Last week's Green Issue brought praise, suggestions and a few complaints, including some choice words about grouper-fishing and Hummer-siphoning. Wade Tatangelo's "Top 10 Dylan Lyrics" post in his blog, tampacalling.com, generated thousands of hits. And at thepoliticalwhore.com, Associate Editor Joe Bardi got entertainingly pissed off about the Obama/Clinton debate in Philadelphia.
Re The Green Issue, Apr. 16, "100 ways to go green right now: #97: Siphon gas from a Hummer": When you think about it, this is not environmentally sound. Doesn't the owner of that Hummer release CFCs to use pepper spray against a thief (when caught). … in addition to the extra gas the police car uses to arrest him/her. Good addition, if it would've been made in jest. … and not as a solid suggestion for people to engage in class and/or environmental warfare. So, to the staff writer(s) who offered this tip as a real way to help preserve the planet — POUND SAND!
A Republican who drives a Prius and uses cloth shopping bags
Re The Green Issue, "#14: Lay off the grouper": As a restaurant that's known for grouper — real grouper — and a seafood company that catches their own grouper, we at Frenchy's were dismayed to read the item in your Green Issue encouraging people to reduce their grouper intake (even though you acknowledged that grouper makes a tasty sandwich). We also encourage people to go green and we are making strides to do our part. As a longtime supporter of Creative Loafing, we wanted to offer your readers another view on the grouper issue.
The two primary species of grouper in the Gulf of Mexico, red and gag (locally known as "Black Grouper"), are not over-fished according to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The red grouper population is fully rebuilt. Gag is currently undergoing the stock assessment process to determine the current status of the stock.
Pinellas County lands the majority of gag and red groupers. These species, we should remember, are a sovereign resource of this country. Additionally, the casual reader should be encouraged by the fact that every pound of grouper, snapper, amberjack, mackerel, mullet and porgy that is landed by a commercial fisherman is recorded. This data is extremely valuable to the stock assessment process. Commercial fishing is a highly regulated business. Every commercial grouper fishing boat is equipped with a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) that provides real-time data to NMFS. When a boat offloads its catch to a permitted dealer, the catch is weighed by species and submitted to the state Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Area, length of fishing trip, depth and type of gear, and number of crew data are also collected. In addition, the vessel owners are required to submit similar data to NMFS. You can rest assured that fishermen are very concerned with the health of our marine resources. Healthy stocks are the lifeblood of the fishing community.
Janet L. Baustert, Vice President & CFO, Frenchy's, Clearwater Beach
Re The Green Issue: When you were putting together your Green Issue (great one, by the way. We just bought a 30-year old Mercedes Diesel to convert to biodiesel), did you happen to come across any companies in Tampa that offer alternative termite control, besides the Tent & Toxins way they do it now? California does DirectHeat — no toxins, but we can't find anything here …
Thanks again for the great paper. We always start with Merle Reagle and then proceed through the rest.
Judy M.
Editor's reply: Readers — any ideas for Judy? Send them to david.warner@creativeloafing.com, and we'll pass them on.
From thepoliticalwhore.com, "The Short List" comment, April 17, by Joe Bardi: If someone thinks the wearing of a Chinese-made lapel pin is a legitimate consideration in determining presidential worthiness, I feel it is my patriotic duty to speak up and point out how insipid that is. It's ideas like that that end with the American taxpayer spending 3 trillion dollars to kill a few hundred thousand people because someone insulted someone else's father. And if that's really how the people of Pennsylvania think (and I don't believe it is), then someone needs to talk to these people, explain why they are wrong and attempt to reason with them. If that fails, then it's time to stand up and say, "No, you are an idiot, and you are wrong." Then we can do pistols at dawn.
Time to wake up, folks. The alarm is going off. Don't just hit the snooze bar, nod your head and avoid the argument because it's the easy thing to do. Point out how mind-fuckingly stupid a debate about flag pins or the Weather Underground's activities in 1968 is. The fate of the nation depends on it.
From tampacalling.com, comment by Chris suggesting the following addition to Wade Tatangelo's list of "Top 10 Dylan Lyrics": "They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy/ She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me./ I can't help it if I'm lucky./ You're an idiot, babe./ It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe," from Dylan's "Idiot Wind"
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2008.