Bush medicine and a morning stroll

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For the past two days my body's been warning me: a cold is on its way. By last night it had ripened and turned into a stuffy, streaming mess, complete with long queues of sneezes and the inability to breathe. Philip kindly bought me some over-the-counter cold medicine, the kind that works wonders but that is inscribed with the direst warnings about what it will do to my liver if overused. It helped me eat dinner last night (between sneezes) and to sleep (no sneezing) but when it wore off sometime in the wee hours I lay in bed contemplating when I could take the next dose and doing math in my head. No more than ten pills a day, two pills every four hours ... it didn't add up. All my hours were not covered. So I thought, forget the cold relief, time for the cure.So when I got up, having made myself lie in bed longer than I was inclined to on the theory that bed rest is as good for a cold as medicine (I don't teach classes today, conveniently), I decided to go out into the neighbourhood in search of cerasee. We happen to live through a series of corners replete with old hedges and fences, the kind of environment that cerasee loves. The back wall of the house next to ours is topped with a fence that is green and orange with it. At least it is when I'm not sick. So I gathered up some kleenex, a plastic bag, a handkerchief (for when the tissue ran out), the dog leash and our old, arthritic dog, and off we set.Well, it seems that some kind of gardening had taken place next door; all the cerasee on the fence was dead. So while Anna the dog was sniffing the grass on the other side of the road (it's a LONG leash and a small road) I was peering around at the base of the wall to see if any cerasee had survived. The first batch I found was guarded by a large black and white spider, so I left it alone, but I found and harvested enough for the morning not far away. Then we walked to the end of the road, where I found another fence with a more abundant cerasee crop, made a note for tomorrow, and walked back. I have boiled it now with salt and lime, and am sitting, feeling my head clear. Anna the dog is sleeping. The walk was longer than was comfortable for her, so I gave her a painkiller pushed into a handful of cheddar cheese and she's looking less uncomfortable. The painkillers, which she's been taking since Saturday, have made her far more sprightly than she has been and she and I are inclined to do more exercise than is fully comfortable for her fourteen-year-old hip-dysplasic back legs. But the pills seem to do the trick.The people I live with, the people I am closest to, scoff at bush medicine. My mother never took it that I ever saw, and neither does my husband. Too bad for them. I have a cousin who theorizes that cold and cerasee can't share the same body. When the cerasee goes in, he says, you shudder from the bitterness. And when you shudder, the cold goes out.We'll see.

Brazil, again

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It's long past time for me to write about Brazil. I spent almost 3 weeks there in May and it changed my life. I'm not certain where or how to start, but the time that I spent there with Marta and her family has taken root inside me and has changed me somehow. It's made me more silent, it would seem, but also made me more contemplative. As I slide into my fifties, it helps to bring the ends of my life together, knitting the past with the present in ways I had no idea would ever be possible when I stood weeping in the parking lot of Pearson College nearly thirty-three years ago. But let me begin at the beginning.My journey to Brazil began on the day I took my Music GCE O-level, though I didn't know it then. It's a day I can remember almost from beginning to end. It started with me sitting at the front room window looking out at the rain pouring over the two huge sisal plants in our front yard, waiting for my mother, or for someone anyway, to take me to my exam. I don't remember anything about the exam myself. All I remember is that everyone else I was close to had finished their exams, had finished their high school life, had got past studying and were thinking about the prom and what came after, and I had a morning exam. The morning was dark, almost wintery, and the rain was hard and real, and the air outside was green with it.I remember nothing about the exam--not where we sat it, though I want to imagine it was the QC music room and not Epworth Hall, where all the other exams had been taken in rows of desks laid out precisely by a math teacher with a yardstick--nor what was on it, but I do remember that when I was collected from the exam it was by my mother who was bursting with excitement. I'd got the scholarship. The scholarship, the one to the United World Colleges. Not to the one I was dreaming about; not the castle in Wales, but another scholarship. This one would take me to Canada, to Vancouver Island, a place I'd never really been aware of. One didn't look west from the Bahamas in 1979. One looked east, across the Atlantic. One looked to England, or maybe, occasionally, north. To the east coast of the USA or the centre of Canada. If one had to. I had to consult a map to find it. Not Vancouver, a city I had heard about; Vancouver Island. I had never know there was an island there. And when I looked at it on a map, I didn't think it was much of an island. More like a small continent, it seemed.So anyway, I went to the United World College on Vancouver Island. Named, fittingly enough then, after Lester B. Pearson, before his name was on Toronto International Airport, it was the first United World College to be purpose built, and the Canadians who built it had thought of everything. Like how many students from different countries to put in a single room. Like how the campus was laid out. Like what we were and were not allowed to do. A grand experiment in the middle of the temperate rain forest of British Columbia.My trip to Brazil began on Vancouver Island at the United World College of the Pacific, where I met Marta. We were friends in our first year, and roommates in our second year, and she introduced me to Brazil, another place I was vaguely aware of but hadn't really imagined into reality. When we left Pearson together, heading back to our respective countries, we promised to visit one another.She made good on her promise in 2001, back when she was pregnant and newly remarried to a man who is a doctor and an inventor. They were in the USA working on selling the computer mouse he had developed, something which, unlike every other mouse (or trackpad) on the market then and now, was designed to fit and support the human hand, and to get to where they were going (California?) they were passing through Miami. Only a hop and a skip to Nassau, and they came to visit, Marta and Julio and Julio's daughter Barbara and, in Marta, their not-yet-born son David.Last year Marta made me make good on my promise, and so this year I spent two and a half weeks in Brazil.My time there left me with questions and inspirations. Questions such as what, fundamentally, was different between Brazil and The Bahamas that left me feeling hopeful while I was in the first country, but close to despair when at home? It cannot be ideas of corruption, or poverty, or political equality; on paper at least, The Bahamas has Brazil beat in all of those areas. Questions like how did a country that was founded, as ours was, on the institution of slavery, raise up citizens who had the audacity to imagine the unimaginable--like a gigantic statue of Jesus Christ erected on top of an already-spectacular mountain, or a cable car linking two equally spectacular peaks when ours has trouble imagining that it needs even one national university? The answer, perhaps, lies in the recognition in Brazil that at least some of its citizens are humans and are worth all the amenities and wonders that are afforded to humans everywhere (I don't think we have quite come to the same conclusion here in the Caribbean). And inspirations like the fact that out of a country that was ruled by right-wing dictatorships for much of the twentieth century could come the kind of democratic upwelling that marked the end of that century and the beginning of a next—a sign that regeneration is possible when all hope is lost.

Saving Sammie Swain

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SS-coverThis is not the post that I would have liked to write in the days after the close of The Legend of Sammie Swain, but it has to be done. We received so much support from our audiences and so many congratulations from the public at large for the revival of my father's folk opera that I wish I could say that we have been able to pay our bills, but at this point in time I cannot.In another post, I explained the cost of theatre to those who do not know better. I think I may have to refer people to that post again, because I am sure that people have looked at the apparent success of this year's Shakespeare in Paradise festival from the outside, seen the sold out houses and the turned away crowds, and come to the conclusion that we are rolling in money.Far from it! I'm not going to go into details, but the simple formula is this.Our festival as a whole cost us over $110,000 to mount. Sammie Swain accounted for about $75,000 of that. We estimated over $100,000 for the show, but we cut our costs to the bone and delivered it for 75% of the projection.Our festival as a whole had a total of 5,870 seats to sell. Given our $110,000 cost, that sets seat prices at $18.75 at FULL OCCUPANCY if we were to break even. However, even with Sammie Swain, we did not operate at full occupancy -- only the last four performances sold out. Sammie Swain had about 90% occupancy, and the festival as a whole had 75% occupancy overall. This made it our most successful festival ever, but it means that brings our seat prices to $24.98 a head for us to break even.But we didn't sell all our seats at $25.

  • Student matinee tickets sell for $10 a head.
  • College students paid between $12.50 and $15 a head.
  • Season ticket holders paid $20 a head.
  • Groups pay $22.50 a head.
  • Sponsors, poster artists, cast and crew get some comps

