Racism in America Not Dead At All!

Since the election of Obama as the first black president of the USA,  the racists have been secretly seething  while day dreamers have been claiming that it is proof of the end the of racism in the USA. This is of course as far from the truth as one could get, for whereas legislation over the years has made overt racism  punishable, it continues to simmer underneath and has now reached boiling point in some quarters.

As we know, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance and that must start now, for with the help of the Donald Trumps of the world however, if freedom loving people are not careful,  the bloody activities of skin heads and klu klux club types will again soon start to surface.

For what do you really think is behind the constant accusations by Trump et al that Obama was not born in the USA, despite the irrefutable proof that has been presented over the years? These baseless claims are grounded in nothing but blatant racism, for would you believe that  even after the White House produced the long form certificate on the 27th April, a television poll found that 45% of the Republicans were saying they still did not believe he was born in the USA!!!! (This coming from a bunch of idiots who put up McCain, a man born in Panama, to run as President in the 2008 election.)

I suspect that the next thing racist Republicans will probably try to do is to start a campaign to take away statehood from Hawaii !

But  the super racist Trump is not waiting on the mentally challenged activists in his party to launch so stupid a movement, so in the meantime he has started a campaign to create doubt about Obama's academic credentials!

Obama and the White House need to ignore this latest nonsense for nothing will appease unrepentant racists.

I think it is time for decent Americans to confront the blatant racism of the Trumps of the world and vote with  their pockets by boycotting the businesses run by these people and their supporters. For these guys worship nothing but  the almighty dollar and only when they start to bleed financially will they realise that people are tired of their insanity and petty ways.

As to Trump, what does he really have to offer to the most powerful nation in the world but a lump of false hair worn to deflect attention from the fact that there is nothing underneath!

St. Joseph's

A number of years ago, my daughter Michele was born at St. Josephs Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. On the 23rd April her daughter Madelynn was born at St. Josephs Hospital in Denver, Colorado.
Oh how things have changed in the birthing field and what an absolutely wonderful hospital this Roman catholic run institution is.

I don't have to tell you that I was by far a worse basket case than my daughter was and someone from outer space observing it all may have thought  I was the one who was delivering, not her! To begin with, I hate hospitals anyway and have only had to be in one three times, twice for pregnancy and once a minor procedure.And I really do try to stay as far as possible from these institutions except for when I have a best friend there. In other instances, I wait for the patient to go home and visit them there.

I suppose my dislike of hospitals is related to my general squeamishness about blood and goo....I'm not sure,  I just know that they freak me out. Add that to a daughter having her first pregnancy and me forgetting what it is all about, what signs to look for and what do you get? You guessed it ...a helpless mess.

When I heard that my first granddaughter was born in the wee hours of the morning;  I told her husband Devin that I would give her time to rest as she had not slept or eaten for 15 hours, so we agreed that I would visit at noon next day. Well can you believe I just could not wait to get to a hospital and got there with my first and only grandson Shadrach from 10 am. Luckily she was awake.

This hospital totally blew my  mind. It was large and beautiful and not institution like at all. Her delivery room had everything from cable tv to an ipod base and speakers and guess what, also a jacuzzi! It also had a sofa bed for the father.

After delivery she was moved to another room, slightly smaller but just as nice except that it had a shower, not a jacuzzi but this time there was a twin bed for the father......here fathers have no excuse not to stay with the mother for the entire period that she is hospitalized! And the food, one of the terrible things you hear about hospitals is the insipid taste of the food but here you the opportunity to select  breakfast, lunch and dinner from the menu and wait for it.....up to a four course meal for dinner. According to my daughter who is very picky, the food is delicious!

In addition, there is a family room with coffee, other hot and cold drinks and snacks for the immediate family. In fact, I had to comment that St. Joseph's was more like an all inclusive hotel than a hospital. Of course you pay dearly, but then residents do ensure that they have proper insurance coverage else they  would end up in bankruptcy!

It is not just the environment that had me in awe however, but also the excellent level of service. In this hospital, you are not assigned your private gynecologist to deliver you but whoever is on duty is your doctor. But along with the gynecologist there is every other type of specialist needed for both mother and child. They not only visit regularly but are always on the compound should a nurse say they are needed. And it  is not just the medical staff who are always visiting to ensure that all is well, but also social workers, baby specialists, counselors and even the maintenance staff who want to make sure that the room is warm and comfortable and that all the facilities work.

Yes sir, I have seen and heard about hospitals all over the world, but St. Joseph's in Denver is my pick for when I reincarnate.!

BUILDING STANDARDS IN THE USA

Whenever I see a house under construction in the USA , I have to wonder how come it has not occurred to the authorities that their building standards are way below par. You just have to see the regular television reports of the devastation that follows the frequent tornadoes to see what is happening. The thing about tornadoes is that they seem almost impossible to predict....a bit like our earthquakes in  Jamaica. But that is no excuse not to have residences built to a  nationwide standard to withstand these whenever and wherever they strike, for  every time a tornado strikes a community, you see vivid pictures of houses having crumbled as if they are made from paper.....and houses in the USA aint cheap!.

From Florida to California and Colorado, whenever I see construction being done, the exposed  infrastructure seems quite cheap and I ofttimes wonder if it not just crumbly, ordinary bagasse board that I always see peeping out .......not a sign of even a little steel anywhere. The exception is of course areas in Florida, which hurricane Andrew virtually flattened  some years ago. Now the smart people are building sturdy residences, bearing in mind the fact that natural disasters can occur.

