Bahamas Blog

The Tribune newspaper reports that the Bahamas police are "investigating" whether those using online web-logs, or "blogs" - to make controversial comments could be sued over their online content.

Chief Superintendent Marvin Dames confirmed that police are investigating bloggers to see if they could be liable for prosecution.

Prosecution for what? For a possible civil offense of slander or defamation of character? Since when do the police get involved in civil suits?

Come to think of it, it would be hard to besmirch the character of most Bahamian lawyers and politicians, or the snake-like leaders of our business community.

I mean most of these people are scum to begin with. Their reputations are scandalous and their credibility is nil. How could a blogger defame the already justifiably defamed.

Or, is there more to this story than meets the eye?

I wonder if Mr. Dames has gotten involved in this "investigation" because he is named, on one of the blogs, as a "cousin" of "Dr." Kevin Alcena, who is accused of running an immigration scam and has also been accused of having phony credentials.

Those intent on prosecuting bloggers should be aware that launching a lawsuit against a high-profile blog could expose things that might be better left out of the glare of publicity that the Internet provides.

The Nassau Guardian is a danger to Bahamian society. The misleading propaganda spewed daily from the poorly edited newspaper lulls Bahamians into a false sense of reality.

Just to give you one simple example...

In today's Guardian (Business section) there is the headline:
"MOT programme improves service"

The article is about a programme sponsored by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism that may or may not improve tourism service levels.

The programme has the potential to improve tourism, but seeing as it is a brand new programme, and they have held only one opening meeting, it would be premature and presumptuous to say that the programme "improves" tourism.

That's not just an error concerning verb tense. It is a gross mis-statement of the facts which, intentionally or not, misleads people by filling their heads with pro-Bahamas propaganda.

The danger is that Bahamians will read that misleading headline and think that our terrible service levels in the tourism industry are on the mend.

They are not, at least not yet.

While the programme might include ideas and initiatives that could change tourism, none of them have been implemented yet, and therefore tourism remains, to this day, as lousy as ever.

The Guardian's error is no small thing, nor is it an isolated incident with that newspaper.

Had their headline reflected the truth - that tourism service levels were abyssmal and needed drastic improvement - Bahamians would recognize a potential crisis and, perhaps, act accordingly by seriously addressing the problems with service in the tourism industry.

But, with the deceptive slant that the Guardian used, most casual readers will come to the erroneous conclusion that all is well in tourist-land and whatever crappy service we are providing must be... good enough.

That's the real danger - Bahamians wallowing in false pride.

Lord knows we have enough of that, what with all the "new paradigms", "raising the bar", "higher levels" and "world class" adjectives being thrown about by people with no concept of what those terms actually mean.

Until the Bahamian news media (and the government) starts telling the truth, Bahamians will continue to look through rose coloured glasses and never be motivated enough to make the changes neccessary to meet the many challenges facing our nation.

Yeah, I know my title is cliche'.

But it is the first thing that came to mind when I heard the tragic news of Butch Kerzner's death.

I never met Mr. Kerzner, but many of my friends knew him quite well. They are devastated.

Others I know had done business with Butch and had nothing but praise for him.

It is truly a great loss - to the Kerzner family, to Kerzner International, to The Bahamas and to the entire hospitality industry.

Mr. Kerzner's death probably has huge implications for all of the above. His shoes will be very hard to fill, if possible at all.

Perhaps The Bahamas should have a National Day of Mourning.

I join my voice with the Bahamas Network, and the entire Bahamas Community, in offering our most sincere condolences to Butch's wife, children and family.

Once again, the old cliche' is proven true... the good really do die young.

Our "Honourable" politicians have lately been anything but. The past few weeks have given Bahamians an opportunity for a closer look into the character of some of our national leaders. And it ain't pretty.

Recent actions by the Prime Minister and a few of his colleagues have favoured greed and abuse of power over fairness and justice. That is an immoral and illegal behaviour. And it is the root of all evil in The Bahamas.

Lying, cheating or stealing to maintain political power is nothing short of corruption.

Transparency International, an organisation that has studied the effect of corruption on developing nations, like The Bahamas, has concluded that corruption victimises society as a whole; by slowing economic growth, increasing poverty, lowering the quality of public services and infrastructures, draining off scarce public resources to the detriment of the poor, the weak and all others in need of help and assistance.

As a result, corruption undermines the credibility of political representation, influences decision-making processes and leaves public institutions unarmed and powerless, destabilising democratic systems.

But corruption can never be dealt with properly if the government of the day is managed by a corrupt political party.

This is why Bahamians must insist on transparency in contributions and expenses of political parties. Timely and enforced
income/asset disclosure by members of Parliament is also neccessary to increase transparency and improve public confidence in the proper functioning of democracy.

Setting an Example

Parliamentarians have a very important role to play in setting a good example for society, especially for young adults. The members of parliament are the ones who debate and approve the legislation that governs society, laying down the laws for the rest of us. If MPs themselves do not adhere to those laws, why should anyone else?

