Barbados Government To Remove Duties On Vehicles Of Returning Nationals

Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart at the Inaugural Barbados Diaspora Conference currently being held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, to run from August 5th – 7th, 2010, announced that duties will be removed on the cars of returning nationals. There was the further announcement that Barbadians living in the Diaspora can open Foreign Currency Account in Barbados. The changes are expected to take effect from September 1, 2010. The initiative is the brainchild of Prime Minister David Thompson.

It is a strategy designed to encourage Barbadians living in the Diaspora to invest in Barbados, especially during these difficult economic times.

The Myth Of Building A Society Without The Economy – Part 1

Submitted by Sylvan Greenidge … a former BLP Press Secretary

Photo Credit: John Fenze Blog

There can be no social tranquillity without economic stability and democracy.

If there is one thing upon which all Barbadians can agree it is that the Moyne Commission, set up to investigate the social rebellion of 1937, had established that when people are economically marginalized, social unrest becomes the order of the day.

It is therefore against this background that I find the Democratic Labour Party’s comment that they are “building a society and not an economy” outrageous to say the least. How can a political party that boasts of having a student of history of the calibre of Freundel Stuart be so ill-informed of the country’s history and hence in danger of repeating the experiences of 1937. There are still persons alive today with vivid memories of that dark and oppressive period for working class blacks.

The structure of the current DLP Government, like the one of the early 1990’s, severely lacks the competence and guidance of an economist that can help formulate and direct their economic policies. The emergence of Clyde Mascoll in the DLP at the time he did, though short it was, should really have been their economic investment for the party’s political future. But Thompson’s political dream of becoming Prime Minister became an obsession and that obsession led to a vicious political blood sport that became the driving force of the Party’s existence and so Clyde Mascoll had to be removed come what may.

Mr. Thompson’s was seen as the person capable of winning the election for the DLP and so his ability to secure the support of big business and their big bucks was deemed more important than the acquisition of the prerequisite skills necessary for the Party to effectively govern and administer the affairs of our country and its people. Our country’s political future was sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. Mr. Mascoll was sacrificed for Mr. Thompson. On reflection it is clear to see that the political soul of the DLP was sold for a mess of pottage.

The Day I Walked Down To The Sea At "Rapparee"

Submitted by Yardbroom

Ilfracombe - Photo Credit: John Moore's Website

In a sprinkle of showers on a summer’s day sometime ago, I walked down to the sea at Rapparee. Rapparee cove lies at the foot of a steep cliff in North Devon on the South Coast of England.  Should you have difficulty in locating Rapparee Cove on the map, fear not, it is beneath Hillsborough cliff, which lies between Ilfracombe and the small bay at Hele.  Why did I walk those rolling hills, on the verdant landscape of North Devon and what was my purpose to stand alone and dwell by the sea at Rapparee.  I invite you to turn the clock back some 214 years this October, for it was then this story unfolded.

On the night of October 9th, 1796 a transport ship “London” bound for Bristol from St Lucia in the West Indies with master William Robinson, sank in stormy seas near the harbour of Ilfracombe.  On board were black prisoners some say “slaves” – but I will not labour the point here – who had fought with the French for their freedom against the British and were defeated.  They were now on their way to Bristol, England.  Also included in the cargo was treasure lots of it and as is often the case, riches can do strange things to men and dare I say it- women as well.

Down below as the ship crashed against the rocks were men chained and fettered unable to escape, as the cold water crashed about them.  No doubt there were screams of anguish.  Men would have been prepared to rid themselves of their own limbs if that were possible but alas that was not to be. “Tradition says that many of them were drowned with iron fetters on their legs”: Slade-King 1879 TDA p 167.  In the dark icy cold waters of North Devon peace came to their souls when water replaced oxygen in their lungs.

Alternatives To Sugar – For Diabetics And Weight Watchers

Submitted by Doc GP

Click image to read PDF presentation

Need For Freedom Of Information And Protection Of Privacy Legislation In Barbados. Need For Greater Security At Our Local And Overseas Missions. Need For Integrity Legislation. The Follow Up On Minister Denis Lowe – The Secretive World Of Peter Andrew Allard Part VI

Peter Allard

BU continues our exposé of the secretive world of Peter Allard.  It is important for unsuspecting Barbadians to appreciate how  the tentacles of a rich foreigner could have and possible still can; compromise  the workings of the sovereign state Barbados.  Here is a report which was prepared by Canadian fugitive from justice, Donald Robert Best, who operates under the codename NATHAN, taken from the files of Kenneth William McKenzie in the Nelson Barbados matter. Bear in mind Peter Allard is a rich Canadian who has taken a liking to Barbados. He is the owner of the closed Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.  He sanctioned and  paid all bills and along with the Knox family, was responsible for one of the worst international invasions of privacy, abuses of legal process and downright stinking behaviour ever to have been exposed anywhere in the world that we are aware. Please note that, although BU has a document which is in the public domain, a decision to redact the report out of respect for the privacy of certain individuals named was taken.

