I was in Jamaica when prime minister Golding addressed the issue of the firing of BoJ governor Derick Latibeaudiere. But that is only for time reference for the moment. I will address that issue further on.
As is usual when I visit Jamaica, I try to get a feel for what is happening from the people… not the media, which for the most part is in some kind of lala land. The true story of Jamaica is in the streets and not on tv.
This time, I was based in Ochie, where I walked the streets, shopped in the markets, took the ‘people’s’ minibus, sat on the corner, talked and listened.
What I have come away with is that Jamaica is continuing its slide into the abyss, unchecked. Again, I was heartened by the strength and resoluteness of the Jamaican people, but even those qualities are no match for the breakdown of the country. And before any yapping fool jumps up and defends the current administration by pointing to the previous administration, let me say that I am not a defender of either. The decay of my beautiful country is fathered by both parties in equally gigantic amounts.
When I say ‘tings tuff’ in Jamaica, I mean tings tuff… but people still hold on, still send their children to school, still try to survive, do without some things until they can. They survive. But you can see that the seams are bursting. Tempers are simmering.
In Ochie, there is a rule that tourism is the community’s life-blood and none dares threaten it without feeling the wrath of all. This means that while hustlers rush the tourists, there is a clear line of demarcation between approaching and harassment. That line is never to be crossed. However, I see many edging closer to the line.
When man and his children get really hungry, then moral values and the community’s economic wellbeing play less of a role in how they approach the tourist. I sense that there is far more ‘hard-sell’ now than earlier this year when I was also in Ochie.
I also got the impression that tourism minister Ed Bartlett’s credibility is shot in the industry, from line-staff, management or any other. For while he appears to be hardworking, nobody trusts his words coming from behind rose-coloured glasses anymore. Added to his credibility issues, is the cost of the refurbishing of his offices.
Another thing I sense, is growing disquiet between the ‘black’ Jamaicans and the ‘new’ Asians who control most of the in-bond shops and other retail stores. The racial and class tensions remind me of Kingston’s Chinese riots in the ‘60s. The relationships are primarily based on resentment. This is being primed to explode.
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The current hot topic is the government’s firing of the central bank governor, Derick Latibeaudiere. Prime minister Golding is spinning it as a case of the governor’s outrageous salary and benefits. The JLP’s ‘psychophants’ are spinning it the same but also questioning Latibeaudiere’s competence, while muddying the waters with attacks against the previous finance minister.
I haven’t the financial expertise to judge the governor, and I’m greatly uncomfortable with his salary and benefits package. And I find it odious that he gets the BoJ to lend him money at highly favorable rates when most of us are being driven into bankruptcy based on loan-sharking ‘market rates’.
That said, those are side issues, distractions.
No sensible, objective person can believe that these are the real issues for Latibeaudiere’s dismissal. The prime minister is certainly not being candid.
The JLP monitored Derick Latibeaudiere from his first appointment in 1996. If he is incompetent, he would have been immediately fired when Golding took office in 2007. And if Golding was fooled after 11 years, he certainly would have seen firsthand the governor’s incompetence over the last 2 years. Yet he renewed Latibeaudiere’s contract in August 2009. Incompetence cannot be an issue.
Latibeaudiere’s financial package is not news. That was publicly revealed years ago and again, with said benefits in the contract, the governor was signed anew in August.
If the government had decided on not renewing his contract in August, citing disagreement on the benefits package, I could understand. But THEY renewed his contract, AND made him head of Jamaica’s IMF negotiating team. THEN they fired him in the midst of said negotiations? It doesn’t make sense.
You don’t re-sign a man whose contract is ‘unacceptable, embarrassing and repugnant ….’, if he is incompetent or if the contract repulses you that much. Golding surely had enough time to find someone else. Actually, it was widely known that the government was looking to replace Derick Latibeaudiere, but perhaps they couldn’t do it without attacking his reputation. Why?
The incoming governor Brian Wynter, is the son of JLP stalwart Hector Wynter, once editor of the Gleaner. I have been told that Wynter is qualified, but is he more qualified than Latibeaudiere? That is one question.
Golding claims that he is committed to an independent central bank… but how likely is that with the son of a party hack in place? I don’t believe Golding wants an independent BoJ… and this would not be the first of his many idealistic promises broken. Take for instance, the case of his garrison, Tivoli. And then there is the extradition hold-up on Tivoli strongman ‘Dudus’ Coke.
But back to Latibeaudiere’s dismissal. The most commonly held theory is that he, as the head of Jamaica’s IMF team, was in stark disagreement with the government’s strategy and goals regarding the negotiations…. The technocrat vs the politicos. You know which tends to be wrong.
Immediately following the news of Latibeaudiere’s resignation, Standard and Poor (S&P), the international rating agency, downgraded Jamaica’s credit worthiness, much to the chagrin and surprise of Golding. What did he expect? You just fired the head of your IMF negotiating team, someone who the international bodies respect! And a downgrade came as a surprise? That tells you how out of touch Golding is. As out of touch as his finance minister who last year when the walls of the world economy were crumbling, stated that Jamaica’s economy was safe.
By the way, S&P had just issued a new rating in August. This means that Jamaica’s credit credibility has plunged in 3 months.
One now is made to wonder about what is in the IMF package. We already know that politicians like to postpone bad news (election reasons) so they negotiate it into the future even if things will be worse in the long run. Is this what Golding is doing?
And what are we to make of the resignation of police chief Hardley Lewin? While I don’t expect a smearing of his reputation, it concerns me that this is the 5th change at the head of the security leadership in 2 years. That’s not stability.
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The absolute saddest thing about what is happening in Jamaica is that as inept as this government is, no one is looking to replace them with the PNP. Jah kingdom indeed gone to waste.
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I take no real pride in saying that I was one who very early pointed out that Obama was not living up to his campaign promises, instead was following George Bush’s foreign policy to the ‘T’. This I said even before him officially taking office based on his early pronouncements regarding Cuba, Iran and Venezuela, and his forced selection of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
I only hope he will do something to resurrect his leadership by announcing a quick pullout from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Increasing troops in Afghanistan would be a major betrayal of those who voted for him.
Afghanistan is lost and no amount of troops will save it for ‘democracy’ or from the taliban. What should have been done wasn’t done and it is too late now.
As much as the world still looks to him for hope, he will unfortunately can’t delvier but words. One needs to understand that no president of the United States has not been in control of the country for a long time. That is left to special interests particularly private sector interests in manufacturing, wall street, the health and insurance industries, the gun lobbies, and most of all, the military-industrial complex.
While Obama is a far better selection that Clinton, McCain or that duffer Palin, he will not be able to change the basic ways that America operates. Sad, too sad. HOPE gone amiss.
The coolness a few weeks ago was a good change in weather. Pity it didn’t last and now we are seeing record high temperatures here in SoFla. Is that good or bad? I guess it depends on one’s perspective. The heat might actually help to revive the region’s tourism especially since north of us is getting really cold and messy. On the other hand, it might be an indicator of global warming and its consequences if we don’t pay attention. But by the time earth erupts in a molten mass, I will have long ceased to exist. Selfish of me, right?
Well, that’s exactly what too much freedom can do… give us the feeling that we can do/say anything we want irrespective of whether or not it affects others. Just because we can do it doesn’t mean we should. Just because we have freedom of speech doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think carefully before opening our yappers.
But here in America there definitely is an excess of stupid thoughts and verbalisation and I think that’s because people abuse their so-called freedoms. When you have to be accountable for what you say, you think first. When you think you are free to do or say anything, then you act or talk first.
A few weeks ago my daughter and I went to an assemblage of people who wanted democrat senator Bill Nelson to know where they stand on heath care reform. Obviously the repugnants …oops, republicans are monitoring moveon.org for a counter-demonstration showed up, armed with placards and all.
