Letters & Opinion

Christmas is no longer Christmas!

By  Earl Bousquet
By Earl Bousquet

CHRISTMAS is no longer Christmas — at least, not like it used to be. Long ago, you could have counted on the Christmas Season being ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ for everybody, everywhere. Not anymore, though.

Last year at this time, for example, Saint Lucia had learned what nations and people are also learning today: that climate and weather conditions have fundamentally changed at this time of the year — and not for the better.

The 2013 Christmas Eve trough had just hit us hard, taking six lives and causing infrastructural and property damage island-wide. During the 24-hour period between December 24 and December 25, nine bridges and several roads remained impassable for days and weeks after the disaster. Homes were flooded, agriculture suffered severely, schools were damaged and Hewanorra International Airport was shut down temporarily. Central Castries, Anse-la-Raye, Canaries, Bexon, Dennery, Micoud, Vieux Fort and Soufriere were all among the areas hardest hit as thousands of people were displaced in homes and communities.

Saint Lucia is estimated to have suffered total losses of US$99 million as a result of the trough. However, much more has had to be spent during 2014, to not only repair 2013 Trough damage but to also continue the massive post-Tomas infrastructural repairs also inherited by this administration. Some 17 bridges have been built, rebuilt, renovated or repaired in the three years since November 2011 – again all at massive costs.

The loss of Christmas 2013, therefore, was quite costly throughout 2014, as the government, people and country had to cope with the effects of two unexpected natural disasters that came like marauding thieves in the deep dark of night.

But we were not the first to witness that Christmas is no longer the Christmas we knew – and we won’t be the last, either. Indeed, Christmas has become a bitter pill for many the world over today — and more than ever.

Just this past Christmas Day 2014, massive floods again hit hard in Asia, forcing evacuation of over 200,000 people. And now, just a few days later, another Asian airline has simply disappeared into thin air, with speculation it may be lying at the bottom of the deep blue sea it flew over with 162 persons, in bad weather, from Indonesia to Singapore.

But Asia has long been having the bitter taste of Christmas. Ten years ago on Christmas Day 2004, the giant tsunami took tens of thousands of lives over a large area. And one year ago, the first case of the return of Ebola was registered in Africa.

We will argue as to whether the causes of these increasing Christmas disasters elsewhere are ‘Acts of Man’ or ‘Acts of God’. But the effects of climate and weather pattern changes have also been felt in bigger and worse ways both here and elsewhere.

Unfortunately, it would appear that the rate at which all the material damage left by Hurricane Tomas and the Christmas Eve trough has been or is being repaired, restored and returned to normality here, has resulted in some among us forgetting or simply ignoring the sheer cost of it all.

Some choose to easily and freely surmise that everything could and therefore should have been done better, glibly claiming that the way others measure our success should mean more to us than understanding the success of keeping our ship afloat in stormy seas.

We can choose to be selective and to generalize only when suitable, but unsupported generalities can’t beat the following facts.

Fact: Saint Lucia has survived well enough in the economic circumstances of the past three years.

Fact: Any fair and honest comparison of the first three years of the previous and current administrations will reveal more than just the vast difference between chalk and cheese.

Fact: Any suggestion that the leadership and stewardship of governance here in the past three years was a shameful failure is simply a denial of the facts as they are.

Fact: In the circumstances of the current and continuing decline in regional and international donor aid and finance support, several CARICOM and OECS states have resorted to selling citizenship and passports to pay their bills, but St. Lucia hasn’t had to.

Fact: Several regional governments and companies have had to lay off thousands from jobs or workers have had to take wage freezes and/or wage cuts, but not Saint Lucia.

Fact: Giant Caribbean conglomerates (like CLICO) are stumbling down in the face of the declining economic situation in the region, while even our own CFL has changed hands, with JQ and other supermarkets also feeling the regional squeeze.

But it’s not only the rest of the Caribbean that’s no different from us. Most of the Euro Zone remains in dire and deeper economic straits.

