Our First Canadian President, eh?

In February, 2014, I published my thoughts on Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) running for president.

It would seem that Senator Cruz is going to announce his candidacy for the nation's highest office in the near future, despite constitutional reservations about his ability to serve.

Unlike Barack Obama, Cruz has a Canadian birth certificate. His father was a Castro-sympathizing Cuban, while his mother is his only birth connection to the United States, since she was born in Delaware.

How can Republicans not criticize Cruz legitimately for the very thing they illegitimately criticized Obama for in 2008 and 2012? Will Donald Trump parade Cruz's Canadian birth certificate for the whole world to see? Will Cruz publish his birth certificate? Will he acknowledge his Canadian roots at all?

I have reservations about people who claim they are natural born Americans, when in fact they were born on foreign shores. That applies to John McCain (R-AZ), despite the fact his father was on active military service which led to his birth in Panama. Let me go a step further, would I have berated the issue if Barack Obama had been born in Hawaii prior to 1959? The answer is an astounding yes! Considering, Hawaii was not a state until 1959. (Obama was born in 1961.)

With that said, Obama's father was born in Kenya, while his mother was born in Kansas. (If we want to draw parallels to Cruz and Obama's American pedigrees.)

Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution very clearly states: "No Person except a natural born Citizen...shall be eligible to the Office of President." While it may seem ludicrous to have this conversation in the 21st century, it was an important principle for the individual holding the highest political office in the land to have no allegiance by birth, or claim thereby, to another sovereign nation.

It will fall to the United States Supreme Court to decide if that portion of the Constitution allows for naturalized citizens as well. Of course, there's the constitutional amendment option, but I doubt that will happen before 2016 (or ever).

America mending fences

President Barack Obama, who is attending the Summit of the Americas, has made headlines by having a photo-op with Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.

Republicans are beside themselves with grief and worry. They warn the president not to be "laughing and joking" with one of America's enemies. Let's revisit the whole scenario that led to countries, like Venezuela, becoming our enemies. I think I can sum it up easily: George W. Bush.

Barack Obama is not George Bush. The voters of the United States spoke clearly when they elected Obama to the White House. We want a new direction for America at home and around the world. That is what Obama has been doing. He has done a great job of it so far.

The United States is easing decades-old sanctions against Cuba, which have proven to be ineffective time-and-time again. Venezuela, which had its ambassador expelled by Bush, is talking about mending diplomatic ties with the United States. Mexico and the United States are openly discussing the war on drugs, which has mangled parts of Mexico and is dangerously close to America's southern border.

I know we have had eight years of war and antagonism with the rest of the world, but this is the new face of America, and it is called diplomacy.

Raul Castro named new president of Cuba

In a move that widely expected, Raul Castro has been named as the new president of Cuba. He succeeds his older brother, Fidel Castro, who held the position for 49 years.

Fidel Castro & Cuba

I never dreamed that Fidel Castro would step down from his post as leader of Cuba. I had decided that he would rather die first than believe he had let the United States defeat him. It came as quite a shock, I admit, when I saw it on the Internet, as I was checking the morning news headlines.

What is in store for Cuba?

If Fidel's brother, Raul Castro, succeeds him, officially, then there will be little change. The citizens of this long-time repressed island nation may grow weary and frustrated with the thoughts of doing things the same way, day-after-day. Perhaps, the revolution will evolve, and ultimately take Cuba into a new direction of prosperity, and allow it to become an active member of the global partnership of nations.

Communist-style suffrage

Cubans are going to the polls today in the first election since Fidel Castro disappeared from the national stage over a year-and-half ago for "intestinal" surgery.

The votes will go to fill the 614 seats of the National Assembly. Although, they expect about 90% voter turnout, each of the seats are not contested, including Fidel Castro's parliamentary seat, which means if they are breathing at the end of the election they are elected, including Fidel. The National Assembly will meet in future days to select a new president and Council of State. Some have speculated that the National Assembly will not re-elect Fidel Castro to the presidency, but instead his brother, Raul, who has been filling the presidential post since his convalescence, is seen as his successor. Fidel has previously said he will not cling to power, which might be foreshadowing to the Cuban people of a change in the top post, upon his official retirement to private life.

On a side-note, I often employ communist-style voting in my classroom. My students are always saying, "Majority rules! We want to vote." So, I say, "Sure, let's vote Soviet-style." That statement is always followed by moans, because they know what it means.

