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Organic production is regulated in the USA. Of course, these may not be the most stringent of regs, but it will give you an idea what qualifies as organic according to the USDA.
If you have the space and ability, raise your own chickens. We started last year here in the US and it is a wonderful way to get fresh eggs. As far as chickens for meat is concerned, it is much better to raise and slaughter your own. It does require an interest in attaining certain skills for self sufficient living if you are squeamish about those sorts of things.
In any case, if you raise your own food, you will be secure in knowing what is in the food you are eating.
John,
Of course it is an assumption on my part that the number of DUIs would go up. I’m using the current alcohol situation to guesstimate.The other scenario, like legal alcohol, is that the government would then have to tax it, regulate it and then turn over production to the pharmaceutical companies to insure purity, quality and consistency. Can’t have heroin addicts getting a hot shot. You can see where this is all going. The ATF becomes the DATF and so on. Of course this is only speculation on my part. Still, as I said before, there are no easy answers.
Outside of moral, ethical and religious considerations, this is subject that can be debated for years. And no one is right or wrong. Just a lot of opinions out there.
As far as the current prison system that Maravilla talked about, she is right except for the fact that local governments do this too. It is not only in privatization of the jails. Our county built a larger jail so we can take the overflow from a neighboring county’s jails and get paid for housing the inmates. All done in the name of lowering taxes. Hasn’t lowered them for the past 10 years or so. Only had to add more deputies to the payroll. Well, at least they did create jobs.
Whenever and wherever there is money to be made, legally or illegally, there is always someone who will gladly take it.
A friend of mine was in the US Coast Guard years ago. He told me the CG only interdicts 17% of the drug traffic into the US. With the number of tons that CR alone manages to stop every year you can see why this will never end. To much money, to many users, too much corruption.
I’d be wary of legalization because of the very things David mentioned. The shoulders of the roads would be where the traffic jams would occur with police stops. Unless the penalties are very stiff for High drivers, the roads would become the war zone. No easy answers to this one. How long will it be before CR or any other relatively sane country goes the same way? We are a world gone mad.
Maravilla, excellent! A very well thought out and honest post.
I can’t remember who coined the phrase, but it is true. “The anticipation is always greater than the realization.”
I’m glad we have many more years before retirement to work out the details and to make sure the move will be the right one.
Hang on to that passport of the Empire. As a legal Honduran immigrant waiting for the time when he can apply for his US citizenship told me, a US passport is like gold and how lucky I was to have one. Little wonder they are among the most highly stolen.
Wanting to renounce citizenship may seem like a good thought in a moment of fantasy, but reality does have a way of changing things.
Funny how a matter of location and perspective can offer varying thoughts on a subject.
It will take some getting used to, but overall, a very good move. This is more like standard forum form. Good job, Scott. Being able to make friends is the big plus for many.
Dear Suemcgowan,
I felt I had to respond to your post out of some sense of being cast as a person who would add to someone’s guilt or would be less than compassionate. And maybe out of some silly and insecure thought I needed to defend myself.
As a little background information, I happen to be a moderator of a cancer support group whose primary mission is to support patients and their families suffering from a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer. We know the value of support systems and the providing of information. We deal with death on a regular basis. I’ve also had the privilege of going to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland to state our case at a Cancer workshop. I also help care for my 91 year old father in-law, changing his diapers and such. All done willingly and voluntarily.
So, now that I have stated my credentials, I can tell you this story is heartbreaking, and its ripples will be felt for some time and possibly by many people. This woman had serious problems and chose to leave the US and try to either escape a bad situation, or thought she could start a new life in Costa Rica, or both. Without knowing all the intimate details of her situation and the relationship with the man whose house she was living in, or if she did have any family or friends to support her, I could not say with certainty whether or not she could have been helped. I know that suicide hotlines are here in the US for intervention and support. Apparently they feel they do some good. No one should have guilt because the signs of distress may not have been there or noticed, but there may have been some warning that something was not right with her and maybe someone close to her may have been able to pick up on it.
Mental issues are extremely difficult to deal with and none of us could ever put ourselves in another’s place. With compassion and genuine concern for our fellow human being we may be able to ease a person’s pain. We can’t save the entire world, for sure, but we can choose to try to take time out of our busy lives to be there if someone needs us.
I can see you are a very caring and decent person and know you feel terrible about this tragedy. And also, I’m sure you have seen your share of life’s miseries. We do what we can.
