Tim Blair

Well, there IS Canada.

I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah!

"Larrikin" 'eh?

I'd be more inclined to call him what he is.

A basher of elderly people.
A man who assaults ethnic taxi drivers and then coerces them not to lay charges.
A man who abuses his wife, Gabriel Gwyther.
A man who commits adultery on same wife.
A compulsive liar.
An arsehole.

Now that's a more concise description of Latham.

When I was in high school in Israel we had a class discussion and someone said something about Israel being the 53rd state of the USA. I corrected the silly student and asked the teacher to tell her that there are only 50 states. To my horror the teacher mumbled something and said she's not so sure. I wrote a letter to the US embassy and asked them to set things straight. They wrote an official letter to the teacher and informed her that there are indeed only 50 states.
How very sad that so many leaders and educators are so ignorant.

I think the queue lines up over there behind Puerto Rico and Guam. Please be sure to have your paperwork filled in triplicate and all stamps applied. Please be aware that while the United States does on occasion take on new members, it takes a dim view of those who decide at a later date to leave the Union.( please see wikipedia entry - American Civil War - causes of).

( I just want to say for my part that I'd be happy to have Australia as new states in the union, but that vegemite stuff has got to stay on the car axles it was meant to serve and not in the kitchen cupboard where it has mistakenly ended up on down under.)

Googling for "51st state" shows a lot of alleged candidates, including Great Britain, Iraq, Canada, Europe and Australia. It also turns up Upstate New York seperatists as well as a group in the border of Northern California and Southern Oregon who want to form a state called Jefferson.

I wonder if we could swap Tasmania for Hawaii...

I say, "Bring it on!".

State 51 - Downunder.

To Australians there is no country and/or culture closer to our 'way' than the USA.

What happens in US elections has more impact on the life of each Australian than what happens in Australian elections.

Financially, we wait on Alan Greenspans every utterance.

Politically we shudder in horror at the evil consequence for Australia of a Kerry presidency (luckily it seems less likely than a Gore presidency ever was).

Militarily our nation survives due to American good-will. Sans US, sans Australia (sorry about the French).

So we should at least get to vote on it.
(plus we would get to ditch metric, ditch plastic money, and buy SUV's at US prices).

What I want to know is why with so many states (and people) they don't do better in the Olympics. Quick - get out the slide rule. Divide the population of the US by the number of Olympic medals. Then compare it it to Australia's ratio.

Winners are grinners, and herein lies the REAL reason why the imperialist Americans want to subsume Australia into the Union.

Because we are better at sports. (And, well, most things really)

Here's the deal - we'll join the Union if they change the acronym. I can hear the crowds at Beijing now: "AUS, AUS, AUS!"

If the Vehegemonopolists are to be believed, America is about to become the 7th state (or the third territory) of Australia!

What I want to know is why with so many states (and people) they don't do better in the Olympics.

I'm sure it's all the fault of George W Bush, somehow...

we would get to ditch metric

Dammit, I've spent 30 years trying to learn metric and now you want to ditch it!

You're up a gum tree on this one.

There are 51 states if you count DC as a state. Which many do:

http://www.instantaccess.co.uk/infozone/usstates.htm

http://tinyurl.com/5uuym

There's 50 states, I've never heard DC described as a state. The stars on the US flag are a representation of the states, therefore there are currently 50 stars.

http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/flags/fedflag.shtml

The District of Columbia is NOT a 51st state. They have a non-voting representative in the House and no Senators. They count as three electoral votes so as not to disenfranchise residents that live there from voting for president. Their Mayor and city council have nominal powers of governance and cannot do anything without Congress' permission.

The federal district was created so that no state could claim that they had jurisdiction over the nation's capital, as would have been the case back when the state governments had more sovreignty than they do now. The Fathers never envisioned it becoming a permanent residence for anyone, hence the requirement that Congressperson's keep an official residence in their home state.

Can't condemn it. A bunch of Airmen standing around trying to figure out how many states there were kept coming up with the number 51. But we all knew that there are only 50, yet everytime we counted them up (no map just fingers) we kept coming up with 51.

Then we realized the "New England" is not a state. For future reference, it's not a good idea to use football teams as a reference when trying to name all 50 states.
:)

Kalroy

Washington, DC, is not a state.

