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No Iraqi invaded the US, no Iraqi attacked the US, Iraq did NOT have WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in 2003 (even if the US CERTAINLY did and continues to have) and most assuredly Iraq CANNOT have weapons of mass destruction now that we have blown that country to smithereens…Iraq was not our friend (except when we wanted to have military & commercial dealings, but of course, that’s another issue….), but they were not threatening to attack us–So how is it that they were or even worse are NOW our enemy? The only thing we have managed to do is ruin the US economy and put the blood of innocent civilians over our heads…I don’t know what “god” you pray to, but he must not be about justice or righteousness because we have been neither with the Iraqi people…You speak exactly like an extremist Muslim Mullah blinded by hate of the OTHER invoking “god” to obliterate another human being–I’ll pass on that type of “god” and prefer to remember that we are ALL connected (wether you like it or not) and this is exactly the reason why church and state NEED to be separate because NO ONE should justify MURDERING innocent children in the name of some “god.” Religions have been used quite extensively to pillage and kill whomever they considered infidels or pagans (basically, anyone inconvenient), but I do believe that there have been profound messages that have come from prophets, leaders and followers of many faiths too…It’s always our choice to either live by the sword and then inevitably die by it or live trying to leave the world a better place? For those of us that believe in Christianity, we could listen to what Jesus taught about accepting those that were considered the “others” (remember about not throwing that first stone?) and calling us to love above all else since he clearly said that whatever we have not done for one of his little ones we haven’t done for him (and careful, he included prisoners in that list to make a point that he meant ALL people–so why not Muslims?) and that there is no greater gift that we may possess than to LOVE (I Cor 13). Unfortunately, we have been blasting the hell out of Jesus in Iraq! Why not choose to make the world a better place not just for ourselves, but for ALL before you have the nerve to invoke God no matter what your religion may be…
As far as the “mainstream media and the truth” it might be a “silent scream” your hearing from the journalists that wish they could tell the truth, but both are absolute oxymorons (which you can identify since I’ve placed the words in quotes)–They are bought and sold for by corporate America and cannot tell the truth because they have no “corporate conscience,” they seem to be perfectly happy to tell “relative truths.” If you want to know what is actually going on then you need to find NON-commercial news outlets for the information…Here’s a bunch of other oxymorons relative to “this fine mess” we’ve made, this must be a “just war”, we are a “peace force” in the region, we have been “blessed” (this is just my frustration expressed in sarcasm) with a “benevolent despot” in some countries…You feel this is a “fail safe” war and I say to that, you must still believe in “realistic fantasies”….
Distortions seem to be a persistent attribute of yours Diego…As much as I have disagreed with many US political doctrines imposed around the world, I have always had great respect for much of what the US was built on and that’s what I have always expressed in this Forum…I have never “bashed” America, I have criticized current and disgraceful political actions that have torn to shreds just what I love about this country (The Constitution, Bill of Rights and the right to Habeas Corpus, the profound not convenient thoughts of freedom, separation of church and state and the inalienable rights of ALL people to name a few).
The immigration issue is what it is…People are currently appalled to see what Bush’s America has become and it doesn’t jive with the US that honest and conscientious people have in their hearts–not to mention that he’s managed to devastate the country’s economy in less than 2 terms which is why people that can make another choice regarding their home addresses are making that choice more than ever. For those that have even worse situations back home in their native countries, then to them the US still seems a viable and good option. Frankly, I would love nothing more than to have the US return to what the US was actually founded on whether I choose to stay here or not and I would bet that a lot of other US citizens and people in this forum feel the same way…
I only happen to be the mom of one person and her name isn’t Scott. I gave you the link for your info, what you choose to distort from that is always up to you.