Our ACTUAL average ticket revenue, all told, comes to about $14 a head, which this year was a loss of about $11 a seat. We are still working out our actual take, but we know we had audiences of over 3000 people this year. 3000 x $14 =  something over $42,000.We made about $30,000 from sponsorships, donations and ads. Some $5,000 of that money, which is 1/6 of the total sponsorship, came from crowdfunding. Most of the rest came from small and medium companies (here I am not including the invaluable in-kind sponsorship that we continue to get from companies like Cable Bahamas, Starbucks/John Bull and Marcos/Wendy's, which assist us with our advertising and allow us to treat our performers like people by providing them with some very basic refreshments even though we can't pay them salaries). A little came from more substantial companies who understood what we are trying to build, but nowhere as much as you might think.That brings us to a total of about $75,000, give or take, in revenues, for a shortfall this year of some $35,000.How did we meet the shortfall?We always try to pre-sell our festival by seeking corporate sponsors. We really worked our butts off this year in this regard, and if we had got all of the sponsorship that we asked for, we would have been able to raise in the vicinity of a quarter of a million dollars. Even a quarter of what we asked for would have netted us enough to cover our costs. But we raised only one tenth of what we asked. So far, the Bahamian government and the Bahamian corporate community have not shown that they understand the value in investing in something intangible that is nevertheless part of our culture. They don't know why we can't cover our costs by selling enough tickets.But they don't know what we know: that because there is so little support for the arts in The Bahamas we cannot sell seats at what it costs us to produce our shows. If we were to sell seats at what it costs us to put on the Shakespeare in Paradise festival without paying our performers, each seat would cost you, the public, $40 or more. If we were to pay our performers, rack that up to $75 a head. And who can afford that?We sell our seats at what the public is willing and able to pay—$25 for a full price ticket. But we go beyond that because we believe that art is not only important, it is necessary to make whole human beings. So we perform as many matinees for students as performances for the general public. And we sell student tickets at  between $10 and $15 a head.In most countries and cities, governments, corporations and private individuals help artists produce great works that define their populations by subsidizing the cost that it takes to produce that art.In most countries and cities, great works of art are understood to be investments in national patrimony, identity. They are collected and guarded as closely as all other kinds of treasure. Most nations understand that it is great art that will survive, that will tell the story of the civilizations that existed, and nothing else at all. In other words, it's only our art that will remain when our Bahama Islands sink below the rising sea.Here, we've so far been fighting an uphill battle to convince our governments and corporate citizens of the value of what we do.Since Sammie Swain opened on October 4th, 2013, we have received several promises from government members both to address the shortfall and to remount the production. Nothing concrete so far has come out of them, so we will believe those promises as soon as we bank the cheques. (All Bahamians should know what government promises about culture can amount to--CARIFESTA, anyone?). To date, despite those promises of support, government investment in this year's festival, including Sammie Swain, was half of what it has been in other years.Thankfully, after this month's production of The Legend of Sammie Swain at Shakespeare in Paradise, when my brother announced on the closing night--as he had on the opening--that we are facing a shortfall that threatens the future of Shakespeare in Paradise, some individual members of our community took it upon themselves to start a campaign privately that will help us meet that shortfall. I don't have permission to say who, so I will not name names, but to them I say a great big THANK YOU. They know who they are.To everyone else, I say: this is the state of our culture, Bahamians. We all bear responsibility for it, so let us shoulder that responsibility together. And now, if we believe that we are important, let's do something to make it change.

Christmas and other holy days

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I'm sitting here waiting for video to import/be recognized from the iPad to the iMac. It's taking a little time. Not sure why, but I'm assuming that it's because it's video, and I ought to be patient. This is not something at which I'm awfully good, being patient. Never have been, and once upon a silly time, when I was young and idealistic and not  a little stupid, I prayed for patience. I thought the quality would be conferred like a gift, that I'd wake up one bright morning, suddenly and miraculously patient. Not a thing like it. My patience has been tried ever since. If I'm any less impatient than I was thirty years ago, it's because experience has brought the understanding that not everything is as important as it thinks it is.I'm writing this because Christmas Day is drawing to a close and it's one of the oddest that I've spent in my life. It's not the oddest—that distinction would go to  Christmas 1992, which I spent with one cousin and one aunt in England, and which had its high points but which also was quite special enough for me to decide never to do it again. I say it's odd because Christmas—this would be my fiftieth, now I come to think of it, now I look at photos taken of my first Christmas—has always been a time for our family to get together and just to hang out, just to be together. For the past 12 years, too, it's been a double family experience; Philip and I have had two Christmas dinners to attend every year (except for that Christmas in 1992 when I was in Cambridge, marooned with my aunt and cousin). This Christmas, we're down to one.But it hasn't been a bad one. It's been quiet, and less active than normal, but the last two days have been oddly peaceful. I visited the graves and took plants—not flowers, but plants—to them. On my mother's the poinsettia planted last year is still growing east of the bougainvillea we planted for my father and south of the rice fern we also planted for him. Those we planted as a family—Mummy, Eddie and me. The poinsettia was planted last Christmas, and on Mummy's birthday this year we planted a flowering aloe plant, which is flourishing and will take over the eastern end of the grave. My mother shares the plot with my father and his family: with him, his sisters Ruth and Eunice, his brother Irvin, his mother, her mother, and presumably her father or grandfather too. It's two graves side by side, one double, the other single, and there's a clan of people within. This Christmas we planted a flowering croton and I have a jasmine plant for the new year. On my grandmother's grave, which is far less populated, holding only my grandmother and grandfather and my uncle the bishop, we placed a palm. The lilies that were planted last year are still thriving, along with one of the crowns of thorns we placed there for their birthdays (the other died). That grave is concreted over, so we place plants in pots on it. The palm can cast a little shade, assuming the owners don't come and collect it. We've got another for the eastern end of the grave for the new year.In the garden, two of the orchids are putting out shoots, and one of them didn't bloom last year. My vegetables are coming back well from the hurricane and the aftermath. The basil is thriving, in bushes easily four feet tall, the onions I put down a fortnight ago are happy, the new pepper plants are competing with one another, and one of the new cucumber plants has flowers on it already. The tomato plant is giving us cherry tomatoes, and the aloe plants are fattening up. The bromeliads and orchids I harvested from my parents' garden are also growing, and I'm looking for flowers from them soon, and the roses we planted in honour of our mothers are budding again.I love the quiet of this time, and I love the light, and I love the movement of the air. And so it's been a quiet Christmas, and a different, new sort of Christmas, but I'm not complaining one bit.

Critical Consciousness: Displacing the Banking Concept in Education

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By guest blogger Erin Knowles

Edward Said states: “Much as I have no wish to hurt anyone’s feelings, my first obligation has not been to be nice but to be true to my perhaps peculiar memories, experiences and feelings”.

With that said: The teaching and learning experience is often characterized by boredom, disinterest and apathy. It is not uncommon to hear the tasteless remarks of fellow students highlighting the drudgery and monotony of classes.

When I was asked to present on some aspect of transition from College to University, a plethora of ideas flooded my mind but I deemed the state of pedagogy one of marked importance, both to the progression of students and by extension the progression of the nation.

Paulo Freire presented two theories in education that require explication, analyses and juxtaposition to determine the extent to which one of his theories can contribute progressively to the transition of the College of the Bahamas to the University of The Bahamas.

Freire being one of the most influential pedagogical theorist, focuses on the necessity of a literate population. He posits that to be considered truly human, people must enter into a state which he calls critical consciousness. This state of critical awareness allows people to see themselves as subjects in the world instead of objects.

Opposite to that we have what I theorize exists here, not in totality but limited to particular schools, at the College of the Bahamas. An oppressive institution based on the Banking concept. This according to Freire is characterized by:

  • the teacher teaches and the students are taught;

  • the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing;

  • the teacher thinks and the students are thought about;

  • the teacher talks and the students listen meekly;

  • the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined;

  • the teacher chooses and enforces his (her) choice, and the students comply;

  • the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of action through the action of the teacher;

  • the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it;

  • the teachers confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which he or she set in the opposition to the freedom of the students;

  • the teacher is the Subject of the learning process while the pupils are mere objects.

(Freire, 56)

Keeping in mind these characteristics, in Cesaire’s Discourse on Colonialism he specifically outlined between ‘colonizer and colonized there is room only for forced labor, intimidation, taxation, self complacency, brainless elites, degraded masses and many more’ added to that Cesaire explicitly states “relations of domination and submission turn the colonizer into a classroom monitor and the colonized into an instrument of production (42.)

Based on the banking concept it is easy to see how teacher occupy the role of oppressor and student the oppressed.

The banking concept in education allows the oppressors to control the actions, thoughts, and realities of people. It provides a facet by which the elite can dominate and promote a “culture of silence”. Students are NOT allowed to question and when they do it complies with the limited ‘content’ the lecture allows.It is aptly titled the banking concept simply put according to Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Education becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat" (58).

If for some reason, you still are undecided on the purpose of the foundation that I laid lets bring it home.

Culture is not a static set of customs, religious beliefs, social attitudes, forms of address and attire, and foods; rather, it is a dynamic inclusive process of transformation and change laden with conflicts to resolve and choices to be made both individually and as a community therefore contributing to a nation.

The banking concept not only limits the span of individuation within students, it ensures an institution produces clones. If a school in no way challenges its students to synthesize, analyze, interrogate, I fail to see how that school can produce critical thinkers, educated citizens or nation builders.

Bear with me as I digress: For five years I’ve entered a variety of courses where the standard is mediocrity. I remember walking into numerous seminar sessions where the lecturer walked in, opened a folder, taught, closed the folder and left; 50 minute deposit – TRANSACTION COMPLETE.

Every exam, discussion, presentation required me not to challenge, think, explicate, hypothesize, not to interrogate, instead it was the main goal to cover enough of the chapter or enough information provided by the teacher so as to rehash the exact same information on an exam or a presentation in order to get an A.

It is no secret we inhabit a post colonial space, how are we as future generations expected to recreate, develop, change, agitate dominant hegemony, if the very foundation that should engender the desire to do so, continually and consistently, deposit enough asinine information to ensure we remain oppressed?

You know the funny thing is Mr. Alfred Sears our council chairman said in a meeting on Tuesday, that Politicians say the most stupid things and are not questioned, not by the lawyers, not by doctors, not by anyone. And I realize that we have been so conditioned through this concept in education, as Cesaire states, the elites are brainless and the masses degraded.

Tompkins categorizes Freire as an exponent of "literacy for social change" because Freire argues that unjust social conditions are the cause of illiteracy and that the purpose of adult basic education is to enable learners to participate actively in liberating themselves from the conditions that oppress them.

How?

The second Freirian theory is that of Critical consciousness that result from problem posing, it is the action of the oppressed by which they take control of their situation and become critically aware of social, political, and economic oppression. It is the power to change an existing reality into a new and improved reality.

