Leave!

I fail to see why there is even any question of whether or not Sharon Hay-Webster should keep her seat.

She has dual citizenship, she was therefore not eligible to run for a seat in parliament, her opponent (providing no dual citizenship himself) should automatically be given the seat.

That is based on the constitution, but the JLP had their friends in the judiciary declaring the election null and void therefore requiring a by-election, totally ignoring the constitution which sees a candidate with dual-citizenship as not suitable to run and therefore making it a one horse race. This now sets up a situation where they all seem like hypocrites calling for the very same thing they are fighting against (the Constitution), declaring their situation to be different.

It ain’t.

She should go, along with all others who have enjoyed being “better” than the rest of us with their US passports.

No question at all, except in how much power the parties retain.

I Wish My MP Had Dual-Citizenship Too!

So the guvament won another buy-election, big deal. It was very clear with the flurry of activity in improving the constituency that the fix was in. And they were quite arrogant with it too, declaring that the PNP bad mind because they didn’t want the people of the constituency to get anything done for them.

But their arrogance led to a bit of stupidity also, putting the name of their candidate on brand new garbage skiffs (where they even spelled his name wrong, Gergory), to show that it was thru him that these things were done.

So a few things to take away from this:

1. The guvament in power will go to any lengths, including using state money, to shore up their advantage.
2. All talk of Jamaicans becoming politically mature is premature, as last night’s buy-election barely managed to get half the electorate to vote.
3. Political maturity is further scorned when voters are so licky-licky. Granted they needed the amenities very badly, and were probably showing their gratitude, but to think that elections are won in this way is disgraceful.
4. The PNP, despite pursuing the dual-citizenship cases in the courts, are like headless chickens when the buy-elections are announced; scrambling for candidates and then having a lackluster campaign behind said candidate, notwithstanding their lack of access to state funds like the JLP has  they put no effort in even trying to win the damned things.
5. I want the PNP to continue fighting these cases in court, because those with dual-citizenship are illegally occupying their seats as Members of Parliament, but if they are not going to give a good account of themselves then they are simply furthering the waste of the country’s money, money that the guvament says they do not have. (except for the hundreds of millions of Us dollars they are going to pump into Air Jamaica.)

…

I used to think that we deserve better than this but the licky-licky-ness of the electorate and the lackadaisical approach to campaigning of the opposition is changing my opinion.

sigh…

“Stupid” Taxation

The guvament downplays the impact their taxation will have on the cost of living, it is going to be very bad, but that is not the worst of it.

The thing that will have the most negative impact on the future of this country is the taxes on computers and books. These items were not cheap to begin with, as they were subject to the vagaries of the exchange rate, but to go and further tax these items is truly wicked.

Only a set of battymen would tax books!

Keeping the people dumb, stupid and uneducated, the JLP continues their war against intelligence.

Suuure you will say they freed up education, but it was poorly implemented, the teachers are still being underpaid, with foreign teaching positions being comparatively attractive. Remember when the PNP of the ‘70s wanted free education the JLP killed it when they got in guvament in the ‘80s and then promoted the Solidarity pushcart shit.

Now, clearly from IMF directives, they have taxed books and computers. But they make the distinction that schoolbooks and religious books are tax exempt. As I said to keep us stupid, to make it difficult for people to get their hands on books not approved by the guvament or the church, and therefore less likely to read books that expand our minds.

Keep us stupid to not realize when we get screwed, and not want to rise up in protest, so they can blurt out such shit as, “The Jamaican people are now more politically mature”.

Right.

Now the guvament is telling us that they are in discussions with the IMF to lay the groundwork for future borrowing.

LIES!

The IMF already directed them to do their bidding, why do you think the new taxes are as they are?

The Buy-Election Is Over

After a well purchased victory, Vaz will now go back to parliament and his post as minister.

Nothing changes.

Bruce shows his disdain for the constitution once again about griping that the PNP was trying to “Constitutionally overthrow the government”.

If the constitution says you ought not be the guvament then you should get your ass out of there.

Until the constitution is changed, and as long as you are of the mind to obey the laws of the land, then you should do as the constitution demands.

When in opposition these same people harangued the then Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson, when he remarked: “The law is not a shackle”.

The JLP let him have it.

Mutty let him have it.

All JLP supporters let him have it.

Openly mocking and deriding him for his words, totally missing the nuance of his meaning.

Now, the JLP are gleefully living by Patterson’s words, and sparing no vehemence for being called on it.

Butch’s Bitch Again?!?

