Change Your Attitude [Song]

 Uploaded by Trinitubeboi
CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE
By Ras Shorty I
Album: Jamoo Victory, 1999

What is wrong with this world we live in today? I say,
So much people going astray on the broad way
Idleness and pleasure seeking having sway on the minds today
As though people forget to pray.
I see children being left alone without parental direction
After school, alone at home in front the television
If Sesame Street is the example they must follow,
Is a Froggy baby mentality go rule us tomorrow.

You see when you train a child how to go
When they get old, they ent moving so
When the tree young and you bend it wrong
It's hard to straighten when it old and strong.

Listen to me, change your attitude. Turn your whole life around
Come, change your attitude. The best time to start is when you are young
I say, change your attitude. Don't wait 'til you sick in the hospital
To change your attitude. Stop being carnal and be spiritual.

People walking around in a mental haze and they love to laze
And wouldn't even lift up their voice in praise
If we don't take heed and mend our ways
One of these days, we go set this entire world ablaze
I see in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South
International commesse, is rumours of wars and wars all about
And this is the example our children will follow
The school yards will be the battle fields of tomorrow.

You see when you train a child how to go
When they get old, they ent moving so
When the tree young and you bend it wrong
It's hard to straighten when it old and strong.

Listen to me, change your attitude. Do right with all your might
Come, come, change your attitude. And all your tomorrows going to be bright
Ey, ey, change your attitude. Cast your bread on the water, come sun or rain
Change your attitude. What goes around comes around again.

When I look at this modern society,
I see so much conflict and misery
Scientifically we progress rapidly but add some charity
We buried deeply under beast-like mentality
I see fulfillment of prophecy which holy men prophesied
Women walking casually today with their bottoms outside.
And this is the example our children will follow
I hope you doh bawl when your daughter walk naked tomorrow.

You see, when you train a child how to go
When they get old, they ent moving so
When the tree young and you bend it wrong
It's hard to straighten when it old and strong.

Listen to me, change your attitude. Don't wait for nobody, is you must start
Come, come, change your attitude. You can ask the Lord for a brand new heart
I say to change your attitude. I was a disciple of Lucifer
Thank God, I change my attitude. Now I serving Jesus, the Saviour.

What is wrong with man from ever of old, the scriptures unfold
He accepted brass for gold and destroyed his soul
With an evil imagination out of control,
This misguided soul is spreading violence throughout the world
I see children sexually abused by close relatives
Husbands leaving their wives battered and bruised
We modern yet so primitive.
And this is the example our children will follow
Oh Lord, what kind of world will we have tomorrow?

You see, when you train a child how to go
When they get old, they ent moving so
When the tree young and you bend it wrong
It's hard to straighten when it old and strong.

Listen to me, change your attitude. Remember, you are from the human race
Ey, change your attitude. In a rat race, man ent have no place
Come, come, change your attitude. In the image and likeness of God you are
So, change your attitude. You should be showing God-like behaviour.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!

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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Ras Shorty I and The Love Circle! I have nothing to add but my gratitude.

First posted: Jan 31, 2012

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

"The epicentres of such problems lies in me..."

"Nobody dared to announce the end of colonialism for fear that it would spring up all over the place like a jack-in-the-box whose lid doesn’t shut properly. In fact, from the moment when the collapse of colonial power revealed the colonialism inherent in all power over men, the problems of race and colour became about as important as crossword puzzles. What effect did the clowns of the left have as they trotted about on their anti-racialist and anti-anti-semitic hobbyhorses? In the last analysis, that of smothering the cries of tormented Jews and negroes which were uttered by all those who were not Jews or negroes, starting with the Jews and negroes themselves. Of course, I would not dream of questioning the spirit of generosity which has inspired recent anti-racialism. But I lose interest in the past as soon as I can no longer affect it. I am speaking here and now, and nobody can persuade me, in the name of Alabama or South Africa and their spectacular exploitation, to forget that the epicentres of such problems lies in me and in each being who is humiliated and scorned by every aspect of our own society.

I shall not renounce my share of violence.

Human relationships can hardly be discussed in terms of more or less tolerable conditions, more or less admissible indignities. Qualification is irrelevant. Do insults like ‘wog’ or ‘nigger’ hurt more than a word of command? When he is summoned, told off, or ordered around by a policeman, a boss, an authority, who doesn’t feel deep down, in moments of lucidity, that he is a darkie and a gook?

The old colonials provided us with a perfect identi-kit portrait of power when they predicted the descent into bestiality and wretchedness of those who found their presence undesirable. Law and order come first, says the guard to the prisoner. Yesterday’s anti-colonialists are trying to humanize the generalized colonialism of power. They become it’s watchdogs in the cleverest way: by barking at all the after-effects of past inhumanity.

pg. 16

Before he tried to get himself made President of Martinique, Aimé Césaire made a famous remark: “The bourgeoisie has found itself unable to solve the major problems which its own existence has produced: the colonial problem and the problem of the proletariat.” He forgot to add: “For they are one and the same problem, a problem which anyone who separates them will fail to understand.”

SOURCE: The Revolution of Everyday Life, By Raoul Vaneigem, 1963–1965, Chapter 2 Humiliation.

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A Note From The Gull

They say that exchange is no robbery so at some point we have to acknowledge that much of what we complain about is part and parcel of the deals we have chosen to pursue, accept, close, renew. We continue to make these choices every day. These include making accommodations with the very Devil that we like to think we are opposing. Some of us are at least honest enough to admit that we've actually grown to love the old rascal.

We live for decades in abusive personal, societal, political, international relationships in exchange for something. So if we are honest, those of us who aren't children or are in some way incapacitated, cannot continue to describe ourselves as victims.  

Some of us steal brazenly from our nation's patrimony in exchange for something. Some of us remain addicted to alcohol and drugs for decades in exchange for something. Some of us are still assiduously applying the hair straighteners and hair extensions, fake or natural, and slathering bleaching products on the skin in exchange for something. Some of us remain supporters of destructive world views, political parties, gangs and enterprises in exchange for something.

What is the breaking point? When we die? When we experience an epiphany and realise that the something for which we've been trading our dignity, health and safety is actually not worth the sacrifice? Or does it occur more often that a breaking point is not really what it seems but just a swapping of the old devil for a devil with a fresher face/ideology/hype who takes us under its wing with the heady confetti of hashtags and fist bumps of solidarity and exhorts us: Let's DO this!

Do what exactly? The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge?

"Raising $80 million since its inception July 29, 2014, the ice-bucket challenge is defining a new YouTube era. But it is frigid in its effect on a fatal disease where the medical model fails miserably and where the ALS foundation admits only 27% of donations will go toward research (using this failed medical model). There is a growing backlash against the ice-bucket campaign stemming from mistrust of charities in general. Many angry videos being posted cite the bloated salary of the CEO, research using animals and embryonic stem cells, cyber thieves duping donors, and even the waste of good water when there are water shortages in several countries." Read more...

The pace is hectic. One tremor is hardly over before another is being thrown on the barbie for our consumption. Before we've removed the colours of some country's flag off our Facebook cover photos, we're onto Twitter hashtag "I am -------- [Insert name of poster victim du jour]."

Many of us who are in between rocks or who have never been shown any rock to which we can cling, are unaware that we are becoming frenetically modified organisms, dizzied, bazodee, groomed to be energetic tools and fodder for some larger agenda but enervated for ourselves and each other.

When we are lost, where are our rocks?

