January 24, 2006
Because truth cant be refuted (Updated)
So, today's planned march is underway. Thousands of fidel castro's slaves marching in Havana in front of the US Interests Section in protest of the news ticker recently installed that runs the UN Declaration of Human Rights for all Cubans to see.
Of course, castro countered with the protest and calls for...wait for it... wait for it...Posada Carriles to be brought to justice. Because, you know, when you cant win an argument with truth, you try to direct attention away from it. Thus, Posada Carrilles, the new castro crutch.
And then there's this beautiful thing:
The sign was activated as Castro began speaking in front of the building Tuesday morning, relaying global news and quotes including Abraham Lincoln's: "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."Castro glanced up at the building, saying, "They already turned on the little sign -- the cockroaches are brave," before starting his speech.
I absolutley freaken LOVE IT. Parmly and company waiting until fidel castro began his speech to turn on the news ticker. And fidel, of course, gracious and eloquent as ever. Subjected to calling the Americans, the very same people he buys over 75% of his food from, the very same people he wants and prays come to visit Cuba as tourists, cockroaches.
Got that my anglo friends? fidel castro says you are all cockroaches. As proud gusanos, worms, we exiled Cubans welcome you to the insect world.
MORE: Here's another beautiful tidbit from ABC News:
Even as Castro spoke, the ticker sprang to life with news interspersed between messages such as, "only in totalitarian societies do governments talk at their people and never listen."
BWUHAHAHAHA!!!!! OH MAN I ABSOLUTELY FREAKEN LOVE IT!!!!
MORE: From the Miami Herald:
The U.S. Interest Section says it only makes sense: ''if the point is to reach people, why not turn it on when a million people are cruising by?'' a U.S. official said.
Are the folks at the US Interests Section kicking some serious ass down there or what?
UPDATE: Of course, as with everything Cuba related, the good feelings are short lived. Mary Murray, Havana Bureau producer for NBC News, writes an entire article on the protests sparked by the news ticker and only in the very last paragraph does she mention the news ticker itself. the rest is a simple foillowing of the master's voice: Posada Carriles, ad nauseum. I wont quote the piece, but here's the link.
I took the liberty of shooting off the following email to Ms. Murray:
Ms. Murray,
As usual and in keeping with the mainstream media's penchant to coddle the dictator of Cuba for over forty years, you allowed yourself to be manipulated into missing the point of today's protest in Havana altogether. The gathering was called - a forced gathering as you very well know if you live in Havana and have taken the time to speak to Cubans - to protest the US Interests Section's recently installed news ticker. Of course, being that the news ticker runs mainly news and quotes from such figures a Walessa and Havel and MLK and Lincoln, along with the UN Declaration on Human Rights, the castro government cannot retort, thus, it focuses on Posada Carriles. A simple ploy of distraction and you fell for it.
You devoted a good ninety percent of your piece to fidel castro's remarks and Posada Carriles, a story we have heard ad nauseum and ad infintum for months. And only in the very last paragraph did you get to the reality of the story, but only scratching the surface. the truth is that Cubans with access to real news from the outside, with access to the UN declaration of Human Rights, with the support of esteemed leaders such as Walessa and Havel, is a bad thing for fidel castro. That is the real story here. And you missed it. Or ignored it. Whatever the case may be.
Instead, we got to read yet another recycled and trumped up non-story.
Par for the course, I suppose, fidel castro grinds the organ, and his media monkeys jump through the hoops.
Thanks,
Val Prieto
www.babablublog.com
UPDATE January 26, 12:40 PM: All of a sudden, there's a new "construction project" that work crews are getting ready to build. And it's...you guessed it... smack dab right in front of the news ticker.
Cuba enlarging anti-U.S. rally venue across from missionHavana, Jan 25 (EFE).- A day after U.S. authorities flashed pro-democracy messages to a huge crowd gathered outside its diplomatic mission here, dozens of construction workers began Wednesday the enlargement of the "anti-imperialist" forum installed in the plaza across from the building.
BWUHAHAHAHA!!! I just cant stop myself from laughing at the extent fidel castro will go to keep his people in the dark. How incredibly pathetic is that?
More here.
Update January 31, 2006:The flag poles are up!
Posted by Val Prieto at January 24, 2006 01:32 PM
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Comments
It reminds me of the 'spontaneous' rallies held in fascist Italy and Saddam's Iraq..
we all know that all those people participating were strongly anti-regime
Posted by: Stefania at January 24, 2006 01:49 PM
What we really need is a way to control that news tricker from Babalúblog... Now THAT would be something!
Posted by: Miguel-O-Matic at January 24, 2006 02:29 PM
I love it!!! I wish they could have played some Celia Cruz and Willy Chirino over large speakers so that absolutely everyone would have ignored the old senile bastard!
