After Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493, the island was colonized in 1508, and the capital city of San Juan founded in 1521.
As a result of the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was relinquished to the USA by Spain in 1898. Today it is a self governing (very independent-minded) territory of the USA, and enjoys much autonomy.
The climate is usually hot and humid, with some lower temperatures found in the higher elevations. Like most Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico is subject to an occasional hurricane warning (May - October).
Compared to other islands in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico has a high standard of living with a vibrant industrialized economy. More quick facts .
Hispanic, Afro-Caribbean and North American influences meld in Puerto Rico . It is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands.
The Capital is San Juan. The official language is Spanish and English.
The President is Barack Obama .
As of Nov. 2016, it's Donald Trump.
Puerto Ricans are by law natural-born citizens of the United States; they have been citizens of the U.S. since 1917, and may move freely between the island and the mainland. As it is not a state, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. However, Puerto Rico does have one non-voting member of the House called a Resident Commissioner. As residents of a U.S. territory, American citizens residing on the island are disenfranchised at the national level and do not vote for president and vice president of the United States, and only some residents pay federal income tax. Like other territories and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico does not have U.S. senators. Congress approved a local constitution in 1952, allowing U.S. citizens of the territory to elect a governor.
Bahamas is a country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets (rocks). It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States (nearest to the state of Florida).
The Capital is Nassau.
Bahamas government is Parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy. The Head of state monarch is Elizabeth II
.
President Obama spoke at a conference for disabled veterans. He announced the next phase in the military’s withdrawal from Iraq . All U.S. combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of August 2010, with about 50,000 other troops staying behind.
Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with Haiti, making Hispaniola one of only two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that are shared by two sovereign states.
The native Taíno
(pronounced /tīnō/) people had inhabited Hispaniola before the arrival of the Europeans, dividing it into five chiefdoms. The Taíno people had eventually moved north over many years, and lived around the Caribbean islands.
The Taíno natives had done quite well for themselves and were on their way to being an organized civilization. Christopher Columbus explored and claimed the island, landing here on his first voyage in 1492.
The colony of Santo Domingo became the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, the oldest continuously inhabited city, and the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World.
Meanwhile, France occupied the western third of Hispaniola, naming their colony Saint-Domingue, which became the independent state of Haiti in 1804.
After more than three hundred years of Spanish rule the Dominican people declared independence in November 1821.
The Capital is Santo Domingo. Spanish is the official language.
7.14.10 NAACP passes resolution blasting Tea Party 'racism.' Ben Jealous explains why the resolution was passed. The resolution was passed to condemn extremist elements within the Tea Party, calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches. Tea party leader, Mark Williams, is trying to condemn the NAACP. Video showing racism within the tea party.
7.18.10 CNN's Don Lemon speaks with Rev. Al Sharpton who gives his views about the Tea Party movement.
7.18.10 New Developments: Mark Williams & Tea Party Express expelled ! The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that represents the Tea Party political movement around the country, has expelled conservative commentator Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express because of an inflammatory blog post he wrote, federation spokesman David Web.
7.18.10 The National Tea Party Federation's David Webb explains why his group expelled Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express.
7.18.10 Ben Jealous: "Getting rid of Williams is a good start."
7.19.10 Andrew Breitbart, a conservative blogger, published a video of a speech by USDA employee Shirley Sherrod in an attempt to show that the NAACP itself tolerates racist behavior within its ranks – a stinging accusation just one week after the civil rights group made a similar charge against the conservative Tea Party movement. The video clip showed Shirley Sherrod, who later became an Agriculture Department employee, seeming to say she had not done her utmost to help a white farmer save his farm 24 years ago was taken out of context, and fails to include the point of her story - that people need to move beyond race. The NAACP and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack rushed to judgment. Vilsack forced her to resign. But after the full video surfaced, it proved that Shirley Sherrod's message was taken out of context. The NAACP, and Vilsack, and the White House apologized to Sherrod and she was offered a new job in the Agriculture Department. Additionally, black farmers have yet to be paid by congress for a racial bias settlement they won in 1999.
NOTE: The lesson for the nation here is to not rush to judgment before having all of the facts. When Breitbart released the partial video (and remember he did it to get back at the NAACP for calling the tea party out on the racial elements within their group. And he wanted to take media attention off of Mark Williams' racial comments) the NAACP, Tom Vilsack, and the White House should have called Shirley Sherrod to hear her story before rushing to the wrong conclusions and firing her.
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only state made up entirely of islands. Hawaiʻi’s natural beauty, warm tropical climate, inviting waters and waves, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. The temperature is mild, and cane sugar, pineapple, and flowers and nursery products are the chief products. Hawaii also grows coffee beans, bananas, and macadamia nuts. The tourist business is Hawaii's largest source of outside income. Read more facts .
The Capital is Honolulu. The executive branch is led by the Governor of Hawaii assisted by the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, both elected on the same ticket. The history on infoplease.com.
Hawaiʻi has garnered additional attention as the location where President Barack Obama was born and spent much of his youth. Obama is the only president to hail from the state.
President Obama spoke following the U.N. Security Council 12-2 vote in favor of sanctions against Iran for its continued failure to live up to its obligations. In his remarks he said the new sanctions are the toughest ever imposed on Iran.
The resolution calls for measures against Iranian banks suspected of involvement in nuclear or missile programs.
It also expands a U.N. arms embargo and places a travel ban and asset freeze on 40 individuals.
The resolution also calls for vessels or aircraft headed to or from Iran, suspected of transporting banned cargo, to be inspected.
And the resolution prohibits countries from allowing Iranian investments in nuclear enrichment plants, uranium mines and other nuclear-related technology.
11.21.11 The United States announced tougher sanctions against Iran, joining Britain and Canada in a coordinated effort to tighten the screws around the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.
Kenya is a country in East Africa. The Capital is Nairobi.
The official languages are English and Swahili.
The President is Mwai Kibaki. He served from Dec. 2002 to April 2013. He's succeeded by Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) who was elected as President of Kenya on April 9, 2013. He is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president (1964–1978).
Question: Are there such things as aliens or UFOs?
Answer: First, let's define “aliens” [ creature from outer space] as “beings capable of making moral choices, having intellect, emotion, and a will.” Next, a few scientific facts:
1. Men have sent spacecraft to nearly every planet in our solar system. After observing these planets, we have ruled out all but Mars and possibly a moon of Jupiter as being able to support life.
2. In 1976, the U.S.A. sent two landers to Mars [ June 19, 1976 - two spacecrafts, viking 1 orbiter & lander. The purpose: to look for life. The result: negative ]. Each had instruments that could dig into the Martian sand and analyze it for any sign of life. They found absolutely nothing. In contrast, if you analyzed soil from the most barren desert on earth or the most frozen dirt in Antarctica, you would find it teeming with micro-organisms. In 1997, the U.S.A. sent Pathfinder to the surface of Mars [ June 4, 1997]. This rover took more samples and conducted many more experiments. It also found absolutely no sign of life. Since that time, several more missions to Mars have been launched. The results have always been the same.
3. Astronomers [ expert in astronomy, a scientific observer of celestrial bodies] are constantly finding new planets in distant solar systems. Some propose that the existence of so many planets proves that there must be life somewhere else in the universe. The fact is that none of these has ever been proved to be anything close to a life-supporting planet. The tremendous distance between Earth and these planets makes it impossible to make any judgments regarding their ability to sustain life. Knowing that Earth alone supports life in our solar system, evolutionists[process of growing. development] want very badly to find another planet in another solar system to support the notion that life must have evolved.There are many other planets out there, but we certainly do not know enough about them to verify that they could support life. (Also, president Obama envisions NASA going to Mars by 2012).
So, what does the Bible say? The earth and mankind are unique in God's creation. Genesis 1 teaches that God created the earth before He even created the sun, the moon, or the stars. Acts 17:24, 26 states that “the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands…he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
Originally, mankind was without sin, and everything in the world was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). When the first man sinned (Genesis 3), the result was problems of all sorts, including sickness and death. Even though animals have no personal sin before God (they are not moral beings), they still suffer and die (Romans 8:19-22). Jesus Christ died to remove the punishment that we deserve for our sin. When He returns, He will undo the curse that has existed since Adam (Revelation 21–22). Note that Romans 8:19-22 states that all of creation eagerly waits for this time. It is important to also note that Christ came to die for mankind and that He died only once (Hebrews 7:27; 9:26-28; 10:10).
If all of creation now suffers under the curse, any life apart from the earth would also suffer. If, for the sake of argument, moral beings do exist on other planets, then they also suffer; and if not now, then someday they will surely suffer when everything passes away with a great noise and the elements melt with fervent heat (2 Peter 3:10). If they had never sinned, then God would be unjust in punishing them. But if they had sinned, and Christ could die only once (which He did on earth), then they are left in their sin, which would also be contrary to the character of God (2 Peter 3:9). This leaves us with an unsolvable paradox—unless, of course, there are no moral beings outside of the earth.
What about non-moral and non-sentient life forms on other planets? Could algae or even dogs and cats be present on an unknown planet? Presumably so, and it would not do any real harm to any biblical text. But it would certainly prove problematic when trying answer questions like “Since all of creation suffers, what purpose would God have in creating non-moral and non-sentient creatures to suffer on distant planets?”
