Forum: News & Topical Issues
SATAN'S MEETING..............(read even if ur busy)
SATAN'S MEETING: (Read even if you're busy)
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said,
"We can't keep Christians from going to church."
"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the
truth."
"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with
their saviour."
"Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is
broken."
"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish
dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a
relationship with Jesus Christ.."
"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:
"Distract them from gaining hold of their Sa viour and maintaining
that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable
schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.
"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to
work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty
lifestyles."
"Keep them from spending time with their children."
" As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape
from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still,
small voice."
"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they
driv e." To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their
home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays
non-biblical music constantly."
"This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."
"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."
"Invade their driving moments with billboards."
"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs,
sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free
products, services and false hopes.."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their
husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll
become dissatisfied with their wives. "
"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."
"Give them headaches too! "
"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will
begin to look elsewhere."
"That will fragment their families quickly!"
"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children
the real meaning of Christmas."
"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection
and power over sin and death."
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."
"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."
"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's
creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts,
and movies instead."
"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip
and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to
seek power from Jesus."
"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their
health and family for the good of the cause."
"It will work!"
"It will work!"
It was quite a plan!
The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians
everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.
Having little time for their God or their families.
Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change
lives.
I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his
schemes?
You be the judge!!!!!
Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?
Please pass this on, if you aren't too BUSY!
WHICH ONE A DEM TUFFER ( HARDCORE KARTEL OR MONEY KARTEL )
What a way the show water down! Dem shoulda just change the name to 'Less of the Best' and done. No Bounty. No Mavado. But it was still a jampacked Memorial Day crowd, and the performances were good and ting for the most part. Buju didn't work for long, and he called out New Kidz who kinda flopped himself. Sizzla was brilliant, say 'man ah rasta, man no watch time', the crowd railed. To me, ah Beenie kinda spice up the show when him go up and gwaan wid a bagga tings. The crowd love it when him announce say some ah dem nuh have no visa, Bounty caan come foreign again. Beenie say him rate Mavado, and even start sing 'On the Rock', one time mi did haffi wonder if him under him Henessey. Him draw out him performance though and every minute him say, one more song, one more song, eventually the security haffi relieve him of the mike. After Beenie perform, the people dem start walk out during Super Cat performance.
OH PPLE I DID NOT CREATE THE BANNER OR THE THEME OK NOT MY WORK
-- Edited by ANDRE_DESIGNZ at 10:03, 2008-05-27
djs, selectors, soundbwoys - DUBPLATES (do you really know what your getting?????)
Is yes what did you do???? PLAY IT, BIN IT etc etc
Inner-city counselling services get shot in the arm
| Inner-city counselling services get shot in the arm |
Monday, May 19, 2008 |
THE American Friends of Jamaica have awarded US$9,000 to the Women's Resource & Outreach Centre (WROC) to support the promotion of its health and wellness programme, which includes counselling services, for 2008.
On Tuesday, May 13, the cheque was handed over to WROC programme manager and counselling psychologist Faith St Catherine at the residence of the US Ambassador Brenda LaGrange Johnson in Stony Hill, St Andrew.
According to St Catherine, "The funds will be used to provide counselling services free of cost to clients and to support community outreach on health and family life issues."
WROC is located near the inner-city community of Lyndhurst/Greenwich - a poor area, with high levels of unemployment and underemployment, poor housing and overcrowding. The counsellor notes that the area is subject to sporadic yet recurring incidents of gang violence, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and high rates of school drop-out and truancy.
In 2007, 330 individual counselling sessions were conducted at WROC: 209 with females, 64 with males, and 57 with children.
"The purpose of the grant is to continue to offer this programme to people who need, but could not afford the services being offered," St Catherine said.
WROC's counselling programme includes individual and group counselling, seminars and workshops on mental health issues, and life skills training. With the aid of the new grant, the counselling programme director hopes to improve functioning, behaviour and well-being among persons in the community and their families who utilise the services offered.
The funds will go towards promoting a mental health through education programme and counselling support; supporting and assisting persons to change behaviour, eg in relation to parenting and sexuality; enabling clients to improve their coping skills; assisting in sourcing help through referrals to meet specific needs; and supporting school counselling for teens.
"The fact that more than 1,000 persons utilise this service yearly, is proof of this," St Catherine said in explaining how vital the health and wellness programme is to the community. "It is estimated that at least 800 persons would benefit yearly from the counselling programme at WROC."
She said the issue of mental health treatment and prevention warrants special consideration as there is a high incidence of mental illness within the Kingston communities served by WROC as well as high levels of stress and depression brought on by the harsh economic and social conditions, abuse and abandonment by parents and partners.
The American Friends of Jamaica stated in a letter to WROC, "we are pleased to support your mission and wish you every success in the coming year."
The mission of WROC is to build and sustain an organisation which promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women and youth through social, economic, and advocacy programmes.
Ladies!!! Is it okay 4 ur man to hav pix of his ex in his phone
Ladies, is it kool 4 ur man to have pix of his ex in his fone. n wat wuld u do if he didn't want to delete them.
What irritates you in your partner ?
Put something on the table or else Air J workers
The workers gave notice during a special meeting held in Kingston Monday night.
Scores of employees gathered at the National Workers Union (NWU) headquarters to discuss Air Jamaica's response to their request for a pay hike.
In light of the sudden postponement of a meeting scheduled for last week to discuss cost cutting measures at the airline, the workers have decided to give the management one more chance to return to the negotiating table.
NWU Vice-President Granville Valentine said the workers are adamant that after June 10, the time for talk will be over.
Mr. Valentine said the workers are adamant that if the company does not produce all the documentation by next week, then they will take industrial action and the union will not be able to convince them otherwise.
SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine - Two St Catherine police officers were last week sent to prison after being found guilty of drug possession and wounding, while a third was arrested for breaching the Corruption Prevention Act.
The two convicted cops are Sergeant Earlie Wilson and Constable Clive Dixon of the Portmore and Spanish Town police respectively.
Wilson was found guilty of possession of 525 pounds of ganja which was found at his Hellshire, St Catherine home in April 2005 during a raid by the narcotics police. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment at hard labour. In addition he was ordered to pay a fine of $1 million.
He was found guilty on possession of ganja; of taking steps to export ganja and using his premises to store the weed.
His attorney Bert Samuels, immediately gave verbal notice of appeal and applied for bail but this was rejected by resident magistrate Marcia Dunbar-Green.
Meanwhile Dixon was convicted in the St Catherine Circuit Court on a charge of unlawful wounding and sentenced to 18 months in prison at hard labour.
The charge arose out of a 2004 incident where he reportedly stopped a motorist along Young Street, Spanish Town for a minor traffic infraction. He said the motorist hit him with the car and he drew his service pistol and shot the motorist in his neck. Dixon was arrested and charged with wounding with intent, but a seven-member jury found him guilty on the lesser charge of unlawful wounding.
And, last week constable Orthel Whittingham of the Waterford police was arrested on suspicion of corruption. Whittingham was charged with soliciting by the Anti Corruption Branch and taken to the Spanish Town Criminal Court. He pleaded not guilty and was offered $80,000 bail to return to court on July 17 when the matter will again be mentioned.
He was also ordered to surrender his passport to the police.
Investigators told the court that the cop stopped a motorist along the Hellshire main road on April 11. While going through the car documents he discovered that the car was not insured. The cop is alleged to have told the motorist that the offence would cost him $100,000 if he went to court.
However, the two haggled and the cop agreed to accept $25,000 to drop the charge, arranging for delivery later that day at the police station.
A report was made to the Anti Corruption Branch and a sting operation was set up. Detectives told the court that although Whittingham did not take the money, they taped the conversation between the cop and the complainant.
