Mike Henry's visit to Mobay

He came, he saw, and there's no money in the budget so it looks like we'll be stuck in traffic for a loooong time. Thanks Omar!

One gun salute

After reading about a police officer's gun salute for his fallen colleague, two questions came to mind.

The first was "if a police officer broke the law so brazenly in the presence of the commissioner, what has he been doing when no one was around?" The answer to that question can probably be be found somewhere in the plethora of stories about extra-judicial killings, bribery, murder-for-hire, drug-running, and various other illegal activities "allegedly" carried out by the police.

The second question was "why did the commissioner have to order other police officers to arrest the trigger happy cop?" You would have thought that, given the number of police officers that must have been at the funeral, the man would have been arrested before the shells hit the ground!

The underlying issue here is the calibre of people that are recruited into the police force and the resultant behaviour of the graduates of the academy. Any man on the street can tell you some kind of story about the police, whether it's suffering a beating or worse for no apparent reason, being called "bwoy" by a cop 20 years younger than you are, being asked to "buy a rounds fi the squaddies" in lieu of a speeding ticket, or suffering the piss poor customer service that most Jamaicans have sadly come to expect from police on all levels. I say most because, as we all know, if you're rich or related to a police officer then things are very, very different.

A big part of the solution to Jamaica's crime problem is getting citizens to cooperate with the police. That won't happen if the police continue to treat the lives and issues of the very people they're sworn to protect with contempt. Simply increasing the size of the force or giving them bigger guns or more cars or giving them a raise of pay won't solve the problem. The fact of the matter is that we need better police officers.

We need more police officers who have more than just a basic education. We need more police officers who can speak standard English. We need more police officers who truly want to serve the citizens of Jamaica. We need more police officers who know how to act professionally and responsibly, even when the people they're interacting with don't. We need more police officers who will do the job for which they were hired - to "serve, protect and reassure with courtesy, integrity and proper respect for the rights of all."

The eighth wonder of the world

The amount of thought put into urban planning in Jamaica never ceases to amaze me. Case in point - the Fairview intersection in Montego Bay. This is the finest example of traffic engineering and planning that I've seen in quite some time.

Imagine this; you have two lanes of traffic coming from Alice Eldemire Drive and two lanes coming from another road (no, I don't know the name of the other road - sue me) all trying to get out of Montego Bay. In a feat that would astound Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, the designers of the highway have managed to merge four lanes of traffic into one in a distance of about a hundred feet!

There are a few side effects caused by this eighth wonder of the world, but turning a five minute commute from Freeport to Bogue into a thirty minute journey, causing a buildup of traffic that stretches from Bogue to the airport on the other side of the city, and forcing commuters to sit in traffic for two hours on a Friday afternoon (four if it rains) are quite acceptable when compared to the sheer brilliance of the intersection's design.

Indeed, even the police officers assigned to direct traffic at the intersection during rush hour (7 -10 am and 4 - 8 pm) seem awestruck by the design, so much so that they are rendered incapable of directing traffic effectively and can only feebly wave cars on while sitting on their bikes or talking on their cell phones. They are often so overcome with emotion that they have to leave the intersection early, knowing that the hundreds of people who have been waiting in line for hours will understand.

Mr. Henry, please come to Mobay and make it a point to visit the intersection any time after 4 pm. You'll be glad you did!

A new course?

So Mr. Golding has taken the reins of power with promises of a new, better course, a course that will take Jamaica to a place where "not everyone may be rich, but no-one has to be poor." One hopes that the swearing in of this government will mark the start of a new chapter in Jamaican politics where there is more positive action than rhetoric and one in which the rights and interests of the Jamaican people will be protected and pursued respectively. We've all heard lots and lots of promises in the past from both parties, and the first hundred days of Mr. Golding's stewardship will be watched closely by the public, many of whom suspect that he may have bought his license and are therefore doubtful of his "driving ability".

To his credit, Orett appears to be on the right track so far, with promises of reducing government red tape and abolishing transfer taxes scoring him brownie points with the private sector and the middle class and plans to work more closely with the opposition than previous administrations silencing some of his detractors for now. It's still early though, and we'll all be watching the construction of Mr. Golding's course very closely to see if it turns out to be an eight lane highway to prosperity or a dirt track to the politics of yester-year.

