 |
||
|
A.M. Costa Rica
Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
|
|
| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 7, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 113 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
 |
 |
 |
|
Our
readers' opinions
True
conservatives believein smaller government Dear A.M. Costa Rica: As a card-carrying member of the “New American Right,” I’ll try to clear up a few misconceptions. I don’t blame President Obama (D) for the economical mess we are in. I blame both parties, Democrats, who insist on stirring the social engineering pot and moderate Republicans who went along in the spirit of ‘compromise.’ It is clear to this layman, that the false housing/loan market created by forcing banks to loan money to those who could not pay it back (thanks, Barney Frank (D) & Chris Dodd (D)) and Wall Street (with Fannie & Freddie’s help) repackaging those loans worldwide caused this mess. True conservatives believe in market forces, not picking winners and losers. President Obama promised Hope & Change. No mention of an actual plan. So instead of focusing on job one, the economy, He diverted his attention on cramming his massive health care plan through a Democratically controlled Congress (took two years!). Whether you agree with Obama Care or not, he placed his agenda above the nation’s. My healthcare costs have gone up since this was passed. Ooops! President Obama (D) got almost a trillion dollars (from my kids) to stimulate our current economy. He said unemployment rate would not rise above 8 percent, it did. Jobs were created under his watch, yet more were lost. Even more jobs were never counted in this ‘unemployment rate’ figure. This is all moot because government only creates federal jobs, not private sector jobs. Unless of course, you count the government’s investments in GM and Solyndra. The former still owes my kids billions of dollars and the latter went belly up with our kid’s money. At least the United Auto Workers Union is better off! The best thing government can do is to create an environment for innovation, investments, expansion, and responsible regulations. True conservatives believe in private sector jobs, not taxpayer funded jobs. Federal spending (why include state & local) has increased as a percentage of our GDP, just google ‘rate of government spending.’ Overall federal spending has dipped, and our federal deficit is peaking. That can’t be good! Again, both Democrats and moderate Republicans are happy spenders. GSA is out of control. Tip of the iceberg? True conservatives believe in a smaller controllable federal government. Taxes? We do have a lot of wealthy, successful people and they currently pay a large percentage of the federal spending bill. People come to this land of opportunity (U.S.) from all over the world, to become successful. Why punish them? What’s wrong with a fair tax where everyone has skin in the game, else we’ll have a federally funded voting pool dependent on (wait for it …) federal funding – an infinite loop with no exit strategy. True conservatives believe any corporate tax will be passed on to their customers as a hidden value added tax (again duh?). So the decision is not Obama vs Romney. It is (D) vs. (R) or (L) or (G) – but I digress. Civics 101 tells us Congress is in charge of the nation’s purse strings with the president nodding along. Conservative Republicans (under Newt’s leadership) controlled both houses during the last three sessions of the Bill Clinton presidency. Results: surpluses. Moderate Republicans controlled the next three sessions under George W. Bush’s and progressive Democrats controlled the next 2.5 sessions, resulting in higher deficits. What do you want? Surpluses or deficits? Sooo, do we double down on more spending (more inflation - shrinking savings account – another hidden tax), alienating businesses (job creators) with higher taxes, and create more unsustainable social programs. Or do we return to conservative ‘sustainable’ values; smaller government, lower fairer taxes, pay down on our kid’s debt, create an environment for job creation (freeing up trillions of investment dollars) with responsible regulations, programs that give a hand up (not provide a way of life), restore state & local governments rights (per our Constitution), and a pony in every backyard. True conservatives believe our Constitution is the contract between “we, the people,” and our federal government and should not be referred to as outdated. Read it – there’s even a way to modify it with “we the people”. Steve
Clark
Curridabat
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
 |
 |
| A.M. Costa Rica Third
News Page |
|
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 7, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 113 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo Stuart |
| Nicaragua's canal plan gets a quick
response from officials here |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican officials want to see all the paperwork connected with the plan by Nicaragua's president to build a canal connecting the Caribbean with the Pacific using the Río San Juan. The president, Daniel Ortega, submitted a law advancing the concept of a canal to his national congress Tuesday. Costa Rica was quick to send a diplomatic note to the Embassy of Nicaragua here. The note by Carlos Roverssi, vice minister of foreign relations, said that the action was not unexpected because Ortega has talked about the canal in the past. However, two 19th century treaties between the two countries give Costa Rica the right to have a say on the canal, the note said. Costa Rican officials learned of the plan from the Nicaraguan newspapers, which reported on the legislative action. The canal would be a competitor with the existing one in Panamá if it ever is built. Roverssi noted that the job is estimated at $20 to $30 billion. The Panamá Canal is undergoing a $5.5 billion addition of a third lane. Ortega has sought support for the idea from nations allied with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. Roverssi said in the note that Nicaragua's invasion and occupation of the Isla Portillos was part of the plan to build the canal. That was in October 2010. The Río San Juan |
meanders as it reaches the
Caribbean, and Nicaragua is seeking to build
a canal that will become the new river mouth. Costa Rica says that this
project is on its national territory. Nicaragua denies this. The case
has gone to the International Court of Justice in The Hague,
Netherlands. Nicaragua has dredges active in the river. Nicaragua also is bringing a case against Costa Rica for the construction of the new Ruta 1856 along the south bank of the river. Nicaragua claims environmental damage. This is the construction project that is enveloped in a financial scandal. Under terms of various treaties, Nicaragua maintains ownership of the river and the national border is the south bank. This has caused problems for Costa Ricans because Nicaragua controls traffic on the river, and the river has been the easiest way to get around northern Costa Rica. The new highway is supposed to change that. A canal would use the Río San Juan and Lake Nicaragua. A short stretch would have to be dug between the lake and the Pacific near San Juan del Sur. The United States once considered starting a canal project but chose instead to takeover the Panamá efforts of a French company. The route from the Caribbean to San Juan del Sun and then to California was important during gold rush days, although some of the trip had to be done by mule or horseback. Expats who live along the river report that traveling by boat from the Río Colorado to Lake Nicaragua is possible in a small craft. Cargo ships will require locks around some of the rapids. |
| Investigators conduct 41 searches in
highway bribery case |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
More than 200 judicial agents fanned out early Wednesday to pull off 41 simultaneous searches, the largest such police operation in history. The goal was to get evidence on allegations that money destined for the new Ruta 1856, the Juan Rafael Mora Porras, had been diverted. The 41 locations, mostly construction companies, were in 11 cantons, said the Poder Judicial. Specifically sought were receipts and accounting information relating to payments by the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad, the nation's road agency. The Ruta 1856 was built without public bidding on an emergency basis because construction was considered urgent |
due to Nicaragua's
invasions of the Isla Portillo in extreme northeast Costa Rica. Six searches were of accountants' offices where documents of the construction companies were located. Two searches were at dwellings. The construction companies had received payments for 19 billion colons or about $38 million. At least three public employees are suspected of receiving bribes from construction companies. In mid-May there were other searches involving the same case, including ones at homes of the suspects, the offices of the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad and the offices of the national emergency commissions. |
The scene in this undated photo is Plaza Gonzáles Víquez in San José where the sprawling park is today. The same train tracks run there. The photo shows both an oxcart and a truck. |
 Archivo
Nacional photo
|
| National archives is celebrating its
international day today |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Archivo Nacional plans a fiesta today to mark the International Day of Archives as established by the United Nations. Visitors to the facility should not expect confetti or dancing girls. But the Archives said that 14 public institutions would be setting up displays, ranging from the archives itself to Facultad de Artes Musicales of the Universidad de Costa Rica and the Sistema Nacional de Radio y Televisión. |
There also will be historical
documents that date from 1539 to the present. The archives is the nation's attic and contains all sorts of paperwork. Notaries, too, deposit their official books there. The facility also is a great source of old photos. The archives building is 900 meters south and 150 meters west of Plaza del Sol, Curridabat. |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
 |
 |
||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 7, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 113 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
It's almost there now The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad released this photo Wednesday to show that the work to put a bailey bridge over a washout on Ruta 142 at Quebrada Flores near Arenal is progressing. The route should be open later today. |
 Consejo
Nacional de Vialidad photo
|
| Census counts about 15,900 person with
U.S. roots living here |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Those who came here from the United States make up about 4.1 percent of Costa Rica's migrant population, according to the national census last year. That means there are roughly 15,900 persons here with U.S. roots. No percentage was given for Canadians, who are presumed to be fewer than U.S. citizens. Nicaraguans continue to be the greatest number of immigrants, although the flow had decreased somewhat. The census found |
287,766 Nicaraguans here or about
76.4 percent of all immigrants. The numbers are based on self reports by those who were approached by census takers. There also is a significant number of Colombians here and they outnumber U.S. citizens slightly being 4.3 percent of all immigrants, said the census. Costa Ricans are getting older. The current census counted 7.3 percent of the population as being older than 65. That percentage was 5.3 in the 2000 census. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M.
Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
 |
||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 7, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 113 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
 |
| Apple
and Google going to war over map access By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Two U.S. technology innovators are waging a new battle over the maps that people throughout the world access on their smartphones and other computing devices. For several years, consumers using the hand-held iPhones and iPad tablets sold by the Apple consumer products company have viewed maps supplied by one of the leading search engine companies, Google. But now that arrangement is about to end, as Apple gets set to unveil its own proprietary mapping system and abandons use of Google's maps. In developing its own maps, Apple is hoping to capture a large share of the millions of dollars in revenue from advertising that accompanies the maps when users look up a vacation spot they might be interested in or search for directions in a city they are visiting. Apple, long noted for its corporate secrecy, has not divulged its mapping plans, but U.S. technology publications say it is likely to unveil them next week at a trade convention. Meanwhile, Google announced plans Wednesday for improvement of its maps, which will still be widely available on devices other than Apple's, such as Google's Android operating system. Google said mobile technology users will now be able to access its maps offline, in places where they may not have an Internet connection, such as underground or on an airplane. In addition, Google also unveiled upgrades to its Street View system, showing more views of areas where cars cannot be driven, and more detailed three-dimensional aerial looks at spots around the world. Trade publications say that Apple's maps are also likely to give users 3-D looks developed by the defense contractor Saab it acquired last year. Ray Bradbury dies at 91 and leaves vast legacy By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Iconic science fiction and fantasy writer Ray Bradbury died Tuesday in California at the age of 91. Bradbury, who wrote the classic “Fahrenheit 451,” about a totalitarian future when books are burned, and more than two dozen other novels and 600 short stories, was probably more instrumental than any other 20th century American author in popularizing, and legitimizing, science fiction and fantasy. Born in a small town in Illinois in 1920, he read popular publications with titles like Weird Tales, Thrilling Wonder Stories and Astounding Science Fiction. At an early age he resolved that, lacking athletic talents, he would stop competing with his peers and, instead, do what gave him the most pleasure: reading and writing. He was 12 when he set himself the goal of writing at least four hours a day, a practice that stayed with him throughout his lifetime. He published his first story in Weird Tales when he was 20. Bradbury recalled in an interview that his parents were poor and he never attended college. “But I had enough sense when I was 18-years old to start going to the library five or six nights a week," he said. "Every morning I wrote. Every afternoon I sold newspapers on the street corner, and I graduated from the library when I was 28 years old.” That love of libraries stayed with him throughout his life, and in a 2010 interview with the U.S. State Department he said, "what I think I can teach people is that a library is more important than a college or university." At first he wrote short stories, which by his own description were "unconventional tales of ghosts and haunts." He was inspired with tales of Mars by the adventure and science fiction writer Edgar Rice Burroughs. But Bradbury's The “Martian Chronicles,” published in 1950, was a social commentary that dealt with current issues: the threat of nuclear war, racism, pollution, censorship, and out-of-control technology. His love of books and aversion to censorship were the basis for what became his best known work, “Fahrenheit 451,” a slim 1953 novel about a fireman whose job is to burn books, but who joins an underground group devoted to memorizing the classics in order to preserve them. The book was made into a movie in 1966, starring Julie Christie and Oskar Werner. New movie highlights war in México over religion By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Almost 90 years ago, a civil war erupted in Mexico over religious freedom. Tens of thousands died on both sides during what's known as the "Cristero Wars." But even in Mexico today, the history is not well-known. “For Greater Glory,” a new film starring Andy Garcia, dramatizes those events. In 1926, the newly-elected president of Mexico banned religious activities, with special focus on the country's most widespread faith: Roman Catholicism. As soldiers shut churches and arrested priests, opposition to the government's policies grew into a nationwide revolt. The leaders turned to a retired war hero, Gen. Ernesto Gorostieta, to make their ragtag band into an army. Andy Garcia stars as Gorostieta and, like the character, he says the cause went beyond individual beliefs. "You don't have to be a man of faith or a Catholic, for that matter, to be in this movie," Garcia notes. "Nor do you have to be one to go see the movie. The character is a historical, heroic character in terms of the film and to be called upon to play him is a great privilege and you want to honor him. He deserves to be recognized for what he committed to." Born in Cuba, Garcia was 5 years-old when his family immigrated to Florida to escape Castro's authoritarian government. He says that history gives him insight into what motivated the Cristeros rebels in Mexico. "There are certain parallels in this movie to my own life, obviously, because I come from a country where religious freedom, for many years, was completely taken away," he explains. "I mean the Church is in Cuba now, and they have kind of peeked their head in there, but for many years it wasn't allowed at all. So it's an easy cause for me to champion because to me it is more about absolute freedom of the human being." “For Greater Glory” was filmed in Mexico at many of the locations where the actual events took place, but where, until recently, they were not included in history books or taught in schools. The international cast includes Oscar-winner Peter O'Toole along with a 'who's who' of Latino actors from Mexican Eduardo Verástegui and Chilean Santiago Cabrera to Panama's Rubén Blades and American Eva Longoria. |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M.
Costa
Rica's sixth news page |
|
|||||||||
| San
José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, June 7, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 113 |
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
 |
Latin America news |
Newspeople, media
outlets
facing attacks in Venezuela Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
The Inter American Press Association Wednesday expressed concern at threats and attacks on journalists and news media in Venezuela in recent weeks. It urged the South American country’s authorities to identify and prosecute those responsible as the only way to prevent further violence. Earlier this week a team of journalists from the Caracas newspaper El Universal, including María Isoliett Iglesias, Deivis Ramírez, Tomás Ramírez González and Luis García, filed a formal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office demanding protection and guarantees after receiving threats following their coverage of a jail riot that highlighted problems in the prison system. The Venezuelan attorney general’s office ordered protection for the journalists who had written a series of special reports for El Universal on internal conditions in prisons, as a result of the events at the La Planta jail in the downtown Caracas neighborhood of El Paraíso, where in late April prisoners staged a two-week-long riot in which nine persons died. The press advocacy group also condemned attacks May 24 against journalists belonging to the National Public Media System and other members of the press harassed during their coverage of the electoral campaign of opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles. In another development, unidentified persons on a motorcycle shot up the front of the newspaper Versión Final in Zulia state, in the far northeast of Venezuela. Also in Zulia, May 28 an explosive device was hurled at the plant of the Maracaibo newspaper Qué Pasa. The attack caused minor damage to the building’s façade. Two days later armed assailants opened fire on the studios of the regional television channel Catatumbo TV. According to local media the building was hit by 14 bullets. There were no reports of injuries in either of these two incidents. Dry air covers country By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's weather experts predict a decrease in rainfall today because there is a large mass of dry air over the country. The forecast from the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional instead calls for partly cloudy or cloudy skies over much of the country today. There still is the possibility of isolated downpours on the Pacific coast and in the Central Valley, the forecast said. Evening rain is predicted for the Nicoya peninsula. |
|
Latin
American news feeds are disabled on archived pages.
|
|
| Costa Rican News |
AMCostaRicaArchives.com |
Retire NOW in Costa Rica |
CostaRicaReport.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
