There's a rumor going around, that when the surgeons opened up fidelito, after the stench cleared, one of them looked in the cavity and exclaimed in surprise, "Wassamattah feedel? No guts?"

But we already knew that. Maybe this news should be sent to the 7 dopeys. What a scoop for them, eh?

Unfortunately the AP just relays the news. It seems like all any government or internationally recognized organization has to do is send them a well written press release on a hot topic and they will print it. No questions asked.

My local small town paper relies heavily on the AP. I usually just ignore those stories and read only the local stuff.

What does burn me is their obiously slanted stories on abortion, global warming, gay marriage and other hot button issues. They seem to present the Progressive side in a more favorable light, while making the Conservative side look like it's backed by a bunch of bible thumping clods.

The Associated Press is owned by 1500 American daily newspaper member, and they elect a board of directors that directs the cooperative.

You can find the Associated Press' Officers email links at http://www.apme.com/officers/

You can find their Board of Directors email links at http://www.apme.com/directors/

I'll be writing them later today about their castro press release.

How pathetic is that you ask? About as pathetic as all the reporting done from, and about Cuba by the MSM over the years. Unquestioning, unchallenging, referring to the dictator as a "president", his tyranny as The Revolution, etc. etc. etc.

a paper in brasil wroter a piece on the reactions of cubans living here.. posted it on my blog, im crunched for time right now so i just babelfished it but i hope to clean it up with time..
http://garanhunsblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/cubans-in-brasil-react-to-fidel-news.html

Fidelon if you are alive how about a little video or even an audio tape a la Al Qaeda. If Bin Laden and his deputies can put out an video or audio tape from a cave, you should no trouble from your hospital bed as you "recover nicely."

I think el barbudo is dead!

The state-owned Italian news channel Rai Uno called Castro "The Lider Maximo" and said "Fidel Castro reassures Cubans about his health".
Plus, the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies is a communist comemierda, a close friend to Castro and wished him to "recover soon, because you're an example for all"

Disgusting.

The AP is a prime example why people turn to places like News Corp(Fox News, NY Post,etc..) to get accuracy and truth in reporting.

The saddest and in my opinion most disturbing part of it all is that if the mainstream media in this country had to operate under the rule of Fidel Castro it's day to day operations probably wouldn't change very much.

check out http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1222009,00.html
it is interesting to say the least.
Looks like the media is already planning for a new darling in raul. I guess commies can do NO wrong.

I'll just point out that reporters don't write headlines - headline writers do that, and the headline writer is normally someone at the newspaper home office - far removed from the place reported on. Headlines frequently get reporters in trouble with sources.

That said, the piece is typically bad reporting. Unfortunately, journalists are particularly bad about accepting faxed in press releases at face value. I never met a reporter who had taken any kind of critical thinking class in college - when I worked with reporters, they rarely thought through the implications of the releases. This seems to be yet another example of that.

"''We want to get there and help with whatever we can . . . ,'' said Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Democracy Movement. ``We are talking with our attorneys to see what we can do legally.''
At the same time, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who is Cuban American, warned about the dangers of any action that could encourage mass migration, which could endanger lives.
''I think people need to keep their emotions in check, difficult as it is,'' Martinez said.
State and federal authorities said they would block any efforts to reach Cuba by boat from Florida.
''Don't attempt to leave,'' said Amos Rojas, regional director for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. ``If there is a problem on the island, the Coast Guard will blockade it, and we're not going to let people go from here.''

So tell me more about this GREAT transition plan.
Looks more like they don't want a change.

The only thing I here from CNN, AP, Cuban Government, The Venezuelan Mental Midget is BLA BLA BLA BLA. Do us all a favor quite the crap and show me the body. Preferably on a block of ice. Not to mention we still have not seen his succesor Raulito, the beacon of hope for the communist party in CUBA. At the end of the day reality is reality the rope is getting harder and harder to hold around the Cuban People. Libertad!

Meanwhile, we have a Cuban American US Senator here in New Jersey in Robert Menendez who seems to be the only Cuban in the United States who apparently has no opinion. He doesn't even make mention of this issue on his campaign website.

You'd think that a Cuban American US Senator who is running for his seat in November would be at the forefront of all of this.

I think the best place to stay in is in the United States. It would be foolish to go running to Cuba just because Castro is sick or dead. Typical Latin American non rational emotional thinking - which is not really thinking. Remember, if the bearded bastard is dead that doesn't mean that Cuba is free - Raul and countless other assholians are still in power there - plus all the other international fidel loving assholians in Cuba now. Cuba is free when changes occur and the people rise up - violent or civil - the communist party is outlawed, the old tyranny is placed under arrest and tired, political prisoners are free, press freedom is established, free elections are held - then Cuba is free and you can go back.

But why would anyone really want to go back to a country in chaos? Maybe to visit? Maybe to rebuild which is fine - but many of the Cubans there are really different than us - they have been mind f-cked for 47 years and even though they might hate Castro they see thing differently. So proceed with caution I think.
AND, the Cuba that many left in 1959 is not the one of today. I asked my dad if he would go back and he said NO - Fidel had ruined the country so much that he didn't even want to think of how bad it has become. We have become Cuban - Americans now - still loving our heritage but negative about bringing it back to life.

What think you?

