Topics

511

General Discussion / Sting ray kills woman

« on: March 20, 2008, 04:14:08 PM »

Stingray Kills Woman on Boat in Fla.
MARATHON, Fla., Thu Mar 20, 04:28 PM
 
A 75-pound stingray killed a Michigan woman Thursday when it flew out of the water and struck her in the face as she rode in a boat in the Florida Keys, officials said.

Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Mich., was sitting in a boat going 25 mph when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The 57-year-old woman's father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, Pino said.

"He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously," Pino said.

The impact likely killed the woman, but it was not immediately clear if she had any puncture wounds from the ray's barb, Pino said. An autopsy will determine an official cause of death, Pino said.

Spotted eagle rays can weigh up to 500 pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail as a defense mechanism.

The rays are protected in Florida waters and are typically seen swimming on the water's surface.

 
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512

General Discussion / Village taken by the sea

« on: March 16, 2008, 07:09:14 PM »

By Yvonne Baboolal

Silent, empty ruins are all that remain now of a once lively fishing depot in Manzanilla on the east coast, as the entire fishing village of Le Blanche was “taken” by the sea.

Booths from where fishermen noisily sold fresh catch to vendors stood vacant in the sun streaming through the roofless depot on Wednesday.

The wide space in front the depot where boats were repaired and nets mended are now a haven for crabs, their holes everywhere.

 

Line of boulders that Anil Maharaj stacked in front the Coconut Grove Hotel, which he owns, to block the sea from taking more land.

Nearby, concrete stairs, which once led into a bar where fishermen found solace before and after sea trips, lay on the sand where it fell after the sea broke it off.

Hawksbill turtles fed, undisturbed, on fish near the once populated shore.

There was no other evidence of the village, its houses, shops and bars that stood there ten years ago.

Fisherman Wilfred “Piggy” Alfred, 64, is one of the few Le Blanche villagers who rebuilt on the new coastline the sea created after it moved further inland.

“When the sea start to take, it take house by house,” Piggy said, recalling the phenomenon

“In a year and a half the whole village gone. You see where that water is?” he asked, pointing not too far off. “That was the village.”

Relating the loss of his house, he added: “When I see the sea coming I start to put sandbags. Sixty, 70 every other day. I used to buy it, $1 a bag. I didn’t want to move.

“One day I leave to go in the sea and a fella meet me and said the water real want you.

“It was new moon and the high tide wasn’t making joke. The whole house was already in the water and when I reach home the sea take half of it.

“I sawed out the house in half by night, block it with galvanise and stayed inside. But in a year time the water take what it had to take,” Piggy said, peeping at the blue crab he caught in a bamboo trap in his yard.

Le Blanche villagers fled and settled in nearby areas. “Who die out, die out,” Piggy said.

Bullets, whose house was the first to go, died at sea and was found on a rock with his hands behind his head, he said.

“Patch of Grey went to sea and they never find him. I hear his head was bad too, eh.”

Ronald Fabien, 26, who “born and grow” in Le Blanche before it vanished under the sea, moved to the Nariva Road.

On Wednesday, he was busy catching blue crabs in front Piggy’s house, before the tide came up, to sell at seven for $60 out on the main road.

He was 16 when the sea took his house. “When you study it, it will hurt you but what you could do? That’s God work. Is just nature...You can’t stop the breeze from blowing.”

‘I’ve found a way

to fight the sea’

The sea took about ten feet of the Coconut Grove Hotel’s beach front a short distance away, but owner, Anil Maharaj, said he had found a way to fight the sea.

“We handstacked boulders along the front of the hotel. The area will be secure now. It’s not a pretty sight but it’s taking the worst onslaught.

“You can’t judge a pot until it finish,” Maharaj, a gourmet chef, noted.

Maharaj said he was forced to take this measure after he got no response to pleas for help from the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation and the Works Ministry.

The hotelier is not quite sure what is causing the sea to take land on the east coast.

“I am not an environmentalist. I cook,” he said.

But Maharaj is more inclined to believe land reclamation on the west coast and beach front developments in other parts of Trinidad, including the east coast, has caused the sea to take back land in this area.

He was suspicious of the theory of global warming. “They want us to think we going to drown just now but global warming has been going on for thousands of years.”

“This hill used to slope down to the beach,” Ravi Ramdeen of the Manzanilla Wildlife and Environmental Protection Group said as we stood on a cliff on popular North Beach, Manzanilla.

From the beach, there is a frightening view of the same cliff which has been hollowed out by sea waves.

“By next year, the high tide mark here will be the low tide mark,” Ramdeen warned.

“This is also a turtle nesting area and the sea will take the eggs.

“Those palmiste trees on that cliff on the other side will not last five years either. See how trees are hanging over ready to collapse?”

Ramdeen said if the erosion continues at the rate it’s going, coconut trees and mangrove in the area would soon be gone, too.

His group is calling on individuals or organisations to help rehabilitate the east coast.

Environmentalist says:

The melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps was causing sea levels to rise, Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, environmental activist, offered.

“Global warming causes the ice to melt. Some say the earth periodically goes through a phase of global warming. Others feel it’s caused by greenhouse gases trapped in the ozone layer, causing it to overheat.”

Kublalsingh also noted that land reclamation in the Gulf of Paria and deep sea drilling could cause the coastline’s shape to change.

“If you take land from the sea it takes it back elsewhere.”
 

 
 
 

513

General Discussion / DOLE'S SON A LAWYER

« on: March 16, 2008, 07:21:19 AM »

Two others: a banker and a med student


Sunday, March 16th 2008
 
 
 
still standing: Multiple murderer Dole Chadee is long gone but his Hindu temple still stands as a testament to his power and wealth in Piparo Village. -Photo: DAVE PERSAD

Behind a tangle of vines snaking through the chain-linked fence around the lot at Pooran Street, Williamville, is the concrete skeleton of the house in which the Baboolals once lived.

One night in 1994, four members of the family, Deo Baboolal, his wife Rookmin, along with Hamilton and Monica Baboolal were made to kneel on the floor of one of the rooms of the house and executed.

Two members of the family survived, Osmond, then 11, and Hematie, 7.

They were in a bedroom of the house.

Some years later, someone set the house afire. It was burned to the ground.

It's just as well, since no one wanted to live in that place of death and no one will ever rebuild there, villagers say.

Four miles away, at Piparo Village, is the remains of the home of the man who ordered the Baboolal's execution-narco-trafficker Dole Chadee (Nankissoon Boodram).

That house, too, was destroyed by arsonists some years ago.

Though not the temple that Chadee built on the same compound still stands.

June 4 will be nine years to the day Chadee and nine others were hanged for the killing of the four members of the Baboolal family.

The men are all buried in unmarked graves at the Golden Grove, Arouca, cemetery.

Considered a messiah, or monster, depending on who you speak with-the man/myth that was Chadee still looms large, his stain/blessing on those whose lives he touched, bigger than the Piparo mud volcano that erupted after he was gone.

So what has become of these people?


The first wife

ANN MARIE BOODRAM was the woman Chadee married. They had two sons, Shiva and Sharma, boys who never really knew their father because the parents broke up when they were young, and went separate ways.

Ann Marie moved to Manchester, England with her sons, and remarried.

Chadee meanwhile met a new love, Chandra.

But when he was hanged, Ann Marie was the woman who got most of his assets, including the property on which the elaborate temple still stands. She visits often, and her sons have returned to Trinidad, after getting a British education.

SHARMA is a currently a criminal defence attorney working in the Magistrates' Courts in south and central Trinidad, an understudy to a top lawyer in San Fernando.

SHIVA is a banker working in Chaguanas, where he lived for several years with an aunt. The brothers live in Piparo, and shun publicity. They wish to be judged by their own achievements, said an aunt who asked not to be named.

The common-law wife CHANDRA CHADEE was the woman who stood at her husband's s side through his public arrest, prosecution, conviction and the long Death Row wait till his execution.

She carried him meals, defended his honour, insisted on his innocence and paid for his defence.

The day before he was hanged, she took their two children, Randy, then 18, and Vidiya, then nine, to see him.

For several years after Chadee died, the family lived in Valsayn. Six years ago, they migrated and settled in Switzerland, said Chandra's sister. None have any plans to return ever, not even for a vacation.

Swiss banking laws are among the strictest in the world, and the country has one of the highest standards of living, reasons, said Chandra's relatives, that she has settled there.

