Socialist Equality Party
Candidate for President of the United States
JG: Do not reward the mediocrity of the two branches of The Capitalist Party. Do not give your vote to Tweedledee (Romney) or Tweedledum (Obama).
Showing posts with label 2012 Presidential Election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012 Presidential Election. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
An independent and socialist political alternative to the two U.S. capitalist parties
Socialist Equality Party
Candidate for President of the United States
JG: Do not reward the mediocrity of the two branches of The Capitalist Party. Do not give your vote to Tweedledee (Romney) or Tweedledum (Obama).
Thursday, March 22, 2012
An Alternative to Voting for Twedledee (Romney) & Twedledum (Obama)
If you are a member of the working class and you are considering voting for for Obama or Romney, you will be voting against your best self-interests.
Look for alternatives, write-in NOTA or stay home and don't vote. Do not reward ineptitude and mediocrity.
A vote for the two POTUS candidates of the two branches of The Capitalist Party, may make you feel good, but this election is not about selecting the horse that has the best chance of winning the race.
Obama and Romney are part of the problem, not part of the solution. This country is going steadily downhill.
“The key to the future lies in the international unity of the working class”
Jerry White speaks in Canada
By Graham Beverly
22 March 2012
On Tuesday, Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Party candidate for President of the United States, addressed a well-attended meeting of students, workers, and young people in Kingston, Ontario. White emphasized the need to unite the working class internationally against declining wages, austerity, and endless war enforced by the ruling elite of each country.
Those in attendance responded enthusiastically and White’s remarks were followed by a discussion period that covered a wide range of international political issues. Informal discussion continued long after the official end of the meeting, with many attendees expressing interest in the upcoming events.
In addressing a Canadian audience, White made clear that the US SEP’s election program was a direct challenge to the nationalist, pro-capitalist policies of the trade union bureaucracies and the ‘left’ parties of the political establishment.
“First, we insist that the key to the future lies in the international unity of the working class. The interests of the working class cannot be defended on the basis of a national program. In every country, working people are oppressed by transnational corporations that scour the globe for profits. The financial and industrial corporate conglomerates demand the lowering of wages and the elimination of social benefits essential for a decent standard of living. In Europe, the international banks are transforming Greece into a third world country, reducing living standards by as much as 50 percent.
“Regardless of nationality, ethnic background, religion or language, workers and youth throughout the world have the same interests. Therefore, the working class requires an international strategy. Workers in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Canada are the allies of US workers in the global struggle against capitalism.
“In every part of the world, the working class is facing universal demands for austerity and drastic wage-cutting, the erosion of basic democratic rights and the growth of ever more authoritarian forms of political rule, militarism and the threat of world war. At the same time a corporate and financial elite is amassing vast fortunes through the looting of society and the systematic destruction of working class living standards. The SEP sees the forging of the unity of the North American working class as a critical component of an international socialist strategy.”
White pointed to the long history of joint struggle by the working class in Canada and the US, from the struggles led by the Knights of Labor in the 1880s to the revolutionary syndicalism of the Industrial Workers of the World in early 20th Century, to the sit down strikes of the United Auto Workers on both sides of the border in the 1930s and 1940. He highlighted the role of socialists in forging this international unity and leading these mass struggles.
While the ruling classes in both countries, chastened by the Russian Revolution and the powerful upsurge of the working class following WWII responded to the class struggle by making social concessions, in Canada to a far greater extent that the US, the working class movement remained in one form or another under the domination of pro-capitalist trade unions and social democratic parties like the NDP. They insisted that the lessons of the Great Depression and the world war had been learned, that the capitalist system could be reformed and there would never be a repeat of the previous social catastrophe.
The current breakdown of world capitalism and the ongoing assault upon the social gains won in the post-war period has proven this national-reformist perspective to be entirely bankrupt. White pointed to the example of the Caterpillar workers in London, Ontario, for whom the nationalist perspective of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) bureaucracy led to a bitter defeat: “On January 1, the multi-billion dollar transnational corporation locked out 465 workers who build locomotive engines after they rejected the company’s concessions demands, including for a 55 percent wage cut that would have reduced pay from C$35 an hour to C$16.50.
“After three weeks, the company announced it was closing the plant. Despite overwhelming support for a struggle, the CAW accepted the closing. Throughout the six-week struggle, CAW officials, paralleling the nationalism of their counterparts in America, presented the struggle as one of defending the ‘Canadian way of life’ against an American company. This was aimed at blocking any common struggle by Canadian and US workers and bolstering illusions that appeals to the Conservative Harper would protect workers.”
“For the last three decades, the UAW in the US has collaborated with the corporations to sharply reduce labor costs, including at Caterpillar where the union betrayed a 17-month strike at the company’s Illinois plants in 1994-95. Caterpillar is shifting production [from the London, Ontario] to Muncie, Indiana, which pays workers $12 to $14.50 an hour, less than half the pay for most workers at the plant being closed in Ontario.”
“In order to attract investment every government around the world is to cut labor costs, and provide whatever tax cuts and deregulation is demanded by big business. It is the demands of world capitalism, not any claims by the unions or NDP about ‘protecting the Canadian way of life’ that is dictating this race to the bottom.”
Questions and discussion after White’s remarks included the SEP’s attitude towards the ‘humanitarian’ wars and aggressive foreign policy of US imperialism and its allies, the implications of a socially-owned and scientifically planned economy for the environment, and the reception of the SEP’s program among rural workers in the US (popularly portrayed by Canadian nationalists as ignorant and reactionary).
Lee Parsons, a long-time member of the Socialist Equality Party (Canada) pointed to the parallels between the assault on the working class in the US and the policies of the Harper Conservative and the Ontario Liberal government. In response to a question on Quebecois nationalism, Parsons highlighted the role of the Quebec ‘sovereignty’ or independence movement in dividing French and English-speaking workers and harnessing the militancy of the Quebecois working class to a section of the capitalist elite.
For more information on the SEP campaign and to get involved, visit www.socialequality.com.
Look for alternatives, write-in NOTA or stay home and don't vote. Do not reward ineptitude and mediocrity.
