Barbados prisoner Raúl García vows hunger strike until death

Pinned to top until Raul Garcia dies or is freed. Scroll down for other stories.

painting by Raul Garcia

Completed 20 year sentence in Barbados prison – held illegally for 2 years since then!

January 28, 2012: Day 12 of hunger strike.

The Nation finally picks up this story: Jailed Cuban wants out

Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite confirmed he had received correspondence yesterday indicating Garcia had stopped eating. “It’s not a simple case of just deporting him or releasing him,” Brathwaite said.

What is the prisoner’s condition?

Son Frank Garcia reported on January 26th that his father had lost 16 pounds and continues his hunger strike. Raul Garcia is also known to have a heart condition and high blood pressure but has been unable to obtain medical treatment while in prison.

Dear readers of Barbados Free Press

It is with the greatest of respect that I address myself to the entities of the Barbados Government which are currently responsible for my present incarceration at Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds, St. Philip. The entities are namely:

•    The Attorney General’s Office
•    The Immigration Department
•    The Barbados Prison Service

I would also like to include in this Communique the Government of the Republic of Cuba, or any government, body entity or person that may sympathize, empathize, or in any other way take an interest in bringing this matter to a successful and satisfactory conclusion.

On the 11th. Day of March 2010, I Raúl García of Cuban Nationality completed a twenty (20) year sentence of imprisonment at Her Majesty’s Prisons. Upon my release, I was placed in the custody of the Immigration Department for deportation. However, because of the form of past laws in the Cuban Government, they denied my repatriation, such that, I ended up being held at the Grantley Adams International Airport as a detainee for nine (9) months.

After this prolonged period, I was returned to Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds, St. Philip without being charged or sentenced, far less, by any order of the Courts of Barbados. To date, I have spent a total of twenty-two (22) months imprisoned after I should have been a free man.

Crime and Punishment: Drug smuggler LIAT pilot gets only a fine for 65 pounds of weed

International drug smugglers usually rot in prison for years. Why was the court so easy on Keith Allen?

Admitted drug trafficker and smuggler Keith Richard Otway Allen (above) is a lucky man today because he’s walking free when all reason and legal precedent says he should be in Dodds Prison for years.

Allen spent less than two months in jail after being arrested last November smuggling 65 pounds of cannabis into Barbados. Somebody paid a fine of US$125,000 and Allen walked out a free man. Many men rot away in Dodds for years for far less a quantity of drugs and would love to pay a fine instead. I guess those international drug smugglers aren’t as ‘LUCKY’ as Mr. Allen.

There’s no indication that the judge or Allen’s attorney Sir Richard Cheltenham asked any questions or demanded proof about where the money for the fine really came from. Yup, Allen is one lucky drug smuggler, alright. I wonder if he appreciates how very lucky he is.

Oh yes… Allen is or probably “was” a LIAT pilot, so his drug smuggling involved a certain breach of trust. Of course he got caught during his first time. Everybody gets caught during their first time, don’t they?

Will attorney Sir Richard Cheltenham assist Raul Garcia?

I wonder if Allen’s attorney, Sir Richard Cheltenham, would be so good as to assist Raul Garcia who’s been rotting away in prison for almost 20 years? Mr. Garcia is currently into day 12 of a hunger strike because he is being unjustly held in a maximum security prison on an immigration matter 2 years after being released from serving a 20 year sentence for drug smuggling.

How about it, Sir Richard? Will you take some time to try and assist Mr. Garcia? Please?

Further Reading

Here’s the article from The Nation. Please read it at their website, but we have to put it up here because the Bajan press has this terrible habit of adjusting history when they feel like it…

Muslim yells “allahu akbar” as he shoots up The Pentagon. News media says motive unclear.

Let’s see here…

American Muslim puts on a facemask, drives along with Muslim prayers playing on the car stereo and shoots his 9mm pistol at US military facilities while yelling “allahu akbar”.

Why, whatever could be his motivation? What a mystery!

He was arrested as he was doing his sixth attack, this time at Arlington National Cemetery. Found in his possessions was a video he’d made to inspire his Jihadist brothers.

But the Washington Post is puzzled by his motivation, saying “Motive of shooter who targeted military sites is unclear”

Pamela Geller expresses what she thinks about the Washington Post, calling them the “enemedia”. Enemedia: an accurate term.

“Whether it’s Islamic honor killings or jihadists shooting up military bases screaming allahu akbar, the motive is always “unclear” to the enemedia.”

 

Idiocy: Criminal charges, $10,000 bail for streaking at cricket match.

Where are the priorities? Where is the common sense?

That’s Michael Arthur Francis Marshall you’re looking at, and a dangerous fellow he is too. On Errol Barrow day the 20 year-old student had one rum too many and decided it would be a good idea to take off all his clothes and run naked in front of thousands of T20 cricket fans at Kensington Oval.

And he was armed too – with what one of Shona’s girlfriends describes as a “formidably-sized” weapon. With a weapon like that it’s pure luck that nobody was injured. Young Michael ran right by a police woman who was apparently so intimidated or fascinated that she didn’t even try to stop him. Luckily though three policemen came to the rescue, arrested the young lad and took him away to the laughter of the crowd.

Then the idiocy really started…

The police did what they were supposed to do, and that’s well and fine – they took young Michael away from the crowd, put some clothes on him and assessed how drunk or sober he was.

Then somebody made a decision that instead of calling a responsible relative, older friend or school administrator to look after him, the police were going to make a big deal of this heinous criminal – who, by the way, has never had a brush with the law before. Young Michael was charged and dragged before the court on Tuesday morning where he “confessed that he wilfully, openly, lewdly and obscenely exposed his person… at a public place and misconducted himself in an annoying manner.” (Nation News Streaker gets day in court)

Magistrate Graveney Bannister ordered a pre-sentencing report – A PRE-SENTENCING REPORT – and adjourned sentencing until March 9th. Bail was set at $10,000. That’s right – TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS BAIL for a 20 year-old student who pulled a prank. And a prank was all that young Michael pulled that day; it wasn’t as if he was standing behind a tree exposing himself as he watched children playing at the beach. It was a foolish prank fueled by alcohol and a bit of youthful energy.

Now folks, there might be something here that we don’t know but at first blush (blush – get it?)  this whole business looks like a tremendous overkill and a waste of precious police and court resources. Once it got past the “he’s sober enough to go home” stage it started costing big money, manpower and court time. Why not just give him a warning and send him on his way? Is Michael really that hard nosed of a criminal that we needed this? Is there a tremendous risk he’d do it again? The newspaper says this is his first offense of any kind.

If the police or the court don’t inform the public of why this was pushed all the way to ten thousand dollars bail and a pre-sentence report, I believe Bajans have a right to wonder where the priorities and common sense are. After young Michael sobered up, it would have been a much better use of police manpower and resources to send the officers north to arrest a few of the Boscobel Toll Gang who are a serious and ongoing threat to this country’s economy.

But that would take some real police work, wouldn’t it?

Thanks to a loyal reader who sent us the following…

December 2006 – Father and Son Charged in racially motivated attack on 15 year old boy – bail $10,000.00

August 2007 – man charged with rape – bail $10,000.00

October 2007 – mini bus accident driver kills 1 person injures many – bail $10,000.00

April 2011 – Two Barbadian police officers granted bail for alleged assault on Jamaican woman – bail $5,000 each

July 2011 – Woman lures a man to a massage parlour, then assists her boyfriend to stab the man. – bail $5,000 !!!

November 2011 – Thief steals 24,000 dollars worth of goods – bail $10’000.00

January 2012 – Young man has a few drinks and streaks at a cricket match – bail $10,000.00 – Why?

Do you see something wrong with this? I do. Why is a 20 year old foolish boy with no record and no danger to society being charged the same amount of bail as a criminal who poses a serious risk?

Barbados wants to know about the Organo Gold legal fight

A Caution to my fellow Barbadians

by Barbados Free Press reader “T.C.”

Many of you have lost your jobs or seen your hours cut back like I have. Money is scarce and you can see and feel how hard life is at this moment just by looking at your friends and neighbours.

Be very careful as you look for new opportunities because there are many predators who know of your desperation. They guarantee you a job in some far off place if you’ll send them money. They tell you a fortune awaits if you’ll send them money. They have knowledge of a system and they will share that knowledge if you’ll send them money.

