 |
 |
Costa Rica Your daily |
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
 |
 |
|||||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
|||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 18, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 205 | |||||||||
 |
| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
 |
 |
|
Our readers' opinions
Barney Frank campaignersays he's economics illiterate Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Formerly of Massachusetts (until last summer), I first met Barney Frank in the early 1970s during one of his campaigns. I even helped write addresses on envelopes for him. Prior to that time, I had been an expat living in Greece (for four years) and in Israel (for one), so I was not known in the local political arena. Barney gave his attention to those already politically well-connected and catered to them. He was, even then, pompous and evaded any serious questions about serious matters. Suspecting his intentions and his intelligence and ignoring his reputation of having a great sense of humor, I stopped volunteering in his campaign. Around 1976, a tax issue arose as to freelance, self-employed persons. (I was then one of those persons.) Barney and I had on-going communication (via letters) regarding this issue. I still have those letters (being an attorney-turned-author, I shipped them down here to Costa Rica in case I'd need them for a number of purposes). What they clearly show is that Barney had — and still has — no understanding whatsoever of economics. For anyone interested, my article on the subject was published in a journal, Micro-Economics, at that time. If it is not accessible via the Internet, I might also have shipped the journal down here, and will make it available to interested parties. But for the gerrymandering of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, we might have gotten rid of him earlier. So, being against Barney has nothing to do with being on the right or the left. It has to do with not being so naive and vulnerable to being spoon-fed by the mainstream media. His humor has been but a mask on the true nature, abilities, and character of Barney Frank. Barbara C. Johnson
Advocate of court reform and attorney in fact Atenas Frank said 'Roll the dice' on banking deregulation Dear A.M. Costa Rica: If some do not like your commentaries, rather than the never ending belly aching, they should not read it anymore. I have faith that the staff at A.M. Costa Rica are aware of freedom of the press. May I quote a statement from our infamous Barney Frank in 1998 re: bank deregulation? "In order for underprivileged Americans to have affordable housing, we are going to have to roll the dice on this one." Predictably the unleashed banks went for the jugular and put millions of Americans who could not afford a house into a house, packed up these dud mortgages, rated them triple A, and sold them to every sucker possible worldwide. The Bush administration tried a number of times to bring back bank regulation, were denied and were cited as being racists. Now this stupid idiot plan backfires, big banking makes trillions, millions of Americans and people worldwide get totally screwed, the idiots naturally blame W (as it was under his watch), millions of idiots listen and believe the unbelievable, and now we are bailing out failed big banking with trillions of our dollars. Our present administration has in fact inherited the crises — from 12 years ago. I don't watch Fox, Sean and Rush give me the willies, I vote both sides of the fence, so don't give me this crap that I am a right winger. I am old school and believe in paper and pencil mathematics. Edward Baecher
Fishkill, New York, and Palmares Bags in a car invite crooks, inconvenience Dear A.M. Costa Rica: This is not exactly headline stuff, but you might remind your readers again about having bags stolen from cars. We parked our small rental SUV in the parking lot of the Maxibodega in Jacó, in very clear view of a guard. Returning in 20 minutes, two bags were stolen. Passports, money, computer, etc. It's not just the money, but also the inconvenience. The people at the Canadian Embassy were very nice, It took only a few hours and cost $230. Then there was the extra night in a hotel, $130, and the cost of rebooking the flights, $600. Plus, of course, the money stolen. A high price for momentary carelessness on our part. So, NEVER, NEVER let bags out of your sight ! Dr. John Cocker
Stouffville, Ontario
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| Home |
Tourism |
Place
classified ad |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| 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 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
 |
| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
|||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 18, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 205 | |||||||||
 |
| Southern zone airport gets key public interest designation |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The project to build an international airport in the southern zone got a boost over the weekend when President Laura Chinchilla declared the concept to be in the public interest. That technical designation put a high priority on the 35 million project, which will start in 2012 to put in the bare bones of an international airport. Until then there are more studies and surveys. Significant planning and environmental work already has been done. For example, officials can say with certainty that the land proposed for the airport does not contain any of the famous pre-Columbian stone spheres of other important sites. An archaeological survey already has been completed. According to plans reviewed Saturday, the airport will have a runway from 2,000 to 2,600 meters, some 6,560 to 8,530 feet. The site already has been selected. It is fincas 9 and 10 in the Valle de Diquis in Sierpe de Osa. Officials also plan on getting two adjacent fincas for eventual expansion. |
Finca 9 is the property of the
Instituto Nacional de Fomento
