There can be an argument pro or con of the relevance of the Senate as is constitutionally required in these times.

However the case is framed in such a way as to question the appointment of a new Senator seemingly against the rejection of another and impugn the motives and character of the GG.

As is with the norm on these matters political partisans of both stripes chimed in to continue the post-election rhetoric with one partisan implying that the GG ‘begged for this pick”

A Senatorial appointment is not lifetime tenure, the political Parties recommend their candidates and no one bats an eye when the Parties select candidates who have been rejected at the Polls. The GG can similarly exercise his discretion in selecting his choices; a mature audience would accept this and move on.

It’s time to move on.

Gotta agree with Miller……………………the leaders cannot be seen as above anything and everything, particularly criticism, when it comes to holding up to ridicule the same institutions they represent, particularly at the expense of the taxpayers. I however, agree with the GG on his decision.

@Bushie

BU respectfully disagree that this is a non issue. Using Marshall is just to exemplify how certain people are able to bounce around our system with unanswered questions in tow. In the case of dropping Chandler BU has issue with the prima facie decision, the real issue is the lack of transparency how these decisions are made. We are passed the days of the dark ages. We live in an information age. We live in a society which presumably is more educated. Why should we not be able to ask the GG the rational behind his picks? Is the only reason one of observing conventions?

@Jeff

Thanks for that elucidation. One therefore has to wonder why Barbadians (taxpayers)are not operating within a right to be concerned that the GG – who operates mainly in a ceremonial capacity- should not be obligated to select independent candidates which are aligned to national strategic priorities. We need to have a system which more accurately achieves this objective and not have to accept the ‘discretion’ of a GG. Where is the disrespect by being curious about this matter?

@ Miller
Man don’t feel anyway about Bushie’s captaincy, what captain what?! You really think a bushman can captain a team with the lotta BU intellectuals bout here?
….the point is that ac has now reached the stage where she is seeing your balls like the preverbal breadfruit, and apparently your “foot” of much repute has lost its legendary impact.
Moving you to the other end is a waste of time, as the other batsmen like fractured BLP will simply juck a ‘single’ and bring ac to face your sugar puffs again…. Just take de little time off and rest ya self in backward Square nuh….! 🙂

@ David
Which part of throwing pearls to swine do you not grasp?
The SYSTEM is broken.
Trying to get transparency in a mud hole is a sign of madness. The very thought of the GG giving reasons for his appointments is wishful thinking.

You may be an unrepentant optimist, but surely you can see that unless there are FUNDAMENTAL AND REVOLUTIONARY changes in the shabby SYSTEMS that we have in place, we are just spinning top in the mud hole..

@Bushie

Here is a sliver of hope.

PM Stuart if we accept the argument of the DLPites won the integrity vote.

Opposition leader MAM has stated publicly she is willing to discuss how the country can improve governance in the country.

Is there an opportunity for our leaders to step up you think?

@ David
You have hope in Freundel and Mia….?
You are a glutton for punishment…. 🙂

@ ac
Don’t think because you hit Miller for that six that you is any top class batter now…. That was a fluke swipe, and you are still a batting disaster……

First of all the blogger is LOOL not TOOL….and you know what happens when you start wrong…

Secondly, the blogger is CORRECT for the most part about the fact that this is a storm in a teacup……

HOWEVER
What Bushie objected to was the call for David to censor some of the nonsense on BU.

Now ac, if David was to do this then you done know that your blogging career would be HISTORY.
….so you see Bushie trying to help you…. 🙂

Now …back to face Miller (and call the husband to vet the post before you hit send…)

What is clear is that the anti-BU rhetoric will rise in a DLP second term. No worries, the script is being followed based on our expectations.

@ DR. THE HONOURABLE | March 11, 2013 at 2:18 PM |

Your wish might soon be in the offing when a certain inevitable event occurs.
We shall see how brave and forward looking educated Bajans really are.
Or will they be weighed down so heavily by 360 years of irrelevant pomp and conservative circumstance to be the laughing stock of the World when the withdrawal symptoms of enforced umbilical separation occurs.

Do you, Doc, know if these QC’s will have to be “re-titled” KC’s or can they continue living in a Queen Dom instead of a King Dom.

We shall, see dead or alive, whether Barbados does the “honourable’ thing and sever its aping ties and finds its own grown up independent footing or remain like an unwanted child that has physically grown up but still wants to suckle like an puerile monkey at the very sore breast nipples of its mother country.

“There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”

@miller re: post 10-03-2013
Why thank you for your kind words,how did you know that I always wanted to be a Senator?… and after giving it some serious thought,I have come to a decision. I am going to be a Senator! I herby accept your nomination for the post. Furthermore I now do declare, that the election has been duly called and given no opposition, I have won and am now the first Senator appointed to the Shadow Senate of B’dos!

