THE lure of money nowadays pulls hard and pushes towards crime all at once. It’s a growing phenomenon whose deeper meaning is debatable; eluding precise explanation. How pervasive this push/pull theory and what can be done gnaws at my mind whenever a life is lost through homicide or, at the hands of those paid to serve and protect – the police. A free and thoughtful people ought to openly discuss such matters perchance to discover whether there are links between crime, drugs, poverty and the criminal justice system, as practised.
There is a growing perception that drug trafficking and use operates under the radar in the Caribbean, and that those charged with governance in the region are fully aware. Some ‘experts’ are quick to blame a lack of parental guidance and a growing disrespect and greed. Others point to the absence of God, which leaves the youth without a moral anchor of faith and hope, resulting in empty lives.
People tend to follow examples set by their leaders. But what happens when there is a dearth of exemplary leadership; when a voice for discipline and rectitude in society, goes silent? Can a people which blithely and blindly drift rudderless, groping towards a suitable port for repairs and rebooting in this unforgiving world?
These questions resurfaced after reading an article by one Ria Taitt, reporting from a Vice News exclusive in a Trinidad Express newspaper some three weeks ago. The source of Ms Taitt’s article was a round-table conference on the drug problem in Trinidad and Tobago organized by the Powerful Ladies of Trinidad and Tobago (PLOTT), at Westmoorings, in Port-of-Spain.
“Is the institutional base of Trinidad and Tobago – Customs, police service, coast guard, immigration, prisons, retrofitted so it can face and neutralize the threat (of increasing drug infrastructure and trafficking), facing the twin-island State?” was a topic of discussion.
There’s growing suspicion that the Mexican drug cartel is behind the use of Trinidad’s drug infrastructure. A relatively high disposable income and its location and proximity to Venezuela and Colombia make Trinidad a convenient kick-off point for drugs to be distributed locally and in the Caribbean and the USA.
The report mentioned Daurius Figueira, researcher and author on the dominant illicit trades of the Caribbean who noted that, ‘there is an entirely new breed of white-collar criminal in the Caribbean. Drug trafficking in the Caribbean was intimately tied to violence and organized crime, and a means by which to terminate a threat to their illicit lifestyles. These ‘white collar’ criminals are ready to put down hits to take out people who are a threat to their illicit enterprise. And they are willing to walk on the violent side to protect their interests.’
Criminologists Renee Cummings raised the issue of weak social support systems, as opposed to weak or suspect institutions, which allow these illicit measures. These observations should send chills down the spine of every Caribbean – and Saint Lucian patriot. The report tellingly concluded that, many criminals in the drugs trade in Trinidad have become intertwined in politics, doing favours for politicians and receiving lucrative government contracts for public works and construction payouts meant to alleviate unemployment.
That revelation is more reason for concern. One thing seems certain; there is need for a closer examination of family history and character of those presenting themselves as candidates for election to parliament, and leaders of constituency groups. Also, a closer in-depth look at the island’s police service, its customs, prisons and its criminal justice system, seems prudent at this time.
There have been quiet whispers and finger-pointing of persons who suddenly became prosperous; a situation difficult to swallow given the visible sources of their meagre incomes. Small fishing vessels plying the dark Caribbean Sea have become a source of wealth for the ‘nouveau riche.’ It therefore begs the question: Is anyone authorized (or, legally bound) to investigate the starting point of such excessive new wealth?
Saint Lucians have been socialized by religion which teaches docility, obedience and ‘turning the other cheek.’ Still, the ‘show-off-your-wealth-disease’ is on the rise even amongst those who preach ‘fire and brimstone’ in the name of religion. Eradicating crime and the drugs menace and saving the youth of the nation become harder and harder with each passing day. Crime and lawlessness are more and more interwoven into the fabric of society.
What can be done? Should politicians and their backers speak more loudly and clearly on crime and drugs? What if their source of income is from illicit drugs? How can one reasonably explain a situation wherein politicians promise to wipe out illiteracy, and at the same time accept payments from unscrupulous drug dealers, who need a regular supply of misguided youth as foot soldiers?