A vote for the two POTUS candidates of the two branches of The Capitalist Party, may make you feel good, but this election is not about selecting the horse that has the best chance of winning the race.
Obama and Romney are part of the problem, not part of the solution. This country is going steadily downhill.
“The key to the future lies in the international unity of the working class”
Jerry White speaks in Canada
By Graham Beverly
22 March 2012
On Tuesday, Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Party candidate for President of the United States, addressed a well-attended meeting of students, workers, and young people in Kingston, Ontario. White emphasized the need to unite the working class internationally against declining wages, austerity, and endless war enforced by the ruling elite of each country.
Those in attendance responded enthusiastically and White’s remarks were followed by a discussion period that covered a wide range of international political issues. Informal discussion continued long after the official end of the meeting, with many attendees expressing interest in the upcoming events.
In addressing a Canadian audience, White made clear that the US SEP’s election program was a direct challenge to the nationalist, pro-capitalist policies of the trade union bureaucracies and the ‘left’ parties of the political establishment.
“First, we insist that the key to the future lies in the international unity of the working class. The interests of the working class cannot be defended on the basis of a national program. In every country, working people are oppressed by transnational corporations that scour the globe for profits. The financial and industrial corporate conglomerates demand the lowering of wages and the elimination of social benefits essential for a decent standard of living. In Europe, the international banks are transforming Greece into a third world country, reducing living standards by as much as 50 percent.
“Regardless of nationality, ethnic background, religion or language, workers and youth throughout the world have the same interests. Therefore, the working class requires an international strategy. Workers in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Canada are the allies of US workers in the global struggle against capitalism.
“In every part of the world, the working class is facing universal demands for austerity and drastic wage-cutting, the erosion of basic democratic rights and the growth of ever more authoritarian forms of political rule, militarism and the threat of world war. At the same time a corporate and financial elite is amassing vast fortunes through the looting of society and the systematic destruction of working class living standards. The SEP sees the forging of the unity of the North American working class as a critical component of an international socialist strategy.”
White pointed to the long history of joint struggle by the working class in Canada and the US, from the struggles led by the Knights of Labor in the 1880s to the revolutionary syndicalism of the Industrial Workers of the World in early 20th Century, to the sit down strikes of the United Auto Workers on both sides of the border in the 1930s and 1940. He highlighted the role of socialists in forging this international unity and leading these mass struggles.
While the ruling classes in both countries, chastened by the Russian Revolution and the powerful upsurge of the working class following WWII responded to the class struggle by making social concessions, in Canada to a far greater extent that the US, the working class movement remained in one form or another under the domination of pro-capitalist trade unions and social democratic parties like the NDP. They insisted that the lessons of the Great Depression and the world war had been learned, that the capitalist system could be reformed and there would never be a repeat of the previous social catastrophe.
The current breakdown of world capitalism and the ongoing assault upon the social gains won in the post-war period has proven this national-reformist perspective to be entirely bankrupt. White pointed to the example of the Caterpillar workers in London, Ontario, for whom the nationalist perspective of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) bureaucracy led to a bitter defeat: “On January 1, the multi-billion dollar transnational corporation locked out 465 workers who build locomotive engines after they rejected the company’s concessions demands, including for a 55 percent wage cut that would have reduced pay from C$35 an hour to C$16.50.
“After three weeks, the company announced it was closing the plant. Despite overwhelming support for a struggle, the CAW accepted the closing. Throughout the six-week struggle, CAW officials, paralleling the nationalism of their counterparts in America, presented the struggle as one of defending the ‘Canadian way of life’ against an American company. This was aimed at blocking any common struggle by Canadian and US workers and bolstering illusions that appeals to the Conservative Harper would protect workers.”
“For the last three decades, the UAW in the US has collaborated with the corporations to sharply reduce labor costs, including at Caterpillar where the union betrayed a 17-month strike at the company’s Illinois plants in 1994-95. Caterpillar is shifting production [from the London, Ontario] to Muncie, Indiana, which pays workers $12 to $14.50 an hour, less than half the pay for most workers at the plant being closed in Ontario.”
“In order to attract investment every government around the world is to cut labor costs, and provide whatever tax cuts and deregulation is demanded by big business. It is the demands of world capitalism, not any claims by the unions or NDP about ‘protecting the Canadian way of life’ that is dictating this race to the bottom.”
Questions and discussion after White’s remarks included the SEP’s attitude towards the ‘humanitarian’ wars and aggressive foreign policy of US imperialism and its allies, the implications of a socially-owned and scientifically planned economy for the environment, and the reception of the SEP’s program among rural workers in the US (popularly portrayed by Canadian nationalists as ignorant and reactionary).
Lee Parsons, a long-time member of the Socialist Equality Party (Canada) pointed to the parallels between the assault on the working class in the US and the policies of the Harper Conservative and the Ontario Liberal government. In response to a question on Quebecois nationalism, Parsons highlighted the role of the Quebec ‘sovereignty’ or independence movement in dividing French and English-speaking workers and harnessing the militancy of the Quebecois working class to a section of the capitalist elite.
For more information on the SEP campaign and to get involved, visit www.socialequality.com.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Mr. President, you are supporting a 50 year failure. I will not vote for you in November.
No cigar: Economic embargo on Cuba turns 50
By PETER ORSI, Associated Press – 2 minutes ago
HAVANA (AP) — When it started, American teenagers were doing "The Twist." The United States had yet to put a man into orbit around the Earth. And a first-class U.S. postage stamp cost 4 cents.
The world is much changed since the early days of 1962, but one thing has remained constant: The U.S. economic embargo on communist-run Cuba, a near-total trade ban that turned 50 on Tuesday.
Supporters say it is a justified measure against a repressive government that has never stopped being a thorn in Washington's side. Critics call it a failed policy that has hurt ordinary Cubans instead of the government.
All acknowledge that it has not accomplished its core mission of toppling Fidel and Raul Castro.
"All this time has gone by, and yet we keep it in place," said Wayne Smith, who was a young U.S. diplomat in Havana in 1961 when relations were severed and who returned as the chief American diplomat after they were partially re-established under President Jimmy Carter.
"We talk to the Russians, we talk to the Chinese, we have normal relations even with Vietnam. We trade with all of them," Smith said. "So why not with Cuba?"
In the White House, the first sign of the looming embargo came when President John F. Kennedy told his press secretary to go buy him as many H. Upmann Cuban cigars as he could find. The aide came back with 1,200 stogies.
Kennedy announced the embargo on Feb. 3, 1962, citing "the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned."
It went into effect four days later at the height of the Cold War, a year removed from the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion meant to oust communism from Cuba and eight months before Soviet attempts to put nuclear missiles on the island brought the two superpowers to the brink of war.
Washington already had some limited sanctions in place, but Kennedy's decision was the beginning of a comprehensive ban on U.S. trade with the island that has remained more or less intact ever since.
Little was planned to mark Tuesday's anniversary, but Cuban-American members of Congress issued a joint statement vowing to keep the heat on Cuba.
Supporters of the policy acknowledge that many U.S. strategic concerns from the 1960s have been consigned to the dustbin of history, such as halting the spread of Soviet influence and keeping Fidel Castro from exporting revolution throughout Latin America. But they say other justifications remain, such as the confiscation of U.S. property in Cuba and the need to press for greater political and personal freedoms on the island.
"We have a hemispheric commitment to freedom and democracy and respect for human rights," said Jose Cardenas, a former National Security Council staffer on Cuba under President George W. Bush. "I still think that those are worthy aspirations."
With just 90 miles (145 kilometers) of sea between Florida and Cuba, the United States would be a natural No. 1 trade partner and source of tourism. But the embargo chokes off most commerce, and the threat of stiff fines keeps most Americans from sunbathing in balmy resorts like Cayo Coco.
Cuba is free to trade with other nations, but the U.S. threatens sanctions against foreign companies that don't abide by its restrictions. A stark example arrived off the coast of Havana last month: A massive oil exploration rig built with less than 10 percent U.S. parts to qualify under the embargo was brought all the way from Singapore at great expense, while comparable platforms sat idle in U.S. waters just across the Gulf of Mexico.
The embargo is a constant talking point for island authorities, who blame it for shortages of everything from medical equipment to the concrete needed to complete an eight-lane highway spanning the length of the island. Cuba frequently fulminates against the "blockade" at the United Nations and demands the U.S. end its "genocidal" policy.
Every fall, like clockwork, the vast majority of nations agree, and overwhelmingly back a resolution condemning the embargo. In November, 186 countries supported the measure, with only Israel joining the U.S. in opposition.
Also each year, Cuba updates its estimate of how much the embargo has cost it, using a complicated — and some say flawed — calculus that takes into account years of interest, the end of the gold standard and other factors. Last year's estimate summing 49 years of sanctions was $975 billion.
Even some critics of the embargo call Havana's claims exaggerated, saying that while the sanctions had a tremendous impact when first put in place, Cuba was able to adapt and benefited from relationships with like-minded allies such as the former Soviet Union and Venezuela.
"There's no doubt that the embargo is detrimental to the Cuban economy. It complicates international financial transactions, but more importantly, it limits Cuban families' access to medicine," said Geoff Thale, a Cuba analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, which supports ending the policy. "At the same time, Cuba's economic problems go beyond the embargo."
While 50 years of socialism have brought advancements in areas such as education and health care, even island authorities acknowledge their perennially struggling economic system must change. President Raul Castro is in the process of allowing more private-sector activity, decentralizing state-run businesses, implementing agricultural reform and slimming government payrolls.
The United States actually does have significant trade with Cuba under a clause allowing the sale of food products and some pharmaceuticals.
According to the most recent information available from Cuba's National Statistics Office, the U.S. was the island's seventh-largest trading partner in 2010, selling $410 million in mostly food products. However, that was down from nearly $1 billion in 2008, as the island increasingly turned to other countries that don't force it to pay cash up front.
Many U.S. businesses would love to be allowed into the Cuban market, but an end to the embargo seems a long way off.
The issue is seen as a political nonstarter in the United States, where every four years, presidential candidates take turns courting the Cuban-American vote in Florida, a key swing state.
President Barack Obama has said Raul Castro's economic openings are insufficient, and it's unlikely he would do anything in an election year to risk losing support in Florida, which he won in 2008. Even if he wanted to lift the embargo, the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 stipulates that it would have to be approved by Congress.
Raul Castro, for his part, says recent changes in the U.S. such as allowing Cuban-Americans to visit relatives more often and send them more money are merely cosmetic.
Backers of the sanctions say it's as important as ever to maintain what they call the moral high ground, saying islanders will be grateful whenever change does come.
Critics cite the annual U.N. votes to argue that times have changed and the embargo is a Cold War relic that ought to be thrown onto the scrap heap.
"It's no longer a matter of the United States leading a movement to isolate Cuba in the hemisphere," said Smith, a staunch opponent of the embargo. "Quite the contrary: If anyone's isolated, on this issue anyway, it's us."
Follow Peter Orsi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Peter(underscore)Orsi.
------
Related article from Albor Ruiz at the N.Y. Daily News:
U.S. economic embargo of Cuba marks its half-century of failed foreign policy
By PETER ORSI, Associated Press – 2 minutes ago
HAVANA (AP) — When it started, American teenagers were doing "The Twist." The United States had yet to put a man into orbit around the Earth. And a first-class U.S. postage stamp cost 4 cents.
The world is much changed since the early days of 1962, but one thing has remained constant: The U.S. economic embargo on communist-run Cuba, a near-total trade ban that turned 50 on Tuesday.
Supporters say it is a justified measure against a repressive government that has never stopped being a thorn in Washington's side. Critics call it a failed policy that has hurt ordinary Cubans instead of the government.
All acknowledge that it has not accomplished its core mission of toppling Fidel and Raul Castro.
"All this time has gone by, and yet we keep it in place," said Wayne Smith, who was a young U.S. diplomat in Havana in 1961 when relations were severed and who returned as the chief American diplomat after they were partially re-established under President Jimmy Carter.
