61
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62
General Discussion / Re: SIA Shocker
« on: January 25, 2011, 10:55:27 AM »ok so we agree to disagree, but it is widely accepted that he towed the party line even when he KNEW he was speaking less than the truth.
As for the link I posted that is all over the internet as released files garnered from freedom of information act.
Powell's own staffers have said eh knew he was chosen to sell the awar becasue he ahd much more credibility than the others on the staff.
I am not trying to say that Powell was a shawkish as the rest, as it is well documented that he was sometimes the single voice of dissent in the White House during W's Presidency, but he appears culpable making false statements to the UN and the world regarding Iraq
"Widely accepted" by whom? Now you just making up shit because it is "widely accepted" by most critics of the failed OIF/OEF that Powell was misled. Everyone knows his credibility in the UN was the currency used to buy support for the war and nobody is disputing the fact that he is "culpable for making false statements"... he got up there in the UN and sold a lie. The issue is whether he knew that what he was saying was a lie or not. Outside of people making extreme calls to indict every manjack, you's the first man I ever hear say that Powell was in on the lie. The vast majority, from policital commentators, intelligence analysts and sundry 'talking heads' have always concluded that he was misled, and that is the single reason why he's since been estranged from Bush directly, and the Republican party indirectly.
No one is making shit up. Powell was part of the inner most of inner circles. he was a powerful man, in a very powerful positiona nd in with Bush each step, even if he was against the war, and was the voice of reason in teh administartion, you are saying that Bush Cheney , Rumsfeld all kep him in the dark about the lies?
Makes little to no sense.
Many analysts that worked in the admin stated that THEY knew it was false, but Powell who was right there ias a top advisor did not know? In fact some have said, well many have said that he knew.
Hard to fathom!
Please read this CBS 60 minutes report.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/14/60II/main577975.shtml
63
General Discussion / Re: SIA Shocker
« on: January 25, 2011, 01:44:03 AM »
ok so we agree to disagree, but it is widely accepted that he towed the party line even when he KNEW he was speaking less than the truth.
As for the link I posted that is all over the internet as released files garnered from freedom of information act.
Powell's own staffers have said eh knew he was chosen to sell the awar becasue he ahd much more credibility than the others on the staff.
I am not trying to say that Powell was a shawkish as the rest, as it is well documented that he was sometimes the single voice of dissent in the White House during W's Presidency, but he appears culpable making false statements to the UN and the world regarding Iraq
As for the link I posted that is all over the internet as released files garnered from freedom of information act.
Powell's own staffers have said eh knew he was chosen to sell the awar becasue he ahd much more credibility than the others on the staff.
I am not trying to say that Powell was a shawkish as the rest, as it is well documented that he was sometimes the single voice of dissent in the White House during W's Presidency, but he appears culpable making false statements to the UN and the world regarding Iraq
64
Football / Re: The Jack Warner Thread.
« on: January 25, 2011, 01:04:28 AM »I heard Jack talking to the press today and it sounds like he has some kinda respiratory issues
Somebody probably secretly hang ah string ah garlic arung he neck.
Oh my goodness.
65
General Discussion / Re: SIA Shocker
« on: January 25, 2011, 12:59:13 AM »
As Sec, of State Powell has his OWN intelligence team called thr INR, subsequent reports suggest that he KNEW full well that there were no WMD's and his own INR made reports to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on WMD intelligence.
Powell also made up so called intercepted Iraqi communications and was thusly implicated the Bush admin lies.
The INR also stated their concerns about the fallacy of what he was going to report to the UN on the tubes they said Hussein was going to weaponize, as he reported they were cpmparable to similar missle tubes on the US MArk 66 misslie systems.
Also if you read Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack you wills ee that in recorded converstaions, even Powell had his reservations in private about WMD's.
The INR also alerted Powell to several other statemenst in his prepared speech to the UN as "weak" and "ithout merit"
He still persisited.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/iraq-wmd-intell_appendix-a.htm
Powell also made up so called intercepted Iraqi communications and was thusly implicated the Bush admin lies.
The INR also stated their concerns about the fallacy of what he was going to report to the UN on the tubes they said Hussein was going to weaponize, as he reported they were cpmparable to similar missle tubes on the US MArk 66 misslie systems.
Also if you read Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack you wills ee that in recorded converstaions, even Powell had his reservations in private about WMD's.
The INR also alerted Powell to several other statemenst in his prepared speech to the UN as "weak" and "ithout merit"
He still persisited.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/iraq-wmd-intell_appendix-a.htm
66
General Discussion / Re: SIA Shocker
« on: January 25, 2011, 12:03:34 AM »
I am unsure anyone lied to Powell, he saw the lack of intelligence, went before the UN and pussy footed around without delivering the smoking gun.
He raised objections yes, and was subsequently removed from his job, a job, from all reports that he wanted to keep.
He raised objections yes, and was subsequently removed from his job, a job, from all reports that he wanted to keep.
67
General Discussion / Re: SIA Shocker
« on: January 24, 2011, 11:57:05 PM »NO DEGREE: Reshmi Usha Ramnarine
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Share!X DeliciousDiggFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedInMySpaceNewsvineRedditStumbleUponPrint this articleGRAND LIES
Govt calls UWI after stating Reshmi had degree; finds out she's no graduate
By Denyse Renne denyse.renne@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Jan 24, 2011 at 11:45 PM ECT
(Story Updated: Jan 24, 2011 at 11:45 PM ECT )
THE Government only made a request to the University of the West Indies (UWI) for all academic documentation related to Reshmi Usha Ramnarine the day after it announced she was a graduate of the university.
It was also the day she tendered her resignation as Director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).
It is still unclear whether she was appointed to the SIA or SSA, with the Government saying it was SSA and the Office of the President stating it was the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA).
Sources say the request to UWI came on Saturday, following question marks over Ramnarine's academic qualifications for the top-level highly sensitive security post raised in an exclusive Express report.
A reliable UWI source has said that Ramnarine is not a graduate of the university with a BSc in Information Technology (IT).
On Friday in Parliament, National Security Minister John Sandy, Foreign Affairs Minister Suruj Rambachan and Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar said Ramnarine was qualified for the position of SSA Director
Sandy, during his contribution in Parliament, said a meeting held with the National Security Council to consider a recommendation from the Deputy Director of the SSA resulted in Ramnarine being the suitable candidate to head the agency.
Sandy said Ramnarine had nine years, experience in the organisation and "is a graduate of the University of the West Indies."
Rambachan told Parliament that Ramnarine has a BSc in IT and is a second-year student at UWI, where she is completing a BA in Psychology. Rambachan also said Ramnarine has international experience and has been at the agency for nine years.
On Saturday, one week after being given the instrument of appointment to head the SSA, Ramnarine tendered her resignation, stating she feared for her personnel safety.
A press release from the Ministry of National Security's Communication Unit said Ramnarine's resignation was accepted by Sandy.
When contacted on the matter of Ramnarine's record as a graduate yesterday, UWI principal Prof Clement Sankat said: "Those matters are quite confidential and I will not be commenting on personal student matters. I gave all relevant information to the Ministry of Science ,Technology and Tertiary Education."
When the Express contacted Fazal Karim, Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education and line minister for UWI, he said he made no such request.
"I did not request anything, why should I?"
Asked whether someone in his ministry may have made the request, Karim said: "If they did, I have no idea."
Following the ministers' unwavering support for Ramnarine and the assurance that she is indeed qualified, the Express managed to obtain a copy of Ramnarine's resume which she sent to various media houses.
The resume showed that, prior to 2007, Ramnarine did not have any degrees. Some of her qualifications included a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) in April 4, 2005-May 12, 2008, from UWI and a certificate from BorderCom International.
When the Express visited UWI's St Augustine campus yesterday, records provided showed Ramnarine was not among the graduating class of 2007, 2008, 2009 or even 2010.
Records further showed that UWI only started a BSc degree in IT last year and the only other computer-related programme offered during the years was a BSc in Computer Science.
[/b]This in itself is contradictory to what Ramadhar and Rambachan stated in Parliament—that Ramnarine has a BSc in IT because the programme only started last year. [/b]
SIA employment records, which the Express obtained, confirmed Ramnarine has four years' experience as a junior communications technician, a position she held until her elevation one week ago to Director of the SSA.
The records also showed that certain aspects of Ramnarine's qualifications mirrored those of a Deputy Director at the SIA.
The Deputy Director in question has nine years experience, is a graduate of the UWI and also has international experience participating in workshops and seminars in Canada, United Kingdom and the United States of America.
It was only last year the Deputy Director returned from a seminar in New York, sources say.
Sources further added that though Ramnarine may have been recommended to the post, it was the duty of the National Security Council to ask pertinent questions and even interview Ramnarine, especially since the unit is a sensitive one which deals with intelligence gathering and matters of national security.
Efforts to contact Sandy, Rambachan and Ramadhar were unsuccessful yesterday.
68
General Discussion / Bandits, clowns and mimic men...
« on: January 24, 2011, 08:55:45 PM »
Bandits, clowns and mimic men...
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Monday, January 24, 2011 at 7:48am.In a country where everything and everyone seems to have a price, we appear to be delving deeper and deeper into a dark place desperately searching for light.
Nothing that was campaigned against was real, nothing.
Not one charge has been laid despite millions of dollars being paid to lawyer friends and drinking buddies.
The Government that promised change has failed to live up to that promise, and are instead hard at work doing everything they said they were against prior to being elected, and doing it with a vengeance.
The blimp was bad but now it's good, the helicopters were a waste but now they're not, the highways wont work but now they will, abuse of Office is old politics but apparently so is new politics, nepotism was the old way, so how come the new way is looking the same?
The appointment and subsequent removal of an inexperienced thirty one year old friend of a Party hack/former journalist to run the Intelligence arm of our National Security has left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth and has had the effect of completely upsetting the population with this Administration.
In place of Tixiera's take it or leave it Property tax we have Ramlogan's piano; for Gary Hunt's flag we have Anil's concert series, and in place of Martin Joseph's failure we have John Sandy's.
The Government's tired and overworked spin doctors, having demonized the PNM, deified Kamla and neutered the press through the use of State advertising and corrupting hiring policies STILL find themselves reeling from an over informed and very involved population.
Their bag of tricks must be nearly empty and it is only eight months in, what will they do when someone other that Jack finally drops the 'N' word in Parliament or Anil lives up to the promise of Anil?
What?
Will we rise?
The yeast of common purpose, nationhood and unity was squandered early along with all the given goodwill, and the lack of substance or anything like leadership emanating from the Red House since May 24th is causing formerly managed social cracks to widen in an onslaught of criminal enterprise.
Despite their protestations to the contrary and their many campaign events, it is plain to see that this Government will collapse at some point before their term in Office is up; the only remaining questions being time and what will be left to Govern after they're gone.
The light at the end of the tunnel that many mistook to be salvation is turning out to be disaster and an oncoming train.
.
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Monday, January 24, 2011 at 7:48am.In a country where everything and everyone seems to have a price, we appear to be delving deeper and deeper into a dark place desperately searching for light.
Nothing that was campaigned against was real, nothing.
Not one charge has been laid despite millions of dollars being paid to lawyer friends and drinking buddies.
The Government that promised change has failed to live up to that promise, and are instead hard at work doing everything they said they were against prior to being elected, and doing it with a vengeance.
The blimp was bad but now it's good, the helicopters were a waste but now they're not, the highways wont work but now they will, abuse of Office is old politics but apparently so is new politics, nepotism was the old way, so how come the new way is looking the same?
The appointment and subsequent removal of an inexperienced thirty one year old friend of a Party hack/former journalist to run the Intelligence arm of our National Security has left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth and has had the effect of completely upsetting the population with this Administration.
In place of Tixiera's take it or leave it Property tax we have Ramlogan's piano; for Gary Hunt's flag we have Anil's concert series, and in place of Martin Joseph's failure we have John Sandy's.
The Government's tired and overworked spin doctors, having demonized the PNM, deified Kamla and neutered the press through the use of State advertising and corrupting hiring policies STILL find themselves reeling from an over informed and very involved population.
