Havana Daydreamin' In Washington

The Bare Knuckled Pundit

Grand Inquisitor
Join me, if you will, and raise your Cuba Libre on high to the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee’s 25-20 vote to lift the decades-old ban on travel to our cigar-rolling, revolutionary neighbor, Cuba.

Salud!

In addition to lifting the travel ban, the Committee endorsed removing hurdles impeding expanded agricultural trade with the island.

This is long overdue; twenty years so, in fact.

In the wake of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the moment was ripe for the US to pursue detente with Cuba. For whatever reason, George H. Bush chose not to capitalize on the historic opportunity, though. One can only imagine what the state of American-Cuban relations might be today had Bush 41 had the intestinal fortitude to boldly move to dispense with what was clearly an archaic relic of the recently-passed Cold War at the time.

Indeed, one must ask if we can trade with and enjoy normalized relations with our former Cold War nemesis, Russia, why can we not do so with their former client, Cuba?

What about the regime’s atrocious human rights record? The suppression of religion, imprisonment of political activists and censorship of the press, many rightfully ask. Yes, these are all serious matters. Serious matters they have in common with Saudi Arabia, the second largest exporter of oil to the US and China, who currently holds more than a trillion dollars in American debt and annually runs up record trade surpluses with us.

Additionally, each day we import between 800,000 and a million barrels of oil from Venezuela. This in spite of the fact our fifth largest oil exporter is led by the self-styled latter day Fidel Castro, purveyor of the penciled-in constitution and confidant of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez.

So much for the argument that we shouldn’t enrich unsavory malcontents and those who oppose us by trading with them. Perhaps if Havana exported barrels of oil or cheap consumer electronics instead of bushels of sugar and boxes of cigars, Washington might be significantly more tolerant of the rhetorical arrows flying northward across the Floridian Straits.

Domestically, the Agriculture Committee’s vote lays the groundwork for yet another potentially protracted and bitter debate in Congress. This in an election year that has already seen political passions rise to fevered levels over the Byzantine health care overhaul. Throw on the fuel of President Obama’s new found push to pass comprehensive immigration reform and there is little chance the resulting political inferno will burn itself out before Election Day.

Following more than a year after what appeared to be the initial steps in a slow thawing of tensions between the US and Cuba, the vote is the first tangible sign of congressional interest in moving towards normalization of relations.

Despite an exchange of warm wishes between Presidents Obama and Raul Castro last year, there are deep-seeded differences and significant obstacles to be overcome if a lasting rapprochement between the two decades-long antagonists is to be realized. Not least of which is the fiery opposition of Raul’s brother and unflagging anti-American icon, former president Fidel Castro.

Nonetheless, join me, as we give warm Caribbean kudos to the House Agriculture Committee for taking the first tentative legislative steps towards normalized relations between ourselves and our Caribbean comrades in Cuba.

Smoke ‘em, if ya got ‘em, faithful readers. If not, you may well in the not-too-distant future.

Stay tuned for further updates as events warrant and we see if Havana daydreamin’ eventually becomes Havana day tripping.
 
Don't look for flights to Havana just yet, Caboose.

The vote was just a committee vote. It still needs to pass the complete House and Senate, then receive the hallowed signature of the President.

Remember your "School House Rock", it's just a bill.

For the moment. :)
 
If all they have to offer is cigars, then it wasn't worth it...

:D

They have some awesome diving (and snorkeling) in some of the best waters in the carribean (less commercial development).
 
They have some awesome diving (and snorkeling) in some of the best waters in the carribean (less commercial development).

Make that "had"....


""Cuba, like all the countries in this area, is worried about the situation in the Gulf," said Osmani Borrego Fernandez, a director at the Guanahacabibes National Park at Cuba's western tip.

So far, he said, there has been no evidence of the oil, but "we are alert."

A trip along Cuba's coastline is like a trip back in time where vast stretches of palm-fringed beaches sit undeveloped and sea life abounds in the crystalline waters.

While rampant development and overfishing have damaged coastlines and depleted seas around the world, communist-led Cuba has been largely preserved by its slow economic pace."


"Patches of oil reportedly have been seen as close as 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Cuba and some forecasts have said gulf currents will inevitably carry the oil to Cuba, which is 90 miles (145 km) south of Key West, Florida."













Note to the self-appointed board Copyright Cop: I am not the author of the text quoted above, so you will need to make an effort to debate instead of deflecting, you weak little weasly tool.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2813022020100528

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1596717.htm
 
Don't look for flights to Havana just yet, Caboose.

The vote was just a committee vote. It still needs to pass the complete House and Senate, then receive the hallowed signature of the President.

Remember your "School House Rock", it's just a bill.

For the moment. :)
Damn.... oh well still best week ever! 2A is an incorporated, individual right, 4th of July, and now a bill that lets me travel to Cuba. Oh and my wedding anniversary, which will be spent in Hell.
 
The florida Tourism lobby is about 75% the reason for the travel ban anyway.
 
I am with you Bare, but I was wondering if the Conservatives have changed tunes on this issue?
 
What about the regime’s atrocious human rights record? The suppression of religion, imprisonment of political activists and censorship of the press, many rightfully ask. Yes, these are all serious matters. Serious matters they have in common with Saudi Arabia, the second largest exporter of oil to the US and China, who currently holds more than a trillion dollars in American debt and annually runs up record trade surpluses with us.

Additionally, each day we import between 800,000 and a million barrels of oil from Venezuela. This in spite of the fact our fifth largest oil exporter is led by the self-styled latter day Fidel Castro, purveyor of the penciled-in constitution and confidant of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez.

So much for the argument that we shouldn’t enrich unsavory malcontents and those who oppose us by trading with them..

two wrong don't make a right. ever heard that one, senor pomp?

Take your moral degeneracy and globalized race to the bottom mentality and pedal them somewhere else. Real americans reject the use of totalitarianism to create cheap workers to displace americans.
 
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two wrong don't make a right. ever heard that one, senor pomp?

Take your moral degeneracy and globalized race to the bottom mentality and pedal them somewhere else. Real americans reject the use of totalitarianism to create cheap workers to displace americans.

:palm:

I see you've run out of jello again, AssHat.

Hold on...I think there's some in the back of the fridge....

But lest you loose sleep, allow me to assure you the desire is to open up a new market for American exports as part of something commonly referred to as bilateral trade. Among the potential winners on our side of the ledger are the automotive, telecommunications, pharmaceutical and medical equipment sectors.

I might also add if you're worried about Cuban imports undermining American jobs, I can similarly assure you that one industry that isn't going to take a hit is sugar. Big sugar is working diligently behind the scenes to ensure not a single stalk of Cuban cane lands on American soil. Or more importantly on American shelves.....
 
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:palm:

I see you've run out of jello again, AssHat.

Hold on...I think there's some in the back of the fridge....

But lest you loose sleep, allow me to assure you the desire is to open up a new market for American exports as part of something commonly referred to as bilateral trade. Among the potential winners on our side of the ledger are the automotive, telecommunications, pharmaceutical and medical equipment sectors.

I might also add if you're worried about Cuban imports undermining American jobs, I can similarly assure you that one industry that isn't going to take a hit is sugar. Big sugar is working diligently behind the scenes to ensure not a single stalk of Cuban cane lands on American soil. Or more importantly on American shelves.....


yeah. we heard all this crap before. Now we have no jobs. So shut you're lying internationalist fascist mouth and choke on your bloated butt-tongue.
 
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