bahamasuncensored.com
SEPTEMBER 2004
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Volume 2 © BahamasUncensored.Com
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5th September, 2004 [Currently unavailable]
12th September, 2004
19th September, 2004
26th September, 2004
Columns From 2002 - 2003

 
12th September, 2004
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com
  How do you do today?  It's great to have you as a reader.  We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas! 
Please tell all your friends about us.
NOT A DROP TO DRINK... SIDNEY BACK IN COURT...
RIGBY ANSWERS THE SILLY FNM... GRAND BAHAMA GETS BACK ON LINE...
THE LATEST UPDATE ON HURRICANE DAMAGE... A DISASTER RELIEF FUND IS OPENED...
WHILE MOST PRAISE, THE TRIBUNE FINDS FAULT... TONIQUE DARLING WINS 500 K...
MARK KNOWLES WINS THE U.S. OPEN... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
THIS WEEK WITH THE PM...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PLPs On The Web... Interesting Places...
Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town Bahamas Government Website
Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte Bahamians On The Web
Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw Bahamian Cycling News
John Carey / PLP Carmichael FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...
Grand Bahama PLP
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.


PHOTO OF THE WEEK - Hurricane Ivan is impacting The Bahamas as well.  No it does not appear to be coming toward The Bahamas.  The outer fringes of the storm may cause some high breezes in places like Ragged Island and Andros but the brunt of the storm is heading to western Cuba and Florida.  What Ivan did was cause a massive evacuation of all the Bahamian students in Jamaica who wanted to leave.  According to the Minister of Education Alfred Sears, frantic parents were calling around the town asking if their children were going to be brought home.  The children in Jamaica whose school term just started had gone to the international airport and all the flights out were booked.  Knowing how traumatized the parents of the children were because of the passage of Hurricane Frances through The Bahamas just a week ago, the Government took no chances and sent a Bahamasair jet to Kingston to pick them up.  They arrived at 8 p.m. on Thursday 9th September and were greeted by the Deputy Prime Minster Cynthia Pratt, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell and the Attorney General Alfred Sears.  Our photo of the week is that of the hugs and greetings at the Nassau International Airport as they were welcomed back home.  The photo is by Donald Knowles.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

THE CARIBBEAN IN CRISIS
The hugs and tears all around at the Nassau International Airport when the Bahamian students arrived in Nassau feeling the feared wrath of Hurricane Ivan spoke volumes.  The budget of The Bahamas will be quickly busted if it keeps up like this.  The budget forecast for the year was relatively good, with tourism rebounding and with the debt situation somewhat under control.  But even though everyone is being cautious in what we do, it is clear that it will take over 100 million dollars for the country to get back on its feet after the Hurricane Frances debacle.  The country's second city is going into its second week of being dead in the water, with no power and no running water.  While there is some hope now of improvement, the problem of shelter makes the situation worse as does the looming problem of unemployment.

But the problems of The Bahamas pale in comparison to what is happening elsewhere in the Caribbean.  While Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago were spared from major damage by Hurricane Ivan, the storm bore down on Grenada and - in a word - flattened the place.  Prime Minister Keith Mitchell’s official home was flattened, the prison on Grenada that held the notorious Bernard Coard was destroyed and all the prisoners escaped.  Law and order broke down with people reportedly marauding around the town looting and citizens having to protect themselves with cutlasses and knives.  Trinidad's Prime Minister Patrick Manning quickly came to the rescue with an immediate one million dollars grant to Grenada and promises to give as much as ten million dollars.  They and Barbados provided troops on the ground to restore law and order.

For a time, the Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell was living on a British Frigate the HMS Richard that had been diverted from duty in the Turks and Caicos Islands in order to assist with the work in Grenada.  Sadly all we heard from the United States was that they were working to evacuate their citizens from Grenada to Trinidad as soon as possible.  In The Bahamas, while they gave some immediate short term help with water bladders and some transportation, contribution to a more massive assistance effort is necessary.  Thankfully, there is a new US Ambassador John Rood who seems to have better people to people touch than his predecessor, but Bahamians expect that the United States will do much more than has so far been offered in terms of material assistance to the rehabilitation of the areas badly affected by the storm.

It is the same thing that is said about U.S. assistance to Haiti.  It is simply too paltry to be acceptable for a country as rich toward a region like the Caribbean that in strategic terms should be so important to them.  But be that as it may, the Caribbean luckily is well off enough and small enough that the few relatively well off members like The Bahamas, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago can help to mobilize resources or seek to take care of their own needs.  Indeed, the financial community gave The Bahamas a vote of confidence during the week when according to the Business Section of The Tribune Moody’s announced that the A- credit rating of The Bahamas would continue.  It was felt that The Bahamas could well deal with the affects of the storm without a real knock on its economy.

We believe that as well.  The problem we see is that the decision making of the government is not transparent enough so that it might well cause people to start saying that the government does not know what it is doing.  So it must be possible to get on top of the too many heads and no followers impression that one has.  The Prime Minister sought to address that by ordering everything to come through him and his office and to flow from there.

The problem we seek to address here, however, is the question of the wider Caribbean.  It is times like these that show how disorganized the Caribbean itself is.  The Prime Ministers don' t seem to speak to each other on a regular basis, and the bad decision making with regard to Haiti almost threatened to crack the Caricom alliance apart.  The storm will either break the Caricom effort or cause it to work better than it has ever.  The thought that Keith Mitchell, the Prime Minister of Grenada, had first to turn to the former colonial master to get that country’s first help from the outside world is the ultimate irony.  It was good therefore that Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados went to the rescue with troops to keep law and order.

The Bahamas does have its problems, but it is clear that The Bahamas has to send some material help and money to Grenada.  There is no reason why we should not do something.  But we will probably be crying poor mouth.  The world knows, however, that The Bahamas can afford it.

In a day’s time we shall know the full scale of the disaster that is coming in Jamaica.  They have had a rough time with storms in the past decade.  They will likely need a lot of help.  With Jamaica being so close, we should start now to see what if anything we can do to help them.  If we don’t, the Caribbean may well be headed for a crisis from which it will take a long time to recover.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11th September 2004 at midnight: 55,576.

Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 11th September 2004 at midnight:  91,103.

Number of hits for the year up to Saturday 11th September 2004 at midnight: 1,836,577.


CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com

NOT A DROP TO DRINK
    Since the hurricane passed through The Bahamas, it has become clear if it were not clear before, how dependent the country is on ground supplies for potable water to drink.  The call went out from Abaco in the North to Mayaguana in the south east for water to be delivered.  Several of the communities in between were in desperate need of fresh water to drink and had to have supplies airlifted or rushed in by boat. The most critical need was in Grand Bahama itself, where the well field could not be pumped because there was no power in Freeport.  No power, no water.
    There are 60,000 people who live on Grand Bahama Island.  The Government rushed in help through the cruise industry and the help of business people in Nassau and some help from the United States government.  Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell was pictured at the airport as the first of the equipment donated by the United States to help with the water effort left for Freeport.
    A more pressing crisis seemed to loom in the distance.  The Water and Sewerage Corporation in New Providence announced that there had to be water rationing in New Providence.  The reason is that salt water bled into the fresh water well fields of Andros from where the water supply for New Providence comes.  The first barge that got drinking water for the thirsty capital had to dump it all at sea because it was too salty.  When they went back to check that seemed to be the position all around in the well fields.
    An effort was made to get water out of Ft. Lauderdale on an emergency basis but that was abandoned as too difficult.  The Corporation is hoping that the well fields clear up by weeks end.  But in the meantime, pipes are dry in New Providence during various hours of the day, and the water supply issues are again critical.  It seems that a long term solution must be worked out for the capital city.  That should be a combination of mandatory rain water catchment tanks for each household, and the greater investment in reverse osmosis, and then leave the Andros well fields entirely alone.
 
 

SIDNEY BACK IN COURT
    Despite the all consuming nature of the crisis around the hurricane, there was still some politics going on in the country.  On Monday 6th September, Sidney Stubbs, the bankrupted Member of Parliament who is struggling to get the matter overturned, was back in court before the Justice that issued the order.
    According to the Bahama Journal, the first issue that had to be dealt with was not the question of whether or not the matter should be overturned.  The argument of Mr. Stubbs’ lawyer his political colleague Keod Smith MP is that he has paid the debt and therefore should be discharged as a bankrupt.  It appears, however, that Mr. Stubbs’ lawyer does not have the co-operation of the other side, which he needs in order to make this matter go away.  He did not help matters by making public comments about the case and the lawyers for the other side; which the other side has now complained about.
    The Bahama Journal is saying that the other side headed by Bar President Wayne Munroe argued that Mr. Smith is in contempt of court for the public remarks he made about the case on radio and in the press.  According to the Journal, the other side also raised whether Justice Jeannie Thompson has the jurisdiction to rehear the matter.  The case has been adjourned to 20th September for further arguments on the matter.
    In the meantime, the PLP's leader has to concern himself with the stark fact of facing a bye-election in this effort if a further appeal to the Privy Council does not work.  Many PLPs are unhappy that they have been put in the position that they have by what appears to be arrogance and bloody mindedness.  But the saying is ‘he may be a bad fellow but he is our bad fellow’ and so we have to help to save him, if we are to save ourselves.  That is how it often is in politics.
    In order for Mr. Stubbs to continue to have a chance to survive, a resolution will have to be passed in the House of Assembly it appears before the 27th September to extend the time beyond the present 150 days that he has been allowed by the Speaker to prosecute his appeal.
    We have said before in this spot that the way the law is written, it appears that if no appeal is open to the member then the seat is vacant.  The Court of Appeal has already ruled that there is no appeal open to the member.  That will have to be overturned by the Privy Council.
    The only reading that one gets of public opinion on the matter is the weekly column of Craig Butler, Sir Milo Butler’s grandson, who writes for the Nassau Guardian.  Mr. Butler argued again this week that the PLP should cut Mr. Stubbs off.  The reading that we get is that this is unlikely.
 
 

RIGBY ANSWERS THE SILLY FNM
    One would have thought that in this time of national concern about the victims of the hurricane that maybe just maybe the FNM would come together with the rest of the country and help get us out of this mess.  No such luck.  While some of its leaders, Deputy Leader Sidney Collie and Leader of the Opposition Alvin Smith were flying around the country with the Prime Minister and other Ministers to inspect the nationwide damage, Carl Bethel its Chairman was busy stirring up politics.  At least that is what most people thought when an article appeared in the Nassau Guardian on Monday 6th September in its regular spot attacking the effort of the Government to help with the hurricane, and arguing that the shelters were inadequately prepared.
    Of course, the FNM forgot to mention that the FNM government was in power through three hurricanes and left no structure in place to address the myriad issues involved in hurricane relief.  That it was the PLP that put into its platform the creation of a National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to get  hurricane relief and other disaster relief on a sound footing.  The PLP answered in its column the next day denouncing Carl Bethel and the FNM for being divisive in the middle of the hurricane.  You may click here for the full PLP response to the matter.
Top
 
 

GRAND BAHAMA GETS BACK ON LINE
    When the storm hit, communications to Freeport and Grand Bahama were knocked out.  Batelco lost its line connection when the roof of its building collapsed in Eight Mile Rock.  The system then shut down.  There were frantic efforts to get the cable link restored, and within forty eight hours after the hurricane some circuits were up and running.  Now the cell system in Grand Bahama has been restored, and all the land line links appear to have been restored.  The water situation was also quite critical.
    The Grand Bahama Power Company was able to supply standby generator power to the well fields of Freeport and that allowed the pumps to power up the supply intermittently to Freeport and other parts of Grand Bahama.  People who have running water are beginning to get less harried. The question of wider power is problematic.  The Port announced that it will take about three weeks to get back up to full power.  Some critical areas like the Rand Hospital have already been put up to full power.  Over one hundred linesmen from the United States and from the Caribbean are in Freeport to help reconnect the lines and replace some 400 poles that were downed in Freeport alone.
    Shelter is another serious issue.  Some people have been sharing with relatives and friends.  The Government is trying to get emergency shelter out to the communities of West End and Eight Mile Rock.  There appears to be a need for emergency shelter in Freeport as well where many people lost their homes.  Food is also a critical issue.  The food stores in Freeport are unable to keep their shelves stocked for people who wish to buy food.  The banks are now open but the food on the shelves is in short supply.  Winn Dixie has been unable to get its trailers in because the port in Miami has been closed because of the various storms there this past month.  The problem is expected to ease during the week.  Prime Minister Perry Christie has been in touch with the food suppliers to ensure that they are on top of the matter.
    The Prime Minister has been to Grand Bahama several times during the week personally superintending the relief effort.  The community of Hawksbill had many heroic stories to tell of the rescue effort when their homes were swamped with six to eight feet of water.  People had to be rescued in boats and jet skis.  Now they sit outside their homes in the heat with no power, their personal goods all ruined.  But many express thanks for their lives.
    It would be helpful if insurance adjusters would come en masse and help people process their claims quickly.  But most people do not have insurance and it appears than it may be the Government who will have to come to the rescue of the people with public funds.  The Department of Social Services will be establishing a programme to do just that.
 
 

THE LATEST UPDATE ON HURRICANE DAMAGE
    The National Emergency Management Agency prepares a daily bulletin, which updates the country on the state of the disaster and the disaster relief effort.  You may click here for the latest update available to this site.  There is also an effort now being made to deal with the trauma that people are experiencing psychologically in their lives as result of the damage inflicted by the hurricane. This includes assistance given to police and Defence force officers who have been working continuously to assist others while they themselves have suffered damage.
 
 

A DISASTER RELIEF FUND IS OPENED
    The Bahamas National Disaster Relief Fund has been officially reactivated at the Royal Bank of Canada in Nassau.  The Co-Chairs are James Smith, the Minister of State for Finance and Ross MacDonald, the head of Royal Bank in The Bahamas.  Donations may be made to the fund by depositing in the Royal Bank or by contacting embassies of The Bahamas abroad.  You may click here for further details.
    The fund was kicked off with donations from Imperial Life and from British American Bank.  But the largest donation came from the Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Island Michael Missick who flew to Grand Bahama on Saturday 11th September for a first hand look at the damage to the Grand Bahama community, where thousand of Turks Islands and their descendants lives.  He donated $200,000 from his country before leaving The Bahamas on Sunday.  The Prime Minister accepted the donation on behalf of the country.
Top
 
 

WHILE MOST PRAISE, THE TRIBUNE FINDS FAULT
    The Nassau Guardian led on Friday 10th September with the story of the return of the students from Jamaica and how they had been evacuated from Jamaica.  The students themselves were grateful to the Government.  There is another story as well, that of the students in Grenada who were airlifted by the Bahamas government via LIAT and Barbados to come back to The Bahamas.  But The Tribune could find nothing good to talk about.  Their lead story was the fact that generators were not getting duty free treatment to come into The Bahamas because of some bureaucratic snafu.  The moral in this is, if you want to find the bad news about what is going on in The Bahamas, read The Tribune. Fault finding is the stock in trade of Eileen Carron.  The rest of the country is trying to move on.
Top
 
 

TONIQUE DARLING WINS 500 K
    The darling of the Olympic Games for The Bahamas Tonique Williams Darling, the only gold medal winner for the country in this last Games, has won her share of the 1 million dollar prize for being undefeated for the year.  The prize from the Golden League is 1 million dollars.  But there is another undefeated athlete and so her share is $500,000.  Not bad change.  Prime Minister Christie, who got the news at a news conference with the Chief Minister of the Turks & Caicos Islands, congratulated Tonique on the win.  We hope to have photos in our next edition.
 
 

MARK KNOWLES WINS THE U.S. OPEN
    Mark Knowles, The Bahamas Tennis player dominated the headlines of the Bahamian newspapers on Friday 10th September. He and his partner Daniel Nestor won the U.S. Open Doubles Final at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing meadows in New York.  This is the second Grand Sam title for the pair who first won the Australian Open in 1998.  The country was over the moon and so was Mr. Knowles.  This comes hard on the heels of the defeat of the pair at the Greek Olympics.  It must be some 'golden' age of Bahamian sports.  How sweet it is!
Top
 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Arthur Foulkes gat to be joking!
    Where was he when all the questions were flying to Dion, his son, during the last government's term?
     Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Name withheld

Good question! - Editor
 

Kudos
    Thank you for managing in these difficult times to upload your weekly report in such a timely fashion. Congratulations! I am sure Bahamians and others with emotional attachment to the Bahamas, who are living abroad, will appreciate being kept up to date with the effects of Hurricane Frances. All the other online news regarding this terrible storm focuses on its effects on Florida.
     When we are able to sit back and analyze how we all dealt with the onslaught, I hope we remember the stellar job done by the radio stations, particularly ZNS, in keeping the nation informed... it was so helpful, though scary at times (thanks to Darrold!!) to have some idea of what to expect and when. The work done by BEC during and after the storm has been amazing and we need to thank the crews who braved dangerous conditions to secure broken lines and posts. Likewise, Batelco who were able to maintain and repair telecommunication until the last few hours when we could no longer know what was happening in Grand Bahama. That really brought it home to me how important it is to know how others are faring. We need to praise too the Police, the Defence Force and the Department of Social Services, Water and Sewerage and so many others who left the comfort of their own homes to carry out their civic duties.
     As to the Harajchi affair... how nice that we did not have to think about that for a few days! Might I suggest that ceasing to read the Source might go  a long way in reducing his sense of power. We cannot on the one hand talk about his treachery and then run out to purchase a document that sets out to destroy individuals and their families by lurid gossip, which benefits none of us and perpetuates a degrading practise of taking pleasure in reading about the misfortunes, misadventures and poor choices of some of us.
     Keep up the good work!
Alison Hamilton

Thank you.  We agree about The Source.  - Editor
 

CAT ISLAND
    How can it be that you give an island by island report about Hurricane Frances and leave out Cat Island
    No wonder Cat Island feels forgotten by the rest of the Bahamas
    You should apologize to the people of Cat Island.

This is obviously an oversight and is corrected this week.  Apologies.  - Editor
 

Caribbeanness
    Hey…need some help quick…..we (Bahamians/Bahamas)  are being excoriated down in Barbados (radio talk shows live with it) and Jamaica for sending a charter plane down to Jamaica to pick-up Bahamian students - and not sending down the empty plane filled with supplies for those who may need it after the this new storm comes through - to get them  out of possible danger with this storm.
    The impression those pushing this story are trying to leave with their listeners is that we again are showing our lack of  "Caribbeanness".
    Nonsense I say…but I need the facts I know we have been good citizens to the Caribbean but I need to document this
Stephen Stuart

Our Prime Minister has been in touch with all Caribbean capitals before during and after the storm including P.J. Patterson of Jamaica.  No offence was taken.  - Ed.
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

    Prime Minister Perry Christie spent this past week managing the fallout from Hurricane Francis.  Mr Christie is shown at top during one of the daily briefings of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).  From left are David Cates, NEMA; Lt. Comdr. Herbert Bain, NEMA; Carl Smith, National Co-ordinator, NEMA; Prime Minister Christie, Minister of Education Alfred Sears, Minister of Foreign Affairs and The Public Service Fred Mitchell and Minister of Youth, Sports & Culture Neville Wisdom.  Mr. Christie was also present at the presentation of a cheque for $50,000 from Imperial Life Assurance Company to the Hurricane Relief Fund.  Imperial's Guy Richard is shown presenting the cheque to Minister of State for Finance and Co-chair of the Fund Mr. James Smith.  At left are Imperial executives Dashwell Flowers and Keith Major.  BIS photos by Peter Ramsay.



 
 
19th September, 2004
Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com
  How do you do today?  It's great to have you as a reader.  We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas! 
Please tell all your friends about us.
THE STUDENTS FLY BACK TO JAMAICA... GRENADA STUDENTS ARRIVE...
HURRICANE JEANNE... FNM’S FALSE ALLEGATIONS...
FOOLING WITH THE RIGHT ONE... EILEEN CARRON GETS IT WRONG...
MINISTER IS HONOURED IN FLORIDA... SCHOOL REOPENS, LIFE GETTING BACK TO NORMAL...
AN INQUIRY INTO THE INQUIRY... COURT OF APPEAL ON SIDNEY STUBBS...
BRADLEY ROBERTS ASKS QUESTIONS... LAYOFFS IN GRAND BAHAMA AND IN NASSAU...
PLP CONVENTION POSTPONED... PERRY TURNER DIES...
VOTING FOR TONIQUE... ALPHONSO BOWE OFF TO THE RACES...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR... HURRICANE PHOTO ESSAY IN 2ND EDITION...
THIS WEEK WITH THE PM...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PLPs On The Web... Interesting Places...
Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town Bahamas Government Website
Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte Bahamians On The Web
Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw Bahamian Cycling News
John Carey / PLP Carmichael FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...
Grand Bahama PLP
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl+home to return to the top of the page.


PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The tiny Turks and Caicos Islands with 20,000 odd citizens gave The Bahamas the gift of 200,000 dollars.  Their Chief Minister Michael Missick, a dynamic 38 year older with a cherubic smile, came to deliver the gift himself and to see for himself the damage wrought by Hurricane Frances.  He flew directly into Freeport, Grand Bahama.  He was hosted by the Prime Minister Perry Christie on Saturday 11th September all day.  He then flew for the night to Nassau and upon his departure at Nassau International Airport on Sunday 12th September, he announced that he was moved by all the devastation and the stories of survival and that the Turks would give the gift.  This is the largest single gift to the hurricane effort to date.  The US has given $50,000 and the Chinese $100,000.  The Prime Minister saw his guest off at the airport with profound thanks.  Peter Ramsay was there as the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister toured the devastation in Grand Bahama and that is our photo of the week.  From left are Chief Minister Missick, Prime Minister Christie and Independent MP Tennyson Wells.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK
(A Guest Editorial by Sharon Zoe Smith)

THREE CHEERS FOR KOFI ANNAN
 Ye shall know the truth
 And the truth shall set you free

Hip!Hip!Hip! Hooray!  That is how we would have done it in The Bahamas in the old days to cheer what the English would have called “a jolly good fellow”.  It is perhaps a little too late but the consummate diplomat has like the boy in the story of the Emperor's New Clothes finally come out and said what everyone has been thinking all this time.  He has said that what the United States, Britain and Australia did in Iraq was illegal.  It was contrary to the United Nations charter.  The denunciations were immediate.  The Australian Prime Minister who seems to harbour hostility to poor and dispossessed people said that the legal advice that they got and that of the US and Britain was that the invasion of Iraq was perfectly legal.  We all know that in a world where power is the only fact, the powerful define what is legal.  Might is right.

As odious as Saddam Hussein was and is, there is something which must surely rankle every Iraqi at the absolute cheek of another country to presume to march into someone else’s country, that country posing no threat to the invaders and then deposing the government and setting up a new government, claiming all the while that it is acting in the best interests of the people of that country.  Clearly they cannot be doing so, either in their own best interest or in the interests of that country.  A small but determined band, that they call terrorists or militants, the same nomenclature that the Israelis use to dehumanize the Palestinian freedom fighters, are resisting the will of the United States and the developed world in Iraq.  We have seen this scenario before with a puppet Government established in Vietnam, while the U.S. killed thousands of people they called Viet Cong guerillas, when the reality was that these were people fighting for the liberation and independence of their country from outside hegemony.

It is interesting that the U. S. culture, which promoted the Star Wars trilogy, does not seem to quite understand the realities of life.  In the Star Wars Trilogy, a small but determined band of fighters overthrew the juggernaut of the Emperor and defeated the empire.  Presumably a new and freer order was created but the empire was gone.  Within our lifetimes, we have seen the United States bungle into one catastrophe after the other, putting the lives of its young soldiers at risk for exactly what, most people do not know.  The problem is that in the current atmosphere all the voices of dissent have been stifled.  This is so even as they tout the fact in their political campaign that they are a free nation.

Free for whom though?  Certainly not free for a woman who got up in a speech being delivered by Laura Bush, the wife of the President George W. Bush, who demanded to know why her son was killed in the war in Iraq.  The wife did not stop talking.  The woman was bundled away and was arrested and charged with defiant incitement.  Now there’s a new one.

The political leaders of the Opposition in the United States have not yet given effective voice to the Opposition forces in the United States to prevent further disaster in the country.  It appears that the Opposition candidate John Kerry is too polite for his own good, allowing the debate to be switched around to the point where people are arguing about whether he who served and was given medals for bravery, actually committed brave acts.  It appears that the two who did not serve, one the now President and the other the Vice President got clean away with this kind of savage attack on the brave man’s personality.  The problem is that John Kerry seems to let them get clean away with it.

The countries of this hemisphere have to ask themselves all sorts of questions about their futures.  Last week, we reported how close the Caribbean societies were to crisis when we looked at the possibility of civil disorder and breakdown in tiny Grenada.  The first time the disorder came, there was a military coup in the country, followed by the murder by other coup plotters of the then coup leader.  That brought the U.S. in who left Grenada precisely nothing.  Now the weather has precipitated another crisis in the region, and the question is again: where is the moral authority of the United States in all of this?  Their first action was the offer of $50,000 of aid.  This is the same $50,000 which Cuba turned down as insulting and derisory following the storm damage in that country in August.

The Caribbean does not feature anywhere in the landscape of the present administration.  It does not feature in its speeches.  Its national leaders get not more than a smidgen of time with the national leaders of the United States.  The U.S. clearly has bigger fish to fry.  If it were not for the individual citizens of goodwill in the U.S., and those of our own citizens who live in the United States, some of our countries would be worse-off than they are.  The prospect of a victory by George W. Bush is troubling to may people in the Caribbean, and yet that is what it looks is going to happen.