I have heard others referring to the homeland as the rock to emphasise its smallness and vulnerability, but even though its beaches are littered with the Trojan Horses of numerous interventions and betrayals, I cannot seem to shake the conviction that this rock remains something upon which a beacon can be built, a rock to which drowning men have and may continue to cling. There is something instructive in the blind faith of the leatherback sea turtles as they turn and turn and turn towards their nesting grounds. Whether or not we choose to be undeserving of the privilege of their arrival, the fact remains that they continue to bless us and the rock with their presence.

Where are the rocks that our elders once were? Why can't abused daughters gather up their children and run with confidence to the protection of their families and friends? Where can our men turn for the sort of support and guidance that they can relate to and respect? Where are the churches which are supposed to represent the strongest rock of all? Why are we agreeing to continue tilting at artifacts? We cannot blame anyone else. We dare not shame anyone else. We have no excuse. I have no excuse.

Both the revolution and the kingdom of God - and some will argue that they are one and the same - were always within us and we are the ones who make the choice to betray even that in exchange for something.

Meanwhile, little Bhutan is quietly and solidly on its way to becoming 100 percent organic. It is a wise and courageous choice that they have made for their people and for a planet that can benefit from the knowledge that they are gaining along the way. I wish them every success and strongest protection.

This world could be Eden again and we can each begin, without any fanfare, in our own backyards.

Uploaded by solmanmusic
EDEN AGAIN
By Solman

The sun is shining and there's light in the sky
The breeze is breathing and the earth is alive
And all around me there is life to be felt
This could be Eden again.

And in -------- rivers still flow
On sunlit branches there are fruits hanging low
And still I know that life is doing its best
This could be Eden again.

This could be Eden again, oh, Eden again
A living garden and a paradise for men
I'm singing, Eden again, oh, Eden again
And then when we know that we could
We''ll make this Eden again.

The earth is singing as she's dancing along
Some try to stop her but she still dances on
I looked upon this and I think to myself
This could be Eden again.

This could be Eden again, oh, Eden again
A living garden and a paradise for men
I'm singing, Eden again, oh, Eden again
And then when we know that we could
We''ll make this Eden again.

This could be Eden again, oh, Eden again
A living garden and a paradise for men
I'm singing, Eden again, oh, Eden again
And then when we know that we could
We''ll make this Eden again
Let's make this Eden again.

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

All for You [Song]

Uploaded by Choy Felix
ALL FOR YOU
By Singing Sandra

I will lift mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.

--Psalms 121:1

For forty years I worked in the field
Forty years toiled and -------
Rejoiced when I prevailed, cried when I failed
Yet have I never altered my course, no, no, no, no
I stood for truth to safeguard them youth
From falling shells, yeah, and evil thoughts on which they dwell
I sang for love to rise above colour, creed and race
To make my land a better place
For a fleeting moment, my existence was in doubt, woy
The love of God and you that pull me out, you took me out
Now, with every ounce of me I rededicate entirely
My heart, my love, my soul and so I spout from my mouth:

All for You, here I am, tried and true is the lamb
Though beaten down, left on the ground, scarred, yet still I stand
Stand as a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend
Purged here on this altar, recommit to You again
But still in ------- minds of many, my sacrifice ent worth a penny
No, but I'll take the higher road, I not carrying that load
I champion the cause of the poor and voiceless
Rebuke the wicked and reckless
For they will reap what they have sowed, I not carrying that load. No!

For forty years my notes will reveal
Forty years amidst the dust and the din
Pounding on closed doors or accepting applause
Where some kind hearts have smiled and let me in
Been privileged to be groomed in the Best Village
To discern right from wrong, woy, planted on spiritual ground
Been taught from birth to know my worth
Burned as an effigy, better to die with dignity
I cried from the ghetto when I thought my soul would bow, Lord
Then I head a voice say, "Sandra, not now, no girl, not now.
Your faith is not ------- , you just needed an overhaul
Girl, embrace your journey, go, high and low, let them know."

All for You, here I am, tried and true is the lamb
Though beaten down, stomped on the ground, scarred, yet still I stand
As a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend
Purged here on this altar to recommit to You again
But still in the minds and -------- of many, my sacrilege ent worth a penny
No, but I'll take the higher road, I not carrying that road
I champion the cause of the weak and helpless
Rebuke the wicked and heartless
But they will reap what they have sowed, I not carrying that load. No, no, no!

For forty years, You set free my soul
Forty years and every season, a word
From simple folks up to kingpin who always gave me something
Saying, "Silence is not for you, you must be heard."
Lord, men agitate to shake my faith
Questioning the things that I do, Lord, and forcing me to question You
So much I share, now my cupboards bare
Wondering should I stop and who is there to fill me up
Then a voice in a vision shouted, "My child, you're not alone.
Guided footsteps brought you in this zone, in this zone
Many still making requests but you will have your time to rest
More than just a season, more than a play." so I say:

All for You, here I am, tried and true is the lamb
Though beaten down, stomped on the ground, scarred, yet still I stand
As a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend
Purged here on this altar to recommit to You again
But still in ------- minds of many, my sacrifice ent worth one penny
No, but I'll take the higher road, I not carrying that load
I champion the cause of the poor and voiceless
Rebuke the wicked and reckless
For they will reap what they have sowed, I not carrying that load. No!

For forty years, this stage was my home
Forty years filled with the ups and the downs
But a wise man once told me that through life's journey
Not be consumed by paper crowns. Why?
With voices raised they'll sing you praise
But I give to Him what is due 'cause none of it belongs to you
Deflect the fame, exalt His name
We are not the root, just a branch, a twig - a mere substitute
So I take no glory 'cause this vessel is just by chance
Is He who placed my rhythm and said, "Dance, Sandra, dance!"
This I've learned from lying low when there is no lower place to go
And all that's really left to give from me is humility.

All for You, here I am, tried and true is the lamb
Though beaten down, stomped on the ground, scarred, yet still I stand
As a mother, a mentor, a sister and a friend
Purged here on this altar I recommit to You again
But still in ------- minds of many, my sacrifice ent worth one penny
No, but I'll take the higher road, I not carrying that load
I champion the cause of the poor and voiceless
Rebuke the wicked and heartless
But they will reap what they have sowed, I not carrying that load. No!

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
 

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Singing Sandra.  For me this rededication is the companion song to Ancient Rhythms where Singing Sandra acknowledged and honoured the ancestors and their continuing positive presence in her life and work. With this she comes full circle to pay homage to the One who hovers over all that was and is and ever shall be and more specifically, the One who gifted her with rhythm:

"So I take no glory 'cause this vessel is just by chance

Is He who placed my rhythm and said, "Dance, Sandra, dance!"

The tone in this song is more solemn and heavy and reflects the weight of the trials which the singer has survived and the revelations which she has received. There is no denying the strength and quiet conviction that I have come to associate with Singing Sandra. Although I have assumed that the You to whom she is promising her all is the God who heals and who some Christians address as Yahweh Rapha, it is very possible that Singing Sandra is also including the public with which she has always shared her best.  

"Purged here on this altar, I recommit to You again."

Ase!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Sign of Contradiction and the New World Order - Michael O'Brien

Sign of Contradiction and the new world order.
By Michael D. O’Brien

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: “This child is destined to be the downfall and the rising of many in Israel, a sign that will be rejected—and you yourself shall be pierced by a sword, so that the hearts of many may be laid bare.” (Luke 2: 34-35)

Raised on older translations of sacred Scripture, I have heard the phrase “sign of contradiction” throughout my life, and know that it expresses dimensions which in newer translations are rendered alternatively as “a sign that will be rejected” and “a sign that will be contradicted.” Regardless of the translation, the intention of this passage is clear: Jesus will be a stumbling block, he will be a sign, he will be rejected. And Mary, participating intimately in his mission of redemption, will likewise suffer.

As children of Jesus and Mary, we too will experience “contradiction” and “rejection” as a part of our own missions in life. Every baptized Christian is a sign that refutes the limited rationalizing of human thoughts, strategies, and agendas, and which, moreover, confounds the designs and the malice of Satan. And every Christian will suffer in doing so. That is, if we live fully the life of Christ.

I have often pondered this mystery in relation to the role of Christian culture, and in Literature specifically. Story-telling derives from a human faculty that is found in all societies, ranging from the most primitive to the most sophisticated. It can take the form of a hunting tale told by stone-age men beside the fire where they are cooking the food they have stalked and killed. It can take the form of a play in a marble amphitheater beside the roaring waves of the Aegean Sea, as choruses and audiences chant the epic tales of Homer. It can take the form of a child’s poem inscribed on a leaf in Japan, or a monumental novel mentally “written” in a Siberian prison. And in a sense it can take the form of film, if content and style are integrated, true, and beautiful. It can take a multitude of forms, yet all of them arise from the natural law instinct within us, a profound sense that there is a story to be told, and that we are part of a larger Great Story.

Reduced to its most simple dimensions, story-telling universally communicates the following in some form or other:

* Life is beautiful and mysterious—and fraught with perils.
* Man is a mystery to himself, yet he may come to know himself, in part, through reflection on the meaning of his personal experiences, in overcoming peril, and by searching for truth.
* Each man’s personal story, which is universal because of the universality of human nature, is particular in character. Each soul emerges in this world within the context of a specific time, place, and culture.
* The highest form of literature reveals that each man’s story is every man’s story.

The novels of Solzhenitsyn come to mind, their politics embedded in the metaphors of cancer or the circles of hell. I think also of Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. By embodying the greatness and weaknesses of a people in their fictional characters, novels like these can speak of identity in a way that is (potentially) more profound, indeed more illuminating, than geopolitical and historical analysis per se. More than that, they reveal us to ourselves, helping us to better understand our personal dramas embodied in those of another. That man unjustly imprisoned is myself. That child cut to pieces in the womb is myself. That woman erased from the existential spectrum by a bomb dropped on her by my government is myself. All those myriad reductions of the human person to the level of disposable objects, are myself, my mother, my father, my child.

For these and other reasons, an artist (in any of the arts) should always be stringent in the self-examination of his motives, steeped in humility, and consecrated in the truth. He must never allow himself to become a servant of political or social-revolutionary ideologies, however benevolent they may appear to be, or however least of evils they may appear to be. The artist who sees himself as a hero or a prophet, or a priest of the socio-political forces to which he is loyal, which he believes are the historical necessities of his times, too easily becomes a puppet. He has no external measure with which to assess reality. Whether he submits to the forces or quarrels with them in part or whole even as he remains united to them, he has tacitly admitted that they take precedence over moral absolutes. Thus, morally neutralized, he allows his public persona to replace his true self, and then without knowing it he submits his gifts to the demons of his era. He loses his place in the continuity of time. He becomes dependent on social affirmation and the drug of exalted feelings common to all revolutionaries. He destroys even as he thinks he creates.

It is not customary for us to think of the reigning ethos in culture as political or social-revolutionary, for the widespread false assumption is that materialism (its foremost icons being the media and entertainment industry) is not ideologically motivated, is morally neutral, and is therefore outside those categories. This is a misreading of the very nature of materialism. By reducing it to consumerism alone, we forget that materialism is not only an abstract theory about the shape of reality, it is a perceptual consciousness that influences how we assess situations and respond to them. Thus, materialism is inherently political and, in its own perverse way, “religious,” for it seeks to present to mankind a coherent vision of the meaning and purpose of life. That it fails miserably in this regard, at enormous cost in terms of human suffering and death, yet continues to grow and devour much of the Western world, should alert us to a subtler dimension at work in this historical process.

Democracy is undone by the same vice that rules oligarchy. But because democracy has embraced anarchy, the damage is more general and far worse, and its subjugation more complete. . . . The truth is, excess in one direction tends to provoke excess in the contrary direction. — Plato, The Republic

Plato is here referring to states in which an excess of freedoms severed from responsibility have degenerated into open anarchy, which in turn precipitates tyranny. But what about a “republic” in which moral anarchy reigns in a matrix of prosperity, order, and apparent civic freedom? Can democracy be undone spiritually without a shot being fired within its frontiers? Indeed it can; indeed it is happening. Yet the psychology of perception, our own unrecognized consciousness-shift from the moral cosmos to the materialist cosmos now surrounding us, tells us that our situation is basically stable. We admit there are problems, even serious problems, but we feel confident that our freedom is intact, and that all grave threats come from exterior sources. This condition is more ominous than that of a people manipulated by an imposed overt tyranny with its propaganda machines and scary enforcers, its “citizens” rewarded for compliance by token relief from chronic deprivation plus a temporary reduction of fear. In his essay, “The Art of Not Yielding to Despair,” Josef Pieper warns that in contrast to overt tyrannies such as these, our condition is potentially far worse and nearly impossible to throw off, because it can always be argued that it is not, in fact, what it is.

Ours is a self-blinded condition, a willing cooperation with the very thing that is killing us—a slow and complex process that involves many pleasures of bodily and emotional appetite and the more dangerous pleasures of intellectual and spiritual pride. Our eyes do not penetrate beneath the surface appearance of the process, do not see the elaborate unfolding of sinful dynamics in which horror and pleasure are combined, as if in a diabolic ritual. We can only sense its presence from time to time. Then, to placate our self doubts, we make our minor protests, we state our positions in the apparently neutral public agora, and are suitably ignored—or worse, are absorbed into the liturgy of hell that depends for its success on all kinds of human instruments, good and ill.

Which brings to mind something C. S. Lewis wrote in his preface to The Screwtape Letters:

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see the final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice."

Who are these people? Did we elect them? In all probability we did, and we did so because they understood human nature sufficiently to offer us many apparent “goods” in a package-deal containing the great evils that are an essential part of their agenda. The very quality of our cooperation with the terms of the deal should tell us something about ourselves: we have come to accept as normal a complicity, albeit reluctant, with the most hideous crimes and endless self-justifications fostered by our governments, which have become aggressively materialistic in political philosophy (where there is any conscious philosophy at all). Our compliance is not enforced by starvation or the threat of torture chambers, but is rooted deep in the psyche, neo-Pavlovian and passive, for there are few things that condition human judgment as powerfully as security and dread, pleasure and the fear of pain, real or imagined.

During the 20th century, several nations experienced the crucifixion of their own peoples and churches at the hands of aggressive ideological materialism. In the 21st century it has mutated into a new form of “soft” totalitarian materialism that is promulgated and enforced not through jackboots or concentration camps, but through cultural and economic pressures of unprecedented power. For example, consider the ongoing struggle of the remaining Catholic nations to maintain their moral independence in the face of the European Union’s attempt to create a continental governance without reference to the Christian roots of Europe, and without regard for the moral principles of its subject peoples. The United Nations Organization strives to do the same on a global scale. If the new world order ideologues have their way, they would open the path for the destruction of many nations, dissolving and sweeping aside distinct identities, with the result of narrowing the spectrum of human freedom and responsibility, including the interior life necessary for knowing and serving God.

On March 24, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI addressed parliamentarians and bishops gathered in Rome to discuss the role of “values” in the emerging Europe. He stated that the “apostasy” of Europe from its Christian identity is the source of the continent’s current crises, and underlined that politicians must, for the true good of their own peoples and for the future of democracy, avoid the seductions of false “lesser evil” arguments.

