States.

Or, as some of Moore's interview subjects attest, you may consider somehow finagling your way to other western countries where universal health care exists, whether in Canada or France -- or Cuba.

Diagnosis: time for a change.

The Secrecy Pandemic

2007-04-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

"Lost in Prison Space" by Zeno. 26 by 16 inches. Oil paint on canvas
via Prison Art

No Fairytales Allowed

Lawyer Clive Stafford Smith has 36 clients in Guantánamo and has visited many times. In this powerful extract from a new book he argues that secrecy in the camp is a disease

Saturday April 21, 2007
The Guardian

In Guantánamo, the military began with smaller lies and worked upwards. I was visiting Camp Echo one day and they had messed up the visitation schedule. The client I was meant to see was not there, although I had sent the schedule for my visits several weeks before. I thought I might as well go ahead and see Shaker Aamer [British resident captured in Afghanistan], whom I was not meant to meet until later in the week. So I asked the SOG (the sergeant of the guard, in charge of the camp) whether Shaker was in his normal cell. "No, he's not here," the SOG replied. I settled down for another wasted hour, waiting for the military to bring over someone I could see. It was hot even under the umbrella at the "picnic table" - the area behind one of the cells in Camp Echo where they made lawyers wait. I watched a lizard crawling up the green mesh on the wire fence. I thought about the spider in Robert the Bruce's cave, continually battling to spin its web and teaching patience to the early Scottish nationalists.

The next day I saw Shaker. "Were you here yesterday?" I asked. "Yeah, of course. I've been here for weeks," he replied. So why did the SOG lie to me? He could have said, "Sorry, sir. I am not permitted to speak about that," or "Yes, sir, he is here, but I am afraid we cannot deviate from the schedule." Instead he looked me in the eye and lied. It was unsettling. He had seemed a clean-cut, well-mannered sort of person.

The dissembling disease got worse as time passed. First there was the effort to suppress the truth, with censorship or silence rather than any overt falsehood. Then there was the lie by semantics, where the US military redefined the language to provide plausible deniability. Finally, there was the bare-faced lie. This kind of culture does not germinate in a vacuum. Rumsfeld is responsible for a reconstitution of the English language. I set about compiling a glossary of the Gitmo-speak. The language was so deceptive that I found it appalling and amusing in equal measure.

In a December 2004 press conference, the US navy secretary Gordon England tried to defend conditions in Guantánamo by producing the novel argument that the camp was rehabilitative: "People have learned to read and have learned to write, and so it's not just being incarcerated. We do try to get people prepared for a better life." Prisoners had some difficulty exercising their new-found abilities. Indeed, contrary to England's statement, prisoners in Guantánamo were certainly not considered "people" and the guards were not even allowed to call them "prisoners". One of the escorts told me that, on pain of punishment, soldiers are required to call them "detainees". He wouldn't even say the word "prisoner" out loud. The Pentagon had come to the conclusion that it sounds better for us to "detain" someone for several years, given that he has not been offered a trial. Naturally I set about avoiding the word "detainee".

Non habeas corpus. No "prisoners" here. Only "guests".

Mainsail Set Again

2007-04-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Another year, another Mainsail Arts Festival.

There is something for everyone....
This two-day event combines visual and performing arts along with opportunities for children to actively engage in art activities. There is a delicious assortment of culinary arts and as well as Mainsail souvenirs. There is no cost to the public to view the show. Over 200 exhibiting artists from all over the United States have their art on sale or available for commission in the following categories:

Ceramics, Fibers, Glass, Jewelry, Metal, Mixed Media, Oil/Acrylic, Photography, Sculpture, Watercolor and Wood.

I'll be going tomorrow with my friend Mary Ann. Hope to see you there!

"...the legal world's Thomas Pynchon"

2007-03-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Anthony G. Amsterdam

Comeback
by Jeffrey Toobin March 26, 2007

The annual luncheon of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers is usually an amiable schmoozefest over chicken cutlets. But at the event the other day, at the Grand Hyatt, the introduction of this year’s guest speaker reduced the group of notoriously voluble attorneys to a respectful silence. Just about everyone in the room had heard of Anthony G. Amsterdam, but few had ever seen him in the flesh. There before them was the legal world’s Thomas Pynchon.

Amsterdam had once been among the most famous lawyers in the country. In 1972, as a thirty-six-year-old professor at Stanford Law School, he argued and won one of the most important cases in the history of the Supreme Court. In Furman v. Georgia, the Justices struck down all of the death-penalty statutes then in effect, halting executions in the United States. Amsterdam’s achievement is widely believed to rank with Thurgood Marshall’s triumphs in school desegregation, even though four years later Amsterdam lost Gregg v. Georgia, which allowed states to pass death-penalty statutes again. On other key issues, such as freedom of speech, there was no more visible champion than Amsterdam.

Then, in 1981, Amsterdam moved to New York University, and his public appearances, if not his legend, dwindled. “When N.Y.U. announced he was coming from Stanford, it was like when the Mets got Pedro Martínez, because he was a superstar,” Paul B. Bergman, the president of the council, said. “And since then he’s become this ethereal presence.” In a rare departure, Amsterdam accepted the invitation of the council to present an award to Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld—the founders of the Innocence Project, which uses DNA technology to free wrongfully convicted prisoners—who are as ubiquitous as Amsterdam is reclusive.

Now seventy-one, Amsterdam is thin and wizened—he didn’t touch his lunch—and his face is dominated by a bushy mustache and large plastic eyeglasses. He looks like a vaudevillian. Amsterdam isn’t the kind of speaker who loosens up the crowd with a few jokes. “I am not talking about individual judges,” he said. “I am talking about something more systemic and radical. We have witnessed a subversion of the very idea that criminal defendants have rights. The blindfold that Justice is supposed to wear to assure that cases are decided with indifference to the outcome has been shredded. Now, as a matter of law, judges are required to peep through the blindfold, survey the outcomes which their rulings would produce, and tip the scales to avoid unwelcome outcomes, most notably the releases or even the retrials of guilty-looking perps.”

Amsterdam’s theme—that the rights of criminal defendants have eroded in recent years—was not original, but he pulled together disparate strands in the law in a novel and forceful way. He said that courts ignore errors by defense lawyers, dismiss procedural errors as “harmless,” cast aside exculpatory evidence discovered after trial, and seize on “every possible procedural obstacle to refuse to hear the claims of people who present convincing evidence that their convictions were factually erroneous, and that they are actually innocent.” Almost sneering, Amsterdam said that courts care most about the “finality” of criminal convictions, and then he asked, “Finality for whom?”

Indeed. My friend dcdave at The Delightful Yank recently posted on the cost of execution involved in a local death penalty case. The article brings to mind the argument I hear most often from people who favor the death penalty: "I don't want my tax dollars to pay to keep this creep alive." There are two problems with this position. First , as dcdave's post points out, the cost of execution is far higher than life-without-parole. It costs far fewer tax dollars to keep a creep in prison for life than to execute. Second, I'm sure any of us could peruse any government budget and find plenty of items that "I don't want my tax dollars to pay for". But if a court sentences a criminal to life-without parole, we have an obligation as citizen's to fund that sentence with our taxes, even though we may disagree with that sentence.

My own position on the death penalty has evolved from skepticism to opposition, influenced by Errol Morris' film The Thin Blue Line and Sister Helen Prejean's book Dead Man Walking, both of which I highly recommend.

Again from Jeffrey Toobin's article, quoting Professor Amsterdam:

“It’s true that history has moved in a pendulum, and we may be moving a little toward humanity, toward egalitarianism,” he said. “But we’ve gone so far in the other direction that it will take a long, long time to get back.” Still, he insisted that his own long silence did not signal a retreat. “At any given time, I’ve got forty death cases around the country that need my attention,” he said. “That’s how I’m spending my time.”

Time well spent.

Update: Jeralyn @ Talk Left links to this editorial in the Chicago Trib.

