Dr Orville Taylor

Alexander Brucetamante?

2011-10-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

He is given credit for starting the movement which changed the society and became a father of the nation. This man took a principled position which many saw as not benefiting him personally. He bared his chest defiantly, staking his political future, if not his life, on his bravery. Later, the administration locked him up for two years because he dared to make anti-colonial comments. Even without the benefit of WikiLeaks, it was a case of cock mouth kill cock.

After a bit of sleight of hand, he hoodwinked his opponent into calling an election at a time when he wanted, as opposed to when it suited his adversary, and became the first prime minister of independent Jamaica. Despite ill-advised concessions in the bauxite deals with the multinationals gaining inordinate control over our resources and limited gains for workers, who had propelled him into power, William Alexander Clarke, the mythological Alexander Bustamante, is canonised in the annals of our history as a hero.

Heroes are about who is writing and who has control over the machinery of ideology at the time. In simple language, history is written by the powerful. It was Latino writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez who said, "Let us hurry to write our history before the historians arrive." A similar Kenyan proverb declares, "Until the lions have their own historians, the tale of the hunt will favour the hunter."

Fast-forward to 2000 something AD when all who are reading this are nothing more than a pile of decayed bones and the school-children are researching Orette Bruce Golding, MP. By then, Dudus would have settled and Golding would have been recorded as the prime minister who 'belled' the cat, a nefarious gangster who came to prominence between the early 1990s and 2000s when Golding was either in Opposition or out of Parliament, and was ousted and extradited three years after he became prime minister. His-story might very well make Golding the hero for facing down criminals and in the wake of the departure of Christopher Coke, violent crime, which peaked under a People's National Party (PNP) Government in 2006, and dipped quicker than his credibility in 2010.

What of Tivoli dead?

And what of the 73 'martyrs' in Tivoli, who some residents claim were the victims of the indiscretionary and reckless violence of the armed forces? Which version of history will be written? Well, it was a military-police operation, and official reports, the only recorded accounts so far, clearly state that they were enemy troops or militiamen, fighting to protect Coke and his lawless empire.

Even when we look at the saga involving the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) acting improperly on behalf of the Government and engaging Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, what do we have? A prime minister who apologised to the nation, bowed to pressure to stay in office although he explicitly said that he had offered his resignation, and a year later, finally relented to his conscience. The scribes will record that the 'Driva' did the proper thing and appointed a commission of enquiry to investigate, among other things, his own possible wrongdoings. Unlike his 'frenemy' Harold Brady, who was the agent of the JLP/Government and who could have answered all the questions definitively, Golding appeared before the commission, gave testimony and suffered the humiliation of an angry, miserable cross examination.

Long after he is typified as 'pathologically mendacious' by the ultra witty and brilliant PNP jurist, K.D. Knight, unless there is a book that has it immortalised, the memory of that comment would fade and the newspaper pages will have long wrapped pungent formaldehyde-soaked fish, absorbed flood waters and made a workable substitute for bathroom tissue. All that will be in the Golding Chronicles will be the report of the commissioners. No one was guilty of any major offence.

Strange as it might sound, I bet hardly anyone knows that Bustamante would have benefited from being seen as a Spanish white man in the 1920s and '30s if he had a Spanish name instead of a mulatto one. How well-known is it that Bustamante was not a practising trade unionist, nor was he a labour leader when the uprisings in 1938 occurred? In fact, he was an officer of the Jamaica Workmen and Tradesmen Union in 1937 but was ousted by its founders A.G.S. Coombs and H.C. Buchanan, who had founded it in 1935. It is perhaps unknown to many that Bustamante offered his services as a mediator to the employers and Government and was rejected. And, after approaching the striking workers to speak to them, he was initially rebuffed with more force than a mendicant finance minister approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Take my word: It was St Willliam Grant, whose contribution as labour leader is conveniently 'parked' at Bustamante's feet, who told the masses that a repulsion of Busta meant a concomitant rejection of him. Busta did not start any labour uprising.

Resisting police

Like Bustamante, Golding left while still having more time left in his term. Busta, like Bruce, is a co-founder of a political party. The difference is that Busta was a PNP man who went to set up the JLP in 1943, while Golding is a two-time Labourite who left, was out in the blue, but returned to greener pastures.

Does anyone recall when an attempt was made by the police and military to enter Tivoli in pursuit of criminals in 2005? And where was Bruce? He stood and faced down the security forces in a fashion reminiscent of the 1938 strikes. Only recently imposed on the workers by Grant, Bustamante told the police "shoot me, but leave them alone!" Yeah, right, black policemen shooting a deputy-white elite in Jamaica in the 1930s? Not even today in 21st-century Jamrock would Offica Dibble point anything beyond his index finger at a 'brung man', much less then. Bruce read his history and he knows the legend of 'Alexander the Great'.

After becoming leader of an Edward Seaga-less JLP, he egged and taunted Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to call elections. Paying more attention to him than the polls, she waited until it was Bruce time and called it too late and the rest is ... his-story! Busta pushed his cousin to do the same, and instead of paying attention to the streets, Norman Manley kept his eyes on Busta. And in 1961, Manley, who had done all the work to secure our Independence, had to walk away a broken man as Bustamante sucked up the cake like the fat child at a birthday party. Round one, Bruce.

So, where will Bruce Golding's legacy be written? If by stepping down and letting Andrew Holness lead the JLP to victory, beating an undefeatable Portia Simpson-led PNP, what will he be seen as? He would have done what only Bustamante alone ever did - give the JLP two consecutive (contested) victories over the PNP. Bruce might be loose, but he is no fool.

Habemus Papam : The Pope is Selected

2011-10-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

As close as it was predicted he has won by more than a nose. In fact he has beaten the whole nest of candidates and the only ones who didn’t affirm his victory were the old nest. Now, unless there is an act of God or some act of the devil that he commits, Andrew Holness is going to not only going to be the next leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) but more important, he is going to be the ninth prime minister of Jamaica.
A man, born in 1972, the same year that current Prime Minister Bruce Golding took his first bite of Parliament, this youngest JLP Member of Parliament was in gestation for the first five months of Golding’s novitiate and was only eight years old when his political sire, Edward Seaga, tasted his first and only legitimate election victory, in 1980. This is an important fact because unlike his likely opponent in the next general elections, due any time before December 2012, he had nothing to do with any of the political developments which marked the 1970s and 1980s, some of the darkest days of our political life.
Indeed, the only ‘viable’ JLP obstacle standing in the way of his acclamation, Mike Henry, was not only part of that period but he has been a political icon for so long, he might have wet his feet when crossing the red sea. Holness, notwithstanding this, is not a rookie.
Entering parliament in the eighth year of Seaga’s 15-year odyssey in the political wilderness, Holness, then fresh with the stains of maternal milk on his lips, the 25 year old went on to win three elections in West Central St Andrew.
Holness presents a daunting challenge if not a leviathan for the People’s National Party (PNP). For the past two years, the portly Peter Phillips led a PNP inquiry and revelation of surreptitious dealing regarding the delayed extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. In a saga which wound like a Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie novel, the matter ended with Coke’s voluntary departure to face the music in the United States and an enquiry by a Commission, handpicked by Golding and hen pecked by PNP Attorney KD Knight and others.
In the end we knew nothing. The main protagonist, ‘Labourphile’ Harold Brady, who stated that he was contracted by the government to engage the American law firm, Mannat Phelps and Phillips, batted and blinked his eyes, stared blankly and said nothing, remaining as silent as Commissioner Anthony Irons during the inquiry. The commission found no one culpable and to date the JLP maintains that the party had engaged the firm, and the commission agreed. Significantly, Holness, like the pope, was celibate of the whole affair.
Let us not pretend, inasmuch as Holness has been in parliament for more than 14 years, and is the rising star; like the namesake contest, it is not a case of the most talented winning but the person who can amass the most votes. Call a spade a trowel and shovel the PNP into the discourse. In the run up to the 2007 elections beginning with the fight for the leadership of the PNP back in 2006, Sista P, for all her popularity, was not the preferred persona of elites within the PNP. Founded by Intellectuals and university men, including Professor MG Smith and educator Howard Cooke, the PNP hosted a bitter battle to succeed the departing PJ Patterson. Many awful things were said about Portia’s intellect and abilities by her own party and I will not repeat them here; ignorance is bliss. In the end Portia was the happy victor.
I have no evidence to think that Holness is smarter or more capable of being Prime Minister than the other would-be candidates. Mike Henry has loads of political experience and has run private enterprises and sporting clubs. Pearnel Charles, trade unionist, has more than 40 years of politics behind him, where his best days are. But he is savvy. The eloquent Bobby Montaque, who knows the rounds and has been an elected politician for more than two decades, is no chicken, although he ran afoul of the public with his strident treatment of an infirmary official two years ago.
At 59, Audley Shaw, is not yet in the valley, although he is just getting over the hill, but importantly, he is Minister of Finance. Even though he, with a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease predicted no ill effect of the global financial crisis in 2007, he is managing the economy in the most challenging times. However, without refuelling his electoral energy at a cool oasis, the polls suggest that his leadership wont make him take the labourites across the political desert.
Christopher Tufton, Dr Cassava, who did a decent job in agriculture, is a University lecturer, with loads of research. in his new portfolio of commerce and industry, he looked like a shoe-in. Having recovered from the slip of his tongue a few years ago; this genuine ‘frontrunner’ would not encourage persons to put their X beside the head this time. But he would not beat Portia in an election now.
In comes Holness. Seaga endorsed him in a wink, his face scarcely recovering from the smirk in the aftermath of Golding’s announced fugue. Picture his stand off with the Jamaica Teachers’ Association over a number of issues including the poorly thought out, and even more poorly defended appointment of Alphansus Davis as Chairman of the Teachers’ Services Commission. It took the departure of Golding and his Gorbachevesque intervention for Holness to relent from senseless petulance. And as soon as Bruce was getting loose, he was joining the Brady brunch. Such a move could only suggest that Holness was saving his brain from the political challenges of leadership.
Nevertheless, the public in several polls had indicated that of all government ministers it was felt that he was doing the best job. Boxill/RJR researchers found that he was the person the public would most prefer to lead the JLP. Hot off the press, surveys by the Gleaner’s Bill Johnson and Don Anderson, demonstrate that Portia has a mere four points on him. That is a virtual statistical dead heat.
The PNP is now caught off guard even to the point of one spokesman forgetting that PJ was in office after Portia was elected president and criticising the JLP for the same anomaly. Portia and her older passengers in her Jeep have a major hurdle in young Holness, who may very well take it home if he times the elections better than she did. If he makes belter decisions that recently, when the smoke settles the nation and not just the JLP might say, habemus papam.

