Jamaica High School Chronicles: Culture Clash

During my time at high school it was normal for us to get the occasional foreign student, these were mostly students of Jamaican Heritage who were sent to Jamaica to live with relatives and get a solid Jamaican education. One of my best friend was also shipped out from England but he assimilated very quickly, I spoke about Gary in a previous blog. I remember this one kid named Dennis who came to us from the United States of America, he joined my class but it was obvious that Jamaica was completely foreign to him, his parents did a horrible job preparing him and he was having trouble assimilating into daily Jamaican school life and to tell the truth us kids did not make it easy for him either but hey we were boys in third form.

One morning we were in class waiting for the next teacher to arrive and making loads of noise, chatting, laughing and sitting on the desk then from out of nowhere Sir (teacher) walked in into the classroom and bellowed “Sit down and be quiet!”. Everyone was seated in a flash and quiet before he could finish the word “Sit”. He was a very strict which is what you need for third form boys but a fair teacher and did not play around much during class time. However this American kid, Dennis was still standing and walking about taking his own sweet time, so Sir said “Did you not hear me, I said sit down”… to which Dennis turned around and said “I will sit when I am ready”. The entire class room was in a state of shock, wondering if this kid lost his damn mind, did he not see the cane that this male teacher walked into the classroom with.

Sir responded by saying “Please sit down” which puts us in an even bigger state of shock, Dennis actually got a “please” from Sir… Dennis responded “You cannot tell me what to do” in his best black American accent…. I think before he could finish the word “do” …Sir was on him like white on rice, with a couple cracks of the cane across his back, Dennis shouted something about reporting Sir to social services to which everyone in the classroom laughed. After a couple more attempts to defy the teacher even trying to engage the teacher in a fist fight, Sir responding with even more targeted use of the cane across his legs and back, Dennis slowly began to see the light and realized that this is not a fight he could win and nobody was coming to have his back, not the students in the class, who thought he was out of order to think he could talk to Sir in that manner and certainly not any fictional Government agency so he quickly planted his ass firmly on his seat with his book opened as Sir read him the riot act bringing home the reality of the culture as he sat their quietly except for a few after cry sniffles. He went back to America several months later but while at school in Jamaica he never again talked back to any teacher and was always the first to be seated, I always wondered where he was now and what became of him.

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Jamaica High School Chronicles: Master Nuts vs. Pen Foot

By the time I was in third form Chinese Kung Fu movies became the craze of the land and every movie theatre used to show them, some movie theatres are however known only for their Kung Fu movies aka Kickkas like the State Cinema. My best friend’s mother used to work at the Regal Cinema in Cross Road and he would supply us with regular free tickets which made him the most popular, powerful boy in the class if not the school… However there was one boy in my class we used to call Nuts because he loved peanuts. I can count the amount of time on one hand I have seen Nuts not eaten peanuts and even while in class during the lesson he would slowly sneak his one hand into his school bag, remove the nuts from the shell and eat them. The other thing Nuts loved more than peanuts was Kung Fu movies, he was hooked on them. So much so that he began to dress like a Shaolin monk after school. He was also very good at mimicking every Shaolin move and could recreate any movie scene with voice overs. So Nuts was a constant source of entertainment for us boys and was appropriately renamed Master Nuts our local Shaolin Kung Fu Master Monk and he would greet you with Buddha Bless and a bow.

At some point Master Nuts began to believe that he was actually a real Kung Fu Master and people began to believe that he was in fact a real Kung Fu Master, expert in the Martial Arts, so everyone stayed clear of him. No one ever picked a fight with Master Nuts until that one day in the school Tuck shop when Master Nuts got into an argument with Pen Foot, so called because he stole a pen in second form and hid it in his shoes. As a result of this argument both boys almost came to blows but calmer heads prevailed and a fight was scheduled for after school. The news of the upcoming fight spread like wild fire, everyone was excited to watch Master Nuts unleash his Kung Fu styles on Pen Foot, this was to be the fight of the century.

After school everyone gathered at the predetermined fight location, some boys even climbed up into trees to get a Grandstand view of the main event. By this time Master Nuts had changed out of his school uniform and into is makeshift Shaolin outfit and he was practicing his many Shaolin Kung Fu moves while warming up, it was a grand performance, even Pen Foot was amazed.

Pen Foot then entered the ring and stood there waiting for Master Nuts to come and start the fight, Master Nuts worked his way toward Pen Foot with a series of moves, jumps, kicks and swift movement of hands, it was like watching a Ballet performance. When Master Nuts got within striking distance of Pen Foot he performed a number of shadow boxing moves with Bruce Lee like sound and delivered a round house kick which missed Pen Foot completely and resulted in Master Nuts facing away from Pen Foot who took advantage of this opportunity and leaned in with a round house punch to the face of Master Nuts. Nuts was knocked over to the ground and dazed from the blow, some of us boys thought about giving him the standard standing 10 count and ask him his name before letting the fight continue but we quickly realized it was no use, Nuts done… The Master wobbled to his feet walked over and picked up his school bag then staggered off, leaving the fight ring and school, to laughter of the crowd, one boy laughed so hard he almost fell out of the tree he was sitting in…

Master Nuts did not return to school for a week, everyone wondered where he was and it was his mother who brought him back after the school contacted her to informed her that he was missing from school.

We never called Master Nuts, Master nuts ever again, from that point he went back to being just Nuts and not because he liked peanuts either. He spent the rest of third form trying to explain to anyone who would listen why he lost that fight but nobody really cared enough to listen. He was the source of many jokes for a while and after a certain period of time even he began to laugh at them because he realized we were not being mean, we were just 15 year old boys who like to make fun of each other for a laugh.

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How I Survived Hurricane Gilbert, September 12th, 1988

My first real hurricane was Gilbert, before that my sister and I would complain that the weather service was bogus, each time a hurricane was coming and everyone prepared, it almost always managed to miss us in the end. Part of us wanted to experience a hurricane and older people would tell us to stop saying stupid things and be careful what you wish for, yes we experienced loads of bad weather, near misses and close shaves but never a direct hurricane, one for the history books.

I had no idea hurricane Gilbert was coming or even existed because I was having way too much fun and the day before Gilbert was predicted to arrive, I was at home nursing a hangover, I had no clue until about 12 noon on September 11th when I woke up. I heard the weather report on the radio but quickly dismissed it as bogus weather. The joke at the time was if the weatherman said it was going to rain prepare for sunshine and head to the beach.

Later that day I had an early dinner/lunch and went outside to sit on my verandah with the Sunday paper, aka scandal news. I looked around the neighborhood and everyone was acting strange for a lazy Sunday afternoon, normally you could hear a pin drop. I looked up and out and saw a straight line of airplanes taking off from Norman Manley Airport, I said to myself “very strange, they never normally do that”, then later the phone rang, it was my relatives in New York and they were losing their minds, worried sick about the impending doom, it seems we were about to meet our maker, I tried to calm them down but they were not having any of it and was told to stock up and prepare. It was then that I decided to head down to the supermarket in Barbican but by the time I got there the shelves was mostly empty and everyone running around like the zombie apocalypse was upon us.

On the morning of September 12th I got up to go to work, turned the television on and realized that this was it, that Hurricane Gilbert was in a Jamaica state of mind, that Jamaica’s name was written all over this one and so it was time to batten down the mental hatch. It was then that I realized that the saying “calm before the storm” is so real because I heard none of the usual morning noises from nature.

I think it was between 9:00 am to noon when we were in the thick of it, my first real onslaught from mother nature, I remember the sound of the wind, it was extremely loud, rain was hard and fast as it came down by the bucket load, The wind was powerful and dangerous as the front door strained to resist it, it shake and rattled and I seriously though it would not hold out for much longer as I moved a piece of furniture to brace against it. The trees almost stayed constantly at a 45 degree angle as their roots gripped mother earth most was unsuccessful and made loud noises as they were broke and/or uprooted. As I looked out the window it was clear that anything that was not battened down was on the move. Flying missiles everywhere, zinc, wood, pieces of metal all moving in the wind like a leaf from a tree. I saw a dog went flying pass my gate heading down the road, the poor animals legs were not on the ground, I saw several satellite dishes took off like flying saucers heading back to their home planets and I saw things move that I seriously thought was firmly connected to Terra Ferma and could never move. By this time the power was gone and my grandma was busy cooking all the meat that would spoil.

