So whats happening with the Belize Unit TRUST mutual fund?
I noticed in this weekend newspapers, the financial auditors report for the Mutual Fund. They show losses for 2009, and 2010. Though I have trouble understanding the Balance Sheets in the English system. I´m more able to understand the New York Stock Exchange company reports, with lots of ratios, which give you an instant picture of the status of the company.
Needless to say, if I intrepreted the 2010 Financial audited report, they are in $2 million debt. Which it was hinted is a loan ( probably from the Eastern Caribbean ) The Eastern Caribbean has been the source of many a bank failure, insurance company failure and of course Maadorf´s infamous PONZI SCHEME.
Don´t know enough about the British accounting system to understand this, but it sure looks like they are getting lent money to themselves, by themselves, as in parent company, for the interest, ( remember Fortis and Ashcroft using SHELL companies to do something similar in our newspaper articles? ) in order to pay the depositors in Belize interest payments. If so, one can only wonder if this is another Eastern Caribbean PONZI scheme? As I say, I just don´t like the smell, but don´t really know how to intrepret that annual audited report. I´m waiting for somebody more knowledgeable to explain it in the newspapers.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Singapore shows the way for BELIZE !
From a sleepy tropical island city, to this photograph. On financial trading alone, serving the surounding Asian counties.THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE BELIZE FINANCIAL SECTOR
Our Foreign Affairs Ministry and Ministry of Finance are going to have to seek some outside help on this. There is no talent ( except myself -grin-) within Belize to do any white papers for the Belize Government on developing our financial center, economy.
The essence of the experience transposed from Singapore to Belize are the following:
a) the ability to establish a system of foreign exchange trading, b) free of taxes for trading companies dealing with shares, derivatives, commodities and futures, etc., c) Make it easy for foreign institutions to book assets in BELIZE. d) What taxes would exist should be low and stable
e )The goal of Belize would be to cater to Latin American countries and their economies, and possibly that of the Caribbean, such as it is. f) avoid the US complications and US assets complicated by the Patriot Act You can for instance trade in US markets on a global scale, either operating through Europe, or through Canada using USA subsidiaries.
Belize is very much like a very early Singapore. Belize has a hostile environment for asset management firms, not through any real intent, but more through lack of enabling legislation and lack of experience and knowledge. I myself trade derivatives, but it is easier to just do it in the USA than it would be currently from Belize and just pay the USA taxes. Nowadays, you can operate from anywhere there is an internet connection. Belize would of necessity have to increase the current BTL speeds a hundred fold.
________________________________
from the Amandala, May 1st, 2011
A copy from some other magazine.
IN THE 1950s the Bank of China could use 20-year-old architectural designs for its Singapore headquarters near the central post office. From buildings to businesses, things moved slowly in the city-state. Today the picturesque old Bank of China building stands out because little else in Singapore’s financial world stays the same.
One change is physical. Citigroup has moved its headquarters from the same district as Bank of China, first to Shenton Way, which now serves as one financial centre, and then to another, known as Suntec City. It will soon join Standard Chartered at a third site, Marina Bay, which has been built on reclaimed land. A fourth centre for back-office workers is opening up near the (excellent) airport. In an area near Chinatown once known for brothels, converted shops now house investment firms, lawyers and the like.
Perhaps the best measure of change is employment. In 1970 Citi could fit every last member of staff, perhaps 100 or so, on a boat for an advertising image. Michael Zink, Citi’s Singapore head, keeps a copy of the ad near his desk as he oversees 9,400 workers and counting.
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* Asia-Pacific markets
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The scale of the transformation has been enough to propel Singapore into the ranks of the world’s leading financial centres. As places like London and Switzerland debate whether to welcome bankers or punish them, Singapore has started its own special government school to train private bankers and leased a mansion once used by the British armed forces to UBS to do the same. Credit Suisse has plans for something similar.
Demand for capable people is unquenchable. More than 2,880 financial institutions have registered with Singapore’s monetary authority for one activity or another. They include the usual big names as well as a vast array of smaller firms.
One clear thread in Singapore’s rise has been its ability to take consistent advantage of global upheavals, beginning in 1971 when America de-linked the dollar from gold. Singapore was quick to grasp this opportunity to create a regional centre for foreign exchange, says Gerard Lee, the chief executive of Lion Global Investors and a former executive at GIC, Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund. Things are no different today: Singapore is positioning itself to grab a chunk of offshore trading in yuan as the Chinese currency gradually starts to internationalise.
Ancillary businesses such as derivatives have thrived. One of the large banks says more than half of Asia’s over-the-counter derivative volume in commodities passes through Singapore. According to Barclays Capital, the trading volume of foreign-exchange-related products has jumped 29-fold since 2005 in retail markets alone, and that of interest-rate-related products 43 times.
Similarly, Singapore anticipated the effects of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong. In the early 1990s the environment was so hostile for asset-management firms that only a few existed. That changed. It became easier to open firms and, says one private banker, regulations were structured to avoid costly provisions, notably a tax on transactions. As the handover approached, numerous clients took steps to “book” assets in Singapore. It is now home to more institutional assets than Hong Kong (see chart).
To retain those assets, Singapore produced a legal framework enabling trust accounts, once the preserve of Jersey and Bermuda. This was despite the fact that Singapore itself does not tax estates and Singaporeans have no need of the service. Good trust laws combined with strong asset-management and foreign-exchange capabilities make Singapore appealing for wealth-management types everywhere.
Singapore’s approach is the antithesis of laissez-faire. Broadly speaking, it has kept a tight rein on domestic finance and done what it could to induce international firms to come. Licences can be obtained efficiently and quickly, a blessing in a bureaucratic world. So can work visas for key employees. There are tax breaks for firms considered important, as well as reimbursements for relocation expenses.
Bankers and hedge-fund managers talk enthusiastically about an environment that is safe, clean and efficient. The speed of the internet, for example, can be 100 times faster than in China, with its many internal firewalls, and eight times faster than in Hong Kong. Singaporean taxes are low and stable, unlike American and European ones. Foreign firms report that it has become more common to see people rejecting promotions to head offices because pay rises would be wiped out by tax.
Many of these advantages are likely to increase. A widely repeated story in Singapore is that the only people who have read all of America’s gargantuan Dodd-Frank financial-regulation act are American academics, who find it a mess, and the Singapore Monetary Authority, which is mulling the opportunities it might create.
And yet, for all its strengths, Singapore has had its failures, too. Most notably, its equity market, often but wrongly thought of as a vital core for a financial centre, has sought listings from China only for many of these “S-chips” to become embroiled in scandals. A few companies have recently delisted from Singapore and relisted in Hong Kong, whose appeal as a gateway to the Chinese mainland is hard to beat.
The Singapore Exchange’s effort to acquire Australia’s exchange was recently rejected on national-interest grounds. That decision may have been partly grounded in the two countries’ different financing cultures—Australia’s use of tiny, cheap offerings to fund mineral exploration, for instance, and its tolerance of a far more permissive media environment.
Actions in other countries may also constrain Singapore’s growth. Already many financial firms there want nothing to do with affluent Americans, given America’s forceful approach to global taxation. But to get the better of Singapore others will have to provide a safe environment with low taxes and scant bureaucracy. No need to worry, then.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Nuclear electrical plant queries answered for Belize.
BELIZE INVESTMENT GROUP answers question raised from enquiries about a nuclear electrical generating mobile portable plant
In response to enquires: The Belize Investment Group have not yet found a nuclear electrical portable mobile plant in the size range required. The favored model so far, research shows, is the 30 year modular setup using SODIUM as the reactor. Without any dangerous long life radioactive by products and an automatic gravity fed dampening system. There may be others on the drawing board, but we are ready NOW, not in ten years.
What we are looking for is a 5 to 10 megawatt producing plant. It should fit in a container for shipping, or by truck. In response to one enquiry about the Westinghouse 70 ft long SODIUM such reactor, if it is modular and can be shipped in more than one container, that would be fine. However Westinghouse are not yet making the small size reactors needed for third world countries of small populations. Our favorite from the research is the SODIUM reactor, but only the Netherlands and India with Westinghouse in the USA are making any. These are all too big and usually of a research nature.
The nature of Belize our small country is that we buy most of our electrical power from Mexico. There is no guarantee this would remain a viable option in the longer term future. We would like independence in production of electricity, yet we do not want the dangers associated with a lot of the current old fashioned nuclear plants. Plutonium as a by product is completely out of the question, as are some of the other isotopes produced. Our population is growing at 2.5% a year and is currently 313,000 people scattered over 6000 square miles of rugged country. Development is approaching a tip over point, from being a basic agriculture commodity exporter, to more light manufacturing exports. With sure electricity the demand is expected to increase exponentially. Particularly at the border crossing points of the Toledo District and Cayo Districts.
Currently in Belize we use 90 megawatts of electricity from a variety of sources. This electricity goes through a middle man company owned by a Canadian firm, called FORTIS. What we want is electricity to the grid and our own middle man company distributor sold for 4 cents USA per kwh. The nature of governments and taxes and other costs, mean that finished electricity should not exceed 9 cents USA to the customer at retail and commercial rates. With small units, we expect to be able to take advantage of expansion according to need and opportunities on the domestic scene and add further plants. The country suffers from hurricanes and mild earthquake tremors. The desire is to develop Belize, but ensure that everything is orientated to a profit generating utility service.
In Belize, our electrical producing company would be by law 51% Belizean owned. The electrical nuclear plant would have to be TURNKEY, meaning it should be fabricated, shipped and installed to the point of connecting to the National Grid at 4 cents usa per kwh. There are 49% of the shares available to an investment partner that can fund part, or ALL of the other costs. There are hidden costs, such as environmental permits, and a host of departmental permits and licenses, all of which take time and must be paid for on the local scene. We would expect even the government to buy some shares.
Chairman ( Ray Auxillou ) Belize Investment Group
Secretary: Edilberta Figuroa ( Box 276, San Ignacio, Belize, Central America )
In response to enquires: The Belize Investment Group have not yet found a nuclear electrical portable mobile plant in the size range required. The favored model so far, research shows, is the 30 year modular setup using SODIUM as the reactor. Without any dangerous long life radioactive by products and an automatic gravity fed dampening system. There may be others on the drawing board, but we are ready NOW, not in ten years.
What we are looking for is a 5 to 10 megawatt producing plant. It should fit in a container for shipping, or by truck. In response to one enquiry about the Westinghouse 70 ft long SODIUM such reactor, if it is modular and can be shipped in more than one container, that would be fine. However Westinghouse are not yet making the small size reactors needed for third world countries of small populations. Our favorite from the research is the SODIUM reactor, but only the Netherlands and India with Westinghouse in the USA are making any. These are all too big and usually of a research nature.
The nature of Belize our small country is that we buy most of our electrical power from Mexico. There is no guarantee this would remain a viable option in the longer term future. We would like independence in production of electricity, yet we do not want the dangers associated with a lot of the current old fashioned nuclear plants. Plutonium as a by product is completely out of the question, as are some of the other isotopes produced. Our population is growing at 2.5% a year and is currently 313,000 people scattered over 6000 square miles of rugged country. Development is approaching a tip over point, from being a basic agriculture commodity exporter, to more light manufacturing exports. With sure electricity the demand is expected to increase exponentially. Particularly at the border crossing points of the Toledo District and Cayo Districts.
Currently in Belize we use 90 megawatts of electricity from a variety of sources. This electricity goes through a middle man company owned by a Canadian firm, called FORTIS. What we want is electricity to the grid and our own middle man company distributor sold for 4 cents USA per kwh. The nature of governments and taxes and other costs, mean that finished electricity should not exceed 9 cents USA to the customer at retail and commercial rates. With small units, we expect to be able to take advantage of expansion according to need and opportunities on the domestic scene and add further plants. The country suffers from hurricanes and mild earthquake tremors. The desire is to develop Belize, but ensure that everything is orientated to a profit generating utility service.
In Belize, our electrical producing company would be by law 51% Belizean owned. The electrical nuclear plant would have to be TURNKEY, meaning it should be fabricated, shipped and installed to the point of connecting to the National Grid at 4 cents usa per kwh. There are 49% of the shares available to an investment partner that can fund part, or ALL of the other costs. There are hidden costs, such as environmental permits, and a host of departmental permits and licenses, all of which take time and must be paid for on the local scene. We would expect even the government to buy some shares.
Chairman ( Ray Auxillou ) Belize Investment Group
Secretary: Edilberta Figuroa ( Box 276, San Ignacio, Belize, Central America )
RAISING MORELET CROCODILES IN BELIZE FOR EXPORT LEATHER INDUSTRY
Morelet crocodile of BelizeNiche product, MORELET CROCODILE skins can be farmed in Belize
( from Belize Culture Listserve discussion )
On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 2:52 PM, Charlie Trew
Scientific American:
April 28, 2011
Crocodile sometimes conservation plans work so well that once-endangered species no longer need protection. That's the case in Central America, where the Morelet's crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) has recovered enough that many of the protections put in place decades ago to help it are now on the verge of being lifted.
Once heavily hunted for their skin, which was heavily valued as a source of high-quality leather, the Morelet's crocodile began its slow climb toward survival back in 1970, when Mexico (where most of the animals live) banned hunting of all crocodiles and caimans. That year, it was also protected under the predecessor to the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), which prevented any import of the animals or their parts into the country, a ban that continued after the ESA was enacted in 1973. In 1975 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listed the species under its Appendix I, which forbid any trading of the crocs except under special circumstances.
The years of protection did the trick. By 2000, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which maintains the Red List of Threatened Species, downgraded the crocodile from "Endangered" to "Lower risk/Conservation dependent."
Then, last year, CITES reassessed the species once again, and reported in March 2010 (pdf) that "there is currently no evidence that disease, native or alien predator species, tourism, or scientific activities represent negative factors or threats for the wild populations of the Morelet's crocodile." CITES also found that Mexico's legal protections are effective and adequately enforced, as are similar laws in Belize and Guatemala; and that there is a large enough captive population of the species to satisfy all domestic and part of the international demand for its leather. CITES thereby moved the species to its Appendix II, which allows for closely controlled trade.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed this up on April 27 by recommending that the Morelet's crocodile be removed from the ESA.
The species isn't completely out of the woods (or swamp, as it were). CITES reports that the crocodile still faces significant habitat degradation in Mexico (which holds 85 percent of the species' habitat), Belize and Guatemala. A 2002 study found a high level of mercury in the 31 nonviable crocodile eggs in Belize, although the adults appeared to be fine. And the species is still being smuggled, with the most recently thwarted attempt taking place at Mexico City International Airport on April 25.
But even with those threats, it's nice to see a conservation story that's working out, and a crocodile species that no longer needs to shed as many tears.
Belize erotic dancing in an age of innocence.
BELIZE OLD TIME EROTIC DANCING OF AN AGE OF INNOCENCE
When it comes to Belize culture, I remember my youth, when some of the bars on the South river side, had some really erotic dancing. MS Weir had one such place on the second floor if I remember rightly and there were couple of others on the street floor. Saw some of the most erotic dancing ever there. Seems to be missing in the missionary brainwashed religious puritanical era of today.
The dancing was really erotic, two people so close together, they were joined at the pubic area. The visual effect was the male erection was inside the female vagina and they danced together, though the female did most of the dancing, while the male was more or less stationary with back and forth hip movements. Sweat would be streaming down their face and bodies, the speed of the dance movements so fast. The female moved her hips faster and faster, revolving around the male as he tried to stay inserted and moved his hips back and forth. Tourists like me from Caye Caulker were astounded at the eroticism, as things on the surface at least in the village I lived, were very much Roman Catholic hypocritical rigid sexual behavior codes. The females ruled in the village. The riverside bars of old Belize City were lively places. It was an age of innocence, when crime was usually by career cat burglars, or thieves of opportunity, without violence. Sex in those days was a sort of harmless ordinary euthanasia. A normal need recognized at least on South side, as ordinary as a toothbrush, or peeing or defecating. It was just something everybody did as often as they needed it. In my brainwashed state, by the Catholicsim of Caye Caulker village of 90 houses, it aroused flights of fancy and imagination. Later in life I learned that all Catholic countries in Latin America always made provision for sex for young male adults who had not yet arrived at an age, where they could afford a home and a wife and children. Every village and town had a zone were sex was available at low cost on instant notice. A remarkably intelligent cultural custom I finally came to think.
When it comes to Belize culture, I remember my youth, when some of the bars on the South river side, had some really erotic dancing. MS Weir had one such place on the second floor if I remember rightly and there were couple of others on the street floor. Saw some of the most erotic dancing ever there. Seems to be missing in the missionary brainwashed religious puritanical era of today.
The dancing was really erotic, two people so close together, they were joined at the pubic area. The visual effect was the male erection was inside the female vagina and they danced together, though the female did most of the dancing, while the male was more or less stationary with back and forth hip movements. Sweat would be streaming down their face and bodies, the speed of the dance movements so fast. The female moved her hips faster and faster, revolving around the male as he tried to stay inserted and moved his hips back and forth. Tourists like me from Caye Caulker were astounded at the eroticism, as things on the surface at least in the village I lived, were very much Roman Catholic hypocritical rigid sexual behavior codes. The females ruled in the village. The riverside bars of old Belize City were lively places. It was an age of innocence, when crime was usually by career cat burglars, or thieves of opportunity, without violence. Sex in those days was a sort of harmless ordinary euthanasia. A normal need recognized at least on South side, as ordinary as a toothbrush, or peeing or defecating. It was just something everybody did as often as they needed it. In my brainwashed state, by the Catholicsim of Caye Caulker village of 90 houses, it aroused flights of fancy and imagination. Later in life I learned that all Catholic countries in Latin America always made provision for sex for young male adults who had not yet arrived at an age, where they could afford a home and a wife and children. Every village and town had a zone were sex was available at low cost on instant notice. A remarkably intelligent cultural custom I finally came to think.
UDP GOVERNMENT GAINS 5 % points on REPORT CARD TO 64%
UDP GOVERNMENT EARNS 5 POINTS ON THEIR REPORT CARD FOR SWAT TEAM CREATION AND PERFORMANCE
UDP APPROVAL RATING NOW 64%
The past weekend saw the new creation of a SWAT TEAM and targeting the drug dealers of the South Side Belize City the port and the gangs that rule certain sections of that port. The NEW SWAT TEAM made a big dent in their first forays of going after a number of key gangland figures. Mostly the George Street Gang.
The public finally got a sense of crime fighting happening with success. It is hard to imagine that 42,000 population of that area could produce so much crime, but akin to the Welfare Housing in the USA cities and congestion of cities around the world, when you pile people too close together, such environments become crime incubators.
At any rate, the immediate success rate of the targets chosen over the weekend, were excellent news and a number of murdering rascals and callous people enslaving new generations to the CRACK COCAINE addiction is at least now being fought.
UDP APPROVAL RATING NOW 64%
The past weekend saw the new creation of a SWAT TEAM and targeting the drug dealers of the South Side Belize City the port and the gangs that rule certain sections of that port. The NEW SWAT TEAM made a big dent in their first forays of going after a number of key gangland figures. Mostly the George Street Gang.
The public finally got a sense of crime fighting happening with success. It is hard to imagine that 42,000 population of that area could produce so much crime, but akin to the Welfare Housing in the USA cities and congestion of cities around the world, when you pile people too close together, such environments become crime incubators.
At any rate, the immediate success rate of the targets chosen over the weekend, were excellent news and a number of murdering rascals and callous people enslaving new generations to the CRACK COCAINE addiction is at least now being fought.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Belize investment group seeks 5 to 10 mgwatt nucleur generating portable station.
Belize Investment Group seeks portable, self contained electrical pocket reactor in 5 to 10 mgwatt range.
Interested parties within Belize are interested in a mini pocket reactor, electrical generating unit, complete to the national grid, that will fit in a shipping container. Roughly 5 to 10 megawatt electrical production in size.
An investment company with an offering of shares is expected to be the way to create such a supply of electricity at low cost to the Belize National Grid. Even Government can buy shares in such a private for profit company. At the moment we cannot find any such nucleur generators in our size range.
Interested parties within Belize are interested in a mini pocket reactor, electrical generating unit, complete to the national grid, that will fit in a shipping container. Roughly 5 to 10 megawatt electrical production in size.
An investment company with an offering of shares is expected to be the way to create such a supply of electricity at low cost to the Belize National Grid. Even Government can buy shares in such a private for profit company. At the moment we cannot find any such nucleur generators in our size range.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
THE DEBATE IN BELIZE ON DEMOCRACY AND ELECTED POLITICAL PARTY MANAGERS, VERSUS THE DICTATORSHIP RULER FAVORED BY THE ESTABLISHED TWO MAJOR POLITICIAL
WITH ELECTIONS A COUPLE OF YEARS AWAY, BELIZEANS ARE ALARMED AT THE VIOLENCE EXPERIENCED BY THE EMERGING ARAB DICTATORSHIPS IN THEIR POPULAR ATTEMPTS TO ACHIEVE MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY. THE DEBATE CONTINUES IN BELIZE.
Cc:
bz-culture@psg.com
Causes
Bulletin from the cause: Belizeans for Change
Go to Cause
Posted By: Sue Harris
To: Members in Belizeans for Change
A new way forward for Belize
Dear Belizean For Change Member,
Over the past year or so we have had a great deal of discussion on FB about how we can move forward, and there has been a lot of dissatisfaction expressed with the present two party system.
I wanted to share with you the Principles of the People's National Party, a young party, just four years old, headed by Wil Maheia. The party is really doing some hard thinking about how it will be organised to ensure freedom of action for members, no corruption - and loyalty to country, NOT party. If you are interested in finding out more you can go to the People' National Party Facebook page. Here are the Principles.
PNP PARTY PRINCIPLES
• A party that demands territorial integrity without compromise.
• A party that is committed to operate a fair and transparent government that practices prudent financial procedures and fiscal policies.
• A party that will not tolerate corruption and will fight it at every opportunity.
• A party committed to educating our people and creating jobs for their future security.
• A party that is committed to sustainable development.
• A party with solutions evolved from open debate.
• A party that understands the right of the people to freely dissent is the backbone of our democratic society.
• A party that is committed to the equitable distribution of opportunity.
• A party that is committed to the development of private sector as it is the engine that drives the economy.
• Every person should be entitled to equal treatment by the government regardless of race, religion, gender, age or party allegiance.
• We believe no one should be burdened by poverty or ignorance and all Belizeans should benefit from the wealth of our natural resources and have the opportunity to enjoy a comfortable life in a safe community.
• The cornerstones of the party shall always be a committed to fairness, true participatory democracy, and a devotion to environmentally sound and sustainable development practices
• The People’s National Party has been organized to fill these critical needs that face our country and to create a social and political environment where all citizens shall enjoy freedom, security and the benefits of participatory democracy without fear of reprisal for expressing dissent.
Thanks for reading,
take care and enjoy the rest of your Easter,
Sue Harris
Call to Action
Support the cause. Be counted:
I Read This
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 12:59 AM, Ray Auxillou wrote:
Certainly I would agree in Belize, that our politicians and senior civil servants are REALLY SERVANTS, or MANAGERS and not RULERS with the right to govern. Nor do I think we have to wait five years to vote them out when they do wrong. They should be corrected by voter groups, as to policies and implementation of services paid from the tax revenues on a regular basis. The greatest TERRORISM in Belizean Society is the person, or persons going around torching vehicles by protest groups with kerosene bombs I read in the weekend newspapers. That way we end up like SYRIA, or Libya.
I´m always astounded our parliamentary democracy has no way to confront dictatorial tendencies in the CABINET and our rubber stamp legislature. Don´t tell me it is the responsibility of our ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE. He is by FORCE a member of a political party, an organized group of criminals, who must swear allegience to what the leader, or a small clique within the political party dictates, or suffer consequences. Our governing system as it stands, does not allow for differences of opinion, or confrontation of wrong headed crimiinals within the CABINET who are also run the rubber stamp, LEGISLATURE. The whole setup is a FARCE. A NEW generation is going to have to resolve these questions and probably at the end of a gun barrel.
--- On Mon, 4/25/11, tc vernon wrote:
From: tc vernon
Subject: Bz-Culture: "Those who oppose us do not have legitimate grievances."
To: "bz-culture", "Bz-Polisci Mailing List"
Date: Monday, April 25, 2011, 11:21 PM
Published on Monday, April 25, 2011 by TruthDig.com
The Corporate State Wins Again
by Chris Hedges
When did our democracy die? When did it irrevocably transform itself into a lifeless farce and absurd political theater? When did the press, labor, universities and the Democratic Party—which once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible—wither and atrophy? When did reform through electoral politics become a form of magical thinking? When did the dead hand of the corporate state become unassailable?
The body politic was mortally wounded during the long, slow strangulation of ideas and priorities during the Red Scare and the Cold War. Its bastard child, the war on terror, inherited the iconography and language of permanent war and fear. The battle against internal and external enemies became the excuse to funnel trillions in taxpayer funds and government resources to the war industry, curtail civil liberties and abandon social welfare. Skeptics, critics and dissenters were ridiculed and ignored. The FBI, Homeland Security and the CIA enforced ideological conformity. Debate over the expansion of empire became taboo. Secrecy, the anointing of specialized elites to run our affairs and the steady intrusion of the state into the private lives of citizens conditioned us to totalitarian practices. Sheldon Wolin points out in “Democracy Incorporated” that this configuration of corporate power, which he calls “inverted totalitarianism,” is not like “Mein Kampf” or “The Communist Manifesto,” the result of a premeditated plot. It grew, Wolin writes, from “a set of effects produced by actions or practices undertaken in ignorance of their lasting consequences.”
Corporate capitalism—because it was trumpeted throughout the Cold War as a bulwark against communism—expanded with fewer and fewer government regulations and legal impediments. Capitalism was seen as an unalloyed good. It was not required to be socially responsible. Any impediment to its growth, whether in the form of trust-busting, union activity or regulation, was condemned as a step toward socialism and capitulation. Every corporation is a despotic fiefdom, a mini-dictatorship. And by the end Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs had grafted their totalitarian structures onto the state.
The Cold War also bequeathed to us the species of the neoliberal. The neoliberal enthusiastically embraces “national security” as the highest good. The neoliberal—composed of the gullible and cynical careerists—parrots back the mantra of endless war and corporate capitalism as an inevitable form of human progress. Globalization, the neoliberal assures us, is the route to a worldwide utopia. Empire and war are vehicles for lofty human values. Greg Mortenson, the disgraced author of “Three Cups of Tea,” tapped into this formula. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents in Iraq or Afghanistan are ignored or dismissed as the cost of progress. We are bringing democracy to Iraq, liberating and educating the women of Afghanistan, defying the evil clerics in Iran, ridding the world of terrorists and protecting Israel. Those who oppose us do not have legitimate grievances. They need to be educated. It is a fantasy. But to name our own evil is to be banished.
We continue to talk about personalities—Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama—although the heads of state or elected officials in Congress have become largely irrelevant. Lobbyists write the bills. Lobbyists get them passed. Lobbyists make sure you get the money to be elected. And lobbyists employ you when you get out of office. Those who hold actual power are the tiny elite who manage the corporations. Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, in their book “Winner-Take-All Politics,” point out that the share of national income of the top 0.1 percent of Americans since 1974 has grown from 2.7 to 12.3 percent. One in six American workers may be without a job. Some 40 million Americans may live in poverty, with tens of millions more living in a category called “near poverty.” Six million people may be forced from their homes because of foreclosures and bank repossessions. But while the masses suffer, Goldman Sachs, one of the financial firms most responsible for the evaporation of $17 trillion in wages, savings and wealth of small investors and shareholders, is giddily handing out $17.5 billion in compensation to its managers, including $12.6 million to its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein.
The massive redistribution of wealth, as Hacker and Pierson write, happened because lawmakers and public officials were, in essence, hired to permit it to happen. It was not a conspiracy. The process was transparent. It did not require the formation of a new political party or movement. It was the result of inertia by our political and intellectual class, which in the face of expanding corporate power found it personally profitable to facilitate it or look the other way. The armies of lobbyists, who write the legislation, bankroll political campaigns and disseminate propaganda, have been able to short-circuit the electorate. Hacker and Pierson pinpoint the administration of Jimmy Carter as the start of our descent, but I think it began long before with Woodrow Wilson, the ideology of permanent war and the capacity by public relations to manufacture consent. Empires die over such long stretches of time that the exact moment when terminal decline becomes irreversible is probably impossible to document. That we are at the end, however, is beyond dispute.
The rhetoric of the Democratic Party and the neoliberals sustains the illusion of participatory democracy. The Democrats and their liberal apologists offer minor palliatives and a feel-your-pain language to mask the cruelty and goals of the corporate state. The reconfiguration of American society into a form of neofeudalism will be cemented into place whether it is delivered by Democrats, who are pushing us there at 60 miles an hour, or Republicans, who are barreling toward it at 100 miles an hour. Wolin writes, “By fostering an illusion among the powerless classes” that it can make their interests a priority, the Democratic Party “pacifies and thereby defines the style of an opposition party in an inverted totalitarian system.” The Democrats are always able to offer up a least-worst alternative while, in fact, doing little or nothing to thwart the march toward corporate collectivism.
The systems of information, owned or dominated by corporations, keep the public entranced with celebrity meltdowns, gossip, trivia and entertainment. There are no national news or intellectual forums for genuine political discussion and debate. The talking heads on Fox or MSNBC or CNN spin and riff on the same inane statements by Sarah Palin or Donald Trump. They give us lavish updates on the foibles of a Mel Gibson or Charlie Sheen. And they provide venues for the powerful to speak directly to the masses. It is burlesque.
It is not that the public does not want a good health care system, programs that provide employment, quality public education or an end to Wall Street’s looting of the U.S. Treasury. Most polls suggest Americans do. But it has become impossible for most citizens to find out what is happening in the centers of power. Television news celebrities dutifully present two opposing sides to every issue, although each side is usually lying. The viewer can believe whatever he or she wants to believe. Nothing is actually elucidated or explained. The sound bites by Republicans or Democrats are accepted at face value. And once the television lights are turned off, the politicians go back to the business of serving business.
We live in a fragmented society. We are ignorant of what is being done to us. We are diverted by the absurd and political theater. We are afraid of terrorism, of losing our job and of carrying out acts of dissent. We are politically demobilized and paralyzed. We do not question the state religion of patriotic virtue, the war on terror or the military and security state. We are herded like sheep through airports by Homeland Security and, once we get through the metal detectors and body scanners, spontaneously applaud our men and women in uniform. As we become more insecure and afraid, we become more anxious. We are driven by fiercer and fiercer competition. We yearn for stability and protection. This is the genius of all systems of totalitarianism. The citizen’s highest hope finally becomes to be secure and left alone.
Human history, rather than a chronicle of freedom and democracy, is characterized by ruthless domination. Our elites have done what all elites do. They have found sophisticated mechanisms to thwart popular aspirations, disenfranchise the working and increasingly the middle class, keep us passive and make us serve their interests. The brief democratic opening in our society in the early 20th century, made possible by radical movements, unions and a vigorous press, has again been shut tight. We were mesmerized by political charades, cheap consumerism and virtual hallucinations as we were ruthlessly stripped of power.
The game is over. We lost. The corporate state will continue its inexorable advance until two-thirds of the nation is locked into a desperate, permanent underclass. Most Americans will struggle to make a living while the Blankfeins and our political elites wallow in the decadence and greed of the Forbidden City and Versailles. These elites do not have a vision. They know only one word—more. They will continue to exploit the nation, the global economy and the ecosystem. And they will use their money to hide in gated compounds when it all implodes. Do not expect them to take care of us when it starts to unravel. We will have to take care of ourselves. We will have to create small, monastic communities where we can sustain and feed ourselves. It will be up to us to keep alive the intellectual, moral and culture values the corporate state has attempted to snuff out. It is either that or become drones and serfs in a global, corporate dystopia. It is not much of a choice. But at least we still have one.
Copyright © 2011 Truthdig, L.L.C.
Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books, including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War, and
--
Cc:
bz-culture@psg.com
Causes
Bulletin from the cause: Belizeans for Change
Go to Cause
Posted By: Sue Harris
To: Members in Belizeans for Change
A new way forward for Belize
Dear Belizean For Change Member,
Over the past year or so we have had a great deal of discussion on FB about how we can move forward, and there has been a lot of dissatisfaction expressed with the present two party system.
I wanted to share with you the Principles of the People's National Party, a young party, just four years old, headed by Wil Maheia. The party is really doing some hard thinking about how it will be organised to ensure freedom of action for members, no corruption - and loyalty to country, NOT party. If you are interested in finding out more you can go to the People' National Party Facebook page. Here are the Principles.
PNP PARTY PRINCIPLES
• A party that demands territorial integrity without compromise.
• A party that is committed to operate a fair and transparent government that practices prudent financial procedures and fiscal policies.
• A party that will not tolerate corruption and will fight it at every opportunity.
• A party committed to educating our people and creating jobs for their future security.
• A party that is committed to sustainable development.
• A party with solutions evolved from open debate.
• A party that understands the right of the people to freely dissent is the backbone of our democratic society.
• A party that is committed to the equitable distribution of opportunity.
• A party that is committed to the development of private sector as it is the engine that drives the economy.
• Every person should be entitled to equal treatment by the government regardless of race, religion, gender, age or party allegiance.
• We believe no one should be burdened by poverty or ignorance and all Belizeans should benefit from the wealth of our natural resources and have the opportunity to enjoy a comfortable life in a safe community.
• The cornerstones of the party shall always be a committed to fairness, true participatory democracy, and a devotion to environmentally sound and sustainable development practices
• The People’s National Party has been organized to fill these critical needs that face our country and to create a social and political environment where all citizens shall enjoy freedom, security and the benefits of participatory democracy without fear of reprisal for expressing dissent.
Thanks for reading,
take care and enjoy the rest of your Easter,
Sue Harris
Call to Action
Support the cause. Be counted:
I Read This
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 12:59 AM, Ray Auxillou
Certainly I would agree in Belize, that our politicians and senior civil servants are REALLY SERVANTS, or MANAGERS and not RULERS with the right to govern. Nor do I think we have to wait five years to vote them out when they do wrong. They should be corrected by voter groups, as to policies and implementation of services paid from the tax revenues on a regular basis. The greatest TERRORISM in Belizean Society is the person, or persons going around torching vehicles by protest groups with kerosene bombs I read in the weekend newspapers. That way we end up like SYRIA, or Libya.
I´m always astounded our parliamentary democracy has no way to confront dictatorial tendencies in the CABINET and our rubber stamp legislature. Don´t tell me it is the responsibility of our ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE. He is by FORCE a member of a political party, an organized group of criminals, who must swear allegience to what the leader, or a small clique within the political party dictates, or suffer consequences. Our governing system as it stands, does not allow for differences of opinion, or confrontation of wrong headed crimiinals within the CABINET who are also run the rubber stamp, LEGISLATURE. The whole setup is a FARCE. A NEW generation is going to have to resolve these questions and probably at the end of a gun barrel.
--- On Mon, 4/25/11, tc vernon
From: tc vernon
Subject: Bz-Culture: "Those who oppose us do not have legitimate grievances."
To: "bz-culture"
Date: Monday, April 25, 2011, 11:21 PM
Published on Monday, April 25, 2011 by TruthDig.com
The Corporate State Wins Again
by Chris Hedges
When did our democracy die? When did it irrevocably transform itself into a lifeless farce and absurd political theater? When did the press, labor, universities and the Democratic Party—which once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible—wither and atrophy? When did reform through electoral politics become a form of magical thinking? When did the dead hand of the corporate state become unassailable?
The body politic was mortally wounded during the long, slow strangulation of ideas and priorities during the Red Scare and the Cold War. Its bastard child, the war on terror, inherited the iconography and language of permanent war and fear. The battle against internal and external enemies became the excuse to funnel trillions in taxpayer funds and government resources to the war industry, curtail civil liberties and abandon social welfare. Skeptics, critics and dissenters were ridiculed and ignored. The FBI, Homeland Security and the CIA enforced ideological conformity. Debate over the expansion of empire became taboo. Secrecy, the anointing of specialized elites to run our affairs and the steady intrusion of the state into the private lives of citizens conditioned us to totalitarian practices. Sheldon Wolin points out in “Democracy Incorporated” that this configuration of corporate power, which he calls “inverted totalitarianism,” is not like “Mein Kampf” or “The Communist Manifesto,” the result of a premeditated plot. It grew, Wolin writes, from “a set of effects produced by actions or practices undertaken in ignorance of their lasting consequences.”
Corporate capitalism—because it was trumpeted throughout the Cold War as a bulwark against communism—expanded with fewer and fewer government regulations and legal impediments. Capitalism was seen as an unalloyed good. It was not required to be socially responsible. Any impediment to its growth, whether in the form of trust-busting, union activity or regulation, was condemned as a step toward socialism and capitulation. Every corporation is a despotic fiefdom, a mini-dictatorship. And by the end Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs had grafted their totalitarian structures onto the state.
The Cold War also bequeathed to us the species of the neoliberal. The neoliberal enthusiastically embraces “national security” as the highest good. The neoliberal—composed of the gullible and cynical careerists—parrots back the mantra of endless war and corporate capitalism as an inevitable form of human progress. Globalization, the neoliberal assures us, is the route to a worldwide utopia. Empire and war are vehicles for lofty human values. Greg Mortenson, the disgraced author of “Three Cups of Tea,” tapped into this formula. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents in Iraq or Afghanistan are ignored or dismissed as the cost of progress. We are bringing democracy to Iraq, liberating and educating the women of Afghanistan, defying the evil clerics in Iran, ridding the world of terrorists and protecting Israel. Those who oppose us do not have legitimate grievances. They need to be educated. It is a fantasy. But to name our own evil is to be banished.
We continue to talk about personalities—Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama—although the heads of state or elected officials in Congress have become largely irrelevant. Lobbyists write the bills. Lobbyists get them passed. Lobbyists make sure you get the money to be elected. And lobbyists employ you when you get out of office. Those who hold actual power are the tiny elite who manage the corporations. Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, in their book “Winner-Take-All Politics,” point out that the share of national income of the top 0.1 percent of Americans since 1974 has grown from 2.7 to 12.3 percent. One in six American workers may be without a job. Some 40 million Americans may live in poverty, with tens of millions more living in a category called “near poverty.” Six million people may be forced from their homes because of foreclosures and bank repossessions. But while the masses suffer, Goldman Sachs, one of the financial firms most responsible for the evaporation of $17 trillion in wages, savings and wealth of small investors and shareholders, is giddily handing out $17.5 billion in compensation to its managers, including $12.6 million to its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein.
The massive redistribution of wealth, as Hacker and Pierson write, happened because lawmakers and public officials were, in essence, hired to permit it to happen. It was not a conspiracy. The process was transparent. It did not require the formation of a new political party or movement. It was the result of inertia by our political and intellectual class, which in the face of expanding corporate power found it personally profitable to facilitate it or look the other way. The armies of lobbyists, who write the legislation, bankroll political campaigns and disseminate propaganda, have been able to short-circuit the electorate. Hacker and Pierson pinpoint the administration of Jimmy Carter as the start of our descent, but I think it began long before with Woodrow Wilson, the ideology of permanent war and the capacity by public relations to manufacture consent. Empires die over such long stretches of time that the exact moment when terminal decline becomes irreversible is probably impossible to document. That we are at the end, however, is beyond dispute.
The rhetoric of the Democratic Party and the neoliberals sustains the illusion of participatory democracy. The Democrats and their liberal apologists offer minor palliatives and a feel-your-pain language to mask the cruelty and goals of the corporate state. The reconfiguration of American society into a form of neofeudalism will be cemented into place whether it is delivered by Democrats, who are pushing us there at 60 miles an hour, or Republicans, who are barreling toward it at 100 miles an hour. Wolin writes, “By fostering an illusion among the powerless classes” that it can make their interests a priority, the Democratic Party “pacifies and thereby defines the style of an opposition party in an inverted totalitarian system.” The Democrats are always able to offer up a least-worst alternative while, in fact, doing little or nothing to thwart the march toward corporate collectivism.
The systems of information, owned or dominated by corporations, keep the public entranced with celebrity meltdowns, gossip, trivia and entertainment. There are no national news or intellectual forums for genuine political discussion and debate. The talking heads on Fox or MSNBC or CNN spin and riff on the same inane statements by Sarah Palin or Donald Trump. They give us lavish updates on the foibles of a Mel Gibson or Charlie Sheen. And they provide venues for the powerful to speak directly to the masses. It is burlesque.
It is not that the public does not want a good health care system, programs that provide employment, quality public education or an end to Wall Street’s looting of the U.S. Treasury. Most polls suggest Americans do. But it has become impossible for most citizens to find out what is happening in the centers of power. Television news celebrities dutifully present two opposing sides to every issue, although each side is usually lying. The viewer can believe whatever he or she wants to believe. Nothing is actually elucidated or explained. The sound bites by Republicans or Democrats are accepted at face value. And once the television lights are turned off, the politicians go back to the business of serving business.
We live in a fragmented society. We are ignorant of what is being done to us. We are diverted by the absurd and political theater. We are afraid of terrorism, of losing our job and of carrying out acts of dissent. We are politically demobilized and paralyzed. We do not question the state religion of patriotic virtue, the war on terror or the military and security state. We are herded like sheep through airports by Homeland Security and, once we get through the metal detectors and body scanners, spontaneously applaud our men and women in uniform. As we become more insecure and afraid, we become more anxious. We are driven by fiercer and fiercer competition. We yearn for stability and protection. This is the genius of all systems of totalitarianism. The citizen’s highest hope finally becomes to be secure and left alone.
Human history, rather than a chronicle of freedom and democracy, is characterized by ruthless domination. Our elites have done what all elites do. They have found sophisticated mechanisms to thwart popular aspirations, disenfranchise the working and increasingly the middle class, keep us passive and make us serve their interests. The brief democratic opening in our society in the early 20th century, made possible by radical movements, unions and a vigorous press, has again been shut tight. We were mesmerized by political charades, cheap consumerism and virtual hallucinations as we were ruthlessly stripped of power.
The game is over. We lost. The corporate state will continue its inexorable advance until two-thirds of the nation is locked into a desperate, permanent underclass. Most Americans will struggle to make a living while the Blankfeins and our political elites wallow in the decadence and greed of the Forbidden City and Versailles. These elites do not have a vision. They know only one word—more. They will continue to exploit the nation, the global economy and the ecosystem. And they will use their money to hide in gated compounds when it all implodes. Do not expect them to take care of us when it starts to unravel. We will have to take care of ourselves. We will have to create small, monastic communities where we can sustain and feed ourselves. It will be up to us to keep alive the intellectual, moral and culture values the corporate state has attempted to snuff out. It is either that or become drones and serfs in a global, corporate dystopia. It is not much of a choice. But at least we still have one.
Copyright © 2011 Truthdig, L.L.C.
Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books, including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War, and
--
Monday, April 25, 2011
TMJ disorder in Western Belize - five month season.
TMJ disorder caused by excessive DRY SEASON in Western Belize
After seeing 9 doctors, including dentists, general practitioners, ENT specialist doctors, oral surgeons, etc. Going through 3 antibiotic treatments, treatments for yeast infections, fungus infections, herbal cures for earache, including garlic, onion, and other herbal recipes combined with virgin olive oil, hydrogen peroxide ear washouts, etc. NO CURE ! By the medical establishment.
Then I just recently found out there is a mini-epidemic here in Western Belize and the doctors are helpless. We only have three ENT medical specialists in the country and they are all down in the port town on the coast. Unavailable even if they knew what they were doing, which they don´t. $1500 dollars later, CAT SCAN, ultra Sound, X Rays and more I finally had to figure out the problem myself.
TMJ disorder is a swelling around and under the ear by the jaw joint, usually on one side. Often attributed to arthritis. Turns out after one dentist talked me into getting an upper and lower plate to align my jaw ( in constant pain ) and I was willing to pay anything and do anything to stop the pain. The pain is often called the SUICIDE PAIN, as it drives people to suicide.
The pain in this case and there is a mini-epidemic out here in Western Belize of the Cayo District, is caused I found out by checking the Internet, some experimentation with cures, and a process of elimination, to be a product of EVAPORATION during our DRY SEASON. I found other people suffering the same thing. Some had been to half a dozen doctors and even gone to neighboring countries for medical consultations, in Salvador and Guatemala. I even went to Guatemala to find a cure.
What happens some DRY SEASONS out here in Western Belize, the dry season can get so intense, that the soils which have a fair amount of clay in them, get rock hard like red bricks. Zig Zag cracks run across the ground and fields, as the clay hardens. We are in the wind shadow of the Maya Mountains and Belize Alps during this time of the year, when the wind shifts and comes from the EAST and SOUTH EAST. This causes intense moisture evaporation in the lee of any hills. The moisture is sucked out of the ground and air. Being tropical, we sleep with windows open most of the time. People tend to sleep with their mouths open, and even if not, I´ve found out that just the moisture lost by the dry air going through the nose, INFLAMES the throat and mucus membranes. There is no INFECTION. Pure INFLAMMATION of the throat and mouth and nose area. This inflammation travels up the Eustachian Tube to the middle, or inner ear and causes the tube to collapse, or swell, so that air and drainage to the inner middle ear has trouble. OTITIS I believe they call it? At any rate, the result is a swelling of the glands that are supposed to drain around the ear, the lower jaw and along the side of the face. This swelling then presses on the tri -geminal nerve system along side the jaw and face, causing intense pain.
So far, there is a popular neuro pill which has a brain pain blocker and a muscle relaxant that takes down the swelling. When this occurs, the pain goes away. You have to take a pill every six hours. Usually out of every 8 hours, 3 hours experience excruciating pain. Recently by experimenting, I found a tea spoon of HONEY to coat the throat, every time it gets raw and the lower ( under the jaw ) gland starts to ache, removes some of the cause and controls the inflammation of the throat, which is the source of all the trouble.
The dry season when the evaporation gets really intense of moisture sucked out of the land, trees and soils starts in January. By February, this ailment starts to effect a lot of people. The illness is expected to be for five months, until the rainy season in June. I found that closing the windows helps a lot, but not completely when you sleep at night. A humidifier would probably help, but there are none for sale in the few shops stocking appliances out West here. I´m going to try and rig something up. I´ve since found a number of people who thought they were alone, with the same problem as me. Why the medical profession do not know of this locally, is beyond me?
At any rate the only treatment for the swelling and pain, is the pills that block pain and reduce the swelling. Effective period is about 3.5 hours out of 6 hours. In between you suffer varying amounts of pain, due to swelling of the glands and irregular pressure on the ear drum from the inner ear. If you keep up the treatment, this avoids the swelling getting out of control and thus pressing on the tri-geminal nerve, which is the really big PAIN when it occurs. There is no cure! Only prevention until June rainy season starts. Honey helps the rawness in the throat. I´m cutting out all other sugars, as the honey treatment is a necessity for sanity.
After seeing 9 doctors, including dentists, general practitioners, ENT specialist doctors, oral surgeons, etc. Going through 3 antibiotic treatments, treatments for yeast infections, fungus infections, herbal cures for earache, including garlic, onion, and other herbal recipes combined with virgin olive oil, hydrogen peroxide ear washouts, etc. NO CURE ! By the medical establishment.
Then I just recently found out there is a mini-epidemic here in Western Belize and the doctors are helpless. We only have three ENT medical specialists in the country and they are all down in the port town on the coast. Unavailable even if they knew what they were doing, which they don´t. $1500 dollars later, CAT SCAN, ultra Sound, X Rays and more I finally had to figure out the problem myself.
TMJ disorder is a swelling around and under the ear by the jaw joint, usually on one side. Often attributed to arthritis. Turns out after one dentist talked me into getting an upper and lower plate to align my jaw ( in constant pain ) and I was willing to pay anything and do anything to stop the pain. The pain is often called the SUICIDE PAIN, as it drives people to suicide.
The pain in this case and there is a mini-epidemic out here in Western Belize of the Cayo District, is caused I found out by checking the Internet, some experimentation with cures, and a process of elimination, to be a product of EVAPORATION during our DRY SEASON. I found other people suffering the same thing. Some had been to half a dozen doctors and even gone to neighboring countries for medical consultations, in Salvador and Guatemala. I even went to Guatemala to find a cure.
What happens some DRY SEASONS out here in Western Belize, the dry season can get so intense, that the soils which have a fair amount of clay in them, get rock hard like red bricks. Zig Zag cracks run across the ground and fields, as the clay hardens. We are in the wind shadow of the Maya Mountains and Belize Alps during this time of the year, when the wind shifts and comes from the EAST and SOUTH EAST. This causes intense moisture evaporation in the lee of any hills. The moisture is sucked out of the ground and air. Being tropical, we sleep with windows open most of the time. People tend to sleep with their mouths open, and even if not, I´ve found out that just the moisture lost by the dry air going through the nose, INFLAMES the throat and mucus membranes. There is no INFECTION. Pure INFLAMMATION of the throat and mouth and nose area. This inflammation travels up the Eustachian Tube to the middle, or inner ear and causes the tube to collapse, or swell, so that air and drainage to the inner middle ear has trouble. OTITIS I believe they call it? At any rate, the result is a swelling of the glands that are supposed to drain around the ear, the lower jaw and along the side of the face. This swelling then presses on the tri -geminal nerve system along side the jaw and face, causing intense pain.
