Report Card for Reuters piece on Cuban Revolution's 50th Anniversary

Here's the second of a series of report cards on coverage of the Cuban revolution's 50th anniversary. I am using this grading system which is written from castro, inc's point of view.

The piece is from the Reuters.

-10 for using the word "communist"

+10 for calling Batista a dictator without using the same expression for castro

+10 for calling raul castro president

+10 for hinting that the embargo is at least partially to blame for Cuba's hardships

Bonus +10 for misrepresenting Barack Obama's (most recent) views about the embargo. He campaigned on relaxing travel and remittance restrictions only.

Report Card for VOA piece on Cuban Revolution's 50th

Here's the first of a series of report cards on coverage of the Cuban revolution's 50th anniversary. I am using this grading system which is written from castro, inc's point of view.

The piece is from the Voice of America.

-10 use of word Communist

-10 for mentioning dissidents in jail

-10 for mentioning lack of freedoms

+10 for calling Batista a dictator without using the same expression for castro

+10 for calling raul castro president

+20 for mentioning "advances in health and education"

+10 for mentioning the embargo as a source of economic hardship

Verdict: The regime would not be very happy with this story overall. +20 is a failing grade. Still the "balance" of this piece favors the regime but castro, inc. apparently still has work to do influencing VOA.

MSM Report Card for stories about 50th Anniversary of Cuban Revolution

Ladies and gentlemen, as a public service I've devised this report card by which you can judge all the stories that are being published about the Cuban Revolution's 50th anniversary. The thing is that the report card is from the point of view of the regime. In other words, how obedient are the "journalists" being to the official propaganda line from the regime?

+10 Points for mentioning that the castro regime has outlasted 10 U.S. presidential administrations

+10 Points for mentioning Cuba's "healthcare advances"

+10 Points for mentioning Cuba's "educational/literacy advances"

+10 Points for referring to either raul or fidel castro as "president"

+10 Points for mentioning U.S. attempts to assassinate fidel castro

+10 Points for mentioning U.S. embargo as a possible source for Cuba's disastrous economy.

+10 Points for mentioning Cuba's "doctor diplomacy"

+10 Points for using the word "dictator" in connection with Batista and not in connection with the castro brothers

+10 Points for referring to mafia influence in pre-castro Cuba.

+10 Points for use of the word "sovereignty"

BONUS: +10 Points for referring to the U.S. embargo on Cuba as a "blockade".

-10 Points for use of the word "communist"

-10 Points for mention of political prisoners

-10 Points for mentioning a political prisoner by name

-10 Points for any mention of possible human rights abuses in Cuba

-10 Points for each mention of the lack a particular freedom (assembly, political speech, movement, etc.)

-10 Points for any favorable mention of Cuban exile community

-10 Points for use of any of the words liberty, freedom or democracy

-10 Points for any reference to firing squads

-10 Points for referring to communist CDRs as neighborhood spy organizations

CPJ Special Report on Cuba

The Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, is commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the day the truth died in Cuba with a special report made up a series of articles that expose the reality of life in Cuba and the plight of those in Cuba that are dedicated to getting the truth out.

Cuba's Long Black Spring

Spring Nightmare

The Imprisoned

Cuba's Long Black Spring: Video

Joining CPJ's call for freedom

Updated:

Here's a petition dated today December 31, 2008 sent by CPJ to acting Cuban Dictator Raul Castro:

CPJ petitioners urge Castro to free journalists December 31, 2008

Raúl Castro Ruz
President of the Republic of Cuba
C/o Cuban Mission to the United Nations
315 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10016

Via facsimile: (212) 779-1697

Dear President Castro,

The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to you on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution to renew its call for the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists jailed in your country. With 21 reporters and editors unjustly incarcerated, Cuba is one of the leading jailers of journalists in the world, second only to China.

On Monday, CPJ sent more than 500 appeals to the Cuban government asking for the release of Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, recipient of CPJ's 2008 International Press Freedom Award, and the 20 other journalists who are behind bars in Cuba. Maseda Gutíerrez, 65, is the oldest imprisoned Cuban journalist. Incarcerated during the government's March 2003 crackdown on political dissidents and the independent press, he was given a 20-year prison sentence.

These petitions were sent to the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York City. They were signed by prominent U.S. and international journalists who gathered for CPJ's International Press Freedom Awards ceremony. CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, a CPJ board member, announced the award to Maseda Gutíerrez.

Maseda Gutiérrez was detained along with 28 other independent journalists while the world's attention was focused on the U.S. invasion of Iraq. These reporters and editors were tried summarily behind closed doors and sentenced to terms ranging from 14 to 27 years in prison. Based on our review of trial documents, we believe that the journalists were prosecuted for engaging in professional activities protected by international law. Nine have since been released on medical parole.

n 2007, one more journalist was jailed. Freelance reporter Oscar Sánchez Madan, 46, was convicted of "social dangerousness," a vague pre-emptory charge contained in Article 72 of the penal code, following a one-day trial, and was given the maximum sentence of four years in prison.

The imprisoned journalists are held in inhumane conditions, and many suffer deteriorating health, according to CPJ research. At home, their families, unable to work, scrape for basic necessities while being regularly watched and often harassed by state authorities, CPJ found in "Cuba's Long Black Spring," a special report released in March.

CPJ research shows that over the past five years, the Cuban government has used jailed journalists and other dissidents as political leverage, sporadically releasing a few in exchange for international concessions. Last February--just months after Spain announced the resumption of some cooperative programs with Cuba--your country freed four more prisoners, including independent journalists José Gabriel Ramón Castillo and Alejandro González Raga. On December 18, you offered to exchange jailed political dissidents for five Cuban citizens imprisoned in the United States on espionage charges, describing it as a gesture toward dialogue with the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama, according to reports in the international press.

While we welcome the release of any imprisoned journalist, we are distressed that they would be used as bargaining chips. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all 21 jailed journalists. The imprisonment of journalists in reprisal for their independent reporting violates international law, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, signed by your government this year, which provides "the right to freedom of expression."

Since you became president, there have been significant economic, agricultural, and administrative reforms in Cuba. However, there has been no real progress on press freedom issues. On the eve of this historic date for your country, we urge you to free these jailed journalists and grant freedom of expression and information, including Internet access, to all citizens as a sign that your government is willing to uphold international human rights standards.

Sincerely,

Joel Simon
Executive Director

December 31, 2008 9:28 AM ET

Hasta Luego

Unlike in English, in latin languages, be it Spanish, French, or Italian, the term used for "goodbye" is typically "until we see each other again."

I like that optimism especially when it comes to people, places, and things that we care about.

This year, 2008 has in great part been a year I'd like to forget. While photographically and artistically speaking, it's been productive, in 2008, I lost one of my best friends, Missy, (who was murdered last March), and my mom a few days ago.

Life is like the waters of the River of Grass. The waters will continue to flow from the grasslands of the great lakes of the Kissimmee Prairie and Lake Okeechobee down into Florida Bay like it has in ancient times.

This is why I find solace in the Everglades. It's a unique place on this planet. It is a place I love. It is a place we must preserve and protect for future generations. It the one place here in South Florida where one can appreciate silence. A place where the only sounds you hear are those of the breeze, birds, animals, and insects.

While I bid adieu to 2008, I say hasta luego, to all my friends and loved ones, that are here and that have departed, we'll see each other again real soon.

May God bless all of you in 2009. I hope 2009 will be a good one.

Aging and embittered anti-Pinochet hard-liners discovered falsifying history

Those crackpots and recalcitrants who live in the past, who clamored hysterically for an embargo of Pinochet's Chile despite ample proof of such a policy's abject failure,whose narrowmindedness and blockheadedness prevented them from seeing both sides of the issue (the economic achievements of the Pinochet regime, for instance) have been outed as liars. And by none other than the BBC!!

"Three people listed as "disappeared" in Chile during General Augusto Pinochet's military rule have been found or died in other circumstances, it has emerged. Their names surfaced as investigators looked into a previous non-victim who has lived in Argentina for 35 years."

The whole thing here.

A new old approach to Cuba

One of the interesting things about reading editorials from liberal newspapers regarding Cuba is that they always unwittingly refute their own arguments. Their paradoxical explanations in these editorials as to why the US should capitulate to a murderous regime seem to go unnoticed by the writers themselves. There was a time, though, when I thought they were just being intellectually dishonest; but now I realize that they truly have no idea that their own argument for lifting the embargo is the strongest argument there is for not doing so.

A case in point is this latest editorial from the west coast's equivalent of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times. In this editorial, like in vast majority of them, the argument is made that after fifty years of a US policy that isolates Cuba's dictatorial regime, the US has failed to topple the Castro tyranny and has not achieved any democratic reforms on the island.

Since that New Year's night in 1959, 10 U.S. presidents have tried to overthrow, undermine or cajole Castro, to no avail. Covert operations, including President Kennedy's Bay of Pigs invasion, failed to dislodge the communist government. A Cold War standoff with Russia over missile bases on the island brought the superpowers to the brink of nuclear war, but it didn't budge Castro. Diplomatic isolation didn't work. And a trade embargo to protest the expropriation of U.S. property, prevent the export of revolution and press for democracy and human rights has been utterly ineffectual. Rather, it has provided cover for the Cuban government's own deficiencies and served as a pretext for repression.

The solution, of course, is for the US government to engage the oppressors in Cuba and develop a relationship with them. We should end the embargo and all the punitive policies we have against the Castro regime just as the UN and the rest of the world has done.

Fifty years of failure is too long. The incoming Obama administration should move quickly to embark on a rapprochement with Cuba and bring an end to punitive policies, especially the economic embargo. The United Nations condemns it, the European Union is trading with Cuba, and Latin America is urging the United States to allow Cuba back into the fold. This policy change will take time and political will, but it is in our national interest and, ultimately, in Cuba's.

So the key here, as this editorial puts it, is to follow the lead of the UN and to begin trading with Cuba just as the European Union and so many other countries have been doing for so long now.

Unfortunately, their answer to the Cuba/US problem raises another just as important question. If the US policy of isolation has achieved nothing to help bring freedom to the Cuban people, what has the EU and UN policy of engagement achieved to bring freedom to the Cuban people?

The answer is simply nothing. But that is a question they not only avoid, but also a question they care little about. Freedom for Cubans is not the goal of the editorial boards of the L.A. Times, or the New York Times, or the BBC, or any of the other members of the liberal media establishment. And if any of you doubt that, I will let this L.A. Times editorial speak for itself:

As part of any discussions, the U.S. government must press for human rights reforms, along with freedom for about 200 political prisoners in Cuban jails. (And yes, explore the prisoner trade Raul Castro has proposed in recent days.) But human rights no longer can be an obstacle to talk and trade with Cuba. [emphasis mine]

So we can talk about human rights, and we can even press for human rights, but we cannot stand up for human rights. At least not for the human rights of Cubans.

They want to call this a "new" approach to Cuba, but in reality, it is the same old approach that has been around for centuries: it is called racism.

The LA protest

A group of us were out protesting the Dec. 12 sneak preview of Soderberghs’ movie glorifying the butcher of la Cabana. Due to especially bad traffic, most of us arrived late, but wouldn’t have missed it for anything. We were well situated near the theatre entrance, which is also an entry to a major mall, so there were plenty of people. Jose Luis Fernandez handed out almost 200 flyers, while the rest of us displayed posters, and talked to those folks passing by.

A special thanks to Jose and Maria who drove up all the way from Temecula to be with us. Maria is a teacher, and along with Joe and others was the perfect person to educate a group of young high school students on the evils of the che. They left vowing to boycott the movie and to tell all their friends to do the same. We were clearly in “enemy” territory, in the ultra-liberal Westside of Los Angeles. Some laughed at us; a couple of die-hard idiot followers were outraged and felt the need to confront. Logan from Freestar Media was with us, more than ready to take them on. One young woman called us “you people” with that special tone reserved for the scum of the earth. Her point being that we had no right to be there besmirching the icons good name because “che only helped people.” There was the ageing long hair wearing the token tee, the young hip couple decked out in the latest urban looking fashion, no doubt purchased with evil parental capitalist dollars, who broke out in giggles, probably enjoying expensive drugs. My favorite was the lone Code Pink Lady. She didn’t say anything, but our presence compelled her to stomp pass us in a complete tizzy. She didn’t look happy.

Very heartening were the people who gave us thumbs up, or went out of their way to offer words of encouragement. One elderly lady walked over to us, sized up our posters, and said simply, “you’re right.”

This was just the sneak preview, the wide release opening night is upcoming in January, and we will be there. Please if you are in Southern California, set aside an hour or two, or however much time you can spare and come join us. I’ll post the particulars as soon as I have the information. Believe me, it feels great to stand up and tell the truth about the murdering bastard, and to do something to counter all the BS about Cuba.

Thank you Fernando, Joe, Henry, Maria, the Jose’s, Logan, Adrian, Steve, David, and all who supported the effort.

More news for the Charlie Rangel is a scumbag file

Joe Garcia's fund raising buddy is in trouble AGAIN.

Rangel Pays Parking Tickets With Campaign Funds

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New York has used campaign funds to pay $1,540 in fines from parking tickets in the District of Columbia in the last two years, according to federal campaign finance records and his office.

Rangel’s campaign committee and his “leadership” political action committee have combined to make 14 separate payments to the D.C. treasurer for “automobile expenses” since March 16, 2007, and a Rangel spokesman confirmed that campaign aides believe they were for tickets.

H/T: TheCardinal

Yoani nails it!

In her latest post, which Ziva re-published here earlier tonight, Yoani Sanchez concisely describes the problem of the Cuban economy.

If we were to be consistent in eliminating paternalism, we’d need to start by reducing the burden of maintaining this obese state infrastructure that we feed from our own pockets. Workers who produce steel, nickel, rum or tobacco, or who are employed in the bar of a hotel, receive a minuscule portion of the sale of their production or of the real cost of their services. The rest goes directly to subsidize an insatiable State.

Now I know I disagree with many of the Cuban dissidents who would like to see an end to the embargo (including Yoani), but this is exactly why I am in favor it. Removing the embargo without the regime first dismantling the system described above will not achieve anything for the Cuban people. American businesses and tourists cannot change the way regime does business. Only the regime can.

Your must reads for today

Jordan and Daniel Allot in The American Spectator:

When discussing the island nation located just 90 miles from America's border, the Western news media almost invariably focus on the 200 to 300 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Often overlooked, however, are the 200 to 300 Cuban prisoners scattered across the island, imprisoned not as terrorist suspects but as nonviolent political prisoners whose only "crime" is that of promoting human rights in a nation in which two generations have grown up without them. Arrested and given lengthy, often decades-long sentences for offenses like "dangerousness" and "pre-criminal activity," they are Cuba's prisoners of conscience.

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet is a leading figure in Cuba's democracy movement. A physician and founder and president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, Biscet has been confined to a prison cell for all but 36 days since 1999. He first drew the ire of the communist regime by exposing its use of infanticide and forced abortion. (Cuba has one of the world's highest abortion rates.) In 1999, after hanging a Cuban flag upside down in protest, Biscet was given a three-year sentence for the crime of "disrespecting patriotic symbols."

Investors Business Daily Editorial:

Spare us the fireworks and media-parroted claims of Fidel Castro's dictatorship bringing universal health care and education to Cuba. The real story is that a prosperous Cuba was turned into ruins in just five decades.

Its inflation-adjusted gross domestic product is a mere 5% of what it was in 1958, the year before Castro took over, according to Jorge Salazar-Carillo of Florida International University.

Please do yourself a favor and read both pieces in their entirety.

The end of the subsidies

The tedium of this end of year drove me to go see the dreary spectacle of our parliamentarians in their final meeting of 2008. The formula of posing problems without mentioning their true causes returned to the hall of the Palace of Conventions this December. The whole style of speaking starts with an initial reference more or less as follows: “Our Revolution has done much to improve retail trade, although problems remain…” Without this indispensable genuflection, one could fall into an unpermitted audaciousness, or seem to be hypercritical and ungrateful.

The final speech by Raúl Castro reaffirmed the idea of ending subsidies. Hearing that phrase, we tend to think only of the end of the quota of rationed food we Cubans receive. But the call to do away with symbolic prices and unnecessary “free” services is a double-edge sword which could end up hurting whomever wields it. If we were to be consistent in eliminating paternalism, we’d need to start by reducing the burden of maintaining this obese state infrastructure that we feed from our own pockets. Workers who produce steel, nickel, rum or tobacco, or who are employed in the bar of a hotel, receive a minuscule portion of the sale of their production or of the real cost of their services. The rest goes directly to subsidize an insatiable State.

Between the symbolic price of a pound of rationed rice, and the enormous “slice” of our salaries taken by those who govern us, we are more the givers than the receivers of subsidies. Eradicating them should be our slogan, not theirs.


This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

That "U.S.- Backed Dictator" Castro Overthrew

I defy any and all to find "U.S.-Backed Dictator" ABSENT from the word "Batista" in any of the MSM articles on Cuba right now. Just in case an odd reporter might prefer the documented historical record to Castro-regime hand outs, try this:

Former U.S. Ambassador to Cuba, Earl T. Smith, during Congressional testimony in 1960, declared flatly: "We put Castro in power." He referred to the U.S. State Department and CIA's role in aiding, both morally and materially, the Castro rebels, to their pulling the rug out from under Batista with an arms embargo, to hiding Castro rebels in the U.S. embassy, and finally to the U.S. order that Batista vacate Cuba. Ambassador Smith knew something about these events because he personally delivered the messages to Batista, who was then denied exile in the U.S.

"The U.S. State Dept. is in our pocket," boasted Julio 26 New York operative Mario Llerena in 1958

"Me and my staff were all Fidelistas," boasted Robert Reynolds, the CIA's "Caribbean Desk's specialist on the Cuban Revolution" from 1957-1960. "Everyone in the CIA and everyone at State were pro-Castro, except ambassador Earl Smith." This statement is from former CIA operative in Santiago Cuba, Robert Weicha. The U.S. gave Castro's regime its official benediction more rapidly than it had recognized Batista's in 1952, and lavished it with $200 million in subsidies.

In August 1959, the liberal U.S. ambassador to Cuba, Philip Bonsal, even alerted Castro to a conspiracy against his regime by anti-communist Cubans. Thanks in part to Ambassador Bonsal's solicitude for a regime then insulting his nation as "a vulture preying on humanity!" and poised to steal $2 billion from U.S. stockholders, the anti-Castro plot was foiled, hundreds of the plotters imprisoned or executed, and the regime that three years later came closest to vaporizing many of America's biggest cities (including Bonsal's home) with nuclear missiles, survived.

Please make it stop - Part 4

If you were wondering what to give that special man, woman, or ex-Love94 listener in your life (who just happens to be an Obamaton) I've got just the right item for you:

I shit you not.

(H/T Ace, NiceDeb)

It needed to be said

Maybe we're trying to save our conservatives souls.

We can't be a party of small government, free markets and low taxes while supporting bailouts and nationalizing industries, which lead to big government, socialism and high taxes at the expense of individual liberty and freedoms.

Calling evil good

Cynthia McKinney and assorted other moonbats are at it again. The want to bring supplies to the innocent, blameless victims of Israel's naked evil aggression in an operation called "Free Gaza" onboard a ship called the S.S. Dignity. This brought to mind something from Chapter 5 in the book of Isaiah:

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Acabando Pronto from Marta's Cuban American Kitchen

The entire month of December has flown by in a blur.

Like many of you this time of year brings lots of scheduling challenges, but also lots of opportunities for gathering with friends and family, which is of course, The Best Part.

There is always that last minute invitation to which I always try to be polite and ask, “Can I bring anything?”

Feeling tired from all the Christmas activity, I prefer the no-don’t-bring-a-thing-just-show-up answer, but because I seem to have picked up a reputation for cooking (ahem), I sometimes get, “Can you just whip up an appetizer?”

I’m flattered of course, but “…just whip up…?”

Okay, if you insist. I have just the thing. Here’s a quick and practically effortless appetizer.

Sweet and Sour Guava Meatballs

1 pkg. (about 60) frozen meatballs
2 – 12 oz. jars chili sauce (cocktail sauce works just as well)
2 – 16 oz. jars guava jelly (or you can use grape jelly, but I believe guava to be superior. =D)

1) In a large bowl, whisk together the chili sauce and guava jelly.
2) Add the frozen meatballs.
3) Cook in a large pot over low heat until meatballs have thawed and are heated through. Or pour into a crockpot and cook on low for about 3 hours.
4) Serve warm.

You’ll get all kinds of compliments and you can honestly say:

“Oh, it was nothing.” =D

Prospero Año Nuevo!

Yes, we have no bananas

Doing public relations for a client that happens to be a murderous dictatorship can be a difficult task, but you do have to hand it to the BBC; they do try their best to put a positive spin on their clients' otherwise vile reality. Ask one of these PR professionals if the people in Cuba are free and they are likely to answer, "YES, the people in Cuba are not free."

In commemoration of the Castro revolution's fiftieth anniversary, the BBC has published a series of articles that look back at the last half-decade of life in Cuba. With no apologies, they skip over the last fifty years of murder, oppression, and tyranny, and go straight to the root of all the country's ills; the United States. In this installment dealing with the Cuban economy (or lack thereof), they set up the reader in the first two paragraphs.

In many ways, this communist island in the Caribbean has managed to survive despite the odds. Since the revolution which climaxed on 1 January 1959, Cuba has seen the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion, repeated assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, the collapse of its main benefactor the Soviet Union, and a decades-long US trade embargo.

One of the effects of the embargo is that the streets of the Cuban capital, Havana, are still filled with many of the same old American cars that were here when Fidel Castro came to power 50 years ago.

It is a given that there are no new American cars in Cuba since the trade embargo, but it is news to me that the embargo is the reason Cubans have to continue driving these cars. Automobiles are produced all over the world, so why is the US policy towards Cuba the reason Cubans must continue to fix, alter, and modify these old 1950's automobiles to keep them running? Why are the streets of Havana not filled with Fiats, and Volkswagens, and Cirtroens?

Well, although the BBC never asks that question, they are kind enough to give us the answer:

The only cars that Cubans are legally allowed to buy or sell are those built before the revolution.

That line in the article must have slipped by the censors in Cuba when the BBC submitted the article for their client's approval, but you have to hang on as you continue reading because the spin gets pretty wild from there on. After throwing in a few not so pleasant realities of life on the island for the common Cuban, the article shifts into high gear with their number one advertising scheme for the dictatorship.

Education is free right the way through to university and post-graduate level and Cuba boasts one of the highest literacy rates in the world.

The health statistics are equally impressive. All the key indicators from infant mortality to life expectancy are among the best in the Americas. Its doctor to patient ratio is one of the highest in the world.

Health care has now become a major export. Cuba sends tens of thousands of doctors and health workers to some of the poorest parts of Latin America and Africa.

Education and health care; the regime's and its shills silver bullet. Forget that education in Cuba is actually indoctrination, and forget that health care in Cuba is actually only for the elite members of the Cuban communist party. They have it, and the world be damned if the BBC is not going to use it to get the job done.

Is life in Cuba good? YES, LIFE IN CUBA IS not GOOD.

Open Thread

As I sit here, waiting for my coffee to brew and trying to clear my head, I'd like to know if I'm the only one who's not going to miss 2008 much. It was a tumultuous year. no doubt about it. Your thoughts?

More on the would-be Spaniards

Here's another story about the Cubans that are applying for Spanish citizenship under Spain's new naturalization law that confers citizenship on those who had grandparents that were Spanish.

More than 400 Cubans of Spanish ancestry mobbed that country's stately embassy in Havana on Monday, waiting to apply for citizenship under the newly enacted "law of grandchildren."...

Officials in Madrid have estimated that as many as half a million people worldwide could be eligible to become citizens, although it is unclear how many of those are in Cuba. Some 300,000 people in Argentina alone may qualify...

There were a few dozen people lined up at the Spanish Embassy in Mexico City. But that was nothing compared to the tangled and disorganized clumps of would-be Spanish citizens that stretched across a busy avenue and engulfed a small park in Havana, because access to the Web is tightly controlled in this country...

Even those who receive Spanish citizenship must wait for permission from the Cuban government to travel abroad, a process that is often slow and arduous.

AP Photo/Javier Galeano

50 years of Revolution and the flight of Cubans from their homeland continues

ESPN is reporting that two Cuban baseball players have defected:

Right-hander Yadel Marti, Cuba's best pitcher in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, and outfielder Yasser Gomez left the island and are in an unknown location before attempting to reach the Dominican Republic to seek an MLB career, sources told ESPNdeportes.com.

Players' relatives and friends in Cuba confirmed their departure, without disclosing details of the planned route.

Marti and Gomez, members of the popular team Industriales de la Habana, were kicked off the team's payroll for the current National Series tournament "for having committed a serious [infraction]," according to the Cuban baseball authorities.

Sources informed ESPNdeportes.com last month that Marti and Gomez were punished and banned from Cuban baseball after being caught with others while trying to board a boat to leave the country illegally.

Some good news to end the year

Poor baby.

Conflicting reports emerged Sunday regarding the fate of top Hamas military commander Ahmed Ja'abri, who may have been killed in one of the hundreds of Israeli air strikes against Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Since Operation Cast Lead began on Saturday, the air force has flown over 300 sorties over the Strip, bombing close to 280 different targets. Palestinian and Israeli sources said that Ja'abri, the overall commander of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, may have been killed in an air strike on a mosque which he frequented.

I hope he's enjoying his 72 virgins.

Reuters Amply Earning their Havana Bureau

"Even after moving to Miami, however, Lesnik kept his rebellious streak and he has been the target of violent attacks by anti-Castro hard-liners in the Cuban exile community.

"I've always been very independent. I said the Cuban Revolution had to be carried out without either Washington or Moscow," Lesnik, 77, told Reuters in an interview last week." He (Lesnik) braved bombs dropped by dictator Fulgencio Batista's air force in frequent visits to rebel-held positions in the Escambray mountains during the conflict."

Yes and Hillary "landed in Bosnia ducking sniper fire." In fact when they went on trial, Cuba's pre-Stalinist air-force pilots were originally acquitted by a "revolutionary tribunal" (no less!) because even most of the "rebels" knew the pilots had dropped most of their bombs into the sea rather than atop the rebels....

But hey!.......Perhaps a WANG-BANG!! shoot-em-up! Soderbergh-del Toro Movie is in the works about Lesnick's military exploits! In truth, they probably exceeded Che Guevara's.

More BS here..

Olga Diaz Playing A Danza by Rene Touzet

Carlos Miller suggested I post something with music from my mother. I've made this brief slideshow of her.

The soundtrack is a recording she made of Rene Touzet's "Danza Allegre". Touzet was one of Cuba's greatest composers. Two old friends are once again reunited.

UPDATE: Thank you all from the bottom of my heart during these difficult times especially those who were able to attend my mom's funeral today. You guys are great! Love you!

A musical lollipop for the Patriots and Jets

How long has it been since you sang this?

Miami has the Dolphins,
The greatest football team!
We take the ball from goal to goal,
Like no one's ever seen!
We're in the air,
We're on the ground,
We're always in control.
So when you say Miami,
You're talking Super Bowl!

Cause we're the Miami Dolphins,
Miami Dolphins,
Miami Dolphins Number 1.

Yes we're the Miami Dolphins,
Miami Dolphins,
Miami Dolphins Number 1

El Nuevo Herald Article on my Mom

Muere en Miami la pianista Olga Díaz, célebre por su humor
NORMA NIURKA
Especial para El Nuevo Herald

Con unas manos pequeñas de dedos ágiles y una personalidad efervescente que la hacia única a la hora de sentarse ante el piano, Olga Díaz hizo historia durante cinco décadas en la comunidad artística de Miami. Olguita, como la llamaban sus amigos, dedicó su vida a la música tanto como pianista de un amplio repertorio que abarcaba clásicos, jazz, música cubana y afrocubana, como cantando el cancionero popular con un personal estilo y salpicando sus apariciones con peculiar sentido del humor.

El sábado, a las 10:07 am, la talentosa artista falleció víctima de un infarto, a los 72 años de edad, en el Hospital Kendall Regional, adonde había llegado de madrugada por emergencia sintiéndose mal.

Estaba haciendo chistes con los médicos, me dijeron que estaba estable, fue un shock cuando me llamaron para darme esta noticia, dijo su único hijo, Michael Pancier. Ella y mi papá eran soulmates, ahora estarán juntos de nuevo. Su esposo, el uruguayo Maurice Pancier, falleció en 1994.

Olga Díaz nació el 18 de noviembre de 1936 en Palma Soriano, Oriente, provincia de Cuba, y estudió piano desde pequeña con Aurelio de la Vega; pero fue en Miami donde desarrolló su carrera. Había llegado en 1958 para recibir su premio en un concurso de dibujo para el Festival de las Américas, y jamás regresó a Cuba.

Obtuvo una maestría en interpretación de piano de la Universidad de Miami, en cuya sala Gusman ofreció recitales memorables. Durante la década de 1960 la carismática artista trabajó en hoteles de Miami Beach y en el Everglades, del downtown. Fue la pianista del Doral County Club durante 20 años y además de sus recitales en solitario colaboraba en espectáculos con otros artistas, como Orlando y Mara, Tania Martí, Roberto Lozano y el compositor argentino Mario Clavell, cuando éste actuaba en Miami.

Era una pianista excelente, improvisaba, inventaba cosas; lo más grande que tenía era su creatividad, comentó el pianista y compositor Roberto Lozano, su entrañable amigo, quien la conoció en la década de 1960. Era un personaje especial, fuera de lo común, una soñadora.

En la década de 1980 la Sociedad Pro Arte Grateli rindió homenaje a Olguita Díaz en el Gusman Center, a teatro lleno. Durante su carrera se presentó como pianista en México y Argentina. Durante los últimos años tocaba en el Riviera Contry Club, de Coral Gables.

La música era su pasión, no hizo otra cosa que música en toda su vida, además me crió a mí, refirió su hijo, y aunque vivió la mayor parte de su vida en Miami nunca olvidó a Cuba y estaba orgullosa de ser oriental.

Hace dos años, después de sufrir una cirugía de corazón abierto, prosiguió su trabajo con el mismo ;entusiasmo de siempre, pero ya un poco debilitada.

Hace unos días había compartido la cena de Nochebuena con su familia.

Además de su hijo, la sobreviven su nuera Christina, dos nietos y su hermana Yolanda.

El velorio se efectuará el lunes, de 6 a 11 pm, en Caballero Funeral Home, de Westchester (Bird Road y 82 Ave.), y el martes, a las 10 am, se celebrará una misa de cuerpo presente en la Iglesia St. Brendan.

Los familiares piden que en lugar de flores se envíen donaciones a Dan Marino Foundation, de Weston, asociada al Miami Childrens Hospital.

A Friendly Reminder

For those people who insist in thinking that the best way to bring about change in Cuba is by restoring relations between the U.S. and Cuba and opening up diplomatic channels:

If this doesn't convince you that dealing with Cuba is like dealing with the devil, then there's nothing else I can say or write to make you think otherwise.

President-elect Obama: I hope you're paying attention.

Some Sense from the Beltway

From that lonely citadel of sense in the Beltway known as The Washington Times:

"Mr. Obama would be wise - and would avoid a potentially humiliating embarrassment with rippling effects on many other areas of foreign policy - if he took a long, hard look at Cuba under the Castros before making any unilateral concessions. Since the Cuban leopard hasn't changed its spots in the past half-century, there is virtually no reason to believe it will be so charmed by Mr. Obama's smiling visage that it will suddenly do so and purr like a kitten."

Local boy does good

It is a story that we can never tire of hearing; a local Cuban boy (or girl) sets off to follow their dreams and makes it big. Although the "making it big" part has not yet materialized, local actor and my good friend, Rey Goyos, is on the right track to success after moving to Hollywood, CA, only one year ago.

Last year, Rey was cast in a short film entered into the 2007 Student Film Festival at the University of Miami Film School. His moving and gritty performance as an Iraqi war veteran dealing with the psychological ravages of war won him the best actor award at the event. And soon after, Rey took off for Hollywood in search of fortune and fame. By himself and with no contacts, Rey landed a leading role in a soon to be released feature-length film and has already appeared in local commercials in California. His latest work is in a music video for R&B singer, Leota Penney, which you can watch below.

You can also watch a reel of Rey's work in various films HERE.

It is always good to see a fellow Cuban-American from a humble and hardworking family achieve success, and it is even better when he happens to be a good friend.

If This Doesn't Stop Teenage Sex...

My niece is moving to Argentina in a few months and during her last visit in October, she snapped this photo of a wall with che's face and a great slogan. It says "Por amor, usa preservativo, " advocating the use of condoms, using che's face as a consequence of not using them, perhaps?

How interesting that the Argentinians choose to use the iconic che to stop population growth.

Finally, there is a poster child for retroactive birth control!!

Photo below the fold.

O'Grady on Guevara, del Toro and Soderbergh

Mary Anastasia O'Grady has written one of the best rebuttals ever to the idiots that idolize Che Guevara. You can read it here. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. O'Grady at the ASCE conference earlier this year.

I have also posted it in its entirety below the fold for posterity.

Hollywood Celebrates Che Guevara
But it makes no films about the Cuban resistance movement.
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY

Hollywood hotshot Benicio Del Toro is not a stand-up comic, but he seemed to be playing one earlier this month when he said he found the role of Cuban Revolution hero Ernesto Guevara, in the new film "Che," like Jesus Christ.

"Only Jesus would turn the other cheek. Che wouldn't," Mr. Del Toro explained. Right. And Bernie Madoff is Mother Teresa, only she wasn't into fraud.

With next month marking the 50th anniversary of the Castro dictatorship, it's no surprise that the film industry is trying to cash in by celebrating pop-culture icon Guevara. As one of Fidel Castro's lieutenants in the Sierra Maestra and a Castro enforcer in the years following the rebel victory, his name is synonymous with the Cuban Revolution.

Interesting films are hard to come by these days and "Che" is a good example of the problem. Rebel glamour sells T-shirts and coffee mugs so why not another airbrushed rerun of Guevara's life? Or, more precisely, some mythical version of it, sanitized for the mass market. Meanwhile the real marvel of the past 50 years in Cuba -- the steady stream of heroic nonconformists who have risked all in their aspiration to think, speak and act freely -- remains the untold epic of our time.

