GOOOOO REDSKINS!!!!!!!

We all need to root for the Washington Redskins today.

Go 'SKINS!!!!

Gotta Love Them Democrats

My wife is a realtor. She just called from some mansion on Miami Beach she was supposed to be showing at 1:30 today.

When she got there with her client and rang the bell at the gate, the home owner, who knew there was a showing at that time, told her through an intercom that she was about to take a shower and that she would have to wait outside with her client for 15 or 20 minutes.

She is standing there as I type this, with a prospective buyer, in the Miami sun, right next to the homeowner's Kerry/Edwards sign.

Nice, huh?

UN Condemns US Embargo on Cuba

The United Nations condemned the US Trade and Travel embargo on Cuba yesterday for the 13th consecutive time. The votes were 179-4. Of course, the UN has also condemned and censured Cuba for its human rights abuses for decades.

The formula for lifting the embargo is quite simple: Cuba releases its hundreds of political prisoners and allows its people to choose thier own fate, and voila, l'embargo est finis.

Dont hold your breaths folks.

YEEEEEEHAAAAWWWW!!!!

Need a laugh but feeling a little guilty because the election is so near?

Not to worry. INDC Journal, Protein Wisdom and Daily Recycler have teamed up and put together a presentation just for you:

The CHOICE.

Brave men spin in their graves, Mr. Kerry

There are old men in my family, very esteemed and revered men, who served in the Brigade 2506 during the Bay of Pigs invasion. They saw their fellow soldiers killed and served time, under deplorable and inhumane conditions, in Fidel Castro's gulags. These men had the courage to risk their lives for the freedom of their country. Their operation was a complete fiasco because of a waffling US President, betrayed by a man with the initials JFK.

Today, another man with the initials JFK had the audacity to cite the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, using the lives and memories of these men who believed the armed forces of the United States of America to be not only the best in the world, but their ally, and compare it with the War in Iraq.

I am completely stunned. What a great diservice Mr. Kerry does to those in the armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, dishonoring not only those Americans serving their country, but their allies. Like the men of Brigade 2506, the Iraqi's are fighting for their freedom. They depend on the strength of not just the US forces serving alongside them, but of the strength and conviction of the one man leading them.

John Forbes Kerry is not fit walk amongst these men, much less lead them.

Aha!!! So that's it!!!

Yesterday, in this post, I asked why it is that some people hate us Miami Cubans so much.

Well, Steve's got the answer, and then some:

...They left because Democrats hate Cubans. You think I'm kidding? Ask anyone who lives down here. Democrats hate Cubans because they're Hispanics who take care of themselves. To a Democrat, that somehow seems unfair.

Cuban-hating Democrats moved to Broward from Dade, and as Cubans move to Broward, they're moving to Orlando. To be closer to Disney World, where Democrat policies still seem to make sense.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE!!!!: The plot thickens!!! Michael Moore to protest in Broward county over missing ballots. Quick, broward readers, HIDE YOUR FOOD!!!

Exploitation 101 - A Required Course

I've just been sent a link to an online photo album of the University of Florida's Virology Club's "educational" trip to Cuba last year. I have written about such educational trips before here, here and here. Most of us that went to college know what these learning trips really are: a little bit of studying, a lot a bit of vacationing.

Don't believe me?

Well, here's a photo of the group at the hotel where no Cubans are allowed to enter unless they work there. Eight young impressionable college kids who probably have no idea that the tourism in Cuba is run by the Ministry of Defense. Eight young and impressionable college kids who have no idea that the hotel owners pay a premium to the Cuban government for the staff, while the Cuban government pays the staff a meager salary in cuban currency.

Here's a photo of the "crew" in one of the hotel rooms that no Cuban on the island can ever stay in. What a smiling, happy bunch, no?

Here's a photo of a couple of the students "with a Cuban." How quaint.

There's also this picture of one of the professors at the malecon. Notice all the Cubans in the background. This is their beach. This is where they are allowed to grab some rays and do a little swimming. As opposed to this photo, where we see these hard working students lounging at a tourist beach. Not many Cubans visible in the background of that picture, huh?

While the tourists students travel about the island in private taxis, here's what transportation for the natives looks like.

The caption on the album page for this photo is "(Name removed) listening to the Mariachis (or whatever you call them in Cuba). They are called Trovadores. I guess that wasnt on the final exam.

Dancing Cha Cha Cha must be an important part of virology studies.

It wasn't all fun and games, of course. There was at least one day at the Instituto Pedro Kouris. I'm sure they gots lots of learning done in between photo ops.

It's a fort! No, it's a museum! No, it's a bunch of American college kids in front of a Cuban police station.

This photo and this photo and this photo show just how hard these college kids worked on any given night in Cuba.

Here's a photo of a couple of the students at a Cuban marketplace. I wonder if they learned just how much the Cuban government taxes these vendors, when it allows them to sell at all.

Here's a photo of Jorge, their cab driver who as luck would have it, is also and attorney. Why would a lawyer need to drive a cab?

At Varedero beach, there are no pesky Cuban natives to interrupt the strict learning schedule.

There a many more pictures of the UF Virology Club's trip to Cuba here.

I can only imagine what it must feel like to be a Cuban living on the island watching all these young American college kids trampse about like they own the place. I can only imagine what in must feel like to be a Cuban living on the island knowing that he or she could never, ever, be a tourist abroad. I can only imagine what it is like to be a Cuban living on the island watching young students from America dig their toes in the sand that he or she, as a Cuban, cant step on, or frolic in the water that serves as their prison bars. I can only imagine what it must feel like for a Cuban living on the island to be standing in line for a piece of bread to see tourists across the street eating pizza.

I take that back, I can't imagine it.

I wonder if those college kids learned anything at all, other than being Omnipotent Tourists.

I am a Miami Cuban.

Why is it that some folks despise me so much?

Well, to them I say: Walk a mile in my shoes, motherf***ers.

Sincerity and Strength of Character

They may not be everything a man needs to be President, but they certainly are vital.

Well said, Bill.

Why I would not be a liberal "reporter."

Because I prefer to not fart higher than my ass.

This just in from Cuba:

The broken kneed dictator is still in charge.

Political prisoners still rot in jail.

Power still goes out for hours on end throughout the island.

The people still cant own their homes or operate businesses.

There are long lines in order to get a fistfull of rice.

European tourists can still get a blow job for a can of Coke.

Hospitals and clinics are still closed for lack of medical supplies.

Doctors have not returned from Venezuela.

Communism sucks.

Truth or Consequences

Well, it seems The New York Times has been caught redhanded trying to sway votes for Kerry by publishing an outright lie once again. Drudge states that CBS's 60 Minutes was also sitting on that bandwagon. And now the blogosphere is completely abuzz with this issue. What I want to know is, is this really such a big deal?