Tesha Miller and bail

I was pleased to see the JCF being proactive and arresting Clansman gang leader Tesha Miller as soon as he landed in the island after being deported from the US. I did wonder though, how the fuck did someone who was arrested and charged for a triple murder, got bail, and was arrested and charged with murder AGAIN, get bail AGAIN??? Is it just me, or is there something seriously wrong with that picture?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that suspects should be denied bail, but c'mon!! Arrested for a total of four murders and still granted bail??? Parliament needs to start looking at these issues and fixing them instead of bickering and grandstanding. The police force has its shortcomings, but the blame for this one lays squarely at the feet of the politicians. They have the power to amend the Bail Act and should do so, as well as whatever else they can to help the JCF overcome the challenges they face. Portia, the time you and Omar spent figuring out where the fuck you're going to find $250 million a year to finance free health care for minors (probably by increasing the user fees for adults, no such thing as a free lunch) could have been spent identifying outdated laws that desperately need amending and starting dialogue with the relevant parties on the fastest way to initiate those changes.

It would get you more votes than dishing out 1000 lbs of chicken back and rice ever could. And guess what? It would be something that actually helps the country. Imagine that!

Waste not, want not

It seems as if someone's finally getting serious about holding people accountable for littering, which, by the way, is one of my pet peeves. The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has started a new programme aimed at reducing the number of litterbugs and increasing public awareness on the topic. I think it's good idea and am curious to know how they plan to scale the program and how they track the people who've been warned instead of ticketed.
I'm a bit concerned about this aspect of the program - if someone doesn't have an ID or the warnings aren't tracked then how will the officers ensure compliance? Come to think of it, how do they ticket people without ID?

One can only hope that all these challenges were resolved before the programme was rolled out and that the program will be a success.

Great Job JCF...

I'd like to take a moment to commmend the JCF for the impeccably planned and perfectly executed operation that was carried out in Montego Bay in the early hours of Monday morning.

The detention of 109 men in pursuit of 2 wanted men is not only an impressive 1.8% conversion rate of detainees to actual suspects, but shows an exceptional understanding of community relations - after being detained for almost an entire day, the men will inarguably now hold the police in high esteem and will be confident in the police force's crime fighting prowess and their ability to serve the public interest.

To those who wonder why the police didn't appear to have a picture of the wanted men, which would have made it easier to identify the men at the scene of the operation instead of carting 109 men down to the police station with scant regard for their time or freedom I say phooey! Why would the police need a photograph? Why not have the men take a tour of the police station (with an extended tour of the holding cells) to foster better community relations? Kill two birds with one stone to rass!! Brilliant!!

Superintendent McGregor, you deserve a promotion - no, I'm serious. What you and your men have done embodies the type of forward thinking that the police force needs and will go a long way to help the police gain the trust of the people that Mark Shields and the grammatically challenged CCN officers implore almost daily to come forward with information about crimes. I have no doubt that you'll have people lining up to give you information after this latest operation.

Great job supe, great job.

The Coalition speaks!

Well, not really. More like "The Coalition sends an email that really doesn't say anything!"

In my last post, I told you that I had sent emails to all the members of the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors asking them to make a statement regarding an incident involving Bounty Killer. To date, only one company has responded to my email.

Maxine Whittingham, the Head of Corporate Relations at Red Stripe had this to say on the matter:

Dear Mr Thomas,

Thank you for your email addressed to our Marketing Communication Manager regarding Bounty Killer's recent endorsement of Stone Crusher.

As a member of the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors we are indeed aligned to the position that as a united force we can in fact influence and, over time, change popular culture to reflect positive, uplifting messages. There are many ways in which this can be achieved. However from our interaction with the dancehall industry, we have come to agree that a confrontational approach is, at best, the least effective.

It is for this reason that you will not always see the Coalition making direct, public statements about issues, but at the same time it should not suggest that the Coalition is doing nothing to make the change.

We appreciate your concern and wish to assure you that as a group of responsible corporate citizens we are indeed 'on the case'.

Thank you.


Maxine Whittingham
Head of Corporate Relations
Red Stripe, a Diageo Company
214 Spanish Town Road
Kingston 11



To which I replied:

Dear Ms. Whittingham,

Thanks for taking the time out to answer.

I can understand that one may not always want to take a confrontational approach but "justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done".
I applaud the fact that you are "on the case", as you put it, and I think that the wider public would be more appreciative of your efforts if something was said publicly. As it stands now, the public generally views the Coalition as a bunch of corporate hypocrites and this may make your campaign less effective.