Their bag of tricks must be nearly empty and it is only eight months in, what will they do when someone other that Jack finally drops the 'N' word in Parliament or Anil lives up to the promise of Anil?
What?
Will we rise?
The yeast of common purpose, nationhood and unity was squandered early along with all the given goodwill, and the lack of substance or anything like leadership emanating from the Red House since May 24th is causing formerly managed social cracks to widen in an onslaught of criminal enterprise.
Despite their protestations to the contrary and their many campaign events, it is plain to see that this Government will collapse at some point before their term in Office is up; the only remaining questions being time and what will be left to Govern after they're gone.
The light at the end of the tunnel that many mistook to be salvation is turning out to be disaster and an oncoming train.
.
69
General Discussion / Kamla in Wonderland... (c'mon, you knew it was inevitable)
« on: January 23, 2011, 10:24:54 PM »
Kamla in Wonderland... (c'mon, you knew it was inevitable)
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 2:25pm.So here we are, eight months into the experiment called the People's Partnership and no one is quite sure what it all means; The agreement that was signed bringing it to life has never been made public so no one other than a select few have any clue as to what was signed to.
The PNM supporters, entrenched and unmovable as little as one year ago, are walking around dazed in circles.
Soundly beaten by the antics of their own former Leader, they are busy trying to regroup and rally around their new Leader who, while appearing comatose for a while, seems to finally be finding his voice if not his feet.
You can tell that, even though he has not yet lived up to the promise of himself and that he has not yet captured their hearts and minds, the enemy of my enemy remains my friend; and while he is not the best port to their current liking (all things can change in politics), like it or not he is their only port at present and will have to be loved either until he grows into his role or until the opportunity to replace him arrives.
The UNC supporters, happy to be in charge of the cash register again are in their glee as more Indo Trinidadians getting opportunities that they believe were unfairly enjoyed by Afro Trinidadians for too long not that long ago.
Happy to see their Afro brothers and sisters lose their ill gotten gains, the UNC have stowed away the pretty face adopted for the campaign and are in full on attack mode against all that is perceived to be PNM.
The COP supporters, responsible in no small part for the curious and hitherto unpredictable turn of events have found themselves in a no man's land, not sure if they're in between the devil and the deep blue sea or a rock and a hard place and are standing motionless, stunned, and mumbling their displeasure to each other.
Playing the role of the mad hatter to the hilt, they continue to enable the Queen's excesses, if only as a way to save themselves.
Kamla, elected Queen of the rabbit hole is making herself a quiet riot in our politics and suggests that if these zany decisions are really hers then she is not Prime Ministerial material and ought to be fired.
If they aren't then who commands the Prime Minister?
What manner of real life madness is this where the true Leader of the country is masked and controls who we think leads?
And what of us, the electorate, the population, the people.
What part do we play in this crazy political fairy tale.
Are we supposed to stand by and look on in wonder, or are we destined for more than just tea and crumpets at the mad hatter's table?
These are actual quotes from the story Alice in Wonderland, they bear such similarity to events taking place daily in our bit of the garden I thought I'd attribute them to events and characters, just so you understand why I think we're all living in Wonderland:
The King
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. - Dr. Keith Rowley's apparent plan post Patrick Manning
The Queen
Sentence first -- verdict afterwards. - Anand Ramlogan, in dealing with everything since being appointed Attorney General
Alice
If it had grown up, it would have made a dreadfully ugly child; but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think. - An excellent description of the UNC under its current Leadership according to Basdeo Panday
The Mock Turtle
We called him Tortoise because he taught us. - Roodal Moonilal on Basdeo Panday
Alice
You're nothing but a pack of cards! - As Jack Warner said to the CAL Board, which immediately turned around and ignored him.
The Duchess
That's nothing to what I could say if I chose. - as concise a comment as possible if Kamla ever chose to be completely honest with everybody.
Alice
It would be so nice if something made sense for a change. - COP supporters, fed up of the political mudslinging and the nothingness emanating from Parliament.
Mad Hatter
No wonder you're late. Why, this watch is exactly two days slow. - Winston Dookeran trying to explain the state of the economy.
Alice
I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see.- The thinking electorate, those with genuine love of country, depressed at their condition, damned if they don't, damned if they do.
The Duchess
If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does. - Suruj Rambachan's media policy.
The Cat
We're all mad here. - I leave this one up to you....
.
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 2:25pm.So here we are, eight months into the experiment called the People's Partnership and no one is quite sure what it all means; The agreement that was signed bringing it to life has never been made public so no one other than a select few have any clue as to what was signed to.
The PNM supporters, entrenched and unmovable as little as one year ago, are walking around dazed in circles.
Soundly beaten by the antics of their own former Leader, they are busy trying to regroup and rally around their new Leader who, while appearing comatose for a while, seems to finally be finding his voice if not his feet.
You can tell that, even though he has not yet lived up to the promise of himself and that he has not yet captured their hearts and minds, the enemy of my enemy remains my friend; and while he is not the best port to their current liking (all things can change in politics), like it or not he is their only port at present and will have to be loved either until he grows into his role or until the opportunity to replace him arrives.
The UNC supporters, happy to be in charge of the cash register again are in their glee as more Indo Trinidadians getting opportunities that they believe were unfairly enjoyed by Afro Trinidadians for too long not that long ago.
Happy to see their Afro brothers and sisters lose their ill gotten gains, the UNC have stowed away the pretty face adopted for the campaign and are in full on attack mode against all that is perceived to be PNM.
The COP supporters, responsible in no small part for the curious and hitherto unpredictable turn of events have found themselves in a no man's land, not sure if they're in between the devil and the deep blue sea or a rock and a hard place and are standing motionless, stunned, and mumbling their displeasure to each other.
Playing the role of the mad hatter to the hilt, they continue to enable the Queen's excesses, if only as a way to save themselves.
Kamla, elected Queen of the rabbit hole is making herself a quiet riot in our politics and suggests that if these zany decisions are really hers then she is not Prime Ministerial material and ought to be fired.
If they aren't then who commands the Prime Minister?
What manner of real life madness is this where the true Leader of the country is masked and controls who we think leads?
And what of us, the electorate, the population, the people.
What part do we play in this crazy political fairy tale.
Are we supposed to stand by and look on in wonder, or are we destined for more than just tea and crumpets at the mad hatter's table?
These are actual quotes from the story Alice in Wonderland, they bear such similarity to events taking place daily in our bit of the garden I thought I'd attribute them to events and characters, just so you understand why I think we're all living in Wonderland:
The King
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. - Dr. Keith Rowley's apparent plan post Patrick Manning
The Queen
Sentence first -- verdict afterwards. - Anand Ramlogan, in dealing with everything since being appointed Attorney General
Alice
If it had grown up, it would have made a dreadfully ugly child; but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think. - An excellent description of the UNC under its current Leadership according to Basdeo Panday
The Mock Turtle
We called him Tortoise because he taught us. - Roodal Moonilal on Basdeo Panday
Alice
You're nothing but a pack of cards! - As Jack Warner said to the CAL Board, which immediately turned around and ignored him.
The Duchess
That's nothing to what I could say if I chose. - as concise a comment as possible if Kamla ever chose to be completely honest with everybody.
Alice
It would be so nice if something made sense for a change. - COP supporters, fed up of the political mudslinging and the nothingness emanating from Parliament.
Mad Hatter
No wonder you're late. Why, this watch is exactly two days slow. - Winston Dookeran trying to explain the state of the economy.
Alice
I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see.- The thinking electorate, those with genuine love of country, depressed at their condition, damned if they don't, damned if they do.
The Duchess
If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does. - Suruj Rambachan's media policy.
The Cat
We're all mad here. - I leave this one up to you....
.
70
General Discussion / Re: As suggested..My Rants
« on: January 22, 2011, 02:04:08 AM »
1. Yes
2. Yes.
2. Yes.
71
General Discussion / Political Courtship... (or Who's on Top?)
« on: January 21, 2011, 11:23:00 PM »
Political Courtship... (or Who's on Top?)
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 6:22pm.I have been told that as the only purpose of buying a drill is to make a hole, so too public support for any political Party is only a means to a financial end.
Watching the debate in Parliament this evening made me realize that either all members of the House of Representatives are convenient liars or their capacity to forgive and forget is directly proportional to their proximity to a Cabinet position.
How else can one explain people who formerly tore each other to shreds as political adversaries now embracing each other in a Parliamentary love fest that threatens to make grown men cry?
Quite possibly the greatest turn from venomous hate to tender love would be that displayed by Austin Jack Warner for Kamla Persad Bissessar, and the speed at which she went from 'falling down drunk in Gandhi fountain' to 'my Prime Minister' might have converted the staunchest non Christian to following the teachings of Christ.
Or that of my COP colleagues, whose distaste for former vinegar has become an addiction to new wine, with public displays of affection punctuating each contribution and a feeling of one love permeating the Chamber.
Based on this budding political romance I have just one question to ask:
Why remain two separate Parties?
If there is nothing but love growing in former fields of acrimony, why not consumate the love under one banner?
Imagine the photo-op as Winston and Kamla say political 'I Do's' with Jack as best man and Glen as ring bearer under the beaming gaze of Speaker Mark; the headlines would scream 'One Love' has returned to the land once again and all would be well in the Kingdom.
I offer this abundance of sarcasm in my writing because we all know a farce when we see one, and if the words are farcical, what of the motives?
Have the COP Members of the House fully integrated themselves into the UNC, and if so, what of the Leadership of the Party?
I ask this on behalf of the membership, those who agreed to support the Party's sojourn into Partnership with that which they formerly held in contempt, and from which there are no signs that signal the dawning of integrity under the rising sun.
I further ask for clarity from the powers that be in the Congress of the People to identify that which is fact and that which is fiction, and to guide me and others as to whether the Congress of the People is in fact still a political Party in its own right.
The members and supporters have a right to know and deserve to be treated with respect; eight months into the accommodation we would like to know if the principles articulated as 'New Politics' have been demonstrated as yet.
We need be careful that in our effort to fool all of the people we do not end up fooling only ourselves; time like twine as the old people say, has a tendency to run out.
.
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 6:22pm.I have been told that as the only purpose of buying a drill is to make a hole, so too public support for any political Party is only a means to a financial end.
Watching the debate in Parliament this evening made me realize that either all members of the House of Representatives are convenient liars or their capacity to forgive and forget is directly proportional to their proximity to a Cabinet position.
How else can one explain people who formerly tore each other to shreds as political adversaries now embracing each other in a Parliamentary love fest that threatens to make grown men cry?
Quite possibly the greatest turn from venomous hate to tender love would be that displayed by Austin Jack Warner for Kamla Persad Bissessar, and the speed at which she went from 'falling down drunk in Gandhi fountain' to 'my Prime Minister' might have converted the staunchest non Christian to following the teachings of Christ.
Or that of my COP colleagues, whose distaste for former vinegar has become an addiction to new wine, with public displays of affection punctuating each contribution and a feeling of one love permeating the Chamber.
Based on this budding political romance I have just one question to ask:
Why remain two separate Parties?
If there is nothing but love growing in former fields of acrimony, why not consumate the love under one banner?
Imagine the photo-op as Winston and Kamla say political 'I Do's' with Jack as best man and Glen as ring bearer under the beaming gaze of Speaker Mark; the headlines would scream 'One Love' has returned to the land once again and all would be well in the Kingdom.
I offer this abundance of sarcasm in my writing because we all know a farce when we see one, and if the words are farcical, what of the motives?
Have the COP Members of the House fully integrated themselves into the UNC, and if so, what of the Leadership of the Party?
I ask this on behalf of the membership, those who agreed to support the Party's sojourn into Partnership with that which they formerly held in contempt, and from which there are no signs that signal the dawning of integrity under the rising sun.
I further ask for clarity from the powers that be in the Congress of the People to identify that which is fact and that which is fiction, and to guide me and others as to whether the Congress of the People is in fact still a political Party in its own right.
The members and supporters have a right to know and deserve to be treated with respect; eight months into the accommodation we would like to know if the principles articulated as 'New Politics' have been demonstrated as yet.
We need be careful that in our effort to fool all of the people we do not end up fooling only ourselves; time like twine as the old people say, has a tendency to run out.
.
72
General Discussion / To serve man.
« on: January 21, 2011, 10:51:30 PM »
Wrote this three days after elections, took a lot of stick for it from people who telling me now boy yuh was right, yuh was right, yuh was right.
I told Winston people too fed up of Manning to vote PNM, take a chance, let the COP go it alone.
Now look where we are.
...
Plain Talk - Phillip Edward Alexander
Thursday, May 27, 2010Reality There is a Twilight Zone episode called “To Serve Man.”
Aliens come to Earth and bestow upon humankind a swift, easy and free path to plenty. Hunger ends. Peace reigns. No one questions the aliens’ motives, except for one man who is trying to decipher a book entitled “To Serve Man,” which the aliens have given to the world’s leaders.
He too soon gives up and joins the throngs of tourists flying off to visit the aliens’ planet. He’s boarding the spacecraft when his secretary tries to stop him, hollering what it is they’ve decoded: “To Serve Man — it’s a cookbook!” - So, as you see, there is no free lunch, literally or figuratively. But there is lunch — and you may be it.
I almost got all teary eyed at the swearing in yesterday and, having abandoned my concerns and reservations about the coalescence of the mismatched and the perverse, jumped on the bandwagon myself...
Almost.
There are problems with the picture.
My major concern is that the science does not bear out the outpouring of emotion and people have a sort of political amnesia. They literally see what they want to see.
We've been here before.
The reason coalitions are doomed to fail is not because we're a cynical lot, but because the ideologies of the protagonists are so different as to run afoul of each other during the planning stage of any adventure. It's easy for everyone to get along when it's 'us' against 'them'. When it becomes 'us' against 'us' is when the plot really thickens. What will hold it together then, the flag? Patriotism? National Pride?
Trinidad's cup does not really run over with these things, it's not like we're Jamaica or Barbados, Islands where the people retain their identity even when in exile in foreign lands; but I digress.
Those who would justify this experiment (adventure) have compared Trinidad's coalition with what is obtaining now in Great Britain, and even that is at some point bound to fail because if it does not, it will expose the lie that politics has an 'either or' option. Were it not so, why have a Parliament?
What would be the point of Opposition if we could all just get along? Add to that the fact that Trinidad is made up of fundamentals that cannot be changed by wishing, and which cannot be erased by the best of intentions and you will not be surprised when the thing collapses.
I wrote a note entitled 'Where Do We As A People Go From Here', which attempted to outline a brief history of the differing elements (tribes) that make up our nation, and the goals and objectives of each and why they differ, and must differ fundamentally (http://plainlytalking.blogspot.com/2010/05/where-do-we-go-from-here_06.html).
In that note I asked three basic questions:
1. Is national unity a hoax?
2. What divides us?
3. Can what divides us be rewoven into something more of a national identity?
As an example of the divide - For all his best intentions, Daaga cannot undo the damage done to the Africans by slavery, nor the mad distribution of wealth of this country called the Cedula of Population (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedula_of_Population).
A truly afro-centric Government would be more interested in the redistribution of the national treasure and rightly so, because the wrongs done to a people that have kept them socially dependent can only be undone by collective responsibility, collective atonement, and a national attempt to put the wrongs right.
To any Afro-Trini worth his history reading the above, the point is at least valid and worthy of discussion.
To the heirs of the white planters who were given the divided acreage based on the total amount of African slaves they owned, well, let's just say their view would be different. To the people who think history is just that, history; who want to pretend that we aren't where we are because of historical wrongs want to see black people as white people with a groovy tan.
Am I picking a side. No, not yet. I am simply saying that there are very deep divisions that need to be addressed and joining of hands to walk up the magic mountain is not going to solve them.
The above was used as a basic example, and divisions obtain for all the races.
The point I am making is, can you make Beetham Gardens into Goodwood Gardens by a joining of hands?
Is crime the result of wayward black youth who need to be aggressively policed, tried and jailed? Or is crime the result of a failed social system that ignored the plight of the weak and downtrodden even as the wealthy raped the treasury and made off with the national treasure? Can black people be put in their place? Should they? Where exactly is that, the bottom of the social ladder? Perpetual servitude?
I am going to judge this new Government not on pollyanna feelings of butterflies and rainbows, but on the yardstick of its promises as laid out in its manifesto.
I will also judge it on what it failed to say.
The concept RISE, that was hijacked and used as a gimmicky party slogan was much, much more than that. It was intended to be a part of a national program of understanding, atonement and restoration. The people of this country are rubbing abrasively against each other because gimmicks are not working.
We need time honored truths like respect and 'right of place' to be established for ALL people regardless of race, tribe or religion. We need to forget the 'Douglarisation' and 'Chutneying' of the nation and focus instead on the core issues that affect the differing groups and, in respecting and repairing wrongs on a historical and national level, pass on responsibility for things like law and order and national pride and respect to the true leaders of these communities.
The concept of rise was to empower the different communities, respect their individual cultures and get them to work, because when the people feel a sense of belonging, their natural response is to defend and build.
The fist lesson in psychology is the absence of hope brings madness.
Have we learned that from our national experience as yet? Or are we going to distract the natives with gimmicks and hoodwink them so we can enrich ourselves. Are we again going to give the natives platitudes as trinkets instead of real leadership aimed at a cohesive plan of National reconstruction?
Time alone will tell.
The first 120 days were enunciated by this new Government as the timeframe for major programs to be enacted that would form the bedrock of social change that would free our people from the low expectations we REALLY have of those who lead us.
I am going to try to reserve judgement for 120 days (I said try).
I remain a political activist. Political Activists don't get to dress up and clink glasses to herald the changing of the guard. nor do we jockey for position and patronage in any new administration.
We man the wall. We ring the bells and set off the alarm when danger arises.
Nothing has happened thus far to make me believe true change has come.
I told Winston people too fed up of Manning to vote PNM, take a chance, let the COP go it alone.
Now look where we are.
...
Plain Talk - Phillip Edward Alexander
Thursday, May 27, 2010Reality There is a Twilight Zone episode called “To Serve Man.”
Aliens come to Earth and bestow upon humankind a swift, easy and free path to plenty. Hunger ends. Peace reigns. No one questions the aliens’ motives, except for one man who is trying to decipher a book entitled “To Serve Man,” which the aliens have given to the world’s leaders.
He too soon gives up and joins the throngs of tourists flying off to visit the aliens’ planet. He’s boarding the spacecraft when his secretary tries to stop him, hollering what it is they’ve decoded: “To Serve Man — it’s a cookbook!” - So, as you see, there is no free lunch, literally or figuratively. But there is lunch — and you may be it.
I almost got all teary eyed at the swearing in yesterday and, having abandoned my concerns and reservations about the coalescence of the mismatched and the perverse, jumped on the bandwagon myself...
Almost.
There are problems with the picture.
My major concern is that the science does not bear out the outpouring of emotion and people have a sort of political amnesia. They literally see what they want to see.
We've been here before.
The reason coalitions are doomed to fail is not because we're a cynical lot, but because the ideologies of the protagonists are so different as to run afoul of each other during the planning stage of any adventure. It's easy for everyone to get along when it's 'us' against 'them'. When it becomes 'us' against 'us' is when the plot really thickens. What will hold it together then, the flag? Patriotism? National Pride?
Trinidad's cup does not really run over with these things, it's not like we're Jamaica or Barbados, Islands where the people retain their identity even when in exile in foreign lands; but I digress.
Those who would justify this experiment (adventure) have compared Trinidad's coalition with what is obtaining now in Great Britain, and even that is at some point bound to fail because if it does not, it will expose the lie that politics has an 'either or' option. Were it not so, why have a Parliament?
What would be the point of Opposition if we could all just get along? Add to that the fact that Trinidad is made up of fundamentals that cannot be changed by wishing, and which cannot be erased by the best of intentions and you will not be surprised when the thing collapses.
I wrote a note entitled 'Where Do We As A People Go From Here', which attempted to outline a brief history of the differing elements (tribes) that make up our nation, and the goals and objectives of each and why they differ, and must differ fundamentally (http://plainlytalking.blogspot.com/2010/05/where-do-we-go-from-here_06.html).
In that note I asked three basic questions:
1. Is national unity a hoax?
2. What divides us?
3. Can what divides us be rewoven into something more of a national identity?
As an example of the divide - For all his best intentions, Daaga cannot undo the damage done to the Africans by slavery, nor the mad distribution of wealth of this country called the Cedula of Population (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedula_of_Population).
A truly afro-centric Government would be more interested in the redistribution of the national treasure and rightly so, because the wrongs done to a people that have kept them socially dependent can only be undone by collective responsibility, collective atonement, and a national attempt to put the wrongs right.
To any Afro-Trini worth his history reading the above, the point is at least valid and worthy of discussion.
To the heirs of the white planters who were given the divided acreage based on the total amount of African slaves they owned, well, let's just say their view would be different. To the people who think history is just that, history; who want to pretend that we aren't where we are because of historical wrongs want to see black people as white people with a groovy tan.
Am I picking a side. No, not yet. I am simply saying that there are very deep divisions that need to be addressed and joining of hands to walk up the magic mountain is not going to solve them.
The above was used as a basic example, and divisions obtain for all the races.
The point I am making is, can you make Beetham Gardens into Goodwood Gardens by a joining of hands?
Is crime the result of wayward black youth who need to be aggressively policed, tried and jailed? Or is crime the result of a failed social system that ignored the plight of the weak and downtrodden even as the wealthy raped the treasury and made off with the national treasure? Can black people be put in their place? Should they? Where exactly is that, the bottom of the social ladder? Perpetual servitude?
I am going to judge this new Government not on pollyanna feelings of butterflies and rainbows, but on the yardstick of its promises as laid out in its manifesto.
I will also judge it on what it failed to say.
The concept RISE, that was hijacked and used as a gimmicky party slogan was much, much more than that. It was intended to be a part of a national program of understanding, atonement and restoration. The people of this country are rubbing abrasively against each other because gimmicks are not working.
We need time honored truths like respect and 'right of place' to be established for ALL people regardless of race, tribe or religion. We need to forget the 'Douglarisation' and 'Chutneying' of the nation and focus instead on the core issues that affect the differing groups and, in respecting and repairing wrongs on a historical and national level, pass on responsibility for things like law and order and national pride and respect to the true leaders of these communities.
The concept of rise was to empower the different communities, respect their individual cultures and get them to work, because when the people feel a sense of belonging, their natural response is to defend and build.
The fist lesson in psychology is the absence of hope brings madness.
Have we learned that from our national experience as yet? Or are we going to distract the natives with gimmicks and hoodwink them so we can enrich ourselves. Are we again going to give the natives platitudes as trinkets instead of real leadership aimed at a cohesive plan of National reconstruction?
Time alone will tell.
The first 120 days were enunciated by this new Government as the timeframe for major programs to be enacted that would form the bedrock of social change that would free our people from the low expectations we REALLY have of those who lead us.
I am going to try to reserve judgement for 120 days (I said try).
I remain a political activist. Political Activists don't get to dress up and clink glasses to herald the changing of the guard. nor do we jockey for position and patronage in any new administration.
We man the wall. We ring the bells and set off the alarm when danger arises.
Nothing has happened thus far to make me believe true change has come.
73
General Discussion / Re: Is Rome Burning?
« on: January 21, 2011, 07:39:20 PM »Another issue to note and one of serious concern, Tunisia and all of its current woes seem to have erupted out of a situation eerily similar to the CLICO debacle with similar causes and effects; those most affected by this mess do not seem to see this Administration as their friend or ally and are harboring much discontent; if we add to that the slowing economy, the frustrated labor and the entrenched union situation, one does not have to do advanced math to arrive at a gloomy forecast.
wow, if dis eh a stretch dan ah running out for de steelers come sunday. de Die_Hard hyperbole continues....
The Steelers water boy is errrr....injured?
74
General Discussion / I want to be a Whore... (don't you?)
« on: January 21, 2011, 06:28:53 PM »
Plain Talk - Phillip Edward Alexander
I want to be a Whore... (don't you?)
I want to be a whore.
All the whores I see look so happy, and I want to be a happy whore too.
Give me contracts, soft money, access, position and invitations. Inflate my ego and make me feel special.
I want to be a Party supporter whore
I want to be a political whore and smile for the camera and be in the front row and nod along cheerily and enthusiastically at campaigns, and after elections I'll be there in the front row nodding along at events and I'll be so enthusiastic people will look at me and say things can't be so bad, look at him how happy and enthusiastic he is.
During election i will only wear Party shirts and Party hats and Party badges. Give me a chance I'll wear Party pajamas if it helps 'our' cause.
Just pass some under the table and I'll parrot anything you say. If you say red I say red, if you change to blue then i was always blue.
I'll take your enemies and make them mine, if they speak against you is me and dem and I doh eat nice.
Give my family a job, a scholarship, hell give me one, and when people see me they will think they see you because everything you say I saying too.
As an activist I'll ignore your past, your present and your future. Your associations, your dealings, your recent pronouncements.
When you flip I flip. I'll lie through my teeth just like you, because I know you started off as a political whore too.
I want to be a Media whore.
I want to be a media whore. I will follow you around and take pictures as you use people in desperate situations to prop up your tiny ego and your nothing policy and I will prop you up too.
Make me your whore and people will never get tired of seeing you smile night after night after night.
For the right access and perks, if you are what you say you are, a superstar, then have no fear, the cameras here, and the microphone, and they want a show.
As your personal media whore you're guaranteed to go far, I'll make your name big, you'll be a superstar.
I want to be a Talkshow whore
I want to be a talkshow whore so when your friends come on my show it will be one big love fest and all the people watching will wish they were there too, but uh uh, to be here you have to be a whore like me.
Give me credit, give me awards, make me feel special and I'll make you feel special too.
I'll dress the part, bright and shiny, and no one will question me, and no one will question you.
When you come on the show personally (if you can't come call) the experience will be orgasmic.
I will fill the airwaves with the gobar you are spewing and nobody will doubt it because it's live tv, my tv, and what i let happen here has to ok if I'm smiling and chuckling, or i'll skew my face and they'll know, they'll know I... Am.... Not.... Happy.
But I wont do you that. Uh uh, I'll reserve that for people we don't like. (your enemies) It's our dirty little secret and I'll be your whore.
I'm a Columnist, can I be your whore too?
I'll write your name across the sky and if you don't like the truth I'll make it a lie.
I'll sing your praises, of all the good that you do, and your friends in prison I'll sing their praises too.
And when you appear dressed for any occasion, I'll say you were moving, such an inspiration.
At the end of the day your fight is mine, and for the right money i will make your day shine.
I'll blaspheme detractors rake them over the coals
Those who dare speak against you 'ill rip out their souls.
My weekly word allotment will praise every little thing you do
I'm a private dancer, and I'll only dance for you.
How about me, I'm a Businessman, can Businessmen be whores?
Give me contracts at inflated prices. I'll sell you fifty dollar laptops with ten thousand dollar 'set up' fees. Let me build for you, and I'll give you ten dollars worth of work for every hundred dollars you spend and split the difference with you.
I'll bring water for all, and if that don't work I'll bring water for some and we'll split the difference, you and me, one for you and one for me.
You'll be my silent partner (shhhhh, right!!!!) you set the price, you name the game, no I never build house before but it doesn't look so hard. Yes I know is cloth business I from, maybe I could build cloth house?
I marched in the sun and rain, no more murder, too much blood flowing down the drain. Black blood, white blood, red blood too, but now we in power is only Johnnie Walker Blue.
Et tu?
I'm a Union Leader, but I want to be a whore.
Forget those silly workers, they were a means to an end. Anybody big enough to give you everything could take everything from you and I made damn well sure that they knew that.
My enemies can't touch me, so they cant touch you.
These stupid workers don't have one brain between them if they took up a collection so don't fret, position, tax free car and rum is my price, whatever you want is yours.
Frontways, backways, sideways an' all. Anyhow you want it, I'm a whore after all.
I'm a Professional Politician
That's really just another word for whore, and if you need my vote I'll cross the floor.
Dress me like Barbie and put me in house.
Say the man I replacing is a rapist and a louse.
And when the tables turn and he in your good books again.
Give him position and we'll both call him friend
As a Calypsonian, I whoring long time.
Captain the ship is sinking, captain the seas are rough.
The gas tank almost empty, no electricity, the oil pressure reading low.
Shall we abandon ship?
Or shall we stay on it?
And perish slow, we doh know, we doh know, we doh know
When I was in big school and they had career day nobody told me I could choose to be a whore. And I didn't know they had different kinds of whore.
Now I am sure.
Pressure no more
Only love on the floor
I swear I want to be a whore.
A big stinkin' nasty whore with money, Government money, a happy whore, poor no more.
(doing that soft shoe shuffle.....) Santimanitay aaay Santimanitay joobie Santimanitay write your name across the sky Santimanitay.
I want to be a Whore... (don't you?)
I want to be a whore.
All the whores I see look so happy, and I want to be a happy whore too.
Give me contracts, soft money, access, position and invitations. Inflate my ego and make me feel special.
I want to be a Party supporter whore
I want to be a political whore and smile for the camera and be in the front row and nod along cheerily and enthusiastically at campaigns, and after elections I'll be there in the front row nodding along at events and I'll be so enthusiastic people will look at me and say things can't be so bad, look at him how happy and enthusiastic he is.
During election i will only wear Party shirts and Party hats and Party badges. Give me a chance I'll wear Party pajamas if it helps 'our' cause.
Just pass some under the table and I'll parrot anything you say. If you say red I say red, if you change to blue then i was always blue.
I'll take your enemies and make them mine, if they speak against you is me and dem and I doh eat nice.
Give my family a job, a scholarship, hell give me one, and when people see me they will think they see you because everything you say I saying too.
As an activist I'll ignore your past, your present and your future. Your associations, your dealings, your recent pronouncements.
When you flip I flip. I'll lie through my teeth just like you, because I know you started off as a political whore too.
I want to be a Media whore.
I want to be a media whore. I will follow you around and take pictures as you use people in desperate situations to prop up your tiny ego and your nothing policy and I will prop you up too.
Make me your whore and people will never get tired of seeing you smile night after night after night.
For the right access and perks, if you are what you say you are, a superstar, then have no fear, the cameras here, and the microphone, and they want a show.
As your personal media whore you're guaranteed to go far, I'll make your name big, you'll be a superstar.
I want to be a Talkshow whore
I want to be a talkshow whore so when your friends come on my show it will be one big love fest and all the people watching will wish they were there too, but uh uh, to be here you have to be a whore like me.
Give me credit, give me awards, make me feel special and I'll make you feel special too.
I'll dress the part, bright and shiny, and no one will question me, and no one will question you.
When you come on the show personally (if you can't come call) the experience will be orgasmic.
I will fill the airwaves with the gobar you are spewing and nobody will doubt it because it's live tv, my tv, and what i let happen here has to ok if I'm smiling and chuckling, or i'll skew my face and they'll know, they'll know I... Am.... Not.... Happy.
But I wont do you that. Uh uh, I'll reserve that for people we don't like. (your enemies) It's our dirty little secret and I'll be your whore.
I'm a Columnist, can I be your whore too?
I'll write your name across the sky and if you don't like the truth I'll make it a lie.
I'll sing your praises, of all the good that you do, and your friends in prison I'll sing their praises too.
And when you appear dressed for any occasion, I'll say you were moving, such an inspiration.
At the end of the day your fight is mine, and for the right money i will make your day shine.
I'll blaspheme detractors rake them over the coals
Those who dare speak against you 'ill rip out their souls.
My weekly word allotment will praise every little thing you do
I'm a private dancer, and I'll only dance for you.
How about me, I'm a Businessman, can Businessmen be whores?
Give me contracts at inflated prices. I'll sell you fifty dollar laptops with ten thousand dollar 'set up' fees. Let me build for you, and I'll give you ten dollars worth of work for every hundred dollars you spend and split the difference with you.
I'll bring water for all, and if that don't work I'll bring water for some and we'll split the difference, you and me, one for you and one for me.
You'll be my silent partner (shhhhh, right!!!!) you set the price, you name the game, no I never build house before but it doesn't look so hard. Yes I know is cloth business I from, maybe I could build cloth house?
I marched in the sun and rain, no more murder, too much blood flowing down the drain. Black blood, white blood, red blood too, but now we in power is only Johnnie Walker Blue.
Et tu?
I'm a Union Leader, but I want to be a whore.
Forget those silly workers, they were a means to an end. Anybody big enough to give you everything could take everything from you and I made damn well sure that they knew that.
My enemies can't touch me, so they cant touch you.
These stupid workers don't have one brain between them if they took up a collection so don't fret, position, tax free car and rum is my price, whatever you want is yours.
Frontways, backways, sideways an' all. Anyhow you want it, I'm a whore after all.
I'm a Professional Politician
That's really just another word for whore, and if you need my vote I'll cross the floor.
Dress me like Barbie and put me in house.
Say the man I replacing is a rapist and a louse.
And when the tables turn and he in your good books again.
Give him position and we'll both call him friend
As a Calypsonian, I whoring long time.
Captain the ship is sinking, captain the seas are rough.
The gas tank almost empty, no electricity, the oil pressure reading low.
Shall we abandon ship?
Or shall we stay on it?
And perish slow, we doh know, we doh know, we doh know
When I was in big school and they had career day nobody told me I could choose to be a whore. And I didn't know they had different kinds of whore.
Now I am sure.
Pressure no more
Only love on the floor
I swear I want to be a whore.
A big stinkin' nasty whore with money, Government money, a happy whore, poor no more.
(doing that soft shoe shuffle.....) Santimanitay aaay Santimanitay joobie Santimanitay write your name across the sky Santimanitay.
75
General Discussion / Re: Attorney General Anand Ramlogan Thread
« on: January 21, 2011, 05:57:27 AM »Did any of these politicians declare their assets after or before swearing in as ministers in parliment ? i thought that was something that they had to do at some point in time .
yes they did
76
General Discussion / On Lionel Belasco or The Politicization of Culture in Trinidad and Tobago
« on: January 20, 2011, 09:42:53 PM »
On Lionel Belasco or The Politicization of Culture in Trinidad and Tobago
by Nigel Campbell on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 8:01pm
I
Attorney General, Sen the Hon Anand Ramlogan has shown his ignorance of Trinidad culture. In making a claim that there was a misuse and abuse of public funds by the PNM via UTT in the purchase of 10 Bosendorfer grand pianos, including the Special Edition Johann Strauss model, (inspired by the instrument on which the great master wrote his compositions, and ultimately placed by former Prime Minister Manning at the Diplomatic Centre for recitals,) the following exchange of words were recorded by the Parliament Channel [I await, like Colm Imbert to date, Hansard publication.]:
Sen. Anand Ramlogan: "We consider this to be a most shameful and disgraceful wastage of public funds...All we know about is a lil Bob Marley music and a lil kaiso. That's all we listen to...Mr Speaker, for those of us who are accustomed to the steelpan and the dholak and the majeera and the rhythm section...the Bosendorfer piano is the Rolls Royce of pianos in the world."
Patricia McIntosh, MP (PNM, POS-N): "What is wrong with a piano?"
Sen. Anand Ramlogan: "Nothing is wrong with a piano, but the day you could play a good chutney or calypso on it, come back and talk to me." [My emphasis]
Oh, for shame, that this lawyer turned arbiter of cultural taste and aesthetic for "we" the people of Trinidad and Tobago does not have a clue who could "play a good...calypso" on a piano. Let me tell this man whose musical spectrum starts at Marley and ends with "kaiso", we have a history of recorded calypso, Carnival music, Antillean music, all performed on piano by the likes of Lionel Belasco, George Cabral, Boscoe Holder and stretching into the modern era with Ed Watson, Ralph Davies, Clive Zanda, Raf Robertson, David Boothman, Dave Marcellin, Ovid Alexis, Pelham Goddard and Ming to name a few. For the record, Alan Lomax and Emory Cook were recording Indo-Trinidadian musical heritage in Trinidad in the 1960s.
There was heavy innuendo in the exchange of ideas between Manning at his subsequent press conference and Rammlogan in Parliament on what is good for Trinidadian tastes and what is wished for to create a sense of aesthetic superiority in these isles. The notion of elite arts and "posh" culture has been used as a political tool since before Eric Williams was Prime Minister, and words have been written by, among others Nobel Laureates Derek Walcott and VS Naipaul defending the appeal to higher art. The rise to power of Eric Williams saw the phenomenon of new Ministers of Culture supporting the folk arts (seen as entertainment) to the exclusion of "serious" arts. Derek Walcott wrote in 1970 in his essay "What the Twilight Says":
In these new nations art is a luxury...Every state sees its image in those forms which have the mass appeal of sport, seasonal and amateurish. Stamped on that image is the old colonial grimace of the laughing nigger, steelbandsman, carnival masker, calypsonian, and limbo dancer. These popular artists are trapped in the state's concept of the folk form, for they preserve the colonial demeanour and threaten nothing. The folk arts have become the symbol of carefree, accommodating culture, an adjunct to tourism, since the state is impatient with anything which it cannot trade.
"What the Twilight Says": Dream on Monkey Mountain, (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1970 )
Things have evolved since then as the state now supports via an Entertainment Company and a Film Company, the varied arts as a professional enterprise. But, give this politician a choice of serious art and a jam session, and see which one have Anand doing a "turn"!
Before Walcott, VS Nailpaul wrote in 1960 , in his seminal travel book "Middle Passage":
Culture is, in short, a night-club turn...This talk of culture is comparatively new. It is a concept of some politicians in the forties, and caught on largely because it answered vague, little-understood dissatisfaction some people were beginning to feel with their lives of fantasy. The promotion of a local culture was the only form of nationalism that could arise in a population divided into mutually exclusive cliques based on race, colour, shade, religion, money.
The Middle Passage, The Macmillan Company: New York, 1963. pp. 71-72
Politicians tread into matters of culture at their own peril. Worse yet, those in the Culture Ministry. Marlene McDonald and Junior Regrello told a national audience that NAPA was not constructed for "that kind of thing", chutney. Current Minister, "Gypsy said of the two NAPAs: "We would never be able to pay for these things, and it matters not what activities you keep in here. In terms of financial return, we will never be able to do that." Now we have AG Ramlogan suggesting that all we listen to is a "lil kaiso and a lil [reggae]", with the implication that nothing else matters for the folk, or should matter! Opposition Leader, Dr. Keith Rowley himself adds to the litany of innuendo laden commentary on appropriate cultural symbols with this sarcastic objection of local rock band Orange Sky accompanying Tourism minister, Dr. Rupert Griffith to India: “They send a rock band, they gone to rock India. At the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, they gone to play rock music in New Delhi...And that is what will bring tourists to T&T.”
Both aforementioned Nobel laureates noted that politicians equate culture and the arts generally with the requisite "pleasure in living up to the ideals of the tourist brochure." An extension of the brochure idea is the "carnival mentality" codified by Lee Kuan Yew in the 1960s that, in this place, implies that music to dance to is more important than music to listen to. The mass appeal of the fête and jam leaves diluted the memory of piano players who recorded and moved local music onto a global stage, and extended it by improving and improvising the native rhythms and sounds on a non-native instrument. These traders in art sought new markets and customers who were NOT "accustomed to the steelpan and the dholak and the majeera and the rhythm section." History will absolve the rhetoric of the cynical politician who never stepped outside the "wall." We can't be so lucky to forget.
II
One of the few portraits of Lionel BelascoResearchers Kim Johnson and Don Hill have prepared biographical information on this native musician and calypso composer, Lionel Belasco, who is unusual in the fact that his instrument was the piano, "not exactly the best instrument for the calypso tent or Carnival music of the streets. It is because of this, that his style is more orchestrated and arranged. Instead of marching the streets or playing the tents, as was the custom for the average calypsonian, he instead became a darling of the local elites, playing the high class balls and debutante dances. As early as 1903 "Belasco's Renowned String Band" appeared in the press. He played for parties at the Governor's House, and gave lessons to the Governor's daughter...in music and maybe more. From the late 19th century, as the epoch of slavery finally drew to a close, many singers and players strove to discover a whole new style of music: one that would hold resonances of both the European musical tradition of the white planters and the Afro-American culture that inspired the plantation workers — but that would, at the same time, be sharply different from the old strains."
Belasco recorded as far back as 1914 nearly two dozen sides of solo piano pieces for the Victor Talking Machine Company documenting the music of not only Trinidad and Tobago, but the wider Caribbean. Note that Belasco's "ethnic music" was recorded years before jazz music was ever recorded. He also recorded piano rolls, cutting edge technology before the second World War. George Cabral, a contemporary of Belasco, and ironically a politician, was said to be a "stronger and earthier player" than the better known Belasco. Staying true to the form of the politician in the future independent Trinidad and Tobago, Cabral's one recorded solo was for a tourist booklet "aimed principally at U.S. visitors to Trinidad."
Musicologist and music compiler, Dick Spottswood once said, "one of the surest measures of enduring tradition is its ability to keep pace with changing times and customs, allowing appealing new elements to merge with proven old ones." In the decades that follow, generations of musicians have been schooled on the piano as a basis for music education, and used that instrument as a tool to seek new avenues of expression. Ed Watson arranged his soca melodies on a piano, "Sugar Bum Bum" comes to mind. Without attempting wit or rudeness, Mr. Attorney General, it's not the instrument, but it's how you use it.
What got me started on this note is the continued inability of persons in public life given a mandate by popular expression to so publicly reflect the wishes of a nation looking ahead as against their narrow personal mores. The expectation of the population that a politician should be armed with information that carries the agenda forward is not naive. Patriotism, as a given, should allow for the acceptance of all forms of local music as part of the national agenda of independent growth out of the colonial image of Walcott's "laughing nigger" and his more contemporary official milieu of "music of Happy Hour and the rictus of a smile."
For better or worse, these men, Belasco, Cabral et al, represented a pioneering step to take "island music" outside, like that of their Caribbean contemporaries in Haiti, Ludovic Lamothe comes to mind, and Curaçao. Their motivation may have been money or tourist acceptance, but they showed that our music could be played on a piano. Decades of musicians have followed their lead to the enrichment of the local musical canon. Whatever Mr. Manning's idea of "recitals" were, we won't know now, but we can be assured that "a good chutney or calypso" could be played on that Bosendorfer, and it would not be a "disgraceful wastage of public funds."
by Nigel Campbell on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 8:01pm
I
Attorney General, Sen the Hon Anand Ramlogan has shown his ignorance of Trinidad culture. In making a claim that there was a misuse and abuse of public funds by the PNM via UTT in the purchase of 10 Bosendorfer grand pianos, including the Special Edition Johann Strauss model, (inspired by the instrument on which the great master wrote his compositions, and ultimately placed by former Prime Minister Manning at the Diplomatic Centre for recitals,) the following exchange of words were recorded by the Parliament Channel [I await, like Colm Imbert to date, Hansard publication.]:
Sen. Anand Ramlogan: "We consider this to be a most shameful and disgraceful wastage of public funds...All we know about is a lil Bob Marley music and a lil kaiso. That's all we listen to...Mr Speaker, for those of us who are accustomed to the steelpan and the dholak and the majeera and the rhythm section...the Bosendorfer piano is the Rolls Royce of pianos in the world."
Patricia McIntosh, MP (PNM, POS-N): "What is wrong with a piano?"
Sen. Anand Ramlogan: "Nothing is wrong with a piano, but the day you could play a good chutney or calypso on it, come back and talk to me." [My emphasis]
Oh, for shame, that this lawyer turned arbiter of cultural taste and aesthetic for "we" the people of Trinidad and Tobago does not have a clue who could "play a good...calypso" on a piano. Let me tell this man whose musical spectrum starts at Marley and ends with "kaiso", we have a history of recorded calypso, Carnival music, Antillean music, all performed on piano by the likes of Lionel Belasco, George Cabral, Boscoe Holder and stretching into the modern era with Ed Watson, Ralph Davies, Clive Zanda, Raf Robertson, David Boothman, Dave Marcellin, Ovid Alexis, Pelham Goddard and Ming to name a few. For the record, Alan Lomax and Emory Cook were recording Indo-Trinidadian musical heritage in Trinidad in the 1960s.
There was heavy innuendo in the exchange of ideas between Manning at his subsequent press conference and Rammlogan in Parliament on what is good for Trinidadian tastes and what is wished for to create a sense of aesthetic superiority in these isles. The notion of elite arts and "posh" culture has been used as a political tool since before Eric Williams was Prime Minister, and words have been written by, among others Nobel Laureates Derek Walcott and VS Naipaul defending the appeal to higher art. The rise to power of Eric Williams saw the phenomenon of new Ministers of Culture supporting the folk arts (seen as entertainment) to the exclusion of "serious" arts. Derek Walcott wrote in 1970 in his essay "What the Twilight Says":
In these new nations art is a luxury...Every state sees its image in those forms which have the mass appeal of sport, seasonal and amateurish. Stamped on that image is the old colonial grimace of the laughing nigger, steelbandsman, carnival masker, calypsonian, and limbo dancer. These popular artists are trapped in the state's concept of the folk form, for they preserve the colonial demeanour and threaten nothing. The folk arts have become the symbol of carefree, accommodating culture, an adjunct to tourism, since the state is impatient with anything which it cannot trade.
"What the Twilight Says": Dream on Monkey Mountain, (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1970 )
Things have evolved since then as the state now supports via an Entertainment Company and a Film Company, the varied arts as a professional enterprise. But, give this politician a choice of serious art and a jam session, and see which one have Anand doing a "turn"!
Before Walcott, VS Nailpaul wrote in 1960 , in his seminal travel book "Middle Passage":
Culture is, in short, a night-club turn...This talk of culture is comparatively new. It is a concept of some politicians in the forties, and caught on largely because it answered vague, little-understood dissatisfaction some people were beginning to feel with their lives of fantasy. The promotion of a local culture was the only form of nationalism that could arise in a population divided into mutually exclusive cliques based on race, colour, shade, religion, money.
The Middle Passage, The Macmillan Company: New York, 1963. pp. 71-72
Politicians tread into matters of culture at their own peril. Worse yet, those in the Culture Ministry. Marlene McDonald and Junior Regrello told a national audience that NAPA was not constructed for "that kind of thing", chutney. Current Minister, "Gypsy said of the two NAPAs: "We would never be able to pay for these things, and it matters not what activities you keep in here. In terms of financial return, we will never be able to do that." Now we have AG Ramlogan suggesting that all we listen to is a "lil kaiso and a lil [reggae]", with the implication that nothing else matters for the folk, or should matter! Opposition Leader, Dr. Keith Rowley himself adds to the litany of innuendo laden commentary on appropriate cultural symbols with this sarcastic objection of local rock band Orange Sky accompanying Tourism minister, Dr. Rupert Griffith to India: “They send a rock band, they gone to rock India. At the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, they gone to play rock music in New Delhi...And that is what will bring tourists to T&T.”
Both aforementioned Nobel laureates noted that politicians equate culture and the arts generally with the requisite "pleasure in living up to the ideals of the tourist brochure." An extension of the brochure idea is the "carnival mentality" codified by Lee Kuan Yew in the 1960s that, in this place, implies that music to dance to is more important than music to listen to. The mass appeal of the fête and jam leaves diluted the memory of piano players who recorded and moved local music onto a global stage, and extended it by improving and improvising the native rhythms and sounds on a non-native instrument. These traders in art sought new markets and customers who were NOT "accustomed to the steelpan and the dholak and the majeera and the rhythm section." History will absolve the rhetoric of the cynical politician who never stepped outside the "wall." We can't be so lucky to forget.
II
One of the few portraits of Lionel BelascoResearchers Kim Johnson and Don Hill have prepared biographical information on this native musician and calypso composer, Lionel Belasco, who is unusual in the fact that his instrument was the piano, "not exactly the best instrument for the calypso tent or Carnival music of the streets. It is because of this, that his style is more orchestrated and arranged. Instead of marching the streets or playing the tents, as was the custom for the average calypsonian, he instead became a darling of the local elites, playing the high class balls and debutante dances. As early as 1903 "Belasco's Renowned String Band" appeared in the press. He played for parties at the Governor's House, and gave lessons to the Governor's daughter...in music and maybe more. From the late 19th century, as the epoch of slavery finally drew to a close, many singers and players strove to discover a whole new style of music: one that would hold resonances of both the European musical tradition of the white planters and the Afro-American culture that inspired the plantation workers — but that would, at the same time, be sharply different from the old strains."
Belasco recorded as far back as 1914 nearly two dozen sides of solo piano pieces for the Victor Talking Machine Company documenting the music of not only Trinidad and Tobago, but the wider Caribbean. Note that Belasco's "ethnic music" was recorded years before jazz music was ever recorded. He also recorded piano rolls, cutting edge technology before the second World War. George Cabral, a contemporary of Belasco, and ironically a politician, was said to be a "stronger and earthier player" than the better known Belasco. Staying true to the form of the politician in the future independent Trinidad and Tobago, Cabral's one recorded solo was for a tourist booklet "aimed principally at U.S. visitors to Trinidad."
Musicologist and music compiler, Dick Spottswood once said, "one of the surest measures of enduring tradition is its ability to keep pace with changing times and customs, allowing appealing new elements to merge with proven old ones." In the decades that follow, generations of musicians have been schooled on the piano as a basis for music education, and used that instrument as a tool to seek new avenues of expression. Ed Watson arranged his soca melodies on a piano, "Sugar Bum Bum" comes to mind. Without attempting wit or rudeness, Mr. Attorney General, it's not the instrument, but it's how you use it.
What got me started on this note is the continued inability of persons in public life given a mandate by popular expression to so publicly reflect the wishes of a nation looking ahead as against their narrow personal mores. The expectation of the population that a politician should be armed with information that carries the agenda forward is not naive. Patriotism, as a given, should allow for the acceptance of all forms of local music as part of the national agenda of independent growth out of the colonial image of Walcott's "laughing nigger" and his more contemporary official milieu of "music of Happy Hour and the rictus of a smile."
For better or worse, these men, Belasco, Cabral et al, represented a pioneering step to take "island music" outside, like that of their Caribbean contemporaries in Haiti, Ludovic Lamothe comes to mind, and Curaçao. Their motivation may have been money or tourist acceptance, but they showed that our music could be played on a piano. Decades of musicians have followed their lead to the enrichment of the local musical canon. Whatever Mr. Manning's idea of "recitals" were, we won't know now, but we can be assured that "a good chutney or calypso" could be played on that Bosendorfer, and it would not be a "disgraceful wastage of public funds."
77
Football / Re: Remember this?
« on: January 20, 2011, 09:29:06 PM »What.. a Cherishable moment. Goosebumps... Those highlights make me go deep within my inner soul of positive greatness which comes from pride and goes well into the beyond.
Yuh setting higher expectations breds....anyone trying to win one ah yuh awards have to take a space shuttle to rise to de heights eh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skUJ-B6oVDQ
78
General Discussion / Is Rome Burning?
« on: January 20, 2011, 09:23:37 PM »
Is Rome Burning?
by Phillip Edward Alexander on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 5:24pm
The Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago seems to have abdicated her chief responsibility as Leader of the entire nation and seems stuck playing the role of leader of a Political Party; her choices and decisions, while charming and endearing to those within her Party, are having a seriously negative follow on effect to the rest of the citizenry which (by the way) includes a significant many on all levels who 'took a chance' and voted her and her Party into Office.
Someone needs to remind her that this is not fancy hat day at kindergarden but a serious responsibility and one that cannot be taken lightly if one does not want to be the cause of much distress.
An example of a storm in a tea cup on her watch becoming a raging hurricane is the adamant refusal of the Attorney General to do the right thing and apologize for his massive faux pas regarding the formerly missing and now found Grand Piano from the Prime Minister's residence; to confound the issue and to make partisan politics out of simple, bungling, incompetence on his part (and possibly the Head of her household security), the AG has now deferred the decision whether or not to apologize to the Prime Minister.
Really?
Now this is blatant showboating, and while it may score political points with the UNC supporters, the rest of the population are getting highly annoyed and agitated at being made to feel like second class citizens in their own country.
I am no rocket scientist but I HAVE seen many an argument become a fight, and when it starts it is usually over the slight and not the specific event; to my view Mr. Ramlogan is playing fast and loose with his conferred authority where he ought to be demonstrating statesman like calm and control.
Is this the tone we want of our Leaders?
Another issue to note and one of serious concern, Tunisia and all of its current woes seem to have erupted out of a situation eerily similar to the CLICO debacle with similar causes and effects; those most affected by this mess do not seem to see this Administration as their friend or ally and are harboring much discontent; if we add to that the slowing economy, the frustrated labor and the entrenched union situation, one does not have to do advanced math to arrive at a gloomy forecast.
It is because of this brewing discontent that I again advise the Prime Minister that she needs to take her job a lot more seriously; there is too much dry tinder laying about for my liking and we should really not be flinging idle sparks around at this time.
The citizens of this country need to see a Government and not a political Party, and it needs to see a Government that understands all that is required to steer the ship of State through the currently turbulent waters.
The pressing issues and those over which this Administration campaigned itself into Office cannot be deflected away no matter how hard the spin doctors try, and at some point we are going to have to confront the issue of competence and deal with it rationally if we are going to avoid some unpleasant business.
Something to think about...
by Phillip Edward Alexander on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 5:24pm
The Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago seems to have abdicated her chief responsibility as Leader of the entire nation and seems stuck playing the role of leader of a Political Party; her choices and decisions, while charming and endearing to those within her Party, are having a seriously negative follow on effect to the rest of the citizenry which (by the way) includes a significant many on all levels who 'took a chance' and voted her and her Party into Office.
Someone needs to remind her that this is not fancy hat day at kindergarden but a serious responsibility and one that cannot be taken lightly if one does not want to be the cause of much distress.
An example of a storm in a tea cup on her watch becoming a raging hurricane is the adamant refusal of the Attorney General to do the right thing and apologize for his massive faux pas regarding the formerly missing and now found Grand Piano from the Prime Minister's residence; to confound the issue and to make partisan politics out of simple, bungling, incompetence on his part (and possibly the Head of her household security), the AG has now deferred the decision whether or not to apologize to the Prime Minister.
Really?
Now this is blatant showboating, and while it may score political points with the UNC supporters, the rest of the population are getting highly annoyed and agitated at being made to feel like second class citizens in their own country.
I am no rocket scientist but I HAVE seen many an argument become a fight, and when it starts it is usually over the slight and not the specific event; to my view Mr. Ramlogan is playing fast and loose with his conferred authority where he ought to be demonstrating statesman like calm and control.
Is this the tone we want of our Leaders?
Another issue to note and one of serious concern, Tunisia and all of its current woes seem to have erupted out of a situation eerily similar to the CLICO debacle with similar causes and effects; those most affected by this mess do not seem to see this Administration as their friend or ally and are harboring much discontent; if we add to that the slowing economy, the frustrated labor and the entrenched union situation, one does not have to do advanced math to arrive at a gloomy forecast.
It is because of this brewing discontent that I again advise the Prime Minister that she needs to take her job a lot more seriously; there is too much dry tinder laying about for my liking and we should really not be flinging idle sparks around at this time.
The citizens of this country need to see a Government and not a political Party, and it needs to see a Government that understands all that is required to steer the ship of State through the currently turbulent waters.
The pressing issues and those over which this Administration campaigned itself into Office cannot be deflected away no matter how hard the spin doctors try, and at some point we are going to have to confront the issue of competence and deal with it rationally if we are going to avoid some unpleasant business.
Something to think about...
79
General Discussion / Re: Attorney General Anand Ramlogan Thread
« on: January 18, 2011, 11:18:48 PM »
Bakes, Manning implied that PM Kamla came upon the money for her house from illegal sources, additionally, he claimed the house was 300million. He HAS been referred to the Privileges Committee.
Both Manning for the Kamla House statements and Anil for misleading the house on Minaj concert.
Both Manning for the Kamla House statements and Anil for misleading the house on Minaj concert.
80
Football / Re: Remember this?
« on: January 18, 2011, 10:26:38 PM »
Ibramovich...elbowed Edwards....that was a straight red!
81
General Discussion / AG TO APOLOGISE
« on: January 18, 2011, 10:08:39 PM »
Bakes this is what I was referring to when I spoke about the similarities of talk by Manning and Anand, both violated house privileges.
AG TO APOLOGISE
By NALINEE SEELAL and CLINT CHAN TACK Wednesday, January 19 2011
click on pic to zoom in« prev photo next photo »ATTORNEY GENERAL (AG) Anand Ramlogan will apologise in the House of Representatives either today or on Friday for statements made in the House last Wednesday that one of ten Bosendorfer pianos purchased by the former PNM government was missing and questioning former prime minister Patrick Manning about the whereabouts of the piano.
A day later, the piano was found in the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
Ramlogan’s apology comes as the PNM moves to raise a matter of privilege against him for misleading the House on that issue.
Government sources yesterday said Government Chief Whip, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal has been assigned to advise the AG on the manner in which he should frame his apology to the House.
In the wake of his statement, Ramlogan insisted he never accused Manning of taking the piano and saw no need to apologise for his remarks. Ramlogan maintained the issue was the wastage of taxpayers’ monies to buy the pianos.
Newsday understands senior Government members felt embarrassed when it was disclosed that the piano had never gone missing and were disappointed that Ramlogan was unwilling to apologise.
They noted the example of Justice Minister Herbert Volney who apologised to the House for statements made in relation to the provision of a residence for a member of the Judiciary during the Budget debate on September 16, 2010. Volney was spared being referred to the Privileges Committee after he apologised. Government hopes to avoid Ramlogan being subject of a motion of privilege and he has been advised to apologise.
“We are all aware that the AG is new to public life and he needs guidance, so we are all going to pitch in and assist him on his future statements,” a Government source said yesterday.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said any one of the party’s 12 MPs in the House can raise a matter of privilege against Ramlogan but he did not know whether this would happen today or at Friday’s sitting of the House. Rowley disclosed he was focussing on preparing a motion on the adjournment of today’s sitting of the House that will deal with the alleged behaviour of Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed towards a police officer last year when Mohammed was reportedly cited for a traffic violation.
Parliament sources yesterday said Diego Martin North/East MP Colm Imbert and Point Fortin MP Paula Gopee-Scoon requested copies of Ramlogan’s contribution in the House from Hansard.
Contacted yesterday, Imbert confirmed he requested a copy of Ramlogan’s contribution while Gopee-Scoon said she had not. Imbert said, “If he has committed a contempt (that is, the deliberate misleading of the House), I will file a motion of privilege, but if he has merely been irresponsible and reckless, he may be able to escape the Privileges Committee.”
“I have read the Hansard record of the AG’s introduction in the debate on the legislative proposals for an anti-corruption commission and I have also read the end of his winding-up.
I am still to receive the first part of his winding-up from the Parliament, but from what I have read so far, he definitely insinuated that a piano worth approximately $1 million had gone missing from the Prime Minister’s residence and he also insinuated that Mr Manning might know of its whereabouts,” Imbert continued.
Imbert added that although Ramlogan “sailed very close to the wind, from what I have read so far, he stopped short of saying that Mr Manning stole the piano.”
“When I receive the last part of his Hansard, I will know whether he has in fact committed a contempt of the House or just merely been reckless.”
Contacted yesterday, Deputy Speaker Dr Fuad Khan said he has not received correspondence from any PNM MP about raising a matter of privilege against Ramlogan at today’s sitting which begins at 1.30 pm. Khan reiterated that if such a request comes before him, he will deal with it.
Khan is deputising for Speaker Wade Mark who was due to return last night from London.
Should the matter be raised on Friday, Mark would recuse himself to allow Khan to adjudicate on the matter since Khan was the presiding officer in the House last Wednesday when Ramlogan made his statement.