Freire emphasizes that critical action is not only being aware of the reproducing process of the status quo, but also taking action to develop a more equitable society. Nevertheless, it is important for critical educators to seek possibilities for both teachers and students to take action which effectively contributes to the development of a more equal and tolerant society.

With problem posing education, “no one teaches another, nor is anyone self-taught (Freire, 67). He also emphasized that the students already have wisdom and invaluable experiences, which might not be articulated or shared in the classroom. Now in the banking concept, it is completely different, students are essentially the epitome of a blank slate at the teacher’s mercy. Students can already be viewed as depositors as well, the teacher’s crucial roles are to learn from the students, welcome and appreciate their perspectives, and engage in the dialogical process. Not knock every other perspective because its not your own.In addition, being a learner along with the students, the teacher shows how knowledge is constructed and shared by the group through dialogue. In this way, learners become the creators rather than the recipients of knowledge. They became subjects as opposed to objects of their world and learned to recognize hegemonic forms of control for what they are and together find ways to resist them. The Freirian approach to education contributes to a reconceptualization of literacy as socially constructed rather than skill-based and initiated “problem-posing” as a model for enabling learners to become critically conscious active agents in shaping their own realities.

Whether the content is academic or not, consciousness-raising through critical issues requires a deep level of engagement both from students and the teacher. It is crucial that the content be immediate and meaningful to students so that they become aware of both the reproductive nature and the possibility of resistance to problematic content. As Pennycook cautions, it also requires teachers’ investment at the level of desire. Developing critical consciousness doesn’t mean “a rational, intellectual explanation of what is wrong” (340). Instead, it requires of a teacher a deeper level of engagement with beliefs, experiences, identities, and desires both of the teacher and the student.

Therefore we would NOT have the issue of English Education majors, yes, English Ed majors, blatantly stating they DO NOT like to read or write….because now they would be able to make some connection between the information learned/read to lived experience resulting in some self gratification and critical analysis, making reading meaningful.

They talk about using teaching as a vehicle for social change. We tell ourselves that we need to teach our students to think critically so that they can detect the manipulations of advertising, analyze the fallacious rhetoric of politicians, expose the ideology, resist the stereotypes of class, race, and gender; or, depending on where you're coming from, hold the line against secular humanism and stop canon-busting before it goes too far.

According to Fanon and The counterinsurgency of education “The pursuit of critical education through anticolonial perspectives requires that learning promotes and sustains new, creative and original ideas about what constitutes schooling and education.” For this to take place, critical educators will have to ground themselves in a firm knowledge of the importance of educational transformation that links schooling and education to the broader socio-economic transformation of society for the benefit of all learners. Education should be seen as a social good in itself that should not necessarily be dominated by the needs of a particular sector of society.

Those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety, adopting instead a concept of students as conscious beings, and consciousness as critical consciousness intent upon the world. They must abandon the educational goal of deposit-making and replace it with the posing of the problems of individuals in their relations with the world. Then and only then will we have a transition not only from College to University but from student to critical thinker, from a stagnant nation to a progressive one.

Works Cited

Cesaire, Aime. Discourse on Colonialism. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Continuum, 1970

Freire, Paulo. Teachers as Cultural Workers, Westview Press, 1998

Freire, Paulo. and I. Shor . A Pedagogy for Liberation: Dialogues on Transforming Education, Bergin and Garvey Publishers, 1987.

Pennycook, A.. Introduction: Critical approaches to TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3) 1999: 329-348.

Said, Edward. Out of Place: A Memoir. Routledge. 1999

Tompkins, Jane. Pedagogy of the Distressed. College English 52.6 (October 1990): 653-60.

A Preliminary Assessment of Hubert Ingraham's Legacy - Bahama Pundit

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Ingraham's greatest achievement was to unlock broadcasting, curb endemic victimization, and enable freedom of speech. In the process, he completed the realignment of Bahamian politics so that all sections of society could participate comfortably.via A Preliminary Assessment of Hubert Ingraham's Legacy - Bahama Pundit.

More on this later.

Surreal but good

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Today was the first day of the estate sale for my mother's house. We aren't selling the house, just many of the contents. My parents had oodles and oodles of things -- many of them collectibles that worked in that house because of its size, but which Eddie and I can't accommodate in our homes. And then, after my father died, people who loved my parents both gave my mother exquisite pieces -- crystal, Lladro figurines, work by Denis Knight and Jessica Maycock and Lillian Blades.These things went on sale today. The sale was scheduled to begin at 8:30 this morning, and people were at the house by 8:00. When I got there -- right at 8:30 (the sale was being handled by Jay Koment, a premier art and antiques dealer) -- there were people waiting to get in.I have to say, I was apprehensive to say the least. Letting these things go wasn't easy. Pieces that we were clearing out have memories, and I wanted to feel as though those memories are being shared up among the people who knew and loved my parents. My father's favourite chair -- to a cousin who loves it. My mother's favourite -- to a former student and lifelong friend. My father's music books -- to his pupils, that sort of thing.I needn't have worried. One of the first things someone said to me, after asking how I was handling the sale (and the answer was I was handling it perfectly well, thank you, until that very moment that I saw all the people and knew it was time to let things go), was that so many of the people who had arrived bright and early were there because they knew and loved my parents and they wanted to have mementos of them. That made me happier. Much happier. And then the people who bought the things that mattered most to me were people who knew my parents and loved them, and so it was all good.We do it again tomorrow, and then it's time to start work on the house.All, all part of the process of letting go.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-05-13

