A shameless, incorrigible crook is urging vetting of any magnitude. The FNM, in the way it is now presenting itself to the public, has truly become a dissolute group. And isn't interesting that Minnis, "mr small man", has his chief spokesperson saying that the only people who should consider themselves for public service are those who have a sizeable amount of disposable income? Ofcourse one cannot be bankrupt and offer themselves for office and yes, running for office involves expense and personal sacrifice, but at the same time that message needs to be a balanced one because we have many people in this country who would be excellent contributors in public life but they do not have the kind of money a Tennyson Wells or Hubert Minnis has. That by itself should not disqualify them from being given an opportunity to serve their country at that level, and if political parties truly believed in helping the best and brightest to get ahead in public service, the sizeable resources they pool should go to supporting such hopefuls instead of buying votes and lining pockets.

> bahamas Power and Light (bpl) ceo Pam Miller said yesterday the utility provider is currently “not in any talks” with the government to forgive or write off any of its numerous delinquent accounts. Ms Hill said there is currently no programme “of that kind” at BPL and she encouraged customers to continue to pay their bills on time in order to remain connected.

The government doesn't know what to do with itself now that it cannot use BEC anymore for its political devices. Bahamians said they wanted private management or ownership at BEC, but I don't know if many of them realized that such a thing could lead to the place being run like an actual business - and businesses cannot operate and function by giving services for free. The Bahamas' refusal to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels for power generation is one of the key reasons electricity costs are so high nationwide. A depressed and stagnant economy with sky-high unemployment and a stunted private sector is one of the key reasons people cannot meet their essential bills. But we as a country are not given to focusing on the actual root causes of anything with the end of actually changing or addressing them. We simply resort to handouts, platitudes and band-aids for political purposes and are content to keep people exactly where they are.

> “A further downgrade would hurt our country immensely

But the moron cannot tell you precisely how, because every statement he has issued clearly demonstrates that he does not know what a sovereign credit rating precisely is and what the effect of a ratings shift is. All he does is jump on news stories featuring comments by others, and then he comments on their comments, but he is unable to enunciate an economic and fiscal position of his own.

> Senator John Bostwick was fired because Dr Minnis felt it was easier to distance himself from Bostwick rather than to stand with him publicly in the face of his deepest personal and political challenge.”

Are Loretta and Duane crazy? The man is a weapons convict who was arrested, charged and arraigned while a sitting Senator.

And for any reader who does not understand what I am referring to by cannibalism, this statement:
>“While we note the ‘suspension’ of his campaign, our party constitution makes no provision for suspension on the part of a ratified candidate. Integrity and respect for the voters of Bain and Grants Town must now compel him to be fish or fowl. He appears to be out - by his own choosing and without a push from anyone - so he is apparently out. This is not the time for playing games with the people who represent the FNM in Bain and Grants Town." Mrs Butler-Turner and Dr Sands said integrity, honesty, openness and transparency must now drive other declared but unannounced quitters to publicly announce their intentions before the upcoming convention.

Absolute and complete cannibalism and Butler and Sands should be beyond ashamed of themselves for going after fellow FNMs like this. They are supposed to be better than Minnis. That's what they claim. What a way of showing it. This division and cannibalism is the PLP's golden egg.

> “To his larger point, we submit that the system is clearly broken. The Christie government - with its two national security ministers and previously two justice ministers - has proven itself to be incapable of making any meaningful progress. They don’t talk to each other and they are quick to avoid responsibility and point fingers at the judiciary rather than get to the root cause of the problem. “Loretta Butler-Turner and Duane Sands intend to provide new leadership. Even as we embrace him and his ideas, we say in no uncertain terms that this team will represent the Bahamian people who are sick and tired of getting caught in the middle of slick lawyers and a broken system. Those who do the crime will do the time justified by those crimes. As the people’s representatives we will enact the tough measures required, while not infringing on anyone’s constitutional rights. We will not be timid about enacting tough measures that the times demand,” the statement added.

She missed the point entirely that the Bar President made, as I knew she would.

I am 100% sick of and disgusted with the Free National Movement. They are not a mature, vibrant political party, they are a band of neophyte cannibals with sprinklings of experienced persons who with very few exceptions, are primarily and chiefly concerned about personal gain and the furtherance of agendas over the true good of The Bahamas and the Bahamian people. Well, now that sounds like the PLP...

> “We will use the structure of the FNM’s constitution to aggressively fight every single underhanded or inappropriate effort to ‘stack the decks’ against us.

And this is a classic example of why the FNM is where it is. If Butler, Sands or anyone in the FNM for that matter was truly concerned about democracy for the pure sake of rightness and liberty, they would have been fighting these types of dynamics all along, not simply when these dynamics might make it harder for them to win a personal political battle they are choosing to wage. This is also why the country is not advancing - wrong is only wrong when it gets in the way of a personal desire we have - otherwise we could not care less and are accepting by commission or omission, of wrongdoing.

> I guess

When you become certain, try again.

Minnis is doing the same thing. So are PLP and DNA politicians. That is what is done in politics in this country and we allow politicians to get away with it every time.

When I heard what she said, my thought was that her "plan" (which wasn't an actual plan, just a platitude at best) was not properly enunciated. Today's politicians say whatever they think sounds good depending on the issues of the day, but if you ask them how they actually plan to break down the nuts and bolts to make their announcements workable, viable and indeed lawful and constitutional, they almost always cannot answer you. This is one of the main reasons I have very little hope for where the country is headed at this point in time insofar as the executive and legislature are concerned.