The story of former Detective Isiah Laing, in Monday’s Jamaica Observer, is reminiscent of the stories many other front line officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, now referred to as (name brand cops) will relate, and have already related.
I have written extensively regarding the same issues Isaiah Laing laments. I’ve done so in these blogs, in other mediums and in a book I wrote detailing my one decade in the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Laing, rightly assess that crime in Jamaica is big business, it is fed by people at the very top, unscrupulous people,who head critical areas of our Government and civil society who should have no clearance, even to enter through the doors of any Government facility.
Understandably, Laing still chafes, even as he airs his grouse with Former Army transplant, Trevor Macmillan, for retiring him and others from the department. Laing misses the deeper issue, however,of what and who created the dysfunction which allowed an interloper and a carpetbagger to be placed in that critical a law enforcement position.
Isiah Laing
The fact of the matter is that Jamaica must have strong cops who are unafraid to tackle criminals where they eat, sleep, and my favorite, where they have sex.
Jamaicans have a unique way in the way they see law enforcement officers, many know-nothings argue that Jamaica’s police officers must be like first world police forces. That strategy is all well and good, but the reality is we are not a first world country. Jamaican’s go out of their way to demand that their officers are tough and decisive.
If officers are not tough they are deemed to be weak and incompetent, they get no respect, no information.
As a young Detective stationed at the (CIB) Constant Spring, I would arrive at work and there would be sometimes a dozen people waiting to see me even though there were over 20 detectives stationed there.
As a young officer on the Rangers Squad, a man walked up to me and said “officer I saw you in action earlier today, I’m going to tell you where to find an M16 Rifle“I was in civilian clothes heading home.
Cornwall (bigga) Ford
He proceeded to give me the exact address, told me there is a dread,(Rastafarian) living there, he said he knows nothing about the gun treat him well.
Next day that information was dead-on correct, as I led a team of my colleagues to the very address he gave me in Greenwich Farm, where I recovered the retractable stock Rifle, exactly in the ceiling as he had said it would be.
The Rastafarian was there washing his clothes, as I promised the gentleman, I treated him kindly and respectfully.
When the indomitable Cornwall (Bigga) Ford was transferred from Constant Spring to Flying Squad I was one of 4 officers sent to try to fill that gap. The fact that they thought to send 4 officers to try to the fill the gap of one departed name brand cop, speaks volumes as to the effect of said name brand cops.
It was exhilarating to me to be among those chosen to fill those large shoes. I swore to myself that I would make sure with every fiber of my being that I earned that spot on the CIB team. The very first day on foot Patrol at the corner of Barbican Road and Grant’s Pen, in a building owned by a Rastafarian called Coptic, I accosted a man and took from his waistband a loaded Smith and Wesson Revolver.
I later learned at the CIB office that man was the infamous (Chicken Toe). I was told that the Constant Spring Police were looking for Chicken Toe for a long time, Chicken Toe was sitting in a Tailor Shop situated in the Coptic Building, unconcerned.
Chicken Toe received 2 years in prison for the illegal weapon, he was not prosecuted for any other offense, despite the age-old story of “we want him for questioning” .
After being released from prison Chicken Toe came to see me, he thanked me for not shooting him during the arrest. For the duration of the time I stayed at Constant Spring, Chicken Toe was neutralized as a potential problem for law enforcement.
Many Judges used me as an example of what they thought good officers should be. Basil Reid lashed out at officers who criticized him for turning criminals loose,” do your investigations like Detective Beckles and you won’t have anything to complain about” Many others like Judge McIntosh and his wife were flowery with praise for my work. The point is where are we now? All of us are now out of the force.
I chose to leave, even after successfully sitting the accelerated examination.I did not see the Constabulary as a viable career path for me. One can be tough and smart at the same time, those two defining characteristics are not mutually exclusive.
I took numerous guns off the streets, Guys like Dadrick Henry and myself were relentless, we drove the fear of God into criminals, there were no Dons within my sphere of influence, not one until I departed the Police Force in 1991.
My attack on crime did not go unnoticed however, there were many run-ins with politicians, I arrived at work one morning and learned that there was a fatal shooting involving officers at Constant Spring overnight.
I was transferred back to the Mobile Reserve even though I knew nothing about that shooting and was not even at work that night.
Carl Samuda the Member of Parliament and Deputy Commissioner Ebanks cooked up that transfer. I had previously forced Samuda to observe the rules regarding where he hung out within the confines of a polling station. Samuda though he was exempt from the laws, he wasn’t in my book.
What Samuda and Ebanks did not bargain for was the unintended consequences, of the reaction of the people I served, once they learned that I was summarily shipped out they blocked the streets and demand that their police officer is returned, all hell broke loose. Former Assistant Commissioner of Police Cleve Leon (jaggamore) was then the head of the Mobile Reserve, he called me into his office and asked me ” young man what is it between you and those people demonstrating out there”? I told him with three words, “mutual respect sir”.
Cleve Leon told me, ‘the Commissioner wants you to pick up your stuff and go back to your people” I told ACP Leon, “Sir I have nothing to pick up’, I was gone. The Commissioner of Police then was Herman Rickets.
People in Jamaica demand strong police officers, they test officers themselves, if the police are neutered or shackled they look to others to fill the void.
They have found others to fill the void. They found the Dons.
Dons are not bound by rules, they kill at will, no one dare question them, the politicians are quite happy with them.
I too felt that I would return if asked to give my service to restore sanity to the country, Doctorates, and Masters cannot end crime. On this Laing is correct. It does not require rocket scientists to eradicate crime. Jamaica’s Scientists are hardly any good what are we to do populate the scientific community with cops?
Jamaica is on a downward slide toward anarchy, sorry Isiah, enjoy your life they do not deserve you.
I won’t say much more, I ask you all to read it in my book.
This year’s Church Theme-“From Fan to Follower-Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus Christ” has been a challenging theme for me. Since last year, Pastor Bottoms has been prepping us for the theme-he told us about the book; he hosted a workshop on it for us, so we were forewarned-thank you Pastor Bottoms! Sis Janie McCall blessed me with a copy of the Kyle Idleman book (Not a Fan), and I was so happy-another book to read, and I SO love to read. However, I got as far as the prologue, and realized that this was not just any “book”. I couldn’t bring myself to read past the first few pages for about 6 months, and it collected dust on my night table. The first few pages alone brought such a conviction over me, and in spite of how highly I thought of myself in regards to my walk with Christ, I clearly saw that there was a likely possibility that I was simply a fan, a fraud, a fake, a hypocrite, a Pharisee???? Little by little, I began to read the book. Line by line, page by page, chapter by chapter, the book has provoked much introspection, self-reflection, and self-examination, as never before. Causing me to “DTR”-define the relationship that I have with Jesus Christ-by His standards. And I still have 6 chapters to go! But God is faithful‑I know that He who has begun a good work in me is faithful to complete it, Just so you all know, I had a different topic for today. Relevant, but different.
Pastor, Beulah Baptist Church. Poughkeepsie, NY. www.beulahweb.org. Meet Pastor “B”. Rev. Jesse Voyd Bottoms, Jr
I was in the hospital, and God had my full attention. And I couldn’t stop thinking about WORSHIP, this 7 letter word that is often misunderstood, and what that really means. Many of us love to think of ourselves as “worshippers”, because we like to sing, or we love the so-called “Praise and Worship” portion of the service, or like to listen to Christian/Gospel music. But what is a true worshipper? Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman at the well ring as true today as it did when He declared them over 2,000 years ago-“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the TRUEWORSHIPPERS shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (JOHN 4:23 – 24). So today I’d like to talk to you about “GOINGFROMFANTOFOLLOWERINWORSHIP”
For a long time, a very long time, I operated under the misconception that worship was something that I did when I came to church, sang a song, or when I lifted my hands to God in prayer or praise. I’ve now learned that worship is not relegated to just these things. I’m learning that worship-true worship-is obedience and sacrifice to God, in every area of my life, and glorifying God in everything that I do-EVERYTHING! So…this means that worship is much more than the latest, most popular “worship” songs, so much more than performance in a choir, or on the Praise and Worship Team, the Dance Ministry, or playing an instrument in the Music Ministry, although all these things can be PART of worship. However, these things do not fully describe what worship is. I’m finding out, with every day, as I move from fan to follower that worship is a lifestyle‑a way of life. It should be part of the core purpose of every believer. Isaiah 43:21 lets us know that we have this purpose, because it declares-“This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise”. I believe “this people” also applies to the Church today, the Ecclesiasts, the called out ones-we were made for God’s pleasure. We were created for and have been saved to worship him, to bring him glory. Pastor Bottoms has taught us that to give God glory is to declare His full worthiness. We declare God’s worthiness by living a life for him that he will be pleased with, because he is worthy of getting the best out of our lives! So, Rick Warren’s book-“The Purpose Driven Life” (which is used in the 40 Days class, as a supplemental resource, but as all of the past and present 40 DAYS students know-OUR BIBLEISOURTEXTBOOK) helps us by asking us-what on earth am I here for? For many years, I struggled with the answer to this simple, yet profound question-Cheryl-what IS your purpose? What are you here for? What were you born for? I can now say that I know for a fact, without a doubt, that I was created to bring God
Beulah Baptist Church Poughkeepsie
glory! I was created to serve him, and to serve his people. Growing up in my house, as the 6th of 7 children, I would often do whatever it took to let my voice be heard, above the voices of my older siblings. Ok-sometimes I was loud, and downright obnoxious. Often, my mother would say to me-Girl, you have a BIG mouth! I wouldn’t take that too kindly then, but now, I no longer feel bad about that, because now I know WHY I have a big mouth-GOD gave me this mouth to give him praise, to tell somebody about HIM! So I’m learning that God can use your personality, even your charisma, to bring himself glory. So…if WORSHIP is a lifestyle, and not just a Sunday morning, Church-based activity, what is it? WORSHIP is a mentality. A belief system, a value system. We WORSHIP God in the way that we live our lives, in the way that we love and treat one another. We WORSHIP God in the way that we perform ministry. In the way that we take care of our bodies. WORSHIP is when we make a decision on what we stand for, when we line up our principles and priorities with what God says in his Holy Word. WORSHIP –bringing God glory- should be our daily motivation, the reason why we do everything that we do. Because we have been commanded by God to serve him with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, and with all of our minds! David inquired (In Psalm 116:12) “what shall I render to God for all of his benefits”? David wanted to know-what it was that He could give to God; to demonstrate his gratitude for all that God had done for him-for all of his many blessings bestowed upon him. David wanted to give something back to God, yet being fully aware that there was nothing that he could ever give to pay God back in full. We as followers need to ask God this question-God, what can we do for you today, and for the rest of our lives. We owe God everything, because everything that we are, and everything that we have are all due to the goodness of God.
As I lay in that hospital bed at Vassar, I took out my paper and pencil, and began to write an acrostic for WORSHIP, with each letter representing a specific area that I need to WORSHIP God in. You can create your own; it may be different for you. But these are the things God dealt with me on:
Pastor Bottoms Delivering the word of God
W‑represents WILLINGNESS to WORSHIP and follow God. Luke 9:23, our key verse for this year begins with the conjunction “IF”. This signifies a conditional situation. We must be WILLING to worship and follow Jesus. God gives us “free choice”-He is a free will God-he doesn’t force us-he offers us an opportunity, a covenant, and we either accept the call to follow, or we don’t. But God can surely orchestrate circumstances to MAKE you willing. Brokenness can MAKE you willing. Scandal can make you willing. A look at your wretchedness can MAKE you willing. Some people come to God without resistance-that’s not my testimony. I was doing my own thing, right in the church, acting like a typical fan, charting what I thought was my own course in life. It took brokenness‑a realization that I had to have full dependence on God, and that God had a plan for my life that didn’t include my lascivious lifestyle. I needed to submit to His will. It made me run to Jesus. And I’m still running to him to this day. When I received the revelation of his sincere love, commitment and sacrifice for me, it made me want to stop shacking up with him, and move to a committed relationship with my Father. I owe Him me. He proved his passion for me, by picking up the cross, carrying it all the way to Calvary, and dying for my sins, my faults, my inadequacies. Because Jesus was willing, that empowers me to be willing, even when I don’t “feel” like it. Yes, we have to count up the cost, every day, as we move from fan to follower. Being a disciple WILL cost us something, sometimes everything. It cost Jesus shame, his life, and temporary separation from the Father. Yet he counted up the cost, and said “Yes” to the Father. We too must take up our cross daily, in order to follow him. As followers, we shouldn’t expect a carefree, problem-free life. We will be tested, tried, challenged, attacked, and experience all types of difficulties when we make the choice to follow Jesus. We may lose friends, family, position, opportunities. But the Bible promises us that the benefits of being a follower will outweigh the costs.“God, Help me, help us to be WILLING to follow you all the way”.
O‑the “O” in WORSHIP for me, stands for OBEDIENCE. This can be a hard word sometimes, one that we would sooner forget, sweep under the rug, or put in the dustbin of our lives, until WE are ready to pick it back up again. And we tend to do the “easy” things for us individually, and then feel as if we have satisfied our obligation to God. I come to church on Sunday (maybe)-check; Bible Study on Tuesday (sometimes)-check; pay our tithes (or a portion of it)-check; sing in the choir-check; go to/teach Sunday school or membership class-check; and the list goes on. But I often sense God asking to me, as the prophet Samuel asked Saul (I Samuel 15:22 – 23)-“Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to OBEY is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams??? In the greater scheme of things, the choice between the two are clear-OBEDIENCE is always better! But we would rather give God our religious offerings, instead of offering God what HE requires. God gave Saul specific instructions on what to do with the spoils of the battle. Saul decided within himself to disregard God’s directives, and took back what he wanted, with the excuse that his intent was to sacrifice it to God. But God never asked him to do that! We need to give God what HE asks for! We bring our self-righteousness and our sacrifices to God-the one’s that we have deemed to be important, in an attempt to make up for our disobedience, and expect God to accept it. For years I did the same thing-thinking that I could sing a solo to make up for going so low in my conduct and behavior. That I could bring God a filthy sacrifice of praise, like the children of Israel did, when they presented sick and blemished lambs and bullocks to the altar. True worshippers give God what HE wants-and he wants US to obey him. “God, help me, help us to be truly obedient in what you command us to do, as true followers”.
R‑the “R” for me, stands for REVERENCEFORGOD’S HOLYWORD. John 1:1, 14a, very familiar passages to most of us, tells us that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. So God is the Word, and became flesh in the form of Jesus Christ, and dwelt in the earth. So-the Word of God is important. If I want to be a true follower, I need to respect the Word of God, be excited about the Word, Study the Word, and give his sayings the highest authority in my life. The Word should be my daily bread, what I need to survive-not Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, my Crackberry (as my husband Mike labels my cellphone) or my IPhone or IPAD (unless you’re using it to access the Word). As we crave the Word, and hear the Word, and apply the Word to our lives, it will begin to produce results-we will go from being fans/hearers of the Word, to becoming followers/doers of the Word, and therefore we will stop deceiving our own selves (James 1:22). The Word will be as a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths, providing us with the direction that we need in our daily lives (Psalm 119:105) . We will respect the Word of God, as we hear it as it is being preached, and listen intently, and let it saturate our hearts, not playing with our cellphones, going onto every social network, carrying on conversations while the Word of God is being preached and taught. That way the Word can fall onto good ground, and the devil won’t be able to distract us, and steal it from us! When we have reverence and respect for God’s Word, and it gets into us, and begins to work in and on us, it WILL manifest in our lives. And we’ll feel the same way that Jeremiah felt about the Word, and won’t be able to hold our peace about it; it will be like fire, shut up in our bones! “God help me, help us, to have a true love and reverence for your Holy Word, so that it will burn in us, and manifest itself in our lives.”
S‑The “S” in WORSHIP, for me stands for being SPIRIT-FILLED. Zechariah 4:6b tells us “…Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts”. We can only go from fan to follower with the power of the Holy Spirit. Trying to do otherwise leaves me weary, depressed, feeling inadequate, missing the mark, and just downright frustrated. But when I say “God‑I can’t do this on my own, I need your Spirit, and I know that I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me”-the way becomes easier, I get energized, I get strength for the journey, I actually begin to enjoy life, the way God intended me to, and enjoy walking in my purpose and destiny. From the time that He wakes me up in the morning, I must acknowledge Him, and declare my full reliance on Him to do everything that I need to do. WORSHIP becomes a delight when we walk in the Spirit. When I claim- every day- that I have the grace that I need, according as his divine power hath given unto me all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called me to glory and virtue (2 Peter 1:3)-I’m saying that I have everything that I need for life-through his divine power! When we walk in the Spirit, and full of His spirit, we can do everything that we need to do, with ease, with grace. This is a challenge for me, as I have a strong-willed, independent spirit. But God is teaching me, and I am learning, that I need to lean and rely totally on Him, and not on my own understanding, or on my own abilities. When we are full of his Spirit, we will have the power to live Holy lives, to follow the Holy example set by Jesus Christ. We will produce the fruits of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, instead of the works of the flesh. We’ll serve God with a passion, and purposely, so that God will not have to spit us out. When we empty ourselves, of ourselves, we’ll have the power to live sacrificially, sanctified, and set apart, as true servants of the most High God. “God, help me, and help us to rely fully on you, to walk in and be led by the Holy Spirit each and every day, as we go through the process of fan to follower”.
H‑Honoring God in all that I do. This means living on purpose. Doing everything as an act of worship, with passion, skillfully, with excellence, to the best of our ability. Honoring him on my job, in my home, in my finances, in my relationships, in the world. Colossians 3:17-“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. These and many other scriptures tells us that we should give of our best to the Master. At that great day, we will all be held accountable for what we did with what God entrusted to us-the gifts, the talents, abilities, our children, the time, the money, and all the other resources that he has made us stewards over. Were we wasters? Did we bury our talents, as the wicked servant did, and make excuses for why we didn’t fulfill our God-given purpose? Were we half-hearted in the ministry-inside and outside of the walls of the Church? Did I love my neighbor as I love myself?
Women’s chior
So why didn’t I throw out the lifeline to them, when I knew they were in need of a Savior? Why did I hold (fill in the blank with the name of whoever you refuse to forgive) all of these years? Why didn’t I visit the sick, clothe the naked, visit those in prison-why didn’t I show God’s love to the “least of these”, or support these missions when I had the means to? Why didn’t I love my fellow brethren, and treat them with the love of Christ, if I say that I’m his disciple? “Lord, I desperately need you to help me, and to help us to be people who seek to HONOR you in all that we do”.
I‑For me, the “I” in WORSHIP stands for INTEGRITY. If I am to be a true follow of Jesus Christ, I will be like Jesus Christ. Jesus was holy. He was without sin, and walked in his integrity-they could find no fault in him! Although we are human, we cannot continue to use this as an excuse to blatantly practice sin. Followers will seek to have a pureheart towards God, of course through the Holy Spirit, and will have Godly, moral and ethical standards and Godly character, conduct and conversation. True followers prayerfully seek to be wise in business dealings, can be trusted with confidential information, and speak the truth in Christ and lie not. True followers seek to be about their Father’s business, instead of being in everybody else’s business. True followers seek to maintain a good reputation, knowing that we are his ambassadors, and we may be the only Jesus that the unbelieving world gets to see. “God, help me, and help us to be better at being children of Integrity, than the children of the world are at being crooked”.
P‑Finally, the 7th and final letter in WORSHIP, “P” stands for PRAYERANDPRAISE. These should be anchors in the life of every follower. Jesus remained in constant prayer to the Father-he was in constant connection with Him as he journeyed on this earth, up to the very moment of his giving up of the ghost. Prayer keeps the disciple connected, intimate with the Father as well. Jesus kept admonishing the disciples to “watch and pray”, lest ye fall into temptation. In these last and evil days, the need for prayer is evident. We MUST pray. Pray for our leaders-both civic and spiritual. Pray for God’s direction, for his protection. Pray for believers everywhere. Pray for our communities. Pray for intimacy with God, pray for discernment. Pray to intercede for others, and for ourselves. The things to pray for are boundless. Deaconess Donna Johnson has provided for us a list of 80 things to pray for in the coming year. And even when we don’t know what to pray for as we ought, Romans 8:26 says that we should still pray, for the spirit will give us what to pray for. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). People of God, in case you don’t know, we are in a spiritual battle, the fight OF our lives, and FOR our lives-one that we cannot see with our physical eyes, or that we can fight with our physical weapons. The enemy of our souls, that wicked devil, is fighting for territory. He seeks to destroy us by any means necessary. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that we can defeat him, through the power of PRAYER, and PRAISE! The good news is that the prayers of the righteous availeth much! The good news is that God inhabits the praises of his people! God is there in the midst of our prayers, and our praises, while we are in the heat of the battle. More good news is that we can pray and praise anytime and anywhere-in our home, in our cars as we drive, on our knees, standing up, eyes closed, or eyes opened. That’s how you can pray without ceasing. Have a prayer and praise in your heart at all times. Bless the Lord at all times; let his praises continually be in your mouth. Praise is comely-it’s pleasing, and appealing to God. For the spirit of heaviness, put on the garment of praise! Let’s put our war clothes on! We praise Him for WHO he is and in gratitude for WHAT he’s done, and what he IS going to do. We must ALL praise him-for the BIBLE says let EVERYTHING that hath breathe, praise ye the Lord! We should never have to scratch our heads for a reason to praise God. God’s got rocks ready to praise him if we won’t praise him! When I was of the world, I partied like a rock star. So as a follower, I ought to give God my best praise‑I ought to shout unto God with the voice of triumph, to bless his name, to dance before my God, for he has done marvelous things! On 09⁄12, I went to Vassar Hospital, with chest pains, and feeling fatigued. They found my pressure to be high, and my potassium level low, which they said can cause chest pains. They admitted me, as a precaution, to do further testing on my heart, to make sure there was no blockage, etc. In the early hours of the next morning, after they had sent Mike home, a technician came in to put an IV in my arm. I began to feel nauseous and very weak. All of a sudden, the Rapid Response Team came rushing in-according to their monitor; my heart rate had fallen to 34, and was dropping steadily. They prepared to administer a shock to my heart. All the while, I’m beginning to lose consciousness, but I could still hear and see what is going on in a limited capacity, and the nurses were admonishing me to keep my eyes open, and not go to sleep. As I lay in that bed, I could literally feel myself dying‑a crazy feeling. I lay there, and I thought, God is this how I’m going to die? Is this it? I’m done here on earth? I then resigned myself to give in to the feeling, thinking, well-at least I’m going to heaven, and I’ll be at rest. It may sound corny, or cliché, but in an instant, the faces of my family members came into my spirit, and something, I believe it was the Holy Spirit, urged me to call the name of Jesus. I had very little strength, but was able to whisper-“ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”. I was so weak in my body. BUTGOD heard my prayer, my simple prayer!
Men’s chior
I didn’t have the strength or ability to say a deep, long and intricate prayer, all I could do was call “Jesus”! Thank God, he was the only one that I HAD to call! HALLELUJAH!!! Little by little, moment by moment I began to feel a little stronger. When the room finally cleared, and the doctor spoke to me, he told me-we almost lost you. He and the nurses asked me if I remembered what had happened. The nurses said-“you kept calling Jesus…” I told them “yes, I know that. I knew that he could help me, and he did.”
Now more than ever before, I don’t have time to waste time. None of us do. It is appointed for men once to die, and then the judgment. The thing is we just don’t know WHEN that time will come. Like Pastor Bottoms says- the only pre-requisite for dying is to be alive. God is too good to me for me to not follow him. He is too faithful to me to not follow him. He is everything to me‑I WANT to live a life of worship for him. I can’t remain satisfied with being a fan. There’s too much work to be done in the vineyard, souls to saved, lives to be delivered and set free. And God wants to use US (you and myself) to do it-isn’t that an amazing privilege? We are his hands and feet-to minister to those in need. Just want to encourage those who think “it’s impossible, it’s too hard, I can’t change”: that if God can change me, and use me to worship him, he can use anybody. If he can change me from being a true fan, to being a follower in training, he can change you too. If you haven’t already done so, I urge you, find your inspiration, your motivation to follow Jesus, find out what he requires of you, and allow him to mold and shape you into a true follower of Jesus Christ.
Devastating news, those of us on the left who support President Obama and the 99% were greeted with the follow-up right hook to the left upper-cut Mitt Romney gave to our candidate in the first debate. Greg Anthony former NBA player has decided to support Mitt Romney.
I’m unsure how the Obama campaign will recover from this one two punch of the effects of losing the first debate to Romney , followed by the even more consequential loss of the vote of mister Anthony.
Former NY Knick Guard Greg Anthony.
Mister Anthony has been featured in a Romney Campaign Ad blasting the president for making excuses for the economy, whilst throwing his support to mister Romney.
Anthony played eleven season in the NBA and is mostly remembered for his tenure with the New York Knicks during the early 1990s. He was far more successful in college, where he starred with other future NBA players Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon at UNLV. The 1990 team won an NCAA Championship.
In college, Anthony was a national vice-chairman for the Young Republicans from 1989 – 91. He is currently a basketball analyst on NBATV and CBS Sports.(the grio.com)
I am sure President Obama is appreciative of all who voted/will vote for him, after all the work he set out do is far from finished, to be honest we appreciated the fact that Greg Anthony a life-long Republican said he voted for the president the first time around.
But you see you never were a believer Mister Anthony, after all your record shows you were an interloper rather than a died in the wool believer in the cause.
Of Racial Justice.
Of Respect for women and all people , irrespective of color, class, sexual orientation, religion and any other defining characteristic.
Of the desire for fairness, believing in the fundamental principle that we are our brother’s keeper, that we should not give hand-outs but should always be willing to give a hand up to our fellow-man.
Of the desire for peace and harmony on earth, understanding that someone who is different that we are , are not alien to be bombed, but our brothers to be learned and appreciated .
You see mister Anthony, those are Democratic principles.
The very genesis of your existence was an irreconcilable oxymoron. As a black-skinned man who in college was vice-chair of the young republicans you were already a walking contradiction.
I can see how someone like you would enter college without any struggle , gets accepted into a sports league, make millions and assume that is the lot of others.
What is really instructive is that you allow yourself to be used by a man, a campaign and a party which has zero respect for you , or your race,but find it convenient to feature you in their AD over 308 million other Americans.
There is only one way to tear down a black man and that is to use another black man to do it, obviously college was of little use to Greg Anthony beyond basketball.
I can totally understand how Anthony would berate the president, accusing him of making excuses, for saving the Auto Industry. Killing Osama Bin Laden. Pulling the economy back from the brink, creating over 5 million jobs in the process. Ending the war in Iraq. Allowing Gays to serve their country in the nation’s military, like any other American. Signing the Lily Ledbetter Act Into Law, affording women equal pay for equal work. Signing trade agreements with other countries which creates manufacturing jobs here in America. Winding down the Afghan war. Restoring America’s credibility and Integrity abroad in the eyes of the world, a sharp deviation from torture, rendering prisoners of war to other countries to be tortured and God knows what else. Decimating Al Qaeda.Using Executive action to give hope to dreamers.
There is much more that the president has done that is worthy of mister Anthony’s ire.
Conversely I totally get Greg Anthony’s admiration for Mitt Romney a pathological liar, what’s not to like?
A man who indiscriminately writes off 47% of the country he wants to lead, labeling them takers and moochers. A man who says exactly what each and every audience in every demographic group wants to hear. A man who lacks the character to stand up and say “NO” to the racists in his party. A man who has lied himself about the president’s record, and stood spineless by while his supporters and contributors use every demeaning caricature to describe our president. A man who avoided serving in any branch of the military and neither does any of his kids , but is a right-wing hawk with America’s military power, where have we seen this before?
I understand Mister Anthony’s admiration for a man who never, ever opens his mouth to do what men do, be men, by saying enough to the most vile despicable racist that now make up a large swath of the republican party.
There is much more to be said on the issue of Mister Greg Anthony,but when Greg Anthony is evaluated it is easy to understand his political position.
Greg Anthony was at best a mediocre point Guard who played back-up to Derrick Harper on the New York Knicks. At the zenith of his basketball carrear he was a backup, as he was mediocre at the thing he does best, we get how his political judgement could be this misguided.
Greg we are happy to see you go, and while you are leaving , take Arthur Davis, and Allen West with you, we do not want the interpretation of black men any more tainted.
PS:
Listening to Republicans talk about the state of the economy, if one did not know any better one would have thought that the last Administration in office which devastated the economy was a Democratic Administration.
Republicans do not mention the name Bush, but I will say it.
George Bush was the person who devastated the economy, with huge tax-cuts- give-aways to the richest Americans.
Two unfunded Wars.
Allowed Wall Street unbridled access to do whatever it pleased.
And massive expansion of the Federal bureaucracy.
Barack Obama had his A** handed to him last night, by a slick used car salesman. Mitt Romney once again reinvented himself as a center-left moderate, a complete 180 degree turn from the severe conservative he said he was before.
I watched the debate in stunned silence,as Barack Obama stood there and allowed The lying bastard to lie time and again without challenging him. Mitt Romney and his handlers knew what they had to do and they did it.
It was no surprise that before the last words were uttered in the debates , the rabid right ultra partisan hate mongers were out salivating at what they saw as total domination by their candidate the snake oil salesman.
Leading the charge was the Rabbit tooth race-baiting Rudolph Giuliani and the twisted mouth George Pataki, interestingly enough , both New York Republicans who managed to be elected to office in that State despite total disdain and hate for black people.
But this is not about these two morons, this is about Obama and his colossal debate flop, there are no covering this up Barack Obama seemed like a total wuss, period.
Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
I have had the occasion previously, to state clearly, if Barack Obama does not want to be president anymore he should say so. That person who showed up did not seem to want to be president of the United States.
Liberal commentators Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz blasted Obama for not showing up prepared to debate. At best Obama seemed chastened, unprepared,and even unsure what facial expression to wear.
Obama seemed clearly careful, overtly careful, not to project the image of the angry black man. News flash to Barack Obama, there is not a single American who do not already know you are a black man, and guess what they know you do not like Mitt Romney. What the hell was up with you acting all friendly with Romney?
Here’s a clue to Obama try looking at the Powell doctrine, if it’s a fair fight do not engage, if you have to go to war take all your weapons use them , kick ass and go home.
Barack Obama went into the first debate with a candidate that was losing, Mitt Romney had no momentum , his campaign lacked cohesion or focus. The primary thing that could be said for Romney’s campaign was that they were throwing s*** at the wall hoping that something would stick.
All Obama had to do was to put his foot on the neck of this pathological liar Mitt Romney and win the presidential race, he failed and he failed dismally. If Barack Obama loses this race he need look no further than the first debate.
If Obama is worried about not looking like the angry black man at this stage of the game, then he has no idea what the hell is happening out in the country. Anyone who would cast Obama as such, Democrat, Republican, or so-called Independent, were not going to vote for Obama anyway.