Burning Books in Baghdad

2007-03-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Qassim Septi, collage with book parts, 2003
ca. 8 x 15 in., Hewar Gallery

The Bookseller's Story, Ending Much Too Soon

By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 12, 2007

It was a summer day in 2003, when Iraq was still filled with the half-truths of occupation and liberation, before its nihilistic descent into carnage. Mohammed Hayawi, a bald bear of a man, stood in his shop, the Renaissance Bookstore, along Baghdad's storied Mutanabi Street.

On shelves eight rows high rested books by communist poets and martyred clerics, translations of Shakespeare, predictions by Lebanese astrologers, a 44-volume tome by a revered ayatollah and a tract by the austere medieval thinker Ibn Taimiyyah. Dusty stacks spilled across the cream-color tile floor, swept but stained with age. In those cramped quarters, Hayawi tried to cool himself with a fan, as perspiration poured down his jowly face and soaked his blue shirt.

We had met before the American invasion, and nearly a year later, he almost immediately recognized me.

"Abu Laila," he said, using the Arabic nickname taken from the name of a person's child.

He then delivered a line he would repeat almost every time we saw each other over the next few years. "I challenge anyone, Abu Laila, to say what has happened, what's happening now, and what will happen in the future." And, over a thin-waisted cup of tea, scalding even on this hot day, he shook his head.

A car bomb detonated last week on Mutanabi Street, leaving a scene that has grown familiar in Baghdad, a collage of chaotic images, disturbing in their brutality, grotesque in their repetition. At least 26 people were killed. Hayawi the bookseller was one of them.

Unlike the U.S. soldiers who die in this conflict, the names of most Iraqi victims will never be published, consigned to the anonymity that death in the Iraqi capital brings these days. Hayawi was neither a politician nor a warlord. Few beyond Mutanabi Street even knew his name. Yet his quiet life deserves more than a footnote, if for no other reason than to remember a man who embraced what Baghdad was and tried to make sense of a country that doesn't make sense anymore. Gone with him are small moments of life, gentle simply by virtue of being ordinary, now lost in the rubble strewn along a street that will never be the same.

After his death, I thought back to our conversation on that summer day. As he often did, Hayawi paused after an especially vigorous point and dragged on his cigarette. He ran his hand over his sweaty cheeks. "Does this look like the face of 39 years?" he said, grinning. He then knitted his brow, turning grimmer. "We don't want to hear explosions, we don't want to hear about more attacks, we want to be at peace," he told me. He always had dark bags under his limpid eyes, whether or not he had slept. "An Iraqi wants to put his head on his pillow and feel relaxed."

Peace be with you, Hayawi.

Brazil in Paradise

2007-02-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

Terry Gilliam: What Brazil tells us about torture today.

By Clive James
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007,
at Slate.com

Unfortunately for our hopes of innate human goodness, all the evidence suggests that the torturers were keen to get on with the job even if it was meaningless. All the evidence was still there afterward, including photographs taken at every stage of the torment. Back in the late 1950s, on the sleeve of the Beyond the Fringe record album, Jonathan Miller made a dark joke about his worst fear: being tortured for information he did not possess. The assumption behind the joke was that if he had something to reveal, the agony would stop. He was looking back to a world of polite British fiction, not to a world of brute European fact. In the Nazi and Soviet cellars and camps, people were regularly tortured for information they did not possess: i.e., they were tortured just for the hell of it. Kafka guessed it would happen, as he guessed everything that would happen. In his Strafkolonie, the tormented prisoner has to work out for himself what crime he has committed and is finally told that it is being written on his body by the instrument of torture into which he has been inescapably locked. Kafka was there first, but he wasn't alone for long, and now we must all live in a modern world where the words "No no no no no no no no" can be recorded with perfect fidelity for their sound, yet go unheeded for what they mean.

The images and themes from this movie still resonate today.

Live Earth 07/07/2007

2007-02-15T18:30:00.000-08:00

via Think Progress:

Gore unveils Live Earth.

Al Gore announced on Thursday a series of worldwide concerts to focus on the threat of climate change, with a powerhouse lineup from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Snoop Dogg to Bon Jovi.” The 24-hour event on 7/07/07 is part of a campaign called Save Our Selves (SOS) — The Campaign for a Climate in Crisis.

Here's the link to the Live Earth website.

Getting It Right For Once

2007-02-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

Gerry Macsai
A Straight Path Gone Wrong

Froomkin has the lesson plan:

How the press can prevent another Iraq

COMMENTARY | February 02, 2007

Journalists, and through us the public, have a grave responsibility to not be complicit in another march to war on false pretenses. So what lessons should we have learned from Iraq?

By Dan Froomkin
froomkin@niemanwatchdog.org

You Can’t Be Too Skeptical of Authority

* Don’t assume anything administration officials tell you is true. In fact, you are probably better off assuming anything they tell you is a lie.

* Demand proof for their every assertion. Assume the proof is a lie. Demand that they prove that their proof is accurate.

* Just because they say it, doesn’t mean it should be make the headlines. The absence of supporting evidence for their assertion -- or a preponderance of evidence that contradicts the assertion -- may be more newsworthy than the assertion itself.

* Don’t print anonymous assertions. Demand that sources make themselves accountable for what they insist is true.

Provocation Alone Does Not Justify War

* War is so serious that even proving the existence of a casus belli isn’t enough. Make officials prove to the public that going to war will make things better.

* Demand to know what happens if the war (or tactical strike) doesn’t go as planned?

* Demand to know what happens if it does? What happens after “victory”?

* Ask them: Isn’t it possible this will make things worse, rather than better?

Be Particularly Skeptical of Secrecy

* Don’t assume that these officials, with their access to secret intelligence, know more than you do.

* Alternately, assume that they do indeed know more than you do – and are trying to keep intelligence that would undermine their arguments secret.

Watch for Rhetorical Traps

* Keep an eye on how advocates of war frame the arguments. Don’t buy into those frames unless you think they’re fair.

* Keep a particular eye out for the no-lose construction. For example: If we can’t find evidence of WMD, that proves Saddam is hiding them.

* Watch out for false denials. In the case of Iran, when administration officials say “nobody is talking about invading Iran,” point out that the much more likely scenario is bombing Iran, and that their answer is therefore a dodge.

Don’t Just Give Voice to the Administration Officials

* Give voice to the skeptics; don’t marginalize and mock them.

* Listen to and quote the people who got it right last time: The intelligence officials, state department officials, war-college instructors and many others who predicted the problem we are now facing, but who were largely ignored.

* Offer the greatest and most guaranteed degree of confidentiality to whisteblowers offering information that contradicts the official government position. (By contrast, don’t offer any confidentiality to administration spinners.)

Look Outside Our Borders

* Pay attention to international opinion.

* Raise the question: What do people in other countries think? Why should we be so different?

* Keep an eye out for how the international press covering this story? Why should we be so different?

Understand the Enemy

* Listen to people on the other side, and report their position.

* Send more reporters into the country we are about to attack and learn about their views, their politics and their culture.

* Don’t allow the population of any country to be demonized. All humans deserve to be humanized.

* Demand to know why the administration won’t open a dialogue with the enemy. Refusing to talk to someone you are threatening to attack should be considered inherently suspect behavior.

There's more.

I Am Who I Am

2007-01-28T15:43:00.000-08:00

I am:

William Gibson

The chief instigator of the "cyberpunk" wave of the 1980s, his razzle-dazzle futuristic intrigues were, for a while, the most imitated work in science fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?

This is rather fascinating, since I discovered William Gibson some years ago via a book review of Mona Lisa Overdrive. I have been singing his praises ever since.

via Michael Froomkin

Descent Into Hell

2007-01-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

Ed Kienholz

The Portable War Memorial
1968

{click image for larger view}

Tableau: plaster casts, tombstone, blackboard, flag,
poster, restaurant furniture, photographs, working
Coca-Cola machine, stuffed dog, wood, metal, and fiberglass
114 x 384 x 96 in. (289.6 x 975.4 x 243.8 cm)
Museum Ludwig, Cologne

The Age of War
by: Dark Wraith

The will to end a bad war is insufficient: war, once born, has a life of its own. Both those who embrace it and those who oppose it stand in the shadow of its thrall. Mr. Bush bids that we walk deeper into its consuming flames, and so we shall. What strength we have to turn away is insufficient compared to the weakness already within our leaders to fight the vortex pulling us deeper into the maw of that which will be our undoing.

