T&T Media Houses Must Step Up

This is an open letter to the managers, chief editors and directors of all media houses in Trinidad and Tobago. As one of the main watch dogs of our democracy it is imperative that an emergency meeting be convened as soon as possible during this week, and agreement arrived to give Mrs. Persad-Bissessar leader of the UNC Coalition, free air time equivalent to that which Mr. Manning hijacked by abusing legislative provisions. It is totally unacceptable for Mr. Manning to be using state resources and legislation to further his agenda and that of the PNM, it amounts to an abuse of power and an attempt to force himself upon the population of this country using unconventional, unethical and undemocratic means.

Selwyn Ryan was on the ball in his Sunday Express editorial when he articulated that MR. Manning is embracing the Burnham Doctrine of using state resources to stay in power. Mr. Manning had the opportunity to engage in a free public debate with Mrs. Persad-Bissessar that would have been aired free of charge for all to see and he and his party chose not to participate. Therefore it is nothing but a disrespect and utter contempt for the electorate that he should now turn around and bully our media into giving him free air time to say what he would have had the opportunity to say and defend if he chose to in a debate, it is cowardice and undemocratic.

The free air time given to Mrs. Persad-Bissessar should not be construed as support for the UNC Coalition, rather it should be seen for what it is, the media fulfilling their role as democractic watch dogs, fulfilling their mandate to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by ensuring that our democratic process is not polluted or rigged in favour of power hungry individuals. The events of this past week has been an eye opener and citizens should be of grave concern at the type of governance being proposed by the actions of Mr. Manning. I for one have no intention of waiting for the evening to arrive to find out just how disasterous the day has been, the type of governance being proposed by Mr. Manning does not appeal to me under any circumstances. ©

Trespassing Prime Minister

The incident reported in the media on Tuesday regarding Prime Minister Patrick Manning, his security detail and an 81 year old pensioner has raised some serious issues regarding the protection of citizen’s rights and property, and their insulation from the political directorate. The gentleman made it quite clear to Mr. Manning that he did not want him on his property, he was quoted as telling Mr. Manning ‘You’re not welcomed here I want nothing to do with you’. Mr. Manning then proceeds to ignore the admonition of the property owner and decides to ‘brush’ pass him onto his property which then caused the gentleman to take hold of Mr. Manning by the shoulders telling him “You didn’t hear what I say? You’re not welcome here!”

At this point Mr. Manning’s security detail sprung into action to separate the two and proceeded to tell the owner of the property “You cannot do that, you cannot touch the Prime Minister!”, to which the pensioner appropriately responded “You have to be mad this is my house!” When I read this news article and saw the clipping on the evening news, chills ran down my spine and it should have the same effect on you. If this incident isn’t a clear example and more proof that our politicians are clearly out of control then I do not know what is. What right does the Prime Minister have to trespass on the private property of citizens of this country? Is Patrick Manning above the law? When a Prime Minister acts with such scant regard for the laws of the land is it any wonder that the police officers of this country also feel they have the right to enter people’s property unannounced and without the express authority of the owners or necessary court sanctioned warrants?

Can this pensioner, I or any other citizen of this country simply enter Mr. Manning’s Diplomatic centre at whim, even if security personnel tell us we can’t enter? What was even more surprising is that one of Mr. Manning’s security detail reportedly admonished the pensioner telling him ‘You lucky, you cannot touch the Prime Minister….no matter what you are not supposed to touch the Prime Minister” , at which point the pensioner again declared in astonishment “You must be mad this is my house!” Rightly so, the only explanation that could be given for Mr. Manning and his security detail is that they are in fact mad. What does the security detail mean no matter what you are not supposed to touch the Prime Minister? Ironically the same security detail did not admonish any other individuals who chose to ‘touch’ the Prime Minister by shaking his hand. It reminds me of a couple years ago I had to face a visibly upset member of Mr. Manning’s detail glowering at me because I refused to wind my glass down to shake the Prime Minister’s hand while stuck in traffic.

According to the laws of the land if someone trespasses and invades your home aren’t you permitted within the law to defend yourself and property? I saw the clipping on the evening news; Mr. Manning virtually brushed aside the gentleman on his own property! Do citizens not have the right to defend themselves and their property in this country anymore? Since when because a person is Prime Minister they can enter the private homes of citizens at whim, whenever they feel like without the property owner’s permission? The security detail then proceeded to stay on the pensioner’s property after Mr. Manning left further compounding the illegal trespassing of private property of a citizen of our democratic Republic. Perhaps Mr. Philbert or whomsoever is in charge of the Prime Minister’s detail should have some legal workshops with the PM’s security detail so they won’t come across as being so totally ignorant to the laws of our land.

For instance the pensioner explicitly told the Prime Minister to not enter his premises, the Prime Minister in his usual arrogant manner ignored the gentleman and proceeded to break the laws of our Democratic Republic by entering the man’s property. Not only was this illegal it was also unnecessary harassment and provocation of a citizen of our country, it was an abuse and invasion of the pensioner’s private property and the pensioner therefore had every right to seek to remove Mr. Manning and defend his property even if it means removing Mr. Manning physically. The person whom the security detail should have admonished was Mr. Manning, he should have pulled the PM aside and politely advise him that even though he is the Prime Minister, he is still subject to the laws and bound by the constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and therefore it would be an illegal act to enter this pensioner’s property as he has so explicitly indicated he does not want you on his property.

If the Prime Minister can brazenly disregard the citizens of this country and enter our homes whenever he feels like then something is terribly wrong in our country. Fellow citizens, do not take this incident lightly, pay close attention to the actions of our politicians. Something terribly ugly has happened to our political system, we now live in a country where our public servants act as Kings and Lords over us believing they can say whatever they want to us, not account to us for their actions and now enter the sanctity of our homes without our permission. I would really appreciate if Mr. Maharaj, Garvin Nicholas, Gillian Lucky or some other legal luminary within our country pay this pensioner a visit pro bono and see what legal course he can take considering the Prime Minister and his security detail’s illegal trespassing on his property as well as being unnecessarily threatened and harassed by the Prime Minister’s security detail because he sought to defend his home. I’m calling on my fellow citizens, wake up! Arise from your slumber! Our democratic rights and freedoms are under severe attack, we are losing this country everyday to the arrogance of our politicians and pretty soon one day we will get up one morning and realize we are prisoners in our own country. ©

CARICOM BLOCKED FROM LANDING IN HAITI....AND RIGHTFULLY SO!!!

Within hours of the 7.0 magnitude eathquake hitting the capital of Haiti, the United States Government had already started to mobilise a national co-ordinated effort to assist the people of Haiti. US forces were dispatched; aid supplies were already being collected for dispatch. US generals had already worked out the logistics as to what machinery, military boats and air craft were to be dispatched as well as how many personnel they would need on the ground, by Monday there will be 10,000 US military personnel in Haiti.

By day two of this tragedy US forces had already landed in Haiti along with rescue units from other countries (none from Caricom). US forces had already landed in Haiti before President Obama made his first speech about the tragedy in Haiti with a Chinese relief team being first to arrive. It was only on Saturday four days after tragedy struck Haiti that the first senior western official arrived in Haiti in the form of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The USA means business in its efforts to assist the Haitian people. With the consent of the Haitian government they have received permission to take over Haitian land and air space as well as permission for US doctors to operate on Haitian citizens before receiving licenses to do so from the Haitian government. The US’ response to Haiti has been aggressive if nothing else and the Obama Administration must be soundly commended for a rescue mission well executed.

Compare that with the weak, feeble and most embarrassing response of Haiti’s brothers and sisters in the form of CARICOM, an organisation that has most certainly demonstrated its irrelevance and gross impotence if nothing else through its embarrassing response to the crisis facing its Haitian brothers and sisters. Instead of quickly organising aid and military relief what does Caricom do? They send a team of technocrats to ‘assess’ what the Haitian people need (read they went to Haiti for photo ops!), as if the fucking pictures circulating on BBC and CNN weren’t enough! Imagine American military planes and boats are busy arriving with resuce teams, military personnel, food and medical aid, and Caricom sends a delegation with their hands swinging and they expect to get clearance to land? Manning promises the Haitian people US $1 million, but with the Haitian banks in literal ruin I wonder if it occurs to Patrick Manning that US $1 million is about as worthless as toilet paper to the average Haitian? Are the Haitian’s going to make fish broth with the money?

The Haitian government has been virtually crippled so they themselves do not have the infrastructure and expertise to properly utilise US $1 million even if they did get it in cash which would mean that the Manning Administration would have to wait months to give that money to the Haitian government for them to get all the administrative expertise in place, and while waiting for this to happen how many Haitians would have died if it wasn’t for the US government? Then Mr. Manning says the T&T government is ‘considering’ using one of the fast ferry boats to deliver supplies to Haiti. Again, considering? People are buried dying or waiting to die. Those that aren’t are starving or running out of basics like water but yet still the Patrick Manning Administration is ‘considering’ whether to use one of the fast ferries to send supplies to Haiti!

I have not heard a single CARICOM country issue military aid to Haiti. Why did Manning not send a battalion of our Defence Force instead? After all these guys do nothing year after year but perform their function as ‘NATIONAL SECURITY GUARDS’. A batch of T&T soldiers despatched with medical aid, doctors, food and building material would have been a better gift to the Haitian people than US $1 million dollars.

CARICOM has passed up on a golden moment to stake their claim in the region and earn their respect from the Western powers. Instead of effecting an aggressive co-ordinated relief effort to assist Haitians Caricom has only succeeded in booking a date to have "consultations" in Dominica. Once again Caricom has demonstrated to the world that they are nothing but an old boys club whose only capability is that of holding talks and summits. Caricom’s weak response to Haiti demonstrates that the region's tax payers are not getting value for money because should there be a tragedy of catastrophic proportions within the region Caricom is not prepared, equipped or capable to deal with it and the situation in Haiti is blatant proof of this fact.

Is it any wonder then that the US authorities refused to allow the Caricom delegation to land? What purpose would the Caricom delegation have served other than to slow down the aid operations, depress Mr. Preval with a bunch of meaningless bureaucratic bullshit talk while offering no immediate assistance to his people while they starve and rot in the streets of Port au Prince? Get real CARICOM! I doubt very much it was a coincidence you were blocked from landing in Haiti and rightfully so, you would have proved to be nothing but an annoying fly buzzing in the face of the US administration.

Liberty

A portrait of the French revolution...after the plebs beheaded their bastard king who bankrupted their country.....and the flag didn't cost them $2 million....And here in T&T they want to talk about patriotism!!!!!! Gary, Patrick et al better becareful less they get what they asking for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dictator Logic

Not a year goes by without there being massive protest to accompany the G20 Summit of the world’s richest countries. As a matter of fact such protests are now seen as an integral activity preceding this Summit by international activist organisations. This year's G20 summit saw about 35,000 people assemble for protest action in London. Apart from literal protests many of these organisations send the G20 committees submissions, outlining their disagreement with certain policies or proposing new policies as a way forward for the citizens whose lives will be affected by the decisions made by the G20 leaders.

When one considers the above one really has to wonder if Patrick Manning is truly interested in making this country a developed country by 2020 and if he is, what exactly his definition is of developed country. Does his definition only include the construction of tall buildings, having an executive president and the ability to host summits (Political tea parties)? Or is it to enhance the standard of living for the citizens of this country through responsible leadership, diligent fiscal policies and the enhancement of and promotion of citizen’s democratic rights?

These questions must be asked because during the last Summit of Americas held in Port of Spain there was a dire breach of citizens rights through the setting up of a security zone around the Hyatt by the government. This was an outright illegal act as such powers falls under the Commissioner of Police and not Cabinet, a point Senator Dana Seetahal has repeatedly raised in the senate. What we had for the Summit of the Americas was a limited State of Emergency without the actual declaration of a State of Emergency. This action by government shows a worrying trend with regards its attitude for the rule of democracy and the rights of the citizens to whom they are accountable.

In addition to the above we saw the Government through its puppet James Philbert, trample on the citizens right to Freedom of Speech by refusing permission for Trade Unions and other interests groups from holding any type of march or protest in Port of Spain. Even at the Drummit for De Summit 2 in St. James which I attended, the police attempted to shut us down and came out in full riot gear for us despite the distance between us and the Hyatt. Freedom of speech in Trinidad and Tobago is under serious threat by this Patrick Manning led government. First of all it boggles the mind why with the existence of the Human Rights Charter as decreed by the United Nations, why we even have a law that states we must request permission from our Police Commissioner if we want to protest, are we living in a police state or are we living in a democracy? Someone needs to challenge the legitimacy of that law because it is in direct conflict to the following Human Rights declarations to which our country is a signatory:-

