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
Just acronyms for the history books really, and depressing indeed. This is what the Senators are bucking up against, and to hell with those who cave. The one’s who fight Amnesty will always have my respect.
Well, OK,
but if the State Department is responsible for foreign relations are they not responsible for telling foreign entities who and what they represent?
If not, just which department of the government sitting astride those 50 listed states IS responsible for advising outsiders about America (and not about some vague collection of other states situated in 'the Americas' and including the USA only by inference).
Would a Somali seeking to understand anything about America go to the DOD?
Treasury?
Would they learn about America by noting it's feel good relationships with Belize?
Like altogether too many websites we are invited to visit - this sounds like a PR event for people who believe only in symbolic, costly but pointless, and politically correct points.
Value, none / Viewpoint, someone else's / Expectations, met.
you've missed it.
It’s been blurred for so long that it’s virtually transparent WB. They read the first few sentences and think...”oh, I’ll show my brilliance here” (lol).
Funny thing too, every single link provided came off the DOS website (shaking head)
The guy on post 70 has a grasp on it though.
“this sounds like a PR event for people who believe only in symbolic, costly but pointless, and politically correct points.”
I wish it were just a PR thing, but sadly the slow but steady dissolution of the United States, is indeed perceived as just that.
If it wasn’t sarcasm...hard to tell :)
Sarcasm or not, he drilled it.
87 replies · 1,957+ views
Yep, and someone’s reading it.
That the dept of state is anti-American comes as a shock to you? That the UN, OAS, NAU, WTO, and all the rest chip away at our sovereignty and the state dept supports them comes as a shock to you? Besides the trivial connection of amnesty being another elitist way to undermine America, what other shocking connections can you think of? Maybe you and edwards need to go out more.
It is not the purpose of the State Department website to educate people about the US.
Then why bother having it? A lot of its content sure seems to be intended to educate people about the US, I guess the editor didn't get the memo saying "Don't do anything to educate people about the US".
Basic web design and/or marketing concepts indicate that "brand" reinforcement is important. As an example, that's why the top of the first page of the State Department web site uses an image of the American flag, and why a picture of Secretary Rice appears. By the same logic providing a brief introduction to our nation in the section which is an A-Z listing of countries seems to make sense. After all, wouldn't you expect an A-Z listing of baseball teams to include the New York Yankees, even if the web site was in New York?
Help me understand how to answer those that say “What does this have to do with Amnesty”. I really have a hard time answering those, as it seems obvious to me. Above is entire reason to grant Amnesty, Amnesty is the continued fuel to keep us churning towards the same result as Western Europe.
“Maybe you and edwards need to go out more.”
Was that in reference me?
Are you logged in?
You’re right, and it makes sense to me.
Hang on, let me check...
ok, yep...I’m logged on. If you want to refer to me as edwards, go ahead, I just need to know in advance. I don’t want to miss you posts about me.
Sorry about that, that’s an old reference, probably before your time. Welcome to FR, stick around, post some more. I would humbly suggest finding some current news articles that support your position or perhaps a good editorial against the amnesty or the dilution of American sovereignty in general.
The United States is not listed because people in the United States do not request information from the State Department to travel to the United States.”
So, other countries see a different US Department of State web page?
“Besides the trivial connection of amnesty”
Just a trivial connection hugh (lol). Did you think I was really shocked? Surely not. The MSM plays with titles as they feed us garbage on a daily basis, I figured I’d use the same technique to draw in a few views. Are you not aware that the Articles posted at FreeRepublic are aggregated as news to the “outside world”, you know...that place you think I need to get out to more?
If by some chance the Amnesty bill passes and everyone wonders how the hell 75% or whatever the latest poll shows, of Amercians don’t support the move could still get passed...at least they have a thread they can come back to and think about what the members of Congress were bucking up against. That should make you even more proud of those that vote against it.
Also, my first post clearly stated that it would be news to some, no not all. You must have fallen into the “not all” category and took it upon yourself to bash others as if you had some special advanced knowledge about something that been occuring for over 100 years. Sorry, I’m not impressed.
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