I present them with their choice, which is always my option. Then, they vote, but always reluctantly. Some say, "There's only one choice. That's not fair." I reply, "You wanted to vote and here is your choice, now vote!" Sometimes I have to employ some unscrupulous, strong-arm tactics to secure a win, but I always get 100% voter participation and support for my position, in the end.

Then, someone will always, as if on cue, whine, "Why do I have to do this?" My favorite line is: "You and the entire class voted to do it, that's why!"

I'm also fond of saying, "I'm Brezhnev and you're Czechoslovakia. Think twice before you cross me." I've only had a few students who have looked-up that veiled historical reference, however.

Exodus

It would seem the US is pressing the Cuban people not to leave en mass from their homeland. What the heck are they talking about?

From what I see on tv and read, the Cubans who live in places like Havana, are perfectly happy with where they are. They seem to love Fidel and hope that he recovers. Now of course, I realize some of this is propaganda (because as Americans, we should be experienced with it). But I believe most of it is genuine. These people have lived with Castro as their "father" for almost fifty years now. It's like old Queen Victoria as she lay dying, Prince Albert came in to see her and wept uncontrollably. What's my point? Even though, he had hoped she would die soon, so he could be king, when the moment of truth came, he was overwrought with his bond to his controlling, bitter mother who fully dominated the first sixty years of his life. Cubans will be feeling the same nostalgia if Fidel dies or does not recover. Luckily, for them, they will retain a piece of him, through his brother, Raul.

So what's the real story the United States is sending Cuba? It's this: Cubans! Comrades! Your leader is dying, or already dead. Now is the moment you seize democracy! We are your friends. We seek to mold you and shape you in our image. We stand ready to flood your impoverished nation with many American dollars and to rebuild your economy. Why not just go ahead and concede defeat and communism's demise? The "Old Man" is already dead!

The thing the United States doesn't understand is this: Cubans, who have lived in Cuba before and since 1959, have no idea what democracy is. I dare say, we as Americans, are quickly forgetting what democracy is ourselves, which is the real tragedy here!

Cuba

Why is the United States so worried about Cuba? Is it like Cuba is going to invade Florida and annex that state from the rest of the US? I doubt it.

Do we even remember the reason hate for Cuba is so ingrained in our brains? I don't think we do. We just do it, because it's what we were told to do. I don't hate Cuba. I could care less about Fidel Castro. He is a piss ant in the world political theater. Let's devote our minds and attention to the Middle East, instead of some benign, stagnant, 47-year-old regime on an economically crippled Caribbean island. That just screams world domination, doesn't it?

As for those cheering mobs in Little Havana that we all see on television, I doubt 85% of them have ever set foot in Cuba. As for the rest of them, they were so concerned about the plight of their people, the direction of their country, and the oppression of Fidel Castro, they defected to the United States, where they could live in virtual safety and forget their troubles.

That says "patriot" to me.

Is Hell freezing over?

I thought that was the Bush Administration's policy on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: they'll get the rights of prisoners-of-war when hell freezes over.

Today, the White House announced the prisoners in Cuba will receive the rights of the Geneva Convention regarding the rights and treatment of prisoners-of-war. This comes after years of pressure from the European Union and a bitch slap to Bush from the Judicial Branch last month. Last month, the Supreme Court said Bush can't create his own law and his very own little kangaroo courts which would have been outside the scope of the Constitution.

I'm glad. Bush is getting a much needed reality check!

Bush in Despair

I particularly loved CNN.com's caption relating to today's decision by the Supreme Court regarding the trials of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: "Supreme Court voids Bush's 'blank check.'" Now if we can get the Congress to follow suit then Bush will finally be put in his place after almost five years of running amok the Constitution of the United States. Just wait until November!

Kicked in the Balls

Today, the Supreme Court gave Bush some information about his detainees in Cuba. Basically, he isn't going to get to do all the things he thought he could to them. With that said, what will become of the 450+ people being illegally detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? Although, the Court did not say they could not hold the detainees, it really puts a limit on what will be done with them. With no trial, I guess they will just continue to rot where they are. That's the real sad part of it all. The Court could have limited the president's power to hold people indefinitely; otherwise, these people are our "guests" until after January 2009!

Bush is Nazism

During the 1930s and 1940s, Germany was subjected to what we are being subjected to in the United States today. People's fears were preyed on by the government. They used a small group of people to justify everything from mass extermination programs of people who did not meet their ideals of perfection (not just the Jews) and to engage their country in unfettered and unprovoked war with Europe with the grand belief they would expand their way of life to the rest of the world.