On the other hand, take the Japanese, they obviously take the hazards of nature seriously for the almost 10 earthquake they had recently did very little damage. What devastated them was the tsunami that followed , and even that they had prepared for reasonably well, building sea walls in strategic areas. You will recall that the tsunami  in 2004 killed almost 200,000 persons in Indonesia alone and thousands more in other Pacific countries as opposed to under 50,000 dead and missing after the double whammy of one of the most dangerous earthquakes in recorded history, followed by a tsunami in Japan.

 I wonder what the effect of a tsunami in Florida or some other coastal state of the USA would be? From what I see of their building standards, I fear it would be a total wipeout. I hope I will never be anywhere close when the inevitable occurs!

Good Friday

It  is really strange being in a country where Good Friday is treated as just another day! Here I am in Denver, Colorado where people on the radio keep referring to "The Easter Holidays," but no where was closed, not even the schools. So who had the holidays I kept asking?

Then I heard on the news that Wall Street was closed. Strange, I thought since it is more or less accepted that Wall Street is controlled by Jews!

And when you consider that Good Friday is a holiday in other countries that have very little Christian  traditions....example  Sri Lanka,  it gets even weirder.

I guess it is going to take me many moons to understand what is broadly referred to as American Culture!

The Marijuana Debate

In Colorado, there is an annual convention held by the  National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a prominent legalization group which has been in operation for 40 years. This is of course an advocacy group that wants to see the weed  fully legalised. (Interestingly, Colorado is one of the 15 states plus DC which has legalised the use of medical marijuana.)


Today is the day for that convention and it follows yesterday's annual 4/20 Marijuana day celebration when thousands of demonstrators gathered in parks all over Colorado to smoke pot openly breaking the laws of the state and since the police cannot arrest the vast numbers who gather at specific locations, they make their point quite well. It is said that 4/20 takes its name from the code the police use in California for pot smoking and since most states take their cue from what happens in California, this is a big event.

A point to note is that in California, Democratic state assemblyman Ammiano  introduced legislation to legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale — a move that could mean billions of dollars for the cash-strapped state. Anyway, it is well known that pot is California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion a year in sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity — milk and cream — which brings in $7.3 billion a year, according to the most recent USDA statistics........ and the authorities keep their eyes closed to this fact while declaring a so called "war on drugs" on sovereign nations!. The state's tax collectors estimate the bill would bring in about $1.3 billion a year in much needed revenue, offsetting some of the billions of dollars in service cuts and spending reductions outlined in the recently approved state budget.

I am almost certain that it is just a matter of time before marijuana is legalised throughout the entire United States but the USA will continue to  use their vast military might to prevent other countries from getting into the supply  side of things early.

I find the entire drug policy  in the USA hypocritical and even more so no now when we they have a president, who admitted to have experimented with drugs in his youth. His experiments have obviously had no ill effect on him, so why is he not doing the correct thing and allowing drugs to be legalised?

At the moment, the USA, the biggest consumer of mind altering drugs and marijuana, spends billions all around the world from Afghanistan to Jamaica and Mexico, on its so-called war on drugs. This spray and use other dangerous means to eliminate drug plantations in sovereign nations while also damaging domestic crops thus condemning  farmers in these poor countries to poverty and deprivation but it has in no way lessened the demand in that country for drugs in their own country.

The USA  would get far more value for money if they would stop interfering with sovereign countries and launch a massive education program, similar to what they have for cigarettes and alcohol, to steer their nationals away from drug use and allow those who want to do so to take the drug of their choice while setting up easily accessible rehabilitation centres for those who fall thorough the tracks. At least users would then be deciding on their own fate, fully cognisant of the consequences, as opposed to the situation that now exists where most people do drugs because, a) they want to experiment and b) especially where young people are concerned, the forbidden fruit has a massive pull.

Having stores that can legally import drugs and sell following the same rules as  for alcohol  and cigarettes (no selling to minors etc) will take the crime out of drug production and manufacturing .Just think how many lives could be saved on their own border with Mexico if this enlightened approach was taken.

But I guess we will never see this policy any time soon as the US economy is built on warfare and declaring war on everyone for everything seems to be in their genes.

Its Surreal!

One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen  in my many travels and my long life is the distant Rocky Mountains in western Colorado as it appears on the horizon, almost losing itself in the clouds except for the glistening snow on the peaks. Its kind of surreal really, transfixing and absolutely beautiful.

Each morning when I am heading back to Denver after dropping my grandson Shadrach at school, I am treated to this divine sight. It makes me want to treck up there! 

Of course I know better for when I did venture into the Rocky  Mountains some years ago, it was middle summer but the hills were still covered with snow and it was, well for me, freezing.

So now I happily enjoy the view from afar, very far, but I look forward to being overwhelmed by the absolute beauty every morning. For it remainds medaily of Gods greatness and the absolute beauty of this wondeful world.

Almost There!

This was quite a busy weekend  and the weather was good to boot.

On Saturday we drove down to Boulder to the famous Pearl Mall. This is an attractive, artsy, walk through mall which reminds me a lot of one in New Orleans. It is filled with not only tourists and shoppers but all types of performers, artists and musicians who no doubt hope to be discovered and go to Hollywood! I didn't see one who could fit that mold however, but who knows?

There we visited the "Tesler" showroom where they had the fabulous all electric sports car selling at $100,000 each. I hear one or two have been sold.

Michele who had been having convulsions on Friday had hoped the walk would have encouraged "Madelynn" to speed up things, but she certainly is not ready yet.

We had dinner at a great Italian restaurant and when the guy heard our accents he immediately put on reggae music. Of course you know he got a big  tip!

I went riding on Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon, when Shadrach went jogging I rode with him.

Things are working out well and I am finding my way around. With Michele no longer at school I have to drive the 22 miles to his school and pick him up, but no problem.

Can't wait for Madelynn to pop out!