And by the way if there is anyone in this country who has a moral right to be angry it is the black man.
For all intents and purposes, the presidential race was supposed to be concluded last night, Obama prolonged it he failed to stomp Romney into a pulp, this rabid dog will come back to bite Obama in the ass.
(1) On the question of the 716 Billion Dollars that Romney alleges the president strips from Medicare, Obama failed to challenge Romney on it, Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan’s budget does the exact same thing, the same budget Romney said he would sign into law.
(2) On the question of raising taxes on the middle class Obama allowed Romney to lie that he would not give the richest Americas a 5 Trillion dollar tax cut , on top of 2 additional Trillion to the Military which the Pentagon does not want, that is 7 Trillion Dollars Romney said he would pay for with closing loopholes. Of course he will not say what loopholes he would close, except to tell Moderator Jim Lehrer he would cut funding to public television, essentially Romney only had strength for Big Bird.
I could go on and on about how Obama let the snake oil salesman off the hook but I must also reference John Sununu in these blogs again.
John Sununu
This maggot called the president of the United States lazy on MSNBC Thursday with Andrea Mitchell. It is not the first time this deranged Mongrel referred to the President of the United States in that derogatory way. It is one thing to disagree with someone, it is quite another thing to use racial language to describe him.
John Sununu has continued to show himself as a despicable gutter rat that ought not be taken seriously,. Andrea Mitchell called him out on it and rather than back away he doubled down , citing the President’s words when he jokingly said quote: “They are making me do my home work”, the president made the comment after he delivered Piazza to his staff at one of his campaign offices in Colorado.
Within the group of slime balls out there , angry at a black man in the White House this degenerate Sununu has exemplified himself as among the worse.
But back to Obama he did not mention Romney’s 47% comment.
He did not mention Romney and republicans war on women.
He did not bring up Romney and republican’s war on immigrants, and self-deportation.
He did not bring up that Romney said he was severely conservative, even though Romney is on record saying he was not a Reaganite, but an Independent.
He did not bring up any of the multiplicity of positions Romney has taken on every issue over the years , or over the course of this campaign.
He did not mention Bain Capital.
He did not mention Romney’s offshore accounts.
He did not mention Romney s lies on his China Policy.
He did not mention Romney’s war monger saber-rattling, toward Iran.
I will stop here I’m really too angry at this performance.
Glendon Harristhe Mayor of Montego Bay, Jamaica’s second City , has issued an impassioned appeal to criminals operating in his city, to cease and desist from their criminal ways. Harris’ appeal came against the backdrop of a 7% increase in homicides in the parish of Saint James over the corresponding period last year, which saw 123 people murdered.
Crimes against women also seem to be on the increase in Saint James , recently 5 females including an eight (8) year old child was brutally and viciously raped in the community of Irwing.
The Editorial page of the Jamaica Gleaner was very precise in telling the Mayor to give whatever information he has to the relevant authorities, the police, along with sworn affidavits. On these blogs there is not much in common between us and the Editorial Page of the Gleaner, but on this we agree.
What is evident in the case of Montego Bays Glendon Harris, is a Mayor who has information critical to law enforcement but does not give that information to the police.Harris takes it onto himself to beseech criminals to quote:“stop it”.
Even as Harris begs criminals to stop committing crimes there is news of 3 more people shot in Ewarton Saint Catherine, including two Police Officers .
As a former law enforcement Officer I am deeply offended that people elected to lead can be this juvenile with the powers vested in them.
From our experience, the Mayor of any city is at the top of the food-chain on all issues which affect the city. he/she is the chief executive officer.
Law enforcement strategies are planned and the Mayor is briefed, he/she has their input and the plan is executed.
I am not sure that in the case of Jamaica, including a politician into security matters is a good idea but in other jurisdictions the mayor is in the loop as to what happens in his/her city.
The plea by Glendon to criminals to simply stop what they are doing is a slap in the face of hard-working law enforcement officers , decent law-abiding Jamaicans and everyone not involved in criminal behavior. Begging criminals to stop committing crimes ignores the crimes they already committed, it belittles and negates the hurt and pain they already inflicted on others needlessly.
It is not up to the Mayor to extend Amnesty to criminals.
It’s not up to anyone to offer Amnesty to criminals, criminals who commit crimes must pay for their crimes.
Begging criminals to cease and desist from committing crimes is not a strategy that works. Those predisposed to committing and engaging in criminal activity must be made painfully aware that if they so chooses, there will be serious consequences for their actions, period.
Jamaica depends heavily on tourism, if Glendon Harris do not understand the implications to the city if tourists stop coming, how can he lead that city?
Of course, Glendon Harris’ is the Mayor who stood before a politically altered Jamaican flag and took the oath of office, without protesting the low-class defacement of our most recognizable and sacred national symbol,by imbeciles in his own party.
That was a defining moment as it relates to the judgement , integrity, and intellect of Harris.
When the smoke of the general elections cleared in Jamaica and the winning party named their humongous cabinet, I said then it would be a tragedy.It was a tragedy because clearly the winning PNP was unprepared to govern, it was tired, out of ideas and had not had enough time to understand, define or develop a strategy which would have enabled it to have a fighting chance at governing effectively.
Almost a year later the Jamaican people are being made painfully aware of the consequences of their actions, (not critiquing their choice) . People vote for who they feel best represent their interest, sometimes, most times the desired results are not forthcoming after the din of elections are over.
Politicians understand they have to do and say what it takes to get elected, I get that, it is a tough business which requires grit and determination, with much at stake. Jamaica’s electorates like most other are starting to wake up from the morning of a really bad first date.
I will not be presumptuous to suggest that the Jamaican people are uninformed, or that they do not know what they want. I also do not know the exact reason they threw out the Jamaica Labor Party after just one term, and replaced them with the party which had been in office for 18 1⁄2 years, a tenure which did not turn out so well.
Well now the really bad blind date is over, it’s the day after, the stark reality of how bad that date was, is now evident.
Crime is at an astronomical high, women and babies are being raped, people are increasingly terrified of leaving their homes, children are traumatized afraid to even go to school. No one is spared the crippling effects of the rampant wave of unchecked criminality sweeping over the country.
Police Officers are slaughtered along with the terrified citizenry, no one has answers for the country’s blood thirsty killers who roam unfettered , unafraid to threaten entire Police Precincts with annihilation.
These are not empty threats , they have the means and the will to carry out their threats , demonstrably so.
PROOFBEYOND A SHADOWOF A DOUBTTHEYHAVEBOTHMEANSANDWILL.
Police stations burned, vehicles torched, heavy weaponry confiscated .
The fundamental issue with Jamaica, as I have said time and time again, is that the political leadership, of arguably both political parties ‚do not understand the detrimental effect crime has on the country.
Since the People’s National Party is in Government at this time, it falls on them to get a grip talk to the Jamaican Diaspora. I do not mean the lame bourgeois from uptown Kingston, who now reside in Florida, but real Jamaicans who reside in New York State and other large Metropolises.
These Jamaicans will relate to anyone who will listen, how desirous they are of returning to the land of their birth, to invest, to participate, to volunteer. The number one problem most will argue is not having access to good hospitals, fancy stores, good roads to drive on, none of the creature comforts they have grown accustomed to over decades of living in the developed world.
Their primary concern , is that they are highly likely to be butchered in their own homes for a few measly bucks.
The government has zero clue or desire, neither does it have a plan which will return our country to a path of prosperity.
At the zenith of the political food-chain is a Prime Minister, seemingly incapable of understanding what is required, on the second tier there are Ministers and Parliamentarians who double as trial lawyers.
This is clearly a conflict of interest, yet they are allowed to continue to represent murderous criminals in court then head over to the House of Parliament to legislate. The fact is that these trial lawyers have a vested interest in criminality, they feel insulated from crime, they get paid from crime,.
They are not about to legislate for harsh sentences for dangerous felons.
Rather than outrage, it seem Jamaicans are numb to the effects of crime, they recoil into survival mode, hoping the next victim will be their neighbor, not them. Others simply join the criminality.
Intellectually savvy people never thought Newt Gingrich was a decent human being, every time he opens his mouth he shows that he is a vile despicable maggot .
Gingrich fancies himself as a Historian, he imagines himself as someone who shaped America in a meaningful way, every chance Gingrich gets he talks about himself in those terms.
As if the loathsome racial assault he leveled at the president was not enough the fat hog went on to say the following on FOX Tuesday.
Obama is a “false president,” a “part-time president,” and…wait for it…a “lazy” president.
This fits snugly into the nice racist little narrative the three Mongrels pictured above have been perpetuating for the last 4 years.
“He really is like the [NFL] substitute referees in the sense that he’s not a real president. He doesn’t do anything that presidents do, he doesn’t worry about any of the things the presidents do,” Gingrich said. “But he has the White House. He has enormous power. Andhe’ll go down in history as the president, and I suspect that he’s pretty contemptuous of the rest of us.”
“Hillary Clinton is a serious person. Barack Obama is an ambitious person. They’re very different personalities. Hillary Clinton gets up every day thinking about public policy. Barack Obama gets up everyday thinking about Barack Obama. They’re very different approaches to life. And I think those of us who are his critics need to get over it and understand this is who is president. This is a man who in the age of false-celebrity hood is sort of the perfect president because he is a false president. He is a guy who doesn’t do the president’s job.”
The problem with these intellectual retards is that all of the other Mongrels throughout this country“s history did not get judged favorably by relevant people, they are foot-notes in history.
For an Egomaniac like Gingrich who is bloated with his own sense of self-importance, it is vitally important for him in his mind that he be viewed as significant even posthumously.
News flash to Gingrich etal, you will be mere mentions of infamy.
When intelligent people reference history Gingrich will be recalled as a serial Adulterer.
He will be recalled as a hypocrite who worked tirelessly to impeach President Clinton for an ill-advised fling with an intern, while he himself was involved in illicit Adulterous affairs at the same time.
Gingrich will be recalled as a Fraud who got run out of Congress on multiple ethics charges.
The other two inconsequential morons are unworthy of further evaluation.
Mitt Romney believes he can ride to victory, grabbing the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from Barack and Michelle Obama on the singular issue of a perceived bad economy.
Of course Romney felt that would be a viable strategy, why not? The Pundits all argue that no president may be re-elected with unemployment above 7%. The much maligned Obama-Care had seen Tea-Party Fanatics sweeping to power, wresting control of the House of Representatives from Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.
