Max! Yuh cyar be wrong and strong! (Revamped)

In his Hulsiean speech a few nights ago --didn't see it...it amounted to little...so, thank God I didn't-- the core of what President Max Richards (POTT) said was:

"...The central consideration in any step that I take in this matter must be the welfare of the country..."

Max! Yuh cyar be wrong and strong! Okay? The central consideration in any step that you take in this matter or any other is your tri-focused solemn oath that requires you:

1. to preserve and defend the constitution,
2. to conscientiously and impartially discharge the functions of President and,
3. to devote yourself to the service and well-being of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

In the "this matter" of which you spoke, you did none of the above, as follows:

1. you appointed someone whom the law clearly states cannot be appointed;
2. in the context, "conscientiously" means "scrupulously" or "assiduously", neither of which may be used to describe the manner in which the appointees were chosen; and
3. "devote" means "to give or apply one's time, attention, or self entirely to a particular activity, pursuit, cause, or person", which devotion you altogether abandoned by refusing to interrupt your overseas vacation trip after the mess hit the fan.
   

Therefore, Max, you must go, quietly, or, if you refuse to go, to be dragged out, even if kicking and screaming.

In any case, it's not permitted to you to put welfare of the country to the paramount, for all ah we know that you and your ilk believe that Trinidad and Tobago is PNM country, when it is not!!

A review of the Presidency of George Maxwell Richards, for what it's worth.

NB: The red highlights and bracketed comments are mine.

When Max first became POTT, this is what he said:

NO ONE WILL PREVENT MY INDEPENDENCE

Tuesday, March 18 2003 (http://www.newsday.co.tt/commentary/0,2162.html)

“My wife Jean and I welcome you to this ceremony to inaugurate the fifth term of the Presidency of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. My first obligation is to express cautious gratitude to the country for accepting me as fourth President of this great nation. It is an honour as humbling in its exaltation as it is daunting in its commandment, and I accept it with all my heart.

Many of us believe that the choice of a President should be seen to be above party politics. The lack of consensus on this occasion is therefore a personal sadness to me. But it has only made me more resolved to serve the whole nation without fear and without favour. I owe it to the nation to record that the other citizen in the election was the first person to call and offer congratulations when the results were declared. I consider the generosity, graciousness and good wishes of Mr Ganace Ramdial to be a signal to our people that although there was a contested election, consensus after the decision is a desired and possible goal.

Over the past weeks, I know that there are many people concerned about the decision. I have been overwhelmed and deeply touched by expressions of support from individuals in all walks of life and of all shades of political opinion. It is comforting to think that if I live up to the oath I have solemnly sworn, all the people of this great nation will think of me as their President. I give assurance and serve warning that I will allow nothing and no one to prevent me from bringing to the tasks before us qualities of independence, even-handedness, impartiality, objectivity, fairness and consideration for all. (NB: he omitted "intelligence" and "common-sense"!!)

This country is so blessed. From bitter cane to black gold. Energy for so. A generous land making room for the meeting of peoples and cultures from everywhere on the globe. Such beauty, intelligence, knowledge and creativity, such rhythmn, flexibility and speed. So much individual talent. What a legacy is ours to inherit from the nation’s distinguished sons and daughters of the past, what harmonious models to emulate. None more so than Andre Tanker, forever young, forever fresh, a true creole, improviser extraordinaire, combining in his person and in his music all the elements that make up the Trinbagonian person. He gone away. May he come back home and stay in the heart of his people.

This Presidency begins in the shadow of two years of political uncertainty, and under a threatening sky. Internationally there are very strong indications of imminent war and dread imaginings of terrorist attacks, while in our island retreat we are startled where we should feel safest— in our neighbourhood streets, in our homes and in our schools. I have too much faith in the strength and goodness of our people to think that we are doomed but I see that the price of progress is high, I see signs of a country forgetting itself, hurtling in a dark as if if had no past, speeding without a vision into a future it does not seem to believe in. (Spot on! 20/20) We have it in us to arrest this negative thrust but where do we begin? I want to find out, and I know that I can do so if I get closer to the people in their communities and in their settlements, and if rapport can be established with the young people of our country. (6 years on, POTT's failed on both counts.)

Excellencies and distinguished guests, no one who is alive and thinking at this time can be sanguine ("sanguine": cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident. E.g.: a sanguine disposition; sanguine expectations.) about our unity and about our vision of ourselves. There are in this country people of every religion, people of every race and colour— black, brown, white, yellow— and people like myself, who find it hard to separate out the different entities that have been blended in their formation.

We more than any people know no race has a monopoly on beauty or intelligence (The stats re: SEA, CXC and UWI exam results, don't agree!). That no religion has an exclusive line to God. After decades of being divided and ruled by those who wished to exploit us (very interesting choice of time measurement --decades-- for it can only refer to the PNM which came to power 47 years b4 this speech was made), each group in the country has learnt to respect and make space for the religion and heritage of the others. (Illogical deduction, given the premise.) There is no question of removing all of the melting down of the differences that make this country sweet, “You’ll be you and I’ll be me”, according to David Rudder, but we have perhaps come to a point where it is necessary to insist that we all have a double identity (Huh??!!!). Each group is unique at the same time we are all products of the meeting of cultures and peoples.

