THE CUBA AND NICARAGUA PROBLEM AND OURS

Yesterday's second post which was merely intended as a little ball-busting by-play requires some explanation.

It occurred to me that given the coziness of the USA with China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and the prickliness of the USA with Europe and modern Latin America, the Republicans are not against Communism or Totalitarianism so much as they are against Capitalism. Cuba's not bad because it's Communist. Nicaragua wasn't bad in the 1980's because it was Socialist. France wasn't bad in 2002 because it was Social-Democratic. They were bad because they were doing business exclusive of the United States. In fact, even the way "our cousin" the United Kingdom organizes itself economically, socially and most importantly how it conducts trade puts it at the far Left extreme of the political discourse in the United States. That's true of the rest of Europe. Russia. Modern Latin America. South Africa. Australia and New Zealand. And, of course, Canada. And, yes friend, Israel.

So, too, do many of the opinions shared in blogville. We question. We argue with "them". We argue with each other. We sharpen our viewpoints. But there's no mistaking that Blogville sits somewhere very close to a more contemporary European democratic capitalism than the US Right and the "Center" media would like.

The A T & T contretemps as revealed by Klein shows that "they" have everything: all the e-mails, all the phone calls, all the blogs, everything. I always had thought that as big as blogging has gotten we were all sort of a pimple on the butt. Like Cuba. But why, then, the need to keep everything? So, even in jest, when I read something looks like entrapment, I have to wonder. How "free" is all of this? How much "political speech" are we really allowed? As a matter of population and sampling, there almost has to be any number of Republican operatives or National Security types playing "earnest Lefty" out there. It probably means nothing.

FAIRLANE was joking and I was joking but it's something to consider. If Duke Cunningham can go and Valerie Plame can go and Jack Abrahamoff can go, why can't a pimple on the ass like any of us go? Not that self-censorship is the answer, but it's a quesion.

Kelso's Nuts love you.