Birth of a future King

I had planned to right on something entirely different in this post, but given what happened this week, there is only one topic that I really find appropriate to discuss this week and that of course refers to what is now the world's most famous newborn, His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge the eldest son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. First and foremost let me begin be sending my heartiest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess on the birth of their child, words cannot express how glad it is to see that she had a safe delivery, both mother and child are doing well and most happily of all it's a Boy which is exactly as I had predicted in an earlier post (see http://jamaicatory.blogspot.com/2012/12/royal-baby-and-succession-rules_4.html) .

                                  

While the world seems to celebrating the royal birth I'm sure there are still many whom are fuming that they did not get their wish after all they were praying that she would have a girl just so they could prove a point, hoping to toss out the old rules of succession in order to facilitate their notion of equal primogeniture but now fate has decided to give them a slap in the face they must feel like idiots to know that all their meddling and politicking was for nothing, serves them right, for my part I couldn't be more pleased  and feel no qualms about gloating, well done to the new Cambridge family.

                         
Of course one would have thought that by now politicians would have learnt their lesson about meddling in the monarchy but unfortunately this is not so, just two days after the birth of Prince George, some MPs in our local parliament while congratulating the royal family on their new addition also used the same occasion to reiterate their pro-republican stance by saying that Jamaica should become a republic at least by the time George becomes king, something that might very well not happen until the late 21st century,  while all this going on, Scottish separatist did not even bother with the courtesy of congratulating the Duke and Duchess but rather made clear in no uncertain terms that if their plans to have Scotland leave the United Kingdom should succeed (which I doubt) then they will see to it that young Prince George never becomes King of Scots, even now the birth of the royal prince is still used as a front by politicians to put forward their agenda, it's disgusting that the birth of a newborn is once again used as a political football to for advance one's own mantra, it's like the equal primogeniture debate all over again even while he was still in  the womb, the arrival of the royal baby was used as a tool by politicians in a sorry attempt to make a name for himself, first equal primogeniture and now this, when will these people get it through their heads, lay off the royal family I'm sure that national leaders in Commonwealth realms have more pressing matters at this time.
                                                
With the exception of the UK, no other Parliament in the Commonwealth have passed the succession to the Crown bill in their own parliament although they all promised to do so in time for the arrival of the newborn royal when they met in Perth in 2011, although some have started to the debate, the birth of a son rather than a daughter has surely meant that these plans are now stalled, as are plans to remove the ban on Catholics (or persons married to a Catholic) from ever ascending the throne, a real victory in my opinion, only late last week some pundits were even question whether or not the line of succession would be split between the realms if all of them could not get their act together in time, but with all that speculating and everything else that has been going on, turns out there is no longer any need for it.

                                   
The birth of Prince George now means that the male line of succession is well secure for at least three generations, a feat that had not been accomplished since the time of Queen Victoria, well done to Duke and Duchess, I'm truly glad for the new addition to their family, seeing that newborn being presented to the whole world for the first time nestled  in the loving arms of his parents was a truly beautiful sight to behold, it only goes to show that my instincts were correct all along and I'm glad that things turned out the way it did.

Citizenship oath challenge

The audacity of some people never ceases to amaze me, once again the issue of the oath of allegiance rears its ugly head in Canadian politics as persons wishing to become citizens of Canada refuse to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown. They are claiming that being forced to take the oath is a violation to their rights to freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and other kinds of rights as such they demand that it be changed to suit their own liking before they can take the oath. Of course if someone were looking at it from that point of view then they would be forced to agree especially since they are trying to make this into a human rights issue, after all these people should have the rights to express themselves however they want should they not? Why should they be forced to take an oath that they don’t sincerely mean?

