Dr. Bernard Nottage (PLP) Minister of National Security suggested recently that the government's botched opinion poll on whether or not to authorise taxation of gaming houses cost $5 million dollars to conduct, in contradiction of the Prime Minster's statement of over $1 million.
He then "corrected" himself and released the details of the costs to the Parliamentary Registration Department but did not include the amount paid to the foreign consultants or other charges to the taxpayer associated with the poll.
While I applaud Dr. Nottage for releasing the information on taxpayer money paid out by the Parliamentary Registration Department to correct his "error", leaving off associated costs is equally as misleading.
Of course the Opposition FNM is making hay over this, and rightly so. The PLP have done no less when they kept the Opposition bench warm.
However, both parties are guilty of not accounting properly to the taxpayer on what is done with the money they take from them.
When governments are afraid their actions will not go down well, they think hiding the information until a little time passes solves the matter.
So often it seems they're simply taking advantage of the taxpayer. Maybe it's because they can take tax dollars from us on a whim that they think they can spend it without proper disclosure?
Isn’t participatory democracy simply wonderful..
The cost of a Referendum is always a gamble.. The outcome of a Referendum is even a bigger gamble.. Outcomes are always subjected to the spontaneous moods and fancies of the fickled electorate.. For many of the electorate don’t know the difference in right from wrong even after the Referendum has been long decided.. The electorate have spoken but does anyone hear their hue and cry?? It was after all a great party and the electorate loves a great party regardless of outcome..
I keep going back to the complete lack of self accountability of the “elected” pursuant to the rules of their positions of responsibility.
The more they undermine, shirk and disregard the rules created and embodied in the Constitution,
the more they must use “power” to compensate for their lack of Authority.
That the average citizen is not minded to follow the laws of the land is a direct reflection on their leadership.
That the average citizen is ignorant of the rules is a direct reflection on their leadership.
That the average citizen struggles to keep their head above water is a direct result of the lack of decent law abiding leadership in our society.
Like the creation of a National Heroes Day,
is it not more indicative of the want of real heroes,
or perhaps to identify the fallen heroes?
Maybe it should be called “from under the bus day”
“Forgive them Lord,
They know not what they do”
I agree entirely Oracle.
Heroes Day, what do you expect from third world mentalities.. When you open up a history text in Europe, Asia or the Americas, the ONLY reference you will find to the Bahamas is that it is the landfall site of Columbus in the new world.. You can take Columbus out of the holiday, but you cannot take Columbus out of Bahamian history.. Does anyone today in the Bahamas have the courage, the conviction and the determination of Columbus?? I think not, not even any of our contemporary Bahamian heroes..
Do they know what they do?? That is not worthy of comment.. Perhaps, you might ask the devil for their forgiveness as the do know what they do..
Tradewinds, I suspect you’re right and we should not concur in our leaders’ ‘revisionist’ approach to history.
After all, we still have ‘Emancipation Day’ (what if future leaders suddenly take offense to the word, emancipation?), so why can’t we still have ‘Discovery (or as it used to be called, Columbus) Day’?
If we want to allocate a day to our ‘achievers’ (I know of no heroes thus far, because ‘brave deeds and noble qualities’ are hard to come by), we could have chosen another day … after all, after you remove all holidays, there are still >300.
I am not fan of Columbus, by the way – the last time I was in Barcelona, I came across his statue atop a very tall pole near the sea on the Plaza Portal de la Pau; were it not so tall, not only the seagulls and pigeons would have been leaving something on his head …..
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/65786863
I suppose if you set the bar low enough…..
meanwhile,
back at the ranch,
debt is piling up!
Heroes?
Did they re-define the word when I wasn’t looking?
They have re-defined a few words over the last decade or so,
Transparent (used to mean you could see right through, not complimentary)
Accountability (have yet to figure out the new definition, but it ain’t like the classical def)
Hero ( gonna have to wait for this Definition, probably still in committee)
Fair (as in taxation, somehow tied into robbery, Government sanctioned)
Any others?
Whether we recognize Columbus or not, who really cares.. But lets us never forget his courageous voyage sailing West changed the future course and direction of history and for that matter of Western Civilization.. It matters not what you or I or anyone else thinks, for his courage, conviction and fortitude changed the course of history.. Can any of our past or modern-day heroes emulate his conviction and character today, well that is up to you to decide.. We have many heroes in Bahamian history and lets give them there proper due.. Yet, least we not forget, if it were not for Columbus, none of us would be here today as we would be in God knows where..
Rest well Columbus, good, bad or whatever you are, your name is known today by more generations of peoples in this world than any Bahamian from the past to the present and even into the future.. Your landfall has put the Bahamas on the map and that we can never delete or change.. Try as they may not even the revisionists can erase your name from history..
LMAO ….. I have never laughed so hard reading anything on this Blogsite before … thank you, Oracle!
Perhaps we could redefine Columbus, too, whilst we’re at it. History tells us that there were native peoples here in these islands well before his arrival. Indeed, less than 300 years later, they were just about wiped out from enslavement, disease, the bullet, etc. His accidental arrival set in train a run of events the effects of which are indelibly imprinted in our land.
However, this is but one interpretation of his legacy; for an even less charitable view, see:
http://www.browndailyherald.com/2007/03/06/jamaica-kincaid-speaks-on-columbus-impact-on-presentday-caribbean/
For a more charitable interpretation, see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/columbus_legacy_01.shtml
Columbus will forever divide opinion and this is no more than right ….
Do you really believe that Columbus could possibility have foreseen what would happen as a result of his voyage exploration and discovery?? Of course not.. So we are left with only ridiculous and negative posturing that usually destroys any semblance of righteousness that may have been.. To bad Columbus didn’t make his historic landfall in Cuba, Jamaica or the Dominican Republic then their local idiots and not ours could rant and rave till the rum goes dry..
Why not just excommunicate and condemn him to eternal damnation before a specially convened ecclesiastical court?? Be gone with him once and for all..However, For those willing to attempt and remember, Columbus was the one who first brought the Catholic faith, with the holy blessing of the Spanish church, to the new world.. To condemn Columbus, you might be condemning the Church and even Divinus Providentia as well..
Imagining the “what ifs” when looking back can go on endlessly, but solves no atrocity committed.
Imagining the “What ifs” looking forward is called visionary, or foresight.
To consider if Columbus had not forged ahead, and not created this particular Slave trade that placed a great many of us on these islands is folly.
Some other explorer or nation would have done so, as slavery was not some new novel labor drafting system.
The world over, populations have been enslaved by other peoples (or their own)at one time or the other.
While physical slavery was abolished, it still thrives in some regions of the world today.
Mental slavery? It exists to some degree here today, often self imposed.
Could we become enslaved by exorbitant taxation?
Again, wouldn’t be the first time in human history….