With them was the usual scary Obama thing, linking health care reform to all sorts of things like ‘free abortion’ to ‘death panels for old people’. Of course there were those who didn’t think that government could effectively run health care, as if the present private system is anything better than a farce for most people without money.
Keen for dialogue, I picked out a woman whom I sensed wasn’t quite right (you’ll see in a moment what I mean). She was against health care reform but couldn’t afford health insurance. She was more than slightly obese, perhaps just ‘a hamburger and fries’ away from the emergency room.
One of her points was that health care reform would cost her the taxpayer (most likely a marginal taxpayer) too much money. I tried to explain that when the uninsured fell ill, it was the government and thus taxpayers who had to pick up the tab… and that actually cost the government/taxpayers more than what the public option would cost.
Thus her next visit to McDonalds could make her a taxpayer liability while insuring her would cost less.
I tried to figure out exactly why a mid-50s woman, obese, most likely unemployed, uninsured, would be objecting to health care reform. To me, being a republican toeing the party-line wasn’t reason enough.
Thennnnn she said she felt the ‘need to hold government accountable’. So I asked her how long has she had this ‘need’. Bingo! Out came the truth. She proudly exclaimed, “One year ago”.
Her face told me exactly at what point she recognized her error. Why? One year ago a black man was elected to be the presidency of the United States.
***
President Obama is taking his time deciding whether or not to ramp up his troops in Afghanistan by another 40,000. He is urged by the right-wing warmongers to hurry and send more troops while others express caution. Even his own vice is not supporting a troop increase.
If he wants my voice, then I would say “Get out now and get out fast!”. Of course he isn’t listening to me, so perhaps he should listen to history. What is happening now is a reprise of the French vs Haiti’s Toussaint, America in Vietnam and most notably because it is the same place and the same enemy, the Russians in Afghanistan.
The Russian knew they lost Afghanistan from the beginning but ego kept them there longer. So they were humiliated over a longer period and lost more men and resources. Some people feel that this is what led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
America is simply walking the soviet’s footprints. Obama should break the pattern now. Forget about saving face. Take losing like a man and cut the losses. With the economy this bruised, the money wasted in Afghanistan can be put to better use.
America cannot win there. I have been saying this for years. Right now they outnumber the taliban 12-1 (100,000 coalition troops, 200,000 Afghan military and police vs an estimated 25,000 armed taliban ) and it is making no difference. It’s not the same war as WWII. Overwhelming force and technology no longer count as advantages. The insurgents are not massing in large numbers, easy to pinpoint and bomb to destruction.
They melt in and out like ghosts and when you think you kill one you actually kill an innocent and that causes new recruits for the taliban. America is only guessing at the numbers of taliban soldiers they kill. Get out, NOW!
You can’t identify a taliban just so, while it’s easy to identify a foreigner. The taliban can take a day-off, the coalition can’t. They have to continue being wary and vigilant day-in, day-out and this takes a toll on morale, resources and funds.
Furthermore, the Afghanis are fighting for a reason. The coalition no longer believe in a reason and the government they support is widely seen as corrupt. Just LEAVE.
Worse still, if they stay in Afghanistan, they will lose Pakistan also. Pakistan’s instability is a direct result of the war in Afghanistan. The longer one continues the greater the instability in Pakistan. This point was made to Hilary Clinton in Pakistan when she was told bluntly that the Pakistanis are fighting (and no doubt suffering for) America’s war.
And as is usual, too many policy-making Americans have almost complete disdain for the intelligence of anyone from other countries, particularly the peoples of so-called developing nations. Yet when faced with Pakistani journalists it was Clinton who looked stupid… firstly by accusing Pakistani officials of knowing where al qaeda and Taliban forces are in Pakistan.
That might very well be true, but considering that with all its technological might, its satellite coverage, its drones, its fly-overs with heat sensor and cameras, the United States should be in a better position to know where al qaeda is operating. This is not an accusation to make publicly when you are a guest in the country, for it is both ill-mannered and also speaks to the impotency of American intelligence.
Another question that Clinton didn’t answer very well, was when she was asked if she considered drone killings (when American drones drop bombs that kill innocents) to be terrorism. Clinton flatly said no. That could not have gone over well.
It is a fact that many mistakes have been made with the use of these weapons and that many innocents in both Pakistan and Afghanistan have died as a result. To unfeelingly just say no, is disrespecting the deaths of those people, their families and their countrymen.
To consider these people merely as incidental carnage and of little worth is playing into the recruiting programme of the taliban and al qaeda.
No matter how sweet a face Barack Obama is, his alone cannot bleach-out the wide stain that American military operations is spreading in these countries and elsewhere.
America is in a no-win situation. GET OUT, NOW!
Not much going on in the world lately. Well, not exactly true. But I’ve been caught up in trying to purchase some computer equipment and didn’t have a clue as to how stressful that was gonna turn out. Those who say that technology will reduce workload and stress haven’t got a clue.
But enough about my worries and let’s see what the world has got for us.
Health (s)care. That’s about what we can now think of it. Real health care reform is doomed. Health care provision and the insurance for it will forever remain in the hands of the private sector, or as Michael Manley would say, the hands of the ‘rapacious capitalists. It is quite apparent barring some miracle, that the public option won’t be going forward. And if that happens, reform is essentially dead. Capital in America, must always be protected, even if it’s on the backs of the America people, especially those most at risk.
I know, I know that there is some reform. But other than removing the ‘pre-existing condition clause’, everything else is fairly essentially inconsequential. At the end of the day, more than 50 million Americans will remain without coverage (can’t afford it) and thus be at the mercy of the developed world’s most backward health care system.
I read somewhere I think, that more than 45,000 Americans die annually because they were uninsured or denied insurance. And with so many people losing their jobs and heath care insurance, the numbers are bound to go up.
Whether we like it or not, Obama is partly to blame. His neediness to be everyone’s friend has shown him to be weak and has given the republicans a sense of courage that they ought not to have. If he had kicked a couple people in the nuts from the beginning, real health care reform would have passed by now. What a wuss.
***
Was reflecting on a story that seven former CIA chiefs wanted Obama to stop the inquiry into the actions of the Central Intelligence Agency. The first hypocritical thing about this is that if any other country had their intelligence agency behaving with such blatant disregard for common decency as the CIA has been doing over long years, then America would be calling on them for an inquiry.
The 2nd thing that struck me about the story was this quote from the letter sent by the former ‘wise men’, “As a result of the zeal on the part of some to uncover every action taken in the post-9/11 period, many countries may decide that they can no longer safely share intelligence or co-operate with us on future counter-terrorist operations. They simply cannot rely on our promises of secrecy”.
Several years ago, Germany or it might have been Britain, shared some intelligence with the US with the intention that it should be held secret. The Bush administration immediately sent the information to the press, damaging further investigation in the country of origin. According to the white House, it was in their interest to do so. Their interest.
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Weeks ago, I had addressed the situation in Honduras. Essentially, in June this year, Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras, was ousted at gunpoint from his position by a right-wing group friendly to the United States.
The coup came as a surprise because for some time, the coup-happy Central and South America had enjoyed a relatively long holiday from overthrows. Like every other country in the region, the US joined in condemnation speaking about the respect for the constitution and duly elected leaders. But Washington’s tone was really quite soft.
In no time Washington started to blame the coup on Zelaya’s recklessness and left-turning ways and in fact seemed more to hinder his legitimate return than aiding him. As the issue dropped more and more from America’s front pages, Zelaya’s hope for return diminished. Washington was helping the coup-government to run out the clock.
The coupists has decided to bring an election due next year, up to November, and Zelaya in exile would not be able to return to finish his term in office. Obama and the US dawdled. All other attempts to peacefully return the legitimate president fizzled without the weight of American power. The United States is Honduras’ largest trading partner and in any which way, the American president can bring enormous pressure against the illegitimate government.
But this hasn’t happened and Obama and the state department’s actions are tantamount to legitimizing military overthrows.
Now Zelaya has returned to his country, albeit in a secretive way, and is now hiding in the Brasilian embassy. His call for protests caused the coupists to suspend civil liberties including shutting down media stations.
Not a word from Obama, who last week, spent the time in the UN pontificating on the glories of electoral democracy. Instead an American diplomat has blamed Zelaya for more recklessness.
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I have long said that not only has America no right to be in Afghanistan, they won’t be able to win the war. This is not wishful thinking, but a hard look at history. No one has been able to occupy that country for long. It is one of those quirks of life.
The only way to defeat that Afghanistan would be to nuke every inch of it. But I wouldn’t be surprised that like rats, roaches, mosquitos and Jamaicans, the Afghans would survive even nuclear annihilation.
Having lost Vietnam and being forced to invade countries like Panama, Grenada and Haiti to bear up their self-esteem, the US has found itself losing in Iraq and now Afghanistan. That is a little too much to bear for their military–industrial egos.
No matter how many troops they flood the place with, no matter how many remote bombs they use, Afghanistan is and was lost from the beginning. If they laid waste to Iran and Pakistan, Afghanistan is still lost.
The United States wants to run the world but they’re very easy to manipulate as was seen by Israel, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s former strongman Pervez Musharaff and Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai.
These people easily duped the United States government which is barely the wiser. With Karzai, they are caught in a morass of their own making, not being able to go backwards or forwards, losing soldiers every day.
They are hoping for a miracle having run out of ideas. How the Russians must be laughing.
Please see George Graham’s “By George” blogs –Powerful Illicit interests complicate Obama’s decisions on Afghanistan and Riddle of a military coup and two Obamas- in this medium’s blog pages for additional perspectives.
More than anything, Obama is finding out that change doesn’t come easily to backward countries and for all his talk, special interests with their special interests are far more powerful and longer lasting than him, and he is reduced to nothing more than a pretty-faced talking head with no ability to change the nature of the ruling oligarchies of this country.
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One of the things about being a country as large as this one, where the moving parts don’t really know what the others are doing, is that quite often there is the tendency for internal contradictions.
In New York recently, the top of the Empire State building shone with red and yellow lights, in tribute to the anniversary of communist China’s revolution. Of course, many are up in arms about a United States institution endowing such legitimacy on China. Quite understandable.
However, America has already legitimized the Chinese government through it s trade policies and through begging loans from the Chinese government. The very fact that a substantial part of America’s goods are manufactured in China, despite Chinese human rights record, gives a certain amount of legitimacy to the government.
The very fact that many industries have knowingly contracted with Chinese companies to have them produce goods that are known to be inferior, means that capitalistic greed has trumped all political and moral obligations.
To bawl out now is just another show of hypocrisy.
A mundane week made more exciting by some interesting remarks spoken by republican congressman Joe Wilson, Kanye West, Serena Williams and not to be forgotten, president Barack Obama.
Joe Wilson started the ball rolling when in the middle of the president’s speech, he shouted “You lie”, obviously referring to Obama. First and foremost, it appears that on the point he was referring to, it is Wilson who is the liar. But on the point of graciousness and civility, it is obvious that Wilson has none.
Interestingly, Wilson claimed that he apologized to the president (well, he did apologise to the president’s chief-of-staff), but he refuses to apologise to anyone else for his boorish behaviour. Many of Wilson’s supporters have found ways to be apologists for his trailer park outbursts.
***
But the president soon found himself on the wrong side of an unfortunate remark when he made a pre-interview comment about Kanye West. West, at the VMA awards, had interrupted Taylor Swift, a white country female (yes, even with the name Taylor) singer during her acceptance speech. West indecorously opined that the award should instead have gone to Beyonce.
West’s action is unacceptable. Even if he felt that way, you should never rain on someone else’s parade. But West is an entertainer and it is disturbing but trendy to create outlandish conduct to keep one’s name in the spotlight.
And his behaviour as bad as it was, did make it unto the tongue of the country’s president, who off-mike, called West, a jackass (see how my headline is tieing up now).
Off-mike or not, this made the news. And so far, I don’t see an apology from Obama to West. I supposed his apologies are only for white policemen.
I am apt to think that West supported Obama’s election bid and I guess that he raised money for and the profile of Obama. So in a sense, this is how Obama treats his supporters. Perhaps I should say, black supporters.
We cannot dismiss the notion of race here. Hence the policeman. Or the fact that if a white president had referred to Kanye West as such, we wouldn’t hear the end of it.
Obama needs to remember that he is a president. The affairs of the ‘Kanye Wests’ and the ‘Taylor Swifts’ shouldn’t be his concern. With all that’s going on, why in the hell would he be watching the VMA? He also needs to remember that he is a black-skinned president.
Granted he has tried to put away that perception, but he has gotten a pass on the West comment simply because both are black. He was greatly unwise to even consider such a comment. No one perceives that he would have been asked, much less any such thing if the offending party was white. And if he did, he would be crucified.
As a ‘black’ president, he sometimes appears to be nothing more than the white man’s house nigger. His crass put down of West is bound to hurt black people… another example of an elevated black man putting down his own. Obama could simply have left the remark at, “Inappropriate”, and it wouldn’t have been newsworthy.
If I had said that Kanye West is a jackass, certainly there wouldn’t be much damage. But a black president of America doing so… the implications for black people are enormously negative.
As an aside, is West really a jackass? If his purpose was to keep his name in the press, he certainly got more attention now that the president of the United States chose to comment on him. Might be pretty savvy marketing, I’d think.
Perhaps Obama would like to invite both Swift and West for a beer?
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But what if someone had asked him about Serena William’s meltdown during the US Open? Would he have said she was a jackass, or a bitch, or a ho’, or something as merciless?
To those late to the game, Williams in semi-final match, facing breakpoint for the game, set and match, was foot-faulted by a line judge. Serena went ballistic on said person with the now famous “…I’m going to shove this f***ing ball down your throat”.
After his faux pas, I guess Obama has at least temporarily learnt to keep his mouth shut on anything that isn’t relevant to his job. Certainly would save the white House’s stock of beer.
But it is disturbing that Obama is willing to play the conciliator to everyone but black people. I wonder how long everyone before even his most aren’t supporters will see him for what he is. Make no bones about it however, he still is the best hope out there. There is nothing on the republican side that can even begin to take America to a higher positive level. McCain/Palin would have been a disaster. Quite possible they would have already declared war on Iran, North Korea, Russia and Canada.
And they showed how much of a disaster they would have made the economy. They wouldn’t even think about health care reform and they would be showering tax cuts on the rich… as if that had ever worked. They really were stupid.
So we should be thankful for Barack Obama. Not that we are getting as much as we hoped.
***
But back to Serena. If you want to see how racially polarized America is, just have a black person act bad… then all the ropes come out, over by the big cotton tree where black folks HANG out.
Of course some white people don’t even need a black person to be bad. But it gives them a pretty good excuse to vent. Reading many blogs, I have to shake my head at the covert and overt racism, “I always loved Serna. I’m not a racist, but can we get some rope, please?”. “Low class, low life” claimed some, and you know that they were still living in the trailer park, mentally wise at least.
And some of those tennis commentators? Oooweee. They couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The very same people who had to eat their words when both Williams sisters destroyed everyone including all the great white hopes in their paths. The very same people who ate their words with ketchup when they had to recognize the greatness of Richard Williams as coach and that there was more than method to his ‘madness’.
At the same time, they have never aimed the same level acrimony towards Roger Federer or Andy Roddick. Where is the level playing field?
