Island of shattered dreams? The battle for the soul of a Caribbean jewel (Long article)

AMBERGRIS CAYE, Belize – Is living in paradise all it's cracked up to be? And what embodies the economic, political and moral environment in terms of the backdrop it creates for the noble acts of Dr. Floyd Jackson, Dr. Jane Crawford and the other decent people living in this beautiful yet troubled nation?

"Henry," an American expat living on Ambergris Caye who often visits Cuba, told WorldNetDaily: "President Said Musa loves Castro. He'd turn Belize into a communist country if he could get away with it." Reality says the U.S. and UK won't allow that to happen.

The wearing of Che T-shirts is popular in Central America (especially in Guatemala). But this is not in solidarity with communism per se but rather, "as a sign of rebellion against a government for any variety of reasons," adds Henry, who had no idea Cuba ever sent soldiers to fight in Africa. Previously, he had claimed Cuba as being "an AIDS-free country."

But that's a key in itself to understanding Belize specifically and the Caribbean in general. "Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see," says one local businesswoman and mother.

Che isn't the only T-shirt. Equally famous is Tupac (and his new offshoot "2 Pac" for the spelling challenged) of slain rap fame and Bob Marley. You simply cannot escape them. Sometimes "2 Pac" and Marley are even covered in marijuana leaves on the T-shirts as though trapped inside a Christmas wreath.

Like the pirates of old, most of the men in Belize wear earrings. Centuries ago, this was done in case the sailors washed up ashore. The gold earring was to pay for their burial. Now, the earrings are seen as a part and parcel of the mixing of gender roles and emergence of "metrosexuals."

According to the CIA World Fact Book, Belize is deeply hooked into the transnational drug trade and dabbles in offshore money laundering. Marijuana is grown locally, though poison was sprayed some years ago (as suggested by the U.S.) as a hedge against it. Still, every drug you could imagine is readily available, from pot to pure-as-the-driven-snow Bolivian cocaine to ecstasy.

One local female expatriate referred to cocaine in the following manner: "It's gotta be the world's worst drug. You take it and you feel euphoria … and then a few minutes later you're wondering if you're going to die. But there's always a party and always another great key (kilo of coke) just waiting for you around the corner."

If you live long enough on Ambergris Caye you might well win what the locals call the "Sea Lotto" or the "Caribbean Lotto." This is a game in which a plethora of pre-packaged cocaine may just wash up on your property and make you an instant winner. Cocaine is considered to be "just another commodity" down here like sugar or bananas. There's really no stigma.

Sometimes the power will go out (usually on a Sunday for some strange reason) when the government shuts down the entire grid while trying to stop a random plane loaded with cocaine from landing at a regular airport in Mexico. A Soviet-made, giant Antonov cargo plane went down last year in Blue Creek. It was found completely empty.

Says one local pilot: "The drug trade is global. Where do you think that Antonov came from? It came all the way from the Ukraine. It was made in the former Soviet Union."

But it's not the cocaine that's destroying Belize. It's the crack. That's the primary drug people are concerned about eradicating. (In some ways crack is seen as population control in the same way that gang culture and the basketball leagues are a part of social control.)

Ambergris Caye prides itself on being a peaceful place. Other than the beloved "Pizza Denise," who operates Pepperonis Pizza, getting attacked by a local patron, a patrol boat from the Mexican navy blowing up last year near the reef (killing more than two dozen), and a South African crashing and dying in his micro plane, not much of note ever transpires here. Still, people are said to have disappeared or gotten beat up by those who paid for such dark deeds to transpire. "It happens all the time," one local said.

This is the place of the beautiful people, the Ibiza of the Western Hemisphere. Everyone is blonde, pretty and tan, or so it seems.

There's the super rich, who set up and "run" Belize Telecommunications Ltd., or BTL, which is affectionately known as "Better Try Later" – this because of its high rates and the service problems, despite the efforts of its hard-working staff.

One BTL repairman told WorldNetDaily about the high cost of living on the island.

"We eat rice and beans everyday. There's no money for chicken," he said matter-of-factly.

There's Pisano, everyone's favorite homeless man. Once he was the richest bloke on the island. Now he sleeps on top of a cardboard box on the pier. He'll readily tell you stories of his heady days in Jordan where he was cheated, he claims, out of an archaeological fortune he'd organized in the ancient Roman city of Jerash.

There's the super poor, who can sometimes be found pushing along a large cart on the north side of the island collecting trash. There's even a shantytown across the river cut (which divides the island in half) that rests only a stone's throw from the latest, most fashionable homes being built. No one gets too upset. It's just the way things are.

Once in a while, a few drunken local Belizeans will say, "Let's round up all of the Gringos and shoot them." But, says "Sally," an expat who owns land on Ambergris Caye and around Belize, "We all know this is the talk of cowards."

There are only three major streets in the town of San Pedro, and none of them is paved. When it rains, they turn to the kind of mud Hitler's troops encountered on the march to Moscow. This slows the taxis and minivans (they drive too fast, say the locals) and, of course, the golf carts. Strangely, nearly everyone drives a golf cart though precious few actually play the game. (If you are a golf cart repairman, you may want to book the very next flight to Belize.)

Only recently was a bill passed to have these three streets paved in the Belgian block style gracing the Conquistador architecture of neighboring Antigua, Guatemala. But there's no money for such infrastructure projects. The government of Belize, or GOB, is one of the most corrupt on Earth. Officials have looted the country four ways from Sunday. Communists, socialists and capitalists are united in their disgust of this naked theft.

Indeed, the GOB is corrupt from top to bottom, bankrupt and in debt to the World Bank at a frightening level – as in 100 percent of the GDP. More loans are needed to pay the interest on past World Bank loans, leaving little or nothing for day-to-day operations and infrastructure development. Despair, however, is not in short supply.

Scandals in the GOB are endemic. The nation's social security trust fund was "lost" in a shady investment deal in swampland on Ambergris Caye. It's just gone. A government minister's significant other was found in Miami hording a suitcase full of cash. Recently, Belize closed its embassy in Switzerland, though no one, it seems, has ever met a person of Swiss heritage (save this writer) visiting the nation. So why did Belize have an embassy there in the first place?

Taiwan is one of the main engines, along with Britain, that have hung around to boost the economy. The Taiwanese people love Belize. Why? Well for one thing, both nations are identical in size, approximately the same as the state of Massachusetts. Only Taiwan has 43 million people, and Belize has about 270,000 (roughly the size of Waco, Texas).

Taiwan is one of the world's leading economies while Belize is, well, Belize – still developing and relying on tourism as well as the export of bananas, citrus, wood and fish products to earn foreign currency. No one wants factories and pollution here. The ghosts of the Baymen – pirates who first opened up the island to trade and industry – would roll over in their graves.

Yet Belize is a member of the United Nations (so is tiny Nauru, another drug colony), while Taiwan isn't. And that's where the two connect. In exchange for voting at the U.N. to admit Taiwan, Belize gets all kinds of goodies from the Taiwan government – a visit from the state president, technical assistance and yes, lots and lots of cash.

Money is always a problem in Belize it seems. Consider that quite recently, BTL was shocked to learn that the Belize Bank turned its $30 million in deposits into a five-year loan without its permission. The Belize Central Bank, which sits comfortably close to the U.S. Embassy, is expected to step in and void Belize Bank's action. The strange thing is BTL and Belize Bank share the same directorate and were formed out of the humongous Carlisle Group. This is akin to a Thanksgiving turkey suing the stuffing inside it.

Though British Common Law exits, it is possible for the very worst kind of banana republic-style legal hassles to occur in the lives of ordinary citizens. (Dr. Jackson sold a boat to a local woman who soon parked the vessel at the local police shack and demanded her money back for no apparent reason. She eventually got her way with the backing of legal "system.")

Many expats from the U.S. have come to Belize because of a fear of terrorism or their children being killed in a foreign war. They echo the flight of the Roman citizens who fled the head of their Empire to "live with the barbarians." However, many of the things these people thought they were fleeing are instead even worse in Belize.

Ambergris Caye was named for whale excrement that washed up on shore and had its oil extracted for export as a perfume around the British Empire. Its unique naming can readily tell you the island is not like the rest of Belize, particularly Belize City. Some currently living on Ambergris, which became a town only 20 years ago, wish to secede and become an independent country. They feel they are unfairly taxed (the government wants to raise the sales take from 9 percent to 12 percent). Residents of San Pedro feel the federal government looks at them as "rich," a kind of a golden goose that can be taxed and taxed again in an effort to support the rest of the nation.

Belize City is strictly a no-go zone unless you're in transit. It is a haven for AIDS-infected crack addicts, murderers and other criminals. A few years ago, crime was so out-of-control that the government had to set up a special tourist police unit to try suspects on the very same day of their alleged crimes. If Belize ever gets to host the Olympic Games, its mascot will no doubt be an AIDS-infected crack addict auditing BTL's account ledger.

Dr. Jackson says he approached the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization with plans to set up a drug-treatment program for the lost souls of Belize City. Those groups, he says, "told me that I would have to fund the programs with my own money. They think all Americans are super wealthy, especially if you have a 'Dr.' in front of your name."

Peter Teear, a South African who came to Belize this past summer to go Tarpon fishing told WorldNetDaily about his trip to Belize City.

"The taxi driver ran out of gas. We encountered men with machetes. It was really just a big adventure," he said.

The crime and "Dawn of the Dead" atmosphere of Belize City is a pity, considering it houses the oldest Anglican church in all of Central America (St. John's), the Bliss Lighthouse (Lord Byron Bliss was a wealthy patron of Belize who never set foot on shore yet left millions toward positive works for the children of the nation), and other old-style British colonial buildings. The sight of police and the odd BDF soldier armed with heavy weaponry is a welcome sight for the decent people living in the city.

The Belize Tourism Association is busy trying to beautify the waterfront area of Belize City with several parks so that tourists and World Bank economists won't continue to be shocked upon arrival.

Which begs the question: How should Ambergris Caye be kept from turning into Belize City II?

The police in San Pedro are (perhaps at times unfairly) seen as mercenaries who apply force where they are told. They are poorly paid and have been accused of the worse sorts of corruption.

Says one Ambergris resident, "It's like 'Miami Vice.' Only there's no police. It's just vice."

Things have gotten so out of control that a curfew has been placed in effect for all of San Pedro's children. The curfew, which was enacted Oct. 28, begins at 8 p.m. It is aimed at children 17 and under. Children caught out by the police can be arrested. Those 9 years of age or older can be sent to jail and their parents fined Belize $2,000. (The Belize dollar is 2 to 1 against the U.S. dollar.) Worse still is the threat of being sent to "Mile 21," the Youth Detention Center boot camp in Haittieville until they turn 18. Haittieville is the final recourse for youth who commit crimes or are considered "uncontrollable."

In an article entitled "San Pedro Police Cracking Down on Crime," which appeared in the Nov. 11, 2004, issue of The San Pedro Sun, the paper reported that a Belizean police official speaking at a local parent-student meeting "opened the floor for a question-and-answer session about the newly implemented curfew. However, many of the questions from the kids were regarding the disturbing behavior of police officers on the island. Several questions were posed to the panel (by the children) including: Why can officers drink and drive? How come they whistle at me? Why do they drive so fast?"

