What's Wrong with this Picture?

At the risk of taking out my soapbox, I have to share this. Pace student Samuel Shmulevich faces FELONY hate crime charges for dunking the Koran into a toilet twice. Not in the article is the context of the whole affair. From the little I've gathered, his actions were sparked by a controversy over Muslim students' objections to the airing of the film, Obsession, which had resulted in the painting of swastikas, etc.

In the end, I have to ask myself one question: would he be facing four years in jail, if he had dunked a Bible? Legally, I suspect he could, but would he? Michelle Malkin made a good point on O'Reilly that hate crime is essentially code for thought crime. She's got some interesting stuff on the whole situation here.

The Mad Emailer Threatens to Rise Again: CBS This Time

The mad emailer had already taken exception to the AP coverage of the Americans graduating from a Cuban medical school, when El Cafe Cubano posted on a CBS paen to the same. Too tired from posting, the mad emailer will have to take a pass for the moment until the article can be examined carefully.

Losing the PR War: Cuban Americans as the Enemy

When I linked to the article on the farm bill the other day, I made the mistake of reading the comments. I say mistake because it was a traumatizing experience.

There were the comments obviously fueled by the resentment that the rest of the world can get a cheap vacation, regardless of the morality of the same. You know the "Why can't we go to Cuba and be cool like Sting?" type of question. Then there were the comments based on the less than solid assumption that trade would somehow ease the lot of ordinary Cubans, or somehow bring down the Castro regime. What I was not prepared for was the absolute vitriol hurled at Cuban Americans who are seemingly insignificant, money grubbing residents of Coral Gables or bayfront mansions, scheming to install their own Batista or Pinochet.

To all those people who want to go down and hobnob with the communist oppressors and their citizen slaves, lie on the beaches forbidden to Cubans and drink mojitos at bars forbidden to Cubans, sell their cattle or their chickens or their corn on credit to a government whose debt is rated junk, talk nice to a murdering bastard, I ask what have Cubans done that they should be dismissed and reviled, that the very people who have the most knowledge of the regime should be ignored or slandered?

What have Cubans in the United States done except come to this country with only the shirts on their backs, wash dishes, people factories, save up capital, start little businesses, get educations, send their children to medical schools, make the greatest economic advances of any immigrant group, reinvigorate a moribund city(Miami), send money home to near starving relatives, and demand that we not kowtow to a sworn enemy of the United States who once had missiles pointed at American cities? Oh, is that it? Can it possibly be that we didn't buy into the victomology of some, that we cannot be looked down upon as a poor little minority that can be patronized and assuaged with government programs? Contrary to Castroite propaganda, most exiles were not rich Batistianos who fled the country with their money safely ensconced in Switzerland. No, Cuban Americans for the most part are embodiments of the American Dream and that seems to rankle some.

The sad thing here is that there might very well be rationales for lifting the embargo or other changes in policy, although I'm not saying there is. Frankly, it is something I struggle with as of late. But these are changes that I cannot even contemplate, because the people who propose them are fueled by naivete, ignorance, greed, anger, hatred, resentment, or envy. And inevitably my kneejerk reaction when being attacked by people who hate me is to fight back.

More on the "Debate"

An article by Ken Connor on Townhall.com pretty much coincides with my feelings about the CNN/YouTube debate. He asks-

George Washington. Abraham Lincoln. Franklin Roosevelt. John F. Kennedy. Ronald Reagan. Who among these men would answer, with a straight face, a question posed by a snowman?

His objections run from the format-

When questions are posed by animated snowmen, men holding automatic weapons, and lesbian couples playing "gotcha" do we somehow trivialize the process and, perhaps, the
office of President itself?

to the substance-

One popular sentiment was that candidates will be forced to take real people's problems more seriously when confronted by the widow of a fallen soldier, or a homosexual couple, or a person dying of cancer. While it is undoubtedly true that these human encounters do change the feel of a debate, that's not necessarily always a good thing. Sometimes mature and strong leadership needs to step back from the immediacy of an individual's suffering and see their problem in the context of the larger whole, with a mind toward the common good.

Read the whole article here.

A Post Castro Cuba

Ran into an interesting article by Jaime Suchlicki in the Harvard International Review, notable as much for its analysis of present conditions as it is for zeroing in on the challenges that would face a post Castro Cuba. I warn you his prognosis is grim.

By the way, that much vaunted Cuban healthcare system-

Sanitary and medical facilities have deteriorated so badly that contagious diseases of epidemic proportions constitute a real menace to the population. Cuba’s health system, once the showcase of the regime, has deteriorated significantly, especially after the end of Soviet subsidies.

So where exactly did Michael Moore go? Was it a virtual tour?

Vast AntiCuban/American Conspiracy

It seems that no sooner is an attempt to ease restrictions on Cuba beaten back, this time snuck into the farm bill, but another assault has to be faced. The protagonists are none other that the usual suspects, namely the aptly named Flake and the ever useful idiot Rangel, among others. I don't know if TV Marti is effective or whether there is mismanagement or cronyism or satanic worship at the station. I do know that Rangel and Flake et al have made an avocation of going after any policy or program that Cuban Americans might favor. Double, triple, quadruple shame on them.

Stories of the Cuban Diaspora- Part 2

There are so many stories that it is painful. But one thing I think we do as bloggers is bear witness to the truth. So I hope one of my readers doesn't mind if I share part of her comment.

I too am Cuban and it was just recently that my mother told me the story of while waiting in the airport in Cuba her and Papi were stripped searched. My stuffed toy rabbit was taken from me and returned ripped to shreads searching for "contraband". Mami says she can still hear my screams when the meliciano with a smirk handed over to me.

If there is one thing that is the most offensive to me about the Castros' "revolution," it is that it feeds on and encourages the basest of human nature. Bad enough the parents were strip searched, the miliciano smirks as he returns the favored bunny in shreds to a little girl. When my cousin's house is "entervenido" people storm in and carry off her mattresses on their heads as they strip the place. Your neighbor catches a whiff of coffee coming from your house and runs and turns you in. There is a committee, made up of your neighbors, on your block whose sole purpose is to spy on you.

Anyway, she asked about the end of Tio's story. After about five years, Tio was able to come and rejoin his family. Although I'm told he was never the same after his experiences, I can honestly say he was the happiest man I ever knew. Partly because of his experiences and greatly because of his faith, he was happy with what he had and enjoyed life. It's a good thing, too, because he died at the age of fifty eight. He was stopped at a red light, mere yards away from his house, when a car driven by a young man who had had too much to drink at the fiesta de Calle Ocho plowed into him and killed him instantaneously.

I'd like to thank her for her story. We have many stories to share, so feel free to add some more.

Raul's Coming of Age

Just caught quite a bit of Raul's speech, and to paraphrase- he's no Fidel when it comes to speaking. Of course, it could be that even he's getting tired of spouting lies: Cuba is a true democracy yada yada yada. The compulsory crowds they bused in looked somnolent. What is that about damning with faint praise?I've seen more enthusiasm at a mandatory inservice day. Gee, I guess that's what it kinda was.

So much for style. It seems Raul is either a policy wonk or a candidate for early Alzheimer's. He spent no less than ten minutes carrying on about their great new advance in the delivery of milk. After about five minutes of detailing the past milk delivery routes for one entire province, he trotted out the success of an experiment. Some bright communist light figured out they could save fuel by leaving milk behind for the producers in rural areas of that province, unpasteurized of course. Such a revolutionary triumph! 80kms saved. Ten minutes, I do not lie.

Poor Raul, he's got the symptoms right, but not the answer: Capitalismo. They need to increase industrial and agricultural production, increase efficiency in the production and distribution of same, he proposes. There is no reason they have to import so much, given the fertile land they have, he says. Right on, brother!

His answer: Blame the victim. Cubans have to work harder and smarter. Duh? Where's the incentive, Bubba? Donde esta la plata? Increase production so that Raul, his cronies, and the party apparatchiks can make more money, or so that it can all be exported? What does Joe Cuban, whose first thought every morning is how he's going to feed his family, get out of the deal, other than revolutionary glory? And that's all he's gonna get, because Raulito made it clear, "Socialism," read that communism is there to stay. He's not giving away his and his military's meal ticket.