Now its ‘hang Serena’ time. Ban her for life. Keep dreaming folks. Without Serena and Venus, there ain’t no women’s tennis. America would have no chance in the near future of winning a Slam singles event, male or female. Fed Cup chances… zer0. And anyone putting money on the new great white hope Melanie Oudin… it’s a recession guys. You’re gonna need the cash.
I don’t absolve Serena of her behaviour, but neither do I fully condemn her. If she did indeed foot-fault, then Serena deserves her ass to be kicked. But if the line judge was in error then by all means, then she thoroughly deserves a little bitch-slapping. I’m a little tired hearing that sportsmanship means to suck up a bad refereeing or umpiring decision.
We all need to take responsibility for our actions and if we become a policeman, soldier, politician, judge, umpire, then when we make bad calls, we must be accountable. I’ve always said that there should be no special protection for some idiot calling a game wrong as against some idiot screwing up my savings account or McDonald’s order.
Nor should there be any protections for a president who starts acting the fool… whether he be George Bush or Barack Obama.
I’m going to wander a little bit from the usual path, by going into the world of film. Actually it’s not much of a wander when you see that my ‘two most important films’ to come out of Jamaica are the “Harder They Come” and “Life and Debt”.
The 2001 documentary “Life and Death” (from here shortened as LD) is my #2 most important movie. Produced and directed by New Yorker Stephanie Black, LD is a gripping, socially disturbing look at the economic challenges faced by developing countries such as Jamaica.
The film graphically displays the adverse relationship of powerful countries like the United States and Great Britain who are fronted by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation, and smaller countries which are sooner or later, forced into the IMF’s And World Bank’s clutches.
It examines the concepts of the once heralded globalization, and the forced liberalization policies destroyed rather than improved Jamaica’s growth. And it examines the methodology of USAID and how it is of no aid to poor countries at all.
This documentary is a must for all who are interested in how economics policies can play out on countries that are forced to accept the harsh judgement of the world funding agencies. It should be a must for all Jamaicans abroad, especially those who make judgments based on vastly inadequate information, and thus still fail to understand the realities of the country of their birth… especially with Jamaica’s current position with the IMF.
My #1 film is the 1972 “Harder They Come” starring Jimmy Cliff as the ‘country boy come to town’, hoping to sing his way to wealth, but instead finds himself exploited, corrupted and eventually killed.
The film is also about the socio-economic principles that dominate a substantial part of Jamaica, about the economic streamlining of an exploitative society, and how integrally entwined are the forces that line up against the poor… the politicians, the church, the police and the wealthy.
Featuring a powerful soundtrack, the film served as one of the ways reggae mainstreamed into white America, but it also gave studied insight into how music rose up in the ghetto, the economic importance of ganja to struggling communities, the upper-class control of the weed and the use of the police force to keep the growers, transporters and other small people in line.
I can easily admit that whenever I watch “Harder They Come” (HTC) ‘wata come a me eyes’… tears of joy (reminiscing), tears of anger and sadness born of frustration, and tears of joy again, reveling in the talent of the Jamaican people.
Watching the musical recently in Miami, all these emotions again overtook me. Though a bit different than the movie, the stage musical nevertheless remains powerful, emotional, current and vastly entertaining.
It is another notch in Jamaica’s belt, in that the musical is a huge success in London and apparently played very well in Toronto. Why then it can be asked, that it appears that so far it has gotten nothing more than a lukewarm response in South Florida?
Before going into that, one should be appraised of a little bit of background. The Arsht Center in downtown Miami is hosting the musical, and I have been told that it the Center’s first reach-out to the Caribbean population. Take this how you wish. There are cynics and there are many who are willing to grasp the opportunity seeing it as the Caribbean finally coming of age.
The latter is important. If this is indeed a genuine approach by the Center, then failure is a poor option. Failure would certainly be a setback for the Caribbean performing arts and for the Caribbean itself. And since it’s a Jamaican-influenced production, then the failure would also be owned by the Jamaican population here in SoFla.
In trying to make the production a success, the Jamaican political leaders in the community have given much support, as have some of the usual suspects like Air Jamaica. But apparently, not much ground has been gained.
It has come to my ears that though failure may be laid at our feet, there are in fact many people and their flawed thinking who are also culpable. There are obvious questions, the first being that someone over-calculated by scheduling 16 performances. The second flaw is that the show was first targeted to the Caribbean community, particularly Jamaicans. That is a serious overestimation of Florida-based Jamaicans support for the arts.
At the performance I saw, several ‘whites’ were enjoying the show thoroughly, singing along with most of the popular tunes. It is obvious that the movie and the music still resonate with the non-Jamaica, American population. Were they have properly targeted from the beginning? My source tells me no.
As to the other part, it also appeared that people with knowledge and skills of the Caribbean community were brought in late to the marketing, and that the original marketing was based on faulty generalizations about the Caribbean people. Another issue was the ticket prices, but the truth is I only accept that reality partially… there is more than enough money in the community, recession or no recession.
But the principal question we must ask ourselves, is why is it that many of us shy away from cultural productions, even high quality ones? I can understand the cynicism based on the fact that we have wasted many a dollar on poor-quality ‘Jamaican productions’ so we only go for a minute sampling of our cultural breadth.
But the “Harder They Come” certainly cannot be qualified as dubious, so what is going on amongst us that we fail to support a venture that is so clearly a legitimate and high quality production, which also clearly has brought positive kudos to our island?
I know some of the easier marketing and production issues will have people better able to address them than I can, but I’m not sure anyone has the magic answer to the main issue of getting Caribbean people out to support entertainment outside of a small circle like jerkfest, carnival, Unifest, Unite-a-fest, dancehall, or a select few reggae artistes. Perhaps readers might want to offer their ideas and possible solutions, especially pertaining to something like the “Harder They Come”.
I do know that a certain level of insularity is involved and that it is difficult to get many African-Americans, Barbadians or Trinidadians to anything that in any sense reflects the exaltation of Jamaica. That is something we should have gotten over a long time ago, though we Jamaicans are also at fault by not attending ‘their’ events and by rubbing our worldwide exploits in their faces. That such jingoism still exists is sad.
But with all that said, the “Harder They Come” is something I would recommend to anyone. Though I’m not really one to be a shill for something like this… after all the Arsht Center has a sizable marketing budget… I certainly can make an exception. One, because it is important for future Caribbean performing arts ventures with the Arsht Center, and secondly, because the production really is damn good.
I cannot go further without paying tribute to the outstanding performances of the Jamaican team in Berlin. It was both heartwarming and a tear-jerker. (tears of pride of course).
Jamaican tourism minister Ed Bartlett wasted much time in announcing the intent to capitalize on the athlete’s success. Of course I wish him well. But, I doubt that the name of Jamaica has spread any wider by the recent successes. Whichever corner of the world didn’t know about Jamaica, certainly did so after the Beijing Olympics. And I doubt if anyone who previously planned to take a vacation will change plans simply because of Bolt’s prowess.
This is not to say that there aren’t any tangible opportunities. This is the opportunity to properly finance and properly manage the GC Foster concept.
Coaches worldwide will be flocking Ja to ‘tief and run’ our young athletes. But we need the college so that local coaches and young athletes can develop, and that other countries worldwide not just Caribbean-wide, can send their athletes and coaches to train, develop and run Jamaican stylee. There’s money in that.
Already, overseas athletes are being trained to success in Jamaica.
But this is a JLP government and GC Foster was a PNP concept ’so wi done kno how it a go’. But even the PNP failed to see the upsides of our athletic prowess and wasted GC Foster.
As usual, we prefer to lay our future in either the hands of the IMF, or the regurgitation of failed ideas by the private and public sectors, while the real talent of the country dissipates, or is forced to turn inwards and kill themselves.
