All the Justice Money Can Buy... (Bail for the boys)

One would assume that something as important as extradition between two sovereign countries would be governed by legislation agreed to on both sides and easily enforced.

One would also want to assume that in matters where co-conspirators have admitted to their role in the conspiracy and have already paid fines and gone to jail that the road would be a relatively simple one to walk.

Not so in the matter of the extradition of Steve Ferguson and Ishwar Galbaransingh, wanted in the United States in connection with ninety five charges arising out of the controversial and corrupt Piarco Airport re-develpment plan carried out by the then UNC government of which Galbaransingh was a known financier and part of a cabal of very senior members.

Appearing to frustrate every effort to have them leave this jurisdiction to answer for their crimes in another, one has to wonder how is that our system of Justice can be so easily manipulated in as open and shut a case as this one is.

The case surrounding those charged in the airport scandal appears stalled as if waiting on the outcome of this extradition request, and if today's granting of bail is anything to go by justice may never be done in this matter, much to the detriment of the legal system in this country.

We are running out of adjectives and superlatives to describe how important this prosecution is as well as that of Calder Hart and the many others who have abused the State's trust, misbehaved in Public Office and looted the people's purse.

The world is on fire with change ringing out from all corners of the globe as the people, fed up of being abused and fed lies by those in power take matters into their own hands and I would caution those in authority to not lose the lesson.

Now is not the time for pretentious positions by the government, not when the men in question are known to have contributed to the financing of this version of the UNC's election campaign; the Government of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago is morally bound by their own utterances of doing the time if one does the crime to secure these gentlemen for transportation to the United States in the soonest possible time to answer for their crimes.

Anything else would itself be criminal as the very State would be seen to be conspiring against the people they are sworn to serve.


Put another way and as David Rudder sang in his very apt calypso Panama, 'in this pappyshow land, nearly everything is a pappyshow.'

Something to think about...

 

Turning for Home... (Waking up part 2)

The sceptic and the atheist alike, despite all protestations to the contrary, tend to keep one eye open for proof as they know deep down on some instinctive level that choosing not to believe in the devil does nothing to protect you from him.

I have witnessed my share of wheels within wheels over time, and consider myself aware enough of the hidden workings of agendas; I have seen the effect of misinformation on conspiracy up close to understand fully that, regardless of how spectacular the human mind is, it is terribly easy to fool.

Most people will fight to the death over a slight and for a crumb, but will do nothing to resist their own enslavement.

Fertile ground requires conflict, and abuse thrives where there are just enough differences so as to seperate people. Compound that with the fact that most people have mismatched and questionable grounding to start with and you will appreciate why loyalty appears so simple to the initiated to push right over. Truth becomes fiction quite easily in these circumstances, and those trained in the dark art of manipulation can preach to a crowd of people all sitting in the same place listening to the same story but hearing different things completely depending not on what is being said, but on words that they have heard many times over and over again used in similar ways or to say the same sounding thing.

This is not the heart or the purpose; this construct, these bells and whistles only serve one purpose and that is to slowly herd the listeners together and get them to agree on the conclusion.

Effectively done, that is supreme power.

The real estate of people's minds are easily ceded as most people are either unwilling or too lazy to go beyond surface belief. For many alive today Santa Claus, Jesus and the tooth fairy occupies the same mind space and all have their justifications as to why they believe what they believe. 

This is where popular culture comes in.

Seizing on this laziness, popular culture continuously answers the unasked questions in different ways so as to free the thinker and secure the believer. By doing most if not all of the heavy lifting here one never 'knows' anything but believes what one is conditioned to believe.

In this we are no longer individuals on a common road but social animals tethered to the same mainframe fed our vitals  and instructed where to be during the dance.

That many mistake this for safety and consider it a good place to raise the kids demonstrate our abdication of free will and opens our children's minds to this same abuse.

If you ever wanted to truly change the world, all you had to do was raise your children free of the herd mentality, capable of living inside it successfully but able to do their own thinking and adept at arriving at their own conclusions, as the greatest trick the devil ever played was to get the world to believe that he didn't exist.

The lesson in this is quite simple, as are the choices.

Either follow your impulses, trust your hunches, resist the herd mentality and find your way back to free, or remain a slave to a system that sees you only as a worker drone and a consumer, with a life planned around a dream that you will never quite achieve.

Consciousness is calling... 

Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics...

The mob has gathered at the gate in the dead of night, torches abalze, pitch forks and ropes a-ready, we are here for a lynching and damned if we are going to accept anything less than that.

