St. Maarten Private Eye

I have to really L.O.L at this comment, shake my head and say "Here we go again".

Whenever Government appoint a "qualified" foreign body (including the dutch) to involve in any form of supervisory and or advisory position everyone jumps up and start yelling "FOWL".

When Government appoint "qualified, capable and experienced" locals to do the job again "FOWL PLAY" is yelled. When will it ever stop.

You know what people ..... just go right ahead and "mess up" (I said it nicely) this whole Island.

There is a small group of "ELITES" who feel that they should be on or oversee every board and organization (even our Government)

Then they should run for office and let the people decide if they find "them" qualified enough.

The qualifications I see in Mr. Boasman being appointed to chair "the board of" a million dollar communication company is that he took a "Billion" dollar Government Department and not only cleaned it up but have it up and running as one of the most efficient Departments and has gained the respect from our Government counterparts both in Curacao and Holland. But of course, to our local creme de la creme, he is a simple nobody, yep he is "just" local.

Sorry Mr. Boasman, guess I just made matters worse for you !!!!!!!! guess I am stepping on the wrong toes.

Correct me if I am wrong, but it was the then so called qualified, professional, knowledgeable and experienced (Elite) locals and foreigners who ..... messed up ..... (said it nicely again) the telecommunications company. It is taking the unqualified to clean up and save face of same company.

At present I feel that the Dutch should just come in and take over the whole darn thing. This is sickening to say the least. I know that very few here will agree or understand my point of view, but I really do not give a heck. just continue to destroy our paradise and continue to make us look like some real idiots. No one has to do this for us, we are doing a darn good job of it ourselves.

Disgusted and Sick of it all.

You write that you'd much rather have the Dutch in charge than the current officials, right? Well, I agree and I wonder when the rest of the people will see that their paradise is being destroyed. When will they quit electing incompetent individuals? Although voting for the lesser evil always seems to be the one thing you can do...
Enfin, c'est la vie. I'm just so disappointed in the whole island government. Megalomania and Egomania...constantly. Reality check, this island is just 37 km2...think about it. Sometimes people tend to forget that. Just look at the new administration palace. A little out of proportion?
Anyway, I have lost every bit of hope for this island. I think we might as well give it to remax or whatever.
It's so depressing!

I think it important when discussing the issues to know where someone is coming from in his or her thinking and argumentation. Hence I hereby present, what I call the Macgee Manifesto, introduced above.

Politicians must full give disclosures.
Politicians must give full disclosure of their net worth, assets held and holdings in onshore and offshore companies. The close family members and relatives of government officials should also be annually scrutinized by the Tax Inspectorate as an added precaution. (Now don't go screaming about privacy issues, because politicians and their families have to submit their tax returns just like everyone else. Country St. Maarten will need to enforce this to ensure proper tax collections from everyone if we are ever going to present a balanced budget. Furthermore, higher supervision also entails scrutiny of tax returns. So don't be surprise when we all start getting claims from the tax office now that the Island Council has approved the higher supervision requirement.)

Island Council members should not be Executive Council members.
One person should not be able to fulfill both positions. The biggest vote getters of the winning party/coalition can choose to accept Executive Council (ExCo) positions and the seats won in the Island Council by the parties should be filled with other party members on the lists. The Island Council (IC) members must be able to do their jobs and be critical and vigilant of their colleagues in the ExCo who must give full accountability to the IC.

Professionals should be appointed to supervisory and advisory boards.
Shareholder’s Representatives and board members of government owned companies and affiliated foundations should be selected from the pool of local, preferably retired, professionals who do not have political affiliations or family ties with politicians on the Executive Council.

Appointments to boards should be minimum 2 years, maximum 3 years.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Need I say more? Appointees should have enough time to get a job done, then move on. Make place for another with new blood. Avoid stagnation and complacency. (The board of SCDF is a prime example.)