Meanwhile, RANDY is completing medical school, and his sister VIDIYA has taken a year off from studies to decide if she too wants to study medicine, the Sunday Express was told. Chandra, her sister said, has moved on with her life but remains unmarried.

She lives for the children and calls T&T each day to check on her parents who will celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary this year

 

514

Entertainment & Culture Discussion / AH NEW RADIO STATION

« on: March 14, 2008, 04:00:05 PM »

Blackgoldint launch he radio station check it http://www.blackgoldint.com

515

Jokes / Beating

« on: March 02, 2008, 09:41:13 PM »

How do you call ah blackman that constantly beating ah white woman  ?  obama

516

Entertainment & Culture Discussion / PAN SWEET PAN

« on: March 02, 2008, 07:33:33 PM »

Swanky Pops pan show on 91.9fm  www.pointalive.com from  8 to 12 pm also they interview people from pan sides also they take calls  alyuh check it out

517

Entertainment & Culture Discussion / Sparrow sing song for Barrack Obama

« on: March 02, 2008, 10:41:19 AM »

BY PRIOR BEHARRY

Slinger Francisco, The Mighty Sparrow, has made a calypso in support of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

The song titled Barack De Magnificent is one of the more popular songs on the YouTube Web site.

Speaking from his New York home on Friday, Sparrow said he first fell in love with Obama when he heard him speak at the 2004 Democratic convention in support of then presidential hopeful John Kerry.

“I heard Obama speak and I was impressed,” said Francisco.

“When his time came and he became a campaigner (for the presidency), I said, ‘why don’t I do something.’ He sounded so blessed and I said ‘why not?’”

Sparrow said he went and did research and then came up with the song about four months ago.

And he said about three months ago, he performed the song for Obama when he spoke at the Marriott Hotel in Brooklyn.

Saying that he was not eligible to vote for a US president, Sparrow said he wanted to show his support in another form. He said when he met Obama, “It was like we were buddies. He is a great guy, easy to get along with.”

Obama is the son of a Kenyan man and a white American woman from Kansas. He first shot to prominence with a speech that stirred the 2004 Democratic National Convention, according to the BBC.

“Through hard work and perseverance, my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, which stood as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before,” he had said.

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Hawaii, and studied law at Harvard. When he was a toddler, his father got a chance to study at Harvard but there was no money for the family to go with him. He later returned to Kenya alone, where he worked as a government economist, and the couple divorced.

According to the BBC, when Obama was six, his mother, Ann, married an Indonesian man and the family moved to Jakarta.

Although his father and step-father were Muslim, Obama is a Christian and attended secular and Catholic schools rather than a madrassa for the four years he lived in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country, the BBC reported.

Currently, Obama has a slight lead over Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race to get the nomination of the Democratic party for the presidential election scheduled for November.

by The Mighty Sparrow

The respect of the world that we now lack,

If you want it back then, vote Barack!

Because this time we come out to vote!

Stop the war!

Stop genocide in Darfur!

No matter what,

Get healthcare for who have not!

The Foreign Relations Committee

Can attest to his tenacity

For homeland and job security.

He stood his ground

When the war was a conception,

Said it was wrong,

So he didn’t go along.

Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton,

They said of Barack’s opinion,

“He’s a man of resplendent vision!”

I know the warmongers are anxious, ready and set.

Saddam is who posing to us our really main threat.

They magnified Saddam’s offences,

Now we’re paying the consequences,

Everyday our soldiers joining the trenches!

Barack! Barack!

He’s fighting for openness and honest government!

Barack!

He’s doggedly defiant,

Phenomenal strength and wisdom beyond comment!

After you put we in a quagmire!

Not this time!

We come out to vote!

What’s at stake?

Clean up Washington overall!

In the wake

Of the Jack Abramoff scandal.

The middle class done elect a man,

It’s without representation,

This regime has too much corruption!

He wants to see

A whole energy policy,

Inclusively,

Extent? Comprehensively:

Renewable fuels to clean coal,

There’ll be no price gouging at all,

These things are Barack Obama’s goal.

Entrenched in the crooked regime, we must all take note.

They’ll be kicking and screaming at me, so we, all, must vote!

By not exercising these rights,

It’s refusing to see the light,

Democrats! Rise up! Stand up and fight!

Barack! Barack!

On the Senate Affairs Committee he’s a giant!

Barack!

Dignifiedly resilient,

And with rock star status he’s Barack The Magnificent!

You talk about how you won’t cut and run,

Rumsfeld and Rove, that’s what they’ve done!

But not this time!

We come out to vote!

Not so government work!

As a grad

From both Columbia and Harvard,

This GI lad

Want all others to study hard.

We’re the wealthiest in less respects,

Without proper health insurance,

Walter Reed Hospital, for instance.

Quality check!

Every wounded soldier should get,

Not abject neglect,

All providers must give a heck!

Healthcare must be affordable

And easily accessible,

Make existentialism enjoyable!

Without that we could be living in pure misery,

Psychological, mental, even insanity.

Loving husband, father of two,

That is Obama’s point of view,

Religiously-urged family value.

Barack! Barack!

Civil rights lawyer who taught constitutional law.

Barack! Super terrific, I quote,

“Candidate of note!”

So, make sure he gets your vote!

Subpoenaing them gets you no answer!

The attorney general can’t remember!

Not this time!

We come out to vote!

We know he’s young,

But with the Wisdom of Solomon,

Not like that one!

He has experience, look what he’s done!

Insurgents have just one focus:

That’s to put a hurting on us.

Worldwide security must be enforced!

Immigration

Could even get further outta hand,

The border plan,

He’ll protect in legal fashion,

Undocumenteds would get time,

They’ll have to atone for their crime,

Criminals would be kicked out, behind!

Employers who hire illegals and who outsource

Know it’s unconstitutional and time to change course,

Special interests ain’t facing facts,

Illiteracy and slavery could last,

Disenfranchisement gone, the time has passed!

Barack! Barack!

The first black President to lead this mighty nation!

Barack!

We’ll regain worldwide respect with Obama’s vision and excellent comprehension!

The respect of the world we now lack,

If you want it back, then vote Barack!

Not this time!

We come out to vote!

With you there’s no hope!
 

 
 
 

518

General Discussion / GO BACK TO BLACK

« on: February 28, 2008, 10:24:14 PM »

GO BACK TO BLACK

 
By K. A. DILDAY
Published: February 27, 2008
London

I’M black again. I was black in Mississippi in the 1970s but sometime in the 1980s I became African-American, with a brief pause at Afro-American. Someone, I think it was Jesse Jackson, in the days when he had that kind of clout, managed to convince America that I preferred being African-American. I don’t.

Now I live in Britain where I’m black again. Blacks in Britain come from all over, although many are from the former colonies. According to the last census, about half of the British people who identify as black say they are black Caribbean, about 40 percent consider themselves black African, and the rest just feel plain old black. Black Brits are further divided by ancestral country of origin, yet they are united under the term black British — often expanded to include British Asians from the Indian subcontinent.

The term African-American was contrived to give black Americans a sense of having a historical link to Africa, since one of slavery’s many unhappy legacies is that most black Americans don’t know particulars about their origins. Black Americans whose ancestors arrived after slavery and who can pinpoint their country of origin are excluded from the definition — which is why, early in his campaign, people said Barack Obama wasn’t really African-American. Yet, since he has one parent from the African continent and one from the American continent, he is explicitly African-American.

Distinguishing between American black people based on their ancestors’ arrival date ignores the continuum of experience that transcends borders and individual genealogies and unites black people all over the world. Yes, scientists have shown that black means nothing as a biological description, but it remains an important signal in social interaction. Everywhere I travel, from North Africa to Europe to Asia, dark-skinned people approach me and, usually gently but sometimes aggressively, establish a bond.

When, early on in the race for the Democratic nomination, people wondered if black Americans would vote for Mr. Obama, I never doubted. During the last two years I’ve learned to decipher his name in almost any pronunciation, because on finding out that I’m an American, all other black people I meet, whether they are Arabic-speaking Moroccans in Casablanca, French-speaking African mobile-phone-store clerks in the outer boroughs of Paris, or thickly accented Jamaican black Brits, ask me eagerly about him. Black people all over the world feel a sense of pride in his accomplishment.

It’s hard to understand why black Americans ever tried to use the term African-American to exclude people. The black American community’s social and political power derives from its inclusiveness. Everyone who identifies as black has traditionally been welcomed, no matter their skin color or date of arrival. In Britain, in contrast, dark-skinned people who trace their relatives to particular former colonies can be cliquish. Beyond the fact that blacks make up a smaller share of the population here, this regional identity may be a reason that the British black community isn’t as powerful a social and political force.

