Need Some Comic Relief In Barbados?

George has a mess all over the front of his shirt because he snorted coffee through his nose.

What was the occasion?

He went to the Barbados Labour Party blog and read some of the headlines.

Just make sure you don’t go there without swallowing first…. 🙂

Barbados Labour Party Blog Headlines

CWC A Tremendous Success!

Arthur Capable

We Need Some Captions For The Photo Of The PM – Any Ideas?

869,000 WordPress Blogs, Millions Of Posts AND… Barbados Minister Gline Clarke Is Famous!

On April 15, 2007, out of the millions and millions of posts available online at over 869,000 WordPress blogs, the #75 most popular post worldwide was…

More Corrupt Land Expropriation In Barbados – Minister Gline Clarke Again Involved

Way to go Minister Clarke!

You broke your own record established last year when BFP carried the story of your home on expropriated land.

All Barbados is proud of your new record!

5,844 Free Tickets Given Away = 57% Capacity At Kensington Oval Barbados

Mind you, the 57% of stadium capacity wasn’t achieved until the afternoon

So…

According to The Nation News, 15,511 people attended Kensington Oval for Ireland and Bangladesh, of which 5,844 were “free admissions” after the first 90 minutes of play. (Two Nation News stories – here and here)

15,511 people out of a stadium capacity of 27,000 equals 57%

Another Way Of Looking At The Attendance Stats

Without opening the gates for free admissions after 90 minutes of play, only 9,667 ticket holders would have attended for a capacity of 36% of Kensington Oval.

Now The Big Question…

Of the 9,667 ticket holders who were not “free admissions after the first 90 minutes of play” – how many thousands had received their tickets for free at their workplace or school earlier in the week?

Somebody knows the answer, but we’ll never hear officially. As a guess, let’s say 2,000 of the 9,667 ticket holders on Sunday received their tickets for free at their workplace.

What do you think folks? Are we guessing too high or too low?

Barbados Tourism Minister Storms Off Radio Show – Audio Now Available!

Listen Online To Minister Lynch Running Away From A Citizen’s Question

On March 25, 2007, thousands of listeners of the Down To Brass Tacks radio show were stunned as Barbados Minister of Tourism Noel Lynch ran out of the studio after being asked on air to comment about his personal wealth and Integrity Legislation. The emailed question from a listener and comments by moderator David Ellis abruptly ended the Minister’s participation as he angrily ripped off his headphones, stood up and left the studio.

Barbados Free Press has been covering the story from the start. We have also covered the threats and intimidation faced by Voice of Barbados radio journalist David Ellis when the corrupt government again showed that they will tolerate no questions about integrity legislation, conflict of interest, freedom of information laws or any other initiative that would force the political elites to be held accountable to citizens.

We have now uploaded the audio clip of David Ellis reading the email and the angry response from Minister Lynch. You can listen to it by clicking HERE or on the photo of Minister Lynch at the top of this article.

Sorry it took us a while to put it up, but Marcus has been missing in action for a few weeks and we are doing the best we can until his return.

History Of The Brass Tacks – Noel Lynch Walkout

Here are links to our posts on this continuing story (oldest first)…

Barbados Minister Of Tourism Dictates To Cowardly StarCom Network – “Adrian Loveridge Not Allowed On Brass Tacks Radio Show Panel”

Barbados Tourism Minister Flees Radio Talk Show Over Question Of Personal Assets And Integrity Legislation

Attention Barbados Offshore Investors and Transparency International – Corruption Stories Being Hidden By Barbados Media & Government

Nation News Editorial Again Slams Talk Show Journalist David Ellis And Laments “Opening The Airwaves To The Public”

Nation News Robert Best – Barbados Reporters Know About Corruption But Are Not Free To Investigate And Report It

May God Bless The Folks At WordPress.com

Barbados Government Blog Publishes Threats Against Journalist David Ellis – “We must guard our nation against such reckless use and abuse of press power.”

Barbados Advocate: “Barbados situation is nowhere near as dire as what is happening in Zimbabwe”

Barbados Blogs and Chats Becoming Bolder

Barbados Strongman Owen Arthur Holds Media In Firm Control

It Ain’t Calypso! Zenobite – Barbados Heavy Metal Band

I saw these guys on YouTube and liked them.

Auntie Moses will not want to click on the photo. 🙂

Clive

Jdid Writes On Don Imus, Hip Hop, White Folks and Black Folks

Our Bajan brother in blogging, Jdid of Doan Mind Me, never made it home for Cricket World Cup. Poor Jdid is stuck up in Canada and the weather reports say it is going to be another miserable week in Toronto. Well, he knows how to get back to Bim if living in Canada gets to be too much for him. Meanwhile, Jdid’s blog always provides some good reading even if I don’t always agree with him.

We Say “Nappy Headed Hos” Is Tame Compared With Hip Hop Rap – Jdid Defends Hip Hop

This week, I agree with about half of what Jdid says about the Don Imus “nappy headed hos” incident.

For those who don’t recognise the name “Don Imus”, don’t be too hard on yourself – I had never heard his name until the story broke on CNN satellite. Imus is (was?) a radio broadcaster in the U.S. who called a mostly-black female basketball team “nappy headed hos” – a deplorable racially charged term if I ever heard one. Imus was fired by CBS, but only after the advertisers pulled out of his show, so we don’t know if his firing was a market-based choice or a moral decision on the part of his employer.

Jdid has some thoughts about Don Imus and those who accuse Hip Hop music of being complicit in changing language and culture for the worse. Jdid also talks about the apparent double standard in the black community when it comes to racial insults.

Of white folks, Jdid says…

“I am kind of tired of white folks when they make mistakes regarding race trying to fall behind the shield of but some of my best friends are black or look at what I’ve done for the black community. That ish is tired and played! Man up to your mistakes.”

Yup, on that point Jdid and I agree 100%.

Double Standards For Racial Slurs

But I don’t think that Jdid pays enough attention to another double standard that exists in “black” cultures… not only do we look the other way when a black refers to another black with a racial term, we look the other way when blacks use racial terms or show racism against whites or indo/asians.

On Barbados, I immediately think of Prime Minister Owen Arthur’s “negrocrat” taunt and Environment Minister Liz Thompson calling Richard Goddard a “Caucasian” like that made him some sort of sub-human dirty animal.

On this matter of Don Imus and racial insults, head over to Jdid and to some of our other links for different perspectives.

Here you go…

Story Links

Jdid’s Doan Mind Me Blog – What Rhymes With Imus?

Michelle Malkin – Imus vs. the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks Chart (language warning)

Barbados Free Press…

Of “Negrocrats, Oreos, Iggas” and Other Racial Slurs In Barbados

Barbados Environment Minister Uses “Caucasian” As Racial Slur

Was That Barbados Slur “Nigger”, “Coon”, “Oreo” or “City Plantation Negrocrat” ? – It Is All The Same On The World Stage