House Approves Puerto Rico Statehood Measure

[rs232c]

I stand with you on making English our national language. The problem is that it isn't and the house GOP got voted down on including that in the bill. I don't know how far you or I would get with demanding they adopt English first when we haven't yet ourselves but I am all over it.

I explained what was going on to a friend of mine tonight who is Puerto Rican and has relatives and talks to them in PR. He's about 30 and when he told me they weren't even Americans I couldn't believe it. Then after explaining it to him (why I had too I don't know) he feels it's a good thing if they become a state because we'll benefit from their tax dollars. I of course pointed out to him that it was just a drop in a bucket don't hold your breath and probably would get more tax dollars than they give.

But really, if they don't consider themselves Americans then they should move towards independence, and I would back them up for it. Of course that opens a real can of worms also. First, doesn't the constitution state that no one may sell or give away American land? Next, what if Georgia or New Mexico felt the same way. I would have to argue they couldn't secede as per the civil war, but Puerto Rico was never a state so they could never seceed.

Can a US territory use self determiniation to become an independent nation? My history isn't that great, but I don't think it's happened before. Is a US territory exempt from the law that says no lands may be sold or given away? Again, I've not heard of it happening.

As I understand it the system is geared towards statehood but would appreciate being wrong.

Thanks