Some people should read more!

Some people have responded to postings here with little, or no knowledge of what goes on in Dominican Republic. I am not a sage, but I try to keep myself informed before I open my mouth.
Someone try to correct me saying that a new book by Manuel Nu?ez, "El Ocaso de La Nacion Dominicana" is an old book from 1990 and that it is old news. This is the best book on Haiti that has ever been written(new or old)

Obviously, this person is in a different country I am in. This book was revised and re-released with updated information, so new that it covers statistics from the year 2000!!! Every chapter is new. The author has been invited to every talk show of importance to talk about his new book, and even today, editorials in major newspapers are being written about the controversial, but accurate account of the Haitian problem in DR and the world. To say that this is the literary talk of the town is an understatement.

Revista Ahora, a major political and social magazine had an important report on the book and columnists all over our newspapers are talking about it. What is even more revealing and important, is that our Secretary of the Armed Forces General Soto Jimenez, himself an award winning writer and a policy maker,appeared at the release celebration of the book and made the statement that "Haiti is the biggest danger to our nationality", causing a diplomatic headache for President Hipolito Mejia, and he had to be called to an impromptu meeting to deal with the indiscretion.

So if this is outdated news, then I dont know what news is. Any opinions? Or are we talking about a different country here?

Likewise, we have people talking about our currency who do not know the fluctuation of the peso from day to day and do not even keep up to date with its projections for future months .These are people who do not even keep a chart in their own computer files of the historical behavior of the peso from the time it was a la par with the dollar, only to talk trash about it. A little research would help!

It would even be helpful if some true Americans and English speaking friends should also polish their English.
TW

Utede oyeron la palabra dei primei minitro?

eso e 'pa que no j#dan!

Here's proof that TW is a fraud

TW, you defile my nationality. I hope that people who read this board don't assume that all of us educated domninicans are like you: a pompous,self-absorbed,pseudo-intellectual who props up his ego by comparing himslef to the destitute and misfortunate. You propagate the stereo type of an inner-city American Latino who can only resolve deisputes by resorting to aggression and violence. Your libelous attacks not only prove your ignorance, but also demonstrate your shallow mental capacity.

When you speak to me , TW, you are talking to someone who went form living in the campos de San Juan de la Maguana to graduating from a university in Cambridge, Mass. Intelligent people never ask a question to an adversary without knowing the answer. You posed a scenario of the US$ and DR$ that I dont believe you understood yourself.

To wit, here are your own posts contradicting each other:

1.
TW on Wednesday:
"I never said that the peso was a world currency"

After having said on Tuesday:
"The peso, after the dollar, is the most stable currency in Latin America and can compete with the top currencies of the world side by side"

2. TW on Wednesday:
"The people who wish to leave the Dominican Republic are all oppressed, depressed, unemployed or underemployed, bankrupt, demoralized and hopeless."

Later that day he admits to having lived outside the DR until 1993. So which one are you then: oppressed,depressed,umemployed,underemployed,bankrupt,demoralized or hopeless? Or any combination?

3. TW on Tuesday:
"..you depend on the interest rates to cover some of your monthly expenses or to subsidize your income."

TW on Wednesday:
"I was directing myself at winners and risk takers."

You get an "F" ,young man. If you need the money for monthly expenses, then you cannont afford to risk your capital.

and so on and so on...I could go on for a while dissecting your incongruent thought process,your bad spelling and your grammar school grammar.

URL for historical graphs on world exchange rates

http://pacific.commerce.ubc.ca/xr/plot.html

This link has excellent graphs on most world currency exchange rates dating back over 20 years. Unfortunately, this link does not have the DR graphs. But its instructive to see, for example, when venezuela and Mexico devalued.

Re: Here's proof that TW is a fraud

Mondongo:
Try to stick to the issues at hand. And any Cambridge graduate will always edit what they write before making it public. Always remember that we are not Domninicans but Dominicans. I could not understand what you meant by stereo types. Were you talking about stereo music of a certain type, or did you mean stereotypes(one word)? What did you mean by deisputes. Was it perhaps disputes? Remember always to capitalize after a sentence.(and so on and so on?)

Well, I will give you the benefit of the doubt since you were perhaps very disturbed and nervous responding to my post. People do make mistakes under pressure.

I have never seen unemployed, underemployed,destitute Dominicans go to the finest prep schools,colleges and art schools in the United States, but if you say so, then I guess I plead guilty.
Fortunately, I live off my interest because I can. My rent pays me well enough and with the interest from certificates I keep building my capital and improving my monthly take. Early retirement is a priviledge of winners.

What about the issues at hand? Do you want to get into the discussion or just stick to gossip?
TW

Thank you Mondongo ... !!

for an extremely informative link.

So often the only charts available are those kept for futures trading, which includes only a few chosen "hard" currencies.

I'm not sure how exactly this subject came up, but it was probably because someone suggested that interest rates (in Dominican pesos) are sufficient to offset the exchange rate risk. Many people have lost everything with that kind of thinking, such as in the examples you point out.

A few people, like George Soros for example, have become rich taking the opposite approach - betting against a weak currency. Of course an international speculator, based in Europe, has ways to hedge himself in hard currencies that Dominicans find very difficult.

Since one can now have dollar accounts here, he may be able to avoid piecemeal deterioration of the peso. As others have found out, though, in places like Mexico, even dollar accounts are no protection in case of a massive devaluation - the banks simply dishonor the dollar accounts and pay off in local currency anyway.

By the way, congratulations on your personal success story!

Re: Some people should read (TW)

TW, it is still not a NEW book. It is a second edition, revised assuredly, but the same old gist with updated data. Try reading the 1st edition and then review the 2nd edition - not a lot different!!! Obviously you were not in the Dominican Republic in 1991-1992 when this book and the author got a lot of publicity. So, he is in the news again - big deal! It is the same message as before: "Our country and its culture is under attack by insidious means from the encroachment of Haitian values (or lack thereof) into mainstream Dominican society." There, do you think I paraphrased it correctly? I didn't have to write 350 pages to get that out. I think the message gets dusted off and marched out everytime the economy is bad in the D.R., and politicians and the elite want to shift attention away from their own corruption and fraud, towards a target that cannot defend itself - Haitians. It never ceases to amaze me that so-called "educated" individuals can fall so easily for such simple propaganda.

Re: Some people should read (TGF)

TGF:
TGF:
I guess you are a good reader if you read 700 pages, but my impression is that you read the "second edition" listing and drew your own conclusions.
By the way, the author of "El Ocaso", Manuel Nunez is not an establishment type of guy to be in the inner circles of government propaganda conspiracy. The party in government is a pro-Haitian Party all the way, in case you don't know their history.
Hipolito Mejia is a Haitian lover and his Vice-President is a self-admitted Half-Haitian who forgot that her relative Juan Bosch planned a preemptive attack on Haiti prior to being thrown out of office. In fact, one of the causes for the division of the PRD party was that Juan Bosch really didn't want Haitian Jose Francisco Pena Gomez to be President.

And to defuse the racist conspiracy by white and light skin Dominicans it should be noted that the author of this book is a "Black" Dominican(not indio, not half-white,not-mixed race) This is strictly a cultural and historical event. Race is a by-product.

By the way, I did not fall to propaganda to be pro-Dominican, I was born one. Haitians are the racist creed. They think of themselves as one race and want to keep it that way. Dominicans have embraced every race, cultural and religious group. We are a peaceful conglomerate or tapestry of global unity. Haiti is an African enclave with no language, a culture of hidden cults and a hatred for their own enviroment.

TW

TW

Re: Some people should read (TW)

Maybe things haven't changed much since 91

Re: Some people should read (TW)

No, Nunez is not pro-PRD but he is a big fan of Balaguer - need I write more? Birds of feather, flock together....etc. And, yes, I do read a bit. It is part of my profession to keep current, especially concerning the Caribbean and especially the Dominican Republic. Partly because I love the people and the culture of the D.R., partly because I worked, and probably will work again, in the D.R. for numerous years as a scholar, advisor and consultant, to various Dominican governments agencies (PRD, PRSC, and PLD governments), several institutions of higher learning UNPHU and UTESA, and a couple of NGOs that you love so much.

P.S. The propaganda I was referring is that Haiti and Haitian values are coming to absorb all our "decent" Euro-Dominican ones. "The blood-thirsty Haitian, voodoo-loving, AIDS spreading, sexual predators are knocking on our doors to rape our women and farm animals, and make all Dominican men want to say pa'sil instead of perejil. Help, the Haitians are coming, the Haitians are coming....."

Re: TGF:have you registered as a foreign agent?

TGF:

With all due respect to your profession,your credibility in this issue is in question. A man who can work for morally bankrupt political parties without distinction or ideology and getting paid by NGOs, mostly belonging to corrupt politicians and international agencies should have his credibility about the Haiti issue marked as questionable.

You work with people who live in a world of propaganda and deception. You work with NGO parasites who build their life making fake proposals, bulging their salaries and spending it all in administrative red tape. The people never see a dime. Have a good day TGF. No need to keep this argument with you.You said it all!!

TW

Re: TGF:have you registered as a foreign agent?

Actually, all the NGO projects were with Dominican small farmers and fishermen (no Haitians involved). I didn't work for the political parties, I worked for the people who needed technical advice. In fact, all too often my advice was ignored by the government officials because vested interests (read local elite) would lose clout or money. Most of my income from these projects came from U.S. or international agencies not Dominican funds. I just acted as a technical advisor to these agencies. TW, I'm sorry you're such a bigot but believe me I do love your country and would hate to see it turn into another Haiti .

Re: TGF:Your last thought

TGF: To paraphrase your last thought "TW you are such a bigot but believe me I do love your country and would hate to see it turn into another Haiti". The only way Dominican Republic will turn into another Haiti is destroying the Dominican nationality which reverse racists like you intend to do. Remember we are not the ones who keep other races from owning land and who keep a one-dimensional state totally concentrated on its blackness.

I am surprised that you hate to see DR turn into another Haiti yet propose a fusion of the two nations. Your historical perspective is as distorted as the vision of the Russian Empire's dream of creating a uniform vast nation made up of irreconcilable nationalities, which today struggle to go back to their destined origins. Or even the concept of one Afghanistan, an utopia created by the rule of global imperialism. The result of your myopia will be global balkanization.

TW

Re: Some people should read (TW)

"El Jefe",I,m sure you mean "1491" right? Criss

Re: TW: How about some thought on your part?

I haven't said one darn thing about a proposed union between Haiti and the D.R and you know it. You are delusional and trying to change the scope of the argument into something different from its origins. This is a poor intellectual's trick (i.e., it is a losing debater's attempt to salvage a discussion - switch issues in mid-stream. You may be a "masturbator," but you certainly are not a master debater, TW.) Balkanization - geez, where are you coming up with this sh*t. Either you suffer from a reading disorder, or you are really beyond any sound reasoning and logic concerning Haitian and Dominican issues. Blind hate blinds the one who hates, not those who seek knowledge.

Re: TGF-What debate?

TGF: What debate are you talking about? A debate consists of discussing solutions. Except drawing a check from NGO's you have none. In fact, by your own admission no government here has accepted any of your proposals. Besides defending "tierra arrasada" what is your Haitian solution?
TW

Re: TGF-What debate?

What is your solution? You are twisting words to suit your purpose again. I wrote all too often my advice was ignored, but I never wrote that all my advice was ignored. A debate is discussing ideas, not only solutions. I worked with NGOs that did grassroot development as well. Several communities have gravity-fed water systems in place that they paid the majority of costs and installed with their own labor - I just served as an advisor. Several fishing cooperatives exist because I worked with the local fishermen to help organize themselves, with their planning, and equipment purchases (these were small grants from CIDA - Canadian International Development Agency - hardly a threat to the sovereignty of the D.R.). Instead of mouthing off about everything, I actually worked on some solutions to the poverty issues in the D.R. I discussed with INFRATUR and SECTUR proposals to integrate small artisanal craftsmakers in regional areas outside the tourism zones into this market. These projects are still working BECAUSE we kept the control of the projects in the hands of those people who were the main beneficiaries - the lower-income, rural Dominican producer. No talk about Haitians here, I have never worked with any Haitians in the D.R. These were projects to benefit Dominicans. What great works have you done on behalf of your country except for knocking up a few chopas and spending the money you made in the U.S.A. on your own self-gratification in the D.R.? You talk big, but I think that's all you do.

Re: TGF-What debate? - TW's Hero -

- TW's Hero -

General?simo Rafael Trujillo

Posted By: golo100@hotmail.com

This uniform is not more ridiculous than the ones used in English Courts still nowadays by Judges and English Ministers with their fake hair pieces and yelling Yeah Yeah! Or, any more ridiculous than present day African Presidents and even Indonesian presidents? How about Prince Charles with a skirt like a sissy?

This was something of that time. However, in civilian attire, Trujillo was one of the most elegant and well dressed men in the world. I challenge anyone to look for a picture of Trujillo in a business suit and compare him to a klutz like George Bush, with his old fashioned Brooks Brothers look. Besides Trujillo stood tall and impressive over most men of his time.

People should do some research before they start popping off.

[a post by TW]

"Besides Trujillo stood tall and impressive over most men of his time."

This quote is an insight as to TW's view of the world.

-2DRs-