I am not sure what time the eye of the hurricane got to my house but when it did it was very calm, the first half of the match was over and Gilbert was scoring goals at will, it was now the 15 minutes half time break and everyone went outside to survey the damages, first to our own property and then to the surrounding area. Destruction was everywhere, trees and light post uprooted, electrical cables dangling, some people had lost their roof and had to move in with their neighbours. Everybody was helping everybody, it was Jamaicans at their very best and it made me proud to see everyone asking everyone else if they were OK.

Hurricane Gilbert

Category: 3

Gusting Wind speed: 130 mph

Eye: 40-miles-wide 

People Killed: 45

Storm Surge: 19ft

Rain: 32 inches 

Cost of Total damage: US$4 billion

Then the winds started picking up again and everyone raced home to prepare for the second half of the match as Gilbert was the first out on the field of play, large and in charge. About one hour into the 100+ mile an hour winds and heavy rain, I heard a huge crash on my roof, I thought this was it, my shingled roof was gone and it was time to move over to the other side of the house but it was the roof next door that came crashing down and ended up partly on my roof and in our yard taking the apple tree with it.

The morning after was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and hardly any cloud in the blue skies, by this time we had no Electricity and had none for the next 3 weeks, most people had no water for about 2 weeks, so first we harvest water whenever it rained and even when water returned the pressure was very low and the water very dirty so we had to boil it before use. We did not have a lot of food, we had to cook everything that would spoil, but later stocked up on can food and during the hurricane the animals living in Barbican looted the supermarkets with one report that the supermarket manager was beaten up by the very people he served daily, strangely enough he had stayed because he wanted to open quickly so that people would not go hungry and this is how some repaid him.

Jamaica looked like a war zone, total destruction, houses destroyed, streets blocked, fallen trees and light post, dangling wires, trees without leaves and it was hot, everything that was anything was in the streets, dead animals all over the place but for me the worst thing throughout all of this was a piece of zinc that got caught on the top of a light post because for two and a half weeks I had to listen to this squeaking sound every time the wind blew, morning noon and night, squeak, squeak, squeak, I thought I was losing my mind, going mental from it and was so happy when the JPS men came to remove it and repair the poles. Nine months later and Jamaica was filled with Gilbert babies.

After Gilbert our diet consisted mainly of Corn Beef aka Bully Beef aka Bully Baff it was the order of the day, we had so much of the stuff we were beginning to smell of it, our choices was basically limited to tin food, Corn Beef, Mackerel or Sardines and when things returned to normal I made it my duty not to touch the stuff for over a year. I can still remember my first taste of ice cold water after Gilbert, a friend had gotten light back early and we all used her house as the base for all operations, I drank it slowly, savoring the taste because drinking water from a pipe in the middle of the day in Jamaica means you are drinking hot to warm water…

I must say though I had loads of fun the following days, weeks and the month after Gilbert, for one thing, I did not return to work for about a month, which pissed off the foreign consultants who came back to work one week later, telling us how they had to carry water into to the company toilets to flush them. Every day was hanging out with friends, playing dominoes, drinking hot beer, Running Boat (impromptu/communal cooking) and playing tennis over Blue cross, on hope road. just having fun and rolling with whatever life throws at us. Would I have rather been somewhere else in another country, “hell no!” and miss all this?...  This is why I love My Jamaica, our ability to role with the punches and get back up with a smile on our face, as we greet each other...."how yu do?... man Gilbert lick mi fi 6 but mi still deh yah"...no light, no problem, no water no problem, no TV, no problem, we shared what little we have and helped each other out any way we could.

