General T&T, USA

Obama’s Challenges

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 09, 2012

Barack ObamaNow that Francois Hollande has shattered the consensus around the virtues of austerity, the real question is this: what will American voters do when their turn comes to make a judgment on Barack Obama’s stewardship over the last four years. Too many Americans seem to have forgotten the mess that Obama inherited when he took over from George Bush and the unrelieved opposition he has encountered from a Congress and a Senate who are hell-bent on ensuring he fails. It is almost as though the Republicans want to punish Obama for not recovering the jobs that Bush lost in the first place.
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Finance, General T&T, Integrity Commission, Law, People's Partnership, Politics

Stealing from the Public Purse

19 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 02, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe news flooded the airways and inundated the newspapers: “Vidwatie Newton, the sister of Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, traveled first class when she accompanied the PM on her recent trip to India…The total cost of Newton’s travel to India was $233,600” (Express, April 27).
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Barbados, Caribbean, Grenada, International, Law, Politics

Get it Right Before You Write on TT’s Maritime Boundaries

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By Stephen Kangal
May 01, 2012

Stephen KangalLet me categorically state that the printed media especially since 2004 when the TT/Barbados boundary dispute first erupted and counting, has never gotten it right in reporting about our very specialized maritime boundaries matter. They have done a great disservice to T&T. I cannot identify any single journalist past or present who has taken the time to research and/or to consult responsibly on this matter that the freedom of the press demands of media houses.
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Gender, General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

The Issue of Colorism

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The Issue of Colorism: Dark-Skinned Girls, Light-Skinned Girls

By Akilah Holder, BA, MA
April 24, 2012 – trinidadexpress.com

Akilah HolderFor the most part of my life, I have had to deal with the drama of being stereotyped from the moment I step into a room because of my light-brown complexion. The animosity directed my way is usually intensified by the length of my hair and my mannerisms. And most of this animosity comes from my own sex, the darker-skinned of my own sex. This animosity seems to be indicative of and to be a result of colorism, defined as a conscious or unconscious state of prejudice that may be experienced by both blacks and whites so that they label as less attractive and intelligent individuals of a darker complexion… Continue…
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Caribbean, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics

The New Barbarians

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 25, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDr. Karl Case, a dear friend and one of the most eminent economists in the United States, has always pointed out to me that part of the greatness of the United States lies in innovative scientific research that takes place at its MITs (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and its California Techs; in its Silicone Valleys and Route 128 in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Case should know. He is one of the founders of the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the leading indicator for the US housing market; a member of the Standards and Poors Index Advisory Committee and the Academic Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Board of Boston; the co-author of Principles of Economics that is used in over 300 colleges and universities in the United States. Not only is he knowledgeable but he has proved his mettle in the hard, cold world of United States capitalist market.
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General T&T, Hindu, India, International, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

Nature and Nurturing of a Prime Minister

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By Stephen Kangal
April 24, 2012

Stephen KangalDuring the recent visit made to her ancestral homeland, Bihari village of Bhelupur PM Persad-Bissessar issued a most profound, conclusive, unnoticed and defining statement on her nature and nurturing en route to becoming Prime Minister. She confessed quite categorically to the Bhelupuris gathered that “…whatever I am today is because Bihar is in my DNA and whatever my ancestors taught me…”.
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General T&T, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

The more things change…

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By Raffique Shah
April 22, 2012

Raffique ShahTHE imbroglio in the People’s Partnership Government prompted me to examine more closely how and why the People’s National Movement (PNM) has been central to the electoral politics of this country for more than 50 years. This may sound like flawed logic. But I noted that several of the principal players in the People’s Partnership impasse have said that whatever their differences or their failure to settle them, the parties that form the current government must stay together to prevent the PNM from regaining power.
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General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics

Manning, The Genius

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 18, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI never thought that Patrick Manning was such a genius and soothsayer, especially when he told us that one could turn ordinary CEPEP managers into captains of national and international industries; that, in fact, they could run corporations worth billions of dollars without flinching; and all that one needed to be a servant of the people was commonsense and a level head. In this formulation education attainment, business acumen, management skills, experience and maturity do not matter. To hear the PP tell it, these are just overrated and unnecessary appendages that have no place in a modern economy.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

Marking time 50 years later

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By Raffique Shah
April 14, 2012

Raffique ShahFIFTY years after Trinidad and Tobago was granted independence, the tragedy of our politics is that it still revolves around the PNM, the party that took the country from colonialism through self-government and into independence. Indeed, the fact that the PNM remained in office for 36 of those 50 years is itself an indictment against the electorate. Worse than that, though, the three other concoctions that broke the PNM’s stranglehold—the NAR, the UNC, and now the UNC-dominated People’s Partnership—all had as their common bond, their raison d’etre, one mantra: we are against the PNM.
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General T&T, International, Racism Watch, USA

White xenophobia in America

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Trayvon Martin latest Black victim in Florida

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
April 12, 2012

Dr. Kwame NantambuThe 26 February 2012 killing of the unarmed 17-year old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida speaks volumes as to the omnipresence of white xenophobia (“fear of other races”) in America. And it must be pointed out that this putative fear, real or imagined, only targets the African-American (Black) male.
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