Vaz – Untouchable Bully Or Sacrificial Lamb?
Published: Thursday | August 23, 2012 8 Comments

Gary Spaulding
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By Gary Spaulding

DARYL VAZ – the second-generation politician whose father, Douglas Vaz, pulled no punches in his heyday as he squared off more than once with the might of former prime minister and leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Edward Seaga – seems unable to heed past mistakes that appear to be the bane of the politician’s existence in public life.

Daryl’s father was embroiled in an infamous public row with Seaga in the 1980s when he either resigned or was booted as minister of industry and commerce.

Douglas Vaz claimed then that he had resigned as a government minister, even as Seaga declared that the senior Vaz was fired.

He later walked away with Bruce Golding, then JLP chairman, to form the National Democratic Movement, and it was public knowledge that there was no love lost between Daryl and Seaga.

The private life of the younger Vaz, who sided with Bruce Golding and was rewarded with a senior ministerial position after Golding returned to the JLP, has been even more turbulent than that of his father’s.

Like father, the son is also known to be a faithful friend to his allies through thick and thin.

SHOCKING ALLEGATIONS

In the aftermath of this week’s ruling by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, some JLP bigwigs have admitted that they were stunned into silence after news emerged that Daryl has been hauled before the Corporate Area Criminal Court on a bribery charge.

A senior member recalled that only a month or so ago, Vaz was vociferous in his call for the axing of Michael Troupe as deputy mayor of Montego Bay, when he was arrested for alleged involvement in the lottery scam in St James.

The charge against Troupe was subsequently thrown out. It is left to be seen whether Vaz will fare as well.

As it stands, Vaz has met the wrong end of the stick in most of the battles he waged for friends and allies in both political and business arenas.

Vaz has tussled in the public domain with journalists, rival politicians and political colleagues and earned himself a name as an aggressive protagonist. He has had run-ins with the police before and was accused of assisting his brother in a Customs-related revenue matter.

NO RETREAT

He initiated verbal tussles with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, while she was opposition leader, and other members during sittings of Parliament and was not known to retreat in the face of public criticisms.

In the height of the tribulations of former Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s arising out of the ill-fated Manatt-Dudus issue in 2009-2011, Vaz stood unyielding beside Golding, his declared confidant, and soaked up much of the public pressure.

Vaz’s public row with noted attorney-at-law Harold Brady may have dug a hole for the beleaguered Golding, but the outspoken politician was steadfast to the end.

As the Manatt-Dudus controversy raged, Vaz alienated many in his party. He defiantly took on former General Secretary Karl Samuda, considered to be one of Golding’s nemeses, in a bid to oust him from the influential position. Samuda was largely credited for the JLP’s victory in the 2007 polls.

While Vaz succeeded in forcing Samuda out, when he mounted a challenge on the veteran politician, he sacrificed his coveted deputy treasurer position that he relinquished to fight for the post of general secretary.

CHANGING FORTUNES

Vaz, who had earned a reputation for procuring funds for the cash-strapped JLP in the lead-up to the 2007 general election, was left empty-handed, as he was defeated by Aundré Franklin in the general secretary race.

Down but not out, Vaz, without an office, turned his attention to supporting Golding and the JLP in a bid to salvage the diminishing fortunes of both.

By late 2011, Golding’s already tenuous popularity had waned to the point where he opted out of the political landscape to the glee of many in the party but not Vaz, who stayed in a bid to salvage some of the rapidly waning popularity.

Vaz’s efforts could save neither his friend Golding nor the JLP. Golding resigned as prime minister of Jamaica and leader of the JLP, which lost the election in a landslide in December 2011.

Since his party’s loss and his relegation to just another member of parliament, Vaz has remained in the news.

Vaz has been embroiled in legal scrapes with attorney-at-law David Rowe. Both men have sued each other for defamation.

Now, it appears that Vaz is facing the most serious test of his life. If found guilty of corruption charges, he may have to fork out $1 million or languish for two years in one of our prisons – all in the cause of friendship.

Gary Spaulding is a veteran journalist. Send comments to [email protected].

This is Dolly’s mate in the red hair, Chromaz and her ex-friend, Madison.-
SUH WAIT DEH IS A REGULAR DANCEHALL TING NOW WHEN FRIENDSHIP END DEN DI EXFRIEND GO FRIEND DI ENEMY……… A BAYYYYYYYY UNNO DUS A SHOW PEOPLE SEH UNNO IS NO GOOD..CHROMAZ YUH FEVA CARTOON ……..NETWORK

DOLLY AND HAR EX-FRIEND BEFORE DI FALLING OUT

Movie Night With Jesus
by Cara Hanson

Why did Jesus say, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3)? I don’t think this means that there is going to be a sign at the kingdom entrance stating the height requirements to “get on this ride.” Jesus was asking us to become like children, not by choosing ice cream as our favorite food group and refusing to go to bed every night, but by keeping our hearts humble and pure.

While children are very young, they have wholesome and innocent hearts. It is only when they become older that they become complacent toward sin. Young children don’t swear, drink, do drugs, engage in immoral acts, etc. Our children could barely handle a Winnie the Pooh movie where the cartoon characters were fighting with each other; they asked us to turn it off. Their hearts are so innocent that the poison of the world is unwelcome to them, and so it should be to all of us.

Jesus gave us an example of how we should confront the blatant sin of this world:

Matthew 21:12 and 13
(12) Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
(13) “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.'”

When Jesus saw their evil, he didn’t sit back and say, “Oh well, there goes the neighborhood.” He aggressively challenged their actions and confronted them boldly with the standard of truth, God’s Word. To be effective ambassadors for him, we need to fully represent his heart. We should challenge ourselves to mold his character into our hearts and be as intolerant of evil as little children.

In the recipe for a godly life, character is an ingredient that cannot be forgotten. The first time I ever made cookies, I accidentally replaced the sugar with baking soda. I knew I was in trouble when I opened the oven and realized that the cookies looked more like tree bark. The end result was bitter and inedible. God has already given us HIS recipe in the Bible; it is up to us to add the right ingredients.

When we sit down with a big tub of popcorn to watch a movie, we should ask ourselves if we would invite the Lord Jesus Christ to come watch it with us. How would he feel about swearing, violence, or gratuitous nudity and sex? How about lying, cheating, and stealing? Chances are that our cheeks would burn with embarrassment and shame that our Lord would have to be exposed to such rubbish. If we know that Jesus would feel this way, then we should feel the same way, too.

If we ran everything in our homes through this sort of filter, it would be interesting to see how much the quality of our lives would improve. By burning the chaff in our lives, we make more room for the Lord to come hang out with us. We want Jesus to feel welcome and comfortable in our homes. Hebrews 4:13 tells us that “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Jesus is at the right hand of God, and I’m pretty certain he’s not sitting up there with a blindfold on saying, “What? What?” while God is groaning at our sins.

On American Idol in 2008, a 25 year old Christian contestant, Brooke White, was harassed for admitting that she has never seen an “R-rated” movie, and has chosen never to see one in the future. Dave and I were so impressed with her open commitment to honor and please Jesus that we purged our house of any movies that we wouldn’t want our children to see. That essentially left us with The Sound of Music, but I’ve seen it too many times, and Dave would much rather watch something like Monday Night Football. The funny thing is that we don’t miss these movies one bit, as our house feels much more spiritual and peaceful (except for the football).

While it is obvious to most Christian adults that we shouldn’t expose children to impurity, sometimes we are blinded to the fact that we shouldn’t be seeing it either. What we put into our brains goes right to our hearts. This includes movies, music, books/magazines, and even relationships. Our character will develop according to our surroundings. Much like a plant, the fruit of our lives will depend on the health and purity of the soil in our hearts. If we keep our hearts planted in “whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure…” (Phil. 4:8), our fruit will blossom accordingly.

Our hearts start out pure and innocent when we are babies, but somewhere along the way, we are exposed to the evil of our world. We should not then lower our standards to the world, but rather live up to the standards of our Lord. Jesus said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). If he was frustrated then, imagine how he must feel now!

Almost every popular movie of today contains sexual immorality, especially premarital sex. Even teens are regularly exposed to the concept that it is natural for young couples to have sex and live together before they are married. It has become so commonplace in movies and TV that few people give it a second thought anymore.

People even listen to music with little regard to the lyrics they are hearing. Have you noticed the huge moral decay in the effective use of words over the years? In four hundred years, we have gone from Sir William Shakespeare’s “How shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” I think we can all agree that was a step in the wrong direction. Impressionable children listen to these words and are even encouraged to imitate the musical “artists.” The Bible is clear that Christians are not to act like the rest of the world.

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.

The word “sacrifices” is appropriate; it implies that we need to be willing to give up things in our lives that are not pleasing to God.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The pattern of this world is fairly transparent; if you were to analyze it on a graph it would look like a downward slope! The fact is that the rotten fruit of our culture is completely unnecessary. Take movies for an example; we know what sex is, so do we really need them to draw us a diagram? Do we need swear words in every movie, book, and song, or could they possibly challenge their brains to expand their limited vocabulary? Young girls walk around with writing on the seat of their shorts (“Babe,” “Dancer,” etc.). You never read about any women in the Bible with “Prophetess” or “Virtuous Woman” embroidered on the rear end of their clothes, do you? And you can bet that Jesus never walked around “busting a sag,” with his underwear hanging out.

The culture is not going to improve on its own; the challenge to improve it is left to the Christians. It starts in our hearts and in our homes. We need to show the world that pop culture isn’t cool; Jesus is cool! He’s The Man! Who wouldn’t enjoy Movie Night with Jesus? Likewise, he would be blessed to come hang out–not just for the popcorn–but for the fellowship with like-minded, pure-hearted brethren of exceptional character.

UNTIL WEDNESDAY FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO SIGN UP

Dutty Tough
Sun a shine but tings no bright;
Doah pot a bwile, bickle no nuff;
River flood but water scarce, yawl
Rain a fall but dutty tough.

Tings so bad dat nowadays when
Yuh ask smaddy how dem do
Dem fraid yuh tek tell dem back,
So dem no answer yuh.

No care omuch we da work fa
Hard-time still een wi shut;
We dah fight, Hard-time a beat we,
Dem might raise wi wages, but

One poun gawn awn pon we pay, an
We no feel no merriment
For ten poun gawn pon wi food
An ten pound pon we rent!

Saltfish gawn up, mackerel gawn up.
Pork en beef gawn up,
An when rice and butter ready
Dem jus go pon holiday!

Claht, boot, pin an needle gawn up
Ice, bread, taxes, water-rate
Kersine ile, gasolene, gawn up;
An de poun devaluate

De price of bread gone up so high
Dat we haffi agree
Fi cut we yeye pon bred an all
Turn dumplin refugee

An all dem marga smaddy weh
Dah gwan like fat is sin
All dem-deh weh dah fas wid me
Ah lef dem to dumpling!

Sun a shine an pot a bwile, but
Things no bright, bickle no nuff
Rain a fall, river dah flood, but,
Water scarce an dutty tough.

Louise Simone Bennett Coverly