random ramblings rambled randomly

Congrats Anya

2011-10-28T11:25:00.002-04:00

For those of you living under a rock, you may not be aware that last night was the finale of Project Runway, a show in which prior to this season I had no interest in watching, on a network (Lifetime) that I had, until this season in Project Runway, no interest in watching, and which from today, I have no interest in watching.

Why then was I suddenly interested… not just interested, obsessed, in a show which hitherto I did not really know existed, on a network whose main function was lying midway between USA and ESPN?

Well, as you all know, I am an avid twitter user and a rumour started floating around on twitter that a national of Trinidad and Tobago, a former Miss Trinidad and Tobago, Anya Ayoung-Chee, pretty soon the rumour was confirmed and there you were, Anya had applied to be a contestant on Project Runway. She was in the final 20 who would appear on the first episode.

Being a pathetically patriotic Trini, and having gained an enormous amount of respect for Anya for how she dealt with the scandal that plagued her shortly after the Miss Universe pageant, I decided that I would tune in to the first episode and give moral support.

I was totally unprepared for what I saw. At the first attempt I COULD NOT watch that first episode, could not could not. I learnt that Anya made the top three (which made me glad), but I said that I would be supporting from the sidelines from now on. I followed the second episode on twitter, and was immensely happy when Anya was pronounced “safe”. At the beginning, I said to myself, if Anya finished in the top 5, I would be over the moon. Cue the third episode, and when I reach home looking to watch the 4th rerun of some inconsequential football match, I see that my mother is watching… ugh… project runway. Having nothing better to do, I sit down and watch it myself, and lo and behold, the designers are designing for some mokojumbies! Having watched that episode from beginning to end, I realised, hey it’s not so bad… I can watch this for the trini girl, and the rest, as they say, is history… I watched the first 2 episodes online, and followed every episode after that, right up to last night.

After that I learnt, again via twitter, that there was a fan favourite competition where the winner would get $10,000.00 (US). From the very beginning, the competition was between Anya and a guy by the name of Anthony Ryan Auld. To vote for your designer of choice, you would add the hashtag #pr9 plus the name of the designer, so Anya was #pr9Anya. SO i got into that as well, hashtagging as much as possible. Coming to the end, it seemed that it would be in vain. the day before voting, Anya was a more than 40,000 votes behind, but the word got out and she won in the end… by over 60,000 votes. To put this in perspective, that margin of victory is MORE than the COMBINED TOTAL of ALL the other designers, almost twice as much!

Anyways, in last week’s episode, the four finalists had to show a bit of their final collection and one would be eliminated. Anya’s collection contained a god awful bathing suit and a gown that looked like I wrapped myself in my mother’s living room curtain, it was BY FAR the weakest collection there, and the judges made sure that she knew it. But in a twist bigger than a Shane Warne googly, she was in and ALL FOUR showed. Then in another ripper, the finalists were given an extra $500.00 to buy material to create or supplement looks. This worked out for Anya in 2 ways, firstly, she could dump the 2 designs out of hell and start afresh (and last minute as all good trinis do) and secondly, it gave the other designers with much better collections (Viktor and Josh I’m looking at you) to drop the ball, Viktor changed almost all of his great items, and added some sheer stuff that looked almost dominatrix and Josh went very psychedelic with some green ~~shit~~ shorts and other stuff. The judges liked them, but it make the collection more schizophrenic than it needed to be.

At the end of the day though ANYA WIN!!!!! So this long winded post is to say “congrats” to our trini girl for doing us proud!

One thing though, she named the collection Tobago Love… Now I guess for the average American out there, Tobago Love is nothing but a nice ode to our beautiful sister isle, but as all Trinis know, it carries a far more sinister meaning. No doubt Anya knew this and the name was in recognition of the trouble she got in creating that last collection.

You can follow Anya on Twitter, on Facebook and her official facebook fan page and she has a website, which apparently will be much more active very soon! Anya does not design well for men (as her reggae jesus outfit proved), but I am sure that many trini and Caribbean females will be looking to patronise her designs in good time (2010 Miss Universe runner-up Yendi Phillips tweeted that she wanted to wear one of Anya’s outfits!)

Sex, Crime and Videotape

2011-10-27T23:21:00.001-04:00

This morning, I woke up to my Facebook page littered with references to 2 posts about the popular show Crimewatch. I am fairly sure that all of you know about Crimewatch, so I won’t get into it here.
The first post was by a blogger known as Women Speak, and her eloquent piece can be found here. The second was a note on Facebook, by a young lady who was clearly deeply affected by what she saw on the programme. It drove her to this impassioned statement. This of course made me very curious about what had taken place, so I turned to my usual source of info (twitter) and asked my followers if anyone had seen the relevant programme. Some of them did, and I gleaned the facts from them. These facts are presented below.

At some time, a young girl, whose age on the show is alleged to be 13 years, was sexually assaulted/raped by person/persons known or unknown. Someone recorded this act on a cell phone. This recording found its way into the hands of the intrepid Ian Alleyne. Mr Alleyne shows the video repeatedly and in fact shows the face of one of the perpetrators asking for the public’s help in identifying the person in the video. He also interviews the girl and the girl’s mother, both of whom have apparently consented to this video being shown on “national television”.
It is also important to note that Crimewatch airs at 6:00 p.m., that is to say, just before primetime news, and at a time where children are viewing television. Apparently as well, Mr Alleyne encouraged parents to have their children watch the programme.
Needless to say many people have reacted in a very negative manner to this story. I was shocked just hearing about it. A virtual twitter storm has erupted, with many people calling for TV6 to take some action in the matter. The author of the Women Speak blog has taken the issue to heart and is mounting a commendable twitter campaign to have something done about the matter.
The views expressed in the posts above put far more eloquently my feelings on the matter. I have not seen the video, nor do I intend to attempt to find it or watch it. I am truly disturbed that anyone would think it appropriate to show such a graphic video. What is the purpose of doing that? From where I sit, it does not seem to be anything more than shock value and a means of getting ratings.
Further, it seems to me that showing this video is in contravention of the Sexual Offences Act which prohibits the publication of likely to lead members of the public to identify a person who is the victim of a crime under the Act. I have been told by various persons that the girls face was clearly shown in the video and was not blurred or blocked in anyway whatsoever, so it would be easy for anyone who knew her to recognise her, and for those who did not know her to recognise her if they subsequently saw her in person. Also, I am told that the alleged perpetrator was a young looking boy, who may be a minor. That raises other issues as to whether his identity can be published.
I have mixed views as to Ian Alleyne and his show. No doubt he is doing some good, but I always get the impression that it is an exercise in self aggrandisement. Always having to point out How Great is IAN ALLEYNE, All Hail Ian Alleyne. It is that sort of attitude that makes one show a video of a girl being raped at 6:00 in the evening… or at anytime at all. It’s all about the ratings. He already has shown that he does not care about breaking the law himself, or crossing over lines of decency
And another thing, where did that video come from? It must have been filmed by someone at the scene of the event, who then sent it to Ian Alleyne, or the programme. Do we know who filmed it? Have they been reported to the Police? More seriously, with the viewing of this, are we going to see a phenomenon where persons are filming crime instead of stopping it, or worse yet, perpetrating crime in order to film it, to have their handiwork shown on Crimewatch?
So you may have seen the programme and have been disgusted by it, and want to take some action. What can you do?

1. Complain to TV6. The programming manager at TV6 is Ms Rhonda Ottley, and the General Manager is Ms Shida Bolai. The website lists a customer care email address at customercare@ccngroup.com. The TV6 phone number is 868-627-8806, their fax number is 868-623-0785.

2. Complain to the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT). This is the authority charged with oversight of the television industry in Trinidad and Tobago. They have a specific form for dealing with complaints about the content of broadcasts, which can be found here. (site works best in Internet Explorer)

3. Complain to the advertisers. Find out who the advertisers of the show are and complain to them. Tell them that they should not be supporting a programme which would show such disgusting material on it. Threaten to boycott their product/services if they continue to sponsor the show.

4. Don’t let go. Too often in Trinidad and Tobago we tend to start off hot and sweaty and then we let them go. Don’t let this be a 9 day wonder.
This is a serious matter folks, and I hope we do something about it now.

Minor Threat?

2011-08-29T23:06:00.003-04:00

I guess once I posted on the State of Emergency, I would be compelled post on specific events during it. I was happily watching football on Saturday… the end of the Chelsea v Norwich game (well ok maybe it wasn’t that happy), when I heard the daily press conference going on on radio. You know the one, when the authorities take the opportunity to update the citizenry as to the number of arrests, charges, blah blah blah.

Anyways, in the Attorney-General’s contribution he talked about videos being posted on Facebook which were bordering on inciting violence. Then during the question and answer section, a question was asked about this and reference was made by the Attorney General about a video posted by a young lady that apparently was very repugnant.

That piqued my curiosity and after about 45 minutes, I sought out this video. I was HORRIFIED!! It was perhaps the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life.

And for your view pleasure, I reproduce it here. Viewer discretion advised

This video is rated pg-14 for language and stupidity

In short, it was vile, it was disgusting, it was repugnant, it has no place in Trinidad and Tobago.

Having said all of that, the question is, did it run foul of any law? Now it is against the law to threaten people. Section 30A and 30B of the Offences Against the Person Act makes provisions for the offence of harassment, but this must be shown to be a course of conduct, and the Act defines “course of conduct” to be more than one occasion. As far as we know, this only happened once, but i could be wrong… no one’s perfect.

Of course, as I pointed out in previous posts, there is a provision in the Emergency Regulations for an offence where a person causes or incites a breach of the peace, or public order or safety, or incites discontent or disaffection among persons. Now, the young lady (using lady in its widest term possible) 1) tells the Prime Minister that she will get shot and there will be no evidence, and 2) tells the Prime Minister that she (the PM) will have a riot on her hands.

Now, the question is, whether that is conduct sufficient to contravene regulations 13 and 14. It is my considered view that it does not, as (a) it is clear that the video was made as a parody, and not to be taken seriously (b) the video has said what will happen and has not whether indirectly or not called on others to, or implied that others should, take part in a riot, or shoot the Prime Minister.

Having said that, it is also my view that any threat to a person ought to be properly investigated by the police, and ultimately the decision be made whether an offence was committed.

So, this was Wednesday. The video was posted to YouTube, and Facebook (I presume). Shortly thereafter, on that very day, she removed the video from the internet. We are not sure why, but I imagine that it was because she began receiving a large number of abusive and abrasive remarks about her genuinely idiotic post. Of course, the video was re-posted by people who clearly had nothing better to do with their time, I mean… why bother, if not just to cause mischief. By this time. “granny quila” realised… horror of horrors, that stuff she posts on the internet does not stay private, and once it goes up, it will never come down… no matter what.

I imagine that the abuse that she was subjected to was simply far too much for her to bear, and she realised that she made a silly mistake. Exactly what she thought her mistake was in unclear, but she decided to take to the internet again, and Thursday recorded this:

Come on! cut me some slack here… I am only 14 years old!

Now, she may be a really good actor, but I thought that the apology seemed genuine. Whether she was sorry and felt that what she did was wrong, or just sorry about the amount of abuse she got, is another matter altogether.

So, by the time the Attorney-General made his pronouncement on Saturday, the video was made, put up, pulled down, reposted by others, apologised for. On Sunday, the Attorney-General acknowledges the apology and states that she should turn herself in for issuing threats (maybe he knows the law she breached, I can’t find it)

To me, that’s the wrong approach. Yes this girl did a pile, and to be quite honest, I don’t sympathise with her at all. Having said that, it would have been a perfect opportunity to show the compassionate side of the State of Emergency, and used as an chance to reach out to disaffected youth. Of course, this is the approach the Prime Minister has taken and a eminently sensible one. At the press conference however, we were told of occasions in the UK where persons were arrested, charged and convicted for causing trouble via Facebook during the recent riots. What was not said, however, was that these youths were ACTUALLY PLANNING RIOTS on Facebook, you know, where, when and how, not making asinine videos.

Feeling pretty riled up about that, I read the papers this morning and saw the following about the matter.

The Trinidad Newsday: “… the apology issued yesterday … ” Full article here
The Trinidad Guardian: “… The teen, who posted the video on Thursday, apologised yesterday …” full article here
While the Trinidad Express made no definitive statement on the issue, the impression from the tenor of the article was that the apology was subsequent to the Attorney-General’s announcement. Further, on Sunday, the Express had it’s article published an edited version of the text of the original video. Nowhere was it indicated an apology had been also posted by that time.

Now, I know that the apology was posted since Thursday… how do I know this? Because the Facebook video has comments from since Thursday, so unless you can go back in time to post comments, it would be impossible for the video to have been first posted after Thursday.

Now it is probable that the Attorney-General was not cognizant of this fact when he made his pronouncements, which is understandable, he was one day presented with the original video… he makes a statement and the next thing you know an apology appears on his Facebook wall. it would seem to him that the apology was the consequence of his statement. Fair enough.

But, there is NO EXCUSE… NONE AT ALL, for the media not to have picked that up! That’s their JOB as reporters!! It did not take rocket science. Unfortunately, more often than not, we are subject to this lower level of “investigative” journalism, where simple proper checks are not made. We depend on the Media to keep public officials, businesses and the lie on their toes, if they are not going to do their job properly, then dog eat we supper. Come on guys!! Some proper research PLEASE!

Back to Granny Quila. I am happy that the Prime Minister has decided to publicly “forgive” her, and that she wants to meet with her. The criminal matter is a police matter, but if the so-called victim of the crime is forgiving, it is probable that it will die a natural death there.

Speaking about natural deaths, that is what this post is about to encounter.

Bye guys,

State of Emergency… All over the place

2011-08-24T17:07:00.003-04:00

This is the final part of this series (really it is) sorry it was so long, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible!)