Even the USA – the richest country in the world — took pride in announcing just last week a 5% quarterly growth rate for the first time in decades, at a time when the US deficit is larger than before World War II and when the USA has to print money to make up for China holding 18 trillion dollars of its foreign debt.

So, rather than see the projected ‘minus one percent’ growth rate for Saint Lucia only as a shameful government report card, registering the least possible percentage point of negative growth can also be seen as a positive accomplishment of some measure by the current guardians of the national economy.

Considering the government has been able to again pay civil servants over $400 million in wages during 2014 without anything near the matching revenues for 2013 or 2012, it can be commended for never once missing its scheduled monthly pay days throughout 2014.

That Saint Lucia was able to export 5,000 tonnes of bananas in 2014 when no other fellow OECS banana-producing island was able to export any at all, is worth at least acknowledgement, if not praise.

That tourism figures have improved again in 2014 (and for a second consecutive year running) and that four hotels which were in receivership three years ago have reopened under new ownership and/or management here in the past year, cannot at all be dismissed.

That government has been able to increase the number of free laptop computers given to more students in 2014, with more parents also benefitting from the $500 bursary while adding new bursaries for students with disabilities and increasing public assistance, cannot at all be ignored.

Yes, we can all be looking at the same thing and seeing it differently, but that does not at all change the reality of what that thing really is. Red will remain red and yellow will remain yellow – and calling them either black or white won’t change their real colours.

All that said, I honestly wish a Happy New Year to all my fellow Saint Lucians, whatever their political colour or partisan complexion.

And here’s hoping we can all see much, much better — if not only more clearly — in 2015.

10 Comments

  1. With such rose-colored glasses, there’s no wonder you have become such a nemesis to the Negro slaves who thinks the idiot impostor, who tells St. Lucians that his microphone only speaks and hears in English, is God incarnate in St. Lucia, and came to save the world.

    However, this is what the worship of a naked Caucasian as God, does to the mind of the victimized African, and the result is the inferiority complex of the self–hating Negroes who go around with their Black selves telling the public how proud they are to be Romans while begging dead people to bless them by giving them power in political office – Jeff Wayne and Ezekiel Josie – All shameless Negroes who hate their Black selves and their Black women and children, teaching them to pray to a naked Caucasian as their king. Josie and the other Roman Ricky Wayne have both been promised White Women from the Las Vegas strip with a tan and no skin cancer or AIDS. I leave you with what the Negress thinks when she beholds these Oreos, as she longs for the naked white king. I leave you to reflect on this prayer to get laid by the naked king.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8TAr9jgA9A

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    1. Wow! Here you are spewing your venom once again; only this time, deadlier than before your forced sabbatical after it was discovered that you did not understand basic decimals, fractions and percentages. I wonder how can one individual harbor so much hatred towards so many: Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church, the Negro Slaves, the Romans, Dead People, Rick Wayne, Peter Josie, Ezekiel Joseph, and, especially, Allen Chastanet?

      Whatever happen to the peace, love, and tolerance that Islam, your religion, supposedly stands for? The Koran, for instance, spoke highly of Jesus; it tells us that Jesus, as a baby, was able to talk; it also tells us that Jesus made a bird of clay which was able to fly away; infact, it said many good things about Jesus; but you, on the other hand, has nothing good to say about Jesus. You have allowed the paintings of the Renaissance to form your opinion of him; you have ridiculed and belittled him, on these blogs, at every opportunity.

      Do you need to be reminded that Jesus was a Jew from the tribe of Judea; one of the twelve sons of Jacob that were born unto him during his 20 year sojourn in Syria? Do you need to be reminded that Jacob, twin brother of Esau, who were born in Canaan, were the sons of Isaac, who in turn, was the son of Abraham? Do you also need to be reminded that Abraham was born in the City of Ur, Iraq; but his family was originally from Haran in Syria?

      Therefore, the Jews are an amalgamation of the various peoples of the Middle East, including the Egyptians, where, according to the Bible, they spent 480 years. So your constant description of Jesus, on these blogs, as a White Naked God is testimony to your ignorance; otherwise, you wouldn’t be influence by the paintings of the Renaissance painters who happened to be white men.
      Did you know that in Ethiopia, Africa, Jesus Christ is portrayed as a black man? So it’s time to stop your silliness.

    2. Tom:

      You are beginning to look like a sinusoidal wave with vague amplitudes. Did you read these things about Jesus/Esa the son of Mary in the Qur-an ? I am perplexed knowing the religion of white man worship has forbidden you from reading the Quran. Let me remind of the instructions given you by the Slave Master: — Quote —178. How do we expose ourselves to the danger of losing our Faith?

      (ans.) We expose ourselves to the danger of losing our Faith by neglecting our spiritual duties, reading bad books, going to non-Catholic schools, and taking part in the services or prayers of a false religion.
      — End quote —

      How dare you read books that you were prohibited from reading by your slave masters or did someone inform you through hearsay ? But you did utter some truths even as you struggled to defend your savagery of worshiping a Naked Caucasian man as your God. You reside among the wealthy Caucasians in Bergen County, an area known for white racist, which explains why you must be on your best Negro/Uncle Tom behavior or face being shot and lynched by your white Christian brother.

      Anyway Tom, let me inform you that there is not much you can inform me about the Religion of White Supremacy that Negroes like yourself being married to a white woman, and Josie who hates Dark skinned Blacks, referring to them as “BLACKER AND UGLIER”, and has been promised a white woman if Allen can stop lying to St. Lucians long enough to win a seat in Castries or Soufriere, and the infamous narcissist who felt the name Carasco was not white enough, so he assumed a better slave identity of Ricky John Wayne Mountbatten and is today so delusional, considers himself a Member of British Empire ?? lol British Empire, lol. Yes, that Negroes like yourself and these reprobates with identity problems hope will turn your skins Pale/white. May I suggest Bleaching Cream??

      Your White Prince Andrew will soon commit suicide or be imprisoned for raping an underage child on Rat Island or another one of his private Caribbean islands. The young woman named Virginia Roberts, gives the salacious details of a pervert, sucking her toes, and damn near cannibalizing her sexual organs – now sing God Save The White Queen of Slaves, drink and eat some body and blood so you will live forever, or like you are told, have everlasting life. Like the writer Earl said, every Christmas seem to be plagued with “The Ghost of Christmas Past”. This is indeed the END OF EMPIRE.

      1. “Your White Prince Andrew will soon commit suicide or be imprisoned for raping an underage child….”
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        If your spiritual leader and founder of Islam, Muhammad, wasn’t jailed for bedding 9 year old Aisha, why should Andrew commit suicide? Maybe he converted to Islam and is following in the footsteps of Muhammad.

      2. Tom-Tom

        After examining your known values over the past months, it can be determined that you find comfort in being ignorant. Ignorance when voluntary, is criminal, and a man can be charged with that evil which he has neglected or refused to learn how to prevent.

        I have told you on too many occasions that your white God impregnated the virgin Mary when she was eleven years of age. You however, simply refuse to grasp the message as explained by you own Christian Scholar in the video below to enlighten you.

        I know now that you enjoy your status as an ignorant Negro praying to a naked Caucasian dripping blood into your mouth, perhaps a high school drop-out, which became evident when you displayed such ignorance to the Algebraic concept of the Absolute Value in mathematics. Al-Gebra is a mathematical discipline given to humanity by Muslims, which brings us back to your ignorance.

        Why did you not ask the question, why did your God plug Mary when she was eleven ? Here’s your answer by your own Christian Scholar and he is Caucasian so there is a greater chance you will hear him.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62kfJ3NywuA

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        1. @Son-of-man “… Negroes like yourself being married to a white woman….”
          ——————————————————————————————————-
          After you were proven to be mathematically illiterate (unable to grasp 3rd grade math), you, in an attempt to save face, asked me to “just drop a case of Piton for me by the wall opposite the Cathedral on ‘Asue Square’, then we could knockout some swine, and “Boo-den” at Andre’s restaurant by the square then we’re even”.

          But I politely declined by informing you that I didn’t reside in St.Lucia; rather, I reside in Bergen county in North America. And man did you go off on me; you even went as far as calling me a negro that is married to a white woman, and should be on my best Negro/Uncle Tom behavior or face being shot and lynched…wow! How did you come to such a conclusion, I don’t know.

          Yet, when you stated, in an earlier blog, that you grew up in the Catholic Church, the one on Micoud Street (the very same place you asked me to drop off the Pitons for you), in the laps and bossoms of Catholic priests, I didn’t jump to the conclusion that you were molested by some of these priests, eventhough your current behavior and hatred of everything Catholic point to some dramatic occurrence in your earlier live. No, I would never ever say that Son-of-man was molested by Catholic priests when he was a young boy growing up in the church; simply because I don’t have any proof.

          And that’s the difference between you and me.

  2. I have too often attempted to raise the level of consciousness of the people of African Ancestry to the true nature of the Caucasian man they call God, and the acrid nature of the people they call King and Queen and Prince and Princess. The story of Andrew, your so-called Prince, son of your Queen has been charged with pedophilia.

    The Sunday Mirror reports that Roberts claims she later got into a bath with the Prince. “He started licking my toes, between my toes, the arches of my feet,” she alleges. “And then we went into the bedroom and he proceeded to make love to me, so to speak. He wasn’t rude.

    “But it wasn’t like love either,” she said. “It was more like, ‘I’m getting my business done’.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/01/04/prince-andrew-sex-virginia-roberts_n_6412244.html?1420366628

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  3. Earl:

    This 2015 has taken off with rocket velocity; first the Buckingham Palace with Prince Andrew licking the body parts of an underage child on some Caribbean Island, and now the Vatican arresting this Archbishop from Dominican Republic for raping numerous children after he took to hiding in the the corrupt enclave of the Roman church. If this momentum continues into the near future, we are guaranteed one hell of a spectacle in this year.

    Vatican Arrests Ex-Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski on Pedophilia Charges
    By Suzanne Gamboa

    VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Tuesday arrested a former archbishop accused of paying for sex with children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic, the first-ever arrest inside the city state on charges of paedophilia. Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal in June, has been placed under house arrest awaiting a criminal trial, the Vatican said in a statement.

    The 66-year-old Wesolowski is the most prominent church figure to be arrested since Paolo Gabriele, a former papal butler convicted in 2012 of stealing and leaking private papers of former Pope Benedict XVI. Unlike Gabriele, Wesolowski has not been detained in the Vatican prison, a couple of rooms attached to a courthouse, but was granted house arrest in a Vatican apartment for medical reasons.

    Wesolowski was recalled to Rome by the Vatican last year when he was still a diplomat in Santo Domingo and relieved of his duties after Dominican media accused him of paedophilia.

    He had been living freely in Rome, and victims of sexual abuse had called for his arrest, expressing concern he might flee. The former archbishop could face up to 12 years in jail in what will be the first trial for sexual abuse to be held inside the Vatican City.

    Here’s his picture:

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/vatican-arrests-ex-archbishop-jozef-wesolowski-pedophilia-charges-n210166

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  4. What has any of these 9 comments got to do the issues raised by the article? About half way through them it soon became clear not one addressed the article but a perverse interest in Caucasians; a black as opposed to white Christ; paedophile Andrew and Mohammed. There is no doubt these are interesting topics. There is every advantage for the Negro or African to know his/her history as this is the only way he understand his position today and what to do about his future.

    The article presented the gentlemen the opportunity to addressed these very questions. Rather i was taken to Iraq to Syria about how this one was born there but grew up over there. All interesting all nostalgic but what these got to do with the rather favourable picture of St Lucia painted by writer. He gave us facts, his analysis and his conclusions. A little debate or a little discussion challenging or in support of the writer would have constituted a welcomed injection of some very nutritious spiritual nourishment to the national psyche.

    Instead Son of man wants to position me so that I, a Negro or African, jump out of the Caucasian frying pan and into the Islamic fire. The irony of it all is this on one hand you have the youngest racial group and on the other you the youngest of the great religions yet both believe it is more important and superior to all others. This however is a subject for another occasion!

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