What do I love most about Puerto Rico? I guess it’s the cocos. They’re like my head. Hard. Then again, there are the plátanos. They stain my skin. In a good way. Anyway, I’ve gotten some bugging from certain social media interests to compile my own list of songs that make me “Happy” about being […]
Read moreThe Solution to Puerto Rico’s Economic Crisis
Here’s the first paragraph in this week’s New York Times story about Puerto Rico’s manufactured debt crisis: “Standard & Poor’s downgraded the debt of Puerto Rico to junk status on Tuesday, intensifying a cash squeeze for the commonwealth, whose financial condition is of outsize importance to the rest of the United States because its debt is widely […]
Read moreLuis Gutiérrez: Rebel With a Cause
Almost 30 years ago, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Illinois) awoke in his living room in the middle of the night only to realize it was engulfed in flames. Someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail through his window, and it was all he could do to retrieve his wife and children from the modest house […]
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Puerto Rico: Statehood or Enhanced Partiarchy?
The above is a sequence of Puerto Rico governor Alejandro García Padilla answering questions during last week’s hearing at the Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources dedicated to resolving the territorial status of Puerto Rico. (Why that committee? Well Puerto Rico is not a state, nor a sovereign nation. It’s a “natural resource” of […]
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New Wave Conservative Labrador Gets Good PR
I’m not sure if you’ve wasted your time reading this press release about Tea Party bobo Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) in the Huffington Post, but if you did you might have wondered whether you were reading the arch-right Daily Caller instead. After all, it quotes word for word the same passage about el bravo Raúl fighting back against MSNBC’s effete […]
Read moreA New Deal for Puerto Rico?
Eduardo Bhatia, René Pérez, and Carmen Yulín Cruz backstage at Calle 13?s December 15th concert. (Eduardo Bhatia) Jan. 18, 2013 On Monday night’s inauguration in San Juan’s Parque Luis Muñoz Marín, new mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz rattled off slogans timed to her Twitter feed: “The University Will Be RESPECTED” she intoned, ensuring she will not […]
Read morePuerto Rico’s Simulated Self-Determination
The Puerto Rico Plebiscite That Wasn’t By ED MORALES Nov. 8, 2012 Puerto Ricans like to say that politics is the national sport, and who could argue with that? With a participation rate hovering near 80% and campaigning that features elaborate floats, loud music, and a carnival atmosphere, election day on the island comes off […]
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