"We talk to the Russians, we talk to the Chinese, we have normal relations even with Vietnam. We trade with all of them," Smith said. "So why not with Cuba?"
In the White House, the first sign of the looming embargo came when President John F. Kennedy told his press secretary to go buy him as many H. Upmann Cuban cigars as he could find. The aide came back with 1,200 stogies.
Kennedy announced the embargo on Feb. 3, 1962, citing "the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned."
It went into effect four days later at the height of the Cold War, a year removed from the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion meant to oust communism from Cuba and eight months before Soviet attempts to put nuclear missiles on the island brought the two superpowers to the brink of war.
Washington already had some limited sanctions in place, but Kennedy's decision was the beginning of a comprehensive ban on U.S. trade with the island that has remained more or less intact ever since.
Little was planned to mark Tuesday's anniversary, but Cuban-American members of Congress issued a joint statement vowing to keep the heat on Cuba.
Supporters of the policy acknowledge that many U.S. strategic concerns from the 1960s have been consigned to the dustbin of history, such as halting the spread of Soviet influence and keeping Fidel Castro from exporting revolution throughout Latin America. But they say other justifications remain, such as the confiscation of U.S. property in Cuba and the need to press for greater political and personal freedoms on the island.
"We have a hemispheric commitment to freedom and democracy and respect for human rights," said Jose Cardenas, a former National Security Council staffer on Cuba under President George W. Bush. "I still think that those are worthy aspirations."
With just 90 miles (145 kilometers) of sea between Florida and Cuba, the United States would be a natural No. 1 trade partner and source of tourism. But the embargo chokes off most commerce, and the threat of stiff fines keeps most Americans from sunbathing in balmy resorts like Cayo Coco.
Cuba is free to trade with other nations, but the U.S. threatens sanctions against foreign companies that don't abide by its restrictions. A stark example arrived off the coast of Havana last month: A massive oil exploration rig built with less than 10 percent U.S. parts to qualify under the embargo was brought all the way from Singapore at great expense, while comparable platforms sat idle in U.S. waters just across the Gulf of Mexico.
The embargo is a constant talking point for island authorities, who blame it for shortages of everything from medical equipment to the concrete needed to complete an eight-lane highway spanning the length of the island. Cuba frequently fulminates against the "blockade" at the United Nations and demands the U.S. end its "genocidal" policy.
Every fall, like clockwork, the vast majority of nations agree, and overwhelmingly back a resolution condemning the embargo. In November, 186 countries supported the measure, with only Israel joining the U.S. in opposition.
Also each year, Cuba updates its estimate of how much the embargo has cost it, using a complicated — and some say flawed — calculus that takes into account years of interest, the end of the gold standard and other factors. Last year's estimate summing 49 years of sanctions was $975 billion.
Even some critics of the embargo call Havana's claims exaggerated, saying that while the sanctions had a tremendous impact when first put in place, Cuba was able to adapt and benefited from relationships with like-minded allies such as the former Soviet Union and Venezuela.
"There's no doubt that the embargo is detrimental to the Cuban economy. It complicates international financial transactions, but more importantly, it limits Cuban families' access to medicine," said Geoff Thale, a Cuba analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, which supports ending the policy. "At the same time, Cuba's economic problems go beyond the embargo."
While 50 years of socialism have brought advancements in areas such as education and health care, even island authorities acknowledge their perennially struggling economic system must change. President Raul Castro is in the process of allowing more private-sector activity, decentralizing state-run businesses, implementing agricultural reform and slimming government payrolls.
The United States actually does have significant trade with Cuba under a clause allowing the sale of food products and some pharmaceuticals.
According to the most recent information available from Cuba's National Statistics Office, the U.S. was the island's seventh-largest trading partner in 2010, selling $410 million in mostly food products. However, that was down from nearly $1 billion in 2008, as the island increasingly turned to other countries that don't force it to pay cash up front.
Many U.S. businesses would love to be allowed into the Cuban market, but an end to the embargo seems a long way off.
The issue is seen as a political nonstarter in the United States, where every four years, presidential candidates take turns courting the Cuban-American vote in Florida, a key swing state.
President Barack Obama has said Raul Castro's economic openings are insufficient, and it's unlikely he would do anything in an election year to risk losing support in Florida, which he won in 2008. Even if he wanted to lift the embargo, the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 stipulates that it would have to be approved by Congress.
Raul Castro, for his part, says recent changes in the U.S. such as allowing Cuban-Americans to visit relatives more often and send them more money are merely cosmetic.
Backers of the sanctions say it's as important as ever to maintain what they call the moral high ground, saying islanders will be grateful whenever change does come.
Critics cite the annual U.N. votes to argue that times have changed and the embargo is a Cold War relic that ought to be thrown onto the scrap heap.
"It's no longer a matter of the United States leading a movement to isolate Cuba in the hemisphere," said Smith, a staunch opponent of the embargo. "Quite the contrary: If anyone's isolated, on this issue anyway, it's us."
Follow Peter Orsi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Peter(underscore)Orsi.
------
Related article from Albor Ruiz at the N.Y. Daily News:
U.S. economic embargo of Cuba marks its half-century of failed foreign policy
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Mitt Romney: "I'm not concerned about the very poor"
Does he expect to be elected U.S. President with that statement?
Read the San Francisco Chronicle article
Read the San Francisco Chronicle article
Friday, January 27, 2012
Ron Paul calls for diplomatic relations with Cuba
Los Angeles Times
By Alana Semuels
January 26, 2012, 7:19 p.m.
Ron Paul took a risky position in Florida in Thursday’s debate, calling for communication and diplomatic relations with Cuba, saying that people's positions have changed dramatically over the last few years.
Paul said that Cuba isn’t going to invade the U.S. any time soon, and that Americans weren’t looking under their beds anymore, worried. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich followed by pledging to continue the economic embargo on Cuba and to take any action short of military invasion to upend the government of Raul Castro.
Paul’s position is a potentially dangerous one in Florida, a state with a influential voting bloc of conservative Republicans from Cuba who have long favored aggressive policies toward Havana.