I read the book “BLINK” by Malcolm Gladwell and I learned what I already knew: Our “snap judgements” are usually correct even if we can’t always put into words why we immediately thought as we did when we first saw something, met a new person or heard an idea.

What does your snap judgement and gut feeling tell you about Organo Gold?

Did you receive this TellBarbados email? (click photo for large)

Almost ten thousand people received the Tell Barbados marketing email about Organo Gold “Professional Independent Distributors Needed”. (click on photo at left for a large image) I was interested in making some money because I’m getting cut back on hours at work so I started looking into the Organo Gold coffee products and business on the internet. This is ‘healthy’ coffee that has or is supposed to have some health-promoting plant ingredients. That is the brand’s claim anyway. It is a multi-level marketing scheme, not that I’m saying that is a bad or good thing except everybody has seen friends try things like this and a few months later you never hear about it anymore. Some people can probably make good money selling anything, but that’s not me.

The Lawsuit

After a few hours on the internet I am no further ahead trying to discover if this is a proper opportunity or a scam. There is a lawsuit filed some time ago by one of the originators of the Organo Gold company named Jay Noland. He or someone taking his side put up a website where you can listen to long rather boring recordings of Jay Noland making accusations against his old partners still at Organo Gold.

Mr. Noland makes serious allegations about the company and says that Organo Gold changed the ingredients of the product without telling anyone.

Tripadvisor: Boscobel Toll Gang still frightening tourists

Barbados Police unable to stop gang for seven years

With 27 million unique visitors a month, TripAdvisor.com is the world’s most popular travel website – and right now a very active topic of discussion on the Barbados forum is (once again) the Boscobel Toll Gang.

That discussion is bad for Barbados tourism, but there is this little uncontrollable thing called the internet where tourists discuss and report how their latest vacation went. Obviously our government hasn’t adapted to that reality because our leaders still think that if they ignore bad news it will eventually go away. Apparently our leaders are wrong.

The Boscobel “Road Toll Gang” have been seriously doing their thing for at least seven years now. They stop tourist hired cars by standing in front of them. They inform the drivers that the road is closed, instruct them to drive another way and then demand money for the “assistance”.

They are big, nasty men and most of the tourists pay. It is a lucrative business for the gang.

Always seven or eight sitting at the “T” intersection and while one engages the driver in conversation another will sometimes come up behind on the passenger side, reach through an open window to grab a purse or a camera and then run like hell. Sometimes they arrange to be struck by the vehicle and then fall down “injured”. Sometimes they will even open an unlocked door and, UNINVITED, enter and sit down in the vehicle to further “talk” to the terrified tourists.

Reports say they sometimes stop as many as twenty or thirty vehicles on a busy day in good weather. Do the math: even at five vehicle stops a day with the usual two tourists per car we’re talking about hundreds of tourists a month having a bad experience with the Boscobel Toll Gang. That makes the Boscobel Toll Gang a serious problem for Barbados tourism even if TripAdvisor wasn’t carrying the story.

Shooting in Boscobel

In November of 2010 there was a shooting at a Boscobel football match and it was rumoured that some of the Boscobel Toll Gang were involved. If any further information came to light one way or the other we didn’t hear. Perhaps one of our readers can fill in the blanks?

As far as stopping cars, I think we heard about the police arresting one fellow but it has obviously had no effect on the overall activities of the gang. It’s the usual story with our police – they seem unable to commit to long term solutions to standing problems. They make one arrest and then call the job done. The leadership seems incapable of realizing that this one group of young men is doing so much harm to our tourism industry at a time when we desperately need every visitor to be saying nothing but positive things about Barbados.

Remember folks: this isn’t Barbados Free Press breaking this story. Dozens and dozens of tourists have related their experiences at Trip Advisor over the last few years and our police have done nothing. In the new world of the internet Barbados ignores this continuing gang activity at its peril.

Here are a few recent quotes from people in the U.K., the USA and Barbados as taken from the Trip Advisor website today…

Jan 22, 2012, 3:00 PM
Nelson_France – UK

We drove through Boscobel 3 days ago and at 2 separate places these guys did try to stop us by standing in the road and saying that the road ahead was closed and that we had to go a different way. Luckily we had been warned and didn’t stop but it was a frightening experience and I wouldn’t have liked to have been surrounded by them if we had stopped – I think it would have been difficult to get away safely without some possible dents to car doors etc if you hadn’t handed over money. We were of course 2 European looking people in an H registered rental car so we were quite obviously tourists. We were put off going down to Cove Bay after our experience as we weren’t sure we could get out without being stopped again. It’s a shame the local police don’t do something about it

Muslim riots in Maldives – A Barbados vacation looks better all the time!

Sex outside marriage = flogging in Maldives

Hundreds riot in support of Islamic Sharia law

Rioters say Government under the influence of “Jews” and “Christian priests” to weaken Islam in the Maldives.

(It’s the JEWS!!! JEWS!!! JEWS!!! I tell you! And those damned infidel Christian beer drinkers too. Pass me a Banks Beer please… Ta!)

As we said in our recent post about the Maldives: Maldives Muslim crazies are good news for Barbados Tourism…

The Maldives, a group of over 1,100 tiny coral islands, is often compared with Barbados as a vacation and retirement destination. Although far-removed from each other geographically, both countries compete for the same United Kingdom and European travelers.

The rise of Islamists demanding Sharia law is threatening the Maldives islands’ tourism industry. I doesn’t matter how pretty and relaxing the place is: when folks are in fear they will be jailed for possessing a bible, when they are cursed as swine and infidels, when women are publicly flogged for having sex out of wedlock and when a tourist can’t buy a beer on a hot afternoon – people start choosing other travel destinations.

Considering a Maldives vacation or honeymoon? Think again!

The government on Wednesday raised fears of Islamic extremism taking hold in the Indian Ocean atoll nation, which is best known for its upmarket tourism and as a destination for honeymooners.

The foreign ministry said it was “extremely concerned” by an increase in extremist rhetoric used by the government’s rivals that could lead to “stigmatization, stereotyping and incitement to religious violence and hatred”.

There have been anti-Semitic protests recently about the transport ministry’s decision to allow direct flights from Israel, while a restaurant that hung up Christmas decorations in 2010 was also targeted.

… from AFP News More arrests in Maldives as protests spread

New (tongue in cheek) Barbados Tourism Authority slogan for Maldives markets…

Vacation in Barbados: We promise we won’t flog you for bringing a bible or having sex without being married!

Barbados mother says “I’ll breed ‘em. YOU feed ‘em!”

Story #1,243 in a continuing Nation Cultural Series…

by BFP reader Passin thru

Jacqueline Blunt is 40 years old and has five children (by how many different men we’re not told). She’s long-term unemployed and lives with her mother; who has served notice on Miss Blunt that she and her five children are out on the street as of Tuesday.

According to the newspaper article, Mother of 5 needs house Miss Blunt contributes nothing to household expenses and keeps such hours and personal habits that her long-suffering mother sought to impose an 8pm curfew on the 40 year old. That really says it all when an unemployed and unemployable mother can’t be bothered to tuck her children in each night. It’s not as if she’s out working or looking for work – she’s partying.

Miss Blunt is featured in The Nation newspaper looking for her next meal ticket. She doesn’t care whether the National Housing Corporation or some unsuspecting landlord continues her free ride as long as she doesn’t have to actually earn money to support her own children.

The sad truth is that this type of story is standard newspaper fare every month and explains much about why some matriarchal “families” live in perpetual poverty generation after generation. What values and life examples are being passed along to Miss Blunt’s children?

Barbados has an interest in curbing this destructive behaviour, for the country and for the sake of the children. This matriarchal subculture with unemployed mothers and no fathers contributes nothing positive to Barbados – unless you count as a positive the simple biological production of children with nothing further contributed.

The never-ending stories of Miss Blunt and other unemployable single mothers are the best arguments for the establishment of orphanages.

I accept that we as a society must look after the children of those parents who are incapable of supporting and raising children on their own. If we really want to help Miss Blunt’s children, the best thing we could do would be to place them in an orphanage and away from their irresponsible and unemployable mother. If we really want to help Miss Blunt and others like her, take away her children and allow her to sink or swim on her own: to perhaps become a responsible, self-supporting adult as she should have 20 years ago.

Only then will society have a chance to stop the perpetuation of the single-mother subculture that robs thousands of children of the chance to be raised with proper values and edifying habits and life skills.