Warminster's electile dysfunction

2011-04-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

“Go to hell!” well, if the downward trend continues that is where we are likely to meet the contentious, re-elected Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) parliamentarian, Everald Warmington. Let’s call a spade a shovel and admit it, St Catherine South Western is a labourite constituency right now, Warmington trounced erstwhile Peoples’ National Party (PNP) councillor Carlos Waul, who ran as an independent candidate, by almost 3,000 votes. Polling 5,891 to 2,991 votes versus a candidate who was as viable as a stone Waul, he beat him as if he had West Indies painted across his chest.

No Sex Bias

Showing no sex bias either, he knocked out children activist- cum-politician, Betty Ann Blaine, whose 177 was simply child’s play. Still not dissuaded by as many election losses as lies told at the Manatt enquiry, the ubiquitous Ras Astor Black was again in line for his customary electoral punishment. Black, with his drop in the bucket 46, got the treatment which was reminiscent of that which the 1960s JLP ordered against persons of his faith and he was mauled for daring to think that he could enter mainstream politics. Unfortunately, Christopher Irons of the Marcus Garvey People's Political Party (MGPPP), with his 60, split the Rasta vote.
For some, especially my colleagues in the women in media group, who took exception at his maltreatment of a CVM television anchor and later his behind the scenes rebuttal of her supervisor’s inquiry, it was a bad blow. Leaving an awful taste in their mouths, the JLP has not yet taken any action against him and despite protestations by this group, kept him on the slate as the candidate.

No Choice
Truthfully, the JLP might not have had much of a choice, as it would have had to find a stranger to the constituency in a ridiculously short time. Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea-and the sea is to the southernmost point of the constituency- it was a case of choosing ‘black dog fi monkey,’ although I am not quite sure which one applies here.

History in Constituency

Warmington’s involvement in the constituency and his misconduct are both long-standing and legendary. In 1980, facing the electorate for the first time, then as a Jamaican citizen I believe, he upset the PNP’s Ruddy Lawson, polling 9,727 to Lawson’s 6,088. After a hiatus which saw Lawson returning to the seat in 1989, rolling over then JLP candidate Mike Williams, the ‘Warbinger’ returned in 1993 to meet the clenched fist of Lawson, whose 7146 knocked the tongue out of his bell which rang up a respectable 5663.
With Lawson’s departure, it was a woman’s turn to ‘give him licks’ and Jennifer Edwards of the PNP took home more than 1,000 vote ahead of him. The final score sheet was 8267 to 7122. In 2002 after his second of two tries against her, it went the other way and he unseated Edwards. His 1,300-plus margin: 9,305 to her 8,091, showed how much a constituency can swing, even when the candidate is entrenched. This lesson he is yet to learn.
The results of the 2007 elections would clearly have spurred him into overconfidence and delusion of invulnerability, as ‘superman’ posted the largest margin among successful JLP candidates. More than 3,000 votes separated him from the PNP’s Dennis Jones. Scorecard 10,488 to 7,244. Obviously forgetting that his constituency has swung both ways, he perhaps believes that he or the party is so entrenched that he could even substitute his embattled colleague Garnett Reid for himself and still gain a victory. One will note that Reid polled the lowest total of any JLP candidate in 2007 and was soundly trashed by Portia Simpson Miller in St Andrew South, with 601 votes to Simpson-Miller’s 9,360.

Serial Misconduct
Since 2007, his conduct has deteriorated. After being accused by his constituents of neglecting them, just three months after his election that year, he spurned media inquiries, adding that they did not elect him. ‘Cock mout’ kill cock,’ as clearly annoyed residents expressed disgust about their representative’s reprehensible behaviour. Similar comments were directed towards Citizens’ Action for Free and Fair Elections over his intemperate remarks, “They did not employ me, so they cannot dismiss me.” Warmington had reportedly told residents of Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine that if they did not vote for the JLP, they would not receive hurricane-relief cheques. An unsigned publicly released apology did not bear his signature. However, the always truthful Prime Minister Bruce Golding affirmed that he had seen a signed copy.

Misbehaviour Again
In 2008, he struck again and declared that he does not speak with the media. So embarrassing was his conduct that the prime minister declared, “Mr Warmington is going to need considerably more speaking to.” Last year, perhaps after some self-reflection, he called Contractor Greg Christie an “overzealous idiot” because Christie had questioned his misconduct in the award of government contracts.
Then late last year, he accused the press and particularly, this newspaper of “gutterism” and having an agenda. Again apologies were not forthcoming but the party/Government (not sure who is who), distanced itself from his stance. The one lesson that seems to be learnt here is that Warmington is incorrigible, and like many who would be king, he should note that history is littered with the political corpses of leaders who push their heads up so high; no one can ask them anything.

Giving back the seat to the PNP
Nevertheless, despite the baseless arrogance and overconfidence, Warmington might already be giving back the seat to the PNP. Waul though not representing the PNP and it is still unclear if he has relinquished his orange citizenship, got 2,991 votes. This represents 34 per cent of the persons who voted. There are 37,151 eligible voters in the constituency; therefore only 24.6 per cent came out to vote. While it is true that by-elections do not generally stimulate large turnouts, the low participation is not simply a continuation of this trend. Persons are fed up with him and only a die-hard core is backing him. An independent candidate in a by-election is not expected to get many votes. Imagine if it were a openly PNP-supported nominee.

Election Results as Indicator
In 2007, Warmington got almost 30 per cent of all voters eligible to vote and 56 per cent of all who voted. In this by-election, the numbers are 16 and 64 per cent respectively. In raw numbers, he got 5,891 compared to his 2007 total of 10,488. This reduction to just over 56 per cent of his earlier total should be a wakeup call. In comparison, Daryl Vaz’s, 7,915 votes, to the PNP’s Kenneth Rowe's 5,987, in 2009, the first of the four by-elections, was an improvement over his 2007 showing against Abe Dabdoub. There he polled 6,977.

Backing Himself
I am no Carl Stone and I hold no brief for Waul, but it takes more than a set of loyal followers to win an open contest. In the next general elections Warmington needs to remember that 75 per cent of potential voters did not even bother to turn out. To believe that his victory is a harbinger of other electoral success is akin to Usain Bolt standing still and backing himself in a race against Tyson Gay.

An Incom-Barry-ble Man

2010-11-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

Not many compound words have the same meaning when separated into two. Imagine awe full and awe some and given the behaviour of some of our men in public life, I would shudder at the word Bountiful. However, Alston Barrington Chevannes was in every sense a gentle man.

Through the tears which wash my eyes and clear my vision, I see this gentle giant of a man who, despite the terminology we use to describe each other in the academy, has no peer. There is none in the Jamaican parliament, commerce, industry, entertainment, politics or anywhere else that I know in this country of ours, that can measure up to him. In 2004, my deepest sympathies were to the present Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences who smartly wears sandals, because Barry’s shoes were just too large to wear.

Imagine me a young Blackademic to be asked to assist him in a survey he was doing in the late 1980s. And he invited me to his house and shared his family and his meal. By the way, he was a master chef. As my master’s degree ground to a conclusion, he supported and encouraged me and when the ‘land of farrin’ beckoned to seek doctoral studies, he wrote an overly flattering recommendation. Had I not known him to be the most (and perhaps only truly ) honest man in the University of the West Indies (UWI), it would seem like a news release coming from our political leaders regarding Trafigura or Manatt.

Halfway through my studies after being apprised of my progress, he, being pleased with the news, offered me the job at UWI on the distinct condition that the PhD was to be completed within the two years of the contract. And the rest is …sociology. Back at UWI, this Dean encouraged me in all aspect of my life, “how is the research Orville?” “Are the publications coming out?” What’s happening with the painting” you can’t allow your art to die you know.”
Then came the vote of confidence and invitations to participate in forums he was associated with, and at times the request to (poorly) substitute for him when he was unable to attend events. Sometimes this was across international lines.
His work is often referenced in mine. As a bald-headed man who ‘appreci-loves’ Rastafari ,Chevannes’ is axiomatic. We both embrace our blackness and Jamaicanness and thank Rastafari for keeping the African spirit alive. When will government pay attention to his findings from the Ganja Commission? Read his Learning to be a Man and get a better insight into the genesis and current ‘dymanics’ on the Jamaican male, than Edith Clarke’s My Mother who Fathered Me, a book which most Jamaicans reference but don’t ever read, but cite when they denigrate Jamaican men.

Can you imagine the joy I experienced when the one person out of thousands at UWI who I chose to be my friend and mentor and who embraced me as his ‘son’ in the academy turned out to be my biological cousin? We discovered this in 2001.

With great pride I saw his more recent study on Jamaican fatherhood vindicated, despite our being besieged by a pair of prominent feminists at a forum in St Ann in 2006, where he demonstrated that the stereotypical ‘wutliss’ man, who is absent from his child’s life is not the norm but the exception. Just months ago the Registrar General Department (RGD) boasted that its initiative has led to 70 percent of new fathers having their names on their children’s ‘age papers’ within hours of birth. Of course, proudly referring to Prof, I asked the RGD on national radio if we suddenly found fathers out of the woodworks. An apology to him is not yet forthcoming. Touché Barry!

My last act of pinch-hitting for him was to a group of PhD Public Health students, just three days before him falling ill. It was a pleasure to do so once again. Hopefully I won’t disappear in the unfillable gap he left.

When I wrote for the Gleaner between 2004 and 2008 he encouraged me and said “I love the space and niche you have carved out for yourself. Don’t stop.” Well… He pushed me for an explanation for my decision to cease but I never relented. Prof said “Orville, most times you have to be a bigger man.” Well Barry you are right. But no matter how much bigger I get, I will always look up to you.

Stated Emergency or Emergence of State

2010-07-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

A declaration of a state of emergency automatically leads to a decline in crime. Tell me if there is anyone who is so dumb as to believe this. Does the trip to the doctor by itself make one better? Of course, my colleague and bredren from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Prof. Ian Boxill conducted a poll on behalf of my other employer, RJR communication group. Overwhelmingly, Jamaicans, when asked in May, were in favour of its imposition. Duh! Boxill’s and the internet RJR straw poll indicate strong support as well, with more than 70 percent of respondents saying, extend it. It would have been interesting to see if anyone was concerned about the public’s opinion regarding the delay by the government in extraditing Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Playing Politics

Another esteemed academic, Professor Don Robotham, the first person to be blamed for my being a sociologist, excoriates the opposition Peoples’ National Party (PNP) over its cowardice in that “They did not even have the guts to come out and vote against a state of emergency to which they were clearly opposed. Instead they 'abstained.’ ” Doubtless, I agree with him on that point because it seemed to be decisive indecisiveness. When the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) brought the request to extend it to Parliament, not being convinced that the circumstances merited it, the people who took money from Trafigura and still have not given full disclosure, should have voted ‘no.’ He cites ulterior and even sinister motives and I have little to fault him there. After all, politicians do politics and both parties have benefited from the repugnance of having garrisons and lumpenproletarians under their direction. That is what we know as “dutty politics.”

Correlation but not Causation

However, Robotham is a social scientist and he attributes much to the state of emergency. “[A] whopping 49 per cent reduction, as a result of the state of emergency… 78 fewer persons were shot in June 2010, as compared to the 170 in May 2010, a reduction of 46 per cent… reported rapes decreased by eight, from 48 in May 2010 to 39 in June 2010, a decrease of 23 per cent.” In our discipline we call that a correlation, which does not necessarily mean causation. Sorry Don, it is not that simple, tell me what happened during the state of emergency that led to the decline in crime.

Deterrents to Crime

The most effective deterrent against crime is the likelihood that one will be caught. When I first wrote on the topic of the death penalty during my sojourn with the Gleaner this point was well made. Less than ¼ of all homicides result in an arrest, and the rate of conviction is somewhere in the same range. Simply put therefore, typically one literally “gets away with murder,” in this country.

The next question thus, is “how come they don’t get apprehended?” That has to be a combination of policing and community cooperation. An editorial on the RJR news website dated June 22, 2010, hit the nail on the head. I don’t speak for my broadcast company and I carry no brief for the news room. Nonetheless, the commentary is spot on. “should the security forces be given the air, sea, protective gear, vehicles, computer systems, intelligence gathering surveillance equipment, training and operational facilities that they need?” Ask Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, former head of both the army and the police and he will tell you how he unsuccessfully pleaded for the tools to do his job.

Powers of the Security Forces

Since 1994, the Jamaica Constabulary Force Act has allowed the police to do a large numbers of things, such as launching curfews. This they could do without telling the public. They could hold persons of interest, process them, search without warrants and restrict movement, just like a state of emergency. However, curfews require the permission of the Minister of National Security when there is no state of emergency. Thus, information can be allegedly passed from him, indirectly or directly, to any politically affiliated don….hmm! Maybe we should have one. Furthermore, the army, without the police or minister’s interference, can drop searches or curfews around the mayor’s, JLP General Secretary’s or Leader of Opposition’s houses. Actually, I like that. I bet that they the soldiers don’t even have to hand over spent shells to the police. Whoever might or not be in his cabinet, the soldiers can “drop it pon dem without warning!”

The Incursion into Tivoli

On May 24, interestingly named Labour Day, the military and police did what many thought was impossible. They went into Tivoli Gardens, crushed whatever opposition there was, and without a protective Member of Parliament to stop the innocent victims from being slaughtered, as was warned by Attorney Tom Tavares Finson, routed the thugs.

Emboldened by either a delusion about their own hype or strength, criminal elements had the misguided view that they could “hold off the army.” Barricades were erected; booby traps, armaments and personnel were stocked up. I could not help but remember the song Scallawa Squami by Baby Wayne, who dared, “How you fi dis Scallawa Squami, man who a fight so much time wid di army.” Of course Baby Wayne was a crackhead, totally divorced from reality.

Garrison Mumma

Nevertheless, it is tempting to believe that something must have made them feel that Tivoli was either impregnable or that the order would never be given to export the President or even to enter in pursuit of his cronies. After all, their would-be nemesis, Lewin, the declarer that Tivoli was, “Garrison Mumma,” had been unceremoniously removed. Furthermore, for the better part of a year, the JLP/Government had pulled out all the stops, including those holding up its credibility and the truth, to prevent the exportation of Coke.

Significance of the Incursion

Let’s be honest, it was the incursion into Tivoli and the clear message to those who attack law and order, that made the difference. Increased security personnel on the streets and more protective gear for them, allowed more soldiers and police to be on patrol. Without Tivoli there is no place where criminals can feel that there is any refuge. Ask Presi Coke himself what is the solution to the homicides. He Al-legedly told the Holy Transporter that reducing the supply of bullets is the key. Well, we don’t produce bullets or guns and most of them are imported, ironically from the USA, the country of the Commissioner of Customs, via the wharves…..Located where?

State of Emergency 1976

Still, as we talk of the state of emergency we seem to forget that the 1976 travesty of the PNP did not lead to a reduction in violent crime. On the contrary, it saw an increase in murders from just over 200 for 1975/76 to 388 for 1976/77 and serious trampling on human rights. By the way, now Prime Minister Bruce Golding did remind us of this seven years ago and said, “so often the police detain scores of people who are first locked up then "processed" and later released. Why? Because the police have no evidence on which to charge them. Under the Thomas-Robotham plan, the police would simply detain and lock up. No need for any "processing"! No need for any evidence! No need for any trial! The gates are flung wide open for corrupt policemen to "deal with" individuals with whom they have a dispute and for a corrupt government to "deal with" its political opponents with whom it always has a dispute.” He continued, “The atrocities that were perpetrated by the government in the state of emergency of 1976 must never be allowed to happen again! They will never be allowed to happen again.” Tell me, what apart from the administration, has changed to give us this assurance?

What is an Emergency?

An emergency is an abnormal event, not a process. It is something that has a short duration. It is that period when our adrenaline kicks in because we have a big dog chasing us or a duppy is trying to drag us into the dark. When we are in that state our hearts race, blood sugar and pressure rise. However, if sustained, it kills us.

Legal Basis for State of Emergency

A state of emergency is not to be declared frivolously. Under Section 26 (5) of the Constitution, whatever might be public sentiment, it can only be lawfully declared if “…a public emergency has arisen as a result of the imminence of a state of war between Jamaica and a foreign state or as a result of the occurrence of any earthquake, hurricane, flood, fire, outbreak of pestilence, … infectious disease or other calamity ...”
Also if “… action has been taken or is immediately threatened by any person or body of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be likely to endanger the public safety or to deprive the community, or any substantial portion of the community, of supplies or services essential to life.”
The latter occurred on Sunday May 23, 2010 and ostensibly ended with the capture of Dudus on June 22, 2010. Search the law above and tell me if a state of emergency could be now be legally maintained.

Support the Police

True, the police and military would like more power to do their work. However, this is not a military or police state, held under their boots and parliament cannot simply be a “lubricated conduit.” In any event how many times have the police got what they wished for?

Let’s use the laws at our disposal and give the police full support.

Rear Admirable

2010-07-06T22:28:00.000-07:00

The Admiral lied! There is no way that the hyper pigmented Security Minister Dwight Nelson could have turned pale on being advised about the impending extradition request for Michael Christopher “Dudus” Coke. However, that is where my incredulity ends. I have yet to prove Hardley Lewin a liar but there are countless reasons to question the veracity of anything the little men in green say. After all the truth seems so alien to them they could very well be from Mars.

