Rid the ranks of rogues, Commissioner

By Raffique Shah
August 16, 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

PoliceACTING Police Commissioner James Philbert and his senior aides must be commended for their recent initiatives to clean up the Service. The exposure of one or more corrupt officers at the St Joseph Station, their identities yet to be determined, is but the proverbial drop in the bucket. But at least it restores some public confidence in the police hierarchy.
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The Israel Khan affair

Newsday Editorial
Saturday, August 15 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

Israel KhanIt was an imperative that Israel Khan should have recused himself from the Uff Commission of Inquiry into Udecott and the Construction Industry. The ten-page letter which he issued to Udecott’s attorneys some days ago appeared to pre-judge the personalities and the issues before the Commission. As a Commissioner, Mr Khan should not have been giving vent to such opinions prior to having them stated in the body of the eventual Commissioners’ Report.
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Answers needed on helicopters

Newsday Editorial
August 13, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

HelicopterThe first deal under consideration began back in November 2005. Prime Minister Patrick Manning, on a visit to Israel, announced that he had met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and had discussed the issue of crime with his host. Then, in a television interview, Mr Manning stated that the talks with the Israelis might include the acquisition of four armed helicopters as well as patrol boats. He said that the Israeli Air Force used armed helicopters and he had initiated discussion to “effect a transfer”.
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Good health from Maracas to Brazil

By Derren Joseph
August 11, 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

TrinbagoniansLast Saturday, there was a fun-run from the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port-of-Spain to Maracas Bay. I only found out about it the Wednesday before, but I instantly knew I had to do it. The chance to experience the rising sun while running along the North Coast Road is something I could not turn down–even though it meant missing the regular 7-8 mile Saturday morning run with the Mall Crawlers (our running group). It exceeded my expectations. When driving along the North Coast Road, the view is amazing enough, but to savour it while running slowly along the road is truly memorable.
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If only pan music were the food of love…

By Raffique Shah
August 09, 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

SteelpanEver so often I wish I can forget the sad state of my country and instead enjoy the luxury my columnist-colleague Keith Smith does. I can see Keith’s eyes “open wide”, blurting out: “Luxury? What luxury? Dis man mad or what?” No, I’m not mad. Over the past week, to use one example, Keith has focused on his community, Laventille, on the tenth anniversary of its pan festival, a feast I enjoyed in its early years, but which, sadly, I have not attended for maybe five years.
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British couple beaten, chopped

By Indarjit Seuraj and Andre Bagoo
August 03, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

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Domestic ViolenceSo horrific was the beating and chopping of 59-year-old British vacationer Murium Greene at her home in Bacolet Tobago on Saturday, that tears of blood streamed from her swollen eyes as she lay on a bed yesterday at the High Dependency Unit of the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope.

At the Intensive Care Unit of the EWMSC, Greene’s husband Peter, 65, lay in a medically induced coma, his head and face covered in cuts and chops. Doctors expressed concern that bleeding in his brain, caused by the traumatic injuries, had not stopped.
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Securing Our Future in Turbulent Times

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 01, 2009 – trinicenter.com

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Emancipation(A lecture delivered by Professor Cudjoe at the 9th Annual Emancipation Day Dinner of the National Association for the Empowerment of African People [NAEAP] at the Center of Excellence, Tunapuna, Trinidad, July 31, 2009. Professor Cudjoe is the president of NAEAP.)
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Paranoid Prime Minister

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, August 2nd 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

PM Patrick ManningI often wonder what grave sins we Trinidadians and Tobagonians have committed to warrant the kinds of politicians we have been saddled with for generations. It’s not that they are the worst in the world, although some people may swear they are. Look at it this way: we could have had really brutal dictators like the monsters who have wreaked untold suffering on billions of people across the planet. Mercifully for us, we have been spared that kind of horror.
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