Jumbie's Watch

Observation on non-duncey behaviour

2012-01-23T12:10:00.001Z

While listening to a radio 4 programme this morning on criminal justice, I was reminded of an incident that happened where I live about two weeks ago.

Early one morning, at around 3 AM I heard a male voice shouting "Keisha! Keisha!", accompanied by a very loud banging (such as a fist thumping on a door and the door vibrating). My bedroom window being open, the sound was very disturbing. This continued for some hours, with the thumping and shouting happening at the various doors in my area. You can see from the photo he was spoilt for choice on the doors.

At around 5 AM I came downstairs. Suddenly the banging started at my door. When I opened the door there was a young black guy asking for Keisha. I told him there was no Keisha living here. He went a few doors away, and began banging on that door (incidentally the doorway Keisha did live). Keisha did not respond.

Then came the banging on my door again. When I opened the door the young man was still there, asking to speak to Keisha. I told him there was no Keisha living here (again), so he went to another door - not Keisha’s - and began banging over there. No one answered. This merry-go-round went on several times, each time he banged on my door he appeared to be more irritated and more disoriented. I suspect that he might have been on drugs from his behaviour.

The last time that I told him that Keisha was not living at my address he became very aggressive, and threatened "to put a ‘cap’ in me". I left my door open, turned around and picked up my phone. I dialled 999, requested the police (in England the operator asks which emergency service you need, whether fire, ambulance or police). I reported to the police that there was a strange man in front my home who threatened to shoot me and whom I suspect might be hiding a gun, and also that he appeared to be on drugs.

Within 2 minutes, two police officers arrived at my door. The taller of the two approached me and address me, "Good morning, sir. Did you phone the police?” to which I replied, “Yes.” The other in the meantime had approached the young man who was still on my lawn. The police had responded so quickly, he was still there hurling threats in my direction. The taller officer again addressed me, enquiring as to what was the problem, and I pointed to the man (early 20’s) on the lawn, saying he was threatening to shoot me.

I was astounded when the police officers, both of them then approached the man and addressed him as “Sir, what are you doing here?” No duncey tactics and attitude for these boys! The man explained he was trying to contact his girlfriend and that his phone battery had died. He switched his phone on, it did come on, but again I was astounded when the police officer took out his own phone and tried to call Keisha using the number supplied by the man. Again, I can’t see a duncey doing this!

After getting no answer, the officers to the man, “Sir, you have to move on. You can’t be disturbing the people here at this early time of the morning”. They still hadn’t touch him at this point, merely walked alongside him to escort him down the long path and out of the area.

Now, the reason I am blogging this is to highlight a number of things:

The response time of the police in England, as differs from dunceys on the Rock. No excuse about not having cars available here!
The seriousness with which they took the telephone report.
The attitude which they approached me, the complainant.
The attitude they approached a possible lawbreaker!
The methods used to diffuse a hazardous situation… keep in mind two unarmed officers (English police do not carry guns) approached a possibly armed, potentially hyped up, drugged-up man.
The effective, yet completely polite way they removed the man from the area. No batons were wielded nor guns drawn.

Sad to say, I harbour little hopes that dunceys will be similarly trained or become intellectually mature within my lifetime.

Timeleft–follow up.

2012-01-22T20:18:00.001Z

I’ve been so impressed with TIMELEFT3, that I’ve purchased four licences for the full version!! Auction addicts on Ebay can also benefit from this big time. This thing will watch your fav auctions like a hawk!! LOL.

Timeleft3 may look complicated to some, but I assure you that it is very very easy. Look at it this way.. if it takes you an hour to learn, how much headache and time that could save you over the next year? Think of all the stress it’ll save. Once you set up your reminder events you can confidently forget about them. Use your brain for other useful things instead of checking and worrying!! Trust me – this is worth 10 times the cost of the software (for me). It doesn’t replace Google Cal, Task Lists or Outlook etc.. this is another tool in your toolbox to get on with life. DO IT NOW! Thank me later! And yes – I’m nearly always right!

All these options are clickable and easily selected. I’ve set this up to show maximum nag/nudge capabilities of this tiny but very useful software.

For things that you might easily forget this doesn’t let you off the hook, in a very nice way.

This nag is for my car’s MOT (an annual health check required by law). If you drive without this it is a criminal offence. So I can never afford to miss this event due in 26th May.

I’ve used the ‘multiple rule’ on this one i.e. I get reminders ‘annually’ and ‘weekly’ from March.

But sometimes when you remind yourself of an event, you need to know what it is about instantly.

So when I ‘enable actions’ I get this window that allows me to select the last relevant file.

When the alert goes off not only a notification is on my screen but the last relevant file as well.

Dysfunctional Country

2012-01-20T20:56:00.001Z

Apparently it’s only okay if the Captain doesn’t say it, so read it or not below. [Yuh know - dee Rockian assholeness about me having to be physically present on allyuh Rock and rolling arong in dee mess, so as to have any legitimacy to diss allyuh Rock.]

“If a family were engaged in widespread corruption, deceit, hypocrisy, and violence, it would be described as dysfunctional and unstable. That is precisely how TT appears to the rest of the international community. It is run by incompetent politicians, corrupt businessmen, and murderous thugs. It is an on-going political and criminal bacchanal. The political faces change, but the self-serving farce continues in different forms. Its politicians have little real understanding of the meaning of integrity or honesty.”

R Wyndham
via e-mail

Newsday Letter 2012-01-20

Too good not to pass on

2012-01-19T13:28:00.001Z

A woman is having sex with her lover in an apartment 20 stories high...

Suddenly her husband returns from a long trip, and she hears him approaching in the apartment, so she tells the lover, “Do not move at all… I will resolve this situation!”

In comes the husband: “who is this ?” asked the husband.

Wife: “oh sweetie… this is jus a robot I bought to have sex with when u not around, so that I don’t have to cheat with your friends or with the neighbours…"

I did it because u spend all the time travelling and u know that I…uhhm… have needs !!”

Husband: “oh honey I understand perfectly well… I believe u… ok let’s do a quickie now, I came home as fast as I can and I’m extremely horny now !!”

Wife: “ OH NO DARLLING… yesterday I got my period… you better take a bath, I’ll prepare you something to eat ...”

The lover is left with the husband in the room alone, while the wife walked out…

Husband: “Damn I’m so f*cking horny... I am going to f*ck this robot instead..”

He tries entering the robot from behind…

With a metallic and robotic voice, the lover proclaims :

“SYSTEM ERROR! WRONG HOLE !!… SYSTEM ERROR! WRONG HOLE !!”

The husband says: “f*ck this crappy robot… I’m going to throw it out of the goddamn window !!”

The lover realises that he’s 20 stories high in the apartment and exclaims:

“SOFTWARE UPDATE !!!! SOFTWARE UPDATE !!!!

YOU MAY TRY AGAIN… I REPEAT… TRY AGAIN !!!”

Grief in all its forms

2012-01-18T20:43:00.001Z

I would like you to look at that face on the left. It is the face of a mother who lost her two sons to violent crime. What do you see?

I see the obvious grief of course. I also see hopelessness etched in those features, along with questions.

This mother might already know that her sons’ killers were found, but then a conviction has to be obtained… easier said than done in a country with a .0365% conviction rate for capital offences.

But lest you think this woman is alone in her grief and despair, please look here, here and here.

The hopelessness and anguish are all too real.

Those who bought the words of Kamla Persad-Bissessar when she promised a crime plan and action within 120 days of taking office might now be regretting that they got out of bed that day. Crime is not decreasing. It is increasing. If murders continue at the current rate, we will see 515 at the end of 2012.

Yet, out political leaders are embroiled in who paid what for a Porsche Cayenne SUV, in retaining self-gifted ‘Silk’, and who need bush baths.

I think I finally give up.

Insightless..shameless and spineless

2012-01-17T17:58:00.001Z

Well dee Cap has been stalking the Silk issue for some time in the background, gathering thoughts and analysing the situation very carefully. This story about Silk has been in the media almost every day for two weeks. What’s the big deal some will say – it doh change dee price of corfee (aka coffee).

But boy, today ah couldn’t contain meh self no more. Ah buss. Dee mark buss!! So ah have tuh let off some steam prematurely. What trigger all dis? Well.. ah read dis article in Newsday - PM on Silk: Point the way forward. Eh? Forward? I’s more like backwardness getting in dee way. Den some so-called Analyst talk a pile o’ cuhraap (aka crap) in the Guardian – Analyst on Silk affair: Gov’t now looking at damage control. But you doh have to be a lawyer to figure that the comments of the PM quoted in Newsday are not about damage control at all! It’s about ‘I wrong and I strong.. so eef how much ever other people do it .. i’s okay for me’ (jess to be clear the PM never said those words – but that is the attitude portrayed). Well pardners I had to let it rip in a Guardian forum. See below and here (it may have been removed from the Guardian because we all know how the media does censor the most straight talking and sensible opinions, but allow utter garbage – Jumbie could tell yuh bout it.)

The so-called analyst need a kick up the jacksey if you arks me!! The analyst is probably paid to cover up the whole blunder.
"She noted that former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, who has strongly condemned the acceptance of silk by the PM, was the one who created the position of senior counsel, a local version of Queen’s Counsel."
Dis analyst cyah see dee issue at all at all. Hand picked I imagine. The issue is not who created SC - jeezaaan ages!! Ayye.. you know how dohtish dat line of thinking looking - hear nuh - it have people from all over the world does read deeze papers eh.. ah mean what impression such simplistic thinking go give people? Dat allyuh still swinging on vines? Oh gord man!

Dis is not a matter of merely attempting to bribe the judiciary. But lets deal with that first. Did the AG and the PM really think they could do that? If so it is the most childish and naive of bribes ever attempted.

Dee real ketchass is dat the AG and two key members of the Judicary couldn't see the obvious breach of the doctrine of separation of powers - a thing that would be obvious to any average 1st year law student. And what about the AG - Mr Separation of Powers himself - couldn't be bothered in the 'mad rush'!! I neva see such nonsense in my life!!

Few seem to care much about the issue of effectively decorating one's self with an honour. Normally that is called narcissism. But hey ho - ah guess allyuh dong on dat Rock a'right wid dat.. allyuh see nuff of it a'ready.. so is no big ting eh.

Den you have Fuad jumpin eeh tuh mouth off how is not the AG fault... how it was done before. In other words if crap has been done before is no big t'ing, jes continue merrily on to repeat.

And to crown it off now - the Prime Minister has laid down what she sees some kinda challenge. What? You eh hear bout it? Wakey wakey.

The PM has made statements which may suggest that if none of the people over the last 50 years hand back dey silk she holdin orn to she one!! She said, "..Should you take that route, every person to receive Silk under those criteria and those who for the past 50 years from 1962 down, are you then saying everyone should give back Silk? I think the answer is no. If we are to review the system and progress as we do in other institution that will point to the way forward”. And this is the abyssmally low level of analytical thought you get from a silk? I'm speechless. What self-justificatory rhetorical nonsense of a question is that? (two can play the game eh).

The issues Mrs PM are not:

whether those who received silk over the last 50 years ought to return their silk.
that a precondition to your handing back your silk is that those so decorated over 50 years should hand back their silk first – ah mean how childish can one actually get?

The issues Mrs PM and Mr Separation of Powers are:

that you have discovered that the effective self-award of silk upon yourselves is viewed with the moral contempt it deserves,
that very learned and respectable legal opinion has informed you reliably, in no uncertain terms, that the award driven by you all in cahoots (directing the President), is in breach of the doctrine of separation of powers - a serious legal mistake for anyone worthy of Silk to make.
that both of you need to demonstrate more self-awareness and respect for people with (and without) intelligence. People are not all totally stupid. You have discovered that you made mistake - or should I say 'mistep'. But the pattern as with the Reshmi Ramnarine debacle - you playing wrong and strong! This is an issue of National importance. Adherence to principle should stand above all - and you should be a beacon of light and leadership – not merely trying to justify your mistakes on a foundation of such utter drivel.

However, the monkey pants that you and the AG find yourselves in now, is one where you’re wondering whether the handing back of the Silk awards will be an admission of yet another 'mistep'. You worried no ass that yet another admission of a mistep will effect your fall from power.

Remember this 'Serve the people.. serve the people.. serve the people'. Um err.. that doesn’t mean serve ‘food’ eh. It means serve all that is right to the people – fairness as well. That means, ‘it's not about you.. it's not about you.. it's not about you.’ Right?

Life's little truths

2012-01-15T01:40:00.001Z

So apt ;)

Asking relevant questions

2012-01-14T12:21:00.001Z

I think this person asked some very relevant questions, hence my reposting this letter to the editor…

Rehabilitation of prisoners to support their re-entry into society is a welcome initiative.

While these prisoners can be deemed as a "strain" to society, creating more harm than good and costing taxpayers, they are human beings and are entitled clothing, food, sleeping accommodation and health care.

Furthermore, society shouldn't be quick to lose hope that wrongdoers are condemned into a life of crime. Therefore reducing recidivism is indeed a prudent option.

However, in an attempt to update anachronistic prison rules one must not lose sight of the purpose of prison to begin with.

Rehabilitation should encompass the social aspect of allowing prisoners to feel remorse for their crimes. Prisoners should feel a certain level of disconnect from society and understand that "punishment" entails not having certain "privileges". This exclusion from society, family, friends and loved ones should act as a primary motivation for prisoners to want to be rehabilitated.

The proposed revision of the Prison Rules in 2012 includes a detailed system of communication of visits which allows prisoners to communicate with their family, friends, attorney, telephone use, video visits and conjugal visits for those who meet eligibility criteria.

One would hope that the pros and cons of these proposals must have been considered and involve serious thought on the following:

1) What exactly is the eligibility criteria?

2) What does the screening process for prisoners who are eligible entail?

3) Who is responsible for the management of the points- based system and the classification of prisoners?

4) Testing for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases to ensure prisoners do not transmit diseases to their spouses. However, what about testing the spouses to ensure they do not transmit diseases to the prisoners (who can then in turn transfer to other prisoners)?

5) What is the stance on prisoners and their spouses who want to conceive?

6) If a female prisoner wants to become pregnant, can the state "mandate" contraception and/or preventative measures on the female prisoner?

7) Women impregnated by a mate in prison equal single parent households not only with financial burdens but social and moral consequences involved in raising a child without the presence of a father.

8) Aren't prisoners supposed to be supervised and monitored 24/7? As such how "private" are these conjugal visits going to be?

9) Is there the possibility of pornographic videos and pictures arising from smuggled cellphones?

10) What is the cost to taxpayers of modifying prison facilitates to accommodate these conjugal visits and the cost of managing these initiatives?

Ultimately, one must ask, how necessary is it for a prisoner to have the privilege of sex in the rehabilitation process? Depending on the eligibility criteria and the "points requirement" to be awarded conjugal visits, it is quite possible the prisoner is already at a standard to be considered as rehabilitated!

These prisoners are in jail for a reason. They are already being maintained at the taxpayers' expense. There are other problems areas such as roads, infrastructure, health care systems improvements etc. that require dire attention.

So how supportive would taxpayers be to spend money to transform jail into a "hotel"?

M Boodoo

Cumuto

A victim of positive discrimination

2012-01-09T10:42:00.001Z

I checked in at a hotel in Leeds last night. The lady attending the desk was visibly of African origins I came to assume by her physical characteristics – I may have been wrong.

Nonetheless it was easy to recognise how easy it was to communicate with her – it was as though she spotted my so-called ‘West Indian’ accent (whilst acknowledging that West India is not a place in the Caribbean or near it).

I enquired about parking at a car park just opposite to the hotel. She asked if I had a pass. I said ‘no’. She said “Would you like one?” I obliged. She didn’t ask for payment and none offered. The pass would allow be to stay until 10:00 AM the following morning.

Now here’s the thing – I discovered at 09:00 this morning, that last night, a fee was payable. But I offered nothing and no demand or question about payment arose last night or this morning. I thought, “Well fine if I’m given a free pass, I’m happy with that.. at the time I didn’t know I was meant to pay for it”.

But on reflection – I think the receptionist last night must have known it was chargeable. I just wasn’t charged. She didn’t look like an incompetent type. I could only explain this as some kind of positive discrimination. She probably favoured me on the basis of a few seconds of interaction based on some characteristic that said to her ‘give him a chance’. To me the only obvious thing was my appearance and my accent.

Well yes, I could be dead wrong – and there could be a thousand other possibilities that might explain this. However, this is how it appeared to me on the basis of what I experienced. By law I should complain to the police that I was racially discriminated for! Do you think I’m gonna do that?

Taking it on the left, on the right and even from behind

2012-01-09T08:34:00.001Z

Last night the Captain pointed me to a thread in yesterday's Daily Express. A comment on that thread is worthy of a reprint, primarily because it made me laugh so hard I almost got a stroke!

"She won every prize the law school could have given. She is one of the most brilliant minds you could meet and in her practice she has an incredible success rate," he said.'

Well Prak! If this is the level of Brilliance the PM is demonstrating as one of the "Best legal minds" then we're in deep doodoo! The PM alone has made so much errors both legally, ethically not to mention compromise the integrity of both the Integrity Commission and the Judiciary! what else could a "brilliant mind" do to create such discontent in one little country? Tell me Prak, please!

As we're on the Topic: Hey Prak where's the "Transparency" the country was promised? Did it get thrown out with the bath water when the two babies (Sasha and Resmi) got tossed?

Prak, ask anyone on this blog here- I battled and went to war to give the PP a fair Shake- I took it on the left and on the right, I even take it from behind and still stood like a champion for the PP-But, I got screwed like a champion just as well and even more!

I went through all the :

1. New Gov't

2. Inexperienced

3. Blame the PNM

4. Country was inherited

5. As a woman the PM would use her "maternal" instinct to know what the people "need" and not want!

But as you can see I was wrong on all front! And if not for my good looks these boys and girls on this blog would've crucified me!

But in any event- our country is no better than we were before May 2010- as a matter of fact the People feels worse- you know why? The double talk and the deception we were fed and is being fed is just too much to swallow!

Park- Your government pretends to listen to the people.

Prak, your pm tells lies when she speaks to the media telling them " we are listening to the people and we will do the will of the ppl" that's a bold faced lie Prak!

The Country has been calling for Gibbs (Batman) and Ewatsky (Robin) to go from here because they have done nothing and is doing nothing for the nation, yet, they are reaping money from the poor people....

They get the highest pay across the Globe as COP and ACOP and they not doing one A. S..S...

Prak- About the Silk thing- I have seen that the people have nothing against Kangs and Archie personally, but it's the Process that your Aunty Class mate is undermining to govern and make friends in the judiciary!

He prak- What ever happened to the Death penalty! YOur aunty Kams get "horse" one night braying about fighting toot and nail if they won to reinstate the Death Penalty, all of a sudden like that phrase death penalty" has disappeared from the Dictionary and her vocabulary!

Prak- The people of T*T are Tired of the LIars and Knivers we have for leaders! Prak, PP in TT are mostly Hard Workers, pay their Taxes while other people come in like "Cisco Delgado" and ride out with the bag of Gold leaving us natives with our mouths open!

Hey Prak- the PP Government have about 200 lawyers on staff and the PM and the AG are all lawyers and what about you Prak- And still, Duprey harnarine and Monteil thief boldfaced and Sakal boasting about it and none of you don't have the legal "Minds" to get a warrant of arrest to search and seize their accounts so the Monies they Thief can be returned to it's rightful owners!

Hey Prak- The writing is on the wall- What the pp is sharing the PP of TT don't want any! The PM take she Husban and a Hototo of Friends and family to trace their roots....Hey prak, I's a Dougla, if i become PM, which country should I go to to trace my roots? The Congo or Hderabad...or should I call it "Congo-rabad'

Hey prak, everyday i talk to staunch PP supporters, even those who write books, sing songs and bend down an kiss the PM's foot- They are fed up and one woman get so fed up she get sores in her mouth just for kissing the PM's foot!

Hey Prak- tit for tat, butter for fat, the PM and the PP beat my dog and for dat, I go skin the PP meoww! According to bunch of people I talk to yesterdy and this morning, they will cut off and burn their fingers before they dutty it for the PP Coalition again!

Hey prak- Remember this comment today! In 2014, when elections are heating up- me and some of my friends will be there to remind the crowds of the betrayal, the deception, the Refusal to listen to them, the way you refuse to do the right thing instead of the popular thing!

Hey prak- You know Bob Marley? He once said! " u can fool some of the ppl some of the time, but yuh cyah fool all of the ppl all of the time!" the ppl who joined COP and Trusted Uncle Dooks all feel betrayed! Uncle Dooks Jump Ship and leave his followers to Drown while he keeps the fire burning for Aunty best legal mind seat warm for she!

Silk ties and all!!

2012-01-08T21:43:00.001Z

Fake assassination plots and dangerous dogs

2012-01-08T07:30:00.001Z

Once more, it seems that Jumbie has been proven correct. I had previously reported my scepticism that the assassination plot on the Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and her gang of 'brown-nosers', was real. Today the Express reports that duncey investigations revealed it was all a hoax.