The Shabine or mulatto figure in the Walcott poem speaks for the hybridity in all of us:
“I’m just a red nigger who love the sea,
I had a sound colonial education
I have Dutch, nigger and English in me,
And either I’m nobody, or I’m a nation”

Whatever our creed or colour, each of us is the nation. We would do well to remember that the self-seekers of the present (Pray tell! Who be they?) employ the divide and rule tactics of the Imperial mind-benders of the past, and that the health and harmony and glory of our civilisation depends upon our holding fast and showing the way:
See how we movin’; see how we groovin’
See how we step in style
One lovely nation under a groove
The Ganges done meet the Nile
The boys with the hidden agendas
And the mind-benders
They will always do their do
But now that we’re holding hands
Trodding through this promised land
Them could come along too (Oh, really? I thought it was "Every creed and race find an equal place"?)

I pledge this Office to taking steps to encourage our people to understand and live out this ennobling vision of our possibility. (Tell us, please, what that vision is?) Fellow citizens, I think this is the right moment for me to glance at the 27 year history of the Presidency, and pay tribute to my illustrious predecessors. Each brought his own style and each had in his repertoire the strengths required by the Presidential moment. In each case the stars were so aligned that the hour and the man were in propitious synch (muhurta) as many of our fellow citizens would pronounce.

There could have been no better choice of opening batsman than Sir Ellis Clarke, a man of incomparable gifts of intellect and expression, a man with an international profile and a presence that impressed the idea of a native President on a population more accustomed to the Colonial Governor and the Union Jack. (Like flying private jets to Spain, for instance?) The foundations laid by Sir Ellis were built upon by Justice Noor M Hassanali coming in at one wicket honourably down, a man with an easy upright stance and a capacity for princely movement down the pitch and a natural touch. His long innings consolidated the Presidency as a stabilising force and as an institution people could look up to for guidance and example. (This is about the only accolade Hassanali got after demitting presidential office) Arthur NR Robinson came to the Presidency straight out of active politics, a patient man, economist and lawyer, with a background of stubborn commitment to causes like human rights, the eradication of poverty, and the establishment of an International Criminal Court. (And the balisier!)

We were entering a period when new economic strains and social and demographic change were bringing all kinds of issues to the fore. He was playing on a wearing pitch, but he was the man for them. (Who's "them"?) He played his shots as his sense of propriety and justice required effecting a handful of calculated falling pulls that have raised serious questions about Island governance, an innovative President and international leader deriving satisfaction from an unflagging struggle for mechanisms to promote international justice and peace.

These are major acts to follow but there are many opportunities left for others to serve this country. There is much to be done in the field of education and human resource development. The investments of successive governments in education and training is inadequate, and what we are seeing would seem to suggest that we do not get value for such money as is spent. (We know that of which you speak, for, despite your academic accomplishments, you don't even know how to read people's resumes!) The economic well-being of a society, peace, order and social harmony, the emotional stability of citizens and the possibility of equal opportunity and the eradication of poverty all depend to a large extent on the provision (and use) of high quality and humane education for all at every level.

In the report of the West Indian Commission entitled “Time for Action”, the Commissioners observe that “the prospects of economic recovery and development will hinge largely upon the performance of the knowledge sector”. (Why quote what this Commission says, when all such reports are left to linger/gather dust on some shelf or the other?) Higher education is critically important to our economy. The knowledge and skills forged and transmitted by the university and other tertiary institutions enhance industrial competitiveness and they can make substantial contributions to the generation of wealth and, by extension, to employment in the long run. But there is more. It is the tertiary education and training system that we must look to for the high technology, the specific job skills and the supervisory and management staff to help us to work our way into greater control of the energy sector.

It is to the tertiary system that we must look for the quality teachers for all other levels of the educational system. A President with a background in Engineering Sciences and Education can be expected to welcome and take a serious interest in the proposed University of Trinidad and Tobago. (That's NOT the President's job! No wonder you made an UTTer mess of the Integrity Commission thing???!!!) It goes without saying but a familiar warning must be repeated that increased access to higher education would be wasteful if there were not quality improvements in the primary and secondary systems, and a concerted attempt to provide early childhood care and to improve the quality of parenting and family life.

It would of course be a serious omission for an educator to talk about education without repeating a truth that is all too often taken for granted, and is seldom deliberately addressed by those who make the curricula, the truth that an education in Science that ignores the Humanities is just as bad as an Education in the Humanities that acts as if the Sciences do not exist. (So! At last! The reason why your tenure has been what it has been!)

Excellencies and distinguished guests (what about the ordinary common people, like me? Weren't you speaking to us at all?), we face mounting material expectations roused by the media, by close proximity to conspicuous affluence in the north, and by ostentatious consumerism in our own country where there is growing inequality in wealth, and income distribution. Old needs (such as?) and new desires (such as?) have added to the seemingly intractable problems of urban poverty and rural deprivation. And if these were not enough, unemployment and under-employment are hanging out in abandoned fields and crowded street corners trying to decide what to do.

How to respond to these new pressures threatening as they do to tear the whole fabric of society apart, must be one of the gravest of all concerns of any responsible government. (That things have gotten worse since this your speech indicates that, since then at least, we've been blighted by an irresponsible government.) I can do no more at this time that to commit this Office to our Constitution and to the preamble which states inter alia, “Whereas the People of Trinidad and Tobago respect the principles of social justice and therefore believe that the operation of the economic system should result in the material resources of the community being so distributed as to subserve the common good, that there should be adequate means of livelihood for all.” (And to defend the Constitution at every turn, of which regard, the jury's still deliberating.)

