Jamaica Awaits First Female Leader

[alarcojon]

This sounds great to me. Does anyone have more background on this?

Jamaica is to swear in its first female Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller.

...snip...

Ms Simpson Miller has been a popular figure in Jamaican politics since the 1970s.

"She is seen as someone who has really risen through the ranks of the party, coming from a very, very poor section of Jamaica... to the top post," Radio Jamaica's Kathy Barrett told the BBC.

"She's a woman who's very determined, a firebrand type of politician who has really hit home when it comes to the majority of people - especially women, the poor and the unemployed."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4861378.stm

[SteppingRazor]

1. She gets a lot of the same criticism Bush does...

that she's stupid and corrupt.

Her college degree comes from "Union Institute" in Miami, which, as a South Florida resident, I can tell you is not an actual institute of higher learning here.

As far as the corruption, there was something about theft of some $2 billion from Jamaica's waste management authority while she ran it.

But that's par for the course in Jamaican politics.

[alarcojon]

2. Thanks for the thoughts

I know nothing about Jamaican politics and this story reads like a rags-to-riches success story.

[SteppingRazor]

3. Oh, it IS a rags-to-riches success story...

it's the methods that led to that success that raise questions.

At the same time, though, Jamaicans could do far worse than her. Jamaican politics is reknown for corruption. A lot of the major political figures on the island make Simpson-Miller look angelic. If she surrounds herself with smart people who know what they're doing, she should do fune. She's run on an anti-crime, pro-labor platform, which is exactly what they need right now.

In any case, this article's a pretty good start:

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060226/lead/lead6.html

[alarcojon]

4. Thanks for the article

and the education.

[darkism]

5. Jamaica needs a solid pro-gay-rights leader.

I had no idea the homophobia there was so extreme until I started listening to dancehall and reading more about the culture.

[RethugAssKicker]

6. Pro-gay in Jamaica????.. Never in a million years!

[Judi Lynn]

7. Wishing the very best for her.

As a woman, she'll probably do her very best, knowing she's carrying the hopes of a lot of future candidates on her shoulders.

[Sgent]

8. She's an insider

and corrupt -- but that's par for the course.

The entire country is a giant cesspool of malfunctioning government, and it makes the Bush administration look like the most effecient govt in the world.

That being said, she is not more corrupt than the average Jamaican politico, and she has the potential doe do some great things -- I sincerely wish her the best of luck. Jamaica has to do a lot to come into the 20th (much less the 21st) century, and hopefully she can advance them.

As for gay rights in Jamaica... forget it, it will never happen.

Note: I don't live there, but spend 3-4 weeks a year there (not in tourist destinations), and my parents are permanent residents.

[RethugAssKicker]

9. Boy, you really make the govt sound terrible...

Do you reallty think its that bad?.. Although, my mother lives there, I don't follow too much of Jamaican politics.

[American Tragedy]

10. Male homosexuality is a criminal offense in Jamaica, actively enforced

Article 76 of Jamaican Offences against the Person Act: punishes the "abominable crime of buggery" by up to ten years of imprisonment with hard labor.

Article 79 of Jamaican Offences against the Person Act: punishes any act of physical intimacy between men in public or private by a term of imprisonment up to two years and possibility of hard labor.

[Tight_rope]

11. Great...First Liberia now Jamica...We need more female world leaders

I'm absolute sure that they will do 1000 times better a job then men. Nothing against men. It's just my opinion.

[newfaceinhell]

12. Just like Thatcher did?

And like Condi would do a 1000 times better job than, say, Dennis Kucinich?

It's just my opinion.

Doubtless, and what a ludicrous and bigoted opinion it is.

[non sociopath skin]

13. Like we used to say in the UK in the '80s ...

"The Right Woman ... not a Woman of the Right".

The Skin