Flag in Distress and my musings

Mayday, mayday...Is this really a nation in dire disctress? Now we're not saying the 'hoister' for the 1979 flag-raising re-enactment was making a political statement, but 20 days to go to the Referendum and it looks like Vincyland’s turned totally upside-down! A foreigner has predicted a tsunami, a local bishop has predicted heart attacks and I predict deeper divisions...and I’m no pessimist.


Now last post I told you about a concern I had with an important provision in the Referendum Act...well isn’t it amazing that the opposition party in parliament is too busy majoring on minors that it has failed to attend to weightier matters that could scuttle all their ‘vote no’ efforts? Is it that they are not aware of it (which would not be surprising) that they are they so silent ? (SCREAM!!!!)We believe this is one sure way to hijack the process which is why so many people are predicting the outcome with a great degree of certainty...despite the odds.

I just caught Sabralpho Caesalves on TV- all he needs now is a bucket of persimmon paint and he’s good to go. Comrade’s got to be calling Sabo, ‘Mini Me’ by now (GASP!!!) Mind you, I feel no affinity for the Privy Council, but that learned gentleman was, inadvertently, offering me a few very good reasons to not want us to kiss the PC goodbye... (You might catch him on API tomorrow night).
By the way... please tell our friends who genuinely believe that saying so-long to Her Majesty’s Privy Council will automatically ‘reinstate’ the death penalty that one Justice Adrian Saunders is known to have said, ‘...I had and continue to have absolutely no reservations about ruling automatic death penalties unconstitutional as infringing the constitutional protection against inhuman treatment.” (See this quote in context here). Of course his position may have undergone some revision, since then, but he hasn’t told us. How then are we going to guarantee rulings from the CCJ favourable to those who want a life for a life...huh?
By now you have heard about the new No Vote Committee led by Nurse Margaret London and ‘My pardner’ Frank DaSilva. They are calling for a 25% slice of the 4-million dollar referendum pie and they are going to court to press their case. The comedy now start! But there’s more...another individual or group has established a website in support of the ‘Vote No’ effort. Don’t know who or what they are connected to but on the website they have a facility that purports to allow you to check the voter’s list. For a lark, I keyed in a random series of noughts (I later counted them -18 in all) and this is the response I got back:

“Hello Macneil,


Great news! We have verified that your name is on the voters list, and so you are entitled to vote in the national referendum on 25 November 2009.

You are listed as Macneil Dublin, and your are registered to vote in polling division WGE, that is, in the constituency of West St. George. WGE is located at **TBD**.

Macneil, thank your for using our voter registration lookup, and remember, on 25 November 2009, VOTE NO!”
Well, well...so that’s an actual voter registration number? If you know the real Macneil Dublin, please assure him/her that s/he is on the voter’s list. And while you’re at it, please tell the webmaster for voteyessvg.com to update the site. After all that hoopla, I expected more...much more.

À Bientôt .

Any Means Necessary

I am more that a little concerned that from what I've seen of the Referendum Act, electoral officials have up to 14 days in which to make public the results of the November 25 poll. That is scary - I mean we have a situation where desperate men are behaving like they are going to do themselves in if this fails...

What is even more troubling to me is that the Act doesn't make clear whether the Returning Officer is obliged to have the votes counted soon after the close of the poll and the preliminary results published as soon as possible thereafter -- which is how it's usually done in these parts. Somebody please tell me I'm getting paranoid for no reason, especially as those sample ballots I've seen look like they could be duplicated so easily. Any means necessary? I wonder...

More Money Ha-Ha and a Little Porkbarrelling

Welcome to la-la land! Vincentians are a happy people today...HA-HA We can't stop laughing after waking up this morning to seriously reflect on the implications of the 30+million dollars in so-called ‘goodies’ doled out from the big, bottomless barrel on Independence Day (October 27, 2009). ‘Twas a memorable occasion and we all watched and listened awe-struck as the Chief Sharer began to share ‘way MY MONEY, lotsa land and a slew of special privileges. School children got two hundred dollars apiece just for being...well...for being school children! Some folks are smacking their lips like crazy as they’re looking to collect on the 7th Nov. several hundred ‘specsmen’ on the heads of their many children who are all in school.


The Chief Sharer, in defending what many see as indecent exposure of a desperate attempt to ‘encourage’ folks to affirm the proposed new Constitution that will ensure he remains in power even while he is out (but that’s the subject of another post), described the ‘stimulus package’ as “...a confirmation of our love for our children and for our young people.’ So is this really love or just plain pork barrelling? Anyway we’re just going to sit back and relax and say, ‘Nothing no wrong wid dat!’ What could be so wrong with paying people because they are young...don’t we reward people because they are beautiful? Any while we sharin’ ’way money, what about the non indigent poor (like many retired civil servants and those who no ha no pikmi in school but who ketchin’ dey tail in this hard guava crop) Where is their stimulus package?

And of course the teacher’s union president was sitting up diligently in the park, smiling stupidly even as he announced that teachers basically not on the agenda. Remember 'reclass' still outstanding...what could 30-cool million mean to that process! So three cheers for the people with six and seven children in school they are going to have a payday right on the eve of an election and since we not so ‘ungrateful’ and unscrupulous as to tek people money an not vote fo dem –  we have to VOTE ‘YES’ – which is the point of this whole exercise anyway.

Now don’t be getting me wrong...I ain’t hatin’ on all those wonderfully deserving people for getting a little something to take care of some basic needs, but could we have found a way to do it that would have been more sustainable? Couldn’t we have been given relief on taxes (like VAT) eh Missa Merital? Anyway, like my brethren says, “Sufferer ...only care where the nex’ food coming from!” And we are a nation full of sufferers, it seems...So brace yourselves more taxes up ahead ’cause whether it’s beef, pork or salt fish, NDP, ULP, or some other ‘P’ we are going to have to 'P' for it! But... the living is still easy in La La Land...

À Bientôt

My Money Ha-Ha and the Cock Crew

I am one of only a few people on this Rock who really listen very carefully to the proceedings in Parliament when I'm not on the j-o-b. More than half of the time even the key players themselves are either so fast asleep or beating the tables to applaud some halfwit, smart-alecky comment from one of their colleagues or reading from a prepared script they do not even comprehend.
Well, the sitting of Friday 23rd inst was memorable (?) for several reasons... (The more I hear, the more I wonder why anyone in his/her right mind would want to take over a government characterised by such profligate spending that the consolidated fund is surely just about scraping rock bottom and the NIS must be running on fumes, yet the all powerful minister of finance is answerable to no one...imagine that!) So...what was so fascinating?


1. It resembles an official 30-million dollar bribe for a yes vote! Five thousand pensioners were the first to benefit (they were expected to collect their extra 200- dollars last Friday). But the Finance Minister told Parliament he will dole out a million dollars for each year of independence to all and sundry ...30-million smackeroos! Where we getting that from??? But the big announcement is to come tomorrow amidst all the baton twirling an’ ting...nobody even going to listen carefully enough to hear whether we robbing Pedro to pay Pablo. We behaving like a bunch of crack-head ‘putas’.


2. L’ Cock crew! Far more intriguing, though, was the usually ‘Cocky’ opposition Senator was the only one on the minority benches treated with any respect at the last House sitting. I personally think it was a conspiracy...he’s the one who’s usually subjected to all kinds of barbs, brickbats and bashes but not this time. He had all his questions answered in quasi-respectable fashion. They gave him no hassle and even allowed him to answer back when Super Cat Renée challenged him on whether the only constant in life is something other than ‘change’. What really made me listen up was when he appeared to choke up and break down in after relating a bit of recent local history and ended with the plaintive reminder to himself and his parliamentary colleagues that ‘...history will hold us (choke, choke, croak, croak), acc-count- (choke, croak, croak, sputter, sob, sob) ac-count- able...’ That was indeed a priceless parliament moment. I wish I had it captured for posterity. And all the decent folks on the government side conducted themselves with the utmost decorum...there was not even a single snigger...

3. The Minority Leader (ML) did not fare so well...he is still to be told whether more public funds will be dumped down the ‘Yes Vote’ vortex as the 'Mr Merital' told him basically, 'MY MONEY HA, HA!' (my paraphrase). 'Dat a no your bizniz, boy! I doan haffi answer yu!’ Tek dat, ML boy! But wait...is MY MONEY and it ain't no laughimng matter! It's my business and yours too, and the business of all taxpayers who have to work real hard for the moolah and I do have a right to an answer, Mr Merital! And no amount of pre-referendum payout will appease moi!

But that’s all in a day's work on Paradise Island ... À Bientôt

Oh What A Tangled Web...

Constitution talk has to take a back seat to more stirring stuff – especially the recent ‘shake out’ in the education department and the lame attempt to explain away what has all the markings of a clear case of nepotism at its worst.


Now if we are to believe the official story seeking to clarify why the minister’s boy won a national scholarship after twice trying, you also have to believe that Cabinet changed the rules of the game two years ago (?) without notifying the nation about that. But listen to this: the former Ed. Chief says the rules were changed in 2007; but a local newspaper report quotes the finance minister as saying it might have been updated as far back as 2005...So how do both those ‘stories' square with this story filed in September of 2008 and posted on the government’s own website? Oh what a tangled web...

National Scholars and Academic Excellence

I have more bees in my bonnet y'all...


This week the education department named 18 students who qualified for government scholarships, exhibitions (still not certain what qualifies one for this) and bursaries...all paid for from our taxes. Congratulations are in order to all the deserving youngsters who were adjudged to be the best of their lot.