My family and I give thanks to Almighty God for all his favours, to the many who have sent us expressions of goodwill and support; and for their prayers, to the honourable Chief Justice who has just administered the Oath of Office, to the Religious Organisations who have offered prayers, to the members of the Defence Force and to all who have contributed to this evening’s proceedings.

Finally we wish to express our sincerest appreciation to their Excellencies for all the work and thought they have put into organising this special occasion. I thank you all for the courtesy of your attention. May God Bless us all and may peace be with us this evening and always.

About which Prime Minister Manning had this to say:

Richards’ speech was excellent

Tuesday, March 18 2003 (http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,2178.html)

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning has described President George Maxwell Richards’ inaugural speech as excellent.

Agreeing that Richards will be an independent President, Manning pointed out that the new President comes with an academic background “so I expect he will be very interested in education”. “Remember, he was the Principal of the St Augustine campus and was the Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies.”

Asked by the media about statements made by the President in his speech, Manning saw nothing wrong with it, saying that the Prime Minister must keep the President informed of what the Government was doing. “It is normal for Presidents to receive notes from Cabinet which they consider every Thursday morning. The President is an integral part of the governance of the country although his role is clearly demarcated in the Constitution. He can only play a role that the Constitution allows. He is an academic so you will see a flavouring of the Presidency.” Asked about former President Arthur NR Robinson, Manning said: “I told him he had done very well, his innings was a very good one, and he has every reason to retire as a proud man.”

What's in a name?

What's in a name? The yet-festering uproar over Appellate Judge Stanley John's widely-reported excoriation of two of his juniors --Tunapuna Summary Court magistrates Anna Ryan and Jo-Anne Connor-- and the subsequently-hasty appeasement of their boss, Chief Justice Ivor Archie, among other things seems to foster the notion that, in Trinidad and Tobago, magistrates are NOT judges, or, vice versa, doesn't it? Perhaps such notion, long-held --to me, wrongly-- lurks at the root of the initial lambasting outburst? Yes, one may protest that judges aren't public servants while magistrates are, therefore the former is superior --at least in tenure-- to the latter, yet none may deny that, in their different domains, both essentially exercise the same functions and are subject to the same boss. It's time to correct same, then, by calling the spade for what, really, it is! Let the appellation "Magistrate" henceforth be anathema and substituted by the term "District Judge", or, "Circuit Judge"! Especially if one remembers that though a rose by any other name exudes the same fragrance --or stench, if it's rotten-- "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; but he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed!"

Bull pissle in his mortar?

When Ria Tait wrote in the Trinidad Express that the Attorney-General, Brigid Annisette-George was resigning, not only did the news stun --Express alone had it-- but, moreso, it intrigued, for Ria within, at midpoint, placed this telling paragraph:

"Prime Minister Patrick Manning will be returning to someone with whom he has enjoyed a close relationship, which sources said, was mutually satisfying." (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=161482670)

I know Ria! She's no mean journalist! She's a senior editor --Political Editor of the Trinidad Express at that-- which means, she means what she writes, for she does not write like some of us drive --jerk-knee fashion.

How, then, properly to make of what Ria wrote --as below highlighted-- other than that Patrick in John's mortar, or vice versa, has something other than the proverbial pestle, maybe one such as a bull's? Perhaps it's time for all cupboards to be laid bare.

No foreigners please, matters not how much we love you!

It is time to amend the relevant laws to make it mandatory that only natives --and persons who have been naturalized citizens for at least five years-- of Trinidad and Tobago may vote in, or offer themselves as candidates, in any elections, General or Local!

Unmoumouing Trinbago.

The nation needs to be reassured/assured that the Attorney-General's impending resignation has nothing to do with the viral rumour: of her core-wrenching angst over not having, or, being invited/allowed to have any input into the CLICO Memorandum of Understanding that some swear was drafted by stone-faced persons in a hush-hush room not far from where a generator noisily hummed. Else the nation'd hold to the view that it's a moumou, as for as the current administration's concerned.

PTSC and me, of late.

As the car's at the mechanic's, resort to public transportation has been the preferred option for a while, thus affording the first hand experience and analysis of the operations of the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC). Thing is, the PTSC seems not fully to have absorbed what its name imports, nor what the statute whereby it was created of it demands, for it discriminates against its customers and for no rational purpose.

Frinstance:

1. Regularly, at City Gate, non-fare-paying PTSC employees --in uniform to boot-- board the buses before fare-paying passengers and occupy seats while leaving fare-payers to stand, or to wait for another bus.
2. Along the Priority Bus Route (PBR), passengers who pay the highest fare have to stand out in the elements to catch a ride while all others are afforded the comfort of bus shelters. A bus stop should be a bus stop.
   