If Mr. Del Toro's "Christ" comment is foolish, it's nothing compared to film director Steven Soderbergh's explanation of why we should care about Che. Bad things happen in society when "you make profit the point of everything," the movie director told Politico.com. Che's "dream of a classless society, a society that isn't built on the profit motive, is still relevant. The arguments still going on are about his methodology."

Putting aside for a moment the hilarity of Mr. Soderbergh's personal revulsion with profits, the "methodology" that he suggests is debatable is otherwise known as murder. Che had a "homicidal idea of justice," Alvaro Vargas Llosa explained in The New Republic in 2005, after researching his life. In his April 1967 "Message to the Tricontinental," Che spoke these words: "hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective and cold-blooded killing machine."

The results of Che's utopian agenda aren't much to admire either. As author Paul Berman explained in 2004 in Slate, "The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster."

The miserable Argentine was killed in 1967 in the Bolivian Andes while trying to spread revolution in South America. But his vision of how to govern lives on in the Cuba of today. It is a slave plantation, where a handful of wealthy white men impose their "morality" on the masses, most of whom are black and who suffer unspeakable privation with zero civil liberties.

There is something rich about the supposedly hip, countercultural Hollywood elite making common cause with Cuba's privileged establishment in 2008. Its victims -- artists, musicians, human-rights activists, journalists, bloggers, writers, poets and others deprived of freedom of conscience -- would seem to deserve solidarity from their brethren living in freedom. Instead, the ever-so avant-garde Soderberghs side with the politburo.

The Cuban regime loves its apologists. They give cover and deflect international criticism while at home the regime brutalizes its people. Reports from the island are that since Raúl took over from Fidel in 2006, the repression has gotten worse.

Oswaldo Payá, leader of the Varela Project, which collected more than 11,000 signatures calling for free elections and civil liberties in 2002, says that in recent months there has been a crackdown, "with a fierce persecution against Varela Project activists, other members of the opposition, and the ongoing scandal of not freeing the prisoners of conscience."

Among Castro's captives is Oscar Elias Biscet, an Afro-Cuban doctor who is renowned for his commitment to peaceful resistance and is serving a 25-year sentence. Fifty-eight journalists, writers and democracy advocates rounded up in March 2003 also languish in Fidel's deplorable jails. The total number of political prisoners is not known but is undoubtedly much higher.

State security and rapid-response brigades -- aka thugs paid to rough up dissidents -- have been fully employed this year. But, despite the terror and the threat of imprisonment, the Cuban spirit still struggles for freedom.

At least five resistance publications now circulate in eastern Cuba. Thirty-two-year-old blogger Yoani Sánchez has been warned to keep quiet, but she still chronicles the ridiculousness of Che economics, giving a voice to ordinary Cubans who live lives of desperation. The Ladies in White -- wives, sisters and mothers of prisoners of conscience -- still walk quietly in Havana on Sundays. Rock bands mock the old dictator.

This is the wonder of the revolution: Fifty years of state terror hasn't silenced the resistance. Maybe one day Hollywood will make a film about it.

Write to O'Grady@wsj.com

Dave Barry's 2008 In Review

Dave Barry's finest and funniest work is usually his end of the year recap, and this year's is no exception. Here are some samples:

Abroad, Fidel Castro steps down after 49 years as president of Cuba, explaining that he wants to spend more time decomposing. In selecting his successor, the Cuban National Assembly, after conducting an exhaustive nationwide search, selects Fidel's brother, Raúl, who narrowly edges out Dennis Kucinich.

...

Barack Obama, having secured North and South America, flies to Germany without using an airplane and gives a major speech -- speaking English and German simultaneously -- to 200,000 mesmerized Germans, who immediately elect him chancellor, prompting France to surrender.

Make sure to read the entire recap here.

Another Rebuttal to Soderbergh's/ Benicio's (i.e. Castro Regime's) Newsreel

Che excelled in one thing: mass murder of defenseless men and boys. He was a Stalinist to the core, a plodding bureaucrat and a calm, cold-blooded – but again, never in actual battle – killer. Che’s true legacy is simply one of terror and murder.

That dreaded midnight knock. Wives and daughters screaming in rage and panic as Che’s goons drag off their dads and husbands – that’s the real Che legacy.

Desperate crowds of weeping daughters and shrieking mothers clubbed with rifle butts outside La Cabana as Che’s firing squads murder their dads and sons inside – that’s the real Che legacy.

Thousands of heroes yelling “Viva Cuba Libre!” and “Viva Christo Rey!” before firing squads of murderous drunks whom they’d have stomped in open battle – that’s the real Che legacy.

Secret graves and crude boxes with bullet-riddled corpses delivered to ashen-faced loved ones – that’s the real Che legacy.

And let’s not forget the craven “Don’t shoot – I’m Che! I’m worth more to you live than dead!” (Then why didn’t he save his last bullet for himself?) Perhaps the defiant yells of the men he murdered actually affected Che the Lionhearted?

Whole thing here

Goal to goal

OH, YEAH BABY!!!

Should The U.S. Lift Its Embargo on Cuba?

Ninoska answers "no" in NYT Upfront:

NO When I arrived in the United States as a child in 1959, I could not understand why another human being could not drink from the same water fountain as I did, simply because of the color of his skin.

But America taught me a great lesson. Pressure, boycotts, civil disobedience, and a magnificent struggle for civil rights brought change and put an end to segregation and Jim Crow laws. Years later, sanctions helped put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

It should not be any different with Cuba. That is why the embargo must not be lifted until certain requirements are met: respect for human rights, the release of all political prisoners, and free and democratic elections.

After almost 50 years of ruling Cuba with absolute power, an ailing Fidel Castro transferred power to his brother Raúl two years ago. But Cubans remain third-class citizens in their own country: They have extremely limited access to the Internet, for example, and cannot even stay in hotels, which are reserved for foreigners.

In 2003, 75 men and women seeking peaceful and democratic change were arrested. Sentences ranged from 15 to 28 years. Their crimes? Being writers and human-rights activists, and having the courage to express their opinions and to oppose the Cuban regime's censorship by creating independent libraries. Along with hundreds of other political prisoners, 59 of them remain in prison, some without access to medical assistance.

The United States cannot reward this kind of behavior by lifting the embargo. It's the Cuban regime that must change, not U.S. policy.

—Ninoska Perez Castellon
Cuban Liberty Council

The yes man, Thomas J. Donohue, gives the same old reasons why the embargo should be removed but offers no real vision of how it will result in change in Cuba. In fact I would say that the foreign businesses currently operating in Cuba have a vested interest in the status quo. Are the Spanish hoteliers going to push the regime to go in a direction it doesn't want to go (liberty and democracy) knowing that the regime can pull the plug on their investments at any time? I didn't think so.

Cuba reality check

Here is a timely counter to the current flood of pro-regime propanda filling the MSM.

Bloody tally of a fifty-year long dictatorship
Maria C. Werlau
Special for El Nuevo Herald
Page A1
December 19, 2008

Fidel Castro has enjoyed generally favorable worldwide treatment, which stands in sharp contrast with what most tyrants typically get. This is more remarkable given that he is responsible for the bloodiest chapter of Latin America’s republican history and that his regime of terror has lasted five decades.

In fact, Fidel Castro has staged one of the most successful propaganda campaigns of all times. The key to this masterful manipulation has been the effective concealment of his worst crimes and a pervasive unawareness of the large cost in lives of the Castro dynasty. This largely explains the persistent ignorance of the bloody and ruthless nature of the regime and the tendency to justify it on the basis of so-called principles of equality and social justice. But, mounting evidence of brutality will make it increasingly difficult to sustain this false legitimacy. When the truth finally comes out, Castro’s singular ability to fool so many, so much, and for so long will be nakedly exposed.

Since the end of the 1990s, Cuba Archive has been confronting the vast Cuban propaganda machine by focusing on its bloody trails. It has created a comprehensive registry of deaths that makes it harder to ignore the worst crimes of the Cuban regime as well as the magnitude and present-day character of the tragedy.

To date, Cuba Archive (www.CubaArchive.org) has documented more than 8,200 fatalities or disappearances caused by the Castro Communist government since January 1st 1959. Until 2003 it took almost exclusively from the investigation by one of its directors and founders, Armando Lago, Ph.D. (1939-2008), for a book project he researched mostly from existing bibliography. In recent years, the project has focused on gathering direct testimony and reviewing sources of information previously unexamined. Collaboration with the group “Cuban Memorial” (www.MemorialCubano.org) has helped access the Cuban exile community to improve on documentation efforts.

Up to December 15, 2008, 5,732 cases of execution, extrajudicial killings, and disappearances have been documented. In addition, 515 deaths in prison for medical negligence, suicide, or accident have been recorded. These totals, which constitute partial yet growing numbers, already amount to more than twice the 3,197 disappearances and killings by the military regime led by General Augusto Pinochet in Chile. Yet, while Pinochet was subject to solid worldwide condemnation, Fidel Castro has been lauded by many celebrities and influential global figures.

In 2008 alone, 42 deaths have been registered, all in prison except one – 2 extrajudicial killings, 23 for lack of medical care, 11 reported suicides, 2 in accidents resulting from negligence, plus 1 death for undetermined causes. Between January 1st 1959 and December 15, 2008 a partial tally of deaths attributed to the Castro regime totals 8,237 if documented cases if combat actions against the Communist government are included.

Aside from these striking numbers, deaths at sea in exit attempts are estimated to surpass 77,000. Dr. Lago, who had a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, derived an econometric calculation with data from the U.S. Coast Guard and studies by the University of Havana and Miami respectively. But, the exact amount of deaths of Cuban “rafters” is impossible to determine. Cuba Archive has documented only 1,104 cases of death or disappearance in exit attempts, given that no efforts have existed to date to systematically register these cases. Francisco Chaviano González started a registry of such disappearances inside Cuba but was arrested in 1994 and sentenced to 15 years of prison for revealing “state secrets.” After serving 13 years, he was released in August of 2007 in very ill health.

One of the most astounding aspects of this tragedy is the killing by Cuban authorities of civilians trying to flee the island. An initial effort to record these cases has uncovered almost 200 victims. This sum compares to the 227 victims killed in Berlin Wall crossings during Communist period in East Germany. This monstrosity in Cuba is largely ignored, but it reflects something never seen in this hemisphere -a state policy of executing defenseless citizens for wanting to leave their country. Cuban Border Guards have sunk vessels by crashing into them or throwing sand bags from low-flying planes. They have gunned down civilians without regard to age or condition. There are past reports of special units of the Cuban military dedicated to this ghastly task. The Canimar River massacre of 1980 and the "13 de marzo'' tugboat massacre of 1994, which left dozens of victims including many children, are just the better known such episodes. The number of victims suffering similar fate could be in the thousands. Because generally the only witnesses left to tell the story are the perpetrators, this could only be ascertained if Cuba’s secret archives are ever recovered.

The case of Iskander Maleras Pedraza, age 26, and Luis Angel Valverde Linfernal, in his thirties, bears an exceptional degree of proof of this practice. Both were gunned down by Border Guards while attempting to swim to the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo on January 19, 1994. Of the group of four friends, one made it to the base and related what happened. The other survivor was captured, judged, and sentenced to prison. Because Maleras was from Guantánamo and his parents were respected professionals well-known in their community, the public outcry forced the regime to unleash a campaign to justify the killings. The propaganda was geared towards creating fear among would-be imitators. Photos of the dead bodies were exhibited in schools and the guards who did the grisly deed were awarded medals in public ceremonies. Court documents of the proceedings and official media reports serve as evidence of the crime.

Another case, that of Miguel Guerra Mora, Daniel Cosme Ramos, and Federico Martí Jiménez, is officially reported as a disappearance, yet all indicates they were murdered by Cuban authorities for attempting to escape by sea. Guerra Mora, 36 years old and the father of two children, was a dredging specialist working at the Port of Palo Alto, in Ciego de Avila province. On May 19, 1991, he, a fellow worker, and a friend took command of a small vessel at the port. They were never heard of again. Guerra Mora’s family undertook a desperate search that included inquiries to countries they might have reached. Five years later, a Border Guard distantly related to the family confidentially sent word that the three had been gunned down during their attempted escape.

Cuba Archive has documented many more cases of extrajudicial killings or executions, each one as terrifying as the others. This aberration stems from the fact with scarce global precedent that Cuba’s laws penalize its citizens with jail for attempting to leave their country without government permission. Today, several political prisoners are serving sentences of up to 25 years for such “crimes.”

Raúl Castro, Fidel’s brother and designated successor, is responsible for hundreds of executions in Oriente province right after the revolutionary government ascended to power. Many were carried out without even the pretense of a trial. Moreover, as Minister of Defense during nearly five decades, Raúl was directly in command of Border Guards with orders to shoot civilians attempting to escape into the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo. He is also said to have ordered chemical attacks that left thousands of deaths in Angola in the 1980s.

The cost of the long and dark chapter of Cuban history written by the Castro brothers is enormous. Its macabre tally of extrajudicial killings includes dozens of children as well as women. And the slaughter extends to other nationalities. To date, 68 foreigners are among documented victims of execution, extrajudicial killing, or disappearance by the Cuban government. In fact, Fidel Castro and his brother are responsible for over 100,000 lives if armed interventions overseas are accounted for. Moreover, if foreign victims of Cuba’s incursions in Africa and victims of international subversion sponsored and/or financed by Cuba are added, the death toll could reach several hundred thousand.

But, counting numbers can never do justice to the vast human suffering brought on by this calamity. Its effects reverberate among thousands of people directly or indirectly affected. Each case is a story of unimaginable loss and pain. Each life cut short is that of a daughter, a father, a sister, a husband, a grandson, a niece, a friend. How could we quantify the cost of stolen lives and cheated futures? How could we calculate the despair, sorrow and trauma caused by the martyrdom of defenseless people? That of course, is impossible. Yet, ultimately, that immeasurable cost -together with all the suffering and misery the Castro regime has caused at all levels- will be its most enduring legacy.

With time, the names, faces, and stories of the victims will be better known. If anything, that should promote more forceful calls for the end of oppression in Cuba. And, when Cuba is finally free and the magnitude of this tragedy is fully exposed, it will speak clearly of the need to renounce violence as a means of forging the destiny of the Cuban nation. That would give meaning to the sacrifice of so many and would become a precious gift for a people who deserve to leave in peace.

Translated from Spanish by the author. See original Spanish version at http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america_latina/cuba/story/342527.html

Maria C. Werlau is Executive Director of Cuba Archive.

(H/T Cubanology)

The Marvels of a Cuban Education.

From Reuters:
"When asked what changes they would like to see, most Cubans say they do not want a return to the capitalism in place before the revolution. Mostly they call for tweaks to the socialist system, focusing on economic needs, not political reforms."

First off, did Reuters really ask "most Cubans"? There are 11.2 million of them. So Reuters interviewed over 5. 6 million Cubans? That's some nose-to-the-grindstone, shoulder-to-the wheel reporters over at Reuters!

Here Reuters quotes one of their askees: "When 70-year-old Communist Party member Amanda Gonzalez recalls life before the Cuban revolution, bitterness creeps into her voice. She chokes back tears as she remembers her parents working long hours at dead-end jobs in a stratified society where the odds seemed hopelessly stacked against the poor and the rich showed little concern for their plight. "Poor people at that time had nothing, and there were many poor. The rich only cared about profits and wealth. On balance, the revolution has been positive..."

But how many Cubans under 60 can actually make the comparison? Will they learn in school about a report from the Geneva-based International Labor Organization that documented the following in 1957:

"One feature of the Cuban social structure is a large middle class," it starts. "Cuban workers are more unionized (proportional to the population) than U.S. workers. The average wage for an 8 hour day in Cuba in 1957 is higher than for workers in Belgium, Denmark, France and Germany. Cuban labor receives 66.6 per cent of gross national income. In the U.S. the figure is 70 per cent, in Switzerland 64 per cent. 44 per cent of Cubans are covered by Social legislation, a higher percentage than in the U.S."

In 1957 Cuban industrial workers had the 8th highest wages in the world. In the 1950's Cuban stevedores earned more per hour than their counterparts in New Orleans and San Francisco. Cuba had established an 8 hour work-day in 1933 – five years before FDR's New Dealers got around to it. Add to this: one month's paid vacation. The much-lauded (by liberals) Social-Democracies of Western Europe didn't manage this till 30 years later.

This describes, "a stratified society where the odds seemed hopelessly stacked against the poor and the rich showed little concern for their plight," only compared to The Land of OZ and Shangri -La. , not using any semi-rational comparison with most societies on our planet earth.

Okay, so let's cut Cubans some slack for not knowing this. Where would they learn it? But what's the excuse for this 50 year reign of thundering and seemingly incurable stupidity from Reuters (and the AP, ABC, CBS, CNN, BBC, The History faculties of 98 per cent of the world's Centers of Higher Learning, Hollywood, Democrats, etc. etc. etc.)?

Some more Cuba facts for Reuters

They may want to add these:

* Cuba hasn't had a free and democratic election in more than 50 years.

* Opposition political parties in Cuba are illegal.

* There is no free press in Cuba, all media is owned and controlled by the state.

* Cuba is the per capita leader in jailing independent journalists, and second overall to China.

* Cuba has more than 200 internationally recognized political prisoners. The living conditions of such prisoners are deplorable. The castro regime does not allow international NGOs to inspect their prisons.

* It is illegal to leave Cuba without government permission, one of literally a handful of countries where this abuse of human rights exists.

* There are dozens of children and spouses being held against their will in Cuba, not allowed to leave as punishment because their high-profile parents or spouses abandoned the country without permission.

* More than 2 million Cubans and their descendants live outside of Cuba as exiles. Cubans are succeeding in almost every country in the world except Cuba.

* Cuban government statistics cannot be taken at face value because everything in Cuba is politicized.

* The much maligned U.S. embargo on Cuba was not created to topple the castro regime, it is a punitive measure put in place when Cuba nationalized $1.8 billion in U.S. business assets.

* Cuban children are indoctrinated from an early age. The communist constitution of Cuba gives primary rights over children to the state. Participation in communist party activities is required to advance academically.

Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did.

EPD - Olga Diaz - One of Cuba's Greatest Pianists - 1936-2008

Yesterday morning, on December 27, 2008, the music world lost a great pianist and artist, Olga Diaz. Today, I also lost my mom. For over 65 years, my mom, Olga, has played the piano and entertained so many people from all over the world. I’m not a journalist as I am sure there will be better written articles about her in the next few days. I’ll give you the story from a son’s perspective.

She was born Olga Diaz-Parlade in the Province of Oriente, Cuba in a town called Palma Soriano in 1936. At age 5, she started playing the piano and ultimately earned her degree in Music at the Universidad de Oriente. She studied with Dr. Aurelio de la Vega, and Edmundo Lopez, two of the greats that the island has produced.

In 1958, at age 21, my mom entered a contest for the Festival of the Americas. She designed the winning flag and won $ 1,000.00 and a trip to Miami. In April 1958, she was greeted in the local papers as the “Latin Beauty” when she accepted kudos from the then Mayor of Miami, Robert King High. (See image below). Shortly thereafter, things started getting dangerous in her hometown, and her parents told her to stay in Miami until things calmed down in Cuba. Her parents returned, my mom stayed. As history would have it, my mom never returned to see her homeland and place of birth again. The communist revolution took hold and my mom ended up doing what she could to get her siblings, her parents, and other family and friends out of Cuba.

She met my dad, her husband and soul-mate Maurice sometime in 1958 and they married shortly thereafter in 1961. My mom played in various venues during the late 1950’s and 1960’s, in the day that Downtown Miami was a happening town with a nightlife. She has a trio at the Everglades Hotel for many years and later played on Miami Beach at various hotels as well. As the beach started to die down, my mom got her next gig at the Doral Country Club where she played for over 25 years. There she met and befriended folks from all over the world. She also played concerts in various countries including the US, Canada, Mexico and Argentina.

My mom became a US Citizen during the Bicentennial in 1976, and while she spent the majority of her life here in the USA, her heart and soul was Cuban. She would say that she thought and dreamed in Cuban. She played music by serious Cuban composers like Rene Touzet, Cervantes, Lecuona, and Afro-Cuban Jazz melodies and standards from the great popular composers especially those who lived here in exile.

After I graduated high school and started college, my mom decided to go back to school and she obtained her Masters in Piano at the University of Miami School of Music. Even without a great command of English, she wrote a thesis and got her graduate degree in her fifties.

My mom would play you a Lecuona piece, followed by Duerme Negrito, followed by Chopin, Cole Porter, Bernstein, Piazzola and Gershwin. It was a thrill to see her play Rhapsody in Blue with the Miami Symphony Orchestra many years ago.

My mom was a major talent just as many other exiled artists here are and were. Sadly, the media pays more attention to those who chose to play under fidel than those that chose to play in freedom.
Besides being a great artist, she was a wife to my father for over 30 years, a great mother and a loving grandmother to my two children. And to those that knew her and loved her, she was the greatest friend you could ever have.

My mother, Olga Diaz, now joins the list of great artists from Cuba that have passed away in exile. Some of which I knew well like Rene Touzet and Mario Fernandez Porta, and others. When they were alive, they would always attend my mom’s concerts and she would always play tribute by playing their music. My mom always played their works even after their death and made a point to keep their music alive and well.

Perhaps it was a wise Rabbi who said that as long as we keep the memory of our loved ones alive, they will always live on. All those who were touched by music, her wit, and her love will always keep her alive. My mom is now with her soulmate, my dad, and is surely playing the piano in Heaven for him and the for the angels that she loved so much.

Services will be held at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Home located at 8200 SW 40 Street on Monday, December 29, 2008 from 6:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. A Mass in her memory will take place at St. Brendan Catholic Church on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in her memory to the Dan Marino Foundation, P.O. Box 267640, Weston, FL 33326. (954) 389-4445.

The above image was from a newspaper clipping from April 1958 when my mom won her way to the United States.

A stake through the heart of the incredibly flexible theory

The Telegraph's Christopher Booker proclaims that 2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved:

Looking back over my columns of the past 12 months, one of their major themes was neatly encapsulated by two recent items from The Daily Telegraph. The first, on May 21, headed "Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts" , reported that the entire Alpine "winter sports industry" could soon "grind to a halt for lack of snow". The second, on December 19, headed "The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation", reported that this winter's Alpine snowfalls "look set to beat all records by New Year's Day"...

First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century.

...as banks collapsed and the global economy plunged into its worst recession for decades, harsh reality at last began to break in on those self-deluding dreams which have for so long possessed almost every politician in the western world. As we saw in this month's Poznan conference, when 10,000 politicians, officials and "environmentalists" gathered to plan next year's "son of Kyoto" treaty in Copenhagen, panicking politicians are waking up to the fact that the world can no longer afford all those quixotic schemes for "combating climate change" with which they were so happy to indulge themselves in more comfortable times.

It would be comical...

raul calls for more sacrifice from the Cuban people:

Cuban President Raul Castro called on Saturday for austerity measures including fewer subsidies for workers and stricter management to pull the country out of an economic morass aggravated this year by three hurricanes and the global financial crisis...

"The accounts don't square up," he said. "You have to act with realism and adjust the dreams to the true possibilities," said Castro, who officially replaced his ailing older brother Fidel Castro as president in February.

Yes, forget your dreams Cubans. Realism must rule the day.

Castro implemented reforms when he took office, including opening the sale of computers and cell phones to Cubans and allowing them to go to hotels and stores previously reserved for foreigners.

But he said the country's economic problems would postpone some changes, including a planned government restructuring.

Castro lamented the economic effects of hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma, which caused $10 billion in damages, and warned that no one can tell how bad world economic problems will get.

When I debate the embargo I'm invariably confronted by people who say "If we remove the embargo, we take away castro's excuse" as if it were some sort of original thought. My answer is always the same, this regime has no shortage of excuses.

Cuba's import costs have soared while prices for key exports such as nickel have plunged, requiring the communist-run country to impose greater fiscal discipline, said the 77-year-old Castro.

Those nickel prices just might be hurting more than the regime, our favorite lobbyist/think tank expert just might be affected too.

Before his speech, the assembly voted to raise the age at which workers can retire with a government pension by five years, to 65 for men and 60 for women. Officials said the change was needed because Cuba's population was aging rapidly due to a declining birth rate and immigration.

What do you expect with the high rate of abortion and the lovely conditions of the worker's paradise?

Castro said Cuban managers need to demand more from their workers, who receive free education and health care and subsidized food rations but on average earn only $20 a month.

If you make far below the wage indicated by your line of work and have more and more demanded of you don't the "benefits" cease to be free at some point? Didn't slaves get "free" health care and education from some of the more benevolent slave masters?

"I have arrived at the conclusion that one of our big problems is a lack of systemic demand," said Castro.

Huh? In Cuba there's demand for everything. There's demand for toilet paper, there's demand for meat, there's demand for freedom. What's lacking in Cuba is supply.

He expressed dissatisfaction with the system of subsidies for those who can work, but do not, saying government handouts discourage Cubans from being more productive.

raul castro discovers gravity. What an idiot. Want Cubans to be productive? Unshackle them. Of course we can't have that can we? Productive Cubans that don't live off of the state would make the state irrelevant. Thus is the conundrum for a communist ruler.

That Reuters reports these things with a proverbial straight face would be comical if it wasn't so damned depressing.

In Memoriam

It is with deep sadness that I write this evening that Olga Diaz, mother to my dear friend and fellow Babalusian, Michael Pancier, passed away this morning. Olga was an incredible talent, a pianist like no other, who lived for music and loved the music of her beloved Cuba.

While being a wife and mother, Olga studied and received her degree from the University of Miami. She later went on to become a well-known and respected pianist playing alongside world-renowned musicians such as Rene Touzet. Loved by her family and friends, she will be incredibly missed.

To Michael, my heart and prayers go out to you today my friend. Just rest assured that there is beautiful music being played in heaven tonight. God bless.

Patriotism or tribalism?

Captain Ed Morrissey has a great analysis of an L.A. Times column by Joel Stein.

Does Stein even bother to read conservatives or listen to them even for an hour? Fifteen minutes? I’ve never heard one yet that argues for America’s perfection or the need to freeze us in the current political and policy status quo. It’s absurd on its face and should be embarrassing to the LA Times’ editors.

The answer is of course not. Stein and liberals don't read things conservatives write though the reverse is certainly true.

That difference, which we commonly call American exceptionalism, defines the difference in patriotism and leads Stein to the ultimate conclusion of his column, which is that belief in that exceptionalism amounts to little more than tribalism. I’d buy that if it wasn’t for the fact that more people leave their homes to come to America than any other country to find freedom, liberty, and a chance at prosperity. We literally can’t keep people out of the United States, and it’s one of our more intractable political problems. Vast numbers of Americans aren’t fleeing to Europe or Africa or Asia or even South America. People from those lands flock to the US. There’s a reason for that, and that migration pattern tells why American exceptionalism is real and not just some tribalistic, Neanderthal reaction to one’s birth place.

Interesting read about fidel's "possible states"

From the Sun-Sentinel:

In and of themselves, these stylistic changes in leadership from Fidel to Raul Castro do not lead to a conclusion of substantive policy changes to follow.

Next year's Communist Party Congress may allow a peek inside Cuba's Schrödinger's box. For the moment, the Cuban system will remain a quantum-like superposition of possible states with Fidel remaining both alive and dead as if in suspended animation.

Scary stuff

This is.

Cubans begin applying for Spanish Citizenship

Last March Yoani Sanchez reported in her blog, Generación Y, that thousands of Cubans were getting their papers in order to apply for Spanish citizenship now that Spain passed a law allowing such eligibility for the grandchildren of Spaniards.

Starting today the Spanish embassy in Cuba began receiving applications.

Photo from El Pais.

Now the number of Spaniards that qualify worldwide is being estimated by the Spanish government to be about 500,000 however that is much lower than the estimate of Cubans alone which Yoani pegged at 3 million.

Either way we can expect there to be a continual stampede at Spanish embassy for the next two years (the period of time during which such applications will be accepted).

Applications and more information available here.

Please make it stop - Part 3

With apologies to my fratella Siciliana, here's another wonderful edition of "Please make it stop."

This Obama plate was up for sale at a local pharmacy. Not only do we have to put up with this absurd hero-worship reminiscent of a certain figure from the thirties, we also have to put up with misspellings.

Ay ay ay.

Love 94 dead? Good.

Jazz on Miami radio died when WBUS ("The Magic Bus") went off the air many, many moons ago. These days it's resurrected somewhat by the only local radio refuge for real jazz: WDNA. They play a great variety of jazz, including lots of Afro-Cuban jazz. They play real jazz, not pussified "love jazz," or the modern crap that so many are all atwitter that's called "jazz" by the ignorant. Coltrane, Bird, Sonny Rollins, Brubeck, Weather Report, Getz, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughan, Basie, Miles, Diz, Paquito d'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Chico O'Farrill, Tito Puente, the late Cachao. Real music. Real jazz. Real improvisational genius.

I know the liberal progressive metrosexual pussymen are all up in (bangled) arms about Love 94 going belly up, about not hearing that favorite Kenny G masterpiece while sipping on their non-fat lattes and reading The New York Times; but all I have to say is: buh-bye.

Licking their chops

As the holy day of anointing quickly approaches, and the chosen one prepares to stand before the nation and the entire world to be sworn in as not just the new president of America, but as the healer of the planet, there are some that are licking their chops in anticipation. When they hear all the talk about "hope," and "change," and "yes we can," it is like the ringing of a bell for one of Pavlov's dogs; the mere sound makes them salivate and drool all over themselves although there is nothing there.

With all the talk going around about the "hope" for "change" Obama will bring to this country's policy towards the murderous Cuban dictatorship, it is like an external stimulus that causes some people to drool in anticipation of a large meal.

Cruise lines interested in Cuba's potential

With an anticipated lessening of travel restrictions to Cuba by the Obama administration, U.S. cruise lines are playing it cool. They're not going public with their plans, but authorities agree that reopening Cuba to American tourists could give the recession-impacted travel industry a welcome boost.

A survey of cruise lines, for the most part, produced carefully parsed answers about their Cuba plans when government-imposed travel and trade restrictions are lifted. However, a couple cruise lines went on the record about their interest.

In fact, Frank Del Rio, the 54-year-old CPA who founded Oceania Cruise Line, can't wait for the cruise lanes to open. He was born in Cuba, and fled the Communist island with his parents when he was 6 years old.

Del Rio, a University of Florida graduate who resides in Miami, is also chairman and CEO of Prestige Holdings Inc., parent company of Oceania and Regent Seven Seas cruise lines. As such, he's responsible for financial and strategic development of both cruise lines.

"Ten minutes after Castro dies," he said, "negotiations to open up Cuba will begin. This is a real country with a distinct culture and history. There's a lot in Cuba that the other islands don't have. For one thing, it's by far the biggest island in the Caribbean, and there are a lot of ports that would make very good stops as well as launching pads for other Caribbean destinations.

"It's forbidden fruit, and that gives it very strong appeal. My dream is that the next Oceania ship will be christened in Havana harbor."

Continue reading the article HERE.

There is so much potential to make money by dealing with the dictatorship that there is no time to think about the inconvenient details such as the tens of thousands of Cubans who have been murdered; the thousands of Cuban political prisoners that are rotting in jail; the thousands of Cubans who have given their life fighting to free Cuba; and the millions of Cubans that must live in an oppressive society devoid of the most basic of human rights.

These people do not hear any of those details, they only hear a bell ringing, and it's making their mouths water.

???????

From Reuters, which is barely half a step above Granma in credibility when it comes to Cuba:

The global financial crisis has made it difficult for Cuba to get credit to purchase imports, which include 60 percent of its food.

Really? You mean it's not a dogmatic adherence to a failed Marxist economic system that did it?

Jebus.

Question out of Arkansas

Responding to the declaration against the US embargo by Latin American leaders, Miguel Perez raises an interesting question in this. With a new, more liberal administration on the way, shouldn't the "imperialistas" become "amigos?" Based on what he's seen, the answer would seem to be that we will continue to be the bogey man as far as some leaders are concerned. Gotta blame someone for the debacle in Cuba, no?

Don't miss the opening here-

They choose to overlook Cuba’s 50 years without free elections, free speech or freedom of the press. They refuse to see the dissidents rotting in jail or drowning while trying to escape from the Communist island. They shamelessly align themselves with the world’s oldest dictatorship, yet Latin American leaders make it seem as if the only country that has stood firmly against such atrocities — the United States — is really the villain.

An All Too Familiar Story

Article in the Tampa Tribune on the human tragedy of the castro revolution.

Read it here.

So, um, how was your Christmas?

Santa knows I like to barbeque so he got me a nice big bag of coal. I suppose that's what you get when your letter to the North Pole starts:

Dear Santa,

I can explain. . .

Did Santa bring you what you asked for?

What is missing from this obituary?

Harold Pinter died yesterday. Read this obit and tell me what salient facts are missing.

Eartha Kitt - RIP

I got turned on to Eartha Kitt as a young boy watching the old Batman series where she starred as Catwoman. Of course, her version of "Santa Baby" was always fun to listen to every holiday season.

Another one of the greats gone away .... as they go away we are left with more and more mediocrity.

Here's an old Batman episode....enjoy...

Musica Navidad

Here's a little Celia to add to the spirit:

All we want for Christmas

Guillermo Martínez says it perfectly, As years pass, hope for a free Cuba remains:

Thus Jan. 1, 2009, also marks the 50th anniversary of the latest migration of Cubans to the United States. Throughout its history Cubans had been coming to the United States — mainly to New York, Tampa, Key West, and Miami — seeking political refuge. Most of those who came went back as soon as they could. A few stayed behind in Tampa and Key West.

But, Jan. 1, 1959, was different. Castro would do anything to remain in power. And he did. Cubans who came to the United States for a short exile stayed. Months became years, then decades. This time they settled in New Jersey and in South Florida.

Many of those who came in the early years still yearn to return to their homeland even as their hope fades with each passing year. Sadly each year fewer of them remain. Behind they have left children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren born in this country.

They are Americans of Cuban parents who love the land where their ancestors came from like the Jews care for Israel. They also yearn to see a free Cuba but do not seek to return to reclaim properties of material benefits. They yearn to reclaim their heritage and the memories of their elders and for Cuba to be free.