Compulsory local counterparts and training of staff.
Any foreigners or consultants (temporarily; see previous point) hired for government positions or in government owned companies have to have a local counterpart who they must train to replace them when their contract expires. As a matter of fact, every civil servant in a supervisory, management or senior position should adhere to the rule of training their underlings to replace them, else they do not qualify for promotions and salary raises. This would immediately dispel with the problem of certain civil servants holding down positions for years with no career possibilities for lower echelon civil servants to move up.

Complete transparency in awarding of contracts.
Complete transparency in awarding of contracts by government and government owned companies and affiliated foundations is required. Especially for lucrative contracts where the potential for double dealings may exist. (Too often we hear after the fact that a contract was awarded to a company out of short list of three companies, but you never know who those other two companies were nor when the invitation to tender (aanbesteding) took place. This wall of non-transparancy in tender proceedings has got to come crashing down.)

"No work, No Pay".
Just as the Executive Council can expediently fire a civil servant for refusing to carry out an order of a superior, so must civil servants who do not nor ever show up for work but still collect a salary every month should be fired with immediate effect with the same procedure and expediency. (Long term sick-leave situations should be investigated with same expediency.)

Ombudsman Office.
Set up an Ombudsman Office immediately.
According to Wikipedia an Ombudsman is an official, usually (but not always) appointed by the government or by parliament, who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints reported by individual citizens.
An ombudsman need not be appointed by a legislature; they may work for a corporation, a newspaper, an NGO, as an organizational ombudsman, or for the general public. So what are we waiting for here in St. Maarten?

Feel free to discuss this openly. (SXMPE may want to create a seperate thread for this discussion. I will repost.)

Hello there George McGee,
I agree with your manifesto, although I am sure there must be more to your wanting of transparency and open governance.
I found this simple text book on how our government works, knowing that many students from USM and other schools use this site for their educational information I will hereby add it for theirs and others benefit.

A. The most important governing bodies on the island of St.Maarten are;
1.The Island Council
2.The Executive Council
3.The office of the Lt. Governor

THE ISLAND COUNCIL
1.The island council is the legislative part of government and it represents ALL the people of the island territory of St.Maarten.
2.The Island Council is allowed to make certain laws for the island.
3.Eligible voters elect the Island Council members. For the voter to be eligible, he or she must be 18 years or older and have the Dutch Nationality.
4. Island Council elections are held every 4 years.
5.The elected Island Council must appoint at least half of the Commissioners from among the Island Council. **Mcgee pay attention to this-half it says, not all.
6.The Lt.Governor is the chairperson of the island Council but he is not allowed to to vote in any decisions made in the meeting. he has to make sure that the meeting goes well and that the rules of the meeting are obeyed.

The EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
1.The Executive Council is the executive branch of government.
2.The members of the EXCO are NOT ELECTED ! They do not run for elections.
3.The EXCO is in charge of the daily administration of St.Maarten. THEY HAVE TO RUN THE COUNTRY.
4.The Lt. Governor is the chairperson of the EXCO and can vote for or against decisions made in the meeting.
5.Executive Council meetings are held on St.Maarten normally every Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
**It is in these EXCO meetings that the Lt. governor or the acting Lt. Governor can sign any documents along with the EXCO members. I do believe 3 signatures are needed (please correct me if I am wrong)

Mcgee, there must be some more things can be changed, I for one would lobby for a totally independent Lt.Governor and acting Lt. Governor even if this position should be filled from the outside, Holland or other Islands in the NA.
With country status we would be getting a Prime Minister, but as Commissioner Wescott assured the public recently, she has no idea about a new date for country SXM. Thus remains a hallucination of a Country.

Thank you for this excellent contribution. It will indeed add value to this website's resources. It is certainly good to know that the IC can indeed appoint a non-IC members to the position of Executive Council member.

I have stated before that a local professional should be appointed to replace Maria Buncamper as ExCo member and Commissioner of Telecommunications. To reach consensus and common ground now in this whole Telem affair between government, board, management, employees and union, the IC would do well to appoint an independent outsider who is knowledgeable and an experienced manager. These are trying times.

