Thinking through things.

The fact that, in Trinidad and Tobago, there are so few verifiable incidences of police officers being shot at, wounded, or killed by gun-wielding criminals, when reviewed against the background of the high percentage of murders allegedly committed by such criminals ---"allegedly", because most of them are never identified, thus never apprehended--- tends to suggest that the police officers themselves are involved in many of the murders where a firearm is the weapon used.

To what end, a political career?

As far as I recall, or know, only one politician has ever demitted office his/her popularity intact. That person is Rohilala Mandela. With odds against so heavily stacked, to what end, then, the pursuit of a political career?

The UNC leadership: The Final Arbiter.

Of the United States of America (USA), the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is one of the two main political parties. Of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), so, too, is the United National Congress (UNC).

Now! When the DNC wishes to choose the one of its membership to lead its charge to that country's highest political office, despite that the overwhelming wish of such membership's majority is for a particular individual, a backroom posse of wheelers and dealers known as "the Superdelegates", hold such clout that they can buck the overtly-declared mass will and instead install a loser, despised, or non-runner as The Chosen One.

Apparently, with the UNC a similar situation exists?

Else, who can stop Kamla Persad-Bissessar from being The UNC's Next Generation's One?

Bois bandé blueprinting.

Bois Bandé [pronounced: "bwah banday"] is the local name for the bark of Yohimbe tree.

Bois Bandé is used temporarily to vivify a certain non-functional part of the otherwise male homo erectus, with the emphasis on "temporary". A chip of the bark is boiled and the potion drunk, in the run-up to some exciting event, to reduce frigidity and induce rigidity. Thing is, though, the user must use the right quantity ---too little produces no beneficial effect; too much: unyielding rigor, then, mortis of the part.

On the whole, even those who normally wouldn't would agree with me would concur that the government policies we've been witnessing in Trinidad and Tobago over the past eight years are akin to Bois Bandé when improperly used, for our standing in the world is now poorer than it was back in 2001.

Me? I've never used Bois Bandé...as far as I'm aware.

Happiness only is what I wish for you this Holiday Season!

Where to, Mr. Browne?

Re: http://www.newsday.co.tt/business/0,112840.html

According to the Trinidad Newsday's captioned article, "TRADE and Industry Minister Mariano Browne has said that the financial accounts of State-owned Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) have not yet been released, “because there is no reason to”."

All's well that ends well. Minister Browne's statement did not end well ---he committed the no-no of rounding off his sentence with a preposition. Therefore, I'm afraid, all does not sit well with Caribbean Airlines. Time shall tell what we, the people, shall do of that situation.

The pig walks with his back-in-the-canal behaviour whither he wanders.

Re: http://www.newsday.co.tt/politics/0,112976.html

According to the Trinidad Newsday's captioned report, the "MINISTER of Legal Affairs, Peter Taylor, yesterday (December 21st Monday) claimed (that) persons in this country no longer live in “tenements” or “barracks”, as he argued that the old regime of property tax was a colonial anachronism in urgent need of reform."

Temporarily forgetting about the living conditions of the tousahns (sic) of foreign-used Chinese workers and about the government's high-rise, high-density, housing projects ---such as in Maloney, Morvant, Pleasantville and, now, Oropune---, Minister Taylor needs to explain why it is that so many parliamentarians behave as if they still do.

The pig walks with his back-in-the-canal behaviour whither he wanders.

Politically-motivated popular protests.

Re: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161572256

Methinks the puerile protests of the Imbertile, Colm ---as to the motive of popular protests--- are politically-motivated. Merry Christmas!

Fire Philbert forthwith!

Re: http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/12/16/philbert-apologises-panmen

James Philbert's acting career must be immediately brought to an end!

How dare he apologize to panmen for pre-Independence police action against them?

Back in those days, it was against the law to beat pan!

All the police, then, were doing was their job!

Their job was, as it still is, not to make law, but to uphold it!

And, back then, uphold it they did, for every manjack/womanjenny set about his/her assignment with a zeal that's completely missing from the present police corps.

