The Immigration Discrimination Situation

There seems to be ALOT of issues with illegal and legal immigrants. The main one being Haitians, being seen as a plague and a parasite to The Bahamas. Although so of the claims are correct, such as Haitians getting completely free health care while Bahamians pay ridiculous prices and horrible conditions at Princess Margaret. Then there's the outlandish, crazy, paranoid, Sandilands view of them. For instance that all Haitians practice "Obeah" which is known to be black magic. To assume that means to assume every Bahamian is Christian or every Bahamian drinks alcohol. As easy it is to blame Haitians for the majority of our problems, it's not fixing anything.. I guess people using black magic can be pretty scary. like Harry Potter movies because you know I can't sleep at night after watching those PG-13 scare fests. Then there's the fact the have hut villages on peoples property and in the back of the bush. Last time I checked we control the land, we have guns, vehicles, man power, so how about we use them? Its pretty common sense, they don't have much places to hide if they really are a hindrance to your daily lives. Legal Haitians aren't safe either, they get as much backlash just for being Haitian decent or speak Creole'. About every other immigrants such as Europeans, South Americans, Asians, and North Americans. Pretty much if they bring money or good looks they are seen as an assets to be exploited. Bahamians as I have known are pretty hardcore we can stand by an lets things happen for a while but when you push us to far we blow up and go balls deep. Sooner or later its going to happen with this situation and there seems to be no end of it, kind of exciting really imagine how much street cred we would get with other countries. Seems like every country is having an uprising I think we are long overdue, the sheer amount of conch shells being thrown through the air in it self would be awesome.

"Hey guys what are we gonna do when they find their own rocks?.......Crap"

Weirdest things Bahamian male teens do

Teenagers are in a tough place where they aren't quite an adult, and not quite a child so there's a lot of confusion and angst. When you hear the word "Teen" anywhere else would think rebellious, moody, confused, and crazy. The male teen population in the Bahamas are on another whole different level, and here's proof.

"My girlfriend of one week left me I loved her, its true it was on facebook and everything"

!. The wholesale purchases of Starch
For some odd reason male teens seem to think their clothes are not nearly hang glider material worthy. Usually when someone irons they spray a little starch to prevent wrinkles or to get rid of wrinkles, but not teenagers we are hardcore. Teens spray down their shirts and pants with so much starch it looks like their clothes were folded and spent a century under 20,000 pounds of pressure. I have no idea where it started or why, and I don't think they know themselves. At some point some kid figured one spray of starch is for pussies, and I am a bad lets go all out. He was probably confused about the application of starch and then went to school with his uniform and his friends thought the paper bag look was hip. The end result was an awkward robotic moving teenagers with starch lines that seem to resemble they were attacked by snails.

"Because just regular starch are for punks, but lavender smells soooooo good"

2. Pants in socks
I have no clue why teenagers even do this. Maybe they didn't want the bottom of their pants to get dirty? Or they love the feeling of having their body heat trapped, and having quarts of sweat slosh around in their under garments. Just putting pants in normal white socks aren't just enough, we have to make it a fashion. Blue socks, Red socks, Brown socks, plaid designs, star designs, checkered designed, multi-colored, a whole array of socks to match the outfit they are wearing. Combined with stiff paper bag starch pants and we have a match made in heaven.

"Nothing expresses teen angst and fashion like socks in pants, plus I love looking like a idiot"

3. Leaving a patch of hair uncut
Getting a haircut is pretty commonplace amongst men, we do it to look good for women, relief from the heat, and get/keep a job. Some rain man of a teen decided I'm a cut above the rest, to display that I will leave a small area of hair uncut.That surely would go over well. The end result was teenagers strolling around with discount haircuts, and very shady looking characters walking around. Oh no it doesn't stop there, some teens figured just one patch wasn't cool and bad ass enough. How about we not cut the whole back of my head and call it a shag, yes a shag the ugly 60s carpet that died along with disco. Oh you thinks that's all? Nope since teenagers are easily influenced by other trends such as locks, not only did they have a patch of outgrown hair but they have started to lock it! So now they have hanging spaghetti strings coming out of their head like some bad Rasta experiment gone wrong.