This ends in the spread of the conviction that the “weighing of benefits” is the only method of moral discernment, and that the common good is synonymous with compromise. In reality, if compromise can constitute a legitimate balancing of different particular interests, it becomes a shared ill whenever it involves agreements that are harmful to the nature of man.

A community that constructs itself without respect for the authentic dignity of the human person, forgetting that every person is created in the image of God, ends up by not being good for anyone.
This is why it appears increasingly more indispensable that Europe should guard itself against that pragmatic attitude, widespread today, which systematically justifies compromise on essential human values, as if the acceptance of a presumably lesser evil were inevitable. Such pragmatism, which is presented as balanced and realistic, is not that way deep down, precisely because it denies the dimension of values and ideas that is inherent in human nature.

If the warning of the Mother of God at Fatima is understood in its broader sense, (“Russia will spread her errors throughout the world and many nations will cease to exist.”), what is now occurring globally is a new wave of the original forces that launched the tide of the French Revolution, followed by successive revolutions that increasingly secularized the human community. Then came the great waves of the Communist revolution, Fascism, and so forth, wave after wave that reshaped human societies and institutions—indeed the very perceptions of life itself. We are presently in the midst of the worst and most dangerous wave of all, the tsunami of worldwide Materialism.

A tsunami out in mid-ocean is barely noticeable, just a swell on the surface that seems harmless, hardly rocking the boat. But when the wave meets the shore it reveals its nature and the horrendous damage begins. That is why Catholic peoples, if they are faithful to their identity and stand firm in their respective nations, becoming fully who and what they are, will be “signs of contradiction.” I think of Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Malta, Ireland, and others—few in number but not lacking in courage. God-willing, such signs will stick in the throat of the Beast and inhibit, perhaps even stop, its plans to devour mankind. Given enough time and perseverance, they may even succeed in turning the European Union back toward the original vision of its founders, which was Christian in its principles and was intended for the building of a community of nations, not the creation of a godless European super-state.

Resistance will cost much in terms of sacrifice, for it asks men of good will and good conscience to stand firm in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. As Pope Benedict said in his concluding remarks on March 24:

… be present in an active way in the public debate on the European level, aware that this is now an integral part of the national debate, and accompany this effort with effective cultural action. Do not bow to the logic of power as an end in itself! May you draw constant motivation and support from the admonition of Christ: if salt loses its flavor, it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

The manifestations of the struggle vary from continent to continent, but are the same in essence: mankind is presently involved in a worldwide war against the eternal value of the human person. We cannot retreat from these conflicts, cannot abandon the field to the opposition. Neither should we presume that we can preserve a little space for morality by making a “separate peace” with evil. In this regard, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings has much to teach us about governments, wars, and the personalities that shape our future: The passages where Saruman, a political realist, makes his compelling arguments for submission to the Dark Lord are significant, his brilliant malice obvious enough. But we should also keep in mind brave Boromir, a benevolent and idealistic political realist, who was a hair away from handing the whole world over to the Dark Lord without realizing he was doing so. And he would have done so, had not a small and humble person named Frodo run from Boromir’s ever-so-reasonable arguments. In his flight from deception, Frodo did not abandon his mission but rather preserved its integrity and in the end, against all odds, brought it to fulfillment. Fiction, myth, fantasy? Yes, in a sense, but ultimately more real than much of what we consume through the information media.

How easily we grasp at reductionist “realist” solutions. How swiftly we fall into fractures between the interior and exterior life, forgetting (or never having learned) that individuals and nations alike cannot long sustain two contradictory modes of interaction with the world: for example, one set of rules about human life for domestic policy, and a different set of rules for foreign policy. The interior and the exterior should be one, as well as positive and morally true, otherwise disintegration follows. Power and wealth may extend for a time a false equilibrium, but it cannot last. Moreover, its latter condition will be worse than its former.

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127)

What, really, is the psychological cosmos in which we now live? The larger architecture seems visible enough: the declining demographics of the West, the rise of China as an economic and military threat, the apparent instability of Islamic nations and subsequent Pax Americana, fear of terrorists ever-present like a gas in the atmosphere within the borders of our homelands, while our deepest terrors are anesthetized by the “soma” drug of consumerism. And all about us we are offered false either/or solutions. For example, look carefully at the candidate “choices” in the politics of democratic Western nations and you will find utilitarianism at every turn—camouflaged by idealist or patriotic or humanitarian or “liberal”-versus-“conservative” rhetoric, as well as its most odious offshoot, religious utilitarianism.

For the sake of illustration, imagine this scenario: You are presented with a choice. Threatened by a foreign leader with a Koran in one hand and in his other a nuclear weapon, you can choose to elect as your own national leader a figure with a Bible in one hand and in his other a nuclear weapon. Which of the two would you want to determine the future of the world? Oh, and as a supplementary detail, both of them are willing to drop the bomb on the other.

Recoiling in horror, you might then turn to an alternative set of candidates, thinking you must now elect a leader who, like you, abhors nuclear weapons. He may or may not have a Bible in one hand, but it is more likely he will have The Humanist Manifesto (a sacred text of Materialism) in one hand and a suction tube in the other.

Are these our only choices? If so, this is no choice at all. It is a piece of deadly theater.

Is there no third way? Why is so much public discussion about the current world situation lacking in creative imagination? Why is there so little serious examination of alternative paths through the maze of our current troubles? Has the entire world become gripped in a fierce lock-step fatalism that masquerades as realism? Has virtually everyone in governments lost faith in anything other than raw power and the instruments of death?

In his encyclical The Splendor of Truth, John Paul II wrote that “the morality of acts is defined by the relationship of man’s freedom with authentic good. This good is established, as the eternal law, by Divine Wisdom, which orders every being toward its end … Acting is morally good when the choices of freedom are in conformity with man’s true good…” (Veritatis Splendor, n.72, see also 71-83). Quoting Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, he goes on to warn that “while it is true that sometimes a lesser moral evil may be tolerated in order to avoid a greater evil, it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it (cf Romans 3:8)—in other words, to intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral order…” (VS, n.80).

Webster’s dictionary and the Oxford University dictionary provide excellent definitions of the term utilitarianism. Strictly speaking, it proposes that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome—in other words, the end justifies the means; one may do evil in order to bring about a perceived good. In a broader sense, utilitarianism can be defined as a philosophy (and I include here conscious and subconscious philosophies) that reduces the eternal value of the human person to a utility. He is a number; he is a mechanism; he is a component in an agenda. He is as valuable as what he can produce or to the degree that he can be used for production. He is disposable to the degree that his life impedes or has ceased to be useful for a perceived end, usually described as the “common good.”

Let us pause a moment here and recall two sayings about this very attitude:

“It is better that one man should die than the entire nation be destroyed.” (Caiaphas)

“The fruit of abortion is nuclear war.” (Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

Caiaphas is a master strategist, the arbiter of “lesser evils” for the sake of an apparent national religious good. In sharp contrast, Mother Teresa points to the real configuration of the world: individuals and nations cannot do evil without consequences; even the most “private” or personal acts affect the human community; internal moral evils will express themselves eventually in external moral evils, because the moral order has been broken at the foundational level; “lesser evils” on the national and international scale can unleash evils of catastrophic proportions.

When pondering the proliferating “isms” of our era, it is easy to get lost in the terminology. But for the sake of simplicity, it may be helpful to consider the two distinct moral philosophies of Materialism and Utilitarianism as alternate faces of the same phenomenon. Or put another way, they are incestuously united, producing in turn one deformed offspring after another. Put still another way, we could see practical utilitarianism as the working arm of theoretical Materialism; and by extension, religious utilitarianism as the working arm of religious materialism.

Religious materialism? How is that possible? Indeed, it is not only possible, it is abundantly evident all around us, and is manifest no more obviously than in nations that profess themselves to be religious while pursuing policies that wage aggressive war—militarily, economically, demographically, and culturally—racking up vast numbers of innocent victims while they invoke the national deities. Pious rhetoric notwithstanding, we should look at what they do. Utilitarians in practice (though not always in their lip-service) deny the truth that each and every person is a good in himself, of equal and eternal value. Utilitarians do not consider that “common goods” purchased by the destruction or exploitation of human life are not good. In fact, the evils they bring about are more insidious and corruptive when masquerading as virtue. Listen to their words, if you must, but observe more carefully their actions.

Such philosophy is possible only in minds that have succumbed to moral compartmentalization. Their fractures in perception and thinking lead to evil acts justified as “necessary evils” or “lesser evils” for the preservation of the apparent good. Some utilitarians reject even these categories, for they cannot conceive of their actions as “evil” in any way whatsoever. Thus, the abstraction of catastrophe—countless unique human lives are eradicated violently in the name of the “good”, and reduced to statistics. Domestic collateral damage and foreign collateral damage, all tabulated, interpreted, and presented to us as data, which supposedly we are to sagely weigh in a state of dissociation. That is the rhetoric of hell.

There is a deeper problem with all this, namely, that once utilitarianism, in theory, is defined and exposed, every Catholic would say, “Oh, yes, that’s evil.” Yet, all too often there is a disconnect between theory and practice, as if we feel that such evils are regrettable but unavoidable; and that it is impossible for us personally to bridge the great chasm between what we conceive as a Christian “ideal” and practical reality, what we feel are our sad but necessary compromises with evil. To the degree that we think this way, that is the measure of how badly we have become infected by utilitarianism. The objective reality here is that other human beings, who are as beloved by God as we are, will pay for our disconnect with their suffering and/or their deaths. We will continue to vote for the utilitarian who seems less evil to us or who offers us an apparent good, such as security or economic stability (which we have, consciously or subconsciously, decided is a higher good than the sacredness of human life). A problem deeper still is the inability to even see the disjunct. What is the cause of this? Is it utilitarianism alone, even the worst kind, religious, or is there something else that needs pondering here?

Perhaps it bears considering that the most terrifying form of utilitarianism might be the kind that is not only religious, but is spiritual as well. To become a “spiritual utilitarian” would mean that one enters a deeper realm of evil, where other souls are manipulated, exploited, and discarded for a spiritual end—in other words a Satanic level of evil. It is beyond the scope of this article to examine that dimension, but it begs a question: What prevents religious utilitarianism from becoming spiritual utilitarianism?

What, precisely, is the security wall that keeps us from slipping that far down? Is it our sense that we are the good guys? Is it a medicine bag of democratic nostrums and notions, an ethos, a vague sense of right and wrong, a line drawn in the sand over which we are sure we would never cross. Where is this line? What stops us from stepping over it, or from being pushed over it by perceived historical necessities? We are more than familiar with what bad guys do, the Hitlers and Stalins and Maos and suicide bombers of diverse persuasions, and all their lesser imitators. But what about us? Where, exactly, are our outermost limits of the permissible?

“If God is dead, then everything is permissible,” says one of the characters in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. But what if a person still believes in God and goes to church, perhaps even devotedly, yet his instinctive feelings and his choices remain those of a practical materialist? For such a person, “everything” is still permissible, but it is considered an unfortunate unavoidable necessity. Thus, he will need to find a self-justifying political philosophy, without which he could not live with himself. His philosophy may be brilliantly articulated or hardly articulate at all, but in its various degrees of sophistication it will do a common thing: It will deny that moral absolutes are authoritative in every sphere of human endeavor. He may bow to those absolutes when practiced in private life, but will negotiate them away in the realm of public life. The negotiations may be argued in sublime language, the moral questions sliced to molecular thinness, the compromises justified by impressive reasoning, but the end effect will be the same. The “liberal” and “neo-liberal,” the “conservative” and “neo-conservative” alike, will enclose the moral order of the universe in a ghetto, and he will do it in the name of freedom.

What, then, is the solution? At the very least it will demand of us, each in his own vocation and sphere of influence, a consecration to Truth as the final arbiter of reality in all situations that confront us. It will necessarily lead us to abandoning artificial constructs of interaction with the world—especially those strategies that would seek a good at the cost of hiding or equivocating the truth. It will demand courage of us, especially the willingness to lose everything for the sake of truth. Moreover, it will demand that in our very being we become presences of incarnated truth, bringing Christ into the so-called “naked public square” not only in our words but with our whole lives. It must be done with love, but it must also be done firmly, clearly, and with moral authority. Mankind does not need more rhetoric. It needs living words dynamically present in the agoras of the world. It needs steadfast men, it needs witnesses, it needs martyrs.

A generation ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in an interview that the two most compelling evangelical gifts of the Church are its martyrs and its arts. The role of martyrdom in an apostate age remains what it always has been, though its forms are now many. But what can our cultural works do to resist the decline and fall of a civilization? For one thing, they can be signs of contradiction against the tyrannical character of the surrounding psychological cosmos, the anti-human, which is the overwhelming ethos of our times. For another, they can point to a coming dawn, the civilization of love that is still possible for mankind.

“We are not asked to have shining armor to overcome Goliath, but simply to know how to choose a few stones, the right ones, with the wisdom and courage of David.” (John Paul II)

Impossible in human terms, by human strengths? Yes, of course it is. But it is precisely the impossible to which we are called. The Gospels first revolutionized the world and gave us civilization because a small group of people dared to believe in the impossible. They knew that Jesus is the Master of the Impossible. His birth, death, and resurrection were the “impossible” surprise in history. And there are more surprises to come. SOURCE

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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Michael O'Brien.

"...individuals and nations cannot do evil without consequences; 

even the most “private” or personal acts affect the human community; 

internal moral evils will express themselves eventually in external moral evils, because the moral order has been broken at the foundational level; 

“lesser evils” on the national and international scale 

can unleash evils of catastrophic proportions."

--Sign of Contradiction and the new world order. By Michael D. O’Brien

 "Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Political Correctness and the Art of Overtone Singing.

Out of respect for Asami Nagakiya and her family, I had not intended to devote too much of this blog's space to the odoriferous controversy arising out of events following the murder of their loved one, but Asami, I hope that you know what is in my heart y con su permiso...

ADVISORY TO THE WISE

When the rain falls heavily over North Western Trinidad, there are often floods in Port of Spain. The weather advisory should warn that there is a danger of flooding especially if exceptionally high tides are expected to coincide with the runoff. If the Mayor of the City of Port of Spain, out of an abundance of caution and concern takes it upon himself to warn citizens that they should bring umbrellas, wear sensible shoes, stay away from open gutters, avoid the city centre if possible, postpone visiting Port of Spain if your business there is not urgent, and finally that parents relay these advisories to their children, wouldn't you say that he is doing his job?

Official advisories are meant to share information and very often serious warnings. Officials and countries release advisories all the time and not just about inclement weather, about threats to health, safety and travel. Since Asami's murder, for example, the Japanese embassy has put out a travel advisory warning its citizens to guard their safety in Trinidad and Tobago.

Are they setting themselves up for a charge of victim blaming if something unfortunate should happen to another of their nationals and if they should make the mistake of reminding media hounds that warnings were issued?

