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The following report occurred in today’s Nation.
http://www.nationnews.com/story/310341964105085.php
Get help quickly, asthma sufferers told
Published on: 9/9/08.
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, Dr Joy St John, has received the report detailing the unnatural death of 12-year-old Rasheda Hinds due to a severe asthma attack.
Hinds died at her Crab Hill, St Lucy, home on September 5. Her mother, Janice Hinds, said the St James Secondary student “had been breathing funny and had already taken her asthma inhaler twice”.
She said she called for an ambulance from the Arch Hall Fire Station in St Thomas but was told there was none available.
Speaking to the Press yesterday, St John said it was clear the girl needed medical attention long before an ambulance was summoned.
“You cannot play with asthma; it can take you quickly and even people who are careful can have problems,” she said, advising asthma sufferers and their familes to always know how to get help quickly when needed.
The doctor was speaking during a refreshment break in a two-day symposium on HIV rapid testing organised by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pan-American Health Organisation and Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network.
The symposium was held at the Accra Beach Hotel and Resort, Rockley, Christ Church.
“It is very important for asthma sufferers to take doctors’ advice and to make sure their doctors are knowledgeable of current practices.
“You cannot rely only on the standard inhaler. The steroid inhaler removes inflammation and is supposed to be taken on a regular basis, not just when you feel ill, unlike the standard inhaler which is taken when you feel any tightness in your chest but if taken too often, can destroy the lung structure,” she said.
Hinds would have been 13 on November 27. (CA)
Points worthy of note include:
1- The fact that the girl lived at Crab Hill, St Lucy, but the nearest ambulance was situated at Arch Hall Fire Station.
2- There is only one ambulance stationed there, and that ambulance was unavailable at the time.
3- The pontification by the inept CMO who quipped “it was clear the girl needed medical attention long before an ambulance was summoned. “ HOW ON EARTH DID SHE KNOW THAT? Especially when she admits that asthma can take you quickly.
4- The inept CMO then advises asthma sufferers and their familes to always know how to get help quickly when needed. What exactly does this mean? What provisions are there?
5- In a woeful attempt at education the CMO pontificates once more “You cannot rely only on the standard inhaler.” What is the standard inhaler? What does she mean when she says that “the standard inhaler which is taken when you feel any tightness in your chest but if taken too often, can destroy the lung structure.” This advice is very unclear, and confusing to me. When even the CMO can not present a clear message to asthmatics, we can see that we are dealing with idiots in the Ministry of Health.
Has not Georgie Porgie given proper advice on improving our emergency services and has pointed out the need for bringing emergency care to the periphery? How many asthmatics will die before these simple measures are implemented.
David I,ve lose the story of Roy Morris by Teenage Girl That ALL YOU TALking ABout. How can I reprieve it?
@ The scout
Re David I,ve lose the story of Roy Morris by Teenage Girl That ALL YOU TALking ABout. How can I reprieve it?
===========================
If you are practicing your malapropisms, using reprieve for retrieve is a good one; otherwise you need to work on your constabulary ………er er I mean vocabulary. LOL
i am james smith from gloster i am 17 yers old i well fight ene jepese eney one i am tufe as bull dog i dont giv up the move you punch me the move i go made at the age or 9 i was doging judo then boxing then kick boxing then mma now i am back at boxing i now four my age i am one of the best fiters in the word at boxing i just dont give up thas me my house number is 01452 424974 i fight ene man eny dog and a pit bull i well fuking eat it four tea
i am james smith i i that this site was bear nukeld boxing but it is still i well fight no man onlee if ther is money to win then i well fight mike tyson but i like mike tyosn he is my matt
good boxing
@ GP
If you are practicing your malapropisms, using reprieve for retrieve is a good one; otherwise you need to work on your constabulary.
———————————————-
I am sure it was intentional… and I say that without fear of contraception.
@ MME
Good one!
Have you noticed that Bajan politicians have a dirty little habit of speaking down to the citizens?
The tone of Lowe, Sinckler and the one in education, leaves a lot to be desired.
The last time it was Lynch, Lynette Eastmond and Owen, who had this very pedantic style.
Where does this style come from?
I hardly notice it elsewhere.
Sinckler aint dey for two mornings yet and he calls Bajans nasty. Be that as it may, why he aint call we nasty when he was canvassing? Were we clean before Jan. 15 and suddenly got nasty?
All of a sudden, it appears as if we’re a different set of Bajans these people are addressing.
Now today I see Sincker saying de EPA could be bad for small business and being critical again because he is now de white man puppet. This is de same govt that wants 20% of Bajans to be self-employed.
Are they not listening to what each other is saying? Why all de inconsistencies?
May the lord help us if this is the best we got!
Anybody else besides me saw Rosemary Alleyne interviewing the Head of a Muslim school on CBC-TV last night? He was telling her that another Muslim school is to be built somewhere in the Wanstead area. Will this new one teach hatred and death to Christians and Jews, like all the others? I think the Ministry of Education should check out this development. People who post comments about the Indo-Guyanese on here don’t seem to be aware of the REAL danger of these Asians, which is ISLAM. Take warning.
Two young boys walked into a pharmacy recently, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.
The man at the counter asked the older boy, ‘Son, how old are you?’ Eight,’ the boy replied.
The man continued, ‘Do you know what these are used for?’
The boy replied, ‘Not exactly, but they aren’t for me. They’re for him. He’s my brother. He ‘s four. We saw on TV that if you use these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now, he can’t do either one.’
Pustilniks’ office in TX brought in two refrigerated tractor-trailers to store bodies until autopsies are performed. One sat in front of the medical examiner’s office Wednesday morning with a sign on the side: “Jesus Christ is Lord not a cuss word.”
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!!!
not a cuss word.
I love that!
Two cross-eyed women bounced into each other one day and almost knocked each other over. One woman asked the other ” why you don’t look where you are going? The other woman replied” Why you don’t go where you looking?”
Too sweet scout.
Go to the top of the class.
I agree!
‘Whatever you give a woman, she’s going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So – if you give her any crap, you will receive a ton of shit.’
I doing research on environmental change and the geoweb. I am interviewing Bajans about what changes YOU are noticing on the ground and in the water. If you would like to take part, come to Bellairs on Tuesday night at 7:30 and visit my website. I hope you can make it!
This one is funny dem American blacks too stupid
Federal Judge forbids Poor Black mothers from naming their own children
After Judge Cabrera’s historic ruling, little Clitoria Jackson will likely undergo a name change.
( DETROIT ) In a decision that’s expected to send shockwaves through the African-American community-and yet, give much relief to teachers everywhere-a federal judge ruled today that black women no longer have independent naming rights for their
children. Too many black children-and many adults-bear names that border on not even being words, he said.
‘I am simply tired of these ridiculous names black women are giving their children,’ said U.S. Federal Judge Ryan Cabrera before rendering his decision. ‘Someone had to put a stop to it.’
The rule applies to all black women, but Cabrera singled out impoverished mothers. ‘They are the worst perpetrators,’ he
said. ‘They put in apostrophes where none are needed. They think a ‘Q’ is a must. There was a time when Shaniqua and Tawanda were names you dreaded. Now, if you’re a black girl, you hope you get a name as sensible as one of those.’
Few stepped forward to defend black women-and black women themselves seemed relieved. ‘It’s so hard to keep coming up with something unique,’ said Uneeqqi Jenkins, 22, an African-American mother of seven who survives on public assistance. Her children are named Daryl, Q’Antity, Uhlleejsha, Cray-Ig, Fellisittee, Tay’Sh’awn and Day’Shawndra.
Beginning in one week, at least three white people must agree with the name before a black mother can name her child. ‘Hopefully we can see a lot more black children with sensible names like Jake and Connor,’ Cabrera said… His ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by a 13-year-old girl whose mother created her name using Incan hieroglyphics.
‘She said it would make me stand out,’ said the girl, whose name can’t be reproduced by The Peoples News’ technology. ‘But it’s really just stupid.’ The National Association of Elementary
School Teachers celebrated Cabrera’s decision. ‘Oh my God, the first day of school you’d be standing there sweating, looking at the list of names wondering ‘How do I pronounce Q’J’Q’Sha.’?’ said Joyce Harmon, NAEST spokeswoman. ‘Is this even English?’
The practice of giving black children outlandish names began in the 1960s, when blacks were getting in touch with their African roots, said historian Corlione Vest. But even he admits it got out of hand.
‘I have a niece who’s six. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t even pronounce her name,’ said Vest, a professor at Princeton University . ‘Whenever I want to talk to her, I just wait until she looks at me and then I wave her over.’
Cabrera’s ruling exempted black men because so few of them are actually involved in their children’s lives.
Anon
Dis post about the names black people give their children is an urban legend. It is made up. There is no judge Cabrera, no Corlione Vest at Princeton. It is a joke (at the expense of Black people). Don’t believe everything on the net!
BU,
You just could not resist re opening the Veoma/Kareen story could you?
This is a matter, as other matters before the law courts and your “enlightened” readers can only preach hellfire and brimetone.
Nice way to present Barbadians to the rest of the world.
Jinx
Obviously you are a homosexual and like persons of that orientation you are trying hard to stop discussion on the filthiness of that lifestyle.
I know you will come on here and deny it and tell us it is because you have lovely friends who are homosexuals,YEAH RIGHT.
Every other day you are begging BU to close the post and BU foolishly did so with the first post, and now the employees at Starcom who were trying to tell us what is happening there have all gone quiet.
People like you Jinx, and ME,and the others who obviously are homosexuals come on this blog every time BU raises a discussion about trying to condemn everyone who says they are against homosexuality.
Get this inside your head – homosexuality is an abomination,and this from someone who doesnot hate homosexuals but abhors homosexuality.
Dear Felicia Lashley,
Do not waste another breath responding to such ignorant banter.
Your family is blessed to have such an open minded soul as yourself around.
The godly christians will kill this story until they can kill it no more….. just leave them be.
(Besides this is good for BU ratings)
A Man Named: Robert Barbados
I was intrigued when doing some research recently to come across a young man named Robert Barbados. I had no idea people were so officially named -in English speaking countries – but before Bajans get too excited about this fellow. He was convicted of theft with violence: robbery. Do not be alarmed folks it happened abroad, you can relax your valuables are safe. More to the point the incident occurred some time time ago.
The details: ” Robert Barbados, indicted for that on the 24th January last, meeting Katherine Guilford in the Fields, and she asking him the way to Shore-ditch, he, under pretence of going to show her the way, led her the farthest way, and when they were come in a hollow way, from the sight of Passengers, he threw her down, and bid her deliver her money, swearing and threatning he would rip her up, if she would not be quiet, and did cut and otherwise misuse her, robbing her of Four shillings, four and six-pence; the said Katherine Guilford swore positively, he was the person that robb’d her, and that it was done about seven of the clock in the Evening; of which felony and Robbery the Jury found him guilty.
Unfortunately this story has a sad end, of those convicted on the same day as Robert Barbados. Twelve were convicted for a variety of offences, one Edward Conyers, that he be Drawn upon a Hurdle to the place of Execution, and there be hang’d by the neck till he be dead.
As for Robert he was hanged. Date of sentence 27th February, 1684, England
For those with an interest in such things.
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org
(Search for Robert Barbados)
This beautiful story was written by a doctor who worked in Africa .
One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter.
We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts.
One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).
‘And it is our last hot water bottle!’ she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
‘All right,’ I said, ‘put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.’
The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time, one ten -year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. ‘Please, God’ she prayed, ‘Send us a hot water bottle today. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.’
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, ‘And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?’
As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say ‘Amen’? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren’t there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.
Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.
From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas – that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the…..could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried.
I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, ‘If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!’
Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked: ‘Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?’ Of course, I replied!
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child – five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it ‘that afternoon.’
