There was no relationship
and no romance either

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I am finding it hard to use the term "editor" when someone has to be responsible for this travesty.

I am referring to the story in today's edition which calls a "relationship" between a child of 12 and an 71 year old man a "romance". (The national television news, for your information, stated that she was 11.)  I have objected silently many times to things that were written, but this is outrageous and very offensive and I will not remain silent.  Do you have a relative who may be 11 or 12?  Would you ever refer to her/him as being part of a "couple", another offensive term used today in your edition?

In a country well-known for dealing with the violent and tragic sexual abuse of children, I find this "contribution" on your part reprehensible.

Embassy addresses critique
of recovery discrimination

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I am writing in response to the incorrect allegations that appeared in the Feb. 11 edition of A.M. Costa Rica regarding the 2010 Social Security benefits COLA and the one time Economic Recovery Payment.

First, President Obama never promised $250 USD in lieu of a COLA for 2010. Under the Social Security Act, Social Security benefits increase automatically each year if there is an increase in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the last year to the corresponding period of the current year.  There was no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009.  Therefore, there was not an automatic increase in Social Security benefits for December 2009.

Second, it should be understood that the primary and explicit purpose of the $250 Economic Recovery Payment, as approved by the President and Congress, was/is to assist with the economic recovery of the U.S. economy.   As such, the legislation clearly and understandably stipulates that in order to receive an Economic Recovery payment, the beneficiary's address of record must be in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands.  Additional information is available on www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.

I hope this information helps to clarify the record regarding the purpose and application of 2009 Economic Recovery Payment.


EDITOR'S NOTE: Gene Mc Donald of Escazú raised the issue in a letter to the editor. There was a $250 economic recovery payment in 2009, but the current proposal, which would cost $13 billion, has not yet cleared Congress. The 2009 payment contained a stipulation prohibiting sending checks to people outside the country. There is, of course, still time to contact congressmen and senators about how unfair that rule is.


Pope should prescribe
condoms for Catholics

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

It is a well known and documented fact, that throughout history leaders of nation and organizations have committed crimes of the gravest kind against the human race. The names of just a handful of these leaders/people are “Hitler, Eugene de Kock, (colonel of the South African Police) Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin Dada, Osama bin Laden. The list of others would fill pages. The crimes they and others committed against humans, humanity and mankind in general would also fill pages and range from A to Z.

“The press,” other nations, leaders of organizations, leaders of countries, has done everything, from going to war against these people and countries, to trials, conviction and executions of these people, and to at the least, the printing of the accounts of their actions against humanity.

My question is why do we not do the same for the inactions? If someone has the power to save thousands of lives, to save thousands of people from disease and suffering, to prevent thousands of unnecessary abortions, to save billions of dollars in unneeded medical expenses, (money that could be used to prevent, or cure, other diseases) simply by saying five words, isn’t their inaction just as grave are they not just as guilty? Are they not just as accountable and guilty as some of the above mentioned names? Don’t they deserve the same outrage of the press, the public, and our leaders? Five words, only five words, The Pope only has to say: “IT’S OK TO USE CONDOMS”. 

Note: Despite being a large Catholic country: according to the “Report on the country response to commitment undertaken in UNGASS”  (HERE!)

The social security institution and some NGOs are distributing condoms to “most-at-risk” populations and to the population in general despite the lack of a social policy on the distribution of condoms and the lack of large scale awareness campaigns on the use and importance of a condom to prevent disease: page 14 and 15 of the report. Good for you Costa Rica!!!!! 

 
                             
Life jacket found at sea


Coast guardsmen report that they have found a life jacket that they believe belonged to a fisherman who disappeared in the Pacific last week south of the Osa Peninsula. One man died and two men survived, but a fourth man said he would swim to shore when their fishing boat became submerged. He is the one who is missing. The life jacket was turned over to investigators, said the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas.