A couple of political type thoughts today.

First, the Cuban embargo. I understand that Cuba is a repressive regime, whose brutality may only be matched by its crushing poverty. So here's my question: why are they so much worse than the Chinese?

I know, we play ball with China because they're a huge country, a ranking regional power on the cusp of being a world power, and they have the largest untapped market in the world as far as flogging US products go. But China's not exactly known for its reasonable treatment of people who run afoul of the government.

I still see it as a double standard. If we care enough to embargo Cuba, we might as well throw China, North Korea, and whatever right wing repressive regimes are out there into the same pot. Or, perhaps more wisely, we shouldn't embargo anyone. Let the free market economy and our participatory democracy take care of business.

The other thing that's been rattling around in my head is the whole Bush knew about 9/11 before it happened thing. Actually, if we're looking at non-specific reports where someone tries to inflict massive injury on the US by flying a plane into a building, there is a 1994 document with this plan. In fact, you can even buy a paperback copy of it on Amazon.

The problem with non-specific information is that, as the name suggests, it's non-specific. The information is out there, but without the specifics that allow you to make informed decisions. Clearly there were steps that, if taken before 9/11, may have made the plan much riskier and lower its chances of success, but those steps probably would have had less to do with bin Laden than they would have with the generally crappy state of airport security.

But, of course, everyone loves a conspiracy (see Michael Moore's continued flogging of this rumor), so we'll see where this goes.

If nothing else, this brouhaha is probably responsible for the articles over the last day or so that announced that suicide bombers in the US and terrorist acquisition of nukes are inevitable. Of course, the latter information was available in a non-specific document first published in 1991, soon to be a major motion picture.