EDITORIAL

By GODFREY WRAY

Youth Crime on Increase
Man's inhumanity to man,
Makes countless thousands mourn.

The last two lines of Robert Burns’ famous poem sprung readily to mind when this newspaper learnt of a callously brutal incident in the heart of Brooklyn, rudely reminding us that crime has become a way of life and many of us are content not to lift a hand to help put a halt to its acceleration. Recently, Dr. Clayton Johnson, DDS, Guyanese dental surgeon at New York Avenue and Park Place left his office at 1.15 p.m. on a bright, sunny day. Just before purchasing his lunch he stepped into a neighborhood liquor store on Nostrand Avenue to buy a Lottery ticket. Having done so, he turned to leave when two teenagers grabbed, punched and kicked him while trying to relieve him of his wallet. According to the soft-spoken doctor, this was enacted in the presence of the store’s owner and other patrons.

CREATING AN IMPACT

Some Major ‘Olympics’ Quotes

The customer is always RIGHT . . ." Why do I reiterate that clause? Because for this article, I wanted to write something light, say, about the annual West Indian Labor Day celebration in Brooklyn, or something heavy, say, about the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado. Before I forget, how could we minorities allow those folks to resume school one day after Labor Day Monday, when the minds and bodies alike of we Caribbean people and our friends, are still healing from a hectic weekend of fun and frolic? — I hope that BAMA will change things. Back to the customer-clause, with the Olympics just finished in China; the U.S. Tennis Open going on in Queens, New York; Major League Baseball games heating up towards the Play-Offs; and the National Football League heading to the starting line (to mention a few), the readers have been yelling out to me — What about the quotes? — So, I had to take heed and come up with some pertinent quotes.

THINGS THAT BOTHER ME

THE BARACK PROBLEM

America faces a serious problem this election. It’s called Barack Hussein Obama. He, the said named, also faces a very serious problem. It’s called the stubbornly traditional segment of the American population, sometimes called the real "heart" of America. The meeting of these two is giving birth, excitingly, to the most important American election in decades. All the problems we are facing we have faced before – high gas prices, inflation, the falling dollar, stock market ebb and flow, crime in the inner city, police brutality. As such we can fall back on systems that have been tested and proven. Never in its glorious history has the Presidential nominee of one of the two main political parties been black. Even if Dr. J.A. Rogers’ ("The Five Negro Presidents") contention that Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge had black ancestry is granted, their elections do not serve as precedents, because their "black ancestry" was not known in their lifetime.

THE BASIL SPRINGER COLUMN

GOVERNANCE IN WI CRICKET

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" - 1 Timothy 2

A web definition of governance is "How an organization controls its actions. Governance describes the mechanisms an organization uses to ensure that its constituents follow its established processes and policies. It is the primary means of maintaining oversight and accountability in a loosely coupled organizational structure. A proper governance strategy implements systems to monitor and record what is going on, takes steps to ensure compliance with agreed policies, and provides for corrective action in cases where the rules have been ignored or misconstrued."

Georgetown Diary

The Ronald Austin Column

Not my Carifesta

For some reason I have been unable to work up any enthusiasm for Carifesta X. And I lost any interest in the event when the Jagdeo Administration set about to do its best to ensure that Mr. L. F. S. Burnham was not recognised as the Founder of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA). When Carifesta was launched a few months ago, Bharrat Jagdeo avoided all mention of Burnham and his Minister of Culture did the same thing. I found this desecration of history too great a burden to bear. I turned to other things and tried to forget about Carifesta and the frenzied activities to which it gave rise. But, as with most things in Guyana, the dynamics of the situation compelled me to look more closely at what was going on. I happen to know some of the main players in the preparations for Carifesta and from time to time some of them would draw to my attention, items which suggested that all might not be well with this important festival.

Power, Politics And People — It Is Clear That There Is A Need To Teach The Mechanics Of Power To Caribbean-American Leaders

Part I of III Part Series

It always amuses me to no end to see presumed Caribbean-American political and other leaders entering a room with their little suits on and smug features exuding pseudo-power to the uninformed and largely clueless masses. They wax grandiloquent, effusive and gushing so many verbal "absolutely" and "no problems" that the script has become redundant and trite. It is clear that many need a crash course in the art and science of power and power-relations. But let me clear up some basic misunderstandings. Being elected to political office is a not an automatic assumption of power. Nor is posturing, bombast and slick talk for the TV cameras and newspaper reporters. That is empty, hollow rhetoric that makes some people feel good but in the end achieves – nothing. The thing is that, by its very nature, politics breeds prima donnas, egotists, bigots and political harpies who rapidly forget what they told people to get elected and why they were elected in the first place. The glitz and glamour replaces what little common sense resided between their ears.

PLUG INTO ENERGY

Venezuela agrees to talks with Conoco

US oil giant Conoco-Phillips and Venezuela are advancing in talks. Eulogio del Pino, a director at Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA said on Monday that "We are advancing . . . next week we have a meeting." Last year, President Hugo Chavez took over four multibillion-dollar heavy oil upgrading projects as part of a nationalization drive, edging Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips out of the OPEC nation in the process. PDVSA and Conoco will be meeting next week for more talks that include discussing the nationalization of its assets of heavy oil projects in the Orinoco Belt in 2007. PDVSA demanded a 60% stake minimum in four projects, owned by private-sector companies that pump and upgrade tar oil from the Orinoco river basin. The move resulted in Conoco filing arbitration proceedings against Venezuela. They have maintained simultaneous discussions to reach an out-of-court settlement of compensation.

IN DEPTH

THE CARIBBEAN’S GUANTANAMO

Guantanamo Bay is often cited as a U.S. human rights transgression. Human rights organizations are giving increasing attention to conditions at the facility being used by Uncle Sam as a detention center for foreign terror suspects. Many West Indian commentators have joined in the parade of criticism and protest against the United States, but hardly any attention is paid to the conditions in West Indian prisons and detention centers. Hardly is any voice raised in condemnation of the manner in which West Indian governments strip detainees and prisoners of human dignity and basic human necessities. In 1972, Alfred Nettleford commenced 28 years of banishment in the Jamaican prison system. Held without a trial, Nettleford became a forgotten soul, imprisoned in a system that locked him up and threw away the keys without proving his guilt, while the world remained silent, including West Indian commentators who now find Bush’s war on terror a soap opera for frequent columns and articles.