"I'm ahead of the curve, I'm a trendsetter"

4. Obsession with Polo and Tommy Hilfiger
I like name brands as much as the next guy, but they aren't the only thing in my wardrobe. One step into the mall or a club in the Bahamas you start to notice a trend amongst the younger crowd. They all have on collared shirts! Not only that, they are wearing golfing clothes for everything from dress up day in high school to church. Yes Polo and Tommy Hilfiger were originally designed for the white middle to upper class those who golfed. Granted Bahamian teenagers aren't as silly with their collared shirts as a lot of Americans who flip the collars up like some 1850s Baron. Polo shirts and Starched pants are a must for a night on the town, not like your going to encounter someone wearing the same thing right? Awkwardddddddd.

"Hey ladies am I over stimulating your ovaries yet?"

5.Obviously they are going to return it after wearing it. Keeping the tags on everything.

The act of keeping the tags on clothes after buying them is to return them after wearing them once to look good for that outing. It can be a good idea for a teenager not making much money and only going on allowance, But here's the kicker they have STYLIZED THIS, Bahamian teenagers made it standard to show off the tags to show off that they purchased an article of clothing. Not only do they keep it on their shirts and pants, they have extended it to hats, watches, shoes, shades, and even socks I have witnessed. Imagine everyday you witness this rare oddity of a teen wearing brown bag approved starch pants tucked into socks, tags dangling off of them, and a patch of locked hair on their head. Scary right? Steve Urkle would be proud.

"My badges of honor, I have proof see?"

Irony. Funny in everyway possible

Ironic that obese, diabetic, unhealthy republicans are against free healthcare.

3 Things in Bahamian culture that are crazy to everyone else in the world

Every country has its weird quirks and stigmas that other countries find utterly weird ranging from men holding hands in India being normal to people running from a pack of raging bulls  in narrow streets.

 

"Dude look how jealous they are of our bromance"

1.  Bey we say bey a lot eh bey?

Every country has their own signature word from Jamaica's "Mon" to Mexico's "Ese'." Though we take it a step further usually the younger crowd will use these slang terms but not in the Bahamas everyone from senior citizens to little children say it with no discretion. We say it on TV, Radio, Government meetings, and even on the job. Bey is the equivalent to "dude" in American standards. Although the origins aren't quite clear but we speculate its a spinoff from the word "Boy" which were the slaves were called during the 1900s. When we say it when traveling or when tourist come to visit it takes them by surprise they assume we also say "Mon" because we are Caribbean, its pretty funny to see their faces trying to decipher what your saying. Its a cross between constipation and a bad smell.

 

"What? don't you mean how it go mon?"

2. We have a built in megaphone at birth

You know it, I know it, We all know it, we all have that aunt or uncle or cousin that just doesn't have complete control over their vocal cords. You can hear them while using a jackhammer in the middle of a hurricane. When you travel and you can hear a Bahamian before seeing one most of the time. When we were younger it can be incredibly embarrassing shopping with a loud relative, having everyone stare at you and thinking that they are thinking "who escaped from the asylum this time?" All you can do is walk off pretend that your relative is just some crazy person harassing you about which shirt fits them best.

"HEY WHICH STORE SHOULD WE GO IN NEXT? God please kill me now"

3. Directions are harder than navigating Narnia

Ever asked a Bahamian directions to their house? Good luck not even google maps can save you from the horror. Its a mix from getting a lucky turn that you stumble upon your destination or you have asked for every little detail that you follow it to the dot. Bahamians are bred to take the mismatch of obscure directions chock full of colored houses as an indication you are going the right way. For everyone else you have a better chance at Cloning dinosaurs.Cardinal directions are non existent in our vocabulary instead of saying "head north" its replaced with "when you see a yellow house turn right not the first one the second one with the dog in the yard but don't not the one with the potcake they got a pit." Take that Garmin we don't need your GPS, we should have the delivery man Olympics they are in a league of their own.

