Opinion // Current TV

Hippie TV News Video, with Joe McEvoy (Winston Smith)

This week: Manning Guilty, Korea Ballon war,Tricia from NYC, Ass#$#e of the Week and... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Hippie TV News Video, with Joe McEvoy (Winston Smith)

This week: Japan and Mickey Mouse, China?, Fracking and more.

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

History is Written by the Victors: Anniversary of Bay of Pigs

HAVANA, Cuba, April 18: By Miguel Iturria Savón - Two extraordinary and conflicting events pepper the history of Cuba in the second half of the twentieth century. The first occurred between 17 and 19 April 1961 in the Bay of Pigs, in the south of the island. The second, from April 22 to the 16th of September between the northern port of Mariel and Florida. They were both led by Cubans, but both the 1961 invasion brigade and the mass exodus of 1980, dot the island's bilateral relations with the United States - the refuge used by many in Cuban history as a supply center for our independence of the nineteenth century, and by opponents of the dictatorships of Geraldo Machado, Fulgencio Batista and Castro in the twentieth.

Much has been written about these events to the north and south of Florida. Hundreds of articles, interviews, testimonies, books, documentaries and other media support the communist government's version, the victors of the battle at Playa Giron over the brigade of compatriot exiles trained abroad. The version of the vanquished was, of course, suffocated by the revolutionary fetishism, and is hardly known.

Official propaganda reiterates that Giron (as it is known in Cuba), "was the first defeat of imperialism in Latin America ", which is a distortion, because although the Cuban expedition had the support of the United States government, no American troops took part in the naval operation. The fighters of Brigade 2506, like the guerrillas they were trying to link up with in the Escambray mountains, were fighting against the dictatorship that had taken control of the island after the revolutionary chaos.

The Cubans were less free after the Bay of Pigs. A day earlier, on April 16, 1961 - Fidel Castro declared the socialist character of the revolution. The island was subsequently occupied by thousands of Russian soldiers whose bases were maintained until the mid-eighties. The rest of the story goes through half a century of dictatorship, populist clamor, corruption and the legacy of silence.

The flip side to this was the mass exodus from Mariel and Florida, a popular referendum against authoritarianism. Twenty years of repression, rhetorical contortions, shortages filled with boredom and disappointment to thousands of youths who dreamed of living without instructions.

After the bus that forced the gates of the Embassy of Peru in La Habana, into the embassy entered the flood of the unhappy. To withdraw security to the embassy, the government created the chaos and encouraged the arrival of American vessels to pick up relatives and other "scum." In less than five months left 125,000 people fled to the United States.

Faced with this surge, the leader ordered rallies of repudiation, the throwing of eggs and stones against dissidents, and the introduction of more than three thousand madmen and criminals into the boats of hope in an attempt to destroy the reputation of those who left. Three decades later, the horror and defamation against those who choose another destination remains an official practice.

Accustomed to reliving the past - evoking attacks, revolutionary symbols and involving third parties in the national struggle, the Cuban regime celebrated its victory with another celebration of the Bay of Pigs and the socialist character of the revolution, while its strategists shuffle policies to prevent another mass exodus like the one that created the sea-bridge between Mariel and Florida in the spring of 1980; where bridging the gap between Mariel and Florida represented a leap to freedom.HAVANA, Cuba, April 18: By Miguel Iturria Savón - Two extraordinary and... more

UrbanGypsy
added this
1 year ago
|
3 comments

The God Debate II: Harris vs. Craig

It starts out slow , but the end questions are great !

artemis6
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

Are We a Society?

When asked about the impact of her draconian policies on British society, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is reported to have said, "There is no such thing as society."

The current U.S. budget confrontation raises the same issue: Is there such a thing as an American society? The Oxford dictionary defines society as: "the sum of human conditions and activity regarded as a whole functioning interdependently" and as "the customs and organization of an ordered community."

The current confrontation between parties and ideologies is over the role of government. But even more deeply it is a foundational disagreement over whether we are a society, a community, or whether we are a collection of individuals inhabiting the same geographical space.

