Top Senate Dems and State Dept close to ending monthslong impasse over Cuba democracy programs

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Top Senate Dems and State Dept close to ending monthslong impasse over Cuba democracy programs
DESMOND BUTLER, DONNA CASSATA
Associated Press
7:24 p.m. EDT, July 14, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Senate Democrat is close to ending his hold on $20 million that the administration had ticketed for a program to promote democracy in communist Cuba, a monthslong challenge to President Barack Obama with possible ramifications for the 2012 election.

Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said Thursday he was working with the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development on ensuring the effectiveness of the program to promote human rights and basic freedoms. Established in 1996, the Cuba Program has been beset with reports that some grantees misused funds and the government provided little oversight.

His goal, Kerry said in an interview, was to make sure the "money is well spent." He had blocked the distribution of the $20 million on April 1, arguing that the funds weren't helping the Cuban people and instead were provoking the Raul Castro regime. He was joined by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, who also had serious concerns about the program's mismanagement.

"Senator Kerry has been working with the State Department and USAID to make sure these programs represent an effective use of taxpayer funds and discussions remain focused on that objective," Kerry's office said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-cuba-democracy-money,0,4022350.story

[No Elephants]

1. $20 million to "promote democracy in Cuba." Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket!

And the issue is a $170 million issue, not a $20 million issue.

"There is no evidence, however, that the 'democracy promotion' programs, which have cost the U.S. taxpayer more than $150 million so far, are helping the Cuban people."

And Cuba is only one of many nations. Pretty soon, we're going to be talking real money.

Besides, bringing Middle East didn't work so well, no matter how many Yankee dollars, free troop labor and American know how we spread among the populace. What makes us think it'll work elsewhere?

Face it, the world isn't really that into us.

[boppers]

2. "Yankee dollars"?

Cute whistle.

[No Elephants]

3. Yeah, the Andrews sisters were no doubt subversives. Get real.

[boppers]

5. 1. Who? 2. What?

The only "Andrews Sisters" I found were from over 50 years ago, some pre-rock singing harmony group.

Alan Phillip Gross, of course, is a danger to Cuba. Because we can't have people creating internet connections without government oversight.

Of course, neither example really exemplifies the racism of the term "Yankee dollars", or the whistle implied by that phrase.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

9. Okay, I'll bite. Why is the term "Yankee dollars" racist?

[boppers]

13. For the same reason "Jew Money" is racist.

1. It assumes a monolithic "group".
2. It assumes that the group is "separate".
3. It assumes the group is an external "enemy".

[No Elephants]

14. Try context. We are talking American GOVERNMENT money in Cuba.

[boppers]

17. Oh, but they don't say American.

They say "Yanqui", or "Yankee", or whatever.

Sure, the vast majority of early North (and South) Americans are now considered native peoples, but that's not what they blame, is it? It's the "Yankees".

[No Elephants]

20. Now your bs is making no sense at all. Stop embarrassing yourself.

I made a comment in a post about American government money being spent in a Latin American country and called it Yankee dollar, a common reference to American money being spent in Latin American countries, period.

Despite all your efforts to pretend that was a racist dog whistle, my post had less than nothing to do with African Americans or Native Americans or Jews any other racial group. And hint: Yankee is not a racial or religious or ethnic group and neither is the American government.

[boppers]

22. Would "Latino Dollar" be racist?

If not, why not?

[No Elephants]

26. Which country issues Latino dollars and what does that have to do anything I posted?

If there were a Latino dollar, why would it referring to it be racist? Is referring to a Euro dollar racist? In fact, your question may sound a little racist to some.

Please stop clutching at straws and trying to smear me with irrelevancies in your attempt to pretend my post was a racist dog whistle. Your attempts to justify your unwarranted accusation have been getting more and more pathetic.

[boppers]

29. If somebody referred to a "Yankee dollar", it might sound racist to some.

"If there were a Latino dollar, why would it referring to it be racist? Is referring to a Euro dollar racist? In fact, your question may sound a little racist to some. "

You put it quite well.

"Latino dollar" and "Yankee dollar" *both* sound incredibly racist to me. I can't justify either one.

I'm not trying to smear you, seriously.

I'm trying to communicate differences in thinking.

