Progressive Minds

Elitism – A Figment of Some People’s Imagination
by LaVerne Furbert

In my opinion, the talk of the PLP becoming elitist is a figment of some people’s imagination, especially those who have gone public on the subject recently, in particular those people who purpose to be members of the Progressive Labour Party.

Dear Readers,

The following letter was published in the Bermuda Sun on Friday, July 11, 2008. Maybe you might want to share it with your friends and neighbours.

Dear Sir,

The campaign in which you and the Gazette have united against Dr. Brown is a psychologist's dream.

The application of the term elitist to a successful black man is so instructive. Until Jennifer Smith, Premiers had no need of an official residence because their own homes were far grander than anything the government could provide. I do not recall any of them being labeled elitist.

The following was posted on the Bermuda Sun website by LaVerne Furbert in response to Tom Vesey’s column in last Friday’s (June 20, 2008) Bermuda Sun entitled “Don't let Paula Cox off the hook”

The ridiculous notion of PLP Elitism

Bermuda College lecturer and ‘economist’ Craig Simmons has branded the PLP as elitist for not dealing with the plight of the common man, and for not introducing policies and programs to deal with what he believes to be the increasing poverty rate in Bermuda.

I can agree with Mr. Simmons that there is increased poverty in Bermuda, and that there are many Bermudians that are struggling. However I find it hard to believe that the PLP and its ‘elitism’ have encouraged this dynamic.

I'm shocked at the amount of white people in this world who are committed to Black Power. The amount of "Black Power Salutes" on the internet is astounding.

Can this really be? Or is it likely that the Opposition (UBP, RG, VRA) and just trying to sow further seeds of division on this Island. Trying as they can do best to attempt to weaken the PLP. Newsflash.... ITS NOT WORKING!

When the Voter Rights Association asks the UK to ban the "black power salute", will they show them a picture of Dr Brown, or will they show this one as well?

This picture was taken by Chris Burville, and published in the Royal Gazette on May 5, 2008.

Please see below.

“In response to the many reports in the Royal Gazette regarding the Premier’s decision to withdraw Government advertising in that paper, this letter was sent to the editor of that paper on April 21, 2008 and to date the letter has not been printed. Although Bill Zuill, editor of the Royal continues to write about the “people’s right to know”, it is obvious that he believes that the people only have a right to know certain things.” LaVerne Furbert

On some other blogs, and on facebook, there have been comments that by the Bermuda government enacting National Heroes Day for October 13 this year and the 2nd Monday in October going forward, and removing the Monday holiday in June for the Queen's Birthday and setting it for the Saturday, that this government is being disrespectful to the Queen. On another website it is hinted that the government is once again one step from independence by removing every connection with Britain possible.

Today, the Premier & Minister of Tourism & Transport, Dr. the Hon. Ewart Brown, announced the partnership between the department of Tourism and the New York Mets to promote our destination. Most of our visitors come from this region of the US, and with Bermuda's location only 1 1/2 hours away it seems like prime opportunity to increase our share.

Yesterday the Premier, Dr. the Hon. Ewart Brown announced the deal for the Club Med property. Bazarian International will develop the property which will house the Park Hyatt hotel.
This should be welcome news to the St. George's community. This government has laboured long and hard to find a suitable replacement for this property and it should bode well for the Eastern End of the island.

The government announced today that the Southlands/Morgan's Point swap will be a reality.

The owners of the Southlands property will gain 80 acres of the Morgan's Point property for their facility. Also an additional 130 acres will be set aside for a championship golf course. Not sure what the remaining 40 acres will be used for.

Apparently the current Southlands property will be turned into a national park.

In the aftermath of the general election of December 18th, we have been told by senior UBP members that we are stupid, insane, ignorant even, for voting for a Progressive Labour Party government. Yet, the PLP are the divisive ones.

Well after a month of speculation the verdict is in. Kim Swan is the leader fo the opposition. After a 25 years of trying to get in to the house this must be the cherry on top. Life lesson to everyone: perseverance pays off. :-) My view of the man is for the most part positive. He is a likeable person. However likeable and leader are two different things. From watching him in the Seante my opinion is that he is a bit exciteable. He goes off in a tangent sometimes. Theres nothing wrong with passion but you got to know how to direct it you know.

The Leader-Less Opposition

It has been approximately 4 weeks since the Dec 18th general election which saw the Progressive Labour Party re-elected to power by the Bermudian electorate. It was also this same election that saw the Opposition United Bermuda Party lose its leader Michael Dunkley as he was soundly defeated by Patrice Minors.

Question: How can the Bermuda Government move towards creating energy security into the 21st century?

Energy Security - The ability to provide forms of energy to efficiently and adequately supply one's needs and activities.

With the BELCO fast reaching it's carrying capacity with the plant resources it has, and moves underfoot to expand it's generating power through the creation of sub-stations, how can Bermuda as a community effectively move towards a greater state of energy security into the 21st century?

So Limey is not blogging anymore,well I'm crushed, he got his feelings
hurt,because someone said something nasty to him? hey man get over it, I must admit that I'm realatively new at this, and I recall one of
my first post about cuba, well someone responded and called me stupid and ignorant,it was quite funny to me,when I realized that some people actually take this stuff seriously.I wonder tho' is Limey

Its been almost a month now since the election returned our Party to Government. In that time, which included three major holidays, the Party and its various organs, including this blog, took a well-deserved rest from the fervour that marked the election campaign. In that time I believe most of us took the time to take stock of the situation and reflect both on how we got here and where we want go.

I think we've had a long enough rest and its time to start a post-mortem, not just on our election campaign itself but on the last nine years of our Party being the government.

I don't think we can avoid the fact that we are slightly overshadowed by our former sister colony now known as the USA. Due to our porximity to them not to mention their country's current status as the sole Superpower (and what one might call global imperialism), its no secret that many of us here on the rock can't really escape the US 2008 Presidential election.

I've written before that I believe the mainstream media need to connect to Citizen Journalism - or network journalism as it is also called - by engaging people like yourselves to generate ideas.

Bermuda, as we all know, has an obesity issue and therefore a critical health issue. Over the next weeks and months we're going to try and highlight the problems, the issues and some solutions in serious and lighthearted ways.

Blog readers will have inevitably visited www.limeyinbermuda.com over the past day or so and seen his new posting – called The Last Post. In it, he declares that he won’t be blogging anymore. I found his rational quite interesting, yet not too dissimilar from the views expressed by UBP Interim Leader Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, failed candidate Austin Warner, and other members of the UBP support network. They seem to be suffering from shock and awe.