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. 

Prince Michael's visit

This week’s edition of the Jamaica Tory is not so much an argumentative piece, as it is a descriptive one, last week Jamaica played host to it's third  royal visitor in three years , this time the royal in Question was His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, son of the late Duke of Kent, Prince George and brother of the present Duke, Prince Edward. Prince Michael is also the grandson of His Late Majesty King George V and as such is first cousin to the present sovereign Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

                     

Prince Michael who serves as Royal Patron for the Commission for Global Road Safety arrived in Jamaica on the invitation of the National Road Safety Council which was celebrating it’s 20^th anniversary. Among the activities he was involved in were weeklong celebrations of the NRCS anniversary, meetings with the Governor-General, Ministers of Government, government and opposition members of parliament and senior business leaders.

The Prince was also invited on his tour to visit several primary and high schools as well as the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies; such tours are common of royal visits over the years.

            

According to the NRSC their invitation of Prince Michael was meant to strengthen the bonds between the NRSC and its international partners, however that’s not the only bond that the royal visit will solidify, whether the NRSC intended to or not the visit also served to strengthen the bonds between Jamaica and the monarchy considering that this is the third royal visit in only three years, in 2011 there was the visit of Anne, Princess Royal, then in 2012 the Diamond Jubilee visit of Prince Henry which was keenly followed by media houses all over the world and now in 2013 it’s Prince Michael turn to see the Land of Wood and Water . Republicans love to point out that we hardly ever see the royals in Jamaica when the truth is that members of the royal family are frequent visitors to Jamaica, the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Wessex and the Princess Royal being the most recurrent  all of whom have no doubt fallen deeply in love to the island to the point where they wanted to come again and again, bet the  pro-republican socialist government i.e. the PNP  no idea that the royal visit will cause all this to be seen, as a matter of fact unlike the visit of Prince Harry last year,  there was not even a mention of that  accursed  word “republic”  during Prince Michael ‘s visit which in my book is an excellent thing.

                        

Like other members of the royal House of Windsor, the Prince,  who  was very well received by all whom he came in contact with, was filled  with nothing but praise and admiration of the Jamaican people, reaffirming the lasting ties between Jamaica and the Crown showing indeed that bonds that bind us all are strong, indivisible and not so easily severed.

Tribute to the Iron Lady

This latest post pays tribute to a very special person, who was very instrumental in shaping the world we now live in, a woman who embodies strength and resolve, who focused on principles rather than popularity and ended up paying the ultimate political price for her resilience and defiance, I speak of none other than former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, The Baroness Thatcher  who passed away peacefully last week.
                                     
Lady Thatcher was not called Iron Lady for nothing  and to this day remains a very controversial figure, one who changed Britain and the world forever, she was a stanch opponent of anything that even resembled  Marxism and stood should to shoulder with many other political leaders of her time as was demonstrated by her special friendship with then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, as well as close alliances formed with other anti-communist leaders of the 1980s including our very own Prime Minister Edward Seaga.
                           
The Baroness did much to improve her country’s economy which was in quite a state after years of mismanagement by the Labour Party (British Labour that is, not the JLP), unlike populist leaders who promised  redistribution of wealth, Thatcher did something more concrete instead of encouraging  her people to depend on the state to be their surrogate parent  and provide them with welfare, she instead encouraged business, capital growth investment and innovation. She encouraged efficiency in government by the transfering  of loss making entities into private hands. She was a genius who ran the state like a business, she understood that the only way to develop and grow an economy is through capital growth, not by taking the wealth of one class of people and giving it to another, she  had the foresight to know that wealth redistribution is not the way out of poverty but rather creation of new wealth. Surprising as it may seem I also admire the way she dealt the the Trade Union system in Britain who were at the backbone of the economic downfall of Britain promoting their own secret agenda to reduce productivity with their constant support of strikes and other forms of industrial actions most of which were taken for all forms of ridiculous reasons, I personally have no problem with Trade Union in itself but when such bodies abuse their power in order slow down productivity and damage a country’s production sector they must be brought to heel and this is exactly what the Right Honourable Lady did.
                               
I also supported her foreign policy stance (at least most of the time), she was instrumental in leading the fight against international communism along with Regan, she also brought in the Trident missile system to bolster her country's defences against nuclear weapons. Without a doubt however her greatest victory came in 1983 when she ordered Her Majesty’s Armed Forces to crush the Argentine invaders and retake the  Falkland islands thus restoring a surge of new hope in an era of great depression. Regardless of these great achievements , I must say that she also made a few mistakes along the way the biggest one was the support of the Apartheid Regime even while it was clear that both the Commonwealth and the rest  of the international community had seen enough and wanted Apartheid gone,  perhaps she could have handled the situation in a more tactful manner instead of finding herself on the opposite side of international public opinion.

                               

But  in her defence the Iron Lady was not one for falling in line, that is why most conservatives (myself included) admire her so much while she is utterly despised by the left, even after her death the left are still insisting of tarnishing her name and making her out be the villain when this is not the case, it was quite horrifying to see and hear to Left wingers organizing parties to celebrate her death, how disgraceful, she was  knifed in the back by her own fellow Tories in life and now people are celebrating her demise? Some people just don’t appreciate greatness when they see it, this is the typical attitude of the mob. What is ironic about these “celebrations” is that most of the party-goers are young people, who were either too young to remember or not even born when Lady Thatcher was in Downing Street, yet they celebrate her death because she did not conform to thier ideologies. It’s amazing how ungrateful people can be, what a shame!!,  but this only goes to show the attitude of liberals, socialist, communist and others of the left, no dignity, no class, not even so much as sympathy for the family. I know  that no tears were shed by right-wingers  when Hugo Chavez died a few months ago, but none of us took to street in celebration  either.
                            
                       
Margaret Thatcher embodies the type of political leader that the Jamaican Tory can respect, a true patriot to both Queen and Country, one who employs the use of conservative principles in all aspects, a devoted monarchist although there was a false rumour going around that Thatcher and the Queen were at odds this is utterly false, they may not have always have seen all  things in the same light e.g. The Apartheid Issue, but to say they were enemies is going a bit too far as the Queen could not have found a prime minister that was more loyal to her than Thatcher (except perhaps Churchill) , the British People and the World were very lucky to have some as dedicated and uncompromising as the Iron Lady.

The Real Meaning of $100 to $1

The Markets have been on edge, investors are getting worried, The People are getting agitated and everyone is now waiting to hear the evitable news, The Jamaican Dollar has officially reached the benchmark 0.01 US$  i.e. not long from now (may very well be today) it will take $100JMD to buy a US dollar and the Canadian dollar is not lagging far behind  either, now the big question on everybody’s lips is with both currencies (but especially the greenback) about to hit the roof with record breaking levels what will it mean for the future of our economy? . Most naturally see this scenario as a picture of gloom and hopeless considering that these countries are our major trading partners, which would mean the cost of import would naturally skyrocket and cause a host of other problems not the least of with is rapid scale inflation on everything.

                    

Others however are still trying to be optimistic  presenting a scenario as an opportunity to grow rather than shrink in a period of deep austerity and great crisis, in a forum hosted by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute earlier this week,  it was heavily debated between the a group of financial experts and private sector leaders, whether or not the devaluation of the dollar was an advantage or will it be to the nation’s detriment, one such panelist was of the view that the devaluation can be useful as this would make our exports more marketable using the Keynesian model of maket equilibrium he argued that if we increase exports decrease imports and hold all other factors at a steady rate then currency devaluation may be seen as an oppurtunity to grow, the only problem with that logic however is that while it sounds good, Jamaica exports far more than it imports, in fact data from the EXIM Bank shows that 95% of all Jamaican exports is based on a mere 6 products, the question one can ask here is are we really in a position to take advantage of this change in market value?". Of course the issue of import substitution was also brought forward, while it is a noble suggestion which I absolutely embrace, the question still remains how feasible is it to carry out the process and in what timeframe?.  

According to the latest Ease of Doing Business Report that is published by the World Bank, Jamaica ranks 90^th of all countries in the world, it’s no wonder that many investors (even Jamaican ones) are choosing to place their money elsewhere as it is quite clear that there is not much of a business friendly environment and the risks are far too great. The simple fact of the matter is that Austerity Measures are short term, what this country really needs is structural adjustments to transform the way we do business , anything short of that will result in failure.

                                             

Of course when Talking Structural Adjustment Programmes, who better to consult than the International Monetary Fund, a multilateral lending agency that  countries would rather avoid yet so many of them end up doing business with anyway, who could forget the promises made by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who during her bid for Prime Minister in the 2011 promised to have an IMF deal on the table within two weeks after winning the elections, but now it’s over a year and still no deal, in fact after months of waiting for a response, the Jamaican public is now hear that the IMF is just beginning to look at the Government’s proposal, clearly the government has no clue what it is doing, in fact it’s proposed national debt exchange which was supposed to reap success turn out instead  to be an utter failure on part of the government and investors lost millions, one bank records as much as $2.5 Billion JMD in losses purely as result of the debt exchange,how can  anyone even consider that  this government is competent enough to manage the economy when they can't even get the debt exchange right, the Bruce Golding Government  had also tried a debt exchange, the difference however is that they were successful where Simpson Miller and most especially her Finance Minister Peter Philips has failed .

               

As I have reiterated before the Simpson-Miller government has demonstrated its incompetence, time and time again, it has ruined our economy, thousands are workers are laid off lowering productivity, investors are being scared away by their anti-capitalist policies and overly bureaucratic regulations, inflation is going haywire and now the dollar is nearing the dreaded mark to equal both $100USD and $100CDN (it could very well be happening now as I write), with the Government set to open the budget debate in parliament next week the Philips has promised no new taxes, but I’m not holding my breath for their promises to materialise, it wouldn’t be the first time that these self-serving politicians have lied to the country before and it certainly won’t be the last. 

The Lie Called "Marriage Equality'

I wish to speak about a new phenomenon that I have been observing for quite some time now, it’s all over the news these days, not to mention amount of Facebook post I've seen concerning both sides of the debate and it all has to do with the idea of marriage equality and whether or not persons should be allowed to legally wed persons of their own gender. This new agenda has been no doubt pushed by every liberal and Marxist political leader, media houses and lobby groups all seeking to propagate the notion that such a lifestyle should be accepted as normal to the point where it’s even taught in schools in some countries (though thankfully not here in Jamaica) as an alternative to the traditional family unit.

                              

                                 

Being a true Jamaican and a genuine Tory (traditional Tory that is, not the David Cameron version), I feel no shame in categorically stating that I oppose any change to the traditional defintion of marriage and I believe  that such ideology is abominable and violate all the laws of nature as well as centuries of long standing human practice. There was a time when marriage equality meant that the Husband (1 man) and the wife (1 woman) were equal partners in a marriage relationship, but the liberals and the pro-gay community have taken the meaning of marriage equality and twisted it to suit their own depraved way of thinking, I’m not surprised that they would do this since they have distorted the meaning of marriage itself and are publicizing the notion that others should do the same, they disgust me.

                                                

Unfortunately whether we like it or not (and I certainly do not) these people and their ideas are intent on sticking around and are not going anywhere, we see it all around us in forms of media both print and electronic, political leaders in many countries are now falling in line with this agenda including our very own Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who is lauded by the LGBT community both locally and overseas for her stance, thank God for  sensible leaders like Vladimir Putin and  Bruce Golding etc. who are not afraid to stand up to the bullies in the LGBT community and tell them to bugger off.

The real question though is why do these people want to get married anyway? Up to half a century ago they wouldn't even dare show their face in public, but now all of them are “coming out of the closet” and are asking for all kinds of rights, marriage, adoption rights and recognition rights and what not, they sicken me.  Originally the whole point of marriage in the first place was the create a stable framework in which to raise a family, since LGBT people cannot have children then what’s the point of marriage for them, isn't it  already bad enough that they are allowed to have civil unions? I find it hypocritical that the same gay rights people who are often critical of religious leaders who oppose their immoral lifestyle are now wanting to force these same religious leaders to marry them off, and if they refuse then these clergymen are targeted for not falling in line with the gay agenda, whatever happened to freedom of speech or freedom of conscience?  When we live in a world where it’s a normal thing to openly promote homosexuality and profanity in the media but where Christians can’t even so much as kneel down to pray in a public building for fear of prosecution then it’s a sure sign that the world has gone mad.

                                       

Thankfully in my country the Liberal agenda is not as strong as it is in other countries in North America and Western Europe, the LGBT Lobby groups and their so called “human rights” co-conspirators are gaining ground but for now conservative ideologies still reign, although it’s being slowly but surely eroded (one only needs to take a look at some of the columns in the Daily Gleaner or Daily Observer to see what I’m talking about)  who could forget the  now famous words uttered by former Prime Minister Bruce Golding “Not in my cabinet” indicating his abhorrence to the idea of legalizing LGBT rights in Jamaica, If he had been the P.M. of some other country when he made that bold statement, he probably would have crucified  before the interview was over, unfortunately the current  PM well known for her liberal and Marxist views seem to taking an opposite trajectory, it’s a good thing that  Portia Simpson  Miller is no Barack Obama or David Cameron, should she ever dare to propose the idea of marriage equality or any other rights for this abnormal sect of people she would face a massive riot in the country even from members of her very own cabinet, she would never get away with it, such notions would surely be swept away by the turning wheels of the counterrevolution that would erupt.

                                

I did not get to focus much on the religious aspects of the debate in this post (I’ll do that another time), as this post was more inclined toward the political and social side but I will say this,  marriage equality is an idea that comes straight from hell, there is nothing anyone can say to convince me that same sex marriage is normal, in fact it is  one of the most repulsive things I could ever think of, it’s high time that people wake up and realize that the West is being overtaken by cultural Marxism, time to reject the liberal agenda and force these people back into the closet from whence they came, the future of our civilization depends on it.