Statements were collected and sent to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) who ruled last Thursday that the cop be arrested and charged with a breach of the Corruption Prevention Act.
 |
| A JDF soldier stands guard as residents of Allman Town mourn the murders of Christopher Stewart and Omar McKintyre who were shot at Bowfrey Road in Kingston yesterday. Stewart and McKintyre were among nine persons murdered between late Sunday night and 6:00 pm yesterday. |
TWO men who police believe were involved in the murders of two policemen on Labour Day in Trench Town, Kingston were among nine people killed between Sunday night and yesterday as the island continued to experience a level of *lo**-letting that has driven fear into the hearts of many people.
A Jamaica Defence Force soldier was shot dead in the incident in which the two suspected cop killers were cut down by lawmen's bullets during a joint police/military operation in Westmore Gardens in Spanish Town early yesterday morning.
The soldier, later identified as Lance Corporal Oral Pinnock, was assigned to the Kingfish/National Intelligence Bureau, while the men killed by the police were named as Warren Faily, alias 'Border Hittis', 32, and Seamel Tycon.
Another man and two women were taken into custody following that incident and the police say that shortly after midday a Trench Town resident also turned himself over to the police.
According to the police, they entered a premises in Westmore Gardens when men ran from separate rooms and opened fire at them. The police said they returned the fire and after the shoot-out the men, as well as Lance Corporal Pinnock, were found with gunshot wounds.
The three were taken to hospital where Pinnock and the two men succumbed to their injuries. Pinnock was shot in the chest and it is not clear whether he was wearing a bullet-proof vest.
Two pistols were alleged to have been taken from the two men.
Yesterday, Inspector Steve Brown, spokesman for Operation Kingfish, said the dead men were part of a gang which operated in the violence-prone Wilton Gardens (Rema) area, and who had a million-dollar bounty placed on their heads for the murders of constables Cornel Grant, 34 and Delano Lawrence who were both killed on Labour Day.
The two cops, who were ambushed and their weapons - an M16 assault rifle and a 9mm pistol - stolen, were on patrol in an area along Third Street.
"They have been positively identified as part of the gang which is responsible for the murders of the two officers," Brown told the Observer.
Brown said that one of the pistols seized during yesterday's operation was suspected to be that which was taken from of one of the murdered cops.
"But tests will have to be done before we know for sure," said Brown. "The police are still searching for the missing firearms and suspects of last Friday's murders."
In the meantime, Seargent Jubert Llewelyn said yesterday that a male resident of Trench Town turned himself in with his attorney at the Kingston Central Police Station.
"He said he heard that the police were searching for him in relation to last Friday's shooting and he turned up at the station with his lawyer, Llewelyn said.
Minister of national security Colonel Trevor MacMillan, in a statement yesterday, said he was saddened by the death of the soldier, the third member of the security forces to have been killed in three days.
MacMillan, a retired JDF officer, called the killing of the soldier a devastating blow but said the security forces will remain firm in their pursuit to find those responsible and bring them to justice.
He expressed condolences to the family and colleagues of Lance Corporal Pinnock, noting that the loss will be especially hard for his wife who is expecting their first child.
Meanwhile, homicide detectives in Spanish Town are investigating the slaying of two men and the injuring of three others during a drive-by attack at Eltham Park in the community.
The dead men are identified as Matthew Harper, 23 and shopkeeper Clinton McMorris, 32 while the injured men are aged 20, 34 and 49, all of the community.
According to the police, the men were standing near a shop in the community when they were shot by a carload of gunmen shortly after 11:00 pm Sunday. They were rushed to hospital where they were pronounced dead while the injured men were admitted in stable condition.
Yesterday, as Scene of Crime detectives processed the scene, one female resident wept openly. According to the woman, who said she was a friend of one of the dead men, the attack took place minutes after she left the shop where the men were killed.
Yesterday, gunmen also struck in the Corporate Area and St Thomas.
An unidentified bus conductor was attacked and shot several times as he walked in the Queensborough community before noon. He died on the spot.
Gunmen also slaughtered 20-year-old Christopher Stewart and Omar McKintyre, 22, as they rode on a motorcycle at the intersection of Slipe Pen and Bowfrey roads in Kingston. The double murder occurred at 6:00 pm.
Half-an-hour earlier, 51-year-old businessman Cecil Riley, popularly called 'Petrol', was slain in front of the Planet X night club he operated on the Albion Main Road in St Thomas. Police say Riley was among a group of persons standing at the side of the road when armed men approached him and shot him repeatedly.
He died on the spot.
SPAULDING, Clarendon -Two fires in Spaulding, Clarendon which blazed within seven hours apart on the weekend, completely gutted a two-storey shopping plaza and an eleven apartment dwelling house, leaving millions in damage.
Some 85 employees are out of work and nine people are homeless.
The cause of the fires is not yet known but police theorise that a likely cause of the shopping plaza fire could be an electrical short circuit in the supermarket there.
Police say the first fire occurred about 3:30 pm on Saturday when fire was seen coming from the back of the eleven-apartment dwelling house which is near to Knox College, where nine tenants lived.
However, by the time the firefighters arrived on the scene the house was completely destroyed. Damage is estimated at $8 million.
About 10:30 pm Saturday, fire was seen coming from the back section of the supermarket situated on the mini shopping plaza along Main Street.
The fire at the plaza completely destroyed some 10 businesses including a cambio. Damage is estimated in the high millions.
Seven fire units from Christiana, Mandeville, May Pen along with a private water truck fought the five-hour fire which was brought under control at 3:30 am Sunday.
Meanwhile, member of parliament for North West Clarendon Michael Stern, said while he has already provided some degree of assistance for the displaced persons who lost their belongings, he will be seeking government's assistance for the small business entrepreneurs to help them to bear the loss.
FLAV PROPOSES but nt 2 thing 1/2 i dnt kno her name....
ladies wat would you do if u man waah have sex wid di free clinic condoms lmao
By Jonathan Northcroft
@T= Sometimes its the littler moments that reveal greatness in its magnitude. John Terry was still blubbing and colleagues were celebrating when Ryan Giggs sought out Cristiano Ronaldo, cupped his head and peered into his eyes. I said, Enjoy this, and make sure its not your last. At 23, and with his talent, Cristiano should be having more nights like this, said Giggs. Ten minutes after Manchester United ended 2007-08 as European champions came the first team talk of 2008-09.
Sir Alex Ferguson did not open his mouth. Relentless, unquenchable, seldom has a club been so much in its managers image. Ferguson has arrived at that point of nirvana sought by men of history, where he so influences others that he does not need to be present for his work to be done. It is called legacy, and it is why, on Friday, fingers curled round a flute of champagne, Ferguson could at last reveal how his epic will end. He is not planning another ghost retirement as in 2001-02, but the real thing, for that serene and stately, and final, ride into the long sunset.
Ferguson, 67 on December 31, announced he would not be managing when he is 70. He has three seasons left, at most. The likelihood, wishing to keep everyone on their toes, is that Ferguson will go sooner, perhaps at the end of 2009-10. He will have served 24 years as manager by then, the same, he will know, as Sir Matt Busby.
Botoxed by silverware yet again, Ferguson did not look like someone yielding to age, but then he seldom does. He makes a lie out of the idea it is the young who have no fear. Both pre-match and when destiny called inside the Luzhniki stadium, Ferguson was the more relaxed manager, acting the more daringly, and thus shaped victory over Avram Grant.
In triumphs afterglow, he was sparkling, teasing a Tory-voting journalist (David Cameron will fall apart, dont worry. Hes naw got it . . . ) and cracking jokes about the city he has so tormented, Liverpool. During Uniteds all-night party in Moscow he had been too busy talking to friends and playing with his grandchildren to have more than two glasses of , and a bit of cheese. Ever Sir Polymath, he digressed to offer a connoisseurs guide to caviar; he was disappointed that at Uniteds buffet (Ł400 per head . . . and you paid cash!) only red caviar (too sticky) was available but, no matter, Andrei Kanchelskis turned up with a gift of black caviar (the good stuff, from the Caspian Sea).
