What happens when the law is wrong. Was Al wrong? Part 2

Conclusion

Where is the public outrage to the killing of “Kentucky Kid” an aspiring dreadlocks DJ who did all the right things yet was brutally murdered by agents of the state?
For persons not familiar with the story here is the condensed version.

One night back in 2009 “Kentucky Kid” was involved in a motor vehicle accident with a police car, CVM TV was on spot and by all accounts it appears the cops involved in the accident was wrong in that he was the  one who caused  the accident.

Cops contacted “Kentucky Kid” and asked him to drop the case against the cops having made a report to the police station as is required by the “law” (there is that word again).
He refused to drop the case as the police were the ones at fault and not him and he needed compensation for his damaged vehicle.

After repeated attacks and abuse he contacted JFJ for assistance as when he made reports to the police (as required by hmm the law) none was forthcoming.
JFJ advised him to install a security camera system at his house to capture any future image of his harassment so these tapes to be made available to the police high command.

True to form the cops were caught on tape (faces cleary visible) beating his pregnant wife and himself. He turned over a copy of the tape to CVM and it was played  in a newscast while another copy was handed in to the commissioner’s office – again as required by law,( evidence to support your case). He begged Jamaica to help him as cops are out to kill him and if he was killed the men on the tapes would be the ones who did it

Two weeks “Kentucky Kid” was killed by the local police not far from his home in a “shootout”.

Kentucky Kid has been dead now for over 9 months and his wife who has since had her baby fled  the Island for her native Japan as she believes that she too will be killed by the Jamaican police.
Kentucky Kid did all the right things, he spoke with all the people who he believed could help him, yet he was murdered by agents of the state.  He followed the law up to the hilt, yet look what happened.

Al I salute you, you stood up for principle and did what was necessary despite what the law dictated, and as such the end justified the means.
Cowards cannot walk the path that brave men thread.

One politician said many years ago ” The man who play by the rules(laws in Jamaica) always get shafted.
Proof that even the law makers have no faith in some of the very laws they have created.

Kentucky Kid tapes

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2010/04/2010427122334575952.html

Peace

What happens when the law is wrong. Was Al wrong? Part 1

Black people in general  always seem willing to crucify each other more so than any other race on earth.
Today Rev Al Miller will face the courts having been charged with harbouring a fugitive. This came about after Dudus was “captured” with Al on the Mandela Highway.

Previously Al had take in Dudus brother “Livity” as well as his sister to the police station without incident, but lets just suppose that Al was caught up in a road block prior to reaching a police station, what would have occurred? Would he have been charged with harbouring a fugitive.

Now also lets suppose that Al had been successful in taking Dudus to the USA Embassy what would have been the reaction from the Jamaican public?
What do you all think the USA Embassy would have done, if the most wanted man in Jamaica and a man they want, showed up at their doorsteps?

The USA Embassy would have called the top brass of the JCF and indicated to them that Dudus has sought refuge there and they should come and pick him,  has he has suggested he wants to waive his rights to a extradition hearing and taken his chances with the US Vs the Jamaican authorities.(They could not have done anything different)

Most Jamaicans would have been happy and would NEVER have said Al should have been arrested and charged if only he had successfully completed his journey to the embassy.
This once again highlights for me the inability of many Jamaicans to remove the emotions and seriously rationalize a situation on hand and make good judgement.

How on earth could one seriously think it would have been okay for a man who was terrified of the agents of the states who in his mind was out to silence him, to be handed over to those very same agents. Only a retard could think that it was okay to do so regardless of what the law of the country says.

If as a people we are not willing to stand up for what we believe regardless of the circumstances, then we are doomed to fall for everything and remain in the position we find ourselves today.

Two hundred years ago, the British believed slavery was ok and actually had laws to support it. The church in particular the Catholic did not see a problem with it and so also lent it full support, in fact many of the church as we know it today believed it was ok and had scriptures to support it.
So two hundred years ago human trafficking was NOT a problem and had full governmental and wide spread church support as well as all the relevant “laws”

Blacks would be severely punished if they tried to run away from their masters, as according to the law it was simply wrong to do so as the were breaking he law.
Rebellion by the black slaves was frowned upon and dealt with harshly by the white colonial slave masters as their black “subjects” were breaking the law.

