Terrible tragedy! My sincere condolence, sympathy, and prayers are with the families of those affected. We are one people! It's a pity that it sometimes takes a tragedy to get us to see that.

We should thank this Brother for his insightful comments and fair comparison. Quite honestly, and something we all need to give long and careful consideration to, is that we should all be thanking God for, what must be perceived--up to this point after the general election--as the first honest and transparent government in the Bahamas since political independence. Let's stay the course.

Quite simply, we need to get out of the "business as usual" syndrome, and embrace doing what is necessary to salvage this potentially great country. The Bahamas can be a great small country! In order to become that, however, we must base all that we do in terms of rebuilding the economy of the country, on the twin pillars of shared responsibility and accountability. The third thing we must do--and this is vital--is create a safety net that will ensure the protection and sustainability of those in our country who find themselves at the bottom. This will positively impact crime. We must partner with investors, foreign and local, to develop our basic infrastructure like roads, bridges, transportation, and telecommunications, literacy. The terms foreign investors, foreign investment, and social development must go hand in hand. They should be synonymous! We have to once and for all destroy the thinking that we have nothing to offer the foreign investor, that we need to lure them with land giveaways and unbelievable perks. I'm not sure we need another just touristic development-- another Baha Mar, Atlantis, or Sandals. The big question must be to China and everyone else who see the variety of potentials for doing business here must be: "What can you do for us?" This whole budget debate should give us all cause to pause and reflect. I meet people almost every day who when they learn that I am from the Bahamas, they go: "You from the Bahamas? Why would anyone want to leave a place like that?! In my mind, I am going...how long do you have. You see, it's a long story. But, that's a fair question.

Please not, my fellow Bahamians, and in all due respect to the esteemed gentleman, in all that ranting and raving, there was not one alternative solution offered. Empty rhetoric!

Thank you, Reality Check! And let me say--no pun intended--a reality check in our country has been long overdue.
And, thanks to The Tribune for providing this forum and allowing our humble voices to be heard.

No, I am not Peter Turnquest. However, I do view it as a compliment. I am a Bahamian nationalist, though, like KP. We have to rebuild, fortify, and stabilize our country. In other words, we have to care about our country. We have to make The Bahamas great again. We must put our country first! It is very unfortunate that we find ourselves in the predicament we are in. However, it is not by any accident. Mismanagement, waste, corruption, arrogance, cronyism, acting as if the country belonged to a select few, that is what got us in this mess. Again, having found ourselves where we are, it would have been foolish for any responsible government to just ignore the problem, borrow some more, keep spending, turn a blind eye to the developing crisis--which, by the way, would have been an economic tsunami heading our way, where every one flees, international banking institutions, foreign investors, you name it. What was our financial rating status again?! All we have done for the last 5 years is kick the can down the road, act like the sand crabs on the beaches of our beautiful country--hunker down, shut their eyes tight, tight, when they see a problem coming and pretend it's not there. Trust me, we did not have to be in this position. But, here we are. We certainly can't continue doing the same thing. That's madness! We can't do nothing, and just pretend that the problem will go away. That's stupid and self-defeating. It's painful, I would agree. Any form of discipline is. All I say--and all I have been saying--is everyone deserves to feel the pain. The other thing I have been saying is, keep those buzzards, criminals, and crooks, brazen neo-colonialists far, far away from the halls of power. Let those of us who really care about our country clean it up and make it a paradise for all. God Bless the Bahamas! God Bless the leadership! God Bless the great people of The Bahamas!

I do not support gambling in any form, but if we must have this leach on society, better that we have a national lottery system.

Most on this board are very short-sighted. Truthfully, your ire needs to be directed at the previous governments that specialized in waste and abuse, putting foreigners first and no the Bahamian people. This government had no idea what they were walking into. That's another issue for discussion later. The truth of the matter, is that, once we get our house in order, do what it takes to get the patient well, we should never let that previous regime back into the halls of power. They were irresponsible--I would dare say, not even Bahamian--in the way they abused their power. I have much respect for the present government. I dare say, they are on the right track. The only thing I say, is that we have to make sure the rich and the foreigners pay their fair share. And for God sake, stop selling our islands and cays! When we look at how much money passes through our country it is a shame, it's insane. Some live in luxury, while others live in misery and squalor. We have to solve the problem now! But we have to do so justly and equitably. And whatever we do, we need to keep those like what we had in the last 5-10 years away from the halls of power. "Bahamians First", "Its the People's Time", "Change" must become more than fancy slogans. We need brand new, revolutionary thinking in our country--new approaches. It begins with responsible, sound, transparent, good governance. That is why I applaud this government for what I believe is a courageous step forward. Though painful now, bitter pill as it may seem, it was a right step in the right direction. Now, we must stop playing politics; our words do come back to haunt us. As a people, we have to be mature. We have to use sound judgement. And, we must never, ever go back to governing like those in the last administration. Keep your eye on your neighbor to the north. Obama cleaned up; he and the democrats, almost single handedly, hoisted the car (U.S. economy) that slid off the road into the ditch, back out of the ditch. Here comes an irresponsible group who wants to roll back all of the major accomplishments of the last 8 years. They give huge tax cuts to themselves and their rich friends, forgetting that it is about improving the lives of ordinary people. Every day, every week, every month, every year, it should be the people's time. My point in all of this, is that, as we strive to do what is responsible and needed to address the sins of the past, we must never go back to lousy, short-sighted, and selfish governance. And...and, we must be fair and balanced in our approach. We cant just say an increase of .5 percent on dormant land own by foreigners. Everybody must pay their fair share. The Bahamas needs to be a paradise for all!

Thank God!
Finally, responsibility, accountability, and burden-sharing has reached our beloved shores. Peter, now we have to make the rich pay their fair share. Give everybody a shovel to help dig us out of the mess that the previous regime has put us in. Finally, let's chase down all the millions hidden away by the red shirts and put them back in the people's coffers.

Common Sense, Please!

You can take the pepper now or later. To wait is to prolong the burn as it comes out the other end.