Month: May 2015

Extracurricular Music Programs Boost Students

Posted on May 28, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

“Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic” – The 3 R’s of Education.

If only everybody learned these basic skills at the same level of competence.

The truth is, not everyone is as gifted as others. While some may display genius abilities with these literary and/or computational skills, others show genius qualifiers for art, dance, athleticism … and music!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean declares: “That’s OK”!

The book identifies that there are 8 different genius qualifiers and plots to include the contribution of all these participants in the quest to elevate Caribbean society. The 8 genius qualifiers are stated in the book (Page 27) as follows:

1. Linguistic
2. Logical-Mathematics
3. Musical, Sound, Rhythm
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic-Body Movement Control
5. Spatial – Shapes/Figures Aptitude
6. Interpersonal – Other People’s Feelings – Leadership
7. Intrapersonal and Naturalistic – Self-Awareness
8. Existential – Moral Intelligence

Some genius skills are innate, natural abilities; but some genius qualifiers have to be taught, learned and fostered. The same as everyone benefits from literary and computational skills – genius or not – the same can be said of music, sound and rhythm. Those who can make music can contribute greatly to society. But on the other hand, even those not enabled with great musical abilities can become appreciative music consumers. So the benefits of music education are extended far-and-wide. In fact, this below news article posits that Extracurricular Music programs have benefits for all students, boosting their grades and graduation rates.

Wow, the research and findings – as follows – should not be ignored:

Title: Extracurricular Music Program Boosts Students’ Grades and Graduation Rates
By: Corey Whelan

(This article is presented in partnership with the California Lottery. The California Lottery proceeds provides supplemental funding to State Education & Music programs)

CU Blog - Extracurricular Music Programs Boost Students - Photo 1

Music is one of the most powerful motivators human beings have. Music can calm an anxious toddler, energize a sleepy teenager and elicit every human emotion known. According to MUSICSTAR, a California public school music program, it can also generate better math scores and higher rates of graduation among public school students. As reported in a recent Gallop Poll, most parents, including those raising children in California, agree that children can benefit from music programs and want them to be available at their child’s school.

The Sound of Learning
In general, music education and learning how to play a musical instrument, have been consistently resulted in developing a myriad of skills and abilities among children. In addition to acquiring mastery of an instrument many come to love, according to MUSICSTAR, the following benefits also occur:

  • Creativity development
  • Team-building skills, particularly if they play in an orchestra or band
  • Increased levels of academic and personal achievement
  • Higher sense of self-esteem
  • Increased levels of self-discipline
  • Higher rates of school spirit
  • Decreased rates of behavioral issues
  • Decreased levels of depression and anxiety

Music programs in school can also support better relationships between teachers and students, and between the school and parent community.

The Power of MUSICSTAR Learning
MUSICSTAR is an educational program which is offered in a variety of California’s public schools, both during the school day and as an after-school program. “We’re providing a solution for many of California’s schools, from elementary through to high school, by providing all of the music education components needed, from the equipment to the instruments, plus the curriculum, trained teaching staff and program support,” says Eckart Seeber, the director of the MUSICSTAR program. “There’s no limit as to what instruments the children can use. They can access and explore band instruments, guitar, drums, marching band or rock band or the violin.”

As an award-winning composer, Seeber knows firsthand what the power of musical learning can do. “MUSICSTAR ran our own internal research and also accessed third-party research which compared students in the same socioeconomic locations. Consistently it was shown that music education learners excelled in many areas over students who were not studying music, in ways which surprised some parents and educators. Music students consistently displayed higher test scores in mathematics than their non-music studying counterparts,” he explains.

The Benefit to Students and Their Community
Students are welcome to explore a wide range of musical instruments and techniques, including multicultural music, music technology, mariachi, choir, glee and hand-drumming. Program options can be suited to all levels of musical ability and the student’s age. Several themes run through all of the programs and provide high levels of musicianship and aesthetics, music literacy and an in-depth comprehension of music as it has been applied throughout various historical periods as an art form.

The programs are geared towards acquiring performance and public speaking skills, both confidence builders. Students involved in the programs long term have the opportunity to take their music into the community. With the support of school-based professionals, many students go on to play with groups at community centers and senior citizen facilities, providing a well-deserved respite for others and an incredible self-growth opportunity for themselves.
——-
Corey Whelan is a freelance writer in New York. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.

Source: CBS Los Angeles – News Site of Local Affiliate (Posted March 18, 2015; retrieved 5/28/2015) –
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/top-lists/extracurricular-music-program-boosts-students-grades-and-graduation-rates/

The focus of this commentary is on education. (This has proven to be a pivotal subject for the Go Lean movement: the book and accompanying blogs). The focus on this commentary is also on music, and the intersection of these two dynamics: music education.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), an initiative to bring change and empowerment to the Caribbean region; to make the region a better place to live, work and play. From the outset, the book recognized the significance of music in the Caribbean change/empowering plan with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

xxi.  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.

xxxii.  Whereas the cultural arts and music of the region are germane to the quality of Caribbean life, and the international appreciation of Caribbean life, the Federation must implement the support systems to teach, encourage, incentivize, monetize and promote the related industries for arts and music in domestic and foreign markets. These endeavors will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is to foster change, to elevate Caribbean society. Music can play a major role in that endeavor; (there is the acknowledgement that music can help forge change). Education is also pivotal. Therefore music education must be a priority.

This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting in shepherding change in Caribbean life. In fact, the empowerment 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 protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

While the Go Lean book describes the CU as a hallmark of a technocracy, with a commitment to efficiency and effectiveness, there is still a commitment to concepts of fun, such as music, arts, sports, film/media, heritage and overall happiness. There is the 3rd rail of this Caribbean optimization roadmap: 1. Live, 2. Work and 3. Play.

The Go Lean book declares that before any real change takes root in the Caribbean that we must reach the heart of people, to ready them to adopt new community ethos – the national spirit that drives the character and identity of its people. This is easier said than done! But, Music helps.

This Go Lean movement has previously detailed how society can be transformed through music; consider prior Go Lean blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5251 Bahamas Attempts to Transform Society with Inaugural Carnival
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3641 Building a City on ‘Rock and Roll’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3568 Forging Change: Music Moves People
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2415 How ‘The Lion King’ Music/Play roared into history
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2291 Forging Change: The Fun Theory
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1909 Music Role Model Berry Gordy: Transformed America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=866 Music Role Model Bob Marley: Legend Transformed the World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273 10 Things We Do Not Want From the US – #9: Cultural Neutralizations

Our world is in constant flux. The region has not always kept pace with change; as a result, we have often fallen behind and lost many battles in the war of globalization. We have stood on the sidelines and watched the taste and interest of our young people, and many times our youth themselves, shift to life in foreign shores. Change need not be scary! We can win many of the battles of globalization; we do not have to lose this war.

To win, or if only to survive, we must first outfit ourselves in a complete suit of armor. This is a Biblical reference (Ephesians 6:10-18). It stresses that a foremost piece of armor is a “helmet”, referring to the need to protect/prepare mental processes.

This means education!

Yes, the need to better teach our youth is a God-given mandate. Music can be an offensive and defensive tool (weapon). Since most educational administrations in the Caribbean are overwhelmed with just the delivery of the basic “3 R’s” – defined above – music is mostly deemed an extracurricular activity. The Go Lean roadmap was constructed with the approach that change and new empowerments are needed for the Caribbean “community ethos”; plus the execution of new strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact our society. The following list from the book provides a sample of the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies for the region to Go Lean:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Around Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness – Promotion of Domestic Culture Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art, People and Culture of the Caribbean Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Growing Economy to $800 Billion – Education Empowerments Page 70
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – Educational Empowerment from Federation   to Member-States Page 85
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Four Languages in Unison Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Music/Media/Arts for better PLAY Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood Page 202
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Beauty Pageants Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music Page 231
Appendix – Job Creations – Music and Art Related Jobs: 12,600 Page 257
Appendix – Caribbean Musical Genres for all 30 Member States Page 347

The quest to change the Caribbean is conceivable, believable and achievable. But it is more than just playing or listening to music. It is heavy-lifting. Yes, it does include a lot of skill-sets of those that master the Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic subject matters; but it also has a role for those with genius qualifiers in music and the other arts. Plus, according to the foregoing news article, education in music makes students of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) better at their perspective STEM professions.

This is a win-win all-around. Even for those who fail to excel, master or display any genius abilities, their ventures into music will never be wasted, for at least they would have had fun consuming it. This will make them lifelong music patrons.

Life imitating art; art imitating life. This thought was dramatically illustrated in the 2003 Movie School of Rock; see Appendix and VIDEO below.

The Go Lean roadmap was composed with the theme that one man or woman can make a difference in transforming society. The cited movie below is renowned for the quotation:

“One great rock concert can change the world”.

Yes, according to one Bahamian Music Artist and Music Educator extraordinaire Sonovia “Novie” Pierre: Make Love; Make Peace; Make Music.

This aligns with the clarion call for the Go Lean…Caribbean book: A better place to live. A better place to work. A better place to Play. Music is tied to all of these activities.

This is the mandate of the Go Lean roadmap. Everyone is hereby encouraged to lean-in to this roadmap.

🙂

————

Appendix – Movie: School of Rock (2003)

Summary: When struggling musician Dewey Finn finds himself out of work, he takes over his roommate’s job as an elementary school substitute teacher and turns [his] class into a rock band.

Storyline: Down and out rock star Dewey Finn gets fired from his band, and he faces a mountain of debts and depression. He takes a job as a 4th grade substitute teacher at an uptight private school where his attitude and hijinks have a powerful effect on his students. He also meets Zack, a 10-year-old guitar prodigy, who could help Dewey win a “battle of the bands” competition, which would solve his financial problems and put him back in the spotlight. – Written by Anonymous

Director: Richard Linklater
Writer: Mike White
Stars: Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack

VIDEO – School Of Rock – Epic Scene – https://youtu.be/x_-4d8YBojo

The Journey: The Teacher discovering the genius talents in his midst.
Category: Music. License: Standard YouTube License

VIDEO – School Of Rock -Zach’s Song [HD] “OFFICIAL VIDEO” – https://youtu.be/oP7kExN8LFA

The Big Show: The culmination of all the effort, teamwork and genius.

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‘Significant’ oil deposit found offshore Guyana

Posted on May 25, 2015 in Economics, Government, Implementation

Go Lean Commentary

Oil is up and down.

Just recently the price per barrel was so low that it was traded on the commodities market for the rock-bottom price of $48. But in 2008, (a familiar year for this commentary), the price was as high as $144 per barrel. That’s wholesale for crude. At the retail level, the price at the low was below $2 per gallon in some US cities; (as reported in this previous blog, a Oklahoma gas station posted a price at $1.99). At the 2008 high, the retail price was over $5.00 in some American cities, like in California.

It could be a dizzying ride, up and down, complete with exhilaration and anxiety, especially for communities with mono-industrial economic engines. Trinidad is one such community. Now Guyana wants to be added to the fray.

This news article speaks of the success of the oil exploration activities undergoing in the waters off the coast of Guyana. This is not just off-shore, but rather within the 200-mile region called the Exclusive Economic Zone. The news article relates as follows:

Title: ‘Significant’ oil deposit found offshore Guyana 
oil deposit found offshore Guyana - Photo 1

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA) — Guyana looks to be set to join the group of oil producing nations, as news was made public by ExxonMobil that it has found a deposit of a ‘significant’ amount of oil in the Stabroek Block, some 120 nautical miles offshore Guyana.

It was discovered in one of the two wells it drilled in the Liza-1 site, which realised more than 295 feet of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone. The well was started or “spudded” on March 5, 2015, and the data will be analysed in the coming months to determine the full resource potential.

oil deposit found offshore Guyana - Photo 2It was drilled to 17,825 feet (5,433 metres) in 5,719 feet (1,743 metres) of water in the Stabroek Block, which is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers), the statement noted.

In the released statement, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Stephen Greenlee, said, “I am encouraged by the results of the first well on the Stabroek Block… over the coming months we will work to determine the commercial viability of the discovered resource, as well as evaluate other resource potential on the block.”

Guyana has been identified by several surveying companies as one of the world’s greatest untapped potential sources for hydrocarbons.
Source: Caribbean News Now – Regional Online News Site – Posted May 22, 2015; retrieved from: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-%27Significant%27-oil-deposit-found-offshore-Guyana-26217.html

Congratulations to Guyana!

There are other countries in the region hoping for similar success. This is just a sample list:

What feature about these aspiring countries, and the existing oil-producing countries, makes oil exploration possible?

The answer is the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which constitutes additional territory to explore and exploit. Every Caribbean nation, with no immediate neighbor within 200 miles, has this EEZ territory for their benefit; see Appendix A.

How does this process work?

It is simple and it is complicated. This duplicity is part of the heavy-lifting for elevating the region.

This is the guidance from the book Go Lean … Caribbean. It serves as a roadmap – turn by turn directions – for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This federation is designed to employ best practices for economics, security and governance. The CU/Go Lean roadmap posits that “Extractions” (Oil and Rare Earths) must be a significant strategy for the Caribbean region to elevate its society. In fact, the 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, including emergency management, to protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between member-state governments and the CU.

The implementation of the CU allows for the designation of more Exclusive Economic Zones, the consolidation of existing EEZ’s and the technocratic-cooperative administration of “Extractions” within these geographic spaces.

The process of benefiting from the EEZ starts with exploration. This is what Guyana has just concluded. They embarked on a scanning / diagnostic process to map out a geological survey of the subterranean formations under the seabed within their  EEZ. First they found ideal indicators, then they drilled wells and “lo and behold” the announcement in the foregoing news article.

Guianan officials are not trained oil explorers. They hired and out-sourced to technocrats or Subject Matter Experts (SME), for both the drilling and the earlier step of geologic scanning. The foregoing article reveals that the drilling was performed by the drilling SME ExxonMobil. But the scanning was done by a different SME, a company branded Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS); see Appendix B & VIDEO.

PGS also works with Trinidad & Tobago, helping to map out the geological surveys for that country’s Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries for further exploration in their EEZ. Trinidad is already an oil-exporting country.

oil deposit found offshore Guyana - Photo 3

Within the exploration process, there is a step for public bidding. This allows a drilling SME to make financial commitments (and immediate down payments) to the host country for a split of any resultant revenues derived from successful drilling expeditions. Once bids have been accepted by the host country and permits issued, then the exploring entity proceeds to drill test wells, after more detailed analysis and diagnostic mapping. The results are “hit and miss”.

The foregoing news article reports that the exploratory effort in the Guianan EEZ has been made a “hit”.

The Go Lean/CU roadmap designates an enlarged Exclusive Economic Zone for the integrated Caribbean region, for the geographic area of the Caribbean Sea.

An EEZ can have non-standard dimensions (beyond the 200 miles of the coastline) only with approval of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas. (Consider the examples of Denmark, Philippines and Portugal in Appendix A). The confederation of the 30 member-states, the CU, will be the administrator of this EEZ. Step One / Day One of the roadmap calls for awarding contracts for oil exploration and other extractions in the EEZ – this is what the Go Lean book describes as one of  the methods for financing the CU start-up; this is how to Pay For Change (Page 101).

The Go Lean roadmap details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster development, administration and protections in the Caribbean EEZ. The following list applies:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic   Systems Influence Individual Choices Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Job Multiplier Page 22
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Whistleblower Protection Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Intelligence Gathering Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – “Crap” Happens Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development Page 30
Anecdote – Pipeline Transport – Strategies, Tactics & Implementations Page 43
Strategy – Alternative Energy: Harness the power of the sun, winds and tides in the EEZ Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 82
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Extractions (Mining, Materials & Drilling) Administration Page 83
Anecdote – “Lean” in Government – Environment Regulations & Permits Page 93
Anecdote – Caribbean Energy Grid Implementation Page 100
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ Page 104
Implementation – Ways to Develop Pipeline Industry Page 107
Implementation – Ways to Improve Energy Usage – Deploy Wind Turbines in EEZ Page 113
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Extractions – Oil Mitigation Plan Page 195
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Fisheries – Model of Alaska EEZ Page 210
Advocacy – Ways Impact Trinidad & Tobago – Oil Boom to Expire without new Exploration   Page 240
Advocacy – Ways Impact The Guianas – Guyana’s Societal Challenges Page 241
Appendix – North Dakota Oil Boom Economic-Societal Effects Page 334
Appendix – Cape Cod Wind Farm – Model for Caribbean EEZ Page 335

Oil is good; oil is bad! The Go Lean roadmap asserts that the world’s energy needs are undeniable – constant demand – and that the oil-producing economies do have prospects of prosperity (Trinidad & Tobago is no longer considered developing / Third World). The Caribbean sorely needs the empowerments in this roadmap to explore and exploit “oil” in the modern economy. The region also needs mitigations and security measures in the roadmap to guarantee environmental protection.

Oil prices are cyclical – constantly up and down. It is difficult to manage certainties in governance without certainties in revenues. Thusly, the Go Lean roadmap calls for economic diversifications; this is apropos for tourism-service economies as well. There is much at stake when communities “miss the mark” on the diversity quest: fight and flight. The “fight” has been consistent in oil-producing Trinidad with security incidents big and small; big as in Martial Law declaration and terrorist threats; small as in constant crime and employment insecurities. The flight consequence has been consistent in Trinidad; they have experienced one of the highest societal abandonment rates in the region where 70% of the college-educated population have fled.

Guyana is encouraged to take heed from Trinidad.

The CU/Go Lean roadmap is designed to bring the long-awaited economic diversity and efficiency to the Caribbean. The goal is to optimize Caribbean society, allowing us to better compete globally and present more favorable options for our youth to prosper here in their homeland.

Oil exploration and production requires heavy-lifting to derive full benefits for the community; and mitigate accompanying risks. Welcome to the CU technocracy.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people, business, institutions and governments, to lean-in for the efficiencies and diversities described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. 🙂

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

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Appendix A – Exclusive Economic Zone

An Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a sea zone prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.[1] It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles (nmi) from its coast. In colloquial usage, the term may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nmi limit. The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a “sovereign right” which refers to the coastal state’s rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters, as can be seen in the map, are international waters.[2]

Generally, a state’s EEZ extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) out from its coastal baseline. The exception to this rule occurs when EEZs would overlap; that is, state coastal baselines are less than 400 nautical miles (740 km) apart. When an overlap occurs, it is up to the states to delineate the actual maritime boundary.[3] Generally, any point within an overlapping area defaults to the nearest state.[4]

A state’s Exclusive Economic Zone starts at the landward edge of its territorial sea and extends outward to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) from the baseline. The Exclusive Economic Zone stretches much further into sea than the territorial waters, which end at 12 nmi (22 km) from the coastal baseline (if following the rules set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea).[5] Thus, the EEZ includes the contiguous zone. States also have rights to the seabed of what is called the continental shelf up to 350 nautical miles (648 km) from the coastal baseline, beyond the EEZ, but such areas are not part of their EEZ. The legal definition of the continental shelf does not directly correspond to the geological meaning of the term, as it also includes the continental rise and slope, and the entire seabed within the EEZ.

The following is a list of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones; by country with a few noticeable deviations:

Country EEZ Kilometers2 Additional Details
United States 11,351,000 The American EEZ – the world’s largest – includes the Caribbean overseas territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
France 11,035,000 The   French EEZ includes the Caribbean overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy and French Guiana.
Australia 8,505,348 Australia has the third largest exclusive economic zone, behind the United States and   France, with the total area actually exceeding that of its land territory. Per the UN   convention, Australia’s EEZ generally extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastline of Australia and its external territories, except where a maritime delimitation agreement exists with another state.[15]The United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf confirmed, in April 2008, Australia’s rights over an additional 2.5 million square kilometres of seabed beyond the limits of Australia’s   EEZ.[16][17] Australia also claimed, in its submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, additional Continental Shelf past its EEZ from the Australian Antarctic Territory,[18] but these claims were deferred on Australia’s request. However, Australia’s EEZ from its Antarctic Territory is approximately 2 million square kilometres.[17]
Russia 7,566,673
United Kingdom 6,805,586 The UK includes the Caribbean territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands,   Montserrat, Turks & Caicos and the British Virgin Islands.
Indonesia 6,159,032
Canada 5,599,077 Canada is unusual in that its EEZ, covering 2,755,564 km2, is slightly smaller than its territorial waters.[20] The latter generally extend only 12 nautical miles from the shore, but also include inland marine waters such as Hudson Bay (about 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) across), the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the internal waters of the Arctic archipelago.
Japan 4,479,388 In addition to Japan’s recognized EEZ, it also has a joint regime with Republic of (South) Korea and has disputes over other territories it claims but are in dispute with all its Asian neighbors (Russia, Republic of Korea and China).
New Zealand 4,083,744
Chile 3,681,989
Brazil 3,660,955 In 2004, the country submitted its claims to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to extend its maritime continental margin.[19]
Mexico 3,269,386 Mexico’s EEZ comprises half of the Gulf of Mexico, with the other half claimed by the US.[32]
Micronesia 2,996,419 The Federated States of Micronesia comprise around 607 islands (a combined land area of approximately 702 km2 or 271 sq mi) that cover a longitudinal distance of almost   2,700 km (1,678 mi) just north of the equator. They lie northeast of New Guinea, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshall Islands, east of Palau and the Philippines, about 2,900 km (1,802 mi) north of eastern Australia and some 4,000 km (2,485 mi) southwest of the main islands of Hawaii. While the FSM’s total   land area is quite small, its EEZ occupies more than 2,900,000 km2 (1,000,000   sq mi) of the Pacific Ocean.
Denmark 2,551,238 The Kingdom of Denmark includes the autonomous province of Greenland and the self-governing province of the Faroe Islands. The EEZs of the latter two do not form part of the EEZ of the European Union.
oil deposit found offshore Guyana - Photo 4
Papua New Guinea 2,402,288
China 2,287,969
Marshall Islands 1,990,530 The Republic of the Marshall Islands is an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country’s population of 68,480 people is spread out over 24 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The land mass amounts to 181 km2 (70 sq mi) but the EEZ is 1,990,000 km2, one of the   world’s largest.
Portugal 1,727,408 Portugal has the 10th largest EEZ in the world. Presently, it is divided in three non-contiguous sub-zones:

Portugal submitted a claim to extend its jurisdiction over additional 2.15 million square kilometers of the neighboring continental shelf in May 2009,[44] resulting in an area with a total of more than 3,877,408 km2. The submission, as well as a detailed map, can be found in the Task Group for the extension of the Continental Shelf website.

Spain disputes the EEZ’s southern border, maintaining that it should be drawn halfway between Madeira and the Canary  Islands. But Portugal exercises sovereignty over the Savage    Islands, a small   archipelago north of the Canaries, claiming an EEZ border further south. Spain objects, arguing that the SavageIslands do not have a separate   continental shelf,[45] citing article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.[46]
oil deposit found offshore Guyana - Photo 6
Philippines 1,590,780 The Philippines’ EEZ covers 2,265,684 (135,783) km2[41].
oil deposit found offshore Guyana - Photo 5
Solomon Islands 1,589,477
South Africa 1,535,538
Fiji 1,282,978 Fiji is an   archipelago of more than 332 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300   square kilometres (7,100 sq mi).
Argentina 1,159,063
Spain 1,039,233
Bahamas 654,715
Cuba 350,751
Jamaica 258,137
Dominican Republic 255,898
Barbados 186,898
Netherlands 154,011 The Kingdom of the Netherlands include the Antilles islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius
Guyana 137,765
Suriname 127,772
Haiti 126,760
Antigua and Barbuda 110,089
Trinidad and Tobago 74,199
St Vincent and the Grenadines 36,302
Belize 35,351
Dominica 28,985
Grenada 27,426
Saint Lucia 15,617
Saint Kitts and Nevis 9,974

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_economic_zone)

————-

Appendix B – Guyana Stabroek MC2D Description

Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS), in conjunction with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), is pleased to announce the availability of the MultiClient 2D survey acquired over the Stabroek concession. The survey consists of approximately 7,603 km of seismic that has been acquired and processed over the block and tie lines to existing well information with the objective of providing for the first time detailed imaging and geological understanding of this as yet undrilled concession. PGS acquired the data using its GeoStreamer® technology which is a solid streamer with the combination of two different sensors which provide data that exhibits a wider bandwidth and better penetration than conventional data. This MC2D survey provides the GGMC with a state of the art data set that assists industry in their evaluation of this frontier area.

SURVEY AREA
7,603 km

ACQUISITION DETAILS:
2008 – M/V Aquila Explorer
2D Acquisition Mode
GeoStreamer®

ACQUISITION PARAMETERS:
2 ms sample rate
Record Length 14000 ms
Shot Interval 37.5 m
Streamer Length 12000 m
Nominal fold 160

PROCESSING PARAMETERS:
Wavefield summation
SRME
Radon Demultiple
Pre-Stack Time Migration

AVAILABLE DATASETS:
TAPSTM Gathers
Raw PSTM Stack SEGY
Final PSTM Stack SEGY
Near, Mid and Far Angle Stack SEGY
Navigation UKOOA
Velocity Data in ASCII format
Gravity data

About PGS
Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) offers a broad range of products including seismic and electromagnetic services, data acquisition, processing, reservoir analysis/interpretation and multi-client library data. We help oil companies to find oil and gas reserves offshore worldwide.

PGS was founded in Norway in 1991, with two seismic ships and some highly innovative ideas on how to reshape the industry. Today we share the same drive to innovate as inspired our founders, though the team is bigger:

  • 12 offshore seismic vessels
  • 30 offices worldwide, employing over 70 nationalities

PGS has a presence in 21 countries with regional centers in London, Houston and Singapore. Our headquarters is in Oslo, Norway and the PGS share is listed on the Oslo stock exchange (OSE:PGS).

VIDEO – PGS Seismic Principles – https://youtu.be/q4PqkV0SBe0

Published on Mar 21, 2014 – A short video explaining the seismic principles.

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Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims

Posted on May 22, 2015 in Government, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

CU Blog - Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims - Photo 1What have you done for “me” lately?

So now that we’ve been awed and entertained with drones, frankly we need something more. We need to put them to work. What can drones do for us … in our quest to elevate Caribbean societal engines?

The answer is “Plenty”!

For starters, an insurance company had sought and is now approved to use drones for disaster claims processing.

This is BIG!

In a few days, the annual hurricane season will begin … in earnest; (this year was an aberration with the first Tropical Depression – Ana – making landfall early on May 10 in South Carolina, USA).

“Ana” is the first of what is forecasted to be a busy season. The names for the 2015 season are already pre-determined as:

Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika, Fred, Grace, Henri, Ida, Joaquin, Kate, Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa, Victor and Wanda.

The source news article follows:

Title: FAA Gives USAA The A-OKAY To Test Damage Claims Drones
By: Kelsey D. Atherton

Source: Popular Science Magazine posted April 7, 2015; retrieved 05-21-2015 from:
http://www.popsci.com/faa-gives-usaa-okay-drone

After the disaster come the accountants. Major tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the like do dollar amounts of damage, sometimes in the billions. That number comes from the nitty-gritty of insurance valuations and payouts, a wholly human assessment of the ruins from natural forces. Now, thanks to FAA approval, robots may start to get in on the action.

Yesterday, insurance giant USAA announced, as follows, that the FAA approved their request to test drones as a way to more quickly process insurance claims after disasters:

FAA Approves USAA Request for Drone Research

April 6, 2015 –The Federal Aviation Administration has approved USAA’s request to test how unmanned aircraft systems, also known as drones, could help speed review of insurance claims from its members following natural disasters. USAA is one of the first insurers to be granted the approval for such testing.

“Our members have grown accustomed to seeing us pave the way for innovative solutions that streamline the claims process,” said Alan Krapf, president, USAA Property and Casualty Insurance Group.

In October 2014, USAA filed for an exemption under Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to enable more efficient testing of small drones. Exempt from select FAA regulations, USAA can now fly drones, made by U.S.-based PrecisionHawk, during the day within line-of-sight of a trained pilot and air crew. Prior to the approval, USAA test flights could only take place at FAA-approved sites. No aircraft will exceed an altitude of 400 feet, and all flights will continue to be reported to the FAA prior to takeoff.

With FAA approval, USAA will work with PrecisionHawk [(see VIDEO here)] to efficiently research and develop best practices, safety and privacy protocols and procedures as it further develops plans for operational use.

USAA also filed for an additional FAA exemption in November that will enhance USAA’s ability to use drones in catastrophes. That exemption petition is pending approval, and a decision is expected soon.

“We’re proud to be among the first insurers approved to test this technology,” Krapf said. “It’s our responsibility to explore every option to improve our members’ experience.”

About USAA
The USAA family of companies provides insurance, banking, investments, retirement products and advice to 10.7 million current and former members of the U.S. military and their families. Known for its legendary commitment to its members, USAA is consistently recognized for outstanding service, employee well-being and financial strength. USAA membership is open to all who are serving our nation in the U.S. military or have received a discharge type of Honorable – and their eligible family members. Founded in 1922, USAA is headquartered in San Antonio. For more information about USAA, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@USAA), or visit usaa.com.
(Source: https://communities.usaa.com/t5/Press-Releases/FAA-Approves-USAA-Request-for-Drone-Research/ba-p/62019)

USAA applied for the exemption in October. In their application, they noted that USAA employees were invited to Oso, Washington, after a mudslide to assist local officials with aerial surveys.

