Blame the politicians

July 27, 2006

Dear Sir,

Amid all the recent sadness surrounding the accidents and deaths on our roads I have heard and seen a lot of finger pointing as to causes and responsibilities.

Over the last five to nine years we have seen successive decisions at the level of regulation and enforcement concerning motor vehicles which have, I believe, been the fundamental causes of increases in the relative frequency and severity of accidents.

If there are more and bigger and heavier and more powerful cycles, cars and trucks on the roads then isn?t it clear to even a Bermudian politician that you will kill and maim more people?

When The Minister of Transport agreed to the regulatory changes which did these things he became partly responsible for the ensuing deaths.

When the Minister of Home Affairs did not to insist upon and provide funding for increases traffic enforcement by the police he became partly responsible for the ensuing deaths.

To allow the focus of attention to be the aggressive driving of a young man when it is you who has put him on a bigger, faster, more powerful, heavier cycle on roads more crowded with bigger, faster and more powerful trucks and cars and reduced enforcement is more than ?misleading? (as they say in the-place-on-the-hill), it is fundamentally dishonest in a way that only politicians can be dishonest.

These politicians have no problem touting their deep responsibility and diligence when asking for ridiculous pay levels ? the other side of these gold coins is that it is they who must bow their heads in shame and personal responsibility as the toll of death and injury on the roads mounts.

It?s not about choice

July 1, 2006

Dear Sir,

I hope you will allow me to add a comment or two to the many already made with reference to the failure of the amendment to the Human Rights Act. I gather one of the fears of our ?leaders? was that supporting the amendment would cause them to lose votes from the many Bermudians who follow the moral leadership of the AME church which campaigned vigorously against the amendment.

I would like to point out to the leaders of the AME church that Jesus spoke out strongly, on a number of occasions, against the many moral ills of society, including, fornication and adultery, both of which may be termed as behaviours in which we choose to indulge. Thank goodness in this enlightened society we acknowledge that none of us is perfect. Although Jesus condemned those who ?sin? in these ways, and a number of others, we do not discriminate against them, indeed we would be horrified if those fellow Bermudians were to lose their jobs, or homes because of their actions.

How then can the AME church, who surely agree it would be wrong absolutely to discriminate in jobs or housing against those who fornicate or commit adultery, even though they choose to indulge in those activities, urge discrimination against homosexuals or lesbians?

I am left handed, I did not choose to be so and indeed on many occasions it is a real nuisance. As a child my mother told me to be thankful I was not born a generation earlier as then my school teachers would have tried to force me to be right handed. There is now considerable evidence that we do not choose our sexual orientation either, it is imprinted in our brains very early in our development in the womb. I am absolutely certain that homosexual people no more chose to be so then I chose to be left-handed. We are as we are born, male or female, black or white, left or right handed and homosexual or heterosexual.

Please, in this argument let us show we have learned some of the teachings of the Bible and ?do unto others as we would have them do unto us?.

Poor bus service

June 1, 2006

Dear Sir,

One of Government?s ideas is to encourage people to make regular use of public transport in an effort to decrease traffic congestion, reduce road accidents and lessen the negative impact on the environment. That?s commendable but, conscientious as I am, only now do I follow why so many people in Bermuda rely on a car and/or scooter. They are rightly fed up with the unreliability and discomfort involved in attempting to use Bermuda?s bus service. What sensible person would actively choose to start their day crumpled and footsore, having been crammed with dozens of other passengers into a vehicle that may or may not show up on time and may or may not stop to collect you?

According to my Bermudian colleagues Bermuda?s inadequate bus service has been a problem for years, if not decades. Therefore this letter is unlikely to alleviate the issue, however I am compelled to write through utter frustration. I live in Shelly Bay and work in Hamilton. For six months my partner and I have been taking the bus to and from work on the St. George?s route (bus #10 and 11). I have to be at my office on Par-la-Ville Road each week day for 8.30 a.m. at the latest. Getting to the office unfrazzled and on time is virtually impossible using the public bus service. Buses keeping to the timetable appear to be hit and miss. Even at 8 a.m. in the morning you can wait over 20 minutes for a bus into Hamilton and even then it?s not uncommon for a packed bus to pass you at the bus stop unable to collect more passengers as it is crammed full, with passengers standing.

Taking an earlier bus does not solve the problem. Even if you bus shows up on time then you are likely to be forced to stand. This morning we joined 13 other passengers who had to stand for the entire 25 minute journey. Every seat was taken.

Given that we get on the bus at Shelly Bay (which is only half way from the St. George?s bus? destination of Hamilton), this is unacceptable. To add insult to injury a significant proportion of the passengers each day are students who, for whatever reason, have decided not to take their own (plentifully supplied!) school buses. Occasionally one polite child will relinquish one seat for an adult passenger. Daily at St. John?s Road bus stop some space frees up when a quantity of school children disembark but there are still passengers standing moments later when the bus reaches its destination at the Hamilton terminal.

That is the morning scenario and I guarantee it leaves you crumpled and irritated at the start of your day in the office. The evening scene is hardly more encouraging except that for half the year there are tourists squashed up against commuters in overcrowded buses heading out of town. I witness the same situation daily departing Hamilton on the St. George?s route at anytime between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

In other words, there is insufficient service at all times of the evening on this route. Having lived these past four years in various locations around the island, I can tell you the situation particularly in the mornings is just the same wherever you are in terms of crowding and unreliability. It?s sad to say but action to improve overcrowding will likely be taken AFTER Bermuda suffers a nasty accident where due to volume of passengers, people are unable to exit a bus in an emergency situation.