"DC" stands for "District of Columbia". This region was set aside as the national capital early in our history. It's strictly federal territory, like a national park or military base.

Some residents, in fact, complain about paying federal taxes, but don't have full representation in Congress (their sole representative has no vote).

And let's not forget the semi-serious proposal to split Washington State along the crest of the Cascades. That way, us folks on the east side could stop paying for all those projects them California immigrants want to improve their lifestyle.

Frank Martin: "ended up on down under"

(golf clap - nicely played !)

Well, there's a slim chance Bush won't carry NSW, so you have a slim chance for sovereignty yet what do you mean, the Nimitz isn't there yet? get away from the mike!

Never mind.

It's interesting how Washington, D.C. is similar to our own Canberra, A.C.T. -- a Federal capital-not-quite-a-State.

There are 51 states if you count DC as a state. Which many do!

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Everyone knows the Free State of South Illinois is the 51st sovereign State of the Union.

"AUS, AUS, AUS!", you don't really need to change, USA : United States of Australia

I once proposed that we give California and Massachusetts to the EU in exchange for Poland and the Baltics, so (50 - 2) + 4 = 52. Bob Hawke is off by one.

There's no confusion Timbo. Hawkie is just acknowledging that Australia is more likely to be the 2nd country to become a state of the US after Puerto Rico.

There's actually some knucklehead from Duke University trying to get Vermonters to secede. How cool would it be to dispatch some highly trained, armed and motivated troops from Georgia, the Carolinas, et cetera, should the Deanvolk stray off the ranch?

The asshole even tried to make the case that secession would make them safer from terrorism. The FDA should look into exactly what goes into that overpriced Ben & Jerry's ice cream crap...

I probably better not post anything snarky about an Australian politician not knowing the ## of American States when I don't know the exact ## of Provinces there are in Australia (except that it's a hell of a lot less than 50). There's Queensland, right? And Tasmania, and New South Wales, and... and.... Somehow I seem to recall it adding up to 8, but I'm drawing a blank. Help?

An alternate name offered for the potential state of Jefferson is Baja Oregon.

I'm somewhat torn between the two...

Sean
they're called states here too, and there are 6
Victoria
New South Wales
Queensland
Tasmania
South Australia
Western Australia

There are also two territories, the Australian Capital Territory (like DC) and the Northern Territory. There are probably some islands under distinct jurisdcitions too, but i'm not sure

Hawke statement that he might have caused Latham's pancreatitis although flippant may hide a grain of truth.

It's a condition mostly caused by heavy drinking or gallstones. The official line is that they haven't determined a cause for his condition but given his previous history it's a fair bet that the pair had quite a session.

It's interesting Hawke proclaiming his "independence" stance with the US relationship when he refers to the Star Wars decision. In a recent program on the History Channel called "Labor in Power" it was pretty clear that Hawke agreed to cooperate with the missile testing in talks with US defence officials but the ALP Caucus flipped when they found out.

The US got Hawke out from under by stating that they could carry out the required testing without such close cooperation. So who is telling "porkies" there!!!.

Good point, Amortiser.

As I recall the coverage of the time, Hawke cooperated with the US in private, but in public pretended otherwise.

While it might be nice to entertain joining with Australia and Canada, the big downside for all three parties are the moonbats we all have.

For example, no longer would MM (Michael Moore) be the US's moonbat. Australians and Canadians would be forced to own him, and others, as well.
I would hate to do that to the nice people in Australia and Canada.

The US would be forced to do the same for the moonbats in Australia and Canada. We'd lose the relief we all get when we read of YOUR moonbats and get to THANK GOD they aren't ours. You would lose the ability to THANK GOD our moonbats don't belong to you.

Also, the moonbats from all three countries could join together politically. No Thanks. Let's keep our moonbats separate. They can do less damage that way. Except, of course, in Canada where the moonbats have almost taken over. (Although Canadians are fighting back.)

If we are trading territory, let's swap Seattle for Vancouver Island.

And if Vermont wants to succeed, let 'em. They can set up a mutual defense treaty with Canada. Better yet, swap Vermont for British Columbia. As a measure of good will, we can throw Seattle in the pot, and Canada can use it as a free port or something. If the Californian immigrants living in King County don't want to be reclassified as Canucks, they can go back to California and become Euroweenies.

Perhaps Hawke is a fan of The The.