Extradition request

Here are facts. The American authorities made the request in August 2009. Before the government or Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), (and even the Prime Minister/Party leader doesn’t know them different) could respond, the shadiness began. From Venus, the lady Attorney General/Minister of Justice should have responded. Nothing came from the lady planet. In two shakes of a duck’s tale, attorneys Manatt, Phelps and Phillips were contracted. By September 18 they somehow got the impression, all by their learned selves, that they were being engaged by the government of Jamaica and not the JLP. Oh,the diplomatic note was sent from Mars to the US seeking additional information.

Speaking in Strange Languages

Of course, Prime Minister Golding had declared almost four years earlier, as he chided the Peoples’ National Party (PNP) over the despicable Trafigura matter, that the Government and ruling party have no separate identity. So then, the JLP and the government should have been speaking the same Martian right? Well, Lady Venus was not speaking and the generally unintelligible “communications” minister was clearly speaking another language. In declaring that the government had no relationship with the law firm Minister Vaz was accused by Jamaican attorney and firm backer of the JLP, Harold Brady of either being “daft or needs to have his head examined!” Clearly Brady knew something which Vaz should have but maybe one was speaking the language of Venus and the other, the language of Uranus.

Unmoved but Fishy

Public pressure grew and there were calls to have the courts determine if Coke should be sent. But the Driver kept course and the Minister of Justice refused to be rocked or swayed. Indeed, her objection to signing the order for the export of Coke seemed perfectly logical. Solicitor General’s advice was that she shouldn’t because the evidence was tainted due to Constable X doing, what Lewin later revealed to be perfectly lawful. Note, Lewin was Constable X’s (now re-named “Red Herring”) ultimate senior officer. Well named, because by the second paragraph of this column it was obvious that something was fishy.

Legally Sound but Swayed

Given what was public knowledge, I supported Justice Minister Lightbourne from a legal standpoint, because the only way in which she could have sent the matter for the courts to determine, was if she already declared that he should be extradited and thus signed it. Then, appropriately in the week leading up to “Labour Day” she signed. No new legal information was presented up to today. Yet in the Senate she declared that she was influenced by public sentiments "It was clear that the public- interest concerns had become paramount and compelling and that this required exercising my discretion so as to at least diminish and/or allay those concerns," What???!!! So all the legal arguments went out the window! So much for the unflappable Attorney General, who operates only on legal facts.

A weak apology but limited disclosure, left us feeling “dissed” with no closure. Thus, Driver re-started the vehicle, declared a state of emergency and continued his journey. Now, 73 civilians, two policemen, a prominent upper-St Andrew resident and a soldier later, it was all for naught.

Conspiracy?

In an interesting about-face, there is a declaration of war on criminality and commerce minister, Karl Sam(fie)Muda, who conspired with the Prime Minister and other Labourites to mislead the people, is attempting along with Driver and the eloquent Vaz, to wear halos. So mek mi ask dem, “What is the new information which led the JLP/government to sign the order? Unoo nah tell we how, Manatt dem get the impression dat dem did a deal wid the government? Who lied? Mantt et al, Brady or Vaz?”

Perversion of Intelligence

Something insidious and reprehensible took place in the entire affair as it looks that somebody, who sought to prevent Coke being sent to the United States (US), was perverting not only the course of justice but the entire system of common morals and most of all, my intelligence.

Ironically, a driver, who is daft and needs to have his head examined, was arrested while trying to do exactly what the JLP/government was trying to avoid for an entire year: send Coke to the US. Yet these hypocrites without moral rectitude, refused to ask him to step aside. Did you know that under the Public Service Regulations 1961, public officers are typically interdicted on partial pay while facing criminal charges? Never in my 30 years of public service have I seen any variation of this. But then again, no government has ever compromised itself as much in defence of an area don.

Gag order

More than 70 persons died in vain and the government hints at lawsuits against Lewin? Citing the Official Secrets Acts, which must be guiding the JLP, Nelson is seeking to gag the admiral. Like Monica who could end up being their Lewin-sky, he refused to keep his mouth shut. Lewin said Tivoli was the “Mother of all Garrisons.” Ticky! He had given the crime portfolio to his eventual successor while Commissioner. Thus, any blame for the lack of success was his too. Nelson can speak but he cannot talk, because he was Minister of National Security and much of what Lewin sought and the cops are still clamouring for, was not provided. They were under equipped to take on Tivoli and even Lewin’s former charges, the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) had to “tun han mek fashion”

Full Revelation Please

Attacking the Admiral is not the same as the full revelation that we need in this debacle. Dwight is too bright to make any further mistakes beyond that with the English language as he attacked a “revengeful” Lewin. All of Jamaica knows that the Labourites were behind Coke up to the few days leading to the signing of the order. Does Nelson really think that the lack of proof that the “Presi” was in deep communication with them vindicates them?

I Hardley think so.

What’s in a Name?

2010-07-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

Enjoy this one

My mother is a dressmaker and her name is Taylor. She was literate early and her maiden name is Reid. Never mind Junior. Michael is a cut above the rest at RJR and he is Sharpe, Sport Commentary loves to cuss and he is Tracey. Another more famous Michael took many a woman and he was Manley.

Usain Bolt is fast but Asafa is said to lack toughness, never mind Tyson…hmmmm. Walter Dix is short. Carmeleta Jeter is supersonic. Outstanding 800 metre runner Abubaker Kaki only does well when he runs by himself and he cannot stand up through the rounds. Imagine, Tirunesh, from the country Rastafari call Jah Jah land, is Dibaba.

In politics little of what Vaz says holds water but Tufton is anything but. Poor Webhy could not untangle the finances of his minister. A Nelson is a crippling hold in wrestling but more common is the deceptive Half-Nelson. Millers grind seeds into ‘dus.’ Nevertheless, Chuck is parked in the speaker’s seat. Ronnie 2/8th is firmly quartered in the back benches. Know anything about Andrew Gallimore?…I know of his father. Still I believe Bobby is a closer relative because I cannot imagine any "man tek you."

Welcome back Caster Semenya

Re-Awakening

2010-04-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while but like the Phoenix I shall return in a few days. It does sound PJ and Portiaesque but the line is sort of original. Look out for the unbiased commentary regarding the USA vs Jamaica.

Of course, it is the hottest topic and the dus' is still blowing. However, things are a bit confused because the USA wants US to export Coke but there is resistance from the green. How confused is the world. It is even likely that a few green plants might be uprooted and shipped to the land of the spangled banner. Not only potted plants although those in vases are easier to go.

In the meantime join me along with the other thousands of Jamaicans in another USA vs Jamaica saga... the Penn relays. It is not known how large the supporters will be because only Jamaicans with American passports will feel comfortable. Undocumented, underdocumented and 'visitors' will hold on to their Master cards because visas are a scarce commodity. But then the athletes at Penn will try to beat the charge of the American Express.

There, Jamaicans run but not from justice. Backs are turned, but the baton is still passed and unless it is fumbled there is a logical conclusion.

Notice that the two 4x100 teams are Black and Gold ... no green.

More anon!

If you you are one of the first 12 persons to recognise me at Penn you will receive an RJR 94FM calender.

Join me on Wednesday April 28 on RJR 94FM 'Hot Line and North American listeners link up on the Hot Link 12:30 and 1:00. Squeeze from WVIP 93.5 Link Up Radio and I take calls from the Tri-State area. Ask me anything! It is where "The truth comes to live and the lies come to die."

Call 876-9262178, 876-9268631, 876-9267615. From North America call 1-888-317-2347

The Plane Truth: American Airlines’ Runway Super Muddle

2009-12-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

Miracle on the Jamrock

Thank God, Praises to Allah, Tank yu Jah Jah! The AA overshot the runway, did not brake except for the break in the fence, and like a few politician, switched and landed on the opposite side of the road. Immediately, the image of a vehicle skidding off the asphalt conjures up thoughts of membership in another AA but let the ideas brew as we distill the details. Good news, just three weeks short of the anniversary of US Airways “Miracle on the Hudson” landing on January 15 2008.

My Near Miss

This is a story which is particularly close to me because the aircraft came down at a place that I was scheduled to pass, on my way to Morgan’s Harbour Hotel in Port Royal, where I was to join my RJR 94FM colleagues on an outside broadcast. Were it not for my tardiness and lethargy, my punctuality would have given me a first hand, high-definition, full impact account of the crash. At a minimum, I would have been stranded on the other side of the Port Royal Road for several hours. Start with the good news. With the exception of a few millilitres of body fluids and couple kilograms of fright-generated waste, nothing was lost. No fatalities! Call this not the miracle on the Hudson, but a miracle on another Rock. Jamrock!

Plane Specifications

Boeing 737-800s land and take off on the average at a ground speed of 250 kilometres (140 miles) per hour. This assumes a relatively full craft with some 150 passengers. Imagine the force of such an object weighing more than 60,000 kilograms.or around 132,000 pounds. Compare this to a motor car such as Usain Bolt’s crashed BMW M3 which tips the scale at a mere 1,400 kilos. An aircraft of that size and mass slamming into anything, including the sea, could easily mean its disintegration. Just imagine even being in a building just 18 feet off the ground on the second floor, falling. How come nobody died?

Early Reports

Reports are still preliminary; and your guess is as good as mine. Actually no! I was on the scene before the Ministers of Transport, Security and Information. Even the two former ‘shadow’ ministers were there in the dark, trying to get a first hand view. Here are the facts. It all started with flight American Airlines 331 leaving Washington DC via Miami and it ended with a few bumps off Runway 30 at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) on the old Palisadoes Peninsula.

Missed Landing

This craft, carrying 152 passengers, heading for sun and sea, appeared to land much too fast and took them to the beach much earlier than they expected. Three more metres from the nose takes you into water. The cause of the crash is not known and I reserve my judgement if not the pilot’s. However, one gets the impression that our neighbours to the north are struggling to find something peculiar about Jamaica that might have contributed significantly to the incident. American Airlines pilots, with hundreds of winter flights per year, in snow, sleet almost no visibility and ice, should not be overly daunted by tropical rain. Sometimes snowy landings are so common that they remind us that America is a White country. Okay! The flight landed at night in a Black country.

Requirements for Safe Landing

In order to have a safe landing 737-800s require up to 2,000 metres (7,000 feet) of asphalted runway, but can easily come to a halt in less. I took a first hand view of a few such planes touching down since Wednesday and saw so much runway left, we could divest part of it along with the national airline that the government is inexplicably refusing to sell to our pilots. For the record, Runway 30 has another 700 metres (2,000 feet) and our Air Jamaica pilots regularly land Airbus 320, essentially the same craft, on it. British Airways and Virgin pilots routinely land the bigger Boeing 747 in all kinds of conditions on the same ‘tiny’ unlit runway. Of course, if a pilot wants to make maximum use of the runway he has to avoid leaving half of it untouched, no matter how much he wants to evade contact with a black surface.

Tail Wind

Furthermore, one should always be mindful of the wind. In flight school student pilots are taught “never land with a tail wind.” However, in craft such as these airplanes, there is a maximum allowable trailing wind of 10 knots in most cases. Check the wind speed and direction at 10:00 pm on Tuesday December 22 from the Met Office or Air Traffic Information Service. 'Twas an ill wind that blew no good!

Rain

Nonetheless, we know that it was raining steadily. Some of the American reports give the impression that it was a major inundation, especially since two adults and a child had drowned hours earlier in Portland. Well let’s just get this straight! It rained continually for four days-meaning that it was not consistent. It was a deluge but do not self-delude into thinking that it was an impossible situation. In any event, Air Jamaica flight JM62 had landed in similar conditions just half an hour earlier. Furthermore, the tragedy in Portland, 50 miles away, is more the result of incomplete road work and not just the weather.

Missing Approach Lights

Never mind the accurate report from BusinessWeek magazine on Thursday that a 400-metre stretch of white lights over the sea was non-functioning for the last month. That is not a requirement; it merely assists pilots who, in any event, should be using their instruments. Notwithstanding that, they are obliged to have sight of the runway at least 200 feet above ground. If not; circle, next runway or next airport.

Inadequate Emergency Provision

Still, our post-crash response like King Belshazzar, was weighed and found wanting.
The Airport Authorities reported that they responded within 120 seconds. Passengers’ estimates are between 15 and 25 minutes. The truth lies somewhere in between and is perhaps mitigated by the speedy rescue by a father of one of the passengers and a 'sheroic'driver of a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC)bus, who were just in the vicinity.

But, we did not have enough ambulances, fire trucks or medical personnel. Clearly, the enviable safety record of the Jamaican air transport system might have contributed to this complacency but it is no excuse. Imagine if the plane had exploded or many were critically injured. This must be a wake up call.

Air J to the World

Alas, travellers have found a new enthusiasm for Air Jamaica and its competent flight crew and don’t want it sold. With many passengers now scared of AA it should mean a tail windfall for Air J. But no. Any loss of the guaranteed number of seats to AA means that Jamaica’s government must pay it US$4.5 million, in a curious deal negotiated with Tourism Minister Ed ‘Boughtless.’ Guess what, the Air J CEO who closed down two Air J routes in the USA is the husband of an AA executive. He was employed to rivals before, worked with Air J, left for the competition and then came back to the not-so-fatted calf.

No explosion, but lots of smoke and more fire.

Where the Truth Lies: De-Taxification

2009-12-25T17:57:00.000-08:00

Prediction about IMF

Didn’t I tell you that any agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would likely lead to hardships? Assurances were given by the Prime Minister and the Intelligent Finance Minister (IFM) that the Fund had changed since it was typified as the Debt Trap by Cheryl Payer and the documentary Life and Debt. All researchers who have studied the activities of the IMF and World Bank know that their policies generally require; reduction of public expenditure, decrease in welfare spending, retrenchment in the public sector, divestment of public companies, restrictions on wages, devaluation and general facilitation of the capitalist class at the expense of workers. This is old news and there are no success story.

Honesty Please!

Look! I like Bruce Golding and I hope, for all of our sakes that he succeeds. Whether he and the other folk of Greenland wish to be like Lot’s wife and constantly look back at what their predecessors from Orange Field did, it is his problem now and nobody begged him to take the ‘wuk.’ Believe me, he has my support and anything that I can do to make him succeed, although I am thankfully not in his cabinet, I will do. But for God’s sake man, let us know what the truth is!

Ignorance of Global Crisis

In September 2008, the IFM promised us that we would not be seriously affected by the global crisis. While the sensible among us knew that it was as much bull as we find annually at the Denbigh Agricultural show, some were naïve enough to think that in the desert storm which was being predicted world wide, we would have a cool oasis.

Four Tax Packages

For the fourth time this year taxes have made a yo-yo, see saw journey. Last week taxes increased with such volume that one additional one also rose; heart-a- tax. With break-back speed the General Consumption Tax (GCT) was added unto so many items we became as confused as a minister. More water than flour, sardines, hardly any item was exempt, the entire national dish was on the chopping block. Ackee, among the list of ground provisions, had joined her companion saltfish. Basic toiletries such as tissue were added in one swipe. Women understandingly had their anger flowing claiming that the tax on sanitary napkins was immense and unfair. The impact of this was likely to be devastating on the working class as they would have been bleeding for much of the post Christmas period and few optimists spotted any relief. Many cried deception, saying that government has given them a six for a nine or rather, a six for an eight because they have left us short. Given everything that was being done to the poor we were lucky that condoms did not attract GCT.

We are in for a rough ride. Make your mind up! Either the IMF dictates to you, or you make the decision yourself. The old IMF used to tell an aspiring borrowing state that it had to do a number of things before it could be considered to get the money.

IMF Conditionalities

These were called conditionalities. IMF dictates and we take. Now we are told that the Fund has changed, therefore it does not dictate to any country what to do. Our government cannot have it both ways, whoever they have in the cabinet. They cannot say that the tax initiative is the dictate of the IMF while claiming independence. What the IMF said was that the budget be balanced. Of course, pay your bills, show how you are going to earn as much as you spend. Then you can come and be considered for a loan. Is that independence?

Decision of Government

Here is the truth, the independence lies between the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. They decide how the budget is going to be balanced. So then it is a vicious circle. If we had got the money from the Fund, we would not have had to raise the taxes. But raise taxes we have to. What this needs is forethought or at a minimum, thought

Strangely, despite the suggestions of learned economists that the rich should have been targeted via interest on government paper etc, this was ignored. Then the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) rebelled. The tongue of the Comrade Leader was drawn and six protests were carried out across the land. Withdraw they said and stop doing it to the people; it is too hard for them. Return to 'Parliement' for a debate, was the call.

Recant

Then the PM spoke... eloquently ... without the benefit of an erudite IFM. He asked the people to understand, he said he had listened to them and now he is rolling it back. Not a complete roll back but he leaves an inch as we feel less of a pinch. GCT now moves from 16.5 to 17.5 percent. Persons earning above $5 million will now pay income tax of 27 percent. Hah! He now listens, but he cannot simply recant to what the PNP demanded because he is running the country. It will appear that he did not have any idea what to do in the first place.

This is the problem in leadership. Just as it was in September, we are left unconvinced about where we are being driven to. Male drivers often ignore directions or fail to ask for them simply because the woman beside them chats too much.

Hmmm!

It is now more bearable but GCT remains on a number of items. Still, poor people can once again buy the cheap goods and ground provisions. However, clothes will also continue to be expensive. Shoes will still attract GCT, so we are going to have to use cheaper footwear this festive season.

My choice of slippers are flip flops.

Bombaat! Buju Bids Bye Bye?

2009-12-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

Good God! Gargamel gone!

From whichever angle you turn this story; front, side or rear, it stinks. Buju Banton arrested in the United States (US) on a drug charge. This time it is not the simple act of finding a ‘cess’ plant growing on his premises. This charge is so serious he can be sent deep into the cesspool. It is an extremely serious offence, “conspiracy to possess with the intention to distribute more than five kilos of cocaine.”

Serious Charge

Such a charge carries a 20-plus year sentence and nightmarish horrors of being incarcerated and not daring to sing his popular 1992 song which begins, “Big it up.” Think, wah di DJ charge fa? He may very well be denied bail ostensibly because the case is a major offence but also because being a Jamaican resident he could be seen as literally a ‘flight’ risk. After all, we have pretty much demonstrated that it is not easy to extricate popular figures simply because the US has charges against them. You simply can't 'pre' residents.

I Con

Buju is a musical and Rastafarian icon, who, if the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has its way, the icon will become I an I con. The immediate reaction is one of shock and consternation. With the benefit of only one hand on the truth, the jerk reaction is that he was set up by the gay lobby in the US for his maligned homophobic song, that he had sung so long ago that much of the Boom had gone out of it and he has pretty much said bye bye to it.

Gay-FLAG

Our own Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays (Gay FLAG), looking askance at the reports, takes exception to the association in the Jamaican press between Buju’s present travail and the flak he had been getting since he has unsuccessfully struggled to put his one anti-gay song behind him. According its spokesman Jason McFarlane, there is no evidence nor any likelihood of conspiracy.

Facts of the Case

Not wishing to pre-judge, let us look at the facts. Buju was allegedly caught on electronic surveillance over a three day period. The DEA has recordings of telephone conversations in which he negotiated the purchase of amounts of cocaine for distribution. Details of the matter are contained in an affidavit from the agent, “pounds dem a buy when a tons man a ship.” Actually, that was from his hit Driver, which he now probably regrets that he recorded.

Nonetheless, he went in the company of at least two other men to link up with someone who unknown to them, was an informer or plant by the Feds. Not a simple onlooker, it was concluded that Buju was a ‘buystander,’ even taste-testing the stuff to determine its quality. If that is true, how would an upful, ital Rastaman know how coke differs from any fake stuff, if he has never himself touched it? Or was it a quality test? After everything, there was a tape, which is at least as damning as the fabled King Size tape supposedly being hidden by the Jamaican police. Whether or not he has carried out the crime he is guilty of one charge; Stupidity! Even if he wanted to buy drugs why did he go himself? Understandably, a Rastaman will go for a chalice but Buju went for cup.

Whatever might be the belief of his fans, detractors and others, the fact is that on the face of it, the Feds have a case that is as tight and impermeable as the latex that more than 32 percent of Jamaican gay men don’t use.

I don’t know what happened but Buju was in places that he should not have been and it does make the sceptics and open minded scientists ask, Is it simply imagination that gave him so much detail of a shipment of contraband across the US, in his song?

Art Imitating Life

Entertainers often sing about illegal and immoral activities and we sometimes conclude that there is a direct relationship between what they sing and what they do or might have done. Others argue that the lyrics bear very little relationship to reality. Leave the Gully-Gaza issue for a while and look at a song by the late Notorious BIG, Niggas Bleed. The details in that song are uncanny, giving the listener and inside view of a drug heist. “Today's agenda, got the suitcase up in the Sentra, Go to room 112, tell em Blanco sent ya… Feel the strangest, if no money exchanges… Just bring back the coke or the cream. ” here's the deal I got a hundred bricks, fourteen-five apiece … Enough to cop a six; buy the house on the beach… Supply the peeps with Jeeps, brick apiece, capiche?”
Check Biggie’s songs such as Who Shot Ya? and Kick in the Door Waving the 4-4. Biggie is still my favourite but I have to wonder if the violence that he sang about followed him and came home to haunt him? So, the question is, Did life imitate art or was his art simply a reflection of his life? I have addressed this in several articles for the Gleaner. Check the link http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080330/cleisure/cleisure4.html

Entrapment?

Still, despite the case appearing so water-tight that fish could swim in it, there is the possibility that Buju was induced into committing a crime that he was not otherwise contemplating committing. In American law that is called ‘entrapment.’ It has not always been a perfect defence, because many a man is rotting is prison because of a DEA agent actually supplying him with ingredients to manufacture drugs and then charge him for it. Two such cases are the 1970s’ United States v. Russell and Hampton and Co v. The United States. The important element there, however, is that the court held that the defendants were already predisposed and inclined to carry out the illegal act.

Set up and Repercussions

Yet, the 1958 case of Sherman v.United States determined that the defendant would likely not have purchased the drugs if an informant who was working for the police not approached and told him to. More recently, the 1992 Nebraska case of Jacobson v. United States established that a man, who was finally lured and hooked by the persistent effort of postal inspectors to purchase child pornography, had no evidence of premeditation. Thus, not guilty.

One question I want answered is, who is this unknown informant who was working behind the scene against Buju? Was he known to him in another capacity but was in the closet or on the down low? What is his sexuality? If he is gay then that is a different kettle of …

I won’t try to master this one but I wait with bated breath. However, if Buju was really set up by a gay or gay sympathiser, what do you think will happen to known or suspected gays in Jamaica?

Remember! Life does imitate art.

By the way, would you believe that some ignorant Americans think that Batty Rider is a homphobic song? http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/entertainment/recordings/20091214_ap_authoritiesbujubantonnegotiatedcocainedeal.html

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Tribute to Michael Pryce

2009-12-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

The price was right but sometimes the Pryce was wrong, but this time it was the right price but wrong time. Actually, given some of the people who work behind the scenes and dig up the mud instead of being up front, it might also have been the wrong price. He is sadly missed, a consummate professional, who at times literally fought over the truth.

Forty-eight is so short. It’s too early and too soon. I feel it for his wife, his children and his colleagues, as well as those of us who appreciate quality. No child should have to lose his/her father so young. It spoiled my day but at least I am alive to be sad.

Weird! Can you believe that we are the same age and today when I got the news, I was wearing a shirt that resembles one of his favourite ones. Remember that black shirt with the grey/white stripes?

May the Lord embrace you, Michael Pryce and this time I hope the Pryce goes up.

Just for my Students

2009-12-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Those who support and remember me after your journey is complete, God bless.

link me on Facebook. My username is Duh!Orville Taylor Blackline

This Week in Black History

2009-12-08T21:16:00.000-08:00

July 25
1912 Comoros proclaimed French colonies
1847 Liberia, where the American Colonization Society established the first settlement, Monrovia, in 1822 on land 'granted' by local rulers, becomes an independent republic with a constitution based on that of the US. Unfortunately the ex-slave colonists applied the US template too well, and set about enslaving Africans from the interior and neighbouring countries.
1936 Shamefully, Germany recognizes the Italian conquest of Abyssinia
1943 Did you know that a warship was named for a Black person? the SS Leonard Roy
Harmon, was launched in Quincy, Massachusetts
1971 Dr Christiaan Neethling Barnard carries out the first combined heart and lung transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
Dr Barnard had carried out the first heart transplant back on 3 December 1967.
1972 US health officials concede blacks were used as guinea pigs in
40 year syphillis experiment. Read about Tuskeegee Experiments www.thetalkingdrum.com/tus.html
July 26
1865 Patrick Francis Healy is first Black American awarded PhD
1953 Cuban Revolution begins with the Movimiento de 26 de Julio. Moncada Barracks attacks, 100 poorly armed insurgents against a garrison of 2,000 soldiers. Repelled and arrested, sentenced to 15 years. “La historia me absolvera.” 1955 Fulgencio Batista released all political prisoners and Castro et al exiled to Mexico. Returned to Cuba in Granma November
July 27
1962 Martin Luther King Jr jailed in Albany Georgia
1968 Race Riot in Gary Indiana
July 28

189- Ascendancy of St Victor I, 14th pope (189-199). The First of three known Black popes

1868 The 14th Amendment, making Blacks American citizens, adopted
1915 10,000 blacks march on 5th Ave (NYC) protesting lynchings
1915 US forces invade Haiti, stays until 1924. The US controlled government, finance and virtually treat it as a colony.
1966 Major-General Johnson Thomas Umurakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, head of the Nigerian National Military Government is ousted when his own troops mutiny. He is replaced as leader by Yakubu Gowon.
1967 Eight days of racially motivated disturbances end in Detroit, Michigan. The uprising, one of the worst of its kind in the 20th century, kills 43 people, injures 2,000, and results in over 5,000 arrests and over 1,400 fires
1975 Exactly nine years after he took power Gowon is deposed in a bloodless military coup and replaced by Murtala Ramat Mohammed.
July 29

1985 South African President PW Botha threatens military and economic reprisals against neighbouring black controlled countries if the United States does not relax sanctions.
1990 Abu Baker-led Jamaat Al Muslimeen, attempt an overthrow of the Trinidad and Tobago Government, shooting President ANR Robinson in the process.
July 30

1839 Slave rebels, led by Joseph Cinque, kill the captain and take over the slave ship Amistad in the most celebrated
of American slave mutinies. The rebels were captured off
Long Island on August 26. This epic was made into the movie Amistad

1863 - President Lincoln gave an order to shoot a Confederate
prisoner for every African American prisoner that was shot;
it became known as the "eye-for-eye" order. A rebel
prisoner would also be condemned to life in prison doing
hard labor, for every African American prisoner sold into
slavery. The order had restraining influence on the
Confederate government, though individual commanders and
soldiers continued to murder captured African American
soldiers.

1866 - White Democrats, led by police, attack a convention of
African American and white Republicans in New Orleans,
Louisiana. More than 40 persons are killed, and at least
150 persons are wounded. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Military
commander of the state, says "It was not riot; it was an
absolute massacre...which the mayor and the police of the
city perpetrated without the shadow of a necessity."
July 31

1874 - Patrick Francis Healy, a Jesuit priest, is inaugurated as
president of Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
Healy is the first African American to head a
predominantly white university and is credited with the
modernization of the university's curriculum and the
expansion of its campus.

Taming the Tiger for Christmas

2009-12-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered who would win in a fight between a European bear and a Tiger? Male South East Asian Tigers, such as the Bengal and Sumatran weigh around 500 lbs and average some nine feet long. Female Bears come in about 350 pounds. Polar bears criss-cross the Arctic but don’t go as far as Sweden. So while they look like the perfect Viking bear, they are not.