Then Ferguson laid out his remaining challenges. One is making United so mammoth it would become futile for rival clubs even to try courting star players like Ronaldo. Another is helping Wayne Rooney develop as spectacularly as the Portuguese. Finally, he confirmed even mens men can be soft as butter. This iron manager admitted a surprising taste for Meg Ryan films.
---------Sir Alex, your next landmark birthday is your 70th. Will you still be in charge of Manchester United then?
No. I wont be manager here when Im 70 and I wont be managing any more than another three years at the very most.
-------Why?
You have to think about time for yourself. And my wifes getting older, and you have to think about that. She deserves a bit of my time. The older you get, you get guilty about it.
--------When you considered retiring in 2001-02, Lady Cathy was one of the main people who persuaded you to rethink. You said she wouldnt like you hanging about the house.
Aye. But she would. She never brings it up, to be honest with you. The big fear is what you would do with yourself. Theres too many examples of people who retire and are in their box soon after. Because youre taking away the very thing that makes you alive, that keeps you alive. I remember my dad had his 65th birthday and the Fairfields shipyard gave him a dinner in Glasgow with 400 people there. It was a big night for my dad. I was in Aberdeen and came down for it on a Friday. The next week my mother phones and said, Your dads going in for an X-ray, he has pains in his chest. I said, Itll be emotion. Well, it was cancer. A week. One week.
---------So you know youll find retirement tough.
Thats the point Im making. Thats why I cannae do it, at the moment anyway.
---------In 2001-02 there was talk of you taking up an ambassadorial role with United. Is that still a possibility?
Were taking on a cl**tch of ambassadors within the club, like Bryan Robson. Sir Bobby Charltons one. Thats possibly one of the avenues for me. Bryan and Bobby do 40 days a year. And Ive a contract with Nike that takes a bit of your time. Id like to travel to some of the places Ive never visited, go to the States and spend maybe three or four months there.
But you can only do that once. You can go to Australia once, but you cant go every year. So youre left with that thing you say to yourself. What about these mornings when you wake up at 6am and you go to get up out of your bed, then remember, Oh, but Ive finished. Thats the hard part, the hard thought. But youd hope you can survive that.
Every year mates from my boys team, Hampden Road, come down to Manchester. Every one of them has been married for more than 40 years. One or two have died, but there are 11 or 12 who still visit. Well, Ive got a pal, Duncan. I was in nursery with Duncan at four years of age, weve been pals for more than 60 years. He retired when he was 50 and spends six months of the year traveling. He bought a house in Florida and his wife looks on the internet. Theres a deal in Cyprus, well go to Cyprus. Theres a deal in Australia, well go to Australia. They visit Canada. Duncans got brothers in Ottawa, in the same town some of my family moved to.
Hes fit as a fiddle. He plays his golf, sees his grandchildren. It can be done. And Manchester United will still be part of my life. Ive got a good relationship. Theres no question of me ever being sacked. Most things will be my decision and David Gill is happy with that.
---------Can you keep Cristiano Ronaldo?
Ronaldo will not be leaving here in the next two years at least. He knows whats best for him. When he becomes 25 or 26 he might have a different view and want something else out of life. And I wouldnt be against him in that respect. What weve got to try and do is make sure were bigger. We cant rest on what happened in Moscow. Weve got to make ourselves bigger.
Its like this. Do you remember that movie called Ive Got Email. With, um, Meg Ryan. The wee shop round the corner gets engulfed by the big one owned by Tom Hanks and she cant do anything about it. Thats been happening in society for 30 or 40 years; the wee shop gets engulfed by the supermarkets. Well, we dont want to be one of the small shops. Id *lo**y hate to think Real Madrid can ride roughshod over us about a player. Yes, they courted Ruud van Nistelrooy and his agent courted Real Madrid. That was a marriage made in hell. The minute Van Nistelrooy signed his new contract it was a certainty he was leaving here. His one idea was to go to Real Madrid. We wanted him to go. Same with David Beckham, we wanted to sell Beckham. We dont want to sell Ronaldo.
---------How do you make United bigger? Is expanding the stadium part of it?
Im on to David Gill all the time about that. I know what we can do. In the main stand, at both ends, you build a steel structure up and across. Right? We cant build back, because of the railway line behind, so we build upwards the way Im talking about. Or shove all you press boys somewhere out of the road. That would get us 200 or 300 seats . . .
Building just one corner of the main stand would get us another 6,500 seats and take us up to around 83,000 capacity. We could sell 100,000 tickets for our games but, architecturally, thats not possible. At least if we build the way Im talking about, it would make the façade of the stadium symmetrical all the way round and wed reach Real Madrids level in terms of capacity, and it would make us bigger than anyone in England could do.
---------How else can the club expand?
Well, commercially weve done well. David Gills got a good team together. But thats not my department. To me, the money we make doesnt matter. The only thing that matters to me is that black type, as they say in racing circles. You want to play in European Cup finals. If someone like Ronaldo is playing in the European Cup final every year, hes not going to go anywhere.
------------Are you ever worried Wayne Rooney might feel uncomfortable about the rise of Ronaldo? When he joined United he was supposed to be the star.
Theyre great pals. I dont think it affects the boy, no. Waynes a winner. It doesnt bother him one bit. Hes got that, I suppose, Liverpool attitude, that bugger you all type thing. And he doesnt court celebrity. His girlfriend is great that way too. Shes a clever girl, down to earth.
------------Some fans say Rooney is too unselfish for his own good, that hed get more glory if he wasnt such a team player.
Rooneys not a selfish boy. He is a committed winner. He makes a lot of sacrifices, which dont reflect on his individual performance, but as a team player hes fantastic. Hell play anywhere you ask. I mean, he says to me the other week, Boss, I can play centre-half. Hes said it half-a-dozen times. I played centre-half for the school, you know. I said, But were playing against Drogba
Its a fantastic asset if youve got players like that. I had Brian McClair, a fantastic footballer. You could say to Chalky, Go and play at right-back, and hed say, Nothing surprises me about you. He was so nonchalant, so temperamentally capable, that he could go and do it. And Rooneys got the same assets in terms of saying, Yeah, for the team, no problem. Hes great.
----------His progress has not been as dramatic as Ronaldos, though.
Ah, but hes eight months younger. Wait and you might see somethingWe know we have to work with Wayne in terms of finding his right position. Im not sure what that is sometimes. Hes fantastic when hes aggressive up front but when he drops in he offers so many options in terms of balance and looking at a situation quickly. So weve got to make up our mind. It would help me if we could get another player, a centre-forward maybe.
-------Rooney and Carlos Tevez are quite small. Would you be looking for a taller striker?
Possibly.
--------Can you tell us who? As a present?
Aye, thatll be right.
----------Unlike Ronaldo, its hard to picture Rooney leaving United.
Yeah. Hes a local boy. He comes from 35 miles away. Okay, so not exactly local. I mean, you cant say Liverpools local to anything.
-----------You got the big decisions right in Moscow, going 4-4-2, using Ronaldo as a conventional winger to attack Michael Essien, making positive substitutions. What was your thinking?
Id picked the team a week before. The subs were the problem and I had to leave out Park Ji Sung. Chelsea set themselves up in midfield with three very experienced players and I had to get myself an option of playing Owen Hargreaves, so I could put him in central midfield at some point of the game. Chelsea dominated the second half and we brought Hargreaves into the centre. As far as Im concerned, that stopped the rot. It was a good night.
