Puerto Rico is not international! (a rant)

Ah I understand better now. Now I understand the whole US election rigaramole
You learn something new every day!

 

Ha ha. I actually love learning about how different things operate all over the world (even if it doesnt always stick, which is probably why I dont know the capital of some European countries); I think it's interesting that I am here, living my life, while you are millions of miles away living a life completely unrelated. Every so often I get amazed and dumbfounded at how awesome that is, how big this world is.

 

*massive, resigned le sigh*

Both shirt which I recently purchased are now proving to be problematic for shipping because the sellers believe that I live in Timbuk-freakin'-tu.

I am so many kinds of frustrated. Over it. Just plain over it.

 

*sighs*
*gives up*
*takes nap*

 

Ok, I spoke too soon. This last seller was reasonable. I send positive energy her way in the hopes that it comes back.

 

it's a fact of life, kiddo, so take a deep breath and just live with it!... ;-)

i have the same problem out here on tinian, which is a us protectorate and, like your island, has a us zip code/postal service and us phone numbers... the simple fact is that neither of the places we live are 'part' of the united states... we're not states, thus, many selling/shipping venues must consider us 'international'... and you can't ignore the fact that we are both on islands that are not physically connected to the continental us, either... heck, i've even seen lots of places that won't ship to alaska or hawaii, and they are states!

i order stuff online all the time, since there are so many things one just can't find way out here, and all i do in these cases is have the items sent to my sister in ny... then i send her some postage money and she forwards the packages to me via priority mail... sure, it's an extra expense, but hey, at least we can get things eventually, right?

 

I know you're right Maia... I just have a tough time with the fact that it was a much easier and smoother transaction to get curry pastes delivered to me directly from a delightful lady in Chiangmai, Thailand than a simple polo shirt from Missouri. *shrugs*

 

Is Missouri part of the United States of America?

 

I guess we can all learn a great deal just by talking with someone outside of the continental US, (directed at USA of course, I realize this is an international forum)

I think that part of the reason why we Americans (the term American is misleading, technically anyone in the western hemisphere is American, from Alberta to Argentina, we are the Americas) has had a very isolationist past in the---past. It wasnt until things like the Munroe doctrine that we started getting involved in things in our own hemisphere, and with the Spanish-American war, more global matters. Till then we ignored the rest of the world and thats why we are so backwards compared with the Europeans.

I can relate to the OP, Im not from Puerto Rico but thats where my family's from, although I disagree that it is American 'territory' I thought it was a semi-autonamous Commonwealth?

As for the whole UK thing, to be honest, the relationship of the nations in the Commonwealth are beyond me, wasnt Australia part of the Commonwealth at some point too? Usually when I think of British I think of England, and yes, I can see how the English resent being called European. In the US were like yaa, of course theyre European. But theyre like 'no way' we only share the same tectonic plate but were seperated by the channel and were way different than those yahoos

Anyway, I hope you finally got some sleep, make some money on Ebay, I should go pass out now too...

 

If you are refering to people outside the USA, you gotta include the word North, South, or Central. I am not American.

 

Primero, es un placer conocerle, caballero. Soy también puertorriqueño y me alegro tener otro Latino en el foro. Bienvenido.

You are correct to a degree. The Commonwealth status of El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico does make it a bit different than other US territories in the level and size of local government and representation within the federal system.

From Wikipedia:

Also from Wikipedia:

This, and the deep sense of cultural and ethnic uniqueness of the Puerto Rican people give cause for most Puerto Ricans to rankle at the term territory. The use of the word here is considered distasteful, but the fact of the matter is in 1996 The US House Committee on Resources declared that Puerto Rico still, most definitely fell under the umbrella term of territory as far as its status in relationship to the USA proper. Never mind the fact that the three leading political parties still define themselves on line of status: Indipendentista wants sovereign independence, Popular wants the status quo, and Progresista wants statehood. All the while the island's infrastructure, what little there is, continues to decline, jobs are no where to be had and you are lucky to be flipping burgers at the local Micky D's after graduating with your degree in education. (because everyone here gets a degree in education even though there is no job market for such a skill.)

*heavy sigh*

I guess, upon further thinking, and a good night's sleep, that citizens of the US mainland can't really be blamed for not understanding Puerto Rico's status. It is a confusing affair.

 

Besides, they don't speak Inglish, so they cain't be REAL Murrikins.

 

I don't speak English natively (English is my third language, behind Highland Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, and Scots), and aren't English nationally, but I'm still British. The question really is do Puerto Ricans want to be considered American?

A large proportion of the English don't want to be a part of Britain any more - they have aimless wandering parties like the Free England Party, UKIP, and the BNP that pull in opposite directions.

 

The answer to this question is so multifaceted and heated, I would not even know where to begin!

Let's try:

It depends a lot on the age and economic status of the individual. There is a tendency for people to age through the different political parties from Indipendentista to Popular to Progresista in that order. There is also a tendency for people of very low economic status to remain with the Popular party and for people of middle and higher economic status to settle into the Progresista party.

There is also a strange love hate relationship Puerto Ricans have with the U.S. We have never been an independent country. Ever. Unless you want to go back to before Western man came to the new world. Yet still Puerto Ricans pine for a mythical time of independence which never existed. But the economic viability of the island depends on the U.S. There is no way around it. We would sink, figuratively speaking without a patron nation. I would much rather have the U.S.A than any other patron nation!

It's a very muddy picture, and depends so much on who you ask, what age they are, did they ever live in the U.S., what is their economic status... I don' think I really answered your question... :redface:

 

Yeah- the BNP are nutters.

Australia is still part of the Commonwealth (I'm quite sure) as are several other countries. The Queen goes over there pretty often.

I don't resent being called European, but I think of myself as English rather than British, as British is quite general, I'm not Scottish or Irish or Welsh.

 

It's the unionists you've got to worry about, we're the crazy ones.

But, actually, as that's the whole point of the Union, I couldn't care less whether it's true or not (even though it is an exaggeration, it's not founded on air).

 

I won't pretend to understand that last bit... But one last thing on my little island and I think you Brits might get a kick out of it as I understand that you government is rather famous for having a heavy bureaucracy:


The island of Puerto Rico suffers from ridiculous infrastructural problems. Not the least of which is a false puppet economy known as the local government. The present governor, Luis Fortuno, is under serious heat because he has cut a huge swath of government jobs. The island is angry. I am overjoyed! The government is painfully top heavy and it produces nothing in comparison to the number of paychecks that it incurs.

Bureaucracy reigns supreme.

Example: (this is from an older thread)

This is just an example of how things run here. Anything related to government is exactly the same or worse. Many people getting payed, but no jobs that actually add to the autonomous viability of the island’s economy.

 

You need to understand what the Union is to understand that last bit:

In 1603, James of Scotland took over the English throne and united the crowns. This was at a time that was the end of the Linn nan Creach in the Highlands, caused by the power vacuum that emerged after the fall of the largely independent Macdonald Lordship of the Isles. The king feared a Gaelic backlash as, once again, the clans were briefly becoming more united.

So he took over England, having waited for Queen Elizabeth to get off the throne, and satisfied the Highland chiefs by 'conquering' the second of their ancient opponents.

The point, in 1707, of the Union of Parliaments was to join the economy of both countries into one, as Scotland had been bankrupted by the Darien Scheme.

And there is no single British government - well, there is, but its authority is becoming more and more limited by the effective dissolution of the Union.

England has not got its own parliament - it has the Union parliament, although it is the only partner in the Union as the Scottish parliament was reintroduced and the Welsh Assembly has gained a lot more power in the last few decades.

 

I think my favorite part was "for the love of cpt crunch!"

But that is a bit ridiculous, Wrey.

 

It is. And as long as these kinds of jobs are available then there is no incentive for entrepreneurial individuals to create a real local economy. And those kinds of government jobs a breeze to get as long as you don't have a criminal record. It's all about asking the right auntie or uncle to get you in the door and then you are in for life because these jobs are unionized so getting fired for poor work is pretty much impossible.

(I could go on forever...)

 

Economically it's very viable. It's been done before in a bitterly divided and largely impoverished (thanks to the feudal reforms that introduced a formerly needless thing called currency to the Lowlands) area with constant threat of Norse or Gaelic invasion.

Now we live in more peaceful and marginally more united times, so it can be done. We'd have to scrap most of the free stuff, though.

But not every Scot wants independence. It's becoming less and less popular. I know a marginally legal fanatic unionist group planning a full-scale political war against nationalism, and they're not the only one out there. They're far more organised than nationalists. I'd say that English nationalism, which practically every younger English person supports to varying degrees, is more of a concern for unity than what a few misguided Scots (wearing English clothing - kilts - as part of their national dress, might I add) think is a born right.

Frankly, most just see it as 'why bother when we weren't conquered?' or 'but I want thinks free' or 'we took them over, dammit,' and the nationalists just shout louder

 

lol Cogito, is that you doing an impression of a yokel?

 

^That is so utterly stupid ...If I had to do that I think I'd turn violent...

 

That's exactly what people are beginning to do...

 

On the 'British' thing, no I'm not, I'm ENGLISH, thank you very much, on my mother's side (Devonshire mixed with some Cornish and Danish). Please don't ask me if I'm 'British', it's just what it says on the passport to cover the lot of us from wherever in the British Isles we originate.

And getting closer back to the OP about official ignorance of geography etc: my friend wasn't allowed into the US for several hours--I think they held him for questioning for 3 hours--because the immigration officials hadn't heard of Jersey ('New' Jersey, yes. The original and only actual 'Jersey', no). They couldn't make out his Jersey passport and didn't know it was a British Crown Dependence. Oh, and his name sounded strange for an 'Englishman'--Jersey French ancestry.