If we are all "in this together," then we share more than just an interest in collective security. And if we have collective interests, the instrument by which we pursue and promote those interests is the national government, not Wall Street or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As we learned in 1929 and 2008, markets can fail, usually through greed and lack of regulation. Although a rising tide lifts all boats, a falling tide lowers all boats, except for the gilded yachts.

The Goldwater-Reagan-Gingrich-Tea Party revolutions all called into question whether we are a society and therefore whether we act through our national government to pursue our common interests. Though virtually all mature democracies have basically resolved this question decades ago, the people of the United States seem unable to do so. Many Americans continue to believe we can have the public services a very large majority wants without paying very much for them. Thus the "waste, fraud, and abuse" of the Reagan years. Or a recurring vocal minority continues to argue that we should do away with those services altogether and devil-take-the-hindmost.

It would be an interesting, though destructive, experiment to see how many Americans would like the nation the Tea Party seeks to construct.

The current, and perpetually recurring, confrontation is only symbolically about "spending." Public programs flow from policies. Policies flow from partisan ideologies. Ideologies flow from political philosophies. So long as the question of whether we are a society, a national community as Franklin Roosevelt believed, remains contested, so will budget wars continue carried out by factions waving one banner or another mostly decrying the evils of government.

Thomas Jefferson wanted our government to do only those necessary things that individuals could not do for themselves. That is quite a large territory. It includes transportation systems, public safety and judicial systems, public education, and national security, among many other undertakings. The real confrontation is over the social safety net constructed between the age of Roosevelt and the age of Johnson. Overwhelmingly, the American people wish to maintain this safety net. They simply do not wish to bear its costs, nor do they wish to accept its demise, which would involve taking our grandparents back into our homes.

In a perfect world we would have a great debate throughout the nation, not just in Washington, over the issue of whether we are a society, a national community, and, if so, what role we wish the national government to bear in maintaining that community. Alas, we do not live in a perfect world. So we let our elected officials struggle over budget cuts that are but symbols of our deeper dilemma and our unresolved definition of who we really are. Two hundred and twenty years should have been enough time to have resolved this question.When asked about the impact of her draconian policies on British society, then Prime... more

UrbanGypsy
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

Hippie TV News Video, with Joe McEvoy (Winston Smith)

Worldwide Hippies brings you news and commentary, to inform you and move you to... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

And If We Were to Change … Everything

Month after month, Alternatives Economiques describes and analyzes the economic news.... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Wake ‘N’ Bake 101: Zygote

Dr. Woody’ll be 65 in a coupla weeks and the utter undeniability, the... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Hippie TV News Video, with Joe McEvoy (Winston Smith) April 4

WWH- Worldwide Hippies brings you news and commentary, to inform you and move you to... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Wake’N'Bake 101: Meta…

WWH – Dr. Woody wonders: Why does what Rosie O’Donnell thinks about the... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Pittsburgh in the 60′s - Random thoughts

My head is so crammed with the recent events and personal stuff that everything is... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Wake ‘N’ Bake 101: SCROTUS’D

WWH - Woody doesn’t wanna go all ape-shit about it, or anything... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Wake ‘N’ Bake: Lies

Today’s lesson is the result of my reading something on Alternet this morning... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Hippie TV News Video, with Joe McEvoy (Winston Smith)

- Worldwide Hippies brings you news and commentary, to inform you and move you to... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Eating like a ‘hippie’ is not bad, could just be ‘common sense’

Last week, I attended Cynthia Baron’s lecture entitled “Breaking the... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

China: The New America?

Last week I wrote why I would not pledge my allegiance to the flag of the United... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Jesse Ventura Wakes up the Audience on "The View"

I love this! Watch how Barbara Walters and the blonde woman really do their best to... more

Hurtsville
added this
1 year ago
|
145 comments

Has Conservatism Bastardized the Christian Image?

I am courious. It would be interesting to find out how any "real" christians... more

PeteLeS33
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Does the latest United Nations Security Council resolution on Libya give hope to the Palestinian people?

On Thursday, the United National Security Council adopted a Resolution proposed by the... more

maasanova
added this
1 year ago
|
3 comments

Pittsburgh in the 60’s Sticks and Stones…

Oh I’m in a name calling frame of mind. Trouble is, I don’t call people... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Opinion

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved