Majority rule was a Bahamian victory... It tells the story of a group of people who fought in the Quiet Revolution to bring about social, economic and political change in The Bahamas... It promised the Bahamian people gifts of hope and prosperity for all ...and not just a small few...

Today, 45 years later, it appears as though we are losing sight of the Bahamian Dream and regressing rather than progressing...

The Bahamian Dream pt.1

By Arinthia S.Komolafe

The issue surrounding majority rule is for Bahamians the ‘elephant in the room’.  It’s the issue that is ignored and goes unaddressed because it is both socially and politically incorrect to do so due to its close ties to the history of race and discrimination in our country.

It is unfortunate to see such a major achievement in our country won by men and women of that day who believed that successive generations of Bahamians deserved a better life than what they were experiencing.  The issue has become so politicized that it appears supporters of the Free National Movement (FNM) have little emotion for the event and the supporters of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) have claimed the event as a personal victory.

Politics has taken hold of our nation in such a divisive way that everything is politicized whether it relates to the attainment of a job in the civil service, appointments to government boards, and the bench.  This cancerous philosophy has affected us right down to the color of the garment that we wear.  It is an unwritten rule that supporters of the FNM should not wear yellow/gold outfits.  The reverse is true if one supports the PLP – it is almost a taboo to wear red.  More recently, an individual’s allegiance and loyalty to his party is now being questioned if he wears the color green, the banner color of the newly formed Democratic National Alliance.  Where did we lose our way and when did we seek to ignore matters of national importance and focus on such trivial things that add little value to our lives?

 

A victory for all

Majority rule was a Bahamian victory.  It tells the story of a group of people that fought in the Quiet Revolution to bring about social, economic and political change.  It promised the Bahamian people gifts of hope and prosperity for all and not just a small few.  It is my view that God ordained it that its fruition would depend upon the cooperation of the former United Bahamian Party (UBP) member turned independent, Sir Alvin Braynen, and the Labour Party leader Sir Randol Fawkes.  It was indicative of the fact that The Bahamas is for Bahamians of all backgrounds, black or white, rich or poor, liberal or conservative and those who believe in workers’ rights.  It was the culmination of struggles that started with the abolition of slavery in our islands, and other events such as the Burma Road Riots, the General Strike, one man one vote, the women’s and universal suffrage movements and Black Tuesday.  In those times there was no PLP or FNM, but a fight toward equality and opportunity for all and the chance for democracy to reign in our nation.  It is worth noting that the founders and the supporters of the Free PLP, the dissident group who left the PLP in the early 1970s, were all present and participated in this common struggle.  In the eyes of some, they were seen as traitors for later joining forces with the very group of people who oppressed the masses for so long.  The merger of the Free PLP and the UBP would give birth to what is today the FNM.  Nevertheless, it begs the question whether this merger has prohibited the recognition of majority rule by the FNM on a national level?  Further, to many Bahamians, majority rule has been touted as a sole PLP victory.  While it is accepted that the PLP played a major role in bringing majority rule to fruition, the continuous annual private celebration of the event on PLP territory is frowned upon and will not accomplish much to bring a non-partisan national awareness of this historical achievement of our nation.  Why can’t the leaders of the PLP, FNM and the trade unions join forces annually to mark this event?  Such divisions and lack of unity have contributed to the inability of the full Bahamian history to be passed down to successive generations of Bahamians.

It is a grave error on the part of the leaders of today to fail to make a conscious effort to celebrate this achievement on a national level.  Majority rule holds a place in history similar to Emancipation Day, Labour Day and Independence – accomplishments that played major roles in the prosperity that we experience in The Bahamas today.  More importantly, majority rule gave birth to the ‘Bahamian Dream’.  It was a clear demonstration to Bahamians of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds that we possess the ability to govern ourselves and that we could be whatever we aspired to be.  It was the stepping stone that brought about independence from British colonial rule a short six years later on the July 10, 1973.  After delivering on the promise of political freedom, it paved the way for economic freedom.  In this sense, faced with a largely illiterate population, the then PLP administration placed significant importance on educating the masses.  They understood that education was the currency that would advance a people to a better way of life.  Hence, education was very essential to the attainment of the Bahamian Dream.  They embarked upon a task to expand the learning institutions that were available.  They built more primary and secondary schools and built the College of The Bahamas as well as technical and vocational institutions of higher learning.  They also made provisions for scholarships to be provided to attend local and international institutions of higher learning.  It was clear to all and sundry that education would lead to higher paying jobs that would enable many to own a home, save for retirement and educate their own children.

Further, that administration instituted a safety net for Bahamians through the implementation of National Insurance, expanded healthcare services and commenced a low-cost housing program that afforded thousands of Bahamians access to home ownership, hence the creation and expansion of the middle class.

