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This issue's cover photo is, of course, a political photo-op. These days the foreign medical assistance to Panama program that gets the most attention is the eye surgery that a lot of people who can't afford it are getting for free in Cuba. However, the Americans have been giving medical aid to Panama for a long time, most methodically through such private charities as the Shrine's hospital in Houston and medical missionaries of various Christian denominations but also periodically from US military forces.

In this case a small team of doctors who are also members of the Air Force National Guard came to the elementary school in Arraijan's Loma Cova neighborhood, where they saw saw some 7,000 patients. Supported by the American Society, the VFW Ladies Auxiliary and several other groups in the American community here, the doctors did eye exams, basic dental work, innoculations, treatments for intestinal parasites and health education. Surely for some of the younger kids they treated, the diagnosis of visual problems or the treatment for worms will mean the difference between success and failure in the crucial early years of elementary education. This year's American military medical mission was to seven poverty-stricken communities in Panama and Darien provinces.

Also in our community section this time we have the annual Grave Cleaning Day rites in the Chinese cemetery at the foot of Ancon Hill. In the mainstream Panamanian culture, November 2 is the Day of the Dead on which some similar maintenance chores are performed, but of course part of Chinese culture is Confucianism, one of the pillars of which is filial piety or ancestor worship. To begin to understand this country's Chinese community one must know about its strong family values and the different organizations that maintain ossuaries at this graveyard. To understand why the Panameñistas don't get many votes from Panamanians of Chinese ancestry, the history of this cemetery, part of which was confiscated during the first Arnulfo Arias administration and only returned in 2004, is also instructive.

We go far afield in this issue, thanks mainly to our growing band of contributors. Silvio Sirias takes us to the world of Bollywood movies in the review section. Mike Hinton takes us to Kuna Yala by way of the overland route that's now being paved into an all-weather road. Allan Hawkins takes us through the jungle on the Las Cruces Trail. Ivan Klasovsky shows us springtime in Germany.

But what happens if as an impressionable young hippie one was exposed to the way out music of Sun Ra, and liked it? Two things, most likely: a lifelong appreciation for jazz, and a belief that "space is the place." In our science section Dr. Tom Heppenheimer's presentation on the changing space industry and Panama's possible participation in it is reported, and this issue's reviews include coverage of New Orleans Night --- jazz and Cajun food --- at the Gazebo in Clayton.

These past few weeks I also witnessed a very good game that did not decide which of the undefeated teams would dominate Panama's American football scene. Another sports story, the Ocean-to-Ocean Cayuco Race, will get into this issue a bit late as the event once again takes place on a production weekend for The Panama News. To the extent that it gets in at all, it will lengthen the entire production process as part of Sunday will be dedicated to covering the finish.

The dominant news story, and also the subject of this issue's editorial, is the selection by the National Assembly of Liborio García as the next national ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo). Those of you on The Panama News email list got a sneak preview of the editorial, and as a result I have received a bit of criticism for this issue already.

In the competition for the job, there is every appearance that the PRD caucus in the legislature figured out in advance which candidates would be acceptable in its eyes, and then went around to see who might gain approval from other parties. Now we already know that this particular legislature is brazenly pro-corruption --- my circuit's deputies include one who hardly ever shows up for work and is again thinking about switching political parties; another whose immunity is being considered by the Supreme Court, which may or may not allow her to be investigated for putting a phantom employee on her legislative payroll; and another who avoided investigation for election crimes when, just before the power to decide whether immunity might be lifted was given to the high court, his colleagues in the assembly turned down the electoral prosecutor's petition to allow criminal proceedings. What the Liborio García selection process tells us is that, in addition to being a bunch of thugs, the current legislature is also a collection of lazy bums. Heaven forbid that these pathetic social climbers would lower themselves to actually do their homework, and investigate a nominee's character as the law provides they should.

And so it came to pass that a 2004 domestic argument that ended up in the corregiduria but ended without any criminal conviction led to charges by opposing candidates that García is a wife-beater. The wife emphatically denies it, and García himself less categorically blows off the question.

From experiences as a kid, as a small town politician and as a lawyer handling domestic violence cases, I know enough about the subject to be concerned about the underlying allegation. However, I have also learned to be skeptical about claims made in the course of political contests.

But that's not the end of it, because in the course of brushing off questions García said that domestic violence is a private matter. As a matter of law he was absolutely wrong about that, and the statement cast doubts on his willingness to recognize violence men use to control the lives of women as one of the world's most common and serious human rights violations.

That gaffe brought out the feminist pickets, some of whom made arguments to the effect that any allegation of spousal abuse is true and many others of whom argued that whether or not Liborio García is a brutal husband, his obnoxious statements show that he's unfit to be the nation's ombudsman.

García took office as scheduled anyway, with women jeering from the legislature's galleries. One of the unsuccessful candidates for the job told me that "this is not over. He's a wild man." In the Spanish-language dailies the cartoonists had a field day portraying García as a troglodyte or as a pious religious hypocrite.

Whatever any of us may think, we are all going to have to wait and see what kind of a job García does in a post with few powers other than the ability to shine light in shadowy places.

However, the political importance of what has happened should not be underestimated. The ruling PRD-Partido Popular coalition has been badly split along gender lines. Among those protesting against García were First Lady Vivian Fernández de Torrijos and former Partido Popular legislator Teresita Yanis de Arias. It would be a rookie politician's error to take this division lightly, and equally foolish for an editor to dismiss people who disagree with the editorial on the subject as unreasonable.

The other big headline grabber has been the dribbling out of highly edited information about the government's Panama Canal expansion plans. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) told BBC that the project would cost $7.5 billion --- although there has been a US government estimate of more than double that amount --- but won't release its financial figures to the Panamanian press. The apparent presumption is that no Panamanians ever pay attention to the BBC or its website.

The day after that BBC story appeared the PRD-aligned La Prensa published two things about the canal expansion. First, there was a little note about how President Torrijos promises to make 55,000 pages of studies about the project available to anyone who cares to read them. (In other words, part of the government's propaganda strategy is to bury the critical details in a mountain of mostly irrelevant paper.) Second, the ACP subsidized La Prensa by taking out a half-page ad to attack the press for reporting tales of foreign lobbyists approaching them about contracts related to the project that's being promoted. But jailed Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park was busted in Mexico, en route from Canada to Panama, and Park's office said that he was going to talk about the canal expansion project. Moreover, in the wake of that, after all the denials it was admitted that ACP administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta and Vice President Samuel Lewis Navarro had indeed met with Park in Seoul. (If they didn't want to be stained by associations with the lobbyist for Saddam Hussein and Manuel Antonio Noriega and a prominent figure in US congressional and United Nations bribery scandals, Mr. Alemán and Mr. Lewis Navarro shouldn't have given Mr. Park more access to the canal expansion project than they have given to the Panamanian people.)

Yep. They think you're stupid and want to keep you ignorant. I get deeper into this subject in the opinion section.

Also in the opinion pages there is a long analysis of Radio Marti and TV Marti by Katie Harr of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. It pays most attention to the question of whether it's money well spent by the US government, but I recall how the TV station was used in this region. We used to get TV Marti on Panama's cable TV and it is or was also available on cable in places like Managua and Miami. (The signal does not come through in Cuba, of course, because Fidel jams it.) I very clearly recall how TV Marti dedicated itself to promoting the Nicaraguan presidential campaign of a man who's now on trial for money laundering in Panama, one Arnoldo Alemán. The erstwhile kleptocrat was given lots of air time to bash his opponents, without any pretense of giving them a chance to respond. I would imagine that the only reason why TV Marti never interfered in Panamanian elections is that the endorsement by that television station would be the kiss of death to a candidate here.

Let me end this detour into skullduggery and secrecy with a mention about this issue's dining page.

I went upscale from the usual in the dining section, and reviewed a Brazilian place, the Os Segredos da Carne in Paitilla. It was great. But what does that mean in Portutguese? "The Secrets of Meat?" What secrets?

Finally, let's consider the Internet radio buttons at the bottom of this page, and one in particular.

All across the English-speaking world, a tiny group of corporations have been for years concentrating book publishing, television, newspapers and radio stations into their ever fewer hands. It's one of the reasons for the popularity of The Panama News and other online publications that swim outside the corporate mainstream. But as you read these words power plays are underway to bring the Internet under the same corporate domination as the other media. One of these in the USA is a move to force Internet radio stations to pay much higher royalties for playing songs than those that stations that are FCC-licensed must pay. Another is a new British law requiring huge fees for stations that broadcast online outside of the UK.

This latter regulation has made one of the buttons below non-functional for the majority of our readers who live outside of the United Kingdom --- you can't listen to 2-Ten FM from Panama or the United States anymore. Thus we will need to replace that very interesting popular music station. I have been listening to Internet stations in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Caribbean, but have yet to find one that I like to replace 2-Ten. But maybe you, the readers, might have a favorite Internet station that you'd like to add to the selection below. Or maybe you don't have a favorite, but might welcome an opportunity to surf the net in search of a cool music station. Lend me a hand, if you can: send me your suggestions for a replacement Internet music station.

Enjoy.

Eric Jackson
the editor