Basic emergency supply kit could include the following recommended items:

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Mosquito Destroyer ***
• Coal Stove 
• Home Sweet Home lamp
• Kerosene Oil
• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities - Multi-purpose tools
• Manual can opener for food just in case you lose the corn beef tin key (lol)
• Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger
• Prescription medications and glasses
• Infant formula and diapers
• Pet food and extra water for your pet
• Cash or traveler's checks and change
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted, nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
• Fire extinguisher - In case the lamp turn over
• Matches in a waterproof container
• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
• Mess kits, paper cups, plates, paper towels and plastic utensils
• Paper and pencil
• Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

More about → How I Survived Hurricane Gilbert, September 12th, 1988

Jamaica, IMF, China and the Environment

Will Jamaica ever progress as a country, can Jamaica ever achieve any sort of economic or social progress under our current political system. I am beginning to believe we are stuck in quicksand, caught in a quagmire and being pulled with equal force from opposite ends. Our Political class and their operatives are clearly in this for selfish reasons only, the Jamaican people for the most part represents only a means to an end, we are the football on the field of life being kicked every which way till Sunday.

The purpose of all political oppositions, regardless of which party forms that opposition, is to oppose anything and everything proposed by the sitting Government regardless of which party forms that Government because the concept of bipartisan agreements, in the national interest simply does not exist in Jamaica, the Jamaican people practice and mastered the fine art of being like crab in a barrel. The PNP and their operatives when in opposition opposed every single thing the JLP Government did and the JLP and their operatives now in opposition is opposing every single thing the PNP Government is doing.

Everybody in Jamaica wants foreign Investments, they will go on and on at length about how the Government needs to attract foreign investment and foreign capital to our shores. But they only want foreign investment when their party is in power. If their party is not in power then foreign Investment is not called foreign investment but foreign sellout as they declare “look how the government a gi weh Jamaica”… The fact is, a country like Jamaica will never get foreign investment solely on our terms, we are not that cute, the Government must negotiate with potential investors and we must decide if the terms are beneficial to Jamaica and we must be prepared to walk away, if they are not.

With regards to the IMF, I have never read anywhere that said an IMF delegation came to Jamaica and beg our Government, pleaded with them on bended knees, to pretty please sign a loan agreement and they will give us money. I remember when it was announced in the 1990's that Jamaica was finally IMF free, that we had terminated our agreement with the fund, removed the shackles and regulated them to that dark place in our history.

After which we carried on without the IMF for several years until after the general election of 2007 when the new JLP Government declared that they were going back to the IMF to seek a loan. I remember my shock and horror when I first heard the news. I walked around and debated with everyone why this was a bad idea, stated that I had lived through one IMF agreement after another and how it was like hell on earth but the young pups was not having it. They proclaimed that an IMF loan was cheap, easy money and that is what Jamaica needed to recapitalize. I tried to tell them that IMF loans are never cheap, the terms are always harsh and the hurdles high but they dismissed me.

The Bruce Golding Government then signed their IMF agreement and the IMF deposited 400 million United States dollars to Jamaica's account, even before the first IMF test. It was like a carnival on that day as JLP supporters sing praises and rejoiced from the mountain tops, “Saved at last, thank god almighty we are saved at last”, even young PNP supporters were happy as pigs in shit because they also had never experienced IMF Austerity before. Another 400+ million United States dollars was also deposited from various other international financial institutions based on agreements between these institutions and the IMF, Jamaica was rolling in money, like a crack whore with free access to drugs in a Colombian drug lab.

The exchange rate which was rising at the time before the huge IMF financial payout immediately began to fall as the supply of borrowed United States dollars flood the market. Imports became cheaper and cheaper as Jamaicans looked to the heavens and shouted “Thank You Fada!” as they splurged like there was no tomorrow. They imported everything and anything, from Human Feces Fertilizer, to Range Rover, Blackberry, to Beef patty, Banana Chips, Hennessey, onion and red peas not to mention water from Trinidad. Given the choice between eating local food and eating imported food, Jamaicans will almost always choose imported food and it got so bad that no one was buying food from Jamaica’s farmers anymore. There was a glut of cheap local food on the market as the people imported Kale and Jolly Green Giant spinach over home grown callaloo. It was then that the Minister of Agriculture decided to start the “Eat what you grow program” to help out the farmers…