Drones are a great tool for examining natural disasters, because they can safely fly over areas where the ground may still be hazardous for humans. Visual assessment and mapping tools give rescue workers a way to understand the newly-changed terrain, and they can also let insurance agents see which claims are justified.

In the best case scenario, using drones to evaluate claims means that victims of disasters will get the resources they need to get back on their feet faster. All told, that’s pretty great. There are certainly far worse things that could happen when a robot shows up after a disaster.

CU Blog - Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims - Photo 4

CU Blog - Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims - Photo 5

The subject of unmanned aircrafts are just another area of autonomous vehicles that the Go Lean … Caribbean movement (book and aligning blogs) has highlighted as being a focused subject for the region. This subject will impact jobs and security measures. Consider these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487 Here come the Drones … and the Concerns
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1277 The need for highway safety innovations – here comes Google
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673 Ghost ships – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew

A lot of activity with autonomous aircrafts have been the product of Radio Controlled craft hobbyists; see Appendix C VIDEO. But now, practical applications are being promoted, especially for commercial photographers. This is science, not science fiction; see VIDEO in Appendix B. There is the need for high-end photography solutions to process claims after natural disasters. According to the foregoing news article, the US regulators are now allowing the testing of drones for post-hurricane (and other natural disasters) claims processing. This aligns with the Go Lean book, to optimize natural disaster response AND to provide oversight for the regional aviation space. This book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU/Go Lean roadmap describes CU agencies in the role of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) performs for the US in the foregoing article. So the parallel is strong, as there is the need to plan for natural disasters in the Caribbean – more and more – in partnership with the CU‘s Emergency Management agencies.

CU Blog - Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims - Photo 3

CU Blog - Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims - Photo 2

The Go Lean book purports that this type of industrial revolutions emerging with drones are more and more critical for Caribbean society. The risks and threats from storms will only intensify. In the previous blog about the rise of drones, this commentary asserted that “our region must participate in these developments, not just spectate on them”. These points are  also pronounced early in the book in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14), with these statements:

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.

xxvi.  Whereas theCaribbean 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… In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism…– impacting the region with more jobs.

xxvii.  Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

This Go Lean book and accompanying blogs champion the cause of deploying technology to make the Caribbean a better homeland to live, work and play. The assertion is that innovative developments like camera-mounted unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) should be readily deployed after emergencies and disasters – from hurricanes to industrial accidents – to quickly assess the damage: life and property; see Appendix A VIDEO. There is the need to gather intelligence for where to direct First Responders (as in 911 emergencies); and even before people in the affected areas may call out for help.

While the focus of the Go Lean movement is primarily towards economics, it is the premise of this roadmap that security efforts must be coupled with the region’s economic empowerments. The premise is simple! The economic engines must be protected and preserved; this subject of “Insurance Company Disaster-Claim Assessing Drones” is therefore within scope for the Trade Federation. In fact, the CU/Go Lean roadmap has defined these 3 prime directives:

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

While there may be proponents and opponents (privacy advocates) of unmanned aviation, no one would object to aggressive efforts to locate people in danger or quickly restore communities to normal operations after a storm. There is an overriding need, as many times tourist-based industries need to project the confidence to the watching world that Caribbean winter destinations will be ready, willing and able to extend hospitality to visitors … in short order.

The message and image must be consistent for the region’s primary economic driver, even after a natural disaster: Be our guest!

The Go Lean strategy is to confederate the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region to form the technocratic CU Trade Federation. Tactically, the roadmap calls for a separation-of-powers, allowing the Caribbean member-states to deputize authority of the Caribbean airspace to the one unified CU agency. Operationally, there is the need for these drones in critical times and also for everyday scenarios. (Many times, watercrafts become imperiled in the region’s waters; the scanning & diagnostic capabilities on drones would far-exceed human-eye capability for search-and-rescue).

The book details community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster innovative solutions in Caribbean communities, so as to positively impact the societal economic, security and governing engines:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification Page 21
Community Ethos – All Choices Involve Costs Page 21
Community Ethos – Job   Multiplier Page 22
Community Ethos – Public Protection Over Privacy Concerns Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments (ROI) Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development Page 30
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating 30 Member-states in a Union Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Growing Economy – New High Multiplier Industries Page 68
Separation of Powers – Self Governing Entities Page 80
Separation of Powers – Aviation Administration and Promotion Page 84
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change – Hurricane Reinsurance Funds Page 101
Implementation – Benefits from the Exclusive Economic Zone Page 104
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Homeland Security Innovations Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Housing – Hurricane Risk Reinsurance Funds Page 161
Advocacy – Revenues Sources for Caribbean Administration – Reinsurance Funds Page 172
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street – Adopt Advanced Products: “Reinsurance” Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation – Aviation Oversight Page 205
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Fisheries – Search & Rescue Page 210
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living Page 238
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living Page 239

The foregoing news story relates to threats and consequences of hurricanes. While hurricanes present a Clear and Present Danger to “life and limb”, the focus of this commentary is on property. While the sense of urgency may appear to be lower, there is still the need to impact the region’s Greater Good. The advocacy in this case is to be an early adopter of technology to optimize the administration of Caribbean economic engines.

This is heavy-lifting. The buy-in from community stakeholders will not be easy; there will be the need for collaboration, compromise and consensus-building for the full adoption of unmanned aviation.

The insights from the foregoing articles and embedded videos help us to appreciate that the future for unmanned aviation is now! We must therefore lean-in for these empowerments now.

In fact the region is urged to lean-in for the entire roadmap of Go Lean … Caribbean. The benefits are too alluring. Protection of people, properties and processes. This is the Greater Good. This roadmap allows for that quest: to make the Caribbean a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean…Caribbean now!

————

Appendix A VIDEO – Drone Footage from Inside Corvette Museum Sinkhole – https://youtu.be/vkEDwOidW_Q


Published on Feb 12, 2014 – University of Western Kentucky’s Engineering Department sent a drone helicopter into the sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum that swallowed eight vintage Corvettes.

————

Appendix B VIDEO – Sprite Unmanned Aerial Vehicle –  https://youtu.be/-w9YTJjGaEg


Published on May 13, 2015 – Meet Sprite, the most portable, most durable small unmanned aerial vehicle in the world. Powerful, yet simple to fly. Visit us at www.ascentaerosystems.com for more information! Pre-order at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/…

————

Appendix C VIDEO – Top 10 Drones 2015 – https://youtu.be/sq2n4TMC1XU


Published on Nov 14, 2014 – More Info & Pics: https://ezvid.com/top-ten-drones

 

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POTUS and the Internet

Posted on May 19, 2015 in Government, Implementation, Social

Go Lean Commentary

What is the requirement for the Office of the President of the United States; and why is this important to the Caribbean?

A candidate must be at least 35 years old; natural born citizen of the country (could not have been naturalized); must win the majority of votes (270) of the 538 total in the American Electoral College.

One more requirement: the candidate must have a “thick skin” and the uncanny ability to choose his/her battles. The President cannot pick a fight with just anyone that lobs unkind words, no matter how denigrating the insult.

This is not easy! Considering the free-for-all that is the internet; freedom of speech … is not free!

This actuality was dynamically illustrated in the past week; first with a number of 2016 potential candidates (Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton) in their quest to secure their own web domains (xxxxxxxxxx.com, xxxxxxxxxx.net, xxxxxxxxxx.org, etc.) and lastly with the current president’s first foray with the social media site Twitter. See stories here:

Title #1: U.S. presidential candidate Fiorina spins web around interviewer
By: Bill Trott, Reuters, May 10, 2015

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina apparently has learned something about registering website domain names.

Former Hewlett-Packard Co Chief Executive and Republican U.S. presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks during the Freedom Summit in GreenvilleShortly after the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive announced her campaign last week, she found out that a cybersquatter had bought the rights to carlyfiorina.org and was using it to criticize her record.

Chuck Todd of NBC News brought up the issue while interviewing Fiorina on “Meet the Press” and showed the website, which features row after row of frowny-face emoticons representing 30,000 people laid off during her Hewlett-Packard tenure from 1999 to 2005.

Fiorina defended her record and after the interview sent a tweet thanking Todd for having her on the show and saying, “Btw, checkout chucktodd.org.” Her campaign had registered that domain and clicking on the link redirected traffic to her official campaign site, carlyforpresident.com.

Fiorina had done the same thing last week with sethmeyers.org when she appeared on NBC’s “The Late Show with Seth Meyers.”

Fiorina has acknowledged she made a mistake in not registering carlyfiorina.org first, but she is not the only 2016 presidential candidate bedeviled by cybersquatters.

Republican Ted Cruz must endure a rogue tedcruz.com site that says only “Support President Obama. Immigration Reform now”, while jebbushforpresident.com is being used by supporters of gay rights, not Jeb Bush.

The site hillaryclinton.org is not the work of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and cyber security experts say it contains malicious software.

—————-

Title # 2: VIDEO – President Obama @POTUS – http://wapo.st/1FkwKrX

May 19, 2015 (Reuters) – President Obama started his own Twitter account on Monday. Within 45 minutes of sending his first tweet, Obama gained more than 217,000 followers.

—————-

Title #3: ‘Welcome To Twitter, N*gger’: Righties Go FULL RACIST On POTUS Twitter Account (TWEETS)

Well, President Obama finally has his own twitter account, and conservatives didn’t waste any time showing just how racist they really are.

CU Blog - POTUS and the Internet - Photo 1

While the president was having fun posting about how his tweets would be his own words to the American people, righties were busy hurling racial slurs in @replies at the POTUS twitter account. For your viewing disgust, here are just a few of the so-called “welcome” messages President Obama received on his newly-created personal account (yes, these are screenshots and not actual tweets, in the event these trolls decide to delete their words like the cowards they are):

CU Blog - POTUS and the Internet - Photo 2

CU Blog - POTUS and the Internet - Photo 3

CU Blog - POTUS and the Internet - Photo 4

As if those initial messages weren’t bad enough, one person tweeted to the sitting President that he should be lynched, completed with image:

CU Blog - POTUS and the Internet - Photo 5

… I could go on, but you get the idea. If this doesn’t tell you that Barack Obama has handled the unprecedented disrespect and outright hatred directed at him from right-wing racists with the utmost grace and dignity, I don’t know what will. …

The entire article is here: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/05/18/welcome-to-twitter-ngger-righties-go-full-racist-potus-twitter-account-tweets/; retrieved May 19, 2015.

—————-

Title #4: Uh, you probably don’t want to tweet to @POTUS, actually
By: Caitlin Dewey

Twitter, at first glance, is a magical fantasy land — a utopia where any old egg can freely converse with presidents, pop stars and kings. It is the great democratizer; the global water cooler; the one place where you can say anything to anyone and know it’ll be okay.

Consider this your monthly reminder that this is actually NOT the case: On the modern Internet, impressions of anonymity and ephemerality are, well … usually fake.

But the joke’s actually on them: Not only does the Secret Service already monitor Twitter for threats, but the White House is archiving each and every thing @POTUS tweeters say. Ashley Feinberg flagged this relevant piece of the White House Online Privacy Policy …

… when you tweet “leave Michelle for me @POTUS,” or something even more inappropriate/creepy, that lives in an official White House Archive for eternity (slash, for potential future scrutiny).

To be clear, this isn’t just a White House thing: The principle applies, in one form or another, to most types of social networking …

Find the whole article at the Washington Post Online site – The Capital’s Daily Newspaper (Posted 05-19-2015) –

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/05/19/uh-you-probably-dont-want-to-tweet-to-potus-actually/

The President of the United States (POTUS) is considered the most powerful Commander-in-Chief in the world; this is due to the fact that the US is the only remaining Super Power with the world’s largest Single Market economy and world’s largest military establishment. This country is the Caribbean largest trading partner. POTUS also has direct oversight over the US Federal Government functionalities in the 2 US Territories in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands).

This subject is a pivotal theme in the book Go Lean…Caribbean, which asserts that Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) are critical for elevating Caribbean society. The art and science of this field is slated to impact the economic, security and governing engines. The internet makes things easy; it makes benevolent endeavors easier and malevolent endeavors easier. There must be the constant oversight.

The challenges of politicians and the Internet clearly demonstrate the need for technocratic oversight for the Caribbean’s foray into garnering more respect and benefits for intellectual property. There is the need for “Grievance Officers” to settle disputes related to cyber-squatting for Caribbean domains and the proposed Caribbean Cloud branded: www.myCaribbean.gov.

Change has come to the world of politicking and elections. The ubiquity of the internet cannot be ignored.

This book, Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU/Go Lean roadmap has 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 security apparatus to protect the societal engines and marshal against human and civil rights abuses.
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, plus facilitate a smooth transparent election process.

Early in the book, the benefits of optimizing governance through technology empowerments are pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 14), with these statements:

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…

xxvi.  Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxvii.  Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

The Go Lean book details the community ethos to adapt to the changed ICT landscape, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies:

Community Ethos – Economic Principle – People Respond to Incentives Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments (ROI) Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future Page 26
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property Page 29
Community Ethos – Impact Research & Development Page 30
Community Ethos – Bridge the Digital Divide Page 31
Strategy – Vision – Integrate 30 Caribbean member-states into a Single Market Economy Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Fix the broken systems of governance in our region Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Book: Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776) Page 70
Separation of Powers – Department of State – Federal Elections Administrators Page 70
Separation of Powers – Federal/Caribbean Police – Elections/Candidate Security Page 77
Separation of Powers – Film Promotion and Administration Page 78
Separation of Powers – Intellectual Property (Copyrights & Domains) Administration Page 78
Separation of Powers – Communications and Media Authority Page 79
Separation of Powers – Federal Legislature & Electoral Seats Page 91
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Impact Elections Page 116
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Contact Centers – Ideal for Pre-Election Polling Page 212
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora Page 217
Appendix – Puerto Rico Diaspora distribution in the mainland United States Page 304

This commentary is about the Caribbean, not about the United States. It is important for leaders in the US to be concerned with the Caribbean’s well-being. This point has been explicitly acknowledged by Caribbean stakeholders and relevant subjects have recently been extolled in these previous Go Lean…Caribbean blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183 Mexico Model – May 5th – US too occupied during Civil War to defend neighbor
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5088 Caribbean Migrants among the accounting of 1 in 11 Black population in USA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4935 A Lesson in History – Grand Old Party – the Republicans – must be cuddled
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4897 US Backs LNG Distribution Base in Jamaica as Caribbean Regional Hub
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4793 Yelp.com Review Site – Model of CU Social Media Grievance Regulators
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4551 US Territories – currently Between a ‘rock and a hard place’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360 Dreading the American ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4294 US Ambassadors to Caribbean push US Energy and Security Policies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3834 State of Caribbean Union compared to the State of the American Union
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3662 Caribbean Migrants desperate to get to US as Promised Land destination
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965 America’s Navy – Protector for Caribbean waters and the World’s

Other interactions related to US government-to-Caribbean population have also been blogged in Go Lean commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4058 New York Times Maledictions on The Bahamas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3473 Haiti to Get $70 Million from US-AID to Expand Caracol  Industrial Park
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3455 Restoration of US Diplomatic Relations with Cuba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2907 Miami Haitian-American leaders protest Bahamian immigration policy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341 US slams human rights practices among Caribbean nations

The CU seeks to re-boot the relationship with the US to an elevated “protégé” status, as opposed to the parasite status currently being maintained. For the Caribbean member-states, the CU will oversee the radio spectrum used for internet, radio, television and satellite communications in the region. (This radio spectrum must be regulated “by us and for us” … on a regional level due to the close-proximity of member-states). So the CU‘s coordination must be arranged in the manner of a Common Pool Resource, as the radio spectrum is limited. This oversight must also extend to internet broadband (wireless & wire-line) governance.