Continuting with the reasons I am not in favour of the State of Emergency

The Army
Under the emergency regulations, the Defence Force personnel have the same powers of police officers. I have an issue with that. I had an issue with joint police/army patrols. Why? Because the training is different. Police Officers are charged with the maintenance of law and order and the detection of crime. That is what their training gears them towards. The Army on the other hand is charged with protection of the State’s borders, and the integrity of the State machinery. Their training is different. When armies are called out where there is no state of war, it is usually because there is a national emergency, such as a natural disaster, in which both their numbers and training is indispensible. Or maybe a public uprising…

Err... Mr Tank Man, I think the people in Trinidad and Tobago actually WANT you!

They are not usually, except in Trinidad and Tobago, used as a crime fighting measure. In fact, this is what the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had to say on the matter during the recent London Riots:
“The Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said to me that he would rather be the last man left in Scotland Yard with all his management team out on the streets before he asked for the army.
That is the right attitude and one I share. But it is my responsibility to make sure that every contingency is looked at - including whether there are tasks that the army could undertake that would free up more police for the front line.”
In other words, the army was to be an absolute last resort, and the army, if it were to be used, was not going to be running around lie normal police officers, but rather, do specific tasks to allow the police to go on the front line. This is my view.
The Emergency Regulations
The Attorney-General announced proudly that the regulations governing the period of emergency were the regulations used during the 1990 insurrection, as though this was supposed to comfort us in any way. What it demonstrated to me was that this was a lazy, uninformed implementation of the State of Emergency which far from instilling confidence, bolstered my view that this was the wrong move for the government to have taken.
Why do I say this? Remember what section 7 of the constitution says? I told you to remember it!! It said in essence that the President was to make regulations having regard to the circumstances which led to the proclamation of the State of Emergency in the first place. Some of you may be too young to remember what happened in the 1990 Coup in the first place, so I’ll refresh your memory.
There was a coup.
Got it? So How on earth are the circumstances which led to the State of Emergency then identical to the circumstances which led to the State of Emergency now? Are there insurrectionists running in the streets of Port of Spain? Has the Red House been invaded? Have local media houses been hijacked? Is the Police Headquarters in a burning rubble?
I think the answer to all of the above questions is no.
+But I shall go through the regulations and point out some the more egregious ones.
Censorship
Under the Regulations, the President may make orders which can censor what documents people have in their possession. Also it against the regulations to have documents which may cause a breach of public order or cause public Disaffection or discontent.
How do these kinds of measures allow the police and other protective units clear out the criminal elements which have laid rise to the need for this emergency? Are they afraid of people raising rallying calls to criminal elements to run riot? Are they afraid that editorials and blogs will come out in favour of the criminal elements?
Powers of Arrest.

Under the regulations people can be arrested without warrant, and bail for possession of illegal firearms and ammunition, and breach of what I call the censorship regulations. Further, warrantless search and seisures can be carried out in cases of firearms and ammunition as well as to look for censored/prohibited documents. Again this is lacking sense. If part of the stated aim is to get drugs off the streets, why aren’t drugs included in that list? why can’t you arrest without a warrant and/or hold without bail those persons who have been caught with drugs?

A more sinister interpretation of this is that these restrictions were put in place to prevent the Trade Unions from taking protest action with respect to their protests. For my part I do not agree. I think that the answer is far more simple.
I think that when they decided that they were going to call the State of Emergency, a conversation along these lines took place:
“We need regulations to oversee the State of Emergency”
“Regulations? what kind of regulations”
“you know regulations to say what can and cannot be done”
“Where can we get these regulations? you can be damn sure I am not coming up with any”
“Me neither… wait, wasn’t there a coup some years ago, where a State of Emergency was declared?'’
“BRILLIANT!!”

Mr President, I am sure the Regulations are in there somewhere!

So we have a State of Emergency with regulations which are not suited to the specifics of the circumstances surrounding the proclamation… that’s like having a political system without regard to the specific needs of the society… wait…
What Happens After
Certain people, especially those within the government, seem to think that the State of Emergency is the be all and end all of this fight against crime. One member of Parliament said on national television that you don’t have to look at the number of arrests to gauge the success of the State of Emergency, but the “confidence that it gave to his constituents who could now open their windows and doors at night. The Prime Minister said that since the State of Emergency commenced, crime was almost down to 0%. The Commissioner of Police stated on Tuesday that during the first curfew period, there were no violent crimes involving firearms… this begs the question, were there violent crimes NOT involving firearms?
What these comments seem to ignore is that the State of Emergency (hopefully) will not last forever! What will happen afterwards? When we arrest these people, when the emergency is done do we have the evidence to convict them of anything?
What about the various Messrs Big in the society? If they remain largely unscathed, then they will just recruit more of the plebeians to replace those who have been taken out of the system. We have had precious little action against the Messrs big, and one would have thought that the intelligence would have included information against these jefes which would have been acted upon almost immediately, either via detention orders to detain them while investigations go on against them, or arrests from information already received, but we have not seen any of this, and Messrs Big & Company would have had all opportunities to flee the jurisdiction until the end of the State of Emergency.
Why Should we give up our rights anyways
It is a dangerous sign when a citizenry are ask to suspend their rights, or to accept the imminent suspension of their rights, for the so-called “good of society”. Why? because it makes it more and more acceptable to do this. Many people are in favour of the State of Emergency because as “law-abiding citizens” it “does not affect them” and that they are willing to put up with the “inconvenience”.
The suspension of your rights is not an inconvenience. That you can be incarcerated on little more than whim for an indeterminate period is downright dangerous. While it may not be the case that the ordinary citizen in affected, who draws the line as to who is the “ordinary citizen” and who is the undesirable? There is nothing preventing a person in authority from concocting a story against you and locking you up with no need for evidence and no recourse after the fact.
Further, it is just a further step down the road to a place where we start to accept infringements on our civil liberties on a more and more regular basis, and on a wider and wider scale. It is a road we should not traverse at all.
That’s just my view… what’s yours?

State of Emergency… Alright, Alright, it normal… it not Ltd

2011-08-24T17:02:00.003-04:00

So… we on Part 3 of the little series of mine, on the State of Emergency. The first part dealt with the general issue of a State of Emergency and its implications and the curfew. The second part dealt with the effect of the Emergency Regulations. Now I want to take the opportunity to explain my point of view on the State of Emergency, and other related matters.

Before we do that though, I was watching the television shortly before during and after news and saw 2 things. Firstly that the Police Service Commission issued a Statement stating that (1) They did not know that the Commissioner of Police and his Deputy were not in the country, (2) that they only appointed DCP Williams to act as Commissioner of Police on the 23rd, but that it was retroactive to the 19th, and that there was the possibility that Legal Notice 164 of 2011, which establishes the curfew might not be valid. The Attorney General then quickly came out saying that there was no question that the Notice was valid.

I don’t have much to say about that, except that while it may be that Mr Williams was not officially appointed when he signed the Curfew order, it would be a ~~big jackass~~ brave man to say that the curfew is invalid given the retroactive authorisation.
The second thing I saw was an interview on TV 6 news with the Attorney-General, conducted by Dominic Kalipersad. The interview covered 3 main areas (a) the Commissioner of Police issue; (b) the use of the word “limited” to describe the State of Emergency and (c) the relative success, or lack of it, thus far.

You can find a video of the interview here:

“Why thank you for inviting yourself on Mr AG” “Why thank you for abusing me”

So, let’s forget (a) and (c) for the time being.

It was with great shock and astonishment that people (including most in the media) received the news categorically stated by the Minister of National Security, that in fact ALL of Trinidad and Tobago was subject to the emergency powers, and not, as some had thought, only the areas under the curfew…

The nation was up in arms.. you mean, you mean, that the State of Emergency IS NOT LIMITED??? Of course, readers of this blog, and the e-mail news group I belong to (limited membership open only to attendees of the greatest school ever) and various other people who I spoke to already knew this… I have been saying so, from the time the draft proclamation was read out by the Prime Minister on Sunday night.

Anyways, so the question was asked as to what the Prime Minister meant when she said Limited State of Emergency, and after some posturing on both sides we got this gem from the Attorney-General (at 3:45 into the interview). The State of Emergency was limited in 2 ways: Firstly, the Curfew only extended to certain areas. As I have stated, in part 1 of the series, that does not make the State of Emergency limited. A State of Emergency need not have ANY curfew, so the fact that it is not throughout the country does not make the State of Emergency in of itself limited. If my memory serves me correctly, coming to the end of the State of Emergency in 1990, there were areas which were not under curfew, while others were. Not sure about that though.

Secondly, and far more disturbingly, the Attorney-General went on to say that it was limited because it was for 15 days in the first instance.

BRRRR?????

Where to begin? Ah, yes… section 9(2) of the Constitution… which says in essence that unless it is revoked earlier, a Proclamation remains in force for 15 days. In other words, ALL States of Emergency, Limited or otherwise initially last for 15 days! It’s right there in the constitution!
So, the Attorney General ~~blatantly lied~~ may have misled the public on national television as to why they called the State of Emergency “limited”, but you, my readers would not have been taken by such tomfoolery!

With those preliminaries out of the way, what is my view on the State of Emergency?

As I said on Monday I am against the State of Emergency in general

Justification for proclaiming State of Emergency

The ground used to justify the state of emergency was that public safety and/or public order was threatened. Now I do not pretend that crime in Trinidad and Tobago was not bad. However, up till the week before the announcement, we were being told that the crime situation was under control, that serious crime was going down across the board, that the government’s plan was bearing fruit. If this was the case, then why call a State of Emergency? A State of Emergency is the equivalent of a nuclear bomb… the strongest most extreme weapon in the arsenal a government has. Consequently it must be a last resort, it must be when nothing else will work. A State of Emergency allows the Government and the Police, with little safeguards, to restrict the liberties and rights of citizens. That is something that must be avoided as long as is possible.

Some will argue that we had reached that stage, but I disagree. I pose the question again, was the situation so bad that if you went out you were more likely than not to be the victim of crime? More importantly, was the situation such that Trinidad and Tobago was ungovernable? I think not, and it is my opinion, that it is only in those extreme circumstances that a State of Emergency could ever be justified.

Further justification was offered because of (1) a drug bust of the value of 22,000,000 and (2) the fact that 11 people were murdered in 3 or 4 days. It was suggested (at least that’s how I read it) that the 2 incidents were related, and that the removal of these drugs from the streets had in fact caused this upsurge and it was this and related intelligence which (appropriately) was not disclosed to us, that (partly) led to the decision to call the State of Emergency and impose a limited curfew in various areas. Is the position therefore that every time there is a large drug bust, or a plethora of murders that a State of Emergency will be imposed? Is that the big crime plan?

A further issue I have is what has the State of Emergency achieved that could not have been achieved under normal circumstances? The Attorney-General spoke about arms disappearing by the time a search warrant is obtained. Now, obtaining a search warrant is a matter of a couple hours, so if this is what transpires, then it can’t be that in the normal course things have moved along. It means that people have been tipped off about the existence of the warrants.

The obvious question is who is tipping off? further, what prevents people from tipping off during a State of Emergency?

I would have thought that the intelligence that the authorities had was “there are stashes of arms here, here and here, so early on in the State of Emergency, raids would have been conducted in these areas netting large stashes of arms and ammunition, drugs etc., many people would have been arrested and so on. Instead, we get that 30 people have been arrested… a whole 30! and 6 guns! How many times have we heard about exercises in which 40+ people have ben held in raids during non State of Emergency periods?

Apart from that we get requests from the Minister of National Security and the Attorney-General and the Acting Commissioner of Police for people to come forward with intelligence about weapons, drugs and so on. What this suggests is that the strategy is to hope that people come forward with this information during the state of emergency following which they will raid… because it is a state of emergency, so no one will be tipped off.

In short therefore, there is NOTHING that imposing the State of Emergency would achieve that could not have been achieved without one. And you need no greater argument against the State of Emergency.

Right so we take a break here and continue with this post later… it getting too long again

State of Emergency… (un)Ltd

2011-08-23T16:09:00.006-04:00

This is the second part of my blog on the 2011 State of Emergency in Trinidad and Tobago… Didn’t read the first? Find it here.
What About Those Emergency Regulations You Keep Harping On?
By Legal Notice 163 of 2011, the President issued Emergency Regulations to cover the period of Public Emergency. They can be found in their entirety courtesy the Government news site.

Yes, But What are They?
Under the constitution, when a period of Public Emergency is declared, the President may make regulations to deal with the situation that has caused the state of public emergency. For those of you who enjoy quotes, here is s.7(1) of the constitution.
“7. (1) Without prejudice to the power of Parliament to make provision in the premise. but subject to this section, where any period of public emergency exists, the President may, due regard being had to the circumstances of any situation likely to arise or exist during such period, make regulations for the purpose of dealing with that situation and issue orders and instructions for the purpose of the exercise of any powers conferred on him or any other person by any Act referred to in subsection (3) or instrument made under this section or any such Act.”

Read it? Good… note the part where it says “due regard being had to the circumstances likely to arise or exist during such period”… we’ll get back to that shortly.

I don’t Want to Read Those Regulations, Just Give Me a Snapshot!

Well, a snapshot might be difficult, I could try a photo album though.

So, the regulations give the Police much more extensive powers than they usually have. They can (1) enter any property for search and seizure without a warrant (Regulation 15), but that power is limited, to searching for firearms and ammunition (Regulation 9), and searches for documents/publications which are intended to cause a breach of the peace or public order, or incite public disaffection or discontent (Regulations 13 and 14).

What is interesting therefore, is that the regulations do not provide for warrantless search and seizure of (i) drugs, (ii) stolen goods or any other such thing, unless the police say that they are looking for firearms or the prohibited publications. Of course the Police and the Government have been bandying about the impression that it is in all circumstances that Police can search and seize without a warrant. Now you know better.

