Third World?

A hospital in the UK has been found to have had terrible conditions and incompetent management. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/patients-die-in-thirdworld-hospital-1646950.html

I hear a lot of this crap in the UK. People again speaking out of their behinds. ‘Third World’ hospital indeed! People who live in the ‘first world’ need to stop this crap. Have there been any news stories about people keeling over from incompetence and general nastiness in third world countries? And ‘third world countries’ don’t have any money – what’s the wealthy west’s excuse? Time to stop the foolishness and talking out of one’s arse. If you don’t have any knowledge or experience of something don’t make comments, especially derogatory comments about them. People from the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand love to throw comments around about third world conditions that they know nothing about. If they bothered to get some information they would be surprised that many so called third world facilities are more advanced than their own.

Be intelligent people. Gain some knowledge and make comments from a position of knowledge – not from lies told to you by racists/idiots/morons.

Madness - Jackson Should Not be Treated This Way

Like the writer of a piece in today’s Daily Mail by Amanda Platell I too am flabbergasted at the attitude in the UK, even worldwide, towards Michael Jackson. Make no mistake – he admitted himself on TV that he sleeps with young boys and thinks there’s nothing wrong with it. This alone is enough to make him someone you wouldn’t admire. Add in all the evidence produced during his trial in 2005 and basic common sense and deductive reasoning and you have to ask if the world has gone absolutely mad to be lauding this man?

Get a grip. Just because someone is famous, does not mean that wrongdoing is to be ignored.

As the columnist said too – the only reason he’s doing shows is because he’s broke and he’s broke because he has spent recklessly. We shouldn’t be supporting that – any more. God help his kids.

We need to do better - striking because times are hard is counterproductive

I was talking to my mum today about the shameful price of public transport versus using your car. It costs more to get a bus pass than it does to use your car. But the most shameful thing is train tickets. I ordered a train ticket from Leeds to London - three weeks in advance, off peak (leaving at 15:00 and returning at 21:30). Guess how much? £132. For that money I could have gone to Europe to rhaatid.

I also checked out a ticket to Bolton. Journey takes 1hr and a half hours, a half hour longer than the London trip. Price?£11. It's about demand which should play some part in pricing but not in something so important to the environment for goodness' sake! Mum said we should protest and boycott the trains until the prices are reasonable.

I agree. But I can't see the British public doing any such thing. We've reached a level of comfort that we can't be bothered. Trouble is the way things are going I think the pain will reach the point that there will be a great deal of civil unrest soon unless the powers that be step up to the plate. The fact that banks etc. STILL gave out bonuses for 2008 though and the fact the govt. won't force the banks to behave makes me pessimistic. More and more stories in the press are speaking about the fact that our population is under skilled and has serious social problems - there's a fatal sickness in our culture and if it isn't fixed we won't be able to compete with the rest of the world. I mean look at those idiots WITH JOBS striking over the Italian workers. It is an embarrassment. A tender was issued and the business was duly and fairly won by this company. They (like us) are part of the EU and so there's no problem with Italian and Portuguese workers doing what they're were contracted to. It is a shame that we are in a recession and jobs are scarce but these companies haven't taken jobs away from any British person - it's just how things go sometimes. But instead of looking for fairly won work of their own, British idiots seem to think they are entitled to work fairly won by others just because they are British and the work is being done here. They cannot grasp the concept of a global economy. I mean they can go to Italy and work too if they like and there are jobs. (But this would probably mean learning another language, not something our lot are keen on eh? I mean the rest of the world should bloody well learn English right?) But they lack the intelligence and the knowledge about basic business and our membership of the EU to process this information. We are sorely paying the price for encouraging our people to be ignorant and stupid (i.e unable to reason and think things out). If this isn't fixed quickly the UK will not even be what someone I know calls 'a third world country with a strong currency' - because the currency is screwed, we will be a third world country period.

Come on people - up your game. Give Big Brother a miss and pick up a newspaper, talk to some people, google a few current affairs that affect you and most importantly, haul your ass out of bed on election day and vote - either for someone you admire or against someone you don't.

We can do so much better than this. We must.

White Working Class - Victims or Not?

Check out this interesting article in today's Independent by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-spare-me-the-tears-over-the-white-working-class-1225824.html.

She makes an interesting point, namely that the apologists who believe that the white working class are a) all important and b) should be indulged in their racism should quit.

She's right that not only white working class should be considered working class.

My own opinion is this - shouldn't the label 'working class' be dispensed with? Those of us who don't come under what this label really means do work and many who come under the label don't and don't want to.

