When will the apology come?

'Tis doubly I feel, anew, the pain felt by my forbears who, actually, endured the horrendous torment of European-wrought slavery. Yea! For, paternally, my roots are of Africa, black Africa, lest you be mistaken, while, maternally, I am sprung from the seed of the Callinago of what is now called St. Vincent, both being lineages which suffered tremendously and long under the yoke of the Caucasians who came with and after Cristobal Colon.
To this date, the 174th anniversary of the legislatively-declared release from the British type of that yoke, no apology has ever been given to any of us for those hundreds of years of living hell that our ancestors innocently suffered, though the Jews who, for a twinkling of an eye, were swept through a holocaust, even today are still collecting, tangibly, from the overflowing restitution coffers opened up to them by their former tormentors.
None ought to be surprised, then, that I have NEVER and DO NOT endorse the slant taken by that what passes for an emancipation support committee in its commemoration of the events of August 1st 1834: dancing, prancing, feasting, fêting; instead of, solemn reflection and asserveration to tangibly improving the lot of the emancipated descendants.
None, also, ought to feel upset over the attitude of my clan, which is, always, that we shall do our utmost to prevent a repeat visit of such ignominy.

Law struggling.

When a person who is not authorized so to do, takes hold of a gun, loads it with bullets, then proceeds, whether by ambulatory or motorized means, to intercept another person, then uses that gun to dispatch that other person to an Emergency Room, or, the mortuary, how, thereafter, can anyone dare suggest that the shooter was, from the outset, not criminally-minded and, thus, capable of seeking exculpation by pleading provocation, self-defence, or, any such thing? The posit remains relevant, mutatis mutandis, were the weapon to be of any other type.
In any society, for there to be minimal crimal activity, the law and the enforcement of the law need to keep ahead of the criminal-minded. In a society where such is not the case, then one must conclude that, in that society, the lawmakers and the law-enforcers and the criminals, all sup from the same cup.

Fretful Caroni.

Reuters has put together a slide presentation that documents a frenzy of floods all over the world. It prompted me to compose the below ditty, "Fretful Caroni."

Fretful Caroni.

Take comfort! Enjoy your hell!
O, ye, that on the Caroni dwell!
For if thee couldst but surf the Net, surely ye'd see
This "Frenzy of Floods" slideshow, presented by Reuters to thee.
Then, ye'd be still and not ever, in future, fret, as it's plain
That, globally, your problem occurs whenever there's rain.

Collapsed WTO talks, why, how come?

It's amazing that, apparently, China and, to a lesser extent, India, could engineer the collapse of the Wold Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Geneva, by their insistence that they be allowed to shield their farming sectors from international competition, when, from any which way one looks at it, both China and India cannot, by any means, be any longer considered under-developed or even, developing nations and, certainly, they are not poor.

Publicizing my private thoughts about our commitment to account to the public.

Returning to an ongoing discussion, I find it most odd that an incumbent member of the investigatory body named, the Public Accounts Committee, would use almost all his energies to prevent the public from observing public officials giving account to the public for their conduct while they were performing their public duties.
Would Senator George Hadeed please, publicly clarify my concern, a concern which, I hope, that the various news media houses would, through their public commentary windows, disseminate among the public?

Paradigm tweak.

A minor tweak of paradigm would lead to the Parliament becoming the powerful oversight tool it was meant to be: amend the law so that no bill could be passed unless three-quarters of the Members say, "Aye!"

The instant such a law comes into effect, the instant all sides (especially government) would comprehend that, in order for Trinibago to function, they would have no choice but to compromise.

O Lord! Save us from the PNM. Amen!

The fidgeting over whether the last Friday's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting was properly conducted or not indicates, ad nauseam nostram, that, as far as the Manning administration (PNM) is concerned, the government (PNM) is answerable to none but itself and, therefore, prompts me, once again, to utter this amended version of a Latin prayer I learnt whilst a student at St. Mary's College:

"Deprecationem nostram quaesumus Domine benignus exaudi et quibus supplicandi praestas affectum tribue de PNM defensionis auxilium amen"
TRANSLATION: "O Lord! We, to whom Thou hast given an intense love of praying, beg thee mercifully to hear us and grant that, by Thy powerful aid, we may be defended from and comforted in all the dangers and tribulations continually posed to us by the PNM! Amen."

How to eat for a week on one hundred dollars!

I calculated a way how one person can eat for a week without spending more than TT$100.00. Here goes!

Day	Meal	Cost	Meal Cost	Daily Total
Sunday:	Breakfast:
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 daubs Guava jam	$ 0.29
	200ml milk	$ 2.00	$ 4.69
	Lunch:
	1 large Irish potato	$ 1.00
	1/4 medium-sized cabbage	$ 2.00
	100g beef clod steak	$ 5.00
	1 ripe banana	$ 1.00
	1 glass tap water	$ 0.01	$ 9.01
	Supper:
	None (had lunch @ 5p.m.	$ -	$ -	$ 13.70
Monday:	Breakfast:	Cost
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 daubs Guava jam	$ 0.29
	200ml milk	$ 2.00	$ 4.69
	Lunch: (Sunday leftovers)
	1 large Irish potato	$ 1.00
	1/4 medium-sized cabbage	$ 2.00
	100g beef clod steak	$ 5.00
	1 ripe banana	$ 1.00
	1 glass tap water	$ 0.01	$ 9.01
	Supper:
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 slices cheese	$ 0.29
	200ml milkless tea	$ 1.00	$ 3.69	$ 17.38
Tuesday:	Breakfast (eaten @ 5a.m.):
(Fasting)	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 daubs Guava jam	$ 0.29
	250ml milk	$ 2.50	$ 5.19
	Lunch: (None. Fasting)	$ -	$ -
	Supper:
	1 orange	$ 2.00
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 slices cheese	$ 0.29
	200ml milkless tea	$ 1.00	$ 3.69	$ 8.87
Wednesday:	Breakfast:
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 daubs margarine	$ 0.22
	200ml milk	$ 2.00	$ 4.62
	Lunch:
	1 Hott Shoppe mini chicken roti	$ 8.00
	1 glass tap water	$ -	$ 8.00
	Supper:
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 slices cheese	$ 0.29
	200ml milkless tea	$ 1.00	$ 3.69	$ 16.31
Thursday:	Breakfast:
(Vegetarian)	1/2 plantain (fried)	$ 2.00
	2 slices w/wheat bread	$ 1.20
	1 glass tap water	$ 0.01	$ 3.21
	Lunch:
	100g white rice	$ 1.36
	1/4 bdl spinach (stewed)	$ 1.75
	1 glass tap water	$ -	$ 3.11
	Supper:
	1/2 plantain (fried)	$ 2.00
	2 slices w/wheat bread	$ 1.20
	200ml milkless tea	$ 1.00	$ 4.20	$ 10.52
Friday:	Breakfast:	Cost
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 daubs Guava jam	$ 0.29
	200ml milk	$ 2.00	$ 4.69
	Lunch (eaten at 2:30p.m.):
	Home Restaurant Pelau	$ 23.00
	125ml tap water (in bottle from home)	$ 0.01	$ 23.01
	Supper:
	No solids: Still bloated from pelau.
	1 glass tap water	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 27.71
Saturday:	Breakfast:	Cost
	4 Slices W/wheat	$ 2.40
	2 daubs Guava jam	$ 0.29
	200ml milk	$ 2.00	$ 4.69
	Lunch (loafing off some friend or family):	$ -	$ -
	Supper (Still loafing!):	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 4.70
Weekly Total:				$ 99.18

Of course, one needs must have a Spartan mindset from the outset, but, say what.