Archive for July, 2006
Monday, July 17th, 2006
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Acting on a tip-off from a source deep inside the Trinidadian underworld, Police Commissioner Trevor Paul rallied scores of brave policemen to the Maraval home of wanted embattled Chief Justice Sat Sharma. The fearless policemen armed with assault rifles and shaking in their police-issue boots descended on the abode aware that a single mistake could spell death for their comrades. The underworld informants revealed that Sharma was at the time situated on his couch in his living room dressed in boxer shorts eating a bowl of strawberry ice cream (sans sprinkles). The tension was high. Although most of the officers had been in the service for years, this was the first time they had been on an actual raid.
“Dread, this feeling jus like in dem movie and dem,” one officer remarked to another. “I hope I get shot in the vest,” he added while pulling the vest’s velcro straps tighter.
Sadly it was not to be. Entry to the house revealed that the CJ was wearing his lucky T-Shirt. Sat “Single Blow” Sharma had tricked them yet again. It was all lost. The policemen wept bitterly in the hands and with their tails between their legs, went back to the station to resume lives of inaction.
Is it just me or is it a little suspicious when you bring down half the police service to arrest the Chief Justice at home? Considering the guy doesn’t have a criminal record, is not considered a dangerous man
and has an injunction granted to him by Justice Judith Jones restraining all police officers from taking steps to institute criminal proceedings against him.
Yet when Sean Luke’s mother requested the officers at the Couva Police station to help her locate her missing son, they sat on their hands. When you call a policeman because someone is in mortal danger, the police say they have no vehicles. Instead the saunter over hours later while tent pitching on your front yard.
But for Sharma they bring the cavalry equipped with assault rifles and bullet proof vests, mind you. Former Energy Minister Eric Williams, I figure, must be a little jealous since he was allowed to arrange the time of his surrender and waltzed into the police station on his own accord. His poor ego must be shot to see Sharma given the outlaw treatment.
Is something wrong with this picture?
Posted in Crime, Humour, Justice, PNM, Politics | 3 Comments »
Monday, July 17th, 2006
I don’t believe in fate. I’m not one of those people who thinks that people are meant to live out their prewritten lives like lambs to the slaughter. But if there were anything that would make me question this belief, it would be what happened on the North Coast Road on Monday.
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| Photo from the Newsday |
Here is 5 family members on their way home during a rain storm. The North Coast Road is probably not the busiest of raods so the driving is easy except for the limited visibility. 1 mile ahead of them is a tree that is on it’s last footing. The wind is blowing and torrents of water have eroded its roots. Had this family left home 3 seconds later they would have been first in line at the North Coast Road traffic jam. Had they left just three seconds earlier, they would have reached home safe and sound and maybe a little wet. Their only encounter with this tree would have been the news that a tree had fallen across the road creating a traffic build up. But as they drive under this tree, it falls and it claims the only three lives it could that day. And it’s not like they were just standing there under the tree waiting for it to fall on them. They were in a moving vehicle. And it’s not that the tree fell on the hood or the trunk. It fell directly on the back seat of the cabin.
How’s that for timing? Is that coincidence or just plane fate?
Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »
Friday, July 14th, 2006
Maha Sabha Suing Again
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| Orville London |
Maha Sabha General Secretary Sat Maharaj is suing yet again. This time it’s the THA who’s getting sued for discrimination. The Maha Sabha alleges that the THA refused to sponsor a proposed International Classical (Bhajan) and Kirtan Song Festival, which it wanted to be hosted in Tobago this year.
The THA actually funded a Gospel Concert 2 years ago to the tune of $1.6m, but according to the Maha Sabha, they THA refused to similarly fund their International Classical (Bhajan) and Kirtan Song Festival.
Here’s what these people have to learn. Yuh give one, yuh have to give ALL. This is not 1959. People are aware of their rights and they have good lawyers. You can’t say that you are going to give to one religious group and not give the next. We do not live in a Christian country. The sooner people in authority realize this, the better it will be for us all. Bunch ah blooming idiots. Is best we cut Sat a check every year and done?
Maxi Taxis
Allyuh know what it is going on with these Maxi Taxis them these days? Hear what going on. Is thievery. These Maxi Taxis will gladly take you up in Arima - at the Arima/Pos stand mind you. However, they won’t be going to POS. They’ll say they are going to Curepe. And is plenty ah them doing that eh. So they will take you to Curepe
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and charge you $4. Then as soon as they offload, they will line up again right there in Curepe, right in front yuh eye, and say they going town now. And then charge you ah nex set ah money to go in town. You could believe this skulduggery? Blatant, blatant. And this is rampant on the Bus Route. When I see this going on, I say, nah! You cyah be serious. But them fellas doing it and doh have no shame, boy. And then when de Government talking about mass transit, they want to kick up and complain. I say is mass transit for it, yes. Bring it on, because I tired of being at the mercy of maxi men. I tired sitting down in a Maxi having meh life in danger with every passing second. You know they actually have a website now? On it they say that they deliver “safe, reliable, amicable and affordable service to the entire community”. Right… I will give allyuh a story about what happened to my mother in a Maxi just recently. You won’t believe your ears.
