Lemming Tracks: Puerto Rico, Statehood, and Getting a Grip

As far as the Lemming is concerned, if folks living in Puerto Rico think it's a good idea to become a state, instead of a territory: that's fine. If they don't, also fine. Being a state seems to make sense: but the Lemming lives a few thousand miles away from Puerto Rico, and that's another topic.

Voting, Puerto Rico, and Congress

"Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US"
BBC News (November 7, 2012)

"Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state.

"The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.

"The island is currently a US territory, which uses the dollar and whose citizens travel on US passports.

"But it does not return senators to the US Congress and is represented in Washington by a non-voting delegate.

"Almost 80% of the island's electorate took part in the referendum, the fourth in the past 45 years...."

The Lemming figured it was only a matter of time before most Puerto Ricans got used to the idea of having equal status with the existing 50 states.

There's also the matter of folks from the 48 contiguous states, plus Hawaii and Alaska, getting used to the idea that Americans don't need to look like Archie Bunker. More topics.

When news about the statehood referendum came out, the Lemming also figured that it was only a matter of time before someone found a dark lining to this silver cloud. It didn't take long.

An associate professor says the referendum vote is wrong, because Puerto Ricans don't want statehood.

They're Not Supposed to Want That?

"Puerto Rico Statehood Experts Challenge Results"
Christina Ng, ABC News blog (November 8, 2012)

"A vote in Puerto Rico over the island’s status as a U.S. territory has triggered a fierce debate over whether a majority voted to become the 51st state.

"The island territory has been debating the issue for decades and pro-statehood politicians are celebrating Tuesday's vote claiming it was the first time in 45 years that Puerto Ricans have voted for statehood.

"Others, however, are challenging that conclusion and argue that the vote indicates opposition to statehood.

" 'Puerto Ricans in general are just dissatisfied with the current government,' Yarimar Bonilla, a Rutgers University assistant professor of anthropology and Caribbean studies, told ABCNews.com...."

Maybe an associate professor is right, and all those Puerto Ricans didn't know what they really want. Then again, maybe Puerto Ricans aren't quite as unaware as they're supposed to be.

This isn't 1893, Puerto Rico isn't Hawaii, and that's another boatload of topics.

Passports? What Passports?

"Important Travel Information on Puerto Rico"
Travel.State.gov, U.S. Department of State (undated)

"Inaccurate press reports about travel between Puerto Rico and mainland United States

"Contrary to a number of inaccurate press reports stemming from a July 16, 2012 article that misquoted a State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs official, there is no passport requirement for U.S. citizens for direct travel between the mainland United States and U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands...."

Sometimes reporters get it right. Sometimes they don't. Deadlines, assumptions, and creative editors, may be factors in news media's relationship with reality.

The Lemming's opined about news, and what folks expect, in another blog:

"...In the wake of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, up to somewhere after Watergate, reporters were taken quite seriously. The brave reporter, on a quest for Truth, became a stock character in movies. I've discussed stereotypes and movies before....

"...When Richard T. Heffron needed intrepid heroes for a movie about a conspiracy by robots to take over the world, "reporters" filled the bill neatly. That was in 1976.

"Like I've said before, change happens. A few years after "Futureworld", another creative team gave us a somewhat different view of reporters...."
(A Catholic Citizen in America (April 27, 2012))

And that's - what else? - yet another topic.

Vaguely-related posts:

• America, Arecibo, and angst
  • "Cheeseburger Bill: Minnesota's Shocking Attack on Contemporary Values"
    (February 22, 2011)
  • "United States Census Data: Online"
    (January 14, 2011)
  • "Camuy, Caves, and Karst"
    (October 21, 2010)
  • "Asteroids and Earth: Time for the Space Patrol?"
    (May 2, 2010)
    • Mentions the Arecibo Observatory
  • "Steamed Online Community Helps Change Mascot"
    (December 4, 2007)
• Experts and other comedy relief
  • "First Montauk, Now This: East River 'Monster,' Another Dead - Thing"
    (August 3, 2012)
  • "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
    (June 12, 2011)
  • "Apathy is Rampant, But Who Cares? - The Sequel"
    (February 7, 2011)
  • "Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?"
    (January 11, 2011)
  • "Lemming Tracks: Blasphemy! Or, 'We're All Gonna Die' Predictions That Fizzled"
    (December 30, 2010)
• "Journalistic Infotainment-Like Art-Product"
  • "Higgs Boson, 'God Particle,' and Getting a Grip"
    (December 19, 2011)
  • "We interrupt for a special bulletin: STEVE JOBS IS STILL DEAD! This blog will resume normal posts on Wednesday"
    (October 17, 2011)
  • " 'Carmageddon?' 'Never Mind!' "
    (July 17, 2011)
  • "NASA, Extraterrestrial Life: and Titan is a Moon of Saturn, not Mars"
    (December 1, 2010)
  • "Silly Season"
    (August 24, 2010)

Camuy, Caves, and Karst

"Camuy" (kahm-WEE)
Welcome to Puerto Rico! (welcome.topuertorico.org)

"Camuy is known as 'La Ciudad Romántica' (romantic city) and 'La Ciudad del Sol Taíno' (city of the Taino sun). The town was founded in 1807, when it was disassociated from Arecibo by Petrolina Matos.

"It is said that Camuy derives its name from a word used by the Indians 'camuy', which means sun, at the same time others think that it was the name that the Indians gave to the river that crossed this region...."

Camuy is in northwest Puerto Rico, which someone described as a series of caves connected by limestone. Which the Lemming thinks sounds more picturesque than saying that karst landforms dominate the region. I'll get back to that.

This visitor-and-tourism-focused page discusses the Río Camuy Cave Park, right after some statistics and photos:

"...This incredible 268-acre park is the site of the great subterranean caverns carved out by the Camuy River over one million years ago. The impeccably maintained trails gently descend 200 feet through a fern filled ravine to the yawning, cathedral-like caverns. The caves are home to a unique species of fish that is totally blind. ... Rio Camuy Cave Park is the third-largest cave system in the world...."

The website has a pretty good discussion on the geography of Puerto Rico, on a page titled, appropriately enough, "Geography:"

"...Puerto Rico has three main physiographic regions: the mountainous interior, the coastal lowlands, and the karst area....

"...The third important physiographic feature is the karst region in the north. This area consists of formations of rugged volcanic rock dissolved by water throughout the geological ages. This limestone region is an extremely attractive zone of extensive mogotes or haystack hills, sinkholes, caves, limestone cliffs, and other karst features. The karst belt extends from Aguadilla, in the west, to a minor haystack hills formation in Loíza, just east of San Juan...."

Limestone is a sedimentary rock, not volcanic - and the page doesn't discuss what sort of volcanic rock is in the karst region. But it's still a pretty good introduction to Puerto Rico's land.

More, about rocks:

• "LIMESTONE ROCKS"
  Stone-Network.com
• "VOLCANIC ROCKS"
  Oregon State University
• "Karst and the USGS"
  United States Geological Survey