Posted on 03/29/2003 12:31:28 PM PST by 4Freedom
Those who protested the Navy exercises on Vieques "want bombs to stop falling from the sky, but they want money to keep falling" to Puerto Rico.
That more or less was the gist of a critical report, aired Friday night over ABC to millions of stateside viewers, of efforts to keep Roosevelt Roads Naval Station open after the Navy ends exercises on Vieques on May 1.
The report, featured on the 20/20 news show by commentator John Stossel, suggested that keeping Roosevelt Roads open after the Navy leaves Vieques was "a waste of taxpayer money."
Stossel, who usually hosts a segment entitled "Give Me a Break," which spotlights excessive federal spending, noted that Adm. Robert Natter, head of the Atlantic Fleet, said he did not need Roosevelt Roads anymore.
The 20/20 commentator noted that the base contributes $300 million a year to the local economy, and its possible closing has upset the politicians who protested the use of Vieques by the Navy.
"It's as if some of the protesters want bombs to stop falling from the sky, but they want money to keep falling," said Stossel.
U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y. was quoted on the report saying the Navy wants to close the base to punish the protesters.
"[The Navy] says, 'We'll fix you. We're getting out. And we're taking everything,'" Stossel quoted Serrano as telling him.
Serrano said it was up to Congress to decide on whether the base closes, and with the presidential election coming up and everyone courting Latino votes, he predicted that the Navy will stay put.
"When the president realizes that it's getting close to 2004, and this becomes another Latino political issue again, he's gonna tell them, you don't have to go. And they won't go," Serrano was quoted as saying.
Stossel ends the segment by saying: "He [Serrano] may be right. With votes at stake, politicians may spend millions on a base the Navy doesn't even want. Give me a break!"
Many e-mails to the show's Web site opined on the matter. One from doradodown said: "I agree with Adm. Natter. It really burns me to hear the arrogance of people like Serrano who so smugly declare that politicians whoring for votes will back his sentiments. If Puerto Ricans want their independence, I say, great! Give it to them."
According to DatonaBikerBabe: "I think Congress and the president should unilaterally grant Puerto Rico independence as well - with zero foreign aid. They don't want to be American. They want to be independent, with government aid."
But hectormaria had a different take on the issue.
Noting that base closings always stir up out-cries from residents of the surrounding areas because of the economic impact, the writer said that in the case of Vieques "problems created outweighed the economic advantages, therefore they wanted the bombing practice to end."
The writer agreed with Serrano that the Navy was trying to punish all Puerto Ricans "for daring to ask them for the closing" of the Vieques target area.
"Thousands of Puerto Ricans have died protecting those rights you and the Navy so cavalierly want to deny fellow American citizens. Your report simply smacks of 'yellow journalism,'" said hectormaria.
What conservative would want to make a state out of an island that would be a permanent drain of $10's of billions of U.S. Taxpayer's dollars and turn our Congress hopelessly LIBERAL for all eternity?
Only a RINO would be for statehood for Puerto Rico.
I think you're absolutely correct, Minty.
IMHO, "4Freedom" isn't even the "conservative" he claims to be.
Based on his flagrant lack of recognition of the overwhelming contribution Puerto Ricans have made in our Armed Services, he couldn't possibly be a conservative. My guess is that he's actually a liberal, posing as a "conservative" to promote his hateful and divisive agenda.
I'm sorry, but the price tag for making Puerto Rico feel good about itself is just way too dam high.
What kind of a conservative would be for that?
How many states do you think he would calculate that the hard-working Taxpayers of the United States could afford to support that drain our treasury of $20 to $30 billion dollars each and every year?
Willie wouldn't know a fact, if it bit him in his RINO shorts.
Look at all of the questions I've asked him that he doesn't have any answers for. Willie's a Liberal RINO. I'd say that goes double for tiredoflurking.
The primary political split in Puerto Rico is not between the independentistas, who are negligible, but between those that want statehood and those that want to continue as a territory.
The ones that want to remain a territory are looking for a kind of autonomy, under the US flag, that most states would have if the 9th and 10th ammendments were honored. As I said, independence is no more an issue there than it is in Texas. People talk about it over a beer, because its fun to rail against Washington. But the real Texas independence crowd is a handful of nutjobs that no one listens to.
In Puerto Rico, its college professors and students, who as I say have no intention of giving up their own citizenship. They may try and talk you out of yours, but they tell people that it will be possible to be independent and retain US citizenship. Which means, obviously, they are not serious people. Its a thirty minute flight to Santo Domingo; most Puerto Ricans know what life is like out from under the US flag. They appreciate it more than, say, your average mainland school teacher.
If you believe that's a sensible answer to the questions I've asked you, you're a hopeless, Liberal RINO, too.
It's divided up into 3 sub-factions.
The Independence Party thinks it can continue to extort everything PR's already receiving from the United States and have fun making havock out of international politics.
The Commonweath Party believes that theirs is the best way for Puerto Rico to extort more dollars from the U.S. Taxpayers.
The Statehood Party knows they'll be able too vote themselves even more U.S. Taxpayer's dollars when they send 2 Liberal Senators and 4 to 6 Liberal Representatives to Congress.
All 3 Parties want something for nothing.
No conservative would be for what the residents of Puerto Rico want.
Stossel is the one bulwark against all-left all-the-time big three network journalism. ABC tolerates his opinions and reports because they are very popular and he is an entertaining guy. He is a libertarian, and is just as likely to bash the "religious right" as government waste and junk science, which, IMHO, makes him tolerable to the net heads. If he was someone with a purely conservative point-of-view, they wouldn't give him a soap box in prime time.
True, ABC does have George Will on Sunday mornings, but in their many hours of newsmags per week, it's only Stossel with his five minutes or so of "Give Me A Break!" to balance ABC's left-leaning heavyweights (Jennings, Walters, Sawyer, etc.).
Thanks, Mathurine. It's nice to see a comment from a conservative among all those from the herd of RINOs on this thread.
The training accident that started the most recent rounds of protests on Vieques was evidence that this training on Vieques was sorely needed.
If that happens on the battlefield, hundreds could die. That's why the Navy was training on Vieques. The Navy was trying to avoid the death of hundreds of friendlies and cause the deaths of the enemy in the most effective way.
If Puerto Rico refuses to let us train on the land we own on Vieques, we don't need Puerto Rico for anything else at all. Period. We should cut them loose.
The RINOs don't get it.
You're welcome, Minty.
I've expressed my views regarding Puerto Rico in detail on the following thread that I posted: Once you get there, Puerto Rico makes you want to stick around. (It's one of the few Puerto Rico threads that 4Freedom hasn't yet spammed with his venomous hatred.)
I've never had the opportunity to visit PR myself, but I hope I can someday.
The only comment missing tonight is your RINO bellowing for the U.S. Taxpayers to spend another $50 to $100 billion dollars on a "light-rail system' for Puerto Rico.
I have to admit, I do enjoy wiping up cyber-space with you and your silly RINO buddies, when I have the time.
In the future, I give you permission to 'Ping' me to any Puerto Rico thread you believe I may have missed. If I have time, I'll be happy to join in.
Somebody's got to watch you RINOs or you'll pander the whole dam country away trying to make the 3rd-world feel good about itself.
That's where you are wrong. Every Senator, Representative and other politicians from districts with a large Puerto Rican population represent the island in the states.
Why do you think Clinton gave Puerto Rico everything he did? He's pandering for stateside Puerto Rican votes and contributions. The Bush brothers are doing the same thing.
That's the same weakness in our political system that Mexico is trying to exploit now.
Think about it.
Who told Stossel that he and other stateside politicians would keep the base at Roosevelt Roads open, because they wouldn't want to lose the stateside Puerto Rican and other Latino votes?
Are you starting to get it?
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