Commissioner Gibbs, National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and security adviser Gary Griffith were among those who said the threat was real.

But police investigators say they have not found any evidence to suggest that.

"It was based on hearsay information and nothing tangible," another officer said.

Even though Persad-Bissessar gave the reasons behind the alleged plot, the police have not been able to establish its truthfulness or a motive behind it.

The file on the investigation never reached the office of Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard for advice as is the procedure when police are dealing with high-profile investigations.

"It's because there was nothing to present or to ask Gaspard for his advice on," another source said.

I recall that I also said that Calder Hart will get away scot free, that no charges would be placed on him. So far, that statement has been true; instead the State is going after Neelanda Rampaul, the cookie monster.

In other news, there is urgent need to amend the Dangerous Dogs Act. Both the Express and Guardian report that a housewife was mauled by pitbulls belonging to a relative.

According to reports, Sherry Ifill, 48, was at her home around 6 p.m. doing chores when she was attacked by the pitbulls belonging to a relative.

The dogs attacked her and bit her on her abdomen and legs.

They dragged her several feet.

Writing on a previous story, another dog mauling story no less, journalist Andy Johnson commented in 2009:

A law which was passed in the country's parliament nine years ago, to deal with a situation which presented itself to national consciousness at the time, remains without effect because a successor administration deems it too draconian. It would have made provision for proper keeping of such deadly four-legged weapons away from the innocent public. It would have created a progression in which such breeds would have been outlawed in this jurisdiction altogether.

The situation remains unchanged. Death will come, death will go. In the meantime, the ~~cacaholes~~ politicians we have elected as leaders keep playing games.

TIMELEFT

2012-01-07T19:58:00.001Z

This is a cool free application for Windows based computers. So you left that egg to boil or you have that important appointment coming up. Timeleft will track them in a slightly different way.

Countdown timer in Timeleft tracks my boiling egg, while Reminder in Timeleft will tells me how much time ahead in years, months, weeks, days, hours, mins and seconds to the London Olympics! The Reminder function and others are all very tweakable to individual needs.

Why you need this instead of a Task List? Well most task lists don’t tell you how far away an important event is. This is not meant to replace task lists. It’s just another tool that may assist with conventional task lists.

A little bit more on rock crawling culture

2012-01-07T07:56:00.001Z

A certain blog this morning reminded me of an incident that happened when I visited Trinidad and Tobago last year…

Last year I spent a month in Trinidad and Tobago. I stayed at a gated community in North Trinidad. The residents are very select, professional adult people with high-paying jobs. Educated… At least I thought so…

Lo and behold, one day all the toilets in the house backed up. Stinky water coming up through the bowl onto the floor of the toilets. This house was the first, and closest to the external cesspit, (also lowest).

When the plumber came, we unclogged the outside cylindrical cap and used a rod to try and clear the obstruction… However, the moment the cap became unscrewed, pressure caused the backed up stuff to spew almost 15 feet into the air, messing up the walls, the entire yard and even getting into the air conditioning unit (the external part, blowing both of them up).

The cause? Someone one was flushing sanitary pads down the toilets which clogged the pipe leading to the cesspit.

The cost of repairs? To change three toilets and two air conditioning units cost nearly $15,000…

The payer? Mrs Jumbie, alone.

Things to make you go hmmm

2012-01-07T07:18:00.001Z

While the controversy over 'silk' continues unabated, the murder rate continues to rise. While I am not keeping tabs on the accuracy of the figures, I believe it is now closer to pre-state of emergency figures. Despite the fact that all polls showed that crime is the number one area of concern for citizens of the Rock, silk has taken root in their minds.

This is a strong indication that the Rock crawlers are easily distracted, the nine-day memory syndrome is still alive, and that red herrings are still in demand…

Silky smooth

2012-01-05T16:37:00.001Z

A controversy on Silk is a good distraction from a murder rate rising... 6 deaths in 5 days.

Tap up for PM, AG

2012-01-04T02:21:00.001Z

Oh gawd, what a tap up!!

The award of silk to an incumbent Chief Justice or to a sitting judge of the Court of Appeal of T&T is an aberration which if previously committed, should not have been repeated. The simple fact of the matter is that elevation to the rank of “Senior Counsel” or the award of silk, as it is called, is an honour which can appropriately be conferred only on “counsel.” This term originally meant practising barristers but with the fusion of the legal profession in T&T has come to mean any practising attorney. It has also been extended to attorneys who, though not practising, have distinguished themselves in the academic field. There is no definition or interpretation of the term “counsel” that can include a judge of a superior court of record. Before we became a republic those awarded silk were designated “Queen’s Counsel” and their appointment was made by Letters Patent from the Queen. Since we became a republic, the designation is now “Senior Counsel” and the instrument of appointment is issued by the President of the Republic, on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Further, the expression “taking silk” is a reference to the silk gown which a person who has “taken silk” is entitled, and indeed required, to wear in court. Another practical consequence of taking silk is that an attorney who does so is thereafter required to have a junior when appearing in court. The fact that a judge has been a practising attorney (however distinguished) before assuming judicial office, or may after a prescribed period return to practice after he retires, cannot serve to qualify him for the award of silk while he is still on the Bench. It is fundamental to our concept of justice that the roles of judge and counsel be kept strictly separate and distinct. Those who accept judicial office are required to forego many of the advantages and opportunities that were available to them while in practice—one of these is the possibility of taking silk, at least while still on the Bench. The argument that sitting judges must be allowed to prepare for their return to private practice after they demit office is plainly unsustainable. The law at present prescribes that a judge of the Supreme Court may not appear before the courts of this country for a period of ten years after demitting office. Even if this period were halved by an amendment of the law, this would still leave ample time for the retired judge to apply for silk if he so wishes.

Alternatively, before going on the Bench the prospective judge can apply for silk and if he is worthy of it, presumably it will be granted him in short order. In practice, it is very rarely that a retired judge in this country returns to court practice. I am strongly in support of the contribution made by judges being recognised in a tangible way. The method which has been used previously is the grant of national honours. In the case of the Chief Justice, the practice has been to award him the highest national honour, previously the Trinity Cross and now the Order of Trinidad and Tobago. If this practice is adhered to, it will save us the embarrassment of providing our Commonwealth partners with a possible source of concealed amusement over what is an obvious gaffe. Finally, I would suggest that it is time that we follow the example of the United Kingdom and remove the grant of silk from the hands of the politicians and make it the responsibility of an independent panel which would include representatives of the legal profession as well as representatives of civil society. Suitable criteria should also be formulated to guide this panel and these criteria should not include the holding of any particular office, political or other.

Michael De La Bastide

Common culture trait

2012-01-04T01:37:00.001Z

THE EDITOR: In January 2011, I witnessed a neighbour commencing some “home renovations”. On enquiring as to the nature of it, I was told that it was simply an extension to the existing structure and a new fence.

After about four months the foundation and beams were completed, only to realise that the structure was in fact not a simple extension, but a very large and an entirely separate structure that was being built alongside the existing house (about two feet apart) and dangerously close to the main drain that channels run off water from the North Tacarigua neighbourhoods, to the Tacarigua River.

I promptly visited both the Town and Country regional office and the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation to lodge complaints.

More than seven months have passed during which time, I have met and written to countless persons (CEO’s, Chairman, Directors, Ministers, MP, Councillors, Ombudsman). Yet, the structure continues to be built and at this time, the finishing touches are being done, so that the apartment complex (four rental units), would be ready for occupation in early 2012. Plans were only submitted for this structure in August 2011. However, the Town and Country personnel have stated that their site visits have confirmed that the structure is illegal in many respects. I even complained to WASA since the property owner dug up a public road to make his own connection to the WASA sewage manhole (using a WASA sign from a nearby WASA job site), to no avail.

I now ask you Madam Prime Minister, when will such blatant acts of non conformance to law be dealt with such that it is a deterrent to others? Why must I ensure that my house conforms to the law, when there are so many examples of those who do not and are allowed to continue?

In such matters, there can only be right or wrong and this is clearly the latter. Should the drain collapse, there would be widespread flooding to many areas downstream of this structure.

I ask that all law abiding citizens, who like me, have been subject to the failure of our public institutions; to act to write and let our collective voices be heard in order to bring about positive change in our country.

I also ask that potential tenants not support developers who break the law with their unlawful structures.

A Ram

Tacarigua

More Monkey Island shenanigans. A common culture trait.

Bullshit!!!

2012-01-03T00:35:00.001Z

This photo has been floating around Facebook with people uttering things like “pray for this child” etc etc..

On a certain spot where somebody reposted I said “If God made these mistakes, God should require no prayers to correct such mistakes. I will not be saying any prayers about this. I'm actually fed up of God making so many mistakes - or is it 'misteps' in popular local parlance on allyuh Rock."

Well who tell meh say dat..I start gettin’ it in dee neck, how I inappropriate – and how I doh know when tuh shut my mout’ etc etc. One set-ah cuss flying!! Well I neva!!! Well as allyuh well know by now.. nutn doh stop me from opening my mout’, so long as I eh breaking no law or referenced moral principle. God – is not a moral principle. I hold God to f*ing account!!!! Who doh like it chew mat wid dem.

Why? Why has anything in the name of God got some special privilege? If God created man in his image – God is therefore accountable for these mistakes and to put them right. That has nothing to do with my sorrow and empathy for the victim of this mistake – or whatever the hell people want to call it.

But one thing I assure you – no amount of prayer will reverse deformity or disability, or help this child! Prayer never has reversed such condition and has never helped children who have suffered similar. That is a fact – and if anybody wants and argument about it, come right here and argue the facts! Come een right here!!

Sons and lisps

2012-01-01T21:32:00.001Z

My nephew has a little lisp, which comes and goes. He is unable to pronounce the ‘sh’ sound, so ‘shoot’ becomes ‘soot’, ‘shore’ (or ‘sure’) becomes ‘sore’.

He was just playing a game on my Galaxy phone when he asked his mother, “Mum, what’s a mission?”

Of course, that came out as ‘mis-on’.

His mother responded, “ Well, you’re meh son!”

2012 Wishes

2012-01-01T00:54:00.001Z

Health, safety, strength and prosperity to all readers and their loved ones.

Awarding oneself Silk–narcissism of a higher order.

2011-12-31T10:40:00.001Z

As one of the longer standing ‘silks’, it is entirely appropriate that I should publicly welcome my colleagues in private practice at the Bar on their elevation to the Inner Bar. It is first time since the honour has been given to so many at the same time.

However, one must be careful not to give the impression that lawyers are a special breed who have a double entitlement to national honours. The award of silk should be limited to practising advocates who have distinguished themselves at the bar and not for lawyers who, for example, have distinguished themselves in other areas of public service not connected with the law. For them there is always the system of national awards if they are deserving.

I limit my welcome to practising members of the Bar and leave it to others to welcome those members of the judiciary who have surprisingly given in to accepting a title which is usually handed back, not granted, on elevation to the bench. The fact that in the past a Chief Justice was able to persuade a former Prime Minister to deviate from protocol and award the Chief Justice ‘silk’ is really no excuse for participating in the same breach of protocol in 2011. It raises the question of why these worthy gentlemen were overlooked before their elevation to the Bench.

It used to be that a short but very dignified sitting of the High Court was convened by the Chief Justice for the purpose of welcoming new “silks”. Existing “silks” were invited to attend. The new “silks” in their new robes sat at the outer Bar or second row of tables. The Court sat and the new ‘silks’ were addressed by the Chief Justice — “Mr X , do you move,” — whereupon the person moved from the second row of tables to the front row reserved for “silks”. No further addresses took place.

The Court rose and the new “silks” were welcomed by their colleagues. It is difficult to see how such a sitting could be held for a sitting Judge whose misguided vanity has persuaded him to accept silk.

It is only in the recent past that there was any deviation from the unwritten rule that “silk” was essentially for advocates and not for those practitioners who did not have audience or the right to appear and argue in the High Court. This rule effectively excluded solicitors who could only appear in the lower Courts. Since the profession has been merged and there is no longer the division between Barristers and Solicitors, all practitioners are eligible to take “silk”.

However it is still thought by the more discerning that the honour should be reserved for advocates particularly those who defend the liberty and the rights of the citizen in the High Court or the Court of Appeal — not as judges but as advocates. “Silk” has also been given honoris causa to academics who have contributed significantly to legal learning.

The award of “silk” carried considerable prestige but also certain unwritten protocols and conventions. These had a salutary and self policing role on those intrepid enough to apply for the honour. “Silk” was expected to appear at all times with a junior who, if a sole junior, was entitled to be paid a fee equal to 2/3rd that of “silk”.

Those whose vanity exceeded their ability have been known to go without work, not being able to persuade litigants that they were so good that the client should pay for both “silk” and junior.

Perhaps the time has arrived for the profession to have an open discussion on the procedures to be followed and the criteria for the award of the honour. This would insulate the executive from any possible accusation of political patronage in the sharing of the awards.

Karl Hudson-Phillips (in Newsday)

‘Silk’ is the recognition of (traditionally) a barrister to an elevation of ‘seniority’, a recognition by his/her peers on a basis of merit. During the reign of a female Monarch they are known as Queen’s Counsel. or QC. In the time of a male Monarch, King’s Counsel or KC. Trinidad and Tobago, recognising neither King nor Queen, elevates them to Senior Counsel, or SC.

The first ever recognised Silk was Sir Francis Bacon.

Now, in that statement above, Karl Hudson-Phillips was both right, and wrong, in my humble opinion. He was wrong in saying:

“The award of silk should be limited to practising advocates who have distinguished themselves at the bar and not for lawyers who, for example, have distinguished themselves in other areas of public service not connected with the law.”

This has been a traditional view but the rules have been relaxed and solicitors have now been recognised as Silks. One should note that solicitors and barristers are two separate recognised positions in England, the distinction being as follows:

“Before the unification of the Supreme Court under the Judicature Act 1873, solicitors practised in the Chancery Courts, attorneys practised in the Common Law courts and proctors practised in the Ecclesiastical Courts. After 1873 the titles of "attorney" and "proctor" disappeared as terms relating solely to legally qualified persons, being replaced by "Solicitor of the Supreme Court" in all courts.^[2] Since the replacement of the House of Lords with the Supreme Court the full title of a solicitor is now “solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales”.^[3]

The term "attorney" is however still used under English law to refer to someone legally appointed or empowered (who may but need not be legally qualified) to act for another person. Currently, the term is most commonly used to refer to someone so appointed under the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to act in this manner in a Lasting Power of Attorney.

In the English legal system, solicitors traditionally dealt with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts although solicitors were required to engage a barrister as advocate in a High Court or above after the profession split in two.” [Wikipedia]

In Trinidad and Tobago, the positions are merged.

Karl Hudson Phillips was right in implying that sitting members of the Judiciary ought not be awarded Silk. I also think it is a bit self-indulgent and narcissistic to award oneself this honour, as did Anand Ramlogan and Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Kamla Persad-Bissessar has not distinguished herself in any way, either as a barrister or solicitor and cannot be said deserving of Silk.

In the case of Ramlogan, I can say he at least deserves the honour, having made his ‘name’ during the course of his career. To award himself the honour is a bit much, isn’t it? Recognition should come from one’s peers, which is why I propose a committee from the Law Association to compile a list of nominees and a vote taken by members to award Silk.

Any thoughts?

Blogger on Android

2011-12-30T23:44:00.001Z

It just occurred to me to check whether there was an Android app for Blogger. There is.

Installed and in use. Expect short updates.

Welcome to normality

2011-12-28T05:37:00.001Z

Christmas… a time of peace on earth and goodwill towards men…

Or is it?

8 killed over holiday weekend

The dead people have been identified as army Sgt George Sheldon Froix, Sheldon "Nippy" Gillman, Kern "Chucky" Mitchell, Anil Bhagwandass, Brent Dickson, Noel Marcano, Amanda Phillip and Krishandath "Trudy" Ramesar.

Welcome to normality.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T11:15:00.001Z

To one and all.

Unconstitutional Appointment?

2011-12-23T12:05:00.001Z

While researching the dismissal of Nizam Mohammed from the Police Service Commission, I came across a rather startling discovery:

The appointments of Nizam Mohammed and Ramesh Deosaran as ‘Chairman’ of the Police Service Commission, appear to be unconstitutional!

The Government portal website says:

“The Office of the President advises that after due consultation the House of Representatives, having approved a Notification from the President with respect to the service of Professor Ramesh Deosaran as a Member of the Police Service Commission, His Excellency Timothy Hamel-Smith, Acting President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, has appointed Professor Ramesh Deosaran to be a Member of the Police Service Commission and, acting in his own discretion in accordance with the Constitution, has appointed Professor Deosaran as Chairman of the Police Service Commission, for a period of three years, with effect from the 13th April, 2011.”

Now, the President acting on his own discretion is one thing, but I question the part about “in accordance with the Constitution”, for the following reason:

The Constitution actually says, in Section 122.3:

“3. The Chairman of the Police Service Commission shall be either the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman of the Public Service Commission.”

Given that the position of Chairman is specified as to who can actually be appointed, in no less a place as the supreme law of the country, how then can the President (or acting President) appoint someone who is not the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the Public Service Commission to the position of Chairman of the Police Service Commission? Or have these (previous) Chairmen also been appointed as either the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the Public Service Commission also?

As far as I am aware, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission is Christopher Thomas. I wonder who is the Deputy Chairman? I have been trying to find out the composition of the Public Services Commission without success, so if anyone can enlighten me, I will be grateful.

It appears that the President has made not one, but at least two ultra vires appointment, in that none of these men have been appointed to the Public Service Commission as either Chairman or Deputy Chairman.

(PS: I have tagged this under ‘culture’ as it reflects what I think Trinidad culture (in part) to be… ignorance and disregard for the rule of law.)

Addendum:

HM Castillo wrote in:

Jumbie only one of the names you mentioned there (Nizam Mohammed) relates to the Police Services Commission. Both Eric St Cyr and Ken Gordon relate to the Integrity Commission, or did I miss something?

But I did see, what you have written as stated in section 122:3 of the constitution. There does not seem to be any constitutional amendments either.

I wonder what's the real story here?

Interesting work Jumbies _watch. The seasons best to you!

Thanks, HM Castillo. I have amended.

HM Castillo has written in yet again:

“JumbiesWatch, found the answer to your query. The Constitution was amended by Act 6 of 2006 - Section 4, which amends section 122 as follows: -

4. The Constitution is amended in section 122 by repealing subsections (2), (3) and (4) and substituting the following subsections:

(2) The members of the Police Service Commission shall be appointed by the President in accordance with this section.

(3) The President shall, after consultation with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition nominate persons, who are qualified and experienced in the disciplines of law, finance, sociology or management, to be appointed as members of the Police Service Commission".

The Act was proclaimed oh January 1, 2007. "

Victim of a Lynch mob, or Political correctness gone mad?

2011-12-21T19:49:00.001Z

Warning! This post is not for headline hungry Rock-huggers. It is a long and in-depth look into a very serious and far reaching issue.

It’s now stale news of course that Nizam Mohammed was sacked by the President on 2011-04-04 in close approximation to apparently very unsavoury comments made at a Joint Select Committee (JSC) meeting on 2011-03-25, tasked with evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the Police Service Commission. Those comments were said to be of a racist nature. In addition it was asserted that NM did not have the authority to “fix” any ethnic imbalance in the ~~Duncey~~ Police Service – even though he was head of the Police Service Commission. At the outset I must declare that I hold no political affiliations anywhere. My motive for exploring this matter is largely about how human beings – who are supposed to be intelligent - are ruled by primitive forces that confound the application cognitive abilities.

What did Nizam Mohammed actually say? He said

"Out of ten Assistant Commissioners of Police, you don't have a single one of Indian origin. Out of three Deputy Commissioners, none of Indian origin. Well we have one Commissioner of Police. Senior Superintendent, you have 15 all of African origin, none of Indian origin.

Happily when you look at the figures, you see at the Superintendent level, you have 21 of African origin and ten of East Indian origin and since within recent times, we have been emphasising the question of meritocracy as opposed to seniority, and Monday coming, Superintendents should be writing their exams. The better ones may move to Senior Superintendents and you may have a better mixture, and you cannot approach a matter like this in an inflammatory, passionate, emotional kind of way.

Fifty per cent of this country are people of East Indian origin and you are asking them to support the Police Service...They have to provide the Police Service with information…They have to feel protected by the Police Service and when they see the hierarchy of the Police Service is as imbalanced as is reflected in these figures and the chairman of the commission intends to tackle these things you understand why...you understand why the guns are being aimed at me, but I have a job to do and this is what I am going to do. I intend to address this with the help of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Nizam Mohammed outlined the following facts (which have not been disputed to date)

•Ten Assistant Commissioners of Police—No East Indians.
•Three Deputy Commissioners of Police—No East Indians.
•15 Senior Superintendents—No East Indians.
•31 Superintendents—21 Africans and ten East Indians.