Also, the CU must conduct its own federal elections for all 30 member-states. This CU election process, detailed in the Go Lean roadmap, is a direct parallel to the election process in the US, alluded to at the start of this commentary. The US system defines 538 “electors”. This corresponds to the 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 senators, and the three additional electors for the nation’s non-State capital city, Washington, DC. The same Electoral College design is proposed for the CU – so as to not trivialize the region’s Small Island States – where 250 House seats, and 60 Senate seats, amounts to a total 310 (Page 91). With the requirement of 156 electoral votes to win the CU presidency, no candidate can be elected without the inclusion of some Small Island States. This is logical; an effective application for the CU legal structure bred from the US model.

For the CU, ICT must also come into play more and more to facilitate efficient federal campaigns. We can do this!

We can apply best-practices – as communicated in the foregoing articles – so as to mitigate election-campaign abuses and remediate slanderous communication from “bad actors” who try to bully elected officials; these ones  will become more active as election passions intensify.

“Out with the old; in with the new” – the US President Obama has less than 2 years remaining in his constitutionally-mandated  term-limit. The candidates vying for Mr. Obama’s job for 2016 will have to feature many of the same qualifications as Mr. Obama; these ones, in particular, must be thick-skinned in tolerating scathing insults and cyber-bullying. They would do best to remember that there will always be a loud minority … and quiet majority. 🙂

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

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Blog # 300 – Legacies: Cause and Effect

Posted on May 18, 2015 in Ethos, Government

Go Lean Commentary

What is legacy and why is it important?

The actual definition is: 1. anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor; 2. a gift of property, especially personal property, as money, by will; a bequest.

Legacies refer to good and bad. This is the pointed reference of this commentary, the legacies of American and Caribbean empowerments and disestablishments. Two examples are presented here as teaching points for our communities because frankly, these legacies are current and pervasive in the news and daily lives of so many people today.

This is a milestone – Number 300 – for this effort, these commentaries to draw attention to news, models and applications of the book Go Lean…Caribbean. These 300 blogs/commentaries all highlight subjects, issues and advocacies to promote best practices to elevate the Caribbean economic, security and governing eco-system. All previous blogs were grouped into these 10 categories:

The basis for the teaching point of this American legacy is the institutional segregation practiced in American cities that limited non-Whites to ghettos and slums. This was not just an issue in the South, as this AUDIO Podcast reveals:

AUDIO Podcast: Historian Says Don’t ‘Sanitize’ How Our Government Created Ghettos –  http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=406699264&m=406749329


Fifty years after the repeal of Jim Crow, many African-Americans still live in segregated ghettos in the country’s metropolitan areas. Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, has spent years studying the history of residential segregation in America. “We have a myth today that the ghettos in metropolitan areas around the country are what the Supreme Court calls ‘de-facto’ — just the accident of the fact that people have not enough income to move into middle class neighborhoods or because real estate agents steered black and white families to different neighborhoods or because there was white flight,” Rothstein tells NPR Fresh Air’s Terry Gross.

CU Blog - Blog # 300 - Legacies - Cause and Effect - Photo 1

“It was not the unintended effect of benign policies,” he says. “It was an explicit, racially purposeful policy that was pursued at all levels of government, and that’s the reason we have these ghettos today and we are reaping the fruits of those policies.”

The application of this history does not require an external geographic address to glean. Rather many people within the US, clearly recognize and lament this poor legacy. Notice here the following posted guestbook comments on the Podcast’s website:

“It doesn’t take rocket science or a degree in economics to see how white families would have become wealthier and African Americans would have missed out … by the time equal protection laws were enacted [in the 1960’s]. – Public Comment by “Cat Jones” on May 14, 2015.

“I remember in Lubbock, TX; which is a dry county [(no alcohol sold)]; they attempted to allow liquor stores [only] in the black neighborhoods, stating that it would be an influx of dollars into these neighborhoods. The black Churches came together to vote this down. The whites fought very hard for this to happen. Blacks said ok but why not allow them to be in the entire city. That question was never answered. It was simple we will provide your communities with the industries we have no desire for in our own communities but industries that improve the communities were reserved for white communities. Racism is far from running around shouting racist names. IT is stuff like this. – Public Comment by “bleemorrison” on May 14, 2015.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean pursues the quest to elevate the Caribbean region through economic, security and governance empowerments. This means looking, listening and learning from the lessons in history … old and new. This is especially true when our communities may still be impacted by that history. (The Podcast commences with the acknowledgement that Baltimore’s ghettos were just recently in flames due to the culmination of frustration of urban dysfunction there, ignited by the police killing of a Black Man in custody; this was just the “tip of the iceberg”). The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to provide better stewardship for the Caribbean homeland.

This book and subsequent 300 blogs posit that the Caribbean can do better than our American counterparts, that rather than being parasites, we can be protégés and maybe even provide American communities our model on how to build a progressive society to live, work and play. In a recent blog/commentary, the issue of legacies – from Royal Charters and the resultant effects on powerful families – was detailed. The full appreciation was explored on how good and bad circumstances in life can be extended from generation to generation.

That’s the American example…

The Caribbean example involves the member-state of Haiti. This week the President of France made a proclamation of acknowledgement that the Republic of Haiti has endured a long legacy of paying a debt (in blood and finances) for the natural right of freedom.

http://www.france24.com/en/20150512-hollande-vow-haiti-debt-france-settle-slavery-confusion

VIDEO: France’s Hollande to Pay ‘Moral Debt’ to Haiti – https://youtu.be/5R-hA2KqWs4

Published on May 12, 2015 – French President Francois Hollande pledged to pay back a “moral debt” to Haiti during a visit on Tuesday to the impoverished Caribbean nation founded by former French slaves who declared independence in 1804. His visit marked the first official visit by a French president to the hemisphere’s poorest country, a former colonial jewel still bitter over a debt France forced Haiti to pay in 1825 for property lost in the slave rebellion. Hollande said, “We cannot change the past, but we can change the future.” He spoke at an event with Haitian president Michel Martelly on Port au Prince’s Champ de Mars, in the city center near the presidential palace that was destroyed by a 2010 earthquake.

Haiti revolted its slave colony status in 1791 and fought for its independence in 1804. To finally be recognized, France required the new country of Haiti to offset the income that would be lost by French settlers and slave owners; they demanded compensation amounting to 150 million gold francs. After a new deal was struck in 1838, Haiti agreed to pay France 90 million gold francs (the equivalent of €17 billion today). It was not until 1952 that Haiti made the final payment on what became known as its “independence debt”. Many analysts posit that the compensation Haiti paid to France throughout the 19th century “strangled development” and hindered the “evolution of the country”.

Though many had hoped the French’s President’s cancelation of the moral debt would translate to monetary damages – reparations – it is asserted here that just the acknowledgement of the legacy is profound. The same as the Baltimore legacy restricted a community, the French-Haiti legacy restricted this Caribbean country and a race of people – Haiti continues to be dysfunctional – a failed-state – the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

We see the causes and effects of legacies.

The Go Lean book and accompanying blogs push further and deeper on this subject of legacies, stressing that success can still be derived in the Caribbean, despite any lack of legacies, as some parties in the Americas have enjoyed 500, 200 or 75 years of entitlement. The book therefore stresses that the region can turn-around from “ground zero”, by applying best-practices, and forge new societal institutions to empower the region.

The consideration of the Go Lean book, as related to this subject is one of governance, the need for technocratic stewardship of the regional Caribbean society. This point of governance against the backdrop of societal legacies was pronounced early in the book, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 14) with these declarations:

Preamble:  As the history of our region and the oppression, suppression and repression of its indigenous people is duly documented, there is no one alive who can be held accountable for the prior actions, and so we must put aside the shackles of systems of repression to instead formulate efficient and effective systems to steer our own destiny.

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.

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.

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of [other] communities.

According to the timeline established in the foregoing AUDIO Podcast, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s was a turn-around; it corrected a lot of the blatant defects in the American racial eco-systems. Haiti still awaits its turn-around.

This is the quest of Go Lean…Caribbean, to impact the Caribbean, not the United States. Haiti is in scope for this roadmap; Baltimore is not. The immediate goal is to analyze case studies, to learn lessons from the past (ancient and recent) of communities; then to assess how the best-practices … will drive success in the Caribbean. The roadmap simply seeks to reboot the region’s economic, security and governing engines, hypothesizing that the American and European colonial stewards did not have societal efficiency in mind when they structure administrations of the individual member-states in this region.

In general, the CU will employ better strategies, tactics and implementations to impact 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 protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate internal and external threats.
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book stresses key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to transform and turn-around the eco-systems of Caribbean society. These points – relevant to the foregoing AUDIO and VIDEO features – are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states / 4 languages into a Single Market Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines Page 45
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Post WW II European Marshall Plan Model Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance Page 71
Implementation – Assemble All Regionally-focus Organizations of All Caribbean Communities Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Better Manage Debt Page 114
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Haiti Marshall Plan Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Local Government and the Social Contract Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from the previous West Indies Federation Page 135
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008 – Optimizing Economic-Financial-Monetary Engines Page 136
Planning – Lessons Learned from Omaha – Human Flight Mitigations Page 138
Planning – Lessons Learned from Detroit – Turn-around from Failure Page 140
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 Improve Homeland Security Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Haiti Page 238
Appendix – Failed-State Index for Uneven Economic Development Page 272

There are other lessons for the Caribbean to learn from considering history; the following previous blog/commentaries apply:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183 A Lesson in History – Cinco De Mayo
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5123 A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Zimbabwe   -vs- South Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5055 A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Empowering Families
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4971 A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Truth & Consequence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4935 A Lesson in History: the ‘Grand Old Party’ of American Politics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4720 A Lesson in History: SARS in Hong Kong
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4166 A Lesson in History: Panamanian Balboa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2809 A Lesson in History: Economics of East Berlin
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2480 A Lesson in History: Community Ethos of WW II
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2297 A Lesson in History: Booker T versus Du Bois
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531 A Lesson in History: 100 Years Ago Today – World War I
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789 A Lesson in History: America’s War on the Caribbean

There is the effort to remediate American and European societies now. They recognize the futility of the actions of their ancestors and predecessors. They are now battling to try and weed-out the last vestiges of racism and housing discrimination. This is good! Housing investment is the best way to get rich slowly, to create generational wealth. This has been demonstrated time and again in the US, even though “black & brown” populations may have been excluded from participation.

The Go Lean roadmap focuses on the homeland only. It is out-of-scope to impact American cities like Baltimore; our scope is for the Caribbean only; for communities like Haiti.

Our quest is simple, the future, a 21st century effort to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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8th Violent Crime Warning to Bahamas Tourists

Posted on May 17, 2015 in Economics, Government

Go Lean Commentary

An 8-ounce glass with 4 ounces of water is …

… half full.
… half empty.

It all depends on the perspective.

For an ambulance-chasing lawyer, that perspective needs to be “half empty”.

The foregoing article, a blog submission by Miami-based Maritime Lawyer Jim Walker – see Appendix – is not chasing ambulances, but rather cruise ships. So any assessment from him should be taken with a “grain of salt”. He has an agenda! He attempts to drum up business from cruise ship passengers that may have been hurt or abused in their experience venturing into the cruise industry – on the ship and/or on shore in the port cities.

Yet, in the middle of his “cry wolf” scenarios, there might just be some truth in his advocacy against the cruise lines.

For the stewards of new Caribbean economic eco-systems, we need to pay more than the usual attention to this “town crier”. His claims in this article here, must be fully vetted:

Title: 8th Violent Crime Warning for the Bahamas in 16 Months
By: Jim Walker
Cruise Law News Blog-Site – Posted May 15, 2015; Retrieved from: http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2015/05/articles/crime/8th-violent-crime-warning-for-the-bahamas-in-16-months/

CU Blog - 8th Violent Crime Warning to Bahamas Tourists - Photo 1The U.K.’s  Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued “foreign travel advice” for travelers to the Bahamas. The U.K. crime warning says:

“There have been incidents of violent crime including robbery, which is often armed and sometimes fatal, in residential and tourist areas of New Providence, Grand Bahama and Freeport. The number of break-ins and robbery incidents reported to the High Commission has increased. There are police patrols in the main tourist areas.

Be vigilant at all times and don’t walk alone away from the main hotels, tourist areas, beaches and downtown Nassau, particularly after dark. Take care if travelling on local bus services after dusk on routes away from the main tourist areas. Do not carry large amounts of cash or jewellery. Robbers may be armed.”

I first learned of the crime warning from Travel Weekly.

Incredibly, this is the eighth crime warning for the Bahamas in the last 16 months.

In 2014, Bahamas was the subject of four critical crime warnings to U.S. citizens (one from the U.S. State Department and three from the U.S. Embassy) and one warning from Canada. There have been 2 prior crime warnings from the U.S. for the Bahamas this year. With this latest U.K. warning, that’s a total of 8 warnings.

I have never heard any country being the recipient of 8 crime warnings in such a short time period. The U.S. warnings are much more specific, mentioning that U.S. tourists have been raped and robbed at gunpoint.

We last wrote about the sorry state of affairs in the Bahamas earlier this month. We received a number of interesting comments to the article which you can read here. Many people avoid a cruise itinerary which includes the Bahamas, or they stay on the cruise ship when it reaches Nassau.

I picked Nassau as the most dangerous cruise destination in the world last year.

Have a thought? Please leave a comment below or join the discussion on our Facebook page.

According to the foregoing article, one Caribbean member-state, the Bahamas, needs to mitigate and remediate its crime activity.

From the publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean, our immediate response to Esquire Walker: Message received; warning heeded.

