In defence of Dill

March 6, 2010

Dear Sir,

The opinion column written by Duane S.Dill in The Royal Gazette of March 4 was read with great interest. He relates he experienced a verbal onslaught from Rolfe Commissiong and came out the victor!

Mr. Dill is certainly not a "house nigger". He joined the BDA. because it is the party which is inclusive and embraces diversity. Predictably, this same choice will be made in coming months by many equally perceptive women and men of Bermuda.

OWEN H. DARRELL

Pembroke

Not coming back

March 2, 2010

Dear Sir,

For the first time in ten years my wife and I will not be visiting our timeshare in St. George's. The reason is simple. A Bermuda Premier and Tourism Minister who doesn't get it, a Bermuda Premier and Tourism Director who doesn't understand his US customer base, a Bermuda Premier and Tourism Minister who is in the hip pocket of President Obama (the Uighur acceptance; I don't want them in my neighborhood, why should I vacation with them?) a Bermuda Premier and Tourism Minister with no plan for the future and a Bermuda Premier and Tourism Minister who is "out of touch" with the Bermuda people.

Put this together with high Bermuda prices and high airline tickets ... why should we travel to Bermuda? This year and maybe the next few years we'll travel to Mexico and Barbados until "His Highness" can get his act together! He does not seem to understand ... we have choices ... we are not a captive audience, unlike his "subjects"!

MHP

Montgomery, Alabama

Winter of our discontent

March 2, 2010

Dear Sir,

Winter of our Discontent

Much of our lush, green island

has become brown and burnt.

Burned by salt spray from gales,

browned by the incessant winds

from ever-changing directions,

bringing continued abuse

on our green and fertile land.

Nothing seems to escape the onslaught.

Hibiscus hedgerows,

blooming joyfully in

the sun of many colours,

remain tight-lipped, joy withdrawn,

browned.

Less hardy of imported species fare worse.

The glorious poinciana,

aptly called the Royal Poinciana,

which offers an extravagant,

red-bloomed umbrella sweeping to the ground,

has often been cruelly truncated,

its natural limbs grotesquely cut.

Now, in winter, lacking its summer plumage

shows so sadly its desecration.

Another import, the casuarina,

cannot stand the onslaught

of this brown and burning winter.

It sheds its brittle branches

which fly off in gales.

But the strong cedar,

endemic to these shores,

bends, withstands and will not snap

under the onslaught,

will not become browned.

As people always close to nature,

aware of winds, directions,

tides and seas,

Bermudians, like the cedars of their homeland

will bend but remain green

in this browned winter of our discontent.

JULI CAMPBELL

Pembroke

Not surprised

March 5, 2010

Dear Sir,

Why are some people shocked by Rolfe Commisiong's alleged comment?

I'm not. The man does nothing but spew forth racial hatred. His "Big Conversation" is a big flop! All he does is divide this country.

Honestly. Stop with the black and white talk. We are all Bermudian. We must work together now. What happened here in the past and all around the world to many many different cultures was an atrocity, but this is the year 2010, and this is tiny little Bermuda.

Blacks, whites, Portuguese, Asian and etc we all inter marry and the youth here, we all intermingle. It's you older people clinging on to these racial routes. We are the youth and we are this Island's future. Stop polluting our minds and hearts with racial hatred. We didn't grow up in that era. We are all friends. We intermingle, inter-date, and inter-marry.

No, I am by no means saying forget the past. Never should that happen. When you forget the past it is doomed to be repeated. Study the past. Learn from the past. Prevent past mistakes; however, Do not dwell in the past. People like Mr. Commissiong disgust me. But I am not surprised. Under Dr. Brown's rule racial tension is worse than it has been since the 70's.

Stop and think people. Sen. Burch black opponents of Indepenence "house niggers". Could you imagine Obama calling black Republicans that? He'd be sacked!

Sack Rolfe. He gets paid $170,000 over 20 months to stand up and complain and stir racial tensions. He has failed to do his job at the taxpayer's expense. Wake up. Dr. Brown and his followers are not about uniting people here, look at how they act, they are about dividing us!

