Would you like another star on the United States flag?

IMO it is very obvious that Congress is only trying get Puerto Rico as a state is to benefit from votes and revenue. It must not be in the best interests of Puerto Rico if they do not want to be the 51st State.

In my ever so humble opinion, if Peurto Rico does not want state hood, I say cut them off. I would not force them. Just cut them loose.

oh, they pay certain taxes, and the democrats would be the beneficiaries of PR becoming a state, so I do think that part of the reason is to get those "blue" voters on the roles However, PR does have good reasons to want to stay a territory - so I'm guessing that the ONLY way to get them to chose to be a state, to make the vote an up or down vote to either become a state or become a separate nation. Ya know, I seem to recall that nearly happened to Cuba at one time, they chose the nation status, you can see what it got them (stagnation)

I read through the article and the bill itself. I see a number of problems with the article though. First: "Then there is the problem of reassigning some seats in the U.S. House of Representatives by handing at least six or seven over to Puerto Rico, depriving six or seven existing states of one representative each because of the congressionally-mandated 435 seat cap" I was not aware that congress had the authority to "cap" the number of represenatives as doing so is a direct conflict with the constitution in a number of areas (not that this stops them), they are not given this power and the contsitution CLEARLY spells out how the number of represenatives is reached. So, this part of the article is suspect. Second: "a second vote would have to be administered, this one giving Puerto Ricans no option but statehood or full independence if the majority expresses dissatisfaction with the current political status." This line in the article is pattently false. It is 3 choices... From the bill: [i]"(1) Independence: Puerto Rico should become fully independent from the United States. If you agree, mark here XX. CommentsClose CommentsPermalink (2) Sovereignty in Association with the United States: Puerto Rico and the United States should form a political association between sovereign nations that will not be subject to the Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution. If you agree, mark here XX. CommentsClose CommentsPermalink (3) Statehood: Puerto Rico should be admitted as a State of the Union. If you agree, mark here XX"[/i] Another thing the article doesnt seem to understand is that this would likely NOT lead to more democratic representation in our elections as the majority of Puerto Rico's population is pretty devoutly Roman Catholic and would likey go more with republicans.

I really don't care if they become a state or not but I think this bill is to try to bring in more tax revenue for our government. I don't really pay attention to all this Republican/Democrat stuff because it just makes me angry. Our government was supposed to be about the people but it's not. It's about greed. Of course, with all the backstabbing that goes on between the parties, I want no part of them.

I get told I'm paranoid all the time. But when supposedly SMART people keep doing stupid sh*t over and over, and claim it is for our benefit, it seems paranoia is justified. I mean, if they're really so smart why do they keep doing the stupid stuff? Could it be on PURPOSE? Getting more votes for the democrats is what is behind this immigration thing as well. They're scared. And they're determined to stay in power. And if they LOOSE big, I look for some really bad stuff to happen. NOW that's paranoia! lol I've said it won't get better. It will get worse. We will hear someone say he can fix it all (we have already, haven't we?) and we will forget he's a liar. Peace and safety....that's what people want. The backlash against all us 'paranoid' nut cases proves to me that it is to scarey for most people to deal with...so they stay blind and hope for the best. PR...It's time they started paying. But it won't make a difference. They're poor there. They can't afford trillions in taxes either.

hi dragon I say if Puerto Rico wants freebies thats tough, make them pay just like the rest of our states here, they cannot have it both ways. make them a state and make them pay their fair share. I am in a grouchy mood today and with the economy so horrid and my son out of work I see little to make me smile and the idea of Puerto Rico getting all free really makes me even grouchier.

Hi there dear Dragon - oh my look at me, i am answering in a politics topics - i must be out of my mind . Anyway while this does not affect me in any way, i think i can make a parallel between what is happening there, and what happened between Romania and Republic of Moldova for years. Well they wanted off and not be a part of Romania, even if they speak the same language they invented a dictionary of romanian - moldavian and they think they are greater then us, but come to think about it, they need a lot of resources from us (and from Russia as well) to survive, and if they were to be cut off i don't know what they would do. Well the thing is that stubbornness can sometimes be an obstacle in any relationship, and just being a supplier for Puerto Rico might benefit the US ( i am thinking of taxes of course).

i think if we are already responsible for helping them out with things, they should pay taxes. anyway, i also think because the majority in PR is people of color, Obama is behind it all. no one seems to realise that we so wanted a nice black president is the biggest reason hes in there. to bad we didnt elect jesse jackson when we had a chance, then maybe he would have done something for us. and americans would had a chance to say we had a black pres. dont get me wrong, i love black people. i was partialy raised by a family of color. but i still say obama is there ONLY because hes black.

I say cut the services. Then let PR decide in the future whether they want to petition to become a state. If they don't petition, we just cut some of the spending we need to cut to cut the deficit. If they decide to petition to become a state, have them design the new flag we'll need... I say do that with all "territories" of the U.S. Cut the services/money flowing in and then let them choose what they want to do.