Western hemispheric summit calls for Cuba to be included

The recently concluded summit of 31 Western Hemispheric nations ended without a final declaration because of protests over the exclusion of Cuba.

The issue of Cuba’s absence from any diplomatic forums in the hemisphere where the U.S. is present has galvanized leftist leaders in Latin America for decades. An eight-member leftist bloc founded by Cuba and Venezuelan firebrand leader Hugo Chávez has said it will skip any future summits if Cuba was not invited.

But this weekend even some of the region’s more conservative presidents, like Mexico’s Felipe Calderón and Colombia’s Santos, joined the chorus of public demands for the communist island to be included in new summits.

All the countries except the US and Canada protested the exclusion of Cuba from these gatherings and warned that future summits may not happen unless Cuba is included.

Bill Maher says that Castro phobia makes no sense.

US foreign policy continues to be increasingly isolated because of being held hostage by the aging Cuban population in Miami.

Is philosophy science?

In general, questions such as “Is (subject X) a science?” are not very useful. After all, what does it matter what label you assign to something? In certain situations though, the label matters quite a lot. In the US, because of the Establishment Clause, the answer to the question of whether a theory is scientific or religious can determine if it can be taught in public schools. This is why religious people constantly seek to either label their religious beliefs (creationism and intelligent design) as science or seek to have those theories that threaten religion (like evolution) be classified as something other than science. [Read more…]