Should the Democrats be unable in the months ahead to find the wherewithal to stop this madness, waste not every ounce of energy in rage at their impotence, but instead reserve a modicum for pity of their ignorance: when first they had their chance to draw a sword against the god of war, perhaps they truly believed that a "non-binding resolution" was a weapon.

The Dark Wraith welcomes America to a war without end that cannot be stopped by a leadership without courage.

Reality Bites

2007-01-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

via Glenn Greenwald, guest poster Anonymous Liberal gets it down to the real nitty-gritty:

Iraq in a Nutshell

By Anonymous Liberal

“What I want to hear from you is how we’re going to win,” he quoted the president as warning his commanders, “not how we’re going to leave.”

That's the reality. For two more years, we are stuck with a president who equates any exit strategy with defeat, a president who is "not interested in any ideas that would simply allow American forces to stabilize the violence." Bush is a man paralyzed by a need to salvage his own historical legacy, a man so personally invested in a failed policy that he cannot allow himself to see it for what it is, much less fix it.

It's time to stop proposing magical plans that Bush will never implement. It's time to stop coming up with ways of providing Bush "political cover" for leaving Iraq; he doesn't want it. It's time to start playing hardball. It's time to start holding hearings and exerting whatever leverage is available to put pressure on the White House. The only way significant change will occur is if Bush finds himself so politically isolated that those around him feel it necessary to stage some sort of intervention.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title

2006-12-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Bishop Lord Wayne the Superficial of Yockenthwait Walden
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Hah!

Hat tip to Avedon

Find yours here.

Blood/Oil Perspective from Matt

2006-12-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Blood for Oil

The Iraqi state's oil revenue is about $20 billion per year, which is a lot of money, but only a small fraction of the annual cost of occupying the country. Looked at another way, Iraq produces about 2.25 million barrels per day of oil and crude sells for around $62 a barrel. 62 times 2.25 million times 365 is a large number -- about $51 billion -- but still way less than the annual cost of the war.

Or, for yet another perspective, American consumers use about 20 million barrels a day of black gold -- good for 7.3 billion barrels in a year. Now suppose you think that withdrawing military forces from the region would lead to widespread chaos and $100 a barrel oil. That means higher energy prices for consumers. But if US consumers could just pocket the cash that's instead being spent on military operations in the area, they'd still have much more post-oil money on hand even if consumption didn't drop at all in response to the price hike.

When will we ever get smart about this stuff?

The Blackberry Crutch

2006-12-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

BlackBerry Orphans

via the Wall Street Journal:

The growing use of email gadgets is spawning a generation of resentful children. A look at furtive thumb-typers, the signs of compulsive use and how kids are fighting back.
By KATHERINE ROSMAN
December 8, 2006; Page W1

In Austin, Texas, Hohlt Pecore, 7, and his sister, Elsa, 4, have complicated relationships with their mother's BlackBerry. "I feel very annoyed," says Hohlt. "She's always concentrating on that blasted thing." (Hohlt says he picked up the word "blasted" from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean.")

Elsa has hidden the BlackBerry on occasion -- Hohlt says she tried to flush it down the toilet last year. Their mother, Elizabeth Pecore, who co-owns a specialty grocery store, denies the incident. But Elsa also seems to recognize that it brings her mom comfort, not unlike a pacifier or security blanket. Recently, seeing her mom slumped on the couch after work, Elsa fished the BlackBerry from her mother's purse and brought it to her. "Mommy," she asked, "will this make you feel better?"

Emma Colonna wishes her parents would behave, at least when they're out in public. The ninth-grade student in Port Washington, N.Y., says she has caught her parents typing emails on their Treos during her eighth-grade awards ceremony, at dinner and in darkened movie theaters. "During my dance recital, I'm 99% sure they were emailing except while I was on stage," she says. "I think that's kind of rude."

Emma, 14, also identifies with adults who wish their kids spent less time playing videogames. "At my student orientation for high school, my mom was playing solitaire," she says. "She has a bad attention span." Her mother, Barbara Chang, the chief executive of a nonprofit group, says, "It's become this crutch."

We need to learn again how to walk without crutches.

Esperanza in Paradise

2006-11-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

Esperanza.

Hope in Spanish.

An appropriate theme considering the recent election results.

From the Gala Corina website:

This year’s collaborative event will be held at 1925 E. 2nd Avenue in Ybor City, once the Gulf Millwork & Fixture building.

Now it is the home of Sponsler Bennett Jacobs & Cristal, who have graciously offered Gala roughly 30,000 sq ft of warehouse space for an even wider array of art, music, fashion and live performance.

Opening night for Esperanza will be Friday, November 10th and run through Friday, November 17th, with special events throughout the week.

I stopped by tonight for a preview and found my artist friend Rich Frederick, who is showing some new works in the show.

Well worth a Paradisiac's time to check it out. Closing gala evening next Friday!

Voting is easy in Paradise

2006-11-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

I just voted early! I went downtown to the County Center where the Supervisor of Elections office is located. Easy to park on the street. When I went up to the SOE's office - no lines, no waiting! I voted early in less than 10 minutes!

Paradisiacs can all vote early! It's easy!

After Midnight in Paradise

2006-11-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

JJ Cale and Eric Clapton - After Midnight

Preview of the new J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton album THE ROAD TO ESCONDIDO due out November 7. Should be excellent.

Update: Oh well. YouTube yanked the video. Sorry.

Paradise Arts

2006-10-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

John Caputo

"As it was in the Beginning", 2004-2005
mixed media, 18x24 inches

"Is Now"
mixed media, 18x24 inches

"And Ever Shall Be", 2004-2005
mixed media, 18x24 inches

Brad Cooper Gallery hosts a new exhibition featuring artist John Caputo.

AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING
OCTOBER 7 - NOVEMBER 25, 2006

OPENING RECEPTION
OCTOBER 7, 2006 from 7-9 pm

Brad Cooper Gallery
1712 E 7th Ave
Tampa, FL 33605

I'll be there.

Tort Deform?

2006-09-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Voodoo Pain Goddes- 21" X 21"
- Digital Air Brush - 2005

Rich Frederick

Hilzoy @ Obsidian Wings is on to something:

Specifically: the "compromise bill" bans certain forms of torture. As Marty Lederman and others have argued, it defines torture much too narrowly. However, even if its definition of torture were absolutely impeccable, ask yourself this question: how, exactly, would it be enforced? How could the Courts even take cognizance of any torture that might be going on, given that any habeas claim, and "any other action against the United States or its agents relating to any aspect of the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of confinement of an alien detained by the United States" is prohibited?

As far as I can see, the answer is: unless the government brings criminal charges against someone, it couldn't. We could be waterboarding every single detainee every single day; we could be pulling out their toenails with pliers; we could be beating every one of them to a pulp, or asphyxiating them, or sending serious electric currents through their genitalia, or keeping them awake for weeks on end until they became psychotic, or running them over with trucks, and the courts would have no way to stop it.

Who will stop this if the courts can't?

Paradise Primitivo

2006-09-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Joanne Butcher
Title: Sanddrift
2007
Acrylic on canvas
49 x 68 cm

Hey Paradisiacs!

I found this cool site - Aboriginal Art Online featuring paintings and prints by Australian Aboriginal artists. Check it out!

Crossroads

2006-08-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Eric Clapton - I Shot The Sheriff (Crossroads 2004)

Sunday night @ 9:00 on Channel 16 Great Performances
Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival

Here's a sample via YouTube!

Video in Paradise

2006-08-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Eric Clapton & Dr John - Layla

OK, Paradisiacs. I've fallen under the spell of YouTube. Looks like I'll be posting fave videos like every other kick ass blogger out there. Here's a funky version of Layla with Eric Clapton and Dr. John's Band.

