Jamaicans Blamed for Ivan's Damages!

Drugs, crime, murder. It seems Jamaicans get blamed by everyone for a lot of things, but it's the latest crime that Jamaicans have to be punished for that really gets to me! "Acts of God", yes we the people of Jamaica are being blamed by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) for the damages to their infrastructure by the hurricane Ivan last year September. And as such we now have to pay for the cost incurred by the JPS for the repairs they did to their own system!

The OUR, Office of Utilities Rip-offs...oh sorry, I mean the Office of Utilities Regulations, really sold us out and granted the JPS the special additional fee they requested with their rate increase to cover the cost of the repairs due to Ivan earlier this week. So now the hard working, underpaid, inflation ridden Jamaican people will have to pay an even higher light bill because the JPS thinks it's their fault Ivan came and damaged their property and as such should pay for the repairs.

This sparked outrage and a few Jamaicans took to the streets to let big bad monopoly JPS know how they feel. Of course most of us continues with our normal routines, after all what can we do? Stop using the light?

Well since JPS got the OUR to legalize an illegal act, they must have been happy and celebrating. Oh no, no,no,no my friend. The JPS had a press conference to express their disappointment and anger that the OUR did not grant them a larger fee! Can you imagine? Can a company be so heartless?

What will we blamed for next, Global Warming, Erratic weather conditions? Who will blame us next, Cable and Wireless, Digicel, The National Water Commission? When will poor people's suffering end? When?

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More Work, Less Pay…The Oppression Continues!

When I was younger I used to think that if I worked hard and was dedicated I would be rewarded and appreciated for my efforts. Then I got that pinch and I woke up, all of what I thought was nothing but a dream.

That was what I thought about the working world once upon a time in my life. Now the story is completely far from that fairytale. It seems that when you are at the bottom or near the bottom of the company’s hierarchy you seem to get an overwhelming amount of work. Everyday there is another task added to your list of objectives. Sometimes the workload is realistically overwhelming and an insurmountable list of tasks. Anyway you try your humanly or sometimes superhumanly best to accomplish your tasks to your employers satisfaction.

Now you are rewarded for your hard and diligent work. Come on wake up! “PINCH!” There is no reward. What do you get? Yes you guessed it…MORE WORK. It seems that more you accomplish the more you get. And that’s not all. Have you ever noticed that you almost never get commendation for your hard work? But slip up once, yes just one time and it seems the whole world jumps on your back and start stabbing you all over with blame and accusations. There is more…Do you notice that everyday you get less of the necessary tools you need to work with and how they keep getting more and more outdated, but for some reason your employer doesn’t see it necessary to replace them but still expect the same or even better performance from you? And to top it off, yes the icing on the cake and cherry on top. There is never mention of a raise in your pay no promotion or any bonus or recognition for your dedication. Oh no, and if you even dare ask for a pay increase you are offered with a measly 3% or 4% increase. Where is the encouragement in that?

Let’s look at the other side of the coin. The more you move up the ladder the less work your bosses seem to do. All the seem to do is to delegate work to you, watch over your shoulders like you’re children, go to meetings, come to work after normal working hours have started and devise ways to make your work harder. Also, as you go up that ladder the pay just seen to grow exponentially! And don’t even mention the benefits and perks, some of which could pay not only you, but also your co-workers!

I have come up with a formula for work and compensation…well pay. The theory…well it’s a Law by now, is that the amount of work done by employees/employer is inversely proportional to the pay or compensation the employee/employer receives. I call it the Work Pay Law. I have expressed it mathematically below:

P= 1/kaW,

Where W is amount of work done by employee/ employer
P is the pay or compensation received by employee/ employer
ka is a constant where k1 = employee constant and is a large number grater or equal to 100
k2 = employer constant and is less than 0.5

You do the math. Let me know if that law is the same for you or if you are still dreaming. “PINCH!”

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Bus and Taxi Fares Gone For A Ride

Once again the Jamaican people will feel yet another squeeze on their ever shrinking pockets. The JUTC has been granted and increase. That means that come Monday morning the average passenger will be paying $20 more for their bus fare. Yes more money out of poor people pocket. Only the disabled, elderly, children and government workers are spared from the onslaughts of the JUTCs fare hike.
The perils don't end there! No my friend, the public will also be facing another pocket shocker from the taxis. Regular route taxis have been granted a 25% increase while the base fare for hackney carriages has been increased 20 $125 also rural stage taxis have been granted an increase to $16.90 per stage.