There's an obscure pop-culture reference for any fellow children of the 80s.

Not so fast! I'm still savoring the image of southern volunteers dragging a bunch of Birkenstock-clad greying hippies back into the Union.

Sound/video bites of Howard "Oh! My Back!" Dean would alone be worth the price of admission.

...whereas it would suit Bob Hawke's business interests if we became the 35th (or whatever) province of China.

And when it comes to moral hypocrisy, Bob takes the prize for his enthusuatic business cooperation with the gangster regime currently running Burma.

I'm with Chris Josephson.

This arrangement allows us to keep our separate moonbats from joining into super-moonbats, for which we'll have to call out Godzilla.

Funny though but the moonbats don't realise how much joining up would actually benefit them. Perhaps keeping them confused like that's Nature's way of protecting us from their destructive power.

Tim may be referring to 1991.

Hawkie wants us to forget that when Pres Bush senior in 1991 declared the Gulf War imminent, Hawke was on the phone within a few minutes offering our full military support for any US action. Including invasion of Iraq. For this he was endlessly criticised by the anti-US set.

Just how Howard has supposedly departed from Hawke's stance in this matter is something only he can explain - expect obfuscation.

Hawke was on the phone within a few minutes offering our full military support for any US action.

Better yet - I understand Hawkie pledged support BEFORE any US mandate.

Unilateralist.

...err that should say "UN mandate"...otherwise it makes no sense.

As a further to the Australian states/territories, there were some missed out (we Aussies claim a vast and sprawling Empire)

States: As listed aboves:

Territories: Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Heard Island, Australian Antarctic Territory,

But....

What about Prince Edward Island?

When I was in high school in Israel we had a class discussion and someone said something about Israel being the 53rd state of the USA. I corrected the silly student and asked the teacher to tell her that there are only 50 states. To my horror the teacher mumbled something and said she's not so sure. I wrote a letter to the US embassy and asked them to set things straight. They wrote an official letter to the teacher and informed her that there are indeed only 50 states.
How very sad that so many leaders and educators are so ignorant.

I previously thought the US had 52 states. Googling suggests it has 52 states and territories (50 states, 2 territories).

Anyway, when we become part of the U.S. we'll be the 51st through 56th states. Or something like that.

Lefties keep trotting out this 51st (or 52nd or whatever) state thing. I'm not sure that there's really that much of a downside. We could sell Michael Moore to Norway if need be. And just think of the Olympic medal tallies!

Here's my rationalisation of Hawke's comment. He was speaking about a point in the (conditional) future. Perhaps he was assuming that, while Australia would be admitted to the Union at some point following a Howard victory, Puerto Rico or somewhere else would have been admitted already? That's a bit tortured, but the best I can come up with.

I wonder how many senior American politicians know how many provinces there are in Canada or states in Australia for that matter?

It's possible that numerous left leaning US politicians consider the USA a province of France. That list likely includes Presidential candidate John F. Kerry, who, by the way, served in Vietnam.

I'm surprised nobody has pointed this out, but: Puerto Rico is not a state, but rather a self-governing commonwealth. Guam, on the other hand, is an unincorporated territory that is seeking commonwealth status. (Of course, any notion that DC is the 51st state has been thoroughly debunked by other readers.)

I find it both funny that there should be any confusion (I mean, it's not like it's hard to just go look it up), and frightening that the journalists can't seem to agree on what to print when they obviously cite the same source...

And then there's this possibility:

One provision of the 1845 Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas, passed by Congress and signed into law by President John Tyler, reads as follows:

"New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution."

The "New States of convenient size" provision is the constitutionally required consent of Congress to carving a new state out of an existing one. And it is still in effect: There is absolutely no reason to believe that this provision--a U.S. statute--expires on its own without being repealed. So all that remains is for Texas to say "yes" and act to divide itself into five.

By the way, there is one other commonwealth (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), and there are several other unincorporated territories (American Samoa, Midway Islands, and the US Virgin Islands).

Well, let me qualify my comment about the number of commonwealths -- Puerto Rico and CNMI are distinct in that they are not states. There are 4 states who share this designation: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Silly me...

States, territories, islands, pfft!

You've all forgotten about my Principality.

I even have a Navy. That's better than New Zealand.

So don't try to invade, Kiwis!

oops

The Royal Hutt River Navy sounds fun. Do you take girls?