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  • Need to spend more time working on my various blogs. Head down today. #
  • SA ordered to prosecute Zim torture suspects - http://t.co/IMYp6nQM via @mailandguardian via @andrewiliff #
  • RT @adriancharles I started by abandoning insults based on gender or orientation. I ended up abandoning all insults. It feels good! #
  • RT @nicobet @KnowlesAsh How do you do that? If you own them you can *redownload* them can't you? I can on the iPad #
  • “@maalym: LMAO, a die hard PLP just told me a FNM is really a PLP only that the FNM has education.” Oh my dear lord. May I quote you? #
  • "@maalym: Successive governments seem to give the church more attention than the public service." Fear of preachers & shame of pub serv? #
  • "@maalym: We spend more money on public service salaries than anything else. Are we getting our moneys worth?" Not even close. #
  • "@maalym: @sbaranha I imagine a reformed public service. Outdated general orders run the largest employee base & budgetary expenditure." Yes #
  • RT @maalym: This is the first cabinet I've seen where the minister for the Public Serice was not identified.-> Noticed that too. #
  • “@TheRyan1908: "Haters are people who read with no resume, who critique with no credentials." @PattiLaHelle #LoveIt ?? Haters read? #
  • “@Mr_Adds: @nicobet @chrissyonir All this misinformation is dangerous. Thank you for your source.” I totally agree. #
  • “@mydnaparty: @sbaranha we'd like to make certain all accounts are balanced.” Yep - policy more important that parties IMO. Pun intended. #
  • “@TheEconomist: S. America export boom linked to growing global appetite 4 organic foods, http://t.co/H0JNp1aY” so why can't we cash in too? #
  • “@Truth242: Please get your copy of the Political Promise Tracking Score Card http://t.co/kD8sfpXi” @MYPLP_Believe @pgchristie #
  • “@noelle_elleon: Talkin Sense: Loretta Butler-Turner for 2017? Why Loretta trumps Minnis http://t.co/3bsWRsy0” Read it; like it! #
  • “@JoeyGaskinsJr: @nicobet I will do that...I'm CCing you guys, in case they want alternatives...even though yall won't be up. lolol” lmao #
  • Good. & good grief. & good night. #
  • & say that your perspective may be coloured by the fact you are in UK & then say what you know & think. You'll do FINE #
  • What do they want? Sent addys btw just FYI. Just provide the disclaimer that you are not on ground & your contacts are online & social media #
  • Oh good lord that's 7:30 our time. You do it! Have fun :) #
  • However feel free to give them my email anyway. Will DM it to you #
  • & my tomorrow is booked tho I can't speak for Stephen #
  • Cause if the interview is now I will be too sleepy to make sense @JoeyGaskinsJr #
  • What is the time of the show Nassau time? Is Ja on EDT or EST? Which end of the day is it? @JoeyGaskinsJr #
  • 6:30 AM? #
  • RT @sbaranha #Bahamas2012 PLP 48.7%, FNM 42.1%, DNA 8.4% -> as popular votes go in this country that is not close #
  • RT @signifyinwoman I've never spent time writing about a Bahamian woman writer. I say that with @nicobet's Lent/Elegies in hand :) -> Wheee! #
  • Being a successful minister has more to do with being respected by the key personnel in your portfolio than with anything else #Bahamas2012 #
  • People said the same thing about Cynthia Pratt but her record puts Turnquest's to shame. #DemandDebates #Bahamas2012 #
  • Tomorrow's PLP Cabinet appts (from Cable 12): Nottage=National Security, Halkitis=State for Finance, Pinder=Economic Affairs. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Just signed @BarackObama's Thank You card for #marriageequality Bahamas: step up! http://t.co/NyO2ggGa #
  • Starting work on a new blog post. This one will be harder to write than the last. Want to tackle once and for all the corruption narrative #
  • “@jbbahamas: really excited about the next 5 years. It is OUR responsibility #DemandDemocracy and #DemandDebates & we have already started” #
  • Worth remembering. “@Truth242: RT @JohnXLennon: A citizen who does not have it in them to be a dissident has no idea what democracy is!” #
  • “@erinaferguson: OAS observers gave us the thumbs up on a clean election, except for Campaign Finance Reform, Women Candidates” yeah! #
  • “@mydnaparty: The Women's Alliance will be looking to extend its branches ... http://t.co/XejRxKAK” Good start. Keep working, 3rd party! #
  • “@sbaranha: After the elections is before the elections. #bahamas2012 #DemandDebates #Bahamas2017 ?? yes! #
  • OK dinnertime … signing off #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy I imagine the National Lottery intended to generate revenue to offset tax cuts & greater investment in educn #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy So: 14 goals for first 100 days. Do-able? #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 13) Reduce max. stamp tax on real estate to 10%. 14) Reintroduce ceiling on max real property tax on homes. #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 12) Move towards referendum on National Lottery and gambling. #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 11) Launch a 40th Anniversary of Independence National Congress. (Sounds good but don't understand …) #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 9) Renew commitment to National Health Insurance. 10) Initiate plan to lower cost of electricity. #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy “@nicobet: 6) Reposition Bahamas Development Bank. 7) Re-establish Ministry of Financial Services etc” #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 8) Introduce Employees Pension Fund Protection Act to secure pensions against exploitation from employers #
  • 6) Reposition Bahamas Development Bank to kickstart employment and entrepreneurship. 7) Re-establish Ministry of Financial Services etc #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 4) Institute mortgage relief plan. 5) Set in motion plan to secure borders. #
  • “@vkrussell: @nicobet @funfelicity @sbaranha Letters important but academic standards of excellence and notable reputation matters most.” #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 2) Prioritize doubling of investment in education and training. 3) Create Ministry for Grand Bahama. #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy 1) Launch Project Safe Bahamas & Operation Cease Fire & reintroduce Urban Renewal to fight crime & violence #
  • #Bahamas2012 #DemandDemocracy OK, here are the goals 4 1st 100 days @MYPLP_Believe #
  • #Bahamas2012 Anybody saving our wishes? We will need them to continue to #DemandDemocracy going forward. #
  • “@erinaferguson: We watch closely as the PLP rolls out its first 100 days, and the "Ready to govern from Day 1" Budget is due in 2 weeks.” #
  • #Bahamas2012 PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM!!! & ground-up revision of General Orders. #
  • #Bahamas2012 Ratification & finalizing of regulations of Freedom of Information Act #
  • #Bahamas2012 Back to the wish list of issues: Referendum on fossil fuel exploration (both oil & LNG). Development of alternative energies. #
  • “@Truth242:RT @TheRyan1908: #Bahamas2012 Independent Boundaries Commission with statistician, Supreme Court judge and accountant.” Yes! #
  • #Bahamas2012 Municipality for New Providence & separation of local issues from national ones (so no more spending on NP at expense of all) #
  • #Bahamas2012 Back to the issues wish list - constitutional & legislative reform to regulate PM & ministerial powers #
  • #Bahamas2012 @sbaranha @vkrussell @funfelicity University by no later than 2014 - College's 40th anniversary. Still too late if you ask me #
  • What's not in the Charter that we would like to see happen? #Bahamas2012 #
  • #Bahamas2012 …but back to reality. What do we wish to be on the agenda for this administration? Amendment of the Marital Rape Act back on. #
  • #Bahamas2012 Christie for Culture! & yes, I do know what I'm talking about. #
  • #Bahamas2012 No real prefs 4 Works, Youth & Sports, Immigration (are we sticking with the FNM idea of amalgamating Customs & Immigration?) #
  • #Bahamas2012 I could get behind that one too. Hanna-Martin first just because she's a woman #isaidit but I wouldn't turn down Bell! #
  • #Bahamas2012 Wilchecombe for Ministry of Grand Bahama? Don't mess with my wish list dude. #
  • #Bahamas2012 Wish List: Mitchell--Foreign Affairs, Nottage--Education, Pinder--Investments, Perry Gomez--Health, Wilchecombe--Tourism #
  • #Bahamas2012 I'll do a wish list though. So here it is: McWeeney--AG, Hanna-Martin--Security (no-nonsense & without taint), Jarrett--Finance #
  • #Bahamas2012 Expect to see many old faces in cabinet too but hope to see some new FULL ministers and few Parliamentary Secretaries #
  • #Bahamas2012 Prefer not to speculate on cabinet b/c don't know enough. However I expect to see Bernard Nottage in it. #
  • RT @Truth242 According to sources Leslie Miller being considered for Minister of National Security #Bahamas2012 >I pick Glenys Hanna-Martin #
  • RT @Truth242 RT @iAmSellz: Cochinonmongulous <---- http://t.co/XNt7SPDi #Bahamas2012 -> ROFLMAO #
  • RT @sbaranha @Truth242 - It's usually Youth, Sports & Culture... #Bahamas2012 -> PGC took Culture into OPM 2006-2007 & promised restructure #
  • RT @Truth242 Accdg to sources many MPs will be disappointed in Cabinet appointments #Bahamas2012 ->With this majority they shd be prepared #
  • RT @Truth242 According to sources Mitchell to return as Minister of Foreign Affairs #Bahamas2012 > Best man for the job - see wikileaks! #
  • “@ricklowebahamas: What political maturity means in a Bahamian Context http://t.co/GV1IODtd” Short read but have a look. #
  • “@TheRyan1908: Christie Administration Favourites: Ryan Pinder, Fred Mitchell, BJ Nottage..” I witchu! #
  • OK @MYPLP_Believe! Good start. Now REAL WORK needs to be done. No time to waste. 100 day plan is ambitious. Don't disappoint. Ppl impatient! #
  • “@jbbahamas: “@cerys84: My MP already gat his ppl taking down his posters. I really like this Minnis guy...” #Bahamas2012 ?? Minnis=great MP #
  • Short speech from PGC. Perhaps the shortest ever? #Bahamas2012 #
  • Wendell Major to be returned as Acting Cabinet Secretary (another retiree!!!) #Bahamas2012 - is this a good start? #
  • Announcing the new government - announcement of first minister tomorrow entire cabinet by Friday #Bahamas2012 #
  • Invites opponents to join in making the Bahamas the "finest little nation on all the earth". #Bahamas2012 #
  • Thanks the PLP supporters who worked to bring about the change of government & promises not to forget them - is this favour? #Bahamas2012 #
  • Promises to address youth unemployment and pledges to serve the youth. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Promises to be true and faithful to the people & to give the best of himself at all times. Promises a better & brighter future #Bahamas2012 #
  • New PM Perry Christie swearing in: thanks given to voters for re-electing him #Bahamas2012 #
  • RT @sbaranha OAS:disclosure of campaign financing, independent boundaries commission&more: http://t.co/bNDJvH7W #Bahamas2012 #DemandDebates #
  • RT @Phresh1914 Do feel that the BIG DOGS will be fed first under PLP. Special interests will be fed first.->No matter who wins this happens #
  • RT @vkrussell @tadaLive Voted for the first time. It felt great. Glad to make my voice heard in some small way. It took less than 2-mins. #
  • RT @TheEconomist Economists rethinking the view that capital should not be taxed..more sensible than previously thought http://t.co/cP8206BA #
  • RT @jbbahamas @nicobet We need 2 form a "keep the govt honest org" 2 keep whichever government is power in check & #DemandDebates -> Indeed #
  • RT @sbaranha Post-mortem on JCN demonstrates the old guard doesn't get it. #bahamas2012 -> Quite. #
  • #DemandDemocracy #DreamBetter #Bahamas2012 #Bahamas2017 #
  • Citizens - time to start work. Voting is only the beginning of the journey. Now we need to hold our representatives to account. #Bahamas2017 #
  • Two five-year governments is a great exercise in democratic voting but far more to democracy than placing a ballot in a box #Bahamas2012 #
  • #Bahamas2012 Great that @MYPLP_Believe campaign resonated with so many--don't betray that belief. Mind what happens when people lose trust! #
  • #Bahamas2012 In which case it would be a mistake to assume that this very comfortable lead is as comfortable as all that. Great expectations #
  • #Bahamas2012 I'm thinking the PLP's mandate is not only coming from its base but also from less predictable voters seeking change. #
  • Anybody working out the popular vote right now? Curious to know whether this result can be studied with regard to party "bases"#Bahamas2012 #
  • #Bahamas2012 For HAI to lose would shake MY world. For him to resign is a different matter. #
  • #Bahamas2012 People who were around in the 1980s know that only two men defeated the Pindling PLP as independents - HAI and PGC. #
  • #Bahamas2012 The world is right again. @Tribune242 report was wrong - Ingraham won his seat but just resigned it. Good night and goodbye. #
  • “@RikSweeting: I honestly believe that it was Hubert's "one man band" act that ultimately sealed the FNMS fate.” Agreed. #Bahamas2012 #
  • #Bahamas2012 STILL querying the North Abaco result - only saw that on @Tribune242. Confirmation please #
  • “@Tribune242: REPORTS: Ingraham concedes electionhttp://t.co/2yBLNgQh” Now THIS indicates a change of government ... #Bahamas2012 #
  • #Bahamas2012 "A momentous swing for the PLP"? - Dar(r)old. Note to doubting Thomases - DNA candidates getting deposits ... #
  • #Bahamas2012 I dead. I want Darrold to keep mispronouncing that name!! LMAO #
  • Mark Humes won his deposit! Go DNA. #Bahamas2012 Third party on the move. And no, I am not a DNA but a citizen loving democracy #
  • “@vkrussell: "Like Marathon the winner of Golden Isles has wins the government." Dr Ian Strachan #Bahamas2012 ?? I wouldn't go that far! #
  • Fred Mitchell polling old time results. Last time was close but not now. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Darrold is repeating that reportage. To think he been giving TCI these pearls! #Bahamas2012 #
  • #Bahamas2012 Looking like DNA splitting FNM vote in Bamboo Town so far #
  • #Bahamas2012 North Abaco results kind of interesting ... #
  • #Bahamas2012 Man when I ga eat? Can't leave the TV!! #
  • #Bahamas2012 I glad my gal Loretta winning in Long Island #
  • Bamboo Town independent carryin on #Bahamas2012 #
  • #Bahamas2012 Watch the DNA splitting the vote!! Check it out! #
  • #Bahamas2012 Did I say race wasn't a factor? Clearly I was reckoning without Darrold Miller ... #
  • “@sbaranha: My wish: No victimisation in the aftermath of #Bahamas2012 - real or alleged.” INDEED #
  • “@nicobet: Predicting the 2012 General Election: Third parties & other things http://t.co/woOCcmml” #Bahamas2012 FINALLY finished justintime #
  • Predicting the 2012 General Election: Third parties & other things http://t.co/woOCcmml #
  • Still working on a post that needs to be finished before results start coming in -- this one has been hell to compose #Bahamas2012 #
  • http://t.co/hlYp0Le1 Elizabeth poll. Interesting - survey interviewed more men than women: more female registered voters #Bahamas2012 #
  • My favourite images of today! I love 'em both -- Sir Durward and Obi(e) Pindling. Go head OneBahamas!! http://t.co/Didyvxj5 #
  • #Bahamas2012 - looking around for the best coverage I have finally settled on the Nassau Guardian. Twitter feed's sluggish but webpage fine #
  • “@JoeyGaskinsJr: What I'm wearing tonight. Red, yellow, green and black. Nonpartisan fashion: http://t.co/0SxqdVJu” -> LIKE! #
  • RT @Tribune242 WHO DID YOU VOTE FOR TODAY?http://t.co/Eh7EOVxR MYOB #Bahamas2012 #
  • RT @Tribune242 Tribune Insight:A WISH LIST FOR THE NEXT GOVERNMENThttp://t.co/4PJ1IZrL Read it! Worth the read. #
  • RT @Dangeloreid @nicobet You do realize that you just broadcasted your home address to the internet right Dr. Bethel? -> Yeah pretty dumb #
  • RT @BahamasLocal Polling stations are open and the lines are long.. http://t.co/aG3Ml4Fz No line in my division! Walked in & back out in 5 #
  • #Bahamas2012 Winning this election is NOT a mandate to destroy the good in the name of party loyalty. You ate elected to serve not get fat #
  • #Bahamas2012 This goes for all. For all have sinned & come short of the democratic good. #
  • #Bahamas2012 To whomever forms the next gvt: this time work for the good of the citizens not the glory of your party. You are being watched #
  • Chillin @ Montagu polling divisions 6-10, 1 & 12 (??) #Bahamas2012 http://t.co/nPGWaA1c #
  • RT @thisisrazz Just voted for the very first time! #Bahamas2012 #
  • RT @sbaranha I cast my ballot. #Bahamas2012 http://t.co/nceia76u Smarter than me - no DOB in yr photo #
  • The deed is done #Bahamas2012 http://t.co/YkqoUcwC #
  • RT @JoeyGaskinsJr Austerity in Europe is failing, the neoliberal push is faltering. #France #Greece->World is shifting #
  • #Bahamas2012 Going to get ready to vote. Wearing my We The People shirt. Bahamas first. #Bahamas2012 #DreamBetter #DemandDemocracy #
  • #Bahamas2012 Getting ready to go vote and STILL don't know where that X gon fall ... & I'ne telling when it do #
  • “@jbbahamas: any party wishing to get my vote in #Bahamas2017 must commit to public debates early on in the race.” Hear hear #DemandDebates #
  • RT @jbbahamas Cable 12 needs to stream their coverage of the results... i prefer them to ZNS -> A slight measure of independence? #
  • RT @Phresh1914 @nicobet still living in constraints of Stafford's 1950 economic vision that required us to be trained -> & I'm no supporter #
  • Check it #Bahamas2012 #Bahamas2017 RT @AP Twitter's role in 2012 presidential campaign extends beyond 140 characters: http://t.co/mm5psOPP #
  • RT @sbaranha We've been such good students of our colonial masters. Too good. http://t.co/fDSP1QGr #Bahamas >let's change that starting 2day #
  • RT @Chrisreports @ St Matthew's Anglican Church http://t.co/4XX3DOn6 -> not far from my parents' grave #
  • “@Phresh1914: A jr minister has no idea of the mechanisms necessary to lead a country” inexperience is not always a liability - see 1967 #
  • “@Phresh1914: A coalition government would be perfect for where we're at right now” Certainly. Ingraham+Christie=damn good PM #
  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-05-06 http://t.co/XX9kD1Za #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-05-06

