here are 3 things from democracy now so don't say i don't do my part to get the word out.
"UN General Assembly Votes To End U.S. Embargo of Cuba"
And for the fourteenth consecutive year, the U.N. General Assembly has cast a near unanimous vote calling on the United States to end its four-decade old embargo against Cuba. The vote passed with a record 184 countries in favor. Only the United States, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands voted against. United States envoy to the U.N. Ronald Godard said: "If the people of Cuba are jobless, hungry, or lack medical care, as Castro admits, it's because of his economic mismanagement."
i don't know what to say on that 1. it bothers me and i can't believe that we've decided, for 40 years, to push through this embargo. the republicans, not the 1s in office, are supposed to be 'realists' - realism means that henry kissinger can justify human rights violations and possibly help aid them because we need to be 'realistic.' so here's some realism - fidel castro is an old man. a really old man. at some point, he will die. the 'realistic' thing to do, would be to begin to build bridges with cuba so that when a new leader is in place we can attempt to have a more civil relationship.
my own personal feelings are that we hate fidel because he survived the cold war and our assassination attempts as well as our character smears. we're often a proud to the point of blind nation. (sometimes we're much worse when we've got a bully boy at the wheel.)
to move this away from castro, there are people in cuba, there are people here. you'd think after 40 years we'd have a found a way to interact in a civil manner.
"CIA Official Discloses Agency’s Budget"
In other intelligence news, a CIA official appears to have disclosed the agency’s budget -- long a national secret. At an intelligence conference in San Antonio last week, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Collection Mary Margaret Graham, said the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion.
eli's big on this item because we've never been told the budget. did it slip out? eli e-mailed about that. he wonders if it slipped out or if this is an attempt at disinformation - which the cia is so good at?
what are we getting for our money? that's the question i'd ask. i'd also, were i a senator, insist that the budget be publicly disclosed. if i couldn't get a figure, i'd block funding until i did.
"2nd Lawyer in Hussein Trial Assassinated"
For the second time in three weeks, a defense lawyer in the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and other former regime officials has been assassinated. Adel Muhammad al-Zubaidi was killed instantly when gunmen shot his car in the Baghdad suburb of Adel. Another lawyer suffered serious injuries and was taken to a U.S. military hospital. Members of Hussein’s defense team renewed calls to move the trial out of Iraq. The Iraqi Bar Association said it would maintain a boycott of the trial it announced after Hussein lawyer Sadoun al-Janabi was killed October 20th, just 36 hours after he had appeared at opening proceedings.
iraq. what can you say? this is what we've done. we haven't brought freedom, liberation, stability or safety. aren't we proud?
yesterday elaine wrote a really strong thing about falluja so be sure to read that.
i also want to recommend kat's review of stevie wonder's a time to love.
the common ills
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
like maria said paz
kats korner
democracy now