In the past there was a clear divide between people who had to work for a living and those who didn't and there was animosity on both sides. This is not the case now. Sadly, working class now means, white, uneducated, base, lazy and criminal both here and in the States.

As this type of person is who is referred to when using the term I agree with the writer. From my observations, reading and the observations of others who are in the position to know, people of this ilk generally have themselves to call to account for their perceived lowly position. They often apparently fail to see that behaving in the extremely anti-social way they often do is what keeps them on the fringe - not the sweat, brain power and effort of someone who strives to support themselves and improve their family's lot.

Funny thing is, there are many poor uneducated people in Jamaica who don't behave like white working class. Poverty and lack of education should not mean baseness and an unwillingness to better yourself. You know what I think the defining difference here is? In the white western word of the UK and the US there is easily available (at least in the UK's case) free money - often with few or no strings attached. It is acceptable to live indoors and to eat without earning the right to by working. In Jamaica if you don't earn money to support yourself you're on your own mate.

A lesson to be learned here I think. Many have cried down the government's and Iain Duncan Smith's proposals to drastically cut back on benefits and only provide them for people who really need them and not to provide them indefinitely and without conditions but they shouldn't. We are all better off when people have pride in themselves and can see the fruits of their efforts.

There's so much help available for those who won't work while those who do can get no assistance (practically all government economic assistance in these harsh times is for those on benefits).

If working class means what I outlined above no-one should be proud of being so. We should all aspire to at least wanting and actively seeking to support ourselves and out families.

'low the shopping people

We all know that we are in a recession right? We also all know it's quite likely that a lot of companies have waited to lay people off until the New Year which is in a few days' time right? Why then are people lining up in the early hours of the morning to plonk down their hard earned for handbags and jumping plastic robots? I keep seeing people on TV pushing and shoving in post Christmas sales to buy stuff. Unless these people are independently wealthy that doesn't seem smart at all.

This type of behaviour just encourages the government to indulge in useless activities (like lowering VAT by 2.5%) that they think will stimulate the economy. People are losing jobs ergo they are losing their ability to pay for things. There are also now fewer jobs out there. Surely, some mechanisms that protect jobs and protect the payments people have to make will be more useful that making it easier to buy stuff?!!!

How about forcing the banks to pass on the interest rate drops? Some are waiting up to 2 months to pass them on and some won't pass them on at all.

How about making the power companies pass on the drop in oil prices?

How about making mortgage companies work out sensible deals with customers in financial difficulty so that they can pay what they can instead of re-possessing houses they will not be able to sell?

Any by 'making I mean legally forcing them to. This method whereby the British government hopes that the banking industry will do the right thing has been proved to be wrong - they aren't and I believe they won't. It's time to give the ordinary person a bailout now and stop coddling those who don't have any morals.

Shameful

I haven't blogged for ages and it is shameful. But I hope to be back. Been too busy with writing assignments - which is a god thing. Folks, keep praying for President elect Obama. Pray that:

his relationship with God remains strong
no-one shoots him or his family
he does an excellent job for his people
his relationship with his wife is protected
his relationship with his kids is protected

Peace.

Praying for the best

We’re approaching the end now. Polls keep saying the gap between McCain and Obama has tightened. I fervently hope that in spite of all the factors raised that on Tuesday the right man will win. Right in the sense that the one who is better able to lead the US and therefore by extension influence the world – for the better. Here’s praying that this is what happens.

The Evil Nature of the World's Thieving Wealthy

Today the BBC online posted a story in which the Archbishops of Canterbury and York spoke out abut the greed of the city. They made an interesting point that ‘The US Treasury has proposed a fund worth up to $700bn (£382bn) to buy back much of the bad debt held by banks and other financial institutions.’ Dr. Sentamu the Archbishop of York noted that ‘"One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5bn to save six million children's lives.

The story went on to state:

"World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they tell us that action for the poorest is too expensive?"

This stinks! People, we are all going to be held accountable for our actions. Imagine – there is no real practical reason why anyone should be going hungry or without water. There are more than enough resources to go around. But in spite of this fact those that have the most just don’t want to share with those that have the least. And I’m not talking about handouts either. I’m talking about using money to put in place a fair and equitable system whereby those who’s labour and resources have been pillaged over the centuries are able to conduct their affairs in a free market in addition to real and immediate help being given on the spot to those who need it until they can catch up. But this isn’t done. Money, it seems, can always be found for things people want to spend it on. When it comes down to it, the wealthy nations just don’t want to spend it on their fellow man.

Sickening.

Why is the Gap so Small?

You have to ask yourself the question: Why, if the majority of Americans feel that the Republicans have made such a pig's dinner of things - is there such a small gap between the candidates when it comes to points?

