THE EDITOR:
I RECENTLY received this article and thought that I must share an edited version with your good readers.

Classic Version:

THE ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

The Trinidadian Version:

THE ant works hard in the withering heat all day long, building his house and laying up supplies for the rainy season.

The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool, so he limes and dances at fetes and plays Carnival.

Eventually, the ant is warm and well fed.

The now homeless grasshopper calls a Press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate like him are homeless and starving.

Caribbean Wine & Carnival Communications Network (CWCCN) shows up to provide live coverage of the homeless grasshopper, with cuts to a video of the ant in his comfortable warm home with a table filled with food.

Trinidadians are stunned that in a country of such oil wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so, while others have plenty.

The Coalition against Poverty demonstrate in front of the ant’s house.

CWCCN, interrupts the Point Fortin cultural festival special with breaking news; the Coalition against Poverty singing We Shall Overcome.

In response to polls, the government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper Anti-Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of August.

The ant’s taxes are reassessed and he is also fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as helpers.

Without enough money to pay both the fine and his newly-imposed retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

The ant moves to the United States and starts a successful agribiz company.

CWCCN later shows the now fat grasshopper finishing up the last of the ant’s food, while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he hadn’t maintained it.

Inadequate government funding is blamed, Houston-Filips is appointed to head a commission of enquiry that will cost $10,000,000.

The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug overdose.

The Window newspaper blames it on obvious failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity.

The abandoned house is taken over by a gang of small island spiders, praised by the government for enriching Trinidad’s multi-cultural diversity, and promptly terrorises the community.

THE EDITOR:
IN an article appearing in your newspaper of February 19, 2006, written by Bibi Khan, on Page 10 of your newspaper, you appear to be humiliating and degrading the “Raymond Hamel-Smith” family members once again.

It is obvious that little or no research was given to your publication.

As a dear and close friend of that family, I am of the opinion that an apology be given in your next publication.

The following is completely incorrect.

a. Raymond Hamel-Smith had eight children, five boys, three girls. Your article bastardised two of them.

Does your newspaper have proof of this through DNA testing?

b. The Hamel-Smith family was originally from England, and therefore cannot be classified as “French Creoles”.

THE EDITOR:
BASDEO PANDAY is once again on the rampage.

He is off-loading tonnes of political faeces in the faces of so-called “honourable” men and women.

Lumps upon lumps are being thrown at those who claim to be leaders, men of integrity, principle and courage.

And the stunning thing is that it’s all over their faces and some, so anxious to please the master-thrower, are greedily eating it up with relish.

Then Panday smiles and clasp his hands in glee.

The biggest lump thrown is that of Ramesh Maharaj.

I mean, here is a man who toppled Panday’s Government after one year and rallied hundreds of people against the United National Congress’ (UNC) leadership on the basis of corruption and its anti-democratic practices.

He correctly attacked the UNC as corrupt and made himself appear as Mr. Anti-Corruption -- he was Mr. Clean.

He fuelled the thousands of retrenched sugar workers with hate against Panday.

He told them that Panday had sold them out and he lifted not a finger in their defence.

Ramesh was the self-proclaimed saviour.

He took up every cause -- be it bandleaders’ quarrel, street vendors, squatters, farmers, crab-catchers, taxi-drivers, moko jumbies -- you name it, Ramesh was there.

And if the local courts did not agree with him, he threatened to approach the Privy Council.

At one time I thought he might be made prime minister by a Court Order.

He correctly exposed Panday as a vicious dictator, who preferred to mash up the UNC and let the government fall rather than let Ramesh be Deputy Leader by democratic elections.

Ramesh heaped scorn on the UNC as he marched from Cedros to Port of Spain and although it had more police escort than people, that never really mattered.

He marched on and on until he dropped.

And then, Panday threw political faeces in his face, and the smell brought him back to life and he devoured greedily.

He became so satisfied that he even began spewing threats against loyal and senior UNC stalwarts.

Panday says he forgives him, Ramesh now apologises, but what about those people who believed him and followed him?

Does he owe them anything?

Thank God I never believed in him.

And, imagine, I nearly believed Jack Warner -- and oh, Moonilal, and let’s see who will follow suit as the events unfold.

And as Dookeran tries to fight the humiliation and continues with his time -- worn mantra of “getting the politics right” he lumps around in the old filth apparently uncertain as to how to climb out and smell the fresh political air around him.

If he does not take decisive action soon, he, too, might as well open his mouth.

I sincerely hope that the people of this country are watching these amazing scenes.

I hope that the entire country is beginning to understand, and in some cases confirm, that these individuals are only about themselves and their quest for personal power and glory at the people’s expense.

I can only hope that from the very bowels of this convolution will erupt a new political beginning that will truly give rise to a new politics, that will purge and flush the old forever.

Otherwise, we may also have to eat what we get.

THE EDITOR:
I SEE too much intellectual dishonesty everywhere I turn.

It is a grave fallacy to make people believe that poverty is the source of crime.

Too many people are spewing this dung on various forums, among them economists, teachers, politicians, lawyers, businessmen and even calypsonians; so much so that even the petty thieves among us have accepted it and are using this trite as a mantra.

First of all, I came from a very poor background. We numbered in the teens, all in the same apartment with only a father as breadwinner for the majority of his existence.

Not one of us is dishonest in any way.

That alone should tell you!

Like any survey, it must reflect on thousands and thousands of families. It is therefore deliberately crooked of anyone who uses poverty as having something to do with crime.

It’s all about values.

Why else, then, is there white-collar crime?

What excuse does a well-to-do business executive have for fraud, tax evasion, insider trading and a myriad of criminal reasons for setting up dummy corporations?

Why would a man who boasts of being worth $50 million try to cream off every last cent on even something as little as tickets to an event?

Why would a politician look for kickbacks at a time when his salary is in the 10s or 20s while others barely make $8 an hour or work slave jobs serving or delivering chicken or pizza?

Why would employers make security guards work 12-hour shifts for dog wages, taking up all a person’s time and limiting his financial independence thereby keeping him stagnated and wasted with little opportunity to advance himself?

Why else would companies skimp on overtime, even wages and perks long agreed to in union negotiations but are kept unknown to employers?

Why the more they are able to go to country clubs, hold tea parties, form gangs like chambers of commerce to sit and plot to make consumers pay more for less, leave work half the day to play golf while the profits roll in, buy a garage full of cars worth $900,000-plus, are they still committing crimes against the nation and the poor, working-class at large?

Is it because they are poor?

Fear poverty, you say?

That is no excuse?

I think the real reason is that their values are not principled; or are based on skewed principles.

And once we are talking about values, the real ones to point fingers at are not goverments or politicians, or even policemen, lawyers, judges or parents but the ones in whom all of these depend for moral guidance.

Our spiritual “leaders” -- in their many places of ... well ... “worship”.

I can say a lot about them, but you step back and observe them for yourself.

Look back at their purpose throughout the history of conquest and colonisation then compare it today and see whether they have changed in purpose. Compare who they served then as now and see if there is a difference.

I know the first thing you would observe is their reach for your “tithes” against threats of hellfire but is that the only thing that has remained unchanged?

Look for yourself; and stop being passive, lazy dolts who wait for others to lead you.

I’m not saying become selfish, which is the very twisted value that corrupts us: just be a more proactive individual as far as informing and educating yourself is concerned. Then you should be set to sift the silt from the ...