Oh, and in keeping with the inservice theme, everything is going to be studied. Change will not come quickly. The irony is in the way he discusses the economy as if they had inherited an undeveloped country, not as if they hadn't trashed the economy for fifty years, reducing the country to using oxen, which Raul assured us are time-tested.

I found it tantalizing. I could have been optimistic, at least a little. I could have said to myself, all this socialism stuff and posturing against the US is just to save face. Maybe there will be economic reform, maybe the lives of ordinary Cubans will just get a little bit better. I could have been, but I wasn't. There was not a single word to lead me to believe that the oppressive yoke of the regime will get the least bit lighter.

Just read La Contra Revolucion. They noticed the milk fixation too. Funny none of the news reports mentioned it. I wonder why?

Motorcycle Baloney!!

I want to start out by saying, "I dont understand. " How is it possible that a murdering executionist thug ends up on finger puppets and movies? My only consolation is that the finger puppet maker is probably an unknown Chinese laborer, making 3 cents per hour, and has never heard of Che Guevara.The movie maker or musician, born and bread in the US, spent millions just on the basis of reading someone-else's books. Did he research the facts? Did he want to know the truth about Che? Or did he want to just be cool, because everyone else is wearing the red t-shirts with a long haired dude on it?..... I ask you who is the real puppet maker in this story......?

Like my mom used to say it: "If you don't see it, it is because you don't want to see it.!"
There is no other place in history for a murderer other than a murderer! There is nothing cool about a muderer.
Stalin, Hitler,Himler, Manson, etc....

Connecticut Tragedy

There are some sick indivuals in the world. Luckily Connecticut has not abolished the death penalty. Read the story here. I will worn you that it is painful. Lethal injection would be to kind.

Random Ruminations of a Smoker

As a Cuban American, a sometime Republican, a somewhat lapsed Catholic, and a smoker, I am 0 for 4 in society, where right has become wrong, wrong has become right, and up has become down. I'm in my very own Star trek episode in which I've transported to a world that is the mirror image of the one I've grown up in.
It's a world in which Castro really cares about the health of his people. The President on the basis of personal animosity has sent thousands of troops in harm's way, merely to satisy his vanity. The Catholic church which nurtured me and taught me whatever virtues I have is evil, and the only sin left is smoking.
I'd guess that no smoker past the age of thirty actually smokes because he or she wants to. The afflicted knows he or she is killing him or herself. By now, most are aware that it is not a good thing to smoke on top of other people, particularly those who don't smoke. The antismoking crowd, however, has gotten so sanctimonious that they would give Carrie Nation a run for her money.
My hometown periodically starts making noises about banning smoking on the BEACH. The rationale is that cigarette butts, which make up 10% of the garbage found, litter the beach. So in their wisdom, figuring they're not going to get away with an outright ban, they've proposed four 100 foot circles on a thirteen mile stretch, where I suppose we would have to stand upright to fit. I guess the other 90% of the trash is okay. My only consolation here is that I got to vote against the chief proponent of this one, and he lost his seat.
Disney I have not been to in years, because although dry humping anywhere seems to be acceptable, last time I went OUTDOOR smoking was limited to four far flung areas you needed a secret password to find. I thank my lucky stars I left New York when I did, because once Bloomberg seized power, his hidden agenda was enacted. This is New York where they hand out hypodermic needles. And he wants to be President? I don't think so.
And now I'm supposed too pay even more taxes for the health care of children whose parents probably make more than I do. And by the way, we actually cost the government less than virtuous nonsmokers because we die young. Yup. Beam me up, Scotty!

The Estefans and a Different Point of View

Having grown up in NYC, I have many friends who are Jewish. One thing I respected about them was that they wouldnt drive a Mercedes-Benz or any other vehicle that has German origins, including parts. They certainly wouldn't associate with someone who wears Himmler T shirts. What can be said about our fellow Cuban Americans? Is it the almighty dollar has surpassed there ideologies? Myself, I always put back articles of clothing I see are manufactured in Vietnam, and I am reluctant to purchase any Japanese vehicles. I certainly do not buy Cuban cigars, no matter how good they allegedly may be. Small change compared to doing business with a Che lover.

Officemax needs to go to the wall of shame

No further explanation necessary.

Freedom and the Sheep

Listening to Babalublog radio last night reminded me why this country has survived and prospered the way it has. It is because of people like Janet's father, who fought valiantly in the Bay of Pigs, for freedom. Not for Kennedy, not for lies, not for Michael Moore and company who are leeches upon the sacrifices of valiant men. I thank this woman for her family's sacrifice and urge everybody to listen to her first hand recount of why he did what he did on Babalublog Radio Hour. It was painful to me to listen, and I was reminded of what it is to be American.
Lou

The Mad Emailer and the AP

Six Americans, six cogs in fifo's propaganda machine, just graduated to much fanfare in Cuba. One sentence really caught my attention:

Carmen Landau, 30, a graduate from Oakland, California, noted in an e-mail message that chronic shortages of medicine and equipment in Cuba - much of it caused by the embargo - make health care here far more complicated than Moore's documentary suggested.

Well here is one of these students ever so gently indicating what we all know about Moore's depiction of the Cuban health care system: IT'S A LIE. What is troubling but not surprising to me to me is that the AP allows the assertion that the state of the health care system is due to the EMBARGO to pass without comment. I am so sick of this poop! THERE IS NO EMBARGO on food and medicine. And AP had a duty to indicate such.

This is what we fight daily: liars and incompetents. Read it all here.

So the Mad Emailer had to wake up early and lob this volley, not that they care.

In one portion of the article published today about six students graduating from medical school in Cuba, a student is quoted as saying that the dismal state of the system is due to the American embargo.
There is no embargo on food and medicine, ergo the statement is erroneous. As journalists you had the obligation to indicate such. By leaving the statement as is with no qualifier, you left the impression in the mind of your readers that the statement was accurate, and it was the big, bad embargo that was hurting the health care system.
I believe that as journalists accuracy is of paramount importance. Perhaps, a fact sheet on the embargo for your correspondents would be in order.

Theater of the Absurd: CNN/YouTube Debate

If the founding fathers had any inkling of what went on last night, they would spinning in their graves. It has reduced me to despair, particularly when the focus groups on the various networks thought it was a marvelous format. That one left me spluttering.

Amongst the questions were one African American gentleman asking about reparations for slavery, one foreign policy maven asking whether the candidates would go meet with our sworn enemies in Cuba, Iran, Syria and the like, and two lesbians who wanted to know if the candidates would let them get married. Great theater, but poor journalism. Because in truth, CNN here abdicated its role as a knowledgeable broker.

Take the foreign policy question. Cuba is not interested in diplomacy. Castro has made clear that what he wants is unilateral surrender on the part of the US: drop the embargo, forget about human rights abuses, forgo demanding payment for seized American property. If you want to see the truth of such, examine his response to Spain, one of the greatest collaborators with his regime. Spain has been working on the regime's behalf to mend fences with the EU, so what was the response when the Spanish government sought in the gentlest of ways to discuss some of the human rights issues- a resounding slap. The questioner is obviously unaware of this or thinks that the regime which wanted to nuke out cities will suddenly do an about face and start singing Kum ba ya, as someone on Babalu suggested. One would hope that a real journalist asking a question would be aware of same.

The other problem I have stems from the format. As one news outlet pointed out the questions were personal, too personal I would say. We each have our individual concerns, but government exists for the many and cannot address ALL of our needs and wants. Any government policy invariably leaves out or hurts some segment of the population. But as a society, we no longer accept that as a given. We are rapidly becoming the government of the exception for the exception. Oh, minus smokers and CubanAmericans, it's okay to trash them. They are not politically correct.

When you have the individual putting a question to the candidates, it removes the answer from the realm of politics. If the candidate were to respond truthfully, he or she might say, "Listen, you ain't never gonna get anything, so you might as well just keep working. Paying slave reparations would probably lead to Native American reparations to reparations for the people bombed in Dresden, etc..., not to mention that no matter how large the sum set aside, if you were to calculate the number of descendants you'd probably only get fifty bucks. And don't you think fifty bucks for your ancestors' slavery is a bit insulting?" Of course, you'll never hear that because it would be politically incorrect.

To be fair, picture the soon to come Republican version. The questioner asks, "Are you in favor of murdering preborn babies?" The scary thing is that apparently as a society we consider these "good" questions, else why the approval. Woe is me.