War will always be a horrific affaire, no matter who is on either side. That’s why some of the most influential American thinkers understood that war is only something you engage in for defense or for a truly major reason NOT for weapons of mass destruction that NEVER existed and are just a justification for other reasons–Not that I think they were perfect–what human being can make that claim–I can’t, can you?We have known that there was a “mistake” about the perceived threat since before June, 2003 yet we’re still there and last I checked it’s now the end of 2007! I believe, like Jefferson said many times, that we must remain watchful of our governmental leaders. It’s every US citizen’s DUTY to watch and judge what is being done in THEIR name–If not, then we’re all accomplices to the injustices and horrors that are forced on those human beings we are murdering each and every day since 3/2003…In the end, there should be no higher command or loyalty than to your own conscience…
After the Patriot Act and the nixing of Habeas Corpus in the US, we can all face some “interesting” times when expressing our views in the good old US of A too, no need to be in Venezuela for this to happen (and I’m no Chavez cheerleader!!)…This is getting too boring to have to keep repeating ourselves–so why don’t you read some of the stuff that REAL important folk like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and basically ALL of the US Founding Fathers, who would never have asked any of us for our passports, have written about government, dissenting political views and calling government officials on their actions by people like you and me and then ask yourself how come you call yourself an American and do NOT know this….By the way, no need for you to give up your passport either, just pick up a few books, listen to some less compromised press than commercial propaganda for either the right or the left, dust off your critical judgement and put yourself in the Iraqi’s shoes before you consider our US interventions benign….Use some logic for goodness sake!! Did you like watching the World Trade Center toppled and people falling to their deaths from those building? Because if you didn’t feel great grief for those victims and their loved ones on 9/11 then I can understand that you also wouldn’t feel any twinge of pain for Iraqi people that face such death and destruction on an everyday basis for the last 4 1/2 years for whatever the heck reason any lunatic can come up with!! However, if you actually felt horrible about what happened on 9/11 then why is it that you feel it should be such a joy for others?? If you’re a sadist and think Iraqis are ALL masochists then I understand, incoherence is quite another thing….
Edited on Dec 02, 2007 06:36
You can read the recent article on firearms for yourself–unfortunately, the Brits have been “conquering” around the world much longer than the US and Scott seems pretty well aware of this…https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/1659.cfm
The people flocking to the US for education are one thing and don’t necessarily stay (either by choice or because they aren’t granted visas). Even the foreigners coming in just to buy goods which their currency can buy so much more of since the tanking of the dollar are a separate issue because they’re not planning on sticking around for long. The people SNEAKING into the US for work (that even when underpaid is still so much more than they could earn in their own countries) is another. Unfortunately, if the downturn on the US economy and the immigration raids continue, they may find more frustration than jobs…My niece has been coming to the US since she was little to visit us, works for Intel in CR and just recently when she went to renew her US visa, but they gave her a restricted visa…why? Because they don’t want her to get any ideas about living in the US when all she wants is to travel and visit her family that lives in the US. Not withstanding, everyday there are thousands of illegal immigrants risking life and limb to get into the US to be able to make some money that they can also share with their family members back home. Take a look at some of the Salvadoran and Mexican numbers (remesas)–it’s amazing how much $ gets into these countries from legal & illegal workers within the US.
The people that have options within the US are the people that are questioning their home address, just like you and me (from college students to entrepreneurs), the people that have even less options back home are the ones still flocking to the US….The demographics of the US have already undergone great changes and will be even more profoundly altered under the current circumstances….
I’m really sorry you had such a horrible experience with these people, but you say that you’ve rented before and hadn’t had any trouble at all which could mean this had more to do with a specific group of people you encountered this time or even that this pick was inserted in your tire while you were waiting at a traffic light or in the parking lot (it’s been done before in CR) and not by a car rental company employee… What is infuriating is that after such a scary situation, you would have been treated so poorly. I hope you called/wrote the Budget airport agency managers, district managers and Budget headquarters to make sure that they were informed of this situation to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
My worst car rental story was not in CR, it was in South Carolina with an airport rental and I was lucky I didn’t get stranded out on a highway in the middle of the night with my elderly aunt because they gave me a car which I later found out had been recently stolen and was clearly defective, but I made sure they fixed the situation and the rest of my trip proceeded as planned.
I can tell you that I had never rented from the airport and maybe it was just our bad luck, but I’ve never had any trouble when renting from San Jose. Most hotels offer service from the airport to the hotel or you can take an airport taxi to your destination and then have the hotel arrange for the rental or you can call each company and get the best rate (I always feel that the airport rates are a bit higher anyway) before you make your decision…I truly hope your next car rental experience is less hellish…
I’ve rented from just about everyone and never had a stitch of trouble. I can tell you that every time I need a car or an SUV in CR, I check the prices out with all of the companies because they always seem to be quite different from place to place and time to time. Just make sure you read the paperwork and make sure they have included any damages the vehicle may have (ie. items missing such as lighters)before you leave the agency so that they don’t pin that on you. Most will also take the car to you, whether that is somewhere in SJ or all the way out in Guanacaste or Limon which can be very useful. Best of luck!
