Bahamas Blog

A certain fat-mouthed judge in The Bahamas has branded critics of the dysfunctional Bahamian judiciary as "ignoramuses".

Say what!?

The last time an employee of mine called me an ignoramus, I slapped the fool upside the head.

As long as I am footing the bill for their services, I will demand that any and all Bahamian civil servants - and that includes judges - treat me with the respect I deserve.

And to say that the corrupt, inefficient, dysfunctional legal system of the Bahamas needs fixing is the understatement of the decade.

I saw Rick Lowe's latest post concerning the media's reaction to the massive Israeli offensive in Gaza. Mr Lowe thinks it odd that the media is taking somewhat of an anti-Israeli stance.

I don't think it odd at all. In fact, I find it appropriate to criticize Israel in this matter.

The Israeli offensive is akin to the police going into Nassau Village and killing everyone they can find, because a few rogues stabbed a cop.

Israel's action is punishing the many for the sins of the few.

It is illegal and immoral. The United Nations Human Rights Council has condemned Israel's actions.

Over 1000 Palestinians have died, half of them civilians.

I know it isn't politically correct to criticize Israel for anything. One is immediately branded an "anti-Semite" if one dares to ever say anything negative about Israelis or Jews. Yet, Arabs and Muslims can be generically branded as "terrorists". That is anti-Semite.

It is time to face reality. Israel is an overly-aggressive nation that has created untold challenges in the Middle-East. Their stunt in 1967, which started the Gaza and West Bank problems, was routinely condemned by the United Nations and nearly every government on Earth. I hope the new US President, Barack Obama, recognizes this and makes changes to the US foreign policy in that region.

(I am sure my website will be attacked, investigated and condemned for my comments. So much for free speech when it comes to Israel.)

I guess what I do not understand is how Israel can ignore the United Nations. Yet, when Iraq ignored similar resolutions, it was cause to invade a sovereign country and dispose of their leaders.

No wonder the Arabs are upset.

Meanwhile, if Rick Lowe is looking for mistreatment of Jews, he can find it right here in The Bahamas, where the hanging of a Menorah on Bay Street raised the ire of hypocritical "Christian" pastors.

Some dictatorial dweeb in Thailand has demanded that his corrupt puppet government incarcerate a novelist for suggesting that the government of Thailand may be corrupt, and that the royal family abuses its power.

Duh!

Here's the story:

Quote:

An Australian writer on Monday pleaded guilty to insulting Thailand's widely revered royal family in a self published novel, a charge for which he faces up to 15 years in jail. Harry Nicolaides, 41, appeared in a Bangkok court wearing a dark orange prison jumpsuit, with his hands cuffed and his feet shackled, an AFP reporter said. He has been in custody since September. "I plead guilty," Nicolaides told a Thai judge, after charges of slandering 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the royal family were read out to him in court. He was due to be sentenced later Monday, court officials said. Thailand has in recent months intensified the policing of laws against insulting the royal family. The country's lese majeste laws are some of the harshest in the world. Nicolaides, who had previously worked as a university lecturer in northern Thailand, was detained at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport departure lounge in early September on an arrest warrant issued two-and-a-half years earlier. The charge relates to a passage in a novel published by Nicolaides in 2005 that was considered offensive to the Thai monarchy. Nicolaides's lawyer said last year that he would plead not guilty to the charge, but the Australian told reporters before Monday's hearing that he expected some kind of deal with Thai authorities. "People told me they will make a deal if I plead guilty. I pleaded not guilty last time with advice from someone," Nicolaides said outside court, without elaborating. "I respect the king of Thailand," he added. "I was aware there were obscure laws (about the monarchy) but I didn't think they would apply to me." In 2007 a Swiss man, Oliver Jufer, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for defacing pictures of the king but he was later given a royal pardon and deported from the country. Thai authorities have banned nearly 4,000 websites in recent months for allegedly insulting the monarchy. Police said last week that more than 17 criminal cases of insulting the royal family are currently active.

This is something the PLP tried to do in The Bahamas... censor criticism of the government, even if it is accurate.

I have no respect for corrupt governments, anywhere they exist.

Hopefully, soon, the people of Thailand will wake up, drag their pompous little prince into the street and decapitate him, like the Romanians did to their corrupt little dictator.

Maybe it will even be on TV, like it was in Romania.

Long Live Democracy and Free Speech!

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The editor of the Nassau Guardian is either stupid or extremely naive to think that "The Bahamas has one of the finest police forces in the region."

He says there may be a "few bad apples."

You gats be kidding! A few? The government ass-kissing dummies at the Guardian apparently think 80% is a few!

Wake up and smell the rotten conch people. Half the crimes in the Bahamas are committed by cops, ex-cops or cop wannabees.