It has been said over and over again that an independent and fearless people ought to be on guard to jealously protect their freedom and independence. To that end the people ought to monitor the use and abuse of the media and to keep an eye out for those who preach ‘fire and brimstone’ while they engage in all sorts of nefarious activity. Hypocrites are often lured by easy money whatever the source. They care little about destroying young minds and lives. Such fork-tongued abusers build mansions for themselves and their lovers, while a sizeable portion of their congregations and/or supporters remain mired in poverty and want.
Wherever one turns in the Caribbean young males appear to be at risk for all sorts of reasons determining whether they live or they die. Saint Lucia is no different and at times feels like a constituency of Trinidad on the crime scale. Parallels can be illusive at times. But given all that is known, it may be an opportune time for a new and more engaging look at the youth of Saint Lucia, perchance to make the hard choices and course correction, in order to secure the future.
It is high time for a more resolute and determined leadership to rise up and to teach that crime does not pay. The youth of Saint Lucia need exemplary leadership and guidance more than ever before. And parents dedicated to raising disciplined, law-abiding citizens need the support of the State. In times past, leaders of business, church and politics faced rising crime and other difficult issues squarely. And there was a criminal justice system which backed them up. The latter seems dead and there is no new plan for a different and superior regime of justice and punishment. We just love to avoid crucial issues while speaking in whispers. How long can this ostrich-like life style persist, is anyone’s guess.
Rufus Bousquet rides on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eddie Josie STARS in ‘Superfly”
Guy and Mary increase Séance sessions to achieve communique with RIP Sir J Compton, hoping for inspiration at the very least.
They have earmarked discretionary budget allocations to import a short term resident Shango High Priest to increase potential for desirable outcomes.
Daddy warbucks prefers a high priest of DUMBALLA –because it rhymes with the dumb mistakes within the pirates lair.
Meanwhile, deceptive Eddie Josie proposes importing a dozen buxom Castilian temptresses from the Dominican Republic (ages 18-24), to lure and distract SLP MPs. He drools with delight at the possibility of reprising his former “West 42nd Street” and “Cotton Comes to Harlem” salesmanship.
Nonchalantly, Empress Rigo dreams of the political shenanigans of Cleopatra and that Peter Foster would make a suitable Marc Anthony……….
She might be onto a smart ass choice with this potential TRIANGULATION scheme
Hmmmmmmmm
My empire for a horse, n’est pas!
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“The lure of money nowadays pulls hard and pushes towards crime all at once.” Eddie Josie, you continue to give new meaning to Shakespeare’s
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”
As the political season unfolds and politicians engage in the dark arts of occultism, selling their souls to Lucifer to become Poodles of Allen Chastanet, it begs the question: What did you obtain for the sale of your soul to Papa Jab Michael Chastanet ? The tangible results seem to be an individual incapable of being consistent, hypocritical, and a self-hating Negro — denouncing white collar criminal Hit-men while peddling the Chastanet Father, Son, and White Supremacy rule over the lives of Black Lucians, even as Michael Chastanet advocates the murder of Black men who he calls “Bad Boys”. Here’s Papa Jab threatening to make Lucians PAY for questioning the Son-of-Satan’s bogus academic credentials:
https://www.facebook.com/284538805083530/videos/vb.284538805083530/417492388454837/?type=2&theater
and here’s Papa Jab justifying the mass murder of Black Lucian men:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLrnriLmWRE
and I leave you with Eddie Josie thanking Papa Jab for using him and satisfying his greed and lust for power:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzGzccrBJ4A
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Peetar/
Please study the 4 major subjects (you know it is a separate subject when there are entire Ministries of gov. devoted to each), comprising the title of your post, last week.
Now compare it to this week’s more singular theme: Drugs (As an advanced agronomist you should be a multimillionaire IF you gave in to the TEMPTATION of utilizing the following):
-Conversion of the germination/cultivation (adv Botany) of Bananas techniques to apply likewise to the cultivation of HYBRID SENSEMILIA (yup the one with a THC potency 30+ tmes that of your Panama Red Circa 60’s & 70’s)
-Made good use of your globe trotting gov VISA’s to attend the Annual World Cannabis Emporium in AMSTERDAM. It’s the greatest legal marketing/networking bazaar for securing the highest potency BUDs of hybrid Sensemilia. Ounce to ounce the current street values are nearly comparable with 2/3 the price of pure GOLD! Why? Perhaps, as clinical data shows, the euphoric effects of a few strong tokes are like that experienced on an LSD or Heroin trip.
-Made use of your extensive survey of remote rural parcels of arable landall across St. Lucia Via your WINBAN and Ministry Of Agriculture databases.
-Bought off choice parcels of said lands from struggling farmers on the verge of bankruptcy.
Overall, I prefer to accept that you, PEETAR did not give in to your EDDIE alter ego.
By the by when I asked an intern with fresher -as in youthful- perspective, to critique last weeks 4 subject title; her response was “this title is like a TOSSED SALAD”.
My analysis, however, is “Peetar’s reality checking apparatus has gone HELTER SKELTER”
Furthermore, this week’s familiar monolithic title is a tremendous attempt to displace the QUIET TEMPEST in a teacup in Choiseul-recently.
Peetar/
The familiar Pandemic scourge of the Earth –illicit drug trafficking and its attendant menace to ALL societies is a sly DISPLACEMENT Mechanism of Defence for your besieged ego –following your patron’s apparent travesty at Choiseul.
A more proactive approach to the drug menace is the DEMAND SIDE IMPETUS as in electro-magnetic pull from THE MEGA DEVELOPED NATIONS where DISPOSABLE INCOMES fuses with decadent catalysts, superfluously.
Not even the draconian Rockefeller Laws which sent many a poor urban user , up the river (25 to life- same penalty for most class 1 homicides!)
did not deter the rise of the drug menace.
But, this is all familiar concrete knowledge in your mental storage, wiley PEETAR
and here is the latest data
http://news.yahoo.com/prisons-overflowing-drug-offenders-drugs-better-cheaper-ever-151724812.html
underscoring the power of the DEMAND FOR DRUGS
enough of the stale postulates about the supply side-already
Peter,
You don’t want to stop writing, do you?
Like an old Owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, existing on a diet of mice, “bètannipyé”, vermin, and never seeing the noble game.
How hypocritical can this Josie fella be ? I have yet to attend a house fete and not seen this drunkard Josie, now turned moralist, getting high on the drug in the bottle. This “booser” would get high on Rum and Whiskey, while practicing the snake-like crawl of politics.
The Scholar DEEK CHAINEY has given Josie much too much credit to expect such a brain-damaged and crucified Negro to have embarked on the development of the “Gros Michelle” of Cannabis unless instructed and permitted to do so by the so-called white man.
Even with the Caucasian giving his blessings to his people to smoke Weed, the crucified Negroes would starve and sell white rum, than compete with his Master in the sale of Cannabis.
Colorado Tax Enforcer Tells ’60 Minutes’: Weed Beat the Recession in Denver
October 22, 2012 |
In a 13-minute segment broadcast Sunday night, CBS’s “60 Minutes” explored Colorado’s budding medical marijuana industry, and heard from a former drug cop turned tax enforcer who insisted that the industry has helped Denver beat the recession.
That runs contrary to President Barack Obama’s logic: he said in 2010 [3] that legalizing marijuana is not “a good strategy to grow our economy.”
But the economic impact on Denver? According to Matt Cook [4], a former narcotics officer who oversees enforcement at the Colorado Department of Revenue, “it’s huge.”
“Look at all the electrical contractors, HVAC contractors,” he said. “The number of ancillary businesses — it’s huge. Tax revenues exceeded, I believe the last number I heard was an excess of $20 million.”
Cook helped write the state’s medical marijuana law, and works as a consultant for medical marijuana businesses in the state. Speaking to “60 Minutes,” he said that the industry accounts for “over a million square feet of lease space in the Denver area.”
While the state’s taxes on marijuana actually took in about $5 million during 2011, it certainly could spike as high or higher than Cook said: a recent study by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy [5] found that legalized marijuana could pull in about $24 million in new revenue from an excise tax on marijuana production alone.