The Go Lean book and movement serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). With the word ‘Trade‘ in the CU‘s branding, obviously the CU is set to optimize Caribbean society through economic empowerment; but the truth of the matter is that the security dynamics of the region are inextricably linked to this economic endeavor. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has 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 protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap posits that the Caribbean region must prepare its own security apparatus for its own security needs. So the request is that all Caribbean member-states form and empower a security force to execute a limited scope on their sovereign territories.  The goal is to confederate under a unified entity made up of the Caribbean to provide homeland security to the Caribbean. Homeland Security for the Caribbean has a different meaning than for our American counterparts. Though we must be on defense against military intrusions like terrorism & piracy, we mostly have to contend with threats that may imperil the region’s economic engines, and crime remediation and mitigation. Yes, The CU security goal is for public safety!

So in particular cruise passengers will benefit from new layers of security measures (Page 193) that are both up-front and also behind-the scenes. These will be administered by CU security agencies, and not limited to the authority of the member-states.

The book contends that bad actors will emerge just as a result of economic successes in the region. This point is pronounced early in the book with the 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.

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 public safety is comprehensive endeavor, encapsulating the needs of all Caribbean stakeholders: residents and visitors alike.

We would like to direct Esquire Walker to a new line of work; or perhaps just a new target for his legal practice.

The Go Lean roadmap calls for a permanent professional force with naval forces, plus an Intelligence agency. The CU Trade Federation will lead, fund and facilitate the security force, encapsulating all the existing armed forces in the region plus exercising some regional oversight over law enforcement. This CU Homeland Security Force would get its legal authorization from a legal Status of Forces Agreement plus an Interstate Compact for US Territories signed at the CU treaty initiation; this means “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap.

Covering all the complaints in the foregoing article about government corruption, the Go Lean roadmap “polices the Police” to ensure the optimization of justice institutions.

We are heeding your warnings Esquire Walker!

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide increased public safety & security in the Caribbean region:

Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy –vs- Public Protection Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens Page 23
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Tactical – Confederating a non-sovereign union Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Central Bank – Cruise e-Payment Cards Page 73
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security Page 75
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Foreign Policy Initiatives Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives Page 103
Planning – Big Ideas – Regional Single Market Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from the West Indies Federation Page 135
Planning – Lessons from New York – Port Authority Police Page 139
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Law & Order
 Page 142
Planning – Lessons from Egypt – Keep Tourism Functional 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 Improve Leadership Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering/Analysis Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – Example: Natalee Holloway Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Event Tourism Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Cruise Tourism Page 193
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living Page 234

Our region must do better to serve-and-protect visitors to our shores; tourism is still reeling from the failure to prosecute the crime against Spring Break Tourist Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. – See Appendix VIDEO below.

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

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5304 Mitigating the Eventual Abuse of Power
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210 Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4639 Tobago: A Model for Cruise Tourism and a Plan to Optimize the Industry
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4425 Cruise Payment Model: Electronic Cards and Smart Phones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360 Dreading the American: ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3889 Cruise Payment Model: RBC EZPay – Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2782 Intelligence Model: Red Light Traffic Cameras Could Impact Millions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487 Intelligence Model: Here come the Drones … and the Concerns
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=960 Intelligence Model: NSA records all phone calls in Bahamas – Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599 Ailing Puerto Rico open to radical economic fixes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=546 Bad Model: Book Review – ‘The   Divide’ – … Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535 Event Security: Remembering and learning from Boston
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: # 6 Organized Crime

Underlying to the prime directive of elevating the economics, security and governing engines of the Caribbean, is the desire to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play for visitors and residents alike. We know “bad actors” will emerge – they always do! But we do not need these “bad actors” disrupting the peace of all Caribbean residents (42 million people), or the 10 million Diaspora as they frequent their tropical homeland or especially not the 80 million tourists that visit the region annually (including the 10 million cruise passengers).

The Go Lean roadmap was composed with the community ethos of the Greater Good foremost. The related quotation applies: “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” (Page 37). All of the Caribbean are hereby urged to lean-in to this roadmap.

🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

=========

Appendix: About the Author: Jim Walker

CU Blog - 8th Violent Crime Warning to Bahamas Tourists - Photo 2“Everything the cruise lines don’t want you to know” is the motto of this award winning maritime law blog authored by Miami lawyer Jim Walker.

The New York Times describes Jim as “a maritime lawyer in Miami who has attended more than half a dozen Congressional hearings about cruise ship crime and passenger safety.” Jim has been involved in maritime litigation since 1983.  Based in Miami, Florida, Jim represents passengers and crew members injured or assaulted on cruise ships around the world.

==========

Appendix: Jim Walker Blog Site Visitor Commentaries:

Selected Comments:

Mary – May 16, 2015 4:39 PM

I love the Bahamas! Sadly to say my family rented a house Dec 2014 into the New year and were robbed New Years Eve. Thankfully we were out at Junkanoo. I was very upset and frightened but will always go back to Nassau.

—————

Srgt. Thomas – May 16, 2015 6:13 PM

This morning 5/16/15, a fashion designer was murdered in his home and his house set on fire. And also four gang members battled it out in the streets with the police killing one gang member, injuring two, and one still out on the loose. Tourist, expats, workers, investors should leave ASAP, this country is on the verge of a civil uprising according to U.S. intelligence. Our government wants to thank you so much Mr. Jim Walker, you are helping us get the word out. You are a true American, and hope the rest of your Nation realizes this too.

—————

Michelle Farrington – May 16, 2015 6:58 PM

You never cease to amaze me. While you think nothing of writing about my beautiful country.

Ok so you say we have been cited 8 times for most dangerous. Well, the last time I checked the United States the land of the so called free… yet Americans have no privacy and the IRS continues to rob the hard working class of people.

Oh and what do you, Jim Walker have to say about the police continually killing black people, calling it self defense? oh and what about all these shootings in killings in schools and universities.

Let me remind you that when a country rapes and steals another countries resources in the name of bringing PEACE BY MEANS OF WARS, there are repercussions. How many families have been destroyed or ripped a part because the U.S.A. doesn’t care how many men/soldiers lives are sacrificed. These persons are someone’s father, husband, wife, son or daughter.

While there are murders and violence in Nassau, we don’t live in fear and don’t go out at night.. if this paranoia exist, then they are a small minority. These types of crimes are basically revenge, or domestic related. So you say, the USA does not have these types of crime? Really????? I don’t think so!

You need to get a life and leave us alone!

Go write on all the crime throughout your country!

I have been rushed, knocked to the ground and robbed in the parking lot of a hotel..yes, in the U.S. of A.
To this day Car Rentals are targeted and many Bahamians have been victim to this type of crime in your country.

So what say you?

Michelle D. Farrington

—————

Willa Kingsley – May 16, 2015 7:11 PM

My family and I are that the Atlantis hotel right now, I’m writing this comment with my IPhone as I speak. This morning at around 3-4 I believe we were awaken to gun fire in the distance, it sounded like a war. We just found out from the hotel’s lobby desk police had a confrontation with a group of gang members in the street. It’s still unclear if anyone was killed, but you should have heard the sounds, WOW! We are seriously thinking of leaving earlier than we hoped for, my kids are scared to death in leaving our room; this is nuts!

—————

Jim Walker – May 16, 2015 9:09 PM

Michelle:

Thanks for your comments.

You make several good points.

Our U.S. Federal government over-reaches all of the time. The IRS, Homeland Security & FBI regularly violate the rights of U.S. citizens.

Our police (white and black) execute black men in the streets. It angers me greatly. It is a national disgrace. Travon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddy Grey are the martyrs of our going civil rights movement.

You’re wrong about the men and women in our military. They don’t “rape and steal” as you claim. The Bahamas would be under the thumb of the Nazi’s but for the U.S. military. We have protected the world for decades. I see you could care less aboout that and are filled with hate. But the Bahamas couldn’t protect itself much less other countries if a troop of girl scouts attacked.

The fact remains that Nassau is out-of-control dangerous. Your crime is widespread and increasing. Your government is corrupt. Your legal system is a joke. Your police are ineffective and corrupt. The Bahamas is dependant on tourism, primarily from the U.S., but you can’t stop from selling drugs to the cruise passengers or preying on them.

My blog is read by mostly cruise passengers and crew members. It is intended to warn them of the danger on cruises ships and ports of call that they may not be aware of. Over a million people read over 6 millions pages a year.

Most U.S. citizens think stepping off a cruise ship from Miami to the Bahamas is safe. It’s not. We report issues about the Bahamas which you and other delusioanal Bahamains try and keep secret. We have sent the messahge wide and far.

If you want to warn people about dangers in the U.S., by all means do so. We wish you the same success in warning travelers that we have achieved.

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Finely Tuned And Polished – May 16, 2015 9:41 PM

The reason quite simple: The Bahamians are deathly afraid of the Government, so they take out their frustrations of feeling like they are on a tight leash with the tourist.I have many Bahamian friends who are quite friendly and hard working Bahamians and church goers. Its a small group who honestly believe by staying together, between the drug lords and cons they will become rich in a short period of time. 50% go fishing.. and never return!!! Wake up !!!

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Appendix VIDEO: – Natalee Holloway Witness Comes Forward: ‘I Knew She Was Dead’ – http://bcove.me/ky8bglp1

Dave Holloway – the father of Natalee Holloway – is back in Aruba exclusively with INSIDE EDITION searching for answers in the disappearance of his 18-year-old daughter, Natalee. The main suspect in Natalee’s disappearance is the notorious Joran van der Sloot – now serving a life sentence for a different murder in Peru. They first met at the Holiday Inn Casino where he gambled regularly and she was staying with her high school classmates on their senior trip. A decade later the trail has gone cold, perhaps until now. A new witness emerges, Jurrien de Jong, a citizen of the Netherlands who lives in Amsterdam, says he was one of the last people to see Natalee alive. He claims to have seen the suspect, Joran, chasing Natalee, and later stash her body in the crawl space on a construction site.

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Mitigating the Eventual ‘Abuse of Power’

Posted on May 17, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Implementation

Go Lean Commentary

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely – Familiar secular prophesy.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean 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 covers 5 years. Once the roadmap succeed in its execution, there will be a lot of opportunities for stakeholders to acquire and wield power. The roadmap fully expects the eventual corrupting effects of that power, and thusly embed the required checks-and-balances from the outset.

The Go Lean roadmap covers so many aspects of Caribbean life that every one, in every nook-and-cranny, will sense the presence of the CU. The CU/Go Lean roadmap commences with 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 protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

During the course of these executions, there will be a constant focus on the exercise of power.

The assertion of the Go Lean book is that the Caribbean region must prepare for its own success, and its own eventual security threats. The book relates (Page 23) the historic references where the emergence of new economic engines were immediately followed by the emergence of “bad actors” to exploit the opportunities, with good, bad and evil intent. So we must proactively and reactively address crime, whether it is street crime, “White Collar” crime and/or also public corruption allegations. But doing so judiciously and with proper regard for human and civil rights.

Accordingly, the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) pronounced that we must take our own lead for our own security solutions; we must appoint our own “guardians” with our self-interest in mind; prioritizing the community ethos for the Greater Good. The actual declaration is pronounced as follows:

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.

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.

CU Blog - Mitigating the Eventual Abuse of Power - Photo 1The Caribbean appointing “new guards” or a security pact to ensure public safety, will call for permanent justice institutions, sanctioned by all 30 CU member-states. The CU Federation or federal justice’s institutions will operate under a separation-of-powers edict – between the member-states and CU agencies. This is radically different than other federal government scenarios – like the United States – because of the reality of sovereignty. The CU is only a trade and security bloc, so the sovereignty of member-states remains with its current possessors. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap requires CU agencies to be deputized by the duly authorities in the member-states. Then with CU funding comes CU “strings attached” to ensure compliance of governance mandates. (These strings include fair and equitable treatment of all citizens).

A previous commentary related how the citizens of the City of Ferguson, Missouri-USA – African-American more so than any other ethnic group – were abused and repressed by law enforcement and judicial officials in that community. The injustice and abuse-of-power was so blatant that the town burst into protest – (literally burst into flames) – when one of their unarmed citizens, Michael Brown, was killed by a police officer. Then the whole country burst into protest – in solidarity – when the subsequent Grand Jury decided not to indict the offending police officer. The constant outcry was: “No Justice; No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter”.

The events of this small Midwest American town – a suburb of St. Louis – can easily be joined in chorus with countless Caribbean anecdotes. Any elevation of Caribbean society must therefore include the optimization of Caribbean justice institutions. The Go Lean roadmap assumes the heavy-lifting for the CU Trade federation to transform Caribbean society. The CU will be empowered for its security role – deputized for law enforcement in all Caribbean member-states – by a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) embedded with the initial confederation treaty. (This effort also includes the US Territories as well, under the legal guise of an Interstate Compact). This point was strongly urged in the same opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12), as follows:

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.

CU Blog - Mitigating the Eventual Abuse of Power - Photo 2The Go Lean roadmap identifies gangs, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, guns/explosive interdiction, piracy, and terrorism as threats to the law-and-order fabric of Caribbean society. But the community ethos for Go Lean roadmap must be based on the Greater Good, ensuring both the letter and the spirit of laws to serve-and-protect the community. So the relevant CU agencies must also police the Police. Just how does the roadmap propose this; (Page 177)?

  • The strings-attached in funding national police forces would force Internal Affairs compliance and reporting up-line to CU agencies.
  • Military justice institution, Judge Advocacy Generals, will also follow a reporting up-line to CU agencies.
  • The CU funding to member-states will required separate accounting ledgers – no deposit into General Treasury Funds. The CU therefore retains the rights to “audit the books”. Any malfeasance, misfeasance  or nonfeasance constitute federal crimes, criminal prosecution and federal prison sentences.
  • The CU will provide grants for equipment and investigative tools, like dashboard cameras and body cameras. The SOFA would legally grant authority to the CU to review police activity.
  • Every security-involved death (police, soldier, sailor, marine) will automatically initiate a federal investigative review.

In the Caribbean, “All Lives Matter”!