Yesterday other PNM parliamentarians said the privilege issue needed to be carefully examined and Ramlogan’s behaviour left a lot to be desired. Speaking to Newsday during the tea break in the Senate, Opposition Senator Pennelope Beckles said she was aware that Imbert was saying that Ramlogan’s contribution needed to be read carefully to determine what he actually said.
Noting the piano has since been found at the Diplomatic Centre where it was originally, Beckles said, “The people in the Lower House will do a careful reading, certainly to ensure that if a decision is made it’s the right one.”
Opposition Senator Fitzgerald Hinds said he would support any decision made by the caucus to raise a matter of privilege against Ramlogan. Outside of that, Hinds described Ramlogan’s behaviour as that of “a hotheaded politician not making a basic inquiry.”
“A piano is not a ten cent coin or a pin that could really be hidden any place. We do not expect that kind of behaviour from the AG of the Republic, The AG holds very serious office. Hiss duty is to uphold the law and the Constitution.
Opposition Senator Faris Al Rawi described Ramlogan’s actions as “the continuation of irresponsibility on his part.” “He who alleges must prove,” Al-Rawi stated. La Brea MP Fitzgerald Jeffery described Ramlogan’s actions in the House last week as “a political fiasco.” “We know what was inferred,” Jeffery stated.
AG TO APOLOGISE
By NALINEE SEELAL and CLINT CHAN TACK Wednesday, January 19 2011
click on pic to zoom in« prev photo next photo »ATTORNEY GENERAL (AG) Anand Ramlogan will apologise in the House of Representatives either today or on Friday for statements made in the House last Wednesday that one of ten Bosendorfer pianos purchased by the former PNM government was missing and questioning former prime minister Patrick Manning about the whereabouts of the piano.
A day later, the piano was found in the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
Ramlogan’s apology comes as the PNM moves to raise a matter of privilege against him for misleading the House on that issue.
Government sources yesterday said Government Chief Whip, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal has been assigned to advise the AG on the manner in which he should frame his apology to the House.
In the wake of his statement, Ramlogan insisted he never accused Manning of taking the piano and saw no need to apologise for his remarks. Ramlogan maintained the issue was the wastage of taxpayers’ monies to buy the pianos.
Newsday understands senior Government members felt embarrassed when it was disclosed that the piano had never gone missing and were disappointed that Ramlogan was unwilling to apologise.
They noted the example of Justice Minister Herbert Volney who apologised to the House for statements made in relation to the provision of a residence for a member of the Judiciary during the Budget debate on September 16, 2010. Volney was spared being referred to the Privileges Committee after he apologised. Government hopes to avoid Ramlogan being subject of a motion of privilege and he has been advised to apologise.
“We are all aware that the AG is new to public life and he needs guidance, so we are all going to pitch in and assist him on his future statements,” a Government source said yesterday.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said any one of the party’s 12 MPs in the House can raise a matter of privilege against Ramlogan but he did not know whether this would happen today or at Friday’s sitting of the House. Rowley disclosed he was focussing on preparing a motion on the adjournment of today’s sitting of the House that will deal with the alleged behaviour of Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed towards a police officer last year when Mohammed was reportedly cited for a traffic violation.
Parliament sources yesterday said Diego Martin North/East MP Colm Imbert and Point Fortin MP Paula Gopee-Scoon requested copies of Ramlogan’s contribution in the House from Hansard.
Contacted yesterday, Imbert confirmed he requested a copy of Ramlogan’s contribution while Gopee-Scoon said she had not. Imbert said, “If he has committed a contempt (that is, the deliberate misleading of the House), I will file a motion of privilege, but if he has merely been irresponsible and reckless, he may be able to escape the Privileges Committee.”
“I have read the Hansard record of the AG’s introduction in the debate on the legislative proposals for an anti-corruption commission and I have also read the end of his winding-up.
I am still to receive the first part of his winding-up from the Parliament, but from what I have read so far, he definitely insinuated that a piano worth approximately $1 million had gone missing from the Prime Minister’s residence and he also insinuated that Mr Manning might know of its whereabouts,” Imbert continued.
Imbert added that although Ramlogan “sailed very close to the wind, from what I have read so far, he stopped short of saying that Mr Manning stole the piano.”
“When I receive the last part of his Hansard, I will know whether he has in fact committed a contempt of the House or just merely been reckless.”
Contacted yesterday, Deputy Speaker Dr Fuad Khan said he has not received correspondence from any PNM MP about raising a matter of privilege against Ramlogan at today’s sitting which begins at 1.30 pm. Khan reiterated that if such a request comes before him, he will deal with it.
Khan is deputising for Speaker Wade Mark who was due to return last night from London.
Should the matter be raised on Friday, Mark would recuse himself to allow Khan to adjudicate on the matter since Khan was the presiding officer in the House last Wednesday when Ramlogan made his statement.
Yesterday other PNM parliamentarians said the privilege issue needed to be carefully examined and Ramlogan’s behaviour left a lot to be desired. Speaking to Newsday during the tea break in the Senate, Opposition Senator Pennelope Beckles said she was aware that Imbert was saying that Ramlogan’s contribution needed to be read carefully to determine what he actually said.
Noting the piano has since been found at the Diplomatic Centre where it was originally, Beckles said, “The people in the Lower House will do a careful reading, certainly to ensure that if a decision is made it’s the right one.”
Opposition Senator Fitzgerald Hinds said he would support any decision made by the caucus to raise a matter of privilege against Ramlogan. Outside of that, Hinds described Ramlogan’s behaviour as that of “a hotheaded politician not making a basic inquiry.”
“A piano is not a ten cent coin or a pin that could really be hidden any place. We do not expect that kind of behaviour from the AG of the Republic, The AG holds very serious office. Hiss duty is to uphold the law and the Constitution.
Opposition Senator Faris Al Rawi described Ramlogan’s actions as “the continuation of irresponsibility on his part.” “He who alleges must prove,” Al-Rawi stated. La Brea MP Fitzgerald Jeffery described Ramlogan’s actions in the House last week as “a political fiasco.” “We know what was inferred,” Jeffery stated.
82
General Discussion / Political Abuse & Redemption...
« on: January 18, 2011, 05:32:04 PM »
Political Abuse & Redemption...
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 8:28am.
This weekend a new life was breathed into the limping UNC as it got a wonderful opportunity to do once again what it was created to do (and what some say it does best) - campaign.
With internal elections for a Youth and Women's team in full swing, the Party machinery galvanized supporters, whipped them into a frenzied celebration and gave them focus and purpose, if only for an afternoon and an evening.
Not to be wasted, this heady feeling was captured and focused by the announcement of the coming January 24th celebration of one year since Kamla 'stormed the Bastille' of Panday's kingdom and liberated the Party from the tight clenches of its despotic ruler, and will be the springboard for the grandaddy (or grandmummy) of all celebrations, the one year anniversary of her election as first female Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago.
Seriously?
Now don't get me wrong, I am all for pageantry, pomp and revelry, and I fully support and endorse climatic euphoria for its sheer power to unite a people, but shouldn't there be something more though?
I mean, at some point, shouldn't we expect a little more substance for our celebrating?
Speaking to fanatic UNC supporters one cannot help but be reminded of victims of domestic abuse; people who make deflecting excuses for the most glaring of abuses and point out and amplify the tiniest of accomplishments as if to justify the dying relationship and if not convince you, then at least reassure themselves.
And before you think that I believe that this is isolated to the UNC, stay tuned for the upcoming PNM convention and see this same trick played out the Balisier way; the same approach will be used (why fix what works), the same cleaving into 'for and against' camps, the same ignore the failings, excuse the abuses, the same lack of substance or policy used to determine the victor, demonizing, deifying and us against them ad nauseum.
And the same inevitable nothing celebration at the end.
So what's my rant about?
That the people are being deliberately kept politically insipid in both camps because an educated and informed population might reject them all.
That the people are both the victims here and are victimizing themselves; that this is nothing but a mind-game and a not so clever one at that; a mind-game that is based on fear, and where there is no obvious division clever mind benders create them out of pure air.
Take the whole 'knife and fork' indian statement used not so subtly by Basdeo Panday to describe the east indian element of the Congress of the People; coined to cleave Mr. Dookeran's 'educated' class from the plain folk (to whose fears of a world in which they had no relevance or power he appealed), Bas successfully divided the east indian voter into a class system and anointed himself champion of the larger, poorer working class for votes.
As a strategy it was so successful it stopped Winston Dookeran dead in his tracks and quite possibly robbed him of his place in history by yielding his inheritance to Kamla.
Or take Manning's destruction of Rowley; post May 24th elections there remains the continued belief by many in the PNM that it was not Manning's excesses that eventually brought the Party down, but Rowley's inability to toe the Party line or at least shut up.
That idea has gained serious traction within the PNM, and despite their attempts to keep it out of the public eye it has split the Party into two competing factions with some in the know saying that if Rowley's slate is unsuccessful in the upcoming convention the Party may very well split into two and cause Dr. Rowley's eventual political demise.
Us against them, Balisier style.
Look, at some point all of this foolishness has to end, and one would hope that it be sooner rather than later and preferably before we run out of oil and gas; we as a people have to start thinking 'Country First' if we are ever going to save ourselves from this quagmire of exchange and the slow but sure demise of our country.
It is ironic that we are united in our common belief that we are better than each other, and it is supremely ironic that it is this and only this that continues to divide us; rising as a nation and a people requires that we set aside racist notions and class ideas and instead join hands and make national decisions on national issues in the best interest of all.
There will never be a better time to drop the pretense that we are defined by what we think we are not, and while it may seem during the euphoria of the campaign that we are contributing to the greater good, all we are really doing by maintaining the charade is ceding valuable real estate in our mind.
Something to think about...
.
.by Phillip Edward Alexander on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 8:28am.
This weekend a new life was breathed into the limping UNC as it got a wonderful opportunity to do once again what it was created to do (and what some say it does best) - campaign.
With internal elections for a Youth and Women's team in full swing, the Party machinery galvanized supporters, whipped them into a frenzied celebration and gave them focus and purpose, if only for an afternoon and an evening.
Not to be wasted, this heady feeling was captured and focused by the announcement of the coming January 24th celebration of one year since Kamla 'stormed the Bastille' of Panday's kingdom and liberated the Party from the tight clenches of its despotic ruler, and will be the springboard for the grandaddy (or grandmummy) of all celebrations, the one year anniversary of her election as first female Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago.
Seriously?
Now don't get me wrong, I am all for pageantry, pomp and revelry, and I fully support and endorse climatic euphoria for its sheer power to unite a people, but shouldn't there be something more though?
I mean, at some point, shouldn't we expect a little more substance for our celebrating?
Speaking to fanatic UNC supporters one cannot help but be reminded of victims of domestic abuse; people who make deflecting excuses for the most glaring of abuses and point out and amplify the tiniest of accomplishments as if to justify the dying relationship and if not convince you, then at least reassure themselves.
And before you think that I believe that this is isolated to the UNC, stay tuned for the upcoming PNM convention and see this same trick played out the Balisier way; the same approach will be used (why fix what works), the same cleaving into 'for and against' camps, the same ignore the failings, excuse the abuses, the same lack of substance or policy used to determine the victor, demonizing, deifying and us against them ad nauseum.
And the same inevitable nothing celebration at the end.
So what's my rant about?
That the people are being deliberately kept politically insipid in both camps because an educated and informed population might reject them all.
That the people are both the victims here and are victimizing themselves; that this is nothing but a mind-game and a not so clever one at that; a mind-game that is based on fear, and where there is no obvious division clever mind benders create them out of pure air.
Take the whole 'knife and fork' indian statement used not so subtly by Basdeo Panday to describe the east indian element of the Congress of the People; coined to cleave Mr. Dookeran's 'educated' class from the plain folk (to whose fears of a world in which they had no relevance or power he appealed), Bas successfully divided the east indian voter into a class system and anointed himself champion of the larger, poorer working class for votes.
As a strategy it was so successful it stopped Winston Dookeran dead in his tracks and quite possibly robbed him of his place in history by yielding his inheritance to Kamla.