Secondly, the Police can arrest persons without a warrant (Regulation 16), but you will note that this power is also limited to “acted or is acting or is about to act in a manner prejudicial to public safety or to public order or to have committed or is committing or is about to commit an offence against these Regulations;” (emphasis supplied) It would appear to me therefore that unless you were about to start or partake, or were partaking in a riot, or committing an offence contained in the Regulations, which do not for example include murder, rape, robbery and a host of others… go ahead.. see if you find those offences in the Regulations.

Thirdly, the members of the Defence Force (army, coast guard) have the same powers of a police officer during this period of emergency. (regulation 22, especially sub-regulation (2))

Also, the Minister of National Security can issue detention orders against persons who, in his view, are threats to Public Safety and Order (Regulation 7 and the Second Schedule). In such a case, a Tribunal, set up by the Chief Justice, will examine the situation and determine whether the detention is justified.

I Heard that if I Get Arrested, I Can’t Get Bail!

That position again has been bandied about by the Police and the Government. I disagree. Regulation 19 which deals with the question of Bail states:

“19. (1) Notwithstanding any rule of law to the contrary, but subject to these Regulations, no bail shall be allowed in the case of any person-
(a) in respect of whom a detention order is in force under the provisions of the Second Schedule;
(b) detained under the provisions of regulation 16; or
(c) charged with an offence,if it is shown to the satisfaction of the magistrate that it is reasonably apprehended that the person arrested is likely to engage or to incite persons to
engage in the commission of breaches of the peace or of any other offence against the person or property or against these Regulations,”

Well, as we have seen already, Regulation 16 deals with offences under Regulation 9 (firearm and ammunition) and 13/14 (causing or inciting a danger to public safety or order, public disaffection or discontent. The second schedule deals with detention orders made by the minister in respect of certain individuals and the third category deals with situations where a Magistrate is satisfied that bail should not be granted because the person is a threat to public safety. All that does is give the Magistrate an additional factor to consider when considering bail… Again, therefore, the rhetoric is incorrect. You can get bail in the majority of circumstances.

The right to Bail, however, is reduced

Can the Police Arrest me Without Charge?

If arrested, you can be detained while police carry out their investigations for a period of 24 hours, after which a Magistrate or Police officer of a Rank not lower than Assistant Superintendent can extend that time to a period not exceeding 7 days, but again, that only deals with cases of arrest under regulations 9, 13 and 14. (regulation 16(3))

If I Don’t Live in a “Hotspot” as Defined by the Curfew, can the Police Still Seize and Search Without a Warrant?

Yes. Remember the Proclamation of the President reads “There exists in Trinidad and Tobago a state of Public Emergency”. The Emergency Regulations do not limit their application to any part of Trinidad and Tobago, so Police and Army powers, the restriction of Bail and the like all apply wherever you are.

Is that all?

In essence yes. Just one or 2 more things. Firstly, the President is specifically authorised to make regulations censoring the type of materials and documents you have in your possession (Regulation 3(2)(a)). That regulation also gives him the power to ban communications by various means (BBMs not safe yet)

Further, the Commissioner of Police also has extensive powers to make regulations with regards to the movement of citizens, and prohibiting items they may have in their possession.

So, What Do You Think?
Well, this post is already getting too long… I think that will have to wait until another post… But I’ll be back soon!!

State of Emergency… Ltd

2011-08-22T23:31:00.002-04:00

Serious post today folks. Last night, the Prime Minister indicated that there would be in effect from today, the 22nd August 2011, a “limited’ state of emergency. The proclamation was signed it would appear by the President and apparently Emergency Regulations were also signed by the President. Now from the outset, let me say that I am against this action and throughout the post I hope the reasons for my doing so will become apparent. However, I also wanted to give an idea about how it will affect my readers… all 5 of you who live in Trinidad (and Tobago)… This was supposed to start off as a single entry, but it’s going to be at least 2 4 posts.

Power to declare “State of Emergency”

Section 8 of the Constitution is what gives the President power to declare a state of emergency.

Section 8 (in so far as is relevant) states as follows:

8. (1) Subject to this section, for the purposes of this Chapter, the President may from time to time make a Proclamation declaring that a state of public emergency exists.
(2) A Proclamation made by the President under subsection (1) shall not be effective unless it contains a declaration that the President is satisfied-
…
(c) that action has been taken, or is immediately threatened. by any person, of such a nature and on so extensive a scale, as to be likely to endanger the public safety or to deprive the
community or any substantial portion of the community of supplies or services essential to life. (grounds (a) & be which deal with a state of war and natural epidemics clearly do not apply)

Now, honestly, can we say that we have reached this far? Are we at a stage where Public Safety is so compromised that someone cannot go out into the streets without the likelihood that he or she will be a victim of crime? Are there sections of the community which are not getting services essential to life because of the crime situation (that does not include cable ok!)i suggest that the answer is no. No doubt there are areas where to roam the streets is unsafe, but these are relatively small areas. For the most part, you can traverse the streets of Trinidad and Tobago without falling the victim of crime.

Having said that, the President is satisfied that this is the case and therefore, as such actions are above question, there is nothing that we can do about it.

How long will it last?

The declaration signed by the President does not, as far as I know, say the length of time that it will last, however, the Constitution does make some provision for this. Section 9 (2) states:
“A Proclamation made by the President for the purposes of and in accordance with section 8 shall, unless previously revoked, remain in force for fifteen days”

This means that the State of Emergency will last for a period of 15 days in the first instance (to the 5th September 2011.)

However, the House of Representatives can extend the period of the emergency under section 10 of the Act:
10. (1) Before its expiration the Proclamation may be extended from time to time by resolution supported by a simple majority vote of the House of Representatives, so however that no extension exceeds three months and the extensions do not in the aggregate exceed six months.

(2) The Proclamation may be further extended from time to time for not more than three months at any one time, by a resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament and supported by the votes of not less than three-fifths of all the members of each House.
To clarify, a simple majority (21-20) of the House of Representatives can extend the State of Emergency for a period of no more than 3 months at a time for a maximum of 6 months in all. After this, a 3/5 majority is required (25-16). Of course in practice this means nothing as the government has 29 seats, so has a 3/5 majority built in, and does not require opposition support.
On the other hand, the State of Emergency can also be revoked at any time under section 10(3) of Constitution by a simple majority of the House of Representatives

Doesn’t a State of Emergency Suspend Civil Liberties?

Popular opinion is that a State of Emergency somehow suspends the civil liberties of citizens, but this is not quite accurate. Nothing in the State of Emergency in itself subverts our fundamental rights and freedoms as provided by sections 4 and 5 of the constitution, but it does provide that (i) any act of Parliament that is specifically stated to be in contravention of sections 4 and 5, which passed during a period of emergency will have effect, and (ii) that the President may make regulations which can have effect, even if they are in contravention of sections 4 and 5 of the constitution. We will get to the regulations that have been signed later.

What Does a Curfew Mean, and Where is it in Force?