Here's what the intelligence-challenged editor had to say:

Quote:

Rev. Glenroy Bethel, head of an activist group called Families for Justice, has called for an investigation of alleged corruption in the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Such a charge against the country's principal law enforcement agency is a serious matter that deserves to be fully investigated no matter how minuscule the evidence may be in support of what is being alleged. In this particular case, however, legitimate questions have been raised about the-motive behind the allegations. These questions center around the fact that Rev: Bethel's allegations were made at a press conference held in support of two police officers - one of whom is his son - who were recently charged with a number of firearms-related offenses. Was he acting as a concerned parent who sincerely believes that his son was unjustly accused or as the head of an organization that gained considerable credibility championing the rights of the victims of crime? Certainly, by using the Families for Justice organization to make his allegations public, Rev. Bethel ran the risk of putting to a severe test the integrity of that organization. Indeed, Acting Police Commissioner Reginald Ferguson, with whom Rev. Bethel met last week and shared his concerns; concluded that there was 'no credence' to support his claims. Families for Justice became a well-known advocacy group as a result of an unrelenting campaign waged by Rev. Bethel and other people with relatives who had been murdered. Their criticism centered on the considerable time it took for the cases of the persons charged to be tried in the Supreme Court. The badly decomposed body of Rev. Bethel's 16-year-old son Rishawn was found in bushes in a vacant lot in a subdivision off East Sunrise Highway in Freeport in January of 2006, and the trial of the three young men who were charged with that murder eventually took place in May of 2008. All three were found not guilty under circumstances that Rev. Bethel claimed were "unfair" and he vowed to continue fighting for justice. Since then, he and his orgariization have done just that. It is difficult, however, to correlate his allegations of corruption on the police force with his determination to continue to fight for justice. If he were acting as a concerned parent at that press conference, surely justice most certainly would best be served if the court was allowed to hear the evidence and determine whether the charges against his son are true or false. We have always contended that The Bahamas has one of the finest police forces in the region. This is not to suggest that there are not some police officers who are susceptible to engaging in corrupt practices. Indeed, it would be surprising if there were not a few "bad apples" among those who are selected for training as police officers, given the fact that some new recruits grew up in communities where the lure to become involved in criminal activities is pretty powerful. The fact that some of them may have managed to keep a "clean record" certainly may not be indicative of them having not being involved in behavior that was criminal by nature. It is just that they were never caught and hauled before the courts for their malfeasance. Once on the force, however, they should have the good sense to put their past behind them and commit to becoming good police officers. Because of the zero-tolerance policy the police has in place, those who don't make this commitment eventually discover that there is no room for them on the excellent law enforcement agency that they are privileged to be a part of.

Editorial from The Nassau Guardian
January 19, 2009

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Barack Obama's inauguration is today. Just dandy!

But if I hear someone refer to him as the first African-American president - again - I am going to scream... loud.

Here's a shocker to all the idiots who want to make the whole Obama thing be about race... Barack Obama is NOT black.

I know. I am black.

My daddy was black, and his mother and father were black, and their mothers and fathers were black.

My mummy was black. Her mother and father were black, and their mothers and fathers were black.

Mr Obama is HALF black and HALF white. That makes him as much white as he is black.

How come we are not celebrating the WHITE side of him?

Is it because the liberal media is all hung up on this black thing?

Why is it that unless a person is ALL white, they are not considered white.

Yet, if a person is even a little black, they are considered black.

What kind of racist bullshit is that?

So, today, I celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama, just another WHITE President of the United States of America.

Let's hope, though, that he's better than the last Democratic president.

Who didn't watch (or attend) the inauguration of Barack Obama yesterday? No one I know.

Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a speech the new president gave.

Obama got where he is by his dynamic speeches. But he would never have been elected if he had given this kind of lackluster speech during the campaign. It was his worst speech, and on his biggest stage thus far.

I think Alex Spillius, a blogger for the UK Telegraph hit the nail on the head in his assessment:

Quote:

The delivery, as ever, was first class, but the message was wasn't clear enough and the language not insufficiently inspiring. As soon as the applause had died down, an African American standing man near me on the Mall said to his friend: "I thought the speech was shit." Another woman said, correctly, that "we had heard it all before at other events". In a way Obama was a victim of his own success. Having given so many dynamic speeches he had set his own bar very high. What he tried to do at his inauguration was tell Americans that they had to sacrifice to make gains, while making them believe this was well within their capabilities. The emphasis on sacrifice was too weak however. To the disappointment of many black people in the crowd, he also made but one reference to the enormity of a black man occupying the White House for the first time. Obama has never laboured the issue of his race, but on this historic day the issue needed more. Jon Favreau, his co-writer, recently admitted that he had been pouring over previous inaugural speeches. That might have been a bad idea. Obama seemed weighed down by the past, and failed to seize the moment.

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I bought a jacket! I can't ever remember owning a jacket but I went out and bought one because it is freezing here in Nassau. Well, by my standards anyways.

I am sure many of my readers who are suffering the wrath of Winter in the U.S., Canada and other frigid places are ready to slap me upside the head for thinking that 61 degrees is cold.

But for me... it is. It's usually in the high 70's and 80's around here and I don't even own long sleeve shirts.

The funny thing is; I went down to the beach yesterday and there were dozens of tourists splashing about, having a grand time. These poor people are visiting from places that have 6 inches of snow on the ground. So, to them... it is hot down here.

It's all relative, I guess.