Do you remember - when Puerto Rico was raising Hell about the
US Navy using that nothing little island just off the coast of
Puerto Rico for bombing practices, which they had used for
the past 75 years?
Demonstrations were held; Hollywood left wingers, Al Sharpton and
his fellow demagogues, etc. went down there to demonstrate to
get the Navy out.
I am sure it infuriated you just as it did me at the time.
Well, here are some measures of karma. To quote:
"Always be careful what you ask for, you just may get it."
One of the many headaches that the U.S. has had was the
Puerto Rican island of Vieques. In the waning years of the
Clinton administration, protesters demanded that the US Navy
abandon bombing and naval gunfire exercises that had taken
place on the largely uninhabited island for nearly seventy years.
In 2002, the bombing exercises were transferred to an Air Force
bombing range in central Florida not far from Jacksonville and
Pensacola Naval Air Stations.
Many of the protesters were in Puerto Rico, celebrating the final
bombing exercise on Vieques and waved Puerto Rican flags and
placards that read "U. S. Navy get out of Puerto Rico."
The following February, Rumsfeld announced that the U. S. Navy
will close the Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico in
2004, eliminating 1200 civilian jobs as well as 700 military positions.
(This naval facility was estimated to have put nearly $300 million
annually into the local economy.)
The NEXT DAY, a stunned Governor Sila Calderon held a news conference
in San Juan, protesting the base closure as a serious
blow to the Commonwealth's "fragile economy."
The governor stated that "The people of Puerto Rico don't now - or
never did - have an interest in closing the Vieques bombing range OR
the Roosevelt Roads naval base. We are interested in both staying in
Puerto Rico."
When asked, the Commander-in-Chief, Western Atlantic Command, said:
"Without Vieques, I see no further need for the facility at
Roosevelt Roads. None."
So, Yankee go home? Fine. But we'll take our dollars with us.
Hasta la vista baby!
Later, the Secretary of Defense also announced that the U.S.
European Command would begin moving most, if not all, of its
active combat and support units from bases in Germany to others
being established in Poland, The Czech Republic, Hungary and
Turkey - to "better position them for rapid deployment to likely
'hot spots' in those parts of the world."
Immediately, the business and government leaders in the
German states of Hesse, Rinelandand Wurttemburg, protested
the loss of nearly $SIX BILLION (SIX THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS)
US revenue each year from the bases and manpower to be displaced.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry speculated that the move
may be "what the Americans call 'payback' for the actions of this government in opposing
military action in Iraq."
Does anyone know the German translation for "Hasta la vista, baby?
I think "Aufwiedersehen, linesmen" is a good translation, don't you?
Isn't it nice to see a government with guts - AND a good memory???
Also, here are some statistics and conclusions about a different subject:
If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in
the Iraq theater of operations during the last 22 months, and a total
of 2,112 deaths (when this was written), that gives a firearm death
rate of approximately 60 per 100,000 soldiers.
The firearm death rate in Washington D. C. is 80.6 per 100,000
for the same period. (...and that was while handguns were outlawed!!)
That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and
killed in the U.S. Capitol, (which has some of the strictest gun control
laws in the NATION) than you are in Iraq.
WANNA PROTEST SOMETHING...GET US OUT OF D.C. !!!
ZIPPY chance of the mainsteam media passing this on to you.
International "Karma"
Moderator: Priests of Syrinx
International "Karma"
Don't start none...won't be none.
If we spent all the money that we spend on military to ease the burden of the world there wouldn't be any famines and not many conflicts either as far as the death comparison in Washington dc and Iraq I would be willing to bet two things it doesn't cover the lives of the innocent Iraq people or the wounded American's. If Puerto Rico would stop whining long enough to open up a banana plantation it could take care of it self. Everything isn't what it should be in this world everyday is opposite day
I've been to Vieques more than once, and trust me, the Puerto Ricans gotMe wrote: If Puerto Rico would stop whining long enough to open up a banana plantation it could take care of it self. Everything isn't what it should be in this world everyday is opposite day
the better of the deal while we were there. Sucks to be them.
Don't start none...won't be none.