I’ve never minded not knowing who my ancestors are beyond a few generations. My partner is an Englishman whose family tree is the sort that professional genealogists post on the Internet because it can be traced back to the first king of England in the 11th century. To me, it’s more comforting to know that, through me, our children will be black, with all of the privileges and pains.

On Mr. Obama’s behalf, American blacks have set aside their exclusive label. Polls show that about 80 percent of blacks who have voted in the Democratic primaries have chosen him. And all of the black people in the mountains of Morocco, the poor suburbs of Paris, the little villages in Kenya and the streets of London are cheering Mr. Obama’s victories because they see him as one of their own.

Black Americans should honor that. It’s time to retire the term African-American and go back to black.

K. A. Dilday is a columnist for the online magazine Open Democracy.

More Articles in Opinion »

519

General Discussion / Wah alyuh think bout this story

« on: February 23, 2008, 08:19:32 PM »

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, a Special Branch police constable spying on criminal suspects was robbed of his gun by four men who identified him as a police officer in Couva yesterday.

At around 7 a.m., the officer said he was sitting in his car doing surveillance work when a car pulled alongside and four men with guns came out.

The officer said his loaded gun was taken and he was ordered to hand over his keys. The men tossed the keys into nearby bushes and left him.

The robbery sparked a massive search involving several special units of the Police Service in areas including Marabella and La Romaine.

Up to late last night there was no sign of the men or the gun.

something  wrong in this story

520

Trinbago, NBA & World Basketball / WNBA star from Morvant

« on: February 21, 2008, 08:06:26 PM »

Thursday, February 14th 2008
 
 
 
At 6ft 7in Gillian Goring towers over her opponents in the WNBA.

Washington Mystics

centre Gillian Goring talks to Lorraine Waldropt about the long road from Malick Senior Comp to holding court in front of millions of basketball fans in

the US


Sports Illustrated described her as having been one of the most sought-after women's basketball recruits in the United States: "A 6-foot-7 center with rare agility and an array of post moves, she could run the floor, shoot the three and catch any pass that came anywhere close to her." The player in the spotlight was Gillian Goring, now signed to the Washington Mystics, who was born in Morvant.

The 24-year-old, who was home for Carnival, has made it to the NBA, the basketball player's Mecca. In the arena where you have to prove you're worthy to wear your gear and slam your dunk, where every player wants "to be like Mike [Michael Jordan], Shaquille O'Neal or, for entertainment sake, Dennis Rodman, Goring has arrived. "I never thought I would make it this far in basketball. I am really living my dream!"

 
Photos courtesy Washington Mystics

From "taking a sweat with the fellas" on the court at her alma mater, Malick Senior Comprehensive, Goring is now starring on ESPN, and has been featured in USA Today and Fox Sports. Her interest in basketball was sparked off at the early age of seven. Life wasn't easy in Morvant for her big family of eight. She had to help her mother make and sell pies to earn money. But she was always fascinated by

basketball.

"Sports was something I could always do," Goring told USA Today. "I'd have played any sport to get out of Trinidad. It's a great place to vacation, but it's hard to live there when you're in poverty. I loved basketball. I was releasing stress on the court." Her keen understanding of the game and her stick-to-it attitude gave her the edge she needed on the court. Of course her height was also an asset. She comes from a tall family - her mother is 6ft 3in, her dad an amazing 7ft, and her two brothers and three sisters are not too far behind.

At age 13, Goring earned her first national cap playing with the national under-19 team. A year later she was nominated for the WITCO Sportswoman of the Year Award. Soon enough she became a Junior Ambassador, representing T&T in England, Scotland and the US. "I had to stand before large audiences of prime ministers and presidents and speak about my country it was nerve-wracking but I was proud to do it!" she recalled.

After playing for Malick Senior Comp, Goring then played for Malick Eagles, which helped to develop her talent. As her rebounding, passing and ball-handling skills sharpened, word carried all the way to the US about a phenomenal 14-year-old in a Caribbean island called Trinidad.


Enter Mike Flynn, a powerbroker in the girls and women's basketball world in the States. When he heard about Goring, he paid for former Notre Dame star Karen Robinson to come here and track her down. Soon, Goring was on her way to the Philadelphia. Impressed with her promise, he met with her family and in 1998 became her guardian, assuming legal and financial responsibility for her. Flynn enrolled her at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania, where she received a need-based scholarship for the annual tuition of about US$15,000.

So far so wonderful, but Goring's journey had only just begun. She had never used a computer before and although she played well for two seasons at Germantown Academy, academically she was in trouble. "...there had never been much emphasis on school when I was in Trinidad," she told Sports Illustrated. "As the star basketball player, I got away with everything. No one cared if you kept up your grades or not. It was tough making the transition to the U.S."

Germantown put Goring on an individually designed programme and provided tutors. "It was clear there were huge gaps in her educational preparation," says Jim Connor, Germantown's head of school. "It was also clear that she's really bright and has lots of artistic talent. She's one of the best people you could meet."

Over the next few years, Goring would battle with subjects like algebra, economics, Spanish and geometry, in her bid to pass the SATs and various exams. One of the requirements to play in the WNBA is completion of four years at college.

But on the court, she excelled. At Germantown she averaged 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks per game in her second season while leading the team to a 25-2 record.

She collected an armful of accolades, including being named to Parade and USA Today's All-America Second Teams and Street & Smith's First Team. In 2000, she moved to West High School in Waterloo, Iowa, where she played on the All Star Team and recorded 14 blocks in a single game. Her next move came in 2002, the University of Arkansas, where her bountiful blocks and dynamic dunks ensured her climb up the basketball continuum as she was named NJCAA All-American as a sophomore and was featured in ESPN The Magazine.

Finally, last year, after recovering from a series of injuries, she was signed by Washington Mystics as center.

"Playing with the Washington Mystics is very different to playing at the collegiate level," she said. "It's very competitive and I have to put out even more on the court." But this homegirl has her own therapies for dealing with the bright lights and pre-game nerves: she listens to reggae. "Playing in the WNBA can make you nervous at times, but you have to channel all your fears into positive energy for the game," she mused.

Last year she also tied the knot with her sweetheart, American football player Stephan Conley. "The day I got married was the happiest day of my life and I thank God that I was able to accomplish both my basketball and my romantic goals within such a short space of time," Goring said. "He supports me all the way in my sport and I'm very lucky to have him in my life."

Looking ahead, she wants to start a family while maintaining her career. She attributes her success to hard work, determination and a focused attitude. But above all things, she said, "Put God first in everything you do." This was how she was able to conquer all obstacles. And this homegirl hasn't forgotten where she came from. "I want to accomplish a few more goals in my lifetime, an important one being buying my mom a big house."
 
 

521

General Discussion / Sisters Fake Kidnapping

« on: February 05, 2008, 10:52:18 PM »

Two sisters fake kidnapping

Richard Charan South Bureau


Wednesday, February 6th 2008
 
 
 Two sisters faked their kidnapping, so they could hide from their strict grandfather and sneak off to yesterday's Carnival celebrations.

Their granddad panicked when he could not find the girls, aged 12 and 16, on Monday evening.

His fear mounted when a third sister claimed she met a "rasta man" who said he had snatched the sisters.

So the grandfather went to the police station to report the double abduction. Police response was immediate and massive.

Central Division's Senior Superintendent Rattan Singh mounted a search involving a police helicopter, soldiers, police officers and tracker dogs.

An alert officer who sensed something fishy about the story, eventually found the "kidnapped" sisters, one of them hiding in the house.

The hunt was called off when their mother, who knew what had happened, confessed to the constable who found the other sister hiding behind the house.

The bizarre incident played out in rural Gran Couva, a village in the Central Range.

The 64-year-old grandfather reported to police that he took three granddaughters to his agricultural estate after blanking their request to play mas.

He said he spent 15 minutes picking peas, before he realised two girls were missing.

Police later learned that the girls had darted into the forest, climbing hills and wading through rivers, until they reached their mother's home.

Villagers joined in the search that began at around 4 p.m. Monday.

Many villagers were alarmed, the Express was told, because of the abduction and murder two months ago of 15-year-old schoolgirl Rebekah Sugrim, who lived not far away and whose killers have not been found.

Police said no charges would be filed in the case of the "kidnapped" sisters.

Gran Couva police were commended for their swift response to the kidnap report. The girls still did not get their Carnival lime to see Tuesday mas, police said.
 
