letters

Many letters to the editor, about different things

Law 71

Just a few words to congratulate you about your website. I myself keep the French Petit Canal, www.UnionFrancePanama.com, where I recommend your paper.

As far as the new land law, see hereafter the opinion of an English friend:

Quote: "I do hope your pleas have some success as this Law 71 is tantamount to treason by the government on the people. They can't be allowed to take our money and pass laws to promise title for land and build up false hopes encouraging people to invest then pass another law 6 months later to steal it back this is no less than down right robbery. I for one will view Panama in a whole different light should this piracy become law.

At least Dick Turpin the highway robber had the grace to wear a mask when he robbed people.

In fact I really do not believe I am having this conversation with you as to me it is so ludicrous in the extreme what must Martinelli and Vallerino be thinking of to walk over people in this manor what confidence and support do they expect to gain from this action is beyond me. Something about this whole matter stinks I don't know how they expect people to think especially us foreigners from Europe and America who chose to live in Panama as we have the whole world in which to spend our money. Their is no other way I can sum this up except to say it is defecating in the face of Democracy. "

Story of a move

On May 21, packers from Panama International Packers, whose owner and president is Caridad Aguilar a/k/a Caridad Cherette, came to my apartment in the Edificio Arrecife, Paitilla, Panama to pack all my contents and ship them to my new home in Florida, USA.

An estimate was given to me prior to this by a Mrs. Dayana, employee of Mrs. Aguilar.

I didn't like the way they were packing: sloppily, laughing all the time, and very very slow.

Contents were taken to their warehouse and I awaited receipt of my goods in a week or two, by ship and truck to this part of Florida.

After many many many calls to a trucking agent here, who came by first top collect an additional $500 for this (new to me), and gave him the cash and got a receipt.

My things were delivered like two weeks later, after many many calls and insistence --- truck broken, not available, etc.

The $500 was to include unpacking my boxes.

Three guys came, unpacked one or two and left. whil.e unpacking one i saw to my disgust and anguish one of my precious items --- an antique capodimonte lamop tht belonged to my parents, about 60 plus years old --- broken in pieces. It was packed so poorly.

(At this point I must note that I have moved 32 times in 25 years because of my work --- including five moves in Panama....and never ever did anything like this happen before.)

Just about everything came broken, packed in only a box --- no paper, no protection whatsoever. And also, things were missing.

Like a chandelier --- broken to pieces as it was packed loosely in a box, no protection, and on top of it a big battery from a little organ!

Precious cut glass, sooo valuble, from Europe and 60 to 80 years old, broken to pieces.

My desk, ah, my precious French antique desk, a piece of wood off and leg broken --- i dont get that one --- and so on and so forth.

I called her on her US phone and complained, I got a response: "Oh, sorry, i sent you my four best men!!!!

Imagine.

But I asked why so many things missing: clothes, shoes, items, part of set of dishes, glasses, wallet with expired credit card, ladies' bags, and my x-rays (imagine, x-rays!), a round ball leg from my bed.

Another chandelier packed unwrapped and unprotected with a bunch of clothes hangars, was of course broken.

Etc., etc., etc....

I called and wrote and was ignored. I asked to please look in warehouse, to ask the guys, because maybe it's there. Nothing, no reply.

Then the insurance company --- what a scam!

After I put in a claim for 28 items and pictures, I get a reply that she insured me for only $5,000. But it doesn't insure everything, but only three items.

Imagine? These being books --- who the hell needs to insure books? --- crystal and the lamp.

I asked "What about the desk, other items, and things missing?"

Reply: not insured.

I asked my ex-friend Caridad why. No reply.

She said she would sue me if I write to associations, magazines, the press, etc. I told her to go ahead, I welcome it. Her lawyer, a Mr. Ellis, finally offered me $1,500. The insurance company paid me $2,000 total and she finally gave in and sent $1,500.

I let things go, but people moving to or fro should be careful. choose well, get references, etc. before they undertake this.

Silver cemeteries have made the endangered monuments list

We have wonderful news for all our readers, supporters and descendants of the Silver People who have been following our progress.

Our Silver cemeteries here in Panama --- Mount Hope and Corozal Cemeteries, the resting places of our historic Silver ancestors who built the Panama Railroad and the Panama Canal --- have been included on the World Monuments Fund's prestigious "100 Most Endangered Sites" for 2010. I've included links to their long awaited "Watch Page" and to the individual site descriptions below. We are especially happy that they have also included on the Watch List Historic Colon Center, which is really important to the restoration and preservation of the City of Colon.

This list was just announced in a press conference in their NYC offices on Tuesday October 6, 2009. Keep following us on our upcoming blog posts for more information on what this inclusion on the Watch List will mean for us at the Silver People Heritage Foundation and for the individual sites. Please help us by forwarding this message to all of your interested friends and family.

Thank you for your support and please keep praying and thanking God along with us.

Query about the banks

Is it true that Panamanian banks are planning to close account of US citizens?

Editor's note: Not specifically. However, some of Panama's banks are moving to close their customers' accounts for various reasons. Citibank, for example, now demands a $1,500 balance to maintain an account and among those tossed out under that new requirement are American customers. There is great pressure by the US government on the banks and the Panamanian government to end bank secrecy, and it has resulted in extra bureaucratic hoops that US citizens must jump through to open an account here, to the extent that the state-owned Banco Nacional de Panama discriminates against Panamanians who also have US citizenship when they try to open accounts, by demanding on the basis of their dual citizenship that such persons waive bank privacy.

Against anti-war statements

To The Panama News and the author of the following article:

http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_14/issue_10/Antiwar_vets.pdf

I ran by mistake into your article. Which I found some b.s. propaganda and inaccurate information about my loved, my best friend and my sister. I understand you have the right to be angry and express yourself about the war but you don't have the right to write inaccurate information about my sister to dramatize your point.

One of the soldiers in my battalion, 3/82 Field Artillery, ....A month shy of her 20th birthday died of 3rd degree burns over 100% of her body, as well as her lungs and mouth she was taken off of life support. Her epidermis was entirely gone and her body could not resist bacterial infection…

First of all, she was not burn over 100% of her body or lungs. (But the situaton was bad.) I remember rubbing her feet before her vitals dropped. You are right about her 20th birthday and about the stupid infection.

I suggest you check your facts next time you write about my sister or any other fallen hero. Providing wrong information can cause more devastation and traumatic memory to their surviving loved ones.

I know this is all Anti War and stuff but stop dramatizing misfortunate events of others to make your crap convincing to others.

Some advice to you... keep writing about your soldiers in positive way to live up their legacy. Great therapy for PTSD. (In case you suffer from it)

I wish I had never ran into your article because all I can say is "What the hell?"

It's confusing because you are remembering my sister but not in a good way but a sad one.

I do agree about the stupid war and the effects but I support my troops 100%.

By the way she is accounted for check out the links...

http://www.hood.army.mil/1stcavdiv/heroes/fallen%20soldiers/oif0608.htm

http://www.1cda.org/boh_oif_06-08.htm

SHE IS NOT MISSING

PEACE BE WITH Y'ALL.

Editor's note: First, that account of a soldier's death was written by someone in her unit. Second, at the time, the soldier was not listed on the unit's website among the fallen. In the more than one year since the article was run, the omission was corrected. Finally, if you want to go to a website from Panama that falsely accuses this editor of taking bribes, excludes all anti-war viewpoints and bears the seal of a veterans' organization, that does exist. But The Panama News, whose frequent contributors include some US military veterans, does not allow people like this anonymous soldier to shout down and censor anti-war voices, of veterans or anyone else.

Re: Cold War rhetoric meets rabiblanco mythology

Great article, but I am intrigue at the fact that a knowledgeable well informed person like you, till use the term Americans to refer your self to citizens of the United States of America. Are Panamá or the countries south of the US border not in AMERICA? Are you aware of the fact that Amerigo Vespucci never set a foot in the United States of America? I am being petty or the name of an entire continent belongs to only one country?

Editor's note: It's an old conundrum of which I am aware. "America" and its derivatives have various English-language usages, which don't precisely match those of the Spanish word "América." Nor is the common Latin American usage for gringos, "norteamericanos," very precise or particularly fair. In any case, regardless of what those of US nationality may call themselves, Panama is not the "back yard" of the United States. The lot line is on the Rio Grande (or Río Bravo, depending on how you want to put it).

A victory for Americans

From my days running the emergency room at Clayton's Building 519 (1961-64) and my stint in Rio Hato and at Fort Kobbe, quick, comprehensive, and competent medical care for everyone has always been my dream. I found my dream realized in Canada, though the 'quick' part has eroded somewhat.

Now, Americans will have quality health care that other industrialized countries have offered their citizens for over 70 years.

Imagine, this entire paradigm shift was helped along by the vote of one Democrat Minnesota Senator/comedian who barely got elected.

Priceless...

