Hurricane Katrina Relief (Updated)

UPDATE 9/1/05: Please see this post for more information on Katrina Relief fund raising. And yes, I am still not providing any new contents until we meet our quota of donations. Tshirts are still available for a donation of $20, two for a $30 donation until supplies last.

UPDATE: Please read the updates at the end of this post.

I have been trying to write about the massive devastation up North due to Hurricane Katrina but the words just arent coming. We just lived through a post Cat 1 Katrina world and no matter how bad we had it, how bad it felt, what has happened up in Louisiana and Mississsippi is exponentially worse.

I've seen quite a few news reports via news sites and blogs that just tear the heart out. Over 50 are confirmed dead with what are sure to be many many more people succumbing in the next few days.

Instapundit has suggested a blogathon beginning Thursday to gather aid for the vitims of Katrina up north. And I will offer my full support with that.

However, this is one time where we will not be on Cuban time. So, in following California Yankee, Babalú is now in full relief collection mode.

Below is a list of a few charities that are currently accepting Hurricane Katrina relief donations. For every donation of $20 dollars I will send you a Babalú tshirt. If you donate $30 you will get two Babalú tshirts. I know the tshirts arent much, but it is all I have to offer you guys for your help.

Catholic Charities USA (Catholic Charities is the same organization responsible for assistance to many thousands of Cuban refugees arriving to the US throughout the years and is the official Babalú charitable organization. Let's give a little back.)

1-800-919-9338, or online at Catholic Charities org.

The American Red Cross

You can make a secure online contribution by visiting the Red Cross Online Donation Page.

You can also donate by phone:

1-800-HELP-NOW
(1-800-435-7669)
English speaking

1-800-257-7575
Spanish Speaking

Salvation Army

1-800-SAL-ARMY, or online at Salvation Army USA.

There are a few more over at California Yankee. Any donation to any of these charities will have me sending you a tshirt.

I will be adding more organizations as well as soon as I can and this post will stay at the top of the blog as long as I have any tshirts left.

I have been criticized many times for being single minded and posting mostly on the one topic of Cuba. Yet those of you like me know we live life on the hyphen. And on the other side of that hyphen it reads "American."

Those up in Louisiana and Mississippi, those Americans, are our family, too.

Break out the wallets and credit cards and check books and get to work folks. The moment I recieve a confirmation of your donation I will send your Babalú eyes.

Y no sean tacaños, coño.

UPDATE: Running and maintaining the blog is a lot of work. It means waking up at the crack of dawn, reading hundreds of emails, news and rss feeds, editorializing, fact checking and verification, writing, posting, debating, arguing...etc... It is a hell of a lot of work and it takes up most if not all of my free time. There is no Paypal button here asking for money to help run the site. I do not do blegs asking readers to help pay for the maintenace of this blog like other bloggers do. In two years I have asked for donations to worthy causes only three times.

I am incredibly disappointed that out of a possible 1000 or so daily readers, I have only received a handful of emails supporting this more than necessary cause.

Tens of thousands of people are without homes, without necessities, without hope. Relief organizations are being pushed to their financial limits while working to help those folks in dire need.

Therefore, Babalú will not offer any new posts, any new entries, any new writing, any new content whatsoever until these relief organizations have received at least 100 donations from Babalú readers.

If you cant donate $20, then donate a sawbuck. If you cant donate the $10, then donate $5. Every little bit helps. Five dollars will buy a few gallons of water or a few cans of much needed food.

As much as I love blogging and writing and bringing you all news and commentary and stories, I will be forced to stop if mi gente dont support me in this more than worthwhile endeavor.

The ball is in your court now. All you lurkers out there that come by every day and never comment, now is the time to make your voices heard and all of you who come by and comment every day, now is the time to take the lead.

FEMA listed the following agencies as needing cash to assist hurricane victims:

-- Operation Blessing, 800-436-6348.

-- America's Second Harvest, 800-344-8070.

-- Adventist Community Services, 800-381-7171.

-- Catholic Charities, USA, 703-549-1390.

-- Christian Disaster Response, 941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554.

-- Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, 800-848-5818.

-- Church World Service, 800-297-1516.

-- Convoy of Hope, 417-823-8998.

-- Lutheran Disaster Response, 800-638-3522.

-- Mennonite Disaster Service, 717-859-2210.

-- Nazarene Disaster Response, 888-256-5886.

-- Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, 800-872-3283.

-- Southern Baptist Convention -- Disaster Relief, 800-462-8657, ext. 6440.

-- United Methodist Committee on Relief. 800-554-8583.

The Network for Good is also accepting donations for hurricane Katrina relief.

UPDATE: 1:00 PM; 8/31/05 There's a couple of faithful Babalu readers from the Louisiana area that I have not heard from, so, if you guys read this and are ok, please drop me a line. Also, Humberto Fontova calls New Orleans home as well. If anyone has heard from him please do drop me a line.

There has been a pretty good response from some of you out there with donations and support. To those that have emailed me with donation info and suggestions, mil gracias, you do us proud.

Unfortunately, we are still well short of our 100 donations goal with about 60 or so to go.

I know there are still many out there that frequent this blog and hopefully enjoy the content we offer, and while I dont want to sound like a PBS drive, we still need your help. Please take the time to visit the Catholic Charities website and drop a few dollars in the till. Or, donate to any of the charitable organization above.

More Citgo corruption in Miami

There's more Citgo corruption around the real estate industry in Miami, according to Venezuela's English translation of El Universal, quoting German news service DPA, citing El Nuevo Herald of Miami. Two Citgo officials got some very large uhhhh commissions, for selling some Venezuelan state property in Miami. Very very very large commissions.

Uh huh.

Nice work if you can get it.

As we well know from this item here, the wealthy cronies of Hugo Chavez are more than a little fond of hanging out in what they consider the Tierra de los Escualidos. And unlike the escualidos they so disdain, they prefer the haunts and lairs of Flash-N-Trash Miami, not Calle Ocho. Val's wife has noted that they, and their voracious appetite for Miami real estate, are in at least some part the reason why Miami realtors named Hugo Chavez the realtor of the year.

El Universal reports:

At least two Venezuelan officials received in Miami "questionable payments" from a realtor in Florida to sell a building property of the Venezuelan state, a front-page article in "The New Herald" disclosed Tuesday, as quoted by DPA.

During an affidavit taken at a Miami state court, Ray Barreth, the head of realtor Barreth Business Group (BBG), "acknowledged payment of about USD 1.4 million to Muci for lobbying in Venezuela and additional steps to make BBG be chosen in 2004 as middleman for the sale of the building," the newspaper stated.