Thanks again for your time.

Nigel Thomas


Let's see who else answers. Keep those emails going.

Take a stand

Tonight I did some things I should have done a long time ago but didn't get around to doing. I sent a email to Cable and Wireless asking them to stop using Bounty Killer as one of their spokespersons and to issue a statement condemning both Bounty's actions at the Aquasol theme park in Montego Bay and his subsequent refusal to apologize. I also sent emails to the other members of the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors (Red Stripe, Cable & Wireless, Supreme Ventures, Digicel, Courts, the Jamaica Tourist Board and J. Wray & Nephew Ltd) and to Solid Agency (Bounty Killer's management company) asking that they insist that Mr. Pryce issue an immediate apology to the people of Jamaica for his poor judgment.

The are a couple of reasons for my requests and the first one is pretty obvious - Bounty Killer not only offended an entire city by paying homage to a criminal gang on stage, but has further infuriated many by refusing to apologize, deciding instead to issue a poorly worded and even more poorly delivered statement which was published today in the Evening Star (isn't it funny how this issue has received very little attention from the main media houses?).

The second reason is that Cable and Wireless was/is a member of the Coalition of Corporate sponsors who got up on their high horses in 2005 and declared that they would no longer sponsor, among other things, "acts or events whose live performances endorse or incite violence" after Beenie Man used profanity and violent lyrics during a Carnival performance in April of 2005. There was a big hullabaloo - the coalition stopped sponsoring events and then, like most other issues in Jamaica, the ban was forgotten or rescinded and everyone was back in business. One would think that if they made such a big stink about a couple of so-called "bad" words and two gun tune that the Coalition would be up in arms at Bounty's recent gaffe. After all, this wasn't a violent tune aimed a industry rival, this was the endorsing of an extremely violent, ruthless criminal enterprise. What was the coalition's response?

Not. A. Peep. According to the Star, Cable and Wireless had no comment on the matter when contacted almost three weeks after the incident. No other coalition member has, as far as I know, issued a statement condemning the "bigging up" of the Stone Crusher gang.

It looks like the lives of the mostly poor black people the Stone Crushers have killed, robbed and maimed are not even worth the time it would take to prepare a statement, much less the expense of having to hold a press conference.

It's time for the hypocrisy to stop. Please email or call these companies demanding that they speak out and hold Bounty Killer and anyone else who endorses gangs that kill Jamaicans accountable to the standards they set so vociferously when it was good PR. Email Bounty Killer and demand an apology and condemnation of the Stone Crushers on behalf of all those who have lived (and died) in fear of the gang.

If any of you have email addresses for any execs at the companies, please pass them along.

The taxman cometh

Omar Davies has yet again presented the latest version of the "run-Jamaica-into-ruin" plan, also known as "the budget". Of course, not many believe that the budget that Omar presented is the final version. This is simply the election version, with more taxes and borrowing to come after the elections that should be called later this year and that, my friends, is pretty scary.

The government is increasing taxes and focusing on collecting outstanding taxes but has still not created an environment in which small and medium sized businesses can flourish (which would increase tax revenue) or an environment in which most people want to pay their taxes because they can see their tax dollars at work, whether it be in the form of (properly) fixed roads, better schools, better health care or more affordable housing.

As it is, the average Jamaican gives up almost 50% of their salary to the taxman. 25% to income tax, 16.5% to GCT and another couple percent to the various statutory deductions. What do we have to show for it? Not much, except for a cycle of borrow because we don't have enough tax revenue to finance the budget then tax more to pay back the loans.

I can't wait to see what Omar the three card man announces after the elections this year - the Observer's editorial cartoon hit the nail on the head.

Chris Dehring responds

In a letter to the media the chief organizer of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, Chris Dehring, finally responded publicly to accusations that he and his team bungled their job and misled host countries as to the amount of money that they would be making from the World Cup. The letter gives a synopsis of the host selection process and the information that was relayed to the countries who bid for the opportunity to host matches.

As I said in my last post, all the agreements were signed years ago and for governments to be blaming the Host Venue Agreements (HVAs) now means one of two things; they either didn't read the 298 page "Bid Book" and the HVA (which would mean that they're totally and completely incompetent since they didn't do due diligence), or they read the documents, found them to be completely unsatisfactory and signed them anyway.

