Faster speed limit

July 27, 2010

Dear Sir,

I agree with Mr. Bill Nearon for what he said about punishing cell phone drivers by increasing the fine to $750. However, I feel the fine should go up to $800. After all, if there are people who will overspend their wealth just for a car or bike, and still whip out a cell phone while they drive or ride, they should be able to pay that hefty fine. If not, confiscate the vehicle until the fine is paid and with cars like these two, I'm pretty sure they won't remain impounded if that happened to them, especially since they love that vehicle.

Young Marc Bean is right about the speed limit. Who really drives at 35 kph in Bermuda? Not even the police drive at this speed so why not increase to 50 kph? This way Bermudians will be more at ease (except for the speeders/drunk drivers and the stupidly cell phone driving lovers who cannot drive their car without having a cell phone attached to their ear or the more insane text riders=text message riding individuals). Fines should be in effect only if the person exceeds 50kph (or the other craziness I mentioned). Mr.Editor, I want all to make a note that what Marc Bean has stated should also be approved unless the individual is unfortunately a tourrorist (a tourist on a rental bike) meaning they should go slow.

IN AGREEMENT WITH BOTH

Devonshire

Poor example, Senator

July 15, 2010

Dear Sir,

I have to disagree with Sen. David Burch's defence of his recent actions (tearing up a letter he did not agree with). He claims the Bermudian public will accept childishness before dishonesty (or a lack of integrity, or rhetoric, or propaganda, or disrespect); I am confident they will choose neither.

Sen. Burch has been a vocal critic of Bermudian "traits" over the years and in many cases I would agree with him. However, how does he expect people to change these behaviours when they watch the leaders of this country continue to behave inappropriately?

After listening to his tirade on the Senate floor I also wonder how we can administer an English proficiency test to guest workers (who don't speak English as their first language). Surely we can't judge these guest workers when we have a Senator using language like, "when he talked a whole bunch of crap" and "if you stand out in public and criticise me I do not have no issue with it other than I take it personally" on the Senate floor.

Again, an example must be set by the leaders of this country if we expect things to improve.

KENT SMITH

St. George's

Press freedom today

July 22, 2010

Dear Sir,

Regarding Taciturnus' response to me on the question of press freedom:

There is a danger that the real issues in this debate will be lost if we continue to focus on the personalities of those who have taken part or those who have been cited in it. The real issues revolve around questions like "is there a free press", "can a press be free in private ownership", "can the press, free or not, regulate itself?"

There is not a lot to be gained in debating the rights and wrongs of the Russian Revolution – it is this century that we should be worried about."

DAVID RADLETT

Lecturer in Law,

University of Kent

What to celebrate, Premier?

July 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

I wonder what notable features of the Premier's tenure will be "celebrated" by the "Farewell Gala" in September to mark his departure from government in October?

Will it be his first remarkable act of getting to be leader of the PLP and Premier on the justification that "We had to deceive you"?

Or his subsequent run of distinguished achievements, including: superintendence of gross overspending and mismanagement of the public purse; breathtaking disregard for (or was it ignorance of?) the Bermuda Constitution in the "Uighur 4" affair (for which the then British Foreign Secretary David Milliband admonished in the House of Commons: "The Government of Bermuda acted outside their competence."); a "strategy" (if you could call it that) as Tourism Minister to revitalise Bermuda tourism with absurd (and expensive) trips to India and China, coupled with the persistent decline of the local tourist industry; the absence of any results whatsoever in his avowals to attract new world-class resorts to Bermuda; the continuing debacle of the Southlands for Morgan's Point land swap; the revolving door of Education Ministers and notable lack of any material improvement in the public education sector (at least so far as can be measured or has been revealed), despite his insistence at the beginning of his term that education was his Government's first priority; the cynical (and transparently unsuccessful) ploy of manipulating the so-called "race card" to deflect attention from primary issues that he was incompetent or otherwise unable to resolve; the putative underlying principle of "divide and rule" by that strategem; his irresponsible inattention to the resolution of escalating serious crime in Bermuda; his vacuous blowing of hot air about virtually any important matters to do with the welfare of the people of Bermuda, backed up by backing away from actually doing anything of lasting substance; his abject and insouciant disdain for answering, or even responding to uncomfortable questions of public interest put to him by this newspaper on behalf of its readers; his truly pathetic dance upon the grave of The Mid-Ocean News and self-professed ambition for the same fate of this newspaper ("One down, one to go."), because he could not – cannot – tolerate media criticism of him and his government; or the unpalatable whiff of cronyism emanating from a panjandrum Teflon Premier for whom the motto "This too will pass" (cf., Uighurs "firestorm") will be his most appropriately eloquent epithet as he passes to become a minor footnote in the annals of Bermuda's history.

