Random acts of stupidity a.k.a. Hoof in mouth

Heard on the news two days ago" Police Chief re-thinks gun policy for police officers". This refers to a decision made by the former Police Chief about allowing officers to take their firearms home with them. At the time there had been various incidents of police officers being shot at while off duty, not necessarily because they were police officers mind you, and a request was made for them to be allowed to leave with their firearm. A long debate ensued and the result was that the answer was no. The current Commissioner then says on Tuesday morning, the decision is being re-visited and steps were being taken to ensure that the firearms did not go home with "unstable" officers. Whoa Donkey! Wha?

No, I'm really not making this up. What I found more startling, instead of the newsbody's headline being maybe, CoP admits to instability in the Police Force, they faithfully read the press release as written. I'm now afraid. Because you mean it's okay that Police OFficers are unstable while on the job, possibly carrying a firearm, but the problem is solved by not allowing them to take the firearm home. Surely there must be something wrong here. Prime example being the "unstable" Police Inspector who dragged a young woman out of a car and then shot the PASTOR who was with her multiple times, in front of three children! Clearly he was deemed "stable".

Then this morning, the Minister of Consumer Affairs was exhorting the public to spend their money wisely. He admitted that there were fluctuations in pricing and that his Ministry was monitoring them but really, implying that it wasn't his problem. Okay, nobody is saying that you have to go strong arm merchants into price regulation but maybe a little understanding would be in order. Hasn't any one of you realised that the issue is not so much WHAT people are buying, but their ability to purchase at all, because of inflation, their buying power is reduced. Look, we're all planting back yard gardens, we're all cutting and adjusting our meal plans, we're all finding inventive ways to stretch that dollar, but according to the Governor of the Central Bank, our dollar isn't worth what it used to be. In any case; when your monthly salary is $6000 before tax (25%), you have kids to feed and clothe, taxi fare to and from work and the average trip to the supermarket might run you $500 if you buy only staples, you might have some issues. The middle class is groaning under the weight of supporting the economy, we're taxed the same as those guys making millions and we pay VAT too while having to feed and clothe our kids, pay our mortgages with spiraling interest rates, or pay increasing rents while our depleting savings gain little interest. Think about it on your $40+ thousand dollars a month with tax free allowances dude.

My favourite person, the Minister of Health was also featured in the paper, once again promising to "upgrade" the San Fernando General Hospital. A place built in the fifties, where up until recently, women were sharing beds on the maternity ward because of a shortage. We've had TWO oil and gas booms, money has flowed, mostly out, of this country; hundreds of consultants have been employed, thousands of man hours spent preparing reports and recommendations, and yet, apparently it is beyond our capabilities to read, understand and implement.

Am I being hard? You bet, because it's that chunk of tax that gets deducted every month, the VAT added, Health Surcharge (what exactly is that for by the way?). I don't resent paying tax you know, I resent the money being badly spent and then hearing that it's my fault.