Five years ago yesterday, on January 27, 2000, I created an 8-page website called "PapiPorCorreo.com." The idea behind the site was to get people a lot smarter and a lot more creative than I am to see the need in Puerto Rico for getting critical information to kids and others who may not be receiving such information at home. The same critical information everyone you know who is currently leading or has lead a successful life has used.

At that time, I also had an English-language version of the website called "MailOrderFather.com." I wrote to one person regarding taking over this concept website hoping that he would immediately be able to look way beyond its crude, unprofessional appearance and see the potential of having a community website that everyone could participate in, bringing Puerto Rico together, working as a team to help those who were in need in many different areas.

Those two websites evolved into "CiberPapi.com" and now "NotiPuertoRico.com."  What was supposed to take a month of my time has now turned into taking 5 years of my time, now beginning a 6th year.

After a lot of hard work and a lot of persistence, I have not yet been able to find anyone who believed that the problems we have all faced and are currently facing were severe enough to try something innovative. The price I asked back in 2000 is the same price I am currently asking, $1.

Instead of receiving help, I have experienced just the opposite. Since January 27, 2000, approximately 4,000 people, many of them young people, have been murdered in Puerto Rico, approximately 3,000 have been killed in traffic "accidents" as well as actual traffic accidents, approximately 130 women have been shown anything but love by their "significant" others and approximately 80,000 single moms and their 200,000 children -Puerto Rico's next generation- are still victims of "men" who seem to loose their sense of direction and responsibility once they made something(s) they clearly never wanted, many times naming these "things" after themselves.

I estimate that I have sent out an average of over 900,000 e-mails each year, including my daily eNewsletter and have received a total of about 100 responses from journalists, politicians and others in those 5 years. Of those 100 responses I was shortly able to determine that only a handful were sincere.

Most people PRETEND to ignore what I am trying to accomplish, which isn't very different from what they have been ignoring for a couple of decades or longer, namely Puerto Rico -- but ACTUALLY pay an extraordinary amount of attention to every last thing I do online.

That's one of the main reasons I continue attempting to reach my goals.

Now, with more than 6,000,000 hits on my various websites during the past 5 years and more people receiving my daily eNewsletter -- by having it "secretly" forwarded to them than I actually send out myself -- I know I have hit on a nerve or two or forty.

Remember, these numbers are only my own estimates. Having said that, they are most likely a little more reliable than Newsday's previous circulation figures.

I couldn't possibly have done any of this without the incredible, and I DO MEAN INCREDIBLE people at America Online, Verio, certain politicians, many in the media and law enforcement -- all working together toward a common goal.

When my youngest children ask me if I am famous having my name on the Internet, I tell them the truth -- I tell them that I am the most famous person in Puerto Rico nobody has ever heard of -- nobody -- except everyone in a position of power and/or influence, who could have done a lot more for Puerto Rico, but chose a different route.

When others ask what I think I am accomplishing with all my efforts, I tell them the truth as well -- I tell them that it doesn't matter what I think, but what I can document -- and I can document plenty.

You know, if instead of coming up with an innovative concept website that, when done professionally, would have helped just about everyone, I had come up with a website that called for people throughout the world to hate Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, I would have received the same scrutiny, disdain and contempt I have received for attempting to do something positive.

Go figure!

Anyway, I suppose when a nobody like me with a Mafia LAST name puts Puerto Rico FIRST -- it attracts some attention, to say the least -- and I do meant THE LEAST.

Well, that's enough about me, for now. Since last weeks commentary, "Kim Siekmann's Puerto Rico," I was able to find the so-far, only response that Sun-Sentinel.com published:

Here's the response in its entirety.  .  .

« Posted: January 24, 2005

Why Pfizer is in Puerto Rico

To better understand Pfizer wages and the decision of the company to locate in Puerto Rico, one needs a better understanding of some basic truths.

Puerto Rico ("rich port") is a commonwealth of the U.S., and its citizens are citizens of the United States by birth. The commonwealth has a standard of living that equals South Florida and the literacy rate is over 95 percent. The quality of that education is, on many levels, superior to South Florida schools. 

The commonwealth -- as do states on the mainland -- provides economic incentives for American companies to locate there: land, a 10-year tax abatement, an educated, highly skilled, hardworking workforce, and a government as stable as the USA's. 

Puerto Rico is not a Third World banana republic.

The wages Pfizer pays are in line with the qualifications of the people and the quality of the work they do. We in the United States do pay a lot for our drugs and that is a problem. The wages paid to Puerto Ricans and mainland workers are not the cause of this.

Joe Rosado 
Sunrise

Comments: letters@sun-sentinel.com »

Hopefully the same people who read Kim Siekmann's original letter ALSO read Joe Rosado's response.  It was definitely right on the money.

And speaking of money, I wanted to share a couple of really innovative, new products that are currently being marketed to some of the weakest among us, guaranteed to make their companies A LOT of $$$.  They come from our friends at Bacardí and Anheuser-Busch, two of the alcoholic beverage giants known for their "passion" for product promotion.

Since Bacardí and Anheuser-Busch, as well as most others in the same industry, are aware that alcoholic beverages are NOT meant for people under the legal age, they take painstaking efforts to NEVER design, name or promote ANY of their products to anyone too young to know better -- and they definitely should be condemned, I mean commended for their efforts.

Bacardí announced this week the launch of "Island Breeze," which offers half the calories of traditional spirits -- wine or beer. Billed as the “original lite spirit,” "Island Breeze" comes in key lime, wild berry and coconut flavors.

Now, if Bacardí wanted to attract the very young AKA "the weakest among us," to their new alcoholic beverages, they would have created flavors like "key slime," "halle berry" and "coconut-puffs."

Alfredo “Freddy” Piedra, the head of Bacardí's Global New Product Development is convinced that “consumers today want to live life to the fullest, but they're also concerned about being healthier.”

I'm glad to hear "Freddy" say that.  He seems to be right on the ball when it comes to understanding the people who consume Bacardí products. However, there is the possibility that he may not be aware that kids, meaning anyone under the legal age, come across his marketing strategies and product placements.  These kids see the print ads, the website banner ads, the commercials on TV and in movie theaters, they hear the jingles on the radio and they observe many other marketing tools used to fulfill Bacardí's "Passion Of The $$$."

If you read El Nuevo Día every day, like I do, you'll notice they have a daily "Cita del Día"/Quote Of The Day.  I'll bet you anything that if they placed “Freddy” Piedra's quote in Spanish -in its entirety- just leaving out the name of the company he represents, NOT ONE PERSON IN THIS WORLD would think he was referring to booze.

----------------------------------------------------  CITA DEL DÍA  -----------------------------------------------------
“Consumers Today Want To Live Life To The Fullest, But They're Also Concerned About Being Healthier”
Alfredo “Freddy” Piedra, Chairman Of Global New Product Development For XXXXXX
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On bacardi.com, viewers are reminded to "Enjoy Our Good Taste With Your Good Judgment."  Wouldn't it be great if Bacardí and EVERYONE ELSE realized that the same kids who see their products all over the place -not just online- DO NOT have good judgment YET.

Some alcoholic beverage companies even get their buddies to include people boozing it up while celebrating the birth of Christ.  It would be great to be able to view the planning of such strategies, having those "deleted scenes" adding to the special features section of, for example, a particular holiday DVD produced "en mi país," Puerto Rico.

Maybe this commentary or one of the many pending lawsuits will enlighten Bacardí. Time will tell.

Anheuser-Busch this week had something else up their sleeves. Going against the grain in courting the young cocktail crowd, the beermaker is launching a new "brew" to go head-to-head with classic mixed drinks -- traditional suds spiked with caffeine, fruit flavoring, herbal guarana and ginseng.  B-to-the-E as it is called -the "B" standing for beer, the "E" for something "extra"- packs 17 grams of carbohydrates, along with 4.5 percent alcohol by volume, 54 milligrams of caffeine and 145 calories. By comparison, Anheuser-Busch's "Bacardí Silver Low-Carb Black Cherry" has 2.6 grams of carbs and 96 calories per 12-ounce serving.

With nutritional information being freely offered to sell an alcoholic product, so should alcoholic products have the same type of printed warnings and voice-over warnings prescription drug advertising has.

For a prescription drug, by law, you get the STRAIGHT TALK about possible side effects, for example: WARNING: "The most common side effects of 'BRAND X DRUG' are headache, facial flushing, upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea. Less commonly erectile dysfunction, bluish vision, blurred vision, or sensitivity to light may briefly occur"

Why not for an alcoholic beverage being pitched on TV, radio, in print, online or anywhere else have a similar warning, for example: WARNING: "The most common side effects of consuming too much of 'BRAND X BOOZE' are moderate to severe headaches, moderate to severe memory loss, possible loss of bodily functions, blurred vision, impaired speech, impaired coordination, varying degrees of paranoia, moderate to severe vomiting, death by motor vehicle, a possible prison sentence for crimes varying from spousal and/or child abuse to manslaughter -vehicular or otherwise- to murder, the loss of family and/or friends, lost wages and/or careers, etc." -- A separate WARNING for pregnant women would also be included.

I don't know the first thing about alcoholic drinks, what they taste like or why some people drink too many of them in a short period of time.  The only thing going through my mind when I read these ingredients and the nutritional information -- is that with the 54 milligrams of caffeine, even if someone were to drink too much "B-to-the-E" -- when they crash their car into another car, a person or a tree, they may be able to focus long enough to realize what the last 2 seconds of their life or the life/lives of others looks like. Caffeine has a habit of doing that.

I wonder what a palm tree on a dimly lit road in Humacao smells like after a motor vehicle smashes into it, cracking it open, spraying gasoline, brake fluid, steering-column fluid and blood all over the place.

I'm certainly not an expert, haven't even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I do not think it would likely remind anyone of an "island breeze."

Well, that's all folks! Until next Friday.

Keith


For motivational speeches, conferences, media requests and other things such as eating disorders, you'll have to contact someone else. My only qualifications for writing a weekly column are based solely upon having a lot of free time, unlimited Internet access and very little else.