Reads: Sweetheart Deal by Claire Matturro

A while back I found myself at loose ends between books and in the New Books section at the library. We stop for the obligatory plug for the Sarasota Library System. Anyway, I spotted a book titled Bone Valley. Reading the inside flap, I realized it was set in Sarasota, so I had to check it out. I remember liking it, so this week I picked up Sweetheart Deal by the same author.

Although this one starts out in Sarasota, most of it takes place in Bugfest, GA. I leave it to the reader to imagine the locale. There, it takes on the overtones of the daughter of the Deep South whodunits, complete with oddball relatives and ne'er do well, slightly felonious neighbors, like those of the Carolyn Haines "Southern Belle" mysteries. (If you haven't read these and like mysteries, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. They're well-written and fun.)

The plot is nicely constructed and unravels slowly. Her character, Lilly, the sophisticated Florida lawyer saves the day despite being assaulted by murderers, mosquitos, and Southern cooking. My only complaint about the book concerns her fixation with healthy food. By the end of the book, her culinary travails have become amusing. But there's something forced about their introduction in the beginning.

Overall, I enjoyed it, especially when Lilly ponders the following:

Well, that was an old story, those who wanted to hold on to what was versus those who wanted something new. Everybody in the country could talk it to death if they wanted to, but I'd seen what had happened in Sarasota, and knew in the end there wasn't any stopping of the development.

Amen.

Why McCain?

McCain won the Florida Primary with the help of defecting Cuban American Giuliani supporters. The question is why these voters broke for McCain and not Romney. Or perhaps a better question would be why they supported Rudy in the first place.

On Tues, the Weekly Standard suggested that the initial support for Rudy came from his tenure as “America’s Mayor” and his harsh stance against castro when the latter was in NYC. Can you hear it now: “el tipo no tiene pelo en la lengua,” uttered in admiring accents? Faced with his probable loss, huge numbers of primary voters then switched their allegiance to McCain. So why McCain and not Romney or Huckabee or even Paul?

The standard credits McCain’s military experience. I have my own theory, which is it was “the hair,” not McCain’s bald pate or Romney’s luxuriant, seemingly numerically arranged mane, but rather the metaphorical hair on McCain’s chest. McCain, whether you support him or not, most definitely does not have hair on his tongue and comes across as an hombre de pelo en pecho.
When he says he will follow Osama to the gates of Hell, he thrills Cuban hearts. When he imagines a meeting with the Cuban torturers who instructed his own North Vietnamese captors and hints, ever so dryly, that he would take matters into his own hands, it is a sentiment, that thirst for justice, or even revenge, they share.

So, it’s not surprising to me that the majority of Cuban American voters went for McCain, conservative or not. Faced with two viable candidates, neither of who had impeccable conservative credentials, I am sure that many made a reasoned choice; but I suspect that for a substantial number, the choice came down to one sentence-“el tipo tiene cojones.” All of which begs the question, how much have we really learned…

Disclaimer: The preceding does not constitute an endorsement or condemnation of any kind.

Cross posted at Babalublog.

Cuban "Results"

Raul Castro- 99.4%
Fidel Castro-98% (approx)

giggle, giggle, snort, snicker, snicker, snigger, chortle, guffaw, cackle, snort!

Everyone Celebrates in his Own Way

From el Coma Andante:

January 28, 2008
A Tribute to Martí
FIVE years ago, Cuba’s capital hosted the International Conference "For World Equilibrium", which was attended by delegates from 43 countries of all continents, to honor Martí on the occasion of his 150th birthday.

