letters

Several issues' worth of letters

IPT vs Vocational

Although the school system is a mess, the IPT de Colón is not a vocational school, it is a Professional Technical school. The difference between a vocational and a technical school is that the professional technical school offers regular subjects such as math (including trigonometry), physics, science, English, Spanish, chemistry, history, geography, human geography, drafting, typing (in my days --- they probably have PC nowadays) and of course my favorite physical education. They also offer technical classes (tecnología) related to a chosen trade and workshop (taller) --- at one point they even had a Technical Bachelor (bachiller técnico) program. A vocational school only offers workshop and related technology classes.

The late great Jorge Dunn

Thank you for the “Dunn and the allure of Panamanian street painting” article. I have enjoyed the art and wisdom of Jorge Dunn and visited him many times on Balboa. I will truly miss the man and his art. While I have a collection of Panamanian art the picture by Dunn of a fat couple dancing is my favorite.

It is truly a sad day in Panama with the passing of Jorge Dunn and I will remember the artist every time I pass his corner on Balboa.

Brent McLachlan

Every day I feel better about Obama

Barrack --- he consults with people who know what's going on, including Rick Warren and Paul Volker; he has an open mind and intelligently adjusts and fine-tunes his views as he gains more information ("consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" I forget the author). What an improvement, and he is pragmatic enough to beat the Clintons, something no Republican could have done. He is our best hope for the future.

John

Re: Beleaguered on all sides

What happened, Eric? You gone all mature and reflective in your old age? Been too busy to keep track of you lately, but getting back to your paper gave me a big surprise. You know, governments are basically the same everywhere. I agree that, on balance, you're not too badly off. Look at the crumbling US infrastructure. I've been an Obama backer for years, but only for what he can do in rebuilding US pride and international relations. I doubt he'll get the highways rebuilt until there's a goddam revolution. These days a canal expansion project, or something of equivalent scale, could never have gotten the go-ahead here.

Best wishes. Hope to meet up with you soon; I've been planning to move to Panama for years, but have been too busy to escape the grind in Miami. I personally get quite a kick out of the simple type of corruption you've got; like Miami 20 years ago or Montreal a couple of decades before that. Much easier to deal with than corruption concealed under layers of legal claptrap. And in many ways a better quality of life.

Peter Myers

Curundu

I recently found this on the Internet. I'm wondering is the paper still current and how things are going at the Curundu art school.

I am very much interested in possibly relocating to Panama, and the Curundu art school caught my attention. From 1991 to 1993 I lived in the Curundu neighborhood and miss it terribly.

Please send information regarding current status of teaching in Panama or contact information for me.

Lynn Stewart

Editor's note: The former Curundu Middle School is now a satellite campus of the University of Panama, home to its fine arts and physical education faculties. Both in the public schools and within the University of Panama, the teaching of the arts and physical education, especially the latter, are endangered activities. I could get into vitriolic denunciations of all of this, but let me just say that there is good work going on at the place and its future is precarious.

Construction of new canal

When I first arrived in Panama on Nov. 2, 1943 I spent the first night at Corazal, then over to Ft. Kobbe - Howard next day. We crossed bridge over Miraflores and shortly came upon channels of water where in 1939 they had started the third set of locks. I wonder if any of these approaches will be used in the new canal approaches to the larger locks? Where can I get on the Internet to get some good aerial photos of the work in progress on the new locks etc. I get the photo at Gamboa over the Canal cameras. On the Miraflores camera you can see fresh soil in the background that must be where they are digging the new approach. There does not seem to be much information that I can find. I thought you might be of some help.

Editor's note: The Plan is to pretty much do the Atlantic side approach and locks where the pre-WWII Third Cut was, but to make a different cut on the Pacific side, one that bypasses Miraflores Lake and goes right to Culebra Cut.

China scam --- or is it?

Dear Manager,

We are Epoch net Technology Co., LTD, which is an organization authorised by Chinese goverment and an official agent of CNNIC professionally reponsible for oversea domain name registration and dispute service.

On May 22,our company receive one company's application that they want to register the "thepanamanews" as their Internet Brand and CN domain name but after our confirmation, we found this name will conflict with your company's name. According to the regulation and procedure of CNNIC, It's our duty to send this email to note you about it. Because you are the owner of this trademark, you have the preferential right to register and protect by yourself! Of course, if you have no any disagreement on this matter or you give it up, any individuals or organization have the right to register, which is legal. So we will register for any applicant. If you oppose other company to register your Internet Brand and want to protect your knowledge property right, please contact me at early time.

Looking forward to your reply.

Best Regards,

Editor's note: I wrote back to this guy and said I very much do object, whereupon he demanded payment or else he said he's steal it anyway. Meanwhile there are thieves here in Panama registering websites that use names similar to The Panama News and carry Don Winner screeds and pirated copyrighted stories, so it's not an issue that is taken lightly. I have been editing The Panama News since 1994 and don't intend to let anyone steal the name.

Project Censored seeks university/college
affiliates for annual censored selection process

Project Censored at Sonoma State University is seeking affiliate professors/classes to help select the annual list of the most important news stories not covered by the corporate media in the US. This is an excellent learning opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in this 32-year-old annual research process and vote on the final stories selected. The results of the annual selection process are published in the Censored yearbook. Censored 2009 from Seven Stories Press is scheduled for pre-release in September of 2008 for fall classes nationwide. Classes in any subject taught at colleges and universities can become Project Censored affiliates.

Affiliate Responsibilities:

Fall Classes 2008

Students in class search independent and foreign news sources for important news stories not covered in the US corporate media. Stories are reviewed in class and prioritized for importance to the American people.

Students research the prioritized news stories for coverage in the US corporate media using the following databases (if available) Lexis-Nexis, Proquest, Google, and Factiva.

News stories not covered by US corporate media are vetted by campus faculty or community experts for accuracy and credibility.

News stories rated as accurate, credible and not covered by the corporate media are candidates for submission to the annual Project Censored vote process.

Submissions

Classes would nominate 10 or more news stories by January 1, 2009 (early nominations encouraged)

Nominations are to be submitted electronically as 200-300 word summaries of the news story with direct links to the original source URL. Summaries should include the names and contact information of the student researchers, and faculty/expert evaluators.

All nominations will be posted on the Project Censored interactive website http://www.projectcensored.org for comment and review prior to the final vote in March 2009.

All class participants and faculty/community evaluators would be eligible to vote on-line in March for final selection of the top 25 most important censored news stories to be published in the Censored 2010 yearbook (Fall 2009).

The names of all students and faculty participating would be listed in the acknowledgments of the annual yearbook. Personal attributions for those individuals whose stories make the final list would also be published.

Project Censored seeks to honor all nominations fairly, but reserves the right to do final edits, mergers, and analysis.

If interested e-mail the following information to peter.phillips@sonoma.edu

Faculty Name, University/College, Class Title, and Contact information.

The Pope has it right about liturgy

I wish to commend Pope Benedict XVI for his most recent liturgical initiatives. Some may recall that a few months ago the pope celebrated Mass in the Sistine Chapel facing the East rather than the people. More recently, on the feast of Corpus Christi (May 22, 2008), Pope Benedict XVI, for his papal Mass outside the Basilica of St. John Lateran, had a kneeler placed at the foot of the altar and distributed Holy Communion to four dozen communicants --- all of whom knelt and received the Eucharist on the tongue. This latest initiative is in keeping with those orthodox practices which the Church strongly recommends. Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, commented on the significance of the pope’s gesture saying: "I hope this practice spreads."

Pope Benedict XVI has previously pointed out that "the man who learns to believe learns also to kneel, and a faith or a liturgy no longer familiar with kneeling would be sick at the core."

The Church, in Her "official" capacity, insists that standing for Holy Communion is insufficient. The document Inaestimabile Donum, states: "When the faithful communicate kneeling, no other sign of reverence towards the Blessed Sacrament is required, since kneeling itself is a sign of adoration. When they receive communion standing, it is strongly recommended that, coming up in procession, they should make a sign of reverence before receiving the Blessed Sacrament."

