This and That

Okay, this is one of the reasons that I don't blog as much as I would like. I spent over 2 hours putting this post together and blogger just went fucking crazy. Now I have to start all over again, and, oh nevermind. Here goes ...

There have been many things going on in Santo Domingo in the past few weeks. There was the Weightlifting Championships, the Junior Judo Championships, and right now the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States is putting on their first festival. All this has or is taking place in our fair city. Coming up this week is the Santo Domingo International Film Festival. The problem is the most people don't know about it. Unfortunately, the Culture Ministry or the Ministry of Tourism don't think it is necessary, in my estimation, to publicize these events so that everyone knows about them. Also, these are great things that are coming here. Okay, you don't have money to do a whole lot, but what the fuck is wrong with putting a calendar together with all the latest things happening. Most of what is going on here no one knows about until you see the closing ceremony on the news. I mean, come on people. Okay, okay. I'm really upset about losing my original post and having to finish this at 3:40am. But I'm wasting time.

Now to a very serious matter.

A couple of days ago I came across and article about a man who was shot and killed in his SUV in north of the country. I read it and thought this was another incident of senseless violence and moved on to other things. I then go to DR1 and see that someone started a post with "My Father Was Murdered Today." I thought, could this be about the same person that I read about in the article? It was. Now, if that is not sad enough. It seems the murdered gentleman had also written a post on DR1 back in June, titled "A Very Dangerous and Troublesome Ex-employee." As I read his entry I was shocked. He stated how he had an employee that was stealing from him and coming to work drunk and basically had to get rid of him. The employee came back with a "friend" and threatened him. His post is sad and shocking because he knew that people were following him and he thought they might try something. And they did. The individual who is alleged to have committed the crime has been caught. Now, let's see what kind of "justice" is handed down to this individual. Anyone, especially foreigners, who have businesses here have had to deal with shady employees. Even if they are fired for cause, like stealing and coming to work drunk, they can still try and extort money from you. Every businessperson here, again, especially foreigners, know that Labor Dept. is going to side with the Dominican. No matter what the evidence proves. I am in no way saying that mistreatment of Dominican workers should be tolerated, but neither should having to pay someone who has stolen and threatened you. But more importantly, someone shouldn't have to lose their lives over a couple hundred dollars.

Just my 2 cents ...

Here are some other articles I found:

Chicago White Sox Player Being Questioned About Nightclub Shooting in DR

Dominicans Taste U.S. Culture

Preliminary Report on Casino Tycoon's Helicopter Crash in DR

NYC Teacher Takes Student on "Holiday" to the DR

Columbian Version of "Survivor" Style Class Warfare Filmed in DR