 

Where we are

Today, 45 years later, it appears as though we are losing sight of the Bahamian Dream and regressing rather than progressing.  We are witnessing in unprecedented numbers Bahamians losing their jobs, homes and properties while many cannot afford the basic necessities of life and access to higher education.  We have yet to bring about advanced economic freedom to our people on a large scale.  We are not in full control of our economic destinies with ownership within our main sectors of tourism and financial services, for the most part, resting in the hands of foreigners.  Although their presence has generated jobs for thousands of Bahamians and improved their standards of living (and for this we are grateful), jobs alone will not be sustainable for the 21st century Bahamas, but instead the added ability of Bahamians to create jobs themselves.

Bahamians do not want a hand-out, but rather a hand-up and The Bahamas must not be allowed to evolve into a welfare state.  The role of the government is to create an environment that is conducive for its people to prosper, and in turn we must be committed to work toward the desired economic freedom.

Furthermore, we must place priority on educating our people once again; otherwise we will not be able to compete in our own country much less the world. We must transfer ownership to Bahamians and the environment must be created for small and medium-sized businesses to prosper by way of appropriate fiscal and monetary policies, reduction in the cost of energy and improving access to capital for growth and expansion.  We must expand our industries to provide job and entrepreneurial opportunities for Bahamians outside of tourism and financial services, which are heavily dependent upon the stability and prosperity of the U.S., E.U. and Canadian economies, for the most part.  A failure to do so could result in a brain drain and an exodus of some of our nation’s brightest minds.

We must make every effort to reduce the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and a revised tax code to bring relief to the poor, working and middle class is imminent.  We are witnessing a threat to our nation’s stability through the increased level of crime that is spiraling out of control.  Arguably, this has a direct correlation with the economic challenges that we face as a nation today.  It is imperative to state that we all have a role to play in building a better Bahamas and increasing the possibility of laying hold of the Bahamian Dream.

Parents must take their parenting and nurturing responsibilities more seriously and revert back to the values that our nation was built upon by distinguishing between right and wrong.  Churches must be more aggressive in spreading the message of Christ above any other message and branch out into the communities where people that are in need of spiritual fulfilment reside.  Likewise, teachers, civic leaders and their organizations must also continue to provide checks and balances to the work that the family, government and church are undertaking.  The old African adage is true that “it takes a village to raise a child”, and without all hands on deck, the Bahamian dream may be reduced to just a dream with no hope of becoming a reality for many.

 

•Arinthia S.Komolafe is an attorney-at-law.  Comments can be directed to: arinthia.komolafe@Komolafelaw.com

Jan 20, 2012

thenassauguardian

The Bahamian Dream II

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica finally becoming a republic would represent a coming of age for the country

Jamaica a republic: Time has indeed come

By Diane Abbott




THE announcement by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller that she wants to move forward to having a Jamaican head of state is very appropriate in the 50th year of Jamaican Independence.

It is important to stress that it will in no way threaten the strong political, economic, cultural and social links between Britain and Jamaica.

The first thing to bear in mind is that it will not mean Jamaica leaving the Commonwealth. There are a number of republics that remain happily in the Commonwealth. Notable amongst them are India, Dominica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. The fact that they are republics has in no way weakened their ties with Britain. Most of the practical benefits to Jamaica from the British link come from membership of the Commonwealth. This can continue.

The ties between Britain and its former colonies have remained largely because most of the first generation of Commonwealth leaders studied in Britain. But this was a more important psychological link than whether or not the Queen was the head of state of those countries.
However, over the years, the ties have weakened mostly because of the inexorable tide of North American popular culture and the rise of alternate economic powers, notably China.

Of course, there remains a huge sentimental regard for the Queen amongst ordinary Jamaicans. My own mother was typical in this regard. Portia wisely reflected this when she made a point of saying how much she personally loved the Queen.

This affection for the Queen has some historical basis. Jamaican slaves regularly appealed over the heads of their own planter class to the British monarchy for justice. They saw the monarchy as their protectors against the harshest aspects of chattel slavery.

I became a member of the British Parliament in 1987. My mother was obviously thrilled. But I have no doubt that the highlight of that year for her was the opportunity to attend the State Opening of Parliament and see the Queen in person wearing her ceremonial robes and glittering crown.

Some Jamaicans might worry that the British will feel that it is a snub if Jamaica chooses to become a republic. In fact, I suspect that if most British people were asked they would assume that Jamaica is already a republic. Scotland is reaching the climax of a long campaign for its own independence. If a country that forms part of the British Isles can contemplate becoming a republic, why not Jamaica?

Jamaica finally becoming a republic would represent a coming of age for the country. Ideally it should be done on an all-party basis. Admirers of Jamaica all over the world will wish Prime Minister Simpson Miller well in steering the Jamaican ship of state into the safe harbour of republic status. The time has come.