I realise nobody ?can get everything right all the time? but how long is it going to take before Bermuda?s bus users (commuters, tourists and schoolchildren alike) are offered a service they are satisfied with - where passengers are seated safely and arrive at their destination on time? Apparently it?s too much to expect.

On a parting note, one wonders it the architect for the new Hamilton bus terminal possessed one ounce of common sense. On a rainy day passengers awaiting buses have insufficient shelter from the rain and seating in the terminal is always soaked on account of insufficient roof coverage. Ironically enough the roof extends nicely over some of the length of waiting buses, not just the bus?s door for embarking passengers. This ensures those waiting for a bus are left in clouds of drizzle or torrential rain with no where to sit. Of course a lot of the bus roof remains dry, which is of little importance to dampened passengers.

Don?t blame the church

June 2, 2006

Dear Sir,

If it was ?the Church? that intimidated PLP members regarding their silence on the ?sexual orientation? amendment, then who intimidates them when it comes to Ms Webb?s other issue of a policy on black empowerment about which they are equally silent and which impacts a very great many more people? Why hasn?t there been an outcry about their cowardice in this matter?

Certainly there has not been the same across the board outrage expressed at the MP?s cowardice regarding racial injustice, even though there have always been homosexuals in the corridors of power, wealth, high status and privilege when such was not true for blacks. Reputed black homosexuals were racially ?integrated? when mainstream blacks were not. Moreover, we vote them into the House of Assembly, a place of power, status and privilege, so how much do we actually discriminate against homosexuals as a society, acknowledging there are always occasionally rude and silly individuals. Admittedly, Ms Webb has not brought a private members bill regarding black empowerment.

Those of us who are black find it ludicrous to suggest that black men did not join the demonstration because of ?the Church?, considering how little ?the Church? influences them in any other context.

It is also naive, absurd (or just hypocritical) to pretend that politicians should have been so high minded that they should not have been concerned about how their constituents might vote on the next election! What else do most politicians care about and why shouldn?t they? The ultimate responsibility lies with us, the voters ? and that goes for the issue of black empowerment which most blacks are too myopic or too personally self interested to care about!

It is always of interest to see who gets upset about which injustices and who expends energy, time, passion and reams of paper and ink on which issues! Considering how many racial injustices impacts, it gets very limited response even from blacks.

Even age discrimination impacts more people than those likely to be impacted by ?sexual orientation?. How many protest the indifference and/or cowardice of the Government in this matter, despite their rhetoric about placing a value on ?senior citizens??If one is a single, outspoken, black female, they do not have to be a lesbian to experience discrimination, particularly in employment, and a great deal of hostility for no other reason than being who they are. I can attest to that! And personal attacks that are often anonymous.

Lay out pros and cons

July 23, 2006

Dear Sir,

I have not written to you previously on the hot topic of Independence for our fair Islands but after some consideration, I have decided to lay it out very simply.

Bermudians are tired of the many poorly attended meetings that have been held island-wide over the past year or so that only breed further distrust of the process ? possibly due to confrontational and biased panellists and the lack of sufficient answers to questions from the public.

We are disturbed by the flowery rhetoric that has been put out there by various members of the ruling party and particularly a recent comment that effectively said that if Bermuda was independent, the PLP would be able to put forth laws to stop the violence that has recently plagued us! Are you kidding me!

We have grown weary of the weird and wonderful promises of the ruling PLP government for reasons that we should go it on our own, including our own flag and national identity. (As an aside, does anyone know the words to ?Hail to Bermuda? our supposed National song?)

Again I ask, are you kidding me?

I have talked to many Bermudians of all ages, races and economic brackets and have come to the conclusion that all we, as non-complicated Bermudians, want to see is a basic and simplified breakdown of the pros and cons of Independence for our Island.

If the pros outweigh the cons, then Independence should be consideredbut if the cons outweigh the pros, then the matter of Independence should be dropped!

We don?t need the flawed, biased and overly praised BIC report of which many, many Bermudians have yet to read and possibly don?t have any intention of doing so due to its length to help us decide our fate!

Poor role models

July 24, 2006

Dear Sir,

Today started off to be a good day besides Mother Nature showering us with her blessings. I am a 21 year old bartender/college student who is completely annoyed with the events of today?s society. Not the youth in particular but the so called adults that supposed to be there to be a role model in their life.

The youth personally encountered today. A group of three men who I have never seen before and hope to never see again entered my bar at about 12. 45 p.m. I had to endure nearly an hour and half of non-stop machete, gun, violent, and women degrading topics. I wouldn?t have mind if they were discussing youth today and how Bermuda has changed since they were younger; YES, I said since they were younger these men were no younger than 35-36 years of age.

They were talking about how they would chop this or that person up. They continued to brag and boast about brawls they?ve had in the past. One of the guys in particular stood out the most he was louder,d the smallest, and acted like their leader; something that you normally see with teens. He was running on about how he got in a scuffle with a guy and he got a machete and chased a guy down the road... what?s that all about? I mean really these are grown men we are talking about! One of the men decided to talk about another guy; to whom the ?leader? interrupted and says I?ll chop him in his face too.

Other comments like being in foreign and having a 9mm.

When I thought it couldn?t get any worse they started to degrade women. They kept talking about a friends girl and how she?s a fat B and how he doesn?t have her under manners, and that they would beat her in order. They kept on about she?s fat she needs to lose, weight she?s a retard and the list goes on.

I think I have said enough to say that before downing all youth for their actions, even though they have a mind of their own, look at their role models.

Some are afraid to do right because they have men in their life like the ones I encountered. They portray the image of what a so called MAN is supposed to be. Boys think they are going to be ridiculed and called a p**** or a punk if they don?t follow suit. Speechless!