Bonnie

I would not encourage anyone to get IPTV right now. We have had it for about a month. It worked pretty well at first, with only occasional freezing, but seems to have gotten progressively worse. It has been unwatchable the last three nights and much of the last three days. It certainly could be attributable to forces outside of IPTV itself--such as Internet overload--but whatever it is, it isn't worth the price we paid at this point. We took the plunge and are hoping to see improvement. Are other IPTV users experiencing the same problems?

Thanks, JoJo. I can still see Ning; I just can't participate. But Gordon is right. Most of us just don't care anymore.

I should clarify that this video is the product of TV Chiriqui, a function of Amigos de Boquete. It also videotapes and makes available to the public reports from the Alcalde on a regular basis. Links to these video reports are available to the Facebook page cited above.

I am attaching a link to the video of the meeting on crime held in Potrerillos, which was taped by Amigos de Boquete: https://youtu.be/aqNeadhloSk I encourage everyone to look at the Amigos de Boquete Facebook page to become acquainted with the wonderful work this non-profit is doing in the province of Chiriqui. The link is https://www.facebook.com/AmigosDeBoquete.

I received the same letter Dottie received. I did not terminate my own membership.

I have joined the ranks of those canned by Ning, for what reason I know not.

With all the talk of demanding more police presence and better judicial enforcement, this article by David Brooks in the NY Times provides some perspective. I suggest everyone read it and take to heart the message that in developing countries one's personal security is largely a personal matter, not a governmental one. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/opinion/brooks-the-republic-of-fear.html?_r=1 "If you’re reading this, you are probably not buffeted by daily waves of physical terror. You may fear job loss or emotional loss, but you probably don’t fear that somebody is going to slash your throat, or that a gang will invade your house come dinnertime, carrying away your kin and property. We take a basic level of order for granted. "But billions of people live in a different emotional landscape, enveloped by hidden terror. Many of these people live in the developing world. "When we send young people out to help these regions, we tell them they are there to tackle “poverty,” using the sort of economic designation we’re comfortable with. We usually assume that scarcity is the big challenge to be faced. We send them to dig wells or bring bed nets or distribute food or money, and, of course, that’s wonderful work. "But as Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros point out in their gripping and perspective-altering book, “The Locust Effect,” these places are not just grappling with poverty. They are marked by disorder, violence and man-inflicted suffering. “The relentless threat of violence is part of the core subtext of their lives, but we are unlikely to see it, and they are unlikely to tell us about it. We would be wise, however, to not be fooled — because, like grief, the thing we cannot see may be the deepest part of their day.” "People in many parts of the world simply live beyond the apparatus of law and order. The District of Columbia spends about $850 per person per year on police. In Bangladesh, the government spends less than $1.50 per person per year on police. The cops are just not there. "In the United States, there is one prosecutor for every 12,000 citizens. In Malawi, there is one prosecutor for every 1.5 million citizens. The prosecutors are just not there. "Even when there is some legal system in place, it’s not designed to impose law and order for the people. It is there to protect the regime from the people. The well-connected want a legal system that can be bought and sold. "Haugen and Boutros tell the story of an 8-year-old Peruvian girl named Yuri whose body was found in the street one morning, her skull crushed in, her legs wrapped in cables and her underwear at her ankles. The evidence pointed to a member of one of the richer families in the town, so the police and prosecutors destroyed the evidence. Her clothing went missing. A sperm sample that could have identified the perpetrator was thrown out. A bloody mattress was sliced down by a third, so that the blood stained spot could be discarded. "Yuri’s family wanted to find the killer, but they couldn’t afford to pay the prosecutor, so nothing was done. The family sold all their livestock to hire lawyers, who took the money but abandoned the case. These sorts of events are utterly typical — the products of legal systems that range from the arbitrary to the Kafkaesque. "We in the affluent world live on one side of a great global threshold. Our fundamental security was established by our ancestors. We tend to assume that the primary problems of politics are economic and that the injustices of the world can be addressed with economic levers. When empires like the Soviet Union collapse, we send in economists with privatization plans instead of cops to help create rule of law. When thuggish autocracies invade their neighbors we impose economic sanctions."But people without our inherited institutions live on the other side of the threshold and have a different reality. They live within a contagion of chaos. They live where the primary realities include violence, theft and radical uncertainty. Their world is governed less by long-term economic incentives and more by raw fear. In a world without functioning institutions, predatory behavior and the passions of domination and submission blot out economic logic. "The primary problem of politics is not creating growth. It’s creating order. Until that is largely achieved, life can be nasty, brutish and short. "Haugen is president of a human rights organization called the International Justice Mission, which tries to help people around the world build the institutions of law. One virtue of his group is that it stares evil in the eyes and helps local people confront the large and petty thugs who inflict such predatory cruelty on those around them. Not every aid organization is equipped to do this, to confront elemental human behavior when it exists unrestrained by effective law. It’s easier to avoid this reality, to have come-together moments in daytime. "Police training might be less uplifting than some of the other stories that attract donor dollars. But, in every society, order has to be wrung out of exploitation. Unless cruelty is tamed, poverty will persist."

Thank you, thank you. Even after living here going on nine years, I still can't find my way around much of David and can't find a decent map. Even Google Maps don't work for a lot of stuff I research.

I've found that CHOX chocolates make great gifts, too.

Where's Walter?

Having to pay to do business is a unique Panamanian concept, in my experience. My favorite is the requirement to leave $5000 in your bank account in order to get a credit card with a $5000 limit. (No, thanks.)

Where is she located, Marcelyn?

Is this what you're looking for, Marcelyn? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_grandiflora If so, I've seen it in gardens here but not for sale anywhere. Maybe someone here will offer you a sprig; it's easy to transplant and propagate. I wish I had some but, as it's a succulent, it's too wet here in Palo Alto to grow it successfully.

Once again, has there been any official confirmation or denial that juveniles apprehended were released back into the community? I suggest that the first pressure brought to bear should be that the authorities give the community a full and complete report of what happened (how many, ages, e.g.) and what is happening to those apprehended. We are operating largely off rumor and unconfirmed media reports.

I have been to Il Barolo three times for lunch, and all three times have been excellent. Fresh and beautifully prepared. Everyone I know who has eaten there sings its praises, too. Let's patronize this little gem of a restaurant so that it will become an enduring part of the community!