Fed Up

I am fed up with

1) People who don't fess up and leave a note on your windshield when they graze your vehicle while they park. They choose to ding and dash. Happened twice in a month to me....cost me $250 and $300 to get fixed. Come on folks, be honest that you can't drive. I won't get upset, just pay the Peachy piper to take that dent out

2) St. Catherine's Academy and their asinine policy of not providing toilet paper for their students. Yes, the students have to bring their own. For a private school with good funding this is unacceptable. Look if you are that short of cash, charge everyone a $10 toilet fee and be done with it. And we won't even get into the nuns "examining the trash" checking for tampons thinking that if a girl using a tampon she is not a virgin. Read the medical label sista!

3) People and their last minute itis. What is wrong with everyone that they have to leave everything till the last minute, then stress yourselves out trying to get it done. It is planning....very easy to do. Check it out in your free time.

4) The little scams happening around down. They try to cheat me at the fruit stall, adding wrongly and then saying "sorry, no spek english propaly". They try to cheat me at the gas station. They even try to cheat me at the lands department...asking for fees that don't exist.

One feels like you have double check EVERYONE. Is everyone dishonest? Are we a nation of pirates? I guess we TRUST but VERIFY.

5) The pissing at every lampost. Do we not have bathrooms. Is it necessary to relieve yourself on the Radisson plants, the park bench or in the Li Chee Chicken Corner. Lets stop this nastiness....at least go find the ocean!

6) City Council. The do nothing councils of both parties just pretend like they get stuff done. We all know the truth which is they don't know how to do anything at all. Time for them to go back to school.

7) Chiney passing off "Cyatto" as "fillet snapper" in your fish burger. I know fish, and all you guys who eat fish burgers watch out, you are eating the river bottom baron, catfish. I can even tell you who catches it for them...by the icebox loads.

8) Selling refurbished electronics as new....there is one big 'M" store that does this along with countless "indians". It is a horrible practice. Please stop lying to us.

9) People saying "I sent you an e-mail about it" when in fact they didn't. Or they say " I tried calling your cell" when they didn't. Do I look stupid? Just tell me you that didn't want to tell me my order wasn't ready on time. Honesty may get me upset, but lying will not make me return as a customer.

10) Thinking we are going to change Belize. Because we aren't. We a nation of pirates, liars and thieves. I don't foresee that changing.

So what are you fed up with? Send your thoughts to mayor@btl.net

Red or Blue: No Difference

On March 4th, the People's United Party - the party once endowed with undeniable moxie - suffered their third consecutive defeat at the polls, an emphatic indication of their emaciated influence over Belizean politics. But while the PUP's most recent debacle may be interpreted as a rejection of their policies in favor of the UDP's ideology, the Belizean society is still hungry for a paradigmatic shift in our two-party political system; this desire was captured in a significantly low voter turnout across the country, especially in the largest municipality, Belize City. Moreover the tacit displeasure of our governance is also evident by the negligible ramifications of March 4th: there would have been simply no change in government oversight, fiscal responsibility, level of corruption or mismanagement regardless of whether the entire country voted for one party or the other.

The above hypothesis does not purport to devalue the act of voting itself; voting upholds our democracy in a region where coups and dictatorships are engrained in its history. Our country, however, can boast that every five years we will peacefully and democratically elect a national assembly of representatives. Voting, in its purest sense, provides the grease for our democratic machinery.

Yet, when comparing the two major political parties, there exists little difference with regard to substantive issues; this seemingly undermines the legitimacy of voting. In other words, why vote if there are no significant differences between political parties? Fair point. The true value of holding elections is that we get to choose between different candidates. But that value is undermined when candidates fail to distance themselves from campaign rhetoric and cliched propoganda. Unequivocally, both parties are guilty of this charge. Perhaps the most over-used campaign pitch for a candidate to vote for him/her is because she/he "is for the people". What does that exactly mean anyway? Another example is when both parties say they are "for the poor people". This is an enigma to me, and the worst example of our politicians following the maxims of a tattered script. They have failed to innovate their minds and ideas to the social and economic problems of 2009. What is worst, is that these mediocre campaign strategies actually work and seem to provide the fire for party followers.

For now, I think the only substantive difference between our political parties is the pigment of their logos. From an ideological perspective, there exists little variation. We don't have conservatives or liberals or moderates. Maybe our issues are too small for political differentiation. Afterall, the paving of Albert Street was by far the most reported news story of 2008. Go figure. Nevertheless, I will continue to vote in our elections not because I feel one party is more adept at formulating solutions, but rather, and sadly, because voting is my constitutional right and because it facilitates democracy. Those, however, are the wrong reasons to vote. It is up to our party leaders to separate themselves from stagnation and to give our citizens a real choice for leadership.