But a study of Cuban American voters in Florida suggests that Paul might be right, and that voters' opinions about Cuba are changing. Support for tightening the embargo dropped by roughly half between 2004 and 2008, according to a study by Benjamin Bishin, a UC Riverside professor.
Cuban Americans’ support for easing the embargo increased to 43.4%, from 26.7% in 2004, and support for easing travel restrictions increased to 47.4% from 32.9%, Bishin found. “Cuban Americans’ attitudes on issues of U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba seems to be in transition,” he wrote in a 2009 study.
The Star Ledger: Ron Paul was right on Cuba; Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were dumb and dumber
By Alana Semuels
January 26, 2012, 7:19 p.m.
Ron Paul took a risky position in Florida in Thursday’s debate, calling for communication and diplomatic relations with Cuba, saying that people's positions have changed dramatically over the last few years.
Paul said that Cuba isn’t going to invade the U.S. any time soon, and that Americans weren’t looking under their beds anymore, worried. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich followed by pledging to continue the economic embargo on Cuba and to take any action short of military invasion to upend the government of Raul Castro.
Paul’s position is a potentially dangerous one in Florida, a state with a influential voting bloc of conservative Republicans from Cuba who have long favored aggressive policies toward Havana.
But a study of Cuban American voters in Florida suggests that Paul might be right, and that voters' opinions about Cuba are changing. Support for tightening the embargo dropped by roughly half between 2004 and 2008, according to a study by Benjamin Bishin, a UC Riverside professor.
Cuban Americans’ support for easing the embargo increased to 43.4%, from 26.7% in 2004, and support for easing travel restrictions increased to 47.4% from 32.9%, Bishin found. “Cuban Americans’ attitudes on issues of U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba seems to be in transition,” he wrote in a 2009 study.
The Star Ledger: Ron Paul was right on Cuba; Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were dumb and dumber
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Is Ron Paul being bought? Say it ain't so Joe!
Breaking News: Ron Paul Falls in Line with GOP, Declares Support for War with Iran and Never-Ending War on Islam
In a dramatic reversal of policy, Texas Congressman Ron Paul has announced he will support a preemptive strike on Iran, along with the return of U.S. troops to Iraq, a never-ending war on Islam, and a CIA-led Cuba Spring if elected president in 2012.
A source close to Paul said the previously anti-war candidate had suffered long enough at the polls for his refusal to endorse across-the-board war, and that he would be unveiling his new, more aggressive foreign policy at Thursday evening’s GOP debate, ahead of the Florida primary next week.
More..
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JG: Is Ron Paul becoming a typical GOP politician? Is he abandoning libertarian and anti-war policies?
In a dramatic reversal of policy, Texas Congressman Ron Paul has announced he will support a preemptive strike on Iran, along with the return of U.S. troops to Iraq, a never-ending war on Islam, and a CIA-led Cuba Spring if elected president in 2012.
A source close to Paul said the previously anti-war candidate had suffered long enough at the polls for his refusal to endorse across-the-board war, and that he would be unveiling his new, more aggressive foreign policy at Thursday evening’s GOP debate, ahead of the Florida primary next week.
More..
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JG: Is Ron Paul becoming a typical GOP politician? Is he abandoning libertarian and anti-war policies?
The Salamander Wants to Bomb Cuba
Newt Gingrich prepared to bomb Cuba (TheAustralian.com)
* From: AFP
* January 27, 2012 12:00AM
NEWT Gingrich was ahead in the rhetorical war among Republican presidential hopefuls on who could be toughest on Cuba's communist regime, suggesting yesterday that he would bomb the island if there were a popular uprising.
The former house speaker and his top rival, ex-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, were engaged in heated campaigning in Florida days before Wednesday's Republican primary. And both were desperately wooing the state's large Cuban-American community, nearly a million strong.
Mr Gingrich was asked to explain comments that if elected, he would "not tolerate four more years of a Cuban dictatorship".
If the US planes bombed Libya, should they do the same with Cuba?
"If there was a genuine, legitimate uprising, we would, of course, be on the side of the people," Mr Gingrich told Spanish-language network Univision.
"In that sense, I don't see why Cuba should be sacrosanct, and we should say, 'Oh, don't do anything to hurt' - you know, we're very prepared to back people in Libya. We may end up backing people in Syria. But now Cuba? Hands off Cuba. That's baloney.
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"People of Cuba deserve freedom."
The audience at the Miami venue where Univision held the interview broke into applause.
Mr Romney said if he were president, he would punish foreign companies doing business in Cuba.
Former Cuban president Fidel Castro dismissed the tough talk. "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalised and expansive empire is . . . the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been heard," he wrote in Cuban media yesterday.
Mr Gingrich also defended himself against accusations of being a hypocrite for criticising then president Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Mr Gingrich spoke out against Mr Clinton at the same time he, as house speaker, was cheating on his wife. He said he wasn't criticising Mr Clinton's relationship with Ms Lewinsky but Mr Clinton's response to it.
"I have never lied under oath, I have never committed perjury, I have never committed a felony," Mr Gingrich said.
------
JG: What a f***ing idiot!
* From: AFP
* January 27, 2012 12:00AM
NEWT Gingrich was ahead in the rhetorical war among Republican presidential hopefuls on who could be toughest on Cuba's communist regime, suggesting yesterday that he would bomb the island if there were a popular uprising.
The former house speaker and his top rival, ex-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, were engaged in heated campaigning in Florida days before Wednesday's Republican primary. And both were desperately wooing the state's large Cuban-American community, nearly a million strong.
Mr Gingrich was asked to explain comments that if elected, he would "not tolerate four more years of a Cuban dictatorship".
If the US planes bombed Libya, should they do the same with Cuba?
"If there was a genuine, legitimate uprising, we would, of course, be on the side of the people," Mr Gingrich told Spanish-language network Univision.
"In that sense, I don't see why Cuba should be sacrosanct, and we should say, 'Oh, don't do anything to hurt' - you know, we're very prepared to back people in Libya. We may end up backing people in Syria. But now Cuba? Hands off Cuba. That's baloney.
