Is this the Love for poor people that Karl describes?

[Willi]

The Devil's Cookroom
Common SenseJohn Maxwell
Sunday, June 03, 2007


First of all, an apology.
In my column two weeks ago - about the possible link between teenage dysfunction and bauxite/alumina poisoning - I committed an egregious error. I said "The water supplies of Kingston and most of southern Jamaica are already contaminated by bauxite wastes."

I had intended to say that the water supplies of Kingston and most of southern Jamaica are threatened by bauxite and other industrial wastes, including dunder and that some of them are already contaminated. I blame no one but myself for the error, which happened when I was editing what I had written.
In a reply published last week, entitled 'Not True, Mr Maxwell' the head of the Water Resources Authority, Mr Basil Fernandez, attempts to drop a nuclear bomb on what I said. Fair enough. But he goes a little too far.
Mr Fernandez has published a paper - Contamination of water resources by the Bauxite/Alumina operations in Jamaica which says the following:
"Monitoring of ground water around the four processing plants in the island has indicated contamination of water resources. Approximately 200 million cubic metres (MCM) of groundwater have been contaminated and another 200 MCM is at risk of contamination. The red mud ponds are in the direct path of ground water flow and pose a serious threat to ground water reservoirs and consequently the ground water reserves of the island. Relocation of the ponds would not remove the threat, therefore other methods of disposal that would not contaminate water resources had to be found."
Mr Fernandez, in his attempt to blow me off the map last week, goes on to give detailed reports on the various water supplies which are not polluted, or at least not much. "While the wells at Bog Walk and the Tulloch Springs are located in the Upper Rio Cobre sub-basin where the Windalco Ewarton Plant and mud stacking and drying operations are located, no contamination from that plant and disposal system has been detected at these sources. None of the other sources is located in the flow part of any bauxite/alumina operations and red mud storage facilities."
He appears to choose his words very carefully: ". no contamination from that plant and disposal system has been detected" (my bold face).
I would like to hear what he has to say about the Weatherly Spring, which is contaminated by the Red Mud Lake at Mount Rosser. I confess I do not know whether this spring contributes to the water supplies that are eventually taken to Kingston from the Tulloch supply, but it appears to be possible. When he says "None of the other sources is located in the flow part of any bauxite/alumina operations and red mud storage facilities" he appears to admit that the Tulloch Springs, et al sources are in the flow path of the red mud operations, whether of Mount Rosser or the new dry stacking establishment is not clear.
The Golding River, which runs through the Cockpit Country, and is a source of water for many people.
But the threat is clear.
The figures Mr Fernandez gives for the other plants reveal that in no case is "contamination" present in any of the water supplies mentioned. That is if we ignore his statement that:
"Drilling and monthly sampling of several deep monitoring boreholes across the Manchester Highlands and into Porus have detected low-level contamination of groundwater (25 mg/l sodium maximum) which has not impacted on any existing water supply system. The Porus wells, which are operated by the NWC, report low sodium concentration of <15 mg/l - representing background (uncontaminated) quality."
The real question about all these figures is - what level of alkalinity represents 'contamination'? For Mr Fernandez and other water engineers, 'contamination' is probably a numerical threshold, whereas for ordinary people like me contamination is contamination, whether in trace amounts or greater.
I personally would welcome Mr Fernandez and the Water Resources Authority clearing up this matter for us.
I will remind you of what I wrote in December, which would have given Mr Fernandez a fairly accurate idea of my mindset:
"I believe that bauxite mining is an unmitigated disaster and I believe that before we are reduced to the status of Nauru we should demand answers from the Government and the bauxite companies and from independent experts, to measure the cost and benefits to Jamaica of what I consider a depraved and uncivilised undertaking.
"To summarise - Bauxite mining:
. Is destroying social cohesion and community, disrupting families and pushing our youth towards criminality;
. Is destroying the landscape of Jamaica, after our people - our major asset;
. Is sterilising our chances of real agricultural development by removing land from production;
. Is a major contributor (fuel consumption) to our negative balance of payments;
. Is a major factor (because of its consumption of water) in present and future water shortages;
. Is creating enormous reservoirs of toxic material which pollutes and diminishes our water supply and will cost more to sanitise than it costs to process;
. Is the major contributor to desertification and deforestation in Jamaica;
. Will eventually destroy the tourism industry by destroying the reefs which protect the beaches."
That was written in December and published in the Sunday Observer of December 17 under the title 'A Mess of Pottage'.
I would now add that bauxite might also be contributing to our national insanity.
Mr Fernandez himself has written articles published on the Web, in which he points out the disadvantages of bauxite processing. Despite the new, dry-stacking operations, Mr Fernandez says, there are serious disadvantages:
In an article entitled 'Recycling of Industrial Effluent in Jamaica' Mr Fernandez reports:
"Disadvantages"
. There is an increased risk of pollution of surface water resources, due to the large size of the holding ponds and the possibility of spillages.
. Technical problems within the plants may be experienced, reducing the level of production and affecting the volume of recycled effluent; hence, storage volumes can increase to the point where overflows occur, affecting the environment.
. The quality of effluent may vary significantly, affecting the degree of treatment provided by this technology and thus, potentially, the level of production at the plants.
. The technology is capital-intensive, not labour-intensive, and provides few spin-offs for nearby communities where unemployment may be high.
. As a result of the land-intensive nature of this technology, its implementation may result in the relocation of residents, disrupting their lives and causing great inconvenience; for farmers and other small businesspeople, a new location may be less suitable and/or create the need to seek other employment.
. Agricultural land may be lost in some cases, decreasing food production."
There is the ever present danger of floods, the natural disaster most prevalent in Jamaica.

[Willi]

Part 2,

It is clear to me that the proponents of bauxite mining, particularly bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country, need to come clean and give Jamaica all the information we need to make up our minds in a rational manner.
We need to have a serious scientific investigation into the effect of bauxite dust on the brains and nervous systems of the Jamaican people. I want to know whether the increased alumina in the air, from bauxite and alumina dusts, is harming our youth and helping to destroy our society.
These are not petty matters and they deserve the highest consideration. There can be no proprietary secrets when the very sanity and existence of the Jamaican people are involved. Please understand that I am not blaming Mr Fernandez for any of this. We have gradually built up, over 60 years, a cosy relationship with our clients - a sado-masochistic relationship in which we seem to be hogtied and beaten for our "pleasure".
That is not my idea of fun.
Between the Devil and.
Jamaican journalists and others - with the exception of Tamara Scott Williams in this paper last week - seem to be falling all over themselves in welcoming the Harmony Cove Development, which, we are told, will provide 10,000 jobs.
In brief, the Harmony Cove development will mean the annexation by a foreign company of nearly half the coast of the parish of Trelawny, walling it off from the natives and converting it into Las Vegas by the Sea (their concept, not mine) and bringing into Jamaica more slot machines than we have university graduates.
The main engineers of this mad, bad and dangerous scheme appear to have been Messrs P J Patterson and Vin Lawrence who, like me, went to a school named Calabar.
This school was founded at a spot overlooking the site of Harmony Cove that may well be incorporated into one of the golf courses to be built there and requiring thousands of gallons of water every day.
Calabar was founded for the education of the children of former slaves. It was moved to Kingston in 1912. My father, who was the son of an illiterate but very smart domestic servant - as she was then called - went to Calabar College where he learned Latin, Greek and Theology. After serving as the Baptist parson at Point Hill in St Catherine until 1927, he went to Duncans where his circuit included Rio Bueno/Calabar, Clark's Town, Refuge, Sawyers and lots of other places now threatened by bauxite mining. He worked hard for his people and was one of those responsible for the launching of the Dornock water supply, now threatened by bauxite mining.
My father went into politics, defeating Guy Ewen, a white Jamaican who had been the member of the legislature for 25 years, had been custos for 15 years, was the only lawyer in the parish, was the head of the building society and was the owner or attorney for one-sixth of the arable land area of Trelawny. He was, not to put too fine a point on it, the Trelawny equivalent of Vin Lawrence, aka 'God'.
After defeating Mr Ewen, one of the things my father did for his people was to get his friend Val Parnell to donate a piece of his land at Braco for a Land Settlement. My father died at the age of 48 when I was 12.
For whatever reason, the land settlement never got off the ground. It was held up in the Lands Department for nearly 20 years, and when the time came for the land to be distributed it was parceled out to civil servants. including the commissioner of lands, the secretary of the Trelawny Parish Council and the managing director of the Urban Development Corporation - all deserving poor.
If you don't believe me, go look into the report of the DaCosta Commission.