I also agree that the Lt. Governor is too intertwined in the affairs of his fellow ExCo members. It is too easy for any Lt. Governor to get caught up and become 'one of the boys' ("Gezag" as he is affectionately called). So the position should be elevated above the fray. But it still depends for a large part on the person fulfilling the position, whether elected or appointed.

For Country St. Maarten preparations can continue no matter what the target date is. As a matter of fact, I see Country St. Maarten simply as an intermediary goal towards the ultimate goal of One Island, One Nation. But that's a whole different ballgame.

I am going to pick just one issue out of your post. Carnival. Please do tell why you think Fabiana has to go. Based on facts please not your assumptions. Facts from the complainers side AND SCDF. I am curious to know how you arrived at that conclusion. I want to see how much you think you know.

During carnival I am a spectator. Not a contributor. I don't have the time nor the inclination to organize a troupe, compose and sing a calypso nor run a carnival booth. But I do enjoy seeing, hearing and partaking of the contribution of others who are so inclined. I am happy because of them. And I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their hard work, dedication and especially their creativity. Carnival for them is a true labor of love.

So if these contributors are upset with the SCDF and demand the board step down else they will boycot next year's carnival, then as a spectator and many more with me, I tend to side with them. There appears to be irreparable and irreconcilable differences between the SCDF board and the people who are supposed to be the biggest stakeholders in carnival.

Forget about the general public. We know where they stand. They showed it clearly during this year's carnival: they stayed home. That's sad. That situation should be rectified. Let the people with a stake in carnival's future success and it's biggest and hardest working contributors decide what's best for carnival. And right now they want to hand the SCDF board their walking papers. If that's best for carnival 2009, then they have my support.

What purpose does it serve to cling to a position wherein you lack the necessary confidence and trust of your supporters? Is it about you? Or is it about them? Or is it about the people who want a chance to celebrate 40 years of carnival in St. Maarten? Like I said I am a spectator and I am basing my opinion on what I see. And the signs are clear. The sign says WALK.

You don't have a clue as to what the issues are, motives, arguments and counter arguments. How then sir, do you draw your conclusions? "I am basing my opinions on what I see" which apparently is absolutely nothing. And if you are going from what you see from one side of an argument, then I believe that is called the crab mentality. From your writings I can tell you don't suffer from this. But careful how you stray lest you become a crab. I think it behooves you and everybody else to make informed conclusions in order to have an intelligent conversation and determine what is the best course for Carnival.

Let me help you here Macgee with just two pointers from today's article about the Carnival stakeholders. They mentioned the entrance-exit policy and the video cameras prohibition for shows. I can tell you, without the shadow of a doubt, that the entrance-exit policy was initiated by the promoters, NOT the SCDF and the no cameras allowed are contractually stipulated for these international artists. If you have travelled and been to concerts in other country's, a no cameras allowed policy is common place.

Just two grievances and none can be placed on the shoulders of the SCDF. Both issues were explained in the media by the President of the SCDF. You sound like you've subscribed to the tried and true DP policy of just throw stuff out there, the people will blindly vote for us anyway. No facts, no substance, no nothing. But yet you say "and right now the want to hand the SCDF board their walking papers. If that's best for Carnival 2009, the they have my support". Blind support. How on earth do you determine that it would be best for Carnival if you blindly follow what one group opins? Simply because they say so? That's the DP syndrome if ever I saw it.

Do your homework, then try to come again.

PS: These people don't represent all of Carnival. If they stay out there will still be a Carnival with troupes, shows etc. And I am willing to bet that if the SCDF leaves the so called deadline pass, the calypsonians in particular will come running to perform. Remember that.

No need to politicize the issue. Just for the record: I am neither a DP nor a NA supporter. I support the idea of people, including politicians and foundation board members, doing the right thing.

The issue at hand is whether the SCDF board should step down after the 'vote of non-confidence' issued by its supporters ('achterban').

Thank you for bringing forward points to highlight some of the grievances of the supporters.

However, I am looking past the points to the following principle: sitting board members of any foundation using public funds to finance its activities shouldn't be allowed to stay on so long. As stated: 2 years, 3 years maximum. Then a board member, after passing on his or her knowledge to another member or replacement, should move on. That is as reasonable as can be expected.