 

rastaman ,rastaman, rastaman rastaman becarefull oui .

522

Entertainment & Culture Discussion / CALYPSO MONACH

« on: February 03, 2008, 10:37:34 PM »

SUGAR ALOES is calypso monach to me CRO CRO calypso was far better than Aloes .

523

General Discussion / Boy 15, charged with killing family

« on: February 03, 2008, 11:02:39 AM »

Md. Boy, 15, Charged With Killing Family
COCKEYSVILLE, Md., Sun Feb 03, 11:37 AM
 

 
 
A 15-year-old boy was charged with murder Sunday in the shooting deaths of his parents and two younger brothers in their suburban Baltimore home.

Nicholas Waggoner Browning was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his father, John Browning, 45; his mother Tamara, 44; and his brothers Gregory, 13, and Benjamin, 11. He was charged as an adult.

Browning was arrested at 1:05 a.m. Sunday after he admitted to the killings, Baltimore County Police spokesman Bill Toohey said.

The teen had a disagreement with his father and used his father's handgun to kill his family Friday night, Toohey said. After the slayings he threw the gun away in bushes near his house.

Browning then spent Friday night and all day Saturday with friends, Toohey said. When the friends took him back to his house at 5 p.m. Saturday, Browning went into the house and came back out to say that his father was dead.

Browning was denied bail Sunday morning; bail review will be conducted Monday.

He's being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in a special section for juveniles.


 

524

General Discussion / RUM OR MARAiJUANA

« on: February 02, 2008, 12:46:09 PM »

Yuh could bring it in ah bottle, yuh could bring it in ah glass, ah wah meh rum in the mourning ,ah wah meh rum in the evening ,this is what the radio stations playin ,if ah man sing a song about smokin grass it eh go get the air play or if the song play at all they will blank out the part that say smokin grass . ah find this is so false, how much lives does marijuana take compare to rum especially around this time and Christmas . But yet the play up rum and know body say anything .

525

Entertainment & Culture Discussion / WHAT TOWN SAY ,DEY SAY

« on: February 01, 2008, 12:00:06 AM »

Rise, Nadia; you’re numero uno

Once again it’s my profound pleasure to present my top ten pan songs for 2008.

Please be advised that selection is not based on record sales, but the sweetness of the composition and its ability to make you wine.

My selections are:

1 Rise—Nadia Batson

2 Thunder Coming

3 Pimpilum Pilum

4 Musical vengeance

5 Ten Commandments of Pan

6 Sailors on the Road

7 Celebration Time

8 Pan in the Park

9 Hooked

10 Pan Energy

Honourable mention goes to Latin on the Court (De Fosto), and Get Down and Pan in the Place (Carwash). Kudos are also in order for the other pan song composers. Guys, you made me agonise over the selections.

I am sure readers will agree with me when I say pan songs are getting sweeter than Caroni brown sugar. Nadia Batson’s Rise will surely be around for a long time; as well as the melodic bass line in a Pimpilum Pilum by Shadow. Thanks for the music, guys!

n It’s Crying Time... again

As the tempo moves to the southland my heart bleeds for the south bands, who this weekend will watch the National Panorama Finals from the sidelines at Skinner Park, San Fernando.

TCL Group Skiffle Bunch and NLCB Fonclaire carried the hopes of southerners, but failed to make the cut at the national semifinals.

It’s been a long, long, time since a south band has won Panorama; some 33 years.

The last band to win a National Panorama was Hatters in 1975. Now I’m hearing cry baby Junia Regello of Skiffle Bunch saying to increase the finalists in the National Panorama from eight to ten bands.

I don’t see how this will help the cause of the south bands... beats me.

Nevertheless I was satisfied with the efforts this year of Skiffle Bunch and Fonclaire.

Hard luck guys. Ken “Professor” Philmore and Darren Shepherd need not hang their heads in shame.

n What town say, they say!

People asking me: Who go win Panorama? You see me, this time I am offering no predictions. The last time I told readers in 2006; “Town say All Stars.” They nearly half kill me. Panorama 2K8 is too close to call. Look, I rather swim the chilly English Channel bareback, than offer a prediction.

Everybody knows I was born a Desperado(es) so they know I bias. I want to be neutral. So all I will say may the best band win and what Town say... they say! I cool with that.

n Guys, do your homework please

Today I call on some radio announcers to do their research before spouting pan information on the airwaves.

This year, I am hearing so much wrong information that I am bewildered. Holy mackerel!

Don’t these guys know that they must do their homework?

You know the Buzz likes nothing better than to offer congratulations. So today I will like to congratulate Dr Jeanine Remy on her musical comments. She really knows her stuff. Jeanine, take a bow. I hope one day to hear you and Orville Wright on the same commentary team for Panorama. That will be a blast.

Jeanine, one thing though, perhaps you can help unravel the mystery of how pan judges arrive at a half point.

n Let’s show some courtesy

I’ll always acknowledge the work done by sponsors who help steelbands development and give generously to making Carnival 2K8 a success. Now, let’s be reasonable, I can’t list everyone in the Buzz, but there are major sponsors who contribute to more than one band. Sponsors like Petrotrin, National Gas Company, bmobile, Carib and National Flour Mills.

I know for a fact that there are people who throw letters from steelbands requesting help in the dustbin. Mr Corporate Big Shot, a simple reply saying no is more courteous. Please let’s have some. My grandma always used to say a little courtesy goes a long way.

n Chinese workers

win best dress

During the Panorama prelims and semifinals at the Queen’s Park Savannah, I was rocked on my heels.

Everywhere I looked I saw Chinese workers dressed to kill like James Bond. I know the Communist Party’s philosophy encourages everyone to look, think and feel the same, but there was no uniformity in dress; as we see when they are going to work at construction sites.

Nevertheless, they gravitated to the music of the Silver Stars. Don’t be surprised if next year you see a tenor pan row of Chinese panmen. Talking about Silver Stars, they’re a danger in the National Panorama finals...watch dem, watch dem.

n Stop this ‘foreign-used’ mentality

It seems to me that Panorama and protest go hand in hand. I have made it clear that I hate when pan judges come under attack for doing their jobs. I know pan, like football in Argentina and Brazil, is filled with passion, but I think protesters are going too far.

Judges are people of integrity who judge music. They don’t adjudicate on crowd applause, how uniforms look, or adulation of steelbands.

They look for interpretation of the original composition, rhythm, pitch and tone, colour expression of ideas, progression of musical patterns; musical stuff like that. (I sounding like a pan judge eh?).

I will never tolerate the call to bring foreign judges to judge pan. Pan is we thing. With our “foreign used” mentality, we tend to decry, devalue and denigrate our people, when a little appreciation will do.

So until next week, be safe for Carnival 2K8, and keep loving up the pan.
 
 

526

General Discussion / NEW BORDER ID RULES BEGIN

« on: January 31, 2008, 09:05:00 PM »

Few Delays As New Border ID Rules Begin
DETROIT, Thu Jan 31, 08:51 PM
 

 
   
Tougher identification rules went into effect Thursday along the nation's borders, but there appeared to be little added delay as travelers unprepared for the change were in many cases allowed to cross with a warning.

Rather than seeing a bottleneck over the Ambassador Bridge into Detroit, truck driver Paul Kraus said, "It's actually slow today." The 42-year-old regularly crosses the bridge from Windsor, Ontario, and said he always carries required documents.

U.S. and Canadian citizens entering the country are no longer allowed to simply declare to immigration officers at border crossings that they are citizens. Instead, those 19 and older must show proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a "trusted traveler" card issued to frequent border crossers. Driver's licenses must be accompanied by proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.

Orville McFarlane of San Diego had just his driver's license as he returned from a sports betting parlor in Tijuana, Mexico, but was still allowed past San Diego's main border crossing.

"I was taken aback a little bit" about being asked for a birth certificate, the 36-year-old pharmacy technician said. "I said I didn't have it. He gave me a reminder slip."

Customs officials said that delays were minimal across the country and that most motorists had the documentation they needed.


 
"It's been a very smooth transition," said Thomas Winkowski, assistant commissioner of the Office of Field Operations, Customs and Border Protection. "There have been no issues with wait times."

Officers at the ports had latitude to admit people who are unaware of the changes once their identities were confirmed, and many points were offering a grace period and handing out fliers explaining the changes.

On the U.S. side of the border in Progreso, Texas, those returning from a trip to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, across the Rio Grande carried bags of prescription drugs, cigarettes, liquor and crafts. Bobby and Genice Bogard of Greers Ferry, Ark., crossed so Genice could get a tooth capped.