If Philbert want to earn our kudos, let him galvanize his underlings to resort to the lofty policing standards of yore!

My God! How Daddy and his many deceased colleagues must be turning in their graves at this gravest of insult from one who's destined to remain a mere pretender to the top-cop throne!

Fire Philbert forthwith! Else, the next thing he'd do is apologize to the hapless drug addicts for locking them up even as he continues to permit their suppliers to prowl scot-free!

Sorry Kamla, but it's the Chinese who've taken over, not you!

When Christopher Columbus set sail, legend has it that he was seeking a new route to the Orient. The end result of his epic voyages led to the renaming of every place of antiquity in what, to him and his kind, was a new world.

Lately, having at long last hearkened to the pleas of many within and without the UNC for her to be similarly Columbian in her strategies, Kamla Persad-Bissessar finally decided to re-orient and seek what, before, she was arbitrarily denied. So it was that Raul and I went to Kamla's official launch down in Chase Village, Chaguanas...a most appropriately-named place to begin her hunt for long-overdue glory.


It was on the night of Monday December 14th 2009. The traffic from the ramp to Chase Village Overpass right up to Dereck Road Junction was chock-a-block. But, eventually, we arrived.

What greeted us also surprised. The atmosphere was charged with electric excitement. And warm, though Mother Nature normally purposes such times of the 24-hr cycle to be cool.

But the warmth was not of ambient temperature, rather of a people come together in unison.

So it was a welcome warmth.

The size of the gathering was stupendous, given the nature and timing of the event. And, as with such crowds, the hawkers were there in full cry. Some strolled through the dense crowd their heavy burdens over their shoulders draped. I guess that made them nicely merge with the audience.

One, the Regular Nutsman from Diego, offered merely "salt" and "fresh".

Another, a Bobo Shanti, possessed a more versatile range. His platter included cashew and pistache.

A Indo-Trinbagonian woman from the neighbourhood offered "sweet drinks", channa, sweets, mangoes too!

Yes! Mangoes! Perhaps she thought there were some suckers in the throng.

There weren't. So, that night, as Kamla was serenaded in lyrics from several youth and from the evergreen Hazel Brown, too, not a mango was sold, despite many seeing them on display.

But, the person who really caught my ongoing eye was the Indo-Trinbagonian chap who casually weaved to and fro with a homemade placard held on high that simply said:

I couldn't help but pondering how, with a bit of tweaking, his hand-crafted words would've done a greater job of describing life in Trinidad these recent years.

Why? How?

Well, you see, in every nook, every cranny too, overnight there seems to have mushroomed thousands of Chinese-owned businesses. I'm speaking of Chinese who just arrived from China, okay? So much so that, to me, some parts of our country need now to be re-oriented, like was done after Columbus came. For instance:

I sort of spoke of this before this, remember? [http://kid5rivers.blogspot.com/search?q=Chinese]

Now, let the conversation begin in earnest!

The alternative to recent baleezay-crowd profligacy.

Councillor Khadijah Ameen threatened!

The news spread like cane fires once did in the area, as the ultimate Ramjack meeting progressed on the night of Thursday December 10th, at the Spring Village Community Centre, in St. Augustine South.

What started as hushed whispers quickly crescendoed as the buzz swept the huge audience ---that, Khadijah Ameen, the local government representative for the district in which the meeting was held would neither appear nor speak on the platform that night, though she was heavily advertised to do.

But the crowd's excitement was not over its concluding Councillor Ameen had gotten cold feet, rather that she was staying away out of abundant precaution, having been threatened earlier in the afternoon by an unknown phone caller who swore she would never see her three-year-old son again, if she did attend.

Councillor Khadijah Ameen

Local Government Representative

Valsayn South/Carapo

Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation

It's incomprehensible that anyone would stoop so low as to pull such a stunt, especially against a representative as beloved by her constituents as she is. Nonetheless, the assemblage understood ---they were as stunned as they were disappointed--- and they empathized, for, in such situations, sometimes it's better to exercise extreme caution, till the true nature and source of such dastardly action can be ferreted out from their cloak of anonymity.