The new intelligentsia in our society have played a key role in bringing the topic of good governance vs. corruption to the forefront of the national consciousness.

This new awareness of corruption as a major cause of the breakdown of Bahamian society is due in large part to the courage of ordinary citizens and residents who have refused to remain silent in the face of growing corruption. These determined "patriots" are organising themselves to draw the attention of the international community who, in turn, need to react strongly and in a concerted manner against this scourge.

Any efficient strategy against corruption must include social reforms to reduce the opportunities for corruption and make corrupt behaviour more difficult, expensive or easier to detect. Most important is the teaching of ethical values and warning future generations of young people of the dangers of corruption.

The Prime Minister confirmed the resignations of two Members of Parliament, Kenyatta Gibson and Keod Smith.

In a meek, but far from humble tone, Prime Minister Perry Christie confirmed the resignations of two members of his government who were involved in a nasty fist fight in the Cabinet room three weeks ago.

After first denying that a fight occurred, then downplaying it to the media with a dismissive laugh, Mr Christie has decided to cut his mounting losses by coming clean on the incident.

But is it too little, too late?

Many feel that these two men should have been asked to resign two weeks ago. In the absence of appropriate action from them, a more decisive leader would have fired the men to show the Bahamian public that violent behaviour is unacceptable at all levels of society.

But it took three weeks of intense pressure from the media and "negotiated" resignations from the two men before Mr. Christie acted.

Mr Smith was apparently the first to resign, followed a day later by Mr Gibson. The pair has also agreed to pay for the broken windows and replace the broken glass on the large conference table in the Cabinet room.

The Prime Minister deferred an opinion on the political future of the former MPs, saying that the party's Candidates Committee will decide the fate of the two young politicians and determine whether either of them will run in the next election.

Mr Christie said he would consult with the relevant government agencies and boards regarding the vacancies left by the resignation of the two MPs.

I read in the Nassau Guardian that US Ambassador John Rood has recommended that the Bahamas be named as a candidate for the UN Security Council.

What a dope!

Rood says:

Quote:

"I think the Bahamas, with its history of democracy, with its support for human rights, would, to me, be a great candidate."

Personally, I do not consider the voting, by corrupt ignorant masses, for a bunch of (even more) corrupt political con-artists, a form of democracy. I would call that an abuse of democracy.

And the treatment of women, immigrants, children and even prisoners in this country is anything but 'support for human rights'.

John Rood is a clear and present danger to the United States. I suggest he be removed as US Ambassador before he embarrasses the US further. Or, worse yet, his naivety allows terrorists to waltz into the US from the Bahamas because of a lax or naive attitude on the part of the US Embassy here in Nassau.

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Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin seems to think that passing long overdue child protection legislation will stop child abuse in The Bahamas.

She also believes that the Great Pumpkin will come on Halloween and bring candy to all the little children of the world.

If laws stopped crime, the world would already be crime free.

Bad people do not obey the law, that's what makes them bad.

This legislation is too long overdue, anyway.

An article in the Tribune said that Mrs Griffin noted that the Bahamas ratified the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991 and therefore the government had a duty to fulfill certain obligations assumed under the convention.

Hah! It took our illustrious government 15 years to live up to its committment to the United Nations and they are doing it now only because the UN has lately been pressuring the Bahamas to do so.

Meanwhile, child abuse in the Bahamas has increased exponentially since the Bahamas ratified that convention.

If we want to put a stop to child abuse then we have to put pastors like Randy Fraser in jail, instead of allowing jackass lawyers like Wayne Munroe to make a mockery out of our legal system.

Only when swift and harsh punishment is meted out to ALL child abusers will the public take heed. Legislation and laws that can be manipulated won't cut it.

Until then, Mrs. Griffin and her morally-challenged cohorts are just joking around with the child abuse problem.

And I ain't laughing.

Members of the business community in Grand Bahama are finally waking up to the fact that all the criticism of the Port Authority's business practices was politically-motivated.

Turns out that both of the biggest Port detractors are more interested in their political careers than the welfare of Grand Bahamians.

An article by Rupert Missick Jr in today's Tribune says:

Quote:

Now that former chamber of commerce president Dowdeswell Coakley is being spoken of as the prospective PLP candidate for High Rock, a source said the Grand Bahama business community realises that the criticism was led by two PLP hopefuls - Mr Coakley and Senator Philip Galanis. "As chamber commerce president, Mr Coakley has been on a public tier criticising the appointment of Mr Babak, as has Senator Galanis. Their motives have now become clear." the source said.

So, Mr Coakley is going to become a politician, probably because that is an even easier way to bilk people out of their hard-earned money. I guess he wasn't "gettin' enough" out of his Chamber gig and God forbid he'd have to go out and get a real job.

No doubt, in a few years, he will become a pastor, which is, in The Bahamas, the easiest way to scam the public. Just look at Neil Ellis, Kas Brozozog and the plethora of perverted pastors who enrich and sexually gratify themselves while leading Bahamians on a path straight to Hell.

