Should Bruce resign? yes r no?

[SmoothOperator]

Re: Phillips says PNP ready to rescue JA

Eddie Seaga must be kicking back in his rocking chair looking at all of this and laughing his a$$ off.... "I told you all I was the only one qualified to lead the JLP but is like uuno neva believe me."

AJ Nicholson gets it mostly right:

There is an abundance of lessons that are eternal, and we should remind ourselves. In sticking to the rules, which we must, the human experience dictates that mistakes will be made. When an error is discovered, own up post-haste and, if an apology is required, tender it forthwith. Any other route leads to disaster, certainly where that route is sought to be taken over time in the face of warnings and advice coming from persons who should know.

The prime minister chose to abandon those lessons and chose to proceed along that other route, astride those two galloping horses: the party horse and the leader of government horse. The trick is: how does he dismount?

This, surely, is 'Bruce-on-the-loose'.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100516/cleisure/cleisure2.html

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Phillips says PNP ready to rescue JA

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SmoothOp</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Eddie Seaga must be kicking back in his rocking chair looking at all of this and laughing his a$$ off.... &quot;I told you all I was the only one qualified to lead the JLP but is like uuno neva believe me.&quot;

AJ Nicholson gets it mostly right:</div></div>

You are quoting A. Drunk Nicholson and talking about rules?
This is the same person that singed off on a wire tap of Dudus, knowing exactly what was going to happen and how it was going to be used.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">A Joke</span> is tool and that is the most complimentary thing I can say about him.
As for Eddie he was right and I hope he continues to remain silent as per the deal that Bruce and his backers signed with him.
He was to make no comments on Party Political Matters, anything he has to say is in his book.
I think he has been true to deal so far.

Keep cool Eddie Blinds let others run demself to a wreck.

[evanovitch]

US Jamaicans shocked at Golding's revelations

US Jamaicans shocked at Golding's revelations

Some demand resignation

BY HAROLD G BAILEY Sunday Observer writer [email protected]

Sunday, May 16, 2010





NEW YORK, USA — Expressing shock and indignation over Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding's admitted involvement in the Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips affair, Jamaicans here fear the matter will cause serious implications for their homeland.

Some, like Jose Richards who heads Concerned Patriots of Jamaica -- an ad hoc group concerned about developments in their country -- want the prime minister to resign.


GOLDING… coming under more pressure to resign
GOLDING… coming under more pressure to resign 1/1

Last Tuesday, Golding admitted in the Jamaican Parliament that he had sanctioned the Jamaica Labour Party's engagement of United States law firm Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips to lobby the US administration in the ongoing extradition case of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the reputed Tivoli Gardens don.

Most Jamaicans who spoke to the Sunday Observer here described the prime minister's action as a betrayal of the oath of his office and an act that has tarnished the reputation of their country's name here.

Sadie Campbell, who runs the People's National Party affiliate, the Jamaica Progressive League, said &quot;Jamaicans here have been forced to hang their heads in shame because of the prime minister's action&quot;.

Dion Thompson, a New Jersey nursing assistant, was livid and described the matter as &quot;a most sordid affair&quot;.

The most scathing attack came from the Concerned Patriots of Jamaica's Richards who, in calling for Golding's resignation, said the prime minister's action has tarnished his homeland.

Already at odds with the Jamaican Government over the recent sale of Air Jamaica, and the current murder rate, Richards said Jamaican nationals here &quot;are tired of performing damage control&quot;, because of their Government's actions.

He said that despite the admittance by the prime minister of his involvement in the matter, he did not &quot;think Mr Golding was fully forthcoming&quot;.

Some Jamaicans are also taking a more measured approach to the matter. Patrick Beckford of the Diaspora Board for the North East United States told the Sunday Observer that representatives of several Jamaican organisations in the Tri-State area -- New York, New Jersey and Connecticut -- have called a meeting for Tuesday &quot;to discuss this latest development and other troubling issues&quot;, in their homeland.

Earl Mitchell, who heads the National Association of Jamaica and Supportive Organisations, said he could not comment on the matter as he had not fully availed himself of all the facts.

[evanovitch]

The rise and stall of Bruce Golding //wikked caption dis..


