Bermuda dreams...

Welcome to paradise. Pink sand beaches and a tropical climate, spectacular sunsets, crystal clear blue waters. life at 20 miles per hour. Dark "n" Stormy anyone? No? How about a Swizzle? The warm summer breezes leading to days languishing in the sun, evenings around the bar-b-que with a case of Heinekens on ice.

A picture postcard. A golfers dream, a fisherman's fantasy. It is all you can ask for. A perfect holiday for a perfect price. Less than 2 hours from most east coast airports. A honeymoon made in heaven. An anniversary to relight any fire. How sweet it is!

So why is this perfect little paradise such a hard sell? Why is our Tourism minister fighting to defend his decision to allow 4 Guantanamo "refugees" into the island as permanent Bermuda citizens? Surely that is the role for which the Tourism minister is getting paid.

Permit me a moment of utter frustration and aggravation. Ir is highly irritating to me to try and defend incompetence, so I won't bother. While I will admit to anyone who cares to ask that Bermuda is indeed another world, it still has a long way to go when it comes to matters of priorities and what's important. Why the hell are we fighting this fight right now? Where did this come from? Why is our leader kissing Chinese backside last year, only to accept fugitives from Chinese justice this year? Don't we have anything better to do? Isn't there some hard working over-paid penny pincher out there that we can't sell a vacation to? I'm sure we have enough swizzle mix.

When our leaders do something irresponsible and stupid, regardless of intent, it leaves us wanting, wondering and worrying. Dr. Brown, if you get a chance, check out the tourism numbers and figure out a way to get the afore-mentioned penny pincher to take a load off and pay us a visit. Do the job you're getting paid to do and leave the international screw-ups for those people who have a little more experience. In your moment of glory you have upset quite a few people, and your "this too shall pass" idea is pretty disheartening. Should we expect more brilliance from you in the future?

Let's hope not.