Is This Another Example of Rude Boy Behaviour Among Our Youth Mr. Farley?

Men Are Letting Down The Side

Hartley Henry - DLP Political Strategist

There is an aspect of last Sunday’s presentation of keys to new home owners at Marchfield in St. Philip that impressed as well as depressed me. First, however, permit me a moment to put the observation in perspective.

Two weeks ago I visited the showroom of a car dealership in Warrens, St. Michael. It was one of those days when the urge to see what was new and available simply could not be denied. I was forced to wait about 25 minutes for personalized attention because there were quite a few persons in the display area enquiring about terms and conditions of sale agreements.

I did not recognize many of the faces but there were mostly young men, holding what is culturally referred to as both white and blue collar jobs. It was astounding to hear the price of some vehicles and observe the determination of some of these guys to purchase new sport utility vehicles, in particular, irrespective of the cost.

Some guys were willing to sign on the dotted line there and then and by the time I left the showroom I am certain the Sales Executive with whom I spoke had herself chalked up a minimum of three “relatively safe and secure” sale commitments. I was happy for these young men and admired their tastes and their determination to “move up” in life.

Political animal that I am, I thought to myself ‘well things in the country cannot be that bad if demand for $200 000 vehicles is so high’.

That episode streamed completely out of my mind, until last Sunday while attending the handing over of keys ceremony at the new Marchfield Housing Development. What struck me most as the names of new homeowners were being revealed, was that the vast majority was either single women or pairs of women; perhaps sisters, relatives or mere platonic friends. I cannot recall any new owner being a single male and certainly less than 40 per cent were couples in the traditional sense of a man and a woman.

I do not wish here to personalize the observation to those particular homeowners, but to speak generally now in the context of that barometer reading.

Think Before You Speak Says Prime Minister David Thompson To Mia Mottley

Statement Issued By Prime Minister David Thompson (10 March 2010)

Prime Minister David Thompson

Think before you speak – that’s the advice Prime Minister David Thompson is giving to Mia Mottley in response to the Leader of the Opposition’s criticism of adjustments in Cabinet portfolios. Thompson said there was no greater indication of political combustion than in the situation where of the 10 talents given Mottley in January, 2008 “one has left the party, another has effectively left the country, a third has technically left the Parliament and the others are split down the centre in respect of their loyalty to her and her predecessor’.

“Prudent leadership in the 21st century demands continuous review and assessment.  A confident and competent leader must not be afraid or unwilling to effect change. Certainly, I would not condone a situation where every Sunday afternoon, half my parliamentary team is going north with me and the other half south with somebody else”. The Prime Minister continued: “Furthermore, in these challenging times when all hands are needed on deck, I would not condone a situation where one member has a foot inside Barbados and the other afar, and where my most experienced member absolutely refuses to sit with the Parliamentary team, even to discuss fiscal and economic theory.

Acknowledging World Kidney Day: Critical Role Kidneys Play Maintaining Our Health

Submitted by Courtney

In raising kidney disease awareness on this special day (World Kidney Day – 11 March 2010), it’s an opportunity to educate those at risk about the importance of early detection, and the critical role the kidneys play in maintaining our overall health.

I’d like to provide the following about Kidney Disease and Diabetes. Let me explain. One of the common causes associated with kidney disease is diabetes. Even when diabetes is controlled that condition can lead to chronic kidney disease and kidney failure

Diabetes is a disease in which your body either does not make enough insulin or cannot use normal amounts of insulin properly. Insulin regulates the amount of sugar in your blood. Diabetes can damage your system due to high levels of blood sugar making the kidneys filter too much blood. Diabetes also may cause damage to the nerves in your body. This can cause difficulty in emptying your bladder. The pressure resulting from your full bladder can back up and injure the kidneys. Also, if urine remains in your bladder for a long time, you can develop an infection from the rapid growth of bacteria in urine that has a high sugar level.