I'm not sure which one is worse.

Read the full text of Dehring's letter here.

What will they think of next?

Our parliamentarians have, in their infinite wisdom, decided to rearrange the schedule of the budget debate to accommodate, of all things, ICC Cricket World Cup fixtures. Why? Shouldn't the running of the country take precedence over a cricket tournament that's already cost us an arm, a leg, a kidney and a significant portion of our digestive tract? This announcement comes a mere week after Dr. Davies was bitching to Parliament about the revenue sharing agreements and ICC demands that the host nations were "forced" to comply with - agreements that one Prime Minister described as more intrusive than the IMF.

I suppose that anyone with half an ounce of common sense would wonder why nine Caribbean countries agreed to such horrible, unfair terms. They might also wonder why all these concerns and complaints are being brought to light only now, years after the documents were signed and when the tournament is almost over. I have two words for you. Blame game.

It seems that the revenue projections for host countries are falling faster than West Indian wickets. Originally estimated at US$500 million, the host countries will probably only see about US$80 million total which means that a lot of governments will have a lot of explaining to do to a lot of voters. Rather than admitting to a error of stupendous proportions, our governments are doing what they seem to do best - blaming everyone else. Blaming the fans for not turning out to support the tournament (never mind that ticket prices were, in many instances, more that a week's pay for minimum wage earners), blaming the Pakistani and Indian teams for dropping out in the first round and robbing the tournament of fans, and blaming the ICC for coercing us into signing agreements. But they aren't blaming the governments that were apparently more concerned with hosting the tournament than with changing the Host Venue Agreement.

The worst part about this whole fiasco is that the people who will be most affected by the negligence of our governments are not Prime Ministers or members of the Local Organizing Committees or members of our cricket team (and I use the words "cricket team" very loosely - they play more like a rounders team) but the minimum wage earners and the lower middle class who couldn't even afford to go the World Cup.

Shame on you Rodney!

I often get worked up when writing about an issue that pisses me off, but Bounty Killer’s and Movado’s “big ups” at a recent concert really blood claat grieve me! How could this self-styled “poor people governor” (sic) really go on stage and proclaim “nuff respect to Stone Crushers”???

My first reaction was that maybe someone just asked him to big them up and he did it without really knowing who the “Stone Crushers” were, which would have been bad but marginally defendable, but the Warlord continued to put his foot in his mouth by declaring that “police have dem work fi do and bad man have them ting fi do."

I would love Mr. Pryce to tell me what the fuck he was thinking when he decided to pay homage to a criminal gang that has been terrorizing Montego Bay for the past three years. This is not a “militia” that protects a community from “outside forces”, or an “area leader” that helps children to go to school. This gang has been involved in murder-for-hire, extortion, robbery, and other heinous acts in communities where it is based as well as the rest of Montego Bay.
It’s one thing to talk about violence in your songs but it’s quite another to endorse a group who is helping to keep people in the same poverty Bounty claims to wage war on. How can school children “pressure them book” when they can’t go to school because of curfews or are afraid to stay for extra lessons because the lessons finish after dark? How will people in the depressed communities of Montego Bay ever lift themselves out of poverty if people are afraid to hire them because of the reputation that their community has acquired due to the activities of gangs like the “Stone Crushers”? I completely agree with a member of the Community Organisation for Management and Sustainable Development’s opinion that Bounty is a “traitor to….. (his) country.”

Bounty, you need to apologize for the statement you made and make some kind of meaningful effort to stop the criminal activities of the group that you endorsed. It won’t change my opinion of you, but it may actually help the people you claim to be representing.

On another note, why are people still being charged for using "bad" words under some ancient law? If you don't want to hear a certain type of music or language then don't go to the damn show! It's high time that Parliament throws that law out or, at the very least, amends it.

Finally, some accountability!

Although it was saddening to read about yet more children dying in house fires, I was glad that the authorities finally seem to be taking action against negligent parents. The mother of the children who died tragically on March 30, 2007 is under investigation to determine whether she breached the Child Care and Protection Act.
As I said in my very first post, parents who endanger the welfare of their children by leaving them alone at home should be held accountable for their gross negligence. There have been too many cases of children who have died or been abused because their parents were too busy doing important things like playing dominos or selling cigarettes. If it isn’t already, these investigations should be standard operating procedure in all cases involving children being injured, abused or killed.