Pope Paul VI also explains, in Memoriale Domini, why the Church --- and this holds true even today --- considers the practice of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue to be the norm. He insists that this is due to a more complete and refined theology on the Eucharist. He states that "after the true meaning of the Eucharistic mystery, its effect, and the presence of Christ in it had been profoundly investigated, from a pressing sense of reverence toward this holy sacrament and of the humility which its reception demands, the custom was introduced by which the minister himself would place the piece of consecrated bread on the tongues of the communicants."

Upon greater reflection of these simple truths one might uncover the greater meaning and implications they might have with respect to the way in which the laity should be receiving the most Blessed Sacrament during Holy Communion today.

A dim view of the USA

The American Flag with the strips representing the claw marks of the swats back at the US while the field of blue conceals the thief in black with mask, hat and dagger representing the legislator or attorney with the mocking bird of the mocracy on his shoulder singing the tunes people want to hear as the United States sneaks away with the loot after enslaving a nation’s people as new born infants and puppeting them their entire life, turning the United States into God.

Pollytricks? Polite tricks? Politics? No, just America’s financial warfare operations through the US Treasury department and private attorneys from their financial interests working through the CIA . Not how one lines it’s pocket while the government holds up the CIA and even monitors private investments to clean itself. No different then the white slavery of the Nazi’s of world war II except one was for profit and agendas while the other was a national social agenda.

R Flowers

A dim view of Panama

I own a business in Panama City. We opened in mid March. On May 23 the Corregidor of San Francisco, Ricardo Urrutia, came and closed down the business.

This wasn't the first visit he had made to my place. He had been there four weeks in a row. He would wait until we were crowded then come in and start arresting customers, or tell everyone they had to leave. The customers he arrested were all on the outside and smoking in area legal to smoke. We lost around $15,000 in three weeks then he finally closed down the place. We were denied any legal process.

The corregidor used false police reports and lies to shut me down. He even used a traffic accident that happened in December, three months before we opened, as "proof." Every lawyer that has seen our video proof and documents says it is highly illegal what they have done.

But that doesn't change the fact if we can't open soon. I will lose everything, my whole life's work.

It isn't just my problem. We had a meeting of restaurant bar owners in Panama City and you would not believe the things that San Francisco representante Carlos Pérez Herrera has done --- they have more proof than me of bribes and falsified reports.

The mainstream media has been muzzled. They are targeting foreign owned businesses. We have to get the word out before more people invest in this corrupt country. Anyone interested in the truth and viewing our documents is welcome.

Chris Nickson

Editor's note: It seems that there are a bunch of issues going on here. First, there is the custom, arguably illegal but arguably necessary to fund local projects, that the local junta comunal (run by the representante) must be paid off before an establishment that sells alcohol gets a "favorable view" and is allowed to operate without being hassled, and this payment was not made here. Then there is a serious noise problem in the city and elections are looming so local politicians are going through the motions of doing something about it, at least with respect to the bars and nightclubs. And wouldn't you know, if there is to be some sort of real or for show crackdown, picking on the foreigner who can't vote or legally contribute to political campaigns is the common if chickenhearted and dishonest way to proceed. Wouldn't it be nice if there were one set of rules, published in full for everyone to know and enforced even-handedly? And wouldn't it be nice if this city and this country had a well enforced policy to ensure that sufficient peace and quiet to get a good night's sleep is everybody's right? 

Thanks for helping us with our History Day project

This is Amy Edmonds and I contacted you to learn more about Panamanian-American relations and the 1964 Flag riots for a project we were creating for National History Day. We made it to the State Finals, but unfortunately, we did not make it to the national competition in Maryland. However, we would like to thank you for your support and time because we feel that our interviewees were our most important source and we feel we learned the most from hearing your personal experiences. We would also like to thank those who helped us find information and provided us with excellent sources. On the day of State Competition, we had compiled 86 pages of annotated bibliography (pages of sources/research), and we are very proud of our accomplishments. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Thanks again.

Amy Edmonds

 
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