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Sunday, November 26, 2017

The Paradise Papers from my Home Country




Firstly,  the Paradise Papers is an effort by the world's news media to uncover possible crimes committed and covered up in Bermuda while totally ignoring the fact that the information obtained itself is a major crime akin to breaking and entering the offices of Appleby and taking the files from the filing cabinets.

No-one from Appleby's leaked that information. It was obtained via a simple hacking operation and it confuses me that the media can spill such private information, illegally obtained to the whole world. Names have been released, including Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, but the best part of all is that those bastards have had to admit and report they have not found wrongdoing but rather that all is perfectly legal.

I was born in Bermuda, and along the way I have been close enough, or outright involved in Bermuda's growth as an international finance centre to have an insider's understanding of Bermuda's attitude about these things.

Let me say I am not a spokesperson for Bermuda but rather these are my own personal observations, views and opinions. In the early days Bermuda was a favourite for people who sought to establish Trusts as a way of safeguarding assets from greedy grasping spouses. Whether they also evaded paying taxes on those assets I really don't know, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to imagine that some people went that extra step.

Then we saw an attack being made on the secrecy laws and practises of Switzerland and some of us said we had better get out ahead of this matter and re-examine our own exposures because we are entirely too small and isolated an outpost to survive pissing off financial authorities by standing in their way to track down taxes due to them.

When the regulatory authorities for Europe came knocking on our door we were in a position to say this is what we have already done towards fighting tax evasion and money laundering. Let us see what your further criteria is and we will close the gaps.

Bermuda is fully in compliance with regulations from both sides of the Atlantic. We can not afford to get in a fight with the IRS in the United States or the Inland Revenue in the U.K. or any other authority. I can tell you that the United States conducts financial examinations in Bermuda of United States companies because I have had to sit with their examiners myself and supply information.

With respect to the payment of tax, often when the tax authority conducts an audit they will find that the taxpayer has over paid his tax burden because of miscalculation. In those cases the authority will refund the overpayment, which establishes that we are only required to pay what is required of us and not a penny more.

If there are so-called loopholes that allow the taxpayer to reduce his burden then the loop hole needs to be closed. The person or company that uses the loophole must not be blamed. Said loopholes may exists in Bermuda, or the United Kingdom or The United States of America.

I'm proud of my Bermuda and its integrity. On top of that in the presentation of their investigative journalism the British BBC program "Panorama"  showed stunning images of Bermuda which made me long for home and amounted to great publicity for the island. On top of that they found all to be in order.

The Paradise Papers indeed!

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Birthday Milestones



My wife celebrated her birthday recently, but the time between the last one and this one had passed so quickly I had to check to make certain we were not celebrating two in the same year.

I arose after her and instead of the first words from my mouth being "Happy Birthday My Love," I said " Good Morning. I see the cat has thrown up again." We were due to leave the house at 11am at which time she seemed to storm out of the house ahead of me, moving the car outside the gates and waiting. Up until then I still had not mentioned the word birthday.

I closed the house and got in the car and then I said, " I have not wished you a happy birthday because I am taking the responsibility to make this a very happy day for you. So, let's get this show on the road."

She just stared at me. She then said I'm so angry with you that I have just posted this on my Facebook page. The message read "I'm so angry with my husband, and she went on to tell the above story. I said so, we are starting at the very bottom and it may be a long way to the top but I will get you there. Off we went!

The plan was that we would drive to Benidorm, about two and a half hours away to stay overnight at an hotel, and we would spend the evening at The Benidorm Palace for dinner and a show. I made certain that the hotel would be out of the ordinary, therefore I chose the Meliá Villaitana which is not located down along the waterfront in the jungle that is all that concrete, but rather a hotel that presents itself as a full Moroccan-style village with commanding views over the Mediterranean.

By the time we reached our destination she was back on civil terms with me, but the sight of the hotel brought a soft smile to her face. The location is next door to the Terra Mitica theme park. This is a glorious hotel whether you are travelling as adults only or with young children you will be comfortable and pleased. If you are also a golfer you may think you died and are now in Heaven.

As the night overcame us we prepared for the main part of the experience. About fifteen years ago I had the opportunity to attend a Sunday afternoon charity event at The Palace featuring talent from several venues around the town. It served as a taster for me where I vowed I would come back someday to celebrate something important. That time had come, but in the meantime The Palace had reinvented itself by changing its image. It now looks like a place out of the ordinary that offers something unique. On the other hand it would be right at home in Las Vegas.

Our dinner that preceded the show was first rate, accompanied by wine for my wife and something non-alcoholic for me, the designated driver. And then, The Show! The title was "Rubi" as The Palace is celebrating 40 years of presenting the best. A Fortieth Anniversary is commemorated by the giving of a Ruby.

I so want to describe our every sense as the show unfolded, first by presenting Fiestas Española highlighting Flamenco and Spanish culture. It went on to take us through so many genres including music from the 50´s and 60´s. The sight of twenty-six dancers was so enchanting that by the time the show had come to a reluctant end we were left without words except one. "WoW!"

When people work that hard to give so much of themselves to make us feel so special we can only respond by appreciating the effort and to pass along the recommendation to visit The Benidorm Palace at least once in your life. Save it for a super special occasion when you want to impress.

My wife's day started off in the pits but by bedtime she had experienced a birthday like none other. My reward was to gain a few Brownie Points and they matter.

Enjoy!

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael



Sunday, November 12, 2017

Leslie Flint-Medium



The topic of the Spiritual Medium has been brought to my attention and I find myself fascinated. I have written a book titled "Death is Not the End" which I truly believe. I have even had the experience of having worked with my deceased former wife over an extended period of time. Over that period she spoke to me and often spoke through me. I simply opened my mouth and the most amazing words  were uttered.

Eventually she moved on and presumably is now living her life following the last one. That makes it easier for me to accept that those who reside in the spirit world can have contact with those still living. Normally, if that contact takes place through a Medium the person who has requested the contact is seated in the room while the Medium calls up the deceased who then makes contact through the Medium.

This is the story of Leslie Flint, a British Medium who used the direct voice method whereby the deceased person speaks in their own voice (which may have changed somewhat since they "died")through a form of voice box that appears above the Medium called ectoplasm.

Flint was born in London, England in 1911 and gave his first séance when he was 17 years of age. He evidently believed as I do in reincarnation in that when we do the thing that we call die, we in fact slip from our body taking our soul and our  spirit which consists of our accumulated knowledge, our talent and our ability to know what is going on, and eventually we slip into the body of the new born who is then stocked with what we bring but also what he or she receives from its parents.

Not surprisingly Leslie Flint had to put up with his critics who accused him of fraud as they accused him of trickery like throwing his voice. He had himself bound and gagged and his larynx measured which showed no movement while the discussion took place. Still those who didn't want to believe didn't believe. It seems that these people expected the deceased person's voice from beyond the grave to sound exactly as they did when they were alive. Why would they sound as though they were alive. They are now dead.

Mr Flint had the conversations recorded and they are available for anyone to listen to today. I have sat through a conversation between Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and I must say I found it gripping. There are thousands of tapes available so this is just the start of my research.

I shall return to this subject later, but Leslie Flint, who died in 1994 is someone to be taken seriously.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael




Saturday, November 4, 2017

As time moves on .....



Time is like a great river of rushing water. As the water moves its picks up all of life's problems, and its pleasures and sweeps all things forward. In the grand  world picture it's the same in the North, South, East and West. Events from past years, months, weeks, days and hours get carried along changing in their character as they go because this is the nature of life. The one constant factor is change.

The way we see things is ever changing. Today we might be against and tomorrow we are for. What seemed like the end of the world yesterday is not at all a bad thing today. Yesterday the high and mighty were very high indeed. Today they are the fallen, and those in whom we placed our trust and faith are swept out in today's trash.

Here in Spain we have watched a group of people charged with high responsibility shit on their positions and their titles by sticking their fingers in the eyes of The State, and they did it quite deliberately. It has been a case of watching a whole group of people deliberately commit suicide in slow motion. They were yesterday's government and today they are gone, swept downstream into prison where they will remain for the next thirty-years. Those who have not yet been captured are on the run but there is nowhere to hide.

The glitter of Hollywood and show business has served to cover up the foibles on man by the use of costumes and makeup. We are now finding that what we thought passed for art and celebrity has always been men  behaving very badly. They have treated women in a shameful way that has not changed since the days of the cavemen. In the tradition of Hollywood many are nominated and The Oscar goes to the chosen one for today, but there will be others tomorrow. The shame is that we believed in them, and in some cases we bowed to them when in fact they didn't even merit our shoe leather.

We now learn that such reprehensible behaviour not only exists in the glamour industry but that it exists in the halls of our political, health, financial, and even our educational institutes where they damn well should know better. To add insult to injury even our religious organisations are not sacred. If we can't believe and trust in our houses of religion what can we believe in?

This is not to say that I wholeheartedly believe all of the accusers, nor do I accept that they are  as innocent as they would have me digest, but there has been disgusting behaviour of that there is no doubt on the part of people who thought they were entitled and that is cause for great disappointment.

The river of time continues on its way moving the sludge of our lives with it. In its wake what it leaves behind could be a clean surface but it seems that would be too simple. Mankind has to soil the surface as quickly as we can because it appears we prefer to live in the muck.

What does that say about us?

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael