Sisyphus

What an incredible and sad story here - the next time you think you get no breaks, think of this man here, who so longs to breathe free air that he would undertake four incredible dangerous voyages over the high seas, risking his life for freedom - and then say a prayer for him that he makes it on his fifth time:

FROM CUBA
Rafter caught and returned four times to Cuba

HAVANA, November 16 (Amarilis C. Rey, Cuba Verdad / www.cubanet.org) - Cuban authorities have fined rafter Jesús Hernández Matamoros 1,500 pesos - the equivalent of about nine months salary - after he was caught and returned to the island for the fourth time.

Hernández Matamoros, 33, said he was summoned by State Security officials August 16 and questioned for four hours about his frustrated attempts to reach the United States.

Hernández Matamoros works at the José Martí International Airport, but he was demoted from his job as a specialized equipment operator.

Noche Buena preparations

I know you all are on pins and needles about our Noche Buena celebration and its preparations, so Ill be filling you all in as we go along.

I gotta say that usually we're a little further along in the process by this time, but Wilma tossed us for a loop. No power for two weeks plus major yard work and all that, and then Thanksgiving kind of sneaked right up on us. And December starts tomorrow already.

But fret not, dear readers, everything is under control, for today we have taken our first step in the most important of all Noche Buena preparations. Separamos el lechon. Today we ordered the pig.

Now, usually, we take a head count to see how many guests we're having and then multiply that number by two pounds per person. But it's late in the game and we have yet to send out invitations, much less get any RSVPs.

So I made a lechonero executive decision. We will be cooking a whole, 150 lb monster of a pig this year.

One hundred, fifty pounds of roast pig, Cuban style.

Oh, yes. I can smell the mojo already.

Uno mas!

Dear friend and faithful Babalú reader Alberto Quiroga started his own blog a few weeks ago, and I have been waiting for the right moment to point you his way. Im sure many of you have already seen it and linked to it, so I know Im a little late to the party. But, alas, I live on Cuban time.

Drop by Alberto's Havana5060 and lend him your support. There are some excellent pre-castro Cuba photos and posts including a couple shots of a Cuban Cowboy. Today he's got an excellent entry up on the Cuban Cooking Bible.

But you should really take a few minutes and read this post about the day Alberto and his family left Cuba.

Gracias Alberto, y felicidades!!!

What did you expect?

US Congressional delegation snubbed at Caracas airport.

Does this really surprise anyone familiar with hugo chavez?

Sending money to Cuba?

Cuida'o con eso...

I'd heard a few rumors last week that groups of fidel castro's minions - "social workers" - were going home to home under the pretext of a "census" and then noting the contents and items found in each house. If some folks had a refrigerator and its contents. How much food they had in their kitchens. Whether they had a new TV. What books were found. Any new clothing. What kind of sundries were found. Basically, it's a ploy to see what kind of resources certain people have.

Apparently, these Cubans that have the wherewithall to acquire certain things, be that through some kind of business activity within the island or with money from abroad, have, according to fidel castro, too much. They are "the new rich." And, in following the communist doctrine of everyone being equal by the least common denominator, ie. take away from those that have as opposed to helping those that dont have acquire more, castro has begun yet another crackdown:

Castro enlists Cuba's young in war on corruption

By Marc Frank

Fidel Castro is mobilising tens of thousands of young people and threatening a Cultural Revolution-style humiliation of corrupt officials in what the Cuban leader characterises as a do-or-die struggle against graft, pilfering and the"new rich".

Graft and pilfering. Isnt that what someone who has no means of self-suffiency, no legal way of earning, does?

The first target of the campaign - dubbed "Operation July 26" after Mr Castro's movement in the late 1950s that outflanked the Communist party and brought him to power - has been the country's fuel distribution system.

Thousands of student-age youths have taken over petrol stations and started working in refineries and riding in fuel trucks to monitor an industry where up to half of this precious resource was being stolen, according to receipts since the take-over began a month ago.

People stealing gas in Cuba? Why, that certainly cant be! The revolution provides for all!!!

Just imagine a bunch of young kids running gas stations and such. How long before either something goes totally wrong, or they themselves start skimming off the top?

The Communist party launched an assault two years ago on "corruption and illegalities'' within its ranks and the state administration as it recentralised economic activity and control over hard currency after what it characterised as "liberal errors" in the 1990s.

Bureaucratic corruption and a booming black market are nothing new in state-run economies like Cuba's, but Mr Castro said recently that market-oriented reforms such as decentralisation, authorisation of small private initiatives and circulation of the dollar alongside the peso, among other emergency measures taken after European communism's collapse, "increased these ills to the point where they have taken on a certain massive character . . . and inequality has grown".

Mr Castro said he was mobilising 26,000 young social workers to fight fora purer society and would mobilise more than 100,000 social workers and university students if needed, threatening to drag corrupt officials out in public.

Oscar Espinosa, an economist recently released from prison after serving time for dissident activities, said the current campaign would simply create more hardship and more illegal activity. "What we need here is market reform, like in China or Vietnam. By returning to command economics and repression, they are simply throwing gas on the fire," he said.

Market reforms? In Cuba?

Raul Castro, the defence minister and second in the Cuban hierarchy after his older brother Fidel, is reported to have told party officials 18 months ago: "Corruption will always be with us, but we must keep it at our ankles and never allow it to rise to our necks."

But the drive apparently made little progress, and the military was forced to take over operations at the port of Havana in September to handle increased imports and stop theft by port workers and truckers.

"In this battle againstvice, nobody will be spared," Fidel Castro said in a recent speech, apparently taking over the campaign from his brother. "Either we defeat all these deviations and make our revolution strong, or the revolution dies."

Taking the responsibility away from the successor? No puede ser!

(castro) blamed the "new rich" for Cuba's social ills, without defining who they were, except that they had access to hard currency.

The Cuban leader said social workers were organising cells in neighbourhoods to fight corruption and illegalities, much as his movement did in the 1950s during the revolution.

Key phrase: access to hard currency.

Young people have also fanned out to bakeries, checking how many rolls are needed to meet a neighbourhood quota, then adjusting wheat and other deliveries accordingly. Neighbourhood pharmacies, dollar shops and eating places are rumoured to be next on the list.

Busloads of young people, armed with clipboards and energy-saving light bulbs, have appeared in some neighbourhoods as part of an energy-saving drive that includes stiff increases in prices. They hand out the bulbs while taking a census of the electrical appliances in each home, which they then characterise as well off, normal or poor - raising fears in the former that they are being classified as the "new rich".

Yes, fidel. The energy-saving light bulbs will solve all the problems. Along with those rice cookers.

This latest drive is nothing more and nothing less than another crack of the whip. Another display of who has the power in Cuba and who is, essentially, fucked.

