I Man Born Ya

“I Man On Ya, I man born ya, I nah leave ya fi go a Canada”, these words penned by Famous Jamaican Artiste Pluto Shirvington  was the winning song of the National Festival song competition in 1976, showing  a spirit of true patriotism, a love for this land of wood and water, the pearl of the Caribbean Sea. Apparently the some of our leaders no longer hold to the values espoused in this song, one among them being former Senate President, The Rev. Stanley Redwood who decided to pack his bags and run off to Canada in the middle of his term as senate President.

                               

I find it ironic that the same government who constantly discouraging mass migration and brain drain now have among their ranks members who are now guilty of the same offence, the actions by former Senator Redwood are a testament to the hypocrisy that permeates among our leaders, this indeed set a poor example to many  who are still undecided as to whether they will stick out for the long haul here at home until things get better or they will make their fortunes elsewhere, of course there are some who may not have the luxury of making such a choice as penned by Buju Banton in his now classic single entitled Untold Stories: “Who can afford to run will run, But what about those who can’t they will have to stay, Opportunity a scarce, scarce commodity in these times I say”

                                          

This seems to be the typical attitude of some of our political leaders who after years of mismanagement and poor leadership find it more conducive to leave rather than stay and of course those who cannot afford to leave any at all are left to deal with what is left, It’s really disheartening to find that someone who has such a high office in the land, someone who was appointed to sit among our legislators making the laws of the land, could simply just abandon that calling and leave on a whim.

                               

In his defence, Redwood has come out swinging at his detractors saying that he did it for the good of his family and that this was something he  had been planning from as early as 2007, the family bit I can totally understand, but that begs another question, since he had already been planning migration why did he bother to take a seat in the senate, much more the senate chairmanship? , should he not have declined it given that he had already known that he would never serve the full parliamentary term of five years anyway? And even more did the Prime Minister know of his intention, when she suggested to the Governor-General that he should be appointed a Senator? If She did, why did she nominate him?, if she didn’t then why didn’t Redwood inform her of his decision and decline the offer given the circumstances?  These are some of the many questions that need answering .

                      

Behaviour like this on the part of senior politicians is what lead many Jamaican to be skeptical of the political leadership in this country, they say one thing with their lips and then turn around do something different, this does not reflect well at all, if those who are supposed to be at the helm of leadership in this country are calling it quits, what does that say to rest of us, especially those youths who are either skilled in a vocation, or are academically qualified but  still can’t seem to find employment or opportunities to fund and start their own businesses, many of whom are already considering migration, not because they don’t love Jamaica, but simply because they  feel that Jamaica does not have their best interest at heart .

                    

                              

It was  Shirvington who said his famous festival hit I Man Born Ya “Five flight a day to Miami, Don’t mean a thing to this man” , this however is not the sentiment of many who would now love to nothing more  to be on one of those :”five flights”, to be honest, I can’t say I blame them if the captains are willing to jump ship then what exactly is going to stop the rest of the crew from doing the same. I  for one however am not so sure I’m willing to give up on Jamaica just yet, as was said by our Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen in his maiden address after taking office in 2009 “There is nothing wrong with Jamaica that cannot be fixed by what is right with Jamaica I believe in Jamaica. I believe in the people of Jamaica. I am committed to doing my best as I carry out my responsibilities. . . . "I believe” must be etched in every classroom . . .it must be internalized in the heart of every student until dreams are born as to whom they can become and the contribution they can make to the development of their nation. It must be the theme in the morning papers and the optimism of the evening news until the waves wash away our shame and we evolve into a nation destined for greatness.”

Pluto Shirvington's 1976 Classic Festival Hit, "I Man Born Ya"                                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYGe0yltCAE

Generational Shift in Royal Palace

Events of last week suggest now more than ever the generational shifts that are taking pale within the royal family, it was announced just last week that Her Majesty the Queen will not be attending this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to be held in Colombo, the Capital of Sri Lanka but will be represented by His Royal Highness  the Prince of Wales, this announcement is historic indeed as this is the first time ever that the Queen not be at the CHOGM summit which she usually attends every two years.

                             

There are varying speculations as to why this move is being undertaken now, one such reason is that the Queen seems to be scaling back particularly on her trips overseas one could not help but notice that she has not left British soil in over a year not even to tour the Commonwealth for her Diamond Jubilee instead that tasks was left to younger members of the royal family whereas The Queen and her consort the Duke of Edinburgh preferred  local jubilee tours to overseas ones, seeing other members of the royal family take up more responsibilities is a sure sign of changes happening within the House of Windsor.

                 

A second suggestion that the Prince is being poised to succeed his mother as Head of the Commonwealth, while it is quite clear that when the current reign ends, Prince Charles will automatically become King of the Commonwealth Realms, there is no certainty that the he will also become the next Head of the Commonwealth, this position is being put forward by some liberals and so called “anti-colonialist” who claim that the Headship of the Commonwealth should be rotated between heads of State, that of course is a ridiculous and redundant suggestion as the Chairmanship of the Commonwealth is already rotatory, the Prime Minister or President of the Host Country is normally chosen as Chairman whenever the Heads of Government meet, there is no need for another rotatory office.