However when the time came for the then government to implement the IMF agreement they choked, I can only assume that the Government either did not read the agreement or had no intention of implementing anything, like a purse snatcher in a crowded market, it seems they intended to grab the money and make a run for it. I will never understand reading an agreement, signing an agreement and then breaking the agreement you singed but that is what the Government did. I would think that if the agreement was not to your liking then you would not have signed it BUT the pull of cheap US $800 Million was too great and election was upon them and with US $800 million the Government thought they could create a matrix like illusion of progress in order to win the next general election. Anyway Jamaica failed their first IMF test and the entire agreement broke down, the general election was called and the JLP lost, so out went one set of morons and in comes the next set of idiots.

The Peoples National Party promised the people a different path but ended up right back on the same path as the previous Government, back into bed with the IMF, on bended kneels asking for forgiveness and a new deal with a promise to implement the agreement to the letter this time around. By now the IMF had learned a valuable lesson based on their experience with the last Government... that you never, ever, ever give Jamaica a big lump sum of money based on promises..., no big money let off. This time it was going to be different, the IMF would deliver the money in small drips but only after Jamaica jump over a series of hurdles and water obstacles, no more hundreds of millions but a 20 million here and a 30 million there... lunch money.

First IMF Test Results under the Second IMF Agreement

Today August 22nd, 2013 it was announced that Jamaica had passed the first IMF test, we cleared the first couple of hurdle with only 295 to go. The IMF declared that they will now deposit another 30 million United States Dollars into Jamaica’s account, which should go down like honey and pass through Jamaica like laxative. As a result of the IMF Austerity measures Jamaica's exchange rate is now 102 to 1, this however is by design since the IMF wants the exchange rate to reach a more realistic position and not propped up by borrowed money, however based on what I am hearing, I believe this did not go as far enough for them but it will do for now because various IMF news reports stated that in real terms Jamaica’s exchange rate should be around 120 to 1, due to the lack of economic activity. I suspect that it will be around 105 to 1 by November unless we experience some growth and earn some hard cash soon.

In other news imports are down, this also is by design and part of the IMF’s import substitution strategy, since Imports are now more expensive as a result of the high exchange rate. The hope here is that people will begin to consume local output, support local production and grow the economy. Austerity measures almost always come with a price and as a result of cuts in Government expenditure Jamaica's economic activity is estimated to have contracted by 0.7 per cent, …“it was the fifth consecutive quarter of negative growth, indicating that the Jamaican economy continues to be in recession, with little expectation of growth beyond 0.5 per cent for the remainder of fiscal year 2013-14.”... The Unemployment rate increased to 16.3 per cent at the end of April and inflation increased to 9.7 per cent in July. However the net international reserves increased to just over US$1 billion by the end of June.

Jamaica Outperforms Projections - IMF
At the same time, the mission, which conducted the first quarterly review under the four-year extended fund facility (EFF) during the past week, reported yesterday that Jamaica's fiscal performance for the last financial year and the first quarter of the current year outperformed projections despite declines in several key areas.

Jamaica At The Bottom Of The Economic Pile: Aubyn Hill, financial gleaner COLUMNIST
Jamaica's imports still far outstrips our exports, As a country, we appear to be unwilling to curb our desire for foreign cars, clothes, hairpieces, flour and rice, and we continue to produce less and less for export.

Calls for a Jamaican Spring

I am seeing more and more partisan diehard supporters posting that what Jamaica need is some of what is happening in the Middle East, as if what is happening in the Middle East is a good thing. The Arab Spring is really a Arab Nightmare with hundreds of thousands of men, women and children killed, forced to be refugees and the region in a state of permanent perpetual civil war, yet people are talking about this is what Jamaica needs. Some of these young people are idiots with no concept of their own history because I have lived through many years of Jamaican protest and let me tell you, it is not pretty.

Yes back in the days we use to have peaceful political protest, I remember being involved in a couple of them myself, you write up some plaque cards and march to JBC where you deliver your message peacefully but at some point in our history the meaning of a protest was changed to mean a full scale riot and criminality. A politically motivated protest these days means unleash the Kraken, release the dogs of war, as smoke bellows up from the city, shots fly everywhere, stores looted, people murdered, beaten, roads blocked and people charged a toll for passage at gun point. Communities are held hostages, light post chopped down and everyone plunged into darkness with every intersection blocked with old cars and burning tires.

So you young whipper snappers be very careful what you wish for because you just might get it, especially when Jamaicans love to emulate the world’s most dangerous unstable hotspots. You might just start something you cannot reverse because the last time I checked both parties have almost equal numbers of diehard cut throat murderers and what happen if no one is willing to back down and ready to go toe to toe for a prolong period of time. Not to mention you cannot get blood out of a stone, no amount of protest can create money that only comes from hard work.

Mission to China

The Prime Minister and her delegation are in China on a one week official states visit to negotiate some deals and sign some agreements. It was announced today that several bilateral agreements was signed by both Governments.

1. China would like to use Jamaica as a Logistic Hub to take advantage of the expanded Panama Canal when it opens in 2015 and a gateway to the region.
2. China would like to build a multi-billion-dollar Logistic Hub and a new Port in the Portland Bight Protected Area on the Goat Islands. The Government has insisted that the project will provide thousands of much-needed jobs. The preliminary estimates for this mega investment are between US$1.2 billion and US$1.5 billion.
3. An Agreement was signed and China will invest into several infrastructure projects paving the way for the flow of funds under the US$350 million Major Infrastructure Development Programme.
4. The Government also inked an a agreement on economic and technical cooperation, which will see China providing Jamaica with a 100 million yuan (US$14.2 million) grant, in aid to Jamaica.
5. China agreed to build two infant schools, one in Tower Hill, St Andrew, and the other at Morant Estate, St Thomas.
6. China agreed to dispatch a technical group to Jamaica for feasibility study on a teaching building project at the Confucius Institute on Mona Campus, University of the West Indies.
7. China will teach the members of the PNP administration the Drunken Master Kung Fu style and Roger "Po" Clark will be the Dragon Warrior.

Where we should come together in the national interest we are fighting among ourselves. I firmly believe the opposition should have been with the Government in China negotiating in the national interest from a Jamaica first approach but we are not wired that way.

Not Even the Great United States is Immune to China
"In much of America, Chinese investment is quietly booming, with over $10.5 billion of deals by Chinese companies in the United States so far this year, 2013 is on pace to be the largest year ever for mergers and acquisitions of U.S. firms by Chinese companies, according to Thomson Reuters data."

Human Development vs. the Environment

China have identified two location for the construction of the Logistic Hub and Minister Robert Pickersgill announced that consideration is now being given for the use of Goat Island One and Two as the site of the hub. They were first offered Fort Augusta but rejected it declaring that the area was too small, they wanted 3,000 acres of land to build the port and mega centre.

The problem is, these are environmentally protected areas and Environmental groups have announced that they will not give them up without a fight and are prepared to take the government to court. The Government declared these areas a protected site some years ago but now has come full circle on the matter. This project is huge and the environmental impact deep and destructive, flattening one island and using the 70 feet hill to dump up the wetlands between the two islands making one big mega island, where is sharknado when you need him.

The Lush Goat Island

I consider myself a soldier in the war to protect the environment and I normally give the Jamaica Environment Trust the benefit of the doubt, they have earned my trust, so if they say no way, hands off then I am inclined to side with them and fight to protect this area. We must find the right balance between the need for Human Development and preservation of the environment, I do understand that we must sacrifice some of our environment in the interest of human development, growth and employment but where do we draw that line?

Goat Island

This is not like the Aluminum red mud lake byproduct, which already exist, is toxic and serves no purpose… These are rich environmental locations full of life that needs to be protected. I do understand that people need work, poverty needs to be addressed but should we give up some of the environment to achieve this? A big part of me says no. I just wish the debate was free of politics, everyone trying to score political point and not acting in the best interest of Jamaica. As far as I am concern if you are political then you are by nature contradictory and hypocritical and being for or against an issue is based on Political Parties and not on principles, if you support an issue or is against an issue out of principle then politics is irrelevant. The pros and cons regarding this issue must be made available for all to see and to evaluate but in the mean time I am in Environmentalist mode.

