Category: Government

Repairing the Breach: Image Impacts Economics

Posted on March 6, 2018 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Here is an American experience that the Caribbean region can learn from and take to heart:

  • Martin Luther King was a great man – No Doubt!
  • When a community names a street “Martin Luther King Street/Drive/Boulevard”, the property values … go down!

Wait, What?!

This is a matter of image … impacting economics. This point was highlighted in a previous blog-commentary:

“In many instances (but not all), public opposition has led King’s name to be socially and geographically marginalized within cities, which has worked to stigmatize these streets and create public anxiety about renaming more prominent streets”.

See more in Appendix A below.

This is not about justice; this is about the economic reality.

According to a White Paper by a Caribbean academician, Dr. Donald McCartney of the Bahamas, the Black men and boys of the Caribbean region is a dysfunctional population sub-group. Their outworking on the general society is one of crime, violence and image degradation.  They are victims and villains and have experienced a breach in good citizenship in our society – “hurt people hurt people”. The White Paper addresses the question: “How to repair this breach?”. It also identifies some viable solutions for the region to consider. See that full White Paper here, and an Excerpt as follows:

White Paper Title: Repairing the Breach in the Caribbean – EXCERPT
By: Dr. Donald McCartney

 … Questions, regarding Black men and boys, are being raised … these questions are being revived because many, too many Black men and boys are not a part of the economic structure or the body politic. Upon close examination, it becomes clear that many of them are not in community with their ethnic group.

For the most part, Black men and boys live in isolation, better yet, they are marginalized. They find it difficult to connect with society in general and the significant persons in their lives in particular.

The spiraling  murder rate and other acts of violence (particularly against young men and the elderly), makes it clear, that many Black men and boys in the Caribbean, pose a serious and critical problem of interpersonal violence in every corridor and thoroughfare that Caribbean peoples and residents must cross. Consequently, Black men and boys in the Caribbean are feared, demonized and vilified.
…
Even though [this] question goes far beyond Black men and boys, it is directly related to our young men in particular and their inability to participate and develop within the body politic and the economic structure of the Caribbean:

… How do we expect to engage Black men and boys in constructive dialogue and participation within Caribbean society while, at the same time, refurbishing the image that has now been unfairly placed upon the entire population of Black men and boys?

… In order to accomplish the goal of creating a better society for all stakeholders, there must be an integrated plan of action.

See the full White Paper here: https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14392

This commentary completes the 4-part series on Repairing the Breach; using the foregoing White Paper by Dr. McCartney as the premise. This entry is 4 of 4 in this series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean in consideration of solutions – Way Forward – to assuage the plight of Black men and boys. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

  1. Repairing the Breach: Hurt People Hurt People
  2. Repairing the Breach: Crime – Need, Greed, Justice & Honor
  3. Repairing the Breach: One Option – National Youth Service
  4. Repairing the Breach: Image Impacts Economics; Get on board!

While all of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can assuage the failing dispositions of the Caribbean among our Black men and boys, this final submission highlights the economic consequence of having a substantial segment of the population in a dysfunctional state: it depresses the economic value on the whole community.

Economics is an important consideration for this discussion. There is an “elastic” relationship – see Appendix B – between community economics and community dysfunction. When there are failures in the economic engines, then the good people in the community leave and abandon the homeland. This causes a spiral to a worse disposition in that the number of dysfunctional men and boys increase compared to the overall population. With a majority Black population in 29 of the 30 Caribbean member-states, the focus of this series of commentary has been on the problematic population of Black men and boys.

The opening role model referred to Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. His Civil Rights advocacy helped elevate the image of the African American population; his life course made a huge impact. Just before his death (assassination) in 1968, he waged another campaign addressing issues of economic justice; one historic report related:

King traveled the country to assemble “a multiracial army of the poor” that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created an “economic bill of rights” for poor Americans.[156][157]

… The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C., demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States.

King and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Council) called on the government to invest in rebuilding America’s cities. He felt that Congress had shown “hostility to the poor” by spending “military funds with alacrity and generosity.” He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided “poverty funds with miserliness.”[157] His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of “racism, poverty, militarism and materialism”, and argued that “reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced.”[161]

The Poor People’s Campaign was controversial … [and] its demands were unrealized… .

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VIDEO – MLK, Poor People’s Campaign, and Economic Justice – https://youtu.be/DNR_28RberA

Published on Jan 20, 2015  

The “baton” for a Poor People’s Campaign has been passed on to a new generation: the Repairers of the Breach, founded in 2015 by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II. This is a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization that seeks to build a moral agenda rooted in a framework that uplifts the deepest moral and constitutional values to redeem the heart and soul of the country (America). They declare that the moral public concerns of faith traditions should be how society treats the poor, women, LGBTQ people, children, workers, immigrants, communities of color, and the sick. The name of this modern Poor People’s Campaign is derived from the same scriptural premise as the foregoing White Paper by Dr. McCartney: Isaiah 58:9-12, to …

“raise up the foundations of many generations and … be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in”.

See the portrayal here of the new the Poor People’s Campaign/Repairers of the Breach in this VIDEO:

VIDEO – Revival: Time for a Moral Revolution of Values – https://youtu.be/7UYxPoDxPnU

Repairers of the Breach

Published on Aug 30, 2016 – An overview of the powerful 2016 Revival tour being led by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, Rev. Dr. James A Forbes, Jr., Rev. Traci Blackmon and Sister Simone Campbell.

This discussion is relevant for the movement behind the Go Lean book – there is an advocacy to “Battle Against Poverty“ (Page 222). It delves into strategies, tactics and implementations to mitigate economic chaos in the Caribbean region. In fact, the prime directives of the roadmap strewn from the book is described as follows:

These role players – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II – are American role models with a scope of impacting America. There is the need for our own Caribbean effort. This is the quest of the Go Lean book. It serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The goal of the roadmap is to elevate Caribbean societal engines, to Repair the Breach for all the population in the region, but especially too, Black men and boys.

The reality of the Black men and boys in the Caribbean is even worse than the disposition of African-Americans in the US (or other Diasporic countries). We are considered “Less Than“, even among the population of “Less Than” North Americans and Europeans. This has been a consistent subject in previous Go Lean blog-commentaries; consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11420 ‘Black British’ and ‘Less Than’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8099 Caribbean Image: ‘Less Than’?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5088 Immigrants account for 1 in 11 Blacks in USA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4613 The Image of Ireland and the Irish – A Diasporic People
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2547 Image of Miami’s Success Due to Caribbean Failure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2251 The Image and Reality of Ethnic Names
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025 Image of the Caribbean Diaspora – Butt of the Joke
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857 Lesser Image of Caribbean “Dreadlock hairstyles”

This is real talk about the Caribbean Black men and boys.

We will not assuage the Caribbean Less Than image until we Repair the Breach. Thank you “Dr. McCartney” for your White Paper, showing us a Way-Forward for effecting change.

This is also the goal of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to reform and transform our region’s societal engines so that all of our people, including Black men and boys, can prosper where planted here in our Caribbean homeland. We must fix our identified societal defects!

“Fixing our defects” is a point that is pronounced early in the Go Lean book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) with many statements that demonstrate the need to remediate Caribbean communities and elevate the disposition of our young men and women:

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xix. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxiv. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, pre-fabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

The American role models of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II does not mean that the US is the desired model for the Caribbean to emulate. While Black men and boys amount to only 6.5 percent of the US population – they are minorities there – but they are the majority population group in their Caribbean homelands – that makes a difference. The majority status allows for race – and other matters outside of an individual’s control – to not be a reason for continuous oppression.  Repairing the Breach is the opposite of oppression.

Repairing the Breach in our societal eco-system for our Caribbean youth would also mean success for our Caribbean image, local and abroad.

The only image we seek is the worldwide recognition as the greatest place on the planet to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Appendix A – Additional References on MLK Street Naming Economics

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Appendix B – Economic Elasticity

Elasticity is a measure of a variable’s sensitivity to a change in another variable. In business and economics, elasticity refers the degree to which individuals, consumers or producers change their demand or the amount supplied in response to price or income changes.

Source: Investopedia definition for “Elasticity”; retrieved March 7, 2018 from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/elasticity.asp

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Repairing the Breach: Crime – Need, Greed, Justice & Honor – ENCORE

Posted on March 4, 2018 in Ethos, Government, Social, Tactical

Here is an interesting fact about “Black men and boys” in the country of the United States:

They amount to 6.5 percent of the total US population.

They amount to 40.2 percent of the prison population.

Surely, there are some special issues associated with this special interest group. In the field of Public Health Management, there is the concept of “Triage”; consider this definition here:

tri·age

noun: (in medical use) the assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of a large number of patients or casualties.

verb: assign degrees of urgency to (wounded or ill patients).

So the concept of “Triage” allows for immediate, expedited attention to those suffering more. The fact that more and more “Black men or boys” are entrusted to the criminal justice system – true in the Caribbean as well – indicates that this population needs more help. More and more, they are the victims and villains of crime. It brings to mind these questions:

  • What can we do to Repair the Breach for “Black men or boys”?
  • How can we reduce crime since this is so prevalent among this special sub-population?

These are legitimate questions. There are answers. We can explore these answers so as to Repair the Breach. This expression is derived from a White Paper by an academician, Dr. Donald McCartney of the Bahamas. He composed a White Paper to address this question of “How to repair this breach?” and identified some viable solutions for the Bahamas and the rest the Caribbean, especially related to the crime problem. See that full White Paper here, and an Excerpt as follows:

White Paper Title: Repairing the Breach in the Caribbean – EXCERPT
By: Dr. Donald McCartney

…
As we approach the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, the same questions, regarding Black men and boys, are being raised again.

…
The spiraling  murder rate and other acts of violence (particularly against young men and the elderly), makes it clear, that many Black men and boys in the Caribbean, pose a serious and critical problem of interpersonal violence in every corridor and thoroughfare that Caribbean peoples and residents must cross. Consequently, Black men and boys in the Caribbean are feared, demonized and vilified.

…
The answers to these questions must be found; so that we can free those Black men and boys who have become slaves to violence and crime. We must come to the realization that, that which impacts Black men and boys impacts all Caribbean people and those who reside among us.

…
The primary aim will be to create a long-term structure of sustained intervention for Black men and boys who find themselves in trouble. The emphasis of the [remediating] Thurston Foundation will be on systemic change that will bring together a multiplicity of ideas in an effort to reduce violence and crime, thus making the Caribbean’ social life whole again.

The Thurston Foundation must not shape itself around the issue of violence. Violence, in the Caribbean, has been painted with a broad brush because Black men and boys are looked upon as the face of the violence.  This violence appears to have immobilized law abiding citizens into a state of panic and fear.

…

See the full White Paper here: https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14392

This commentary continues the 4-part series on Repairing the Breach; using the foregoing White Paper by Dr. McCartney as the premise. This entry is 2 of 4 in this series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean in consideration of solutions to assuage the plight of Black men and boys. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

  1. Repairing the Breach: Hurt People Hurt People
  2. Repairing the Breach: Crime – Need, Greed, Justice & Honor
  3. Repairing the Breach: One Option – National Youth Service
  4. Repairing the Breach: Image Impacts Economics

While all of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can assuage the failing dispositions of the Caribbean among our Black Men and boys, this one in particular addresses the root causes of possible solutions to mitigate and reduce crime.

This is an ENCORE of a previous blog-commentary addressing crime and inter-personal violence. This original submission from February 18, 2016 cataloged the reasons for street crimes as: 1. Need, 2. Greed, and 3. Justice. Though not re-published here, an additional form of violence was addressed in a different prior blog, though not a street crime: 4. Domestic Violence – the act of wife-battering.

There are certain ethnic groups where domestic violence is more prominent than others. Sadly, our communities in the Caribbean is prominent for this 4th category of crime as well; honor or not, it is still criminal. Many times, men in our society feel that it is their honor to discipline their wives … as they see fit. Remediating and reducing crime among our Black men and boys, means help-seeking for domestic abusers.

See here below, for the ENCORE of the blog-commentary on assessing, mitigating and reducing the crimes based on 1. Need, 2. Greed, and 3. Justice:

—————–

Go Lean Commentary – A Lesson in the History of Interpersonal Violence – Street Crimes

No justice, no peace!

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, and accompanying blogs, has prioritized public safety and remediating/mitigating crime as paramount for the region. Despite the focus on economics, the book asserts that to elevate Caribbean society there must be a focus on the region’s security and governing engines to provide justice assurances. So in addition to economic empowerments (jobs, investments, education, entrepreneurship, etc.), the book posits that security concerns must also be front-and-center in any roadmap along with these economic efforts.

This is easier said than done.

In the previous blog/commentary in this series, the effort to reduce crime and remediate violence was identified as an “Art” and “Science”. This heavy reliance on artists and scientists have provided a lot of history for us to study and glean best-practices in this cause. What can we learn today from a study in the history of interpersonal violence as related to street violence?

This is commentary 2 of 3 considering this subject of interpersonal violence, and how it relates to the Caribbean homeland in 2016. The historic issues addressed are:

  1. Duels
  2. Street Violence
  3. Domestic Violence

Street violence stems from 3 considerations: 1. Need, 2. Greed, and 3. Justice.

CU Blog - A Lesson in the History of Interpersonal Violence - Street Crimes - Photo 3The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to elevate the region’s economic, security and governing engines. The roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to provide public safety and protect the resultant economic engines from economic crimes.
  • Improve Caribbean governance, with a separation-of-powers between member-state administrations and the CU federal government (Executive facilitations, Legislative oversight and judicial prudence) to support these economic/security engines.