All we want for Christmas, and wish for the New Year is for Cuba to be free.

Feliz Navidad everyone.

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish all of our Babalu friends and family a very Merry Christmas today and hope that you all have a great day celebrating the birth of Christ your own families and loved ones.

The Reason for The Season

Luke, Chapter 2; King James Bible

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;

23 (As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

What Christmas is All About

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.

OyeCubanos.com

Our friend Jose Reyes of Cubanology.com has created a new online community called OyeCubanos.com.

Here's the rundown on OyeCubanos.com from Jose:

America and I are very happy to announce the first Cuban "Global" Social Community website. Please pass the word around and remember, this is your community. America and I just created a virtual place where you can make it happen. Without "everybody" getting involved, it will simply not work. It took us about 5 to 6 months to finally reach this point and here we are. The website offers more features than most average social community websites. Have Fun! Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! America Vaughan and Jose Reyes

And the winner is...

Here are some of the winners (losers?) of the Media Research Center's Best Notable Quotables of 2008: The 21st Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting.

Just a little laugh to start off our Noche Buena preparations for tonight.

The Obamagasm Award "Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope." — Time’s Nancy Gibbs in the November 17 cover story.

Half-Baked Alaska Award for Pummeling Palin
"The fact of the matter is, the comparison between her [Sarah Palin] and Hillary Clinton is the comparison between an igloo and the Empire State Building!" — MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Hardball, October 14.

The Irrelevant Reverend Wright Award
"To see his [Jeremiah Wright’s] career completely destroyed by three 20-second soundbites, all of the work he has done, his entire legacy gone down the drain, has been absolutely devastating to me — to him, sorry....We are still a racist country." — Washington Post writer Sally Quinn on PBS’s Charlie Rose, April 30.

From Camelot to Obamalot Award
"Today, the audacity of hope had its rendezvous with destiny....Obama is now an adopted son of Camelot. His candidacy blessed not just by the Lion of the Senate, patriarch of the clan, but by JFK’s daughter." — David Wright on ABC’s Nightline January 28.

The Crush Rush Award for Loathing Limbaugh
Author/humorist P.J. O’Rourke: "It’s the twilight of the radio loud-mouth, you know? I knew it from the moment the fat guy [Rush Limbaugh] refused to share his drugs...."
Host Bill Maher: "You mean the OxyContin that he was on?...Why couldn’t he have croaked from it instead of Heath Ledger?" — HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, February 8.

Politics of Meaninglessness Award for the Silliest Analysis
"Not doing it [fighting global warming] will be catastrophic. We’ll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years, and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals." — CNN founder Ted Turner on PBS’s Charlie Rose, April 1.

Madness of King George Award
"When somebody asks you, sir, about the cooked books and faked threats you foisted on a sincere and frightened nation; when somebody asks you, sir, about your gallant, noble, self-abnegating sacrifice of your golf game so as to soothe the families of the war dead; this advice, Mr. Bush: Shut the hell up! Good night and good luck." — MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann in a "Special Comment" on Countdown, May 14.

Barbra Streisand Political IQ Award for Celebrity Vapidity
"If you have a few hundred followers, and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you ‘Pope.’ It’s like, if you can’t pay your mortgage, you’re a deadbeat. But if you can’t pay a million mortgages, you’re Bear Stearns and we bail you out. And that is who the Catholic Church is: the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia." — Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time, April 11.

Admitting the Obvious Award
“When NBC News first assigned me to the Barack Obama campaign, I must confess my knees quaked a bit....I wondered if I was up to the job. I wondered if I could do the campaign justice.”
— NBC reporter Lee Cowan in an article for NBC’s “The Peacock” advertising supplement, March 23-29.

Feliz Noche Buena

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Noche Buena. And hopefully Santa brings you all the toys you asked for.

And to those bad boys and girls -- the Godless, atheist, liberals out there, and they know who they are, I hope Santa brings you a nice inflatable along with your 24x36 Poster of Obama with a copy of Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits so you can have a holly jolly Christmas (even though you all hate the holiday and religion). With a little luck, maybe even you "progressives" out there will find the Christmas spirit and rather than obsess about what we write and do over here, or blaming everything bad in the world on Bush, you will be thankful that despite your self serving arrogance, that God loves you too.

On a serious note, with God's help, may the next Noche Buena in Cuba be celebrated in freedom and may God bless you all, especially those who despise us.

Now you, too, can make it a Castro, Inc. Christmas!

For Marxist totalitarian regimes, Christmas is a bugaboo that under normal circumstances they would rather live without. The holiday promotes goodwill towards man and it brings families together; two things communist thugs fear almost as much as the light of day. But Christmas also brings an opportunity to make some money--something communist thugs love almost as much as executing innocent people. And in the case of Cuba, since the regime has already squeezed every last bit of cash available on the island decades ago, they are looking elsewhere for people willing to part with their hard earned cash by making a donation to the Cuban dictatorship retirement fund.

They have made it quite easy for anyone to donate by setting up a convenient website. On this site you can make a donation to the regime and in exchange, they will send one of your relatives on the island a lovely Christmas gift. And if you are worried that you live in the US and you might be violating State Department regulations by sending money to a vile dictatorship, the website has a solution for you: just make a wire transfer to one of their accounts in Spain and it is all good.

As an example, you can contribute roughly $112.55 to the retirement fund of Fidel and Raul Castro simply by purchasing this lovely and aesthetic 52" ceiling fan for $171.55 as a gift for one of your friends or relatives on the island. Although the fan is of dubious origins and quality, keep in mind that the Castro clan's retirement fund is a worthy cause, after all.

Of course, you can purchase a quality 52" ceiling fan at Home Depot for just $59.00, but that low price does not include the donation to the regime's retirement fund. Remember, the real goal here is to provide much needed cash to the Castro regime, not to find you the best deal. So stop being a Scrooge and stop complaining about paying three times as much for something that is probably not even half as good.

Christmas means giving, and Castro, Inc. needs the money.

WTVJ sale to Post/Newsweek is dead

We reported back in August that WTVJ was going to be sold to Post/Newsweek that also owns WPLG locally. Well in very good news the deal is off.

WPLG's general manager is said to be in favor of unlimited travel to Cuba, a position this blog disagrees with. Also WPLG has generally been regarded as a place that doesn't much respect Cubans. With WFOR firing Cuban-Americans Jade Alexander and Ileana Varela (a pro's pro) and this deal on the verge of going through I was wondering where I'd be getting be getting my news. Now I know I'll be with WTVJ, at least for the time being.

Wisdom

Get your fill from Thomas Sowell.

NYT shills for Ayers, won't run op-ed from detractors

Our friends at Pajamas media have the op-ed written by the FBI informant that penetrated the Weather Underground as a response to Bill Ayers column that ran in the NYT. Needless to say they didn't run the response. Why would they? Since when was the Times interested in real journalistic integrity and balance? Pretty soon the Times will join the Herald in the ash heap of media outlets that suffered because of their own hubris.

H/T: LGF

The Incredibly Flexible Theory takes yet another hit

Do you remember the brouhaha about then Bush administration Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez firing some U.S. attorneys that he was completely within his right to fire? Remember how that was such an "outrage"?

What if I told you Al Gore fired the director of energy research for the US Department of Energy back in 1993 because he doesn't think the incredibly flexible theory is actually all that flexible or all that true for that matter.

Herald's parent company shares...

Hardly worth paper they are printed on...

Obligatory embargo post

If the U.S. embargo on Cuba were a person he'd be in tatters with a big old bullseye on his back. I recently received an email from a reader about the embargo. I responded to him at length (below) but have not heard back from him. Here's his letter with my response.

I think you will agree that we live in a results oriented society. In my business, results is the ends to the means. This is why I think that the embargo as it is and has been has not achieved the intended results.

I agree that we live in a results oriented society (though bailout mania makes me doubt that it's still the case). You say the embargo has not achieved the intended results. By that I suppose that you mean that it has not dethroned the Castro brothers. If results are what really mattered then JFK would have made sure the Bay of Pigs invasion worked. He would not have allowed the missiles to be introduced into Cuba giving the Soviets chips at the poker table.

I don't think that regime change is a reasonable goal for unilateral economic sanctions. Anyone that says so is fooling themselves. The embargo was enacted as a punitive measure in response to specific actions by the regime, actions for which the regime has not made restitution.

In today's environment I believe a more reasonable goal for the embargo is to deny credit and cash to the regime. Credit and cash are the lifeblood of the regime and the patient is currently on life support. Unilaterally lifting the embargo without gaining a single concession is like giving the patient a transfusion.

I am not saying that removing is the answer but I do believe that a new strategy is necessary. I have some ideas but my depth on this subject is not that deep to make real educated recommendations.

I'd be seriously interested in hearing your thoughts. I believe the argument that the embargo hasn't worked therefore removing it must work is a false dichotomy. It can in fact be argued that without the embargo the regime would be a stronger position than currently. That's what I believe.

I do believe that the embargo is the enemy that those animals in charge have been able to use for their benefit. I also think that taking that crutch away would create a different dynamic in this saga that might lead to a shift in the entire situation.

I agree, but the question is: in the absence of the embargo who exactly would be convinced that the problem all of these years has been the regime and not the embargo? Who are these people that we need to convince? The Cuban people? Are the Cuban people going to rise up in rebellion when the scales fall from their eyes? Is the international community going to put aside its love affair with fidel castro and its hatred for America because we remove the embargo? I think you know the answer is no on both counts. That's because the regime derives its power from two sources, the fear that it generates among Cubans and the solidarity that it receives from foreign governments. I don't think removing the embargo changes that calculus one bit.

What I am saying is that we might want to take the emotion out of saying the embargo should be removed.

It's not emotional for me, not one bit. This position I have is not the one I have always had, it's a result of thinking about this issue a lot. When I was in college as an economics major I believed that unbridled capitalism would spell the death of fidel castro's rule. In fact, I still believe it. The problem is (as I have analyzed it) that as long the regime has people like fidel and raul in charge there will be no unbridled capitalism allowed in Cuba, just more of what we have now: a bunch of foreign companies working as minority partners of the regime under strict rules the regime sets precisely because it knows capitalism will be the death of their rule. They are not going to willingly introduce the Trojan horse that will destroy their reign. Let's not forget that American corporations doing business in Cuba under such conditions will not be the first ones to the party. They'll be the last. And what have we seen in terms of results from those who have been at the party a lot longer? Nothing. Cuba is no closer to freedom today than it was in 1991 despite all of the foreign investment, family travel and remittances.

I know the argument has always been that it would help them stay in power and continue to enrich them. But the embargo has not prevented that anyway.

Cuba's economy is literally a basket case, the regime has its hand out. China, Russia, Venezuela, and other countries have decided to sink endless sums of cash into it. That doesn't mean we have to follow suit, or that we shouldn't require something in return. The price of oil has recently plummeted. This will affect both Russia's and Venezuela's economies. I think they will be less willing to subsidize Cuba going forward. Chavez could meet his demise at any minute.

I do not believe they want the embargo lifted because it would take away one of their biggest weapons .

I think they want it removed, but they want it removed unconditionally. Remember they refused to take free money from the US after the storms unless we ended the embargo.

When you control someone's economy you control them. I think if you unleash the possibility of creeping economic freedom on the island they will slowly loose control.

Where is this "creeping economic freedom"? Many of the reforms from the special period were repealed after Chavez became Cuba's sugar daddy. Many of the small and mid-sized joint ventures with foreign companies have been unilaterally closed by the regime. The regime does not want economic freedom to "creep" in and has remained very vigilant to prevent that. They simply want hundreds of millions of dollars that U.S. tourism and investment will represent so that they can continue to perpetuate what they have perpetuated for 50 years.

Maybe I am wrong but I think we should advocate a different approach to see if it could work. We can always reinstall the embargo. These are my thoughts and I am not sure whether they are correct or not but I would like to see a different approach.

Obviously I do feel that you are wrong. A different approach could actually have negative consequences, you have to admit that. And once the embargo is gone it will NEVER be reinstated. You know it and I know it. That genie won't go back in the bottle. Let's say American corporations invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Cuba and the regime continues its policies do you think they will allow congress to reinstate an embargo that will surely result in the loss of their investments? Why do you think countries like Spain and Canada and the UK cave in to Cuba's bad behavior so easily? They are in bed with the regime, it's success means their success.

These are my thoughts and I am not sure whether they are correct or not but I would like to see a different approach.

I am open to a new approach but I have to be sold on how it would work. "Try something new" is not an argument. I need to know how it will work. We remove the embargo and then what happens? Who changes their mind and how does that translate into regime change?

On the flip side I can say that Cuba is running out of lifelines. Chavez won't last forever and the Russians and the Chinese will only stand to lose so much money. Cuba owes Canadian Sherritt more than $400 million. Why do we want to supply life support at this point in time?

Something you need to know about me. MY GREATEST DESIRE IS TO VISIT CUBA. I won't do it under current circumstances. If I thought there was an easy way to accelerate the inevitable I would wholeheartedly endorse it. And I will denounce any idea that I think prolongs the inevitable. Dropping the embargo is, I believe, an example of the latter.

Solutions

By Yoani Sanchez:

If you don’t offer solutions, don’t you dare to use the weapon of criticism–that’s what some people tell me who, themselves, don’t offer a single remedy either. Their tone reminds me of the boring Pioneer assemblies I had to attend during all my years of school. When it came my turn to speak and my observations boiled over from personal things to criticisms of systemic things, someone would stop me and brusquely point out that a true revolutionary would offer solutions: Don’t complain. Exercising judgment must be done in a constructive way, they would warn me, and with time I understood that it wasn’t a call to a worthwhile discussion but rather to conformity.

These interrupted critiques involved those problems for which not even proponents of the “useful critique” have a solution. My slight knowledge of economic issues doesn’t allow me, for example, to venture an amendment to the unjust economic duality in which we have lived for fifteen years. Nor do I have the scientific background to know how to resolve the wretched issue of the marabu weed growing everywhere. Lack of experience in politics keeps me from being able to predict how effective the words of John Paul II would be: “Let Cuba open up to the world, and the world will open up to Cuba.”

My citizen’s sense of smell, however, has led me intuitively to to discover the SOLUTION. Only freedom of opinion will allow those who can advance remedies to dare to do so. The economist who keeps a plan to restructure the Cuban economy in his drawer needs guaranties that he will not be punished for expressing his ideas. All the political, social and foreign projects that are hidden because of the possible reprisals that their creators could suffer, demand a space for respect.

Let everyone speak, no matter whether in complaint or in support of a proposal designed to address the problems. Announce publically that every Cuban can say what he thinks and propose solutions from whichever political stripe and ideological orientation he believes in. Then they will see how the balsams appear, as complaint gives way to proposal, and how bad the chronic squashers of criticism will feel.

This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

Change and hope and hope and change and...

Holidays with Che

Despite what many on the ultra-left often tend to say, I’ve always tried to maintain a balanced opinion when it comes to socio-political topics. In keeping with that intention, about a year ago I decided to see what all the hub-bub with New York City’s “Cuban Art Space” was all about. For those of you unfamiliar with the operation, the CAS was founded by Sandra Levinson, who some speculate has ties with Cuba’s dreaded DGI agency. As such, I wasn’t surprised at what I saw when I arrived at Levinson’s den on 23rd Street (the space has since changed location). The gallery space was absolutely plastered with references to and photographs of Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Of course, this is incredibly ironic - the idea that a woman whose stated goal is to foster the development and dissemination of Cuban art while promoting the image of someone who jailed artists in concentration camps. I suppose for Sandra however, that’s inconsequential – a minor detail, if you will.

But I digress.

Just the other day, with the holidays upon us and New Year’s Eve about to descend on Cuba’s on and off-island populations like God descending on Egypt to administer the plague of the first-born son, Sandra Levinson sends one of my alter egos an email.

“Last minute shopping!”

Special Offer this weekend: Long-sleeved Che tees (100% cotton, American Apparel), great for this weather, made by special arrangement and with signature of Alberto Korda, photographer of the iconic Che image. Usually $25, only $15.

But it gets worse, my friends. Visit the Cuban Art Space website for what Levinson is billing as a “tribute” to the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution [nightmare].”

Fidel's latest bowel movement predicts economic growth for Cuba in 2009

According to Cuba's Economy and Planning Minister in one of the regime's faithful mouthpieces, Reuters, the Cuban economy is set to see a growth in excess of 4% in 2009. These economic numbers are pulled from the magical and mysterious anus (or anuses, or ani perhaps?) of the maximum leader. But what does Reuters and the rest of the MSM care if the numbers the regime provides them with are covered in fecal matter? They have a job to do, and gosh darn it, they are going to do it no matter how bad it smells.

Of course, no mention is made in this article that the feculent economic numbers provided came from the same regime that insists there are no political prisoners in Cuba and that they have never violated the human rights of the Cuban people.

But no one said being a shill for a murderous dictatorial regime was a clean job. If you're going to kiss the ass of a dictator, chances are you are going to get covered in crap.

Cubanology Bi-Weekly

The latest edition is out, with two gems in keeping with the season’s spirit. Good friend Melek’s timely essay, “With Respect to Respect” and Elena Maza opens the Cuban family album in response to a common calumny against “Los Viejos Cubanos” - The Old Cubans.

Read it here.

Thank you, Mr. Capra

Ordinarily, today Id be at the matadero - the slaughter house - early in the morning picking out and bringing home a nice lechon for our Noche Buena feast tomorrow. Id have spent countless hours getting our home ready - cleaning, organizing, decorating, setting up tables and chairs, putting up Christmas lights and getting the old Caja China ready for pork cooking action. Id be busy the rest of today preparing the lechon - making the mojo, marinating the pig, adobando. Id also be doing my best not to inject myself with pig/mojo like I did back in 2006.

Alas, such is not the case as we will not be hosting our usual Noche Buena shindig at our home this year.

Ruth wrote something some days back that's been resonant with me, personally, and with a few members of my family and friends: we just dont feel all that festive this year. I dont feel all glittery and blinking light-ish.

It's been a rough year for us, 2008. Both the Mrs and I have had our parents in hospital a couple times, my brother-in-law diagnosed with cancer and undergoing chemo, car accidents, health issues and other setbacks. Of course, the economy being in shambles aint helping either as we, like everyone else, are feeling the pinch this Christmas. So, yes, we are somewhat Scroogey this year: no blinking lights on our eaves and trees around the yard, no gift laden tree with lights and ornaments in the house, no 100 lb lechon marinating in mojo for Noche Buena, no tables set for that dinner, no tent, no lights, no stereo and speakers set up for the big party, no shopping malls and gift wrapping and fancy ribbons and bows, heck, we havent even watched It's a Wonderful Life this year.

But here's the thing, folks. Amid all the troubles and money woes, amid all the exigent circumstances and adversity we've realized one thing: it truly is a wonderful life. Both the Mrs and I still have both our parents here with us, we have aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews along for this wonderful ride as well. And God has blessed us not only with great friends, but with this Babalu family that visits with us every single day and shares the good and the bad.

So, yeah, maybe our own little Bedford Falls isnt all decorated with full holiday regalia this year, but, like Ruth sated in her post linked above, we carry Christmas in our hearts. Everything else is just window dressing.

We'll have a small, intimate Noche Buena celebration at my parent's house tomorrow and celebrate the birth of Christ without all the window dressing. Love will, after all, always light the way.

The Marxist Christmas Miracle

And just in case you weren’t in the holiday mood, here’s something that made me turn green and start seeing red.

The Saint Petersburg Times has declared that Cuba is back to pre hurricane form…in just three months.

Yes. Just three months after Cuba was gang battered by hurricanes, everything is back to “normal.”

And how did this miracle happen?

Why through the “organizational capacity of the Communist Party system”, of course.

You see as the Saint Petersburg Times’ “reporter” reminds us, that after the hurricanes hit, there was …

… widespread speculation that Cuba's communist government simply wouldn't be able to pay for the estimated $10-billion recovery effort. The 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, approaching on Dec. 31, loomed as a potentially huge embarrassment if the government couldn't muster resources to help its own citizens….

But then the Marxist Miracle happened….

But barely three months later, life is slowly returning to normal. Cuba has engineered a remarkable recovery that serves as a reminder of the organizational capacity of the Communist Party system.

As ridiculous as that sounds, we have to admit the “reporter” has a point. The real “organizational capacity” of communism is the ability to lie and spread propaganda. And that, makes all things possible.

But the real miracle is getting some “reporter” that lives in the land of the free and the home of the brave to “serve as a reminder of the organizational capacity of the Communist Party system.” That right there is unexplainable-a Marxist Miracle.

The Party's Over Obama

I couldn't help but be amused by "progressive" leftists over the Rev. Warren invite to the Coronation of Barack Obama. It's amusing in that the left is now portraying those who are against gay marriage as bigots, among other things And these pro gay marriage folks get no grief from the leftist fish wrappers and TV anchors around the country. Now if your issue happens to anti-abortion or anti-Fidel, or pro Christianity or pro Israel, those folks of course get called bigots and get grief up the ying yang. In their world, there is no room for those with views against abortion, or gay marriage, or Castro & Chavez, or for supporters of Israel. In any event, Richard Cohen's gay sister is canceling her Obama Inauguration party because of the Rev. Warren. Oh well .... read it here infidels ....

Not that he was planning to attend, but Barack Obama should know that my sister's inauguration night party -- the one for which she was preparing Obama Punch -- has been canceled. The notice went out over the weekend, by e-mail and word of mouth, that Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation had simply ruined the party. Warren is anti-gay, and my sister, not to put too fine a point on it, is not. She's gay.

Read the entire op ed piece here.

UPDATE: Obama has decided to make it up to the "progressive" gay community by bearing his waxed chest to the public .... so is the party back on Dick?

'twas the day before Christmas Eve

and all through the house

not a creature was stirring

not even a mouse.

Except for the editors that is.

11 weather related deaths over the weekend

Imagine if the planet weren't warming.

Herald weighs in on castro, Inc's "swap" idea

It only took them four days to reach the same conclusion we arrived at last Thursday.

Better late than never I guess.

Surprise!

Alleged Cuban agent of influence touts poll about anti-embargo sentiment among Cubans.

Well, Professor Perez-Stable, what about that poll we had on November 4th? You know the one where Cuban-Americans voted more than 2-1 for McCain and re-elected all three pro-emargo congresspersons?

Epilogue to the great battle of The Home Depot

You Miami residents may remember the brouhaha that developed around the strip mall located on U.S.-1, SW 32nd Avenue and Bird Avenue in Coconut Grove. The mall, which has been there as long as I can remember was previously home to Mervyn's and a Kmart. The vacant property was slated to become a Home Depot store. You'd have thought that local residents would be happy, after all the closest such home improvement store was on 8th Street near 27th Avenue. But you'd have been wrong. The local residents put up a huge fuss about how their quality of life was going to be diminished by the additional traffic The Home Depot would generate. Did I mention that this location is on U.S.-1, hardly a quiet country road. The busy bodies just didn't want the store in their neighborhood. Never mind that the location was zoned for an had always been used for retail. It was insanity.

A petition was created to block The Home Depot in the Grove and more than 1200 people signed:

We the undersigned voters ask the City Commission to reject any application(s) from the Home Depot for the utilization of the Kmart facility located on Bird Rd and McDonald. The placement of a Home Depot will drastically increase crime, decrease property value and cause a traffic problem the size of which the Grove has yet to experience.

Well, The Home Depot won the battle and the store was ultimately opened. Since I now work in the area I stopped by because I needed to pick up a new fixture for my shower. It was 7:00 PM and the place was empty. Granted the economy is suffering and it was a weeknight but so what? The neighbors didn't complain that it was only going to be an issue on weekends. They felt that this store, for whatever reason, was going to attract throngs of people like never before. I never got that. It's not like Home Depot is the last Coca-Cola in the desert.

I can honestly say that in the great battle of The Home Depot, the good guys won.

A familiar face in El Diario La Prensa - UPDATED

Those of you who regularly read the New York City metro area newspaper, El Diario La Prensa, might have caught a familiar face this morning on the opinion page. . .

Para aquellos de nosotros que vivimos la Revolución Cubana hay dos Che: el que conocimos, y el falso ídolo venerado por millones en la tierra.

Che, el ídolo, es un hombre totalmente diferente: un noble que luchó por la justicia, un idealista sensible, incluso un mártir, un santo. Irónicamente, el ídolo Che genera gran cantidad de dinero para los capitalistas que imprimen su imagen en todo tipo de mercadería o que hacer películas sobre su vida.

Catch the rest of Professor Carlos Eire's editorial here.

UPDATE:

English translation courtesy of Fausta Wertz at Real Clear World.

As always, it's castro, inc.'s move

Ron Radosh writes at Pajamas Media that regardless of all the talk about warming relations with Cuba, the onus is still on the regime to act first and in good faith to get the embargo removed by freeing political prisoners and allowing dissent.

Do as I say, not as I do

It's good to be the King...

Field General

The Cuban Five? Terrorists.

So avers this opinion piece at Canada's National Post.

H/T Melek.

:::shiver::: Thank God for g-g-global warming :::shiver:::

As an unseasonably cold chill and snow envelopes most of the nation, we all have to bundle up and wonder just how much colder it would be if it were not for Global Warming.

Can you refresh my memory about "change" again?

Good thing is the lefties are going to be livid. And that always warms the cockles of my heart...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The top U.S. military officer said Saturday that the Pentagon could double the number of American forces in Afghanistan by next summer to 60,000 - the largest estimate of potential reinforcements ever publicly suggested.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that between 20,000 and 30,000 additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan to bolster the 31,000 already there.

This year has been the deadliest for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Suicide attacks and roadside bombs have become more dangerous, and Taliban fighters have infiltrated wide swaths of countryside and now roam in provinces on Kabul's doorstep.

U.S. commanders have long requested an additional 20,000 troops to aid Canadian and British forces in two provinces just outside Kabul and in the south. But the high end of Mullen's range is the largest number any top U.S. military official has said could be sent to Afghanistan.

Cathy del Castillo, Michael Moore-Same as it Ever Was

"These Cuban exiles," Moore snorts, after pulling his snout from the slop in the book Downsize This, "for all their chest-thumping and terrorism, are really just a bunch of wimps. That's right. Wimps! When you don't like the oppressor in your country, you stay there and try to overthrow him. You don't just turn tail and run like these Cubans. Imagine if the American colonists had all run to Canada – and then insisted the Canadians had a responsibility to overthrow the British down in the States! ... So the Cubans crybabies came here expecting us to fight their fight for them. And, like morons, we have."

Idiots have hurled this idiocy at me on radio shows, etc. So I reply: "You mean Cubans shoulda grabbed the Bull by the horns like George Washington, Paul Revere and the American Colonials, right!! And fought their OWN fight, RIGHT!!!!"

"You're Goddam Right!" the idiot responds.

Fine, chew on this: In fact twice as many French troops as Colonial troops fought and died at Yorktown. Cubans didn't ask for G-Is and Marines to do their fighting at Playa Giron and the Escambray, (though some allies woulda certainly been welcome) they simply asked for arms, for logistical help....Here's a better analogy, Mr. Moore, Ms del Castillo, etc. . And for simplicity's sake, let's go ahead and equate the level of repression and police control of British Colonial rule with that of Stalinism. Let's say that France, rather than backing George Washington's rebels ( I REPEAT: over twice as many French troops served and died at Yorktown as Colonial troops. To his last days Cornwallis blamed the French fleet for his defeat in the Colonies, and regarded Washington's troops as a mere nuisance).

Anyway, let's say France not only yanked the rug out from under Washington's rebels, (JFK with Cuba's Freedon-fighters) but also then turned around and signed a deal with King George (Nikita Kruschev) pledging France (the U.S) ,to prevent, by force of arms or political blackmail, any other power – say, Spain or Holland (Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Venezuela) from aiding the rebels (Cuba's freedom fighters) in any way, shape or form. What might the prospects for a successful Colonial rebellion have been THEN? Hmmmmm?

A solid ally (by which I mean Reagan Republicans, ask Nicaragua's Contras) for Cuba's freedom-fighters in '61-'62 and Miami jukeboxes today would feature Faith Hill and Trace Adkins rather than Gloria Estefan and Willy Chirino . Some "Fidel Castro" fellow would merit a quarter-page in a Time-Life book on "Those Fabulous Fifties!"

And given Cuba's economic record in her brief 50 years as an independent republic (not to mention her expatriates' record in Florida), Cuba would today be a Caribbean Singapore or Japan rather than a sister to Haiti and Zimbabwe.

Also, all those bilingual signs would be in Havana. "Will you people PLEASE SPEAK SPANISH!" we'd yell in exasperation at all the American yuppies working in Havana's thriving stock exchange. "It always seems like y'all are talking about us when you get together and speak English! Caramba!"

Speaking of Big Govt., Taxes, and Unions

Interesting article here in the Local Mullet Wrapper. Remember that extra penny sales tax for mass transit? Well due to secret deals between the government and the union, and the typical government BS, all the money went to fatten people's salaries, to patronage, and squat to improving our transit system.

Reason number 1000 why we cannot trust the government with our tax money.

Read it here.

Lula Supports Dissident/Criminal Swap

Brazilian Prez Lula is regarded by some as a centrist. Maybe in some ways he is. But reading this article while searching the Google Cuba news feeds makes me wonder whether they really mean the "center of the left".

Brasilia, Dec 20 : Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called on Washington to consider Havana's offer to trade jailed dissidents for the five Cuban intelligence agents serving prison terms in the US, EFE news agency reported Saturday.

"I am confident that US President-elect Barack Obama understands the significance of the offer made by (Cuban President) Raul Castro," Lula told reporters here Friday.

Castro's surprise proposal of a prisoners swap with the US was a "positive step towards the initiation of a dialogue between Washington and Havana", Lula said reacting to the offer Castro made during a press conference here Thursday.

"If they (US) want the dissidents, we'll send them tomorrow, with their families and all, but let them return our five heroes to us," Castro said, referring to Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez, who were arrested 10 years ago.

Havana sent the five agents to South Florida to spy on the Cuban exile community. The espionage operation followed several terrorist bombings on the communist island that were allegedly masterminded by Miami-based anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles.

Thursday's offer by Castro was immediately rejected by Washington, with a State Department spokesperson saying that Cuba should immediately release its estimated 210 political prisoners without conditions.

Representatives of Cuba's internal opposition also rejected the possible exchange suggested by Castro.

But the Brazilian president said such a swap could end hostilities between the two countries and could also see an end to the 46-year-old US economic embargo on the island nation. (empasis mine).

Really? Amazingly naive for a leader to think this way. Or perhaps there's something more sinister behind this. I don't know.

The Miami Herald (they're on quite a roll the last few days) editorial board published a strong message disapproving of the "swap", which is included below the fold.

Real heroes are in Castro's prisons

OUR OPINION: Latest ploy an attempt to manipulate Cuban dissidents' plight

Raúl Castro calls his offer to swap political dissidents held in Cuban prisons for Cuban spies held in this country a ''gesture for a gesture.'' Sounds fair -- but it isn't. Actually, it's more like a ransom demand, and one that should be seen by the next U.S. administration -- to whom the offer was addressed -- as a brazen, contemptible attempt by Cuban leaders to profit from their decades-long practice of suppressing political rights on the island.

Spying on the U.S.

A fair exchange consists of swapping soldiers for soldiers, POWs for POWs, spies for spies (a frequent occurrence in the Cold War between U.S. and Soviet espionage agencies). In this instance, Castro is proposing to exchange individuals whose only crime involves a demand for basic civil liberties for espionage agents -- he calls them ''heroes'' -- whose job was to spy on the United States.

Castro's victims were tried in kangaroo courts and sentenced by the system's own apparatchik judges. The five Cuban spies of the so-called ''avispa'' network arrested here in 1998, in contrast, were tried in the federal courts and given all the rights of the U.S. judicial system, including a lengthy appeals process.

One group has nothing to do with the other. By offering to make such an exchange, Castro is suggesting a moral and legal equivalency which does not and never has existed between the two.

Engaging in peaceful protest, which is the only thing most of the dissidents languishing in Cuban jails can be accused of, is not equivalent to acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government for the purpose of gathering and transmitting information overseas. The Cuban spies admitted being Cuban agents, though they claimed they were only spying on exile groups planning ''terrorist'' actions against the Castro government.

Prisoners in Cuban jails, as dissident leader Oswaldo Payá declared last week, are guilty of nothing more than defending the rights of the Cuban people. He implored leaders of the European Union to begin a worldwide campaign to free these prisoners, saying their release would be the indispensable first step in restoring human rights to the island.

True courage

The most reprehensible aspect of Raúl Castro's offer is the attempt to manipulate the feelings of the families of the regime's victims. No one could blame them for wanting to see their loved ones set free after years of imprisonment under wretched conditions. Yet Laura Pollan, wife of political prisoner Héctor Maseda, said the offer showed ''a lack of respect'' and said the prisoners ``are not willing to be chips to be exchanged.''

It's doubtful that Raúl Castro understands this kind of courage. The dissidents are the real heroes of Cuba. They deserve to be released immediately and without conditions.

If you build it, I will steal it

This ought to make socialists and communists everywhere gleeful. In the typical parasitic fashion of communists, the simian king of Venezuela waited for the construction of a huge shopping mall in Caracas to near completion before deciding that he would just take it.

Chavez says mall to be expropriated in Venezuela

Sunday December 21, 8:00 pm ET
By Ian James, Associated Press Writer
Chavez orders halt to construction of Caracas mall, says building to be expropriated

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez ordered construction halted on a major shopping mall in Caracas on Sunday, saying the government will expropriate the unfinished building.

The Venezuelan leader said it would be out of line with his government's socialist vision to allow the new Sambil mall to take up precious urban real estate -- and that unbridled consumerism isn't his idea of progress either.

It really should come as no surprise to anyone; Communism has never built anything -- it has only stolen what it can, and destroyed what it can't.

A message for Cathy del Castillo

Robert wrote about a letter to the Miami Herald editors on Saturday written by the person named in the above title. You can read that post here.

I take umbrage to the entire letter in and of itself, but one line in particular stood out for me not only because of it's abject stupidity, but because of the hidden sentiment behind it: disdain for Cuban exiles.

To wit:

I have asked myself why so many Cubans ran instead of staying to fight for what was theirs.