So far, there is a popular neuro pill which has a brain pain blocker and a muscle relaxant that takes down the swelling. When this occurs, the pain goes away. You have to take a pill every six hours. Usually out of every 8 hours, 3 hours experience excruciating pain. Recently by experimenting, I found a tea spoon of HONEY to coat the throat, every time it gets raw and the lower ( under the jaw ) gland starts to ache, removes some of the cause and controls the inflammation of the throat, which is the source of all the trouble.
The dry season when the evaporation gets really intense of moisture sucked out of the land, trees and soils starts in January. By February, this ailment starts to effect a lot of people. The illness is expected to be for five months, until the rainy season in June. I found that closing the windows helps a lot, but not completely when you sleep at night. A humidifier would probably help, but there are none for sale in the few shops stocking appliances out West here. I´m going to try and rig something up. I´ve since found a number of people who thought they were alone, with the same problem as me. Why the medical profession do not know of this locally, is beyond me?
At any rate the only treatment for the swelling and pain, is the pills that block pain and reduce the swelling. Effective period is about 3.5 hours out of 6 hours. In between you suffer varying amounts of pain, due to swelling of the glands and irregular pressure on the ear drum from the inner ear. If you keep up the treatment, this avoids the swelling getting out of control and thus pressing on the tri-geminal nerve, which is the really big PAIN when it occurs. There is no cure! Only prevention until June rainy season starts. Honey helps the rawness in the throat. I´m cutting out all other sugars, as the honey treatment is a necessity for sanity.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Belize small electrical plant investment experimental research in Belize
Methane collector experiment.Small investors are seeking practical ways of investing in needed electrical production to sell to the Belize National Grid, grossing about $300,000 a year. Practical affordable investments that would pay off, seem few and far between. Bagasse is being used. ( sugar cane refuse ) Lots of futuristic ideas, but nothing off the shelf that can be installed in immediately.
___________________________________
DEBATE by investors looking for ways to produce electricity. The CORRUPTION in the artificial price of electricity in Belize remains a sore point.
Hi Hugh I am a bit busy but... First there is no nuke in the Yucatan . It is located in Veracruz and powers about 4 million people and does not make it to us. We buy from Mexico when needed from the fossil fuel plant located near Merida. We are paying high bills because we are getting ripped off no other reason. I have tried to illustrate that. Our best answer is to force BEL to give power at the correct price. This can be accomplished by a buy back law that would necessitate revealing true costs of production.
I hate hydro that destroys habitats. My own opinion.
Technology is advancing rapidly in the power generation area. Nuclear chemistry shows great promise. It is not a question of which alternative energy form is better etc. The variable factors are numerous in all scenarios. Cutting and hauling sugar cane, wind variations, fuel cost fluctuations, drought etc.
My goal is much more basic . We have a pressing national need to produce meaningful jobs for our huge population of young people. That will require industrial development. To have that we must educate our future work force and be able to offer reasonable power to industrial developers. Community sized units wont do it. We need a real energy plan that will lower our power costs.
I respect all the research and experience that is present on the board. We need to focus on this serious national problem as no one else seems to be even considering it and I consider it a national priority. We must lower our power costs. The concept of selling when you have and buying when you dont works in most places. Thats why I was re-interested in wind as potentially it could produce a sellable amount. It is all very complex but we must lower power costs. Thats the goal. How do we do that? Thanks Mike
AMANDALA NEWSPAPER SCORES THE PULTIZER PRIZE OF BELIZE.
WOW! The AMANDALA NEWSPAPER drops a bombshell with a story entitled LIBYA - ALL ABOUT BANKS, OR MAYBE OIL?
Couldn´t find this story in their online version but it is a dynamic look at the world events, on a par with stories done for the USA dealing with US interests, as it effects Belize. This is definitely quality writing on our Belizean Foreign Affairs, superior to anything our UDP government, or Foreign Ministry is doing. We need a PULITZER PRIZE OF BELIZE. Whoever their AMANDALA newspaper editor is on this story, it was magnificent. WOW!
Essentially, the point was made that there are WARS within WARS, within WARS on the world scene. Nothing is as it seems with these wars and the disinformation and blarney put out in the press. At heart, was the FACT and FACTS are unavoidable things when it comes to conspiracy theories. In this case, it was pointed out, when the popular uprising was made in Benghazi, in Benghazi, LIBYA, against the authoritarian, successful, socialist state of Ghadaffi, BEFORE even the uprising had got organized, or decided to consolidate and make some leaders and councils for the uprising and rebellion, a queer fact arose. Somebody took the uprising to heart and created back as early as MARCH, another second, CENTRAL BANK of LIBYA, based in the pre-planned revolutionary stronghold of BENGHAZZI. Before the REBELLION started to organize.
Now Libya has it´s own CENTRAL BANK in TRIPOLI, they also print their own money, have stockpiled tonnes of GOLD to back their money. Their people have lifestyles and wealth beyond the wildest dreams of the USA, U.K., or Belize. Everybody has a house, a cheap European car, cheaper than Europeans can buy them, young married couples get $50,000 after the wedding ceremony. No food shortages, cost of living lower than in Belize. Free medical, free education, even the government will pay for you to go abroad to get a Ph´d in a foreign educational institute. You name it they got it. They have a de-centralized government run on Tribal Council lines. While they have an authoritarian leader with no title, but has a bit of a police state, and controls the oil wealth with his family, other than that, you could not wish for a better socialist country built on the lines of the Northern Fisherman´s Cooperative on Caye Caulker.
In the USA, it is a well known scandal that Goldman Sachs and the privately owned Federal Reserve, control the country in financial affairs and often in foreign affairs. There is the oft trotted out conspiracy of the ROTHSCHILD BANKING OCTOPUS, and thrown into the mix are the BILDEBURG WORLD CONTROL GROUP, the G- 20 and the OECD countries of Western civilization ( the old colonialist empire builders ).
The AMANDALA newspaper after doing valuable research, points out that the ARAB countries have their own BANKING SYSTEM outside of WESTERN CONTROL. None of them belong to the control group now flagrantly in a war to control the smaller tax havens and financial centers. In Belize, we well know the controls of the banking system on CARICOM financial centers, as done by the 56 member banks of the WESTERN BANKING SETTLEMENT system, ( BIS )has literally put the tax havens and financial offshore business out of business, ( wire transfers these days are useless, they steal your money ), by denying our CARICOM and BELIZE banks the ability to exchange cheques, wire transfers, seized deposits and monies to make their WILL the law, on world money control affairs. The euphinism and excuse given is a WAR on TERRORISM. The ARAB countries are not members, the AMANDALA article points out and the famous quote, which I vaguely remember by some infamous ROTHSCHILD who said something to the effect of; if I control the DEBT of the countries, I care not about who rules, or the politics. The ARABS do not deal with the IMF, or WORLD BANK, but in Belize we must and are thus controlled as a producer of a foreign exchange crop through DEBT. That has been discussed many times going back decades in Belize. There is the fact that on the WORLD SCENE the infamous PATRIOT ACT and loss of democratic civil liberties that has ensued, seems nothing more than a weapon of war to subjugate smaller foreign countries, in a WAR of different means for world power.
In Belize, the recent visit by the RUSSIAN FEDERATION wanting who knows what? As we only have a small influence in Central AMERICAN affairs, the votes thus held in the United Nations by Central America and CARICOM. I watched the reading of the BUDGET SPEECH by PUTIN to the RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT in MOSCOW on television the other day, for the Russian Federation and they also seem to know they are in a NEW WAR with the WESTERN COUNTRIES, for exports and economics. The RUSSIANS have been beaten by the WESTERN NATIONS in this economic war and are complaining about their manufacturing industry of weapons systems and are having to write off TRILLIONS of RUBLES of debt thusly. Which makes their overtures to tiny Belize, with a population of only 313,000 people as somewhat ludicrous from our viewpoint.
Getting back to LIBYA, QUADAFFI is the leader of a movement to make an economic union of AFRICA with it´s 200 million people market. The CHINESE are even now moving into AFRICA doing development and investing, as they are in Latin America. The EUROPEANS and the USA are already here, on our continent, defending their perceived TURF, the Canadians are notoriously absent, being an extension of Europe.
In the USA the FEDERAL RESERVE is PRIVATELY OWNED, not by the US Government, the banksters as the AMANDALA calls them run the US Government along with corporate interests. WARS are simply an extension of economic WAR in US policy as is also apparently the EUROPEANS. In LIBYA the CENTRAL BANK is owned by the STATE, as it is in Belize. The foreign banking CARTELS, like the ROTHSCHILDS and GOLDMAN SACHS have to do business through the CENTRAL BANK of LIBYA over whom they have no control, them not being members of the OECD, or the FOREIGN EXCHANGE system, which we in Belize are controlled by with a heavy hand, in the attack on our FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY throughout CARICOM.
THe AMANDALA article well researched, went on to explain how the money system works with banks, controls, etc. in these hidden ways of war, we nothing of. An eye opener for a new generation of students in government service in our University of Belize. It pointed out, if your government is out of the control of the OECD, or the foreign exchange system, called by the acroynm BIS, in Brussels; you can do infra-structure building at half the cost of borrowing money from the banking Western World octopus control system. As the ARABS have proved by being independent, they borrow from themselves and their own Central Bank and do not therefore pay interest, cutting development and infra-structure costs by 50% at least.
Too bad the AMANDALA NEWSPAPER article was not online. The AMANDALA NEWSPAPER has risen to new heights for our national identity, giving food for thought, about where we are going and where we would like to go. It really makes you think, and the shackles we are bound with, by our governments continuing to persue debt via the WESTERN WORLD banking system.
EXCELLENT ARTICLE AND FOOD FOR A LOT OF THOUGHT AND MAYBE SOME NEW POLICIES AT CABINET LEVEL? BEEG KUDOS to the AMANDALA newspaper.
Couldn´t find this story in their online version but it is a dynamic look at the world events, on a par with stories done for the USA dealing with US interests, as it effects Belize. This is definitely quality writing on our Belizean Foreign Affairs, superior to anything our UDP government, or Foreign Ministry is doing. We need a PULITZER PRIZE OF BELIZE. Whoever their AMANDALA newspaper editor is on this story, it was magnificent. WOW!
Essentially, the point was made that there are WARS within WARS, within WARS on the world scene. Nothing is as it seems with these wars and the disinformation and blarney put out in the press. At heart, was the FACT and FACTS are unavoidable things when it comes to conspiracy theories. In this case, it was pointed out, when the popular uprising was made in Benghazi, in Benghazi, LIBYA, against the authoritarian, successful, socialist state of Ghadaffi, BEFORE even the uprising had got organized, or decided to consolidate and make some leaders and councils for the uprising and rebellion, a queer fact arose. Somebody took the uprising to heart and created back as early as MARCH, another second, CENTRAL BANK of LIBYA, based in the pre-planned revolutionary stronghold of BENGHAZZI. Before the REBELLION started to organize.
Now Libya has it´s own CENTRAL BANK in TRIPOLI, they also print their own money, have stockpiled tonnes of GOLD to back their money. Their people have lifestyles and wealth beyond the wildest dreams of the USA, U.K., or Belize. Everybody has a house, a cheap European car, cheaper than Europeans can buy them, young married couples get $50,000 after the wedding ceremony. No food shortages, cost of living lower than in Belize. Free medical, free education, even the government will pay for you to go abroad to get a Ph´d in a foreign educational institute. You name it they got it. They have a de-centralized government run on Tribal Council lines. While they have an authoritarian leader with no title, but has a bit of a police state, and controls the oil wealth with his family, other than that, you could not wish for a better socialist country built on the lines of the Northern Fisherman´s Cooperative on Caye Caulker.
In the USA, it is a well known scandal that Goldman Sachs and the privately owned Federal Reserve, control the country in financial affairs and often in foreign affairs. There is the oft trotted out conspiracy of the ROTHSCHILD BANKING OCTOPUS, and thrown into the mix are the BILDEBURG WORLD CONTROL GROUP, the G- 20 and the OECD countries of Western civilization ( the old colonialist empire builders ).
The AMANDALA newspaper after doing valuable research, points out that the ARAB countries have their own BANKING SYSTEM outside of WESTERN CONTROL. None of them belong to the control group now flagrantly in a war to control the smaller tax havens and financial centers. In Belize, we well know the controls of the banking system on CARICOM financial centers, as done by the 56 member banks of the WESTERN BANKING SETTLEMENT system, ( BIS )has literally put the tax havens and financial offshore business out of business, ( wire transfers these days are useless, they steal your money ), by denying our CARICOM and BELIZE banks the ability to exchange cheques, wire transfers, seized deposits and monies to make their WILL the law, on world money control affairs. The euphinism and excuse given is a WAR on TERRORISM. The ARAB countries are not members, the AMANDALA article points out and the famous quote, which I vaguely remember by some infamous ROTHSCHILD who said something to the effect of; if I control the DEBT of the countries, I care not about who rules, or the politics. The ARABS do not deal with the IMF, or WORLD BANK, but in Belize we must and are thus controlled as a producer of a foreign exchange crop through DEBT. That has been discussed many times going back decades in Belize. There is the fact that on the WORLD SCENE the infamous PATRIOT ACT and loss of democratic civil liberties that has ensued, seems nothing more than a weapon of war to subjugate smaller foreign countries, in a WAR of different means for world power.
In Belize, the recent visit by the RUSSIAN FEDERATION wanting who knows what? As we only have a small influence in Central AMERICAN affairs, the votes thus held in the United Nations by Central America and CARICOM. I watched the reading of the BUDGET SPEECH by PUTIN to the RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT in MOSCOW on television the other day, for the Russian Federation and they also seem to know they are in a NEW WAR with the WESTERN COUNTRIES, for exports and economics. The RUSSIANS have been beaten by the WESTERN NATIONS in this economic war and are complaining about their manufacturing industry of weapons systems and are having to write off TRILLIONS of RUBLES of debt thusly. Which makes their overtures to tiny Belize, with a population of only 313,000 people as somewhat ludicrous from our viewpoint.
Getting back to LIBYA, QUADAFFI is the leader of a movement to make an economic union of AFRICA with it´s 200 million people market. The CHINESE are even now moving into AFRICA doing development and investing, as they are in Latin America. The EUROPEANS and the USA are already here, on our continent, defending their perceived TURF, the Canadians are notoriously absent, being an extension of Europe.
In the USA the FEDERAL RESERVE is PRIVATELY OWNED, not by the US Government, the banksters as the AMANDALA calls them run the US Government along with corporate interests. WARS are simply an extension of economic WAR in US policy as is also apparently the EUROPEANS. In LIBYA the CENTRAL BANK is owned by the STATE, as it is in Belize. The foreign banking CARTELS, like the ROTHSCHILDS and GOLDMAN SACHS have to do business through the CENTRAL BANK of LIBYA over whom they have no control, them not being members of the OECD, or the FOREIGN EXCHANGE system, which we in Belize are controlled by with a heavy hand, in the attack on our FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY throughout CARICOM.
THe AMANDALA article well researched, went on to explain how the money system works with banks, controls, etc. in these hidden ways of war, we nothing of. An eye opener for a new generation of students in government service in our University of Belize. It pointed out, if your government is out of the control of the OECD, or the foreign exchange system, called by the acroynm BIS, in Brussels; you can do infra-structure building at half the cost of borrowing money from the banking Western World octopus control system. As the ARABS have proved by being independent, they borrow from themselves and their own Central Bank and do not therefore pay interest, cutting development and infra-structure costs by 50% at least.
Too bad the AMANDALA NEWSPAPER article was not online. The AMANDALA NEWSPAPER has risen to new heights for our national identity, giving food for thought, about where we are going and where we would like to go. It really makes you think, and the shackles we are bound with, by our governments continuing to persue debt via the WESTERN WORLD banking system.
