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Tough sh** Sila, the USA needs to cut the rope and let this hate America territory float away.

Unfortunely there are idiots all over the place, at times I
feel that the welfare state set up for Puerto Rico, took so much from us.
Like our ability to stand for something.
As a Puerto Rican I have a deep resentment not only of my compatriots behabing in this manner, but it is similar to behavior expressed by other people supported and protected by the United States who will the turn around spit on the United States while demanding that the dollars don't stop.

As a lifelong resident of Puerto Rico, I can assure that 95% of the population are proud and law-abiding U.S. citizens who have answered the call of duty in every military conflict since World War I. Governor Calderon does not speak for all 3.8 million U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico.

Personally, I believe that the Vieques issue has been handled in an alarmist fashion ever since that tragic day in 1998 when a civilian working for the Navy was killed due to an errant bomb. Instead of viewing this for what it was---a single fatal incident in the 60 years in which the Navy had used the Vieques bombing range---the governor at the time, Pedro Rossello (of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party), paid attention to the phony statistics provided by left-wing groups that claimed that Navy bombing was causing cancer in the civilian population of Vieques and declared that Navy bombing should stop (Rossello was actually a pretty good governor, but being a practicing pediatric surgeon, he was always a bit of a softy on health issues). Normally, the pro-American majority in Puerto Rico would have never been in favor of the Navy leaving Vieques; for decades, the only opponents to Navy bombing were the 3-5% of the population that claims to support independence for Puerto Rico (although, when push comes to shove, most of these dissidents wouldn't support independence any more than Alec Baldwin would really leave the U.S. if the Republicans keep creaming the RATS at the polls). But given the fact that Governor Rossello, who is as American as apple pie, announced that it was every Puerto Rican's right as an American to not have bombing in Vieques, hundreds of thousands of pro-statehood Puerto Ricans began to oppose Navy bombing.

As the 2000 elections approached, Rossello made a deal with Clinton to allow the Navy to keep using the bombing range until May of 2003. The opposition party (the pro-Commonwealth "Populares") immediately denounced Rossello as having "sold out," and Sila Calderon (who was the Populares' gubernatorial nominee) started making ridiculous claims that she could get the Navy to leave in 90 days after she took office. The pro-statehood candidate, Carlos Pesquera (Rossello had decided not to seek a third term), who had been way behind in the polls, ran a strongly pro-American campaign (albeit not going so far as asking for the Navy to continue bombing past 2003) and actually was poised for a big victory with a couple of weeks to go before the election. But then, after several high-profile arrests for corruption of pro-statehood party officials, Calderon caught up with Pesquera at the polls the day before the election and beat him 48-46%.

So then we were stuck with Governor Calderon, who wasn't smart enough to realize that she had aligned herself with anti-Americans just to win an election. She's said some stupid things about the effects of Navy bombing, filed some silly lawsuits, and generally made an a$$ of herself, and now the Navy has decided that it can train just as effectively off the Florida Keys and will actually leave Vieques. I'm not happy about it, and neither is any right-thinking Puerto Rican. The worst part is, because of politicians sucking up to the sheeple, now millions of otherwise fair-minded Americans believe that our island's 3.8 million people are anti-American and that not only should we not be allowed to become the 51st state of the Union, with the same rights and responsibilities of the other 50 states, but that we should be declared independent. I mean, we're not the state that teaches grade school children about fisting and other perverted sexual practices, Massachusetts is. We're not the state that elected a Senator who believes that Osama bin Laden is a humanitarian, Washington State is. We're not the state that allows homosexuals to marry, Vermont is. We're not the state whose university admits 95% of black applicants with a 3.0 GPA and 1000 SATs, but only 10% of whites with similar scores, Michigan is. We're not the state that has legalized prostitution, Nevada is. And we're not California (I don't believe I need to give any examples of why California's government is an abomination). Those states do things that are much more un-American than the admittedly ridiculous protests mounted by anti-bombing fanatics in Puerto Rico. So please refrain from lumping all Puerto Ricans into one pile and sending us off into the ocean. If you truly believe that the people of Puerto Rico are fair-weather citizens and don't wish to take on the responsibilities imposed upon citizens of the 50 states, then prove your point by offering Puerto Ricans to choose between statehood and independence. I bet you the percentage that votes for independence would be just as insignificant as if such vote was held in Montana or Texas.

So, in conclusion, I'm pissed off that the Navy won't continue to train with live ordinance at Vieques, and I agree wholeheartedly with the Navy's decision to scale down operations at Roosevelt Roads Naval Base. But I think you all should reconsider your position regarding Puerto Rico's place within the United States of America.