So the CU/Go Lean roadmap addresses the issue of more jobs; this will lower the “need” factor for crime; (there is no expectation that these efforts would fully eliminate violent crime; but this start will mitigate the risks). The book relates that with the emergence of new economic drivers, that “bad actors” will also emerge thereafter to exploit the opportunities, with good, bad and evil intent. The second factor, “greed” is tied to opportunities. The executions of the Go Lean roadmap (Page 23) are specifically designed to minimize opportunities for crime with these security mandates:

  • Adapt the Ethos: Public Protection over Privacy
  • Embrace Electronic Payment Systems – Carry less cash
  • Whistleblower Protection – Consider all allegation, anonymous and overt
  • Witness Security & Protection – Ensure Justice Process
  • Youth Crime Awareness & Prevention; Anti-Bullying and Mitigation – “Nip it in the bud”
  • Intelligence Gathering – Universal Video Surveillance
  • Light Up the Dark Places – Eliminate the figurative and literal “shadows”
  • Prison Industrial Complex – Engage to reduce recidivism

The third contributor, justice, is tied to street riots, civil unrest and other outbursts against perceived injustices. The marching call of many of these movements is “No Justice; No Peace”.

Consider here the historicity of street violence (including sexual violence from strangers) in this AUDIO Podcast (48 minutes) here:

Click on Photo here to Play AUDIO Podcast; Click BACK to Return

CU Blog - A Lesson in the History of Interpersonal Violence - Street Crimes - Photo 2

What’s Behind Trends In U.S. Violent Crime Rates?
Guest Host: Indira Lakshmanan; posted February 9, 2016 – For more than 20 years violent crime rates in the U.S. states have been declining, but data from the first six months of 2015 suggest an unwelcome change: The FBI reports that from January and June 2015 overall violent crime was up nearly 2% and homicides jumped more than 6 percent with spikes in both small towns and big cities. The Justice Department cautioned it’s too soon to know whether the latest data signals an upturn in violence in America. Join us to talk about what drove violent crime down so dramatically over the last two decades in the U.S. and what could be ahead.
Six People Murdered On Chicago's South Side As City's Homicides Rise

Guests

  • Khalil Muhammad director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture  New York Public Library
  • Paul Butler professor, Georgetown Law School
  • Barry Latzer emeritus professor of criminal justice,  John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY  most recent book: “The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America”

The foregoing AUDIO Podcast relates the experience of the Black and Brown populations in the American criminal-justice system. There is no doubt, there is a “divide in America’s execution of their justice mandates”. But, the scope of the Go Lean/CU roadmap is to reform and transform the Caribbean, not America. We need to do better here, in our homeland. America’s success and failure does relate to us, as many of our Diaspora lives there, but frankly, the Go Lean book asserts that it is easier to fix the Caribbean, than to fix America. We simply need to keep our people at home. We need to minimize the “push and pull” reasons that drive them away. Curbing crime here – a “push” factor – helps this cause; messaging the real experiences of our Black and Brown Diaspora as they engage the criminal justice system in the US should also help our cause, in lowering the “pull” factors.

So let’s fix the Caribbean!

The quest of the Go Lean movement is to elevate Caribbean society above our dysfunctional past. We can improve upon public safety! The goal of the roadmap is to optimize society through economic empowerment, security & justice optimization, and also governing efficiencies in the region, since these are inextricably linked to this same elevation endeavor.

The cause-and-effect of failing economics leads to increasing criminality, the “need” factor. So the cause-and-effect of improving economics should therefore lead to lesser criminal activities. Improved security facilitation (i.e. intelligence gathering and analysis) should reduce the opportunities for crimes of convenience, thus mitigating the “greed” factor. Funding grants to improve Justice institutions (Police, Courts, Prison Industrial Complex), their transparency and accountability, should lower the outcries for justice. Thus the Go Lean/CU has devised a tactic of publishing rankings-and-ratings (i.e. Best Places in the Caribbean To Live …); this should exacerbate failings and failures more prominently to the monitoring public, at home and abroad.

The motivation of this Go Lean/CU roadmap is the basic principle, described in the book (Page 21), that “Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives”.

This roadmap fully envisions the integration of shepherding – leadership – for the Caribbean region’s economic, security and governing initiatives under the same organization: the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. These points are pronounced early in the Go Lean book (Page 12) with these opening Declaration of Interdependence statements:

x.   Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

xi.   Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii.  Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state …

xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states …  will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

The Caribbean appointing “new guards”, or a security pact to ensure justice and public safety will include many strategies, tactics and implementations deemed “best-practice”, including an advanced Intelligence Gathering and Analysis effort to mitigate and remediate street crime in the region, and also to optimize the “art and science” of crime, including prison reform; (see Page 211 of the Go Lean book for a discussion on criminology and penology). The Go Lean book details the series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to optimize justice institution and provide increased public safety – “top-down” and “bottoms up”  – in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Security Principles Page 22
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Tactical – Vision – Forge a Single Market economy Page 45
Tactical – Confederating a non-sovereign union Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – CariPol: Marshals &   Investigations Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Witness Protection Page 77
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid – Security   Assistance Page 115
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate – Security Optimization Page 118
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Mitigate Organized Crime & Gangs Page 134
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Law & Order Lessons Page 142
Planning – Lessons from Egypt – Lackluster Law & Order affects Economy Page 143
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Gun Control Page 179
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism – Mitigate Bullying and Gangs early Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering and Analysis Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Prison Industrial Complex Page 211
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights Page 220

Other  subjects related to crime, justice and security empowerments for the region have been blogged in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentary, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7179 SME Declaration: ‘Change Leaders in Crime Fight’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6385 Wi-Fi Hot Spots Run By Hackers Are Targeting Tourists
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5307 8th Violent Crime Warning to Bahamas Tourists
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5304 Mitigating the Eventual ‘Abuse of Power’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5238 #ManifestJustice – Lessons for the Prison Eco-System
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4863 A Picture is worth a thousand words; video, a million to expose corruption
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4447 Probe of Ferguson-Missouri finds bias from cops, courts
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360 Dreading the ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4308 911 – Emergency Response: System in Crisis
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881 Intelligence Agencies to Up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2994 Justice Strategy: Special Prosecutors and Commissions of Inquiry
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2684 Role Model for Justice, Anti-Crime & Security: The Pinkertons
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554 Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1143 American White Collar fraud; criminals take $272 billion/year in healthcare
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392 Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273 10 Things We Don’t Want from the US – #4: Gun Rights/2nd Amendment

The vision of the Go Lean roadmap is to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play. This means measurable reduction (mitigating and remediation) of interpersonal violence in the region. The Go Lean book presents a regional solution – CariPol et al – to remediate and mitigate street crime in the Caribbean, featuring details of strategies, tactics and implementations designed from world class best-practices to reduce street violence in the region.

The premise in the Go Lean book is that “bad actors” will always emerge, from internal and external origins. We must be prepared and on-guard to defend our homeland against all threats, foreign and domestic, including street crime and interpersonal violence. Plus, we must accomplish this goal with maximum transparency, accountability, and commitment to due-process and the rule-of-law. Thusly, there is a place for closed-circuit TV (CCTV), dashboard and body cameras. If there is the community “will”, the CU will ensure the “way”!

An additional mission is to lower the “push” factors (from “push-and-pull” reference) so that our citizens are not led to flee their homeland for foreign (North American and European) shores. Where we have failed in the past, we now want to reform and transform our communities, so that we can re-invite our Diaspora to return; this time, offering security assurances. Among the many reasons people emigrate or refuse to repatriate, is victimization of interpersonal violence or fear of crime.

There is “good, bad and ugly” in every society. We must therefore mitigate the “need, greed and justice” reasons for interpersonal violence in our society.

So all stakeholders in the Caribbean – people and institutions – are urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap for the elevation of the Caribbean’s societal engine: economy, security and governance. The roadmap calls for the CU to do the heavy-lifting, so as to impact the Greater Good for justice, peace and security. This is conceivable, believable and achievable.  🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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White Paper: Repairing the Breach in the Caribbean

Posted on February 28, 2018 in Ethos, Government, Social

Repairing the Breach in the Caribbean

By: Donald M. McCartney, D.M., MPA, MSc.Ed. (Hons.), B.A., T.C.

On 16 April 1889, while speaking on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, Frederick Douglass attempted to harness and clarify the defining questions that were of importance, at the time, with respect to Black men and boys.

“….Mark, if you please, the fact, for it is a fact, an ominous fact, that at no time in the history of conflict between slavery and freedom in this country has the character of the negro as a man been made the subject of a fiercer and more serious discussion in all the avenues of debate than during the past and present year. Against him have been marshaled the whole artillery of science, philosophy, and history; we are not controlled by open foes, but we are assailed in the guise of sympathy and friendship and presented as objects of pity.” – Frederick Douglass

As we approach the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, the same questions, regarding Black men and boys, are being raised again.

These questions are being revived because many, too many Black men and boys are not a part of the economic structure or the body politic. Upon close examination, it becomes clear that many of them are not in community with their ethnic group.

For the most part, Black men and boys live in isolation, better yet, they are marginalized. They find it difficult to connect with society in general and the significant persons in their lives in particular.

The spiraling  murder rate and other acts of violence (particularly against young men and the elderly), makes it clear, that many Black men and boys in the Caribbean, pose a serious and critical problem of interpersonal violence in every corridor and thoroughfare that Caribbean peoples and residents must cross. Consequently, Black men and boys in the Caribbean are feared, demonized and vilified.

When Frederick Douglass spoke in the late 19th Century, he raised the following crucial and defining questions:

  1. How does one protect a group from public dissection as if it existed as a mere aberration in the society?
  2. How does one create for that group a group concept so that it is able to sustain itself as a self-respecting group within (the Caribbean) a society, which views it as an aberration?

The answers to these questions must be sought as we search for a way out of the morass in which we, as a people, find ourselves.

The answers to these questions must be found; so that we can save our Black men and boys.

The answers to these questions must be found; so that we can free those Black men and boys who have become slaves to violence and crime. We must come to the realization that, that which impacts Black men and boys impacts all Caribbean people and those who reside among us.

The answers to these questions must be found as we continue to approach the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.

Unless and until the answers to these questions are found, we will continue to be a people in a quandary.

There is a breach within the fabric of Caribbean society, which has led to a breach in the lives of Black Caribbean males. A serious attempt must be made to repair this breach at all cost.

All Caribbean people, who are concerned about the state of the Caribbean in general and the fate of the Black Caribbean male in particular, need to ponder, take to heart, and act upon Isaiah, chapter 58:9-12.

“Then you shall call and the Lord shall answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your gloom shall be as noon day. The Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire with good things. You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters fail not, and your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.”

The message from Isaiah is powerful. It tells us that the only way to create a genuine community is to become repairers of the breach, restorers of safe streets in which to dwell.

Becoming repairers of the breach and restorers of the streets are the foundations for assisting Black men and boys who are in trouble to move from trouble, to engage their families and ultimately build solid citizens.

In this regard, all Caribbean people must become repairers of the breach and restorers of the streets. Our future depends upon it! It is the imperative of now!

There must be a regional response with respect to the issues confronting Black men and boys in the Caribbean. This is no time for throwing up our hands as a gesture of capitulation, (posing the useless question: “What is wrong with these young men?) and rolling our eyes. It is time for action…serious sustained, positive action!

Those who become engaged in this regional response must be individuals who are prepared to make a difference in the issues of Black men and boys in their communities. To this end, the Caribbean must move towards the establishment of a Regional Task Force on the State of Black Men and Boys in the Caribbean. This is the advocacy here-in. This Task Force is hereby branded the Thurston Foundation in honor of Charles Thurston (1910-1980), an influential community figure in the Bahamas and in the life of the author. He demonstrated the most effective and efficient training for “raising a boy in the way he must go” (Proverbs 22:6). According to scripture, “give men of that sort, double honor” – 1 Timothy 5:17

The work of the Thurston Foundation, as an NGO (Non-Government Organization), should and must be a joint venture between governments of Caribbean member-states and Corporate Caribbean.

The Thurston Foundation must be appointed post haste and without reference to political affiliation.

The Thurston Foundation must come from a broad spectrum of concerned citizens and residents from the public and private sectors.

While these persons should be qualified for the task at hand, the Thurston Foundation must be comprised of men, women and young persons who are committed to the task of repairing the breach and restoring the streets.

The purpose of the Thurston Foundation will be to provide ideas that Government, organizations and individuals in the Caribbean can use to change the lives of Black men and boys, change communities, and by extension change their nations.

The primary aim will be to create a long-term structure of sustained intervention for Black men and boys who find themselves in trouble. The emphasis of the Thurston Foundation will be on systemic change that will bring together a multiplicity of ideas in an effort to reduce violence and crime, thus making the Caribbean’ social life whole again.

The Thurston Foundation must not shape itself around the issue of violence. Violence, in the Caribbean, has been painted with a broad brush because Black men and boys are looked upon as the face of the violence.  This violence appears to have immobilized law abiding citizens into a state of panic and fear.

It must be understood by the Thurston Foundation that simplistic approaches and stereotypes are not the way forward in rendering assistance to men in general and boys in particular.

The Thurston Foundation must be mindful that there are other forms of violence that are the precursors of the violence that is perpetrated by some Black men and boys.  Among these forms of violence are violence of the heart, violence of the tongue, political violence, religious violence and racial violence. These forms of violence have created in some of our Black men and boys the culture of violence that the Caribbean is experiencing today.

The Thurston Foundation must understand that violence is a symptom of a deeper and pervasive problem. The members of the Thurston Foundation must understand that finding a cure or attempting to cure violence does not of itself cure anything.

Even though the question goes far beyond Black men and boys, it is directly related to our young men in particular and their inability to participate and develop within the body politic and the economic structure of the Caribbean.

Mindful of these broad concerns, the Thurston Foundation must seek answers to the following questions.

  • First: How do we bring relief and assistance to communities and families that are experiencing the great hurt and harm of violent behaviour?
  • Secondly: How do we find a way to reestablish community and make inroads into violent behaviour, the major social problem of the day? 
  • Thirdly: How do we expect to engage Black men and boys in constructive dialogue and participation within Caribbean society while, at the same time, refurbishing the image that has now been unfairly placed upon the entire population of Black men and boys?

These men and boys suffer as a consequence of media and political short-sightedness, stereotyping and the actions of those who commit violent acts without regard for society.  

The Thurston Foundation must endeavour to frame a public response to the Caribbean’s difficult policy issues regarding Black men and boys, while at the same time laying the groundwork for sustained approaches to put these issues to rest.

This could be accomplished by repairing the many breached relationships in our nation, communities and families. Members of the Thurston Foundation must acknowledge the fact that all of us have a role to play in the process of repairing the breach and restoring the streets.  By this inclusiveness, Black men and boys will be restored to their rightful places in the Caribbean.

The Thurston Foundation must give consideration to three broad areas, which can assist in the transformation of the Caribbean, and by extension Black men and boys.

  • The first of these is the human condition and human development. Consideration of the human condition and human development will give clarity to the common good as a working principle and establish a connection with one human to another.
    The idea of the human condition and human development embrace the concept of fair play, expanded opportunities and the necessity for each person to be able to contribute to development of the Caribbean.
  • Secondly, the ancient concept of polis states that members of a society have to honour their rights and responsibilities. One cannot have rights without responsibilities.
  • Thirdly, the concept of public works or the important contribution everyday people can make to the commonwealth, which is best exemplified (illustrated) by telling stories of common work, and celebrating our common life and heritage and our efforts in creating citizenship.

The concepts of the human condition and human development, polis and public works will provide the basic framework for the report of the Thurston Foundation.

The human condition and human development, polis and public work are the keys to strengthening families, restoring our streets to safety, and rebuilding civil societies in our communities.  These concepts must be embraced by communities, expanded upon, and put into practice in order to create safe havens for our children, the elderly, Caribbean people and residents generally.

The themes that should be detailed in the report of the Thurston Foundation should include polis, the common good, civic storytelling, grassroots civic leadership and restoring community institutions.

The concepts of the human condition and human development, polis and public work can be accomplished if civic, social, religious and professional organizations, as well as business, government and the philanthropic sector work together.

The Thurston Foundation should appeal to individuals and organizations to join in the effort to rescue the Caribbean and preserve it for all of its citizens and generations yet unborn.

The Thurston Foundation must see the need for wide ranging Regional Conversation and Dialogue if solutions are to be found.

As a part of this exercise, a Regional Conversation and Dialogue on Race, Ethnicity and Nationality must be a central part of the agenda. This is a major tool for assisting Black men and boys since public opinion is most vital when advocating change. Caribbean people can engage each other by learning to talk to each other and finding common cause.

This Conversation and Dialogue should take place over a period of several years. These facilitated discussions will begin with the Thurston Foundation members talking to neighbours, friends, peers and others in their homes, town halls, schools, churches and workplaces.

Boys and men in trouble or headed toward trouble have to decide for themselves that they wish to change. After all you can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.

Men and boys must assume personal responsibility and be held accountable for their actions. Parents must be prepared to parent so as to give young men a chance to succeed.

This is the light in which the Thurston Foundation ought to frame its recommendations and responses. It is anticipated that this new way of looking at how to bring violence under control, to be repairers of the breach and restorers of the streets, brings with it a spiritual, a practical, a pragmatic and political element. All of these elements must work together if we are to create a better society for these men and boys and their families as well as for all Caribbean people.

In order to accomplish the goal of creating a better society for all stakeholders, there must be an integrated plan of action. For example, the loss of a social centre in some neighbourhoods, settlements and cities requires that all civic, social, religious and cultural organizations act with a sense of urgency to plan from the local to the regional levels, to study their individual areas jointly, to combine their efforts in programming, and to cooperate in long-range planning; so that damaged or lost infrastructure can be repaired or replaced. A coordinated approach to these activities will develop a sense of organized companionship toward the goal of restoring our social and economic future.

A general discussion of the goals, missions and aspirations of those affected will determine agenda building and planning. Our civic, social, religious, and cultural organizations must develop themselves into a working network. This would give impetus to a new Regional Dialogue, thus adding voices to existing organizations.  This new dialogue will focus on the bridges that must be built based on study and a sense of community mission.

The Thurston Foundation will have a life of eighteen (18) to twenty-four (24) months after which it will be expected to make its final report. There will be interim reports every six months.

The Thurston Foundation will be expected to make a number of recommendations in its interim and final reports.  These reports will be designed to keep the Government and people of the Caribbean abreast of its findings.

The information gathering meetings, of the Thurston Foundation, will be open to the general public, while its deliberative meeting will be held in private.

The recommendations of the Thurston Foundation will form the core of a ten (10) to twenty (20) year plan which will enable the Government and Corporate Caribbean to begin to assess and ameliorate the problems faced by Black men and boys in the Caribbean.

Discussion, of the issues laid out in this presentation, will go a long way in introducing the concept of polis, a comprehensive idea with respect to values, manners, morals, and etiquette that are required for structuring public life on both the social and political levels.

These areas present a broader and tougher vision of community.  The term community, as it is presently used, is indeed overused and has little meaning. It does not have the kind of force of intent that is now needed to rectify and restore our homes, communities and nation.

This concept, of repairing the breach and restoring the street, will give Black men and boys much more room to determine how they will participate actively in the social and political life of the Caribbean. They must not be alienated from a society that their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents helped to build and develop.

There is allowance made for a discussion about how one becomes a whole individual and citizen participating in Caribbean society under the rubric of both polis and community, and the dependent social contract that polis implies.

In order to commence addressing the many issues facing and surrounding Black men and boys in the Caribbean in the 21st Century and beyond, public policy and activity must become aligned with the work of the repairers of the breach and restorers of the streets.

🙂

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About the Author
Dr. Donald M. McCartney is a life-long educator and specialist in “Management and Organizational Leadership”. Though he is well-respected in his home country of The Bahamas – with success track records at every level of the education spectrum: K-12, Post-Secondary, Graduate and Post-Graduate – he has executed his professional vision throughout the Americas. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida and Jose Maria Vargas University in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

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Legislating Morality – Yes, We Can

Posted on February 27, 2018 in Ethos, Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

We have always heard: “No one can legislate morality”.

But truth be told, that is a fallacy. With the proper application of best-practices, we can legislate – pass laws – and change people’s attitudes and actions about habits and practices. Follow-up, messaging and enforcement is key! In modern society, we have seen this repeatedly in one community after another. Let’s examine … with the experiences with some common vices.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – present numerous examples of advocates and their advocacies where they have labored to change their community (or nation) attitude and actions towards certain causes. The book addresses this whole subject under the topic of “community ethos”. This is defined as the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of society; dominant assumptions of a people or period. Think of the derivative term: “work ethic”.

Can we change community ethos?

Yes, indeed …

… but it is not easy; in fact the Go Lean book identifies the effort as heavy-lifting, but the movement behind the book volunteers for the task of executing change for the Caribbean.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

We have seen changes to public morality: from bad to good; and from good to bad. We have seen the bad community ethos of “drunk driving” and “white supremacy” relegated to an “unbecoming” status in good citizenship. But we have also seen the good ethos of recreational drugs prohibition become accepted and demand for decriminalization and legalization. (In the US, Marijuana legalization is now the norm for 40 percent of the American population).

Change continues …

These changes have been duly documented by the movement behind the Go Lean book in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13882 Managing ‘Change’ in California
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12703 Lessons from Colorado: Legalized Marijuana – Heavy-lifting!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9646 ‘Time to Go’ – American Vices, i.e. Marijuana. Don’t Follow!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1386 Puff Peace – The Debate  for Marijuana in Jamaica

This is not just a phenomenon in the Americas; success in legislating morality have also been experienced in the Old Country; consider this European example in France.

Imagine the French and their affinity for Red Wine (Bordeaux), and Champagne and Cognac and Sherry … (There is also the traditions of the French Caribbean islands and their mastery of the rum eco-system). See Appendix VIDEO below.

These are export products for the Republic of France and indicative of the complex French culture. Yet, this country has legislated morality and reduce their alcohol consumption, by means of Evin Loi or Evan’s Law; see summary here from Wikipedia:

The loi Évin is the French alcohol and tobacco policy law passed in 1991. It takes its name from Claude Évin, then Minister of Health, who proposed it to Parliament. …

Before the law, French advertising laws discriminated against non-French producers. However, Scotch whisky producers challenged France in the European Court of Justice and won. France was condemned and required to change the law in 1980 but did not produce satisfactory legislation until 1991, with the enactment of Loi Evin, which affected both alcohol and tobacco policies. …

The provisions of the law reinforce the restrictions placed on tobacco and alcohol and their advertising by its predecessor Loi Veil (1976), legalising abortion. …

Alcohol advertisements are prohibited on television or in cinemas. The law requires strict control over messages and images and the inclusion in all advertisements of a message to the effect that alcohol abuse is dangerous to one’s health.

So this French law regulated alcohol advertising; advertising affected alcohol demand; so the end result on alcohol consumption are as reported in the following article:

“It has had a huge impact on the consumption of alcohol in France,” says Dr Mick Loftus, the anti-drinks campaigner and a former president of the GAA. “In 1960, the average adult in France consumed 30 litres of alcohol. Today, that figure is down to 13.5 litres and it’s mainly thanks to Loi Evin.

See full article in Appendix below.

Related Article:
Alcohol policy in France – Between traditions and paradoxes
https://intra.tai.ee/images/eventlist/events/27-11-15-alkokonverents_4_Craplet.pdf

The movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that Caribbean community ethos can be changed; even further, that Caribbean societal defects can be assuaged. But before the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies of a roadmap to elevate a society can be deployed, the affected society must first embrace a progressive community ethos. This is where legislating morality becomes so important. Yes, we can effect change in our region.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to transform the societal engines of Caribbean society, regarding a lot of matters of morality. The Go Lean book cites (Page 122) one particular example of an advocate campaigning to legislate America’s morality. See this quotation here:

Candice Lightner
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
Ms. Lightner forged change in her country (United States) values and attitudes with her founding of this organization. She advocated change in attitudes, acceptance, laws and enforcement so that families would be spared the heartache she personally experienced with the tragic lost of her daughter to a drunk driver in the 1970’s. One woman made a difference!

The Go Lean book asserts that every community has bad actors – stemming from bad community ethos. There must be “new guards” to assuage any risks and threats in society. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13) that claims:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices of criminology and penology to assuage continuous threats against public safety. The Federation must allow for facilitations of detention for [domestic and foreign] convicted felons of federal crimes, and should over-build prisons to house trustees from other jurisdictions.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

Societies change …

We have all seen it; think seat belts, smoking, high fat diets. Leaders can legislate change and morality. It works … eventually. There are heavy-lifting involved, like messaging and enforcement. But if the effort persists, the values, priorities and motivations of people in communities can transform, for the better or the worse. Let’s work for better!

The Caribbean wants (or should want) to be an elevated society; to be a better homeland and a better place to live, work and play. So we urged everyone in the region to lean-in to this roadmap for change, and to pay more than the usual attention to other communities and their developments and manifestations for change. Let’s study their successes and failures. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

———

Appendix: Alcohol Action – Advocating to reduce alcohol harm in Ireland

Title: How To Tackle The Drink Link To Sport? Just Ask The French

We know it as the Heineken Cup, but in France they call European rugby’s leading club competition the H Cup.

And when Liverpool FC played there in the Europa Cup some years ago, they had to wear shirts free of their then sponsor Carlsberg.

These are just two examples of the very strict anti-alcohol policies that have been in place in France for more than two decades.

From Indpendent.ie

While Irish people are used to drinks companies sponsoring a diverse range of sports, music festivals and arts events, as well as extensive alcohol-related advertising across the media, a whole new generation in France has grown up never seeing a single drinks ad or attending an event sponsored by a drinks company.

It’s thanks to Loi Evin (Evin’s Law – named after the then health minister Claude Evin) and it has been a feature of life in France since 1991. Advocates keen to curb binge-drinking in this country believe it is a model that we should adopt.

“It has had a huge impact on the consumption of alcohol in France,” says Dr Mick Loftus, the anti-drinks campaigner and a former president of the GAA. “In 1960, the average adult in France consumed 30 litres of alcohol. Today, that figure is down to 13.5 litres and it’s mainly thanks to Loi Evin.

“If you go to France now, you’ll rarely see the sort of drink-to-get-drunk culture that’s so prevalent here. There, there isn’t the same emphasis on consuming alcohol in order to have a good time that’s long been the case in Ireland. The fact that alcohol is not associated with fun events like music festivals and sport has helped shift the perception French people have with alcohol. Generally speaking, drinking alcohol is seen as something to do with food.”

The origins of the law are rooted in old French protectionist polices of curbing the promotion of “foreign” goods in order to give their indigenous products an advantage.

UK drinks firms took the fight to European courts in the 1970s and ’80s, and French lawmakers were eventually forced to level the playing field by also banning the promotion of home-grown alcohol companies.

The ruling continues to outrage the country’s wine industry. “They treat us as if we were making a dangerous product,” Burgundy winemaker Pascale Chicotot told The New York Times. “We are not terrorists. Wine is not a dangerous product. Wine is a noble thing.”

Yet, anti-alcoholism advocates in France believe it is this very restriction that is helping to reduce consumption across the board. Leading campaigner Dr Alain Rigaud says Loi Evin has had a significant positive impact: “The law has been efficient in correcting excesses in the form and the content of advertising messages and it is essential for the implementation of an overall and coherent preventative effort.”

Yet, he contends that it is still too soon to gauge its full consequences.

“The effectiveness of the law on younger generations will not be felt for several decades,” he says.

Despite the restrictions, there is evidence of growing alcohol misuse among teenagers in France since Evin Law was introduced. A recent survey there shows a rise of 17pc in this age group who said they had consumed five or more drinks in one session in the previous 30 days.

It’s a problem that is causing French authorities considerable disquiet, especially as the 2009 ruling that raised the legal purchase age from 16 to 18 does not appear to have had an impact.

Meanwhile, some lobbyists who favour the retention of alcohol’s relationship with sport, argue that sponsorship simply gives one brand a competitive advantage over another but does not influence consumption trends.

“We analysed consumption, sponsorship spend and disposable income per head in all the major markets,” said the authors of a report on behalf of the Sponsorship Today consultancy.

“There was a very clear correlation between consumption and disposable income, but no clear pattern regarding sponsorship spend and consumption.

