The camera does not lie

November 30, 2007

Dear Sir,

In today's Royal Gazette insert of UBP candidates in the upcoming election, I saw the faces of people who, if for no other reason, are why I would choose this party. The camera doesn't lie, and they are as open, honest, cheerful and diverse as one could wish, as the party has been since its inception.

I consider myself to be a liberal and fair minded person, and was not unhappy to see what the PLP could do in 1998.

Sadly, although some really good things have been done (no need to go over and over the neglected ones) I cannot tolerate the blatant overspending, the non-accountability of our monies, the coverups, and the endless spin for the glory of a few big egos.

We, the public, are not stupid!

M. JOYCE WATLINGTON

Southampton

Christmas nightmare

December 8, 2007

Dear Sir,

It is time for truth, honesty and sanity. If we continue to open a quarrel between the past and the present we shall find that we have lost the future. Our scandal-plagued, globetrotting Premier has taken a few moments out from racking up frequent flyer miles to call an election.

Almost immediately after he made this announcement he predicted that it would be a nasty one. What else could it be with him and his army of well-paid, well-dressed unelected "consultants" spewing out ugly mendacious statements.

Their acolytes have done this in advance to counter legitimate criticism and provoke the UBP into a verbal brawl. Dr. Brown, having cut his political teeth in Jamaica and the US, has borrowed the worst tactics from both countries. The UBP do not need to use smear tactics. All they have to do is to tell the truth and it will seem like smears to the PLP.

Dr. Brown's cheerleaders say he is intelligent and "gets things done". I say he is a cunning egotist and his "charisma" and his bleating and braying about what he has done for Bermuda do not mesmerise me. He and his numerous committees have few ideas about how to bring the Island together and solve its problems.

He has said he will fight the election on issues and that independence will be decided by an election. What an absurd statement ¿ we are having an election now. I guess he wants another election when he feels he has converted or coerced enough people to accept his dream (a new passport with a palm tree on it and a Dictator instead of a Premier). I have lost track of the times that he has put Independence from the back burner to the front burner. But he has never taken it off the stove!

He is afraid to trust the people. So why should they trust him and his sidekicks who have made a hash of running our important Govt. agencies such as Education, the Police service, the hospital etc.etc.?

Government owes the public an apology, especially the parents. If this is the best Government that money can buy ¿ then the voters who employ them should demand a refund. The people who see their Island being transformed without their permission are rightly disturbed.

Some PLP members, worried and embarrassed about the leadership of Brown, Burch and Commissiong are calling for the people to vote the "party" and the leadership will be sorted out later. This is asking the voters for a blank cheque and we will fill it out later.

This letter is getting too long but I will ask a few random questions:

Cui Bono (old Italian aphorism) ¿ who benefits from their policies?

Why is the PLP looking after the greedy instead of the needy?

What have they done for the struggling single mothers?

Why do they start unnecessary rows?

Why do they insult women like Louise Jackson, Patricia Gordon-Pamplin & Gina Spence Farmer?

Why can't they realise that heaping slogans and opprobrium are no substitute for intellectual debate?

The propaganda pouring out of the Cabinet office should be headed:

The truth (sometimes); Probabilities; Possibilities & Lies. All of this reinforces the suspicion that Dr. Brown is an authoritarian control freak.

Lastly, folks, it is imperative we break this cycle of deceit. You the people can do it on Election Day:

1) Spoil your ballot

2) Boycott the election by staying home

3) Vote UBP

The insufferable arrogance of Dr. Brown and Col. Burch must be brought to a halt. If it is not it will be "The Nightmare Before Christmas"!

HARRY VIERA

North Carolina/Bermuda

What happened in 1994

December 10, 2007

Dear Sir,

I feel compelled to respond to the letter of Pat Ferguson from Warwick published in your edition of November 27, 2007. In this regard I was struck by the penultimate paragraph of Ms Ferguson's letter wherein she states, "even if the UBP was the Government of the day, and the atmosphere was as it is, I wouldn't want to go independent under them either. But I do know for a fact that the UBP will never force us to independence and then say: "We had to lie to you"!

I do not know Pat Ferguson and I do not know whether she was living in Bermuda in 1993 and 1994 or not.

If she was then I am surprised that she has written what she has.

