LA TIMES - Cuban Americans can go home more easily under Obama rules

Los Angeles Times, 3/15/09
FULL STORY HERE

...Cuban Americans' travel to the communist island nation just got easier under guidelines issued last week by the Obama administration.

The Treasury Department confirmed that Cuban Americans may visit extended relatives as well as close family members once a year and spend as much as $179 a day without fear of prosecution, effective immediately.

The guidelines signal a trend toward looser enforcement of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

"I know people are celebrating today," said Silvia Wilhelm of Miami, director of the Cuban American Commission for Family Rights, who wants all Americans to be able to visit Cuba.

"I'm sure we'll see an increase in travel, maybe by 20% or 25%," she predicted. "But the main thing is that this addresses a human need for people to see their families."

I think for me the most special thing about this decision is that it's a step closer toward a new economic and trade relationship with Cuba, a country that threatens our very capitalist society, that its mere existence is a perpendicular disagreement with the US economic perspective and ideals of which gave us the distinguished nickname "The Land of the Free."

Though I think both America and Fidel Castro VIA Cuba hurt each other for their own "justified" reasons, it might be about time to start to squash the beef little-by-little for the sake of the Cuban-Americans that are away from their family, friends and "patria."

I hope that these government decisions will be the first of more decisions to reform the American global reputation into a better one =)

-gs1r-


LISTENING TO:

---

World Away
by: From First to Last
From First to Last

More Social Progression (I LOVE IT!!!!)

From Los Angeles Times, 2/2/09

L.A. judge shares her unusual story

Not long after Audrey B. Collins was named chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, she found herself pondering what she might say at an upcoming luncheon, the sort of affair she'd routinely be expected to attend in her new capacity as the public face of the court.

But as Collins considered her remarks, she realized there was nothing routine about this gathering. She'd been asked to speak to a group of female Afghan attorneys and judges visiting the United States, women who risked their lives every day by practicing law in defiance of the Taliban.

The standard fare for lunchtime speeches, such as court statistics, judicial vacancies and cost-of-living increases for federal judges, wasn't going to cut it with this crowd, Collins concluded.

So she decided to tell her own story, one that makes her, in at least one respect, a highly unusual member of the federal judiciary: Collins, 63, is the granddaughter of a slave.

FULL STORY HERE

Today I went to a Starbucks to get coffee as I waited on my brother at the Metro office to get his monthly bus sticker. After I made my purchase, I went to sit down to read the paper and found this story that upon looking at it paused my life to take in a deep thought about this special situation. I was very touched by this because it demonstrates the American progress that I'm so proud of, steps toward equality and non-racially bound values.

In three generations, from slave to a chief judge! That is an almost unparalleled progression, almost on the level as having a African-American US president. And with all the injustice in the world, this is certainly a refreshing glass of slightly-chilled water for me =)


-gs1r-


LISTENING TO:

---

Life in Technicolor
by: Coldplay
Viva La Vida

I'm so sorry, Chris Brown...

Most of the media is ripping Chris Brown for his alleged physical abuse of Rihanna as of recent, almost crucifying him to the public eye. And while this high-profile domestic abuse is being dealt with ever so openly, one has to think about the factors that contributed to forming Brown's capacity to even harm another human being, let alone a woman.

Now, I'm not much of a entertainment gossip consumer but I just felt the need to find out a little more about this situation, particularly his past, being that Brown, who is very loved by his fans in the US and around the world, just fell from his rocket whose destination was toward the brightest of stars.

He was quoted by imnotobsessed.com speaking about an ironic and sad confession of his abusive past as a child.

"I don't want to mention the person's name - it wasn't my real father - but somebody hurt my mom and me, I had to deal with that from seven all the way to 13. It affected me, especially (my behaviour) towards women - I treat them differently. I don't want to put a woman through the same thing that person put my mom through. I was scared and timid when I was little. I used to pee in my bed... I think it was me being nervous, and scared to get up (out of bed) and see what was going on. My mom used to try and hide it from me and my sister, but we knew. Anybody that's going through it, just try to deal with it, talk it out."