The report adds that state sales taxes on pot could generate up to $8.7 million more, with local governments seeing an additional $14.5 million just in the first year. Savings on enforcement and incarceration during that same period would also top more than $12 million, the group said.
In spite of clearly positive effects, Cook’s assessment that pot beat the recession is a bit hopeful, and mostly anecdotal. Colorado’s unemployment rate fell to 8 percent in September [6], higher than the national average of 7.8. percent [7]. In Denver, the rate fell to 7.4 percent in September [8], a marked improvement. In Boulder County, the jobless rate during that same period was a shocking 5.7 percent.
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett told “60 Minutes” that getting a jury to convict on marijuana offenses has become nearly impossible. “What we deal with is what prosecutors call jury nullification, where juries say I know what the law is but I’m not going to follow it,” he said. “This community has made it very clear that criminal enforcement of marijuana is not something they want me to spend any time on.”
This video is from CBS’s “60 Minutes,” broadcast Sunday, October 21, 2012.Colorado is one of three states voting this November on full legalization of marijuana for recreational use, and polls show it could be a close vote. A recent poll by The Denver Post [9] found that 48 percent of likely voters support Amendment 64, which would regulate marijuana like alcohol, while just 43 percent oppose the measure.
Josie:
DEEK CHAINEY has given you some very sound advice and directives; check with your master Allen to seek his permission allowing you to do the necessary research into developing the world’s most potent marijuana then securing an international pattern, allowing you to make that piss-pot(Pot Cham) full of money that has been eluding you to the footsteps of your grave. — knowing that Michael will be dead soon and you will waste no time in joining him..
Now, just allow your imagination to run wild for an hour or a day, and visualize the piss-pot full of money you have dreamed about for so long, and dying a rich nigger; you may even get your name and statue placed in Marchand’s Mindoo Park or on the Square — if Derek can get his bust why should you be not deserving, after your saving Lucians from starving to death ? You would not have to brown-nose up Chastanet’s anus.
Dr. Mach Beth encapsulated your life and dreams when he gave us Eddie Josie in this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzGzccrBJ4A
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S O M, Is it O.K. to get high on rum and whiskey, but bad to get high on marijuana ? The wine drinking priest do it every day, but they are close to God, but the Rasta is put in the mental institution. So if Josie gets high on a little white rum we should not condemn him, as long he doesn’t get into an accident and kill a minibus full of school children.
Josie has sold his soul to Papa Jab Chastanet, so when we bury Papa Jab Chastanet next year, Josie will be compelled to exit this life with a suicide ticket to Hell, where he will be Papa Jab’s slave into eternity; He Josie will be responsible for cleaning/licking the festering sores inflicted on Papa Jab from which there is neither cure nor relief’
Surah Ibrahim
In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful.
And they sought help (from their Lord) and every froward potentate was brought to naught; (15)
Hell is before him, and he is made to drink a festering water, (16)
Which he sippeth but can hardly swallow, and death cometh unto him from every side while yet he cannot die, and before him is a harsh doom. (17)
A similitude of those who disbelieve in their Lord: Their works are as ashes which the wind bloweth hard upon a stormy day. They have no control of aught that they have earned. That is the extreme failure. (18)
Hast thou not seen that Allah hath created the heavens and the earth with truth? If He will, He can remove you and bring (in) some new creation; (19)
And that is no great matter for Allah. (20)
They all come forth unto their Lord. Then those who were despised say unto those who were scornful: We were unto you a following, can ye then avert from us aught of Allah’s doom? They say: Had Allah guided us, we should have guided you. Whether we rage or patiently endure is (now) all one for us; we have no place of refuge. (21)
And Satan saith, when the matter hath been decided: Lo! Allah promised you a promise of truth; and I promised you, then failed you. And I had no power over you save that I called unto you and ye obeyed me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can ye help me, Lo! I disbelieved in that which ye before ascribed to me. Lo! for wrong-doers is a painful doom. (22)
And those who believed and did good works are made to enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein abiding by permission of their Lord, their greeting therein: Peace! (23)