The land settlement was unusual. During the war, part of it had been taken over by the Americans for an airfield. There were several lovely beaches alongside - which no doubt contributed enormously to the war effort. Everybody, rich and poor, flocked to those beaches when the war was over.
This land eventually ended up as the site of a large, all-inclusive hotel and no one knows how much the poor settlers got for their precious land.
Next door to that land is an estate called Harmony Hall, which, along with a neighbouring piece reaches all the way to Silver Sands, behind Duncans.
Duncans, where I was born, was the headquarters of William Knibb, who should be recognised as one of our national heroes, despite the fact that he was born in England.
Knibb was threatened with murder, jailed and persecuted for helping slaves. He was accused of being behind Sam Sharpe's rebellion. He lived at Duncans in a house which was burned by his enemies who thought that he and his wife were inside it at the time. They had in fact been spirited away by slaves and taken by canoe to Falmouth. My father was one of Knibb's successors and I was born in a house built for Knibb after Emancipation, by the freed slaves.
All of that will no doubt be swallowed up by Harmony Cove, an outfit controlled by a company called the Tavistock Group which has the making of money - wealth creation - as its defining priority
Harmony Cove will be the ultimate gated community, for the 'cognitive elites' of Bell Curve fame, while the huddled masses yearning to sell a little coke pullulate outside the gates.
There will be no housing built for the workers. Of that we can be sure. So outside the gates will be thousands of shacks and a brand new dysfunctional community.
Just in case anyone cares, the area of Caribbean Sea just off Harmony Cove is called the Devil's Cookroom. The ordinary residents of Trelawny will, if everything goes the way of the developers, be caught between the Devil AND the deep blue sea on one side, and the bauxite companies on the other.
What will they get from all this?
The exquisite, ineffable and unparalleled satisfaction of knowing that once again Jamaica is a high-end tourist destination and that the bauxite companies love us to death.
Copyright&#169;2007 John Maxwell
jankunnu@gmail.com

[Karl]

Willi:
Good article.

...but, could you please edit to make for easier reading.

Ofcourse the storing of rud mud poses a threat to our water supply. There are possible leaks in the future. I would say as a matter of commonsense there must be leaks from time to time - perhaps, there are always leaks...i.e. leakage which are at what the scientists would term "within acceptable levels".

Let's face facts if leaks were not likely why maintenance and constant testing.

The question is could there be instituted a safer method of disposing of the 'bauxite waste' and having the red-mud lakes already - we are where we are as the situation developed over the years during the reign of both PNP and JLP - can improved containment and or removal of the waste be undertaken?

Willi: I have said it before, we have management problem throughout every sector of the society. I would also like you to consider that if we have poor managers as 'instituted' in the society that a PNP for JLP swap could be a 'black dwag fi monkey' swap...after all is said and done our leaders are found in the general population? Right?

We need leaders...efficient leaders and workers, at all sectors of the society! - There must be efficiency from the street cleaner to the PM's seat! 60 MPs is not it! ...although it is vital we have good leaders as MPs!

[Muadib]

Willi:
Good article.

...but, could you please edit to make for easier reading.

Ofcourse the storing of rud mud poses a threat to our water supply. There are possible leaks in the future. I would say as a matter of commonsense there must be leaks from time to time - perhaps, there are always leaks...i.e. leakage which are at what the scientists would term "within acceptable levels".

Let's face facts if leaks were not likely why maintenance and constant testing.

The question is could there be instituted a safer method of disposing of the 'bauxite waste' and having the red-mud lakes already - we are where we are as the situation developed over the years during the reign of both PNP and JLP - can improved containment and or removal of the waste be undertaken?

Willi: I have said it before, we have management problem throughout every sector of the society. I would also like you to consider that if we have poor managers as 'instituted' in the society that a PNP for JLP swap could be a 'black dwag fi monkey' swap...after all is said and done our leaders are found in the general population? Right?

We need leaders...efficient leaders and workers, at all sectors of the society! - There must be efficiency from the street cleaner to the PM's seat! 60 MPs is not it! ...although it is vital we have good leaders as MPs!

You keep asking questions for which the answers are in plain sight.

Do you think the PNP Govt could have taken what we had at in 1980 to the point where the economy was generating > 6% Growth within 7 years ?

You keep harping on 'black dawg fi monkey' yet the evidence I have seen does not support this. The PNP have been proven bad for the economy of the country, the JLP have proven good for the economy of the country. When faced with this reality you run to the 'well of profundity' and try and demonstrate that the JLP is 'evil' while the PNP 'good'...esoterics.

Esoterics cannot run a country.

If you live in the world of Esoterics.. stay there do not try and cross into the real world or try to understand why esoterics are not solving the problems of the country.. yuh trying to have your cake and eat it too.

[Karl]

You keep asking questions for which the answers are in plain sight.

Do you think the PNP Govt could have taken what we had at in 1980 to the point where the economy was generating > 6&#37; Growth within 7 years ?

You keep harping on 'black dawg fi monkey' yet the evidence I have seen does not support this. The PNP have been proven bad for the economy of the country, the JLP have proven good for the economy of the country. When faced with this reality you run to the 'well of profundity' and try and demonstrate that the JLP is 'evil' while the PNP 'good'...esoterics.

Esoterics cannot run a country.

If you live in the world of Esoterics.. stay there do not try and cross into the real world or try to understand why esoterics are not solving the problems of the country.. yuh trying to have your cake and eat it too.

What evidence?

That a Edward Seaga run JLP gave us 6% growth?

So two things - i) What if the same Edward Seaga, who Sistah P was fixed on as GG...is now offered the Ministry of Finance?

ii) The prediction that a Bruce Golding run government with different players from previous JLP governments would perform in the same manner as those past JLP governments?

Such a prediction is based on 'I believe so'! Well my counter to that is 'I do believe so'! You are in the same position as I am - 'believing'. There is a lack of suffient evidence that the 'new' PM, excepting for her words...and the 'new' Bruce led JLP, excepting for half-explained promises...will deliver.

We are both basing our hopes on the PNP's past record and the JLP's past record. But we are dealing with humans here...Portia has never been given a chance with her appointees to 'run things'. Bruce also!

What we both know is 'things' are not as we would like them to be...but, unlike you I think progress has been made in many areas...the most important of which is the number of poor persons who have stepped out of the extreme state of poverty which their families were in previous to 1972. You would have to admit that took place, for the large part, under PNP leadership.

Just pause for a moment and think where our families were - parent and grandparents - previous to 1972. Have the children now greater access to education - the tremendous increase in education institutions of higher learning and opening of opportunities to travel to institutions outside of the island?

Are there more of the 'goodies' of advanced societies at hand - 1st world elctronic devices and mechanical gadgets and machines?

Are there more cars in households?

Is there greater access to communication devices? Is it easier for families to keep in touch and to do business? In the particular case of the telephone system is it not first rate?

What of the vast improvement in delivery of cable television & the base to receive high speed internet communication?

Do more of children of the poor own businesses?

Are there more families in their own homes?

Has the road system been expanded? Are there improved roads? Are there on going plans to improve roads...currently being worked on?

Has the water supply system been expanded and improved? Are there plans to improve same?

Sewage systems improved? Is it not expanded sewage systems...and more sewage systems? Are there plans on the drawing board to improve same?

What about the electrical system has it been improved? Are there more businesses and residential properties receiving electricity? Are there plans to expand delivery of still more improved electrical system?

Are there more businesses reaching out to markets outside of Jamaica? ...and, you do realise that our internal markets cannot support real growth? It is just too small - the individual businesses can only hire an extremely limited number of workers...it is expansion in capturing a %age of the larger markets external to the island that will put appreciable numbers of our people to work.

Look at tourism? Expansion lies in wooing those in external markets to visit?

Look at our agricultural products - It is getting a toe-hold in external markets that will put appreciable numbers of our people to work?

Look even at our football - It is producing quality footballers and having the external markets 'buying' our players that will make it truly viable?

Look at the numbers of teachers, nurses, cops, scientists, accountants, etc... being produced - It is external markets that MUST absorb the vast army of surplus workers that is being produced. (You do realise that if all jobs are now filled and the people in those jobs have future working life of 10 years...there is a HUGE PROBLEM if you are depending on the local market ot absorb the vast horde of new graduates and others coming into the job market each succeeding year?)

Yes, we have to admit there has not been as swift progress in a very many areas/numerous areas to expand the local economy...

...and, ofcourse there is the vexing situation where crime is concerned.

You believe Bruce will speed that expansion along...solve all our problem. I believe that Bruce has grown up in a party that concentrates on making the rich richer...and, thinks that what falls from the plates of the rich is enough for the rest.

I do not believe in such an approach. I believe there must be emphasis on
both encouraging the entrepreneurs to expand businesses and create new business opportunities - new niches...& lock step improve on and create new opportunities for the poor and children of the poor to attain upward mobility. Portia I believe thinks as I do! ...and, will work at it!

Sure she needs her mandate and her people/her appointees working along side...beside her to create a new improved Jamaica. That she shall do, if given a chance!

...and, all mentioned must be improved...

Our possibilities, considering talent and potential of our people and that we have merely scratched available opportunities...we are 'near rock bottom'...ENDLESS! ...and, it is a truism that we are poised for 'take off'.

Yes, we have been on the 'bubble' for sometime. The base our people - haven't we proved it time and time again - Are you not proof? - ! /are we not still proving it on our 'travels' throughout the world - but for clear direction, ' wi ready'.

[Lazie]

Cyaan waste time read nuh more of this crap!

What if the same Edward Seaga, who Sistah P was fixed on as GG...is now offered the Ministry of Finance?

KArl, Portia cannot offer Seaga MOF ... no scratch that ... a Portia we a talk bout. Seaga CANNOT be MOF. Guh read the Jamaican constitution and stop forming the fool. Sorry ... figet.

[Mosiah]

Forward!!!

[Karl]

Cyaan waste time read nuh more of this crap!

What if the same Edward Seaga, who Sistah P was fixed on as GG...is now offered the Ministry of Finance?

KArl, Portia cannot offer Seaga MOF ... no scratch that ... a Portia we a talk bout. Seaga CANNOT be MOF. Guh read the Jamaican constitution and stop forming the fool. Sorry ... figet.

Too many of us do not think about problem solving!

Can you not think of at least 2 ways Seaga could be our de facto Minister of Finance?

Yes, Sistah P...and, any PM, can get anyone she/he so desires to be the Minister of Finance!

[Willi]

But Karl,

What yuh have against swappping, especially after 18 years of poor performance. I cannot understand the near maniacal resistance to change!!!

After a year of Portia, I see no capcity for the positive developments you hope for. THAT is the crux of the matter.

I mean, come on! If I were to spend time with either at say a party, I think Portia would make the better company. However, I was to choose who better to run the country, I would have to choose otherwise.

Nice lady, faults and all, but she has not shown me the capacity, despite a long enough internship.

