Will poker return?

Just read Wednesday's clipping from the PLP blog that talks about a Gaming Task Force being put into play. More will be printed in the Gazette today, I imagine. Anyway it's supposed to help gather input so as to determine whether gambling in Bermuda should be made legal, namely in the hotels.

Some may say that it's just another committee to rubber stamp whatever the Government wants to accomplish, a la the Independence Commission, but I'm a little interested to see if the ol' poker clubs that got shut down some time ago will emerge from the proverbial ashes to lend input. Not that anybody would expect the focus to be on what forms of gambling are legal or anything.

Mind you, I still find the ZBM Monday Gambling Night a bore and waste of time. Lord, that 'show' is so dry and uninspiring. I suppose it counts as 'local programming', however.

Superbowl, another classic

We've been fortunate to have two outstanding games in the Superbowl. Last year the Giants made a late game-winning game drive to shock the Patriots, and I thought that I was watching one of the greatest Superbowls ever.

Then yesterday, simply wow. From Heinz Ward making crucial plays, the Cardinals coaches making correct challenges in critical situations, the amazing interception and run back by LB James Harrison, Kurt Warner being awesome in the face of a daunting blitz engine, Larry Fitzgerald doing everything receiving-wise, throw in some bad penalties (and Harrison's punch of a player later was low and dirty), and then the final drive where Santonio Holmes simply made all the plays, caught everything thrown his way and made a great endzone catch to put the Steelers back in front. All kinds of drama leading to Pittsburgh getting their franchise-leading sixth Sueprbowl title.

Now many will argue on what the biggest single-day sporting event is; some would argue for the FIFA World Cup but despite the Superbowl and NFL generally being a sport that's limited in popularity globally compared to soccer, as far as a spectacle with the potential to be a jaw-dropping event that's talked about for months and years later, there's no contest in my opinion.

The racism question, where Bermuda's concerned

Without a doubt, Rolfe Commissiong is one of the public figures most discussed in Bermuda because of his views on race in Bermuda. By 'most discussed', I probably mean 'most polarising', particularly when it comes to the reactions that his statements evoke from whites here.

Friday's Bermuda Sun commentary contributed by him caught my interest more than usual, though. It's this particular statement:

They refuse to acknowledge the fact that black Bermudians have never practiced racism, institutionally or otherwise

where 'they' means white Bermudians. My interpretation is that he believes that (a) black Bermudians cannot and have not practiced racism (more on that soon) and (b) white Bermudians strongly disagree with it, to the point of the proverbial "being at loggerheads" with blacks when it comes to further discussing race.

The phrase "practicing racism".
What defines a racist, then?
Black people here may, for example, say, "I don't like white people," is that an example of racism?

I think this is the kind of question that gets those completely different answers in Bermuda.
As I, perhaps the last of the local bloggers to discuss race, contemplates what this all means (and I'd sure love to hear your views, if you stumble upon this post), there's this feeling in my head that solving this and getting whatever issues of semantics out of the way (i.e. racism vs. prejudice vs. discrimination vs. bigotry) is the key to ending the perennial "talking at" that goes on here and actually coming together, forgiving past hurts, getting sincere repentance where applicable and moving Bermuda forward.

In the meantime, more established blogs are out there for me to digest and try to appreciate, for example:

http://resistracism.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/white-racism-white-supremacy-white-privilege-and-the-social-construction-of-race/

http://thelittlegreenblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/wish-away-wish-away.html

as well as of course some of the good stuff posted in local circles. Besides, we likely need a Bermudian solution to this complex Bermudian problem.

All Obama'd out

(Yeah, ignore the apostrophe, which is of course incorrectly used).

Inauguration is finally over. All the concerts and coverage and prognostication over every minute detail of the proceedings, finally over. I mean, some networks were busy analysing not just Michelle Obama's outfits, but the outfits of the daughters as well. Insane.

Of course in Bermuda many people are acting like this country is Little America and going nuts. People are wearing pins, shirts, and I wish I was in the T-shirt business to be honest.

And as far as politics is concerned, everybody's invoking Obama's name as though he's really an extension of themselves (or their party). Big ol' stupidness came from the politicians when they tried to make the support for Obama's ideas into a race issue and started talking about how Obama would not get white votes if he ran for the PLP. Predictably, the counter came up of whether Obama would get black votes if he ran for the UBP. Frankly, someone with the same kind of ideas and ambitions of an Obama likely wouldn't run for either of these parties and may be more likely to stand as a third-party candidate or independent. And thus the real question would be, would he get more than 50 votes in any constituency? And I'd say the odds would be very slim. This country has a very long way to go.

Cablevision Bda shuts down ZBM/ZFB TV

I hope all my friends in Bermuda who were looking forward to the premiere of LOST tonight have backup rabbit-ear antennas else we gonna have a lot of ticked off people around tomorrow.

Actually, with all the Y&R and Oprah fans on the island, there's sure to be tons of complaints directed at Cablevision for shutting down the feeds when they did. 5pm seems like the timimg decision was very calculated and devious.
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The upcoming traffic decree

If the Police indeed releases their 'strategic plan' for dealing with the poor driving habits and or high rate of serious traffic collisions before month-end, I expect them to use terms like 'zero tolerance' and the like to show how serious they are about removing bad drivers from the roads and encouraging iffy drivers to be more careful.

However, I believe that things after say, late February, will turn into this situation yet again. (Thanks to the cartoonists at The Nation)

Caffeine-free Diet Coke

I tend to agree, what is the point of Caffeine-free Diet Coke? I get the point of trying to avoid sugars with Diet Coke, and I think I get why people want to avoid caffeine, but now what you have is a beverage that doesn't taste particularly great, retains a bunch of bad qualities (like being non-dentist friendly) and doesn't keep you awake during a long day at the office.

Kind of funny. It's also the last beverage found in the fridge when all the preferred ones are already taken away. Oh, whew, there's a can of Ginger Ale still here. Sweet.