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photo by Alicia Hermosillo, courtesy of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Who told you that slugs are ugly?

This issue's cover comes from the world of science. Researchers with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have discovered five new species of sea slugs in the Eastern Tropical Pacific and this one, Cuthona behrensi, has the cutest yellow-tipped appendages. And no, they didn't name Cerberilla chavezi after Hugo.

I don't know the woman, but I admire some things she did as a university administrator as much as I deplore the policies she carries out in the Bush administration. But still, certain stereotypes come to mind when I think about Condoleeza Rice. One of them, which was especially enhanced by her former hair style, is of a black version of Olive Oyl and it probably says horrible things about me that I think that way.

Another impression I get of the American secretary of state is that she'd be the type of person who'd say "eeew!" when confronted with any sort of slimy creature. If indeed she's like that, then maybe she'd approve of naming a slug after Hugo Chávez as a matter of fundamental principles.

Rice certainly went after Venezuela at the OAS summit here, and her Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, didn't take it lying down.

The big international cause célèbre these days is about freedom of expression and the alleged lack thereof in Venezuela, as evidenced by the Chávez administration's decision not to renew RCTV's lease on the country's VHF channel 2 and to give the frequency to a new state-owned broadcasting company instead.

The arguments pro and con tend to dominate this issue of The Panama News, with coverage of Rice versus Maduro confrontation and reports from Caracas in the news section. On this general subject there are five columns each in the English and Spanish opinion sections, by Bernal, Heck, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Munini and Reporters Without Borders in the former and Panama's Chamber of Commerce, Claude, Mármol, Santodomingo and OCLAE in the latter.

I notice that the Catholic channel FETV is endorsing the protests in favor of RCTV (I'm not sure if the Vatican now also formally approves of right wing coups to overthrow elected governments, but that would not at all surprise me coming from the current pope), while the Liberation Theology people at Panama Profundo don't see the wrong in refusing to renew RCTV's 20-year lease.

The subject of RCTV puts me at odds with a lot of people with whom I usually agree and whose views I respect, and on the other hand has me concurring with some politicians for whom I have not much respect. My opinion is found on the editorial page. One of the readers who saw an early version of it has weighed in with his disagreement on our letters page, which, by the way, gets into an unusual mix of subjects this time. I call 'em like I see 'em, and don't take a poll to see how other people think first. When you think that I'm way off, that's one of the reasons we have a letters page.

But meanwhile there has been a lot happening here these days.

Captain Ricky Traad, the Panama Canal pilot who took a leave of absence to head Panama's National Maritime Service coast guard and promoted himself to rear admiral, is in jail. So are the men who were the chief of operations, the chief of logistics and the chief property custodian for the SMN. It's a matter of a missing ton of cocaine and sudden unexplained wealth.

Social Security Fund director René Luciani has been charged with more than 100 counts of negligent homicide in the poisoned medicine scandal, as have his predecessors Rolando Villalaz and Juan Jované. Health Minister Camilo Alleyne, who's kind of old and kind of overweight for that sort of thing, has re-learned how to sprint, so as to avoid reporters asking him questions. (Yes, I know --- a fat old buzzard like me should hardly talk about such things, but it was, after all, the minister and not me who put on the athletic display.)

So is there any good news?

Sure, but much of it depends on point of view. For example, this is one of Panamanian boxing's golden ages and we saw some talented local pugilists move closer to world title shots the other night. But I suppose if you were the guy whom Maco Arboleda had been beating upside the head all night long, you just might have a different perspective about the fight.

I also suppose the folks at Ocean Embassy (the folks who want to build a dolphin park in San Carlos) and the Fundacion Humanitas people (who think that all dolphin parks are cruel) would take markedly different views of the small protest against plans to capture dolphins here. And although Democrats and Republicans were both equally represented at the Pro Ciudad walkathon, I didn't see any skyscraper developers on that march.

And is Holy Scriptures Month a cause to rejoice about the success of the Good Lord's Word, or to argue about who's lord is best and what his book actually says and means? Or is it just more insincere political posturing that's best ignored? A lot of people don't know that Panama has a history of religious warfare and persecution and it is something we should keep in mind even if it appears that we're not going to get a jihad or an inquisition out of this latest resolution by the National Assembly.

And anyway, to we really want to be guided toward the light, or does one run too great a risk of stepping on a snake if you go walking around looking at the sky?

There are no snakebite deaths to report this issue, but a fisherman was dragged away and eaten by a large crocodile in Miraflores Lake, and if you can find away around those most atavistic fears of being killed by a reptile you might want to ponder it as a public policy issue in this issue's outdoors section.

These last couple of weeks took me to Memorial Day observances, an International School musical with several good performances and one really moving one, a flea market in the Casco Viejo and Panama City's municipal seafood market. (I can complain about the prices in the latter venue but those of you in the USA might turn green with envy when you see what we have to pay.)

And the best news of all? Maybe it was Danilo Pérez's announcement of next year's Panama Jazz Festival dates. Maybe it was this website's readership numbers for May. Probably, however, it's that after a disruptive change of servers that took us off the web for a few days, you are able to read these words.

Enjoy.

Eric Jackson

the editor