I’m glad you still hold out some hope Alfred…I don’t give up hope that people will act with basic decency–hopefully it will not be too late, but you know, whatever we have to offer, any of our gifts, they don’t have to make us famous like Mother Theresa (as a matter of fact–I’d much rather not be famous for any reason)…They just should remind us of the fragility of life and what’s decent and good in the human spirit–in ours and in others…money is not a factor in that equation…
Greed is a hunger that is never satisfied and in the end if we measure our lives by our balance sheets then we may find we’ve lost our monetary “safety blanket” anyway and only been left with our shame…I’m not proposing an unattainable idea that we all become so altruistic that we give up every cent (to God knows who??…) in order to live in poverty, but if the only thing that will motivate us to act against a government or for a government is the thought of holding onto some material wealth then we have no hope already because that is exactly what will be used to manipulate us–Then we’ve already sold our souls to the once all mighty dollar….Humans are the only animals that are self-delusional and we forget that we’re just little fish in this sea of greed. There will always be plenty of big fish willing to use our fears to obtain our support in stripping “others” of their resources and their dignity and then it will be those same big fish that will use the bastardized “survival of the fittest” ideology to strip us of whatever material wealth we sold our souls for in order to fill their own overabundant coiffures…Frankly, it makes me ill and if people are as lost as you say Alfred and Sprite, then I do believe that this nation may not only die by the sword, it may die due to its arrogance and greed and I don’t think that will be a peaceful fall either…(I hope to be in Talamanca by then…) When crisis hits close to home, sometimes people reconsider their values–I hope this will be the case in the US, there certainly is a lot riding on this and I hope people will hedge their bets based on their conscience and not on a crumbling monetary symbol…In the end money is necessary, but it cannot be the basis of your values…
Sprite, I don’t disagree with you at all, that’s why I said I hope we’re all still willing to challenge this when doing so may just be against our own material interests, but LIFE has to be worth so much more and I guess like it or not, it’s time to reposition ourselves in order to be able to get thru this time period with more than just our balance sheets to show for all of our efforts–I’d rather have much less than to the consequences of such a union and more war on my conscience.
You’re right, the passports are needed for anyone traveling out of the US to CR, but the birth certificate (or a notarized copy of it) is not so much an issue of travel rather one to show proof that you’re the parents with a legal document. The passport will state the child’s name, place and date of birth, but doesn’t say who the parents are although most assume that if they all have the same last name, then they must all be related, but I was actually asked to provide proof that I was the mother when my daughter was very young and the birth certificate is the only thing that actually states this.
Well, Alfred, that’s why fear is indeed a very bad counselor to listen to all the time and that’s what the US has been fed and been living on since 9/11. I’ve always understood courage not to be the lack of fear, but rather the willingness to step forward and ACT in spite of it–which will entail more than just voting conscientiously…You’re right, we will have to challenge it…I don’t like the idea of such a “merger,” mostly because of the conglomeration of power and all that this could unleash. Maybe I should say hostile acquisition because I don’t think there are many Canadians out there rooting for this and who knows how they would fool the Mexicans into voting for their own enslavement–I’m sure they will sugar wash it somehow…Look at what the US has done with the power it already has??!! But you are right, they have been doing it incrementally and that’s what those little trade agreements are all about, and they say those are bilateral….I reaaaaaaally don’t think so and this “union” would NOT mean a fair division of power, wealth nor resources either…Unfortunately, my businesses, real estate holdings, savings, investments and SEPs & IRAs are all starting to feel the economic changes and I’m not happy about that…and I’m sure that this will be the next “fear factor” used to get people in the US behind crazy ideas like the union of Canada/USA/Mexico…I hope we all still remember to challenge it even when our own monetary balance sheets hang in the balance…
