Sick of CNN

I should have known it the minute Blitzer said the report was coming from Havana. Nothing good, except exiles and maybe cigars, comes from there. Gee, according to the reporter Moore is right. Everyone gets free health care for a fraction of the cost in the United States. Yeah, there are two tiers. Luis Moro on Youtube gets a mention in the context of a mad lunatic, and while conditions for ordinary Cubans are not those that Americans would tolerate....
The subtext is that, heck, it's a third world country, so of course it's okay for Cubans to have this rudimentary a health care. God forbid anyone in the MSM should research what kind of health care Cuba had prerevolution. As to the point of the report- The United States could save just as much money if it had diagnostic technology from the 40's, eliminated CT scans, PET scans, and, oh yeah, medications.

Don't these people realized how remarkably bigoted they are. Time to go email them, yet again. This time I can't decide between disingenuous or cynical. Maybe I'll use both. I encourage everyone to challenge them, to discuss the misconceptions with the people they know. There are over a million of us, a million little ambassadors. I like that.

Why I support BUCL

As a Cuban American I grew up listening and living the evils of Castro. Mine is a story similiar to that of every other Cuban-American family (so I wont go into details). However, while breifly living in Central America in my youth, I fantasized about fomenting my own anti-Castro revolution, 'specially after a few beers and meeting an Columbian ex-paratrooper who was ready to go to Cuba, as well. Truth is, I would have been killed as soon as I got to shore, or maybe sooner. Even if I had made it, who was going to follow a Cuban with a gringo accent? Perhaps good judgment shone through the effect of the beers. Now a fat, 3 cigar a day smoker and wine drinker, my only weapons are these keys. We should all support this effort. Obviously, the military effort and economic efforts have not proven to be succesful. Kudos to Henry, Val, George and all the others at Babalu...

More on sicko

Obviously we are going to hear how great the Cuban health care system is in the near future. However, what the msm and sheep forget reminds me of one Churchill's one liner's (just substitute Castroism for socialism):
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

Wolf Blitzer and the State of the Cuban Healthcare System

I was just watching The Situation Room on CNN, and they are promising a report on the true state of healthcare in Cuba vs. Sicko. But since the report is from Cuba, I'm not expecting much. Still, it was not too long ago when they wouldn't even consider the question. More later.

The Trial

In Humberto Fontova's excellent book, Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him, Che is said to have included Franz Kafka's The Trial as one of his recommended readings. After reading Kafka's work you have a clearer insight into the mind of the Guevara killing machine.
Kafka's book is a short interesting read about a bank employee who is arrested for a crime that he is unaware he committed and basically tried and convicted of this unknown crime. So, I guess this is where Guevara learned his judicial skills, although many of Che's victims didn't have the luxury of a trial.

Lou

BUCL Campaign For The Invisible Ones

They're at it again, and I'm delighted. The Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty is unleashing a campaign to enlist Sting's aid in highlighting the plight of Cuban political prisoners, you know, the ones the Cuban government says don't exist. Kudos to all involved!

It goes without saying that I hope they're successful. I'd hate to think that South Africans and Chileans are somehow more deserving of freedom, that after indicting both governments, Sting would collaborate with the Castro regime. Do I do remember reading that Sting's wife had opened a trendy new nightspot in New York called Socialista?

Sick of Sicko

I'm just biding my time here, reading about Egyptian mummies and the like, because I'm already sick of hearing about Moore's new movie. It's just being released, and I know what is to come. We'll all be hearing paens to Fidel's free health care system. I'll watch it on TV and spend countless evenings running to my computer to email CNN or MSNBC, maybe even Fox. I've already hit Time for their review. So before I go from slow simmer to boil, I am conserving my energy.

It seems that Cubans/Cuban Americans are always relegated to a Cassandralike role. We see the truth, but no one wants to know, at least no one who helps shape American public opinion.
Sometimes I feel like giving up, but I think that Cubans, even younger generations, are constitutionally incapable of letting yet another slight go by, so I will continue to be the mad emailer. (Pardon the pun.)

Egyptian Mummy Identified.

Just read on CNN that the mummy of Hatshepsut has been identified. Apparently they just got around to doing tests and discovered that this was the mummy of the 5th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. (It almost sounds like I know what I'm writing about, huh.) Actually I think it's exciting because Hatshepsut who was co-regent for her nephew and stepson- Don't you love these Ancient Egyptian family trees- decided to keep the throne for herself and became pharaoh. Yup, she was way ahead of her time. I stumbled across her at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where they have some statues. You can find her there with her fake beard. Few representations of her exist, because many of her likenesses were smashed, presumably by the thwarted nephew when he came to power years later.
Just a little tidbit for today.

Reads Notes- Part 1

Where to start? Waiting for Snow in Havana gets the position of honor for evoking a lost time and place. At the same time, much of the childhood experience is universal. Lyrical, nostalgic, and funny at points.

Under the Royal Palms, a much thinner book, is usually classified under the young adult label in libraries. If memory serves, it follows the life of a young girl in precastro Camaguey. I do remember that I enjoyed it much.

Exposing the Real Che Guevara starts a new genre. It's Lou's top pick. So, I'll let him fill in on this one.

After Fidel was written by a CIA Cuban analyst. So with how the CIA mucked up the whole Cuba thing, I have to admit I had my suspicions. I learned a bit about Raul, but I learned a whole lot more about Fidel. It eviscerates the romantic revolutionary myths and exposes Castro for what he is, which apparently much of American society doesn't know. Worth reading just for that.

Shadow Warrior is one of those books I just came across at the library, like the one about the first World Trade Center bombing, which I read before 9/11 and served as a guide for understanding the terrorism situation. This one follows the career of the Cuban exile/ CIA operative who witnessed Che's ignominious end. Worth the time.