Several of her constituents telephoned me to voice their rage at such a turn of events and express their solidarity with their young representative who, of late, has come under attack from some party quarters for "ineffective representation", a charge vehemently denied by every one of her constituents to whom I've spoken of the accusation. Their rage punched through their agitated responses to this latest attack against her. And through the ominousness of their vows to stand by her even more than before.

Efforts to reach Councillor Khadijah Ameen for a comment were unsuccessful, as family members have circled wagons while gauging their response to this latest sad turn of events in Trinbago's political landscape. One may just imagine their consternation over the situation.

It's expected that a formal complaint would be made to the police.

Question! Is the Prime Minister suffering from dementia?

I pondered long and hard before deciding to write this, so, forgive me lest I be thought jesting of something most unfortunate and serious, okay? Here goes!

Question! Is the Prime Minister suffering from dementia?

From the medical information website, WebMD [http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/tc/dementia-symptoms] one learns that symptoms of dementia vary, depending on the cause and the area of the brain that is affected.

Memory loss is usually the earliest and most noticeable symptom.

Where's the proof of memory loss, in Manning's case? Well, after perusal of the lists of recipients beneficiaries of the Culture Ministry's scholarships, the vast majority of persons who voted for him may safely pronounce themselves forgotten of him.

WebMD further details other key symptoms of dementia, which, in Manning's case, include:

• Having difficulty recalling recent events. The Proof? Up to now, the Prime Minister cannot explain who, in truth, told him money was missing from the Cleaver Heights project.

• Not recognizing familiar people and places. The proof? Ask Ken Valley. Ask Muriel Donawa-Mc Davidson, too, if she were still alive [even in eulogizing her he couldn't help but utter ungracious remarks of this most remarkable PNM stalwart...no wonder she and he parted company.]

• Having trouble finding the right words to express thoughts or name objects. The proof? What was for eons known as the Prime Minister's Residence, is now The Diplomatic Centre and Outdoor Stage at La Fantasie.

• Having difficulty performing calculations. The proof? See how, every time, we get a different figure regarding how much was spent on the Summit of the Americas, the Brian Lara Stadium, the Waterfront Project, Gary Hunt's flag, or on his own palatial residence.

• Having problems planning and carrying out tasks, such as following a recipe, or writing a letter. The proof? The Prime Minister has, long time ago, defenestrated the PNM's 2007 manifesto promises; also, there are his infamous letters to now-retired Chief Justice Sat Sharma and to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission vetoing Carla Brown-Antoine's acting appointment as DPP after she had already assumed the post.

• Having trouble exercising judgment, such as knowing what to do in an emergency. The proof? Whenever his heart skips a beat, or eyes start to hurt, or some other health concern, he dashes off to far-off Cuba, rather than, like the rest of us mere mortals, to the nearest Health Centre or hospital.

• Having difficulty controlling moods or behaviors ---Remember how he reacted when, under his barber's razor, he heard some off-the-cuff comment by an Abercromby Street  raido announcer? And,
  

• Not keeping up personal care such as grooming or bathing. ---Guess you'd need to ask those very, very close to him of that, not me!

So! Wuzzay yall? Is he, or, isn't he? Hint: Adopt the RES IPSA LOQUITOR course!

UPDATED: 1:05pm:

On the 16th November 2008, Peter O'Connor essentially raised the same question, in his Sunday Newsday commentaryy column [http://www.newsday.co.tt/commentary/0,89996.html].

Costly cost-cutting campaign.

RE: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161568014

Despite his pathetic record ---the murder figures since he came to the helm provide all the RES IPSA LOQUITOR needed to endorse such assessment--- James Philbert, yet again, has had his post-retirement control of the bridge extended, this time, indefinitely.

Apart from such extensions serving to frustrate the hell out of every one of his subordinates ---one, or more, of them would've, by now, served as acting or substantive Police Commissioner, had he been allowed to head off to pasture, as he deserves---  the refusal to replace him is costing us, the people, a pretty penny. I'd already commented about that [see: http://kid5rivers.blogspot.com/2009/11/true-cost-of-looking-for-police.html].