Democrats of course not been go ‑getters, sat on their asses and did nothing, zilch, nada. Republicans went around the country blasting the president for what they disparagingly dubbed Obama-care. Every Republican did the same as they do on every issue, they dominated the airwaves with talking points,“Obama-care is big Government take over of the best health care system in the world’.
Democrats did nothing to not only push back on the good of the president’s health care initiative, they ran as hell from it. Not only did they allow Republicans to shape the narrative on what is a good piece of legislation, Democrats allowed it to be so maligned it cost them the House of Representatives.
The truth is, a vast chunk of the American population had no health care in the so-called best system in the world. Even with the portion of Obama-Care which has been implemented thus far, preventing Insurance Companies from refusing to insure Americans with pre-existing conditions, there are yet millions of Americans who still have no Health Insurance.
What the singular strategy of Romney entailed was that he myopically betted that the American economy would not show any significant signs of improvement and on that note Barack Obama will be booted from office. There are other stratagems at play demonize Obama to the public, suppress the Black and Latino vote and he will be guaranteed a victory come November 6th.
I have no evidence that Mister Romney has a hand in voter suppression, not yet anyway, but it seem rather clear that Republican Legislatures in many states around the country seem to have a singular focus, to ensure that as small amount of electors as possible, show up to vote on election day. It seem also from the voting rules put in place limiting voting days, limiting voting on the Sunday just before elections, and most of all, the rigid ID requirements, if left to stand as designed , clearly wants to keep Black people from the voting booths on election day.
The arguments in support of the new voting laws are convoluted and is impossible to articulate, by the architects, their supporters, or even their lawyers court, as was evidenced in the Pennsylvania high court. The confession by the Republican Legislative Leader that voter ID law was designed to hand the State to Mitt Romney ‚ought to end this conversation, and every law so designed should be seen for what they are, a back door repeal of the Voting Rights Act.
Romney has shown no leadership on presenting to the electorate, a cohesive ‚detailed plan which differs from that of the President. Instead he tells voters to elect him even as he lies about the President’s record and words. If Romney expected to attract the meager sliver of so-called swing voters , he set aside from the lazy entitled moochers he blasted at that private affair in Florida, he certainly must do more than just say “elect me and I will do the opposite of what he does”.
When it became apparent after the Ryan pick and the less than expected Convention that strategy was not enough Romney decided to critique the president’s every word, looking for ” ha ha gotcha moments” that will be the game changer. First , he anticipated that the Right’s suspicion of him would be alleviated by his pick of Ryan, well the right may have been somewhat appeased but, was it the base that Romney needed to shore up , or was he trying to grab those persuadables in the middle?
Since Romney had literally written off the 47%, whom he stated categorically will never come around to his way of thinking, you know the lazy people who believe Government must provide for them, then the middle by my estimation, would probably be just 3% . If the other 50% are Republicans, just some arithmetic, Clinton style.
The problem with Mitt Romney’s strategy on Ryan is that Paul Ryan is neither brave, fiscally conservative, nor a deficit hawk. Ryan voted for every big government program of the Bush Administration, Ryan begged for Stimulus money, even as he lambasted the Administration for administering the stimulus. What that makes Paul Ryan are none of the above, but a hypocrite and a fraud.
Once the National spotlight was shone on Paul Ryan, it became clear that this guy was nothing more than a Trojan Horse, with appeal only to the far right, a male Sarah Palin if you will, only a little smarter. Ryan’s much maligned Convention speech, and a litany of other lies on the stump, quickly removed the thin veneer of luster from Ryan, who looked to many like a shiny Golden Orb, but was quickly revealed to be clay with spray paint.
As we have come to expect, the etch a‑sketch candidate reverted to a more rabid attack dog strategy againstthe President of the United States. The trouble with that strategy is that it means attacking quickly, which opens him up to going on the attack without all the facts, or in the case of the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stephens , none of the facts.
Romney actions thus far this campaign, has been a disjointed opportunistic lurch from one ill-advised strategy to another, one which rivals John McCain’s suspension of his campaign during the economic meltdown of 2008. As I write this column Mitt Romney has employed a strategy which seem to be to sit with a note pad listening to the president’s every word then take a small segment out of context to demagogue.
This latest ploy by Romney and Ryan smacks of a desperate childish not ready for prime time operation. The Romney Campaign solidified that impression by releasing a summary of his tax returns (not the actual returns), yesterday Friday September 21st. This transparent document dump, on a Friday evening , designed to stop the bleeding from his Boca Raton diss of the 47 %, has done nothing to stop the bleeding, but have opened up another artery bleeding the lifeblood from this lunatic campaign. November 6th will be a welcome respite for Mitt Romney,it cannot come soon enough.
Once again Mitt Romney and his campaign operatives have decided that the American public are total fools. Romney has donated a significant amount of money which gives the appearance that he has paid a tax rate of 14 % , what he hasn’t done is to claim back all of those deductions, which gives Mitt Romney the option to file for an adjustment at a later date, which will see him then retrieving the balance of those donations.
It is certainly not illegal, but it is a cynical , disgustingly insulting manipulation of a system which is already rigged toward the very rich.
It is a peek into what a Romney Ryan Administration would look like, it is Nixonian in style,secret, calculating, dishonest, disingenuous, cynical and duplicitous.
Americans have a stark choice on November 6th, they will have to decide whether they will once again vote against their own self-interest as they did in 2010. They elected a Republican Congress which will go down in history as probably the least productive in the history of this country. True to form they abdicated their responsibilities and went to their respective districts without passing the Farm Bill, they did not address the issue of the Post Office, They did not want to give the president a legislative win,.
That is the infantile nature of the Republican Party in America.
The Killing of Police Officers have restarted in earnest in Jamaica. Last week retired SSP Anthony Hewitt was slaughtered, last night a young detective Corporal was gunned down close to his home in yet another attack on the fabric of the society.
In yet another assault on the Jamaican psyche and the existence of the Jamaican Nation not to be seen as a failed State Jamaica’s criminals are once again unleashed onto Law Enforcement Officers, in brazen fusillade of deadly attacks.
This Government is probably the most incompetent this country has had, this really does not bode well for our country, which has bounced from one incompetent Administration to another.
The top leadership of the Country is bereft of a coherent policy to Governing. It came to office after just 4 years in opposition after being in power for 181⁄2 continuous years.
When the PNP was removed from Office it was clear that they were exhausted, out of ideas and had wrecked the country immeasurably. It could reasonably be argued they were relieved to be out of office on the one hand, but when Jamaican politics are considered contextually,where political power means raiding the public purse for their own ends, we would hold off on that notion.
Detective Corporal Warren Campbell
The People’s National Party was returned to power without a plan,they were stunned when they were once again given the reins of power on December 29th last year. As such they did not table one single piece of Legislation in the House which would benefit the Jamaican people in 100 days, not one!
Crime is the single largest impediment to prosperity in Jamaica. Contract killings are on the rise, just today Friday the Jamaica Daily Gleaner reported that the killing of Senior Superintendent Anthony Hewitt was a contract Killing.
We have no evidence beyond what that medium reported but it is common knowledge that for a couple of thousand Jamaican dollars, on any street corner one may contract an assassin.
The killing of this young 26-year-old detective is yet another, in a long line in the narrative that Jamaica is fast becoming a failed state, characterized by contract killings and wanton slaughter even of law enforcement officers.
Detective Corporal Campbell was reportedly shot 7 times, Anthony Hewitt was reportedly shot 4 times, my experience in law enforcement tells me these are not just regular killings. These characteristics lend themselves to the modus operandi of contract killers , or rage killings.
Jamaica was handed over to criminal rights during the failed administration of Percival Patterson when our country was reduced to little more than a dump heap, when most countries recorded tremendous growth following the American economic explosion.
Criminal supporting groups like the so-called Jamaican s for Justice has been given carte-blanche in National Security and crime. Noticeably there are no comments coming from them when Police officers or ordinary Jamaicans are killed. Their surrogacy have emboldened Jamaica’s urban terrorists who now feel that they have a government that is truly committed to letting them do as they please.
The fact of the matter is that Jamaica as a country ‚is still pretending that (Jamaica nice). Everyone has an opinion on everything, there are no hard rules which must be obeyed that may not be altered by someone in power.
The recent transportation of an entire class of boys to the Police Station in Montego Bay over the theft of a back pack was rather revealing. School officials did what they could to deal with the theft without involving the Police , without success.
On engaging the police, the offender revealed to officers that he was responsible, the other boys were turned over to their parents , of course, the village lawyers from top to bottom were out condemning school officials for doing exactly what they ought to have done, which resulted in the exact correct result.
Is it any wonder that these young misfits who sometimes lack parental supervision, turn out to be assassins, killing for a couple of pennies?
That is what criminal rights and immoral pathetic governance has brought on Jamaica.
This Publication must highlight a Jamaican Judge who have not ceded his judicial authority on the altar of political or criminal rights expediency. We salute justice Lloyd Hibbert for his principled stance.
Justice Hibbert handed down two life sentences to Andrew Ennis, 24, construction worker and mechanic of 44 Highland Close, St Andrew, and Passmore Millings, also called Shane Brown, music writer and carpenter of Gregory Park, St Catherine. They were each sentenced to life imprisonment and 50 years before parole for the murder of 23-year-old Jhannel Whyte, and life imprisonment and 40 years before parole for the murder of Whyte’s boyfriend, 24-year-old Taiwo McKenzie. The sentences will run concurrently so the men cannot apply for parole until after 50 years.
Whyte and McKenzie were found with their throats slashed in Mount Salus, near Smokey Vale, St Andrew, on November 9, 2007.
In handing down the sentences, Hibbert said the murders were extremely distressing. The judge said that if people on King Street, downtown Kingston, were canvassed for the appropriate sentence, he was sure 90 per cent would say the men should get the death penalty. He said although the case could attract the death penalty, he had to look at the law and apply it along the line of the famous Jamaican case of Pratt and Morgan and see if the court would act in vain in passing such a sentence.
Hibbert said he would also have to consider, if the sentence of death was passed, if it would be carried out within five years given all the appellate processes. The judge said when he looked into all the circumstances which included the social enquiry report, the community reports and the antecedent reports of the men, he had to strike a balance and forgo the death penalty.
The Privy Council had recommended in the Pratt and Morgan case that if the death sentence was not carried out within five years then the sentence should be commuted to life.
McKenzie and Whyte were kidnapped on November 7, 2007, when they went to Havendale to deliver medical supplies to George Cooper, who was hit off a motorcycle by a car driven by McKenzie. Cooper, who was the main witness for the Crown, testified that when the couple came with the medical supplies they were tied up, gagged and led into bushes by the two accused.
In a cesspool of insane criminal support from all sides to include the Judiciary, we are compelled to commend Justice Hibbert.
I am a constant critic of Jamaica’s Judicial system for its liberal almost insane decisions on the issues of Bail and sentencing of Jamaica’s deranged accused and convicted criminals. I am conversant that the laws are archaic, outdated and in most cases ineffective both as deterrent or punitively.
Despite the aforementioned, many Judges go our of their way to release criminals back onto the streets after they have been arrested and charged with heinous murders ‚sometimes over and over and over again.
This has made the decision of Justice Hibbert more and more deserving of praise as he not only put the two scum-bags away for life without the possibility of parole before they have spent 50 years in prison.
Justice Hibbert calculated that under Pratt Morgan it would be possible that given the death sentence , with Jamaica’s criminal loving laws and society, these two degenerates would not be executed within the 5 year time span dictated by the UK Privy Council.
Given that scenario the two low lives would possibly be out of Jail in a few years.
I applaud Justice Hibbert on this common sense heads up approach,this kind of Judicial conscientiousness is rather rare in Jamaica.
I hope these two degenerates gets the ultimate justice while in prison , from their own kind.
The killing of Retired Senior Superintendent of Police Anthony Hewitt once again brings to the fore the critical nature of Jamaica’s crime cancer.
:I served under Anthony Hewitt when he was the officer in charge of crime at the Police Area five, Head-Quartered at Constant Spring. Tony Hewitt as he was referred to by all, was then a Deputy Superintendent of Police. I did not get day-to-day instructions or guidance from Mister Hewitt, but we were pretty much all extremely comfortable with such a competent Senior Officer at the head of the (CIB) Criminal Investigation Branch.
:Tony Hewitt
We did not agree all of the time, one thing was certain though, I respected the hell out of Tony Hewitt. Hewitt exemplified himself as a Cop who did a lot of heavy lifting before my time. I respected that and he respected Cops like myself who endeavored to continue to uphold the law regardless of the offender. He reciprocated that respect to me as a young Detective who took the job seriously and did it to the best of my abilities.
I remember Tony Hewitt calling me into his little office in a wooden structure that once housed the Superintendent Office, he was intrigued that I was able to get good intelligence from the streets, something he prided himself in and built a carrear on.
Mister Hewitt told me consequently” come to my office at the start of every month and I will give you something to keep your informants happy”.
:Every month after that Mister Hewitt would hand me an envelope with Twenty Dollars, this was called (impress) a small government allocation to detectives to cultivate and maintain sources of information.
Senior Superintendent Hewitt went on to work for the Firearm licencing Authority . Tony Hewitt would have been a standout at that Agency as he had been through his long and distinguished carrear in the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
As we await the outcome of the investigations, I implore the Security Forces to bring swift justice to the despicable scum/s who so callously ended his life.
Those who knew Tony Hewitt either loved or hated him, Those committed to a life of crime would hate him, one thing was certain he was a man of the people, men and women alike came to see him at his office , many came to see him from far and near, Tony Hewitt showed that a Cops do not have to have Doctorates to be efficient or productive.
Practitioners of Islam do not see their Religious Book the Koran, or their Prophet Mohammed the same way Christians see the Bible and Jesus Christ, as such it is difficult for Christians to comprehend the burgeoning wave of anger and violence that allegations of disrespect directed at the Islamic prophet Mohammed has generated once again.
It is a very difficult subject for all of us, Christians and Muslims alike , on the one hand, we desire that all humans would be respectful of the religious choices of others, yet on the other it cannot be that those who feel disrespected, use violence and murder as a remedy to any such perception of disrespect, real or perceived.
Some Muslims do not respect the Bible, some Muslims destroy Bibles, some Christians disrespect the Koran, some Christians destroy the Koran. Some Muslims deface and destroy edifices with which they disagree.
Is it legitimate then for non-Muslims to react they way some Muslims react under similar circumstances when the shoe is on the other foot ?
The truth is there are idiotic people who profess to be Christians, Muslims and all other Religions, they are within the ranks of Agnostics and Atheists too.
The question we must ask is simply this “As religious people, is it the right thing to do when we kill others all because our sensibilities are offended”?
As occupants of this ever shrinking Planet we must avail ourselves to the reality that we all have to live here, as such it must be of paramount importance that all of us, irrespective of our differences , find the ties which bind us rather than strain the differences which divide us.
It cannot be that ever time some idiot with an Axe to grind have something stupid to say, irrespective of how offensive it is, that the response is the killing of others and the destruction of property.
If Islamic Countries cannot or will not guarantee the safety of American Nationals living and, or working in their countries, why should they expect that their professionals and others doing the same in America and other Western Nations be protested?
There are more than enough bone-headed Racists living in Western Nations including the US to make trouble for all of us, but equally, the Neanderthal mobs who kill, maim and destroy in the name of Allah, certainly do not occupy a superior moral perch.
Irrespective of previous teachings Muslims Must develop a greater tolerance to views opposed to theirs, the penalty for dissension cannot be death.
The reaction to the stupid ‚uninformed opinions of a few agent provocateurs, can never be justified with the shedding of the blood of the innocent.
I am not a student of Mohammed, I am however inclined to believe he would be opposed to this course of action.
As the United States gears up for another Presidential Election, we are once again exposed to just how nasty and undignified those who seek political power can be.
The Republican party operatives who refer to themselves as Conservatives have long adopted the posture of the Daddy Party, they took on the mantra of protector of American values and ideals, they promulgated that farce to the extent that Democrats retreated and did not contest even the premise of that fraudulent notion
Democrats resigned themselves to being the Mommy party, looking out for the poor and disadvantaged in the areas of Civil Rights in the 60’s and 70″,fighting to ensure that Government gave a hand up to those in need or down on their luck, they labored to provide Health Care without success until the emergence of Barack Obama.
Republicans were content to wrap themselves in the American Flag and wage wars, to the detriment of the country.
The problem with the position of Republicans is that their very premise was a farce, they are and always were Conservatives only when Democrats had the reins of Government.
Ronald Reagan the name that gets bandied about as the holy grail of modern Republican Conservatism, yet Reagan raised taxes, ran deficits , started a war, and did everything Republicans rail against today. Ronald Reagan would have been ran out of the Tea Party dominated republican party of today, much the same way they are chasing out Olympia Snowe, they got rid of Arlen Spectre, and tried to run Dick Lugar and others out.
The Republican Party of Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel does not exist anymore, it is populated by the likes of John Bolton , Rudolph Giuliani , Dick Cheyney, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin,Sean Hannity and others of that ilk, generally the rabid dogs of racial hatred.
I mean, you cannot make this up , how can one political party have so many intellectually bankrupt individuals, where do all of these retards come from? Why are they all lumped into that party which is now a cesspool of lies and racial hatred, ?
They have latched on to a demographic within this country who wax nostalgic about the past when people not like them were not considered people. Not all of them are white ‚some are inbred self hating mongrels, however all of them are diseased, rabid charlatans.
This is the party Mitt Romney now leads, a party which has lurched violently to the right, a party which must pose grave concerns for all those who love this country, Independents and intellectuals . Everyone so minded must be concerned for this democracy if this is the path this party of Lincoln is going to continue on.
The American racial makeup is changing and it is changing to brown,not white, the policies and utterances of the republican party functionaries are synonymous to a wounded animal being hunted in a habitat being destroyed around it daily.
It risks being a Southern Party of fearful white men who long for the days when they had total control of everyone and everything.
Many elected officials in the republican party has more allegiance to the State of Israel than they do to the United States, at least while Barack Obama is president.
They gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a standing ovation in the US House of Representatives after he overstepped his bounds and got cheeky with the president of the United States in the White House.President Obama should have ordered him out on that instance but he didn’t.
Republican Candidate for President, Mitt Romney and Netanyahu worked together and are great friends, it is no wonder that Netanyahu has injected himself in a most brazen and disrespectful way in the American elections on behalf of Mitt Romney.
Netanyahu is a bully who believes that the only opinion that matters is his opinion, he also knows the Mitt Romney is an empty suit whom he can manipulate to do his dirty work.
Benjamin Netanyahu knows that president Obama will not be manipulated into another war, much less a war on Israels’s behalf. Netanyahu wants a war with Iran, he knows he has less than two months leverage with president Obama, either way that leverage is out the door after the American elections.
Netanyahu lashed out at the American president for not establishing clear red lines for Iran, the truth is the Israeli leader wants Obama to make threats which will inevitable force him to take military action against the Iranian people.
President Obama has established that he will not be drawn into a war that the American people have no appetite for, and damn sure will not start a war because Benjamin Netanyahu says so.
I have always wondered what was the source of the influence Israel has on the United States, separate and apart from the talking points of our” our greatest ally in the middle east”?
How can 7. 7 million people have such control over 308 million ?
Our tax dollars are commandeered and sent to Israel, they have nuclear weapons yet no other country are allowed to have them outside the major players , the United States, England, France, Russia, China, India, and Pakistan.
Benjamin Netanyahu wants to force President Obama into a war which they will then condemn him for later.
On the event of the 11th year of the Anniversary of the heinous slaughter of thousands of innocent Americans on September 11th 2001, Americans are once again grieving the cowardly murder of US Ambassador Christopher Stephens and three others in the Embassy compound in Benghazi Libya.
For American and Americans this is literally like the scab being torn off a wound that hasn’t healed. We are reminded that we live in an increasingly dangerous and unpredictable world. Americans of all stripes, every political persuasion, correctly stood with President George W Bush as he raised that bull-horn and told the world that those who tore down the Twin Towers would soon hear from all of us, and they did.
Ambassador Christopher Stephens President George Bush and a first responder.
Last night even before the facts were out regarding what had truly transpired, even before the present Republican Candidate for President Mitt Romney even knew that Ambassador Christopher Stephens was killed, Romney and his campaign released a statement criticizing the Administration for apologizing for America, even without a grasp of what was transpiring on the ground in what was still a very fluid situation.
This move by Mitt Romney was probably the worst thing that he could have done in a long line of craven rapacious missteps, which have characterized this unfortunate excuse of a presidential campaign and more so the pathetic candidate that party has nominated to lead this great country.
This is the statement issued by the US Embassy in Cairo Egypt, as the situation unfolded, in an attempt to head off a potential firestorm of violence all across the Arab World and possibly minimize or eliminate any loss of life. The Embassy staff was correct in issuing that communique as that compound was also attacked the American Flag ripped down and shredded and replaced by a black Islamist Flag.
The American Embassy in Cairo issued that statement to defuse a situation which may have saved many lives including their own, that did not prevent Mitt Romney from blasting them and the Obama Administration,accusing the Embassy staff of grave impropriety in making the statement,even as they faced attacks in a foreign country.
This attack on the US Embassy staff, even as they faced danger and were still in arms way, has got to be the straw which breaks the Camel’s back for this imposter called Mitt Romney.
This fraudster has demonstrated that he will do and say anything, to tear down Barack Obama, irrespective of the cost.
The American people have a choice to make, this guy who hides his money in foreign countries and berates this country’s hard-working foreign service officers , has disqualified himself from being taken seriously, and must be seen as the dangerous person he really is.
This is effectively the most glaring and definitive example for the American people as to who Mitt Romney is, he is inherently unqualified to be president. Mitt Romney“s temperamental opportunistic and self-serving statements are the most revealing to date that he will do anything , say anything to gain the presidency. This makes Mitt Romney a dangerous person, who should never be given that power.
The flare up in Cairo and Libya are supposedly over a little viewed web video supposedly by a Florida Pastor, who is even less known. which is alleged to have insulted Mohammed the Prophet.
This Pastor, it is reported was the same person who threatened to burn the Koran some time aback , and to the best of my recollection eventually did so.
However there is no justification for what happened either in Libya, or in Egypt, the notion that disrespecting someone long dead, or even someone alive, is cause to kill innocent people, is beyond outrageous. It is time for the entire world and people of all religious belief including Muslims, to say to Islamic fundamentalists that this will not be tolerated. This kind of behavior will not stand in the name of God, period.
Mitt Romney doubled down on his mistake September 12th, he had nowhere to go he had painted himself into a corner , Mitt Romney wanted to take some of the shine off the pristine Foreign Policy Credentials of Barack Obama, he may have lost the General elections on this day.
I haven’t written a blog on any issue in Jamaica recently.Truthfully I am simply exasperated at times, at some of the things which occur and the responses of the leadership and the people to them.
The recent killing of a pregnant woman and the shooting of another in a single incident involving the Police, in Yallhas St. Thomas are tragic indeed, any loss of life is a tragedy and must be seen as such, news reports as usual, detail the sequence of events comprehensively from one perspective, that of so-called eyewitnesses at the scene.
The deceased woman is never going to be able to tell her story, so we will have to rely on the accounts of the officer and the injured woman. As is to be expected the Police Officer is guilty of a crime in the minds of everyone except maybe some of his colleagues.
As I have said in many blogs over the last 21 years since I left law enforcement, if we would just stop resisting arrest, stop fighting with police, even if we believe we are being arrested unlawfully we should never fight an officer.
On the other hand there must have been another way for the officer to deal with the offender, and yes she was an offender, other officers standing around should be fired in the public’s interest, they should have stepped in and completed the arrest, helping the other officer which would have prevented all of this from happening.
Jamaican Cops work under tremendous stress, they have no support from the people, neither do they have support from Government, many of whose members are criminals themselves.
Based on the fact that the woman was in an advanced stage of pregnancy and there are no reports of weapons, there can be no justification for the use of lethal force on the part of the officer.
This does not absolve anyone , including the deceased and her sisters from obeying the laws. All of the hue and cry may be legitimate, however the officer was enforcing the law.
If we do not agree with a law or we believe that certain laws have become obsolete or archaic we must lobby our political representatives to have them removed. Fighting police Officers who enforce them are counter productive and downright dangerous.
There are no legitimate reasons for anyone fighting a police officer,much less being involved in a kerfuffle which sees the officer being thrown to the ground.
What was the tipping point which saw the officer making that fateful decision of life and death?
Having said that, the real tragedy here, at least from this vantage point, is that the other Officers did not intervene to effect this arrest, or to walk that woman away forcefully so that she would not end up fighting an officer which resulted in her death.
As a people we are predisposed to attacking the messenger, we spend a tremendous amount of time tearing down those among us who have divergent views from those we share or support. We go out of our way to demean opinions we are not in agreement with rather than try to learn from them.
Also in the Jamaican news is a statement attributed to Robert Mugabe President of Zimbabwe: In that article Mugabe is reported to have charged men in his country to shun the influence of Jamaican men as they are drunken, marijuana smokers: quote:“Mugabe branded Jamaica as “a country of marijuana smokers, where women are now taking charge since men are always sloshed (drunk),” while also stating, “In Jamaica, they have freedom to smoke mbanje, varume vanogara vakadhakwa (men are always drunk) and universities are full of women…The men want to sing and do not go to colleges vamwe vanobva vamonwa musoro (some are dreadlocked). Let us not go there.“http://www.examiner.com/article/jamaican-reggae-artistes-politicians-irked-by-mugabe-s-statement
Examiner photo:
Whether we like what Mugabe said,yes or no, it serves no useful purpose to denigrate, or demonize him, it will be a difficult case to make against mister Mugabe anyway, Jamaica once bestowed a national honor on him.
Two lessons here, be more careful who you give National Honors to , and rather than demonize mister Mugabe, it behooves all Jamaican men to do some serious introspection, there are a lot of truths in his statements.
We don’t have to like the messenger to appreciate the message.
Throw all the stuff you can muster against the wall, see what sticks, never mind that some of that Stuff may actually come back at you because it was yours to begin with.
Mitt Romney’s campaign has been about one thing, “the economy”. This strategy has been at the heart of his campaign ever since he started running six years ago.
This strategy was consummated at the convention when Mitt Romney said quote: President Obama wants to slow the rise of the Oceans , he wants to heal the world, I just want to help you and your family”.
What that statement showed was the absolute cynicism with which Romney views people who do not have elevators for their cars, or don’t have cars at all. Throughout this never-ending campaign every publication every objective medium has pointed to the litany of lies that permeates the Romney/Ryan campaign. Never before have we seen a Presidential Campaign this truth averse.
Presidential Campaigns have always stretched the truth, as observers to these spectacles we were always mindful that baked into the information they pummel us with is a certain element of distortion. With that said we were always able to come to an understanding that when one politician say something is 6 and the other says its 4 we know it’s probably a 5.
All of that is now out the door, the Romney Ryan Campaign has decided that it is so imperative to beat Barack Obama, that they are going to do whatever it takes to defeat him.
This strategy though not the worst strategy ever, considering they could have used violence, has created great consternation in some of us to whom the truth matters.
My Grand Dad always taught me that you may hide your property effectively from a thief but you can never hide from a liar. A liar doesn’t have to see you to tell a lie on you. This Biblical teaching from my grand dad had a profound effect on me, to this day it is one of my greatest pet peeve, I cannot stand liars.
September 11th. 2012 both campaigns agreed to suspend campaigning, this was respectful and the least they could do in honor of those who were taken from us ‚and those who gave their limbs and lives after, in an effort to bring justice to the perpetrators of that horrible event that will be forever seared in our minds.
One would have thought, that at least on this day, on the solemn anniversary of this event, that Mitt Romney would show some character, it would have been fitting if Mitt Romney could understand that when you give your word it should mean something. Over the course of this campaign we have been truly introduced to Willard Mitt Romney and what we have seen is that this man(used liberally) has no standard, no character, we have been exposed to a man who will pretty much say and do anything to get elected, character and dignity be damned.
Paul Ryan has now morphed into a mini Romney of sorts since joining the ticket,many argue that Ryan have probably been damaged by Romney, possibly irreparably because of the lies. I disagree, I believe that Ryan lacked character from the get go , hence ‚his and Romney’s marriage is one made in hell, no one lies that frequently , and for no reason unless he or she is pathological.
Mitt Romney did not honor his word he went to Nevada to address National Guard contingent and he gave a classic campaign speech which was in many regards disrespectful to our president.
No matter how you feel about former president George Bush, he was a man of character, you may have hated his politics, but you had to agree that president Bush was a man of class, Mitt Romney is like a common alley-cat.
We take this opportunity to salute all the families of all those who died on September 11th. We also salute the members of America’s intelligence, law enforcement, and military community all of whom have worked tirelessly to make America safer.
Kudos to former President George Bush for some of the policies he pursued to keep all of us assured during those difficult days.
Kudos to President Barack Obama for his vigilance for his steadfast fidelity to his stated objectives in this so-called war on terror and the accomplishments he attained that no wannabe president or anyone else can take from him or his legacy.
If organization, stage-craft, energy and effects were votes, president Obama would have been assured a second term.
We were treated to a business meeting in Tampa, where it seemed the workers were forced to turn out to hear the boss talk about himself. Delegates it seemed would all rather be some-place else. The gloom-and-doom fest was appropriately summed up by their school-yard bully of a keynote speaker, Chris Christie, who lamented the lack of enthusiasm in their convention. The Democrats by contrast, showed republicans what diversity was, they showed them what America really looked like. Democrats did not need to place indigenous people in the front of the Arena to create a false impression of diversity, the Democratic Party is diversity, it is America.
There was no hatred directed at Romney or Ryan, Democrats critiqued Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan and they lampooned them for their failings, lies and flip-flops, no one hates Mitt Romney, no one hates Paul Ryan, even though They have proven themselves to be pathological liars. Republicans on the other hand were mostly there because of their hatred for Barack Obama. From the Chairman of their Party who refuses to acknowledge that President Obama is the president, to the new leader of the Party Mitt Romney, who continues to run despicable racist, lying welfare Ads against the president, they have little to talk about except about how bad Obama is, which of course they have told themselves untill now they believe it.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are betting on one thing only, that a sluggish economy will propel them into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.The choice for voters could not be clearer, and the stakes could not be higher. Not always do we get the opportunity to see train wreck before it happens. In 2010 voters rewarded the Republican Party with sweeping victories in the United States House of Representatives, taking the gavel from Nancy Pelosi and handed it to John Boehner. Some argued that appropriately so, as Democrats had argued amongst themselves instead of passing the agenda the voters sent them to enact.
There is a lot of legitimacy to that argument, however I am not sure that many who voted against the Democrats were all Republicans, some were Independents and some were Democrats. But did the voters really know what they were getting into, did they understand that behind what appeared to be a legitimate grass-root movement were sinister big angry money at play? Did they truly appreciate the magnitude of their vote when they elected a freshman class of far right-wing zealots that would take the Republican Party so far to the right Ronald Reagan would not be welcome in it.
Question :What does Romney want for America other than his desire to be president?
Mitt Romney has no stated goal or ambition to lift the morale of the country, beyond his and his wife’s claim that it’s their time now.
Question: What is Romney’s plan for the troops in Afghanistan?
Since Romney did not mention them at the republican convention, (unheard of before) we are forced to conclude that he has no clue what he should say,as the neo-cons have not yet developed a strategy that is any different from Obama’s so Romney remained silent. Take into account that Romney has nothing to say for his candidacy, other than critique what president Obama does.
Question: What is Romney’s plan for our delicate eco system and our environment?
If we are to believe Mitt Romney, quote: President Obama says he wants to slow the rise of the oceans, and heal the world , I want to help you and your family>(to laughter), clearly he doesn’t understand the power of the presidency neither does he understand the dangers of climate change. Either way we are screwed because Romney will do nothing. What we do know, is that Romney once embraced Global Warming as something humans have contributed to.
Romney cannot now embrace global warming, climate change or the stewardship of our delicate planet,big money corporate oil industrial barons will not allow it.
Question: What is Romney’s foreign policy?
Mitt Romney has no foreign policy strategy ‚except what the neo-cons on the right fringe wants. That policy in a nutshell is another war of choice, this time with Iran. They have already started the drum-beat toward that end. What’s worthy of note, is that they have not shown themselves yet of course, with the exception of Don Señor, the likes of John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nation under Bush, and the other war mongers have pretty much stayed in the shadows , waiting to see how the elections turn out. Make no mistake about it they are primed and ready, this time for a war of choice with Iran, under the guise that Iran is about to set off a mushroom cloud.
According to Romney, Russia is America’s greatest geo-political foe. Conversely, according to former Secretary of State Madeline Albright ‚when asked whether this was so , she said ‚quote: “Romney is still living in the 20th century”,either Mitt Romney is still living in the 20th century or he is wilfully stirring up trouble at the insistence of the neo-cons, as part of a larger strategy to fight a proxy war with Iran.
Question: What is Romney’s strategy to deal with the poor and dispossessed?
Well, we are all aware of mister Romney’s statement of not being worried about the poor,I will not accuse him of what the democrats did in those AD’s, I do not believe he was saying he didn’t care about the poor. With that said, what he actually meant was even worse.
What Romney said was quote:“I’m not worried about the poor,they have a safety net if it’s broken I will fix it”
Coming from a presidential candidate, that is an even more atrocious statement, than the context in which the democrats attempted to cast it. The republican candidate for president simply confirmed to the world that he was comfortable with people being poor and dependent, and has affirmed that he would do what it took to keep them in their state of poverty, not create ways to lift them into the middle class.
Question: What is Romney’s strategy for the economy?
As the president said tax cuts for the wealthy, stick it to everyone else ! As former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm said at the convention, if it was up to Mitt Romney he would give the cars to his rich friends and give the shaft to the people.
It is shocking the way republicans hold voters in contempt, old relics like Newt Gingrich who alluded to the fact that Mitt Romney is a pathological liar during the primaries, now never misses an opportunity to prostitute himself politically, for the same person he acknowledges is a sorry liar.
Racial polorizer Newt Gingrich is the prototype of exactly whats wrong with America. Gingrich was one of the architects of that infamous meeting which took place in Washington DC , that historic night Barack Obama was being sworn as a America’s 44 th President. At that meeting which included Gingrich and Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor, republicans were not discussing how to help the new president save the cratering US economy. They were treasonous in plotting how to thwart the will of the American voters who had just unanimously elected the president of their choice and they were doing it as a way back to political power.
Gingrich like Romney/Ryan have systematically tried to drive a wedge between president Obama and former president Clinton, they have gone to great lengths to paint Clinton as the real democrat and Obama as the wild-eyed liberal Klingon[sic].
Gingrich said Sunday September 9th on CNN in a conversation with Candy Crowley, quote on one hand you have a real president, (referencing Clinton,) and on the other you have another guy who is a pretender”.
Obviously this old washed up tub of lard did not spend his time judiciously listening to the president’s speech,or he certainly would have heard the president say “I am the President” he may have missed that part on one of his many trips to the refrigerator.
Crowley did not rebut, of course this was not surprising to me , the lame stream media is populated largely with republican operatives parading as real journalists, many secretly have spouses working within the republican establishment as well as the Romney Campaign.
People with short memory will forget that it was Gingrich who shut down the country twice because Clinton did not let him ride in the front of Air Force One , or some childish inconsequential thing like that. They would have forgotten that it was Gingrich who impeached Clinton, it was Gingrich who created Ken Starr the dogged republican operative who paraded as a special prosecutor wasting tens of millions of tax payers dollars but produced nothing to show for it.
They would have forgotten that it was Gingrich and his republican cronies who did not support a single part of Clinton’s agenda, except welfare, which they later discovered was largely being exploited and abused by whites, not blacks as they had previously conned some low information constituents into believing.
Republicans did not mince words when they told Obama’s vice president Joe Biden, that they would not help with governing, they were not going to coöperate, even with Joe Biden who had been in the Senate for decades, they were prepared to take Joe Biden down in their hatred for Barack Obama. Never mind that Obama had not yet implemented a single policy.
It was race.
How hypocritical of these lying degenerates, to now suggest that Barack Obama has not tried to work with them, when their stated goal was for him to fail, we have it as part of historical record from their inspirational and intellectual leader Rush Limbaugh, we have it as a matter of record from their leader in the Senate. Many Liberals deserted Obama because they felt he was making too many overtures to republicans.
Republicans ran away from policy positions they embraced, policies they proposed, policies which came out of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, simply because Obama adopted those policies. Mitt Romney now runs away from Romney-care, the blue-print for Obama ‑care, simply because Obama embraced it.
So what we have is a moving of the goal-post, a continuous slapping away of the hand, as Deval Patrick said “Democrats must now stand up for what they believe in”, they must now stand up and push back hard against this misogynistic wave of right-wing reactionary garbage, and show what this president and this party has done for this country, cowering in fear no more, as these unpatriotic special interest tools wrap themselves in the American Flag ‚while at the same time wishing for the country’s demise, as a way back to political power.
What pious baloney coming from the mouth of Mitt Romney,” I wish president Obama had succeeded” I have news for you Mitt Romney, the president have succeeded, despite your friends and surrogates rabid obstructionism.
Ask yourselves this question, “what was the basis for this bellicose position toward the new president who had not yet instituted a single policy”?
I’ll tell you what the basis was,“RACE”.
Republicans want you to believe the world started the day Barack Obama took the oath of office, they take every opportunity to point out what they want you to believe is wrong with the country, the economy, and the Obama Administration.
Absent their arguments, are any acknowledgements that it was under their watch ‚just four years ago, that this country’s economy was destroyed, the economy cratered and kept falling even as the new president was being sworn into office, today the economy has been stabilized, over four million new jobs have been created over the last 4 years under Obama.
As Bill Clinton alluded, republicans want to tell you the president have not fixed the mess they created fast enough, so you should fire him and put them back in charge.
Obstruct, Obstruct, Obstruct, then when the guy throws up his arms and say“ok I will do my own thing, using the powers given me, “They scream, “see he doesn’t want to work with us”.
On the day President Barack Obama was being inaugurated in this momentous and historic occasion of what many people all over the world saw as America’s coming of age a group of Republicans to include Paul Ryan Republican Candidate for President , Jim DeMint , Tom Coburn and others were huddled in a despicable Un-American conspiracy to obstruct the new president as a path back to political power. Republican Senator from the State of Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader:quote “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president”.
Of course being the liars they are when confronted with his own words DeMint said he wasn’t saying he wanted to break Obama the man he was referring to his momentum.
In absolutely no context could that be true as the president had no momentum going , republicans had thwarted the efforts of the White House at every turn to get health care legislation passed.
Mitch McConnell is now whining that the president and his supporters are looking for people to blame for what he calls the president’s failure, never mind that there are plenty of evidence to point to within that intransigent bellicose regressive Neanderthal excuse for a political party.
What the so-called Independent voters in this country needs to remember, if there are any such voters, is what transpired over the last four years. Monolithic and across the board Republican opposition and obstruction to the president’s agenda, many argue that the blanket opposition was a strategy to get back to power, that has worked and it may be true, however there is a deeper more sinister motive to their strategy.
That strategy is to make Obama’s presidency a failure so much so that the country would not even think of electing another black man/woman for another fifty years. Ask yourselves what is behind the hard lurch the republican party took to the right, ask why the voices once on the fringe are now the most strident voices within the party, even to the extent of forcing out high level republicans who dare to utter the word “compromise”.
They want a purified party, a party that does not even consider working with the president, an all white party.
Voters with a modicum of self-interest or patriotism would kick these two partisan hacks out of office at the next opportunity, don’t hold your breath for that to happen these two are fixtures within their respective states where this kind of thinking and utterances are acceptable, so these states will re-elect them the next time they are up for re-election and the people who elect them will have voted against their own self-interest.
Jim DeMint, Mitch McConnell Paul Ryan, Michelle Bachman, Allan West, and all other House and Senate office Holders who wants to undo Obama-Care, all of them, are beneficiaries of the best health care, paid for by people who have none.
It is the greatest display of intellectual dishonesty that republicans talk about the failures of Barack Obama even as they conspire/d and did everything in their power to ensure that he has/add no accomplishment.What they are asking the voters in this country to do is to reward them for bad behavior.
No, the American people should not reward these people who are members of the government , live off Government , spend most of their lives in government , yet demean and disparage government.
They should not reward Paul Ryan with a promotion for lying and being an Obstructionist.
The American voter must send a clear message to Republicans, that they represent their interest, they the people they claim to represent, and not Charles and David Koch, they must make it clear to them that the House of Representatives is not a place where partisan and racial grudges are played out, rather they must assert , you do our business, not yours.
The American voter must once and for all show people in the republican party that they are not fools, they must assert that they will not allow them to make America a place only for the very rich.
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Cornwall (bigga) Ford
:Tony Hewitt
Gleaner photo:
Examiner photo:
Obstruct, Obstruct, Obstruct, then when the guy throws up his arms and say“ok I will do my own thing, using the powers given me, “They scream, “see he doesn’t want to work with us”.