The report details:

• Collecting evidence and contacts on money laundering.
• Investigating and trying to obtain the names of Bajans with off-shore accounts and companies in the Marshall Islands (close to New Zealand).
• Attempting to establish contacts with and enlisting the interest and support of Jeanette Molina, a publicity-hungry and highly injudicious (if the report of Mr Best is to be believed) assistant district attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s office who, allegedly and according to Donald Best, “would be interested in pursing any case we [Allard, Best, Knoxes, McKenzie et al] bring her in the New York area”.
• Collecting the shredded documents from the garbage of David Shorey from his Saint Michael address (next door to the Canadian High Commissioner’s residence, the British High Commissioner’s residence and countless other diplomatic and government residences AND TO GOVERNMENT HOUSE) and shipping them to Canada to be re-assembled.
• Conducting property searches in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas on, among others, Mr Shorey, Lynne Marie Simmons (the daughter of Sir David and Lady Simmons), Leonard and Marcia Nurse, Dan and Shirley Sherman and the parents of Barbados’ leader of the opposition, Mia Mottley, Elliott and Amor Mottley. Mr Elliott Mottley Q.C. is the former attorney-general of Bermuda and a highly internationally respected jurist.
• Of particular concern, the surveillance, photographing and “staking out” of the Barbados Consulate in Miami. Further, the suggestion that John Knox and Jane Goddard be assigned the task of joining the stake-out for the purposes of identifying Bajans who visit Barbados’ Miami Consulate. BU has provided this evidence with the expectation that the Government of Barbados present it to the US State Department and to the Governor of Florida with an official diplomatic protest.
• The staking out of the new prison at Dodds and the surveillance and photographing thereof and of its suppliers, including listing their corporate names. This is a clear breach of Barbados’ own prison security.

All of it paid for and sanctioned by benefactor Peter Andrew Allard and the Knox family. These are the same people who have used valuable court time by laying claim they have been threatened. Despite it all Barbadians are known to be law-abiding and peaceful nation and, even under such extreme provocation, we will protect their legal rights, persons and properties as if they were our own and urge others to do the same. So that any violence done to them, real or mental – or imagined – or MANUFACTURED, will be self-inflicted.

Turning to the matter of Minister Denis Lowe, another Peter Allard former associate. Here is an update promised in an earlier blog:

Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave…

Hartley Henry - Principal Political Advisor to the Hon. Prime Minister

“Jesus had no servants yet they called him Master; He had no degree but they called Him Teacher; He had no medicines yet they called Him Healer, He had no army yet was feared by Kings, He won no military battles yet He conquered the world; He committed no crime yet they crucified Him, He was buried in a tomb but lives today!”

This is from one of those emails I received this week asking me to circulate it among friends. I take the liberty now of circulating this among the entire readership of the Barbados Advocate and I ask you, as I am still doing, to reflect on it. Jesus’ life, as I understand it, is an example for us to follow and His teachings are a guide to our role here on earth.

He pushed at the barriers of perception and thought and acted outside of the box (to use an over-worn phrase) not only to get His message across but to encourage and sustain his followers. This was not a quotation of His. This is a very valid comment on the power of the man.

A man is the sum total of his parts – his physique, his socialization, his education, his family, his profession and all of the other things that make him into who he is. Jesus is unique in that regard and I am not suggesting or recommending that any of us mere mortals will reach the stature which the quotation claims for Him and with which believers agree.

Should The Barbados Board of Tourism Lead The Way In The Revival Of Our Crop Over Festival?

Submitted by People’s Democratic Congress (PDC)

Another Crop Over Festival in Barbados has ended, with entertainer  Blood capturing the Road March title from other contenders with the song “Foot on Fire”. And truth be told, had NOT for its own capacity to be made so intensely commercially viable but so wretchedly politically exploitable by a few power-hungry money-grubbing people, this Crop Over Festival would have long gone by the way side like it previously did.

But, like the wider society, polity, and so-called economy in Barbados, this really little, cultural extravaganza, a micro-cosm, is being used by many elites/government functionaries for the primary purposes of aiding in the elite/state political exploitation of the masses and middle classes by ideological financial cultural imperialist means.