Diane Abbott is the British Labour party's shadow public health minister

www.dianeabbott.org.uk

January 22, 2012

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Haiti and a new road towards sustainable change

Definitive solutions to the problems of Haiti

By Jean H. Charles

I have been simmering long and hard trying to find the definitive solutions to the problems of Haiti.  I have, in a two-part column a week before the earthquake of January 12, 2010, presented a detailed plan for Haiti’s re-building.   Whether it has inspired the policymakers and the NGOs’ directors to take the course and lead Haiti after the earthquake into sustainable development, the result is not visible to the naked eye!

Haiti has failed to use this crisis resulting from an act of God to transform itself into a growth oriented country.   As such I am urged now to condense in a four-point part, how Haiti can take a new road towards sustainable change?

1. First and foremost, Haiti’s urgent problem is the revival of its environment.   The famous French environmentalist Jacques Cousteau some thirty years ago in a moving documentary “Waters of sorrow”, warned that Haiti’s vegetation cover was only 15%.   Urgent actions should be undertaken immediately to reverse this ecological disaster.

I remember a day after the inauguration of Jean Bertrand Aristide on February 7, 1991, I advised his executive assistant, Henry Claude Menard, that I was observing the complete destruction of the flora for bread making and the dry cleaning plants.  His answer that we do not have time for such triviality was indicative of what was going to happen to Jean Bertrand Aristide and to Haiti some years later.

Haiti’s vegetation cover is now only 2%.   If drastic actions are not taken, Haiti vegetation cover will be soon 0.2%.  There will be no Haiti to enjoy after any redevelopment is undertaken.  As such I am proposing that all effort should be focused on tree-planting, sewers and ravine cleaning. Haiti must engage itself in the culture that made Dominica the Nature Isle.   Stop destroying its trees for daily survival and engage in systematic tree-planting and soil conservation.

I am proposing this citizen to citizen movement.  On November 18 and May 18, Haiti celebrates its heroes and its flag days.  The government should declare November 17 and 18, and May 17 and May 18, volunteerism days.  Starting on May 18, 2012, a vast marketing program should start on preparing seedlings with black bags of all the fruits consumed in the homes. Churches, schools and businesses will engage group leaders to promote the movement.

The first planting will take place on November 17 and November 18, 2012, with mature plants in all the homes, the churches and the schools.  The mountains surrounding the towns and the cities of the country will be the first target of this environmental action.

Once the first volunteer days are over, immediate action will be taken to prepare with seedlings gathered for the next planting days that will take place on May 17 and May 18, 2013.  As such, Haiti will slowly become a second Nature Isle in the Caribbean after Dominica.

2. Having renewed the physical environment, we shall now attack the spiritual environment.  Haiti is a country not a nation.  It will not be developed unless and until the sentiment of appurtenance is cultivated by and amongst all the sectors of the society.  Haiti is the product of the culture of swimming to get out on your own without communal life support.  It is the culture of hating and hurting one’s own brother and sister.  It is the culture of damaging the environment without the conviction of destroying one’s own patrimony.

Dr Tunelb Delpe, a political leader, has for the last twenty years called for a national conference to reconcile the nation with itself.   His appeal has gone nowhere, in part because of his own non-articulation of the goals and motives of such an initiative.  We must create a Haiti that shall become hospitable to all.  I have often said in this column that Haiti practices the culture of discrimination against 90% of its population.  It practices political, economical and social discrimination against 85% of its population that represents the rural and the urban favellas dwellers.  It practices political and social discrimination against 4% of its population that represent the Diaspora.  Last but not least, it practices political discrimination against 1% of its population that comprises the mulattoes.

A country cannot become a nation with such an endemic discriminatory practice and culture.  I am observing how Haiti is amassing more and more resources without the sentiment of appurtenance that would make a difference in services delivery.   Bishop Pierre Andre Dumas of the Diocese of Nippes region of Haiti is another voice in the desert promoting this love and concern for each other.

The sentiment of appurtenance is the glue, the blood and the oil that can transform the individual energy into a force that will move mountains to create a prosperous nation.

I am suggesting a massive campaign of solidarity mixed with concrete actions to attack this gangrene of each one for each one promoted by the last governments of Haiti in particular the Rene Preval government.

3. These renaissance actions must start in the rural counties of Haiti, not in City Soleil or Canaan – Port au Prince -- the two largest slums of the Caribbean.   I came back yesterday from Jacmel the picturesque city on the southern coast of Haiti.  Driving through the mountains to Jacmel is pure delight, crossing the small rural villages of Macassin, St Etienne, Cormier, Fondwa, Tom Facto and Decouze, before crashing into Jacmel; it is easy to lay the groundwork for the renaissance of the region.

An excellent school in each one of the villages, with institutions, infrastructure and economic incubation that will spur the monetization of the human and natural resources of each region will make a significant difference in the way citizens value their nation.   They will be no more nomad Haitians that seek a better life in the slums of Canaan or a leaky boat towards The Bahamas or Florida.

4. This proposition cannot be outsourced to the international community.  It must be owned, executed and implemented by the Haitian people themselves (of course the cooperation of the international community is welcomed).