President’s Grounds
Prime Minister Patrick Manning has given up efforts to annex the President’s grounds. I’m just surprised that Mr. Manning is capable of making a non-dictatorial decision. In any case kudos to Mr. Manning for not being a complete idiot on just about everything.
Mount Hope Murder
Following the murder at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences COmplex, PSA officials are threatening to shut down the entire Mount Hope Hospital if their representative is unable to schedule a meeting with the North Central Regional Health Authority to discuss security on the compound.
Does the PSA really expect that Hospital Security subject all visitors to full body-cavity searches when they enter the compound? I mean security is absolutely necessary and it can probably stop someone from walking through the corridors with a deer rifle, but do they really expect security to stop a lady with a dagger in her purse? Come on, be reasonable. And again, it’s always the hospital that they threaten to shut down. I personally don’t see how the two things are related. That’s like me refusing to buy doubles because they raised the price of peanut butter. Madness! The only ones who will suffer are the poor who can’t afford private doctors.
Still no love for Jack
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| Jack Warner |
So the technical staff at the TTFF will be awarded $250,000 each according to Sports Minister Roger Boynes. When asked about Roger Boynes, he said that Jack Warner’s award will be decided by the Prime Minister. Doesn’t he have anything better to do that decide on whether Jack Warner should receive an award or not? All that is mamaguy.
So they awarded the cellists, the cymbal guy, and the violinists. They honoured the woodwind players and the bass player. They even awarded the piano-shiner guy. But no award for the conductor? And then Boynes says that he has to wait for the Prime Minister to decide. Something smells fishy.
WITCO & Junior CAC Games
It’s bad enough when they give out awards for Sportsman & Sportswoman of the year. But, does it bother anyone else but me that WITCO (the West Indian Tobacco Company) is sponsoring an athletic event? What’s next? Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Posted in Crime, Infrastructure, PNM, Politics, Race, Sports, UNC | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 13th, 2006
I have the feeling that the citizens of this country are poor bastards just like me - just sitting back waiting for the Government to make it’s next move to solve our crime woes. Meanwhile the Government just doesn’t have a next move. This is it people! We’ve seen it all and this dog has no new tricks.
I mean I’m sitting here, as I imagine everyone else is, everyday just taking in the crime reports. It’s a murder here, a couple rapes there. Some business man gets robbed, kidnapped, and taken to his home where his daughters are raped. I honestly thought that when Mr. Rahael lost his nephew it would have lit a fire under their butts. Apparently I was wrong.
And I get up each day hoping that our useless Minister of National Security will announce someday the government’s new initiative in crime solving. Instead I hear of smelters, $850m stadiums and everything else that is not a matter of National Security. But where’s the crime plan? Is this seriously all you have? Scotland Yard and blimps? If I remember the last budget correctly, the only new provisions made for crime prevention was to hire some FBI and Scotland Yard investigators.
I’m leaning forward in my seat here waiting for them to dazzle me and I can’t for the life of me figure out what they are waiting on. If (God forbid) our murder rate should ever reach 500, would they then utilize drastic measures? Well I have an idea for them: use those measures now. Because for us, this is as drastic as it gets.
Tell me that that a cabinet filled with supposedly “intelligent men and women” is capable of forming a good, original idea. This past year has seen no reduction in crime. Instead crime has flourished under the present Government. Is there really a day any more with out a murder? Sean Luke’s murder woke us up a bit, but since then we’ve pretty much gone back into our slumber.
Next year they people who haven’t done much this year are going to come around again asking us for their old jobs back. And I honestly can’t think of a singe reason why they should.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Posted in Crime, PNM, Politics | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006
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| Wim Rijsbergen |
So it’s official that Leo is no longer the coach of the Trinidad & Tobago Football team and is now going off to coach the Polish National Team (Wojciech, thanks for stealing our coach, man). His aim is to get them into Euro 2008 and so he’ll coach them for an initial period of 2 years.
Our new coach will be Leo’s assistant Wim Rijsbergen - yet another person who’s name will take me 6 months to learn to spell. Wim Rijsbergen is also a former national player for Holland. He asked to, and will be assisted by Anton Corneal and Dutchman Jan Van Deinsen.
However we have not completely lost Leo. He will still stay on as an adviser to the TTFF and will attend matches on a “need to” basis.
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| Playing for Holland |
So although I wish that Beenhakker had stayed, we haven’t lost everything we had going into 2006. I also have a lot of trust in Jack Warner (when it comes to football matters) and I’m sure he’ll do everything he can to help the T&T go to South Africa in 2008. The four-year contract did surprise me a little though, but if he thinks that Rijsbergen is worth a four-year contract, then I’m all for it.
In any case it will be something new.
*Yeah Ed, thanks for the note. The shorts are a little brief (no pun intended). I think I can see what he’s thinking.
That’s true about Jack though. He is a little bit of an opportunist. I amend my statement to be, “I trust him when it comes to his wishes for the fate of the Trinidad & Tobago Football Team”.
Posted in Football | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006
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| Patrick Manning |
I think at $27b, his headache is a bargain. Who knows what the cost of the Cancer/Asthma/Environmental Devastation headache will be with the debut of three Aluminium Smelters. How much of a masochist can you be?
It likely won’t be his headache though. It will belong to the next poor bastard to inherit the post. Somehow I don’t feel sorry for him and the Government.
So Mr. Manning, take 2 Panadol and call us back when you have a real problem.
Posted in Infrastructure, PNM, Politics | 4 Comments »
Monday, July 10th, 2006
I am writing this post at 6pm Monday and I already know what is going to be said on the news Tuesday. Because of all the rain today somewhere in Trinidad would have flooded. It won’t be Bayshore or Westmoorings. It won’t be Gulfview or Maraval. Even if it were one of those places, it will be the first time.
It will be some lowlying neglected area that flooded last year and flooded many years before that. It will be an area that is known to have flooded. Between last year and now nothing would have been done to prevent the flooding this year. Last year Mr. Manning would have come to the affected areas to survey the flood damage. Standing in his polo and his designer shades, he hemmed, hawed, nodded and looked concerned. Following the flood, CEPEP would have cleaned a few drains and someone talked about flood prevention.
But nothing would have been done. Many will lose thousands this year and next year. And still we won’t learn the meaning of the term “repeat offender”.
Posted in Infrastructure, PNM, Politics | 4 Comments »
Sunday, July 9th, 2006
Same old, same old. So now we have the NDA. There’s no more DNA, I’m not 100% sure, but there seems to be no more NAR (although some will disagree on exactly how long this has been true). If I have to take my best guess, I will assume that since the NDA was launched at the NAR headquarters, not only was the NAR not home, but they have no intention of ever coming back. NDA’s new logo is a map of Trinidad & Tobago on a red background (0 marks for creativity). The images below is an artist’s recreation of what that must look like. It took me the artist 5 minutes in MS Paint.
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| Gerald Yetming |
Coming with this new party there is the usual set of reheated talent from the other extinct or non-performing parties. There is Dr. Carson Charles, Gerald Yetming and maybe a few stray channa here and there. Oh yeah there is also some man named Michael Sims who hasn’t lived in Trinidad for nearly 40 years. There’s a picture of him here with Charles and Yetming. Take a good look at him, because you’ll probably never see him again. It doesn’t help that The Express chose to publish a black and white picture making it look like 1985 (it also doesn’t help that Dr. Carson Charles hasn’t aged in 20 years).
So, this new party NDA …a lot of channa but no bara (yes I’m comparing a political party to a doubles,
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| 16 years of Photoshop has lead us to this |
you’d be surprised at the analogies that can be drawn). And that’s the problem with all these new parties in Trinidad. A lot of willing volunteers and a lot of good people, but no one person to ignite the passions. Not a single person of stature. Mr. Yetming is an OK guy. So is Mr. Charles. I have nothing bad to say about either of them. Mr. Sims? Well I imaging after having lived for 40 years outside of Trinidad he’ll have some credibility issues. Although from what I understand, credibility in Trinbago politics is entirely optional. So hey, the guy may have a chance. These guys are probably all decent people, but who cares?
I’m all for the third party. The PNM and the UNC have ridden our backs for years making us chase that carrot. And we’ve only reached as far as shit creek. Actually, shit creek was seven years ago.
The third party, I think, will be one of the best things that has ever happened to T&T. The guys running the show, sad to say, just don’t care about us anymore. Any Prime Minister who refers to scores of murders in his own country as “collateral damage”, in my mind, has lost all authority to rule over me. It just cements the fact that he has become the new elite. And just look at the long line of questionable things Mr. Manning has undertaken: having the coat-of-arms placed on his vehicle when that has been reserved for the President,
Collateral DamageAny Prime Minister who refers to scores of murders in his own country as “collateral damage”, in my mind, has lost all authority to rule over me.
spending a shit-tonne of money to remodel the official residence, annexing the President’s Grounds, building an $850M stadium despite the uproar and referring to complaints as those of “Tom, Dick and Harry”, using our money to fight the Maha Sabha over a stupid radio licence and now having lost, having to pay them yet millions more of our money . I’m not sure if any of these spell “dictator”, but they certainly spell “out-of-touch” and “aloof”. By the way, I’d really like to know how many times he has used his new gym and if that justifies us having bought it.
So we need this alternative in the form of a third party. And I cannot think of anyone else to lead it except for Mr. Dookeran. At this stage I honestly hope that he does leave the UNC. If Kamla & Co. are stupid enough to throw out their only boy scout, then he should be smart enough to high-tail it out of there. The Bible says “Don’t throw your pearls before swine”. Therefore Mr. Dookeran, the fine person that he is, should not throw his pearls before the UNC swine, and I too will not throw my own votes before said swine.
Posted in PNM, Politics, UNC | 2 Comments »
Saturday, July 8th, 2006
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Posted in Humour, PNM, Politics | No Comments »
