Free Republic

Folks, sorry I've taken so long to post, but I've been pretty busy and, as you know, Vivificat! is my banner-blog, the one I update regularly. The hiatus has allowed me to keep an eye on developments in Puerto Rico since the government shutdown. The Island is under the microscope by Mainland politicians and economists, as well as by international economists. The next few years, may be even months, can make or break the future of our Island. The latest issue of the The Economist, dated May 25, 2006 contains a hard-hitting analysis of Puerto Rico's economic crisis. The article's...

Israel the 51st state By Bradley Burston There was a time when Israelis would routinely refer to this place as the 51st State. Only half in jest. It was a long time ago, when Israelis still spoke of America with the same wistful reverence they reserved for talking about heaven, and for many of the same reasons. America was more concept than destination then, a fictional place free of the realities of Israeli daily life. No death, no taxes, no terrorism, no call-ups orders for military reserve duty to occupy Arabs and face down their suicide bombers. Fine free public...

Pacifism has never been so silly. In an East Asia that features both one of the world's most irrational states and a rising dictatorial power bent on changing the region's strategic balance, it is a crucial ally of the United States that labors under a constitution that could have been written by Quakers. As part of her tour of Asia this week, Secretary of State Condi Rice visited a Japan that is slowly emerging from its shell. It is one of the diplomatic triumphs of the Bush administration that it has helped accelerate this process. The ideal should be to...

WASHINGTON, March 12 : Del.Luis Fortuno, R-Puerto Rico, recently visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center and met with wounded Puerto Rican soldiers. Soldiers who, while courageous enough to die for their country, Fortuno said, could not vote for president. "It was difficult for me to look them in the eye," he said."This is morally wrong in the 21st century." Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, meaning its citizens pay no federal income tax, cannot vote for president, but can serve in the military. And while Fortuno, 45, does represent Puerto Rico in Congress, he is only able...

The PURPOSE of the Party, if elected, will be to provide a "CHOICE" to all the residents and voters of BC to begin the diplomatic negotiations to become the 51st State of The United States of America. This will be accomplished with the "VOICE" and input of all the citizens of British Columbia and their

Puerto Ricans long have been U.S. citizens but cannot vote for the U.S. president, a situation that former Gov. Pedro Rossello promises to change if elected Tuesday to return to the island's top job. Four years after stepping down amid corruption scandals in his administration, Rossello pledges to lead a clean government while clearing the way for Puerto Rico to become the 51st U.S. state. Several polls show him with a narrow lead in the governor's race over Anibal Acevedo Vila, the island's nonvoting delegate to Congress, who favors its status as a U.S. commonwealth. Third candidate Ruben Berrios of...

(English-language edited translation) With five days to go before the general elections in Puerto Rico, a poll by local radio station Isla 1320 gives a 4.5% lead in the Governor’s race to former Governor and pro-statehood New Progressive Party (PNP) candidate Pedro Rosselló over Resident Commissioner and pro-Commonwealth Popular Democratic Party (PPD) candidate Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá. According to poll results, Rosselló would get 49.5% of the vote, while Acevedo would get 45.0%. Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) candidate Rubén Berríos-Martínez comes a distant third, with 4.3%. The poll, which was conducted between October 14 and 22, has a margin of error...

... " It's Time To Divide California 4-state plan would bring politics closer to home CALIFORNIA -- As this political season draws to a welcome close, only one clear message has emerged from this virtual campaign: Enough already. The problem isn't just the latest batch of dreary candidates and deceptive propositions. It's bigger than that -- as big as the sprawling state of California and its 33 million inhabitants. Let's get straight to the point: California is too big to be governable, too big for its residents to feel any connection with the state government that oversees their lives. So...

Here are two propositions that will startle most Canadians: Canada's destiny lies in political union with the United States. And far from being the end of the Canadian identity, such a union could begin a golden age in which our values and ideas spread around the globe. Union we believe to be inevitable, within 25 years. The critical question will be what form the union takes. That depends on Canadians' realism when facing our future. Why inevitable? Borders are constantly evolving, often as states merge. Two examples: Led by Prussia, Germany became a unified nation state only in the late...

Blix damns Iraq: too little, too late Interim report to criticise Saddam's delays in disarmingSaddam Hussein's prospects of staving off a war that will crush his regime all but evaporated last night when UN weapons inspectors said repeated demands for Iraq to disarm had shown only "very limited" results. While the UN Security Council met in a private session to discuss the Anglo-American draft resolution that would pave the way for military action, a copy of the latest report by the chief weapons inspector, obtained by the BBC, said Iraq could have done much more. Hans Blix also said it...

LOS ANGELES With the Southern states threatening secession in early 1861, Lincoln's top military adviser, Gen. Winfield Scott, suggested they be given a friendly wave goodbye: "Wayward sisters, depart in peace." The spirit of secession once again stalks the land. But this time, its fiery advocates want to break up cities, not a nation, and talk of devolution, not revolution. Key Biscayne, Fla., has already seceded from Miami. Residents of Staten Island were agitating to pull out of New York City until successive mayors agreed to stop dumping Manhattan's garbage there. Roxbury wants out of its tie to Boston, and...