Register Now!

Media

  • scannerscanner
  • scannerscreengrab
  • modern materialistthe modern
    materialist
  • video61 frames
    per second
  • videothe remote
    island
  • date machinedate
    machine

Photo

  • autumn blogautumn
  • brandonlandbrandonland
  • chasechase
  • rose & oliverose & olive
The Hooksexup Insider
A daily pick of what's new and hot at Hooksexup.
Scanner
Your daily cup of WTF?
Hooksexup@SXSW 2006.
Blogging the Roman Orgy of Indie-music Festivals.
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
The Daily Siege
An intimate and provocative look at Siege's life, work and loves.
Kate & Camilla
two best friends pursue business and pleasure in NYC.
Naughty James
The lustful, frantic diary of a young London photographer.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: kid_play
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: Super_C
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: ILoveYourMom
A bundle of sass who's trying to stop the same mistakes.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: The_Sentimental
Our newest Blog-a-logger.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: Marking_Up
Gay man in the Big Apple, full of apt metaphors and dry wit.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: SJ1000
Naughty and philosophical dispatches from the life of a writer-comedian who loves bathtubs and hates wearing underpants.
The Hooksexup Video Blog
Deep, deep inside the world of online video.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: charlotte_web
A Demi in search of her Ashton.
The Prowl, with Ryan Pfluger
Hooksexup @ Cannes Film Festival
May 16 - May 25
ScreenGrab
The Hooksexup Film Blog
Autumn
A fashionable L.A. photo editor exploring all manner of hyper-sexual girls down south.
The Modern Materialist
Almost everything you want.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: that_darn_cat
A sassy Canadian who will school you at Tetris.
Rose & Olive
Houston neighbors pull back the curtains and expose each other's lives.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: funkybrownchick
The name says it all.
merkley???
A former Mormon goes wild, and shoots nudes, in San Francisco.
chase
The creator of Supercult.com poses his pretty posse.
The Remote Island
Hooksexup's TV blog.
Brandonland
A California boy capturing beach parties, sunsets and plenty of skin.
61 Frames Per Second
Smarter gaming.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: Charlotte_Web
A Demi in search of her Ashton.
The Hooksexup Blog-a-log: Zeitgeisty
A Manhattan pip in search of his pipette.
Date Machine
Putting your baggage to good use.

Scanner

Obama & Clinton: Hey, Let's Pretend We Care About Puerto Rico

Posted by Brian Fairbanks

 

Barack Obama's campaign reiterated over the weekend that it is only 56 elected delegates from an automatic primary win, while both candidates stumped in America's 51st State (no, not The Big Apple, which hopefully one day will secede from the Union that is New York State), each offering the latest round of thinly-veiled pandering to seize a chunk of pointless votes...

While we're certainly refreshed by the sight of excited voters and glad Puerto Rico's Democrats are having their one and only say this year (P.R. does not have general election voting privileges.)  

Here are some choice quotes from over the last few days:

1) Making the tropical territory's status a "personal priority'' and pledging to resolve the issue between 2009-12. "My commitment to Puerto Rico did not start last month or last year."

2) "[I don't want to get] too political'' by discussing the disputed question of whether Puerto Rico should become a U.S. state, "but I am absolutely committed to making sure that Puerto Rico has the right to make a decision and have self-determination when it comes to its status.'' [via Bloomberg News]

3) "We must ensure that U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico are given the tools to resolve the question of their permanent political status. I fully support the findings and recommendations of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status."

Okay, the last one is obviously McCain (back in February, actually), but did you guess #1 was Clinton and #2 was Obama?

In any case, everyone is marching along in the so-called Puerto Rican (Primary) Day parade, with the contest going down on Monday. And after all, it is the final big voting booth showdown before the convention, what with the race already decided and all that Montana and South Dakota very likely Obama's without a day of campaigning there.

In other news: Che chum and Cuban Commie Fidel Castro endorsed Barack Obama. In his own, nutty Fidel way. 

Image via Voting Monkey. 


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

garowyn said:

They make the mistake of thinking that we have a vast amount of ridiculously eager voters here...most of us don't give a rats ass who is in the white house, either way we get screwed. The fact that they think that they can solve our status issues, there are several, just shows how absafuckinglutely ignorant the exectutive branch is about what goes on here. Bush thought he could make us cry for independence with the murder or Filiberto Ojeda (leader of the independence movement known as the "macheteros"). He misjudged the Puerto Rican resolve to be as complacent and accepting of life's litte foibles as humanely possibly. Why bite the hand that feeds you when it didn't ACTUALLY hurt YOU?

Obama has promised us copious amounts of money for education....so did everyone else, I still didn't have books or desks in some cases in my school. PR has a monetary chain of command, US gives us money...money goes to dept. of education....money then goes into the pockets of senators, representatives, bureaucrats, and drug dealers "bichotes" providing votes for said senators in the projects. What eventually gets to schools isn't even enough to cover basics....parents with money have to privately fund things in most cases.

Hilary has promised to ease the burden of our working families...so did everyone else. The fact that we pay taxes as high as some of the most highly taxed states or that the salary caps for even the jobs where you are supposed to get paid sick amounts of money aren't even a third of what is paid in the US, doesn't change that we have a cost of living way above what the money the average puerto rican makes...that is why 65 percent of our population lives on funds from the government...that and rampant corruption in the welfare system. If they and i'm sure a lot of Americans want rid of the burden of us...fix the mess you made in 1898 when the government decided that we'd be a great parting gift for the Spanish to give you after that pesky Spanish American War, or when you decided that americanization was the way to go with us...the more like apple pie we are the better...now we know how the system works....and now most people are milking it for what they can. Independence is not bankable option so we'll never choose it...cut us loose without severance or a plan will bring you only pain...not saying we'll bomb you...we aren't quite that proactively angry we prefer to complain loudly, but the drug lords will take over and the alleged war on drugs will find itself with a nasty, annoying road block extremely close to the US shores...Congress will never make us a state because we'll be poorer than Mississipi and as useless as any Dakota...Bacardi and Pharmaceutical money can only do so much. We are as we are because it is convinient for more than one party that be as we are.

PS. If you couldn't tell from the above....status is not on the top of the list of Puerto Rican concerns....money and corruption are.

May 27, 2008 9:19 PM

About Brian Fairbanks

Brian Fairbanks, the Senior National Political Correspondent for Hooksexup, is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn or New Orleans, depending on the season. He is a heavily-armed advocate of gun control.

in

about the blogger

Emily Farris writes about culture and food for numerous publications and websites you've probably never heard of, including her own blog eefers. Her first cookbook will be published in fall 2008. Emily lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with her cat, but just one . . . so far.

Brian Fairbanks is a filmmaker living in the wilds of Brooklyn. He previously wrote for the Hartford Courant and Gawker. He won the Williamsburg Spelling Bee once. He loves cats, women with guns, and burning books.

Send us links!


Tags

we recommend

partners

IN THE MODERN MATERIALIST



IN SCREENGRAB



IN THE REMOTE ISLAND



IN 61FPS



IN DATE MACHINE