I can't tell you the number of times Ive had this exact same sentiment hurled at me by people who just have no understanding of the history or circumstances of the times. So here's my answer to Cathy, etal, for edification purposes:

Cathy, they did not run.

They were run out.

You fail to grasp the historical circumstances. Revolutions create fervor. They make zealots our of ordinary citizens. The majority of the Cuban people bought into fidel castro's prevarications. Hook, line and sinker. Many who didn't were not only arrested and beaten but in many cases executed. Many others were ostracized by their own neighbors and families. Think about that for a minute. Your own neighbors and family - those whom you've lived with your entire life - turned against you simply because of your beliefs. Because you thought differently.

And Im not talking about shunning and criticism. I'm talking about physical assault. Rocks and bottles and everything else being hurled at you and your family. Your home defaced. Your own neighbors and family denigrating you in public, hurling epithets at you. Calling you and yours GUSANOS!

And still, many more, like my father, did stay and fight. Many more did make sacrifices against all odds. What must it do to the soul to have to fight against men and women you grew up with. People you shared your childhood with. People who were welcome in your homes as you in theirs? Folks whose children played together with your own?

Many many Cubans were willing and able to make those sacrifices. Willing to stay and fight. My father did and was more than willing to give up his well being, his life, for his country.

He was not, however, wiling to put his son's and daughter's life on the line. He preferred to leave so that I and my sister be able to live in freedom, without fear of reprisals from our "neighbors."

My father refused to have me punished for his "sins."

Out of the mouths of babes

"I was born with the revolution. I've never known capitalism."

"History has taught us that the Communist Party is the road that Cuba needs to follow."

With two simple sentences, Cuba's youngest politician and member of the national assembly, eighteen-year-old Liaena Hernandez, perfectly and unwittingly describes the dichotomy between reality and fantasy that is life in Cuba. The BBC News, of course, seeked out this shining product of the Cuban regime's indoctrination machine as if to show the world that the youth in Cuba prefer communism over freedom. In their vigorous effort to disseminate the regime's propaganda, however, they, too, fell victims to the vast chasm between what is real and what is fantasy.

Even when the article mentions that Cuba's parliament is nothing more than a rubber-stamp institution, and that its 614 members were elected from 614 candidates, they are sure to remind us that as far as Ms. Hernandez is concerned, she "believes that the system has served Cuba well."

At least for the BBC, out of the mouths of babes comes true wisdom.

Accuracy in retail

The photo below comes from Professor Antonio de la Cova who took it in Jakarta, Indonesia.

While shopping at the Taman Anggrek Mall, we found a store that sells Che T-shirts along with Hitler T-shirts. At least they got it right putting both of them together. You know that this would never fly in the U.S. Some people would protest that Che's image would be placed next to that of Hitler.

The Revolution at Fifty: An Evolutionary Perspective?

As Cuba approaches a half century of totalitarian rule, the press seems compelled to mark the occasion. Some have already been noted here. Anita Snow's entry into the lists is surprising in that peeking through the edges of the thing are some truths. In this AP article, she starts, of course, with revolutionary school children in the palace of "the fallen dictator." Does that mean as opposed to the present dictator who followed the previous dictator, I have to wonder. Still, try some of these excerpts for a Snow job.

[The communist government is] a system that may be softening at the edges but appears determined to crush any threat to its grip on power, lest it crumble like its one-time godfather, the Soviet Union.

[The Ladies in White] Each Sunday, these women deliver a muted counterpart to the official cry of "Viva Fidel! Viva la revolucion!" by marching down Quinta Avenida, a busy Havana thoroughfare, each dressed in white and carrying a gladiola, silently demanding the release of their husbands from political imprisonment.

[About the internet] But few of Cuba's 11.2 million people have access to the Internet, and anyway are preoccupied with staying afloat in a sclerotic economy where basics like toilet paper often disappear from store shelves and most people eat meat only a few times each month.

Of course, she does get her history wrong:
Back in the capital, on the other side of Havana Bay, looms the Spanish fortress where Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a top Castro commander, directed executions of several hundred Batista police and army officials accused of torturing and killing opponents.

Please note that it was only murderers and torturers who were executed by Che. What was that about history being written by the victors? Nothing about pregnant women and boys, those who felt betrayed by the revolution they helped to power. That hundreds figure seems a tad low, also. And please note that Cuba hasn't executed anyone since the ferry incident, not directly, anyway. There is the question of those who commit suicide in police stations or whither away from neglect and maltreatment in the gulag. But don't forget that there were once 15,000 political prisoners, so what's 219? I'm sure that's a source of comfort to Elias Biscet.

Included also are the requisite testimonials from those who just love the revolution. I can spot her those, although it might have been novel to find a man on the street who didn't think the government was just peachy, because she highlights Elizardo Sanchez and Yoani, giving her punch by quoting a post at the end:

That may be another sign of the younger Castro's pragmatic, unshowy style. But blogger Sanchez maintains that the revolution died long ago and needs no birthday bash.

"Let it rest in peace," she wrote in a Dec. 14 posting, "and we will soon begin a new cycle: shorter, less pretentious, more free."

Another AP entry in the retrospective vein is the timeline of "[c]astro's Cuba." Seems to me it could be expanded a trifle. Like how about the date that castro promised democratic elections for a start or asserted on American TV that he wasn't a communist. I'm sure there are lots more dates out there they just somehow missed. Apparently, we have a different view of what constitutes a "key" development.

*I do resent being dismissed as a "die-hard" by Ms. Snow. Since when does dreaming of what is right earn disdain?

Elian, "well Taken Care of"

Our friends at Newsbusters alert us to Parade Magazine's answer to a reader question about the whereabouts and conditions of Elian Gonzalez:

Elian, 15, has been well taken care of by Fidel Castro. His dad was rewarded with a seat in Cuba's national assembly, and the family was given a spacious home. Says Ann Louise Bardach, whose Without Fidel will be published next spring: "Fidel has been known to forget the birthdays of his own children, but never Elian's."

How nice! You got shipped off to a Caribbean gulag but your birthday is never forgotten and you even get to enjoy a visit from a knockoff Mickey Mouse.

Lessons in Courage

An interesting letter to the editor published in the Miami Herald today touches on several areas that stir up quite a bit of emotion and discussion.

I am of Cuban descent. My parents left Cuba in 1956, and I was born in 1958 in New York. I have lived in Florida since 1982 and learned many things about how this community views the embargo against Cuba.

I have asked myself why so many Cubans ran instead of staying to fight for what was theirs. They weren't ready to lose their lives, but they are willing to condemn the lives of younger generations of people in Cuba by keeping the embargo in place. In 1997, I traveled to Cuba for the first time to meet my father's side of the family. It was an incredible experience. I continued to go to Cuba until President Bush passed the law that you could only visit close family members every three years.

I have learned one important thing: Many people wear masks in their daily lives in order to survive the struggles they face day to day. If the embargo is lifted and Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba just like the rest of the world does, Cuba would change in a very short time. The influx of tourists would be overwhelming, and the people on the island would realize that they have been living a lie.

CATHY DEL CASTILLO, Miami

Starting with the last paragraph and working up:

If Cubans indeed "wear masks" to get by, which undoubtedly they do their best in doing so, then why would Americans traveling to Cuba make Cubans see that "they have been living a lie"? Many (and probably most) Cubans know the lie they live in. No amount of sunburned Americans are going to make them realize something they already know. This is the eternal question that we'll probably never really get a definitive answer to.

It was Ms. Del Castillo's opening statements, however, that got to me. Like the letter writer, I never had to make the crushingly difficult decision Cubans had to make post-fidel. Therefore, I would never judge why "so many Cubans ran instead of fight" as Del Castillo writes. It's easy to question and doubt while sitting in the comfort of freedom your entire life, it's not so easy to think when or if you'll be able to recover what you lost, if you indeed live to make that determination. The condemnation of the younger generation comes not from the brave souls who made these choices so that people such as Cathy Del Castillo and yours truly spend our lives enjoying the fruits of freedom, but from the murderers and thugs who pillaged and raped Cuba.

It's obvious Ms. Del Castillo needs a history lesson or two about Cubans who not only fought for their lost country, but sacrificed so much for their loved ones. Ironically enough, if she picked up a a copy of the paper or checked the online version today to read her letter, she might have stumbled upon not one, but two excellent pieces by Myriam Marquez that does a great job of explaining the pain and loss endured by Cuban women of courage.

Let the lessons begin.

AC-DC Live Fort Lauderdale - 12-20-08 (Video)

AC/DC Live - Fort Lauderdale, Florida 12-20-08 from Michael Pancier on Vimeo.

My P&S Camera has a video mode. Not to bad eh?

Plantadas

Known as Plantadas, they are former political prisoners, women of the early resistance against the castro regime, who endured the horrors of the gulag while serving long sentences with heads held high.

Their names are largely unfamiliar outside the exile community: Zoila Aquila, known as the legendary La Niña del Escambray, driven permanently mad by the inhumane treatment she suffered during her 30-year sentence. Georgina Cid, forced to choose between her country and her brother; Juana Drake, beaten and then resentenced to an additional three years for defiantly writing on her cell wall, in English, Spanish, and French the words, “We have the right to be free.”

There are thousands like them.

As part of the Miami Heralds ongoing series, Fifty Years/Revolution and Exile, Myriam Marquez’ haunting, “In defiance: Cuba's women prisoners,” is a must read.

As distant as that day seems, it will come; the day that Cuba is free and the overwhelming evidence of the regimes barbaric terrorism against the people of Cuba will be known. The hundreds of thousands who have suffered for that day must never be forgotten.

Read "In defiance: Cuba's women prisoners" here.

Why Cuba is still an island prison

Freedom has been an unknown commodity in Cuba for the past fifty years. But when the boy-prince Raul was crowned the new king of Cuba by his older brother, talk of reform, change, and the loosening of the monarchical regime's death grip on the Cuban people's liberty began to spread. When the new king decreed that his subjects would be allowed to own DVD players, cell phones, and computers (purchased in tourist currency, of course), the world cheered the reforms and awaited the next "freedom" to be bestowed upon the people by its benevolent monarch.

Those "freedoms" never materialized, and it would be easy to make the obvious assumption that a totalitarian regime that has murdered tens of thousands of Cubans, has jailed and tortured tens of thousands of dissidents, does not allow freedom of expression or association, and continues to treat its people as slaves, selling their labor to the highest bidder, is just being the vile, murderous, inhumane, dictatorship it has always been.

It turns out that making such an assumption--as obvious as it may seem--is incorrect: The reason there has been no real reform, or real change, or basic freedom, or simple liberty for the Cuban people is because of this year's devastating hurricane season.

Observers within the island and beyond as well as opposition activists noted that the reforms so far are not political, and they have stressed the lack of change regarding personal freedoms like expression and travel.

They pointed to a deceleration of reform, noting a division of the Cuban leadership between members more conscious of the need for change, apparently led by Raul Castro, and those that resist reform, reportedly led by Fidel Castro.

* * * Be that as it may, the reform process suffered a severe, external blow in the Northern Hemisphere summer, when two strong hurricanes - Gustav and Ike - churned devastation across the island within about a week of each other.

The violent storms - which would a month later be joined by a third, Paloma, - caused estimated losses of 10 billion dollars in the island's housing, roads and communications infrastructure, as well as in its already battered agriculture.

The hurricanes seemed to blow away the remaining hope for change, but the government of Raul Castro continued to carry out discreet manoeuvres in the international arena that could point towards a new long-term strategy.

And here we were ready to blame the Castro regime for Cuba's lack of freedom just because they have spent the last half-decade destroying Cuba, oppressing its people, and killing any Cuban who challenges their authority and grip on power.

"In God We Trust" poll

Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency? That's the question MSNBC's Live Vote is asking.

Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation.

Vote here.

H/T: Raul

AC/DC Live

These guys are old, but man can they still rock. My ears are still ringing from the concert.

Was George Patton Assasinated?

"We destroyed what could have been a great people (Germans) and replaced them them with Mongol Savages (Bolsheviks)" Thus spake Gen. George Patton in his diaries. This was an extremely discomfiting view for Allied leaders at the end of WWII.

An interesting book and article here.

By the way, the publishers of this book published my Fidel Book --and believe me--their legal dept., while determining veracity, etc. , looks very closely at footnotes and other documentation.

So just 'wonderin......?"

National Review on Che Hagiography

the fact that Che continues to sell is a testament to the historical ignorance of every consumer of his visage.

Limey Newspaper Stupidity

From a story today in London's The Independent, (voted Britain's "National Newspaper of the Year!" at the 2004 British Press Awards) by a "reporter" who just visited Havana.

"In the room dedicated to the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 we find a list of 10 pilots who took on the US-backed force – 10 men against Goliath. ....the Hawker Sea Fury that Douglas Rudd flew on those three days in April 1961, playing his own insanely brave part in the survival of the revolution."

Lets' see:

Castro had T-33 Jets (top speed 550 mphs), and Hawker Sea Furies (almost as fast and perhaps more manueverable than the jets) armed to the teeth flying against the freedom fighters' lumbering B-26s (top speed 300 mph) with half their machine guns removed for extra fuel space , with only fuel for one hour over the battle site, and with no more than four flying over the battle at any one time. Knowing these odds, the Brigada's freedom-fighter flyers STILL went head to head against Castro's pilots! Charging them head on! Trying every desperate manuever attempting to even the odds.....to no avail.

Who was "insanely brave", you f***king IMBECILE??!!

Doesn't this Limey moron know that "Goliath" (on orders from the Best and Brightest) watched from the sidelines as the Cuban Freedom-fighter pilots and their four American hermanos were slaughtered?

As usual, The Independent "reporter" eagerly took the hand-out from Castro's propaganda ministry, wrote his story, and that was that.

Sorry for losing my cool, even to the point of resorting to ethnic slurs (perhaps the The Washington Post will suffer a fit of the vapors?) God knows we should all be well, well inured to such as The Independent's "journalism" by now.

My "crackpot" version here

Fausta

Good friend of Babalu, Fausta Wertz is now affiliated with Real Clear World, the sister site of Real Clear Politics, where I've been honored to contribute a couple of pieces:

Check out her latest here.

WaPo Review of "Take me with you"

We've been talking about Carlos Frias' book entitled "Take me with you" for some time. You'll remember that Frias wrote a multi-part story for the Palm Beach Post where he is employed as a sports writer. When fidel castro became ill in July of 2006 the paper asked him to go to Cuba, where he had never been to file the reports. He entered the country as a tourist but his objective was to retrace the footsteps of his parents and document the experience.

I recently read the book and intend to write about it soon. In the meantime there's this review from the Washington Post (Third review down). The best thing I can say about the review is that it's apolitical.

Click the image below to buy the book from amazon.

A tourist of communism

There is an interesting and quite candid editorial in the Sunday Star Times by Raybon Kan, a New Zealander whose parents fled Communist China and is a journalist and a comedian. He took a trip to Cuba and shares with his readers some interesting observations.

Is it rude to come to someone's impoverished country, and bring a really nice camera, and take pictures of all its ruinedness?

Is it like an Olympic athlete going to a hospital and showing off how much fitter he is than the patients? The first sign that Cuba is not like other countries: at the airport, the woman who x-rays my luggage is wearing a miniskirt and fishnets. Fishnets with more detail than I've ever seen on stockings. I hope I'm not staring. Come to think of it, I hope I'm staring enough. How much staring is polite in the Caribbean? Her toenails are very ornate too.

She accuses me of having food in my carry-on. In fact, it's a couple of bars of soap, something I'd bought at the airport in London. I'd been told that in Cuba, soap and shampoo is like cigarettes in prison. You can use it to tip people at the hotel. I wonder, if to her eyes, these boxed bars of Dove look like ingots of gold.

* * * My parents fled communism, so I'm torn about coming here. Being a tourist of communism is a bit like staying overnight in a prison for the view.

You can read Mr. Kan's editorial, "Cuba - 50 years since the revolution and some parts are still revolting," HERE.

Stuart Smalley Takes Lead

With all due respect (whatever that means) to all decent Minnesotans, if this hate monger ends up winning the Senate seat, they deserve everything that comes with it.

It must be those -40F wind chills.

Cuba acknowledges political prisoners

With Cuba’s latest challenge to the U.S., an offer to swap “dissident prisoners” in exchange for five Cubans convicted of spying in the United States, Cuba has acknowledged the existence of political prisoners. This is a change from its earlier insistence that Cuba has no political prisoners, only "mercenaries" on the payroll of the United States. With this acknowledgement, I wonder, will E.U. diplomats renew demands on their behalf?

Meanwhile the U.S. has rejected the offer, as have Cuban dissidents. Laura Pollan, a member of "The Ladies in White," rightly calls the offer a “vulgar blackmail,” stating that “these men should never have been prisoners and that's why they can't be used as bargaining chips.”

"Che" Really 'Knockin 'em Dead!

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Moviegoers are getting another chance to cha-cha-cha to the full four-hour-plus version of Steven Soderbergh's "Che." The Benicio Del Toro vehicle was set to withdraw from the marketplace before reappearing January 9 in limited release as two separate films, the Cuba-focused "The Argentine" and Bolivia-based "The Guerrilla."

But IFC Films on Thursday said that last weekend's sellouts have spurred executives to add two weekends of exclusive runs for the full "Che" version of the political epic, starting December 24 in New York and December 26 in Los Angeles.

"We thought 'Che' would have a great deal of interest, but to sell out in Los Angeles and New York City was even beyond our expectations," IFC distribution vp Mark Boxer said.

More here

Jose Cuervo Christmas cookie recipe

I know Marta is the cook around here but I wanted to share a very delicious Christmas cookie recipe with you. I understand it's Cigar Mike's favorite.

Make sure you read through the directions and read them OUT LOUD.

Christmas Cookies

1 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups dried fruit
1 (750 ml) bottle tequila, Jose Cuervo.

Directions:

1. Sample the Cuervo to check quality.

2. Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality.

3. Pour one level cup and drink.

4. Turn on the electric mixer.

5. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

6. Add one peastoon of sugar.

7. Beat again.

8. At this point it's best to make sure the Cuervo is still ok, try another cup just in case.

9. Turn off the mixerer thingy.

10. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.

11. Pick the frigging fruit off the floor.

12. Mix on the turner.

13. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters just pry it loose with a drewscriver.

14. Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.

15. Next, sift two cups of salt, or something.

16. Who geeves a sheet.

17. Check the Jose Cuervo.

18. Add one table.

19. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink.

20. Whatever you can find.

21. Greash the oven.

22. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.

23. Don't forget to beat off the turner.

24. Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the wishdasher.

25. Cherry Mistmas !

Caete pa'tras

Over five years ago, when this here blog was taking its baby steps in blogdom, I could never have imagined the day when there would be bloggers in Cuba freely writing about whatever they wished.

Today, Yoani announces a first ever Cuban blogger blogging contest: Una Isla Virtual. Outfreakenstanding!

I am, indeed, a proud blog Grandpa today.

More of our money out the door

I can't think of one group of folks, except maybe union bosses, who are as undeserving of a raise as Congress. Yet, they voted one for themselves. Chutzpah cubed.

Ahh, the old days...Good times...Good times

3 Russian warships visit Cold War ally Cuba

Boy, I'm certainly looking forward to another batch of medium range nuclear missiles ninety miles from our shores.

The Employee Free Choice Act & The First Amendment

The lefty, long haired, anti capitalism, anti-free trade, anti corporation, anti-free speech (if that speech differs from their views), anti-meat eating, anti-smoking, short-sided, narrow minded, girlie-men, tipo panty, butt-wipe, yellow bellied sons of Marx and Chomsky, anti-American, pro Castro, Pro Chavez, Pro Morales and Ortega, pro Iran, pro Hamas, pro PLO, apologist for militant Islam, America hating, America blaming, anti-investment, socialist, anti-shaving, self-serving, overreaching, cry baby, big government, anti-military, John Wayne hating, Western hating, Reagan hating, (and now Clinton hating), Obama & Oprah worshiping, Mao quoting, code pink butt licking, pro labor union fudge packing, stronzi, frosci, left-wing extremist, pro Allende, pro Sandinista, anti-bathing, anti-drilling, anti-energy, hypocritical, anti Christian, anti Jew, Israel and Zionist hating, moral-relativist, che loving, secularist, French food eating, Kanye West listening, metrosexual, Mother Jones reading, NY Times subscribing, WSJ hating, football hating, cretin, proponents of hemp, rolling stone magazine reading, bong hitting, coke snorting, pro Hollywood, fans of Sean Penn, Streisand listening, Broadway show tune singing, AC/DC hating, heavy metal hating, Toby Keith hating, che shirt wearing, and che tattoo bearing, Whoopie Goldberg loving, Dixie Chick loving, Rolling Stones hating, Chardonnay wine sipping fans of women’s tennis, who’ve never been to church and who don’t comb their hair, who don’t brush their teeth, who favor sex with collies, anti-dog, pro cat, Cuban exile hating, pro 70% tax rate loving, stick it to the man attitude anti-hunting, anti-fishing, anti-gun, blackberry addicted, non-beer drinking, fruity drink sipping, wine cooler buying, fans of Sex & the City, liberal wankers ….

out there are touting this BS Free Choice Act so that the Unions can muscle into the workplace. All these liberal know-nothings (with the exception of George McGovern who correctly opposes the legislation because it is anti-democratic) have no clue how the current system works. This happens to be what I am a specialist in, and I happen to know a little something about labor law.

The current system utilizes a secret vote. Prior to the vote, both side are permitted within limits to campaign pro and against the union. You see folks, there is a First Amendment Right to do so on both sides. If the law passes, then the rights of the employers will be infringed. You see infidels, these wankers out there scream like rabid cats on acid when they feel that “their” first amendment rights are being violated; even though none of their rights have. They are free to go and watch their che movie with del toro with their ben-wa balls up their wazoo. But when it comes to an opposing viewpoint or the first amendment rights of corporations, they scream "foul" and "Halliburton."

In any event infidels, here’s a great op-ed in today’s WSJ on how this proposed law violates the 1st amendment and in the event it does pass, you can bet it will be challenged and hopefully be struck down.

Have a great weekend infidels.

So so wrong...

...on so so many levels.

The latest in fragrances: Flame, by Burger King.

Keep clicking the bottle til you meet "the King."

We didn't listen

With man made GLOBAL WARMING bearing down us and on the verge of wiping out humanity, there are still people like Chad Myers, an American Meteorological Society certified meteorologist who works for CNN, who refuses to acknowledge that it is us, the evil human race, who has brought this plague of Biblical proportions on ourselves. Who does this Chad Myers think he is? Does he think just because he is a certified meteorologist and has been studying the weather for more than two decades that he knows more about this weather phenomenon than Al Gore?

If humanity still exists, what shall we tell our children; that we didn't listen?

Friday before Christmas open thread

Sound off, people. I've been pretty busy this week which is why my posting has been light. Use this to sound off on anything you wish. Let me start with this: stupidity has become endemic in the United States. Discuss.

Ted Turner on Castro -- Need I Elaborate?

Last week during a FoxNews interview with Bill O'Reilly, Ted Turner, who founded what has become (in their own words) "the world's largest cable news network "claimed that Fidel Castro's Stalinist regime has never killed anyone.

The Cuban Stalinists televised some of their Santa Clara atrocities for essentially the same reason Al Qaeda televised Nick Berg's be-heading. Please click here, Mr Turner, for stark proof of what Bill O'Reilly was telling you on his show.

The rest here.

Oh, brother... - UPDATED

raul castro:

You give us our five criminals and we'll release five political prisoners.

Este hijo de puta, igual que el hermano, no tiene abuela.

UPDATE (Henry):

Let me expand on the above. raul castro is trying to play the moral equivalency game by comparing 5 spying sons of bitches that were convicted in federal court and who have lost their appeals and one of which was involved in the Brothers to the Rescue Shootdown to Cuban dissidents whose only "crime" is disagreeing with their government.

If Obama indulges the regime in this little ruse it will speak volumes about the nature of the incoming administration. It will signal a morally weak and ethically challenged presidency. You can't trade criminals' freedom for that of innocents.

Obama should speak loudly and uncompromisingly about the plight of the dissidents. What's more, President Bush should address this before he leaves office.

Furthermore the INTERNATIONAL MEDIA should NOT refer to the proposed sham as a "PRISONER SWAP" as they already are. To pretend that spies and dissidents are pawns that can be traded equally is an insult to freedom loving people everywhere.

Hey, progressive libs...

...how's that Obama vote workin' out for ya so far?

More Global Warming - Snow in Malibu

Snow in Vegas and now in Malibu. The world is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Old Testament, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

And it's all because of man made global warming. You see, Global Warming makes the Earth Colder. Very simple stuff.

Read about it here.

Run for the Hills!!!!!!!

DISCLAIMER: For those pea brained, brown-rice-sushi eating, herbal tea drinking, white zinfandel drinking, anti-smoking-in-bars pleasure police anti-cigar smoking nazi activists, stronzi lefties out there, and Al Gore, my commentary is a quote from the movie Ghostbusters. So just sit and relax and take a few tokes of your herbal ganja and relax before you start saying, "that Cigar Dude is a religious nut who is saying the apocalypse is here." Thank you and now back to: Cheech & Chong in "Nice Dreams".

Elian Elian Elian

From this Miami Herald report on Elian Gonzalez documents and Eric Holder hearings, we get a quote from Obama on Obama's Cuba policy:

``create political freedom on that island and allow the people who live there to prosper.''

I feel all tingly inside, dont you?

Now the "Progressive Gays" Are Pissed at Obama

They're mad that the O is having the Rev. Rick Warren giving the invocation at the inauguration. At least we know RuPaul is ok with it. Seems the bloke can't get a break from anybody.

Read the amusing article here.

UPDATE: More bitching from the Progressive Gay front here.

"We Demand" An End To The Embargo

This comes as no shock:

Latin America leaders tell Obama to end Cuba embargo

By Raymond Colitt
Reuters
Wednesday, December 17, 2008; 8:41 PM

COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil (Reuters) - Latin American leaders called on President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday to lift the 46-year-old U.S. embargo against Cuba as soon as he takes office.

The leaders of 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations said the unilateral enforcement of sanctions was "unacceptable" and said Washington must comply with U.N. resolutions condemning the embargo imposed against Cuba at the height of the Cold War in 1962.

Meeting in northeastern Brazil, they demanded the immediate lifting of measures taken in the last five years by President George W. Bush to toughen the embargo against Cuba, where Fidel Castro seized power in a 1959 revolution.

You gotta love the wording used here. Washington MUST comply with U.N. resolutions. DEMANDING the lifting of measures. When those esteemed leaders begin to DEMAND that Cuba MUST restore basic human rights and free and fair elections, instead of inviting and welcoming a murderous and corrupt dictator, then and only then would they have any leg to stand on to demand anything from the United States vis-a-vis Cuba.

Latin Americans leaders complain when the U.S. meddles in their affairs. They also complain when the U.S. doesn't pay enough attention to them. I don't think Obama will represent a huge change in U.S./Latin American relations, which means more disappointment from certain leaders to our south.

Entire Reuters article here.

El Colmo

I have pointed out the various marketing ideas to make money off of Obama: sneakers, fingernail stickers, cookies... but just now in my email box I got an offer to buy this item. This is the height of insanity:

Yes, It's a soap mold of Obama's face. Now, I like to make handmade soaps for my family, and I use pretty molds and beautifully scented oils. But I cannot see who I could make a bar of Obama soap for who wouldn't throw it at my head. But folks,for just $24.85 you can make all the Obama bars of soap you want, to slather all over your hands, face and body. And then after that you would need another shower.

Please, I beg of you, make it stop!!

A question- what scent would be appropriate for a bar of Obama soap?

GLOBAL WARMING IS HERE!

Global warming has brought a freak snow storm to Las Vegas. Yes, you read it right; Las Vegas, as in the Nevada desert. As in it is snowing in the desert and it is all thanks to man made global warming.

Number six, without a bullet, unfortunately

Dennis Miller's Biggest Pinhead List was read on tonight's O'Reilly Factor and our favorite cadaverous dictator made the list at number six. Why? His refusal to die. Couldn't have said it better myself...

Freedom Flight Passenger Archives

Last Sunday I posted on the beginning of the Miami Herald series commemorating the 50th anniversary of you know what. One of the links was to a searchable database with the names of passengers who took the Freedom Flights to Miami between 1965 and 1973.

However, the search function was screwed up when the Herald first put it up last weekend. Good news: they now appear to have fixed the order in which the names are listed, or least have made it much easier to search and find names and dates. Not perfect, but a big improvement.

Here is the link to the improved searchable database. I was able to find some relatives of my wife and I. Pretty neat, IMO. This is something that could serve as the beginning of a Cuban-American version of the Ellis Island archives if more data is gathered and organized correctly for easy searching of names and documents.

Happy searching!

For what it's worth...

A couple weeks back, prior to my trip to DC, Id done a video interview for Time Online on the lifting of travel restrictions by the Obamessiah and, as usual, had my qualms about the outcome. And, as usual, upon viewing the finished piece, realized that I was right to have said qualms.

You can view the video report, right here.

Cuban History--Unvarnished and in The Raw

Folks, we all know that Cuban history, as presented in the MSM and worldwide Academia, consists mostly of a recitation and transcription of talking points handed out by Castro's propaganda ministry.

That's why Manuel Marquez Sterling's disclosures are so important (and deeply disturbing.) Manuel's father, Carlos Marquez Sterling served as Cuba's Speaker of the House from 1936-41 and as President of the 1940 Constitutional Convention--which is to say: he was a key figure in drafting the Cuban Constitution Fidel Castro claimed to adore and promised to restore. Marquez-Sterling was known as one of Batista's most prominent critics--but not to the point of favoring Fidel Castro

Mr Carlos had Fidel Castro's number from day one and desperately, repeatedly (and vainly) tried to warn Cuba's political class what was in store at Castro's hands and that Fidel Castro was hardly the only alternative to Batista. Alas, Cuba's upper classes' hatred and resentment of Batista completely clouded their critical faculties.

Marquez-Sterling won, (by all honest accounts including U.S. ambassador Earl Smith's) Cuba's Nov. 1958 elections that the fine Julio 26 folks tried to disrupt by threatening to murder anyone who voted. And that Batista (disastrously!) rigged and falsified against Marquez-Sterling in manner familiar to many Chicago politicians.

But enough from me. Instead listen to his son Manuel tell the story here

Gallita - Female Cock

By Yoani Sanchez

A curious end of the year in which the surprises accumulate, Christmas trees return and sexologists start to use the language of the machistas [macho women]. Mariela Castro has called me gallita [female cock] and, in her language as a specialist in gender and sexuality, the word has homophobic connotations. Perhaps because I am ignorant about the terms of her specialty, I fail to understand what she wanted to tell me by saddling me with a masculine role in a feminine noun; yes, in the case of grammar I can boast about knowing something. Does she believe that I do the work of a man because I demand rights and claim respect for political preferences? I don’t see the feathers on my tail but, if to be a very delicate hen I must accept that a group of septuagenarians—all men—decide every aspect of my life, then I’m inclined to transvestism and will cock-a-doodle-doo like the rooster with the most hormones in the barnyard.

Reinaldo laughs from his flowery apron and confirms that yes, I’m a “cocky hen” with sharpened spurs. I agree with the prestigious specialist that I am “insignificant,” an anonymous hen who, with her cheep cheep, has managed to inconvenience the fine fighting cocks. Those who are so little trained in debate that at the slightest disagreement they end up losing feathers, wounding all sides. They are uncomfortable and end up sticking out their tongues and—from the back—we see the ugly entrails of intolerance, which they use so much these days for disguise.

This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet

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Maybe if we repeat his name enough, someone will actually give a damn about his predicament.

[c]astro Counting on his "Butterflies"

Reuter’s Marc Frank just noticed that the island across the Florida Straights is really in dire financial straights…

…due to the global financial crisis and the three hurricanes that hit the Cuba this past hurricane season.

Before that, it was a socialist paradise.

But now, the regime is being forced to “juggle debt payments and seek new financing”

It’s always been something; the embargo, the counterrevolutionaries, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the drop in oil prices, the drop in nickel prices, marabu, or the weather. It’s always something other than the obvious: [f]idel. For fifty years the system that he put in place and totally controls has destroyed the country with its corruption and incompetence and yet we still have to read the litany of excuses from his international press agencies.

But fear not. There’s hope (and change) on the horizon. The regime knows that it still has an ace up its olive drabbed sleeve, the metamorphosized gusanos, now butterflies. Its number one import that will eventually come through to prop up the unsustainable system:

An expected increase in visits and remittances from Cuban-Americans under U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration could also help, the economist said.

Send money, butterflies. Repression ain’t cheap.

Don't cry for me, Christina

Only God knows what Argentine President, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, is thinking as she shakes the bloodstained hand of a man responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of innocent Cubans. From the expression on her face in this photograph taken at the Latin American summit in Brazil this week, however, it appears that the dread of being so close to a mass murderer is not one of those thoughts. Instead, she seems to be elated to shake the hand of a despotic dictator.

It is a scene that has repeated itself countless times over the last fifty years. Heads of State and their officials as well as prominent religious leaders, businessmen, journalists, and entertainers, all seem to relish the chance to meet and be photographed with an honest to goodness, living and breathing, murderous dictator. The grins seen in the photographs illustrate the admiration they feel for the killers and the high regard in which they are held. Although I have lost count of how many of these photographs I have seen, I still cannot get used to seeing such a lack of respect for Cubans, and for humanity. Regardless of how many people like Christina Fernandez de Kirchner line up to have their picture taken with a murderer, I do not think that I will ever be desensitized to the visual image of an otherwise reasonable and intelligent person, smiling as they pose for a picture next to an assassin.

Don’t cry for me, Christina, and don’t cry for my Cuban brothers and sisters who live under the yoke of a vile dictatorship, and don’t cry for the tens of thousands of innocent Cubans who have died and whose blood is on the hand you are shaking. You, like so many others like you, had an opportunity to stand up against tyranny, and instead you chose to pose for a picture with it.

Dictatorships can last for a very long time, but they cannot last forever. Memories of your smiling face as you shake the hand of our oppressor and executioner, though, will last forever.

Taxman - Mr. Paterson

Happy Hump Day infidels. I offer you one of my favorite George Harrison songs, "Taxman" and bestow the Taxman award to NY Gov. Paterson who has New York in such a mess he wants to impose an 18% tax on on soda, iPod tax, movie theater tax, satellite TV service, cigars, beer, movie and sports tickets, health spa, sporting event tax, taxi tax, bus tax, limo tax, cable TV tax, radio tax, clothing tax...and....a fart tax. People in New York will now be taxed $10 per fart and $ 20 for a SBD fart.

You see folks, this is what happens when you let government grow and get out of hand. The money gets tight and you in deep doo doo. So you know what's gonna happen with this tax? New Yorkers will simply get their ipods in New Jersey or Connecticut or mail order and pay no sales tax. The new taxes won't cure anything except stifle commerce. Read about it here.

Adieu infidels!

Freedom House

La casa de la libertad:

Photo via El Nuevo Herald

One of the things I mentioned to President Bush and my blogging colleagues at last week's meeting was that, while I and the gentlemen and woman sitting at that meeting come from countries where despotism rules and human rights are systematically violated and where oppression is the order of the day, I, personally, was different. "Unlike my blogging colleagues here, Mr. President" I said. "I was fortunate enough to have lived, and been raised in freedom."

My father, just a year or two younger than I am now brought this crying baby boy, his sobbing sister and their worried and terrified mother to ths country so that we would know true liberty. Not an easy thing, for a man with a family, midway through his life to uproot that family and leave the only country and people he'd ever known, and take that family to a country where everything is different. The mores, the culture, the language. To settle in a new country without any friends or family, with nothing but the proverbial shirts on their backs. I dont think I would have the strength, determination or perseverance to do the same.

The picture above is of The Freedom House - La Casa de la Libertad - in Miami International Airport, circa 1968. It was the first stop for thousands of Cuban exiles who sought liberty in the United States of America.

I find it somewhat odd that, in my mind, I've always found it hard to remember or imagine what La Casa de la Libertad - my family's gateway to freedom - looked like, until I saw the photo above and the others in this El Nuevo Herald photogallery and its accompanying articles.

The photo above also brought back a couple other long forgotten memories: big, yelow bricks of government cheese, vacunas and my very first toy in the land of freedom: a Superman Pez dispenser, with candy.

Hot Damn! Best Review of Che Movie Yet!

Sent to me from New York amiga, Marie Coccia.:

"MEET Che Guevara. Just think of him as Jesus plus Abraham Lincoln with a touch of Moses and Dr. Doug Ross. After 4½ hours of watching Dr. Ernesto "Che" Guevara heal the sick, teach the illiterate, daze the women, execute the lawless, defeat the corrupt, uplift the peasantry and spew the sound bite, I was convinced there would be a scene in which he turned water to Bacardi."

The rest here.

What a Drag!

RuPaul as both Obamas.

Don't know about you but I think Ru makes a better First Lady.

I voted.

Did you? Did you know we elected a property tax appraiser today? I was driving to work and saw the sign at my precinct that there was an election. I voted for Pedro J. Garcia, who won 59% to 41% over Gwen Margolis.

Of course the Herald endorsed Margolis. Another piece of evidence that the Herald is irrelevant in this community.

Vispera

Caballeros, como estan las cosas, y como hacian muchos de nuestros abuelos, vamos a prender una velita p'al viejo.

You Have to be F**king Kidding Me

It was only a matter of time, and I'm sure the Godless, atheist putzes out there will buy some of these for their nativity scenes under their holiday trees, but it seems that Barack and Michelle Obama figurines are now the rage with the lefties out there. What's next, Hugo, Fifo, and Che as the 3 wise men? The world is going to the dogs by the minute.....soon dogs and cats will be sleeping together...it's the end of times.....

NAPLES -- President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are appearing in Italian nativity scenes this year, alongside the baby Jesus and wise men, according to Naples craftsmen selling figurines in the run-up to Christmas.

The production of handmade figurines for nativity scenes has been big business in this southern Italian city for centuries.

But beyond the thousands of angel, sheep, Mary and Joseph figures filling market stalls before Christmas, craftsmen say Obama has become a top seller.

"The ones we are selling the most of are those of Barack Obama, America's new president, along with his wife, Michelle," said craftsman Genny Di Virgilio.

Tradition requires that the nativity scene be built up over time until Christmas Eve, when baby Jesus is put in the manger as the very last element of the display.

As always, figurine-makers provide a chance to choose a more light-hearted approach for the scene with replicas of personalities who have made the news during the last year.

Beyond Obama, they also are selling figurines of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, and even Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Although many cherish the celebrity figurines, others say they spoil the traditional sense of Christmas.

One nun, Angelica, scoffed at what she called a "cartoon version of a nativity scene."

Grandfather Pasquale Oliva, looking into a shop window in Naples, agreed with her, saying: "Something as beautiful as the traditional nativity scene shouldn't be spoiled by these figurines of personalities, and I don't think children like them."

However, his young grandson Francesco was quick to disagree, snapping "yes" when asked whether he likes the modern twist on tradition.

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Powell, the turncoat.

Good friend of Babalu, Ed Morrissey has some choice words for Colin Powell about Powell's attacks on Rush Limbaugh:

Rush wonders which person supports big-tent Republicanism best — the conservative talk-show host who supported the moderate presidential candidate, or the moderate who wants conservatives like Rush drummed out of the party?

For someone who supposedly wants to promote tolerance, Powell seems pretty intolerant of dissent. And let’s make one point very, very clear: when the Republicans actually nominated a moderate for their candidate, fellow “moderates” like Powell left the party anyway.

Bingo? Benedict Arnold is somewhere smiling down on Powell right now.

Remarks by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez

Beginning January 20th of next year, it will be at least four years before we hear another member of the President's cabinet speak the truth about Cuba and its dictatorial regime. Therefore, I am obliged to provide our readers a transcript from Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez's remarks made today at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. since we most likely won't be hearing much truth being spoken about Cuba for the next four years.

“The Costs and Consequences of the Cuban Revolution"

Well thank you Ray. Thank you very much. I should confess first of all, after Dr. Edwards and Dr. Falcoff that my interest has always been one of a lay person, so I am going to try and be good follow-up act to a very engaging and very thought provoking presentation.

I do have to thank the Heritage Foundation for having the foresight to have these discussions on Cuba , and I believe they started several years ago. We’re going to find that this has been several years ahead of its time. That at some point in our generation, and very likely at some point during the next administration, Cuba will become a major foreign policy question. I hope that we are strategically ready for it, as opposed to finding ourselves in a position of having to react. There is no question that Cuba will be more and more in the forefront as time goes by.

The first inaugural that I heard here in Washington in my current role was the President’s second inaugural address and there is a quote from that that I will always remember that really sticks out he said, “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.” And it is important to recognize that there are still, ironically after the collapse of communism and after the very clear failure of communism as a system, there are still people in Cuba , in North Korea that are still living under a system that clearly does not work. So there’s still a lot of work do.

So, the 50th anniversary of the communist rule. It’s amazing. It’s amazing. I grew up in a family where when we moved from Havana to Miami Beach we thought it was a matter of months, so we went to a hotel and we said look, “let just let time go by and its just a matter of time before we go back.” And then there was the old saying in Miami that “this Christmas would have lechon in Cuba .” It’s just amazing to think that 50 years have gone by.

One of the things I want to talk a little bit about, that I’ve seen, again as a lay person, who has with a great deal of fascination has studied Cuba have realized that this has been a very personal revolution. It is billed to be an uprising of the masses, but it is very much the work and project of one individual. And the more you know that, the more you will understand Cuba of today.

Secretary Gutierrez's remarks continue below the fold.

Before 1959, Cuba had a dynamic economy. Today it is literally in shambles and you have to ask yourself, what for? What is it that justifies the current system?

Cubans live on about 20 dollars per month. They get a ration card. The amazing thing is that the rations that they get don’t last for a month. So they are forced then to go out and try and make ends meet. The irony and the terrible shame is that to go out and make ends meet is illegal. So you have to take part in the black market. You have to have petty corruption. You have to take things home from work.

So it is a system that forces people to essentially steal, to take place in the black market, to take part in corrupt activities to be able to survive. They say that Cuba is the only place in the world where a pound has less than 16 ounces, because people will take home an ounce or two of something to be able to make ends meet, as Cubans say in Cuba , to “resolve.”

It is important to realize, as we’ve all learned about entrepreneurship, the importance of small businesses, the importance of small businesses in creating progress, that in Cuba it is literally illegal to create a small business.

So if you want to somehow make ends meet and figure out a way of being able to supplement what you don’t get from your ration card and open up a little restaurant coming out of your kitchen, that you can be arrested for that. And the great irony is at a time when there are so called “reforms” in Cuba now, today, there is a crack down like no other on this small black market activity.

Racial inequality in Cuba is rampant and we have to recall that in 1959 this was going to be one of the great achievements of the revolution, to achieve racial equality. Cuba , of course, being a country where the percent of Afro-Cubans is a lot greater than the percent of Afro-Americans here.

Sixty percent of the population today is afro-Cuban .There are very few, if any, Cubans at the top echelons of the government. I believe there are no Cubans in the political bureau. It is very, very difficult to find Afro-Cubans in slots of power. You will find some, but the proportion is nowhere near 60 percent, and you’re talking about 60 percent of the population.

A recent study found that 80 percent of Cubans believe that there’s absolutely no chance that an Afro-Cuban could be President. This is a country where one of its great heroes of the past was an Afro-Cuban if you go back over a hundred years. So they’ve actually gone the other way and have actually gone backward in terms of racial equality and racial progress.

It’ll be interesting to see how they deal with the fact that the U.S. will have an Afro-American president, because all along they have been describing Cuba to their people, to Cubans, as describing the U.S. as a place of terrible inequality. If you’re a Hispanic and you come to the U.S. , forget it, you’ll be treated like a second-class citizen. You will not be able to get ahead. You are openly discriminated … all of the sudden we have an Afro-American President. It’ll be fascinating to see how they deal with that, given that with our smaller proportion of African-Americans, we have a President, and with the great majority of Cubans being African-American, there’s very, very little progress.

The human rights record of Cuba is—we could spend hours talking about it—it is miserable. I don’t think we know yet what it has been like to live in Cuba and one day we will know. The President made a speech a few months ago where he talked about that one day, one day we will be as shocked to find out what has been going on in Cuba as the world was after Stalin’s death. Of what was going on in the Soviet Union.

As we all know Cubans can’t speak out against the government. You can’t read what you want, you can’t say what you want, you can’t worship as you wish and the tremendous cruelty of the system is that once a political prisoner is put in jail, invariably they get sick because the conditions are awful, and then they are denied medical attention. That is part of the punishment. You talk about cruelty, you talk about brutality. The people who support Cuba and who support the system one day will be ashamed when they realize what has been going on in those dungeons.

To know Cuba I believe that you need to know Castro. And one thing I have learned is that if you know the history, if you know the individual, then a lot of the tactics, a lot of the actions, a lot of the policies, begin to talk hold. My theory—and I’ll throw it out as a theory, because we are in an academic circle, and hopefully we can have a great debate—is that Fidel Castro first and foremost is anti-American. He is the ultimate anti-U.S. Without the U.S. he wouldn’t have a position, his brand wouldn’t be as well positioned as it is.

Marxism has almost become a tactic to be able to cement Cuba as first and foremost an anti-American country.

From the very beginning, he has declared himself an enemy. There are letters going back to his time well before 1959, where he talks about his true destiny, his true role in life is to stand up to the U.S.

So, once you get that and once you understand that, I believe that everything else is a bit clearer in terms of their policies, in terms of what they do, in terms of who their friends are. Many people are wondering, “Why is Cuba so close to Iran ?” Well, they’re close to Iran because Iran is not close to the U.S. , and again, everything they do has to be looked at through the perspective of the U.S. , and Castro is the ultimate anti-American, a declared enemy of the U.S.

So, in spite of that the U.S. is Cuba ’s fifth largest trading partner. We are the number one source of food sales to Cuba . The people of the U.S. are the number one source of humanitarian aid to Cuba —the second source of hard cash after tourism. So that you never hear, that you will never have Castro recognize.

So, I’m often asked the question and since I’ve been involved in this transition commission with Secretary Rice, I’m often asked the question, “When will the U.S. change its policy toward Cuba ?” I think that is the wrong question. The real question is, “When will the Cuban government change its system?” Because, that is at the heart of the problem here. It’s not Washington policy that has created the Cuban system. And we have to watch out, and we have to be very careful, and we have to be very guarded about simplistic solutions.

I often hear people say, “Look, the solution here is very simple. Just lift the embargo and you’ll find that the thing starts crumbling and starts unraveling and in a matter of six months it will be all over.” There is nothing simple about our relationship with Cuba .

And you have to remember that Barack Obama will be the 11th President of the U.S. since Castro took power. I think it will be 11 … I’m starting out with President Eisenhower. And there is a reason why the previous 10 Presidents have had a certain policy or have concluded certain actions and certain policies toward Cuba . And those 10 Presidents have been very different, ideologically, in terms of the political spectrum. Some have been Republican hawks. Others have been liberal Democrats. And they have all tried to deal with Cuba in their own way. And we now have 50 years of a pattern. And I think it would be very worthwhile to study that pattern, especially now as we look to the future.

And I am also asked the question, “Well, has the embargo succeeded?” I’ll tell you, my answer is an absolute yes for one simple reason: the embargo has denied an enemy of the U.S. resources. Think about that. You have an enemy 90 miles away from your shores who is a declared enemy who would like nothing more than see the U.S. go away. The best you could do is just make sure that they don’t have the resources to do more harm.

When Castro has had resources the Cuban people haven’t improved, their lives haven’t improved. What has happened is that their military has gotten bigger, more tanks, better planes, more soldiers. They have funded wars in Africa . Funded revolutionary movements in Latin America , but the Cuban people have been standing in line with ration cards for 50 years. Doesn’t matter what the resources are in terms of the central government.

Che Guevara, I was reminded by Lino Guitierrez, that Che Guevara famously said we want at least two or three Vietnams in Latin America . So you never get credit for what doesn’t happen. But nobody knows what would have happened had someone like Fidel Castro had a lot of resources. If he had the resources of say an Hugo Chavez what would have history been. No one knows that, and we will never know and gladly we will never know.

Look back at some of the big highlights of history: 1962, during the missile crisis, we now know because there a lot more published materials that have been released to the public, that there’s a very well known letter that Castro sent Khrushchev saying essentially preemptively we should attack the U.S. So we should not let them undue our revolution. We should have a preemptive strike against the U.S. Think about that: 1962 he had nuclear missiles and his solution is let’s go for it. And people are wondering why we don’t get close to Cuba , and why don’t we try to reason with them.

Probably the President who tried the hardest to reach out and really turn the page on Cuba was President Carter. We had people to people dialogues. He opened an Interests Section in Havana . He really looked at Cuba in perhaps the way President Nixon looked at China . He wanted to turn the page and look forward and have a different relationship with Cuba.

And one of the outcomes of that and one of the ways President Carter was rewarded for reaching out was, you may recall, the Mariel Boat lift. A hundred and twenty five thousand Cubans, that is probably as close to an act of war as you can get. A hundred and twenty five thousand Cubans were just basically sent to the U.S. , picked up by boats coming out of Miami and we know today that many of those people who were allowed to leave were released from prison. And what Castro did is send us some of his most ardent, some of his most dangerous criminals that he had in jail he sent to the U.S.

Is that a way of showing someone that you do want to respond in a favorable way to their outreach? Somebody once wrote that that was the U.S. ’s reward for reaching out and wanting to negotiate with Fidel Castro who again is the ultimate anti-American. A hundred and twenty five thousand people. That was an act of war.

In the mid 1990s, President Clinton had released, he had eased restrictions on travel and remittances, also looking for a way of maybe turning the page. Cuba responded by another migration crisis but the big move a few days before, actually a week or so, before President Clinton was scheduled and had planned to veto Helms-Burton, Cuba shot down a civilian plane over international waters. That was the Brothers to the Rescue plane. Do you think that is a sign of a country that really wants to ease relationships?

So, those are three or four examples. But you can go back and see that pattern throughout history. So when people simplistically say, “Oh just ease the embargo things will collapse, things will do fine, it’s our fault, we have to engage, we have to show them we can be reasonable, it is a lack of knowledge of history and a lack of knowledge of history will get us in a lot of trouble in the future.

Interestingly, President Carter returned to Cuba in 2002, and actually went out and talked to dissidents. And President Carter had a lot to do with putting many of the dissidents on the map. He went out and spoke with dissidents. He spoke in Havana . He spoke very openly about democracy and human rights. And we sometimes don’t connect the dots, but it was after President Carter left less than a year later when Castro jailed the 75 dissidents who are well known today in what they called the spring of 2003. Again, a heck of a way of responding to President Carter’s second outreach.

So, the pattern is there. We need to understand the pattern. It is so dangerous to not understand history before embarking into the future. We believe that change has to happen in Cuba and I totally agree with what Dr. Falcoff said. This is not about change in the U.S. or us changing something here that will change Cuba . Cubans need to change Cuba and change has to happen in Cuba and the future leader of Cuba I don’t think is in Miami or in Washington or in New Jersey, they are probably sitting in a jail in Cuba. But it is all in Cuba and it has to happen in Cuba and it is great to look at some of the personalities that are there.

Instead of talking about 11 million people let’s look at the real people who are suffering who we should keep track of:

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, an Afro-Cuban. He dared to criticize the regime and he exposed the practice of forced abortions in Cuba . He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He has been in prison for all but 36 days since 1999. People who are close to him know that he is on the verge of dying. He has lost his teeth. He weighs very little for a man of his height. He is being literally just taken as close as he can to his death as a punishment. Oscar Biscet: a tremendously courageous man.

There is the case of Gorki Aguila. This isn’t just about you know boring revolutionaries. We also have rock musicians who are part of the Cuban drama. Here is a musician who has talked about communism and has criticized the regime but he said something last time he was jailed for something they call “dangerousness.” Last time he was jailed, he left jail and he said, “Look there is not a big difference here, the only difference to me is that I have left a small jail and now I am going to a big jail. But Cuba is one jail anyway. ” No matter where you are you are always in jail.

Then there is Yoani Sanchez, a tremendously courageous woman, who is a blogger. Lives in Havana . She was named Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2008. And two weeks ago the Cuban authorities warned Yoani that her actions have crossed the limits of tolerance and warned against her contact with counter-revolutionary elements. What is her crime? She is blogging. She’s talking about life in Cuba . She’s using the Internet. You can get a sense of how backwards this place is. The Internet is against the law.

The thing about the Cuban experience is more than Yoani, than Gorki, than Oscar Elias Biscet. It is the countless mothers who have seen their sons die in prison or withering away in prison. My father used to tell me cases about fathers who were forced to watch their son’s execution. It just wasn’t enough to get rid of your enemies. It’s to make the people who stay behind suffer. Wives of men who had been tortured and killed. Daughters … daughters who are forced to go out and do favors for tourists to make ends meet. Talk about a system that doesn’t work.

There are a lot of unmentioned and unnamed Cubans who pay a tremendous price for one person’s complexes, for one person’s anger, for one person’s tremendous resentment against the U.S. A lot of families separated. A lot of dreams killed.

Our goal in our policy has always been freedom, human rights, democracy in Cuba . That is the end game. And it has been to deny resources to someone who we know if they had resources they would use them against U.S. interests. I think that’s a very logical policy. It’s a very simple policy. It’s a policy that has worked. And it’s a policy that should stay in place until there is change in Cuba that tells us that we no longer have a sworn enemy 90 miles from our shores. And for me it’s as simple as that.

Would you help your enemy? Would you increase the resources of your enemy? How far would you go to help someone whose vision of the world—of a beautiful world—would be the world without the U.S.

A lot of countries have accepted less. A lot of countries have reached out to Cuba . If it isn’t the U.S. who wants the political prisoners freed, who is going to point out what is happening, who is left? No one is left. And unless it is the U.S. who continues to stand firm with the Cuban people, then what we will be doing is cementing a dictatorship and legitimizing a dictatorship.

So there will be a post-Fidel world. There will be a post-Raul world. Raul is Fidel without the charisma, without the seven hour speeches. But he has learned from Fidel.

So, as soon as the Cubans are liberated from this policy of resentment, of anger against the U.S. and Cubans are allowed to achieve their potential. Cuba can be one of the most prosperous countries in the world. The talent, the resources are just amazing. Sugar—over eight million tons before the so-called revolution; last year there was one and a half million tons. There is nothing that is being utilized for the good of the country.

Our policy should be the same while Fidel and Raul are there, and if someone is going to succeed them, they need to prove … they need to prove … that they are not Raul and Fidel. That they are not a sworn enemy of the U.S. When that day comes they will find they have no better partner than the U.S. Until that day comes, we should not be simplistic. We should not be naïve about what has happened over the last 50 years on our shores.

I thank you for your interest in this topic. I hope we can get a chance to have a discussion with our two distinguished scholars and thank you again.

Karma, anyone?

It's not nice to gloat over anyone's misfortune, particularly that of a charitable foundation, but it is okay to note that caught up in the Madoff scam is Steven Spielberg. Doubtless, he will instruct the federal government to forget pressing charges and seeking restitution because he doesn't want to hold a grudge. At least, that's my guess based on his past pronouncements to us.

Wanted: Personal stories from Marielitos

A friend is looking to speak to folks who came during the Mariel boatlift for a project he's working on. It's about Cuban exiles done good but "more than just the average success Mariel story."

If you know someone who has a special story to tell or are that someone, email me and I'll get you in touch with my friend.

CheburgerCheburgerCheburger

The ever excellent Chris Muir's Day by Day on che:

They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED BY THE OBAMA CENTRAL COMMITTEE BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE NOT NICE AND NOT IN LINE WITH OUR VIEWS. MOREOVER THIS POST HAS BEEN FOUND TO MAKE LIBERALS ANGRY WHICH IS ILLEGAL UNDER THE NEW ORDER.

NEXT TIME CIGAR MIKE POSTS COMMENTS CONTRARY TO THOSE IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND IN THE CONGRESS, HE WILL ARRESTED AND HANGED FOR SEDITION.

I don't know how

From our bud Jose Reyes at Cubanology comes a video about Cuba, inspired by my second favorite Beatles song: "I Don't Know How."

On this day in history

On this day in 2001, the first commercial shipment of food from the United States since 1963 arrived in Cuba. Since then, the US has become one of Cuba's top trading partners.

This leads me to two simple questions:

1. Has this trade been beneficial to the regime and Castro, Inc.?

2. Are the Cuban people better off today than they were seven years ago?

What do you guys think?

Low Mangos - A Musical Cubanism

Cubanism: mango bajito

Literal translation: low mango

Usage: "Esta es la tierra de los mangos bajitos." "This is the land of the low mangos."

Meaning: The lowest mangos on the tree are the easiest to reach. Thus, the sentence above states that Cuba is the land of low mangos, the land of things being easy to reach and easy to get, but, of course, only for some, as stated in the video of the song "Mango Bajito" by Los Aldeanos in Cuba:

H/T Ernesto.

CDR

By Yoani Sanchez

In one of those confusions so common in children, I thought for years that the logo of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution was an enormous eye carrying a machete. As I was unaware of the origin of this aggressive iconography, I saw it as an indiscreet pupil, watching me on every block. Some time later, a friend clarified that what I saw as a cornea and an iris was just a sombrero seen from above. Despite his kind remark, I continued to feel the weight of that look every time I passed in front of a sign with the acronym CDR.

The seventh congress of this organization is now being held, with its more than seven million members, of whom good number have not been consulted about joining its ranks. You are enrolled in the Committee completely automatically, the same way we women are included in the Federation of Cuban Women and the children are entered into the ranks of the Pioneers. Rarely does anyone publically refuse to be part of these groups which, in Cuba today, are more formal and bureaucratic than effective.

My confusion between an eye and a hat showed a touch of childish delirium, but also a strong nose for danger. I learned that within the doors bearing the alarming slogan, “with combat readiness,” lived the most adroit editors of reports to denounce other neighbors. I also knew those who, because of a false report—a stroke of the pen from the committee president—lost a promotion, a trip, or the chance to have a new home. I even knew someone who wore the title, “Vice President of the CDR,” who was also the biggest criminal in the neighborhood.

In the Palace of Conventions, the pupil with the machete is holding a new conference. I sense that what was once a many-eyed Argus is today a Cyclops with cataracts, a vigilant body that can barely see all the mischief we get up to.

Translator’s note:
Cuba’s network of Committees for the Defense of the Revolution was formed in 1960. Out of a total population of about 11 million, its more than 7 million members represent the vast majority of Cuba’s adult population. The CDRs keep files on each resident of their respective blocks.

This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

Che movie is rotten

I haven't written about the new film about Che because I haven't had time. It's a shame that a major motion picture was made about the Argentine dirtbag murderer that once again fails to highlight how much of a dirtbag murderer he was. But what do you expect from a Hollywood director and an idiotic actor? I mean seriously, accuracy and intelligence are not the first things you think about when you hear that combination.

Anyway I thought you'd be interested in some choice quotes from some of the many bad reviews this stinker of a flick has gotten:

The whole movie is a forced march.
-David Edelstein New York Magazine

But Soderbergh's version of Che is too good to be true: Movie Che is a towering idealist who just keeps on coming, but he lacks any sense of character. He is heartless, all computer chips and wires inside. He's the Revolutionator...

Worse, there is no narrative drama, no psychological depth, and no exploration of Guevara's personal history. Soderbergh asks us to accept Che without thinking or coming to any conclusions about him. As a result, in Part One, Che comes across like a subject out of Leni Riefenstahl; in Part Two, his tortures of the damned could have been directed by Mel Gibson.

-Paul Brenner, Filmcritic.com

Out-perversing Gus Van Sant’s Milk, Soderbergh makes a four-hour-plus biopic about a historical figure without providing a glimmer of charm or narrative coherence. One can’t accuse Soderbergh of pandering to feel-good piety because Che proudly resists sentimentality about people’s power, distribution of wealth, Marxist theology, radical chic or morbid celebrity.

Neither rabble-rousing politician, humanist historian or trailblazing artiste, Soderbergh’s a Pseud.

-Armond White, New York Press

Soderbergh is nothing if not determined. As desultory and unsatisfying as "Che" is, it still bears the stamp of a personal obsession. But to what end exactly? Soderbergh adds very little to our knowledge of Guevara, both as icon and as human being. Mostly what we get are docudramatic snippets from a life all too hagiographically rendered. (Where are Che's death squads?)

-Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

You can't spell cliché without "Che." And as I endured this mad dream directed - or perhaps committed - by Steven Soderbergh, I wondered where I'd seen it all before. The booted stomping through the greensward, the jungly target shooting? It's a remake of Woody Allen's "Bananas," right? Minus punch lines - or perhaps with them. "We are in a difficult situation," Che observes, at a point when his army is surrounded and forced to eat its horses...

Che, although armed, allows himself to be taken alive, which means an amusing execution in the dust instead of righteous death in battle. Soderbergh...takes Che's point of view as the moment of expiration arrives, sharing with us a vision of a blinding white light as the furry comandante slips into Commie heaven. Say hi to the Rosenbergs for me! Fidel says, "See ya soon."

-Kyle Smith, New York Post

You know that guy in the beret on all those T-shirts? Yeah, that's communist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and in this movie you get to see him (or rather, Benicio Del Toro) running around in the woods with guns for four and a half hours. Yes, that's right five hours if you count intermission...

While Soderbergh clearly made the movie he wanted to make, rather than the one we might have liked to see, shouldn't there have been time in all these hours to cover the controversial aspects just a little bit more?

-Luke Y. Thompson, E! Online

No Proof Castro Regime Killed Anyone (Says Ted Turner)

Folks, this man ran the biggest international news network on the planet...I give up!

Steadfast friend of our cause, Bill O'Reilly just interviewed Ted Turner:

O'REILLY: Fidel Castro, do you admire the man?

TURNER: Yes.

O'REILLY: Now he has murdered people. He's imprisoned people. There are political prisoners now. He won't let his people use the Internet. Nobody can use that. And you admire the guy?

TURNER: Well, I admire certain things about him. He's trained a lot of doctors, and they've got one of the best educational systems in the developing world. And you know, he's still popular with a lot of people down there. He's unpopular…

O'REILLY: But he's a killer. He's a killer. He's a guy who…

TURNER: But that has never, to my knowledge, that's never been proven. I mean…

O'REILLY: He's executed political prisoners. I mean, he enslaves people who don't see it the way he sees it. Come on. He's a dictatorship. If you admire him, then why wouldn't you admire Mussolini? I mean, what's the difference? Mussolini put people back to work. There was order. The educational system was fine. See, I'm not getting this. This is what I don't understand about it.

TURNER: Well, OK, well, if you don't see the difference between Castro and Mussolini, you know, then you know, I likened some aspects of FOX News to the Nazis, so, I mean, you know, it works both ways.

More Turner erudition here.

All the bullshit that's fit to print

This asshole NYT reader wins the prize for useful idiot of the year:

Mr. Cohen diminishes Cuba’s real achievements in raising the standard of living for all its people with phrases like “at a colossal price” and “thanks to socialist economic disaster,” and seems to lay the blame for Cuba’s limitations solely at its own feet.

Yes, Cubans are paying a price, but it is not “colossal” if you compare conditions for the majority of people there today to the conditions they endured during the Batista era.

Who's feet should we lay the blame on jackass? The United States, the country that had $1.8 of its business assets stolen from it? The country that fidel castro said Cuba didn't need? Maybe the blame should be laid on the former Soviet Union that subsidized Cuba all those years or perhaps Venezuela that's been subsidizing it all these recent years. Or perhaps we can lay the blame on those crazy right wing exiles, all 2 million of them, many of whom keep the regime afloat.

Batista? Batista was in power as a dictator for all of 6 years as a dictator. When does the statute of limitations expire on that? fidel's dictatorship has lasted for EIGHT times the duration of Batista's. And let me ask this question, if things were so bad back then why was Cuban immigration to the U.S. in the 1950s negative? Negative immigration, more Americans moving to Cuba than vice versa when the doors to both countries were wide open.

Fifty years later, the New York Times continues to shill for the regime it helped put into power. I mean really, perhaps they should hire Edward Schumacher-Matos to edit the letters page based on his theory of "ideological accuracy".

Postscript:

'The New York Times' Bias Journalism Covers Up True Facts

Postscript 2:

Not to be outdone by the Times, Reuters is not simply content to have a Havana correspondent, Marc Frank that penned more than 1,000 stories for the official newspaper of Communist Party USA, now they are actively spreading more happy horseshit from the regime. Yes, yes, Cuba has survived "peak oil" and is an agricultural miracle and is also very "sustainable". Sustainable as long as you have a billion dollars a year in remittances and a U.S. visa lottery to get rid of the people who can't sustain their misery anymore.

Riddle me this

What does the shoe-thrower from the Bush press conference have on his wall in his apartment? You guessed it:

A day after the incident, al-Zeidi's three brothers and one sister gathered in al-Zeidi's simple, one-bedroom apartment in west Baghdad. The home was decorated with a poster of Latin American revolutionary leader [c]he [g]uevara, who is widely lionized in the Middle East.

What a world. What a world.

(H/T Wife of Pitbull)

The Name Game

You know, years ago some friends in Peru told me that at the height of Michael Jackson's fame, parents in Peru were naming their children "Michael Jackson Suárez," etc. I sure thought THAT was funny but tonight, reading the LA Times account of people everywhere from the US to Brazil to Romania naming their children BARACK and OBAMA, well, I'm not laughing anymore. In fact, I'm a little nauseous. All this hullabaloo over a man whose only claim to fame is becoming the first black president, or the first bi-racial president, however you choose to see it, and who has to date accomplished nothing except get elected. (I know, a mean feat in and of itself, but you know what I mean.) No Nobel Prize, no noteworthy legislation, no peace accords, no ceasefire, no deposing of a dictator, shoot, not even a gold record like the Gloved One. He hasn't even taken office yet! Instead, it's about the "against the odds" notion that Obama was elected. Yet people are losing their minds and naming their children after a man who frankly, has not proven himself worthy of such worldwide insanity. And I'd say this about an unproven Republican, too.

The grandmother of a baby named Obama, born in Romania on the day after Obama was elected said, "When I saw Obama on TV, my heart swelled with joy. I thought he was one of us Gypsies because of his skin color.”

Don't get me wrong, for the good of this country I would love nothing more than to see Obama prove my fears wrong and do all the right things. Who knows, maybe he will. But if not, and he turns out to be a stinker of a president, there could be some really sad gypsy children running around Romania burdened with the name Barack and Obama.

You can the rest of the insanity HERE.

By the way...

Bernard Madoff was a Democrat.

Alice in Wonderland

If only the AP's Seth Borenstein had a world of his own, global cooling would actually mean global warming.

"Ironically, 2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it's thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming.

Yes, Seth; cold means hot, and four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is -- oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!

You can read Seth in Wonderland HERE.

SNL Skit on NY Gov.

as a follow up to the earlier post about how the NY Gov is going to tax everything including farts, there was a great skit on him on SNL, and all the lefties are up in arms about it. They're ok if you portray Palin or McCain or any GOP to be a buffoon, but you go after one of them, and they cry foul.....

I guess they have nothing better to do ... like of like those schmucks that have nothing better to write about so they just write about us ..... here's the skit folks

I told you so...

First, they came for my cars, then for my cigarettes and cigars, then...

New taxes, deep cuts to education and health care, and a restructuring of the state's economic development programs will be hallmarks of [New York] Gov. David Paterson's first budget plan to be released in two days, according to interviews of people briefed on components.

The plan will come with a host of revenue raisers — increased taxes on hospitals and insurance policies, for instance — and at least one new assessment, a so-called obesity tax on non-diet soda to raise $404 million. The governor also is contemplating requiring new license plates to raise cash, reviving sales tax on clothing purchases, removing the tax cap on gasoline and threatening to require Indian retailers to collect taxes on sales to non-Indians by signing into law a bill passed earlier this year by the Legislature.

A Visit From the Christmas Spirit

10 days to go ....

Thus far on these 12 days I've gotten:

3 - Pastelitos
2 - Punch Cigars (Rare Carojos)
and a beer.(Hatuey)

Everything old is new again

"Russian warships bound for Cuba in new show of strength"

A group of Russian warships will from December 19-23 visit the Communist island of Cuba, a long-time adversary of the United States and Moscow's ally in the Cold War, the Russian navy said on Monday.

