Monday, June 25, 2007

Stella, Stella, Stella!

Kaiteur News Columnist, Freddie Kissoon once wrote that Stella was loosing her groove. After this calamitous commentary, we submit that her groove disappeared a long time, probably when UB 40 released "Grovin"

But, who is Stella Ramsaroop?

She is the wife of Paul Ramsaroop, who incidentally is the brother of Peter Ramsaroop, a chauvinistic specimen of mankind. Anyway, Stella seems to be grooving in the upper corridors of the society, after all she is dining in the United States with her husband and who knows, maybe sipping tea with Queen Elizabeth.

There is something screwed about her analysis on topical issues confronting Guyana. Unlike Peeping Tom and crazy ole’ Uncle Freddie, Stella is out of sync with what is really taking place in Guyana. Her sexiest overtones in almost every publication are over bearing. Come on Stella, where do you live? In the US, Canada, UK.

Stella!!! Stop enforcing on this humble third world society, the views of the first world nations that are responsible for the wars, suffering, torture and global warming.

Despite her best efforts to bring a sense of decorum and logical debate to the pages of KN, your ramblings always seem to degenerate into trivial sexiest appeals.

Launching a vicious attack on the open world of blogging is uncalled for and certainly outside her knowledge. Stella could have tried her hand at the changing role of women in the Guyanese society and how women in the first world nations are treated as oppose to those in the third world.

But, no…grooving Stella had to bring some pictures of women on livinguyana to the attention of 12,000 ordinary citizens, who couldn’t care if the Americas II cable shuts down again.

While recognizing the role of blogs has changed so much that many of them are used as official news sources, we still believe that a blog is one’s diary and perspective. Stella missed the whole nine yards, by giving nothing else but cheap publicity to livinguyana. This wonderful blog copies and paste the photos that jabbed Stella. Photos that can be found on a website that continually highlight the latest entertainment scenes in the city.

Instead of attacking the right source, Stella focuses on livinguyana as she attempts to once again promote her sexiest views. Come on Stella lets examine the entertainment industry in the US and its connection to the latest trend here.

Stella we are off to watch Whitney Houston in “How Stella got her groove back!”

Thursday, June 21, 2007

US/Caribbean 17-point agreement


US President, George W. Bush (center) and regional leaders



1. We, the Heads of State and Government of the United States of America and of the Caribbean Community Nations of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, meeting in Washington D.C. on June 20, 2007, reaffirm our unequivocal commitment to a secure and prosperous region and future for the benefit of all of our citizens.


2. Recalling our shared history of democracy, respect for human rights, social justice, and cultural and ethnic diversity, we highlight the value of our enduring friendship and recommit ourselves to enhancing our partnership to reinforce the development aspirations that guide our mutual priorities.


3. We pledge to continue promoting the consolidation of democratic norms, values, and institutions throughout the hemisphere and to enhance accountability and respect for individual rights.


4. We agree to take steps to expand economic opportunities for our people, to address the threats of terrorism and crime, and to provide the benefits of democracy to all members of our societies, recognizing that democracy will best flourish if our societies are stable and our economies are prosperous.


5. We recognize the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy as a critical element of the growth and development strategy of the Caribbean Community.


6. We are determined to strengthen our existing trade arrangements. We acknowledge President Bush's announcement to work with Congress to extend and update the Caribbean Basin Trade Promotion Act and the 1991 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. We further commit to the harmonization of customs procedures consistent with global standards and the advancement of technical trade cooperation.


7. We reiterate our support for Caribbean efforts to expand the services sector, and encourage a focus on the international financial services sector to facilitate a competitive means of economic diversification while remaining committed to the maintenance of appropriate regulatory and supervisory practices, consistent with the highest international standards.


8. Cognizant of the spread of HIV and AIDS and the impact on the economic and social development of our people, we pledge to deepen our cooperation in health and welcome the initiative to continue PEPFAR in the Caribbean.


9. Cognizant that more than 95 percent of CARICOM's energy needs are derived from fossil fuels, we pledge to increase cooperation in this area to achieve sustainable, secure, and affordable access to energy for all our citizens.


10. We agree to increase cooperation efforts in the field of education and workplace training. We commit to strengthen teacher training by expanding the Caribbean Centers for Excellence. We also commit to strengthen human capacity in the Caribbean to meet the demands of a 21st century employment environment through partnering with academic institutions and non-governmental groups as well as through skills training for youth via the Entra-21 program.


11. We declare our intention to negotiate an agreement on cooperation in Science and Technology including Information Communication Technologies.