The Go Lean book details all the community ethos to ensure the right attitudes to serve and protect Caribbean communities; plus strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide increased public safety & security in the Caribbean region:

Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices Page 21
Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Privacy –vs- Public Protection Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Witness Security & Protection Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Intelligence Gathering Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Light Up the Dark Places Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – “Crap” Happens Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Minority Equalization Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Cooperatives Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
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 – District Attorneys Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – CariPol Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Labor Department – Regional   Relations Page 89
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Federal Courts – Court   of Justice Page 90
Implementation – Assemble “Organs” into a Security Apparatus Page 96
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives Page 103
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices Page 134
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Model   for Law-and-Order Page 142
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 Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering/Analysis Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Prison Industrial Complex Page 211
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights Page 220
Appendix – CariCom Organs: IMPACS & Court of Justice Page 244

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

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4809 Americans arrested for aiding ISIS
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4447 Probe of Ferguson-Missouri finds bias from cops, courts
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360 Dreading the American ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4308 911 – Emergency Response: System for First Responders in Crisis
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881 Intelligence Agencies to Up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3662 Migrant flow / Border incursions / Threats from Caribbean into US spikes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2994 Justice Strategy: Special Prosecutors and Commissions of Inquiry
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2782 Red Light Traffic Cameras, other CCTV Deployments can Impact Crime
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2684 Role Model for Justice, Anti-Crime & Security: The Pinkertons
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1674 Obama’s $3.7 Billion Immigration Crisis Funds – A Homeland Security Fix
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554 Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487 Here come the Drones … and the Concerns
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=960 NSA records all phone calls in Bahamas, according to Snowden
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535 Remembering and learning from Boston
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392 Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341 American Hypocritical Human Rights Leadership Slams Caribbean Poor Record

CU Blog - Mitigating the Eventual Abuse of Power - Photo 3The vision of the Go Lean roadmap is to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play. One, of many missions, 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. Among the many reasons people emigrate, many times, there is a fear of life-and-limb. We must allow for “Justice”; and for “Peace”. All lives must matter!

We must do better!

We know that “bad actors” will emerge, from internal and external origins. We must be prepared and on-guard to defend our homeland against all threats, foreign and domestic. Yet we must maintain transparency, accountability, and constant commitment to due-process and the rule-of-law.

We do not want a Sheriff John Brown – see Appendix & VIDEO – emerging in the Caribbean region. Sheriff John Brown is a classic example of an Authority figure that abused his power at the peril of a common citizen:

John Brown always hated me, For what, I don’t know: Every time I plant a seed,  He said kill it before it grow.

Everyone, the people (residents and visitors), institutions and government officials are hereby encouraged to lean-in to this roadmap. 🙂

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

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Appendix – Relevant News Story: Amnesty International Calls for Accountability in Bahamas Police Abuses

http://bahamasnational.com/?q=node/2365

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Appendix VIDEO – Bob Marley – I Shot The Sheriff – https://youtu.be/2XiYUYcpsT4

Uploaded on Aug 7, 2008 – Bob Marley- I shot the sheriff Music: (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

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Appendix – I Shot the Sheriff – Lyrics by Bob Marley

Chorus:
(I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!
I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, oo-ooh.)

Yeah! All around in my home town,
They’re tryin’ to track me down;
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the killing of a deputy,
For the life of a deputy.
But I say:

Oh, now, now. Oh!
(I shot the sheriff.) – the sheriff.
(But I swear it was in self-defence.)
Oh, no! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!
I say: I shot the sheriff – Oh, Lord! –
(And they say it is a capital offence.)
Yeah! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!

Sheriff John Brown always hated me,
For what, I don’t know:
Every time I plant a seed,
He said kill it before it grow –
He said kill them before they grow.
And so:

Read it in the news:
(I shot the sheriff.) Oh, Lord!
(But I swear it was in self-defence.)
Where was the deputy? (Oo-oo-oh)
I say: I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in selfdefence. (Oo-oh) Yeah!

Freedom came my way one day
And I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden I saw sheriff John Brown
Aiming to shoot me down,
So I shot – I shot – I shot him down and I say:
If I am guilty I will pay.

(I shot the sheriff,)
But I say (But I didn’t shoot no deputy),
I didn’t shoot no deputy (oh, no-oh), oh no!
(I shot the sheriff.) I did!
But I didn’t shoot no deputy. Oh! (Oo-oo-ooh)

Reflexes had got the better of me
And what is to be must be:
Every day the bucket a-go a well,
One day the bottom a-go drop out,
One day the bottom a-go drop out.
I say:

I – I – I – I shot the sheriff.
Lord, I didn’t shot the deputy. Yeah!
I – I (shot the sheriff) –
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, yeah! No, yeah!

 

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Book Review – ‘Thimerosal: Let The Science Speak’

Posted on May 15, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary:

This accusation against the American Big Business eco-system, seems so egregious:

Sacrifice children on the altar of corporate profits.

According to the events on the HBO Television show Real Time with Bill Maher, on Friday April 24, 2015, it is hard not to be an Anti-Vaxxer. The ‘Real Time’ host sided with his guest, activists and author Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. Mr. Kennedy came on to talk about his new book (see Appendix A), and the link between vaccines and the dreaded disorder of Autism.

- Photo 1On the show, Maher conducted a sit-down interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who came on the program to promote the new book he edited ‘Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak’; as well as the full-page ad Kennedy recently ran in USA Today claiming that the drug Thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative used in vaccine medications, causes Autism.

This is a stance Kennedy, and others, has taken for quite some time. Back in 2005, Kennedy made an infamous appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for an “Autism” special. There, Kennedy preached his Anti-vaxx stance, claiming not only that vaccines cause Autism, but also that there’s a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover this fact up involving the government, academia, and Big Pharma. Stewart, who’d later rip Anti-vaxxers a new one in a February 2015 Daily Show rant, just nodded his head and said, “I appreciate you getting the word out.”

Kennedy went on to answer Maher’s questions by explaining what he believes are the “unanimous dangers of Thimerosal” and “the links between Thimerosal and an epidemic of neurological disorders that are now afflicting American children: ADD, ADHD, speech delay, language delay, hyperactivity disorder, ASD, and Autism, all of which began in 1989, the year they changed the vaccine schedule.”

Then, Kennedy made an interesting admission.

“I am very pro-vaccine,” he said. “I had all my kids vaccinated and want to see government policies promoting full-coverage vaccines. The only way to do that is to have safe vaccines, and to have a credible regulatory process with regulators with integrity, and we don’t have that today.”

Yes, Kennedy said he mainly takes issue with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which he says “controls the field” and is a “cesspool of corruption that’s been completely taken over by the vaccine industry.”

(Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/24/bill-maher-anti-vaxxer-the-real-time-host-sides-with-robert-f-kennedy-jr-during-bizarre-interview.html)

This latter point is where this commentary related to the plan to elevate Caribbean society. The book Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 157) declares that big American Pharmaceutical industry or Big Pharma may be more of an obstacle than a aid for effecting community well-being. They care more about profits than they do the well-being of the public.

Sacrifice children on the altar of corporate profits.

This charge relates the underlying theme that the profit motives of Big Pharma is indicative of American Crony-Capitalistic practices that have been cited in so many other blog / commentaries. See Appendix C of cited Crony-Capitalism conflicts in American society.

(The publishers of the Go Lean book are proponents of childhood vaccinations – Pro-Vaxxers).

The Go Lean book strategizes a roadmap for economic empowerment in the region, clearly relating that healthcare, and pharmaceutical acquisitions are important in the quest to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. At the outset of the Go Lean book, in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11), these points are pronounced:

viii. Whereas the population size is too small to foster good negotiations for products and commodities from international vendors, the Federation must allow the unification of the region as one purchasing agent, thereby garnering better terms and discounts.

ix.   Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, obesity and smoking cessation programs.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the implementation and introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU‘s prime directives are identified with 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 protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Previous blog/commentaries addressed issues of capitalistic conflicts in American medical practices, compared to other countries, and the Caribbean. The following sample applies:

Judge to decide on Vaccination Amidst Autism Fears
Antibiotics Misuse Linked to Obesity in the US
CHOP Research: Climate Change May Bring More Kidney Stones
Big Pharma & Criminalization of American Business
New Research and New Hope in the Fight against Alzheimer’s Disease
Health-care fraud in America; criminals take $272 billion a year
New Cuban Cancer medication registered in 28 countries

The Caribbean Union Trade Federation has the prime directive of optimizing the economic, security and governing engines of the region. The Book Review and AutismOne VIDEO – in the Appendices below – depict that abuses have entered the quest for best practices in health management for the American public. We must do better in the Caribbean.

The Book Review and VIDEO below provide inside glimpses of the decision-making around Public Health drugs. Obviously, the innovators and developers of drugs have the right to glean the economic returns of their research. The Go Lean roadmap posits that more innovations will emerge in the region as a direct result of the CU prioritization on science, technology, engineering and medical (STEM) activities on Caribbean R&D campuses and educational institutions.

This is the manifestation and benefits of Research & Development (R&D). The roadmap describes this focus as a community ethos and promote R&D as valuable for the region. The following list details additional ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to optimize the region’s health deliveries and R&D investments:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives Page 21
Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives Page 25
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development (R&D) Page 30
Community Ethos – 10 Ways to Promote Happiness Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Strategy – Integrate and unify region in a Single Market Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Health Department Page 86
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Drug Administration Page 87
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Implement Self-Government Entities – R&D Campuses Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver Page 109
Planning –  Ways to Improve Trade Page 128
Planning –  Ways to Make the Caribbean Better Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract Page 170
Advocacy – Ways Foster Cooperatives Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations Page 219
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Persons with Disabilities Page 228
Appendix – Emergency Management – Medical Trauma Centers Page 336

The Go Lean roadmap does not purport to be an authority on medical or Public Health best practices. The economic-security-governance empowerment plan should not direct the course of direction for research and/or treatment. But something is wrong in the US, and other countries. 1 in every 160 child has been afflicted with Autism since 1989.

According to these anecdotes and reports, Big Pharma has clearly sacrificed our children on the altar of corporate profits. These companies cannot claim any adherence to any “better nature” in their practices. Their motive is malevolent!

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, released a song with the title: “They don’t really care about us”; see Appendix D VIDEO below; he very well could have been talking about Big Pharma. In a previous blog/commentary, the pharmaceutical industry was assailed over one cancer drug, Gleevec. The commentary clearly depicted the perils of Crony-Capitalism.

Crony-Capitalism is not for the Greater Good. It is not good economics, good security nor good governance. These activities must be monitored and mitigated.

No, “they don’t really care about us”. We must care and provide for ourselves. There must be better stewardship for society.

This is the calling for the CU Trade Federation, to do better. We can use this community ethos to impact the Greater Good. This is the heavy-lifting of the CU, to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work, heal and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendix A – Book Review:  ‘Thimerosal: Let The Science Speak‘ by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
(Source: Age of Autism – Online Community for Autism Advocacy – Posted 08-04-2014; Retrieved 05-15-2015 http://www.ageofautism.com/2014/08/book-debut-thimerosal-let-the-science-speak-by-robert-f-kennedy-jr.html)

Book debut day is always exhilarating – even for a seasoned, best selling author like Robert Kennedy, Jr.. Please join us in wishing him well as he educates readers on the dangers of neurotoxic mercury. In an environment (pardon the pun) where so few advocates are willing to step and and speak out on behalf of vaccine safety, we commend and thank both Kennedy and his publisher, Skyhorse. There is not a bigger name in American environmental causes doing anything like this.

After you read the book, we invite you to leave a review at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and GoodReads.

Unfortunately, many people will negatively review the book never having cracked the spine – never having the read more than the book’s cover art on the computer…    Write the review that suits your reaction to the book. Copy it, and leave it at every book site you can find.

Comments
Many follow this conversation and subscribe to the comment feed for this post. Here are a sample:

1. Children damaged by vaccines is not about mercury. That is throwing people off scent. Each and every vaccine has the potential to maim and/or kill the recipient, from the first instant after injection by anaphylactic shock, to Sids, to brain tumors 60 years later, as Michele Carbone has shown…

I get sick reading people’s comments repeating the mind controlled offal about how vaccines have saved the lives of millions. That is an outright lie. The opposite is true. From day one mandated mass smallpox vaccinations have led to mass outbreaks of smallpox. The same goes for polio, especially in Africa.

Check the historical facts: The Jenner/Pasteur gospels are the basis of today’s vaccination programs, yet their premise is patently false, making the whole vaccination religion nothing but a house of cards.

In reality all vaccines are weapons of mass destruction. Just check the product inserts for their content. Introducing manipulated pathogens plus toxic chemicals and metals into the bloodstream never will lead to true health!

Source – Posted by: Desiree L. Rover, August 30, 2014

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2. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has assembled two books: a private unpublished draft which, as he promised at AutismOne 2013, exposes the vaccine/autism cover-up. And this short, bowdlerized, oddly incoherent book, which does not.

In the published book, two bright spots shimmer. The first is Martha Herbert’s brilliant introduction, which places the vaccine safety debate in a broader context, arguing that we need “fresh approaches to health care, product development, energy, and ecosystems management.” The second is Chapter 2, written in a strong, confident narrative voice that pins mercury firmly to the rising prevalence of neuro-developmental disorders. The remaining chapters and 804 citations appear largely to be notes and debating points that support and expand upon Kennedy’s 2005 article, “Deadly Immunity,” published jointly by Salon.com and Rolling Stone, where the key points are made more succinctly, and in my view more persuasively, but without as much supporting documentation.

For those who have followed the vaccine debate on Age of Autism and especially for those who attended Kennedy’s AutismOne 2013 presentation, there are five surprises in the published book. Four of them occur in the introductory material.

First, that “there is no definitive proof that vaccines or the mercury in them causes autism” (p. xvi). How much proof do you need to be “definitive?”

Second, that “the common claim of autism rates continuing to climb after Thimerosal’s phase-out from the routine childhood vaccination schedule … has not, as yet, been borne out” (p. xxvii). Will that statement ring true with special education teachers and professionals whose clinics are overflowing with vaccine-damaged kids?

Third, that removing Thimerosal from all medical products, including flu shots, will restore “faith in the vaccine regimen while maintaining or increasing vaccination rates” (p. xxix). If restoring faith in the vaccine regimen is indeed Kennedy’s goal, this book is two hundred pages too short and ten years too late.

Fourth, that “This book is aggressively pro-vaccine” (p. xi). I know what that is supposed to mean in this context, but the choice of words is surprising. Given the failures of mandated vaccines to protect our children — failures publicized in Age of Autism during the past year — how much more “aggressively pro-vaccine” do we need to be?

The fifth surprise—and for me this is a head spinner — is that in 1999, two key Pharma companies, Merck and SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) informed the CDC that they could supply enough Thimerosal-free versions of their products to “meet total vaccine demand.” The CDC declined. The unanswered question, worthy of a British whodunit, is this: Why? What beast at the heart of darkness is responsible for the greatest man-made medical catastrophe yet visited on humankind?

The draft chapters that were dismembered, replaced, eviscerated, or buried before Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak was published point to the answer. They cry out from the grave.

Mr. Kennedy, publish the draft.

