More Economic Fun Down South

John Nichols of The Nation provides an interesting look at the situation as usual.  Likewise for my favorite foreign affairs newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor.  It wasn't for nothing that it was one of their reporters, Jill Carroll, that got kidnapped after being in harms way in Iraq not all that long ago.  Some of my less religiously oriented friends have found it odd that such a religiously titled publication would be properly on top of things in this area.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like: In Costa Rica - Yahoo! News

"If Americans want to find evidence of democracy, they should look south to the Latin American republic of Costa Rica -- where voters will decide Sunday on whether they want their country to sign onto the Central American Free Trade Agreement that is currently being promoted by the White House, The Wall Street Journal and the multinational corporations that are the generous the patrons of both those institutions.

Imagine that: In Costa Rica, the people are being invited to participate in the debate over their economic future.

It is a concept so foreign to the United States as to be almost unimaginable. Yet, once upon a time, there was a lively debate in the U.S. Congress and this country's media about measures such as the Ludlow and Bricker amendments to the U.S. Constitution, proposals designed to give American citizens a real voice in decisions about whether to go to war and how and when the country will enter into multilateral treaty agreements."

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Will Costa Rica Join Latin America's Leftward Tide? - Christian Science Monitor

"Sergio Salazar has spent three years touring seaside hamlets and mountain towns alike in a rickety yellow school bus, warning against trade liberalization at each stop.

No, he's not in Ecuador, or Venezuela, or any other Latin American country that has voted a leftist leader into power in recent years.

He's in Costa Rica, historically Central America's most stable, business-friendly democracy. And his rallying call is coming to a head this weekend as the nation votes in a referendum on the Central America Free Trade Act (DR-CAFTA) encompassing the US, Central America, and the Dominican Republic."

More Economic Fun Down South

John Nichols of The Nation provides an interesting look at the situation as usual.  Likewise for my favorite foreign affairs newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor.  It wasn't for nothing that it was one of their reporters, Jill Carroll, that got kidnapped after being in harms way in Iraq not all that long ago.  Some of my less religiously oriented friends have found it odd that such a religiously titled publication would be properly on top of things in this area.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like: In Costa Rica - Yahoo! News

"If Americans want to find evidence of democracy, they should look south to the Latin American republic of Costa Rica -- where voters will decide Sunday on whether they want their country to sign onto the Central American Free Trade Agreement that is currently being promoted by the White House, The Wall Street Journal and the multinational corporations that are the generous the patrons of both those institutions.

Imagine that: In Costa Rica, the people are being invited to participate in the debate over their economic future.

It is a concept so foreign to the United States as to be almost unimaginable. Yet, once upon a time, there was a lively debate in the U.S. Congress and this country's media about measures such as the Ludlow and Bricker amendments to the U.S. Constitution, proposals designed to give American citizens a real voice in decisions about whether to go to war and how and when the country will enter into multilateral treaty agreements."

 ---

Will Costa Rica Join Latin America's Leftward Tide? - Christian Science Monitor

"Sergio Salazar has spent three years touring seaside hamlets and mountain towns alike in a rickety yellow school bus, warning against trade liberalization at each stop.

No, he's not in Ecuador, or Venezuela, or any other Latin American country that has voted a leftist leader into power in recent years.

He's in Costa Rica, historically Central America's most stable, business-friendly democracy. And his rallying call is coming to a head this weekend as the nation votes in a referendum on the Central America Free Trade Act (DR-CAFTA) encompassing the US, Central America, and the Dominican Republic."