"Radical" teacher asked to resign. WTF?

The news that Cornwall College asked a science teacher who presented an alternate theory to the immaculate conception myth during a lesson to resign is infuriating, to say the least. This was a SCIENCE teacher, teaching students about reproduction. Granted, he may not have presented it in a toned down manner, but asking him to resign is, in my not-so-humble opinion, absolutely ridiculous!

Would the school's board have taken the same course of action if a Muslim teacher had taught the same lesson and included something like, "I know that I've taught you that all humans must have sexual intercourse to reproduce, but Mary (peace be unto her), mother of Jesus (peace be unto him) was different. She was impregnated by Allah himself! Allah Akbar!!" Or if a Christian fundamentalist (of which there are hundreds of thousands in Jamaica) injected his religious beliefs into the science lesson?
Had the situation been reversed and a Christian teacher been asked to resign for expressing their views, every church from West End to Morant Point would have been up in arms and running their mouth about freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

I would agree that any class outside of Religious Indoctrination...I mean Religious Education is not be the right forum to express one's beliefs, or lack thereof, but the parents' reaction and the school's action smacks of intolerance, something that we already have too much of in this country.

Even more infuriating is the Observer's headline, which labeled the teacher as "radical". A science teacher who applies rational thought and logic to a topic is "radical"???? No wonder half our students can't pass their CXC's and we have Prime Ministers who believe that a god elected them.

Miss P's Patty Shop

Some interesting points of view came out of the luncheon hosted by 'Butch' Stewart this week, views that have been echoed by countless groups at countless luncheons over the years. The government should invest more money in education, more in crime fighting and prevention and create a tax environment that will foster growth, et cetera, et cetera.

One would think that by now the government would seriously explore or, at the very least, look at some of the ideas being presented. After all, these dudes are very successful businessmen in a not-so-successful country. They might have good ideas about making money and investing it successfully, ideas that the current government seems to need pretty badly, especially given their decision to spend billions on the ICC World Cup while the country is in a decrepit moral, educational and physical state.

Both sides of Gordon House would serve the country in a much needed way if they spent more time exploring feasible solutions to the country's problem instead of arguing about who wears short pants and other asinine topics. The country needs to be run like a business and not like Miss P's patty shop. In a well run business executives are given specific targets to meet and are held accountable for not meeting those targets. Accountability is, and has been for a very long time, non-existent in the Jamaican government's vocabulary. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only minister that I can think of who has resigned or been fired because of the non-performance of his ministry is K. D. Knight, and he was simply reassigned to another ministry. We need to start choosing the right people for the right jobs and holding these people accountable. This means making the Minister of National Security someone who actually has experience in that field and not some politician who has no fucking clue about what to do about crime. The same goes for all the other ministries. I firmly believe that this step must be implemented to get us out of the quagmire we're currently in. Too bad the same politicians who refuse to hold themselves accountable are the ones who'll have to implement it.

Jamaicans for justice?

As we all know, the local news has become a bastion of monotony in recent years. Newscasts more often than not unfold like this: people protesting because of a lack of running water; roadblocks mounted by frustrated citizens over the deplorable conditions of the roads; police see a "suspicious party" during a routine patrol and accost the party, the party opens fire which the police return and one or more members are found suffering from gunshot wounds. The wounded are taken to the nearest hospital where they are pronounced dead. Citizens of the community take to the streets in outrage at the "murder" of an innocent person.

Throw in some international news and sports, blend for 60 minutes and you have a perfect newscast.

Some residents of Bull Bay ruined the recipe when they took to the streets (again) in support of three police officers charged with murdering Noel Barnes back in 1999. Their claim is that Barnes was a "terrorist" and the community is glad that he's dead. The policemen, they say, are "heroes" and should be released.

While I can understand the sentiments of the Bull Bay residents, if Barnes was in fact guilty of the charges leveled against him, the fact remains that we can't pick and choose who we want policemen to kill. We can't demonstrate because one victim of the police is an "area leader" and then rejoice when another is an alleged criminal. Murder is murder. Acceptance of one extra judicial killing, if this is what the Barnes case turns out to be, is an acceptance of all extra judicial killings. Our justice system, as fucked up as it is, is still a far sight better at determining guilt or innocence than a group of policemen who are out to eradicate a menace, whether perceived or real. I don't care if the policemen catch someone in the act - unless someone's life is in direct jeopardy then all efforts should be made to arrest the culprit and bring him to justice. Who reviews the evidence the long rumoured police hit squads use to determine who lives and who dies? Jamaicans need to wake up and realize that they could very easily be a victim of an extra judicial killing and vigorously support the prosecution and conviction of any policeman who unlawfully kills any member of our society.

Policemen will complain about being frustrated and at the end of their ropes because people they arrest repeatedly are set free by the courts, often for lack of evidence. My response? Do your fucking jobs properly! I know that resources are limited, but it used to amaze me to watch the news and see all and sundry walking through crime scenes, or see policemen displaying recovered guns to television crews minutes after a raid with nary a latex glove or evidence bag in sight. I'm glad that someone in the JCF finally watched CSI and realized that the proper processing of crime scenes is crucial to ensure the conviction of suspects and is much more effective than swooping into a community, rounding up suspects and then trying to beat a confession out of them.

Residents of Bull Bay, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Justice?

I found an article in the Jamaica Observer about a man who claimed that his hunger drove him to steal three live chickens amusing in a depressing sort of way. That is, until I remembered reading about a man who beat his wife to a pulp. Wondering what the connection is?

The chicken thief plead guilty to one charge of simple larceny and got thirty days in jail. The wife-beater plead guilty to two charges, occasioning bodily harm and unlawful wounding, for which he received ten days each - to run concurrently.
The chicken thief stole three live chickens, which were recovered unharmed. The wife-beater punched his wife in the face, dislocated two of her teeth, and punched and kicked her all over her body.
The chicken thief's reason for stealing? Hunger.
The wife-beater's reason? His wife entertained a conversation with their child about cooking stew-peas with pig's tail (he's a Rastafarian). She didn't attempt to buy, cook, prepare, or consume the pig's tail, nor did she even agree to do so. She simply told the child that pig's tail was too expensive.

And that's not even the best part of this story. Both offenders appeared in front of the same judge - who's a woman!!! Yes, RM Judith Pusey heard both cases in the Half Way Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.

Something is inherently wrong with either the law or the judge (probably both) when the theft of three chickens attracts a greater penalty than beating someone to a pulp. Then again, maybe the judge just didn't like stew peas with pig's tail.

Is it worth it?

As the true cost of hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup begins to emerge with the tabling of the supplementary estimates in Parliament, one continues to seriously wonder about the decision making skills of our eminent leaders. Jamaica has, so far, spent J$9 billion on the World Cup, money that could have and should have been spent tackling the plethora of problems that Jamaica currently faces. Yes, I know that the World Cup is one of the largest sporting events in the world and yes, I know that the fact that Jamaica was successful in its bid to host is an honour and yes, I know that it gives us much wanted exposure, but is that really worth J$9 billion (and counting)?

Why spend J$9 billion when there are only seven police cars to cover a parish of 814 sq. km.? Why spend J$9 billion when police reports are still handwritten? When police and fire stations are decrepit. When many parts of rural Jamaica still have no running water. When only 32% of Jamaican CXC students managed to pass Mathematics and only 42% passed English.

Why build a 25,000 seat stadium when there's a shortage of high schools? When babies die at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay (the largest hospital in western Jamaica) because there's only one incubator.

Maybe I'm missing something, but those decisions seem to be conspicuously unintelligent. Is the World Cup really worth it?

Pharisees and hypocrites

Hyacinth Bennett, the former leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), has taken aim at a group of Christians who have volunteered to clean up Kingston in preparation for the impending Creator of White Elephants, the ICC Cricket World Cup.
She seems to think that, because they did nothing prior, they are "hypocrites and Pharisees".

I'm almost tempted to agree with her, but will withhold judgement until the group, who calls themselves HOPE 2007, unveils its plans (if they have any) for cleanup activities on a continuing basis after the World Cup. I think that's only fair since, after all, they're out on the streets cleaning up and not standing in a church calling people names.

We're back!

After an almost two year hiatus, during which everything and nothing changed in Jamaica, I've started blogging again. This time I plan to put serious effort into maintaining the blog and hopefully watch it grow into a very active commentary site. If you're new to the site, please take some time to read the archived posts and let me know what you think, either via a comment or via email. Opposing viewpoints are, of course, welcome provided they address the issue being discussed.