Okay, okay, I know I’m a bit late on this one but sincere congratulations to Michael DeSilva on his upcoming appointment to Commissioner of Police upon the retirement of George Jackson. This will be another “homegrown” CoP (just been pointed out that Jonathan Smith was bermudian as well, my apologies) and I’m hopeful that this will translate into a new way of batttling crime in Bermuda, which is now the top concern of the average bermudian. There was a big write up in the RG so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. Needless to say, I think this was a great choice. Congrats again, Mr DeSilva.

So, two days ago the BDA launched. No, Bermuda hasn’t created a method by which to propel our tiny island into the air, however cool that sounds. No, the “third party” option in Bermuda has come out, the Bermuda Democratic Alliance. They held a short but sweet press conference on the 5th of November on the steps of the Assembly. As the Throne Speech and the reconvening of Parliament was the 6th, I’m guessing they meant to make sure that they were considered a cohesive Party before they sent their three MPS back into the lions den, namely Mark Pettingill, Donte Hunt and Shawn Crockwell. Shawn was chosen to read out their carefully crafted statement – which some may take to lend credence to Laverne Furbert’s prediction, or more to the point deriding, of the as yet unnamed party at the time as the Crockwell Party. I say carefully crafted because to my uneducated (in this stuff) eye, it seemed to rely less on substance and facts and more on flowery statements. My own opinion. Judge for yourself on the RG website. Or on their facebook page (up to over 600 members at last count, an impressive showing to be sure) and/or their website www.thealliance.bm . They’ve manage to populate both places with more of the flowery statements and feel good catchphrases with no real tangibles, designed I’m guessing to cast the widest net, ie, focusing of electability more than having the courage to stand up and truly be counted on their own merits. Which I’m not sure what those are. The only mention of really anyone outside the ex-UBP Rebel 6 was in the newspaper article a DAY after their release. I like their logo, mind… it reminds me of something… or perhaps an amalgamation of two such somethings…lol.

(As an aside, can we in Bermuda politics, stop using “Obama-like” et al  in phrases and rhetoric? I get what you mean, I mean, who wouldn’t want to be the first Black president of a country that has that many harmful racial undercurrents by garnering a significant portion of the white vote and do it all by superficially, for the most part, pulling together people of all colours and creeds in the noble concept of change… Never mind if said change has yet to manifest itself in any real way, yet. It probably will happen. In time. But I obviously, and probably enjoyably only to me, digress.)

Their site has no platform, preliminary or no, no constitution (like seriously??) and nothing on any of the members. I’ll admit it, I was disappointed – I expected more from these guys. Let me rephrase, I had hoped for more. Whoda thunk it, something in Bermuda politics that disappoints me, lol. Then I actually got kinda pissed off. Now, this, as many things that happen in Bermuda and rightly so, led to a vigorous discussion on BIAW, a thread named after them. I’d like to say I was on the side of reason but I have met me and it is more likely I was simply being ornery. But anyway, I was on the side of demanding more from my “third option” than what they had thus far shown. A poster, whom is a member of the BDA, Full Fullish, was kind enough to engage us in trying to state the BDA’s case. What it comes down to is that they launched without a platform because they are want to be the Government that is shaped purely by the people. Emphasize on the word purely. Now this on the surface and in a idealistic way sounds amazing. Slightly socialist but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, all it has made me think (and judging from some comments even on their facebook page), okay cool but seriously, what do you stand for?

The PLP blog has already come out guns blazing and “defined” the party as “the old UBP in new sheep’s clothing”, an immature statement to be sure but not one that won’t manage to grab a following. Well, why wouldn’t they? If you fail to define yourself in any real and tangible way, you run the risk of having those who seek to undermine you, define you. Or as the old PLP chairman stated in the RG, define your enemy.

I want to know what this new party stands for, why I should believe in and thus lend my support to them, hell, who they actually and officially are! You don’t want to have a set in stone platform because you want to represent all Bermuda. Cool, that’s a noble cause. But unless you are planning on sitting down with every single bermudian as well as interviewing all expats (them’s people too!) – which would take much longer than even I have patience for and is entirely unproductive – you won’t represent all. Really, that’s not even the purpose of governments. Democracy entails the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. Doing this I won’t show you mine, til you show me yours smacks too much of hedging your bets. That’s a little too mercenary for me.