Now we're hearing that money is being spent to undertake secondary negotiations with the firm with which we'd been negotiating to get that firm to reduce the cost to us of such primary negotiations!! What utter poppycock!!!

Look! Christopher! Just appoint a new Police Commissioner and be done with it, will you? And if Manning again refuses to endorse your choice, then leave the damn post vacant and or, you and your colleagues of the Police Service Commission resign in disgust!!!

Doing that would save us much more than what this costly cost-cutting campaign already has and will.

From Alexander to Ebo.

Re: http://www.newsday.co.tt/letters/0,112205.html

Having previously written about an "A Alexander" claim to have been a beneficiary of the secret scholarships offered by the Ministry of Community Development and Culture [see: http://kid5rivers.blogspot.com/2009/12/coming-clean-yet-hiding.html], wherein I urged media editorial staff to be wary of letters coming from persons portraying themselves as "beneficiaries", I find it amazing that Trinidad Newsday would publish a Letter to The Editor purporting to have come from another such ---R Ebo--- when, in the now-in-public-domain lists, no "R Ebo" anywhere appears!

Lightning rarely twice strikes the same place. Once is a mistake, twice is a habit. Therefore, further to what, already, I've written, this new publication by the Newsday not only reinforces that, but invites new conclusions rationally to be drawn, as follows:

• The now-in-public-domain lists were redacted before release; and or
• "A Alexander" and "R Ebo" benefitted from a parallel secret scheme of the said Ministry.

Either conclusion warrants further exposure of the said Ministry's conduct in the instant matter.

Coming clean, yet hiding.

Re: http://newsday.co.tt/letters/0,112138.html

The reason why missives "to the editor" are addressed to the editor is, that they may be thoroughly vetted before decision to print is taken.

Now! The media has had in its possession a copy of the lists of recipients of the Culture Ministry's scholarships. So, one would have expected that, on receiving the captioned "letter to the editor", signed "A. Alexander", the Newsday's editorial staff would have rushed to see whether there is in fact an "A Alexander" amongst those named on those lists and what university the listed "A Alexander" attended to pursue what course of study on our, the people's money, ent?

Having access to such a list, then seeing "A Alexander" writing to complain how 'ashamed, annoyed and disgruntled that Sen Wade Mark...would make the foolish remark that “only PNM supporters and friends knew about this.” ', I decided to do what the Newsday editor didn't and, guess what? "A Alexander" seems to be hiding, though attempting to come clean.

First off, the time lines "A Alexander" establishes don't add up: see here [the highlights are mine]:

I...started my tertiary education in September 2003 in the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic University of the West Indies with limited financial resources...

After completion of my first year of studies and during the summer vacation, I along with another colleague from the group, decided to research some of the mentioned institutions that offer scholarships or bursaries...

I was also subjected to a means test and had to be interviewed for further consideration before I received any grant. I eventually received the grant/bursary for my second year of studies and had to go through the entire process if I were to receive subsequent grants/bursaries. I applied again for the grant/bursary in my final year of studies and was successful in attaining such.

They don't add up because there are only two names that match that of "A Alexander" on the released lists, both appearing the same year ---2007--- and for courses pursued at foreign universities, not local or regional ones ---"A Alexander" handily suggests that it was at UWI, St Augustine, "A Alexander" was studying, nowhere else.

Moreover, if "A Alexander" began studies in September 2003, then, by September 2007 Ministry of Culture Financial Year, such course of study would have long been completed. Hence, it would have been impossible for "A Alexander", then, to apply for the grant

In other words, again, "A Alexander" is hiding, yet pretending to come clean!

The best I can make of it is that "A Alexander" is a PNM stooge, attempting to do what stooges do: cover crap deposited by their overlords. "A Alexander" made that plain by penning the epilogue this way:

Nowhere in the entire process was I asked for my political affiliation or told that I would have to work for the Government or the PNM. Why do politicians always have to bring it down to race, politics and even religion? Is this what our society has really come to?