China Idea of Development

Demystifying The Logistics Hub
Minister of industry, investment and commerce, Anthony Hylton has shrugged off sceptics of the much-touted logistics hub, saying there are investors willing to pump huge sums into the US$8 billion project.

 In China the fish floats to the top

 The average Chinese lungs has evolved to breath in everything else but pure fresh air

China is not a country that cares about the environment nor are they acting in Jamaica’s best interest, well none of these types of countries ever acted in Jamaica’s best interest, certainly not the United States of America or Great Britain. We are old enough, have been on this earth long enough to know that we are only a means to an end, their end. We have lived through Slavery, Colonization and the Cold War and have been used and abused by these blood sucking first world countries at one time or another. So every one of us knows that China is looking out for China’s best interest and this is a negotiation, the government must fight for Jamaica's interest, we know we must give up somethings but we must also get somethings from the deal and the cost cannot be too much, we must be prepared to walk away.

If we appear too needy and cheap then we will be used like a crack whore who has not gotten her last fix for some time and right now our Government is needy, hurting, emotional, sensitive and fearful, yes people our Government is a Crack Whore who have not hit that pipe for some time now and will do just about anything for a quick fix.

Selling Our Birthright: Peter Espeut
The Chinese have declared the Goat Islands to be their preferred site to establish a huge port and logistics hub. The discussions have taken place in secret, but the scuttlebutt is that Great Goat Island is to be levelled, and the 100m-high hill pushed into the sea to cover the wetlands between them, and to create a huge island on which the logistics hub will be built.

 The Chinese version of Hellshire Beach

When it comes to the environment the average Chinese would live on Saturn’s moon Titan and suck Methane for money so I would never listen to the Chinese when it comes to the Environment.

More about → Jamaica, IMF, China and the Environment

The Great Jamaican Debate: Who Should Rule!!!

The great debate in Jamaica is a never ending debate, the debate as to which Political Party is best suited to lead Jamaica and this debate is as old as Jamaica itself. Jamaica is no stranger to being ruled by different factions over the many hundreds of years. First the Taíno Indians, also known as the Arawaks ruled Jamaica but suffered continued attacks from the warlike Carib Indians who wanted them for dinner. Then the Spanish conquered the island claiming that they discovered it and proceeded to exterminate every last Indian on the island. It was the Spanish who first introduce Africans to Jamaica in order to replace the Indians they systematically wiped out.

Then one sunny Jamaican morning in 1655 on the 10th of May another band of European scavengers turned up on our shores, it was two Spanish settlers who first spotted the huge fleet just as it rounded Point Morant... this was the English Armada which resulted in the invasion and the start of the war between the Spanish and the English. In the end Jamaica was conquer by our colonial masters the English and the Spanish was sent packing. Throughout the entire Caribbean the Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English was engaged in one war after another trying to decide who "discovered" what and controlled what. Almost everywhere the Spanish and Portuguese went they discovered gold which made the English green with envy, they wanted some gold of their own, so they set out to "discover" distant lands but they were never that lucky, they found no gold.

It was then that they decided to take gold from the Spanish and Portuguese, it they could not find a land mass with easy gold for the pickings then they would take the Spanish Gold. It was easy work, sit back relax and let them do all the hard work of invading, murdering the natives and extracting the gold then attack their slow over burden ships as they made their way back to Europe and take their gold, easy money and how the Empire got started.

In one incident after much murdering, enslaving, raping and pillaging by the Spanish in South America they woke up to find English Armada sitting just off the coast, guns pointing towards shore and without even firing a single shot the Spanish decided to just give up and give in, they gave the English all their Gold because the alternative was not worth it. Which is exactly how the British took Manhattan, the Dutch woke up to find the British Fleet heading into New York and not having any stomach for a fight they surrendered their possessions and head home. The Dutch were Traders not fighters and in the end traded their lives for Manhattan, New Amsterdam then became New York.