And soon he was gone, off to attend to his legacy, ready for one final working week before a family holiday that begins on June 1. This knight of a thousand trophies is savoring his last days in football like he would Caspian Sea caviar. Or a Meg Ryan chick flick.
(The Sunday Times)-
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WHICH 1 BETTA SINGLE, IN A RELATIONSHIP R JUST f**kING AROUND?????????
WHICH SOUND WILL DIE N WHICH ONE WILL SURVIVE!!!
Three killed in alleged shoot-out identified as prison escapees
Three killed in alleged shoot-out identified as prison escapees
Monday, May 26, 2008
THE police yesterday confirmed that the three men killed on Saturday during a shooting incident with the police were escapees from the Horizon Remand Centre, and had been on the run since April.
The men have been identified as 39-year-old Wayne 'Waynie Bones' Dawson, 27-year-old Michael Gayle, who was also known as 'Tipperlee' and 'Paul', and Omar Campbell, who was also known as 'Damion Dennis' and 'Jay'.
The minibus in which three men, who were later identified by police as prison escapees, were killed during an alleged gun battle with the police. Thirty-nine-year-old Wayne 'Waynie Bones' Dawson, 27-year-old Michael Gayle, who was also known as 'Tipperlee' and 'Paul', and Omar Campbell, who was also known as 'Damion Dennis' and 'Jay', escaped from the Horizon Remand Centre in April.
At the time of their escape, Dawson was serving a life sentence for murder, while Gayle and Campbell were both serving sentences for illegal possession of firearm and robbery with aggravation, the police said.
According to police reports of Saturday's incident, Dawson, Gayle and Campbell were travelling in a white Toyota Hiace bus, when a member of a police team, which was on operation at the intersection of Queen Hill Drive and Red Hills Road, signalled the driver to stop. The driver reportedly drove onto Queen Hill Drive, and the police subsequently gave chase. Sometime afterwards, the police say they intercepted the bus and ordered the occupants out of the vehicle. The driver allegedly alighted from the vehicle, while the others pulled weapons and opened fire at the police. The police say they took evasive action, returned the fire and a shoot-out ensued.
During the gunfire, one of the men in the mini-bus allegedly ran out of the vehicle and escaped on foot.
After the shooting subsided and the vehicle was checked, the three men were seen suffering from gunshot wounds. They were subsequently taken to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where they were pronounced dead. However, the driver of the bus, whose identity is being withheld by the police, has been taken into custody for questioning.
During their search of the vehicle the police say they recovered a Llama .45 semi-automatic pistol, with a magazine containing four cartridges, and a Feg .380 semi-automatic pistol with a magazine containing three rounds.
The Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) is probing the incident.
Thwaites calls for action on energy and food crisis
| Thwaites calls for action on energy and food crisis |
THE context in which the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) hosted its Kingston and St Andrew Agrofest on Saturday could not have been lost on anyone, including Central Kingston member of parliament and farmer, Ronald Thwaites, who said global food and energy conditions had tremendous implications for local farmers.
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| Beatrice Anderson examines this huge yam on display at the Jamaica Agricultural Society's Agrofest at Jamaica College grounds in St Andrew on Saturday. Anderson said she had seen yams of a similar size on her travels to Nigeria, but didn't think she would see one in Jamaica. (Photo: Joseph Wellington) |
"I don't know if we in Jamaica fully understand the energy and food crisis," Thwaites told exhibitors and participants at the agricultural show at Jamaica College grounds in St Andrew.
Thwaites said rising fuel costs would affect farmers, and it was time for the nation to look seriously at alternatives to oil.
"The price of oil is going to make motorised agricultural transport and other inputs inhibitive," Thwaites said. He said at his own farm in St Andrew, he had recently decided to retain three donkeys instead of replacing them with a machine, because of the price of fuel.
Referring to the government's recent 'Grow what we eat and eat what we grow campaign', which is hoped to reduce the island's import bill in the wake of rising food costs, Thwaites said the JAS had been promoting that concept for ages.
"Long before it was fashionable to champion Michael Manley's vision that we should grow what we want to eat, you did it," Thwaites said.
For his part, JAS president Norman Grant called on the National Water Commission (NWC) to restore water to some rural St Andrew farming communities that have been doing without the commodity for five years.
"What we're saying is, use that increase to see to it that our rural people get water so that we, too, can have a normal life," Grant said, referring to the NWC's recent 28 per cent rate hike.
Thwaites, too, called on banks and lending agencies to invest confidence in farmers by giving them the "pride of place" necessary for agriculture to drive the economy.
START a conversation about Jamaican students who win scholarships to some of the top universities in the world and, typically, the names of certain Kingston-based, traditional institutions will come up again and again.For the 2008 college application season, however, Versan Educational Services which has been helping students secure places in overseas colleges, universities and boarding schools for the past 13 years, has had some unusual additions to the list. It includes Dinthill Technical High, Montego Bay Community College, as well as Mt Alvernia, St Jago and St Thomas high."We are happy this year that the students in our programme stemmed from across the island and not only the traditional schools," said Versan's director Sandra Bramwell-Riley.
One such student is 18-year-old Sudie Robinson of Dinthill. She received offers from four US colleges, but chose Ithaca in New York and the US$30,600 per annum it put on the table.
"I heard about Versan through a friend and I saw the ads on TV but I just really wanted to study abroad. I think you get better opportunities there," she told Career & Education.
Shawna Marie Hendricks of the Montego Bay Community College leaves for Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts this fall to take up an annual scholarship of US$35,000.
"I chose Worcester because of its reputation and because it has good engineering facilities. It also has a hands-on programme where we'll get to solve real-world problems in other countries," said the aspiring aerospace engineer.
The overall scholarship awards, according to Bramwell-Riley, range between a high of US$59, 900 and a low of US$22,000.
And diversification of the list of schools from which its scholars have been drafted is not the only good news for Versan this year. It has improved upon the general acceptance figure of 2007, taking it from 89 to 92 per cent. It has also increased the number of acceptances to Ivy League schools.
"We have the highest record in any given year of entry to Ivy League institutions. To have copped two for Harvard, four for MIT, three for Stanford, four for Cornell, one for Dartmouth, two for Duke, one for Princeton and one for Yale while America only accepted seven per cent [of applications from within the US], Jamaica did amazingly well," said the educator. "Performing arts and art schools also saw a record enrolment this year with more students going off to do fashion, animation, jewellery and painting. We had one young lady win a scholarship to the prestigious University of the Arts by merely doing a voice audition."
She added that more than 30 Jamaican students scored above 2,000 out of 2,400 on their college entance exams.
Meanwhile, Bramwell-Riley said she was fearful that the present downturn in the US economy would have negatively affected Versan's efforts to win scholarships this year but that the individualised student consultations and the strength of the essays gave Jamaica the edge this year.
"Versan has received full acknowledgement from the Independent Educational Consultants Association overseas for our achievements this year... We already have posted 300 acceptances with funding and others are still trickling in... We were very proud of our track record this year in raising the scholarship level for our most indigent students."
WESTERN BUREAU:
A 38-YEAR-OLD bus driver was killed and 12 commuters seriously injured yesterday morning when the Toyota Hiace mini-bus in which they were travelling along the Lucea to Montego Bay main road, crashed in the Unity Hall area of St. James.
The dead man has been identified as Shelton Webster, of a Greenland address, near Lucea, Hanover. Eight commuters were admitted to hospital and four treated and released. The injured, some of whom suffered broken bones and extensive lacerations, included a baby girl, who was rushed into emergency surgery at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and was slated to be airlifted to a medical facility in Kingston.
According to 29-year-old Kevin Crooks, who was sitting in the front of the vehicle with Mr. Webster, the bus was travelling at a moderate speed along the road, which was made damp by an early morning shower, when it skidded and ran into a tree.
"I just saw the van start sliding and then it began swinging from side to side before it hit the tree," said Crooks, who was uncertain as to whether he had jumped out of the vehicle or was thrown out by the impact. "I found myself outside and I heard the other passengers bawling out for help."
Conloid Peterkin, a resident of Unity Hall, who heard the crash and rushed to the scene, said when he got there, the passengers were still trapped in the van. He said he joined other persons in pulling those who were injured from the wreck.
"The driver died on the spot as he was trapped between the door and had two big wounds in his forehead," said Mr. Peterkin.
Do you think that Jamaicans are Romantic, or should i say Rogaltic??????
YOW PEOPLE YUH RATE MEDOWBROOK SKOOL. WHY? (NO IS NOT AN OPTION):grinnup
-- Edited by KLJ Sounds at 23:36, 2008-05-21
WAt MZJA SEH??
IT STARTED as a conversation between two teenage kids three years ago, one, an American on Spring Break, the other a student of the Mountain View Primary School.
Today, the chance encounter between the two teenagers has lent itself to one of the most ambitious ever, private sector initiatives to be undertaken in Jamaica.
It all started when 13-year-old Anders Jones, the son of international financial consultant Mark Jones, decided to donate a computer to the Mountain View Primary School, so that the students at that institution would become techno-literate. Well, what should have been a one-time donation, evolved into a major project that included the construction of a building to house a computer lab. The computer lab now houses 10 computer stations.
TEEN INSPIRATION
The Mountain View experience resulted in the formation of 'Teens For Technology', a group of civic-minded teens from the Boston area, with the specific mandate to provide a computer Lab for 100 Schools and institutions of learning, across Jamaica. Their stated mission is to complete this program, by the year 2006.
My dears, the absolute altruism and sterling effort, of a group of teenagers whose average age at the beginning of their project was 13, actually boggles the mind, and then some.
It was to laud this positive act of character and charity, that on Thursday evening, businessman and philanthropist Robert MacMillan, hosted the members of Teens For Technology, and their supportive (and undoubtedly proud parents) at his swanky St. Andrew home, at a cocktail reception.
Back on the island to complete their 100 School program, the Teens, headed by Anders Jones who founded the organization along with Philip Poorvu, Hanna Kurth, Carrie Rich, Ryan Jones, Marsha Dawn Walters (to date, the only Jamaican teenager who actually volunteered to join the programme), along with their parents and guardians Mark Jones, Andrew Hunter and Cynthia Egan, David Poorvu. Cherie Jones, Ervin Rich and Courtney Walters, joined a group of supporters and admirers at the poolside of host, Robert MacMillan, for an evening of libations and relaxation.
With caterer to snob-society, Maree Sigurdson, providing an absolute smorgasbord of a delicious fare of nibblies, and guests being waited on by two of Kingston's leading waiters, Richard Douglas and Dwight Henriques, there was nary an empty glass to be found all evening.
It all made for a most fabulous affair and then some!
And then there was the company! Dears, fabulous society at its very best! Among those out, included: Glynne Manley; Senator Noel Monteith; Minister Phillip Paulwell; MP Delroy Chuck; British High Commissioner Peter Mathers and Mrs. Elisabeth Mathers and their daughter the lovely Philippa Mathers; Honorary Consul General of the Thai Kingdom the fabulous Thalia Lyn; The Rev. Monsignor Father Richard Albert; Texan Ranchers the fabulously wealthy Dennis and Jane Joslin; socialites emeritus Roy and Sylvia Collister; Ruddy Shoenbien and renowned artist Judy-Ann MacMillan and Michael Campbell; the fabulous Lorna Myers; Paul and Becky Stockhausen; Patrick Wong and the charming Peta-Gay MacMillan.
| Flunking parents get help with homework |
| BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Sunday Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com Sunday, May 25, 2008 |
THERE is a place where parents do homework. A place where it is the children who insist, threaten, applaud and even help out.
The tables turned a month ago, and it was turned by a determined first grade teacher, her colleagues and nearly 100 small children at Melrose Primary and Junior High - a sleeping giant tucked away in Kingston's inner city.
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| WE DID IT: Several proud parents display their certificates after a mini-graduation ceremony held for them at the institution last Wednesday. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood) |
It happened when first grade students kept returning to school with their homework undone, and Senior Teacher Lenna Wright decided it was time the school took matters into its own hands.
"The parents were not supporting the children. The children were going home with their assignment and coming back with it undone, so we called in the parents last term (April)," Wright told the Sunday Observer recently.
"We realised that if we were going to transform education we must go into the homes, and, so we called in the parents and said, 'you are going to help us'," Wright said.
It was then they discovered that parents were more than willing to help their children, but some could not because they were handicapped by an inability to read, and even write in some cases. Still, others needed some motivation.
"Some of them couldn't read, and they wanted us to help," Wright explained. The only problem was that given the school's tight budget, where would they find suitable resources for at least 50 parents?
The solution came from an unlikely, yet clearly original source - the Bible.
"We decided to use the Bible because we wanted them to read; and the available book for all 50 of them was the Bible. So, we started reading from it, and we also developed exercises using the lessons," Wright shared.
And so the task of educating the parents began in earnest, and the unusual partnership between children and teachers was a hit.
"We have roughly 86 children, 50 parents signed on and an additional 22 have indicated an interest.
The children motivate their parents, they go home and they pressure their parents to do the lessons, they take the lessons to us, and we mark it and they take it back to the parents.
They are enthused in assisting with the process of their parents wanting to learn," Wright told the Sunday Observer.
The idea, she said, caught on like wildfire; so much so that the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Teacher Training (Caribbean CETT), which is a part of the school's grade one programme, joined in and provided a reading specialist to conduct reading lessons.
"They came and they gave the first five reading lessons, to go with the 12 Bible lessons. So, in all, parents did 17 lessons and that helped to motivate them to read," Wright said.
She said several parents have since indicated a desire to further their education, while others who have literacy challenges have asked for assistance. The initiative is to receive further backing from Caribbean CETT through evening classes and the HEART Trust/NTA, which will be providing training in computer literacy.
In fact, since the parents started doing their 'homework', the performance of their children improved by some 40 per cent.
Seven-year-old Jordan Thomas is one student who 'loves to read and write', and although his mother is deaf and mute, he wanted her to be part of the initiative.
The pint-sized pupil has been working with what life has handed him. Jordan, who says his father taught him how to sign, told the Sunday Observer that he helps his mother with her homework and she helps him with his as well.
"She signs and tells me what to do, and when she needs help to spell a word, I sign the letters of the alphabet for her," he told the Sunday Observer.
And the parents are also hailing the school for taking such a bold step.
Thirty-eight-year-old Christopher Morrison loves the idea of 'showing up' for his seven-year-old child.
"I doing what I have to do as a father. The mother roll through sometimes, but if mi can do more, me will roll through. Unfortunately, for some of the fathers them who don't really business and it normally bring a price when yuh don't care... I can't give him everything, but I can give him time.
"Pickney nuh really bizniz bout no whole heap a pretty nutten, dem just want to si modda and fadah show up and, once yuh show up, it do a whole lot," he said.
Neville Smith, a 40-year-old welder who has a six-year-old daughter attending the school, said the initiative is "very encouraging".
"I plan to go on. I have a lot of friends from my area who have children here, so we get together and do a thing," he told the Sunday Observer.
For 32-year-old mother of four Stephanie Burrell, it's "hats off to Melrose".
"There is better understanding between me and my six-year-old. I can teach her, and she can teach me in a lot of ways. I am seeing a lot of improvements because she was really slow, but now I see that she has potential; I was frightened to see how far she has come.
"All who want to talk about prep school can talk, I lift my hat to Melrose," she added.
