letters

Letters about lots
of things this time

The notorious statues

I took this picture back in 2003 at the Curundu museum when they were in place.

While I'm certainly no art critic, I got the gist of the concept and think they were just dandy for the purpose intended. You're welcome to use the picture if you write anything more about this issue. None of the articles I've seen have shown the public what the 'ell anyone is talking about.

Now if someone wants to swipe the monstrosity at the old police station site in Balboa, I'll be happy to help in the take-down.

Nina

The constitutional way to address inflation

Panama has experience --- for the most part very good --- with the regulation of prices from the 1940s until 1995, that is to say, for at least half a century. It is presently called for in article 248 of the Constitution of the Republic, which provides:

“The state will intervene in every class of businesses... and especially for the following ends:

“1. To regulate by means of special entities the rates, services, and prices of articles of whatever nature, especially of basic staples....”

This article is still in effect, and it's not enforced. It has to be enforced!

About methane (Super Xtra story)

Methane is not toxic. It can explode when mixed with air (oxygen) and ignited.

Since it is not oxygen, it does not support life. But it isn't any more toxic than say nitrogen or helium. If you breathe pure nitrogen, you won't stay alive long either.

Same for methane.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

Roger L. Kelley

Editor's note: I stand corrected. It's no more toxic than ordinary commercial cooking gas, the inhalation of which, however, is a common means of suicide.

A reckoning for old abuses

It was great to read in The Panama News that the Human Rights Court has condemned Panama over the disappearance and subsequent death of Heliodoro Portugal, a well-known critic of the dictator Omar Torrijos.

Perhaps one day we’ll also learn the true fate and final resting place of Father Hector Gallego, another Torrijos victim.

Pete

Panamanian McCain supporter from LA

Here's "the other side of the coin" from a Panamanian living in the USA --- a different and opposite view of a situation that you have previously talked about.

Other than sentimental reasons, I'll tell you two reasons why I am supporting Panama John McCain for president of the USA --- experience and character.

I won't go as far as to call Senator Obama a pathological liar, but he has a way with words (inflated, and often deliberately ambiguous language) and has a million ways in the English language of misstating other people's statements without any criticism or comments from the liberal press, as I have mentioned many times before. Misstating a basic fact is certainly not presidential. Let me cite the most recent misstatement --- in the debate --- which the liberal press has not reported.

TWS Exclusive: Kissinger Unhappy About Obama

Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama deliberately misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized. He says: "Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.

Obama's court is actually degrading its candidate by using a "filthy smear campaign" against Sarah Palin's family, (McCain Vice Presidential nominee) --- when there are many questionable "filthy stories" about his dad's "reckless life," and his Kenyan half-brothers who live in mental distraught and poverty in Nairobi --- while he condemns his own country standards, day in and day out.

George Hussein Onyango Obama, Senator Barack Obama's long lost brother, was tracked down living in a hut on the outskirts of Nairobi (photo: Guy Calaf, Vanity Fair, Italy).

Governor Sarah Palin has shown to be an upright, respectable Christian woman, with definitely more executive experience than Obama. She is also a better speaker, knowledgeable of domestic and foreign policy and looks shockingly competent when it comes to economic, domestic, and energy issues. She understands that Americans should keep more of what they earn.

Obama socialism wants to punish success and Sarah Palin disagrees --- and she is the best choice that John McCain could have picked as a reformer, and against corruption, because, most of all, she's proud to be an American, first. Which reminds me of General José Remón's slogan "Todo Por La Patria" --- como el lema de John McCain, "Country First."

Disappointed conservative

I have contributed via Paypal in the past, but I can't say that I will in the future. I am concerned that if your coverage of Panama is as one sided as your coverage of the US and the US election, I then have to question your objectivity in your reporting on Panama. It really is too bad, because you appear to have a unique insight into what is happening in Panama. I just can't see helping you advance such a liberal view of the US.

Congratulations on your court victory.

Dan

Another unhappy conservative

Your far left opinions permeate your publication and severely hamper your ability to raise funds for your informative cyberpaper. This is the first time I've come back to your site in a year or two for that reason and what do I find but only Obama shirts for sale.

A TRUE journalist would not have a political agenda --- if you consider yourself a journalist, think again.

Editor's note: I am a Democrat and a journalist and many other things. It so happens that in this epoch in the American community both in Panama and the USA, people on both sides of the severe political divide tend to read only one side of things, to communicate only with media aligned with their point of view. (It happens among Panamanians too, particularly with PRD politicians, who generally ignore media and reporters whom they don't control.) I try to be fair, and in fact have on several occasions told leaders of the local chapter of Republicans Abroad that I would publish the things they submit. They choose not to do so, and some of them instead lend their financial and other support to scurrilous personal attacks and the scurrilous legal attack that far-right hustler “Rex Freeman” mounted against me. Well, they have the right to their opinions too, but they might just find that in 2008 Don Winner and Rex Freeman are not their most appealing running mates.

About “objectivity” in the media, I will agree that there is an ethical duty not to lie or slant the truth to favor a point of view. However, this game of pretending to be “completely objective” and have no point of view, common as it may be in the profession, is dishonest. Everyone has a point of view --- if not, she or he is too dumb to be in journalism. The honest thing to do is to admit this so that people can take that into account when reaching their own conclusions.