My first official act as leader of the Shadow Senate is to appoint YOU, and all the fellow contributors on BU as my fellow senators!
I think that this shadow senate is already perfectly aligned to the real thing. There are DLP members, BLP members and some like myself representing the independent component. Just like the leader of the bricks and mortar senate, in this virtual version, and as your self appointed leader, I too cannot see you. And of course we even have a speaker of the house in David, who brings control and order to this august chamber.

And as to the constitution that I have decided upon, let it simply be this:
WE THE PEOPLE,the Bajans of this our B’dos do herby vow to illuminate,elucidate and fully ventilate ALL the PUBLIC issues affecting WE the peoples of this our fair land. SO HELP US GOD!

Finally let me say to you all, my newly appointed fellow senators, I so do look forward to free,frank and fair discussion. And to working with you, to bring with quiet resolve, ultimate resolution to the many challenges we are bound to face, in this the year of our Lord 2013.

Sincerely
S.S. Cyprian La Touche’

david

Opposition leader MAM has stated publicly she is willing to discuss how the country can improve governance in the country.

what took MaM so long to figure out that good governance and sound leadership was lacking. well excuse me! as .one who has been instrumental for the past fourteen years in the development of this country she should have been aroused and alarmed by the amount of cost overruns and unaccounted missing funds accredited to the party which she is now leader..why did she not take a stance then ? and also why didn’t she not take a moral and philosophical stance when te issue of the 75 thousand check was attributed to illegal activity by her then leader OSA. Really she had more than enough time to speak about ” good governance” unfortunately it is too little to late to be preaching from her bully pulpit to a audience. she had the optimum opportunity to do so which now would have lend credence to the credibility when her party was in power,.

Miller

There is a harsh reality to all of this. Should I for instance seek to run as an independent and against every odd imaginable “Win” a seat in the Lower House, I will NOT be permitted to enter until I swear allegiance to a White Christian Queen. Now suppose for the sake of argument I was representing a constituency that had become populated with a majority of Muslims.

OOPS! before i forget . Then on the other side you got ac! Fractured BLP ! TTP! NATIONAL BLP! Sargeant ! Hamilton! now yuh really playing wid fire.
OH! the anti american atheist guy BAF! you better think again. cause it seems like cat piss and pepper might be “STANDING ORDERS” everyday!

@Well Well | March 11, 2013 at 6:44 AM | .
——-

I do not need any lesson from you, you are just a racist jackass.

David @ ac

Politicians will make decisions based on expediency. If you want BU can come up with something which shows an inconsistency on Stuart’s part

go ahead if it shows him being part and parcel knowingly condoning recklessness by his party and the allegations which i leveled at mam during a period of time in which she could have speak out.,.

@ BAFBFP
Of course all are welcome! I too practice the politics of inclusion and in my house there are many mansions and room for all! The straight, the gay, the undecided and totally confused. To all those who don’t ever have a clue. Be you a doctor or lawyer, without car or with a pretty face. You could be a moderately retired preacher for all I care! ALL ARE EQUAL IN MINE EYES!
Belief in nothing or everything, it is the common belief in the truth of SOMETHING that matters.

Look La Touché,
…if you know what is good for you,….. you would keep a low profile, get a nomme de plume, and leave the chairmanship of this war called BU to David.
…a word to the wise is sufficient.

For one thing – you like you think that the Annuniki fellow Miller praising you up pretty….. When he start to cuss you, ya will not even know what God you serving…

ac is the blog mascot.
She understands nothing, is a direct relative of Mrs. Malaprop, has an erroneous opinion of everything, but makes one (1) good point every other Sunday when, by coincidence, the husband is home from Arizona.

One last point.
Bigger fish that you ran from the BU kitchen when the heat was turned up…NOT BY BUSHIE (one of the nicest chaps you could want to meet on BU 🙂 ), but watch out for Caswell, BAFBFP, Miller and ESPECIALLY a certain Islandgal……she downright dangerous.

….but if you insist on suicide….good luck, we will see if you last as long as Peter Wickham….

islan gal Ac get “beat up” wuhloss ac the one holding the Victory torch while you and miller and Bush ie standing in the dark. LOL!

I should clarify something I said earlier ”Crusoe | March 10, 2013 at 7:48 PM | Do you need more explanation than that. And re GG choices, do you really think them independent????”
———–
What I mean is, the GG, like us all, makes choices on perceptions of people and their environment. Thus, he will assess on HIS subjective view of what things should be. Instead of independent, I should have used ‘objective’. as the term. I apologise.

Point being, while he sees a need for specific people, likely many of us will disagree and see things from a different viewpoint.