[No Elephants]

34. Please.The Yankee dollar is a reference to an existing currency actually issued

by the American government and neither "Yankee" nor "American government" is reference a race, yet you called "Yankee dollar" a cute racist dog whistle.

"Latino dollar" and "Yankee dollar" *both* sound incredibly racist to me."


"Latino" is a reference to a group that IS still a minority group in the U.S. (though not for long) and YOU are the one who connected the term "Latino dollar" with racism, not I.

As I have already posted, "Latino dollar," IF IT WERE a real currency, would be no more racist than "Eurodollar." Your assumption that it would be is telling.

And, bottom line, I never said anything about, or referred to, a Latino dollar, only referred to a real currency long issued by the U.S. government.

So, again, please explain which race or group "Yankee" or "American government" are. I asked you that several posts ago and you've ignored the issue.


"I'm not trying to smear you, seriously. I'm trying to communicate differences in thinking."

Oh, please.

Saying I posted a cute racist dog whistle, then bringing in Jew money, Amos and Andy, watermelon, the racism of the 1950's out of left field, even though the only entity I was referring to was the U.S. government is not trying to smear me? Seriously, please stop embarrassing yourself.

If you weren't trying to smear me, you would have apologized after my second or third or fourth explanation--and our resident South American expert had weighed in.

And you would have addressed my questions and the points I had raised had a real discussion, instead of one post after another desperate trying to prove my post was racist by associating my post with a bunch of bigoted stereotypes that had less than nothing to do with what I had actually posted.

I also asked you to produce one other post of mine of thousands that could fairly be described as even arguably racist. You didn't even claim one existed, nor could you honestly do so.

You're as transparent as can be. I'm done with the topic of my alleged racism. Anyone who reads this thread or has read my posts and believes your accusation is an ass anyway.



Edited to delete a sentence that repeated a thought previously stated.

[boppers]

35. Which dollar labelled a "Yankee Dollar" was issued?

Not a one.

Not a "Jew Dollar".
Not a "Latino Dollar".
Not a "Nigger Dollar".
Not a "Gypsy Dollar".
Not a "Faggot Dollar".
Not a "Aryan Dollar".

I think I've made my point.

[No Elephants]

40. I never said a Yankee dollar was issued. I said Yankee dollar was a reference to

an actual currency.

What part of "reference" confused you.

And again, a post full of bigoted remarks with the pretense that they had something to do with my post, despite all your disclaimers that this is a fair discussion about differences in thought and not an attempt to smear me.

Please.

[boppers]

41. "Colored" vs "nigger"

How polite!

[No Elephants]

49. Putting words I never used in quotes and making them your subject line?

"Disingenuous" is nowhere near strong enough a word for your posts.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

64. You've got a screw loose.

There's not much else that needs to be said to you.

[Judi Lynn]

67. You've definitely made a real point here, as you must realize by now. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

76. "I think I've made my point."

If your point is "I got a thick fucking head"- yeah, I think you made it pretty clear. To pretend that the word "Yankee" or "Yank" has not been used by non-americans as a name for americans is crazy.

[karynnj]

39. The counterpart to Euro dollar would be the European Euro - which wold be redundant but not racist

[Judi Lynn]

66. "Yankee" doesn't summon any nationality, as the country's too large, too multicultural, isn't it?

Don't you imagine everyone from the US is considered a "Yankee" in other countries? That covers a lot of people of many different backgrounds.

[boppers]

75. So does "African", and "Jew".

Many cultures, many peoples, one name to demonize them all.

[Judi Lynn]

65. Truly, it doesn't make "a lick of sense." So perplexing.

Sometimes we see people who simply have far too much time on their hands.

[karynnj]

38. Are you saying that Yankee refers to native Americans?

I have honestly never heard the word used that way. Like most people, I first saw the word as part of "Yankee doodle dandy"

[boppers]

42. It refers to US Americans.

The word generally ignores first peoples.

Including the ones who fought against "kings" and other old world royalty.

[No Elephants]

51. No, it refers to the American government.

And nobody ignored First Peoples or any part of their contribution to this land.

However, they had less than nothing to do with my post about the American government spending money in Cuba, except in your desperate attempts to associate my post about the American government with every bigoted word and stereotype no one but you has posted in this colloquy.

What a piece of work!

[defendandprotect]

55. Exactly -- !! $170 MILLION of Imperialist dollars -- as in "Yankee Go Home!" --- and capitalism --

[No Elephants]

44. No. As far as I know, First Americans never issued dollars..

As I used the word, it was echoing a term used in an old popular song about U.S. dollars spent in Latin America, as described in the OP, nothing more complicated.

If we want to really dig, I could be accused of sexism because my brother in law once claimed that the song was about prostitution. He found a suggestive meaning in everything, so I dismissed his comment. However, I don't really know. I don't all the words of that song, and given this subthread, I'm afraid to look. However, since I had at least heard that once, that would at least be a fairer accusation than racism, even though I had dismissed his comment.

[karynnj]

45. I have no problem with your comment - it seemed self explanatory in context on its own

[No Elephants]

48. Thank you for your candor, karynnj. Much appreciated.

I'll try to return the kindness some day.

[defendandprotect]

62. Everyone says "Yankee GO HOME!" -- re US Imperialism and Capitalism ...

and their racist policies toward native peoples from Native Americans to Cuba and Haiti --

etal --

[joshcryer]

70. Actually, Cuba has taken it upon itself to bash US money from any US source, actually.

Because of the new rules that Obama put into place the Cuban dissidents now have a revenue stream, and anyone, including you or I, can send them money. If we sympathize with something that they've written about, then we can send them a dollar here, or a dollar there, to pay for their highly expensive phones or to help them pay for extremely expensive internet access.

Watch the "MININT Cyber Lecture Video" where they cower in fear about the possibility of free laptops handed out to the citizens (which is a currently banned activity without oversight from the Cuban government). Right now I can go give out free computers to people without the government caring one bit about it (and I've worked with giving out free second/third hand computers before to lower income people and know this for a fact). This activity is 100% illegal in Cuba, they must know about it and they must sign off on it. Completely.

[karynnj]

36. Yankee refers to the United States in this context

There is no way it refers to the NY team or the Northern side of the civil war.

[No Elephants]

16. Thanks.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Judi Lynn]

7. "Working for the Yankee dollar." Very old term, VERY OLD. Been in use continually a LONG TIME.

Not that hard to find instantly in any search.

[boppers]

8. Yes, and so are "faggot", "nigger" and "bitch".

Evil words die slow. That doesn't make using them right.

[No Elephants]

12. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, "Evil to him who thinks it."

There was nothing evil in that reference, except your lack of knowledge of pop culture. Judi Lynn is highly knowledgeable about that part of the world (and apparently, also about pop culture) and she seems to undertand the reference I made wasn't racist.

Again, get real. And get a clue.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[boppers]

23. Attack the post, not the poster.

The Andrews Sisters associated themselves with blackface and watermelon, not you.

[No Elephants]

27. Falsely claiming that I posted a "cute" racist dog whistle is not a personal attack?

Seriously, could possibly you be more disingenuous than claiming your accusation was not a personal attack on me?

[boppers]

32. The post.... was about the post.

Not the person.

(Side note: I like your perspectives, and your posts. I don't always agree, but I like to read, and you make me think... seriously, I see a "No Elephants" response and steel myself for a new perspective).

For all I know, whistles are so common in your environment that they aren't whistles. I didn't mean to attack you personally, and if you felt attacked, I'm sorry for doing that. I try to attack posts, not people, but I don't always do right.

[No Elephants]

37. Accusing me of posting a cute racist dog whiste is a personal attack, period..

"For all I know, whistles are so common in your environment that they aren't whistles."

:wtf:

"For all I know, whistles are so common in your environment that they aren't whistles."



What the hell is that supposed to mean? That I am so enured to bigotry cannot tell bigotry when I see it?

BTW, not that it matters, because I was never a bigot, no matter where I lived, but, just fyi: As I have posted many times, I happen live in Boston "proper." Boston is one of the most liberal cities in the nation with one of the most highly educated populations in the world. And in a neighborhood of Boston where people are liberal and highly educated. Not that highly educated people can't be racist, but they usually know when better than to broadcast their racism.

And, in my entire life, you are the first to claim I made a bigoted comment, so I guess I know the difference between comment that is a racist dog whistle like, oh, say, "Latino dollar" is a racist remark," and a comment that is not a racist dog whistle.

Besides, since you've complimented my posts, why on earth would you think I am so crude as to be oblivious to dog whistles, whether I happen live among people who make them often or not? I certainly didn't miss the implications of your comment about the Latino dollar, did I?

And by the way, AGAIN, which race is slurred by the term "Yankee?" And which racial minority is the issuer of that dollar, namely, the U.S. government? And exactly WHY would a reference to a Latino dollar, if that currency actually existed, be a racist dog whistle?



"I didn't mean to attack you personally, and if you felt attacked, I'm sorry for doing that."



Classic fake apology of the kind DUers recognize and deride here all the time.

Last response on this subthread. I've wasted enough time explaining and defending myself.

As stated, anyone who reads this thread and thinks your comment was a fair one is much of a dolt for me to worry about anyway; and I've never worried about your opinion, except for that one time you seemed so down on yourself and I tried to help.

Will not make that mistake again, so I guess something good has come from this wretched discussion after all.

Edited for typos, punctuation, etc., the most potentially embarrassing of which was "education people," as opposed to "educated people."

[boppers]

43. "That I am so enured to bigotry cannot tell bigotry when I see it?"

I lived in Atlanta for a year. They do not see it.

"I happen live in Boston "proper.""

Racist *as fuck* place.

Let's not talk.

[No Elephants]

47. Wow! What a partial quote to take out of context and make your subject line. Low as it gets.

You reveal yourself more with each post.

BTW, for Postonian, "Boston proper" means I actually live in Boston, not Newton or any town around Boston. If you meet someone from Newton or a nearby in another state, they will likely say they are from Boston. I don't know why.

Boston proper does not mean Brahmin Boston. Boston proper includes some mostly African American neighborhoods, some mostly Hispanic American neighborhoods, some mostly Irish neighborhood and so on. So, when you say Boston prooper is racist as fuck, you have gone from trying to smear me to smearing many groups. Dumb and dumber.

And, of course, my Boston never said Boston wasn't racist. Hell, I'm not sure anywhere in the U.S. is entirely racism free (but thanks for the overgeneralization nnd gratituous knock of Boston. My post said that most people in my neighborhood knew the difference between a racist comment and a comment that was not racist. Try honest responses and characterizations for a change. Hell, you can't possibly do worse with those than with your usual style of post.

Anyway, you've been posting unfairly to me on this thread all along and still have not bested me, but you really shouldn't let that make you try to smear an entire city, no matter how big the snit is.

I tried to end this several posts ago, but that did not seem acceptable to you.

[Judi Lynn]

69. Do you have a link to give foundation to your claim about the Andrews Sisters and blackface?

I thought I was hallucinating when I saw your post. Astonishing.

Looked up their Wikipendia for a fast bio., and nothing they ever did EVER came remotely close to that. NEVER.

What on earth possessed you to throw that into your statements on this thread?

Watermelon? What the hey are you trying to say, anyway?

[boppers]

74. Already posted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrub_Me_Mama_with_a_Boogie_Beat

[defendandprotect]

57. Exactly -- !! But very real racism of US foreign policy towards Cuba must be ignored -- !!!

[joshcryer]

19. It's not racist, it's xenophobic.

[No Elephants]

21. Again,. try context. Against which group was the post of an American about American

government money xenophobic?

If I were a Latin American, PERHAPS you could say my post about American government money was xenophobic, as opposed to simply a political view. But, let's try dealing in reality and context, shall we?

So, I ask again, against which group was a post about American government money made by someone born and raised in the U.S. xenophonbicc, rather than political?

Racist and xenophobia are not accusations or implications that should be made lightly or by taking something out of context.

[boppers]

25. Now the issue is confused.

Chavez is a leader of an American Government.

Simple fact.

There's no debate.

Are you denying Chavez is an American?

If so, what continent does he govern on, then?

[No Elephants]

28. Again, making no sense whatever. Sound as though more than the issue is confused.

ETA: P.S. why don't you try answering ONE of my questions before you ask me your next batch, k?

[boppers]

30. Because we're both jumping all over the thread.

This makes discussion hard, as if we're arguing in chaos. I've tried to answer questions, but maybe not to your satisfaction.

So: Does Chavez live in the Americas, and is he an American?

[No Elephants]

53. Since when is replying to a post jumping all over a thread?

Josh Cryer's post implied my post was xenophobic. Naturally, I wanted to respond to that implication.

So, let me see. Now, your implying that, despite all my references to the U.S. government and the OP being about the U.S. government, you were honestly confused?

Yes, Chavez lives in the Americas. However, none of your prior post about Chavez had anything to do with any of this discussion. Either you get that, and are being disingenuous again, or you honestly don't get that, in which case, I'm not sure anyone here can help you.


ETA: P.S. No, asking me a question and spamming the thread with bigoted terms is not answering any question I asked. Either you get that, and are being disingenuous again, or you honestly don't get that, in which case, I'm not sure anyone here can help you.

[No Elephants]

31. Nah, make that how about anwering all my questions before you ask me yet another.

[boppers]

33. Which questions have I left dangling?

A post number would help.

[No Elephants]

52. You did not respond to a single question I asked, including those I repeated in three or four posts.

Nothing like posting to someone who tries to smear you over and over without a scintilla of justification and then makes it clear he's not read your response beyond what he need to use in his next smear attempt.

Why give you a number? I think most of us have had your number for a while. And those who didn't do now.

Edit for typos.

[joshcryer]

68. Yes, and Obama's new Cuba policies allow any American citizen to send money to any Cuban citizen.

No longer must you be family, no longer must you document it, it's free and clear. Right now you can go send money to a Cuban citizen.

Now, Cuba could ban this, in fact they have never banned American dollars. Why would they? It's a source of revenue. And if the money goes to open dissidents, then they can just put the faces of those dissidents on the national TV for their various conspiracy shows about how those dissidents are "getting paid by imperialists." It is 100%, completely xenophobic.

1) Learn Spanish if you don't know it.
2) Watch Cubavisión's "Pawns of the Empire."

You can actually find "Pawns of the Empire" translated (it's on YouTube), however, if you don't know Spanish very well you will overlook the overt xenopboia, as it does not translate as well in text, it's the tone you must listen to.

Then for fun go and watch a Chavez cadena.

Imperialism is some countries' "Emmanuel Goldstein" which must undergo a regular "two minutes hate." Indeed, some leftists are so endowed with this mindset, it's all they can think about and they fail to even consider the gray areas of a given situation. Look at this thread. Kerry is saying good things about that USAID funding, we can all agree that it's being spent unwisely.

[No Elephants]

24. Thanks.

Just one clarification, please, though. I've already been accused of racism and xenophobia and I don't want sexism added. And I've already been held responsible for the racism of the 1950s and alleged racism of the Andrew Sisters (or their songwriter?)_

So, let me point out, I did used only "Yankee dollar," not "working for the Yankee dollar," which was not in my mind at all Just lest someone accuse me of saying Cuban women are prostituting themselves by somehow sleeping with the American Government, or something equally bizarre. Wouldn't be too a far leap from some of the other accusations on this thread.

[defendandprotect]

56. +1 -- but the point seems to be to keep actual discussion of the ARTICLE from going forward ...

[defendandprotect]

63. +1000% ---

[harmonicon]

50. I thought I had you on "ignore".

Time to fix that. I come to this site to get away from websites where right-wing morons post inane bullshit.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Trying to get Cubans to overthrow their government goes back even to 1897.

From a memorandum written Christmas Eve, 1897, by Undersecretary of War, J. C. Breckenridge. Apparently Christmas Eve made him sentimental, right?

The Breckenridge Memorandum
J.C. Breckenridge, U.S. Undersecretary of War in 1897, sent the following memo to the Commander of the U.S. Army, Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles. The memo explains what is to be U.S. policy towards the Hawaiian islands, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Department of War
Office of the Undersecretary
Washington D.C.

December 24, 1897

~snip~
The island of Cuba, a larger territory, has a greater population density than Puerto Rico, although it is unevenly distributed. This population is made up of whites, blacks, Asians and people who are a mixture of these races. The inhabitants are generally indolent and apathetic. As for their learning, they range from the most refined to the most vulgar and abject. Its people are indifferent to religion, and the majority are therefore immoral and simultaneously they have strong passions and are very sensual. Since they only possess a vague notion of what is right and wrong, the people tend to seek pleasure not through work, but through violence. As a logical consequence of this lack of morality, there is a great disregard for life.