‘Before they call, I will answer.’ (Isaiah 65:24)
Part of the problem we have in this world some say is that we have become too scientific about how we want to live our lifes. We have the homosexuality issue which has split the world because we have become moraless in a modern world. Today we read on the Internet that there was a proposal to pay the poor in Louisiana $1,000.00 to have their Fallopian tubes tied to stop child birth.
Incredible.
A proposal by State Representative John LaBruzzo (R-Metairie) to study the issue of sterilizing poor people as a way of combating poverty has caused an uproar. The broad outline of the plan calls for poor women to receive a $1,000 payment to have their Fallopian tubes tied and for poor men to receive $500 to have a vasectomy. LaBruzzo believes this plan would decrease the number of people receiving welfare benefits. He also noted that it will be completely voluntary. Nonetheless, just the idea of sterilization has motivated critics to cast LaBruzzo as a racist. The Metairie State Representative rejects any charge of racism noting that the plan will mostly impact white people who make up a majority of welfare recipients.
Read full article
David
I am hearing about babies at the QEH going missing. Two mothers are claiming that their babies disappeared into thin air. I really hope that is stale news now reaching me.
I also understand from the source that mild was pumped off one mother’s breast to feed the baby. The explanation is that the mother was sick and had a fever so they did not want the baby to catch what she had; and giving it the mother’s body fluids?
Wow! How people blindly have faith in doctors. Wonder what Carlos has to say about that?
If this is true and this is recent, something has to be done about the QEH.
@ROK
Tell us more. Maybe you should post under this blog to see if the nurses can shed any light.
http://bajan.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/what-is-happening-at-st-thomas-district-hospital-dr-estwick/
I hesitate to post this comment but I getting vex. From the time elections was call in January all the politicians came round by people house skinning up they faces and begging for votes and making you believe they would try to help you if you need help. I am not talking about ignorant people that expect a representative to hold their hand and take them to the toilet and do things for them that they could do for themself, I don’t have time for people like that. I am a Dem and I voted for my people. Well let me tell you some of them now dont even want to give you the time of day even if you worked hard for them in the constitency when they was canvassing. You could call them on the phone and leave 2 thousand messages they ignorning you, but when the time come in 4 years time they would brek they neck to come round by your house begging for votes again. Well if they dont shape up they would get ship out. The only one I know would return your call is Mr. David Thompson and it look to me like he standing alone and the others playing the ass and arrogant as hell, I hope Mr. Thompson would be strong enough to deal with them stubborn arrogant ones he got with him because I tell you now that if they dont start behaving in a better manner and have some humility I would not vote for them again. I would not vote at all because I would never ever vote for BLP. I hope some of them would read this post and shake themself up and treat the people right, they are not our masters but they walking about lording it over everybody and if they think the people not taking notice of how they behaving they will see when the time come. They better take warning.
For the BU family interested in the O.J Simpson trial, some maybe happy to know he has finally been found guilty of something. Read the latest at this CNN link.
It is with anger mixed with pain that I type this submission. What is going on in Barbados we claim that we are the most developing people in the world; yet, my people are not ready for the wrath of mother nature.
What is going on? We refuse to charge persons for littering; we refuse to stop persons from destroying places which have evened the odds out for flooding. We build beautiful elaborate boardwalks for our tourists but oops we forget that BAJANS live here! We find money to do all sorts of crap but when it comes to the workers of our country we blatantly ignore them!
THAT IS UNFAIR AND SO WRONG!
Bajans need charging for killing the environment! I have SOME questions to ask
ARE YOU ALL SURE WANNA READY FOR THIS THING CALLED DEVELOPMENT!
Or have you all allowed persons with heavy purses to mamaguy you and steal your damn birthrights!
SELL OUTS all of us that is what we are!
A pack of sell outs with immigration, environment and the list goes on you all have sold your childrens future OUT!
We have treated mother earth and our own with disdain and we now are feeling her wrath.
JC submitted the comment above.
JC
I think you looking in the wrong direction. With all our Town Planning and Drainage Unit, they can’t get it right?
The Minister of Agriculture is not an engineer but he identified quite rightly that we allow all our rain water to go into the sea.
It means that if he manages to dam that water because of political will, that the bosses who run our technical departments are not working and if you are, tell us why a Minister has to come along to get these things done?
Water find its own level and therefore it is easy to identify where the flooding will be long before the rains come and take measures to deal with the water. We did it in Pinelands as an NGO long before talk of DEOs; we had and still have our own emergency response and disaster preparedness committee, as well as experienced and trained volunteers.
Thanks ROK for your opinion you do have a point. Why is no one listening!
They need to do wsomething and do it ASAP; I am surprised that no one has died as yet. What about the damaging of our coral reefs what is going on people dead ot these realities!
Hello all, a friend of mine just launched this site and some people, before it has even been launched have said it’s going to fail.. which is pretty much expected (you know how people can be) . However as a young entrepreneur myself I think that we .. bajans, black bajans at that…. should be supportive of young people who are working towards positive goals and trying to make a difference. Why do we always have to make the statement ‘ black people don’t know who to stick together’ true??
I have been trying to get more information about the Russian teen who was apparently murdered in St. John.
I have put up the little that I know.
To alll you guys out there…nothing in this world is FREEEEEEEE…..the bus fare business was just a political gimmick….the money has to come from somewhere people…this country was never a rich place….90% of us are poor and came from poor families and we survive….Rich country/Continents does not even do things like that….OK
Does he want LOVE…is that what this is about…will he create poorer persons in this country….
i believe you guys are blind because he speaks to us like we are idiots and don’t understand….today he spoke about the government and owning the prison and have to pay for it for the next 25 yrs….are you kidding….do we have to build our own….are so we so rich we can to do…people pay for cars over a 10 yr period, houses over a 25yrs period…do we take all the money we have and spend it…..
other thing…what about the highway that has change?…4 lanes…that is all….we will still have the problems with traffic….a logical thinking person would know that the roundabouts is not going to works in certain areas, don’t care what you do….check this logic…traffic flows better when not obtructed….UK does it and the US does it….