Finally, The Panama News has a number of advertisers who sell a variety of goods and services. Click on any of our ads and see.

The advantages of being armed

I lived in Panama for many years back in the 80s and 90s, and I have to say that was the most exciting and enjoyable time of my whole life. Many people, which includes military folks, had no idea how nice it was to live and work there. Now the word is out that it is a nice affordable place to live and people are getting in line to move there. Yes, there are a lot of reasonably priced properties, and you can have maids and gardeners, but there is just one thing that Americans don’t know about Panama, it is dangerous there.

Of the 12 or so years that I lived there, I lived in the Los Angeles community, in a big house with a fence on the front side and a wall on the back. Anytime I opened my gate to go anywhere, I was armed with my 9mm semi-automatic. Even if I was in the carport washing my car, I would have the weapon stuck in my waistband, for all to see. At night when I was coming home, when I would get out of the car to open the gate, I would pull the pistol just in case someone tried to ambush me. My wife would always have friends and family over for cook-outs and parties, which sometimes in the crowd were people that I didn’t know. My pistol was openly displayed on the kitchen table or in my waistband, if there were a lot of kids around. I still remember my wife sitting in the kitchen talking to her friends, with the Glock serving as sort of a centerpiece as they talked. We had a dog that barked at strangers when they walked by, but on the other hand I knew she was worthless if you threw a nice piece of meat over the fence. There was only one incident in all those years where a guy followed me into the driveway, when I was pulling the car in. Needless to say, I was watching him the whole time. As I was getting out of the car, I chambered a round, pointed the gun, and told him to get the #$%!( off my property. And oh by the way, I used to live in Colon and walked the streets there as if I had lived there all my life. Once the thieves see you are packing, and ain’t playing, the word will get to the other crooks.

This may seem a little overboard and excessive, but for reasons that you and I both know, once they identify you as a Gringo, they lay in wait to catch you slipping. I say to all those expatriates, get you a gun (which you can get a legal permit to carry) and a home alarm system. The kind that trips when it’s tampered with. I remember mine used to accidentally trip in the middle of the night, and I would sweep the entire house with a round chambered and ready to fire like I was trained to do in the US Army. Home intrusion crimes and murders are senseless, and can be avoided. Gringos got to get tough and get out of the mindset of being a good ambassador. I would rather deal with anything and any foreign government, rather than have my life or my family’s life put in jeopardy during the commission of a crime. We will be moving back to Panama in a couple of years to retire for real, and believe me I plan to be even more vigilant than before.

Larry C. Bostick

The financial crisis and the world's banks

With the fall of the great banks it is important to stress that money is of secondary importance to the Word of God, which is the foundation of all reality.

In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks of building one’s house’s foundation upon sand or upon rock. Those who build on sand do so only on visible and tangible things: on success, career and money. These seem as true reality, but one day they will pass away.

We see this happening now with the fall of the great banks. Money disappears, it becomes nothing. And thus all these things which seem to be real and upon which we can rely, are in fact of secondary importance.

As Pope Benedict XVI recently said: "All human things, all things we can invent and create are finite. So too all human religious experiences are finite. They show only one aspect of reality, because our limited being understands only some parts, some elements. Only God is infinite and through him, his Word too is universal and knows no end."

Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality, stable like heaven. Therefore we must change our concept of reality. A realist is one who recognizes that the Word of God --- this reality that appears so weak --- is in fact the foundation of everything.

The immutable wheel of karma?

First off congrats on your court case, best of luck with your paper, we all read, happy that you were cleared on the charges of slandering.

Some of us have been following your articles in Panama about "Rex Freeman" and his wife Evelyn. We are a group in the USA who know Rex's financial scams very well, know people that lost money with them have not forgotten, and know exactly where they are at all times.

They used to operate in Plaza Colonial-Escazu business center for a long time, and they have some very pissed off people watching them in Panama.

Trust me in time justice will be served against them both. What comes around goes around, bad karma will come back and get you when you least expect it.

Don't worry, he will be dealt with.

USA Investors Group

Congrats on the Boswell case

Just wanted to offer my congratulations on your victory in the Mark Boswell suit. I hope it is sustained.

Fred Salaff

Crooks should have higher standards

Panamanian politicians are, with a few exceptions, crooks? That really isn't news.

Self-respecting crooks do have their standards. That's why sex offenders don't survive very long if they are mixed in prison populations with killers, robbers and racketeers.

What's really news about your case is the shocking lack of standards among Panama's crooked public officials. Hollywood screenwriters couldn't have created a bigger sleazeball than Rex Freeman, yet somebody let him into the country and lets him continue his disreputable businesses from here.

Freeman wouldn't last 10 minutes in La Joyita.

name withheld

Editor's note: I got many more emails, plus a few face-to-face comments about this case, all but a few of them positive. I want to thank everyone who helped out with the defense. Yes, Mark Boswell alias Rex Freeman is appealing and his publisher Don Winner has taken the case's provisional dismissal as an occasion to launch a series of legally ignorant and factually uninformed attacks on me in defense of the convicted fraud artist whose financial services he recommended to his readers. However, I trust that most people will be able to read between the lines and figure out what's what and who's what.