Just imagine you being in that position today, being forced to work without pay, proper shelter, food and being beaten for refusing to “follow” the law.
Thankfully many of our blacks fore fathers saw that these laws were simply wrong and fought long and hard and got  the support of others and so today slavery and human trafficking are no longer legal.

I may be stretching the Al story a little bit to make my point and many will say its different, but the point is what do you do, when you conscience tells you something is right, but the law of the land differs.

” We can never bring about change simply by accepting the situation we are faced with today”.
Instead we must be willing to rationalize the situation on hand, look at the risk involved in doing what you truly believe is right and be willing to pay the penalty.

Perons who have brought about the greatest change in humanity are those who were willing to “buck” the system and in those days break the law as they simply did not trust or believed in the law, as the though it was wrong.
Today we call some of these people NATIONAL HERO’S and some Pioneers.

Why did it take Bruce so long to act?

There is a wide spread misconception that the dithering that took place between the time the extradition request was made back in September 2009 and the time which the Justice Minister signed the extradition request was because Golding was trying to protect Dudus.

Anyone who believe this to be the case has fallen trap to the misdirection which was cleverly laid by the rouge elements in the party lead by ( fill in the blanks). Ok  so what am I talking about.
Bruce Golding was ushered back into the JLP by the so called young turks and everyone is well aware of who these folks are and the character of each.

It is a know fact that the JLP was able to garner a lot of money leading up to the 2007 election, and the young turks where instrumental in this massive fund raiding campaign, probably the largest that Jamaica has ever seen in an election.
There is ample evidence to show that a lot of this election money came from the alternative investment schemes such as Olint and Cash Plus ,with Olint in particular providing the bulk of the funds. In addition Mr. Vaz has authenticated the correspondence between himself and Olint’s boss David Smith soliciting funds and thanking Mr. Smith for funds received to fund the election campaign.

The extraordinary long time it took for the Golding administration to have the extradition warrant signed by the justice minister, was primarily done to allow for concealment of the assets of many, should Dudus speak as many expected.
This thing was never about protecting Dudus, it has always been about providing many with the opportunity to transfer, move and remove their name from certain assets, which would prevent their seizure should the USA government ask for their extradition, and the GOJ move to seize their assets.

Word is  that part of the reason for the revaluation of the local currency has been the flood of USA into to Jamaica, as many assets  held in the USA have been liquidated and (some) the funds moving to Jamaica as well as other countries.

Politics, crime and the police

There is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that there is a strong link between politics, crime and the police, so why has it been so difficult to prove it and get those guilty of criminal conduct behind bars.

The security forces incursion into Tivoli Gardens came about only after criminal elements stormed and burn a police station and killed two lawmen.
The security forces where only allowed to act against the criminal elements in Kingston, when the politicians decided that they could after public outrage at the brazens of these thugs.

Since the state of emergency, cordon and searches and curfew, the police have recovered close to 90 guns and over 13,000 rounds of assorted ammunition and have made a number of arrest.
In addition crime has plunged and June is on track to become a record low month for serious crimes in particular murder.

So this begs the  question ,why did it take so long, why did it take the USA to push our government to move against crime and the criminal network.
I thought about it long and hard and finally was able to piece together some pieces of information which I had not looked closely at before which explains what is really going on.

Many Jamaicans are lead to believe that crime is a poor man’s thing and is as result of “garrisonization” and begins below cross road, but how wrong could they be.
Think about it, where does these guns and bullets come from into the country, if you believe its Dudus alone who facilitated entry of guns and ammunition into this country think again.

It’s the government of Jamaican who controls both the sea and airports, and its through these ports that 95% of all these guns and ammunition comes in.
Are you telling me that as a country we cannot figure out how to seriously cut the flow of guns and ammunition into this country? Tell me how we have been able to detect even the smallest amount of drugs leaving this country using technology.
The only reason we have been able to put a serious dent into passengers leaving the country with drugs is due to the insistence of the USA for us to stop the flow of drugs into their country, which has lead us to act, using high tech detection methodology.