[Lazie]

Too many of us do not think about problem solving!

Can you not think of at least 2 ways Seaga could be our de facto Minister of Finance?

Yes, Sistah P...and, any PM, can get anyone she/he so desires to be the Minister of Finance!

Yuh can twist and shout all yuh want! Seaga CANNOT be MOF! Suh bettah yuh stop! Then again, unuh cuss and demonize the man when he was there now unuh want him as MOF? As mi say .. Jamaica, Land of Poppyshows!

[Karl]

But Karl,

What yuh have against swappping, especially after 18 years of poor performance. I cannot understand the near maniacal resistance to change!!!

After a year of Portia, I see no capcity for the positive developments you hope for. THAT is the crux of the matter.

I mean, come on! If I were to spend time with either at say a party, I think Portia would make the better company. However, I was to choose who better to run the country, I would have to choose otherwise.

Nice lady, faults and all, but she has not shown me the capacity, despite a long enough internship.

OK!

...perhaps, you are right I am resistant to change. In fact, Tilla will tell you I was even against a change in colour arrangement for the forum immediately preceeding this one ...but, he will also tell you I liked this one and was for it.

One year with an inherited Executive...an Executive that, I remind you, came out and showed all Jamaica that its members in key positions, was not of the same mindset as Sistah P...is not enough.

Sistah P needs her mandate to as the Constitution clearly spells out, select her Executive!

[Mosiah]

Settle down, Lazie. Remember when the PNP wanted Omar to be MOF? What happened? And he is now the longest serving minister in one portfolio.

If Sistah P want it done, it will get done. Yuh figget say is Jamaica wi a talk bout!?

And is not that I think she wants him there, just pointing out to you that it is possible. Seaga cannot handle that ministry right now. Di man is almost 80 years old!

[Muadib]

What evidence?

That a Edward Seaga run JLP gave us 6% growth?

So two things - i) What if the same Edward Seaga, who Sistah P was fixed on as GG...is now offered the Ministry of Finance?

ii) The prediction that a Bruce Golding run government with different players from previous JLP governments would perform in the same manner as those past JLP governments?

Such a prediction is based on 'I believe so'! Well my counter to that is 'I do believe so'! You are in the same position as I am - 'believing'. There is a lack of suffient evidence that the 'new' PM, excepting for her words...and the 'new' Bruce led JLP, excepting for half-explained promises...will deliver.

We are both basing our hopes on the PNP's past record and the JLP's past record. But we are dealing with humans here...Portia has never been given a chance with her appointees to 'run things'. Bruce also!

What we both know is 'things' are not as we would like them to be...but, unlike you I think progress has been made in many areas...the most important of which is the number of poor persons who have stepped out of the extreme state of poverty which their families were in previous to 1972. You would have to admit that took place, for the large part, under PNP leadership.

Just pause for a moment and think where our families were - parent and grandparents - previous to 1972. Have the children now greater access to education - the tremendous increase in education institutions of higher learning and opening of opportunities to travel to institutions outside of the island?

Are there more of the 'goodies' of advanced societies at hand - 1st world elctronic devices and mechanical gadgets and machines?

Are there more cars in households?

Is there greater access to communication devices? Is it easier for families to keep in touch and to do business? In the particular case of the telephone system is it not first rate?

What of the vast improvement in delivery of cable television & the base to receive high speed internet communication?

Do more of children of the poor own businesses?

Are there more families in their own homes?

Has the road system been expanded? Are there improved roads? Are there on going plans to improve roads...currently being worked on?

Has the water supply system been expanded and improved? Are there plans to improve same?

Sewage systems improved? Is it not expanded sewage systems...and more sewage systems? Are there plans on the drawing board to improve same?

What about the electrical system has it been improved? Are there more businesses and residential properties receiving electricity? Are there plans to expand delivery of still more improved electrical system?

Are there more businesses reaching out to markets outside of Jamaica? ...and, you do realise that our internal markets cannot support real growth? It is just too small - the individual businesses can only hire an extremely limited number of workers...it is expansion in capturing a %age of the larger markets external to the island that will put appreciable numbers of our people to work.

