Today, Wednesday, I have no clue about what the results of the municipal elections being held today in the nine cities/towns across Belize will be. The sense I get is that people expect that the PUPeez will do better than they have done in recent elections.

I know it is very difficult for the Opposition to win. One, these are municipal elections and they are more than two years away from the mandated date for the next general elections. It is normal for people to stick with the party in power, especially when the general elections are far away (more than 30 months). Two, this government is very willing to take advantage of the system. This crowd know fu stretch the legal limits. Six a one an half a dozen of the other. This present government uses every means to purchase favors at the polls.

For sure, no one expects the Opposition to win in Belmopan. The talk about is that George Price’s city is firmly in the control of the red party, at least at the municipal level. John Saldivar has won a number of times in Belmopan at the general elections level, but people haven’t forgotten that he only won by a shave when the seasoned Amin Hegar ran out here in 2012.

The big interest out here (for me) will be the performances of the BPP leader, Charles Leslie, and the PUP councilor candidate, Cesar Ross. I’m hopscotching today so I’ll hold my comments on that.

All the Opposition needs today is a good showing.

Call mi ****, but noh call mi****

UDP hero, Hubert Elrington, once said he’d rather be called teef, corrupt, incompetent, than to be called a “PUP”. Wait, something doesn’t ring too right there. He was saying that the PUP “were” those terrible things, so he must have preferred being called things that were less defamatory, inflammatory. Let’s just say he said some very bad things, and in Hubert’s mind, the PUP was worse. Of course, if Hubert were sincere, in 2018 he would say, Please, A di beg unu, noh call mi UDP.

I have the same last name as the representative from Lake Independence. He is my nephew. When my nephew was declared a candidate for the PUP in the 1998 general elections, the UDPeez “presently” in charge of Belmopan/Cayo South decided to put the PUP brand on me. Before I go on, allow me to say this little this.

Roberto Baggio, the great striker from Italy, missed a big penalty on the biggest football stage, the World Cup. To some people, the pain Baggio experienced would be a thousand times greater than the pain of a child in pee wee who misses a crucial penalty or free throw. To some in the world, yes. But, on the real, the pee wee striker might experience pain, shame, a thousand fold worse than Baggio’s.

I read this story about DeMar DeRozan (NBA super player), and his bouts with depression. This man’s a multi-millionaire, a person who has the bread on the table covered for himself and his family if he lives to be 200 years. But a man who has just the basics may be happier than he is.

All the world exists between the ears. I have read somewhere that this Mr. Baggio is a Buddhist. I don’t know what you see when you hear, Buddhist, but when I hear Buddhist I see “monk”—cool as cucumber. The Italian fans might have wanted to kill him. And he, between the ears, might have been saying, “What’s the fuss; it’s just a game played by grown men, with a bag of air.”

Well, between my two ayz I noh to happy to be called PUP. I understand why the UDP would want to brand me. A long time ago I might have had a little clout in my area, so it’s all about diminishing the value of my thoughts/ideas, when I am not on their side. I am not on their side right now. Far from that. But I am not a PUP.

You are a PUP, or a UDP, if every (or almost every) election you vote “your” party. The numbers tell the tale. In this instance, the proof is in the vote. I might have been considered a UDP up to 1998 because in every general election before then I voted red – 1984, 1989, and 1993. There have been five elections since. I have voted red, once; blue, once; yellow, once; and twice (2003 and 2015) I did not vote.

Yes, I was in the red corner. If I’m around at the next general elections, I am leaning sure to vote blue. In 1984 a change was needed and I voted red. In 1998 a change was needed and I voted blue. In 2008 a change was needed and I voted red. In the next election, if I deh bowt, yap, a change is needed.

Incidentally, from between my lee ayz to between your lee ayz, my decision to vote blue in 1998 was a slow process. I’ve put down on paper some of that story. Of course I was supportive of my nephew. I know his roots. If I was a Lake I voter, it would have been signed, sealed, and delivered. But his candidacy didn’t commit me to vote blue in my area in 1998. The red deserved to go, but the party wasn’t corrupt. It was other things the red party did.

Weed different from rum and cigarettes

It is imperative that the nation makes every effort to keep marijuana out of the mouths of children. Rum (alcoholic beverages) produces a temporary stupor. It takes a lot of years of drinking to impair brain function permanently. Cigarettes (nicotine) are a known carcinogen. It is not known to cause cancer after only one exposure, but all the science says repeated exposure decreases a person’s defenses against cancer.

Marijuana is a difficult herb because it has so many compounds in it. We have heard of so many medicinal uses for marijuana and we shouldn’t be surprised when we learn of more. Peter Tosh said it was a remedy for cancer. Exciting new studies show it to be a wonder drug for epilepsy. Some studies show it helps people with glaucoma. More will come out in the future. We can expect that all we learn about marijuana will not be good.

We know of some of marijuana’s effects on the mind. It is proven that some people can handle it, and some people can’t. A just society will give sound advice and then allow adults to make the decision that makes sense to them.

No studies have been done on marijuana and the young mind and we don’t need any. A herb, with so many compounds is nothing for children to experiment with. Parents (adults) who introduce children to marijuana need to get smacked.

The state has certain “property rights” on children who are born or live there. The mature state does not allow parents to keep their children out of school. The mature state does not allow parents to decide against necessary vaccines. The mature state does not allow parents to give their children alcoholic drinks.

The adult who uses marijuana and finds it helps their mind must be made to know that it is not their right to give it to their children. The mature state will not allow adults who smoke marijuana to give it to children.

The people of Belize will support a law that calls for extreme punishment of a person who introduces marijuana to children. Marijuana is not temporary, like alcohol and cigarette. Marijuana is a herb for adult human beings who need it for their stress, or for use as a sacrament.

Haley following Hillary’s footsteps

If you consider Nikki Haley, Hillary Clinton, and Margaret Thatcher as a sizable representative sample, it does appear that quite a few women in power like to express their “manhood.” I won’t beg for mercy, but if the world is trying to move away from horrifying war and massive impoverishing of people who don’t live in the countries that have the bomb, or are their total satellites, then there must be some give to this cold, brutal, capitalist, racist idea.

Mrs. Haley visiting Honduras and Guatemala, and ignoring the rest of Central America, it could have been Thatcher if she were alive.

On passing thru some countries in South America, Bobby Kennedy said that if he lived in those countries he would have been a socialist. Bobby Kennedy also said that if he hadn’t been born rich he would have been a revolutionary. What I gather from those comments, and a few things I gleaned from his life’s story, is that Bobby was capable of growing.

After visiting the Middle East when he was 22, Bobby made statements that conveyed that he supported Israel over Palestine. That last is why Sirhan Sirhan assassinated him in 1968. Sirhan Sirhan should have put some thoughts into Bobby Kennedy’s head, instead of a bullet.

People like Haley and Hillary come over like folk who don’t know the world enough. Or maybe they are trying to play manly.

Women are supposed to be the world’s nurturers. They are the ones who bear children. It is a sad thing when they use the brute force of their armies and wealth to push savage capitalist ideas that bring such havoc to the lives of other women, because of their ignorance, or their “macho.”