"This will be the first visit to Cuba by Russian warships since the Soviet era," the Russian naval headquarters said in a statement.

The destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two other ships will visit Havana in what the navy described as a "significant practical step towards strengthening and developing ties between the two states' navies."

Russian ships have been touring countries close to US waters in what is seen as a riposte to Washington's own moves in Russia's Soviet-era sphere of influence, including US naval deployments in the Black Sea.

Last month President Dmitry Medvedev visited Cuba on a four-country Latin American tour intended to revive what he called "privileged relations" that existed between Moscow and several Latin American states in the Cold War.

The Russian moves in Central and Latin America follow heightened tensions over this summer's Russian military onslaught in Georgia, a close US ally in the Caucasus.

The navy also announced the completion of a visit to Nicaragua, during which it delivered aid to the Central American country led by leftist President Daniel Ortega.

Ortega is due to visit Moscow this week.

"The Russian naval command believes visits by Russian ships to Venezuela, Panama and Nicaragua signify long-term prospects for developing cooperation among these countries' naval forces in the interest of developing stability and trust on the world's oceans," the navy said.

During the Cuba visit, residents will be welcomed aboard the Russian ships and Russian officers will lay flowers at a memorial to Cuban campaigner for independence and critic of US expansionism Jose Marti, the navy said.

A Robitussin Weekend

I havent written about the DC trip as apparently, walking around in 40 degree, rainy weather for two days can lead to really bad colds. Whodathunkit?

Spent the entire weekend in bed with chills, fever, cold sweats, aches in places I didnt even know I had, non-stop sneezing and a major, major cough. Hopefully all the meds Ive taken these past three days will finally kick in and kick this cold's ass.

Japi Birzdey Tu Yuuuuuu

Today one of our Babalu colleagues celebrates his birthday. Classified information regulations prohibit me from posting the actual number, but let's just say he ain't no baby.

Felicidades, Alberto, en tu día que lo pases con sana alegría muchos años de paz y armonía felicidad, felicidad, felicidad.

Yep, nothing like public embarrassment to end a beautiful friendship.

Cuban Regime Co-Produces Che Guevara Movie

"Che" film gets thumbs up in Cuba," ran the headline from CNN's Havana Bureau on Dec. 8. Benicio Del Toro, who stars as Che, was in the Cuban capital at the Havana Film Festival this week-end presenting the movie he co-produced. "Che the movie met Che the myth in Cuba this weekend," starts the CNN report, "and the lengthy biopic of the Argentinean revolutionary won acclaim from among those who know his story best. "

Indeed, but the acclaim came because those "who knew his story best" (Castro and his Stalinist henchmen, the film's chief mentors) saw that their directives had been followed slavishly, that Che's (genuine) story was completely absent from the movie. More here:

Searching for "The Shift" Part 12

This is the 12th in a series of analyses of the election results to see whether or not the Cubans are abandoning the GOP. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here. Part 5 is here. Part 6 is here. Part 7 is here. Part 8 is here. Part 9 is here. Part 10 is here. Part 11 is here.

In this part I wanted to examine how the three Cuban-American congressional incumbents from South Florida fared in comparison to John McCain. In order to do this I had to total presidential election results for the 587 different precincts that comprise the three districts in the county (because I'm interested in the Cuban-American vote I only looked at Miami-Dade County's election results even though the three districts contain parts of other counties).

As you can see above John McCain actually lost the Miami-Dade portions of two of the congressional districts.

Of course we know that all three incumbents won but it's telling that their personal popularity is significantly higher than McCain's was. They not only achieved higher PERCENTAGES than McCain, they received more ACTUAL VOTES than McCain. That is to say that the three candidates did not win because of the substantial number of voters who came to the polls on election day only to vote for Obama.

There's already been a flurry of news stories about polls indicating that a majority Cuban-Americans are against the U.S. embargo on Cuba. The above elections results show that such polls are B.S. The three congresspersons that were re-elected last month are the staunchest defenders of the embargo and also represent the greatest number of Cuban-Americans in the country. The people have spoken.

Another remarkable thing to note is the total rejection of Raul Martinez in the District 21 race. In 2006 an unknown Democrat named Frank J. Gonzalez ran against Lincoln Diaz-Balart and obtained 36.7% of the vote in Miami-Dade despite only raising $16,430. Martinez, the much ballyhooed former mayor of Hialeah, was only able to obtain 40.2% even after raising almost $1.9 million and that doesn't even include the substantial money spent by the Democratic party on the race.

Miserable ingrate, part 2

This is why we lost:

In a surprising rebuke to the warriors who fought for him through tough times, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday sided with President-elect Barack Obama and scolded the Republican National Committee for fanning the Illinois corruption scandal.

On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked: “The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, has been highly critical of the way President- elect Obama has dealt with this.

"He's had a statement every single day, saying that the Obama team should reveal all contacts they've had with Governor [Rod] Blagojevich. He says that Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested. Do you agree with that?”

McCain replied: “I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody — right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.”

Just this morning, the Republican National Committee released a Web video called “Questions Remain.”

“The video highlights the evolving explanations delivered by President-elect Obama and his advisers concerning their contact with the embattled and scandal-plagued Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich despite Obama’s promises to instill greater transparency and confidence in government,” the party’s announcement said.

Miserable ingrate

The perfect farewell. Throw two shoes at the man who gave you the freedom, paid for in American blood, to attend a press conference in a country that just five years ago was a bloody dictatorship. Fucking ungrateful asshole.

Herald Series - Cuba Revolution Turns 50

Today the Miami Herald kicked off a multi-week series commemorating the 50th anniversary of castro's takeover, which of course is this coming January 1st. The Herald has a series of articles in today's edition that are sure to generate discussion.

First up, Frances Robles writes about Cuba's "gains and despair". Of the articles published today, this one is probably the most controversial due to its attempt to balance the good (if it can indeed be called that) of the revolution with the bad.

For example:

Within two years after Castro emerged from the jungle in 1959 to seize control of the island, more than 700,000 Cubans learned how to read, and 25,000 new homes were built. Cuba's communist revolution would eventually produce so many doctors that last year there was one physician per 155 residents, more than double Florida's ratio. Before Castro, there was one doctor for every 1,058 people.

To be fair, Robles does counter every positive with at least one negative, so I won't go as far as stating that this is a castro propaganda piece of any kind. Check it out and decide for yourself.

The next article is a standard-issue summary of Cuban exile history by Fabiola Santiago. Nothing really noteworthy in this article.

Next up is not an article, but a database of Freedom Flight passengers. A neat idea, but the Herald's search function is messed up because the passenger names are listed in the wrong order: The listings under first name are actually the passenger's second surname (or is it the first?), and under middle name you actually have the passenger's first name. Confusing to say the least, and the Herald needs to fix this if they want to make it usable.

Lastly, we have the highlight of today's articles: a column by Andres Oppenheimer that pretty much nails the revolution to the wall with statistics and anecdotal evidence.

Fifty years after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, the big question about the Cuban revolution is not whether it was justified, but whether it was worth it. From all available evidence, it wasn't.

A dispassionate look into Cuba today shows that, while the country has reduced the pockets of extreme misery that existed during the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship, a majority of Cubans are poorer and have fewer opportunities to improve their lives than they did five decades ago.

Cubans today have a pretty low per capita income compared with other Latin American nations. They have fewer television sets, telephones, computers and cars relative to their population than most Latin American countries, and the lowest percentage of people with access to the Internet in the region, even below Haiti.

And while Cuba does well in literacy and infant mortality indicators, it does lousy in others. Cuba has one of the highest suicide rates in the Americas.

The rest of Oppenheimer's column appears below the fold. You can also check out a video interview with Oppenheimer here.

BY THE NUMBERS

Before we get into my own impressions from when I was a frequent visitor to the island in the early 1990s, let's look at the facts.

On the plus side, Cuba has a 99.8 percent adult literacy rate, one percent higher than Trinidad and Tobago's, and an infant mortality rate of six per 1,000 people, slightly lower than Chile's, according to the United Nations' 2008 Human Development Report. That makes it the country with the best adult literacy and infant mortality rates in the region.

But according to the U.N. 1957 Statistical Yearbook, Cuba already ranked among the four most advanced Latin American countries in literacy and caloric consumption rates that year, and had the lowest infant mortality in the region. In other words, Cuba has gone up three places in the literacy ranking, while retaining its status as the nation with the region's lowest infant mortality rates.

When it comes to personal income or standard of living statistics, the U.N. Human Development Report -- the Cuban government's favorite statistical source -- lists the island's per capita income at $6,000 a year, although the figure is accompanied by an asterisk indicating that it's a Cuban government estimate, and that ``efforts to produce a more accurate estimate are ongoing.''

In fact, Cuba refuses to calculate its per capita income according to international standards. The same thing happens with its poverty rates. Cuba agrees to use world-accepted statistical methods in those areas where it does well, such as heath and education, but refuses to do so in those areas where it may not do that well. The U.N. report's world poverty rates table leaves Cuba's line blank.

''Neither the United Nations nor any other international institution have the foggiest idea what Cuba's per capita income or poverty rates really are because Fidel ordered that the country use its own methodology,'' said Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a retired University of Pittsburgh economics professor who has long been one of the most serious analysts of the Cuban economy.

''The Cuban government's figures are not credible, which forces everybody else to use them with an asterisk or not to use them at all,'' he added.

What is known is that Cubans' average wage is nearly $20 a month, as recognized by the official media, which would translate to an average income of $240 a year.

Even if one accepted the Cuban regime's dubious $6,000-a-year-per-capita income figure -- it takes into account the government's food, health and education subsidies -- Cuba ranks No. 21 in Latin America, way behind countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Belize, according to the U.N. report.

Other international institutions publish figures that provide an even more somber picture of today's Cuba.

While the island in 1959 had Latin America's highest number of television sets per household, today only 70 percent of Cuban households have television sets, compared with 97 percent in Argentina, 93 percent in Mexico, 83 percent in El Salvador and 76 percent in the Dominican Republic, according to the World Bank's 2008 World Development Indicators.

When it comes to telephones, only 9 percent of Cubans have access to a fixed telephone line, and only 1 percent of the population subscribes to a mobile phone service, the World Bank figures show. That's one of Latin America's lowest telephone access rates, way behind Honduras.

What's worse, only 2 percent of Cubans have access to the Internet. By comparison, 27 percent of Costa Ricans, 10 percent of Guatemalans and 7 percent of Haitians have access to the Internet, according to the World Bank figures.

The Cuban government blames its economic shortcomings on the U.S. trade embargo. But while some of us consider the U.S. embargo a pretty senseless policy, it has so many loopholes that it can hardly be faulted for Cuba's low standard of living. The United States is already the leading exporter of food products to the island, and many other U.S. goods enter Cuba through third countries.

A DEARTH OF HOPE

Life in Cuba is grim, judging from what I saw on the island and what recent arrivals tell me.

The island is like a huge kindergarten, where you are guaranteed a subsistence-level income, but the government decides what you will study, where you will work, what you can buy, what you are allowed to read, what you can watch on television, and whether you can travel abroad. It's a safe place to live if you are lazy, or inept, but a pretty exasperating place if you are ambitious or have a mind of your own.

I remember an interview I did in Havana with Che Guevara's grandson, Canek Sánchez Guevara, in 1991, when the latter was a heavy metal rock musician in his late teens. Canek, who later emigrated to Mexico, was -- like many Cubans of his age -- very critical of the Cuban revolution.

''This revolution is in ruins,'' he told me. ``There is no food, there's no freedom. People say it's all because of the Yanqui aggression, but that's a myth, as real as dragons and witches, a children's tale.''

There was nothing for young people to do in Cuba, Canek told me. He was studying graphic design at an arts high school but considered it a waste of time.

''There's no paper, no pens and no interest on the part of the teachers to do anything,'' he said. ``And if you graduate, there is no work in your field. They'll ask you to go to the countryside and work in agriculture. This place is hopeless.''

When I asked him what Che Guevara would think of him if he were alive, the Cuban hero's grandson said that ``he would be proud of me. Che Guevara was a rebel. He never would have approved of what has become of this revolution.''

And things haven't changed much in recent years. Not surprisingly, every reporter who travels to Cuba comes back with the same impression: It's a country suspended in time, waiting -- so far in vain -- for something to change.

The part of Che Guevara's family that I met in Cuba is typical of today's generational divide on the island. Older Cubans tend to support the revolution -- they have invested their lives in it -- while middle-aged Cubans tend to be moderately critical of it, and most of the younger ones are against it. As one youngster told me in Havana, ``this revolution has become an institution.''

Cuba's state of hopelessness may be one of the factors leading to the island's high suicide rate of 24.8 per 100,000 people. Cuba had Latin America's highest suicide rate earlier this decade, and this year ranked fourth in the region, behind Guyana, Uruguay and Trinidad and Tobago, according to World Health Organization figures.

CURRENT SENTIMENT

Cuban officials admit that many Cubans complain about shortages and a lack of opportunities, but they claim that most Cubans support the revolution. I doubt that. What leads me to conclude that most Cubans would like a political opening and to enjoy basic freedoms?

First, because I heard many of them say so -- many of them with fear of being overheard -- when I was a frequent traveler to the island in the late '80s and early '90s. Second, because a surreptitious poll conducted in Cuba earlier this year by the International Republican Institute shows that nearly 70 percent of people aged 19 to 49 said they would like a democratic system with multiparty elections, freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

Third, and most importantly, because the Cuban government has a well-oiled polling machinery. If the Castro regime thought it could win a free election, and that Cubans were so proud of the revolution's achievements, it would have allowed a free election long ago. If it hasn't done so, it's because it knows it would lose it.

So was it worth it to marginally improve some social indicators at the cost of lowering the island's overall standard of living?

Definitely not.

Other countries, such as Chile and Costa Rica, have reduced poverty to a minimum with much less social trauma.

In Cuba, nearly 1.5 million people were forced into exile, hundreds of thousands of children have been separated from their parents, thousands -- tens of thousands, by some accounts -- have died at sea while trying to leave the island, and millions in Cuba have been forced to do ''voluntary work'' cutting sugar cane in the fields or doing other chores as part of their revolutionary duties.

And that's without taking into account victims of political violence. A total of 2,077 Cubans died in Cuba's ''internationalist'' wars in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia and other African countries, according to official figures cited by author Norberto Fuentes in his Autobiography of Fidel Castro.

In addition, the New Jersey-based Cuban Archive says it has documented 8,273 executions, extra-judicial killings and disappearances on the island since 1959. ''We have the names and sources for all these killings, and they are available on the Web,'' said Maria Werlau, the Archive's director.

The cost Cubans are paying in lost freedoms is enormous. There are more than 200 political prisoners, including 29 journalists arrested in 2003, according to human rights groups. Adolfo Fernández Sainz, one of the 29 journalists, is serving 15 years in prison for ''subverting the nation's internal order.'' At his trial, the government presented ''evidence'' of his crime confiscated at his apartment: an electric typewriter and prohibited books, including George Orwell's 1984.

My conclusion: The Cuban dictatorship has improved some social indicators, but other Latin American countries have done better in others without sacrificing basic freedoms, and with much less suffering. For Cubans, the revolution may have been justified, but it wasn't worth it.

Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape

You really do not need to have the sound turned up for this video; both of these murderous, thug dictators are only repeating the same tripe they repeat over and over again.

Witness, however, the awkwardness between the two degenerate despots when they attempt to give each other an affectionate man hug at the beginning of this video. Then witness the "take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape" reaction from the Cuban prince to end the second man hug at the end of the video.

Perhaps the crown prince of Cuba is simply not physically attracted to the simian king of Venezuela. Or perhaps there is no love lost between these two dictators, as reported in this news story.

Winterfest 2008 - Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade

Shot from this evening's parade. 12 More Days Until Xmas infidels!

The Doghouse - A Christmas message for men

An advertisement that I think is well worth seeing. Inventive, funny and very well done.

BTW, this is why I always buy jewelry or perfume for my wife at Christmas. :-)

Del Toro Turns Into Del Burro When Confronted About the REAL Che

Marlen González of channel 41 Miami interviewed Benicio del Toro about his movie, "Che," and asked him point blank why the "real che" was not shown. Del Toro simply could not answer and became visibly agitated, squirming and asking for a quote to be repeated. She came right out and asked him if che was an assassin. Del Burro did not miss a beat and said "No." Other gems- he doesn't think that all Cubans feel the same way about che, his answer to a comparison of Hitler with che was that he did not have concentration camps like Hitler but he did believe in the death penalty. El tartamudo said that the people che killed were terrorists of the Batista government and when Marlen said that 90% of those people were actually prisoners of conscience who opposed castro's regime, he said he did not know that and asked her where she got that information. She said it was historically documented and in Argentina, too. Later, she handed him a copy of "Guevara, Misionero de la Violencia" by Pedro Corzo!

Enjoy the whole wriggly think here.
Part 1-

Part 2-

Thanks to Jorge Barroso, who is now officially in love with Marlen.

Brief encounter with Mariela

      For Miguel, who still dreams of being a Social-Democratic woman

Yesterday I went to a conference on sexuality held at the Museum of Fine Arts. For two weeks, there has been a series on erotic art accompanied by films and talks. Just this Tuesday there was a chance to hear about the incorporation of transsexuals into society and the prejudices that still exist against them. So on the way to Alamar–where the Festival of Poetry Without End is going on–I dropped into the amphiteater in the old Asturian Center.

After the conference I had the chance to ask Mariela Castro a question that torments me every time I hear about tolerance for sexual preference. I still don’t understand that we accept the right of another to choose with whom they make love, however we continue in this ideological monogamy they have imposed on us. If concepts such as “sick” have now been banished from the study of homosexuality, why does the adjective “counterrevolutionary” continue to be used for those who think differently. For me, it’s as serious to call someone who doesn’t conform a “faggot” as it is to call them a “worm.”

As today is the day that those rights should be at the center of everyone’s attention, I want to show a short video of my brief encounter with Mariela. The audio is poor and so I have transcribed the dialog for those who are unable to hear everything.

Mariela: Including treatment for transgender people is something that’s called for in the law. We don’t ask for more.

Yoani: I’d like to ask if this entire campaign being undertaken, in some way, for society to accept sexual preference could, at some point, move to other roles and will also fight for tolerance of other aspects which could be points of view and political and ideological preferences. Will we also come out of these closets?

Mariela: I don’t know because I don’t work in that area. The ideological and political field is outside my responsibility. I think I am doing the best I can given my ability.

Translator’s note

Mariela Castro Espin is the daughter of Raul Castro and his late wife Vilma Espin, and she is the niece of Fidel Castro. She is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education and an advocate for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.


This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

O, Dear Lord

Like my colleague at Penultimos Dias, when I read it, I had to look to God.

A mass - in Cuba - to thank God for the Cuban Revolution.

Why the Big Three can't compete

The picture above is of the Union of American Auto Worker's contract with Ford. Rules and regs that certainly don't make Ford more competitive.

H/T: MichelleMalkin.com

Mitch McConnell's Finest Hour

Great op ed in today's WSJ which expresses what I've been saying on this auto bailout. Unlike the pea brain buttwipe lefty union butt kissing putzes who don't know crap about labor law or economics, it was the Senate GOP that had the balls to say no to the giveaway.

They could have had a deal, but the unions (the UAW has a monopoly on the car industry by law) refused to agree to have their wages reduced so that they were equal to the average wage given to foreign car workers in the US. They wanted to wait until the current contract expired. Well see if the car companies go into Chapter 11, then those contracts are history anyway. But as is typical, the unions would rather see the companies go into Ch. 11 or would rather have free taxpayer money rather than making concessions to make these companies competitive. I also think that the execs. should not get paid any bonuses or crazy compensation until these companies show a profit and pay all the taxpayer money back. Here's the article:

In the Senate's Thursday night automobile showdown, the United Auto Workers said "No thanks" to a bailout with strings attached. Most Senate Republicans took them at their word and voted to block the bill. But within hours, President Bush blinked and Treasury is now scrambling to use money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Who'd have thought Mr. Bush would want to join the long line of Detroit executives in caving to the UAW?

Senate Republicans had more gumption. Led by Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, they asked the auto workers to show they were serious about making Detroit competitive again. In exchange for a lifeline from Washington, Mr. Corker wanted the union to set a "date certain" in 2009 for lowering the Detroit Three's hourly labor costs to the average of foreign-owned auto makers in the U.S. He also wanted creditors to bring down Detroit's total debt by two-thirds through an equity swap, making sure debtholders share the cost of restructuring.

The union's counteroffer was that it would bring down labor costs in 2011, when its current contracts run out. Maybe we missed something, but we thought GM and Chrysler were facing bankruptcy now, not in three years. As Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor, that sounds like "taxpayer money today for reforms that may or may not come tomorrow."

Thursday's showdown marked an important political moment for the Republican Party. By refusing to write a blank check to Detroit, Senate Republicans have started to reclaim some credibility on fiscal policy and the role of government in the economy. They did so standing up to a Republican President who doesn't want any more bad headlines, as well as to Democrats who will blame the GOP if the auto makers collapse.

They also stood up for the right reasons. No bailout will ever restore the car companies to profitability without a restructuring. Yet an explicit UAW goal is to use the bailout to avoid any such thing. The union and their Democratic protectors want to avoid the discipline that a bankruptcy could impose under Chapter 11. A government-directed salvation would also give environmentalists huge leverage over the cars Detroit builds, a power they and Democrats have wanted for decades.

Sorry to say, within hours Friday morning the White House was saying that it would be "irresponsible" to let the companies fail. If the Administration believes that, it would be equally irresponsible not to insist on the same commitments that Mr. Corker couldn't get. If the Treasury gives GM and Chrysler bridge loans without strict conditions, Democrats will pocket that precedent and avoid any serious changes when they work out a long-term deal in January.

The TARP wasn't designed and was never intended to bail out industrial firms. The moral hazard inherent in TARP was substantial even when it was limited to financial companies. If it becomes a pot of gold for any industry needing a hand, it will become a real monster. Treasury has already run through the TARP's first $335 billion, with just $15 billion left before he has to seek further authorization from Congress. That $15 billion might tide GM and Chrysler over until the new Congress convenes, but it will leave him with little running room to help out the banking system. As the recession deepens, more banks are likely to fail, and preventing a systemic financial collapse was the justification for giving Treasury the authority it enjoys under the TARP.

The bailout's backers argue that a GM bankruptcy would hold as much systemic risk for the real economy as a huge bank failure, but those risks are overstated. Chapter 11 is a well-established tool for financial restructuring. It is not tantamount to collapse or liquidation. If White House economist Ed Lazear is worried that no one will accept a car warranty from a bankrupt company, then Congress can address that specific problem rather than write an open-ended check. Chapter 11 could well offer a speedier resolution to the auto makers' plight than a slow-motion, politically infected catastrophe that could easily cost $125 billion or more.

President Bush is on a valedictory tour talking up his accomplishments, but he'd do more for his legacy if he refused to offer Detroit, Democrats, unions and the greens a taxpayer E-Z pass. At least the rest of his party has figured out what's really going on.

Please add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum.

The Spies Above

The Independent from the UK has a good article today on the state of human rights in Cuba. The main subjects in Leonard Doyle's article are a man named "Carlos" and Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a leading dissident. Instead of the usual media fluff about the quaint old cars and lack of commercialism, you get a scary but real look at what ordinary Cubans have to put up with on a daily basis.

Here's a sample:

Care is needed because the Specialised Police are everywhere in Havana. They seem to have two functions. The first is to ensure that nothing disturbs the flow of tourist dollars to government-owned hotels. The second is to ensure that ordinary Cubans are kept as far as possible from the visitors who might give them ideas about human rights.

Carlos's floor is divided between four families with a linking passageway outside. There is almost no privacy and he and his family are cooped up like battery hens in the tumbledown building. It seems not to have had a lick of paint since the revolution. And because Carlos is himself a human-rights activist he has never been able to find work. By inviting me into his home without official permission, which would never be granted, he risks being arrested.

Link to entire article here.

This is CNN...

We've always joked that CNN stands for castro news network. Well it turns out that we were right. Ted Turner, founder of CNN, apparently says in his new autobiography that the idea for CNN came from none other than fidel himself. Turner was recently on the O'Reilly Factor shilling for the dictator:

Well, I admire certain things about him. He's trained a lot of doctors, and they've got one of the best educational systems in the developing world. And you know, he's still popular with a lot of people down there....

O'Reilly reminded Turner that Mussolini made the trains run on time and Turner has this to say:

Well, OK, well, if you don't see the difference between Castro and Mussolini, you know, then you know, I likened some aspects of FOX News to the Nazis, so, I mean, you know, it works both ways.

How this guy made a single penny being so stupid is a mystery to me.

This just in...

Official press release:

Secretary Gutierrez to Speak on the “Costs and Consequences of the Cuban Revolution” at the Heritage Foundation

WASHINGTON–U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez will deliver the keynote address at the Heritage Foundation’s “Cuba at the Crossroads Series,” Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008. Gutierrez will discuss the upcoming 50th anniversary of Castro’s rule in Cuba, and the need for democratic change to bring free and fair elections, freedom of speech and fundamental human rights to the Cuban people.

WHO: Panel Presentation:
Lee Edwards, Ph.D., Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought-Heritage Foundation
Mark Falcoff, Ph.D., Resident Scholar Emeritus, American Enterprise Institute
Keynote Address:
Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, U.S. Secretary of Commerce

WHAT: “Freedom Denied: The Costs and Consequences the Cuban Revolution”
Panel Presentation and Keynote Address

WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008
Panel Presentation: 10:30 a.m.
Keynote Address: 11:30 a.m.
Press check-in: 10:15 a.m.

WHERE: Heritage Foundation
Allison Auditorium
214 Massachusetts Ave., NE
Washington, D.C. 20002

Raging Against The Democracy

American rock and rollers and musicians have finally taken an interest in the human right “abuses” going on in Cuba.

It took 50 years, but they have finally caught on.

They weren’t too concerned when [c]he [g]uevara, the t-shirt icon/serial killer, deemed Jazz and Rock and Roll the product of imperialist decadence and had them banned.

Mum was the song when [f]idel declared that music and all other forms of artistic expression were tools of the revolution, propaganda, when he decreed that “within the revolution everything and outside of the revolution nothing.”

When Cuban musicians were not allowed to record or have their music played on state radio because of their dissenting views, we heard the sounds of silence.

And you barely heard a whisper when Porno Para Ricardo’s Gorky was arrested for disturbing the dictatorship by playing his punk rock a little too loud and true for the regime in his sound proofed apartment.

But now, the freedom loving American Rock and Roll rebels are singing a different tune.

A campaign being launched today has brought together groups including Massive Attack and musicians such as Tom Morello, who played with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave and is now on a solo tour. It will feature minutes of silence during concerts and festivals, said Chloe Davies of the British law group Reprieve, which represents dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees and is organizing the campaign.

You see, on the 0.04% of Cuba that is governed by the rule of law, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the US authorities have been playing the rock and roll a little too loud for the terrorists detained in “club gitmo”. They don’t want their art to be used as weapons of mass disturbance.

Rather than concern themselves with why the Cubans on the other 96.96% of the island do not have freedom of expression or why there's a mine field and machine guns to prevent Cubans from trading places with the tortured terrorist, they concern themselves with the quality of life of the well fed, well housed enemies of America.

Funny, I was writing this rant, it went in a totally different direction. I was going to try to point out the inconsistency of logic in the musicians, but I wound up realizing that their logic is actually consistent.

Not only have they not spoken out against the [c]astro regime, they have for the most part stood in solidarity with [c]astro in denouncing and protesting the American way of life. They have idolized [c]he, one of the most bigoted sensors of the 20th century, and now, like the regime did to Gorky, they want to silence the music that disturbs America’s enemies.

Here’s a quote of Tom Morello that explains why he would more concerned for the terrorists in Gitmo than for the long suffering Cubans on the rest of the island:

“America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve. ”

— Tom Morello, Guitar World

Tom poses proudly in front of posters of the two biggest mass murderers in human history

It’s easy to rage against a machine that was built to guarantee your right to do so. It so easy, anybody, even the clueless and the posers, can do it. But try raging against the regime like Gorky has, Tom. Morello had the chance to invite Gorky on stage when he played in Havana with Audioslave. He had a chance to stand up for human rights and against exploitation and oppression, but no, he only rages against democracies. It's easy, painless and lucrative.

P.S. Note to the DHS: Serenade the terrorists with “Cat Scratch Fever” and a little “Wango Tango”, Ted Nugent won’t mind.

An obituary (Content warning)

Forgive me ladies, but I have to report to the gentlemen in our audience that Bettie Page passed away yesterday at the age of 85. If you know who she was no words are needed; if you don't, no amount of words are enough...

A video message from Yoani Sanchez

A translation of Yoani's call to action, via YucaBaby:

I would like, with this message, which I send like a letter in a bottle thrown at sea for all the bloggers of the world, to say that yes, we exist, we need your help, we need technological knowledge, bibliographies, ideas for how to overcome censorship, and above all, support and solidarity. So that we don't feel as if we are alone, so that we may leap over that hoop, that wall of control that moves around us. To open some cracks {in that wall}, and, someday, perhaps one that is not so far away, dynamite it.

The Advocate magazine takes Sean Penn to the woodshed

In a surprising and well written article in the premier gay magazine, The Advocate, James Kirchick takes actor and political dimwit, Sean Penn, to the proverbial woodshed for a good old-fashioned beat down.

Fresh of his performance in the movie Milk, Penn is poised to win all sorts of awards from gay rights organizations for his portrayal of gay rights activist, Harvey Milk. Kirchick feels that Penn's coddling of dictators such as the Castro brothers and Hugo Chavez, however, disqualifies him from being an advocate for gay rights. It is an intellectually honest assessment of Penn who decries the so-called atrocities of the US and western culture, while fawning over leftist dictators who have murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people--straight and gay.

It’s not surprising that Sean Penn, thanks to his star turn as Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s biopic Milk, is becoming a hero to gays. His performance is moving and, judging by the archival film footage, flawless; Penn simultaneously renders Milk as a figure of historic importance and a vulnerable individual with a sparkling sense of humor. Aside from the acting prizes he will surely win (and deservingly), Penn is likely to earn himself the iconic status of “straight ally,” a heterosexual who goes out of his way to take a stand for gay rights and is thus showered with praise from gays. A GLAAD Media Award, honors from the Human Rights Campaign, and a slew of prizes from other prominent gay rights organizations are only a matter of time.

Which is a shame, because Penn’s political activism, irrespective of his views on gay rights, negates the values for which a movement based upon individual freedom must stand.

The same week that Milk premiered in theaters, The Nation published a cover story by Penn based on interviews he conducted recently with Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro, the dictators of Venezuela and Cuba respectively. The article is a love letter to the two men, defending them against all manner of Western “propaganda.” It hearkens back to the notorious dispatches penned by Westerners fresh from the Soviet Union who reported on the amazing progress of the workers' paradise. These worshipful epistles, often published in The Nation, neglected to mention anything about the gulag, the “disappearance” of political dissidents, the Ukrainian famine, or any other such inconvenient truths about communism. Lenin termed the individuals who delivered these apologetics “useful idiots,” and Penn and his enablers are nothing if not that.

This article in the Advocate is today's must read and you can read it HERE.

Friday Sound-off Open Thread

I'm too tired to write anything so feel free to comment on whatever the hell you want. Here's a conversation starter: the Big Three Auto Maker bailout failed to pass the Senate last night, and that's a good thing. Discuss.

"Killer Chic: Hollywood's Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara"

TEXT OF PRESS ALERT SENT TODAY BY CUBA ARCHIVE:

Today Reason.TV released the short, 8-minute long documentary, "Killer Chic: Hollywood's Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara." Available here, it is a timely contribution as a new film glamorizing Ché Guevara is being released.

During its on-going investigations, Cuba Archive has found that most of the men executed by order of Ché Guevara were career or low-ranking members of the Police or Armed Forces of Cuba who had performed their constitutional duties and had committed no crimes despite serving under a 7-year dictatorship. In many cases, they came from families that had served their country for several generations. A few were members of paramilitary groups or protective forces that had committed crimes under the Batista dictatorship. But, none had the benefit of trials conducted with basic rules of jurisprudence. In Santa Clara, in just two days, Ché ordered several executions that were immediately carried out and were publicized by the Cuban media -some were shown on national television. At La Cabaña Fortress prison, where Ché was put in charge, the accused were put through summary trials at which the prosecutor’s accusations were considered irrefutable proof of guilt and capital punishment had often been preordained. “Witnesses,” if any, were regularly brought in and coached to give false testimony and appeals, if allowed, took minutes and were followed by the swift execution of the defendants.

Guevara is reported by several of his former underlings to have demanded no delays with the proceedings, admonishing: "This is a revolution. Do not use bourgeois legal methods; evidence is secondary. We must proceed to convict.” He showed no mercy for those sentenced to death and mocked and terrorized their suffering families, quickly becoming known as “The Butcher of La Cabaña." The history is well known –in fact, the events were deliberately publicized by the government in order to spread fear among the population. Among his later deeds, he inspired the concentration camps established in Cuba for youngsters, gays, and religious figures, called for nuclear annihilation of the United States, and worked to establish Maoist-Communist revolution in Africa and Latin America.

Ché Guevara has turned into a capitalist marketing phenomenon. Most people who romantically use or promote his iconic imagery ignore the uglier and monstrous, yet certain, truths of his life. Regrettably, some do so by choice. Whether delusional or malevolent, it is a disservice to history. Moreover, it is abhorrently insensitive to the memory of his victims, to loved ones who suffered such tragic losses, to survivors of prison camps and many of his other victims, and to universally-held principles he trampled on, including that of self-determination, free press and association, and the sanctity of human life.

Cuba Archive's updated list of documented killings by Ché Guevara in Cuba is available here. The circumstances and sources surrounding all cases appearing on this list are available for review in the electronic database of documented cases, which may be accessed here. In many cases, sources include direct testimony from family members of victims or witnesses to the events.

We must not remain silent, we, Cuban exiles, Cuban Americans, and those who know the truth, have a responsibility to that truth.

