This is not a message to the Government but it can be as well. This is about making people understand what a photograph is and theft. It is about making people aware of their actions and guilt. This video is good and not as nasty as it should be. Visit dontscrewus.org when you have the time or conscience.
When they out for you, they out for you and if you happen to be named Minister Gary Hunt, they out for you even more. Yesterday a reporter asked the Minister Hunt if TT$2 million was too much to pay for the big Trinidad and Tobago flag at the Hasely Crawford Stadium and The Minister was politically clever to say if the flag cost around 2 million TT$ then that was a small price to pay for National Pride (not to be confused with Country Pride, which is a brand of flour).
The difference between Gary Hunt and the member of the media who asked Mr. Hunt the question is that, as a Government Minister, he is privy to information the public has no access to, such as the cost of national pride and salaries at UDECOTT. But Mr. Hunt misunderstood the question and the reporter did not ask about the cost of national pride, but the cost of the flag – two different things the last time I checked. Were the flag bids rigged? Was UDECOTT brought in to not only ensure unheard of transparency, but also to ensure we bought the best flag and hired the best flag installation contractor possible at the best price known to man? All the reporter was asking from Mr. Hunt was reassurance that when the public sees the giant flag flapping in the wind we will feel no nausea, but a sense of National Pride in where we money gone.
Cops Kill 3 Kidnappers appeared to be the best news the crime-battered Trinidad and Tobago public had since hearing their cricket team made it to the 20Twenty finals in India.
From the stories all three newspapers carried, a businessman from Champs Fleur was kidnapped yesterday morning. The police were alerted and soon found the kidnappers’ car and gave chase. According to the newspapers, it was a high speed chase and not a low speed one. The kidnappers, realizing these police officers were heavily armed and not easy, decided to abandon their victim and ran through some bushes to escape fate and possibly some good licks. The kidnappers – young men from Beverly Hills- had guns and concluded, like any good criminal would, that they cannot escape without shooting at the police. Little did these kidnappers know that this team of police officers was being led by ASP Johnny Abraham, a colorful character and a no-nonsense police officer. As the saying goes, a team is as good as its leader so the bandits, lacking leadership and bulletproof vests, succumbed to the several bullet holes they received from Abraham’s team. One kidnapper escaped and I feel it’s only a matter of time before he meets his bullet. I am not saying it is right but I am saying it will happen.
On the heels of this kidnapping and CHOGM, but probably not because of it, a strengthening of the Police Service was announced today by Minister Martin Joseph but not many people noticed or cared.
The popular singer, Noriko Sakai, became a celebrity in Japan in 1987 when she was almost sixteen, after releasing the hit song, Otoko no Ko ni Naritai. She was, or is, very popular in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan but strangely, almost unheard of in Trinidad and Tobago. She was famous not only for her singing but her squeaky clean, girl-next-door image. Because of her popularity and high public expectations, she later went into acting and probably mild stimulant drug use.
In August this year the shock turned to horror when her husband was arrested for possession of illegal stimulants and Noriko disappeared, apparently she was on the run. When Noriko reappeared she was charged with possession of illegal drugs, a stimulant, a whopping 0.0008 grams of it which police found at her home. Noriko Sakai pleaded guilty to using and possessing the illegal drug. Prosecutors said they want an 18-month prison term for Noriko since she is a celebrity and setting a bad example for the public. The court’s decision is scheduled for November 9.
I am not too sure, but from what I have read so far I think the Japanese press went after Noriko after she was seen with a sexy tattoo on her ankle. A tattoo on a woman’s ankle is usually a sign which says “bad but exciting girl above.”
Noriko’s wants leniency and now intends to get a divorce from her trouble-making husband and she also wants to study nursing care in the future. A tearful Noriko was quoted as saying “I have a tendency to try too hard to live up to others’ expectations of me. I thought (stimulants) would help me move my body. … I used the drugs of my own will. … I am the one to blame.”
Here is what I think. Noriko Sakai should not go to jail since she already paid her dues to the society by losing face. Losing face is a big thing in Japan but the concept is quite alien to Trinidad and Tobago’s bad-john and big foreign bank account holding politicians. Noriko Sakai should not go to jail because she is too pretty for prison. How will keeping Noriko Sakai in jail for 18 months make society a better place. It’s not like she knocked a member of the public unconscious because the member spilled a drink or wine up on one of Noriko’s friends. I can’t possibly see any judge looking at Noriko’s pretty face and sending her to jail. I don’t know much about Japanese legal traditions, but even the most heartless woman judge could see the folly in sending a celebrity this pretty to jail for a crime that is quite common in the manmade celebrity world.
