Looks Today, Are Truly Deceiving

Hartley Henry - DLP Political Strategist

Notwithstanding what conventional wisdom suggested, hair, teeth, boobs and butt have always been the features my generation of men admired most in a person of the opposite sex. I know Granny’s advice has always been to look for character, integrity and intelligence, but my generation was never persuaded.

I remember my teenage years, in which the girl most adorned was she who ‘carried herself well’, but who also “looked good”, and ‘looking good” comprised beautiful face, shapely body and awesome smile. Back then, we thought our choices were hard, but recently this lad had the honor of going off to cricket with his 18 year old son and what an eye opener that turned out to be!

Indeed, it was last Sunday for the T20 Final at Kensington Oval. There, in addition to the excitement of the game and the ambiance of the cricketing arena, was a plethora of beautiful Bajan and other Caribbean ladies, and the thought came to my mind, what if my son were to ask my opinion of true beauty?

In my day, as I referenced earlier, we looked for the physical attributes, and a little intelligence always came in handy. Indeed, it was a good excuse to call the person at home, because there was always the pretext of wanting help with homework.

2010 World Summit On Human Rights for World Citizens

Submitted by Kai-yun Lu

Dear David,

I am Kai-yun Lu, a member of United Nations NGO AWC (Association of World Citizens). In this April we organized a series of activities to arouse people’s attention on human rights development from all aspects as well as on how we can do to save our common home – the earth for our children and future generations. Friends from all walks of life are invited to write down their ideas and experiences for sharing.

Knowing so much work that your articles on the blog  has contributed to help Barbados and your voice to be heard everywhere, we would like to invite you to share the view point by writing articles on protecting human rights and safeguarding the environment for a sustainable future.

The related information (with articles) is now available at  – “2010 World Summit on Human Rights for World Citizens” for your easy reference and understanding about our initiative.

Words of wisdom are powerful to help the world. No limitation to topics or the article length. We look forward to any valuable sharing to guide people from various backgrounds to learn from one another. With collective efforts, we believe we can make a change for a better future.

An Adulterer’s Right To Sue

Submitted by Sargeant

BU is always trying to tackle issues on moral grounds. I mean every month there is some thread on homosexuality but I don’t see any threads on infidelity but perhaps many don’t see infidelity as a moral issue.

The following is a story about infidelity with a twist because the woman who was caught is suing the media Corporation who let the cat out of the bag. The story in a nutshell ( I am attaching a newspaper article) is the woman had her cell phone in her maiden name and received her cell phone bill separately. The husband decided to “bundle” the internet, cable, home phone and his cell bill together which saves a whole whack of money. The next month when he receives the bill his wife’s bill is included with all the numbers that she had called including several calls of lengthy duration to one number. The hubby suspicious calls the number and discovered that his wife has been making the beast with two backs with the individual who is at this number. The husband picks up and leaves, the wife is devastated and spends her time all weepy at work, couldn’t perform her duties and in time is terminated from her job which pays $100,000 pa (she claims).

To Tax Or Not To Tax

Submitted by Looking Glass

Theories like ideology are “rooted in the material conditions of life, but despite what we are led to believe or want to believe there is no unilateral or universal relationship between the…the relations of production and the political and legal superstructure. The structure of society exerts a determinative effect upon the ideas which assume prominence.

Economics like self-interest is not morally neutral. Economic estimates premised on the broad generalizations contained in “rational behaviour” simply cannot account for the plethora of ambiguities inherent in the human species. For this reason estimates could result in over-optimistic conclusions and misguided policies. Some people suggest business tax-cuts, concessions and cuts in personal income tax are needed to resuscitate the economy.

Proponents of tax-cuts, essentially those favouring the supply side economics approach, view them as positive and necessary. Tax-cuts they maintain enable people and business to put in more effort, work harder, save and invest more at home. As the economy grows there will be more income and profits to tax. This would allow government to recoup revenue lost through the initial tax-cuts and facilitate deficit reduction. In addition it would induce people to change their behaviour in ways appropriate and beneficial to the society. But will tax-cuts and concessions lead to economic growth and employment?

Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary: An Unfiltered View

Submitted by Call a spade…(as a comment)

The rest of the BU family will probably be tired of our exchanges on Graeme Hall, but since we share a love of history I hope they will cut me a little slack one last time!

This morning I called an old friend who had a long involvement with the shooting-swamp at Graeme Hall.  In 1960, he was personally responsible for clearing about 20 acres of mangroves in order to create the large ponds I knew as a boy there.

Here is the history according to him:

1. The mangrove swamp, which was very dense, was part of the Graeme Hall plantation owned by a Mr. Dudley Clarke.  He operated a shooting swamp there, but nothing on the scale of what existed after 1960.

2. Ownership of this mangrove land then passed to a Mr. Eric Manning.  The manning family were very involved in bird-shooting.  The family use to own what is now Rockley Golf and Country Club, and there was a shooting swamp at the lower end of what is now the golf course.  When Golf Club Road and Rockley New Road started to be developed as residential after the second world war, the Mannings started to shoot at Graeme Hall.