One of the features of virtually every State of Emergency is the imposition of a curfew in some if not all areas. But what is a curfew? With respect to the current period of public emergency, the Commissioner of Police, as he is empowered to do under the Emergency Regulations has imposed a curfew in the following areas
1 the City of Port-of-Spain as demarcated in the First Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act
2 the city of San Fernando as demarcated in the First Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
3. the Borough of Chaguanas as demarcated in the First Part of the Second Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
4 the Borough of Arima as demarcated in the First Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
5 the Region of Diego Martin as demarcated in the Second Part of the Second Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act
6 the Region of San Juan/Laventille as demarcated in the Second Part of the Second Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
The Municipal Corporations Act, which has the boundaries of these areas can be found here
This is what the areas look like

See I told you them Red thing is trouble!

The Order goes on to indicate what this means… “no person shall be out of doors in the areas and at the times specified in the Schedules”. In other words, if you are in these areas, you had better be indoors, (not car doors) otherwise crapaud smoke your pipe. If you need to be out doors during that time, you can be given a permit from the Commissioner of police allowing you to do that If you are outdoors without a permit, you can be arrested under the emergency powers regulations. More of that later.

What is a Limited State of Emergency?

I don’t know

No Seriously!

I am being serious… The Constitution provides for no such thing. Further, the Proclamation singed by the President says:
“(a) I am satisfied that action has been taken or is immediately threatened by persons or bodies of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be likely to endanger the public safety; and -,
(b) a state of public emergency exists in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago” (emphasis supplied)

So clearly, the state of Public Emergency exists throughout Trinidad and Tobago…

What about the Emergency Regulations? Perhaps their implementation is limited… well no… the regulations make no distinction as to time and/or place with respect to their operation at all. More on those Regulations later… that’s a doosy…

Well what about the curfew? Yes, it is true that the curfew does not extend to the whole of Trinidad and Tobago, but as we see (and will see more in my following post) a State of Emergency and a curfew are 2 separate things, so it is difficult to see why they are calling it a limited State of Emergency.

Maybe it is that the State of Emergency was incorporated? That’s why they are calling it Ltd? (bad lawyer joke I know)… maybe it’s a PR thing… who knows? I wish someone would ask the AR/JS road show that question.

Wait, that’s all?
For now, this post has become too long… and in the next one, I want to look at the Emergency regulations. It’s coming soon though, I promise… Scout’s Honour.

I am back

2011-07-04T22:44:00.000-04:00

So, it’s been nearly 6 months since my last post, and to be quite honest, I have had far better things to do than update the 9 of you who read this thing about the goings on in my life. “Things like what?” you say?

Well, there was our Tennis Club’s tournament…

Then, there was carnival…

Then there was men who cook…

There was also cricket…

Trust me those pics were better than what was actually going on in the field! At least I had on a West Indies T-Shirt!

There was also work… a heck of a lot of it… its been a busy few months for me in the office which should normally translate into fees coming in, but only in May did that happen, but enough of that! I turned down a job offer though, at the end of the day, working for yourself is a lot of reward in itself.

I must give a shout out to the people who harassed me enough to get me back into this thing, so to Rachel, Renee and Tshai, thanks a lot guys, and the other 6 of you who read this thing, go check out their blogs!! That’s why i linked them you morons! I mean, yes Tshai runs a make-up blog, but still.. it’s useful if you are a girl, or in show biz, or a metro…

So that’s it for now, just a short note to say, yeah I be back… hopefully more often than before, but no less random!!

Tribute to a Warrior

2011-01-17T22:23:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday was the saddest day in the last few years of my life. I had to say goodbye to a friend of 10 1/2 years. Kenshin Himura aka “Fats McGee”, aka “the fat dog”, had to be put to sleep on Saturday. He had suffered from kidney failure, and while he was still eating, he became anaemic and weak, and eventually, at the last, he could not walk. He spent his last night on the lawn, unable even to get up to eat dinner. His dinner was brought to him, when it started to rain on Saturday morning, we had to lift him up and carry him to shelter. At the time of his death he weighed no more than 60 pounds, shocking when you realise that at his peak he was more than twice that.

Kenshin was born in October 2000 somewhere up in Cascade. We had just lost out Rott/ridgeback mixed dog, Julio, who suffered a heart attack and died. I remember going up to the house in Cascade on a Friday evening, he was the biggest puppy there, which made him a natural choice. He was my dog, as Julio was my dog, so I got to choose and name him, i picked the name of main character of the show which at the time was my favourite, Kenshin Himura aka Batusai the Slasher.
They told us that he was a pure Rott…. he wasn’t. He had some Alsatian markings and a white mark on his chest which the vet called an imperfection. I considered that he had a birthmark on his chest like his owner, his was white, while mine is black. we didn’t mind that he wasn’t pure or that the owners weren’t completely upfront with us. He was adorable, and that was all that mattered
Kenshin was an amazing dog, he adapted incredibly quickly to circumstances, even when he hated them at first. The first time that he got tied, he struggled and fought so much he broke his collar. The second time, he got as far as the chain would allow him to, and he just lay down. Every 2 or 3 minutes he would raise his head up and upon realising that he was still tied, he would put it down again. By the 4th time, he would come when he heard the chain clinking. Although he would growl at the vet when he went, he recognised when he was ill and voluntarily go into the car to go to the vet, because he knew that the vet made him better. Unfortunately he could not understand why we would take him there if he were well, and would use his considerable weight and strength to make getting him into the car a virtual wrestling match. Up to the very last day, when he realised he was by the vet, he perked up because he knew the vet would make him better, when I saw this I admit it, I cried, because there was nothing that could be done.
The other memory I have of Kenshin as a puppy was when he got into the house when we were out. I think that we had left the kitchen door open. Anyways, we came home and there he was in the tv room chewing on my bartending book. When he saw us, he looked up at us as if to say “Hey, you’re home, what’s going on?”, and then went back to eating my book. I still have the book, he was only eating the edges.
He was incredibly animal aggressive… he did not like other animals at all. The only exceptions were our other dogs. When he came to live with us, we already had a Rott/Doberman mixed dog Tio Mario (Tee-yo Ma-REE-yo) (a combination that results in a truly retarded dog). The two of them got along like best friends almost from day one. They would have their scuffles and fights, but you could see the clear love and affection they had for each other. When Tio died, Kenshin mourned for months. He was also good with the other dogs we got after Tio, Pierrott (Granade) and Ananci (Story). By contrast, the dogs opposite and next door were his mortal enemies. When we carried him to the vet, we had to wait outside with him. The presence of the other dogs irked him too much.