What did the media say?

TT Express 2011-03-25: “…suggested that it was his intention to balance the ethnic composition of the Police Service.”
TT Guardian 2011-03-26: “..there are too many Africans in the hierarchy of T&T Police Service and he intends to address the issue with assistance from the Parliament.”
TT Guardian 2011-04-03: “His comments to adjust the ethnic composition in the T&T Police Service have sparked widespread debate..”

What did politicians and political parties say?

COP (as reported in TT Express 2011-04-29)

"The National Executive discussed the matter thoroughly. The COP wishes to reiterate the commitment of the COP to fairness, equality, racial harmony and the values of national unity, all of which are enshrined in the preamble to the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago.

"To this end, the National Executive of the Congress of the People once again completely distances itself from the irresponsible and divisive statements made by the PSC chairman. Further, it calls upon the Honourable Prime Minister to advise His Excellency the President that the appointment of Mr Mohammed as chairman of the Police Service Commission be revoked with immediate effect."

The Prime Minister’s statement (excerpted from TT Guardian 2011-03-29)
”The five leaders that formed the political grouping that brought this Government to power is the broadest-based representation ever held in this nation and the insularity propagated by Mr Mohammed’s reckless and senseless comments run against the very grain of the philosophy that now governs this country. Mr Mohammed must be held accountable for his inflammatory and unwise remarks which in no way represent the views of the Government.

Statements, such as the one by Mr Mohammed, are divisive and serve no useful purpose other than to undermine the trust that is reposed in him as the chairman of the Police Service Commission. Our mission as a Government is to embrace everyone, to create a meritocracy based on people’s ability to do their jobs, Race must not and will never be a consideration. Whatever our ethnic origins, we are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago first and our Government believes the words of our National Anthem, “here every creed and race finds an equal place,” express a philosophy that determines the way this Government functions today.”

Chandresh Sharma (TT Express 2011-03-29)
"I hope, in the process, we do not shoot the messenger. My understanding is that some statistics were provided and presented and perhaps one may be questioning the manner in which it was presented, or the remarks that may have been associated with it, but we must not avoid at any time real information and it was only presented to be addressed.”
Rowley (TT Express 2011-03-29)
"Nizam Mohammed's behaviour as chairman of the PSC has become even more untenable in the face of his reckless, self-serving comments ... in which he outlined for himself the task of redressing perceived racial discrimination in the Police Service. Mr Mohammed's unfortunate statement does not only attack the integrity of previous Police Service Commissions but also disturbs the morale of the Police Service and threatens the social fabric of stability which has been the hallmark of our existence as a multi-ethnic society.”

The root of a problem?

Anand Ramlogan 2008-10-28 Exposing Discrimination – Amazingly Ramlogan himself said:
“Thus, for example, there may be an equal number of Indian police officers in the lower ranks of the Police Service. There are, however, none on the executive of the Police Service, and few in the hierarchy.”
Anand Ramlogan 2009-03-05 Manipulating promotions – and followed up:
“There is the perception that interviews are being held to correct any imbalances that result from the objectively assessed theoretical promotion examinations.
I had refused to believe this until recently, when I realized that the Police Commissioner had quietly reversed a policy decision he had made to award marks to officers based on an officer’s grade in CXC or GCE or his marks at the promotion examination for English Language. Officers would receive up to a maximum of 35 points. The pie chart of potential appointees must have caused great alarm because the policy was suddenly changed.
Instead of awarding a score based on one’s grade or examination marks, Mr Philbert has revered his policy and decided that ALL officers would receive the maximum of 35 points REGARDLESS of their grade or score. So an officer with a distinction or someone who scored 90% would receive the same amount of points as the one that barely scraped through and obtained a grade C or 40 marks! So much for the promised change, Mr Philbert!
The incongruity in officers scoring high in the examination but being marked down in the interview reinforces this perception. The fact that the authorities refuse to have an ethnically balanced interview panel only adds fuel to the fire. Indo-Trini police officers feel that the odds are stacked against them. Why nothing is done about such an obvious legitimate grouse is a mystery that only the Police Commissioner, the Police Service Commission and the Minister of National Security can answer.”
Anand Ramlogan 2009-11-12 Qualified but rejected - Statistics:
“…provide irrefutable evidence about the exclusion of Indo-Trinis from state corporations. The figures are probably no different in the foreign service, security service and public service in general. The reverse is probably true when the UNC was in power. The pendulum swung from one corner to the next. Can we ever realize that elusive dream of equality and meritocracy? Something for the reformers of our constitution to think about.

The overspill?A spat between Anand Ramlogan and Keith Rowley led to the latter being referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee [TT Newsday 2011-05-15]

Other learned comment following the sacking of Mr Mohammed?

In a letter authored by Israel Khan to Dwayne Gibbs and Nizam Mohammed, Khan [TT Express 2011-04-03] stated that, "hundreds of thousands of citizens that the Police Service ought to reflect cosmopolitan Trinidad and Tobago. I am sure that if you take a head count of the Police Service you will see that it is lopsided in that more than 90 per cent of its members are of African origin.. every effort should be made to include citizens of East Indian origin into the Police Service in order to reflect that in this country every creed and race finds an equal place". East Indians do not usually apply to become members of the Police Service?; Or are they being discriminated against in favour of African applicants?; Or maybe, they do not meet the criteria for selection.” Khan suggest that it be investigated, “.. why the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is lopsided in favour of African membership". Correspondence containing further statistics were exchanged on this issue.

Dr Kwame Nantambu at Trinicenter has given a reasonable and indepth analysis of the situation. It is worthwhile reading and evaluating this too. Dr Nantambu concluded, “Mr. Mohammed committed no sin; he committed no crime; he did absolutely nothing wrong and since President George Richards has revoked his appointmernt as chairman of the PSC, then, it is incumbent upon Mr. Nizam Mohammed "to do the right thing" and sue the State for wrongful dismissal from office. This is the principled thing for him to do.

The bottom-line is that Mr. Mohammed's public comment to the JSC brought to the fore the stark reality that contrary to the lyrics/spirit/sentiment of our constitution, as of April 2011, T&T is a place "where every creed and race (do not find) an equal place."

Conclusions

It is clear that Nizam Mohammed referred to an imbalance of the ethnic distribution of Police officers in various ranks in the service.
The statistics he provided were well known to many people, and based on hard facts. Even Anand Ramlogan knew what they were like in 2009 and what the skew was.
There is no evidence that it was not his business not to comment on the statistics.
He thought it was an issue that was to be addressed and he said so.
There is nothing - no reason or reference to facts – that suggest that it was not within his remit to make these observations or seek to address the imbalance.
He had stated that he would seek to address the imbalance with the assistance of Parliament. That clearly indicated that he did not intend to champion an issue without consultation or proper support.
There is no factual evidence that NM had embarked or was intending to embark on a single-handed process that would fix or correct the imbalance. He had never uttered a form of words that indicated that his actions would be of that nature.
There is evidence (above) that the media did use a form of words that interpreted for the public what NM had said. However, such interpretations were disconnected from anything that NM had said.
Nizam Mohammed never said that there were too many black (or Afro-Trinidadian officers) in any rank of the Police Service.
“Address” was taken to mean “fix” by certain persons. However, no one in authority or power sought to clarify directly with NM what exactly he meant.
Instead the authorities concluded that his utterances of the facts – as were widely known from at least 2009 – were senseless, reckless and insular.
I address what was said above and what was reported – I certainly do not attempt to fix anything. If by an exposure to the facts people adjust their attitudes and opinions that is fine. If they don’t that is also fine.

Declaration: I do not know Nizam Mohammed personally or otherwise. I have never met the man or anyone known to be his friend or relative. I have never had dealings with Nizam Mohammed or anyone knowingly associated with him. I have no allegiance to any political party anywhere. The above exposure of what I have found is not intent on exonerating Nizam Mohammed of anything he is accused of, or any negative findings made about him.

Blackberry problem?

2011-12-20T23:11:00.001Z

British humour, the best.

Heigh Ho, Max … Mazin rides again

2011-12-20T00:48:00.001Z

Mazin back in the news…

He is suing the President for firing his arse from the Police Service Commission (he was replaced by lime-lighter Deosaran).

First, we should realise why Mazin was fired. Not only did he shame the Commission and the country (note, not himself eh) when he got tangled with two police officers carrying out their duties and then pulled rank on them, he then claimed it was his job to correct the ethnic imbalance in the police service.

Now the first incident could have been forgiven, and indeed appeared to have been. The second was not exactly as outrageous or as openly confrontational as the first, but was more insidious in my opinion. As I stated at the time:

Mazin's statement that he was there in the Police Service Commission to correct the imbalance is totally incorrect. Morally and legally that was not his role. His position is now untenable given his openly stated views. From now on if he remains, when any Indian officer is promoted, one would have to wonder whether that officer was promoted on the basis of merit or "to correct the ethnic imbalance". Mazin has therefore put the entire Public Service Commission in a position of distrust and doubt. The government has now been left with no choice - Mazin has to go!

Mazin now claims that “he expressly stated to the JSC that he did not advocate affirmative action, but meritocracy.” Nothing presented so far supports that claim.

The Express reports that:

…(Richards) had consulted with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, and had received two letters from three members of the PSC, complaining about his chairmanship.

Mohammed claims he was told by President Richards that the reference to ethnic imbalance in the Police Service at the highest rank was outside the remit of the PSC and amounted to "irresponsibility".

Mohammed also stated, in court documents, he was told by the President that the complaints of the three members of the PSC meant that, in failing to hold the membership of the Commission together, he was "incompetent" within the meaning of Section 122A(1) (f) of the Constitution

Now, the removal of a Commission member or Chairman need not be on ‘irresponsibility’ or being ‘incompetent’ but (in Section 126.4 the word used is) ‘misbehaviour’. If that wasn’t enough, there is also in the same section the words “any other cause”. By making his comment that he was there to comment on ethnic imbalance, did Mazin ‘misbehave’ in his office? My opinion is that he did, taking onto himself a role that is neither moral nor constitutional.

I also query his claim that he spoke under cover of Parliamentary Privilege. Not being a member of Parliament, and the forum being a Joint Select Committee meeting held in the Parliamentary Chamber but itself not being a session of Parliament, does that qualify him to claim Parliamentary Privilege? Seems dodgy at best.

Still the legal ramifications of this case is fascinating.

One one hand, the Office of President is insulated against legal action as written in the Constitution, specifically Sections 80.1(a) which authorises him “(in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or a Minister acting under the general authority of the Cabinet, except in cases where other provision is made by this Constitution or such other law, and, without prejudice to the generality of this exception, in cases where by this Constitution or such other law he is required to act- :

a) to act at his discretion”, and

Section 80.2 which states “Where by this Constitution the President is required to act in accordance with the advice of, or after consultation with, any person or authority, the question whether he has in any case so acted shall not be enquired into in any court.”

There also remains the fact that 3 members of the Commission wrote to the President withdrawing their support of Mazin. Since this represents the majority of 5 members, Mazin cannot now claim to command the majority required to perform as Chairman.

Section 38.- 1. Subject to section 36, the President shall not be answerable to any court for the performance of the functions of his office or for any act done by him in the performance of those functions.

Mazin claims “Section 38 (1) does not preclude the court from enquiring whether the President exercised his power of termination in contravention of Mohammed's right to due process and procedural fairness.”

This is where things get unclear. Can the Court enquire into the President’s conduct and action via a ‘backdoor’? Will this go to the Privy Council?

There are a lot more reasons other than Section 38.1 why Mazin had to go. However, a review of Section 38.1 might see me in London at the Privy Council… again.

Hotness revealed

2011-12-17T08:45:00.001Z

Trinidad and Tobago, aside from being naturally hot, has a reputation for being hot – and I don’t mean just the women and underage school girls.

On the world stage, THE hottest pepper in the world is named the Trinidad Butch T (T for Taylor) Scorpion. As you can see from the photo on the left, the pepper has a scorpion-like ‘tail’. The pepper measures a ‘scorching 1,463,700 Scoville heat units, making it hotter than the Naga Viper's 1,382,118 Scoville heat units’.

Ironically, as with many things, the Butch T is named after a foreigner, and is marketed and popularised by said foreigner. It is grown in Australia, of all places.

The video below shows the history of the ‘Scorpion’ and how it moved from Trinidad, to Maryland, USA and thence to Australia. Maybe it is part of the Trinidadian culture for foreigners to market the resources much better than short-sighted Trinidadians ever can.

The photo on the right shows a partial list of some of the world’s hottest peppers. The one on the left a hot sauce made from the Scorpion.

The reason for this post is because yesterday my visiting family (mum, sisters, brother and nephew) along with myself and Punks went to a restaurant called Nandos for lunch and met their ‘extra-hot’ piri-piri sauce.

Piri-piri peppers are bird’s eye peppers, or as commonly known in Trinidad, bird peppers. Of course, their extra-hot hot sauce at Nandos and even extra extra-hot sauce, pales in comparison to my home cooking. Even my 6 years old nephew had no problems with the extra-hot which he used as ‘dipping sauce’ for his chips.

Still, I hope this interesting little titbit about hot peppers find you craving some.

The definitive guide to achieving and maintaining insomnia!

2011-12-15T11:34:00.001Z

Just follow this guide to the letter and you are bound to succeed in achieving and maintaining insomnia. I am so confident that my guide works that I’m backing it with a £1000 guarantee!! If you provide reliable video and audio evidence that you have tried all items on this guide on three days per week for 4 consecutive weeks, and it does not achieve and maintain ‘insomnia’ on at least 4 nights per week, I’ll pay hard cash!! On payment of the above some all evidence will be handed over in good order and become my property to do as I please. You then forfeit all rights to privacy and confidentiality, and agree irreversibly not to sue for defamation. [These strict terms and conditions apply. Offer may be withdrawn or amended without notice. English law applies].

Health warning & Disclaimer: Non-adult persons must not attempt this advice. This advice may damage anybody’s health seriously and no liability is accepted because you’re stupid enough not to read the undercurrent of this guidance. Chronic insomnia may cause deficient cognitive function and some kinds of mental disorders. For legal purposes insomnia is defined above as inability for fall off to sleep for greater than two hours after settling to attempt sleep at night and having fallen asleep there is awakening for at least 30 minutes with inability to fall off to sleep for the following 30 minutes, with more at least three such episodes per night.

Here goes:

Drink a good excess of alcohol every day consistently for 5 weeks. To do this right you must put your health at risk. I mean you need a liver-frying lot of alcohol. If you don’t know what that is, it’s usually in excess of a bottle of wine every day, or more than 2 pints of regular strength lager/day, or more than half-bottle of spirits per day. But the message is basically get on with it well into whatever you feel comfortable with even if it doesn’t make you drunk. The general message is to drink three times the government recommended safe amount for women of 14U/week and 28U/week. Don’t Google that.. forget about it.. just get drunk regularly and you’ll do fine with this advice.
This gets even better. Now smoke tobacco products. I mean at least one smoke per day is the minimum. However, the more you smoke the better for achieving insomnia. Forget about the risk of emphysema, bronchitis, lung-cancer and nearly every kind of cancer, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis etc. Look, if you start thinking about all that you’d probably restrain yourself and not achieve insomnia. Focus!!! And block out anything that distracts you from achieving insomnia. You don’t friggin care.. you wanna live fast and die young!!
Next abuse caffeinated beverages of every kind. Claim or pretend that you don’t know because you’re dyslexic and dumb, what caffeine abuse is. You should never read labels on things like tea, coffee, Red Pull, Pit Bull, Cola etc..That will risk this whole thing not succeeding – and I’m not going to pay if you don’t follow this to the letter. So ensure you get several video shots on different days of you picking and purchasing such beverages and not reading the labels. Oh – and don’t Google Caffeine abuse or Caffeine toxicity. It is also important to drink as much caffeinated anything within about 3 hours of settling into bed.
Get to bed at different times on different nights. Do not forget to sleep during the day.
Ensure that your room is either seriously too hot or too cold i.e. you must either be sweating like a pig or hearing your knees knocking!
Blast loud music, or real or recorded sounds of loud animals or people screaming, within earshot. Alternatively move to spend more time in a room close to a nightclub.
Whatever you do or think, do not indulge in any kind of bedroom Olympics i.e. do not have a bonk minutes before attempting to fall asleep.
If all fails start jogging around your room to build up a real sweat. I mean you really need to get into your Cardiozone for about 30 mins just before settling into bed.
In those episodes where you have awakened and cannot fall off to sleep – get out of bed, walk around your bed and count sheep whilst pacing for the next 30 minutes. To enhance the whole effect suck on few fags probably ten in 30 minutes. Yes – you can smoke two or three fags at the same time. Inhale deeply of course – look you need that £1000 I’m offering. Oh and don’t forget to record all this on video camera – no evidence, me no pay!
Go to sleep with a full bladder or bowel!! Set an alarm for every 2 hours to remind you to drink 500mls of water, beer, coffee or tea.
If all of the above don’t work to keep you wide awake, then keep your mind racing about all the horrible things people have said to you, what you should have said back to them but didn’t, swear loudly in your bed like a real nutter, I mean you really want to get yourself into a right frenzy.

That’s it.. I’ll be updating this advice periodically so do check in again soon. In fact you can use that as an adjunct to creating and maintaining insomnia i.e. you surf on this site and then you hit the refresh button repeatedly waiting for the page to change!!

Happy insomnia! Happy winnings.

Expectations

2011-12-15T06:04:00.001Z

I haven’t been blogging as much lately. Usual reason: there is only so much crap I can sift through from the newspapers.

Good news though. My (rather large) family is visiting for the Christmas and is expected today. Punks is well pleased. Not pleased enough to stay home from school to greet them (commendable eh?) but excited all the same.

Lots to do, lots to see, lots to experience. First Christmas in England for the family, so I hope they enjoy it.

Oh, adding a new hobby – I’m taking up the guitar.

Anyway, I gone. Have to make room for Christmas goodies.

Integrity Commission fails yet again!!

2011-12-12T17:05:00.001Z

Once more, the Integrity Commission has failed. Failed in bringing criminals to pay their just dues and penalties as required by law, failed in carrying out actions required by law in making these criminals comply with the laws of Trinidad and Tobago.

I should not expect better of any Commission that has Gladys Gafoor sitting on it, but somehow I thought perhaps they should/would overlook the obvious political aspects and comply with the law as required. Once more, I point out the obvious political connection in Basdeo Panday being the only person charged under the Integrity in Public Life Act while people like Fitzgerald Hinds and Calder Hart go free.

The under mentioned are the persons who failed to file their list of income, assets and liabilities for 2009.

Thanks to ‘Scene for the scans from the newspaper.

Like animals ruled as they are

2011-12-07T11:15:00.001Z

Last night I had an experience – a simple one most might think - that left me in some degree of bewilderment. I left it alone and allowed my ‘unconscious’ to process it overnight (while I slept). This morning I got up bursting with thoughts. However, I’m afraid most of you are not going to like it. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’re probably already a glutton for punishment. So get ready for more. Yes it will be taken by some as yet another assault on human nature.

I went to my local train station to collect tickets from their ticket machines – this is around 17:00. It was dark, cold and sprinkling with rain, but not so heavy that I needed an umbrella. So I parked, quickly exited my car and walked about 50 metres to the station, which was in sight. I got to 5 rows of these ticket machines. You can either purchase new tickets or collect tickets which were previously purchased online. The latter was my situation, as I had purchased tickets online the night before.

I quickly noticed that there were four queues of people against four out of five machines. The machine to the extreme left had the smallest queue, so I decided to join that one. There were about four people ahead of me. I looked immediately to my right at the machine against which there was no queue. What was most obvious was an A5 sized notice stuck on that machine, as well as all the other machines. However only the machine to my right had no queue. As the seconds passed I wondered why people weren't lining up against that machine. I read the notice on that machine and it referred to some changes to the local timetable. There was no notice on the machine saying that it was out of order. All the other queues had between 10 and 15 people in each.

The scene was one of people rushing about, and bumping into each other. Some of those who had come off the train and made their way through the turnstiles, were colliding with those in the queues.

I felt slightly hesitant to leave my short queue to go to the machine to my right which had none. The main anxiety that came over me was that perhaps if I went to that machine and it was actually out of order then I might lose my place in the short queue which I was in. However, my tendency to be ruled by observation and reason was not to be overcome by some fleeting anxiety. So I decided to move to the machine to my right where there was no one. I touch the screen and noticed that it was in perfect working order. Almost immediately a woman from another queue came up from behind me and to my left and enquired, "is it working". I replied that it appeared to be working and it seemed that no one was using it probably because they assumed that the notice meant it was out of order. I reached into my pocket to get out my credit card from my wallet and suddenly realised my wallet was in the car in a briefcase.

I went back to the car, fetched a wallet, and returned within 60 seconds. The woman who had approached me was actually using the machine. In that short amount of time, a queue of about 10 people had gathered behind her. Unusually I went back into the same queue at the same machine I was at before, which had now reduced to just two people ahead of me. The woman was able to complete her transaction at the previously suspect machine, without problems. I was seemingly at some relative advantage for my lapse of memory, because I should have expected the queue at the boxy looking machine to have increased in length. However, it had shortened ‘relatively’, by people now gravitating to the machine that was previously thought of by the ‘herd’ to be defective – but was quite clearly in good working order.

There were two unusual things above that I need to point out.

The short queue that I had entered on both occasions, was an older looking machine, covered in some sort of shiny aluminium finish. The other machines had a more modern looking finish in blue plastic like material, with more curved edges. All machines had some display on them to clearly indicate that one could purchase new tickets or collect pre-booked ones.
It was unusual for there to be such long queues against three of the blue machines, and none against one blue machine.

My overnight processing brought up the following possible explanations, which I do not assert are bound to be right – and I am sure there are alternative and additional explanations.

Possibly something about the design of the blue machines made them more attractive over the squarer boxy looking aluminium finished one.
Possibly the shorter queues at the boxy looking machine could have been due to a collective feeling in the minds of others that it was likely to be unreliable.
I thought it was quite probable that there was no queue at one of the blue machines because the absence of a queue may have indicated to other people that the machine was out of order. And I wish to return to that point later on, because there was no evidence other than the absence of a queue that might indicate that the machine was defective.
It was also possible that people who were in quite a rush did not read the A5 sized notice on the machine.
A combination of all of the above conspired against one machine – to the overall disadvantage of the ‘herd’.

This morning therefore, I am in awe about the frailty of human nature both at individual and collective levels. It appeared to me that degrees of anxiety, a tendency to follow the behaviour of the 'herd', and the ease with which conscious cognitive processes are overwhelmed by the latter two primitive protective processes, are what resulted in the strange response to a machine that was in perfect working order. I continue to marvel at how we as human beings tend to pride ourselves with so much intelligence, yet we are ruled so easily and rather stupidly by primitive deeply ingrained instincts.

p.s. The above is produced using Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred for about 95% of the text. I take full responsibility for all spelling and grammatical errors. Some apparent errors are intentionally of ‘writer’s privilege’.

A legal conundrum presented

2011-12-07T07:24:00.001Z

I have been self-employed as a maxi-taxi owner/operator for 12 years. I previously held a Priority Bus Route (PBR) pass, which expired on October 31, and I recently tried to obtain a new PBR pass.

I have written to the Ministry of Transport and, since I received no reply, I personally visited its office at Tower D on the Waterfront.

Ministry officials confirmed they had received my letter, which had been forwarded to the Works Ministry. I was taken aback on being informed there was nothing the Transport Ministry could do to help me, and I needed to raise the matter with the Works Ministry.

I pointed out that under the Highways Act Chapter 48 Part 1B Section 2f, the use of the PBR is to be by (among other provisions) "such other vehicles as are authorised with the approval of Cabinet, by the Minister to whom responsibility for the administration of national transport is assigned".

I attempted to explain to the staff at the Ministry of Transport that the law indicates the Minister of Transport is the one designated to preside over the issuance of such permits.

I was informed that jurisdiction over the PBR remained with the Ministry of Works when the two areas were split into different ministries. It appears to me that there exists a problem since the law states one thing, but the ministries are telling you something different.

If I get a PBR pass from the Ministry of Works, when the law indicates that such a document should be issued by the Ministry of Transport, I may be in an ambiguous legal situation.

If the law is followed strictly, then any PBR pass issued by the Ministry of Works would not be valid. If I attempt to use such a pass, and I am stopped by the police, can I be arrested?

Is this also the case for all the passes issued by the Ministry of Works since being split from the Ministry of Transport? If so, then we are facing a major headache, with several people using the PBR illegally, though unaware of the illegality.

I am asking that the relevant ministries to please clarify the situation and advise the public accordingly, since I am certain I am not the only one who wants to avoid being placed in an uncertain legal situation.

H Lee

I would be very interested in a response to your letter, Mr Lee. Although I have a funny feeling it will never be answered until someone is given such a ticket and a defence is filed in court.

Here is another situation which will remain unresolved. I had previously written about it.

16 ‘plotters’ released; Gov’t SoE fails big time

2011-12-06T06:19:00.001Z

Sixteen persons who were held under detention orders of the State of Emergency were released last night as police did not have sufficient evidence to charge them. Two other men arrested in connection with the plot were also released.

Once more, Jumbie was right.

And as an attorney who deals in evidence and purports to understand the importance of same, Anand Ramlogan sure is a disappointing man.

Red herring exposure

2011-12-04T07:54:00.001Z

The security evaluation of the intelligence report which detailed the alleged assassination plot against the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet found the information to be highly speculative and poured cold water over the conclusion arrived at that there was a credible security threat.

The security evaluation, received by the Sunday Express, documented on November 23, stated the "chronological sequence of events was inconsistent".

"The general assessment of this information is that it seems to be an amalgamation of several pieces of information, using historical information on individuals of known ill repute to validate the claim of a future act and embellished by the author's liberal use of opinions rather than facts."

Are Muslims mistakenly ‘loyal’ or radicalised?

2011-12-03T11:38:00.001Z

I encountered an interesting situation a couple of days ago. I took Punks out for a meal in a Chinese restaurant, and in coming home, we opted to take a taxi due to inclement weather. The driver turned out to be what in England is called ‘Asian’. No, not Chinese/Japanese ‘Asian’ but ‘Indian’ Asian.

During some small talk on the ride home, he kept referring to himself as Pakistani. *

Now this chap has a strong Brummie (Birmingham) accent, and thus the following conversation ensued:

Jumbie: “You were born in Pakistan?”

Driver: “I was born here, in England.”

Jumbie: “So you're British?”

Driver: “No, I’m Pakistani.”

Jumbie: “But you said you were born here in England. You’re British…”

Driver: “No mate, I’m Pakistani!”

Jumbie: “So you were raised in Pakistan?”

Driver: “No. I was raised here.”

Jumbie (with some obvious confusion at this point): “You went to school in Pakistan?”

Driver: “No, no. I was born and raised in England. I went to school here.”

Jumbie: “… but you have Pakistani citizenship?”

Driver: “No, my parents do. But I go there every year for holidays.”

Here, I pointed out then that he could not be Pakistani because he was by birth first a British citizen. This was something he refused to acknowledge or accept, not for one moment. He insisted he was Pakistani, and that Pakistan was his ‘home’ country.

He offered that at best he was a ‘British-born Pakistani’ but despite being born, bred, educated, lived, dated, worked, slept, shit and ate in Britain, he was… Pakistani. I should point out that this chap appeared to be in his late 30’s or early 40’s!!

All I could think to myself that this sort of close minded rejection of his native country, overthrown for a country he barely knows, was how radicalisation is born and rooted. I mean, this could lead to the fundamentalism of Islamic brainwashing (not that every person is susceptible to that), but it is how the subtle brainwashing begins and turns them into terrorists. A misplaced sense of loyalty to a country he has minimal ties to but which overrides everything patriotic he OUGHT to be feeling for the country that he owes everything to.

I have to say, it was a most paranoiac ride for me. This was a man who could easily turn against the English, and England at the drop of a hat, with only a minor amount of pushing…

The sad part is that this behaviour is rising among Muslim youth. It is interesting to note that this type of attitude resulted in a 47% increase in ‘honour killings’ (where Muslim women are killed for ‘dishonouring’ the family) since 2009. 47% increase!!

* Even though Trinidadians like to shorten their moniker to ‘Trini’, it is deemed racist and is actually illegal to shorten Pakistani to ‘Paki’.

Plots and hoaxes: one and the same?

2011-11-30T07:58:00.001Z

For some reason, perhaps only known to themselves the Express website refuses to allow me to log in. The Intense Debate system that the Express uses allows me to logon on different sites, the only exception being the Express. Therefore I am at pains to express my thoughts (pun intended) on the blog, one all and sundry topics that appear in that particular newsprint.

The Captain and I have been having a 'behind-the-scenes' argument regarding the that have lately been in the news. The Captain seems to think that issuing a detention order signals proof that the assassination plot is a real. My argument runs counter to this…

For one thing, I suspect that the Captain thinks that in order for a detention order to be issued, some evidence must be provided of the plot. I strongly suspect that this might not be the case. For one thing, the orders are signed by the Minister of National Security John Sandy. It is not signed by a court or member of the Judiciary. Therefore we have no evidence that evidence is presented.

To me it seems that any detention order is an order to hold a suspect without bail, possibly in special circumstances. Given the State of Emergency that exist at this present time it is likely that it is only to the deadline of the State of Emergency, that is Monday 5th November. If at that time evidence is not presented to make a viable prosecution then the suspect has to be released. Again, this is a counter point to evidence existing. When the state of emergency is over, there must be sufficient evidence to present to a court. Indeed, Minister John Sandy has said as much.

When the SoE expires, the police will either have to charge the detainees with an offence or set them free. Sandy also said the State has considered pursuing the investigations under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

"By then (when the SoE expires) we should have sufficient evidence to pursue the matter. If we don't, then they will have to be released."

Indeed, not because the authorities and here I include the Minister of National Security John Sandy, the Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, and various other members of this government, say that there is a plot means that there is actually a plot.

Given the increasing unpopularity of this government and all the misdeeds and missteps that this government has been making since the general election, some important "red herring" is urgently needed to take the minds of the population onto another topic. As I pointed out before, an assassination plot is a useful tool. From the comments on the forums of the local newspapers, it is quite apparent that most of the population believe that the assassination plot is a hoax.

*Forgive any typos; this post was dictated with Dragon Naturally Speaking software.

Thought for tomorrow

2011-11-28T11:22:00.001Z

“The single thing that underpins the actions of a suicide bomber and the healing hands of a doctor, is the belief that it is right to do what they do. A sense of righteousness and justification, is therefore a powerful double-edged sword – one that can be wielded for good or for evil. It is when we know we are right, that we need to exercise the most caution and consideration – especially where our actions may affect large populations and systems of governance.”

- Captain Walker (Nov 2011).

Red herrings and assassination Attempts

2011-11-28T08:51:00.001Z

As far as I am aware, since Trinidad and Tobago gained Independence from England, the only public figure assassinated in office was Selwyn Richardson. If the information coming out of that is to be believed, he was heavily involved in the drug trade and it was as a consequence of his involvement that he was ‘taken out’.

The only other credible death threats were to ex-Prime Minister ANR Robinson, and ex-President Noor Hassanali. In both cases no warning was given, but actual attempts were made on the lives of these figures. If I recall correctly and attempt was also made on the life of Mrs Hassanali; and yes, I categorise an actual attempt as a credible death threat. More so than these jokey media blurbs.

The use of a death threat is an especially convenient red herring. Basdeo Panday milked it for all it was worth. So did other public figures. But none came even close as Patrick Manning. He saw shadows even within shadows. Never mind that today he condemns the reported threat on the current Prime Minister. He reported threats to all of his split personalities.

But back to our latest red herring. Does this seem credible that the Prime Minister is a target for assassination? I have a serious problem believing this. For one thing, there is a lack of evidence. And without evidence, does it seem likely that the target(s) would go public?

The story is becoming more and more ridiculous with each passing day, already surpassing the realms of credibility. First we had hidden sniper training camps. Then we had it that the training camps were located close to the farm of one of the involved parties (doesn't that seem a tenuous connection?). If one puts a little thought into this – firing a gun makes a loud racket. A very loud racket. Firing methodically and consistently in a firing range, to practice sniper shooting, will be to say the least a suspiciously loud and disturbing auditory assault. To have a training camp suspiciously close to his farm or to any inhabited areas would make that alleged treasonist rather more stupid than a duncey.

Then we have even more tenuous connection – a couple of tourists with fake passports are being labelled as International hit men. Said tourists being locked up for the past five months.

This situation is more humorous than serious. It’s even more humorous to see how serious the PP is taking it. To misquote Russell Peters, “Somebody’s gonna get stitched up.” It’s even part of Rock culture now. Ent, Capitan?

Assassination plot - a real threat to nothing at all

2011-11-25T08:06:00.001Z

Police Commissioner Gibbs has revealed that the assassination plot to do away with Prime Minister is real. And apparently the plotters are members of the police and defence forces.

A dozen people, including police officers and soldiers, have been held in connection with the assassination plot so far, Gibbs said.

Again, this reminds me that you cannot trust police dunceys. This should have been so obvious to those in the power matrix.

I have to admit that when I first heard of the story I did not believe. Just like our former Prime Minister, it is possible that this current Prime Minister hatched a plot to gain public sympathy. After all, things have been going downhill for this administration ever since it won the elections last year. Granted, the downhill slide is of its own making, through a series of "missteps".

There is an important question that remains to be asked:

Should we lose our Prime Minister to assassination, what impact would that have on the country?

My best guess is 'none'. As Robert Frost said, "life goes on". The anointed Moonilal will take over the reins, the country will mourn for a couple of days, certain sectors will celebrate while others will join the mourners, but at the end of it all it will have no impact on the economy, crime, the judiciary, Parliament, the transport system, the healthcare system, the civil service, the education system… In short, absolutely nothing changes.

Going BackwardS and forwards at the same time.

2011-11-23T14:08:00.001Z

I slept an unusual 9 hours last night (2011-11-22). I awoke this morning feeling really good for that. Then I went on the net and saw this: Water shortage to end soon and then Maraval clean-up. I can't find a single set of words to describe my resulting state of mind. I've been told that I'm supposed to shut up about these things because people on that Rock know all about it, and what should I care if I'm not going returning to live there (aka Going DONG). However, what puzzles me no end, is why they have known about these things for over 50 years and are only marginally better off.

My unknowing first world colleagues may be even more confused as to why it upsets me so much. It is the stupidity of it primarily that gets to me. This country was under flood in the north, whilst the South was suffering a shortage of supplied water. This country is under severe flooding every year for the past umpteen years. This is a country with 3 desalination plants, and was contemplating purchasing two more!! This is a country with flashy skyscrapers, newly built motorways, had made purchases for gunships costing billions, and helicopters that became non-flying white elephants - and they can't solve a 'water problem'. Goes with the ‘territory’ you might think.

“Floods?” - you wonder if you’re from some part of the world and you hardly pay attention to what’s happening in a banana republic with 1.3M people – in a place with “three desalination plants”? Yes, Floods have been well documented by Jumbie’s Watch: October 2011, Oct 2010, Sept 2010, August 2010, Former PM escaping Floods in 2008, Legislation to arrest floods 2008. It is the leadership that underpins the ‘skyscraper mentality’ that has kept this nation from moving on. And who are the people responsible for the quality of leadership over 50 years? Certainly it must be the people who elected successive leading regimes. Correct me if you know I’m wrong.

And it's not because I'm not going back there to live that I should bottle up and turn a blind eye. I have rights - holding dual citizenship - to comment and take an interest in that country. Intention to ‘go back’ (or dong) is not a factor that qualifies or disqualifies anybody making observations, commenting or criticising that Rock. Why should/must it be? I'm entitled to think – as would the next person on the street - that in an energy rich - energy-producing Nation - that these recurrent problems should not take nearly 50 years to be solved. And it’s not just about floods – I could equally go on about systems of justice, law enforcement, health care, communication etc etc. I’ll spare you today.

And my point? My point is that Rock-crawlers need to take a really hard look at themselves, the leaders they elect, and the way they interact with that leadership. And do I think that saying so will cause any improvement? No – I’m sure it won’t. I’m not your next messiah. Get a grip! All I’m hoping for is that people begin to think, to interact, to discuss among themselves and to reflect – cold, hard and brutal reflection. It is from there that the oven of change may be ignited. Godspeed to all.

The Jumbie’s Watch Android App

2011-11-20T23:09:00.001Z

Always at the cutting edge, we present you with the official Jumbie’s Watch application for your android based handheld computing device (phone, tablet or whatever that runs android). Kindly replace your wallet or cheque book – it’s free! [You are responsible for your internet connection charges as usual]
Why this app? Cuz the app is only 110 kb, and puts you in instant contact with JW. No more having to load up a browser and then select a bookmark for JW. Now you can just click our app once and you’re with us! How cool is that!!
There are two views each coming with full zoom functions, and auto-rotate. Yes and you can interact and post comments on the blog from this app. Get it HERE! [To install transfer it to a folder in your phone, then click to install]

Mobile view	Full site view

Jiddu Krishnamurti – the reluctant ‘messiah’.

2011-11-19T23:41:00.001Z

It has taken me about three-weeks of reading and listening to video material for 15 hours, to come to write this. So much in awe am I, about this great soul. I had read one of his books in my late teens and sadly did not realise at the time that he was alive. And even more sadly, did not know he had passed away in 1986. George Bernard Shaw had declared that he was the most beautiful human being he had ever met and Aldous Huxley became one of his close friends. What follows is a really amazing story – and I warmly invite you to follow it. It could be life-changing.

Krishnamurti (May 12, 1895 – February 17, 1986) was an extraordinary man, who made an important mark on this world – even if many do not know of him. Krishnamurti was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in what was then colonial India. It was the unique sequence of the death of Krishnamurti’s mother, when he was 10; his father, Jiddu Narayaniah, seeking post-retirement income – having left the colonial British Administration; his father’s association with the Theosophical Society (based in Adyar) that led his father to move Adyar in Madras – which all ‘triangulated’ to facilitate discovery of young Krishnamurti. Those events would lead to Charles Leadbeater of the Theosophical Society finding Krishnamurti, on behalf of Annie Besant (then president of the Society).

Early life history and development…

Wikipedia has done a really extensive write up on Krishnamurti. I’ve decided to give most references at the end so as not to cause too many distractions. In fact I’m adding references long after I’ve posted this. However, video is worth a zillion words! Click that on the left and there’s more below.

Below I continue to excerpt and crystallise key parts of a truly exceptional 90-year life history from parts of Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Hereafter Krishnamurti is referred to as K – as he was affectionately called by many a friend.

Defining himself

His father was initially reluctant to cooperate, but later acceded, recognising the advantage to his son, and that he could not independently acquire the means to place his son in the position of advantage that the Society were offering.

The Theosophical Society was actually in search of a new leader who would bring a new enlightenment to the world by unifying spiritual and religious movements. They were a western organisation with strong links in England. Charles Leadbeater of the Theosophical Society was said to have clairvoyant powers, and found K on banks of the river-village of Adyar, at the age of 14. Leadbeater asserted that Krishnamurti had one of the purest most innocent auras ever observed and selected him to become the next messiah. K was then selected groomed for that role.

Dissolution

England
Krishnamurti and his brother Nityananda were adopted by Annie Besant and taken to England in April 1911. K spent the next ten years of his life in England under a very carefully managed regime of exercise, education and meditation. His acquired command of English was astounding. He mastered English in about six months it was reported. He did not excel academically and failed to enter Oxford as it was intended by the Society. He was confronted by ridicule as in England about being the ‘chosen one’. He lived a luxurious life but without much privacy. He yearned to find peace and time to himself to think.

America
In 1922 on a trip to the United States, he found privacy and relaxation. He and his brother Nitya, found peach in the Ojai Valley in California. He was able to re-embrace nature and found a freedom he once had when running around on the beach in the Bay of Bengal at the mouth of the river Adyar. While he enjoyed that, there was growing expectation from the Theosophists that he would deliver their message. His skills in oration and use of English grew even more. The Theosophists created a separate organisation called ‘The Order of the Star in the East’ specifically to take care of his needs and to facilitate the Theosophical Society’s ultimate mission. K was never at peace with all this and he tried his best to say so.

On 17th August of 1922 K had unusual experience. It lasted three days and featured him feeling very hot, being intermittently confused, and regressed in his behaviour. There was a ball-like swelling in the base of his neck at the start of the first episode. On the second day he was according to three witnesses including Nitya, visited by Lord Maitreya. On the third day three unknown ‘figures’ were seen around him. They were not described further in Nitya’s notes. These episodes, referred to as ‘the process’ recurred at intervals until K’s death. But they had occurred almost every night between mid-August and December 1922. Nitya had made detailed notes of all these goings on and had sent a long narrative to Mrs Besant.

Nitya who had been suffering with intermittent bouts of tuberculosis, died suddenly and unexpectedly on 13th November 1929 due to complications of flu and tuberculosis. This shook K’s faith in Theosophy even more because he was assurances by the movement about Nitya’s health. Nitya was the only person he could speak with openly and in complete confidence. His passing away was said to break Krishnamurti – but not for long. Twelve days later K resiled and there was no hint that he was disturbed by Nitya’s death. However, it was clear that Nitya’s death shattered the last vestiges of faith he had held for the Theosophist’s grand plan.

Tensions continued to rise between K and the dyad of Annie Besant and Leadbeater. Long into the grooming process, on August 3rd, 1929, at the age of 34 – twenty years after he was selected and supposedly well prepared to take up ‘post’ - he decided to dissolve his intended role and The Order of the Star of the East. This put a serious dent in the plans of the Theosophical Society. He returned all money and property to given to him by the Order, including a castle in Holland and 5000 acres of land to various donors.

He continued his life’s work in humility – never seeking accolades or awards, never accepting followers or worshippers, seeing relationships between the ‘disciple and guru’ as potentially exploitative and creating dependence. He provided doubt, scepticism and tools for looking within. He travelled the world extensively and shared his thoughts. He accepted gifts and financial support from people who felt inspired by his work. He left behind a staggering set of writings, video and audio.

In his later years, K acknowledged the strange turn of events in his childhood and said that if Leadbeater had not found him, “I would have died”. A lot of stuff went on in K’s life.. too much to cram into this blog.

K gave his last talk on 4th January 1986 his last words in that talk were: “Creation is something that is most holy. That’s the most sacred thing in life and if you have made a mess of your life, change it. Change it today, not tomorrow. If you are uncertain find out why and be certain. If your thinking is not straight, think straight, logically. Unless all that is prepared, all that is settled, you can’t enter into this world of creation.
It ends. “ (The last two words were barely audible and would not have been heard by the audience, but recorded on tape).

Fascinating - that K in his last public talk, told people to recognise where their thinking was not straight and to do something about it. I cannot help but connect this to my own thoughts on Inefficient Thinking.

K’s death
Krishnamurti died ten minutes after midnight on 17th February 1986. He was not alone. He had contracted cancer. He was losing much weight in December 1985 and January 1986. Tests subsequently confirmed a cancer of the liver and/or pancreas. K was in severe pain and treated intermittently with morphine. He came to realise the end was nigh and he coped with it masterfully.

On the morning of 7th February 1986 K was asked a question written to him by Mary Cardogan, ‘When Krishnaji dies what really happens to that extraordinary focus of understanding and energy that is K?’ K swiftly responded, "It is gone. If someone goes wholly into the teachings perhaps they might touch that; but one cannot try to touch it.’ He paused and added, “If you all only knew what you have missed – that vast emptiness.” Later that morning it appeared that the question lingered in his mind. He recorded the following, his last recorded words:

“I was telling them this morning – for seventy years that super-energy – no – that immense energy, immense intelligence, has been using this body. I don’t think people realise what tremendous energy and intelligence went through this body – there’s twelve-cylinder engine. And for seventy years – was a pretty long time – and now the body can’t stand any more. Nobody, unless the body has been prepared, very carefully, protected and so on – nobody can understand what went through this body. Nobody. Don’t anybody pretend. Nobody. I repeat this: nobody amongst us or the public, know what went on. I know they don’t. And now after seventy years it has come to an end. Not that that intelligence and energy – it’s somewhat here, every day, and especially at night. And after seventy years the body can’t stand it – can’t stand any more. It can’t. The Indians have a lot of damned superstitions about this – that you will and the body goes – and all that kind of nonsense. You won’t find another body like this, or that supreme intelligence operating in a body for many hundred years. You won’t see it again. When he goes, it goes. There is no consciousness left behind of that consciousness, of that state. They’ll all pretend or try to imagine they can get into touch with that. Perhaps they will somewhat if they live the teachings. But nobody has done it. Nobody. And so that’s that.”

Note carefully that he refers to seventy years four times. This was clearly not his 70th year!! His intellect was fine until the end. It is unlikely that he would that mistake four times in a row. I think that something happened when he was around 20, that is unknown or undiscovered by many of us. K was the sort of person that left you to discover, he did ‘teachings’ but did not see himself as a teacher – recall that he avoided being a leader, guru or person in authority. Note also that he said ‘..it’s somewhere here, every day, and especially at night’; referring to something that of tremendous energy and intelligence that had been ‘using’ his body. I think that the events between August and December 1922 were probably what he was alluding to – because it appeared that something so powerful overtook his body and mind that he was in agony repeatedly at that time. And note that most of the episodes he had ‘endured’ occurred at night. However, his states of altered consciousness were seen as a driver for his exploration of the mind and the human condition.

Conclusion
K’s selflessness and his new brand of philosophy or spirituality, made a deep impact on millions of lives across the world. That impact was probably much less extensive than if he had held to his predestined path, as was planned by the Theosophical Society. However, Krishnamurti’s steely determination never to impose truths on people or to lead them as a guru, would set a rock-solid foundation for those who were of similar determination, to find reality. Uncharacteristically, K said, “.. there is no teacher.. no pupil..there is no leader...” – a set of views that would fly in the face of many organised Eastern and Western spiritual groups and religions. He further asserted that It is said by Wikipedia that “Krishnamurti's lasting influence is hard to gauge in an objective way; there is no organizational or other entity based on his philosophy, whose progress can be measured. His insistence that there be no successors or interpreters has so farprevented any individual or group from claiming to represent a continuity, or a unique understanding, of his philosophy.” It’s not for me to decide upon that. I am simply thankful for Krishnamurti's life and his ‘light’. Where and how I shine that light is up to me – as he would probably have said.

References:

Thought for tomorrow

2011-11-19T14:59:00.001Z

“Like a young bird about to take first flight discovers, the ‘freedom’ that awaits invokes fear – and later having mastered ‘freedom’ the youngster ‘thanks’ parents or siblings for giving that all important push!”

- Captain Walker 2011

No Fathers allowed–Round 2

2011-11-17T23:02:00.001Z

The following story is reproduced with the express permission of Marlon Bascombe.

“Recently, it has been my pleasure/displeasure to highlight what has to be one of the most backward, archaic and discriminatory policies that still exist within Trinidad and Tobago. I refer of course to the policy of the San Fernando General Hospital and the South West Regional Health Authority that prevents fathers from being with their ill children on the paediatric ward at night, while mothers can stay for twenty-four hours. Unfortunately, my eleven month old son fell seriously ill again and had to be warded. To the Minister of Health and all his subordinates in all the Regional Health Authorities, I fail to understand the logic behind the fact that as a father I am allowed to register my son, be with him to check his vitals, take a blood test, a urine test, an X-ray and change his clothes, yet I cannot stay with him? At this specific time I must simply leave his side? It really is baffling!!

All of the above occurred today (November 16th). When he was finally admitted to the ward I immediately spoke to the Head Nurse on the ward as well as a person in the nursing supervisor's office to explain calmly to them that (as I told Mr Gosine, the acting CEO of the SWRHA) I had no intention of following their policy. This was around four in the evening. By seven o'clock, my son was sleeping on my chest with a fever. Every time he moved from me, he cried. At quarter past seven, the Head Nurse announced that all fathers will have to leave by seven thirty, which was our 'grace period'. Quarter to eight was the final call then security started coming in.

This policy was roundly criticised by those present. Fathers who were there (like me) thought it a hard and unfair thing to leave their children behind. One mother was also ill and she wished her husband could stay in her place, but he could not. Another father had an issue with leaving his dengue stricken child alone, even for the time it would take for the baby's mother to get there. I personally asked every mother present if they had an issue with me staying to look after my son. None did.

Eventually a Mrs Geraldine Lewis and a Mrs pilgrim (Managing Director and Nursing Manager as I understood it) came to the ward to ask if the men present would leave. They came to me first. I refused on several grounds including those mentioned above, I showed them how my son would cry if I left, I even explained that their so called 'night security' concerns could just as easily occur in the day and that an improvement in their security protocols, not my exit, was needed.

The police came to the ward after my repeated refusal. The officer almost made the cardinal error of attempting to place his hands on me while I held my son. The legal battle that would have followed that near act of stupidity would have been staggering. Not wanting to resist I left the ward with the officer who reminded me that under the still in effect State of Emergency, I could have been remanded into custody for forty-eight hours. Yes T & T, I, a law abiding citizen could have gone to jail for wanting to stay with my own child. I was definitely prepared to do so if the police had shown poorer judgement. I was also told by this officer, who took all my personal information (maybe to check my not so criminal record) to be careful of what I said to the media because that could also see me arrested.

Where exactly do I live? At a time when a Trinibagonian is responsible for the creation of 'International Men's Day', it would seem that as a man my rights are severely limited. Let me end by saying to all those responsible for this policy that as patients of your institutions we come to you stressed, physically stressed and at times mentally stressed; at the moment you are consistently adding to that stress instead of treating it. To the Honourable Dr Fuad Khan, back up your words to the local media; see that this policy is changed immediately. Over to you.”

I add my voice to Mr Bascombe’s for two main reasons.

One I was aware of this nonsense at various hospitals, on the Rock many years but had forgotten about it. In those days – being brainwashed by a stupid culture, I would not have seen a problem with it. Today I thank Mr Bascombe for opening my eyes to that which I had forgotten.
There was almost an incident at a La Joya swimming pool, in St. Joseph, 20-odd years ago. My two-year old son was in the kiddies swimming (paddling pool) which was about a 25 cm at the deepest end. Tell me how much intelligence you require to know that a 2 year old requires constant supervision to prevent them from drowning in such a pool. No don’t – I’m being totally sarcastic!! Well the jackass of a pool attendant came round to tell me, “get out orf dee pool.. daize fuh chil’ren only!”.. I explain the risk. He repeats himself and explains that it’s either I comply or I be asked to leave the premises. I had more to lose, so I took my son out of the pool instead of causing a ‘scene’.

That is the way they behave on a totally stupid Rock!! I’m sure there was some policy that was designed to prevent males from paedophilic activity in a pool. I do not know – I do not want to know. What I do know is that my two year old son was not to drown as a result of such policy – and to be rescued from death by a jackass!! Rock logic serves Rock-Huggers. They find ways of justifying any and everything without referencing policy and behaviour against some higher guiding principle, or logic. They argue damn nonsense and they know not how stupid they are.. they know not that they know not!

Time Recorder pro

2011-11-15T18:06:00.001Z

This is a wicked little Android app that does a big big job.

If you’re like me doing different jobs that have different hourly rates, it could become a nightmare to keep a record and produce it accurately. Bits of paper and even notebooks tend to get lost.

The photos above are screenshots hyperlinked from Time Recorder Pro. Yes – I know there are tons of other software and apps out there. I’m only sharing info on one that I know of, that I’ve found useful.

The value of this app did was not realised on first use. I had to play with it intermittently for about 3 months to discover it’s real power.

It is very customisable for each of your various activities.
You can cost your activities. e.g. Phone Call £40/hr, Report Writing £200/hr, PCons £350/hr, PrSec £77.50/hr, Travelling £45/hr. You create your activities and decide how you charge. No it doesn’t track mileage – only things requiring time tracking.
It will produce reports by week, month or year across all activities or by activity.
It will export to email in various formats including CSV, so you will have a bigger more useable report.
Producing invoices and tracking payments becomes easier and at your fingertips.
You can do screenshots of time spent, with other apps like ‘ShootMe’ and email to clients.
Entries can be modified, but not so easily to allow for accidental errors.
And it will auto-backup all data – to email (or you can use other apps to back up reports produced.)

As with all things like this, if you don’t explore it and use it, it won’t work for you. Simple. There is a free version so you can try before you buy. Pirates and scroungers stay away!!

Privy Council–why it is still needed.

2011-11-15T08:32:00.001Z

Last week, the Captain and I went on a jaunt to London, initially to the Privy Council to take in a murder appeal from the Rock. Now, this might not seem a big deal but in the case of Deenish Benjamin and Deochan Ganga (Appellants) v. The State (Respondent) (Trinidad & Tobago) some key issues that are regularly seen on the Rock have been brought to the attention of the Council for clarification.

For starters, the issue of police brutality, beatings to elicit a confession, was at the forefront of the case for the appellants (Benjamin and Ganga). What transpired seems like a gross miscarriage of justice, since the facts presented was that both of the appellants were ‘tortured’ (we all know how the dunceys roll) and forced to sign a confession – written by the police – when neither were able to do much more than sign their names. As an aside, but probably not relevant, their IQs were found by an expert psychologist to be 54 and 52. The judge also failed to direct the jury on these points, namely the importance of a forced confession and whether the appellants were aware of the importance of same.

The second significant fact was that the wife (Roxanne Ganga) of the victim (Sunil Ganga) gave a story full of inconsistencies. These were never examined at the trail and the judge failed to direct the jury on the importance of the testimony and the inconsistencies. Once more ‘proving’ my oft remarked on observation that the Monkey Island system of judicial integrity falls short of international standards… and they want their own CCJ! (Jumbie scoffs).

There were also several other points that came out of this hearing, and I daresay that the Law Lords will have an interesting time in clarifying the issues. However, I note that the appellants presented the stronger case and I do foresee that this case will be dismissed (the appellants freed) or that it will be returned to the High Court for a retrial. The glaring inconsistencies and errors in the original trial are just too much.

Next… the places we stayed.

PS: The Captain reminded me I should have mentioned that I was writing from the case presented by the appellants, which is what I thought was the stronger case (presentation).

states of emergency

2011-11-13T06:30:00.001Z

No sooner has the State of Emergency ended than we are back to the previous state of emergency…. I told you so.

A ‘Chity’ blood system

2011-11-07T14:35:00.001Z

This is about a chit-system operated by the National Blood Transfusion Service on your fav Rock, which has been problematic for decades, and how its suspension caused chaos. Why should this be of any importance to you? Well, if you’re unfortunate enough to be haemorrhaging as a result of a serious road traffic accident on the Rock, or some violent assault on your person, and you were in desperate need of a blood transfusion, the last thing you would want to worry about is whether you would actually get a life-saving blood transfusion (leaving aside obvious exceptions such as being a Jehovah's Witness).

In synopsis the blood-banking system in T&T had operated a chit-system. Basically if your relative or friend needed elective surgery (planned surgery) and was likely to need a blood transfusion in that surgery, a bunch of family (aka famaly) and friends would descend on a collection unit somewhere and donate pints of blood. No – your relative would not get the same blood donated by those famaly and friends. It’s a bank, after all. Donated blood has to be tested carefully before it goes into the blood bank and that takes some time. In addition blood donated by friends and famaly are not guaranteed to match that of the individual requiring surgery. So, they get somebody else’s blood quite possibly and there is nothing strange or unusual about that. Chits would be issued to guarantee that if they needed a blood transfusion they would be entitled to a minimum of the quantity of blood donated.

You don't need to be highly intelligent or to be a haematologist to figure out that Rock-crawlers would seek to exploit the system by selling their chits on the ‘black market’ (illegal as it is). All of the Rock requires some 65,000 units annually however the average annual donation has only been around 20,000. Clearly this means that demand for blood is exceedingly high. Those circumstances clearly predict that certain kinds of despicable people would seek to profit from that kind of demand. The problem was not a new one and was cited in Newsday in December 2007, when a woman who was in need of surgery was asked by a donor to pay $700. I knew personally, that the serious shortage of donated blood on that Rock existed back in 1986, when I myself donated blood in Port-of-Spain Gen Hospital. In fact as a young child it was not uncommon to see a public alert on TV, begging for blood donations. On occasion my parents would be called up to donate blood. I recall at least one occasion when my father left home in the middle of the night to donate O-negative blood. That must have been 40 years ago!!

The chit system was suspended in January 2011. That led to a national crisis in the transfusion service i.e. there was a severe shortage of blood, as donations fell sharply. There was national outrage. But hey, there was bigger news than a blood shortage around that time – right? See $$ For Blood (2011-03-26). A Newsday (2011-04-09) editorial said, "We cannot fathom the logic in breaking this link between a donor and the intended recipient. Human nature is not infinitely altruistic, so no one is going to repeatedly donate blood in the name of a loved one only for it to be repeatedly diverted to unknown persons.” A medical lab technician, Justin Sankar, was quoted in that editorial as saying, “We have lost over 500 units of blood per month as a result of the ‘no-chit system’ so we need to build up the reserves."

The then Minister of Health, Therese Baptiste-Cornelis, in April 2011, said “What you had was false chits out there, blood being sold, people were not receiving the blood. We were getting medical aid requests to buy blood. Just recently I had an MP write me for someone trying to recuperate $6,000 he spent to buy three pints of blood, but then he didn’t need the blood which had already been donated. He wanted me to give him the three pints back to him, or to give him back the $6,000”. Whilst reports were awaited by folk in the Ministry of Health, elective surgeries were cancelled in their numbers and poor people suffered. There was real stress for people requiring urgent surgery; worrying whether they would have life saving emergency transfusions. Most certainly the illegal bartering of blood-chits continued well below the radar of the law. When it’s your money or your life – you’ll quicker part with the money, I think.

Dr Kenneth Charles, formerly head of the National Blood Transfusion service (known colloquially as the ‘Blood Bank’), wrote in the Trinidad Guardian of 2011-06-07 outlining the reasons why the chit system by which 90% of all blood in collected, was, "unsafe, unethical, expensive, permissive of illegal activity and inconsistent international standards for public safety." Importantly Dr Charles noted that, “The US Department of State through its travel advisory warns its citizens that, should they need a blood transfusion in T&T, they would be expected to have at least the equivalent amount donated on their behalf.” This is factually correct [US State Dept]. Dr Charles had published research in Feb 2010 on the particular problem of a high blood-donor deferral (i.e. rejection) on the Rock. In summary high-risk sexual activity, low haemoglobin (the red colouring in blood) and high-blood pressure accounted for just over one-third of rejections. In particular 44.5% of female donors were rejected due to low haemoglobin i.e. weak blood. Those research findings were on the existing chit system, suffering as it was with such a high donor-rejection rate. So, any sudden shock to the system was bound to make things worse.

The Guardian Editorial of 2011-06-06 said quite rightly, “The sudden shift from a decades old and readily understood system of blood donation based on banking metaphor to a completely new procedure based on altruism represented such an abrupt shift in perception that the sharp drop in blood donations was inevitable. Most donors found out that their chits were useless when they came to give blood and that’s an inexcusable lapse in public communication. By failing to articulate these critical changes clearly with the public, its most essential resource, the Ministry of Health missed a critical window of positive engagement with the community most critical to a continuing blood supply at the Blood Bank. After the sharp drop in donations, the Ministry of Health managed to put itself in the position of both having to explain its new position while trying to win donors back to the Transfusion Service.”

I pause for a moment – to say that if all the above is stale news to you, that’s fine. However, I am sure that there are hundreds if not thousands of people on the Rock who did not appreciate how serious the situation is. What can I (Captain Walker) do about it? Nothing!! More importantly for those living on the Rock is “What can and ought you to be doing about it?” When was the last time you wrote to, or met your MP to outline an issue of national importance? So – my actions are limited to motivating you to do something. You may consider some means of writing to your MP, explaining your individual concern arising. That is the proper way in your system of government to effect change – instead of the march mentality.

Right so what happened next? Well Baptiste-Cornellis got the nudge (for reasons we shall not distract ourselves about) and in comes Dr Fuad Khan to the rescue [Guardian 2011-07-03]. He then declares, “I believe in the chit system. In fact, I indicated to the Permanent Secretary that we go back to the chit system. The families of people who are having surgery will be able to use the chit system to get blood and any spill over will be used on the other patients..” So – that which is “unsafe, unethical, expensive, permissive of illegal activity and inconsistent international standards for public safety” according to Dr Charles, is the thing that Fuad Khan, “believes in”. Many a Rock-crawler will now conclude, that Dr Charles was wrong! Ah mean tuh say the Minister of Health wouldn’t be promoting something that Dr Charles has clearly described as ‘unacceptable’. I know the Rock-way outta dis. You simply say they are both right – and both wrong at the same time!! Ah good eh? And daize it!! Allyuh back tuh 40-odd years ago! What more you want meh tuh say, dat dey spinning top in mud? Lemme keep quiet oui. Jess joking…yuh know ah cyah keep quiet.

Well, in parting, some will have become disturbed that I’m merely slinging mud at people about things they already know. That’s not something I would find to be a constructive use of my time. I’ve taken the effort above to pull together evidence about an issue that successive regimes and dozens of experts in their fields have known about for decades. They know the problem and after at least 40 years they can’t solve it. Why? That is my issue. Dr Charles probably has the expertise to solve the situation. But I’m betting that he would find his hands tied if he tried. And I’m betting that many like him in other parts of the health service would have felt their hands similarly tied. Why? Why must the pace of change be so circular or glacial in speed? The obstacles are not ‘physical’ – and I assert they are of the worse kind. They are non-physical. It’s the thing that you cannot touch that restrains progress that you need to worry about. So my ‘mission’ as some will call it – in this post – is really about one thing, for people on and off the Rock to reflect and better see the things that restrain progress. If only they can see these things perhaps they will be better able to confront them. Now put away your placard.. and pick up a pen and paper or computer or whatever and write your MP (on any issue of national importance, that disturbs you).

The Essence of the Subconscious–Part Two

2011-11-05T19:37:00.001Z

In my last post, regarding the clear conflict of the expressed thoughts (on the Express website) with logic, reasoning and critical thinking skills, I wrote:

People fail to see that the rape by (and imprisonment) of the perpetrator is a separate and different issue to the beating he suffered at the hands of a prisons officer, who is charged with the duty to protect and safeguard said prisoner during his incarceration. In the eyes of the law, the prisons officer has a duty of care (a legal term) towards each and every prisoner under his watch.

Now this post definitely is not a rehash of that, but rather how our subconscious deludes us… what the Captain calls ‘substrata’ has clearly affected the minds of the population.

The night after I had that running argument on the Express website, I was reading a book called “Blink– The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell. I shall refer to the book as simply “Blink”.

A side note:

Lately, I’ve been exploring books of this nature, such as books by Edward de Bono, (“regarded by many to be the leading authority in the world in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He has written 62 books with translations into 37 languages and has been invited to lecture in 54 countries. He is the originator of lateral thinking which treats creativity as the behaviour of information in a self-organising information system - such as the neural networks in the brain. From such a consideration arise the deliberate and formal tools of lateral thinking, parallel thinking etc.”).

In “Blink”, Gladwell explores how the subconscious, the substrata, is instrumental in affecting our thinking processes, usually unknown to us… and yes, I know the Captain has pointed that out time and time again… maybe he wasn’t as clear as Gladwell. (^_^)

In any event, it got me thinking, whether being IN a situation affects our ability to clearly see what the realities of that situation is. Specifically, I wonder if those on Monkey Island are so affected by living IN Monkey Island, that they cannot see clearly how their behaviour is affected to the extent that their thought processes are out of whack. What I/we see as deviant behaviour, is it really, to them? Because they seem to accept things I/we don't.

Alternatively, I wondered if they were simply not up to speed on critical thinking skills, something I’ve been pushing myself lately to absorb through websites like Austhink. Or are they simply reacting emotionally, letting the emotions cloud rational thought?

Alternatively, is the reaction I see daily an attempt to ‘fit in’?

Whatever the reason, it is definitely fascinating to see how the mind of a Monkey Islander works, and how it changes and develops with exposure to the outside world.

‘Runaway’ from common sense and virtue

2011-11-04T21:07:00.000Z

The owner and contributors to this blog do not condone or promote viewing of pornographic material. However, it is asserted dispassionately that the proper evaluation of the form, content and intent of certain videos in question can only be undertaken by looking at the video material.

Over the last two weeks or so people on the Rock and in various parts of the world have been celebrating Anya Ayoung-Chee’s success at the Project Runaway contest. I – as many will expect – have been less than impressed. In fact I am ashamed again to be associated with that Rock or to think that Anya Ayoung-Chee would represent the Rock or its values. Some will know or think they know, what I’m going to say. That ignorant mind-reading ‘some’ may move on swiftly. Nothing cures them but direct pain and suffering. Some of you will see only ‘sex’ in this post; you’re so obsessed with sex – that you can’t see into any deeper issue that may be related to ‘sex’. I hope the rest of you can get past the issue of ‘sex’ and see the more salient issues.

Well, it should be no surprise that the impetus for my analysis is Anya Ayoung-Chee’s sex tapes, but not merely the ‘making of the tapes’. Immediately a majority of you will be thinking “Well, it’s her private tapes.. so what’s the big issue?” – as if to imply that I’m making something out of nothing. And another majority of you will be thinking, “Big deal, lots of women are making private porn videos – so what!” So in essence the defence of Anya Ayoung-Chee actions seems to rest on 1. It was her private tapes. 2. Everybody does it (i.e. it’s common practice). The important issues are whether those are facts, opinion or mere rumour. Today (4th November 2011), I summarised all that’s below and asked a very level headed English woman what she thought. I’ll give you that later.

I have searched the internet several times over the last few days to tease out the following issues:

How does a private sex tape end up on the internet?
How do we know that the tapes were ‘private’?

Before I take issue with the two main lines of argument for ‘the making of the sex tapes’ I want to say that I am very disturbed about what this whole issue means for young women on the Rock and in other parts of the world.

Private sex tapes

I want to put you in a zone of discomfort. I want to say that the vast majority of you in my estimation, haven’t evaluated the content and nature of the sex tapes. To be blunt you have not seen the content and form of the tapes. I assert that most of you have been led to think the tapes are ‘private’ and not designed for public consumption.

Where did you get those ideas from? Think carefully. I’m pretty certain, that it’s what you’ve been told. Perhaps it’s something you picked up in the media. And who’s given the story to the media that the tapes were ‘private’? Ahhhhh…. now you’re thinking.

Wyatt Gallery, the male involved in the explicit sexual acts – supposedly ex-boyfriend of Anya – was reported to say: “I feel horrible and embarrassed for Anya, her family and myself, because this was a private moment that was never supposed to be made public. This was an intentional, malicious sabotage against Anya and her career, and I feel stupid for not deleting the files off of my computer."

I had originally drafted this post with a link to the sex tapes. I have omitted the link for one simple reason. Google will ‘X-rate’ this site quite probably if I put such a link. So those who wish to evaluate the tapes for non-erotic purposes, may find them by Googling the following words ‘Xvideo Anya Ayoung-Chee’ – just like that (no quotes), and see what comes up. I am not encouraging anyone to look at porn – I’m simply saying if you wish to evaluate this issue properly there is hardly a way to do it without actually finding and looking at the videos in question.

Woooo..hooooooh… suddenly many will have an attack of an ‘over-developed’ conscience and will now be thinking, “I don’t see why I have to look at what wasn’t meant for me.. and what if it was my sex tapes would I want it out there and people oogling them?” That’s a very good question. Hold on to it. But note the assumption in your thinking that the videos were ‘private’ . You don’t know factually that they were private! Then you will argue, “Even if they’re not private, I have no business looking at porn – you perv!” Hey, I’m not forcing you to look at porn – and you need to stop being so judgemental. I’ve only looked at parts of these videos for seconds, to assess the issues I have set out above. I saw nothing sexually arousing in them. Those who are likely to be aroused or fearful of being aroused, are the true pervs in all this!

But some of you managed to pic out a few of the sex tapes in question from Xvideo. And whoops - many of you will have seen the intro picture of the video with Anya Ayoung-Chee holding on to an erect penis and about to perform oral sex on it – then had a sudden attack of fear, leading to you closing down the page. Others will secretly have gone further and skimmed through parts of these tapes and quickly came to a view that those are ‘private’ matters. And this is the point, you don’t see what you don’t want to see. You therefore miss the anal sex scenes in a well lit room, with another female commenting “Hot.. hot” – as being a display.. a production! Ignorance is bliss. Perhaps you don’t want to see this, because the real issue is that you don’t want anything to cause you to believe the opposite of what you currently believe.

However, if you are a person who thinks deeply and widely about issues you may wish to consider the following:

The total duration of the tapes is about an hour.

The scenes appear to involve another female. What’s private about that?

In total, three people at least were involved in these videos. They took turns at filming each other.

There is such a sense of confidence and lack of discomfort in performing these sexual acts in front of a video camera? One might have thought that for an intimate and private love scene that there would be more ‘hesitance’ or diffidence, especially with a camera in the room? But no – we see her/them playing to the camera.

Isn’t there an obvious lack of emotional attachment in all of these scenes? If you think so, what does that tell you? That this is private and meant to remain private? You must be the most naive person on earth.

Notice that she doesn’t gag when deep-throating down to hilt, on that rather large penis? Think about it. The natural physiological response is to gag! Go on try doing it with a banana or a carrot – stick it down your throat and see what happens. Any deep-throat experts out there want to educate us more on this?

How does the video get from a computer out on to the internet? Does it just leap out of the computer? Hackers – that’s the one that Rock crawlers go for – without a shred of evidence that hackers had anything to do with it. Oh it was the boyfriend or whatever that done it?

Runaway sex tapes

Now I come to how these tapes ‘escaped’ the confines of their computer. It was reported in The Hollywood Grind that Wyatt Gallery – the male in question, in the videos – took the computer for repairs in Trinidad and the videos were stolen and therefore unlawfully reproduced on the internet. He reportedly said, “I feel horrible and embarrassed for Anya, her family and myself, because this was a private moment that was never supposed to be made public. This was an intentional, malicious sabotage against Anya and her career, and I feel stupid for not deleting the files off of my computer." So that’s how they got out? Well if you believe that utter nonsense, you will also believe that Prince Charles is my brother! Well, certainly Hollywood Grind doesn’t believe it and they say, “As for Gallery’s claim the video was stolen from his laptop when he took it to a Trinidad computer shop for repairs, we don’t believe it”.

Now I mean to stretch your brain to breaking point.

What action has Gallery and Ayoung-Chee taken to stop these now illegally acquired videos from further distribution, from day one? I’ve seen no reports about them considering or taking legal measures to stop these videos from being reproduced.

Surely Gallery would know the computer shop he took the computer to – and could engage Anya to sue the shop and any other organisation that reproduced those videos.

Are there more videos? It is a fair point to wonder about, someone who is not in the slightest shy of deep-throating on camera, could possibly have had much practise and possibly have made many more similar videos.

For a person of previously proper character the damages to be settled in court could be in the millions – unless I speculate, there is more damage to be caused by suing. Think ‘breach of privacy’ and ‘defamation’. You may wish to think about Ulrika Jonsson case, where she went to court to block the release of a privately made sex tape.

Could the whole matter have been dropped so as not to raise a hornet’s nest? What nest? Well, apparently the tapes were made before she took part in the beauty pageant. If so, any digging into the origins of the tapes – in a court say by defence lawyers - was bound to cause real trouble.

Does ‘everybody’ make sex tapes – as we are lead to believe? I say that that is utter garbage, an attempt to trivialise the situation, and make light of very important moral issues.

What percentage of couples make sex tapes? I don’t know and I couldn’t find an authoritative and reliable answer on Google.

What about celebs and sex tapes? Well it seems that celebs are really big on sex tapes and many actually enhance their careers for producing these tapes. See how Paris Hilton profited from her notoriety.

Having thought about it from all different angles I am unable to see that the sex tapes of Anya in the company of others were either private or not designed for eventual public distribution. I’m happy to change my mind if a set of reasons or evidence emerges that will compel me to think differently. My female English colleague, mentioned at the start of this article, blurted out, “She did it to gain popularity and enhance her profile”. I think that that sentiment is one shared by a body of opinion that is hesitant to say so on the Rock. Off the Rock, people are more open and honest about these matters, I suspect. I’m not particularly interested in her motives for doing what she did.

There are bigger and deeper issues. Whilst these emerge from ‘sex’ or porn, they are not primarily about those issues. I assert that we must examine moral values in relation to sexual conduct. I’m concerned about the following general issues in relation to all women who would do similar. (The word ‘general’ is most important because I am unable to discuss A A-C’s personal situation. Just to be even clearer, my questions are not directed at A A-C even if some think they are.)

What are young women to think about all this? Should they accept that sexual exhibitionism is a good and acceptable way to gain power and wealth?
Should a women sell their souls by producing sex tapes?
What kind of respect do men have, or should have for women?
Do women of today collectively have a greater lack of self-respect and self-esteem?
Are people who make sex tapes appropriate role models for young people?
Is the accidental distribution of supposedly private sex tapes an new ploy to gain fame and fortune?
Which self-respecting parent would be happy with such a disrespect for moral values and would relish seeing their daughter in such videos, or knowing that such videos are floating around out there?
Which mother would be happy to bless their son to marry someone who has been in such a situation?
Is it acceptable for a female prime minister, doctor or judge to be involved in making sex tapes, and allowing their distribution, under a guise that they were private and not for public consumption?

(I feel a need to re-iterate, that even if the impetus for the above considerations arise from ‘sex’ and porn' there are deeper moral and societal issues for consideration).

The essence of the subconscious - part one

2011-11-01T13:53:00.001Z

There is something peculiar about the mind-set of a typical Monkey Islander. Take this article in the Daily Express for example. The essential facts as reported are as follows:

A convicted rapist sentenced to serve a 25-year jail term has been awarded $120,000 by a Port of Spain High Court Judge.

Justice Judith Jones on Friday awarded Kernel Sealy $100,000 in general damages inclusive of aggravated damages and $20,000 in exemplary damages. The sums awarded will carry interest in the sum of 6 per cent from October 29,2010. Costs of $27,000 were also awarded.

During the ruling, a stern-sounding Jones expressed alarm over the treatment meted out to Sealy at the hands of a prison officer. More so, Jones expressed dissatisfaction that taxpayers will once again have to bear the costs of unnecessary force used by the prison officer.

Stating, there have been high instances of brutality by police and prison officers, Jones said something needed to be done to curb such occurrences.

Noting, that she accepted Sealy's defence of what occurred, Jones said this was backed by medical documents supplied to the court, which showed the extent of injuries Sealy suffered to the head.

"Two things stood out in the evidence-the nature of the wound and how the wound came to be,"Jones said. Adding the prison officer "did not present to be a credible and was an unhelpful witness," Jones described the officer's evidence as "incredulous."

It was Sealy's case that on July 23, last year, he was in a cell at the State Golden Grove Prison when he and another inmate got into an altercation over a pail.

The inmate attacked Sealy and both men started fighting. Prison officers on seeing what was happening approached the duo and started beating them with a riot stave

Sealy told the court "I was begging the officers not to hit me because I did not do anything wrong but they just continued beating me and the other inmate.

"I was hit a number of times all over my body, on my legs and arms and in my belly and back. I fell to the ground while the officers were beating me. I think I black out for a few moments and when I revived I remember passing my hand to the back of my head and seeing blood all over my hands and the floor. The officers had hit me to the back of my head and buss my head real bad. There was blood all over the ground and on my body," Sealy testified.

Sealy said he was able to identify one of the officers. The officer in his defence told the court he did not notice any injuries to Sealy and proffered the explanation that Sealy's injuries came as a result of Sealy hitting against the wall of the prison during his fight.

Sealy, alias "Stone", 35, a rigger, of Sherwood Park, Arima, was found guilty by a nine member jury of rape, buggery, grievous sexual assault and common assault.

Now, the punishment for Sealy - for the rape - was a sentence of imprisonment, of 25 years. Full stop! That was what the court deemed just for the crime that he perpetrated. 25 years in prison is a very long time, especially living under the conditions that are present in the prisons of Trinidad and Tobago. They have actually been described as ‘sub-human’!

Now Sealy was beaten by a prisons officer (PO), whom the judge described as not a "credible witness" and his given evidence as "incredulous". The judge just did not believe the PO. The sum awarded reflected the injuries received, and likely a punitive value as well, not for Sealy but to reflect the atrocious actions of the PO.

Lo and behold, the comments on the Express webpage, coming fast and furious, reflect such a paucity of thinking that I am appalled. For example:

crime continues to pay. man rapes. man is convicted and incarcerated. man is treated by prison officers equal to his crime. judge disagrees. judge awards man handsome comfort money. judge rules that comfort money must bear interest. the interest born by comfort money at 6 percent is 30 times greater than commercial interest rates which average zero point 2 percent. thus crime pays. "Sealey, alias "Stone", 35, a rigger, of Sherwood Park, Arima, was found guilty by a nine member jury of rape, buggery, grievous sexual assault and common assault," will surely be out of lockup soon to enjoy his loot complements taxpayers including the victim.

And this:

What The Helll Wrong With This Judge A Rapist Should Have No Rights

And this:

What is wrong with beating the shiiiiit out of convicted rapists? Did the rapist show mercy when he was brutally assaulting and mentally scaring for life his victim?

And this:

This is crap!! Sealy raped, buggered and attempted to murder an innocent 17 year old girl! A crime for which he was tried and convicted by a jury!! Yet no mention was ever made of compensation for his victim!! NOT ONE RED CENT SHOULD BE PAID TO THAT CRIMINAL!! The judge should have awarded the monies to be paid to the girl who has been traumatised for her LIFE!! Oh, and could anyone tell me why the so "innocent" Sean Wallace was convicted in the first place?... Yes he may have recieved a severe beating at the hands of the officers (wrong by any standard).. but by his own account he hid the bag of cigarettes that came over the wall of the state prison. No doubt in an effort to sell as part of the prison's contraband trade... Yet he's been compensated for almost $300K (TT). What part of that did Mr. Wallace use to comepnsate the victims of his crimes?... Judges,... people time to stop letting criminals profit more than once for their crimes.... Don't get me wrong,... if one prisoner is raping another,.. then a severe beating is justified,.. But they shouldn't profit from comitting crimes in prison too... paid for by taxpayers who're working hard and staying out of jail...

And this: – (in response to the above)

Well said! Your comment is quite thought provoking. He suffers an injustice but is compensated yet his victim received no sort of damages or compensation. Something is wrong with this justice system.

And this:

OMG!!! Again trinidad justice system is a joke. sorry guys i could not stop laughting when i read this. maybe if he had rape the judge relative it would of been different story. ONLY IN T&T.

Note these are among the more popular posts. They were regarded with great favour and approval (thumbs up), which to me indicated that there is something wrong with the mentality of the people down on the Rock.

My response to all of these and several more is as follows:

For all of those who are mouthing off at the 'injustice' of the judgment...

Put yourself in the victim's shoes... imagine you're in prison. A prisons officer (PO) comes along and beats you unconscious, bussing your head and leaving you with blackouts.

The officer later lies, and provides an incredible story that you hit your own head against the wall thus causing self inflicted injuries, the very nature of which is impossible to self inflict!

How would you take it? Would you 'smart' at the injustice of it and seek to have the 'wrong' righted, or would you, as you bleat now, say 'it good fuh meh, I go keep meh ar*se quiet and take it'?

Even if you are not in prison, if a police duncey do this to you... what would you do?

It's easy to be a critic when you are not the victim. Or maybe I should ask how many of you will let me beat the crap out of you with a baton for $120,000??

Note, that money is almost meaningless. He is still in prison, and cannot spend it.

To the bright spark who posted this comment:

So what if a rapist get ah buss head? The law is really an a$$. There should be a way that the award could be made and the money given to the victim.

I offered:

So will you let me beat the crap out of you with a baton for $120,000??

As can be expected, my offer - as generous as it was - was declined!

And to:

A victim of police violence gets more considerate treatment from the law than a rape victim, who is usually persecuted several times over in the course of due process simply by the way those trials run. That is comparative coddling and you know exactly what I meant. Stop being obtuse.

My response:

Obtuse?

I don't know if I am more appalled or shocked by your short-sightedness.

(a) The man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his crime. 25 long years in conditions that are subhuman by everybody's accounts. Not 25 years plus brutal beatings, mind you.

(b) The sentence was deemed appropriate in law for his crime. You are now saying it is not enough and is licks in his tail too? Who are you to judge?

(c) The victim may be traumatised... But an imperfect system is what we have, and she has recourse in law if she seeks to use them. I feel for her but that crime is a separate issue to a brutal beating placed upon her attacker.

(d) I don't know that a man beaten so brutally that he loses consciousness, partial hearing loss for life, long term effects such as headaches and blackouts (Justice Jones indicated this was supported by the medical reports so we know it to be factual), is coddled. Would that you be coddled similarly, eh?

All in all, you display paucity of thinking/reasoning and a woeful ignorance of the basic tenets of law. You are emotive, uncaring, narrow-minded and biased. Did I leave anything out?

People fail to see that the rape by (and imprisonment) of the perpetrator is a separate and different issue to the beating he suffered at the hands of a prisons officer, who is charged with the duty to protect and safeguard said prisoner during his incarceration. In the eyes of the law, the prisons officer has a duty of care (a legal term) towards each and every prisoner under his watch. When this prisons officer or any other breach that duty of care, we the taxpayers are the ones that pay.

OUTRAGED! Rape of a Child is NOT Entertainment!

2011-10-29T17:24:00.001+01:00

On 25th October, 2011, the local television program “Crime Watch” which airs on TV6 at 6pm in Trinidad and Tobago, aired video footage of a 13 year old girl being beaten and raped. The host of Crime Watch, also had the child’s mother on set and asked her questions about how she felt on hearing the cries of her daughter as she is being raped ~~by several men~~ on the video.

I cannot sit idly by and merely shake my head at this abomination. That the rape of a child is aired on a television show that is notorious for sensationalizing, and packaging criminal activity and trauma of victims as entertainment, signals that we have reached an all new level of barbarianism.

In a country where the cries of a child being raped can be aired at prime time, and then again at night, and again the next day, and again the next night - is it any wonder that we are a country whose rates of murder of women by domestic partners and rape are amongst the highest in the world?

For if we can reduce someone to a sound-bite, a headline, a statistic, then it becomes easier for us to forget they are human beings. They become ‘the other’, ‘a number’, ‘not one of us’. And when we are fed violence as entertainment, we become desensitized to the chopping, the burning, the raping. Suddenly a woman who is ‘just’ battered is no big deal.

WomenSpeak was created to give these ‘statistics’ a human face. To give women the opportunity to tell their stories of abuse, harassment, discrimination, in their own words. To encourage every man and woman in the region to take responsibility for sharing the message that discrimination against women is a disease that is rotting us from the inside out. That we stand as Caribbean men and women, boys and girls who believe in the dignity of all human beings. And we DEMAND higher standards of decency, empathy and justice for women and girls.

We each have a voice. Let us use it. If we are fed up of the exploitation, denigration and dehumanization of our women, men and children, please exercise your conscience and let the Telecommunication Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, Crime Watch and TV6 and its affiliates know what you think of it’s degrading ratings ploys; of this violence perpetrated by the local media upon it’s citizens.

CALL.WRITE.SPEAK OUT.REPOST.RETWEET.

For my part, I want Crime Watch OFF THE AIR. PERIOD.

Below are contact numbers and links

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (click link for complaint form)

#5 Eighth Avenue Extension, Off Twelfth Street, Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago.

Phone : 1-868-675-8288

TV6

35 Independence Square , Port of Spain, Trinidad, WI

Telephone 1-868-627-8806

Trinidad Express Newspapers

35-37 Independence Square, Port of Spain, Trinidad, WI

1-868-623-1711/8

Hott 93 Office
#5 Rosalino Street, Woodbrook
Port Of Spain, Trinidad, W.I.
Phone: (868).625.8426, (868).623.7605
Fax: (868).624.3234

Simone Leid - The WomenSpeak Project

Jumbie:

I was in Trinidad a few months ago, and after hearing about Alleyne's Crime Watch program for a long time, I opted to watch a few episodes to see what the hype was about.

What I saw was a man insecure in his own sexuality, who 'bacchanalised' sexual stories for some sort of perverse personal pleasure. For example, there was one story about a housewife being robbed, raped and tied up in Chaguanas, who later ran out naked to warn the neighbours and seek assistance. Alleyne could not let the naked part alone, returning to it every sentence out of the mouth while interviewing the neighbours, who were clearly uncomfortable and trying to step aside from that point.

I have no doubt that his own mental sickness played a large part in this story, not only because the editors could have edited better, but also because he has a big influence on what is aired. Have you ever 'seen/heard' him talk to 'Director', snapping his fingers and throwing tantrums on air? He is his own director, calling the shots on what is aired and how and when.

Now all that remains is a civil suit against him and the TV station.

Profligacy dispreading–an update

2011-10-24T08:44:00.001+01:00

I previously wrote about a court action in which the state failed to file a defence on time, not once but 3 times! John Jeremie, His Royal Interloper (aka Lord Protector) of King Manning, insisted on appealing all the way to the Privy Council.

That judgment was handed down by the Privy Council recently. Once more, the State lost. JJ spent tax payers monies, not for the first time, like a fool.

Will the real racist please stand up?

2011-10-24T07:47:00.001+01:00

Once more, the shit has hit the fan, regarding the ‘secret’ scholarships handed out by Joan Yuille-William (Minister) at the Ministry of Community Development during the PNM reign. And reign it was, whereby P**rick ruled over all like Lord and Master, giving secret instructions to ‘keep it quiet’, and rewarding party faithful with sums up to $500K.

It took a judgement of the Court from complainant Devant Maharaj to reveal that those benefitting from the (as it is now called) ‘slush fund’ were mainly:

from 5 major PNM controlled constituencies
closely affiliated with the PNM, either through family relationships or employed by PNM personalities
of a majority of a race commonly reflected as the majority of the PNM membership.

Note that it wasn’t just a matter of secret disbursement, but also of subsequent cover-up that forced the high Court action to reveal the facts now coming to light.

Devant Maharaj is now being branded as a racist by the PNM-till-ah-dead types on the newspaper forums. This started me thinking; is he really a racist?

Racist: n. A person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others.

adj. Discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion.

Given the descriptors above, I fail to see how he can be described as racist for seeking information on disbursement of public funds.

First of all, it is not racist to want equal opportunities for your race. That is not the definition of being racist. Had he been wanting the promotion of his race, based upon already established successes, then perhaps. I see arguments being bandied that the majority of legal students and medical students are of Indo descent. Negros (I have explained my use of this word before before) have traditionally not done as well as Indos, since the Indo family structure has traditionally been to push children into education, sometimes harshly. So traditionally, Indos have done better in school, and achieved higher goals in education. Should we dumb down the entry qualification for Negroes to join medical school? I for one might refuse to have a black doctor treat me, knowing he might not have the ‘brains’ to learn properly, becoming a ‘duncey’ in the medical field.

Secondly, Maharaj exposed racism at NLCB where he was employed, practiced by his former boss (now mayor of PoS) Louis Lee Sing. That went all the way to the Privy Council, who agreed with Maharaj. Therefore, once again, how can he be racist for wanting equal opportunity and exposing underlying racism?

The real racism came from then Prime Minister P**rick Manning, who lost not one, not two but four cases at the Privy Council for treating Indo-Trinidadians unfairly, without rhyme or reason, or explanation. Not only that, but some of his overt actions resulted in the worldwide lowering of the country’s standing, one example being Monteil’s rip off causing a lowering of rank on the World Corruption Index.

Now, Maharaj has reputedly done some questionable things at the Port, of which he is line minister. But is he racist? Not in my opinion.

HIV rapists – what next?

2011-10-22T13:43:00.001+01:00

I’ve been trying to get out from behind this computer for the last 3 hours – then I get stuck again on this article in Newsday: Verna Warns of HIV Rapists. Verna St Rose Greaves is the Minister of Social Development and Gender. She is reported to have said WTTE, that the ‘..high incidence of rape, including gang rape, was horrifying.’ Oh – perhaps she’s been reading this blog of late.

But it’s not all bad news! Really. According to the figures she supplied of 215 reported rapes for 2010 – that translates to 16.5 rapes per 100,000 of population (assuming a 1.3M inhabitants). And here’s the thing, for 2009 the rate of reported rapes in England & Wales (in the UK) was 24.1 per 100,000, according to UN Statistics. Notice that at least I reference to some extent my sources.

Amazingly the 2007/8 British Crime Survey estimated that only 11% of victims of a serious sexual assault reported that assault to the police, while 40% had completely withheld that they had been assaulted. One may wish to wonder about the reliability of rape statistics on a godforsaken Rock where law enforcement is piss poor and conviction rates for serious violent and sexual crimes are pretty low.

The part solution to risk of contracting HIV by gang rape on the Rock is perhaps to walk with a supply of the strongest condoms on the market – and hope that if such small risk materialises, you may offer a condom and hope that mindless psychopaths will take a few seconds to put the damn things on before gang-penetrating you. How’s that grab you? No – you don’t like my brand of plain talk (aka frankomen)? You think I’m crude, rude and scaremongering don’t you? Hey – you don’t have to believe any of this and you don’t have to like me! You don’t have to do anything. You’re entitled to life on your fav Rock. You’re big enough.

Confused no ass!!

2011-10-22T12:19:00.001+01:00

Well here I go again. My first response to this front page was (in my mind), “They’re a bit young to be Gate Crashers or part of gang related violence.. what’s their photos got to do with the headline?”

My Rock-hugging friends would prefer to label me with Asperger’s syndrome, than to admit that they, their mentality and the mentality of Rock crawlers collectively, along with the media – are confused no ass!!

Look, for me it’s a straight case – the size of photo and it’s contents should have some relevance to the headlines. But that’s only if you suffer with Asperger’s syndrome – like me – I’m told. Well I know what the ‘looks’ mean – I’ve been in therapy! LOL.

What I’m led to understand is that on a godforesaken rock, Rock-crawlers can form associations that have no relevance to anything – and that the media totally understand this.

So I’m the odd man out. Well that’s another reason I can’t return to the Rock. So there!!

Wash your blues away!

2011-10-21T15:21:00.001+01:00

‘We can’t live here anymore’

2011-10-21T14:40:00.001+01:00

This is the headline about a father’s sentiment about his two young children who luckily escaped with their lives, after being bound and gagged, while mother nipped out to get some baby food a few minutes away.

For viewers outside of this godforesaken Rock, I should explain that this crime took place in the height of the country’s State of Emergency i.e. when there is a very high police presence and readiness to respond.

What therefore is the likelihood of such crimes in the absence of such law enforcement high alert? I think it’s fairly obvious. No - I refuse to spell it out for you.

The bewildered father reportedly said, “I have to give thanks to God for my wife and baby daughter, not being in the house at the time of the robbery because if she was there maybe she could have been raped, or the children could have been beaten, or worse yet, kidnapped. But since this did not happen I am grateful that although some valuables were taken, my wife and children are safe.”

Whilst I could understand and entirely empathise with his sense of relief –and that his utterance was said in that context, I must examine the issue of God in all this. Well I know he must have been using words loosely. However, some Rockians actually believe that, but for God the situation would be far worse.

It is this stupid belief – totally and completely stupid – that God will protect ‘you’/’us’ from crime that has people living on that Rock and not taking the initiative to leave.

The most brain washed of Rock-crawlers will say to themselves the following:

Crime exists in every country.
My ‘Rock’ is no worse than elsewhere.
There are more heinous murders and rapes in the UK and USA.
What? You expect everybody to leave this ‘Rock’ and live in another country?

I waste no time rebutting any of the above sorts of statements or questions. It represents a totally self-serving and misguided logic – I call it ‘invincible stupidity’. I know that the stupid and those with a low capacity to adequately appraise the future and adapt, will suffer more than those who can. It is their destiny!

Ad nauseum – I say to my friends who, in the face of mountains of evidence pointing to high risk of being raped, killed in a car crash, or murdered on that Rock, “Remember me when such incident or crime visits you!”. At the point of being penetrated by an unwanted penis, or fatally chopped by a cutlass, or fatally colliding head on with a maniac driver, or before the gun goes off at the back of your head – think of me! Then your last dying thoughts should be ‘I should have listened – I was stupid – I deserve what I get.’ For then, in those last few microseconds of your life, you will know that no God will come out of the heavens to rescue you. Game over! Lights out!

But that’s if you’re lucky. What if you survive to see your loved ones suffer a living hell of the consequences of such serious crime – or you have to survive the murder of a loved one, that you had taken to live on that stupid Rock? Or you have to live the physical and psychiatric consequences of you or your loved one being brutally raped? Well, you’ll still think of me – every time you nut your head on a stone wall punishing yourself for your utter stupidity. But the impression you leave on that stone wall will change nothing. Remember that! God? "Where was God when it was happening" to you? - you will think. Too late for you or God!

The Real Cookie Monster?

2011-10-20T13:25:00.001+01:00

Cookies, pigs and trough

2011-10-20T08:24:00.001+01:00

It is sickening, this feeding frenzy that was UDeCOTT’s typical unsupervised behaviour. Imagine, a $3.2M bill for “macaroon, almond, oatmeal cookies, mixed sushi, salmon, spicy negiri, pina coladas, pork chops, lamb chops, fish, curry meals, virgin banana and caviar. It even included Duracell batteries.”

I cannot even begin to describe my disgust. The corruption that is rampant in Trinidad and Tobago resulted in a downgrading of its financial status worldwide, yet it seems acceptable to all ‘PNM-till-ah-dead’ types.

Neelanda Rampaul was in a league of her own, and if the rumours were right, ably assisted by top PNM officials in the massive rape of the treasury. My disgust is such I cannot get into this topic, lest I fart fire here. I gone.

Exploiting the ‘dummy’ market

2011-10-19T10:39:00.001+01:00

The ‘dummy market’ is about exploiting people who don’t know, don’t think and don’t explore options – for whatever reasons. They find life is too complicated, too short, and everything is too much effort. They want it now and they don’t want to think too much about it. They’re unable to or don’t want to cope with minor degrees of discomfort. They don’t have much money but they’re willing to pay a bit extra – or maybe not even know they're paying extra – to have it sorted for them. Oh yes, there are also many rich dummies. Rich or poor, they’re driven by a narcissistic desire to be seen with the latest and the best – to be with the ‘in crowd’. And boy they follow crowds and personal recommendations from friends rather easily. I’m pretty sure you identify this category of persons quite quickly.

You may realise from this article that you fall into the category of dummy – as considered by big industry. You may discover that you’ve been had. And you may console yourself that you’re willing to pay for your stupidity. That’s fine – and big business agrees with you. In fact you’re the most cherished kind of customer!! They love you! They’ll protect you and care for you. They’ll fight for you. After all, undisclosed big parts of their profits are ‘thanks to you’.

You need a few examples. Well I can’t name any products because big business will certainly come down on me for threatening their profits and good name. But I can allude to certain devices and deals that millions have been caught by. Think about it – what is it that’s in high demand and hundreds of millions around the world have or want? Easy – it’s called ‘MOBILE PHONES’. In other parts of the world outside of the UK they’re called ‘CELL PHONES’.

How does the dummy assess whether a new advertised mobile phone is good? Well basically they don’t – or do the most minimal of assessment; limited of course by all the things that comprise the ‘dummy-syndrome’. Does the average Joe know about processing speed, browser functionality, internet connections or speed, voice recognition, screen clarity etc etc? If you know all or most about that you’re not in the dummy market. But yes, there are millions of people – usually of the very balding or grey haired variety – or very young with thick locks of hair, who just don’t know and couldn’t care. They want a phone that’s fashionable, that’ll make their friends go “oooooh..that’s nice.. that’s the latest – isn’t it?” – and which will bring a proud smile to the owner’s face. And that is your typical dummy.

Oh – and make no mistake they’re happy to confess their dumminess. In fact some wear the T-shirt with ‘Dummy’ written on it. And their friends all slap their backs and support their dumminess. Dummies are very very popular.

The next area where dummies are caught is in the booming ‘tablet’ market. In essence the manufacturers sell you a dream i.e. a device that will do your bidding. You swipe that finger across the screen and things happen!!! Woooo.. windows pop up, video plays, word processing happens – and all your friends and work colleagues also go “woooo…oooh..” with punctuated loud gasps. They make you feel all so clever, hip and like a progressive dynamic person that you want to be seen as. That’s the dream. But below the surface of all that, being the dummies that they are, they don’t know how to upgrade the operating system, will never use more than about 20% of the things full potential – and they’ll never know it’s full potential. They don’t care how fast the ‘tablet’ market is growing, or its development – and they don’t even care that their purchase will be worth nothing in 6 months. In other words they’ve been had and they don’t know it – but they continue to strut around months thereafter in state of sustained blissful ignorance. They’ve parted with around £300 or $USD 300. Never mind - the chaps who run the manufacturing companies are happy too. They’ve probably just returned from a cracking holiday in the Seychelles – networked over pinacoladas from deck chairs – and they thought of the dummy, well not individually but the class of dummies who made their company all the profits.

Well – I hope some get the picture. I could go on about devices that read electronic books, cook your rice, and massage your back(side). The same sort of story as above applies. Happy dummying! I’m with the guys who sell the stuff! (Covertly – I should add). LOL.

Somebody pull a cable - quick

2011-10-18T00:10:00.001+01:00

The Cap tryin’ hard to sell three desalination plants on the open international market.

I had an idea that the people of this country (left) might value that. I’d be very grateful in a tangible way if someone down on Dongkey Rock or elsewhere, could pull a cable to facilitate meh sale? [Story viewable by clicking on the photo]

My marketing plan comes from the fact that at least once a year, they have serious floods on that Rock, and I thought that as they had 3 desalination plants already, they could probably use another 3.

Many thanks for tips and promos.

Captain Walker.

Hans be quick

2011-10-17T17:02:00.001+01:00

A Dutch TV-show challenged magician Hans Klok and the "Divas of Magic" to do as many illusions as possible in 5 minutes.

Four stories

2011-10-15T12:20:00.001+01:00

1. The first:

There is a man who lives at the North Pole.
He lives there with his wife and a bunch of elves.
During the year, he and the elves build toys.
Then, on Christmas Eve, he loads up a sack with all the toys.
He puts the sack in his sleigh.
He hitches up eight (or possibly nine) flying reindeer.
He then flies from house to house, landing on the rooftops of each one.
He gets out with his sack and climbs down the chimney.
He leaves toys for the children of the household.
He climbs back up the chimney, gets back in his sleigh, and flies to the next house.
He does this all around the world in one night.
Then he flies back to the North Pole to repeat the cycle next year.

True or False?

2. The second:

was in my room one night.
Suddenly, my room became exceedingly bright.
Next thing I know there is an angel in my room.
He tells me an amazing story.
He says that there is a set of ancient golden plates buried in the side of a hill in New York.
On them are the books of a lost race of Jewish people who inhabited North America.
These plates bear inscriptions in the foreign language of these people.
Eventually the angel leads me to the plates and lets me take them home.
Even though the plates are in a foreign language, the angel helps me to decipher and translate them.
Then the plates are taken up into heaven, never to be seen again.
I have the book that I translated from the plates. It tells of amazing things -- an entire civilization of Jewish people living here in the United States 2,000 years ago.
And the resurrected Jesus came and visited these people!
I also showed the golden plates to a number of real people who are my eye witnesses, and I have their signed attestations that they did, in fact, see and touch the plates before the plates were taken up into heaven.

True or False?

3. The third:

A man was sitting in a cave minding his own business.
A very bright flash of light appeared.
A voice spoke out one word: "Read!" The man felt like he was being squeezed to death. This happened several times.
Then the man asked, "What should I read?"
The voice said, "Read in the name of your Lord who created humans from a clinging [zygote]. Read for your Lord is the most generous. He taught people by the pen what they didn't know before."
The man ran home to his wife.
While running home, he saw the huge face of an angel in the sky. The angel told the man that he was to be the messenger of God. The angel also identified himself as Gabriel.
At home that night, the angel appeared to the man in his dreams.
Gabriel appeared to the man over and over again. Sometimes it was in dreams, sometimes during the day as "revelations in his heart," sometimes preceded by a painful ringing in his ears (and then the verses would flow from Gabriel right out of the man), and sometimes Gabriel would appear in the flesh and speak. Scribes wrote down everything the man said.
Then, one night about 11 years after the first encounter with Gabriel, Gabriel appeared to the man with a magical horse. The man got on the horse, and the horse took him to Jerusalem. Then the winged horse took the man up to the seven layers of heaven. The man was able to actually see heaven and meet and talk with people there. Then Gabriel brought the man back to earth.
The man proved that he had actually been to Jerusalem on the winged horse by accurately answering questions about buildings and landmarks there.
The man continued receiving the revelations from Gabriel for 23 years, and then they stopped. All of the revelations were recorded by the scribes in a book which we still have today.

True or False?

4. The Fourth:

God inseminated a virgin named Mary, in order to bring his son incarnate into our world.
Mary and her fiancé, Joseph, had to travel to Bethlehem to register for the census. There Mary gave birth to the Son of God.
God put a star in the sky to guide people to the baby.
In a dream God told Joseph to take his family to Egypt. Then God stood by and watched as Herod killed thousands and thousands of babies in Israel in an attempt to kill Jesus.
As a man, God's son claimed that he was God incarnate: "I am the way, the truth and the life," he said.
This man performed many miracles. He healed lots of sick people. He turned water into wine. These miracles prove that he is God.
But he was eventually given the death sentence and killed by crucifixion.
His body was placed in a tomb.
But three days later, the tomb was empty.
And the man, alive once again but still with his wounds (so anyone who doubted could see them and touch them), appeared to many people in many places.
Then he ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the father almighty, never to be seen again.
Today you can have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. You can pray to this man and he will answer your prayers. He will cure your diseases, rescue you from emergencies, help you make important business and family decisions, comfort you in times of worry and grief, etc.
This man will also give you eternal life, and if you are good he has a place for you in heaven after you die.
The reason we know all this is because, after the man died, four people named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote accounts of the man's life. Their written attestations are proof of the veracity of this story.

True or False?

Thought of the Day

2011-10-15T12:04:00.001+01:00

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Stephen F. Roberts

Adina Spire - Bezdin Ensemble

2011-10-15T11:37:00.001+01:00

This music is truly inspirational. I’m a life member of Magnatune – supporting and promoting budding new artists, and worthy causes. Kindly replace your wallet, cheque/check book or credit card. Just listen! “Bezdin is an institution in Romania; its purpose is still to give shelter and education to girls who were abandoned or orphaned, or whose families could not support them. The girls receive a musical education and the most talented stay and became members of the Bezdin ensemble choir or orchestra, at moment based in Russia.

Vivaldi Sacred Box by Bezdin Ensemble

Mozart Requiem by Bezdin Ensemble

“In September 1703, Vivaldi became maestro di violino (master of violin) at a girl orphanage called the Pio Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of Mercy) in Venice. Vivaldi was only 25 when he started working at the Ospedale della Pietà. Over the next thirty years he composed most of his major works while working there.” - Magnatune. You can try Magnatune for 7 days free of charge and without obligation thereafter.

“Adina Spire (born in 1977) is a romanian cellist, classical composer and performer. She works almost exclusively in her native Romania and in Russia as a sacred music composer, director of choir and orchestra and teacher of film composition. In 2008 she founded the Bezdin Ensemble, a specialized ensemble for sacred music, consisting of a chamber orchestra, choir and vocalists.” – Adina’s Bio

You can sample some of Adina’s work below from Soundclicks – prepare for something amazing. Get the speakers and volume right – and sit back in a soft relaxing chair – and press the ‘play’ button.

The association between the Bezdin Ensemble with Vivaldi and Mozart is natural.

