HRC should resignMay 17, 2006Dear Sir, Please allow me space in your column to respond to the Human Rights Commission’s conclusion covered in yesterday’s Royal Gazette (May 17, 2006).

As the young man who was cut off and affronted as a “house nigger” by Col. David Burch during his talk show last August, I was expecting a fair and honest investigation by the HRC. Judging by the commission’s feeble dismissal of my complaint, and their trepidation in taking the moral high ground, the commission has made a depressing and unforgivable omission. Congratulations HRC: You have achieved nothing.

I also condemn the commission’s statement in which they appear to attack MP Patricia Gordon-Pamplin for standing up to Col. Burch’s public repugnance. I resent any notion that Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin was anything less than sincere and ethical by lodging complaints to the HRC and the Broadcasting Commission.

I must ask what exactly are the members of the HRC being paid for? As a result, I have no choice but to publicly demand the resignations of every member of the Human Rights Commission and ask that they do the right thing and resign within 72 hours, to make way for their potential successors. As for Col. David Burch: clearly this individual’s abhorrence towards those of us who regard ourselves as “sane” when it comes to our justifiable opposition to Independence, leaves him stuck in a world of delusion. To think for one moment, Bermudians are suppose to indulge in the irrational notion of going independent is passionately absurd.

Col. David Burch: You may have won this battle ... but the never-ending chronicle to save Bermuda has just begun! The good guys always win.

M. TROTT

Pembroke

Contradiction in termsMay 18, 2006Dear Sir,The Human Rights Commission has ruled, rightly, that David Burch may use the offensive term “house niggers” on his radio show.

The Bermuda College has ruled, wrongly, that Dr. Sean O’Connell cannot use the inoffensive term “grease-monkey” in a private conversation.

David Burch continues as a Government Minister, while Dr. O’Connell is fired.

Where is the justice in this absurdity?

ROBERT STEWART

Smith’s Parish<$>Mail worked for me ...May 16, 2006Dear Sir,I think I have a possible entry for the Guinness Book of Records thanks to the Post Office. I mailed a large parcel to the UK via surface mail on Thursday, May 4. The clerk told me that it would go out the next day but would take 4-6 weeks which is normal delivery time for surface mail.

Imagine my surprise when my Mother called me last Wednesday May 10 to thank me for the parcel. Well done, Post Office!

CAROL CARVALHO

Southampton<$>

.... but not for meMay 25, 2006Dear Sir,I had an air mail parcel dispatched to me from New York on April 26. So far there is no sign of it. In the meantime I’ve received two airmail parcels from the UK posted on May 8. Last year I ended up making a claim against a company in New York after an airmail parcel hadn’t arrived after 45 days. It eventually turned up after 80 days. I sent an air mail letter to Canon in Detroit and a relative in the UK on April 12. Guess what? That’s right, so far neither party have received them.

At the beginning of March I had my home mail redirected to Mailboxes Unlimited, yet I still intermittently get mail at home! Why am I having these problems? Why is the mail service so hit and miss? Finally, when I tried to email the post office at gpo[AT]gov.bm<$> the email bounced back: apparently it’s no longer the correct address even though it is listed in the phone book and on the government website. Also, don’t bother trying to look up the current address on www.bermudapostoffice.com since that website is now obsolete; even though it’s also in the phone book!

COURIER CUSTOMER

City of HamiltonLooking for waspsMay 16, 2006Dear Sir,Where have the wasps gone?

I was reading an article in an English home magazine about wasps and was wondering where the wasps in Bermuda have gone? I remember as a child being terrified of the red wasps which seemed to be everywhere then. Does anyone know what happened to them?

Just wondering!

LINDA HINES

Devonshire<$>

Take the hat offMay 19, 2006Dear Sir,I refer to the picture front page of The Royal Gazette, May 19, 2006: “Premier visits Washington.”

When is the US Consul General Gregory Slayton going to realise that there is a time and a place for a baseball cap? He is totally disrespectful in wearing one when dealing with official business. There is a time and a place for a baseball cap, baseball games, the beach, gardening, doing personal things on your own time. But, when you are living in Bermuda and representing Bermuda through your position as the US Consul General wearing the baseball cap is totally disrespectful and very inappropriate.

Besides, you look more handsome without it and you certainly don’t see other US government representatives who work in the USA and around the world wearing baseball caps. Please be respectful to our country and our citizens and do away with the baseball cap, only wear it on your own “personal” unofficial time.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESPECT

Paget<$>

It’s about etiquetteMay 22, 2006Dear Sir,The first three paragraphs of Mr. John Harvey’s front page interview in Monday’s newspaper said mountains about what I feel is a basic problem with society today.

We have lost touch with the importance of social etiquette or just good manners and how it affects our lives. Many of our guest workers come from countries with very large populations and their cultures have adapted to an impersonal way of life. They bring their cultural perceptions with them so Mr. Harvey is correct in his opinion that they should be taught about Bermuda’s social etiquette.

Bermudians on the other hand, have the advantage of being like a small community and we should be more attuned to our neighbours and their feelings. We are not an anonymous society and the effect of bad behaviour is noticeable very quickly.

Fortunately, it is a problem that can be fixed easily by each and every one of us because the basis of etiquette is to consider the feelings of others. We must also be careful not to allow our culture to erode to the point that we forget what made Bermuda unique and all of us, like Mr. Harvey says must “embrace Bermuda’s social etiquette”.