When the adults of San Pedro contemplate the answers to those questions, a Youth Cadet Corps for children 8 to 14 is being set up to help youngsters behave in a more positive way. The Dial 922 Crime Stoppers is answered in Miami, Fla., of all places – unless a cruise ship has run over the fiber optic cable connecting Belize to Miami. In that case, you'll be without the Internet or international telephone calls for no less than four days.

While the government of Belize may, rightly or wrongly, blame colonialism and short-sighted colonial development, a lack of solidarity (they've actually use that term, as though they just crawled under barbed wire from Soviet-dominated Poland), an unfair global trade regime, devastating hurricanes, the crack Olympics and HIV/AIDS for its problems, the only answers may be moral ones.

If you stay around long enough on Ambergris Caye, a very different kind of picture begins to emerge. And you might not like what you see. Sonya Gibbs, a property manager from St. Louis, Mo., referred to this as "layers of paradise."

What's most readily apparent, even for new arrivals is the "ultimate dictatorship" – the "voluntary slavery" where young people, and even adults, are defined by others whom they never met. They set their boundaries with loud rap music and tattoos. They wear their shorts down to their thighs. It's a rap video of piercings and gangs and bad language 24/7. It's like that nightmare scene in "It's a Wonderful Life." Only the nightmare is the reality.

Yet these children will eagerly point out (and some of them are extremely intelligent and articulate) that John Kerry, Dick Cheney and Colin Powell all used the F-word in public in recent times. As for drugs, they will point to America's thoroughly medicated society (Ritalin, Viagra, RU-486 and President Bush's new mental-health screening proposal) and the never-ending series of scams and lies in Belize's private and public sector. They may be jaded, but they're not uninformed. They are capable of discernment.

But can they overcome the culture they were born into? Dr. Jackson told WorldNetDaily, "I've had parents come into the clinic and ask me, 'Why isn't my 14-year-old daughter pregnant … yet.' I've studied rhetoric and composition. 'Yet' is the operative word."

While the island and the nation have almost completely given over its youth to the worst elements of American-exported gang culture, there is a remnant and those working to train up a new generation. Every Monday morning, the children of San Pedro line up from the Catholic Grammar School and march down the street for Mass.

They are black and white and brown, Mexican and Mayan Indian. They're often paired up boy/girl. While they walk with their hands folded they do seem very much like children in league with the angels.

Near the grammar school and the local high school are giant billboards that contain slogans like, "Abstain. Be pure. Be Holy." One is graced with a picture of a (supposedly) HIV/AIDS-free bride and groom. While the UK blames "homophobia" for the rise of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, the Belizean media will have none of it.

When a gay cruise ship from the UK was denied entry in Jamaica and then headed for Ambergris Caye, the locals weren't exactly doing loop-de-loops. In America, the only sin is "intolerance." Despite its moral collapse, that's still not the case in Belize. One of the major papers in Belize City lambasted Hollywood for portraying Alexander the Great as "the gay" in a recent major motion picture. Nevertheless, homosexual tourists are welcome in Belize. No one really cares who you are or what you do. You could be a Smurf or even a Martian for all that matters, if you've got money. No questions asked.

The heterosexual sex is so out of control in Belize that no one dares point fingers at homosexuals. While in Guyana there is the possibility that both homosexuality and prostitution will be criminalized, this would never happen in Belize. It would be seen as "casting the first stone."

Abortion is illegal although that may soon change. Recently, the government signed on to the U.N. Population Control agenda seeking to "empower women" concerning their "reproductive rights." This means, of course (and perhaps foremost), legalizing abortion.

Europeans who believe in the concept of evolution over the account as stated in Genesis are sometimes chided by the media. One media organ recently wrote: "No wonder Europeans like bananas so much. They believe they evolved from apes."

Such statements, rather than fuel racial tensions, bring cheers from the white, Christian residents of Belize who came to the nation in large part to flee political correctness.

Much of the journalism in Belize, at least the editorials and opinion pieces, are a mix of liberation theology, Marxist-Leninist and Maoist thought, as well as evangelical, Bible-based faire de jour. Of the latter, the beloved writer "Aunt Grace" is the main siren. This is a nation where 90 percent of the people claim to be Christian. As such, political correctness scantly exists, even in the media, especially in comparison to the U.S. and UK. Articles published in Belize would never appear elsewhere on Earth.

It is the lack of political correctness that enables the communists, capitalists and Christians to all peacefully co-exist. When Dr. Crawford talks about communism, she is not talking about laogai gulags in China, Stalin, Aristide's necklaces (tires filled with gasoline placed around the necks of political enemies and then set ablaze) or Nelson Mandela telling the ANC Youth to burn down their schools.

Black Christians in Belize are especially cheeky about standing up for the Bible as the word of God. As mentioned, this rallies white Christians to their side, as they also are alienated by transnational European, post-Christian paganism.

It would be a mistake to write off Belize in moral terms, or underestimate the courage and conviction of the black Christians in this nation (along with the Lebanese Christians, Belizeans and whites). This brings to mind the changing paradigm in our post-modern dispensation, where Christian civilization is being transferred from the Anglophile world to Sudan, mainland China and the Caribbean.

Belize's relationship with nearby Cuba, the influence of global financial institutions and their macro-economic policies (Belizeans are only beginning to learn that nations like Malaysia that have shut out the World Bank and IMF in times of crisis have done extremely well), homosexual rights, creationism vs. evolution, HIV/AIDS, re-thinking British colonialism, regional economic cooperation (under the framework of NAFTA and its place in a future world government) are all hotly debated issues.

Typical of the sentiments of Belize's fed up population is the large sign on the road heading east from the border with Guatemala. It reads, "Too much crime. Too much taxes. Dis government gotta go!"

Father Jim Blount, a priest at the Church of San Pedro, is known for his voracious and pointed sermons. In one such sermon this past summer he spoke of the moral decay on Ambergris Caye, the tenuousness of life and how "a giant wave from a hurricane" might well come one day and completely destroy the island. Father Blount is one of the very best voices of sanity in all of Belize. He has the courage to say what everyone else thinks.

Inspired by Blount's sermons, one local expatriate began monitoring E03A (MI-6) and 4625 KHz on the shortwave radio band with the worry that nuclear war will break out and those shortwave stations would "give him an edge." The end of the world is a more popular theme here (considering it's paradise) than it probably should be. (Father Blount also has a radio show that airs in the morning and then again at night).

You'd be surprised at how many tourists are sure that aliens from UFOs built the neighboring Tikal ruins. More than a few told WorldNetDaily that they "are waiting for the world to end when the Mayan Calendar runs out in the year 2012."

Evangelical Protestants living on Ambergris Caye (mostly Mayan Indians, Belizeans and Mexicans) really don't have much of a public presence. Perhaps they're just kind of hiding out from all the madness. Who can blame them? Over the past three or four years, the spirit of the island has almost completely decayed.

While some might call this "being too negative," Father Blount has had a great deal of inspiration. There are single mothers (Dr. Jackson mentioned one 19-year-old girl with six children from six different men and still on the prowl), the aforementioned foul-mouthed youth, the coke, pot, crack, 8 a.m. beer-guzzling drunks, lust, theft, the HIV-positive scene, bars on the windows and not to be forgotten, a cadre of murderers.

It's a case of total societal disintegration. This is Belize's dirty if not so little secret – like the crazy aunt you keep locked up in your basement. Only now she's come out to greet everyone at an open-house party.

Consider that one celebrated Boy Scout appeared in uniform on the front page of a major paper – but not to honor his merit badges. Rather, it was to identify him for a gruesome murder of a Belizean prom queen.

Strange hangers-on will sometimes follow you to dinner, and if you don't oblige them they will get angry and along with their street friends turn on you as the masks come off.

Says Eitan, an Israeli soldier, "I hated Ambergris Caye. All of these street people coming up to you out of nowhere and acting like they are your best friend. It was like being back home in my neighborhood in Tel Aviv."

Then there are the random Belizeans walking around with a mongoose-like creature on a leash or even carrying a snake about town. For a few dollars you can pet them (the animals) if you dare.

Female tourists can't walk anywhere without being approached for sex by local men. This on top of the never-ending catcalls and whistles, which are aimed at girls as young as 10.

Stephanie, who hails from St. Louis, Mo., told WorldNetDaily: "I went for a short walk and I was approached and/or bothered 11 times. Eleven times! And if you don't want to hang out with them they just assume that you're a racist."

They're annoying in a Rosanne Arquette kind of way, annoying like Phil Collins singing "Against All Odds."

"They go easy on me because they know I'm a church girl. But still … it really bothers me. They say, 'Oh baby, I've got something for you.' I tell them, 'Well, I've got something for you … Jesus!'"

Carrie's friend Cathy Clark, (picture Donna Reed, the "Mary Bailey" of "It's a Wonderful Life") told WorldNetDaily: "Think of Belize's problems. There's sloth, of course. And lust. I heard a woman say that if everyone gave up just one major sin – like lust – there would be a global depression."

Almost every expat living on Ambergris Caye seems to have a nemesis in the mold of Newman of "Sienfeld" TV show fame. There's the local woman who rails against a local "criminal" who she claims broke into the island's favorite charity and stole money. This person, she claims, "preys on female tourists." She's almost sure he had AIDS.

As more and more decent people on Ambergris Caye grow increasingly fed up with this debased harassment, some have suggested issuing a visa just to get onto the island. That means if you are a Belizean and you don't have a job or a reason to be on the island (other than bothering tourists for money, food, beer and/or sex) that you will be deported. But who is to say who can stay and who must go? Again, the so-called riffraff, in spite of its flaws, is no worse that the more respectable elements (at least outwardly) on the island.

With the sexuality of the island reaching out-of-control levels, one wonders if there should be AIDS testing and if tourists who have trafficked sexually with the promiscuous locals should be warned. Should those knowingly spreading AIDS be prosecuted?

Dr. Lerida Rodriquez, a very well-respected Cuban who has a practice on Ambergris Caye, told WND: "We don't have mandatory AIDS testing here … but we should."

Rodriquez also lamented her recent visit to Cuba where she said "everyone was hassling you and just out to make a buck." As for Ambergris Caye and its' moral state she simply said, "It's depressing."

Many of the residents of San Pedro (the name is often used synonymously with Ambergris) fear for their temporal and eternal lives. This is not what they signed on for when they moved here from overseas.

Sally, who was briefly mentioned above, told WorldNetDaily, "It's all about associations."

She pondered the Bible verse, "Blessed is he who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, who standeth not in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful."

"You have to be strong in the Lord to survive here," she added stoically. "Let me give you an example. The locals wanted me to be a judge for the Miss Chiquita pageant, you know for the small girls. And they had them dressed up like prostitutes almost. I said to them, 'Dress them properly like little girls and then I will be a judge.'"

Samantha, a local Afro-Caribbean woman, said, "People aren't becoming monsters. People are monsters."

Ahmad Harmouch, a man of Lebanese descent who owns the largest supermarket on the island, said, "You can't find workers who won't steal from you. You won't believe how many people I've had to fire."

Harmouch, who is a Muslim and has lived in Belize all of his life, also had to deal with a real fire that almost destroyed all he and his family have worked for over the years. No one was injured, but the fire shocked the local community for its scope and severity.

Several woman told WorldNetDaily how they had been improperly grabbed (one by the notorious "Crotch Grabber"), suffered break-ins (one reported no less than five) and how she had to invite friends over to sleep at night out of fear for her life.

The woman said, in all seriousness, "I don't know if I will be raped and then murdered or murdered and then raped."

Says one longtime resident of the island, "The police are not seen as an option to deter crime. Many times they are seen driving around in their police vehicles playing the rap music so loud that if a call came through on the radio they couldn't possibly hear it."

Police salaries are very low, and this is a part of the problem with recruitment, motivation and retention. However, it is the crack that is leading to much of the crime. People steal to get money or things to in turn use to buy more crack.

Many of the local expats are honest and open about their troubled pasts and present sins. They've been to jail. They've chased prostitutes. They've blown cocaine through their eyeball directly onto their brainpan. They've sired children and run off, left sick spouses, drank the worm at the bottom of the Tequila bottle, left their landlord with a U.S. $500 phone bill, gone through rehab, fornicated, committed adultery, endorsed the Abu Ghraib prison debacle and even far worse things – deeds that would make even the guests on "The Jerry Springer Show" cringe.

Not surprisingly, while walking along the beach one can sometimes hear the "Jerry" chants coming from locals watching the show on their satellite dishes. It's like a global mantra one might find in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Only it's the decent remnant who are now the aliens in this world.

Despite the moral freefall, there are many residents and visitors to San Pedro who have demonstrated the highest character possible. And their thoughts, actions and habits embody those possessing a sense of purpose in their lives. They know that you can't hold on to both the good and the bad – you have to let go of one or the other.

Harvey, a black Belizean man and a local barbeque entrepreneur, told WorldNetDaily he was concerned about the moral direction of both Belize and the United States. His lack of formal schooling has not prevented him from being informed or articulating his opinions.

"Look at Chief Justice Moore," Harvey said with great emotion. "Look at how the Ten Commandments are being removed from society."

Tom Vidrine, a native of Louisiana and the head of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, helped WorldNetDaily with funding to purchase Belize $500 in presents for U.S. GIs in the Burn Unit of the Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas last Christmas.

Miriam, a pretty nurse from the U.S. is also another local expat hero. She once worked a 24-hour straight shift due to a staff shortage. Miriam told WorldNetDaily about a baby she delivered who was "born with its skin falling off. The doctors didn't know just what to do!"

With the fate of the baby's life hanging in the balance, Miriam said she "called down to the kitchen" of the hospital and "told them to send up some Saran wrap." She then promptly wrapped up the baby, keeping the skin intact. The baby survived.

Tomorrow: LoBaido tells the poignant story of a Belizean beauty queen whose inner beauty rivals her natural good looks.

John, the THREAD isn't long, the article is. Merry CHRISTmas.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you and yours, friend

3 posted on 12/24/2004 1:21:09 AM PST by JohnHuang2 ("You can get so well educated ... your thoughts become detached from common sense" -- Peggy Noonan)

the THREAD isn't long, the article is

I'll fix the headline ;-)

4 posted on 12/24/2004 1:22:27 AM PST by JohnHuang2 ("You can get so well educated ... your thoughts become detached from common sense" -- Peggy Noonan)

Fascinating, John. I remember five or six years ago there was a week-long thread here, on the topic of which country in the world offered its citizens the most freedom. FR was heavily influenced by Libertarians at that time and, as I recall, the consensus was Belize. This story has certainly been an eye-opener in terms of outlining the downside. Thanks so much for all you do, and very best wishes to you and yours for Christmas, Byron

5 posted on 12/24/2004 1:39:50 AM PST by Byron_the_Aussie (http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup2.html)

Sorry to be a nudge

Sorry? Nothin' to be sorry about; my mistake and thanks for pointing it out. Merry Christmas.

7 posted on 12/24/2004 1:47:41 AM PST by JohnHuang2 ("You can get so well educated ... your thoughts become detached from common sense" -- Peggy Noonan)

8 posted on 12/24/2004 1:49:00 AM PST by JohnHuang2 ("You can get so well educated ... your thoughts become detached from common sense" -- Peggy Noonan)

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