When will the inflation woe of Jamaica be lifted? No pay increases, light bill hike, bus and taxi fare on the rise, what's next?

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Yesterday Was A Hit!

Another home run for the 90's party "Yesterday". The party was good from start to end...Well till I left. The event featured Dancehall, Hip Hop, Soca and RnB hits from the early 90's up to the late 90's. The music was kept pumping with non-stop juggling from various DJs.

I have to say it, the girls there were hot! And of course there ware no end to the whining, grinding and gyrating as the music and the FREE liquor mesmerized the well inclined crowd.

Overall it was great. I give Yesterday a 9 out of 10.

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Just Relax in the Shade

I won't be doing any writing today. I just want you'll to just chill, sit back in the shade and gaze at the beautifull Caribbean Sea. I took this picture when I was in Montego Bay. This picture along with more beautiful scenery will be on the Scenes of Jamaica website when I upload the new upgraded version. You can visit the current version at the current site http://www.scenesofjamaica.50megs.com

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In Dependence 2005

So the independence celebrations are over. But what did we really celebrate?

According to the Oxford Dictionary independence is defined as being 1 free from outside control or influence, 2 (of a country) self governing, 3 not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence." With that is mind let's examine where we are as a nation 43 years after gaining independence from Britain.

Let us consider the first two definitions. To what extents are we free from outside control or self-governing if we readily give in to the demands of other countries, for example the great United States? Their policies dictate our policies, even their human rights group determine our laws where the punishment of criminals are concerned. We cannot voice our disapproval of their actions without the threat of being cut off from their handouts list. We still rely on the privy council of our former colonizer to make the final decisionsns on our courcaseses. Thereforere, we are definitelyly not free from outside control.

Are we really not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence? Just recently Jamaica has been lobbying to stop the European Union's decision regarding the import of bananas from our region, if the EU cuts the preferential treatment that we now enjoy we are in grave danger of a collapsing economy. Tourism, our second major source of foreign currency is highly dependent on the situations facing the countries that supply our visitors. A perfect example of this is the high fall off of tourists arriving in the island immediately after the nine-eleven attacks on the US, which I may add is the one of our largest tourist markets. The arrival of other players in the tourism market will also weaken our economy, as we will now have to share the market with these newcomers.

A truly independent country is one that can sustain itself. To date Jamaica has not achieved this milestone. We currently rely on grants, loans and various aids from other countries. We do not really produce much for our own consumption much more for export. If Jamaica continues like this we will never be independent.

What did we really celebrate? True independence or just an illusion of what we had hoped to accomplish? Did we celebrate independence or in dependence?

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More Suffering...JPS Strikes Again!

Once again the hard working underpaid Jamaican workforce will have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay their electricity bills. It was announced on the news this evening that the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) will be increasing the electricity rates again. Yes my fellow sufferers, we will have to pay more out of our meager salaries to have a little ice in our fridges, watch the news on TV, turn on the fan to beat the heat and have lights in the nights to study.

The JPS will be increasing the energy rate 7.5%. That's six percent more on our outrageously high bills. If you were complaining about your high electricity bills lately yuh nuh start complain yet! Because that's not all...oh no my friends...daddy JPS have something more up him sleeves fi wi! There is also talk about adding a Z Factor to our bills. This Z Factor is to cover the cost of damages that the JPS infrastructure experienced during the past hurricanes, Ivan and Dennis. It seems JPS thinks it's our fault that the hurricane came, and not an act of nature, so we should pay for the repairs. I think this Z factor is just a ploy to rob us and nothing more.

Ever since the government privatized the only major supplier of electricity in the country we have been facing the onslaught of this mighty monopoly. From ever increasing light bills to accidental over charges. No matter how much I try to conserve my bill is always high. I have noticed that for the past 3 times I went away on vacation JPS has managed to send me estimated bills, has that ever happened to you?

Well it will soon be time to face the music as our next light bill might give us heart failure. How much more holes will JPS bore in our pockets?

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Affordable Rent and Houses, Just a Dream?

Why are these apartments and houses so damn expensive? I have been looking for somewhere to rent for the past 2 months and can't find anywhere decent and affordable! It's like rent, decent and affordable can't go together in one sentence.