Just as there is no film glorifying Hitler or Stalin, this film is an abomination that should not have been made.
If you live in the Los Angeles area, In the name of the victims, please join us in publicly denouncing “Che.”

Where: The Landmark Theatre, 10850 West Pico Blvd , Los Angeles , CA 90064

When: Friday, December 12, 7:00-9:00 PM

This is your chance to counter the Hollywood myth makers revising Cuban history. Bring whatever you like, we will be reading the names of the victims from the Cuba Archive list.

For more information, email Fernando, fmarquet@sbcglobal.net, or Ziva ziva@babalublog.com

Great piece at Reason.com about Sean Penn's idiotic attempts at diplomacy:

And while it is perhaps unfair to beat up on a credulous, self-important, and solipsistic vanity journalist like Sean Penn, it does serve to remind that the Hollywood narrative of revolutionary Cuba—perpetuated by, among others, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Benicio Del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Naomi Campbell, and Michael Moore—stubbornly, like Fidel himself, refuses to die.

Reason.com is a great source for libertarian analysis.

Home, sweet home

I've just arrived from a pretty grueling day and a half in the Nations Capital and Im beat. It was an incredible and productive trip, the results of which I'm sure will bear fruit. I'll post details in the next couple days but right now, I want to thank the most excellent writers and bloggers on the net, our contributors, for busting their behinds and publishing incredible pieces while I was in DC.

Gracias, guys, you truly are the heart and soul of this blog.

As a quick tease, here's an image of our meeting with The President of the United States.

I told you so!

The headline above is a tongue in cheek jab at good friend of Babalu, Nelson Guirado.

A Post of Two Headlines

In an earlier post. I highlighted the pernicious effects of naive or cynical reporting, to wit- the AP article. Well, the Miami Herald, which newspaper more than any other in the world should be aware of the trampling of human rights in Cuba, picked up the Anita Snow story online... with headline intact:

Foreign Minister: Cuba can be Proud of its Rights Record

Contrast that to the AFP story posted on NASDAQ:

Cuba Defends Rights Records; Opposition Denounces Arrests

Now which of the two is more accurate? It is bad enough that the AP chooses to produce this tripe, but that the Miami Herald should propagate it is beyond all belief. One is left to surmise that A) the Miami Herald believes that the hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles who came to these shores with only the shirts of their backs are liars or lunatics, B) the management of the Miami Herald dislikes Cubans so much that it is willing to perpetuate what it knows to be a misleading story, or C) the organization is so slipshod in its journalism that it publishes said misleading story. As far as I can see, their is no alternative.

Vintage Reporting

The Human Rights Foundation, put out statement today trying to bring attention to the Human Rights abuses perpetrated on Cubans who wished to commemorate Humans Rights Day by the [c]astro regime:

At least 20 activists were detained in Cuba this week for planning to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). According to independent and verifiable sources inside Cuba, detainees, some of who were taken by force and beaten, include former political prisoners, human rights activists, opposition political leaders, and independent journalists.

In a retort to Cuba’s Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque's assertion tha Cuba cand "hold its head high" on its Human Rights records despite some "imperfections" in an tAnita Snow Associated Press article , HRF’s COO, had this practical advice for the pragmatic [r]aúl [c]astro:

“If the Cuban government wants to demonstrate improvement on human rights, it should start by honoring its international commitments by respecting the rights of human rights defenders to celebrate Human Rights Day,”

It’s really disheartening to note, once again, that while people are being beaten and detained for something as innocuous as celebrating the signing of a UN declaration that , as we learned yesterday, their country was instrumental in drafting and implementing, the reports of these atrocities are not disseminated by the free press.

No. What were the “reporters” that work for the press agencies in Havana writing about other than acting as press associates to Felipe Pérez Roque and the regime?

Well, Reuter’s, Patrick Markey, was busy telling the world about the quaint, “vintage” cars of Cuba. These almendrones, you see, are the vestiges of old Detroit and symbols of the American free market, now rusted and obsolete.

To take a swipe at American consumerism, Markey quotes street economist/ marketing expert/ taxi driver/sage Argelio Hernandez who hasn’t seen a new car in 51 years:

"The companies are never going to build quality cars because they need the market."

I guess that’s what progressives call progress. Freeze the economy, have the government redistribute the current inventory of goods and have the citizens “invent” on how to keep things running without ever producing anything. This way you keep the people too busy to demand change for fifty years. And if they do, well, ignore their plight and write about what a great job they do at making something out of nothingness.

Go have another mojito, Patrick.

Cynthia McKinney's Cuba Libre

Some crazy stuff by Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney posted on Independent Political Report regarding her current visit to Cuba. I realize this is the least we can expect from McKinney, but the mixture of absurdity and contradiction in her piece is something that is still astounding no matter the source or the circumstances.

A sample:

Hello! I am typing on a Spanish language keyboard and so, I am having to make adjustments. Please pardon me if things are not quite right. However, I am so excited, I hope you won´t mind me sharing with you my experiences as I prepare to participate in an international conference in Havana, Cuba. I am in Cuba Libre.

I was particularly struck by the content of a conversation I had at the Miami airport with a female employee of the United States State Department who works at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba. I can´t tell you why she came over to me to strike up a conversation. But she did. Here´s how it went:

She: Do you live in Cuba?
Me: No, I do not.

She: I work at the State Department
Me: I oppose the State Department

She: Why?
Me: Because of the policy.

She: It´s a job! I don´t like the policy either.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”.

McKinney also writes passionately about the "tough minded island people":

I really do believe that this last election was about people in our country trying to have a little of that dignidad and feeling of Cuba Libre. But given the assassination attempts and the continued occupation of Guantanamo Bay, and the multiple acts of terror sponsored by our government to destabilize this idyllic, yet tough minded island people, it must be clear that dignidad is not something one can get on the cheap.

At Your Own Risk ...

Don’t have a Patatún or a Sirimba, but here’s an op-ed. from the bankrupt South Florida Sun Sentinel that brings facts and reality as opposed to the wishful thinking and hope for change of the anti-embargo crowd to the recent media campaign for change in the United State’s Cuba policy.

Obama administration could be yet another that fails to change Cuba Guillermo I. MartinezColumnist December 11, 2008

This theater of the absurd has a revival every four or eight years; every time the United States elects a new president.

The plot is simple. The United States should lift the economic embargo on Cuba imposed almost half a century ago. Most embargo opponents say Washington should do so unilaterally, without any pre-conditions. Cuba will change by itself once we lift an economic embargo that clearly has not worked.

An American initiative of this type, the thinking goes on, would pressure Cuba to reciprocate and release its political prisoners, soften restrictions on some type of private ownership of property and businesses and end the stranglehold the regime holds on all facets of life on the island.

At this point, the violins play vigorously to introduce actor Vinicio del Toro as Che Guevara, as in the film. Drums bang as Roger Cohen publishes a lengthy article on Cuba in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine. A new poll says Cuban-Americans want the embargo lifted.

Finally a magazine publishes an interview with Raúl Castro saying he is willing to meet with president-elect Barack Obama at a neutral site, "for example, Guantanamo."

All want Obama to lift the embargo and restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba. Changes in Cuba will come later.

All of these polls, books, articles and lobbying never mention the times different administrations in Washington tried to establish closer ties with Fidel Castro's regime, always to be rebuked and embarrassed internationally.

Efforts at improving relations with Havana began under President Gerald Ford and continued with Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Castro's response to some of these efforts: Sending Cuban troops to Africa to fight on behalf of the Soviet Union; the Mariel Boatlift; machine-gunning Cubans trying to leave the island on a tugboat; having Cuban pilots in Soviet-made jets shoot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes; and allowing more than 35,000 Cubans to leave the island in 1994 on rafts made of anything that would float.

Anyone naive enough is welcome to try again. They do so at their own risk.

Cuban Repression: A snapshot from 1973

The Organization of American States, Inter-Commission on Human Rights:

CHAPTER I

SITUATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA

A. Right to Live

1. A communication of May 15, 1973, states:

“We wish to advise Your Excellency that the life of the student Pedro Luis Boitel is in danger as a consequence of recent tortures. Boitel is at present arrested in Castillo Principe, Havana, Cuba, partially crippled as a result of previous tortures and ill treatment. We request urgent action to save his life.”

In a note dated May 24, 1972, the Commission requested the corresponding information from the Cuban government, transmitting the pertinent parts of the report, in accordance with Articles 42 and 44 of its Rules of Procedure.

Another report on the same subject was received on May 28 of the same year. It stated:

“I do not think it is necessary to tell you who belong to the Spanish-speaking world, the deep sorrow felt by us, the exiled Cubans, at this terrible time, in which the news of Boitel’s murder has reached us, nor do I believe it necessary to tell his story since you should know it.

But just in case you do not, this young, courageous, upright and Christian Cuban had been kept prisoner in Cuban prisoners for almost eleven years, and was one of the most persecuted, humiliated and ill-treated political prisoners in Latin America. He was very often cruelly punished and submitted to terrible tortures, to the point that he became a cripple, losing first the use of his legs and then his sight, as a matter that apparently caused no concern to any organization. I have written many letters requesting help for this unfortunate man without getting even a reply to them and now, only a few days ago, he has been stabbed to death.”

In a note of June 6, 1972, the Commission again requested the Cuban government for the corresponding information.

After the expiration of the statutory term without a reply from the Cuban government to those requests for information, the Commission adopted a decision on this case (OEA/Ser.L/V.II.39, doc.4 rev. 2) in its thirtieth session (April 1973).

In the resolution, following a detailed account of the denunciations sent to the Commission since 1965, reporting on the situation of the political prisoner Boitel, and of the steps taken by the Commission before the government of Cuba and the systematic silence of the Cuban authorities in the face of the Commission’s requests for information, the Commission decided to make no recommendations to that government in accordance with Articles 9.b and 9 bis.b of its Statute since they would serve no practical purpose, and to transmit the denounced facts to the General Assembly, as a most serious instance of violation of the right to life, liberty, and security of human beings, set down in Article I of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.

The resolution was transmitted to the Cuban government in a note dated June 15, 1973 and submitted to the General Assembly of the Organization in the Annual Report of the Commission for that year.

Cuban Christmas memories of long ago

The latest edition of Jose Reyes' Cubanology-Biweekly is out. It includes Sonia Martinez' Christmas reminisces from her Cuban childhood (tissue alert), and Howard E. Morseburg sends a Letter to his Congressman.

Read them here.

Killer Chic

Reason.com's Nick Gillespie tries to find the reasons behind Hollywood's sick obsession with Che Guevara.

I say they are just plain idiots.

You can read the article that accompanies the video HERE.

Oliver Stoned To Make New Propoganda Film About El Burro Chavez

Ok all you lefties and progressives out there, I'm sure your panties will get soaked when you read this:

Oliver Stoned, the famed director who brought us the propoganda flms on JFK, W, and fifo, now plans on making another "Bio" on fifo's pimp, Hugo Chavez. Read it here.

Yep all those "progressive" mother jones, huffington post, daily kos, readers can watch another movie starring their idol from caracas.

I guess in return for the pic, hugo will supply Ollie with plenty of drugs from Evo Morales....

Ollie and Hugo, a Stoner and a Boner .... a perfect pair.

The BabaluBlog Radio Hour | Universal Human Rights Edition | Tonight 9:00 PM EST

Val will be calling in around 9:15 PM to talk about his experience in Washington DC today and the mettings with other bloggers and the President of the United States. The BabaluBlog Radio Hour starts at 9:00 PM. Don't miss this show! The call-in number is (646) 652-4506, or you can send an email to Henry and I with questions or comments. The show begins at 9:00 PM EDT. Don't miss the opportunity to call in and participate!

Please Make It Stop- Part 2

I sure am glad that all this Obama merchandise is available because I definitely missed the boat when all the Bush sneakers, skateboards, nail art and paper dolls were being sold in 2000 and 2004.

Che is even more jealous now, because not only did his face never grace the fingernails of rappers,

Irony defined

It's one of the saddest ironies of history that Cuba, one of the countries that was instrumental in developing the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is one of the few countries where you can be imprisoned for carrying a copy of it.

Some great historical documents about Cuba's role in the declaration are here, courtesy of PenultimosDias.com

On the Harmful Effects of Snow

On this day, when numbers of planned observances of International Human Rights Day were short-circuited by the regime which beat some, threatened more, detained some, corralled others in their homes, a day when 32 Ladies in White managed to march in front the Capitol in Havana, demanding freedom and distributing copies of the Declaration of Human Rights, things in the socialist paradise being so bleak that citizens don't know they have any inherent rights, Anita Snow files an article, which despite mentions of the ladies and the remarks of the Commerce Secretary, is essentially an open platform for Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque to declaim that, despite some "imperfections' Cuba can be "proud" of how it has treated its people. After all, you won't find any children squeeging windshields he maintains.

So what is the problem? The problem is that the unknowing peruse the headlines and are left to think that Cuba treats its people well. After all, if it weren't true, AP wouldn't let it leave uncontested, would they? Must be those nasty robber baron exiles in Miami making up lies. Now, if they are really interested and read the article, they are only a little better off. They are left with the impression that things in Cuba are not that bad. Other than a nice and sanitary reference to "political prisoners," there is no light shed on the most oppressive of States in the Western Hemisphere. No recognition that failing to toe the party line can result in charges of "pre-criminal dangerousness" and imprisonment, no mention of the lack of true due process. No allusion to Oscar Biscet's original 4 by 5 cell where he lived in the darkness with only a hole for his sanitary needs, no description of the conditions that cause the aforementioned political prisoners to go on hunger strikes and sew their mouths shut in desperation. No hat tip to the death sentence by malevolent neglect, the refusal of medical care, ad inifinitum.

There is no acknowledgement of an atmosphere of fear, in which your neighbors in the CDR are encharged with spying on you, dragging you out to vote where the outcome is a foregone conclusion, and rabbles are choreographed to harass, threaten and beat dissidents in "acts of repudiation." Streets where he whose name may not be uttered is indicated with a gesture denoting a beard. It is a place where information is so strictly controlled that citizens may not have internet access and private individuals at great personal peril create impromptu libraries with tourist castoffs and prerevolutionary relics, the only free and unfettered reading material on the island.

This article which presents the pretty words of the regime with no qualifications essentially maintains that his spew is true. It not only does harm to the Cuban people whose plight remains unreported; it also does a disservice to its readers, particularly in the United States; and on this day in particular its business as usual focus is a disgrace.

Contrast that with the article by Sara Miller Llana in the Christian Science Monitor which details the beating of Belinda Salas Tapanes. I was wrong in my earlier post: at least one reporter cared enough to mention it.

Secretary Gutierrez Statement on Human Rights Day

WASHINGTON – U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez released the following statement on Human Rights Day:

“On Human Rights Day, it is important to remember the plight of the Cuban people, who live under a totalitarian dictatorship that has denied them human rights for almost half a century. The Castro regime prevents its citizens from having an elected and democratic government, freedom of speech and fundamental human rights.

“The Cuban government jails hundreds of political prisoners who continue to suffer under dismal conditions and are denied access to human rights organizations such as the International Red Cross. On this very day, Cuban authorities have detained and beaten dozens of Cuban citizens who were attempting to peacefully celebrate human rights day in Cuba. For example, according to reports from the island, Belinda Salas Tápanes, Marlenis Bermudez, Lazaro Joaquin Alonso Román, and Roberto Marrero, activists from the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) organization and the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners Association, were brutalized and detained by eight police officers led by an official from State Security.

“The Cuban people deserve to live with freedom and dignity. As President Bush stated, ‘So long as there are people who fight for liberty, the United States will stand with them and speak out for those who have no other voice.’”

Secretary Gutierrez co-chairs the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a U.S. Cabinet-level commission formed to explore ways the United States can help hasten and ease a democratic transition in Cuba.

Say no to the Butcher of la Cabaña

This week, Benicio Del Toro was in Havana celebrating the opening of “Che,” a film that glorifies the Butcher of la Cabaña.

We must not remain silent, we, Cuban exiles, Cuban Americans, and those who know the truth, have a responsibility to that truth. Just as there is no film glorifying Hitler or Stalin, this film is an abomination that should not have been made.

In the name of the victims, please join us in publicly denouncing “Che.”

Where: The Landmark Theatre, 10850 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064

When: Friday, December 12, 7:00 PM

For more information, email Fernando: fmarquet@sbcglobal.net, or Ziva: ziva@babalublog.com.

A Cuban at the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I was sent this with short notice so I'll post the accompanying PDF file sent to Val by Ernesto Hernandez Busto. The file relates the accomplishments of Guy Perez Cisneros, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations and co-Chair of the committee responsible for the creation and discussion of the Declaration among the United Nations delegates.

While a Cuban was at the creation of this document, it is the Cuban regime on the island that is doing its level best to make a mockery of its noble goals and language. Irony indeed.

According to Exiles...

So I’m looking for ANY kind of news of what is going on in Cuba today and I wind up on the Miami Herald’s website.

And there, camouflaged between the stories about how wonderful the Cuban tourism is doing, (unfortunately there is always a demand for underage sexual tourism), and Raúl’s travel itinerary and Barack Obama’s challenge of finally “conceding” “failure” and changing the US policy towards Cuba due to the pressure of foreign governments, (presumably from the same governments that unscornfully supply the sexual tourists), was an article on how Cuban police are detaining activists prior to Human Rights Day. And I was happy.

For a New York minute.

As I was looking for a quote to paste in this here post, it hit me. Here’s the quote:

Up to a dozen human rights activists have been detained in Cuba in police operations apparently intended to keep them from attending Human Rights Day events in Havana on Wednesday, according to exile groups in Miami.

According to exile groups in Miami.

You know why that is? It’s because if exile groups in Miami don’t do it, nobody will.

The Associated Press, Reuters, et al are always there to write about Cuba’s free healthcare and education, but never about their cost. They’re always there to “report” about Cuba’s sugar harvest but never about Cuba’s hunger. The “reporters” are always there to tell us about the Cuban tourism, but never about its captives.

Those stories are almost always told according to “exiles.”

And that’s why, I for one, am glad that not only is President Bush raising awareness about the oppressed people of the world by hosting the roundtable discussion that Prieto is attending, but also for pointing out that it is up to citizens, using the freedom of the internet, to bear witness to the oppression and injustice worldwide-because the free press isn’t doing their jobs.

And that is why Babalu is here and why Val is in DC when he would rather be in Mancamp... according to this exile.

Don't legitimize the utterly illegitimate

My latest column at Pajamas Media is about the current cry for President Obama to meet with raul castro to solve the conflict "between the U.S and Cuba." The problem, of course, is that the conflict is between the castro regime and the Cuban people.

Repression in Cuba

To mark Human Rights Week as the castro dictatorship nears its 50th anniversary, let's take a look back at the status of Human Rights in Cuba over the years. I'll start with this snapshot from a FIU Report circa 1997.

Direct Repression- Early in the revolution, obvious abuses started with the numerous unjustified executions by firing squads, brazenly publicized to intimidate the population. Executions have also been accompanied by the practice of extracting most of the blood from the condemned men before execution. This practice has taken place extensively and appears to continue until now.

Great publicity surrounded the firing squad executions that began in 1959. Their purpose was to terrorize, as seen in the case of Col. Cornelio Rojas. The executions continue to this day and are politically motivated.

The cruelty of the regime is further manifested not only in the exceptionally long prison sentences, but also in the extremely harsh treatment of political prisoners, including the use of electroshock to break their spirits. Meanwhile, the general population lives under the watchful eye of the CDR's (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution), vigilante groups organized by city block to spy on fellow citizens. The male population is under the close watch of the Military Committees which enforce service in the military reserves. Acts of repudiation are performed by Nazi-style mobs, the Rapid Response Brigades organized by the government to terrorize dissidents. They can also be subjected to various forms of blackmail and even "mysterious" accidents. Arbitrary arrests are justified under the Ley de Peligrosidad (Endangerment law), under which anyone who poses a threat to the system can be arrested and incarcerated without due process. Those who criticize the government or denounce human rights abuses can also be subject to immediate arrest for distributing "enemy propaganda."

Witness yesterdays brutality against peaceful activists, and you can see there has been no change in Cuba's treatment of its citizens. The repression continues under the leadership of raul castro.

(Violation of) Human Rights Day in Cuba

The Cuban regime has begun its celebration of Human Rights Day the only it way it knows how, by violating every right in the 60 year old United Nations declaration.

The celebrations began on Monday, with a wave of arrests and threats against Cuban Human Rights activists aimed at preventing Cubans from commemorating the 60th anniversary of the UN's declaration of Human Rights.

According to The Directorio Democrático, Frank Amado Ruiz Moreno was stopped in Santa Clara's bus terminal on his way to Havana. After being detained at State Security Headquarters in that city, he was taken home to Placetas and threatened with arrest if he left that city before December 11.

In Santiago de Cuba, Idalmis Perez Reinosa and Donaisa Correoso Pozo, members of the Rosa Parks civil movement were being held by State Security in Placetas.

Yesterday, also in Placetas, State Security Jorge Luis Garci'a Perez “Antúnez” was detained on a streetcorner close to his home.

Less than one hour later, the activists of the Coalición Central Opositora Idania Yánez Contreras, Alcides Rivera Rodríguez y Yesmi Elena Mena Zurbano were stopped in the city of Santa Clara on the part of agents of the political police and it is not known where they have been taken.

Dagoberto Valdé, director of the independent magazine ““Convivencia” reported that members of the magazine had been threatened.

Meanwhile in Havana, Human Rights activist Dr Darsi Ferrer reported that he had been harrassed by several visits from State Security. State Security is well acquainted with the brave Dr. Ferrer who a year ago held a demonstration commemorating Human Rights Day at a Havana park where he, his wife and a handful of demonstrators were roughed up by regime thugs in front of the internacional press.

Dr. Ferrer said that State Security reminded him that he has a brother in a Cuban Jail and that his choice in whether to go out to demonstrate today, as he had planned, could have either positive or negative consequences for his incarcerated brother.

Women Are Leading the Dissident Fight in Cuba

Good article that I seemed to have missed from last July in the CSM detailing how it is the women of Cuba who are leading the dissident fight for freedoms in Cuba ....

Read it here.

Babalu Goes to Washington

As you read this, I'm in transit to Washington DC for a very special event. I, along with a handful of other bloggers/new media users/activists, have been invited for a round table discussion with the President of the United States. The focus of the discussion will be how, through blogs and other new media technologies, each participant has been able to document and expose civil and human rights violations in their countries of origin as well as use our platforms to promote our respective countries' civil societies.

Indeed, it is an incredible honor for me personally, but moreover a confirmation that the endless hours and work we have put into this endeavor may very well have born fruit. Our goal has always been to promote the eradication of the systematic violation of civil and human rights on the island through this medium in the hopes of getting the traditional mainstream media to follow suit and also to obtain awareness and support of governments. I believe a face to face meeting with the President of the United States of America -- the most powerful nation on Earth -- pretty much meets the latter criteria and hopefully nudges the media to cover these important issues. I truly hope that it is, at least, a beginning.

This event is being held specifically on International Human Rights Day and on the sixtieth anniversary of the ratification of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

The following are brief bios on the other participants to this important event:

Mr. Alexander Klaskovskiy, Blogger (Belarus). Mr. Klaskovskiy is Chief of the Analytical Service for Belarusian independent news service BelaPAN (The Belarusian Private News Agency). He is one of the founders of BelaPAN and its primary blogger. Mr. Klaskovskiy also blogs for the independent newspaper Nasha Niva and is Chief Editor of The Commentator, a premier weekly analytical bulletin. He has worked in print, television, and online media for over 30 years.

Ms. Olga Kozulina, New Media User (Belarus). Ms. Kozulina is the daughter of former political prisoner and former presidential candidate, Alexander Kozulin, who was arrested in March 2006 and sentenced to five and a half years of imprisonment for his political actions against the Lukashenko regime. He was released in August under U.S. and international pressure. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party and the commission "Freedom for Kozulin and All Political Prisoners." Ms. Kozulina was the deputy director of the firm Alaktiv from 2005 until 2007, when she was ostensibly fired for "unauthorized absence" for attending an opposition conference in Lithuania in July 2007. She ran as a candidate in her father's party, "Gramada", in parliamentary elections on September 28, but was not elected. The elections fell far short of OSCE standards for democratic elections.

Mr. Maung Maung Win aka Maung Yit, Blogger (Burma, now living in the U.S.). Mr. Win was a member of the Generation 88 student movement in Burma who eventually fled his country. He now lives in San Francisco and runs a respected online media group, called "Moe MaKa" that is read by many inside Burma. The website provides information about the situation in Burma, calls for freedom, and offers information and postings about Burmese cultural works. Mr. Win is also well connected with Burmese activists inside the country, gets their messages, and relays them to Burmese in exile through his website. During the Saffron Revolution last year and Cyclone Nargis this year, his website reported photos and messages of these event effectively. His site also reports about the recent regime crackdown in Burma, in which hundreds of activists were given heavy sentences and transferred to remote prisons.

Mr. Qiang Xiao, New Media User (China, now living in the United States). Mr. Xiao is a well-known human rights activist and expert on China's blogosphere. He serves as Director of the China Internet Project and is an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Xiao is the founder and publisher of China Digital Times, an independent China news portal he launched in 2003. A theoretical physicist by training, Xiao became a full-time human rights activist after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. Xiao was Executive Director of the New York-based nongovernmental organization Human Rights in China from 1991 to 2002 and Vice Chairman of the steering committee of the World Movement for Democracy. He spoke at each meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva from 1993 to 2001 and has testified several times before the U.S. Congress. Xiao's research and writing interests include state censorship and control of the Internet, and the impact of information and communication technologies on China's media, politics, and international relations. He is the author of a Chinese and English blog "Rock-n-Go" and a public speaker on China's information revolution and its future. Xiao was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship in 2001 and was profiled in the 2003 book, Soul Purpose: 40 People Who Are Changing the World for the Better.

Mr. Arash Sigarchi, Blogger (Iran, now living in the United States). Mr. Sigarchi is a 30-year-old Iranian journalist who was granted asylum in the United States in November 2008. In his mid-twenties, he rose to prominence as a newpaper editor and blogger. He founded and edited the daily newspaper of Gilan, his native region in northwestern Iran. In 2004, Mr. Sigarchi led a successful nationwide campaign to draw attention to the government’s arrest and torture of dissident journalists. He also spoke out against Iran’s energy policies and treatment of women. In 2005, authorities took Mr. Sigarchi prisoner and charged him with treason because of his political views. In December 2006, he married Rafouneh Sam Daliri, a 27-year-old activist for women’s rights in Iran who was Mr. Sigarchi's vital support while he faced persecution and illness. Mr. Sigarchi escaped Iran in January 2008. Since his arrival in the United States, he has remained active in journalism, despite receiving threats from religious extremists in Iran. He has completed a book entitled Local Journalism, which trains Iranian journalists to continue their important work under repressive conditions. Mr. Sigarchi comments daily on political conditions in Iran through his blog and frequently gives interviews on the Voice of America and other media outlets. For his courage and dedication to the field of journalism in Iran, Mr. Sigarchi received the Human Rights Watch Hellman/Hammett Award in 2007.

I understand that along with those present, there may be couple other prominent blogger/activists, including our good friend and colleague Miguel Octavio from The Devil's Excrement via video teleconference.

I'm incredibly humbled upon reading the bios above as Ive been blessed with having lived in freedom my entire life here in the US and I haven't had to experience first hand some of the events described above. Yet I and all of you reading this and my fellow blog contributors do have one thing in common with my fellow participants in the White House event: we all work to expose injustice and oppression, we all work to tell the truth and we all work to help give voice to those that are silenced by others. I am just as honored and privileged to meet with these men and women as I am the President.

Given the histories and pedigrees of the men and women who'll join me in participation in this event, this welder's son may not be able to provide much information that they don't already know, but I do intend to learn from them as much as possible, and bring that knowledge back from this conference and apply it in hopes of helping those living on the island gulag ninety miles away.

Viva Cuba libre and God bless America.

Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human Rights Week, 2008

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

The United States was founded on the principle that government must respect people's rights to speak freely, worship as they choose, and pursue their dreams in liberty. As we remember the enduring importance of our Constitution's Bill of Rights, our thoughts turn to those who have yet to secure these precious liberties. During Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human Rights Week, Americans celebrate the rights bestowed upon all by our Creator and reaffirm our deep commitment to helping those whose desire for liberty and justice is still dismissed and denied.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Human Rights and the Right to be Human

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As its title implies, it is a declaration with thirty articles that detail the basic rights and freedoms all humans in the world are entitled to regardless of which country they may live in, or governs them. It is a well thought out and brilliant document that represents the basic right to freedom that everyone should have—that is, of course, if you are considered a human.

Since the dark days of slavery, the world has tried to justify the enslavement and oppression of people by not giving them the full title of “human.” If their slaves were considered less than human, they were therefore not entitled to the same rights and privileges they were entitled to. It was an intellectually dishonest argument, but one that served them well for hundreds of years, and continues to do so till this day. But one does not need to look at only the repressive regimes that enslave entire nations of people, but also at those who enable them and support them.

Eleven years after the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Fidel Castro and his gang of murderous thugs took control of the island nation of Cuba. And for nearly fifty years, they have violated every tenet and every principle described in the declaration. They have murdered, oppressed, silenced, and intimidated their opposition with reckless abandon and impunity. All the while enjoying the support and receiving encouragement from the leftists in this country and elsewhere. Human rights—or better said the rights of Cubans—took a back seat to the “revolution,” and the murders, the tortures, and the oppression that began in January of 1959, has continued unfettered to this day. To these enablers, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights may apply to Americans, or to the French, or to Bosnians, or even to the terrorists captured on the field of battle trying to kill Americans being held in Guantanamo Bay, but they apparently do not apply to the 11-million+ Cubans who have suffered for half a century under a dictatorial regime. It seems that to these people, Cubans do not qualify for the status of “human,” and therefore are not entitled to the same rights they enjoy.

This justification, though it may not be articulated by its practitioners so blatantly, is no different from the justification used by slave owners to own slaves. They were not really human, they reasoned, and therefore were considered property, chattel if you will, to be bought, sold, and traded like heads of cattle or bushels of corn. Just like the way one enjoys a lobster dinner without wondering where the lobster came from, these people can enjoy a Cuban cigar without thinking of the Cubans that planted, picked, and rolled the tobacco for that cigar that have been denied the title of human.

The list of enablers and defenders of Cuba’s vile dictatorship is too long to list here, but they are well-known and numerous. From heads of state such as Spain’s Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to prominent and powerful businessmen such as Ted Turner, to influential news providers such as the New York Times, to popular filmmakers such as Michael Moore, the list seems almost endless. Yet they all have one thing in common; they honestly believe Cubans are not deserved of the same rights they have.

I believe Michael Moore articulated this point the best when he was asked about the repressive dictatorship in Cuba after premiering his wildly inaccurate portrayal of healthcare on the island: “there are various levels of freedom in the world,” he said. I am sure he thought the answer would justify the oppression that exists in Cuba, but it only served to show that Mr. Moore does not believe that Cubans are as human as he, and thus not entitled to the same level of freedom he and those of his ilk enjoy.

Until Cubans—and all others suffering under totalitarian regimes—are endowed with the title of human, they will never enjoy the rights described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Perhaps the UN should consider a Universal Declaration of Humanity.

December 10, 1948

Sixty years ago today, the newly founded and then still-viable United Nations, produced a document that attempted to right the wrongs of a world fresh off the greatest war in history. That document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, remains as important today as then. The reality of its implementation across the world, muddied as it has been by sixty years of continued tyranny in so many countries, is a sad testament to man's continued inhumanity to man. Over the last two days we have attempted to highlight the reality of "human rights" in Cuba: non-existent. When you read then document today think of Cuba, and so many other countries, that do not breathe the air of liberty.

The Five W's of Cuban Reality

The news about Cuba today was all about the Caribbean leaders at the CARICOM summit calling for the lifting of the Cuban embargo. There were some stories about Cuba’s claim that tourism to the island is booming. Sprinkled in were articles about the screening of the new Che movie in Havana with Benicio del Toro in attendance.

There were, however, other events taking place in Havana on the eve of the day celebrating the international human rights. But Reuters didn’t cover them. AP filed no stories. Will Weisert was otherwise occupied. And not a single one of them cared.

There is the face that Cuba shows visiting dignitaries, mojito-infused tourists, and credulous actors. Then there is visage it shows its hapless citizens. So while the summit members were visiting the tomb of Cuba’s great apostle of freedom, Jose Marti, those following his example were being beaten on the streets of the Vedado district. While Hollywood filmmakers were extolling the virtues of the itinerant Argentinian, real men and women were facing the machinery of repression he helped design.

Belinda Salas Tapanes, President of FLAMUR, the Federation of Rural Women, is a young woman whose organization spearheaded a petition campaign, loosely titled “In the Same Coin,” a campaign which asked simply that the current two tier monetary system be abolished, so that Cubans can use the money they are paid in the stores that actually have merchandise. Although active in dissident affairs, she is not as well known as others, lacking even that minimal protection, and is therefore fair game for intimidation.

So here is the story Anita Snow won’t tell you, as written by one the unwilling participants* herself:

Today, on the afternoon of December 9th of the present year, on K Street, between Linea and 13 in Vedado, opposition members Lázaro Joaquín Alonso, Marlene Bermúdez, Roberto Marrero and I, Belinda Salas Tapanes, were brutally victimized.

We would like this denunciation-which shows how the regime fears the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights-to reach all well-meaning people. We ask for solidarity before such a criminal act and we reiterate that FLAMUR will continue fighting for the rights of the Cuban people.
*Loose translation mine. Original in Spanish available here at Misceláneas de Cuba.

This was but one incident in a wave of repression. So please don’t tell me about the evils of the embargo; don’t pass on fairy tales about tourism; or tout Sodderburgh’s Havana triumph with his paen to a blood-soaked butcher. Write the reality of Cuba. File dispatches about the beatings, the intimidations, the imprisonments, the slow death of the Caribbean gulag. That would be news indeed.

Singing Of Cuba Without Ever Seeing it

Music is a great uniter. It requires no wealth to make, and is loved by rich and poor alike. It cracks class barriers and makes all races beautiful. In the most oppressed slave societies, music is all they have.