Instead of Hitler, we have Bush. Instead of the Jews, we have Islamic extremists (and to distill it even further, basically every Arab person in the world). Instead of Europe, we have Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of concentration camps, we have Guantamano Bay, Cuba (and I doubt even Bush knows where the rest of the secret prisons are).

We live in a dangerous time. The Constitution which has been the bedrock of our democracy for over 200 years is in peril. Bush believes he is outside the scope of the Constitution. He believes he can simply shrug his shoulders and say with a smirk that America is under attack and he can justify all he has done. He can say that the other branches of the government don't matter (and from where I sit today, they don't). The Legislative and Judicial branches of government have sat on their asses long enough. They have sat by allowing this deranged demagogue, in the form of the president, derail everything for which the United States stands. The US Congress is filled with sycophants who relish in the light that Bush brings them. They are only concerned with serving their true master, Bush, and not the people who elected them to their high offices.

Today, we found out that not only does George Bush keep illegal lists of our phone calls, but he is also looking at our banking. He doesn't need a warrant from a court to conduct this type of activity. That takes too much time and effort. Besides, that would be too legal for him. No, he's protecting us from a "bunch of people" who want to hurt the United States of America. What does that mean exactly? By saying this, he is also saying that we need protection from you, because you he is part of the bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America. You want to troll our lives and listen to our conversations so you can have absolute power.

That's what is all boils down to: power. Bush is so frightened that if he doesn't control every aspect of our lives, if he doesn't eavesdrop, that he will lose it all. He is truly a scared man. But of what? Is he scared of the Constitution of the United States? Is he scares of the Congress? Is he scared of the Court? Easily, we can see, the answer to all of these questions is yes.

From all these things we have learned about the eavesdropping on our lives, watching with whom we conduct financial matters, we can assume that he watches ever aspect of our lives. Certainly, he watches the Internet. He has a list of all the websites we visit. Our patterns of its usage: who we chat with, what we buy online, what blogs and to which bulletin boards we subscribe. He also probably knows what I bought at the store Saturday using my MasterCard. The NSA could probably create a list of the things I like to eat and drink, based on those records. I am sure it will be a matter of minutes before this blog entry is logged into an NSA archive somewhere for processing at a later date. Who knows, it might even get flagged for some special attention. In Bush's view, the things I have said in this blog, I am a terrorist.

Based on the evidence of the gross abuses by the Bush Administration, at the rubber stamp pleasure of the Courts and Congress, I believe we are headed to a perilous place in history. We are heading into a world of xenophobia and paranoia. From my personal standpoint, if things continue as they are, I will leave the United States of America. I will emigrate to a country which truly values my independence and civil liberties and rights. I was born in the United States of America, my family was born here (they've been here in some cases over 200 years), and I have lived my whole life under the assumption that I can do and live as I choose, because I have the distinct privileged to be an American citizen. I can't get used to living in a country where that isn't so anymore. I can't live in a country where the people are simply overwrought with ignorance and fear. They embrace the ideas and beliefs of a single, ignorant man. A president who can't carry out a news conference without berating the freedom of the media because it publicizes his illegal activities.

It's simply foolish and it's time it stopped.

Guantanamo Bay

America's darling in the war against terrorism, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is now in the international limelight again.

Apparently, three "inmates" committed suicide over the weekend by hanging themselves. The US still doesn't tell the American people what really happened there. We have to learn the facts from foreign media outlets. I find it disgusting that our media is so beholden to the government that it can't find it in itself to be independent and report the facts of the case.

It is time the US brought these 500, or so, people to trial. They aren't even criminals. They are more like hostages in this illegal war. I suppose we are holding them on ice until we need them to conduct some type of backroom deal with the enemy.

The United Nations must insist the United States deliver these criminals to justice or set them free. Our country can no longer continue to hold these people incommunicado forever! It is illegal and irresponsible. It stands against everything democracy represents. We want to be a model of democracy for the whole world; yet we hold people in prisons in other countries and do not give them simple democratic devices, such as knowing what they are charged with and then the right to have a trial in a court of law.

How would we respond?

If Mexico, Canada, or some Caribbean nation launched missiles into the United States, how would we react?

I think it is unconscionable for us to be so arrogant as to launch missile strikes into the airspace of other nations. The United States, however, does not feel it is obligated to respect any other nation's sovereignty. Of course, I refer to the recent missile attack coordinated by the CIA and launched into Pakistan.