Hindus In Barbados Show Insensitivity

Today’s Nation newspaper in what history may record as a tipping point in the national conversation on race  relations in Barbados published a story titled,  Hindus want to spread the word. The opening paragraph of the article summarized the gist of the message;  HINDUS IN BARBADOS want to spread their religion and customs throughout the country to the point of convincing Government to grant national holidays for the observance of Hindu festivals. BU would have warned Barbadians for the past three years that this day would come.  To quote BU family member Jay, I want to say emphatically that this “Guyana society” must be absolutely nuts to try something like this.If you want your “observance” why not go where it is already recognized……in Guyana.It makes me wonder if this is being done on purpose to hurt the image of Barbados & to have a more conciliatory Government.Just like what has happen currently in Australia.They can already observe the day,why is a “national holiday required” ?

In recent days we have seen an escalation in the immigration rhetoric from David Commisiong and Norman Faria. Now we have this article published by the Nation which touches the prevailing sensitivity linked to the immigration Indo Guyanese issue. It is no secret that there is a group who has tag teamed to lobby the interest of others at the expense of what  the majority of Barbadians want. Does it matter that Barbados has a Black host population of over 80% which has been exemplary in charting the course of this country in our post independence period? We survey other countries blessed with more resources than us but who continue to be mired in economic, political and religious strife.

It is eerie the path which Barbados is beginning to embark. It seems like only yesterday when a similar conversation started in Trinidad. If we were to scan Trinidad’s Public Holidays for 2010 we note there is a Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Indian Arrival Day, Corpus Christi, Id al Fitr (End of Ramadan), Divali (Hindu Festival of Light), Christmas Day and Christmas Day. The Trinidad and Tobago population mix is weighted more towards 50:50 Blacks and others. To this day T&T continues to be challenged by the multi-racial composition of its population. Barbados has the opportunity to define the type of society it wants based on the experience of others. Why should we rush knowingly into a situation when the evidence is available to provide a heads-up?

Should We Be Concerned Over The Current Viability Of Our Tourism Industry?

Submitted by Adrian Loveridge

Sue Springer, Executive Vice President Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association Barbados

When one of our largest hotel groups recently published their accounts for the financial year ending 30^th September 2009, it sent a powerful wake-up call to our tourism policymakers. A total of 1,530 rooms spread across five hotels, three of which are here in Barbados managed a total turnover of BDS$62 million. Even at a virtually impossible occupancy rate of 100 per cent, that is an average room rate of US$110 per night. At a more realistic rate of 75 per cent that average drop to just US$74. Clearly to maintain a 4 star standard on an all-inclusive basis with continuously escalating costs, this cannot be sustainable.

Discounting has become a way of life for many hotels and other tourism players, simply to maintain the numbers and staffing levels. ‘We’ have added 80,000 new airline seats annually alone from the United States, a market that has not registered any consistence growth over seven years. Already, even before the end of the peak winter season, flights are being cancelled, so what happens post Easter?

Despite the appointment of a new Advertising Agency, a new website and a massive increase of the marketing budget in our second largest market, we still seem not to be able to influence the numbers in relation to the monies spent. Apart from the Tourism Industry Relief Fund (TIRF), the private sector has largely been left to survive on their own, forced to absorb constantly increasing operational costs, while being encouraged to safeguard employment.

Reference Page Posted for Long Beach

Submitted by Graeme Nature Hall Sanctuary

Long Beach Swamp

As a public service the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary has set up a reference page containing copies of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) documents regarding the proposed Long Beach development in Barbados.The page can be found here.

This page will be updated as more files become available. Sanctuary officials have been interested in the outcome at Long Beach, as both Graeme Hall and Long Beach are traditional wetland conservation areas on the South Coast.

Barbados Water Management In A Mess

The recent appointment of former Senator Arni Walters as Executive Chairman of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) has raised more than a few eye-brows. Given his extensive experience working in the labour market, one would have assumed his skills would have been needed in the position he was just removed. After all, the economy is expected to contract over the near term in a global economy which continues to behave sluggish. The other side to the argument some say, the government sees the organizational restructuring and transformation needed at a BWA in shambles as priority number one.

The poor state of the  financial and management structure at the BWA which has reached a crisis state  in recent months is an embarrassment to the country to say the least. It seems idiotic that during the boom years this most important state enterprise would have been neglected to the point which led it to being insolvent under the current administration. Perhaps Barbadians should have taken note when the BWA was excluded from the oversight of the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) when it was established under the former government. The argument given for the exclusion by some at the time was  that the government wanted to shield the less well off in the society from water rates driven by purely economic considerations. Given the financial state at the BWA it is conceivable that an FTC imposed rate may have been more burdensome.