Posted by: Jose Aguirre at January 24, 2006 02:30 PM
Yes! Yes! Yes! Y-E-S, YES! That's how things should be going from now on. Such defiance to Fideo Kasstro and his goons are very much welcomed in my books as "One more step to ousting Kasstro". Let's see what else the US section can pull out of their hats.
Posted by: Felix Ricardo at January 24, 2006 02:32 PM
I can't stop grinning like an idiot, and I'm at work... Somedays this insect suit feels so good it sparkles.
Posted by: ziva at January 24, 2006 03:10 PM
would've killed to have been there, watching them as they watch the signs, and inside the building turning it on. That last quote "turn them on while millions are watching" is PRICELESS!!!! Maybe his march backfires.
Posted by: La Ventanita at January 24, 2006 03:41 PM
She failed to quote Castro's opening remark, where he calls Americans cucarachas. What one sided piece of shit, and I love it how the fact that he was tried TWICE and on both time there was no conviction is just lost in there. But I agree they missed the entire point of the story and played right into the Bearded Stooge
Posted by: La Ventanita at January 24, 2006 03:52 PM
I wish they'd put the Fuck Fidel thread from Babalu on the ticker....
Posted by: mike at January 24, 2006 04:02 PM
CNN has an illustrious history of coddling tyrants and hiding their crimes. Walter Duranty lives on in all of thise folks...
Posted by: George L. Moneo at January 24, 2006 04:39 PM
They interviewed Murphy on MSNBC a couple of hours ago and it was pretty much the same thing, hardly a mention of the ticker....
Posted by: Angel at January 24, 2006 04:53 PM
I had the same reaction to all the coverage and blogged about at cubanamericanpundits.com
Posted by: conductor at January 24, 2006 05:01 PM
Psst.... typo in the headline... "cant be refuted?" Methinks we need an apostrophe in there somewhere...
Posted by: Dean Esmay at January 24, 2006 05:03 PM
One day, I hope we can see all of our useful idiots swinging from highway overpasses and streetlights.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 24, 2006 05:18 PM
Good stuff. I sent a message to MSNBC recommending they cut out the middle man and just start letting Castro write the column. Sad thing is, they probably won't realize it was facetious.
Posted by: B Moe at January 24, 2006 05:59 PM
val -
excellent letter to ms. murray. thanks for being able to eloquently verbalize what alot of us are thinking.
tony
Posted by: tony v at January 24, 2006 06:40 PM
As a biologist, I have to correct you - gusanos aren't insects, they're annelids and insects are arthropods. So I guess it depends what you think is more of an insult: an insect or a worm. Hmm.. At least insects can fly.
I'm delirious.
Posted by: Adela at January 24, 2006 07:31 PM
and it depends what kind of worm you're talking about.. they could be nematodes in addition to annelids, and probably there are other types I just can't remember. Sorry, I'm a nerd.
Posted by: Adela at January 24, 2006 07:37 PM
Adela,
ROFLOL!!!
Thanks for the clarification of what species we and cucarachas" belong too.
You would think some of these reporters work for Granma and not for an American newspaper!
Not a mention of the forced march, and the long history of other forced marches, as well as consequences if you don't attend them. They obviously have an agenda to focus on what makes America and all who love her look bad, while making her enemies look good.
I am a now a big fan of the new guy at the US interests section. We should start a new thread on what to display on the billboard.
C'mon Babaluers, I think we'll do great! Anyone know the US interest office's email?
Posted by: Max at January 24, 2006 08:21 PM
I suggest that one of the first things we ask them to display is:
the URL of babalublog.com!!!
JulioZ
P.S. Do we need to thank the maximus tyranosaurius for bring a million people to read that ticker in Havana? How long do you think the tyrant will find a way to erect barriers a few blocks away, to prevent people from reading the REAL news?
Posted by: Julio C. Zangroniz at January 24, 2006 08:26 PM
How about ¡Ya no mas! running across the ticker!?
Posted by: George L. Moneo at January 24, 2006 08:39 PM
The State Department did an actual interview for Babalu a year ago. They know all about us. I am confident there will be a Babalu ticker running across Havana, to be read by fidel if he's not dead yet. The interview is here.
Posted by: A.M. Mora y Leon at January 24, 2006 08:44 PM
Kudos, Val, for kicking that misguided infobabe's derriere yourself.
Posted by: Gigi at January 24, 2006 09:21 PM
I know that the sign is not the fix...But....
Man was that funny!!!! Timing is everything.
Posted by: pototo at January 24, 2006 09:40 PM
Beeyoootiful!
Our new, improved State Department kicks ass!
