IST AUGUST COME & GONE

The 1st day of August is marked in many Caribbean countries as the day to remember the abolition of the slave trade to be followed by the abolition of slavery. It’s a big deal, a big deal – elsewhere. Not here.

Next month September 10th will see Belizeans and especially Creoles in Belize City mark the 209th anniversary of the Battle of St. George’s Caye . There was no such battle and the event highlights racist attitudes of the then British towards the then Spanish. The slaves in Belize during 10 September 1798 were kept in their chains for fear of rebellion when the British/Baymen would have been vulnerable from the presence of Spanish battleships outside the harbour. Thanks to our barrier reef those ships could not come in to Belize City. When you read the actual account of the so called battle you will see how the British/Baymen were poppyshowing themselves.

The coloured people in the settlement at the time were the illegitimate children of slave women in Belize who were made pregnant by the white British/ Baymen, As offspring of the whites they were, naturally, treated more lenient than the black slaves.  Brown skinned Creoles think they are “better” than black skin Creoles. It’s all part of the hangover and brainwashing from slavery days and the colonial period that followed.

Somehow, the Creoles in general appear to want to have anything to do with their ancestry which is Africa. This may explain why, once again this year, 1st August is completely ignored. An important occasion just come and gone.

A great Creole singer from Jamaica sang “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”

PIBIL AND THE BIBLE

It is written in the Holy Bible in the book of Leviticus at Chapter 11 verse 4: - “Nevertheless these shall ye not eat…”

At verse 7: “And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cued, he is unclean to you.”

This law was handed down by Moses, the greatest law giver in the Christian religion. It is he to whom God gave the famous ten commandments on Mount Sinai. Read it in Exodus chapter 20.

Moses is the only human being facey enough to tell God to repent of an evil idea God harbored in wanting to lose his (God’s) temper and destroy the wicked Israelites. Read it at Exodus chapter 32 at verses 9 to 14. At verse 14 it is written “and the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

But check this, in the whole Bible history,  ( history according to the Jews ), the Jews claim that of all the people on the earth they are the only ones chosen by God. Anyhow , the  Bible says  that Moses saw God face to face. At Exodus chapter 33 verse 11 “And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Moses is the only human being to talk to God “face to face”.

Here endeth the lesson.

Fascinating stuff eh? Tell you what, take a little time away from the fool-fool tv and read your Bible.

FOUR DAYS FOR INTERNET

A student living in Ladyville got a little change from relatives in the US and went to BTL on Church Street, Belize City, to request installation of internet service. Cost - $210.00 to install. Must wait four days.

The Mennonites can build, transport from Shipyard to Belize City and place on foundation a three bedroom house in three days.

CHURCH WEDDING DA 450

Some churches are charging four hundred and fifty dollars if you wish to have your wedding at church. A wedding ceremony at the Supreme Court Registry cost fifty dollars.

It is not clear if the four hundred and fifty dollars cover the traditional organ music of Here Comes The Bride.

There is no wedding like a church wedding.

But shucks! $450.00 sound high.

SPANISH BODY

There was a time when our Spanish, ie. Mestizo sistren were shaped different from Creole and Garifuna women.

Mestizoes were not rounded in the rear. Creole and Garifuna have traditionally been awesome, if you get the drift.

But familiarity breeds similarity. Lo and behold! As the years progressed so did other things. Mestizos women have bodies like Creoles and Garifuna.

Well rounded. Lobster, Lord Rhaburn would say.

NO SMOKING

What is Belize waiting for? Cancer from tobacco smoke is a killer.

In the UK, and capitalist hog-heaven USA, where every and any thing goes; they be banning cigarette smoking left, right and center.

The UK says that their decision to ban cigarette smoking in public places will prevent approximately half a million deaths each year from tobacco related illness. Yes half a million, each year.

The British medical and scientific authorities also claim that one half of all the people who are hocked on cigarette will be killed from smoking related illness. These are the two main reasons along with the medical and economic costs of attending to millions of cancer patients why the British are clamping down hard on cigarette.

What is Belize waiting for?

NO FAULT LAW

There is a law that makes it mandatory that all owners of motor vehicles must insure their vehicles. It’s called Third Party Insurance.

The reason is that in the case of an accident, the third party is not left to fight for basic financial help while the insurance companies are dodging payments by turning around innocent citizens. In a recent terrible accident outside Orange Walk where a mother and child died, not even the funeral expenses were met by the insurance company. Even though the  reason motor vehicle owners must pay third party insurance is for funds to be available to victims.

They should amend the law to read – Third Party Insurance Rip-Off Act.

We know that some insurance companies are spending millions in constructing some impressive buildings. Some of the monies that helped construction, cheated mothers out of their payments for dead or injured children; cheated wives from their rightful claims for lost  husbands.

But God he ain’t asleep. He be watching the greedy how they be chancing the needy. He be watching and shaking his head.

$300.00 ABORTION

Lady says she hustled hard to come up with three hundred dollars to pay a Belize City doctor so her daughter could have an abortion.

After the daughter got cramps and pain and felt sick and wanted to die, nothing happened. She’s still pregnant.

Back to the doctor they do. You won’t believe this.

He went another three hundred so he can give another bogus injection.

CROWN COUNSEL AND MAGISTRATE EENA ONE

Letters have gone out from the Director of the Office of the Service Commission’s to a number of University students returning home. They are being appointed to the post of “Magistrate/Crown Counsel”.

This we are told is not only strange, it is contrary to law.

A Magistrate is an impartial judge or referee in the Court system. A Magistrate does not take sides. A Magistrate does not get involved in the case. He or she sits in Court and listens to the two sides then give a decision.

A Crown Counsel represents the Crown or the government or the Police. He or she is on one side, usually as a prosecutor. A prosecutor is prosecuting the other side.

How in the world, even in the topsy-turvy Alice in Wonderland bureaucracy in Belmopan world, can the system make one person both impartial judge, while at the same time a very partial prosecutor or agent of the government? How?

KONGRATS KOLBE

This week, Kolbe, the company which has a contract with government to manage the prison, celebrates its five years on the job. Kolbe has done well.

The biggest kudos goes to John Woods and his staff and those who have contributed and supported the efforts to improve conditions at the prison and make serious efforts to help prisoners to improve themselves.

There are some real bad persons in prison and that is where they belong. Some others deserve a second chance. Some will get a second chance and they will mess up. That’s life.

It is the PUP government which had the vision and commitment to reform the once horrible prison into what it is today. Prime Minister Said Musa, with his commitment to social justice for those who are victims of broken homes and broken lives, deserves the biggest credit. We recall the many attacks he and his then Minister Dickie Bradley received from the UDP, but they stayed the course and made the tough decisions to make sure the changes were made.

Pundits have said that the only privatization that has worked well is the placing of the prison under private management.

While we are at it, we call on government to change the primitive law which allows police to hassle weed smokers and turn them into criminals – beating and locking them up for a little herb.

Small amounts of weed should not be a criminal offence.

De-criminalize it.