Passin thru

Further Listening: Generation X: The value of Black Women

Huffington Post says avoid Barbados… if you’re gay or lesbian

Huffington Post: Anti-gay laws a legacy of “outdated British colonial laws”

Barbados’ criminalization of buggery continues to attract attention in human rights and tourism discussions. In 2010 Ethical Traveller Awards slammed Barbados for our anti-gay love law, and in 2011 Britain and the USA both criticized our country over this issue.

Should buggery be illegal in Barbados? How about adultery?

How about adultery… should that be illegal too?

IF we’re going to regulate sexual behaviours between consenting adults, what other activities should be prohibited? Is there any other orifice besides an anus that should be restricted? And… is that restriction limited to the penis, or should other protruding parts of the human body be restricted as well?

How about more than two people in the same bed? (Sorry, Cliverton!)

I mean… if Barbados society is going to be in the business of regulating sexual acts between consenting adults… well, let’s do some regulating.

Though the current law is under review, it still punishes “buggery” with a life sentence. Until the law is repealed, same-sex couples might prefer to experience the sparkling blue-green waters of the Caribbean in locales that welcome gay travelers, such as Puerto Rico, Aruba, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Despite legal recognition of same-sex relationships in several nations throughout the Caribbean, Collins asserts that widespread homophobia persists on many of the islands…

From the Huffington Post article Honeymoon from Hell: The Top 10 Destinations Gay and Lesbian Travelers Should Avoid

Our thanks to BFP reader “C” who wrote…

Message: Hello BFP

Love your blog. I was reading Huffpo this morning and came across this link and was embarrassed to see that along with our CARICOM neighbors Jamaica, Guyana and Belize, Barbados made the list of the most homophobic countries that gay travelers should avoid.

In a time when we are pushing our tourism this is a huge blow as many straight but socially conscious Canadian/American tourists may see this and decide against a Bajan vacation.

Not sure if you would be interested in highlighting this or not…

Cheers!
C.

Genetically modified food: What’s it doing to humans?

Farmer discovers that his GMO corn contains Estrogen-mimicking compounds, causes false pregnancies in animals.

by Green Monkey

“This is bothering our pigs, bothering our cows: what’s it doing to humans?”

A self-described former “cutting edge, “advanced technology” American farmer fed GMO corn to his pigs; they all became sterile forcing the farmer into bankruptcy.

A couple of interesting quotes by farmer Jerry Rossman taken from the Youtube video above:

@7:28 – I was put in connection with this work done out of Baylor (i.e. Baylor University /GM), and I mean it said right in there that this is what would happen; this is the concerns; they had isolated these compounds off of food products they had gotten out of grocery store shelves already – that this was already out here. The humans were eating it, and they had identified it as being an estrogen mimicker. That is what we’ve been working with here.

@8:17 – But as we went along through this, we come to find out that basically the seed industry is not testing – they’ve done absolutely no long term feeding trials with any livestock, and they absolutely resist even the idea of doing it.

Is it an incident isolated to Iowa?

“Austrian scientists fed mice over a course of 20 weeks a mixture of 33 percent Monsanto GE corn (NK 603 x MON 810) and non-GE corn.

These mice gave birth to less babies and lighter babies in their third and fourth litters. Mice fed on non-GE corn had babies as normal.

These differences are statistically significant.”

From the GreenPeace article No need for condoms – GE corn can do the job

Further Reading at Wikipedia: Genetically modified food

Wally Serote on the International Monetary Fund, Fox News… and your life

“I will therefore not allow myself to be trapped in Western thinking, which has presided over thought and ideas and has dictated to the world what to think.”

Wally Serote’s article in the Thinker 31 poses serious questions:

“We can no longer be professional students of the west.”

I hope that magazines like the Thinker will help in the debate on the path forward. We need to change the “terms of trade” as Best would say and we need to develop solutions that fit our reality.

The crisis in the Caribbean economy finds little debate within the region and all that is proffered is the failed mantra from the IMF and other Western sources.

Can we not do better?

Is it that the we allow CNN and Fox to fracture our thinking and believe all that is offered by them as gospel?

Where are the critical thinkers? All we are hearing is the voice of the right trying to prop up a failed model.

We must and can do better.

Regards

Godfrey J. Martin

We Hope to be in Time for Dialogue

by Wally Serote

The issue here is, since I believe that the Western sun is setting, most of the answers we seek for the 21st century exist outside of the West and among people of the South. Wherever we are, although belatedly, we have to search for a paradigm shift to survive during this century and set the basis for the survival of future generations.

“We have, from an African perspective, to make a decision that we can no longer be professional students of the West.”

Africa is in a position to play this role, given its cultural diversity, historical experiences and continental resources, human and natural. It will therefore be necessary to think outside of boxes, but not re-invent wheels. I will therefore not allow myself to be trapped in Western thinking, which has presided over thought and ideas and has dictated to the world what to think.

Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association CEO: “worst crisis we have ever faced”

Alec Sanguinetti says tourists want more than beaches – they want history.

The director general and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association says the region has to address serious problems with competitiveness. And to do that, more consideration must be given to history.

“How competitive is the Caribbean product?”

Citing a $5 billion loss in tourism spend between 2000 and 2010 for the Caribbean, Alec Sanguinetti believes tourists are now looking for more than beaches and great weather. He told Guardian Business the cultural nuances that make various countries unique must take center stage.

“Travelers today are looking for an experience,” Sanguinetti said. “The beach is there. The people and the hospitality are there. We need to keep building on our attractions and culture, and not let our history disappear. ”

The comments come shortly after the formal announcement by Sanguinetti and local tourism officials that Caribbean Marketplace 2012 will take place in The Bahamas from January 22 to January 24.

While representatives from the Bahamas Hotel Association and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism trumpeted the arrival of the conference, Sanguinetti wished to “temper that” with what he considers a dose of reality.

He stressed that it’s not just dollars and cents that matter. “This is the worst crisis we have ever faced,” he told the crowd. “It is how we go up against it that is critical. If we continue the way we are, our numbers will continue to decrease. One of the reasons it is decreasing is less visitors and length of stay, combined with economic pressures. But there is another factor. How competitive is the Caribbean product? ”

… continue reading this article at Caribbean News Digital

Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation porn weather forecast goes viral

Oh baby!!!  Oh Oh Oh OH OH BABY!!!

A YouTube video of a CBC Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation weather forecast has gone viral in the Caribbean racking up almost 60,000 views in a few days. YouTube shows a segment of the CBC’s January 10, 2012 Weather News unintentionally broadcasting “inappropriate audio” as the CBC so delicately refers to the error.

In a just released statement to the local press, the CBC says “appropriate action” has been taken after a breach in corporate policy caused the “unintentional airing of inappropriate audio.”

Donville Inniss, Minister of Health

At this time there is no word on whether the moans and other sounds originate from any of the porn videos associated with Barbados Minister of Health, Donville Inniss. Mr. Inniss is a porn industry business veteran. He was associated with the trademark for the Orgasm.com porn brand that is connected with websites such as OrgasmCash.com, OrgasmLive, Kinkfarm.com, TrickedByTrannies.com and many others.

In a way the CBC and the viewers got off lucky during the Weather Show error. At least the audio didn’t come from one of the bestiality human-animal porn videos associated with the Orgasm.com business and brand!

Well, I don’t think the CBC audio came from animal porn – but then I’m not an expert on that kind of thing like someone with years of experience in the porn business might be.

A suggestion about the Alexandra School crisis

by Michele Robertson

I have been reading of the controversy regarding the Principal and teachers of the Alexandra School and the Ministry of Education.  I cannot understand why the people are not looking for a solution but seem to be divided along political lines. From reading the Nation newspaper online for the past three weeks I get the feeling that Mr Jeffrey Broomes is being backed by the Minister of Education, Mr Ronold Jones and the Democratic Labour Party .

There also seems to be inflexibility by some of the teachers at the Alexandria School. That inflexibility has been causing some educational problems for the students. I would suggest a possible solution to ensure that the students at Alexandra school do not suffer any longer.

I think that the powers that be can arrive at a solution along the following lines:

1.    The Principal be put on temporary leave for two weeks.
2.    The striking teachers are put on temporary leave for 2 weeks.
3.    Senior retired teachers like Mr Perry and teachers at other secondary schools give their time to Alexandra Secondary School to teach the classes affected by the dilemma.