The fact is that in the lead up to the General Election held in October of 1993, the UBP never once proposed an agenda to proceed to independence.

I know, because I ran for the UBP in 1993.

Shortly after its victory, albeit it slim, the then-Premier and leader of the UBP, the Honorable Sir John Swan, announced an initiative to immediately proceed to pursue independence for Bermuda.

He garnered significant support for this initiative within the UBP, not in my opinion because the core of the party felt that independence was right for Bermuda, but rather because the hierarchy of the party felt that it was politically expedient for the UBP to find a way to win the hearts and minds of the majority of Bermudians, and that independence was such a way.

I immediately resigned from the UBP, and together with certain of its existing members fought the initiative against independence.

So John Swan's initiative floundered in the referendum of August of 1995.

Therefore with the greatest respect to Pat Ferguson, exactly what she has said would never happen under the UBP Party Government, is exactly what did happen in 1994.

WENDELL HOLLIS

Devonshire

Foggo's race relations

December 11, 2007

Dear Sir,

We all knew it was coming ¿ the PLP's desperate last ditch ploy to win votes was demonstrated by the remarks attributed to Lovitta Foggo at the PLP rally in St George's last night.

She is quoted as saying: "We must hasten to employ measures which ensure that our people and our children know that a UBP vote is a vote back to the plantation. It is a vote that will return the shackles to our feet!

"It is a vote that will keep us as slaves because the UBP has one aim; to ensure we, the working class, the underprivileged, never get our fair share of that economic pie!

"For the UBP, money and wealth is meant only for those that control the economy when slavery was alive and kicking and for the descendants that controls the economy today. Emancipate yourselves!"

Mr Editor, Ms Foggo is "Currently a Biology teacher at The Berkeley Institute" and "has also taught at St. George's Secondary, Whitney Institute, CedarBridge Academy, the Community School and the Prison Farm." (see the PLP website). Is this the rot that Ms Foggo teaches in her classes? Is this part of the PLP's race relations initiative that Dr Brown espouses? Are these comments part of the PLP's "progressive message to the people" as espoused on their website?

The PLP campaign is one of smoke and mirrors, divide and conquer and sheer negativity. If people really believe that the United Bermuda Party black candidates are all puppets of the white candidates as suggested in previous ads and other mediums by the PLP then Dr Brown has already succeeded in dividing this country. Would Kim Swan really allow himself to be pulled on a string by Michael Dunkley? Would Kenny Bascome (previously Jennifer Smith's campaign manager) allow himself to be pulled along by Grant Gibbons? Perhaps Cole Simons happily sits by and is directed by John Barritt, or Donte Hunt by Trevor Moniz or Austin Warner by David Dodwell or Wayne Furbert by Jeff Souza? Or perhaps Alvin Wilson is commanded by Sarah Burrows or Sean Pitcher is dictated to by Doug Decouto? Maybe Suzanne Roberts-Holshouser rules over Charlie Swan? Perhaps Sean Crockwell is conducted by Donald Hassell? I could go on. The combinations are endless and all equally preposterous.

The United Bermuda Party espouses hope not hate and a real future for Bermuda. If people really believe that a vote for the United Bermuda Party, with their fine slate of black and white candidates is a vote back to the plantation then they should vote for the PLP ¿ but they had better not wake up on December 19 and tell their friends that they voted for progression. They will only be misleading themselves.

MICHAEL M. FAHY

Hamilton Parish

Leaders' differences

December 12, 2007

Dear Sir,

In a perverse way the allegations posted by former police officer, Larry Smith, have pointed out the essential difference between our two political leaders.

In the case of Opposition Leader, Michael Dunkley, he has strongly and publicly denied any suggestion that he was involved in the alleged drugs case which resulted in him giving evidence in court against two of his former staff members, both of whom were imprisoned for ten years. Mr. Dunkley goes even further. He says, and I quote: "I'm happy to answer any questions anybody has at any time because I realize that as a public official I can't hide behind anything."

He also offers to take a lie-detector test. These are not the usual actions of a man who has something to hide.

Mr. Dunkley will not cost Bermuda's taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in court fees in a vain attempt to try to curtail the press's freedom to publish the allegations made against him, no matter how vague they are.

Now we have Progressive Labour Party Chairman, David Burt, alleging that detectives (plural) considered charging Michael Dunkley in connection with a drugs conspiracy. OK, Mr. Burt, I challenge you to name all those detectives who actually considered charging Mr. Dunkley? Can you publicly state if there was any mention in any file, submitted by any Police officer, including former Superintendent Larry Smith, giving any indication that Michael Dunkley was a suspect for any reason?

We have heard that a senior Police official has stated: "Dunkley was not considered a suspect. Larry Smith told me just the opposite. He told me Dunkley was not involved. Not only was he not considered a suspect, there was no evidence to implicate him in that conspiracy or any conspiracy."

Perhaps the Commissioner of Police can re-open the file and have it independently examined to see if there is any shred of evidence to implicate Mr. Dunkley or even make a passing mention of him as a possible suspect. One thing for sure, Mr. Dunkley would welcome such a public disclosure and would not resort to dragging his case all the way to the Privy Council in order to protect us from the truth.

What say you Mr. Burt? Would you actually welcome public disclosure of all the evidence in this case and let the chips fall where they may? Would you also agree to full disclosure of any other case involving senior public officials in order to provide us with the truth?

A BELIEVER IN FULL DISCLOSURE

Smith's Parish

It's not broken

December 3, 2007

Dear Sir,

An independent Bermuda would mean that Bermudians would require a Bermudian passport. Our Island is a speck in the North Atlantic Ocean, and in my travels around the world, I have found that many people either have never heard of our country or if they have they think that it is near the Bahamas or Barbados!

As the old saying goes, if it is not broken why fix it. Therefore let the status quo continue, and therefore let the many Bermudians, who travel the world, have the security of a British passport.

JOHN T. GILBERT

Paget

The chosen one

December 8, 2007

Dear Sir,

I was deeply touched to read that Bermuda's very own Faith Based Tourism Czar Andre Curtis has been chosen by no less an authority than God to encourage the faithful to Bermuda's shores.

Wow! It's pretty hard to beat an endorsement like that, and I can see why it would move Mr. Curtis to tears.

Of course, I suspect more than a few Bermudians will be moved to tears when they realise they're paying Mr. Curtis $400,000, and even under God's direction, he's failed to lure more than a handful of the flock to Bermuda.

I sure hope this isn't God's fault!

BOSTON EXPAT

United or divided?

December 8, 2007

Dear Sir,

On election day this month, the line that divides the PLP and the UBP will never be clearer.

Take away all the words and promises from both sides, and what is left? If you vote for the PLP, you vote for a divided Bermuda; if you vote for the UBP there is a chance we will be united.

It really is that simple.

QUO FATA FERUT

City of Hamilton

Choose well, Bermuda

December 6, 2007

Dear Sir,

I too have listened and read and observed the back and forth of recent days as we approach the next election, and ask for the opportunity to offer a somewhat different view of things.

First, December 18 is E-Day (Election Day), but it is more importantly D-Day ¿ Decision Day.

All eligible voters will be asked to "decide" the kind of future Bermuda will have as of December 19. Bermudians must decide to either keep things as they are with the current leadership or take a chance on a new leadership. Many have argued that to decide or "choose" the current leadership will not result in any major changes whereas to decide or "choose" a new leadership would result in major changes and some fear, major loss. I am sorry, but I need to be the voice of Reality for just a moment. Since no one has a window into the future, speculation about how much change will occur with one choice or the other is nothing more than well, anyone's best guess, everyone's best hope.

I would suggest to all Bermudian voters that a choice to stay the course, will result in more change than most supporters would want. That change will occur is a given; what is unknown is what kind of change and how much change. But please know that change will take place and perhaps more than one might have expected! A choice in favour of a new leadership will bring about change and most accept that as a natural outcome of 'a change in leadership', but I would again caution that the kind of changes and how much change is just as much of an unknown as the other choice.

But this is less about the kinds of changes and how much life will change and all about the choice the Bermudians must make and will make. And I ask every Bermudian to consider the following very carefully:

We have the freedom of choice, but not of the consequences.

The consequences of the choice of the majority will start to take hold on the morning of December 19 and they cannot be changed.

I respect and support every voter's opportunity to vote their convictions and I will also respect the "choice" of the majority. Consider the consequences of the choices you must make Bermuda and then choose carefully. That Choice will affect us all!

Just Another Eligible Voter

Hamilton Parish