ALERT" HR-1771 Gives President Obama More Power

Mary Greeley

Putin Tells Obama to Get a New Job

Mary Greeley

Top CIA Officer in Afghanistan Mistakenly Named by White House

breitbart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House inadvertently included the name of the top CIA official in Afghanistan on a list of participants in a military briefing with President Barack Obama that was distributed to reporters on Sunday, the Washington Post reported.  

The newspaper said the official, identified as "Chief of Station" in Kabul, was named as being among those at a briefing with Obama during the president's trip to Bagram Air Base near the Afghan capital.

The list of names was sent by email to reporters traveling with Obama on his surprise Afghanistan visit and included in a "pool report" shared with correspondents and others not on the trip.

The Post said the White House issued a revised list deleting the CIA official's name after it recognized the mistake.

Read the full story at Reuters.

'Chicagoland' Emails: CNN, Emanuel Aides Coordinated to Showcase Mayor as 'Star'

breitbart

By John Nolte

 

The Chicago Tribune gained access to over 700 emails between Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office and CNN. The emails detail a cozy relationship between the Democrat's office and the cable news network during the production of "Chicagoland," a low-rated eight-part cable series pitched to viewers as an unvarnished look at the city. [The emails are posted here.]

The emails tell the story of a cable news network coordinating with the mayor of a failing city who is also a rising Democrat star. The apparent goal of "Chicagoland" was for CNN to use its resources as a way to portray the "mayor in a positive light" at a national level and showcase Emanuel "as the star he really is."

According to the Tribune, details were coordinated down to camera angles:

If it seemed as though some scenes of CNN's documentary series "Chicagoland" were coordinated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and the show's producers, that's because they were.

More than 700 emails reviewed by the Tribune reveal that the production team worked hand in hand with the mayor's advisers to develop storylines, arrange specific camera shots and review news releases officially announcing the show.

Producers asked the mayor's office to help them set up key interactions in what the cable network has billed as a nonscripted eight-part series, including Emanuel's visits with the school principal who emerged as a star of the show, emails show. …

The production team for the series, whose final episode aired Thursday night, told Emanuel's staff that particular scenes would present the mayor in a positive light, with one of the producers expressing a desire to showcase the mayor "as the star that he really is."

"Chicagoland's" executive producer is Robert Redford.

CNN has yet to comment on the scandal, but this is yet another black eye for Jeff Zucker, who has been in charge of CNN for just a little over a year. Under his leadership, CNN has become a laughingstock, even among its left-wing colleagues in the mainstream media, for its bungled attempts to cover serious news and bizarre obsessions with whales, missing planes, and ferry disasters.

Just last year, CNN was caught using its network to push anti-gun legislation.

CNN presents itself as an objective cable news outlet.

UPDATE: CNN issues non-denial-denial. 

Trey Gowdy Demands Answers On Benghazi

Dan Adams

Will President Obama stop Putin?

Se supone que conversaciones, concesiones, NOOOO...

CNN iReport

Por Andrés Pascual

Cuando Obama “tiró el farol” (guapería oral en Cuba), contra El Assad, el criminal sirio arreció la masacre contra su pueblo y nada sucedió. El papelazo se olvidó por el control del comunismo demócrata de la media nacional; hace poco le hizo una advertencia al gobierno “que se huyó” en Ukrania y ese pueblo, que entendió el “gesto-declaración sub-amenazante” como la posibilidad de ningún apoyo al reclamo libertario, incendió la capital literalmente, como los moscovitas a Moscú cuando la invasión napoleónica, quedando demostrado que el tipo no solo es pusilánime, sino aliado de las fuerzas represoras que asolan a cualquier pueblo del mundo; que ni mete miedo ni es su intención; pero, para mal de Estados Unidos, cada vez menos de los que reconocieron a este país como suma y reflejo del destino y la esperanza de quienes buscan apoyo para recuperar la libertad perdida, creen en él. Con semejante capitán al frente no puede resolverse con justicia una bronca en kindergarten.

Parte del incremento de la pérdida de espacios de la llamada democracia es culpa de este antiamericano y comunista que habita en la ex Casa Blanca.

Los venezolanos deberían tener en cuenta el caso cubano otra vez, porque, con mil y una artimañas (tal vez le quede mejor marañas), una parte muy generosa de ambos partidos han contribuido a enquistar la tiranía dictatorial castro-comunista, tomando en cuenta que, en 55 años, han pasado 5 presidentes republicanos ¿Y?

