| anniecoyote
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Registered Jan 17, 2006
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anniecoyote's most recent comments:
- On 26 Apr 2007
in
All About Wealth Disparity,
anniecoyote said:
Harm,
I live in Bucarmanga, in the state of Santander. Been pretty much all over the country...not the jungles or southern half however. Lots of time in Bogota. I have been there 1 1/2 years. My Colombian husband and I bring US & European paragliding tourists there to fly and see the country. Actually, at this moment, I am back in California for about a month, to visit family and do some business. - On 23 Apr 2007
in
All About Wealth Disparity,
anniecoyote said:
Harm...
most of the news stories are BS, or the only story that ever gets out is one about a bomb that happened to explode somewhere. During the re-elections for Uribe, I was out in Parque Tayrona near Santa Marta. Going into town one day for supplies, we saw 3 burned out buses. The news story that made it to CNN was that guerillas had stepped out into the road, gotten all the people off, robbed them and burned the buses. The truth? The owner of the buses burned them for insurance because they were old and paid everyone off to be witnesses to say it was guerillas who burned them so he could collect his money! So much for the news media. It's kinda like the CPI reporting. - On 21 Apr 2007
in
All About Wealth Disparity,
anniecoyote said:
"as wealth disparity approaches Third-world levels (What good is it to be “middle class” or wealthy, if it means having to live in a heavily fortified compound that you cannot leave without bringing along a small private army to protect you, a-la Mexico or Colombia?). "
I find it interesting that you mention Colombia. I live there. What do you really know about it? I don't need a small private army, and I find people co-existing quite well. Yes, there are people begging in the streets sometimes. Much less than what I see in San Francisco, I might add. One thing in the Bay Area is that it has become a place where the upper class and wealthy live, leaving their gated compounds during the day and in come the workers who keep their children, their lawns, their houses, serve them their meals in restaurants and fast food chains, bus the tables, paint , remodel, etc....and return home to ...Modesto? How will these Bay Area residents keep employees in the supermarkets that serve them, teachers in their schools, firemen and police and postal workers in their communities if these essential workers can't afford to live within the communities where they work? Believe it or not, I grew up in Marin county back when the post office guy lived around the corner from me with his 5 kids, so did the cop, my teachers, the librarian...We had 1 car. In Colombia, my husband and I have 1 old car. People fix things instead of throwing them away. The doctor and the dentist and the orthodontist aren't rich guys with Mcmansions and BMWs. Most people have good teeth and braces these days because they can afford them there. While there is poverty, there is not excess like in California and there is very little violence despite what the news media will have you believe. Certainly people don't show up at universities or elementary schools with guns. No-one has guns. I think there is more stratification in California than in my 3rd world Colombia. Just my take....
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