 

(taken from Jamaica Observer website Jan 16, 2009, 8:45am)

A few questions about this cartoon:

1. Are they implying that the failed economy is the fault of the BOJ Governor?
If so, I was unaware that the BOJ Governor was in charge of the economy. Silly me.

2. My Ignorance abounds, could they explain to me how the BOJ Governor was responsible for the slide of the Ja. Dollar?

3. Why the different versions of the cartoons?

Print version differences include:

• A top hat instead of the pointed dunce cap.
• T-shirt says: “Jamaica NO Problem”.
• No dogs.
• An extra yellow paper with “WE PUT HIGH INTEREST FIRST!”

Did the lawyers advise Clovis to remove the dunce cap? Could it have been seen as defamatory?

And was the extra flyer added at Butch’s request to deliberately mimic the PNP’s “We put people first!” slogan of a few elections past?

Sure they will claim that the artist wasn’t pleased with one version and therefore fine tuned it.

Or that multiple versions were done and the wrong one was used (either print or online).

…

Whatever the reason, the common elements could very well be misleading.

What is funny is that the PNP has been on the right side of many arguments of late and this feels like Butch and his Bitch of an artist is trying anything to deflect from the guvament’s ineptitude.

Bwoy(s) A Yard!

Number 1.

What a way the man a yaad haffi backtrack on the increased interest rates?

Eediat!

If you say that raising the interest rate is necessary to keep the economy afloat or even to improve the economic outlook, that’s fine.

But if you are going to take it back as soon as people gripe about the increase then it says to me that your original decision was a hasty, un-researched one that you pulled out of your ass, and the reason given was a lie!

And I bet Audley nor the guvament is going to understand the logic.

Who cares?

It is quite obvious to those with sense that these people have no clue as to governance, good or bad, but damn they still campaigning and not as good as they were before the elections.

…

The next Bwoy is the prime Bruce himself.

After coldly dismissing the PSC last year and pretty much accusing them of violating protocol, and being very adamant and forthright with the accusations and their firing, he now settles out of court  when they bring forward a lawsuit to restore their besmirched integrity.

Did the crow taste good Bruce?

 

Man, Sangster is a bitter bitch!

…

Bwoy #3.

Trevor.

Trevor, Trevor, Trevor.

You just over deh a warm de seat, don’t it?

I am sure you feel good after your speech the other night but it was not much comfort to the residents of Gravel Heights and the many other good citizens who have also been forcibly removed from their homes.

Ok, the good people have been run out, means that is only the gunman dem lef’ in deh, so what dat means is:

a) The police and military can now surround the area.

b) Announce their presence and demand everybody still in the community to put down their guns and surrender by a certain time.

c) If not, the security forces move in and shoot the lot of them.

Not too hard, right?

Sure Gomes and her bredrin dem a go feel a way, but remember you work for the people of this country and not  the special interest groups. Those people who worked so hard to build their lives and now have to abandon it, I can pretty much guarantee that right now, they are wondering where is the justice for them, what about their human rights.

…

The 4th Bwoy.

Mike!

How you feel now that it is revealed you threw a state funeral (while cheapening it at the same time) for a man now revealed to be a crook and no good?

Before you say, that at the time you didn’t know about his shady character, you should have asked the employees of the JUTC what sort of person he was.

Hell many were happy to see him murdered.

But you wouldn’t know this because you all, are oblivious as to what is going on at street level.

…

Bwoy of the Fifth.

Pickersgill, thank you for doing your work as the opposition to press for investigations into the JUTC’s shady dealings, but mek me ask Yuh sumting, why de rass when you was in guvament you never was as vigilant on corruption?

Right now Yuh is a rass hypocrite.

How unnoo so blind when unnoo inna power but Yuh eye dem get perfect when Yuh inna opposition?

But I shouldn’t be surprised, both sides do dem job when dem in opposition but get blind as dem get inna guvament.

…

Assorted bwoys.

Daryl. Constitutionally you are to give up the seat. But mi understand, Bruce never liked the Jamaican constitution one bit.

Abe. A by-election not go hurt anybody. In fact if you do win it (good possibility as the approval rating of the JLP stinks) then nobody can say shit like: “you used the courts to get seat”.

Clive. It looks like the small majority the JLP have in parliament is what is keeping you in your ministry, hush.

Mark Wignall. Perhaps you should let Clovis know how things really look bad for the guvament so he can start lampooning them too, Butch be damned!