3. PBR bus shelters are unkempt, unlike City Gate.
4. At Arima, there's a massive PTSC compound, with covered facilities, just northeast of the Velodrome, which was built with taxpayers money, yet, passengers travelling to and from Port of Spain/Valencia/Sangre Grande have to embark and disembark under open sky, on the public footpath, on Hollis Avenue, near to First Citizens Bank, in the process severly humbugging pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
5. Limited Stop buses do not stop at a major intersection --Second Crossing, Arouca-- therefore, passengers going to/coming from points between Lopinot intersection and Bon Air Gardens Main Road have a very long walk, or, must resort to the higher-priced maxi taxis.
6. There is no bus stop between Dinsley and Cane Farm Roads, as if those who live in Paradise Gardens or eastern Dinsley Village are forbidden to use PTSC.
7. There is no bus stop on the eastbound PBR lane close to Mt. Hope Hospital. Guess if one needs to go visit that place, one must take a Chaguanas or San Fernando bus, or get off at Carib Brewery and foot it along the side of, then across the treacherous PBR and Uriah Butler Highway (UBH)?
8. After disgorging passengers at journey's end, buses are not immediately cleaned --nor checked by driver for carelessly-left personal belongings-- before being pressed back into service.
9. As far as PTSC's concerned, no one travels on Sundays and public holidays --don't need to explain how that was deduced-- even though at such times, the beaches and other nationwide recreational points are filled to capacity.
10. PTSC's buses are not, by design and or built, user-friendly to the physically-challenged.
11. Tangential to the last point, PTSC drivers would notice persons standing at the designated bus stops, yet continue driving at the same rate of speed, or in the far lane away from the bus stops, as if they assume those persons there standing have all their capacities intact, thus, not having signalled for the approaching bus to stop, they don't wish to travel by it?
12. There are no buses to be had in Arima for destinations in Central and South Trinidad --such as Chaguanas or San Fernando. One therefore has to drop off at Mt. Hope --near to the hospital-- then go over to the UBH and wait on a southbound bus coming out of Port of Spain. Yes, there is a bus service that plies between Curepe and Chaguanas, but via the Southern Main Road, not the PBR and UBH.
    
13. PTSC buses don't accept cash, so passengers must beforehand purchase a ticket. Since that's the case, PTSC's marketing department is a pathetic one, else it'd have ensured that tickets were sold in every nook and cranny --like newspapers are. As a result, maxis thrive while PTSC does not and, were PTSC not to mutate, shall continue so to do.
14. Lastly, at City Gate, does PTSC know how much money it collects on a daily from the incontinent who pay the one dollar loo-user fee? For when such fee's paid, no chit is given.
    

Now, despite the above shortcomings, the PTSC service is fairly regular and the staff mostly courteous --some to the point of being downright charming-- thus, from observation, citizens of all profiles use the buses. But, as briefly above-identified, there is room for improvement...tremendous improvement.

Success at sport is no sport.

West Indies professional cricket, indeed, all West Indian professional sport, will never account to any sustained much until and unless those who such sport administrate realize that it's all about money, therefore it has to be run as a serious business would be: for profit...not for sport.

The instant such realization upon them dawns, then shall burgeon the required closing of the ranks, the assiduous focus on developing a quality product, the serious committal to research and development, the awakening to the understanding that the game stays as players come and go (therefore, no one player may hold it to ransom, for, if any is permitted so to do, the instant they retire, the game goes into tailspin), the defenestration of tokenism (whether in selection of administrators or players); in short, at last would be had the right answer to the CLR Jamesian conundrum: "What do they know of (sport) who only (sport) know?" Which is, "Success at sport is no sport, but serious business!"

Peace out!

Finding Max.

As Clevon Raphael reminds all in his today's Trinidad Guardian Commentary, nobody seems to know where President George Maxwell Richards is, even though, recently, from him some word --obfuscating word-- was had. (http://guardian.co.tt/commentary/columnist/2009/05/20/won-t-do-mr-president)

Public officials regularly adopt any available smokescreen behind which to hide from view of a public that's intent on knowing everything of their every move and intent --sometimes they are sitting right at their desk, twiddling thumbs, tongues, or some other t-initialled anatomical part, yet would have their minions tell the public or media that wishes to meet with them on some official business, "Oh! He's in a meeting, so he can't see you now/can't take your call now!"

Well! The problem of not knowing where such public officials at any given moment are, can be easily remedied if one of these babies to their ankles were affixed:

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/annual/0304/images/Ankle_bracelet.jpg

Thus is the hereby recommendation.

The criminals, too, are beach-goers!

Trinidad Newsday rotates that, "POLICE are warning Quinam beach-goers that they must leave the area before nightfall or risk being attacked by armed bandits." ("Leave Quinam beach early", by Felicia Rampersad, Trinidad & Tobago Newsday May 18th 2009).

People go to the beach for different purposes --some to sunbathe, others to fish, most to soak in the salt, a few to lifeguard, some for romance.

In the light of the Newsday-reported police's amazing response, it's this writer's wry wish that the criminals would heed and leave, as they, too, obviously, are beach-goers, albeit not for the same purpose of their prospective victims.

What Max swore to do, then didn't do.

Thanks to the on-again-off-again web link to the Ministry of Legal Affairs library of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, in order to get the correct quote for this piece, I had to resort to my copy of the constitution that the Trinidad Express freely supplied on January 28, 2001, when another presidentially-caused crisis yet reeked. Here goes!

First on Tuesday March 17, 2003, before Satnarine Sharma, then, again, on Monday March 17, 2008, before Ivor Archie, George Maxwell Richards, T.C., C.M.T., stood and, without blemish, swore the following oath:

I, George Maxwell Richards, do swear by The Holy Bible that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Trinidad and Tobago and, to the best of my ability, preserve and defend the Constitution and the law, that I will conscientiously and impartially discharge the functions of President and will devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. (First Schedule: Trinidad and Tobago Constitution)

It is therefore, against such backdrop that his every action --and the intent of every such action-- as President of Trinidad and Tobago is to be and must be measured. It's a point even moreso made as the President is required to swear as above before entering upon presidential office.