Has everyone just fallen out of the tree and realized that the Mainstream Media is biased? Of course not. Anyone with an ounce of sense know that major media, whether TV or in print, is biased. Everyone knows this. It is an unfortunate given in the equation. So I really dont understand all of the hoopla given to this story.

The mainstream media is biased. Big effin' deal, tell me something I dont already know. The mainstream media wants John Kerry to be president. No shit. You dont have to be a rocket scientist to know that.

What I truly find offensive and totally reprehensible is that the mainstream media thinks we are all a bunch of fucking morons unable to discern fiction from fact. Do they honestly believe they are doing us a service by distorting reality? Do they truly think that we are sitting here waiting for them to feed us their news slop?

Perhaps. But I have to give credit to the American people. Even with a remote possibility that Americans really dislike President Bush, they must know, deep down, that John Kerry is a liar and a political opportunist. It is plainly obvious. Those who support John Kerry for president do so at the cost of their own integrity.

So, here is my prediction for the election. Bush wins in a landslide because the American people are smart enough to know the difference between made-up bullshit and real bullshit.

The real loser in this election will be the mainstream media. George W. Bush will serve 4 more years as Commander in Chief while the lame duck media feeds upon the crumbs he will choose to feed them.

Truth or consequences.

No More Dollars for Cuba

Fidel Castro's government announced yesterday it would no longer allow US dollars to be used as currency in the island. Beginning in November, all stores and businesses on the island will conduct their transaction in the "convertible" Cuban peso.

However, Cubans will still be allowed to hold unlimited amounts US dollars, but they must be converted to Cuban pesos - in order to be used for purchases - for a 10% fee.

Apparently, the lack of remittances in dollars from abroad is hurting Castro's economy so Fidel sticks it to his own people once again.

Unbelievable.

UPDATE: During a three hour long tv show called "Mesa Redonda" (Round Table) in Cuba discussing this dollars to pesos change, Castro called upon Cuban from abroad to send money to their families in euros, British pounds, Swiss francs or Canadian dollars in order to "avoid" the 10% fee.

yeah, Fidel, I got your money from abroad rite heah. Biatch.

Thanks to reader Sandra P. for the heads up.

Dr. Elias Biscet on hunger strike.

Prisoner of conscience Dr. Elias Biscet once again on hunger strike to protest gravely inhumane conditions and treatment:

Encuentro en la red, October 21, 2004

Toward the end of September, the mother of the political prisoner sent letters to Fidel Castro, Felipe Perez Roque and Ricardo Alarcon, but she has not received a reply.

Cuban political prisoner, Oscar Elias Biscet has initiated a fast in order to call attention to “the abuses that he and two colleagues are being subjected to” in jail, his family reported. They asked for help from the international community “to save his life.”

Dr. Biscet was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April, 2003. He has spent the major part of this incarceration in punishment cells. Last October 14th, he began to ingest only water and sugar in protest of his situation.

“For 19 months, the Cuban government has kept my husband, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez, out of communication and exiled in his own country, subjected to treatment plagued with cruel and degrading violations, “ his wife, Elsa Morejon, reported in a letter to the “Cuban nation and the international community.”

“During this time, he has had to live in prison cells without windows, sleeping on the floor. Only at 10:00 PM, do they bring him a moldy mat,” she added.

According to Morejon, Biscet lives “without running water, deprived of his belongings, and prohibited from reading and writing his family and friends. He is not allowed to “receive religious attention or go out in the sun.”

“In addition, he is prohibited from receiving the food that his family takes to him in jail. He is forced to eat two meals which are appropriate for swine, not for humans,” Morejon says, and she adds that the dissident physician, has lost some 70 pounds, his teeth have fallen out, and he has severe digestive disorders.

Prison authorities have prohibited him from having “all visits, including contact with his mother, wife, and children.”

Biscet, president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, is serving his sentence in Kilo 8 Prison in Pinar del Ro. He is one of the 75 opposition members that the Cuban government sent to prison in the spring of 2003 with sentences of up to 28 years.

Morejon confirms that last September 30, Hilda Gonzalez, mother of the political prisoner, sent a letter in the Council of State, addressed to Fidel Castro, “explaining all the mistreatments that her son was being subjected to and “ asking him to intercede on her behalf so that she could be permitted communication with the dissident.

Gonzalez sent a copy of the letter to Chancellor Felipe Perez Roque and to the President of the National Assembly of Popular Power, Ricardo Alarcon, but “to date, she has not had any response,” Morejon says.

“Family and friends of Dr. Biscet hold the Cuban government responsible for deliberately putting his health and life in danger. They have in their hands a medical diagnosis in which reports of his arterial hypertension and hyper-cholesterol conditions are on record; in addition, friends and family hold the Cuban government responsible for not having given him the necessary attention and following up on judicial violations” that occur in Kilo 8 Prison, Morejon states in her letter.

His wife demands “the immediate cessation of the physical and psychological mistreatments” to which the prisoner and his family members are being subjected, that Dr. Biscet be allowed telephone communications, and that he be moved to Havana, where his relatives live, and that the prison authorities agree to let the dissident receive necessary nourishment for his health problems.

According to Morejon, Biscet is in prison only because “he opposes the death penalty and he wants a better future for all Cubans, where a State of Law and a full democracy exists.”

The physician opposition member was arrested in March, 2003, 36 days after having left jail after serving a sentence of three years.

Posted by Val Prieto at 10:16 AM | Permanent Link to this Post | Habla (1)

It's the water, dummy.

Presented without commentary:

HAVANA, October 21 (Juan Carlos Linares / www.cubanet.org) - Consumers here are complaining that the soap sold as the October allotment under the government's rationing plan causes rashes and, in the words of one, "grows hair."

"It turns dark green, crumbles, and grows hair that feels like glass," said an older woman in the Víbora neighborhood of Havana. In general, users say the soap leaves them itchy, raises welts, and irritates their genitals.

As of October 20, Ministry of Internal Commerce inspectors asked retail establishments to stop selling the soap.

The soap was sold at the rate of one bar per person.

Welcome to Man-Camp Television.

And in a packed program this week, we will be visiting with wildlife in our "Speaking to Manatees" segment. And if anybody can understand what they are saying, please let us know.

We will also visit the fishing camp for a rough and tumble adventure in panfishing followed by a trip to the outdoor kitchen for an exciting interpretation of "Beer-butt Bluegill". Unless we don't have enough panfish to fill the pan, in which case we'll see what our nature correspondent Kiddo McFiddo has drug in.

Later, we'll have instruction in tie-dying shirts with freshly squoze blueberries and we'll end the program with a jolly campfire sing-around of "asshole, asshole, he fall down".

All in all, something for everybody so stay tuned; we'll be right back after these important messages.

(Written by reader homebru)

FUCK YOU, ARNOLD HARRIS

You self-absorbed, elitist PRICK. Had you been anywhere near the vicinity of being a man, I would kick your white culturally ineffective ass.

I Love Steve

For coming up with the following in this post:

Search Engine Fun

I need to lighten up a bit so I'm going to have some fun with searches that brought people to this here blog. It is amazing what some people search for. Towit, in order of most to least:

- che guevara murderer - Yes, yes, he was, and then some.
- blog boobs - I'm all for them.
- michael moore is a pig - No, really?
- shaved legs - I'll have you know the hair has already grown back.
- ricky williams is gay - And stoned too.
- cuban asses - What about them?
- papier mache glue recipe - Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit decorating.
- al sharpton view on adventures of huckleberry finn - WTF?
- atlanta one night stand - Sorry, buddy, wrong blog.
- whatever happened to elian gonzalez - Why, he's right here. Next to daddy.
- pussy names - Um..Fred?
- freedom of religion pictures - Huh?
- pool coming out of the ground - Expensive.
- dress in drag - Only for Bill, for money.
- manly legs - I know, thanks.
- fidel castro - asshole - And then some.
- owning property in cuba - What are you doing on my site, Fidel?
- are castros speeches usually lengthy? - Nah. What's twelve hours between friends?
- when will castro die - Not soon enough for 1000, Alex.
- negative accomplishments of fidel castro - Sorry, I dont have enough bandwidth.
- how did october get its name from the latins - They were drinking peach schnapps.
- fucking in cuba - On a daily basis.
- fidel castro real name - Beelzebub.
- castro s favorite spanish soap opera - As the Shit Spins.
- do latinos feel close to italians - Shut up, and dont go easy on the pepperoni.
- kofi annan something is amiss - Just fall out of the tree, did you?
- papi!im right here!! - I tiold you never to search me here.
- oliver stone castro communism - That just about sums it up alright.
- how do cubans spend their vacations in cuba - Building rafts.
- how is that over there in cuba - Ok. I guess.
- what the dolphins gave up for ricky williams? - Im not sure, but somebody's ass is hurting.
- living in a mancamp overseas - Im not even going there.
- economic reasons for cubans to emigrate - Hahahahaha.
- why are cubans not allowed to go out of cuba to the us - Hehehehehehe.
- badthings about insects - As opposed to, say, goodthings?
- one night stand in atlanta - I already told you, wrong blog.
- nothing going on but the rent - Word.
- cuban communist revolution and giving up jewelry - You give up a lot more than jewelry, I can tell you that.
- where are the bottom of my trousers rolled - Look down.
- man camp reality tv or television - Oh, it's real alright.
- valentina hot - She sure is.

Cuban Studies 101 for Arnold H.

In the comments from this post at Dean's where he linked to my entry on Castro's recent tasting of the floor, a frequent commenter to his site made a few remarks that I feel the need to respond to. I'm familiar with the commenter and quite honestly I usually agree with his take on most issues. Still, there are some statements in his comment that are a bit ill-informed.

He stated:

I think we should leave the old commie bastard alone. We have more than enough fish to fry with the islamo-fascists. Castro is even older than I am, and I'm 70. Which means that in the natural course of things, the Cubans will be getting a brand new government. And it sure the hell will not be one that hangs up posters of Castro, his brother Raul, or even good old Che of the smoldering eyes.

As for the Cubans. They've lived with Castro as their topdog for 45 years now. It won't likely be long before his weeping followers give him the usual ceremonial funeral and see him safely planted in whatever is the main Havana graveyard and his soul off to commie heaven. (If catholic commies have souls and a heaven.)

I'm with you on this almost 100%. Castro is old and will die soon enough. The government will eventually change and I'm pretty sure the Cuban people will have the presence of mind to demand things be different. I'm not so sure, however, that Castro will be buried somewhere public. There are way too many people in this world, myself included, that want nothing more than to piss on his grave.

In the meantime, what we don't want or need is some extended bout of blood-letting and civil war in Cuba.

When Castro falls, civil strife and perhaps blood letting will undoubtedly occur. Too many Cubans, both on the island and abroad, have suffered the wrath of his regime for there not to be some sort of retaliation or another. It is an unfortunate inevitability.

Which is part of the reason I don't spend too much time listening to the Miami Cubans. To begin with, they can't wait to re-invade Cuba to make up for whatever they fucked up at the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961.

This is an absurd statement, and if I didnt know any better, I would think the commenter picked up this line at some pro-Castro chat room or message board. I'll start by stating, in no uncertain terms, that there is one and only one person responsible for the Bay of Pigs fiasco. His name is John F. Kennedy. While the plan may not have been perfect, last minute changes at the President's behest and his refusal to provide the much needed and essential support doomed the inititaive to fail.

You dont spend millions recruiting and training what could be called a small army and then deny them the fundamental support required to complete the mission succesfully.

I know this not only from books I have read on the subject, but from family members who were there, on the beach, living the slaughter.

I can also assure you, Miami Cubans aren't waiting to "reinvade" Cuba. The majority of those Miami Cubans you are referring to either too old or recognize the Cuba they left is long gone. What they want, quite simply, is for their country to be free. For their fellow Cubans to be able to thrive and live up to their potential. They want them to be able to live like free human beings.

Democracy will come back to Cuba. But I don't think it will be brought there by the children of Fulgencio Batista's aging henchmen who fled the island a the time of that man's departure on New Years Day 1959. One of the bitter truths we ought to have learned from Iraq is that the old time exiles are not typically welcomed back into power, even after the departure of the most previous dictator.

Again, you make assumptions based on myth. I take exception to your labeling me and my family Batista's "children." The majority of Cubans here in Miami were not even Batista supporters. Most of them backed Fidel's revolution. Most of them understood that Batista was a dictator. Most of them wanted a change in government. It was only when Castro - no doubt because of his pal Che Guevara - began killing Cubans arbitrarily and stated that he was in fact a communist, did these Miami Cubans, as you call them, realize what a mistake they had made.

You also assume that Miami Cubans are frothing at the mouth to go back to the island and take power. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most Miami Cubans just want their fellow Cubans on the island to be free of Fidel Castro's repression. And this Miami Cuban in particular believes it would completely arrogant and self-absorbed to usurp the power from those on the island that have suffered the present regime's inhumanity for that past 40 years.

No offense to you, Val. But that's the way I read it. You want a free Cuba? So do the rest of us. But you're an American. You and your family reside in south Florida or its equivalent in some other US state, not in Havana. That means you are not the people to bring democracy to Cuba after the commie dictator bites the dust. After all, your people didn't exactly bring democracy to Cuba under Fulgencio Batista or his predecessors, either. Did you?

I am offended, sir. Yes, I am an American. Yes, my home is in the United States. I am damn proud of being an American. Damn proud of my country and its ideals. There is no other place in the world that I would want to live other than in the United States of America. I would gladly give my life for this country should that be what she needed of me. My life is the dream of freedom that all the oppressed people in other parts of the world strive for. I am the American dream, through and through.