The Bogards, who winter in Mission, Texas, knew the requirements were coming but thought they took effect in June. So even though they have U.S. passports, they had left them at home.

"He allowed us to pass with a driver's license," Bobby Bogard said of a border agent.

"But next time he said he wouldn't," added Genice Bogard.

Others were ready for the new rules, or say they've grown accustomed to carrying citizenship documents since security tightened following the Sept. 11 attacks. At the Peace Bridge, officials said most travelers entering Buffalo, N.Y., from Fort Erie, Ontario, had proper documentation.

"I always come across with my passport," said Fred Goetz of Burlington, Ontario.

Smooth travel was reported at many crossings along the northern and southern borders.

The rules eventually will get even tougher for U.S. citizens entering the country from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean because of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which Congress approved in 2004.

The driver's license-birth certificate combination will not be allowed when the law is fully implemented, but that has been delayed at land and sea crossings until June 2009.

Mexican citizens will continue to have to present valid passports and visas. Canadian citizens previously were not required to show a passport but will need one after next year.

Critics, particularly in northern border states, have assailed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff over the changes. Some businesses and lawmakers worry that the new rules — and the costs of getting a passport — would discourage some people from making the trip.

"We are right on the border and 50 percent of our guests are Canadian, so it's an enormous part of our business," said Bill Stenger, president of Jay Peak ski resort in Jay, Vt.

———

527

Entertainment & Culture Discussion / Gypsy no longer sings

« on: January 06, 2008, 08:44:19 PM »

Ah doh want to believe wah GYPSY sayin if that iz so them people wicked for real.

By Yvonne Baboolal

UNC Alliance Mayaro MP and calypsonian, Winston “Gypsy” Peters, has blamed former culture minister Joan Yuille-Williams as the reason why he no longer performs in a calypso tent.

He claimed Yuille-Williams had told tent managers her ministry would not have funded them if they allowed him to be a part of their cast.

“I have not been singing in any tents since I joined the UNC. Nobody wants me to sing in their tents anymore,” Gypsy told the Sunday Guardian Thursday in his Mayaro constituency.

He added: “I heard Yuille-Williams told the tents there would be no financing for them if they let Gypsy sing. She told me she didn’t say it. But I have empirical evidence,” he insisted.

Gypsy, a businessman had been a part of the popular Spektakula Forum cast for 18 years.

Contacted about Gypsy’s allegations, Yuille-Williams dismissed them as untruths.

She said: “I have heard Gypsy saying that. But that was never true. I had nothing to do with his not singing in tents. I would never have done something like that. I never controlled who sang and who didn’t. They picked their own cast.”

Gypsy said despite his affiliation with the Opposition party, he has never composed songs that were openly political.

“The few that are political are ambiguously so, like Sinking Ship and Party’s Over,” he noted. “So I don’t see the reason for this political persecution. A man should be free to be a member of any political party he likes without being attacked for it.”

Gypsy, who also won several extempo competitions, said it was for the same reason he stopped entering those competitions.
 

 
 
 

528

General Discussion / 1st friday of D year

« on: January 04, 2008, 03:39:57 PM »

And ah on work playin internet, and ah know that ah hav lots of company playin internet too .

time to turn off the puter and go home hang wid the family and maybe if ah could get on the puter

home play so more internet . so ah switch off time iz now .

529

General Discussion / Arnold say $ 1,000 iz not enough

« on: December 31, 2007, 11:29:16 AM »

SEAN NERO

PAN TRINBAGO president Patrick Arnold is demanding that the Government increase its payment to individual pannists performing in next year’s national Panorama competition.

He wants to withdraw the revised $1,000 which Pan Trinbago accepted from the Culture Ministry for pannists taking part in Carnival 2008.

Arnold is fighting for a significantly higher figure, but he would not disclose the sum.

He said pannists were musicians and contribute considerably to the estimated US$600 million, which T&T Carnival generates and should benefit more from all the revenue that ends up in the treasury.

Arnold made the demand less than three weeks after Culture Minister Marlene McDonald agreed to Pan Trinbago’s revised proposal for a better player remittance programme, citing the major role panmen play in the outpour of music at Carnival time.

The incentive programme, which McDonald assented to, saw a whopping increase of 150 per cent from the $400 paid to pannists in this year’s competition.

Under the plan, the State will pay out an estimated $7.3 million to 7,300 pannists.

Should Pan Trinbago get its way with the Culture Minister, that figure could double.

Arnold said $1,000 was not enough and wanted the nation’s pannists to earn more.

“When fellas join the musician union in the United States of America they are paid as professionals...Nobody ask them what instrument they play,” he said.

“They are first paid as musicians and that is where panmen must reach; and that is what Pan Trinbago is going to fight for.”

Arnold has received widespread support from the nation’s panmen on this latest call.

Strong support

for Arnold’s call

Owen Serrette, governing director of Solo Pan Knights: “Anything for the panmen. Once government willing to give it, I would accept it.”

TREVOR COOPER, assistant manager of Caribbean Airlines Invaders: “While we want the best for panmen, there would have to be greater controls. We can all say it could be more, but we have to be realistic.”

MARIE TOBY, captain RBTT Redemption Sound Setters (Tobago): “It is in the best interest of the pannists. At first we had nothing, then we got $200, $400 and the $1,000. We are getting somewhere. We are heading in the right direction. It is up to the pannists now to step up.”

MILTON “WIRE” AUSTIN, manager NLCB Fonclaire: “We can always do better. I have always maintained it should be $3,000. It moved from $400 to $1,000. That’s an increase of 150 per cent. In which part of the world have you heard (wage) negotiations were held and it was increased by 150 per cent? Twenty-five per cent maybe. Pan Trinbago should settle for a minimum $2,500.”
 
©2005-2006 Trinidad Publishing Company Limited
Designed by: Randall Rajkumar-Maharaj · Updated daily by: Nicholas Attai
 
 
 
SEAN NERO

PAN TRINBAGO president Patrick Arnold is demanding that the Government increase its payment to individual pannists performing in next year’s national Panorama competition.

He wants to withdraw the revised $1,000 which Pan Trinbago accepted from the Culture Ministry for pannists taking part in Carnival 2008.

Arnold is fighting for a significantly higher figure, but he would not disclose the sum.

He said pannists were musicians and contribute considerably to the estimated US$600 million, which T&T Carnival generates and should benefit more from all the revenue that ends up in the treasury.

Arnold made the demand less than three weeks after Culture Minister Marlene McDonald agreed to Pan Trinbago’s revised proposal for a better player remittance programme, citing the major role panmen play in the outpour of music at Carnival time.

The incentive programme, which McDonald assented to, saw a whopping increase of 150 per cent from the $400 paid to pannists in this year’s competition.

Under the plan, the State will pay out an estimated $7.3 million to 7,300 pannists.

Should Pan Trinbago get its way with the Culture Minister, that figure could double.

Arnold said $1,000 was not enough and wanted the nation’s pannists to earn more.

“When fellas join the musician union in the United States of America they are paid as professionals...Nobody ask them what instrument they play,” he said.

“They are first paid as musicians and that is where panmen must reach; and that is what Pan Trinbago is going to fight for.”

Arnold has received widespread support from the nation’s panmen on this latest call.

Strong support

for Arnold’s call

Owen Serrette, governing director of Solo Pan Knights: “Anything for the panmen. Once government willing to give it, I would accept it.”

TREVOR COOPER, assistant manager of Caribbean Airlines Invaders: “While we want the best for panmen, there would have to be greater controls. We can all say it could be more, but we have to be realistic.”

MARIE TOBY, captain RBTT Redemption Sound Setters (Tobago): “It is in the best interest of the pannists. At first we had nothing, then we got $200, $400 and the $1,000. We are getting somewhere. We are heading in the right direction. It is up to the pannists now to step up.”

MILTON “WIRE” AUSTIN, manager NLCB Fonclaire: “We can always do better. I have always maintained it should be $3,000. It moved from $400 to $1,000. That’s an increase of 150 per cent. In which part of the world have you heard (wage) negotiations were held and it was increased by 150 per cent? Twenty-five per cent maybe. Pan Trinbago should settle for a minimum $2,500.”
 
v

530

General Discussion / Funny and Political Bumper Stickers

« on: December 28, 2007, 10:18:40 AM »

If yuh enjoy yuh freedom thank a vet , Keep off the grass .

531

General Discussion / RACE SLAY JUDGE FEELIN THE HEAT

« on: December 27, 2007, 10:49:00 AM »

 
December 27, 2007 -- The juror furor in a racially charged Long Island slay case could come back to bite a judge accused of pressuring the panel for a pre-holiday verdict, legal experts said yesterday.

At least one of the jurors who convicted a black Suffolk County man in the shooting death of a white teenager on the man's property told The Post Judge Barbara Kahn laid a guilt trip on the panel.

The juror, Francois Larché, quoted her saying a mistrial would only heap more pain and suffering on the families of the victim and his accused killer.

John White's lawyers said they will seek to overturn his manslaughter conviction. Their appeal might hinge on the judge's role in the deliberations. "The issue may very well be the instruction the judge gave that put pressure on them," said attorney Sanford Rubenstein. "In many cases appeals are successful because they feel instructions were not proper."

White was convicted Saturday night of second-degree manslaughter in the August 2006 shooting death of 17-year-old Daniel Cicciaro Jr., who along with four buddies came to White's Miller Place house looking for White's son, Aaron, on the mistaken belief Aaron had threatened to rape their friend.

Larché and Donna Marshak, the last jurors holding out for an innocent verdict on the manslaughter charge, told The Post they were steamrollered by fellow jurors after Klein threatened to make them work Sunday and Christmas Eve.

John White had said he thought his son's life was in danger, and that he confronted the hate-filled group with a gun that accidentally went off when Cicciaro lunged at him in White's driveway.

Kahn is scheduled on Feb. 21 to sentence White, who faces five to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter rap.

John White's lawyer, Frederick Brewington, said his team is "evaluating every aspect" of the jurors' comments to The Post and will make a decision soon about grounds for an appeal.

Other attorneys weighed in on Brewington's chances.

"It's going to be an uphill battle," said Kenneth Thompson, who prosecuted cops in the racially charged Abner Louima case.

"Any juror can go home and say they have regrets. If that were the case, many verdicts would be overturned."

Lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman, who has represented John "Junior" Gotti, drew a parallel between White and subway gunman Bernhard Goetz, who in 1984 shot and wounded four teens he said were trying to rob him.

Goetz "spent less than a year in prison," Lichtman said. "This, in a twisted way, is a similar situation."

If this man iz found guilty leh meh se e what they would do with the guy who shout the two black guys in TEXAS FOR TRESPASSING .


v

532

General Discussion / Cop Who Lied About Citizenship Deported

« on: December 23, 2007, 07:36:06 PM »

Cop Who Lied About Citizenship Deported
MILWAUKEE, Sun Dec 23, 07:48 PM

 
 
 
 
A man who took a dead cousin's identity to pose as a U.S. citizen in order to become a police officer was deported from the United States and arrived in central Mexico on Sunday.

Oscar Ayala-Cornejo, 25, was arrested May 31 after an anonymous tip and was charged with falsely representing himself as an American citizen.

He accepted a plea deal, agreeing to be deported, and resigned from the Milwaukee police force. A judge sentenced Ayala last month to a year of probation.

Darryl Morin, special projects coordinator for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Ayala left on a flight out of Milwaukee on Sunday morning. Dense fog had forced the cancellation of Ayala's flight on Saturday.

Ayala-Cornejo arrived Sunday evening at the international airport in Guadalajara, Mexico, where his family moved from in 1992. He was greeted by nearly a dozen relatives.

He said he was too tired to talk with reporters but indicated he would speak publicly in the coming days.

In a cell phone interview as he arrived at the Milwaukee airport on Saturday, Ayala said he was sad to leave his family and friends but was optimistic. He plans to stay with relatives in Guadalajara and study computer engineering.


 
"I enjoyed my time here and I have no regrets," he said.

Being a police officer was his dream job.

"I love this country," he said Saturday. "I love everything it has to offer."

Ayala said in November that his father helped him change his identity to Jose Morales, a cousin who was a U.S. citizen but who died as a child of stomach cancer.

He had told his father he wanted to become a police officer after the department recruited at his high school.

He said he would have had to go back to Mexico when he became an adult to wait years before becoming a citizen, and his father didn't want to separate the family. His sister was married to a citizen, his brother was born in this country and his parents were on their way to becoming permanent residents.

His father died of leukemia in 2004, before he could see his son become a police officer that December.

Ayala doesn't hold his father responsible.

"The cards that we were dealt just weren't the best ones," he has said. "If I wouldn't have done this, I would still be in Mexico waiting to see if I could ever see my family."

His 27-year-old brother, Alex, was fired from the police department in September for lying about his brother's identity, but he won his job back this month, with a 10-day suspension without pay.

533

Football / Smart ball

« on: December 13, 2007, 09:48:23 PM »

Fifa gave the go ahead for smart ball to be used in soccer games ,the ball have a built in chip  if the ball should cross the goal line and the

keeper pull in back from the goal the referee  neither the linesmen see it , the ball will activate a computer off the field and the referee will

 be informed a goal was scored. suppose a man took a shot to goal the ball drop out of the keeper hand  on the goal line  and the  chip

activate the computer that could create such a problem.

534

General Discussion / Give a child a book for Christmas

« on: December 04, 2007, 09:16:13 PM »

Give a child a book for Christmas
Published at December 2, 2007 in General T&T.
By Raffique Shah
December 02, 2007

As the Armed Forces Veterans Association (AFVA) prepares for its annual Christmas party for selected children in Laventille (where its operations are based), my ex-soldier friend Selwyn Nurse asked: what toys do you think we should give them this year? “Books!” I responded, without hesitating. Books? He seemed somewhat puzzled by my response. I imagine the children, too, would be unpleasantly surprised when Santa (Brigadier Alfonso? WOII Gellizeau?) hands them books, not Nintendos or the latest tech-toys. Parents may even cuss Santa and storm out of the compound, probably pelting bottles and stones, if not spraying the “vets” with real bullets.

Having explained why I thought the AFVA should take the lead in trying to stimulate reading among children, Nurse bought the idea and is now looking for book donors. I should add that besides gifts, the children are treated to snacks and goodies, enjoy music, and generally have a good time. I have identified this one children’s Christmas party because I am associated with the AFVA. But there are hundreds of similar events hosted every year, and not only for Christmas, but increasingly for Eid, Diwali, graduations, and so on. At most of these, the hosts feel compelled to buy the children toys-usually cheap trinkets that are bought in bulk.

One of the main failings of our society, and we are not singular in this respect, is that increasingly, children do not read. In fact, I can say with authority that many teachers do not read-except textbooks they need to read for teaching purposes. Over the past few years, British writer J.K. Rowling has stimulated interest among teenage readers with her Harry Potter series. But technology and globalisation have combined to consign reading to a rapidly diminishing number of “old fogeys”. Today, it’s the ubiquitous LCD or plasma screen that controls mind, body and soul. These are also among reasons why we enter the 21st century with declining numbers of people who can read, write properly, or understand basic arithmetic.

Last week several consumer reports coming out of North America and Europe told of parents who will buy their pre-school children (meaning those under three years) expensive tech-toys like laptop computers, ipods, and real cell-phones. One mother who bought a toy phone for her one-year-old baby said the child threw it away! She wants a real phone, like the one mummy owns. Here in Trinidad, it will be little different, especially among the well-heeled. You can bet, too, that those who complain loudest about rising food prices, illiteracy among school children and high crime, will think nothing of spending heavily on gizmos for their “tiny treasures”.

I am not suggesting we take the fun out of Christmas, which I’ve long maintained is meant for children, what with its compelling tale of the Christ-child in a manger, and its many beautiful songs. Sure, give the young ones some fun stuff. But in or out of the festive season, people must realise that for this country to progress, we need to produce many more literate graduates. And the fundamentals of literacy have not changed since Euclid and Shakespeare walked the earth: the three “R’s”-reading, writing and arithmetic are an imperative.

Being a compulsive reader for the better part of my 61 years (except for some textbooks I laboured through when I attended college), I can say with authority that reading not only informs and educates, but more important, it stimulates the imagination. I am no scientist, but I’d rank imagination as our “sixth sense” that is probably more valuable that the other five put together. Conversely, tech-games, television and computers, when not properly used, destroy the wonderful world of imagination.

When I was a pre-teen reading Aesop Fables, Enid Blyton’s “Famous Five” series and “Billy Bunter”, I was lost in a dream world of high adventure. Today’s parents need not turn to foreign authors for stimulating material, although reading, like music, is universal in appeal. Julie Morton has churned out several while my late friend, Ken Parmasad, produced an Indian classic in Salt and Roti. For more mature children, and this has little to do with age, there’s Merle Hodge’s Crick Crack, Monkey, as, I am sure there are many other good “reads” from other Caribbean writers.

Many bookstores still stock the “classics” in condensed versions, which were what many of my friends and I used to introduce our children to the joy of reading. Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, Arabian Nights, and, of course, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, must be a thousand times more interesting than most television shows (except, perhaps, Sesame Street). Comic books provided an incentive for those children who were not “bright”, to learn to read.

As we seek to address today’s problems of illiteracy and crime, which are inextricably linked, we should start by re-kindling an interest in reading, in the logic of math, and healthy sports. These give us no guarantee against societal degeneration. But they might just extricate us from this descent into the hell-hole we are mired in. And they cost much less than the tech-junk that children will destroy before the festive season gives way to Carnival.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

535

Jokes / Psychology of caribbean people

« on: November 29, 2007, 01:56:54 PM »

ah bredah send me this e-mail and ah dicided to pass this by alyuh.


 

A ship sank in high seas and the following people got stranded on a beautiful deserted island in the middle of nowhere:

 

a) 2 Jamaican men and 1 Jamaican woman

b) 2 Trinidadian men and 1 Trinidadian woman

c) 2 Guyanese men and 1 Guyanese woman

d) 2 Bajan men and 1 Bajan woman

e) 2 Antiguan men and 1 Antiguan woman

f) 2 Chinese men and 1 Chinese woman

g) 2 Indian men and 1 Indian woman

 

 

One month later, on various parts of the island, the following was observed:

 

   * One Jamaican man killed the other Jamaican man for the Jamaican woman.

   * One Trinidadian man kidnapped the Trinidadian woman and asked the other Trinidadian man for the ransom.

   * The two Guyanese men have a strict weekly schedule of when they alternate with the Guyanese woman.

   * The two Bajan men are sleeping together, and the Bajan woman is cooking & cleaning for them.

   * The two Antiguan men took a long look at the endless ocean and a long look at the Antiguan woman, and they started swimming.

   * The two Chinese men are talking to all the other men on the Island trying to sell them the Chinese woman.

   * The 2 Indian men are still waiting for someone to introduce them to the Indian woman.

 

536

General Discussion / World warned of traveling to T&T

« on: November 28, 2007, 08:14:59 AM »

BRITAIN, Canada, Australia and the United States are still warning their nationals about the risks of travelling to Trinidad and Tobago.

They all warn about the crime levels in the country, and some even continue advise about a threat of terrorism.

Several countries have been issuing travel warnings or advisories about T&T for the past three years when the homicide and kidnappings rate began to escalate.

On Monday, Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) updated the travel advisory on its Web site www.fco.gov.uk to warn travellers “you should be aware that there are high levels of violent crime, including shootings and kidnappings.”

It notes that “British nationals have been victims of violent attacks, particularly in Tobago where law enforcement is weak.”

It also states that “cruise ship passengers should take particular care when walking along the docks and downtown (Port-of-Spain).”

Giving examples of British nationals being attacked, injured and robbed, it warns of an increase in attacks at tourist sites and car parks of supermarkets, shopping malls, restaurants and business premises.

In Tobago, it says, visits are generally trouble-free but refers to incidents of robbery and violence, including rape.

It advises caution in renting villas in the south-west of the island, near Bethel, Buccoo, Mount Pleasant and Plymouth.

The Web site also carries a country profile which states: “Trans-shipment of illegal drugs, money-laundering and associated violent crime are all problems that Trinidad and Tobago faces. It also has a high level of domestic violence. The prison population is high.”

CANADA

Similarly, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs maintains a “high degree of caution” when visiting T&T, “due to high crime rates.”

Its Travel Advice notes that “robberies with violence, including assaults and rape, occur frequently” in Port-of-Spain, San Fernando and other urban areas.

It says “crimes of opportunity such as petty theft tend to increase during...Carnival in February or March and during the Christmas holidays.”

As it has in the past, it maintains that “incidents of gangs following cars leaving Piarco Airport and robbing travellers once they reach their destination have been reported.”

In a one-sentence reference to Tobago, it states “tourists and foreign nationals are also victims of crime” on the island.

AUSTRALIA

Australia carries a more succinct Travel Advice which also warns a “high degree of caution” due to “high levels of serious crime.”

It says “armed robbery is common and “the number of violent crimes, including assault, sexual assault, kidnapping and murder continues to increase.”

It advises that “local authorities, particularly in Tobago, often have limited capacity to provide assistance.”

THE US

The US State Department’s Web site’s information on T&T has not changed since April 13, 2007.

It, too, states that “incidents of violent crime have been steadily on the rise on both islands.”

It goes on to warn against using maxi taxis as they “have been linked to many road accidents and some instances of crime.

A spokesman at the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain said yesterday there have been no major incidents of late to prompt any change in the Consular Information on T&T.

TERRORISM

To Britain, “there is an underlying threat from terrorism” in T&T, according to the FCO Web site.

It states, “Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.”

It continues to make reference to some explosions that took place two years ago: “There were five separate bombings in Port-of-Spain between July and October 2005, in which a number of people were injured. These incidents look to have been domestically-motivated.”

The US does not mention terrorism, but makes reference to the 2005 bombings. It says, “While no similar incidents have occurred since that time, the perpetrator(s) have not been arrested and their identities and motive remain unknown. Americans living or visiting Port-of-Spain are advised to exercise caution, especially in crowded urban areas.”

Canada also carries no terrorism warning on its Travel Advice, and Australia notes only that “terrorism is a threat throughout the world.”
 
©2005-2006 Trinidad Publishing Company Limited
Designed by: Randall Rajkumar-Maharaj · Updated daily by: Nicholas Attai
 
 
 

537

General Discussion / Test of Faith at Oral Roberts University

« on: November 24, 2007, 11:35:13 PM »

Test of Faith at Oral Roberts University
TULSA, Okla., Sat Nov 24, 01:32 PM
 

 How much of you guys remember this , something good iz going to happen to you today . you could fool man but you cant fool  GOD.

   
 
 
Back in 1963, when evangelist Oral Roberts built a university on Tulsa's southern outskirts and put his name on it, he believed he was taking orders from God.

At the center of campus he built a 200-foot steel and glass prayer tower that looks like a spaceship and is topped with a flickering gas flame representing the Holy Spirit.

Roberts' vision was to educate "the whole man" in mind, body and spirit. That meant a world-class faculty, mandatory chapel attendance, body-fat measurements and citations for public displays of affection.

Times have changed at Oral Roberts University.

The once rigid dress code has been loosened so much that, as one student puts it, aside from the lack of guys wearing earrings the campus could be Oklahoma State. The prayer tower is showing rust. Students still sign an honor code pledging not to lie, steal, curse, drink or smoke — but they also hold hands during chapel.

Oral Roberts, now 89, recently returned from semiretirement to try to quell a scandal that has shaken the flagship university of charismatic Christianity, but on Friday the scandal caused the downfall of his heir.

Roberts' son, Richard Roberts, resigned Friday as president of the school, facing accusations that he misspent school funds to support a lavish lifestyle and ordered an accountant to help hide improper and illegal financial wrongdoing.

 
To ORU's 5,300 deeply religious students, the events of recent weeks have brought an unexpected test, one that caused them to choose between questioning or defending the administration, worry about tainted diplomas and search for spiritual answers.

"I'm sure there is corruption everywhere," said freshman Ben Conners, one of a number of people interviewed before the resignation. "But if you're holding students to such a high standard, making them sign an honor code and live by these strict principles, I expect the administration to be living an even stricter set of principles. To see something like this, it feels empty, like an elaborate masquerade party."

At a university that is hardly a den of dissent, the reaction to the scandal has been striking. Before Richard Roberts stepped down, tenured faculty gave him a no-confidence vote and his hand-picked provost said he would resign if Roberts were reinstated.

"There was a time when the wagons would circle and we'd protect our own," said the Rev. Carlton Pearson, a former member of the ORU board of regents who is now a United Church of Christ minister. "But we don't know what our own is anymore. People are asking questions and questioning answers, and we're not used to it."

Albert Thompson, a government major from Fairfax County, Va., said he chose ORU to become not just a public servant, but a better person.

Thompson, a senior, initially was angry about the allegations. But like other students, he separates the university administration from his university experience.

"He's just a human being," Thompson said of Richard Roberts. "If that individual man fails, that doesn't affect my faith in Christianity. It affects my faith in Richard."