Why we have lost the fight for 47 years

Ed.: Although this is George Moneo's post, I felt compelled of offer a few words as I feel this entry is resonant to my post this morning about Cuba's #1 export. The following article confirms my earlier post entirely, as the only export castro's Cuba has is of the human kind. Exiles are the only commodity that the castro regime can count on to bring in that much needed cash.

From The Orlando Sentinel:

Uphill battle to curb flow of U.S. cash to Cuba

Paolo Spadoni | Special to the Sentinel
Posted November 28, 2005

It has been almost a year and a half since the Bush administration intensified its sanctions program with respect to Cuba by allowing Cuban-Americans to visit relatives on the island only once every three years, instead of annually, and limiting remittances just to immediate relatives.

Mainly intended to deprive the Castro government of U.S. dollars, Washington's new regulations consistently target a specific group of U.S. citizens who channel into Cuba more hard currency than any other group. In the past decade, remittances sent or personally delivered by Cuban-Americans to family members on the island, and mostly used for purchases in state-owned hard-currency stores, have provided an economic lifeline to the same government U.S. policy was supposed to undermine.

There is little doubt that President Bush's recent measures have significantly reduced the number of U.S. visitors to Cuba, thus depriving the latter of the hard currency that deterred travelers would have brought for their personal expenses and for relatives. Curbing the overall flow of remittances to Cuba, however, is a much more difficult task.

Here is why U.S. authorities face an uphill battle in trying to curtail money transfers to Cuba from the United States:

Instead of making use of formal wire-transfer services, Cuban-Americans tend to rely on relatively inexpensive and more user-friendly informal remittance channels. It is well known that a huge flow of remittances arrive on the island in the luggage of entrusted agents, or "mules," who travel to Cuba through third countries and carry money for cheaper fees than the ones charged by official agencies such as Western Union.

Cuban-American mules, who are generally U.S. citizens who hold a Cuban passport, can easily circumvent restrictions by using the U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States and the third-party country, while using the Cuban passport for the rest of the journey. And even placing U.S. inspectors in several third-country airports won't help much. Cuban-American cash can be sent or personally transferred to citizens of other countries (some mules are Mexicans and Colombians), who will then travel to Cuba and deliver the money to recipient families.

In the past year, mules' operations have become increasingly sophisticated, especially since late 2004 when Fidel Castro put an end to the commercial circulation of the U.S. dollar in Cuba in favor of the convertible peso or CUC, a local currency that has no value outside the island. Cubans who receive dollars from abroad must now exchange them for CUCs in order to make purchases in hard-currency stores. Their purchasing power has been greatly reduced after the 10 percent fee on dollar-CUC exchanges introduced in November 2004 and the re-evaluation of the CUC by 8 percent against all international currencies last May.

Currently, most Cubans are receiving remittances in CUCs rather than in dollars or other currencies. Given that mules carry substantial amounts of cash in single trips, and now probably even more money than before as travel to the island has become riskier due to Bush's new restrictions, the key issue is where they acquire CUCs before delivery. Cuba's strict financial controls make it unlikely that mules exchange tens of thousands of U.S. dollars, or eventually Euros or other major currencies, at local banks or exchange houses. One possibility is the existence of an unofficial organization in Cuba that dedicates itself to these exchanges, or perhaps ghost companies outside the island engaged in these transactions. Mules might also rely on local intermediaries to split the money and exchange smaller sums at different locations. After all, there is evidence that some remittances are delivered by Cuban nationals rather than foreign residents.

Remittances to Cuba are also facilitated by the emergence of third-country-based money-transfer services that allow funds to be transmitted to the island from the United States through the Internet. As transactions are routed via foreign banks, it is extremely difficult for U.S. authorities to exercise effective control. For instance, funds transferred to Cuba via Canada-based Transcard (used by an ever-increasing number of Havana residents) are credited to secure bank accounts in Canada. The recent proliferation of similar businesses located in Europe, such as Spain and Italy-based SerCuba and Switzerland-based AWS Technologies, further complicates the U.S. attempt to curtail remittances to Cuba.

After almost 18 months since the enactment of a new U.S. policy toward Cuba, most Cuban-Americans and their relatives on the island might be physically apart but still economically tied.

Paolo Spadoni is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida. He wrote this commentary for the Orlando Sentinel.

(H/T Mike Pancier)

Onward, soldier, onward

Every morning I wake up at the crack of dawn and sit in front of the computer. I go through literally hundreds of emails, dozens of news feeds, tons of websites and news portals - all about Cuba - and read, read and read some more. Some aricles and editorials are relatively unbiased, but the majority is the same old propaganda, the same old talking points about Cuban healthcare and education and social progress, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.

Some days are better than others, obviously. With most of the propaganda coming from Prensa Latina or Granma or CNN or some other arm of the left's misinformation body. Other days, well, let's just say that there are some days where I just want to scream. Where my day starts with anger and frustration. Where I carry the hatred around for the liars like a cancer. On some days, it is more than just a burden.

And I dont know how it is exactly that I have come to do this. To need to do this. My family never indoctrinated me about politics. Dad never sat me down and gave me the communism birds and bees speech. My grandparents never actually sat me down and said fidel is bad, fidel is evil, hate fidel. My family didnt discus politics all that often. But then, they really didnt have to.

When you witness the suffering of your family, when you live that suffering, words are superfluous. Believe me, standing there as a kid and watching your father - this big, strong, Hercules of a man - on his knees, sobbing like a child at the news of his sister's passing in Cuba, it does something to you. It ingrains in your memory, in your soul, in your very being. Not only do you learn it, but you understand it completely. You heart feels the why.

And yet here I am, a man of 40 with a full life, a wonderful family, a beautiful and supportive wife, an excellent career and wonderful home and I get up every morning and go to war on this here blog. Despite being a David to a willfully ignorant MSM Goliath, I, we, plod on. Day after day. Depressing news article after despressing news article. Inane editorial after inane editorial. Lie after lie. We plod on.

This blog - and those in solidarity - may never topple the tyrant. It may never directly rid Cuba of the disease that plagues her. It may never eradicate communism on the island. But it will serve one purpose.

One day, when God in his divine knowledge and power choses to lift the Cuban people from their bondage, when their blindfolds are finally removed, it will show them the truth. The Cuban people will one day know the true culprit of their oppression. They will know who stood beside them and behind them and in front of them and fought for them. They will know who lied to them and who rose and screamed the truth.

Truth is stronger than any billboard stating "Vamos Bien!" or "Venceremos!" Stronger than any Hollywood production about motorcycles diaries. Stronger than any sword, any bullet, any missile and every lie.

Thank you all for helping me spread the truth. For having my back, for standing side by side on this cyberline of battle. I am honored and privileged and damn proud to be among your ranks.

Are you Cuban-American?

Were you born in Cuba?

Stand proud. You're her #1 export.

Florida, get ready for new neighbors

"We have seen that every time there is an electoral event in Venezuela, there is a corresponding increase in the exodus of Venezuelans to Florida," said Carlos Antonio Suarez, an attorney with the Orlando office of Arias Tovar & Associates, a Venezuelan law firm that works on immigration issues.

Venezuelan election day is Dec. 4, and oh god, is it shaping up to be a dog.

The Florida real estate market is gonna love this.

More here, here and here.

Update: BREAKING....

From my friend Aleksander Boyd at VCrisis, we have this breaking item:

Electoral troubles in Venezuela: Political Parties withdraw candidates en masse By Aleksander Boyd 29.11.05 | All the major political parties have announced withdrawal from the electoral race of next Sunday, in which Venezuelans would choose Assemblymen. Accion Democratica, COPEI, Fuerza Liberal, Polo Democratico, Venezuela de Primera, Movimiento Republicano, Vision Emergente, CausaR and Proyecto Venezuela have made clear that under the present conditions they will not participate in electoral processes. It appears that only Primero Justicia, MAS and Rosales' Nuevo Tiempo are still willing to take part, although Descifrado has reported that Primero Justicia is having second thoughts about participating.

Sources in Caracas are sending shocking reports. Primero Justicia could have reached a pact with the Chavez regime: electoral participation in exchange to exempt party leaders from future prosecution -on treason charges that the regime could present against some of them, in particular against Gerardo Blyde.

OAS representatives trying to force on the political parties some sort of agreement whereby these would not demand electoral authorities, read Jorge Rodriguez, full compliance with current legislation. In their skewed view Sunday's election must take place no matter what. This has angered people so much that a rally to protest their odd behaviour and to demand cease and leave has been organized for tomorrow.

Then USAID representatives are meant to be encouraging some political parties to participate whilst promoting abstention to discourage others.

European observers are dumbfounded not knowing what to do. However the generalised impression is that, in spite of the many irregularities that they have witnessed, they will not take a principled stance on any issue.

Some polls are pointing to an up to 90% abstention level. Accion Democratica, is purportedly the first party to take into account what the base is saying.

Students are reportedly rioting in Merida, Valencia and Barquisimeto. A blogger living near Palo Negro -military air base- reported F-16s taking off.

To conclude with news from officialdom, the CNE cancelled its board meeting of the day and Interior Minister Jessy Chacon has threatened parties saying that regardless of political colours, those seeking to torpedo the elections shall face consequences.

Choos

The Manolo, he knows about the shoes of the Cuba:

This man Castro, he makes the Manolo angry because he denies to the Cuban peoples who do not have the American dollars the right to buy the super fantastic shoes!

Yes, it is true, the Manolo he is the running capitalist pig-dog. He loves the Capitalism and how the market it delivers the beautiful goods to the peoples, and how it makes the work of the good designers valuable. Manolo loves this like he loves his own dear sainted Granny.

Beautiful shoes for everyone! Death to the tyrant who would deny the peoples the beautiful shoes! This it is the political philosophy of the Manolo.

Oh, for fuck's sake III

This just in to the What-The-Fuck department:

Val, . unfortunately when you're not writing about yourself, you're cutting and pasting, or repeating leftist propaganda from every possible source in the universe. Either you are the most stupid of Fidel Castro's enemies, or you are one of his most devoted sympathizers. Today I'm voting with my feet and going somewhere else where the blogger shows a better sense of direction. Good luck,

Marcial Villarriego

Le ronca los cojones. Sometimes, I swear, I just wanna fucking quit this blogging shit.

Let me ask you, Marcial, what the fuck have YOU done for the cause lately?

Asswipe. COMEMIERDA.

Oh, for fuck's sake II

"The Internet is a luxury to the privileged few in Cuba, and the government there says the U.S. economic embargo is at fault."

I got nothing but four-letter words today...

Oh, for fuck's sake

The New York Times. At it once again.

Immigrants ... and immigrants

Orlando Sentinel has an interesting article titled:

Fleeing Venezuelans start over in Florida

But the people they feature aren't exactly the kind of people who look like they're gonna make it here. I suspect most Venezuelan immigrants aren't like this. Or at least hope not.

For his 'immigrants,' the news reporter interviews only this miserable middle-class Venezuelan husband and wife who say they don't like the deal they got here in the U.S.

They're doctors put out of business by castro's "doctors" back in Venezuela and now in their new life in the U.S., they're working a store. But they hate it and see operating a store as being a low-status occupation compared to life in Caracas. I suppose it is, but in America, you have to work your way up, it's not handed to you. I hope the reporter was distorting their remarks, which could have happened, but from what I can tell, these Venezuelan doctors want it handed to them.

Do these Venezuelan immigrants not know that the NUMBER ONE TRAIT of being a high-income individual in the U.S. is to own one's own business? There is no surer path to wealth - not owning stocks, not a high-education job like doctor, but owning a business! They are sitting on potential gold and don't even know it. And unlike South America, where the story I continuously hear from people is of hard work trying to build a business only to have it snatched from them by some economic shock or government theft - anyone who owns a business here can grow prosperous and rich, even if it's a humble, low-tech starter business selling retail soap! But you have to work and dream and take your opportunities. Only in America does doing this bring a reasonably good chance of turning soap into gold!

And yes, I have been down, and I have been there! Ivy league grad, working at retail during a recession after a layoff, stocking shelves! Can happen to any of us! I got back on my feet ... and have never done better.

In America, upward mobility and downward mobility can come very swiftly and certainly, but to make it go positive, there must be effort and faith in the future, faith in oneself, and maybe even religious faith - which is abundant here. Whining kills faith so it's none too constructive, and none too American. Part of me wants to offer these immigrants words of encouragement and the other part wants to slap some sense into them.

If it's so bad here, if America gives them such a raw deal, if being storekeepers as their mere first leg up in U.S. society is so bad and there's no path up from there, why don't they go back?

Do these non-success-track Venezuelan ingrates not realize that other immigrants sail on the high seas over shark-infested waters to reach freedom's shores and gladly - GLADLY take work in construction, retail, whatever they can, for now - just to breathe free air? They do the humble stuff first but keep their eyes on the prize and, fast as they can, move up? These Venezuelans seem singularly unequipped for this kind of life. They don't have this track. They ... just like back in Venezuela ... want it handed to them. As a matter of privilege.

That thinking is what got a thug like Hugo Chavez elected in the first place!

These Venezuelans cited desperately need exposure to their industrious Cuban cousins and I hope they get it. Cubans - and plenty of them are doctors fleeing communism - could teach them a thing or two about hard work, expectations, opportunities - and freedom.

Their attitude and that of the Cubans reminds me of the contrasts seen in a movie called 'Bolivia.'