Who cares what the reason is. It is unfair of us to use our might to bully others. If Cuba launched a missile into Miami to try to kill some Cuban dissidents we'd be outraged and destroy Cuba for attacking our country, even if they are attempting to "weed out" Cuban terrorists/radicals.

So what's with the double standard?

Padilla Remanded

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the military to turn over "enemy combatant" American citizen Jose Padilla to the civilian courts. This is his first request with further filing for Petition for Writ of Certiorari (can Mr. Bush hold Americans and deny them their rights). I think this case should be handled by the inferior courts, initially, and then move along with the inevitable appeals process. I do think, however, the SCOTUS (through the writ) has the mandate to determine if such imprisonment of Americans is constitutional.

He is to be remanded to the jurisdiction of the US District Court of Southern Florida in Miami. He will be set free from a navy brig in South Carolina where he has spent the past several years. Habeas corpus is the right of every American, but this person has been denied this right for years, which is simply outrageous. I have the Constitutional right to know what charges are levied against me by the state in a court of law with due process; ergo, habeas corpus.

This is more than a simple test of individual liberties, but whether the president will comply with the Order of the SCOTUS and their final decision regarding this over zealous and illegal treatment of Americans by authorizing the military to hold them indefinitely without due process. Of course, the military loves to argue they are outside the jurisdiction of civilian courts, but even military courts are under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (every American court--martial or civilian), considering they have the final word on all law.

An even further stretch is regarding the foreigners held by the US. The SCOTUS should order the military courts to present their cases against all foreign nationals they have in custody, such as the political prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or release them. The countries where these people are citizens should be outraged their citizens are being held incommunicado.

Terrorists' Bill of Rights

This afternoon, Rush Limbaugh stated that by not renewing the Patriot USA Act, we are giving terrorists rights!

This conservative idealism has taken away my fundamental civil liberties and rights. I do not believe by allowing me, an American citizen, the rights and protections granted to me by the United States Constitution is going to endanger the welfare of our society.

Rush Limbaugh should go back on his drugs, or move to Cuba!

Orange Threat Level for Banks...What's That?

This afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security (or as it is more affectionately known, DHS) raised the threat level from yellow to orange for specific target areas in Washington, DC, New York City, and northern New Jersey (who knew?).

Now I ask you, one American to another, what does these cotton-pickin' colors mean, in all honesty? We've been at the yellow (or elevated) threat level for the better part of three years now. That means very little to me. I wonder what it would take to get us down to one of the other colors, like green? Maybe a global monopolization of all the world's nations by the United States. Of course, then we can be at the green threat level and live in More's utopian society.

After visiting the DHS' website, I discovered that yellow means "elevated." So yeah, that's a nice fancy word, but what does it mean for me as the "average American." Their definition of "elevated" basically requires us to become vigilantes. We should be watchful of our neighbors and neighborhoods to make sure they aren't engaged in illegal, or subversive, activities (such as being active in the Kerry-Edwards campaign).

Now this all might sound nice, like apple pie, but it reminds me of Nazi Germany. In Germany during the 1930s and 1940s, Hitler's ever-loveable Gestapo (gestalt staats-polizie), whom even Hitler feared, and the SS (Schuetzstaffel) were loose and terrorizing the German people. These organizations, too, were built around intelligence gathering (deja vu) of the most secret type. Not only did they gather information, they single-handedly destroyed the lives of those that stood in their way, or they deemed as subversive to the Fatherland (i.e., Adolf Hitler). How on earth did we get to this? I know--because both of these Nazi organizations were created for the betterment of the German people. They served as a liason between the people and the highest levels of German government. They sought out plots to overthrow the Nazi regime and then those people were sent to concentration camps (sort of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba).

Now I'm not saying our King George is an Adolf Hitler-type (he doesn't have the intelligence really), but some of the ideas are sort of the same. Like the correlation between an ultra-secretative intelligence service (like the DHS) and the Gestapo and SS; all of which are/were dedicated to the security of the homeland!

Now with that said, I don't doubt that the DHS can serve as an honorable and useful governmental agency for our country. This agency, however, must not be allowed to step outside of constitutional and legal considerations. The minute one person begins to use it for their own ill-gain, then it is no longer a viable organization and it must not be allowed to succeed. Perhaps, this all sounds like a conspiracy theory, but maybe not. Who knows? Only time will tell. But the minute they come knocking my door down in the middle of the night for writing this post, then I will be avenged!