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  • “@joeybahamas: Making two huge moves this summer...we're about to change the face of Bahamian politics….”-> Sounds good to me #
  • “@sbaranha: "Who you wotin' for?"via @theycallmeTAP <- Just be sure it's no hologram or other hot air of any colour. #Bahamas2012 ?? #
  • “@Chrisreports: Das a LOT of WHITES ....#JustSaying ....” This is the 1st election since party politics began where race wasn't a factor #
  • “@Truth242: RT @flowersdoe: 2 individuals stabbed at PLP rally!! @Bahamaspress” No matter who wins Monday it'll be tough to dial this back #
  • “@sbaranha: Blogging about tweeting about #Bahamas2012 - or something to that effect. http://t.co/W2QhYKGk #DemandDebates ?? Great post! #
  • Reason #1 to quit attending funerals: b/c my fellow citizens think it's OK to block their neighbours in #onlybahamianpeople #
  • “@robbinwhachell: (VIDEO) Zhivargo Laing Explains The Bahamas Parliamentary system of Government ... http://t.co/72yr9Gdr” ->Great but late #
  • “@j9: Is "NO" a bad word?http://t.co/U0d7PyQC” -> No #
  • “@sbaranha: "Support the COB in continuing its transition to university status." #Bahamas2012 #DreamBetter http://t.co/NTEsM0F2” #
  • “@BahamasWeekly: PLP FNM: Personal Attack on Minister of Tourism “Disgraceful”: ... http://t.co/cHN8ZrU7” Whole campaign's been disgraceful #
  • “@TheEconomist: American presidential election will determine whether austerity can be avoided http://t.co/iZN1oxvB” -> Austerity optional? #
  • “@globalvoices: Almost 5% #Africa agricultural #land been bought/ leased by investors since 2000 http://t.co/lGMU0gHR” FDI not always good #
  • Note to #Bahamas2012 politicians: look beyond your base & ask: how do I get the undecided to vote for me? #DemandDemocracy #DemandDebates #
  • Call the election in #Bahamas2012 I wouldn't be so fool! Anything could happen, whee!! #DemandDemocracy #DemandDebates #
  • #Bahamas2012 How will the swing vote? Ay, there's the rub. #DemandDebates #DemandDemocracy #
  • #Bahamas2012 Swing voters: watch this minority; the power is there. Never mind da noise in da market #
  • #Bahamas2012 Highlights: voter involvement. Low points: petty violence, trash talking & messianic delusions #
  • #Bahamas2012 Highlights: social media. Low points: social media #
  • #Bahamas2012 Best & worst election season in a long time. Highlights: DNA insistence on issues. Low points: FNLP ad hominem attacks. #
  • “@Tribune242: The PM says 'victory is in sight'” For some politicians, for a party -- but what about the Bahamian people? #
  • “@Tribune242: Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is addressing a huge crowd at RM Bailey Park”->All crowds huge. Watch the swing. #Bahamas2012 #
  • “@TalkBahamas: Who Ga Win and Who Ga Lose? Bahamas 2012 Election Predictions | Straight Talk Bahamas http://t.co/BuLmPyrv” Interesting take #
  • “http://t.co/dtxHwCWn” Somebody want to tell me what voice I have when politicians say no debate, duck issues, & pick candidates in caucus? #
  • How To “ SPOIL YOUR BALLOT!!! http://t.co/dtxHwCWn” #
  • “@Truth242: RT @island_boy19: These crooked politicians need to be put in jail. Every last one of them.” Wd there be anyone left to govern? #
  • “@Truth242: FNM: PLP paying $50 to sport PLP hats, $100 to sport PLP shirts, $500 to vote PLP in South Andros”-> What's the going rate? #
  • “@Truth242: FNM: PLP paying $50 to sport PLP hats, $100 to sport PLP shirts, $500 to vote PLP in South Andros”->Politicians are different? #
  • Chair of Social Sciences's office after the rain last week @sbaranha http://t.co/NCDmJA8I #
  • RT @Truth242 Bahamas Petroleum Company stock continues to fall >> #thingsthatmakeyougohm #
  • RT @mydnaparty My goal is to become like You Jesus. http://t.co/2lo7wsNk>>Prophecy, crucifixion, resurrection, adoration? #
  • RT @JoeyGaskinsJr @Truth242 So basically, BPC is trying to play with the elections and the market? I may have to write something (-__-)>YEAH #
  • #demanddebates in on Guardian Talk Radio NOW ! #
  • RT @sbaranha RT @thisisrazz "#onlybahamianpeople worship political leaders" <-why we need exposure 2 our Caribbean neighbours #DreamBetter #
  • RT @sbaranha RT @thisisrazz "#onlybahamianpeople worship their political leaders" <- sad truth? #DemandDebates #DemandDemocracy #DreamBetter #
  • “@Truth242: The advanced poll in London went well! We acted as agents to observe the poll” >> Someone shd be studying this election #
  • “@Chrisreports: FYI May 7th is also my birthday #sigh http://t.co/zOndoPbU” >> I feel for you #
  • The last event @bocaslitfest: the winners read from their books #bocas2012 http://t.co/kGQAbBAq #
  • Carolyn Ali, aka The Egg Lady, introduces cookbook/children's tales b4 serving up some goodies @bocaslitfest #bocas2012 http://t.co/0tCwNiaU #
  • Loretta: the poem is breath. The poem gets in. @bocaslitfest #bocas2012 #
  • Loretta, 'El Velorio' - "The indiscriminate gun always at our backs, the cosmic bullet always in the air" @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • How to write by Loretta: Tease out the troubling passages in the discourse and trouble them more @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • Teachers: beware the boredom of studying literature in the classroom for real readers of books, like @Karen_Lord @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • Ramchand: Do writers feel it necessary to go back to the great writers of the past to influence our tradition? @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • Loretta: The resonances between places. Brathwaite's submarine unity. @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • RT @Karen_Lord @nicobet @bocaslitfest LOL don't make me sound too sane! >> good thing you're the sanest person I met in TT! #
  • Loretta: The energy of being betwixt & between linguistically is energetic. @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • Loretta: the influences of second-hand boxes all mixed up - & Kamau @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • Influences. @keimiller: While writing a sermon he became conscious of the manipulation of words. @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • Influences. Shara: Music. King James translation of the Bible. British canon from Chaucer to the Romantics. @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • Anxieties of influence:postcolonial writing & literary tradition: Loretta Collins-Klobah, Shara McCallum, @keimiller, @Karen_Lord #bocas2012 #
  • Sunday with Kei Miller & Mervyn Morris - @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 http://t.co/SR76qoOi @keimiller reading #
  • Was not always online to tweet at the time @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • gonna finish up Sunday's tweets made @bocaslitfest #Bocas2012 #
  • RT @sbaranha It seems that we did not #DemandDebates loudly enough, but don't expect this hashtag to disappear. #Bahamas2012 #Bahamas2017 #
  • Cool & humbling RT @bocaslitfest @novelniche--thoughts on the poetry of @nicobet & Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming. #bocas2012 http://t.co/SPNeqwAL #
  • Yes!RT @sbaranha @JoeyGaskinsJr On behalf of my & previous generations, I apologise that there's not a wider range of choices. #Bahamas2012 #
  • RT @JoeyGaskinsJr #TheWork doesn't stop at voting...make sure who wins does what's right #Bahamas2012 >>& who loses. Not only victors govern #
  • Elections all round!>> RT @TheEconomist New French interactive simulator come up with a victory for Nicolas #Sarkozy http://t.co/P5mq3Piq #
  • “@JoeyGaskinsJr: Voting today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My first time....”--knock em dead #Bahamas2012 #
  • “@TheEconomist: Malaysia's PM looks strong, but the opposition remains confident http://t.co/aP2Xbrov” global perspectives #Bahamas2012 #
  • “@TSElibot: O my people, what have I done unto thee.”--This should be the politician's lament, & that of each political flunky #Bahamas2012 #
  • “@Salon: @ggreenwald discusses CIA hypocrisy, #WarOnWhistleblowers and more http://t.co/4gh4IktM via @majorityfm” Democracy under siege #
  • “@csbhagya: Appa: You have an exam on May 1st?! Me: Yes Appa. I have an exam on a Sunday also. :/” That's just wrong. #
  • “@TheEconomist: Serbian may 6 elections unpredictable, but any new government will have a hard time http://t.co/tL5lRO6W”--sound familiar? #
  • “@TheEconomist: world losing its ability to reconstruct history. Better regulation could fix that http://t.co/hoMDsdPR” or better education? #
  • Getting up @ stupid o'clock to catch the plane to Miami and leave T&T and @bocaslitfest #bocas2012 A good time was had by all. #
  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-04-29 http://t.co/xA4t8IsG #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-04-29