It's about Argentina during their meltdown in 2002. The middle-class Argentines wrench in disbelieving agony over the disaster their government brought them. But they still look down on the Bolivians who've always done the scutwork in their country. The Argentines are unable to cope with disaster but the Bolivians - who have always been poor and humble - as well as taken a lot of abuse from their Argentine masters - are able to cope with the economic morass with far more resilience than the Argentines - even as the relatively rich Argentines screamed about their raw deal in the background.

Maybe there's a lesson in this. The rich and comfortable just don't get it about America. Does this explain the eurotrash hostility to the states? I don't know. But there are just some people who shouldn't be immigrants.

Why aren't those 'wronged by America' Venezuelan doctors marching in the streets with their brave Venezuelan counterparts who are standing up to the Thug of Caracas in person? Whining about the raw deal that America gives is about the most counterproductive thing I can think of. The dissident in the Venezuelan jail has more peace of mind than these people do.

It doesn't stop

The animal barbarism of the castroites, acting lawlessly and with impunity, as their bearded master glowers behind the tropical palace walls and darkened windows of his Mercedes Benzes. The thuggery is his doing.

Cubanet reports:

FROM CUBA
Home of dissident attacked two days in a row

SANTA CLARA, Cuba, November 18 (Niurvys Díaz Remond, Cubanacán Press / www.cubanet.org) - Someone threw a six-pound steel object on the roof of the home of dissidient Julio César Montes Nerey, breaking one of the tiles.

Montes and his family said they believed the attacks, which occurred November 10 and 11, were the work of a government Rapid Response Brigade.

"It's an act of terrorism and the second night in a row that our home is attacked while we sleep," said Argelia Quintero Benítez, wife of Montes Nerey.

Montes Nerey is vice-coordinator of the Democratic Christian Movement of Cuba.

Galloway hears the dinner triangle again

George Galloway, the repulsive, treasonous British MP whom was on Saddam Hussein's payroll for years, pocketing oil-for-food money and acting as Saddam's apologist in UK parliament - has just heard the dinner triangle again.

Exactly as Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has come out with a pork-barrel cheap oil program, via Citgo, showing how oil can be delivered to select U.S. constituents for the benefit of Congressmen like Bill Delahunt and Jose Serrano, out pops George Galloway, lining up behind them to see Santa Chavez.

Galloway has decided to sing for his supper first, by coming out with a statement of glowing, rosy support of Chavez, the Saddam of the Americas. He did it through his new political party, which is called, barfingly enough, 'The Respect Coalition.'

Alek Boyd is covering the scandal, noting the context of a lot of the world's losers suddenly coming out with statements of support for castro's Mini-me.

What the heck will Hugo Chavez give to oil-for-food's George Galloway in return???? Read it here.

UPDATE: More excellent analysis from Aelfheld at Gall & Wormwood here.

New TV Marti film, diaries and more

Lovely Stefania in Sardinia has some of the most amazing sources. She's gotten her hands on a new TV Marti interview of a Cuban dissident who was imprisoned and somehow got out, discussing his horrific ordeal.

It also has interviews with his wife and son, who spoke of the quiet support and solidarity they received in Cuba from their friends and neighbors, who did not forsake them. To me, that was edifying to learn because no one and nothing shatters communities and makes them free for alls like castro. That they haven't been shattered, but all maintain a quiet solidarity against The Beast has got to be dangerous news for him and his crumbling island prison.

Stefania's video, and a diary of a prisoner with photographs is here.

Santa Chavez and his many dupes

Investor's Business Daily has a new editorial out about the Useful Idiots like the Kennedys and Rep Bill Delahunt who willingly are helping Hugo Chavez distribute cheap heating oil to the U.S. in the name of communism. They are pretending it's all sorts of stuff but the fact is: It's A Bribe, For Political Purposes. To allow Hugo Chavez to do just about anything he wants with impunity. Read the whole gross thing here.

The IBD editorial complements Pedro Burelli's magnificent essay on the real story behind the Kennedys and their fascination with Venezuela and cheap oil. It's here.

Hold your airline-food lunches...

From El Universal of Venezuela:

Conviasa partners Aeroregional, creates "che route"

Venezuelan airline Conviasa and Argentinean carrier Aeroregional entered into an agreement to establish Caracas-Buenos Aires route, and some other destinies in Latin America, named after che guevara, with prices below 20 percent of market average tariffs.

An additional, salient issue in the letter of intent is transportation of equipment and passengers from the South to Caracas as part of Miracle mission, a Venezuelan government health care initiative, according to a press release from the Tourism Ministry.

Previously, Conviasa entered into a similar agreement with Uruguayan airline Pluna. "We are working on integration of Southern airlines. We have held talks with Pluna and now with Aeroregional, i.e., we are paving the way for future integration with a view to consolidating a large Southern airline to be called Aerosur," Tourism Minister Wilmar castro Soteldo commented.

***

One wonders if each trip comes with a free bullet. Or whether motorcycle engines are to be used to power these planes. Will there be Cuban 'doctors' on every flight? Will there be 'frequent-killer' miles? Do little kids get Glock pins instead of wings from the stewardesses? And does the damn thing fly over Bolivia?

UPDATE: A source from Caracas has just sent me a photo of one of the Caracas To Havana 'eye doctor' flights. Note that the people on the flights don't look as though they are in too good of condition. I doubt it's good health care they are getting from these twin communist regimes looking for a propaganda victory.

Source: Venezuelan Communist Propaganda

The 60s were very good to Kurt Vonnegut

Posted here without commentary so that all can see how whacko these libs really are.

US author lauds suicide bombers

David Nason, New York correspondent

19 Nov 2005

ONE of the greatest living US writers has praised terrorists as "very brave people" and used drug culture slang to describe the "amazing high" suicide bombers must feel before blowing themselves up.

Kurt Vonnegut, author of the 1969 anti-war classic Slaughterhouse Five, made the provocative remarks during an interview in New York for his new book, Man Without a Country, a collection of writings critical of US President George W. Bush.

Vonnegut, 83, has been a strong opponent of Mr Bush and the US-led war in Iraq, but until now has stopped short of defending terrorism.

But in discussing his views with The Weekend Australian, Vonnegut said it was "sweet and honourable" to die for what you believe in, and rejected the idea that terrorists were motivated by twisted religious beliefs.

"They are dying for their own self-respect," he said. "It's a terrible thing to deprive someone of their self-respect. It's like your culture is nothing, your race is nothing, you're nothing."

Asked if he thought of terrorists as soldiers, Vonnegut, a decorated World War II veteran, said: "I regard them as very brave people, yes."

He equated the actions of suicide bombers with US president Harry Truman's 1945 decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

On the Iraq war, he said: "What George Bush and his gang did not realise was that people fight back."

Vonnegut suggested suicide bombers must feel an "amazing high". He said: "You would know death is going to be painless, so the anticipation - it must be an amazing high."

Vonnegut's comments are sharply at odds with his reputation as a peace activist and his distinguished war service. He served in the US 106th Division and was captured by German forces at the Battle of the Bulge.