What has become very clear to me is that the link between politicians, crime and the police must be broken if the police are to be effective in completing their jobs.
How are we going to accomplish this task? Well it will take strong-armed tactics from the public, some independence of thought from the police and outside forces to bring about this change.
I have zero confidence that our local politicians can or will try to severe this link, in fact I think that they will work hard to keep it where it is, so they can continue to exert control over the country.

Jamaica is at a crossroad and we simply cannot go back to just try “eating a food”, we instead need to force the change we want to see in our country.

Police knew of Al’s Plans !!!

Word is emerging that the police was aware the plans of Al Miller to pickup Dudus from as early as Tuesday morning.

It has been reported that Coke lawyers had earlier(Monday, June 21) made contact with the USA authorities and expressed an interest in getting coke to the USA embassy as he did not trust the local police.

He Coke however was reported to have said that he trust Commissioner Ellington ans as such would like to be transported by a trusted person(Al Miller) to the USA Embassy in Kingston.

It was then expected that the USA authorities would then in turn make contact with Commissioner Ellington who he trust and believe could assure his safety while in custody.

He expected there after he would have been taken to a RM where he would have waived is rights and then handed over to US Marshal’s and flow out of the country.

Things did not go according to plan and now Al has been charged by the local cops.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/06/201062535739868564.html

DUDUS NOW ON ROUTE TO USA !!!

Christopher Dudus Coke is now on on board a USA aircraft having been handed over at approx 2:45pm to US Marshall’s.

This took place amid extremely high security provided by the JDF personnel.

Is this the end of a long drama or is it just the beginning.

Picture: Courtesy of the Jamaica Gleaner.

Dudus on his way out of Jamaica

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNzkoL5El5M

DUDUS ON ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK

VIDEO OF COKE’S ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqLpzPzZ0po

DUDUS IN POLICE CUSTODY !!!

Breaking News – 4:45pm

Fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke is now reported to be in police custody.

He was found in the company of Rev Al Miller

Stay tuned for more details.

Update @ 5:10pm

Its being reported that Dudus is being held at a police station in St Catherine. So just hours after the state of emergency was extended to St Catherine, Dudus is taken into custody.

He was reportedly picked up in Ferry on his way to the USA Embassy

He will waive his extradition hearing and as such will be handed over to US Marshall’s  and extradited to the USA.

Update @ 5:37pm

Coke was picked up during a routine spot check  on the Mandela High Way, while traveling on his way into Kingston.

The police recognized him immediately and decided to removed him from the vehicle, and placed them into a police car, Coke did not resist arrest.

Al Miller has been asked to turn himself over to the police at the nearest police station along with his lawyer by the police high command ( 5:40pm) !!!

Contact was made with Rev Al Miller by Coke’s lawyer and for Al to pick him up and transport immediately to the USA embassy, he was on his way when he was stopped in a routine traffic stop.

Al was  being interview on NNN when he heard for the first time that the police need him to report to the nearest police station.

He is currently making his way to the police for an interview.

Update 6:00pm

Coke’s attorney contacted U.S. authorities yesterday advising that Coke was considering turning himself in to the U.S. It was the first communication that U.S. authorities had had with Coke’s attorney in several weeks

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/dudus-christopher-coke-captured-jamaica/story?id=10765424

Update @ 6:30pm

Coke has since be airlifted from the Spanish-town prison oval to a secure location in Kingston, I think that means the Up Park Camp.

Troubling story !! – From the Jamaica Observer.

The Jamaica Observer is reporting this morning that Coke was travelling in a convoy involving three cars. Two of the cars were filled with gunmen( I suppose they were armed) , while the third contained Coke and Rev Al Miller.

The observer further reported that a police car had been trailing the convoy for hours ( we don’t know how much hrs), which suggest that Coke must have been staying pretty far from where he was captured.

