THE EDITOR: We must pay close attention to what our political leaders say, sometimes casually, sometimes not. In an interview with the BBC Caribbean Service (before it was shut down) while in London, our Prime minister said that replacing the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice was not a priority for her government.
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Listen to Mohammed’s message, not the messenger
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 30, 2011
It has been a rather perplexing and strange experience to follow the national chorus of prominent citizens’ adamant position that President George Maxwell Richards should remove Nizam Mohammed as chairman of the PSC.
Their rationale for his revocation is the comment he made before Parliament’s JSC. Mr. Nizam Mohammed told the JSC and by extension, the national community that:
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Sex, Guilt, “Sin” and Social Control
By Corey Gilkes
March 28, 2011
This is a somewhat expanded version of an article I wrote for a Ghanaian-based website dealing with issues relating to women’s sexuality (WHY Good Christian Girls “Shouldn’t Have Sex”: The Issue of Virginity). It was actually in response to a blog comment dealing with abstinence. Looking at the comments by some of the readers it was really astounding to see just how alike we are — albeit in this case, I would have liked if it were not so.
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Hospitals of Horror
By Raffique Shah
March 27, 2011
IF DOCTORS in the public health care system feel that they are being unfairly targeted by Government and the public, they need to pause, collectively inhale, and look into the mirror. They should also weed out those in their ranks who have given this once noble profession a bad reputation. Indeed, many senior doctors who have long moved on into lucrative private practice must also shoulder some blame for the ills that bedevil the public health sector today.
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‘Too many Africans in Police Service’
Race talk hampering Police Service
By Clint Chan Tack
March 26, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
THE ability of the Police Service to win the support of the population in the war against crime in the country is being hampered by the perception of ethnic imbalance within the service.
Police Service Commission (PSC) chairman Nizam Mohammed made this charge as members of the commission met yesterday with the Municipal and Service Commissions joint select committee (JSC) in the Parliament Chamber of the Red House.
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The Souls of Black Folk
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 24, 2011
Part 1 – Part 2
On Thursday and Friday last week (March 17 and 18) I delivered two lectures at Albany State University, one of the three historically black colleges and universities in the University of Georgia system, in their International Studies Series. Albany, one of the most important sites of the civil rights struggles in the 1960s, is also the birth place of Ray Charles which explains the deep emotions with which he sings “Georgia on My Mind,” Georgia’s state song.
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Chrystal Bled to Death

By Azard Ali
March 23 2011 – newsday.co.tt
WHEN doctors performed a second operation on Chrystal Ramsoomair to prevent bleeding in her womb, two arteries cut during the surgery were not stitched back and the young Carapichaima mother bled to death.
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Awesome power of nature
By Raffique Shah
March 20, 2011
I WAS watching a World Cup cricket match on television when I decided to see what was happening in the world. For me, that means switching to BBC, sometimes CNN, but never Fox News. When I saw “breaking news” on the screen, and images that looked like something out of a movie, I paid immediate attention. Massive earthquake in Japan, reporters were saying, as cameras (or video footage) showed huge walls or swirling water smashing everything in their paths. Tsunami!
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Doctors, Nurses Suspended – CEO Fired
5 Doctors Suspended
By Clint Chan Tack
March 15, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
FIVE DOCTORS and four nurses of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) have been suspended, pending a full investigation into the death of Carapichaima housewife Chrystal Boodoo-Ramsoomair at the maternity ward on Carnival Friday, March 4.
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Chairman Penny Beckles

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 16, 2011
Although I will not be at the PNM’s Party Convention next week, I support Penelope Beckles to be the party’s next chairman because she is best suited for the job. The PNM must throw forth a new group of leaders whom the people can believe in and who can chart a new direction for the country if it wishes to regain the leadership of the society.
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