You cant stop them, fidelito...

Blogs.

Miami: see it like a native (UPDATED)

The natives two hundred years ago, that is.

My house has been without power for one week as of this morning at 4:43 AM. I cannot describe the frustration that one feels when your neighbors across the street have power -- and you don't. However, one writer has captured the experience perfectly and actually made me laugh about it: Dave Barry. Read his column from yesterday titled, "We see the light -- but it's definitely not in our house."

UPDATE: Another classic from Dave Barry published three days after Wilma (last Thursday, October 27) titled, "Will full juice be back for all by . . . Easter?"

(H/T Joel)

The Friends of Cuban Libraries needs you.

I just received the following from Robert Kent, Co-chair of the Friends of Cuban Libraries.

If you are in or near Pasadena this week, please consider lending a hand to those Cubans incarcerated for simply lending books and standing firm against people like Michael Gorman of the ALA, who through ignorance, arrogance, and support for fidel castro's regime are complicit in the human rights violations gainst the Cuban people.

Dear library bloggers:

You are in a unique position to exert influence on important issues, and I would like to bring such an issue to your attention. The California Library Association (CLA) begins its annual conference at the end of this week. Michael Gorman, the president of the ALA, will attend the CLA conference, and his appearance there presents an opportunity to help the people in Cuba who are being persecuted for daring to open uncensored libraries. It is not known how many events Gorman will be attending (please consult the CLA conference website), but he will definitely be speaking on Sunday, Nov. 6, from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M., at the CLA's Annual Coulter Lecture and Luncheon.

As some of you may know, the Friends of Cuban Libraries tried recently to contact Michael Gorman. We appealed for his help in saving the life of Victor Rolando Arroyo, an imprisoned independent librarian who was near death as a result of a hunger strike to protest mistreatment. On Oct. 3 the Friends even made an emergency telephone call to Gorman's office. He was "busy," but his receptionist passed on word that he had promised to return the emergency phone call. In fact, he has failed to return the call, or to respond to e-mail messages on this subject.

Victor Rolando Arroyo is now out of danger, but Mr. Gorman's refusal to respond to emergency appeals to save a human life is troubling. Bloggers have an important role in informing and energizing the public, including the California librarians who will be attending the CLA conference. I hope you will generously address this issue on your blogs. Please ask your readers to approach Michael Gorman at the CLA conference and politely ask him why he has not responded to appeals to save the life of Victor Rolando Arroyo.

An important principle in involved here, and I think you will agree that Michael Gorman, as president of the ALA and a human being, has a professional and moral duty to respond to questions involving efforts to save the life of a colleague.

As background information, printed below is the text of an Oct. 3 Open Letter from the Friends of Cuban Libraries to Michael Gorman. Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Robert Kent
Co-chair, The Friends of Cuban Libraries
(http://www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org)
--------------------------------------------------------

Saving a life: Open letter to ALA president

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2005 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) -

Dear Mr. Gorman: October 20, 2005

On October 3 I made a telephone call to your office to request support for saving the life of an imprisoned Cuban librarian, Victor Rolando Arroyo, who was near death as a result of a prolonged hunger strike. The receptionist who answered the telephone was informed of the emergency nature of the call, and she tried without success to put the call through. But she did say you had promised to return my emergency telephone call.

Sadly, as of today, no return telephone call has been received. This effort to save the life of Victor Rolando Arroyo followed upon an earlier message sent to your e-mail address on September 27. The e-mail message did not receive an answer either.

In March 2003 the Reyes Magos Library, of which Mr. Arroyo is the director, was raided by the Cuban security police, and he was arrested. According to secret government documents smuggled off the island and published on the Internet, the contents of which the ALA refuses to even acknowledge, Cuban courts ordered the confiscation or burning of thousands of library books during the 2003 crackdown on the island's independent librarians. In a similar pattern dating to 1998, when Cuba's innovative free library movement was founded, the persecution of the independent librarians has been systematically denied, ignored and covered up by a group of extremists within the ALA who dominate key committees. Among them are the International Relations Committee and the Intellectual Freedom Committee. This dereliction of duty continues due to ongoing inattention on the part of the well-meaning but complacent majority on the ALA's governing Council, which declines to examine the distorted investigative reports on Cuba issued by extremist-dominated ALA committees upon which ALA policy is based.

Victor Rolando Arroyo, along with other independent Cuban librarians, is now serving a 20-year jail term and has been named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. In a pattern which is now familiar, the ALA has refused to protest, or even acknowledge the existence of, the Castro regime's ongoing persecution of Cuban citizens for the alleged crime of founding a network of uncensored libraries to challenge government control of information.

Fortunately, thanks to appeals issued by respected human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, the Cuban government finally took measures to save the life of Victor Rolando Arroyo.

We in the Friends of Cuban Libraries would appreciate learning why, as president of the American Library Association, you have not responded to appeals to help save the life of Victor Rolando Arroyo, and why the ALA continues to ignore the Cuban government's bookburning and persecution of librarians.

Sincerely,

Robert Kent
Co-chair, The Friends of Cuban Libraries

Happy treenkontreet

Halloween is gonna be especially scary around my neighborhood this year. Not only are there tons of dead tree limbs and branches all over the streets, but we still have no power. As my wife calls it: "Parece la boca de un lobo." That'lll be our special Halloween Cubanism today. "It looks like the wolf's mouth" meaning, it's dark as hell outside.

I havent been keeping up with the news this past week so it'll be a while before I get back up to speed. I hope you guys continue to bear with me.

As you can imagine, I missed a week of work and am absolutely swamped today and probably for the next couple of days so blogging will be light.

I hope you all have a great Halloween and if you happen to see someone dressed as Wilma, do me a favor. Slap her upside the head for me.

Hey, Hugito: boo!

castro's Venezuelan clown comes up with a new low, a fresh innovative new way to make a jackass of himself. Nobody does it like him.

Man, he's stupid. Here's the ignoramus' latest pearl of wisdom:

Chavez: Halloween part of U.S. culture of terror

Sunday, October 30, 2005

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez urged Venezuelan parents not to dress their children in costumes for Halloween, calling it a U.S. custom that has no place in the South American country's cultural traditions.

Speaking during his weekly radio and television show Sunday, Chavez called Halloween a "gringa," or North American, custom.

"Families go and begin to disguise their children as witches," Chavez said. "That is contrary to our ways."

Chavez said he was urging Venezuelans to reflect on the subject. In recent years it has become common to see Venezuelan parents holding parties for children dressed as ghouls, animals and witches.

