November 23, 2008

RECENTLY a newly appointed Minister was asked about his lack of experience at the ministerial level.

He replied "Barack Obama."

This made me wonder the following. Would Barack Obama:

1. Close clinics that helped the needy and the poor obtain free health care?

2. Spend US taxpayers' monies at a porn king's residence to the benefit of his daughters' charity?

3. Allow unfair competition against the taxi and small truck industries ?

4.Give lucrative contracts without a formal bidding process?

5. Refuse to come out of the White House when workers are protesting because he had more urgent matters to attend ?

6. Ater receiving tax payers' funds to revamp a golf course, charge them more to play on it?

7.Say "I had to deceive you", after becoming the President elect?

8.State that he would like to introduce legislation that would require workers in a non essential capacity, to give 21 day strike notice?

9.Become President with a 19 per cent approval rating?

WONDERING IN ST. GEORGE'S

18 November 2008

WHAT point has Bermuda come to when the Premier says "If you looked at the voting patterns in Bermuda, which all vote in lines, if whites in Bermuda were to vote in the US using the same lines, they would have voted for the other man."

What point have we come to when not a single member of the Government benches says anything to distance themselves from such remarks? In my view, such divisive generalisations are reprehensible, even more so when such a remark comes from the Leader of our Country - a man who is supposed to represent all Bermudians, regardless of race, colour or creed.

Nevertheless, I have thought often about how I would have voted in the US election if I was permitted to do so. How would I have voted in the US election? Are the Premier's remarks true?

To be honest, I might not have voted at all since I don't agree with Senator John McCain in 90 per cent of what his beliefs seem to be, and President-Elect Barack Obama presents a danger to Bermuda's international business given his remarks on tax havens.

However, if the Bermuda tax issue was not an issue, I would have voted for Obama. Why? Is it because it is the "politically correct" thing to say? No. Is it because there is a 'bandwagon' to jump on, as the Premier says? No. Is it because Obama is of mixed ethnicity? No. I would have voted for him because his vision is one of total inclusion. His foreign policy is one radically different from that of the past eight years which has seen an unnecessary war and terrible human suffering.

Obama's desire for sweeping changes in the United States in terms of the environment and energy are exciting.

His language is of hope not hate. Obama recognises historical injustices and he chooses to tackle those injustices by bringing all people together in a manner that can help overcome the legacy of racial and social injustice.

His ethnically mixed family is not unlike that of my son's. In other words, when it comes to the man Obama I have to support him. I don't support Obama because he is black. I support him because of his beliefs, his convictions, his strength of character and his ideals.

True understanding between the races is fostered by how well we come together to contribute to the community through community services, church participation, sports teams, social clubs, political service or indeed our attitudes in the workplace and at home behind closed doors in front of our children. True acceptance of the cultural differences that exist between whites and blacks in this country is achieved by coming together to solve common issues, such as education, housing for the less fortunate and health care. True acceptance can be achieved by working together to ensure that all Bermudians get opportunities in the work place that they deserve, and that seniors get treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. By working together on solutions for all, racial divisions and the baiting and hating that come with it will become a thing of the past.

That's Obama's message to me: By working together we can affect the change we need. By working together we get the hope we all need. It's a message all of us can share and benefit from because it offers a better future.

So when I hear the leader of our country disparage the meaning of Obama's message with cheap stereotyping, I am hearing a man who misses the point completely. I would say to him, there is still time to get with the message. It's not too late to jump for him on the Obama bandwagon. Hands will be there to help him up. There is still time.

SENATOR MICHAEL FAHY

United Bermuda Party Chairman and Shadow Minister for Transport, Energy & Telecommunications

November 25, 2008

PREMIER Ewart Brown says he looks forward to the day when white Bermudians will vote en masse for the Progressive Labvour Party. The trouble is that white Bermudians cannot do that as long as a racist and divisive Dr. Brown is leader of the PLP.

WATCHING

Paget

November 26, 2008

TALKING about names: One must wonder what Government has got left to name after that long-serving unifier Sir John Swan, the last populist leader Sir John Sharpe or the first woman Premier Dame Pamela Gordon. While there is great admiration for Mr. L.F. Wade and Dame Lois, they both led the PLP not the country.

As for renaming schools, what about honouring the name of the man who set the standard at the Bermuda College and gave the new institution stature when it could have failed, the very distinguished Dr. Archie Hallett. Hallett College sounds good to me.

It would also honour a very long line of Bermudian Hallett educators.

Erecting a statue of Sally Bassett in the Cabinet Office grounds is perhaps an appropriate way of commemorating the fight against slavery and recognising our divided past. However, would not a statue of Sir Henry Tucker remind us of a more recent time, a time when genuine efforts were made to end that racial and social divide?

I dread the day when the PLP names the new court building after Julian Hall.

BRIDGE BUILDER

City of Hamilton