12. We recommit to our ongoing efforts of cooperation in the area of disaster preparedness, mitigation, and recovery.


13. We acknowledge the multidimensional nature of the security threats and challenges faced by our countries and pledge to continue to work together in the fight against terrorism, trafficking in persons, drugs and small arms, and transnational crime.


14. We also acknowledge the successful security partnership developed to secure the CARICOM Region during its hosting of the Cricket World Cup 2007. To this end, we agree to continue strengthening the Region's security infrastructure.


15. We recognize the need to work more closely on immigration security issues in a manner respectful of national laws and government services capacity and sensitive to the effects of human displacement. We will jointly work toward the expansion of the pilot reintegration program for deportees in Haiti to include other CARICOM member states. We will develop new ways to facilitate, coordinate, and communicate between our immigration services.


16. We are heartened by the substantial progress in Haiti made by the Government of President Preval, with the support of international partners. We recognize that Haiti will continue to require substantial regional and international support in the implementation of a consistent and long-term strategy of institution and capacity building, and pledge to work together with the three branches of the Haitian Government.


17. On the occasion of Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we pay tribute to the generations of Caribbean-Americans who have helped shape the spirit and character of the United States of America and who continue to contribute to the growth and development of the Caribbean.

CIOG to the rescue



On June 27th/2007, Three Rivers Kids Foundation in collaboration with the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG) will be taking 9 children from Guyana to India for much needed medical treatment.

Six of the nine children will be having open heart surgeries to correct serious heart defects, another will be under going neurosurgery to remove a tumor from the brain in order to save her vision, another will be having a large cyst removed from her liver and one will be undergoing diagnostic testing and treatment for Nephrotic Syndrome. These children will be treated at Max Devki Devi Heart and Vascular Institute, Saket, Delhi , The same hospital where the last batch of children were treated in November, 2006. These children will be returning to Guyana on July 26th/2007.

Three of the children with cardiac abnormalities have already developed complications such as Pulmonary Artery Hypertension (PAH) and cardiomegaly as a result of not having correctional surgery earlier. Dr. Viresh Mahajan, Peadiatric Cardiologist and Dr. Anil Bhan, Peadiatric Cardiac Surgeon will be performing the cardiac surgeries. Dr. Mahajan and Dr. Bahn are both very experienced in treating children with PAH. Dr. Mahajan has successfully treated many children with severe PAH who were deemed inoperable using a special banding technique and medications. His expertise in this area of cardiac treatment is well recognized and documented. He was one of only three Cardiologists in the world whose work was chosen for oral presentation in Philadelphia on Friday, June 1st/ 2007, and is a finalist for the Outstanding Investigator Award.

The three children who are not cardiac cases will be under the care of a team of doctors including Dr. Sandeep and Dr. Meera Lutra.

The children who will benefit from this exercise are Sarah Pasha, age 2 years from La Grange, W.B.D., Shiraz Ali age 4 years from Springland Berbice, Lijana James age 15 months from Berbice, Dian Persaud age 9 years from Straathavon Cane Grove, Varsha Chatterpaul age 18 months from 64 Village Corentyne Berbice, Trinity Leslie age 7 years from Timheri, Marlon King age 5 years from Georgetown, Khemlall Persaud age 7 years from 54 Village Corentyne Berbice and Divanie Ramdeen age 3 years from Edingburg Villlage East Bank Berbice. Six of the children will be accompanied by their mothers and two by their grandmothers. Zaheeda Hack, registered nurse from Guyana will accompany the group to London . Jeanette Singh, a registered nurse and president of Three Rivers Kids Foundation, Toronto Canada will accompany the group to India from London .

The projected cost of this mission will be approximately US $70,000. This include air fares for the children and their mothers and the cost for medical treatment for all the children. However, the final cost will not be known until all the surgeries have been completed.

"We are very committed to helping the sick children from Guyana who cannot be treated in their homeland." said Jeanette Singh. “In less than 2 years, we have helped 31 children and gave them a chance to live normal lives." "We are working with some of the best doctors in India in all areas of medicine."


Three Rivers Kids Foundation would like to express sincere thanks and profound gratitude for the help and support of our partners and associates, namely CIOG, without which this mission would not be possible. In particular, we would like to thank Br. Fazeel Ferouz and Fayann Resally from Guyana and Fazil Yussuf from CIOG Toronto Branch.

Sincere thanks to His Excellency Mr. Wheeler, British High Commissioner assisting with the visas for the group.
Special thanks to the Government for their support, financial and otherwise.