I would like a leader for this country because as far as i am concern we do not have any…..a person that wakes up one day, i am giving everything FREEEE….we don’t know how it is going to work but that is what he going to do…..
and we as people love this…..hope we have a country that we are comfortable with in years to come…..
“What kind of mirror image do you have of yourself?”
Address to a political rally 13 May, 1986, at which the Democratic Labour Party’s 27 candidates for the general elections of 28 May, 1986 were introduced.
What I wish to speak to you about very briefly here this evening is about you. About yourself.
I want to know what kind of mirror image do you have of yourself? That is what I am concerned about. What kind of mirror image do you have of yourself? Do you really like yourselves? Because you can never really like anybody unless you first like yourself. There are too many people in Barbados who despise themselves and their dislike of themselves reflects itself in their dislike of other people… people who live next door to them, members of their family, husbands, and wives, and the ox and the ass and the stranger within the gates.
I would like to say that in 1951, 1956, 1961 the Conservatives used to do a few favours for people.
A planter would send a man who had a little influence, let us say in Ellerton Village in St. George, send him down to Plantations Limited or Manning and Company and get some lumber to repair the old house, or if he had a cheap canvasser you would send him to Detco Motors and let him trust a new car. And those people would be motivated into giving their support to the Conservative candidate because of the favours which used to be given out to them.
But it really did not matter because the people who accepted that kind of help thought that they would be beholden to the rich people of this island, because the rich people were in a position to do personal favours for them. But what the rich people in Barbados did not realise is that they did not have money to do favours for everybody who had the right to vote after universal adult suffrage.
That was all right when you had 250 people voting in St. Thomas, and probably 178 voting in St. Andrew, and probably 311 voters in St. Lucy, but when you have 38,000 voting alone in St. Michael – voting for two candidates, not even John D. Rockefeller himself would be able to do enough favours for 38,000 people to persuade them to go and cast their votes and exercise their suffrage against the Labour Party’s interest, in favour of that wealthy person.
Which group in wealthiest in Barbados then? Who has the most money to spend? There has never been anybody in the history of Barbados with six million dollars at his disposal. The Tom Adams government had $600 million in each and every year at its disposal to bribe you with your own money, and then spit in your face.
So the Conservatives can now save their money. They are not going to France and Italy anymore because of terrorism, but they are going to Tampa, Florida, Vancouver, British Columbia and California, because they have people now who will spend the workers’ money to bribe the workers and they could save their money and thus go off and live like true politicians, while they use your money against you.
Now what has bothered me in this society is that every time after elections, people expect certain things to take place. And although the law says that he that giveth is as much guilty of bribery and corruption under the Corrupt Practices Act as he that receiveth, we know that even on polling day, people were given envelopes with $100 bills in them.
Philip Greaves and Asquith Phillips and I sat down trying to get people to bring affidavits, so that we could lock up some of them. Our own people, registered Democratic Labour Party people, said they were not prepared to go into court and swear.
So what kind of mirror image would you have of yourself? If there are corrupt ministers in Barbados tonight, you have made them corrupt.
I am not trying to make any excuses for you, but I realise what has happened in this society. You have people who are living on the brink of, and at, subsistence level. I look around and see people who have not done an honest day’s work in their whole lives driving around in MP cars, having an ostentatious standard of living, unlike my poor families in St. John, who the Welfare Officer gives $50 to feed a family of ten for a whole week.
What kind of mirror image can you have of yourself?
Let me tell you what I mean by ‘image you have of yourself’. You so much despair of this society that you queue up at Trident House (United States Consulate) day after day. Those of you who have read Julius Caesar would know the passage that says: ‘You have sat the live long day with patient expectation to see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome.’ And you have stood the live long day with great patient expectation for the man to tell you down there that you can’t get the visa to get on the 400 to New York next week.
Your greatest ambition is to try to prove to the people of the United States Consulate that you are only going up to visit your family, when you know very well that when you get up there, you los’ ‘way. And you are surprised when the people at the United States Embassy tell you that you do not have a strong reason to return to Barbados. And you are the only person dishonest enough with yourself to realise that you do not have a strong reason to return to Barbados, because Barbados has nothing to offer you. You are not being honest with yourself, but you tell the man down there, ‘Oh yes, I’m returning.’
If I had to answer that question now I would be in trouble, because under this dispensation for the past ten years, I never had a strong reason to come back here.
But I want to tell you this, that I believe I am as much Barbadian as they are and I do not like my country being run down the way it has been run down since 1976, and that is the reason why I return.
When I went to Mexico, I had to make a decision, and I returned; I went to the Pacific and I had to make a decision and I returned. I had a strong reason. My reason is that I did not want to see my country go down the drain but you who are not in politics, don’t have a strong reason. Tell me one good strong reason you have to return to Barbados.
Your mirror image of yourself is that your ambition in life is to try and get away from this country. And we could call ourselves an independent nation? When all we want to do is go and scrub somebody’s floors and run somebody’s elevator or work in somebody’s store or drive somebody’s taxi in a country where you catching your royal when the winter sets in?
What kind of mirror image do you have of yourself? Let me tell you what kind of mirror image I have of you, or what the Democratic Labour Party has of you. The Democratic Labour Party has an image that the people of Barbados would be able to run their own affairs, to pay for the cost of running their own country, to have an education system which is as good as what can be attained in any industrialised country, anywhere in the world.
It is only now that you are reading that in the state of Texas, the government of that state has asked to make the teachers pass an examination – you know what kind of examination? To see if they can read and write!
The gentleman of the Texas teachers’ union came on the news and he said that he was proud of the result because only eight per cent of the teachers couldn’t read and write!
If (President Ronald) Reagan had to take the test, I wonder if he would pass. But this is the man that you all say in the newspapers, how great he is for bombing the people in Libya and killing little children. I am no (Libyan leader Mu’ammar) Qathafi supporter. I don’t know Qathafi and I never had any desire to go to Libya. But this is the man that you all go up at the airport and put down a red carpet for, and he is the President of a country in which in one of the more advanced and biggest states eight per cent of the teachers cannot read and write, and he feels that they are better than we. And you feel that we should run up there and bow.
What kind of mirror image do you have of yourself? Why don’t you sit down there and start trying to put people on the moon, too? Instead of using $100 million to develop the potential of the young scientists that we have, and the young doctors that we have, we spend it putting up an expression of a monumental edifice behind the Cathedral and call it a Central Bank Building, because we think that people develop by ostentation, by showing off, and not by developing people.
But when a government steals from people in the way of consumption taxes and takes that money and spends it on their own high lifestyles, and unnecessary buildings, then that government not only has contempt for you, but what is most unfortunate, you have contempt for yourself, because you allow them to do it.
And you get the Prime Minister of the country saying that his ambition is to have the same kind of lifestyle as the people in the United States enjoy. I wonder what kind of lifestyle he is enjoying now? And then his successor goes outside of Barbados and says we are drifting away in Barbados from the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy, and we are easing into a presidential system; that we want a presidential system, so that, like Reagan, they can go and bomb. They can go and bomb the mental people in the hospital in Grenada and the little children in Benghazi, in Tripoli? Is that what we want a presidential system for?
We don’t have a Presidential system yet. But you have people who are employed and paid with your taxes who could buy a boat and give it to an Englishman to smuggle arms into Barbados. I can give you the name and the place and everything you want.
We don’t have a presidential system, but you can have people removing money from a Canadian Imperial Bank account and people who are in charge of institutions in this island, and in transferring it to the Barbados National Bank without the authority of the people from whose account the money was being withdrawn. I know it is so, because I told (Prime Minister Bernard) St. John who said it was and that man has not been locked up yet.
I told him then that you should never appoint a person to a responsible statutory corporation in this island who is accustomed to forging people’s signatures. And then he went outside and came back and never said a word. And you allow that to go on in Barbados.
And there are people in high places in this island who conspired to allow that to happen, because the gentleman was fined $1,000 for so doing, and not by the law courts, but by a private group of people who got together and said, ‘You committed forgery; we are going to fine you $1,000.’ So you circumvent the Director of Public Prosecution, and you hold your own dumb-head court martial and then you present him with a big bowl and congratulate him on his achievements.
What kind of mirror image do you have of yourself if you allow this kind of thing to happen?
What kind of mirror image do you have of yourself when you allow the mothers of this nation to be beasts of burden in the sugarcane fields? In Mexico where people suffer under a lower standard of living than in Barbados, they use donkeys to freight canes out of the fields.
In Antigua, they use a small railway; but here the mothers of the nation with sons at Harrison College, the Alleyne School and daughters at Queen’s College, St. Michael and Alexandra – they are used as beasts of burden and there is no shelter in any of those cane fields. I have talked time and time again to the Barbados Workers’ Union about this and you allow that to continue. What kind of image do you have of yourself?
I suggested, and I was inspired by the work done by the late Mr. Ernest Bevin, who was (British) Foreign Minister, who went to work at eight – I don’t mean 8 o’clock in the morning, I mean eight years of age – and those dock workers in London used to turn up during the winter and summer from 5 o’clock in the morning waiting for a ship, and if a ship didn’t come in for three weeks or three months, they wouldn’t get any pay. And Ernest Bevin introduced the guaranteed week for dock workers. I set up a commission of enquiry into the sugar industry and made the examination of the guaranteed week for agricultural workers one of the terms of reference of that commission, and the commission reported that nobody gave any evidence before them in support of this recommendation.
What kind of mirror image do the people of the Workers’ Union, of whom we have members, have, even of you or themselves? And I had to wait until there was a dispute in the sugar industry and we had television and get on a blackboard and say, well these will be the wages from next week and on Tuesday I went into the House (of Assembly) and introduced the guaranteed wages for agricultural workers.
Why should only one man have a mirror image of you that you do not want to have of yourself? What kind of society are we striving for? There is no point in striving for Utopia, but you do not realise your potential.
You have heard the opportunities which our members have taken to improve themselves by going to certain institutions and so on – not that we believe that people with good education are the only people who can be in politics. The very fact that a man has made the effort and taken the time to improve himself shows that he has the kind of calibre which would make him a useful representative of the people.
I lived in a little country when I was young, the Virgin Islands. It was just bought from Denmark by the United States of America. My father was a Chancellor. I was too young to go when he was transferred. So when I was three months old, I went.
There is no unemployment in that country. They don’t manage their affairs as well as we did in the past. They don’t receive any big lot of grants and loans and that kind of thing, even from the United States.
They have to bring in workers. They have the largest oil refinery in the western hemisphere run by a man called Hess. But that is a small country. But there is another small country which is run by a friend of mine. That country has 210 square miles; it is 40 square miles bigger than Barbados. If you took the Parish of St. Philip and put it right in the little curve by Bathsheba that would be the size of the country of Singapore of Lee Kwan Yew.
But you know the difference between Barbados and that country? First, Barbados has 250,000 people. You know how many people Singapore has on 40 more square miles? Over two-and-a-half-million, on an island just a little larger than Barbados.
They don’t have sugar plantations; they don’t have enough land to plant more than a few orchids on. It is one of the orchid centres of the world. They grow orchids in Singapore. They don’t have enough land to plant a breadfruit tree in the backyard and nearly every Barbadian, even in the metropolitan area of Bridgetown, have some kind of fruit tree in the backyard.
Sixty per cent of those three million persons have been housed by the government of Singapore. They don’t have oil for ministers to steal. They don’t have any beaches like we do here. There are people here in this audience, Barbadians who have served in Singapore, who can tell you about Singapore. There is no unemployment in Singapore.
They have developed an education system but they are teaching people things that are relevant to the 21st century. They are not teaching people how to weed by the road. They are in the advance of the information age.