ROBERT DAVIES

Devonshire

Save the Corporations

March 5, 2010

Dear Sir,

The first thing Hitler did when he had came to power – legally, albeit with more than arm-twisting – was to abolish the separate governments of the states and municipalities. This in effect made Germany a one-party totalitarian nation, and paved the way to domination and disaster.

Democracy is not of a single block. All functioning democracies are nested within each other – local, regional, national. In large countries such as the UK or USA this means that self-governing cities and counties report to self-governing states which, in turn, report to a federal government.

As a small island-state, Bermuda has precious little democratic diversity, which makes it easy prey to dictatorship.

Let's not lose what little democracy we have.

Say no to the take-over of the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George's.

BEEN THERE

St. George's

Too late for gambling

March 18, 2010

Dear Sir,

Regarding the "debate" on developing a revenue stream with gambling, that particular source is pretty well tapped out. The innovators have already cashed in their chips and moved on and you guys are just now going to "debate".

I would like to add my two cents to your debate; instead of spreading gambling all over the Island, what if all of the stakeholders (hotels/restaurants/Government etc) get together and toss their money into a giant pot and build one big "World Class" casino that can out-compete any other one anywhere in the world; in other words, take on Monte Carlo and Vegas. Of course it may be too late for that, after all you're just getting in at the end when only scraps are left.

I particularly like these quotes:

"Even if the appropriate initiatives are implemented, there are likely to be some additional social and related costs to Bermuda if gaming were enacted.

"However, based upon our analysis and examination of the issues, The Innovation Group concludes that the additional identified social costs both in terms of services (law enforcement, fire protection and health/social costs) are more than mitigated by the tax revenues, job creation and capital investment that is likely to occur with the advent of casino gaming."

"The people of Bermuda have to be particularly aggressive in demanding transparency over who the beneficiaries of a casino will be."

"I am broadly in support of gaming legislation that has the potential to improve our tourism offering in Bermuda. It would however need to be done in such a way that augments our existing hospitality offerings. I look forward to examining the Green Paper, and digesting its contents before I comment further."

"Do we not need to look outside the box and find other solutions? If it's something that's going to contribute to us as a Country in the long run, then we need to be serious about it. We need to not be hypocritical. "

"Let's be realistic here and not stick our heads in the sand like the famous Bermuda ostrich. These are the types of things we need to consider." (Ha Ha)

Now if you can put legalising marijuana in place of gambling you would be getting in at the early stages of great revenue generation instead of running almost dead last. By the way, have you noticed that the US (the country that made it illegal and pushed their agenda all around the world) has now basically made it legal there.

Anyway, this is only my two cents.

AL EASTMOND

Belize

Life in the Regiment

March 5, 2010

Dear Sir,

Reflections on Recruit Camp, 2010:

Hurry the f*** up and wait! SHUT UP! Don't talk. Stop moving, stop fidgeting, No you can't blow your nose. Right, put on your drill boots, hurry up, what's taking so long? Actually hold on, wait you're supposed to have your combats on, take off your drill boots. NOW HURRY, come on quickly let's go! Shovel your food, you're late, eat now, taste later! HURRY the F*** UP! Quick MARCH, lef, ight, lef, ight. Bend and Drive! Halt!

You talk one more time and I'll give you extras. No I don't care SHUT the F*** up. Do that one more time and I'll have you locked up, TRY ME, I swear you move one more time and I'll have you standing at attention for hours after lights out. NO I don't care if you're feeling sick, grow up, you're supposed to be a man. You're not injured, you're a liar. If you go to the medic, our platoon will lose points and I don't lose. Do as I say, we're a team but we're competing against each other. Life isn't always gonna be easy, if you can't accept that then maybe you should hang yourself. Six hours of sleep is plenty for a 16-hour day, what are you a p***y or a f****t? You talk one more time and I'll give you extras. NO I don't care what you think, you're just a private, grow some balls and suck it up. Life isn't fair! Write a letter to the editor why don't you? HURRY up and WAIT! Bombs Away...

LANCE CORPORAL SERGEANT

Warwick Camp