As usual, we have the tendency to go for the ‘big lick’, the one shot or effort that will gain us success. But this is not the lesson of Bolt, or Powell, or Foster-Hylton, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Merlene Ottey, Don Quarrie, George Headley, Lawrence Rowe, Herb McKenley, Arthur Wint or any of the umpteen sports men and women who have excelled under the Jamaican flag.
Overnight success doesn’t really come overnight in the athletic world. Real success takes time, patience and effort… qualities our present leaders are in short supply of.
Many of our youngsters who could probably excel on behalf of our country, needlessly lose their lives or their energies while the bigger heads keep scratching their bald skulls for answers. Its not rocket science.
Attempting to gain success from the manufacturing, retail and tourism sectors remains fruitless except for enriching the pockets of a few.
We need to provide the tools to the people, the masses. This is not socialist talk. It’s common sense. The top-down approach has never worked.
The areas which our people have innate talents are in agriculture, sports, arts and entertainment. Not in mindlessly working at some fast-food place as a server, reaping the ‘technology’ transferred from an extra large hotplate, nor in areas where our workers are turned into monotonous drones doing the same thing hour after hour, with no sense of accomplishment or upward mobility and with subsistence earnings.
We crush or ignore the talents of the masses and are surprised when some of that talent is directed into criminal enterprises. If a man has a brain and a skill not properly used, he will find some illegal way of practicing it.
***
In my last blog I looked at the perversion of justice in the US. I alluded to the incongruity of the self-professed largest free democracy having the largest prison population of any country, including so-called repressive regimes like communist China and Russia.
The United States has over 2 million prisoners while China has 1.55m, and Russia 763,000.
It isn’t difficult to understand why this is so when one examines the nature and the psyche of the American people. They are not a very forgiving people. We see that in the case of Michael Vick, but I want to look at a story that many may not have read, that of the freeing from Scottish jail, of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, called by the western media, the Lockerbie bomber.
A quick backstory is necessary. In 1988, Pan Am flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 passengers, most of whom were Americans. The man eventually tried and imprisoned was Meghari
There are many who doubt his guilt (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8211596.stm) but that is not the point or argument of this essay. But an important point is that the west at the time was trying to link the bombing to the governments of either Iran or Libya. Meghari was a member of the Libyan intelligence services and it is to Libya that he was sent home.
Meghari was released on compassionate grounds by the UK government because he is terminally ill with cancer and not expected to live beyond three months. However, Americans only believe in compassionate grounds under circumstances that suit them. Eg if an American is being held in another country, or is rich or famous.
The American government, led by Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton of the state department call the release a mistake. This is mere political theater for the mobs in the balconies.
Families condemn the release. At least it is personal for them. Said one, “My understanding is that the man [Megrahi] really is within three months of dying, which is one of the issues we wanted cleared up. At the same time, we have always maintained he should remain in prison in Scotland and die there if it comes to that.” O-kaaay. By the way, Meghari’s health status has been verified by English doctors.
This is quite consistent with American feelings. How many times have we seen convicts freed by indisputable evidence, while the police, the prosecutors and the families still insist on jailing him?
This is the type of mentality that has ‘America the free’ leading the world in incarceration.
By the way, the American man somewhat responsible for the continued house arrest of Myanmar’s ‘democracy’ leader, Suu Kyi (last week’s blog), and who was given 7 years by a Myanmar court, was freed and deported to the US, after serving only a few weeks. Americans, including Barack Obama, are not condemning that release.
But there is another factor. Americans feel that they are special, superior to other people and what rules govern other people, don’t necessarily apply to them.
During the Vietnam War, there was a famous incident called the Mai Lai massacre, where 500 men, women and children were massacred by American soldiers. This was not the only such case, just the most famous one.
The officer who led the men, Lt William Calley, was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for 22 counts of murder. President Richard ‘I’m certainly a crook’ Nixon commuted Calley’s sentence to three months house arrest. No hullabaloo in America over that decision.
***
Michael Vick, the NFL quarterback who was found guilty and sentenced in regards to running a dog-fighting ring, is another example of how hypocritical and selective Americans can be over ‘justice’.
Vick served his 2 year sentence for killing dogs, and has been able to return to the NFL. This of course has brought out the rabidity (pun intended) of dog lovers, who argue that he shouldn’t be returned to a job that can make him rich. Hmmm. I supposed if he got a job at McDonalds, even that might not be low enough.
Part of the pro and con arguments revolve around the question of morality, including, whether it is more moral to kill for food or fun, or to kill a dog as against a pig. This moral issue led to some questions, which when posed to dog-lovers, disrupted their moral comfort zone.
If an American-Korean ate dog meat from Korea, would he be morally wrong? What if he killed a dog in America and ate it? Or if he killed a dog in states where dogfighting is legal, and ate some of the meat in another state, would he be morally wrong in one state but not another?
If an American man ate dog meat served by his Korean wife, who would be morally wrong?
Are the dogs in Korean without personality? Are they different from American dogs because they are bred as food?
How about the cows in India? If we go to BK in India and ate a beefburger, would we be morally wrong? If a Hindu ate a beefburger in Spokane, would he be morally wrong?
If we ate pork in Jerusalem, how many people have we offended?
Is it wrong for the Japanese to kill whales for meat but right to allow indigenous peoples to hunt and kill whales for meat and clothing? What about killing baby seals for clothing?
And horses? Aren’t they our friends too? Can we eat them?
And oh, is it morally permissible to kill a deer with a sniper-scoped M-16 from 300 yards? Why not set a land mine?
We don’t have birds as friends, so can we kill a few, with pump shotguns and hand grenades?
Do you see where I am going here?
Which is tastier… a pork burger or Lassie?
***
There are by necessity, two different Barack Obamas… an almost dual personality disorder-like entity. The domestic president, is the one full of the vigour for change, presenting an agenda that will, even against their foolish opposition, better the American people.
The other Barack Obama, the Mr Hyde personality, resides in his foreign policy. Here, he is not about change, but for maintaining the foolish, even dangerous American-led status quo where everything and everyone in the world must revolve around the United States.
But perhaps there is only one Barack Obama, an almost useless figurehead of a president who does what is allowed to him. In this, his fiddling with Americana is acceptable. Perhaps because Americans are too far gone for change, or because they are too useless to matter about.
Foreign policy is a different story. It’s the lifeblood of America. It is what keeps America going… controlling everything for the sole benefit of USA! USA!
Many years ago, science fiction writers (I regard them as prophets) posited the idea that many multinational leaders wished a world where nation states were redundant and corporation states as in, ‘the united states of Apple, and Great Sainsbury’ or such, would rule. Governance being too important to put in the hands of politicians.
In such a world, most individual countries wouldn’t matter, only the health and wealth of the corporations. Farfetched? Maybe. But the thought comes to me when I see Obama trying for effective change in his local agenda but zilch in his foreign equivalent.
Let’s look at four recent news stories, all on the same day.
“Myanmar sentences Suu Kyi to house arrest”, “Thais reject Us request for extradition of Russian arms smuggler”, “South America concerned about US military in Colombia”, and “Illinois man faces 6 months in jail for yawning”.
Three of the 4 stories have deal with the concept we call ‘justice’.
***
Myanmar is one of those countries on the western world’s shit-list. Oftentimes, western politicians and journalists, disrespectfully referred to it by its old name, Burma. Once a colonial outpost of Britain, it is now led by a military dictatorship not particularly friendly to western governments, who as is par for the course, wants Myanmar to take up the mantle of ‘democracy’.
The west rallies around Aung San Suu Kyi regarding her as a ‘democracy leader’ (she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize), but she has been under house arrest for some time, one of the terms being that she has no outside contacts with foreign elements.
On May 3, an American man allegedly made an uninvited visit to Suu Kyi’s house, triggering the violation of conditions of her arrest, especially since she allowed the man to stay for several days. This led to the eventual lengthening of house arrest for Suu Kyi.
