A general election is no tea party. As pointed out by the Amandala editorialist a few weeks back, there are many people who depend on one of the two major political parties for their survival. Yes, a general election is very serious business. Then, more than at any other time, we place our vote beside a horse that we believe can win.

As a general rule, whatever is good for the politicians is bad for the people. One of the best things for politicians is to have the people polarized so that they think that everything blue is evil and everything red is wholesome, if they support the United Democratic Party and the converse is true, if they support the People’s United Party.

I asked two good friends of mine, whose judgement I respect, what they thought about my views on the four- or five-year term of office for our elected representatives. This is a habit I’ve formed because our readership very rarely write letters to the editor commenting on articles appearing in Amandala. They discuss them among themselves, even when they feel passionately on the matters but, it is important for writers to know what readers think about what they write or, if they make any impression at all on people’s minds.

If the choice was yours, which would you rather your son to become - a lawyer, a doctor or an engineer? There are other fine professions, but these are the ones most thought of when parents dream about their son’s futures.

Just as my article for October 7th was being submitted, I was informed that Rufus X had been attacked by a man with an iron bar in his own yard as he was returning from The Kremandala Show. The last paragraphs of that October 7th article were a commentary on the vandalism punctuated by gunshots that took place outside Mose Hyde’s house in the early hours of Saturday morning. It was hardly a surprise to me, and I believe that both Mose and Rufus X weren’t surprised either.

When Marion Jones draped the Belizean flag around her shoulders after winning the 100 meters at the 2000 Olympiad, she became our hero. Before this, Ludwig Lightburn was no. 1. He was our brightest star athlete on the international stage of boxing, though he never won a world championship. Marion superceded him when she earned the title of the world’s fastest woman.

Cuba. I got in an argument recently with a born again Christian. She accused me of being gullible. She said that I don’t know anything about the package called Fidel Castro. She listed some real derogatory attributes of the gentleman. She told me (born again Christians get their info from the Mr. Jesse Helms and friends group) all about bondage in Cuba (flies in the face of God), and dishonesty (flies in the face of God), and killing people (state executions) who don’t agree with him (flies in the face of God).

To date, the Police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the sensational kidnapping on Sunday, May 27 of this year, of former UDP area representative and Minister of Government, Mr. Derek Aikman. At the time of Mr. Aikman’s kidnapping, he was in the process of leading his Belize Covenant Movement in the conduct of a nationwide referendum to determine the people’s will in connection with the hotly debated issue of the government guarantee to pay off the UHS private loan from the Belize Bank of some 33.5 million dollars US. However, at the time there also arose another equally vexing matter before the House of Representatives, and which Mr. Aikman was also outspoken about in interviews on KREM Radio and KREM TV. That issue was the “Vesting Bill” for the Belize Telemedia Company, to replace the Belize Telecommunications Limited.

4 more months. Brother Henry Gordon has brought it to our attention that, by the painful letter of the law, a Belize government can hold on to the reins, more critically, the keys to the gold vault, for 5 years and 4 whopping months! You know what that means? We get bex and vote out the Reds in 1998 for the wrong reason! And we mek dem wait some more in 2003 because we mi think dehn mek we wait een a 98! What price…If we mi only know. But it is not our fault. The Reds had the wisdom and in folly they did not separate us from our ignorance.

Parting shot, Kremandala Show, Tuesday, September 25, 2007

We are constantly reminded that in the Belize of 2007, money rules. It appears that the determining factor driving every political decision made by this government is money, or more specifically, how much money the “inside” members of GOB can stuff into their pockets. The Stake Bank-Port Loyola cruise terminal controversy revolves around just that. Actually, it really doesn’t matter to the average Belize City resident which terminal, if any, gets built. Port Loyola and Stake Bank don’t give a damn about the Belizean people, and both projects will provide the usual for the population - a few low-end and low paying menial jobs. Both projects will screw up the environment. Both projects will operate behind a wall of exclusivity, keeping the public out under the guise of “crime control.”

If one errs, one should always be willing to apologize. Step up to the guillotine, have your head cut off, and then go about your business. Okay, I can see where if you are the kind of person who harbors malice, or has an inflated ego, apologizing might be difficult. They have their own laws.

The Belize Times’ Think About It columnist is one of my favorite reads of the week. The author is very knowledgeable, and writes entertainingly. The author is a big PUP, but he (the author likes women shapes so he’s a “he”) seldom abuses anonymity to throw heavy stones of the personal kind at Red ghosts. But sometimes the writer trips out on pet peeves.

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:35-37)