Teacher unions ignore
the interests of society

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I don’t understand why APSE and ANDE would not be satisfied with the results of their march Tuesday as A.M. Costa Rica reported. As usual, they were pretty effective in shutting down my daughter’s school.

The needs of kids and parents are often last to be considered (if at all) in what motivates a teachers' union. This fight is all about union power. The fact is the minister of education might have (and I think does have) a really good plan, but APSE/ANDE will what ever they can so that it never sees the light of day because they are unwilling to give him, the minister, any credit for fear of losing power if they adopt anything suggested by those who hold the purse strings. They may even like the plan themselves.

It is sad that so many unions have degenerated into this self-serving mind set excluding the interests of those in most need in society.  We have a “lost generation” from the 80s just reported on in La Nación. If it were exclusively up to the unions, I guess all generations would be lost.


Over use of resources
is the world's real issue

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

In response to Norman  Paterson's article on his doubts about global warming being a man-made phenomenon, I am willing to accept there may be some truth in his argument.  Indeed, there may be other factors behind the global trend. But, all truths are not equal, and I feel there is a more compelling truth that needs to be recognized. Our willingness to tolerate overpopulation, destroying tropical forests, and extracting the carbon safely sequestered in the Earth's mantle, burning it, and spewing it into the atmosphere is tantamount to suicide for the inhabitants of this planet.

Al Gore, in a long article in Rolling Stone this month puts it well:

The truth is this: What we are doing is functionally insane. If we do not change this pattern, we will condemn our children and all future generations to struggle with ecological curses for several millennia to come. Twenty percent of the global-warming pollution we spew into the sky each day will still be there 20,000 years from now!

We can argue until our dying day about whether burning producing CO2 is the "real" cause of global warming. But, the real issue demanding immediate attention and action is that our overuse of all the resources on this planet, including but not limited to burning petroleum.


Skepticism urged of study
that says coffee protects


In reading the glowing article encouraging us to drink a half gallon or so of coffee a day, one should immediately hear a warning signal.

These types of one-of-a-kind studies that end up with recommended increased usages of a "drug" are often funded by the industry that's touting it. and often are refuted by more scientific, impartial studies at a later date.

Like the 500-word, fine-printed disclaimers beneath the glossily printed picture of a person in glowing health, touting one of big-pharma's latest offerings, study results like these, should be subject to deep consumer scrutiny.
I'm no lab researcher, but as a yoga instructor, and one who enjoys an occasional cup of coffee, I am more prone to believe, that a balanced healthy diet, and regular exercise, are a safer bet to optimum brain health, than to gulping down large quantities of java.

Common sense, and experience should tell one to beware of these types of studies. One need only to have followed the on-going climate debate to see that results based on complicated factors, can be easily refuted.

Anyone who experiences digestive problems, rapid pulse increases, occasional dizziness, or irritability as direct results of coffee consumption, should beware of these types of "initial" studies.

By reading the article closely, one sees words like "seems to" and "likely" which are in no way indicative of solid fact. Common sense tells the reader, and especially anyone who may be sensitive to the detrimental effects of coffee, to treat the recommendation of increasing dosages here with kid gloves.