But that does not take away from the fact that my heritage is Cuban. As a Cuban I want Cuba to be free because I was born there and am Cuban, but as an American I want Cuba to be free because that is what is right. This is the only country that wants, no, that works for all countries to live the ideal of democracy. If the US cant be instrumental in bringing liberty to the Cuban people, then who will?

And don't give any pig-shot stuff about Batista's regime being friendly to the United States. It was mainly friendly with Charles Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and their own unique government. Neither we nor the Cuban nation need that kind of "friendly" regime anymore

I mentioned earlier that Batista was in no means perfect. Yes, he was ruthless and brutal and corrupt. But that does not take away from the fact that Castro is much worse, and by a million miles worse.

If I had a dime for every time someone has mentioned to me about Batista and the Lucianos and Lanskys Id be a rich man. Truth of the matter is that yes, Batista did have his connections to organized crime. Yes, there were factions of organized crime in Cuba back then. But then, they were also there in Vegas and Chicago and New York and Atlantic City and countless other US cities. Heck, there is still organized crime everywhere in the states.

I am tired of being commingled with Batista and the rich elite class of Cubans simply because I am Cuban and live in Miami. Truth be told my family was blue collar. One of my grandfathers was a dock worker. My father is a welder. Hardly the bourgeoisie family you assume.

EXTRA CREDIT: Arnold replies once again in Dean's comments:

...The other problem in post-Castro Cuba is that the population there are Spanish-American, not Anglo. Which means the country has no built-in traditions of democracy combined with 500 years of the what used to be referred to as the protestant christian work ethic of northwestern Europe. They never had democracy on that island at any time in its history, either under royal Spanish rule for 400 years, or during the 60 years of independence before Castro came to power.

What exactly do you mean by "work ethic"? When the last time you came to Miami? If I didnt know any better, I would take that as a bigoted response. Are you implying that since Cubans are of Spanish descent they have a less than adequate work ethic? If so, I really dont have much to say other than you have absolutely no idea what the hell you are talking about. And I can venture to say is that you have never, in your life, met a Cuban. You sit there, past your 70's at your computer while my 75 year old Cuban father, of Spanish descent no less, still works his ass off swinging a damn sledge hammer all day. Work ethic my ass. Ask anyone who has ever worked with a Cuban what kind of workers they are. And Im talking about a Cuban who wasnt raised in Castro's workers paradise too, where they get "paid" no matter how much or if they work at all.

The economy of the island, for a long time, will depend on export of raw sugar combined with tourism. Meaning, gambling dens and whorehouses in Havana for the benefit of Yankee tourists who will go there for a quickie without their wives. Like in the old days. Plus a lot of peons working on big sugarcane estancias which will be owned and controlled by outsiders.

Cuba, thanks to Castro, has virtually no export left. They import close to 70% of their sugar. Their sugar for crying out loud! Right now, the island is rife prostitution. Catering, mostly, to the EUROPEAN tourist. If anything, Bush's travel restrictions at least deter the American tourist from getting laid for a sawbuck.

Many of those sugar estancias you mention were owned by Cubans for generations before Castro nationalized them. Yes, there were outside interests that owned plantations and such. So what? In case you havent noticed, Cuba is an island, which makes it much more difficult for it to be self-sufficient. Truth of the matter is that before Castro, Cuba, with all its ties to organized crime and big plantation owners and what not, had a growing and thriving economy. The most robust economy in Latin America and the Caribbean save for possibly Chile. That, my friend, is the fruit of the Cuban work ethic.

On the brighter side, a lot of them have gotten educations, which, along with public health upgrades, was one of the few things the communists accomplished well in most societies they ran. That, plus a sense of womens' equality rarely seen in latinic cultures. That, hopefully, will not go away after the communist dictatorship. I remember thinking in the late days of the Clinton and Janet Reno era that the young man and woman who came from Cuba to fetch Elian Gonzalez impressed me as a more solid examples of Cuban society than the screaming and hysterically religious misfits in Miami among Elian's relatives who tried so hard to kidnap that child from his own parent.

Hysterically religious misfits? What exactly do you mean by that? Are you implying that because Cubans have faith that they are somehow subhuman? If you knew anything about the Cuban culture, anything at all, you would know what a complete joke that statement in bold is. Perhaps you think all Cubans are these brown, loud, hysterical figures? Ill have you know the only things preventing me from calling you an asshole outright are the manners and mores instilled in me by my parents to respect my elders.

And as far as Elian being kidnapped, well, here's the abductor, shown with the boy in question, moments before he hit the floor:

The Castro Croaking Contest (Updated)

Update July12, 2006: Welcome Michelle Malkin readers! In case you havent heard, there's yet another fidel castro has died rumor going around. No confirmation as to its veracity as yet and I'm not sure if I expect any. You can read more about it here, here, here and especially here. You can also choose a date for the demise of the dictator in the comments section. Winner gets a free Babalú and Che? Still dead! tshirt.

Another Update: The culprit responsible for fidel castro's demise has been outed.

There are a couple of dates taken already, the rest have come and gone.

We have:

July 4, 2004
2005, the Latin Grammies Show date
May 31, 2004
May 5, 2004
November 21, 2003
April 17, 2004
March 13, 2007
October 9, 2003
December 23, 2005
March 23, 2006
February 6, 2005
Today.

The one with the date closest to the exact day Castro Croaks, wins. Winner will receive a box of Cuban cigars and my never ending gratitude.

What's your guess?

Do the Commie Shuffle:

Better than the Electric Slide!!! It's the Commie Shuffle!!!

How to freak out your sleeping Cuban wife:

(UPDATE:If you came here from Deans, you may want to read this entry where I respond to a comment on his post.)

I wake up this morning with a bit of a hangover. I'd been watching the games last night and, being that I was already hammered by the 3rd inning of the Yaknees/Sox game, had fallen alseep somewhere around the fifth inning. I'm eager to see what the final score is so I turn on the TV and then go turn on the shower.

I come back to the television and through the hangover haze I see a news clip of Fidel Castro tripping and falling on his face at some graduation ceremony in Cuba.

"Babe!" I yell to my sleeping Cuban wife. "Fidel Castro fell!"

I hear an immediate and growing "wwhhaAATTTT???!!" followed by some thumping around coming from the bedroom. Then there's a big crash. Next thing I know my wife is sprawled on the hallway floor with a dazed look.

"I didn't mean he fell fell," I say. "He just fell. As in he tripped and landed on his face."

"Ay, Babe," she says to me. "DON'T DO THAT EVER AGAIN!"

Hehehehe.

UPDATE: After the fall, Castro apologized for "any suffering this may have caused."
Yoan responds: Yes, for the suffering. The suffering caused by his not having died in the fall.