We have heaped scorn and poured all of the ills of society on one man's head, and whether because of his illegal left turn, the fact that he was brazen enough to ignore the officers in carrying out their duty or even because he had Commissioner Gibbs on speed dial, we decide that it is at this point that we are fixing T&T.

Press fast forward to a couple of weeks later, and what some would call an unfortunate utterance, others are using as a call to arms to fire, to resign, to draw and to quarter, and from where I sit all I that am seeing are agendas.

Many groups have called on me for an opinion and I have even been told that what I do not condemn I condone.

Really now? 

My position is simple.

Until we have a trranscript of what was said and the dociument(s) he was quoting from we are all wrong, impestuous and out of place to have opinions, and while I understand the Prime Minister rushing to pour cold water on a tense situation, allowing the Opposition forces to dictate every issue in terms of race is similar to negotiating with terrorists.

It only encourages more of the same.

While most of the fashionably incorrect are willing to call for Mr. Mohammed's head, ninety nine per cent of them do not even know why they are making such a call, but having been handed their opinion fully formed, continue to parrot other people's words pursuing other people's agendas.

Not this half breed.

I will wait until I have all of the information from which to make an informed decision and then and only then will I, based on the facts as they exist in reality, pontificate from on high as if my opinion really mattered.

Politics in Trinidad & Tobago has morphed into a sort of grudge match to the death, with neither truth nor decency being allowed on the playing field.

We as a people need to develop a social awareness beyond the boundaries of our tribe if we ever hope to be one nation or one people ever. 

Solving the Problem Once & For All...

In response to the reactionary rabid racists raving righteously all over the news feed, Facebook has instituted some guidelines that go into immediate effect that hopes if not to bring an end to the conflagration, will confuse it continuously.

Effective immediately, all references to white and black will be instead referred to as not quite beige and very beige depending on the level of beige-ness or absence thereof regardless of what you are referring to. As examples of the new system, the color formerly known as ebony will now be known as 'Beige to the tenth power' and milk will be referred to as 'Just not Beige enough.'

To undo any other chances of racist baiting and so clear up the matter or baffle it into oblivion, henceforth Africa will now be referred to as 'Very very very Southern Europe' and India will be referred to  as 'The Land of Cows.'

Night and day will become 'suntime' and 'moontime' respectively, and every no moon period will be protested with symbolic candlelit hand holding and the singing of the spiritual Kumbaya to acoustic guitar (where available) for the duration.

Afro hair will now be called 'Deep Perm' and straight hair will be known as 'Permically Challenged.'

These changes will assist those whose agenda it is to rewrite history, and colonial times and slavery will henceforth be known as the 'Time of the Great Oops.'

There will be no words for dark and light and people are asked to feel around whenever they cannot see where they are going.

The 'N' word, long a source of much distress and confusion as to who is allowed to say it and what it means in different situations will now be replaced by the word 'Qwiffle' and can also be called the 'Q' word; gang members are especially instructed about this change and reminded to insert the changes into poular slangs such as 'Qwiffle Pleaz...' and 'Thaz mih Qwiffle.'

This change also clears the way for whites to use the word as well without offense to anyone.

Police Officers are instructed in extreme cases of profiling to pull suspects over and hand out bags of jelly beans while telling a story of a fond memory of theirs as a child, being mindful of the conversational guidelines above.

It is hoped that these changes will lighten the mood in an otherwise tense situation and pave the way for us all to 'Just get along.'

 

Casting no Reflection... (Come now Keithos, Really?)

Dr. Keith Patrick Clader Gary Smelter Guanapo Rowley, in his address at the Party's feel good back scratch in Chaguaramas over the last weekend said to all and sundry in his now trademark arrogant style that the Party had reflected and the time for reflection was over.

Really now.

Despite all of the distractions being thrown into the gayelle good sir, the public would like to know, what exactly did you reflect on, and what were your conclusions?

Past the obvious of finding itself in Opposition half way through its electoral term due to mismanagement, corruption, graft, nepotism, greed and the machinations of a megalomaniac leader, Dr. Rowley in his now trademark absent and stealthy way believes that his Party's time on penance is over, and I would like to tell him quite categorically that, while he may be fooled by those who are compromising and enduring him as Leader within his own Party, to the public at large and more importantly to the electorate whose votes he will require to elevate him further, it has not even begun as yet.

I would like to caution him against believing the noise and circumstance surrounding his elevation to caretaker Leader of the Opposition (even as his Party's handlers try to find someone, anyone more capable) and advise him that the country is nowhere near ready to put God out of its collective thoughts and contemplate a PNM Government anytime soon, and that until we hear and see changes that could guarantee us that a PNM Government would not so easily become a Government gone wild in the future, not even a tiny little bit.

We were vehemently promised dry docks and court martials on his watch, but since his elevation to Party leader got business as usual instead with a Party  desperately searching for a picture of its new leader smiling in public prior to May 24th.

We the people of Trinidad & Tobago across all Party lines fully expected Manning to be fired and publicly humiliated for his arrogance and excesses, not hugged in loving embrace as a cessation of arms and brought back into Parliament to distract us with drivel and prayers again.

Where is the Court Martial in that?

For all of its missteps, mistakes and mishaps, we are thankful to have a government that responds to the public despite having an overwhelming majority, and who are at least willing to treat with its own clumsy mistakes in stark contrast to the arrogant megalomania that occurred prior.

Gone are the Papa Doc days when public outcry over one two million dollar flag was met with the promise of twenty more to come, or four smelters being foisted on a people as being in their best interest despite their adamant protestations that they wanted none.

Test driving personal jets and building lavish testimonies to bad taste and insecurity, the PNM has successfully squandered two oil booms that could have put every single citizen in the comfort of a middle class, but has instead left a legacy of abuse, corruption, and a large sector of the population hopelessly State dependent and suffering. 

The Party seems to be placing all of its chips on the collapse of the current government and is doing everything within its power to hasten its demise, but i would like to tell them this; for all the bad news, the continued murders rolled over from PNM failure to treat with crime, the disgusting kidnapping being carried out by PNM community leaders, the people have not forgotten what life under Manning was like, and no amount of demonstrations are going to have the desired effect short of civil servants getting some much needed fresh air and cardio.

Watson could march his people through the Red Sea and up to Mount Sinai tomorrow and we would be okay; Kamla could fall down drunk in Gandhi's fountain every Tuesday and we would be all right, because you see we the people are STILL sure that we did the right thing when we fired the PNM and sent them on their way.

Still damn sure.

I really am sorry to be the bearer of such bad tidings as for the most part I like Dr. Rowley and believe him to be a decent chap, but I also believe that he is woefully misguided and is appearing incapable of capturing the hearts and minds of the country now that he has appeared to miss his purpose and his date with destiny.

Had he delivered as promised we might have been inclined to listen to him, even follow him around a bit.

Had he publicly cleaned house as was expected of this brash and dynamic new leader the government may have had cause to worry.

As it is though and until he comes to terms with the harsh political reality of where he truly stands, I would like to offer, Dr. Rowley, I fear you have not even begun to reflect as yet. 

With Love to All and Malice to None...

Fifty nine murders in a month and seventeen murders in a week are not just statistics. 

Having one of the highest counts of heart disease in the world is nothing to be proud about.

Listening to story after story about children being abused, being sold, being made to eat mud to fill their empty craving bellies is not a fun time at the amusement park.

Look, you can attack me all you want, it does not change what is taking place in the country and if to some this is their moment to shine by pretending to care about something that nothing in their past contributions support, by all means, go ahead. 

The meat of this matter is not going away even if I do, and to the many who think that attacking the messenger while putting on blinkers to ignore the savage reality of some of our people's existence is nothing short of disingenuous. 

I have written many articles on this same subject, and while the sanitized version of the truth gets the most applause and comments, the truth is applause solves nothing for nobody and commenting forever yet refusing to get beyond talk is hypocritical.

We have had governments come and go, and despite countless billions at their disposal to render aid and compassion they have for the most part scattered crumbs and left these people to their own devices.

The anger that is manifesting itself as the ghetto culture now was not created in a note, and having one of the highest murder rates in the world for the past five years (at least) should have begged that these same pontificators turn their attention, gifts and time towards helping their brothers and sisters up rather than talk, talk and more talk.

This is not an issue to be used to treat suppressed or misplaced guilt, but a real and national crisis that could well grind this nation to a halt and by hiding it away through lies and half truths helps no one.

Yes I love the accolades from the crowds when I write the comedy, the satire, and the spoof pieces, but believe me I could survive without it.

What I will not be able to live with is knowing that I had an opportunity, a pulpit, a forum from which to make a difference and I didn't.

That would haunt me forever. 

To the God I pray to the poor and the children are his beloved, so I do this work for free so that I would be beholding to no man.

You have a problem with what I write?

Simple, don't read it.

But next time you look in the mirror after climbing as high up on this horse of racially driven moral outrage ask yourself this, if presented with the opportunity to exchange personal glory for the upliftment of others, could you?

Would you?

Now that you have weighed in on the issue from a position of unabashed and unapologetic knowing, will this now translate into all of you actually getting involved and trying to help make a difference?

Because if the answer to that is yes, feel free to express your opinion; after all, I never thought I was the only person entitled to one.

I am just the only person still willing to say that in a country that has this many tens of thousands of black successful, wealthy professionals and rich black entrepreneurs that has been ruled for the most part for all this time by a principally black government, how come it is still black people that have such a  shitty end of the stick?

How do we answer that? 

 To my political friend who suggested that I apologize for telling my black brothers and sisters that the high count of heart disease that is killing them way too early is linked to fried food like KFC, please, don't you know me as yet?

I will not call the names of the otherwise intelligent people who went out of their way to smear me, they know who they are and what there motive was.

I no longer assume to understand human beings the way I thought i did, but even that must be part of the learning curve of this journey.

This I still believe:

“Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end.”

In Case of Emergency...

There is significant reason to be alarmed as in one fifteen month season we have seen the horrific destruction nature can wreak in the suffering of both Haiti and Japan.

There have been other major events during that time with substantial loss of life and property, but these two tragic occurrences seem to cross all social divisions and demonstrates quite definitively that disaster is an equal opportunity offender.

There are ample reasons to be concerned.

There is nowhere on planet earth immune to the destructive effects of earthquakes, and while we have been blessed to be just outside the path of most major hurricanes, we are not going to beat those odds forever.

We need as a matter of urgency for all major stakeholders to convene simultaneous town hall meetings in all constituencies to identify area specific guidelines and to make known who to turn to and the system of authority if and when national systems fail.

They also need to know where to go if their communities are compromised due to disaster, where to gather with their loved ones either for rescue, shelter or aid.

These constituency plans should be bound together in a governing document outlining the national response to any major disaster so as to have a response should the worse occur.

The Ministries of Social Development and National Security should take lead on this so as to prepare simultaneously with the infrastructural needs of rescue and redeployment, and to create emergency relief supply depots throughout the country to prevent panic, injury and looting.

Something like a local government precinct plan should be created for all constituencies with a view to establishing an emergency chain of authority and bring the police, fire units, health care and other response teams in the area under one umbrella and in their direct control for the duration of the emergency or until National Government and communication is restored.

The Army and the Ministry of Works and Transport should also create a 'First Response' master plan to be deployed as soon as possible to clear all highways, main roads and thoroughfares as quickly as possible so as to help restore national communication and ease of movement of emergency, rescue and relief personnel.

This overall Emergency Master Plan should be made available to all citizens through websites, brochures, and other means so as to have the population informed and prepared.

The stark contrast in both tragedies brought live into our living rooms is how important it is to be prepared as a nation, as communities and as a people, and we should take whatever lessons we can and prepare ourselves in case of emergency.

Something to think about...

Things that I am upset about in no particular order:

That otherwise healthy women are dying in childbirth due to negligence at our nation's hospitals

That people are dying horrific deaths on our nation roads, each one seeming to be worse than the next and nothing of sense is being proposed to end the carnage

That the people who raided and looted CLICO and CL FInancial are living well while the people whose money was used to build the company are left to suck salt

That people in this country would fight for someone's right to commit crime rather than fight for all of our rights to live well and free

That trillions of dollars later we still have so much poverty

That the current Government and the past Government both appear equally heartless when it comes to poverty, but are magnanimous with squander-mania projects

That shark and bake still called shark and bake even though it doesn't have any shark in it

That the price of doubles went up when the price of flour went up, and stayed up even though the price of flour came back down

That Machel sing a dotish song and win two million dollars. Twice

That Brian MacFarlane threw a Minshall sized tantrum to match his Minshall styled mas and still hasn't thanked Minshall yet

That nobody seems to care that the most at risk children in the nation are being told that they are supposed to be bandits, thugs and ho's by people whose children go to expensive schools

That when these children become bandits, thugs and ho's we wonder why

That the Ministry of Education has no plan for the nation's at risk children

That the Ministry of National Security is an oxymoron

That there are more forms to fill out to buy a goat than to make a child

That PH drivers are being rewarded for breaking the law

That lawyers are getting away with making Justice blind deaf and dumb and getting rich doing it

That we know how to help Japan, Haiti and Barbados, but Sea Lots people could eat grass and we dont care

That Movie Towne build two bus stops on a highway which is against the law and nobody say boo yet

That the Leader of the Opposition said he finished reflecting and none of us knew when he started or what he was reflecting on

That we move one Government for creating illegal Special Purpose Companies that the new Government appointed Boards to run

That men of ill repute who have cases to answer are being appointed to run these Boards

That the extradition laws for Black people seem to be different to the extradition laws for Indian people

That our rum company is using little girls in raunchy and suggestive ads to sell rum 

That Cro Cro disrespected Hazel Brown in his nasty song and nobody make him apologize yet

That the price of an apple on the Port is under a dollar, but in Hi Lo it's six

That somebody in Hi Lo packs the apples bruised side down to sell you bruised apples for six dollars

That former Government Ministers have all the answers when they're no longer in Office

That people who campaign as having all the answers or plans to solve problems to get elected cannot be sued or fired when it becomes obvious they lied to get into Office

That we are having a Commission of Enquiry into an attempted coup twenty years later because the two Prime Ministers since were loathe to conduct one

That despite being named as having prior knowledge to the attempted coup, those two former Prime Ministers have not come clean as yet with what they knew and when

That reactionary politics has replaced conversation among citizens fueled by racist policies, so the two major Parties are, by their existence, the biggest problem that the country, the nation and its people will ever have to deal with

The Price of Freedom... (Until all are free, none are free)

“This is about more than holding elections – it’s also about what happens between them. Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty.

No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers.

No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt.

No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.

 In the 21st century, capable, reliable and transparent institutions are the key to success – strong parliaments and honest police forces; independent judges and journalists; a vibrant private sector and civil society.

Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in peoples’ lives.”

Excerpt from a speech by President Barack Obama to the Parliament in Ghana, July 10th 2009

He may well have been speaking to Trinidad & Tobago

Since that speech was made we have had two elections with change sweeping through Parties and change sweeping through the corridors of power, but tell me, after all that change, what has really changed?

Token gifts and grand nothing gestures made to distract with shiny things continue while the carnage on our streets and highways continue unabated; where mothers and babies go to our medical institutions to die from neglect and apparent malpractice; where our young men are killing each other at the behest of the faceless crime lords who still wield power despite our changes; is this change?

Our people, heirs to slavery and indentureship believe themselves free because the shackles that bound their hands and feet have been removed; unable to see the shackles that binds their minds they fight each other into poverty and squander the crumbs left on the floor as they hold on to words and concepts and throw them around at each other, the intellectual, the educated and the unenlightened alike, while the street runs red with black blood that, despite how politically incorrect black has become, is still wet and red.

Respect for the living long gone, respect for the dead becoming a memory as we battle each other to hold onto air, nothing but empty air while the treasure of our nation is looted and exploited in rooms we can neither enter nor exit without permission on soil we have the audacity to call our own.

Our freedom is an illusion that we defend with grand ideas, visions and plans, never stopping to see that all of our high sounding words makes us circus animals jumping through hoops that are pleasing to our ears and those that would call us trained but does nothing to change the rampaging ills of society and, one hundred and fifty years later, the lash still falls whataap!

Independence was a great illusion designed not to free us but to release us to our own devices even while the plunder continued unabated. Our social systems disconnected from the Monarchy left us adrift and, as is the nature of the colonized, at each other's throats.

Tell me again what has really changed.

Massa, Jim Crow and the King are gone, how come black people still living in ghettos and shanties and suffering like dogs to get through the day?

If we free, why does it feel like  we have no say in anything important?

For freedom to come shouldn't ALL of our people be free and feel free?

For change to come nothing that is wrong must remain while all that is right must become our agenda and our status quo, not so?

There will never be change or freedom while the high blacks piss down on the low blacks deluding themselves with the idiocy that these people chose this suffering for themselves;  personally I would like to know if that is what they chose, what were the other choices?

The foolish accept and parrot the insipidness carried by the insipid, and we the people duck and run for cover when night starts to fall.

Only when Laventille and Westmoorings children are equally safe in their beds at night will change come.

Only when all people stand before all systems and institutions of this land as equals and citizens can all say we are free.

Until then we are worse than fools, because we are using our advantages to keep our own selves in bondage, foolishly thinking that even though our brother is suffering we can still call ourselves free.

The future of our nation demands that all of our people are free, anything less is unacceptable.