Meanwhile, school principal Jennifer Lee said she took the suggestion in her stride, as over the years she has got used to the idea of Melrose becoming more than a school.
"We are one of the prime socialising agents, and so we had to take unto ourselves educating the parents," Lee said.
Situated as it is, in the inner city with a student body drawn mainly from the lower income households, Lee said the multi-stakeholder effort was a testament of their belief in the children and compassion for their lot in life.
"It's so difficult for children in some of these areas who are bogged down with so many other issues - the crime, the house burning out and being traumatised with so many issues. Yet, they are one of the most talented set of children. They are very good; anything you take them at, they are good at it," she said.
She pointed out that the school, while not a technical high school, had introduced several streams including cosmetology, competitive sports and agriculture to cater to the different learning needs and interests.
"They learn how to do barbering, hairdressing, manicure, pedicure, and facials. Some are interested in sports, so we use sports and we take them to Miami Classics twice yearly, and we have netballers on the national team," she shared.
For Corrine Richards, special educator at the Caribbean CETT, it's the best news in a long time from "an area where the only things that are announced is how many people are murdered".
She said the initiative was one effective way of challenging the 'misconceptions' held about persons who are from inner-city communities.
"Nobody must tell them they cannot be anything they want to be because they were not born in a particular geographic location; no one can tell them what they cannot be. Where you live has nothing to do with who you become," she said.
The Caribbean CETT trains and empowers teachers who work with children in rural and urban poor communities across the Caribbean.
BURGLARS are posting tips on how to break into houses on YouTube
A GIRL of four saved the life of a sleeping neighbour by raising the alert after a blaze broke out in his flat.
A GIRL of four saved the life of a sleeping neighbour by raising the alert after a blaze broke out in his flat.
Leah Merritt was woken by a smoke alarm in the apartment above her familys.
She knew exactly what to do after a talk on fire safety two weeks ago at her nursery school.
Leah said: I heard a beeping noise and ran and told my mummy.
Mum Sam Broom, 25, and dad Barry Merritt, 31, at first thought the noise was a false alarm.
Technician Barry said: I couldnt raise anyone upstairs so dialled 999.
Firemen broke in to the flat in Brentwood, Essex, and rescued a 49-year-old man suffering smoke inhalation.
A spokesman said: If it hadnt been for Leah he could have died
| Buying bread by the slice not new but more common now as food prices soar |
An entire loaf of bread is not a big deal to those who can afford it but for people like Kirk from the Maxfield Park area of Kingston, it is a luxury.
The young man, who has an on-again-off-again job on a construction site, says he rarely can afford a whole loaf and so he resorts to buying bread as he needs it - two slices at a time.
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| A resident of Rema collects two slices of bread for which she paid $25. (Photo: Naphtali Junior) |
"Yesterday morning mi just hot some tea and buy two slice ah bread wid butter and that was breakfast," he told the Sunday Observer.
The two buttered slices cost him $40 but in some other communities, it goes for $10 less. Depending on the size, the main ingredient (white or whole wheat flour) and whether it is sliced or not, a loaf of bread can cost anywhere between $98 and $200 and it is this fact, according to Kirk, that makes bread by the slice his reality.
"Things hard, man. Everything expensive and mi nah do nutten now so mi cyaan afford it," he said, mirroring what must be the reality for a number of people who live in inner-city communities.
"Yuh can buy 1/2 or 1/4 ah bread but if yu nuh have di money yuh can get two slice," said Cass.
Food prices across the world have rocketed in the past year, caused primarily by the spike in the price of oil, which hit US$103 per barrel last week. The push to produce biofuels as an alternative to hydrocarbons has also affected food prices since more and more farmers are growing corn and wheat for fuels rather than for consumption, and climate change has also been fingered for its role in disrupting harvests.
The effect has been felt locally with the prices of staples such as rice, flour, cornmeal and sugar almost doubling in the past year.
Checks at shops in Rema, Maxfield Avenue, Whitfield Town and Spanish Town Road indicate that a 1/4 of a loaf retails at $45 or $50. A half goes for $90 or $100. Over time, this works out to be more expensive than buying a whole loaf, but as Conyute reasons, it depends on the amount of money available at any one time.
"If yuh buy a bread it can serve yu fi two or three day, but if yuh nuh have di money an yuh feel peckish, yuh a go buy di slice."
The Sunday Observer went in search of shops that sell bread by the slice because of Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller's declaration at a political rally in Spaldings last Thursday that the economic situation in the country had got so bad that corner shops were now selling the staple by the slice.
As we found out, however, although it has caused a further division of the 1/2 or 1/4 loaves which were more commonly sold in the '80s and '90s, the bread-by-the-slice phenomenon is not entirely new. And the recent hike in the price of food is not entirely to blame either.
A female shopkeeper on Spanish Town Road in the vicinity of KIW International Ltd sold this reporter two chunky slices for $25 and charged an extra $5 for adding butter. She said she has been selling bread like that now for "two or three years".
Why?
"Because ah ghetto, an ah wha di people dem can afford," she said. "Di pickney dem come buy it and di elderly people dem too. Mi all sell 1/2 lb of sugar, 1/2 lb ah flour, rice, anyting. An di old people dem buy it because ah dem alone and dem nuh have nuh money."
"I know of a shop that used to do it, but they closed down about five years ago," a resident of Spanish Town reported. "If yuh wanted one slice yuh get it. If yuh wanted two yuh get it, an if yuh wanted it butter, yuh get it, but I don't remember how much it was for at the time."
Off Collie Smith Drive in Rema, Elaine, who was keeping shop for her sister, told the Sunday Observer that another reason bread was sold by the slice was because of the community's identity.
"Ah it dem love. If yuh nuh sell it dem sey yuh boasty," she laughed. "Sometime some people cyaan even buy a whole bread and if dem don't have di money, dem just buy $25 worth."
"
-- Edited by ANDRE_DESIGNZ at 09:39, 2008-05-26
Ethiopia's Supreme Court has overruled a lower court and imposed a death sentence on former Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam for genocide and crimes against humanity during his 17-year rule. VOA's Peter Heinlein in Addis Ababa reports Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe after his government fell, and was tried in his absence.Ethiopia's highest court threw out a January, 2007 court ruling giving Mengistu and 17 of his senior associates life sentences for their part in the deaths of thousands of people between 1974 and 1991.
In a three-hour reading of the verdict, Justice Desta Gebru said the court has decided to revoke the leniency appeal from the defendants. It sentences them to death.
Justice Gebru agreed with a prosecution appeal that the life sentence was not commensurate with the crimes. After the original trial, which lasted 12-years, the defendants were convicted in 2006 of genocide for torturing and executing political enemies.
Many of the deaths occurred in 1977 and 1978, when Mengistu's Marxist government, called the Derg, or "the committee," carried out a purge known as the Red Terror.
Mengistu was an army lieutenant colonel when he led a military coup that overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie. He has been living in exile in Zimbabwe since he was ousted by Ethiopia's current government in 1991.
But several senior Derg officials were in the courtroom when the verdict was read.
Prosecutor Yoseph Kirkos expressed satisfaction at the high court's decision. He said the difference between a life sentence and death in absentia may be meaningless now, but it could make a big difference if Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is ousted in next month's election.
"For now you can say is no different," said Yoseph Kirkos. "But for tomorrow maybe the country which protects him, which gives him the right to live there, maybe knows the gravity of the crime, and his involvement in the crime. Maybe one day they can return him. When they look he is a criminal and he is a dangerous guy."
Former Ethiopian president and historian Negaso Gidada says persons convicted of genocide cannot be pardoned or granted amnesty. He says under Ethiopia's constitution, only the current president, Girma Woldegiorgis, could commute the sentences.