Look at tourism? Expansion lies in wooing those in external markets to visit?

Look at our agricultural products - It is getting a toe-hold in external markets that will put appreciable numbers of our people to work?

Look even at our football - It is producing quality footballers and having the external markets 'buying' our players that will make it truly viable?

Look at the numbers of teachers, nurses, cops, scientists, accountants, etc... being produced - It is external markets that MUST absorb the vast army of surplus workers that is being produced. (You do realise that if all jobs are now filled and the people in those jobs have future working life of 10 years...there is a HUGE PROBLEM if you are depending on the local market ot absorb the vast horde of new graduates and others coming into the job market each succeeding year?)

Yes, we have to admit there has not been as swift progress in a very many areas/numerous areas to expand the local economy...

...and, ofcourse there is the vexing situation where crime is concerned.

You believe Bruce will speed that expansion along...solve all our problem. I believe that Bruce has grown up in a party that concentrates on making the rich richer...and, thinks that what falls from the plates of the rich is enough for the rest.

I do not believe in such an approach. I believe there must be emphasis on
both encouraging the entrepreneurs to expand businesses and create new business opportunities - new niches...& lock step improve on and create new opportunities for the poor and children of the poor to attain upward mobility. Portia I believe thinks as I do! ...and, will work at it!

Sure she needs her mandate and her people/her appointees working along side...beside her to create a new improved Jamaica. That she shall do, if given a chance!

...and, all mentioned must be improved...

Our possibilities, considering talent and potential of our people and that we have merely scratched available opportunities...we are 'near rock bottom'...ENDLESS! ...and, it is a truism that we are poised for 'take off'.

Yes, we have been on the 'bubble' for sometime. The base our people - haven't we proved it time and time again - Are you not proof? - ! /are we not still proving it on our 'travels' throughout the world - but for clear direction, ' wi ready'.

During this period of Jamaican enlightenment the following has occured:

I quote one of your comrades:

'The greatest transfer of resources from the poor to the Rich since slavery was abolished...'

If you are confused by that statement then ask your in-law to setup a private one-on-one talk with Mr. Thwaites...

The Debt is approaching 1 Trillion Dollars...

There are developing countries that have entered this period of enlightenment (cell-phone, internet) and are actually able to increase their productivity at the same time... interesting concept.

Any fool can borrow and distribute and sell cell-phone licenses and make billionaires of Irsh Firms.. meanwhile the money obtained from the sale is squandered so we are left more consumption opportunities with no appreciable increase in productivity..

Does Sistah 'P' know the type of company Trafigura is ? Dem nuh nice to poor people...

If you cannot learn by Intelligence or theory then you should be able to learn by practise.. sanity is however a requirement..

Stop using Jamaica as a play thing for your esoterics... have a heart for the suffering generations.. dem black but dem is still human beings...

[Lazie]

Settle down, Lazie. Remember when the PNP wanted Omar to be MOF? What happened? And he is now the longest serving minister in one portfolio.

If Sistah P want it done, it will get done. Yuh figget say is Jamaica wi a talk bout!?

And is not that I think she wants him there, just pointing out to you that it is possible. Seaga cannot handle that ministry right now. Di man is almost 80 years old!

Where dem ago mek him run? SW St. Ann? Karl don't know what him talking bout .... then again .. is Karl.

[Karl]

Yuh can twist and shout all yuh want! Seaga CANNOT be MOF! Suh bettah yuh stop! Then again, unuh cuss and demonize the man when he was there now unuh want him as MOF? As mi say .. Jamaica, Land of Poppyshows!

Lazie: You too oftebn jump to conclusion that have no basis in fact!

What reason were some against Seaga? They were many and varied...but, as far as I know it had nothing to do with his abilities as Finance Minister.

I for one have been against him because he introduced GARRISONS! No other reason!

I am waiting for an apology from him!