Tiger and Bear Mating

It is hard to imagine a tiger and a bear mating but obviously they have tried and produced viable offspring. Damn! Imagine what you can produce with a long metal club and little white balls. Nevertheless, our falling hero is actually not a tiger. Lions come from Africa, where the father of Eldrick ‘Tiger’ Woods came from and of course, his Thai mother is Asian. So he is a ‘Liger.’ Much less aggressive than either the lion or tiger, the liger is the biggest pussycat that has ever walked the whole earth. Tipping over the scales at more than 1000 pounds and exceeding 10 feet when standing on its hind legs, it strikes fear into all.

Liger

Yet, the liger is a confused animal; it has an ambivalent sense of what it is. Lions typically roar and hate water. Tigers are more aquatic, growl and chuff, but never roar. Well ligers stand in water and roar. They don’t make many more oral sounds but if a liger could talk it would tell you that it is a “Caublasian.” This is the term which Eldrick invented as he refused to accept the label that America’s one drop rule gives to him. "Brotha! If youse got even one drop of Black ancestral coal in your family tree… you Black!" He is a Liger from another set of words. The first comes from liar because he is lying to first to himself and then poorly so to his wife. The second is less obvious and denigrating but difficult to ignore. However, he will get it when he falls asleep after eating.

Mystery

Mystery surrounds the recent clash and divorce while living at home. Tiger has fallen into the Black stereotype of cheating on his wife with a white waitress who looks set to trash his marriage. As any reasonable woman would, she took a club to him and beat him like the New Jersey Nets or Cleveland Browns and he took off on a drive. Unfortunately, his drive was nothing as long as those on the golf courses and as he tried to escape and cool off, he took out a fire hydrant crashing like his pristine image. Hopefully, his prowess as a golf cart driver on the many courses he plays shows more inter-course dexterity.

Dollars but no Sense

Estimated by Forbes to be worth an estimated US$600million, he has a lot of dollars but little sense. This self-negating brotha must really not be black at all, because he has no obvious penchant for PHAT, bootlicious African American women. He married Swede Elin Nordegren in 2004 and is now suspected of having cheated with three White women; Rachel Uchitel, Jaimee Grubbs, and Kalika Moquin. After a pubic (sic) apology, (what the ‘L’ was that about?) it is now reported that he has allowed his wife to renegotiate the pre-nuptial agreement and he is paying her a hefty $80 million to stay in the marriage. What about staying and forgiving or leaving with your half?

Pimping
If there is any truth in the rumour then he just needs the gaudy clothes, Bootsy Collins Funkadelic glasses, mink coat and fly shoes, because he be pimping. something stinks about such an arrangement. Yes! Money for compensation due to the break up. That makes sense. But if she stays because he pays there is no question as to what kind of relationship they have and what kind of woman she is.

Then again it is approaching yuletide and her Scandinavian folk hero Santa Claus must be laughing early. Ho! Ho Ho! Merry Christmas! The bear wins.

Goo Goo Gaza, Gully Goons

2009-11-25T05:38:00.000-08:00

Vybz Empire

Have you ever seen a more disingenuous set of Jamaicans? Entertainer Vybz Kartel blames the society and says that music doesn’t influence people to act. OK! So he doesn’t believe that his music has an impact! Then why does he produce CDs? For his own pleasure? His comments are as honest as his skin is originally coloured, but I think this grandstanding is unbecoming of the bleachers. I always wondered why he called himself Kartel since he is only one man. But less puzzling is his first name, since he has constantly been having “vibes” with everyone; from Ninjaman, to Bounty to Mavado et al. He calls his clan the Gaza Empire, ostensibly with him as the Emperor.

The last two persons in charge of Black populated empires were Queen Victoria and Haile Selassie I, and he certainly is not Jah Jah! Even so, didn’t he claim ‘victory’ at Sting?

Gully god

On the other bank or hand is a young man who is monikered the “Gully god.” This is a youth who is apparently named after a watch that has no number on its face. The original word movado, means “always in motion.” But he needs to stop and think. He is no God and! Perhaps he doesn’t intend to “watch no face.” By the way, is he Mavado because it is one of those Jamaican misspellings and mispronunciations, such as; “flim” and “corporate” as “we live good,” or is it one of those Jamaican words such as “venticate?” Or is it from the Spanish malvado, which means evil?

A serious impasse has blown up between the followers of each camp and the Prime Minister on Sunday declared, “The gully-gaza conflict is just one example of the negative influences that destabilize us as a people and destroy our confidence in ourselves.” Is he real? How many thousands of Jamaicans died on the altar of JLP/PNP politics?

Plantation Legacy

Indeed, Vybz and Mavado are the products of the legacy of the plantation history. We know that the purported Willie Lynch Letter is a hoax but its instructions for the control of Blacks are absolutely true. The fictional Lynch, a White plantation overseer, writing in the 1700s, outlined a perfect divide-and-rule strategy that fostered baseless mistrust and hostility. This effectively kept the Blacks in subjection until the present. I don’t care if there were a real Willie Lynch, what is important is that his dictates are fact, “distrust is stronger than trust, and envy is stronger than adulation, respect or admiration. The black slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousand.”

Victims and Violators

Still, Vybz and Mavado are as much victims as they are violators. We have never been a united people, race or nation. It was division among us that allowed light-skinned Black Norman Manley to prosecute Marcus Garvey here and also keep him out of the Municipal council in 1929. Then we created two major political parties to deepen the sore and widen the chasm. Ghettos were created by the unequal economic development of the post-World War II period, but garrisons are the handiwork of the PNP and JLP, who like the plantation overseers seemed to have an interest in keeping the poor blacks ignorant, and uneducated, so that they could be controlled.

Our propensity to violence; anti informer culture and anti-gay sentiments are not recent phenomena but are direct consequences of our plantation experience. Look out for future postings as this will be explored and explained.

Furthermore, there were always isms and schisms in the music. Few remember that Prince Buster and Derrick Morgan had their vibes as well in the 1960s. As others sang Rude Bwoy lyrics in that era, Alton Ellis had the presence of mind to sing more lovers-oriented recordings.

Long Time Slackness

The slackness is not new either. Who remembers, Clancy Eccles’ I love you Fatty? Check General Echo, Welton Irie and Madoo who did sexually explicit songs of the 1970s and the 80s, Yellow Man was slackness king, Shabba Ranks’ Love Punany Bad and Needle Eye Pum Pum literally can’t dun. Go on You Tube and search for Buster’s 1966 Wreck a Pum Pum and see if it is any less graphic than Romping Shop, which I actually like very much. Did you know that producers in the past, and perhaps present, pushed entertainers to sing profanity? Ask early 1990s DJ Tumpa Lion, who did songs such as Tight like a virgin, A Di Glue Weh She Have and Yes Indeed. I interview him this week.

However, in an era when there are multiple sources of media; cable, ipod, mp4, CDs etc, our youngsters are constantly bombarded with positive and negative influences. Entertainers have powerful control over what people do especially the young and impressionable. These two DJs are doing exactly what we learned on the plantation and are behaving just like the overseers.

Violence Back at the Teacher

Hopefully they will come to their senses, have a reasoning and give a united front against the malice between them. This is so reminiscent of the pointless feud between Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG between 1996 and 1997. Just a word of caution to Vybz and Movado. Our little boys with guns live in the country that had the most slave rebellions per capita during the epoch of slavery. Furthermore the NYPD and LAPD, two better equipped police forces than the JCF, could not stop their murders. You think that you are both bullet- proof or immune in the murder capital of the world?

If they had studied literature in school they would have learnt from MacBeth in the eponymic Shakespearean tragedy. “Bloody instructions which, being taught, return to plague the inventor.”

Where the Truth Lies: Afri-con-nection?

2009-11-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Habari, bwana! habari, bibi (Greetings Sir! Greetings Mam!) That was Swahili, the native language of Kenya and Tanzania and it is in honour of the visit of Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete who arrived Monday accompanied by his wife Salma. It is always good to connect with our African brothers and sisters. This is especially significant since it is on the 90th anniversary of the inaugural voyage of the first ship of Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line.

Yes! It was in 1919, November 23 that the Yarmouth, re-named the SS Frederick Douglass, set out to sea with much fanfare. Interesting it is to note that the vessel, full of hope of millions of Black people, was making a short trip down the Hudson River. Though not the driver, Garvey was the ‘pilot’ and great dreamer, who then said to his wife, “Close your eyes, Amy. Africa is on the other side of that line of fire in the sky.” How amazing it is that one can get a more lucid vision of where one is leading a people to simply by closing one’s eyes. Bet you that nobody in Jamaica remembered the historic occasion because the visit of Kikwete is more symbolic and diversionary than anything. As the president touched down I asked, “Habari yako, bwana?" (What’s your news Sir?)

Tanzanian Link

Our connection with Tanzania is not really based on a common history; none of our ancestors was taken from there via the transatlantic slave trade. Perhaps one might want to count the May 17, 1975 world 1,500 metres record set by Tanzanian Filbert Bayi at the Jamaican National Stadium or the visit of “Mwalimu” President Julius Nyerere on September 14 1974 and his second in 1998. Nah!

Kikwete will unveil the plan to overcome the present crises… Actually no! Not that president, we still have to wait a bit longer for that, he is simply inaugurating the masterpiece sculpture of Jamaican athletic legend, Herb McKenley at the said stadium. Why him? Then we understand that he is having a meeting with Tourism Minister Ed “American Airlines” Bartlett over “investment opportunities.” What investments? Possibly Bwana has a chair factory and he knows that we are in the market for J$77,000 chairs.