“In Germany, for example, beer consumption per capita is among the highest in the world, but sports sponsorship spending is comparatively low, whereas in Portugal sponsorship spend is high, but consumption is low. The findings are not definitive proof of no impact, but they add to the body of research that suggests that sponsorship is not a major contributory factor in increasing alcohol consumption.”

Mick Loftus does not agree.

“If we want to protect the health of our young people, we need to have a blanket ban on all promotion of alcohol, including the sponsorship of sports event and we should look to France for a model. We simply won’t be serious as a nation about coming to terms with our alcohol problem until we do that.”

Source: Alcohol Ireland – Posted June 2013; retrieved February 27, 2018 from: http://alcoholireland.ie/how-to-tackle-the-drink-link-to-sport-just-ask-the-french/

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Appendix VIDEO – Is French Wine the Best in the World? | #WineWars | French Guy Cooking – https://youtu.be/4u_PRozZsWw 

Jamie Oliver – Drinks

Published on Jan 26, 2015 – Alex – AKA Food Tuber French Guy Cooking – enters the #WineWars ring to fight the corner for French wine. Alex thinks French wine is the best in the world – but is he right? In this video he shows us three of his favourite French wines – a red (J. Boutin Saint-Joseph), a white (Alsace Gewurztraminer) and a rosé (Coteaux du Cap Corse: Domaine Pieretti Rosé).

Which country do YOU think produces the best wine in the world?

Leave a comment and get involved on social media using the hashtag #WineWars.

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Forging Change: Soft Power – Clean-up or ‘Adios Amazon’

Posted on February 21, 2018 in Economics, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Speak softly and carry a Big Stick – West African Proverb pronounced by the 26th US President, Theodore Roosevelt

Speak softly and carry a Big Payroll – Modern New Twist 

Welcome to the concept of “soft power” … 2018 style.

There are a number of ways to forge change on a society; military power or hard power is perhaps the most effective. “Leading by the sword” is not in dispute. Anyone willing to protect their life, family and property will comply. But leading by Money Matters is also extremely effective. The prospect of acquiring money or losing money can be a great motivation. This “soft power” is now emerging as the preferred way to forge change on society. We are seeing clear choices presented to different communities:

Clean-up your societal defects or else … face the loss of some economic bonanza.

This is the situation right now in Atlanta, in the US State of Georgia. The issues are so blatant that it is bordering on a “soft power” reality.

Soft power is the ability to attract and co-opt, rather than by coercion (hard power), which is using force or giving money as a means of persuasion. Soft power is the ability to shape the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. A defining feature of soft power is that it is non-coercive; the currency of soft power is culture, political values, and foreign policies. – Source

“Hard power” = involuntary; “soft power” = voluntary.

See the full article here, wherein the Big Tech firm Amazon is weighing Atlanta’s values and community ethos to attract or repel Amazon to consider that location for their Second Headquarters and 50,000 high-paying jobs. See the story here:

Title: ‘Adios Amazon:’ Tech giant sparks Georgia Capitol debate
By: Ben Nadler, Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — With Atlanta among the 20 cities on the short list to become the home of Amazon’s second headquarters, the corporate giant’s name has become a contentious rallying cry inside the conservative Georgia Capitol.

Lawmakers and lobbyists in Georgia are viewing various pieces of legislation through the lens of how they will affect the city’s chances of winning Amazon’s business — and the estimated 50,000 jobs expected to be generated by the new headquarters.

Two flashpoints have been a “religious liberties” bill — viewed by some as anti-LGBT — as well as a trio of bills that opponents have dubbed “adios Amazon” because they’re related to immigration issues.

“It’s putting a target on our back,” Democratic Rep. Bee Nguyen said of the immigration-related bills, which she said would draw unnecessary scrutiny from the Amazon selection committee.

Amazon has yet to publicly release specific criteria it will use to judge the 20 finalist cities, but its initial call for proposals lists “Cultural Community Fit” as a priority, noting it requires a community with a “diverse population.” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is a big-time donor to pro-LGBT causes and has given large amounts of money to fund scholarships for young immigrants.

The potential cost of legislation perceived to be discriminatory can be huge. North Carolina faced months of scrutiny and criticism after the passage of its “bathroom bill,” which effectively blocked the city of Charlotte from allowing transgender people to use restrooms aligned with their gender identity. An Associated Press analysis revealed backlash to the law would cost the state an estimated $3.76 billion over 12 years in business lost from Paypal, the NBA, Adidas, Deutsche Bank and other companies and organizations scuttling planned projects and events in the state.

But some lawmakers are skeptical that state legislation would have any effect on Amazon’s selection.

“It is a smart tactic to create this boogeyman of, ‘Oh, we are going to lose out on economic development,'” Republican Sen. Josh McKoon said. He said there was “zero evidence” that conservative policies make a state less likely to attract employers like Amazon and that state legislators should not be swayed by out-of-state companies that may not share the same values as the people of Georgia.

“Perhaps we should just have their board of directors come down and sit in our seats in the House and Senate,” McKoon said sarcastically.

McKoon is a sponsor of a resolution that would prevent the state government from issuing written driving tests and other official documents in any language other than English. That is one of three measures that opponents have dubbed “adios Amazon” legislation. The other two measures would require a special driver’s license for non-U.S. citizens and would tax out-of-state wire transfers, which are widely used by immigrants.

McKoon is also a supporter of another piece of controversial legislation that some people worry could derail Atlanta’s bid: a “religious liberties” bill that opponents say would allow individuals to deny services to LGBT people based on their religious convictions.

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a similar measure in 2016 after pressure from corporate giants including Coca-Cola, a major employer based in Atlanta. But conservative legislators are pushing the measure forward again this year.

The veto highlights another important aspect of the Amazon debate: It’s not just Republican vs. Democrat.

In the run-up to November’s elections, conservative Republican legislators are pushing hot-button social issues that can win votes in rural parts of the state. But the party’s more centrist, business-friendly arm is worried that could turn off Amazon by seeming to be anti-immigrant or anti-LGBT.

Republican Sen. Michael Williams, who is running for governor, said in a statement to The Associated Press that he supported the “religious liberties” bill because his constituents support the measure. “I’ve made it clear that I’m not beholden to the establishment, Party leadership or big corporate,” Williams said.

But Republican House Speaker David Ralston told WABE Radio that he was interested in “growing economic opportunity for every part of Georgia” and that legislation such as the “religious liberties” bill didn’t fit into that plan.

“To the extent that any debate … creates headwinds for that, then I don’t have any interest in doing that, frankly,” he said.

William Hatcher, associate professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Augusta University, said that many of the bills being introduced will appeal to conservative voters, even if they don’t have much chance of becoming law. “There is a lot of symbolic politics going on,” Hatcher said.

“It really represents the conflict you have in the Republican party nationwide, but especially in a number of Southern states … between more economic conservatives and more social-religious conservatives,” he said.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: US News & World Report – Posted February 13, 2018; Retrieved February 21, 2018 from: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/georgia/articles/2018-02-13/adios-amazon-tech-giant-sparks-georgia-capitol-debate

As related in the foregoing, Amazon HQ2 and the accompanying 50,000 high-paying jobs is the prize. Want it? Well, it will cost you! You have to … be nice.

You have to live … and let live.

This heavy-lifting burden is the price of the ticket … for consideration. Amazon has announced that their Selection Committee will be looking at cities with a “‘Cultural Community Fit’ as a priority, noting it requires a community with a ‘diverse population’.”

Wow, what an expensive price to pay. People in cities like Atlanta actually have to clean-up their societal engines; they have to try and get along or Amazon will not consider them. Plus, Amazon is only considering 1 city, so if a community double-downs on the effort to forge a pluralistic democracy – fair treatment to all despite diverse backgrounds and lifestyles – and they are not selected by Amazon, then they would have loved their neighbors … for nothing.

How sad! This satirical comment is the height of sarcasm, but true!

Companies prefer to inhabit a peaceful, prosperous community and they are willing to “put their money where their mouth is” to forge such communities. The business axiom is fully established: “Happy home life; happy work life”.

So as demonstrated here, the people of Atlanta are being urged to clean-up their society of all past bias, discriminatory practices and abusive behavior – towards minority groups – and there might be a BIG cash pay-out in the end. This is the premise of this recent series of blog-commentaries – from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – considering the momentum that Money Matters can have on forging change in the 3 societal engines of a community – economics, security and governance. The conclusion was that it is so much easier to lead and get people to voluntarily follow – to lean-in – through economic means rather than by any security and governing directives. Atlanta – a major Southern city with the de jure segregation past and a de facto segregation present – had been under pressure to widen out its inclusion. (See Appendix VIDEO below). Now with the stakes of 50,000, jobs they are now more willing to capitulate.

This commentary follows up from the 5-part series in consideration of these Money Matters. The other commentaries in the series were cataloged as follows:

  1. Leading with Money Matters: Follow the Jobs
  2. Leading with Money Matters: Competing for New Industries
  3. Leading with Money Matters: Almighty Dollar
  4. Leading with Money Matters: As Goes Housing, Goes the Market
  5. Leading with Money Matters: Lottery Hopes and Dream

All of these previous commentaries related “how” to persuade the Caribbean region’s stakeholders to follow an empowerment roadmap. It is logical to conclude that if we “dangle money in front of our subjects”, we will get their attention; they will buy-in and lean-in because Money Matters.

There is no greater motivation than a crying baby – when hunger sets in and there is no economic solution for food, parents are willing to put aside their prejudices; they would do so willingly. Is it the desperation or is it a learning curve? We have seen the desperation, time and again. We have seen people risk their lives, and that of their children, to seek refuge; think Haiti, Cuba, etc..

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – declares that Caribbean society is in such dire straits, we are flirting with Failed-State status; we are at the precipice.

If people are money motivated – and they are – then economic incentives should work.

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Is the situation in Atlanta political or economic? (See Appendix VIDEO below). Politically in Georgia, the state is normally considered a RED state – social-religious conservatives – a Republican stronghold; but Republicans are normally also pro-business. Thusly, this conflict exists … in the Republican party nationwide, but especially in many Southern states … between more economic conservatives and more social-religious conservatives.

“Can’t we all just get along?” – Rodney King 1994

We can all get along … when 50,000 jobs hang in the balance.

The Go Lean book stresses this point; that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines is easier when economic benefits are the result. To be successful in our region, we must leverage our regional economy and collaborate on regional solutions. See this portrayal early in the book, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

So religious conservatives are less tolerant of diversity…

The only thing to transcend it – forge change – is The Almighty Dollar …

This thought of ‘forging change’ is a common theme by this Go Lean movement. See the full catalog here of this one, plus the previous 10 blog-commentaries that detailed approaches for forging change, in reverse chronological order:

  1. Forging Change – Soft Power (Today: February 21, 2018)
  2. Forging Change – Collective Bargaining (April 27, 2017)
  3. Forging Change – Addicted to Home (April 14, 2017)
  4. Forging Change – Arts & Artists (December 1, 2016)
  5. Forging Change – Panem et Circenses (November 15, 2016)
  6. Forging Change – Herd Mentality (October 11, 2016)
  7. Forging Change – ‘Something To Lose’ (November 18, 2015)
  8. Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought (April 29, 2015)
  9. Forging Change – Music Moves People (December 30, 2014)
  10. Forging Change – The Sales Process (December 22, 2014)
  11. Forging Change – The Fun Theory (September 9, 2014)

As related in these commentaries, forging change is how the Go Lean roadmap will make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. Change will come! One way or another, so we urge every Caribbean stakeholder to lean-in and embrace the change … as envisioned in this roadmap to elevate the societal engines of the region. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————

Appendix VIDEO – Atlanta: a segregated city – https://youtu.be/oeIntCp8EgQ

Vivien Morgan
Published on Apr 19, 2017 – The suburbs of Atlanta stretch for miles around the city centre. The affluent black middle classes have chosen residential segregation. It is a strange phenomenon in the city known for its black consciousness roots, birthplace of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement.

 

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Leading with Money Matters – Follow the Jobs

Posted on February 15, 2018 in Economics, Government, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

When people say it’s the principle and not the money, chances are: it’s the money. – Murphy’s Law on Money

Yes, there are more important things in life than money, but without money, those important things fall by the wayside, or never get pursued.

This is the nature of man. Psychologist Abraham Maslow addressed this subject in a comprehensive way. He established a “Hierarchy of Needs” that accurately depicted this fact that basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, safety, etc.) will always be the first priority. Efforts in pursuit of higher-level needs – art, beauty, esteem, etc. – will only be engaged once those basic needs are satiated.

This premise is not in doubt, especially in times of peace. (Yes, the sword/gun is most persuasive, but not lasting).

So considering the 3 societal engines of a community – economics, security and governance – it is so much easier to lead and get people to voluntarily comply – to lean-in – through economic means rather than by any security or governing directives.

For the vast majority of the world’s population, money plays a huge part in their decision-making. So this new movement to shepherd the Caribbean – group behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – accepts that the best way to get regional buy-in is to lead with Money Matters.

This commentary is the first of a 5-part series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean in consideration of Money Matters for leading the Caribbean down a different path from their status quo. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

  1. Leading with Money Matters: Follow the Jobs
  2. Leading with Money Matters: Competing for New Industries
  3. Leading with Money Matters: Almighty Dollar
  4. Leading with Money Matters: As Goes Housing, Goes the Market
  5. Leading with Money Matters: Lottery Hopes and Dreams

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can persuade the region’s stakeholders to follow this empowerment roadmap. It is logical to conclude that people will “follow the money”. This conforms with the Go Lean quest to reform and transform the economic engines of the Caribbean member-states so that they can be better places to live, work and play. We have to “dangle money in front of our subjects”. Then, only then, will we get their attention. This is sad, but true!

The Go Lean book – available to download for free – declares that Caribbean society must change; the economic engines must be rebooted, and optimized, otherwise our society will simply not survive, not on the current trajectory.