UPDATE: Dont forget to enter a date in The Castro Croaking Contest.

La Serie Mundial

The rivalry extends all the way to Cuba:

Back at the ''hot corner," fan Antonio Perez seemed to be alone in rooting for the Sox. ''The Yankees have too much money and they pay too much for players -- it's not fair. I hope Boston can beat them."

Juan Diaz, 46, a mechanic, shook his head at Perez as if he were delusional. ''That team is cursed!"

Stupid Fucking Cubans

Que se jodan. Translated it means roughly "Fuck them."

I think I am done. I think I have had just about as much as I can take. I think I will no longer fight windmills. I will no longer stand up for the Cuban people, and argue and get hurt and battle for them while they themselves do everything to keep the windmills spinning.

No mas. Que se jodan.

I have naively believed, with all my heart and soul no less, that this calling of mine, this war I have fought all my life for was about the nobility of what is right. Of truth. Of an ideal.

I thought it was painfully obvious. I thought it was plainly visible. I thought they could see the beauty of my freedom. I was wrong. They are blind.

Stupid fucking Cubans. Que se jodan.

All this time I truly believed they understood what it was about. I could have sworn they saw the big picture. But they dont. They can't. They have absolutely no idea what the big picture even is.

Que se jodan.

I guess it really is all about having new sneakers and a new tv. Paid for from abroad and not having to work for them. It's about your uncle in Miami sending money for a quinces dress and then visiting him at his tourist hotel when he comes down once a month.

Que se jodan.

It is not all about the dollars, Tio Pepe, and being able to buy whatever the government wants to sell me at whatever price they ask. Who cares anyway, it's not my own money. I didnt earn it. My Tip Pepe gave it to me and money grows on trees in the US. Fidel is allowing me to buy these things I need you see, and the evil Bush is not allowing you to send me the dollars I need.

Que se jodan.

Forget about elections here, everyone knows el Camandante is the greatest. He is even letting me eat at tourist restaurants with you when you come to visit. He is so magnanimous, nuestro Presidente. He has told me your president wants to starve me and I believe him. He says your Mr. Bush is responsible for separating the Cuban family. Es verdad. It says so right here on the front page of Granma.

Que se jodan.

This Cuba of mine, of ours, it's a utopia. A garden of Eden. Those gusanos that leave - not you of course dear Tio Pepe - they are all mercenaries. Capitalists only interested in money and themselves. Not like you, Tio Pepe. You care about me and the family. When are you coming next time, dear Tio? I want, no, I need a new stereo.

Que se jodan.

I am so glad you come visit us, Tio. i don't know what I would do without your monthly visits. I so look forward to hearing about Tia Nena and my cousins in Miami. They should come visit us too. The more of you that come, the more of you that can bring us clothes and shoes. Oh, and Kotex. I hate getting on a waiting list for Kotex.

Que se jodan.

Abuela's rheumatism is much better since you brought her that medicine, Tio. And dont you think my hair looks better in black? Loreal No. 312? Thank you for bringing it, Tio. It makes me look younger and the turistas like me more. Having these things make life so much easier.

Que se jodan.

Tio, when you get back, remember to vote for the other man in the election. I dont know his name, but it is the one that is not Bush. Bush hurts us, Tio. He wants us to do without so much. He doesnt want us to have dollars anymore. He doesnt want us to have everything you have, Tio. He is an evil man. He is an imperialist. He is a terrorist! It's true. Fidel says so. Bush invades sovereign nations! For oil!!! Thank God we have plenty of oil here in Cuba, Tio, thanks to Venezuela and our Compañero Chavez. It is important that you vote to take down Bush, Tio. He is an evil man. Un guerillero.

Que se jodan.

I must apologize to my fellow Americans for the sheer stupidity of the Cuban people. Should Florida go to Kerry because of the singularity of thought and utter selfishness of those Cuban-Americans that are my neighbors, all I can say is that I did my best to educate them. I did my best to show the big picture.

And to those Cuban-Americans who are so myopic all I can say is que se jodan. Comemierdas.

Battling Windmills

I started this blog over a year ago with the hopes of bringing to light the Cuban circumstance. I have posted news items about daily life in Cuba, about Cuban economics and politics. I have posted about political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, about Cubans who risk their lives to reach the shores of freedom in the US. I have posted many a time about the embargo and sanctions against Cuba and about US policy towards the island. I have given glimpses of what it's like to be Cuban and written about my own family's experiences in Cuba and in exile. I have done my best to show just what an illogical and repressive system communism is. I have spoken here from personal experience and from the heart.

But today I am frustrated, and moreso than usual.

I posted only one thing yesterday. A news article about the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act, signed by the Clinton administration, that allows Cuba to purchase US food products on the condition that sales to the island be paid in cash and how trade has increased dramatically between the two countries because of it. I stated, in no uncertain terms, that I did not know exactly how I felt about this.

My ambivalence towards this issue is because I find no reason to get angry about it. Yes, I am pro-embargo, but I also dont want the Cuban people to starve. And who am I to be against an American Senator or Congressman doing what's best for his constituents by allowing farmers to sell their products wherever they can? Besides, the worse thing you can do to a cashed strapped enemy is to sell him what he needs and make him pay in cash.

The tradings with the Cuban government that bothers me are the ones that create profit at the expense of the Cuban people. Services, technologies, toruism and others.

Tourism bothers me to no end. Yes, Cuba is beautiful. Yes, her people are unique. But why in the world would someone want to go see people live in squallor? And why would someone want to promote Cuba's tourism apartheid by doing so? I have been called many things here because of my stance on the embargo, but I can assure you, the embargo does much less harm than the millions of dollars the Cuban government reaps from doe-eyed tourists.

My referrer logs are filled with people doing searches for "cheap cuban prostitutes" and "cuban asses" and "investing in Cuba" and "buying property in Cuba." Some people - a good percentage of them Americans - dont give a shit about the Cuban people. It's all me, me, me.

Then there are others too myopic or naive or just plain stupid to understand - as history has again and again proven - that socialism and communism do not work. A commenter in yesterday's post - anonymously, of course - posted a link to this site: Hands Off Cuba. A British organization whose aims are:

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign is the British campaign for the defence of Cuba and its peoples' right to self-determination and national sovereignty.

- We believe that the people of Cuba, like any other nation, must be free to decide their own internal affairs without outside interference.

- We defend, therefore, Cuba's right to national sovereignty, independence and self-determination.

- We call for an end to the US trade blockade against Cuba and for the British Government to continue to oppose it.

- We call for the normalisation of all diplomatic, economic, cultural and scientific relations with Cuba by the US Government.

We believe that the people of Cuba, like any other nation, must be free to decide their own internal affairs without outside interference.

I, too, believe that the Cuban people must be free to decide their own internal affairs. Unfortunately, the Cuban government is not of the same opinion. In Cuba, it's not "the people" who make the important decisions, it's Fidel Castro and his regime who make every single decision for them. You really want the Cuban people to make their won decisions? Then call for their government to allow them to. Propose free elections. Let the people come out and say what they want and what they feel without fear of reprisals. Without fear for their very lives.

We defend, therefore, Cuba's right to national sovereignty, independence and self-determination.

I, too, defend Cuba's right to sovereignty. I too defend their people's right to independence and self-determination. But this sovereignty, this independence and self-determination can only be valid if the people themselves are allowed to be independent and self-determined. If they are allowed to be individuals, free thinking individuals who can act as individuals and determine for themsleves what is in their best interests.

We call for an end to the US trade blockade against Cuba and for the British Government to continue to oppose it.

Why? Why call for an end to the US trade embargo against a sovereign nation? They are a "sovereign" nation after all, arent they? If they can do without another nation meddling in their independent affairs, then they can surely do without that other nation peddling their wares in their sovereign utopia, can they not?

We call for the normalisation of all diplomatic, economic, cultural and scientific relations with Cuba by the US Government.

You are a British organization, who are you to meddle in the affairs of the US, a sovereign nation? England trades with Cuba. England has diplomatic ties, and cultural ties and scientific ties with the island. Why is it that the US must succumb to the pressures of a Cuba whose government despises it? Why should the US deal with a country who vilifies the very ideals that this country was founded on? Why should the US forget that Cuba, by it's governments own admission, is our sworn enemy? There were once medium range nuclear missiles pointed at the US from 90 miles away. And the US is supposed to accept this? Turn tail and shake hands and say "Oh well, no harm done"?

To those oranizations like Hands Off Cuba I say this: Fuck off. You have not earned the right to speak on behalf of the Cuban people. You have not had relatives murdered. You have not had you family divided. You have not seen your children indoctrinated. You have not bled, you have not suffered, and you have not seen your culture destroyed by the madness of a insane and inadequate ideology.

It is organizations like Hands Off Cuba that relegate the Cuban people to being after thought and that help smother life with an ideology.

Socialismo of muerte!!

How many more must die?

Thanks, Mr. Clinton, you dumbass.

U.S. Embargo of Cuba Fades Away

The full scale U.S. embargo of Cuba has ended. With no fanfare or "fall of the Berlin Wall" celebration, a mighty flow of American goods is streaming into Cuban stores and kitchens.

In 2000, Cuba ranked dead last among all 180 nations in terms of agricultural purchases from the United States according to U.S. government figures. In 2001, Cuba's ranking rose to 138. This year Cuba is poised to finish at 45th. Next year, Cuba will likely buy $260 million in agricultural goods and be 33rd on the list. Not bad considering the two countries haven't had diplomatic relations for over 40 years.

In September, over 150 U.S. companies, organizations and state offices will participate in a huge U.S. Food and Agriculture Exhibition in Havana. The event, authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department, will feature over 1000 brand name, American products including cheese, ice cream, beer, pet foods, cotton, tobacco, lumber, vitamins, and many others. For the first time in 43 years American buffalo, beef cattle, dairy cows, hogs, and chickens will be shipped to Cuba as part of the show.

As recently as last May, President Bush vowed not to ease the trade ban on Cuba. He said, "Well-intentioned ideas about trade will merely prop up this dictator, enrich his cronies and enhance the totalitarian regime."

Yet Cuba is buying more food from the United States than Denmark, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Austria, and over 100 other countries. How is this possible? Do Congress and the White House know about this?

In 1961, President John Kennedy cut diplomatic relations with Cuba, imposed an embargo against trade with Cuba, and effectively banned most American travel to Cuba.

In October of 2000, the U.S. Congress passed--and President Clinton signed--the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA). The law said Cuba could begin buying U.S. food products for any purpose, but the Cuban government was irked by restrictions the legislation included. Specifically, TSRA requires that all purchases by Cuba must be made with cash...no financing is allowed. Cuba said thanks but no thanks, and U.S.-Cuban relations continued as they had in the past.

Then Cuba was hit hard by Hurricane Michelle in November of 2001. To recover, Cuba made what it said was a one-time exception to buy American corn under the TSRA rules. They bought 30,000 metric tons of corn from Archer Daniel Midlands.

That corn came from nine different U.S. states. And Cuba kept buying.

Since then they have bought peas, barley, soybeans, condiments, soup, pasta, carbonated beverages, onions, chicken, turkey, apples, eggs, and many other items. These purchases represent Cuban trade with 30 states.

Because of the TSRA rules, Cuba has been devoting much of its small cash reserves to U.S. trade. In fact, some suppliers in other countries are not being paid on time as Cuba uses its cash to build a financial constituency in the United States.

With 30 states involved, 60 U.S. senators and a majority of the U.S. House now have an economic incentive to keep this breach of the embargo open and perhaps expand it further. And the U.S. embargo of Cuba will end not with a breaking news bulletin on CNN but with a few statistical lines in a U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

I need to mull this over a bit before deciding how I feel about it.

Onthaal aan Cuba, ga nu de hel weg.

My Dutch is a little rusty, but that should say: Welcome to Cuba, now get the hell out.

Dutch, Spanish politicians detained in Cuba.

18 October 2004 - Expatica

AMSTERDAM — A diplomatic row with Cuba erupted after two Dutch MPs and a Spanish politician were arrested at Havana Airport on Friday night and deported a short time later.

Democrat D66 leader Boris Dittrich, Christian Democrat CDA MP Kathleen Ferrier and Jorge Moragas, a representative of the Spanish Popular Party, were detained by Cuban soldiers for two hours. They were then sent on an Air France flight back to Europe.

The trio had travelled to Cuba to examine the human rights situation on the island and were held immediately upon arrival, Dutch public news service NOS reported.

The Cuban authorities said the politicians were planning to hold talks with dissidents. They subsequently declared that on the basis of their visa — a tourist visa entry — that the Dutch

and Spanish politicians did not have authority to enter into such discussions.

Dittrich's spokeswoman said the MP had kept her informed of his situation via SMS text messages from his detention cell. "I am furious. I have never experienced anything like this," Dittrich said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot was also outraged by the incident and said he would summon the Cuban ambassador on Monday to demand an explanation. The Dutch ambassador in Cuba was also demanding an explanation from the Cuban government.

The Spanish government meanwhile said the deportation of Moragas was "unacceptable". The Cuban ambassador in Spain was also called to account for the actions of Cuban authorities.

The three politicians had been due to meet with opposition figure Oswaldo Paya. Cuban dissident leaders condemned the arrests, saying that it illustrated the ruthlessness of Fidel Castro's regime, French news agency AFP reported.

Dittrich previously visited Cuba last summer, travelling for three weeks across the island and wrote a report about the trip for his personal web page, in which he claimed "the communist regime of Fidel Castro oppresses the population".