Each term for the board of the SCDF IS two years. If the members of SCDF decide that the current board is doing a good enough job, they can be re-elected to the board if they so choose. Ferrier did 2, Erno Labega did 4 years, Fabiana did 2, Granger did 2, then nobody wanted to take up the reigns so Fabiana was voted in again. All of these boards had many different people who have moved on and others have stepped in. So the argument that the SCDF is bogged down in "old blood" is hogwash. The noisemakers have spun this thing so out of whack, people aren't hearing or seeing the truth.

Thank you for enlightening us that Fabiana is presently sitting out her second term, voted in by a self-contained group of members of a entity operating as a foundation without any input or influence from outside despite the request for and receipt of public funds to pay contributors their well-deserved and hard-earned prizes after the foundation was not able to do this on its on volition and on a timely basis.

You may or may not be a SCDF board member. For the record, I am not. Neither am I a contributor (remember: just a spectator). But you seem to embody the resistance of the present SCDF board to heed the call of the 'achterban' - however insignificantly small a group this may be - to step down and make way for a new board that can garner the support of all the stakeholders involved to produce a 40th carnival celebration.

If people aren't hearing nor seeing the truth, please enlighten us as what this is. Come out, come clean. Inform and reveal. Show you have nothing to hide. You may yet win support and appreciation from the outside. Until then, your resistance to acknowledge the simple fact that your time may be up, speaks volumes.

By the way, the calypsonians might just come running indeed to perform...... to sing about how the SCDF refuse to listen, refuse to talk, refuse to heed, refuse to leave. The venue might very well not be the Festival Village, but the Emilio Wilson Park, the new Culture Village left behind for all the children of St. Maarten. There is nothing to stop a new foundation being formed to organize a seperate carnival for the people of St. Maarten to truly enjoy.

I am enjoying this Macgee because you represent a section of the community who really don't truly understand what is going on here. I admit the SCDF is silent to a fault, to its own detriment. However, if you knew Fabiana you would know that she will speak at a time of her choosing and it will be straight forward and revealing. As for me, I have "no bone in my tongue".

I am not a board member. I am however a listener and contributor to Carnival via my business. Stress on the word listener. Anyone who has followed this issue, with objective ears, would be properly informed since the SCDF has on more than 3 occasions been on radio and at least once in print, explaining the issues. I have asked you to name one issue that the stakeholders have and you can't even do this. Every single issue they have brought up, have been answered. If you want me to list them based on reports, give me till Sunday and I will do JUST that.

Their main issue, they say, is a lack of respect. But when you ask them to what exactly do they refer, they can't explain. Timo for example caused a rucus at the prize giving ceremony, accusing the SCDF of favoritism because King Beau Beau collected his check before everyone else. Neglecting to mention of course the fact that Beau Beau was leaving the island on vacation and simply collected his before he left. Ignorant reactions. Some troupe leaders chose not to go to the prize giving. But bright and early the next morning they lined up at SCDF office to collect their money. Away from all the cameras and media of course.

The SCDF is a foundation. Aren't all foundations self-contained? Your tone makes that sound almost illegal. You are also incorrect when you state "without input or influence from outside." Every year, from November right down to when Carnival has to start, the SCDF host meetings for all stakeholders. One of our more prominent Calypsonias, Mighty Dow, publicly stated that he hasn't been to a meeting since 2004! But claim disrespect through the other side of his mouth. Only a handful of troupe leaders attend meetings since they assume they know everything. But complain that they didn't know about a certain rule.

The SCDF makes presentations to the Exco and to its financial contributors. Morever, the SCDF issues public calls for volunteers and people who would like to join the SCDF to help out with the various aspects of Carnival. One month before Carnival Lloyd Richardson dedicates his Wednesday shows to the SCDF who opens up the phone lines for suggestions, comments etc from the public. They have even met with Carnival foundations from places like Trinidad in order to improve our festival. Yet after all of this, you say, "without input or influence". Or is it you simply didn't know?

And for your info my friend, do you think the issue with he SCDF and its winners not recieving their money on time is a new one? It goes back to the days of Ferrier when Carnival had to fight government for a measly US $35,000 when governments throughout the Caribbean devoted millions to developing their respective festivals.

When Fabiana took over she lobbied to have that increased and finally succeeded with securing an amount of US $100,000 in government subsidy. These same complaining stakeholders admit that this amount is still WAY below standards and government should increase its Carnival subsidy. Mind you, this increase came only AFTER government earmarked US $100,000 on its budget for Summer Fest in its FIRST year. But SCDF had to beg for the same treatment for Carnival which has been in existence for almost 40 years.

Participants since 2001 has been receiving their prizes in a prize giving ceremony after Carnival in July! Since 2001. Receiving the money in June this year is actually earlier than they have been used to for 7 years. None of the issues these Carnival stakeholders complain about are issues that came out of the blue. They are rules and regulations that they've been operating under since Ferrier's day with no protest.

It's petty nonsense that's steeped in a cloaked bigger picture and led by a single instigator. You have to realize there is a personal vendetta going on with this fracas surrounding Carnival. Led by the other half of Fabiana's former employer. The same "other half" who physically attacked Fabiana during the parade when the police, not SCDF, didn't allow one of her Carnival bands into the parade after it arrived late. But the instigators are not discussing this childish and inappropriate behavior by one of their own.

And to your last point, the calypsonians will go wherever the money is. That's who they are. Additionally, the only way for a new foundation to be recognized as the official body to organize Carnival would be for Government to say its ceasing its support for the SCDF by withdrawing its subsidy and not allowing it to use the Festival Village. Government won't do this you know why? As Roy saw and as Louie will see, there is nothing wrong with the SCDF, a group of volunteers hosting St Maarten's largest cultural event. The issues are NOT of a nature where compromise can't be found. And in fact, the issues are mired in emotion and the ever vague "lack of respect" claim. It won't happen, keep dreaming.

In closing I refer back to my point in my other post: If these people who are complaining stay out, there will STILL be a Carnival. They do not represent everyone. You will still have troupes, including those from the French side and abroad. You will still have calypsonians because not even the organization that represents them, the WIMA, is supporting this so call movement, the bootholders already let the SCDF know they will be there and the promoters would make a killing because it probably means more nights for them.

I personally believe that the SCDF should just call their bluff, let the deadline elapse and let them stay out of Carnival and move on. My money is on the fact that when that bluff is called they will come running. If you understand the intricacies of Carnival, you will understand that these people cannot afford to stay out. Too many financial commitments and otherwise.

I rest here with this one.

PS: If you think calypsonians singing about the SCDF will scare the SCDF you really are oblivious to the history of Carnival. Knowing Fabiana she would probably encourage this since it would be good promotion and people would come out to hear it. The Calypsonians have sung on every President and every committee since the days of Wally Havertong. It's common place.

Thank you once again. Your post is very enlightening and I am sure many out there are reading your words. I appreciate your candor. However I do sense a bit of frustration in between the lines of your words. What do think will help to remedy this situation?

Remember, in dealing with people with different interests, concerns and stakes in the issues, you have to be a diplomat. Ofcourse, you can't please everyone all the time. But there is a fine line between telling people what to do and telling people what needs to be done.

So I thank you for enlightening us about the issues and I look forward to reading more. It would also help - besides listing the issues - to list suggestions for solving the present deadlock. Any ideas?

It would not take much. That's the annoying thing with this fracas. It's personal, I believe this in my heart. And because of this,it's so easily solved:

1. The president needs a "buffer" of some sort. By this I mean a spokesperson (with good communication skills and familiarity with the media) who can be upfront and keep the focus on any issue at hand. Too many times during Carnival Fabiana has been commenting on every little thing. Her task is too great to take on these issues. She gets frustrated and bogged down. They need a good PR person who can let the people know what is going on at all times. Before, during and after Carnival. Fabiana simply takes on too much.

