It is being reported that the Jamaican Minister of Transport, Mike Henry, has continued to push for his government to impose a new tax on petroleum to repair and maintain the island’s road network. This proposal is obviously one of understandable desperation that will drive inflation in every area affecting the price of every basic item from [...]
In the Jamaica Observer of Sunday, March 29, 2009, Columnist, Mark Wignall had this to say: ‘MUCH of what the electorate uses to define Portia Simpson Miller is urban legend, fairytale. In politics however, a politician will accept all positives, especially when those defining the politician are not really interested in wrestling with the burden [...]
The ruling of the Appellant Court – upholding the earlier ruling of Chief Justice, Zaila McCalla, in the Vaz Dabdoub case – to my mind speaks volumes and suggests something wrong is going on. Even though Justice McCalla, found that: in the West Portland Constituency one of the two candidates namely, Mr Daryl Vaz, was [...]
The following was submitted by a reader: I don’t like your promotion of Anti-Jamaican culture that would seek to introduce homosexuality, one of the most abominable perversions, as the NORM. I don’t like the general slackness and nastiness of Jamaican people in general, and what disgusts me most is that it is not even original, [...]
The inauguration of the 44th president of the most powerful country on earth, the United States of America, has been completed. This former skinny kid now President Barack Obama has been transformed into a 175 pound symbol and embodiment of the dreams, hopes, role models and aspirations of the 400 or more million Africans on [...]
Dear Editor: I write in reference to the recent debate regarding the distribution of condoms in schools to combat adolescent sexual activity, pregnancies, and sexually-transmitted diseases. It seems that those who oppose the measure base their misguided philosophy on the false notions that: (1) preaching the gospel of abstinence is effective; and (2) the distributing [...]
So the Jamaican Parliament recently had its ‘conscience’ vote on capital punishment and by a 2-to-1 margin decided that folks accused of murder should be prepared to schedule an appointment with the gallows. But what’s really new about this? Well, nothing really; the statutes regarding this sentence for convicted murderers has been on the books [...]
I have the deepest sympathy for the victims of murder such as, members of the security forces, witnesses in trial proceedings, those murdered by others during robberies burglaries, sex offences, arson and acts deemed as terrorism. Therein lies the acts that carry a mandatory death penalty as is currently the law of the land. As [...]
As with every emotive issue, capital punishment is being mauled by the partisans – haul and pull, twist and turn. Truth-seekers are confused and bewildered and are left wondering, who is preaching truth and who error, because diametrically opposed views – pro and anti-capital punishment – can’t both be right. Based on the spin by [...]
The Jamaica Employer’s Federation (JEF) is disputing the downgrade in the ranking of Jamaica by the World Economic Forum for gender equality. The current position of Jamaica is 44, down five places from last year, and down 20 places from 2006. Apparently, the JEF cited anecdotal, rather than empirical evidence to make the false claim that there [...]