Lest one may wish to excuse his major and inexcusable faux pas with the Integrity Commission he seemingly foolishly/cavalierly appointed, thus dismiss the crescendoing calls for him to resign by claiming that his ability officially to discern the true background of prospective appointees is limited, may I also, hereby, refresh the readers' minds that George Maxwell Richards is no ordinary man --indeed, no President ought to be-- for he:

1. was an outstanding student of Queen's Royal College;
2. holds a BEng. and MEng. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester (one of the top-thirty universities in the world);
3. holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge (consistently, one of the top-five universities in the world);
4. was Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of the West Indies (the premier tertiary learning institution in our neck of the woods);
5. was Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of the West Indies;
6. was Deputy Principal of the said University, then, Acting Principal, then, in 1985, was elevated to the position, which he held till retirement in 1996, whereupon he resumed as a Professor up to the instant he was plucked from the post to be made President of Trinidad and Tobago.

Given his academic qualifications, one would have expected President Richards to know much of Chemistry, hence how deftly to choose, then blend, the right, though diverse, elements to make a proper composition; and that his such skills would not be confined to laboratory work, for clearly the man is blessed with an acutely analytical and investigative mind.

Sadly, history has taught that many illustrious persons attain their loftiness through bogus means, such as having others write their university exam papers or, shriek!, through downright and boldfaced plagiarism. Thomas I am --by paternally-inherited slave-name entitlement-- therefore I doubt such is the case with our President. Yet, the recent event to which this letter alludes makes even such doubts worthy of doubt.

The upshot is that, once more, I join with those who've called for President George Maxwell Richards to prove his mettle by resigning --unless it's his intention to rely on his dear wife's abilities to anodyne us into acceptance of what he swore to do, then didn't do? Dr. Jean Ramjohn-Richards is, after all, a qualified anesthesiologist.

Max must pay!

Given the impending perilous state of Trinbago's economy, it's necessary that stringent penny-pinching measures urgently be implemented and scrupulously maintained.

Therefore, every penny that, from The Public Purse, went or goes towards paying for the accoutrements related to the recent Integrity Commission 2K9 folly, must be fully reimbursed by the one responsible: He Who Holds Maximum Office.

And, if He Who Holds Maximum Office balks or throws a fit, then His emolument package must be garnishéed to the max: to ensure such reimbursement.

Between the lines!

From the Trinidad Express, May 15th 2009:

"...A database will also be established to keep a better track of scholars and scholarships awarded, Swaratsingh said."

Between the lines! Many who have benefitted from such scholarships have neither returned to work for the public service nor repaid the monies advanced --conditions subsequent to the awards-- and never will, because they know the Ministry cannot locate them.

Yet, a foreigner prepared his speech.

Hmm!

"Our priority, as the primary health care provider, as we seek to offset shortages, is to local professionals, specialist medical officers or nurses," (Minister of Health, Jerry Narace,) said, in response to statements made by critics who felt that the ministry was not acting in the best interest of local medical professionals by employing foreigners. (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161477353)

Yet, a foreigner, Dr. Theomary Karamanis, prepared and oversaw his speech.

Quote of the Millennium.

Attorney-at-Law, Ernest Koylass, during a recent vibrant cross-examination of Housing Minister, Emily Dick-Forde, most beautifully summarized why the Manning-led PNM administration is so out of touch with reality, that even its own base is chafing at the bits:

"...And at one stage Dick-Forde said: ' ... I don't understand your questions. I think we are probably from two different planets.'

'I am from Earth!' Koylass shot back." (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161477387)

Well done, Ernest, well done!

2009 local political landscape?

Hmm! Maybe Robert Louis Stevenson intended to portend the 2009 political climate of Trinidad and Tobago with this?

FIFTEEN MEN ON A DEAD MAN'S CHEST!

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike
The bosun brained with a marlinspike
And cookey's throat was marked belike
It had been gripped by fingers ten;
And there they lay, all good dead men
Like break o'day in a boozing ken
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of the whole ship's list
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
The skipper lay with his nob in gore
Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore
And the scullion he was stabbed times four
And there they lay, and the soggy skies
Dripped down in up-staring eyes
In murk sunset and foul sunrise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ten of the crew had the murder mark!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers' glut with a rotting red
And there they lay, aye, damn my eyes
Looking up at paradise
All souls bound just contrawise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of 'em good and true
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ev'ry man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
There was chest on chest of Spanish gold
With a ton of plate in the middle hold
And the cabins riot of stuff untold,
And they lay there that took the plum
With sightless glare and their lips struck dumb
While we shared all by the rule of thumb,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

More was seen through a sternlight screen
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Chartings undoubt where a woman had been
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
'Twas a flimsy shift on a bunker cot
With a dirk slit sheer through the bosom spot
And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot
Oh was she wench or some shudderin' maid
That dared the knife and took the blade
By God! she had stuff for a plucky jade
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight
With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight
And we heaved 'em over and out of sight,
With a Yo-Heave-Ho! and a fare-you-well
And a sudden plunge in the sullen swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

The Naked King, revisited.