It unites because even if you don't understand the language, can't pronounce the name of the singer, wouldn't know the instrument played, never heard the style ... you can still fall utterly in love with it as your own.

That's one reason why castro's separation of Cuba from the world is so sad. While Cubans can never leave the island and its indigenous musicians get persecuted and silenced, there's still enough in Cuba's music to somehow spreads the earth and unite people like none other.

I first heard the beautiful voice of Celia Cruz from an crumbling old 19th century colonial balcony in ... Hanoi, Vietnam. I was so enchanted with that voice, not knowing anything about it other than what I had heard that I had to find out who she was, and write it down and hope I never forgot it. I didn't. Celia united people all over the world with her heavenly talent, even in farflung communist regimes on the other side of the world.

With her beautiful voice spreading the oceans, it's significant that her voice was nevertheless banned in her own country, the one she passionately wanted to see free. castro shut Cuba from the world and he tried to shut Celia's beautiful voice from Cuba.

But in Cuba, her death a couple years ago didn't go unnoticed - she was mourned there too. Cubans knew who she was despite castro's best efforts because the spread of music is as uncontrolled as the sea.

Just as Cuba's music spread the world from Havana, something else happened too. The locals in other countries started singing like Cubans too. It didn't start with castro's troops invading Africa, as is the legend. It started way, way before. If you have ever heard Benin's Gnonnas Pedro, the rich evocative deep resonant and pure voice of the Afro-Cubana, you know what I mean. He first found his voice in the early 1960s, and formed popular Afro-Cubano bands. He changed his last name from Pierre to Pedro in honor of Cuba's Spanish language, which he sang songs in, because he loved Cuba.

He sang Benny More's Yiri Yiri Boum with a deep passion, you don't even know that the song is about wanting a girl, all you can tell is that it's about a longing as vast as the world. Recently I listened to his mesmerizing 'Yo Prefeid El Son and thought a bit about the lyrics - he sings of being in cities like Santiago and Havana, passionately loving being there.

I wondered if he'd ever been there. I looked it up as many places as I could find. He never was that rich or successful in his life and died of cancer in 2004. All I cound find was that he had a few trips to France, and proudly represented his region at a Canadian music festival in Quebec. There is no evidence he ever set foot in Cuba. He simply adopted Cuban music as his own and it's beautiful, no nation, no nationality, entirely universal. Only Cuban music seems to be able to do this. What a sad thing, though, that like Celia, he too died before he could see a free Cuba. His music was just his own soul imagining Cuba.

Cheer Up, Israel. You've Got Company: Colombia

I got into a shouting match with a union thug today over Colombia. He ran a big famous labor union and screamed 'murder' to me as reason enough not to support the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, spouting one lie after another about Colombia's human rights record. I didn't want to be fed a load, so I called him out on every one of his lies and it got heated in public.

Turns out he and his pals have been doing a whole lot more than just screaming bloody murder. They've got pals in the so-called human rights organizations, who've in turn got pals in the United Nations and they've all decided that Israel shall not be the only object of UN revilement. Colombia will join them.

The UN is now demonizing Colombia alongside Israel as a nation whose human rights record must meet UN scrutiny and condemnation.

While Zimbabwe dies of cholera.
While Venezuela slides into a dictatorship.
While Darfur runs from genocide.
While Russia turn into a hell with no future.
While Burma goes ignored by the outside as monks are beaten and killed and aid is denied
While business as usual goes on in red China.
While Cuba continues to abuse truth tellers like Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and harass Yoani Sanchez. While Cuba artificially impoverishes 9 million people to keep them servile and controlled. While Cuba continues to imprison 1000 people, many up on no charges at all except 'dangerousness.' While Cuba gets away with destroying libraries and mob-lynching dissidents. While Cuba refuses to allow anyone at all to leave the vortex legally.

Never mind that: Israel and Colombia are the real problem you see.

The reality is, Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and the only place where its Israeli citizen Arabs have zero desire to get involved with Islamofascist groups. It's a standing beacon to the Arab satrapies around its borders and beyond, that democracy brings human rights and freedom brings success.

In Colombia, it is the same story. No bigger hellhole existed on the South American continent than Colombia once did ten years ago. It was ruled by drug lords, who controlled the Congress. Its capital literally was encircled by FARC barbarians at the gate, no longer even acting as guerrillas, hiding and running - they were in full frontal confrontation with the military and about to take the capital. Their rein of murder and mayhem, blowing up whole villages and skyscrapers, was the antithesis of human rights. In 2002, President Uribe was elected, and he changed everything. Murder rates tumbled 40%, kidnap rates plunged 87%. The country at long last knew what peace and human rights were.

That's some moral authority the UN is cultivating with this farce, targeting Colombia and Israel on human rights. But there's a logic to it ... Cuba just happens to be a member of the Human Rights Council, making this decision to smear Colombia with the Big Lie as a human rights violator something it needs to do.

Here's what's really going on: Both Colombia and Israel are detested by the world's real human rights violators because they fight terrorists, ally with the U.S. and give real human rights to their people. Cuban can't countenance that. Where is the US' UN ambassador standing up to this bogus lynching on democracies? The U.S. should take this for the assault on its allies it is and respond in a way that fills these maggots with fear.

Pursuit of Liberty

Late Saturday night, after all the scores from the day’s games where in, I was watching one of those programs that runs downs the possible College Bowl match-ups. The discussion inevitably turned to the BCS and Boise State with the obligatory clip of Boise State’s Statue of Liberty play in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.

The Statue of Liberty play is when the quarterback pump fakes a pass to one side, switches the ball to his other hand and hands the ball off to a back that runs to the other side. At some point, if the quarterback executes it correctly, his position resembles the Statue of Liberty.

Liberty.

That word resonated.

And I thought of Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez and her pursuit of Liberty, not the Liberty Bowl.

She had recently been summoned by the “authorities” who told her she had taken too many liberties and not to even think in pursuing a planned “Cuban Blogger Conference.” So had the some other bloggers including her husband.

And so the game was on. Yoanni and her bloggers against the regime. They had all the weapons, defensive, offensive and a deep bench.

There was no way Yoanni and her team were going to pull it off.

But they did. It was a like a perfectly executed Statue of Liberty Play. Yoanni faked the regime’s defense and the media, faked a forward pass and scored one on the goons right in front of their noses.

A perfect Statue of Liberty Play in the pursuit of Liberty.

Human Rights for Everyone... Except Cubans

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted and proclaimed First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration was created by Mrs. Roosevelt, a pioneer of human rights, to ensure that everyone in every country, but specifically those who signed it, had dignity, freedom, justice and peace.

It took 60 years for Cuba, a flagrant violator of human rights for the past 50 years, (whether the rest of the world chooses to believe it or not) to sign this document, the defense of which landed Dr. Oscar Biscet in jail.

But signing it has been, so far, just a PR stunt for Cuba. Raúl Castro and his merry band of human rights-depriving thugs have done little to repair the damaged dignity of the Cuban people. They have done little to re-instititute the freedoms that the country had once enjoyed. They have done little to guarantee justice for the Cuban people who dare to speak out against the regime and end up in jail on trumped up charges. Instead of ensuring peace in Cuba, they have brought anything but- intimidating and roughing up those who congregate to express their apparently alienable right to protest, beating down those who dare to dissent.

In spite of the blatant lack of human rights in Cuba, the Cuban people have maintained their dignity. The leaders of the opposition continue to fight through words and images- Yoani Sanchez through her blog,

Martha Beatriz Roque, who was beaten and jailed for “acts of independence against the state” through phone calls and letters.

Dr. Darsi Ferrer has made us aware of the disgusting and deplorable conditions of Cuba’s hospitals through through videos.

He has also peacefully protested, only to be manhandled along with other demonstrators.

And punk rocker Gorki Aguila, jailed on trumped up charges, lets the world know Cuba’s suffering through his songs.

It is they who ensure the peace; it is they who choose to protest in a dignified manner, and it is the regime who chooses to destroy that peace by going after them to stifle their voices.

On December 10 let us take a few moments to be grateful for where we live and the human rights that we enjoy and may often take for granted. Let us also remember these individuals who languish in Cuban prisons and the many more like them whose voices may not be heard as loudly, but are nonetheless just as important. Let us remember the lack of human rights suffered by these men and women and others- some jailed secretly, some on made-up crimes, all because they dared to speak out for their own human rights and those of their fellow countrymen.

Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique
Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona
Félix Gerardo Vega Ruiz,
Dr. Marcelo Cano Rodríguez
Norberto Dorta Sánchez
Majaíl Barzaga Lugo
Dr. Luis Milán Fernández

As a non-Cuban who has lived her whole live on American soil, I not only am outraged by the regime's lip-service to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but I am also bowled over by the tenacity of the Cuban dissidents who remain steadfast in their devotion to see a free Cuba.

¡QUE VIVA CUBA LIBRE!

Shocking video of brutal beatings in Cuba

Via Penúltimos Días, this is how Cuba treats its citizens:

The beatings in honor of Human Rights Day have begun in Cuba

Penultimos Dias lists several reports of physical assaults, harrassment and beatings already taking place against dissidents and activists in Cuba planning on marching tomorrow, Human Rights Day.

Also at PD, The Declaration of Human Rights in words, images and video.

Question in preparation for Human Rights Day

I have a question to throw at our readers. I know it's been done to death, but since it keeps coming up in the media I have to ask it:

If the US embargo is lifted, how can the articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights be made the standard of behavior in Cuba if the current Cuban regime -- who shits on the Declaration on an hourly and daily basis -- gets all the money it needs via IMF credits to do what it has always done?

Answers anyone?

"Dangerousness"

The title of this post is the catch all word - the excuse - the castro regime uses for surreptitiously detaining, arresting, harrassing and many times incarcerating any Cuban with the wherewithall to not only have a opinions and thoughts, but to have the audacity to express same, whether verbal or through actions.

This morning I wrote aboute Dr. Darso Ferrer's brutal treatment last year as he attempted a peaceful march on Human Rights days and this afternoon word is that he has been warned by the castro regime to stay home this year.

Or else.

Grand jury subpoenas Obama/Rezko land deal

More grist for the mill...

A former Illinois bank official, now claiming whistleblower status, says bank officials replaced a loan reappraisal that he prepared for a Chicago property that was purchased by the wife of now-convicted felon Tony Rezko, part of which was later sold to next-door neighbor Barack Obama.

In a complaint filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Kenneth J. Connor said that his reappraisal of Rita Rezko's property was replaced with a higher one and that he was fired when he questioned the document.

Mr. Connor, a real estate and commercial credit analyst at the Mutual Bank Corp. in Chicago, also noted in the complaint that the bank received a grand jury subpoena in October 2006 requiring it to produce information concerning Mrs. Rezko's purchase, including the bank's files on the property.

The complaint also said that the grand jury wanted information on Mrs. Rezko's checking account and loan file and that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) had audited the Rezko file - although Mr. Connor's lower reappraisal had been replaced with a higher amount.

The Trees Sprout

By Yoani Sanchez.

December has started with the rare spectacle of Christmas trees adorning shops, hotels and other public sites. After several years in which they were erected only in the living rooms of some houses, they have returned and their dusted snow contrasts with all the sun outside. It seems that the ban on putting them in windows, lobbies and cafeterias has expired or that the audacity of Christmas has made us ignore it. We have already lived—several times—through this sprouting that later trips over the edge of a hatchet when someone “up there” signs a circular banning them.

The first time I saw one of those decorated trees, when I was seventeen, the Soviet Union had collapsed and being an atheist was already out of fashion. Stopping in the doorway of a church in Reina Street, I had decided not to get closer to the crèche and the crystal balls that hung from the branches. The stories of what happened to those who had been rejected for believing in religion stopped me at the door. Mouth agape at the size of that fir, I overcame my fear and approached the warm manger.

With the opening of foreign currency stores and the rise of tourism, decorated trees sprouted everywhere and the Habana Libre hotel came to have the largest in the entire city. Parents took their children to walk near the illuminated greenery under the crowning star. But certain stubborn ones—with power—considered each tree as a defeat that had to be reversed. So, they tried to make us return to those boring December landscapes of the seventies and eighties, but a few had already acquired the taste for hanging garlands.

After several years without seeing the blinking of their lights in public places, this end of the year surprises us with the pleasant sprouting of a well-known forest. Under their branches a woman sleeps with her baby who knows nothing of prohibitions, banned trees, or crosses hidden under a shirt.

This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

And the Useful Idiot of the Year award goes to--Benicio Del Toro!

This week-end Benicio del Toro flew to Havana to present his film at the Havana Film Festival and hob-knob with Castro regime officials. Che was billed as the highlight of the festival and the Stalinist regime rolled out the carpet for their honored guest. “It's a privilege to be here!” effused del Toro. “I'm grateful that the Cuban people can see this movie!”

And why shouldn't Castro's subjects be allowed to view his movie? Weren't Stalin's subjects allowed to watch The Battleship Potemkin? Weren't Hitler's subjects allowed to watch Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of Will? Both were produced at the direction of the propaganda ministries of totalitarian regimes, exactly as was Soderbergh's "Che." Che. The screenplay was based on Che Guevara's diaries, which were published by Cuba's propaganda ministry; the diaries’ forward was written by Fidel Castro himself. The film includes several Communist Cuban actors, while other Latin American actors spent months in Cuba being prepped for their roles by members of Cuba's “Che Guevara Institute.”

On December 7, Castro’s own press ministry announced that “Actor Benicio del Toro presented the film (at Havana’s Karl Marx Theater) as he thanked the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) for its assistance during the shooting of the film, which was the result of a seven-year research work in Cuba.” The Cuban Film Institute is an arm of Stalinist Cuba's propaganda ministry.

Entire article here.

The Culture of Corruption & The Illinois Dems

Those liberal buttwipes have been whining about how the GOP was part of a culture of corruption, but they're pure and lily white, right? Well the Gov. of Illinois has just been indicted for government corruption, and bribery regarding the selection of Obama's replacement in the US Senate .... this is friggin huge folks...

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to get financial benefits through his authority to appoint a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy left by Barack Obama's election as president.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper's editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

The affidavit said Blagojevich discussed getting a substantial salary for himself at a nonprofit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions.

It said that Blagojevich also talked about getting his wife placed on corporate boards where she might get $150,000 a year in director's fees.

He also allegedly discussed getting campaign funds for himself or possibly a post in the president's cabinet or an ambassadorship once he left the governor's office.

"I want to make money," the affidavit quotes him as saying in one conversation.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement that "the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering."

Read about it here and more here in the DOJ's official release.

I wonder if the morons on the left will blame Bush for this too ....

UPDATE: I LOVE THIS FROM THE ARREST AFFIDAVIT -- OBAMA THE MOFO

The FBI affidavit said Blagojevich had been told by an adviser "the president-elect can get Rod Blagojevich's wife on paid corporate boards in exchange for naming the president-elect's pick to the Senate."

Told by two other advisers he has to "suck it up" for two years, the FBI says it heard Blagojevich complain he has to give this "motherf***er [the president-elect] his senator. F*** him. For nothing? F*** him."

The governor is heard saying he will pick another candidate "before I just give f***ing [Senate Candidate l] a f***ing Senate seat and I don't get anything."

Read a copy of the FBI affidavit here.

Will the Obama team follow Powell's lead on U.N. "racism" forum.

Great article in today's WSJ regarding the upcoming UN Farce Conference on Racism. While I'm sure the far left loons like Mr. Limpet would love to hang out over there and bash Israel and the US along with Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, the question is whether the Obama team will boycott it like Colin Powell did as this conference is nothing more than a sham. We will be watching ....

One of Colin Powell's best moves as Secretary of State was to pull out of the United Nations' 2001 conference in Durban against racism once it became an anti-Semitic rant. One of the best moves the new U.S. Administration and Europe could make is to stay away from the follow-up meeting altogether.

"Durban II," planned for April in Geneva, promises to be an encore of the same old Israel-bashing. The draft declaration says Israel's policy toward the Palestinians amounts to no less than "a new kind of apartheid, a crime against humanity, a form of genocide and a serious threat to international peace and security." We'll spare you the rest.

Israel will be the main obsession, but it's not the only target. The draft declaration also goes after the West's freedom of speech and antiterror laws under the guise of protecting religion (read: Islam) from "defamation." The entire West will be in the dock for allegedly persecuting Muslims. "The most serious manifestations of defamation of religions are the increase in Islamophobia and the worsening of the situation of Muslim minorities around the world," the draft reads. "Islamophobia" is a term used to brand any criticism of Islam as a hate crime.

The Islamic terrorists who have killed hundreds of thousands of their co-religionists get a free pass. Instead, the draft calls for a media code of conduct and "internationally binding normative standards . . . that can provide adequate guarantees against defamation of religions." If this sounds like censorship, that's because it is.

The conference is being organized by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which, like its discredited predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, has been taken over by the world's main abusers of human rights. The Organization of Islamic Countries, the most powerful voting bloc at the U.N., put Libya in charge of preparing Durban II, assisted by such other pillars of the international community as Iran and Cuba.

If the Durban II drafters have their way, any challenge of Islamic teachings, including teachings used to justify violence, would be taboo. Reprinting the Danish Muhammad cartoons, exploited by Muslim agitators in 2006 to incite riots around the world, would be a criminal offense. Even gross human-rights violations in Islamic countries -- such as stoning adulterers in Iran -- could be immune from criticism.

Though couched in the language of religious rights, the draft isn't concerned with the right to practice one's religion. If it were, it would have focused on the plight of religious minorities in many Muslim states. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, the public worship of any religion other than Islam is forbidden.

The drafters further demand that the fight against terrorism must not "discriminate" against any religion. They specifically complain about the "monitoring and surveillance of places of worship, culture and teaching of Islam." Since these are exactly the places where Islamic terrorists tend to recruit new followers, stopping such common-sense policing would render the West defenseless.

Israel said last month it will stay away from Geneva. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper deserves kudos for having made that call in January. "We will not be party to an anti-Semitic and anti-Western hate-fest dressed up as antiracism," he said. The decision about whether to send a delegation to Durban II will be an early test of Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton and the new Obama Administration.

Demand Human Rights for Cuba

Caricom calls for an end to the (sic) blockade. U.S. business leaders, academics, humanitarian workers, Sean Penn, and el che wanna be himself, Benicio del Toro call for dialog, an end to the embargo, and for a new openness in U.S. Cuba relations! I hate to rain on their parade, but 10, yes, count them, 10 U.S. presidents have attempted some kind of “dialog” with the (c)astro regime, and failed because of one simple reason: fidel castro, raul castro, and their merry band of murderous thugs do not want, and will not engage in “dialog.” What the unelected, illegitimate Cuban dictatorship wants is not more “openness,” but capitulation. They want access to your tax dollars and free reign to terrorize and subjugate the citizens of Cuba. What the Cuban dictatorship wants is an end to U.S. insistence that Cuba honor the God given Human Rights of her 12 million citizens, and perpetual power.

We are blessed to live with unparalleled freedom; is it not incumbent on us to demand those same rights for others?

An ideal betrayed

There is a great editorial today in The Australian regarding the UN's Declaration of Human Rights and its shamefully feeble attempts to promote it. 60 years after its birth, the Declaration has suffered from the weakness and utter ineffectiveness of this organization.

The Universal Declaration, born of the atrocities of World War II, asserted a powerful principle: that rights are universal and do not depend on the patronage of the state. Its origins were in the principles of the Enlightenment that inspired the anti-slavery movement in the 18th century. It was not a treaty and has no legal standing. It was a common declaration of hope.

Sadly, however, the UN has been an irresponsible and careless steward of those fine ideals. The UN Human Rights Council has been hijacked by some of the world's most notorious human rights abusers and is taking the same divisive path as its discredited predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission. What began as a clear declaration of inalienable rights has been twisted by moral equivocators.

You can read the entire editorial HERE.

Dr. Darsi Ferrer

Last year Cuban dissident and human rights activist Dr. Darsi Ferrer planned and tried to execute a peaceful march in commemoration of Human Rights Day on December 10th. The results were typical of the castro regime's all out repression:

As you can see, the participants were attacked and mobbed by the castro regime's Rapid Response Brigades, government paid goons bussed in to prevent any and all dissension.

The Real Cuba reports that the good Doctor is once again risking it all so that he and his 11 million Cuban counterparts are afforded the inalienable rights of all free human beings:

Dec. 8 - Cuban dissident Dr. Darsi Ferrer plans to march again next Wednesday, Human Rights Day, to protest the lack of human rights in the island.

Last year, Dr. Ferrer, his wife and several other dissidents were attacked by mobs organized and controlled by the Cuban regime.

Since 2005, Dr. Ferrer and a group of Cuban dissidents have met at Villalon Park, in el Vedado suburb of Havana, to commemorate this day and every year the Cuban regime has sent their thugs to attack the peaceful gathering of dissidents. (See photos above taken during last year's march)

"Last year, at the same time that we were being attacked by mobs organized by the Cuban government, Susan McDade, the United Nations Resident Representative for Cuba, Latin America and the Caribbean, was congratulating the Cuban regime for having signed the Declaration of Human Rights. At no time did Ms. McDade made any references to the brutal attack against the peaceful dissidents that gathered at Villalon Park," said Dr. Ferrer.

Dr. Ferrer also said that he makes Cuba's Interior Ministry, Abelardo Colome Ibarra, responsible for anything that happens to him or to any of the other dissidents that plan to join him on Wednesday.

Here is the e-mail of Susan Mc Dade: susan.mcdade@undp.org please write to her and tell her to do her job to try to protect the Cuban dissidents who want to commemorate Human Rights Day.

The Real Cuba has much more on last year's march, right here including this video link.

The only protection human rights activists in Cuba like Dr. Darsi Ferrer and bloggers who speak truth to power like Yoani Sanchez have is media exposure. The more their plight is known, the less chances that the regime will take measures againt them and their families.

Spreading the word covers their flanks.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Since tomorrow is the anniversary of the declaration signed 60 years ago, I thought I'd post the text of the declaration for all to read. Draw your won conclusions from the actions -- and not the words -- of the last six decades.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Oh, brother...

Wednesday will be the 60th anniversary of the ratification of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and, knowing this and how important said anniversary is, plus the fact that Cuba laughingly sits on the UN Human Rights "Council", the regime's "Cuban News Agency" has published and editorial titled - "Human Right: Rights for All."

I wont quote any of the context of the aforementioned farce as it is laced with the typical circumlocution and lies that are the norm and prevalent in any article or editorial by the regime's puppet media regarding human rights. But I will note that nowhere in said editorial does it mention, that in Cuba, you could be arrested for simply having a copy of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Cat Fight on the Obama Team

Man, I'm enjoying this . . . the extreme left wing out there is pissed off at Obama as noted by the earlier post, and now The Sec. of State to be Hillary looks to be engaged in a battle with soon to be UN Ambassador Susan Rice. Bring out the pop corn ... It seems they are going to be engaged in some major fighting over foreign policy ..... they should make this a pay per view event I say ....

Read it here.

One can dream...

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th, one can dream that the world would take the abuses being perpetrated against the innocent by vile dictatorships as seriously and as passionately as they do the hoax that is man-made global warming. Over the weekend, protesters in Poznan, Poland--where the UN led talks on climate change--as well as throughout Europe and the UK, took to the streets to demand that the UN take swifter action to combat a problem that does not exist.

Take a moment now and just dream what this world would be like if throngs of protesters would take to the streets to protest the UN's inaction against dictatorial regimes. I did, and in my dream, the Reuters news story about these climate change protesters transformed into this:

Protesters demand swifter U.N. action on human rights

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - Thousands of human rights protesters, some dressed as Cuban, Burmese or Belarusian political prisoners, demanded on Saturday swifter action from the United Nations to combat the widespread human rights abuses perpetrated by dictatorial regimes.

Outside U.N.-led talks in Poland aimed at pushing 187 countries toward a stronger line to combat human rights abuses, some 1,000 demonstrators said governments were risking humanity’s future by delaying action to squabble over who was to blame.

Several thousand more protesters took part in a march through London to demand "urgent and radical action" from the British government on the abuses being carried out on innocent men, women, and children by despotic governments throughout the world.

"So far I think it's going really slowly," Susann Scherbarth from Friends of Humanity in Germany said of the talks in the western city of Poznan.

She and other protesters in Poznan waved a banner reading: "Stop clowning around, get serious about human rights."

Others carried pictures of jailed Cuban dissidents, and the military suited hand of a Burmese soldier squeezing a Buddhist monk.

The march fell short of organizers' predictions of a turnout of several thousand and many inside the talks did not see it.

"It's not a matter for negotiators, it's a matter for politicians. They are the ones who have been blocking the whole process," said Rae-Kwon Chung, South Korea's human rights ambassador, adding that he was unaware of the event outside.

Marches, bicycle rides and other events were scheduled around the world on Saturday to mark a "Global Day of Action against Oppression," said the Global Freedom Campaign, an umbrella group for participants.

London police said between 4,000 and 5,000 people took part in a rally which organizers said was aimed at reminding governments not to let the issue of human rights slip down a global agenda dominated by the financial crisis.

"The current economic downturn does not make the catastrophic consequences of failing to deal with despotic and murderous dictators any less catastrophic," said Phil Thornhill, Britain's national coordinator of the Campaign Against Dictatorships.

If only human life was worth a fraction of what bad science and hysterics is worth to these people, Cuba and the other countries suffering from murderous dictatorial regimes, as well as the world, would be a much freer place.

I can dream, can't I?

I guess the bloom is off the rose

Won't get fooled again?

Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices.

Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left.

Now some are shedding a reluctance to puncture the liberal euphoria at being rid of President George W. Bush to say, in effect, that the new boss looks like the old boss.

The Junior Corpse Says 50 More Years of Repression is on the Way

Read it here.

Human Rights Week

This is International Human Rights week folks. To commemorate the week you will be seeing several posts from out contributors specifically on the issue of human rights. I wanted to kick the week off by re-posting something that I wrote just about a year ago. It's my version of the speech Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a Cuban prisoner of conscience, might deliver to the general assembly of the United Nations if Cuba were to become a democracy.

Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President, distinguished delegates, and ladies and gentlemen: I want to thank you for the privilege of speaking to this General Assembly.

My name is Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and I am proud be addressing you today as a citizen of the newest democracy in the world, the Republic of Cuba. Unfortunately I am not here to receive pleasantries and congratulations. I am instead here to render an accounting. On behalf of the Cuban people that I am here representing, I will render an accounting of how this body has failed to live up to letter and spirit of its charter.

For more than 49 years my country was ruled by an unelected dictator who succeeded another unelected dictator. Through much of that time the tyrant Fidel Castro received the aid and comfort of what was then the Soviet Union in a world that was polarized because of the cold war.

When the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fell, my fellow Cubans and I were certain that end was also near for the murderous Castro regime. We waited patiently for the world to recognize that Cuba was no different than Czechoslovakia, Poland or any other communist state, that Cubans too yearned to live in freedom and democracy.

We waited for this body to act and denounce as intolerable the conditions under which the Castro brothers condemned us to live. But we didn’t just wait for help from the outside. Despite the odds against us and the many obstacles in our path, we organized opposition movements. For our troubles, many of us were rounded up and sent to deplorable political prisons where we once again waited for the world to recognize our plight.

My crime against Fidel Castro was that I had the temerity to denounce human rights abuses committed by the totalitarian regime in Cuba. For that I served most of the last 10 years in a prison that could only be accurately described as a Caribbean gulag. But there were aggravating factors to my offense. Since I am black and also a physician, I was guilty of the crime of being ungrateful to Revolution to which I was supposed to be indebted. This was an unforgivable offense because it belied the official story which so many in this body were willing to believe despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary. 20 years ago my countryman Armando Valladares joined this body and shared his experiences as a 22-year veteran of Castro’s political prisons. He explained how the Castro brothers cynically manipulated foreign governments and ruled through intimidation and terror. Still the General Assembly failed to act decisively in defense of the Cuban people.

But this body is not just guilty of inaction when confronted with deplorable crimes. Sadly it’s much worse than that. As a medical doctor I always attempted to live by the dictum of “first do no harm” but this body could not abide by even that most basic of principles. On the contrary, it enabled the criminals that misgoverned my country for close to half a century in the commission of their crimes. Unbelievably the Castro regime was rewarded for its decades of human rights abuses with a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

In addition to the holding this body accountable for its actions and omissions I am here to render an accounting of individual members for theirs. Democracies like Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France are responsible for breathing life into the crumbling regime by allowing their corporations to conduct business in Cuba without setting even the most basic of guidelines to ensure fair treatment of Cuban workers. Cubans were leased to foreign corporations in a disgusting form of indentured servitude. Those corporations also became partners with the regime in the enforcement of Cuba’s repugnant apartheid system. Additionally, many of these foreign interests also trafficked in stolen property in contravention of the norms of international trade. The list of offenders is too long to articulate here but Sol Meliá, Sherritt International and Bouygues are just some of the companies that collaborated with the Castro regime and against the Cuban people.

I must also take a moment to talk about the international media. As we all know a free and robust media is vital to protecting human rights, preserving democracy and exposing abuses of power. That is why it is so disconcerting to note that the international news media largely ignored what was happening to the people of Cuba. Specifically, agencies like the Associated Press, the BBC, ABC News, Reuters, the Chicago Tribune and others censored themselves and allowed themselves to be censored in order to maintain access. One would have thought that these organizations had learned a lesson when executives CNN had to embarrassingly confess that they knew about disturbing abuses of human rights in Saddam Hussein's Iraq but never reported them. Similarly the international media failed everyday Cubans.

My country's objective in rendering this accounting is not to create discomfort among the members of this body, though that discomfort is not undeserved. No, our objective is set the record straight so that future generations will not make the same mistakes with regards to other countries that have plagued this body with respect to Cuba for almost 50 years.

In order to make this accounting complete I must recognize, on behalf the Cuban people, the countries and entities that chose the road less traveled and aligned themselves in solidarity with the Cuban people. These include the aforementioned former members of the Soviet Bloc like Czechoslovakia and Poland. Additionally we must recognize the work of NGOs that tried to keep the plight of the Cuban people in forefront. We would be remiss if we did not recognize the efforts and tears of Cuban people that at some point had to abandon the country but never abandoned the hope of a free Cuba. To all of those people I have only five words to say:

¡Viva Cuba Libre y Democrática!

It is with sadness that I re-posted this again this year. That's because when I first posted it on December 9, 2007 I used "December 19, 2008" as the headline, meaning that I was hoping the regime would be gone in just one year. Needless to say we are rapidly approaching that date and there is no evidence that Cuba will be free in the near future.

Fine Sand

By Yoani Sanchez

Finally we are beginning the planned journey of the bloggers. The shouts delivered at the police station, the constant agent we’ve had with us since last Thursday, and the prohibition on travel to Pinar del Río weren’t much use. We ended up finding the cracks between the fingers of the censors, between which the fine sand of information and knowledge has managed to slip through.

The start of this encounter, which none of the participants wanted to call an event, has happened quietly, without any fuss in the media or clandestine pretensions. In no way has it been similar to those congresses, conferences and symposia where a table is placed before a presidential backdrop. We haven’t stooped to creating one of those cardboard signs that lists the rules to be followed, nor do we wear credentials or special pins.

We managed to take the first step because “they” just waited for the challenge or the cancellation, but did not anticipate that in the blogger phenomenon there are a thousand ways to camouflage oneself. They used their old methods of coercion without realizing that nobody can put real reins on virtual creatures. By prohibiting the inaugural session, they’ve only managed to unveil how many possibilities there are to blur the itinerary without the need of moving from one province to another.

In a few days a website will be inaugurated to host the discussions that have been happening and to launch a blog contest for 2009. These tiny particles of cyberspace that are our blogs have already opened channels in the hands of the intransigents; particles so small that they haven’t even seen them pass.

Here is the press release drafted jointly by all the participants.

This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

Of Cattle, Criminals, and Cop Outs: Sean Penn in The Nation

When it comes to excusing the inexcusable, my mother often regales us with the story of the local thief in her small town in Cuba. The story is really not about the thief, whose name eludes me, but about his mother. His name is one of those diminutives of which Cubans are so fond, so let’s call him Machito. Well, whenever Machito would get caught at his criminal pursuits, out would come his widowed mother. Her Machito, she would insist, was no criminal. He was only walking along a road in the countryside and spotted a length of rope. Curious, he picked up the rope and followed it. It was just his bad luck that it was attached to a cow and the malas lenguas, or evil tongues, accused him of cattle rustling.

I was reminded of Mom’s anecdote after finally finishing the Sean Penn “interview” of raul castro in The Nation. Between bouts of soberbia -a Cuban form of apoplexy- and howls of comemierda -the noun form of the descriptive Americans follow with grin- I managed to plow through it. It reads as more of a travel diary with an extended platform for raul to explain history, the revised version, which casts the castro bros as hapless victims of the US, forced to become a brutal Stalinist dictatorship. Raulian assertion after raulian assertion is presented unopposed and without context. Is it because Mr. Penn is taking it upon faith, or is it because he is not aware of the history? Penn was not alone on his Latin American junket, having lured the historian Douglas Brinkley and the redoubtable Christopher Hitchens with the promise of an interview with the head of State. Not surprisingly, neither one of these more seasoned and, one would presume, less obsequious gentlemen was granted the privilege, only Penn. Hmmm.

I could go into the finer points and counter much of what he writes. There is no need. He does it for me:

Having said that, I'm a proud American and infinitely aware that if I were a Cuban citizen and were to write an article such as this about the Cuban leadership, I could be jailed. Furthermore, I'm proud that the system set up by our founding fathers, while not exactly intact today, was never dependent on just one great leader per epoch. These things remain in question for the romantic heroes of Cuba and Venezuela

The first sentence here renders everything else he writes so much equine evacuation. Now could someone explain to me what the heck the rest of it means? If I’ve got it correctly, Americans in their superiority don’t need a caudillo, but….

In a column about a completely different matter, Thomas Sowell recently wrote something that seems germane here-

The essence of bigotry is refusing to others the rights that you demand for yourself. Such bigotry is inherently incompatible with freedom, even though many on the Left would be shocked to be considered opposed to freedom.

Amen.

Sounding off on the NYT Magazine- One More Shot

Jorge Ponce of Washington, D.C. sounds off on Cohen's article in the NYT Magazine and examines the statistics of Miami Cuban exiles in favor of lifting the embargo. His last sen