That would give:

1. The student’s continuing education
2. A cooling off period for the striking teachers and the Principal
3. The Government, not the Minister of Education the chance to come up with a final solution.
I hope that these ideas could be considered by all of the parties involve and a solution reached.

Michele Robertson
(Barbadian)
Surrey, UK

Why is Wikipedia blacked out?

Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time. Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout will not be able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging you to share your views with your representatives, and with each other on social media.

More information here.

Sea-U Guest House does the Green Globe shuffle – admirable, but is it worth it economically?

The Sea-U Guest House is located in Bathsheba – the premier surf spot on the island. (Sorry Zed old friend – it’s true and you know it. Bathsheba is gold and the south coast is silver.)

Sea-U Guest House run by German expat Uschi Wetzels… by all accounts a nice lady who loved Barbados enough to leave everything in her homeland behind her. You have to respect that.

I’ve had no cause to stay there but everybody knows the place. The YouTube video makes it look like a little love nest paradise, but video can do that. From the outside though Sea-U looks well-maintained and trim. That’s a good sign. People in the area speak well of Uschi. That’s another good sign.

Word from Green Globe is that the Sea-U Guest House has just renewed it’s certification. We think that Uschi and the Sea-U staff should be congratulated on committing to a greener world, but we’re curious…

Do these types of environmental certifications carry the cost for accommodation providers in terms of increased stays? How much does certification cost and is there a noticeable upswing in bookings because of the certification?

The tourism industry is the major portion of the Barbados economy, but it’s so difficult to directly link advertising or certification standards with revenues. We’d love to know the situation with Sea-U Guest House and we hope Uschi might visit Barbados Free Press and let us know.

Sea-U Guest House, Bathsheba, Barbados

Barbados Tourism spokesperson Rihanna Tweets she’s smoking marijuana

Press reports Rihanna looked ‘relaxed’… No kidding!

‘Got my kush rolled and glass full!’

Our multi-million dollar Barbados Tourism Authority spokesperson just announced to the world that she’s smoking ganga in Hawaii where it’s not legal but the law looks the other way.

In a series of obviously “set-up candid” photos published in the Daily Mail, Bim’s wild child is smoking what appears to be a small cigar. At least it looks like a cigar and I don’t see any seeds popping when she downloads a lungful.     (Cliverton here. I guess that tells you something ’bout me.)

If it looks like a small cigar, how do we know that Rihanna is smoking grass then? Easy… she told the world on Twitter!

So it’s all a big staged event. Rihanna “gets caught” smoking ‘erb and the world talks about her for 48 hours. Like whips, dwarf porn stars and private parts hanging out in the breeze it’s all planned for maximum shock value and maximum publicity.

Good for Rihanna. Hope she makes lots of money ’cause that’s obviously very important to the girl. I don’t have a daughter and I’ve ruined several daughters of other men myself so what do I care? Smoke away, baby. Make money and have a ball! None of my business.

Except… Rihanna represents Barbados Tourism Authority. She signed a multi-million dollar, multi-year deal to publicize Barbados Tourism. She’s a big name – maybe the biggest name – in music these days so the DLP Government decided they wanted a piece of the action.

Oh… did I mention that she’s also our Youth Ambassador? Presumably that means she’s a great example for our youth and to show the world what our youth is all about.

Barbados is holding a security conference next week because drugs are endemic in the region and closely linked with violence and other crimes… but the BTA spokesperson Rihanna says “Got my kush rolled…”

Does anybody else see a problem with this or am I the only person?

Am I a hypocrite? I don’t know… you tell me. Sure I’ve smoked a little ‘erb in my life and unlike President Clinton, I did inhale. Deeply. I may have even been supercharged a few times and if you don’t know what that is I congratulate you upon your good character. It also proves that you never met the girl we used to call ‘Wild Thing’ but that’s another story for another day.

That’s me. I also drink rum to excess and as I said before I’ve ruined more daughters than anyone else I know.

I am who I am… but then again, I’m not paid millions to be a public spokesperson for the Barbados Tourism Authority.

Tell you one thing: if Prime Minister Stuart wants to pay me the same money as Rihanna, I’ll quit all my bad habits right now and I guarantee that nobody will photograph me smoking dope when I’m supposed to be the BTA spokesperson.

