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Billy Currington - Song of the week - January 23, 2012 - People Are Crazy

Rick Lowe

I'm not a huge country music fan, although I have been known to tap my feet to it in the past, and this song is darn good. However, I could not pass up the opportunity to share this video that was passed on by a friend.

Can you tell where it was recorded?

I almost forgot. Please visit Billy Currington's web site here… and buy some of his music.

Hat tip to DP for sharing the video.

The Chief Justice is wrong

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

The headline of the Nassau Guardian of 9/24/11 stated that "The Chief Justice Hits Out."

On Thursday the Minister of National Security suggested that some judges are too liberal when it comes to granting bail to people charged with murder and other serious crimes. The Commissioner of Police had stated earlier that sentences are too light. If the CJ would take a public poll he would learn that the majority of Bahamians agree with the statements by the Commissioner and the Minister.

We are all tired, no, we are totally fed up with the courts allowing these scoundrels and dregs of society to walk amongst honest, law-abiding citizens. It is a travesty and an insult.

I am reminded of the death of Mrs. Cates at Eleuthera and the suspected murderer was given bail. They have yet to find him after he did not appear for the hearing. I am reminded of the 6 year old girl who was taken to a car in the bush and repeatedly raped. The scoundrel was given 6 years (that is SIX Mr CJ) and the child's life is ruined. I am reminded of the girl who was murdered and the killer was given a life sentence. After 18 years a liberal judge decided that the killer had learned his lesson and was released into society. The girl he murdered is still dead. I am sure just a few of us can recall enough such injustices to fill an average newspaper.

On a less serious note, I suggested that the CJ check how many cases have been postponed ad nauseum. I will mention one case at Harbour Island, a case where the criminal confessed to the crime of stealing, yet the case has been postponed for the sixth time, sometimes for very frivilous reasons.

Yes Mr. Chief Justice, the long-suffering public has had enough and I am grateful that the Minister and the Commissioner have spoken out. So, perhaps protocol was not followed but these are very serious times. The Police are doing their job, the time for the courts to do theirs is long overdue.

The Kindergarten Project

S.T. Sweeting, DDS

After my morning swim at St. Andrew's Pool my route home takes me through Cuthbert Hill and to the Eastern Road. I had been told that the Fox Hill/Eastern Rd. diversion had opened and would improve the flow of traffic moving West.

I usually reach the Eastern Road about 6:30 am and I am usually home in Montagu Heights by 6:45 am. This morning I arrived home at 7:30 am after crawling through a horrendous taffic jam. I finally came to the conclusion that the Ministry of Works had given a project to the schools asking their kindergarten students to come up with a plan which would allow their Moms and Dads to get to work faster.

I recommend that the student who won the prize be given a proper spanking because the plan at that intersection is one of the most ludicrous that I have ever seen.

I am reminded of the statement that the most frightening words a citizen can hear are "I'm from the Government and I am here to help you."

Some roses and a thorn for Government

Sidney T. Sweeting, DDS

I will be the first to admit that we bloggers spend a lot of time criticising Government for their many failings but now that the hurricane has left I would like to tip my hat to them for the fantastic job they have done clearing the debris on the streets, getting most of the street lights working and electricity back up (at least for most homes and offices).

One sour note. Communication with the family islands is badly lacking and I seem to recall that NEMA promised some years ago to put satellite phones in place in each of the islands so we could at least get word from soneone on each island. For two days we heard nothing from Harbour Island, Abaco or Spanish  Wells. That is just not good enough for 2011.

Where have all the ethics gone?

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

There was a haunting song back in the 60's "Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing."

This song came to mind when I was thinking about how morals, ethics  and common decency was really just that back in the 50's and 60's when a handshake on a business deal meant something, when a man's word really counted and people meant exactly what they said.

When I started the practice of dentistry in 1963, the days of Drs. Paul Albury, Norman Cove, Cleve Eneas, John Louis, Tony Davis, Hal Leyland, a code of ethics was not necessary because in those days we knew that if we referred a patient to another dentist for treatment during vacation that patient would be treated and returned to our office, they would not try to "steal" that patient. If an employee left to work in another office, we just knew that they would not try to steal patient files to carry to another office. Not so today.

The Bahamian Court system - time is short, very short.

