The Psalms
35

A Prayer for Rescue from Enemies
A Psalm of David.

1 Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me:

fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,

and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear,

and stop the way against them that persecute me:
say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame

that seek after my soul:
let them be turned back and brought to confusion
that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind:

and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery:

and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit,

which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares;

and let his net that he hath hid catch himself:
into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD:

it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say,

LORD, who is like unto thee,
which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him,
yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
11 False witnesses did rise up;

they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick,

my clothing was sackcloth:
I humbled my soul with fasting;
and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother:

I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced,

and gathered themselves together:
yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me,
and I knew it not;
they did tear me, and ceased not:
16 with hypocritical mockers in feasts,

they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on?

Rescue my soul from their destructions,
my darling from the lions.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation:

I will praise thee among much people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me:

neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. Ps. 69.4 · Joh. 15.25
20 For they speak not peace:

but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me,

and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence:

O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment,

even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness;

and let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts,

Ah, so would we have it:
let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together

that rejoice at mine hurt:
let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
that magnify themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad,

that favor my righteous cause:
yea, let them say continually,
Let the LORD be magnified,
which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness

and of thy praise all the day long.

http://youtu.be/IodgxiTcVmg

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Economy on the verge of recession, says PIOJ

The Planning Institute of Jamaica, PIOJ, has indicated that the economy is on the verge of a recession and the situation could worsen.

Director General of the PIOJ, Dr Gladstone Hutchinson, says, while the original forecast was for the economy to grow in a range of 0.5 to 1.5 percent in the April to June quarter, estimates are that growth was a meagre 0.1%

That estimate came after the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, Statin, said, the economy contracted in the first quarter of the year, despite PIOJ estimates that growth took place.

Dr Hutchinson however indicated that things could get worse for the economy

“GDP performance for the six months of January to June was estimated to be flat. The goods producing and servicing industry both declined by 0.1. in terms of an outlook we expect GDP growth for September 2012 to be within the range of -0.5 to 0.5%”

Dr Hutchinson says, the lack of growth is due to a downturn in capital expenditure and declines in consumer and business confidence.

He reiterated, that the slowdown came at a time when unemployment is at a ten year high – 14 point 3 percent.

http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/economy-verge-recession-says-pioj

Breaking News – LONDON 2012 FAILURE – TOURISM MINISTER LOST while Junior Minister “a shell dung a club a London”
Posted on August 20, 2012

Opposition Spokesperson on Tourism and Travel Service Development, Mr. Edmund Bartlett this evening said that Tourism Minister Dr. Wykeham McNeil, at today’s Press Conference on Government’s London 2012 Olympics activities, confirmed the miserable failure at putting in place and executing an effective marketing strategy that would bring concrete benefits to the tourism sector and the broader Jamaican economy.

Mr. Bartlett said that Dr. McNeil’s announcements amounted to a deliberate ‘mixing’ of the facts as the visit of travel agents next month and additional airlift out of Europe were long established and has absolutely nothing to do with the London 2012 Olympics. Mr. Bartlett also pointed out that the Tourism Minister failed at effectively utilizing social media inclusive of Facebook and Twitter in driving interest in Jamaica’s tourism offerings. Instead, Mr. Bartlett said during the Olympics the Minister of State, Mr. Damion Crawford tweeted on the night of Tuesday August 7 that he and others “a shell dung a club a London”.

Mr. Bartlett also said that while ‘Jamaica House at O2 Arena’ paid for by taxpayers dollars in London was a wonderful drinking and party spot; it was a logistical “nightmare”, “unclear” on objectives, not engaging for attendees and devoid of information on Jamaica, as spelt out in a recent letter to the editor by a concerned Jamaican in England. These views he said reflect those of other attendees at ‘Jamaica House at O2’ in London.

He noted that Tourism Minister’s frail presentation today only at best confirmed very strong public perceptions that the Jamaican government had one grand party in London and wasted near J$150 million in taxpayer dollars.

A GOVERNMENT HAD ONE GRAND PARTY IN LONDON. BARTLETT WANTS ANSWERS ON STRATEGIES. $150 MILLION ON WHAT?

Attorney’s throat slashed
Mother dies in similar fashion to son five years earlier
BY COREY ROBINSON Observer staff reporter [email protected]

ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Clover Maxine Graham only returned home last week from London where she hoped to dampen the still painful memories of her son’s brutal murder, as she basked in the euphoria of Jamaica’s Olympic performance.
The joy of the Olympics turned to grief yesterday morning when police found the body of the 56-year-old lawyer on the infield of the Caymanas Polo Club, off the Mandela Highway in St Catherine. The corpse was lying face-down with its throat slashed — a similar position in which her son, Taiwo McKenzie and his girlfriend Jhanel Whyte, the victims of the horrific 2007 ‘Good Samaritan’ killings, were found.
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Clover Maxine Graham
1/1
The discovery, according to Graham’s daughter, Zakiya, was a heart-rending end to a night of searching. Zakiya, eight months pregnant, looked on despondent as investigators combed the area near her mother’s body for clues.
“I don’t know if it is the baby why I am (calm) like this,” said Zakiya, rubbing her belly as she leaned against her teary-eyed boyfriend for support. “I don’t cry yet, just one and two tears from morning, and I’m concerned for myself because of it,” she continued.
Zakiya appeared the strongest compared with her sister and other female friends who sobbed uncontrollably at the scene. They all had been visiting hospitals throughout the night in search of Graham, whose car police found abandoned in the Waltham Park Road community in Kingston.
“They (police) found the car last night and called us. I was the one who filed a missing person’s report and from that time we have just been calling around, visiting different hospitals to see if she was in any of them,” related Zakiya.
She said police called her to the murder scene about 7:00 am.
“She just came back from London last week; not even a week good and dem kill her,” sighed Zakiya, her bewildered boyfriend staring on. To him Graham was “like a mother”, especially after the death of his own mother recently. He fought back tears as he comforted his woman.
Graham, a University of Technology lecturer and UN representative, hailed from Eltham Acres in Spanish Town, St Catherine. Police theorised that she was abducted while entering her home Saturday night.
Police found the lock on her front grille opened, said Zakiya, adding that her mother headed home after visiting a friend in Hope Pastures, St Andrew.
Two months ago, 24-year-old André Ennis of Havendale, St Andrew, and 24-year-old Passmore Millings, also called Shane Brown, of Gregory Park, St Catherine, both labourers, were convicted for slashing the throats of McKenzie and his girlfriend, before dumping them in bushes in Mount Salus, St Andrew, in November 2007.
Dubbed the ‘Good Samaritans’, the couple had gone to the area with medication and other supplies for Ennis and George Cooper (later turned state witness) who they had hit from a motorcycle while driving along Border Avenue in St Andrew, a week earlier.
Ennis and Millings are to be sentenced for those murders next month.
Yesterday, Zakiya could not say whether Graham had been receiving threats since the men’s conviction. She noted, however, that her mother’s Eltham Acres dwelling was broken into during the London trip, and that the burglars only took bottles of liquor from the premises.
“Since my brother’s death she didn’t have to stay in Jamaica, none of us had to stay in Jamaica. But my mother just never wanted to leave. She always said Jamaica was her home,” said Zakiya, explaining that her mother was not frightened much by the break-in.
Yesterday, Ian Wilkinson, president of the Jamaican Bar Association, said the organisation was saddened by Graham’s death, and sent condolence to her family. He described Graham as “well-mannered and dedicated”, and said that she had spent much of her time doing legal-aid work.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Attorney-s-throat-slashed#ixzz24BWoVXJL