If people are money motivated – and they are – then economic incentives should work. This point is presented in the Go Lean book (Page 21), quoting proven economic principles:

  • People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways:
    Incentives are actions, awards, or rewards that determine the choices people make. Incentives can be positive or negative. When incentives change, people change their behaviors in predictable ways.
  • Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives:
    People cooperate and govern their actions through both written and unwritten rules that determine methods of allocating scarce These rules determine what is produced, how it is produced, and for whom it is produced. As the rules change, so do individual choices, incentives, and behavior.

Any attempt to empower Caribbean economics must start with a focus on jobs. Frankly, there are not enough jobs in the region, for any one of the 30 countries.

Due to this deficiency, people will respond to the availability or the absence of jobs. This is a fact today and was a fact for hundreds of years:

“Go West, Young Man” …

… is a phrase often credited to the American author and newspaper editor Horace Greeley concerning America’s expansion westward, related to the then-popular concept of Manifest Destiny. … Greeley later used the quote in his own editorial in 1865. Greeley favored westward expansion. – Source

In the mid 19th Century (1800’s), the US was expanding beyond the original 13 colonies into the Western parts of the continent:

  • Louisiana Purchase in 1804
  • Settling the War of 1812 with the compromise for the Northwest Territories (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin)
  • Texas Annexation in 1832
  • Annexation of Oregon Territory in 1846
  • New Mexico-California Acquisition in 1848

As the East Coast experienced economic stagnation, the sage advice was to “Go West” to seek jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities (like mining for precious metals: gold, silver, etc.).

This same advice is being followed in the Caribbean … today.

The region is in the throes of economic stagnation and people are leaving to “Go West”, many to the US, to find jobs. Our Caribbean people are being both “Pushed” and “Pulled”:

  • “Push” refers to people who feel compelled to leave to find jobs, or better jobs; they seek refuge in this foreign land. “Refuge” is an appropriate word; because of economic defects in the homeland, people find that they must leave.
  • “Pull”, on the other hand refers to the lure of a more prosperous life abroad; our people are emigrating for strong economics reasons; even many low level jobs in the foreign lands are more prosperous than professional ones at home.

The Number One employer in many Caribbean countries is the government, the Public Service; think Teachers, Nurses, government clerks, etc.. But even if people are able to get these jobs, the compensation is normally too small …

This is the true experience! Well trained, professionals, are inclined to flee due to the deficient pay. Notice this experience in this news article here:

Title: Pay up! – Educate Jamaica says $250,000 monthly salary needed to keep mathematics and science teachers in classroom
By: Gleaner Contributor Andre Poyser

Education Think Tank, Educate Jamaica, has estimated that it will take a minimum monthly salary of $250,000 to stem the flow of mathematics and science teachers leaving the classroom.

Data from the Ministry of Education indicate that 494 mathematics and science teachers exited the public education system in 2015.

According to the Think Tank, “24 to 36 months from now will see the biggest exodus of mathematics and science teachers from Jamaican classrooms”.

This exodus, it says, can only be halted by offering these teachers a monthly salary of $250,000.

A trained teacher at the entry level earns approximately $90,000 after tax.

“Only a salary of J$250,000 each month (after tax) will tempt these teachers to stay or tempt Jamaicans to return from these overseas countries to take up back their jobs. The other option will be for Jamaica to recruit teachers from Asian, South American and African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana to fill the gap being left,” the Think Tank said in an article on its website.

Explaining how he arrived at this figure, Ainsworth Darby, Chief Executive of Educate Jamaica, said he compared the salaries of teachers in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Darby also argued that a proposal to offer scholarships to attract more students to train as mathematics and science teachers should be complemented by offering more pay to these teachers.

WRONG DECISION
News reports have indicated that education minister Ronald Thwaites has backed down from a controversial differentiated-payment proposal for math and science teachers.

Darby however, believes this was a wrong decision that should be revisited. He also argued that the recruitment measure announced by Thwaites will not be enough to effectively fill the gap of mathematics and science teachers leaving the system.

Thwaites has said the proposal to pay math and science teachers more than their colleagues will not be dismissed.

However, he said the ministry hopes that the recruitment measure will help to replace the more than 500 math and science teachers who have left local classrooms within the last 12 months.

Source: Retrieved from The Jamaica Gleaner Daily Newspaper – January 27, 2016 from: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20160127/pay-educate-jamaica-says-250000-monthly-salary-needed-keep-mathematics-and

Wait, what?!?!

The dollar amounts discussed in this foregoing article refer to Jamaican Dollars. The exchange rate at this time 1 US Dollar to 80 Jamaican Dollars ($J) or 1 J$ equals 0.0080 US$. So the reference to “a trained teacher at the entry level [that] earns approximately $90,000 after tax” is actually referring to:

    J$90,000 = US $720
    The recommended salary of J$250,000 equals US$2,000.

On the other hand, in the US, entry level jobs at Fast Food restaurant chain, McDonalds, is now starting in excess of US$9 per hour OR J$1,125. So a monthly salary, assuming 40-hour work weeks, would be J$180,000 (US$9 X 40 X 4 or $1,440).

Wow, that McDonalds minimum pay of $9/hr-plus … is more than Jamaica’s Public Service professionals. (The experience is similar in other countries).

This matter is all relative. While Caribbean member-states are complaining about “too low” wages for their Public Service employees, US workers are complaining about “too low” wages in the US. According to the foregoing, we are not competing in the Caribbean; we appear to not even me trying to compete.

Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap! – The Bible; Galatians 6:7

The disposition of the Caribbean economic landscape is dire.

If we want to reform and transform – we do – the stakeholder must effect change, some how. This is the quest of the Go Lean roadmap. We want to make Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.

How?

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The plan is simple, create Two Pies for regional economics. In a previous Go Lean commentary, it related:

In order to reboot the societal engines there must be these Two Pies. The CU Trade Federation is designed to lead, fund and facilitate regional empowerment plans. But the plan is NOT for the individual member-states to write checks to the CU so as to share one state’s treasuries with another state. Rather, the CU Trade Federation creates its own funding – from regionalized services – and then encumbers the funds for each member-state to deliver the economic, security and governing  mandates. This is analogized as Two Pies:

  • One ‘pie‘ to represent the existing budgets of the member-states and how they distribute their government funding between government services (education, healthcare, etc.), security measures (Police, Coast Guards)
  • One ‘pie‘ to represent the CU funding from exclusive activities (Spectrum Auctions, Lottery, Exploration Rights, Licenses, Foreign-Aid, etc.).

For the CU pie, the strategy, tactic and implementation is for competitive salaries (compensation and benefits) for Federal Public Servants (Page 173). Plus, the CU roadmap deputizes the member-state governments for a lot of their functionality – i.e. Post Office – so that will lighten the load for the existing government payroll even further. Lastly, the CU automation and lean practices will optimize overall government delivery: do more with less.

The Go Lean book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines (economics, security and governance) must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxvi.  Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of … frozen foods … impacting the region with more jobs.

In total, the Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

So what should the planners for a new Caribbean regime do next? Or do first, since the CU Trade Federation is not currently in force?

Lead with Money Matters.

Money is not the only option, but it is the best, most efficient and effective choice. Consider the other options of security or governance:

Show up to reform a community’s security apparatus or governance and you must convene (the stakeholders), collaborate, consensus-build and compromise. That is not easy! But try to reform economics by showing up with a boatload of money and boatload of jobs; people will line-up around the corner to comply, capitulate and consume those jobs.

Boom! Economic reform is easier!

The evidence shows that our Caribbean citizens have been abandoning their Caribbean communities and those government Public Service jobs to flee to foreign shores, looking for work, like those American minimum wage jobs.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
(See the Appendix & VIDEO below).

We can and must do better. We must create job options here at home. This has been a familiar theme for previous Go Lean commentaries; consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14191 Where the Jobs Are – The Option of ‘Gigs’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13420 Where the Jobs Are – Lessons from Whaling Gigs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13184 Where the Jobs Are – Industrial Reboot; A Series
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9751 Where the Jobs Are – Animation and Game Design
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6089 Where the Jobs Are – Futility of Minimum Wage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2857 Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurism in Junk
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126 Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025 Where the Jobs Are – Attitudes & Images of the Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003 Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario: Ship-breaking

In summary, forging change in the Caribbean will mean doing better at job creation. Plain and simple!

There is a plan, here and now, to execute such a charter. This plan is conceivable, believable and achievable. But it is heavy-lifting too.

So let’s get busy …

… in the hard work of optimizing our society. Let’s lean-in to this plan to lead with Money Matters and make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. We urge every Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. 

——————

Appendix Title: McDonald’s Joins Trend in Raising Pay

Sub-title: Pay will be at least $1 per hour more than minimum wage—franchisees excluded

By: Annie Gasparro and Eric Morath

McDonald’s Corp. plans to raise wages by more than 10% for workers at U.S. restaurants it operates—fresh evidence of the rising wage pressure in the American labor market.

Starting July 1, McDonald’s will pay at least $1 an hour more than the local minimum wage for employees at the roughly 1,500 restaurants it owns in the U.S.

The move follows similar efforts by other U.S. employers including WalMart Stores …

Read the full article here:

Source – Posted Wall Street Journal April 1, 2015; retrieved February 15, 2018 from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mcdonalds-to-raise-hourly-pay-for-90-000-workers-1427916364

———

VIDEO – McDonalds Will Pay at Least $1 per Hour More than Minimum Wage – http://www.wsj.com/video/mcdonald-to-raise-hourly-pay-by-10/CC71E017-D357-4AF1-A71F-7381C5BF0232.html

McDonald’s will raise the pay for 90,000 workers by 10%, or $1 over the minimum wage, by July. WSJ’s Annie Gasparro reports.

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Enjoy Carnival and Be Safe!

Posted on February 11, 2018 in Economics, Government, Implementation, Industries, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

It’s Carnival time … in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). The streets of Port-of-Spain will be jumping, jiving, jamming, bumping, grinding and all the other festive adjectives.

Enjoy you people … and be safe too!

As the planners for a new Caribbean, we do not have to tell you how to enjoy – that is your legacy – but we do need to guide you on security and safety – it turns out that there are active foreign threats and domestic inadequacies.

Yes, the  Caribbean legacy is one of “being lax”. So we need T&T to pay more than the usual attention; and we need to convey to the whole world that Caribbean events can be safe and secure.

“Active foreign threats” …

… that is industry-speak for terrorism warnings.

Indeed, the “War on Terror” is real; there has been countless attacks since the World Trade Center Terrorist Attack in New York City on September 11, 2001. This war is still waging, though its some 17 years later, and it is not limited to the United States alone. Canada, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and others have all reported terrorist attacks. The Caribbean has been spared thus far …

… but according to some reports, that streak is about to end.

Let’s hope this story here in the British tabloid The Sun – see Appendix below – is more hype than news, but can we truly ignore it?

Title # 1: Terror threat raised for Trinidad and Tobago Carnival

(The Sun) – British tourists in the Caribbean have been warned an ISIS terror attack is “very likely” during carnival celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Foreign Office warned to avoid crowded places after cops discovered a suspected plot to target the Mardi Gras festivities on Monday and Tuesday.

In a dramatic late-night announcement, the Foreign Office said: “The Trinidad and Tobago authorities have arrested some individuals who planned to carry out attacks against Carnival on February 12 and 13.”

Officials added: “An attack is still possible. The Trinidad and Tobago government is increasing security measures for the Carnival.

“Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Trinidad and Tobago.

“Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in crowded spaces and places visited by foreigners. You should remain vigilant and avoid crowded places and large gatherings.”

Around 30,000 Britons a year visit the country. Some have family links to Trinidad but most are tourists heading to Tobago, which has direct flights from London on BA and Virgin.

Surprisingly, the island nation of just 1.3million has the highest ISIS recruitment rate of any country in the Western hemisphere.

Around 125 people are feared to have travelled to fight in Syria and Iraq, and they pose a severe threat when they return home. Authorities are also wary of home-grown terrorists radicalised in the country.

The Foreign Office travel advice update warned: “There’s a threat from individuals who may have been inspired by terrorist groups, including Daesh and al Qaeda, to carry out so-called ‘lone actor’ attacks targeting public events or places.”

The crowded streets during carnival would be a soft target for an ISIS-inspired bomb or truck attack.

Last year Trinidad jihadi Shane Crawford, who goes by the nom-de guerre Abu Sa’d at-Trinidadi, featured in the group’s propaganda magazine.

The sniper called on ISIS supporters back home to “attack the interests of the Crusader coalition”, including embassies, businesses and civilians.

He said: “Follow the example of the lions in France and Belgium, the example of the blessed couple in California, and the examples of the knights in Orlando and Nice.

“You have the ability to terrify the disbelievers in their own homes and make their streets run with their blood.”

Trinidad and Tobago, the southernmost nation in the Caribbean, is ethnically diverse with many people of African and Indian heritage as well as Chinese, European and Arab minorities.

Around 5 per cent of the population are Muslim, according to the 2011 census.

A small radical group known as Jamaat al-Muslimeen (“Community of Muslims”) launched a coup attempt in 1990, led by a convert named Yasin Abu Bakr who is now an imam on Trinidad and hosts a weekly radio show.

Last night it emerged the remaining two Brit members of the “Beatles” beheading gang led by Jihadi John had been captured in Syria.

Last month we revealed the world’s tourist terror hot spots at “high risk” of attacks.

Source: St. Lucia Times quoting the UK’s The SUN; posted February 9, 2018; retrieved February 10, 2018 from: https://stluciatimes.com/2018/02/09/terror-threat-raised-trinidad-tobago-carnival/

Related Story:
https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/caribbean-breaking-news-featured/terrorist-threats-tt-carnival/

Carnival is a BIG Deal in Trinidad and other Caribbean countries. Just the thought of active threats can discourage travel to and consumption of related events. Our regional tourism would be in jeopardy!

So we – the Caribbean member-states individually and collectively – must not disregard any security threats or risks. Any news headline that features the words “ISIS” and “Caribbean” is a scandalous combination! This thesis was elaborated on by the promoters of the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in a previous blog-commentary describing an ISIS terrorism-threat in the region.

