One Man's Opinion

Imagine a small town that four years ago had a population of some 13,000 people and now has 16,000 permits issued to carry concealed weapons. That's Hayden, Idaho, where a two-year-old killed his mother with a gun she carried in her purse while shopping. Most likely, the kid had seen a lot of shooting on TV or video games. So, he did what comes naturally. A local policeman has characterized the town and region as strongly pro-gun. It figures. No need for condolences here.

It was bound to happen. Enterprising American chefs and cooks have begun "cooking up" recipes - whole books of them -- with marijuana. Given the increasing acceptance of pot for medicinal and recreational purposes, the next step is to cook with it. After all, if you drink beer or wine with your food, why not get another buzz or high with it? Coming soon on a menu near you...

There are people who have made their living -- a good one, at that -- speaking and writing against communism, socialism or any other "ism" contrary to the capitalist democracy model of the U.S. and its cohorts around the world. They need an "enemy" as the bogeyman, or else they become irrelevant. So, they oppose any development that might put them out of business. Naturally, these are the "naysayers" in the thawing of U.S.-Cuba relations that has just started. They will bitch, rant and rave against it to no end because its success will jeopardize their jobs as defenders of the democratic faith and prophets of doom, should "them" gain some advantage against "us." They will do anything to keep those checks coming.

Another unlucky American abroad; a babe in the woods, so to speak. An Oregon woman just happened to share a taxi with a guy who stopped to pick up some drugs in East Timor.  Naturally, the police arrested them both, and it took some time for the authorities to clear her, although she has not been given her passport back. Funny how it's always Americans who are completely innocent of any wrongdoing, victims of circumstance. Like all those who lose their way and end up on the wrong side of the border. Or Alan Gross...well, strike that, now that the truth has finally come out.

The U.S. keeps running into trouble trying to reconcile its stand on human rights with political reality and expediency. Countries which it helped or encouraged to liberate from oppressive regimes, have yet to achieve a decent track record on democratic values and freedoms. (Come to think of it, the American record on that is not all that spotless.) The Egyptian experience after the so-called "Arab Spring" is a case in point. The latest figures show that the current government -- which, by the way, came to power after a coup -- has detained 10,000 people, a figure that, in and of itself, speaks volumes about its fascist bent. So, in the end, countries do what they will, regardless of what the U.S. thinks about them, given the poor example that it sets for them anyway.

Is it too easy and obvious to say that "Uncle Sam" has "cried uncle" with regards to Cuba? Or that after 53 years of an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, the Americans have blinked? In any event, those conservative, hawks and rednecks are up in arms about Obama's decision to begin to end the stupidity of a policy that hasn't worked and had no meaning, given the fact that the U.S. has been dealing with former enemies like Vietnam, China and Russia for decades now. The Cuban exception was irrational and pointless. It would be extremely embarrassing, to say the least, if the U.S. Congress were to thwart Obama's change in policy. Let's hope that this insanity comes to a definite end.

OK, so maybe the American who went to North Korea is a bit nuts, but he sure is saying some very sane things about what goes on in the U.S. and what the U.S. does at home and abroad. So, I wouldn't disregard everything he says as the ravings of a lunatic, which is, of course, the official line, in order to discredit him. Crazy people, as well as drunks and children, are often very truthful.