Bahamas Blog - Bahamas Web Log

Investment Mirage

Minister of Financial Services and Investments, Alyson Maynard-Gibson is back on the front pages touting the same $4 billion in investments that has been "on the drawing board" since the PLP became the government in 2002. Meanwhile, the only investments that have actually materialised have done little but annoy the residents of the islands they were planned for.

Disingenuous Strategy

Brendan Foulkes was in the media calling for mandatory cultural seminars for foreigners to ensure they adapt to the Bahamian society before conducting business here. In other words, Mr. Foulkes wants us to orient foreigners to our dysfunctional, unethical business environment - instead of holding mandatory seminars for Bahamian citizens to teach them how to act socially and morally responsible and to eliminate the xenophobia that is starting to scare away foreign investors and tourists.

Road Traffic Carnage

People who are so concerned abut the risks of having LNG terminals located in the Bahamas need to consider that nearly 30 people have lost their lives, just this year alone, in traffic accidents on Bahamian roads. That's more than have died from LNG explosions in the entire history of LNG. Maybe we should be more concerned aboout real dangers than perceived ones.

PLP In The Dark

Well, there you have it! The reason the PLP government can't see the light is because they are all blind as bats. It has recently been discovered that Viagra causes blindness. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has received about 38 reports of the rare condition among Viagra users. Health regulators said they have received more than 40 reports of a type of blindness in men taking impotence drugs, mostly involving Viagra. With all the pill-poppin' pansy perverts in Parliament, they are lucky to find their seats, let alone pass legislation.

Setting the Wrong Example

Shame on the Counsellors for inviting alleged gangster Franklyn Wilson to speak at their business conference. Mr. Wilson practices a business style so lacking in ethics that he has been nicknamed "the snake". He reportedly has chased foreign widows from the country or intimidated them to the point where they flee, allowing him to quiet the titles on their land and abscond with the property. He is also known to have sold homes that were built in flood-prone areas of New Providence. Is this really the kind of businessman we want to hold up in front of young entreprenuers as an example of success? Or does that only excaberate the problems that results from a lack of ethics in our business community.

A Piece of The Pie

Speaking at the Corporate Wellness Forum, Minister of Financial Services and Investments, Alyson Maynard Gibson was pleased to announce that the Atlantis Phase III development has garnered $15 million in contracts for Bahamian contractors. The crowd applauded. I'm no mathmetician but $15 million out of a $1 Billion budget doesn't seem like much to applaud about.

Naked Hypocrisy

Isn't it odd that we'd see the police raid three topless clubs in one day. Then, the very next day, the Tribune newspaper carries a glowering review and advertising for a new Russian topless club right on Bay Street. Someone wrote us, wondering if that new Russian club isn't a front for the Russian mob.

Shoe on The Other Foot

Blame the hatred of foreign investors and all the recent protests against development on Perry Christie, who, when in opposition, was one of the most vociferous opponents of foreign investment.

Let's see, we have development protests in Stocking Island, Harbour Island, Guana Cay and Bimini Bay. For years, the PLP condemned the FNM for "giving the Bahamas away" to foreign investors. Now, they find themselves in the ironic position of defending the same foreign investments they were so opposed to.

We Hear You bahamian.ebloggy, BUT...

The BahamasB2B Webmaster made a comment on the new blog I discovered and the bahamian.ebloggy guys responded big time. A couple of points I'd like to make regarding their response though.

Not sure who these people are but they sound an awful lot like some of the old gang that used to hang out on the B2B Message Board. Titan, is that you?

Unfortunately, they incorrectly assumed that the BahamasB2B Webmaster was not a Bahamian. They are wrong.

They also said that, "lashing out at the 'Bahamian system' and Bahamian individuals, you are getting nowhere." First of all, we do not "lash out" at anyone, we point out corruption. Second, that's an odd comment from a group who has spent the last three months doing exactly that - lashing out at Bahamians and individuals.

They also say that people like Harald Fuhrmann and other disgruntled foreigners won't get anywhere with their publicity campaigns blasting the Bahamas. I disagree. I daresay that Mr. Fuhrmann alone has cost the Bahamas hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions, in lost tourism and investment revenues. To think otherwise is naive. Believe me, the Ministry of Tourism wouldn't be spending $700,000 in one ad campaign, in NYC alone, if things weren't looking bad for the Bahamas tourism industry.

One thing they did get right is that most Bahamians are, indeed, "Children of a Lesser God, who pray to the Divine in cynicism, mockery, egotism and yet sin against our brothers and sisters in the black sins of hatred, racism, prejudice, intolerance, close-minded weakness and a virtual litany of the 7 deadly sins of Pride, Lust, Anger, Covetness, Envy, Sloth and Gluttony."

Bingo on that paragraph!

It's cute that they think their site has more traffic than BahamasB2B. They say, "I daresay, that our traffic outstrips yours by orders of magnitude." Have they checked the search engines lately? The bahamian.ebloggy site basically gets local traffic only, maybe some Bahamians who live elsewhere. The BahamasB2B Network gets more than a million page views per month. I am pretty sure their site doesn't get near that kind of traffic.

The sad part is they do not realise that we love the Bahamas. That's exactly why we spend so much time working for positive change. But before change can come, the corruption must go. So, that is our first priority.

Well, at least we are all on the same side... fighting for a better Bahamas. For that we commend them.

Carry-on bahamian.ebloggy. We wish you the best of luck.

We Are Not Alone!

Just when we thought we were the only website in the Bahamas that really cared about the future of the country, I find another blogger who is equally concerned and also willing to tell the truth.

Obviously, the author of bahamian.ebloggy.com is my long lost Bahamian twin, who was separated from me at birth by the evil Pingdomite government.

Who's Calling Whom Dangerous?

Charles Carter, the publisher of the Nassau Guardian, the newspaper that decided BahamasB2B is a dangerous website, is the same fellow whose incompetent (and apparently unconstitutional) ministerial action, as a former PLP Cabinet Minister, has created the recent constitutional conundrum over extradition. Talk about a danger to the Bahamas.

Attorney Maurice Glinton and braniac, Dr. Gilbert Morris, have worked together on the constitutional challenge to the extradition treaty. Both are keenly aware of the discrimination against women that exists in the Bahamas Constitution. Apparently these two legal eagles think it more important to defend the rights of drug dealers than Bahamian women. Talk about dangerous.

While dozens of Bahamians are being slaughtered on the nation's roads, showing a clear need for road traffic legislation, the Bahamas government spent its time making a mockery of the judicial system, fighting to reinstate a deadbeat MP who ripped off $60,000 from a widow. Talk about dangerous.

Perry Christie, in his zeal to attract the foreign investment that, while in opposition he was so much against, has; given away crown lands, hidden his Cable Beach development deal from the Bahamian public, reportedly collected hefty legal fees for some of the developments and infuriated residents of at least three different islands, by not consulting with them as he promised to do during his election campaign. Talk about dangerous.

The Bahamas Court of Appeal had to overturn a ruling from Bahamas Supreme Court Justice Hugh Small, who ruled last year that Samuel "Ninety" Knowles could not receive a fair trial in the United States. In their judgement, the Appeal Court said the errant judge's decision was made, "without jurisdiction in proceedings, which was clearly an abuse of process." Talk about dangerous.

Thank GOD for publishers like BahamasB2B.com, who keep their eye on these dangerous elements of Bahamian society and tell the Bahamian public the truth, instead of feeding them bull and treating them as if they were stupid, like the government and the Nassau Guardian do.

"Snake" To Tarnish Business Conference

God only knows why the Counsellors Agency would invite an alleged gangster to be the lead speaker at their annual business conference. What does that say about business in the Bahamas?

Of all the good, decent, moral business people there are in the Bahamas, the Counsellors invite "the snake" to give a speech at their Corporate Wellness Forum titled, "Passion, Pride and Performance: Power Tools for the 21st Century".

We wonder if the "snake" will give a talk on how to chase foreigners out of the country so you can quiet the titles on their land and steal it from their families. Maybe he will give some tips on laundering money, raising money from drug dealers, as well as victimisation and intimidation.

Perhaps he will even divulge the names of the hackers he hired, along with his lawyer buddies, to attack the BahamasB2B website.

It is BahamasB2B.com who, for years, has said that the Bahamas can never solve the severe social problems that are destroying our nation until all of us stop glorifying criminals, corrupt lawyer/politicians and other "snakes".

As long as notoriously unethical people like "the snake" are speaking at high-profile conferences, it shows we have a long way to go before we can even begin to stop the dangerous downward spiral of our society.

Nassau Guardian: A Dangerous Trend in Journalism

The newspaper, a national embarrassment, misleads the public

The "Bozos" of Bahamas journalism have struck again. Already the brunt of jokes concerning horrible grammar and frequent mis-spelling, the seemingly unedited rag has brought a new low to Bahamian journalism by printing completely erroneous information.

Now, that's a "dangerous trend."

But the real danger lies in the fact that the paper has become little more than a mouthpiece for the mob and a sales organ for the Colina Insurance group.

A few weeks ago, after a highly respected Bahamas website criticised a loose talking MP for his overtly racist remarks, the Guardian launched a foolish attack on the site saying they were leading a "dangerous trend". While it is true that BahamasB2B is leading the fight against corruption in the Bahamas, nothing could be more dangerous than the lies and falsehoods being printed in the Nassau Guardian.

Like this gem.

Just the other day, the newspaper, which my cat really likes (it makes a great litter box liner), carried this unbelievably misleading headline:

"Extension granted for U.S. passports"

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Ironically, the next day, The Bahama Journal, usually a pretty good newspaper but obviously confused as a result of the Guardian article, printed this headline:

"US Passport Policy Deadline Uncertain"

Both headlines are wrong. There is no uncertainty regarding the deadline, nor has any extension been granted regarding the implementation of the new rules.

If you want the truth, read BahamasB2B.com News where they printed this headline:

"U.S. Grants Extension To Hear Passport Concerns "

That's what really happened. The United States has merely extended the time for individuals to submit comments and concerns regarding the implementation of the new rules, known as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), designed to secure and expedite international travel.

In other words, the comment period was extended, not the date of implementation. The Journal gets it right in their article when they printed, "Although the United States Government was inclined to extend the period for public comments on a new travel advisory, an official at the United States Embassy said that does not mean that an eventual extension of the January 1, 2006 implementation date will be granted."

The Nassau Guardian is setting a dangerous trend in journalism with their thoughtless, careless headlines. Perhaps they should teach their illiterate editor how to read so he can scan the headlines before they go to press.

I'm Back!

I took some time off to go to on vacation. I went to Hawaii. It was great! I was gonna go home to the Bahamas but I am sick of all the garbage and politics there. I needed time away from that soap opera we call home.

So, I thought I'd take a real vacation instead. Hawaii was spectacular...

They really know how to do tourists right in Hawaii. The place is so clean and organised and the people are incredibly friendly.

I mean truly friendly, not the - "gimme your money and I'll pretend to be friendly" - that you get in the Bahamas.

I think every tourism executive in the Bahamas should go on a two week vacation to Hawaii. It might break our government's already over-extended budget, but it will also be quite an eye opener.