"In case of person convicted of any crimes stated in sub-article one in these articles and sentenced with the death penalty, the head of state may, without prejudice, commute the punishment to life imprisonment," said Negaso Gidada.
Negaso and prosecutor Kiros said while the issue of a commuted sentence may be moot for Mengistu, 17 other senior Derg officials are facing death. It was not immediately clear when or how the sentences might be carried out.
Coincidentally, the Supreme Court's decision came two days before Ethiopia's national day, when it celebrates the downfall of the Mengistu regime.
My Friend Ahkeem Roberts A.K.A GUGZ Has A New Studio Named Basement Production. MZJA PPL Look Out For It U Zimme Di Nex Big Ting
OPPOSITION Leader Portia Simpson Miller used the stage at a divisional conference ofe her party in Spaldings last Thursday to chastise the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government for a number of its policies and decisions since taking office eight months ago.
Among the things for which they were criticised were the size of the Cabinet, the country's relationship with Cuba, party members holding dual citizenship, its decision to abolish tuition fees and the push to substitute wheat flour with that made from cassava. But the hinge of Simpson Miller's argument was the increase in food prices in recent months.
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| SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU: Minnie Clarke (Miss Minnie), former mayor of May Pen, wipes away tears of joy as Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller (left) and Richard Azan, the party's representative for North West Clarendon, visit her at home. (Photo: Kimone Thompson) |
In an emotional presentation, she made comparisons between prices under her government and those under the present JLP administration, and appealed to Prime Minister Bruce Golding to consider the realities of the poor.
"I hurt. I hurt for the household helpers earning $3,700 per week to go to the supermarket with four or five children. [They have to buy] flour, sugar, rice, cornmeal, cooking oil, and chicken. And they have to now be subsidising from buying a chicken to feed their children on a Sunday, to buying canned mackerel. I say to the Government now, be a Government of conscience and find a way to do something more," she pleaded.
"I tried to stabilise rice, flour, sugar, cornmeal, chicken, all the things I know would affect the masses. [But] under driver Golding, cornmeal price gone up, flour price gone up, rice gone up, sugar gone up, chicken gone up, chicken back gone up, bread gone up, cooking oil gone up, petrol gone up, gas oil gone up, taxi fare gone up, light bill gone up, water gone up, and this is the man that had declared that 'we are too blessed to be stressed, and Jamaica is too rich to be poor'. But I say to him tonight, stress ah kill di Jamaican people. Help!"
Prices were so high, she said, that some corner shops were selling bread by the slice.
"Imagine...I have never heard of that in Jamaica before. And I agree that there are international conditions but when I was prime minister, I operated under the same international conditions and I was being criticised by the then Opposition," she said.
Before the rally, which took place on the grounds of Spaldings Primary School, Simpson Miller toured sections of the North West Clarendon constituency with the party's representative, Richard Azan. She went into Cobbla, Alston, Silent Hill and met with a group of children in the town of Spaldings.
It was one of four political meetings taking place across the county at the time, but both the party leader and Azan insisted the purpose of the Clarendon tour was not to mobilise supporters for elections but to inspect some projects started under the PNP, which had apparently stalled under the new regime. They said it was also to fulfil Simpson Miller's campaign promises to meet with supporters more often.
Even so, general elections may be imminent based on the outcome of the dul citizenship case between West Portland MP Daryl Vaz (JLP) and the PNP's Abe Dabdoub.
"I've been silent," Simpson Miller said. "We've been watching them for seven months and then it turned eight months. I was giving them time to come into their own, but it's time now. The honeymoon is over."
WE GONNA MIIZ U ADMIN...ITS VERY SAD U LEFT TO SOON!
LEFT MDZJA TOO TOO TOO SOON!!!
-- Edited by Dj.Delvito at 16:12, 2008-05-23
If you don't agree just check the history:
Super Cat - buss in the US with "Ghetto Red Hot" (on an original dancehall riddim) then go change it up to hip-hop for the video and for his next US release "Dolly My Baby": international career flop.
Shabba - went worldwide with "Twice My Age" and "Trailor Load" (both on JA riddims) then followed up by putting out the crossover crap "House Call", "Mr. Lover Man" and "Slow & Sexy": international career flop.
Bounty Killer - had international buzz building up since how long. So what is the first single he releases off his major label debut? "Hip-Hopera", one of the weakest songs off the "My Xperience" album: international career flop (not even No Doubt could revive it).
Beenie Man - went global with "Who Am I" (on a wicked dancehall riddim) and then follows up with the garbage "Tell Me" hip-hop remix: career flop. Then he got a second chance with "Dude" (on another wicked dancehall riddim) but blew it this time with "King of the Dancehall" although dancehall, the riddim was weak.
Shaggy - an exception to my argument because he is cross-over by nature, but just remember what sent him global: "Oh Carolina" (original yard riddim) and solidified by "Bo****astic" (btw it's the dancehall version and not the R&B version that they used in the US video that blew him up).
Spragga Benz - international buzz with tunes from the "Jack It Up" era. Follows up with "A1 Lover". Him flop.
Countless more examples (Buju Banton, Terror Fabulous, Ini Kamoze, Sizzla, Elephant Man).
So you must be wondering who got it right? Sean Paul. Yes, he also did some lame hip-hoppy releases but check how he got to where he is: buss with "Gimme the Light" (dancehall riddim) followed up by "Get Busy" (tough dancehall riddim) followed by "Like Glue" (another nice riddim). Even after he is certified cross-over, the lead single and follow-up off his next album are over two of some of the hottest riddims out of JA ("We Be Burnin" and "Temperature". THAT is how you do it...
-DRC
P.S. - Before you start replying that X artist never flopped, when I say flop, I mean mainstream flop. A lot of the artists listed above still sell out shows internationally but they are definately not mainstream successes (they are not selling out stadiums)...
Producer 'Skatta' and Cousin in Bike Accident...BADANG!!!
| Thrill central |
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| 'The Screamer', described as the ride 'that makes Christians curse', lived up to all expectations. On the face of it, the experienced Vaughn looks okay, Garfene is obviously terrified, and André squeezes his eyes shut and prays for the ride to end. |
Two thousand three hundred feet up in the cool, picturesque hills of Free Hill, St Ann, overlooking the beautiful resort town of Ocho Rios situates a heaven-sent tropical paradise that is H'Evans Scent.
Dubbed as "the ultimate experience", we here at TEENage were eager to experience first hand the full H'Evans Scent experience and trust me we were not disappointed. The park, which is now in its third year, consists of three zip lines ranging from 300 to 1,100 feet in length, a giant swing installed two months ago, dubbed 'The Screamer' (for obvious reasons), as well as All Terrain Vehicles (ATV) rides through exotic trails.
Imagine flying over spectacular valleys of lush vegetation at high speeds with the cool mountain breeze blowing in your face. Sounds exhilarating doesn't it? This is what the first zip line called the 'Leap of Faith' had to offer. However, as thrilling as that was it was only a taste of what was to come as we at TEENage found out.
The second zip wire, known as the 'Short and Spicy', proved true to its name, particularly the 'spicy' part. Trust us, though it may look similar to the 'Leap of Faith', there are several 'spicy' surprises along the way making the 'Leap of faith' seem like a walk in the park. Thinking that we had reach the pinnacle of thrills, we were surprised to hear that we were yet to encounter the 'mother' of all thrills.
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| TEENage writer Andre Marriott-Blake pushes off from the 'Leap Of Faith' tower, 40 feet above the ground. |
We can honestly say that there is no better name for the giant swing than 'The Screamer'. Unlike the other two rides, 'The Screamer' can accommodate three persons at a time. Once on this ride there is no turning back, as the TEENage co-ordinator, Monique Edwards can attest.
A hydrolic jack lifts the occupants 60 feet, high enough to view the mountainous terrains of H'Evans Scent and then releases you 150 feet into the air at bullet speed allowing you to experience something (no one word can decribe the feeling) that can make even the most daring of daredevil's *lo** run cold.
Thrilling is an understatement when describing 'The Screamer'. After all that adrenaline rush, to our delight, the day was still not over. We then made the trek to the ATV bike trail. There are three trails: the first is a practice trail, where riders are required to complete a total of five rounds so they can familiarise themselves with the bikes.
On the second trail riders are led to the challenge course, which eventually leads them through the rugged terrain of H'Evans Scent. The trails are great with fabulous views, and if the bikes should fail you (or you fail it) at anytime on the trail, a tour guide is always there to get you back on track.
Once again, the TEENage co-ordinator can attest to this.
There is one attraction that we did not get to experience, but by the looks of it one can only assume it's a most thrilling ride, possibly "the most thrilling at H'Evans Scent", according to Derrick Evans, owner of the property.
"It is the longest zip wire in the island (1,100 feet!)," and according to Evans, "the ride is so fast that you have to be at least 140 lbs to experience it."
Evans also made mention of a new attraction that will be unveiled within the next six weeks. "It is a new attraction that everybody will love," Evans assured.
He was very cautious not to let the name of the new attraction out. However, he did give TEENage a clue to tickle our minds: "it is one of the fastest growing sport in the world." If you want to find out what it is, then we suggest you visit H'Evans Scent just in time for the surprise.
The entry fee for the resort is $3,700 per person, which is inclusive of refreshments and full access of the rides. Also inclusive in the cost is a nature walk where you are granted the opportunity of walking through an orchard and sampling various fruits.
The fabulous, spacious and well-kept grounds added to the overall feeling of tranquility that every family or group of friends can enjoy. To make your appointment just call 847-5592 or visit the website www.mrmotivator.com.
TEENage rating: 4.5 stars
As told by 'Petrified' OK! OK! By: Monique Edwards
| As told by 'Petrified' OK! OK! By: Monique Edwards |
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 |
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| After tearing up 150 feet in the air, TEENage co-ordinator Monique Edwards was all smiles as she got accustomed to 'The Screamer'. |
Imagine having the living daylights frightened out of you, but enjoying every minute of it at the same time. That is what happened to me last Saturday. (Well, I didn't really enjoy it until I reached home.)
As we drove up the rutted driveway, to a colourfully painted automated zinc fence, I had no idea what real fear was. And it was in the hills above Priory, St Ann I discovered that I was terrified of heights.
After being prepped by Kevin, (one of the thrill facilitators), about the property, it seemed that I was made to sign my life over into their hands. If only I knew beforehand.
Strapped into my saftey gear, myself and the three other members of my party got ready to take the 'Leap of Faith'.
A 40 foot climb up the 'Leap of Faith' tower (hands shaking more and more the higher I go). Wondering 'am I going to slip'? Please Lord, nuh mek mi drop!) and the view is almost enough to take away my fear - almost, but not enough.
I had to wait a bit as all the pullies were at the other end. Thank God it gives me time to catch my breath. But it was only a short reprieve, I can still hear the whirring of the pulley. Why did I have to go last? All the guys are on the other side expecting me to come over any time soon. But I just can't seem to take that 'Leap Of Faith'.
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| Go, Monique, go... although deathly afraid of heights, TEENage co-ordinator, Monique Edwards, took the risk and climbed the 40-foot tower to the 'Leap Of Faith'. |
I say to myself, 'just lock yuh eye and jump, man'. Then I did it. I looked down.
Oh, no. I definitely can't do this.
But after Shane-O promised/prompted/prodded/pushed me, I took the 'Leap of Faith' and held on for my dear life. Thank God, for small mercies.
On the other side I was greeted, congratulated and I was sure that I was ready for the 'Short and Spicy'.
Shane-O was again very supportive, but I never listen, as my friends know.
I was still scared witless. The tower was putty in the hands of the wind. It swayed. Why God did it have to sway? Sit, close your eyes, freefall. Chant with me: sit, close your eyes, freefall. Sit, close your eyes, freefall. What the. just to do. I went second this time, so there wasn't a huge sense dread. Just the fear of heights.
But the exprience that really got my goat was 'The Screamer'. I should have known that I wouldn't like that one.
'The Screamer': a gigantic swing. A 60 foot lift to a lovely view (I think, I didn't look). I screamed and screamed and screamed, 'let me down. I can't do this'. "Please," I begged, "don't pull it."
"Nooooooooooooo!"
He didn't listen.
Out into the big, blue sky I flew, surely to what I thought was my untimely death.
Once again, I did not die, but one thing was for sure: I will NEVER do that again.
And I was told by Biggs (yes, another thrill facilitator) that even Christians have momentarily put aside their beliefs after taking the plunge off this particular thrill. So I guess I wasn't so bad.
After regaining the sensations in my feet and stomach, we made our way over to the ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) tracks.
I had sooo much fun THERE.
The instructor, Nani, said I was the best one of my group. (Even though I did run off the tracks into the bushes. Twice. But that wasn't my fault. It was the bike's.)
I can say that one of my prayers was answered that day. Because it could only have been my silent, unconscious prayers that darkened the skies and made the 1,100 feet zipline adventure across Free Hill, Priory impossible. Small mercies, again.
H'Evans Scent is a beautiful property with wonderfully warm people, but I am not so sure my heart can take another trip there.
For sure, if thrill was to be packaged, the people at H'Evans Scent would be the only distributors.
Go there, I dare you.
A chair that once belonged to People's National Party (PNP) founder and late National Hero, Norman Washington Manley, and which adorned the inner sanctums of the party's Old Hope Road headquarters for more than a quarter of a century has gone missing.
The disappearance of the chair has embarra**ed party officials, who say they are no closer to finding it.
"It is so embarra**ing and frustrating. Right now, no one has any idea where it is or who could have taken it, and it is hardly likely that an outsider could simply have driven into the headquarters and stolen the chair.," party chairman Robert Pickersgill told the Observer.
According to Pickersgill, sections of the headquarters were cleaned for a press conference to disclose plans for the 70th anniversary launch. The press conference was held on April 29, and sometime later the chair was discovered missing.
The history of the chair, which is considered the "holy grail" of the party, is still unclear.
Pickersgill said Norman Manley himself could have made the chair, ". as I believed I read somewhere that he did some carpentry work, but I am not absolutely sure".
Political historian and Observer columnist, Michael Burke, said his recollections are that the chair was brought to the headquarters at the insistence of Michael Manley.
"I recall that in 1979, a year after the PNP moved its headquarters from 25 South Camp Road to Old Hope Road and I visited the office on an errand for my brother Paul, the chair was there." he said.
Manley's son, Michael, according to Burke, ".wanted people who come to the PNP's headquarters to see a kind of museum detailing the history of the party."
But that desire did not get much further than the chair and few more artifacts.
Burke said he did not know if the chair was used by Manley at his home, law office or used while he attended meetings at the headquarters. Pickersgill said he did not know if it was inherited.
But history aside, sources say the theft has left members of the party pointing fingers at each other, and has further widened the rift that has been rocking the party for more than three years since the leadership challenge which rejected Peter Phillips, Omar Davies and Dr Karl Blythe in February 2005.
Current party president, Portia Simpson Miller, is said to be disgusted by the disappearance of the chair. So too are other officials, including the vice-presidents and general secretary. It is not known if former president P J Patterson had been notified.
Party officials are said to have been too embarra**ed to go public, while others believe it may help to put pawn shops on the alert to its significance, should it be brought in for sale.
Made from hardwood, and dark leather for the back support, it was held together by gold studs at either side. The seat of the chair was also made from leather, and described as 'very rare.'
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