Taken to Dresden and held with other POWs in a disused abattoir, Vonnegut witnessed the appalling events of February 13-14, 1945, when 800 RAF Lancaster bombers firebombed the city, killing an estimated 100,000 civilians.

The experience inspired his book Slaughterhouse Five - the title of the novel coming from the barracks he was assigned in the POW camp. The book became an international bestseller and made Vonnegut a luminary of the US literary left.

But since Mr Bush was elected, Vonnegut's criticisms of US policy have become more and more impassioned.

In 2002, he was widely criticised for saying there was too much talk about the 9/11 attacks and not enough about "the crooks on Wall Street and in big corporations", whose conduct had been more destructive.

The following year he wrote that the US was hated around the world "because our corporations have been the principal deliverers and imposers of new technologies and economic schemes that have wrecked the self-respect, the cultures of men, women and children in so many other societies".

But Vonnegut's latest comments are likely to make many people wonder if old age has finally caught up with a grand old man of American letters.

© The Australian

(H/T Mike Pancier)

Where's The Pork?

This weekend, while you're enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers and the company of friends and family, maybe like us, you like to swap favorite stories and jokes.

Here’s an old one about a pig you might like:

"fidel goes to a hog farm and tells the manager: I want you to try this new diet on this pregnant sow. I've devised it myself and I think we could double the production of piglets. Some months later the sow has the average number of piglets, 5 piglets. The farm manager is a little nervous, but tells the district manager that fidel's sow produced 6 piglets. The district manager calls the provincial managers and is happy to announce that the sow had 7 piglets. This man is very excited and calls the national manager to announce the birth of 8 piglets. The national manager calls the minister of agriculture, and can't contain his happiness when he announces that fidel's sow produced 9 piglets. The Minister is ecstatic. He calls fidel and triumphantly announces that his diet has produced 10 piglets. fidel says: "Just what I thought would happen. This is what we'll do: we'll export five piglets, and the five that remain will be allocated for national consumption."

And so, the preparations begin...

Ah yes. Noche Buena. That day of days we Cubans so cherish. Lechon, music, drinks. The family all together and full of Christmas cheer. Gifts under the Christmas tree. To Cubans, the Christmas Eve celebration is, by far, the biggest and best party of the year.

This year we're holding Noche Buena at our home. Family is flying in from out of town. Both Maggie's and my family spending the day together along with all of our friends, enjoying each other's company. Dancing, drinking Crema de vie. Munching on turrones and other delicacies. It's gonna be great.

Gonna be.

The next three weeks or so, however, arent necessarily that great. At least for me. Ill be in full Noche Buena preparation mode. The house must be ready and in full Noche Buena celebration regalia.

Toilets must be working properly. Doors must be freshly painted. Hints have already been tossed about how that bathroom paint color is so last year. The yard must be botanically perfect. Poinsettias must be planted. Christmas lights must be installed. Pool deck must be pressure washed and painted. The Caja China must be removed from its cozy home in the back of the shed and prepped. Pig must be ordered. Menu must be planned. Outdoor canopies must be built. Decorations bought and put up. Tables and chairs must be procured. Dozens of trips to Home Depot must be made.

Ah yes. Noche Buena. A logistic nightmare, but one hell of a party.

You are all invited.

And now, I must be off. Ive got work to do. Lots of it. It's a good thing I have the day off.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you, God, for this wonderful life.

Exposing a fraud

I have had it up to here with fraud from the Hugo Chavez camp. This morning, The Miami Herald, which ordinarily does a fairly good job (They're not the Sun-Sentinel after all), came up with a hagiographic piece about a castroite Chavista apologist named Eva Golinger, a bona-fide garage-band singer turned liar for the communist regimes. This bitch (there is no other word, even Danny Glover considers her that), on Chavez's dime, travels around the country spewing lies about supposed U.S. involvement in a coup against Hugo Chavez. When I hear her tired, 1960s-style shtick about coups, so worthy of a talentless garage-band screecher, the only thing I can think is: 'If Only!'

Unfortunately, the wimps in the U.S. government don't take care of business as they should. But that doesn't stop Eva from living in the '60s. She is backwash.

That leaves us with The Miami Herald, which probably got intimidated by the Chavez regime and now came up with this hagiography of this worthless Caracas Rose. Or there was a space and editing problem - I do see that the writer made an effort to explain that the bitch has 'critics.' I do respect the writer, Steve Dudley, who's been personally abused by the Chavez regime, but on this piece I am disappointed. The depredations of Eva do not quite come out as anything more than 'he said she said.' The fact of the matter is - there are public documents showing that Eva's critics are correct. The Herald's story is here.

Aleksander Boyd writes a powerful reply to them, detailing the REAL story behind this castroite Chavista propagandist, with full documentation as only someone who's kept an eye on this Chavista agent can.

The whole excellent thing can be read here.

castro's got problems

Classic monetary inflation is the first of it. Low wages. And now in the island hellhole, it's 'each according to his ability, each according to his work' - obviously 'need' is the one thing castro cannot fill.

Decades of destroying the work ethic and rewarding the worst and punishing the best has created the situation the dictator's up against. Now he's railing against corruption without understanding that if you set corruption as the example, the people will follow. Corruption is structural, in any case - rotten structures create lots of opportunities and incentives.

Agencia EFE has a superb story (with a couple glitches - no, EFE, wages are not low because prices are low - they're low because no value is being created, the hallmark of castrodom) about the utterly wretched conditions in Cuba that are showing signs of alarming even castro, who created the baby.

The story is here.

Castro hikes wages, pensions and electricity rates

Havana, Nov 23 (EFE).- A week after announcing a government campaign against stealing and "skimming" by workers in the state-run economy, Cuban leader fidel castro decreed hikes in wages, pensions and electricity rates.

The wage hike - the third this year - will bring the average worker's monthly salary to about 16 dollars, up two dollars from the previous rate.
Wages are extremely low in Cuba, with the average worker earning in a month what a plumber in the United States makes in a half-hour, partly because citizens' expenses also are very low. (Mora note: WRONG-O!) Food, housing, education, transportation and other goods and services are heavily subsidized by the government.

"A wage system has been established based on the principle of socialist distribution," said a note from the Labor Ministry accompanying the decree.
The note described that system as: "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work," which is a modification of the classic Marxist paradigm of "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his need." The ministry note said the system was "aimed at making the salary the main material stimulus that the worker receives for his contribution to society." The raise in pensions for some 1.2 million retirees brings their monthly stipend to about $6.80 from the previous $6. (Mora note: You got a long way to go, Bucko, if $6.80 is all you can come up with in making salary the main stimulus of society.)

The electricity rate hikes principally affect those domestic consumers who use more power.

