The Herald By Jason Cato (Published March 28‚ 2003)

Brown bags and juicy burgers took the back-burner this week for sliced turkey sandwiches with a side of Spanish.

As part of York Technical College's ongoing Spanish in the Workplace series, a half-dozen representatives from local businesses attended a lunch-and-learn session on Spanish for retail sales. Along with the turkey, lettuce and tomato on white bread, the group was grilled on a number of Spanish phrases that should help when it comes to dealing with Latino customers.

Beginning with the simple -- buenos días (good morning) and buenas tardes (good afternoon) -- the lesson reached a crescendo with more complex phrases, shaking the Spanish-challenged from their comfort zones.

Usted debe pagar con efectivo, cheque or tarjeta de crédito. You must pay with cash, check or credit card.

"Lord have mercy," said Ray Waldrop, manager of the Cherry Road Bi-Lo. "That's a hard one."

But after a few tongue-twisted efforts, Waldrop and the others finally tackled the difficult phrases and moved on to simpler challenges -- discúlpeme, excuse me; lo siento, I'm sorry; and adiòs, goodbye.

"I got that one," Waldrop said. "Adiòs!"

For instructor and Venezuela native Susana Boland, just having Americans from the business world attempt Spanish is a start. Simply saying hola (hello) puts many Latinos at ease, Boland said. Learning Spanish is also a way for businesses to expand services and help a different segment of the community, she added.

Census 2000 counted 3,220 Latinos living in York County, 978 in Lancaster County and 255 in Chester County. Local Hispanic advocates, however, estimate some 15,000 Latinos live in York County alone, due to census undercounts and continued growth.

Many in the local Latino community are making strides to learn English, but having Americans learn a little Spanish can help break the communication barrier, Boland explained.

"We can reach in the middle," Boland said. "Those with no Spanish before, this will break the ice."

Lessons offered through York Tech's program not only help with simple salutations but also job-specific phrases.

Puedo ayudarle? May I help you?

Usted debe ser mayor de 21 años para comprar eso. You must be 21 years old to buy that.

Gracias por comprar en Bi-Lo. Thank you for shopping at Bi-Lo.

Retail business is just one area the program addresses. Other courses have been or will be offered for landscaping, construction, medical offices, hotels, car sales and office management.

"I don't think you can understand how hard it is until you've been to a country where you don't speak the language," said Debbie Russell, a Comporium business services representative who spent time in Papua New Guinea with her missionary parents. "It's nice to have someone on the other end who speaks a little of your language."

While he struggled some, Waldrop did pick up useful phrases to help Latino customers. More than that, Wednesday's lunch session also whet his appetite for more.

"It's a good starter training lesson because it opens your eyes to the Spanish language," Waldrop said. "It makes me want to learn more."

Contact Jason Cato at 329-4071 or jcato@heraldonline.com.

Editor EPCN:

I am a regular reader of the EPCN and must commend you for your frank and courageous article in the March 21 edition.

Only the naive or totally uninformed would hold the view that wars are fought for the noble reasons of democracy and freedom.

Wars are fought for resources and domination.

And in this regard I believe that you missed a key reason for the Bush Administration's push to war in Iraq.

And I would call that the Global Economic or the Eco-Global.

Following the end of World War II. The U.S. administration at that time entered into a pact with the royal family of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia; essentially agreeing that successive American governments keep them in power in exchange for a promise that the U.S. dollar would be the currency of choice for all future middle east oil transactions.

This created a continuing demand for the U.S. dollar around the world. It kept the dollar strong against other currencies since countries would need to keep reserves in U.S. dollars in order to purchase oil products and other goods and services.

This arrangement also artificially propped up the U.S. economy.

Over the years, however, the U.S. economy has weakened and has become a net debtor nation.

We import more than we export resulting in balance of payments problems.

And with continuing budget deficits (the Reagan years, the previous Bush administration and again with this present administration) the economy is in terrible shape.

In fact were we not the US, we would be a prime candidate for structural adjustment loans from the World Bank and the IMF.

In November 2001, the Iraqi government demanded that the sale of its oil under the UN sponsored oil for food program be conducted in Euros (the new European dollar) rather than U.S. dollars.

As a result of this action, the Iraqi government making substantial profits on its oil sales, as did the large French and German banks and the new European Central Bank which backed the Euro.

This led to the nations of Venezuela and Iran deciding to follow the lead of the Iraqis in demanding that their oil sales be completed in Euros rather than dollars.

Hence the reason for the U.S. government's determination to undermine the government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and labeling Iran as part of the axis of evil-signaling that they are next.

The Saudis also indicated that they were looking at the prospect of having a portion of their oil sales transacted in Euros.

Faced with this situation and the possibility of the dollar losing its place as the currency of choice for international oil transactions and in the long term being replaced as the premier reserve currency, the U.S. administration needed to act quickly.

This argument also provides one of the reasons why the French and German governments were so against a war in Iraq — they would lose profits by an American takeover of that country.

Iraq is a soft target: A nation on the brink.

An improvished people living under UN sanctions for the past 12 years.

No strong army and no real means of defending themselves.

A leader, whom the U.S. installed back in the 70s and supplied with chemical and biological weapons to fight the Iranians, is reviled by his people.

Add to that the U.S. population's fear of another 9/11; the complicity of the general media with the anti- Saddam rhetoric and you have a case against the enemy terrorist nation.

That this US administration is for democracy: Just look at its record at the UN.

It refuses to abide by the rules that it helped to create and when it cannot get its way it decides that everyone else is wrong and decides to act on its own; completely outside of the charter governing actions by member states.

Even now when the non-aligned movement is trying to bring this matter before the general assembly of the UN for an open debate, the U.S. administration is threatening the various countries with punitive actions.

The administration boast that it has 35 nations with a combined population of 1 billion on its side, but does not state that there are approximately 190 nations in the world with a gross population of over 6 billion; the majority of whom by their voice and actions are against this war.

Additionally, the United Nations General Assembly is made up of over 160 nations, so by saying that you have a following of 35 nations and that that somehow gives your actions legitimacy by majority, seems to me to be fuzzy math.

In your article, you stated that history would tell whether this administration is correct in its action.

I beg to differ. By trying to block open debate and labeling all persons with a different opinion as unpatriotic, history has already been told.

My mother always said there are three sides to a story: My side, your side, and then there is the truth."

Unfortunately, in war, the first casualty is always the truth.

May God bless America.

Thank you very much for this forum.Keep up the good work.

Wayne Burnette Middle Smithfield Township

<a href=www.quicken.com>Dow JonesFriday, March 28, 2003 10:37 AM ET

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--The president of Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, said the country's refineries should be operating normally in about six weeks.

Total oil output, including refined products, currently stands at 3.14 million barrels per day, Ali Rodriguez added.

Refining capacity is about 1.014 million barrels per day Rodriguez said.

PdVSA is restarting its refineries which were all but shut due to a general strike that began Dec. 2.

Venezuela is shipping some products to Caribbean buyers, but they aren't yet up to "proper specifications for some markets," a company executive told Dow Jones Newswires last week.

Before exports to the U.S. can resume, PdVSA also has to "have talks" with buyers about their contracts, the executive said without going into detail.

As reported, PdVSA lifted force majeure for crude oil sales earlier this month but has maintained it on some products because its refineries aren't yet operating normally.

The company first declared force majeure, which suspends contracts under special circumstances, in the first week of December after oil workers joined the strike aimed at forcing President Hugo Chavez to declare early elections.

But Chavez has dismissed about 16,000 of PdVSA's roughly 40,000 strong workforce and is attempting to bring production and exports - which account for half of government income - back to normal without the strikers.

Opposition leaders blame Chavez's left-leaning policies for the country's economic crisis.

The economy contracted 8.9% in 2002, amid 17% unemployment and 32% annualized inflation sparked by a 46% devaluation of the bolivar. The currency lost a further 25% this year before currency sales were halted Jan. 21.

Chavez has said the problems are due to an "economic coup" led by his opponents.

PdVSA Web site: www.pdvsa.pdv.com

-Dow Jones Newswires; 58212 564 1339; venezuela@dowjones.com

Dow Jones Newswires 03-28-03 1037ET

Reference

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Information Administration March 26 was guarded in its optimism over the fact that imports from Venezuela last week seem to have returned to normal levels for the first time since Dec. 6, 2002.

At the same time, "the price of West Texas Intermediate crude has recently dropped below $30 per barrel for the first time since mid-December," the report added.

But do these statistics "signal a return to a more stable oil market? Well, not so fast," EIA's March 26 report stated.

"Total commercial petroleum inventories are currently nearly 91 million barrels below the middle of the normal range.

"To get both crude oil and petroleum product inventories to increase, more crude oil needs to be imported in order to build up crude oil stocks and increase inputs into refineries," the report stated.

EIA estimates that it would take more than three months for this to happen and that imports would have to average 10.4 million barrels each day in the second quarter. "And if supplies arrive at a pace averaging nearly 10 million barrels per day, which may even be optimistic," the report stated, "inventories would not return to the middle of the range [of supply] until sometime in September."

The report noted that retail diesel prices were down for the second consecutive week as of March 24, with Midwest prices falling the most -- 11.2 cents per barrel -- to 159.6 cents a gallon. New England prices remained the highest in the nation, according to the report, although they had decreased 9.9 cents to 189.2 cents per gallon.

EIA information explained that while "global [petroleum] product demand" historically falls from April through June because of warmer weather, crude oil demand doesn't, and that in the U.S. both crude and petroleum product demand increase in the second quarter. So, inventory levels are more likely to increase by more imports than by decreased demand, it concluded.

As to where those imports would come from, the report didn't speculate. And it did not mention any effect of the war with Iraq on inventories.

-- The Trucker staff March 28, 2003

<a href=www.canada.com>Canadian Press James Stevenson Friday, March 28, 2003

CALGARY -- The United States slurps up more oil and natural gas from Canada than any other foreign country on Earth.

And with war raging in the Middle East, civil uprisings in other oil producing countries and a recent decision not to drill in a sensitive U.S. Arctic wildlife refuge in Alaska, even greater demand for Canadian energy is expected.

The daily flow of Canadian oil to the U.S. has increased dramatically over the last few years and almost double the quantity from a decade ago.

Canada is now second only to Saudi Arabia as a source of imported oil for the United States, which imported 1.8 billions per day from the Saudis in January and 1.6 million barrels per day from its northern neighbour.

When imports of natural gas are included, the importance of Canada as an energy source for the United States becomes even more apparent. Canada supplied about 94 per cent of American gas imports last year.

Yet with all the volatility in global energy markets, talk of future U.S. energy supplies rarely focus on Canada.

"I don't think Canadian oil production comes first of mind to Americans when they think of where their gas, diesel and jet product comes from," said Rick George, president of oilsands giant Suncor Energy.

But a recent U.S. media attention to the massive energy reserves in the northern Alberta oilsands -- and the synthetic crude created from its bitumen -- suggests awareness is quickly growing, he said.

"My belief is it will be positive," said George.

For the first time, a recent report by the Oil and Gas Journal on global oil reserves included 177 billion barrels of reserves from the oilsands -- a number that dwarfs estimated reserves of Canadian conventional oil.

Greg Stringham, a vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says political stability is also a key ingredient for energy trade between the U.S. and Canada.

Despite a recent disagreement between the Bush administration and the Chretien government over the handling of the Iraqi crisis, the energy-trading business has been very open and free, Stringham said.

"They're a good market, we're a good supplier. (The United States) is close and it's connected by pipeline. So all of those things add to our attractiveness as a potential producer," Stringham said.

Meanwhile, recent political problems have made several of the world's other large energy producers less-than attractive as an energy source for the United States.

Vince Lauerman, a global energy strategist with the Canadian Energy Research Institute, says a "relatively long and brutal war" in Iraq would greatly enhance demand for Canadian energy.

"The worse the war goes, and the more the Middle East boils, the higher energy security becomes as an important issue to Washington," Lauerman said.

"And with that comes benefits to Canada."

But the Middle East is not the only trouble spot for global oil production.

About 40 per cent, or 800,000 barrels per day, of Nigeria's oil production was cut off this week as major energy companies evacuated staff amid tribal fighting that has killed at least 100 people in the African country in the past two weeks.

And Venezuela is still struggling to recover from a two-month strike that failed to oust President Hugo Chavez and paralysed the South American country's lifeblood oil industry, costing about $9 billion.

Venezuela is still only producing about two-thirds of its three million barrels per day total it had before the strike and the situation remains volatile as Chavez continues to seek revenge on strike leaders.

Still, geopolitical turmoil does not necessarily mean greater demand for Canadian oil, said one U.S. energy company spokesperson who asked not to be identified "There's lots of sources out there and a well-developed oil infrastructure all over the world."

But a recent political decision in Washington -- overshadowed by Iraqi war coverage -- has the potential to increase U.S. demand for Canadian energy in future.

Last week, the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a budget provision that would have allowed oil drilling in the 77,000-square kilometre Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

Development of the refuge had been a key part of President George W. Bush's energy plan -- despite opposition from environmentalists who fear that drilling would jeopardize the delicate ecosystem and its wildlife.

Stringham said he doesn't believe attempts to drill in the wildlife refuge will go away. "The administration down there has been quite adamant in trying to put it forward and I'm not sure if they're ready to just drop it at this point in time."