No one wants to be accused of ignoring terrorism. Yet, as reported in another previous blog-commentary, the US and many other advanced democracy countries, are very alarmed of the Caribbean member-states and their bad practices for regional security. The troubling evidence include these inadequacies:

The foregoing all draw reference to the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available for free download – as it details the quest to reform and transform Caribbean society, The book is a how-to guide and roadmap for elevating the region’s societal engines for (1.) economics, (2.) security and (3.) governance. Strategies, tactics and implementations for a successful ‘War on Terrorism’ have been a consistent theme of this book and subsequent blog-commentaries.

But people can be terrorized by domestic or local bad actors as well. Carnival has had the bad practice of people – mostly men – being too jovial, solicitous and harassing to women participants on the streets of Port-of-Spain. This too can be terrifying …

This issue is finally being addressed this year by the T&T Police. See one news story here, reported by a Miami, Florida newspaper:

Title # 2: This Caribbean Carnival won’t allow you to twerk —unless you ask permission first
By: Jacqueline Charles

Attention all Carnival revelers and masqueraders attending the Caribbean’s biggest bacchanal: Non-consensual grinding, the provocative hip-gyrating, free-for-all that’s known in Caribbean parlance as “wining,” can get you slapped with an assault charge.

Trinidad and Tobago, the two-island country that’s considered the birthplace of the modern-day Pre-Lenten Caribbean Carnival, is telling all attendees that before you back it up on someone, ask permission. And the same goes for twerking, when the street party kicks off Monday and Tuesday in Port-of-Spain.

The ask-permission edict from the police comes after years of protests by Trinidadian women who want to be free to dance without having to worry at Carnival, the annual cultural event that draws everyone from tourists to costumed diplomats two days before Ash Wednesday.

Last year, one of the biggest hits in the lead-up to Carnival was the song “Leave Me Alone” by Calypso Rose, about a woman trying to dance in the streets free of harassment. The lyrics — “Boy, don’t touch me” — made the song a feminist anthem and inspired hundreds of gyrating women to wear “Leave Me Alone” and “Leave She Alone” T-shirts during last year’s Carnival.

Like the song, the new consent rule is part of a Caribbean-wide push by women to have more say over their bodies, said Gabrielle Hosein, the head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.

“What you’re getting is an argument that has been made by tens of thousands of women over three or more decades in the Caribbean, long before the me-too movement addressing sexual harassment,” Hosein said. “Women have a right to be sexual and feminine in public without that happening on terms set by male aggression.”

And what’s happening in Trinidad is more radical than the me-too movement, she said. It’s women, who often dress in racy costumes during the revelry, saying they have a right to express sexual freedom without fear of sexual violence.

The concern over sexual harassment during Carnival isn’t only in Trinidad. In 2016, 22-year-old college student Tiarah Poyau was fatally shot in Brooklyn during the J’Ouvert street party before the West Indian Day Parade after telling a man to stop rubbing against her and dancing provocatively close. Police later arrested 20-year-old Reginald Moise. [See VIDEO below of Carnival in Greater Miami.]

Hosein commended the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for warning last month that those who “thief a wine” — or hip-grind on a person without consent — during the raucous street party can be charged with assault, based on a law prohibiting physical touching without consent.

“This is a struggle that is finally recognized not only in law, which it was before, but explicitly in the language of the police in what is an extremely progressive position and statement the police service has taken,” she said.

Soca artists, whose performances are designed to provoke hip-grinding and gyrating, are divided about the controversial rule.

But when one well-known singer, soca king Machel Montano, objected and told fans at a concert that no consent was needed to wine, the public backlash forced a quick turnaround.

“Once you get consent, take a wine and have a time,” Montano told the Trinidad Express in a written statement.

Source: Miami Herald’s America Column – Posted Februay 8, 2018; retrieved February 11, 2018 from: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article199040889.html

——–

VIDEO – Carnival color: Miami-Dade and Broward celebrate – http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article38770695.html

Carnival lovers and revelers geared up for one of the most anticipated cultural Caribbean traditions, Miami Broward Carnival on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015 at the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds. VIDEO Credit: Carl Juste

Say it ain’t so?

Only now in 2018, will the T&T Police start to treat an assault like an assault.

This – lax security – is why there is the need for a new Caribbean stewardship. This recognition is part-and-parcel to the Go Lean movement’s effort to optimize the societal engines – including homeland security – of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. This priority on homeland security was pronounced early in the Go Lean book with the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) that claims:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including … forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

The Caribbean appointing these “new guards” will include many strategies, tactics and implementations considered “best-practices” for improved public safety and the ‘War Against Terror’. The book Go Lean … Caribbean presents its 370 pages as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to elevate the region’s societal engines of economics, security and governance. With a brand name like Trade Federation, obviously the primary focus is on economics – so promoting the image of safe Caribbean festivals is paramount – but the book also asserts (Page 23) that peace, security and public safety must be coupled with an economic empowerments. The book continues that “bad things will [always] happen to good people” and so the community needs to be prepared to contend with the risks that can imperil the homeland. The Go Lean book therefore promotes these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion GDP and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a homeland security apparatus to ensure public safety and to protect the resultant economic engines of the Caribbean
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these above engines.

The Go Lean book details the series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to improve public protections: interpersonal violence, crime mitigation efforts, and even wage a successful ‘War on Terrorism’. This charter includes all proactive and reactive public safety/security measures in the Caribbean region. There have been many previous blog-commentaries that have elaborated on policing and governing empowerments for the region’s homeland security needs. Consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13746 Failure to Launch – Security: Caribbean Basin Security Dreams
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13126 The Requirement for Better Security: Must Love Dogs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11054 Managing the ‘Strong versus the Weak’ – Mitigating Bullying
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10566 Funding the Caribbean Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9974 Lessons Learned from Pearl Harbor
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9072 Securing the Homeland – On the Ground
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9070 Securing the Homeland – From the Seas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9068 Securing the Homeland – From the Air
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7345 ISIS in the Caribbean?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6720 A Lesson in History – During the Civil War: Fighting for Our Own Cause
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6103 Sum of All Fears – ‘On Guard’ Against Deadly Threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002 Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4809 America’s Model of Monitoring for Terroristic Activities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360 Dreading the ‘Caribbean  Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554 Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1076 Trinidad Muslims travel to Venezuela for Jihadist training
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=809 Muslim officials condemn abductions of Nigerian girls
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535 Remembering and learning from Boston for Festival Security

An effort to provide better public safety and homeland security solutions in the Caribbean should be welcomed by all stakeholders. The effort to project the image of Safe Caribbean is a pressing need. We do not need to undermine our economic engines with lax security measures or attitudes.

It is past time to do better!

It is past time for a new Caribbean stewardship. One that must foster good security habits … and ‘war against a lax attitude’ – the world is watching!

Now is the time to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. Now is the time to better secure our homeland: monitor for threats, gather intelligence, investigate incidences, police communities, arm a defense apparatus and prepare for the worst. Now is time now to grow up and secure our economic engines.

All Caribbean stakeholders are therefore urged to lean-in to this roadmap, to this conceivable, believable and achievable plan to make the Caribbean a better, safer place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for the roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

———-

Appendix – The Sun Tabloid Newspaper

The Sun is a tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Since The Sun on Sunday was launched in February 2012, the paper has been a seven-day operation. As a broadsheet, it was founded in 1964 as a successor to the Daily Herald; it became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owners.[6] It is published by the News Group Newspapers division of News UK, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp.[7][8]

The Sun has the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom,[7] but in late 2013 slipped to second largest Saturday newspaper behind the Daily Mail.[9] It had an average daily circulation of 2.2 million copies in March 2014.[7] Between July and December 2013 the paper had an average daily readership of approximately 5.5 million, with approximately 31% of those falling into the ABC1 demographic and 68% in the C2DE demographic. Approximately 41% of readers are women and 59% are men.[7] The Sun has been involved in many controversies in its history …

Source: Retrieved February 10, 2018 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_(United_Kingdom)

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Canada: “Follow Me” for Model on ‘Climate Change’ Action

Posted on February 6, 2018 in Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

It is good to have friends …

    … people who share comradery with you, empathize with your challenges and are willing to collaborate with you on solutions.

For the Caribbean, when it comes to Climate Change concerns, we have that friend … Canada. Yippee!

But that was not always the case. This is now only possible because of new leadership. Back in 2015, Canada elected a new government and Prime Minister – Justin Trudeau. Out with the old, in with the new; see 2015 news article in Appendix below. Rather than “sticking their head in the sand” – this means you United States of America – Canada is “taking the reins” to forge attitudinal change among the world’s Great Powers.

But Canada’s motivation is more than just being the “leader of the pack”, they have real concerns, risks and threats:

Canada, the second largest country in the world by total area, is comprised by ten provinces and three territories. Canada also has the longest total coastline among all of the countries of the world, at 125,567 miles.
Countries With The Most Coastline – World Atlas 

If Climate Change is to continue unabated, this country has a lot to lose – catastrophic storms, melting ice caps, thawing permafrost and rising sea level.

Ditto for the Caribbean. (We similarly have lots of coastlines).

Truly, Canada can look at their Caribbean brethren – Canada’s shares the same British Colonial heritage with 18 of the 30 Caribbean member-states – and pronounce: Follow Me!

This declaration was truly the theme of the presentation by Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change as she visited the US cities of Miami, Florida and Houston, Texas. Listen to the full AUDIO-Podcast news story here:

Newswire Title: Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, promotes NAFTA, climate action, and ocean protection, in Houston and Miami

Canada NewsWire – MIAMI, Jan. 24, 2018 – Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, travelled to Houston, Texas; and Miami, Florida, to promote NAFTA, increased collaboration on ocean health, coastal solutions, clean technology, and renewable energy opportunities.

In Houston, Minister McKenna met with the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner. Mayor Turner is Co-Chair of US Climate Mayors, a coalition of 391 US mayors working together to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. They discussed NAFTA and the importance of the Canada-US trade relationship to the economy of Houston and of Texas. Texas sells $24.1 billion in goods and services to Canada, and 459 700 jobs depend on trade and investment with Canada. The Mayor noted that the city remains a global oil-and-gas centre while diversifying and taking advantage of the opportunity of clean growth and renewable energy.

During her visit to Houston, the Minister visited BP’s Wind Energy Remote Operations Center, where logistics and conditions for 16 wind farms across the US are monitored. Today, Texas produces more wind energy than any US state, and power generated by wind is expected to exceed coal-generated power in the state, in 2018.

As part of the Climate Campus tour, Minister McKenna visited the University of Houston, where she met with professors and students working on energy and environment law. She also met with researchers at the new Hurricane Resilience Research Institute created after Hurricane Harvey. The Institute is focused on issues including flood-mitigation management during severe storms and the building of resilient communities. Minister McKenna hosted a town hall at Texas A&M University at Galveston and met with ocean scientists looking at ocean health, energy, and maritime complex and visited one of the University’s ocean research vessels.

In Miami, Minister McKenna emphasized the importance of NAFTA to the Florida economy at a round table with Florida businesses and trade associations and in discussions with the Mayor of South Miami, Philip Stoddard. Canada is Florida’s most important economic partner. Each year, Canada and Florida trade $8 billion worth of goods, and 620 000 jobs in Florida depend on trade with Canada.

Minister McKenna met with representatives of NextEra Energy, Inc., North America’s largest generator of energy from wind and sun and the third-largest utility in the US. They discussed opportunities for further investment by NextEra Energy in Canada’s North as well as in provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

The Minister visited the Brickell City Centre Climate Ribbon and the City of Miami Beach Convention Center. These two sites showcase how the city is adapting to sea-level rise and more frequent, intense, and prolonged tidal flooding exacerbated by climate change. The Climate Ribbon, which was designed in part by Guelph-based company RWDI, spans the length of three city blocks and acts as an architectural air conditioner in the summer and umbrella when it rains.

The City of Miami Beach Convention Center has the world’s single-largest pumping station, which removes displaced groundwater that is surging due to rising sea levels. The Convention Center is home to a living sea wall and natural mangroves, which help to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of flooding caused by climate change.

The Minister also convened a round table of ocean and environmental experts to discuss Canada’s G7 presidency focus on ocean protection and marine litter.

Quotes
“My meetings in Houston and Miami reinforced the strong ties between Canada and these important Canadian partners on trade and the environment. I was heartened to see the shared commitment by local governments and business to NAFTA and the good middle-class jobs it creates in both countries. It was also incredible to see the transition of the economies of both Houston and Miami toward clean growth and to meet with innovative clean-energy and clean-technology companies, many of which are looking at investment opportunities in Canada. I was also impressed by the leadership from the mayors of both Houston and Miami on climate change as well as the efforts to build more communities more resilient to extreme weather events.” – Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2018/24/c5640.html

——–

AUDIO-Podcast – Canadian Minister Of Environment And Climate Change Visits Miami – https://soundcloud.com/wlrn/444pm-canadian-minister-of-environment-and-climate-change-visits-miami

Published on February 5, 2018 – The Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, promotes Climate Action and ocean protection in Miami.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean and accompanying blogs have asserted that the threat of Climate Change is real. There is no scientific doubt of this reality – just consider the destructive realities of this past hurricane season – the only doubt is political. If the US wants to deny this reality, they do so at their own peril – remember the American territory of Puerto Rico. Canada is prepared to take the lead, to put the Western Hemisphere on its shoulders and carry the load for arresting Climate Change.

Thank you Canada for this model. Now, we – the Caribbean – need to step up to carry our own load for better mitigation of Climate Change threats; we need to do our part in lowering our own carbon footprint. We can make a difference. Canada can make a difference. As related in a previous blog-commentary, the same as the threat of Acid Rain was subjugated, so too, curative measures can be put in place to lower the greenhouse gases in the environment. This is why Canada has a Champion for the Environment – Catherine McKenna – at the Cabinet level.

Good model …

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – prepares the Caribbean region for the heavy-lifting of monitoring, managing and mitigating the acute risks of Climate Change to the environment from a Caribbean perspective. These Climate Change threats are real for us: Global Warming and rising sea-levels. We must act now! Though no Caribbean country is among the BIG polluters, we must still act, just so that we are not hypocritical … and provide a good model ourselves.

Then there are the economic issues. Catherine McKenna, in the foregoing presentation to Miami officials, related that there is no need for a trade-off between environment and economics. No, it can be economically sound, and even advantageous, to cater to environmental needs. Imagine the fuel cost savings from alternative energy options, new industrial expressions for transportation solutions and construction jobs for retrofitting previous structures.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The effort to reform and transform the Caribbean societal engines as a regional pursuit has always been among the motivations of this Go Lean roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

i. Whereas the earth’s climate has undeniably changed resulting in more severe tropical weather storms, it is necessary to prepare to insure the safety and security of life, property and systems of commerce in our geographical region. As nature recognizes no borders in the target of its destruction, we also must set aside border considerations in the preparation and response to these weather challenges.

iii. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass for our society is that of an archipelago of islands, inherent to this nature is the limitation of terrain and the natural resources there in. We must therefore provide “new guards” and protections to ensure the efficient and effective management of these resources.

iv. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to monitor, manage and mitigate the challenges of Climate Change. The book also present lessons from Canada. One advocacy specifically focuses on the path of wisdom Canada undertook during the course of its 150-year history. That advocacy (Page 146) is entitled: 10 Lessons from Canada’s History; consider some specific plans, excerpts and headlines from that advocacy in the book:

1 Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market
This treaty calls for the confederation of the Caribbean region into a single market of 30 member-states and 42 million people, similar to the original 1867 confederation for Canada. The history of Canada synchronizes with the aspirations of the CU Trade Federation. In this Canadian context, confederation generally describes the political process that united the colonies in the 1860s and related events, and the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. Today, Canada is a “G8” advanced economy, made up of 10 provinces and 3 territories, ranking among the largest in the world, due its abundant natural resources and well-developed trade networks, including one with the US, a long and complex relationship. Canada has been a Northern Star, as a guide and refuge to Caribbean hopes and dreams.
2 Confederation for Defense – Strength in Numbers

The American Civil War caused security threats for Canada. The Union (US North) encouraged Irish immigration and sourced their Army (a million-man strong) with many Irish fighters. Since many Irish immigrants maintained animosity towards the British, there were documented cases of terroristic attacks against Canadian targets, i.e. the Fenian (an Irish Brotherhood) raids. This corresponded with the Little Englander philosophy, whereby Britain no longer wanted to maintain troops in its colonies.

Confederation was therefore necessary to promote security for the related colonies of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia – amounting to a population of slightly over 2 million people
3 Multiple Cultural Legacies and Languages
4 Better than a Republic – (Civil War Lesson for a Technocracy)
5 Assuage Human Flight – Provide Alternative
6 Neighbor: Frienemy

Despite the cooperation needed for the St. Lawrence Waterway – (see Appendix UA) – the stated US desire, doctrine of Manifest Destiny, was to govern the entire North American continent. The US had fought wars against English-Canada interests and many believed that the US would annex the other colonies governed directly by England, as the US acquired the Oregon Territory. These reasons provided the motivation for the initial Canadian Confederation to expand from coast-to-coast, and serve as a role-model for the CU to target the entire region of the Caribbean Sea geography.
7 Aboriginal Relations Need Local Governance
8 Mastering Natural Resources

The Oil, Fisheries, Forest/Timber of Canada has been managed to contribute success to its economic engines. Plus, strategic Public Works (see Canadian Pacific Railway in Appendix UB) have provided great models for the CU today.
9 Federal / Provincial Outsourcing
10 Population Concerns – Not enough Natural Growth

In addition, the book presents these Appendices that details more examples of prudence in Canada’s history:

  • Appendix UA – St. Lawrence Waterway (Page 308)
  • Appendix UB – Canadian Pacific Railway (Page 309)

Lastly, these previous blog-commentaries detail a lot of the issues and developments in the quest for the Caribbean to lower our own carbon footprint and mitigate for Climate Change. See this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13985 EU Assists Barbados to Go Green
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11858 Looking and Learning from the Cautionary Tale of Kiribati
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10367 The Science of Green Batteries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9455 Fix ‘Climate Change’ – Yes, We Can
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7449 Due to Climate Change, ‘Crap Happens’ – So What Now?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7103 COP21 – ‘Climate Change’ Acknowledged
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6893 A Meteorologist’s View On Climate Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6016 ‘Hotter than July’ – Reality in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4673 ‘Climate Change‘ Merchants of Doubt … to Preserve Profits!!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2465 Book: ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2276 Climate Change May Affect Food Supply Within a Decade
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1883 Climate Change May Bring More Kidney Stones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1817 Caribbean grapples with intense cycles of flooding & drought
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=915 Go ‘Green’ … Caribbean

We must learn from Canada and prepare for new governmental leadership to shepherd our homeland. We have the heavy-lifting task of championing Climate Change, to minimize further damage to our region. We have no further excuse! We know that the US will not take the lead in this regards; we must look elsewhere and within!

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean – the people, businesses, institutions and governments – to lean-in for the optimizations and opportunities to abate Climate Change and to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. This emulates Canada.

We must stand-up for ourselves; and while “things are bad” environmentally; the Caribbean disposition will only get worse if nothing is done. We must start this quest ourselves! While this quest is easier said than done, and takes a lot of heavy-lifting, it is conceivable, believable and achievable to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

———-

Appendix – Climate change ‘important priority,’ Canada’s new environment minister says

The international community is “really excited” to see Canada back at the table for climate change talks in Paris, Canada’s new environment and climate change minister said Tuesday.

Catherine McKenna, who is in Paris meeting with environment and energy ministers from around the world in advance of the UN climate change conference, said the Canadian delegation has received a “huge reception” and she has made it clear that climate change will be a “very important priority” for the new Liberal government.

“We haven’t been at these types of climate negotiations and what I’ve learned is that there’s a real appetite to get a global framework, a new global framework to tackle climate change,” McKenna said Tuesday. “But there’s still a lot of work to do.”

Former prime minister Stephen Harper skipped the UN climate change summit in New York last year, but he did send his environment minister. Under the Conservative government, Canada withdrew from the Kyoto agreement that required developed countries to reduce their emissions by 2012.

See the rest of the article at this link here:
Source: Posted November 10, 2015; retrieved February 6, 2018 from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/climate-change-important-priority-canada-s-new-environment-minister-says-1.2651321

Related 2015 VIDEO:

Published November 10, 2015 – Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna says she “will do whatever she can” to help the climate talks.

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School Shootings ‘R’ Us – 11 in 23 Days

Posted on January 30, 2018 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Which is worse: the Frying Pan or the Fire?

This is the decision-making that Caribbean people seem to be doing. Which residential option is worse for them: remain in the Failing–States of their Caribbean homeland or emigrate to the United States of America where societal defects like mass shootings / school shootings persist?

The optics are that bad!

The American gun culture cannot be excused, rationalized or minimized. As of January 23rd, there were already 11 school shootings in the country.

Just think how our Caribbean people have fled their homelands – “Frying Pan” – to seek refuge in this society – “the Fire”.

See how the actuality of this American “fire” is conveyed in this New York Times news story here:

Title – School Shooting in Kentucky Was Nation’s 11th of Year. It Was Jan. 23

By: Alan Blinder and Daniel Victor

ATLANTA — On Tuesday, it was a high school in small-town Kentucky. On Monday, a school cafeteria outside Dallas and a charter school parking lot in New Orleans. And before that, a school bus in Iowa, a college campus in Southern California, a high school in Seattle.

Gunfire ringing out in American schools used to be rare, and shocking. Now it seems to happen all the time.

The scene in Benton, Ky., on Tuesday was the worst so far in 2018: Two 15-year-old students were killed and 18 more people were injured. But it was one of at least 11 shootings on school property recorded since Jan. 1, and roughly the 50th of the academic year.

Researchers and gun control advocates say that since 2013, they have logged school shootings at a rate of about one a week.

“We have absolutely become numb to these kinds of shootings, and I think that will continue,” said Katherine W. Schweit, a former senior F.B.I. official and the co-author of a study of 160 active shooting incidents in the United States.

Some of the shootings at schools this year were suicides that injured no one else; some did not result in any injuries at all. But in the years since the massacres at Columbine High School in Colorado, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., gun safety advocates say, all school shootings seem to have lost some of their capacity to shock.

Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun safety group, said that’s because in 2012 in Newtown, “20 first graders and six educators were slaughtered in an elementary school.”

“The news cycles are so short right now in America, and there’s a lot going on,” she said. “But you would think that shootings in American schools would be able to clear away some of that clutter.”

Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky said the gunman who opened fire Tuesday morning at Marshall County High School in Benton, near the western tip of the state was a 15-year-old student. The authorities said the student entered the school just before 8 a.m., fired shots that struck 14 people, and set off a panicked flight in which five more were hurt.

One girl who was shot, Bailey Nicole Holt, died at the scene; a boy, Preston Ryan Cope, died of his injuries at a hospital.

Bryson Conkwright, a junior at the school, said he was talking with a friend on Tuesday morning when he spotted the gunman walking up near him. “It took me a second to process it,” Mr. Conkwright, 17, said in an interview. “One of my best friends got shot in the face, and then another one of my best friends was shot in the shoulder.”

He said he was part of a group of students who fled, kicked down a door to get outside and ran.

The suspect, who was not immediately identified, was taken into custody in “a nonviolent apprehension,” Mr. Bevin said, and officials said he would be charged with two counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder. But the authorities had not yet decided whether to charge the suspect, who was armed with a pistol, as a juvenile or as an adult.

Of the 18 people injured, five remained in critical condition, law enforcement officials said on Tuesday night.

“This is something that has struck in the heart of Kentucky,” Lt. Michael B. Webb of Kentucky State Police said at a news conference. “It’s not far away, it’s here.”

Not for the first time. The region was scarred about two decades ago by a deadly school shooting in West Paducah, about a 40-minute drive away. Three people were killed when a student opened fire into a prayer circle, and five more were injured.

Benton is a small town about 200 miles southwest of Louisville, and its high school serves students from all over Marshall County, which has a population of about 31,000.

John Parks, who owns the Fisherman’s Headquarters store about a mile from the school, described the area as a “very close-knit community” where just about everyone would have known a student at the school. “It’s personal when it’s a small town like this,” he said.

About a mile from the high school, a large American flag flew at half-staff over a Ponderosa Steakhouse on Tuesday night. Taylor McCuiston, 21, a manager at the restaurant who graduated from Marshall County High School two years ago, was working when the shooting occurred down the road.

“It was very scary because, like, 90 percent of the staff that works here goes to that school,” she said. “So for the first hour we were just scrambling trying to make sure they were all O.K. and accounted for.”

The town of Italy, Tex., is not any bigger than Benton. On Monday, a 15-year-old girl there was hospitalized after she was shot by a 16-year-old classmate, according to local news reports. That suspect, a boy, was taken into custody by the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department. The authorities said on Tuesday that the victim was recovering.

The F.B.I. study that Ms. Schweit helped write examined active shooter episodes in the United States between 2000 and 2013. It found that nearly one-quarter of them occurred in educational environments, and they were on the rise.

In the first half of the study period, federal officials counted 16 active shooter incidents in educational settings, meaning instances of a person “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.” In the second half, the number rose to 23. (Many, but not all, of the school shootings tallied by advocates so far this year meet that definition.)

“Any time there’s a school shooting, it’s more gut-wrenching, and I think we have a tendency to react in a more visceral way,” Ms. Schweit said in an interview on Tuesday. “But I really don’t think as a whole, in society, we’re taking shootings more seriously than we were before — and that’s wrong.”

Even so, jarred and fearful school administrators across the country have been placing greater emphasis on preparing for the possibility of an active shooter. According to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office in March 2016, 19 states were requiring individual schools to have plans for how to deal with an active shooter. Only 12 states required schools to conduct drills, but two-thirds of school districts reported that they had staged active shooter exercises.

School safety experts say steps like the drills are crucial, if imperfect, safeguards.

“I think we’ve become somewhat desensitized to the fact that these things happened, and it takes a thing like Sandy Hook to bring us back to our senses,” said William Modzeleski, a consultant who formerly led the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

“My fear is that if you don’t hear about a school shooting for a while, educators move on to other things,” he said. “Principals are busy. Teachers are busy. Superintendents are busy.”

In Kentucky, lawmakers have grappled with how to address the risk of school shootings. Last year, state legislators considered, but did not pass, a bill that would have allowed people with concealed-carry permits to bring weapons on to public school campuses, where proponents argue they could be used to respond to active shooters. A similar bill, limited to college campuses and certain other government buildings, has been introduced this year. It was not immediately clear how the shooting in Benton might affect the debate in Frankfort, the Kentucky capital.

But in Benton, “this is a wound that is going to take a long time to heal,” said Mr. Bevin, the governor, “ and for some in this community, will never fully heal.”

———-

Alan Blinder reported from Atlanta and Daniel Victor from New York. Steven Hale contributed reporting from Benton, Ky., and Timothy Williams and Matthew Haag from New York.

Source: New York Times – posted January 23, 2017; retrieved January 30, 2017: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/kentucky-school-shooting.html

RELATED COVERAGE:

Life in American schools is risky. Life in the US in general, may experience a shorter mortality due to the risky gun culture.

This is not an unfamiliar theme for this movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean; on October 11, 2017 a blog-commentary entitled: “Pulled” – Despite American Guns was published. That entry lamented how the US continues to draw the human capital out of the Caribbean, despite the unconscionable gun-death rate in the country. That commentary related:

… the US has far more gun deaths than most other advanced economy countries.

Reference: Visualizing gun deaths: Comparing the U.S. to rest of the world
Whenever a mass shooting occurs, a debate about gun violence ensues. An often-cited counter to the point about the United States’ high rates of gun homicides is that people in other countries kill one another at the same rate using different types of weapons. It’s not true.

Compared to other countries with similar levels of development or socioeconomic status, the United States has exceptional homicide rates, and it’s driven by gun violence.