A poll in today's issue of USA Today has the sad answer. It says that what it calls 'deep rooted racial issues' could cause the Democrats to lose the White House. What they mean is so many people in the US are so racist that they would rather vote for their ideological enemy than for a black man who agrees with them on almost all the important issues.

That this is the case has been proven on many occasions sadly - many so-called democrats have freely said that if Obama won the primaries they would vote for McCain. Be honest. How many times in past elections have you heard democrats say they would rather vote for the republican candidate - even if they aren't particularly happy with their own?

This is disgusting and anyone who says that racism isn't so bad now is a moron. If racism wins and we end up with McCain in the White House (and Palin God help us) the world is screwed. Anyone with a brain can see that. Racist have made millions suffer for centuries. Are they going to continue to make the world suffer just because they are mad enough to determine that our future and the future of our kids should be decided not by policy positions but by an imagined negative connotation they have attached to black skin?

Time will tell.

Stewards are Wrong

The stewards are wrong. Lewis Hamilton followed the rules on Sunday. He let Kimi take the lead after he went off the edge and then using skill regained that lead. Why on earth should he therefore be penalised?

Even Ferrari agrees. Let's hope the appeal goes through in his favour - but it's a shame to have it hanging over his head. I hear the appeal may not be heard for a month - meanwhile there are other races. Well it's not like Lewis to be distracted by this kind of thing - he had to deal with worse with the *****bwoy Alonzo.

Here's a story on the penalty issue. What do you think? http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/sep/08/formulaone.lewishamilton

Big Up Jamaica!

First Usain and then the ladies today - what a triumph!

A word of condolence for my brethern and sistren in the States. I understand that the 100 m men's final was not shown live in the States. The US coverage of the Olympics is disgusting! I was in the States during the Atlanta Olympics and you couldn't see any part of the winner unless they were American. I imagine that once Tyson was out of the final they decided it wasn't worth showing. How ridiculous! People interested in sport want to see great performances no matter what country they come from.

But like I said at the beginning, big respect to Jamaica and many congrats to the ladies and Usain. Asafa - come again and re-group, and dust them later. Keep you spirits up.

RIP Bernie Mac

Really sorry to hear that Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes have died. Bernie Mac in particular shocked me. He was so young and I loved his comedy. That man was really funny - swore too much but was really funny.

Rest in peace both of you.

Bigging Up Caribbean Teachers

Check out this story on Dr. Carolyn Cooper.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080804/flair/flair1.html

She was one of my lecturers when I did my BA in Literature at UWI Mona campus in the early 90s. She was (and probably is) one of the nicest and best teachers I have had. Her classes were fun bwoy! And often quite rude (benz bonnet as a phallic symbol – anyone remember that one?) And she used to host the best parties at her house in college commons – good food, good music and some interesting art. But apart from that I learned a lot in her classes. I learned the importance of observation – on many levels and the importance of bigging up yourself as a dark skinned, afro centric looking woman. That was and is important.

There were other fantastic teachers at UWI, Professor Baugh, Dr (now Prof Chang), and Mr. Smith, my Shakespeare lecturer. Now he was something else. He (and the others mentioned here) truly educated me in that they taught me to think and to appreciate the finer things in life and to consider the human experience. They made it clear that my education was an edifying experience, not a few years during which I could cram in as much information so that I could pass a few exams. I’m reminded of one of Prof’s (Professor Rex Nettleford’s) comments to Mr. Noel Dexter (who was the musical director of the University Singers when I was with them). He said, it that wonderful accent of his, ‘but Mr. Dexter, a butu is a boogooyagga!’;. Hilarious. But I recall that to say that the education I got at UWI ensured that neither butu nor boogooyagga was the result of my time there but a woman with an appreciation for people, literature, science and the arts and an appreciation for the efforts of educators like those mentioned here and elsewhere was the result. Some used to say when you said you were reading for a degree in Literature ‘den lawd missis, yu ah go dead fi hungry!’ but I’ve done alright on the salary front and I don’t regret the lit degree at all. I learned a lot and was privileged to be around some Caribbean giants. You can’t put a price on that.

Private Practice

Been getting into Private Practice – the spin-off from Grey’s Anatomy by Shondra Rhimes. It’s really good – in fact for the more mature viewer it is better that Grey’s – much less soap and more storytelling. Check it out if you haven’t already.