My resolution this year is to demonstrate a positive attitude towards life in general.   This search for a solution is the first of many more to come.   With the support of the political platform Repons Paysan that succeed in electing a president in its young age of two years, the platform will not wait either for the NGOs or even the president of Haiti to start this movement of renaissance that must begin with the peasants of Haiti in their own neighborhoods!

January 21, 2012

caribbeannewsnow

Is HIV Actually Harmless?

Have you guys heard about this? It's a theory put forth by Peter Duesberg at Cal Berkeley. You can find his Web site here:

www.duesberg.com...  

Some interesting points about this.. Duesberg wrote a book on this topic, called "Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS".. The Feds banned the book(!) In fact, to the best of anyone's knowledge, this appears to be the first time in history that the Feds have EVER banned a book.. which I suppose goes to show that the content contained therein is pretty explosive.. 

Below I summarize some info from the Duesberg Web site.. not that I believe 100% of it (although a lot of it makes a lot of sense), but it's definately interesting: 

HIV is completely harmless. HIV is a retrovirus.. if HIV does in fact cause AIDS, it would be the first and to date only known retrovirus that causes a fatal, or any serious, disease in man. Humans have a very highly evolved immune system. Retroviruses are super primitive, even by viral standards.. they're basically little more than strands of RNA. To think that a simple little retrovirus could cause such a litany of immunologicaly disorders, esp ones involving the brain (retroviruses cannot cross the blood-brain barrier) stretches the imagination. 

What happens when you're infected w/ HIV? You might come down w/ some mild flu-like symptoms for about 3-5 days. Or, you might notice anything at all. In either case, your immune system springs into action and successfully fights off the virus. 

Fact: 98% of all AIDS "tests" do not test for the prescence of HIV; they test for the prescence of HIV antibodies. If you catch the common cold, you're going to carry antibodies against that virus for the rest of your life. Same w/ HIV. If you're infected w/ HIV, and you come down w/ the mild flu-like symptoms, your immune system will fight it off, and you'll carry antibodies against HIV for the rest of your life. THAT'S WHAT YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO DO!! This explains these "miraculous survivors" who are somehow able to live for 10 years, 15 years w/ HIV "infection" and somehow "magically" never develop symptoms of full blown AIDS. 

So why do so many people get "sick" w/ AIDS? Post-1984, when Gallo "discovered" HIV as the "cause" of AIDS, the medical establishment has evolved a new way of treating diseases. If you come into the hospital w/ TB, you'll be treated for TB (and probably recover). If you come into the hospital w/ TB, and you test positive for HIV antibodies, suddenly you're an "AIDS" patient.. They'll immediately start on a regime of hard-core AIDS drugs like AZT.. drugs which, for the most part, COMPLETELY DESTROY YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. AZT (for example) was developed as chemotherapy against leukemia and other cancers that infect the immune system.. these drugs are, by definition, designed to destroy immune cells. 

After a couple weeks/months on the AIDS "treatment", your immune system has been thoroughly weakened, your body has been thoroughly toxified, and suddenly you start developing a whole host of immune-related disorders. After another year or two, you're dead and a statistic.. cause of death: AIDS. 

Remember Ryan White? Hemophiliac poster boy for AIDS back in the 1980s? Innocent kid who happened to catch HIV from a blood transfusion and later succumbed to "AIDS"? Congress passed some big federal spending bill for AIDS research in his honor.. guess what? Ryan White didn't die of AIDS. In the first place, hemophiliacs suffer from a general degeneration of their immune system anyway.. that's been documented for centuries, ever since physicians have known about hemophilia.. (hemophilia is after all a blood disease, and immunology is centered in the blood).. secondly, Ryan White died (I think, can't quite remember based on my reading..) from liver complications stemming from one his transfusions.. whatever it was (can't quite remember right now), it certainly wasn't from AIDS-related immune system collapse.. 

So what gives? What the heck is AIDS? AIDS first surfaced in San Francisco.. gay men suddenly started coming down w/ Kaposi's sacroma, a very rare form of skin cancer usually only seen in patients w/ highly compromised immune systems (like those who have been on chemotherapy, etc). Researchers were at a loss for what to call it.. eventually, HIV was isolated in some of those patients, and so the hypothesis was formed that HIV might be the "cause" of this weakened immune response.. 

So doctors started testing for HIV more routinely.. soon people from the general population were testing positive for HIV.. and if they happened to have some wierd, rare, disease not usually seen in the general population.. well.. they must have AIDS! Start them on the AZT treatment! Oops! They died already!? AIDS is such a killer! Notice that the biggest risk groups for AIDS, however, ARE people who are going to tend to have compromised immune systems to start w/: drug addicts, heroin users, hemophiliacs. 