Winograd for US Congress

Dear Friends in Latin America,

Eric Jackson, editor of The Panama News, suggested I write to you to tell you about my grassroots campaign to challenge corporate Democrat Jane Harman in the June 2010 Democratic Party primary in California's 36th district. I am running on an anti-war and pro-constitution platform, calling for the return of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the restoration of due process and the rule of law --- as well as a realignment of our economic priorities to focus on providing universal health care, world-class public education, and career-path jobs in the emerging Green economy.

I feel a special affinity for Latin America, having focused on that area when I studied political science at Berkeley.

Later I traveled extensively in Central America (a short time in Panama City) and South America (Ecuador, Peru), enjoying the people, the landscape, and the diverse cultures. It's exciting and hopeful for progressives in the USA to read about the ascendancy of progressives in parts of Latin America, for we are sick and tired of the reactionary tea-baggers and the Blue Dog Democrats in this country who oppose reform and monopolize our media.

The congressional district in which I am running is 30 miles long and very diverse --- including artful bohemians, working classes heroes, and aerospace/weapons industry employees. My message to them is --- I will work for you (subtext --- not large corporations) as we prepare for a sustainable future.

If you'd like to know more about my campaign or tell friends in the district (see map on my web site), please visit winograd4congress.com and forward the link to them. (Also, Marcy Winograd for Congress on Facebook.) If you'd like to donate to my campaign, that would be terrific --- as long as you are a US citizen who can list a US residence.

Thanks for your interest and activism on behalf of peace and justice.

In solidarity,

Editor's note: If you are a US citizen, you may register and vote in federal elections at your last US address and you may contribute to federal candidates in any state or district. Marcy Winograd, a teacher and spouse of a labor lawyer, is an outstanding leader of one side of an argument that will take place in next year's Democratic congressional primaries. Hopes for the Obama administration making the kinds of changes that so many Americans want in so many areas rest upon the strength of campaigns like hers. Her incumbent opponent, on the other hand, is a disgrace.

So is the Democratic Party going to once again be the party of labor, or will it be corporate power lite? Are we going to have a foreign policy different from the Republicans in any of the fundamental assumptions? Those are the questions riding on the upcoming primary battles.

Is it a matter of the wheel of karma turning that Southern California, so long the source of campaign contributions to Democratic campaigns around the United States, will see money coming in from all over for one of its congressional races? That's a welcome change, too.

Bias 1

Well Eric I see we definitely differ on just about everything political, just a though why don't you allow both sides to comment on your web page sure would be interesting.

Bias 2

You may not realize it but many people who read your site and subscribe don't at all agree with your political bent. Why rub it in their faces?

Editor's note: I have my politics and don't try to hide them, but not everyone who writes for The Panama News shares them either. Sometimes even I don't, at the moment when I change my mind.

Other points of view are welcome, but what generally happens in US society these days, and among gringos down here, is that people tend to only read, and only contribute to, publications that match their ideas. A few years ago a former leader of the local chapter of Republicans Abroad asked about the possiblity of writing a column in The Panama News and I said I liked that idea and would publish it, but nothing ever came of it.

On the right side of the spectrum there is, however, a website that systematically attacks The Panama News, usually not over differences of opinion. Most recently, it was the publication of Mary Sloane's completely bogus and unsupported allegation that I take bribes. That sort of stuff has its fans, but I am not going to allow it or a left-wing mirror image of it get into The Panama News.

I know, however, that for every conservative who thought it was really cool to shout "Heil Hitler" at a Jewish man during the health care reform debates, there were a bunch of others who just believe in frugal government, low taxes, strong police and military forces and traditional social values --- people who are not, in fact, driven by tribal hatreds.

When it comes to news reporting, I try to report the undistorted facts. But of course, it's always a matter of opinion as to which facts are newsworthy.

Good article on lithium

With regard to your article about Bolivia and lithium, I must comment.

First of all, I spent ten days in Panama twelve years ago, visiting our daughter and her husband who were in the Peace Corps. I enjoyed the country very much, and have wished ever since that I could find a way to fit into Panamanian society and contribute to the country's well-being. At some time during the past four years I discovered your website, but eventually relegated your frequent emails to 'junk status', to be read if I had time.

A few moments ago I took some time, and read the article about lithium. I subscribe to Economist, Business Week, Fortune, and Bloomberg, as well as two dozen general interest publications such as Vanity Fair, and I must say that your article is as informative and well-written as any article I have read in the past few years. Well done!

Editor's note: The Council on Hemispheric Affairs is a priceless institution, and because it is so it attracts some brilliant people. In this case COHA research associate Megan McAdams produced a masterpiece of research, analysis and writing. Bolivia is not one of our immediate neighbors but it is a fellow Bolivarian republic. I chose Ms. McAdams's article for publication because Panama is The Crossroads of the World, the corporate mainstream media have pulled back most of their people and assets from reporting on Latin America and the Caribbean region and The Panama News aims to give readers information not only from Panama but from the surrounding regions, especially that which is germane to what's going on the whole area but hardly gets any coverage elsewhere.

Hmmm --- wouldn't it be a good idea here?

City Mayors was established in 2003 to promote, encourage and facilitate good local government. To strengthen local government further, we now propose instituting a Code of Ethics for city leaders who wish to perform their duties beyond all reproach.

We are carrying out a consultation process amongst our readers and other interested parties, inviting them to comment on the draft Code and perhaps suggest changes and/or additions. Ultimately, we aim to establish the professional title of Chartered Mayor in recognition of city leaders who bring high integrity and competence to public service as well as adhere to the Code of Ethics.

Please see below for the full text of the proposed Code of Ethics. There is an electronic comment form at http://www.citymayors.com/gratis/code-ethics.html

Code of Ethics

Preamble

Good and honest local government is the foundation of any nation that strives to provide its citizens with happiness, security and prosperity. Incompetence, corruption and misconduct in local government threaten fundamental decency in a society.

Article 1

Mayors shall execute the office of mayor for the common good of their communities while refraining from actions that may harm other communities or the wider world. They shall take full responsibility for any acts performed by themselves or by members of their administrations.

Article 2

Mayors shall not discriminate against individuals or groups because of their race, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

Article 3

Mayors shall support and uphold the letter and intent of the laws of their cities and nations as well as relevant international laws. They shall demand the same degree of respect for the law from all members of their administrations.

Article 4

Mayors shall be free to oppose any laws of their cities and nations where such laws contravene the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 5

Mayors shall administer public resources for the public benefit of their communities while considering whether such use could cause unreasonable harm to other communities and the wider world.

Article 6

Mayors shall never use their official positions to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for themselves, members of their families, friends, colleagues or others.

Article 7

Mayors shall not perform any official actions where a direct or indirect financial or personal involvement might reasonably be expected to prejudice their objectivity or independence of judgment. They shall demand the same degree of impartiality from all members of their administrations.

Article 8

Mayors shall accept no gifts or offers based upon an understanding, stated or implied, that they were given to influence them in the discharge of their public duties. They shall demand the same degree of honesty from all members of their administrations.

Article 9

Mayors shall be open to public scrutiny of their official actions and those of their staff, including their relationships, contractual and otherwise, with vendors, consultants, and business associates. Mayors shall report any improper actions they witness, such as bribes, kickbacks, and gift offers.

Article 10

Mayors shall work to strengthen civil society by raising public awareness of, and confidence in, their city government’s activities.

Article 11

Mayors shall use their influence to promote co-operation and good will between cities, nationally and internationally.

Change in apartment rent law?

What has happened in the marketplace since the change in apartment rent law?

Editor's note: There was no change in apartment rental laws. The Panamanian Tourism Authority called for the enforcement of existing laws against short-term rentals in multi-story condominium buildings which would compete with the hotels, and asked MIVI to review and propose changes to existing rules. That tourism authority resolution caused an uproar and was rescinded. The old restrictions are still in force, and largely unenforced as before. The high-rise condo market in Panama is a mess, and it's a safe bet that any attempt to convert these monuments to mindless speculation into de facto hotels that don't pay the 10 percent hotel tax will eventually prompt some sort of government action.

European Court bans crucifixes in Italian public schools

I wish to express my disappointment with the (Big Brother) European Court of Human Rights for ruling that crucifixes should be removed from Italian classes.

The crucifix is the sign of the Passion, but at the same time it is a sign of the Resurrection. It is, so to speak, the saving staff the God holds out to us, the bridge by which we can pass over the abyss of death, and all the threats of the Evil One, and reach God.

In the crucifix the whole essence of Christianity is summed up; it displays what is distinctively

Christian. It is also a symbol of universal love. The crucifix does not lead to any discrimination. It is the image of the Christian revolution which has spread the idea of equality between all men all over the world. The realities believed in and hoped for are read into this visible image, but the image is more than a mere reflection; it is in fact an image in whose saving power one places one’s hope.

The most basic Christian gesture in prayer is and always will be the sign of the Cross. It is a way of confessing Christ crucified with one’s very body. It is a visible and public Yes to Him who suffered for us. It is a confession of faith, a confession of hope.

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