You are hereSXM PE
SXM PE
Use it or maybe lose it
Jose Lake Sr was an island Hero, one whom I believe has yet to be honored with a roundabout, not to worry though, Theo's building a few more and hopefully he will get a spot. He was smart, he was progressive and he championed free speech, which I can confirm doesn't earn you many friends amongst 'Pinheads' or others who don't want their doings talked about or criticized. I sure they don't like us adopting Billo's term, lol.
Anyhoo, this blog post is about SXM PE, about freedom of speech and about using it. This site was created with the intention to provide an outlet and forum for people of the island to vent, share opinions and ideas, discuss and debate issues and to share information. (Whistle blowers, our email is sxmpe at gmail :)) It has most certainly not been about making money, it has survived on volunteered time and donations till now, in fact I still owe the guy who rebuilt it last year a few hundred $'s, I think the donation button still works if you are so inclined :)
SXM PE needs people to use it, blogging is open to anyone and I invite again all those progressive, thinking, caring and intelligent people out there on the island to make use of it. FB is all fine and great for sharing stuff with friends, but it does have it's drawbacks and limitations. SXM PE offers a free place about SXM for you to post your thoughts and opinions and create a broader and perhaps even freer discussion. Hey, you can even do so with an alias.
Please watch this video about preaching to the converted, because what you say and think can have an impact and power, a power the intelligent, progressive and caring people of this island need to use. The madness of pond filling, pollution, corruption, crime and destruction of the island and it's community will go on day after day until you do. Who else is there except you? Leopold James and Wild Willy Haize?
"Heck of a Job" Daily Herald!
When I started SXM PE back in April 2005 it wasn't just about having a place to vent and blog my opinions, there were other reasons, one of which was to spur and encourage discussion, debate and the sharing of ideas within the SXM Community and hopefully bringing together people who shared cares and concerns. Another was to create a library of sorts, a library that has been used by students, lawyers, journalists, 'pinheads' and the general public at large. Over 2.2 million pages have been viewed since I started this site.
When I started, there was very little SXM news online, the DH had a site, but it was dated and quite often stories had to be scanned to be posted on here. The Today, even today, has no website presence to speak of.
The DH recently rebuilt it's website, perhaps because they got a little tired of it being criticized, especially here on PE, and all in all they did a good job. However one small problem. The thousands of links listed here in the pages of PE and elsewhere on the internet to news on their old site no longer work. I don't know if they are still available online, perhaps they are, but really, the loss is heartbreaking.
It's not the loss to SXM PE that hurts most, the DH did demand once that we stop posting links to their website and I refused, telling them that posting limited partial content and links was not only legal but also normal for the internet, in fact it was good for them because it helped drive up their visitor and page view numbers. The real loss is to the community and general public of the island. The news we scanned is still there, but links to DH stories over the past years are now useless.
Sorry folks, I guess the DH just doesn't think archives and history are as important as we do.
Flipper
Preaching to the converted
Teacher Fired For Speaking The Truth
I have been a teacher for the past three months at a private “Christian “school. From the first day I was informed that for the first month or two I would not be paid on scale. However, management mentioned that they were anticipating receiving funding from a particular Dutch organization. I was informed that my salary would be regulated after funding was received. The same was mentioned to all other teachers. I was told that I would receive a temporary contract but I never received it. We as teachers requested SVB cards and to this date we have never received anything.
I was recently on sick leave and demanded my SVB card only to get the boot a few days after…..I was technically fired.
We are back!!
11 days off line, not good. The explanation is this.
The person in charge of our server took a vacation and left a friend to to watch over it. Unfortunately, that friend was struck with a serious medical illness and has been in hospital the last 10 days, and therefore has been unable to check email and has been unaware that our server needed restarting.
That's it, very simple and nothing much we could do about it, and now I hope they both excuse my emails that were more angry each day and hope that the friend gets well soon. Now to the task of catching up posting news and a few blogs, so much been going on that deserves a mention :)
Flipper
SXM PE Fundraising Drive
SXM PE has recently received a donation of 150 posters from a local distributor to help us raise funds for our bills. We still owe several hundred dollars to our tech guy for building our new site and he is on a small monthly retainer to maintain it and deal with problems that come up. We also have our annual hosting fees coming up soon.
The posters, which you can see below in more detail, are ideal for schools and also for businesses who want their clients to know that they care about the environment and the future of our planet. I don't know about you, but I feel better spending my money with those that do.
A set of all three, with hangers, can be yours for only $15.
Please email sxmcaribdude at yahoo dot com to order. They will be delivered to where ever you want them delivered on island.
THE EXCITEMENT AND RISKS OF ANONYMOUS WRITINGS.
SMNN -
Whatever the premises are, as by some miracle, I agree with the Opinion written in the TODAY-newspaper of Tuesday, June 23, 2009, by managing-editor Hilbert HAAR. I also thank him for publicly expressing his respect towards me for being fearless in expressing my opinion, although they are most of the time, for very good reasons, not to his liking.[More....]
Threatening advice
The problem with people who think they are infallible is that you can never get them to admit they might be wrong, or to reassess or reconsider their position on something, that’s why trying to engage them in debate here online is such a never ending saga of mind bending banality. Doing so seems to create even bigger problems, because quite often these sort of people are unable to respond to any valid and legitimate challenge or criticism and end up trying to discredit opponents using emotional, unfounded slurs and threats.
Leopold James has another letter up claiming full responsibility for his previous letter ’warning’ bloggers, like me, to be careful what we write, because our identities are being tracked and monitored 24hrs a day, he warns of ‘serious consequences’. Funny thing is, his new letter singles me out for special attention and I feel obliged to respond, I have a sneaking suspicion he won't like the 'quality' or 'tone' of it, but I promise to try to be gentle :)