Heartfelt thanks to all our kind donors who donated funds to assist with this mission Especially Pandit Doobay and Omo Persaud from Vishnu Mandir in Toronto, Tallim Baccus, Pandit Bhola and members from Shiva Shankar Bhawan, Scarborough, Pandit Lokhnath, Pandit Chunilall and Dr. Dhanpaul from New York, Dave Pahuja from Lotus Loans, Dr. Gavin Jagan and Rohan Hiralal, Baracara Quarries of Guyana, Faizul Haniff from London for arranging accommodation for the group. Sincere gratitude to all the people who donated towards this worthy cause from Toronto New York and Guyana .


Regards,

Fazeel M Ferouz & Jeanette Singh
President CIOG and President Three Rivers Foundation.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Serious Internet Radio

DEMERARA WAVES - Guyana's Crest of Truth

Surfing around on the Internet and found this rather interesting site, controlled by someone trying to opose the government's strangle hold on radio. Very clever! However, their first interview fell short of good taste. One Lloyd King interviewed Mr. Tacuma Ogunseye, a washed-up rag of the barely breathing Working People's Alliance (WPA).

According to the website, DEMERARA WAVES- is Guyana's premier source for current affairs analysis that you will never get anwywhere else. We wish you guys luck.

"DEMERARA WAVES- the forerunner to our On-Air radio station whenever the Guyana government ends its decades-old monopoly- goes beneath the deep murky waters of Guyanese life to bring you content that you will never get anywhere. We aim to blend the basic information with context and backgroud to bring home to you the relevance of the issues and events as they unfold. Such analysis will aid us and our listeners to make reasonable predictions and rational decisions about evolving aspects of Guyanese life. DEMERARA WAVES is operated by a select group of professionals onshore and offshore Guyana with the aim of bringing you the stories behind the news and forecasts of newsy stories to come. We're committed to providing fair and balanced content within the confines of decency, and free of libel and slander."

P.S. These guys have ambition to open an on-air radio station. Free up the airwaves!

From Italy...

Ciao

volevo farti i complimenti hai un sito bellissimo un abbraccio dall'Italia

Elisa

Congratulations on a beautiful websiteLoved everything on your site and you did a magnificent job. You should be proud of yourself.

Guyana 360: Keep on reading, promise to visit Italy next year.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Who is your daddy?

The operative question should be who is daddy? It dawned on a couple of us that mothers continue to overshadow fathers in most families. Flipping though the what-ever they offer, local television stations and heard a song about how special moms are being played White Blackman Television. For a moment it was a wake up call. However, the operator quickly changed the selection.

The media continues to depict fathers in all the shadowy roles. In all the news, fathers are thieves, gunmen, rapists, child molesters, drug addict, unfaithful, uncaring and more recently, terrorists.

Where are all the good daddies; the ones that work blood, sweat and tears to make it right for the family, the fathers who never make it onto the pages of the newspapers or the headlines of the late night news?

There are hundreds of songs recognizing the contribution of fathers, but just a few singers have pulled the notes for their fathers.

“Pappa was a rolling stone” is apply used by mothers in the US to described fathers, especially those in low to middle-income afro communities. Closer to home, there are mothers who end up on the wrong side of the law. Just Friday one Acting Magistrate remanded some ten women.

The stereotypes in society make it fine for a woman to walk on a man because everyone feels that it’s the fault of the poor guy. When a woman gets pregnant, the cry is always about the man giving her a child or the man “breed her” as typical Guyanese would say. It takes two to get pregnant and this society needs to stop stigmatizing men.

It is a male dominated world and one of the ways sexists women try to overcome this is to promote gays and paint all men with a broad brush, often leaving no strokes as they paint over the good character of most men.

Women hurting by a man often live to tell a tale of meeting a beast, but that’s ok.

I have had the privilege of calling the greatest person dad. I couldn’t measure if my mom was greater, but dad has stuck throughout the years, riding our emotional roller coaster steering it away from danger on countless occasions.

To him, the dads of all of our staffers, and all those single parent dads around the world, Guyana 360 salutes you.

Tourism routing

About two weeks ago, Tourism Minister Manniram Prashad proudly announced that he was hosting a major tourism conference. He forgot to mention that it was yet another talk shop and in deed it could have been worst, save the appeal by President Bharrat Jagdeo that the event should not go through debating things already identified as needed.

As someone that has witnessed the blue waters of the Caribbean and the awesome Disney rides in Orlando, I feel compelled to bark at the tourism nonsense occurring in Guyana.