Best regards,
AlfredMaravilla,
A very sad story. And one that has implications and consequences that are far reaching. There are no panaceas in life that can cure all ills. Moving to Costa Rica is certainly no panacea in itself. I’m sure you don’t know all the details of this woman’s life and how she came to be in such a position. The truly sad part is that she probably did not have a support system of family and friends that may have helped to avoid this tragedy. Her actions also caused the man whose house she was living in consequences, and caused any family and friends major grief. The entire situation is a tragedy. It is best to consider the things we do beforehand and the consequences they may bring upon ourselves and others.
Coleman,
Happy to hear everything turned out well for you and your wife. When we were at Manuel Antonio in ’06, the Cruz Roja pulled a body from the water as my son was Boogie boarding in the surf. It is something you never forget, and makes you understand why they tell you not to wade in the water past your hips. I’ve seen rocks the size of watermelons thrown up by the surf there. The rip-tides along with the lack of lifeguards makes for a dangerous situation.
Thanks for the warning, Again, glad that all is fine.
Sprite, Lest we not forget Judge Sotomayor. Same old same old.
Every nation has a right to self determination. Banana Republic is a term I find elitist and offensive. Who are you, or any of us, to say a country has no right to a standing army? And since when are those armies exclusively agents for the US? Tell that to Hugo and see what he says. If the US is so big a monster, why does Costa Rica expect we will come to her aid if she is invaded? And why would they want us to if the rest of Latin America is so corrupted by our presence?
I know, many questions, few answers.
I would think most Hondurans are proud of their democratic system and would like to keep it. In any event, time will tell whether or not they can hold it together and fend off the interference of outside influences.
Scott, You may ask. Many of us are not happy with much of the policies of the Bush administration, but that does not exempt the present occupant of the White House, or Latin American leaders from criticism.
Sprite,
Applauding Cuba and Venezuela is a misnomer. You are applauding Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. The people of those two countries had, and still have very little say in the matter. And you may be also be forgetting that little incident in Costa Rica’s history with Don Pepe Figueres. Although that did turn out well… Maybe Honduras will have the same good fortune.
DonHo911,
I agree! The US does get more than its fair share of blame. Not that past history should be forgotten, but in this instance, the blame is unfounded. Obama and Clinton have taken a stand on the side of Zelaya, along with the Castro brothers, Ortega and Chavez. Zelaya even departed from the US for his first attempt at returning. I’m told by Honduran nationals that he was conferring with Clinton today in Washington.
I personally know three Honduran nationals who still have family in Honduras. Most are happy with what has transpired and there is less civil unrest than we think. All of the representatives in their government were unanimous in support of Micheletti.
Let’s blame the US when it is justified, but let’s let Honduras remedy their own problems. And how come no one mentions Chavez and the ballots he sent, and Ortega and Castro in their interference and support for the return of Zelaya? Why only seek to implicate the US? The people of Honduras, by and large, do not want a Chavez style of government.
Micoloco,
I used to have that problem and found if you just hit the “preview reply” button on what you have already written before you get timed out, and then go back to “edit this reply”, the timer starts all over again and you can complete your post.
Hope this helps.
Hi David,
Things were bad during the Carter years. Politicians always use those catch phrases to amplify the best or worst of times. This go-round we had “Change” as the Mantra. Like blaming previous administrations, a la Reagan’s for this mess, I think it is fair to stop at any point in history to blame any current event. Just kidding. We all have the luxury of hindsight, and depending upon our own political bent, we can make a case for anything. The Carter years were rough, and there have been other bad patches we’ve gone through. I think a lot of these things are cyclical and not any one party is totally right or wrong. They simply all are politicians. And we know how that goes.
Government has a purpose in regulating, and in that area we have fallen short. Government, it seems, can never do anything efficiently. The bureaucracy always gums up the works, and what starts out as a noble idea, falls flat. If we continue to rely on our government to provide all the answers, then we are doomed. Unless good people can be elected to office that have a sense of public service, not self-service, then we will be complaining forever. I have never seen a poor politician, just poor people handing over their will. While we have an obligation to protect and defend this nation, and to better the lives of the less fortunate, we should not remove the motivating forces that made this country great. Paraphrasing Reagan, “Government is not the solution, government is the problem.” And to add a little Marxist principle to this, I believe those of us that can do well have an obligation to help those whom society, and their own misfortunes, have left behind. There are moral principles in many forms of governing. Unfortunately, there are people who are less than moral doing the governing.