Posted by: stace at January 24, 2006 10:17 PM
First the Walesa conference and then the ticker. You got to hand it Parmly. He's got brass balls. They should consider wrapping the consular vehicles is the American flag like those buses that advertise radio stations and such. Something like that would really piss off the tyrant.
Posted by: conductor at January 24, 2006 10:56 PM
Hey Val, good show--and how about those cockroaches of freedom?
Posted by: AcademicElephant at January 24, 2006 10:58 PM
This Cuban-American-Gusano-Cucaracha wants to know if Parmly was mooning from the 4th floor window.
Posted by: Orlando at January 24, 2006 11:12 PM
Here's what tickled my curiosity from that CNN story:
-----
"It's nonsense!" marcher Carla Smith, a 61-year-old lawyer, said of the electronic messages. "Within a few days, we'll have forgotten all about them."
-----
"Carla Smith"? Is that even a Cuban name?
Posted by: Tony at January 24, 2006 11:39 PM
Um, the current U.S. Chief of Mission in Cuba would NEVER moon Fidel Castro. I've known him all my life and he has always been diplomatic. He never even mooned his mom while she was changing his diaper, he's so discreet.
Seriously, Mike Parmly, especially when he is convinced of the righteousness of his cause, can be a bulldog of an opponent. Fidel better button up his chin strap, because Parmly is here to play.
Posted by: G8rRanger at January 24, 2006 11:47 PM
Cubans who long for the power of the United States to assist them with regime change should study other pilot models in progess.
Posted by: K Wilcox at January 25, 2006 12:23 AM
Kwilcox,
Such as?
Posted by: Max at January 25, 2006 07:01 AM
In the early 1980s, Pope John Paul II lent serious moral support to Poland's dissidents. The Soviets were worried enough about his irrefutable message of real freedom (as opposed to compulsory "protests") that they attempted to assassinate him. The pope's support was felt to be a primary factor in the success of the efforts to free Poland via Solidarnosc
The words of real freedom are in fact quite dangerous to communist regimes, and Castro knows this well. That he cannot kill or imprison the US message makers causes him no end of pain.
I'm surprised he called us cockroaches. Surely Fidel knows that one is never rid of them. In saying this, he is admitting no small defeat here. Viva la cucaracha de libertad!
Posted by: Kevin F at January 25, 2006 08:09 AM
I am surprised the State Department would do anything this sensible--and they started it up when Castro was beginning to speak! I love that, and hope I live to see the day when free Cubans can access such information as easily as we do here.
Posted by: DBrooks at January 25, 2006 08:42 AM
Pardon my ignorance, but who is 'Posada Carriles'?
Posted by: Chuckg at January 25, 2006 08:59 AM
Ya No Mas...Ya No Mas...Ya No Mas...
C'mon everybody, join in!
Posted by: Robert at January 25, 2006 09:14 AM
Nice.
Freedom and democracy are the fundamental right of every human being.
Posted by: TallDave at January 25, 2006 09:41 AM
TallDave,
I like "Freedom and democracy are the fundamental right of every human being."
But the real meal deal is that freedom and democracy are fundamental LONGINGS of human beings. They only become "rights" when people sacrifice to stand between thems that long for it and thems that want to take it away.
"Just me, baby - making peace in the world with a kind word and a gun." :D
Posted by: Jay at January 25, 2006 09:54 AM
Not that it matters, but Mary? That chick looks like a dude-
Posted by: nurian at January 25, 2006 10:25 AM
oh god, the silliness is just delicious. when I read he was going to hold a protest in front of the news ticker my first thought was, "wait, isn't that the point of the news ticker, to get a message out to thousands of people?" and castro brought the crowd. DELICIOUS!!
Posted by: Krupa at January 25, 2006 10:51 AM
But the real meal deal is that freedom and democracy are fundamental LONGINGS of human beings. They only become "rights" when people sacrifice to stand between thems that long for it and thems that want to take it away.
Sometimes they try, and are massacred.
This is why we have a military.
Posted by: TallDave at January 25, 2006 08:13 PM
What would have been really funny was if there was someone in the building who could type new messages on the fly while Castro was giving his speech.
Things like:
"Blah, blah, blah....America....Blah, blah, blah...have you driven a Ford lately?"
or
"Man, this speech seems to be going well. Thank God I wore women's underware today...wait...why are they looking at me like that? Can they read my thoughts? Ack!!!"
Posted by: Gilly at January 25, 2006 09:58 PM
Jay, freedom and democracy are everyone's rights. Check out the U.N.'s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A tyrant's blocking those rights does not erase the fact that they are rights. In Cuba and half the world, they are rights denied.
And Babalu, how would Lincoln's message, "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent," look in Spanish?
Posted by: Frank Warner at January 26, 2006 06:08 AM