Think before you make decisions on your children’s behalf

Just saw a documentary on channel 4 on the vaccine for cervical cancer. It has been tested for five years and this year will be given to 12 year olds I believe followed by all girls between 12 and 18. The documentary was pretty well rounded – asking pertinent questions about cost, etc. but what shocked the living daylights out of me was the incredibly stupid response of two Catholic mothers and a Muslim father. The father said he wouldn’t give his daughters the vaccine because it would encourage them to be promiscuous. The mothers said basically the same crap. But one of the mothers added the gem that she didn’t think it was appropriate to discuss STDs with her 12 year old daughter.

What a load of rubbish! Fist of all, do you really think a young person considers the possibility of getting cervical cancer when they decide to have sex or not? I am a Christian and this point of view mystifies me. Christians (and I would imagine Muslims too) work hard to instil their respective values into their kids which means no sex outside of marriage. This should be the major focus of teaching which you would imagine would have greater sway than the removal of the possibility of getting some strains of cervical cancer. And as for the mothers – a young girl of 12 should have had the facts of life explained to her by then – it is possible to begin menstruating at 10. There is no reason why STDs shouldn’t be explained to a 12 year old girl. These people are remiss and seemingly don’t have much faith in heir faiths if they think that being told about cervical cancer and how it comes about is gong to override years of upbringing and make their kids jump into bend with any and anyone.

It’s a crying shame parents who claim to have faith can’t do a whole lot better than this.

Giving kids the facts – and making sure the facts are age appropriate – helps equip kids for life. And by facts I don’t just mean he mechanics of sex, I mean the spiritual, emotional and health aspects. So many Christian parents forget, or weren’t told of all of these aspects. God is God and in charge of all things including sex; better you explain it to your kids within these parameters than leave it up to the devil to explain it – in practical and often tragic circumstances.

As to whether or not to give your daughter the vaccine? Get as much information you can and then make an informed decision. The programme mentioned the thousands of idiotic parents who didn’t give their kids their MMR vaccine because that doctor said there was a link with autism. What makes people arbitrarily believe one doctor without checking the facts and then put their kid at risk for measles? Some of the parents on the cervical vaccine programme were talking in the same way. If an expert makes a comment like this, check it out, get it corroborated, get background on that person and then weigh up all the facts and then make a decision. Damn, for all the free education available in the so called developed world there sure are a lot of dumb people – scary thing is they are reproducing.

Hamilton Mash Up Di Place!

Did y’all see how mi bwoy Hamilton jus coof Massa outa di way – twice? This man has balls the size of footballs and can he drive. Can’t wait to see the next race.

The Dearth of Black People on UK TV

I tend to do a sweep of the UK papers online and I caught sight of a headline that said that black people and Asians say that UK TV is too white. Now that headline was in a racist paper – the Mirror but the headline has a point.

Do you know that on sketch comedy shows in the UK, when they want to depict a black celebrity a white person puts on black face – because there are no black people in their casts. This is 2008. Now the US is racist but this would never happen.

It’s true that in most UK TV programme the cast is either totally or nearly totally white. There has been an unhealthy tradition of having black people segregated in shows with just black people in them. It’s sad. Look at Law and Order – sometimes there are three black people in one scene (the Lieutenant, Green and that chick who always brings the messages in though she may be Latino). This would be unheard of in the UK.

I notice a lot of black British actors flash to the states for work (Idris Elba, that guy off of Hustle who was in Primary Colors). Will things change here? Not unless the same thing that made things change in the States happen – i.e. heavy lobbying and a refusal to accept the status quo. Learning from past behaviour in the UK I don’t hold out much hope.

Time for a Change

Well Dr. Phillips has declared his intention to run for the PNP leadership. I never thought I’d say this but good luck to him. I am bitterly disappointed with Portia. I had such hopes for her when she became the leader of the PNP but she messed it up big time. It’s not helpful to the country or the sisterhood that she hasn’t done well for the country and by extension for herself. Here’s hoping Peter Philips can do better.

I Want to be High! (I Want Drugs During Labour)

I read today about some mad women who want to have their kids at home with (get this) NO midwife and NO doctor - just their husbands. Dem mad to rhaatid! I and I want nuff nuff drugs.

Why on earth if pain relief is available , would you NOT take it? There's a documentary on TV about these women. I wait to see if any of them bawl for drugs half way through.

Madness.

What dem waiting fah???

My Goodness - what are the regional leaders waiting for to publicly and private denounce Mugabe and run him out of office?

I know that half of them are probably no better than him and are probably defending their own right to tief elections but lawd man. Full time the see how bad things have got and take action. I wait with baited breath to see what happens. The Kenyan leader has spoken up but - well - nuff said eh?

Here's a link to a good story on he pitfalls of modern parenting and the dangerous tendency to make he kids the centre of attention. http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article4212440.ece