From my viewpoint, I agree that the lack of a woman appointed is unfortunate and particularly one with a lot to offer.

I had intended to stay out of this debate but I think that I should at least attempt to clear up some of what I feel are misconceptions about Senator Frances Chandler. Dr. Frances Chandler has contributed significantly to agriculture in Barbados; through her professional and indefatigable inputs in research on Onions and the early development of a local Onion industry here (which has since floundered); through her significant contributions to vegetable farming systems; through extension efforts to marry use of locally produced crops with improved utilization of those crops in the tourism sector; through consulting with predominantly white farmers to improve their production techniques and also their access to marketing of their products with the predominantly white controlled supermarket sector; and through working closely, beneath the radar, with past Governors General on initiatives to improve the inputs of youth in Agriculture, inter alia.

But Dr. Chandler is a white woman and she appears to have generally seen things through the prism of the white planter and mercantile classes. This is perhaps understandable, but it did not endear her to the technical professionals in the Ministry of Agriculture who she seems to have gone out of her way to condemn and confound, often unjustifiably, even though she worked as a scientist in that Ministry for a number of years early in her career and knew the constraints under which they generally operated. She also did not endear herself to those individuals (even on BU) who could sense an aura of haughtiness and speaking from a perspective that rankled with that of the majority of the population.

I therefore have some sympathy with aspects of the debate on BU that sees Dr. Chandler as a technically good spokesman on Agriculture in the senate but I also can appreciate the sentiments that suggest that perhaps someone else should have been brought into the senate to speak on aspects of agriculture. Sterile though those arguments are at this time. That no one identifiable as a spokesman on agriculture matters was listed in this new senate suggests that the GG perhaps did not read the throne speech before finalising his list of independent senators since the throne speech clearly suggests that Alternative Energy and Agriculture will be the prime foci of the parliament in this new term and should therefore have seen the need for someone to be in the senate who could speak authoritatively on those matters.

Clearly, the choice of independant senators, is the GG’s alone, despite a DLP poster suggesting on BU that since the GG was chosen by the DLP, that he should be expected to be guided by that fact. But, imho, room should have been found for placing someone like Dr. Chelston Brathwaite in the senate to speak on Agriculture and other related issues. Dr. Brathwaite’s, wide ranging experience, scholarship, wisdom, foresight and expected freedom from any hint of political partisanship, would have made him an excellent choice as a senator.

I have no concerns about the elevation of Tony Marshall to a senatorial position. He is probably a DLP sympathizer, as many on this thread seem to suggest. But the failure of the past Minister of Labour to extend Marshall’s membership of the NIS and his not speaking out publicly on that and any other aspect of the functioning of the NIS suggests that he could be relied on to make the right decision that puts country first in matters of high national concern.

@ Bush Tea | March 11, 2013 at 7:56 PM |

Why don’t you leave my e-protégé alone? The fellow is from fine Afro- Caribbean Francophone stock with his dad’s photographic memory. He is from La crème de la crème via his grand-père and will not be discouraged by any hot air coming from the bush man.

If this guy can outtalk BAF and “out-argue” Dennis J on the radio he would make minced meat of you and turned your ramblings into canned soup of the Campbell’s variety instead of bush tea for island gal to serve to ac and TPP to cure their intellectual sickness and add beef to their contributions.

The young fellow is class and he will smoke you out of the bush like grass.

@Checkit-out

I have no concerns about the elevation of Tony Marshall to a senatorial position. He is probably a DLP sympathizer, as many on this thread seem to suggest. But the failure of the past Minister of Labour to extend Marshall’s membership of the NIS and his not speaking out publicly on that and any other aspect of the functioning of the NIS suggests that he could be relied on to make the right decision that puts country first in matters of high national concern.

A reward?

waiting | March 11, 2013 at 9:10 PM |
The Chandler person will not be missed listening to her submissions in the Senate was difficult she said nothing which resonated in poor black communities.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
And those who say the things,we like to hear , which resonate in poor black communities,are the very ones who are responsible for keeping those communities just what they are,Poor Black Communities. So its six of one and a dozen of the other.

@ Checkit-Out | March 11, 2013 at 9:00 PM |
“But, imho, room should have been found for placing someone like Dr. Chelston Brathwaite in the senate to speak on Agriculture and other related issues. Dr. Brathwaite’s, wide ranging experience, scholarship, wisdom, foresight and expected freedom from any hint of political partisanship, would have made him an excellent choice as a senator.”
…………………………………………………………………..
Inappropriate old school tie.

Colonel Buggy;

Your “inappropriate old school tie” comment might seem to be superficially apt about Dr Brathwaite who is a graduate of the Modern High School, but I think that Dr. Brathwaite’s evident stellar accomplishments should far transcend that concern by any objective GG.