Those who consume less than 100 kilowatt/hours per month will continue paying 9 cents of the Cuban peso, or about a half of a U.S.
cent, per hour. Rates will increase by increments up to 1.30 Cuban pesos, or almost 7 U.S. cents, per kilowatt/hour for those who consume more than 300 of those units per month.

The order includes a warning that meter-tampering will be punished by the cutting off of power. Last Thursday, castro declared that he is leading a merciless assault on corruption and "parasites" to prevent the undermining of the revolution.

In a speech that lasted more than five hours, the 79-year-old leader said "this revolution can be destroyed," but not by the United States. He said Cubans themselves would be the culprits.

"We can destroy it and it would be our fault," he said. "Either we root out the problem or we die. This is serious and all of the people will come to realize it."

Observers of Cuban society have described an environment in which the average citizen is so hard-pressed to make ends meet that many employees, most of whom depend for their livelihood on the state, engage in small-scale pilfering. castro acknowledged that "mistakes" (Mora note: Yeah, right) have been made during the course of the revolution and alluded to a broad packet measures to create a "new society," one he said would be more just and with fewer imbalances. (Mora note: You've been talking about that for 46 years and have yet to get it right, cabron.)

castro also called for eliminating the ration book, ending "abuses" and once again re-evaluating the Cuban currency.

"The ration book is tending to disappear, (Mora note: So you're not going to give anyone anything at all now, eh?.) those who work and produce will receive more, those who worked for decades will receive more and will have more things," he said, previewing Wednesday's announced hikes.

castro invited all Cuban people to take part in a battle against theft in all its forms and wherever it appears, referring to the need to crack down on "parasites who don't produce anything." During his speech, castro praised thousands of young social workers who for several weeks replaced attendants at gas stations, saying that their work enabled authorities to uncover a multi-million-dollar fraud in this sector.

The investigation began in the western province of Pinar del Rio before being extended to Havana and other areas of the country and "soon it was discovered that the amount that was stolen was as much as people were saying. Almost half (of the gasoline) was stolen and sometimes more than half," castro said.
"The revolution is going to fix this, and how!" said castro. He added that Cuban society cannot "go soft" and must, therefore, employ the necessary "weapons" to tackle corruption. EFE mar/dgm

Mora last note: Oh man you suck, castro. Die a lonely death.

Thank you America

Tomorrow is one of my favorite holidays of the year, Thanksgiving. I will not post a big appreciation; I'll let the kommandant of Babalu do that as is his right. But I do want to say that as we celebrate this holiday, remember how unique in the world it is to set aside one day to say "thank you."

Thanks to my parents and grandparents who left Cuba escaping Communism with nothing but their will and built a life for me and my sister. Our kids exist because of their courage and determination.

And a big thanks to America for taking us in. No other country in the world is as generous and giving as ours. I know you read (and hear and see) a lot of negative crap in the media written by spoiled, over-indulged, over-educated buffoons. Don't pay attention to any of it. We are the greatest country in the world. Give thanks tomorrow that you are living in it.

Read this very nice appreciation of Thanksgiving in today's Miami Herald titled "Forget Yuca: it's potatoes and a heap of thanks" written from a Cuban American perspective by the normally acidic Ana Menendez.

Thank you all.

Idiot of the Day - Sangibin Edition

From reader Julio Perez comes this gem.

Alright, faithful Babalu readers, feel free to tear it apart.

Thanks Julio.

Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!
by Jeff Cohen

Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations. And tell your friends.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."

Jeff Cohen is an author and media critic (www.jeffcohen.org)

Apartheid in Cuba

We keep hearing about those wonderful Cuban doctors and how castro sends teams of them all over the world, wherever they are needed, no sacrifice is to great for Cuban doctors in the face of human suffering. 

They must be fidel's pride and joy right?

Not according to this:

 Cuba Doctors Forbidden to Stay at Site of Convention

CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba, November 22
Abel Escobar Ramírez
www.cubanet.org

Cuban doctors attending an international medical convention at a tourist facility in Ciego de Avila province complain they were not allowed to stay at the same hotels as foreign participants.

Instead, they were obliged to stay at nearby guest houses where they say they were well treated but not as well as foreign doctors were at the tourist hotels where they stayed.

Under Cuban law, Cuban citizens are not allowed to stay at hotels which cater to foreign tourists. (my emphasis)

The event in question was the XVI International Congress of the Cuban Society of Orthopedics and Trauma, held recently held at the Polo Turístico Jardines del Rey in Ciego de Ávila.

According to Cuban participants, registration fees for the congress were 400 pesos, the equivalent of two months salary for the average Cuban worker.

Among the foreign participants at the Congress was William Stetson, a member of the American association of arthroscopic surgeons.

See for yourself, here.

The REAL Venezuela

Just as The Real Cuba has done the world a great service by showing unsugarcoated photographs of the reality of castro's communist Cuba, so now have Venezuela's bloggers for the growing numbers of desperately poor people in Venezuela. These pictures of the poorest people in Hugo Chavez's communist paradise are heart-breaking, both because of the unconscionable poverty, but also because of the false promises of chavistadom, which is just castrodom with deodorant, a vile false philosophy that has only served to create many more poor people than had been there previously. Chavez has taken everything he could from these poor people and now that he's done that, he won't give them a thing.

Miguel has some photos here, Alek has more photos here, and The Real Cuba has yet another photo here.

Canadian clod booted

Remember that castro-loving loser who was running for mayor of Vancouver?

The creep has been given the tip of the boot from Canada's voters. There is hope out there after all. Canada may well become a castro-free zone.

The Real Cuba has the full scoop here from a Canadian present at the creation:

It is my pleasure to announce that castro-lover Tim Louis got defeated in last night's municipal elections in Vancouver, Canada. I suppose this proves that Vancouverites have had enough of the castroist propaganda this man was spreading, and that they don't want the city's coat of arms to be replaced by the portrait of the mercenary ernesto guevara (che)! And the people don't want a pimp as their city councilor, either, so I guess now Tim and his friend fidel can go to a deserted island (far from either Canada or Cuba) or another planet and start their dream brothel, because it is not wanted in Vancouver! Also, if the
Cuban people had democratic rights like we do in Canada and the US, they would get rid, in a nanosecond, of the pimp-in-chief who is their dictator and opressor!

Today is a great start for a Castro-free Vancouver, and hopefully the same will
happen for Cuba very shortly. Viva Cuba Libre! DM, Canada

Read the whole thing here.

Darius, is that you?

What, you havent voted yet?

Babalú is currently running third for the King of Spades suit in Aaron's Deck O Blogger's contest so far. There are only 16 hours left for voting so if you havent dropped your ballot for babalu in, please, do so.

Because, you know, where else in the blogosphere can you get to see a Cuban road sign photo?

Hat Tip Yamy for the picture.

