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Spending so much on cricket cannot be right!
Michael
A. Dingwall (michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com)
Next year, 2007, Jamaica will be co-hosting the next world cup cricket match that will be held in the Caribbean. The event, which is being billed as a major event for our Caribbean nations, is being touted as just the remedy for our tourism industries. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on this planned event. In Jamaica, the government is planning to spend over one hundred million United States dollars, or almost seven billion ($7,000,000,000.00) Jamaican dollars. Can it ever be justified that so much money can be spent on a single entertainment event, especially one that we are not too good at anyway?
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How is it that we cannot find the money to equip these hospitals, but we can find many times that amount to host cricket matches? |
Recently, a leading doctor pointed out on a news programme that the nation’s health systems were a disgrace. Candidly and angrily, he told the rest of us that in many of our public hospitals many patients were sharing their hospital beds with cockroaches. Basic medical equipments like needles were in short supply and of course our doctors and nurses were being grossly underpaid. We know, for a fact, that many of our public hospitals are literally falling apart. Our health system is desperately short of vital equipment - so much so that many medical procedures that any self-respecting country ought to be doing at home are being done abroad, expensively. Even worse, many people die because our hospitals continue to lack these very basic equipment. How is it that we cannot find the money to equip these hospitals, but we can find many times that amount to host cricket matches?
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| School Management System Advertisement
Are you a school administrator looking for a computerized system that will greatly improve how your school is managed? Do you want to be able to automatically generate student assessment reports, efficiently manage student and teacher demographic data, and quickly and accurately manage student fees? Do you want to be able to quickly prepare timetables and be able to quickly tell who should be where doing what? Do you want to be able to electronically manage documents very efficiently? Do you want an efficient means to manage student marks, grades, absence, lateness, commendations and sanctions? Do you want very efficient book assignment management? Do you want to be able to automatically, efficiently and accurate promote students from year to year? Do you want to be able to do limitless electronic queries that are fast, accurate and complete? Do you want graphical data analysis?
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Is your school in need of all this and much, much more? If the answer is YES - then search no more! Welcome to School Manager - the answer to your school’s administrative needs.
[Email for more information... (michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com)]
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| “White guilt”: Playing “The Game”? Part I
Mike Ramey (manhoodline@yahoo.com)
If things weren't bad enough concerning race relations around the world, here's a new--or old one--for you. It seems that a well known video game manufacturer spend millions of dollars on an ad campaign designed to 'play' the race card, with the use of a WW model, clad in shocking white, grabbing the face of a BW model, placed in a kneeling, submissive position, as if to 'infer' the WW was 'superior' to the BW. The gaming manufacturer wanted to convey that its new product was better than existing products in the video game market place.
In the words of one of our sages: "I was born at night; but not last night!"
The ad was quickly pulled from the EU market, as there were more than a few protests. Heaven knows what kind of protests would happen in the USA if such a marketing campaign would take place.
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| Update on Mexico's Disputed Elections
Magali Devic (coha@coha.org)
The next few days could herald a decisive outcome for left-leaning presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the post-electoral quandary, which has deeply affected Mexico for almost two months. As the election tribunal (TEPJF) prepares to announce its final ruling concerning its electoral investigation, which began on August 16, Mexico is characterized by an all-pervasive tension.
In the meantime, the TEPJF has released some official reviews of the partial recount of the congressional vote. Contrary to some expectations, in one voting district, it gives a slight advantage to a supporter of rightwing contender, Felipe Calderón. If those reviews are subsequently validated, Lopez Obrador’s coalition (Por el Bien de Todos) will lose one of its seats in the Chamber of Deputies to the Alianza Por Mexico, a coalition composed of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) and Green Party (PVEM - Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico).
According to Professor Raúl Ávila, the former coordinator of International Affairs at Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal, “a tremendous transition of paradigm” has occurred and has transformed a once authoritarian juridical culture into a freer and less formal process with a more representative sense of justice. By all accounts, a final resolution to Mexico’s troubled days depends on TEPJF’s ultimate verdict. Indeed, the Electoral Tribunal must verify that the electoral procedure has followed all relevant democratic procedures in order to effectively legitimize the July 2 presidential election. Secondly, the TEPJF’s role is to assess the validity of the individual allegations of electoral malfeasance that were submitted to its judges. These officials must determine if such discrepancies are sufficient to alter the July 2 results. It is only
after the meticulous examination of these electoral complaints that the TEPJF will either confirm Calderón’s victory or declare the annulment of the presidential elections.
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| EC$2m boost for Dominica Youth Business Trust
Robert Bazil (rbazil@cypcaribbean.org)
(Dominica) The Government of Dominica has given a major boost to youth enterprise development on the island with an announcement by the Honourable Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit that EC$2 million will be made available to the Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT) during the 2006/2007 fiscal year.
This new commitment from the Prime Minister is on top of the amount of $100,000 that the Government of Dominica made available to the DYBT in 2003.
The Dominica Youth Business Trust is a collaborative undertaking of the Government of Dominica and the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre. It is adapted from the Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) model of the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP).
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| THE SECOND ANNUAL SOUTH FLORIDA FAMILY REGGAE FESTIVAL
Russell Gerlach (reggaeruss@aol.com)
The 2006 South Florida Family Reggae Festival is set for Sunday, November 5, 2006, at Margaret Pace Park in Downtown Miami, FL. The daylong celebration of reggae music and Caribbean culture is FREE for all attendees and open from 10am to 7pm. This year’s festival will serve as the culmination of the 2006 International Reggae Radio & Retail Conference (www.reggaeconference.org) being held November 3 - 4 at the Radisson Hotel & Convention Center in Miami. Here is a sampling of the festival’s scheduled events:
Live performances from up and coming South Florida talent as well as international acts
Reggae Riddim Section featuring dancing and musical performances by some of South Florida’s most talented young people.
Caribbean Puppet-masters: Sugar & Spice the Clowns
Reggae Pioneer Award Presentation
There is also an indoor children's play area, Caribbean Marketplace, and Reggae Music Row featuring meet & greets with reggae artists, producers, and radio personalities. Performers interested in participating in the showcase and/or the Reggae Riddim Section should contact Family Reggae Festival, Inc. or visit the official website.
This event is produced by Family Reggae Festival, Inc., City of Miami’s Office of FACE (Film, Arts, Culture, and Entertainment), and Jamaica Awareness Inc. in association with various sponsors. The general information hotline phone number is (305) 468- 9611. Interested vendors should call (305) 436-9084. Come Join The Fun For The Whole Family!
Official festival website: www.FamilyReggaeFestival.org
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