**Armada is the Spanish and Portuguese word for naval fleet but the word Armada is way cooler than the word fleet... Other names I love are Bismarck battleships and HMS Dreadnought... wicked names... 

Fast forward to present times and we are still being invaded and conquered by different factions both local and international but instead of guns, spears and battle armor they wear slick expensive suits, armed with Ivy League education, mastered the gift of the gab and backed by Multinational Corporations who are the modern day version of the Dutch West India Company and British East India Company. Historically these companies used local leaders as their front men after trying and failed at direct rule because It seems the locals prefer to be oppressed indirectly by people who look and sound like them, so the English was content with ruling from the behind, pulling the strings and reaping the rewards, a tradition that continued to this very day via the World Bank, IMF and United Nation to name a few.

Our independence and freedom exist within the framework created by these bodies. So who control these world governing bodies? That is a question everyone is trying to find an answer to. Some say the United States of America controls the world governing bodies but who control the United States Government, in fact who control all Governments? If one followed the money trail one would find that it leads back to the Multinational Corporations who bought the entire world, lock stock and barrel, they are the Ferengis of our time, greedy, untrustworthy little trolls.

There is no longer a dividing line between our Governments and the Multinational Corporations, the Government of a country works directly for and in the Multinational Corporations who controls what you eat, think, love and hate, they decide when war starts and when war ends.

Perspective: JLP = PNP = Jamaican People or JLP vs. PNP vs. Jamaican People vs. Jamaican People
 

It is really irrelevant which Political Party makes up the Government of Jamaica because the medicine is and will always be the same, …it will be Bitter and Toxic!! Simply because of the actions or lack of actions of the Jamaican people... because of our greed, selfishness, lack of insight, indiscipline, lack of innovation and imagination we have allowed the infection that plague our country to run wild and spread deep for many decades and now the patient must undergo invasive surgery to remove this cancer.

The fact of the matter is the IMF is not going to change its terms base on which Political Party makes up the Government of Jamaica who I must say, is just along for the ride on this IMF roller coaster. The IMF solution and the IMF terms are set in Rock Stone as no one is willing to lend us money to prop up the Jamaican dollar so we can import more feel good garbage and if they do lend us money for that purpose then the rate and the terms will be harsher… The IMF terms are the same terms presented to the JLP after their IMF agreement and they failed to implement them simply because election was upon them and they did not have the balls to do what was right. Back then the IMF gave Jamaica US $400 Million in direct loans and another US $400+ Million from various other financial institutions as a result of the agreement and even before the first IMF test and we had a jolly good time with that money. We imported like there was no tomorrow as the influx of US $800+ Million was like a shot of heroin into Jamaica’s import Junkie life blood, this resulted in artificially reducing the exchange rate and allowed us to splurge while we sing praises to the Government of the day, not realizing or not caring that it was the wrong thing to do.

I have noticed that the Jamaica Labour Party is NOT campaigning on the high exchange rate or on any of the requirements dictated to us by the IMF because they cannot promise a different path. Both the JLP and the PNP cannot say they will artificially reduce the exchange rate, higher more people in the public sector or pay out more in benefits to social programs, they simply cannot go against the current IMF mandate and they do not have an alternate path and have long since ran out of any ideas. They are all just blowing smoke and whistling Dixie, jumping around like circus clowns, posturing for their idiot voters.

The PNP had promised a different path before the 2011 election only to realize that the path is not open for negotiation with the world financing bodies, who has clearly had enough of our promises and failed implementations not to mention they have their hands full with more important countries and economies and realized long ago that if you throw money at Jamaica, Jamaica will squander it, keep a big merriment party and live for today, we are a money sucking black hole.

The JLP cannot bring anything radically different to the table, just like the PNP could not bring anything radically different to the table after 2011. Whatever growth program both the JLP and PNP are planning, if any, must be done within the guidelines of the limited IMF agreement and terms which is standing firm. This is why I do not care which Political Party/faction makes up the Government, they are in fact, just hamsters on a wheel and despite all their promises and rage they are still just a rat in a cage.

The Real World Boss!!

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