We in The Bahamas should actually rejoice one supposes, because traditionally it is the Democratic Presidential incumbents who have done the country in.  We have always done better under Republican administrations or so it is said.  Some shake with fear if John Kerry wins the U.S. race because they say Kerry has it in for The Bahamas as a result of something that happened of a criminal nature to one of the members of his staff.  A Kerry victory does seem unlikely, so one supposes we can all rejoice.

But coming down the road, there is going to be the need for leadership in this region and hemisphere to pull our societies back from the brink which they will face all sorts of challenges, the latest of them being the challenges of the weather.  That is what all the people of the Caribbean will expect from Washington come what may.  And that true leadership will not be possible unless the Kofi Annan spirit and that of the woman who demanded to know why her son had to die is allowed to flourish.  The likelihood is that we will fall deeper and deeper into the abyss of silence of dissent, and the vilification of those few brave souls that dare to speak the evil that they see.  Meanwhile three cheers for Kofi.  He is a good man for speaking the truth.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 17th September 2004 at midnight: 40,617.

Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 17th September 2004 up to midnight: 131,720.

Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 17th September 2004 at midnight: 1,877,194.


CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com

THE STUDENTS FLY BACK TO JAMAICA
    Prime Minister Perry Christie, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, the Minister of Education Alfred Sears, the Minister of Financial Services and Investment Allyson Maynard Gibson and the Minister of Youth Neville Wisdom were all gathered at the airport to see the 97 students of The Bahamas back to their campus life in Kingston, Jamaica.  The students arrived in The Bahamas just ahead of Hurricane Ivan’s arrival in Kingston, Jamaica.
    It was a moving thing.  There was praise for the Government on radio and in the press.  Students who had no interest in politics suddenly saw the light on day on the subject.  One student said that before he did not have anything to defend the Government for, but with the evacuation of the students from Jamaica and then later from Grenada, he could now defend what the Government had done.  This is a curious warning of perceptions in the country about what the PLP is doing.  The Prime Minister wished them well, and told them not to let their parents down.  He promised that at the earliest opportunity he would seek to visit the students at their places of education in Jamaica. Minister of Education Alfred Sears at NIA with Bahamian students departing for Jamaica.  BIS / Peter Ramsay
 
 

GRENADA STUDENTS ARRIVE
    The Nassau Guardian Tuesday 14th September carried on its front page the students who are medical students in Grenada from The Bahamas coming home.  Again, it was The Bahamas Government who came to the rescue, concerned as it was about the reports of social disintegration in Grenada.  Ambassador Leonard Archer, the High Commissioner to Caricom, was mandated to find a way to get the students home.
    LIAT, the airline of the Eastern Caribbean, began flights to Grenada again and working with the Honorary Consul of The Bahamas in Barbados Selwyn Smith, the students were returned to The Bahamas at Government expense.  The Prime Minister took the position that this was the future of the country and that we ought to take whatever steps we could to ensure that the students saw that the country was theirs and that it believed in them.
    The campus in Grenada is scheduled to open on 27th September with some luck.  The medical school in Grenada at St. Georges is now a recognized medical institution by the Medical Council of the West Indies.
 
 

HURRICANE JEANNE
    Just when Bahamians thought that it was safe to take their storm shutters down, the met office said that another storm was coming.  This time it was an off again on again Hurricane named Jeanne. The hurricane began as a tropical depression near the start of last week, even as Hurricane Ivan was wrecking the southern coast of the United States of America.  Bahamasair went so far as to announce that all flights to The Bahamas and within The Bahamas would be suspended on Saturday 18th September at noon until further notice.  That turned out to be unnecessary, since the Hurricane dissipated over the Dominican Republic and then turned in a northerly direction away from The Bahamas.
    It all goes to show that you simply cannot predict what will happen with Mother Nature.  But the people of The Bahamas sure breathed a sigh of relief.  Grand Bahama, Abaco and San Salvador, some communities in Eleuthera have not yet begun to recover from the effects of Hurricane Frances.  The thought of another hurricane and a very wet one at that made people shudder and think, what next?  But at least for the moment there is no tropical storm activity in the Atlantic that even threatens to come this way.  NOAA image 11a.m. EDT Sunday 19th September
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FNM’S FALSE ALLEGATIONS
    You can always trust the Free National Movement to come up with some false alarm just when you thought that the country was pulling together in a national emergency.  But with people like Carl Bethel in the leadership of the FNM what can you expect but wild cards?  Bahamians woke up to their morning paper on Tuesday 14th September to find that the FNM had made an allegation that the PLP had padded contracts for the repairs to be effected as a result of damage from Hurricane Frances.
    The FNM’s website claimed the following: “What Mr. Roberts [Bradley Minister of Public Works] did in Acklins the other day was a total abuse of his ministerial powers.  We wish to put both Bradley Roberts and Alfred Gray [MP for Acklins] on notice that this is not the end of this story.  As soon as the country returns to normalcy, the corruption within the government will be exposed”.
    Now what the FNM claims is that Mr. Roberts awarded a contract for the immediate repair of a leaking clinic roof in Acklins.  This, the FNM argued was awarded to a PLP contractor and with a padded price.  The Minister called the allegations by the FNM scandalously incredible.  He said that he had acted to stop the leaking of the roof, which needed immediate repairs.  You may click here for the full response by the Minister.
 
 

FOOLING WITH THE RIGHT ONE
    The Minister for Trade and Industry Leslie Miller is known for making comments that are forthright on many a subject.  More often than not he is the brunt of criticism for his blunt style and frank opinions on matters of public policy.  But there was no criticism this time.  Most people were saying that the Prime Minister sent the right one to deal with the straw vendors.  Mr. Miller is the Minister responsible or the straw vendors.
    The weeks have gone by since the passing of Hurricane Frances and the straw vendors are pretty upset that their tent has not been restored.  The tent was damaged and needs either to be replaced or repaired.  The repairs have been ordered.  But in the meantime, the market women want their tent back and they confronted Mr. Miller on television about it.  Mr. Miller gave as good as he got.  People were sitting at home watching their television sets cheering as he told the vendors off about their selfishness in the face of the unmitigated disaster in some other places of The Bahamas.  Stan Burnside's 'Sideburns' in the Nassau Guardian's Tuesday 14th September edition seemed to capture the sense of it.
 
 

EILEEN CARRON GETS IT WRONG
    She is the most incredibly politically dishonest woman in the country.  Never can get it right.  Always deliberately gets it wrong.  Once it is something to do with the PLP, she cannot see straight.  She will wangle, and twist it and contort it until it comes out that it is always the fault of the PLP.  That is how we begin our attack on Eileen Carron who is the Publisher of The Tribune and therefore responsible for its editorial comment.
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke to the reporter from The Tribune with a simple comment that he was travelling to visit Trinidad and Tobago as the representative of the Prime Minister at the emergency Heads of Government Conference there to tell the story of The Bahamas and the damage that had been done here.  That comment got twisted by The Tribune's publisher in the editorial of Wednesday 15th to mean that because of false pride The Bahamas is not getting the aid that it requires from the outside world.  By her reckoning, if the Prime Minister had simply declared The Bahamas a disaster area then aid would come rushing into The Bahamas.  But that is simply not so.
    What is the excuse for Grenada's situation where a formal declaration was made and where it is clear that there is a disaster out of all proportion to anything that we have experienced in modern times in the Caribbean region?  The United States responded with the usual $50,000.  The British responded with a ship and that ship has left.  Where is the aid that has come rushing in?  If it were not for Caricom countries, the situation in Grenada would be dire indeed.  Declaring a state of emergency should not make a difference and would not make a difference when the need is so great and so obvious.
    Most people these days get their news from the media.  And while the official agencies like CDERA that is responsible for disaster management in Caricom countries were aware of the damage, the people of the Caricom countries were not aware because the media did not hear The Bahamas story.  That was because the reporters who came to The Bahamas were largely based in Nassau and did not bother to tell Grand Bahama's story.
    The Minister returned to The Bahamas on Saturday 18th September saying that Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago will be visiting The Bahamas during the week to tour the damage.  He also said that he had accomplished his mission. You may click here for his statement to the Caricom heads meeting.
    One thing should be clear: a country before seeking resources from the outside often tries to see whether or not it can help itself.  Nothing wrong with that particularly when other countries are worse off than your country.
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MINISTER IS HONOURED IN FLORIDA

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service was honoured at a banquet at Florida International University along with Janet Reno, the former US Attorney General and Professor Lawrence Howard of the University of Pittsburgh as community builders.  Mr. Mitchell received the award on Friday 17th September for building international community.  Earlier in the day he gave a lecture at the Florida Memorial Campus in Miami on the subject Fostering International Community. In it he thanked the people of the United States and Florida in particular for “their extraordinary generosity” in helping the victims of the hurricane. You may click here for the full address.
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SCHOOL REOPENS, LIFE GETTING BACK TO NORMAL
    The Bahamas’ school system primary, secondary and tertiary is up and running again.  The only schools that could not open on Monday 13th September were the schools in Grand Bahama, some schools in Abaco and in San Salvador.  All of the other schools were open.  It was an exciting first day for many students, with the opening having been delayed because of Hurricane Frances.  A curious affect that the storm has had is that bees seem to be swarming all round some schools.  Some argue that the hives were disrupted as a result of the high winds and the bees are simply disoriented.
    There were reports of shortages of one kind or another and the need for some additional repairs but in the main the opening appears to have gone well despite the setback of the hurricane.  Even in Grand Bahama, the announcements are beginning to be made as of Friday 16th September that some schools would be open for limited enrolment.  Students were asked to bring along their own supplies of water and lunch.
 
 

AN INQUIRY INTO THE INQUIRY
    The Tribune is apparently upset that it can’t get its hands on the report of the Commission of Inquiry that appeared to have been leaked to the Bahama Journal before even members of the Government have read it.  So to do the Journal one better they ran a story in which they complained or reported complaints that the leaking of the report should be investigated because it serves to prejudice the rights of the clients of Wayne Munroe, the loquacious President of the Bar, who represented some of the Defence Force officers before the inquiry.  Just how that follows is not clear.
    If the report is faithfully being reported, leaked or not, that is the report.  The words and conclusions of the report won't change because it was leaked.  Even if the words from the leaked report are not correct, how can a report, not libellous, by a newspaper of what they say is in the report be charged to the Tribunal of fact in the Inquiry as being prejudicial?  A strange logic indeed!  Mr. Munroe and The Tribune should come again.
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COURT OF APPEAL ON SIDNEY STUBBS
    The Court of Appeal, headed by the enigmatic Joan Sawyer, has given its’ final decision in the matter of Sidney Stubbs MP and his appeal to the Court of an order of Bankruptcy handed down by Justice Jeanne Thompson on 30th March 2004.  The Justices of Appeal confirmed on Thursday 16th September that they did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter and that the best alternative they could see was for Mr. Stubbs to go before the judge who handed down the ruling and get it discharged.  That is what Mr. Stubbs is doing.  He also, we understand, has appealed the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Privy Council.  The matter is to come before Justice Jeanne Thompson 22nd September.
    If Mr. Stubbs is successful, then the matter should go away.  If not, there is only the Privy Council left.  Parliament has to pass a resolution to extend Mr. Stubbs right to be a Member of Parliament while he prosecutes his appeal by 25th September.  If it is not done by then, then he has to vacate the seat.  So the PLP is watching and waiting.  No one wants a bye election right now.  The matter has been further complicated by unfortunate remark by the attorney for Mr. Stubbs Keod Smith who the other side in the matter now accuses of contempt of court.
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BRADLEY ROBERTS ASKS QUESTIONS
    The Minister of Works asked the question at a seminar on National Anti Terrorism Legislation on Thursday 15th September of the experts who were gathered there.  He wanted to know why the concentration on the war on terror world wide without answering the question of whether or not the war in Iraq was not a contributor to world wide terrorism.  The seminar was sponsored by the Organization of American States, the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Office of the Attorney General in The Bahamas.
    Mr. Roberts was quoted by the Nassau Guardian as saying: “We are in the dark, especially about observing the continuing crisis, and the wanton loss of life.  And we are just perplexed that the United Nations which is supposed to be the umbrella body for the countries that make up this world of ours  - declaring that as being illegal and seeing what is emanating from there and the ongoing loss of life - as to how the devil are we going to get out of that mess.”
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LAYOFFS IN GRAND BAHAMA AND IN NASSAU
    The Royal Oasis, aka Princess Hotels, in Grand Bahama have announced that they are laying off of its employees, some 1300 save for the Gift Shop, Security and Engineering staffs.  They promise to reopen the hotel in February.  This is a great blow to Grand Bahama, and one of the hidden stories of the effects of the Hurricane.  Unemployment is silently soaring.
    In New Providence, Bahamas Food Services, the largest food wholesaler, laid off one hundred workers saying that the purchases from the hotels have fallen off drastically as a result of the storm and they could no longer keep the employees on staff.  The Government now faces the question of what to do about the greater hardship that is now being inflicted on people: no home, no food, little water and now no job.  Freeport News photo of Royal Oasis employees waiting for word of layoffs by Lededra Marche.
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PLP CONVENTION POSTPONED
    The Progressive Liberal Party has announced that after a unanimous vote of its National General Council on Thursday 15th September, the 39th annual convention has been postponed until a later date.  The convention was scheduled to be held in Grand Bahama from 11th November to 20th November.  It was felt that having the convention would not be a good signal to the people of Grand Bahama, partying while the hurricane just passed over and caused destruction.
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PERRY TURNER DIES
    Perry Don Turner, an immigration officer and the brother of attorney Michael Turner and Edward Turner, died on 29th August after a brief illness.  He was 51 years old at the time of his death.
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VOTING FOR TONIQUE
    E-mails flew fast and furious throughout the online Bahamian community urging one and all to cast electronic votes for Olympic star Tonique Williams Darling.  Gold medal winner of the women's 400 metre Olympic race and winner of $500,000 for going undefeated all year, Tonique was among those up for ‘Female Athlete of the Year’ and ‘Best Women's Performance 2004’ at the International Athletic Association’s website www.iaaf.org.  The results were due out today, Sunday 19th September, but as we go to upload, the voting is closed, but the results not yet published.  Good luck, Tonique.  Image of Tonique in the final 'Golden League' race courtesy of www.iaaf.org / Getty Images
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ALPHONSO BOWE OFF TO THE RACES
    Bahamian businessman Alphonso Bowe has announced a foray into the world of thoroughbred horse racing.  Mr. Bowe, who is involved in several businesses in South Africa, among which is a world famous winery, is circulating a brochure detailing 'Arrowpoint Racing' and its 2004 Bahamas International Thoroughbred Racing Teams.  We thought it made interesting reading.  Please click here.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bahamian Students
    The government exercised an amazing expression of responsibility by evacuating the 80 plus students from Jamaica and Grenada while Hurricane Ivan approached.  However in the long run, this is not the solution and I am sure our leaders are aware of this.
    Because there was no real contingency plan in place to ensure the safety of our Bahamian students in these countries, the government had to make a decision and it was indeed the correct one.  Now the government should sit down with the governments and the schools throughout the region and work out a system so that our students may have comfortable and efficient safety in the event of a natural disaster.
    I believe we shouldn't have to evacuate people unless there is a severe health epidemic or civil unrest that is to a degree that the safety of our students is not satisfied to our standards.
    I am sure that when the Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs sit down with their counterparts throughout the region, to assess the situations that have come about as a result of this hurricane season, that this issue amongst others will be addressed.  If left as is, expectations of evacuation to safety may be high, while the availability of funds to carry out this operation, possibly multiple times during a hurricane season may be very low.
    The government in light of the circumstances made a sensible decision.
Serfent Rolle

Hurricane Relief
    I live in Exuma but have family and friends in Grand Bahama.  One family member has said that the relief at the Harbour in Freeport has been very disorganized.  It was fantastic that the Grand Bahama Port Authority placed Sir Albert Miller in charge of their team.  I do not know if he is charged with organising relief at the harbour.  I would not be surprised if he is, seeing that he has military training.  My advice would be that planning of relief be under military auspices in times of crisis.  They have the technical training to deal with crowd control and logistics.
    I am sure that we have all learned from this experience.  It could have been worse yes, but we can perform better in the future with proper planning.  We also need to deal with the building code and the corrupt building inspection process throughout the country.  We need to place low tension power lines underground for all new subdivisions.  These are much more important matters to be dealt with when things settle down rather than focusing on the nonsense about ‘mandatory evacuation legislation’
Steve Saunders

Ironic
    It is ironic that you bash the U.S. week after week in your tabloid paper and then yell, “Why don't they help us”.  You can't have it both ways.  Respect breeds respect.  You also have to remember that each hurricane this year has hit different Caribbean islands, but every one has hit The U.S., disrupting the southern U.S. economy and causing billions of dollars in damage.   They are currently evacuating millions of people in preparation for IVAN landfall tonight.  Do you expect them to drop that and run to the aid of other countries?
    I, for one, love Grand Bahama and the people of Grand Bahama, but when the U.S. is overwhelmed with thousands of homeless and billions of dollars in damage, you can't expect them to make other countries their top priority.
Cal Morrison
 
 

HURRICANE PHOTO ESSAY IN 2ND EDITION
    For readers who may be interested, we present a photo essay of images from Hurricane Frances in The Bahamas by Bahamas Information Services Peter Ramsay.
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THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

    In the midst of managing the government's continuing response to the effects of Hurricane Frances, Prime Minister Perry Christie spent must of this past week lending his presence to significant donations to the national Hurricane Relief Fund.  Principal among this past week's contributions was $100,000 from the People's Republic of China.  The Chinese Ambassador to The Bahamas saying that his country and this were both "developing nations" and that China considered it a "bounden duty" to help.  Mr. Christie is shown at top looking on as the Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of the Fund James Smith receives the Chinese donation.
    Later in the week, the Prime Minister accepted the emotional enthusiasm of Bahamian students being returned to university in Jamaica following their evacuation by The Bahamas Government but struck a sober noted.  Mr. Christie reassured the students that they were loved, but cautioned them to make the most of their opportunities in higher education for themselves and the country.  BIS photos by Peter Ramsay.