He said the most "perverse" form of oppression was the fact that people were urged to spy on others and report any anti-communist activity.

Children are told at school they should watch for whether their parents' behaviour conflicted with the values of the Castro revolution. If children observed their parents behaving in an anti-communist way, they were urged to report this to the school, Dittrich said.

The same applied in suburbs, where residents could report unbefitting behaviour to the neighbourhood chief, resulting in fear and mistrust of each other. Dittrich said people are always scared of being arrested and thrown in jail.

After his return to the Netherlands, Dittrich was forced to meet with the Cuban ambassador after Cuba took offence to his critical remarks about the island and the fact that he met with dissidents.

The Netherlands currently holds the rotating European Union Presidency and in reaction to the latest incident, Dittrich — who returned home on Saturday — said he would press Minister Bot to cut the EU's diplomatic relations with Cuba to a strict minimum.

The EU imposed diplomatic sanctions on Havana last year when three Cubans were sentenced to death for attempting to flee to the US by hijacking a plane. Cuban courts also handed down heavy jail sentences to 75 dissidents.

Nothing really shocking about this news. The Castro regime has been doing this for years.

Wake up, world.

Walk Tall, America.

Chief Wiggles puts out a call to help an Iraqi girl in desperate need of medical help and you all answered. You, America, donated the money and the flyer miles to make it happen. You, America, are helping Tabby live.

She will arrive in the states on Friday, America. Thanks to you.

I am so proud, I could kiss you.

For the anti-embargo types:

How will lifting the Cuba trade embargo prevent this:

SANTA CLARA, October 14 (Diolexis Rodríguez Hurtado, Cubanacán Press / www.cubanet.org) - Police launched a raid directed against self-employed peddlers in Santa Clara Wednesday, fining a number of them and confiscating their merchandise.

The police operation started at about 5:30 a.m. and lasted until noon, and was mostly concentrated around the San Miguel market and the bus terminal.

Police confiscated sacks of sugar and flour, cheeses, milk, fish, avocados and other foodstuffs, and fined peddlers between 750 and 1,500 pesos.

The Miami Dolphins

SUCK.

The Duke

John Wayne. I've heard criticisms of his acting skills, but right now I'm watching perhaps his best performance for the big screen.

In Harm's Way.

One of the absolute best war movies ever.

Makin' Chili (Updated)

We are experiencing a cold front here in Miami today, the highs will be in the upper 70's , so I thought it would be a great day to make my award winning chili.

I just received a comment on the chili recipe post which I will share with you all:

I was surfing trying to find a new chili recipe and I ended up on this BLOG. I LOVE chili and have several recipes that I really enjoy but thought I would give your recipe a try.

Wow, this is awesome. It has been simmering for about 2 hours now and it smelled so good I had to take some. {Pause to take a bite}. This is my new favorite!!!!

Thank you very much for the recipe. I made the whole recipe and I think I have like 4 gallons of chili. I tweaked it slightly but I promise I did not tamper with it too much.

{Pause to take another bite}

I can only imagine how good it will taste tomorrow night for dinner with some homemade corn bread. It's always better the second day!!! I am so excited.

Thanks Again!

Heh! Take that, chili purists!!

Tommorow, Steve will be coming over and we'll be frying patacones out at ManCamp.

Eat your hearts out, patacones and chili-less people!

UPDATE: It's in the thickening stage right now:

Oh, man oh man.

Amen.

From Stephen Green at Vodkapundit:

I don't say that because of their policies, which I probably agree with more than I do the Republicans. But because their tactics would cause more harm to this country than the Federal Marriage Amendment, the Republican budget deficit, and Congress's corporate tax giveaways, combined.

I'm just one guy; I don't expect my vote to mean much. But the Democrats are willing to treat – in advance - my vote, and all it represents, with feigned contempt. So I can't, in return, treat the Democrats with anything less than genuine contempt.

Oliver, Oliver, Oliver

Oliver "I Love Fidel" Stone criticizes President Bush by saying W dresses like he shops at Wal-Mart. Two of Tim Blair's commenters for that entry mention Cuba:

The Tman - bless him - reminds us that the limousine liberal is full of shit:

Oliver Stone, the guy who went to Cuba and agreed with Castro- "hey, things don't look so bad here. What's the big deal?"

Yeah, I trust his judgement.

And then a little farther down the thread Harry in Atlanta comments:

Cubans would love to be able to shop at Wal-Mart.

Amen, Harry. Amen.

If you ever want to understand first hand just what it's like to live under a dictator like Castro, take a Cuban right off the boat directly to a Wal-Mart. I can assure you, the minute that Cuban walks into the megastore he will break down in tears.

Who turned out the lights?

Despite having the crutch of Chavez's oil, Cuba is in an energy bind. The all too common blackouts are now even more ubiquitous. Industries are shutting down due to lack of power. Hotels have been closed because there's no electricity. Electric plants are being retrofitted to burn wood splinters. Sugar mills are in operation in order to generate electricity despite it not being the harvest season.

HAVANA, October 13 (Ariel Delgado Covarrubias, UPECI / www.cubanet.org) - Nine sugar mills are in full production even though the sugar harvest has not yet started; they are generating electricity to alleviate the energy crisis in the country, said Sugar Industry Minister Oscar Almazán, although he did not specify which sugar mills are involved.

He did say that by the end of October, 16 mills will be added to the power grid.

Sugar mills usually generate power when they are operating, a necessity since they tend to be the only sign of civilization for miles around. During operation, they generate electricity by burning the spent husk of the sugar cane. The mills producing electricity now are burning oil.

All of these energy woes have forced the Castro regime to find a scapegoat:

A prominent Havana official, who was viewed as a possible successor to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, was removed from his ministerial post for what the government called inefficiencies that led to a crippling energy crisis.

But observers said Marcos Portal León's dismissal as minister of basic industries Thursday was more likely intended to bury any notion that a replacement for Castro exists while also providing a scapegoat for an electricity shortfall. Cubans now endure daily hours-long power outages.

The government statement lambasted Portal for ''strong tendencies toward self-sufficiency and underestimating the opinions of other experienced colleagues'' and for ``not being capable . . . of warning the top leaders of the [Communist] Party and the State about the risks of an entirely preventable [energy] crisis.''

Poor Mr. Portal, a man with dreams of becoming the next maximum leader, will now have to live his life like the rest of the population.

Welcome to desperation, Señor Portal.

A clean, well lighted place.

Finca Vigia, Hemingway's country villa in Cuba is falling apart, according to this article in the New York Times.

An effort to save the finca, an American cultural treasure and an important Cuban tourist attraction, seems threatened by a storm of politics.

Nature has been hostile to the house over the years, experts say, with rain and creeping vegetation penetrating the walls and the foundation. The roof leaks, the walls are turning green with mold, the floors are buckling and termites are devouring the wooden frame. The bedroom where Hemingway wrote some of his greatest works, including "The Old Man and the Sea," is so close to collapsing that its furniture has been moved into storage.

Efforts were underway to have the house repaired:

A group of American preservationists, architects and Hemingway biographers offered to come to the rescue earlier this year. The Hemingway Preservation Foundation applied for a license that would exempt it from the United States' 40-year-old economic embargo against Cuba and allow it to provide money and expertise to help restore the finca. The foundation, led by Frank and Jenny Phillips, estimates that the project would cost $2 million to $3 million.

But there is a problem. The house is a tourist attraction, thus, it provides the Castro regime with much needed cash:

The Bush administration denied the foundation's request in June, saying its project would support tourism and thus help the economy of the hemisphere's last Communist outpost.

Good for them. Let the damn thing crumble. It's a rather harsh statement and sentiment, I know. I would have been a bit ambivalent about it had it not been for the following statement by Gladys Rodriguez, president of the Hemingway International Institute of Journalism in Havana and one of the principal caretakers of the author's legacy in Cuba:

We will keep doing all that we can. But we cannot deny that we need help. This museum legally belongs to Cuba, but morally it pertains to the United States.

Well Ms. Rodriguez and co., if you confiscated it, it's yours. You have no moral right to dictate morality in this case. It was your government that nationalized it and it is your government that benefits economically from it. You stole it and now it is yours. You want it fixed? Find yourself a hammer and have at it.

Don't think that this isn't difficult for me. I have always been a huge fan of Hemingway. I have every single one of his books. I have read every single one of his works. But, why should the Castro regime be allowed to profit from the man? Fidel didn't write the Old Man and the Sea or For Whom the Bell Tolls. Fidel didnt buy the house.

I find Castro's use of America's love for one of its literary masters abhorrant. Yet even more despicable is Castro's exploitation of Hemingway's love for the Cuban people and culture. The Cuba of today is nothing like the Cuba that Papa left behind. Hemingway would have been heartbroken to see where that culture he so loved is today.

And I applaud this administration for having the balls to stand by their priniciples. As much of a cultural loss as it would be, the United States of America does not need Fidel Castro's scraps.

One day, when the old masonry walls are but a rubble upon the ground, when there's nothing save for overgrown weeds and vegetation sprouting where once the most beautiful literary flowers flourished, Fidel can offer Hemingway his respects through prayer.

Our nada, who art in nada, nada be thy name....

(hattip: Scott)

There is no end of the rainbow.

Steve's title for his post says it all:

Vote for Edwards and Kerry, Because Their Daughter's Aren't Dykes

It's unbelievable. The Democrat ticket--the supposed ticket of diversity and tolerance and rainbow stickers on Volvo windshields--is running on an anti-lesbian platform. And it's not coming from some goof at the municipal level or some obscure fund-raiser in Idaho. It's the candidate himself and his running mate.

Neither Kerry nor Edwards have any class whatsoever.

Chancletero Tales

El Chancletero strikes again:

Kerry Caught in Whopper Trying to Get the Cuban Vote

John Kerry doesn't just flip-flop in his desperate attempt to be all things to all voters; he even makes things up.

In an article Sunday in the Miami Herald that an alert reader just sent us, the soft-on-communism Washington waffler, pandering for the prized Cuban-American vote in crucial Florida, claimed: "I'm pretty tough on Castro, because I think he's running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world."

The Herald reported:

"Then, reaching back eight years to one of the more significant efforts to toughen sanctions on the communist island, Kerry volunteered: 'And I voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him.' ...

"There is only one problem: Kerry voted against it," the newspaper noted.

And remember little Elian Gonzalez? Kerry wants your vote no matter what you think about how Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and company sent the poor boy back to Fidel Castro's tropical gulag.

"I didn't agree with that," the Massachusetts Democrat insisted.

The Herald reported: "But when he was asked to elaborate, Kerry acknowledged that he agreed the boy should have been with his father.

"So what didn't he agree with?" the paper wondered.

Here's all that Kerry could stammer: "I didn't like the way they did it. I thought the process was butchered."

Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings predicted that Kerry's record on Cuba would "haunt" him.

President Bush's campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, told the Herald, "Kerry is much softer on Castro than Al Gore was."

Perhaps the vicious dictator is one of the "foreign leaders" that Kerry claims secretly support him.

Pander, pander, pander. Whatever it takes to get elected, I guess, huh Mr. Kerry?

Another success story in the making.

Seventeen year-old Arasay Guerra left Cuba with her parents and six others on a boat 15 months ago. Today, she is leading her high school volleyball team to a possible State Championship.

The 17-year-old, a 5-11 outside hitter, has made an impression on her classmates in fewer than nine months as a Palmer student. Hundreds of them filled Palmer's gym at a Hispanic Heritage festival expecting to hear her describe Cuban culture.

She had a surprise for them. After her speech, she began singing a couple of her favorite Celia Cruz songs. Before she was done, everyone in the gym was clapping.

You gotta love the attitude freedom brings to those once lacking it.

Because of her parents decision, it may be the first of many accomplishments. Guerra said she would like to become a police detective like the those on her new favorite TV show, Law and Order.

''In Cuba, even if you have a good education, you don't have that much of a chance to make something of yourself than someone who doesn't. Now, I have a fantastic school, a great team and all the opportunities I could have ever dreamed of. Now it's time to chase my dreams.''

And a Law & Order fan to boot. Exelente.

Your dreams are in your hands, Arasay.

It's always someone else's fault.

You gotta love Michelle Malkin. Read her latest at Townhall, "Democrats Gone Wild!"

In Cubanese, one would say she certainly has no hair on her tongue.

Dean Esmay Interviews another Swift Boat Vet

Do not miss Dean's interview with Swift Boat Vet George Elliot. It is today's required reading.

Go. Now. Read.

Playin' Catch

I was eight years old when my father purchased the house. We had been in the states only a short four years. Both Mom and Dad had busted their humps after arriving here from Cuba with basically only the clothes on their backs. Through hard work - each had at least two jobs - and determination and sacrifice they were able to finally, for the first time in their lives, own their own home.

I think I was as excited as I was sad. Yes, I now would have a big house with a yard and my own room, but I also had to leave my school and friends from the old neighborhood. We had moved into a different part of town, away from everything that I had become accustomed to in Little Havana. Calle Ocho; the barbershop my grandfather used to take me to; the ice cream parlor that sold churros; El Globo supermarket where everyone already knew us and the cashier lady always gave me a candy. Everything had been a short walk away in Little Havana.

Now we owned a home in a neighborhood where there was nothing but other homes. There were no supermarkets nearby. There was no bakery around to make you hungry with the smell of Cuban bread every morning. No 5 & Dime stores where Abuelo could buy me tops and plastic soldiers. Everything was too far to walk and I would never be allowed to go by myself to get m