I talked to them all on the evening of January 29 of that year 2003. By a mere chance – or rather, by more than a single chance – that moment of 1953 repeated itself, although under significantly different circumstances. Back in 1953 we had to honor Martí’s memory by liberating our homeland from the imperialist yoke. This time it was necessary to wage our struggle in the field of ideas to counter the threats against humanity openly implied in the words of the U.S. president in his speech at the West Point Academy. What I said on that day, which is consistent with my deepest convictions, has become a starting point for most of the reflections I wrote during the stage of convalescence I was obliged to go through. It is my modest tribute to the maestro. I likewise salute the hundreds of intellectuals, men and women of thought, who once again gather with the same purpose of paying tribute to José Martí on the occasion of his155th birthday. I could not find any better words to honor him! I would request our press to publish it, if possible, in the inner pages, to avoid taking space from other important news about this commemoration.
Fidel Castro Ruz

To el coma andante:

On this birthday anniversary of one of the greatest Cubans, Jose Marti, I enjoyed a Montecristo No2 (alleged to be one of the greatest Cuban smokes), and I reflected on the past forty years. Sitting here with my Cambio bracelet on (which I will never remove), I’m feeling philosophical. I ask, would Marti be proud of what has become of Cuba today? The answer is obvious, I think. So while we honor Marti, we owe a debt of gratitude to you.

Thank you, Fidel, for showing us how to single handedly unravel an economy, an achievement many Democrats seem ready to emulate in an election year. Thank you, Fidel, for showing us how to establish a system of apartheid ninety miles away from one of the greatest bastions of freedom. Thank you for showing us how to live on rations rather that cooking entire pigs and washing them down with a few bottles of Bacardi.

Thank you for showing the world how resolute and entrepreneurial the Cuban people are. Adversaries can call the Miami Cubans the mafia, but the truth is that there are unbelievable numbers of Cuban businessmen and women, artists and politicians who have brought that city to an incredible height, beyond our wildest dreams. Thank you for showing me that my father and other Cubans came here with no money and were able to create businesses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions or billions. Thank you…thank you…thank you.

Thank you for showing me that Cuban Americans are a minority in the United States, but not entitled to the freebees which other minorities get. For example, when I applied to medical school, I found out the some Latinos received special consideration, not Cubans, though, because they are not underrepresented in medical school

Thank you for Cuban politicians that you have put in your government such as Lage and Alarcon, without them, we would not know the fine art of brownnosing and how to scramble when the golden goose is frying. Thank you for not even giving your beloved people the decency to decide their political fate when you are on your death bed.

Thank you, Fidel, for making me the Republican, Capitalist Pig that I am. I am grateful, my family is grateful. And I look forward to the day that I may drink a rum ‘n coke in Habana and scream Cuba Libre! Viva Marti! Fuck you, Fidel!

Primary Day

Although I was efficient and did my voting early, someone else in the family did not. So it was that I found myself sitting in a chair thoughtfully provided by the election people at my polling station and observing. As I sat there, I was filled with pride. While I watched the mother with her baby, the middle-aged gentleman obviously come from work, the older women in warm-up suits, the poll workers, it occurred to me that this was the greatness of America. Each entered the room, calmly signed in and then voted for the candidate he or she thought would lead the nation. If such a thing were possible, there was a feeling of doing one's civic duty in the air. Such a simple thing, really. Yet how many countries in how many parts of the world seem to be unable to accomplish such a routine.

Yeah, I know, the tax question on the ballot probably provided a bit of an incentive to be a good citizen, but it was a beautiful moment, nonetheless.

Petty, Mean-Spirited, Disgusting, Presumptuous and Elitist

A liberal advocacy group plans to spend $8.5 million in a drive to ensure that President Bush's public approval doesn't improve as his days in the White House come to an end....

..."Framing his legacy helps us in the '08 elections, there is no doubt about that," Woodhouse said. "But our principal mission would be defining the failures of Bush and the ideology he represents."

Article here.

MSM: Some Change, More of the Same

It has become noticeable that there is a certain sea change in the coverage of Cuba by the mainstream news services. It is but a slight shift, but it is there. The new pattern to reports seems to be to begin with Cuban government pronouncements and fictions. In the past that would be end of story. Lately, the middle of the piece will turn to a noted dissident or anti government activist, the spokesman for one of the alphabet soup of organizations dedicated to change. So it is with this story.