That’s not the troubling part, the big question this raises is how could have the police been trailing this convoy for hours, does it means the police were at the spot were Rev Al Miller picked up Coke?

Does it means that the police were providing escort to take Coke into Kingston and to the USA Embassy ?

It was further reported that the two car loads of gunmen were allowed to get away as the main focus of capture was Coke, is that really the case?

What would have happened if the police at Ferry did not stop Coke’s car, would he have been simply allowed to drive to the USA Embassy with the police and gunmen in TOW?

Did the cops knowingly provide escort for coke and gunmen from whereever Coke was hiding into Kingston?

What is the rank of these cops who were trailing Jamaica’s most wanted?

If the cops in tow, knew that Coke was going to be stopped at Ferry as per intelligence, why would they have not setup a joint military police stop further along Mandela Highway to capture or take out the two car load of gunmen who were allegedly in a convoy with Coke, wouldn’t that have made sense. ?

What if the gunmen at Ferry had decided to fire at the cops, would the cops have been prepared for a fire fight?

These are just some troubling questions that we would like answers for if the observer article is correct.

I am sure many would have missed that, as we all celebarte the caputure of Coke, but it has  become very apparent to me, that Coke may have been able  to escape the Tivoli incursion by help of the very same police and and further elude them for another 3 weeks with this same help.

Not only that, it appears once again, that Coke was made aware that the state of Emergency would have been extended outside of Kingston, which could me certain death if he became caught up in one of these cordon and search type activities.

Who was feeding Coke information, who were the people behind him, why would his lawyers have made contact with the US authorities since yesterday(Monday June 21 2010), but failed to contact the local police?

We say great job be the security forces, but there are many unanswered questions lingering, will we ever the answers. We will continue our investigative work, as I smell a fish and it smells likes its been out of the water for a couple of days and was not refrigerated.

UPDATE @ 2:54PM

Christopher Coke has just be loaded aboard a US Marshall’s aircraft amid extremely high security.

The plane is now on the runway getting ready for take off.

This guy is really the president, as not even a sitting Prime Minister has been afforded this type of treatment.

The end of a long Saga, or is it just the beginning.!!

Will LNG solve our energy problems?

So the GOJ has once again championed LNG the fuel that will finally lower our astronomical energy cost, but is this more hype than substance.

The fact is JPS has us over a barrel (of oil) based on the agreement, which was signed between the government and the private individuals (Mirant) who purchased JPS.
When the JPS was sold to Mirant they were guaranteed a certain return on investment which if not attained during normal operations they could request and obtain rate increases from THEM (OUR is not OUR is THEM). These increases ranged from tariff increases and inflation rate adjustments. In addition to that, there were other things that were built into the JPS billing system such as fuel rate adjustment to account for volatility in fuel prices as well as foreign exchange adjustments which took into consideration the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar to the US $.

What they JPS has sought to do it simply use anyone or all of its various clauses to seek an increase when the fail to meet their 15% rate on return on investment. Never did they believe (a) oil prices could trend down (b) the dollar could revalue. So when faced with lower than expected ROI, they could not ask for on increased based on the fuel prices or exchange rate, so guess what, they simply used the difference between the USA vs the JA inflation rate to secure an incredulous rate increase.

Mirant used JPS to rip off the country and was able to use the huge profits it made, to extract its parent company from bankruptcy.

Mirant in turn sold JPS to Marubeni Corporation and guess what the terms and conditions which was negotiated between JPS and Mirant were incredibly extended to the new company.
If our ministers had an iota of common sense, what they would have done is to ensure that the certain provisions in the contract which was placed their when it was initially divest could not be now transferred between two private individuals.

It makes me wonder why we continue to elect these idiots to represent us, as they seem either not to understand the need of the public, lack the financial acumen needed when dealing with multinational investors, or are just simply naïve in their undertaking.

Just about every public asset that has been sold in this country has been under priced and they buyers have been given a totally free ride to rape the country.
As one person said late last week, Jamaica is like an abused woman, who keeps forgiving and returning to her abuser.