"Maybe I should try astrophysics next......"

Journalism at its worst in our own country

I decided to compare the different news sources of the Bahamas and what I found was staggering. I think I will start with the worst I found, Bahamas Press. This news source is by far the most biased, misinformed source I have ever seen. Fox News doesn't even compare. When I visit Bahamas Press I see articles like "Long Islanders cussin as female SISSY FNM campaign worker begs two young girls for sex." Yes this is an actual article they have written. Does this look like objective news to you? Or more like a lobbyist column supporting the PLP? I am not affiliated with any political party in particular, and I know that neither side is innocent from doing this, But why call yourselves "Press" if all you do support the PLP agenda? It pains me as an aspiring Journalist to see this, as these are the people who are suppose to be my seniors in this field. Next is the Tribune although they try to be impartial it seems that they aren't covering their stories completely, and following through. They get the basics of the story and run with it. Which isn't SO bad but lack luster to say the least. The Guardian is one of those papers that try to look and feel super professional, but they kind of slip through the cracks. The way the articles are presented to the way they prioritize certain headlines they seem to fumble. The Punch, c'mon its The Punch what more is there to say?

Vat 'Not Total' Tax Reform Answer Nail on the Proverbial head

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2012/jun/29/vat-not-total-tax-reform-answer/?c=3908

I have to agree with Raymond there are just way too many factors to factor in to balance and check in our unstable economy. It isn't just to generate revenue for now, its to help develop our country's economic strength. Could be a tricky one.

VAT wouldn't really work in the Bahamas at least without some other addendum. Seeing as how we are a Tourism based economy, it can be a real stretch to put a tax on top of a tip for a service provided. Maybe if we limit it to only luxury items purchased in the Bahamas then that would be a great starting point. Government makes money, consumers are less likely to complain because they don't need that good or service to live, and the money earned can pay for a lot of things.

JP Morgan in worse shape than previously thought.....

Apparently JP Morgan an investment bank, and all around super bank that does just about everything. Stated that they previously thought they had 2 billion dollars in deficit. Well they concluded its 9 billion, looks like that bailout was really effective....

Plp Education Pledge Only 'Double Talk' Lets Just Throw Money at It!!

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2012/jun/22/plp-education-pledge-only-double-talk/?c=3894

I read this article a little late but I discovered it nonetheless, and its pretty baffling. It seems that the only solution we could come up with everything is "lets just spend more money on it that will work" without first fixing the key issues.You just end up paying for the same thing on a bigger scale. A failing system.

Well I see that the focus on solving education are misplaced. Increasing the budget and building more schools in no way equates to children learning. It involves so many other factors to go along with it. Whats the child's home life like? Are the teachers actually any good? Are our standardized testing up to par? Are the children motivated enough to even try? Just bashing each other saying "oh we built this many schools and paid this money" OK so what was the result? We have a national D average, people seem to forget that even with all the schools the FNM built. If you build it they surely would come, but would they thrive? Its a better idea to cut cost and manage the money with more scrutiny. Just throwing money at a problem haphazardly isn't a real solution.

The new Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said he will soon be calling journalists to explain "what we expect of the media”. Should government have a say in how the media approaches news? OH COME ON!!

http://www.tribune242.com/polls/2012/jun/new-minister-education-jerome-fitzgerald-said-he-w/?c=3884

When I saw this poll I almost choked on my coffee, This was just calling out to me. I have soooo much to say about this topic but I had to drastically shorten it to keep people's attention, here is what I said.