EXCELLENT ARTICLE AND FOOD FOR A LOT OF THOUGHT AND MAYBE SOME NEW POLICIES AT CABINET LEVEL? BEEG KUDOS to the AMANDALA newspaper.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Belize onion farmers bankrupted by local competition.
pickled small onions for export
rotting onions in Orange Walk and Corozal flat lands.BELIZE ONION GROWERS OVERPRODUCE FOR LOCAL MARKET AND HAVE TO LET ONIONS ROT IN THE FIELDS
Pictures on local television show interviews with groups of organized small onion growers, who have borrowed money from banks and credit unions to grow onions, lamenting the competition and overproduction for the local market. First the market opened well, at prices of $45 per 50 lb bag, or .90 cents a pound. As more onions came on the market, the price started falling to .60 cents a pound and eventually to .40 cents a pound.
I was reminded of my own youth around 11 or 12 years old, growing up on a Southern Ontario, Canada farm, in which the same thing happened to growers of turnips. After a second year of rotting turnips due to overproduction, the third year, with less growers, now changed into growing oats, or wheat, or hay, the turnip price skyrocketed and those farmers with turnips ended up doing very well. In those years, our rural, one room schoolhouse was closed as children were put into the fields in the FALL season to harvest crops.
Competition for the local market has swamped the farmers of onions, in the Orange Walk and Corozal flat land district.
Some crops simply do not lend themselves to year round growing in Northern Belize. The reason for this is flowering has to take place in colder night time temperatures and at certain seasons in Belize, only works in the Mountain Pine Ridge hills, where the altitude and lower night time temperature differential occurs with the day time warmer temperature differential. Seems like the extension Agricultural officers still do not have a handle on growing crops in Belize.
Tomatoes require the Maya Mountains and colder night time air to flourish successfully, in the local dry hot seasons, so do orchids, which currently are only grown at Central Farm in air conditioning temperature controlled conditions.
The local TV showing farmers ruined by rotting onions brings back memories. It is also a mistake for government to encourage farming crops based on loans, but no matter how you much you tell them in Belize, a bureaucracy run by port town academics continues to distribute ruinous ideas and misinformation. For which in the end they just shrug their shoulders and make excuses, as they live on a guaranteed monthly salary.
If you are going to grow crops, you need to be able to export them. I see nobody growing the very small round onions used for pickled containers in vinegar, which can be exported. Ebb andf Flow Hydroponics does this crop very well, on a year round basis. I believe they call them leeks.
BELIZE CITRUS GROWERS AND FACTORY QUIBBLE ABOUT TECHNICALITIES
CITRUS GROWERS AND FACTORY QUIBBLE ABOUT TECHNICALTIES
Source: www.lovefm.com
CITRUS GROWERS ASSOCIATION HOLDS SPECIAL MEETING
Mon, April 18, 2011
The Citrus Growers Association of Belize held a special general membership meeting on Saturday at its headquarters at mile nine on the Stann Creek Valley Road. The meeting was a follow up to one held at the end of February and dealt with three main agenda items, including prices, and updates on arbitration and cash flow problems at CPBL. With regards to the prices, Chief Executive Officer Henry Anderson told Love News that the CGA reported to members on grape fruit prices.
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“It’s at $6.19 per box. At the last meeting we reported that we are expecting a new price for oranges; we got that new price, it has yet to be accepted. That new price when accepted will be around $12.21 per box which would mean that growers will be getting about 15% more than the first price. What we have pointed out to growers is that when you look at the price per pound solid in the world market, at $12.21 per box now, that is the highest that they have ever been getting and essentially that is because of the arbitration findings that ensured that CPBL had to provide more information to CGA and because we are more diligent in following up these things, that some of the anomalies that we have would see in the past we are not seeing as much again. We highlighted that there are still some issues with some prices going into the Caribbean and that is an ongoing matter.”
Saturday morning’s meeting also gave members an update on Implementation of Arbitration Recommendations, as it regards the discrepancy in pound solids between factory and pound solids lab for orange, sanctioned by the Citrus Control Board. Anderson says that the technical audit was carried out by two consultants from Florida and that they found some surprising revelations.
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“They came in and they found areas where we could improve how the samplers work, where the factory can improve its efficiency by doing some changes to the extractors and to do some other settings. Some of the stuff they have come up with, I think they have learnt, these are like preparatory things, over the years. What they were able to demonstrate is that the factory can and should be getting yields more than the lab. They demonstrated that our factory when they did their tests, it was about 4.8% more than the lab and the other one was about 7% more than the lab; that is just for the day they did the test. What they are saying that it should be above and given the recommendations I mentioned they were saying to be done, that it would be higher and above. The factory indicated to us that over the course of this current season they are actually 2% above the lab, we are talking about oranges. What we reported to the growers that while this was good news that the factory is above the lab, it is strange in the sense that nothing changed from last year and last year they 2.9 before so you have a 5% swing in production just as the same time you are trying to find out what is the problem and the factory is saying that they really haven’t made any major changes with the extractors and stuff. They made some changes based on what came out of the arbitration report in terms of the sales to make sure that the amount of fruits that is being paid for is actually passing through. This raises some concerns Patrick because you have a trend for five years that the factory’s productivity is going down as it relates to the lab, now that it has a 5% turn, then it begs the question what caused that, was it that the factory was paying for fruits it was not getting and certain growers were getting those payments and if you are paying for fruits but you are not physically getting the fruits then you will never be able to get the pound solids. Or was it that those pound solids were actually produced and mysteriously went somewhere else and did not appear in the price formula. We can’t be sure if it is a combination of both or is either or but it does leave a big pressing issue as to what happened and how things have now mysteriously turned around, noh.”
Anderson says that the mysterious turn around will likely end up before the Citrus Control Board for final determination of the way forward.
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“We are awaiting the final report of the consultants which will be due in a week’s time. Therein it was made to look at what is now and how to get it better but they have confirmed that the factory is reporting more than the lab and the factory is confirming the very same so that is something that we sit down and discuss and negotiate.”
Patrick Jones - Reporter
What is the way forward now, what happens until that report comes in?
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“We wait for it to come in, that should come in by the end of the week and then the Committee of Management would have to look at it and then we decide, we go back to the Citrus Control Board, I can’t pre-empt anything here. The point I am making to you is that there is a 5% turnaround in productivity and if you understand what is happening here, that did not happen just like that so that raises its own issues here, noh.”
According to the CGA official, on Friday evening he was served with a court order on behalf of some non-paying members, allowing them to be able to attend Saturday’s meeting. Despite the court order, Anderson says that only one of the aggrieved members actually showed up for the special general meeting. Love News spoke with CEO of Citrus Products of Belize Dr. Henry Canton who said the rationale behind the high prices that growers will be receiving has nothing to do with the reports they are required to submit.
Dr. Henry Canton – CEO, CPBL
“I think that reason why the growers are getting the highest price paid to them is because we have a very strong, high price on the world market and the fact that this year unlike many other years the yield per box of fruit is a lot higher this year than before due to climatic conditions or whatever conditions the fields are having. It is the combination of good yield and also high prices that are giving that; it has nothing to do with the report that we give to them.”
Canton said the difference between the trend of the previous years compared to this year can be explained easily.
Dr. Henry Canton – CEO, CPBL
“There was a discrepancy between the front door which is what the pound solids authority reports that the growers deliver and then basically the back door or the yield that the factory gets. Historically we were ahead for the first two or three years that we were doing pound solids by about a point and a half two percent and then it slid, and it slid rapidly in one year and then it slid to the 2.9% that he referred to last year. This year we are back up again by between 2 and 4%. There are a number of reasons why something like that would happen and it is technically based. Primarily based on the quality of fruits, how the fruit was delivered in and the mix of products that we are making because when we are making pulp we extract solids also out of the juice along with the pulp so there are a number of explainable issues. One of the things that did come out of the summary of the report in the interim report of the technical audit was the fact that there are some serious issues on the sampling of fruits at the pound solids where there is a larger portion of the smaller fruits being selected by the sampler and that smaller fruits versus larger fruits there is as much as a difference two points in the amount of solids in the juice which is able to impact substantively the yield of the front door. What that means is that if the factory at the front with the smaller fruits was artificially higher because the sample is not representative of the load of fruit then the factory would not be extracting what the front door is saying but be extracting what it gets from the load of fruit; therefore that would be setting a false threshold at the front and not being able to collect it at the back because the factory is just like a computer if garbage goes in the front, garbage will come out the back and what goes in the front comes out the back.”
source: www.lovefm.com
Source: www.lovefm.com
CITRUS GROWERS ASSOCIATION HOLDS SPECIAL MEETING
Mon, April 18, 2011
The Citrus Growers Association of Belize held a special general membership meeting on Saturday at its headquarters at mile nine on the Stann Creek Valley Road. The meeting was a follow up to one held at the end of February and dealt with three main agenda items, including prices, and updates on arbitration and cash flow problems at CPBL. With regards to the prices, Chief Executive Officer Henry Anderson told Love News that the CGA reported to members on grape fruit prices.
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“It’s at $6.19 per box. At the last meeting we reported that we are expecting a new price for oranges; we got that new price, it has yet to be accepted. That new price when accepted will be around $12.21 per box which would mean that growers will be getting about 15% more than the first price. What we have pointed out to growers is that when you look at the price per pound solid in the world market, at $12.21 per box now, that is the highest that they have ever been getting and essentially that is because of the arbitration findings that ensured that CPBL had to provide more information to CGA and because we are more diligent in following up these things, that some of the anomalies that we have would see in the past we are not seeing as much again. We highlighted that there are still some issues with some prices going into the Caribbean and that is an ongoing matter.”
Saturday morning’s meeting also gave members an update on Implementation of Arbitration Recommendations, as it regards the discrepancy in pound solids between factory and pound solids lab for orange, sanctioned by the Citrus Control Board. Anderson says that the technical audit was carried out by two consultants from Florida and that they found some surprising revelations.
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“They came in and they found areas where we could improve how the samplers work, where the factory can improve its efficiency by doing some changes to the extractors and to do some other settings. Some of the stuff they have come up with, I think they have learnt, these are like preparatory things, over the years. What they were able to demonstrate is that the factory can and should be getting yields more than the lab. They demonstrated that our factory when they did their tests, it was about 4.8% more than the lab and the other one was about 7% more than the lab; that is just for the day they did the test. What they are saying that it should be above and given the recommendations I mentioned they were saying to be done, that it would be higher and above. The factory indicated to us that over the course of this current season they are actually 2% above the lab, we are talking about oranges. What we reported to the growers that while this was good news that the factory is above the lab, it is strange in the sense that nothing changed from last year and last year they 2.9 before so you have a 5% swing in production just as the same time you are trying to find out what is the problem and the factory is saying that they really haven’t made any major changes with the extractors and stuff. They made some changes based on what came out of the arbitration report in terms of the sales to make sure that the amount of fruits that is being paid for is actually passing through. This raises some concerns Patrick because you have a trend for five years that the factory’s productivity is going down as it relates to the lab, now that it has a 5% turn, then it begs the question what caused that, was it that the factory was paying for fruits it was not getting and certain growers were getting those payments and if you are paying for fruits but you are not physically getting the fruits then you will never be able to get the pound solids. Or was it that those pound solids were actually produced and mysteriously went somewhere else and did not appear in the price formula. We can’t be sure if it is a combination of both or is either or but it does leave a big pressing issue as to what happened and how things have now mysteriously turned around, noh.”
Anderson says that the mysterious turn around will likely end up before the Citrus Control Board for final determination of the way forward.
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“We are awaiting the final report of the consultants which will be due in a week’s time. Therein it was made to look at what is now and how to get it better but they have confirmed that the factory is reporting more than the lab and the factory is confirming the very same so that is something that we sit down and discuss and negotiate.”
Patrick Jones - Reporter
What is the way forward now, what happens until that report comes in?
Henry Anderson – CEO, Citrus Growers Association
“We wait for it to come in, that should come in by the end of the week and then the Committee of Management would have to look at it and then we decide, we go back to the Citrus Control Board, I can’t pre-empt anything here. The point I am making to you is that there is a 5% turnaround in productivity and if you understand what is happening here, that did not happen just like that so that raises its own issues here, noh.”
According to the CGA official, on Friday evening he was served with a court order on behalf of some non-paying members, allowing them to be able to attend Saturday’s meeting. Despite the court order, Anderson says that only one of the aggrieved members actually showed up for the special general meeting. Love News spoke with CEO of Citrus Products of Belize Dr. Henry Canton who said the rationale behind the high prices that growers will be receiving has nothing to do with the reports they are required to submit.
Dr. Henry Canton – CEO, CPBL
“I think that reason why the growers are getting the highest price paid to them is because we have a very strong, high price on the world market and the fact that this year unlike many other years the yield per box of fruit is a lot higher this year than before due to climatic conditions or whatever conditions the fields are having. It is the combination of good yield and also high prices that are giving that; it has nothing to do with the report that we give to them.”
Canton said the difference between the trend of the previous years compared to this year can be explained easily.
Dr. Henry Canton – CEO, CPBL
“There was a discrepancy between the front door which is what the pound solids authority reports that the growers deliver and then basically the back door or the yield that the factory gets. Historically we were ahead for the first two or three years that we were doing pound solids by about a point and a half two percent and then it slid, and it slid rapidly in one year and then it slid to the 2.9% that he referred to last year. This year we are back up again by between 2 and 4%. There are a number of reasons why something like that would happen and it is technically based. Primarily based on the quality of fruits, how the fruit was delivered in and the mix of products that we are making because when we are making pulp we extract solids also out of the juice along with the pulp so there are a number of explainable issues. One of the things that did come out of the summary of the report in the interim report of the technical audit was the fact that there are some serious issues on the sampling of fruits at the pound solids where there is a larger portion of the smaller fruits being selected by the sampler and that smaller fruits versus larger fruits there is as much as a difference two points in the amount of solids in the juice which is able to impact substantively the yield of the front door. What that means is that if the factory at the front with the smaller fruits was artificially higher because the sample is not representative of the load of fruit then the factory would not be extracting what the front door is saying but be extracting what it gets from the load of fruit; therefore that would be setting a false threshold at the front and not being able to collect it at the back because the factory is just like a computer if garbage goes in the front, garbage will come out the back and what goes in the front comes out the back.”
source: www.lovefm.com
Thursday, April 14, 2011
University of Belize lacks production of factual scientific papers on Tilapia Fishing.
UB education empowers Belize sign.
UB a dream still unfilled.WHERE IS THE ACQUA CULTURE SCIENCE ON TILAPIA COMMERCIAL POND FISHING?
The University of Belize is not yet a technological development, economic resource for the development of the country of Belize. There is no source of technical research for investors wishing to go into commercial tank, or pond TILAPIA FISHING for instance. Much less research on sea cucumber ranching. Perhaps it is too much to expect in these early days of the Belize National University development, but the lack of such feasability papers and scientific research is sorely felt in the PRIVATE SECTOR investment community.
TOLEDO DISTRICT OF BELIZE THE GROWING FRONTIER
The TOLEDO DISTRICT is the fastest growing district of opportunity and population. The government will have to do some reclaiming of old tracts of territory, that supposedly have homongous tax debts now, on unused agricultural land, in order to distribute lands to a new wave of immigrants that are sweeping into the vast Toledo Hill Country.
How do Belize entrepreneurs develop a sea cucumber acquatic facility?
WHERE IS THE ACQUACULTURE SCIENCE ON SEA CUCUMBER RANCHING?
Sea Cucumber
Dr. Sands recommended using Sea Cucumber with Original CMO. Sea Cucumber (Beche-de-Mer) is a seabed dwelling marine animal which feeds on microscopic algae, absorbing nutrients from the organic matter. Sea Cucumber has been used for thousands of years by Asians as a culinary delicacy.
The Chinese have treasured Sea Cucumber since ancient times for prevention of disease and as a longevity tonic. Traditional Chinese medicine commonly uses sea cucumber in treating weakness, impotence, debility of the aged, constipation due to intestinal dryness, frequent urination, and joint problems.Tall Ships, Yankee Clippers, what precious cargo were they taking to the Far East? Pearls or gold? NO, it was Sea Cucumber!
Western medicine is successfully using Sea Cucumber to treat Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and connective tissue disorders. Australia has approved the use of sea cucumber as an over-the-counter treatment for arthritis and the Japanese have a patent using sea cucumber chondroitin sulfate for HIV therapy.
Beche de Mer (Sea Cucumber) is a marine animal related to starfish and sea urchins containing mucopolysaccharides, chondroitins, protein, vitamins A & C, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, sodium, and carbohydrates. The nutrient content of sea cucumbers is extremely broad, and total identification of each innate constituent will probably never be established. The University of Queensland Centre for Drug Design conducted a series of chromotographs that displayed "an enormous number of compounds". Some of the compounds identified unique to the animal kingdom include two types of triterpenoidal oligoglycosides, one type occurring with a sulfate group and the other without. Molecules of this general classification are abundant in the plant kingdom, but are quite rare among animal tissues. Other compounds found in abundance include analogues of monosaccharide structure and analogues of sulfated mucopolysaccharide configuration.