Island Hop

Just let us be honest! He is island hopping and decided to stop over in the Land of Black Green and Bolt, but just paused briefly on the ‘green.’ There is a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad that he is en route to. So he just stopped by to full his eye.

So it’s about camaraderie, hosted by the Prime Minister (PM), he is visiting Opposition Leader Portia Simpson-Miller, collecting a national honour, addressing Parliament and dining with the Adventist Governor General, while on his three day Sabbatical from active duty.

Personally, I would have preferred it have been Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, since his countryman, IAAF President Lamine Diack, stood up in defence of Usain Bolt when he was attacked by IOC boss Jacques Rogge in Beijing.

Jamaica Better Off

But don’t get excited, Kikwete doesn’t have any money to give or lend us because Tanzania is far worse off than us.

True, it is a much larger land of 947,300 sq km compared to our just under 11,000. Its Mount Kilimanjaro at 5,895 metres makes our 2,256 metres Blue Mountain look like Carlos or Aubyn Hill. Its population is 41 million is more than 15 times ours. But size doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Languishing in the bottom ten percent of the world’s economies, its US$1,400 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is a crumb of Jamaica’s US$8,600. It is heavily agrarian, with more than 40 percent of its GDP coming from agriculture, which earns more than 80 percent of its foreign exchange and employs 80 percent of its labour force. Jamaica’s economy is more ‘modern’ with 60 percent of our workers engaged in the services sector.

Never mind the difficulties that Health Minister Ruddy Spencer has been having in meeting the demands of health in Jamaica that have caused him to shave off his prosperity rim around his head. Tanzanians live an average 52 years. We are healthier and live an expected 74 years

Around 36 percent of Tanzanians live below the poverty line, almost thrice Jamaica’s. More than half of them are under the age of 18 as opposed to Jamaica’s median age of 24. Only 69 percent of them are literate and it is not necessarily in English.

Growth Despite Challenges

Yet, with all of these challenges, one of Africa’s poorest still managed to have a growth rate of 7.1 percent contrasted to Jamaica's -0.6 in 2008, the year when our Informed Minister of Finance (IMF) said there was no imminent threat from the global financial crisis. Maybe Tanzania can teach us something.

Actually yes! Only 23 percent of its GDP is owed as national debt. Check Jamaica, 116percent and still going strong. As Prime Minister Bruce Golding stated on Sunday in a lukecold address to his party’s annual conference, “We are not doing enough to earn enough. The little money that we have is not being spent as wisely as it should.”

This is what you get when you have a country that has 2.7 million cell phones; one per person. Even the Great Land of Farrin the USA has only 270 million. One out of every ten Americans has no phone. Poor Tanzania has only 15 million cell phones; almost two out every three have no cell phones. Our problem is that we chat too much and can’t pay for it.

See! the distraction intended by the PM did work because it made me leave the critique until this column was out of space. Truth is, there was not much to comment on and we await the sliding signing of the agreement with the IMF before I retire. No! Not that aforementioned MF, the International Monetary Fund, I mean.

I am Speaking at ...

2009-11-18T01:54:00.000-08:00

July,8, 2010 Travellers Resort, Negril; Rusea's Awards Function, 7:00 pm

July 9, 10:30 a.m - 2:00 p.m. Broadcasting on "Hot Line" on RJR 94FM . It's RJR's Birthday so the programme will be special.

Remember the Hotlink between 12:30 and 1:00. Squeeze from WVIP 93.5 Link Up Radio and I take calls from the Tri-State area. Ask me anything! It is where "The truth comes to live and the lies come to die."

Call 876-9262178, 876-9268631, 876-9267615. From North America call 1-888-317-2347

Email: tayloronblackline@hotmail.com
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Where the Truth Lies Nov. 15-21, 2009

2009-11-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Well, it took this for me to finally open my mouth after a year of being pushed through the backdoor by my former editor. Actually, no backdoor was involved but I was still pushed. Now, the push is to speak because speech may be silvern but my silence won’t be Golding.

Being terminated and trying to avoid controversy is something many can empathise with. Getting the pink slip is oftentimes an affront to one’s manhood, especially when the employer gives a queer and quaint pretext, that is as transparent as the female underwear that bears the same name. The Commissioner, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin joined Bank of Jamaica Governor Derick Latibeaudiere and they have been put on the horse and shuffled out of town. A military man, Lewin is accustomed to being given marching orders, but this is ridiculous.

Latibeaudiere

That ‘Latty’ has been dismissed in not in dispute, although it is in disrepute. What is strange is not even the text of the Prime Minister’s (PM) speech but its pretext. The Governor was terminated because of his ludicrously large paycheck, a whopping "$38,363,360 plus a fully maintained car, entertainment expenses, medical and life insurance, guaranteed pension and all other benefits to which non-contracted service employees of the Bank are entitled." I would have been comfortable if he had indicated that the dismissal was for misconduct. With all the legal minds in the party and the expertise of all the trade unionists, could not even one of them show him how to trump up some charge or make a dismissal for misconduct stick? Insubordination could work. Didn’t the Minister of Fine ants (MF) - which must really be biting now, - mandate him to lower interest rates? Whatever is the case and however iron-clad the contract is, all contracts can be terminated summarily for misbehaviour.

Where there is misconduct, then the employer only has to pay emoluments and leave earned and not a red cent more. Since no charge of impropriety has been proffered then it must simply be that the governor and the government did not take tea. Given the breach of contract, the government is liable to pay Latty all of his unearned salary and buy out the contract. A hell of a price to pay for dissent. Bye bye Missa Latty Mi Bwoy! Take care Mr Incomaptibeaudierre. Now, the Driver has engaged the new brain, Brian Wynter, the son of Hector, late-labourite and journalist. We may be a tropical country but Wynters do come after false.

Commissioner

As for the Commissioner, he had “taken significant steps to stamp out corruption within the Force. He must be commended." Said the Prime Minister(PM).But not enough to control crime. So, it was not his act of commission but one of omission. The Ommissioner was dismissed. Come on! On October 12, the PM went to the direct employer of the Ommissioner, the Chairman of the Public Services Commission and complained that he "had lost confidence in the ability of the Commissioner to deliver the results that the country required." Bredren! It is at that stage that the real dismissal took place. In law we call that a constructive dismissal because all of Jamaica knows that when the PM tells the PSC that it does not want the employee, he does not relent. Section 5 (5)(c) of the Employment Termination and Redundancy Payment Act states that an employee is dismissed if “he is compelled, by reason of the employer’s conduct, to terminate that contract without notice.”

It was therefore very reasonable for the Admiral to salute, turn to the right and and "fall out!" by penning a letter of resignation three days before meeting with the PM on October 23.

My concern is that we now have an acting Commissioner, who had the crime portfolio, that led to us seeing the rear of the Admiral. What is the message that is being sent? Is it that Hardley was tying his hands or was the seaman being prevented from consummating his duties. I don’t like it because could pit police against police, especially since the “Commissioner Designate” vaulted six of his seniors to get the position. Owen Ellington is a good man who deserves all of our support in this war on crime, I just hope that the Prime Minister and crew give him a free hand and not feel that he can be vulnerable to his every behest like a marionette.

The Dust Unsettled

On another note, all wait with ‘baited’ breath as Uncle Sam asks for another of our own and it's not to join the army. People can say whatever they want but it is my opinion that too many of our citizens have been hurriedly shuttled out to the USA without enough been done to secure their rights. Haste makes waste. In any event, did not the indictment report that the individual did conspire with others to import and did, according to their evidence, bring guns into Jamaica? If that is the case shouldn’t we ask for them to be extradited to us? And why should we put US before us? Any way, let’s see how the dust settles.

In the meantime, threats have been allegedly made against Jamaican media houses over their reporting of the extradition request. It is unclear if the threat came from a credible source,since many enthusiasts will make ill-advised statements of the sort. If the short man is as smart as we think, it would be out of character to do so. Both the Gleaner and my employers, the RJR Communication Group have taken it seriously and have "beefed up security." Okay! I know that both locations are not easily accessible to the public, but how will the employees be protected 24/7? Me! I want two dogs, bullet-proof vests and two honest policewomen.

Understandably, General Secretary of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Chief Apologist, Karl Samuda has rejected the reports, declaring, "We're a civilized party and a civilized country and we must get away from this rumour mongering and rying to create havoc in our country. There's nothing of the kind ... dismiss it as abject rubbish,"

Nevertheless, while I am inclined to doubt that it was an "authorised" threat, the lingering question would be, "How would Samuda know?"

Opaque Transparency

Finally, we have slithered further down the ranks as Transparency International dropped us from having a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of 3.1 last year to 3.0 this year. Graded out of a possible of 10, the higher the number, the less is the perceived corruption. Like the Jamaican Dollar we have fallen unabated since 2003 when the CPI was at 3.8 and the country was ranked 57th on a list of 133 states. Now, Jamdown is 99th out of 180 nations.

Well, with a Junior Minister who allegedly took bribes while a serving bureaucrat under a previous administration; another who needed thousands of free light bulbs to brighten his economic future; a former ruling party that got an improper contribution from an international firm and now two female jurors or juresses who might have tried to obtain a bribe under duress and several members of the constabulary facing criminal charges, what do you expect? By the way, can you imagine a Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP, who lets off a co-accused scotch-free, without explanation,to turn him into a guiltless crown witness, then has the gall to seek majority verdicts instead of the present unanimous?

Oh! THe PM has "encouraged the police to act, despite the political ties of anyone believed to be involved in corruption." Talk and substance are not the same.