The debate about miniature interventions such as casino gambling should not be. There is need for the Government to make major interventions.

President Jagdeo we implore that you abolish the post of Tourism Minister and appoint a Presidential advisor, someone who had the experience of serving one of the islands in the Caribbean.

We applaud Manzoor Nadir, the former Tourism Minister. At least he seemed to have a head on his shoulder. The present Minister appears to be running around like a headless chicken. Until the President could appoint a workaholic like Robert Persaud or someone firm like Mosses Nagamootoo, the position should be abolished.

Wake up! There is no significant Tourism taking place here, hence there is no need for a Minister. It is a waste of taxpayers’ money. I could hardly wait for your much promised Cabinet reshuffle Mr. President.

Ignore the skeptics Mr. President, once you build it they will come. Jamaica and Trinidad has crime, yep tourists and celebrities flock there. It appears that from the unrealistic monies budgeted to advertise the product, that the Government is not serious about Tourism.

We understand the thinking behind it. While the monies will flow into the private sector, I am sure that with greater circulation the masses will be contented. Guyana could capitalize on the negative press that was bestowed during the last three weeks since that terror plot was uncovered. As part of defending Guyana’s image and the Muslim community, the President should have stitched in the fact that Guyana remains a beautiful place to visit, forever welcoming to Americans.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Risky sign @ Splashmin's

Empty lifeguard chair? Then this sign is true.

Boating at Splashmin's

Riding on the high seas, or maybe not.



Ripple effect

Friday, June 15, 2007

Sign @ Splashmin's

Rugged, yet important sign

@ Splashmin's Fun Park

Hanging around waiting!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Mail Trail...

This is swinging on the grapevine.


The newly appointed GINA Director was caught with his pants down in his office on Homestretch Avenue. This happened yesterday, April 16, 2007. A female staff member was also in the room in the vicinity of the dropped pants. There are reports that this new Director is a huge fan of Internet Porn and specialises in the viewing of animal/human pornography. I am quite sure the GINA Director wants to get to the bottom, and behind the naked truth.

Hats off....er Pants off to the GINA Director

TATA

Have a laugh!!!

Another day, another deadly plot by freelance Muslim radicals foiled. Oh, sorry. That’s the plot to blow up JFK airport I’m talking about. Many of you may barely remember given that it’s been over a week now and given the mainstream media’s lackadaisical coverage of it and given said media’s overwhelming wall-to-wall coverage of the far more compelling Paris Hilton saga.

Anyway, this latest plot, coming on the heels of the foiled Fort Dix Six plot, sounds like it would have been a real doozy had it come to fruition. The idea was to plant explosives on jet fuel arteries at John F. Kennedy International Airport, set off a chain reaction that would blow up all the many jet fuel holding tanks and obliterate the entire airport and everybody in it. It would have been one big orgy of flaming destruction and mass murder. Allahu akbar!

But as fate would have it, Russell Defreitas, the alleged plot originator, befriended an FBI informant and thus began the unraveling of another intended wanton act of jihad. Defreitas, by the way, is an American citizen originally from Guyana and a Muslim convert. He also happens to be a former JFK air cargo employee who knows the airport like the back of his hand. Also arrested were Abdul Kadir, a Muslim and former member of Parliament in Guyana, and Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad.

Trinidad? Guyana? What the heck is going on? I thought Trinidad was a place where the locals languorously while away the sultry hours entertaining loud-shirted tourists by playing steel drums and doing the limbo. But here’s an interesting factoid: Trinidad is the Caribbean’s leading producer and exporter of oil. Another interesting factoid: Trinidad has a small but significant Muslim population.

Hmm . . . Muslims, oil . . . Sounds like a sure-fire recipe for trouble. In fact, did you know that in 1990 a radical Islamic group known as Jamaat al Muslimeen staged a coup attempt in Trinidad during which the prime minister and others were taken hostage? Fortunately, the coup was unsuccessful, but it’s highly doubtful that Trinidad has seen the last of its Islam-related problems.

As for Guyana, it’s located on the northern coast of South America not far from the island of Trinidad. It has no oil, but guess what it does have. That’s right, Muslims, approximately 10 percent of the population. And as we have learned in recent times, wherever Muslims go in any significant numbers, trouble and/or jihad is almost certain to follow.

So, getting back to the JFK plot, it was a pretty big story and you’d think the New York Times would have been all over it like white on rice. But one day after the news came out, its coverage was buried on page 37, while featured on the front page was (surprise, surprise) yet another story about those poor Club Gitmo detainees.

Well, hey, the Times seemed to be saying, what’s all the fuss about? After all, JFK “was never in imminent danger because the plot was only in a preliminary phase and the conspirators had yet to lay out detailed plans or obtain financing or explosives.” And anyway, “safety shut-off valves would almost assuredly have prevented an exploding airport fuel tank from igniting all or even part of the network.” In other words, the whole thing was a crackpot scheme by a bunch of bumbling losers that was still in the planning stages and probably had a next to zero chance of ever being pulled off. So why get the public all worked up over nothing?

Well, what about the people’s cherished “right to know,” which the Times so often cites when publicizing information that damages the Bush administration and its fight against terrorism (see endless NYT stories about Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, secret Bush program to monitor terrorist financial transactions, etc., etc.)? Even if it’s true that this particular plot had little chance of succeeding — and we don’t know that for certain — it rates front page coverage because it provides profound evidence that the psychosis of radical Islam continues to spread around the globe with the ferocity of a biblical plague.

Even the Caribbean, which most of us thought of as an innocuous playground for vacationers, appears to be seriously infected.

If the New York Times’ standard for newsworthiness when it comes to terror plots is to be inextricably linked to their apparent plausibility, then to what back page would the 9/11 plot have been relegated had it been foiled ahead of time? Arabs in flight schools learning how to fly, but not to take off or land, were going to commandeer commercial airliners with box cutters? And they were going to take out both World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and possibly the White House or the Capitol? Come off it! This story belongs on the funny pages.

John Edwards recently said that the global war on terror was nothing more than a “bumper sticker” slogan used by Bush to justify everything from abuses at Abu Ghraib to the invasion of Iraq. The New York Times is in wholehearted agreement and believes that when it comes to foiled or alleged terror plots, it’s all inconsequential silliness and BushCo scaremongering. At least, it is until the next time thousands are slaughtered. Then, you can count on page one headlines screaming about intelligence failures and demanding to know why Bush didn‘t protect us.

Guyanese looked to be Bailed out

A judge denied bail for three suspects accused of plotting to bomb New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, ordering them to remain in jail until a hearing on a U.S. request for their extradition.The three men _ Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur _ smiled and waved to about 20 supporters and family members in the courtroom on Monday but did not speak. A son of Kadir said FBI agents had questioned relatives over the weekend.

Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicols said he was denying bail «given the nature and the seriousness of the offense, and ordered them to remain in jail until an Aug. 2 hearing on a U.S. extradition request.

The suspects, arrested this month in the twin-island Caribbean nation, are accused of participating in a Muslim terror cell that planned to blow up a jet fuel artery that runs through residential neighborhoods and feeds Kennedy airport.The alleged mastermind of the plot, U.S. citizen Russell Defreitas, 63, is a Guyana native who worked as a cargo handler at the airport until 1995.

He is in custody in New York.U.S. authorities claim the alleged plotters unsuccessfully sought support in Trinidad from Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group that staged a deadly coup attempt here in 1990.Rajiv Persad, an attorney for Kadir and Ibrahim, argued for their release on bail, noting they do not have criminal records and that Kadir served until last year as an opposition legislator in Guyana's parliament.

There is no evidence that these men would abscond, given that they are solid members of their communities,» Persad said.Defense attorneys said Kadir and Nur, who are from Guyana, have relatives in Trinidad they could stay with if granted bail. Ibrahim is from Trinidad.Relatives and acquaintances of the suspects have expressed skepticism that they would be capable of organizing an international plot.

We know that the allegations are all fabricated,» said Talibah Ali, a member of the mosque where Ibrahim is a Shiite cleric.But Israel Khan, an attorney who represented the U.S. government at the bail hearing, said, You cannot look at a person and say that he looks like a terrorist or not. They come in all fashions.

There is evidence of conversations of them plotting to carry out this offense,» he added.In court, Khan handed defense attorneys pictures that he said depicted Kadir and his family carrying semiautomatic weapons and handguns. He offered to show them to the judge, who replied, «I don't need to see them at this stage.

Over the weekend, agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation accompanied by local police interviewed two children of Abdul Kadir in Guyana, his son Salim Kadir told The Associated Press on Monday.

«We were questioned by about four FBI agents but we have nothing to hide,» he said, adding that documents were seized from the family's home, though he did not provide specifics.

Abdul Kadir, 55, a former mayor of Linden, Guyana, was taken off a plane in Trinidad and arrested as he prepared to fly to Iran through Venezuela to attend an international Islamic conference.