Now where the ‘ell be that bottle of Mount Gay dark?

Integrity Legislation, Freedom of Information dead on DLP Government’s 4th anniversary

Remembering the DLP Victory on January 16, 2008

Do you remember the pride we felt? For the first time Bajans had hope that we could free ourselves from the corrupt cartels that anonymously purchase our elected representatives’ loyalty with massive amounts of “election support”.

With the election of the DLP Democratic Labour Party, Barbados would now have the integrity legislation, freedom of information access and conflicts of interest rules so citizens could effectively monitor where our tax dollars were spent and hold our elected and appointed officials accountable.

The corruption of the previous BLP government caused a citizen rebellion at the polls in January of 2008. With no restrictions, no rules, no reporting and no transparency the “election support” money flows freely in Barbados politics and the favours are returned by the successful politicians in the form of government contracts… which ensures more “election support”. It is a viciously corrupt circle that politicians have the power to break – but none will.

David Thompson, Freundal Stuart and all the DLP candidates promised they would implement laws and policies to change all that. True, it takes more than laws and rules to change a legacy and culture of corruption, but without the laws there is no beginning and no hope. Thompson and the DLP knew that new laws and rules were the foundation of any change and they promised to establish those laws.

Remember the joy?

Here’s what one DLP supporter had to say at the time…

Yardbroom

January 16, 2008 at 9:36 am

This election was won because the people of Barbados had an opportunity, – denied in the recent past – to really see what goes on in Barbadian politics.

The Blogs played a decisive part, and you BFP was as the vanguard, no praise is too high. What BFP did was expose the underbelly of Barbadian politics. There was then a reason, for Integrity Legislation and your “constant position” on the subject meant it had to be addressed. The DLP responded to the wishes of the people, as they had to, and as a result we awake this morning, 16th January 2008 to the change we had all hoped for – at least on this blog.

Sadly, “Yardbroom” and most of the DLP diehards haven’t been seen too much around Barbados Free Press since a few months after the election when they realized that Bajans had been fooled again. Too bad the DLP supporters’ fervor for Integrity Legislation and Accountability disappeared with the DLP’s election victory. And disappear it did!

Here we are four years later with no Integrity Legislation, no Freedom of Information, no accountability, no rules about Conflicts of Interest or election funding transparency.

David Thompson and the DLP lied to us to get elected. They promised to “within 100 days” introduce Integrity Legislation, Freedom of Information, amendments to the Defamation laws, checks and balances on the Prime Minister’s power and to “immediately upon election” introduce a Code of Conduct for Ministers.

Instead, the DLP borrowed the CLICO business jet, protected Leroy Parris from prosecution and put him in charge of the CBC to influence what news Bajans would hear. The DLP did that in exchange for “election donations” from CLICO – paid for with policy holders’ money. That’s as corrupt a scenario as anything the BLP did.

Thompson and the DLP lied. Four years later there can be no dispute.

Waiting in the wings for the triumphant return are Owen Arthur and the corrupt Barbados Labour Party – who sucked the treasury dry during their 14 years in power. What they didn’t sell, they stole.

Corrupt DLP or Corrupt BLP: Who will you vote for?

Some say that the choice between DLP and BLP is the only choice voters really have. I say we have another choice: the “Anybody but” candidates. Please let me explain my thinking…

Between the DLP and BLP, it really doesn’t matter who you vote for. There is no real difference in policies or performance. As a result, for decades politics in Barbados has largely been about tribal politics: it’s about which gang holds the best shows, and distributes the most corned beef and beer. That is a pretty sad picture of Bajan politics but I don’t think that anyone will challenge it.

The only way we can change things is to depower the DLP and the BLP – so here’s the plan…

Take their money. Say nice things to whatever party you normally support. Don’t do a thing differently until election day…

Then, walk in and vote for Anybody but DLP and BLP.

No, we’re probably not going to send many independents to Parliament (but if we could, that would be wonderful!) – but what we can do is to disrupt the circle of corruption, upset the “predicted” results and take comfort that you’ve spoken far louder than if you simply hold your nose and vote DLP or BLP.

Time to punish the DLP and the BLP: take their money, dance and party – then vote for “Anybody BUT”