So, while there is no longer – as it really was – during the old Barbadian plantation enslavement society  – the burning of “Mr. Harding” to signal the ending of Crop Over festivities and the beginning of “hard times” in between the Crop Seasons then, and while there is no longer in today’s post-independence Barbadian society too – but quite regrettably however – the burning of Mr. Harding to signify the end of the modern day Crop Over Festival, it can be safely argued by the People’s Democratic Congress (PDC) that long since those days when the Crop Over Festival was revived by the Barbados Board of Tourism in 1974, to principally woo more tourists to the island during the so-called summer season in Barbados, following its demise in the 1940s owing to the continuing decline in the importance of the sugar industry to the Barbados economy, there would have been many fundamentally wrong and senseless decisions and policies linking the Crop Over Festival more and more to local Tourism,
a very fickle, culturally destructive industry, to increase its commercial income generating potential.

Slaughtering Tired Migratory Birds, A White Man’s Sport In Barbados

Submitted by Whistling Frog

Credit:Care2 petitionsite

For years now every July to the end of the year bigup white men with teeny weensy penises and big shotguns murder indiscriminately poor defenceless tired birds that are trying to migrate for the coming winter months. Some of these bird have flown over 3,000 miles for safe refuge only to be met by these sadistic BASTARDS who gleefully and laughingly continue this program which they have now called HARVESTING so as to lessen the real meaning SLAUGHTER…..

I would like to see people in surrounding villages who are harassed on a daily basis by the constant barrage of automatic fire (like it were Vietnam or Iraq) to get some bullpistles and lick the shite out of those pathetic men or should I say boys who have nothing else in their lives to do than prey on creatures minutely smaller than themselves for SHEER PLEASURE.

Altercation Between 2010 Calypso King Mighty Gabby And Tony ‘Admiral’ Nelson Backstage Cohobblopot Show

Mighty Gabby, Calypso King

Tony 'Admiral' Nelson

At a time when the country is struggling with indiscipline, the gun incident between Minister David Estwick and former Attorney General in the highest court of the land would not have helped. This matter remains outstanding several months after the incident occurred. The latest is that the matter has been referred to the Committee of Privileges by the Speaker of the House. Yet another matter buried to fade with time by our politicians.

Late late night the news broke that the 2010 Calypso King of Barbados was engaged in an altercation with CBC Radio Personality Tony ‘Admiral’ Nelson backstage at Cohobblopot, Kensington Oval. It seemed inevitable that something would snap among Crop Over stakeholders after the booing incident at Bushy Park last weekend. The crowd showed its displeasure at Terencia ‘TC’ Coward being declared one of the winners.  TC reacted in an unprecedented manner by forfeiting her right to participate in the face off with Anderson ‘Blood’ Anderson giving up her chance to win a car!

• Here is a hard hitting interview given by Admiral to Caribfyah TV
• See picture of Admiral reporting the matter to Chairman and CEO of the NCF
• See picture of Admiral displaying his torn shirt

Pictures (only) compliments of Peter Boyce’s Facebook page.

Adults Wearing School Uniforms To Crop Over Parties, Are They Also Supporting The Alumni And Parent Teachers Associations?

Joy Workman and Eudine Barriteau (right), deputy principal of the University of the West Indies - Photo Credit Nation Newspaper

The 2010 Crop Over Festival is about to reach its climax. Tonight will see the staging of Cohobblopot which is being promoted with all local performers; a departure from the past two years. Tomorrow the masqueraders will take to the road to jump on Kadooment Day on a new route which has generated the usual controversy among the band leaders. All in all the NCF directorate seems to be happy with how the festival has gone so far. Not sure the criteria which is being used.

Before the festival closes we want to share our opinion on the growing popularity by adults to wearing their school uniforms to Crop Over fetes. The fetes are openly promoted as ‘Back to School Fetes’, to be admitted a school uniform must* be worn. There was one such fete a couple weeks ago by Power X 4 which attracted thousands of party people and the police had to stop the fete for security reasons. If Barbadians did not have an opinion on the matter the outspoken Minister of Education Ronald Jones provoked many given his position on the matter.

“. . . Because of the profound respect I had for the uniform of my school, I am not wearing that to any fete, before school, after school, or even during school, especially during vacation; unless it was a special programme organised by my school where you ask the students to turn up in their uniforms.

“How far we have drifted. The kind of respect we hold to certain symbols that give us authority, that give us presence in our schools. There are so many things that people can do to enjoy themselves. I want them to leave the uniforms alone. I want them to leave the uniforms for the symbols of the schools,” Jones said” – Nation Newspaper.