2. The stakeholders have asked for a representative for each aspect of Carnival on the board. I should let everyone here know that this is not a new idea. Fabiana, again, also proposed this in 2002 during her first term as President. An invitation went out to troupes, bands, calypsonians et al. You know what he response was....nothing. Nobody showed interest. The board 11 spots available. Currently there are 4 open spots. A good fundraising person should be appointed, someone from SHTA or Tourist Office, A rep for the troupes/bands and a rep for the calypsonians whch could be WIMA. The trick here is this rep would not be able to compete in any Carnival festivities as this would be a conflict of interest.

3. I would love to say hold more meetings, provide rules in writing etc etc but alas! The SCDF already do this on an annual basis.

4. The SCDF has to cease with its attempts to organize international shows. This is not their task. Leave that for promoters. It is financially irresponsible to bring in international artists, who gets paid in advance, while you do not know when you will have monies to pay local artists. I agree with the protesters on this single point. The SCDF should focus its energy on enhancing the local product and by extension the local shows.

Mr. MacGee That's about it. It's simple because they harp on the respect factor. This is not complicated.

What is the status on the situation surrounding the organizing of Carnival 2009?

I'm back from vacation and I see that Flipper has create a thread on Carnival 2009 here: http://sxmprivateeye.com/node/12935.

I've read up on the news and it seems that there will now be two carnival celebrations in 2009.

How wonderful !!!

There won't be two, there will be one. And that one will be organized by the SCDF, just like I told you before Mr. MacGee. If those stakeholders want to stay out, so be it, Carnival will go on and the SCDF also have its good share of backing. Like I've said a million times, unless the stakeholders could have presented more than just emotional "respect" gripes, this thing was going nowhere. Welcome back by the way.

Would you like to get the chance to celebrate 40 years of carnival next year? I would. Especially a carnival celebration worthy of a 40th anniversary? Do you want to take the chance that that might not happen? I don't.

There will be a Carnival no matter what. These people only represent a fraction not all stakeholders. They've been making so much noise you would think they represent everybody. And they counted on the people of SXM being as shallow as ever to not look at the biger picture. It worked. Unfortunately.

School childeren are saying that the local goverment is about to fall due to the entire Telem corruption issue getting out of hand and the nastiness under the rugs being exposed (finally).

Can anyone confirm?

Frankie will appear today on the afternoon talk show with Fernando. Hopefully he will bring some clarity to the whole affair from his side of the story. Things are not looking to rosy in the red camp. Some people are very upset that Maria "Bust the pot" on the dealings in Telem and particularly Curtis Haynes, who recently moved to Curcacao. Mr Hayes resigned as Director of SMITCOMS, but still remained a consultant for the TELEM group, while at the same time was working on behalf of competitors of TELEM- Fiber Gate

The supervisory board is ultimately responsible for any contracts over X amount, so those one the board are the ones to explain to the shareholder rep and he in turn has to present the status of affairs the SXM people.

The commissioner who is responsible for communication had a right to ask questions regarding suspicious arrangements being made with third parities and she was told to f///c off. She's the one with the responsibility and has to answer to the island council when questioned on what is now Telem Gate

An anonymous comment posted here makes some good points.

Maria Buncamper resigned as Executive Council member.
But she remains Island Council member. Maria Buncamper won her Island Council seat in the elections fair and square. She can retain her seat as long as she wants to. She can even leave the DP and go independent with her seat or join the National Alliance.

Another good point is the issue of the fantasy document the Governor promised us. Or is this simply a product of his imagination?

Finally, with a 100K one has enough to last 2-3 years without working. But I think we should be critical of all ex-Telem employees looking for new jobs. Especially former board members, directors and telecom consultants.

So if Maria Buncamper is under fire from her own party members and she chooses to withdraw her political support in the Island Council, we may very well see the DP government teetering on the brink yes.

By the way: If I am a shareholder in a company and a company's employee, manager or director tells me in an email basically to f#ck off, then I had better be a very minor shareholder and not the government of St. Maarten.

It is time this whole government goes home.