The prices of houses and apartments have skyrocketed so much. Is like yuh haffi give an arma nd a leg fi somewhere decent. Hey, and fi si di prices weh some people a ask fi some ole bruck dung chicken coop!

It seems I have to move out of town to find somewhere affordable, like Old Harbour or even Maypen. But the downside is that gas money a go kill mi! I say to be poor is a crime now-a -days. Homeless, homless...poor me.

So I'm saying why pay these landlord all of my hard earned money, why not buy a house! Well that's another story. You need to give an arm and a leg and even throw in a torso fi get a house. First of all if you are not a multi-millionare you can only think about one of those matches box houses built by those tiefin constuction companies. Even then you still can't afford it because the downpayment you need to make before getting the little chump change from NHT will take you another lifetime to save.

So until I win the lottery or get a decent paying job I'm damned to fatten the landlords' pockets and suffer.

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Theme Song for the Year!

"My girl tuck in yuh belly!

...From yuh know yuh belly nuh bang,

And yuh know seh yuh look good inna yuh thong..."

Leftside and Esco tep pon some corns! Yes this duo has definately stirred up some emotions from the females...well di one dem weh know seh dem belly bang!

Yes it's about time someone thell them girl deh seh it nuh look good! Someone needed to tell those girls wid di half pregnant looking belly seh "belly-skin" blouse anuh fi dem. I can't understand why these girls know that they have a big belly and think they must torture and emotionally scar us with the site of there swollen bellies hanging over their "hipster" jeans and exposed in their belly-skin blouses.

I'm not talking about the girls with a little fat around the belly area nor am I degrading women with big bellies, cause mi know from experiece seh it easy fi come on but it hard nuh bitch fi get off. What I'm trying to say is that not all clothes fit everybody and bellyskin is definately not for big gut girls. If yuh belly big and yuh want fi wear Bellyskin and Hipsters go wuk it aff, damn it!

Yeah, yeah some might say a dem buy dem clothes and that "a fi dem body su de can ear wah dem want fi wear". But, my God, a wi haffi a look pon dem...it nuh hard fi miss a big ratid belly wid streach marks a hang over a tight ass low rise jeans and a hang out bellow di belly-skin blouse.

My advise is if yuh belly big wear clothes weh fit yuh (dat means no belly shin), but if yuh want fi look good go to di gym and fix up yuh body fi the hot clothes...if yuh nuh want fi do any of these, for goodness sake ..."My girl tuck in yuh belly!

What you tink, eeh?

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21 Million Dollar Man

Once again the 25% of hard working Jamaicans pay is being used to fund the elaborate lifestyle of members of the Jamaican government. The Sunday Gleaner published Sunday July 31 had the frontpage story "Living Large? 21m in travel over four years. Yes or primeminister managed to rack up 21 million of tax payers money in travel! According to the article "Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has managed to rack up a bill of more than $21 million in expenditure on overseas travel in the last four years...And that figure does not include the cost attached to his travelling delegation, or costs contained in other documents which may have been missed during access to information searches."

I'm not saying that the PM should not travel in some luxury or stay at hotels befitting the status of dignitaries, after all he is a PM. But what gets to me is the fact that the government a bawl how dem nuh have no money fi fix the roads, provide proper education, decent health care and fi pay them workers. With all the hardship most Jamaicans face, the article says "on an official three-day trip to Cuba, the Prime Minister had the services of a special assistant, a press secretary and two butlers." Wah one man a do wid two butlers? How can the government expect to tell the civil services: the police, the firefighters, the hard working teachers, the nurses that they can't get any raise of pay, but yet they can afford such luxury?

This carries me to another sour issue. The National Solid Waste Commission scandal. This is a typical example of how hard working taxpayers money is wasted and subjected to highway robbery and no one is held accountable! No baddy nuh gone a jail! And why is it that when the government pays a Jamaican contractor to do work, di work nuh start yet, but yuh hear seh di contactor need more money and di work caan done?

Is the government squandering taxpayers hard earned money or is there some other logical explanation? Tell me, what you tink, eeh?

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The Portmore Toll Fracas!

Some may think of the new Portmore highway as the best thing since slice bread, a road to the future, a solution to the malignant Portmore traffic. Others might think of this new highway as unconstitutional, a compromise of their rights, a forceful attempt of the government to extract money from poor people.