Sea Cucumber has shown an ability to balance prostaglandins, which regulate the inflammatory process. Sea cucumber has a cartilaginous body that serves as a rich source of mucopolysaccharides; mainly chondroitin sulfate, known for its ability to reduce arthritis pain. As little as 3 grams per day of the dried sea cucumber has been helpful in reducing arthralgia (joint problems). Chondroitin's action is similar to that of glucosamine sulfate, the main building block of chondroitin.
Beche-de-Mer
Chondroitin building blocks can be repeated numerous times. This is basically a glucose molecule (left portion) and glucosamine molecule (right portion), which has been sulfated (O3S, at the top). Long-chain sulfated polysaccharides, like chondroitin, also inhibit viruses.
Russian, Japanese, and Chinese studies reveal that sea cucumbers contain saponins (triterpene glycosides). These compounds are structure similar to the active constituents of ginseng, ganoderma, and other famous tonic herbs. Pharmacology studies indicate anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties of the sea cucumber saponins.
One of the sea cucumber saponins, representative of the structures commonly found in these organisms.
In addition, the sea cucumber oil contains two anti-inflammatory fractions. One fraction has fatty acids characteristic of those found in fish; they can be used as a substitute for fish oil in reducing inflammatory byproducts of fat metabolism, and to nourish the brain and heart. The main compounds of interest in fish oil are EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid also found in sea cucumber, and DHA (docosahaenoic acid), unique to fish:
sea cucumber
sea cucumber
Stereochemical representations of EPA (left) and DHA (right). The double bond locations are different, causing a different bending of the structures.
The other oil fraction is a mixture of branched chain fatty acids, mainly 12-MTA (methyltetradecanoic acid). This compound, and the more widely studied variant, 13-MTA, are potent inhibitors of the 5-LOX (lypoxygenase) enzyme system. 5-LOX inhibitors are one of the key areas of modern drug development, with plans evolving to use the compounds in treatment of asthma, ulcerative colitis, and arthritis. In addition, cancer-inhibiting effects have been observed in preliminary studies with prostate cancer cell lines and other human cancer cells These fatty acids are thought to be produced by bacteria that live within the sea cucumbers; they are also produced by bacteria in other marine organisms, such as sponges and tunicates.
sea cucumber
Sample branched chain fatty acid found in sea organisms. The central chain is a simple carbohydrate. These long chains can interact with cell membranes.
_____________________________
P.S. Sea cucumbers are also essential to a healthy reef – they’re like the vacuum cleaners of the reef. For the first time last year, Belize allowed harvesting of sea cucumbers, despite the fact that Fisheries has no idea of how many we have, so don’t know what a sustainable harvest would be. Despite that lack of knowledge, a number of sea cucumber fishing licenses have been issued by Fisheries.
They grow VERY slowly and efforts to farm them have been unsuccessful because of their extremely slow growth.
Also, not all sea cucumbers are created equal. The kind we have in Belize are not the kind that are highly prized for their aphrodisiac qualities.
In addition, the alternate name for sea cucumbers is NOT beche de mer. Beche de mer is something you make from cucumbers. Basically, you dry out the skin, which is then used as a casing for stuffing of other seafoods, including the body of the sea cucumber.
Efforts in Belize centered in Sarteneja to produce beche de mer failed when the skin could not be dried properly. The largest quantity of sea cucumbers harvested in Belize are now sold to Mexico. Fishermen harvest them (they’re very easy to pick up with a hook stick) and drop them into shrimp bags. When a bag is full, it’s tied off and left in the sea off Big Creek until a truck from Mexico arrives to pick up the bags. (At least that was what was happening late in 2010.)
If you’ve ever eaten “Happy Family” at an Asian restaurant, you’ve probably eaten sea cucumber.
Belize governments continue to practice monopolies and exclusion of wider private enterprises.
On 4/13/2011 4:23 PM, Lan Sluder wrote:
> Ambergris Brewing says that after receiving clearance from the Bureau of Standards and Department of the Environment for a microbrew/brewpub operation in San Pedro it has now been denied a permit by Belize Customs. The reason given: It would "open the floodgates on similar and other unique business ventures."
>
> Belize certainly doesn't need any more unique business ventures, does it?
the spirit of Barry Bowen lives on!!!
___________________________________
ONE OF THE RECURRING COMPLAINTS IN BELIZE, ARE THE EXCLUSION OF COMPETITIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETITION IN BUSINESS. These are done through monopolies or the manipulation of the permiting process through the use of different government departments. POLITICS like in the 1870 and 1890 period durig the infamous era of the ROBBER BARONS, with the GOULDS, the Vanderbilts, the ASTORS, and other infamous persons of that early era in the USA industrial development, was based on bribery, party donations to individual politicians, or high civil servants, or the party campaign chests. Elections were often bought and sold. This resulted in cyclical market and bank failures, economic depressions and recessions, in which the TREASURY REVENUES were plundered to build railroads owned by Robber Barons paid for by tax dollars, or to rescue favorite banks in the USA history. It also concentrated wealth into the hands of a smaller and smaller percentage of the overall population. It resulted in the establishment of a huge below poverty class and an increase of crime. This early history of the USA industrial era of the late 1800´s is now being experienced over the last forty years in the nation of small Belize as we also grow and the ties between industry and politicians corrupt the process of building a wealthy middle class nation.
_________________________________
P.S. There is an excellent autobiographical fiction novel, written by Clay Pendleton, a reporter for the Hearst newspapers at the time of the CUBAN INVASION, covering the period from the end of the US Civil War to the early 1900´s. The written manuscript was written by Clay and his wife Genevieve who are live characters in this novel. Clay died in 1915 and Genevieve died in 1925. They were participants during most of this era. The manuscript was locked in the vault at Bowood along with other historical papers of the Stapleton family. Since it involved past USA Presidents still then alive, Civil War generals, the many Robber Baron speculators, like Jay Gould who became the biggest speculator billionaire of the late 1800´s, the manuscript was not presented until 1985, after all participants and their immediate descendants were dead. The title is THE SPOILS OF WAR, authored by Thomas Fleming.
For any student in Belize wanting to understand the development of fragile small Belize as a nation, this is a MUST read, to teach you about two party politics, idealism, patriotism in an unfettered capitalist society without rules, such as Belize is today. We are literally living through the same political and social changes experienced in this novel and reading it will blow your mind, on how they have come about and where we are going as a nation. Will the knowledge help in our future? Unlikely! GREED overcomes all things as it did then in the early USA and as it is doing now in Belize.
The novel is available at the Santa Elena Public Library in the Cayo District in paperback called THE SPOILS OF WAR.
> Ambergris Brewing says that after receiving clearance from the Bureau of Standards and Department of the Environment for a microbrew/brewpub operation in San Pedro it has now been denied a permit by Belize Customs. The reason given: It would "open the floodgates on similar and other unique business ventures."
>
> Belize certainly doesn't need any more unique business ventures, does it?
the spirit of Barry Bowen lives on!!!
___________________________________
ONE OF THE RECURRING COMPLAINTS IN BELIZE, ARE THE EXCLUSION OF COMPETITIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETITION IN BUSINESS. These are done through monopolies or the manipulation of the permiting process through the use of different government departments. POLITICS like in the 1870 and 1890 period durig the infamous era of the ROBBER BARONS, with the GOULDS, the Vanderbilts, the ASTORS, and other infamous persons of that early era in the USA industrial development, was based on bribery, party donations to individual politicians, or high civil servants, or the party campaign chests. Elections were often bought and sold. This resulted in cyclical market and bank failures, economic depressions and recessions, in which the TREASURY REVENUES were plundered to build railroads owned by Robber Barons paid for by tax dollars, or to rescue favorite banks in the USA history. It also concentrated wealth into the hands of a smaller and smaller percentage of the overall population. It resulted in the establishment of a huge below poverty class and an increase of crime. This early history of the USA industrial era of the late 1800´s is now being experienced over the last forty years in the nation of small Belize as we also grow and the ties between industry and politicians corrupt the process of building a wealthy middle class nation.
_________________________________
P.S. There is an excellent autobiographical fiction novel, written by Clay Pendleton, a reporter for the Hearst newspapers at the time of the CUBAN INVASION, covering the period from the end of the US Civil War to the early 1900´s. The written manuscript was written by Clay and his wife Genevieve who are live characters in this novel. Clay died in 1915 and Genevieve died in 1925. They were participants during most of this era. The manuscript was locked in the vault at Bowood along with other historical papers of the Stapleton family. Since it involved past USA Presidents still then alive, Civil War generals, the many Robber Baron speculators, like Jay Gould who became the biggest speculator billionaire of the late 1800´s, the manuscript was not presented until 1985, after all participants and their immediate descendants were dead. The title is THE SPOILS OF WAR, authored by Thomas Fleming.
For any student in Belize wanting to understand the development of fragile small Belize as a nation, this is a MUST read, to teach you about two party politics, idealism, patriotism in an unfettered capitalist society without rules, such as Belize is today. We are literally living through the same political and social changes experienced in this novel and reading it will blow your mind, on how they have come about and where we are going as a nation. Will the knowledge help in our future? Unlikely! GREED overcomes all things as it did then in the early USA and as it is doing now in Belize.
The novel is available at the Santa Elena Public Library in the Cayo District in paperback called THE SPOILS OF WAR.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
ECONOMIC CHANGES GOING ON IN BELIZE !
BELIZE SALARIED CIVIL SERVANTS TRY TO GRAPPLE WITH THE PROBLEM OF TEACHING OUR NEW GENERATION GROWING UP, HOW TO GO INTO ENTREPRENEURIAL TRADE.
by Ray Auxillou, April, 2011.
The emphasis in Belize these days is to fit education and other government run programs in equipping a new generation of young people, to grasp the opportunities in business with trade. Our most likely markets are the Yucatan Peninsular of Mexico, our neighbor Guatemala and also Salvador. Between these three we have a ready market of around 40 million people. Unlike our small domestic market of 313,000 population.
While educated people with a tendency to go for the security of a government salary are dubious teachers of entrepreneurial skills and the need to take risk, save money to raise capital, or the most misunderstood concept of selling shares for cash to invest in an enterprise, this is basically the best we can do, to jump start, or pull our economy out of the doldrums of colonial exploitation thinking. The change is coming slowly. Very slowly, and we have a breather of about 7 to 10 years, thanks to the discovery of oil in small quantities in small ponds under our ground. It is not enough money coming from oil to actually put Belize on a solid economic footing, but it does give us some relief in financing the necessary infra-structure and expansion and everybody HOPES, improve the capability of government services to the public, to provide an economic trade enabling environment. The civil servants overwhelmed in many cases by their case and work loads, complicated by the greed of those who enter politics to feed off the tax revenue trough, like pigs rooting in a mud puddle, have a tough job ahead of them. Much harder than any before tackled by our tiny populated country.
Education levels have been rising as never before in Belize. Giving us a labor pool of thinking people, who have at least learned the basics of how to think, reason and do logical reasoning. They now after graduation can start to learn the real world of economics and trade. Education only teaches you how to go about real learning by trial and error.
I have always in my life found Belizeans very sharp about learning FROM EXAMPLE. You show anybody how to make money, they will copy you in a flash. COPY TIME FOR A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS IDEA IS USUALLY 18 MONTHS. In the past, this created problems because our local market was too small to allow so much competition in the economic realm. However, the Foreign Affairs Department is starting itself, to learn the necessities of trade, treaties and other international obligations going with exporting things from Belize. Progress has been attained with a Partial Scope Agreement with Guatemala and recently as last week, with Salvador. We also have invitations to trade with the Yucatan Peninsular supplying basic food goods for their tourist trade along the Maya Riveria. As we start to access markets in the Yucatan, Guatemala and Salvador, our export capability spillover could end up in the Arabian Gulf, China, or even India. There are endless permutations and opportunites for our small capacity to produce. Whatever we produce is going to be a NICHE product, based on BRAND NAME, REPUTATION and as a RARE, GOURMET, EXOTIC, COMMODITY, that we will sell to the outside world. We cannot compete otherwise with mass production of large manufacturing capacities of big scale capital, or cheap labor of Asian countries.
The future is bright for our new generation of young people. We need some starter immigrants though, to come into Belize and start small businesses, as examples, so those without education can copy them. Unfortunately, the educated young people mostly do not wish to go into trade, but would rather have the security of a government salary. Sad to say, this has been the lesson learned by many countries, including the USA, and Canada to my knowledge, that it is through FOREIGN immigration INTO BELIZE, that we will find most of our future successful incubator start up entrepreneurs. I hope this lesson is not lost on our future politicians and civil servant types?
by Ray Auxillou, April, 2011.
The emphasis in Belize these days is to fit education and other government run programs in equipping a new generation of young people, to grasp the opportunities in business with trade. Our most likely markets are the Yucatan Peninsular of Mexico, our neighbor Guatemala and also Salvador. Between these three we have a ready market of around 40 million people. Unlike our small domestic market of 313,000 population.
While educated people with a tendency to go for the security of a government salary are dubious teachers of entrepreneurial skills and the need to take risk, save money to raise capital, or the most misunderstood concept of selling shares for cash to invest in an enterprise, this is basically the best we can do, to jump start, or pull our economy out of the doldrums of colonial exploitation thinking. The change is coming slowly. Very slowly, and we have a breather of about 7 to 10 years, thanks to the discovery of oil in small quantities in small ponds under our ground. It is not enough money coming from oil to actually put Belize on a solid economic footing, but it does give us some relief in financing the necessary infra-structure and expansion and everybody HOPES, improve the capability of government services to the public, to provide an economic trade enabling environment. The civil servants overwhelmed in many cases by their case and work loads, complicated by the greed of those who enter politics to feed off the tax revenue trough, like pigs rooting in a mud puddle, have a tough job ahead of them. Much harder than any before tackled by our tiny populated country.
Education levels have been rising as never before in Belize. Giving us a labor pool of thinking people, who have at least learned the basics of how to think, reason and do logical reasoning. They now after graduation can start to learn the real world of economics and trade. Education only teaches you how to go about real learning by trial and error.
I have always in my life found Belizeans very sharp about learning FROM EXAMPLE. You show anybody how to make money, they will copy you in a flash. COPY TIME FOR A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS IDEA IS USUALLY 18 MONTHS. In the past, this created problems because our local market was too small to allow so much competition in the economic realm. However, the Foreign Affairs Department is starting itself, to learn the necessities of trade, treaties and other international obligations going with exporting things from Belize. Progress has been attained with a Partial Scope Agreement with Guatemala and recently as last week, with Salvador. We also have invitations to trade with the Yucatan Peninsular supplying basic food goods for their tourist trade along the Maya Riveria. As we start to access markets in the Yucatan, Guatemala and Salvador, our export capability spillover could end up in the Arabian Gulf, China, or even India. There are endless permutations and opportunites for our small capacity to produce. Whatever we produce is going to be a NICHE product, based on BRAND NAME, REPUTATION and as a RARE, GOURMET, EXOTIC, COMMODITY, that we will sell to the outside world. We cannot compete otherwise with mass production of large manufacturing capacities of big scale capital, or cheap labor of Asian countries.
The future is bright for our new generation of young people. We need some starter immigrants though, to come into Belize and start small businesses, as examples, so those without education can copy them. Unfortunately, the educated young people mostly do not wish to go into trade, but would rather have the security of a government salary. Sad to say, this has been the lesson learned by many countries, including the USA, and Canada to my knowledge, that it is through FOREIGN immigration INTO BELIZE, that we will find most of our future successful incubator start up entrepreneurs. I hope this lesson is not lost on our future politicians and civil servant types?
Saturday, April 9, 2011
UDP REPORT CARD JUMPS 1 POINT IN BELIZE TO 59%
UDP GOVERNMENT JUMPS TO 59% APPROVAL RATING IN APRIL.
Foreign Minister Hubert Elrington, earns 1 point for government UDP report card.
REASON? For signing a PARTIAL ECONOMIC TRADE AGREEMENT WITH SALVADOR.
Making progress to open their 12 million market to our products, whenever we produce any.
Foreign Minister Hubert Elrington, earns 1 point for government UDP report card.
REASON? For signing a PARTIAL ECONOMIC TRADE AGREEMENT WITH SALVADOR.
Making progress to open their 12 million market to our products, whenever we produce any.
Belize-Salvador PARTIAL SCOPE AGREEMENT GAINS 1 POINT FOR UDP GOVERNMENT
Foreign Minister Hubert Elrington, earns 1 point for government UDP report card.
REASON? For signing a PARTIAL ECONOMIC TRADE AGREEMENT WITH SALVADOR.
Making progress to open their 12 million market to our products, whenever we produce any.
________________________________________
BREAKING NEWS! The Partial Scope Trade Agreement with Salvador is a work in progress and not yet completed, as of April 15, 2011.
REASON? For signing a PARTIAL ECONOMIC TRADE AGREEMENT WITH SALVADOR.
Making progress to open their 12 million market to our products, whenever we produce any.
________________________________________
BREAKING NEWS! The Partial Scope Trade Agreement with Salvador is a work in progress and not yet completed, as of April 15, 2011.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Belize - inflamed ear drum and mystery irritant.
Inflamed ear drum and mystery irritant.
Old Age complaints! ( Bunch of old Belizeans compare their illnesses. )
I´ve had four months of medical troubles. Got it narrowed down to an ear drum inflammation and swollen muscles under the ear. Been to 9 doctors. 3 GP´s, 2 dental surgeons, 1 ENT specialist, etc. Had cat scans, ultra sound, couple of x rays. Been treated for bacterial infections by three types of antibiotics, yeast infections, fungus infections, ear drops, sinus cleaners like Benadryl. You name it I´ve tried it. Been to Caye Caulker for 3 days, swimming. No effect on the ear when diving and the salt should have cured anything if there was something to cure? Bone arthritis maybe?
Cant decide which comes first, the ear drum inflammation, or the swollen muscle below and beside the ear. All MD´s are sure there is no infection, just inflammation. But can´t find the irritant. Had my saliva glands pricked and manipulated for blockages and all that stuff.
I use Neuro something other pill, which is a combination of a pain killer that blocks the brain and has a muscle relaxant as well, plus some B vitamins. It works for a good four hours and I have a couple of hours of medium pain and couple of hours of severe pain. It´s the only pill that works. Tried IBOPROFUN and other stuff. Even the pain killer part by itself, which does not work as the ear drum gets inflamed, then messes up the eustachean tube and gives me sore throat, which in turn swells the tendons and muscles on the neck and side of face. After that, you get the excruciating suicide pain, when the swelling presses on the trigeminal nerve. I´ve even looked a few times at cyanide, hanging, nitrogen as ways to quit this lousy quality of life. The pill I am using though gets me through the day, at the rate of 3 to 4 pills per 24 hours. Just found out my regular drug store no longer has any, I´ve used them all up. On my last pill this morning, got to trade the financial markets early and then head for the drugstores and try to get refills.
Plan to see the ENT again, whenever she comes out Cayo way from Belize City. Have a loose lower jaw on that side socket ( tmj ) and one dentist talked me into getting those plates with teeth to fill the gaps and align the jaw, but I´ve been on soft liquid food for six weeks, no chewing and no change at all. Doubt the plates are going to help when I get them this week. There is an irritant somewhere?
The question is at 73 years of age, should one just say Sayonara! With a lousy pain filled quality of life? If so, where is Dr. Korvekian when you need him? ( grin ) I think as long as I can get these pills that work for six hours, I´ll keep trying though.
Kind of want to see the challenge of the financial markets trading through though. Gustavo and I went partners and we each put up $5000 usa to trade. Got the account working April 1st, 2011, but no trade signals yet worth taking with real money. Prior to this, in four months, from Dec to end of March, we made in a funny money trading account 197% on initial capital of $5000. Before that a year of playing with spread trading met failure. Now we are on the cusp of REAL MONEY TRADING, it is a challenge to see if we can do this in reality. ( The Auxillou Family Hedge Fund ) But a life filled with pain, is not worth it. So long as I can control it with meds, OKAAAY!
--- On Wed, 4/6/11, Kobuh wrote:
From: Kobuh
Subject: Re: Bz-Culture: Planning For the Future
To: belize-technical-group@googlegroups.com, "Belize Culture", "Belize Culture"
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 8:16 PM
Bwai,
Ah tel yuh nuh; I have osteo arthritis and my shoulder and hip give me heck. My doc tells me don't come back until I'm ready for a shoulder replacement, been through the shots, therapy, whole bit but not ready to have parts removed yet.
Man, I'm just not ready for this next chapter; I have trimmed down, eat better, and work out regularly now.
Bze Kobuh,
The monkeys are running the zoo
From: Alvaro Rosado
To: belize-technical-group@googlegroups.com; Belize Culture; Belize Culture
Sent: Wed, April 6, 2011 4:25:57 PM
Subject: Bz-Culture: Planning For the Future
I am beginning to feel some aches in some body parts I did not realize existed before so I am exploring possible alternatives for the future. 20 acred gentlemans farm for sale.
Old Age complaints! ( Bunch of old Belizeans compare their illnesses. )
I´ve had four months of medical troubles. Got it narrowed down to an ear drum inflammation and swollen muscles under the ear. Been to 9 doctors. 3 GP´s, 2 dental surgeons, 1 ENT specialist, etc. Had cat scans, ultra sound, couple of x rays. Been treated for bacterial infections by three types of antibiotics, yeast infections, fungus infections, ear drops, sinus cleaners like Benadryl. You name it I´ve tried it. Been to Caye Caulker for 3 days, swimming. No effect on the ear when diving and the salt should have cured anything if there was something to cure? Bone arthritis maybe?
Cant decide which comes first, the ear drum inflammation, or the swollen muscle below and beside the ear. All MD´s are sure there is no infection, just inflammation. But can´t find the irritant. Had my saliva glands pricked and manipulated for blockages and all that stuff.
I use Neuro something other pill, which is a combination of a pain killer that blocks the brain and has a muscle relaxant as well, plus some B vitamins. It works for a good four hours and I have a couple of hours of medium pain and couple of hours of severe pain. It´s the only pill that works. Tried IBOPROFUN and other stuff. Even the pain killer part by itself, which does not work as the ear drum gets inflamed, then messes up the eustachean tube and gives me sore throat, which in turn swells the tendons and muscles on the neck and side of face. After that, you get the excruciating suicide pain, when the swelling presses on the trigeminal nerve. I´ve even looked a few times at cyanide, hanging, nitrogen as ways to quit this lousy quality of life. The pill I am using though gets me through the day, at the rate of 3 to 4 pills per 24 hours. Just found out my regular drug store no longer has any, I´ve used them all up. On my last pill this morning, got to trade the financial markets early and then head for the drugstores and try to get refills.
Plan to see the ENT again, whenever she comes out Cayo way from Belize City. Have a loose lower jaw on that side socket ( tmj ) and one dentist talked me into getting those plates with teeth to fill the gaps and align the jaw, but I´ve been on soft liquid food for six weeks, no chewing and no change at all. Doubt the plates are going to help when I get them this week. There is an irritant somewhere?
The question is at 73 years of age, should one just say Sayonara! With a lousy pain filled quality of life? If so, where is Dr. Korvekian when you need him? ( grin ) I think as long as I can get these pills that work for six hours, I´ll keep trying though.
Kind of want to see the challenge of the financial markets trading through though. Gustavo and I went partners and we each put up $5000 usa to trade. Got the account working April 1st, 2011, but no trade signals yet worth taking with real money. Prior to this, in four months, from Dec to end of March, we made in a funny money trading account 197% on initial capital of $5000. Before that a year of playing with spread trading met failure. Now we are on the cusp of REAL MONEY TRADING, it is a challenge to see if we can do this in reality. ( The Auxillou Family Hedge Fund ) But a life filled with pain, is not worth it. So long as I can control it with meds, OKAAAY!
--- On Wed, 4/6/11, Kobuh
From: Kobuh
Subject: Re: Bz-Culture: Planning For the Future
To: belize-technical-group@googlegroups.com, "Belize Culture"
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 8:16 PM
Bwai,
Ah tel yuh nuh; I have osteo arthritis and my shoulder and hip give me heck. My doc tells me don't come back until I'm ready for a shoulder replacement, been through the shots, therapy, whole bit but not ready to have parts removed yet.
Man, I'm just not ready for this next chapter; I have trimmed down, eat better, and work out regularly now.
Bze Kobuh,
The monkeys are running the zoo
From: Alvaro Rosado
To: belize-technical-group@googlegroups.com; Belize Culture
Sent: Wed, April 6, 2011 4:25:57 PM
Subject: Bz-Culture: Planning For the Future
I am beginning to feel some aches in some body parts I did not realize existed before so I am exploring possible alternatives for the future. 20 acred gentlemans farm for sale.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
BELIZE CENSUS POPULATION NUMBERS
Population of the country of Belize 312,971 census.
Cayo District population 36,455 people.
Belize District popùlation 89,247
Corozal District population 40,324
Orange Walk District population 45,419
Stann Creek District population 32,166
Toledo District population 30,538
I would guess the Toledo District is the fastest growing district?
Cayo District population 36,455 people.
Belize District popùlation 89,247
Corozal District population 40,324
Orange Walk District population 45,419
Stann Creek District population 32,166
Toledo District population 30,538
I would guess the Toledo District is the fastest growing district?
BELIZE - TRIP ADVISOR BEING USED MORE AND MORE BY BROKE TOURISTS, THREATENING BAD PUBLICITY IF YOU DON´T GIVE THEM A REFUND.
The NEW TRIP ADVISOR SCAM, by savvy tourist crooks, traveling around the world, cheap as they can, collecting REFUNDS, if they complain and threaten loud enough. The problem is growing larger year by year.
BELIZE - LIFE IN A BANANA REPUBLIC (BLOG )
IN MY OPINION. The life laughs of a Third World woman from Belize.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
CAYE CAULKER- TRIP ADVISOR USED AS A WEAPON BY BAD TOURISTS
I operated a successful Backpackers Hotel business for a dozen years up until I decided that it was no longer fun when the "Trip Advisor threatening type" started showing up. These are the types of tourists that depend on refunds to continue their travels since they really don't want to go home, get a real job again or simply have found out that if you threaten that you will write up bad reviews about the establishment, your chances of a refund is generally good.
A Trip Advisor threat now-a-days is used like a gun pointed at your head!
As of late, I am no longer calm & polite to some of my guests & adopted a ZERO tolerance for bullshit a few years ago. Trip Advisor particular type of threat or any other for that matter, but this is the common one used. In the end, the minute they would threaten to write negative stuff, I would tell them quickly where they could shove their Trip Advisor complaints and sometimes...for good measure.....I would add spice to the complaint they are definitely going to write now...by screaming and yelling at them or throwing them out of my hotel cold turkey - so that their remarks can maybe at least be colorful.
After the first decade of the customer always being right attitude, something snapped in me when I realized how awful, threatening, insulting and in your face some tourists can be. I immediately started to show them the same hospitality.
The second decade of my business found me getting angry at the first sign of a complaint from anyone. At this point, I would just be plain rude and offer them a snide remark, whether their complaint was legit or not. I had become bored of complaints - because of all the non-legit ones that are just plain bogus. I clumped them all into one mental blocked file.
I would tell them to put their complaints into the suggestion box and point to the garbage can at my feet.
Slowly it dawned on me that I had to get out of the business I was in, I couldn't put up with another ignorant tourist another day, just anticipating that thought made it difficult to get out of bed and I lost the zest to deal with them. I'm not out of Tourism all-together, just "retreating to reload" like Sara Palin says.
In my mind, to survive as business owner without allowing these trifiling tourists to drive me insane, to do the best I can, I had to learn to cherish the good tourists who truly understood the hard work you have put into trying to make their stay as pleasant for them, those who offered kind words and praise, & to ignore the bad guests who would come into a pleasant environment and soon ruin the day, the trip, the vacation, not just for themselves by all their bitching, but for everyone else who was having a good time until they showed up!
From my view, for most tourists, they really don't want to be on vacation with this kind of WHINE, rather some wine & cheese on the dock over sunset, prefering if the complainer would just go bury her head in the sand like an ostrich.
Sometimes the complaints are do dumb, about the most insignificant, trifle or insanely pathetic problem they created for a refund that when I roll my eyes back into the socket so hard after hearing it, I risk going blind.
This type of tourist is mainly a backpacker who is travelling for a year or more and is running low on money or has a low monthly budget but wants to do all the fun things that cost money, & everybody else is doing, thus getting creative & learning how to scheme and scam their way into getting "REFUNDS" or free trips and hotel stays.
In the end, I ran the hotel with with a complete indifferent - or - angry attitude towards ANY negativity from tourists. In some instances, I stopped a hair short of wanting to ring a neck or two. Those who were lucky heard my potty mouth curse the biggest of bad words at the top of my lungs simultaneously throwing the left overs of their suitcase and possessions out the gate. The others that stayed nevertheless, had a good time. I'm mad, I'm rabid and I'm opinionated but I could also be the best hostess you ever had...it really depends on the travellers attitude towards their hosts.
There are good and bad business owners & staff, exactly as there are good and bad tourists!
When is their going to be a website "TOURIST ADVISOR" where business owners can warn or post a negative comment about a scheming or conniving tourist willing to use Trip Advisor threats to continue their crimes and be abusive.
I would love to be able to warn my business friends up the Mayan Riviera Coast about a potentially horrible, thieving tourist coming their way.
ATTN: Cozumel Dive Shops
Elizabeth McDonald just left Caye Caulker and is going your way, planning to dive with you - don't take her out!! When she gets back from the trip she will ruin your day, ruin your other divers day by camping at your shop complaining non-stop, she will demand a refund while screaming that she will write you up negatively on Trip Advisor because that soda you offered her did not have the right amount of ice which for example- left her dehydrated all day or some CRAP like that, and unable to enjoy her dive, and therefore you will owe her a full refund of her dive trip!
SPARE yourself the grief & agony buddy!
So Frenchies Diving had such day yesterday with such a tourist as I just described.
Scenario: Divers all head out to the Blue Hole, a deep dive site. 130 ft is the depth you have to go to see the stalagtites and stalagmites in the Blue Hole otherwise you stare at a wall and the dark blue Abyss.
In other words, in a dive briefing, you are told that because of the depth, it is a short dive - 1o minutes and you are to try and follow the Dive Masters and diver's down in the first 3 minutes. IF you cannot equalize after 3 minutes, you should abandon the deep dive and stay closer to the surface with your other Dive Master there to assist you in just such an event (which by the way happens often - divers not being able to equalize I mean) Since there is no time for the others to wait around the deep burning precious air waiting until you can equalize, the other divers must continue the dive without you. This is just the rules of this diving game and the rules are for the safety of ALL the divers.
So little Ms. Bitchy couldn't equalize and had to abort her dive. Jose, one of the best DiveMasters at Frenchies Diving with consistently good reviews, took her back to the boat safely, and now she is willing to tarnish his reputation on Trip Advisor due to NO FAULT of his own and in fact, did the right thing not forceing her to go down and burst an ear drum or worse. The other Dive Master's continued to lead the rest of divers down to 130 ft. but by now, safely on the boat, Ms. Bitchy is a raving Bitch! Boo Hoo Hoo....she didn't get to go all the way down in the Blue Hole and now it's the Dive Master's fault! It's Frenchies Diving fault! In fact, it's probably the whole Universe's fault! BooHooHo she bitches for the rest of the day!
PLOOP! Ms. Bitchy's boyfriend aborts his dive on his own accord and follows them back to the surface & boat. He chose to do so, perhaps out of worry for her, but he chose to do so and abandon his dive, she was in safe hands.
The rest of the day went well for all others on board!
Ms. Bitchy did her other two dives just fine in the sparkling crystal clear waters of Belize,
- watched the spectacular colorful wonders of the underwater life of the second largest Barrier Reef in the world.
-She ate a wonderful home-made Belizean lunch, prepared for the divers with all the Belizean spices blended in to perfection.
The weather was awesome and one of the most beautiful days of the year.
-Her and her boyfriend exhorbitant Reserve Park Entrance Fee was paid at the Half Moon Caye Island where they stopped for lunch which is included in their dive price.
-They enjoyed the remote island of Lighthouse Reef, stopped for lunch break took a walk around the pristine isle and saw the rare Booby Birds nesting.
- The best part, Frenchies Diving is going to pay the $2000 fuel bill for the long haul out there so you can have a good day island hopping the outer cayes & diving.
FASTFORWARD - Back at the Dive Shop. The all day dive trip is over and now they have returned to the Dive Shop. Ms. Bitchy and her boyfriend begin to demand a full refund of their dive trip day because she wanted to dive the Blue Hole dive in particular, since she could not equalize past 5 ft. in the Blue Hole (no one's fault but her own) and the divers continued the dive without her, SHE WANTS A REFUND since her trip was ruined!
WELL I BE DAMNED!!!
OH! Her boyfriend wants a refund too because he willingly abandoned the dive himself, so he didn't see the stalagtites or stalagmites either!
Staff: "We only offer refunds if our equipment is faulty or we cancel due to bad weather or some other fault of our own but not because you couldn't equalize, you got sunburned or seasick or the waves scare you and they are bigger than you hae ever seen etc.... that is the chance you take when you sign up to dive, we complied with our end of the bargain and all the other divers had a wonderful time as the are attesting to right now."
Frenchies Diving Shop kept their position of No Refund for asanine demands, as they should. They are in the right and incurred a lot of expense to have these two on board. If Frenchies Diving wants to get petty or technical, she did dive the Blue Hole, she was down in it up to 5ft to 15 ft submerged. The rest is up to her skills as a diver, she is certified.
So they camped out at the Dive Shop and bitched and moaned FOR HOURS to other potential dives who came to book a trip, to the ones on board; to all the staff, to whoever would listen.
Frenchies Diving staff remained patient in harboring this abuse at it's doorstep.
So they would not leave until their demands were met and they made sure to insult all the "Idiot Locals" around, at least half a dozen of them and so forth it went on into the late until AquaBoy came home for a half hour because he said he did not know what to do with these people and they had become so annoying to everyone on purpose, he couldn't even stand being around his own place of business. After a half hour at home AquaBoy goes back to the Dive Shop and rings me.
Ring!...Ring..! Ring..! Aquaboy: "They are still here and they are still bitching! I've just told them to go tell the Police at the Station since everyone else here has heard it non-stop.
Oh wait!....I think I finally got thru to them, I can see them walking down the dock now. Peace at last!"
The story doesn't end there. They really went to the Police Station to complain.
Ring..! Ring....! Ring....!
AQUABOY: "I see the tourists coming back up the street with a Police, this is going to be a long afternoon, I might be home later than planned!"
So the police come to the Shop and tell AquaBoy the tourists are complaining about being abandoned in the Blue Hole on their dive and want a refund. AquaBoy explains to the Police that "abandon" means to him that they were left there accidentally or intentionally - this was never the case. He then has to explain to the Police that they were at no time "abandoned" since a Dive Master had made sure she went back to the surface safely and was in the boat waiting for the other divers to surface. He also tells them that he delivered to the tourists what he offered, a Dive Day Trip to the Blue Hole and surrounding areas, everything else went according to plan, all other customers are more than satisfied with the trip and only the woman who couldn't equalize has a problem with the trip....well...and now her boyfriend too as he has joined the fight.
The Policeman listens confused. Then he is helpful, serious, negotiator, bounded by law to try and make peace....
POLICE: If you wont give her a refund, she wants you to take them for FREE tomorrow so she can do her dive in the Blue Hole as she desires.
AQUABOY: So what happens if she can't equalize tomorrow again...do I have to take her out every single day until she can equalize......who is going to pay the high park fees, the lunch, the gasoline for their part of the trip....r u kidding me....no way - out of the question!
Also Mr. Officer, can you kindly escort these people away from here before I really do something strange like offer them a FREE DIVE - OFF-MY-DOCK!!!!
And so they left.
__________________________________
THE TRIP ADVISOR THREAT REFUND SCAM!
I´m 73 years old now, but my grown children and grandchildren are in the tourist business. The above story is an old one. 40 years ago, it was the TRAVELLERS CHEQUE SCAM. Tourists going around the world on the cheap, would pay for their hotel and meals, barrier reef scuba dives with travellers cheques and sometimes change them for cash. When they arrived in the next country to Belize, either Mexico, or Guatemala, they would report their TRAVELLERS CHEQUES stolen and get refunds. By the time our travellers cheques entered the banking system and went to settlement, it would be anywhere from 30 days to 60 days later and the travellers cheque companies would not pay off their travellers cheques and our bank in turn deducted it from our account. We eventually learned to refuse to honor or cash travellers cheques.
This is my daughter´s generation and the latest scam fits the times and the internet. TRAVEL ADVISOR and threat of a bad report on TRAVEL ADVISOR is used to demand a REFUND on some pretext of bad service by tourist operators, and you can trace the modus operendi down the coast of Belize, where the scam is done on San Pedro, Caye Caulker, inland hotels and Placentia. They find a fault, and then make such a public nuisance about it, the unsophisticated tourist operator, will sometimes refund their cash, to enable them to continue travelling around the world.
Probably be a good idea to take names, nationalities and report them on TRIP ADVISOR warning people down the tourist routes, that the scam artists are coming with their way with their refund racket.
BELIZE - LIFE IN A BANANA REPUBLIC (BLOG )
IN MY OPINION. The life laughs of a Third World woman from Belize.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
CAYE CAULKER- TRIP ADVISOR USED AS A WEAPON BY BAD TOURISTS
I operated a successful Backpackers Hotel business for a dozen years up until I decided that it was no longer fun when the "Trip Advisor threatening type" started showing up. These are the types of tourists that depend on refunds to continue their travels since they really don't want to go home, get a real job again or simply have found out that if you threaten that you will write up bad reviews about the establishment, your chances of a refund is generally good.
A Trip Advisor threat now-a-days is used like a gun pointed at your head!
As of late, I am no longer calm & polite to some of my guests & adopted a ZERO tolerance for bullshit a few years ago. Trip Advisor particular type of threat or any other for that matter, but this is the common one used. In the end, the minute they would threaten to write negative stuff, I would tell them quickly where they could shove their Trip Advisor complaints and sometimes...for good measure.....I would add spice to the complaint they are definitely going to write now...by screaming and yelling at them or throwing them out of my hotel cold turkey - so that their remarks can maybe at least be colorful.
After the first decade of the customer always being right attitude, something snapped in me when I realized how awful, threatening, insulting and in your face some tourists can be. I immediately started to show them the same hospitality.
The second decade of my business found me getting angry at the first sign of a complaint from anyone. At this point, I would just be plain rude and offer them a snide remark, whether their complaint was legit or not. I had become bored of complaints - because of all the non-legit ones that are just plain bogus. I clumped them all into one mental blocked file.
I would tell them to put their complaints into the suggestion box and point to the garbage can at my feet.
Slowly it dawned on me that I had to get out of the business I was in, I couldn't put up with another ignorant tourist another day, just anticipating that thought made it difficult to get out of bed and I lost the zest to deal with them. I'm not out of Tourism all-together, just "retreating to reload" like Sara Palin says.
In my mind, to survive as business owner without allowing these trifiling tourists to drive me insane, to do the best I can, I had to learn to cherish the good tourists who truly understood the hard work you have put into trying to make their stay as pleasant for them, those who offered kind words and praise, & to ignore the bad guests who would come into a pleasant environment and soon ruin the day, the trip, the vacation, not just for themselves by all their bitching, but for everyone else who was having a good time until they showed up!
From my view, for most tourists, they really don't want to be on vacation with this kind of WHINE, rather some wine & cheese on the dock over sunset, prefering if the complainer would just go bury her head in the sand like an ostrich.
Sometimes the complaints are do dumb, about the most insignificant, trifle or insanely pathetic problem they created for a refund that when I roll my eyes back into the socket so hard after hearing it, I risk going blind.
This type of tourist is mainly a backpacker who is travelling for a year or more and is running low on money or has a low monthly budget but wants to do all the fun things that cost money, & everybody else is doing, thus getting creative & learning how to scheme and scam their way into getting "REFUNDS" or free trips and hotel stays.
In the end, I ran the hotel with with a complete indifferent - or - angry attitude towards ANY negativity from tourists. In some instances, I stopped a hair short of wanting to ring a neck or two. Those who were lucky heard my potty mouth curse the biggest of bad words at the top of my lungs simultaneously throwing the left overs of their suitcase and possessions out the gate. The others that stayed nevertheless, had a good time. I'm mad, I'm rabid and I'm opinionated but I could also be the best hostess you ever had...it really depends on the travellers attitude towards their hosts.
There are good and bad business owners & staff, exactly as there are good and bad tourists!
When is their going to be a website "TOURIST ADVISOR" where business owners can warn or post a negative comment about a scheming or conniving tourist willing to use Trip Advisor threats to continue their crimes and be abusive.
I would love to be able to warn my business friends up the Mayan Riviera Coast about a potentially horrible, thieving tourist coming their way.
ATTN: Cozumel Dive Shops
Elizabeth McDonald just left Caye Caulker and is going your way, planning to dive with you - don't take her out!! When she gets back from the trip she will ruin your day, ruin your other divers day by camping at your shop complaining non-stop, she will demand a refund while screaming that she will write you up negatively on Trip Advisor because that soda you offered her did not have the right amount of ice which for example- left her dehydrated all day or some CRAP like that, and unable to enjoy her dive, and therefore you will owe her a full refund of her dive trip!
SPARE yourself the grief & agony buddy!
So Frenchies Diving had such day yesterday with such a tourist as I just described.
Scenario: Divers all head out to the Blue Hole, a deep dive site. 130 ft is the depth you have to go to see the stalagtites and stalagmites in the Blue Hole otherwise you stare at a wall and the dark blue Abyss.
In other words, in a dive briefing, you are told that because of the depth, it is a short dive - 1o minutes and you are to try and follow the Dive Masters and diver's down in the first 3 minutes. IF you cannot equalize after 3 minutes, you should abandon the deep dive and stay closer to the surface with your other Dive Master there to assist you in just such an event (which by the way happens often - divers not being able to equalize I mean) Since there is no time for the others to wait around the deep burning precious air waiting until you can equalize, the other divers must continue the dive without you. This is just the rules of this diving game and the rules are for the safety of ALL the divers.
So little Ms. Bitchy couldn't equalize and had to abort her dive. Jose, one of the best DiveMasters at Frenchies Diving with consistently good reviews, took her back to the boat safely, and now she is willing to tarnish his reputation on Trip Advisor due to NO FAULT of his own and in fact, did the right thing not forceing her to go down and burst an ear drum or worse. The other Dive Master's continued to lead the rest of divers down to 130 ft. but by now, safely on the boat, Ms. Bitchy is a raving Bitch! Boo Hoo Hoo....she didn't get to go all the way down in the Blue Hole and now it's the Dive Master's fault! It's Frenchies Diving fault! In fact, it's probably the whole Universe's fault! BooHooHo she bitches for the rest of the day!
PLOOP! Ms. Bitchy's boyfriend aborts his dive on his own accord and follows them back to the surface & boat. He chose to do so, perhaps out of worry for her, but he chose to do so and abandon his dive, she was in safe hands.
The rest of the day went well for all others on board!
Ms. Bitchy did her other two dives just fine in the sparkling crystal clear waters of Belize,
- watched the spectacular colorful wonders of the underwater life of the second largest Barrier Reef in the world.
-She ate a wonderful home-made Belizean lunch, prepared for the divers with all the Belizean spices blended in to perfection.
The weather was awesome and one of the most beautiful days of the year.
-Her and her boyfriend exhorbitant Reserve Park Entrance Fee was paid at the Half Moon Caye Island where they stopped for lunch which is included in their dive price.
-They enjoyed the remote island of Lighthouse Reef, stopped for lunch break took a walk around the pristine isle and saw the rare Booby Birds nesting.
- The best part, Frenchies Diving is going to pay the $2000 fuel bill for the long haul out there so you can have a good day island hopping the outer cayes & diving.
FASTFORWARD - Back at the Dive Shop. The all day dive trip is over and now they have returned to the Dive Shop. Ms. Bitchy and her boyfriend begin to demand a full refund of their dive trip day because she wanted to dive the Blue Hole dive in particular, since she could not equalize past 5 ft. in the Blue Hole (no one's fault but her own) and the divers continued the dive without her, SHE WANTS A REFUND since her trip was ruined!
WELL I BE DAMNED!!!
OH! Her boyfriend wants a refund too because he willingly abandoned the dive himself, so he didn't see the stalagtites or stalagmites either!
Staff: "We only offer refunds if our equipment is faulty or we cancel due to bad weather or some other fault of our own but not because you couldn't equalize, you got sunburned or seasick or the waves scare you and they are bigger than you hae ever seen etc.... that is the chance you take when you sign up to dive, we complied with our end of the bargain and all the other divers had a wonderful time as the are attesting to right now."
Frenchies Diving Shop kept their position of No Refund for asanine demands, as they should. They are in the right and incurred a lot of expense to have these two on board. If Frenchies Diving wants to get petty or technical, she did dive the Blue Hole, she was down in it up to 5ft to 15 ft submerged. The rest is up to her skills as a diver, she is certified.
So they camped out at the Dive Shop and bitched and moaned FOR HOURS to other potential dives who came to book a trip, to the ones on board; to all the staff, to whoever would listen.
Frenchies Diving staff remained patient in harboring this abuse at it's doorstep.
So they would not leave until their demands were met and they made sure to insult all the "Idiot Locals" around, at least half a dozen of them and so forth it went on into the late until AquaBoy came home for a half hour because he said he did not know what to do with these people and they had become so annoying to everyone on purpose, he couldn't even stand being around his own place of business. After a half hour at home AquaBoy goes back to the Dive Shop and rings me.
Ring!...Ring..! Ring..! Aquaboy: "They are still here and they are still bitching! I've just told them to go tell the Police at the Station since everyone else here has heard it non-stop.
Oh wait!....I think I finally got thru to them, I can see them walking down the dock now. Peace at last!"
The story doesn't end there. They really went to the Police Station to complain.
Ring..! Ring....! Ring....!
AQUABOY: "I see the tourists coming back up the street with a Police, this is going to be a long afternoon, I might be home later than planned!"
So the police come to the Shop and tell AquaBoy the tourists are complaining about being abandoned in the Blue Hole on their dive and want a refund. AquaBoy explains to the Police that "abandon" means to him that they were left there accidentally or intentionally - this was never the case. He then has to explain to the Police that they were at no time "abandoned" since a Dive Master had made sure she went back to the surface safely and was in the boat waiting for the other divers to surface. He also tells them that he delivered to the tourists what he offered, a Dive Day Trip to the Blue Hole and surrounding areas, everything else went according to plan, all other customers are more than satisfied with the trip and only the woman who couldn't equalize has a problem with the trip....well...and now her boyfriend too as he has joined the fight.
The Policeman listens confused. Then he is helpful, serious, negotiator, bounded by law to try and make peace....
POLICE: If you wont give her a refund, she wants you to take them for FREE tomorrow so she can do her dive in the Blue Hole as she desires.
AQUABOY: So what happens if she can't equalize tomorrow again...do I have to take her out every single day until she can equalize......who is going to pay the high park fees, the lunch, the gasoline for their part of the trip....r u kidding me....no way - out of the question!
Also Mr. Officer, can you kindly escort these people away from here before I really do something strange like offer them a FREE DIVE - OFF-MY-DOCK!!!!
And so they left.
__________________________________
THE TRIP ADVISOR THREAT REFUND SCAM!
I´m 73 years old now, but my grown children and grandchildren are in the tourist business. The above story is an old one. 40 years ago, it was the TRAVELLERS CHEQUE SCAM. Tourists going around the world on the cheap, would pay for their hotel and meals, barrier reef scuba dives with travellers cheques and sometimes change them for cash. When they arrived in the next country to Belize, either Mexico, or Guatemala, they would report their TRAVELLERS CHEQUES stolen and get refunds. By the time our travellers cheques entered the banking system and went to settlement, it would be anywhere from 30 days to 60 days later and the travellers cheque companies would not pay off their travellers cheques and our bank in turn deducted it from our account. We eventually learned to refuse to honor or cash travellers cheques.
This is my daughter´s generation and the latest scam fits the times and the internet. TRAVEL ADVISOR and threat of a bad report on TRAVEL ADVISOR is used to demand a REFUND on some pretext of bad service by tourist operators, and you can trace the modus operendi down the coast of Belize, where the scam is done on San Pedro, Caye Caulker, inland hotels and Placentia. They find a fault, and then make such a public nuisance about it, the unsophisticated tourist operator, will sometimes refund their cash, to enable them to continue travelling around the world.
Probably be a good idea to take names, nationalities and report them on TRIP ADVISOR warning people down the tourist routes, that the scam artists are coming with their way with their refund racket.
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