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"People of Cuba deserve freedom."
The audience at the Miami venue where Univision held the interview broke into applause.
Mr Romney said if he were president, he would punish foreign companies doing business in Cuba.
Former Cuban president Fidel Castro dismissed the tough talk. "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalised and expansive empire is . . . the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been heard," he wrote in Cuban media yesterday.
Mr Gingrich also defended himself against accusations of being a hypocrite for criticising then president Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Mr Gingrich spoke out against Mr Clinton at the same time he, as house speaker, was cheating on his wife. He said he wasn't criticising Mr Clinton's relationship with Ms Lewinsky but Mr Clinton's response to it.
"I have never lied under oath, I have never committed perjury, I have never committed a felony," Mr Gingrich said.
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JG: What a f***ing idiot!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Cuba Issue in Last Night's "Debate"
Jannuary, 24th, 2012
Front Page has reported the following:
About 10% of the Florida primary voters are Cuban-Americans, prompting the moderator to ask Mitt Romney about his stance on the Castro regime and how he’d handle a potential refugee crisis if it were to fall. Romney was applauded, even though the audience was asked to be quiet, when he said he’d first “thank heavens that Castro has gone to his maker.” He sharply criticized President Obama’s softening of America’s policy towards Cuba and praised a democratic activist who died in Cuba while on a hunger strike.
Newt Gingrich was likewise applauded by following that up with saying, “I don’t think Fidel [Castro] is going to meet his maker. He’s going to another place.” Gingrich then won the biggest reaction of the night when he said that he would not tolerate four more years of the Castro dictatorship and would support a “Cuban Spring” by supporting every democratic activist achieve regime change.
Rick Santorum spoke in similar terms and broadened the discussion. He warned of the anti-American alliance that has formed between Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Iran and the “jihadists.” He said that these enemies are elated to have a base only 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
Ron Paul was the lone exception to a policy of regime change towards Cuba. He said that it is not 1962 anymore and that the U.S. should diplomatically and economically engage the Cuban regime, comparing it to how relations have improved with Vietnam.
Jorge Gonzalez' response:
1) Romney, Gingrich and Santorum are professional capitalists who hate Cuba with a passion. If any of them is elected, they could lead our planet to total destrucion.
2) Ron Paul was the only sane person in the rooom. For that reason I "temporarily" changed my voter registration in Florida last December 29 or 30. On January 31st I will be casting my vote for U.S. Representative Ron Paul. On February First or Second I will re-register again as an Independent, who has no party preference.
3) Barack H. Obama is also a failed politician, although I give him credit for having relaxed Cuba travel and remittances (for Cuban-Ammericans) to the island. His "Change You Can Believe In" of 2008 was a sad FRAUD!
4) The "dissident" who died last week in Cuba was a common convicted criminal. He, like Tamayo before him, had a suicide wish. Good ridance for the Cuban people!
Front Page has reported the following:
About 10% of the Florida primary voters are Cuban-Americans, prompting the moderator to ask Mitt Romney about his stance on the Castro regime and how he’d handle a potential refugee crisis if it were to fall. Romney was applauded, even though the audience was asked to be quiet, when he said he’d first “thank heavens that Castro has gone to his maker.” He sharply criticized President Obama’s softening of America’s policy towards Cuba and praised a democratic activist who died in Cuba while on a hunger strike.
Newt Gingrich was likewise applauded by following that up with saying, “I don’t think Fidel [Castro] is going to meet his maker. He’s going to another place.” Gingrich then won the biggest reaction of the night when he said that he would not tolerate four more years of the Castro dictatorship and would support a “Cuban Spring” by supporting every democratic activist achieve regime change.
Rick Santorum spoke in similar terms and broadened the discussion. He warned of the anti-American alliance that has formed between Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Iran and the “jihadists.” He said that these enemies are elated to have a base only 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
Ron Paul was the lone exception to a policy of regime change towards Cuba. He said that it is not 1962 anymore and that the U.S. should diplomatically and economically engage the Cuban regime, comparing it to how relations have improved with Vietnam.
Jorge Gonzalez' response:
1) Romney, Gingrich and Santorum are professional capitalists who hate Cuba with a passion. If any of them is elected, they could lead our planet to total destrucion.
2) Ron Paul was the only sane person in the rooom. For that reason I "temporarily" changed my voter registration in Florida last December 29 or 30. On January 31st I will be casting my vote for U.S. Representative Ron Paul. On February First or Second I will re-register again as an Independent, who has no party preference.
3) Barack H. Obama is also a failed politician, although I give him credit for having relaxed Cuba travel and remittances (for Cuban-Ammericans) to the island. His "Change You Can Believe In" of 2008 was a sad FRAUD!
4) The "dissident" who died last week in Cuba was a common convicted criminal. He, like Tamayo before him, had a suicide wish. Good ridance for the Cuban people!
Friday, January 6, 2012
New Hampshire & Florida Primaries. SEND THEM A MESSAGE!
The Democratic and Republican parties in the states of New Hampshire and Florida will soon hold their Presidential Preference Primaries on January 10th and 31st respectively.
If you are a regular visitor to our blog, you probably already know that we are 100% opposed to continuing the failed economic embargo against Cuba. There is only one candidate that has publicly expressed his opposition to what Cuba calls a blockade, and they are correct in calling it that. It is a genocidal U.S. policy which seeks to asphyxiate the Cuban people. It does not hurt the Cuban government. The embargo/blockade has been overwhelmingly condemned, for twenty years in a row, by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Barack H. Obama, like George W. Bush before him, has continued the Cuba embargo. Just on the Cuba issue alone, he does not deserve to be re-elected. On other national issues, the United States has gone steadily downhill since we put him in the Oval Office.
Only one candidate for POTUS has publicly opposed the Cuba embargo, and that person is Libertarian Ron Paul. See his video.
I urge the voters in New Hampshire and Florida to vote for U.S. Representative Ron Paul, as the only way that we have of protesting the continuation of the genocidal Cuba embargo.
SEND THEM A MESSAGE! The Cuba embargo has to be stopped and repealed!
