Another reminder that despite my advocacy for Senator Clinton, I recognize that in a democracy you don't get everything you want and, unfortunately, outiside of Kucinich, Dodd and Paul ALL of the Presidential candidates LOVE THIS. Down here, the maximum sentence is 10-20 years. It is unthinkable to imprison children with adults let alone execute them, and if you exclude vice, Panama's crime rate per-capita is way smaller than America's. It's violent crime rate is extraordinarily low. Guess that would be the boring show-off thing again, but that's just "tough darts" iddn't it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
"tough darts iddn't it?
You got that right Kelso- But...ah forget it.
More of an inside joke here. There's a woman friend who's learning English and she always says she can't understand a word this English guy from Birmingham who's in our crowd says. I can imagine it's kind of tricky for someone to understand what "iddin't it?" and "summick" mean! Good thing I speak Spanish. My New York accent is harder to understand that his Brummy. I'd say "in't?" or "summin"!
kelso, you wrote:
"Panama's crime rate per-capita is way smaller than America's. It's violent crime rate is extraordinarily low."
I think you'd better check those stats again.
unrelated ...
do you get 'The Atlantic' magazine down there?
you favorite conservative, andrew sullivan, is waxing romantic on your favorite candidate, obama, in the december issue.
the crux of his argument, and one of another article in the magazine by marc ambinder, is that obama will be able to 'heal' the generational divide between the 'baby boomers' and the younger generation. he says, "Obama is the only candidate who can take America -- finally -- past the debilitating, self-perpetuating family quarrel of the Baby Boom generation." He quotes obama as saying, "When I think of the Baby Boomers, I think of my mother's generation. And I was too young for the formative period of the '60's -- civil rights, sexual revolution, Vietnam War. Those all sort of passed me by."
EXCUSE ME?
The civil rights movement PASSED HIM BY? oh my. and that from a child of a mixed race couple, who in a previous era could have, or probalby would have, been jailed, or more, for miscegenation (sp?).
i'm thinking (or hoping) that this dismissal of the baby boom generation sorely backfires. i was born in 1960, the very tail end of the baby boom generation. And, although it's the tail end, it was also the height in number of births. People my age very much walk the line between the two "generations" -- of boomers and GenX and, i predict, will, like me, not take kindly to such a false dichotomy.
anyway, hope your turkey day was good. sorry for over-reacting to your other andrew sullivan post. sometimes my nerves go a-jangle when such sentiments are expressed so, so ... hmmm ... well, harshly. my problem, not yours.
No_slappz:
I am a believer in the scientific method. Show me the numbers you got, some reasonable comps in terms of per capita GDP and political structure, and for fun put up a comp with that barbaric country you live in and I'm willing to take a lesson. I will gladly admit I'm wrong.
Pero, huevo puton, gringuito! Si tengas razon me encatara verte aca ensenando tu vaina en Paitilla o San Miguelito que se daran iguales, pue'. Todo eso de picar y picar y picar me cae muy mal y mal aun a los judio y arabes y colombianos y venezolanos aca. Ya no hay bases ni militares ni espias pa' protegerte. Tengas que esperar que tenga yo razon, cierto. Pue' porque ni hay una moneda en tu bolsillo nunca te vere y nunca se pueda probarlo.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Oh, ANITA, ANITA, ANITA, that sounds awesome! We don't get the magazine on the stands here. From time to time you can find it in the drugstore. I'll look online but that looks so great. Andrea Sullivan and Uncle Barry are so very silly. And, forget about whatever you wrote. We are good enough friends that you could write anything up to and including that my mother sucks dicks in hell and I'd still be your friend.
Wow, how easy was that?
Central America and the Caribbean > Panama > Crime
PANAMANIAN CRIME STATS: Top Stats All Stats
Acquitted 1,149 [29th of 49]
(per capita) 354.392 per 1 million people [21st of 48]
Convicted 4,029 [48th of 56]
(per capita) 1.28312 per 1,000 people [47th of 56]
Death penalty > Last executed 1,903 [40th of 55]
Illicit drugs
major cocaine transshipment point and primary money-laundering center for narcotics revenue; money-laundering activity is especially heavy in the Colon Free Zone; offshore financial center; negligible signs of coca cultivation; monitoring of financial transactions is improving; official corruption remains a major problem
Jails 21 [40th of 62] -- (per capita) 0.0066879 per 1,000 people [17th of 62]
Murders committed by youths: 151 [26th of 73]
Murders committed by youths per capita: 14.4 [10th of 0]
Prisoners: 10,630 prisoners [61st of 164]
Prisoners > Female 6.9% [16th of 134]
Prisoners > Foreign prisoners 9.1% [37th of 86]
Prisoners > Per capita 354 per 100,000 people [15th of 164]
Prisoners > Pre-trial detainees 55% [29th of 143]
Prisoners > Share of prison capacity filled 144.7% [37th of 128]
kelso,
I found the following paragraphs on a website aimed at attracting new residents to Panama. They add up to an amusing scenario. According to the following comments, real estate is rather pricey.
Crime Rate in Panama
Fortunately, even though the population of Panama continues to grow, the crime rate is low and the police are doing their job in implementing law and order in the cities. According to a business survey of 192 cities in the world, Panama belongs to one of the top three the greatest places to live in Latin America in close competition with Buenos Aires and Montevideo, using the crime rate as one of the factors.
New buildings are equipped with alarm and security systems that keep residents safe. Robbers do not attempt to bypass these systems but more commonly work with some employees and staff as the usual crime present more of an insider’s job rather than a direct intrusion. But the police are able to stop them before they cause further harm to the residents.
Crimes in the streets are also very uncommon in Panama as the police do their job with precaution and as much as possible less violence. In case you want to be sure of your safety you can legally own a gun and conceal it, too.
Cost Of Living in Panama
Recently this has been a big question in the country since real estate prices have soared due to the instability of the real estate market.
Before, retirees are a part of a big group of interested buyers when the prices were still $900 - $ 1000 per square centimeter, but now prices have soared as high as $3000 per square centimeter, so before making any investment try investigating more first so that you have greater chances of getting a good deal to avail of Panama’s wonderful sights within a reasonably good price.
NS: When are these from? There is no death penalty. The maximum sentence is 20 years. They have a version of the UK's "QC" system here. The government hires private litigators to prosecute complicated cases. My attorney just prosecuted a rape/murder and the defendent got the maximum which was 20 years flat. She was a prosecutor and her father was the attorney general in the Moscoso administration. She'll only prosecute violent crimes, however, all other cases she defends. She has mentioned that the prison overcrowding is a problem. I have no reason to doubt any of your statistics, but a pleasant place and I'm a fluent Spanish speaker so it wasn't much of an adjustment for me. If the statistics you present are meant to show that in some way the USA is SUPERIOR to Panama, I'm not really sure how to respond. You took exception to my statement that crime was pretty low here. I guess by and large both countries have low crime rates; one of them has a more relaxed approach to law enforcement and privacy; the other has a rather stricter approach.
If it makes you feel better, then fine, I'll stipulate that the USA is superior to Panama in every possible regard. That work for you? I hope so, because no one here is in a huge hurry to have the military and CIA back telling us what to do. So, I'll trust you to enjoy the fruits of your wonderful life and country and leave us to our paces.
You've got your hands full in Iraq, I reckon.
ANONYMOUS: The real estate market is really brisk but the values are still pretty good. I think the values are about to get good in the US but for the wrong reasons.
kelso,
The "anonymous" comment came from me. I hit the wrong button, which resulted in the missing attribution.
Anyway, the real estate quotes were from a website for luring people to Panama. I thought that presenting prices in terms of dollars per square CENTIMETER was truly an act of reducio ad absurdum.
That aside, my comments on Panamanain crime were the most recent available, which was probably 2005.
The capital punishment figures are cumulative figures. The counting started probably around the time the US reinstated capital punishment. Obviously the numbers do not represent actions of the current government of Panama.
I thought the rather bold advertising of Panamanian charms was masking something, and I still believe it is. Poverty is abundant in Panama despite there being only about 3.2 million people in the country.
Canal revenue isn't quite as good as oil revenue. But if a nation can't enjoy the extraordinary fortune of finding oil beneath its feet, obtaining control of one of the world's most valuable toll roads runs close. But aside from the luck of being the narrow waist between continents, there is something very Somerset Maughamian, Graham Greene-ish about the place. It comes through your posts. The modern winds of Rick's Casablanca. Reinvention a leading subject, a lure for those thinking of relocating.
Anyway, the point of my stats was to put a little balance into the discussion. I may maintain a positive view of the US, but that's not equal to ignoring the problems, problems that few countries will ever bear, and problems few non-Americans understand. Too few Americans understand the problems.
What happens? Too many are guilty of shrinking huge problems by faulty techniques into one- or two-part conditions, then subjecting the faulty shrunken results to some binary analysis that leads to a feeling of either being pissed off, or not pissed off.
As stumbling and plodding and unsatisfying as the system may be, and despite the endless line of critics blurting the same tedious charges against it, it works reasonably well.
No_slappz:
You're an infuriating dude, but you got some brains. That's good. I don't understand why you give a shit about the poor of Panama. Do you really care? Do you really care about the poor in America? In Israel? Or is it about getting the overs on me in an argument? If that's the case you got the wrong liberal to run that on. It's not my job to save Panama's poor. And I'm not about to be ashamed about paying it no mind. I'm not a saint and I don't care who knows. So, "the poor of Panama" plays terrily as a rhetorical device. If you're actually taking up time concerning yourself, I congratulate you.
The Graham Greene thing is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. You never comment on anything witout having a critical edge and a desire to scold, but your angle on the Grahame Greene misses me completely. If you're saying that as an ex-pat I'm an exploiter, enjoying a lavish life-style at the expense of the people, I really don't know how to respond. OK, YEAH, SO WHAT? Panama suits my needs for various reasons. It's not like I invited you to come down and party with me here. That invitation is not likely to hit you any time soon and from your comments I think you'd hate it here, anyway. What would you do if you saw a poor person?
I'm very happy for you that you like living in America. I hated it, but I like it here.
None of what I've written affects the stipulation. You still know much more about my country, city, neighborhood and friends than I do. Furtermore, America is greatest country on Earth. Panama's lucky to struggle in 114th.
Post a Comment