So to answer the very question I asked, will Jamaica really benefit from moving from existing fuel to LNG, the answer is a resounding NO, there will be minimal benefits to the country and we will NOT see the significant savings being spoken about the minister and here is why.

1. 1. The LNG liquefaction plant will not be built and operated by a Jamaican entity, as there is no way we can find the over US$600 B required to get this plant up and running, so guess what it will have to be done by a foreign entity.

1. 2. For any investors to spend so much of their own capital, do you believe for a second that’s its for charitable purposes because they love Jamaica so much, hell NO!!!. So this begs the question?

• (a) what are the terms and conditions under which these investors will be coming to Jamaica

• (b) Are they being guaranteed a specific rate of return on their investment, and if so how much
  (c) Will they be sole suppliers of the liquefied product to Jamaica and if so for how long will they have this exclusive arrangement.

• (d) What are the mechanisms which have been developed for the price of the commodity i.e. will it be subjected to annual increased based, on things like inflation rate adjustment, failure to meet ROI .
• (e) Will the country be called upon the pay for fuel should the Bauxite Company and heavy industries reduce their energy usage thus leaving the company with less sales than initially projected.

• (f) If the JPS for example decide to use a cheaper source of fuel to generate power, will the country have to pay the investor for breach of contract i.e. wills we still have to pay for the unused fuel.
• (g) Will Jamaica be required to source the fuel from international suppliers using Government to Government agreement, so these investors can a constant supply of cheap fuel?

1. 3. JPS has no obligation to the Jamaican Government of its people to lower energy cost, and as such they are likely to lose money if they are going to be collecting less money due to lower than expected fuel chargers. The fact is they have been guaranteed a certain rate of return on their investment.

They have capital equipment which are cannot be just taken up and shipped out, so while their main input which is fuel will be lower, they would have still have significant investment in equipment used in the power generation and distribution process, so they will have to be paid for these assets.

This is not withstanding the fact that they came and meet most of these equipment and have not done any significant investment over the years.

Did a soldier allow Dudus to get away?

BREAKING NEWS !!!

Its been reported that a JDF soldier had made a telephone call to Dudus ahead of the joint military/police operations in Kirkland Heights a few weeks ago.

During that operation Mr Clarke was shot and killed by JDF Personnel.

Its reported that the soldier is currently in detention at up-park Camp.

Revaluation of the Jamaican dollar, am I dreaming ?

There has been many school of thought as it relates to the revaluation of the Jamaican dollars.

1.  Why is it revaluing at this time

2. Can it be sustained?

3. What does it mean for the economy.

Noted economist Mr. Ralston Hyman in his continued in his quest to ridicule everything that is done by this administration, has sought to suggest that this revaluation is the worst thing that could have happened to the Jamaican economy.

This noted economist has constantly suggested that the dollar has been running away due to the incompetence of the government and Audley Shaw in particular.

Imagine my shock when I saw this same economist suggesting that the revaluation of the dollar would wreak even more havoc on the economy, how can one persons be so disingenuous.

What could we get from this re-valuation of the Jamaican Dollar.

The dollar is revaluing and according to one financial writer each 1% revaluation saves the country $6.8B.
Interest rates are the lowest in around 15 yrs.

• A revalued dollar means lowest cost for imports( we import a lot more than we export).
• Lower import cost means lower fuel cost.
• Lower fuel cost means lower electricity rates.
• Lower electricity rates means lower manufacturing cost.
• Lower manufacturing cost means lower cost of goods and services.
• Lower cost in the above should help keep inflation rate low.
• Lower manufacturing cost means we could become more cost competitive.

Will our manufacturer seek to capitalize on this revaluation by seeking to expand business, given that fact that interest rates are now the lowest they have been in a long time.

I believe the revaluation is only temporary as we have creature like the OUR who believe its perfectly ok to grant an electricity rate increase at this time despite all that is happening.

This coupled with the fact that we will seek to import luxury good and services to benefit personally from the revaluation vs using this to help rebuild the ailing economy.