Another anonymous commentator

That newspaper clearly is against Maria, has been from day one since their golden goose Gracita lost. You mean to tell me that Maria's presentation didn't merit page 1. But got buried on page 8! No editorial nada. And if they write one, it will be full of spin against the Commissioner. But the money for the change manager made front page though. Oh yes. While on one hand Frans was chastising government for bringing is a super consultant, his leader was raving against bad business practices at Telem and these bad practices should lead to a change. So one opposition member rails against it and the other contradicts him. But no mention of this by Herald. Of course not. But lets highlight that Maria apologise again and bury the slimy Curtis Haynes & Rudy Hoeve issues. Sickening and transparent!

JB

Why don't you go back to working at the herald under your real name and you can call the shots as you have done before. We are all a bit tired of your favorite boss that you have put on a pedestal. Give it a break man! We all understand your pay slip is on the line.

It's a fact, and the papers of today confirmed that the media is in the pocket of some higher god than sofar exposed. No not Frankie and his clan. Maybe Richard Gibson or so? It's like the other writers say unbelievable. Let's not even continue speaking about corruption on these sites and let's start speaking about something that doesn't matter. I wonder if the Herald looks at this site if they need information. It would be good if flipper made them attent of the valuable information on this site about the whole scandal at telem. The Curtis Haynes resignation letter has been burried in the paper so deep that you need binnoculars to find it. And we speak about GOOD PRESS.
They don't need verification if any story is true or not because that has NEVER been their moto. The have the curtis letter and no bigger conflict of interest and yet NOTHING. Wait till you hear what they (Curtis and his group MIO/EOCG) owe Telem and Smitcoms. Let's see if that will get any coverage. With who is the PRESS in bed? I'm truly dissapointed in those socalled reporters and I hope someone speaks out about it. Maybe we should download this blog on the herald's and today's website. It must be sensation they want and this soap opera sure as hell is.

Realise that the time is getting closer when a decision will have to be made about the future of Maria (what a waste, and all for calypso :) I predict that there will be a coalition. Hell, I might be wrong, but predictions are fun. I believe Bijleveld and the Dutch have made it clear to Sarah that it doesn't bode well if they take Maria back. I believe that Maria made things worse for herself when she threw Sarah's son under the bus for equating the SKY donation to the governments contribution to the Summer Festival which Sarah's son co-organised (and Maria is right but nobody touching this). I believe when all is said and done we will have the following:

1. They will call it a National Government.
2. It will consist of 3 DP Commissioners, 2 Alliance Commissioners.
3. The 3 DP Commissioners will be Louie, Sarah and Theo.
4. The 2 Alliance Commissioners will be William and Frans.
5. Maria will be "demoted" to an Island Council member (her seat is still hers).
6. Roy will become a Senator on Federal Level.
7. Erno will remain a Senator on Federal level giving DP 2 reps on Federal level and Alliance 1 (Duncan).
8. Portfolios will be reshuffled with William probably getting Finance & Personnel and Frans Sports & Economic Affairs.
9. Island Council meetings will be one love fest from now on since nobody will be questioning anybody seriously.
10a. I believe Sarah will be in the sharks pit in this configuration because I sense after a while Theo and the boys will team up and get her out.
10b. SXMPE will be able to bash everyone now, not only DP.

Those are my predictions, lets see how wrong or right I will be.

I got to say though, about #10b, I think when you have people who don't really do much, it's more difficult to find things to bash them about, the DP is the govt after all. If there is an alliance and if the same crap continues with no change then I think you can be quite sure the NA will be included in future bashing.
For example, climate change and energy, to many here it has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with real planning for the future and morality, if it was a NA govt the writing would probably be much the same, just the initials changed. Same goes for environmental planning, animal rights, civil rights, education etc. Sometimes it is really just an opinion and point of view, a principle you stand for.

Right now, I really don't see any inspiring leaders out thereon either side, we must have some, where are they??

On a lighter note, and considering this story is basically on hold until they come back from vacation, I thought we might have some fun.

Flipper