Cooperativo, a public agency. It contains 233 hectares (about 576
acres). Finca 10 contains 261 hectares (645 acres). This is enough land
for the runway, ramps, taxiways, a passenger terminal, parking and
space for a fixed base operator to handle private aviation. Also needed
will be a fire station, a control tower, navigation and landing systems
and space for customs and immigration. The money for this project will come from the Dirección General de Aviación Civil, the national budget and an allocation the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes received from the International Civil Aviation Organization, officials said. Ms. Chinchilla said that the airport is important to generate employment and combat poverty. Real estate operators and tourism agencies are solidly in favor of the project. Ms. Chinchilla made a tour of the southern zone over the weekend and attended a meeting of the Golfito municipal council. There central government officials agreed to help the city with its tourism promotion. |
| Mother of ATV victim presents her case on U.S. network |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The mother of a girl killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Costa Rica was part of a presentation on ABC in "Brian Ross Investigates" Friday. She is Jennifer Scalise, whose daughter, Brooke, died July 13, 2009, when the four-wheel machine she was driving went over a cliff while on an ATV tour at a Pacific coast location. The 12-year-old was driving one of the machines. The ABC show reported that more than 10,000 people have died in ATV crashes in the United States since the federal government began keeping track. About a quarter of the dead are youngsters, the show said. About a half million machines are sold each year, it added. Mrs. Scalise has been vigorous in promoting changes to the law that would have protected youngsters like her daughter. She told ABC that the tour operator had allowed guides |
under the age of 18 to
lead the group of tourists, and they were traveling at high speed along
a cliff top path without guardrails. As the pack rounded a sharp turn,
Scalise heard a scream from her daughter's friend up ahead, she said. In an earlier story in A.M. Costa Rica she said "I am an extremely responsible mother, and had I thought there was serious risk of danger I would have never permitted my family to participate in this tour. We were never warned of any dangers, never signed a waiver, and the owner of the tour knew we had two 6 year olds and a 7 year old with us." The television show said that Mrs. Scalise has joined a group called Concerned Families for ATV Safety. The main point of the show was to note that laws about who can drive an ATV varies widely among U.S. states. Massachusetts now prohibits youngsters under 14 from using ATV machines, the show said. |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
| Home |
Tourism |
Place
classified ad |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| 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 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
 |
||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 18, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 205 | |||||||||
| Costa Rica to get $27 million in new
debt swap program |
||
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica will be forgiven $27 million over the next 15 years as part of an agreement with the U.S. government. The Nature Conservancy also is involved in what is called a debt-for-nature exchange. The agreements were made possible by the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998, the State Department said. Together with a previous program established in 2007, these agreements make Costa Rica, one of the most biologically-diverse countries on earth, the largest beneficiary with more than $50 million generated for the conservation, restoration, and protection of tropical forests, said the U.S. government. The new program will support the efforts of the Costa Rican government, working with the Forever Costa Rica |
project, a
new public/private
conservation initiative, to develop and sustainably finance a complete
and integrated system of protected areas, said the U.S. government.
Grants will benefit areas such as the Osa Peninsula, including the
Terraba-Sierpe mangrove swamps, the Naranjo/Savegre River complex,
which contains some of the highest levels of biodiversity in Costa
Rica, as well as La Amistad International Park, home to one of Central
America's largest and most diverse ecosystems, it said. The new agreements were made possible by the contribution of more than $19.6 million by the U.S. government as well as a donation of more than $3.9 million from The Nature Conservancy. The program provides opportunities for eligible developing countries to reduce debt owed the United States while generating funds to conserve their forests, the U.S. government said. Costa Rica has benefited from an earlier agreement with the United States. |
|
| Humantarian mission recieves the thanks
of Panamanians |
||
|
Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Chiriqui Grande community in Panamá held a closing ceremony for Continuing Promise 2010 and expressed thanks for providing humanitarian civic assistance, the U.S. Southern Command reported. Continuing Promise is a humanitarian mission on board the USS Iwo Jima providing medical, veterinary, engineering and community relations assistance to eight countries in four months. The Iwo Jima will provide humanitarian support to Guyana and Suriname before the ship returns to its homeport, Norfolk, Virgina. "You are offering a great service to the people of Comarca Ngobe Bugle and Bocas del Toro," said Jose Stonestreet, Comarca's Minister of Health representative. "Continuing Promise 2010 was successfully carried out in our country and once again demonstrates the feeling of brotherhood that exists between our two countries." While in Panamá, military and civilian non-governmental organization personnel provided more than 5,000 patient services to rural residents within the Rambala and Boca del Toro area. Organizations include Project Hope, Give-A-Kid-A-Back, World Vets, the Registered Nurses Network, and a new one: The Peace Corps. |
