NOTE-WORTHY
Published:Tuesday | April 6, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Bruce's Watergate?
It is amazing how history is routinely repeated and equally amazing how arrogance and carelessness allow us to repeat the same mistakes made by others.
Take the case of Richard Nixon, who in the early 1970s found himself embroiled in the sordid saga known as Watergate. While Nixon (a Republican) might not have authorised the burglary of the offices of the Democratic Party located in the Watergate hotel, his spirited and ill-advised defence of his party members eventually caused him to resign from office in disgrace. Prime Minister Golding, in his stubborn defence of the reputed strongman from Tivoli, provides yet again another déjà vu moment.
While I applaud his efforts in protecting the constitutional rights of an important member of his constituency, he should be reminded that even if his motives are right, the methods can be wrong. If a powerful United States president can be forced to demit office in the name of defending his 'people', who says it can't happen to a Jamaican prime minister who seems intent on defending Christopher Coke at all costs?
Wayne Morris
Hoisted on a petard
How long will it take before you realise that PM Golding has hoisted you on your own petard? You and others have been clamouring repeatedly for the 'Dudus' extradition matter to be referred to the courts.
Now he has done so. However, as you have observed in Monday's editorial, the questions being referred do not include the ones you want the court to answer, i.e. the admissibility of illegal evidence. Why? It is hard to imagine any court providing an answer to an entirely hypothetical question: whether a particular piece of illegally obtained wiretap evidence, in a particular case, which may or may not ever come before the court, is admissible or not.
Errol W.A. Townshend
Ontario, Canada
Editorial overkill
I was really amazed that with all the problems the country is experiencing, there would be an editorial comment from one of the island's leading newspapers singling out a schoolboy for what could be considered at the extreme, a jubilant celebratory gesture. Now is not the time to tear down our youth when they are looking for support in a society that seems lacking in leadership. The action of this newspaper is no different from the condemnation by the American press of Tommie Smith and John Carlos for their gesture during the 1968 Olympics' awards ceremony, and more recently, Usain Bolt's celebrations. Salute those in our society who are willing to make personal sacrifices to uplift themselves and their communities; provide guidance and less ridicule. Alex Laidlaw