- Chris Brown, Nov 26, 2007

Brown is as much of a victim of domestic abuse as he is the perpetrator of it toward a fragile-framed Rihanna. While everyone's bashing Brown for his actions (which definitely deserve social and lawful consequences, no doubt), people need to understand that all this going down with him is largely a result of his childhood environment. This unnamed person who abused his mother and family affected Brown's view of women, his perspective of social and physical boundaries, his power of self-control, and his own self-esteem. His judgment of woman was impaired in the past by forces outside of his control, and since his days as a kid has been living with handicapped discernment. Even though he does deserve punishment, can you blame him 100% for his abusive actions, really?


The cycle of domestic violence impressed upon by family leave it's filthy marks of disrespect and hate on impressionable young hearts and minds. This is an example of the extent of damage it can do others and to society, and a revelation that all kinds of people, even the best of us, can be victims of social injustice. Lets this serve as an example for all of us, to live in respect of others, just like we want to be respected.


-gs1r-

"So in everything, do to others what
you would have them do to you, for this
sums up the Law and the Prophets.

-Matthew 7:12-

LISTENING TO:

---

The Coolest
by: Lupe Fiasco
The Cool

The Injustice of Woman's Self-Perception

"Even I don't wake up looking like Cindy Crawford."

- Cindy Crawford

---

This is Gisele Bündchen, born on June 20th, 1980, a Brazilian supermodel of German descent and is currently the highest paid and richest supermodel in the world. She has been the face of over 20 brands internationally and on more magazines covers than any other supermodel ever. Her resume at 28 years old overwhelming shows that she is the face of woman's beauty all around the world, and in a capitalistic POV, she can potentially obliterate all competition when she shows up on the scene. But in the same sense, capitalism promotes the ideas that someone's better and someone's worse, and that the person who's better is preferred over all the competition.

"Let us consider global standards of physical attractiveness. Looks standards... have become homogenized, globally, as white Northern European. This has wreaked havoc for the people of the world who do not have white Northern European features since they are pressured, if they wish to be economically and socially successful, to be slim, light-colored in skin and hair, and with Aryan facial structure."

Beauty Bias, by Bonnie Berry, pg 101,
Preview Book Here

The world is biased toward the Northern European standard of beauty, which means that all other forms of a woman that aren't conformed to this aesthetic are considered less attractive in the Western World. Many, many women try so hard to look like this standard by spending tons of money and credit on high end make-up, expensive brand name jeans, destructive hair appointments full of dyes and colors, personal trainers to get them "model" skinny, not to mention epidemics of liposuction, face-lifts, nose-jobs and botox to disfigure their faces to look Gisele-like. Imagine a Latina or black girl trying so hard to look like Gisele? They will never get there nor be satisfied because their biophysical origins are indigenous Native American or African. Regardless, these woman will go into self-destruction mode just to get the "optimum" figure, but little do they know that they are enslaved to the opinion of the professional modeling industry. In essence, the industry dictates what is beauty and definitely isn't, creating in women a loss of self-identity and replacing it with a(n) [insert brand name here]-identity, becoming their True Religion jeans, their Mercedes, their dyed blond hair.




The injustice is that the professional modeling industry plays these woman like puppets, standardizing the worldwide aesthetic bias for Northern European white girls, creating discrimination against anything other than this look (Asians, Latinas, Blacks, Indians, even ethnic whites, etc...) that spills into normal people's lives, such as job interviews, retail services, business opportunities, and academic acceptances and preferences. The industry pulls women's strings of insecurity and walk them to retailers and services for instant gratification as temporary as the trends. They don't care about their self-esteem of self-perception; they care about making money and are willing to find ways to break woman down to a crushed point so that at that moment the devil can speak to them VIA the mass-media and say "let me help you feel better about you..."

Women, stop trying to be Gisele and find your identity!
You are special and amazing; just go and look for it within =)


-gs1r-

LISTENING TO:

---

Wait For You
by: Nelly Furtado
Loose