In total, the
mission's 52 physicians conducted 90 surgeries, of which
were 49 low-risk surgeries conducted on board the ship, such as hernia
operations during the 10-day port visit. The surgeries classified as
low-risk, are conducted with the intent of having the highest impact on
lives. The other 41 surgeries were out-patient treatments, such as mole
removal. The roving U.S. Army veterinarians treated 6,432 animals and
the 19 dentists provided 620 dental services to Panamanians. Optometrists conducted 1,581 eye exams, gave 1,038 eyeglass prescriptions and overall provided 3,062 optometry services. Ancillary totals included over 10,431 prescriptions were provided and, 104 X-Rays conducted. In total, the mission treated over 6,800 patients in Panamá. In total, the mission brought medical, dental, veterinary and preventive medical care to three medical sites to the rural cities of Punta Pina, Palma Real and Chiriqui Mali. Engineers rebuilt a medical storage building and car port and installed a septic system and installed bat screens at the Silico Creek School. Also at the Silico Creek School, just down the road from the Punta Pina medical site, sailors supported community relations projects and set up playground equipment, painted the school and cleaned up the playground. |
|
| Home |
Tourism |
Place
classified ad |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| 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 2010 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica fifth news page |
|
|||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
||
|
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
| Home |
Tourism |
Place
classified ad |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| 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 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa
Rica sixth news page |
Looking
for a story from a past edition? See our search page or http://www.amcostaricaarchives.com |
||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About us |
|
|
|
|||||||||
Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
U.S.
citizens have options in voting from overseas By Clair Whitmer
of the Overseas Vote Foundation You requested your ballot but didn’t receive it yet? Or maybe you just procrastinated? Fortunately, you still have time to vote in 2010 if you remember one little acronym: FWAB. What's an FWAB? It's the "Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot" and the official alternative ballot to use if your ballot is late or missing somewhere between your election official's office and your home abroad. New legislation intended to make it easier to vote from overseas — the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment or MOVE Act — mandates that all states must now accept the FWAB for all federal elections. If you registered/requested a ballot at any point in 2010 and you don't have your regular ballot already, then it's time to use the FWAB. Some states allow you to register/request your ballot up until Election Day; some allow you to register and vote on the same day. Is your state one of them? Look it up in the Overseas Vote Foundation state-specific voter information directory. Likewise, many states will count your ballot if it arrives after Nov. 2 as long as you have sent it on or before Election Day. What are your state’s deadlines? Check the foundation's 2010 Election Deadlines charts to find out! The OVF online tools make using the FWAB easy. Enter your voting address and the FWAB wizard will automatically list the candidates running in your congressional district. Want to know more about a particular candidate? Look up his or her bio in the foundation's candidate finder which is powered by Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan resource for information about candidates. Deciding the candidate you want is the only part you have to think about, the rest is easy. With the FWAB, you simply vote. print, mail. The MOVE Act requires that states provide you an option to receive your blank ballots electronically — via a Web site, email or fax. Although it is not part of MOVE, many states allow voted ballot return by the same means. The foundation advises caution: returning a marked ballot online provides no security or privacy guarantees. The very basis of our electoral system is the secret ballot. Your voting decisions are supposed to be private and election officials are required to protect the integrity of the ballot box at all costs. E-mail can be intercepted and online ballots changed on the way to their destination. Voters should keep this in mind and consider returning voted paper ballot as the safest option. When returning a voted ballot by fax, most states require that the voter sign a waiver giving up the right to the privacy of the faxed ballot. Neither of these seem like good compromises to the foundation. This is why it still strongly recommends that voters return a ballot by mail. If a voter is in a time crunch in returning a ballot, there is a solution! It’s called, Express Your Vote. With the support of FedEx Express, the foundation is offering special delivery rates in 94 countries. Voted ballot deserves the best treatment available. A voter can go online to Express Your Vote and create an Air WayBill in a few simple steps. The voter can take it to a FedEx drop-off location or arrange for a pickup. For a complete suite of voter services as well as news and information about overseas voting, see the Overseas Vote Foundation Web site. Other resources: Project Vote Smart and Federal Voting Assistance Program. |
| Latin American news feeds are disabled on
archived pages.
|
|
| Home |
Tourism |
Place
classified ad |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About
us |
|
| 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 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