Source – Posted by: Dan Burns, August 06, 2014

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Appendix B VIDEO: AutismOne – How Mercury Triggered The Age Of Autism – https://youtu.be/KiT7Y233404

Published on May 25, 2013 – By Dan Olmsted, Mark Blaxill Motion Design By Natalie Palumbo. Special Thanks to Teresa Conrick

———–

Appendix C – Models of American Crony-Capitalism

Big Defense Many theorists indicate that the “follow the money” approach reveals the Military Industrial Complex work to undermine peace, so as to increase defense spending for military equipment, systems and weapons.
Big Media Cable companies conspire to keep rates high; kill net neutrality; textbook publishers practice price gouging; Hollywood insists on big tax breaks/ subsidies for on-location shooting.
Big Oil While lobbying for continuous tax subsidies, the industry have colluded to artificially keep prices high and garner rocket profits ($38+ Billion every quarter).
Big Box Retail chains impoverish small merchants on Main Street with Antitrust-like tactics, thusly impacting community jobs. e-Commerce, an area of many future prospects, is the best hope of countering these bad business tactics.
Big Pharma Chemo-therapy cost $20,000+/month; and the War against Cancer is imperiled due to industry profit insistence.
Big Tobacco Cigarettes are not natural tobacco but rather latent with chemicals to spruce addiction. Caribbean cigars are all natural.
Big Agra Agribusiness concerns continue to exacerbate greenhouse gases, bully family farmers and crowd out the market; plus they fight common sense food labeling efforts.
Big Data Brokers for internet and demographic data clearly have no regards to privacy concerns. They open that doors for hackers and data breaches.
Big Banks Wall Street’s damage to housing and student loans are incontrovertible. Their only motive: more profits.
Big Weather Overblown hype of “Weather Forecasts” to dictate commercial transactions.
Big Real Estate Preserving MLS for Real Estate brokers only, forcing 6% commission rates, when the buyers and sellers can easily meet online without them.
Big Salt Despite the corrosiveness of salt on roads and the environment, it is the only tactic used to de-ice roads during the winter. Immediately after the weather warms, the roads must be re-constructed, thus ensuring a continuous economic cycle.
Big Energy The For-Profit utility companies always lobby against regulations to “clean-up” fossil-fuel (coal) power plants or block small “Green” start-ups from sending excess power to the National Grid. Their motive is to preserve their century-long monopoly and their profits.
Big Legal Even though it is evident that the promotion of Intellectual Property can help grow economies, the emergence of Patent Trolling parties (mostly lawyers) is squashing innovation. These ones are not focused on future   innovations, rather just litigation. They go out and buy patents, then look for anyone that may consume any concepts close to those patents, then sue for settlements, quick gains.
Big Cruise Cruise ships are the last bastion of segregation with descriptors like “modern-day-slavery” and “sweat-ships”. Working conditions are poor and wages are far below anyone’s standards of minimum. Many ship-domestic staff are “tip earners”, paid only about US$50 a month and expected to survive on the generosity of the passengers’ gratuity. The industry staff with personnel from Third World countries, exploiting those with desperate demands. Nowhere else in the modern world is this kind of job discrimination encouraged, accepted or tolerated.
Big Jails The private prison industry seem motivated more by profit than by public safety. They attempt to sue state governments when their occupancy levels go too low; a reduction in crime is bad for business.

———–

Appendix D VIDEO: Michael Jackson – They Don’t Care About Us – https://youtu.be/QNJL6nfu__Q


Uploaded on Oct 2, 2009 – Music video by Michael Jackson performing They Don’t Care About Us. (C) 1996 MJJ Productions Inc.

Music: “They Don’t Care About Us” by Michael Jackson (Google Play • AmazonMP3 • iTunes)

 

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Post-Mortem of Inaugural Junkanoo Carnival

Posted on May 14, 2015 in Economics, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The Bahamas held their inaugural Junkanoo Carnival this past weekend. How did they do? How was the execution, compared to the planning? How much money was spent? How much return on investment was recouped?

Title: Carnival Fever: Organisers Hail A ‘Cultural Revolution’
By: Rashad Rolle, Tribune Staff Reporter
The Tribune – Daily Bahamian Newspaper. Posted 05/11/2015; retrieved from:
http://www.tribune242.com/news/2015/may/11/carnival-fever-organisers-hail-cultural-revolution/

CU Blog - Post-Mortem of Junkanoo Carnival - Photo 1An “unprecedented” number of people descended upon Clifford Park, the Western Esplanade and Arawak Cay to participate in the inaugural Junkanoo Carnival events between Thursday and Saturday, completing what officials say will become a permanent fixture on the Bahamian calendar that will jumpstart the country’s cultural economy.

Officials yesterday said it was too early to say exactly how many attended or participated in the event or to assess its overall economic impact.

However, it’s estimated that at the event’s peak, more than 15,000 attended Friday’s Music Masters concert – the “largest gathering of people” ever in The Bahamas, some said.

Last week, Mr Major estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 people would attend Junkanoo Carnival adding that the festival could bring in $50m to $60m.

The event – filled with food and arts and crafts – was bolstered by a well-received mixture of Bahamian and Soca music.

There were “no major (disruptive or criminal) incidents” and “no complaints” about security, Police Assistant Commissioner (ACP) Leon Bethel told The Tribune.

The event, which had faced months of criticism, “proved naysayers wrong,” Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe told this newspaper.

He noted that the government, the National Festival Commission and workers in the Tourism and Youth, Sports and Culture Ministries have now put on two major, successful events within the span of a week, proving that the country must add a “label of excellence” to its brand.

“Certainly by all that developed,” he said, “it proved that carnival does have a place in the Bahamas and it can be a unique festival celebrated in a traditional Bahamian way with the inclusion of Junkanoo, highlighting the many talented Bahamians, whether it’s the entertainers, the artisans who produced costumes, the vendors out there with their fine cuisine or the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the entire national security team that worked to turn the place into a spectacular village.”

“While there were those who prayed for rain, the place poured and rained with people,” Mr Wilchcombe added. “We must appreciate that for all the naysayers and those who opposed to the event, the Bahamian people spoke. No one stopped anyone from saying what they wanted to say or from criticising the event, but we stayed focused.”

“Each success, be it the IAAF World Relays or be it carnival, it tells you that collectively we know who we are as a people and what we are capable of.

“We did not let the invited guests dominate the occasion,” he said, reflecting on a prior concern that the event would not be Bahamian-centric.

Mr Wilchcombe added that he wished Bahamian singers ‘KB’, who has flip-flopped on his support for the festival, and ‘Geno D’ had been involved.

“They are two of the best musicians in the country, but in the future I think we are going to see more and more Bahamian artists coming out. What you are now going to see is that Abaco, Eleuthera, Bimini all will want to be a part of this fantastic event.”

In an interview with The Tribune, Festival Commission Chairman Paul Major also said the event exceeded his expectations.

“The spirit of the event, the number of spectators, the number of participants, it was awesome,” he said. “I think we are witnessing a cultural revolution. It’s an economic stimulus.”

Nonetheless, some critics said that while the event seemed to be a big hit among Bahamians, it did not attract the number of tourists needed to provide a major economic boost to the economy as hoped.

Mr Wilchcombe, however, disputed this and said the event will only grow following its successful launch.

Asked about this, Mr Major said: “(That claim) is not true. We were busing tourists from east and west of this venue and continued doing so throughout the event.”

Still, he conceded that the event could have been promoted more internationally. He said the fact that a headliner was not finalised until weeks before the Music Masters concert affected promotional work.

“We will start marketing for the next event as early as September of this year. We may have to look for another venue. This venue may not be big enough to host next year’s event,” Mr Major added.

As for the security of the event, ACP Bethel said the conduct of those attending was “top notch.”

“We had no resistance in terms of security measures. The security was elaborate with many layers in and around the event and we worked hand in hand with the organisers, private security, (and) the Defence Force.”

VIDEO: 2015 Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival Closes Out – https://youtu.be/IR0mGpAd47A

Published on May 10, 2015 – After three days of excitement the inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival came to an end with many already looking forward to next year. News coverage by local network ZNS TV.

It time now for a post-mortem analysis; borrowing this practice from medical science.

Medical science can teach us a lot. The purpose of the practice of medicine is to protect and promote health and wellness. But when there is a failure in this quest; when someone actually dies, another resource (medical doctor called a pathologist) adds value with a post-mortem examination (autopsy) — a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death, evaluating any disease or injury.

This medical practice aligns with the process to forge change, as described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean (Page 9). The book performs a careful post-mortem analysis of the Caribbean’s eco-systems. The conclusion of that analysis was that the region is in crisis. But alas the book, serving as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), declares that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. The roadmap then provides for a turn-around, with turn-by-turn directions on how to elevate the economic, security and governing engines to make the homeland better to live, work and play.

One mission is to optimize events. The Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival is typical of the type of events that the roadmap projects to elevate the region’s societal engines. As detailed plans of this inaugural Carnival were published, this commentary applied analysis comparing the Go Lean baseline. Now that the event has transpired and Go Lean promoters were there to “observe and report”, these are now the lessons-learned; the post-mortem analysis:

  • Regionalism embraced … at last – Carnival is an international brand. One cannot expect to shove a Bahamian-first ethos into the Carnival brand; see Appendix B below. Many people in-country complained that international artists had to be brought in, and “cuddled”: Big Paychecks, amenities, etc; see Photo here of Trinidadian Soca Music Artist Marchel Montano. The Go Lean book/blogs calls for the embrace of the regional Single Market for all of the Caribbean.

CU Blog - Post-Mortem of Junkanoo Carnival - Photo 5

  • Fostering genius … at last – The Bahamas has been notorious for their policies advocating egalitarianism. The concept of Carnival requiring artists to compete for top prizes is 100% divergent from that ideal. Yet, this approach of fostering the musical genius in the country is essential for growing the regional/national economy. We must “hitch our wagons” to the strong, talented and gifted “horses”, as was the case for Bob Marley. See Photos here of the Bahamian Headliner and also of one of the Junkanoo Carnival “Music Masters” event finalist; see Appendix A – VIDEO below. Go Lean calls for formal institutions to develop and monetize musical genius in the region.

CU Blog - Post-Mortem of Junkanoo Carnival - Photo 2

CU Blog - Post-Mortem of Junkanoo Carnival - Photo 4

  • Carnival is a Stimulus (GDP) not an investment (no ROI) – Gross Domestic Product is calculated as C + I + G + (X – M) or private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports). So the Bahamas government spending $9 million to facilitate the inaugural Carnival did stimulate additional economic activity; (actual results still spending). The foregoing article quotes a $50 to $60 million impact on GDP. This is highly possible based on this formula. Go Lean plans many economic stimuli from Events.
  • Mass attendance is assured – but monetizing is the challenge – Other news reports reflect that vendors and merchants did not get the final returns they had hoped. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the embrace of fairgrounds so as to better monetize event revenues; think parking, hospitality tents, campgrounds (RV’s).
  • Main Street not fully engaged – Bigger Carnival events (Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, etc.) are successful for their inclusion of floats and trinkets thrown to spectators. The embrace of this strategy would allow Main Street businesses or NGO’s direct participation with sponsorship, advertising and float construction. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to create 2.2 million new jobs in the region by embedding large, medium, small businesses and NGO’s in the development of trade and commerce.

CU Blog - Post-Mortem of Junkanoo Carnival - Photo 7 Sample Float from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

CU Blog - Post-Mortem of Junkanoo Carnival - Photo 6 Bahamas Carnival’s “Road Fever” Winners

  • Carnival and religion do not make good dance partners – Carnival, by its very nature and history is not a religious event. It does not attempt to honor or worship the Christian God; therefore there should be no attempt to reconcile the two; see Photo here. The Bahamas event avoided planning Sunday activities as an acquiescence to religious leaders; thus missing out on prime weekend availability for visitors and locals alike. The Go Lean roadmap promotes a religiously neutral technocracy – better!

CU Blog - Post-Mortem of Junkanoo Carnival - Photo 3

  • Need an earlier date for Snow-birds and Spring-breakers – A typical Carnival pre-Ash Wednesday date would have been February, ideal for extensive outdoor activities in the Bahamian Heat. On the other hand, the 2nd weekend in May is virtually summer and therefore disinviting for northern visitors – the classic tourist market. The previous commentary had identified that the Bahamas does not have a Lenten ethos, so a March date would be better all-around for better weather, plus an appeal to Snow-birds and Spring-breakers. The Go Lean roadmap focuses on technocracy not religion.

The Go Lean book prescribes events/festivals as paramount in the roadmap to elevate the regional economy (Page 191). There are many ways for the lessons learned in this year’s inaugural Junkanoo Carnival to be better applied in the execution of the roadmap for the Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean. There are dimensions of these type of events that hadn’t even been experienced by the region … as of yet, namely security. No “bad actors” have emerged to exploit the event for terroristic activities. Yet the Go Lean roadmap fully anticipates this reality. These are among the many strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies for best-practices:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives Page 23
Community Ethos – Return on Investments Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives Page 25
Community Ethos – Non Government Organization Page 25
Ways to Impact the Future Page 26
Ways to Foster Genius – Performance Excellence Page 27
Ways to Improve Sharing Page 35
Ways to Promote Happiness Page 36
Ways to Impact the Greater Good Page 37
Strategy – Customers – Business Community Page 47
Strategy – Customers – Visitors / Tourists Page 47
Strategy – Competitors – Event Patrons Page 55
Separation of Powers – Emergency Mgmt. Page 76
Separation of Powers – Tourism Promotion Page 78
Separation of Powers – Sports & Culture Page 81
Separation of Powers – Fairgrounds Administration Page 83
Separation of Powers – Turnpike Operations Page 84
Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities Page 105
Ways to Foster Cooperatives Page 176
Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis – Surveillance Page 182
Ways to Improve [Service] Animal Husbandry – For Event Security Page 185
Ways to Enhance Tourism Page 190
Ways to Impact Events Page 191
Ways to Promote Fairgrounds Page 192
Ways to Impact Hollywood – Media Industry Page 203
Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage Page 218
Ways to Improve the Arts Page 230
Ways to Promote Music Page 231
Appendix – Event Model: Sturgis 10-Day Festival Page 288

The publishers of the Go Lean roadmap applaud the current Bahamian Government officials for their commitment to fully commit to this Event Tourism strategy for future growth. This administration is hereby urged to lean-in to the Go Lean roadmap for clear directions (turn-by-turn) on how best to elevate Bahamian society to being a better place to live, work and play. In fact, the entire Caribbean region is hereby urged to lean into this roadmap.

The success of this roadmap is conceivable, believable and achievable.

Caribbean events are promotions of our unique culture to a world-wide stage; yet they can fortify economic efficiency as well.

So the world is watching…

See how the world marks the manner of our bearing – verse from Bahamas National Anthem.

🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Appendix A – VIDEO: Bahamas Carnival (Junkanoo Carnival) by Sonovia Pierre – https://youtu.be/5OyhOTBDFAA

Published on Dec 15, 2014 – Singer and songwriter Sonovia Pierre, affectionately called Novie, was destined to have an interesting musical life.  She holds a Bachelorʼs of Arts in Music Education from Florida Atlantic University. In 1990 she joined one of the most successful Bahamian bands, Visage as a lead vocalist. She has written and recorded several songs on five of the group’s albums and has collaborated with several other leading Bahamian artists. She is widely known for her hit songs including, “Still need a man” and “Man bad, woman bad”.