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

On March 21, 2011 I posted a blog on the circus at Harbour Island, which some call the court, which postpones case after case, adnauseum - one case from Spanish Wells has ben going on for three years. I was referring to a particular case which  has now been postponed last week for the sixth time. This is a case where fingerprints were admitted into evidence, the defendant has admitted guilt, had to be brought to court in chains because of other charges pending, yet it has been postponed again.

During this later performance of the circus there was a break in  the proceedings for the judge to inform the plaintiff that notes could not be taken in court. I checked with a local judge in Nassau and he informed me that anyone can take notes in court.

So, while crime is a serious problem in the Bahamas and a lot of people tend to blame the police. it is time that the real blame be placed where it belongs - in the judiciary. It is also time to make a serious decision on whether outside help is needed and to decide before it is too late.

Remembering our Bahamian heroes

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

On May 12, 2011 Rick Lowe wrote an eloquent tribute to a great Bahamian, Jackson Burnside, who passed away on May 11, 2011 and to quote from that article "he leaves a legacy that will not be surpassed."

It has been suggested from some quarters that, as there is talk (again) of developing the Montagu foreshore into a park, that it be named the Jackson Burnside Park.

Ft. Montagu has its own history and surely, rather than this knee-jerk reaction to quickly name something, anything, in honor of one of our great Bahamians let us think more of something that will be a fitting tribute. In this case a cultural centre would surely be more appropriate than a Park that would sooner or later be a site for cookouts and be covered with garbage every weekend.

Please, in the case of such a truly great Bahamian, let us do it right.  

 

The Montagu Ramp - a ticking time bomb

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

It is a truism that hindsight is always better than foresight and when Mr.Purcell Pinder started, many years ago, selling fish from the ramp at the Montagu foreshore, someone should have put a stop to it and insist that it be sold at a proper venue but little did anyone imagine that it would develop into the full market that it is today.

For many years  numerous committees have been assigned to develop a plan to have the ramp relocated and each one has dissolved with no solution but time is running short.

With the buckets of conch slop, the putrefying fish and conch, the total lack of hygiene control we now have at the site a prescription for an outbreak of hepatitis or cholera and if nothing is done it will not be a question of will it happen but when.

Why do we too often wait for a disaster to wake us up? In a case like this it demonstates a total lack of responsibility on the part of both Governments.

Justice delayed is justice denied

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

While all Bahamians will agree that the Bahamian judiciary is in serious need of repair, I personally believe that the court system in Harbour Island could serve as the "poster boy" for all that  is wrong in the judiciary. Law schools could send students to sit in their courts (if the presiding judge will allow them) to learn what magistrates and lawyers should NOT do in court.

Editorials have been written about them, many letters have appeared in the Press, and phone calls have been made to prominent politicians pleading for something to be done about the countless delays and absolute nonsense that takes up the time of the victims and witnesses resulting in the cases dragging on until, in most cases, the victims give up in frustration. Yet, nothing has been done and, in fact, it seems to be getting worse.

A Louisiana Law Journal in 1842 stated:

If it be admitted that the state does not prosecute vindictively, but merely to warn and hold up her punisments as a beacon to others, then it is a most important requisite, that the penalty should speedily follow the commission of crime. If in civil matters "Justice delayed is justice denied," in criminal cases tardy punishments are worse than useless.

The Bahamas: We share a group of islands, but not a country

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

I have paraphrased a part of the statement made by President George W.Bush at his inauguration on January 20, 2001, when he stated "Sometimes our differences run so deep it seems we share a continent, but not a country. We do not accept this and we will not alow it. Our country, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation."

Responsible citizens of our Bahamaland expect that there will always be an opposing opinion on a lot of issues but it has now reached a point where too many are not thinking of what is best for the Bahamas but "how will it benefit me because I an flying a red flag and you are flying a yellow flag."

We are now seeing a perfect example with the nonsense that is going on with regard to the sale of BTC. We have leaders of unions and political leaders opposing this sale which most Bahamians want and know that it will be a great benefit to us. So they go out to the highways and byways and offer a bottle of booze, a free tee shirt and a few dollars to rent a mob to demonstrate. If most of those people knew why they were demonstrating then fine, that is what is expected in a democrarcy, but in this case those leaders should be ashamed of themselves.

If those leaders were sincere in their efforts then we have to ask why they were so silent when the Bluewater deal, which would have destroyed the corporation, was close to being signed. Perhaps, just perhaps, if that odorous piece of legislation is given to the Press for full exposure those leaders who are now making so much noise, will drift away with their tails between their legs.