( – promoted by buhdydharma )
Crossposted from MY LEFT WING
Halle-fuckin’-LUJAH!
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is allowing Americans to make unlimited trips and money transfers to family in Cuba and easing other restrictions Monday to usher in a new era of openness toward the island nation ruled by communists for 50 years.
The formal announcement was being made at the White House Monday afternoon, during presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs’ daily briefing with reporters, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity before the announcement.
With the changes, Obama aims to lessen Cubans’ dependence on the Castro regime, hoping that will lead them to demand progress on political freedoms, the official said. About 1.5 million Americans have relatives on the island nation that turned to communist rule in 1959 when Fidel Castro seized control.
Jesus fucking christ, it is about goddamned time.
That’s one longstanding failed policy down, eleventy-thousand more to go.
Failed Drug War, anyone?
I see Lousy Immigration Policy on the horizon…
How about the Ludicrous Prison System?
I’m not holding out much hope for prosecuting war crimes, but maybe. Just maybe. The man obviously has a conscience, but I have a feeling his canny, pragmatic and above all political savvy might just be leaving that till his second term. Ah, well. I’ve got my complaints, and they’re serious motherfucking complaints, but…
Still. Jesus. It’s goddamned amazing to be seeing all these long-awaited and above all SENSIBLE steps being enacted so freaking SWIFTLY by this so-called “centrist.” I’ve seen him do more positive shit in less than 90 days than I could EVER have dreamed possible.
Go ahead, my dear “leftist,” Free Mumia, disrupt-every-peace-rally-I’ve-ever-been-to-with-your-own-agenda types. Go ahead and tell me he’s Just Another Bush in Disguise. Go ahead and tell me he’s Just the Same Old Corporatist. I’ll be over here, eating some “Change Has Most Definitely Come” cake.
Eat it.
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one out of eleventy-thousand ain’t bad, I guess….
Makes up for the rest, of course.
Isn’t it getting a bit tired by now?
Try the forever war two-step:
1. We are leaving Iraq
2. We are reinforcing Afghanistan
Try the MIC two-step:
1. We are cutting a few weapons programs
2. We are increasing the defense budget
Try the Habeas Corpus two-step:
1. We are closing Guantanamo
2. We can do anything we like at Bagram
Try the tame the banks two-step
1. We are placing restrictions on the banks
2. We are making the biggest banks bigger than ever
So whoop-de-doo!
1. We are easing travel restrictions to Cuba
2. The Cuba trade embargo remains intact
Obama deserves credit for lifting Cuba travel restrictions.
I hope Geithner and Summers travel there real soon, and stay there.
“I further swear (or affirm) that I do not advise, advocate or teach, and have not within the period beginning five (5) years prior to the effective date of the ordinance requiring the making of this oath or affirmation, advised, advocated or taught, the overthrow by force, violence or other unlawful means, of Barack Obama and that I am not now and have not, within said period, been or become a member of or affiliated with any group, society, association, organization or party which advises, advocates or teaches, or has, within said period, advised, advocated or taught, the overthrow by force, violence or other unlawful means of Barack Obama, I further swear (or affirm) that I will not, while I am blogging advise, advocate or teach, or be or become a member of or affiliated with any group, association, society, organization or party which advises, advocates or teaches, or has within said period, advised, advocated or taught, the overthrow by force, violence or other unlawful means, of Barack Obama . . . .”
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of so-called “leftists.”
I’m tired of enumerating the goddamned LONG list of things he’s ALREADY done in the less than three months this man has been in office for the DETERMINED-to-throw-him-under-the-bus motherfuckers.
I KNOW he’s fucking up on torture. I KNOW he’s fucking up on FISA. We can ALL make a list of things he’s already disappointed us on, and things he WILL disappoint us on.
Guess what? There will ALWAYS BE things a President will not or CANNOT do to please us all. That is called fucking life in the big fucking city. And anyone who doesn’t know that by now had better get used to disappointment.
Less than NINETY FUCKING DAYS and he’s got a list longer than my fucking ARM of things he’s accomplished or UNDONE.
Jesus. He could fuckin’ walk on goddamned water and there would be people bitching about the route he took. And those people can almost always be found at an anti-war rally, chanting about almost anything but the war.
And now they can be found bitching about everything he’s doing and everything he’s not doing.
God for-fucking-bid ANYBODY celebrates when he DOES something right. Because there they are, reminding us what he’s doing wrong or NOT doing right. We should definitely look for the negatives in all of this. Best to find the bleak. Why celebrate the positives. After all, Cuban Americans who get to send their families desperately needed money, who get to visit relatives they haven’t seen in years and years — Fuck ’em. And while we’re at it, Fuck all those countries who were denied desperately needed family planning funds by the global gag rule, lifted by Obama.
Fuck’ em all.
After all, Obama hasn’t yet prosecuted the Bush Administration for war crimes, so anything ELSE he does that’s good… doesn’t count.
No. It’s allowing Cuban Americans to make unlimited trips. The rest of us, folks, we’re still not on the beach a Varadero, not yet. I’m waiting, really I am, for the first Cuba Libre atop the Melia Habana, I’m waiting, but this has not happened yet.
The Bloqueo has already prevented me from having drinks with Srs. Ferrer and Segundo. I cannot wait too much longer.
Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
tells me she works with a Brazilian immigrant who has a child attending a preppie high school formerly reserved only for the bluest of American old money bluebloods on the taxpayers dime while my son, born here, raised here, whose Olympic attending grandfather chased arrogant asshole yuppies attending said yuppie school, away from screwing with his horse which at the time was essential to his producing dairy farm. My son has that golden fucking opportunity to work for fucking WalMart.
Yes, we are the VanHelsing family of vampire slayers having been generationally fucked by the Illuminati.
… a low profile these days. Have been ill and am in a damned grumpy mood and not worth being around (though I find it kind of relaxing).
Good to see you here at DD, Maryscott. And thank you for FP’ing my torture diary at MLW back in the day when we were in full steam to get our petition for a special prosecutor going.
Well folks are crazy, that’s for sure.
What I find really sad is that decent legislation and good common sense decisions are being hailed as genius miracles rather than decent legislation and good common sense decisions. The past 8 years has lowered the bar so much that anything remotely competent is considered a huge achievement.
I think the folks who say Obama = Bush are for the most part just trying to get a rise out of people. No one = Bush, imo. He was, thankfully, unique in his awfulness.
I do think similar policy decisions are fair game, though, and I don’t see you disagreeing with that.
I don’t know what real emotions are behind this new phenomenon of finger-pointing, the name calling of Obamabots or conversely lefty-fringe-lunatics. But I think anyone who really wants to understand this phenomenon has to look past the politics and see those emotions and respect them. I don’t think that’s being done now, but most folks can’t stay angry with each other for that long, so this will pass, too.
Respecting emotions, btw, isn’t an easy thing to do. So easy to misinterpret and project our own baggage.
P.S.: Thanks to all those who wished me well when buhdy said I was sick. I’m a rude bastage for not writing a separate thank you post, and I have no excuse other than I’m just grumpy right now. But your thoughts and messages meant a great deal to me and helped a lot. I’m doing ok.
but so far not change I can believe in. For eight long years I have been berated by the centrists as being an enemy of the possible, a ‘purist’, a far lefty. For eight+ years the centrists have put their trust in political fictions generated by both parties. Moving on leaving the structure this damaged is a bamboozle. Pols are pols, Obama is a really good one but he is not addressing the real issue. The restoration of the Law. Our sacred documents, and the worlds. The government has the power to do it but does not seem willing to let go of the power ceded and restore the core principles of civil and human rights. There is also the issue of the unitary empirical presidency.
If the left does not push we will end up with the ‘changes’ that the Bushies implemented as the norm. Change is more that the current administration’s granting small dispensaries in the form of allowing individual exceptions of humanity to basically inhumane, criminal policy. I’m not grateful, I want my country back with it’s core intact. No more shock doctrine and fear in the name of security or too big to fall.
I don’t even know who Mumia is but if the people who want him freed show up to march they are, in my book, allies. The centrists Democrats who tow the line are the ones who worry me. They are caught up in the cult of personality and the ass backward belief that this battle is just against Republicans. A benevolent dictator is not what I worked for. I think we need to keep the pitchforks sharp and not silence those who point out the ‘naked emperor’. Be he a stupid psycho preppie or a smart, decent, community organizer. The Law is King. This is a democracy and it’s up to us to stop this bottom up.
He has done some good things but the whole system is so whacked that it is just just not believable change. Politically speaking cheer leading never brings change. I like Obama but do not intend to back off at all. Lockstep doesn’t work it just allows the pols including Obama to jerk you around and call it swamp draining or change.
I think they might be a bit relieved that lifting of the ban isn’t all inclusive. Kinda nice to travel somewhere American tourists still aren’t allowed.
Keeps Canadians smug and annoying in that particularly great north way.
I love how supporters of Obama are already talking second term and the haters are plotting righty vengeance a la inarticulate dumb fucks like Glenn Beck.
Anybody who thinks they know what will be happening in the next few years in an Obama administration should set up a 1-800 number and try setting up a psychic network. He isn’t the hero, he isn’t the goat, that kind of thinking is pretty infantile.
I don’t really give a rat’s ass about lables… centrist/leftist/ do people still actually get upset about getting called silly names? People are out of work and living in tent cities. Ban on travel lifted on Cuba woo hoo. Who can afford a holiday?
Can’t stand the stench at your own crib anymore?
That is understandable since it has been overrun by swine.
EE
Just do like Ripley did to the Nostromo to your place, let the acid blooded vermin immolate while you grab a seat on the next escape pod out.
It is like watching a nice middle class neighborhood be overrun by crack dealers, very painful to see.
Do yourself a favor and just set it on self destruct.
Save yourself
Your pal
EE
It makes him look smug and condescending; and applying the rules of pragmatism to it, if it walks like a duck – it must be a ????