Or is it that crimes and tragedies do not happen if we remain silent about latent or active danger? Will the Zika virus be more likely to pass us by if we provide breeding grounds for Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes in our communities? If the Zika virus is an active threat that has not yet been brought under control, how can we not warn against it? And if the Zika virus should overwhelm our country and an official speaks the truth to remind us that we did not take the recommended actions, will that official be blamed, shamed and asked to resign.

Similarly, if violence in Trinidad and Tobago is systemic, and there seems to be no projected end in sight, and if women are easier targets, don't women deserve to be reminded?

The Brazilian Carnival is also a scene of violence against women. This article, for example, discusses one of the Brazilian campaigns to address the number of cases of sexual harassment and violence against women which occur more frequently in festive periods such as their Carnival. In this campaign they encourage victims and witnesses to report abuses through specialized public services. Included in their description of abuses which are to be denounced are: acts of physical or sexual violence, kissing a woman by force, detaining her by the arm and refusing to let her go, offending her by touching her body without permission and  attacking her verbally or disrespecting her when she says no.

Another article, "Assédio sexual: mulher, a culpa não é sua. | Sexual assault, the woman is not to blame." addresses the perception among 26 percent of 3810 Brazilian respondents in a study of social tolerance of violence against women, that women who wear clothes that show off the body deserve to be attacked. This is considered blaming the rape victim. Worrying also is that between 2009 and 2011, it is estimated that  there were more than 17, 000 femicides in the country. In Sao Paulo in 2014, there were 17 reported instances of women being abused on public transport. Of these, 16 were categorised as harassment offensive to modesty, and as rape. I have a feeling that the actual number of cases is probably much higher and that these incidents are shrugged off as traumatic but inevitable from what I know of similar behaviour in our country.

Back to our situation, I refrained from jumping to any conclusions about the Mayor's statements. I needed to review an original and unaltered recording of what Port of Spain's Mayor, Raymond Tim Kee actually said. I did not want to accept a conflation of discrete statements or excerpts that could have been cherry-picked to support allegations. Not having all of this evidence at hand, I could not in good conscience judge him in the court of "social media". To do so would have revealed me to be as reckless and thoughtless as he has been accused of being. The video clip which I have posted below is the only evidence which I was able to review. Suffice it to say that it did not make me see pink.

A TALE OF TWO MAYORS

Many of you must have heard about the mass assaults against merrymakers that were carried out by an estimated 1,000 young men during Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations in Germany this year. At the time when the Guardian article was published on January 6, 2016, over 100 complaints had been made to German police, two-thirds of which are linked to sexual assault, including two rapes. Although police and witnesses claimed that the assailants were of North African and Arab appearance, the Guardian noted that up to that time, neither the identity nor origin of any of these men had been established. SOURCE

"According to witnesses, the males, between 15 and 35 years old, tightly surrounded women in groups of 30 or 40, before groping them and mugging them and their partners. Many threw firecrackers into the crowds, adding to the mayhem that ensued, which later forced the police to clear the square.

Police have said the men appeared to have been coordinated, comparing their modus operandi to that of criminal gangs that have operated in strength for several years in the area and turning it into a place many Cologners avoid after dark. Known locally as antänzer (waltzers), the men snuggle up to their victims, often twisting a leg around them in an apparently playful fashion, which causes them to lose balance, whereupon the perpetrator uses the opportunity to whip a wallet or mobile phone from a pocket or bag." SOURCE

Responding to these events on the 5th of January, the Mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker spoke on live television and among other things, she advised that in future women would have to be better prepared in her city to deal with migrants. She would have thinking especially about the safety of women during Cologne's upcoming Carnival season this month and trying to prepare women for a possible repeat of the New Year's Eve attacks. She stated that “women and young girls have to be more protected in the future so these things don’t happen again." When she was asked by a journalist for specifics on how this protection could be achieved, she suggested that there was "always the possibility of keeping a certain distance of more than an arm’s length from strangers – that is to say to make sure yourself, you don’t look to be too close to people who are not known to you, and to whom you don’t have a trusting relationship.” Mayor Reker also advised women to “stick together in groups and to not get split up, even if you’re in a party mood.” SOURCE

Enlarging the protests about the initial attacks was then the outrage at her suggestions. The Mayor of Cologne was accused of blaming the victims.

Now back to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Keep in mind that the protests had already taken place in Cologne, and yes, the situation was publicised on Twitter with the inevitable hash tags. For example, #einearmlaenge - "an arm's length" become one of German's top-trending hashtags during the period. But it was now Thursday February 11 in Port of Spain and our Carnival had concluded a day before. The still costumed body of a murdered Japanese female had been discovered in the Savannah on Ash Wednesday and the city's Mayor was being asked for his comments. Judging by the ferocity of the protest which followed, if I had not listened to the recording I would have imagined that he had said, "She look fuh dat...jus' sayin'."  But he hadn't. Instead, his tragic error was in not having at hand a supply of brief and politically correct replies for such eventualities. He dawdled too much and sniffing the kerosene content in his clumsy words, a public and the media lit a match.

If you examine the articles which appeared both locally and in the international press, the conclusion was unanimous. The consensus was that the Mayor had callously blamed the victim for her murder. But knowing the situation on the ground and the culture from which I come, I could see what had prompted our Mayor's concern, something that he tried to explain after the protest and the demand for his resignation:

“I am compelled to write to the public about the statements I made about behaviour at Carnival time, and the responsibility of persons, women specifically, to safeguard themselves against the predators that come out to play in droves for the season. My statements about vulgarity were made in isolation when asked about safety, a week prior to the tragic incident with Asami Nagakiya.” SOURCE

A week prior. Was this made clear in the reports?

“When asked about Asami, like the rest of the public, I did not know the intricacies of the crime at hand. The news of her discovery was still very fresh and I was not completely prepared to discuss it in an intimate way. I could only have assumed foul play was at hand based on the nature of her discovery and the presence of bruises and wounds on her body, which is why my statement about women protecting themselves was very broad and very general. It was not about Asami’s case specifically and in retrospect, as I have said before, I regret the timing of this message.” SOURCE

As I write this, the Mayor has resigned. Was he good at his job? I haven't a clue. That inconsequential matter was never discussed publicly but I'm told by more brilliant minds that the good is oft interred. Also, I am not aware of his having ever been given the opportunity to explain himself before any impartial body. I have seen the results of one local poll where the majority of respondents felt that he should resign and our Prime Minister also sanctioned his decision. For some reason this official was considered a political write-off although I can think of at least a dozen undeniably outrageous and insulting remarks that have been made by public officials in the recent past which did not result in termination of jobs....and I am finding myself revisiting the experiences of Fazeer and Nizam Mohammed.

Back in Cologne however, the Mayor Henriette Reker is still the mayor. Like Mayor Tim Kee, she was lambasted on social media for her remarks. Like Mayor Tim Kee, she later apologised, and like Mayor Tim Kee, she said that her comments had not been reported in their full context. But the similarities end there. Her office is still hers tonight. Maybe that city understands that there is a whole lot more to be judged about a mayor's suitability than just his or her ability to rattle off at a moment's notice, flawless and politically correct statements. Maybe the culture is more about improving through dialogue what you already have in place rather than terminating dialogue and scrapping an official without allowing a second chance. 

Mayor Tim Kee could not change overnight a society created by decades of dysfunction including abdication of parental responsibility. The most he could have done as a short-term fix was to warn some of the most vulnerable ahead of a season when they do become fair game for aggressors. Ralf Jäger, North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister made an interesting comment about the marauders in Cologne. He said that "inhibition thresholds, in combination with alcohol and criminal energy from some of them, fell away." SOURCE

Inhibition thresholds fell away. No amount of political correctness can dress up dysfunction whether inculcated through nurture or brought on by mind altering substances. Even if we are not career criminals, we can still be inflamed by passions.