But hang on a second not so fast, let’s take a step back and examine a couple of facts, first and foremost nobody is forcing them to take on Canadian citizenship, they can wail all they want about human rights but the truth of the matter is that Canadian citizenship is NOT a right unless you were born with it. It is they who wish to take on this citizenship and as such must do whatever is required to get it if they really want it. The attitude displayed by these people shows how undeserving of the privileges of citizenship they are, how are they  going to convince anyone that they are truly loyal when they won’t even pledge allegiance to the realm and its sovereign?

Secondly many of them claim that they will not take the oath because they do not like the monarchy (either the Commonwealth Monarchy or just Monarchy on a whole), fair enough everybody was born free and has a right to his or her opinion, but if they hate the monarchy so much, why bother move to Canada, which is part of the Queen’s domain? There were plenty of republics to choose from where they could migrate to, in fact there are more republics than monarchies in the world where swearing an oath to the crown is not necessary, why not migrate there? Canada for one shares a very long border with the United States, if they hate monarchy so much, how come they didn't end up in America instead they would have been right at home there.

                           

There’s a common saying “when in Rome do as the Romans do”, it’s only common courtesy that they either take the oath for find somewhere else that will take them, their actions are akin to guest coming into a home and insisting that the host conform to their instructions not realizing that the house is not theirs to order around in the first place in other words it’s just plain rude. They entered Canada and saw the system operating a particular way, common courtesy would dictate that they either work with it or leave no one is forcing them to stay in Canada, they are free to leave Canada as they are not citizens and are under no real obligation to stay. But they can’t go around demanding that Canada change its laws and traditions just because they don’t like it. I seriously doubt these people if they had migrated to the United States would ever dare to demand that the US change elements of its citizenship oath. No matter how much of a pacifist a person may be once becoming a naturalized US citizen, they  must swear that they will bear arms for their new country if needs be no matter who the enemy is, I have yet to hear anyone challenge that or any other part of the US citizenship oath, so what makes them think they can do so in Canada?, clearly they don’t respect Canada enough to obey it’s law to the fullest extent.

                     

And while on the matter of law, the notion put forward by those wishing to change the oath is that it is unconstitutional in the first place, this is the most ridiculous argument ever, one lawyer even went as far as to claim that an oath to the Queen violates the  1982 charter of rights and freedom, the very same charter that the Queen herself signed into law and which bears her name and seal, the stupidity of this argument amazes even me,  no wonder the courts in Canada have always thrown out these cases as it is clear that they have no basis in law, only in un-Canadian and unpatriotic sentiment.

                       

Some people have suggested that if they don’t like the monarchy then they should at least say the oath first and once they become citizens they would be in a better position to express their pro-republican sentiment, while anti-monarchism in any form will never ever receive my support especially in the Commonwealth at least even they have the good sense to know that trying to change the system is better done from within than without, regardless of my serious misgivings about that suggestion I can still see the point they are trying to make, which is this: foreigners have absolutely no right to dictate what the law should or should not be, only citizens have that privilege and until they take the oath of allegiance and become citizens of Canada, they really have no business lobbying the courts to turn its back on years of national traditions to suit the whims of a few  who were not even born as citizens in the first place, which begs the question, since these people hate Canada’s monarchist heritage so much why do they even want to be citizens anyway?  And what in the world gives them the right to do what they are doing?

                  

In concluding it is quite clear that those calling for a change to the oath citizenship are already demonstrating that they have no respect for Canada itself yet they want to enjoy citizenship anyway, the courts should deny their request and send them packing, The fact of the matter is these people chose Canada, Canada did not choose them, and so they should either abide by the law or go back to wherever they are coming from.

Bahamas at 40

This post pays tribute to our neighbours and friends in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, a longstanding ally and a third oldest existing Commonwealth realm in the Caribbean (after Jamaica and Barbados), Bahamas celebrates their 40^th anniversary of Independence this week to commemorate that glorious day on July 10, 1973 when they were able to finally stand shoulder to shoulder with the other self-governing nations in the world as an equal. The tale of Bahamian independence is a fascinating one, culminating in that moment when the Prince of Wales arrived in Nassau to hand of The Constitution to the leaders of the new nation and declare that the Bahamas is now a sovereign state by decree of Her Majesty the Queen.