In one odd incident a week ago, authorities found more than a dozen jack-o'-lanterns left in spots around Caracas bearing anti-government messages and what appeared to be bomb-like fuses. Police and firefighters removed the pumpkins with caution, though the jack-o'-lanterns reportedly bore messages saying they were not explosives.

Paper skeletons bearing anti-Chavez messages also have appeared in spots across Caracas recently, and government officials have blamed sectors of the opposition with aiming to create chaos.

Chavez did not refer to those incidents in his comments on Halloween. But he urged parents to think about whether it was appropriate to dress up their children as part of a foreign custom, calling it "the game of terror."

He said that is part of the U.S. culture -- "terrorism, putting fear into other nations, putting fear into their own people."

UPDATE: Our friends at Killcastro have more -- as you know only they can do it -- here.

castro running scared

castro has vehemently denied that his bagmen at the Cuban embassy in Brazil gave the Lula presidential campaign any illegal $3 million in cash back in 2002. I color that as scared. It is a remarkably fast effort at spin-control from the barbudo and as that post I wrote earlier shows, it might well be because castro's face is poking out of a dollar bill is on every magazine newsstand in Brazil right now. castro's lying of course.

castro's rabid denial is here. If you can stand to open Prensa Latina, the whole statement is here -- get a load of that last line about castro's undying friendship and respect for the Brazilian people. $3 million bucks' worth! Heh, we know what he means by 'respect'!

Sunday Generator Blogging

Wilma plus 6.

I've been cutting trees for five days straight. Guess what I'm doing today?

Absofreakenlutely NOTHING.

Resolver, A Continuing Series

I usually cringe when I prepare to read a Cuba story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, mainly because of the track record of journalists such as Vanessa Bauza and Madeline Baro Diaz.

However, an article in today Sun-Sentinel deals with the famous Cuban ingenuity, the resolver attitude that Val so often writes about here. Aside from a couple of marginally questionable comments, the article steers clear of Cuban exile and U.S. bashing.

Cubans use ingenuity to cope

By Ruth Morris
Havana Bureau
Posted October 30 2005

Havana -- No es facil, goes the Cuban refrain. It's not easy.

Deprived of the Internet and Desperate Housewives, a colleague in Miami told me she'd been spending the evenings just talking with her husband -- by lantern light.

Important Havana hurricane photos

Our fine friends at Killcastro.com have significant new collections of photos documenting the extent of damage from Hurricane Wilma in Cuba. These look like mostly firsthand photos from authentic sources inside Cuba, making them an important part of the historical record. You will see the horror of castrodom in all its photographic ignominy and wonder how anyone on earth could defend such a monster who could do such damage to a country as he has, damage that looks even worse than what the hurricane itself wrought. What ruins! The photos are original and will move you.

Don't miss these photographs here, here, here, here, here and here.

UPDATE: Thanks to Dean of the prestigious Dean's World for the link!

Taking on Code Pink

Our lovely friend Kathleen at Blog for Cuba has taken on Code Pink, the Sandalista tourist outfit that specializes in gawking at the natives on castro's communist island plantation, among other things. Val's post about their latest Cuba shenanigans, appropriately titled 'Cuban Blood Boils' is here.

Kathleen emailed these sanctimonious pro-castro creeps and got replies from them. She took them off guard, and their reply exposes them in all their light-headed lightweight callow stupidity about Cuba. Cripes, it really is a tourist plantation trip for them and if you didn't despise them then, you will now. You have to read it all here.

castro caught buying votes in Brazil

We already know that the bearded bastard has been caught flinging money around in Bolivia, threatening to buy himself another willing domino in Evo Morales.

What's strange is the mysterious silence of Bolivia's giant neighbor, Brazil, as castro runs rampant through what should be Brazil's sphere of influence. Brazil is just letting its historic enemy do whatever he likes with South America's small countries now ... and saying nothing.

Turns out there is a reason for this - and it has nothing to do with Brazilian dignity nor Brazil's supposed reluctance to interfere in other nations' internal affairs. castro has been caught red-handed in $3 million worth of campaign finance violations in Brazil. A Brazilian magazine reports that the cash was shipped through liquor bottles through Cuban diplomats to make political payoffs.

castro paid money to President Lula's party to buy an election! That's why Brazil has been so silent to his depredations. They like the money and don't want to be his next target.

What was the explicit deal in this? Brazil's ruling party denies this whole sorry show, but Chavez has been caught paying money too. And surprise, surprise, Brazil is absolutely awash in campaign finance scandals from all quarters, something that's hurting investment confidence in the country. That's the hand of castro at work, he withers every sign of economic life he touches.

The story is here. And an update is here.

UPDATE: Our friend Aleksander Boyd has more here.

UPDATE: Thanks for the cool link, GOPinion!

Saturday Generator Blogging

Wilma plus 5 days

Still without power here at the Prieto homestead. Major roads near us have the juice already, but since we're strictly residential here we're low on th epower restoration totem pole.

I think Ill be done with most of the tree and debris removal today. I've been chain sawing and chopping and carrying and dumping trees for five days now. Arms and legs are full of bruises and cuts. Hands are killing me. Back is shot.

i thought Id post a photo or two to give you all some idea of what Ive been dealing with these past couple of days. I dont have the time to resize, so bear with me.

Here's the flamboyam split in two.

You cant really tell just how much tree crap there is there, but here's the fallen pines.

Ive lots more photos and as soon as power is back up Ill be able to resize them and post them. Nature is an amazing thing, folks. There's a couple of scenes I really want to show you but theyll have to wait till Im done busting my behind with the recovery effort.

Here's one last photo that shows the Cuban resolve. Amid the devastation, the fallen trees and debris, the roof being almost all gone, no power, no ice, no nada we still ate one hell of an arroz con pollo.

Hugo Chavez greases some palms

....right here in the U.S.!

He's flinging money all over the place. The Venezuelan dictator has written another $60,000 check to Gucci-Gulch K Street Lobbyist Segundo Mercado-Llorens, a real pig who once had this lovely correspondence with our friend Aleksander Boyd.

Can you believe this uncouth - sorry, the only word for him is 'dickhead' - is even capable of holding a job? He's just Chavez's type.

Alek has the whole dripping irony of how this dictator-apologist gets paid as much as 53 Venezuelans in the same time period for touting a communist thug who hollers that 'to be rich is wrong. It's not the first check he's gotten from the dollar-bill-burning dictator, either.

The next question: What did Segundo deliver to Hugo Chavez for those $60,000? It certainly wasn't an improved image - Chavez's name stinks worse than ever in the states. Did he buy some politician off? Was Mercado-Llorens responsible for this soggy Chavez-friendly statement by Congressman Dan Burton? Stupid as Chavez is, I don't think he gives something for nothing. In the past Segundo was paid $50,000. Now, his paychecks are 20% higher in less than the span of a year, quite a good performance bonus for a few months' work.

What did Segundo Mercado Llorens do to get such a sudden fat raise?

Contreras and El Duque recall Cuba

Their loneliness for their home country, while all the other Latin American players can fly home after the season's done, is very sad. Jose Contreras and Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez take comfort in playing baseball. Via CubaNet, USA Today has a great story about how the two White Sox baseball pitchers cope, keeping each others' presence - and even side-by-side lockers - in their exile. The only person responsible for their isolation from homeland is Cuba's cold vindictive dictator who clings to his grudges like tar.

fidel sends his errand-boy out

...to Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Diego Maradona, of course. He just got done meeting with fidel in Havana and next thing we know, he's leading anti-U.S. protests, as President Bush heads to Argentina, for the Summit of the Americas next week. castro is already screaming about the free trade President can offer the beleaguered nations of the hemisphere. But he also is going to have to face ... that ... in the streets, flashing his che tattoos. So far, so gross.

But it's probably worse than it looks. On the one hand, you might say to yourself - big deal, washed-up soccer star, desperate for attention, who is going to pay any heed to him? Don't we have washed-up Hollywood types who do the same thing?

But Maradona remains immensely popular in Argentina, as his recent 2004 brush with death from drug-abuse showed. There was a huge fan outpouring. The other thing is - Argentina already is the most anti-American country in the region -
our friend Boz has a link to an Economist survey that shows just that very fact.

My own suspicion is that fidel sent him on this errand. Some of our intelligent posters here have noted that fidel secretly harbors contempt for the former soccer star turned castro/che human billboard. He isn't going to give him anything intelligent to do. castro is very clever and Maradona isn't, not exactly, not anymore. So instead, castro's going to send Maradona to star in this clown show. As an errand for his errand boy. What's bad is that it might end up being something big.

Ese huevo quiere sal

Roughly translated: That egg wants salt.

From El Cafe Cubano:

Cuba Accepts U.S. Aid Offer For The First Time

WASHINGTON - Cuba has unexpectedly agreed to a quiet U.S. offer of emergency aid following Hurricane Wilma, and three Americans will travel to Cuba to assess needs there, the State Department said Thursday.

Washington has routinely offered humanitarian relief for hurricanes and other disasters in Cuba, and Cuban leader Fidel Castro himself has routinely turned the offers down. After Hurricane Dennis pummeled the island in July, Castro expressed gratitude for Washington's offer of $50,000 in aid but rejected it.

"This was the first time they have accepted an offer of assistance," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, at least based on the "collective memory" of diplomats at the department.

The display of U.S.-Cuban cooperation was not expected to produce any easing in the long-standing hostility between the two countries.

Washington sent a diplomatic note to Cuban officials on Tuesday, a day after day the storm pounded the island nation, offering to send emergency supplies. Cuba accepted the offer Wednesday, McCormack said.

The State Department did not specify what supplies might be sent, but humanitarian assistance generally covers food, medicine, related supplies or emergency housing.

A three-person team from the U.S. Agency for International Development is making travel arrangements now, McCormack said. Additional aid offers would be based on what that team found, and all aid would go to Cuba indirectly, through aid groups, McCormack said.

Cuba and the United States do not have full diplomatic relations, a legacy of more than 40 years of Cold War acrimony. A U.S. trade embargo on Cuba has been in place since the Kennedy administration. More recently, the Bush administration has branded Cuba one of the world's few remaining "outposts of tyranny" in a league with Myanmar, Belarus and Zimbabwe.

Havana offered 1,600 doctors to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the United States on Aug. 29. The State Department said the Cuban help was not needed because enough American doctors had offered their services.

Floodwaters in Havana caused damage to historic buildings and the famed Malecon seawall. Dozens of city blocks were flooded by the storm, but no deaths were reported in Havana. Wilma has been blamed for at least 22 deaths, five in Florida, 12 in Haiti, at least 4 in Mexico and 1 in Jamaica.

Ive heard unconfirmed reports that the bearded bastard has been of ill health lately, but since reports of this kind have been heard for over 46 years I've been skeptical. Yet this first time acceptance of a US offer of aid is, how shall I say, a bit enigmatic. And IMHO, something to chew on.

Wile-E-castro comes up with new scheme

Oh how pathetic! castro of course, so we are in the realm of total 'pathetic.'

While the White Sox celebrate their greatest triumph in nearly a century, led by brilliant Cuban baseball players who rose to greatness away from castro's aggressive oppression, castro is obviously stewing this morning. He's in a funk.

So, castro has got a new Wile-E-Coyote plan to get his mind off the reality of things.

He's set himself up to be interviewed by washed-up, drug-addled soccer star Diego Maradona, who's got a tattoo of castro and che on his now-doughy body.

Oh how pathetic, trying to get his mind off Jose Contreras and El Duque by hanging out with a coke-addled loser whose main claim to fame was winning a soceer match with a handball back in 1986.

Grow up, castro, this won't take the pain of reality away or the implicit rebuke of you and your efforts to stop these champions. You'll still the thug in this.

The story of this ridiculous spectacle is here.

Escaping to Toronto

The 20 Cuban national choir members who made a getaway in Toronto yesterday have now officially asked for asylum. Some newer links are here and here I'll be back to post more a bit later...

More on hurricane damage in Cuba

Peter Krupa in Costa Rica has a very fine post on media bias in the coverage of the serious hurricane damage in Havana, Cuba.

The AP seems to be breezily dismissing it all as just another plucky day in Havana, tra la la, when the reality is, a city's that's one of the world's great cultural treasures has taken a severe blow, not from nature, but from castro's half-century of neglect and non-maintenance.

Nothing grew or changed when castro came along. The city is frozen and now it's being washed away by the sea. castro has let Havana go to hell, despite Hugo Chavez's oil millions, despite trade with the entire world except the U.S., despite the presence of millions of people who treasure their city.

The Forbes-list $550 million dictator had other priorities.

Read Peter's fine post here.

My kingdom for unleaded!!!!

We're down to our last six gallons of fuel for the generator which means we'll only have power at the house for another 10 hours or so. I've tried syphoning from the truck, the wife's car, my dad's Ford and nada. They all have those anti-gas theft thingies in them that prevent the hose from reaching the tank. Note to readers: gas tastes like shit.

I'm at the office right now, left the house at about 5:45 AM thinking I could swing by an open gas station that early and come away with a few gallons of the precious liquid after a short wait. Alas, it was pretty stupid of me to even contemplate that. The gas stations hadnt even opened yet and there were lines of cars blocks long. Im sure the cars at the pumps had been left there overnight.

Yesterday my neighbor and I tackled one of the big pines that had fallen from the neighbors yard into our yard. Took us about 2 hours just to take that sucker down to the trunk and then carry all the crap out front. Unfortunately, when I was finally able to get back in that corner of the yard, I found that another one of the big pines had uprooted and left a gas line exposed. Such fun these hurricanes.

I've got a ton of pictures to post, but they'll have to wait till we get power back on at the house. If a hurricane teaches you anything, it's the fact that we take our power usage for granted. Look under your desk right now and chances are you have a power strip with a slew of things plugged into it. Modems, speakers, printers, routers, etc...And we have these things plugged in 24/7. When you are running off a generator, every little thing you plug into it draws just that little bit more wattage, sucks that little bit more of the precious gasoline that is keeping you out of the dark.

My generator is basically powering three households. My house, my next door neighbor Pat and his neighbor Roney. We each have a refrigerator, a light and one appliance we can use. So every time you need to plug something in, you have to unplug something. That keeps you on your energy conservation toes.

Again, thanks to all who have emailed and commented wishing us luck and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. I havent been able to respond for the obvious reasons, but know that my family and I are extremely grateful and honored.

A huge thanks to Mora for keeping the fire lit under fidel's ass here at Babalú. Hopefully, things will get back to relative normalcy by Monday and the Commie ass kicking will be back on in full force.

Until then folks, seguire cruzando el Niagra en bicicleta.

White Sox Win! Take that, castro!!!!!

Source: AP, El Universal

World champs! White Sox! castro you sack of trash! Jose Contreras and Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez have just shown you up for the monstrosity and mediocrity that you are. The White Sox have won! On Cuban power! castro, you've just been baseball-batted in the face by brilliance in four games, you crummy dictator. The Cubans you tried to stop, to make hospital attendants or something like it and then force to their deaths on the high seas have just come back, gone straight to the top and kicked your keister. They're now world champs for the White Sox who've won for the first time in 88 years. And all the world adores them!

At the World Series!!!!!!!

Can you hear the glass breaking? It's from Havana. castro's throwing things at one of his palaces. He's going to sleep in a rage. He's just been debunked by baseball players who can't stand him. And when he wakes, it won't be any better. Contreras and El Duque are going to be all he hears about.

iGANO EL DUQUE! iGANO CONTRERAS!!

Congratulations to all the White Sox!!!!! Including Ozzie Guillen! (Who nevertheless needs to continue to listen to his mother.) Photos are here. Go, White Sox! It's here.

I'm Alive and Well

This is your Babalu weather correspondent checking in to let everyone know that Wilma decided to leave me intact instead of taking me with her. It was quite a storm, definitely not the monster Andrew was back in 1992, but a larger storm that affected more people. I was at work (weather people don't get days off when bad weather's coming) and could hear the wind blowing fiercely on the roof at around 8 AM.

My house suffered no structural damage, but lots of shingles blown off, a 30-foot Traveler's Palm uprooted which took a portion of the fence with it, a 12-foot branch from my neighbor's Mango tree inside my pool, and mangled shurbs everywhere. All in all, could have been MUCH worse. Best of all, I got my power back at exactly 6:34 PM this evening, much sooner than I had expected. This storm was stronger than Katrina two months ago. Not a lot stronger, but stronger nevertheless. Thank God for the cool weather we've had in the wake of Wilma, I didn't even mind taking a cold shower on a cool 54-degree morning today (well, I'm lying...that was no fun).

I hope the rest of the South Florida Babalu contingent is safe and sound, and that we get back to normal very soon.

Hillary Guevara

Our friend Van Helsing at Moonbattery, and my good friend Byron, have assembled a truly repulsive collection of presidential campaign regalia that's making the rounds for the upcoming Hillary Clinton run for the White House.

Hillary is painted as che in campaign tschotchkas, including che underwear, and her far-left supporters can be seen at rallies flashing the image of their murderous Argentine hero, as if it were something good.

Van Helsing thinks this lunacy is a disservice even to Hillary but I am not so sure. I think Hillary supports this stuff, she's certainly never renounced it. She continues to hang out with the likes of Saul Landau, a certified castro worshipper.

The whole thing stinks, but be sure to get a look at it anyway for the truth about this monstrous 1960s communist who still hasn't changed her old ways. She wants to be our president. Like castro, she conceals her intentions until she has consolidated power. But her supporters certainly don't. See what you think. Read it here.

From Confederate Yankee...

LOL!!!!

Thanks, Confederate Yankee!

Women in White win Sakharov Prize

Via our dear friend Stefania, (who's got a lot of photos posted) we learn this welcome development from Europe:

Sakharov Prize to Ladies in White on Cuba

- It is fantastic good news that Damas de Blanco gets the Sakharov Prize. The publicity that this prize is bringing is unvaluable for theese brave, peaceful ladies supporting their inprisoned husbands. In their situation they need all the support from the outside world they can get. This again shows that the situation on Cuba is extremely serious and that the EU has to take action.

This was said by Cecilia Malmström (ALDE), member of European Parliament´s foreign affairs committee and liberal spokesperson on human rights, engaged in the situation on Cuba. The conference of Presidents in the European Parliament today decided that the Ladies in White on Cuba will receive the Sakharov Prize, together with two other candidates. Ladies in White is a group of women who stand up for the rights of Cuban political prisoners by protesting peacefully, every Sunday, dressed in white as a symbol of peace and the innocence of their husbands. The prize will be handed out at a formal ceremony in the chamber of the European Parliament in December this year.

The Sakharov Prize was instituted in 1988 and is handed out once a year by the Foreign affairs committee in the European Parliament to a person or an organisation which is defending democracy, human rights and the freedom of press. Former prizetakers have among others been Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Oslobodjene, Oswaldo Payas and the Belrusian organisation for journalists.

The press release is here.

Stefania also has important news about a huge Cuban chorus - more than 20 people - defecting as a group this week in Toronto here.

UPDATE: Lucy suggests this article on the Toronto defection as the best one here.

UPDATE: Our friend Kathleen at Blog for Cuba, our friend Juan Paxety at Paxety Pages and our friend Damien at Daimnation have much more on the Toronto incident here, here and here.

UPDATE: More fine commentary by our friend Boz can be found here.

Hurricane damage in Cuba

Fausta has an important news roundup of all the Hurricane Wilma damage Cuba has suffered as a direct result of castro's neglect and oppression.

The wreckage was atrocious this time, and she has links to many photos, as well as news of many casualties in Cuba's cultural heritage, owing exclusively to castro's destruction of the economy. Among the worst-hit this time, huge chunks of the Malecon in Havana were washed away due to castro's contempt and neglect for any beautiful thing still remaining in Cuba. It's very sad.

It's an important and original post. Read it here.

UPDATE: Don't miss these photos from The Real Cuba here.

castrocare comes to Venezuela

Ever since castro showed up in Caracas, sending in his 30,000 Cuban 'doctors,' Venezuelan health care has fallen apart. Like castro's vaunted program, Hugo Chavez's castroite health care program is not only a shambles of socialism, but gallingly touted as humane and the wave of the future in a Potemkin display of lying propaganda. It's anything but.

Miguel Octavio has an item first describing how a Norwegian reporter asked Hugo Chavez a question about the deplorable state of Venezuela's Cubanized health care system and how Chavez attacked the reporter and lied about the state of Venezuelan hospitals.

Then the article describes the terrible state of Venezuela's hospitals and how the writer's cousin died for lack of any recognizable medical attention after a brain aneurysm. This, in a nation that's dripping with $84 billion in state-oil company earnings supposedly there to 'help' the people!

The awful story can be read here.

Something creepy in Caracas...

Actually, it's two creepy things.

First, to complement their skeleton protest that we noted here, Venezuelan young people have now launched a pumpkin protest, leaving dozens of pumpkins all around Caracas, to protest Hugo Chavez.

Just in case you don't associate the Venezuelan thug, brainwise, with grocery produce, the Veneuzelan students have left with photos of the ultimate pumpkin-head, Hugo Chavez, taped onto them. Global Voices has found a new blog, by Bugs, which has a picture of the weird pumpkins posted here.

The chavistas are livid - and given how badly they punished the kids they say did the skeleton protest, it's pretty dangerous for them to do it. The story is here.

Now, for the second item, let's get into the reaaaaaalllly creepy, castro-creepy, that's where it truly gets creepy, story.

Over on our friend Miguel Octavio's site, they've done some digging into the identity of Hugo Chavez's new spokesman, a guy named Yuri Pimentel. Nobody knows who he is or where he blew in from.

But they've found that his cedula number, (that's what they use for a Social Security number in Venezuela) should be that of some guy who's 15 years old. What it probably means is that he's not been a Venezuelan citizen for all that long.

So who is he? A marvellous Norwegian blogger named Stig Hess did a little additional digging and found an old ad in an English newspaper. It was from the Pimentel family of London, seeking a long-lost family member named Yuri Pimentel (it had the whole long Spanish-constructed name, so I am sure it was him.) Stig also found that Yuri had attended a certain school in Venezuela in the early 1990s but never graduated.

Almost everyone on Miguel's board believes that ol' Yuri (lots of castroite Cubans named their kids after Soviets in the old days) is probably a Cuban national. He's not normal in any way and he discloses nothing about his past.

If this is true, Hugo Chavez is literally turning his home country over to castro's thugs to run for him. And own. The federation of Venezuela and Cuba, at the highest levels of government, is astonishingly deep. castro's Houseboy, Hugo Chavez, is giving the Monster at our Gate a whole new country to run. I don't think this has ever happened in history. It's really pretty creepy.

See that interesting reader thread here.

UPDATE: Miguel has EVEN MORE new stories about this growing federation between castro's Cuba and Chavez's Venezuela here.

Please send a new roof and electricity...

Well, my family is safe. We weathered the storm as best we could, very stressed from the amazing winds that battered my house, but fine.

Wilma made mincemeat of two slopes of my roof: the south and west faces which, amazingly enough, is where the incredible winds were blowing in from. This storm was worse than Andrew in my opinion. More damage, more widespread. We have no power and FP&L estimates it could be weeks -- yes, weeks -- before power is restored.

I'm glad everyone is OK. I'll try to write more later this week.

Please send ice

Just another quick post before the behind busting begins. We're still on generator power, FPL is saying itll be weeks before all power is restored. It's a good thing that cold front came through, as if this were August, I'd be one pissed off Cuban. Luckily, it was 55 degrees this morning and cool through the night so there are no sleeping in a pool of your own sweat mood repercussions.

Before tackling the backyard fallen tree removal, Im heading out to Mom and Dad's, then the inlaws to make sure they are all OK and add some already tired muscle wherever needed. Every single bone, every single muscle, even my skin hurts from yesterday's travails.

Another thing I need to do today is go out on a quest for gas and cigs. Two very precious commodities right now as everything is closed.

Thanks again to all who kept us in their thoughts and prayers. Now we're off in search of provisions. Survivor aint got nothing on us.

Wilma Generator Blogging

This post brought to you by: the PowerBack 5250 Watt, 10 hp Electric Generator by DeVilbiss Air Power Company, Jackson, Tn.

Just a quick post to let everyone know we are alright. We survived Wilma relatively well. She came through sounding and blowing and rumbling like the proverbial freight train.

Right now, Im generator blogging from the back yard. Its been a hell of a day. Lost about 3/4 of my roof shingles, the flamboyam in the front of the house split in two. Lost a few of those huge Pine trees and ManCamp lost its tent. Spent all day chainsaw in hand and Im only about a quarter of the way through with all the felled trees.

Spoke to the parents, Amanda, George and pretty much most of the immediate family and we're all OK. A huge thanks to all those that were praying for us and emailed or commented wishing us luck. Apparently, it worked.

Ill try to get a little blogging in between the logging tomorrow. Right now, I just wanna pass out.

Cuban taxi driver story

Now here is something interesting...

Apparently, a Cuban taxi driver took one look at a French tourist's tattoo and charged the guy too much. Or maybe he didn't charge the guy too much, and the Frenchman, like his hero, expected taxi rides to come along for free.

Hmm, which is it? What do you think?

Cubanet's story is below:

French tourist with a tattoo of Che Guevara detained by police

HAVANA, October 19 (Ernesto Roque, UPECI / www.cubanet.org) - A French tourist who had a tattoo of Che Guevara on his right arm was detained and handcuffed by police following an incident with a taxi driver.