But you know the difference between you and them? They have got a mirror image of themselves. They are not looking to get on any plane to go to San Francisco. Too far away. The government does not encourage them to emigrate unless they are going to develop business for Singapore.
They have a mirror image of themselves. They have self-respect. They have a desire to move their country forward by their own devices. They are not waiting for anybody to come and give them handouts. And there is no unemployment.
Is that the mirror image that you have of yourselves?
I am assisting a student with a project and would like to find on-line a list of all MP’s who were in office at the time of independence, and those who were elected after Barbados independence in 1966?
Can anyone direct me to the appropriate website?
Thank you,
Nathan D.
Toronto, Canada.
@ David
I am surprised that you or BFP overlooked the behaviour of Minister of Education speech at the Springer School. Diplomacy cannot be compromised when you are a minister who john public should be looking up to. At the start of the school term he degraded the parents of children at the St. Paul’s School, telling them of always complaining. Now, he is ridiculing principals for establishing standards regarding dress codes. Now Mr. Jones, that was not the forum to degrade principals especially when you are dealing with students who might have the tendencies to dress inappropriately. The children he might be seeing on the roads are the students using the free bus service to go by homes and rushing back to school near the 3 o’clock hour. Just look at students going in the opposite directions.
@TMW
Tonight we decided to blog about something positive. There is so much to write about but we can only write so much. You are free to share your views with the BU family, as you know we are quite receptive to the views of others.
With regard to an article entitled ‘No 24-hour clinics’ published in today’s NATION ( 12/24/08) at http://www.nationnews.com/story/339690999711624.php
In his cabinet reshuffle, the PM certainly went from one jackass to another. Both of them make Balaam’s ass look like a Nobel Prize winner!
We read in today’s NATION that though it is known in the Ministry of Health that there is a demand for extended hours at the polyclinics, and although it is known in the Ministry of Health that extended hours at the polyclinics helps to relieve some of the pressure on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and other facilities of the Government, the notion of extending the hours at the clinics “is not currently on the table.”
It boggles the mind that the novitiate and medical illiterate who has succeeded the other of the same kind (jackassus allos) can spout to the press that although it is well known that extending the hours of the polyclinics is very much in need, that there will be no 24-hour polyclinics in the near future.
Rather than seeking the additional staff and security personnel , to expand the polyclinic , we read in today’s NATION that the nation elected the DLP to look to get our labs up to the level to provide a range of services for the eastern Caribbean.
It seems that the Barbadian public elected the DLP to “utilise any surplus facility……. to assist our brothers and sisters in the eastern Caribbean with respect to lab work.”
Whereas there is a need to invest money with respect to obtaining better equipment and offer training for our lab personnel, we should be looking to expanding our services at home so that assistance can be obtained in the peripheral clinics to facilitate the needed clutter of the ER at the QEH.
I have a question to ask; a friend of mine bought a bottle marked washing liquid, however it turned out to be Softlan.
I personally think that this is a serious thing, she does not. What should be her next step, should she go back to the store she bought it from and demand satisfaction or should she go to FTC what should be her next step! Thanks!
Suppose that was weed killer and it had marked mauby she would be DEAD!
@funny
Can you explain with the large allocation of public funds how we can accommodate the increase workforce we would need to man a 24 hour operation at the polyclinics?
We are not against the idea mind up but tell us how we can squeeze scare dollars from the treasury to make this work.
Congratulation David of BU.
I must be careful in identifying the person that I am sending out salutation before I am labeled political lackey.
However, I am impressed with the various stories that you have carried for the year. The response by bloggers are averaging over 300% over your competitor regarding hits/replies. Keep up the good work my friend.
The price of progress has greatly eroded the Christian values that existed in old Barbados. Whether or not parents were Christians or just church-goers, they sent their children to Sunday School. When there was a funeral at the village church, the rum shop/s used to be closed in respect of the dead. Today the rum shop/s order additional drinks to serve their excess expected customers.As a school boy it was compulsory to attend school assembly and prayers at the start of school every morning. There used to be scripture taught in schools and a certified examination at G.C.E.
All this instilled some morals in even the worse children at school. In a progressive Barbados, we have removed a lot of the moral values that this society lived by and, as a people, we now seem to be wandering down an unknown path. Today Christianity is replaced by Religious Knowledge in schools and there are teachers who are pushing other religions down the throats of some of our brightest brains, hence destablising the Christian values that once existed in this society. The various Christian denominations that are in this country, has done much damage to the Christian religion. The last survey I heard about, some years ago, there were just about one hundered and forty (140) different denominations on this little 166 sq.ml island, which means approx. 2500 churches, yet there are many people who only go near a church door for a wedding, funeral or occasionally at Christmas or Easter. Most sects now seem more interested in making money than “winning souls”for Christ. Barbados is fast degenerating into a very immoral society and church leaders are very quiet about it. To many, being a Priest, a Reverend, or a Pastor is just another job. Too many of these leaders are proving to be more currupt than the non-believers. It is time the genuine Christian Leaders in this country, take the bull by the horns, call a spade a spade and try to put this once Christian nation back to its high standards.
Hey David, check out this Google video presentation “The Gig Is Up” on fractional reserve banking and the US Federal Reserve banking system.
Populist lawyer, Gary Fielder, presents “The Gig Is Up: Money, the Federal Reserve and You. Live from Wolfe Hall at The University of Colorado School of Law, on December 4, 2008, Mr. Fielder, a criminal and constitutional lawyer from Denver, Colorado, presents a power point and video presentation on the creation of money with an historical analysis of our current banking system. With quotes from Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and many others, Fielder makes his case to abolish the Federal Reserve and return to a sound and honest money system. Fractional Reserve Banking. Currency. Amero. World Government. International Banking. http://www.gigisup.net
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4020719354420953428&hl=en
Fooled by globalization
A sobering discussion on the nature of the current economic crisis and why this one may be very different from ones in the past.
The problem: globalization adds exponentially to the complexity of potential outcomes, but the banking system is not designed to absorb the kind of rapid and massive changes globalization makes possible.
These aren’t two hippies railing against the system. This is one of most insightful mathematicians and one of the most accomplished options traders of our time.
Dear Barbados Underground Family,
I wrote to Barbados Underground some while ago stating that I would not make any comments about matters pertaining to law suits either in the Barbados or Canadian courts (or in any other country, for that matter) to which I am a party. I continue to stand by that.
I reside in the United Kingdom and am currently visiting Barbados . The primary reason for my visit is because I am responding to a request to make myself available to the Honourable High Court (Civil) to be examined and cross-examined as a witness in a trial to be heard later this week.
I was made aware this morning of the latest defamatory statements and misidentification made about me by the Keltruth Blog that purports to be owned and operated by certain of my cousins, namely Kathy Davis née Knox and her siblings.
Without indulging in the type of total and lamentable lack of respect for the Honourable Ontario Superior Court of Justice exhibited by whoever runs and operates Keltruth (which may or may not be my cousins – I have only seen unidentifiable and legally unverifiable claims that Keltruth is indeed owned and operated by my cousins, but I am not convinced of this at all) I wish to state categorically that I am NOT the blogger on Barbados Underground that Keltruth mis-identifies me as being and who writes about matters pertaining to Kingsland Estates Limited.
I refer your readers to Google and I invite you to enter the search criteria “Iain Deane Barbados ”. You will be astonished to learn, at the very first of the multitudinous entries (over 1.15 million of them) that I am a “co-accused” of the Prime Minister of Barbados and that in addition I am being hidden by Barbados ’ Chief Justice, Sir David Simmons. This must amaze the Chief and Lady Simmons, both of whom I have met a couple (meaning two) times. They must be searching their home to find out just which part of it they are hiding me in. As for the PM, since the use of the word “co-accused” imputes criminal wrongdoing, especially when used in connection with legal proceedings, the PM must be equally astonished to find out that he and I have been criminally indicted for the same unidentified crime.
A while ago, I attended a meeting with my banker in London . We had never met and I wanted to get the bank to provide me with the where-with-all to buy a house. I was told by my banker that the first thing he does when meeting someone he does not know is to google their name. Accordingly, I was placed in the extremely embarrassing position of having to explain myself in relation to the scandalous blogs emanating from Keltruth and its sister blog in order to secure the funds to purchase my house.
This was but the first of many such explanations I have had to provide, not only to people with whom I do business, but also to friends and family who, almost universally, have asked me what the hell is going on. I have been forced to respond to these one-sided and unsupported/unsupportable blogs by providing documentary back-up for my explanations/justifications. I refute any suggestions that in protecting myself and my professional standing and earning capacity that I have done anything other than to try to counter the effects of these scurrilous and malicious scandals emanating from Keltruth and it sister blog. I sincerely doubt that ANY court would find me lacking in respect for it for effectively being forced to protect my personal and professional life from these calumnies.
I noted with interest that there is one other Iain Deane in the world. He lives in Scotland. I have no doubt whatsoever that from time to time he is also being forced to give an account of himself because of the defamatory remarks of the Keltruth Blog and its sister blog. By the way, I have abundant reason to believe that this other Iain Deane is, like myself, a member of British Equity, which explains exactly why when I joined British Equity I was forced to alter my professional name – which my Knox cousins know full well. And which is why I cannot quite credit that they are the ones behind the defamations of Keltruth, particularly this latest one with its references to my acting career. On that basis alone it would appear that my cousins are either the victims of attempted identity theft OR they are liars by omission – which would mean they are liars. I prefer to believe, given their religious fervour and their claim of strict adherence to the Scriptures, that they, like me, are victims of the defamations of Keltruth and its sister blog and, in their case, identity theft, as opposed to the identity confusion that must be dogging the other Iain Deane. To the other Iain Deane, my commiserations and sympathy, sir. I know and feel your pain.
In the latest from the Keltruth Blog, it has chosen, for reasons I cannot explain, to search the Internet for references to my former profession, that of an actor. The only reference they claim to be able to find (for which I thank them as I was unaware of it and it occurred before British Equity required that I change my name) is in connection with a stage production back in 1982 of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in which I co-starred with Jeremy Brett. I suspect that the only reason that this reference (as it was a stage show) exists on the Internet is because of Jeremy Brett, who (now deceased) has become a cult figure due to his portrayal of the title role of Sherlock Holmes in the Granada TV series.
I have also to conclude that whoever the Keltruth blogger is, they have carefully selected a reference containing a negative review – of which in the course of my acting career, I (like all other actors) have had my fair share. In an acting career spanning 21 years, I have had many excellent reviews and quite a few bad to VERY bad reviews as well. The worst of these reviews was from one critic in Winnipeg who seriously did NOT like my performance as Nicky Arnstein in the musical Funny Girl. That, for the research information of Keltruth, was in 1981 at the famous Rainbow Stage in Winnipeg and was, if memory serves, published in the Winnipeg Free Press. Fortunately, the other Winnipeg papers liked my performance a lot. What I am saying is that if you are an actor, reviews of either sort go with the territory. In The Tempest with Jeremy Brett, they were universally horrid, except for one from Canada ’s late critic emeritus, Herbert Whitaker – and his was so good that I was easily able to put aside the bad ones from those less distinguished hacks.
In any event, to put the whole issue into perspective, I quote the great and historic English actor, David Garrick. “An actor’s name is written on the water,” said Garrick. As it turns out, in the case of David Garrick (1717 – 1779) this was not the case – he turned out to be the exception that proved his own rule. However, in my case, it is doubly true. I have not been an actor (nor claimed to be one) for over 16 years now and I have no intention of returning to that profession. So I need neither reviews nor credits any longer. They are irrelevant.
Keltruth has published a photograph of me that it is at pains to ensure its readers know is an old photo. Let me help Keltruth out. It is a VERY old photograph. It is 23 years old. It was taken in 1986. I will be 60 years old on May 25th this year and I have never lied about nor exaggerated, up or down, my age. I mean, it is a matter of public record, so why bother.
