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[quote=”maravilla”]you should really not call things that happened at the behest of our gov’t “conspiracy theories” — the declassified CIA documents show unequivocally that there was no Gulf of Tonkin incident that launched us into Vietnam, that the Pearl Harbor incident was known ahead of time — just two examples of our gov’t complicity in starting acts of war, commonly referred to as false flag operations. as for 9-11, i haven’t a clue what to believe, but i know that when they said they could identify 19 supposed hijackers within 48 hours of the attack, claiming that one of their passports was found many blocks away from the WTC, i believe that about as much as i believe in the easter bunny and the tooth fairy. the official account is simply not believable, but it certainly has fostered a lot of hatred towards Muslims as IF all Muslims are terrorists, when it’s really only a small segment of the fundamentalist Wahhabis who are out to stir up trouble. me thinks you don’t want to believe that gov’t do and have started wars and then lied to the populace, when it’s been going on forever.[/quote]
If you’re making an assumption about what I believe then think again. Do I believe in the Gulf of Tonkin? NO. DO I believe we should have gone into Iraq? NO. Afghanistan? NO. There are more efficient ways we could have taken out Al-Quida. Do I know this to be fact? YES. My post was about 9/11 truthers. DO I believe it’s a shame a Tico can’t get a Visa? YES, Do I think it’s wrong for anyone to paint all American “Gringos” with the same wide brush? ABSOLUTELY. Do I have bigotry or hatred for anyone because they are from a country or of a color? NO.
On a lighter note I hope you are having some nice weather there. The wife and I come down in a week and look forward to peace and tranquility. I am a photographer and I look forward to some interesting shots. If you would like I’ll buy dinner for the four of us. Often times a person can be misunderstood on the internet but when you meet them they are quite pleasing and are interesting to converse with. I’m serious. Until later I wish you peace and joy.
For all you 9/11 “truthers” It is a shame you still think coincidences, lies and made up bull actually counts as proof. There have been theories that President Roosevelt positioned the American fleet in Pearl knowing the Japanese were going to bomb them. There have been theories that the US started the Korean War for some kind of self interest. The only thing it proves is just how lame your assertions are. But hey…. you’re the one gullible enough to believe every conspiracy site that gives you what you want to hear. Garbage in, garbage out as the saying goes.
Your assertion that your aforementioned video is “fact” is only your uninformed opinion. If you look carefully at the video did you notice the banner behind Mr. Springmann says http://www.unansweredquestions.org which is a 9/11 “truther” organization? Oh but that doesn’t matter does it?
Here is an excerpt from CBC a Canadian Broadcasting Company with Mr. Springmann in 2003 where he has to answer some tough probing questions.
CBC: And if what you say may be true, many of the terrorists who allegedly flew those planes into those targets got their US visas through the CIA and your US consulate in Jeddah. That suggests an relationship ongoing as recently as September [2001]. What was the CIA presumably recruiting these people for, as recently as September 11th?
Springmann: That I don’t know. That’s one of the things that I tried to find out through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests starting 10 years ago. And at the time, the State Department and the CIA stonewalled my requests; they are still doing so.
CBC: If the CIA had a relationship with the people responsible for September 11, are you suggesting that they are in some way complicit?
Springmann: Even through omission or failure to act.
CBC: Do you have any evidence, any paperwork from all of these years that might go towards supporting all of this?
Springmann: Regrettably not. I had something at some point. My predecessor in Jeddah had begun a file of people with peculiar attributes who got had got visas. I kept it up, I added to it. I learned later on after I had left, that this file had been mysteriously been shredded.
CBC: But you complained, and you complained and you complained, but what eventually happened to you?
Springmann: My appointment in the State Department was terminated, and I was never given a coherent statement why.
CBC: You will above all will appreciate that conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen these days with regard to September 11th, what makes yours different or any more credible than the others?
Springmann: I have floated around the international affairs community for the past 20 years. I was in the middle of this in Jeddah; I knew people in the foreign service, I knew people out of it, I knew people in the CIA. I had at one time great respect for the CIA, but this operation in Jeddah was so peculiar, so strange, and it went against anything I had ever seen or heard in my 20 years in government, that I thought that what these people were telling me about CIA involvement with Osama, and with Afghanistan had to be true because nothing else would fit. By the attempts to cover me up and shut me down, this convinced me more and more that this was not a pipe-dream, this was not a machination, this was not a conspiracy theory.
CBC: But when you take the events of 1987, when visas were being issued to people unqualified for them, and suggest that happened again to the same people responsible for the attacks in New York and Washington: that’s a quantum leap. How do you justify that?
Springmann: For all I know, and for all we know, this might not have been the intended consequence. It could have been a mistake, it could have been a misjudgment. Or for all that we know, it could have been an effort to get the US directly involved in some fashion. I mean it’s only a few thousand dead, and what’s this against the greater gain in the Middle East.
CBC: But you’re quite sure that Mohammed Atta and others had their visas issued in Jeddah?
Springmann: This is what I was told by reading an article in the Los Angeles Times.
CBC: Well, an intriguing tale and we thank you for telling us.
Springmann: You’re quite welcome.
NOW, I ask you does he sound credible? No proof at all? He Read it in the LA Times?
Most Americans are deeply offended by these kind of remarks. So if you want to push your agenda then go ahead but when you represent some “conspiracy theory” as fact, you look foolish.
PEACE
With the predictions for 2012 I would stay away from real estate. I believe the market is in for a much needed correction. Prices today are unrealistic given the economy. Sellers are trying to recoup their investment when they bought at the peak and I don’t blame them, however after they sit on those prices for a year or two as is the case now, they will need to lower prices to sell. When you consider the RE market in the US where folks can’t sell and reinvest in CR and the mortgage loan terms in CR, the market is indeed still inflated. I have been watching the market in CR for over 2 years now and this is ONLY my conclusion. I’m sure others may differ.
[quote=”sprite”]Tourists are welcomed by the government along with a short list of rules for behavior while in country. Resident applicants have a longer list. If you want happy, welcoming, inviting commercial web sites where a false picture of a paradise is painted for your consumption, there are plenty of those for Costa Rica prepared for you by sales people who have something to sell to you..
Face it, we are not going to be loved and honored everywhere we go. I look at moving to Costa Rica as a favor granted to me by Costa Rica, not the other way around. I don’t need to be welcomed. Just being accepted is quite enough.[/quote]
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Sorry but you have either missed my point or you’re in denial of the facts. You don’t live there yourself. Enough of this thread for me. Flame away.[b]Sprite[/b] thanks for your post, but the posts I have read many times from many threads does not distinguish between those who would seek to harm CR and those who would do the opposite. The lumping together of all from the US as unwanted gringos has been well established by some here. This should be a more welcoming place that says we love CR, come join us, and how can we help you. If someone wants to express something negative that would help or inform others about CR then great. If someone just wants to show disdain for others then they should paint with a very small brush otherwise their rants just show bigotry and hatred. Peace man.
[quote=”sprite”]Clewis,
you may be misunderstanding what you are reading here. I am guessing that most who leave the US do so because they have a problem staying. It is either economic, political, cultural or some other reason. Of course, many are going to have little to say that is good about the place they abandoned. If you are so sensitive that you cannot read about opposing ideas or sentiments, you will be limiting yourself to information and understanding.
Of course, there are others who emigrate looking for adventure, women, exploitation for profit, exploitation for sex, etc…. I consider some of those motivations to be destructive.[/quote]
Thanks but there is no misunderstanding of what I read here. It would be extremely hard for anyone with only average intelligence to misunderstand.
[b]smekuly[/b], I understand what you’re saying. I find a forum that includes those who live in CR a valuable resource. The notion of separation would not help those like me who seek information. The name of the site is good and when people come here they should expect helpful folks who live there to weigh in and be helpful. I don’t seek to relocate there for the women, I’ve been happily married for over 20 years. I don’t seek to relocate there to make a big footprint, quite the contrary, as I wish to blend with the locals and not impose on them. I am a retiree with meager but comfortable means, not a mega developer who scarred the land. I would say that many on here and those who visit here are the same. The problem I find here is some folks painting all of us with the same wide brush as those who have damaged the land and culture. What I find here is a constant effort to rant against all things US no matter the person or their views. Is that fair? Does that represent the majority of those here who are willing to help? I seek peace in CR, not hostility. I also would like to grow a garden. I look forward to learning the culture. When I pass I would like to think the locals felt comfortable with my imprint. Someone they knew as a friend not someone who left a large footprint like a FEW have done. I see some good here but I think most folks here are tired of the rant against regular folk who seek to live in peace and harmony with nature and the CR culture. Thanks to [b]agarcia[/b] and folks like him who show no hostility to newcomers. Thanks to all who seek to help.
Whatever. What I meant by equity is people selling in the US to buy in CR. JEEZ, take a pill. End of my post on this topic.
