A List of Demands

OK, these aren't so much demands - that's an allusion to an excellent Saul Williams song - but here's a list of 10 reforms and changes I'd like to see take place now that we have a left-of-center President and a majority Democrat Senate.  Some of these reforms may confirm the suspicions of the moment's more dismayed conservatives. They needn't worry: I'm probably further to the left of President Elect Obama anyway ... 

Let's

1. Work with the Iraqis to plan an appropriate time to leave the country, and funnel more aid towards Afghanistan.
2. Institute universal health care.
3. Remove all travel restrictions for Americans and Cuban-Americans to Cuba.
   
4. Reinstate trade with Cuba.
5. Close Guantanamo Bay immediately. 
   
6. Start a movement to have anti-gay marriage laws struck down as un-Constitutional. Pass legislation which legalizes gay marriage in every state in the Union. 
   
7. Legalize marijuana for both medical and recreational use and determine what, if any, fronts in the "War on Drugs" are actually successful, dismantle the rest.
   
8. Install a highly-qualified female Muslim to a position in high office. 
   
9. Provide amnesty for illegal aliens who meet certain conditions.
   
10. Reform our prisons, which are cesspools of violence and turn criminals into monsters.

If you believe in any of these causes, why not track down a related non-profit you can support or at least join a Facebook group, so you can keep track of the issues. 

And feel free to add your own "demands" in the comments, too.

Cuban Travel Restrictions

Havana, Cuba

A quick roundup of some Cuba-related news:

Last month a U.S. Senate committee actually voted to undo travel restrictions to Cuba the Bush administration had created, restrictions which currently prevent Cuban-Americans from visiting their own homeland more than once every three years.

Elsewhere, however, in Florida, the legislature is attempting to punish travel agencies, which enable travel to Cuba, even by Cubans. Under the new law, travel agents would be required to pay a $250,000 bond and share the names of clients in order to continue their business with Cuba. The legality of the new law is currently under review.

Ironically, as we're banning Americans from traveling to Cuba, we're also still imprisoning people without charge on Cuban soil at Guantanamo Bay - and sending athletes, reporters, camera crews and scads of tourists to China for the Olympic games.

The Romance of Travel

Ah, remember the days when flying was a dashing and romantic pursuit? Picture travelers striding purposefully through airports, dressed to the nines for the occasion, the bright, clean lines of the concourse reflected in their brilliant mirrored glasses. No more. Now, getting to your plane is invariably a series of humiliating trials you endure: removing you shoes to pad through a metal detector with padded feet. Trudging through with your pants slipping about your hips, after you've whipped off your belt before a line full of fellow passengers to send it through the scanner after your laptop (which might picked up by someone else who has one of those same Dells companies buy by the thousands).

I stood there today, here at Dulles Airport outside DC, waiting for my shoes, which I could see stuck in the chute just ahead of me as the security officer checked out someone else's luggage, and I watched a 90-year old African woman in a wheelchair getting patted down; long, lean fingers, reaching behind her to her backside to ferret out whatever contraband she might be smuggling through. The nun who accompanied her stood by watching silently. I'm sure the tall, thin young girl executing this search felt awkward doing it, though likely not as uncomfortable as the elderly woman experiencing it.

In these moments, I'm prompted to wonder, how many lives have been saved by millions of people removing their sneakers at a security checkpoint since September 2001? How many terrorists have been foiled because we've abandoned our belts and tripped over our pants cuffs for a 15-foot perp walk? I'm sure some would say, "We'll never know." I'd be willing to bet I could make a stab at an estimate though: zero.

We'll probably cease with some of these measures eventually, whether or not the terrorist threat continues. Why? Because we've abandoned useless measures before. Remember the three questions we used to get asked for years before boarding a plane? (Did you pack your bags yourself? Have you kept your luggage with you at all times? Did anyone give you anything to add to your luggage.) Those questions proved useless against a handful of box cutters, and were dropped after 9/11. Because we realized that since they'd been implemented they'd done demonstrably nothing to increase our travel safety. Besides, if you were a terrorist, were you likely to answer those questions honestly?

So, no doubt, eventually, we'll reverse some of these procedures and/or new technologies will streamline the process. In the meantime, however, we'll just have to learn to accept being treated like chattel. Contented cows, patiently stepping through the requisite chutes in order to reach our desired vehicle: a plane upon, which we're now expected to pay for every additional amenity beyond our seats. Moo!