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From Washington DC, here are my views concerning the events at the Panama-USA soccer match at RFK.

From the onset, it appears as if Panama stud a good chance of leaving RFK with at least a tie. The fans were there, playing conditions were great, the Panamanian technical stratergy was questionable.

The Diaspora fans were all they could be and then some. Not only were they familiar with Panama's soccer jingle "Ya viene el Gol," they improvised some jingles of their own especialy when the Panamanian goal came under serious attack or when an American player faked injury on the field. Some of the jingles are not suitable for repetition --- just leave the creativity to our New Yorkers, they know how. Still, they came with their families and friends and maybe even their girlfriends.

The Panamanian national soccer team is not quite ready for a pretty style of soccer like played by Brazil or Argentina. In my opinion, their technical mistake was to believe that they could. The Americans kept them deep in their own court, and time and time again they attempted to get out with short pases like the Brazilians and Argentinans can.

The last time I saw a game like tonight was when the Argentinans did the same to the Colombian team in the Copa America. They jumped on them from the get-go, wouldn't allow them to get out of their own end and wouldn't let them breathe.

But the most touching moment of the evening came at the very begining when both teams took the field. The Panamanian fans sang the national anthem with passion and after the American national anthem, the Panamanian team came over to the section reserved for the Panamanian fans and rendered us a bow. It felt good. The last time I felt such type of emotion was when I carried a Georgia state flag before hundred of Georgians during a US bicentennial celebration.

Raymond Grant
Falls Church, Virginia

Editor’s note: Alas, the October 13 match was a rout. The US team massacred the Panamanians by a 6-0 score.

Thank you so much. Mr. Jackson hit the nail on the head! Its about time we are treated with dignity and respect. After all, our money is green. Many a times I meet other nationals and they will say to me “I did not know Panama had black people.”

CB Richards

I have been reading your news paper for a year or so now and I am very impressed with your knowledge and honesty. You have exposed the crimmals of Bocas and have saved many people from fraud.

I have been visiting Panama since year 2000. I can with a good friend Dr. Rod Hidalgo whose Family live and lived in Cocepcion. I am a dentist and have worked in Belize helping in the hospital for a week a year for a few years and visited most other Central Amercan countries. I am seriously conseridering living in Panama when I retire. I liked Bocas but you saved me from a lot of heartache about the fraud and Tom Mc (what ever his name is). I had spoke with Capt Thom of the Buccanear Resort and later discovered that Tom Mc(?) had an option.

I plan to visit Panama in time between Christmas and New Years, if possible. I would like to meet with you and have you educate me about Panama's rules for me to live there.

JKL

Editor's note: As in most countries, it's easier to come here to live than it is to legally work here. "Panama's rules" are myriad, including both formal and proper ones, informal and customary ones and a sordid legacy of corruption. But a lot of foreigners have gotten around the obstacles and have happily retired down here. In many cases --- for example, to get your immigration papers in order --- one needs to consult with a Panamanian lawyer in order to deal with this country’s rules. I practiced law in the United States but I am not a Panamanian lawyer.

Your article, "The Fundamental Issue" was terrific. What I call the Bush Wrecking Co. has put all of us in a dreadful position --- that misguided administration is a threat to the entire globe. I'm afraid that "fringe" has become sizeable for reasons that mystify me --- perhaps because "reason" has nothing to do with it. It's unfortunate that those folks don't read history in addition to the Bible that they read so selectively.

You may find the following of related material of interest:

There is a new DVD out: "George W. Bush: Faith in the White House," which portrays the president as "God's Warrior."

The New York Times's Frank Rich wrote a scathing review. Well worth your time: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/arts/03rich.html

If you don't already know it, you might check out Cornel West's "Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism" (2004). West has coined a new term, Constantinian Christianity, for the new brand of fundamentalism.

You might also find the website http://www.yuricareport.com of interest. In particular, I bring your attention to "Excerpts from the New Messiahs." Invaluable background on how Pat Robertson and the radical right Christian Coalition laid the plan "to take over the government of the United States." It is chilling. They have already accomplished so much.

Thank you again for that fine article.

B.G. Bandler
Jalisco, Mexico

Editor’s note: For many years I lived and was active in public affairs in Ypsilanti, Michigan --- sometimes and not always affectionately referred to as the slums of Ann Arbor --- and used to get letters and columns published in the Ann Arbor News with some frequency. I wrote a piece about being on the same pardon list with the Cuban terrorists who were planning to set off a bomb at the University of Panama and how they were received as heroes in the United States, intending to have in published in The Ann Arbor News. But whether it was too long or for whatever reason, it did not get published there, so it was circulated over the Internet and published in AM Costa Rica. You can find it by going to http://www.amcostarica.com/100704.htm and scrolling about halfway down the page to “Let’s have just one standard about terrorism.”

That article published elsewhere brought a lot of letters to my email box at The Panama News, as follow:

It's quite a story!!! Glad you're pardoned, anyway.

Stephanie (Tom) "Stacie" Trescott
Founder/Cacophonist
Jam Rag/Green House

Congratulations, Eric, on being pardoned along with your fellow journalists. Please continue to print the news as you see it. I am interested in not only how Torrijos will do in office but I'm also curious about Moscoso as life as a civilian --- will she and her cohorts ever face charges for having their hands in the till and being corrupt? Or is "all is forgiven" once a president leaves office?

Bonnie

"Because George W. Bush needs their supporters' votes on November 2."

The above BULLSHIT is probably why your article wasn't used... You are not any better than CBS and Dan Rather when you publish something that you do not know for a fact, nor can prove... Your statement isn't any more than one's private thinking.. One's dislike for someone else... Rather (oh!, what a pun) than publish facts, you do innuendoes and try to come across as being factual...

You --- in my opinion --- are not worthy of having your on-line paper read... It used to be that when one was a reporter, he reported facts, as it happen, how it happen --- and did try to flavor the article with personal slants and opinion...

I have absolutly no problems with someone have a different view than I, but one does a guessing game and try and pass it off as fact ruffles my feathers...

DonR

Hello!!

Who was President of the United States in November 2000 when the individuals entered Panama with the explosives? Who was (and still is) a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee at that time?

Did you hear a peep out of either one of them concerning your information? Of course not.

Surely the Embajada Americana in Panama let Bill's administration know about this. Surely they informed the Senate's Intelligence Committee where Senator Kerry sat as a member about this.

Where was the outrage from the powers in charge at the time? Where was Bill and Al Gore then? Where was Senator Kerry's insistence that those people be "brought to justice"? Where was the demand from the Bill's US State Department that these US citizens be extradited to the US for trial?

You know the answer. They are liberals, the folks you like. You would never say anything if Gore was President today instead of President Bush. Don't even hint that this story would have ended different if Al was in charge. He would want the South Florida Cuban vote at least as much, maybe more, than you claim Preident Bush does.

By expressing your opinion that you cannot support the President because these guys went to Florida and got a rousing reception, you imply that Senator Kerry was and is in favor of bringing those folks to justice. Please refer me to Kerry's statement to that effect. You can't because it does not exist.

What a flake! Perhaps you should put your article in memo form and send it to Dan Rather at CBS. Maybe they would put it on 60 Minutes or 60 Minutes II. That would thrill all of the liberals in La-La-Land, the only ones still watching anything on CBS and claiming that it is true.

Jim Edwards
Costa Rica

Editor’s note: Let the record reflect that when Bill Clinton left office the Cuban terrorists in question were in jail in Panama and the US government was not treating them as heroes or martyrs.

I read your article on "Let's have one standard about terrorism."

Now if Fox News reported this I would believe it. Insead of bashing a standing presidant in a time of war, say nice things about the beautiful country you have adopted.

Howard Daniels Jr.

Editor’s note: I was born in Panama of American parents, thus acquiring dual citizenship as a birthright by operation of US and Panamanian laws. I really have never “adopted” either of my beautiful countries.

Yes, the Bush administration is not perfect but with all due respect, Mr. Jackson, you are living in a dream world if you think Kerry/Edwards "can unite the world against the enemies of all humanity".

Thanks for giving me a good laugh today!

B. Holm

Once again, you have it right. You have hit the nail on the head enough times to build a house.

name withheld

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