Aunque vale la pena decirlo, por lo menos los republicanos hablan, prometen, engañan piadosamente (con intención electorera claro), a sabiendas de que nada harán por el país, como los congresistas cubanos y Marcos Rubio; pero se prefiere eso a la actividad abiertamente pro-tiranía, tal el apoyo político-económico de Obama con los viajes, las remesas, los intercambios y lo que cuelga y falta.

Venezuela no puede confiar en nadie de aquí, porque Maduro representa los intereses de algunos; otros, porque varios también tienen intereses y el resto no tiene poder para ejecutar lo único que puede salvar a Venezuela y ahorrarle más sangre inocente y corajuda: la intervención militar para expulsar al gobierno asesino que le entregó el país a un ejército de ocupación...

De Capriles: “seguirán las protestas hasta que se escuchen las demandas...”, por lo que he sabido ¿A quién se dirigió? “EL PAPA NO TIENE DIVISIONES”, ni el “raro” pacifista seguidores, digo, eso creo.

Si el objetivo INCLUYE “conversar” con quien los desconoció al pedírselo a Obama para que “no lo tumben”, esa protesta, con muertos y heridos, terminaría en un desastre; sin embargo, creo que los jóvenes en Venezuela, que no son como los de la Cuba castrista, tienen más lucidez y arrojo que los “mayores”, porque, a fin de cuentas, arriesgan más porque no tienen que buscar la comida de un hogar, y por la propia naturaleza juvenil cuando son nacionales con identidad y el sentimiento patriótico latente para luchar por su independencia y soberanía.

Esta juventud venezolana en la calle no es similar a la castrista, en Cuba no hay jóvenes: los niños nacen viejos por el ENTREGUISMO OPORTUNISTA DE SUS PADRES, QUE SE LOS OFRECEN AL CULTO POLÍTICO DE ADOCTRINAMIENTO, saltan etapas obligatorias de vida y a los 5 o 6 años escuchan “que deben ser como el Che”, sin juguetes ni televisión acorde con su edad, entonces crecen de acuerdo a la involución natural impuesta...

Hoy se inauguró en Miami un monumento solemne a la memoria de parte de los últimos niños y jóvenes que nacieron en Cuba, es un mausoleo de cálculo, porque nadie puede cuantificar cuántos jóvenes cubanos murieron en los primeros 7 años de genocidio castrista en acción, asesinados sin juicio o en paredones de fusilamiento, etapa capaz de convalidarse con el arrojo y la necesidad de la juventud venezolana en la calle, pero con muchos más muertos, presos y desaparecidos que, por la apatía o por la militancia castrista del “hombre y el joven nuevos”, han quedado en el plano de víctimas inútiles por un sueño roto: la libertad de Cuba.

Pero en Venezuela, porque el capitalismo y la sociedad de consumo se han mantenido vivos aunque en peligro, donde todavía pueden ver a los Yankees por televisión y a Miguel Cabrera con el Detroit; o comprar un juego de video que no sea la “lucha heroica de Fidel o de Chávez por el pueblo”, incluso gustos a tono con su edad como disfrutar un concierto de un nacional que viva en Estados Unidos y no sea chavista, a fin de cuentas, hay diferencias.

Sin embargo, para que no pierdan en el round 12 por TKO, deben seguir en la calle y quemar lo que vean, así provocaron la huida del sátrapa en Ukrania y obviar lo que diga el partido demócrata o quien sea, porque, si la tiranía castro-madurista cierra el candado, esa llave no la encontrarán más nunca.

Por cierto ¿Cuántos mexicanos, aquí o allá, se están solidarizando con Venezuela como "hermanos" exigen para marchas intimidantes por su “reforma migratoria”? incluso de todo Centro y Suramérica y hablo de pueblo, no de gobierno.

Joe García, que ni pinta ni da color y cuyo puesto como congresista es un apéndice para molestar al exilio y bacilar sin ninguna capacidad legistativa de efecto positivo; que nunca está en la base correcta para anotar con fly de sacrificio, sugirió lo que entendí como la política del partido demócrata, ala obamista, para resolver el problema venezolano: hace un par de días este “headknuckles” (“CABEZA HUECA”, tratamiento a lo MOCHELLE), propuso “conversar sobre la habilitación de un Ajuste Venezolano” que dirima el asunto a favor de Maduro y de Raúl, en un momento en que ese país necesita la 82 División Aerotransportada en “terreno de nadie”, por el bien de Venezuela y del resto de Hispanoamérica.

Con este tipo de elemento, con esta facción de la tiranía estadounidense que entrega el destino de la libertad del mundo, Venezuela, que ni se te ocurra...

Top 5 Consequences of Putin's 'Crimea Reset'

breitbart

By Joel B. Pollak 

"We are entering into our renewed relationship with our eyes open," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton five years ago, before presenting Russia's foreign minister with the infamous bright red "reset" button.

Russia has pushed the "reset" button all right, resetting history and geography to take the Crimea back, while the U.S. and the European Union do virtually nothing. The White House announced Monday morning that President Barack Obama had imposed a set of sanctions on the Russian arms industry and senior Russian officials, but no one close to Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, according to the UK Telegraph.

The weakness of the west in facing the Russian seizure of the Crimea is likely to have a significant geopolitical effect, both in the short term and long term. Here are five of the most likely consequences of the :Crimea reset":

1. China advances claims over territory and airspace. An aggressively nationalist China was already moving to broaden its air defenses and its claims to the Senkaku Islands, despite U.S. plans to "pivot" from the Middle East to the western Pacific. It will now be even more assertive, knowing there are few consequences.

2. Al Qaeda steps up its attempts to create an Islamic caliphate. The Obama administration, having dispatched Osama bin Laden, has left Al Qaeda to expand across Africa and the Middle East. Those hoping to establish an Islamic state in the ruins of Syria and Iraq will be encouraged by the failure of the west to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine, because the artificial borders of the Middle East seem even more vulnerable now.

3. Israel plans for completely unilateral action on Iran. It is clearer than ever before that the Obama administration has no ability to enforce its own "red lines" and no will to risk armed conflict. Israel will likely set aside the task of obtaining U.S. approval for a pre-emptive strike on Iran and will make independent plans--perhaps in coordination with Saudi Arabia, which has likewise learned that Obama is not to be trusted.

4. Europe gets serious about fracking. As my colleague James Delingpole of Breitbart London observes, one of the positive side-effects of the Crimea crisis is that the EU has realized that energy independence is vital to its security. It will start to reject pseudo-scientific "green" arguments in favor of oil and gas development.

5. Russia continues to challenge U.S. allies and create crisis. The Crimea crisis is hardly over, and may reach other parts of Ukraine, as well as NATO allies in Eastern Europe, as Putin tries the same trick again. He is also expanding Russian influence into Latin America. He will only stop when the U.S. stops retreating from any possible confrontation, and commits military resources to stopping his advance. That point is still very far away.

¿Pudiera el Presidente Obama estar considerando cambios en las restricciones a Cuba?

Maria Elvira Salazar

)

Rev. Jeremiah Wright's daughter found guilty of money laundering

Chicago Tribune

Jeri Wright (right) joins Rev. Al Sharpton
patdollard.com

SPRINGFIELD—The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s former minister, was convicted by a federal jury Friday of laundering thousands of dollars from a $1.25 million state grant for a Chicago-based job-training program.
Jeri Wright said she would "definitely" appeal the verdict in U.S. District Court, which found her guilty of 11 counts that included money laundering, lying to federal agents and lying to a grand jury.

"I didn't do anything," Wright, 48, of Hazel Crest, said as she left the Springfield courtroom. Her father, whose preaching became a lightning rod during Obama's first presidential campaign, was not part of the case.

Her attorney described Wright as a victim of a web spun by longtime friend Regina Evans, the former Country Club Hills police chief who has pleaded guilty to corruption in the case. Evans

www.businessinsider.com

had secured the state loan for the job-training program but allegedly diverted the money rather than use it for the purpose she proposed.

Prosecutor Timothy Bass contended Wright took as much as $11,000 in cash from more than $30,000 in checks in a scheme where she also sent money back to Evans. Bass maintained Wright lied “over and over” when quizzed about the case.

Bass maintained in closing arguments that Wright was “given an opportunity” and took it in a state that has a “well-earned” reputation for corruption.

Evans applied for the grant in February 2009 for a group called We Are Our Brother's Keepers.The proposal called for 40 people to get training in bricklaying and electrician skills, but the money allegedly was diverted.

Within months, Evans began tapping the funds for what Bass had called a "spending spree," including a trip to Las Vegas, a basement remodeling and the purchase of vehicles for a security business with her husband.

rlong@tribune.com

America in decline

Obama Warns Russia on Ukraine Intervention, Silent on Cuban Intervention in Venezuela

capitolhillcubans

U.S. President Barack Obama has rightfully warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin against military intervention in Ukraine.

The question remains whether Putin will heed Obama's warning after so many unconditionally extended hands; inconsequential breached "red lines"; and unilateral concessions to tyrants around the world.

Let's hope so, but it's not clear.

Unfortunately, in dealing with tyrannical leaders, our policymakers sometimes forget how concessions -- or even apparent concessions -- are interpreted as acts of weakness that embolden misbehavior.

The "nuances" of our policies are lost on them, for these tyrants aren't reasonable, peace-loving actors -- they're anti-American megalomaniacs, obsessed with absolute power.

For example, extending permanent normal trade relations ("PNTR") to Russia (with the help of Congressional Republicans) in December 2012, while Putin was enabling a genocide in Syria, showed him the fickleness of our priorities. This would later come to bear in his giving U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden refuge and protecting Assad after he breached Obama's chemical weapons "red line."

(This is also a reminder of why the Chamber of Commerce should not formulate U.S. foreign policy.)

Similarly, this was the problem with easing travel sanctions for "people-to-people" trips to Cuba in January 2011, while the Castros hold a U.S. hostage and increase repression against their own people. This untimely decision showed the Castros that there are no consequences to misdeeds -- hence the illegal trafficking of weapons to North Korea, welcoming Russian military ships to Cuba and committing acts of violence against the Venezuelan people.

Yet, in contrast to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, the Obama Administration remains silent regarding Cuba's ongoing intervention in Venezuela.

Perhaps Obama should borrow from his statement on Ukraine, and issue a similar warning to Cuba's regime:

"Over the last several days, the United States has been responding to events as they unfold in Ukraine (Venezuela). Throughout this crisis, we have been very clear about one fundamental principle: The Ukrainian (Venezuelan) people deserve the opportunity to determine their own future... We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation (Cuba) inside of Ukraine (Venezuela)... It would represent a profound interference in matters that must be determined by the Ukrainian (Venezuelan) people... The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine (Venezuela)."

The Venezuelan people deserve no less.

Putin landed troops in Crimea but Barack Obama and Joe Biden run round the White House

ITN

 

Is US ignoring crisis in Venezuela?

Venezuela's Maduro wants talks with Obama

CNN.com

By Karl Penhaul, Esprit Smith and Chelsea J. Carter

Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called Friday on the United States to exchange ambassadors just days after expelling three American diplomats from the country.

The request came during an hours-long news conference aired on state-run TV, where Maduro called on President Barack Obama to begin talks, even as he repeatedly accused the United States of interfering in Venezuelan internal affairs and stoking sometimes violent anti-government protests in recent days.

"I call for a dialogue with you, Obama," Maduro said. "You can designate (U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry or whoever you want to come to this dialogue and I will send my foreign minister ... for this high-level meeting."

At the same time, Maduro accused Obama of failing to live up to a commitment not to "interfere with Venezuelan affairs."

"What you have said has not been carried out," he said.

The United States and Venezuela have not had resident ambassadors since 2010, although they have maintained diplomatic missions and active embassies.

Maduro's call to exchange ambassadors comes after his government accused American diplomats of using a visa program as cover to meet with with youth organizers at private universities "for training, financing and creating youth organizations through which violence is promoted in Venezuela."

The expulsion, which President Nicolas Maduro first announced Sunday, comes after the State Department expressed concerns about rising tensions in Venezuela.

Maduro's news conference comes amid questions of whether he can hold onto control of the country amid rising demonstrations.

Venezuela's western state of Tachira became a flashpoint Friday between anti-government protesters and security forces.

Protesters blocked off some of the main roads in the capital, San Cristobal, public transportation was paralyzed, and few businesses were open.

Maduro's government has responded strongly to protests in Tachira as he faces the largest demonstrations since coming to power almost a year ago.

The country's interior minister, Miguel Rodriguez Torres, has announced a new plan to restore order in Tachira, which, he said, may include sending a battalion of paratroopers there.

"This battalion will reinforce the units that find themselves on the major roadways that converge in this city," Rodriguez said Thursday.

The military is necessary because the government believes that people from across the border in Colombia are crossing into Tachira to make trouble, Rodriguez said.

CNN cams taken at gunpoint in Venezuela

Meanwhile, the government on Friday said that eight people have died in the violence related to the protests and clashes.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz said another 137 have been injured.

Four people were killed in Caracas, two in Carabobo state, one in Sucre state and one in Lara state, he said.

The government and the opposition blame each other for the deaths.

Maduro singled out one opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, as responsible for calling for the protests.

Lopez turned himself in to authorities this week, and he was charged Thursday with arson and conspiracy. More serious charges of murder and terrorism were dropped.

If convicted, Lopez could face up to 10 years in prison.

The unrest

During the demonstrations, supporters of the country's socialist government and anti-government protesters have flooded social media with reports of violence, making drastically different claims about who's behind it.

Since February 13, more than 2,000 stories from Venezuela have been uploaded to iReport, CNN's user-generated platform. Many of the videos and photos depict violent scenes between demonstrators and government forces.

He also called out called out CNN, Fox and other U.S.-based media, claiming that they are encouraging opposition forces against the government

Alejandro Camacho Beomont told iReport that students Wednesday blocked streets and burned debris in San Cristobal, from where he sent photos -- and he said he didn't blame them.

"Even though I am always looking for peace to make a better place to live, I think people have the right to express themselves in the ways they can, and it is not easy to express yourself in this country now," he said. "I support the protesters. There have been more than 15 years that the majority of the Venezuelan citizens are going through tough times. There are so many problems we have to face every day, and there seems to be not a sincere attitude from the high government officials to rectify (them)."

In a nationally televised broadcast Wednesday night, Maduro described bullet wounds sustained by government forces during protests and showed videos that he said depicted opposition protesters throwing stones and setting buses ablaze.

"You think this is a novel? This is the reality that you with your hatred have created," he said. "If you don't like Venezuela, leave."

Lawless: Obamacare and the Imperial Government

breitbart

By Ben Shapiro 

www.thecuttingedgenews.com

On Monday, the Obama administration announced that it would be delaying one of the key components of Obamacare yet again. This time, the Treasury Department stated that mid-sized employers – businesses with between 50 and 99 employees – would be able to avoid paying for employee insurance without a fine until 2016. Larger companies could still avoid a fine so long as they pay for the insurance of 70 percent of their full-time workers.

None of this was in the original Affordable Care Act. But recognizing that employers were about to begin slashing employee hours to avoid having to pay for insurance, the Obama administration moved to mitigate the political impact in anticipation of the 2014 elections.

It’s no shock to see commentators like Charles Krauthammer condemning the president’s usurpation of constitutional authority; Krauthammer rightly called Obama’s actions “stuff you do in a banana republic.” It’s no surprise when the Wall Street Journal editorial board explains that terming the Affordable Care Act “Obamacare” makes sense because “the law increasingly means whatever President Obama says it does on any given day.”

But even Ron Fournier of National Journal has now said he is “getting sick of defending Obamacare,” and added that it is “getting difficult and slinking toward impossible to defend the Affordable Care Act.” The fact that Obama’s quasi-dictatorial actions only put his allies in the “slinking toward impossible” camp rather than the outright opposition only speaks to the depth of Obama worship that still predominates on the intellectually dishonest left.

But it is precisely the left’s intellectual dishonesty that has allowed Obamacare to move forward. Obamacare is easily the most lawless piece of legislation ever foisted on the American people. Manipulated and processed, chopped and reassembled, Obamacare has become a devil’s playground for arbitrary government – and it hasn’t even come into full force and effect.

The lawlessness began with the passage of Obamacare itself, which relied on a combination of bribery and election theft in order to gain the necessary votes. The bill originally included the so-called Cornhusker Kickback – a basic payoff to the state of Nebraska – in order to earn the vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). While the Cornhusker Kickback was later repealed in committee, the damage had already been done: with Nelson on the record for the bill, he couldn’t politically backtrack. Similarly, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) originally handed over his Obamacare vote in return for avoiding cuts to Medicare Advantage in Florida, before that provision of the bill was killed in conference – the so-called Gator-Aid payoff. Then there was the Louisiana Purchase, in which Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) effectively sold her Obamacare vote in return for $4.3 billion in Medicaid funds.

Even so, the Democrats didn’t have 60 votes on Obamacare until Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) was cheated out of his seat with endless voting recounts. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) entered the Senate, putting the Democrats at 60 votes – even though the most liberal state in America, Massachusetts, had just elected a Republican to fill Teddy Kennedy’s seat largely on the basis of opposition to Obamacare. Obamacare was quickly passed without anyone reading the final bill – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) infamously said that we had to pass the bill to find out what was in it. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) rammed through a vote on Obamacare just before Christmas 2009 to avoid blowback from the American people when Senators went home for the holidays. Both Pelosi and Reid used myriad procedural conjurings in order to pass the bill. And, of course, the Democrats lied to the public about the costs of the bill in order to avoid further public scrutiny, just as President Obama lied about being able to keep both your health insurance plan and your doctor.

The lawlessness extended to the Supreme Court, where Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an opinion that ranks alongside Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), and Roe v. Wade (1973) in the moral and legal lowlights of American jurisprudence. Justice Roberts somehow turned what was a fine for failure to purchase a health insurance plan – constitutionally impermissible – into a tax, which was constitutionally permissible. That despite the fact that Obamacare was pitched again and again as a non-tax by Democrats in order to pass the bill. Suddenly, the government mandating that you buy something simply because you’re breathing was legitimated under the lie that it constituted a tax.

Once the bill became law, the true lawlessness began. Recognizing the politically unpalatable nature of Obamacare early, even to his allies, President Obama quickly began issuing waivers to friends, particularly union cronies. In July 2013, he delayed the implementation of the Obamacare employer mandate until 2015 – quite illegally, as it turns out. In November 2013, after criticism of the administration arose due to mass cancellations of individual insurance plans, Obama unilaterally declared that insurance companies could keep selling plans that were not permitted under Obamacare. Then, in December 2013, he delayed the individual mandate for some thanks to the botched Obamacare rollout.

The growth of the imperial presidency with regard to Obamacare represents one of the ugliest blemishes on the face of our republic. In fact, it demonstrates that the checks and balances that once protected Americans’ rights have been stripped away by an executive branch hell-bent on power, a judicial branch hell-bent on passing the buck, and a legislative branch hell-bent on re-election via delegation of authority to the executive and the judicial. That spells doom for the concept of rule of law. If no one can be held to the standard of the Constitution, the Constitution is rendered meaningless. And if the Constitution is rendered meaningless, the rule of men replaces the rule of law.

The lawlessness of Obamacare continues unabated. A seven-foot-high stack of law and regulations can be twisted and turned to fit any perspective – or, if you’re President Obama, redlined post-facto in violation of the Constitution. The law itself is lawless; the implementation is lawless; the slicing and dicing is lawless. But the concept of the rule of law no longer applies in the world of big, arbitrary, all-encompassing government.

Black conservative leaders discuss how the NRA was created to protect freed slaves

DAFRUSA

Obama Weekly Address: Whenever I Can 'Expand Opportunity' Without Congress, I Will

Read on breitbart >>

VIDEO: O'Reilly goes one-on-one with President Obama

READ THE TRANSCRIPT >>

Brainwashing: Tours changing American views of Cuba, US policy

AP News

www.voanews.com

By PETER ORSI 

HAVANA (AP) -- When President Barack Obama reinstated "people-to-people" travel to Cuba in 2011, the idea was that visiting Americans would act as cultural ambassadors for a U.S. constantly demonized in the island's official media.

Two and a half years later, a survey shared exclusively with The Associated Press suggests the trips are not only improving Cubans' views of Americans. They are also changing U.S. travelers' opinions of the Caribbean nation for the better, and dimming their view of Washington policies that have long sought to pressure Cuba's Communist leaders.

"I think U.S.-Cuban relations should be open. People should be talking to each other. People should be sharing," said Ellen Landsberger, a 62-year-old New York obstetrician who recently visited on a people-to-people tour.

"We have this tiny little island that is no threat to the U.S. that we're isolating from the world," she said. "It doesn't make sense."

There's surely significant self-selection among people-to-people travelers; supporters of a hard-line policy against Cuba are unlikely to consider such a tour. And the people who run the trips tend to be more or less sympathetic toward Cuba, or at least to the idea of easing or lifting the 52-year-old U.S. embargo, which could potentially be a boon to their business.

Still, the results of the multiple-choice survey by Friendly Planet Travel, a company based in suburban Philadelphia that promotes legal tours of Cuba, are eye-catching. Three-quarters said they were drawn by curiosity about life in a nation that has been off limits to most Americans for decades.