The rise and <span style="font-weight: bold">stall </span>of Bruce Golding

BY HG HELPS Editor-at-Large [email protected]


Sunday, May 16, 2010





Orette Bruce Golding is fighting for his political life.

Golding, 62, is at an age where Jamaican prime ministers are like roses in the garden, just getting ready to bloom. However, events of the past week have had a razor-like effect on the member of parliament for West Kingston, regarded by many as among the brightest and most articulate leaders to have emerged from this country.



Perhaps the two things that Golding and his main rival, Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, have in common are their love for people and the sharing of December as their birth month, he on the fifth and she on the 12th.

The Opposition, like many other social and political groups across Jamaica, has sought to tighten the noose around Golding's neck that could have far-reaching effects in the short and long terms.

Golding forced the nation to sit up and take note after his startling revelation in Parliament last Tuesday that he knew about and sanctioned a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) initiative to retain the services of US law firm Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips to assist it with extradition matters.

A month ago he had vehemently denied that the Government had engaged the law firm after the question was posed in the Parliament by Opposition member Dr Peter Phillips.

But as controversy over the issue continued to swirl, Golding asked JLP General Secretary Karl Samuda to probe the matter. Samuda eventually reported that persons within the JLP had approached attorney Harold Brady to assist in facilitating the opening of discussions between the US authorities and the Government of Jamaica, over a treaty dispute.

That treaty problem concerned Jamaica's refusal so far to process the American Government's extradition request for reputed Tivoli Gardens don and JLP supporter Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Golding's effort last Tuesday to separate the functions and role of party leader and prime minister in this matter resulted in widespread criticism, calls for his resignation, and the adoption of a damage control plan by the party to try to achieve some amount of redemption.

Golding's life has been a mixed bag of success and failure laced with sheer excitement throughout.

The third of four children for Tacius and Enid Golding, his early education at Alpha Primary School, St George's College and Jamaica College, where he became head boy, gave him a solid start to take on the rigours of life.

He grew up in an era in which academic and sports standards in the high school system were exceedingly high and had to live in the shadows of classroom gurus like Ronnie Thwaites and Trevor Munroe of St George's, who both went on to become Rhodes Scholars and the latter also a track star of merit.

It was the golden era for boys' schools like St George's and JC, Kingston College, Wolmer's, Cornwall College and Munro to maintain their dominance over their rivals in academic performance and sports, topped during the period by Kingston College's fantastic schoolboy football successes of 1964 and 1965 at a time when Golding transferred to JC.

Having achieved a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of the West Indies in 1969, Golding -- at age 21 -- started his long political race when the JLP's Central Executive, which will play a role in deciding his fate at today's special meeting, elected him to serve. Three years later, at the time of the next general election that swept the People's National Party into power after a 10-year absence, Golding got the approval from the people of West St Catherine to become the youngest member of the House of Representatives at age 24, and thus confirmed his status as a second-generation politician, picking up the baton from his father.

Following a loss in West St Catherine in 1976, adjustments in constituency boundaries and names, Clarendon-born Golding was to later become a fixture for the JLP in Central St Catherine, being a part of the team that succeeded in convincing a majority of Jamaicans that the Cuban threat that emerged in the 1970s was real.

Michael Manley's Democratic Socialism philosophy had taken on new dimensions and in the eyes of his critics inside and outside of the PNP, had become so threatening to life that something should be done about it.

The JLP, inspired by its leader Edward Seaga, and backed by bright individuals like Golding, who was in charge of the campaign, Errol Anderson, and others, successfully managed to tell the nation that Cuba's influence on Manley, and by extension the island, was too much of a risk. It worked, and resulted in a big 51-9 seat victory for the JLP. Golding, who had been appointed JLP general secretary in 1974, went on to become the first minister of construction, a combination of the previous two ministries of housing and works. He served until the 1989 general election when the JLP was swept from office.

Such was his effect on the JLP and the promise that he showed, that Labourites promoted Golding from a decade of work as general secretary in 1984 to the powerful and influential position of party chairman and obvious heir apparent to Seaga. He served as chairman until 1995, a most crucial time in his life when he resigned from the party over a fuss that also engulfed the now infamous 'Gang of Five' issue, a claim that influential party members had teamed up to topple Seaga as party leader.

Several years of work as a party functionary had seemingly gone up in smoke. Golding had, at the time, not only served the House of Representatives as the member for West St Catherine and Central St Catherine for a combined 19 years, but the Upper House as a senator for nine years.

Golding's decision to form a third party, the National Democratic Movement (NDM) in 1995, had a resounding effect on the island's political landscape. As the NDM's first president, it was primarily left up to him to try to reshape the way Jamaicans saw politics and the work of political parties.

The party did not win a single seat in the 1997 general election, taken again in style by the PNP, but some of its candidates, like Golding who secured over 2,000 votes to trail JLP winner Olivia 'Babsy' Grange in Central St Catherine, Brascoe Lee in South Trelawny and Wayne Chen in North East Manchester, left telling impressions on the electorate.

The NDM also lost a by-election in the North East St Ann seat in 2001, forcing Golding to quit and start a fledging talk show called Disclosure on Hot 102 FM. When news started swirling about his imminent return to the JLP, Golding, up to his last day on air, kept denying any such move.

The NDM before that had powerful and influential supporters and sympathisers, among them the present principal of the Norman Manley Law School, Professor Stephen Vasciannie, who had a not-to-be-healed falling out with Golding when he returned to the JLP camp weeks before the 2002 general election. Vasciannie and Golding met the day before Golding went back to the JLP, at which point Vasciannie asked him about the rumours circulating about his return. Golding flatly denied that any such move was imminent.

The two, who had not exchanged a word since that time, broke the ice earlier this year when they met at a function at the law school. Before that, Golding moved decisively to block a decision by the Public Service Commission to appoint Vasciannie as solicitor general when the JLP assumed power in September 2007.

Vasciannie had won considerable respect in legal circles while he served as deputy solicitor general in the previous administration. He had left an indelible mark at Oxford University where he studied law and earned the distinction as the Jamaican Rhodes Scholar with the best overall academic performance in the history of the Rhodes Scholarship programme.

Golding won out in the end by firing the members of the commission, appointing a new one and having his preferred choice, Douglas Leys become solicitor general.

But Golding's second coming in the JLP was not as smooth as that of the Prodigal Son of biblical fame. Some of the party's stalwarts saw him as a direct threat. Others, particularly the younger group, embraced him wholeheartedly.

His previous post of chairman was again thrown into his lap in 2003, along with the appointment of senator and Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and foreign trade.

Seaga's decision to accept a senior appointment at the University of the West Indies paved the way for Golding to position himself to become JLP leader and later member of parliament for West Kingston.

All that had to be achieved amid a potentially bruising challenge for the leadership from his brother-in-law Pearnel Charles, who backed out at the last minute when it was felt that his chances of survival were akin to a drowning man grabbing at the last available straw.

Golding's return in November 2003, his appointment as leader of the opposition on February 20, 2005, and subsequent election as MP for West Kingston on April 13 that same year, put him in pole position for another grand takeoff toward the political Promised Land.

Having taken the Oath of Office as Prime Minister on September 11, 2007, following his party's narrow victory at the polls, Golding pledged to be the change that Jamaicans had been clamouring for. He had laid out new standards and styles in his party's manifesto and championed the cause of ushering in a new era of statesmen, whose hands would be free of corruption, whose primary aim would be the upliftment of all Jamaicans, and making integrity the centrepiece of leadership.

Now facing the challenge of his life, Golding is also confronted by the now popular Jamaican saying of 'cock mouth kill cock'.

He had promised many things when he became prime minister. However, his critics have noted that since holding the highest political office in the land, he seems either reluctant or does not have the stomach to make the changes that he so forcefully mooted.

His utterances in regard to the Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips issue, in which he revealed to Parliament last Tuesday his knowledge of a move to retain the US law firm to assist the JLP with extradition matters, after originally denying knowing anything about it, again threw the spotlight on him.