Or perhaps, and this most likely, the "Gala" will simply be a self-satisfying and gargantuanly delusional congratulatory last hurrah to celebrate what the Premier has always seemed to prize most, above all and to the secondary consideration of all else in public office, namely, his overwhelming, posturing and preposterously overweening ego.

GRAHAM FAIELLA

London, UK

Budget out of control

July 15, 2010

Dear Sir,

Finance Minister Paula Cox said in Parliament on July 9, 2010 the following: "I would like to unequivocally state that the current Government is capable of running the financial affairs of this Country and continues to exhibit good stewardship of the public purse and has done so since coming into office."

I almost fell off my chair when I heard this, as Government's own Auditor states otherwise in reports released by the Public Accounts Committee.

We have an out-of control Government budget, Government staff has doubled, enormous deficits, colossal debt, churlish behaviour from major politicians, and an economy teetering on the razor's edge. We have discovered that those "freebies" weren't "free" after all. It's time to pay the piper people ... I have only one question for you. What's in your wallet?

CLINTON J.A. PAYNTER

St. George's

The disparity goes on

July 15, 2010

Dear Sir,

I totally agree with the letter of Clinton Paynter (Royal Gazette, July 21) written on July 4. However, I need to comment on his letter written on July 5 (Royal Gazette July 20) which is no doubt the result of the frustration expressed on July 4.

He must recognise that the past of overt racism, which he did not experience very much, influences the present economy, which he is experiencing. The overt racism of the past is the reason for the tremendous economic disparity which exists today and of which he is no doubt a victim. Whites were accumulating generations of wealth from which their current offspring are benefiting, while blacks were excluded from much of the economy with advertisements that read "only Whites need apply" and thus their offspring, like Clinton Paynter, are still struggling.

But there is another and more important way in which the past influences the present. To understand this one needs to make a distinction between "the white executive" or "white people" and the philosophy of racism which insists on the right of supremacy of white people conceived by a white philosopher and from which white people have benefitted. The reason the distinction must be made is because black people, reared in the same culture, have absorbed the same philosophy which has proven so very destructive to them.

That is the reason that Clinton Paynter could write the letter which he did on July 4. The PLP have enhanced the economy of various white communities without doing anything similar for the black community, always sufficiently insensitive to the black community to justify their actions.

Many white shareholders grew more wealthy with the sale of the Bank of Bermuda to HSBC. It was a major shift in policy which did nothing for the struggling black community. Perhaps it made them more powerless because there was now a very wealthy Institution, economically more powerful than the Government itself.

White Bermudians had had too much pride in themselves and in Bermuda to have sold the country in that fashion. The PLP Government had the money to bail out the Bank of Butterfield, from which a Canadian bank profited, but which meant little to the struggling black Bermudian, except the few who had lost all, or most, of their savings by the actions of the bank. That was a very big investment but not to address the economic disparity. They have ensured that another bank has grown and prospered in the white community while they did all that they could to obstruct the efforts to establish a bank in the black community. We understand when the UBP thwarted Sir John Swan but with all the financial skills the PLP have acquired, with their political power, there is only one reason they not only obstructed the efforts to build a bank but destroyed a black construction firm which they could have helped to build. When we consider the unduly high interest for the bonds that they offered to the rich alone, we know that the struggling black community which voted for them is not a priority with any of them.

Even the current Premier who has made race an important item on his agenda has demonstrated that he places more significance on the white community than on the black community because he has spent most of his energies and brilliance of mind on challenging the racism of whites rather than on advancing the economy of the black community, either collectively or individually, other than anyone close to him as a matter of Government policy.