Politics 2008: A Heroine with Clay Feet

Earlier, I turn on the TV, decide to watch news until primetime. The pickings are really slim. On CNN, they have the farsical Democratic Presidential Debate. I mean, those questions. I'm not a Democrat, but that format seemed unfair and unproductive. Anyway, I can't take them anymore. On MSNBC, Chris Matthews is apparently devoting the hour to Michael Moore. Hardball these days is usually enough to send me into apoplexy, so I definitely will not watch that. Eventually, I wind up watching the historical underpinnings of the "Exodus" or something like.

But the whole thing gets me to thinking about Hillary, who may very well make it. You have to admire the woman. When the Lewinsky scandal broke, I was highly contemptuous of her. "Some feminist!" I thought. "What a prostitute." And yet as time has gone on, and life has thrown me some curveballs, I have come to view her as my idol. Can you imagine the strength of will it took to carry on, when all she wanted was to do a Lorena Bobbit? And she got hers. She took the hit, but she got what she wanted.

Much as I'd love to reward that singlemindedness, though, I can't vote for her. First of all, I am constitutionally unable to vote for anyone who ever took part in a "Venceremos" brigade. I don't care how young or foolish she was, not that she's ever repudiated the adventure. By the way, it's amazing that she's been in the limelight for years, and I had never heard a word about it. Interesting, huh? Anyway, I never volunteered to go pick rice in Vietnam. Second, her politics are just too bad. Forget the mess she made of healthcare reform way back when. Take a gander at an excerpt from a recent speech:

It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the
few and for the few, time to reject the idea of an "on your own" society and to
replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity. I prefer a "we're
all in it together" society.

Gee, haven't I heard something like that somewhere before?

American Tragedy on the Border; Double Standards or Chaos.

Do you remember of a recent border case in which the two border patrol agents shot a suspected drug smugler and were sent to jail? Why is it that these guys went to jail, and the Coast Guard crew that shot at the Cuban smugglers resulting in death, probably will get an award for a "job well done." Why the double standard here?


A Texas jury came back with a guilty verdict. Being convicted of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence has an automatic ten year sentence. Other counts against them had varying punishments. Ramos and Compean were sentenced to a combined twenty-three years in prison, where they will have to try to exist alongside the same type of criminals they had apprehended in their line of duty.

Prison Conditions for One Political Prisoner

Reading El Cafe Cubano which has a video of Dr. Biscet this morning reminded me that this video existed. Here his wife demonstrates a mock up of the cell in which Elias Biscet was held in 2003 for the crime of wanting to be free. She calls it a calabosa (spelling mine), a word I've never heard and can't find in the dictionary. If anyone out there knows, please let me know.

Ruminations on the Response

You ever notice that "cuss words" (as my friend from Mississippi would say) in foreign languages always seem so much more colorful than those in English? Just this morning, as I was sitting on my front Lanai, enjoying the sunlight and the greenery, as well as recovering from my late night reading, I started thinking about the Smithsonian response. For some reason, the word comemierda came to mind. Translated literally, it means "shit-eater." It is a word with great versatility.

When your friend who works at the local convenience store shows up in her brand new Lexus, you can say "Que comemierda." In this instance it denotes a certain pretentiousness. Here's where Mom would say "comen harina y escupen pollo," or they eat corn grits and burp chicken. The same can be said of people who include their degrees on a signature in order to establish intellectual superiority and avoid listening to people who might have a point.

The word can also describe someone who lets his or herself be duped. Your other friend whose husband has been cheating on her for years can be classified as "una pobre comemierda." If she is a particularly self-effacing dupe, you can better describe her as "una pobre comemierdita." So if someone allows themselves or their institution to be used by unscrupulous propaganda brokers, the same descriptor could apply.

The little old codger stopped in front of you at the light who seems to be waiting for a color other than green "esta comiendo mierda," as is someone who parrots shibboleths instead of engaging in meaningful self-scrutiny.

I think you get the idea. What all variations of the word have in common is stupidity. It can be laced with pretentiousness, or gullibility, or misfiring neurons, but in the end es comer mierda.
I may be touchy, but I found the response more insulting than the original offense, which could have been the result of ignorance.

Goofing Off

I confess. Daughter showed up on Saturday AM with the Harry Potter she had bought at midnight. Since she actually has a social life, she figured I'd get to it sooner and, delightful child, left it for me. You can guess what I was doing that evening. Her timing was fortuitous since I had just finished The Father of Forensics earlier that morning. I suspect I must be on like a Victorian medical kick or something. It wasn't bad, but it was like reading Infamous Murders.

As to Harry, I have to say, the first half of the book had the old Potter magic. The rest left me wanting. Of course, it could have been that I didn't finish the eight hundred some odd pages until 2:30 in the AM. I'm still unclear about some wands, but I'm not going back.

Evil Minds

There are only two options for the naming of this record companyz: Dumb Ass or Stupid! Barbara Dane and Irwin Silber, the originators of Paredon records, either were evil and knew that what they were doing was naming their record company the equivalent of "Auschwitz Recordings" or they were just stupid and didn't know what PAREDON meant. What do you believe......?

Paredon Records

So I guess the Smithsonian is guilty of trying to perpetuate the founders of Paredon records beliefs. Look at this.
Lou

Birthday Tribute to Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, Prisoner of the Regime

Today is the 46th birthday of Dr. Biscet. I will not rehash the facts. You can read his story at Uncommon Sense, which does it much better than I could.
Rather, I'd like to pay tribute to a man of indomitable spirit and a true patriot. Cast in Castro's gulag and alarmed at the drift toward accepting the stabilization rather than the liberation of Cuba, he has the force of will to smuggle out a letter asking us all to accept nothing less than freedom for his beloved country:
Finally, to the leaders of the democratic states of the world, to the American people, and in particular to the President of the United States, George W. Bush, we ask only one simple commitment: do not support or promote any solution or accord regarding the future of the Cuban nation that you would not consider acceptable for your own country.
May God illuminate us in our path for the liberty of Cuba.

Who am I to differ from him? I originally found it through a link from Uncommon Sense, but you can read it in its entirety here.

The Mad Emailer and the Mattresses

Somewhat patronized and very dismissed, the mad emailer is nothing if not persistent. This morning an email went out to Senator Mel Martinez, who should have some inkling. (I won't post it, because I haven't mastered the art of hiding part of a post.) Why not? The Smithsonian relies on the government. Maybe Miamians should follow suit with their politicians.

Che in the Smithsonian: Why it Matters

I've devoted a lot of words to historical context, but the reason the the brouhaha over the Che recordings made available by the Smithsonian matters is consequence. Let's dismiss the question of our sensibilities. They do this automatically. Let's look at the notion of free and unfettered access to information and scholarly research, which is disingenuous at best. When there is free and unfettered access to only ONE point of view that is de facto propaganda.
When it occurs repeatedly throughout academia, researchers are subjected to a steady diet of propaganda, the results of which Cubans and Cuban Americans see daily as the truth recedes ever more from the current discourse.

Mom's Maxim's Revisted, Translated, and Updated

By popular demand ( I've received email), here are very bad translations.

-Sarna con gana no pica y si pica no mortifica.
A rash with desire doesn't itch and if it itches, it won't irritate.
Basically, if it's something you want, you won't feel the discomfort.
-Hasta la ciruela pasa.
Even the date(as in date palm) passes.
The equivalent to "This, too shall pass." I might add that pasa also means raisin.
-Si la situacion no tiene remedio porque te preocupas y si tiene remedio porque te preocupas?
If the situation cannot be remedied why do you worry, and if it can why do you worry?
In essence, if it can't be fixed, there's nothing you can do. If it can be fixed, you can do it.
-No llores como mujer lo que no supistes defender como hombre.
Don't cry like a woman what you didn't know how to defend like a man.
Although horribly sexist, it speaks for itself.
-En el reino del ciego, el tuerto es rey.
Another politically incorrect entry. In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
-Un (fill in the blank) hala mas que una yunta de buey.
A female has more pull than a team of oxen.
-Ningun mono se ve su rabo.
No monkey sees his own tail, or we tend not to see our own flaws.

The Mad Emailer and the Museum

In response to this, I emailed the Smithsonian. You know I don't need much prodding to hit the keys. I was very nice. Really, I was. I've lost the email, but I touched on historical record etc... and really pretended to be reasonable.
Well apparently, everyone who emailed got the same response, the first part of which I have copied below. The complete response is available on Babalu .

