Posted on 06/16/2007 3:08:21 PM PDT by jedward
Where's one of the best places to learn about the United States? Let's take a visit to the US Department of State's website and see what we can find. When you first get to http://www.state.gov you are presented with the wonderful colors of Red White and Blue. It's very easy to immediately see that a great deal of effort has gone into this wonderful place of learning. So, back to the goal at hand, let's find the United States. From the homepage you see an option to click on "Regions" and listed under that heading is the "Western Hemisphere". That looks like the place to go, so let's click there. Now, at this point we are at the "Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs". Now along the left hand side we see a link for "Countries and Other Areas", so naturally we click there expecting to find the United States. We see many countries listed like Cuba, Venezuela, Columbia and even Mexico, but for some reason the United States is not listed.
Well, surely the webpage didn't load properly, so we refresh the page and scroll back down and it's still not there. At this point it's easy to say, I've missed something, so let's go back to the Homepage. Now, we click on "Countries" again from the Homepage and immediately see a "Counties A-Z" link. That's it, let's click there and stop all this searching. Ok, the A-Z list is showing now, we see Cuba, China, Venezuela, Iran, Syria and North Korea. We get to the U's and we don't see the United States. Maybe they called it America instead, so let's scroll up and look under the A's. The United States isn't listed there either. While wondering in confusion we see near the "A's" a link titled "Independent States of the World", not Countries, but States. So we click there and finally find the United States listed under the "U" section, only to my surprise there's no link on any of the "States" listed, just a name and number.
Last but not least, let's just go back to the Homepage and type "United States" in the search box and see what shows up first.
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US Department of State - Home Page
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Shown above is what we see. It gives us a link back to the Homepage, so that wasn't exactly helpful.
Let's play one more time. Let's start at the Homepage, Click on "Western Hemisphere". Now stop! Look at the second item on the left side, the one that says "U.S. and Organization of American States". Apparently the OAS (Organization of American States) can be spelled out, but not the United States, at least on the United State's Department of State's website anyway. So click on that link and look for the United States link next to the Organizations of American States. Or look below, and here's what we see:
The U.S. and the Organization of American States
--- OAS Background Information
--- Hemispheric Security
--- Organization of American States' Website
--- OAS General Assembly
--- Releases
Don't worry if your having trouble finding the United States listed above, because its not there.
You have found what the Department of State recognizes as your Country.
http://www.state.gov/countries/
http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/
http://www.state.gov/misc/list/index.htm
http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rt/oas/
So you don't see the United States, let's see what information is presented.
The U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States (OAS) is headed by Acting U.S. Permanent Representative J. Robert Manzanares. The OAS is the premier multilateral forum in the Western Hemisphere. Its 35 members are countries from North, South, and Central America, the Caribbean, and Canada. The charter of the OAS states that its basic objectives are to:
As a member of the OAS, the United States is committed to strengthening and working with the organization. This reflects the U.S. Government's determination to make optimal use of multilateral diplomacy to resolve regional problems and to engage its neighbors on topics of hemispheric concern.
Inter-American Democratic Charter
Remarks on the Occasion of the Special Meeting of the Permanent Council to Commemorate the Fifth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Inter-American Democratic Charter
The particulars of social and economic development are addressed through the commitments our leaders make at the Summits, and carried out through the Summits of the Americas process. That includes commitments to concrete, measurable actions, such as those which empower our people through property rights, remittances, and small business loans. The IDB’s new initiative, "Building Opportunity for the Majority," addresses these critical needs for the 40% of the people in the hemisphere who live on $3 a day or less, at the base of the pyramid.
Question: Is there an American Union? Answer: Yes, there is and always has been one as originally titled such back in 1890. Today, it's still an American Union, only it goes by a different name (see the "Established" below). That should end any questions regarding whether there is or isn't one. If there isn't, then the Department of State might want to consider including the United States as a Country in the Western Hemisphere some day.
May 30, 2007
Established: April 14, 1890, as the International Union of American Republics. Became the Pan American Union in 1910, then the Organization of American States in 1948 with the adoption of the OAS Charter in Bogotá, Colombia.
SPECIALIZED ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER ENTITIES
Much important inter-American business is conducted by separate entities, some of which are independent, some fully or partially funded by the OAS, and others consisting simply of periodic hemispheric meetings which receive support from the OAS Secretariat. Subjects covered include agriculture, labor, copyrights, private international law, highways, ports and harbors, railways, telecommunications, health and sanitation, statistics, travel, child welfare, women's issues, Indian affairs, and tourism. The conferences are attended by high-level officials and technical experts to further inter-American cooperation in these fields.
The Inter-American Children's Institute (IIN) http://www.iin.oas.org
The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) http://www.oas.org/cim
The Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) http://www.iid.org
The IADB has as one of its principal organizations the Inter-American Defense College http://www.jid.org/en/college/
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) http://www.iidb.org
The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) http://www.iica.int
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) http://www.paho.org
The Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH) http://www.igph.org
The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) http://www.padf.org
Question: Is the 2007 Amnesty Bill a joke or a diversion of some kind? Answer: You should be able to answer that question by now...
Message to ALL Republicans & Democrats: Unless you're ok with the dissolution of the United States and your Country not even getting a link on the Department of State's web-site, then stopping this Immigration/Amnesty bill should be your priority right now. This is the first step in "We The People" meaning something again!
jedward
Not at all. There were several freepers, brothers in the cause, who asked serious questions about the post because they just couldn’t figure out what he was trying to say — and his response was to ridicule them, belittle them, and be evasive.
None of which are good ways of communicating effectively with those who are trying to learn something from you.
I presume he wants to get his message out as clearly as possible, and he failed to do so.
“the poster of the article majored in inductive reasoning and graduated with honors.”
Now there’s something we all can agree on.
Makes sense to you but not to me. If you look at the countries listed, you will also notice that it includes background notes and the name of our ambassador, which is linked to a bio. We don't have a US ambassador to the US. We don't have foreign relations with ourselves. It appears you don't understand the role of the State Department in our government. The basic Mission Statement is: Create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community.
I understand the role of the State Department, and I am learning just how resistant to suggestions at least one of its employees is. Proposing the addition of our country to "The Country Pages A to Z" seems consistent with the Department's mission statement, and would help people around the world learn more about out country -- something that the State Department clearly sees as a part of its mission, since the same website includes numerous links to content about the United States, like the link to "USAGov: Travel, Transportation, and Recreation".
I'm sure the site editors could figure out what content was appropriate for the country page for the USA. Instead of a listing for the ambassador you might have the name of our president with a link to a related web site. Or just leave that entry blank -- the readers of the site would surely know why it was empty. All the general information on population, economy, etc. could come straight from other government web sites.
I wouldn't say it was "fear and ignorance" either; there has got to be a better, more encompassing word (or words) for it, 'populism' in the truest sense maybe?
Help me understand your posts. They seem to have a theme behind them. What’s on your mind regarding the Article?
The one I was most hostile with was someone who initially would not answer my questions and clearly did not read the Article, as evidenced by their sending me multiple links that were available within the Article itself.
Just to note HAL9000’s question. If you read what you copied, my answer to his question is indeed included, right after his question.
“I was just pointing out that your responses seemed designed to be ridiculing rather than informative.”
I perceived a handful of the questions/statements to be the same. Not a big deal, it’s just perceptions. Some of them may have been mis-perceptions.
It's almost always "Screw the United States!!"
“I think you are trying to make a point, not trying to find something. And I think the responses others have will inform you as to whether you succeeded in making a point.”
That would be correct in the sense of I was informing or “pointing out” information. I had concluded in the Article that what I was looking for was not there, and I never suggested that I was still looking for anything, though some were offering good information (like HAL9000) and politely said thanks. Apologies to any other sincere posters offering information. I was still dealing with the not so civil and rude drive-by flamers who weren’t reading anything.
“I presume he wants to get his message out as clearly as possible, and he failed to do so.”
Sometimes clear messages don’t create dialogue. As a couple of posters noted who read the entire article all the way through, the message was indeed very clear, to them at least.
Dora The Undocumented Exlora’
It looks to me like America has been "fatted" and now its time for the gutting of wealth.
I'm sure there are plenty of sites that someone can go to in order to learn about the U.S.
Would people from a foreign country even think about going to the Dept of State website to find out about the U.S.? Maybe, but they'd probably just 'google'.
You missed the point.
I have teased my wife about that many times.
Last week I asked her when they're going to have the "Dora Flees From La Migra" episode.
Nah, I got it. I just don't think it's worth making a mountain out of a mole hill.
And we wonder why politicians get the feeling they can do anything they want without being held accountable. Keep in mind, the posters here with us are indeed active enough that they’re posting on this Forum. They are likely part of the small percentage that turn out to vote as well.
Too far gone? If so, it’s at least nice to know why.
“when it’s uncovered...”
All of the links worked just fine when I did the article, so what’s to uncover? The truely ironic part is that it’s right in front of people, hidden in plain sight I guess.
The only thing I had a hard time finding was the United States. Nothing else was covered, it’s all linked right there at the site.
Many don't believe it's a mountain out of a mole hill.
Not yet. But it's getting close.
If so, it’s at least nice to know why.
Never give up, never surrender.
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