Human Rights 13, 18 – 21

13) Freedom of Movement

18) Freedom of thought

19) Freedom of Expression

20) Freedom to meet where you like

21) The right to democracy

With these rights in mind I couldn’t help but acquire a sour taste in my mouth when I saw on TV tonight, none other but our smiling dimpled face Prime Minister on the news saying that if anyone should protest during the upcoming Common Wealth Heads of Government Meeting they will not be embarrassing the government they will be embarrassing the country. That is nothing short of psychological political warfare, it is gutter snipe dictatorship logic. Citizens need to tell Patrick exactly where to get off with this empire like attitude thinking that citizens ought to hold some bizarre balisier ritual by walking over hot coals barefoot in honour of the father of the nation. Patrick’s claim that protesters will embarrass the country is akin to a relative telling a battered woman not to tell the police how her husband beating the living hell out of her because it will embarrass the ‘family’. Freedom of speech and freedom to assemble are not only our democratic rights they are also our human rights. It is indeed a travesty for a politician who was elected democratically to be so opposed to citizens exercising their democratic rights because what that does is illegitimise his very position as a ‘democratic’ leader. ©

You've Been Blogged!

The elusive media in Trinidad and Tobago (Elusive only to the control of those sitting on the government benches in parliament) continues to be a hot topic (they just can’t stop bitch) amongst the stooges of a megalomaniac Politobot, who has mastered the art of being the first human transformer, perpetually transforming himself between democrat and despot, indecisive of which he ought to be. The latest round of bitching comes from decepticon Swaratsingh who has been quoted as saying “It always amazes me that you choose to spend the post-Cabinet news conference thinking about what you want to ask a person who is not present!” In his always captivating commentaries Paolo Kernahan in his weekly skews pointed out that in relation to Swaratsingh’s claim above, it amuses him that Swaratsingh thinks they (the media) don’t know that the ‘missing persons’ are actually made to be absent.

I would just like to add to Paolo’s observation that I too am amazed that unlike the Government, what Swaratsingh fails to realise is the media engages in preparation and planning before they arrive at the press conference, they do not wait until they are actually there to ask questions by ‘vaps’. Just because the Government to which Mr. Swaratsingh is affiliated does everything under the sun by ‘vaps’, from answering or more so ignoring questions in parliament by ‘vaps’, or granting by ’vaps’ billions of dollars and contracts to that ‘state mutant’ fondly know amongst the plebs as UDECOTT, doesn’t mean that the media which seeks the public’s interest will follow suit.

Swaratsingh continued by saying “Unfortunately, you do not get to make decisions as to who comes to the post-Cabinet news conference...” Paolo has accurately identified the fact in his article Meet De Press, that Swaratsingh’s comments reflect the fact that the post-Cabinet news conference is used as a propaganda mechanism by the government. I would like to add to Paolo’s observation and go even further by saying Swaratsingh’s stated position reveals Government’s desire to control everything in this country. As far as this government is concerned the citizens of this country ought not to have brains, and ought not to use those brains to think for themselves. We are expected to bow before the PNM Pharoahs and flock to the PNM Educational Meetings in the thousands declaring magnanimous smiles on our faces if only to have a droplet of Patrick Manning’s saliva splash onto our faces and bless us as he screams into the mic at sonic high pitch about his government’s 2020 vision which as each day goes by looks more like 4040 vision.

Paolo has alluded that the sooner Government realises that not all reporters are employed by the Government Information Service there will be a different relationship between the media and the Government. I say the sooner Government realises that the media is not serving a four year term nor does it have to face the electorate anytime in the near future the more respect they (the Government) will have for the media. The media by default has a much longer expiration date than any political party or Government which is why they will always have the support and trust of the people. As sexy as Patrick Manning may believe his conniving dimples to be, nothing turns me on more (stirs my civic consciousness) than reading a piece written by Paolo or another of my favourites such as Martin Daly, Raffique Shah or Judy Raymond.

Paolo is quite right by saying if the government continues to attack and undermine the media, what they will do is create a vacuum effect much like when the foolish Americans removed Saddam and indirectly precipitated the rise of the Taliban. What decepticons like Swaratsingh and Parsanlal fail to realise is they are indirectly contributing to the proliferation of bloggers such as myself who are not beholden to any media association and who will not be so forgiving and willing to use ‘tact’ to express our dissatisfaction with the bullshit that is passed off as ‘responsible governance’ by this current PNM Administration. As Paolo has rightly said these decepticon stooges are only inflaming the public with their gimmicks. So due to your repetitive ‘bitching’ about the media......Swaratsingh......YOU HAVE BEEN BLOGGED! ©

Lead Poisoning from Chinese Smelter

Over 600 children get lead poisoning in China after smelter leak but Manning say full spead ahead with Alutrint.....Patrick....we stepping up wid you!!!!!!! Ya Industrial Poof!