The king who publicly paraded in his birthday suit before a fanatic crowd --till a solitary childish voice of wisdom brought him to his senses-- only so did because his sycophantic courtesans went along with his hare-brained notion that he was properly dressed for the occasion. Only sheep embrace, then follow, a leader without proper and constant assessment and evaluation of he/she who looks to entice them.

Yours truly is a kid, yes, but that does not mean he's a sheep; and because he's no sheep, he cannot be fleeced, especially when it comes to his deciding with whom he must stand on any issue of local, national, or international, import.

In all sincerity, then, he raises his kid's voice to declare that the king is naked, naked to the bone, hence needs quickly to be covered. If true democracy exists, she will see to it that if the nudist resists being thus covered, then he will be stripped of his title and replaced by one suited to lead along her principles.

Integrity fiasco sequitur.

The last of the commission's members having resigned, all whom --acting otherwise than under the advice of someone else-- the President Maxwell Richards elsewhere appointed, needs, too, must resign, for the Integrity Commission fiasco calls their appointments into serious question.

Vision 2020 demands rough treatment for all who made off with CLICO's million$.

The New York Times of May 13, 2009, reports that those who withdrew their money from the various companies run by Bernie Madoff during the year leading up to his arrest, are now being hunted down by US Federal authorities to have them return every penny --a pretty penny, over U$6 billion-- else face the dire consequences; indeed, lawsuits have already been filed against some of them by the federally-appointed trustee, Irving H. Picard of the internationally-famous US law firm, Baker & Hostetler. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/business/13madoff.html?_r=1&hp)

Locally, the same attitude must be taken towards all who made off with their millions: in the run up to CLICO's mega-billion bailout with our, the people's, money; to do otherwise is to fly in the face of the Vision 2020 thingy.

Dailies missed a hyphen?

The media has reported that Trinbago Law Association President, Martin Daly, asked Trinbago President, George Maxwell Richards, to resign. (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161475747)

Did they mean "resign", like in, "leave office"? Or, is a hyphen missing --meaning that what Daly really said was "re-sign", like in affixing a more stable sign than the Coat-of-Arms to the badge-board of President House? For only a jackass would have done what Max did.

Look to Matthew for Charles.

Thus far, the following, which yours truly learnt by heart, back in his days at St. Mary's College, has proven to be the most efficacious deterrent/antidote for the vitriol hurled at him by the very zealous supporters of the goodly curate who resigned having found unfit to be cloaked in integrity:

1 THEN Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, 2 saying "The scribes and the Pharisees have sat upon the chair of Moses. 3 All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say and do not. 4 For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. 5 And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge their fringes. 6 And they love the first places at feasts and the first chairs in the synagogues, 7 And salutations in the market place and to be called by men, 'Rabbi!' 8 But be not you called, 'Rabbi!' For One is Your Master; and all you are brethren. 9 And call none your father upon earth; for One is Your Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters; for One is Your Master --Christ. 11 He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

13 But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! 14 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers! For this you shall receive the greater judgment!

15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves!

16 Woe to you blind guides, that say, 'Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor.' 17 Ye foolish and blind! For which is greater? The gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And 'Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor.' 19 Ye blind! For which is greater? The gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it and by all things that are upon it! 21 And whosoever shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it and by him that dwelleth in it! 22 And he that sweareth by Heaven, sweareth by The Throne Of God and by Him that sitteth Thereon!

23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin and have left the weightier things of the law --judgment and mercy and faith! These things you ought to have done and not to leave those undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

25 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness! 26 Thou blind Pharisee!, First, make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean!

27 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness. 28 So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly, you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: that build the sepulchres of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the just 30 and say 'If we had been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' 31 Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers! 33 You serpents! Generation of vipers! How will you flee from the judgment of hell?

34 Therefore, behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes. And some of them you will put to death and crucify. And some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city: 35 that upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias --the son of Barachias-- whom you killed between the temple and the altar. 36 'Amen!' I say to you, 'All these things shall come upon this generation!'

37 Jerusalem. Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings and thou wouldest not? 38 Behold! Your house shall be left to you, desolate. 39 For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say, 'Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!'

(The above is the Gospel of Matthew: Chapter 23, Douay-Rheims Bible --which is one of the several used by the Roman Catholic Church.)

If I were Max...

If I were Max, I'd do the Hulsie: I'd NOT resign.

Why?

'Cause you, the people, don't care enough about the well-being of Trinidad and Tobago --all you care bout is once they don't stop the Carnival, fine! Else you, the people, would muster the irresistible collective force, then move me --an easily-movable object-- and, whomever else.

If headlines were law.

A headline's some such that's meant to grab the attention of the reader, but, more importantly, to encapsulate the essence of the subsequent script: kinda like how the Biblical Ten Commandments does it.

If headlines were law --as those Commandments are-- then kids would have to chill for two years for another thrill of visiting the Emperor Valley Zoo because of this:

Kid-friendly zoo in two years’ time (http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/05/09/kid-friendly-zoo-two-years-time)

Thank God the Sunday Guardian's editor is not Godlike!

Now, to enlarge the definition!

“The security of the state is of the utmost importance to th(e) integrity and well-being of citizens whose rights are protected by the State!” (http://www.newsday.co.tt/politics/0,99828.html)

That's what the Attorney-General, Brigid Annisette-George trumpeted in Parliament on Friday May 8th.

Between the lines!

Now, all that's needed to be done to make Trinbago a safe place, is to enlarge the definition of "citizens" to include all and not some.

