God loves you!

Very enlightened opinion my friend, you have definitely contributed to this debate.

Bradley Roberts needs to shut up on matters involving the government, because after his last gaffe, everyone including himself made it quite clear that he does not speak for the government. So if he was not speaking for the government when he was urging people to vote yes, then he surely can't be speaking for the government now on the way forward.

I thought one of the key points being made by the government was that this was about deepening democracy. I guess it is the brand of democracy where only certain people should voice their opinion. HAI has every right to voice his opinion and beliefs. Instead of personally attacking myself and HAI, speak and criticize the substance of what HAI has to say above. Constructive debate is what democracy is all about. Sometimes it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

Whether you like this man or not, you must respect him because he will always tell you what he thinks and believes and exactly what he is going to do. No surprises! He is spot on with the above assessment. All Bahamians who are bemoaning the general state of lawlessness in this country should read the "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell and take particular note of the "Broken Window Theory". In general the theory states that condoning or turning a blind eye to lawlessness in any form, as small as it may seem, begets and encourages more lawlessness. When a society allows a special class of citizens to openly disobey the laws that they may not like then the moral authority of that society is diminished to enforce its laws on any member of that society. Mr. PM, responsible governance requires that we either change the laws or enforce them.

Very well put Mr. Munroe. Can't agree with you more. Mr. PM, it is not too late to stop this fiasco now.

Mr. PM, if your opinion and belief, as clearly appears to be the case, is that the country will incur irreparable harm from a "No" vote, then as the leader of this country you have an obligation to discontinue the process of this opinion poll and have your government take the requisite Parliamentary action to legalise, regularise and tax the gaming industry or at minimum take a position based on your beliefs. As the PM your duty is to and for the greater good of the country and all of its citizens. These oblique statements about the consequences of a "No vote" that you continue to make are unbecoming of an elected leader.

With respect to the importance of the issues being considered and the process involved this opinion poll is a travesty and a fiasco compared to the referendum held 10 years ago. If anything this cheapens our democracy, because of the way this has been handled. Either this government is extraordinarily imcompetent or they must take the Bahamian people for fools or both. Either way, like the old people would say, they "bold-faced" to continue to make such incredulous statements that are patently and obviously incongruent with established facts and reality.

What utter nonsense these governing MPs are talking. The fact of the matter is that this activity is currently illegal and the monetary proceeds derived from these businesses would be proceeds from the commission of a crime. Mr. Rollins we do have a "Proceeds of Crime Act" currently on the books that tells us exactly what we ought to do in these circumstances. None of these businesses or their principals should have been allowed to open or operating any bank accounts under our current AML/KYC laws. Further, any financial institution that has opened or is operating accounts for any of these businesses or their principals is currently breaking the law. The greater risk for the Bahamas in the international financial community is what happens if there is a "Yes" vote, in which case we would then be forced to give Webshop licenses to persons who may have been indicted in the US for serious crimes. Further the government has provided no legislative framework or information on the AML/KYC legislation and requirements for webshop customers or owners. We do not know what we would be voting yes for. I have no moral objections to gaming, but it seem to me that this process is so fundamentally flawed that in good conscience it becomes impossible to vote yes.

Whilst I am sympathetic to Mr. Miller's perspective, his approach is sympomatic of the gross incompetence this PLP government has exhibited in all facets of their governance to date, all sound, fury and posturing and absolutely no substance. If he was serious, instead of rabble rousing and creating further distrust, he should be having direct talks with the union.