Don’t like to hear where I can’t go - updated

Is it true that President Obama's scheduled trip to New Orleans coincides with Mayor Nagin's scheduled trip to Cuba?

How convenient!

I wonder if President Obama - juggling two wars, a limping economy, a critical healthcare reform initiative, and the coming climate change catastrophe - was asked to reschedule to accommodate Mayor Nagin?

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My own views on Cuba are similar to those of Jackson Browne:

Maybe I’ll go through Mexico
Old Jesse Helms don’t have to know
Anyway all the allies of the USA
Travel to Cuba everyday

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Update: Mayor Nagin has, I'm told, rescheduled his trip to Cuba. I suppose this does confirm that Obama's trip to New Orleans coincided with Nagin's junket - which is interesting. I didn't mean to suggest that the Mayor was giving serious thought to going ahead with his trip. I don't have those kinds of sources.

While we're on the subject, let me applaud Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

No need to adjust your screens. I would like to genuinely tip my hat to the Mayor for reaching out to Cuba and I hope he can reschedule his trip as soon as possible. I think the next Mayor should market New Orleans as destination for transnational tourism and immigration. The embargo against Cuba is going to end sooner or later. Our cultural similarities are so similar we'd be really dumb not to position ourselves to capitalize on the opportunities that may arise from loosened restrictions on travel and trade. It almost always seems like we fall behind the curve on stuff like this but this time maybe New Orleans might be shrewd enough to get ahead.

Since we're here, I really think New Orleans should do more to attract immigrants both legal and illegal. I think we should become a sanctuary city - like most other major cities - by adopting laws that protect illegal immigrants. Though I'm sure there are economic benefits to derive from opening up our arms to the world, my rationale is more based on my own anecdotal observation that this place would be more awesome if we had more immigrants from more places - I'm thinking especially Brazil, West Africa, and Cuba - to hang with.