Haitianisation; almost complete

It has happened.
Visitors now require Interpreters.

A police woman, proud of her 'langwij', told me
how business people hire interpreters.

Sitting in the court room as a police liaison
officer, (to explain why police do not attend
court)her smile was radiant.

Not just Japanese or Spanish visitors
but American and English need interpreters,
for they can not understand the 'langwij'.

And most Jamaicans can't understand them.

One has to laugh.

Why in hell would anyone want to do business
with Jamaica of all cess pools when they
can do it with Antiqua, Barbados, Trinidad...
there are twelve English speaking Caribbean
Islands?

Beaches as beautiful, if not more so.
Crime low, locals interested in education and
advancement, not sex and drugs and crime.

Why should anyone come to a failed state?

The police woman smiles, I smile back.
I don't care what language she and her
children speak or don't speak.

They aren't saying anything
anyway, nothing to listen to.

Do you need to know what the lyrics of that
song mean? Surmise; sex.

It has taken 30 years to go from English
speaking to non-English speaking. 30 years
to reach the level that visitors, be they
diplomats, businessmen, tourists, need to
hire an interpreter.

Haiti has claimed its niche as the poorest
nation in the Western Hemisphere; Jamaica
seems hellbent on challenging.

Keep 'em Stupid

1995 the single Telecom company, C & W, deigned
to allow Jamaicans to access the Internet.

Connectivity was offered free from April to November.

Between April and November the number of
subscribers was about 17%.

After November, when people had to pay for it,
the number of subscribers remained at 17%.

In August of 2010 Internet penetration is 17%.

Those who can afford it will use Flow others C & W.
Everyone anticipated what Digicel would do.

Digicel entered the market with an extremely overpriced
'4G' connection.

Whether Digicel banks on its name, or assumes there is
a lacuna with coverage or resistance to the other
providers; (primarly C & W, operating as Lime, it
is about to learn failure.

The problem with Connectivity is price.

Firstly, computers are ridiculously expensive.
Crap notebooks sell for over 65k.

Secondly, cheap connection, which was less than
$500 a month unlimited, (using a cell phone as
a modem)has been withdrawn.

This helpful service which was island wide has
been replaced by charges based on usage; that
is per Meg.

This was done to kill the service and prevent the
less wealthy from connectivity.

The average person who is interested will gain
Internet at school or work, maybe the library.
And that's it.

Unless they have a notebook and know the
'hot spots' or can hack into a system
there is no Internet for them.

As the majority of Jamaicans haven't been sold on the
Internet this is not a problem.

Although a pump attendant might have a Blackberry
phone as a status symbol he has never done more
than make and receive voice calls.

The good thing about having such a small Internet
community is that it is easy to keep the people
stupid.

The problem is, how stupid is stupid enough?

Some may aver the population is remarkably ignorant
of just about everything and as the desire to learn
has been destroyed, keeping Internet service expensive
is unnecessary.

Unlike China which has to censor and track Internet
usage, Jamaica is freed from that role of 'Big Brother.'

To have maintained 17% penetration for over 15 years
is testimony to the success of the dumbing down process.

Hanging Harold Out To Dry

Harold Brady has always been a pompous sort.
This is what made him such a useful pawn.
His own arrogance and self importance would
carry him along, and he would never ever believe
that Bruce Golding would use him.

I am sure Brady wasn't the first person Golding spoke
with, when he concocted the deception.
Others, not as fat on their self-importance would have
seen the worm in the fruit.

Simply put, any American firm which deals with a
foreign government must declare it. As Bruce was
planning on denying that the Government of Jamaica
hired Manatt, what better dupe than Harold Brady?
Set up Brady, give him 'authority' and when everything
goes ass over tea kettle, claim to know nothing about it.

Golding is known as a guy who will sacrifice anyone or anything
on the altar of power. One must never trust Golding. He is
one of the most remarkable liars...he can look into your
eyes, keep his expression and voice controlled, and tell you
the most unredeemable lie.

And if you act on it, he will slap his hand to his chest;
"I never told you that!"