our telling cuba to free its political prisoners is like a man who beats his wife telling a guy not to yell at his woman. if i was leading cuba, i would insist that the u.s. return to the prison population it had in 1980. this would free over a million people, far more than the 200 or so people in cuba that obama is so keen on freeing.

such hypocrisy is nothing new for us. we are the kings of hypocrisy. we bomb nations and then speak of the brutality of their leaders. we invade countries and then tell the world that foreign forces are fighting our forces, who all were surely born in the countries they invade.

funny, but obama's concern for political prisoners seems to be quite new. i have not heard him speak a word about cointelpro, the false convictions of panther, move, and aim members, the jail sentences of the puerto rican independence movement, the imprisonment of the elf, the harsh sentences against the cuban 5, angola 3, san francisco 8, and so many more. nor have i heard him once speak of the hundreds of thousands languishing in prisons for non violent drug offenses, or the thousands more innocent of the charges against him, but railroaded anyway due to their race or class.

yes, it is a strange concern, this concern about political prisoners. sort of like our concern over genocide, which motivates us to build museums about the crimes that others have committed, but which doesn't grant us the courage to even verbally acknowledge the extent of our own crimes against the black and indigenous people among us.

they can free their prisoners?

yes, but can we free ours?

we are a man masterbating, who continues to tell others to keep their hands out of their pants.