Now, reading over my comments above I really need to qualify something. I’m not blasting them, per se. I do wish these guys all the luck. Being an ex-PLP member, I would love for them to be all that I and my Bermuda needs. And they very well may be. But I have no clue as yet because they refuse to define themselves, to stand up and be counted, to simply tell me what it is they believe in. I just require something more than what they have shown thus far. Sorry but cynicism caused by hours of poring over the internet in a political mind frame and spending too much time in forums arguing and quite failing to convince people of my POV has made me question everything. Well, not convince really, I just like to hear myself speak, truth be told. I know my opinion will not be popular but I am going out on a limb.

An open message to the BDA, show me what you stand for. Give me something that definitively states you are the better option, that the people that you pull together (like minded individuals) WILL actually represent me. I don’t know that yet cause I haven’t any idea what it is is y’all think. Please don’t expect that by simply being not PLP and not UBP, you automatically should get my support. You need time to solidify, cool, but please don’t take too long. My attention span is very short…

There’s been a big fuss since Hurricane Bill over the Police boat, the MV Guardian. This $1.7m vessel, bought in 2006, has had a long history of criticism from all angles due to perceived issues of underuse, especially considering the price. Minister Burch even, last year, commented that he thought the money could have been better used and he had no input into the decision (as reported by the RG). The 54ft, four manned boat, was bought for large sea rescues but due to the size and the number of Officers needed to man it sufficiently, it is not practical to use for most day-to-day Marine Police business. Especially when you consider the many low shoal areas around our island.

The issue arose again recently when it was discovered that the vessel had been removed from the water during the recent Hurricane for safety reasons and furthur hindered by an RG report that another boat was in distress and was actually towed in by a civilian’s boat. The police countered that no actual distress call was put into the Marine Service and actually were only notified when the boat was on its way in, at which point they were informed that no furthur assistance was actually required. This has prompted people to question why we bought such an expensive Search and Rescue vessel if indeed it is not meant to be used for that purpose (to the point of actually dry-docking when it would be most useful). The fact of the matter is, while this is a larger boat than the rest of those in the Marine Service fleet, it is still not meant to be used during hurricanes for not the least of which is safety reasons.

In a press conference yesterday, the Deputy Commissioner commented: “Let’s be clear about what it was never meant to do. The MV Guardian was never meant as a routine patrol vessel because it would cost too much to run it daily. We have a number of other vessels that are available to do routine patrol. It is not expected to be deployed in adverse conditions.”

The Police Service get a lot of flak about many things without (and some within) their control – especially lately with rising violent crime. This one, however, appears to be more of a lack of education on what actually our Police are capable of and staffed/equipped enough to do. It would be a great idea to have our own version of the US Coast Guard (being an island and thusly surrounded by water) but we don’t. We have neither the manpower nor the equipment to be able to do the type of rescues that we see on tv. Much as in the case of our current Government, excessive criticism (in certain cases that it is actually unwarranted) serves no purpose but to waste time of those having to defend things unnecessarily. And furthur weakens the legs of warranted arguments.

Mr Weeks has handily won the Pembroke Central bye-election with approximately 89% of the vote. Voter turnout slumped to 39% from a usual of 65%. This often happens in bye-election when the result will have no bearing over the the actual leadership of the country. I voted myself, because I’m a firm believer of the idiom, “if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain”… and I love to complain

Good luck to Mr. Young. He actually seems like a good guy (I don’t mean to sound shocked but honestly that wasn’t the impression I got last election… hindered by the fact that the only time I saw him was when I went to vote). He appears to be taking this loss in stride and has vowed to run again.

But, congrats again to Mr Weeks. I look forward to seeing him in my area on a regular now. He seems like a good man and one who genuinely cares about his home so I’m looking forward to seeing changes in the Constituency PLP forgot.

As many know, I live in this constituency. In the last week, I have been canvassed by the PLP candidate, Mr. Weeks and his helpers (Jamahl Simmons, Dr. Brown and two others whose names I did not catch) and the UBP candidate, Mr Young (joined by Mrs. Atherden, Kim Swan and Tim, a reporter from the RG). I’ll admit it, I was kinda shocked as I was not seen by either camps in the 2007 election. Added to the fact that this is a self-proclaimed PLP stronghold, it was interesting the effort being taken. But how encouraging. It shows that neither side is taking this placement for granted. I think that has a lot to do with the current, shall we say, disillusionment many in Bermuda have for the Government, both the majority and Opposition. People are frustrated (yes, still). And frustrations lead to change. Well, they can. Bermudians are known for their ability to accept things with a rather laidback attitude and their penchant to totally ascribe to the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. So it’s possible nothing will change, but I’m hoping it does. Whether it is through a change of Government or the current Government changing its ways or even, through a “New” party (this concept has been thrown around a lot online lately). But however it happens, it is well overdue. And if this is a sign of things to come, can I just say… Yay!