~snip~
We must destroy everything within our cannons’ range of fire. We must impose a harsh blockade so that hunger and its constant companion, disease, undermine the peaceful population and decimate the Cuban army. The allied army must be constantly engaged in reconnaissance and vanguard actions so that the Cuban army is irreparably caught between two fronts and is forced to undertake dangerous and desperate measures.

~snip~
When this moment arrives, we must create conflicts for the independent government. That government will be faced with these difficulties, in addition to the lack of means to meet our demands and the commitments made to us, war expenses and the need to organize a new country. These difficulties must coincide with the unrest and violence among the aforementioned elements, to whom we must give our backing.

To sum up, our policy must always be to support the weaker against the stronger, until we have obtained the extermination of them both, in order to annex the Pearl of the Antilles.

The probable date of our campaign will be next October (1898), but we should tie up the slightest detail in order to be ready, in case we find ourselves in the need to precipitate events in order to cancel the development of the autonomist movement that could annihilate the separatist movement. Although the greater part of these instructions are based on the different meetings we have held, we would welcome from you any observations that experience and appropriate action might advise as a correction, always, in the meantime, following the agreed upon lines.

Sincerely yours,

J.C. Breckenridge

http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/bmemo.htm

[defendandprotect]

59. Amazing information -- US Imperialism is a prime cause of "no peace in the world" -- !!!

And we see the same ignorance and racist overtones toward Cuba that were present when

Columbus first "discovered" America --

land which more than 47 million or more Native Americans inhabited --

The island of Cuba, a larger territory, has a greater population density than Puerto Rico, although it is unevenly distributed. This population is made up of whites, blacks, Asians and people who are a mixture of these races. The inhabitants are generally indolent and apathetic. As for their learning, they range from the most refined to the most vulgar and abject. Its people are indifferent to religion, and the majority are therefore immoral and simultaneously they have strong passions and are very sensual. Since they only possess a vague notion of what is right and wrong, the people tend to seek pleasure not through work, but through violence. As a logical consequence of this lack of morality, there is a great disregard for life.


If we wonder why PEACE in the world has been so unattainable, we have only to look to our own

government --

Capitalism and Christianity are still their major tools for overtaking nations --

but the resistance of native peoples to atuhoritarian rule -- to the insanity of "bus-i-ness"

and its destruction of nature must be labelled "sin" -- !!

...inhabitants are generally indolent and apathetic. As for their learning, they range from the most refined to the most vulgar and abject. Its people are indifferent to religion, and the majority are therefore immoral and simultaneously they have strong passions and are very sensual. Since they only possess a vague notion of what is right and wrong, the people tend to seek pleasure not through work, but through violence. As a logical consequence of this lack of morality, there is a great disregard for life.


Also notice that the VIOLENCE of US Imperialism and its evil foreign polices must be

covered up by accusing the nation which is resting the policies of "violent" behavior --

Blame the victim -- it always works!!




Patriarchy -- and its underpinning =

Organized Patriarch Religion -- and its economic invention =

Capitalism =

The Unholy Trinity

[Judi Lynn]

72. Absolutely abhorrent, isn't it? Loathesome. Such contempt for the Cubans is astonishing.

You would have expected someone in a position as high-ranking as his to be a little more sophisticated, more familiar with people, with human beings, wouldn't you? HE'S the one who sounds primitive and sloooowwww. His designation that they have a "lack of morality" is hilariously twisted. One has to be absolutely evil to hate people that way.

He's trying to paint them as sub-human, as people one shouldn't think twice about destroying in order to grab their country. That still continues, doesn't it? Leaps right out at you from message boards.

Makes you want to vomit.

"Undersecretary of War." (What the #### was the SECRETARY of War like? He must have been certifiable.)

[Judi Lynn]

6. That figure doesn't even include the $30,000,000.00 annual obligation for propaganda tv, radio

beamed to Cuba from Miami, Florida, from Radio Marti, TV Marti, both operated, staffed, managed, programmed by Miami Cuban "exiles" or their progeny. Ordinary U.S. Congress people have tried to scrape this financial black hole out of the U.S. taxpayers' annual budget, only to have the Cuban "exiles" declare open war on them, and destroy their next elections, after the Miami mob undertakes campaigns of all-out war against them, followed by demonization, and expensive bad P.R. campaigns purchased in their home states, channeled directly at the people who voted them into office, just as they did to Colorado Democratic Rep. David Skaggs.

Sending U.S. financing to Cuban professional "dissidents" is really a hideous way to trash U.S. taxpayers' "Yankee dollars," no doubt about it. Dirty, filthy actions paid to people to trash their government in hope of big rewards from the most powerful country in the world. If other countries paid "dissidents" to do the same thing here, those paid saboteurs, provocateurs would be in deep trouble with our government. It's illegal here.

Why SHOULD U.S. taxpayers be forced by law to destroy the governments of other countries which chose to reject U.S. domination?

Couldn't be uglier.

Thanks for your post. It's exactly right.

[defendandprotect]

60. US Imperialism does force US taxpayers to destroy other countries rejecting our domination --

ugly, indeed -- !!

Thanks again -- a subject that needs more exposure here!!

[defendandprotect]

54. misplaced

[joshcryer]

10. Lift the embargo and Cuba goes democratic quite quickly.

[ieoeja]

46. We learned NOTHING from the collapse of the Soviet Union.

They needed a military mythology to explain that collapse. First, they tried crediting the Reagan military buildup forcing the Soviets to expand their military thus bankrupting a self-contained communist country with no debts. Then they invented Charlie Wilson's War as wearing down the Soviets who could apparently suffer 30,000,000 casualties in four years during WW-II, but not 5,000 a year for a decade.

They *need* a military victory. The idea that Pepsico opening a Pizza Hut in Moscow opening a floodgate of commercial expansion into the Soviet Union resulted in the Soviets abandoning their old system goes against the myth.

Worse yet, the true reason is that capitalism beat out communism. Their myth needs a LOT of spin to make that connection.


I have no doubt you are correct. If we dropped the embargo like we dropped the Iron Curtain (a Churchill/Truman construct that Stalin loved since it kept him from having to compete), we would see a flood of money into Cuba that would undermine the existing power structure.

[joshcryer]

71. Obama can lift it unilaterally if he wanted to, and if he gets reelected it'll be my 2nd priority.

He'll have to declare Cuba a democracy if he doesn't have the House and Senate, it'll leave a bad taste in his mouth for sure (and mine, too), but it'll be worth it. If he has the House and Senate, he needs to have Helms-Burton overturned, in which case he won't have to declare Cuba a democracy (which it isn't), he can just lift the embargo.

Then Cuban casinos will pop up all over the place and it'll become one hot destination for American citizens (cheap, we get a nice cruise or short flight, it'd be wonderful).

My first priority will be to get Bradly Manning a pardon.

[Judi Lynn]

73. The President most certainly cannot lift the embargo on his own. It takes an act of Congress.

Here's one quick reference from a fast search:

~snip~
Obama's move is made by presidential order and cannot be blocked by Congress. But only Congress can lift the embargo.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/15/barack-obama-us-embargo-cuba

And another:

~snip~
A Reality Check

There have been some modest changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba. Restrictions were lifted on family travel and remittances, U.S. telecom companies are now allowed to negotiate deals with Cuba, and the U.S. did not object to an OAS resolution that creates a mechanism for Cuba to return to that body under certain conditions if it chooses. New bilateral contacts between both governments including the twice annual immigration talks that had taken place since 1994, discussions over a postal service agreement, and possible collaboration on counternarcotics and regional security issues are some of the other initiatives for change. But it is doubtful that Obama’s efforts to build a new relationship with Cuba can go much further. Because of the Helms-Burton law the executive branch does not have the power to lift the embargo. Only the Congress can do so. The administration’s option is to unilaterally lift parts of the embargo, such as travel restrictions, without a vote from Congress.

http://bizjournalonline.com/?p=259

[harun]

58. How bout promoting "Democracy" in the United States? I ain't seen a lot of it lately.

[defendandprotect]

61. US imperialism is anti-democracy at home or abroad -- just as capitalism is ... !!

:)