Or take Manning's destruction of Rowley; post May 24th elections there remains the continued belief by many in the PNM that it was not Manning's excesses that eventually brought the Party down, but Rowley's inability to toe the Party line or at least shut up.
That idea has gained serious traction within the PNM, and despite their attempts to keep it out of the public eye it has split the Party into two competing factions with some in the know saying that if Rowley's slate is unsuccessful in the upcoming convention the Party may very well split into two and cause Dr. Rowley's eventual political demise.
Us against them, Balisier style.
Look, at some point all of this foolishness has to end, and one would hope that it be sooner rather than later and preferably before we run out of oil and gas; we as a people have to start thinking 'Country First' if we are ever going to save ourselves from this quagmire of exchange and the slow but sure demise of our country.
It is ironic that we are united in our common belief that we are better than each other, and it is supremely ironic that it is this and only this that continues to divide us; rising as a nation and a people requires that we set aside racist notions and class ideas and instead join hands and make national decisions on national issues in the best interest of all.
There will never be a better time to drop the pretense that we are defined by what we think we are not, and while it may seem during the euphoria of the campaign that we are contributing to the greater good, all we are really doing by maintaining the charade is ceding valuable real estate in our mind.
Something to think about...
.
84
General Discussion / Re: Attorney General Anand Ramlogan Thread
« on: January 18, 2011, 02:56:39 AM »How many degrees of separation between Anil's statements about Manning tiefin' the piano and Manning's statements about Kamla's home?
Not even in the same vein.
Manning just taking the allegation to its logical conclusion... he left it at the PM's residence when he moved out... Kamla moved in right after... if the piano is no longer at the residence then Kamla is best situated to say where it is... check she house.
Sorry for not making my self clearer. I was spcifically talking about Manning's statements about the cost of Kamla's home and the funding for its construtcion.
He has been referred to the House Privilege Com. for his statements and I as making a comparison to Anand's assertion that Manning stole the piano, and had some colusion with ken Juliaen and UTT to defraud the people of T&T by overspending on wasteful pianos
85
General Discussion / Re: Attorney General Anand Ramlogan Thread
« on: January 18, 2011, 12:47:51 AM »
How many degrees of separation between Anil's statements about Manning tiefin' the piano and Manning's statements about Kamla's home?
86
General Discussion / Re: Attorney General Anand Ramlogan Thread
« on: January 17, 2011, 05:46:07 PM »If they want to criticize whether it was a smart use of public funds then that is one matter... but to be talking this setta "criminal and civil" charges talk, that is just a convenient cover for their freshly-exposed bare asses.
I agree with you here. But I have/had serious issues with Patos and company judgement when it come to acquiring things for TT. We are not them mid-east countries who have oil up they ying-yang. I must be ignorant as to the type of musical instruments, but I think Yamaha would have done just fine, and they cheaper. I want to give the gov't the benefit of doubt. But Anand, Anil take over from jack in the rhetoric. You just have to shake your head.
lol Yahama...too funny.
87
General Discussion / Re: No indian blood!
« on: January 17, 2011, 02:01:49 PM »This is no 'find'... this was a prominent documentary on PBS two or three years ago. The fella with the glasses is Henry Louis Gates, and this was part of his "DNA Project."
Yes I saw most of the documentary, did not see this section though
88
General Discussion / Re: No indian blood!
« on: January 17, 2011, 08:05:07 AM »Bad news for black americans who claims this ancestry, is white toetee in yuh rokunkutunkung.If you carefully listened it was more black totee in the white woman. Well it is a case of both.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWzsSg4TUMw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA3BLIGbxD0&feature=related
Really nice find though.
89
General Discussion / OPV lawsuits: The coming storm
« on: January 17, 2011, 08:01:28 AM »
Bakes let me here you....
OPV lawsuits: The coming storm
By KeithSubero
Story Created: Jan 16, 2011 at 10:47 PM ECT
(Story Updated: Jan 16, 2011 at 10:47 PM ECT )
The shooting in Arizona last week gave US President Barack Obama the opportunity to place on the national agenda of his deeply divided nation a growing desire for national reconciliation.
The incident caught the Republican Party, and its Tea Party extremists, the vocal cheerleaders for unrestrained capitalism, on the defensive as many Americans claim the party's strident tone over the past two years created, in part, the mood for that shooting.
Under Obama, the divisions in American politics have appeared more entrenched; consensus has been elusive; instead, party rivalry has degenerated into a sorry state.
The shooting appears to have caused a pause, however, as politicians on both sides seemed to have realised how far off the edge they had gone, and are now scrambling in search of answers to their moral crisis.
"What can we (Americans) agree upon, right now?" Paul Krugman of The New York Times asked.
It was a question that should have resonated in our own politics, last week when we witnessed the Attorney General, standing shamelessly in Parliament, to question a former prime minister: "Where the piano gone?"
And as if, in a deliberate attempt to be impish, the Attorney General compounded his imprudence further during the week, when he likened the Integrity Commission, the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police Service to "a three-legged dog" that is "limping along".
If there was any doubt, the Attorney General, by his actions confirmed first, that he has been thrust prematurely into an office for which he is unprepared; and second, there seems to be a deliberate attempt for political permissiveness completely to replace our civic culture.
The rashness did not end there last week. There was also the maudlin figure of the Minister of Sport attempting to justify publicly his use of his Ministry's vehicle for his personal use, although he is entitled to a travel allowance.
And, further, the news that Nizam Mohammed continues to preside over appointments at the now publicly-sullied Police Service Commission.
I believe the time for our political leadership to pause is now. Start with the learnings of American politics that are at hand. Their rituals, their use of ceremony, flag, anthem, history have helped them to build a national community—although it had a sour taste last week.
And in some quarters there are signs of willingness to review the processes and the current tone of their politicisation and socialisation, all of which are important in rebuilding consensus.
At home, for an Attorney General to seek public brownie points over a grand piano is to appear churlish. At present, this country faces a number of critical challenges—increasingly scarce financial resources, the Clico crisis, outstanding payments to contractors, public servants' salary demands, the billion-dollar Alutrint smelter fiasco. At the same time, reserves in the energy sector are falling and global competition is rising. And there is crime, overall, and its effects on the tourism market in Tobago.
Still further, there is another coming storm—the multi-billion litigation the country faces later this year with the British supplier, BAE over the Government's decision to cancel the three offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).
"To date, no one knows the reasons why they were cancelled; even both of the Ministers in National Security were unaware. It is still everyone's guess," said a source last week.
The decision on the OPVs dated back to the Panday government, when it was agreed with the US, Dutch, British, and French governments that this country would take the lead in the fight against the "drug-gun" culture, and transshipment.
Under the Manning government a National Coastal Surveillance Radar Centre was established, and it was agreed that six fast interceptor patrol craft, and interim coastal patrol vessels, four helicopters, and three OPVs would be purchased to deal also with border protection, disaster relief, and search and rescue operations.
Since 2007, over 200 personnel were sent to the UK for training, and marine facilities have been built for the vessels, representing a total package with $5 billion.
To date, $1.2 billion of the $2.1 billion cost has been spent on the OPVs. The problem arose in the delays caused by the British supplier which failed to meet a deadline, but in April 2010 it signed an agreement accepting the near-TT$100 million in penalties claimed by the Manning government.
After her party's win in May 2010, the Prime Minister announced the cancellation of the three-year contract. The reasons first hinted at corruption, then it was claimed that the vessels were too expensive, then they were said to be defective.
Whatever, the outcome, OPVs, just like Alutrint, will be another multi-million challenge for the taxpayer, both of which will certainly make London lawyers very happy.
* Keith Subero, a former Express news editor, has
since followed a career in
communication and management.
OPV lawsuits: The coming storm
By KeithSubero
Story Created: Jan 16, 2011 at 10:47 PM ECT
(Story Updated: Jan 16, 2011 at 10:47 PM ECT )
The shooting in Arizona last week gave US President Barack Obama the opportunity to place on the national agenda of his deeply divided nation a growing desire for national reconciliation.
The incident caught the Republican Party, and its Tea Party extremists, the vocal cheerleaders for unrestrained capitalism, on the defensive as many Americans claim the party's strident tone over the past two years created, in part, the mood for that shooting.
Under Obama, the divisions in American politics have appeared more entrenched; consensus has been elusive; instead, party rivalry has degenerated into a sorry state.
The shooting appears to have caused a pause, however, as politicians on both sides seemed to have realised how far off the edge they had gone, and are now scrambling in search of answers to their moral crisis.
"What can we (Americans) agree upon, right now?" Paul Krugman of The New York Times asked.
It was a question that should have resonated in our own politics, last week when we witnessed the Attorney General, standing shamelessly in Parliament, to question a former prime minister: "Where the piano gone?"
And as if, in a deliberate attempt to be impish, the Attorney General compounded his imprudence further during the week, when he likened the Integrity Commission, the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police Service to "a three-legged dog" that is "limping along".
If there was any doubt, the Attorney General, by his actions confirmed first, that he has been thrust prematurely into an office for which he is unprepared; and second, there seems to be a deliberate attempt for political permissiveness completely to replace our civic culture.
The rashness did not end there last week. There was also the maudlin figure of the Minister of Sport attempting to justify publicly his use of his Ministry's vehicle for his personal use, although he is entitled to a travel allowance.
And, further, the news that Nizam Mohammed continues to preside over appointments at the now publicly-sullied Police Service Commission.
I believe the time for our political leadership to pause is now. Start with the learnings of American politics that are at hand. Their rituals, their use of ceremony, flag, anthem, history have helped them to build a national community—although it had a sour taste last week.
And in some quarters there are signs of willingness to review the processes and the current tone of their politicisation and socialisation, all of which are important in rebuilding consensus.
At home, for an Attorney General to seek public brownie points over a grand piano is to appear churlish. At present, this country faces a number of critical challenges—increasingly scarce financial resources, the Clico crisis, outstanding payments to contractors, public servants' salary demands, the billion-dollar Alutrint smelter fiasco. At the same time, reserves in the energy sector are falling and global competition is rising. And there is crime, overall, and its effects on the tourism market in Tobago.
Still further, there is another coming storm—the multi-billion litigation the country faces later this year with the British supplier, BAE over the Government's decision to cancel the three offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).
"To date, no one knows the reasons why they were cancelled; even both of the Ministers in National Security were unaware. It is still everyone's guess," said a source last week.
The decision on the OPVs dated back to the Panday government, when it was agreed with the US, Dutch, British, and French governments that this country would take the lead in the fight against the "drug-gun" culture, and transshipment.
Under the Manning government a National Coastal Surveillance Radar Centre was established, and it was agreed that six fast interceptor patrol craft, and interim coastal patrol vessels, four helicopters, and three OPVs would be purchased to deal also with border protection, disaster relief, and search and rescue operations.
Since 2007, over 200 personnel were sent to the UK for training, and marine facilities have been built for the vessels, representing a total package with $5 billion.
To date, $1.2 billion of the $2.1 billion cost has been spent on the OPVs. The problem arose in the delays caused by the British supplier which failed to meet a deadline, but in April 2010 it signed an agreement accepting the near-TT$100 million in penalties claimed by the Manning government.
After her party's win in May 2010, the Prime Minister announced the cancellation of the three-year contract. The reasons first hinted at corruption, then it was claimed that the vessels were too expensive, then they were said to be defective.
Whatever, the outcome, OPVs, just like Alutrint, will be another multi-million challenge for the taxpayer, both of which will certainly make London lawyers very happy.
* Keith Subero, a former Express news editor, has
since followed a career in
communication and management.
90
General Discussion / Re: An Opportunity to Rise... (Farewell to Anand)
« on: January 16, 2011, 11:15:36 AM »Disagreement is healthy... just doh make it ah habit.
hahahahahahaha I am known to disagree a whole lot. I am a member of the COP, but this guh-ment is just shit.
WHen I first saw the list of people being selected to Kamla's cabinet, I knew we changed the bottle, but kept the same old wine.
Anyway in Trinidad we have a shadow cabinet, we lime and we discuss issues.
We also have the National Democratic Movement and we invite persons to submit their suggestions for improving the way things are done in Trinidad and Tobago.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=103396541432