The new US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Peter Cianchette, who has never before visited Costa Rica, spoke to reporters yesterday in English while an embassy spokeswoman translated.“I am now … going to work very hard at learning Spanish, and (will try) to learn as much as possible about the country and its culture and its heritage,” he said.
I have a hunch that the Chinese ambassador to Costa Rica can speak Spanish.
Who is Peter Cianchette?- just another political hack that lost elections and confirmations but is important enough to someone in a corrupt Washington to represent the US in a Latin American country. We could not find anyone who speaks Spanish.
__________________________
Tico TimesPresident Oscar Arias formally has accepted Peter Cianchette, a Maine businessman and politician, as U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica.
Cianchette, 46, who met with Arias yesterday at the Casa Presidencial, said his priority is to help Costa Rica join the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA). The country ratified CAFTA in an October referendum but has not yet passed all the laws required to enter the pact.
In the coming weeks, Cianchette (pronounced chin-KET) will meet with ambassadors and government ministers. He will speak to the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and tour the country, said Magda Siekert, a public affairs officer at the embassy.
Cianchette, who has never before visited Costa Rica, spoke to reporters yesterday in English while an embassy spokeswoman translated.
“I am now … going to work very hard at learning Spanish, and (will try) to learn as much as possible about the country and its culture and its heritage,” he said.
Cianchette served in Maine's state legislature from 1996 to 2000 and was state chairman for George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2004.
He is a partner in the private investment firm CHK Capital Partners and president of The Cianchette Group, a public affairs and business consulting firm.
He now lives in San José with his wife, Carolyn, and their children, Evan and Maria.
This may be the scariest thing I've ever read.
ReplyDelete(What don't people get about someone that votes left of the one Socialist in the Senate?)
---
Dismayed Republicans emerge as Barack Obama supporters -
WHAT do the daughter of Richard Nixon, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and the son of Milton Friedman, the monetarist economist, have in common? They are all Obamacons: conservatives, Republicans and free market champions who support Barack Obama, the Democratic party nominee, for president.
The Obama campaign has a sharp-eyed political operations team tasked with seeking out prominent endorsers “on both sides of the aisle”, according to a campaign official. It came tantalisingly close to securing one of the biggest names in politics when Colin Powell, secretary of state during President George W Bush’s first term in office, said last week that he might vote for Obama.
Powell said Obama and John McCain, his Republican opponent, “have the qualifications to be president, but both of them cannot be”. He added that he would neither vote for Obama because he was African-Ameri-can nor for McCain because of his military service but for the individual who “brings the best set of tools to the problems of 21st-century America . . . regardless of party”.
His argument was echoed by Peggy Noonan...
Says even more about the man accepting the position than those who offered it.
ReplyDeleteDoug, it is hard to defend the current administration and the revulsion at the cynicism that controls and drives Washington. I am dismayed as well, but I certainly do not see Obama as a positive change. Wishful thinking has caused more than its share of misery.
ReplyDeleteThis is an administration that turned over Iraq to a man that knew nothing about Iraq. The President has learned nothing.
ReplyDeleteI know the civil service does all the work in foreign relations, but wouldn't it be refreshing to show the host country that we care enough to send an ambassador that knows the culture and the language?
ReplyDeleteMcCain will need as much as the Hispanic vote as possible. There is no one in the Bush Administration that thought perhaps it would show that group of voters that we have a clue?
ReplyDelete"McCain will need as much as the Hispanic vote as possible. There is no one in the Bush Administration that thought perhaps it would show that group of voters that we have a clue?"
ReplyDeleteThere is no other group for whom the Bush Admnistration has, sombrero in hand, provided more pandering and attention.
It is not a matter of pandering. You cannot seek the best advantage for your own cause if you cannot speak to the people you wish to influence in their own language. It makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteIf it was up to me they'd send Mel Martinez.
ReplyDeleteAnd raise the drawbridge behind him once he got there.
You've been FEMA'd, duece.
ReplyDeleteYou've got your own "Brownie", now.
Maybe he ran the American Cat Show.
ReplyDeleteArabian Cat Show.
ReplyDeleteMouse Roping
ReplyDeleteWe thot the House Post Office Scandal Produced a Meltdown.
ReplyDeleteWe ain't seen nuthin yet.
Now compare our guy to whom the Chinese sent. Pay attention to the last line, por favor:
ReplyDelete"Wang Xiaoyuan formally presented his credential letter to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on Thursday, becoming China's first ambassador to the Central American country in six decades.
On June 6, Arias established diplomatic relations with China, five days after his country broke ties with Taiwan.
Wang told a press conference that the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Costa Rica would benefit both countries.
"We are examining points of interest relating to possible joint ventures in economy, trade and even tourism," he added.
Speaking at the same conference, Arias said he was pleased to have made official his country's relationship with China. "The most important part of this relationship is not trade, but the investment that China is making here," he said.
"China is a nation with immense prosperity and greatly accelerated growth. We hope we will begin to speak about a free trade agreement with China," he added.
In 2006, Costa Rica's export volume to China reached nearly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars and it imported 618 million, riding the wave of a 10-year growth of bilateral trade.
Wang, China's business attache until Thursday, began working as a diplomat in 1975 and has worked in Mexico, Cuba, Spain and Brazil. He has been Chinese ambassador in Equatorial Guinea and Uruguay.
Now why do you suppose China Is interested in Costa Rica?
ReplyDeleteFellow is from Maine, a failed Statewide politico, who went Federal
ReplyDeleteEight-year-old Robyn Ham, sporting a red-white-and-blue-ribboned hat, asked Peter Cianchette why he wants to be Governor.
"He said he wants Maine to be a good place to live," says Robyn, daughter of Robbie and Margaret Ham of Boothbay.
"Because I love Maine," is the Republican candidate's short answer.
Peter Cianchette (pronounced chin-kett) was in Boothbay Harbor Oct. 18, 2002 meeting with over 100 residents in the Boothbay Region Elementary School gym, a gathering he said was a boost to see on a Friday evening.
But he was to busy to try again, in '06
Tuesday, October 04, 2005 - Bangor Daily News
AUGUSTA - Peter Cianchette shocked Republicans across the state Monday when he formally withdrew from the 2006 governor's race leaving the party's fate to a small pool of lesser-known candidates.
The current state GOP national committee member who staged an unsuccessful 2002 challenge against Democratic Gov. John E. Baldacci, Cianchette cited family considerations as the overriding factor for dropping out of the race. The 44-year-old South Portland businessman is married and has a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. He officially announced his decision to seek the GOP nomination in late July.
"After several months on the campaign trail, I have determined that the commitment required for a yearlong campaign and then to govern the state is greater than I can give at this time in my life,"
...
Cianchette, who chaired President Bush's re-election campaign last year, went on to explain that while he may seek public office again at some future time, he now knows he has only one "opportunity to be there with my children during some of the most important years of their young lives."
"I don't want to miss that," he said.”
After his sabbatical from "Public Service" Team43 tried to put him in a long term, transitionary posting
August 31, 2006
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today praised the presidential nomination of Peter E. Cianchette to be a member of the Intern al Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight Board for the remainder of a five-year term expiring September 14, 2010. The nomination will be referred to the Senate Finance Committee of which Snowe is a member for consideration.
“The nomination of Peter Cianchette to serve on the IRS’s Oversight Board is a reflection of his unparalleled intellect and integrity that the people of Maine have come to know so well. I commend the President for this nomination and believe that Peter’s record as a successful businessman will serve the federal government and the IRS well,” said Snowe. “I will discuss Peter’s excellent qualifications with Finance Committee Chairman Grassley to ensure that the Senate expeditiously considers this nomination.”
Cannot find that he was confirmed, or not, for that IRS job.
Where are the children?
ReplyDeleteMusic for the day.
ReplyDeleteQuote for the day:
"The secret of correct prediction is to shun wishful thinking and coldly believe the Cold Equations. Shun pessimistic thinking, too--as I am doing and as I shall presently prove to you. Treat the world the way a research scientist treats a problem--examine the data, try to organize, try to predict coldly and logically. Not what you want to have happen--but what can happen and what is most likely to happen--and then, and only then, what you yourself can do about it, to make things easier or better or safer for you and your kids."
Those Chinese, lookin' for the best bananas.
ReplyDeleteWanna bet John voted to confirm him as Ambassador, or not?
ReplyDeleteIOW's, were fucked!
ReplyDeleteMr. Cianchette was just following sinless's dictum:
ReplyDelete"what you yourself can do about it, to make things easier or better or safer for you and your kids."
"you yourself"
ReplyDeletewtf is up w/that, sinless?
It's not a bi-polar world, US & Islam.
ReplyDeleteThe US belittles and patronizes the Latin American countries. A by-product of Anglo Saxon hubris that manifasts itself in US policies, or lack there of.
Look to the Colombian Trade Agreement as an example of US hubris towards Latin America. Promise, then deny.
"what you, yourself, can do about it, to make things easier or better or safer for you and your kids."
ReplyDeleteAdd a couple of commas, to get the candence, doug.
Makes perfect sense.
If the Ambassador comes with his children, then it'll be a great experience for them, life shaping.
If he comes alone, he must figure his kids are full grown, their shared experiences over.
And what would Big Russ think of that?.
"wtf is up w/that, sinless?"
ReplyDeleteColloquialism?
"Look to the Colombian Trade Agreement as an example of US hubris towards Latin America. Promise, then deny."
ReplyDeleteIs it not less US hubris towards Latin America and more Democratic Party priorities? They don't give a flying fuck, anymore than they have for the past seven years and counting, so long as they wind up with domestic political power.
US history, in Latin America is long and full of military "Police Actions", invasions, occuppations, puppet governments and the like.
ReplyDeleteSince before the time of Major General Smedley Butler USMC, going back to the acquisition of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and California, from Spain or its' replacement entities at the time.
US attitudes towards Latin America transeng Party partisonship.
The history of Anglo Saxon hubris that goes back to before the founding of the United States, back to Henry Morgan and even Sir Francis Drake.
Yes, I'm all aware of the history of U.S. involvement in Latin America. But this has less to do with that history than it does with current Democratic Party strategery and triage.
ReplyDeleteThat the Colombians got caught in whirlwind of US elections, that was no unknowable.
ReplyDeleteBut that the tenure of the Bush Administration has seen the US's influence wane in Venezuela, Ecquador, Bolivia, Nicoland is undeniable.
That the conditions in Mexico and along the US border have grown more unstable, also undeniable.
There is more to US policies in Latin America than just that Trade Pact. It is just the most current example of US hubris in the region.
The United States stands as one, a sum of the factions, as designed.
That the Democrats control the United States foreign policy with regards Colombia, from the Congress, does not make it any less the policy of the United States.
ReplyDeleteTreat the world the way a research scientist treats a problem--examine the data, try to organize, try to predict coldly and logically. Not what you want to have happen--but what can happen and what is most likely to happen-
ReplyDeleteEven what has really happened
"But that the tenure of the Bush Administration has seen the US's influence wane in Venezuela, Ecquador, Bolivia, Nicoland is undeniable."
ReplyDeleteWhich has nothing to do with their own politics and political philosophy.
Rat, you have captured the flag of private nihilism.
Why wasn't the DCM made acting ambassador? Six months to go. Would've made sense.
ReplyDeleteI'd give him Corporal Nihilism, at least.
ReplyDeleteYou, yourself, ain't good grammar.
ReplyDeleteOK, Sinless, you must atone for the sins of Sir Francis.
ReplyDeleteAt least Captain Cook paid up in full, out here, so I'm home-free in Hawaii.
ReplyDelete"Kealakekua Bay was considered the sacred harbor of Lono, the fertility god of the Hawaiians, and at the time of Cook's arrival the locals were engaged in a festival dedicated to Lono"
ReplyDelete---
You don't want to mess w/them Lono Festivals.
ReplyDeleteThis Day in History 1779 Captain Cook killed in Hawaii
"Raejean White posted bright yellow signs at all six entrances to the Preston Terrace Condominiums that read:
ReplyDelete"If it's yellow let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.""
At least Captain Cook paid up in full, out here, so I'm home-free in Hawaii.
ReplyDelete:)
Cap'n Cook, he done pd. the bill.
After one of the crewmen died, exposing the Europeans as mere mortals, relations became strained.
ReplyDeletePapa always told me, sex for nails is ok, just don't die.
Sometimes when I read certain things and think back on how things were I just can't believe it.
I wish I could track it down, and confirm it, what my good high school English teach told us, that when first the men with the stout sails first met up with the Polynesians many of the Polys had trouble seeing the ships, the ships were so otherworldly, there, and not there, like the risen Christ, like UFO's, like the first contact with the totally alien.
ReplyDeletePioneers! we have it within our grasp to terraform Mars
ReplyDeleteTrekkers, advance!
Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Hey, al-Bob, why didn't you hold on to the place your dad bought on the big island?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they don't have a little rotary feather duster or somethin to clean off the solar panels?
ReplyDelete...think I read something the other day about our 2 old friends up there losing a lot of juice due to dust buildup.
I really would have liked to Doug, but dad had three kids, and he divided it up, and my bro got that little house. It was out there on the big island by the Parker Ranch, a tiny little house, with some volvanic rock, and a mortgage.
ReplyDeleteI think Hawaii is a great place, and, if I ever get over there again, I'm looking you up, invited or no.
Does the bro still have it?
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time you were here?
I'm not sure. My bro and I, alas, don't communicate. He's a doc, and I the farmer, and we had issues long ago. He's a child, in my view, emotionally, but a very accomplished man, more so than I. It's sad.
ReplyDeleteI think we'd be too embarrassed to talk again, alas.
The last time I was there was when I met 'my lady', nearly 30 years ago. Time flies.
Doug, I met 'my lady' on a flight from Portland to Honolulu. It was really amazing. We started to talk, being seated next to one another, and we are talking still. I'd bet, something similar
ReplyDeletemay have happened to you!
Beware the femmes!
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