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http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090625/business/business1.html

Below is a quotation from an article from the Jamaica Gleaner online about the issue of ‘imported frozen patties’ allegedly raised at the Annual General Meeting of the JMA on Wednesday.

‘The Government has dismissed concerns raised yesterday by the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) about the importation of frozen patties, arguing there was nothing illegal about persons engaging in such trade…..’

Other excerpts from the Jamaica Gleaner article are as follows-

“What we can do is lament the fact that patties are brought in here on a competitive basis but we can’t prevent people from importing anything into Jamaica,” said Karl Samuda, minister of industry, investment and commerce. “We can’t stop it because we are an open market.”

“There is Juici Beef, there is Tastee Patties producing and Jamaicans are purchasing imported patties and I find this totally ridiculous,” said Omar Azan,

“We are having problems with foreign exchange to buy raw materials to produce and employ Jamaicans but yet still we are finding US dollars to purchase imported patties?”

If the allegations are true, the JMA has apparently forgotten the old Jamaican proverb which goes something like ‘The same knife weh stick goat stick sheep’

It was only recently that the government consulted them on the issue of whether the 15 per cent CET on imported Cement should be suspended for another year. Their response angered the Caribbean Cement Company as they suggested a ‘quota system’ rather than recommending the suspension of the waiver that allowed ‘cement importers’ to gain a significant share of the market. The same ‘problems with foreign exchange’ argument undoubtedly would have been one of the points used by the Caribbean Cement Company when they were trying to get the JMA to back their position as a monopoly producer of cement in Jamaica.

Additionally, it seems a little hypocritical for us to be trying to block the importation of ‘frozen patties’ while at the same time fighting to export our patties to Trinidad.

My personal belief is that our local patty producers are in no real danger from the ‘imported frozen patties’ as Jamaicans are also interested in quality. The overseas supplier may be able to beat local manufacturers on effectiveness and probably cost, but will most certainly loose on the ‘taste test’. The imported patties also face cultural barriers as Jamaican’s like their patties ‘fresh and hot’.

‘UK reports first swine flu death

AP

Monday, June 15, 2009

LONDON, England (AP) – Officials say a person has died of swine flu at a hospital in Scotland in the first death from the illness reported in Britain.

It also is the first death from the H5N1 strain of influenza reported outside the Americas’ ……….

The information above was taken from a story reported in the Jamaica Observer today, Monday June 15, 2009. Someone got the name wrong as reference is made of the ‘H5N1′ which I believe is the ‘Bird Flu’ and not ‘Swine Flu’ as reported in the story. Making this type of mistake was inevitable as despite the fact that the ‘Swine Flu’ was officially renamed to H1N1, news organizations kept referring back to the ‘Swine Flu’ thus placing less emphasis on the new name.

See link: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20090614T190000-0500_153495_OBS_UK_REPORTS_FIRST_SWINE_FLU_DEATH_.asp

Issue

Adobe Flash Player is not supported for playback in a 64-bit browser. However, you can run Flash Player in a 32-bit browser running on a 64-bit operating system.

Reason

Adobe is working on Flash Player support for 64-bit platforms as part of our ongoing commitment to the cross-platform compatibility of Flash Player. We expect to provide native support for 64-bit platforms in an upcoming release of Flash Player following Flash Player 10.

The above is a quotation from Adobe\’s Website about Flash Player playback in a 64-bit browser. The impact of this is that Microsoft\’s fastest version of Internet Explorer still does not have Flash Player support. There is a work around but it is like we are being forced to work with the second best. This problem is not unique to Internet Explorer but that is the browser that I use and I am sorry that after such a long time Adobe has not rectified the situation. The so called \’Tech Journalists\’ have been relatively quiet on this subject and I wonder if the positions were reversed and we were waiting on Microsoft and not Adobe whether the reactions would be the same.

If it is true that the 64-bit platform is more secure then it behooves all software developers to make their products compatible to the 64-bit platform thus facilitating an easy transition to that platform.

Finally, there was a customer feedback form on the page for this \’Tech Note\’ but Adobe has removed it without explanation. Were the responses significant? Should we still expect Flash Player in 64-bit browsers?

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/000/6b3af6c9.html

Senator Nelson may have stumbled upon another area of the police force where it is alleged that there is rampant corruption. I am referring to the issue of ‘void’ traffic tickets. No data was given as to the level of ‘void tickets’ as a percentage of total tickets issued but word on the street is that more attention should be placed on the cops issuing the void tickets. It is being suggested that there may be a link between void tickets and the cops who take bribes from motorists to make the offence ‘disappear’. 

I have heard numerous stories about cops who issue ‘void tickets’ under the watchful eyes of their superiors but not before making secret arrangements with guilty motorist to pay a bribe later. It is said that the tickets had to be issued as a means of ‘keeping up appearances’ especially when several policemen are in attendance at the ‘spot check’. 

Senator Nelson may have been focusing on the amount of revenue lost by the government but if they allow the investigation to run its natural course, they may find that a number of these ‘void tickets’ were issued deliberately rather than resulting from human error whether technical or otherwise. 

There is currently an attempt to rebrand the police force and to ‘weed out’ the bad cops. This will not happen overnight. Members of the police force are doing a difficult job with less than adequate compensation. Those that are not fit for the job will take bribes. 

Jamaica Gleaner News – Void traffic tickets costing government – News – Saturday | June 6, 2009