As for gay men, guess what? You know those nitrous "poppers" that some people (esp, it seems, gay men) love to take before having sex?? Medical studies have been conducted that suggest a correlation between nitrous "popper" use and an increased risk in developing Kaposi's sacroma. Moreover, many gay men in San Francisco apparently hit antibiotics really hard (for some reason.. not sure why.. I think there might be antibiotics that kinda get you high or something).. abuse of antibiotics is (very well) known to weaken the immune system. So you have a bunch of gay men, abusing prescription drugs, doing nitrous poppers, and coming down w/ a rare cancer.. a cancer that is in no way (probably) related to HIV, and yet somehow the whole "mistake" goes out into the public as a brand new, fearful, terrifying disease we have to watch out for called "AIDS" 

There are a whole host of other "medical" issues related to this that I cannot do justice to (like explaining the apparent "communicability" of AIDS, etc, and explaining the other apparent immune-related disorders that seem to be popping up in the population, etc), soo.. I'll defer to Duesberg on those: 

www.oralchelation.com...  
www.virusmyth.net...  
www.virusmyth.net...  
www.virusmyth.net...  
www.virusmyth.net...  
www.virusmyth.net...  
www.virusmyth.net...  

Now that's the science part. The federal government, for the most part, isn't interested in science, and they wouldn't ban a book just b/c of scientific content... 

So why did the Feds ban the book? (something completely unprecendented in the 200-some-odd-year history of the United States)?? Duesberg suggests in his book that the Feds want to cover this up. There are lots of obvious reasons for this.. In the first place, spreading fear and paranoia throughout the general population is a good thing when soulless International Bankers are running your country. They learned this from Orson Well's 1939 reading of "War of the Worlds", and have been using it ever since. 

Also, it's good to spend money if you're the federal government. B/c of the nature of the relationship between the federal government and the federal reserve bank, Washington has an obligation to SPEND AS MUCH MONEY AS IT POSSIBLY CAN. The more money Washington spends, the more in debt it goes, the better it is for the overall system. Doesn't matter if you're spending money on war, drugs, poverty, crime, AIDS or cancer. The goal is to spend money. Period. AIDS is a great thing to spend money on.. the Feds don't want to lose that. 

The final reason that's been suggested for why the Feds would want to cover it up is far more sinister, and more speculative, but.. also plausible.. and that's the AIDS "crisis" in Africa. In the first place, Duesberg suggests that there is no genuine AIDS crisis in Africa. True, many Africans are infected w/ HIV, but so is much of the general population everywhere on Earth, often w/o knowing it. wehn an African contracts AIDS, he comes down w/ the "Slim" wasting disease.. when a gay man in SF contracts AIDS, he comes down w/ Kaposi's sarcoma.. gay men in SF don't get Slim, and black Africans don't get Kaposi's sacroma.. which suggests that Duesberg that neither disease is related to HIV and that you're dealing w/ two separate pathologies altogether (the African Slim disease probably has a lot more to do w/ complications from malnutrition, in Duesberg's opinion, as well as other co-factors.. there could be a communicable agent responsible, but at best HIV is a co-factor). 

But the final suggestion (made in the banned book) is, what of all this news from Africa about how AIDS (or, more accurately, Slim Wasting Disease) is destroying entire villages and cities? Well.. Duesberg suggest, it *could* be Slim that's killing off entire villages and cities.. oor.. more onimously, you could also have U.S.-government-sponsored death squads roaming the African countryside, murdering entire villages and blaming it on "AIDS".. (U.S.-sponsored death squads have murdered tens of thousands in Central America, so it's been known to happen before.. ) The U.S. has standing "depopulation plans" in place for the Third World, the most famous of which is known as NSSM 200 and was drafted by none other than Henry Kissinger himself. The author suggests there may be ongoing de-population activities occurring in Africa right now, using AIDS as a cover.. 

Food for thought..


abovetopsecret.com

Bahamas Blog International

Chinese Ambassador to The Bahamas - Hu Shan on China’s economic work in 2012

China’s economic work in 2012

Making progress while maintaining stability

By Hu Shan
Chinese Ambassador to The Bahamas

In recent months, many Bahamian friends have kept asking me about the future development situation of China’s economy, expecting me to introduce more of China’s economic policy through local media.  It so happened that China set the main tasks for its 2012 economic work last December, the tone of which was set as making progress while maintaining stability.  Following are some of the main contents.

China’s Central Economic Work Conference, concluded in Beijing on December 10, 2011, made an in-depth analysis on the major issues China must properly handle in 2012 and the ensuing period, and clearly pointed out the overall requirements, general guiding principles and main tasks of China’s economic work in 2012.  Concrete arrangements were laid out.

The conference holds the view that the world economy slowed down, the growth rate of international trade dropped, the international financial market intensively fluctuated, and risks of all sorts increased obviously in the past months in 2011.

Looking ahead, the overall situation of the world economy in 2012 will still be extremely complicated.  The instability and uncertainty of the world economy recovery is increasing.  China should pay more attention to both domestic and international situations, and figure out a due plan accordingly.  It should strengthen the awareness of risks and develop a full understanding of the challenges and opportunities brought by the international financial crisis.  From the perspectives of opening-up and reform as well as socialist construction of modernization, China should strengthen strategic planning and increase the capability of reaction by making best use of its advantages and bypassing its disadvantages.  It should continue to increase its comprehensive strength and international competence through exploiting favorable conditions while avoiding unfavorable ones.