Golding, in his defence, said that he was connected to the matter in his capacity as JLP leader and not as prime minister. He had forgotten that in 2006 at the height of the decision by the Dutch firm Trafigura to give US$30,000 to the PNP to assist with its campaign for the 2007 general election, he had vigorously dispatched a suggestion that the PNP point man in that matter, Colin Campbell, then a Cabinet minister, was acting on behalf of the party and not the Government.

&quot;You can't be one and not be the other,&quot; Golding had said then, a statement that has now returned to haunt him.

According to some political analysts, those words may be the most telling in Golding's dramatic political career.

[SmoothOperator]

Re: Phillips says PNP ready to rescue JA

AJ right on this score. If Bruce owned up to the mistake even as late as Tuesday his political career would still have a pulse. But his admission came with no apology or any indication that he thinks that what went down here was wrong. Instead he defended his actions. People would still be upset about it but they would be saying at least he admitted that he was wrong and there would likely be fewer calls for his resignation. A so me see it.

[evanovitch]

Re: Phillips says PNP ready to rescue JA

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SmoothOp</div><div class="ubbcode-body">AJ right on this score. If Bruce owned up to the mistake even as late as Tuesday his political career would still have a pulse. But his admission came with no apology or any indication that he thinks that what went down here was wrong. Instead he defended his actions. People would still be upset about it but they would be saying at least he admitted that he was wrong and there would likely be fewer calls for his resignation. A so me see it. </div></div>

fi me, wen u tek his late admission along wid di American Airline /Bartlett fiasco (memba him come out an seh him bak Bartlett even doah wat him Bartless did was outside his purvey and against parliamentary protocol, plus backing di one who did tek di bribe from di Britsh firm...wen u tek all dem togedda , his fenkay fenkay stance lost my support..u cannot a fight on the side of sovereignty an allow u party members to do wat u seh u a hole out farrin interest fi no do...

[evanovitch]

The PNP's convenient morality

The PNP's convenient morality

Mark Wignall


Sunday, May 16, 2010


IN a column written in 2005 I asked the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to publicly declare that they had no links to the criminal gangs which were then running riot in the old capital of Spanish Town. Nothing was heard from either party. With the death of 'Bulbie', the criminal leader of the criminal Clansman gang, all hell had broken loose in Spanish Town as the dregs of garrison politics rose up and slapped the nation in its face.


GOLDING... has brought added stress on himself with a gamble that has been extracting rather than paying political dividends
DAVIES... said he attended Willie Haggart's funeral because Haggart was an active member of his constituency
SIMPSON MILLER... her South West St Andrew constituency has the most complete garrison flavour of any of the 60 constituencies islandwide in terms of the percentage of votes going to the PNP
PHILLIPS... is the only other active politician to have come out openly and admitted that the politics, as practised in Jamaica, has been divisive, destructive and has held back social and economic progress in the country


If we allow our memories to stretch a little we will remember that in the 1997 election campaign, Bulbie was a very busy man in assisting the efforts of the PNP to win the elections in areas outside of Spanish Town. He was wanted from 1995 yet no policeman considered it his duty to arrest him. It is quite likely that if Bulbie had been arrested in 1997, the arresting officer would have lost his job.

Do we remember the PNP's Heather Robinson? PNP to the core, Robinson walked away from active, representational PNP politics when she declared that she was not prepared to 'hug up gunmen' in reference to Bulbie who wanted an alliance with her and the broader PNP politics.

When she took the moral high ground and cleansed her soul by discarding the dregs still cluttering up the PNP, she received the support from just one person in the PNP. By virtue of the loud silence which resonated throughout the PNP when she refused to hug up gunmen, was threatened, had political workers close to her shot dead and then made the final step to leave representational politics, it told the nation that from PJ Patterson, who was then the prime minister, right down to the PNP election worker, the party was, at varying levels, immersed in rotten and criminal politics which was serving it very well.

Heather Robinson warned us, warned PJ Patterson, warned her colleagues. With the immense pressure that is now heaped on prime minister Golding for his delays in coming clean on the Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips (MPP) matter, apart from Dr Peter Phillips, security minister in the last PNP administration, I have not heard a definitive word from any in the leadership of that party that, like Heather Robinson, they are not prepared to hug up gunmen.