 
 
26th September, 2004
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SIDNEY STUBBS R.I.P.?... HURRICANE JEANNE RETURNS...
WHAT THE MANNING VISIT MEANS... THE FOREIGN MINISTER IN WASHINGTON...
THE US - FRIEND OR FOE? ARTHUR FOULKES DOES A NUMBER ON US...
PREPARING FOR THE WORST IN US ELECTIONS... DAME DORIS JOHNSON SCHOOL ON STRIKE...
THE FOREIGN MINISTER TO ADDRESS THE UN... IMPERIAL LIFE DEAL NIXED?...
THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY REPORTS... THE STORY OF CAT STEVENS...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR... THIS WEEK WITH THE PM...
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK - It was an emotional and moving moment for all sides both PLP and FNM, the independents too – they were all one side; the Bahamian side.  It was a moving experience too for the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning.  True to his promise to Prime Minister Perry Christie he came to The Bahamas on Tuesday 21st September to inspect the damage in Grand Bahama and then he flew to Nassau.  The next morning, the House of Assembly granted the Prime Minister an honour that no one in living memory could recall.  He was allowed by the unanimous consent of the House to Address the House of Assembly.  Mr. Manning said that this was the first time in his entire political life that such an honour had been bestowed upon him, and that he had never addressed another Parliament in session other than that of Trinidad and Tobago.  He called for greater regional co-operation and integration in the face of the hurricanes that have so badly affected the region.  The MPs pounded on the table.  The House then suspended for fifteen minutes to allow Members to meet the Prime Minister.  Mr. Manning said that Trinidad and Tobago would give The Bahamas $500,000 to its hurricane relief fund.  That then is our photo of the week: Patrick Manning at the Bar of the Bahamian House of Assembly addressing the members. The Bahamas Information Services photo is by Peter Ramsay.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THEY JUST DON’T’ GET IT
Last week there was a pretty angry letter to the Editor from an American citizen who lives in The Bahamas.  He writes to the column from time to time.  One must guess that after last week’s guest editorial, if he read it, he must be especially livid.  The thrust of his letter was that we [The Bahamas, Bahamians or this column] are always bashing the United States but when we run into trouble, we call to the US for help. He just doesn’t get it.

No one is bashing the United States.  Speaking the truth frankly about the United States is not bashing the United States.  At least no more than the insulting words and phrases often used to talk down to Caribbean leaders by US public officials of lesser rank is bashing those leaders.  But we can see how he could see it that way.  The United States and many of its citizens feel a great sense of injury since 11th September 2004.  They cannot understand why others do not feel that sense of injury.  Of course, the first thing is that it did not happen to any other country in quite the same way.  But the other thing is that notwithstanding the great and acknowledged injury to the United States by the events of 11th September, the response by the United States has now coloured people's responses.  The hassle to travel there.  The insults from their national leaders toward other national leaders.  The sense that only they have been wronged which gives them a divine right to crusade.  It goes on and on.

There is a distinction to be drawn, however between the people (citizens) of the United States and the people who presently occupy the Government and who appear to be on track to be the Government again.  The individuals that you meet from the United States, including some of the very persons in the Government who pursue vicious anti foreign polices in the US government, are the very pictures of decorum and graciousness.  The Foreign Minister has said in a recent address that the people of the state of Florida have shown extraordinary generosity toward the people of The Bahamas in their time of need in the hurricane.

The response of the Government of the United States on the other hand to the region's difficulties, one that feeds off the US and from which the US feeds has been inadequate.  The response of officials to the scale of the destruction by the hurricanes does not match the moral responsibility which a country of the wealth of the US has.  Further, this is exacerbated when one sees the absolute waste of resources in Iraq bombing a people back into the Stone Age without any apparent success otherwise.  The resources put into Iraq – spent wisely - could cause the region to blossom and bloom.  Of course that aint gonna happen, and the US at the official level has only a marginal interest in this region.  Since there is unlikely to be a change politically in Washington any time soon, that attitude of indifference is unlikely to change.
 

There is a further distinction that we mean to draw.  That is that The Bahamas in our view does not need to call upon the United States or any other developed country for aid to help with the hurricane.  All the aid and grants are appreciated.  There was clearly some emergency assistance needed and after Hurricane Jeanne that emergency assistance is needed more than ever.  But in our view, this country has the capacity within its own resources and given time and assistance to access cheap money, to recover from what the hurricanes throw at us.  Not so Grenada, not so Haiti.  The response of the US to those two countries is pitifully inadequate.  If that is bashing the US, then so be it.

Bahamians should be giving something to Grenada, Haiti and Jamaica.  Bahamians should be contributing manpower and materials and even some finances to the international effort.  As a relatively well off country, we must not get into the beggar bowl syndrome of Caribbean politics, while we know that we can do most of this on our own, properly planned and properly getting our economy back up and running.

Even Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada had the same thing to say to the BBC about Grenada, which was that even his country must first and foremost try to re-establish itself from its own resources before relying on others.  That is the essence of independence and sovereignty.  It is something that another letter writer to this website, this one British, seemed to miss when he criticized our comment in an earlier editorial about the irony of a Grenadian Prime Minister having to rely on the British, the former colonial power to save himself when his house collapsed in Grenada during the storm.

Both the British and the US writers seemed to miss the point.  No one is saying that we are not thankful for the assistance, but the fact is the Caribbean itself should have been more and better prepared.  But quite apart from the own lacking in our national leaders and the lack of preparedness of our countries in these emergencies, US and British policies in the international arena have tended to undermine the economic progress of Caribbean countries.  Not complaining but just stating the fact.  Dominica and bananas is just one example.

The fact is that the Caribbean region, The Bahamas included, is joined at the hip to the United States.  The US is joined to us.  What we have to do is to translate this extraordinary outpouring of affection that the Foreign Minister ascribed to individual citizens in the US into official policy from the US.  Until then, there will always be this idle complaint that we are US bashing and we will always be saying but you just don't get it.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 26th September 2004 at midnight: 50,242.

Number of hits for the month of September up to Saturday 26th September 2004 at midnight: 181,962.

Number of hits for the year 2004 up to Saturday 26th September 2004 at midnight: 1,927,436.


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SIDNEY STUBBS R.I.P.?
    Hubert Ingraham, the former Prime Minister, is now a doctor.  He has pronounced Sidney Stubbs, the bankrupted MP for Holy Cross politically dead on arrival.  He is also a priest and a prophet.  He told the House of Assembly on Thursday 23rd September that no matter what the PLP said or thought Sidney Stubbs was finished and he wasn’t coming back.  You know what this column’s advice has been on this matter.  Too much valuable time and capital has been wasted on this matter.  It should have been dispensed with when it happened and we should have been on to other things.  But that is history.  The leadership of the party made the decision to stick by the fellow to the bitter end and allow him the opportunity to save his seat and prevent a bye-election.
    We took the position of the old adage, which we quote again: ‘he may have been a bad fellow, but he is our bad fellow’.
    Mr. Ingraham took the opportunity in the House to play lawyer.  Mr. Stubbs now has a review of the matter before Justice Jeanne Thompson, who has adjourned the matter to 9th November while she goes on vacation.  He changed lawyers.  Keod Smith MP is out and Thomas Evans Q.C. is in.  Mr. Stubbs has also reportedly appealed for special leave to the Privy Council.  We shall see what happens.
    Helping to dance on the grave of Sidney Stubbs on Thursday was the Leader of the Opposition out of the House Senator Tommy Turnquest.  He and his sidekick Carl Bethel, the Chairman of the FNM and former Attorney General, with visions of a return to the House dancing in his head, were on the pavement, sweating in the sun in an FNM demonstration on Thursday 23rd September, and making the point that Mr. Stubbs should go and that the PLP was abusing the process of Parliament by engaging in the constitutionally laid out exercise of extending the time for Mr. Stubbs to appeal his case.
    Inside the House tempers were flaring over the subject as well.  Ken Russell, part of the FNM's brain trust, aka Ken the miserable, never one to stick to the point, was agitated by the Government for even bringing the subject up.  He said that while others were suffering from the hurricane, the Government was using valuable time and resources to protect one of its own.  The extension is necessary because the Speaker had run out of the authority to extend Mr. Stubbs' right to stay on while an appeal is being pursued.  After 150 days, the House must pass a resolution agreeing to the extension.
    Whatever the outcome of the matter, at least for now the PLP has some time to pursue what options might be available to the party, including the expensive thought of a bye-election should it be necessary.  TOP:  Tommy Turnquest (right) and Carl Bethel (left) during the FNM demonstration outside the House of Assembly.  Nassau Guardian / Patrick Hanna.  RIGHT: The day following the House of Assembly debate, Stan Burnside's 'Sideburns' in the Nassau Guardian published this screamer.
 
 

HURRICANE JEANNE RETURNS

    In The Bahamas, we should be asking ourselves; did we rob the church?  The same areas that were hit by Hurricane Frances not a month ago were hit and hit hard yesterday by Hurricane Jeanne.  We thought that Jeanne was gone, but the darn thing seemed to have a mind of its own and turned back and hit the northern Bahamas.  The islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama experienced the eye of the Hurricane measuring 25 miles right over their communities.
    The eye of the hurricane passed over Pelican Point in Grand Bahama, and Marsh Harbour, Abaco.  West End, Pinder's Point, Freeport were all soaked wet again.  Roofs were off, and flooding occurred.  Early reports are that eastern Freeport was also hard hit by the flooding from the tidal surges.  The Bahamas government has a lot to account for now in the way it handles this crisis.  Its term of office could well be determined by how it responds to this double crisis.
    People are severely traumatized and need help quickly.  We know that there have been criticisms of delay in dealing with repairs and customs free products coming into The Bahamas.  The whole process of hurricane relief by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) starts now all over again.  Thankfully, there was no loss of life. NOAA image of Hurricane Jeanne; AP image of a resident with jelly coconuts to ride out the storm from BBC Caribbean.
 
 

WHAT THE MANNING VISIT MEANS
    The visit of Patrick Manning signals a stronger link with the Caricom countries.  The Foreign Ministry has engaged in a concerted effort over the past two years in trying to sensitize Bahamians to the need to have good Caricom relations.  Mr. Manning came bearing a gift of $500,000 for hurricane relief.  Before him the Turks and Caicos Island Chief Minister came calling with a gift of $200,000.  These were important signals to the Bahamian people from our neighbours, that they care for us and want us to be a part of them.
    There has been no talk in The Bahamas about not having a relationship with Caricom now.  Let us hope that people remember that when the chips were down, our Caricom partners came to be with us and stood with us.  All of those leaders who spoke at the United Nations came to our support, asking for assistance to the region and to our country as a result of the hurricane. The Bahamas must become part of Caricom formally.  We should wait no longer.  The region requires a more integrated and common approach to the problems that face us.
    We agree with Andrew Allen who wrote in his column last week in The Tribune that the region must be able to better prepare for this kind of emergency and rely first on its own resources.  It is a point that Prime Minister Perry Christie sought to make that seemed to exasperate his officials.  The Prime Minister believes that in the first instance The Bahamas must be able to rely on our own resources before calling on the resources of other countries.  As you know from our editorial position, we support that view.
    We are glad that Mr. Manning came and we hope that the visit inures to the benefit of better relations between ourselves and our Caricom neighbours.  TOP: Prime Minister Manning, accompanied by Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell is shown being greeted on arrival in Grand Bahama by the Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of The Prime Minister, Ann Percentie MP and other senior officials.  RIGHT: Opposition leaders Alvin Smith, centre, and Brent Symonette, left, meet Prime Minister Manning during the recess of the House.  Bahamas Information Services photos / Peter Ramsay
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THE FOREIGN MINISTER IN WASHINGTON
    Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister of The Bahamas, travelled to Washington at the start of the week for a meeting with the Caribbean Congressional Caucus.  This is a group of bi-partisan members of the United States Congress who want to help lobby for Caribbean issues.
    The members of the caucus are: Donald Payne (D New Jersey), Co-Chair and Rep. Bob Ney (R- Ohio), Co-Chair; Donna Christensen, (D Virgin Islands); James Clyburn (D South Carolina); Alcee Hastings (D Florida); Barbara Lee (D California); Kendrick Meek (D Florida); Gregory Meeks (D New York); Charles Rangel (D New York); Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D Ohio); Steve Chabot (R Ohio); Phil English (R Pennsylvania); Tom Feeney (R Florida); Katherine Harris (R Florida); Pete Sessions (R Texas); John Sweeney (R New York).
    Discussions are to centre on trying to get aid for Caribbean hurricane relief.  Leaders of the Caribbean have been lobbying all the developed countries to assist with the relief efforts particularly those in Grenada and in Haiti.  The Bahamas is also making a case for the damage to be known, particularly as it has had a second strike on the same areas that Hurricane Frances struck not even a month ago.
    The meeting with the Caucus was on Wednesday 22nd September.  The next day the Minister represented The Bahamas at the inauguration of the new Secretary General of the Organization of American States.
 
 

THE US - FRIEND OR FOE?
    Prime Minister Perry Christie is scheduled to make a major address 1st October in Miami at a conference of the Miami Herald newspaper, entitled the US - Friend or Foe?  Mr. Christie is expected to lay out in detail the way forward for relations and the historic friendship between the countries of the Caribbean and the United States.  Mr. Christie is to be accompanied by Fred Mitchell, the Foreign Minister of The Bahamas.
 
 

ARTHUR FOULKES DOES A NUMBER ON US
    We keep saying to the PLP that they need a voice out there that will provide the antidote to the unremitting propaganda and misinformation that it being spewed forth in the public domain.  From Ivan Johnson and Chris Lunn, from Eileen Carron to Michel Harajchi, there is a stream of negative news and commentary which is directed at the PLP.  Arthur Foulkes and Andrew Allen, while in a different class from that first crew, do quite a number on the PLP.  The cast of old characters is at it again, and they are having, together with the new cast, a field day.  It was interesting in that light to see the comments of Sir Arthur Foulkes, who writes a weekly column for The Tribune.  In his column of Tuesday 21st September, he described this site as a propaganda site invented by Fred Mitchell and proceeded in a clever way to ascribe the views of this site as close enough to the Minister’s.
    On another page of The Tribune, and on another day Andrew Allen, the son of another knight, Sir William Allen, described this site as Fred Mitchell’s champion site.  He would have been more correct to describe us as the PLP's champion site, and unabashedly so.  It is our good fortune that truth and cause often coincide.
    Sir Arthur said that what was written on this site about the hurricane relief, in defence of the Government was in part a big fat lie, namely that the FNM left no structure in place to deal with hurricane relief.  He took issue of why there were delays in relief efforts as being the fault of the bureaucracy.  He conveniently forgot the fact of the public outcry in 1992 when goods arrived from the United States into Abaco and were turned away at the airport in 1992’s hurricane relief effort for Hurricane Andrew when the Customs officers demanded that duty be paid on the hurricane relief items.  Surely no one would say that the Government deliberately did it.  It was a bureaucratic snafu, and it is clear that customs has still not learned its lesson from that time to this.
    Sir Arthur also believed that The Tribune was doing its job by pointing out the Government’s shortcomings during the hurricane.  We are sure it was doing its job but we disagree on what that job is.  Their job is to promote the FNM and its interests and so there is a certain suspicion about their lack of editorial objectivity.  Eileen Carron cannot see good in the PLP even if it were right in front of her nose.  Well, he is entitled to his opinion but it is the PLP that we need to address on this issue and his criticisms.  Find your voice!  Even Foulkes and Allen, enemies of the PLP, recognize that in this world of politics there must be an argument made.  In other words, the other side must be heard.  The politics of the country is nonsense without it.
    So where is the information to get to supporters about what the PLP's polices are and why the decisions are being made the way they are?  Right now we would venture to say that it is this site that dares to provide the answers, and Arthur Foulkes’ condemnation is to us the perfect backhanded compliment for which we thank him that indicates that this is so.  Walk into any PLP MP’s constituency office, what material is there to put in the hands of supporters?
    We repeat what we said in a previous column and it is not a big fat lie, the FNM left no structure, in fact no records of what was done and why it was done on hurricane relief.  All of that was apparently taken with Hubert Ingraham in his head when the Bahamian people dispatched him into semi-retirement in 2002.
 
