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
“Never give up, never surrender.”
Could just be me, but I’m seeing multiple threads out right now that are trying to convince people that there’s a “North American Union”, with various additional comments, etc.. Feel free to ping them and tell them to revert the OAS to the orignal name in 1890, and as currently funded and structured...they’ve already got their NAU right now, right out in the open. Nothing to uncover, nothing to “connect”. Just simply go back to using the original name.
I also noticed that one has to wade though a few "No such thing" posts before any discussion can be found but there is generally pretty good info to be had later in the threads.
Mostly the poster's message is just "looky here" whats happening.
This is a good thread.
I’ll bump that!
The State Department is the “foreign diplomacy” part of the U.S. Government. Since the U.S.A. is not a foreign entity, but the OAS is, it stands to reason that the State Department would have information about the OAS and not the USA.
Sorry this escapes you. But luckily we will still allow you to vote, so Ron Paul gets a vote in your county!
Ron who? Oh, you must think this is political (lol) I see your reasoning skills are in line with others who have posted here.
“The State Department is the “foreign diplomacy” part of the U.S. Government”
Send them my regards for funding Fatah as announced a little bit ago.
Ok, I will explain this as simply as I can.
The Organization of American States is an organization that the U.S.A. has diplomatic ties to.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an organization that the U.S.A. has diplomatic ties to.
The U.S.A. is not a nation that the U.S.A. has diplomatic ties to.
Thus:
The State Department has a page for the OAS, a page for NATO, but no page for the U.S.A.
So this has to do with Fatah funding?
I thought it was amnesty?
Wasn't it originally how the OAS was going to take over the U.S.A.?
I think it boils down to the fact that you don't know what the State Department's website should and should not have pages for.
Ok, I understand. Thank you.
Thanks for posting, now I don't have to try to explain this.
“So this has to do with Fatah funding?”
No, I was just trying to get you to reply. I see you did, thank you.
“I thought it was amnesty?”
It appears you haven’t read the thread.
“Wasn’t it originally how the OAS was going to take over the U.S.A.?”
No, I’m not sure where you would get that from, unless your just making it up.
“I think it boils down to the fact that you don’t know what the State Department’s website should and should not have pages for.”
I understand that you think that. And you are free to do so.
No,,,the links work fine,,,maybe better words would be,,,
When the sheeple realize it...
I’d say that’s a lot more like it. Thanks for the note :)
Perhaps not. There are a lot of people out there who look for things to be outraged about.
In response to "It is not the purpose of the State Department website to educate people about the US", you reply,
Then why bother having it?
Because the original post starts off with the improbable straw man, Where's one of the best places to learn about the United States?, and then preposterously offers up the State Department's Web site!
No, no, no. If I want to go to one of the best places to learn about the United States, I'd go to www.usa.gov. Why would I go to the government's foreign policy site for that information? That would be akin to searching for the Yankees on Broadway because you'd once heard of the play, "Damn Yankees". You may learn a little something about the Yankees there, but really nothing much that will help you.
If you're looking for sites that contain information about this country, look for sites that deal with this country, not how it interfaces with and relates to other countries.
Are you a product of the public school system or something? You've (and the original poster, jenward) already amply demonstrated that logic and clear thinking are not part of your repertoire.
The Left doesn't even have to do anything but laugh when threads like this pop up!
CA....
Just 2 or 3 will suffice. We want to more closely examine your thought processes...
CA....
Congrats! Dumbest post this week!
In response to "It is not the purpose of the State Department website to educate people about the US", you reply, Then why bother having it?
I was pointing out to the respondee, who claims to be a State Department employee, the silliness of his remark that the purpose of the State Department's web site was not to educate people about the US. Think about it for a moment. If the web site isn't intended to educate people about the US then why does it have huge amounts of content to do just that? Why does it explain how the State Department works, who its leaders are, how to get a visa to the United States, how to find travel information about the United States, and so on? What would be the point of the United States government having a web site which didn't convey information about our country?
If you look around the State Department web site you will see that it in fact is designed to teach people about our country -- including among other things the names of our ambassadors around the world, and the locations of our embassies. Adding a few kbytes of content to lead visitors, many foreign, to more information about our country seems like a pretty reasonable enhancement to me.
My comments are only peripherally related to the original posting -- I suggested a solution for the kind of perception the original post implies -- namely just making a simple page in the set of country pages that points to exactly the same kind of informative web sites you cited. I don't see why suggesting an enhancement to the State Department web site to avoid the kind of mis-perception evidenced by some of the other posts is so radical an idea.
You're not going to find anything about agriculture in the US on that site. Nor information on mining within the 50 states. And don't expect to find anything about City Hall office hours in Peoria, because that's not what they do!
You guys think you've found the Mother Lode here, when in actuality all you're doing is mining Fool's Gold.
The State Department deals in US governmental relations with foreign entities. If you're looking for stuff in that vein, yeah, it's pretty good. I mean, in the sense of, say, the Encyclopedia Britannica being good for looking up something on Brazilian exports. It won't be the real thing, but for you, safely tucked away in your den, it's close enough.
CA....
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