Robert Menendez is a jerk and a sell out - he is so God damm concerned with moving up in his bastardly demon-cratic party that he doesn't give a crap about Cuba because the majority of his colleages are all a bunch of socialists and closet communists! Anyway how can any self respecting Cuban-American be a democrat? Not that Republicans are any better, but the Democratic party is the party of Clinton and Reno and Hillary and Maxine Waters...

I don't trust Cuban-American democrats.
If Robert Menendez had any balls he would change his party. He also looks like a girlie man too!

I agree that change should be initiated from within. We will only be seen as outsiders and opportunitstic if we are not careful. If asked we should definately help otherwise we should standby. As to point of whether we should or would move back, I believe it is too soon to even consider. My parents have also been here for quite some time and probably will not go back but it would be wonderful to have the option.

this is not a fair assessment of how the ap operates, either in cuba or generally. without giving a seminar on my time at the national desk, which is where this story would have been compiled and edited, i will tell you that they avoid all the p.r. type hype published by cnn at the risk of coming off with a nothing story. the flip side is that to be too aggressive at this juncture means they'll get put out or jailed before the real fun begins or, worst of all, make an embarassingly mistaken overstatement and ruin any shred of credibility--which is pretty low following the fraudulent soldier fiascoes they underwent recently. so, in fairness, i'd rather see a nothing story in the pre-game than miss the fourth quarter altogether.

also, FYI: headlines are written separately, by copy editors, late in the night, usually by the home paper running the story. so, if there's extra spin in the topper, it isn't something produced by AP. Herald crafts its own title as does the Bee as does the Chronicle, etc. . .

Ligarcia,

You mean to say you dont read this piece as absolute PR for fidel castro? I mean, you have to be a complete moron to think that fidel castro could say anything given the fact that he's just been operated on, is one major meds, probably on oxygen, pain killers, blood thinners and who knows what else. yet, they repeat, over and over and over, "fidel said this and fidel said that." Did they actually "hear" fidel castro say all those things? of course not, because it was press release, and it should have been treated as such.

ligarcia,

Oh, and if the AP is having credibility issues, perhaps they should actually, you know, report the news instead of inventing it.

And I know that the toppers are added by editors. But most people take a peripheral view of news stories they arent all that concerned with. Thus, your average reader will only read the headline and not the meat of teh story. that's why this bullshit headline is important.

That's like CNN's new reporterita in Havana. Not Lucia Newman, a younger gal. She was going on and on about how public opinion seemed to be subdued, how everyone just wanted the tyrant to recover. Obviously, she went out and got some interviews backing that up, but you could tell by those people's facial expressions that they were just going through the motions. I mean, you want to broadcast shit like that, go right ahead, but at least mention the fact that they were unable to find opposing viewpoints because in DICTATORSHIP there is NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Mandingo and PeteV:

I am encouraged by the talk of Cuban-Americans going back to Cuba. We expect a show of bravery from the oppressed opposition in Cuba, but our leaders here are telling us that we should not reciprocate by going over there to support them...it's too dangerous (maybe it's reverse psychology!). We want Cubans in Cuba to risk all. But what are we willing to risk for them? What would really happen if a flotilla of a hundred thousand unarmed civilian boats full of Cuban-Americans lined up along the Florida Keys and started moving south at the same time? Would they all be stopped? Could they all be stopped? How? By the US Coastguard? Granted, once in Cuban waters (or close to them) by the Cuban military. Would there be bloodshed then? Probably. Would the US get involved? We ARE Cuban-AMERICANS, not chopped liver I hope! Yes, the Bay of Pigs was a hard lesson. But is the situation any different today? Can Bush be compared to Kennedy? Cuba needs us. She is, to say the least, out of balance. She has been sucked dry and needs to be showered with the waters of freedom. But I believe this has to come from outside, at least in part. Yes, there are two Cubas right now: the one in our minds (exiles) and the one in their minds (Cubans now in Cuba). The future of Cuba needs both versions. Just as there is a right, a middle and a left here, so there can be a right, a middle and a left in the next Cuba. Is it precipitous to mount a non-violent "mass-migration" to Cuba now? Isn't it the best time?

C'mon Val, you're cherry-picking from the story. It seems like you want an op-ed included in every single news story. Heck, mentioned in the story was the fact that no one has seen Castro or where he's presumably recovering. In addition, there is mention of the skepticism that exiles have over Castro's recovery. What's the problem?

BTW, the title has been changed to "Cuba tries to reassure its citizens."

total pr? no. leaning hard left? yes. But, like I said, they are trying not to get put out, which is what Anita Snow has nearly done in the past with her investigations. . . Her bureau was burnt down, too, a few years back so she may be more fearful than necessary. . and overall she really has been amazingly resilient, though I distrust the length of her stay on the island. While there is value in building up sources as an embedded journalist, I also wonder who she's really working for at times. . .

On a different point, AP has offered the only Cuba reporting of any major US news service involving a Cuban reporter. Herald is using Frenchie, with a Hispanic last name for credibility, but she's Boricua from the Bronx and hates Miami and Cubans more than anything else in life itself. But AP's team included Adrian Sainz, and you gotta give it to that cat, he's had to endure "mucho" years of stupid racist remarks at 3 a.m. (something I unfortunately didn't have the intestinal fortitude at the time to do) in order to be present and accountable on this day. Kudos to Adrian's longevity, endurance and commitment to the truth.