 

PREPARING FOR THE WORST IN US ELECTIONS
    When the year started, there was some quiet hope amongst Caribbean leaders that perhaps, just perhaps there might be a change in the regime in Washington that might make it easier to deal with the authorities in Washington about Caribbean issues.  The feeling was amongst many that if the administration changed in Washington, they might just get the Caribbean on the agenda of the United States, and have a better time at trying to make a case for good relations.  There would no longer be the policy of poking people in the eye as a substitute for good international relations.
    It now appears that the John Kerry Campaign of the Opposition Democrats in the United States is imploding, not because he does not make a compelling case for change, but the way campaigns often get structured, the issues don't seem to be surfacing in a way that shows that the people of the United States are listening.  The BBC carried a headline on their website ‘THE WORLD WANTS KERRY’ it says.  Unfortunately, the world does not vote.  Only the people of the United States vote.
    It appears that there will not be a close election this time either.  The Democrats don’t seem to have done their homework in so many areas that there is now a muted sense of despair especially in the Black community in the United States that the period of mean is going to continue in Washington.  That also spells doom and gloom in the minds of many of the nations of the Caribbean, that they are in for another tough four years. The song says: Lord! How long?
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DAME DORIS JOHNSON SCHOOL ON STRIKE

    Belinda Wilson is a teacher at the Dame Doris Johnson High School.  She is also a union shop steward who is seeking office in the next Union elections.  Ms. Wilson, without recourse to the proper procedures of the industrial agreement, called the teachers out of the school because there are four teachers that are needed to fill the classes, and there are some equipment problems.
    The Ministry of Education was caught unawares when the teachers decided on Tuesday 21st September to walk off the job in protest of the fact that were are not sufficient janitors at the school and not sufficient teachers.  We believe that these are serious concerns, which the Government has to address.
    The situation with the lack of teachers is serious enough but the matter with the lack of janitors across the system is a scandal, a time bomb waiting to happen if the Government does not act to solve this problem.  School janitresses are being overworked, and the schools are sometimes having to rely on teachers to clean the schools because of the lack of janitresses.  We do not believe that Ms. Wilson causing a wildcat strike is the answer.  Students outside Doris Johnson school in this Nassau Guardian photo by Patrick Hanna.
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THE FOREIGN MINISTER TO ADDRESS THE UN
The annual address of The Bahamas at the United Nations will be delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell on Thursday 30th September.  Mr. Mitchell will be in The Bahamas for Parliament to mark the 275th anniversary of the Parliament of The Bahamas on Wednesday 29th September, he will then join Prime Minister Perry Christie who is expected to deliver an address in Miami on 1st October at a Miami Herald conference: The United States - friend or Foe?
 
 

IMPERIAL LIFE DEAL NIXED?
    The news is not good for Colina, which had its eye on Imperial Life.  Imperial Life’s Canadian owners want to get out of The Bahamas.  The name is to disappear after more than one hundred years of doing business in The Bahamas.  The pressure is coming on the Government to approve the sale or perhaps, just perhaps Imperial might close the whole operation down and let the Bahamian employees go.
    Now comes the news that a study that was commissioned by the Government to look into whether or not the allegations of the opponents to the sale are correct about Colina monopolizing the market are correct is ready.  The newspapers say that the study says the deal should not go through, at least as now structured.  The reports of the study's conclusions is that maybe the company should be broken up and its parts sold, some might go to Colina.  But if it is to be sold in whole, then it should go entirely to another company or group of companies to stop the monopoly.
    Reportedly, the FNM, Colina and its lawyers take the position that Imperial does not need the Government’s authority to sell to Colina.  Some lawyers are sure that they are right.  In what the FNM thought was an attempt by Tiger Finalyson to monopolize the liquor business, the last Government tried to stop him and they lost all the way up to the highest court in the land.  But Imperial does not want to risk an argument with the Government and then have problems repatriating its profits.
    No official announcement has been made but the newspapers have been carrying leaks of the study.  Colina said that it is extremely troubled by the newspaper reports, and thinks that the study may have been biased.
    Some usual supporters of this column and its cause are thoroughly cheesed off with us for not supporting the Colina deal.  Life was never easy though, and the lack of contact is regretted.
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THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY REPORTS
    The Attorney General Alfred Sears has tabled the report of the Commission of Inquiry looking into the interdiction of the boat Lorequin in June 1992 and how the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and Royal Bahamas Police Force dealt with the matter.  One wonders in retrospect what the inquiry actually achieved.  No prosecutions are to result.  The Commission came to the same conclusion that the Police did at the time of their investigations.  They did not have evidence to support prosecutions.  But the report seemed to do the Defence Force officers even worse than they were before.  It reinforced the view of the Americans that the Defence Force officers were not fit to get visas to the US by saying in bold print that the Defence Force officers were responsible for taking some of the drugs.  So the nightmare of the accused but not charged Defence Force officers continues.  Beyond that there was a condemnation of the leadership of both the Police Force and the Defence force at the time.  This means reform must come in both Forces.  The report was tabled in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 22nd September.
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THE STORY OF CAT STEVENS
    Yusuf Islam is what he calls himself.  We used to know him as the entertainer Cat Stevens.  He was an icon for many of those who came up in the 1960s and 1970s with hits like ‘Morning Has Broken’ and ‘Wild World’.  Now the Americans have deported him from the United States, stopped his plane on the way to the States and booted him off under arrest and sent him back to Britain.  The ground is that he was mistakenly let on the plane, when he should have been stopped because he is on a “no fly” list. This is the same unlawful list Senator Edward Kennedy, the brother of a slain US President, was put on that took him 19 days from which to get his name deleted.
    The United States has clearly gone overboard.  Mr. Islam is a British citizen.  The British response was weak in defending their citizen's rights.  They simply said to Colin Powell, the Secretary of State of the US that it should not have happened.  The US response was to defend the unlawful decision.  Mr. Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, says he is going to take legal action.  But the world should be outraged at this nonsense.  You ask yourself what has gotten into the United States: detaining people without charge in prisons all over the world.  Abducting people and bringing them to trial in the United States or holding them incommunicado without charge or access to lawyers or their families.  Now deporting people without cause and without charge and refusing to say why.  Is this the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hurricane Response
    Your comment that the ultimate irony in Grenada's storm experience was that the Island's PM had to turn to the “former colonial master” and receive help from HMS ‘Richmond’ [Capt. MacCartain I believe] was really dismissive and ill-informed. All the West Indies Guard Ships [WIGs] depart the UK stocked with relief goods to assist in such emergencies in the Caribbean and I seem to remember that it was a Royal Navy helicopter that first flew over the Abacos some years ago after such a storm and gave help… This was followed by well meaning Americans flying in on their own initiative to Marsh Harbour bringing relief goods for which the Customs demanded payment!… They then left I understand!
    Let us have less of this carping and some appreciation for the Royal Navy whose sailors would “move heaven and earth” to help genuine victims in storm or other emergency situations.  They also do a good job in preventing some of the powdery stuff devastating distant, foreign communities…
With kind regards,
John Hinchliffe

We think that this is missing the point of the comment (see editorial above).  The point is not ingratitude for the service provided.  But Caribbean countries say they are independent.  Independent means that you can take care of yourself, which is presumably why you separated from the colonial master.  You must agree that there is an irony in the Prime Minister of Grenada having to be rescued on a British ship, given the historical circumstances.  No insult or dismissal was intended.  Captain Hinchliffe is a former top executive of Freeport Harbour, now back in England, and knows the Caribbean well. – Editor.

Kudos for Guest Editorialist
The 'Comment of the Week,' done by Sharon Zoe Smith is an exceptionally well-written article.  This is the first time I have been on the website, and I was very pleased with the writings.  Keep up the good work!
D.R.

You can be sure that Ms. Smith will be again invited to contribute and that your comments are generally appreciated.  Thank you for reading and please keep reading. - Ed.
 
 

THIS WEEK WITH THE PM

    It was an important moment in the development of the country's regional relations (see WHAT THE MANNING VISIT MEANS).  Prime Minister Perry Christie is shown at top receiving Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning at the House of Assembly where Mr. Manning addressed the House from the Bar.  At right, the Prime Ministers are shown addressing the media at Nassau International Airport upon their arrival from a tour of hurricane damaged areas of Grand Bahama.  BIS photos by Peter Ramsay.