The long-awaited, highly anticipated, much-touted Progressive Agenda was finally unveiled - to an apparently widespread "what's that?" yawn among non-partisans and Labourites.
In 1941 when Wilfred Adolphus Domingo went to New York Harbour to board the American vessel Veragua, on its way to Jamaica, he had been resident in the United States (US) for 31 years.
As Jamaica prepares for its participation in the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Athletics to be held in Daegu, South Korea, from August 27 to September 4, the discussion, particularly among track-and-field enthusiasts, becomes rife as to the country's medal prospects, and how well our athletes will perform.
It's an indication of our backwardness, appalling intolerance and bigotry that an ad calling for "unconditional love" of our homosexual family members and friends is unlikely to be shown on local television because the stations are just too scared to show leadership in this area.
Placid, civilised, developed, tolerant Britain on the outside has exploded from the inside. Or, more correctly, England has exploded. The absence of solidarity disturbances in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland may be speaking volumes about ancient historical cleavages among the 'races' and countries of [Great] Britain.
Karl Samuda sat at the centre of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and its government for three years. But after those short years, he was shunted off to the margins of power and is probably now staring over the precipitous edge. His political life in the JLP now appears very short.
The Sunday Observer of August 7 informed the Jamaican reading public that a gay TV advertisement has angered some of the clerics in the Christian Empire. According to writer Nadine Wilson, the catalyst of the clerics' outrage is a public-service announcement which has been produced to encourage the Jamaican citizenry to love their homosexual family members and friends.
When the black, green and gold went up on midnight August 5, 1962, this island was unknown and insignificant to most of the world, and even to those who lived here the word, 'Jamaica' evoked little emotion.
To properly respond to Audley Shaw's recent invitation to submit ideas for economic growth (wants us to 'think outside the box'), we must first face some inconvenient home truths about our economy and current imposed economic 'policies' best described as It's Mostly Foolishness (IMF).
Who'd have thunk it? The mighty United States (US): the bastion of world capitalism, the country whose currency has been the medium of exchange and measurement of value that undergirds world trade, and whose debt has been capital's safest haven since the gold standard, has been downgraded as a debtor.
CHARLES JOHNSTON'S article in The Sunday Gleaner of July 31, titled 'Smart tax-policy reform' demonstrates why tax reform is such a difficult objective to achieve. Everyone agrees that there should be tax reform, but everyone has a different idea of what that tax reform should look like.
THIS IS a good time to talk about penis size and about the secret of nations. Emancipendence has just gone by, and at 49, a year shy of half a century, independent Jamaica, all agree, is only a fraction of what it might have been. Why?
AS PART of a largely misguided exercise, various political philosophers throughout history, including the likes of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, have attributed tainted virtue to government by explaining the legitimacy of political authority as being derived from the consent of the governed.
THE FIGHTER-BOMBER waggled its mighty wings as it circled the town, and then suddenly dived into a shallow bombing run. Bright light of the midday sun gleamed on its polished metal skin. The deafening roar of its straining Rolls Royce engines filled the ears of awe-struck children and adults on the ground alike.
THE BBC'S Country Profiles mostly start with a dry economic or political summary. One of the few exceptions is Jamaica, which begins "Known for its strong sense of self-identity, expressed through its music, food and rich cultural mix, Jamaica's influence extends far beyond its shores."
CALLS FOR laws to address the "reckless and conscious transmission" of HIV touch a nerve. The ensuing public dialogue and quick political feedback are fuelled by increased awareness of the Caribbean's 18,000 new HIV infections every year, 2,100 of which are in Jamaica.
LEADER OF the Opposition, Portia Simpson Miller recently said that Independence was a state of mind. She meant that Independence came about because people were of a mind for national freedom; and that Independence succeeds when people are of the state of mind to take responsibility for their development and for an honest democracy.
AFTER FORTY-NINE years of gaining political independence, Jamaica remains at a stage where it is still struggling to settle on certain foundational issues necessary for the development and establishment of true nationhood. Tangible evidence of this has been the disturbing lack of conviction and passion in undertaking the pilgrimage to the 'common good' as the primary goal of public life and policy.
AMERICA IS on the front line of three battles today: Iraq, Afghanistan and one on its own soil - perhaps its fiercest - a deep ideological war. The austerity war being fought between the White House, the Congress and the Senate involves millions of 'troops' and has worrying implications for the rest of the world.
Perhaps we should pause to consider what message Nelson Mandela, the powerhouse statesman of our time, would have had for us here in Jamaica, as he celebrated his 93rd birthday, had we sought such a message as our country prepares to mark 49 years as an independent nation.
Part 1 of this article, published last Sunday, outlined possible changes to auditor reporting issued by the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).
