WeblogBahamas.com

Lessons in Freedom: One Size Fits All--Not Really

Tibor Machan

"So as to make this palatable, these folks will insist that what they are after is in the public interest, not anything for the benefit of private individuals or special interest groups."

The current--May 23, 2009--issue of Science News is celebrating astronomy and the 400 years of the telescope.  And they are all very enthusiastic about it over there at the magazine, so much so that a guest editorial by David H. DeVorkin, senior curator for astronomy and the space sciences at the National Air and Space Museum, is featured seriously promoting the idea that “every person on Earth should look at the night sky through a telescope in 2009, as Galileo did 400 years earlier.” This was a declaration put forth back in 2006, in all earnestness, by Rick Fienberg, former editor of Sky & Telescope magazine.

The inevitable outcome with farm subsidies?

Rick Lowe

A friend sent the following e-mail that is making the rounds. I have no idea if it's true or not, but the obvious point being made is what is important.

Subsidies of any kind are harmful and it's not clear to me why most people don't understand this not so subtle point.

Hat tip to JER for sending it along.

Enjoy the humour but know there are others out here that understand the damage being wrought.

Twisted Justice in the Bahamas, A Need to Amend the Bail Act!

Jerome Pinder

I write this Blog to share with the readers of this site, two recent cases before our Courts and their initial outcomes.

1. A gentleman was caught at LPIA departing the Bahamas for the United States with over USD$10,000, which he had not declared. He was arrested, turned over to local authorities and charged. In order to secure his release from jail, someone had to sign a $10,000 bail.
2. Two young thugs shoot a reserve police officer and security guard at the Atlantis resort. No matter their age this is attempted murder. Their bail was $15,000 each.

The readers may decide for themselves what this says about our Court System, current laws, and the need for change................................. 

Peter Robinson of Uncommon Knowledge interviews Dambisa Moyo on Africa's development

Rick Lowe

Well worth watching...

Lessons in Freedom: Invitation to Altruism (Again)

Tibor R. Machan

"Cass Sunstein, the Harvard Law professor who used to have Mr. Obama as a part time colleague at the University of Chicago and now heads up the regulatory regime of the new pres, advocates that we have no rights by virtue of our human nature but only because the government grants us some."

It was when I was in college at Claremont Men's (now McKenna) College that John F. Kennedy got elected president.  Very handsome guy, really Camelot in spades, no denying that!  But something seemed rotten underneath all that democratic royalty, at least to me. As time went by, Kennedy started to loose the halo around his scull, what with his infidelities and his rather inept political maneuverings, not to mention his detestable holier than though statism. Had he not been so tragically assassinated and thus, like a martyr, gained much unearned adoration from a great number of sympathetic American citizens, he would very likely have turned out to be a politician kind of like Gary Hart--lots of flash but little substance.

Bahamas Social Security (NIB) prosecuting for collection

Rick Lowe

I don't know about you but I'm pleased that NIB is prosecuting delinquent employers, merely because of the fact that if the law states everyone is forced to pay, then there should be no sacred cows.

Now what befuddles me is one of the front page stories in the Nassau Guardian on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 where Mr. Greg Collie is, um... gloating over how much money he and his team have been able to collect.

While it is important that he state the facts it seems to me the NIB should be embarrassed that so much money is outstanding.

I said all of that to ask a couple questions:

1. Should employers be shut down if they are three months in arrears? or
2. Should court proceeding be filed immediately upon a company or person becoming 90 days in arrears?

Is limited government an oxymoron?

Visit Mises Media on You Tube for more great videos.

Lessons in Freedom: "Rewards" of Determinism?

Tibor R. Machan http://tiborrmachan.blogspot.com/

A few weeks ago I speculated on the motives of certain researchers at UCSB's new neuroscience center, suggesting that they are there's something "cooking at some of America's higher education institutions." The wording here can imply that those involved are up to no good or something a little circumspect, even devious. Someone to whom I showed this column as I was preparing it took issue with me writing that what is suggested "leaves a bad taste. It patronizes hundreds of legal and moral scholars, which is especially unbecoming given that many of them (including those at UCSB, whom I know well) have already given enormous thought to the issues you raise, and are not in fact refuted by your attempted 'gotcha'."

Crime and The Bahamas Government's Continued Inaction!

Jerome Pinder

Letter to the Editor.  Printed in The Tribune on Monday, October 26, 2009

Dear Editor,

Your publication dated the 28th August 2009 reported the Minister advising the public that Hangings would begin again in the Bahamas and not to mention another "Zero Tolerance" policy in relation to crime.  Now, almost 30 days later we have heard nothing more on the issue and the murder count continues to rise. 

"Bloody Sunday":  What a headline on the 21st September 2009, so true and to take it one step further, we have experienced and continue to experience a bloody year.

Lessons in Freedom: Coercion and Laziness in the Health Care Debate

Tibor R. Machan

"Suppose back in the days of chattel slavery the masters could make out a pretty good case that they desperately needed the work of their slaves, that without that work they would be very hard up..."

When people have a strong urge to get something accomplished they cannot--or perhaps better put are unwilling to--do by themselves, they often insist that it must be done by the government. This is what has been happening with the whole health care/insurance fiasco. Yes, it is very desirable to be insured against medical mishap or disaster. Yes, many are uninsured, though not so many as the alarmists in the debate claim. And yes, those most alarmed aren't going to be able to afford to insure everyone they want to see insured. So, presto, government is urged to force everyone to contribute to the system whether or not this is a priority for them.