Electric Boogaloo!

2006-07-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Wow!

The new Tesla Roadster

An electric car that kicks butt!

All I want for Christmas...

The Island of Misfit Art

2006-07-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

New Art Show Opening!

This Friday @ Mirta's Gallery:

Bad Art for Bad People indeed!

This Friday, July 14 @ 6:00pm

I'm there!

Further on up the road...

2006-06-29T17:45:00.001-07:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

We had a good time @ Drinking Liberally last Tuesday, including a visit from local gadfly politico Joe Redner! Also several newbies, including dcdave who guest blogs @ Sticks of Fire as well as having his own blog, The Delightful Yank, which I have added to the blogroll.

Other Dave from Poor Richard's Anorak stopped by as well.

Paradisiacs are missing a good thing if you don't stop by and have a beer with us.

Dixie Chicks Live!

2006-06-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

via Atrios

Dixie Chicks live on streaming internet at 10:00 pm tonight!

I wanna watch!

Art Illustrates Life

2006-06-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

Rumsfeld Painting Expected to Be a Hit in Baghdad

By HAMZA HENDAWI, AP

BAGHDAD, Iraq (June 7) - Muayad Muhsin was both inspired and enraged by a photo of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld slumped on a seat with his army boots up in front of him.

"It symbolized America's soulless might and arrogance," said Muhsin, whose similar painting of Rumsfeld will be unveiled in an exhibition opening in Baghdad on Monday.

The painting, expected to be the show's main attraction, and the rest of the exhibit illustrate the simmering anger of Iraqis with the United States as the country continues to endure violence, sectarian tensions and crime three years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.

Muhsin's Rumsfeld painting is not the first artistic expression by Iraqis of the perceived injustices by the United States in their country, but it is the first to depict a top member of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. After Bush, most Iraqis see Rumsfeld as the man behind the invasion of their oil-rich country and the chief architect of U.S. military actions in Iraq.

Those who closely follow him remember his infamous comment - "Stuff happens" - when asked why U.S. troops did not actively seek to stop the lawlessness in the Iraqi capital in the weeks that followed their capture of the city in April 2003.

Another memorable Rumsfeld comment, also made in 2003, was his suggestion that Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction were deeply hidden in Iraq. "It's a big country," he said.

Muhsin first saw the Rumsfeld photo about 18 months ago. He went to work right away, but did not finish the painting - entitled "Picnic" - until about two weeks ago.

The oil-on-canvas, 5-by-3-foot work shows Rumsfeld in a blue jacket, tie, khaki pants and army boots reading from briefing papers. His boots are resting on what appears to be an ancient stone.

While Rumsfeld's image is true to life, he sits next to a partially damaged statue of a lion standing over a human - a traditional image of strength during the ancient Babylon civilization. The statue's stone base is ripped open, revealing shelves from which white piece of papers are flying away, later turning into birds soaring high into an ominously gray sky.

Muhsin said the symbolism has to do with Washington's repeated assertions in the months before the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that Saddam's regime had weapons of mass destruction, the cornerstone in the Bush administration's argument for going to war.

No such weapons turned up, but the Bush administration maintained that removing Saddam's regime alone justified the decision to invade Iraq.

"They did not find the weapons and, instead, found the annals of an ancient civilization that turned into birds of love, peace and knowledge," said Muhsin, himself a native of the area around the central Iraqi city of Babil, or Babylon, south of Baghdad.

"Rumsfeld's boots deliver a message from America: 'We rule the world,"' Muhsin, 41, told The Associated Press in an interview. "It speaks of America's total indifference to what the rest of the world thinks."

The musicians (Dixie Chicks, Springsteen, Neil Young, Pearl Jam) and now the visual artists are telling the true story of the Bush years.

via Huffington Post

Beautiful Fractal

2006-05-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled upon this website - ChaosPro, a freeware site which enables you to create beautiful fractals ("images based on mathematical formulas").

For the artist in us all!

Paradise Burning

2006-05-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

Sail Boat Sunday
Well, actually it was last Saturday.

We sailed down to Pearce's Paradise and watched it burn.

On a day filled with strong winds we sailed straight down to the island in good time. My friend Mary Ann and I joined Radar and Jim for the sail down. As we approched the north end we could see a small plume of smoke among the trees. A campfire was just getting out of control. We anchored on the leeward side and watched as the smoke and flames wandered through the underbrush. The collection of boaters on the beach were calm in spite of it all.

Soon we were joined by Ken and Trista who were in a race earlier. A friendly fellow sailboater sent over a dinghy to take me and Mary Ann ashore. We walked the sandy beach all around the island with Mary Ann taking pics of the flames and the flora. My first steps on the island since I can't remember when. Then a police boat cruised by ordering all of us off the island. A friendly motorboat manned by Bill & Cathy rescued us and gave us a joyride around the island before returning us to Radar's boat.

The planned party and campout on the beach was scotched by the smoke and ash, so we motored back to the marina with yours truly at the helm. To make up for the disappointment, we had dinner @ Cellini. A peaceful end to an adventuresome day.

Mainsail Set

2006-04-21T04:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Paradisiacs!

This weekend features the Mainsail Arts Festival in St. Pete. From the official website:

31st Annual MAINSAIL ARTS FESTIVAL
April 22nd & 23rd, 2006
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat. &
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sun.

The waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg provides a picturesque setting for the 31st Annual Mainsail Arts festival. As a leading cultural event on St. Petersburg's outdoor calendar, over 100,000 visitors from near and far come to enjoy and purchase quality art and listen to top name entertainment. The Mainsail committee of hard-working volunteers produce this annual fine arts festival named by Sunshine Artist as one of the top 200 fine arts events in the United States. Artists exhibiting are competing for $50,000 in prize money.

This year's Mainsail commemorative art was created by Elaine Hahn, an
artist who resides in Holiday, FL and works in two mediums --
watercolor and oil. Her design will be available on Mainsail T-shirts
and posters. You will find Elaine exhibiting at this year's show, in
Booth #1. For more information about the artist, visit
http://www.elainehahnart.com/

There is something for everyone....
This two-day event combines visual and performing arts along with opportunities for children to actively engage in art activities. There is a delicious assortment of culinary arts and as well as Mainsail souvenirs. There is no cost to the public to view the show. Over 200 exhibiting artists from all over the United States have their art on sale or available for commission in the following categories: Ceramics, Fibers, Glass, Jewelry, Metal, Mixed Media, Oil/Acrylic, Photography, Sculpture, Watercolor and Wood.

Be sure to check out the musical highlights.

Should be a fun time for all!

Another Day in (Pearce's) Paradise

2006-03-15T02:25:00.000-08:00

My friend Eugenio joined us to race around the bay last Sunday. Of course he took lots of pics and blogged it up at his excellent photo blog emcPhotography.

There is another Full Moon race this Thursday night. I hope Eugenio can come aboard and take some cool nighttime pics.

Paradise is a pretty cool place.

Ours to reason why

2006-03-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Why We Fight
a film by Eugene Jarecki

Why do you think we are fighting in Iraq?

Many reasons. There have been so many reasons given for why we are in Iraq – from WMDs to oil, from a democratic crusade to the desire by influential geostrategists to reassert American global power in the wake of 9/11. None of these answers alone is comprehensive. Rather, I think they’re all partially true. The war seems to have been of shared service to a range of interests – a coming together of imperial thinkers, global petroleum concerns, and a culture of militarism that tilts toward/requires war to self-perpetuate. After 9/11 all of these came together to create the almost unexplainable momentum that pushed the country to war.

Saturday, March 11 at Tampa Theater

Come and bring your friends.

Update: A powerful, compelling film. Highly recommended. I was joined by my Drinking Liberally buddies, Joe & Shirley, and Ben Whetstone from the DL Brandon chapter. Also local blogger Dave Pinero. I was pleased to introduce myself to another local blogger, Catherine Durkin Robinson and her friend. All in all a good evening out.

