Editorial

With the carnage of the recent midterm elections safely behind them, what remains of the American left has begun to reflect on its losses.

Following the death and destruction wrought by the passage of tropical storm Tomas across Barbados, St Vincent and St Lucia, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has aroused a storm of a different sort with a comment that has been interpreted by the local media, opposition parliamentarians and the general public to mean that there will be no help for countries seeking assistance without benefits to Trinidad and Tobago.

Following a spate of maternal deaths at hospitals around the country, 19-year-old Shinnel George a first-time mother of West Demerara was also very nearly another statistic.

When in 1972, President Richard Nixon visited Mao Tse Tung in China, this visit to the People’s Republic, executed in deep secrecy, signalled to the rest of the world, and in particular America’s major partners, that the United States had recognized a force in the world that would not permit its exclusion from global affairs.

In a reply to Mr Sherwood Lowe’s remark in a letter that the PNCR has an uphill battle to motivate its supporters who do not believe that Gecom can deliver a fair election, the Public Relations Officer of the elections body rattled off an impressive list of accomplishments in a letter in the last Sunday Stabroek entitled ‘Gecom can deliver a fair election and it is impossible to believe that anyone should think otherwise.’

Following a spate of maternal deaths at hospitals around the country, 19-year-old Shinnel George a first-time mother of West Demerara was also very nearly another statistic.

While responding to a tax relief call made by the GAWU General Secretary on Wednesday at the GLU Triennial Delegates Conference, President Jagdeo almost casually slipped in that another US$20M will be needed to secure power generation to meet peak demand and ensure stability in supplies.

“Except with his own consent, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, that is to say, freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to receive ideas and information without interference, freedom to communicate ideas and information without interference and freedom from interference with his correspondence.”

Last month, realizing that his party faces a rout in the upcoming midterm elections, President Obama told the audience at a fundraising dinner:  “Don’t compare us to the Almighty, compare us to the alternative.”

It has not been a good week for regional leaders; indeed, it has been rather a sad week for Latin America and the Caribbean.

There is a sickness that is pervading our local health services.

When, two weeks ago, our editorial concerned itself largely with the changing political fortunes in the leadership of the Barbados Democratic Labour Party, there was already widespread speculation in that country that the serious illness of Prime Minister David Thompson was almost certainly one of the considerations in former Prime Minister Owen Arthur’s decision to mount a challenge to Ms Mia Mottley.

In May of this year, the people of this country became aware of a major construction scandal which enveloped the Supenaam Stelling.

In a lengthy defence of the Grow More Food campaign by way of a letter in the September 29th edition of Stabroek News following a series of hard-hitting reports in this newspaper on farmers’ complaints, the Head of the Guyana Marketing Corporation Mr Nizam Hassan asserted that there has been much success.

Ten years ago – and four years ago too, for that matter – presidential candidates for the two largest parties were a foregone conclusion.

Last week a New York jury recommended an $8 million fine against a mayor who seized copies of a local newspaper which had criticized him and his police department.

On October 10, 2010 – the unique-to-this-century, and for most people, the once-in-a-lifetime calendar alignment of 10/10/10 – the Netherlands Antilles ceased to exist.

Just last month, four major international organizations announced in a jointly released report that worldwide there had been a drop in maternal deaths by a third.

Some observers of the United States’engagement in Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow, may have been inclined to see then candidate Obama’s election campaign giving withdrawal from Iraq priority, as akin to the advice alleged to have been given to an American President during the Vietnam war: that he should simply declare victory and withdraw his troops and the American presence from the country.

The Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon last week purported to instruct the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on the manner in which advertisements and notices connected with election activities should be placed.