I wonder if Dowdeswell is related to Bismark Coakley, another wanna-be businessman who similarily mis-guided the Nassau Chamber of Commerce for a few years before being replaced by some other self-promoting but ineffective president.

It is no wonder the small business community here is so stagnant, with selfish characters like the Coakleys leading the charge.

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It didn't matter that Sydney Stubbs victimized FNMs in his vicious firings at BAIC.

It didn't matter that the same incompetent and corrupt minister was the man behind the Korean boat scandal.

It didn't matter that Bradley Roberts was accused of raping an old girlfriend, who he was cheating on his wife with.

It didn't matter that the PLP government's incompetence and failure to address corruption at the prison resulted in the escape of four prisoners, the death of a prison guard and the murder of an inmate.

It didn't matter that Cynthia Pratt's uncontrollable police force was murdering civilians.

It didn't matter that our Prime Minister was giving the country away to foreign land speculators.

It didn't matter that Leslie Miller was in bed with any environmentally-destructive foreign company that could afford him.

It didn't matter that Neville Wisdom blew $2 million dollars on a bogus bleacher deal, then built a house by the sea afterwards.

It didn't matter that two MPs duked it out in the Cabinet room and lied about it afterwards.

It didn't matter that the Prime Minister lied, laughed and languished regarding the aforementioned fight.

Despite the many scandals, crimes and injustices committed by this disgraceful PLP government, it took Anna Nicole Smith to bring out the true nature of the beast.

I want to personally thank Anna Nicole Smith for her part in bringing down the PLP, the biggest gang of crooks the Bahamas has seen, well, at least since they were in power the last time.

Special thanks to Bahamas Community member wide eye for his reminder of the many scandals of the PLP.

I was walking through the Straw Market in Nassau the other day on my way to Prince George Wharf.

I noticed a tourist talking to one of the woodcarvers who has a stall with carvings on sale. As the discussion heated up I slowed down to listen in.

It seems the tourist had taken a photograph of the craftsman who objected and at first demanded the tourist's film. After being informed it was a digital camera, he ended up scolding the tourist instead.

Where else in the frickin' world do you find a local craftsman, working in a publicly advertised tourist attraction, that does NOT allow you to take a photograph?

I understand privacy issues and I would expect a Bahmian, or any person on the streets of anywhere, to object or question some stranger taking their picture. Although, in today's camera-phone world I suppose that is an unstoppable offense.

But in the example above, the craftsman was working in a stall at a tourist attraction in a country that advertises this activity to prospective tourists at every opportunity it can.

And Obie Wilchcombe wonders why stop-over tourists are dwindling?

All the clever marketing in the world and all the money in the Treasury spent on advertising couldn't rectify what's wrong with our tourism product.

It's the attitude, stupid.

Congratulations to sister site, BahamasB2B.com. The people who run that site are certainly tuned into the needs of the Bahamian public.

Finally, there is a website that contains ALL the news that is fit to read relating to The Bahamas.

The new Bahamas News section at www.bahamasb2b.com/news/ contains news from all major media in the Bahamas, plus headlines from the international press, blogs and other relevant sites.

Even offline news is reported, reviewed and rated.

But the nifty feature is the "citizen journalist" angle.

Members of BahamasB2B (it only takes a minute to register) can post, publish, review, comment on, rate, refer and recommend any news article.

The number of votes that an article gets determines whether it makes it to the front page of the News site.

Site visitors can view the articles by date/time, category and even by "tags", a method of grouping articles by special keyword assigment, similar to popular sites like digg.com, flickr.com and de.licio.us.

The robust comments function is as good as most Bahamian message boards. The potential for content inclusion could eliminate the need to surf to a dozen different sites every day to keep up on what's new. The new Bahamas B2B news section allows web surfers to scan headlines and summaries from dozens of websites, then select which articles they'd like to explore without wasting time going from site-to-site first.

Plus, I love the colorful design of the site, although it looks like with all the traffic they generate, they may need to speed things up a bit . At least for impatient people like me.

You've seen the National Insurance Fund commercials on that poor excuse for broadcasting that we call ZNS.

The NIB ads talk about how you need to know whether your employer has been making contributions to your National Insurance account.

You've also heard about the "billions" that are being kept in the fund for future disbursement.

But are those dollars really there? Or, like a financial audit from corrupt accountant Philip Galanis, is it all smoke and mirrors.

I find it strange that a fund with "billions" of dollars in it would be unable to make payments to Doctor's Hospital in a timely manner.

Deliquent payments to Doctor's Hospital left insured patients having to pay cash for their medical services at the hospital until NIB settled their outstanding bills.

Frankly, I think someone with financial ethics, (that would eliminate government accountants, Philip Galanis and anyone associated with Frank "the snake" Wilson) should audit the NIB books and see how badly the PLP has managed the funds... if there are any left.