Like Bruce Golding in his NDM dispensation, the PNP's Peter Phillips is the only other active politician to have come out openly and admitted that the politics, as practised in Jamaica, has been divisive, destructive and has held back social and economic progress in this country. It appears to me that that is the main reason why Dr Phillips has been given the latitude to express strong criticism of the prime minister's handling of the MPP matter.

This is an important point to consider as the PNP, for mainly narrow political reasons, puts Prime Minister Golding under pressure and has called for his resignation. Question: why have we not heard a condemnation of garrison politics from the leader of the Opposition, Portia Simpson Miller?

In terms of voting patterns, Simpson Miller's South West St Andrew constituency has the most complete garrison flavour of any of the 60 constituencies islandwide in terms of the percentage of votes going to the PNP. Another question: can the opposition leader afford to condemn garrison politics even as she calls for the prime minister's resignation? My answer, no she cannot, simply because there must be operatives in place to guarantee those votes even if the real danger of garrison-style voting is mainly a psychology which demonises the 'other side'. What this means is, if left to themselves, the electors in SW St Andrew would likely still vote overwhelmingly for the PNP because, as poor and wretched as their circumstances may be under many years of voting PNP, they have been brainwashed into that position and cannot act differently. It's just like religion.


Paying respect to the enforcer


Many of us who have voted PNP and JLP over the years have used raw politics in our judgement of our favourite politicians and their links with community enforcers, whether direct or peripheral.

And many of us have little idea how easy it is for young and eager politicians, wanting to serve their country, to get sucked into the politics of thugs, garrison-style voting and other sub-cultural activities. For sure there are those who seek it out but I will submit, at the risk of being harshly criticised, that the majority of politicians entering representational politics do not actively seek out the marriage, but somehow the ring of engagement tends to follow them around until it becomes much too bothersome to resist the offer.

The most compelling reason? &quot;Boss, di odder side have nuff man and nuff gun. Yu nuh wan win, boss?&quot;

It's always the other side.

I am certain that even though Peter Phillips seemed to have cleansed his political soul, even now he must have wished that he could present a really compelling reason for having attended the funeral of the late Willie Haggart, a man who had no ties to angels.

But the former finance minister in the PNP administration Dr Omar Davies, himself the holder of a garrison seat, did attend the funeral too. In 2005 when I sat with him for an interview, this is the reason he gave for having attended Haggart's funeral.

&quot;I attended the funeral services for Willie Haggart because he was an active member of the political constituency for which I am the member of parliament. His family and business are an important part of the community. I had done my own checks with the police and there were no outstanding charges or allegations about Mr Haggart. Others have since claimed otherwise. I had knowledge of none of those things.

&quot;Even so, the political process is of necessity one that seeks to represent the constituency as a whole, it is necessarily inclusive. We are not seeking to build elitist systems that are for some and not for others. We believe, and the international experiences these days are bearing this out, that there is far more to be gained by inclusiveness in the political process rather than excluding some. I have declared that I do not hug up criminals; they do not have a role in my political programme. I abide by those sentiments. If there are outstanding matters against someone, and if the community associates them as acting against its interest in a manner that breaks the law, that is a matter for the police. The political process that I have anything to do with will not shield them or will not provide legitimacy for them. Those matters must be settled by the courts of law, to the satisfaction of all. If there is no such thing, however, they cannot be excluded simply because they do not find favour with others.&quot;

You be the judge of his own words.

The sad part about garrison politics is that if the holder of the seat wants to hold the seat, he or she is forced to do 'business' with these voting centres of influence, these men with armed militias. So, although the politician may want to be clean, the system is so rotten that the linkage becomes a normal part of the specific constituency's politics. Deep in his heart he knows the danger of the link, knows that it is criminal, but the only way he or she can show direct opposition to it is to walk away from it and leave representational politics. Is that any solution?

So, the first step in the solution to garrison politics is the understanding that there must be open and loud agreement across the political spectrum that ALL politicians will sever their links with voting enforcers. It cannot be some do it, some don't, because those who do it will surely lose their seats.

Like the chicken and the egg, it has been accepted for so long in Jamaica that politics must have its sub-cultural linkage that some politicians even boast about their connections and their 'boys'.