Fucking chicken soup

I felt like making chicken soup last night. The weather people spent all day yesterday telling us a cold front was coming through yesterday evening. Cold fronts are few and far between in Miami and there's nothing quite like good old comfort food when it's a little chilly outside. So I called the Mrs. and told her Id be making dinner and that I'd be going to the supermarket on the way home.

It didnt really hit me until I was in the turn lane to enter the Publix parking lot. I'm sitting there waiting to turn thinking to myself Man, there's a shitload of people doing their groceries today. No sooner had I thought that when the epiphany struck me: it's the Monday evening before Thanksgiving. Everyone and their grandmother is going to be stocking up for the big meal on Thursday.

But at this point I was committed. I wanted home made chicken soup and home made chicken soup I was going to have. So after about 5 minutes looking for a parking space and another 5 minutes trying to find a cart, I finally made it into the store.

It was a feckin' madhouse. Like rush hour traffic. Un hormiguero. Literally hundreds of people pushing their carts around - rather slowly I might add - and stuffing them to the gills with food stuff. It was incredible.

But I was dauntless. I was going to make chicken soup last night even if it took me three hours to get the ingredients.

Pushing the cart through the aisles was almost impossible. Not only were they packed, but the usual suspects that stop and leave their carts blocking the aisle while the read the ingredients on a package were ubiquitous. The kind of people who have no idea others are waiting for them to move their sorry ass shit out of the way - or could care less for that matter.

So I devised a plan. I parked my little cart in and small space away from the aisles in the fresh seafood section (Hardly anyone buys seafood for Thanksgiving) and then I would walk back and forth from the different aisles where my recipe ingredients were located.

First, I decided, the chicken. I walked over to the chicken section and stood there for a second. There's whole chickens, chicken breasts, boneless chicken breasts, boneless skinless chicken breast. Leg quarters, skinless leg quarters. Chicken quaters, skinless chicken quarters. Chicken legs and thighs, boneless chicken legs and thighs. Six packs, 4 packs, family packs. Chicken giblets. Seasoned whole chickens. A good fifteen feet of coolers solely for the purpose of providing you with a choice of chicken. Hundreds of pounds of cut and sold chicken in every which way imaginable.

And Im standing there in the chicken area trying to decide whether to buy the family pack of chicken thighs with or without skin - Do I save a few pennies and remove the skin myself or do I just by the skinless pack? - with people all around me doing the exact same thing when it dawns on me. What the fuck does it matter what fucking chicken I buy? It's fucking chicken for crissakes. Chicken! For fucking chicken soup!

I know Ive written entries like this before but this shit happens to me every time I go into a damn supermarket. I complain to myself about the amount of people there and how you have to go through all the freaken aisles of food upon food and how sometimes there's so many damn choices I get frustrated when I think What the fuck am I doing? What the fuck am I complaining about? Im a Cuban with a million fucking choices for fucking chicken.

As I stand there in front of the million fucking chicken choices, there's some poor Cuban guy my age in Cuba whose probably not even able to get chicken, much less have a choice as to what chicken. The ration cards dont give you an option as to boneless or skinless. Breasts or thighs. Leg quarters or wings. Fryers or roasters.

The ration cards just say "chicken." One per family per month.

So I bought the skinless thigh family pack for my chicken soup. Because I could, because Im free and because I have choices. And because fidel castro doesnt control my fucking chicken.

I did the exact same thing with every other ingredient for my chicken soup. Calabaza, malanga, Idaho potatoes and onions. Celery and carrots. White mushrooms and fresh garlic. Spices and salt and pepper.

And I made a huge vat of fucking chicken soup, para cagarme en la madre de fidel castro, his fucking revolution and his control of someone else's fucking chicken.

Best fucking chicken soup I ever had.

Chavez: essentially a thug

Carlos Alberto Montaner has a dazzling essay on the essential thuggishness of Hugo Chavez and why Vicente Fox should ignore him. It's beautifully done - read it here.

More recommended reading: Pedro Burelli has a stunning piece today exposing the extent of the Kennedy family sellout to Hugo Chavez. It's totally original analysis informed by an avalanche of facts. He knows this inside and out. The don't-miss can be read here.

In a pissy mood

You ever wake up in the morning just completely numb? Numb to the news, numb to family problems, numb to shit that needs to be done at the office, numb to your house being without shingles on the roof, numb to massive amount of tree cutting that needs to be done before Noche Buena. Numb to idiots trolling your blog. Just. Totally. Numb.

That's me today. Numb, and with a short fuse. I hope no one lights it.

November 22, 1963

I was a second grader in Mrs. Mudre's class at St. Mary's Cathedral School, my parochial school here in Miami. The day started as all days back then did. I have no memory of it save that it was my birthday and I was expecting lots of presents when my class celebrated it later that afternoon. We had a Cowboys & Indians theme party and I received a great present -- a gun that fired plastic bullets -- that was a very cool plastic western Colt .44. It worked great and you could reload it just like the Cowboys in the movies. We sang songs, my classmates sang happy birthday, we ate cake and stuff, and all was right with the world. I was seven years old! When the dismissal bell rang, we formed our usual line to wait for our parents.

It was around between 2:30 PM, Miami time, on Friday, November 22, 1963.

The nuns who ran the school -- for the life of me I can only remember the name of one of them, the principal, Sister Mary Esther -- stopped us as we were leaving and said that we had to go to church to pray because something terrible had happened. I know that I showed the gun they had given me to my mom and she quickly told me to put it away. We went to church and prayed for, what seemed to my seven-year old mind, hours and hours and hours. I vaguely remember hearing that the President had been shot. What did I know? I sort of knew that the President was a Roman Catholic like I was. All I knew was that I had a great present and I couldn't wait to go home to play with it.

That day, and the three days that followed, would, of course be forever etched in my mind. The black and white TV was on in our house for what seemed all the time. Nothing was on the TV except that the President had been shot. My mother and father, grandfather and grandmother, all looking very, very serious. On Sunday, November 24, I saw Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald on TV. Live. Ruby yelled, "Oswald!" and pow! Oswald went down. What did I know? I was seven. I thought I was watching a movie that lasted all weekend long. And I saw the funeral on Monday. The haunting drums that kept the pace for the escorting of the caisson carrying the President's body still gives me goose bumps when I hear them.

In the intervening years, November 22, has held a special significance for me. Not because it's my birthday -- I haven't had a birthday since when I haven't remembered the assassination -- but because of what it did to us, all of us, as a nation.

We were hurt badly that day.

And I became obsessed with the assassination. The theories about it have become a cottage trade, like spy novels or B-movies. I've read huge chunks of the Warren Commission Report. Its purposeful lies were promulgated to assuage a nation and to cover up the ineptitude -- or complicity? -- of the Federal agencies that failed to protect the President. I most definitely do not believe the "single-bullet" theory. I remember hearing about it this "magic bullet" in 1964 -- a year after the assassination. I was amazed at what that bullet had done! In my young mind, I was still thinking it was like a movie or a TV show. Over the last thirty years I've read books about the assassination by Anthony Summers, Mark Lane, David Lifton, Jim Marrs, Fletcher Prouty, Edward Jay Epstein, Gus Russo, and Henry Hurt; magazine articles and websites. I've seen hours upon hours of documentaries, all of them outlining their theories about what happened. I don't believe David Lifton's theory that the President's body was altered on Air Force One to reflect an entry wound to the back of the head instead of a frontal shot, but I do believe the autopsy was badly bungled by someone who was not a trained forensic pathologist. I don't believe that Connolly was the target of the attempt and the assassins missed. I don't believe Oliver Stone's JFK and its leftist paranoia of a right-wing cabal, although it is a cinematic tour de force. I don't believe it was the CIA: did they suddenly go from inept, after the disasters they had been involved in, to brilliantly efficient, and execute a complex murder almost flawlessly? I don't think so. And I've seen the Zapruder film over and over again, its gory images etched in my mind forever.

I still remember.

I have my own theories about what happened that day, but I'll keep them to myself. What is certain is that none of us will ever know the whole truth about the forces that came together on that beautiful sunny day in Dallas to murder the President.

No matter what I think of JFK -- his fear of fidel and his betrayal of our brothers on Playa Giron; the sordid deal he made with Kruschev in 1962 that effectively sold out the Cuban exiles in the United States (myself included) by effectively preventing us from taking military action against fidel; the dishonest, some might say criminal, way in which he was elected in 1960 -- the manner of his death, so public, shot like a rabid dog on a street in Dallas, in full view of all of us, young and old alike, is a trauma that has not healed.

On November 22, 1963, on my seventh birthday, our innocence died and our unbounded optimism was derailed. America has yet to fully recover from the shots fired in Dealey Plaza forty-two years ago today.

Beyond foul...

You might have thought only Canadians breeded this type but you'd be wrong. Over in Australia, they've got even bigger, uglier, scarier of such species.

This creature belongs under glass in a buggery to be dissected by scientists with strong stomachs. I can't ever recall reading about anyone quite so repulsive. Australia, where it's from, is home of more poisonous creatures on earth - and this ... thing ... certainly doesn't resemble the heroic HUMAN Australians we know. The castro loving insect gushes it all out here:

Night with fidel

By BRUCE McDOUGALL Political Reporter

November 21, 2005

CAREER "leftie" and Parliamentary boss Meredith Burgmann has revealed she spent part of the winter recess with Cuban dictator fidel castro.

Sandalista that she is, Ms Burgmann also met and was photographed with former Sandinista commander and Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega.

I couldn't stand to look at it - I had to shrink the picture

Naturally, I consulted Tex's site over at Whacking Day for the lowdown on this specimen and he advised it was: typical west-hating anti-war gasbag among other things in a run-in with it over Iraq back in 2003. He's heard of it.

Oh, Canada! (Part deux)

Check out the ad that appears in the online edition of the Toronto Sun. I did not have the stomach to click on it.

Vile is too mild a word...

Hmm.... A Cuban Hummer? In Venezuela?

Reader and contributor J Scott Barnard sends us this comment found on a Venezuelan blog that shows a photo of a Hummer in traffic in Venezuela -- with Cuban diplomatic plates! The comments are in Spanish but you can see the pic below. Here is one the (translated) comments:

The Hummer belongs to the Cuban Embassy and is used by members of Cuban State Security with the blessings of the non-elected pres of Chimpazuela. Remember that in today's Venezuela it's better to be a Cuban asset of the Chavez regime than an honorable Venezuelan that loves his country. 'Damn, I hate those yanquis but I love their cars...' I guess there weren't any Russian equivalents available?

Crazy, Hectic Weekend

I missed my chance to see and meet Humberto Fontova this weekend at the Book Fair. The Gas company that Id been after since Wilma to come out and re-bury the 2" gas main that runs along the rear of my property decided, apparently, that since Id been so relentless in my calls and pursuits, they would do their darndest to screw up one of my weekends. And of course, they only removed the root balls of the fallen 60' pines, leaving me the rest of the trees.

Add to that the fact that I have a very dear family member in the hospital, my uncle Fernando, with cerebral hemorraging. Asd you can imagine this accounts for much stress, depression and lack of sleep. Tio Fernando is my father's best friend, has been since they were young. Dad came by Saturday and basically lost it. I cannot even begin to tell you how painful it is to see my father cry. Please, say a prayer for Tio Fernando.

I'm not sure how the rest of my week is going to pan out, so my blogging may be light. Hopefully, with your thoughts and prayers, Tio will get better and we will indeed have yet another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving.

Vote For Babalu!

Come on Babalu readers, do it! Go vote here now. It's close, we need you, and yes, I admit it, I am shameless in my advocacy. Val is the King of Spades. So go vote, let's put our island without a bearded dictator on the map!

Miami Driving Tips - V

Fifth in a series with bonus definition.

In Miami, essential to the operation of a motor vehicle are the use of the cellphone, the application of cosmetics, the morning's Sports Pages, the imbibement of caffeine or the consumption multiple breakfast burritos.

Main Entry: DAMTs (dumb-ass multi-taskers)

Function: noun

Dumb-ass multi-taskers (scientific name: multitaskus imbecilicus or dimwiticus periculosus) can be seen early in the morning on the streets and highways of Miami. The female specimens of this subgenus have been observed applying make-up while simultaneously talking on the cell phone -- all the time attempting to keep their vehicle -- a 3,000 pound ground-to-ground missle -- within their own lane. They've also been observed attempting to control the vehicle while reading a book and again, talking to another DAMT on the cell phone. There have been sightings of the male gender of this subgenus using electric razors while attempting to drive, and eating a breakfast sandwich in one hand, controlling the automobile with the other, while trying to score a sip of coffee from a cardboard cup whose temperature is fifteen degrees below the boiling point of water.

Keep your distance from these creatures; they are aggressive and suicidal behind the wheel. Is it any wonder they don’t make 12 volt hair-dryers...

(H/T Jorge Blanco who wrote most of the definition.)

che's murderous spawn

A massacre is brewing in Venezuela. Fifty thousand che t-shirt-clad thugs with guns are planning their first act of 'revolution' a la che - in a planned mass killing of middle class people. As che once did. But first, they are practicing on each other, amid an unholy racket of drugs, guns, automatonism, communism and murder. Hugo Chavez gave them guns and now can't control them. These thugs are middle-class monsters, like che, playing at bloody 'revolution' - and a type we know well.

This is one of the sickest stories I've seen in a long time, the first herald of the mass violence that is to come to Venezuela. And having run into bloodthirsty chavistas in the past, I am pretty sure that killing-machine bloodshed is their agenda.

Read the horrible story here.

Keep going, keep going...

Issue 1:

.

Issue 2:

Please get the hell away from us.