License: Standard YouTube License

———-

Appendix B – Caribbean Carnivals  – (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_Carnival)

Approximate dates are given for the concluding festivities. Carnival season may last for over a month prior to the concluding festivities, and the exact dates vary from year to year [depending on the Judeo-Christian Passover/Easter calendar].

  • Anguilla – Anguilla Summer Festival, early August[1]
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Aruba – Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[4]
  • The Bahamas – Junkanoo, late December/early January[5]; first Junkanoo Carnival inaugurated in May 2015.[63]
  • Barbados – Crop Over, early August[6]
  • Belize – Carnival, September[7]
  • Bonaire – Carnival, February Ash Wednesday[8]
  • British Virgin Islands
    • Tortola – BVI Emancipation (August) Festival, early August[9]
    • Virgin Gorda – Virgin Gorda Easter Festival Celebrations, late March/early April[10]
  • Cayman Islands – Batabano, late April/early May[11]
  • Cuba
  • Curaçao – Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[14]
  • Dominica – Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[15]
  • Dominican Republic – Dominican Carnival, February, Dominican Independence Day[16]
  • Grenada
    • Carriacou – Carriacou Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[17]
    • Grenada – Spicemas, early August[18]
  • Guadeloupe – Carnaval – February, Ash Wednesday[19]
  • Guyana – Mashramani (Mash), February 23, Guyanese Republic Day[20]
  • Haiti – Kanaval, February, Ash Wednesday[21]
  • Jamaica – Bacchanal, late March/early April[22]
  • Martinique – Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[23]
  • Montserrat – Montserrat Festival, early January, New Year’s Day[24]
  • Puerto Rico – Carnaval de Ponce, February, Ash Wednesday[25]
  • Saba – Saba Summer Festival, late July/early August[26]
  • Saint-Barthélemy – Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[27]
  • Saint Lucia – Carnival, July[28]
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis
    • Saint Kitts – Carnival, December/January[29]
    • Nevis – Culturama, late July/early August[30]
  • Saint-Martin – Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[31]
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Vincy Mas, late June/early July[32]
  • Saint Eustatius – Statia Carnival, late July/early August[33]
  • Sint Maarten – Carnival, late April/early May[34]
  • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Trinidad – Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[35]
    • Tobago – Tobago Carnival, February, Ash Wednesday[36]
  • Turks and Caicos – Junkanoo, late December/early January, Three King’s Day[37]
  • United States Virgin Islands
    • Saint Croix – Crucian Festival, late December/early January Three King’s Day[38]
    • Saint John – St. John Festival, June through July 3 & 4, V.I. Emancipation Day and U.S. Independence Day[39]
    • Saint Thomas – V.I. Carnival, April through early May[40]

 

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Prisoners for Profit – #ManifestJustice

Posted on May 13, 2015 in Ethos, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

“And justice for all” – ending verse in the American Pledge of Allegiance*

But the evidence is that these are more so just words than the actuality. Consider this article:

Title: White-owned Private Prisons are suing States for millions if they don’t stay full
Sub-title: Low crime rates bad for business for white-owned private prisons; they demand States keep them full
Source posted: May 3, 2015 – Retrieved May 12, 2015 from: http://earhustle411.com/white-owned-private-prisons-are-suing-states-for-millions-if-they-dont-stay-full/

CU Blog - #ManifestJustice - Prisoners -vs- Co-eds - Photo 2The prison-industrial complex is so out of control that private prisons have the sheer audacity to order states to keep beds full or face their wrath with stiff financial penalties, according to reports. Private prisons in some states have language in their contracts that state if they fall below a certain percentage of capacity that the states must pay the private prisons millions of dollars, lest they face a lawsuit for millions more.

And guess what? The private prisons, which are holding cash-starved states hostage, are getting away with it, says advocacy group, “In the Public Interest”.

“In the Public Interest” has reviewed more than 60 contracts between private prison companies and state and local governments across the country, and found language mentioning “quotas” for prisoners in nearly two-thirds of those contracts reviewed. Those quotas can range from a mandatory occupancy of, for example, 70 percent occupancy in California to up to 100 percent in some prisons in Arizona.

It is very interesting and telling that so few major national news organization are willing to report on the monstrous, ravenous and criminal system that is devouring hundreds of thousands of black and brown boys. Even those who do not subscribe to conspiracy theories have looked askance at this shocking report.

Welcome to the greatest manifestation of modern-day slavery, ladies and gentlemen.

One of those private prisons, The Corrections Corporation of America, made an offer last year to the governors of 48 states to operate their prisons on 20-year contracts, according to “In the Public Interest”.

What makes these deals so odious and unscrupulous? Take a look:

1)  The offer included a demand that those prisons remain 90 percent full for the duration of the operating agreement. You know what that means: if there are not enough prisoners then there will be an unspoken push for police to arrest more people and to have the courts send more to prison for petty, frivolous and nonviolent crimes. There will also be a “nudge” for judges to hand down longer or maximum sentences to satisfy this “quota.”

2)  Private prison companies have also backed measures such as “three-strike” laws to maintain high prison occupancy.

3)  When the crime rate drops so low that the occupancy requirements can’t be met, taxpayers are left footing the bill for unused facilities.

The report found that 41 of 62 contracts reviewed contained occupancy requirements, with the highest occupancy rates found in Arizona, Oklahoma and Virginia.

In Colorado, Democratic Gov. John Hinklooper agreed to close down five state-run prisons and instead send inmates to CCA’s three corrections facilities. That cost taxpayers at least $2 million to maintain the unused facilities.

It is getting more difficult to rationalize the societal cost of keeping prisons full just to satisfy private investors who treat prisoners as commodity and cattle .
Source: Rolling Out

Welcome to America…

While at the same time, the eco-systems of Caribbean society are failing; many Caribbean citizens long for the opportunity to emigrate to the United States. There have been many that have taken to the seas on risky vessels to reach the land of their dreams. Many times these ones are interdicted and immediately returned. Sometimes even worse; the boats go “down”, with tragic consequences.

The reasons for emigration are “push-and-pull”. Failures in our society have compelled many to seek refuge abroad; that’s the “push”!

Propaganda in the media and community gossip within the region pronounces that American life is better – the “place to be”. This is the “pull”.

This commentary posits that “all that glitters is not gold”.

The publishers of the book Go Lean … Caribbean campaign that it would be better for Caribbean citizens to remain in their homeland and work to remediate conditions there. Considering the statistics and anecdotal evidence published in the embedded features/articles here, there are reasons why American life should be less than ideal for Caribbean people:

  • Crony Capitalism – America has a disease where much of its public policy is set based on some special interest benefiting from public resources. This is Crony Capitalism and it is defined as public interest being hijacked for private gain.
  • Institutional Racism – Racial discrimination still permeates much of American society, though not always blatant. Statistics and anecdotes prove that employment, housing and educational disenfranchisements still abound in many institutions, despite surpassing 150 years after the Civil War (1861 – 1865) and 50 years after the “bad old days” of the 100-year legal segregation policy; (think Jim Crow).

This foregoing article quotes dollar amounts that are so big that the malevolence of Crony-Capitalism cannot be ignored. It can be argued that this is actually the primary driver in the above average prison population per capita (compared to other industrialized countries, the US is Number 1 by a far margin). This commentary thereby asserts that there is a nefarious Big Business agenda in motion here. Many States have outsourced prison management to private companies. It is in those companies’ best interest to keep prison populations high.

A reduction in crime is bad for business.

This “Prison Industrial Complex” is compelled to lobby, cheerlead and tease both sides of any political divide to keep public policy focused on “being tough on crime / hard on criminals” so as to keep their prisons filled. There is too much money involved. The “bad actors” in this case would readily short-change the Greater Good for immediate gains or profits.

It is obvious from this review that one consequence of Crony-Capitalism is that it short-changes the future for immediate gains, or profits.

In the Caribbean, we hope to minimize the “push-and-pull” factors that draw our Caribbean youth away; and away from that American reality. This dilemma is not just due to the fact that the US population has increased or that crime has increased. No, just the opposite. This point was related in a previous Go Lean blog/commentary, that served as a review for a book by writer and Rolling Stone Magazine contributor Matt Taibbi entitled: “The Divide – American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap“. The actual book quotation is:

Violent crime has fallen by 44 percent in America over the past two decades, but during that same period the prison population has more than doubled, skewing heavily black and poor.

This subject matter – and foregoing news article – align with the publication Go Lean … Caribbean, which serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean roadmap calls for the optimization of Caribbean society by rebooting the eco-systems with prime directives for the region’s economic, security and governing engines.

We want a society based on sound justice, not the fake American model. We do not want to sacrifice our young people on the altar of corporate profits. We’d rather invest in them rather than sacrifice them; this means investing in (early) education and universities rather than prisons.

CU Blog - #ManifestJustice - Prisoners -vs- Co-eds - Photo 1

Title: #ManifestJustice Art Exhibit in Los Angeles
By: Alexander Aplerku, AfroPunk Contributor
Source: AfroPunk Blog Site – Retrieved 05-12-2015 – http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/feature-manifestjustice-art-exhibit-in-los-angeles

“Enough is enough. We demand more empathy, more accountability, more economic opportunity, more compassion, more dignity, more power and more opportunity for all. We demand healthier communities, which means more from each other; more from our school systems and more from our judicial systems.” Those are the words of Manifest Justice, the creative community exhibition. The Exhibit, which took place last week [(May 2nd – 10)] – in Los Angeles’ gang affected Baldwin Village – featured protest posters, paintings, and three-dimensional works. Mostly focused on police brutality, the exhibition also touched on issues like education, racial justice, and LGBT rights. Programme coordinator Nijeul Porter says, “The idea is that art is at the center of social change”.

Related:
http://manifestjustice.org  (See VIDEO Below)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Manifest-Exhibit-Manifest-Justice

This Go Lean roadmap first openly confesses that the Caribbean is in crisis, that we are not able to retain our young people. Many member-states (St Vincent, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, etc.) have lost more than half of their populations to foreign shores. While others have lost more than 70 percent of their college educated populations. For many, the destination of choice is the United States. The situation is so impactful that now 1 out of 11 Black persons in the US is now of Caribbean (or African) descent, and these numbers are only expected to grow.

The goal of Go Lean is to forge a better society, to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. This means optimizing our own justice institutions. We want to lower the “push” factors. These requirement were pronounced at the outset of the Go Lean book, in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) with these statements:

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.

xxi.    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.

How should the Caribbean be different than the United States in the pursuit of justice?

The Go Lean roadmap cautions that we do not want to repeat America’s mistakes in criminal justice; there are many. But rather we want to learn from history; the book cites the example and abuses of the Peonage system that emerged in the Southern US after the Civil War (Page 211). Without being considered a conspiracy theorist, it is obvious that many “bad actors” in American society wanted cheap labor even though slavery had just been outlawed in the country.

That was 1865; this is 2015 – 150 years later. Surely American society has transformed … finally. Yet there are vast reports of a continued Great Divide in the US Criminal Justice system, where those of Black-and-Brown heritage (including those from the Caribbean) get sentenced to long prison engagements while “White Collar” offenders get little-to-no jail time at all.

American “White Collar” offenders have perhaps caused more damage in the US than the other “Blue Collar” types. This is especially the case for cross-border criminal conduct in the US. In truth, the Caribbean – and other parts of the world – are still reeling from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008; spurned from financial mis-adventures on Wall Street.

What is worse, the US has…

“hardly marshaled any persecutions against the culprits and perpetrators of the mortgage fraud that de-stabilized the American securities markets and the world economy” (Matt Taibbi’s “The Divide – American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap“).

To all those in the Caribbean desiring to emigrate to the US, take heed: the “grass is not greener” on that other side!

The book Go Lean … Caribbean, on the other hand, details strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to elevate Caribbean society, mitigating the “push” reasons:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices Page 21
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations Page 24
10 Ways to Manage Reconciliations Page 34
10 Ways to Impact the Greater   Good Page 37
Separation of Powers – Homeland Security Department – Bureau of Prisons Page 76
Separation of Powers – Justice Department Page 77
Separation of Powers – Judicial Branch Page 90
10 Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Prisons as SGEs Page 103
10 Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Security Deficiencies Page 134
10 Ways to Improve Education – Promote Industries for e-Learning & Prisons Page 159
10 Ways to Impact Justice Page 177
10 Ways to Reduce Crime Page 178
10 Ways to Ways to Improve Homeland Security – CU Prisons Page 180
10 Ways to Mitigate Terrorism – Fight Narco-Terrorism Page 181
10 Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis – Probation and Parole Page 182
10 Ways to Impact Wall Street – Mitigate Economic Crimes Page 200
10 Ways to Impact Prison-Industrial Complex – Case Study on Peonage Page 211
10 Ways to Protect Human Rights – Mitigate Bad Prison Practices Page 220
10 Ways to Impact Youth – Deploy Crime Diversion Programs Page 227

This Go Lean roadmap asserts to all those desiring to flee to the US. That country is not so alluring … from a justice perspective, especially if you’re poor, Black-and-Brown. The admonition: Lower the “pull” factor for Coming to America.

There is another dimension of the prison industrial complex considered in the Go Lean book: the economic returns of a proper practice of this social responsibility of crime and punishment:

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 … the prison industrial complex… – impacting the region with more jobs.

It is the vision of this roadmap that modern-technocratic CU prisons can be located in appropriate rural communities and create a viable economic “through put” (jobs); especially when the CU facilities house prisoners for other jurisdictions. The CU would emerge as a benevolent player in the prison-industrial complex. But instead of profits, our motive would be the Greater Good.

More jobs would help to lower the “push” factor. We must do this; address all possible “push” factors. The region must address its issues, as to why its population is so inclined to emigrate. This is the purpose of the Go Lean roadmap. It features the assessments, strategies, tactics and implementations to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

Now is the time for the Caribbean region to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The benefits of this roadmap are too alluring to ignore: emergence of our own $800 Billion (GDP) economy, 2.2 million new jobs, new industries (like our own prison industrial complex), services and optimized justice institutions.

The end result of the Go Lean roadmap – after the defined 5 year plan – is to lower both the “push-and-pull” factors. Instead we want to incentive our citizens to prosper where planted. 🙂

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

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Appendix – *Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Originally composed by Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by the US Congress as the official pledge in 1942.[1]

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Appendix – VIDEO – #ManifestJustice Art Show – https://youtu.be/Pyxqo4TBCFU

Published on May 7, 2015 – http://on.fb.me/URBN247 – Become a Fan! http://youtube.com/URBN247 – Click to Subscribe! http://Twitter.com/URBN247 – Follow Us!
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