As to be expected, western voices rose up in angry denunciations of the sentencing as politically motivated, with president Obama terming her conviction as a violation of ‘the universal principle of human rights’, adding that she should be released immediately.
In the UN Security Council, ex-colonial powers Britain and France, and wannabe colonial power the United States, demanded release of ALL political prisoners. The European Union said that judges involved in the sentencing of Suu Kyi would now have ‘…their overseas assets frozen and travel to the EU banned’.
So much for the back story.
When America protests such type of arrests and imprisonment of political or non-political figures, I’m always reminded of several things. The first always is the fact that with 5% of the world’s population, America has 25% of the world’s prison population.
It also reminds me of the fate of a Boca Raton medical doctor I know, who was arrested in a federal sting operation and convicted in a NY courtroom of terrorism charges, then sentenced to 20 years in prison.
All that Rafiq Sabir was found guilty and sentenced on, was that he swore allegiance to al Qaida. He was not found to have killed anyone, blow up anything or plotting to do either.
Is Sabir and others like him, victims of sting (terrorist) operations also not political prisoners?
You see, I know Sabir. I was down in the Miami Art District with him and his wife (a Jamaican nurse), the week before his arrest, and at his family home a few weeks before. He has never in my presence, in any way, shape or form, legitimized or supported Osama bin Laden or al Qaida. He always condemned them for 9/11.
He loved his family, particularly his two sons. He was a quiet man who quoted the Koran and I never heard him suggest violence against anyone. Could I be wrong about him? Of course, though I think I’m a fairly good judge of character.
But his case is not unique. He is one of many people who end up in jail simply because they mouth off opposition on the US government, and fit a particular stereotype.
So I view such protestations by Obama and his western colleagues as a bit of twisted irony.
***
At the same time that this little charade was taking and still is taking place, a Thai court rejected a US request for extradition of an alleged Russian arms dealer. In a sting operation (yes another one), Viktor Bout was arrested after US agents posed as weapons buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forcers (FARC) which operates in Colombia.
The Thai judge ruled against extradition because while Washington classifies FARC as a terrorist organization, Thailand does not, and thus he considered Bout a political prisoner.
The Americans are angry even to the point of claiming that the Thai legal system is corrupted and that Russia bought off judges. For more, see http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090811/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_us_arms_dealer
***
And as the stomach continues to turn, South American states are deeply concerned about the planned increase of US forces in Colombia based on this country’s long history of intervention and meddling.
Meantime, the US isn’t moving too fast to undermine the rogue regime in Honduras which has, by coup, removed the legitimately elected president Manuel Zelaya. It is felt all over the South American political landscape, that the US’s slow movement is simply to run out the clock on Zelaya (who they don’t like), as the rogue regime intends to call early elections with Zelaya in exile abroad.
***
Justice on the home front also isn’t too pretty, and the reason why America is the runaway leader in the prisoners per capita’ league is clearly underscored in a recent judicial decision in Illinois.
There a man, a black man, was jailed on contempt of court charges. His original sentence, six months. His crime, yawning loudly in court. Yes, that sound we make when we are sleepy.
The man, Clifton Williams was freed after serving 21 days.
Quoting directly from the Chicago Tribune, “As Williams stood before the bench in shackles on Thursday, the judge gave him a short lecture. He told Williams he wasn’t in custody for simply yawning but for making a sound “that was offensive to the court.”
Please note, ‘in shackles’ (what a danger to civil society). Also please note that Williams like Henry Louis Gates, was a victim of a subjective opinion by a lawmaker as to what constituted a crime.
On Tuesday, July 21, I spent all day in court but it was not to be judged for any criminal trespass, but to judge as to whether or not I was able to sit in judgement of another. In short, I was selected for a jury pool.
When the judge asked me whether there was anything that would not make me objective, I said that I would like to know the birthplace of the (black) defendant, because I know the high chances of young black Caribbean men being arrested, and the low chances of them being found innocent.
The prosecutor asked me from what perspective do I write my social columns and replied “From that of the underdog”, pointing out that the state usually has the resources while the defendant has very little. Contradicting him on another point later, I pointed out that jurors generally come into the court with an inherent belief that the defendant must be guilty or else why would the justice system pick on him?
While I was in court, the news that distinguished Yale scholar Henry Louis Gates had been arrested at his home the previous Thursday, was exploding in the press. The charges were dropped the same day the press got a hold of it.
The brief backstory is that Gates returned to his Harvard home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and had to force his way in because of a jammed door. A neighbour (and this leads to all kinds of questions) called the police claiming that 2 black men were burglarizing the home (I’m guessing that Gates was new to the ‘hood).
The police came, entered the house and saw Gates on the phone. After supplying identification, Gates obviously didn’t like the attitude of one of the officers, demanded his name and badge number. The officer claimed that Gates was abusing him.
The officer invited Gates out on his porch and then proceeded to arrest him for ‘tumultuous behaviour’. President Obama, when asked for a comment, at first claimed that the police had behaved stupidly. And things just kept escalating.
Should anyone want more background, that’s what the internet is for.
The incident again raised the ugly issue that many Americans want swept under the carpet… RACE. And pretty soon, racial lines were being drawn… OJ all over again.
Race and racial profiling of course became the issue on one side, while another side used it to attack Obama and those ‘uppity niggers’ who clearly don’t know their place. Ok, that’s a bit of a oversell, but many whites sided with the police, saying Gates had no right to abuse the police and all he had to do is cooperate and he wouldn’t have been arrested. Hmm.
While its likely sure there was some level of racism here (I’m sure everything would have been different if it was Bill Gates instead of Henry), lost in the whole issue is the fact that this country is fast becoming a police state. When I read the comments of many white officers, it appears that they have a low tolerance for being abused. But as it is being pointed out, abusing a police officer is not a crime, misdemeanor or otherwise.
It is within Gates constitutional rights to, within the confines of his home, question police procedure, request the officers badge number and even accuse him of being a f***ing racist. None of that is a crime.
However there is an increasing frequency of police arresting people of all sorts, for ‘public disturbances/disorderly conduct’, ‘interfering with an investigation”, or ‘resisting arrest’ in circumstances most of us would find incredibly silly. But these charges have a tremendous amount of grey areas. “Interfering with an investigation” can be nothing more than asking why you were stopped or even asking to be spoken to politely. “Resisting arrest” can be applied simply for not getting your hands up in quick time to be handcuffed, taking a step backwards or even asking to be properly dressed (Heck. If I was going to be photographed, it best be in a tux than my beat-up, moth-eaten favorite t-shirt).
“Public disturbances” is often applied for just asking ‘why?’ or asking for name and badge number, and is used when you are in a public place. That’s why the officer invited Gates outside of his dwelling. As soon as Gates opened his mouth again, he was ‘arrest-able’.
These laws are vague but remain active and abused tools of the police. The law relating to ‘public disturbances/disorderly conduct’ is over 300 years old.
Gates never touched the police officer as even the lightest touch would have resulted in an assault charge.
The question remains that ‘why in a FREE society are these laws still on the books and being used’. The problem is that these tools are often never used against the rich and famous. Gates charges were dropped, but not many have been so lucky.
The same day that the Gates story ran, a Minnesota man (white and probably drunk) was shot and killed by an out-of-uniform policeman after an argument ensued http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090722/ap_on_re_us/us_swim_trunk_shooting.
Note what the witnesses said about what was happening when the man (Tyler Heilman) was shot 4 times.
So the Gates incident shouldn’t be limited to just race but must be broadened to deal with police actions. However it must be borne in mind, how often black people are victims of such police abuse and how often, especially when black people are involved, officers get off scot-free.