New Springsteen Disc

2006-03-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

Via Common Dreams

Springsteen Does Seeger

David Corn previews a new Springteen project. Here's an excerpt:

Seeger has had a decades-long career that has combined promoting traditional folk music and practicing political activism. The latter led him to being called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955, where he was grilled on whether he was a communist. Seeger declined to talk about his political associations or ideas, but offered to tell the committee what songs he had sung in public. The committee was not amused. He was sentenced to one year in jail for contempt of Congress, but the verdict was overturned. Still, Seeger ended blacklisted and banned from performing on network television.

Springsteen's album is not an act of rehabilitation. That's hardly needed. Seeger long-ago transcended those ugly days. His neverending devotion to traditional music and activism outlasted his foes. But what Springsteen is doing is reaching beyond his roots to honor a historian of American song--for Seeger's mission has been to keep alive a certain slice of homegrown American music. The new album will include renditions of "John Henry," "Eyes on the Prize," "Shenandoah," and "We Shall Overcome."

Sounds worthy.

The Boat I Sail On

2006-02-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

Here is a pic of the boat I've been sailing on. Radar is the skipper. Don't know when this picture was taken. I'll try to get new pics the next time we sail.

Update: here's another pic.

Cool!

Racing Around the Bay

2006-01-29T22:30:00.000-08:00

Sailboat Race

Whew!

Hey Paradisiacs!

I survived my first sailboat race today. Went out with Radar, Steffie, Ken & Jim in a Sunday Race on the bay. Note to self: better get in better shape for the next one.

I can tell already this is going to become a regular item on my calendar. Sailing is exhilarating whether you're racing or not. I even bought an official Pearce's Paradise hat for the occasion!

Cheers!

New Year - Old Roots

2006-01-02T05:35:00.000-08:00

Melanie Borne
Winds of Change

Happy New Year, Paradisiacs!

On New Year's Eve I was invited by my blog-friend and Drinking Liberally cohort, Cookie Christine, to a party hosted by her yacht club friends, Stephie & Ken in South Tampa. The cast included Jack, Craig, Trista, Sue & Reg among others. And a good time was had by all.

When I asked Sue if she had ever heard of Pearce's Paradise, she, of course, recognized the reference. The island is well-known among Tampa area boaters. When I let her and the others know that I am Pearce's son, they were quite amazed and welcomed me like a long lost brother. They invited me to take part in a sail around the bay on New Year's Day.

Mary Eischen
Circles Connecting

I was genuinely touched by the warmth and friendship shown to me that evening, even though we had only just met. We all recognized a deeper connection symbolized by an island in the bay. I went to the yacht club at the appointed time and met Radar, a local skipper. He was equally amazed to learn who I am and welcomed me aboard, We were joined by Dawn, Stephie & Ken, Trista, Jim and others for the sail. We didn't get all the way to Pearce's Paradise 'cause the wind wouldn't cooperate. Next time the winds will be favorable and we will sail all the way around the island. I will begin a journey, as well, of learning how to sail and be a part of the crew.

Roslyn DeBoer
Doorway- the Journey Begins

The past year has been a time of transitions for me. In mid-year I was laid off from one job and began a new one, a wrenching experience made easier by the gang at Provest. In April I was invited to be a guest blogger at Melanie Mattson's Just A Bump In The Beltway and I started this blog. My friends Mary Ann & Eugenio started blogs of their own as well. And now I will be a co-blogger at The Bump as it changes to more of a group blog. Thanks Melanie! We've experienced many good times in what seems too often to be a dark age.

And now there is a new but ancient journey with some new and never ancient friends.

And so a new beginning for the new year.

Japanese Garden

2005-12-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays (Christmas, New Year, Kwanzaa, Hanukah, Winter Solstice, Festivus), Paradisiacs!

via Woodmore Village, photos of a Japanese Garden.

May the beauty of the season be with us.

It's a Puzzlement

2005-12-26T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hi Paradisiacs!

I survived the Christmas Party season! But I came away with a distinct sense of frustration. Here follows the text of an e-mail I sent to Jackson's Bistro regarding our company Christmas Party:

Hello Jackson's,

I attended the ProVest Christmas Party at Jackson's on Dec. 17. It was a fun time for all of us.

Just one thing: I went to the bar that was set up for the party and asked if they were pouring a pinot noir. I was offered a Cabernet Sauvignon, a merlot and the Ravenswood Vintner's Reserve Zinfandel. I wound up going inside to the "regular" bar to order a glass of pinot noir. I would have gladly paid for it, but one of the ProVest Vice Presidents spotted me and actually bought me a bottle of Blackstone Monterey Pinot Noir - which I enjoyed immensely!

Please understand I am not carping, but I wanted to offer an honest criticism. I have been exploring the wine world for the last few years and the trend is away from Cab & Merlot towards Pinot Noir, Syrah, Grenache and Tempranillo. There are plenty of high quality, low price versions of each that are readily available.

Consider the foods that were offered: carving station with roast beef & turkey, bacon-wrapped scallops, cocktail shrimp, sushi, and Thai skewers of beef & chicken with a dipping sauce. Which red wine would match up? Pinot Noir - such as the Blackstone. Or maybe the Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone ( which is on your wine list). Or even an Aussie shiraz such as the Rosemount (also on your wine list). Probably not a Cabernet Sauvignon.

My question is simple: why can't somebody @ Jackson's figure this out?

This has nothing to do with money or profit. If I were asked to pick 4 red wines to serve at any Christmas party, I would choose a syrah (the Rosemount on your wine list which can be had for $7 retail), a grenache (Mas Donis, a Spanish grenache-syrah blend @ $10 retail, Marco Real, a straight Spanish grenache @ $7 retail or Las Rocas, another straight Spanish grenache @ $8 retail), a pinot noir (I would buy a few cases of Castle Rock Carneros @ $9 retail) and (OK) I would throw in a cab or merlot (even though I would rather serve Gotim Bru - a smooth Spanish blend of tempranillo, cab & merlot that retails for $10). Or if I chose a Zin, it would be the Cline California Zin (on your wine list) which is much better (i.e. food-friendly) than the Ravenswood.

Why wouldn't Jackson's - which has a well deserved reputation for being upscale & trendy - want to prove it by offering wine lovers the hottest, trendiest reds & whites out there? Even for the company Christmas Party.

Skoal!

Wayne Pearce

Hope they get the hint.

Update: They do! Here is a portion of an e-mail from Eric Litchfield, General Manager @ Jackson's:

We value each guests comments as they allow us to serve our future guests better. I was very excited to hear your excitement and vast wine knowledge. We work hard to offer a extensive and award winning wine list. I apologize that the wines you desired were not offered with your event. We offer a variety and selections to our guests and rely on the party host to make the appropriate selections for there guests. I have forwarded your comments on to our Sales staff to enable them to provide better selections to our future patrons. Thank you again for your comments. They are appreciated.

Sincerely,

Eric Litchfield
General Manager

Jackson's Bistro - highly recommended!

Holiday Wine Party

2005-12-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Transit, 1980
oil on canvas, 38 x 50 inches
WILLIAM PACHNER

Hey Paradisiacs!

I just returned from a wonderful Holiday Wine Party at my friend Rick's house. Tony, Irina & Mike, Starr, Dave & Margy, Nick, Brad & Elizabeth, Bob, Tom & Derek all showed up and brought food. I brought the salmon, someone (Bob?) brought Italian sausage & bratwurst, Elizabeth made spinach salad, lots of cheese & bread & crackers. Rick supplied the wines for a blind tasting - 2 Chardonnays & 6 (!) Pinot Noirs!

Lots of good conversation & laughter all around. I found out that Brad & Elizabeth are the proprietors of:

Brad Cooper Gallery
1712 E. 7th Avenue
Tampa, FL 33605

Check them out when you can.

New Cool Pic

2005-12-02T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

My friend Eugenio took this really cool pic while exploring the UT campus.

New blog on the block

2005-11-27T06:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Paradisiacs! My friend Eugenio just started his own photog blog, emc Photography. He'll be sharing some really cool pics with us so check it out!

Gala Corina

2005-11-19T23:19:00.000-08:00

Signals - 26.5" x 40 " Acrylic on Wood Pallet - 2004
by Rich Frederick

Hi Paradisiacs!

I had a great time @ Gala Corina tonight. When I walked in I saw a familiar face - artist Rich Frederick, who I met while waiting in line to buy tickets to Bruce Springsteen. What a small, artsy world we live in. Turned out that Rich was exhibiting six of his paintings in the show. Rich is affiliated with Tampa Artist.com, a website community of local artists.

Then the whole gang began to arrive: Melissa Black, a former colleague who is a budding artist herself, Robb & Mary Ann & Robb's parents, another former colleague, Eugenio Cebollero and girlfriend, and many other friends. We wound up @ Tina Tapas for a wonderful shared meal. I returned to the art show with friend Jennifer, who was a late but welcome arrival.

All in all a wonderful time with a wonderful group.

Blessed are the poor

2005-11-17T17:40:00.001-08:00

Bamboogate, (Peter F. Schaden)

via Changing Places, lots of bamboo images.

Beautiful.

Art Happens!

2005-11-16T03:21:00.000-08:00

Tony Abeyta, Remembered Ancients

Hi Paradisiacs!

via Donna Woodka @ Changing Places the art of Tony Abeyta. I like.

More Artsy News: currently happening in Tampa is the annual showing Gala Corina presents Nueva Vida

This year's event will be at the Seaboard Square Warehouse in Channelside:
120 South 11th Street in Tampa.

The 2005 exhibition will be up for one week, from Friday, Nov. 11, 2005 until Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005. Opening and closing parties are scheduled from 5 - 11 p.m. on said dates.

Robb & Mary Ann are trying to round up a posse to go for dinner, Gala Corina & a movie this Saturday. OK, I'm there!

Born to run?

2005-11-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

Wow! Paradisiacs, I'm glad I saw Bruce before his career took a radical turn. via Will Bunch @ Attytood:

Born to run: Springsteen for U.S. Senate from N.J.

excerpt:

Jon Corzine needs to appoint Bruce Springsteen to the United States Senate.

Crazy? Not any crazier than a violent action-flick actor from Austria with steroid use and groping allegations who can't even properly pronounce the name of his home state getting elected as its governor (a job with a lot more responsibility than a senator, by the way). Or not any crazier than electing a retired pro wrestler to the statehouse. And not any crazier than another rock star from across the pond coming within an eyelash of the Nobel Peace Prize.

We've already war-gamed it all out, and we just don't see too much downside risk should Sen. Springsteen (don't you love it?) seek a full term a year from now. We do have a difficult time imagining him in a jacket and tie. And it's not a slam dunk -- there would certainly be a sizable minority who would recoil at the idea of sending a rock star to the Senate, but we believe they'd be outnumbered by first-time voters coming out in support of the Boss.

I would vote for him but I'm in Florida.

Springsteen

2005-11-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hi Paradisiacs,

Last night I went to the Springsteen "Devils & Dust" concert. Awesome. He played for three hours nonstop with six encores. The concert of the year, in my humble opinion.

I've never been a Springsteen "fan", although I've come to have a deep respect for him as a singer-songwriter. But last night was different. I became a fan last night through his performance.

Life seems much better now.

Change of Venue

2005-10-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Paradisiacs!

via Dawn, our Drinking Liberally guru:

Well folks, it appears that New World Brewery has a DJ that's starting around 9pm tommorrow night. The sound checks usually start around 8pm, and it's difficult to poke fun at Republicans with all that noise in the background.

So I figure we'll just meet at 8pm at Tampa Bay Brewing Company instead. It's right around the corner from New World and the address is 1812 N. 15th Street. We've got a big 'ol table reserved in the upstairs section of Tampa Bay Brewing Company, so bring your friends, family members, evil twins and invisible friends.

See you all there!

And, regarding my previous post, Steve Clemons @ The Washington Note (via Markos, Atrios, Jeralyn, Josh, etc.):

An uber-insider source has just reported the following to TWN (since confirmed by another independent source):

1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end.

2. The targets of indictment have already received their letters.

3. The indictments will be sealed indictments and "filed" tomorrow.

4. A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday.

The shoe is dropping.

Hah! Just in time for Tampa's own Drinking Liberally!

Perfect Timing

2005-10-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Atrios links to this Reuters story:

Lawyers in CIA-leak case say charges possible this week

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald appears to be laying the groundwork for indictments this week over the outing of a covert CIA operative, including possible charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, lawyers involved in case said on Sunday.

Top administration officials are expected to learn from Fitzgerald as early as Monday whether they will face charges as the prosecutor winds up his nearly two-year investigation, the lawyers said.

Fitzgerald could convene the grand jury as early as Tuesday to lay out a final summary of the case and ask for approval of possible indictments, legal sources said. The grand jury hearing the CIA leak case normally meets on Wednesdays and is scheduled to expire on Friday unless Fitzgerald extends it.

Fitzgerald's investigation has focused largely on Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser, and Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and their conversations about CIA operative Valerie Plame with reporters in June and July of 2003.

Her identity was leaked to the media after her diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, challenged the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq. The White House initially denied that Rove and Libby were involved in any way in the leak.

Asked whether he was taking part in a final round of discussions with the prosecutor's office, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said: "I'm just not going to comment on any possible interactions with Fitzgerald."

Atrios is hoping the announcement of any indictments is made on Tuesday simply because the Philly Drinking Liberally group is meeting that night. However, we all know Patrick Fitgerald is waiting until Wednesday because our Tampa Drinking Liberally group is meeting THAT night, October 26, 2005 at 8pm at New World Brewery at 1313 E 8th Ave in Ybor City. There's free parking on both sides of the building and Wednesdays at New World are "Blue Moon Wednesdays." A pint of Blue Moon Belgian White Ale is only $2.50. The hefe weizen is another good choice.

Hope to see you all there!

A tax by any other name...

2005-10-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Talking about Tax

Ian Welsh @ BOP points to an article about Canadian taxes by Linda McQuaig @ The Toronto Star

his conclusion:

The same thing, by the way, is true of the US - at the current time the US system is either a flat tax one, or slightly regressive. People who try and tell you that the rich pay more taxes as a percentage of their income (never mind wealth) are simply lying to you; they are attempting to make income tax into all taxes.

For the past thirty odd years the privileged have gotten richer and everyone else in the US has treaded water in terms of income, while taking on more and more debt. The picture in Canada is better, but not a lot better.

But if you take one thing away from this article I would ask that it is this: never, ever, allow anyone to act as if income tax is the only tax and anytime someone does, know that you are dealing with someone who is lying to you..

Just Around the Corner...

2005-09-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

via Atrios, a good reason to "Drink Liberally":

Enjoyed my visit to Drinking Liberally World Headquarters and all the people I met and saw again. (snip) Franken was kind enough to drop by the evening event. He commented that what groups like drinking liberally are doing is building social capital, something which has value in and of itself.

.

via the liberally drinking Cookie Christine @ the Drinking Liberally forum:

The September meeting of Drinking Liberally is just around the corner. Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 8pm at New World Brewery at 1313 E 8th Ave in Ybor City. There's free parking on both sides of the building and Wednesdays at New World are "Blue Moon Wednesdays." A pint of Blue Moon Belgian White Ale is only $2.00 and comes with your very own personal orange slice.

Hope to see you all there!

Being a Social Capitalist myself, me too!

Right Place, Right Time

2005-09-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

I just got back from seeing Dr. John, live in concert at the Tampa Theater! What a great show! He played & sang solo for two hours - lots of funky New Orleans jazz, blues & stride piano. He played a wicked, heart-wrenching version of When the Saints Go Marchin' In and his last song promised that New Orleans would be back "twice as strong" as before. Thanks, good Doctor for helping me hope for better days.

Good Company

2005-09-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Last night I enjoyed a wonderful evening with blog friends Little Joe & Shirley. We were joined by across-the-street neighbors Paul & Gretchna (sp?) for an evening of good food (fajitas & enchiladas) and film (especially "Bush's Brain") and conversation. I donated a bottle of my favorite wine - Mas Donis, a blend of old-vine grenache & syrah from the Tarragona region of Spain. And a good time was had by all!

Death in America

2005-09-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

via Talkleft, pictures of the tragedy.

via TPM CafeWho are they kidding

On Gov. Blanco: Again, no excuses for her here. It's hard to get a good sense of her actions from the national coverage, but I've seen nothing to suggest she's been Guiliani-like in her leadership. It seems entirely possible that she, and many other local/state officials, will turn out to have performed poorly in this situation.

(clip)

That said, the line from Chertoff -- which has been popping up all over the press for the last two days -- is that she either failed to order up enough troops or, at the very least, failed to use the proper legal channels for requesting such assistance. And this is the reason it took so long to get enough military personnel into N.O.

Here's the problem. Even if that is correct (and we don't really know yet), in a disaster of this scope, somebody in Washington should have been paying enough attention to the situation to realize that more help was needed -- if not before the storm, than in the first 24 to 36 hours afterwards, once the reports of deprivation and mass refugees were coming in all over the news.

Yet everything we've seen suggests that the administraiton was basically out to lunch -- from the fact that key White House officials were away from Washington, on vacation, to the fact that FEMA's own director didn't even know about all the refugees at the now-notorious convention center until journalists informed him of it (after it had been on the air for many hours).

Can you imagine Bill Clinton being this detached -- or allowing his deputites to be this out of touch? How about John McCain?

In fact, to me the most telling quote of the press conference was when Chertoff explained the difficulties of moving the Natl Guard and regular military troops into position. He said that they can't move that quickly even for overseas deployment, except for a grave national crisis. (That's not his precise wording; I didn't manage to get it down. I'll update when I see the transcript.)

Again, is he kidding?

via Mark Kleiman: Distinctions

Update John Cole is eloquent on this point:

... the vast majority of people who are stranded, and, I fear, dead in the flooded parts of NO in numbers we have not yet begun to discover and comprehend, did not 'choose' to 'ignore' the warnings.

They simply had no place to go, no way to get there, no way to afford living in a motel/hotel somewhere else, no relatives outside the region, no automobile. I know it is always funny to make fun of the "Hurricane Strikes- Poor Hit Hardest" headlines, but there is some truth to it.

Sure, a lot of the people interviewed on cable may say they just stayed because they have seen all sorts of hurricanes. They may say that. But I am willing to bet a lot of them are just saying that to save face. Ever been broke? And I mean, chronically, long-term, without ANY money, broke? It sucks, and it can be embarassing, and it isnt likely most people are going to admit it.

Time for another Liberal Beer

2005-08-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Paradisiacs!

I just received my reminder from Cookie Christine:

It's that time again!

The next installment of the Tampa chapter of Drinking Liberally is
upon us.

Wednesday, August 31st at 8pm at New World Brewery at 1313 East 8th
Avenue in Ybor City.

New this month will be the "Mystery Topic Jar," that will be chock
full of some of the more pressing issues facing us today.
Contributions to the Mystery Topic Jar are always welcome and
appreciated.

I hope to see you all there, and as always you are encouraged to
bring your friends and family!

This month it's the Hefe Weizen!

With Flying Colors

2005-08-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

via Talkleft: a Test!

The Democratic Loyalty Quiz

10 Questions to Test Your Allegiance to the Democrats

My humble score:

Your score is 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. You are a pure, unabashed, die-hard Democratic loyalist. You are appalled by the way Republicans are turning America into a theocratic, corpo-fascist police state, and you'd gladly walk through a furnace in a gasoline suit to elect a Democratic president. In your view, there is no higher form of patriotism than defending America against the Republican Party and every intolerant, puritanical, imperialistic, greed-mongering, Constitution-shredding ideal for which it stands.

Cool! I passed!

artblog

2005-08-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

Wow! I found this interesting blog: artblog by roberta fallon and libby rosof. libby composes a poem comprised of titles of works by Dali.

Cool!

You've Got to be Kidding

2005-07-31T17:25:00.000-07:00

Making life greener for the troops
via Baynews 9
Saturday, July 30, 2005

Thanks to a St. Petersburg company, the Iraqi desert is about to get a little greener.

Tour Links is sending portable putting greens to golf enthusiasts serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The five-hole portable green looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and it could solve the mystery about how to keep troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan entertained.

Tour Links is a Pinellas County company that makes portable putting greens, allowing anybody to build a putting green wherever they want.

Even on a military base in the Middle East.

Tour Links President Dave Barlow is working with the Army and the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tour to send the putting equipment overseas.

"That's so the soldiers can receive the greens, put them together and they have the added value of having their own golf course at their base in the middle of the desert," Barlow said.

Barlow said the company has sent 10 units so far, with another 10 on the way. It's about $20,000 worth of equipment, with the PGA pitching in golf clubs and balls. Barlow hopes to expand the program in the future.

"These guys are going to be there for a long time, so our goal is to keep outfitting them as long as they want them," Barlow said.

Barlow hopes the greens will help soldiers fight boredom and get in some good swings during their down time.

"I feel great about the fact while they're there, they have a little bit of home with them," Barlow said.

This is beyond pathetic. We're close to 1800 dead soldiers and stuck in the middle of a civil war and this is how we "support the troops"?

Be there or thirst

2005-07-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

It's that time again. Time to insulate ourselves from the anarcho-corporatist intrusion by Drinking Liberally:

via Cookie Christine:

Wednesday, July 27th is the day. 7:30pm is the time.
New World Brewery at 1313 East 8th Avenue in Ybor.

I will be partaking of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap!

Be there or be anarcho-sober!

The Realism of Pacifism

2005-07-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Guest poster John McGowan @ Michael Be'rube' offers a reality-based meditation on pacifism:

The Rhetorics of Violence

Of course, in matters of violence, the manly rhetoric of determination, will, prevailing, and necessity is considered “realistic”—and is opposed to the namby-pamby, pie-in-the-sky idealism of the pacifist who refuses to face facts. I beg to differ. The most abiding lesson I have learned in the four years since September 11th is the persistent inability of humans—as a species? Who knows? But certainly in many instances—to call a spade a spade. The rhetorics of violence divert our attention away from the maimed and suffering and dead bodies that are violence’s most real product. Think of the ways that “sacrifice” and “victory” were deployed in Bush’s recent speech about the Iraq War. Was there any connection offered between these terms and the dead bodies our war is producing daily? Pacifism calls us to the fact that violence means killing and maiming; it means inflicting physical harm and pain on humans. It tells us to be suspicious—very suspicious—of the words in which we cloak violence, in which we justify it, and in which we avoid apprehending its real effects on the ground. Get real. By jumping away to the message violence sends about our resolve or to the desired results we imagine it will produce, we cultivate a blindness that renders our claims to be “realists” delusionary.

Please read the whole thing.

Gallery Hopping in Paradise

2005-07-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

I just stumbled on this:

Summer Gallery Hop

It takes place this Friday from 5:30 - 9:30 - 3 different art galleries in So. Tampa.

I found it linked here.

Summer Gallery Hop
Florida Oils & Photography Show
in conjunction with
Nuance Galleries
804 S. Dale Mabry Hwy. 875-0511
and Gold Dragon Gallery
508 S Manhattan Ave. 832-2755
July 15, 2005
5:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M.
Park at one gallery and ride the trolley.
Trolleys brought to you by HARTline
and the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners
and our media sponsor WSJT 94.1

Happy hopping!

My First Ever

2005-07-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

[The President's recent speech has promted me to attempt a re-creation of my very first ever blogpost, posted on 09/10/03 @ Brief Intelligence, a weblog by Kimberley Fox. The site has since been taken down, so I have re-created it from memory. It is not verbatim but the essence is there.]

THE CEAUCESCU MOMENT

December 21, 1989.
I remember it well.
It was right there.
On TV.

Nicolai Ceaucescu came out to calm the crowd. Events were spinning out of control after the latest outrage. But Nicolai woud spin them back into conrol. He was tough. You had to be to run a country. And Nicolai ran it with an iron fist, with the usual brutality and bromides, the show trials and the no trials, the occasional round-up. But Nicolai would remind them of all the things he had done for the greater glory of Romania (and himself). All those concrete slab block buildings separated by tree-lined, empty boulevards. He would remind them of all the things he had done for them.

As he began to speak it happened. They hurled it all back in his face full force. Just a few at first but then more and more. He was hit with a palpable wave of anger and disgust for all the outrages over all the years. All of it. All at once.

He stepped back, shaken, eyes glazed, mouth open. How could this be? Didn't they understand?

All the things he had done for them.

They did understand.

All the things he had done for them were the things they did not want.

They gave him his clue. He was ushered off the stage.

There's a reason for this acid flashback.

I want George W. Bush to have his own "Ceaucescu moment".

I want him to appear before a real crowd, not one of those Rove-picked ones. And when he begins to give that same speech that he's always given before, I want them to hurl it all back in his face, full force. All of it. All at once.

I want him to be hit with that palpable wave of anger and disgust for all the outrages over all the years.

For all the dead and the dying. For all the lives lost and the lost lives. For all those left behind. For the WMDs that don't exist and the RPGs that do. For the wounds that have not healed and the wounds that may never heal in our lifetime.

I want him to realize all the things that he has done to them.

I want him to realize that all the things he has done to them are the things they do not want,

I want them to give him his clue. I want him to be ushered off the stage.

I would like to be there to see it all, but if I can't be there I still want to see it all.

Right there.

On TV.

And a good time was had by all...

2005-06-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

So, Paradisiacs, we managed to have our second ever Drinking Liberally bash in spite of it all. First, New World Brewery was booked for a private event and not available. So a sign directed any and all to Tampa Bay Brewing Company, down the street and around the block. Thank goodness Cookie Christine and friend Patty showed up soon to direct me to the upstairs bar. We were then joined by a convivial group of newbies, i.e. Barbara, Steve, Dan, Mary & Laurie. Mucho good vibes & conversation among us all. Jasmine & friend showed up eventually, as well. This thing could grow.

More liberal beer, please

2005-06-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

Hmmm........I wonder if we're having a Drinking Liberally bash next week. Let's touch base with our blog friend Cookie Christine. Ah, here's her answer:

"Yep! Same time, same place. 8pm at New World on Wednesday the 29th. See ya!"

Yay!!!

Paradisiacs more than welcome!

Hieroglyphic Wayne

2005-06-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

My name using Egyptian Hieroglyphs!

Script by

Too, too cool!

Big Night Out

2005-06-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

This Friday night: Grand Opening @ Artists Unlimited

Invites for all!

Be there or be abstract!

Flight of Fancy

2005-06-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Paradisiacs!

via a living hominid this cool new way to fly: the M400 Skycar

Liberal Beerfest

2005-05-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

Paradisiac alert!

Drinking Liberally finally arrives in Tampa tonight!

via Cookie Christine

We are meeting at New World Brewery, on 1313 East 18th Street, at 8pm.

We don't have much of an agenda this time. It's just a meet and greet kinda thing. So just show up and drink a beer with us.

I'll be there.

Cool Waves

2005-05-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

OK Paradisiacs, here's the "wave" of the future:

World's First Commercial Wave Farm

Hydrokinetic power can avoid much of the "intermittency" problem of wind and solar (i.e., that the power source isn't always available) as well as the NIMBY "visual pollution" argument brought up by wind opponents. It's further back along the cost and development curve than wind and solar, but it's moving along swiftly.
Latest example: the Scottish firm Ocean Power Delivery -- the current leader in hydrokinetic technology -- is set to build the world's first commercial wave farm off of Portugal. When deployed in 2006, the three wave power generation units will provide 2.25 megawatts to 1,500 homes. And if all goes well with the initial build, OPD is set to deliver an additional 30 units, for a total of 20 megawatts of generation.

Why can't we be this cool?

What's Your Worldview?

2005-05-15T00:47:00.000-07:00

OK Paradisiacs. Here's a new self-revealing quiz for you:

What is Your World View?

Here's mine:

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative

81%

Existentialist

63%

Idealist

63%

Modernist

50%

Postmodernist

38%

Materialist

31%

Fundamentalist

25%

Romanticist

19%

What is Your World View?
created with QuizFarm.com

New Image

2005-05-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

OK. So, I changed the template last night. I wanted something that was more recreational & more therapeutic. So, if you wanted to, you could sue me...or, we could go for a beer.

I Would Like To Coin An Acronym

2005-05-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

I would like to coin an acronym - PURPL. PURPL stands for Pure Unadulterated Raving Pathological Lie. Just imagine. When you're watching CNN and some politician comes on spouting the usual crap, you could yell PURPL!!! PURPL!!! and maybe you could throw a purple nerf ball at the TV or something. Better than stress balls! Or at one of those news conferences, whenever the President or Scott McClellan says something totally off the wall, the whole Washington press corps could yell PURPL!!! in unison. But they probably couldn't throw any purple nerf balls. Still, it would be an improvement.

Who? Me?

2005-05-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

I found this test over at Easter Lemming:

Are you a Republican?

When I took the test this was my score:

I am:
-4%
Republican.

"You're a damn Commie! Where's Tailgunner Joe when we need him?"

Are You A Republican?

More New Blog Work

2005-05-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

My latest at The Bump is THE TRIGGER.

Working Man's Blogger

2005-04-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

My newest @ The Bump: THE MTV CASINO

HITCHHIKING

2005-04-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

I want to see this movie,

'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' has promise
By Jason Bolte
Published: Friday, April 29, 2005

Translating the original novel to a film is akin to writing an essay dictated to you by a dog. Adams was not particularly great at coherent plots with his books meandering like a hitchhiker would. Adams was also a vivid technophile, obsessed with the emerging digital age, and wanted any movie based on his book to be able to withstand the vastness of his imagination.

Update: If the link above doesn't work for you, try the Official Hitchhiker's Guide site

Blogger at Work

2005-04-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

Two new posts up @ The Bump:

TRYING TIMES FOR SPECIAL ED

and

OIL PROFITS FOR...

So Far So Good

2005-04-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Whew! I now have 5 posts up at Just a Bump:

INTRO

CYBER PROBATE

THE MIGHTY QUINN

SAY ONE THING...

LEVERAGED BUG OUT

Update: now 7!

LAUGH? CRY?

WHAT A CHARACTER

The Project

2005-04-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Ok. One reason I started this was to have a practise place for my project. I am one of four guest bloggers at Melanie's Just a Bump...blog. This is quite a challenge but also a great opportunity to learn and grow. Like today, I just had trouble trying to figure out html codes to make my post "look right". Thanks to fellow guest blogger RT for pointing me in the right direction.

HTML for dummies

2005-04-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

OK, Wayne. Here’s a test of your budding HTML coding skills. Post up using these tags:

Bold
Italics
linked text

Cool.

I found a link to this column over @ Angry Bear, one of my favorite econo-blogs. The Mighty Quinn has some choice words for the Cato Institute crowd on Social Security and private accounts. Check it out.

Bloggered

2005-04-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

I was trying to post but Blogger is messing with me just now. I wanted to practice my html but it won't let me view the blog. I will post this up just to see what happens.

Update: after a few fits & starts all is currently well.

A sense of place...

2005-04-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Pearce’s Paradise is a real place - though you might not find it on any map. It’s one of a set of small dredge islands somewhere in Tampa Bay. My dad, Fred Pearce, used to drive his boat out there with a cooler full of beer and a pretty girl (later my mom) to...um...watch the sunset. I’m going to find my own way there someday soon.

And so we begin...

2005-04-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

I am creating this blog as an experiment in recreational therapy. We'll see how it goes. You're welcome to come and visit anytime.