Did Chief Town Planner Mark Cummins Make Joke?

Submitted by Bush Tea

Mark Cummins - Chief Town Planner/Nation Newspaper

I laughed out loud at the Chief Town Planner (CTP) – see Nation Article. He is clearly well on the way to becoming a top civil servant like our friend George…..

There is no way in hell that government can do anything to owners of these lots other than what they already have all the legislation needed to do – require them to keep their lots clean.

Can you ask for anything simpler than that???!!

.. now if the ‘yo yo’s in government cannot enforce a simple, practical HEALTH law that requires the owners of these properties to keep them free of rubbish, bush, water and other rodent-and-mosquito breeding facilities….
…how would you rate the likelihood of them doing anything more drastic…?

But Mark is a giant (pun intended) of a man and he knows how to sound important and impactful – while talking a roll (good practice for ‘Permanent Secretaryship’ LOL)

The bushman was particularly impressed with the serious look on his face – cause he surely had to be rolling with laughter inside at the very thought of what he was saying.

Look!

CLICO Rescue Plan Announced, The Devil Will Be In The Detail

Government has announced the long awaited CLICO Rescue Plan if we go by a Nation report. Unfortunately up to the time of writing the blog intimate details of the plan had not reached the public domain. There is a reasonable expectation among Barbadians given the number of policyholders et al who are affected that full disclosure of the rescue plan should not be an issue. In 2010 all* Barbadians should be able to logon to a website and read for themselves the details of the CLICO Rescue Plan.

BU’s position has been articulated in several blogs. Unfortunately the CLICO mess has become political football. No doubt mistakes were made in this matter, people who are learned in these matters have expressed opposing views to support the point. Looking back, the Office of Supervisor of Insurance has been found to be most incompetent. By extension the government both former and current must bear some responsibility by not being proactive dealing with CLICO matters. To the Leader of the Opposition who has been preaching that CLICO should be placed under judicial management, she knows that this does not represent the silver bullet which she has stridently represented on the political platform. How does she explain selling CLICO assets in an economy which is in recession? Wouldn’t this mean that buyers in the market with cash would be in a position to exploit the situation? Bear in mind CLICO has been a financial contributor to both political parties albeit heavily weighted in the Democratic Labour Party’s corner.

Here is what we know from scrapping the Nation Newspaper:

Commissioner Darwin Dottin Seeks To Reassure The Public

Suspects alleged to have committed the heinous act at Campus Trendz location are in police custody.

NOW Confirmed!

Commissioner Darwin Dottin

BU listened to the Press Conference delivered by Commissioner Darwin Dottin today (7/09/2010) with heightened interest.  Needless to say the recent robbery and torching of a business located on Tudor Street has placed the Royal Barbados Police Force under the microscope.

Commissioner Darwin Dottin would have been under pressure to quell a rising public perception that crime  has been trending upwards in recent times. BU expected Dottin to use the tired comparison of comparing Barbados’ criminal statistics to those of the neighbouring Caribbean islands. We were not disappointed. To be expected Barbados continues to stack up well in the regional comparison. Why is it BU senses that Barbadians on the ground don’t share Commissioner Dottin’s enthusiasm?

Vitamin B Maybe The Weapon Against Alzheimer’s Disease

Click to watch the video (1.36 min)

Scientists at the University of Oxford conducted a trial on 168 people and found that taking high doses of three vitamin B supplements every day reduced brain shrinkage associated with dementia by up to 53 per cent – full article

This is good news for the aged population in Barbados. Memory loss and dementia are ailments which have been the scourge of the elderly for years. The elderly is a vulnerable group as it is but for it to be compounded with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is a travesty. Often times our elderly have worked their whole lives only to have some depraved person take advantage of them in their retirement years.

The Public’s Right To Know

Prime Minister David Thompson

There has been a clamour by some if not many that Prime Minister David Thompson should have been obligated by law to reveal the nature of his illness a long time ago. Unfortunately the Prime Minister had to return to New York this weekend to undergo an emergency procedure. Our prayers are with him and his family at this time.  It seems that the recent medical complication has driven the Prime Minister to go public with details about the state of his health. In a telephone radio linkup this week from New York Prime Minister Thompson advised he has authorized Dr. Ishmael (his personal physician) to provide Barbadians with details about his condition.

Commonsense suggests that any individual who assumes the office of Prime Minister must expect to share personal information with the public when the situation demands it. There is a point when the need for a public official like the Prime Minister to divulge personal information intersects with what is required in the national interest. The question therefore is – should the Prime Minister when he was first diagnosed with his sickness been legally obligated to disclose publicly the nature of his illness?

A Mirror Image To Boast About?

Here is what Kammie Holder is writing elsewhere – Credit to Nation Newspaper (Raw Version)

Kammie Holder

What mirror image do you have, and are you happy with what is reflected? Is the mirror image that of an educated, informed, creative and independent Barbadian? Can you honestly say yes?

Did you do the right thing today? Why in the year 2010 do we have six young people in the prime of their lives dying because the Town Planning Department or the Barbados Fire Service may have been less than diligent?

We cannot allow this to be another Arch Cot, and families of these victims will be encouraged to seek redress via a civil suit, if the law permits. Did any Government institutions fail to enforce the law?

Thus, I ask these institutions what’s their mirror image? Tell us it’s not selective enforcement or complacency? Those with voices must speak for the voiceless.

After being tossed about with screaming passengers on a British Airways plane in thunderstorms 62 two miles east of Barbados, I arrived at Grantley Adams International Airport from London, only to have to walk through the rain to Immigration.

Where The Blood Flows A Deep Red: Mexico

Submitted by Yardbroom

Relatives carry the coffin of Edelmiro Cavazos, mayor of the tourist town of Santiago, during a public homage there last month. Mexican security forces found the body of the slain mayor near Mexico's richest city of Monterrey days after he was abducted by gunmen. (Tomas Bravo / Reuters / August 18, 2010)

More than 28,000 people have been murdered in Mexico, since President Felipe Calderon began to wage war, using the Mexican military and Mexican federal police against drug cartels which started in 2006.  The numbers seem too large to grasp in a non-military to military context, but broken down and closely examined with the faces of men, women and children behind the numbers, and the circumstances of their demise…bellows a warning of what some seek.

A mere 2649 miles (approx) lies Ciudad de Mexico from Barbados, some would venture to suggest it is in our backyard, but I think not.  Why would I bat away such a suggestion.

Some 72 Central and South American illegal immigrants were massacred on a ranch some 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas border.  It was the third time, according to an AP report that Mexican authorities had discovered “large masses of corpses”.  In May, 55 bodies in an abandoned mine in Taxco, a tourist town.

In July the discovery of 51 corpses in a field near a trash dump of Monterrey.  On August 24 the APF reported a mini-massacre, at least 19 bodies discovered in a mine in the outskirts of Pachuca.  About two weeks ago gunmen slaughtered 17 people at a party in the northern Mexican city of Torreon.  Note 19 murdered is relegated to almost a foot-note, “a mini-massacre”.

Oh The Irony Of It All, First It Was The United Kingdom Followed By Germany – Who Will Be Next To Introduce APD?

Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy is a member of a Caribbean delegation on a mission to the United Kingdom to convey regional concerns to the UK government about the implementation of the Airport Passenger Duty Tax (APD). The tax is estimated to significantly add to travel costs of UK’s outbound air traffic to the Caribbean. The importance of the British tourist market to Barbados is well documented. Minister of Tourism John Maginley of Antigua is also in the delegation, in a BBC interview he hinted the objective of his delegation is to give the British government first hand feedback on how the APD will impact tourism in the Caribbean. Although not hopeful they will be able to influence the British government to reverse/amend its decision in the near term, they are hopeful that the Caribbean will be included in future discussions when the opportunity presents itself to review the decision.

Most surprising has been the announcement by Germany to introduce a similar tax albeit with a lower rate regime.   Germany has and continues to be one of the strongest economies in Europe and the world currently ranked as the fifth largest. Despite the current global economic conditions Germany has been one of the few economies to have performed well. The question being asked therefore  – why would Germany implement such a measure at at this time? The tax will obviously add to the economic woes of neighbouring EU countries and beyond.

It seems if we are to understand the German financial analysts, the conservative mindset of the German government makes them oppose to deficit financing. The decision to impose taxes at this time is driven by a good economy. The moral of the story told by the German, manage the deficit when the economy is good because one doesn’t know when it will turn bad.

Commentators Need To Tell It, Like It Is

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

I share the shock, sadness and outrage of all Barbadians at the Tudor Street disaster, in which six persons perished. I urge all Barbadians to pause and prayer at noon tomorrow, Friday, for the souls of those who died as well as for a cessation of such dastardly acts in this country of ours.

One positive feature of this whole episode was the manner in which all interest groups spoke in unison in their condemnation of the cowardly act that is purported to have triggered the fire. That sounded like the Barbados I once knew!

I say this because repeatedly in my writings over the past six years I have made the call for civil society to stand up and tell it like it is. We have moved away from the tradition of speaking openly and objectively on issues of concern to our people. Few persons who actually speak today can be classified as not having an agenda, and this is woefully unfortunate.

I have spent the past few weeks away from Barbados and it was refreshing to read newspapers and watch television discussions and talk shows and hear people speaking from the heart and from objective professional and philosophical perspectives. In parts of Europe and the United States certain commentators are known for their natural partisan, ideological and or ethnic bias, but yet there are others who can be relied upon to analyze the facts and give an unbiased opinion. That’s why I enjoy reading certain foreign newspapers. It’s perhaps why I also shun Fox News and CNN’s coverage of partisan, political events.

But, back to Barbados, I commend those who have spoken up and out against this most recent act of terrorism against our country. I agree with former Prime Minister Owen Arthur that it was an act of terrorism. On matters such as these and in circumstances such as this, Arthur can be relied upon to accurately reflect and articulate the sentiment of the majority. This is the human Owen Arthur. But then, put him in Parliament or on a platform, before a microphone and he becomes Arthur the politician. And therein lays the contradiction.

Empowering And Enfranchising The Broad Masses And Middle Classes Of People In Barbados

Submitted by The People’s Democratic Congress (PDC)

Any serious attempts by any elected government at substantially reducing poverty, social marginalization and political economic dispossession in this country must relate properly to its leading the way in very profoundly but rationally  altering the social, political, material and financial asymmetric relationships that have over the years existed between the government, the elites/pseudo-elites and the masses in this country.

As well, any attempts by such a government at further empowering  and enfranchising the broad masses and middle classes must also relate to such segments of people being able to ultimately fairly take own/control or preside over at any stage of those national public or private systems and processes that would be evolved to NOT ONLY help manage and direct these resulting mass of social, political, material and financial relationships in this country, BUT ALSO to ensure that they are the primary beneficiaries ( NOT the government nor the current elites ) of the resulting spiritual intellectual social material financial benefits that flow from these relationships.

Therefore, a very critical dispassionate assessment of our major social, political, material and financial policies would show that reducing poverty, social marginalization, and political economic dispossession to the very minimumest in this country, and would show that empowering and enfranchising the broad masses and middle classes of people in Barbados are two of the fundamental overarching people-centered goals of the People’s Democratic Congress. Hence,