www.CostaRicaTicas.com

The United States will forgive $26 million in debt owed to it by Costa Rica.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/centr ... 22576.html

All right! A step in the right direction...

This $26 million will finance a project to preserve rain forests for 16 years. For perspective, we spend $177 million in Iraq per day.

_________________
"Your love gives me such a thrill
but your love don't pay my bills,
I NEED THE MONEY!" - John Lee Hooker

Disclaimer: The above is merely the opinion of the author unless specific scientific data is included.
Your mileage may vary. https://costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewto ... 978#206978

Why? A debt is a debt. Don't borrow money if you cannot pay it back. Be it person or country. As bad as the immediate financial future is in so many parts of the US, that money is badly needed, in the US.

Yes, a debt is a debt and CR is one of the few countries that consistently votes in support of US positions in the UN. You don't suppose those votes, including their ones backing us going into Iraq, came for nothing. Hell, we give a lot more in aid to countries like Egypt, Afghanistan and Colombia and what do we get from them - the Muslim Brotherhood, the harboring of Osama Bin Laden and cocaine. Only Israel, which gets more aid than any of them, is more consistent in its support of the US despite our many phucked up foreign policy positions and that is probably as much because of our vetoing all the resolutions against them as it is because of any money we give them. No, I think for $26 million we're getting off pretty cheap.

Of course, another way to go would be to not alienate every other country in the world by taking such positions as opposing the Kyoto Protocol while at the same time being the leading producer of greenhouse gases. Then maybe we wouldn't be so hard up for other countries' support. Not only would we save the $26 million we're writing off with CR, but we'd be doing far more for the environment then we'd ever do by saving a few trees in CR (as noble as that may be).

Here's another thought. You don't suppose that the timing of this debt write-off, coming so close on the heels of CR finally going along with CAFTA, is just a mere coincidence. That agreement, which we essentially rammed down their throats, will mean FAR more than $26 million in additional profits for OUR corporations. A debt is a debt and this $26 million could really be seen as just a down payment on what WE really owe to CR rather than the other way around.

There! What do you all have to say to that?

BTW, the US may be the world's largest provider of official development assistance in absolute terms but relative to it's economy it ranks way behind many other developed countries (e.g. Germany, UK, all of Scandanavia, Australia, etc.) (source: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp#RankingtheRichbasedonCommitmenttoDevelopment)

The kyoto protocal is a tribute to the most popular myth ever, global warming. Good for Bush to show leadership in that area. If you want to do the Kyoto thing, lets also fund research regarding the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and Paul Bunyan.Cover all the bases. It is a terrible precedent for us to forgive loans.Ever. We do it and as long as liberals are anywhere near Washington, it will continue.Always a good idea to put people in charge of money who have no idea how it is made except for a press at the US mint . Support or no support, the UN known as "utter nonsense" the world over abandons the US at every turn. So no need to build friends that are not there anyway. As I understand it the UN owes us several million dollars for various things. Maybe time to end this outmoded, irrelavent institution. Unless they can pay up as well.

We may have to change that moniker to "MrLasVegas, Queen of Denial".

Global Warming is a scientific fact, I'm afraid. The verdict is pretty much in. The argument now is whether or not Man had any hand in it and whether there is any point in doing anything about it.

_________________
"Your love gives me such a thrill
but your love don't pay my bills,
I NEED THE MONEY!" - John Lee Hooker

Disclaimer: The above is merely the opinion of the author unless specific scientific data is included.
Your mileage may vary. https://costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewto ... 978#206978

It's all udder nonsense

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The happy hour is a device either for getting rid of social obligations hurriedly en masse or for making overtures toward more serious social relationships, as in the etiquette of whoring.- Brooks Atkinson

Other than a few scientists, driven by the need for increased funding, you will not find many climatologists that buy into it. Want to talk about global cooling, there you got something. We have been dropping a few degrees for quite a while now.Since the 30's. Not to say we should not try to clean up and keep clean our enviroment. Using less oil and burning less coal are all a good idea. But more for national security than anything else.
This whole global warming package that came out of Kyoto is just a new driver for the asian manufacturing industry. Hybrid technology is something Japan has been sitting on for awhile. They needed an increased edge to fend off threats from Detroit, so they jump on the global warming fear wagon. Start cranking out hybrids, profits soar. Solar technology i.e. water heaters ( a 100 year old technology) as well as solar panels for power, etc. have been going for years as cost saving devices there. Global warming catapulted sales. Not to mention the millions Al Gore gets from selling carbon credits.