I’m almost certain though someone out there was hugely disappointed they were unable to handout 30 of them to mark the independence milestone (that was the excuse for the 25 awarded five years ago). No bragging about the Edu Revo this time...But we made it 18 yet even the recipients themselves admitted they didn’t think those poor grades were ‘scholarship’ material. I was fascinated by the comments attributed to one ‘scholar’ who gained two A’s but C’s in Sociology and a core subject area. He told a local newspaper that things might have been different had he actually attended some Sociology classes...can you believe that? Was this fella a slacker (by his own admission)?

Then get this: the newspaper also quoted two of the top eight as saying words to the effect that they didn’t think their grades would make the cut...at least they hold themselves to some kind of higher standard even if we don’t and for that I applaud them!

Listen to some of the comments from the scholarship winners themselves:

1. Guy (same one who shirked his Sociology classes) got three C’s in the bundle and boldly states that he has no special feeling about being awarded a national scholarship...ok!

2. Another scholar quite honestly admitted ‘...I didn’t think my grades were national scholar worthy’, now there’s an honest man...

3. ‘...when I got my results, I didn’t think I was going to be an island scholar...’ So they themselves know they’re not being rewarded for anything close to academic excellence (except for maybe three of them)...

But someone must have made an egregious error!!! How else do you explain why the minister’s boy who graduated a year ago (but hadn't done so well) was afforded the privilege of earning a scholarship the year after he graduated...Listen here: this boy was already gainfully employed and thus able to save for his university education like so many others were unable to do ’cause no wuk no deh! ...Nepotism is too nice a word to describe this travesty. Anyway, now that the precedent has been set, I guess youngsters who graduated the previous year and didn’t do so well can try again and make the scholarship list...allyo don't shame?

And the worst part is that the administration-in-waiting not talking too hard about this – I guess they’re just biding their time and praying to get in so they can do the same thing for their kind...After 30 years of political independence we remain in mental chains...I think the blame for this kind of nefarious behaviour must be laid squarely at the feet of the British monarchy!

À bientôt

TALKING BLUES AND OTHER NEWS

Well it’s been another of those busy weeks with lots of important matters being either subsumed into, or eclipsed by, discussion on ... THE CONSTITUTION BILL 2009...Here’s a quick rundown in random order:

1. Talking Blues

So the Minister of Tourism was brazen enough to just kinda whisper that we ain’t having the Blues Fest this year. Hear this twaddle! Now he says it’s being cancelled because of the number of activities planned for Vincy Homecoming! Minister, surely even you DON'T  believe you! Sir, wasn’t it you self who told us earlier this year at the March ‘postponement’ that it was being pushed back to coincide with the homecoming celebrations??? You forget??? That said...enquiring minds want to know the real deal ...and that brings us to the next big issue which is the millions of dollar being spent on the ‘Yes Vote’ campaign, including the Rabacca Bridge party aka ‘family gathering’ on Sunday. All we head were fatuous phrases rehashed and rehearsed and released by red rats and red ants dressed up in other colours...but seriously, were the funds earmarked for the Blues Fest diverted to this event?

2. Arnos Vale Rapist

Well I can’t be sure if it’s the same guy who's been operating in the Arnos Vale area...but last year about this same time an intruder with the same modus operandi  entered a house and pounced on a teenage high school student inflicting a stab wound to her thigh as she fought back against his attack. This year’s victim...a college student sustained wounds to the hand as she screamed to alert the rest of the household. He then made good his escape through an open door. His strategy: Enter via window, open door for maximum ‘escapability’, then sniff around the bedrooms in the hope of finding a sleeping victim to prey on...and even now the po-po has not yet answered the call...

3. Bomb Scare

Well ...we are fast becoming a nation being held hostage to bomb scare tacticians. Last year the whole of capital Kingstown was thrown into utter chaos as the scare tactician's call to the general hospital  had workers scrambling over one another to evacuate sick, lame, lazy and malingering out to the Victoria Park...why ? BIG BOMB SCARE! So one can safely say it’s become a sort of national pastime. Police Commissioner Keith Miller said at the time the call was made from within the hospital itself...well if it was indeed an inside job, nobody no charge yet! But this time the BST called up Human Rights Commission office and National Commercial Bank, traffic congestion in Kingstown on the first Friday after pay day for public servants was just sheer misery...We'd better look into the possibility of purchasing the technologies that can be used to ‘trap’ these scamps! You’d think with a little help from the sour LIME, the po-po an dem could get to the bottom of this (after all they have no problem tapping the lines of some poor innocents whose only sin is that they can’t be sure which 'side' you’re on...By the way, does ANI technology work with telephone booths?? And if it does , can we afford it???

4. MUDDA WUK!

What are the police doing to bring to justice the one/s responsible for Saturday’s horrible shooting death of a mother of six in Campden Park on Saturday...More anon.


à bientôt!