Added stress on the prime minister


There are times when I feel very stressed, when I worry about the happenings of my loved ones and the state of my country.

There are many moments when I believe that Jamaica is headed on a path to nothingness because of the rampant, violent criminality and the ease with which it seems to be taking on an exponential growth. It is almost as if the criminality is a live entity feeding on itself and growing more powerful as each day passes.

To make matters worse, the political leadership seems unable to stem the tide of our country's rush into global infamy.

The prime minister has brought added stress on himself by what I believe is a gamble that has been extracting rather than paying political dividends by his statement in the House last Tuesday. It is still my belief that the prime minister knew nothing about the matter but decided to claim ownership, because that is what leaders do.

But did he overplay his hand? In my last column I pointed out that in a state-to-state treaty matter, a political party in Jamaica has no constitutional standing in any dispute which could arise.

In commenting on the prime minister's admitting that he had sanctioned the engagement of MPP but in his role as JLP leader, Professor David Wong via the Caribbean Online Forum said, &quot;If we entertain the proposition that Mr Golding was speaking truthfully and not attempting to practise deception in his statement to Parliament, then he appears to be a very incompetent prime minister. However, the maintained position of Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips that they were acting on behalf of the Government of Jamaica would become totally credible because who else would be a legitimate client for them to represent in this matter? How could they represent the JLP per se, which has no legal standing, in a state-to-state treaty between Jamaica and the USA?

&quot;Is it credible that a man of Mr Golding's reputed intellect and experience could confuse himself about his roles as leader of the JLP and prime minister of Jamaica? If it is, then Mr Golding should get a minder to keep him straight on who he is supposed to be on each occasion. But, in that case, it would seem neater to make the minder of the prime minister the prime minister himself.&quot;

The airwaves and the print media have been flooded with anti-Golding sentiments and so is the mood on the streets. My inbox has been 'pinging' repeatedly and it may sound politically sacrilegious for me to say that I genuinely feel sorry for him because his stress levels must be off the meter.

One female reader said, &quot;I voted for the JLP in the last general election. Words cannot express my disappointment with Mr Golding. Tears flowed when I listened to him yesterday. I really thought that, like Mrs Lightbourne, he knew nothing about the captioned affair. I thought people around him arranged the deal without his knowledge. My God! How could Mr Golding do this? I believe he should resign and call a general election. If the people put him back into power, so be it.

&quot;Going forward, I could never believe a word he says. I weep for my country! I know I will not be voting at the next election.&quot;

Another who has decided to call it quits in Jamaica said, &quot;It hurts... as a Jamaican seeing what is going in our beloved country. The PM misrepresenting the truth on the Manatt Phillips/Dudus issue. My questions among many more are:

&quot;What message is the PM sending to youngsters growing up regarding truthfulness in responding to a question? Twist the truth and hide behind semantics and Standing Orders? OK, the issue is a party issue... so what was the solicitor general doing last year inviting MPP to the meeting with the State Dept?

&quot;If there are in fact e-mails between the solicitor general and MPP on this issue, was the attorney general informed of this process and if not, then the SG should resign forthwith. How can the Government (not the party) be giving contracts to Dudus' company and then the Government does not have an address for him to serve him a summons? Let's see what happens to MPP in the US or the US Government's next response on this matter... they have started to shun the country despite pronouncements to the contrary. Watch out for a significant visit to the region next month which should have been to Jamaica but now it has been switched to a stable sister isle in the region.&quot;

Many of the responses cannot be reprinted in a newspaper because of the invectives that have been hurled Golding's way.

The criticisms tend to centre on his delays in answering, his strong initial responses, his back-pedalling and worse, his perceived arrogance while reversing his argument.

If he had returned the day after Peter Phillips' questioning with a resignation of one of his ministers, his troubles would not have disappeared but he would have appeared forthright, leader-like and with a little less on his plate.

In the interim, I would like to suggest to the Opposition PNP that although it is perfectly within its right to criticise the prime minister, there exists a little truism about stones, tossing them and glass houses. It would be good for its members to use the time to rebuild by using bricks.

As a start, they can begin on the outhouses.