The rest of the story is here.

My remaining question is: If these Chavista Communists hate the U.S. so much, why do they keep coming to Miami?

The Mafia reviews Havana Nights

I've written about the Havana Nights show in Vegas and its performers' mass defection from Cuba before but Ive yet to experience the show.

California Mafia has, however, and you can read all about it here.

do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, si-la-sol-fa-mi-re-do

A free Babalu tshirt to the first person that can tell us exactly how the musical scale shown on the title of this post relates to something Cuban.

When, exactly, does a Cuban hear that sound?

Update: Sheesh. Twenty or so minutes and not one person has chimed in? Parece mentira, caballeros....

Do you all need clues? And I know there has to be a lurker or two out there that knows the answer to this riddle. Come on, give it a shot.

Update II: Ok seems no one gets it. Perhaps it's time for some clues:

Clue 1: "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, si-la-sol-fa-mi-re-do" would be heard in the streets of Cuba often, coming, usually, through a flauta (flute). If you sing it quickly a few times, you just might get it.

do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, si-la-sol-fa-mi-re-do!!! Daniel hits the nail on the head! Whenever this ditty was heard by the average Cuban housewife, she would quickly run to the kitchen, gather up her favorite knives and scissors and head on outside where the afilador would be waiting.

Afiladores were usually on bicycles and had their grinding wheels mounted onto the front of the bike with a contraption that would spin the grinding wheel as they pumped a pedal up and down with their foot:

These afiladores were sharpening experts, honing everything from kitchen knives to scissors to machetes. They told everyone they were coming down their streets by playing "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, si-la-sol-fa-mi-re-do" through flutes.

There are still a few afiladores here in Miami. I had a couple knives sharpened to cutting perfection a couple weeks ago. However, this guy doesnt go around the city on bike. He has a nice big van with a small generator and the do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, si-la-sol-fa-mi-re-do playing through a cassette tape and a small speaker outside the van.

Still, tho, while I dont actually remember the afiladores from Cuba, back in the late sixties and early seventees there were plenty of them here in Miami, and in their traditional retro-fitted bicycles, playing their tune through their flutes.

Mamoncillos!!!!!

Any of you guys out there away from the tropics remember these:

My neighborhood viandero had some yesterday, so I bought a bunch. It may be hot here in Miami and we may get nailed by hurricanes every so often, but living in the tropics does have its perks.

Internet Hiccup

I've been unable to connect to a few of my morning blog reads today, A Small Victory, Instapundit, Steve... and a few others. Apparently, the internet is experiencing a hiccup.

The following is from Michele, whom I emailed early this morning when I couldnt enter her site:

>From Hosting Matters Emergency Forum:

. We are currently seeing issues at both AT&T and TWTelecom in traces from various locations. If your routes travel along those networks, you may experience high latency and/or complete failure to reach your site or other services. We've sent a note to the main NOC at P10, asking them for a status, since no doubt they are already aware of the issue, and we'll post whatever we get back from them.

Fox, Fark, a bunch of news sites - can't get to any of them right now. If you could post that and spread the word (especially that it is NOT Hosting Matters) that would be great.

I managed to get into Fox News, but Instapundit, Captain's Quarters, Hog On Ice and a few other daily reads are still unaccessible.

Ya No Mas!

It seems George's Ya No Mas! meme may be becoming a reality in Cuba sooner than we all thought. (Incidentally, George, who as of last night was still without power or phone courtesy of hurricane Katrina, may be doing a little Ya No mas! screaming of his own. Hope you get your A/C back soon George.)

The following is from Cubanet:

CAIBARIÉN, Cuba, August 29 (María de la Caridad Noa González, Villa Blanca Press / www.cubanet.org) - A six-foot sign that read DOWN WITH FIDEL CASTRO! was put up on the wall of the food store La Vizcaína in the city of Sancti Spíritus.

Yusdrey Pérez Toledo, a passerby, reported that state security on Tuesday forced those who stopped to see the sign to move out of the area.

Boston Globe gets part, follows the script

Seems the Boston Globe is yet another major media outlet that picks up fidel castro's health care script and follows without much adlib.

Perhaps these reporters should take a quick trip down to Cuba for some of that high quality healthcare that average Cuban gets. You know, this kind.

Putting the IRON in IRONy

Aleida Guevara, Che Guevara's Cuban "daughter", is pissed that her father's image is being used so rampantly throughout the world and has begun filing lawsuits:

"The center intends to contain the uncontrolled use of Che's image. It will be costly and difficult because each country has different laws, but a limit has to be drawn," the legendary (sic) guerrilla's daughter, Aleida Guevara, told Reuters.

The "center" is the Che Guevara Studies Center which is opening in Havana later this year.

Perhaps the lawsuits will be used to fund the center. Or, perhaps, the money won from any lawsuits will be used to help pay back the 12.4 billion fidel castro's revolutionary government owes the numerous countries in the world stupid enough to do business with him. Sabe Dios.

There is one picture of che that I'm particularly fond of. It shows the true che, the perfect revolutionary, the perfect New Man, in all of his splendor:

The perfect revolutionary New Man, like che, is a dead one.

Today in El Paso

Immigration Judge William Abbott, presiding over the Posada Carrilles case, will hear arguments from both sides and determine...get ready for this...whether the Bay of Pigs invasion was a "terrorist act."

CIA documents also show the spy agency trained Posada in 1961 to participate in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Immigration Judge William Abbott last month asked lawyers in the case to prepare briefs on whether the invasion was a terrorist act.

And there you have it, folks. Another slap in the face to the Cuban-American community. Because that's just the way it is. An immigration Judge reviewing briefs and deciding whether or not the US backed and failed because of a President without balls invasion can be constituted a terrorist act under today's definition of terrorism.

Every single leftist, marxist, socialist and communist organization, group or party is frothing at the mouth today. Chomping at the bit. Waiting to denounce yet again the Cuban-American community while providing fidel castro more fodder for his propaganda to the point of orgasmic bliss.

I dont give a shit whether Posada Carriles blew up the Cubana Airliner. If he did and acted alone, then he should pay for his crime. If he did and acted as an agent of the CIA then he and the CIA should pay for their crime. If he didnt, then perhaps he should just fall on the sword for those Cuban-Americans who are THE example of what an immigrant group can accomplish in the United States of America. Fall on the sword to prevent the men who died and fought and were incarcerated in Cuba during the Bay of Pigs invasion from losing the honor they so earned and they so deserve.

Perhaps Judge William Abbott should also ask to see briefs on the US involvement in Cuba and the Americas prior to the Bay of Pigs and fidel castro. Maybe he should also decide on Roosevelts Rough Riders at the turn of the last century and every subsequent involvement thereafter.

Maybe Judge William Abbott should also request briefs on the War on Terror, since we're setting precedent. Maybe he should also get to decide whether those brave men and women serving overseas right now, in Iraq and in Afghanistan, shedding their blood and giving their lives for their country are also terrorists.

Perhaps Judge William Abbott should also see to it that those who fight against this great terrorist nation be heralded and compensated. Perhaps even an homage, post mortem, to those brave men who hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center. And then a strict reprimand to those that died on September 11th for being American terrorists.

Might as well, dont you think? I mean, if you're gonna fuck people up the ass for being good Americans, might as well shove that thing in deep and work it good.

Pray for those in Katrina's path

As I type this, Katrina is making her way onto land in New Orleans and I have this overwhelming feeling of dread. What we have been through the past few days here in Miami is absolutely nothing compared to what is happening in New Orleans and the surrounding areas now. Katrina basically knocked down trees and power for a few days here. Not much structural damage reported nor too much damage to the city's infrastucture.

What awaits New orleans is something completely different. Not only is the city below sea level, with basically two levees to protect it, but the building codes and standards up there are nothing like those here in Miami, where every single building has to be built with high hurricane winds in mind. A royal pain in the ass for those of us in the building industry, but a God send when a hurricane comes.

I also dont know how prudent it is to cram the SuperDome with people and use it as a shelter during the storm. Regardless of the fact that this building is structurally sound, sustained winds over 150 miles per hour wreak havoc on all structural elements of any building. The structural members spanning the vast space of the dome will be pushed to their structural limits. Not to mention the uplift forces acting upon said structural members and the predicted 28 foot storm surge. I pray to God that the SuperDome withstands, but cant help but think that it just cant. If there was ever a time for a miracle, I cant think of a better one.

Pray for all those in the storm's path. Katrina is strong and vicious and, unfortunately, a killer.

Katrina gloom

This looks like a potential catastrophe ahead in the next few hours. Katrina's gotten so much worse - as if it wasn't extremely bad already - as it prepares to buzzsaw New Orleans.

The loss of that beautiful city is unthinkable. Are these the last hours of that city? They could be.

Here are some weather sources to death-watch I suppose before the City of New Orleans disappears into nothingness.

Thomas Lifson at American Thinker points out that evacuation for the poor and the tourists is absent, something that could lead to big casualties. He asks why there aren't trains and buses out of there? There aren't - there's just the Superdome and good luck.

Steve has an incredibly good essay here on the impact of this storm on the multibillion dollar deep sea platforms from which we get our oil. He even knows the names of these things and how much they pump or refine and where they are - he's got deep knowledge on this. And has some pointed commentary on the poor planning of officials in the New Orleans area who are going to lose some bridges from this disaster, critical bridges that are responsible for our oil.

Who is going to replace that oil? Ecuador? Hugo Chavez? The whole thing gives me the creeps. We are stuck. And oil has already rocketed past $70 a barrel.

Hard times are coming.

ManCamp Power RESTORED!!!

Power just came back on. Wait till I tell you guys the story. Right now we're closing up the house, slamming the a/c on to arctic freeze, going out for some breakfast and then returning to what will be a nice, cool home.

My thoughts and prayers go towrads those up in Katrina's path up north. A Cat 1 was pretty bad. I cant even begin to imagine what life would be like after a Cat 5.

Ward, if you read this, batten down man. Stay safe.

Le ronca el merequetengue

It's pitch black outside. Your arms hurt, your elbows hurt and you have little painful cuts on all your fingers. Your feet are killing you and your legs feel like youve been doing squats for a weeks straight. It's hot. Unbearably hot. No breeze, not the slightest little wind coming in through the open windows. Generators are going all over the place 24/7. Your home feels like a sauna inside and even though your lying there in bed stark naked, youre still sweating. You try to find some kind of comfort, some kind of respite from the heat and balm but nothing works. So you resign yourself to trying to sleep. You turn to your side and when you place your face on the pillow, it's clammy from all the sweat.

I dont think I can spend another night trying to sleep without air conditioning.

Does anyone know a good lawn service?!?!

Hey guys! Val asked me to drop by and let you all know that he is alright. They are still living off the generator (don't worry, I'm sure he hasn't run out of beer yet!), and he was trying to clean up ManCamp and the yard a bit.
Thanks to all of you for your well-wishes. I have a new respect for these "weak" Category 1 hurricanes. We drove around a bit to run some errands, and the scenes we witnessed were quite reminiscent of the Andrew aftermath: lines two blocks long at the few gas stations that are open, fallen branches, not to mention whole trees everywhere, most of the traffic lights out. I am surprised that when I went to the grocery store yesterday afternoon, it was quick and painless, and things were well-stocked.
Katrina is reportedly a Category 3 now, and could reach Category 4 by the time she reaches land again. My heart goes out to those in her path now.

I will be posting a few shots of the damage in our neighborhood over at Brandon's Puppy, so drop by and check them out!

-Amanda

Marc Rich & Hugo Chavez

As cozy together as Chavez & castro.

Alek Boyd has the whispered dirt from the London oil traders here.

UNBELIEVABLE.

U.S. Land Seized in Cuba

No, this is not a headline from the 1960s. And, no, it doesn't deal with Guantanamo. It appears that one U.S. company kept property in Cuba until only two years ago.

The company is Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide - owners of Sheraton Hotels - and they filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department for land seized by Cuba in 2003.

This article in the Miami Herald provides the details:

U.S. hotel firm's land seized only recently

It turns out that Fidel Castro's government didn't seize all foreign-owned property decades ago. Land owned by a U.S. firm was taken only recently.

BY FRANCES ROBLES

frobles@herald.com

Four decades after Fidel Castro's government had apparently seized all foreign-owned properties in Cuba, it now turns out that a U.S. telephone company retained some 400 acres of land in and around Havana until just two years ago.

News of the surprising landholdings came after Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide -- owners of the Sheraton hotel chain -- filed a complaint last week with the U.S. Justice Department for $63 million worth of land it said the Cuban government seized in 2003 from a Starwood subsidiary.

''The land belongs to us. They can't take it,'' said Ignacio Sánchez, a Washington lawyer who represents Starwood. ``The Cuban government basically said to go pound sand.''

The claim startled Cuba experts and some U.S. government officials, who were unaware that any American company still owned land in Cuba. Castro nationalized virtually all foreign-owned properties in 1960, from land to sugar mills to factories.

Starwood's land was owned by Radio Corporación Cubana (RCC), a company established in Cuba in 1922 as a subsidiary of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. In 1998, Starwood acquired ITT's ownership of RCC.

RCC used the land for a transmitting station, buildings and equipment needed for international telephone service until 1992, when Hurricane Andrew knocked out the Florida side of the phone service. The property remained largely unused until 2003, when both the land and RCC were seized.

PHONE SERVICE

The Cuban government probably didn't seize the land in the 1960s because it wanted the telephone service to continue, according to people close to the case. But why the Cubans didn't seize the properties after the phone service stopped in 1992 remains a mystery, they added.

By the time Castro's government got around to seizing the land -- citing ''hostile laws and policies of the U.S. government'' -- the U.S. commission that fielded complaints from U.S. citizens who had lost property in the 1960s had long closed its books.

The commission, which was created in 1967 and shut down in 1972, certified some 6,000 claims totaling $1.8 billion. With a 6 percent interest, that now stands as a $6 billion tab. Among the biggest claimants were North American Sugar and United Fruit Sugar Co.

''This is a policy of looking out for citizens when facing a government that is taking properties,'' said Mauricio J. Tamargo, chairman of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. ``There will be a day when the U.S. and Cuba normalize relations and for that to occur, there has to be a settlement, and that has to be paid.''

To address Starwood's recent seizure, the commission has reopened, paving the way for a claim by the hotel chain and any other U.S. citizen or company whose properties have been taken.

''Cuba was not to be reasoned with,'' Sánchez said, 'so the company availed itself of its rights and went to the federal government, saying, `Here's another confiscation after 40 some-odd years.' ''

UNPRECEDENTED

Experts in Cuba property issues said reopening the claims commission for the benefit of one company is unprecedented. The move was welcomed by attorneys and claimants, even if few recent claims are likely.

The rules for filing a claim against Cuba are strict. The applicant must be a U.S. citizen or company at the time the property is taken. And it must have been seized after May 1967.

Attorney Robert Muse, an expert in Cuba trade issues, said applicants could include, for example, Cubans who arrived during the Mariel boat lift, became U.S. citizens, and then had family property seized after the death of a loved one.

''It is extraordinary that a program would be created for a single company,'' Muse said. ``They are potentially creating a very large Cuban-American program here. Did they know that when they created a special program for one company?''

Continue reading below for a list of assets seized from Starwood.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts says the Cuban government has seized the following:

• 1.2 million square meters in Cabañas, adjacent to Havana's José Martí International airport, worth $36 million

• 880,000 square meters in a lot called La Finca Margarita four miles south of Havana, $26.4 million

• 18,733 square meters in Guanabo 15 miles east of Havana, valued at $749,320

• Salvador Allende St. office space, $543,000

• Bank account, $30,000

• Office furniture and equipment, $10,000

Hurricane Katrina heads out to the Gulf

While Val and George and Robert and Alan and Florida Cracker and Amanda and SWLiP and Steve mop up after Hurricane Katrina, having apparently gotten through it all right, the damn thing is heading for the Gulf Coast, and via Instapundit, we can see that weather watcher Brendan Loy is live-blogging it from New Orleans Indiana now.

And from this far distance in California, I marvel that the United States, again and again, gets the most humongous third-world-brand serieses - serieses! - of natural disasters, disasters that travel - hitting more than one city at a stretch, huge disasters no one can stop, over and over, disasters Europe rarely sees, and in our country, we get through it. Hurricane season is only about half over and a couple of big ones have already blown through. Last year, there were even more.

What awesome force they are! When I went to Fort Myers earlier this year, I was taken up the road to see the awful remains of Hurricane Charley - the stripped trees with all their tops ripped off, some of them whose huge trunks were snapped in half in the middle like matchsticks. Some were stripped bare like winter trees, all their leaves blown away. I saw the blue tarp roofs of houses still waiting in line for repairs, because there were so many roofs torn off. I saw the odd hovel that would be better off leveled that someone, somehow, wanted to save. Tear down and build up.

Every single year Floridians and other Gulf Coasters get through the horrendous, low-tech process of rebuilding.

But they rebuild as if they are high-tech, with efficiency, capital and urgency. This is the force of capitalism, enterprise and the American spirit in action.

How very different it is for my friends in Sumatra and Sri Lanka, still to this day devastated by the truly terrible tsunami. There, it's not all about rebuilding and getting on, going on as is done in the states the way Floridians and Gulf Coasters do, except in the marketplace where the High Priest Vulture Elite don't look too closely. Rebuild? No way.

Instead, international aid rackets have set up empires and fiefdoms already, entrenched throughly after a half year. That place will never be rebuilt. Billions and billions in aid, and somehow it will always remain a charity case.

Devastation everywhere, but such different responses.

Here's to the heroes of Florida and the Gulf Coast who win over the vast forces of nature every time. This is an American victory.

Thanks Baldi and Strange Women and Unpartisan for the links!

Message from the "Dark" side...

Hey guys! First access to a PC I've had in 24 hours. I am at my work for a brief air conditioning and light fix. No lights at my house for over 24 hours now, and little hope for at least another day or two or three. Reading and eating by candlelight sucks. Sleeping without A/C REALLY sucks. Send some prayers down Miami way so we get our power back soon...

See ya for a while!

Post Katrina Dial-up blogging

We made it through ok. No major damage to the house. Trees and branches everywhere. Still no power. Pool is full of foliage. And it's hot. My kingdom for air conditioning.

ManCamp survived with minor damage.

No word as to when power will be back up. Luckily my neighbor has his generator so we're powering our refrigerator through that.

Apparently, Katrina pulled a southerly turn and I think the eye was relatively close to us but Im not sure as we've had no tv since last night.

It's pouring rain right now and windy. Been working my ass off since early this morning and Im beat, but, I still have cold beer.

Im told the whole city is strewn with fallen trees and debris.

i hope all you guys in South Florida came through this thing unscathed. Ill try to log on sometime later today if I havent melted.

Hurricanes suck ass.

Katrina ManCamp Cam (Updated)

I could either place the webcam in front of the TV and you'd get the beach reportage complete with hooded yellow raincoat, or I could point the camera towards ManCamp.

I opted for the latter.

ManCamp™ franchises available.

Update: I know you really cant see much on the webcam, but I went ahead and turned it towards the south a bit, to show the Australian Pines at the other end of the backyard. Dont know how long Ill have power as the flickering has begun.

Here's another webcam from Ft Lauderdale from i-imagery.

UPDATE (8/29/05):If you arrived here via a Google search for "Katrina webcam," please keep those in her path in your thoughts and prayers. Miami survived Katrina while a Category 1 storm. A Category 5 storm is catastrophic and will most certainly lead to much loss of life. Pray for the victims while you continue your webcam search.

Pre-Katrina blogging

Like staring at a car wreck, we have the local news on with their hurricane coverage. Lots of lipservice being given to the MTV Video Music Awards that are supposed to taking place this weekend.

Apparently, this year's theme is water and they had all these pre-event parties scheduled to be happening. All of them have been canceled. South Beach footage shows a desolate Ocean Drive.

My question is, how long before one of P Diddy's cohorts blames Bush for the storm?

Deja vu all over again

Well folks, it looks like we are about to get some major rains and wind from what will most probably be a Category 1 hurricane by this afternoon so blogging from Miami may be intermittent at best.

I'll also be running around this morning, jobsite to jobsite, ensuring that all equipment and materials are secure and ready for high wind and rain. If you've dealt with contractors before, you'll know that you have to stay on top of them as they tend to slack and cut corners. The last thing you want is a bunch of hurricane projectiles flying around from a messy construction site in your neighborhood during a hurricane.

I've already been to my parents' house to make sure that they are all secure and ready. Mom and dad are fine and not so nervous which is a good thing. Their hurricane preparedness thingies are all set and laid out on the kitchen counter. Their prescription have all been filled. Frige stocked up. Candles and flashlights stand at the ready.

The weather has changed overnight. Winds are picking up slightly and some rain is already coming down in some areas. People on the street are driving like lunatics - not a stretch for Miami - but hurricane urgency just compounds the problem.

It's getting pretty ugly outside, dark, grey, and the stifling August heat is nowhere to be found. I dont know if we'll get to this with Katrina, but one of the things I remember most about Hurricane Andrew was the drop in pressure. You could feel it in your ears. Kinda like what happens sometimes when on an airplane.

The Prieto household is all set with our little hurricane packs. All the provisions are there: beer, Spaghetti-Os and more beer. We're pretty much south of the projected path of the storm, so we should fare relatively well. Of course, power seems to go out at our house with heavy sneezing, so we may be candle powered for the next day or so. Igual que en Cuba!

Im off to complete my pre-hurricane chores. Those of you in South Florida, stay safe and stay dry. Those of you outside of the storms path, wish us luck and if you havent heard from me in a day or so, send beer.

Requiem

Thirty one lives. With all their complexities. All their dreams. All their talents. All their drives. All their loves and hates. All their circumstances. All their names. Thirty one lives from Cuba who were going to do something in America.

Gone. To a watery grave at the bottom of the sea.

All we know is that some waited in the open ocean for help, outside their capsized boat, in dark and light, dark and light, dark and light in the open sea of nothing but empty horizons on all sides for at least FIVE days.

No one came.

One by one, they died. None were saved. The Coast Guard has called off its search after rescuing three battered sunburned Cuban survivors who made it through five days at sea with just life jackets. Alone at sea, they too wondered for days whether death too would come for them as it did for the others.

Who were they? What were their names? Thirty one human beings with thirty one stories of life and thirty one ways to enrich the lives of others. They are now known only to eternity. Thirty one members of our human family.

Thirty one souls who wanted only to breathe freedom.

God damn you, fidel castro.

Latest from Ladronia....

Where the stealing doesn't stop.

MIAMI - (KRT) - Four decades after Fidel Castro's government had apparently seized all foreign-owned properties in Cuba, it now turns out that a U.S. telephone company retained some 400 acres of land in and around Havana until just two years ago.

``The land belongs to us. They can't take it,'' said Ignacio Sanchez, a Washington lawyer who represents Starwood. ``The Cuban government basically said to go pound sand.''

Surprise.

Read it here.

Hello, Katrina!

A hurricane warning was issued for southeast Florida tonight at 11 PM. Right now, the storm is right on the 26th parallel, heading due west. Hmmm. The 26th parallel, eh? That... sounds... very familiar... I don't know why...

Today's MUST Read

The title of the post says it all:

The Indoctrination of the American Negro - Cuban Style.

Please drop by the Black Informant read this excellent essay and and lend him your support. I had told Duane some time ago just how much I appreciate his support and understanding of the Cuban issues and am a firm believer in the fact that if there is one culture or race that should stand in solidarity with the plight of the Cuban people, it is the African-American.

Gracias, Duane. You made my day, man.

Your gas worries are over!!!!

Fret not, dear readers, about the high price of gas! A magnanimous savior has come to rid us of our gasoline burden! Hop on into your SUV's and trucks and take a drive over to your nearest Citgo station. Cheap gas will be available to all those Americans feeling a financial pinch.

Hugo Chavez promised:

We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba.

Chavez did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States.

And once you've had your capitalist imperialist gas guzzling vehicles topped off at your local Citgo, make sure to drive on over to your local airport and book a flight to Venezuela or Cuba, where you will be given free, universal health care by none other than the magnanimous Chavez and his esteemed colleague fidel castro. Get those breast implants while their hot, and free!!!

To wit:

Chavez and Castro offered to give poor Americans free health care and train doctors free of charge.

Our problems have been solved!!! Oh glorious day!!!

Welcome to Sunny South Florida!!! (UPDATED)

Can you say PLYWOOD?

There. I knew you could.

UPDATE (By George Moneo): As of 11 AM EDT a hurricane watch is in effect for Florida City in the south to Vero Beach in the north. I can only assume a warning will be issued tonight or tomorrow.

Fun, fun, fun! -- NOT!

No llores mas, Huguito

As a Cuban, I cant even begin to describe what it feels like to bare witness to the Cubanization of Venezuela. It is like reliving the mistake. Watching a once beautiful country and culture in its final death throws. All of what is held sacred by the Venezuelan people will undoubtedly soon be gone. Made history that will not be allowed to be spoken about. History will be re-written to suit a political agenda.

So, with that in mind, Id like to offer my two cents on Pat Robertson's comments regarding the killing of Hugo Chavez:

Good riddance! I'll gladly buy the bullets.

Ive never been a fan nor a follower of Robertson. And he may very well be a beer or two short of a six pack, but for months now Hugo Chavez has been stating the US wants to kill him with much hyperbole and fanfare. So it seems to me Robertson was just calling his bluff.

And I'm sure there would be many many people glad to see mini-fidel gone from the face of this earth.

The MSM, unfortunately, will harp on this, ad infintum, until we are all just sick of hearing about it. And Chavez and fidel, along with their MSM coconspirators, will use this to their advantage.

Here's proof.

Still, though, the only good dictator is a dead dictator. And until both of these revolutionary thugs are dead, the world wont be a better place.

Dialogue. At the end of a stick.

The following is how castro, who, as author Laura Restrepo puts it, "is the best thing to ever happen to the Americas," treats those with differing opinions:

1) Home of independent union leader raided by security agents

HAVANA, August 23 (Ariel Delgado Covarrubias / www.cubanet.org) - State security agents on Saturday raided the apartment of Maybell Padilla, assistant secretary general of the dissident Unitarian Council of Cuban Workers.

Two agents seized a fax machine, documents, foreign newspapers and some money from the apartment.

Padilla was taken to the police station where she was warned that charges could be leveled against her in the future.

Padilla has been running the union since the arrest in 2003 of Pedro Pablo Álvarez Ramos, currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.

2) Human rights activist says young communist leader beat him up

HAVANA, August 23 (José Antonio Fornaris, Cuba Verdad / www.cubanet.org) - René Montes de Oca, president of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba, says Hassán Pérez Casabón, second secretary of the Union of Young Communists, kicked him in the head as he lay defenseless on the ground.

Montes de Oca has been held in custody since July 13 as a result of arrests carried out of those who were commemorating the sinking of the tugboat "13 de Marzo." The incident with Communist leader occurred when a pro-government crowd attacked Montes de Oca and others who were at the ceremony.

Montes de Oca is among dissidents being held pending charges of public disorder.

3) Santa Clara dissident beaten and detained

SANTA CLARA, Cuba, August 23 (Guillermo Fariñas, Cubanacán Press / www.cubanet.org) - Dissident pacifist Freddy Martín Fraga was beaten in his home in front of his 11-year-old son last week.

Martín Fraga said he was about to take his son to a nearby swimming pool when some 20 men came to his home and attacked for what he said was his opposition to President Fidel Castro.

Martín Fraga is vice coordinator of the Christian Democratic Movement in Cuba, and the father of three minor children. He is being held in a cell at police headquarters.

A question...

If there's any reader out there that has any knowledge or is familiar with Cuban Law, could you please drop me an email?

I need some help with something Im working on and have some questions.

Promoting castroites

The U.S. publishing industry is growing bolder and bolder in its promotion of castro-worship. Today, it's invited a bona-fide castro-lover to the Miami book fair to shove right in Cuban-Americans' faces. Don't think it's not intentional. The vile creature is named Laura Restrepo who is quoted as saying the Beast:

"is the best thing that ever happened to the Americas."

And she's there to be the star of the show.

What's going on here? The publishing industry is rewarding more and more leftwing fanatics with book contracts to "represent" the Cuban-American community. By doing this, they shut out real Cubans. They'll publish fake Cubans, half-Cubans, non-Spanish-speaking gringofied anti-Catholic "Cubans" - and give them all book deals. So long as you're leftwing, and can say you are, somehow, Cuban, it doesn't matter how little talent you have, you'll have the publishing industry at your door. They'll even take Colombians to represent Cubanismo, provided they say good things about the Monster At Our Door. Anything but provide a voice to REAL CUBANS.

They give book deals to these talentless but politically correct fakes to say they are 'sensitive' to the 'Hispanic' community but in reality, they are using these placebos who share their Hollywood attitudes to deny and silence the literary voices of all the real Cubans.

Take a look at our editor here at Babalu - Val. Have you ever seen a deeper literary talent? A more brilliant chronicler of the Cuban American experience? A more studious wit of human nature? I haven't. He's a blogger while this Colombian lowlife, Laura Restrepo, who worships castro from the wealthy spa-world of rich-in-exile Mexico City gets book deals to 'represent' what the publishing industry wants outsiders to see as the 'Latino' or 'Cuban point of view.'

iBasura!

And they are doing it right in Miami's face where everyone knows the deal! Be on watch for this - the publishers are rewarding ONLY Latino leftwingers who love castro while shutting out the real literary talents from Cuba. This is going on and it's accelerating. The publishing industry is trying to censor Cuban American voices while telling all their Park Avenue friends that of course they are 'sensitive' to the 'growing' Hispanic book market.

We all know what their real game is and they need to be called on it.

Who is this Restrepo creature who so admires fidel? I don't know, but I think I know all I want to know with a quote like that above.

For some reason she lives in Mexico City, not Colombia -- and little wonder why. castro, who finances FARC terrorists and whose first murderous adventurism abroad was in Colombia, is not popular in Colombia.

Here is the EFE writeup:

Invitation of pro-Castro writer to Miami fair sparks debate

Miami, Aug 23 (EFE).- Organizers of Miami's upcoming book fair defended the event as a universal and tolerant forum, rebutting criticism from some conservative Cuban-exile sectors of the invitation of a Colombian writer who admires Fidel Castro.

"The Book Fair is under the umbrella of a U.S. university, which means that it deeply respects freedom of expression. Here, prohibitions are prohibited," said Alejandro Rios, a spokesman for event sponsor Miami Dade College.

Rios, who is Cuban-born, says criticisms of the invitation extended Colombian novelist Laura Restrepo come from "only a group within the Cuban exile community, which coexists more and more with numerous immigrant communities, such as Colombians." More than 60 percent of Miami-Dade County's 2.3 million residents are of Hispanic origin, with Cubans and their children a plurality but not a majority. Other large Latino communities here include Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, Argentines, Venezuelans and Colombians.

Some 200,000 Colombians are estimated to live in Miami.

According to Rios, the best thing about the Book Fair taking place Nov. 13-20 this year is that it reflects "the crucible of diversity that is Miami and the quality of culture that its residents demand." The controversy arose following the comments of poet Angel Cuadra, president of the Cuban Writers in Exile PEN Centre, an affiliate of London-based International PEN, an international association of writers whose mission includes defending free expression.

Cuadra called Restrepo one author "who should never have been invited to Miami." "She is a superb writer, but inviting her is an act of disrespect for the Cuban exile community," Cuadra was quoted as saying in Miami's Spanish-language Diario Las Americas.

Cuadra says he won't forgive the Colombian author for allegedly saying in 2004, when she introduced her award-winning novel "Delirio" in Miami, that Castro, who has ruled Cuba with an iron hand since 1959, "is the best thing that ever happened to the Americas." Restrepo, who lives in Mexico, has so far made no comment on the controversy.

Book Fair organizers say they believe the controversy will not prompt a boycott or protests by Cuban exile groups.

In the past, hard-line Cuban exile organizations have conducted protests, sometimes rowdy, in response to visits by Cuban artists close to the Castro regime.

November's fair, expected to draw more than 200 authors from around the world, will include a special tribute to Cuban novelist and essayist Guillermo Cabrera Infante, who died in London in February after many years in exile there. EFE cer/mp

Chernas

The word above means groupers in Cuban but it is also widely used in another way. It is a derrogatory term for homosexuals. The equivalent, I would say, of using the "f" word. I write this not because I am attacking the homosexual community but because I just read a great piece by Zoe Valdez (hat tip daniel) at La Nueva Cuba that depicts such a delicious irony.

It seems Ms. Valdez lives in this little French bohemian neighborhood that has been transformed into a small homosexual community with shops and lofts and art spaces and boutiques. And the most popular image displayed in said neighborhood, at all the boutiques and shops, on tshirts and backpacks and keychains, in every color of the rainbow, is the image of Korda's Che Guevara.

So, just savor the irony folks. Gay men parading around with the image of el Che on their clothes, completely oblivious to the fact that Che hated homosexuals and that El Che himself was responsible for the incarceration and murder of men, simply because they prefered other men.

Chernas.

Press release from La Asamblea

Just received the following from the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, vis a vis the castro regime's usurption of the land used for the May 20th meeting:

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA

Miami, Florida – 23 de agosto de 2005 – El Secretariado Nacional de la Asamblea para Promover la Sociedad Civil en Cuba, nos ha enviado copia de la Resolución y demás documentos relacionados con la confiscación por parte del régimen castrista del terreno de la suegra de Bonne Carcassés en Río Verde, Municipio Boyeros, donde se llevó a cabo la histórica Reunión General de la APSC el 20 de mayo de 2005, con el ruego de su publicación.

COMITÉ COORDINADOR

CENTRO DE APOYO E INFORMACIÓN DE LA APSCC

Ángel de Fana Sylvia G. Iriondo Mario Martínez

305-269-1812 305-361-6800 1-954-547-8472

Ive uploaded scans of the documents mentioned above and they can be seen here, here, and here.

More: Take a look at the very end of the second document, right below the date. It states:

"El Año de la Alternativa Bolivariana para las Americas."

"The year of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas."

It pretty much speaks for itself, doesnt it?

A spade aint a spade if it's Cuban

Has anyone else noticed how a bunch of antiwar organizations meet in, say, Crawford, Texas and the media calls them all "protesters" while a bunch of Cubans meet in front of a house to protest a kid being deported back to fidel and the media calls them "militant hardliners?"

Im just sayin'...

For Madeline Baro Diaz

Madeline, please forgive me for being forward, but I have to know, who are you? Where are you from? What qualifications make you an expert on Cuban and Cuban-American issues?

Do you simply sit at your desk and make a few phone calls here and there when you are writing your tripe? Certainly seems so.

Your latest "article" in the Sun Sentinel surely proves this. I challenge you to Google the recent appeals ruling of the Cuban Five and find one article, JUST ONE, that isnt exactly like yours. Parroting the very same overused and ubiquitous talking points. I'd take the time to list them here, every single story written by some other illinformed and, dare I say, biased "reporter" mimicking the same verbal diarheah, ad nauseum, but I shouldnt do your job for you.

Do you actually get paid for recycling the news? Because that's all youve done with your recent "column." There's no new news there.

You gave us this "story" following the usual useful idiot guidelines:

1. Mention the overturning of the legal ruling.
2. Mention the outrage of the Cuban-American coommunity in Miami.
3. Toss in a mention or two of events that occured decades ago and imply that they are still standard operating procedure.
4. Quote some professor at a University that wouldnt know a Cuban if he or she wasnt cleaning his kitchen.
5. Mention Elian.
6. Quote some official from the Clinton administration.
7. Remind everyone of the outrage mentioned above.
8. Toss in Posada.

And voila! There you have it. The Cuban diaspora in two hundred words or less.

Id like to know, exactly, what it is about the Cuban-American community that you dislike so much? Is it a deep seeded envy? Is it Freudian? Some Cubano break your heart? Some guy with a Cuba Libre bumper sticker cut you off in traffic?

Or were you just hired to libel the Cuban-American, extreme right wing militant Miami Mafioso community?

Le ronca los cojones. Not only do we have fidel castro and his minions preaching the Miami mafia line twenty-four seven, but we have useful idiots on this side of the pond with their cantakerous Amens!

I certainly wont wait for a response from you, Madeline Baro Diaz. This here is just a lowly blog, and you sit atop the almighty perch that is journalism today. Staring down at all us little people that look like ants from that high up.

But be careful up there on that holier than thou journalistic perch. It's crumbling. It lacks its base. The foundation is missing. You know what that foundation is, right? They taught you that way back when in Journalism 101.

It's called integrity.

From the Ridiculous Revolution department:

Presented without commentary:

RANCHUELO, Cuba August 22 (Félix Reyes, Cubanacán Press / www.cubanet.org) - The post office in the town of Ranchuelo has been without envelopes for nearly two weeks, preventing residents from mailing their correspondence.

Postal workers said the envelopes were on order from the postal services central stores.

Oscar Mario González Pérez, a local resident who wanted an envelope to enclose a letter to relatives, said, "It's unusual in this country when someone can't communicate with family members because of the lack of a piece of paper."

Hugo go bye-bye? (UPDATED)

Pat Robertson has the balls to publicly call for what is needed. Pat, may we add another name to your list?

UPDATE: Check out the variety of articles on Drudge: lots of people running for cover in this one...

Lawmaker calls Robertson 'fascist'...

Bush admin swiftly, unequivocally distances itself...

Venezuela: 'Terrorist Statements'...

I wonder if the lawmaker calling Robertson a "fascist" would call Hugo Chavez a "communist" -- which is what he is.

Oh well...

A visionary has left us

Sad news from the UK Daily Telegraph:

Robert Moog, father of the synthesizer, dies aged 71 (Filed: 22/08/2005)

Robert Moog, whose self-named synthesizers turned electric currents into sound and helped develop the music that became electronica, has died at the age of 71.

Mr Moog, who was recently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, died yesterday at his home in Asheville, North Carolina.

A childhood interest in theremins, one of the first electronic musical instruments, led him to a create a business that made his name inseparable from synthesizers.

As a PhD student in engineering physics at Cornell University, Mr Moog developed his first voltage-controlled synthesizer modules in 1964 with composer Herbert Deutsch. By the end of that year, he marketed the first commercial modular synthesizer.

The light and versatile instrument allowed musicians to generate a range of otherwordly sounds by flipping a switch or twisting a dial.

I am saddened by the news of Mr. Moog's passing. I own an original LP copy of Switched On Bach, where Walter (now Wendy) Carlos used Moog Synthesizers to such marvelous effect playing the works by J. S. Bach. That album is three decades old now, and it still sounds unique and fresh. The wide array of digital musical instruments available today exist thanks, in large part, to this man's ingenuity, fascination, and persistence.

Robert Moog, requiescat in pacem.

Cuba, Panama Restore Full Diplomatic Relations

More legitimacy for the monster.

NewsMax.com Wires
Monday, Aug. 22, 2005

Cuba and Panama have restored diplomatic ties, one year after they were severed due to Panama's decision to pardon four Cubans accused of trying to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and his Panamanian counterpart, Ricardo Duran, Saturday signed documents in Havana to officially declare normal relations.

Havana cut off relations with Panama on August 26, 2004, after then-President Mireya Moscoso pardoned the Cuban exiles. Her successor, Martin Torrijos, had vowed to re-establish ties after his inauguration last year.

Mr. Torrijos arrived Saturday in Cuba, where he attended a graduation ceremony at the Latin American School of Medicine along with Mr. Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

(VOA News)

Cuban ship in distress

There is an overturned speedboat in distress and the Coast Guard is hunting for survivors on the high seas now. It had been full of Cubans fleeing to freedom. Pray that there are survivors.

The EFE News report is here:

U.S. authorities search for 31 shipwrecked Cubans

Miami, Aug 22 (EFE).- The U.S. Coast Guard was looking for 31 Cuban shipwreck victims Monday in the waters of the Straits of Florida, after three survivors informed authorities that their vessel had capsized.

Luis Diaz, a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami, told EFE that authorities were notified that a cargo ship on Sunday rescued three Cubans from waters some 48 kilometers (30 miles) north of Matanzas, Cuba.

The would-be emigrants said they were among 34 people who had set off from Cuba in an eight-meter (26-foot), Florida-registered speedboat.

"Upon being informed of the situation, we began a search at four in the morning (Monday) and we found a boat, but we didn't find anyone underneath," not even supplies, Diaz said.

The Coast Guard officials do not know the details of what happened because the people who have the information are in Cuba.

"There are many questions, but the people who could give us the answers were taken to Cuba," the spokesman said.

Three Coast Guard vessels, a Coast Guard helicopter and a Navy aircraft were being used to search for the Cubans.

"We are hoping to find survivors because the water is warm and the weather is good. But if not, it would be a tragedy," Diaz told EFE.

Under the U.S. "wet foot, dry foot" policy, a Cuban immigrant intercepted at sea, even just meters from the shore, must be repatriated.

But one who manages to reach U.S. soil can remain in the country and become a resident at the end of one year.

The United States has detained 2,366 Cubans in the Straits of Florida since Oct. 1 of last year, the most during that period of time since the so-called 1994 "rafter crisis." EFE so/mc

Bored?

Here. Knock yourself out.

Una lasquita de vida, por favor

I received an email last week from the editor of the Miami Sun Post asking about possibly publishing a photo from Babalú. After contacting the editor I learned that they had opted not to publish the photo but that the blog was still going to be mentioned in an upcoming piece.

Now, I was a bit nervous about this, as I had not been interviewed nor contacted by the reporter and this blog, like most others, not only serves as a means for disseminating information, but takes the Mainstream Media to task for their somewhat slanted approach to journalism at times. We slam the MSM here every single time we find their coverage of certain events to be biased and contextually farcical.

But on Friday, when I picked up a copy of last week's Sun Post, I was surprisingly surprised.

Editorial columnist Rebecca Wakefield took on the local major print media outlet - as well as local TV reporting - and notes:

This is partially because the decision-makers at most print media companies have figured out that it is far cheaper to send their reporters to endless meetings, where reliable copy can be generated, than to have them mucking around in the uncertain depths, where great stories are born only after much time and effort. Wait long enough and anything that’s really untoward will usually bubble out onto the surface.

This is the theory that seems to govern (with some notable exceptions) a lot of the special reports churned out in the last few years by our local daily paper – which has tended to “discover” problems at the Public Health Trust, the school district, the airport and the city of Miami only after a given situation is far enough along to warrant prize-winning headlines. (See the fairly recent flip of Herald coverage of the condo boom from boosterism to skepticism. You know the end of a trend is near when the Herald finally gets it.)

Meanwhile, most television reporters get sent to car crashes and other useless spectacles, while real news is squeezed into sound bites between the weather and sports.

Ouch. Sometimes the truth hurts, and the folks at the Miami Herald and local TV stations should be slapping on some Band-aids right about now.

Wakefield then honors this humble blogger with the following:

My hopes for Miami’s atrophied media landscape rest in cyberspace, where, as in our gloriously cantankerous radioscape, debate can get deliciously vicious. It is a premature sentiment at this point, since Miami lags far behind most sizeable cities in terms of a vibrant online community, but a prenatal awareness is stirring. Some folks, like Valentin Prieto, have Web logs devoted mostly to Cuban and local Cuban-American news, politics and commentary. Prieto describes his Babalú blog, www.babalublog.com, as “an island on the net without a bearded dictator.”

She goes on to quote my post about my wife's encounter at the Che Guevara post card selling head shop and states:

"That’s great slice-o-life stuff, no matter where you come down on the political spectrum."

And therein lies the beauty of blogs. We aren't out here in cyberspace just to opine ad infinitum and we arent out here just as media watchdogs. Bloggers write about events or subjects that the MSM doesnt. Whether by design or by a lack of understanding, the mainstream media just refuses to shed light on certain things.

And that's why circulation numbers are dropping for most major news media outlets throughout the country. Because bloggers are out there giving first hand accounts of real life. Unedited.

En La Madre Patria

Babalú reader Fernando Z sent me the following photo from San Sebastian, Spain:

Which just goes to prove that you can take the Cuban out of Cuba, but you can't take Cuba out of the Cuban.

Gracias, Fernando.

Hentoff keeps spotlight on castro

His column in today's Washington Times condemning castro's thuggery against libraries and librarians is similar to others he has published but worth another read - Nat is not turning the heat down in this vile dictator in his essay about castro and his enablers.

Read it here.

Hat tip: Real Clear Politics