A non-profit group – the Grand Bahama Humane Society -- saves the lives of eighty-eight Bahamian dogs by having them shipped to the United States – a noble and humanitarian act – and the best the PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts can do is to whine like a potcake over the foreign media coverage?
Quoting Mr. Roberts in the Tribune (April 19, 2010):
"This is a total disgrace… Pets are an integral part of any modern society, and if you allow the world to look at us as a nation without policies and procedures to manage the affairs of pets, you will be looked at as an uncaring nation…The story sheds a very bad light on the Bahamas…How can it be that a group of volunteers along with a crew of reporters from a foreign television news station, just dance in on an island like Grand Bahama, ups with 88 dogs and leave without consulting any government authority? Then go on to make such serious allegations about the people not being able to take care of themselves, let alone pets, and that there are only a few good homes on the island…”
Excuse me Mr. Roberts, but the choice given was to send those healthy animals to the U.S. or kill them. Mr. Roberts those foreign reporters were reporting the truth. If you did your homework, and spoke to the executive director of the Grand Bahama charity Elizabeth "Tip" Burrows who would have shared with you these important facts: The GB Humane Society is the only animal control facility on Grand Bahama, and took in 1,700 animals last year, yet was only able to find homes for 200 of them on the island. Comments Tip in the Tribune: “[T]he healthy animals could not be guaranteed a chance at life if held in the Freeport animal shelter which was built to hold around 200 animals, but was overcrowded with 398 dogs when the dogs were flown to Fort Lauderdale.” And legally no government consultation is required – as it should be – as those dogs are not the property of the Bahamian government.
I am very sorry to say this (not for Mr. Roberts but for my country), but every time I read a news item reporting on Bradley Roberts opening his mouth I cringe. We have a tornado in Grand Bahama that kills the lives of four of our fellow Grand Bahamians – and the first thing that appears to come to his mind is: how can I use this for my political advantage? A group of volunteers with their own time and money save the lives of 88 defenseless animals – and the first thing that appears to come to his mind is: what will the press in other countries think, etc.? What a second-hander. Has Mr. Roberts ever considered how his comments reflect on my country when the foreign press learns of his petty callousness and reports on that?
I am not happy with many of the policies of the FNM administration. The FNM should be tightening the public purse strings, cut government spending in half, reduce duty rates/ taxation so Bahamians can keep more of the wealth that they worked for, establish a gold standard (with zero tax/duty on gold imports/exports) so the savings of Bahamians are not eaten away by inflation, get rid of the thousands of the government bureaucrats who drain the public treasury so they can get real jobs, etc. Instead like the PLP, the FNM follow a fascist-socialist policy of “managing” the economy to lead us further down the road to bankruptcy and serfdom[1]. It is the free-creative mind that creates real wealth and real jobs; it is politicians destroy them by confiscating wealth and shutting down the free-mind through regulation (for details see Ayn Rand’s novel ATLAS SHRUGGED.) [2]
But every time I consider the PLP as a political alternative, Mr. Roberts, foaming from the mouth, opens his trap, I think otherwise. From the time of his embarrassment over the rape allegations [3], to his political pandering of the tornado tragedy, to his criticism of the Grand Bahama Humane Society saving the lives of innocent animals, I realize the PLP is not a viable alternative.
It seems the only proper alternative for Bahamians besides the FNM is to vote for (or run as) an Independent as former radio talk show host Graham Weatherford is intending to do in New Providence. (This is not to say I support Mr. Weatherford’s policies as I am not familiar with them, but his principle of working in government outside the PLP-FNM political duopoly is a promising one that patriotic Bahamians should seriously consider).
Could this be the beginnings of a Bahamian Tea Party? Bahamians from all sides coming together to protest against the unholy FNM-PLP rotating marriage. Our Bahamian government has failed in its essential duty: as our sworn paid servants whose object is to protect every individual’s right to life by ensuring an orderly and speedy court system to help our understaffed and underpaid policeman fight crime?
Instead both governments are involved in businesses (what they call “sectors of the economy”) which should be entirely private affairs: the state “manages” an essentially bankrupt airline, stiffs us with over priced monopoly phone service, and destroys the minds of our children in the intellectual canning factories which they have the gall to call “education.” (Ben Franklin learned to read and write and discovered electricity without going to school – yet we have kids locked up in these government prisons of the young for twelve years and they “graduate” without the ability to do read and write.) Why doesn’t Mr. Roberts talk about these things? Could it be that because he and his gang are in part responsible for these problems?
If Mr. Roberts is worried about our “image” in foreign countries over the care of animals, he should solve the problem as a private citizen as the GB Humane Society seeks to do. I suggest Mr. Roberts resign as PLP chairman so we can nominate him as official potcake guardian of the Bahamas. (Though I see nothing to show that he would be any better at this either – will he just bark at the poor animals as he does now to the media?) It will be an unpaid job, of course, that he can fund out of his own bank account (hey the GB Humane Society is funded all by volunteers) which will help our national debt. One does not have to be elected to government and receive a six figure check (paid for by the confiscated earnings of working Bahamians) to do good.
And if Roberts doesn’t wish to do that perhaps the Humane Society can ship Mr. Roberts off with the next dog shipment. It's the humane thing to do -- for us Bahamians that continue to be embarrassed over Mr. Robert's diatribes.
References
[1] See Steven Horwitz’s op-ed in the Bahamas Post: The Bahamas Needs Free Markets, Not a Government “Plan” For Recovery
[2] Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
[3] Whatever happened to the woman who made those “false” accusations against Mr. Roberts. Was she ever prosecuted for making such “false” statements given the uproar she created? Why hasn’t Mr. Roberts gone after her since she was trying to have him locked up in prison on rape charges – unless, perhaps, there is some truth to the story?
[4] We of course will make sure to “consult [the relevant] government authority” for the proper papers.
Source: Bahamas News
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