China must play particularly well the basic work tone of maintaining stability while making progress when promoting its economic and social development in 2012.  ‘Stability’ means to maintain basically stable macroeconomic policies, relatively fast economic growth, stable consumer prices and social stability.  ‘Progress’ means to make new advances in transforming the economic development model, new breakthroughs in deepening reform and opening up and new achievements in improving people’s livelihood by seizing this strategically important development period for China’s development and putting it to good use.

The conference points out, under the circumstances of a complicated and rapidly changing international political and economic situation as well as the new situation and change in domestic economic development, China must continuously stick to the main theme of scientific development and the main policy direction of expediting transformation of its economic development model.  It must firmly keep the basic strategic point by expanding domestic demand, putting its emphasis on safeguarding and improving the life standards of the people, on accelerating the development of service sectors and on raising the proportion of the medium-income class.

China must firmly maintain the solid foundation of developing real economy.  The Chinese people must work hard to create an earnest and down-to-earth social atmosphere and get rich through diligent labor.  China must firmly stick to the dynamics of speeding up reform and renovation by seizing good opportunities to make some breakthroughs in leading fields and key segments.

The Chinese people should make special efforts to improve their abilities of initial innovation and continue to increase the abilities of epitomizing innovation and recreation through importing, absorbing and digesting foreign technologies.

They must firmly keep in mind the fundamental purpose of safeguarding and improving people’s livelihoods by allocating more financial budget, and earnestly carrying out some big and important livelihood-related events.  In doing so, they must lay stress on raising the inclusiveness of development.

The conference points out, 2011 was the first year of the 12th Five-Year period and the Chinese government and people implemented to the letter the 12th Five-Year Plan.  China enhanced and improved macroeconomic control and correctly handled the relations among stable and relatively fast economic development, economic structure adjustment and stagnation management.

China put more emphasis on solving prominent issues, consolidating and expanding its achievements in coping with international financial crisis.  China also made more efforts to enforce the orderly economic transformation from policy-stimulating to independent growth.  China’s national economy kept on moving towards the expected direction of macro-control, with a good momentum of relatively fast growth, stable price tendency, good returns, and improvement of people’s livelihoods.

In general, in 2011, China made new progress in socialist development in the fields of economy, politics, culture, society, conservation and party affairs, setting a favorable beginning for the 12th five-year period.

Given the extremely complicated domestic and international situations, no small effort was expended in obtaining such achievements.  That was the outcome of the dedication and hard work of the whole party and the whole nation in unity.  That was also the outcome of the unswerving efforts and tenacious striving of all the local governments and people from all walks of life.

The conference emphasizes that it must be consciously seen that, while the achievements were fully affirmed, currently the conflicts of interests and problems in China’s economic development remain prominent, say imbalanced, uncoordinated unharmonized development.

Moreover, there co-exists the heavy pressure of the decline in economic growth and the rising of commodity prices.  Some enterprises have difficulties in their production and management; the situation of energy conservation and emission reduction is still very severe; and there are potential risks that allow no negligence in the financial sector.

So the Chinese people must be sober-minded.  They should strengthen risk assessment, make contingency plans and take timely measures to effectively defuse all kinds of risks.

The conference clearly set the main tasks of China’s economic work for 2012. China should:

1. Continue to strengthen and improve macroeconomic adjustment and control, and promote the economy to gain stable and relatively fast growth.

2. Be unremittingly committed to the work of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and secure the supply of agricultural products.

3. Accelerate economic structural adjustment, and promote independent and coordinated economic development.  First, it should make great efforts to expand domestic demand.  Second, it should forcefully push forward the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure.  Third, it should put more efforts on energy conservation and emission reduction.  Fourth, it should spare no efforts to promote regional coordinated development.

4. Deepen reform in major areas and key segments, and uplift the level of opening to the outside world.

5. Make full efforts to safeguard and improve people’s livelihoods, strengthen and innovate social management.

The conference points out, in order to do a good job in the economic work in 2012, China must stick to the concept of overall planning and all-round considerations, and earnestly keep a good balance between objectives and tasks to achieve the overall objective of making progress while maintaining stability.

The Chinese government should better combine stable growth, price control, structure adjustment, livelihood improvement, reform implementation and harmony promotion.

‘Stable growth’ means to boost domestic demand while stabilizing foreign demand, to exert itself to overcome the impact brought about by all sorts of unstable and uncertain factors, promptly solve trendy and tendentious problems, and to keep stable economic growth.

‘Price control’ means to continue taking comprehensive measures to keep the general price level basically stable and prevent the price tendency from rebounding.

‘Structure adjustment’ means to bring the main theme into bold relief, permeate the main policy into the whole work, combine support and control accordingly, increase both quality and quantity of economic growth, and to strengthen economic coordination and sustainability.

‘Livelihood improvement’ means to place safeguarding and improving of livelihoods on a more outstanding position, concentrate efforts to solve urgent issues, and to do some tangible things that can be seen by the people and can benefit the people.

‘Reform implementation’ means to push forward reform with greater commitment and efforts, concentrate all efforts to solve systematic and structural contradictory problems that directly impact the long-term healthy economic development, obtain new breakthroughs in major areas and key links, and promote reform, development and harmony through opening-up.

‘Harmony promotion’ means to correctly handle the relations among reform, development and stability, actively and efficiently defuse all kinds of potential conflicts and risks, and promote social harmony and stability.

Jan 19, 2012

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Bishop Neil Ellis and his 'message' from God

The Bishop and his 'message' from God

tribune242 editorial

Nassau, The Bahamas



WE KNOW times are tough and that today managers have to think "outside the box" to raise revenue, but no one can match the genius of a bishop who Monday night filled his church and collection plate by promising to reveal the antics of "three demons" who threatened our country with destruction.

Of course, it had to be so, didn't God join Bishop Neil Ellis on a lonely walk and whisper the horror in his ear, instructing him to take the news back to save his people from the fires of hell? Like Moses coming down from the mountain with his tablet of ten commandments, Bishop Ellis couldn't wait to get back to the Bahamas to share with Bahamians God's warning. However, unlike Moses, The Tribune's reporter could not find a glow of holy light around the bishop's head.

Of course, The Tribune always wanting to be first with the news, pestered the bishop to reveal the demon's names -- the time he planned to do so in his church was rather late for our deadline. He refused.

Bishop Ellis maintained it would be dangerous to do so. God had told him it had to be done in church will all the congregation present. This would be their only opportunity to hear God's words from the mouth of his messenger. The words were to be spoken only once, in other words no repeat performance, no radio, no TV, no web, and, possibly if he could help it, no Tribune. But The Tribune was so curious and so anxious to let our readers know what demons had been assigned to wreak havoc in their lives, that we extended our deadlines and waited.

Mission accomplished: By 7:30pm the church was not only full; it was overflowing. And as the bishop had anticipated, his "demons" had brought in enough of the gullible to justify the setting up of special monitors in the parking lot so that those who could not find a seat could still watch the circus. The Bishop certainly got the crowds for the once-in-a lifetime show, but the only secret that he kept to himself was how much was left behind in the collection plates. After all men -- even a bishop -- must find ways to outwit hard time.

We soon learned that the three demons were well known to all of us - sexual immorality, financial instability and witchcraft. So what's new? Surely, the bishop knew that these demons entered the human race the day Adam and Eve got the heave-ho from the Garden of Eden. Ever since then mankind has struggled -- and often lost the battle in the garden of Good and Evil.

Would you believe that this is the same bishop who during the May, 2002 election told his congregation from the pulpit that anyone among them who did not support the PLP at the polls should "haul hip."

"Get lost," he shouted from the pulpit, "I don't want to see you any more." According to him then Opposition leader Perry Christie was the anointed one who he was holding "close to his breast." This man of God, anointed to tend the flock regardless of political affiliation, boasted that he received nothing from the PLP, but it was no secret he gave much to them. In other words, they were very much indebted to him. He boasted that they travelled on his plane, he paid all their bills, covered their hotel costs, fed them, but "never took a dime from them" -- no wonder his poor congregation have to keep his coffers filled.

Declaring that he was a humble little bishop who wanted nothing in return, he just could not contain another boast:

"Do you know what could happen in this country if the Bishop who has the largest congregation has the prime minister of the country hooked up to him? Imagine what could happen if the church had a say in the prime minister's office." No wonder he ordered his congregation who would not vote for Mr Christie to "haul hip." The "humble" little bishop, although unelected, had visions of presiding over all of us from the centre of power.

And then there was the Singing Bishop with his miracle water who created quite a stir -- didn't we just hear Bishop Ellis warn about witchcraft?

Well, on a hot day in August 2005 Bishop Lawrence Rolle -- known as the "Singing Bishop" -- packed thousands in to attend his miracle water service. He had hoodwinked another Baptist Bishop into believing in his new beverage. It was this bishop who announced that through the water the singing bishop had raised a man from the dead. At the service several woman testified to miracle healings of their aches and pains.

Of course, The Tribune, always the miserable sceptic, wanted to know more about this modern Lazarus. We pestered the "Singing Bishop" so much that eventually he admitted that the "dead" man never died, nor did his body ever go to the mortuary. It appears that the sight of the hearse "shivered" him into life.

The hoax seemed to lose its savour when The Tribune published a little experiment we had in our newsroom. Gathered around the TV set to watch our Golden Girls run the 4x100 relay race, the news editor decided to test the miracle water. He sprinkled some of it on top of the TV set just as Tamika Clarke, the starter, approached Chandra Sturrup to pass the baton. Suddenly Chandra collapse in a heap and Tamika had to jump over her. The reporters blamed their editor for jinxing the race with the prophet's "cursed" water.