My profession now is that of a producer and director. Just so that if Keltruth’s search for credits for me are unsuccessful, let me assist by stating that in 2007 (mere months after my return to the United Kingdom to live) I produced and directed a show in London that starred a two-time best actress Oscar winner – there are not a lot of them about – along with other actors of iconic status and legendary stars of the opera, as well as other, hopefully and deservedly, soon-to-be legendary singers. There is a CD of this show that can be purchased, with the money from your purchase going to a music school charity.
In 2008, I produced and directed three shows of which two were filmed and are now being edited – in fact, while here in Barbados I have received the first cut of one of these for my directions on editing the final version. I have already been engaged for three shows in 2009. However, each and every time prior to being contracted, I had been forced to fully explain and justify myself to my engagers, as a result of the scandalous blogs on Keltruth ably seconded and supported by its sister blog. I have no way of knowing how many job opportunities have NOT come my way as a direct result of these defamatory blogs.
Keltruth also seems fixated by my citizenship and describes me as being British – which is only half true. I was born and raised in Barbados , being the first child of a Bajan father and a Scottish mother. That therefore means that I am Bajan by birth and British by ancestry – two citizenships which, by the laws of Barbados and Britain , I am allowed to hold. In 1972, I immigrated to Canada in order to pursue my now-abandoned profession as an actor, director and writer. Therefore, I am Canadian by naturalization, which is also legal. However, if asked anywhere in the world to describe myself, I ALWAYS say that I am Barbadian – and proud to be so. Quite apart from it being true, it makes me far more unusual than your run-of-the mill Brit or Canadian or American or German……
Keltruth coyly refers to me as being a bachelor, which is untrue. By this description used in the ancient past by the press to suggest that the person so described was homosexual, Keltruth clearly intends to say that I am gay. Days have changed greatly since then.
Let me set the record straight (no pun intended). I was married on January 10th 2006 in Toronto under the terms and conditions of the Ontario Marriages Act to my same-sex partner of 7 years. So Keltruth, typically, is half right. This is what makes me think that Keltruth may NOT be written by my Knox cousins, since they (and their mother) certainly knew all about it. Also, I find it hard to believe that my Knox cousins would use the “bachelor” line and its obviously intended connotation in connection with myself, since my cousin, John Knox, is himself, at over 50 years of age, a bachelor – and I hasten to state that I do not impute or imply in any way that John Knox is gay. Frankly, it is all a non-issue to start with – and John Knox himself told me some years ago that he is NOT gay. I saw no reason then (or now) to disbelieve John, probably based on his George Washington- like claim of not being able to tell a lie. In any event, I am really not interested and have far more compelling things to do with my time – like persuading prospective engagers that I am neither a criminal in league with Barbados ’ PM, nor am I being hidden by the Chief Justice and Lady Simmons.
So, let me repeat. The blogs on Keltruth by their scandalous reports, have forced me to refute certain of the allegations as and when required by family, friends and for professional purposes and to provide documentary backup therefor.
I have NEVER provided documents of any sort to any blogs nor have I penned blogs commenting on matters before the courts. I am not the blogger that Keltruth has chosen to identify me as being and I have no way of knowing the identity of the blogger either. Any suspicions I may have (and of course I do have some) are not proved and, at best, like Keltruth, guesses – and, like Keltruth most certainly is in my case, I could easily be wrong. After all, the over 60 defendants in the Ontario action must be confronting the same need to explain and documentarily justify themselves as I am.
I have not acted for 16 years and have no intention of returning to that profession.
I am a married man and that is a matter of public record.
I am almost 60 years old.
I refuse (and have not and will not) discuss on the blogs any of the lawsuits in any country to which I am a party, either before or after they have determined.
My business dealings have always been completely transparent and above board.
I do not defame anyone, unless I can claim fair comment and justification in my defense – and most times, not even then as it usually isn’t worth the time and effort.
MALICE has never been my style. I leave that to lesser people who need to go and get a life.
Lastly, I am not now nor have I ever been anonymous. At almost age 60, I would find it impossible (not to mention highly undesirable) to start now.
Best wishes to you all.
Iain Deane
(the one from Barbados )
some sent me this
i think its good advice
ATTORNEY’S ADVICE – NO CHARGE
Not A Joke!! Even If you dislike attorneys….. You will love them for these tips.
Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:
1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’
2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.
3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.
4. Place the contents of y our wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud that’s committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.
But here’s some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here’s what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)
7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the internet in my name.
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:
1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
3.) Trans Union : 1-800-680 7289
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line):
1-800-269-0271
adapt to suit
Controversial scholar slams Israeli ‘massacre’ of Gaza civilians
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01.23.2009 | Express News
By Geoff McMaster
January 23, 2009 – Edmonton-Israel’s attack on Gaza had little to do with self-defense and everything to do with instilling fear among Palestinian people, says political scientist Norman Finkelstein.
Invited to speak on campus by the Edmonton chapter of the Palestine Solidarity Network, Finkelstein accused Israel of deliberately killing Gaza civilians in order to cement their control over the occupied territory.
He said the incursion was only the latest in a more than 60-year history of “terrorizing the Arab world periodically into submission, and reminding them who is in charge in the Middle East.”
Following its defeat at the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, Israel was waiting for an opportunity to seek revenge, Finkelstein claimed. It turned to Gaza when “the feebly armed resistance, Hamas, had defiantly resisted Israeli dictate.
“As Israel targeted schools, mosques, hospitals, ambulances, UN sanctuaries… and slaughtered and incinerated Gaza’s defenseless civilian population, Israeli commentators gloated that Gaza was to Lebanon as a second sitting for an exam is to the first: a second chance to get it right.
“There’s no pretense here that this war had anything to do with rocket attacks-it’s about getting it right,” and restoring Israel’s “deterrence capacity” he said, adding that Hamas fired rockets into Israel only after Israel broke a ceasefire agreement and killed seven militants.
Embedded video of Finkelstein’s lecture at link:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21860.htm
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.