***
Another disturbing aspect of the story is how Obama came to the defense of his black friend, as if this issue never existed before for hundreds of thousands of minorities, and millions of poor people. It was unfortunate for him to say that the police ‘acted stupidly’, but he was absolutely correct.
The disturbing thing is that he backed down, even to calling the policeman and inviting him to the White House to have a beer. Hell, shouldn’t he be doing something more important, like fixing the economy and instituting health care?… just for starters.
Doesn’t world peace, the Afghan war, unemployment, people dying worldwide from starvation, wars, genocide? Hell, 23 people died of ‘bird flu’ in Florida since June, and the United States total is over 300 deaths. New York has the highest deaths with 63.
As I write, the headlines scream “Ousted Honduran president (Zelaya) sees US support waning”. So much for the rule of law and the ballot as against RIGHT-WING military coups. Unlike Henry Gates and a certain policeman, I’m likely to think that president Zelaya won’t be invited to the white House. Afterall, he is neither an Obama friend or a white member of a ‘respected’ profession which can carry a lot of white votes come 2012.
But I digress. I understand Obama wants to sing ‘Kumbaya’ to everyone, (‘cept black folks) and that ‘black folks bi’niz’ is very low priority for him. I understood that during the election, he didn’t want to come across as the ‘angry black man’.
But freak, man, someday he has to grow a pair of cojones. The republicans are pushing him and abusing him at every turn. Yes, he has had results with his demeanour. But sometimes you have to push back… even just a little.
On this issue, Obama has turned his black back on a very important issue for black people. I guess he and Henry Gates can live with that and move on. Pity the next innocent black man shot down in the streets by policemen. He most likely can’t move on, … not with 30 bullets in his chest or back.
***
PS. I wasn’t picked for jury duty. No surprise there.
I notice the government of Jamaica is selling everything and I mean everything even if its nailed down. Jamaica has become a veritable yard-sale. On the block are several sugar lands, Air Jamaica and now Up Park Camp. Yes you read right. The government is selling the army lands for building purposes. Bad idea that and the same for Air Jamaica.
Just what we need in Kingston. More people packed in tiny spaces, with more homes, more traffic and transportation problems, pollution and social concerns. Any fool can tell you that we should be spreading outwards, not expanding inwards. A higher density population per square mile inevitably leads to more crime, disease, education and other social problems. No surprise there.
Kingston should have long stopped being a beacon for mass migration. We should be creating population shifts away from Kingston. There is a philosophical term. Some reader can supply it.
Air Jamaica is a losing concern for many reasons, most of which is plain bad management, and it being a political football. Butch Stewart had little interest in the viability of the airline itself, using it simply as a minibus to bring tourists to his hotels.
Mark my words, when the leading contender Spirit Airline buys Air Jamaica, ‘di airline done’. That is what happens to companies bought by competitors. They gouge out the innards, fire everybody, and that’s it for national pride.
Right now Spirit is slightly undercutting Air Jamaica, which puts the government under pressure to sell. No good can come of this deal. The same would be for the other would-be buyer, Caribbean Airways of Trinidad and Tobago.
Renaming it Spirit of Jamaica is just the first step in its death. And Spirit is an irony. Spirit/ghost. Ring the alarm.
***
And while we are on Trinidad, Jamaican tourism officials were surprised at how the Trinidad-born British newscaster Trevor McDonald savaged the island. Me, I didn’t see the video but I wouldn’t be the least surprised.
Certainly there are many negative aspects as to Jamaica, but many tourism officials are lulled into thinking that all the portrayals are gonna be on our positive side. The only thing that explains that kind of expectation is the high level of self-delusions in the sector.
But there is also the consideration that McDonald, with his heritage, was never going to be fully objective, and small islanders just love to ‘cuss’ Jamaica… it’s a way to bringing us down off our lofty heights of accomplishments they cannot even dream of.
The fact is that we can’t keep papering over the mess that our collective governance has carried us to. Blaming the messenger for a negative story is stupid. We need to make our own stories, but most of all, we need to elect leaders who have the ideas, vision and the guts to get our country out of its slump.
***
Unemployment topped 10% in 15 states. No surprise that Florida is one of them. But the story pointed out that in some of these states, unemployment was in the 20%, when underemployment and those who had given up looking for a job, were factored.
I have been saying that the so-called unemployment figures were a myth and that America’s unemployment was far higher than stated. The officials just cherry-picked which information to use.
***
Anyone who even barely follows West Indies cricket is bound to be disappointed yet again by current events which culminated in Bangladesh notching its first ever victory over the West Indies.
But the obvious talking point is the industrial action by the top tier West Indies players who saw fit to strike on the eve of the first test. Some establishment pundits have seen fit to blame the West Indies Players Association and its head, Dinanath Ramnarine.
Members of the public are torn between the two. My position is that when there is a crime, look first to the usual suspects. It’s not that I don’t think that the players are blameless, but the long and shady history of the West Indies Board makes them my first suspects. When there is a burglary, you first look for known burglars, not pickpockets.
Whichever way we want to cut it, the Board has been the one primarily responsible for the WI fall from grace to a paltry number what 7, in world standings. In their quest to mine riches over building Caribbean cricket, they have prostituted our game and are surprised when the players want to get a larger and larger share of the pie.
We need to understand that when players are undisciplined, where the root of that comes from… for example the inexcusable royal treatment meted out to Brian Lara irrespective of his bad behaviour.
No one should forget the firing of Clive Lloyd in the middle of a series in England with the West Indies totally demolishing the opponents in the first 2 Tests. Then the Board decided to force Lloyd out on the Packer issue knowing full well that the majority of the players would have to also resign.
Next thing you know, England thrashed a weak make-up side and leveled the series at 2-2 going into the deciding Test in Jamaica. They were about to prevail when the Jamaican crowd would have none of it and halted the game. I was rarely ever prouder of my Jamaican public than then.
What did the Board attempt to do?… force the game illegally into the 6th day knowing that England would win the series in only a matter of minutes. It was only because 2 0f the 3 umpires refused to adjudicate a match that would have broken the rules of cricket, why the series was not gift-wrapped for our previous colonial masters.
That incident and the World Cup in Pakistan/Sri Lanka firmly established where the Board was taking its orders from, and that the orders were to put an end to WI forever. Since then, we have continued to spiral downwards.
It might be that in this instance the Board has the higher moral ground, but its history condemns it. And the ruination of the game is the result.
Nothing will change until the mentality of the Board is totally dismantled.
***
The United States is supposed to be the centrepoint of capitalism, right? Where a man takes a risk with his money and wins big if he is successful, or takes responsibility for his failures, where the smart and hardworking is rewarded and dummies lose their collective shirts. Right? Well, explain this to me.
In about 2006, a close friend of mine was encouraged to invest money in some company with the initials, I think, FDN (it is to black people what Madoff is to the jews). After she did, she asked my opinion. It didn’t take me long to see the pharaoh connectivity, and so I told her to get her money the hell out.
She did, but in the brief month or two that she had invested, she earned $500.00 on a $2500.00 investment. As I turned out, the scheme or parts of it) crashed soon after and she was safe. All’s well that ends well, right? Not so fast my friend.
A few months ago she got a threatening letter from lawyer representing some arbitrator, demanding approximately $2,100.00 from her, or she would be in defiance of a court order. Surpriiiize.
As it turns out, a bag of people lost money in the crash and the government felt compelled to ‘rescue’ them. Fine, as long as it was from the money and securities the thieves held. Not so fast, Speedy Gonzales.
What is effectionately known as ‘the clawback law’, allows that in such cases as ponzi schemes, claims can be made from people who profited from some schemes and their money put back in a pool to reimburse the losers.
The basis of that is that those who made a profit should have known that the scheme was illegal because it promised higher than usual profits. What the fu..?