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-04-22

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  • Hear hear @ricklowebahamas & Edward Hutcheson Those one sided political discussions http://t.co/U0XAe74N #
  • Blessed blessed rain last night. Today is fresh & sweet #
  • RT @jbbahamas “@Bahamaspress: 5 more hours to SHOWTIME!!!! http://t.co/9zFEL5XA” > nice to know the plp rallies are just a show>> arent all? #
  • Great start--Details?>>RT @mydnaparty @nicobet Our vision for ALL Bahamians is to be esteemed higher than any material or natural resources. #
  • #Bahamas2012 Democratic milestones of the past: Majority Rule: 45 yrs ago. independence: 39 yrs ago. Freedom of speech: 20 yrs ago. But now? #
  • #Bahamas2012 @YourFNM @MYPLP_Believe @mydnaparty We need a vision. We need deliverance from paternalism. We need, after all, a nation. #
  • #Bahamas2012 @MYPLP_Believe Democracy without issues isn't: where are yours? @YourFNM Paternalism isn't democracy: where's my voice? #
  • #Bahamas2012 Democracy is turning down the emotion & turning up the mind. Educate, investigate, interrogate. #DemandDebates #
  • #Bahamas2012 Democracy isn't parroting issues parties define for us or voting for people parties pick for us #DemandDebates #
  • #Bahamas2012 Ask questions. Have vision. Dream better. #DemandDebates #
  • Think critically.Seek truth.(you en ga find it on any party website or party document).Have standards to measure promises by. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Or: Don't mind the noise in the market. Just watch the price of the fish. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Or: mouth could say anything.Or: paper will sit still & let anyone write on it. #Bahamas2012 #
  • A little something to keep in mind this election season: talk cheap, money buy land #
  • “@TheEconomist: Marriage is a surprisingly good predictor of management style http://t.co/k83jvk7T” >> sthg to consider when voting? #
  • “@sbaranha: @MYPLP_Believe - How is @YourFNM manifesto "too little, too late," when your own ain't even out yet? #DemandDebates ?? Damn yeah #
  • “@JoeyGaskinsJr: Still in the library at 7am...” O the luxury of a true-true 24 hour library. Dream better Bahamas! #
  • “@sbaranha: Q: Which party transformed rusty steel into our national stadium? A: Communist Party of China. #DemandDebates ??>>w/Chinese labour #
  • “@Truth242: FNM to increase scholarships for Family Island students” Scholarships to where? The USA & the brain drain? Invest in UOB! #
  • “@sbaranha: Somebody is going to offer a laurel wreath to Caesar any minute now. #Bahamas2012 #DemandDebates” Lol look what I missed! #
  • Stayed away from twitter today to get some work done. I blame #Bahamas2012 for keeping me up all night last night. #
  • Dream better!>@jbbahamas:Sustainable boutique hotels. Different islands, different experiences @YourFNM > I can get behind this #Bahamas2012 #
  • Why must we have our national anthem sung to us? What's wrong with everybody standing up and singing it together? & getting the words right? #
  • It's a start>>RT @TheRyan1908 A classmate of mine said the Government shd have ONE tangible goal by 2020:every child should be able to read. #
  • Talking bout education ... gotta return to MARKING ... ugh #
  • Not willing to let govts off the hook but not willing to accept mediocrity & lame excuses either. Demand more but provide opportunity too #
  • Wanna find a govt that sees Bahamian citizens as humans equal to anyone anywhere on the planet & expects excellence & makes no excuses #
  • Or lack of self-esteem & conviction they are second-class? Agree with #PLP there #
  • RT@TheRyan1908 What do u think happened? >>>Hard to answer in a twitter feed!! #
  • Before 1974:excellence available in public schools.After 1974, 1992, 2002, & 2007:excellence requires fee-paying.Unacceptable.@TheRyan1908 #
  • Citizens, let us demand what we need and let the politicians jump to serve us. Disbelieve whatever sitting politicians say - spin is endemic #
  • Principles have to cut both ways. Under #PLP loan scholarships were being regularized, the way #FNM regularized mortgages. 6 of one & other. #
  • Argument presented re Mortgage Corporation by #DrDuaneSands holds true for Government Loan Scholarship programme which #PLP regularized #
  • And if they did, is it adequate? RT @JoeyGaskinsJr Did the #FNM pass the Person With Disabilities (Equal Opportunity) Bill?? #Bahamas2012 #
  • As #FNM initiatives they are being touted. When will our needs be more important than political pointscoring? #Bahamas2012 #
  • Is citizenry forced to suffer for the sake of political ascendancy?Inner city renewal & community policing were decried as #PLP initiatives #
  • #FNM reinstating the concept of community policing. Why was it stopped? #Bahamas2012 #
  • Moral standards developed by early #PLP Youth between 15 and 25 raised in #FNM times. What fundamental changes are proposed to fix it? #
  • Sands thinks we have a sick society. Let us share the blame for that. We are all complicit. What are solutions, then? #Bahamas2012 #
  • Disbelieve me? Compare Our Plan 2002 with Manifesto 2012. Stop looking back. 2007's mistake was to revert to 2002. Will 2012's be the same? #
  • My concern: #FNM now investing in plans proposed by #PLP 2002-2007: urban renewal, city regeneration, social programmes. But 2012 isn't 2002 #
  • No discussion of any of these things. We look back, throwing stones, not forward, tossing seeds. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Youth unemployment is a pressing issue. Underemployment for qualified Bahamians is a pressing issue. Civil service reform is critical. #
  • Fastest growing areas of global economy: tourism & creative industries. No discussion of either. FDI continues to be seen as a saviour #
  • This back and forth is unproductive and does not bode well for 2012-2017. Vision is lacking overall. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Bahamas economic base under threat and no party is addressing this reality. Economic expansion cannot be done by business as usual. #
  • My problem with this election: the arguments are obsolete and do not take into account the reality of the 21st century. #Bahamas2012 #
  • #FNM #039;s urban renewal plan as articulated by Duane Sands is gentrification not economic renewal of the ppl in the area. #Bahamas2012 #
  • All of a sudden #FNM is a champion of Urban Renewal. Someone explain the philosophy behind it please. #FNM will gentrify the city. #
  • Discussion devolving into more name calling and accusations of untruth. More of the same. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Fundamental difference between #FNM and #PLP #PLP helps ppl, #FNM helps people help themselves #
  • FNM seeks to level the playing field. However the economic method they champion does not have the track record of doing this #
  • Sands indicates that we require a visionary outlook. I entirely agree. He says the political issues are as acute as in 1967. I agree too #
  • This goes both ways. The measure of validity depends upon the amount of assurance a speaker has in his/her voice, upon personality, not fact #
  • Listening to #Love97 - Duane Sands defending the record of the #FNM My problem with the discussion is that propaganda eclipses expertise #
  • & nothing wring wt that RT @JoeyGaskinsJr Leslie Miller saying #FNM funded by old UBP connections in Easter Road, Lyford Cay. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Absurd RT @JoeyGaskinsJr "More money being spent in this election than ever before."- Daryl Miller #Bahamas2012 #
  • Can't agree there RT @JoeyGaskinsJr I think once you lose a seat in parliament, you should step out of politics. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Talk it RT @JoeyGaskinsJr Come on @TeejGrant! No need to biologize false gender differences. #
  • Will the government? RT @ricklowebahamas Will the unions and their leadership answer to the Bahamian taxpayer? http://t.co/xW8nLwtM #
  • RT @peepaltreepress Britain destroyed records of colonial crimes http://t.co/lpVkOwNe via @guardian #
  • LOL RT @HeracliteanFire We got a Nigerian email scam today. But by post. And from China. #
  • Still waiting for #PLP document. Feel in need of some vision. Reward our patience & share some. ##Bahamas2012 #
  • Kudos to Eugene Dupuch Law School for the evening & to the candidates who turned up. #DemandDebates #
  • Cunningham (#DNA): initiate a system by which MPs can be recalled, whether by constituents or cabinet is not clear. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Pinder (#PLP): Representation is a big job and should not be done as a sideline. MPs should be full time jobs. #DNA 's Munroe disagrees #
  • Facing the future: all parties myopic & unconscious of the spirit of the times. #FNM in hotseat but little light shed by others #Bahamas2012 #
  • Hot air & platitudes re the question about the arts & culture. Not high on any agenda. Only #PLP recognized economic opps. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Munroe (#DNA): Too much PM power over Judiciary. Curtail it. Judiciary should be independent and seen to be. #Bahamas2012 #
  • RT @Truth242 Is legislative reform on your candidate's agenda? ASK HIM/HER! >> And #DemandDebates #
  • RT @Truth242 @nicobet Most Bahamians don't have access to justice so as to review Executive decisions. We need written standards>>SNAP #
  • RT @Truth242 @nicobet Far too much Executive discretion, I agree. Nearly every law is SUBJECT to 'discretion' by the Minister >>hear hear #
  • #DNA reforms go further. Fixed life of Parliament. Campaign finance reform. PM's power curtailed by consent, not consultation, of opposition #
  • All parties would seek constitutional amendments. #FNM women, #DNA & #PLP limit PM power #Bahamas2012 #
  • Pinder (PLP) simple constitutional reforms can curtail PM powers-Boundaries Commission, powers to appoint senior officials etc #Bahamas2012 #
  • Munroe (#DNA): the position of Prime Minister is despotic in nature and by constitution. DNA will limit PM's power. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Munroe (#DNA) Citizenship by birth not supported. Only children born to people with status are Bahamians. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Hunt (#FNM): constitutional amendment required to allow any Bahamian, make or female, to confer citizenship on children. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Pinder - constitution a living document. Need for amendments as time goes on. #Bahamas2012 #
  • Catching up on the tweets from the Governance Panel #DemandDebates #
  • RT @JoeyGaskinsJr I just want to hit the reset button on Bahamian politics....#Bahamas2012 Best one yet #DemandDebates #
  • RT @nplaughlin Files from Anguilla and the Bahamas in the "secret" colonial records newly released by the British gov't http://t.co/dg0wwaxs #
  • RT @nplaughlin "Every sensitive document kept by the authorities in British Guiana" destroyed in Independence handover? http://t.co/Vj1z1toM #
  • RT @JoeyGaskinsJr RT @dwayneroper: DR: Life of a Hashtag: #DemandDebates http://t.co/rVB0w3ef (cc: @nicobet )<< very cool! >> Ditto! #
  • RT @KnowlesAsh "@gotyouhigh Best advice anyone could ever give: Always be kind and polite, and have the materials to build a bomb. " >> Heh #
  • RT @museum_studies Activism in museums? Italian museum starts burning artworks in protest. http://t.co/ZNB0EiR9 >> Bit extreme #
  • RT @AncientProverbs When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. -Ethiopian Proverb >> Call the spiders #
  • AKA young men in yellow shirts laid redshirt effigy in road.Who created young men? RT @JoeyGaskinsJr #PLP create effigy of #FNM #Bahamas2012 #
  • Eugene Dupuch Panel Discussion on Governance. R. Pinder, H. Hunt, W. Munroe, K. Cunningham #DemandDebates http://t.co/GcoW9bEd #
  • On constitutional amendment - K. Cunningham - amend citizenship via women & ultimate power of the PM #DemandDebates #
  • H. Hunt - honesty and integrity are her strengths. #DemandDebates #
  • W. Munroe - representation of constituency, second only to greater national good. #DemandDebates #
  • Good governance: K. Cunningham - good opposition. R. Pinder - good legislation & representation. #DemandDebates #
  • All parties represented. Good stuff. #DNA #PLP #FNM all here. #
  • Will tweet till phone charge dies. No Internet. #DemandDebates #
  • At the Eugene Dupuch sponsored panel discussion on governance. #DemandDebates #
  • USA not the best example I can think of for model election systems. Concentrate on our own flaws. They have enough. #DemandDebates #
  • Like the #DNA ads though. But is there substance behind the rhetoric? #DemandDebates #
  • Feeling insulted by the repetition of the "opportunity society" ads. Few opportunities for qualified young people. #DemandDebates #
  • Lester's points are sound. Listening is a valuable virtue, Darold. #DemandDebates #
  • Not a whole much else I agree with - more sound than light so far. Thanks for the numbers, Lester. #DemandDebates #
  • Listening to Guardian Talk Radio regarding elections. One thing I agree with. Elections to consider like this: 1967 and 1977 #DemandDebates #
  • Still undecided. Issues clear; solutions not. No Plan from PLP yet. Time running out. Waiting to be wooed. #DemandDebates #
  • Bahama Republic http://t.co/LBFlysvT #
  • “@sablikatriumph: @nicobet hi there, the last elections also didn't have political debates? #DemandDebates #Bahamas (#Curacao)”>>No debates #
  • “@sbaranha: I am an undecided voter in St. Anne's." I am an undecided voter in Montagu. Help me decide. #DemandDebates #
  • Is "free" trade undoing the progress attempted by the 20th century? Gap between richest & poorest sounds feudal to me https://t.co/m1jVnIJe #
  • “@JoeyGaskinsJr: @nicobet did you peek the #twitpic lol” >>> Did but haven't seen nor read The Hunger Games so didn't get it yet #
  • “@JoeyGaskinsJr: Wherever there is a binary there's trouble...gender, sexuality, racializations and nationalisms.” >> Add partisan politics #
  • “@ricklowebahamas: Bahamas Elections 2012. Trend setting site for the elections. http://t.co/b2pRbf62” >>Go Alex! #
  • “@sbaranha: @JoeyGaskinsJr @Tribune242 - Every time a Bahamian newspaper re-designs their website, the old stuff gets lost.”>>On purpose? #
  • “@wardmin: Finished reading #theHungerGames today. Now I can go see the movie! :)” >>> I need to start #
  • “@JoeyGaskinsJr: Headed home...” >>> Transatlantically, or across town? #
  • “@DBoodooFortune: The Art of Danielle Boodoo-Fortune: April thoughts http://t.co/VnlNWmTl” >>> Love your art! #
  • “@BahamasWeekly: Police investigating shooting incident resulting in death of 12 yr oldhttp://t.co/LP6aHnOJ” >>Most gun ownership's illegal #
  • “@InjusticeFacts: 1960: the 20% of the world's people in the richest countries had 30x the income of the poorest 20%, in 1997: 74x as much.” #
  • “@mydnaparty: Great nations like great people must decide what they want 50 years from now and then work like a dog to get there.” >> Amen #
  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-04-15 http://t.co/zqUrT7EC #
  • RT @JoeyGaskinsJr: I will fight free-market capitalism and the conservative economic agenda in the Bahamas… >>>Hard to choose a party then #
  • …marking… rescue me… marking… somebody say something good... #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-04-15