Why not? Most apt.

One look at the Sunday Newsday headline of Mother's Day 2009 promptly warrants the comment, "Why not?"

For, to sum it up as Newsday did, by emblazoning:

Six Govt representatives for Blind Council

seems, indeed, most apt. (http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,99820.html)

Then, there's this!

Now that Archbishop Gilbert's come out and declared that he, too, convolutes --http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,99816.html-- perhaps one may reflect on these things:

1. With whom do Integrity Commissioners reposit their own integrity declarations?
2. Did Father Charles resign because Archbishop suddenly realized that, due to such repositions, startling inner sanctum secrets would have been exposed?

Perhaps the story about the imperial man in the mirror --this Mother's Day weekend-- may provide us an eyeopener?

Danny Montano, the Vicar of Max.

Chatting with a good friend about the strident and well-founded calls for the President Maxwell Richards, to do the honourable thing and resign over the horrendous fiasco --it's being laughed at internationally-- that upon us he visited with his Integrity Commission 2k9, the joint conclusions were that the goodly Attorney-General, Brigid Annisette-George, to those calls partly responded, when she said:

"...Under our Constitution, we have certain arrangements in place. And while His Excellency (President Maxwell Richards) is on vacation, there is someone acting as president --the President of the Senate-- and he (the Acting President) is invested with all the powers and responsibilities that go with the Office of the President..."

And that, in other words --Roman Catholics, such as Father Henry Charles, would appreciate this drift-- the President of the Senate, in such circumstances, is the Vicar of the President, meaning, whatever the former does, is binding upon the latter.

And that, therefore, let Danny Montano, the Vicar of Max, resign on Max's behalf!

Who the rass is "we"??!!!

The Trinidad Express of May 7th informs the world that Trinbagonian Prime Minister, Patrick Augustus Manning, "during a media briefing at the site of the US$60 million Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain, after he toured the facility", when asked whether President Max Richards consulted him before the now-known-to-be-foolish appointments to the Integrity Commission, responded as follows:

"We were consulted on the matter and we expressed our view." (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161474245)

Who the rass is "we"? Does the Prime Minister think he's King of Trinbago or something? What the ....??!!

Scratcherman Max!

A scratcherman's roles is most important in any steel orchestra --he maintains a most vibrant and rasping tempo for the ensemble to follow.

Sometimes, though, the scratcherman gets carried away by his exuberance and makes a spectacle of himself because of his antics, as occurred in Expo '67, when Courtenay Leiba fell off the stage and into the St. Lawrence River --much to the amusement of the watching world, he waded back to shore without missing a beat --thence onto to international fame.

Seems like the current scenario's the case and it's a case which caused yours truly nearly to fall off his chair --such was his rollicking laughter-- especially on reading of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday's suggestion that the President, Maxwell Richards, appoint a new Integrity Commission from scratch.

However, all unbalance and jollity quickly halted on realizing that the appointment of an Integrity Commission was no Trade Show --though, now, it looks like a circus-- and that, even if it were, the good President Max is not of Courtenay's class, since, from all evidence, he must have scratched the surface, not below, to come up with the zealous batch he hatched --at least two of them, so far, have been rather unceremoniously dispatched from the list to which they were, by him, attached, after it was discovered that there'd been some major mismatch.

Time for a new scratcherman, then, as this one's so maxed out that he's yet stuck in the water.

Sentenced by their own sentence.

Opening shot:
That all fears of the irrelevancy of everything the Manning administration does are well-founded must be had in this one sentence --highlights inserted for soon-to-be obvious reasons-- whereby the Integrity Commission 2k9 (IC2k9) has sentenced itself to trash can confinement:

“We requested the legal advice even though the language is clear as we felt that we needed to be advised by someone who was not on the Commission,” (http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/05/04/mcfarlane-steps-asidefor-now)

Cocktail of reasons and conclusions:

Re: "...even though the language is clear...":

If the members of the IC2k9 cannot decipher what's perspicuously written in the Constitution --and which was so timely pointed out by the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar(the Trinidad media links to it seem to have been disappeared from the internet, almost as if, suddenly, there's a concerted effort to sanitize the news to diminish the poor light in which the Manning administration, with good reason, is being portrayed)-- then they are a bunch of illiterates and innumerates hence will forever understand nothing of anything they're required to do, especially complicated returns submitted by persons required to file such returns pursuant to the Integrity Act.

Re: "...we felt...":

Felt??!!! That's how they intend to operate, if given the chance? According to their feelings, not what's clearly prescribed by law? As Snagglepuss would put it, "Heavens to Murgatroyd! While they're at it, let them feel for the exit!"

Re: "...be advised by someone who was not on the Commission...":

What? To tell them that, yes! A is for avocado and B is for bullheadedness??? Furthermore, the not-on-the-Commission source of advice --attorney Christopher Hamel-Smith-- is personally-known not to offer any of his advice at any fee less than TT$500,000.00!!!! Taxpayers, therefore are being made to pay --yet again-- for the what emits from the naked asininity of those who are ensconced above them.

Solution:
Simple, really and just one: Father Charles and his already-truncated team must concede they're not up to the task and leave, before...

Maximum blindness to looming IC2k9 iceberg.

May Allah forgive me if I am wrong about this, for my intention is to warn, not to disparage!

