letters

The Panama News readers have all sorts of different perspectives

Disagrees with science fiction review

"Robert Heinlein's 1959 prowar Starship Troopers?"

That is, perhaps, the most interesting take on ST I have ever seen. It begs the question of whether you feel that self-defense is "prowar." Even taken in light of RAH's half-hearted call for a Patrick Henry League it isn't prowar so much as it points out the necessity for war.

I've heard Haldeman, and others, gripe that ST glorifies war... but is that just because RAH didn't denounce it? I think so. And how militaristic can a book be that denounces, in effect, conscription? RAH's vision of public service as a necessity for a viable culture is intriguing and contentious, but hardly prowar.

name withheld

Editor's note: Hitler claimed self-defense when he sent his troops into Poland, too, with this bogus tale of an attack on a German radio station. Heinlein, who served in South Vietnam as an agricultural advisor, wrote Starship Trooper before the fraudulent Gulf of Tonkin Incident, believed that the war was necessary to defend Southeast Asia from Chinese conquest, with the "bugs" in Starship Troopers his allegory for the Chinese.

And Haldeman? He has a right to his opinion, especially since he served in Vietnam as a grunt.

Appreciates a different perspective

As one who has a personal interest in Panama (I have friends and family in the country), I just want to thank you for the Panama News. Although I also read La Prensa, it is good to get more than one perspective of the news. I hope to retire to Panama in about seven years when I qualify for retirement. Having spent five years in Panama as a member of the US military and visiting on a yearly basis, I am quite aware of pros and cons of living there. Panama, as anywhere else, is faced with tremendous challenges --- political, environmental, socioeconomic, etc.--and one can only hope that acceptable solutions can be found, and that those in position to make the needed changes will have the intestinal fortutude to do so. I have a lot of concerns about being able to afford to retire in Panama, as well as how the country will face the problems it confronts; however, I fell in love with Panama in the early 1970s and have not wanted to spend my life anywhere else. Please keep up your good work, speak your mind, and keep the readership informed. Again, thank you.

Curtis D. Goss

Real estate fraud in Panama City

From the Spanish user association for banking services:

http://www.ausbanc.es/medios/actualidad/articulos/panama/index.html

Thomas Portillo

Editor's note: Yep, it's amazing how self-destructive, and more importantly, destructive of Panama, the juega vivo gang tends to be. Every honest man and woman in this country's real estate and construction businesses ought to be indignant about it and in fact, we see more and more expressions of indignation from those circles.

The Panama News has from time to time been maligned for trashing Panama when abuses are reported or discussed. However, if the abuses were ignored then the impression given about Panama would be inaccurate. This is an attractive place for foreigners to retire, but those who come here with too many illusions are likely to fall into traps set for them and end up disillusioned. Those traps can usually be avoided with a diligent and multi-source search for information, a wary attitude and some common sense.

A soldier's Atlantic side memories

I just wanted to say thanks for all of your interesting articles. I was stationed at Fort Davis in Colon back in 89-92. I loved Colon, I had a girlfriend there in the city, I felt I was the only white guy that could walk around any time day or night and never get hassled or had trouble. I am from Detroit where I can not do this. My friends on the Panama City side were afraid of Colon but I reassured them it was releatively safe. I explored the jungles on my own, the beaches and the cities, I absolutely loved it. The only time I got in trouble was for taking pictures (apparently it was against the law, or so I was told) so needless to say I have no photos of my time there, so I go to the internet and look at the photos and read The Panama News.

Lawrence Turner

A different view

Eric this might give you an idea what some of us think.

Thank you.

C Geddes

Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see....

"The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.

Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the US, yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have , and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the President who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The President who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same President who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it... are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go.

They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend the ir actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way... Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed people on Earth.

Editor's note: Yeah, there sure are an awful lot of Americans who fall for and then spread these Republican hoaxes over the Internet. Jay Leno never said or wrote that screed --- some dishonest right-wing propagandist did.. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/hitnail.asp

About a bunch of emails I've been getting

Editor's note: In the past few weeks I have receieved a half-dozen or so emails by people planning to visit Panama or with relatives intending to come here, asking what vaccinations they will need to come to Panama. Most commonly, they want to know if they need yellow fever shots.

It has been many decades since Panama has had a yellow fever case. There is no legal or practical requirement for such a vaccination. However, were we to get a person infected with yellow fever here to serve as a reservoir, the deplorable state of our urban sanitation that has given us an increase in dengue fever could make the deadly yellow fever a threat once more.

Panama, like most countries, has agreed in principle to adopt United Nations-sponsored measures to prevent the worldwide spread of contagious diseases. The implementing regulations have yet to be written and the global medical infrastructure to confront a deadly new strain of flu is not yet in place, but soon enough everyone who travels across international boundaries will have to expect to carry vaccination records or receive shots upon arrival at a port of entry.

None of this is yet required to visit Panama, but maybe it's a good idea for those who expect to be taking international trips to anywhere to start collecting their lifetime immunization records. Even if that's difficult to impossible, it seems that the legislation that's contemplated here is not to exclude people who lack certain required records, but to immunize them at the airport --- and we don't yet know what those required immunizations will be.