review

Also in this section:
Cool Internet Sites
Books, Never Let Me Go
Books, In Dog We Trust

Cool Internet Sites

This issue’s websites are all at least tangentially related to the decision that Panamanian voters will have to make in the October 22 referendum on the Torrijos - Alemán Zubieta Plan to expand the Panama Canal. They are by no means an exhaustive list. Whichever side you take, bear in mind that one of the attributes of patriotism is that when a complicated issue of great importance to your country is being debated, you do your homework.

A Brief Example of Truth and Lying

http://flyvbjerg.plan.aau.dk/truthlyingexample.php

Danish professor Bent Flyvbjerg recounts the tale of a bus terminal in Aalborg, Denmark and the various claims --- both honest and dishonest --- that were floated in relation to the decisions about building it. The bit about the transformation of the "will to knowledge" into the “will to ignorance” very much applies to the propaganda campaign on behalf of the Torrijos - Alemán Zubieta Plan to expand the Panama Canal.

Big Dig Tragedy Compounded by

Lack of Digital Documentation

http://aecnews.com/news/2006/07/24/1927.aspx

AECnews.com, a website covering the architecture, engineering and construction industry, takes notice of the information control games that the Panama Canal Authority’s consultant, Parsons Brinckerhoff, used to conceal its errors and omissions in the Boston “Big Dig” scandal.

Grand Canal of China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_of_China

One of the great public works of the ancient world, this waterway was begun in China at least as early as 486 BC (according to surviving works by Confucius) and probably earlier than that, according to some archaeologists. The scandalous cost overruns for an expansion thereof were the cause of the Siu dynasty’s overthrow in 618 AD.

Parsons Brinckerhoff money

in a Seattle election

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/282354_tunnel24.html

The Panama Canal Authority’s consultant who drafted the cost estimates for the third locks has an established modus operandi that includes bribing public officials and, as this current report from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer notes, spending on political campaigns in which it has a financial stake. Here it's a tunnel project to be approved or rejected. Because Parsons Brinckerhoff is at the center of a huge scandal with the Boston “Big Dig,” they tried to hide their campaign contributions by making them indirectly. In Panama, however, there is no public disclosure of campaign financing so we don’t know how much which gangs of white collar criminals are giving to the “yes” campaign.

The Panama Canal Expansion Proposal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Expansion_Proposal

When The Panama News first viewed this, it was essentially a propaganda page for the “yes” campaign because they were the only ones who contributed anything to it. But Wikipedia allows for user editing so “no” advocates can balance out the misrepresentations and half-truths, so the nature of this page is changing.

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