If you are a regular visitor to our blog, you probably already know that we are 100% opposed to continuing the failed economic embargo against Cuba. There is only one candidate that has publicly expressed his opposition to what Cuba calls a blockade, and they are correct in calling it that. It is a genocidal U.S. policy which seeks to asphyxiate the Cuban people. It does not hurt the Cuban government. The embargo/blockade has been overwhelmingly condemned, for twenty years in a row, by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Barack H. Obama, like George W. Bush before him, has continued the Cuba embargo. Just on the Cuba issue alone, he does not deserve to be re-elected. On other national issues, the United States has gone steadily downhill since we put him in the Oval Office.
Only one candidate for POTUS has publicly opposed the Cuba embargo, and that person is Libertarian Ron Paul. See his video.
I urge the voters in New Hampshire and Florida to vote for U.S. Representative Ron Paul, as the only way that we have of protesting the continuation of the genocidal Cuba embargo.
SEND THEM A MESSAGE! The Cuba embargo has to be stopped and repealed!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Opponent of the Cuba Embargo Finishes a Strong Third in Iowa Caucuses
December 4, 2012
U.S. Representative Ron Paul, who is the only candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election who has publicly expressed his opposition to the failed Cuba embargo, and who is also a very strong anti-war candidate, finished as a third place winner in the Iowa caucuses last night.
The American electorate is ready for BIG CHANGE. Barack H. Obama has followed in the footsteps of George W. Bush. The guy who promised us hope, change, and “a new beginning with Cuba” has been a huge fraud. He is the standard bearer of the status quo and the capitalist establishment. He leads the anti-Cuba hate partisans, and keeps on sending millions of U.S. taxpayer money to the anti-Cuba Cuban-American National Foundation, which is funded and directed by the United States government.
There will be many more primary elections or caucuses during the rest of this year. Florida will hold its Presidential Preference Primary on January 31st. I urge you to do what I did: change your party registration (temporarily, of course!) to Republican and cast your vote of support for Representative Ron Paul in the coming last Tuesday of this month. Send them a strong message that you oppose the Cuba embargo. Then on February first you can always change your voter registration back to what it was before.
A vote for Romney, Gingrich or Obama is a vote to continue the failed policies of the empire in regards to Cuba.
Ron Paul in New Hampshire - Does He Have Enough Momentum to Win There?
U.S. Representative Ron Paul, who is the only candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election who has publicly expressed his opposition to the failed Cuba embargo, and who is also a very strong anti-war candidate, finished as a third place winner in the Iowa caucuses last night.
The American electorate is ready for BIG CHANGE. Barack H. Obama has followed in the footsteps of George W. Bush. The guy who promised us hope, change, and “a new beginning with Cuba” has been a huge fraud. He is the standard bearer of the status quo and the capitalist establishment. He leads the anti-Cuba hate partisans, and keeps on sending millions of U.S. taxpayer money to the anti-Cuba Cuban-American National Foundation, which is funded and directed by the United States government.
There will be many more primary elections or caucuses during the rest of this year. Florida will hold its Presidential Preference Primary on January 31st. I urge you to do what I did: change your party registration (temporarily, of course!) to Republican and cast your vote of support for Representative Ron Paul in the coming last Tuesday of this month. Send them a strong message that you oppose the Cuba embargo. Then on February first you can always change your voter registration back to what it was before.
A vote for Romney, Gingrich or Obama is a vote to continue the failed policies of the empire in regards to Cuba.
Ron Paul in New Hampshire - Does He Have Enough Momentum to Win There?
Monday, December 12, 2011
November 28, 2011: Newt Gingrich joins the Cuba haters: Says he wants to bring "liberty" to Cuba by 2014
If you are a 'know-nothing' politician and you are campaigning in retrograde Florida, you MUST say that Cuba and the Castro's are the worst thing since Homo Sapiens invented "The Devil."
Newt Gingrich is no different. Here is a report from Yahoo! News:
Since we are in Florida, can you provide an idea of how your administration would handle relations with Cuba?
I think we need a very aggressive model. I describe it as a Cuban Spring. If you have a U.S. government that says Assad should go, why aren't they aggressively saying Castro should go?
We are trying to develop a strategy right now to outline the things we would do in the next two years to try to get the Cuban people to freedom by 2014.
Can you provide some specific examples?
Dramatically expand support for independence in Cuba, dramatically expand communications, begin bringing pressure to bear. Try to go to the younger generation of Cubans in Cuba and work with them covertly.
Would you open up trade relations with Cuba as president?
It's probably not part of it, but I think you would look at under what circumstance would you change and could you offer the Cuban people. For example, immediately after a free election, all the embargoes would drop as of that day. You could have the carrot of saying, the second there's a free election, we should do everything we can to help the Cuban economy flourish.
President Obama has opened more air travel to the island. Would you shut down those flights?
No, but I would very aggressively move towards maximizing dissent inside Cuba. Mostly covert, and also just subsidies. Go back and look what we did in Poland for example when we aggressively supported Solidarity.
What kinds of items would you subsidize?
You might try to find a way to give virtually every Cuban a free radio. You might want to try to find a way to maximize your ability to broadcast into Cuba so that you have a continuous alternative model of information.
Do you support "wet-foot-dry-foot," the policy that allows Cubans to stay in the United States, but only if they can reach land?
No, I think we ought to have some rule that says if you get far enough away from Cuba you've made it. I think it's a terrible thing to say to somebody that you can be within sight of land and that if we intercept you, we're sending you back. Cuba is the last authoritarian dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere, so it's a unique case.