"In Scripture, we all fall short," said Vincent Narciso, a senior from Seattle studying international relations. "We're all capable of screwing up. To me, it's not devastating to see someone fall. It's arrogant to think it wouldn't happen to any of us."

Requests for interviews with university officials were denied by an ORU spokesman.

To outsiders, Oral Roberts may seem a relic, a man who drew scorn for saying in 1987 that God would "call me home" if he didn't raise $8 million in three months (he raised more than $9 million). But in the 1950s and 1960s, Roberts had brought spirit-filled Christianity into the mainstream. He took his revivals to a new frontier for religion: television.

"Here was this Pentecostal preacher who speaks in tongues, was brought up in poverty like many of us, and he builds this place that looks like it landed the night before from another planet," Pearson said. "I can't tell you the pride."

Most ORU students grow up in charismatic or Pentecostal churches. For some, the liberal arts school is the only education their parents will pay for, at a cost of almost $30,000 a year.

The rules are an endless source of curiosity. Curfew for female students is midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. weekends, and a half hour later for men. A violation can result in a $50 fine, which helped birth the ORU saying: "The wages of sin is $50."

"I already had these boundaries in my life, so codifying it wasn't a problem," said Emmanuel Earls, 22, who graduated last year with a theology degree. "Signing a document creates a level of accountability."

Many students speak of going to school on holy ground, of pureness, of a place that sends Christians out into the world as a force for good. Still others speak of miracles.

"One student came into my office and said 'I heard the voice of God in my hut in Liberia and God told me I would be the leader of my nation some day and that I should go and be trained at a place called Oral Roberts University,' which he had never heard of," said Tim Brooker, who taught government.

Brooker is one of three former professors who sued the university last month. He accused the school of forcing him to quit after he warned Richard Roberts that requiring students to work on a Tulsa mayoral candidate's campaign jeopardized the school's tax-exempt status.

Brooker traces the scandal to a distortion of the "Seed-Faith" theology pioneered by Oral Roberts, which holds that those who give to God will get things in return.

"Instead of focusing on what can we do for God, we've been focusing on what can I get from God," Brooker said.

Oral Roberts' teachings influenced a whole new generation of "prosperity gospel" preachers, six of whom are the target of a financial inquiry led by the ranking Republican on the Senate finance committee. Three of those under scrutiny — Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar — sit on the ORU board of regents.

Brooker said students are shaken that supposedly infallible men are being questioned, and not by outsiders but other Christians. Others are trying to keep perspective.

"The school is based on more than one person," said sophomore Christina Tolomeo of Bentonville, Ark. "It's God's university, not one person's university. Whatever happens, I'm just trusting God and not making any assumptions."

Daniel King, a 2002 theology graduate, has traveled the globe continuing Oral Roberts' legacy as a healing evangelist. He said he has witnessed healings at Richard Roberts crusades and believes Christianity without miracles is powerless.

Oral Roberts felt God used him as instrument to heal, and claimed Jesus had commissioned him to find a cure for cancer. Roberts also felt called to build the City of Faith, an enormous hospital complex that was to marry prayer and medicine, anchored by a 60-story tower. The project's collapse in the late 1980s is one reason ORU is a staggering $52.5 million in debt.

"ORU is no stranger to controversy," King said. "It's gone through this before. The faculty is outstanding. The students are very sharp. Regardless of what happens, it will come out strong."



 
 

538

General Discussion / 104 Fall ill After School Lunches

« on: November 22, 2007, 03:34:33 PM »

104 fall ill after school lunches

...worms found in macaroni pie

Carolyn Kissoon and Kimoy Leon Sing South Bureau


Thursday, November 22nd 2007
 
 
 
outraged: Roxanne Thomas comforts her nine-year-old daughter Kieanne, right, outside the Point Fortin district hospital yesterday. -Photos: TREVOR WATSON

Meals of macaroni pie, in which worms were said to have been found, are to be tested, after 103 schoolchildren and a teacher fell ill yesterday after eating the pie for lunch.

Apart from the pie, samples of saffron rice and red beans, which all formed part of the children's lunch at the Cap de Ville Government Primary School, will be tested, the Ministry of Education said.

It added that public health authorities also took samples of the school's water supply.

The samples are to be analysed by CARIRI and the results "are expected within a few days", the ministry said in a statement.

The pupils came down with stomach pains and many vomited, it was learned.

The pupils and the teacher were all treated at the Point Fortin Area Hospital and allowed to go home yesterday.

Police and the fire service responded to a call from the school's principal, and emergency personnel from neighbouring companies, Trinmar and Atlantic LNG, assisted in taking children to hospital. Nurses from the Point Fortin Area Hospital also visited the school to examine pupils who were not affected

Police said the lunches were provided by caterers contracted by the ministry's School Nutrition Programme.

Around 11.45 a.m., pupils were having their lunches inside a classroom when a teacher noticed worms in the macaroni pie, the Express was told. She alerted the pupils and instructed them to stop eating. Shortly after, several pupils began complaining of stomach pains and some began to vomit and later complained of diarrhoea, an official said.

Staff members remained tight-lipped as concerned parents rushed to the hospital. They were outraged by what they saw.

Roxanne Thomas, a parent, said: "This is nonsense and slackness. These are the things as parents we need to stand up for."

Her nine-year-old daughter, Kieanne, was one of those affected.

Ann Toussaint, who has three children, ages seven, eight and nine, at the school, said: "It was very traumatic for me hearing all my kids were taken to the hospital because of food poisoning. It is really disgusting. Sometimes they prepare meals such as bread, cheese and ketchup. My children come home and tell me it's pizza."

She added, "The government needs to take the time and prepare proper meals for the kids."

Another parent, Lydia Persad, said: "Since this incident I do not feel comfortable having my children partake of the box lunches at school anymore."

Dr Adniyi Temitope, of the Point Fortin Area Hospital, said: "I attended to several children, about 20, with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea."

The ministry said school supervisors from the area met school officials yesterday and a report on the incident was expected within 24-hours.
 
 

 JACK MANDAY ah want ah toro in-vesti-gate-ment on this tragic mishap and who ever is responsible should be fired.

539

Entertainment & Culture Discussion / freemovies

« on: November 21, 2007, 09:13:50 PM »

http://www.movieforumz.com

540

General Discussion / CHILD ON CHILD RAPE STUNS GEORGIA

« on: November 20, 2007, 10:22:16 PM »

     
ACWORTH, Georgia (AP) -- They could barely see over the courtroom table, and their legs were too short to reach the floor: An 8-year-old and two 9-year-old boys, accused of raping an 11-year-old neighbor.

 
A girl, 11, says three boys, ages 8 and 9, raped her in a field behind this Acworth, Georgia, apartment complex.

 1 of 2  The case sent shockwaves through this community some 30 miles north of Atlanta, particularly in the working class apartment complex where the children live.

"It's just hard to understand," said Chris Ware, who has lived in the complex three years.

The boys are accused of forcing a girl they were playing with into a litter-strewn wooded area behind the complex Thursday. She said she was threatened with a rock, and that one of the boys raped her, according to Acworth Police Chief Mike Wilkie.

Authorities said the girl waited until Saturday to tell her family, who then reported it to police.  Watch the girl describe what happened to her »

But the father of one of the boys told WGCL-TV that the girl made up the rape allegations to cover her own behavior.

"She's trying to cover her own butt by getting everyone else in more serious trouble," the station's Web site quotes the father as saying.

Reporters were briefly allowed in the courtroom where the tiny suspects sat Monday in restraints and navy blue jumpsuits.

Juvenile Court Judge A. Gregory Poole ruled against media requests for access, then closed off the hearing to determine whether there was probable cause to hold the boys. Poole also issued a sweeping gag order instructing participants in the case not to talk to the press.

Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head said the boys could not be charged with felonies because of their age but could be tried for alleged delinquent acts that could place them in a juvenile facility for up to five years. The next step will be for the court to schedule a hearing to determine how to proceed, Head said.

Wilkie also said the investigation is "far from over," and investigators are looking into claims that after the alleged attack, the girl talked about it with her friends at a slumber party.

The girl's mother told WGCL, "They do need to be taught a lesson because if they do it to her, they could do it to somebody else. And who knows when they become teenagers what they can do to other girls."


Police in this town of about 17,000 along the shores of Lake Allatoona said they have never investigated rape allegations where all the parties were so young.

"This wouldn't be normal anywhere, but especially not Acworth," police Capt. Wayne Dennard said.

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