                  

Among those who were responsible for this great occasion included Sir Lynden Pindling, the first Prime Minister, Sir Milo Butler, the First Governor-General, other distinguished leaders  the likes of Sir Roland Symonette,   Sir Clement Maynard, Mr. Paul Adderly , Sir Kendal Isaacs, Mr. Norman Solomon, Sir Orville Turnquest and Sir Arthur Hanna, both of whom are former Governors-General and of course the present Governor-General Sir Arthur Foulkes also counts himself among the list of founding fathers who framed the constitution of 1973.

                 

The Independence Story of the Bahamas is very much similar with independence stories in other Caribbean territories, beginning with the formation of political parties and trade union movements in the struggle of universal suffrage and right to self government and ending in the lowering of the union Jack and the raising of a new national flag, like so many other former colonies of the British Empire the new nation choose to gain it’s independence through a peaceful evolution rather than via violence and even elected to stay in the Commonwealth and remain loyal to the Crown by having the Queen as their head of state.

            

The wheels of the Independence movement really began turning in 1964 when after the collapse of the West Indies Federation and the growing phenomenon of decolonization began spreading across the British Empire like wildfire,the Bahamian elected to have full internal self government with Sir Roland as their first premier, he was later replaced with Sir Lynden Pindling who actually completed the process to have Bahamas become fully independent thus becoming the first Prime Minister . 

July Celebrations in North America

This week there will be a lot of nationalistic and patriotic celebrations all over  North America as both the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada take time out to pay tribute to the beginning of their nationhood and how is it that they came to be who they are. Celebrations will begin in Canada which will be celebrating 146 years of confederation on July 1 known as Canada Day (or Dominion day), while three days later the United States will be celebrating 237 years of independence in memory of the declaration made on July 4 1776.

Regardless of the fact that they are both celebrations of nationhood, the origin of the two major giants of North America couldn't possibly be more different, one was born as part of an evolutionary process, the other as a result of a violent revolution,  one came about as a result of loyalty to the Crown, the other was born out of treason and rebellion,  one came into being due to the genuine  desire for self government while the other born out of the desire of the political elite to seize power for themselves. One was about respect for tradition and the other was out of a desire to do away with tradition and establish something that had never been seen before.

Being a devout royalist, I hold no great adoration for George Washington and his ilk, what they did was treason, plain and simple and had they lost the war history would not have portrayed them as heroes but rather it would  have exposed them for the villains that they truly were, power hungry politicians and land owners lusting for supremacy, but instead America history continues to unjustly portray George III as a cruel tyrant and every schoolchild in the US  grows up in this false notion of what really happened, George III was by no means a despot, he was a constitutional monarch acting on the advice of his ministers, doing what he genuinely thought was best for the colonies. I find it disgustingly hypocritical that a man actively supported the enslavement of another race and  owned  huge slave plantations is being portrayed as a champion of freedom and liberty while someone was known to detest slavery so much that he banned all slave made products from the royal palace is being portrayed as a an enemy of freedom. But then again the so called "freedom" fought for by the American revolutionaries was never true freedom in the first place since freedom was limited to wealthy white property owners while having no real impact on anybody else, no wonder  most of the black slaves and the Native Americans choose to fight on the king’s side rather than  for the republic.

                  

The Canadian story is quite different , as it was born not out of rebellion but rather out of loyalty to the Crown, the people of British North America  had no intention of being joined to the United States yet there seem to be every chance that an invasion might take place especially with the US emerging out of their inter-state war stronger than ever and having determined to get rid of all monarchical forms of government on the continent, they had already forced the Emperor of Mexico to abdicate and there was no telling what they might try to do to Canada, after all they tried to invade twice before (Revolutionary War and War of 1812) but failed, what if next time they succeeded? So Sir John MacDonald and the other fathers of Confederation did the wisest thing they could and united  all the colonies into a single realm, the Dominion of Canada, founded up the values of solidarity, patriotism and loyalty to the Crown.

             

The Birth of a nation is always a special occasion and as far as national celebrations go Independence Day and Dominion Day are certainly among the biggest, of course due to the Americanization of our culture and the popularity of Hollywood more people outside of the US would know about July 4 than non-Canadians would know of July 1, of course it does not help that the name Dominion Day was later changed to Canada Day as a means to de-emphasizing the royal connection to the efforts of confederation, nationalistic nostalgia will no doubt  hit fever pitch in the  North, quite frankly I see only one occasion worth celebrating,  revolutionaries overthrowing their rightful monarch and setting up a republic in its place is not something to be lauded but rather to  be denounced, thankfully here in Jamaica our own independence story is a very much similar to what happened in Canada much more civil and dignified than as a result of a violent and seditious revolution. 

End Cultural Marxism

Cultural Marxism and Political correctness are taking over everywhere it seems as though this world is getting out of control, standards, principles and good old fashioned ethics are gone out the window, the cornerstones laid down by those who went before us are now being  torn down and replaced with moral decay and slothfulness, it’s too much to take, this world has gone stark raving mad thanks to the influence of political correctness that has penetrated particularly the western world, Countries and peoples that once promoted patriotism and were sticklers for tradition are now getting rid of virtually everything that once made them great. The Influence of cultural Marxism can be seen in the decline particularly in Christian standards upon which the Western world was built upon and functioned under for centuries and in its place are instead the rise of other belief systems or those with no belief at all, traditional marriage and family life is now being replaced by gay marriage and the institution of the family is completely destroyed,  more people especially among the younger  generation identify themselves as being transgendered and are demanding all kinds of recognition rights while National Pride stands  at an all time low.

                    

 What is even more disturbing is that those who are bold enough to speak out about this great injustice being done are bullied into silence, this is particularly so in some countries  where there seems to be an attempt to wipe out even the mention of God’s name in schools, where is it is  now illegal to have devotions to start off the day but quite fine to teach students that a family can have two Dads or two Mums  and students who are lucky enough to  have been properly raised by good  parents are being bullied by school administrations when they make it absolutely clear that they will not cooperate nor will they be indoctrinated by a system that turns them into mindless puppets instead of teaching them to think for themselves. Then there is the whole matter “Gay Pride” parades, quite frankly in my view, those who practice such unnatural acts have absolutely nothing to be proud about but instead should be locked up  for indecent exposure and violating the established laws of both God and Nature, yet such spectacles of disgrace are continually held in many countries in both Europe and the Americas, thank heavens for the Russians who have recently outlawed such vulgar exhibitions in public, other countries would do well to take a leaf out of Russia’s book.

                            

The decline of Christianity especially in Europe is also a most tragic phenomenon, it truly hurts to know that the continent that once was at the centre of Christendom is now taking a back seat in this regard as more people turn to either Islam, some other Pagan religion or to atheism, I guess this must have been what the Apostle St Paul must be talking about when he said in 2 Timothy 3: 1-4 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” , are all these things now taking shape around us ?, the answer  sadly is a resounding yes.

                        

The left often love to throw around the word called tolerance as a means to justify everything they do, yet at the same time they are among the most intolerant people ever who will do anything to hurt anyone who does not enthusiastically support their views, for example, right here in a Jamaica, there is a great debate about whether or not people of an LGBT orientation should be accepted in the society, after unsuccessfully trying to get certain radio and TV stations to air their propaganda, the lobbyist turn to attacking both the media and the church claiming it’s their fault why  their lifestyle is not  accepted by the rest  of society.  Even now while it is said that parliament will soon hold a conscience vote on the buggery law, the Churches have decided that they will host a straight pride march to protest any change in the current law under which such acts are still illegal in Jamaica (thank God), the lobbyist however are not giving up  and to that end have made several uncalled statements and also  called for church leaders to be punished should they go ahead with this march, claiming that such a march is a violation of the constitution, last time I checked right of peaceful protest and assembly was part of our constitution, special rights for minority groups were not included and it should remain that way. But this was only one of many illustrations to show just how far cultural Marxist are willing go to tear down the building foundations of Western Society until nothing is left but ruin yet they have the nerve to talk about tolerance.

                                           

Of course  this is barely the tip of the iceberg there are many other elements of cultural Marxism that are not covered in this post but will be dealt with at a later date, but you get the idea, this has gone far enough for way to long it’s sickening, it’s time for the political and religious right to rise up and save our civilization, time to smash cultural Marxism, put an end political correctness and let true tolerance reign by tolerating intolerance, if not then we’re all doomed, the continuance to civilization as we know it depends on it. 

State of Affairs in Syria

This Week the Focus will be on an long ongoing crisis in the Middle East that has been the focus of many for the past two years, this concerns the Syrian Civil War between forces loyal to the Government and Rebels calling themselves the Syrian National Coalition , what started out as a simple protest at the height of the Arab Spring has now engulfed both Syria and it’s neighbours in an ongoing conflict with heavy casualties on both sides, so far it seems that neither side is any closer to winning and so the violence and bloodshed continues.

                      

Initially I was fully in support of the cause of the rebellion and what was then perceived as a group of freedom fighters who wished to liberated from the tyrannical regime of President Basahar Al Assad ( or at least this is what some would have us believe), recent events however has left me to question as to whether overthrowing Assad is a good idea after all, sure he’s corrupt but is the SNC any better, the same as Assad or are they worse than him?. It took  me a long while to see the true face of the rebels presenting themselves as a small band of guerrillas struggling against oppression but their true nature is far more sinister  as it now public knowledge that these same rebels are allied with  several extremist terrorist groups most notable Al Qaeda.

                                                          

It is often said that if one has to choose between two evils then choose the lesser in this case letting Assad remain in power seems like a far less dangerous option than allowing the rebels to take control, while true that  Assad can be described as a dictator but the rebels are far worse than he could ever be as their connection to Islamic Fundamentalist groups make them  a dangerous threat to the peace and security of the country and indeed the region, already in areas where they have majority control there have been incidents of extreme violence against all those who do not conform to their religious views which is cause for concern especially for Christians living in the area, at least Assad never tried to curtail freedom of religion as a matter of fact the constitution of Syria protects religious freedom.

               

This is by no means to be taken as an attack against all Muslims, just the extremist ones after all Assad and many in his regime are Muslims themselves but they are not in the business of imposing Sharia law like the rebels, if they are allowed to take control, Syria will soon resemble post 1979-Iran ruled by Allatoyahs, where all women would be required to wrap themselves in black from head to toe  or legalizing so called “Honour Killings” . Some would argue that not all within the SNC are Islamic fanatics or associated with Al Qaeda, this might very well be true but it only points to another issue of contention, the rebels are clearly not united under one banner, sure they all hate Assad and want him at very least gone (if not dead), but after that what next? How are they going to pick up the pieces with so much infighting? Clearly they don’t have what it takes to lead a country if they can’t even sort out their internal differences and get their act together.

                      

I’m also equally concerned about the reaction of International Community particularly western countries who seem to be lining up in support of the rebellion completely ignoring all the dangers therein, have they all forgotten the war on terror already? Or do they simply think that Al Qaeda is no longer a threat with Bin Laden dead  and as for Israel, they would do well not too belligerent towards Assad, should Syria fall into the hand of the rebels, they will present a far greater threat of Israeli National Security, I’ll be the first to admit President Assad is no friend of Israel but like I said before choose the lesser to two evils and as for the West, supporting the rise  another IslamicTheocracy under  will most certainly not be in their best interest, apparently Russian President Putin is one of the few that does sense the danger coming and decides that he would be better served supporting the regime.

Let me wrap by saying that I am by no means a supporter of the Assad Regime indeed I would feel much better to see the back of him, but putting the SNC in charge when they are known to associate with terrorist is most definitely not the solution. The task to remove Assad is a noble one but not like this, not while the wolves are at the door waiting to come in, Assad gone is a desirable  objective  but in doing so, the people of Syria must take care that do not find themselves out of the frying pan and into the fire. 

Rites of Coronation

This week’s edition will pay tribute to the 60^th anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which was celebrated last Sunday June 2, even though the Diamond Jubilee was already celebrated last year, this year the royal family and indeed the Commonwealth celebrated the diamond anniversary of this great coronation service, which is quite fitting considering that the Queen’s coronation took place a year after her official ascension.

                   

It must be noted that unlike in other monarchies, the coronation is not used to mark the beginning of the reign of a new monarch, as the reign of the sovereign begins immediately following the demise of the last bearer of the Crown, the ceremony is regardless a very necessary one as it is this ceremony that the new Head of State takes the most sacred oath that he or she is expected to stay true to for life. The Coronation oath taken by the sovereign of the Commonwealth Realms is very different from the inauguration oath taken by the President of a republic e.g. President Obama of the United States or even that taken by some other modern day monarchs e.g. King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands, these other oaths are normally civil declarations taken before a judge or parliament or some other temporal authority promising to uphold the laws and constitutional arrangements of the land. The Coronation Oath is not a civil oath but rather a religious one taken before God himself and witnessed by the bishops, peers and other senior officials of the various realms, not only does the monarch promise to rule according to the law but it goes deeper than that, the Queen’s oath calls upon her to exercise law, justice and mercy and above all to maintain and profess the protestant religion.

                                  

Following the taking of the oath comes anointing and the crowning, the Anointing underscores the sanctity of the occassion as it is reminiscent of the ancient Jewish custom of anointing the old Kings of Israel to show that the sovereign was set apart to rule and that his right to rule was indeed divine,  It’s has being likened to  the consummation of a marriage as it shows that the sovereign by taking this oath and being anointed is like being “married to the realm” as it were. Following this comes the presentation of the Crown jewels which includes but is not limited to the royal scepter, the Sword of State, the Sovereign’s Orb and of course the glorious St Edward’s Crown. At the end of this part of the ceremony comes the homage, in which the peers of the realm all pledging  their allegiance and fealty to the newly crowned King or Queen as their liege lord, after which the ceremony comes to a close with a hymn (most likely Zadok the Priest).

                               

It must be noted that with the fall of so many monarchies in the last century or the so called modernization of others, the Commonwealth Realm is one of the few left that still adhere to the ancient rites of a traditional coronation, as other realms tend to go for simpler enthronement ceremonies rather than a full coronation, some of them do away with even that designation and opt to have an inauguration instead, (I was previously under the impression that inauguration was something  that presidents do not kings), even as recently as this year two new monarchs officially ascended the throne in the persons of the King of the Netherlands and the Pope of Rome, neither of them were crowned-a break with the traditions set forward by earlier predecessors, perhaps because their thinking was that  it looked more modern?, I’m not sure

Personally speaking I prefer the Commonwealth Realms way of doing things, anything that looks too presidential is certainly not something I’m about to support, the more regality and splendor involved is the more I tend to gravitate towards it, Kings and Queens should be crowned, that is the way it has been done for centuries, I see no reason to change tradition now even in the wake of this 21^st century egalitarian nonsense.

             

This 60th anniversary represents everything that is excellent and noble about the monarchy under which we live, it’s about a Queen who has promised to devote a lifetime of service to the Peoples of the Commonwealth and most especially the Realms, an pledge she has never broke, about 6 decades (plus an extra year if you counting from the ascension) of loyalty and devotion, a life of service to the people and that is truly a momentous occasion worth celebrating

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

A video featuring the Coronation service in 1953:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dui-0D_hpE