TRUDY SNAITH

St. George’s

Poetic injusticeMay 22, 2006Dear Sir,To the tigers (Inspired by your front page on Monday, May 22):

To the tigers in their cages & the bears behind their mesh;

Do you dream of jungle mazes, or of moonlit forest crests?

Or are your nightmares endless stages, rings of fire and master’s vests?

Do you wait and hope for changes? Or close your eyes and dream of death?

C. FOX

St. David’s<$>

Widening spreadMay 17, 2006Dear Sir,I have noticed that almost every time the Fed hikes rates in the US, the banks in Bermuda follow suit and hike their respective mortgage rates by an equivalent amount. The banks are currently charging in excess of eight percent in mortgages while the current Base rate is five percent (Fed Funds equivalent) and inflation is three percent. How can it be that they are only offering two percent on savings accounts? Their spread keeps widening and it’s looking like robbery to me.

LESLEY COX

Devonshire

Why I don’t buy BermudaMay 16, 2006Dear Sir,“Retailers Suffer Sales Slump in March”

The above headline is from your Business page of May 16, 2006. My comment on this news? I’m not surprised!

Shopping for even the simplest every day items in Bermuda has become a chore. Come back Knick Knack, all is forgiven! How many times have I heard someone say: “I really do miss Knick Knack, you could buy anything you wanted there.” This became increasingly obvious this week when I was on a mission to find, of all things, simple plastic coat hangers. Gorhams, Masters, MarketPlace — I drew a blank. Unless I wanted to pay $7 each for cedar coat hangers at Gorhams or fancy stainless steel ones at $9 at Gibbons Company there was not a coat hanger to be found.

When it comes to shopping for clothes, I give up. Unless one is under 30 years of age, a size 8-10 and shopping for short skirts, tight pants or tops which leave little to the imagination you are out of luck.

When it comes to shopping for children’s clothing it is even worse. They are children we are shopping for, not small adults to dress in the same type of clothing as described above (short skirts, tight pants, low cut tops).

Not all shoppers wish to shop at the ‘designer’ stores and pay their exorbitant prices. Shopping for clothing has become an exercise in frustration since Triminghams and Smith’s closed their doors.

No other store seems to have taken up the slack and I see it every day the same shoppers with the glazed look in their eyes just wandering the remaining clothing stores in a vain search for quality clothing at reasonable prices.

Buy Bermuda? If only we could!

This is the reason why ‘Retailers Suffer Sales Slump in March’.

‘FRUSTRATED SHOPPER’

Paget<$>

Sponsored speed trapsMay 12, 2006Dear Sir, I wonder if the Bermuda Police would be interested in offering sponsored speed traps. For a reasonable fee you would have a radar team operating on a road near you for a few hours, splitting the proceeds from fines 50-50 with them. It could be a nice little earner.

I was nearly ‘taken out’ on my run this morning by a sports car — surely the most practical vehicle for Bermuda since the ice yacht was invented. I wouldn’t say it was close, but I had to go home to change my shorts.

Yours on speed,

ANDREW R. DOBLE

Hamilton Parish<$>

Clearing up confusionMay 11, 2006Dear Sir,One of the (surprisingly few) things which irks me is the widespread misuse of the terms 12 a.m. and 12 p.m.

a.m. stands for ante meridiem, which is Latin for before midday; p.m. stands for post meridiem, which is Latin for after midday.

Thus 12 noon, or midday, is neither a.m. nor p.m. but bang on m. whereas 12 midnight, being both before and after midday, can be 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.

Far better, therefore, to avoid confusion and just use 12 midday (or noon) and 12 midnight.

Now if we can just convince the publishers of TV guides that 5 a.m. on a Tuesday morning is not actually “Monday Late Night”.

Yours watching the clock,

ANDREW R. DOBLE

Hamilton ParishEditor’s Note: In terms of general usage, 12 a.m. means 12 midnight and 12 p.m. means 12 noon.Shape up, ZBMMay 11, 2006Dear Sir, Are all of the technicians at ZBM TV on vacation? Channel 9 keeps missing the network cue to insert local advertisements, leaving a black screen for what seems to be an eternity.

After the network show comes back on, ZBM realises they have missed the cue, and inserts the local ads late, wiping out key parts of the feature programme.

This has happened several times in the past, but lately the pace is picking up. Twice on Monday May 1 in prime time, on Two and a Half Men and again on CSI Miami, then again on Saturday’s CSI, and again on Sunday’s PGA Golf broadcast. This shoddy work surely doesn’t go unnoticed by our tourists and business visitors, and is a national embarrassment. Come on ZBM, shape up!

DISGUSTED

Hamilton Parish<$>

Absentee ballots nowMay 10, 2006Dear Sir, I trust that when we have a referendum and another General Election a plan will be in place for absentee voting. It is our right to be able to cast a vote whether we are here at the time or not. The PLP were very clever last time to call an election at the time of year when myself and many others were off the Island, otherwise the results may have been quite different.

On another note, having witnessed a number of “near misses” while travelling on our dangerous roads over the past few weeks it was interesting to see that in the majority of these instances cell phones were stuck to drivers ears.

On one occasion there were three cars travelling on Harbour Road, going tail to tail and each driver was holding a cell phone and driving with one hand around those wicked bends. It looked laughable at the time, but it could have ended up in a disaster.

Seeing how things work in Bermuda it will probably take one or more deaths before anything is done before it becomes illegal to use a cell phone while driving.

SEEING IT AS IT IS

Pembroke