“Stand-offs are situations of mutual and symmetrical threat, wherein the central parties face each other, literally and figuratively, across some key divide. Stand-offs engage committed adversaries in a frozen and exposed moment of interaction.” Robin Erica Wagner-Pacifici

The above definition could be used to describe the “mexican standoff” that occurred for 6 hours yesterday in St. Georges, which ended peacefully, thank God, or it could quite easily describe the events of the last couple of weeks… an impasse between the premier and thousands of bermudians.

The events of yesterday. According to various reports, sometime around 1:30 yesterday afternoon, a young man held his girl at gunpoint (possibly) inside a house in St. George’s with the police outside. The whos, whys and hows have not as yet been released, but we do know that this stand-off lasted for approximately 6 hours, at which time the young man surrendered to the police. It can be reasonably assumed that it had something to do with drugs or gangs as it appears that the police were investigating “a serious ongoing investigation” which then led to this stand-off. I think it’s a sign of the times in Bermuda that something like this, which while surprising was not shocking… at least not to me. It seems to be a steady progression of increasingly violent and deviant behaviours on the island over the last year and a result, it’s almost numbing. Don’t get me wrong, people are still upset and horrified. But there is almost this sense of resigned anticipation – what is coming next?

I actually first heard of the events of yesterday on one of the online forums. It was confirmed but with no real details by someone’s police contact. At first the rumour was that two police officers had been shot, that the Causeway had been closed and that shots had been fired. Needless to say, none of this was actually true (*cough* tsunami) but it goes to show how information passes in Bermuda, quickly and without any regard for the truth most of the time, lol. So on to facebook I go, hoping for more information and what do I see? People calling for those selfsame people (of which I am proud to have been one) who marched the last couple of weeks to protest the premier’s autocratic method of governing, to march on Government House. The reasoning being that since the Governor has control over internal security then he’s to blame for the gangs, drugs on the island, deviant behaviour… oh, and I have it on good authority that he shot JFK, too. So my question is this:

“Ask govt house what? How come the police are trying to respond as best they can to what is a social problem? Or why even after they catch people the courts continuously offer suspended sentences or abbreviated sentences? Or why we as the community refuse to get up and take some responsibility for what’s happening in our island?”

Every single time something like this happens, the first thing the government says is how they have no control over these events because the Police Service is under the Governor’s remit. Does no one there understand that when the Police become involved in a situation it is because things have already “popped off”? The government refuses to take any responsibility for this occurrences but if we had the social programs or a good education system, we wouldn’t find ourselves in this place as often as we do nowadays. Alternatively, the courts system are where this seems to fall down the most. Recently, there has been a proliferation of suspended sentences on what should be jailable offences, or the what is the mandatory sentences for serious offences by law is cut for various reasons, or even worse, people being released on parole before the legally required served time – just in time for them to re-offend, as too many do. I once heard about  a guy who who caught for GBH (grievous bodily harm), received the minimum five year sentence and was released in less than two years… six months later he was in custody for murder. The Police caught the man twice but it’s their fault that he did what he did? Or more to the point, that he had the chance to murder someone in less time than legally he should have even been allowed to apply for parole?? The government want the bermudian public to believe that they can only take credit for the good that happens in Bermuda but all the bad obviously is someone else’s fault. And the bermudian public are saying enough of the rhetoric.

It’s a sign of the times, a stand-off. The question is, who are the adversaries

Let me tell you all how this is gonna play out. After leaving the protest today, after seeing the news and the spin that’s already being put out by the pro-Brown camp online, after writing the post previous to this and reading the statement from the Commissioner online from RG about how basically the premier lied about the police having vetted these 4 men (and that consequently, preliminary risk assessment on them is “high”)… I have a inkling of what’s coming up next.

Firstly let me clarify. Anti-Brown in terms of the protest, and in my mind, does not mean Anti-PLP. I am still proud to be a PLP member. I still fervently believe that PLP is the party to lead Bermuda into our future. My and most people’s issue is with Brown, him and him alone.

But anyhoo, back to my prediction. I think that the UK is going to reverse Brown’s decision. At which point, which may or may not have been the whole point depending on who you ask, Dr. Brown is gonna do another one of his little spiels about independence and the new catch-phrase on the PLP/Pro Minds websites – colonial masters something or the other, the Combined Opposition and then he’s gonna call a referendum or a snap election centering on Independence.

There’s a couple of things that lead me to think this, the least of which is Dr. Brown’s penchant for managing to insert “the independence issue” into every other time he says more than three sentences in a row in public. The breaking news about the risk assessment and how the premier falsely represented the position of the police in the House last week also is pushing me to think that this is less about these four poor men and more about the premier’s endgame. Actually to that point, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna call an election and make this a choose me and independence or take UBP. Gotta give him props. If I’m right, this is a pretty savvy move. Loads of bloggers, Catch a Fire in particular have spent lots of time talking about how the US and UK have created a trap… I think I’m giving Dr Brown much more credit than that. He is a smart political animal, the likes of which we haven’t seen in Bermuda before I’d say, and I think he’d use this for every bit he can to get what he wants and we all know what he wants more than anything else…

I hope I’m wrong. I sincerely hope that Dr Brown, for all his faults, is not using these 4 men like this. I hope he has made this decision because he felt he had to, even though I severely disagree with his method of going so. I even hope that the UK does allow them to stay here, at least for a while. But I think it not to be. We’ll see.

The nest week or so will be very enlightening, I’m guessing. Here’s to hoping that my next post is not titled “I told you so…” And if it is, shame on you Dr. Brown.

I went to the protest today. I stood up and was proud to be counted… literally. Unofficial numbers state that the Anti-Brown protest (of which I was a proud member) was over 2000. The Pro-Brown counter protest (?) numbered at 44. Standing in the hot sun beating down on us surrounded by my friends and my countrymen of all walks of life and all racial, social and political backgrounds was beyond surreal. And it felt good to see the unity. We marched from the House of Assembly to the Cabinet House to have Janice Battersbee, the organizer of the rally/protest, deliver a statement. The premier came out and said a bit about the goodness of democracy and some other stuff. It was very hard to hear him over the shouts of “Brown Must Go” and the singing of the “Nanana, Goodbye” song. Then Janice spoke and he stood in front of her listening, well, somewhat intently. She made some real good points and I seriously have to give her props for what was probably an extremely nerve racking experience that she managed to make look easy. The conviction in her voice was definitely heartening. You’ll see more indepth coverage on other sites online, as I saw many people taking video of the event and wirelessing blogging during the event. I myself just was so impressed with the atmosphere. I saw two slight altercations, one right next to me between Zane DeSilva and an obviously irate Anti-Brown protester but that was a heated exchange at worst. What really got my goat was the fact that the premier after hearing Janice’s statement walked away!. That’s it. No reponse, no rebuttal, no respect. Just walked away. I don’t know exactly how to express how horrible that was. It shocked the crap out of me, and I spent the walk back to work talking to a mate mostly about that. I just kept saying, how could he just leave, does he have that little respect for the thousands of people who can out to make themselves heard?!? As a PLP member, and as a person who until very recently had copious respect for Dr. Brown and who honestly believed that he was the best man for the job… well, to tell the truth, it kinda hurt. But I went back to work and got back to the process of doing my job. I came home, blogged a bit about it and waited patiently to watch the news. I was excited to see what, for me personally, was the first time I can remember bermudians coming together over anything. We are known for our laissez-fair attitudes so this was like a breath of fresh air. I will admit that I did listen to the Hott news report in the car on the way home and was a bit shocked to see how the on-air personality had managed to boil the whole protest down to a race thing. Again. But then, it’s a pro-PLP radio station and one that’s not known for its… um, balanced viewpoint so I didn’t really pay much attention to that. Guess I should have.