The Mirrors programme, which is excellent, and the scholarship, or funds raised by the Three Brothers, does not begin to speak to what he might have done if he had adopted an affirmative action policy for black Bermudians such as he seemed to have established for black Americans. None of his major battles were about addressing the economic disparity between blacks and whites. Blacks certainly did not gain any economic benefit from the Uighurs, and as racist as the Corporation has been, blacks have no reason to believe that it will benefit them if the Corporation is taken over by the Government. All of the enormous sums they have spent so far has not advanced the economy of black Bermudians.

For the most part, those who had contracts under the UBP have them under the PLP. The majority population in this country is black, a few of whom have done very well for themselves but most of whom are like Clinton Paynter, struggling, and I do not think that the PLP had them in mind as they spent the taxpayers' money.

We may not have anywhere else to go but we must begin to understand the extent to which the philosophy of racism still influences us when after 12 years a black Government voted for by black people has acquired financial skills and political power and has done nothing to address the economic disparity of the two communities but have used them to enhance the economy of the white community.

EVA N. HODGSON

Crawl

Rights more than money

July 22, 2010

Dear Sir,

Most expatriates in Bermuda came here because it is easier and better for them to move forward in their lives at a faster pace financially. They are here in Bermuda simply to better their lives and the lives of their family.

As a West Indian, it is clear to me that when we as West Indians (for those not familiar with the term, it's used for Caribbean people), leave our country to migrate to any country, the two main reasons are; (1) financial freedom, and/or (2) love. The money obtained by virtue of hard work, stretches more from country to country and from currency to currency. Caribbean people are very loyal and hard working in any country they choose or required to work. It's part of our nature.

We as Caribbean people have our morals, integrity, respect, love, professionalism, and other values bestowed upon us by our parent(s), family members, and country. We come to Bermuda with all these aspect of life as well rounded individuals. There is no need to change what we already have instilled in us by our fore parents. What I can suggest we do, is bolster these positive attributes alongside the cultural differences of Bermuda.

Year in, year out, West Indians have the propensity to bury most of their rights, like freedom of speech, and other constitutional rights and allow themselves to accept being treated in Bermuda as an Alien rather than a Commonwealth Citizen as they are by definition of the British National Act 198. The definition is also found in the Interpretation Act 1951.

West Indians, by giving up their constitutional rights or allowing themselves to be muzzled by their employer, by accepting offence against them contrary to any act of law in Bermuda, because of the money, is allowing themselves to be financial slaves.

They should not relinquish their constitutional rights in process of acquiring a quick buck.

LUCAN JOSEPH

St. Lucia

Support for Regiment

July 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

Over the last few weeks I have become astounded at the verbal evasions and contortions used by Mr. Marshall and his supporters who wish to avoid service in the Bermuda Regiment. The lowest point yet was been reached in The Royal Gazette article concerning BAD's latest recruit, Marilyn Steede, who opines that the Regiment made her feel like a cockroach.

As a long-standing volunteer member of the Regiment who came into regular contact with Ms. Steede in her capacity as Chief Clerk, I can honestly state that I never witnessed Ms Steede being treated with less professional respect than she would be granted in civilian employment. Perhaps Ms Steede has been disappointed elsewhere in her career expectations.

My own experience with the Bermuda Regiment is thoroughly positive; two Company Commanders who have been outstanding employers, overseas travel, learning new and marketable skills, and gaining personal strength by acquiring compassion, patience, and discipline and being paid for it all.

Why does the Bermuda Regiment that BAD and Ms Steede describe bear no relationship to the Regiment I serve in? How can any sane person be so disrespectful that they equate peacetime, part-time service in a Reserve unit with the brutal conditions of a lifetime of slavery?

If your grandma or your auntie sings in a church choir, she will probably put in more hours than you will at the Regiment. Foul language? No more than you will hear at the average sporting event. Conscription equals colonial servitude? Stable, efficient peacetime Switzerland has 100 percent conscription today for all males between the ages of 18 and 30, with females serving as volunteers. After two referendums, the Swiss have chosen to retain conscription, with many of their National Guard choosing to serve till age 50.

We live in unpredictable times; given a sudden conflict or emergency, it's in the country's best interests to have a well-trained and efficient unit such as the Bermuda Regiment available.

Do you want your parents and little brothers and sisters left unprotected because of the actions of a group like BAD? What trust can be placed in people who go to any lengths to avoid their basic duty to their country and each other?

OPTIO

Warwick