We just hope God has a sense of humour as He looks down on his foolish creatures. If He does He must be having a good belly laugh at some of these false prophets and their gullible followers.

January 18, 2012

- Bishop Neil Ellis of Mount Tabor Full Gospel Baptist Church warned that there are three demons that are holding The Bahamas hostage... and can only be exorcised with prayer... ... The demons are sexual immorality, financial instability and witchcraft -


- Bishop Neil Ellis is right... there are more than three demons destroying The Bahamas... but the main ones are the ones he decided to drag across the coals Monday night -- sexual immorality, financial instability and witchcraft -

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Bishop Neil Ellis of Mount Tabor Full Gospel Baptist Church warned that there are three demons that are holding The Bahamas hostage... and can only be exorcised with prayer... ... The demons are sexual immorality, financial instability and witchcraft

Bishop: Demons loose in country



By LAMECH JOHNSON and SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporters
sbrown@tribunemedia.net

Nassau, The Bahamas



THREE demons are holding the Bahamas hostage and can only be exorcised with prayer, Bishop Neil Ellis, of Mount Tabor Full Gospel Baptist Church, warned last night. The demons were sexual immorality, financial instability and witchcraft.

He insisted this information was a revelation from God and nothing to do with him.

The controversial Bishop held Bahamians in suspense yesterday, refusing to reveal the three evils until his church was full. Around 7:30pm, a crowded church accommodated the overflow congregation in its parking lot. There, they watched the action on monitors set up for the occasion.

Bishop Ellis had earlier told The Tribune how the Lord had "appeared" to him and told him the Bahamas is possessed by three demons, who are the cause for the rising crime levels and immorality.

Bishop Ellis said: "In late November, I went on a sabbatical that lasted 10 days. It was just me and the Lord. It was a great refreshing period for me to get closer to Him.

"The Lord appeared to me and said a number of things. Since then I have implemented a few of these initiatives in the church that are working great. But there was one thing in particular the Lord showed me that was quite troubling.

"He said three demonic spirits have been assigned to the Bahamian people.

"God showed me who they were, what they were, where they came from, how they got here and what their assignments are. He also gave me a prayer of release and told me to call a service to deal with the demonic spirits.

"The Lord also told me to have the people present to pray the prayer of release."
Bishop Ellis said the only way to rid the Bahamas, and "our people", of these demons was for everyone to say the prayer.

"You have to be present to say the prayer," he said. "I was told for this assignment not to stream it over the Internet and not to put it on my telecast. I am also not going to broadcast it. I will also only do this once. There is no charge for the service and all are welcome."

"Sexual immorality," he told the large crowd, "is the oldest of the three. It's been assigned (to The Bahamas) since the early 1800s. "It has taken root in the lives and psyche of Bahamians."

The demon's task - sexual immorality - he said was designed to "keep God's plan for you, from you, destabilise the Bahamian family" and "replace God with himself (the demon)".

He said that the demon of sexual immorality was evident in our society when one saw the high level of "promiscuity going on".

Fornication and adultery, he said, are "literally glamorised". Speaking of the "sweetheart syndrome" - one of the three sub-assignments under the main assignment of the sexual immorality demon - "has striven and now become accepted as our normal way of life".

As for homosexuality and incest, it was "rampant and ragged in the Bahamas", he said.
Calling up the second demon --financial instability -- Bishop Ellis said it was a demon "sent directly from hell primarily to enslave the people of the Bahamas.

"It was designed," he said, "to keep you working, but keep you broke."

"The majority of the people in The Bahamas are one pay cheque away from poverty", he said, adding that there is an agreement between the first two demons. Poverty, caused by demon no 2, "allows demon no 1 to driver persons in poverty to sexual immorality".

The last demon, he said, is widespread throughout the Bahamas, as many are operating in "obeah and voodoo. It has been full blown in our country and it has been for some time."

The demon of witchcraft, he said, is designed to "manipulate, intimidate, separate, segregate and control", he said. "It is not assigned to kill you. It is designed and assigned to terrorising until it drives you insane."

Bishop Ellis said this "demon" uses confusion as one of its major weapons. "This spirit will try to bring confusion to the home, the marriage and the family. There are divorced and separated people who love each other, but can't live together. Witchcraft!"

"It enjoys separating people from their friends, their families, their loved ones all in an effort to drive you crazy."

The Bishop contended that the spirit from hell was not originally released to target the Bahamas, but it had been imported sometime around the bootlegging era, and has since been "embedded into the belly our of society".

January 17, 2012

- Bishop Neil Ellis and his 'message' from God -


- Bishop Neil Ellis is right... there are more than three demons destroying The Bahamas... but the main ones are the ones he decided to drag across the coals Monday night -- sexual immorality, financial instability and witchcraft -

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International