The Quality Of Life

Submitted by Bajan Truth

Life is uncertain. Despite our concerns about the country, I want to wish the PM well and our prayers go with him and his family at this very difficult time. We trust that it is not as serious as it came over on TV.  But it sends a strong reminder to us as men, about the uncertainty of life and how important it is for us to take care of our health. We think of Smokey Burke,  the guy from Square One, and others who struggle at this time with serious health issues. Early checks are so important because as men we are important to the stability, protection and provision for our families, and in the PM’s case to the party. Perhaps yearly check-ups for leaders should be instituted here. I want to encourage every man, get early checks, take care of your health, watch the diet. A country or region can lose valuable talent needed for its development.  I think of Stephen Alleyne, Bradley Niles, the brother of Lionel Nurse; Aubrey Cummings, Rex Nettleford.  The roll call could go on.

It reinforces the fact that we need a state of the art hospital facility with specialised medical skills, to offer our citizens affordable specialised care. How many large sums of money are spent on tests, surgeries and treatments overseas? How many times we have responded as Barbadians to fund-raising appeals to pay for expensive but necessary treatment abroad?

We can lay hold of this niche to provide not only for Barbadians but other West Indians with the potential  to sell these services further afield. Billions of dollars are earned by India doing just that. We can too. It would  provide our medical graduates with opportunities for pursuing specialised fields and getting returns on this investment without having to leave our shores. It would provide greater diversity in our tourism product. Its success could provide higher pay for our nurses who are currently underpaid, and thus attract more persons to the profession. Also it can fuel  the growth of demand for other medical services such as physiotherapists, dieticians, physical trainers and spa services.

Barbados Government Workers Should Be Held To Improved Performance Standards And Non Performers Replaced

Submitted by Austin

As a senior management professional there are two key aspects to being successful in any business or government organization, (1) its leadership, and (2) its staff.  It appears that the Barbados government is “SEVERLY SUFFERING” from sub-standard performance in both these areas, which will only severely impact our ability to get our nation’s economy back on track, independent of how much tax payer money we throw at our problems.

To the issue of leadership, elected official are one thing but if the government official and workers appointed and hired to run the daily operations of our ministries, are not performing and reaching national civil service objectives, “THEY SHOULD BE REPLACED”.

Each year I establish performance goals and objectives for my staff that is clear, concise and more importantly “MEASURABLE”. Barbados government workers should be held to a similar standard, and if they are held to some standard it clearly needs to be revised.

Jackasses All Braying In Unison

The failure of the West Indies cricket team to make it through to the semi final stage of the ICC T20 tournament appears to have caught West Indian supporters by surprise. One would have thought a team with the track record of the West Indies cricket team in the last 12 years would  NOT have provoked such an uproar. Surprisingly even the unperturbed Captain of the West Indies Chris Gayle was driven to apologize to the West Indian people. Bear in mind, Mr. Duckworth Lewis was very generous to the West Indies in the preliminary game against England. Does anyone believe the West Indies would have scored 190+ to win that game?

As expected the region’s media has been having a field day carrying several opinions of regional cricket commentators echoing the plight of the West Indies team and offering the usual feeble suggestions to the way forward. In a nutshell, much of the outpouring of opinions and commentaries in the various media can only be described as high order flatulence aka bovine excrement.

BU was reminded to check the International Cricket Council (ICC) website to seek confirmation of the West Indies cricket team’s current world ranking. To no great surprise there was confirmation that of the 12 teams with ICC rankings, the West Indies occupies a distant number 8 position behind Pakistan with Bangladesh in tow.  To paint the picture, the four teams which trail the West Indies cricket team in the ICC Rankings are: Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Kenya. Again, did we reasonably expect West Indies to win the ICC T20 competition?

Airfare Sale To St. Lucia

Submitted by Adrian Loveridge

This afternoon we received an email highlighting special airfares from the United States and Canada to St. Lucia. It read:

‘Airfare Sales to St. Lucia from US$99 each way’ ‘Sample round-trip fares for Summer. American Airlines, JetBlue or Delta – New York – $198 – Boston – $312 – Washington (DC) – $292 – Baltimore – $282 – Charlotte – $360 and Chicago – $312 West Jet and Air Canada – Toronto – $298’

Not having seen these airfares before earlier this year, I then went of to American Airlines website and found a one way airfare of US$89 from New York to Barbados for travel in May.

Looking at the recently released forward hotel occupancy levels for this summer, I then went onto our national tourism website and was surprised not to find any links to details of these special fares. In fact on the site only two airlines are mentioned, US Airways and Air Canada, and I understand we have already lost the US Airways Philadelphia service.

How Many Sons Has Father Crab?

Submitted by Mario Herbert – GoWEB Caribbean

The minibus situation in Barbados has grown unbearable for some of us. Recorded music is not supposed to be played in these PSV’s (Public Service Vehicles), only the live radio stations. However, there are several Dance-hall CD’s in circulation featuring Father Crab, who shouts profanity and vulgarly throughout the entire CD. Passengers are subjected to hearing Father Crab “large off” all of the men who carry their own gun, and cannot be told what to do, while playing songs like “Press Trigger”. This not only promotes violence, but rebellion against authority too.

On one occasion, while Father Crab was encouraging this type of rebellious behaviour, a male passenger on the bus threatened to assault a female passenger, and when the conductor and driver forced him to disembark, he tried to break the window next to the aforementioned female passenger. When the conductor expressed concern about the window, he proceeded to brandish a knife, telling the conductor that he was prepared to kill him. I found all of this ironic, because the male passenger was simply acting out the music which was being blasted in the bus throughout this incident.