Life in the US may be more prosperous, but it is “fast & furious” compared to the Caribbean homeland. If only, we can assuage our societal defects – Frying Pan – and foster more economic opportunities, then our people will be able to prosper where planted in the Caribbean homeland. They would not have to “jump into the Fire” as they do now – one report estimates 70 percent of the professional classes have fled to foreign destinations like the United States. To be clear, there are two reasons why are they leaving:

  • “Push” refers to people who feel compelled to leave, to seek refuge in a foreign land. “Refuge” is an appropriate word; because of societal defects, many from the Caribbean must leave as refugees – think LGBT, Disability, Domestic-abuse, Medically-challenged– for their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
  • “Pull”, on the other hand refers to the lure of a more prosperous life abroad; many times our people are emigrating for economics solely.

It is the quest of this Go Lean movement that we reform and transform our societal engines so as to lower the “Push” factors. As for the “Pull” factors, this is all about messaging, knowledge-sharing and declaring the truth. Take a moment and acknowledge this truth:

Before this article, did you really know that there were 11 school-shootings in the US between January 1st and 23rd, 2018?

For most, that answer is no!

This is the truism that we must contend with in our region: The “grass is not necessarily greener” on the American side.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to elevate the societal engines – economics, homeland security and governance – for all 30 Caribbean member-states in the region. In fact, the prime directives of the roadmap includes the following 3 statements:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines with proactive and reactive measures.
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean quest is to minimize any paradox of future-planning/decision-making for Caribbean citizens. We want to make the Caribbean region better places to live, work and play; this way our citizens would not have to “jump in to the Fire” by relocating to American shores.

How would you live with yourself if your children or grandchildren die in a school shooting in some US location?!

This is not to say that there will never be any violence in the Caribbean. No, the Go Lean book contends that bad actors will always emerge just as a result of economic successes in society. Once the prospects of guns are factored it, the inevitable “bad guy with a gun” can do more damage than ordinary. The Way Forward from the book is real remediation and mitigation for minimizing incidents of gun violence.

Many times in the US, the post mass-shooting platitudes from Pro-Gun Advocacy groups – i.e. the NRA – is that the best way to stop a “bad guy with a gun” is with a “good guy with a gun”.

Platitudes – flat, dull, or trite remark –  indeed …

Remember the April 1999 Columbine High massacre – school shooting – in Colorado – Greater Denver Metropolitan area:

In addition to the shootings, the complex and highly planned attack involved a fire bomb to divert firefighters, propane tanks converted to bombs placed in the cafeteria, 99 explosive devices, and car bombs. The perpetrators, senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. They injured 21 additional people, and three more were injured while attempting to escape the school. After exchanging fire with responding police officers, the pair subsequently committed suicide.[5][6] – Wikipedia

See this dramatic portrayal for the documentary-movie Bowling for Columbine here with this Trailer and critical review:

VIDEO – Bowling for Columbine – Official Trailer – Michael Moore Movie (2002) – https://youtu.be/hH0mSAjp_Jw

Movieclips Trailer Vault
Published on Nov 15, 2011 – Bowling for Columbine Trailer – Michael Moore (Michael Moore) takes an inside-look at America’s fascination with firearms. MGM – 2002

  • Category: Film & Animation
  • License: Standard YouTube License

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Movie Review: Bowling for Columbine

By: Roger Eber

Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine,” a documentary that is both hilarious and sorrowful, is like a two-hour version of that anecdote. We live in a nation of millions of handguns, but that isn’t really what bothers Moore. What bothers him is that we so frequently shoot them at one another. Canada has a similar ratio of guns to citizens, but a 10th of the shooting deaths. What makes us kill so many times more fellow citizens than is the case in other developed nations? Moore, the jolly populist rabble-rouser, explains that he’s a former sharpshooting instructor and a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association. No doubt this is true, but Moore has moved on from his early fondness for guns. In “Bowling for Columbine,” however, he is not so sure of the answers …
…
Moore’s thoughtfulness doesn’t inhibit the sensational set-pieces he devises to illustrate his concern. He returns several times to Columbine High School, at one point showing horrifying security-camera footage of the massacre. And Columbine inspires one of the great confrontations in a career devoted to radical grandstanding. Moore introduces us to two of the students wounded at Columbine, both still with bullets in their bodies. He explains that all of the Columbine bullets were freely sold to the teenage killers by Kmart, at 17 cents apiece. And then he takes the two victims to Kmart headquarters to return the bullets for a refund.

This is brilliant theater and would seem to be unanswerable for the hapless Kmart public relations spokespeople, who fidget and evade in front of Moore’s merciless camera. But then, on Moore’s third visit to headquarters, he is told that Kmart will agree to completely phase out the sale of ammunition. “We’ve won,” says Moore, not believing it. “This has never happened before.” For once, he’s at a loss for words.

The movie is a mosaic of Moore confrontations and supplementary footage. One moment that cuts to the core is from a standup routine by Chris Rock, who suggests that our problem could be solved by simply increasing the price of bullets–taxing them like cigarettes. Instead of 17 cents apiece, why not $5,000? “At that price,” he speculates, “you’d have a lot fewer innocent bystanders being shot.”
…

Source: RogerEbert.com E-Zine/Website – Posted October 18, 2002; retrieved January 30, 2018 from: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bowling-for-columbine-2002

We can do better in the Caribbean!

We do not have the same gun culture, nor legal entanglements. The 2nd Amendment – gun rights guaranteed by the US Constitution – does not apply for most of the Caribbean and can even be curtailed more in the US Territories (Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands) as opposed to the US mainland.

Doing better and being better than the US – a protégé , not a parasite – is a need pronounced early in the Go Lean book with the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13) that claims:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

The Go Lean book provides 370 pages of turn-by-turn directions on how to adopt a more productive Public Safety ethos, plus the executions of strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to better secure the Caribbean homeland, school campus protections and gun control. The book details (Page 181) this sample mitigation for school bullying:

Consider Bullying as Junior Terrorism
The CU wants to “leave no child behind”. So bullying will be managed under a domestic terrorism and Juvenile Justice jurisdiction. The CU will conduct media campaigns for anti-bullying, life-coaching, and school-mentoring programs. The problem with teen distress is that violence can ensue from bullying perpetrators or in response to bullying.

In addition, there have been a number of previous blog-commentaries by the Go Lean movement that highlighted the eco-system of crime-domestic terrorism and homeland security initiatives. See this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14087 Opioids – Another Example of America’s Deadly Culture
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13999 First Steps – Deputize the CU to Monitor-Mitigate-Manage Threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13126 “Must Love Dogs”  – Providing K9 Solutions for Better Security
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12400 Accede the Caribbean Arrest Treaty
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11332 Boston Bombing Anniversary – Learning Lessons
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11244 Live Fast; Die Young – The Fast & Furious Life in the US
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11048 Managing the ‘Strong versus the Weak’ Series – Mitigating Bullies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9072 Model: Shots-Fired Monitoring – Securing the Homeland on the Ground
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7485 Mitigating Interpersonal Violence Series – Street Crimes

In summary, fleeing to a life of refuge in the US may be likened to “jumping from the Frying Pan to the Fire”. It seems so basic to protect our children so that they can study safely in school, and yet, there had been 11 gun attacks already in the US this month by the 23rd of the month. The repeated occurrences reflect a failure in American society and American stewardship. This view considers the premise of the implied Social Contract:

Citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. – Go Lean book Page 170.

Yes, it is only natural, logical, and mature that any stewards of society would remediate any known risks and threats; yet this is not the case for guns in America. (The 2nd Amendment is a societal defect!)

In that previous blog-commentary, this was the simple conclusion:

… surely we can convince our Caribbean people to Stay Home and not be lured to this [dysfunctional-gun] madness in the first place; and for those of the Diaspora in the US: you are in harm’s way, just living an ordinary life. It is Time to Go … back home!

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean – in and out of schools – to lean-in for the empowerments of the Go Lean roadmap. It is conceivable, believable and achievable to prosper where planted here in the region; to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for the roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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First Steps – A Powerful C.P.U.

Posted on January 23, 2018 in Government, Implementation, Industries

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean wants to deploy an “apolitical technocracy” in the Caribbean. What is an apolitical technocracy?

Quite simply, an organizational structure designed to just deliver.

Sounds familiar? Frankly, the Post Office is a powerful example of an apolitical technocracy:

They just deliver the mail …

… “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”.

(While the Postal Service has no official motto, the popular belief is that these words are tribute to America’s postal workers).

Technocracies are supposed to be automatons, a machine that just chugs-and-chugs. Think computers; think C.P.U.. But in the case of this Go Lean scheme, C.P.U. does not mean Central Processing Unit, no, it means Caribbean Postal Union.

The book Go Lean book – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the Caribbean Postal Union, for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

  • Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create new jobs.
  • Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

This commentary is Part 6 of 6-parts; it completes the series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean in consideration of the First Steps for instituting a new regime in governance for the Caribbean homeland. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

  1. First Steps: EU: Free European Money – To Start at Top
  2. First Steps: UK: Dignified and Efficient
  3. First Steps: US: Congressional Interstate Compact – No Vote; No Voice
  4. First Steps: CariCom: One Man One Vote Defects 
  5. First Steps: Deputize ‘Me’! 
  6. First Steps: A Powerful C.P.U.

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the Caribbean can finally get started with adapting the organizational structures to optimize the region’s societal engines. Whereas all the previous submissions addressed the need for reform at the Top. This commentary addressed the automation, the technocratic C.P.U.. This is designed to affect every man-woman-child in the Caribbean region, to just deliver. This simple functionality will do wonders for the quest of this roadmap: make the Caribbean member-states better places to live, work and play.

The Go Lean book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal and postal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. One advocacy in the book is entitled “10 Ways to Improve Mail Service … in the Caribbean Region“; this detailed the best practices for postal mail and logistics; (Page 108). See this Bottom Line introduction:

The Bottom Line for the Caribbean Postal Union
Without a regional hub-and-spoke system, mail from one island to another can take weeks – such a business climate cannot breathe success with this lack of efficiency. The purpose of the CU is to facilitate the economic engines of the region. Therefore postal communications between individuals, households, businesses and governmental institutions must be efficient and effective – establishments must be able to connect with their customers and governments to its constituents. The Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) will operate as a private business, a multi-national corporation, owned by CU member-states, chartered to employ best practices and world class methods in the execution of the fulfillment side of the e-Delivery model. A mark of success: delivery of first-class mail in 3 – 5 days.

Improving the postal mail eco-system in the Caribbean can have a transformative effect on regional society. CPU is mostly an e-Logistics enterprise. Imagine the following (global) trends that wait in the balance:

Imagine a Caribbean reality with flat-rate envelopes and flat-rate boxes. Imagine the automation, the robotic technologies, the scanning and sorting. The brand CPU would really be apropos – more software, e-Commerce and Internet Communications Technology – as opposed to the neighborhood mail-carrier. See this industrial shift in the related news article in the Appendix below. In fact, the company www.Stamps.com provides a model for the CPU to emulate. See this Introductory VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Welcome to Stamps.com, USPS Postage Software Overview – https://youtu.be/wCCAkRkUWE0

Stamps.com

Published on Apr 23, 2013 – Welcome to Stamps.com, USPS Postage Software Overview This video shows new customers how Stamps.com software works. Highlights include how to buy and print postage stamps and shipping labels, e-commerce shipping features, postage spending reports plus many more features.

In addition, previous Go Lean blog-commentaries detailed the width-and-breadth of the mail-logistics business model for the Caribbean; see these prior submissions here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13627 Amazon as a Role Mode: Then and Now
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9839 Alibaba Cloud stretches global reach with four new facilities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7991 Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3187 Amazon Role Model – Robots helping tackle Cyber Monday
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2488 Alibaba – A Chinese Role Model for the C.P.U.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416 Amazon – An American Role Model for the C.P.U.

Forging change is heavy-lifting for the CU/Go Lean roadmap, but conceivable, believable and achievable? Why because so many other entities have executed these action plans before. We do not need to “re-invent the wheel”; we only need to conform to the published best-practices. This applies to the Caribbean Postal Union and all other societal engines.

Yes, we can succeed in forging change and assuaging the crises in the Caribbean. We have the existing organizations constructs of the CariCom, British Overseas Territories, US Territories and the EU. We can use these to “touch” every country-establishment-person in the region. This will lead to the success of our goals, to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

———–

Appendix Title: Important: USPS making changes to First-Class Mail International Flats

January 21, 2018 Update: Stamps.com has launched a new International Flat service.  Get more info on how to ship merchandise with International Flats.

Merchandise No Longer Allowed in First Class Mail International Flats
If you ship merchandise abroad using USPS First Class Mail International Flats, there’s a new rule going into effect soon that you need to know about. Effective Sunday, January 21, 2018, First Class Mail International Large Envelope/Flat service for merchandise will NO LONGER be available from the USPS. First Class Mail International Flats will only be approved for use when sending documents. This change is occurring to comply with Universal Postal Union requirements.

Here are some examples of what USPS considers a document (still OK to ship using First Class Mail International Flats):

  • Audit and business records
  • Personal correspondence
  • Circulars
  • Pamphlets
  • Advertisements
  • Written instruments not intended to be resold
  • Money orders, checks, and similar items that cannot be negotiated or converted into cash without forgery.

Here are examples of items that will NO LONGER be allowed to be shipped as First Class Mail International Flats, effective Jan. 21, 2018:

  • CDs, DVDs, flash drives, video and cassette tapes, and other digital and electronic storage media (regardless of whether they are blank or contain electronic documents or other prerecorded media)
  • Artwork
  • Collector or antique document items
  • Books
  • Periodicals
  • Printed music
  • Printed educational or test material
  • Player piano rolls
  • Commercial photographs, blueprints and engineering drawings
  • Film and negatives
  • X-rays
  • Separation negatives

These goods are dutiable and must be must be shipped using First Class Package International Service. Once this change goes into effect, shippers will need to include Customs Forms and the recipient could pay a duty or tax to receive the product.

Cost Savings Using First Class Mail International Flats
Moving from First Class Mail International Flats to First Class Package International Service will have a big impact on shippers.

Source: Posted December 26th, 2017; retrieved January 21, 2018 from: http://blog.stamps.com/2017/12/26/important-usps-making-changes-first-class-mail-international-flats/ 

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