WeblogBahamas.com

Let PLP give their solutions to Bahamas economic woes

by Eileen Dupuch Carron

The following Tribune editorial is reprinted with the kind permission of the author.

PLP OPPOSITION leader Perry Christie is anxious for a summit meeting of the country’s “best and brightest minds” to assist in finding solutions to the global challenge that has shaken the Bahamas.

“The PLP is ready, willing and able to be a a part of any such summit or to meet with the government independently in this regard,” Mr Christie said.

In the House of Assembly yesterday, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham presented a 28-page mid-year Budget report (pdf) outlining  the “deteriorating global financial and economic crisis” and how it has affected the Bahamas. Mr Ingraham outlined government’s interim plans to meet the challenge — plans to protect the country’s financial services and cushion the effect of job losses.

Mystery at Bahamas Supermarkets

by Richard Coulson

First Published in The Tribune, Thursday,  February 26, 2009

Now, eight months after the close of its last fiscal year,  Bahamas Supermarkets has  failed to publish its annual report  or to call its Annual General Meeting. Not only the company’s 1,500 Bahamian minority shareholders, but also the owners of the controlling entity BSL Holdings Ltd., can only speculate about the warning given last year by  Chairman Basil Sands of a possible $10 million loss for the year ended June 27, 2008.

Equally, since no interim financial statements have been released for the first or second quarters of the current fiscal year,  the company’s recent operations are veiled in obscurity. No dividends are being paid; the shares do not trade; and any estimate of fair value is impossible without financial statements. Mr. Sands must be regretting his assurances last year about prompt publication. The company’s registered office, maintained by Fidelity Merchant Bank, is unable to make any announcement, although  Fidelity Chairman Anwer Sunderji, is a prominent member of the company’s Board.

Lessons in Freedom: NYT Editorial Prejudices

by Tibor R. Machan

In its November 24 editorial, “Return of the Predators,” The New York Times reaffirmed its utter hostility toward and prejudice against those who work in the market place. It appears that given that in the market people strive to profit, there is no way The Times will ever give it credit for anything worthwhile.

This time it is “for profit loan modifiers” who are the targets of The Times’ prejudice. Modifiers are folks who aim to make some money off renegotiating previously made deals between homeowners and mortgage companies. Some of this is done by non-profit agents who, of course, are completely embraced by The Times and all those who demean the free market.

That’s because they “work for no fee.”

Obama's Speech to Congress: Symbolism over Substance or worse?

by Rick Lowe

As I watched the US President Barack Obama deliver his speech before a joint session of the US Congress on Tuesday night I kept thinking, this man is a great speaker. He's almost as good as former US President Ronald Reagan was.

However, the list of the broken Government programmes he was going to fix left me desperately wanting to ask him why no government has fixed them before? Why people seem to want so badly to believe that government can fix itself is beyond me.

Then there was the list of things that needed new legislation to remake America.

I was thinking maybe it was the usual political hyperbole...symbolism over substance. But then I couldn't stop thinking there was more to the speech that concerned me, and it didn't click until I read David Boaz's blog, Obama's Shocking Speech, posted below for your convenience.

Please let us know what you think.

Darwin's Anniversary

by Rick Lowe

I completely missed Darwin's 200th Anniversary, but this article is worth a read, even if a few days after the fact.

Bahamas Carmichael Road Detention Centre in the spotlight again

by Rick Lowe 

The Tribune of Tuesday, February 24, 2009 headlined another horror story at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre. It's allegedly so bad there that a representative of a Cuban American Human Rights organisation said that "Without hesitation I can say this is a concentration camp..."

Even if we are prepared to accept that the illegal immigrants housed there have broken the law, are they less than human?

It's bad enough that our prison is reported to be a hell hole, but for a detention centre, where people are housed while awaiting deportation to be compared to a Nazi Concentration Camp should embarrass every political and church leader throughout our archipelago.

Lessons in Freedom: Society versus the State

by Tibor R. Machan

Some careless people, even with academic credentials, confuse the state and the government.  But just think, there is no consent where the state is concerned whereas with government you can have, even if it is rare and difficult, the consent of the governed.

Over the centuries countries have mostly had states, organizations that involve some few people ruling, regimenting, regulating the vast majority. This is statism, wherein people are seen as but small parts, even cells, in the large body of the state.  Prominent statists were Plato (read in a certain way), Hegel, Marx, and the Nazis, Fascist and Communists.  For these folks the individual lacks independent significance. It isn't that individuals do best in life when they form communities among themselves but that they lack an identity apart from membership in such groups.  As Marx called us all, we are species beings, ones whose very nature is firmly, irrevocably linked to all the rest. Choice is, of course, impossible to such people and is viewed as but a mirage.

Cato Unbound: An Appreciation of Partisanship

by Rick Lowe

One of the finest web sites on the Internet is Cato.org in this bloggers not so humble opinion.

Add to that their blog Cato@Liberty blog and their Cato Unbound monthly essay series, few sites compare.

This months issue of Cato Unbound is An Appreciation of Partisanship and it's worth a read.

In his response to the lead essay, Brink Lindsey says:

The only way we can get better partisanship is for partisans to become, in critical dimensions at least, more independent-minded. In particular, the resolution of factual questions and the evaluation of interest groups’ claims should be conducted, as far as possible, independent of one’s political identity. Until that happy day arrives, we need more antipartisans — not weightless, atomized independents, but informed, engaged intellectuals and opinion leaders who are willing to proclaim that both houses are pox-ridden.

Read the entire discussion here...

Nicolette Bethel says hell has frozen again

by Rick Lowe

Dr. Nicolette Bethel over at Blogworld thinks we were right about something...again!

See her post here...

Be careful Dr. Bethel, you might dispel the rumours about my ideology.

Here's a Hat Tip in thanks!

Ana Popovic - Song of the week - February 23, 2009 - Fool Proof

by Rick Lowe

A friend gave me Ana Popovic's, Comfort to the Soul CD and it certainly is that. This lady can play!

Hope you enjoy Fool Proof below.

Visit her web site here... and you know, buy some of her material.