In conclusion, the Bible gives us no reason to believe that there is life elsewhere in the universe. In fact, the Bible gives us several key reasons why there cannot be. Yes, there are many strange and unexplainable things that take place. There is no reason, though, to attribute these phenomena to aliens or UFOs. If there is a discernable cause to these supposed events, it is likely to be spiritual, and more specifically, demonic, in origin. Source
NOTE: The phenomena of aliens is demonic, in origin.
On April 20th, an oil rig explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, caused an Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, that left 17 workers injured and 11 missing and presumed dead. Oil is spilling from a well 5000 feet below sea level, discharging 200,000 gallons of crude oil a day according to the official estimate. It is estimated that more than 6 million gallons of crude oil have spewed into the Gulf so far. The Gulf Coast consist of 5 States Touching the Gulf of Mexico. Those states are Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Highlights of President Barack Obama's new orders on offshore oil drilling safety.
SAFER DRILLING: Obama ordered a number of changes designed to ensure offshore drilling is safer going forward, based on a 30-day review by Salazar, including:
* Extending a moratorium on new deep water drilling leases for six months, until the presidential commission on the spill completes its work.
* Suspending Shell Oil's plans to begin exploratory drilling this summer on Arctic leases as far as 140 miles off the Alaska coast. Now those wells will not be considered until 2011.
* Canceling pending lease sales off the coast of Virginia and in the western Gulf of Mexico.
* Suspending action on 33 deep water exploratory wells currently being drilled in the Gulf.
* Salazar announced additional safety measures, including requiring more thorough inspections of the "blowout preventers" designed to prevent oil spills. The blowout preventer on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig failed.
Elizabeth Birnbaum, the director of Minerals Management Service - the department that oversees oil and gas drilling - resigned "effective immediately."
Pres. Obama put Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commandant in charge of BP's oil spill.
South Africais a country located at the southern tip of Africa. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an independent country wholly surrounded by South African territory.
The Capital is Pretoria (executive), Bloemfontein (judicial), Cape Town (legislative). The largest city is Johannesburg.
There are 11 official languages, English is included.
According to the 2001 census, Christians accounted for 79.8% of the population, with a majority of them being members of various Protestant denominations (broadly defined to include syncretic African initiated churches) and a minority of Roman Catholics and other Christians. Christian category includes Zion Christian (11.1%), Pentecostal (Charismatic) (8.2%), Roman Catholic (7.1%), Methodist (6.8%), Dutch Reformed (Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk; 6.7%), and Anglican (3.8%). Members of remaining Christian churches accounted for another 36% of the population. Muslims accounted for 1.5% of the population, Hindus 1.2%,[192] traditional African religion 0.3% and Judaism 0.2%. 15.1% had no religious affiliation, 0.6% were "other" and 1.4% were "unspecified."
Community leaders say Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s final campaign to bring about social justice won't be forgotten.
One of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's final campaigns was to support striking sanitation workers who wanted higher wages and union representation. Their plight was the reason the civil rights leader was in Memphis, Tennessee at the time of his assassination almost 42 years ago.
The strike lasted more than two months and ended soon after King's death. The civil rights leader's final days are being remembered during Black History Month , which is commemorated each February in the United States.
Back in 1968, the sanitation workers were angry about their meager salaries. They had no health insurance and were barred from being recognized as union workers. The strike divided the city along racial lines and came to symbolize the demands of African Americans for equality. Reverend Samuel "Billy" Kyles persuaded King to come to Memphis ( watch the video ). He says the civil rights leader linked the plight of the sanitation workers to the larger cause of eliminating poverty.
"He came to Memphis to help the garbage workers and that is something we will always remember because he had such a compassion for the poor," says Kyles.
King and other civil rights leaders had launched "The Poor People's Campaign" a few months before he arrived in Memphis.
"It is my hope that powerful poor people will really mean having the ability and the aggressiveness to make the power structure of this nation say yes when they may be desirous of saying no," said King.
The Poor People's Campaign" was the second phase of the civil rights movement. The goal was to build a nationwide coalition of poor people of all races and ethnic backgrounds and to push for jobs, equal wages and decent housing.
"We are tired of working full time jobs for part time income," King said at the time. "We are tired of living in run down dilapidated, rat-infested shacks and slums."
Kyles says King was planning another March on Washington to persuade the government to spend billions of dollars on poor people.
"I saw him stand on the front porch of a home in Quitman County, Mississippi and he saw little kids running around with their stomachs swollen," Kyles remembers. "You would have thought you were in a third world county. And he stood there and he wept. He said 'We can do better than this.'"
Reverend Frank McRae helped end the dispute between the city and the sanitation workers. He says King would be happy that his work achieved results. Nearly two weeks after King's death, the city agreed to wage increases and union representation. And the Memphis sanitation workers ended their strike.
"I think he would be pleased. That is the reason he came here," McRae says. "And those positive things were effected by primarily, if not exclusively, because of his death."