After the tourist had complained about being overcharged October 11 on a ride to the Chinese district, an agent of the National Revolutionary Police let the driver go and there followed an exchange with the tourist. When passersby intervened on behalf of the tourist, the agent called for backup and 12 police cruisers arrived at the scene.

The tourist's Cuban-born wife started to film the incident. "Don't film me," the agent shouted.

The tourist and his wife were placed in a cruiser and driven away.

Something poignant in Las Martinas

I'm listening to the World Series just to see if I can hear of Jose Contreras doing his best in the game, and thus far, his White Sox team seems to be in the lead. Perhaps it won't be Jose this night, but another pitcher. Maybe Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez, his fellow Cuban. For me, this is all new stuff. But no matter who on this particular night, everyone wants to know how the Sox and the Astros are doing. It's a big match. Here is a fun blog for Sox fans.

Meanwhile, a fierce storm is pounding Cuba. News accounts say 20- or 30-foot waves are hitting the western coast, and a savage tornado spun off from the hurricane and blew away 20 houses in already-impoverished Pinar del Rio in the last hours. A whole fishing village is underwater. Havana is on alert for huge storm surges. Matanzas is on hurricane alert. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have been evacuated. The second hurricane, Alpha, is now hitting the the Dominican Republic. The outer edges of the storm is expected to hit the Florida Keys in about three hours.

Amid this, there is one family I am thinking of. Out in Las Martinas, in Pinar del Rio, the family of Jose Contreras, is either fleeing the monster storm with the others, or desperately trying to get a radio signal. After all, this is the great moment for one of their own, Jose Contreras, who plays on the Sox team, which is playing tonight. I don't see any news media accounts about what this family is doing, but I hope they don't miss this entire game due to either the scornful hate and pettiness of the castro regime, or the force of Mother Nature. I hope they somehow catch some of this game, whether Contreras is playing or not.

El Duque's family is from Villa Clara - they too are on hurricane watch and under the same pressured conditions as Los Contreras family.

castro's scorn for what in any other country would be a cause for pride shows what a monster he is. If it were any other country, the Contreras family would be invited to the presidential palace to come watch the game. Instead, the family is struggling to get a signal in a hurricane. But this, from Orlando Sentinel writer David Whitley, pretty much explains all we need to know:

Since seizing power in 1959, Castro's love of sport has been second only to his love of cigars.

And try though he might, there was nothing El Presidente could do about it.

The Longest Day

Ive been up since about 5:00 AM. Did the last minute Home Depot thing this morning at 6, along with every other resident of Dade County. Bought a generator, carton of cigs, shitloads of beer and water and ice and other necessities. The house is battened down, plywood up all around, patio stuff taken care of, pool drained of a foot of water. ManCamp has been tied down and prepped.

They're saying Wilma will hit around the Naples or Ft. Myers area and we're pretty much south of there, but you never know. Katrina bee lined down our Miami throats and took everyone by surprise.

Now it's just a matter of waiting. I am going to chill out at ManCamp for as long as the weather permits. Maybe watch some football and have a liver in overdrive amount of beer.

Wish us luck, folks.

YabaDabaFREAKENDo.

British to the rescue!

At least ... for their own people.

The British Consular Service promises to swiftly help all Brits in trouble in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. They promised to be much faster to help with this time than they were for British expats during the Tsunami.

Big deal, until you realize how many people are involved.

Here is an article about something you might not even know about unless you live in places like Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral or a few other places that are forecast to get the hardst blows from Wilma if the tracking maps are correct.

The west coast of Florida is loaded with European and Canadian immigrants, particularly British and German ones. There are 60,000 Brits alone. When I lived in Singapore, it seemed as though the tiny country was crawling with Brits, but there were only about 25,000. Western Florida, which has many more, must be practically a British colony. And so there these British are - likely to get the hurricane, if Miami doesn't, right after Cuba does. I bet the British press - which tends to do a better job than the American - covers this storm quite closely.

But I find it interesting that contrary to expectation, they too are immigrants. When I visited Fort Myers earlier this year, I saw whole housing developments with the flags of England, Canada and Germany. These Brits go to the west coast of Florida to be with their mateys, live with fewer taxes, and enjoy their retirements. Some are City of London bankers who did well during the boom boom years, cashed out, retired early and are now enjoying themselves. A German immigrant I knew, the biggest anti-American I ever knew in my life (including even Islamofascists), told me that despite his loathing for us gringos and everything about us, he honestly believed the U.S. had the fairest tax system he'd ever seen. That was why he was, somehow, in south Florida.

The Florida coast might be the biggest concentration of Western Europeans outside Europe. I suppose I can try to find out. Europeans eat three meals a day and aren't bigtime immigrants any more, but the one exception seems to be for Florida, a whole state full of immigrants from all over.

It goes to remind - we all are immigrants.

The Brits and other nations have consular services that are extremely eager to accomodate their nationals regardless of citizenship status. Even much poorer states have consular services that want to help their nationals, too - like Mexico and Honduras.

There is only one exception to this natural desire to help one's countrymen whereever they may be in the world.

It's castro's Cuba. Unlike every other state on earth, Cuba considers any expatriate outside its shores an enemy. In the United States, there are 2 million Cuban immigrants. Two million. Not all are in South Florida, but many are. For them, castro's not going to offer any 'doctors' if Florida is severely damaged by the hurricane. castro's also not going to offer any compassion. Cuba too is about to be hit by the same hurricane, but offers of help will only come from the expatriates and immigrants safely within freedom's boundaries to the people who remain under oppression.

castro certainly isn't going to offer to help Cuban immigrants as the British are willing to offer help to their British nationals. Think about that next time you would want to consider castro's Cuba any sort of 'normal' regime.

castro's hatred of his own countrymen just goes to show what an odious monster he is. No one else is like that.

Hello Tropical Storm Alpha!

The 22nd named storm of the season forms in the Atlantic and breaks the all-time record for the most active season on record. This is the wierdest, most stressful hurricane season I have witnessed in my forty-three years of living here in South Florida. I cannot wait for it to be over.

On related note, it seems that Hurricane Wilma wants to pay a visit to South Florida. We are officially under a hurricane watch as of 5:00 PM EDT today. With all likelihood, we will be under a warning tomorrow, Sunday. I left quite a few shutters on my house after Hurricane Rita so tomorrow's work will not be as bad as in the past when I had to lug big horking sheets of plywood up a ladder and position them. The timing of all of these events give me a real deja vu with Andrew.

Monday will be quite a stressful day down here. Say a prayer for us, folks.

C'est incroyable!