                         

The Commonwealth was built upon the Monarchy, anyone who denies that fact needs to go check upon the history of how it was formed in the first place, The Monarchy is the oldest supporter of the idea of the Commonwealth of Nations and as such is an integral part of it,  take out  the monarchy and the Commonwealth itself might not survive and besides like his mother and his late grandfather King George VI, the Prince has spent years serving and supporting the Commonwealth certainly more so than many of these political leaders who at times even go as far as the question the relevance of the Commonwealth in the first place why should he not get a chance to be an integral part of the Commonwealth and make a difference, why give the post to someone who might not even believe in the values that the Commonwealth stand for and may not even care for its survival all in the name of political correctness. 

                             

Apart from CHOGM, Prince Charles also accompanied his parents to the State Opening of Parliament  last week , an event he had not attended since the last Princess of Wales died tragically in a car crash and even more telling was the presence of his current wife the Duchess of Cornwall who was attending for the very first time her  attendance  at an event like this a few years ago would be unthinkable due to the public outrage that would erupt. Seeing the Prince at the state opening all decked out in his Fleet Admiral’s uniform to match the one worn by his father Prince Philip while the Duchess wore a simple white gown that did not look unlike the one the Queen was wearing one could easily tell that’s a sign of changes on the horizon.

          

What might this all mean, no one really knows, is there regency on the horizon? maybe or maybe not time will tell, one thing I’m certain of is that abdication is certainly not an option for the Queen (I already spoke about that in an earlier post see:   http://jamaicatory.blogspot.com/2013/02/on-matter-of-abdication.html , there is much  speculation but a great deal of pundits , but I guess  we’ll all just have to sit back and watch patiently, one thing I can surely say though is that I have very little doubt that this thousand year old monarchy will last well into the future as it will be passed from one generation to the next, from the Queen into the Capable hands of Prince Charles to his son the Duke of Cambridge and eventually to his unborn son(yes I’m predicting a boy)  whose expected birthdate is in July and continue that grand old tradition of reigning over their subjects with wisdom and justice- God Save the Queen.

Evangelism: An act of Treason

I feel the need to comment on a story that I’ve been following for a couple days regarding the debate on the status of Christians within the United  States military, where it has now come to light that there are some anti-Christian groups  who are lobbying the Obama Administration  to make it illegal for Christians in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or any other branch of the Armed Forces to share their faith with their fellow servicemen and service women who are non-believers, and from all indications it seem that the President is listening.  I note with interest that these people are not targeting all religions as far as I’m aware there are no rules against Jews, Muslims or Hindus trying to indoctrinate members of the military and spread their propaganda but as soon as Christians do it then it becomes a problem. Am I the only one seeing a double standard here?, it’s pretty clear that these people have quite a sinister agenda, which is to halt the influence of Christianity, the real question though is why?, who is behind all these attacks on Christians? Alas that’s  a question even I can’t answer.

                               

In a release from the Pentagon (HQ of the US Department of Defence), it was announced that military personnel can now be court martialled for promoting their religious beliefs, it further goes on to say that  religious proselytization is a major “problem”  facing the military even going as far as to equate it with assault, I mean seriously what the hell is going through the minds of these people?. The USA claims that their country was built upon all sorts of freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of association and most importantly freedom of religion, their constitution clearly prohibits the favouring of one religion over another  nor does it allow religious persecution of any faith, yet these new regulations violate all of these as it clearly gives non-Christian believers an unfair advantage whereas Christians are now being told it’s a criminal act to share their faith with others, so much a "republic under God" when it’s quite clear that these liberals want to stamp out the very mention of God’s name from its institutions and are willing to unjustly prosecute anyone who does not comply, it’s like they’ve already ripped up their own constitution.

                      

This act is reminiscent of the Roman Empire where the pagan Emperors used to enjoy persecuting Christians for sport, accusing them of ridiculous and false treason charges before sending them to the lions, to be burned at the stake or to be crucified as our Lord Jesus Christ was, indeed history is filled with countless stories of martyrs who were willing to sacrifice all to speak the truth that  they know. And now it seems as though the US government is following this trend where the spread of the Christian faith is now seen as an act of treason against the State itself , while some may argue that it’s limited to the military it’s rather naïve to think that it will ever end there, if they succeed then mark my words it won’t end there but will spread like a wildfire to other parts of the US public sector and even in the private sector  if we’re not careful, clearly something has gone wrong.

                                

As for equating evangelism with assault (one person referred to it as  “spiritual rape”) where these people come up with these bizarre ideas? , since it’s such a bad thing why not outlaw the spreading of all faith in the military, why only Christianity?, since when is the gospel of Christ such a great threat to US national security?, why is Islam or Judaism or Hinduism not perceived in the same manner?, I’m sure that those pushing forward this agenda cannot answer these questions. And while on the matter of questions where are the Christians in the White House, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill etc.? why hasn’t someone already taken this case to the Supreme Court as clearly this action is unconstitutional ? are people afraid to speak out against this blatant violation of their right to freedom of religion? If so why? Who’s pulling the strings?

                      

These new regulations leave so many unanswered questions it’s unbelievable. These people claim to be living in the pinnacle of western civilization, a modern age of enlightenment yet this is as draconian as it gets , This is just another example of how modern liberalism and cultural Marxism  have been flexing their destructive muscles,   as on old Jamaican proverb goes “jackass say the world no level” , a democratic government is one that is supposed to rule by the will of the people but clearly this one prefers instead to rule by imposing its will on the people.