Jaded Sage:

Back in 1898 we fought a small war with Spain. It was during a time when America was interested in expanding its prestige by spreading the notion of  Manifest Destiny to those across the ocean. Spain, whose empire and military might was a shell of its former self, lost its Caribbean and Pacific holdings to the upstart Americans. Cuba, the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico came under the sway of the United States. Cuba and the Philippines have since charted their own course but Guam and Puerto Rico remain entities within the US. Both Puerto Rico and Guam are unincorporated US territories and its people are statutory US citizens. Puerto Rico, on the other hand, is a Commonwealth of the US. The chief of state of Puerto Rico is the US President. The executive that runs internal affairs in PR is the Governor, currently Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. Though not given full representation as a state by the US, Puerto Rico does have what’s called a Resident Commissioner in Congress.  Puerto Rico possesses a similar situation as DC. Both do not take part in the general election for President of the US. But both do take part in the nomination process in selecting a candidate for the Democratic and Republican party.

Here is where things could get interesting. If things go down to the wire in selecting a Democratic nominee, Puerto Rico sits as the last caucus in the primary process. Unlike all the other Democratic caucuses and primaries Puerto Rico is a winner take all caucus. They have 63 delegates in the process and because they are winner take all these delegates carry more weight than California’s delegates which were divided among Clinton and Obama. How interesting would it be if that little gem in the Caribbean would wind up selecting the Democratic nominee for President of the US? There is a small chance that it would come to this but it is a chance none the less. In the mean time it probably would be in the best interest of the candidates to brush up on their Spanish. Si Se Pueda!

Interesting facts about Puerto Rico:

There are more people of Puerto Rican heritage living in the US than in Puerto Rico.

Recent DNA testing has revealed the average Puerto Rican has 61% Amerindian, 26% African and 12% Caucasian ancestry from their female chromosome. Conversely, their Y chromosome which comes from the male line shows 70% of all Puerto Ricans have inherited their Y chromosome from Europeans, 20% from an African ancestor and 10% from an Amerindian.

With just a day to go to Super Bowl Sunday I would like you to take a moment to calm down some and get in the groove like the Schwam. Football is a contact sport with lots of movement. Being a football host and analyst is another animal all together. This is one of my rare moments away from the important issues.

2007 was a good year for me. For some, however… not so much.

Wacky 2007

When I was a kid if we didn’t eat all the food on our plate our parents would say, “Don’t you know there are people in China that are starving.” That doesn’t apply much anymore.

How much do you think you know about the world? On this Christmas Eve I’m going to start out with a quiz. For each pair tell which nation has the highest infant mortality rate.

Sri Lanka or Turkey

Poland or South Korea

Malaysia or Russia

Pakistan or Vietnam

Thailand or South Africa

Professor Hans Roslings will give you the answers in a fascinating speech about the changes occurring in the developing world. It is about 20 minutes long and divides the Third World into winners and losers. It culminates in a graph that compares the US and China and tells us what we know is transpiring, except in graph form it seems more menacing.