Hypocrisy makes my head hurt

So I'm not sure how many of you notice this article in the news, but I'm a bit pissed at the whole thing. Personally I'm starting to worry about how much control and influence the US government wants to have over it's citizens. I mean aren't the Republicans supposed to be the party of less government involvement? Hell Regan even said "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

But then again I've known for quite some time that US politics are based primarily in hypocrisy and double-standards. Let's just take the whole standpoint of the US relationship with two Communist countries, Cuba and China (just look at the different lauguage used in the background for each country). Now, both of these countries have had their share of military conflicts with the US (hell even Canada has had some) but each is treated vastly differently.

The way I see it both countries tried to spread Communism, both had some successes in doing so. Both countries were allied with the USSR during the height of the cold war, and both were involved in military conflicts (to varying degrees) with the US. Yet one is a major trading partner with the US another has a massive trade embargo enforced by the US. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I mean the country that is the greater threat to the US both in economic and military terms is China, yet the US accepts them with open arms? Hell, Cuba never was actively engaged in war with the US. China on the other had did fight the US in Vietnam and Korea. Sure there was the Cuban Missile Crisis, but that as a USSR response to US nuclear weapons place in Turkey.

But I'm resolved to the fact that the US relations with Cuba and China will always be typical of the hypocrisy in the US government. What ticks me off is how they straight out lie about their motives. They claim:

"Very basically, US law would apply to US corporations or subsidiaries of US corporations, no matter where they may be..."

So does this apply to Nike and any other major clothing manufacturer that exploits the lack child labour laws in other countries? Does the EPA and OSHA enforce their policies in foreign countries (oh wait, Bush keeps trimming their budgets, they barely enforce things in this country)? I didn't think so. But then again what would you expect from a country that thinks that automatic assault weapons should be available to all, but marriage is only available to those who aren't gay.