Interview chilled me

25 April, 2006

Dear Sir,

I was chilled reading the recent in depth interview with Nelson Bascome, in the .

Mr. Bascome apparently does not understand why he had to go from Cabinet, and why there is no place for him there now. It is very disturbing that Bermuda seems to have such difficulty in finding politicians to represent them, who themselves represent the best role models for our young voting adults. In my opinion, Mr. Bascome does not fill the bill!

In summary, Mr. Bascome, who feels left out in the cold, tells us he enjoyed the thrills and perks of the Cabinet position he held, but clearly still believes it was perfectly fine to leave the general managers beneath him to get on with the day to day business of his Ministry's responsibilities without his active involvement.

Wrong! The buck stopped with him, and on his watch corruption not only continued, it flourished and propagated. Without Mr. Dunkley's relentless probing, flagrant theft and corruption would be continuing. There would have been no investigation ? inadequate or otherwise.

Then there is the issue of his life in the public eye: now while many have members of their family who have perhaps erred in their ways, I am afraid I subscribe to the philosophy that "", and Mr. Bascome has very little to be proud of in light of the behaviour of a son, who despite the privilege of being able to follow higher education abroad, was willing to not only take a very large risk to make a stack of quick cash, but apparently did not care what misery he heaped on his lesser privileged fellow Bermudians. And all this would surely undermine his father's work in rehabilitating drug addicts. But Dad was busy having an 'outside child' as Rome was burning???

Do we have to know all this? It may sell newspapers, but should this be a lifestyle for youngsters to emulate? What about poor Mrs. Bascome? She must have considerable strength to put up with all of this?.No Sir?too much info about someone who clearly does not possess the ability or integrity we expect from leaders. Let him get on with his counselling, quietly. He owes it to the community.

To end on a positive note, there certainly are one or two currently serving Cabinet ministers, who are worthy of lengthy interviews. I would single out Madame Minister of the Environment, Neletha Butterfield, as someone who is evidently committed to her Ministry. She is genuinely passionate about the importance of changing attitudes to the Environment, especially with the very young. With subtle strength she interests herself for all facets of her Ministry, and tries hard to stay informed. (Not such a simple task, when autonomic civil servants used to running the show without interference do not wish to be scrutinised, criticised or held accountable.).

Minister Butterfield remains very approachable, open minded and respectful of the electorate. How refreshing after so many other Ministers of the Environment over the past quarter of a century, have regarded their portfolio as either a demotion, or simply not something to be taken seriously ? except for using it to dish out favours to certain of their cronies and uncritical supporters. (Notable exception Ann Cartwright and her fish pot ban.)

April 27, 2006

Dear Sir,

I would like to applaud the comic irony of having an editorial about the shooting at Swinging Doors, as a sidebar to the Letters page where "Watchful Eye"'s April 27th rant about the Bermuda Regiment, titled "Act like you care!" appears.

It must be glorious for her to be so blessed with angelic sons who do not fight, smoke weed, drink & drive, impregnate under-aged girls, sell drugs, steal, lie, curse, and so on. I never tire of hearing from mothers who stand with their feathers fluffed out crowing about their sons being so well-behaved. "Not My Son!" It's a wonderful soap-box to be able to stand on, well done to her.

However, I wish she would refrain from preaching about the Regiment when she has no first-hand experience with it herself. I wish she would have the sense to not believe *everything* that she is told by these young men who apparently use her as a sounding board for all their sermons on human rights violations. I wish she would go to camp herself and ask to be shown just exactly what does go on up there, so that she can make an informed judgement, instead of the mindless blather in that letter. 'Standing in the rain for hours?' Please. It's the army. Suck it up. As for the rest of her complaints, she should try managing any other group of young males (notice I do not declare one race or another, just "males") besides her excellent sons. She might be in for a rude awakening.

Meanwhile, let's carry on with nightclub shootings and bombs made in high schools. Let's keep having an under-manned Police service stretched to capacity, such that they can't adequately Police Harbour Nights. Let's have some more gang violence, more drunken road deaths, a few more hurricanes, and while we're at it, let's have one of those riots she talks about. But first we'll do exactly what she suggests and abolish the Regiment, tomorrow. Send everyone home. Sounds like a great idea. Oh, and her assertion that sending the Regiment down to the Caribbean for hurricane relief was 'just something for them to do' is priceless. I hope the Premier will send a letter to all the school children that the Regiment helped in Grenada, saying that next time they get hit, they're SOL.

What a peach she is.

April 19, 2006

Dear Sir,

I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the issue of the downgrading of cannabis offences as has been highlighted in April 17 & 18 editions. I support, in theory, National Drug Control Minister Wayne Perinchief's efforts, but quite frankly, I personally feel he doesn't go far enough. Allow me to explain.

As a hard working, middle aged Bermudian man, I don't appreciate being a quasi-criminal in my own country because of my judicious use of a plant for relaxation and recreational as well as preventative medicinal purposes (and let us not forget that cannabis is a plant before it can be labelled as anything else, such as a "drug"). I am considered a "criminal" because of Bermuda's support of the United States' "War on Drugs", a "war" which exists only as a method of social control, the "war" label allowing the US government a legal loophole to effect asset forfeiture in contravention to their own Constitution. Unfortunately, we as a country seem to be headed in a similar direction.

Those in favour of retaining the status quo as far as cannabis' illegality is concerned are fond of espousing oft repeated "facts" for the sake of political expediency, these "facts" having been successfully disproved and relegated to the annals of gutter science. For example, accusations are often made that cannabis could become addictive, could cause cancer, could be a gateway drug or could cause mental illness. However, the facts prove otherwise.

Cannabis has been proven to be as addictive as one's favourite dessert; in other words, the "addiction" is psychological as opposed to being physical, where the real problem of addiction lies. As for cannabis causing cancer, recent research from the Hebrew University in Israel has developed a quinone-type cannabinoid (known as HU331) which has been shown to not only shrink cancerous tumours in mice by half (after 35 days), but is also able to inhibit T cell lymphoma cell growth more than certain known anticancer drugs (doxorubicin, mitoxantrone and etoposide). The "gateway drug" theory has long been disproved (since according to this theory,if one had been prone to drinking coffee before they started to drink alcohol, then caffeine could be considered a "gateway drug").

As for cannabis causing mental illness, a recent study from the University of Cologne raises evidence that purified Cannabidiol (an herbal cannabinoid) has antipsychotic properties statistically the same as amisulpride ( a known antipsychotic) and in fact, the cannabidiol revealed significantly less side effects than amisulpride. Furthermore, an in depth study published last year in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that chronic treatment of adult rats with a synthetic cannabinoid known as HU210 produces anxiolytic- (anti anxiety) and antidepressant-like effects, likely via promotion of hippocampal neurogenesis (the generating of new neurons). In other words, cannabis (and the integrated cannabinoids) may in fact be responsible for helping to generate new brain neurons as opposed to causing brain damage as we've been deceived into believing for so long.

As far as the assertion being made that Mr. Perinchief as National Drug Control Minister was akin to"?the fox guarding the hen house?", I believe that clich? is a more appropriate label for a former police narcotics head apparently earning brownie points through his "guarding the henhouse" of truth as far as cannabis is concerned. The fact that his knowledge of the subject is gleaned from the attending of drugs commanders' conferences is suspiciously ominous, considering that the lucrative livelihood of these individuals is achieved in great part by the continued prohibition of cannabis and the resultant impingement of the general public's right to exercise their freedom of consciousness and related pursuit of happiness. People of Bermuda, do not be deceived!

Let me conclude by saying this: Mr. Perinchief, there are many of us who are suffering disenfranchisement because of the current laws and politics surrounding the usage of cannabis. We are citizens too and deserve to be treated as such, as opposed to being considered as criminals who have yet to be caught.

Our voices may not be heard as loudly as others' because of our wish to avoid unnecessary persecution from draconian prohibition laws, but we are here and we are not leaving. Please do the right thing and rescue this large segment of the community from the legal fiction that oppresses us. We could all use a break.

April 27, 2006

Dear Sir,

Once again CableVision mislead their customers, by advertising games, and then having them blacked out.

The only reason I have cable is for the games.

So I am now going to check out WOW. Goodbye cable.

FRUSTRATED

Devonshire