A while back, I posted on the regime's revival of a program to bring some sweetness and light into Cuba's prisons, not humane treatment, but song and dance and architecture. Yesterday, the AP reported on singer Silvio Rodriguez's part in this program. In what has to be considered a sign of progress, the article cites an opposing point of view:

Human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez criticized the program as propaganda designed to whitewash the image of Cuban lockups abroad. Sanchez's Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation regularly describes the island's prison conditions as "subhuman."

Still, the AP missed a major part of the story. They neglected to mention that political prisoners who have refused to attend Rodriguez's appearances have been severely punished and now are whisked away beforehand to avoid the appearance of Cuban reality. You would think that news organizations would read the dispatches written by independent journalists from the island, non?

The Cuban Voter

Tomorrow is Primary Day, so tonight my phone is ringing off the hook with political recordings. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to get a phone call from the late John Paul endorsing some candidate or other. Politicians have been hitting town like a bad smell, and the media have been touting the changing Cuban and/or Latino vote.

Some points being made in articles like that in today's El Pais are verifiably true. That is to say, Miami Cubans tend Republican; Orlando Puerto Ricans, Democrat. Of course, like all sweeping generalizations, they are subject to error. Overall, Florida is a pretty conservative state. Other assertions like this one are less certain. (my translation)

Los hijos del exilio ya no tienen tan en mente los libros de historia, sino nuevos problemas que les afectan como ciudadanos estadounidenses.

The children of exiles no longer have their minds in history books, but rather the new problems which affect them as United States citizens.

This is true to an extent. We are more American than our parents. But for years, the press and the Democrats have been running around like Chicken Little heralding the demise of the Cuban American Republican bloc. A favorite corollary is that younger Cubans tend to care about Cuba less. In response to this one, I'd like to share a little story to illustrate a point.

Recently, I met up with a cousin of mine I hadn't seen in years, probably the member of the family most likely to vote Democrat. I told him, as I do anyone who asks, that I write a right wing, reactionary, Cuban American blog. I was surprised when he asked, "When did you get so Cuban? I don't remember you being particularly that...." At that moment in the way of Cuban families, everyone was talking at the same time, and I never got to answer. Later, when I tried, he said, "No, it's all right. I have, too."

I offer this little story as a caveat of sorts to all those who are counting on the younger generation being more liberal. Beneath our shiny American exteriors, we carry all of the baggage of our fathers. I can prove the point. Let a candidate who favors normal relations with Cuba and who praises the "achievements" in literacy and healthcare of the regime run for anything and see how many votes he or she garners from Miami Cuban Americans of any age.

I wish I could remember college philosophy. Then I might say that for us a strong Cuba stance is a necessary but not sufficient condition.

H/T Penultimos Dias

In Honor of the Great Man's Birthdate

If we needed any proof of his influence.... No, I don't mean Pavarotti. Jose Marti was born on January 28, 1853. Those are the dulcet tones of Celia Cruz you hear singing Marti's verse set to music.

Guantanamera, Japanese Style

Here is the requisite Japanese Youtube video.

Dr. Who?

I thought the study about chronically underfed Cubans being healthy demonstrated science divorced from humanity, but this one takes the cake for both insensitivity and blind stupidity. What is to Cubans a way to resolver so that they can eat, growing food in any urban nook and cranny without the benefit of any of the advances of the last century, becomes a marvelous environmentally friendly government program to the author, complete with happy brown natives.

Let me just present a few snippets:

Jason Marks writes [6]: “Despite the tropical heat, it doesn't look like drudgery. Among organoponico employees, there is a palpable pride in their creation. The atmosphere is cooperative and congeniaL There is no boss in sight, and each person seems to understand well their role and what’s expected of them. The work occurs fluidly, with a quiet grace.”

and

The hybrid public-private partnership appears to work well. In return for providing the land, the government receives a portion of the produce, usually about one-fifth of the harvest, to use at state-run daycare centres, schools and hospitals. The workers get to keep the rest to sell at produce stands located right at the farm. It is more than fair trade.

and

Joe Kovach, an entomologist from Ohio State University who visited Cuba on a 2006 research delegation sums up the situation: “ In 25 years of working with farmers, these are the happiest, most optimistic, and best-paid farmers I have ever met

and

The success of urban agriculture is put down to the average Cuban citizen’s commitment to the ideal of local food production [7]. There is so much for the world to learn from the Cuban experience, not least of which, agriculture without fossil fuels is not only possible but also highly productive and health promoting in more ways than one.

Alternate Reality. I won't even link to this piece of trash. You can Google it under "Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels."

Beyond the Gates lies Death and Disgrace

Warning: I give the plot away in this post.

As I was making my way down the aisle at the local Hollywood Video, hubby came up clutching Beyond the Gates. I hesitated, pointing out that it would be the third Rwandan Genocide movie I've endured. But if it says Africa on the case....

The film covers the events at a Catholic school in Rwanda, the Ecole Technique Officielle, where over 2,500 Rwandan Tutsi's sought shelter when the killing began. They were seeking the protection of a contingent of UN soldiers who had been stationed there. In the film, as the days wear on, the true nature of the UN becomes apparent. When a group of white people is brought in, the officer demands rooms with bathrooms for them. Apparently the great outdoors was fine for the Black Rwandans but not for the white Bwanas. Then as mobs of thugs begin to gather outside the gates, the French military sends trucks to rescue only the French. After much arguing, all whites are taken out of the danger zone, leaving a few thousand blacks.

With the machete wielding thugs massed outside, the only thing preventing a massacre is the presence of the UN soldiers, although they can only fire when fired upon. The climax of the movie comes when the soldiers are ordered to evacuate to the airport, leaving thousands of Rwandans to certain death.

All along, I kept thinking of Hotel Rwanda. I waited for the head officer to flout his orders, or for the BBC reporter to publicize events and bring pressure to bear. Neither happened. The people left behind were all murdered; the UN did nothing to stop it. And sadly, it's a true story.

As the movie ended and the credits rolled, it became apparent that members of the film crew had lived through the Genocide. One had actually taken refuge at the school and only survived by hiding under the dead bodies of his family. Brutal.

Here is the movie website for more info.

Sunday Syllogisms

Moral Evolution. A pretty hefty piece from the Times. I'm still working my way through it but definitely of interest. Not surprisingly the author is a Harvard professor. Read it if you're in the mood to wrestle with great questions of biology and ethics.

Moral Economy. On a completely different plane, Victor Davis Hansen dissects our current economic problems in light of the election year and proposes, gasp, that we spend only what we can afford.

Whited Sepulchre? In another entry from Townhall.com, Larry Kudlow takes Bill Gates to task for putting down capitalism. You don't fool me, Billy Boy, I watched the The Pirates of Silicon Valley.

Soul Food. Forbes via MSNBC provides us with a how-to on maintaining our nutrition standards in the ten busiest airports. Obviously the author has never eaten at La Carreta at MIA, although her name is Rebecca Ruiz.

And for fun, click here to see the Swiss Alps more or less live. Foxnews has this nifty feature, a link up to webcams all over the world. Having trouble getting Old Faithful, though.

Quote of the Evening

The U.S administration has helped Afghanistan and if we are called puppets, or if I am called a puppet because we are grateful to America, then let that be my nickname.

The truth is that without the United States in Afghanistan, Afghanistan would be a very poor, miserable country, occupied by neighbors and al Qaeda and terrorists.

Hamid Karzai in a CNN interview here.

Literary Interlude: The Emptiness at the Bottom of the Well

"Never in my life have I thought so much."
Fidel Castro on how he is spending his time in limbo.

Reading that quote reminded me of Macbeth for some reason. And Macbeth's famous soliloquoy reminded me of another soliloquoy. Again the translation is available on this marvelous website.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth Act 5, scene 5


Monólogo de Segismundo

Sueña el rey que es rey, y vive
con este engaño mandando,
disponiendo y gobernando;
y este aplauso, que recibe
prestado, en el viento escribe,
y en cenizas le convierte
la muerte, ¡desdicha fuerte!
¿Que hay quien intente reinar,
viendo que ha de despertar
en el sueño de la muerte?

