Puerto Rico Ballot Initiative

[garbon]

Yeah sorry but you're going to need to drop your Dem card in the box.

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah sorry but you're going to need to drop your Dem card in the box.

  And the other one that's printed en Español.

[Count]

hablo como bloomberg: poorly

I should reiterate that if there's a clear majority in PR for statehood then they should become a state, because they're already American and self determination is great (unless it's Filipinos who don't realize how great they would have been under 100 years of American rule  ).

[garbon]

So in a few posts you went from "maybe it has to happen if they want but I've concerns" to "if they want to well then by all means"?

[CountDeMoney]

Shame though;  there really is no way this Congress would allow a 51st state, Latino or otherwise.

Hell, they had kittens over a Veterans Jobs Bill that would cost $1B and killed it without an equal reduction in spending elsewhere;  they'd never allow the admission of another state that would entitle it to who knows how many billions in guaranteed government funds, for everything from infrastructure to education. 

[Count]

So in a few posts you went from "maybe it has to happen if they want but I've concerns" to "if they want to well then by all means"?

yeah, i couldn't think of reasons good enough to justify denying statehood if that's what most PRicans want. But if we're just discussing it from the standpoint of the rest of the country then I think concerns are warranted.

[Sheilbh]

One of the keys to Harper getting a Conservative majority at last has been a steady courting of the immigrant vote.  We don't have a lot of latinos in Canada, but we have a substantial number of south and east asians.  Values like support for family and the value of hard work play really well in those communities once you drop opposition to immigration as a platform.

Language matters too, there was an interesting example over here.  The Tories had some really interesting polling done on ethnic minority views of the Tories.  It was surprising how many people cited comments from Enoch Powell in the 60s ('rivers of blood'), or Thatcher in the 80s ('flooding in').  They also mentioned Cameron's recent speech, taking a hint from Merkel, when he said that 'state multiculturalism has failed'.

They asked some more and it turns out that ethnic minority voters basically hear 'multiculturalism' as 'multiracial'.  So the message Cameron was pushing was one about moral relativism and all that stuff.  But a significant number of people in ethnic minorities basically hear a moan about Britain not being white and Anglo-Saxon.

[Josquius]

Maybe it'll work out, and if Puerto Ricans are definitely for it (which I don't think the weird two part vote demonstrates) then maybe it has to happen, but I think there are real reasons for concern.

http://cronkite.asu.edu/buffett/puertorico/economy.html

Yeah, the vote was stupid. There needs to be another, straight statehood-yey or ney, poll.

[jimmy olsen]

From what congress people have said in the past, any federally organized referendum will be at best the same as question 2 (statehood, FSA, Independence) or even more stark (Join us or GTFO!).

No status quo option available.

[Tamas]

Who gives a fuck about the English?

Not you, that's for sure

I would speculate that being able to speak the official language of the country you want to be a citizen of is kind of important.

Besides, you are hardly unbiased

[jimmy olsen]

Who gives a fuck about the English?

Not you, that's for sure

I would speculate that being able to speak the official language of the country you want to be a citizen of is kind of important.

Besides, you are hardly unbiased

There is no official language.

[Tamas]

Who gives a fuck about the English?

Not you, that's for sure

I would speculate that being able to speak the official language of the country you want to be a citizen of is kind of important.

Besides, you are hardly unbiased

There is no official language.

huh? So if I go to sightseeing to, say, Baltimore, and I got some business to take care of with a state office or something, they have to find a way to deal with me in Hungarian?

[CountDeMoney]

huh? So if I go to sightseeing to, say, Baltimore, and I got some business to take care of with a state office or something, they have to find a way to deal with me in Hungarian?

Yes.  Now, it may have to be over the telephone, but it's not that difficult.

[Valmy]

But a significant number of people in ethnic minorities basically hear a moan about Britain not being white and Anglo-Saxon.

That would be a strange moan.  It is like 90+% White.  Of course alot of those are of superior Norman heritage.

[lustindarkness]

Why do guys keep saying we ricans talk spanish? We don't speak español or inglés, we speak spanglish.