in
  • Well worth considering RT @globalvoices How should we react to beggars? http://t.co/OkRwdXtS #SriLanka #poverty #
  • BEC power gone off @ 4 am. Woke up. 8:30 am the BEC robot calling the house, say if the power restored. BEC I am not a robot. I need sleep. #
  • RT @TheRyan1908: I dont think most Bahamians appreciate the value of education unless they have to pay for it. >>> I happen to agree. #
  • RT @KnowlesAsh Should I even vote? All 3 parties seem inadequate. >>> My dilemma exactly. We still have one more document to go though #PLP #
  • RT @KnowlesAsh Culture & Heritage section of the #FNMManifesto is weak. >>> it's worse than weak. It was fuller in 2007 and has been pruned #
  • #DNAVision released today. Still digesting the #FNMManifesto Hope there's more hope in the Vision. #DemandDebates #
  • “@sbaranha: @nicobet - Did you hear HAI promising to remember those who don't strike & threatening to remember those who do?” Didn't. Glad. #
  • “@Tribune242: Tribune Business:STOPOVER VISITORS TO HIT 1.88m BY 2022http://t.co/gutFgrzj” This is GOOD news? Why will it take that long? #
  • “@mydnaparty: Vision Book 2012 & Beyond has been released!!! - Click on the link to view:... http://t.co/AZfPvNxh” Downloading tonight #
  • #FNMManifesto Any proposed changes to exchange control to give individual entrepreneurs direct access to global markets? #DemandDebates #
  • #FNMManifesto p. 39: REALLY disappointed in tourism plans. Continued handing off of main industry to foreign hands. #DemandDebates #
  • #FNMManifesto p. 37: Tourism achievements seem to be window dressing. What was the impact - economic, environmental? #DemandDebates #
  • #FNMManifesto p. 38: Not impressed by the extension of concessions to private cruise ports. Why help our competitors? #DemandDebates #
  • #FNMManifesto p. 33: I like the Return to the Island initiative. A lot. Want to know details. #DemandDebates #
  • #FNMManifesto p. 32: creed of salvation by foreign investment (aka nation-for-sale) continues. #DemandDebates #
  • #FNMManifesto p. 31: Complete process of accession to WTO. Disaster in the making. WTO not geared to benefit small nations #DemandDebates #
  • #FNMManifesto begins (p. 4) with an anti-PLP screed. Are we preparing for 5 more years of insulting almost half the nation? #DemandDebates #
  • “@KheliAshlee:I really wanna see a debate tho.Leaders should debate and all those running against each other should as well” #DemandDebates #
  • This college professor wants to know that her tax money isn't going to continue being spent on hefty foreign consultant fees #DemandDebates #
  • This college professor wants to know what the role of intellectuals will be in the next 5 years of FNM rule #DemandDebates #
  • Not interested in selling more of the country. Want to know what plans there are for encouraging widescale Bahamian participation in economy #
  • #DemandDebates Want to know what lies between the Manifesto's lines cos what's written isn't wowing me. Talk to me. Earn my vote. #
  • Disappointed. No real faith in people expressed. A conservative, cautious manifesto when we need radical vision. Train citizens not servants #
  • Investment in manual labour not intellectual achievement. Plans for university delayed. Training favoured over education. #DemandDebates #
  • Looking for some real alternatives in the economic arena but saw more of the same. Investment in servitude not creativity. #DemandDebates #
  • Lowering of Junkanoo ticket prices is not an achievement. Capping revenue on a multimillion $$ industry is not visionary. #DemandDebates #
  • C'mon #PLP let's see your vision. Want to know how you will face the future. Issues matter to this voter; feed me. #DemandDebates #
  • Not impressed with cultural agenda. Cultural economy sparking economic recovery elsewhere. No mention here. Next? #DemandDebates #
  • Some of FNM Manifesto 2012 reads suspiciously like PLP Plan 2002 - Urban Renewal initiatives? Wasn't that a fail? #DemandDebates #
  • Are we going to see governance in next 5 years rather than continued political point scoring? Not an auspicious beginning #DemandDebates #
  • RT @KnowlesAsh @savageminds Anthropology was Not All White Males: Early Ethnographies by Women & Persons of Color http://t.co/b89qox1Q /KF " #
  • #DNA talking issues. #FNM Manifesto up. #PLP we're waiting - #DemandDebates #
  • Finally, #FNMManifesto https://t.co/ibn3Pk4B No university for the Bahamas in the next 5 years. Aren't we good enough yet? #DemandDebates #
  • Come now @branmccartney - all politicians will say anything before an election. Stick to issues - What makes you different? #DemandDebates #
  • #DemandDebates The Bahamian electorate has become weary of campaigns without substance http://t.co/mLs6PbQR #
  • FNM, PLP or DNA? No, a PCB -- Proud Citizen of The Bahamas. Join me: #DemandDebates #
  • Still giving the DNA kudos for engaging with issues, even when I don't agree with their stands. PLP and FNM: we're waiting. #DemandDebates #
  • Haven't picked a colour yet. I kinda like the Bahamian flag myself. But life is too short to listen to screaming and shouting and rallying. #
  • Listening to DNA Good Governance. Issues matter. Not sure that prettiness is a criterion for election though. #DemandDebates #
  • Just had a flashback to David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People starring Frances McDormand. Don't ask why. Don't know. http://t.co/jjHSbIG4 #
  • RT @joeybahamas RT @nicobet: @joeybahamas Huh! curiouser & curiouser<< i feel like i'm being investigated now lolol << No fear of that! #
  • Point is there were shades of complexity in Bahamian race/class continuum that makes reductionism nonsense. Bahamas mixed US & WI attitudes. #
  • Social conservatism is a different thing and was almost always expressed racially. Adderley certainly married light, Toote lighter. #
  • Fought for education etc. GHS and so on. Sat in House of Assembly between the wars. Later what was progressive may have become conservative #
  • Amen RT @vkrussell @nicobet I hope that the student work doesnt come down. It would be a sad day for freedom of speech and expression. #COB #
  • Not that the light skinned didn't disassociate from darker skinned but colour was not always a sure marker of class. #
  • This light/white thing is relatively new, mostly post-PLP, post-1992. Also influenced by Haitian racial categories. #
  • Tings change RT @JoeyGaskinsJr My light skin, American & British education & my class background make me get called "white" constantly #
  • #DemandDebates RT @JoeyGaskinsJr McCartney uses Toronto as eg.of low murder rates.Canada has not executed since1962. #Election2012 #Bahamas #
  • Just heard that the #COB Colour of Harmony art protest may be coming down. Hope it's not true—unless the students take it down themselves. #
  • Just almost got creamed by a driver flying a party flag coming the wrong way out of a one way street. Way to advertise your party dude. #

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Some scammers en gat no shame!!

in ,

Got this today. I laughed so hard I had to post it here.

Attention,The Federal Government of Nigeria through provisions in Section 419 of the Criminal Code came up with punitive measures to deter and punish offenders. The Advance Fee Fraud section deal mainly with cases of advance fee fraud (commonly called 419) such as obtaining by false pretence through different fraudulent schemes e.g. contract scam, credit card scam, inheritance scam, job scam, loan scam, lottery scam, ?°wash?± scam (money washing scam), marriage scam. Immigration scam, counterfeiting and religious scam. It also investigates cyber crime cases. This is to officially announce to you that some scam Syndicates were apprehended in Lagos, Nigeria few days ago and after several interrogations and tortures your details were among those mentioned by some of the scam Syndicates as one of the victims of their operations.After proper investigations and research at Western Union Money Transfer and Money Gram office to know if you have truly sent money to the scam Syndicates through Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram, your name was found in Western Union Money Transfer database amongst those that have sent money through Western Union Money Transfer to Nigeria and this proves that you have truly been swindled by those unscrupulous persons by sending money to them in the course of getting one fund or the other that is not real, right now we are working hand in hand with Western Union and Interpol to track every fraudsters down, do not respond to their e-mails, letters and phone calls any longer they are scammers and you should be very careful to avoid being a victim to fraudsters any longer because they have nothing to Offer you but to rip-off what you have worked hard to earn.In this regard a meeting was held between the Board of Directors of The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and as a consequence of our investigations it was agreed that the sum of Two hundred thousand US Dollars (US$200,000) should be transferred to you out of the funds that Federal Government of Nigeria has set aside as a compensation to everyone who have by one way or the other sent money to fraudsters in Nigeria. We have deposited your fund at Western Union Money Transfer agent location EMS Post office Lagos, Nigeria. We have submitted your details to them so that your fund can be transferred to you.Contact the Western Union agent office through the email address stated below about this notification letter and the transfer of your fund;Contact  Williams WhiteEmail: williamswhite90@gmail.comTotal Claim (US$200,000)+2347088319583Yours sincerely,Sarah Math ()Assistant Investigation Officer.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)15A Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.Nigeria

This is the return address:

From: Crimes Commission (EFCC) <finance@akron.cn>Subject: Letter From Sarah MathDate: January 31, 2012 3:04:15 AM ESTReply-To: westernunionpayment@123mail.cl