Bahamas Blog

The Attorney General for the State of New Jersey resigned today. She is under investigation for an ethics violation.

For Perry Christie and any Bahamian cabinet members reading this post... that's "ethics", e-t-h-i-c-s.

Quote:

Eth·ics n. (ĕth"ĭks) The science of human duty; the body of rules of duty drawn from this science; rules of practice in respect to a single class of human actions; as, political or social ethics; medical ethics.

Zulima Farber, New Jersey's attorney general, will step down at the end of the month. She resigned Tuesday after a special prosecutor concluded she violated state ethics laws by intervening in a traffic stop involving her boyfriend.

Say what!?

I mean, in The Bahamas, that would be almost expected of any cabinet minister. It would be considered the very least of the many ethical violations that Bahamian cabinet ministers commit every day.

If that were the worst ethics violation of any standing PLP Cabinet member, we Bahamians would rejoice in the streets.

Could you just imagine how marvelous our "Christian" society would be, if only we, here in The Bahamas, had a government that enforced the kind of ethics that they do in New Jersey?

NJ Attorney General Quits Over Ethics

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While the folks from the Save Guana Cay Reef (SGCR) association are making life miserable for the Discovery Land Company (DLC), the coral reef they are fighting to protect is dying.

It turns out that the "big bad" foreign developers may not be the worst threat the reef faces. Other threats are posing an even greater danger, like coral bleaching.

Coral bleaching sucks the life out of reefs, taking away their vibrant color and slowly rendering them useless in the marine ecosystem.

This is documented by a program developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA's Coral Reef Watch is a long-term monitoring system with the ability to predict bleaching episodes for all major coral reefs in the United States and some in The Bahamas. In fact, the first monitoring system was installed in The Bahamas in 2000.

The results of the reef monitoring program can be viewed online thanks to the Coral Reef Watch CREWS Station Bleaching Report for North Norman's Reef, Bahamas.

A CNN news report, published back when the program started, informs us that reef habitat are extremely sensitive to environmental changes and human interaction.

The report goes on to say that, "coral reefs thrive in warm water with moderate, stable salinity and a small amount of nutrients or sediment. They are widely considered a barometer of global warming."

Quote:

Coral reef bleaching occurs from the death of zooxanthellae, a symbiotic algae that lives in the structure of the coral and is essential to its survival. Bleaching can be caused by several events. Global warming, the El Niño phenomenon and changes in ocean circulation are prime suspects. Increased ultraviolet radiation due to thinning of the protective ozone layer may also be a cause. Coral bleaching is irreversible once it begins.

While researchers know of no way to reverse or halt coral bleaching once it begins, the advance notice provided by the monitoring program will allow them to alert reef managers in advance of bleaching events.

At least the Bakers Bay developers are willing to sit down with anyone interested in discussing the environment of Guana Cay, and they appear to be trying hard to placate the opposition. Mother Nature will not be so accommodating with her coral bleaching and will destroy the reefs, with or without a golf course, and no matter who ultimately wins the protracted legal battle.

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I relocated from Grand Bahama to Nassau and moved in with my girlfriend. Things are a little different living with someone, as opposed to living alone, especially moving in with a member of the fairer sex.

One thing I noticed immediately is the amount of closet space devoted to shoes.

She must have 40 pairs of shoes. I have 4; flip-flops, Gucci loafers, boat shoes and a pair of Nikes.

I mean she's not exactly Imelda Marcos, but 40 pairs of shoes is a lot, to me anyway.

She says she wants more, yet cautioned me about ever buying her a pair. I guess selecting shoes, when you have 40 pairs, is more complicated than I thought.

I hope I don't develop a shoe fetish with all that temptation only feet from my bed.