I can quite empathise with letter writer Joy DeMercado's plight (May 22). I have a car that the manufacturers describe as 'Alpine Silve' but which the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) describes as 'grey', not even 'metallic grey', just 'grey'.

I have two questions for the relevant authorities:

1. Is this an official policy?

2. If gold is just "a precious metal", why don't we sell Jamaican flags (which have gold in them) to finance the Budget?

Claude B. Manning

godsondis@yahoo.com

Einstein was not a believer

Einstein was not, as Peter Espeut maintains, a practising Jew, nor even a believer in Judaeo-Christian doctrine. In fact, Einstein took a lot of flack for his non-belief in religious dogma.

What Einstein famously said was: "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed ... To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in the most primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling, is at the centre of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the ranks of the devoutly religious men."

Joseph Dormerj.dormer@mail.com

Science and God

Somehow, I found Michael Digwall's letter re christianity, Rastafarianism and Atheism as amusing as the hell-fire comments he attributed to Christians.

Being someone who is scientifically governed, one would at least expect some empirical evidence for the charges made. Is there any demonstrable evidence that belief in God restricts the mind while atheism releases it? Belief in God is not equivalent to fear, and it is surprising that a free-thinker could be so dogmatic without questioning the reasons for the different religious views.

True Christians do not believe that science and God are mutually exclusive, but that unbiased investigations confirm a God who precedes science. If Atheism is the way of happiness and hope without that belief being demonstrable, how is it different from faith?

Homer Sylvester

homersylvester@hotmail.com

Miami, Florida

^^^^

Kudos TPDCo, NSWMA

We would like to applaud Earl Patrick, and Joan Gordon-Webley and their teams at the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), and the National Solid Waste Management Agency respectively for the excellent debushing and cleaning of the sidewalks from Cross Roads to Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth. This effort by the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) has enhanced the beauty of these communities. The debushing was done at an appropriate time, as Treasure Beach is on show to the world for the annual Calabash Literary Festival.

We also applaud these agencies in providing employment for members of these communities serviced. We hope that TPDCo will continue this wonderful project and that such work will be done on an as need it basis.

-The Jakes Family

Jakes Hotel

jakesmarketing@cwjamaica.com

Calabash Bay St. Elizabeth