[email protected]

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Phillips says PNP ready to rescue JA

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> plus backing di one who did tek di bribe from di Britsh firm...wen u tek all dem togedda</div></div>

He couldn't have forced Hibbert to resign.
Plus it was at all sure how he was bribed, no case was brought against him.
Did he just get lunch money or was it structured payments designed to get Mabey and Johnson the Bridge Contracts?

And again all of this happened during the Comrade Reign.
If Bruce had just done is vetting homework he could have saved himself lots of heartburn relievers.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Phillips says PNP ready to rescue JA

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SmoothOp</div><div class="ubbcode-body">AJ right on this score. If Bruce owned up to the mistake even as late as Tuesday his political career would still have a pulse. But his admission came with no apology or any indication that he thinks that what went down here was wrong. Instead he defended his actions. People would still be upset about it but they would be saying at least he admitted that he was wrong and there would likely be fewer calls for his resignation. A so me see it. </div></div>

I don't think so whatever he did he was doomed. The Comrades would have gotten him one way or another. He fell on a grenade and I am 99% sure he did not know what was going on.

I think members of his Party, Leys and Brady cooked up a scheme sold him 1% of it and forgot that the USA has certain rules and the Comrades were out for blood any kind of way they could.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Phillips says PNP ready to rescue JA

Putting the NDM years aside my problems with Bruce started during the Campaign.
The poorly ran Campaign that saw Golding shying away from using certain issues.
For instance the JLP thought Sistah P was the problem and I tried to convince them that She was already beaten just use a couple of of issues and she was done.
Go after Peter Phillips, Bunting and Omar but they wouldn't.
The sent Baugh to debate Phillips and ran a total of 4 ads on Crime. That indicated that they were willing to lay down on crime.

They refused to say definitively that they were going to the IMF, which I thought was crazy because Audley Shaw wanted to and it was basically the only option.
At the time I wrote that I am glad the JLP has learned to play politics because surely they will announce just as soon as they win that they would approach the IMF.

But now they were serious apparently Gelding with his usual dithering self had decided that they would not open that box. When they finally went it was almost too late.

Then comes the Election and the poor vetting of the Candidates is revealed with the Dual Citizenship mess, something that should not have caught the JLP because they had to deal with it with Eddie Blinds.

Then the poor Cabinet picks.
The lack of revelations about the true state of the economy.
The Human Rights violations that began to mount up starting with 9 men killed in Wast Kingston and no proper investigations.

The failure to find out from Peter Phillips what took place in is Ministry vis à vis the 20 missing computers. What were on those systems?
Zeeks missing money no one charged.
The idiocy of Derrick Smith I have a Team
The lack of objection to Commissioner Lewin.

All of these things basically confirmed how weak Bruce is as a leader, despite the fact that he seems to be very intelligent, knowledgeable and articulate.

[barosa]

Re: The PNP's convenient morality

<span style="font-weight: bold">THE FOLLOWING BEARS REPEATING:-</span>

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="font-size: 14pt"> Do we remember the PNP's Heather Robinson? PNP to the core, Robinson walked away from active, representational PNP politics when she declared that she was not prepared to 'hug up gunmen' in reference to Bulbie who wanted an alliance with her and the broader PNP politics.

When she took the moral high ground and cleansed her soul by discarding the dregs still cluttering up the PNP, she received the support from just one person in the PNP. By virtue of the loud silence which resonated throughout the PNP when she refused to hug up gunmen, was threatened, had political workers close to her shot dead and then made the final step to leave representational politics, it told the nation that from PJ Patterson, who was then the prime minister, right down to the PNP election worker, the party was, at varying levels, immersed in rotten and criminal politics which was serving it very well.

Heather Robinson warned us, warned PJ Patterson, warned her colleagues. With the immense pressure that is now heaped on prime minister Golding for his delays in coming clean on the Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips (MPP) matter, apart from Dr Peter Phillips, security minister in the last PNP administration, I have not heard a definitive word from any in the leadership of that party that, like Heather Robinson, they are not prepared to hug up gunmen.</span>

Like Bruce Golding in his NDM dispensation, the PNP's Peter Phillips is the only other active politician to have come out openly and admitted that the politics, as practised in Jamaica, has been divisive, destructive and has held back social and economic progress in this country. It appears to me that that is the main reason why Dr Phillips has been given the latitude to express strong criticism of the prime minister's handling of the MPP matter.

<span style="font-weight: bold">This is an important point to consider as the PNP, for mainly narrow political reasons, puts Prime Minister Golding under pressure and has called for his resignation. Question: why have we not heard a condemnation of garrison politics from the leader of the Opposition, Portia Simpson Miller?</span>

In terms of voting patterns, Simpson Miller's South West St Andrew constituency has the most complete garrison flavour of any of the 60 constituencies islandwide in terms of the percentage of votes going to the PNP. Another question: can the opposition leader afford to condemn garrison politics even as she calls for the prime minister's resignation? My answer, no she cannot, simply because there must be operatives in place to guarantee those votes even if the real danger of garrison-style voting is mainly a psychology which demonises the 'other side'. What this means is, if left to themselves, the electors in SW St Andrew would likely still vote overwhelmingly for the PNP because, as poor and wretched as their circumstances may be under many years of voting PNP, they have been brainwashed into that position and cannot act differently. It's just like religion.

Paying respect to the enforcer

Many of us who have voted PNP and JLP over the years have used raw politics in our judgement of our favourite politicians and their links with community enforcers, whether direct or peripheral.

And many of us have little idea how easy it is for young and eager politicians, wanting to serve their country, to get sucked into the politics of thugs, garrison-style voting and other sub-cultural activities. For sure there are those who seek it out but I will submit, at the risk of being harshly criticised, that the majority of politicians entering representational politics do not actively seek out the marriage, but somehow the ring of engagement tends to follow them around until it becomes much too bothersome to resist the offer.</div></div>

The election of Golding in my mind and others was the hope that he would break the cycle of the &quot;comrades' disastrous rule when Crime and corruption was the order of the day. Seaga in opposition and symbolic &quot;don&quot; of Tivoli Gardens was powerless and at the same time a &quot;lightning rod&quot; until he stepped down. At this stage, Do we Jamaicans run the RISK OF PUTTING THE COUNTRY BACK UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP of the comrades with their Many Garrisons and their Many Dons which for 18 long years made Jamaica the murder capital in the minds of many?.. We should hope not... This more than any thing else affecting JA, is what the nation has to grapple with. One more backward turn and we may as well Kiss Jamaica Farewell since they would finish the JOB. The possible demise of Golding has heightened this FRIGHTFUL PROSPECT...
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At a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act: George Orwell

[Tuff Gong]

Re: The PNP's convenient morality

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: barosa</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="font-weight: bold">THE FOLLOWING BEARS REPEATING:-</span>

[quote] [size:14pt] Do we remember the PNP's Heather Robinson? PNP to the core, </div></div>

Heather Robinson was nothing but a dishonest Tribalist. Yes she walked away from Bulbie because she did not want to cede more territory but remain fully engaged in cheer leading the corrupt Comrade Government on for the sidelines.

The worse thing about her was she took an very anti-human rights stand. Do you think the State can keep killing Jamaicans in Tivoli or wherever without due process and get rid any Don, PNP or JLP?

[SmoothOperator]

Re: Observer: No Resignation!

I think this is all going to end badly.

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http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/No-resignation-

BRUCE Golding will not resign as prime minister of Jamaica.
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) General Secretary Karl Samuda said Golding's actions in the Manatt Phelps and Phillips affair doesn't “rise to the level that warrants a resignation”.
Samuda said the prime minister has not lied to the country.
“If we were in the position to do it again, we would adopt a different strategy,” Samuda said, addressing reporters in Ocho Rios today.

[halfwaytree]

Re: Observer: No Resignation!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SmoothOp</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think this is all going to end badly.,”</div></div>

Agreed!

A deep rift will now form within the JLP and the opposition has plenty of fodder to hammer the government for some time to come. An embattled leader is not what Jamaica needs now.

[Magician]

Re: Observer: No Resignation!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Curmudgeon_Milo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">An embattled leader is not what Jamaica needs now.
</div></div>

Would be be any more effective if he wasn't embattled?