A few Portmore residents did think the latter when, despite the government’s attempt to make it appealing, they filed a lawsuit to stop the completion of the toll road to the municipality. However, the government won that battle and work has resumed.

What are my views?

I embrace the highway concept. I have driven on the south coast leg of the Highway 2000 project a couple of times and let me tell you, it was like a breath of fresh air…lawd mi car grin wid pleasure! Why! No meteorite craters…oh sorry I mean potholes, no winding corners, no lumpy “crocodile back” roads, no traffic jam, no “stop-stop”, and how can I forget…110 km/h! With all of that in mind why wouldn’t I want good road fi drive pan?

On the other hand, as I said before it’s a toll road and that means, yes every Jamaicans fear, you have to pay, it nuh free! The residents of Portmore realize this and as a result some are very opposed to the construction, as this will replace the inadequate Causeway. Jamaicans more than everybody love freeness; I think we have “Freenessatitis” – an acute and abnormal love or obsession with obtaining everything in life for free – Fimmi Dictionary 2005 Revised Version. But some of us who are complaining bitterly have been to The United States of America, the land of milk and honey, and know that to drive on any highway, any major bridge and any underground tunnel is not free! Unnu haffi pay through unnu teet or else unnu haffi go get road map and spend the better part of your lives navigating through the parochial or alternate roads. The fact of the matter is, if you want good road someone has to pay for it, and the US government has devised a way to build and maintain high quality roads by making you pay to drive on it. And fiwi bruk pocket government weh worse off realize that if they are to provide world-class roads the tax money alone caan do it!

The only thing that I fear is that the government a go get “likkie-likkie” and greedy and want fi overcharge the poor people of Portmore. Times are hard and people pocket dry. My view is that the Portmore toll should not be expensive, hence, I think it should not exceed J$20.00 or J$30.00 at the most due to the sheer volume of traffic that will traverse the Portmore toll highway.

My conclusion, “Yes run di toll highway!” but keep in mind the burdens many Jamaicans face and make the toll reasonable and affordable for all the hard working Jamaican people and the unemployed too. And everyone has a choice, pay the toll and you and your car can have a comfortable ride or have an adventurous ride on the alternate route.

That’s my views on this matter. But, what are your views? Yes…what you tink, eeh?

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The Jamaican Ghetto Bling Culture

There seems to be a prevailing culture in Jamaica, I call it the Jamaican Ghetto Bling Culture. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying all persons in the areas termed as "Ghettos" is like this, neither am I hitting out against persons from these areas nor am I bashing anyone's personal choice. I am just talking about my limited observations. This article is not about the hard working people in these areas who want a better life.

Times are hard in Jamaica, trust mi it rough. At times my pocket dry like the Sahara dessert and shallow like river bed. However, I just cant understand why the "poor"people, or I should just say some of the people, in the inner-city communities complain about "how dem bruk", "mi nuh have nuh money", "nuttin nah gwaan fi mi" and "a bare suffa mi a suffa, suffaration" and yet still a di same people dem tun round inna name brand! Have you ever seen them on the news all dressed up in their name-brand clothes, excessive jewelry, well done nails, elaborate hair-styles and Motorola V600 in hand complaining how life hard and dem need help? If as suh people weh a suffa dress up mi need fi get some a fi dem suffaration!

Have you ever noticed how these people always complain how "dem nuh hav nuh money" and how "di government naah do nuttin fi dem", an that dem "pickney dem a suffa" and how "di pickney dem hungry" and how dem "nuh have nuh money fi send dem pickney go a school" and even a turn roun an beg yuh money, but yet a dem deh a all a di dance and stage shows inna all the latest name bran clothes and shoes...and not to mention all di jewelry dem have on, yuh woulda swear seh a dem di gold-mine dem pon. An yuh know one outfit caan wear go a dance more than one time!

Give them some money and they will put some of in the bank, send their children to school...NOT! The first thing dem do is fi go buy Versace, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, gold chain, Clarkes and Timberland and all the expensive name-brand apparel.

What is wrong with these people? Is it their education level...or lack there of? Or, is it a case of wrong priories? What you tink, eeh?

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+Welcome

Welcome to my Blog. It is a pleasure to have you viewing my blog. I hope you enjoy the various comments that I have on my blog. Feel free to post your comments and start a topic for discussion.

This blog will display my views on various topics affecting both my personal life and various national and global issues.

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