The following is a guest post from Daniel Duquenal of the excellent Venezuelan News and Views Im honored to publish here at Babalú:

Hi! Val has asked me to translate this excellent editorial of Liberation for Babalu, for which I am a most honoured one time guest blogger. If I sent him that article originally it is because Libération is a French tabloid which harks from the left in France. But from the democratic liberal left, not the saurian left of the likes of Mme. Mitterand, or the editor Ramonet of Le Monde Diplomatique, a left that has sold its soul (or whatever was used as such) for whatever it could get from Castro and Chavez, Castro's mini Me (apparently Ramonet got a new seat in Paris where no French newspaper is making this type of money for decades now). People might be surprised to find out that a large segment of the French left, the modern one, has dropped any admiration it had for Castro and sees it now for what he really is: a bloody caudillo.

THE GAG

By Gerard Dupuy
Wednesday October 12 2005

The 15th so called "Ibero Americano" in its O.V., which will be held this week end in Salamanca, is the equivalent for Spain and its ex-territories of its empire to "francophonie" this side of the Pyrenees. There is a lot of talk but very little action (not helped by the lack of budget) but we are all happy to be together as a big family, even if we do not like much some of its members. Fidel Castro loves very much these little ceremonies without meaning which allow him to check once again that he is as notorious by himself than the 20 or so other head of states put together and where anti US diatribes are received with more sympathy than what it is seeming to acknowledge officially. He should be attending this time. For the million of Cubans who cannot leave the island but risking their lives over a shaky raft, these princely trips do not change a thing to their drab daily lives. It has been a long time that they have stopped waiting for anyone's help, nor from Providence or any democratic solidarity.

Never, in the recent past, the hand of the castrist regime has been so heavily felt, the control of each event and gesture as monitored and the gag as tight. In the other martyr and communist island, North Korea, observers seem to perceive some signs of thaw. Under the castrist tropics, the ice age advances. Helped by his Venezuelan admirer Chavez, the only dictator in full exercise in Latin America is more certain than ever to die in his bed. Meanwhile, nothing is happening in Cuba but the harsh survival that a few weak voices say it is a duty to hear and to help.

That is that. The link to the article is here and it's an editorial of the paper, nothing less.

I'd like to add that Liberation is doing its job to help Cuban resistance. For example you can find recently an article titled «Cuba, un néostalinisme tropicalisé» which is an interview of Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz. There is also a reference to the 336 political prisoners in Cuba and the dismal ranking it got on freedom of the press where Cuba ranks near the very bottom.

See, all French are not that bad!

Daniel Duquenal
Venezuela News and Views

Cuban Blood Boils

Here's something to get you all riled up for the weekend, via commenter Retread, from LGF, we have the following:

Join CODEPINK for New Year’s in Cuba December 27-January 2, 2006

Cuba is one of the most beautiful and fascinating countries on Earth—and George Bush says you can’t go there. Well, we’re going anyway, and we invite you to join us!

This New Year’s CODEPINK will be organizing a large group of fun-loving and freedom-loving Americans to break George Bush’s ban on travel to Cuba. Join co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, together with Academy Award winning producer Paul Haggis, as we visit with farmers at their co-ops, doctors at their family clinics, dancers at the National Folklore Group, and young people at the ballpark. Don’t miss this historic chance to dance salsa, drink mojitos, and visit beautiful beaches—all while defending our constitutionalrights!!!

Hey, no trips to the gulags? No visits with dissidents? What about the Ladies in White, ladies?

The federal restrictions barring travel to Cuba are not only counterproductive and outmoded in this post-Cold War context, but also a violation of our constitutional freedom to travel.

Yes, because it's all about you, right Pinkies? Guess those women in Cuba that have to sell themselves for basic necessities will just have to wave at ya'll from afar? Unless, of course, you will be acquiring their services, ladies.

The Bush administration says we can only travel to Cuba if we have immediate family there. Well, we do. Cubans ARE family—Somos Familia. And while we’re there, we’ll be holding a mutual adoption ceremony in order to demonstrate that family transcends political boundaries. In the ceremony, each participant will be paired with a Cuban brother or sister. After all, we are all part of one human family and there should be no artificial barriers dividing us.

Well alright!!! Somos familia!!! Make sure you try to bring your newly adopted family member back for a visit to the states.

This historic opportunity to visit Cuba will cost approximately $1,500 (to Cancun) or $1,800 (to Mexico City). Participants will fly out of three points of entry: San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. We will all meet in Mexico City, where we will then take a chartered flight to Havana. Our trip this New Years will truly be a family affair. Feel free to bring children, parents, partners, neighbors, and friends. It is a trip designed for all ages, interests, and backgrounds (family rates available).

After seven action-packed days on this wonderful island, we will re-enter the United States through these same three points of entry. This re-entry will be a powerful challenge to Bush’s restrictive policies that deny us our fundamental liberty to travel where we please. Though past high-profile “travel challenge” groups have experienced no adverse legal consequences to date, we will have our lawyers ready at each airport of entry to provide legal aid, if necessary.

Because we will be traveling to Cuba without government permission (i.e. a license from the US treasury), CODEPINK participants will be breaking the embargo and therefore subject to civil penalties. (For further questions on the legal implications of unauthorized travel to Cuba, check out www.nlg.org/cuba). With these risks in mind, your participation in our trip is a crucial protest in the growing movement to end the travel ban.

We expect a huge response to this trip, so get your applications in early. Also year–end travel gets booked up VERY early (especially the return flights after New Years), so make your plans early! We look forward to spending some marvelous days together, while pushing to overturn a policy that keeps us from building bonds of friendship with our neighbors.

If you are interested in participating in this trip, please contact Dana (at) codepinkalert.org. You can also reach Dana by calling the CODEPINK office at (310) 827-4320.

I cant even begin to express the rage I am feeling at this very moment. To the Codepink ladies, in typical leftist fashion, its all about THEIR right to travel. It's all about THEIR freedom to do what the want. THEIR freedom to exploit an entire country's population to further a political agenda.

If you have ever contacted your House Representative or Senator or anyone in government through this blog before, I urge each and every one of you to do so.

You can contact your State Representative here.

Senators - here.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart here.

US Customs here.

Also contact the Office of Foreign Assets Control and report them at:
Email: ofac_feedback@do.treas.gov

Contacts
Compliance Hotline (202) 622-2490
Licensing Division (202) 622-2480
Cuban Violation Hotline - OFAC Miami (305) 810-5170
OFAC Fax-on-Demand Service (202) 622-0077

And, I urge you all to contact CodePink and let them know this travesty will not go unanswered:

Dana (at) codepinkalert.org. You can also reach Dana by calling the CODEPINK office at (310) 827-4320.

BTW, the comments thread at LGF is excellent.

Senators - http://www.senate.gov/

For South Florida Residents

Senator Mel Martinez
317 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3041
martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm

Senator Bill Nelson
716 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5274
billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm#email

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
2160 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515-0918
Telephone: 305-275-1800 or 202-225-3931
Fax: 305-275-1801
http://www.house.gov/ros-lehtinen/

Lincoln Diaz-Balart
2244 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4211 OR (305) 470-8555
http://diaz-balart.house.gov

Mario Diaz-Balart
313 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Telephone: (202) 225-2778 OR (305) 225-6866 OR (239) 348-1620
http://www.house.gov/mariodiaz-balart/

Kendrick Meek
1039 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-4506 OR 305-690-5905 OR 954-450-6767
http://kendrickmeek.house.gov

Alcee Hastings

2353 Rayburn Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
Tel: (202) 225-1313 or (954) 733-2800 or (561) 684-3613
http://alceehastings.house.gov/IMA/issue.htm

Guilma Picapiedra (Updated)

Everybody knows the drill. The day Max Mayfield comes out on the local news and shows us computer models depicting different paths an approaching hurricane can take, we Americans mobilize.

We jump into our cars and head to the gas station for a fill up. We haul ass to Home Depot and buy plywood and Tapcons and flashlights and batteries and candles and duct tape. We swarm supermarkets filling our carts with bottled water and canned soups and canned vegetables and powdered milk and dry goods and dog food and beer and sodas and Spam and Chef Boyardee.

If you happen to get to the supermarket a little late, chances are you'll see something you only see during times of crises. Empty shelves. Where the tons of water bottles were there will be nothing but empty space. Where the Campbells soups are there will be nothing left but one or two cans of some nasty tasting stuff that nobody wants to eat, even during a hurricane.

We literally stock our pantries and homes, just in case. Por si las moscas.

And sometimes, while you are in the 24/7 yellow raincoat hurricane news cycle, there will be some reporter with a story on Cuba, and how millions are mobilizing in preparation for the oncoming storm. A model of efficiency, some will say, parrotting the maximun leader's more than ubiquitous lauding of his emergency system.

But the reality is Cuba is a bit different than what your average Joe Reporter will show you on the 6 o'clock news.

Of course there will be shelters, when you live basically in a hut or a building that is crumbling for lack of maintenance, in a home where the government has put you in, that same government better damn well make sure you survive the storm.

Of course thousands of Cubans will be bussed here and there. When you live in a country where no one owns a car, no one can afford gasoline for said car because of the economic shortcomings of its government, then said government better damn well send a bus to get you and take you to that shelter where you will most undoubtedly have to stand because of overcrowding.

What Joe Reporter doesnt show you on the 6 o'clock news are scenes like these, from The Real Cuba, on how Cubans attempt to keep something in their stomachs during a storm.

Here's a shot of a bakery in Cuba. The sign reads "Tomorrow, Thursday, Thursday and Friday's bread will be doled out."

And as soon as that bakery opens, you get this:

And after a few minutes, unfortunately, you get this:

This is just a line for bread, folks. There are lines for beans. Lines for rice. Lines, lines and more lines. All for a handful of stuff and certainly not three of four days worth of supplies.

So next time you're standing in line at your local market in preparation for a storm, complaining and frustrated with all the people and havoc all around, remember it could be worse. You could be Cuban. And those lines and havoc could be an everyday affair for you.

There are lots more photos up at The Real Cuba showing what Cubans do to prepare for a storm, but perhaps the most poignant one is this one:

A Cuban in Batabano trying to save one of his worldly possessions: his mattress.

UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers! Thanks for dropping by and I hope you'll take some time to read through Babalú for news and commentary on Cuba and Cuban issues, as well as our stuff on Wilma as we brace ourselves here in Little Havana, USA.

I'd like to suggest to you all that you take certain news items from Cuba, such as this glowing report from CNN, with a grain of salt. The Cuban government controls all media sources on the island, and thus any reportage you encounter from even reputable news sources has been pre-approved by said government. It is well documented and understood by all MSM representatives that negative news from within the island can lead to the expulsion of the journalist and their crew with re-entry prohibited. It is, in essence, extortion by proxy.

Oh, and one more thing. Imagine how anyone of those people in the pictures above would feel, after decades of living off ration books, the moment he or she steps into your local supermarket.

Technorati tags: Hurricane, Wilma, Cuba

CNN hurricane propaganda

CNN is up to its old tricks again, writing admiringly of castro's hurricane evacuation efforts, intoning that the U.S. has something to 'learn from' them and repeating truisms that benefit only fidel castro. Case in point, this passage here:

The communist government prides itself on saving lives during frequent hurricanes that belt or zip by the island, and its civil defense plans have been praised by the United Nations as a model for other nations.

The praise these CNN creeps are making was made in 2004!!!! That's at least two hurricanes ago. Jan Egeland, the UN official who berated the West in the hours after the Asian tsunami as 'stingy' was at various conferences, more than a year ago and heaped praise on castro and his supposed hurricane preparedness. And it is true that there were only minor casualties on Cuba (that we know about) in the wake of Hurricane Ivan. One major reason is it didn't hit Cuba all that hard!

But what has ol' Jan said about castro since? He's had plenty of opportunity to speak - after all, Hurricane Dennis slammed Cuba in July of this year. The answer is: nothing! Egelund has been mysteriously silent! No praise for castro in this new era of making political hay against President Bush on hurricanes! Not one thing! Jan has completely steered clear!

Why has he since said nothing? Because relations are very different between Egeland's UN and castro right now. Egeland offered castro aid in the wake of Hurricane Dennis and castro turned it down, unable to trust even an accredited anti-American like Egeland!

Relations are really rotten between the UN and castro these days. The UN has said nothing good about castro's hurricane efforts, and privately, their people are shocked at the breakdown of castro's civil defense system in the wake of Dennis. It was a total failure with many people killed. The praise the UN handed out to castro and his minions awhile back is very old compared to what they think now.

How come the news media doesn't bother to ask Egeland's office what they think of castro's hurricane efforts now? How come? Egeland's people are very cordial and the always answer the phone or return calls for the media. I'm sure they'd be happy to talk to them. But not one has called them to ask them their current opinion of castro's relief efforts. Or if they have, they've decided it wasn't as 'newsworthy' as year-old conference remarks! Uh huh. It goes to show that all they want to do is praise castro using any old, tired s