We expect the media to deliver UNBIASED news which seems to be nearly impossible, each news source seems to have an obvious party which they support. The government should have little to no say on how the news should be approached. Many things can happen once government controls the media. They can change certain details to their liking, they can withhold information vital for the public to know, they can spread propaganda against an opposing party, they can spread lies about a dire situation just to appeal to the public when we have a right to know, and it can go on and on. Journalism is about seeking the truth behind closed curtains, bringing it to the public to see and let them decide how they want to interpret it. It doesn't work the other way around a Journalist is supposed to just report not decipher the information for you and feed you their views and give off the notion that it's fact. These days it seems journalism is starting to hide under a very dark veil of deception and corruption, which is very ironic in the information era we live in today.

Pm: Bahamas Facing The Toughest Economic Times Utter nonsense

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2012/jun/28/pm-bahamas-facing-the-toughest-economic-times/?c=3880

When I read this article I almost lost it just read my comment for yourself.
Oh boy Oh boy not even sure where to start so I'll be brief. We are in a crisis because our main industry is tourism so why invest MORE into that industry? It will not work, we may be the closest to Florida but that doesn't mean much when American tourist aren't spending money. Why on earth would you spend money we can't afford to spend on OTHER people besides ourselves? Not like everyone lives in tourists areas or works in that industry, we have to expand our portfolio, and CUT spending. How do you expect to "balance" the budget by spending majority of the money on tourism which everyone isn't going to do, and no way going to provide enough jobs to keep the quality of life up. What about the other islands? What are they going to do? Tourism isn't exactly their main focus. Just leaving them out to hang? Agriculture and fisheries must be dedicated to tourism? WHY? Why not have them farm and catch fish to be sold within the country and have a certain percentage exported to Florida? (since we are so close) and there is a HUGE market for fish and produce in South Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, etc. I really don't know what Perry is thinking.....It has been proven Tourism is not a reliable source of main income, and when the American economy collapses again (which it will always does) then what? We have no backup because we blew it all on tourism. Point is expand the portfolio, cut government spending, and establish our other industries to be more prominent.

Vote On Gambling 'Before End Of Year' It's pretty much a straight forward decision

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2012/jun/28/vote-on-gambling-before-end-of-year/?c=387
I noticed this article and quickly "face palm'd" at the sight of it, I get its a growing business venture but there's really no debate over this. Maybe the Christian council might have something to say they always do after all. Here's what I said on the site.
Whenever you make something illegal its taboo and ends up being more desired, unfortunately. The best thing to do is let Bahamians gamble, charge a permit fee, and a transaction fee for every bet placed at every numbers shop or whatever people think of. Channel that money into treasury and be frugal with the earnings, we are in insane debt and spending money as soon as we get our hands on the money is taking one step forward two steps back. I'm not even sure we should have a lottery thought seeing as we don't have a set tax system which we should really handle to pay for medical insurance, better social security, and a more organized public bus system it's down right horrid.

Activists demand tougher sentences for rapists...Oh really now......

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2012/jun/28/activists-demand-tougher-sentences-for-rapists/?c=3878
I was referred to this article from a friend and I found it interesting here's what I said.

This is the problem in our country, instead of being proactive we are being reactive which isn't the correct approach. Giving a longer sentence won't change their minds to commit rape, they aren't in a sane mindset to begin with, they're just looking for that instant gratification. 15 - life compared to 60 - life is no difference to criminals to them its do or die. Prison is supposed to be for rehabilitation not a money pit to waste for criminals who are probably never going to change because we do nothing to help them. I understand there's an outrage on the raping spree but where did we go wrong? We should pursue to fix the source not try to give harsher punishments to people who don't even care about other people, if they don't care for other people why would they care about themselves? Lack of empathy are signs of a sociopath. We have to tackle it at the source

Really Government?

We are willing to spend MILLIONS on roads but can't even upgrade our utilities, or even ZNS our national news station which is reminiscent of the 60s.....Seems Legit.

Capital punishment Solution? or Problem?

My stance on capital punishment isn't so black and white. There's soooooo many factors that goes along with it. For instance what if you find out the prisoner was innocent after you killed him/her already? History is there to help us learn from our mistakes and capital punishment was a mistake, what makes you any better than the accused if you are killing them as well? There might be retribution for the family of the victim but how long will that last? It wouldn't solve any crimes or somehow prevent them from happening if criminals have no alternatives.I do think there are a few exceptions for the real serious crimes, one murder is bad enough as it is, but why not give them a second chance after reform? Isn't it a Christian principle to give second chances or that doesn't apply somehow?

Will the healthcare reform effect the Bahamas?

In a general sense it will certainly effect the Bahamas on our main industry, Tourism. If people don't have to spend as much money on insurance or medical bills because it will be covered (if it isn't drastic like a big surgery, cosmetic surgery etc) then they would be more inclined to travel and more likely to come here, But it can also backfire the reform will raise government spending on medical spending which can cause tax increases, Thus people would be feeling the pressure and more reluctant to travel seeing as how cost of living is going up. We can only wait and see what happens the vote has only been passed over and there seems to be a huge backlash, especially against the Attorney General Eric Holder, The republicans are voting to hold Holder (kind of funny play on words) for contempt, which seems to be a ploy to hinder the progression of "Obamacare" but I doubt it will stick.

A little about me

I'm 20 years old, I'm an aspiring journalist who wants to focus on politics, current events, and social issues plaguing society. I LOVE talking about different viewpoints with people, I'm open to hearing all sides of an issue. I'm open to hearing what other people to say it takes more than a single person's idea to change something. I can sometimes be argumentative but who isn't when they are passionate about something :D. In my downtime I like to read books, watch sports games, exercising, and playing games (I am 20 after all lol.) If I can change at least one persons opinion on a matter then I'll feel accomplished.

Separation of Church and Government

We need the separation from religion and government. Its toxic you can't make laws based on religion just for the fact it isn't very practical, and not everyone has the same religious views, which leads to clashing on something that shouldn't even be an issue. Even as we claim to be a Christian nation there's different denominations that don't agree with one another and there in lies a huge problem. If you force a religion onto someone you are taking away human rights which is the right to choose which you believe in and think for yourself. If you force a certain idea on someone then other possibilities are blind sided and thrown away. Which hinders progression and critical thinking. Whats going to happen next? If you don't believe what I believe then you shall be thrown out? Or worse killed? Sounds familiar doesn't it? Hitler pretty much perfected that thought, and you saw what happened then. If a problem arises, instead of thinking of solutions for ourselves we tend to go the prayer route for a lot of our problems, instead of tackling things head on. We also have this idea that this country is protected by God so nothing bad will happen here, "We have God on our side we're untouchable!" The very same God who destroys cities in fire and brimstone without hesitation, not exactly something you want to invest in, and we seem to think since we are protected we don't need to do anything to prepare or defend ourselves. We are hit by hurricanes, and tropical storms annually and yet we seem to NEVER be prepared for them although we pretty much know its most likely going to happen every year. See the problem a little clearer now? Or even the thought God can't even save us, so what does that mean? Do nothing and let whatever happens, happen because we think we can't be saved? That line of thinking will someday destroy us.

Wrong Priorities

For some reason Bahamians seems to only care about roads, cell phone minutes, power outages, and crime (as a political issue) which are problems but not the main ones to concentrate on.You can't work backwards you can't spend millions on roads when you have nothing to back it up which results in borrowing money and deepening our debt. Crime is a social issue there are things Government can help curb crime but nothing they can do to stop it outright its up to the people to change for themselves, not the people whom they have hired to change ourselves for us. The power outages are basically disgruntled workers taking it out on us because whether they aren't getting paid right, or they hate their work conditions to fix that you need to improve job quality and stimulate the economy which is a hard task but something that's needs to be done nonetheless.

The drastic problems with the Bahamas(a quick overview)

                                        
Granted every country has its own problems, but we can actually do something about it. Majority of the third world countries are in the state they are in for just a few reasons that we aren't affected by. First they are in a state of civil distress, Second a totalitarian government where only the "Higher-ups" reap all the benefits, Third they are a war torn country either from suffering from a recent war and has never recovered or the country is in distress from different militia factions trying to take over. We don't have any of those problems so whats the big deal? are we just unlucky? Are we incompetent? or is it because the majority of the Bahamian people only look out for themselves with this "imma get mine an you get yours" attitude, But how did we end up like this? Certainly we couldn't be born that way it doesn't work like that. The problem is pretty simple and straight forward. We are trying to be something we are not, but what do I mean exactly? are we pretending to be Bahamians? We TRY to act as if we are a solely independent country ever since we seceded from Britain. What exactly do we call our own? Tourism right? it must be tourism its our biggest industry and no one in the Atlantic comes close.Right? NONE of our hotels or main attractions are NOT Bahamian but we act like it right? Atlantis for example we may have some say over what Atlantis does or doesn't do but that's only a courtesy that Kerzner provided to us, We don't own Atlantis nor can we force them to hire Bahamian workers. We seem to cling onto our roots a little too strongly as pirates and when we want something we just take it. We are so dependent on Great Britain and United States its shocking really. Great Britain has its claws around our government and the US has its imperial power over our imports and exports. We STILL have a Governor General who reports to the Queen. Why do we need such a person, and why do we need to report to the privy council for our own internal matters?!? Great Britain who we have became independent from refuses us to carry out capital punishment, but why should we listen to them? Are we not our own entity? or are we just pretending to be? The USA has us in a constant choke hold, we rely on them for almost everything from the food we eat to the money in our treasury. We try to keep up with the USD but its only digging ourselves into a deeper hole, we refuse to admit we are in a state of crisis, and we try to put up a facade that we are so wealthy and rich that we are at the top of our game. The reason why we use the USD isn't as simple as people think, people think its to give tourist an easier time and spend more money right? WRONG, its to curb inflation which could be a real danger to us and send us into extreme poverty. We know that the USD is pretty much accepted anywhere with no hassle although it isn't the strongest dollar in the world. We know that if we can have the USD into circulation we don't have to print more money, and thus curbing inflation with another country's money. Its a scary thing really just imagine the US economy goes down the crapper (which it did and will happen again and again) and the USD drops drastically where it can't even sustain us, what do we do then? We don't have the export power to sustain us, at least not for very long, our main exports such as salt, and pineapples have been taken over by foreign companies, but wait why would we do that? because we don't want to do it ourselves so they come do it for us take most of the profits and slide a little to the government as a thanks for letting us abuse you. Our biggest projects recently aren't even paid for by us, its all borrowed money. If Bahamar goes under then the Chinese will own all of cable beach as collateral, but why would we do that? that's just crazy land is most important resource in the world no land means no production, because we want to pretend we are so rich and further cement ourselves as a tourist destination which is a service industry which solely relies on the spending power of others. We don't even have proper schooling our national average is a D, and lack of education is the base of all problems with society. Crimes, easily fooled, ignorance, lack of ambition, no innovation, and poverty just to name a few. all because of this thing called education, which we don't fully accommodate. College of the Bahamas doesn't offer a wide variety of fields large enough to create a big enough work force in a specific field, medicine for example you have to travel abroad to get an education these days, and what happens all the successful people stay where they studied because why not? more opportunities, they are already settled, and cheaper cost of living per se'. So what we have happening is a large number of unskilled workers all trying to find jobs which aren't enough to go around. The people who do come back sometimes can't even find a job because foreign workers have already taken that spot or they are "over qualified" which I find ironic. We can't blame government because we put them there, the people hold all the power don't like something take a stand for it, don't sit idly by because "I'm gettin' mines"