stx today,comments

Change comes slowly and painfully at times. A 4% voter Block doesn't make a Hill of Beans. Animal Cruelty laws have made progress on the islands. Domestic violence has been brought out in the forefront as well as child abuse. I do not believe anyone is ignoring the social ills of the islands, these same problems are not unique to the islands, you can find them up North without hardly looking. A lot of the social programs came from up North (Did these programs make things better or worse?). I think things are moving forward for the good but at a snails pace. Just my 2 cents.

A 4% voter Block doesn't make a Hill of Beans
And with that attitude it never will

It's not an attitude it's real world!

If you were here 27 years ago vs now, you'd see how things have improved. Speak for yourself about what white continentals do. I have done all things mentioned & resent the implication that none of us have done anything except save puppies (which isn't a bad thing to do at all.)

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE... Today is a beautiful day and I took a walk on a beach and enjoyed my morning. I love this island and I love that these discussions can happen because... by getting it out there... change comes.

so i just read an inspired bit of drivel in my pm box,lecturing me on immorality and how we should love the sinner and hate the sin in regards to being gay,LOL honey i was born gay it's not like i woke up one day and thought hmm maybe i'll try being a bigolqueer today,as far as the leviticus verse 18:22 you must realize that the passage is refering to prostitution in the temple,it's a temple law about prostitution in the temple not outside of it. Honey you are NOT ALLOWED TO PICK AND CHOOSE which passages in leviticus you wish to adhere to,it's all or nothing,so if you believe that passage then you also believe slavery is ok and killing your children is ok when they talk back,you also cannot eat bottom feeding seafood or pork,theres also a whole list of people you are not allowed to sleep with,and technically you idiot the law only applies to jews and abomination is the wrong traslation from the hebrew the real translation is "ritually unclean" if the old jews would have considered it a sin they would have used the word zimah,and the passage only condemns same sex religious prostitution,so please get it right next time you're giving jews and christians everywhere a bad name and you know it's perfectly ok to not like a person or persons hell i don't like handicapped korean midgets,but please don't hide behind the bible and use that as your justification

I never meant to imply someone can't make a difference, anyone with enough dedication can make a difference. One of my favorite things to watch in CNN heros on their morning show. Its always very uplifting to see what one can do to help people.

But I do think the islands suffer from more then a little apathy. We're on a slower pace of life here and it good and its bad. Getting people to change here is hard. Not saying its not worth doing. I would just like to see more of the general population really get behind it and get excited. If just one of our public schools had a really active and strong PTA, think what a difference that could make. And I personally believe for things to change it needs to start with our schools. With all the top heavy beauracy our school systems have, I'm not sure how a parent would go about doing it.

I agree with Trade, nothing wrong with helping our animals, especially when it comes to abused one. That is very often the sign of someone that will abuse humans and is going down the wrong path. And frankly its a serious crime.

It's ok trw. I still love ya. I was born blonde. Nothing I could do about it. Just accept it and move on.

Ok save a puppy, I donate to them too. Just think the future of the islands really are in the hands of the youth, not the dogs. Yes the youth need to respect them (dogs) & abuse of any form on any creature is wrong.
Mean while I'll continue to try to grass roots it.
BTW.............I pointed no fingers to those whom felt like you were being singles out.
Real life is changing every nano second...........Jesus was just one man & look what he accomplished.

WOW...ok so ummm...I agree with Betty! (tu)

Why, trw some of my best friends are handicapped korean midgets so don't pick on them! :@) Whoever PM'ed you that trash is a nutcase & better read the part in the bible about "judge not, lest ye be judged."

Betty's correct about the schools. With what is spent per student here in the public schools (which is one of the highest rates in the country, by the way) our schools should be tip-top but instead most of the dollars go to administration instead of books, maintenance & teachers' pay & that to my mind is criminal. And too often, some parents look at school as free day care & don't care what their kids do in school or how they're progressing. The teachers can only do so much with limited resources.

trw well said

Change comes slowly and painfully at times. A 4% voter Block doesn't make a Hill of Beans. Animal Cruelty laws have made progress on the islands. Domestic violence has been brought out in the forefront as well as child abuse. I do not believe anyone is ignoring the social ills of the islands, these same problems are not unique to the islands, you can find them up North without hardly looking. A lot of the social programs came from up North (Did these programs make things better or worse?). I think things are moving forward for the good but at a snails pace. Just my 2 cents.

After being here a while I am OF COURSE an expert.... so let me share something about which I am confident: Rolling up a few sleeves is great, but it's not the full answer. The problems here are deeply rooted in the history, culture and psyche of this region. In some ways, it reminds me of Appalachia --a place and culture about which I am very familiar. The drug crime/culture/corruption which has invaded most low-income areas, only makes it harder to accomplish change. But there is a solution....

Have you read Freakonomics? --the NY bestseller some years ago made a strong correlation between crime, poverty, apathy, and unwed mothers knocking out babies. The clear link between these problems has led many to the following conclusion which I will now give a local spin: If you wanna make a real difference in the Virgin Islands.... promote free birth control and family planning. Pay women to stay in school and not get pregnant. And go after dead-beat dads. (Somewhat humorously, this is the same line of defense being promoted by animal rescue on the island. )

I lived in Appalachia for 6 years. It is amazing how similar the culture is here on St. Croix. I loved living there as a child and maybe that is why it is so easy for me to live here. It's funny that when I go back to visit that I lapse right back into mountain speak even though my mother would never allow me to speak that way in the house. Only proper English.

That's why the Baby Think It Over program seems to be successful. After going through it most SURE don't want to get pregnant early.

hey to tie in with the above convo about change,i watched the money pay it forward last night,i thought the movie was great and the idea behind it even better

***Spoiler Alert*****

TRW I love that movie....sad when he died.

nods head in agreement with Neil,birth control is a good thing

Yeah..."Pay it Forward" is a cute movie for the kids, but I just finished watching back to back "SAW IV" and "SAW V" that I rented. Nothing says/teaches you to making the right choices in your life than the "SAW" series!!!

.....If we could get rid of the guns and drugs.....I wouldn't care if the sewer lines overflowed again, I don't care if WAPA raised their rates again, I don't care if I have to stand in line for an hour, I don't care if old ladies suck their teeth at me, I don't care if every xmas the winds blow, I don't care if my car breaks down again, I don't care if tourists drive on the right, I don't care if we have a hurricane now and then, I don't care if the government continued to waste money , I don't care if the schools are behind, I don't care if potholes never get filled, I don't care if the 19th ( or was it 20th?) constitutional convention couldn't write a fair constitution, I don't care if the economy went in the tank, I don't care if traffic came to a standstill.....if we could only get rid of the drugs and guns....

It would also help if young girls would stop having babies they don't know how to raise and the government really showed that it cared.

but...

If we could only get rid of the drugs and guns....

"I don't care", "I don't care", "I don't care" ...frankly "I don't care" about your comment...why don't you do something more than complain?

Didn't sound like a complaint to me. Only that she wished more than anything that we could get rid of guns and drugs. Don't read her posts if you don't like them.

SOB..scroll on by...right Tami?

Yes Marlene. However right after I posted I realized that I should follow my own advice. Sorry for being rude.

Normally the only posts I SOB are the boring JJ stories.