Like books available in libraries, recordings of topical songs and speeches may espouse contrary opinions and points of view, but are part of the historical record and worthy of study. It is up to individual scholars and members of the public to determine their own interests and make their own evaluations of materials, which you have done. It is the Smithsonian's policy to offer the same access to all of our collections, even to those that some, even many people, might find objectionable for one reason or another....

I responded-
I fully understand the concept of the historical record and support open access. However, I reiterate my original objections. It is obvious that this is not a scholarly source, given the producer's biography and the name of the label. This would be acceptable were you to provide a historical context. Secondly, if you feel it is that important to the historical record, I question why there are no recordings listed of controversial major world leaders.

As it stands you are not offering a contrary point of view and are in essence aligning your institution with the viewpoint espoused.It is your prerogative. I wrote in the hope that it was an oversight.

I just love it when when someone feels the need to instruct me on "the historical record" and "open access." My only regret is that I was interrupted replying and dashed off a hurried response, although it's obvious he didn't read the first one. Shame on him.
Guess where Mr. Daniel Sheehy is going.

Los Cubanitos

When I was a child I wanted to join little league. My father had a different idea. "You can play for 'Los Cubanitos' kids team in Union City" he said.
"But Dad? We don't even live in Union City."
"Don't worry about it. You are going to be great because you can hit with the left and the right."
Little did he know that my being ambidextrous really meant that I couldn't hit either way. Well I never played for the Cubanitos or pro ball for that matter. I must have shattered my Cuban father's dreams.
Lou

Absolution and the Press

As I contemplate just how or when the pigs became human, I cannot avoid the role of the press. I have always believed and still do believe in the importance of a free press. From childhood, I regularly read the newspapers, watched Huntley and Brinkley et al. In those days, perhaps in my innocence, I had a great respect for the media. Today, the press is one of my greatest sources of despair.

I'm watching the news and hear that they are going to be reporting about Cuba. Inwardly, I cringe. I don't have to watch it, although I do. I know what is coming- a glossy rendition of Castroite propaganda based on the assumption that the natives are poor but happy and a heck of a lot better than they used to be. The exiles in this country are just a bunch of angry, rapacious lunatics who, my God, have the nerve to wave Cuban flags. They are not to be taken seriously. Invariably, the report will feature some portion of that script.

Why, I wonder. I suspect that there are many causes, but the one that burns me is that they don't do their homework. What happened to factual reporting? What happened to investigative journalism? Is it limited to the private lives of Republicans? Why don't they apply the same skepticism to the assertions of the Castro regime that they apply to those of the Bush Administration? All it would take is a trip to the internet. Investigate Moore's claims about Cuban healthcare. Look at the pictures on The Real Cuba. Then contact them. Find out their sources. Visit a pharmacy in Miami. Ask them how much medicine they send to Cuba? Ask them why.

Could it be that these journalists didn't start out sweeping the pressroom floors and work their way up? That they are for the most part pretty talking heads, products of our journalism schools with all their attendant political leanings? Don't believe me. Do an experiment. Just watch all three major cable news networks, as I used to. I no longer regularly watch MSNBC, as they veered into MoveOn territory. Any network that allows and vaunts the ugliness of Olbermann's rants against Bush and loads its panels with liberals is not for me. Gee, can it be that I like my news with at least the pretense of objectivity? Fox is often too opinionated for me, but it does counter MSNBC. Anyway, forget Cuba. Just listen to the reports. You will find, just on the basis of your watching all three, inaccuracies from network to network. You will hear errors unworthy of any college graduate. Often, I find myself correcting the anchor at home, and I'm just a viewer.

So what happens when your average viewer who doesn't have the time, inclination, or knowledge to question the company line ingests this tripe. You've got it. Let's see, the embargo is the cause of the disastrous state of the Cuban economy, no mention of open trade with the rest of the world or that we are one of their largest food suppliers or the nearly one billion dollars of American property seized by the same government or the unpaid millions they owe other governments. Cuba is a hot tourist spot that Americans are not allowed to enjoy because of that nasty Bush administration and those crazy Cuban Americans, not an enslaved society where the people are nearly forced to prostitute themselves to the Europeans et al in order to lessen their deprivation.. Che is a mythic revolutionary hero, a freedom fighter, not a butcher who died trying to foment revolution in someone else's country, one that apparently didn't want it.

The state of the media these days is truly depressing. It is still our last best hope to combat totalitarianism, but one that is increasingly tenuous. And I haven't even touched on the Paris factor. Ouch!

While we have EBAY on the Run......

Interesting item.........? Spread your butter with this ! It would seem that EBAY has an open door policy on mass murderer memorabilia....although I didn't find the Hitler finger puppets for children....darn!!

Botanica on the Blogosphere

Now I've seen it all! There is no limit to the enterprising Cuban spirit, no pun intended. I'm following links, trolling the blogs, and I see one of those Google ads for a botanica. For our American readers, a botanica is a store that sells the oils, powders, candles and assorted paraphernalia for the santeria religion. Although only a percentage of Cubans owns up to following it, most have at least a healthy respect for it. Anyway, the juxtaposition is amazing. Here is this very old religion with African tribal roots propagating itself on the net. Maybe I'm the last one to find out about it, and I can't find the word to describe it. It's not quite irony, but...

Someday, I fantasize, when we land on Mars, some Cuban entrepreneur will be there to greet us with a pan con lechon and un cortadito for a nominal fee, of course.

The Cuban Spirit

Although I was tickled by the botanica ad on the blog, further reflection saddened me. This is the spirit, the ingenuity, that the Castro regime has tamped. Fortunately he has not been able to completely erase it. According to my mother, since soap is scarce in Cuba, some budding capitalists will rent the soap they've managed to acquire. You are limited to one bath, stringently enforced.

It's going to go in the pantheon with bistec empanizado, country fried steak, made out of grapefruit rinds, since steak is a thing virtually unknown and shoe soles refashioned from old tires, since a matching right AND left shoe are hard to find. Absurdity.

My Mother's Cuban Proverbs

I'm in the mood for a little lightness. Val Prieto's post on Babalu about a health cubanism the other day got me to thinking.
So I asked Mom who always seems to have a proverb to match the occasion to write some of these down. I'd hate for them to be lost to us with her generation. Here are some I remember. They always lose much in the translation, so I won't attempt it at the moment. More to come.

• Sarna con gana no pica y si pica no mortifica.
  
• Hasta la ciruela pasa.


• Si la cosa no tiene remedio porque te preocupas, y si tiene remedio porque te preocupas...


• No llores como mujer lo que no supiste defender como hombre


• En el reino de los ciegos, el tuerto es rey.


• Un (deleted) hala mas que una yunta de buey.

La Empanada

I was remembering when my grandparents used to make empanadas at home. MMMMMMM...There are two things that are mixed in with the ground beef. I used to throw one of them away but eat the other. Only a Cubiche would know what they are. With the leftover dough he would make chiviritos with sugar. Jokingly, my wife and I always kid around about naming our boat "La Empanada." That would be funny.
Lou

History Has Absolved Him...at least for now

I've been wrestling with the question of how we've gotten to this point. When I was young, the American public might have been prejudiced against Hispanics, but they all knew that the Castro regime was bad. Actually, the ignorance I occasionally dealt with had to do with strangers finding out I was Cuban and saying, "Oh, so you like Fidel." Yes, dope, that's why I live in the United States, I would think.

But somewhere along the way, Fidel got absolved, his victims vilified, and historical fact and context forgotten. Read any comment section under an article dedicated to Cuba, and you will see just how ignorant much of the American public has become. How has it happened?I'd like to propose one reason is that historians have let us down. It is these scholars who write the history books, these history books that educate the generations of Americans. Ask any Cuban American who's sat in a college history class where the subject matter has even the most tangential connection to Cuba what that experience is like. There is nothing like being told that the world is flat and having to sit there in silence, or worse yet, being labeled crazy, stupid, or immoral for insisting it is round.

It would be easy enough to say, "Oh, it's because they are all commie pinkos." And that may well be, but in my experience scholars are well-intentioned, attempting to convey what they see as the truth. Unfortunately historical truth has a context. It is that context that has been lost.

It has been lost because whole generations of scholars and citizens see Cuba with a distorted and, sorry to say, biased frame of reference. They start out with the presupposition that Cuba was an undeveloped and impoverished country. In that context, they see marvelous literacy, health care, etc... What they do not see and what Cuban Exiles and those born in the United States have to work tirelessly to convey is that by almost any quality of life measure, preCastro Cuba had one of the highest literacy rates, lowest child mortality rates, etc., certainly in Latin America. It was not called the "Pearl of the Antilles" for nothing. But beyond that many comparisons have to be made to Europe rather than the developing world.

I do not intend to maintain that it was a perfect society, but what I do intend to propose is that Castroite propaganda aside, any analysis that does not take into account statistics both before and after the Castro dictatorship in context is fatally flawed. And once both sets of statistics are analyzed, the regime is incontrovertibly a failed one.

I look forward to the day when the regime collapses and the truth circulates freely. Then history will vindicate me and the thousands like me out here in the wilderness.

One Crazy Cuban Story

Wow, Lou's last post reminded my of something I was writing this morning. It was the story of my grandparents. The beginning of the story deals with the Great Depression poverty, etc...
Then

About the time of my grandparents' marriage, the brother who was a
printer was in _________ where a new ________ was going up. He sent
for my grandfather and literally gave him the print shop. “Antolin, this
town is going to grow. You will be here to grow with the town.” And
so he did. The single street that ran parallel to _________ where they
settled eventually became the main street of a thriving small town. My
grandparents became solidly middle class.
.... My grandfather had a car, a big, black Pontiac, which he
kept in immaculate condition. He also had the print shop, which was more
of a print shop/office supply/Kodak distributor, and at Christmas, a toy
store. He and my grandmother were creatures of habit. Every day, my
grandfather would close the shop, take a bath, change into his afternoon clothes
and eat dinner. After dinner, they would invariably sit in the big rockers
on the front porch until their early bedtime. Small towns being what they
are, everyone knew this. Well, as the “democratic” revolution became
progressively less “democratic,” the revolution seized his car. And every
evening, the milicianos in their beards and green fatigues would pile into
the car and drive erratically up and down the street in front of my grandparents
on the front porch. My grandfather could only watch as his beloved vehicle
was run into the ground. It didn’t last long.

I think, the final straw for my grandfather came the morning he went to open the
shop and found out that the shop was no longer his. He was working for the
revolution now. He would not even be the manager. There was a woman
who knew nothing about the business who would henceforth be his boss in the
business he had worked his whole life to build. Shortly thereafter he put
in to leave. It was not that simple. By doing that he was opening
himself to all sorts of repercussions. He and my grandmother were now
“Gusanos,” or worms. A woman came to inventory every last one of their
possessions, an inventory which was repeated the morning they
left __________ on the way to the United States. When I met my
grandmother and grandfather, they had only the clothes on their backs to their
name.

Crazy Cubans

There was a time when the term "crazy Cubans from Miami" or "Miami Mafia" didn't phase me, maybe since I am not from Miami. Contrary to the beliefs of some, not all Cubans live in Miami. Anyway, I challenge any home owner in the United States to have his HOME and BANK ACCOUNT taken away at GUN POINT and NOT go crazy. I will give you a cigar!

Secondly, I would argue, that unless you have undergone the above (such as the Jews in Germany), you have absoulutely NO AUTHORITY to question any feelings that the exile community may feel.


Definitions:

Crazy= affected with madness or insanity; "a man who had gone mad"

Thief= a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it.

Okay, so recap, you take away Glover's home and money; then ask him how happy he is!


Lou

The Internet and Castro's Demise

How is it possible that Fidel Castro has maintained a communist regime with flagrant violations of human rights NINETY MILES AWAY from the US. I will tell you that Fidel is one of the ultimate spin-meisters known to man. Obviously there are other champions of this technique usually related to the communist party (and slowly affecting the US democratic part as well).
There is something diferent now: the internet! I would love to put Fidel through Mussolini's last minutes, However, I see that ending as highly unlikely. As stated before on this blog in other words: " The Pen is mightier than the sword!" Until now Fidel has spun webs of lies around the stupid, gullible, and those wanting to be fooled. One thing is different now and that is blogging! Although some would disagree, Our best defense against this cretin is our freedom of speech, and I will continue until we take him down. Now his fables cannot go unchecked!
Lou

Health Care Utopia

I vaguely remember reading an article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal a few years back, where they interviewed a Cuban surgeon who used to drive a cab on the side in order to suplement his income. Now that is service. Not only does he do surgery on you, but he'll also drive you home in his cab. You do need to bring your own GAUZE to the surgery. I just hope the autoclave is working!

Lou

Persistence

You have to admit that the Castro regime does not get tired of spining propaganda. However, eventually it is just so unbelievable that I can not understand who falls for this stuff. Health care which is so good that FC chose to turn to Spain when he really needed something. The embargo is choking the island, but we also have milion dollar hotels available for tourists. The education system is so good that professionals defect at any chance they can get.The most striking comment in this article is the blatant admission of the use of Cuba's 'human capital." Well straight from the ass' mouth, who can argue that Cuba does not have slavery.And finally don't forget the writer of this article for Reuters is Marc Frank. He is a former writer for the People's Daily World, a Communist Party USA publication.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070715/pl_nm/cuba_castro_dc

Lou
Posted by Lourod at 12:54 AM

Facts, Facts, Facts! How to prove the "truth"

The current controversy over CNN's factcheck and Michael Moore's Sicko, while gratifying, does little in the way of addressing the horrendous misrepresentation of the Cuban Health Care System in the movie. A member of the Moore entourage has been quoted as saying that she asked the government for the same facilities as ordinary Cubans. Fat chance!

Yesterday, I finished reading The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. I've omitted the subtitle because it is very long. Suffice it to say that the book was about the Cholera outbreaks in 19th century London, including the infamous Broad Street pump. When these took place, the establishment had not idea how the disease spread. Well, actually, they thought they knew. It was spread by a miasma of bad smells. They approached the issue from this perspective, using facts to bolster their position. They were real statistics; they were not however the truth. Unfortunately, the one man who, correctly, came to the conclusion that it was a waterborne illness, had no direct way to prove it. He had no way of identifying the bacterium which causes Cholera. He had to prove it indirectly. The book centers on his battle to do just this and on the effect it had on sciences, cities, etc... It is not a scintillating read unless you enjoy nonfiction, epidemic books, etc... I thought it was interesting enough to be worth the time.

The parallel is here. Since the Castro regime prevents access to its facilities for ordinary Cubans and intimidates its subjects so that they fear uttering anything but the party line, how do we who know more of the reality prove what conditions are? We don't have statistics about the availability of medications, diagnostic tests, modern equipments, sanitary conditions. We are relegated to anecdotal evidence, the occasional graphic image smuggled out. What we need is a way to parlay what we know into what can be substantiated. A tough nut. Oh, and forget the pictures unless we can provide a context. As far as the American public knows, the facilities were always that bad.
Isn't is something, sometimes facts get in the way of the truth.

CNN and Michael Moore

Yes, isn't it delicious! The controversy and the skirmishes between Moore and CNN continue. It seems Moore took exception to Dr. Sanjay Gupta's report on Anderson Cooper's 360. I wrote when it first aired that although Gupta skirted the Cuba issue, it was the first serious look at Moore's assertions. Moore took exception, and the two had an on-air duel. Apparently, Moore was not pleased with his performance, because he used his web site to trash CNN. Well, CNN wasn't pleased, and they have published a response on their website:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/15/moore.gupta/index.html
I love it when they fight. I just hope that CNN holds steady. Who would have known that the lying gordo de mierda (I'm sorry...couldn't resist... have been holding it in) would be so touchy when his strongest info is questioned? Stay tuned.

Cane Preview Promo Of New Series From CBS

Here's the promo.

New TV Series- Cuban American?

If you haven't heard, CBS has a new TV series this fall about a Cuban American, sugar cane-growing family. Looks like a Dynasty, Cubiche style. I'd feel better if some of the leads were Cuban American. They are really good actors. Let's see.

Cuba Nostalgia, the Bay of Pigs, and History

Having just discovered Cuba Nostlagia this year, I found it a moving experience all around, but I was most affected when I passed by a booth devoted to a proposed Bay of Pigs museum. "Yes," I said to myself, with a militancy I didn't know I possessed. Quickly, I donated, signed up for their mailing list, and noticed that Fanjul family was one of their sponsors. Since then, I've eschewed the Publix brand for Dixie Crystals, whatever the price difference.