Apart from the abhorrent faux pas of ending with a preposition, that amazing, parting shot opens a whole new can of worms, of which, time not now permitting, on another occasion, God willing, I shall treat...in depth.

Meantime, where parting shots are concerned, this truncated one, only, be mine:

"...And may God bless our nation!"

So! You is ah PNM-till-yuh-dead?

"Democracy, finally, rests on a higher power than Parliament. It rests on an informed and cultivated and alert public opinion. The Members of Parliament are only representatives of the citizens. They cannot represent apathy and indifference. They can play the part allotted to them only if they represent intelligence and public spiritedness."

[Excerpt from Dr. Eric Eustace Williams' speech on the first day of Trinidad and Tobago’s independence from Great Britain: August 31, 1962.]

So! You is ah PNM-till-yuh-dead? Well! Tell me again if allyuh party still holding to its true course, or, if who now manning it done take it so far astray that it become irrelevant to we needs?

Eureka!

For years I, like many others, have been twisting and turning, trying to figure out why we can't shake loose of the political parties and leaders that bullrag us, going and coming. Well, I have news for you: the search is over! Eureka! The answer is that the overwhelming majority of us ---the silent majority--- suffer from Battered Woman Syndrome!

Have a look at this litany and see if you don't agree with me:

To help identify domestic violence, the following indicators are listed. Any single characteristic is not a sign of trouble, but several combined would be grounds for further investigation:

The battered woman:

• shows guilt, ambivalence, and fear over living conditions.
• feels isolated and untrusting of others, even though she may be involved in the community.
• is emotionally and economically dependent.
• has a poor self-concept (this may not have been true BEFORE the relationship).
• has observed other women in her family being abused or may have been abused as a child.
• feels angry, embarrassed, and ashamed.
• is fearful of being insane.
• has learned to feel helpless and feels powerless.
• has unexplained injuries that may go untreated.

Now that eureka, you know what we must do.

Where was the Auditor-General (AuGen) in all this?

As furore continues to swirl regarding the Community Development Ministry's yes-they-are, no-they-aren't scholarships, one nagging concern yet bothers me, even to the extent of my complete stumping. And, that is:

Where was the Auditor-General (AuGen) in all this?

In a masterful piece ---What? It is a masterful piece!--- written and published in my blog on April 10th 2009 (Good Friday), I'd highlighted what unfettered power and solemn duty the AuGen had "annually to audit and publicly report on public expenditure matters". [See: The Voice of One Crying in The Wilderness at: http://kid5rivers.blogspot.com/2009/04/voice-of-one-crying-in-wilderness.html].

[At that time, the pot on the fire was smouldering with news that the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank had surreptitiously taken some TT$300 million of our, the people's money and given away to the bailing out of British-American Insurance operations in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union countries.]

For those who came in late and for those who, despite the incessantly-towering pile of damning evidence of corruption, mismanagement and downright malicious conduct of this present government administration, yet endorse it, the AuGen's office, in discharging its duties, is constitutionally-protected from interference by other public offices, as was pointed out in my Good Friday alarum:

It's worth noting, the Auditor-General is bounden (by Trinbago's Constitution) annually to audit and publicly report on public expenditure matters and, in the exercise of those powers, is not bounden by any constraints from anyone. (http://rgd.legalaffairs.gov.tt/Laws/The%20Constitution%20folder/The%20Constitution.htm#sec116)

We, the people, now seriously need to question whether the AuGen's office has been compromised, for, on reviewing the AuGen's Annual Reports for the years 2003 through 2007, nothing at all was in any of them mentioned of the disbursement of these Ministry of Community Development Scholarships! Nothing!

This despite, from mere layman, mere cursory inspection of the lists made public (big up to Devant Maharaj and ITEC!) it's clear that some of the recipients were of the obscenely well-heeled of Trinbago society! [See: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,112054.html]

This despite, too, that several "recipients" have since gone public with news that they never received a cent from the Ministry! [See: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,112054.html]

This despite, too, as the Community Development Minister herself admitting [and as the Toymaker first surmised] that several of the beneficiaries of the now-maligned scholarships are not ordinary, not law-abiding and not deserving citizens! [Is there another way to interpret what she said, as reported by the Trinidad Express at: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161566445?]

It is noteworthy that the AuGen's 2003 report does talk of another Ministry's lackadaisical attitude towards monies disbursed as scholarships, when, at page 167, of the Ministry of Sport and Culture's Sport and Culture Fund [established by Act No.31 of 1988] it mentions:

Amount due from beneficiary
9.13 At paragraph 6.35 of the 2002 Auditor General’s Report it was stated that
“An amount of $418,710.35 was seen to be due from a beneficiary of the Fund who was granted a scholarship by the Fund but who did not serve the stipulated period as required by the contract. It was not determined what action was taken by the Fund to recover the amount due.” The situation remained the same at the time of audit.

The same report, too, had earlier ---pages 64 and 65--- rebuked the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for glaring shortcomings in its accounting practices, such as where some TT$28.8 million had been simply given over to an unnamed State Enterprise! But, as I said, not one peep about shenanigans at the Community Development Ministry.

So! The question remains: Regarding the disbursement of the Community Development Ministry's scholarships,

Where was the Auditor-General (AuGen) in all this?

Was Minister Marlene marinated?

Having just witnessed Culture Minister Marlene Mc Donald monstrous mockery of an apology for her Ministry's making-off with our, the people's, money ---purportedly to grant scholarships to the needy in our midst--- three conclusions [and only three] are what came to me ---that this PNM régime doesn't give a shit hoot about us, the people and, that we, the people, seem not to mind, else the proliferation of opposing forces would have long since locked arms as one solid anti-PNM phalanx.

Oops! Almost forget to mention the third ---that Marlene had to have been thoroughly marinated at the time.

Is the Trinidad Newsday afraid ---like most are--- to confront the race problem? [PART II]

Having previously pointed out the ostrichness of Trinidad Newsday's Editorial team [http://trinbagorenewed.blogspot.com/2009/12/is-trinidad-newsday-afraid-like-most.html] it's now time to ask them whether they wish to revisit their editorial [http://www.newsday.co.tt/editorial/0,111875.html] in view of the explanations given by the Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs herself, as follows:

Tertiary education students who are young, poor, needy and vulnerable are the ones who are meant to receive financial assistance from the Ministry of Culture to pursue their studies. [http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161565206]

It would be churlish of the Trinidad Newsday no so to do.

A Slim Syllogism.

Re: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,111870.html

The law is an ass. The police is the limb of the law. The teacher should have hailed the policeman this way: "You are the limb of an ass!"

If!

Re: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,111810.html; and, http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161564393; and, http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161564391

If given enough time, the moment inexorably arrives when, even through the most obdurate rock, the drip-drip of mere water does bore a hole large enough for the most securely-constrained captive to escape.

For the entire almost-eight-year rule of Prime Minister Patrick Manning, he and his sycophantic régime have been treating us, the people, with nothing but disgust and disrespect. No need for me here to give any detailed example of such, other than the evidence contained in the now-in-the-public-domain lists of every who got "scholarship" grants from the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs. Mind you! The information contained in that disclosure is the very information the Manning-led government refused point-blank, to disclose to the Parliament ---the highest court in the land--- why? Because they sincerely and misguidedly believe they have to answer to none for their deeds or misdeeds!

Now! I remember ringing the public alarm bell on this more than two years ago, after unsuccessfully trying to access one of these scholarship grants for several most-deserving relatives of mine, only to be advised by the said Ministry, when they discovered who I was, that they'll get back to me. They never did, needless to say.

If we were an enlightened population, or, at least, one wishing to be enlightened of the baleezay burden, we'd at once coalesce to concentrate our scattered drip-drips of frustration, then, Gdansk-stlye, force the unwelcome host from our midst. If!