Yup – you’re now very confused. How does someone revel in hip-tossing Balkanwood and is very much at home with the serenity of traditional classical?

integrity questions

2011-10-15T06:38:00.001+01:00

In response to Dana Seetahal’s column, I wrote:

I still question the IC's existence, given that it is a 'toothless' bulldog with no remit (or desire) to either (a) investigate nor (b) discipline for breach of the Integrity Act.

The latter is an especially important point. The IC has only powers of enquiry, akin to a Commission of Enquiry, in that it can only recommend. Dana could not be more incorrect in her first paragraph. I expected better.

Therefore its very existence is a bane on the country, a polished bit of window dressing for the country's dumb population and perhaps also for external bodies as the IMF for it to be seen as something is being done about the rampant corruption. Not only that, I see it as 'jobs for the boys' with the Commissioners and 'investigators' collecting a salary while knowing that their actions have about the same effect as a fart in the wind.

Ask yourself though. Since its existence began, what productive action has the IC taken? Even its own members are among those tarnished by corruption! Take deputy Chairwoman, Gladys Gafoor.

Subsequent to her husbands death, she continued to receive and encash cheques made out to him, under his name. That is a crime! And this went on for nearly 6 years, if I recollect correctly. A former judge not knowing the law, or a former judge knowingly breaking the law? Either way, it spits on the face of the population.

However, the powers that be significantly asked, whether she was entitled to the chauffeur's allowance. Convenient. The real question, the one whether she broke the law by cashing a cheque made out to a dead man, was never asked, so very conveniently.

The sooner this IC is disbanded and the Integrity Act repealed, the better for all of us. Neither makes sense, either in theory or in practice.

Balkanwood!!

2011-10-15T01:34:00.001+01:00

Balkanwood? Like Bollywood nuh. Well – as some may have figured, the Cap is not one to be limited by original culture, race, mentality or whateverrrrrr….

I am as unapologetic in exploring new cultures, as I am of new ideas. But for those who know me personally, this apparent ‘flexibility’ and ‘adventurousness’ is well managed by a deep and strong set of values and principles. Enuff psychoanalysis. Take in these lovely videos. There is much talent in the Balkans. I’m also exploring Russian pop and rock – but that’s for another day.

Whilst some will see only sexual gyrations – the Cap sees beauty, talent and adventurousness. You see what you want to see. And for those with that burning question in the back of their minds – no, I’ve not had sexual fantasy or arousal about any of these very attractive young ladies! And I heard you think “liar!”. Some may have momentarily forgotten that I’m from another planet – and another time.

I apologise to meh paleets, the Jumbie, for any psychological trauma caused – yuh know, him having to glimpse these ‘boney yard-fowl’ types that he so hates. The problem, he may discover, is that fatties with all the ‘flesh and curves’ don’t usually make it into these types of vids! Po’ fella. LMAO.

Just who is the real ‘sicko’ here?

2011-10-14T10:47:00.001+01:00

I should know better than to surf a ‘Rock’ newspaper on a morning. I’m assaulted by a report in Newsday 'CREEPY FREAKY WEIRDO'! In essence they reportedly caught a teacher at Bishops Anstey High School (equivalent of a College in the UK), posting pornographic material of himself on his Facebook – by accident I should add, this discovery was made (according to Newsday).

Errh..umh..ahhh.. on 12th October 2011 we read that that the Ministry of Education were investigating three scandals at three separate schools. These involved the use of Skype to stream porn, nude images of a teacher on a laptop, and a 15yr old (?female) having sex with a teacher. It’s possible that one of those reports alluded to the ‘sicko’ story captioned above.

My question is an obvious one – why did the female students at the school keep this man on their facebook at all? Were they coerced to keep him on? Did they derive some pleasure from engaging with images of his ‘half-nude’ anatomy? Was it simply for a laugh? Was it pure innocent macoshusness (or macovaciousness if you prefer)? Where were the parents when all this viewing of ‘half-naked’ bodies were going on – for three years?

It isn’t funny or cute

2011-10-13T19:20:00.001+01:00

There is a video floating around on Facebook and Youtube that has caused me serious annoyance.

Silly!

The first thing that 99.9% of you will go is “Awww.. how cute.. that kid surely loves her dad.. how nice”. I responded to it quite sternly on Facebook – and you wouldn’t be surprised to know that the comment was removed. I’m such a kill joy –and you know it.
The video and the responses to it on Facebook, demonstrate how stupid and uneducated most human beings are. Why?

Factually, a toddler of between 18months and 2 years does not know what ‘love’ is – as you know it.
A toddler of that age – as is the one in the crib will experience attachment.
The toddler in question is in an apparent state of distress due to separation anxiety.
The close physical attachment to the foolish in the crib is not love. It is re-attachment and calming of the anxiety.
It is obvious from the eye movements of the adult, and the background music, that the whole clip was designed to entertain.

You may not like me for saying it – but I’ll say it anyway. It is people who fall squarely into the following categories - the

limited in intellect (not even in education)
wanna-be-seen-to-be-happy-and-jolly-for-a-laugh
lacking in parental skills
immature

Well it wasn’t entertaining because I saw:

A child in distress and separation anxiety.
A parent or guardian attempting to gain some sense of popularity from the production of the clip.
A parent mismanaging the situation and feeling proud about it.
And a bunch of stupid people cheering on in their lack of understanding – driven by the usual ‘oh lighten up’ crap that infects the herd. (No - there weren’t people cheering in the clip – to the idiot who decides to take issue with that).

There are hidden risks in video material on YouTube and Facebook. This one above may not have struck you as the most dangerous – and I’m not saying it is dangerous. And that’s the start of it. People take these things – misinterpret them because the mob sees it as funny. A new norm is forged – where it should not be. That norm is forged from misunderstanding and misinformation dressed up in a way for us to have a laugh. In this way our society is slowly but surely eroded in an imperceptible way. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Points scorers, have a go!

Prime cuts–lock me up now!

2011-10-13T13:31:00.001+01:00

Meat at £37.78 per kg – yep that’s gotta be a prime cut – or even a super prime cut, you might think!

Well you’ve probably spotted the picture below already so you know it isn’t. But because you love that kitty, you’d buy it – lovingly. That’s how we humans operate – and unless I agree, then I’m not part of the human race. What’s new?

I’m actually from another planet – that’s what people tell me. But if I assert that too often, of my own accord I risk being locked up in a nut-house. Strangely it isn’t mad to purchase cat food at £37.78/kg. That’s perfectly sane - isn’t it. But to scoff at it isn’t? Lock me up now!!

Fucked!!

2011-10-13T09:24:00.001+01:00

Once more, irrefutable proof of Jack Warner’s corrupt practices are exposed to the world. This time, it is not the BBC’s Andrew Jennings, but the UK’s Telegraph newspaper. This time, it is a video which though not directly of Jack, has his unique ‘lispy’ voice discussing payments to be made by Mohammad Bin Hammam, the former FIFA vice-president. You may recall Bin Hammam was banned from football for life after the bribery attempt and it resulted in Jack’s own demise within FIFA.

Now, any search for Jack Warner on this blog, will detail numerous ways that Jack’s ethics fall short. But as I pointed out to the Captain this morning, people who smell don’t usually know they smell.

By the way, I could think of no other title to this post other than what I posted. Because Warner has totally fucked himself, and if the PP government does not cut him loose after this, I see them sliding down to ignominy and a big election loss. They will become even less of an entity than the NJAC.

I leave you with the entertainment below.

And the truth… shall set you free!

Thought for tomorrow

2011-10-12T15:37:00.001+01:00

“What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not.”

– St. Augustine.

The Integrity Files… or the saga continues

2011-10-12T13:47:00.001+01:00

From the little I know of him personally, and from what others who know him better say, Eric St Cyr, chairman of the Integrity Commission (IC), is an honourable man, decent and upright, a first-rate economist. He is also a church pastor, I understand (though that doesn't necessarily make him honourable, or decent, or upright).

But, given the opportunity to speak to the media, he seems to forget the sensitivity of his temporal position, and appears unable to confine his comments to a diplomatic minimum — perhaps, I don't know, there is an expansiveness inherent in evangelism that afflicts him in this other capacity.

Thus last year he ventured the opinion that Jack Warner should choose between FIFA and ministerial office. Then, on the matter of the Prime Minister's residential accommodation after her election, he said that the furore would not have arisen if she had stayed at an hotel. (He was technically correct, but technical correctness and public perception are often two very different things.) Now he tells the media that his IC is investigating Miss Jearlean John, whom, it turns out, the IC hadn't bothered to inform of this. Yet in each of these cases, a simple "no comment" from him would have been enough.

On the issue of the PM's residential arrangement, Jack Warner, already furious over St Cyr's previous suggestion that Warner choose between Blatter and Bissessar, called on him to resign. St Cyr will know now, and so will the rest of the country, that at the time I telephoned Warner and asked him please to desist: St Cyr had spoken out of turn, I reasoned; he hadn't meant any harm.

Now I can't plead St Cyr's cause anymore, with Warner or anyone else, since he has committed what to my mind is cardinal error, one that should never be committed by any member, let alone the chairman, of any IC. Unforgivably, he has, with respect to Miss John, violated the elementary rule of natural justice.

You don't have to be a judge or a lawyer or a pastor to understand that rule; good parents or teachers or managers practise it all the time in everyday life. But our IC should grasp it better than most, if only because a former IC was found guilty of infringing it.

Remember the first case brought by Keith Rowley against the then IC? Rowley too had found out that he was being investigated, and had taken court action. In its order of April 20, 2007 the court said among other things that the IC's "failure...to inform Dr Rowley of allegations under investigation in relation to him or to give reasonable notice to him of any alleged failure on his part to fulfil a duty or obligation under the Act ...was ultra vires the (Integrity in Public Life) Act (and) in breach of the rules of natural justice..."

The same applies to the present IC, and most particularly to Chairman St Cyr. I have often written and spoken about the need to preserve and strengthen our institutions, the foundation pillars of our society. Those who have read and heard me over the years know that one of my most profound problems with Patrick Manning was what I saw as his unrelenting assault on those institutions — the Public Service, the Judiciary, the Ombudsman, the Office of the DPP, etc., — aimed at bringing them under his control. And a society without strong independent institutions is a society that isn't worth the name.

In recent years we've been having no end of trouble with our ICs. The Gordon Deane-led IC sinned unpardonably in asking Manning for guidance in the Rowley matter — this from a body supposed to be constitutionally independent!

The John Martin-led IC, which scandalously clung to office even after the court used it as a floor cloth in the first Rowley matter in 2007, finally managed to resign in February 2009 after the court found in the second Rowley matter that it had "acted in bad faith in relation to Dr Rowley and (was) guilty of the tort of misfeasance in public office''. (An Integrity Commission acting in bad faith! An Integrity Commission wrongfully exercising its lawful authority!)

The Henry Charles-led IC imploded after the revelation that Charles, a Catholic priest with a Yale doctorate in ethics, was a plagiarist. (Another member was found not to have satisfied the criteria for membership, and a third charged that the President had reneged on his promise to make him the deputy chairman.) Now this.

With his latest faux pas, Dr St Cyr has severely damaged the institution of the IC; his prior indiscreet remarks had already weakened it. His continued membership of the IC cannot be in the best interest of the IC or, more important, of Trinidad and Tobago. I know he is an honourable man, decent and upright. But he seems indifferent to the beckoning of common sense, and to the proper execution of his public responsibilities. The institution is infinitely more important than the individual. He must therefore go. It would be the honourable thing to do. The sooner, the better.

Reginald Dumas

Former Head of the Public Service

Laughter, the best medicine

2011-10-10T19:58:00.001+01:00

Jeff Dunham and Walter

From the Controlled Chaos show.

Thought of the Day

2011-10-10T17:02:00.001+01:00

Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents.

We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property.

We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.

We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.

John (Fire) Lame Deer

1900 or 1903–1976

Rum Till I die!!!

2011-10-09T14:55:00.001+01:00

I like it too bad.. the Cap had a li’le touch a puncheon las’ night. Boy dat t’ing was nice!

Oh gorm. .. boy dis one represents the essence of the Rock. Well it was a much nicer place back den.

Too bad I shall not be returning (well unless risk of homicide drops significantly dong dey – currently at 11 times that of the UK). I go take meh li’le puncheon right here oui. Me eh have tuh be watchin out fuh stray bullet, crash dummies, cutlassh flying, or stray penis – man ah can enjoy meh li’le grog cool and calm dis side!! ROFL.

Death.. the single best invention of life!–Jobs

2011-10-07T11:43:00.001+01:00

I'm listening very carefully to Steve Jobs! If you're too busy for this - having to feed that dog or sommat - at least scroll the video to 11:40 and take a minute or two from there. I'm printing these words and sticking them in front of my desk, "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new."

Thanks Steve! You’ve changed many lives and parts of the world.

Jobs had a relapse of cancer after he had surgery for a more treatable form in 2004.

It’s sad that we often discover people and their wisdom after they pass on. Very sad indeed.

[Thanks to blogger aka_lol @ http://akalol.wordpress.com/ for bringing this to me].

The Robobasket effect.

2011-10-05T21:38:00.001+01:00

I had mentioned this application some time ago. I’ve now got the hang of it after some experimentation and I share the tricks here. You can use this application to sort all your files. Picasa will not do this stuff. However, Picasa becomes easier and more efficient to use after sorting the Robobasket way.

Robobasket is easy to configure. The commonest place I have files to sort is from my camera. I always want to know that my pics are sorted into folders by Year, Month, Day. I don’t want to do that manually – that would be crazy. Below is the Robobasket effect that I love. After configuration, with one click of Robobasket my camera pics are sorted into 2011>10>05.

In the screenshot below I’ve created two rules to transfer pics and video from my SGS (phone) folder E:\DCIM\Camera to my hard drive. In the screenshot that follows I show how those rules are set up, and how you might do it.

This below may look complicated to some. It isn’t. Actually it is as easy as dragging and dropping things with a mouse and then, clicking on a ‘tags’ button. And the best part is that you don’t need to understand anything about how it works. So doing this is very mechanical. I’ve configured it to rename my files with ‘underscores’ in certain places. You need not do this. It will do the job perfectly without the rename action.

Clicking on the little folder icon takes you where you want to plant the files on your hard drive.

Robobasket can be automated for scheduled sorting of things on any drive. It can do that by your command, with or without your notice.
I was so impressed with the trial version of Robobasket that I purchased a full licence. I hope you find this application as useful as I’ve found it.

Padding the bill

2011-10-05T15:38:00.001+01:00

The photograph on the left is one of a bill incurred last night at the Frankie and Benny's restaurant in Birmingham. We had gone there to celebrate a friend's birthday. When the bill was presented, we could clearly see that there was a Budweiser added for the cost of £3.75.

I found it a very sly way of padding the bill. I cannot believe that the waitress, who wrote down our order at the table, could so brazenly add a beer! If she wrote down the order at the table, and did not have a beer listed, where did it come from?

I don’t know about the food the others had but the burger I had was overdone and hard. Not to mention covered in unrequested mayo and piri piri sauce. That is the last time I will be going there.

Music from another time

2011-10-01T23:52:00.001+01:00

It’s Saturday night. I’ve been reviewing lots of music from over the years. I thought I pull a few of my old favourites together. It’s mainly girl bands tonight, or girls in the lead, it seems.

Hmmm… what about it?

Reaches through my skin.

Wish I was there! LOL

So different.

Dunceyer and Dumberer

2011-10-01T07:54:00.001+01:00

People will think I pick on dunceys deliberately, but Oh Mighty Fadder man, they do make themselves targets. Just when I think one took the bar as low as it could get, another comes along to prove that he could beat the previous record.

Check this out… a duncey gives a man a ticket for parking in a ‘wheelchair parking’ spot. Now, I doh know where people does build wheelchair parking facilities so I was lil confused. The confusion was cleared up when I realised the duncey mistook the disabled parking symbol for a wheelchair parking area.

Ramessar said the police constable told him that the parking spot, which has the image of a wheelchair painted on the ground, was reserved for a wheelchair and not for his car, which is specially modified to allow him to drive, using only his hands.

As one man asked: Was the policeman expecting someone to park his wheelchair there and then walk to his office?

I have to give credit where it is due… they always have a diverse piece of dotishness… meaning no 2 stories are the same… and they always good for a laugh, usually the belly-bussing type that comes from deep in yuh belly.

All joke and fun aside, I am appealing for the Commish or PSC or whoever in charge of it, please put the dunceys back in short pants uniforms. Is since dey get long pants dey feel dem is ‘man’ and behaving bad. And take away the guns.

Identities and errors

2011-09-30T09:33:00.001+01:00

Something unusual happened this morning. The 3 daily newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago actually published the names, addresses and faces of the three men who allegedly raped a woman (late 40’s) and her teenage daughter. This is indeed a first for me. Usually, I see these details after a conviction is achieved. I wonder if the men’s alleged admission of the crime had anything to do with the publication?

Jason Kareem Romeo, 18, of Chrissie Terrace, Enterprise; Joel Vialva, 20, of Goodwill Road, Enterprise; and Stephen Loney, 23, of Goodwill Road, Enterprise, were each charged with two counts of rape and one count of burglary.

The part I don’t get is this:

Because of the sensitive nature of the charges, members of the public as well as the media were not allowed into the courtroom to protect the identities of the victims.

Aren’t we easily identifying them from the published information? Seems that the magistrate is displaying some Monkey Island thinking there.

Improving your memory

2011-09-29T08:17:00.001+01:00

Computer memory is one of those things that, no matter how much one has, one always wants more. (Come to think of it, I wouldn’t mind a little more human memory in my noggin, but the doctor told me to go home when I asked for an upgrade. He muttered something about “not enough insurance in the world” under his breath, but I’m sure I have no idea what he was talking about.) Scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana are working on a new kind of computer memory that looks to be faster and able to run on less power than current models. It’s called ferroelectric transistor random access memory — or FeTRAM — and it incorporates silicon nanowires and a ferroelectric polymer that’s able to switch polarity at the beck and call of applied electrical fields.

FeTRAMs are similar to currently existing FeRAMs (ferroelectric random access memories), but the newer technology being developed differs by storing its data with a ferroelectric transistor rather than a capacitor, which allows for nondestructive readout of that data — keeping it intact for a longer period of time. The nonvolatile storage system of FeTRAM technology keeps this data in memory even when the computer is turned off, and it’s estimated that, once perfected, FeTRAM may operate with 99% less energy than flash memory.

FeTRAM Serves the three main functions of computer memory:

Writing data
Reading data
Holding data for an extended period of time

“You want to hold memory as long as possible — 10 to 20 years — and you should be able to read and write as many times as possible,” says team member Saptarshi Das. “It should also be low power to keep your laptop from getting too hot. And it needs to scale, meaning you can pack many devices into a very small area. The use of silicon nanowires along with this ferroelectric polymer has been motivated by these requirements.”

From Lockergnome.

Thought for Tomorrow

2011-09-26T20:59:00.001+01:00

BULLSHIT may have gone unnoticed in breaking the light-speed barrier. Howzat? Some assert that ‘thought’ can travel faster than the speed of light.

-- Captain Walker

Scientist may eat shorts on TV!

2011-09-26T00:28:00.001+01:00

Over the last week there has been excitement in the media about the speed of light barrier being broken by speeding neutrinos. This is essence means that the laws of physics as written/discovered by Einstein may have to be re-written.

A neutrino is a very tiny particle with a very low mass – lighter than electrons. Basically the experiment in CERN shot them over several hundred meters and then timed them very accurately. The results showed that they arrived at their destination 60 billionths of a second earlier the equivalent of 60 feet ahead of anything moving at the speed of light. They did this with 15,000 neutrinos. The scientists have overchecked their results and found that they are well within margins of error. The first and usual response of scientific communities has always been to postulate error in the science or a hoax.

It’s not the first time neutrinos have been found breaking the speed limit. They were first caught doing so in 2007 in the Minos Experiment in Chicago’s Fermilab. But on that occasion the measurements were not statistically good enough to give them a speeding fine. (FT 2011-09-23)

Prof Jim Al-Khalili, professor of Physics at Surrey University, reportedly said in The Telegraph 2011-09-23 "The scientists are right to be extremely cautious about interpreting these findings. If the neutrinos have broken the speed of light, it would overturn a keystone theory from the last century of physics.

"That’s possible, but it’s far more likely that there is an error in the data. If the CERN experiment proves to be correct and neutrinos have broken the speed of light, I will eat my boxer shorts on live TV.”

Their reputations are on the line, quite clearly. So, it is unlikely that any scientist hoping to upset what Einstein had laid down in stone, is going to make a silly mistake on a calculator.

The Independent has done a good coverage of what this could mean if the Theory of Relativity falls. Almost the whole of modern physics may need to be rewritten. It raises the possibility of new technologies, faster than light travel in the distant future and unusual manipulations of the space-time continuum.

The Captain will be most certainly watching this space very carefully. I hope I get the opportunity to offer the Professor some Brown Sauce!!