Would our Mayor have been open to constructive criticism after his remarks instead of the sustained condemnation that hounded him out of office? Would he have welcomed a delegation of concerned citizens approaching him with ideas about how to begin a discussion/programme about violence against women? I don't know. Was he ever asked? 

RESIGNATION STATEMENT FROM RAYMOND TIM KEE

"I wish to confirm that I have tendered my resignation to the Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Spain Corporation. When I was called to serve Trinidad and Tobago as Mayor of Port of Spain, it was not a decision that I took lightly given the great responsibility of the office to the Capital City.

"Public Officials must be held to a high standard of transparency, good governance, and accountability and I accept full responsibility for making the reference that cast a shadow on the death of Japanese National and pannist, Asami Nagakiya.

"I once again extend my sincerest condolences to her family, friends and countrymen, and wish that they be comforted by the outpouring of love which has been demonstrated by so many. Her loss is keenly felt as if she were one of our own, as over the years she has shown a deep love for the culture of this country and the national instrument in particular.

"Port of Spain is the Nation’s Capital, and the Office of Mayor has a vital role to play in establishing it as a city we can all be proud to reside in, visit for business, work or recreation. Although my time in office has been short, I have tried to lay the groundwork that will allow my successor to address some of the key challenges facing the city.

"These include the issues of street dwelling, parking, poor drainage and vending. It is my hope that my successor will continue to build relationships with all stakeholders, in spite of their diverse views, in an effort to solve these challenges.

"My patriotism and commitment to making a difference and contributing positively to my beloved country is not diminished by recent events. I express my sincere gratitude to those who trusted me to lead this city. I did my best, and I accept full responsibility for my actions and utterances. To the people of this country who feel they have been let down, I unreservedly apologize.

"As I demit office, I wish to encourage all of us as citizens and leaders to act in a manner that would best serve Trinidad and Tobago. To the residents of Port of Spain, I am indeed grateful for the opportunity to have served you.

"I especially extend my sincere appreciation to all Members of Council for their hard work and commitment to duty even under the most trying circumstances. I wish them the very best for the future and encourage them to work with greater determination to provide improved services to the benefit of all residents and citizens of our Capital City."
Raymond Tim Kee SOURCE

Finally, without a trace of facetiousness, a question keeps coming to my mind and I feel that it is an important question. Which parents tonight in Trinidad and Tobago are putting their young girl children through their paces as they train them for their Carnival debuts when they will be unleashed to expertly Bounce on it with friend or stranger, because it is their body and their choice? Which mothers exactly? Hypocrisy is king and queen in this land.

And now, I conclude by introducing you to a skill that is essential for all public figures - overtone singing, where your fundamental and selected overtones are hidden in plain hearing and may often leave your audience baffled but always pleasantly and politically correctly so.

Uploaded by Anna-Maria Hefele

See: Cologne Mayor: Women Should Be More Careful After Migrant Mass Rapes, Promises ‘Guidance’ So They Can ‘Prepare’. By Oliver JJ Lane | Breitbart | Jan 2016

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Cologne's Mayor accused of Victim blaming.

Cologne Mayor: Women Should Be More Careful After Migrant Mass Rapes, Promises ‘Guidance’ So They Can ‘Prepare’.By Oliver JJ Lane | Breitbart | Jan 201613,542

A political scandal is developing in Germany as ordinary citizens wake up to the scale of the migrant crime cover-up, and the callous reaction of the mayor of Cologne to mass-sex crime on new year’s eve.

The Mayor of Cologne has spoken out about the attacks,but her carefully chosen words are unlikely to delight many. Rather than addressing the root causes of the violence — unlimited mass migration and a totally failed system of integration — the newly elected pro-migrant mayor instead blamed the victims of the sexual abuse for having failed to defend themselves against the immigrant attackers.

Speaking on live television this afternoon mayor Henriette Reker, who was near-fatally stabbed in the run up to October elections by an anti mass migration campaigner, said in future women would have to be better prepared in her city to deal with migrants. She remarked: “The women and young girls have to be more protected in the future so these things don’t happen again.

“This means, they should go out and have fun, but they need to be better prepared, especially with the Cologne carnival coming up. For this, we will publish online guidelines that these young women can read through to prepare themselves”.

What form this guidance will take is presently unclear, the mayor could take inspiration from young victim whose modest clothes protected them from the worst consequences of walking at night in areas controlled by migrant men. The woman said: “Fortunately I wore a jacket and trousers. a skirt would probably have been torn away from me”.

Despite her words of warning towards women in the city they could prepare for more violence against them, she refuted the suggestion there was any link between the attacks and migrants, contradicting her own chief of police.

An opposition council member has today sounded the alarm bell on the deteriorating state of control the local government has over the city of Cologne, and in an official letter from the council group has warned those planning to come to the famous Cologne council next month “the city and the police… are unable to guarantee the safety of locals and tourists”.

Council group leader and lawyer Judith Wolter said in her letter to the people of Cologne today: “I want as a member of the Cologne City Council… to submit a travel warning for the carnival time in Cologne city centre.

“Especially the area in and around the central station, the cathedral and the adjoining area towards the banks of the Rhine for tourists (and locals) is no longer considered even in normal times as safe. For months, there is in these areas numerous thefts, open drug dealing, robberies and harassment of all kinds… Dozens of women were sexually harassed in public and there was at least one rape.

“Neither the city nor the police are able to guarantee in the territory described the safety of tourists and locals. Especially for women it must be assumed that a high security risk is here in the evening and night hours. At New Year’s Eve there was a legal vacuum and a no-go area for women. With the climax of the Carnival season it is unfortunately expected to be a similar situation”.

German police have admitted to losing several urban areas to migrant gangs as so-called no-go zones, but this is possibly the first time a public square in the centre of a European city has been acknowledged by officials as having been lost to criminality, and out of the control of police at night.

News of the attacks was suppressed for days, with just short reports of isolated incidents in Cologne city centre making it to local outlets on New Year’s Day.

The Kolnifsche Rundschau described the scene at the railways station as “largely peaceful” and made no effort to describe those who attacked the young women, one of which told press she had “fingers on every orifice” after she was stripped near naked.

Only after nearly 100 victims of assault and abuse came forwards to police, and stories of attacks started circulating on social media did the truth of the situation start to slowly emerge, forcing local police to hold a press conference on Monday afternoon.

Despite the chief of police admitting the enormous scale of sexual assault and confirming the attackers were of “North African and Arab” origin, much of the mainstream media is still in damage control mode, either trying to shift the focus from migrants, or avoiding the events completely.

Many have now spoken out to decry the self-censorship of the German media, and the apparent cover-up which only saw events truthfully reported after exposure on social media and the new media. Huffington Post Deutschland have published a scathing editorial criticising the police and media for their handling of events. Not just for failing to keep order in the first place, but for covering up events and even while appealing for witnesses obscuring exactly what was happening and not releasing descriptions of suspects.

The author said the fact Cologne police had so far only arrested five people in relation to the attacks — and even those only two days later — left people wondering “why precisely in places like train stations there is such enormous security camera surveillance if they obviously can’t be used to get more detailed descriptions of the perpetrators”. The reason for the cover-up, it was reasoned, is a desire by the police to preserve public order — and any sort of violent reaction to the attacks.