UPDATE:
Suspended Jail Term For Noriko Sakai
Despite claims to the opposite, pressure groups in Trinidad and Tobago are happy for the CHOGM (Chug Emm or See Hog Emm) in November since most activist think a CHOGM protest can intimidate the Government into removing property tax and UDECOTT.
As frustrated as citizens are with the Government, I doubt our problems will impress many of the heads attending. Some of poorer countries of the Commonwealth are still trying to rake and scrape a few US dollars to buy a plane ticket to come to CHOGM and will have no interest in what we in this country call suffering. On the other hand, the more prosperous nations are glad for our high crime rate so they can sell us interceptor boats and helicopters. Some are just happy we still eat Weetabix and Canadian smoked herring.
The protests planned around CHOGM will not target the leaders since world leaders see pressure groups the same way citizens see property tax. What the local pressure groups hope to do is embarrass the Government into action via the international press. The international press will be told how the Government is squandering hundreds of millions on the CHOGM but have no money for poor Petrotrin workers. Pressure groups will also talk about UDECOTT and the Commission of Enquiry that has no end, only a beginning in a far off land. There will be much talk about suspected corruption and billions the population claims was wasted in satisfying one man’s ego. I can’t imagine the activist leaving out the Chinese smelter or the WASA potholes. The bed-ridden health services will also be mentioned but very little about CDAP and GATE. Everything the pressure groups will highlight internationally will not be new to them just quaint to the first world and laughable to the starving Third World. As much as the pressure groups will disagree, I doubt our collective woes will impress other nations and it is we, the Poor and Suffering Arabs of the Caribbean, who will have to fend off the Government for ourselves.
How Greenhouse Gases Will Affect Trinidad
Due to greenhouse gases, the polar icecaps are melting faster than predicted and if it continues to melt at the current rate, we would need more dykes in Trinidad and Tobago sooner than expected. I am not too worried about the rising sea level not only because I live on a hill but because we in Trinidad and Tobago have a Government that is mega-projects prone and our Prime Minister will soon understand what mega- dykes can do for our country.
Though I didn’t measure it, the seal sea level around the world has been rising faster over the last 100 years that the 2,000 years before those 100 years just mentioned. This rise in sea level has been blamed on the accumulation of greenhouse gases emitted by factories employing people who need to feed their families who will in turn ensure mankind produces future generations of hungry mouths and factory builders. With the rise in sea level in Trinidad and Tobago, it is expected that costal villages like Mayaro may end up in Rio Claro and what is left of Vessigny Beach may end up in Alutrint. Also, with the rise in sea level, the property tax revenue stream will dry up as more properties end up as un-taxable because they will be under flood water.
The sea level rise problem is serious for Trinidad and Tobago and though a TT$16 billion road network is needed because road Ministers and contractors have to live too, we also need proper dykes, not just in South by Mosquito Creek, but all around the country. Don’t let us have to march for dykes, as is done in those 2020 countries.
The Queen will be visiting Port of Spain in November and hoping not to have to battle with flood waters like a regular Citizen
The Queen is coming, no more flooding!! Hip Hip Hooray!!
For years, neither bullying by PM PM nor cars covered by flood waters could get the Minister of Works and Concrete Barriers to clean the drains of Port of Spain. It was almost as if The Minister would look down from his Ivory Tower and take perverse delight in seeing citizens pull up their skirts to cross the flooded roads.
But when the Minister heard on the BBC that Queen Elizabeth II was coming to Port of Spain and fearing his ass would be highlighted in the international press, he announced how, after years of looking, his Ministry suddenly found out what was blocking the drains of Port of Spain and it would be cleaned before the Queen arrives. The Minister took the opportunity in a recent press conference to let citizens know he was doing it all for the The Queen.
Trinidad and Tobago beat Cape Cobras today and secured a place in the CLT20 finals tomorrow. Vote now.
Trinidad and Tobago became the favorite among the cricketing world and they moved from underdog at the start of the competition, to top dog today. The winner of the finals will take home $US2.4 million. The losers would hardly be considered losers and take home $US1.4 million. Not a bad dollar-haul considering Sir Allen Stanford is broke and beaten up in a US jail. The money is good but not as important as the example the Trinidad and Tobago team has set for West Indies Cricket.
Yesterday, as PM PM took to the floor to mash up his former loyal friend and watchdog, Parliament became the #1 entertainment house in the country once again.
To be honest, I don’t care why PM PM fired his Rottweiler since it makes no difference to the Chinese. PM PM suggested the dog got bad, lost his loyalty and became a bully. PM PM cried that for 12 years he had to put up with abusive bullying from his once loyal canine that had developed a nice shiny coat and deadly growl. I thought he was talking about his wife.
I suppose everybody has a breaking point and PM PM said his point came last year just after the Roth got away and allegedly hurled bullying language against some of PM PM’s dear friends and best performers. These loyalists became terrified of the potentially rabid dog bite and ran to PM PM with the news of the Roth’s latest insults. On hearing the news, PM PM said he acted swiftly and put the deadly dog out of his kennel.
Yesterday, the Roth suggested that PM PM, a teetotaler and ballroom dancer, was drunk and he, the Roth, wanted to avoid what PM PM was drinking, but PM PM, in one of the quickest and cleverest comebacks in Parliament’s history, said it was the Good Book he was drunk on. Cheers and admiration rang out from the adoring crowd and Opposition members, especially from one non-performing Minister sitting behind PM PM known as the 52-inch Wide Screen. Non-performers tend to cheer too much.
PM PM concluded the Opposition and opponents wanted to get his government and that is why they were making up things about his boy from the Hart land. He even suggested a jilted lover had a part to play in this plot to overthrow the country’s progress. Unfortunately, PM PM didn’t say why the vagabonds wanted to do such a shameful thing. Maybe, hate, envy, greed or the new property tax, he didn’t say. What PM PM did with his latest diatribe against his enemies in Parliament was to cement his place at the top until 2020 once his hart, kidney, suspected intelligence and comeback skills hold out.
The talented people of Trinidad and Tobago will not be attracted to a Prime Minister who is against plundering the public’s purse and such a Prime Minister of integrity will be surrounded by non-performers who will spend the rest of their lives boasting they didn’t thief but yet won’t be able to show even one community center or public outhouse for all their years of integrity.
Our current Prime Minister and the one before him understood only too well that the public may say they don’t want wasteful, billion-dollar public projects but yet flock in droves around the Waterfront or Centre of Performing Arts with cameras to send pictures back to their family in the States just to impress them. The public would even boast to their foreign family that they don’t have to walk out the plane with umbrellas, raincoats or aluminum foil anymore. We are a society that publicly cries corruption but privately upload mega-project photos on Flickr with misguided pride.
Our recent leaders have recognized true talent and did what had to be done to attract these super talented people. The public understands this. We are more entertained by Commissions of Enquiries than troubled by them. Without UDECOTT, property tax, murders, drunk driving, Bailey bridges and The Chinese, I shudder to think what the headlines in the newspapers would be – maybe “Vendor arrested for pedaling oval Tambran Balls – Mayor claims an oval is not a ball. School Principal says he is a fool and threatens a beating” So, as much as we are disgusted by criminals taking over the country, both with guns and foreign bank accounts, we quietly realize it is the only way our small country can get to 2020 status without a private jet.
Beauties Aspiring to be Miss Universe Trinidad and Tobago 2010
The picture above makes me glad I am not a woman because only as a man I can appreciate what a bikini beauty means to mankind. I am also glad I am not a woman because if I were, I would have entered the competition and blown away the hopes of the other aspirants, not only with my perfect Barbie-like proportions, but with my sensual charms and well placed dimples. I would have made mincemeat of those gray-headed judges and have them eating whipped cream from the palm of my hand. If I were a woman I would have those old geezers begging not only for more, but to not call their wives or girlfriends. Holding up my number and being inspected would have turned me on and unleashed my charms. My UWI education would have counted for something but only on my Miss Universe resume and not in my head. My beauty would have been the stuff men crave 24/7 and cost them their place in Heaven.
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Forgive the rant above and though being a beauty competition judge is still my boyhood dream, I don’t envy the amount of bad-eye I would receive from the rejected contestants. Who am I to decide who is better than who, they would say. My score sheet and remarks would be etched in my brain and labeled “Top Secret” for security purposes. Maybe online voting should be part of the selection process to help point the aging judges in the right direction. Seeing too many bikini-clad beauties over a short space of time can only cause old men to bend and break. But I speak as an envious man with no training in either beauty selection or knowing a good thing when I see it.
A new and radical method of democracy is being proposed for Trinidad and Tobago. The new method recommends the replacement of the one-man-one-vote system with one-man-many-votes, depending on one’s IQ. The higher one’s IQ, the more voting power one will be assigned. This new method proposes to not only allow the country to move in the smartest direction possible, but to reverse the destruction established by the stupid. Over the years, the stupid were allowed to dominate the political scene because the smart were too busy reading good books, Miami-shopping and engaging in clever letter writing to newspapers rather than doing anything constructive. While the smart were asleep, the stupid were doing what they do best, stupidness.
Critics of the proposed system say the new voting system will give the smart an upper hand in the running the country and relegates the stupid to their rightful place in the dung heap. In response to the critics, proponents of the new IQ-based-voting system ask “And that is a problem?” The critics fear some citizens and most politicians would be unable to vote because of their IQ and will feel left out of the decision making process. It is both feared and hoped that most may end up shoveling real manure for minimum wage for the rest of their lives. The proponents again ask “And this is a problem?”
The suggestion of the system came about because of the huge negative impact the stupid of Trinidad and Tobago was having on the economy and not for hell they could any of the stupid understand the economic concept called “de money done.”
Judging from the news, the stupid was running rampant for years and had no problem appearing on TV to spew whatever little they had in their heads. The stupid was able to infiltrate, not only the Government, the Presidency, the police service, and the Opposition but those hallow (or hollow) institutions of democracy. Not bad for stupid people. The stupid were unable to understand anything and simply spent the country’s money willy-nilly on a few tall buildings and one ugly airport. The stupid instituted public policy based on dotisheness1 not Kevin Baldeosingh. Public policies from the stupid were often presented to the public in nicely bound folders and even pdf files to create the illusion of content. Most of the dotish wore ties while the most dotish wore suits and nice dresses to Parliament and Board meetings.
Naturally, some will always argue that IQ is not related to integrity and a smart man may pocket enough on every contract he awards to be able to make his wife happy by buying foreign apartments and yachts. In extreme cases, the smart man may award contracts to his family who comes from a country where everybody has the same name.
The creators of the IQ-based-voting system said dishonest smart men would have little effect on the outcome of an election since they are in the minority and have Green-Cards and American houses. In every democratic country, all major political parties are supported by enough die-hard, stupid people and it is these stupid ones which have the country perpetually in poop-street. Because poop is crap, stupid people need to be restrained before the country slips into that septic tank of no return.
1Dotishness {dote-ish – ness} – noun – a damn stupid act performed by a damn stupid imbecile.
Happy Diwali from Trinidad and Tobago !
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Today – After New South Wales blew Trinidad and Tobago’s bowling to bits, almost no one thought TnT could get the 171 needed to win in 20 overs and for most of their innings Trinidad and Tobago looked on the brink of defeat. By now the cricketing world following the Champion League knows that Trinidad and Tobago is not only the home of Brian Lara but also home to some amazing cricketers, and to quote the Cricinfo scoreboard on the match, “Trinidad & Tobago won by 4 wickets (with 9 balls remaining).”
Neither scoreboards nor Tony Cozier can give the full picture and it was Kieron Pollard’s 54 from 18 balls with five FOURS and five – SIXES which stole the match from the Australians. You had to see it to believe it! Pollard, with the arrogance of a winner blasted Henriques for two FOURS and three SIXES in the 17th over and then for one FOUR and two consecutive SIXES in the 19th to win the match for Trinidad and Tobago. It was almost like the TnT team lead by Daren Ganga was saying “To hell with the West Indies political cricket.”
I don’t know what more to say and you can check it out at ESPNCricinfo and at SkySports. This Trinidad and Tobago Cricket team is AMAZING with three wins from all three matches, including defeating the IPL Champions, the Deccan Chargers, Trinidad and Tobago has energized Twenty20 Cricket like no other team.
For Trinidad and Tobago to get to the League wasn’t easy and thanks should go to India’s largest poultry company and no thanks to the oppressive, POLITICAL OIL COMPANY.
early work by the former artrist turned blogger, aka_lol
I drew the picture about 5 or 6 years ago while learning to draw using the book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It was my attempt to reproduce a drawing from the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I wished I continued to learn since it is a skill I admire in those who can draw well. I also admire people who can write and those who can eat a wrapped chicken roti while standing without the roti suffering fatal structural damage and leakage.
Recently, I saw a painting by the late Pablo Picasso and like the rest of the non-art world, I said, “What?” I have been saying “What?” about Picasso’s work since I have been seeing Picasso’s work. I suppose my reaction is typical and it is why he is considered a great artist though my reaction was initially one of “You call that art.” I am not here to argue if Picasso is great since popular opinion and auctions have settled that. I am only writing this post to encourage me to learn to draw as it will be my fallback position if this blogging thing doesn’t work out.
Art is never finished, only abandoned ~ Leonardo da Vinci
Only in a non-2020 country would steel sticking out the rear be considered normal and a career goal.
Is this truck/van driver breaking the law? Well, probably not depending which police station you complain to. Everybody knows that the worst people to ask if something is against the law in Trinidad and Tobago are policemen, or policewomen, followed by school principals with a thing for strippers.
In Trinidad and Tobago we are so accustomed to what is wrong we have no idea what is right or red. Judging from the amount of shoulder-hoggers who also go to church for heaven sakes, and who would get into a rage if you try to filter correctly, I would say we are truly blessed since we have the law on the majority’s side.
This Beach Called Life - aka_lol's blog 