So I settle down to watch the news, VSB. Can I just say, I have a sneaky suspicion that I was at a totally different protest that the one attended by the majority of those interviewed. Which were majority of the supporters of Brown – how those numbers worked out, I have NO freaking clue! I mean, 50 to 1 at modest estimate but out of ten interviews eight were pro-Brown? I didn’t see ZBM but have been told that it was the same there. And the Bermuda Sun didn’t even report anything… which wouldn’t have surprised me cause they are usually slow to update their website except for the fact that they posted a story about a Tall Ship that has dropped out of the race today. WTF? So what happened? I can’t claim to know but i’m one of many many people trying to figure out what the hell just happened. In one fell swoop the local media has managed to devalue what thousands of bermudians came out to say. That Dr. Brown has abused his position for the last time and that we are refusing to stand by and watch his unequivocally autocratic method of governing continue. Let me make this clear, this protest for most (I can’t say all) was not to do with the Uighurs in and of themselves, not to do with the PLP – it was about Premier Brown. And it certainly wasn’t a racial thing like Hott and VSB tried to tell me today. I’ll admit that the majority was white but by no means were black people unrepresented. I stood next to two white guys on one side, who stood nodding, and two black young women on my other side, proudly holding placards and saying uh huh at every junction. In fact, conservatively i’d say one third was black… and when you consider tis was all put together over little more than a weekend? Absolutely amazing. And I refuse to allow these guys to take that away from us.

Hear me now, you can’t steal this from us. I will not allow you to steal this from us. We stood up and we were counted. And we will continue to do so until you really listen. Don’t pay lip service, listen. And hear.

Hi all. Yeah, I know i’ve been very quiet lately but yeah, not even I could sit this one out.

“Brown and the Uighurs” Sounds like a sitcom, init? Except, this isn’t funny (neither are most sitcoms) and unfortunately it’s real life. I would go into all the sordid details of how our illustrious premier decided to bypass the Bermuda constitution, the British government, the cabinet (that which he put into place), both Houses of Bermuda government and the Bermudian public to make a deal with the US to bring 4 chinese muslim Uighurs to Bermuda… and offer them naturalization. I could go into a spiel about how there was no real risk assessment done on these guys – in fact the standing risk assessment is a report given to the US by these gentlemen’s laywers (and we all know how strictly honest those lot are). But frankly, I don’t give a crap. Helping our fellow man is a good thing. Giving unto others that which you can spare is more than admirable.

THAT however, is not only what happened here. Our premier, out of the goodness of his heart, has offered unto others that which he does not by any means own. Bermuda is a British Dependent Territory. Which in layman terms means we are owned by the british. Which means the passports we all hold are issued on british soil by the british. It appears the premier forgot that we aren’t independent.A mere oversight I’m sure. There’s no way he actually intended to give 4 men effectively british status (which he couldn’t even if he wanted to). He must have gotten that whole Constitution thing confused. And there’s no way the US would have gone into negotiations with the premier knowing that he was offering something he doesn’t own. Oh crap, according to them, that is exactly what they did – for the UK to be allowed plausible deniability by… well, actually having no clue. Good on them. Not so good for our premier who is now a political laughingstock because the US apparently knows more about his constitution than he does. 

I have said all this stuff and more in other mediums and frankly, I’m a bit tired of going over the same posts over and over. So I’m boiling it down to this. STOP DOING SHADY SHIT! Stop doing the business of the people under the table and telling us “you had to deceive”! Stop acting like the bermudians who put you in power and who pay you to do a job are intellectual idiots and you are the only ones who can possibly know anything! Stop obscuring the issues by attacking the messengers! Answer an frigging question for once, no matter who it comes from! Stop playing games with our livelihood! Govern like adults!

Please… please, be the government and the people I voted for and believed in. Be people I want my child to look up to, be someone I can look up to. And for god’s sake, be honest and transparent. It’s not that hard.

The first black-american Attorney General blew race out of the water yeaterday. During a speech to honour Black History Month, he chose to not take the pithy route. He chose to give a stern talking to America. One which resonates (or should) so loud here too. 

Attorney General Eric Holder: “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.

“We average Americans simply do not talk enough with each other about race. It is an issue we have never been at ease with and given our nation’s history, this is in some ways understandable. And yet, if we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another, and tolerant enough of each other, to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us.

“As a nation we have done a pretty good job in melding the races in the workplace. We work with one another, lunch together and, when the event is at the workplace during work hours or shortly thereafter, we socialize with one another fairly well, irrespective of race.

“And yet even this interaction operates within certain limitations. We know, by ‘American instinct’ and by learned behavior, that certain subjects are off limits and that to explore them risks, at best embarrassment, and, at worst, the questioning of one’s character.

“And outside the workplace the situation is even more bleak in that there is almost no significant interaction between us. On Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not, in some ways, differ significantly from the country that existed some 50 years ago. This is truly sad.

“This will be, at first, a process that is both awkward and painful, but the rewards are, I believe, potentially great. The alternative is to allow to continue the polite, restrained mixing that now passes as meaningful interaction, but that in reality accomplishes very little.”

Now, what’s the solution?