Breitbart London was the first news site in the English-speaking world to report on the horrific attacks that took place against German men and women on new year’s eve by a large gang of migrant Arabs and North Africans. Since that time, Breitbart has received a number of messages from eye witnesses to chaos in other German cities.

The daughter of a priest described Munich on new year’s eve as a “warzone”, with “Arab looking” “foreign young men” deliberately launching fireworks into crowds of revellers. Another woman emailed to report on girls being sexually assaulted and robbed in Stuttgart. In Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia local news media described an attacker there who assaulted two 21-year old women as “dark skin type” with a beard, but declined to say more.

In the United Kingdom, several news outlets have followed Breitbart’s coverage, including the Daily Mail which acknowledged Breitbart for breaking the story.

Most remarkable is the coverage by the state-owned BBC.

Despite the media giant even having their own offices in Cologne, their report published this afternoon sticks to the facts as published by Cologne local media days ago — and fails to mention migrants until the 18th paragraph.

In similar style, German BBC equivalent Deutsche Welle only mentioned the description of the attackers in the tenth paragraph of their reporting on Cologne published today.

Breitbart London is still waiting on comment from Cologne Police. SOURCE

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Raymond Tim Kee: An open Letter to the Public

An open letter to the public.
Posted by Mayor Raymond Tim Kee | Facebook | Saturday 13 February, 2016

I am compelled to write to the public about the statements I made about behaviour at Carnival time, and the responsibility of persons, women specifically, to safeguard themselves against the predators that come out to play in droves for the season.

My statements about vulgarity were made in isolation when asked about safety, a week prior to the tragic incident with Asami Nagakiya.

It has been my observation, in my many years of service as a police officer and other public service capacities that there are groups of people who take the opportunity during the frenzied carnival activities, to not only grope and touch women without invitation, but also to rob, steal and "settle scores" with persons who are unaware due to diminished capacity from alcohol consumption, fatigue or other reasons.

These types take very little encouragement, and I 100% acknowledge that women are harassed daily, regardless of their attire; I have daughters so I am well aware. But it is no secret that predators seem to be especially active and bold during carnival festivities.

The inference in this statement was not that women are "inviting abuse" by having a good time. On the contrary the statement was the advice I would give to any female friend or family member, which is to protect yourself at all costs against lascivious men.

Is that statement untrue? Can we deny the depths to which some members of society have gone in the attack and preying on females, especially in recent times? Can we deny how depraved they have become? How many stories do we see weekly in the media about women being raped, abducted, children being molested and abused at the hands of these very same individuals to which I referred. Is it reckless to assert that these are the unfortunate times that we live in where many men take the simplest sign of friendliness as an opportunity to approach a woman?

Is it the woman's fault for existing and smiling or looking attractive? Never. Should I have admonished the behaviour of these predators in my statement? Absolutely. And I humbly apologise for not doing so, but the problem of rapists, thieves and abusers is a bigger fight, and less about prevention via caution and more about finding a cure for the environments that spawn and nurture them.

In a speech about carnival safety the former message was easier to disseminate and I regret not also including a warning to would-be perpetrators that their actions would not be tolerated by the armed forces.

I cannot continue without insisting that the way this statement was linked to Asami's death was both reckless and vicious on the part of a particular media house, in what I can only conceive to be an attempt to drum up controversy.

I have apologised to the public for the timing of the statement on safety measures and I am more than willing to speak to any of the concerned interest groups on the topic who would like to discuss, fairly and openly, in further detail.

If nothing else, this should be seen as an opportunity to discuss these very same gender issues that continue to plague the country and start a conversation on how we can curb the behaviour of the negative elements in society, starting from the bottom and moving upwards.

I have seen the narrative switch from one of understandable outrage to unadulterated personal bashing. My daughters and wife have been brought up in conversations, with one group even going so far to bring up an irrelevant instance of my daughter's dancing when she was a pre-teen, while participating in her dance school's carnival celebrations.

Is that what we have had to sink to? Is it necessary to try to degrade a person's family members who are wholly unconnected to the issue at hand? Is it fair on one hand to protest injustices to women while wildly and wantonly performing the very same "shaming" and abuse that you have accused me of? I think if you dig deep you will see that it is completely unacceptable and unfair.

When asked about Asami, like the rest of the public, I did not know the intricacies of the crime at hand. The news of her discovery was still very fresh and I was not completely prepared to discuss it in an intimate way. I could only have assumed foul play was at hand based on the nature of her discovery and the presence of bruises and wounds on her body, which is why my statement about women protecting themselves was very broad and very general. It was not about Asami's case specifically and in retrospect, as I have said before, I regret the timing of this message.

When we talk about Asami's death today, it has been overshadowed by the controversy of my statements which is regretful.

Let us focus on moving forward, having open discussions and finding a solution to the problems that we face. Let us expend our energies towards solving Asami's murder, as well as the multitude of crimes that continue to plague the country today. Let us continue to offer our condolences to her family and give her the tributes, as a purveyor of our culture, that she deserves.

I have seen the protests. I have received the messages. I understand the issues at hand and would like to find a solution.

When I became Mayor of Port of Spain, it is because I had a vision to take the city forward, to continue and improve on the work of the persons before me. I still have more work to do this year and I am not willing to give up. I have always had an open door policy and am always open to dialogue. What I am not open to is crucifixion without mutual respect and understanding and hope to move forward. SOURCE

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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Mayor Raymond Tim Kee for taking this opportunity to provide a more detailed explanation following your apology.

I have been reading the local and foreign commentary and the only conclusion which I can share at this point is that without an original, unaltered recording of your comments, there is no way for an objective observer to be certain that the the reports circulating have faithfully adhered to timelines and the positioning of excerpts.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Asami

Artist paints Asami full of life, colour. Look past negativity of slain Japanese pannist...

By Camille Hunte | Trinidad Express Newspapers | Feb 13, 2016.

Focus on the beauty, not the negativity. This is the message 25-year-old artist Timothy Boo­tan wants to send through his latest pain­ting dedicated to Japanese pannist Asami Nagakiya.

Nagakiya's body was found beneath a tree at the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on Wednesday morning. Autop­sy results revealed the 30-year-old had been strangled.

She was a member of the PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars Steel Orchestra and has been described as an avid lover of Tri­nidad and Tobago and its culture, who regularly participated in Pan­orama and Carnival.

Bootan believes focus should be on her life, talent and contributions to T&T culture rather than on the “unfortunate” comments made by Port of Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee.

It was this belief that prompted him to create a portrait in her honour, complete with a hibiscus in her hair.

“I did the painting because I really want people to forget about that and look past that and not associate her with it,” Bootan told the Sunday Express.

“I saw how much she loved our culture and Trinidad and Tobago. I wanted to do something to honour her and encourage the rest of the country to appreciate who she was.”

The self-taught artist posted the portrait to his Facebook page, “U Inspire Me”, where he regularly posts portraits of persons, along with their inspirational messages.

He said while he ne­ver had the opportunity to meet and interview Asami, from all accounts, she was a good, kind person who embraced a foreign culture and was indeed an inspiration.

“Even though I was never able to interview Asami Nagakiya, I was able to speak to those who knew her. They told me Asami lit up the room wherever she was; her wonderful spirit and loving personality inspi­red many who knew her to be as kind and caring as she was, and to put their heart and soul into achieving their dreams, just as she did with hers,” he wrote.

Bootan told the Sunday Express he hopes peo­ple will celebrate who Asami was and ap­pre­ciate her contributions.

“I really want people to see past the negativity and see who she was as a person, full of life and colour.” SOURCE

Trinidad Express Photo

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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Timothy Bootan and Camille Hunte. 

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare