A Love Letter To Barbados Light & Power

From the Facebook Page of Rosemary Parkinson

I was once a vibrant, beautiful woman without a wrinkle! But this is what your harassment of my life has turned me into. Perhaps a court case would be in order for turning me into a monster with your bills???

BARBADOS LIGHT & POWER - are you waiting for the whole of Barbados to just come down to your offices and scream and shout and behave bad like a set of lunatics all because of your incessant insistence on taking the mickey out of each and every Barbadian who uses a light bulb in this country? Has it dawned on you that two years ago the very same bill from you for the very same usage of your raas gold power at our residence was BDS$400 a month? One year later for the very same usage of that same raas gold power of yours suddenly became BDS$750 a month? Within this last year that very same usage of that very same gold power suddenly became platinum at BDS$1000?.. and now to add insult to injury… one month…yep! I said one month later your raas platinum power has become more expensive than uranium – the bill being BDS$1700 for same said on month supply?

Nothing has changed in terms of usage in this household for the last two years. Sorry! Mea Culpa. I lie. At great cost I turned in my old fridge for a new Energy Saver one! But nothing extra has been purchased to plug into sockets that feed into your miserable meters that are read when you feel like it. The price of oil plummets, the recession arrives, people are losing their jobs and you, dear, dear BARBADOS LIGHT & POWER find it amusing to hike everyone’s right to light to suit your investors’ dividends at the end of a year. For, God forbid, those should drop!

Airport Immigration Treating Bajans Like Aliens

Chief Immigration Officer Erine Griffith (r) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean (c) Senator Darcy Boyce (r)

Where there is a will there is a way. Through the year when members of the BU household have had to travel, a discussion has always erupted about the  difference in approaches by the immigration departments of United Kingdom, US and a few other places compared to Barbados concerning how nationals returning from overseas trips are processed.  The ‘Aliens’ have their passports scrutinized with the obligatory questions posed, the passports of the nationals are scanned in seconds with minimal delay. It seems the intent is always to get nationals through the process with minimum discomfort.

On the other hand Barbadians returning home, if they are unfortunate to be caught in the melee created when several planes converge at Grantley Adams International airport, have to endure the painful process of having passports checked and immigration documents reviewed. One would have thought in 2011 with machine readable passports a scan of the passports should be all that is required to capture relevant information. The truth is Barbados’ situation is not unique, a visit to most islands in the Caribbean will replicate the sorry tale.

Are Our Journalists Competent?

David Ellis

There was an exchange this week between a regular caller to the talk show, known as anti-American, who challenged moderator David Ellis that he (Ellis) and traditional media should have done more to lead public awareness about the FTC BL&P recent rate hearing. David Ellis predictably responded that his job as a journalist was to present news and not lead public opinion.

The exchange brought to mind whether a journalist who essays the overriding need to be balanced is qualified to host a talk show which promises to fully ventilate issues of national import. What it means, if public sentiment overwhelmingly speaks to its concern about a matter, Ellis the journalist who needs to be balanced will not feel obligated to champion the cause. How could he when his philosophy is to be ‘balanced’?

Barbadian Public Officers Betrayed By Caribbean Court Of Justice

Caswell Franklyn, Head of Unity Workers Union

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was established mainly to replace the British Privy Council as the final court of appeal for Caricom member states. Originally, only two member states, Barbados and Guyana, signed on to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ. Belize followed recently. Since the court was established to service 14 member states and now only services three, it would appear that the CCJ is under worked.

One would have thought that since the court is not over burdened, it would be able to take time and deliver well researched and well reasoned decisions. Unfortunately for Barbadian public officers and persons employed at statutory boards, whose employees are pensionable under the Statutory Boards Pensions Act, that was not the case. On April 3, 2009, in the case between Winton Campbell and the Attorney General, the CCJ delivered a judgement that would deny public officers any benefits if their jobs were abolished, that is if they were severed, until they reach 60 years of age or sooner die.

Public workers who lose their jobs, through no fault of their own, are not entitled to receive severance payments or unemployment benefits. According to the CCJ, they would only be entitled to their last month’s pay and pay for any accumulated vacation immediately, and they would have to reach 60 years of age in order to get anything that is due to them.

Sad And Naughty Known Associates [SANKA]

Submitted by Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Supporter

 

It’s very commendable that one of the editors of one of the leading print media in Barbados has taken up the challenge of voicing the concerns of the public who according to the article seems to be in contact with so many Barbadians. It is quite pleasing that freedom of the press does allow for these persons to write without any fear of losing their jobs.

The article posed a number of questions to our Minister of Finance and bore the signature CRUEL. It is quite Sad and Naughty that Known Associates of the Opposition would seek to damage the editorial integrity of their employers by publishing week after week articles that seek to undermine the very fabric that makes it possible for all to coexist. But, nevertheless it is quite refreshing that “those citizens who, as independent individuals have no entity to speak for them” have found one in their champion CRUEL.

However, it is quite Sad And Naughty that Known Associates of the Opposition continue to practice intellectual dishonesty by not reminding Barbadians that “ the current Administration faces a more severe crisis than any other in the history of independent Barbados.” …”it is the most devastating since the Great Depression of the 1930s when a quarter of the United States work force was idle”.  It is quite Sad And Naughty that Known Associates of the Opposition expect , the high fuel cost and soaring food prices are all within the remit of this administration to control.

CARIBBEAN STOCK REPORT June 27 to July 1 2011

Compiled by the Department of Management Studies, UWI Cave Hill - Click image to read in PDF

The Failure Of The WICB As A Modern Slave Plantation

Submitted by Pachamama

 

Embattled former West Indies captain, Chris Gayle

At a time when the peoples of North Africa and Southern Europe are seeking to shake off the hegemonic imperialistic structures of oligarchy, humiliation and despotism the black elites of the West Indies Cricket Board of control are presenting a brutal plantocratic image that equals or dwarfs the worst expressions of the slave system. As part of a wider neo-liberal initiative of illegitimate sporting bodies, it is destined to failure.

This brutal institution under the guise of having an interest in the development of West Indies cricket seeks to limit the internationally recognized civil and human rights of players and the union that represents them in the most perverse and Kafkaesque manner. It argues that it has a right to control the private behaviors of players. It believes it has a right to characterize the private thinking of players as ‘antagonistic’ and ‘unrepentant’. Its leading Zionist oligarchs assume the right to decide who the players’ union representatives should be ahead of negotiations. It acts in ways that limit the ‘freedom’ of cricketers to contract their labour under market conditions using petit nationalism as the last stronghold of their tyranny. The WICB believes it has a right to dispense privileges instead of a recognition of basic human rights.

The Regional Bullies Are At It Again

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (l), Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar (r)

BU resisted giving our two cents on the current tug war between Barbados and Trinidad but defend we must the yella blue. All the other Caribbean islands defend their ‘colours’ and honour, Bajans however are expected to be a rare breed of people who should adsorb the disrespect of our Caricom neighbours with ‘grace and aplomb’.

First it was Guyana heaping their crap on us in the great immigration debate, Jamaica recently joined the fray with the still unsettled Myrie incident and now Trinidad and Tobago – the ridiculous outstanding fishing agreement not withstanding – decides to demonstrate  disrespect for Barbados by screwing us on REDjet’s certification. The issue of airworthiness was never a problem until REDjet exhausted the approval process. Now we are being asked to believe uncertified pictures which have miraculous;y appeared on the Internet showing a rusting landing gear of an alleged REDjet plane. Allyuh must think Bajans foolish fuh trute.

To add to the mamaguying being pulled by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, she trumpeted at the recent St. Kitts Caricom Summit that she is backing a Fast Ferry Service as a solution to making regional travel more affordable. How convenient that such a service would not have to compete with CAL. How convenient the proposed passenger fare is $15.00. It should also be noted that a similar service on the San Fernando/Port of Spain sea route has been a financial failure to date.

The Plight Of Greece And What it Portends For The World

Submitted by the People Democratic Congress (PDC)

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The very dire financial economic debt situation facing Greece at this stage is one that warrants significant study by many people in Barbados and beyond. Greece, which has been described on Wikipedia.com, as the cradle of Western civilization, the birthplace of Western democracy,  the founder  of  classical Western political philosophy, the originator of European art and literature and mythology, and the Olympic games, among other things, has since 2009 been experiencing muchly severe economic and financial crises of prodigious proportions enough to shake the historical foundations of that society.
So, as it verily stands now, this vastly under populated Hellenic country – much of which lies scattered in the Aegean, Ionian and Mediterranean Seas, has been forced to undertake a draconian hell-like IMF/EU bail out, since May 2010.

Such a gargantuan political financial catastrophe will surely make it seems that much of the social development that Greece has recently achieved and that has led many others to describe it  as a developed country, one with a consistently high quality of life rankings ( 22nd on the United Nations Human  Development Index),  and with a  high income economy, would be in the process of being reversed most disgracefully by such turn of events.

The Great Misdiagnosis

Reproduced from Financial Sense – Credit: Moneybrain

By Jim Willie - click image to read author's bio

Imagine a doctor who administers an elaborate treatment for a man suffering from multiple broken bones, joint arthritis, and fallen foot arches. The quack doctor orders massive amounts of liquids as though he has a horrible case of dehydration. The inept doctor also permits unlimited freedom of movement around the hospital and its grounds to the patient, as part of the blunt treatment. The man still cannot walk right or breathe normally, has trouble lifting any significant weight with the arms, and stumbles around from shaky legs. But he has plenty of fluids and freedom to roam, urinating like a race horse. With the heavy mistreatment that is badly off the mark, he has a new problem, diarrhea and bloat together. His doctor is an idiot, incompetent, but still given respect.

The doctor is the US Federal Reserve, led by the lousy economist who never ran a business, the mad professor from Princeton University. His claim to fame was revisionist history of the Great Depression. He was chosen to be the bagholder, to print money until no tomorrow. The USFed balance sheet is almost totally ruined, without hope of repair. The clumsy oaf professor posing as USFed Chairman actually admitted in public that he is confused why the USEconomy remains moribund, unresponsive to all the special treatment administered so thoroughly. Bernanke admits his incompetence. The national economy desperately requires a housing market revival that cannot come since banks are constipated with foreclosed homes in still rising inventory. The misguided licensed doctor continues to ply his trade, directing the wreckage, confused at the helm. Now the hospital is overrun by victims of the USEconomy, sinking under the weight of debt.

At least the health care sector is expanding as a business, the government sector too. Neither is productive. Meanwhile, the nation sinks into a depression, the debt approaches a default, and the USDollar faces extinction through revolt, rejection, and evasion. The nation suffers from lost direction, absent leadership, and unspeakable corruption from the climax of the Fascist Business Model introduced by the last administration with large doses of fear. The dominant themes in the USCongress and Executive branch are clearly paralyze, polarize, and partisan. Tainted money has been followed by tainted morality, policy, justice, and representation, enough to invite a public response. Let’s take a quick look at numerous pressure points, broken parts, and centers of ailment. The doctor is extremely busy in confusing both the patient and anxious family. They are repeatedly told the patient is on the mend, but he keeps falling down when attempting to move on his own power. The family has lost faith in the doctor, but no other medical professionals seem any more enlightened.