Me (We). I thank God I do not own a gun (even though Wignall says we should all have one) because some people need a shot or two. But I am an eediat too as are most Jamaicans, who don’t scream loudly enough, who don’t protest enough, who cower in the safety of anonymity, while our country goes to shit. We say that is for the sake of our loved ones that we keep our heads down, that it’s for their benefit.

Sure, in the short term.

But if we continue to allow the criminals and the guvament (both major parties, NDM is only a gathering) to screw us over like this, then in the long run we a go get jook!

Raise my children or put a target on my back, tough decision.

These should not be the only choice we have!

…

One Year Since Election

It’s only one year since the general election which the JLP won, NOT a year in guvament! They did not assume office a day after the election.

Anyhow, unlike many people in this country I did not fool my self into believing that the guvament would by now have worked miracles, that they would have fixed whatever needed fixing. No. I was more realistic. I knew that our problems would never have been solved in a year’s time, so I won’t harass them for that.

However, there are a couple things which i must bitch about:

During the campaign they claimed in their manifesto that they had great plans to tackle crime in our country.

This was clearly a lie.

One year later, crime and criminal violence has become much worse, and it was obvious they had nothing when  a couple months ago they presented a flacid set of measures that will do more to hurt the innocent than prevent crime. It took the cries of the people and those in the media to get them off their asses and finally attempt to think up something.

Clearly they had nothing planned as they stated in their manifesto, and based on what they came up with, no clue as to what to do about it.

Clearly Derrick Smith wasn’t up to the task. But I will let him slide a little due to his extended period of ill health.

Clearly Bruce and Trevor have no clue. People are still being murdered en mass with now concern for the guvament’s crime plan, simply because it does nothing to stop or even reduce the incidents of crime.

After making the guvament bigger, by adding more Ministries and Ministers than ever before, the expenditure in setting up offices and outfitting them with equipment is astronomical. And yet despite such out of control spending some of these offices still aren’t fully ready for business.

Curiously no one in the media has said anything about the money being spent, money spent more on the ministers than on getting the necessary work done. 

And by media I mean any one except Butch’s bitch!

The next thing is the politics-minded budget that most sensible people realized  would be insufficient in running the country, that was obviously made to placate its supporters, that is now proven to be severely short-sighted.

Short-sighted in that it didn’t take into account the rate of inflation.

Short-sighted in that it failed to take into account the ever increasing number of tropical storms and hurricanes that now affect the island annually and numerous times annually. Even the JPS has put recovery costs into the bills now being charged to customers. 

Short-sighted in that it seems they only budgeted for their vehicles and office furniture and home furnishings and not for the rest of us.

We are now in the middle of a very crowded tropical period with three named storms hovering nearby or on a path that would bring them uncomfortably close to the island. Any action, even their mere presence, will go along way to making people feel satisfied that something is going to be done to help with the disaster. That si all well and good, but when the guvament fails to backup  their promises with action then they wont have more than the current term in office.

Someone said the other day that if the PNP had fixed the country’s roads, properly, they would still be in guvament. Now I am not so sure, but it is true that Jamaicans love you if things “look” good, and not that they actually are.

Sadly things are not even looking good.

How can i tell?

The once jubilant supporters of the JLP are no longer as hyper in their support for the guvament, in fact, there are many who are more cautious in their praise, and more passive of criticism of the guvament.

I guess bad roads, high cost of food, high cost of gas high cost of electricity, HELL, the high cost of every damn thing can put a damper on one’s expectations.

The murder rate  doesn’t help either.

 

sigh…..

Partyin’

Peter challenge Portia, party mash up!

Rubbish!

If Peter challenging Portia means the party a go mash up, then maybe it needs to be mashed up. Clearly there are factions in the party who don’t see Portia as an effective leader, especially coming off the high of her ascendency to the Prime Minister’s office, to the crash at the polls. They saw how easy it was to make her look bad. REALLY BAD. Add to that her seeming inability to brush those attacks aside and make herself more viable in the eyes of the electorate, no wonder there are concerns that she can’t win it for them.

How i see it. If Peter wins then there is a legitimate concern by party delegates of Portia’s ability to lead. If Portia wins, then it wipes away the concerns in the eyes of the greater public, of her electability.

And if the party is going to dissolve because the leader is challenged, then let it. The JLP for years, from loss to loss in the general elections did not challenge Seaga, and continued to lose. Then when his base in the party was challenged by the introduction of new blood and his subsequent retirement led to the ascension of Bruce to party leader.

And we know how dat turn out.