Long time readers of La Acera will remember that I took it upon myself to read Ayn Rand’s two main works in hope of finding sense of the now-popular “randian ideology” that seems to permeate far-right political groups in the US. Following my reading of Rand’s The Fountainhead (See list of postings) and her short story, Anthem, I took on her most influential work, Atlas Shrugged. As of right now, my Kindle tells me I’m at 50% of the book, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share some first impressions.

What is happening with our government is much like the Nazi take over of Germany, or the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia, leading to the establishment of the Soviet Union. In these two instances, the Party ruled the government. The USSR practiced more of a state capitalist philosophy, same with the Nazis. In this case, the corporations have taken over all the parties and the government. A man wiser than me refers to it as Puerto Rico Inc. Now NY police are going to come down as "advisers" to help the Policía de Puerto Rico (PPR) which looks more like a paramilitary than an actual civilian police force. As I recall, something like that once happened in a little south East Asian country called Vietnam.

Through a complicated set of circumstances, which I will not recount here, I graduated from high school one year early but had not applied to college.  So, I found myself seventeen and out of high school with not much to do.  At that point, I had been working part-time at the factory outlet of a designer clothes company for almost a year.  So I asked the store manager if she needed someone full-time.

Working full-time at the store has become one of the defining experiences of my life.

The end of May brought a storm of writings to La Acera. From our stand on non-censorship to "Insularismo Boricua", from Abortion and choices one has to live with, to reflections and lessons from the UPR Strike. Literature and conversations with writers to some cultural observations about Puerto Rico. And that's just a fraction of this week's posts!

Hit the link for the full recap.

 If you commit a crime, the Police will take away your property… Simple. And after they take away your property, they will sell it and keep the money. Sound fair? Libertarians and John Stossel don't think so. 

That was the subject of an Op-ed piece in the Washington Examiner by John Stossel. In it, Stossel takes aim at the Forfeiture laws. Under Forfeiture laws, the state can impound (and sell) your car if it was used in the commission of a crime (ie. drunk driving). Libertarians argue that the forfeiture law unduly punishes innocent parties when the crime is committed by a third party. Did I lose you? Hang on.

I recently acquired a copy of The Caribbean Business Book of Lists and began to peruse it.  What I found in it gave me the chills.  None of my opinions about the Puerto Rico economy were challenged. Instead, my opinion that the crisis in Puerto Rico is not fixable unless we completely change the economic structure of the island was strengthened, and now I have even more cold hard data to back it up.

Today I simply want to focus on the fact that we as a society make/produce next to nothing.  Please turn to page seventeen of The Caribbean Business Book of Lists. This page begins the list containing the top four hundred locally owned companies in Puerto Rico. Going through the list is a cringe-inducing exercise.

     The Arizona legislature recently passed, and the state’s Governor signed into law, a measure that requires police officers to make a “reasonable attempt . . . to determine the immigration status of the person,” if a “reasonable suspicion” exists that a person is an illegal immigrant.  If the officer determines that the person they stopped and questioned is in the United States illegally, that person will be jailed and fined by the State of Arizona.  Finally, that person will also be turned over to Federal immigration authorities.  Additionally, legal immigrants residing in Arizona must always carry their immigration documentation.  The law itself stresses that race cannot be the sole factor in developing a “reasonable suspicion.” 

On Thursday, April 16, a Federal Judge ruled that the National Day of Prayer (NDP) was unconstitutional as a violation of the separation of Church and State. The NDP was approved by Congress in 1952 (and amended in 1988) to make it the first Thursday in May. The Act held that the president will declare the day so people "may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals."

Fox News, through their sister site, Fox Nation, ran this headline today (Monday, April 5th): Survey: 40% of Tea Parties Are Dems, Independents  When the reader clicks the story, the opening lines read:

"Four in 10 Tea Party members are either Democrats or Independents, according to a new national survey.
 The findings provide one of the most detailed portraits to date of the grassroots movement that started last year.
 The national breakdown of the Tea Party composition is 57 percent Republican, 28 percent Independent and 13 percent Democratic"

Last night, in a historic vote, the House of Representatives passed the "Senate Health Care Bill", followed by the reconciliation package.

Every now and then, I hear the argument on how Puerto Ricans who speak in English amongst their native peers are somewhat hypocrites. "Independentistas", particularly, are accused frequently by the opposing side of it, and fellow readers of this site have questioned whyare there so many articles written in the "King’s language", when the name of the site is in Spanish! Why some ask? Why not? I answer.

Today's survey in El Nuevo Dia is a pretty relevant one. They ask the readers if they think that Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz would be a good governor.

“… To control the realm we require not men of war alone, but cut clever devising as well. Not by opposing strength against opposing strength will we triumph… but if we fight with a plan there will be nothing to fear…”
- Kusunoki Masashige (楠木 正成, b. 1294-1336)

Obama might come back to Puerto Rico. If it happens, it'll be an opportunity to discuss the Puerto Rican economic reality with Obama, and a chance to hopefully address it. If he's here for more than 24 hours, we can also discuss rising crime, our crisis in education, and ways to make Puerto Rico more attractive to foreign and US investors.

Por fin, el Partido Popular Democrático se definió. Ahora sabemos que hay tres grupos dentro de ese Partido: los que tienen miedo, los que le tienen miedo al miedo y los que ya no tienen miedo.