The decision by the government at the time to enter into an agreement with Ionics Freshwater Ltd in hindsight was part of an ad hoc water management strategy at best. The Ionics water desalination plant is designed to provide fresh, potable drinking water to one-sixth of the island’s 264,000 people. The 30,000 cubic meter per day (7.9 million gallons per day) plant utilizes reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology. We learned recently from Minister Lowe who has responsibility for the BWA that the government is contracted to pay Ionics Freshwater Ltd 10 million dollars annually. Minister Lowe expressed the view the price is too high. We all look forward to when the agreement expires originally set for 15 years.

Hermeneutics And Exegesis

Submitted by Georgie Porgie

Any truly valid interpretation of Scripture must be based upon sound rules. These rules must then be applied consistently. The following are the most basic rules we attempt to always follow in our interpretation of Scripture. We do not feel at liberty to discard these rules when they lead us to a conclusion in contradiction to what ‘orthodoxy’ has taught us.  We instead endeavour to allow the scriptures to speak for themselves and believe by faith whatever conclusions they may lead us to.

I  It will be assumed that the 39 books of the Old Testament, and the 27 Books of the New Testament are the wholly inspired Word of God. “That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim 3:17.

II  The Bible itself will always be used to define its own terminology, symbols, etc. No appeal will be made to any man-made dogma, theory, or writing, such as the apocrypha or psudopygrypha, to explain Biblical terms which are already clearly defined within the Bible itself.

III  The proper interpretation of any given passage will be determined, not only by that with which it stands immediately connected, but by considering all scriptures which have bearing upon the subject throughout the entire Bible . The truth of any given subject can only be determined by bringing together all scripture which sheds light on that subject.

IV  Every passage will be given as literal an interpretation as possible, unless such a literal interpretation would render the meaning absurd, or bring it into disagreement with other passages which speak in positive language.

V  No interpretation will be given to any scripture beyond what the fair meaning of the text itself allows. For Example: Carcass cannot in any case be interpreted to mean immortal soul burning in hell.

VI  All passages belonging to any particular subject must contain one or more of the peculiar features of that subject, by which it may be identified as belonging to that subject.

VII  The truth of any doctrine must be determined firstly by those passages which speak in clear and positive language, and not those which are symbolic or parabolic in nature. No inference should be drawn from any symbolic or parabolic passage which would bring the passage into contradiction with those which speak unequivocally on the same subject.

VIII  No doctrine will be derived based on a single passage of scripture, a mere inference, or an argument from silence. Any true doctrine will found throughout the entire Bible.

Fundamental Rules for Interpreting Scripture

The Arthur Years In Retrospect

Submitted by Looking Glass

Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur

“As the good book warned, “do not listen to the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless: they make you speak a vision of their own heart.” (Jeremiah: 23)

Arthur’s presentation is a reminder of vested interests tacking with the wind hoping to recover a piece of the remaining pie. Presenting as objective and without blemish he ply his wares in an arena of hypocrisy, deceit and trifling wisdom. For those transfixed with fear the crisis could be of value if they are given higher understanding of the cause and aftermath. However, some mainstream critics appear as lacking the broad understanding needed to manage the recovery.

Nations gain advantage because of differences not similarities. The role of government in creating and sustaining national advantage is both important and significant. Here the government’s policy toward the economy is to deploy resources– labour and capital– with high and rising levels of productivity, which requires ongoing improvement and innovation not unsustainable indebtedness.

Arthur cannot claim to have laid the foundation for national advantage in anything beyond disaster. His tenure, a sombre catalogue of achievements, was largely one of simplistic half-truths, misrepresentation, mismanagement and reliance on debt. There was no clear strategy to involve non-traditional exports as a basis for restoring and sustaining income levels and growth, and no far reaching agenda for restructuring. No ‘industrial’ accomplishment from which to form a base for take-off and or powerful additions to fuel economic development. That was left to the vagaries of tourism. The lack of an appropriate macro-policy mix led to increase liability, balance of payment problems and greater dependence on external loans which hid the ongoing structural stagnation. The result was a stagnant almost moribund economy the very complexity of which created obstacles to simplistic change, and a widened chasm between poverty and wealth.