Community leaders say King's final campaign to bring about social justice will never be forgotten. Source: VOANews
The Netherlands, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Belgium is to the south, and Germany to the east. The Netherlands is often called Holland, as North and South Holland are actually two of its twelve provinces. The word Dutch is used to refer to the people, the language, and anything pertaining to the Netherlands. Dutch is the official language.
The capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Monarch is Queen Beatrix (the Head of state), and the Prime Minister is Jan Peter Balkenende. The country's profile. A chronology of key events .
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country. It's the first black republic. It's 95% black.
The President was René Préval . His term started 5/14/06 and ended 5/14/11. He's succeeded by Michel Martelly , he assumed office on 5/14/11. His term ended 2.14.16. President, Jovenel Moïse resumed office on 2.7.17. In the early morning of July 7, 2021, he was assassinated. The PM, Claude Joseph, is now acting as president.
The capital is Port-au-Prince. The country's profile.
January 17, 2010 CNN's Fareed Zakaria takes a look at how
Haiti's past plays into its present troubles.
"We begin today with Haiti. I want to go beyond the terrible images that you've seen in the last days, tragic as they are, and try to help us understand this tragedy and how it came to be this way.
Everybody surely knows by now that Haiti is the poorest country in the entire Western Hemisphere. But that's not the whole story. You see, Haiti has been marked by violence, turmoil and tragedy from the start -- until recently, when things turned up, only to be dashed by this earthquake. And that start informed the tragedies that have befallen this country ever since.
So, a quick history lesson, one that I think is fascinating on its own merits and is essential to understanding Haiti today.
The island that came to be known as Hispaniola was discovered by Europeans when Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492. Two hundred years later, in 1697, the French gained control of the western third of this island. African slaves, growing sugar and coffee and tobacco there, became a veritable gold mine for the French.
But then, in 1791, the slaves revolted. It's been called the Vietnam War of its time, a ragtag band of insurgents defeating one of the greatest militaries of the age. None other than Napoleon Bonaparte sent tens of thousands of his French troops. They all tried to beat back the rebellion, and they all failed.
On New Year's Day, 1804, the last defeated French ship left the island, and the slaves declared victory. And Haiti, the nation that emerged, is the only nation in the entire world that was founded by slaves.
But the elation from emancipation didn't last long. The nation was very poor, made poorer by the French who demanded a large indemnity for losing the war. The plantation system, along with much of the rest of the country, had been ravaged by the war. And the vast majority of the population didn't know how to do anything but farm for a master.
Furthermore, the world was wary of this nation of half-a-million newly freed blacks. The United States, for example, didn't recognize Haiti for the first 58 years of its existence until 1862, a year after the U.S. Civil War began. And that was the official beginning of what continues to this day to be a difficult relationship.
In 1915, the U.S. sent in a landing force to occupy the island nation. The Haitian president had just been assassinated. The country was in a state of chaos. And some say that America simply wanted to protect its investments there.
Whatever the reasons for coming, the Americans stayed for almost 20 years. And it was an often brutal occupation. The Americans under Franklin Delano Roosevelt withdrew, but essentially of their own volition, in 1934. Haiti remained a troubled and deeply chaotic place.
Sixty years later, the Yanks were back. In 1994, under the Clinton administration, the American military went in again. This time they came to restore democracy. And two years later, Haiti saw for the first time in its then-almost 200-year history, a peaceful transition of power from one democratically elected president to another.
But then, the earthquake. And late Wednesday afternoon, of course, America returned again -- this time, not just with military might, but with aid workers, search and rescue teams, doctors, nurses and much more.
The response from the rest of the world has been strong. But the response from America has been extraordinary. It's a wonderful example of the power of America to do good, and do it fast..."
Haiti is a nation built on a pact with the devil. Haitian voodoo priest, Jamaica born Dutty Boukman, sacrificied a pig and drank its blood in 1791 in order to secure satan's aid in expelling the French occupation. In return, the priests promised Haiti to satan for the next 200 years. The French were soon beat back, and in 1804, Haiti became an independent nation.
The Vodoo ceremony in August 1791 was performed at Bois Caïman.
3.10.10 President Obama and Haitian President René Préval speak to the press after meeting at the White House and reaffirm their mutual commitment to rebuilding Haiti after Januarys devastating earthquake.
The current president, Jovenel Moïse resumed office on 2.7.17. In the early morning of July 7, 2021, he was assassinated. The PM, Claude Joseph, is now acting as president.
Haiti is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, to the east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
The Capital and largest city Port-au-Prince. The official language are French and Haitian Creole.
Ethnic groups are 95% black, and 5% mixed and white.
The 2017 CIA Factbook reported that around 54.7% of Haitians profess to being Catholics, while Protestants made up about 28.5% of the population (Baptist 15.4%, Pentecostal 7.9%, Seventh-day Adventist 3%, Methodist 1.5%, other 0.7%).
