Posted on 12/22/2005 2:58:23 PM PST by cll
"spend some time in that entirely different culture"
Spend some time there? I live "there", or here. What's so different about "our" culture? It is "your" culture as well.
And I'm writing this as I'm finishing my night-cap of a Johnny Walker Black, on my Dell PC, while listening to Fox News on the TV, and to Luke Stricklin's cd on my iPod at the same time, while sitting in my jammies next to an open window feeling a wonderful 76 degree ocean breeze, ready to go to bed to then get on my Harley 1200 Sporty to go to work tomorrow. God Bless America!
Good Night!
I am in Melbourne, FL. ... send me a plane ticket LOL
I was up there just last week. In the vicinity of Hernando County. Brrrrr! Had to drive to the Broward area to thaw just a bit.
wow... negative commentary actually didn't start until post #3... I'm amazed, my screen usually starts twittering as soon as CLL posts a Puerto Rico note.
Must be Christmas time, or something...
felici-DAAAAAAAAAAA-DES BORINQUEN!!!!
This conversation has been going on for years. Regan made a lot of noise about PR becoming a state. What do the Puerto Ricans want?
Residents of Puerto Rico have never voted for Democrats or Republicans, and your assumption that they would vote Democrat seems to be based on the fact that (mostly low-income) children and grandchildren of Puerto Ricans in NYC and Chicago vote Democrat for President. But have you noticed that the Irish and Italians and Poles and just about every other ethnicity in NYC and Chicago votes Democrat for President? While Florida Puerto Ricans (who are for the most part recent transplants from the Island) voted for Gore in 2000, they voted for Jeb in 2002 and seem poised to make the GOP their permanent home, since they are for the most part very culturally conservative and understand the importance of the War on Terror.
BTW, if Puerto Rico were to become a state, it would rank 25th in population and would elect 2 Senators and 6 Representatives. I have no idea who would get elected at first---probably likeable politicians who had previously run under the local party labels---but within a few years I think you'd find that Puerto Rican voters are very similar to those in Louisiana: Very conservative on social issues, more liberal on economic issues, very pro-military and very protectionist of local industries. Pollster Frank Luntz found that voters in Puerto Rico ranked as very conservative on every social issue that he asked about except the death penalty (where the Catholic tradition leads most people to oppose it, although not as much as they used to). If I had to guess, I would say that 20 years after Puerto Rico is admitted as a state it will have 1 Republican and 1 Democrat Senator and 3 Republican and 3 Democrat Representatives.
"What do the Puerto Ricans want?"
Thank you, and a Merry Christmas to you as well, desde aquì en la falla de San Andreas, donde vivo yo… boricua de corazon si no de sangre…
All right, rub it in why don't you...
Don't believe it moonman, Puerto Rico can't survive without $10's of billions of dollars and 10's of thousands of hijacked U.S. Taxpayer's jobs every year.
Gifts from he U.S. Taxpayers account for more than half of Puerto Rico's economy and always will until we cut them loose.
Around 85% of the taxes collected by the government of Puerto Rico pay the salaries of their bloated government's workforce. That's around 40% of the total workforce in Puerto Rico.
Around 40% of the rest either work for the federal government or for companies that have federal contracts to supply or service federal government agencies.
Tourism is only 8% of Puerto Rico's economy.
Puerto Rico is just a big hole in the Atlantic ocean that our pandering politicians throw the U.S. Taxpayer's hard-earned dollars into.
"What do the Puerto Ricans want?"
An end to our political purgatory.
You're pulling our legs, again.
You know the answer is almost none.
On the other hand, statehood for Puerto Rico would mean they would receive an additional $3 billion dollars per year from the U.S. Taxpayers when all their Social Programs reach parity with those stateside.
Bottom line is statehood for Puerto Rico would put the U.S. Taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS further in the hole, immediately.
Then just wait until you Socialists get to vote in National elections for president, 2 Socialist senators and 5 or 6 Socialist representatives in the house.