Before travel, the most prevalent view of Raul Castro's government was "a repressive Communist regime that stifles individuality and creativity," 48 percent of respondents said. That fell to 19 percent after their visits, and the new most-popular view, held by 30 percent of respondents, became the slightly more charitable "a failing government that is destined to fall."

Most striking, 88 percent said the experience made them more likely than before to support ending the embargo against Cuba.

Peggy Goldman, president of Friendly Planet Travel, said visitors are surprised at how hard it is to find many goods, even something as basic as an adhesive bandage.

Some leave Cuba blaming U.S. policy for the shortages - as the Cuban government does constantly, although analysts also point to a weak, inefficient and corruption-ridden economic system as a key cause of scarcity.

"In day-to-day life, it's so difficult for the average Cuban. When the travelers go and they see that, and they experience it themselves, it makes sense that they say (the embargo) doesn't make sense," Goldman said. "It hasn't toppled the government in all these years. We need to try a different way."

Goldman acknowledged that her informal poll, which surveyed 423 Americans who visited Cuba in December, was not scientific.

But others in the industry tell a similar story.

"Some people go back and say they want to write letters to their senators," said Jeff Philippe, a guide who has taken 34 groups to the island in just over a year for Insight Cuba, which puts on people-to-people tours for Americans. "I've had several people say to me, `I want to make this my personal mission to end the embargo.'"

That could provide ammunition to the harshest opponents of people-to-people travel, who have argued from the beginning that the tours, partially organized in concert with Cuban state-run entities, let the Communist government put its best face forward and hide its warts.

"It's hard to imagine anyone being exposed to Cuba's reality and walking away with a more favorable view of the Castro regime," said Sen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American Republican from Florida. "But it's not surprising to hear that's the case with these tourist trips to Cuba, since they are specifically designed to expose people only to what the regime wants them to see."

"It's clear these tourist trips do little more than help the regime's image, fund its repressive machine, and undermine the courageous work of Cuba's democracy fighters," Rubio said.

In general, the tours tend not to include much contact with Cuban dissidents.

In a written response to an AP request for comment, the U.S. State Department said people-to-people travel has successfully "contributed to a more realistic and therefore more positive view of Americans and the United States by the Cuban people." It called the visitors ambassadors of democratic values, free-market economics and freedom of expression.

"Being favorably disposed to Cuba and ordinary Cubans should not be confused with endorsing a totalitarian system of government," it said of the returnees. "The people of Cuba have a rich and powerful culture that is rightfully appreciated by visitors to the island."

Tour operators insist any talk of Potemkin villages is wrong. They argue they're supporting local organic farmers, performers, artists, musicians and entrepreneurs who run private restaurants, adding that the Cuban government's involvement in scheduling is minimal and agendas carefully comply with U.S. rules barring sun-and-sand tourism.

"It's nothing like going to North Korea where you've got minders and there are only certain places you can go," Goldman said.

Most visitors report warm and seemingly open exchanges with Cubans from all walks of life. Some say they're aware that being shuttled around in air-conditioned buses and sleeping in luxury hotels differs greatly from most Cubans' reality.

"That part of it, you feel very separated. It's almost schizophrenic because you're treated very differently from the person who lives here," said Allan Kessler, a New York banker. "But, yes, we are meeting different types of people. We have no idea if everyone is pre-screened or not, but to our eye it seems rather candid."

He spoke on a recent morning after his Insight Cuba group visited a local youth dance troupe and a farmers market. Each traveler was given the equivalent of less than $1 in the local currency, about one-20th of the average monthly salary, to see how much they could buy. Afterward they discussed the experience.

"Overpriced," "very little protein," "it doesn't go very far" were among the comments. "Why are beans so expensive?"

Then it was off to lunch at an enormous outdoor state-run restaurant where just about every client orders the house specialty, roast chicken.

Estimates of how many Americans travel to Cuba legally on cultural exchanges range from around 70,000 to 100,000 a year.

Several Cubans interviewed by the AP said they've always been taught to separate people from politics, and valued the chance to meet Americans.

"We realize that they're just like us. They like to dance," said Glenda Quintana Carpio, a 20-year-old member of the dance troupe who coached visitors in basic steps after a performance in a Havana theater. "We're human beings from different countries with different idiosyncrasies."