In About 360 Miles, I'd Reach The Beach

Is the freedom of Americans
more important than the freedoms of other human beings?

According to some Congressman debating the embargo against Communist Cuba on C-Span last night, yes, the freedom of American residents and citizens is what's most important. He kept bringing up over and freaking over the fact that the U.S. government does not allow Cuban citizens to travel back to Cuba more than once every three years, and that regular citizens can't go at all. That freedom is being withheld from us.

But the schmuck Democrat Representative McGovern barely addressed the fact that Cuban citizens are essentially prisoners on their island. People opposing the government -- they're prisoners in jail.

McGovern seemed more concerned with the rights of Americans rather than his fellow human beings who have very little rights whatsoever. I think he said it's not for the U.S. government to judge how the Cuban government treat their citizens... or some lunacy like that.

On the one hand, the embargo is a bad thing because if we were allowed to go there we could speak to Cuban citizens to our hearts delights about FREEDOM and they could have a PROPER REVOLUTION against the Communist government who keeps them (basically) in chains. But on the other hand, Communist Cuba has in the past sponsored terrorism and if the embargo was lifted, they'd have billions of dollars flowing into THE GOVERNMENT and not necessarily to the people -- what exactly would they do with that money? They are already best buds with that Socialist jerkwad Hugo Chavez and I bet Ahmadinejad wouldn't mind being a nice little part of that threesome, as well. Iranian nukes linked with Cuba so close to the United States? That may be far-fetched but is it seriously without a shadow of a doubt not a possibility?

The embargo does not hurt the Cuban people. They have what they need to survive. It's their repressive Communist government that hurts their people. If Bush is considered a "dictator" by some, then what exactly the hell is Castro? A nice man looking out for his people? They can't buy a nicer home. They can't just go buy a car. They can't buy certain foods because the government hordes them for themselves, for resorts serving Canadian and Spanish visitors, and for overseas trade. They can't just open a business in order to thrive better than they live now. They can't travel to Cancun or Mexico City, to Chicago or London or Montreal. They have no free media. They have no free voice. If you tell your friend that you hate Castro but your friend loves Castro and he tells an official what you said, you will go to prison. Last time I checked, that doesn't happen in the United States of America. People bitch and complain about Bush "shredding the Constitution" and how our rights are being thrown out the window. Give me a break. Seriously, come on, we are WAY above and beyond much freer than Communist Cuba. There the government works to control every aspect of peoples lives. It might seem like that here sometimes but when you look into it it's easy to see that in Cuba, citizens have very few human rights at all. Why is that okay? It's not. But it's America who's the bad guy? Look, it's not the United States who makes Cuba maintain a totalitarian police state. We're not controlling them and making them do that. That's under their own command.

Cuban citizens are prisoners but it's the freedom of Americans that certain politicians are concerned most about? What the hell?

Damn I hate life sometimes. It's so easy to understand how ignorant Americans can go about their Happy Go Lucky lives not caring about such things because they'll have no sadness about such matters. What they don't see, what they don't know about, what's the problem then? Not for them to worry about.

What if it was you who wanted to escape Communist Cuba to have a better life? Wouldn't you want others to give a damn and try to help you out somehow?

This should be its own post. Easily I could do 3,000 words on this subject because it bothers the hell out of me... and it should bother the hell out of everyone.

Man, all I wanted to do this a.m. was say: this morning I went for a run... OUTSIDE... as it's rather warm today...

· Run Time -- 13 minutes 33 seconds (+0:17)

· 25° F (-4 celcius) -- overcast, but 25 is now considered kinda warm!

· Total Running Time for November -- 1 hour 50 min 32 sec
______________________October --- ______57 min 06 sec
____(starting Oct. 1)
· Weight Loss Goal -- 24 pounds (11 kg)
__________· So Far -- 9 lb.

Yeah, once again: it was warm! It's like 16 or 17 degrees ABOVE average right now. When i looked at the thermometer I had to a do that classic double take to make sure it really said what I thunk it said.

I was mentally prepared to head on over to the Rec Center again... as I would for every run between now and about March... but with this temp I decided on hitting the trail.

Fresh snowfall in the past few days made it nice and soft. What a contrast to the hard running surface indoors. I added 17 seconds onto my run and if the day before yesterday was a 5 on the 0 to 10 Easy Scale, today was about a 7 -- relatively a piece o' cake. Adding on slowly is working just fine for me. I'm looking forward to 20 minutes but I'm in no rush to get there. Just wanna make sure I progress nice & steadily as well as easily.

I won't count on any more warm days. Today may've been just a fluke. Back to the gym tomorrow!

3 running tunes from my morning music...


The Fixx

Reach The Beach

1983






One Thing Leads To Another
The Sign Of Fire
Running
Saved By Zero
Opinions
Reach The Beach
Changing
Liner
Privilege
Outside

Mmm, cool stuff! This is the second album from this new wave/modern rock band from London, England. Two songs here -- One Thing Leads To Another and Saved By Zero -- are two of their few most popular. I've known those from way back. Great to hear 'em again. And the rest ranks right up there. Another excellent band healping to lead the way in England's post-punk days.

find a download @ Yesterday Lives On