Italy and France will look Conservative in comparison to the United States and be fiscally more healthy, too.
The Socialist voters in Puerto Rico will bankrupt the United States overnight just like they have their own damn island.
Its funny. The Puerto Rico I lived in and the Puerto Rico people describe don't really sound like the same place.
Of course, I didn't live in the big city, I lived on the south coast. No crime, mile from the beach, nice folks, doesn't get much better than that.
By the way, hows the weather, this fine Christmas season?
"Its funny. The Puerto Rico I lived in and the Puerto Rico people describe don't really sound like the same place."
I know. It seems they think of Puerto Rico as a tropical Bronx, or as it was found when the U.S. liberated us from the Spanish crown. When my mainland clients come here for the first time they seemed amazed at finding a 24-hour Walgreens across from their hotels.
The weather here? Well, you might remember what we called the "aires de Navidad", which I would translate as the Christmas-time breeze. Not too hot, not cold at all. Just a refreshing breeze. It did rain a lot this year, so it's still a little humid. It is the best time of the year. I haven't had to turn on my airconditioner since mid-November!
Merry Christmas, Prosperous New Year & Sweet Epiphany Day (Three King's Day, Jan. 6, which we still celebrate).
"to do what needs to be done."
I'm pretty sure that the status-quo/ELA/Commonwealth profiteers will be very busy in devicing ways to obstruct and scuttle the whole process, but we like the good fight.
All the Blessings to you and your family on this Christmas and the New Year to come.
From the pages of El Nuevo Federalista—(http://nuevofederalista.blogspot.com)
This report from the White House Task Force of Intergovernmental Affairs is the first report of its type issued this century by the Executive Branch. For a long time now supporters of the current and so-called "Commonwealth" status have said that Puerto Rico's political status was a new federal body politic conceived to place the Island outside of the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This Report effectively ends that kind of speculation, as far as the Executive Branch is concerned. In spite of the cries of "foul" from critics inside the beltway and across the pond in the Island that the document seeks to impose a "Washington-solution" whereas one originated by Puerto Rican themselves, the Report will guide Federal policymakers for the foreseeable future.
But the Report is not an end in itself. It is but a beginning, for it opens up an opportunity to solve the issue of Puerto Rico's political status once and for all. By deflating the myths propounded by status-quo defenders about "further developing" the present political status by granting more rights and sovereignty to Puerto Rican – Americans while still remaining "Americans," coupled with even less citizenship responsibilities, President George W. Bush has set up clear and precise boundaries as to what is, and what isn't possible within the American constitutional system.
Those of us who defend the admission of Puerto Rico to the United States as its 51st state still have a lot of work to do. Powerful interests in the Mainland and in Puerto Rico are organizing even now to maintain Puerto Rico under an unchecked position of political subservience by concocting "new directions" for the current Commonwealth status that would allow them to keep their political and economical hegemony, fully expecting that Congress will be unsympathetic to tackle any petition of statehood made by Puerto Rican – Americans, as they would fear the cultural debate that will ensue.
Granting statehood and full American citizenship rights to Puerto Rican – Americans living in the Island will be used by so-called conservatives who are intent in denying any such recognition to Puerto Rican – Americans on the basis of language, culture, and national origin, as a wedge issue. The underground of our national debate has been abuzz for quite sometime now with arguments justifying the discrimination against Puerto Rican – Americans precisely on that basis. The aim of this not-quite-so-vast conspiracy is to force Congress to grant Puerto Rico independence unilaterally, without consulting the wishes of the 4 million Americans living there, a power that, this Report shows anew, Congress may exercise unfettered.
On discussion boards across the 'Net one can read statements written in all seriousness calling Puerto Rico a "Third World" country which should be "tossed out." In another exchange, on calling the Island "a dump," a reader took offense when I called to his attention the racist character of his assertion, which called Puerto Ricans, albeit implicitly, dirty, uncouth and therefore undeserving of full citizenship equality with other Americans. The reader in question showed dismal disingenuousness if he thought that his "neutral" remark was empty of ethnocentric connotations or that it somehow excused him from espousing these detestable views.
Yet, this trashy rhetoric can still arouse the pseudo-patriotism of those who think that the blessings of American citizenship and democracy are to be bestowed only upon worthier candidates, "worthiness" being defined by them as whatever their fancy, bias, and prejudice may dictate.
As a social and fiscal conservative, as a believer in a culture of Life, Freedom and Individual Rights, as a defender of the original meaning of the U.S. Constitution, I decry any such sentiments levied against Puerto Rican – Americans as contrary to the spirit nurturing our most sacred values. As an American man in uniform, I simply cannot deny to my fellow citizens of Puerto Rico the freedoms I defend for my other fellow Americans; as a resident in the mainland, as a tax-payer, and as an involved citizen, I have the voice and power I need to fight in word and in deed in favor of full equality for Puerto Rican – Americans.
Some of you may dismiss this as grandstanding, but I assure you, I will not be intimidated nor deterred by what ethnocentric conservatives may say against our democratic project to enfranchise 4 million American citizens in Puerto Rico.
That is not to say that Congress should just admit Puerto Rico to the Union without an ensuing debate. But to me, the debate should be—once the sovereign will of the people of Puerto Rico is ascertained through the ballot box—not if Puerto Rico should be admitted as a state, as much as what will be the best way to make it happen.
Any argument, be it in the halls of Congress or in public opinion, seeking to deny Puerto Ricans of those political, civil, and economic rights the rest of Americans take for granted because of their race, ethnicity, language, and cultural background, may look politically expedient for some opportunist politicians in some rarefied back rooms seeking to exploit nationalist fears; the possibility of Puerto Rico's admission to the Union may even inspire the rabble to new heights of hateful rhetoric, but as we all know, not everything that is politically expedient or constitutionally protected speech is always moral or conducive to the best interest of our Nation.
In the final analysis, Puerto Ricans are American citizens and as long as they remain so, they are entitled to the full range of privileges enshrined by this citizenship. Visionary and morally courageous Puerto Rican – Americans feel that is their duty to embrace all of the responsibilities American citizenship entails, and are nor ashamed to say so, unafraid of the ghosts of Federal tax-paying and forced cultural assimilation that fear mongerers love to spawn in the Island every time the talk of statehood for Puerto Rico gets a bit more serious.
We are not foreigners; we are "you." If the American citizens of Puerto Rico can be denied their rights for reason of where they live or the language they speak, tyranny will not be far behind: tyrants and demagogues will feel empowered to come after anyone not fitting the bill of what an American ought to be. You will be next.
In the final analysis, those of us who pursue and defend the admission of Puerto Rico to the United States, are convinced we are acting in the best American tradition of liberty, democracy, and the rule of law; of civil rights, enfranchisement, and popular sovereignty; of free enterprise, private initiative, and the culture of freedom; of our Founding Ideals, of Natural Law and ultimately, with the sanction of Nature's God.
I invite you to reflect on all this, and to join us on this just cause. Our cause must triumph if America is to continue to serve as a beacon to the world. That much is at stake.
- Download the White House Intergovernmental Affairs Task Force Report from http://www.endi.com/multimedios/pdf/reporte_status.pdf
Yeah, it's amazing that there's enough of that $20 to $30 BILLION dollars the U.S. Taxpayers are forced to dump on that island of ingrates left over after everyone gets through stealing and cheating for their share to build a Walgreens.
Well, the drug addicts need some place to stand and pester people for money once the regular stores close at 9:00pm.
Hey, do you know if that Walgreens is cheating the U.S. Taxpayers out of 90% of its federal income taxes by filing as a CFC, Certified Foreign Corporation, too?
Maybe Santa will bring the island a new tax dodging scam for Christmas.
LOL!
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