Alfred, I don’t know that much about the Amero plans, but IF the US/Canada/Mexico were to get together with one Parliamentary system & Gov’t—Who do you think would be running the show? Do you really think the US would hand its power over to the Mexicans? Ha, that’ll be the day! If there is one government considering this as an effective tool to further CONTROL this Hemisphere (I mean further than with nasty little trade agreements like NAFTA/CAFTA), then that would be the good old US of A…Don’t you think? Canadians would be crazy to go for this–they’ve followed a different set of ethics and politics along their history. God only knows what this may mean for the Mexican people and of course, this doesn’t mean that typical US citizens would want that–You’re right, this country’s citizenry is fiercely independent. We may not mind when our government tells others how to live (or even if they’re allowed to live), but we certainly don’t want anyone else to even “think” they can tell US what to do. This arrogance might serve some good by preventing or stalling this monster from being created…The interesting thing is that this would “dissolve” all of the immigration issues (maybe with easier & legal attainment of Mexican slave labor…) we now find so troublesome because if we become one huge entity then it doesn’t really matter who is a Mexican, who is a Canadian or who is US born. In theory, ALL should be able to cross the borders without a problem, but I think this is just another excuse to CONTROL people’s movements, their monies and their resources on a grand scale for further US Corporate power…. Including gaining a huge bank of “disposable” soldier people that could easily be sacrificed in any further display of muscle around the world…
The taxi “situation” has been around for a while now and it’s great advice to become acquainted with someone in your area that is a taxi driver (or can become one for you) and to use them instead of just calling anyone to come to the house or taking a cab from the street. All of my friends do this in CR and I’ve always had different taxi drivers I call when in SJ, Heredia and even when I’m in Puerto Viejo and I need to get somewhere. Frankly, there are times that I would prefer to take a bus than to ride with a cab driver I don’t know by myself. I’ve had some pretty odd things happen to me with cab drivers from having them try to peddle something else (including black magic), drivers driving drunk, not wanting to turn on the maria (meter), try to be extra friendly,some that were just angry and/or strange, while others were trying to convince me to let other people join my cab ride–which you MUST NEVER do in San Jose (it is customary in La Zona Sur and other rural places, but not in the cities). In the last few years the link between taxi hold ups and rapes has risen, but most of the time it’s just plain having the wits scared out of you. Most of the cab drivers are hardworking people; unfortunately, some temporary drivers are more questionable and have made the CR population take notice–specially the women. When taking cabs late at night I always asked my college students not to take it alone, to please take the cab as a group and if you have a cell phone, call someone you know as soon as you get into the car and tell them the number of the car you’ve gotten into & taxi company it belongs to. To be fair, if I’m taking a cab late at night in New York City, I’m just as nervous and unfortunately, I don’t have taxi friends that I can call on so I try not to take those late taxi rides alone.
By the way, when traveling within Limon City, please be careful when walking around–that is a high crime area and late at night, it only gets worse (specially in Cieneguita); however, I have never had any trouble once you’re out of the city area. People usually get into trouble in the beach areas of because they haven’t used common sense or listened to all the bells & whistles that go off when something doesn’t feel right. Although sometimes, they were just the unfortunate ‘chosen ones’ by some ill meaning people. I wouldn’t recommend walking all by yourself anywhere in Limon at 2 am because no matter how big and brawny you may be, you can never be a match for a gun.
I have never heard of any problems with the airport taxis and I wouldn’t hesitate to take one from the airport to any CR destination. I also know the names & numbers of very reliable male and female drivers that will provide driver services to anywhere in CR if you should need it.
Ssure, there are a lot of people that still get lost getting around SJ and Central Valley area even after many years there and this would be an interesting market for your children to start up that type of business. But remember that taxis are licensed and regulated in CR and the ones that have done everything under the law tend not to care (understatement) for those that are “piratas” not legal taxis which I’m sure your son-in-law is aware of and tour businesses are also regulated. Best of luck and Pura Vida!
By the way Jeff, Mattresses can be made to any size/depth/etc in CR and I have even found size differences between what we typically consider king, queen or single sizes in some stores–This flexibility can be great and it can also mean your current linens might not quite fit so I suggest you measure the size of the mattress you’re looking to replace and then take the measuring tape with you when you go purchase your new mattress…Pura Vida!