By any measure, Kenshin was a large dog. He measrued about 2 feet to his shoulder and the largest head I have ever seen on any dog. Before his kidney failure he tipped the scale at about 140 pounds
Kenshin never wanted to give the impression that he engaged in behaviour of an indecorous nature at all. When our neighbour replaced the fence between our properties with a 6 foot wall, he built a ramp for his dogs, 2 Alsatians, to look outside. They would look into our yard and bark at our dogs. Despite his massive size, Kenshin could jump up so that his mouth could reach above the wall. Fortunately there was a grill which prevented them from biting each other, but that is another story. Kenshin would jump once or twice, then look back at the house to see if we were looking. If he saw any sign of us at all, he would stop as if to say “Me? nah that wasn’t me.”
As I said, Kenshin was incredibly animal aggressive. I have lost track of the number of rats he killed, except the last one. He would not come when we called him for dinner. A highly unusual state of affairs, so I went to look for him. As I turned the corner of the house, he emerged from the darkness with a HUGE rat in his mouth. I swear the thing was bigger than any cat I had ever seen, and he did not want to give it up. He got into 2 fights with the neighbour’s 2 Alsatians, both of which he won hands down, especially considering that there was 1 of him and 2 of them. In January 2009, the dogs from across the road raided our yard as I was driving out to go to the gym an early morning… all 5 of them. He took on 4 of them and had them scampering, before taking on the ringleader. Pretty soon he had the other dog’s head in his mouth, and refused to let go. I did the foolish thing and attempted to pry his jaw off the other dog with my bare hand. Despite the fact that he was trying to crush the other dog’s skull, he did not bite me at all… at all. To this day, I find that incredible.
At the same time Kenshin was incredibly affectionate with us. He would come up to you and nuzzle you with his head. As you petted him, he would lean on you with his considerable mass and eventually lie down on your foot for you to scratch his belly. Where were you going? He was on your foot, you couldn’t go anywhere!

Although we nicknamed Kenshin “the Fat Dog” or “Fats McGee”, the vet made us understand that Kenshin was not fat… you could tell too. He was pure muscle, and as he weighed about 140-150 pounds, he was a real power house. When we put in a 5 foot wall around the yard, he could, if sufficiently provoked, could jump high enough to have his chest over the top of the wall. If he wanted to, he could have scaled the wall… thankfully he did not want to. Once we saw him bite a frog. When we tried to hold him to put salt in his mouth and wash out the poison, he dragged the 3 of us around the yard. There was salt and water all around the yard except in Kenshin’s mouth, but he seemed to come through ok. Another time, he had gotten some hotspots around his neck, which we were afraid had become infected. We took him to the Vet to check it out. Given the location where the hotspots were, we could not muzzle him. The vet said, no problem, we would give him an anaesthetic.
Problems.
The dog tensed up so much that she could not stick him with the needle. We ended up having to put him in one of the kennels, holding him to the back wall. The vet’s assistant then came with a big BRC barrier, which he used to pin Kenshin to the back wall, which then allowed the vet to come in and give him the jab. He had gotten the largest dose of anaesthesia, but did not go under at all. He got really drowsy and could not react to bite the vet, but he fought the drug to the end, and did not fall asleep at all.
In spite of his immense strength, power and will, Kenshin did have his Kryptonite, and it was loud noises, especially thunder and fireworks. During a thunder shower he would find his was into the house by the hook or the crook and would not leave voluntarily, unless we bribed him with a crix, which he could not resist. Up until he was about 7 he would hide under the sink outside. It did not matter that he was too big for that space from the time he was about 9 1 year. As it got harder for him to manoeuvre, he would lie down and stick his head behind the drier, or hide next to the washing machine. My big loveable coward.

Kenshin loved to eat, and if there was one thing he loved eating above all others, it was mangoes. Up until a month ago, there was never a mango under the tree, he took them all, he took them all and would eat them until there was just dry skin and seed. My twitter avatar is of him enjoying his mango. He couldn’t collect his mangoes once walking became difficult. Although he loved to eat, because he wanted us to think that he was Mr Decorum, he would never eat if he saw us watching him. He would wait till we went inside, then look in the kitchen to make sure that we were not watching him before he started his meal.

Kenshin did not enjoy bathing. When we had a fence he would climb it… literally… to get away from the water. It is one of the most humorous sights in the world to see a massive 150 pound dog climbing a chain-link fence to get away from some water. When my sister first told the story, I did not believe it, then I saw it for myself when I tried to bathe him. As with everything, although he always hated the water, he got accustomed to bathing and would tolerate it
It is almost too painful to write about his demise and eventual death. He started losing weight quickly and dramatically, we couldn’t understand it. He was eating normally, and seemed to be in good spirits. At first the vet, an not our normal one, an associate said that he had anaemia, and gave us some blood tonic, that made him a little perkier, but still the weight loss continued. Then the week before Christmas, the vet who we normally dealt with called: “how was Kenshin going”, “no real improvement” “I don’t know why X didn’t tell you this but he has kidney failure, there is not much you can do. Just monitor him and soon you may have to make a difficult decision”.
We agreed that while he could move about and was not in any obvious discomfort, he would be fine, but from the time he could not move or started to suffer, then we would not let it continue. We would sometimes have to help him get up to get his food, but he managed for a few weeks. His collar which despite being the largest one we could find was too small for him was now far too big. Then Saturday morning, when I was going to tennis, I saw him lying on the lawn. My heart sank, because I knew that it was the end. Daddy and I talked at tennis and he told me that he had to feed him on the lawn itself. We agreed that it was that day. My sister was not home, we had to call her. We agreed that we would take him when I came home from the gym. Before I left, we had to move him from the lawn, because the rain was threatening. It was not appropriate to have him out in the rain on his last day. I went to the gym but I could not finish the class, I was too distracted. When I got home, my sister had not come as yet, she was in traffic. When she came home, we made the arrangements, we would all go. We all wanted to say goodbye.
When we got there, because he could not move and it was so hard to manoeuvre, I had to take him out of the car myself. It was hard. The tears started flowing as I put him on the ground. He was still alert, raising his head and looking around. As I said before, he was happy to be by the vet… the vet always made him better.
It is still difficult to think about it, even harder to write. I am glad he didn’t suffer, but still I miss him, and I will miss him for a very long time. I really loved that dog.
Goodbye Kenshin.

It's All Yours, Once You Spend it Like I Tell You

2010-11-02T21:09:00.002-04:00

So, over the weekend, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Tomas wreaked havoc in the Caribbean, mainly the islands of St Vincent, St Lucia and Barbados. One again, Trinidad and Tobago were mainly spared from the bulk of the damage. Tobago got a bit of the tail-end of the storm.

So, of course the storm has caused much controversy with first the Leader of the Opposition castigating the Prime Minister for "over-reacting" to the situation. Now I don't know what the man said, so I cannot comment. Suffice it to say however, that everyone I know, PNM and PP supporters alike have said that it was a foolish statement to make.

Anyways, as if to help out her partner, the Prime Minister said that she was considering having content requirements to any aid that Trinidad and Tobago gives to the affected islands, so that " if we are giving assistance with housing for example, and that is one of the areas that we (Prime Minister of St Vincent and myself ) spoke about, ... then we may be able to use Trinidad and Tobago builders and companies, so that whatever money or assistance is given, redounds back in some measure to the people of Trinidad and Tobago," (as quoted in the Trinidad Express).

This it appears has caused some consternation. With respect, I disagree.

First, let us clarify what the Prime Minister is not saying

1. She is NOT saying that money or aid sent by Trinidad and Tobago must be repaid.

2. She is NOT saying that there must be some other means of quid pro quo in the future. This is not a debt that the other countries will owe to Trinidad.

3. She is NOT saying that the content from Trinidad and Tobago is in addition to aid provided by Trinidad and Tobago.

Second, in general, this is how ALL aid organisations work. Ever wonder why aid organisations say that they prefer receiving money rather than supplies and materials? Essentially so that they can then turn around and purchase the material/supplies from their local/preferred suppliers. Remember that this happened quite a bit after the Haitian earthquake when the US controlled most of the procurement of the relief supplies. This is not unusual at all. Even when countries get development loans from organisations such as the CDB, IADB, the EU, and even individual countries, there are requirements for minimum content from the lending countries... and this is when the money has to be repaid! We should be glad that at least the money will be spent in CARICOM and not outside from countries that need it less.

Thirdly, Trinidad and Tobago is in a recession and money is tight. Civil Servants are currently being told that they can only expect a 1% increase in their salaries for the period 2008-2010 (not 1% per year ok, 1% overall). Other sectors of society are being disappointed and the construction sector, which in the past was reliant on State construction, is stagnant. In the past many people have complained about our seeming over-generosity to our neighbours to the north without taking "care of our own". Here, the Prime Minister is attempting to solve both issues, assisting our Caribbean neighbours, while still trying to look after our own economy.

Finally, this is not a final decision, the Prime Minister clearly said that there was to be discussion with others before a final decision is made.

So, the Prime Minister probably should not have made this statement in the way that she did, but again, I have to say, I see nothing wrong with what she has proposed.

Back on Track

2010-09-20T20:56:00.000-04:00

After a not too great weekend, I was a bit concerned that I would lapse into old habits. today however, I was able to get back on track with responsible eating.

The number today... 1375

What a weekend...

2010-09-20T19:15:00.000-04:00

Birthdays are the worst when you are on a diet. As I pointed out before, my godson had his birthday party on Saturday and the diet went through the window... but that was a scheduled break, so that was ok.

The thing is that I completely forgot that one of my other friends was also having a shindig for his birthday and of course for these things, when it is his mom putting it on, there is no excuse like "I am on a diet"... it was not as bad as Saturday, but still not good... fortunately however, I think I was at least equal, so while I did not lose weight this weekend, I should not have gained any.

Sunday's count.... 2220

The bad news... there is another birthday NEXT Saturday as well!!!

HUH?

2010-09-19T14:18:00.000-04:00

This one is pretty much a guess... went to my god-son's 5th birthday and I was unable to adequately keep a count... the number is pretty conservative, may have been more... fortunately it was a scheduled break, and I was able to keep on track.

Yesterday's number. a whopping 2700

things going according to plan

2010-09-17T07:55:00.000-04:00

I like the fact that although my calorie count is down, I am not feeling hungry or cravings. Put that down to more intelligent diet management, taking in small amounts of the things the body may crave, while controlling the calorie intake

Yesterday's number 1371

running out of things to say

2010-09-15T21:21:00.001-04:00

I am running out of things to day... I am happy with how things are going, but I am aware that there might be some cravings down the road although I have been taking steps to avoid it.

The Count for today, the 15th day of this thing is 1510

It's the little things that count

2010-09-15T08:52:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you wonder whether the hard work is paying off, especially in the first couple weeks of dieting where visual progress is limited.

Yesterday, I had visible proof the my hard work is having an effect as my jacket, which shrunk over the last year fir without issue yesterday.... GO ME!!

the Count for yesterday... 1641

A two for 1 special

2010-09-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

So, I completely forgot to blog both Sunday and yesterday... so this morning I am posting the count for the last 2 days... I think I am now settling into a rhythm so that it is definitely working out...

Sunday: 1774

Monday: 1495

I will try to remember tonight!

woops!! sorry I am late

2010-09-12T09:44:00.002-04:00

Well guys, sorry I am late with yesterday's count... I clean forgot to do the blog post!

no comments, just the number 1570

Day 10

2010-09-10T22:38:00.002-04:00

Today was Eid... that is all

1699

Day 9... careful!

2010-09-09T21:20:00.001-04:00

Short post tonight.

Today's count is a bit high. It is below the 2000 daily recommended allowance, but higher than the 1500 that I am trying to stick to. It's ok I guess, but hopefully, not one that will be repeated too often.

The Count today... 1830

Day 8... Is this getting easier?

2010-09-08T22:12:00.000-04:00

So, today is the start of week 2. I was roundly cussed today by someone who said that I should NOT be complaining about not reaching calorie goals, so I won't.

It seems to me however, that I am not suffering cravings that I thought I would... by now I would have caved on the night snacking thing, but I haven't yet, nor have I felt the need to.

Things are going fairly swimmingly I guess, so far (knock on wood)

High number tonight... but within the range of what I need to be eating ... 1650

Can I get an Amen

2010-09-07T22:01:00.000-04:00

So, today I did some more research on this whole how many calories I should be consuming. It confirmed that I should not be dipping below 1500 per day... a goal I only reached once... steups.

Anyways today, today I went over 1500... just...

The number today 1555

Day 5... just the facts

2010-09-06T20:05:00.000-04:00

So, the weekend is over, and basically, back to the normal routine... funny how the body adjusts to different days of the week.

Before this calorie counting thing, I would have a problem with eating at night... crix? big big problem... Bread? major failing, to make it worse, things like cheese and jam would end up on that list... and that EXCLUDED dinner. With the new reporting system, especially when I do the calculation and publication early, I am discouraged from eating afterwards, firstly cause of the extra calories, and secondly, cause Ihave to amend the blog post and the diary... too much work.

the count today, 1358

Sunday Sunday Sunday!!! The Count day 5

2010-09-05T20:19:00.001-04:00

So, as I mentioned yesterday, weekends are the main difficulty in this whole eating thing... Sundays are most difficult, cause lunch isn't usually till about 3, but I get hungry before that, so basically, till lunch I am munching, then after lunch I am munching, then dinner... so Sunday is an afternoon of non-stop consumption. Trying to break out of that habit is awfully difficult... Besides, Sunday lunches are more, well thy are bigger, more calories... take today, there was pork ribs and baked chicken and callaloo and veggies!

But the munching was under control, so while the number is high, it is less than consumption. I am happy to day that the number today was a more than respectable 1690

The Hardest day.... the Count, Day 4

2010-09-04T20:26:00.000-04:00

So, the greatest, by far the greatest challenge I have in controlling my eating is the weekend. It's like because I have nothing to do, I compensate by stuffing food and alcohol (well, not that much alcohol, that is more Friday).

So, today and tomorrow will be the hardest days. Today was pretty good. Actually, very good. I am happy *happy dance*

the count today, 1478, the closest I have been to the goal of 1500 since I started this counting thing