My friend didn’t know that the scheme was a ‘ponzi’. She was convinced by friends who claimed that it was a good, solid investment. But still, this is America. Profits can be limitless. It certainly is for the oil and pharmaceutical industries.
But ok, she made an unusual profit, so take a large chunk out of that. Again, not so fast. These guys have reached into her principal, demanding more than 2/3 of her sum total principal and profit.
You’ve got to be kidding me? Nope.
So she gets penalized for being smart and doing her investigation and getting out, while those who weren’t smart and continued to risk their money even when the alarms were going off, get to take money from her, and not just her profits.
This must be the mafia, right?
This burns me because this contradicts everything that America was thought to be. Right now in health care reform, we have many bleating, that this country is turning into communist Russia. But even Stalin wouldn’t have done something like that. But Barack Obama is.
Is this a crappy country or what?
I am open for discussion.
***
Next time, if the editor doesn’t club me in the head first, I will shamefully flog my upcoming exhibition which might be of interest to readers in the Ft Lauderdale area… who might want to see if there is any relationship between the persons behind the pen and the paintbrush (actually I don’t use either a pen or a paintbrush… its just a manner of speaking). So drop on by.
Independence Day (July 4 Rule #1… never put fireworks in the hands of morons). I just love the smell of cordite in the evening. Reminds me of Baghdad… boom, boom, boom. Wooohoo.
So what has transpired recently? Well, Michael Jackson’s death continued to reign over the news cycle even though he wasn’t resurrected 3 days later as some expected. His death continued to keep Iran out of the news. Also victim to Jackson’s demise was l’affaire of the South Carolina governor, as was whatever is happening in the economy, and the coup in our neighborhood Honduras, got only a little airtime. And oh yes, the supreme court virtually overturned affirmative action with little more than a whimper from the people who should be bringing this news to our headspace.
Many people claim that the media made too much of the adultery by governor Mark Sanford. Normally I would agree, but this has special circumstances. Sanford is one of those holier-than-thou who plays up on his moral superiority. He was one of those leading the pack to impeach then president Bill Clinton for moral turpitude and that was not the only instance. A month before his own affair, he criticized another politician for a moral breach. So there is some irony there somewhere.
Sanford was also gearing himself to run on the republican presidential ticket in 2012. So broadcasting his affair is not about a private issue. It’s bad enough when a politician can’t keep his thingy in his pants… that’s something I can understand. People are imperfect. But when you profess moral perfection and you then turn around and have an extra-marital affair, then you deserve $#!+ hitting you in the face.
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A recent FBI report states that Saddam Hussein’s bluff of weapons of mass destruction, was aimed at fending off Iran, rather than threatening the rest of the world. Which makes it all iranic that an American administration was the proxy warrior for Iran. The Iranians couldn’t have planned any better if they wanted. America… the stooges of Iran (run laff track).
Shows you how stupid American foreign policy can get.
And of course there is more ‘irany’ provided by vp Joe Biden who is in Iraq. He cussed out the long dead Saddam Hussein calling him a ‘sonavabitch’. He should instead have applied the offense to George Bush and his band of idiots… the zealots who by weakening Saddam, have strengthened Iran.
What these fools fail to understand is that people in the mid-east and in many other parts of the world, don’t go by the false borders set up by colonial overlords like Britain. They instead look at religious affiliation and much older boundaries.
Saddam had the majority shi’ites in Iraq under wraps… albeit using repressive means. The United States not only was fully cognizant of those measures, they colluded with Saddam to repress both the shi’ites and Kurds.
One must remember that the US gave more than tacit approval when Saddam attacked Iran. They gave weapons and military support.
Now Iraq has a largely shi’ite government which means the powers, influence and boundaries of Iran has expanded. Iran is not interfering in Iraq. They are protecting their own lands in the very same way that American Jews see Israel.
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President Obama is caught between a rock and a hard place again, and this time he has done the right thing, kinda. The democratically elected Honduran president was ousted in a recent coup. The problem is that the ‘coup’ leaders are the military and right-wing upper-classers ‘friendly to America, who felt threatened by what they saw as the left wing president’s attempt at trying to extend his presidency for another term.
So, now Obama and Venezuela’s Chavez ironically, are thrown on the same side… both condemning the coup. Obama has done what other US administrations wouldn’t have done. Bush and even a Clinton administration would have ‘emmed and awed’ and found some way to ‘express concern’ at an illegal change of government, and eventually accepted the coup leaders… as was the case of Venezuela and Chavez some years ago. In fact with Venezuela, they totally bypassed the ‘emming and awing’.
As such, they would have found themselves in the morally repulsive and minority position in the region. But the proof of Obama’s positioning is in the tasting and we await the further moves by the administration. At the moment they have suspended joint military relations with Honduras, and condemned the coup. What is not sure is the status of US AID and IMF loans.
I’m sure that Obama is at odds with many in his administration (Clinton) who still carry the principle of accepting ‘the bad guy as long as he is our bad guy’.
The current story of Honduras is of the typical class struggle. The ousted president Zelaya came in as a moderate to right-winger but during his term moved towards what is considered a leftist position. He has been making economic reforms… code words for re-distributing the country’s wealth and power from the rich to the rural poor.
Those who ousted him, have the support of the country’s wealthy elite, who naturally prefer a state governed to their benefit.
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Interestingly, there is another situation, very similar to Honduras… this time in Africa. Niger’s president Mamadou Tandja has been condemned by the United States for his attempt to stay in power beyond legal term limits.
Apparently, Tandja who was democratically elected in a country with a history of coups, improved the country’s finances and was seen to be leading the country to economic recovery. His supporters felt that term limits would halt the economic advances and wanted him to stay on, despite the constitution.
Tandja apparently agrees and is now ‘ruling by decree’ because ‘the people demand that I return’. The country’s constitutional court has ruled against him.
In his case, Tandja has openly exposed his ambitions. With Zelaya, his ambitions are mere presumptions by his foes.
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The 5-4 decision which essentially rammed a big stick up the ‘arse’ of affirmative action, was taken last week. In a nutshell, the case was brought by 18 white and 1 hispanic firefighters … who claimed that they were discriminated against on the basis of race, when the city of New Haven, Connecticut threw out test results because minorities had overwhelmingly failed the test. 23 white firefighters and said hispanic passed the test.
Now I’m not sure I disagree with the decision of the court. I think the way the city threw out the results was definitely a case for a discrimination lawsuit. They felt it might lead to a lawsuit by minorities. Instead it led to a lawsuit by ‘majorities(?)’.
But on the other hand, the greater problem is the impact on hiring policies and other such tests. It is easy to say that minorities should be able to pass the same tests that whites pass, and if they don’t its their own fault. But not so fast my friend.
There are many ways to craft a test to diminish the test scores of minorities. But even before we get there, we have to understand that in this country, most minorities start off at a disadvantage. It is foolish to think that education is equal for all in the United States.
There are many ways to skew the educational system as it is to skew a test. One of the most prevalent, is that schooling in highly black populated areas, have the worst of almost everything… teachers, equipment, funding, books… everything.
Then there is the matter of the curriculum. When a book speaks about ‘as pure as driven snow’, then we can understand that a black youth might not feel comfortable with its lessons.
I’m not offering up excuses, but just pointing out to many who jump the gun, that all is not always as b/w as superficially seen.
This might be the end of affirmative action as we know it and we might just be left with nothing more than the argument of whether it was worth it or not.
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Yaaaay… we are number 3 (Jamaica) and 114 (United States). This according to a survey by a British non-governmental group. The New Economics Foundation’s conclusions are based on an equation that weighed life expectancy, happiness and environmental impact… the latter being how well we work with the environment or against it.
Costa Rico was first followed by the Dominican Republic then Jamaica. The data is too long and convoluted to discuss here but readers can go to http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/happyplanetindex040709.aspx and flow through from there. Yaaay… #3, #3, #3.