I found out about the Bay of Pigs years after it took place. My father had an employee who wore fatigues and carried a machete in the factory. Although he was a nice enough guy, I overheard the adults saying that he had been at the Bay of Pigs and had never been the same since getting out of Castro's prison. Afterward, I asked my mother what that meant.
She told me that a group of Cubans had gotten together to liberate their country with the backing of the United States. They landed on the beaches, facing the might of Castro's army which was waiting for them. But the promised air support never came. Imagine D-Day without bombing. At the very last minute, after the invasion had been launched, according to the exile grapevine, Robert Kennedy had convinced his brother the President to pull the air support. That's why, she said, he ransomed the survivors.

As I grew up, I learned to question the exile view. Face it, they were a little crazy on the subject. In a college political science class, I decided to do my paper on the Bay of Pigs. I did my research on the Barnard and Columbia campuses. Reputable history book after history book said basically that the air support never came because in essence the two parts of the operation hadn't synchronized their watches.

You can imagine my shock then when years later, I was watching a PBS special on the CIA and found out that Kennedy had in fact pulled the air support. One old CIA operative described his last communication with the leader of the expedition, who hip deep in water, cursed the treachery of the Americans. I don't know if RFK played any part, but I do know that the truth is not always in history books.

Anyway, this all came up because I was reading Babalublog.com and came across a link to Humberto Fontova's IBD interview. From there I began reading some of his articles and came across one on the Bay of Pigs. It's a must read. It moved me to tears.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/4/17/101921.shtml

Stories of the Cuban Diaspora- Part 1

I've been thinking recently of all the stories I come across when I read the blogs. Listening to the IBD podcast interview with Humberto Fontova in which he describes his father being prevented from leaving Cuba with the family at the last minute reminded my of my own family stories, one in particular, that of Tia and Tio. I once wrote a story about it, so I'll just subject you to excerpts. Too much, and its like watching someone else's family's home movies.

Tio almost managed to escape the island without incident. Actually, it
was Tio, Tia, and the two kids. The rest of them did, in fact, leave on the
regularly scheduled Cubana de Aviacion flight. Tio did not. You know what they
say about things that are almost. Well, the entire family was sitting in their
seats.
So it is that I picture the family sitting there- nervous, excited- unsure of what awaited them in this new life, where at least my parents had carved a path before them. They were sitting there when the announcement came. Alicia Alonso and her dance troupe had an engagement in the States and needed seats. Apparently not enough people offered theirs, because the next thing they knew, Tio had been bumped off the flight and was scheduled for the following day.
Well, that evening Senor Castro must have had quite a nightmare, being chased by badgers in red, white, and blue pajamas, for example, or maybe an extreme digestive upset caused by hamburgers and fries. The next morning, he announced that effective immediately, there would be no regularly scheduled flights to the United States. Now Tio was in Cuba with no means of leaving, and Tia, who had hitherto never worked a day in her life, found herself a single mother of two with no means of support, except my father that it is…

Years passed with my uncle stuck in Cuba, his family here. Then one day, a strange woman called my aunt. I imagine the conversation.

“I was with your husband on Cayo Anguila before the Milicianos took him
away.”
“Not my husband,” insists the mystified wife. Unspoken is the thought
that he is too meek and mild-mannered to have taken the risk to escape from
Communist Cuba.
“Is he tall and thin? A very religious man? He was carrying a Bible. I have it here. Let me read the inscription.”
At the reading of the inscription she knows is in her husband’s Bible, my aunt feels immobilized, unable to move, turned into a pillar of salt.
This conversation took place in August of 1963, the August I was six. I looked up the date. My first inkling of the tragedia that had hit my family came that night when friends brought me home to an apartment crowded with family and friends, as well as people I didn’t know. They milled about aimlessly, all trying to make themselves heard over the din. Making my way through the crowd, I found my mother in the kitchen. Tears ran down her cheeks, but I couldn’t reach her because she was encircled by bodies in a macabre tarantella. Someone was waving a copy of The Daily News. I could see something that looked like a boat on the back page. It was obvious something was terribly wrong. I was afraid
Somehow I ascertained that Tio had been captured on Anguilla Cay by the Cuban government he was trying to escape. I didn’t know him, as I didn’t know my grandparents, my other uncles, all those left behind. One grandmother used to write. The other grandfather, who farmed a small plot of land before it was taken away, used to send me pictures of my pig, my goat, etc…
That night, I learned that having reached British soil and made contact with the Americans, he and all those with him waited for the American rescue. The next day, they spied a ship. A helicopter made its way to the shore. The castaways lined up on the beach, jumping up and down for joy. The Americans! The Americans! Imagine the moment, as the helicopter nears and they spy not the American flag, but the Cuban, as well as the Milicianos pointing machine guns at them. It is a rocky shore. There is nowhere to hide. They are whisked away. The only ones to escape are the women who had left the group to attend to their grooming. It is one of these who had calls my Aunt.
The British Government protests the invasion of their sovereign territory. The Cuban Government ignores. And Tio, he spends the next years being tortured in prison for the crime of wanting to rejoin the family he had lost when Alicia Alonso bumped him off that flight.

So many stories. There are over a million.

Hall of Shame

After reading the Cindy Adams column, I decided it might be fun to have a hall of shame for collaborators, stooges, and dupes. I'm perfectly open to suggestions. I'm sure there are plenty more. Oh, I forgot Michael Moore. I didn't include the Che-wearing Santana, mainly because I didn't think it would be fair to judge him as if all his neurons were firing.

Kudo's all Around

There are some who find the Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty acronym , BUCL, unfortunate. I'm not one of them. It's always reminded me of a line from Macbeth. In describing the disintegration of Macbeth's illegitimate government, a character says, "He cannot buckle his distempered cause/ within the belt of rule." And so we may hope, it will prove for our very own villain.

All musing aside, however, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved with the BUCL campaign. Whatever the outcome, they are reasoned campaigns that make it that much more difficult for the msm and the public to ignore us. The Invisible Ones campaign struck just the right note, not too strident, informative, and inclusive. "See, don't you think this is terrible," it says.

There are some to whom these campaigns seem too small, not large enough in scope or participation. It is a beginning, a constructive one at that. There's a children's nursery rhyme that goes
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
All for want of a horseshoe nail.

Ojala!

BUCL and a Thousand Bayonets

My belief in anti-Castro blogging grows daily. Once the master propagandist Castro was dishing out his baloney un-checked and gobbled up by the msm (think Matt Lauer sitting in front of the Cabana prison). But now we are on open turf.... and can expose the truths about his lies. Is it easy, No, of course not, but just another reason why we need to stand behind conjoined efforts such as BUCL regardless of our own idiosyncrasies. Just remember a saying believed to come from Napoleon Bonaparte: “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.”

So much for Cuban Cigars

I love cigars! One of my favorite past times is lighting up a big old smoke and reading a good book. I frequently come across some newbie who can't stop talking about a "Cuban" cigar, "I sure would love to get my hands on a Cuban" they say. Personally, I would have to question the quality of the crop they produce, just as any other crop they produce (does Cuba produce anything else? Maybe rum and beer). Secondly, I refuse to smoke Cuban cigars because I do not want to support the current government, Third, Habanos SA is 50% owned by the Cuban Governent and 50% owned by the Franco-Spanish company Altadis (another example of how Castro carries on about Yankee imperialism, but it is okay to sell out to the Europeans), and finally it is illegal.

Lou

Cindy visits the Animal Farm

I urge Ms. Adams to read George Orwell's Animal Farm. Although a satirical recount of the Russian revolution, it serves as a perfect blueprint for the Cuban revolution. Just pretend that the fat pig Napoleon is Castro, Snowball could be Huber Matos, the other pigs with the 5 chins could be Lage, Roque, Alarcon or any other brown-noser for that matter, and the sheep that keep bleating "four legs good, two legs bad" are the people you and Michael Moore always run into on the street. Animalism is Fidelismo, and "in the end you could not differentiate the pigs from the humans'', well, you can figure that one out for yourself.

Lou

Shoes over pants

I emailed Carlos Eire recently because in his excellent book Waiting for Snow in Havana, He mentions that his dad used to put on his shoes first then his pants. Oddly enough my dad did the same as well. Im not sure if it is a Cuban thing, but I think that this was done in order to avoid wrinkling his pants while bending over to tie his shoes. Most of my family had a 'belly' and it is very easy to get wrinkled before you even walk out the door.

Lou

BUCL Campaign
Don't forget the candlelight vigil for the invisible ones on Monday Night in front of the Versailles at 8:30. Wish I were in Miami for that one. I've actually contemplated driving down there, but I don't know if I'm up to driving up the 75 in the dark. Maybe.


Che T-shirt alert! So I'm watching The Shooter last night, the one where one of the Wahlberg's is framed for an assasination, and then I see it. The doofy FBI guy is wearing a Che T-shirt. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

Just in time for my propaganda post, there's another missive from the blogger in chief. Castro accuses the US of hypocrisy. Can't wait to see the rest of it. Tried to read it in Spanish, but its length rivals that of his speeches. The entire first section seems to be a retelling of US History, which I don't need Mr. Castro for, and my Spanish requires a truly concerted effort.

Cinton and the Libby Pardon: Lessons in Propaganda

When I was a teacher, I would sometimes have my students look at the uses and effect of language, the power of the word. We would come across fun things like "the immaculate reception" and less fun things like the use of "ho" and "bitch" in rap music. The more historically inclined might look at Nazi propaganda and discover that they were forced to dehumanize Jews, "vermin," in order to do what they did. But "gusanos" aside, words are only part of propaganda.

Over the years, I've realized one of the most successful techniques is to present a bold-faced lie, one that all know is a lie, and continue to adhere to it. Act as if it is a truth. A marvelous thing then happens: people actually begin to believe what they know to be untrue. Over time, the truth disappears, and the lie is perceived as truth. Fidel learned this well at the hands of his Russian masters. Watching any American anchor's interview with Fidel is guaranteed to send any Cuban American into apoplexy as he rolls off lie after lie. These are easily refutable lies, yet they are given credence by the dupe of a journalist. An offshoot of this technique is that you can then pretend to have the high moral ground on any given moment. Pretend your virtue, and all will believe it.

When he was President, I began to notice Clinton availing himself of this technique. He did not engage in sex with that woman. He didn't lie under oath. It was "the vast right-wing conspiracy." With the Scooter Libby pardon, he and Hillary have outdone themselves. "Cronyism," they cry, the duo that pardoned Susan McDougal and Roger Clinton.

What was it? Let's see. Clinton handed out 140 pardons in his last days in office. The two instances that stand out in my mind are the Marc Rich and those in Horizon Village in upstate New York.
Marc Rich is pardoned: the Clinton's get money for their causes, an interesting coincidence. The people who bilked the government in a student loan scam get pardoned: the entire village votes for Hillary for the NY Senate. Interesting, isn't it. I don't know if there was a direct relationship between the aforesaid, but it smells mighty pungent.

So now, do they cringe in shame, restrain themselves from making any but the blandest of comments? No, they act as if there were no dirt on their lily white hands and condemn the disgraceful Libby pardon, the one that is actually a commutation of prison time. And the MSM, they go along for the ride. And the American public? You tell me.

Oh, yeah, you have to be shameless to be successful.

Stung by the Police

Surfing through the channels tonight, I come upon the cause du jour concerts going on today. None other than the Police are playing. I find that I can't bear to watch Sting. My feelings are mixed: betrayal, anger, hurt.

I still can't understand. They are supposedly playing Havana. I saw that personally on their tour website a while back. It's a concert for their Cuban fans, they said. And while I understand that could be a good thing. Remember the Beatles in the USSR? I have to question it when I see the "Fidel" caps for sale on that same website. I remember Trudy Styler and her nightspot "Socialista." And I ask my self, "Why are Cubans less?" Sting could condemn apartheid in South Africa, publicize the plight of the desaparecidos in Chile with his "They Dance Alone," but somehow what has happened to the Cuban people is okay. It is also okay to ignore or mock the sensibilities of Cubans who have had to flee the country in pursuit of freedom.

It comes to me that perhaps Castro achieved his only triumph in his propaganda, which coupled with the inherent bias of people in the US and Western Europe, has held off world condemnation. As I read the comments section under articles about Cuba and the embargo, I am overwhelmed by the ignorance and stupidity of the posters. For it is stupidity to make sweeping pronouncements about Cuba when you haven't a clue.

Because they cannot conceive that a hispanic country south of Key West could possibly be developed and prosperous, they swallow the Communist line about how terrible things were before Castro, and what progress the regime has made in literacy and healthcare. So what if they get meager rations to eat? At least they're eating. One genius said, "They're still better off than in Haiti." Hello, dope, they were light years ahead of Haiti in 1958. While preCastro Cuba had its problems, it was a developing country. It had one of the hightest literacy rates in Latin America. Oh, and there was food to be had. The present Cuban ration is less than that which was given to slaves in Cuba in the 17th century.

Then there is the embargo which should be lifted according to these luminaries. They seem to forget, or they don't know that Castro seized over 850 million dollars in American- not Cuban American- American assets. I guess we should tell the individuals and companies involved to just forget it, like Spielberg told Cuban Americans to do about their losses. I still want to appropriate his assets and see how he feels about it fifty years later. All those farmers and grain belt politicians clamoring to trade with Cuba should know that the American government is actually protecting them by requiring cash transactions. Cuba doesn't pay its bills, stupid! Just ask Mexico or India. Yeah, by the way, isn't it arrogant to presume that the Cuban economy is in the pits because we don't trade with them? Isn't there enough of a market in the rest of the world to compensate? Gimme a break!

And political prisoners, the ones the Castro regime says they don't have, they are truly the invisible ones. Oh, that's right, they're arrested for things like "pre-criminal dangerousness." Gee, is that like the Tom Cruise movie? Stopping a "crime" before it's committed? Nary a single post mentions them.

Sad thoughts for 2am.

A Blessing

Just came back from four and a half hours at an oncologist's office where I was providing moral support and driving skills to a relative. Earlier in the week, I had called the local hospice to see if there was some sort of waiting list. So I thought I would take some space here to marvel at the kindness we have been shown. When you are given the diagnosis no one wants to hear and the prognosis that is worse than bleak, you feel emotionally battered. It's kinda like what I imagine getting hit with a two by four would be. First, there is the shock; then there is the pain so overwhelming that the outside world ceases to matter. It is at that moment that family members most need to have their wits about them as they deal with doctors, insurance companies, diagnostic tests, surgeons, you name it.

So what a relief to speak with the Hospice. "Don't wait too long. Most people wait too long. Contact us as soon as curative care stops. We take care of everything.: insurance companies, equipment, everything." All of this is said with genuine kindness to a person overwhelmed with the enormity of the thing. Those few words are a balm.

Then we go for chemotherapy where the staff is kind, upbeat, informative. Their very ordinariness is a reminder that life goes on, that whatever the outcome, there is a now to be lived.

Speaking of the World's Oldest Profession

Yesterday's brouhaha over the Times web page reminded me of something. Distasteful as it is to me that tourists take advantage of a cheap vacation on the backs of an oppressed people, it is the sex tourism that makes me crazy. Men who are overaged, or oversized, or just plain defective travel to Cuba where they have young women for the taking. At one point Iberia Airlines had a promo that showed cartoon mulattas tending to the needs of a baby. Wink, wink, nod, nod.

This all reminds me of another book: Mi Moto Fidel; Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba. Originally intended to be a travel guide to Cuba, the book winds up being more of a travelogue. To give the author, Christopher Baker, his due, after slipping his minders and motorcycling across the country, he makes a real effort to get to know the real Cuba. He does not seem to belong to the earlier category of men and comes to the correct conclusion about Castro, but it is something earlier in the book that caught my attention.

When he gets to Havana, he hooks up with his girlfriend there, who is trying to get him to commit and take her away. Later in the book, her mother has taken up with an Italian who is going to take both women away. She regrets she will have to leave him. He writes about all this as if they were routine, run of the mill relationships. As I was reading, it was like looking at one of those pictures where another picture is embedded in the lines of the first.

The question that came to my mind, particularly in reference to the Eurosludge that takes advantage of desperate young women, was "Do these men think that in a free society with a robust economy these women would have the time of day for them? I'm not sure. I do know that the human capacity for self-delusion is large.

That ain't no lady: Pimping and the Times

Ran across something interesting on Babalu. On their Cuba web page, the Times has a Google ad offering nubile young Cuban women for romance and marriage. Cute, huh? Like one of those cartoons without words.

It is a word that has me crazy, though. Babalublog makes the cut for the links section but is listed as a "rabid Anti Castro" website. Would they dare use the word rabid to discuss any other group? As one comment on Babalu points out, have you ever heard of a "rabid anti KKK" website? No, of course not.

Frankly, in the realm of the Cuban diaspora, Babalu is quite reasonable. And something tells me the paper applies the label to more than a website. So, you Old Gray Lady; you decaying dowager; you whore monger, you, we are not mad dogs, nor squirrels, nor even chipmunks, that is if chipmunks get rabies.

No, we are not mad dogs. We are an aggrieved people who have been doubly wronged.

Check it out:
http://www.babalublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/target.cgi/5577

Then if you feel you must, and I suspect you will, there are some email addresses in the comments section to let the Times know just how you feel about it.

Pavlov's Dog and The Mad Emailer

Conditioning is an interesting concept. Last night shortly after being bushwhacked by the military history channel, I was trolling through the channels and landed on the Glenn Beck show. I noticed Dennis O'Leary ( the Rescue Me guy in case I have the wrong name) was his guest, so I perched there a while. I was watching when I noticed, ohmygosh, was that a guy in a beret on Glenn Beck's t-shirt? It couldn't be. Glenn Beck?

My initial reaction was to make a mad dash to the computer. What is left of my reason led me to sit there and try to make out what was on the damn t-shirt. Unfortunately it was obscured by those banners they put on the bottom of the screen, so it was a near impossible task. I decided A) Glenn Beck would not wear a Che t-shirt under any circumstances B) the figure didn't have a beard and C) it did have a certain likeness to Venezuela's Chavez. I still don't know what was on there. If anyone knows, and I know you're out there, even if you don't comment, please let me know.

It was my reaction that made me laugh. The bell went off, and there I was nanoseconds from high moral dudgeon. Food for thought.

Telling the truth about Che

The mad emailer strikes again! I'll just post the email I wrote the Military History Channel.

I was minding my own business, watching "Sea Stories," when there was a mini
biography of Che Guevara. I must tell you that since you present yourself as a
"History Channel," I was sorely disappointed. The only attempt to be objectively
historical came with the lip service at the end. Not for nothing is Che known as
the "Butcher of the Cabana" (a prison). Is that supposed to be answered by the
sixteen year old saying, "It was a revolution, and in revolutions, people die."
I did not think that your channel would perpetuate the romantic revolutionary
myth. Perhaps you should read Humberto Fontova's Exposing the Real Che: and the Useful Idiots who Idolize him.

What is it with these people? Bad enough the media doesn't do real research, but now the Military History Channel? Gimme a break!

Reads Notes- Part 2

I'm on my way to pick up After Fidel in Spanish for Mom when I remember I never finished Read notes. So here goes: the last few entries are all children's books about Celia Cruz. Me llamo Celia and Azucar are my favorites. One of them (I don't remember which) ends with Celia in heaven where the angels greet her with her trademark "Azucar!" If I'm not mistaken, these two are also bilingual. Oye, Celia, a new one published in April, is more of a celebration of Celia and Cubanidad, if such a word exists. Like many born and raised in the states, I can be Spanish challenged.
While I'm on the topic of born and raised in the states, I've come across a few titles that are particularly suited to introducing or reinforcing a child's Cuban heritage.

The Bossy Gallito by Lucia Gonzalez. Based on a Cuban folktale, the little rooster is placed
against the backdrop of the courtyards and patios of Old Havana.
Drum, Chavi, Drum by Myra Dole. She's written a few, but this is my favorite. A little girl
wants nothing more than to drum in the 8th Street parade, which she is
forbidden to do because she is a girl. Notable for actually having "De Nada,
Monada" in the text. Fun, feminist and very Cuban.
Oh, No, Gotta Go by Susan Middleton Elya. This one is ideal for the little Americanitas next
door. Most of the text is in English, except for the occasional word in Spanish.
Not Cuban, but any one of her bilingual books makes for a great introduction
to the language.

Michael Moore and The Day Fidel Dies

I promised more on Moore (couldn't resist). Started watching the interview with Larry King but then couldn't stomach it (couldn't resist that one either). Larry's starts by congratulating him on ticket sales or some such. Moore positively beams. I reach for the Rolaids and turn the channel. On another day, CNN is actually rerunning the aforesaid, and I hear Moore saying that "they" have no network, no voice, no power, or something to that effect. "Great!" I say to myself. "He's talking about the poor, benighted Cubans." Of course, he's talking about the people in his documentary. I can actually feel the rage.

And that's what I'm thinking about, because at that moment, I actually hated Michael Moore. I, lapsed Catholic that I am, despised Michael Moore and his cheap tricks. I wanted to make pointed comments about his appearance, his girth. I stopped myself, but it reminds me of something-
My brother and I have a longstanding appointment to meet in Miami when Fidel dies. My mother says it's unseemly to celebrate someone's illness or death. I know she's right. Last time my Cuban American compatriots offended the sensibilities of The New York Times and Charlie Rangel among others by dancing in the street at the news of Fidel's illness. Now Charlie Rangel is another one of those characters I don't mind offending daily and the Times, ditto. It really, however, is not good PR.

I couldn't help myself. I celebrated, despite my better angels. I celebrated for my father, for my uncle, for my grandparents, for Celia, for all of the those who never got to see the day. I celebrated because this man who had created a world of hurt for me and millions was finally getting his. And the day he dies, I will feel triumph that I have outlasted the fucker, that perhaps to borrow Ford's phrase, the long national nightmare is maybe over.
That's it, in essence, the death of Fidel is the birth of hope for an entire nation and a people. Lord knows how it will all play out, but his death will be a milestone.

Personally, I'd just like to be in New York, the day Osama dies.

Ragaouna Masr

I'm not much of an expert on Egyptian politics, but there was a front page Wall Street Journal article about the demise of Egypt, from a cosmpolitan powerhouse to a nationalized, equal society (meaning equally poor),eerily reminiscent of Cuba's fate as well. Ragaouna Masr means 'take me back to Cairo' The only problem is that the city to which the story refers, similar to Havana, does not really exist anymore. I look forward to the day that WSJ puts a similar article about Cuba on the front page.

CNN Revisited

Some people never learn, and I guess I'm one of them. I confess I was watching CNN again the other night. In my defense, I refuse to watch MSNBC since it became the official propaganda arm of the liberal elite. I even gave up my old favorite "Hardball" when the Vietnam guilt of the baby boomers who populate it took it over. Any network that allows the self-important snide disrespect of Keith Olbermann is not for me. So I'm reduced to watching CNN on occasion.

Anyway, there I am watching Anderson Cooper when he announces a later segment checking the facts behind Sicko. I'm expecting a rehash of the Wolf Blitzer segment, when I see Sanjay Gupta. Amazingly, Cuba plays very little part in the report. Not so surprisingly, Gupta concentrates on the facts about socialized medicine. Then I says to myself, "Dummy, Gupta is a doctor. Of course."

For whatever reason, although I give the report a D when it comes to fact checking the Cuban system, it's the only report I've seen that wasn't lifted from AP. But then the program was followed by a rerun of Larry King interviewing Michael Moore.... More later

Election Follies: Who's on First?

Now I've seen it all. There is Hillary Clinton, defending the honor of Cuban Americans. See link below:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287494,00.html

Wait a minute. Is this the Hillary of Venceremos Brigade fame, whose husband instituted the "wet foot/dry foot policy? And let's see, she's taking on Fred Thompson. Isn't he the only one who immediately responded to Moore's Sicko, exposing the reality of Cuba? I haven't heard a peep out of Hillary on that one. What's a Cuban American to believe?

Something tells me I'm better off taking my chances with Thompson, preferring to believe that he was trying to make the point that Cuba is a possible source of spies, and possibly terrorism, and that he was not referring to the huddled masses.

The same article mentions Bill Richardson referring to how proud he is to be a Latino. I've been following politics since I was a child, and I like Bill Richardson. But I only found out he was "Latino" when he was running for governor, God knows how many years into his government career. I don't hold it against him, because life was tough for Hispanics years ago, and he was blessed with a nice Anglo surname. I just ain't gonna swallow the born again Latino identity.