[quote=”maravilla”]you sure can make some grand assumptions — nobody ever called gringos low life or dreaded, but yes, we/they do bring things to a culture that are not necessarily good. you don’t live here, do you? and i’ll bet you haven’t ever lived anywhere in the world except the US. enough said.
and where exactly did Laura go? Acapulco? if not there, then someplace ritzy, no doubt, surround by security and ensconced in the presidential suite. good for her. she’s probably seen her entire country,and mexico is beautiful, with great food![/quote]
With all due respect you always post negative things about Gringos as if you aren’t one yourself. You seem to want blame everything bad in CR on Gringos. I think everyone on this forum knows how you feel and what you think of new expats coming to live in CR. If you look in the mirror you will see a Gringa. Yes I have lived abroad but that’s irrelevant and frankly none of your concern. The intent of this post is not to argue with you kind lady but when someone new comes on here and reads such bitterness they might go elsewhere and that has to in some way damage those who advertise on here. Intolerance of others just fans the flames of the problems in the world we live in. Peace.
May be off topic, but if CR property owners don’t adjust their selling prices so people can afford to buy they will be holding that property forever. The situation in the US is such that folks can’t sell their homes and get the equity needed to buy elsewhere. I’m not saying that the US dictates all in CR, but IMO prices of real estate in CR need an overdue realistic adjustment. It seems that Panama has created programs to welcome retirees and CR is doing the opposite. Today “InsideCostaRica” predicts a bad economic year for 2012 with no relief in sight. Just my 2 colones.
I see that Chinchilla is vacationing in Mexico. Must be because of the “Low life dreaded Gringos” that have infested her home country.
Tourism chamber officials call 2011 a year in transition
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The year 2011 has not been a very positive one for tourism, according to the national chamber. In fact, tourist arrivals by air are down 4 percent in July, August and September, said the chamber.
Consequently, the chamber, the Cámara Nacional de Turismo, has called 2011 a year of transition and is setting its sights on three major goals for 2012. They are competitivity, the dollar exchange rate and diversification of the market.
The chamber issued a statement outlining its views last week.
The current year began well with an increase of 6.5 percent in tourist arrivals during the first six months, said the chamber. It noted that the decline of tourists by air involves the principal access route to the country.
Tourists are cautious with their money and their economic resources during vacation, noted Juan Carlos Ramos chamber president. This situation is felt in all the tourist activities from souvenir shops to tourist housing, he noted. For the chamber, the world economic situation is one factor that has destabilized the growth of tourism here. Another factor is the policies of the Banco Centro, the chamber said.
Measures of austerity elsewhere are affecting Costa Rica, said Ramos, who also noted that the rate of exchange between the
dollar and the colon had changed by 18 percent. Typically tourism operators receive payment in U.S. dollars but pay bills in colons, so a dip in the exchange rate is costly.The chamber said it was hoping that two measures in the legislature would improve the competitivity of the country. One was a revised tourism law and another to permit the sale of alcohol during Holy Week. The measures have been before the legislature for three years, Ramos noted.
He also cited the condition of the country’s infrastructure as generating a bad image for the country. Among the problems are the state of the highways, he said. The chamber president noted that the country dropped in its competitivity ranking two positions in the assessment provided by the World Economic Forum.
The chamber also cited the excessive paperwork and approvals facing investors who seek to develop a new tourism project.
Ramos also said that the country must offer visitors personal security.
As has been mentioned in the past, the chamber would like the country to seek more tourists from developing nations.
It added that the 5 percent increase in annual visits is reasonable, but that depends on the world economic situation and internal policies like the proposed tax plan.
[quote=”maravilla”]you’re starting to sound like a Fox newscaster with this discrimination mantra, twisting something that isn’t into something that suits your agenda! it is absolutely NOT discrimination to comment on the socio-economic effects that occur when there is a shift in demographics. sheesh. but nonetheless, happy new year to all.[/quote]
Whatever
Great post GEEGEE. Maravilla I hope you show less discrimination in the new year. I want to wish you too a Merry Christmas and a joyous and peaceful new year. To the silent majority on this site God Bless you all.
[quote=”smekuly”]maravilla
your right on point 🙂
good to see some level headed non emotional observations going on.
instead of
can’t we all just get along mentality :D[/quote]
You are both wrong. You have so much hate in your hearts you have to vent constantly to the rest of us. Blaming it on your “observations” is a cop out. The fact is people are tired of your constant rants and hatred. That is what GEEGEE was pointing out. You were kindly asked to take a break during the Holiday season, but you can’t even do that. There are people here that have tired of your endless radical diatribe. You see what you want to see in your “observations”. Just for a week try to give it a break. Find a little peace in your hearts.