Having earlier commented that the every word --and action-- of the recently-appointed Integrity Commission 2k9 (IC2k9) cannot be trusted, a good friend reminded that the new IC2k9 Chairman, Roman Catholic priest Father Henry Charles, would have, prior to taking his latest Oath of Secrecy, also taken another --one of more dire import to him: the one which relates to his sacerdotal performance as a confessor.

For, because of such oath, there has long been established the traditions that:

1. upon hearing any confession, the cleric would prescribe how the transgression must be expiated; and that,
2. once atonement's made as prescribed, the miscreant --in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church-- is good to go; and that
3. no Roman Catholic priest can divulge, or be forced to divulge, anything said to him by way of confession in the Confession Box...even if the sin thus disclosed relates to murder, rape, adultery, kidnapping, or, especially --given the instant context-- ex pera publicus fraudans (stealing taxpayers' money).

The third tradition is also legally-binding and unchallengeable in the secular world.

One of the main ramifications of the foregoing customs is that no priest may, under any circumstance, hold in mind what's been wiped clean against any properly-contrite Catholic. And priests, as all know, fear God rather than flesh.

Now! While, as before-stated, Father Henry may be debarred from disclosing what was said to him by way of confession, there is nothing in Heaven or on Earth to prevent him from acknowledging that, "Yes! I admit! So-and-so did come before me (not impostant to remember which date) in the Confession Box."

In the instant issue, that's all that we, the people, want/need to know.

Ergo, hereby, on their behalf, a request is urgently made that we, the people, must be informed, post-haste, whether the new Chairman --Roman Catholic priest-- in his sacerdotal capacity, has ever taken confession from Professor Ken Julien and or suchlike devout Roman Catholics, thence for reasonable conclusions to be drawn.

Not me and CDAP!!!

On a recent visit to my doctor re a recurring knee problem, he said he would prescribe for me some medication which was available via the Chronic Disease Assistance Programme (CDAP).

On him thus informing me, I shouted, "Whaaaat!!??? Doc! Like you gone mad??!!! I doh want no CDAP medicine! I go buy my own!!"

Taken aback, he replied, "Why, Richard?"

After my detailed explanation, he tore up the CDAP form and began scribbling on his prescription pad.

In case you're wondering what tale to the goodly doctor I spun, here it is:

PNM government administrations are on record as confessing that it uses the surveillance arms of the State to macco those whom it quixotically perceives to be its enemies: remember how --of all personages-- the Prime Minister himself, boasted in Parliament that he has been keeping tabs on both Kamla and Rowley and, thus, knows their every movement? Remember, too, how, in a previous incarnation --when it really had a Father of The Nation-- a PNM administration went to Parliament and made public the sacrosanct, private, medical records of a BWIA pilot --Captain Malcolm Hernandez-- just to belittle a trade union of pilots that it considered to be a giant threat?
Well! Guess to whom goes the CDAP form for payment to the dispensing pharmacy to be processed --the same form which has the detailed medical information on the patient to whom those CDAP drugs were issued? Aha! You didn't realize that, did you?

Like I said, the goodly doctor tore up the CDAP form and, instead, issued me a private prescription.

Deadend future for Integrity Commission.

On reflecting over Justice Zainool Hosein's spitting out the coffee --it was lukewarm, not hot as promised (http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,99504.html)-- only one conclusion is to be had: if the word of the appointer cannot be trusted, how, then, may be the actions and words of the appointees? Perhaps an interchange would help?

How to file the new Integrity Return.

Now that a Roman-Catholic priest's at the helm, does it mean that errant officials must first dress themselves in sackcloth and ashes, then approach the Integrity Commission on bended knee, intoning, "Bless me, father, for I have sinned!"?

Buh whuh cross is dis?

Intriguing that, mere hours after the stinging Privy-Council rebuke --that the Trinity Cross, by its nature offends the sensibilities of non-Christian Trinbagonians-- the powers-that-be would see fit to put a Roman Catholic priest to head the body that decides who has integrity or not? (http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/05/01/integrity-member-quits)

In any event, the appointment of Father Henry Charles tends to suggest that the separation of Church and State concept is now a thing of the past.

Parsanlal's warped preference.

I was in the Red House parliament chamber that blackest of February Fridays in the year 2009, when, during the tea break, the Minister of Information, Neil Parsanlal, was loudly and publicly berated by a parliamentary colleague over his personal sexual preferences.

An incident like that certainly warranted a swift plea by the beratee to the Speaker --that the berator be hauled before the Privileges Committee-- for, in my view, whether the beratee indeed lives his life the berator-highlighted way or not, the berator's rough-mannered display then, certainly brought low the House of Representatives that day.

But the beratee sheepishly let the berator --a man-- get away with murder.

How odd, now, of that same beratee to haul the indefatigable Siparia MP, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, before the Privileges Committee for "lying to the House" while she was ealier expressing concern over the President's lethargy in appointing a constitutionally-required Integrity Commission, she, a woman?

Perhaps the berator was right: that the beratee regards men more fondly than he does women? If so, the beratee's assault against Kamla most assuredly will come to naught.

More from the ignoRANTer!

Whitehouse joins Facebook, Twitter, MySpace. Whappen to we, we who have Cuban-corrected 20-20 vision, eh?

In the President's last Weekly Address, he called on government to "recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking." He added that "we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative," and pledged to "reach beyond the halls of government" to engage the public.

Read the whole story: whitehouse.gov