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JG: Capitalist politicians, whether you are talking of Republican Gingrich or Romney or Democrat Obama or Clinton, they all have one thing in common: they hate Cuba and the two Castro brothers. That is the only passion that they have. So, the best thing to do in the November 2012 Presidential election is to write-in NOTA (None Of The Above) for POTUS, or go fishing and don't participate in this quadrennial capitalist farce. Capitalist politicians in the USA emulate the Nazi hatred for the Jews, but in this case their hatred is anyone who calls himself a communist or socialist, with the exception of SPUSA (Socialist Party USA) who are just a bunch of JERKS looking for easy money.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Political Corruption in Miami-Dade County: Absentee Ballot Fraud Could Derail Barack Obama in 2012
Wednesday, 30 November 2011 09:36
By Luther Campbell
From Miami New Times
Absentee ballot fraud could derail Obama in 2012
Rampant absentee ballot fraud is destroying democracy in Miami and across the United States. County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa has proposed that anyone caught messing with absentee ballots will go to jail for 60 days and pay a $1,000 fine. Ten of her colleagues agree on the plan, which will be voted on this month. Sosa is also urging the state legislature to charge anyone who collects absentee ballots with a felony.
Why do we need such a plan? The Miami-Dade ethics commission just concluded that three North Miami Beach residents' votes were stolen via the absentee ballot process. But more and more, absentee ballot brokers are the key to every election.
No sitting politician will reform the system, especially with the 2012 presidential election on the horizon. Absentee ballots in Miami-Dade may well elect the next president. There's a county mayoral race next year too.
Consider this: In the most recent elections in Miami and Hialeah, absentee ballots either tied or outnumbered ballots cast on Election Day. On his way to victory, Miami city Commissioner Willy Gort collected 2,228 absentee ballots, nearly double the 1,245 he received on Election Day this past November 2. His colleague, Marc Sarnoff, had almost the same number of absentee ballots (2,289) as votes cast at the polls (2,322).
In the Hialeah mayoral race's first round, absentee ballots outnumbered voters on Election Day by 2,023. In the runoff, winner Carlos Hernandez had 730 more absentee ballots than Election Day votes. His absentee ballots outpaced those of his opponent -- longtime Hialeah king Raul Martinez -- by 4,000.
The only way to get that many absentee ballots is by hiring brokers who charge candidates thousands of dollars to deliver bundles to the county elections department. The brokers are the ones responsible for dead people voting in the '80s and '90s. Now they go around strong-arming the elderly residents at assisted living facilities or fooling them with free breakfast at the local IHOP. The brokers also pay off preachers so they can set up shop inside houses of worship to sign up absentee voters.
I saw it firsthand when I ran in the recent county mayoral race. One guy, who I won't name, guaranteed he could deliver thousands of absentee ballots in North Miami and North Miami Beach for $3,000. I took a pass. It showed on Election Day. I had more early and Election Day ballots than absentee votes.
I don't believe our forefathers intended voting by absentee to be sold to the highest bidder. But that's the way it is.
(Progreso Weekly Editor’s Note: Miami has three notorious boleteras or absentee ballot queens. They are Sasha Tirador, Zaida Nuñez and Emelina Llanes. The Miami Herald recently published an article on Tirador.)
Luther Campbell, also known as Uncle Luke, is a former rap artist. He now writes for Miami New Times. He ran for Miami-Dade mayor earlier this year.
Source: Progreso Weekly
By Luther Campbell
From Miami New Times
Absentee ballot fraud could derail Obama in 2012
Rampant absentee ballot fraud is destroying democracy in Miami and across the United States. County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa has proposed that anyone caught messing with absentee ballots will go to jail for 60 days and pay a $1,000 fine. Ten of her colleagues agree on the plan, which will be voted on this month. Sosa is also urging the state legislature to charge anyone who collects absentee ballots with a felony.
Why do we need such a plan? The Miami-Dade ethics commission just concluded that three North Miami Beach residents' votes were stolen via the absentee ballot process. But more and more, absentee ballot brokers are the key to every election.
No sitting politician will reform the system, especially with the 2012 presidential election on the horizon. Absentee ballots in Miami-Dade may well elect the next president. There's a county mayoral race next year too.
Consider this: In the most recent elections in Miami and Hialeah, absentee ballots either tied or outnumbered ballots cast on Election Day. On his way to victory, Miami city Commissioner Willy Gort collected 2,228 absentee ballots, nearly double the 1,245 he received on Election Day this past November 2. His colleague, Marc Sarnoff, had almost the same number of absentee ballots (2,289) as votes cast at the polls (2,322).
In the Hialeah mayoral race's first round, absentee ballots outnumbered voters on Election Day by 2,023. In the runoff, winner Carlos Hernandez had 730 more absentee ballots than Election Day votes. His absentee ballots outpaced those of his opponent -- longtime Hialeah king Raul Martinez -- by 4,000.
The only way to get that many absentee ballots is by hiring brokers who charge candidates thousands of dollars to deliver bundles to the county elections department. The brokers are the ones responsible for dead people voting in the '80s and '90s. Now they go around strong-arming the elderly residents at assisted living facilities or fooling them with free breakfast at the local IHOP. The brokers also pay off preachers so they can set up shop inside houses of worship to sign up absentee voters.
I saw it firsthand when I ran in the recent county mayoral race. One guy, who I won't name, guaranteed he could deliver thousands of absentee ballots in North Miami and North Miami Beach for $3,000. I took a pass. It showed on Election Day. I had more early and Election Day ballots than absentee votes.
I don't believe our forefathers intended voting by absentee to be sold to the highest bidder. But that's the way it is.
(Progreso Weekly Editor’s Note: Miami has three notorious boleteras or absentee ballot queens. They are Sasha Tirador, Zaida Nuñez and Emelina Llanes. The Miami Herald recently published an article on Tirador.)
Luther Campbell, also known as Uncle Luke, is a former rap artist. He now writes for Miami New Times. He ran for Miami-Dade mayor earlier this year.
Source: Progreso Weekly
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Michelle Bachmann goes to Miami to kiss the asses of the gusanos
The Minnesota congresswoman paid a midday visit to the Bay of Pigs Museum and then became the latest in a long line of candidates to stop by the Versailles Restaurant, where she pledged to "stand up against our enemies like the communist Castro brothers in Cuba."
Read the rest of the Palm Beach Post article.
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JG: God save this country if Michelle Bachmann is ever elected POTUS. The Republican Party has been taken over by nuts!
Read the rest of the Palm Beach Post article.
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JG: God save this country if Michelle Bachmann is ever elected POTUS. The Republican Party has been taken over by nuts!
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