Sueña el rico en su riqueza,
que más cuidados le ofrece;
sueña el pobre que padece
su miseria y su pobreza;
sueña el que a medrar empieza,
sueña el que afana y pretende,
sueña el que agravia y ofende,
y en el mundo, en conclusión,
todos sueñan lo que son,
aunque ninguno lo entiende.

Yo sueño que estoy aquí
destas prisiones cargado,
y soñé que en otro estado
más lisonjero me vi.
¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí.
¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,
una sombra, una ficción,
y el mayor bien es pequeño:
que toda la vida es sueño,
y los sueños, sueños son.

from La vida es sueño (Calderon de la Barca).

Book Awards

The American Librarian’s Association’s* children’s wing (ALSC) and Reforma have announced the winners of the 2008 Pura Belpre Award. I’ll let them tell you what it’s about

The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth

Both the winner and one of the honor books are Cuban-themed. Both are the work of members of the Cuban Diaspora, although they may very well have different perspectives.

First the book that received honors for its storyline, because if you have anyone in your household under the age of 10, you should buy it. Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale is not your mother’s La Cucarachita Martina. Carmen Deedy, whose marvelous The Library Dragon is one of my favorites, has revamped and enhanced the traditional children’s story. In this version, Martina subjects each of her suitors to an unconventional test suggested by her Abuelita. I won’t say more because I don’t want to give it away. Let’s just say the ending is something of a surprise and left me misty-eyed. The illustrations are lavish and somewhat dark, yet strangely dovetail with the mood of the story.

Margarita Engel, the author of the 2008 medal winner The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano presents the story in verse- as pieced together from Manzano’s poems and such writings as exist- through the eyes of multiple narrators. The poems are deceptively simple, as well as lyrical and moving, at the same time that they depict not only life events but also the corrosive effects of slavery on the participants. The graphic nature of Manzano’s hardships is a sure winner with the middle school crowd.

*By the way, this is the same ALA that to my knowledge has failed to recognize the plight of independent librarians in Cuba.

(Cross-posted at Babalubog)

Book Suggestions

For those who might like the multiple points of view approach, I strongly recommend another book of verse which tells the story of the Ringling Brothers fire in Hartford, Conn in which people lost their lives. Worlds Afire by Paul B. Janeczko is riveting. The poetry is more sophisticated, so it is best for older teens and even adults interested in the tragedy. For a teen who's a Civil War buff, you might try Paul Fleischman's Bull Run, also told from different perspectives but not in verse.

Drilling for Trouble

It's not often that I agree with Bill Nelson. In fact, my only previous contact with him was when I wrote an impassioned plea for his vote on the Medicare prescription plan to no avail. Fortunately the bill passed anyway, and seniors in Sarasota stopped hemorrhaging money and had access to prescription coverage for the first time in years.

So it is unusual to find myself agreeing with the Senator when he fears the potential environmental impact on Florida of all the planned drilling for oil in Cuban waters less than 90 miles from our coast. Here in Florida, we have fought long and hard to protect our coastal waters. An oil spill would be not only an environmental disaster but also an economic catastrophe. One can only hope our elected representatives will be successful. This is one issue that cuts across party lines.

Read about it here. Pretty cool, huh, "Rigzone."

Voting Early in the Neighborhood

Betook myself to the board of elections today. After all, this is Sarasota. Whatever aspersions lawsuits may have cast, our Ms. Dent is efficient. If you vote early here, you are out in minutes. Not today, though, it was busy and getting busier by the moment. So I suggest you don't put much faith in any of the polls. I think yesterday's poll showing Giuliani in third place might have energized reluctant primary voters.

One prediction I can make is that election day itself is going to be a clusterf*@#. People don't know how to use the optical scan system and it takes a little longer. I'll leave it there since I don't want to be agist. My advice to my fellow Floridians is to vote early.

Quote of the Day

"Castro Fideled as Cuba burned."

A comment by kneejerkreaction in response to a post that works beautifully in literary terms, but that will send any Cuban spluttering, as it not only glorifies fifo but manages to erase a half century of history in five hundred words or less.

H/T Alberto

A Curse?

Reuters, apparently demonstrating its Cuban chops, has a whole article on how the Yoruba gods favor Castro's continued reign. Newly "elected," or should I say appointed, member of the Cuban Parliament Antonio Castaneda has the distinction of being a Yoruba priest and former Tropicana sax player. So it is with some religious authority that he states,

"Olodumare says he[Castro] is the one that should be there and so he is untouchable,"

Does that mean that the military, the political police, and the snitches are superfluous?

The Long, Tough Road to the White House

Fred Thompson has dropped out of the race. And despite whatever qualifications he might have brought to the job- I really like him- it's probably best he did. How can I say that? Easy, because he didn't want it enough.

An examination of our political history in the last 3 or 4 decades supports this view. How in the world, you want to ask yourself, did Jimmy Carter get to the presidency? Well, those of us who were around at the time can answer that he began campaigning long before the traditional starting date. There were other factors to be sure, but he built his name recognition one small Southern town at a time. And the man who eventually defeated him? It seems that every convention of my childhood Reagan was running for the nomination. A supporter of Papa Bush, I remember thinking when he was edged out by Reagan that all you had to do was keep running. Of course, I soon learned that I was very wrong about the Gipper, but my theory has some merit.

Take John McCain's victory in South Carolina. Turns out that he's been visiting, read campaigning, for the past few years. When it came time for the actual primary, he had all his ducks(Reverends) in a row. And if he never makes it to the White House, that victory had to be sweet, since it was his bitter defeat there that effectively put the kibosh on his 2000 run. Giuliani seems to have squandered his front-runner status by essentially sitting out the first few contests. His only chance now is to get in the fight like he means it. Obama has learned that lesson, showing that he has the stomach to take on the Bilary.

In the end, it's not necessarily bad that Americans reward persistence and determination. And this crazy system of ours might actually work as a Darwinian process of selection so that only the strongest make it to that last match up.

And this year, I'm afraid the-wants-it-bad award has to go Hillary. Heck, even I would love to reward her singe-minded determination. Runners up, though, have to be McCain, Obama, and Romney in that order with the last two tied. Let's see how this leading indicator holds up.

Castro, the Scribbler

A rather piquant little column by Georgie Anne Geyer here. It's noteworthy not because it enlightens us about fifo's future- she thinks he will cling to power- but because of a few, quick jabs it takes at the coma andante. My favorites-

About the experience of interviewing the less than great one:

Well, I wouldn't say that any of us has not tried to figure that (what he is like) out. But the fact is, in my five interviews with Castro years ago, when many people were struck dumb by his charisma, his conversation was largely incoherent.

and in discussing his having taken up the pen:

But writing means reasoning, thinking things through, making decisions through giving fair weight to others' opinions and convictions. Writing means all the talents he does not have.

In truth, age has little blessed Fidel with any such talents. For indicators of the future, better to look to the Brazilian architect.

Around the Web

RIP. The sad news that Heath Ledger has died is hitting the airwaves. I'm saddened, not because I was particularly fond of the young actor, but because he was 28. Just think of all the lost years of living. Via Drudge, here.

Mala Educacíon. A Guiliani press conference had to be moved indoors due to Paultards and anti-abortion protestors. What is it about our society that makes some people think they're entitled to trample the rights of others? Article here.

Misunderestimated? This article analyzes the pressure created in Florida by Giuliani's absence in the early contests. Although a sentimental favorite of mine, I have my doubts. I can live with the alternatives.

MSM Coverage of Cuba: A Study in Contradictions

Once in a while, little bits of truth make their way out of the blather that constitutes so much of what is reported from the island. Maybe the usual suspects get tired of spouting the party line or the tension between telling the truth and not upsetting their hosts shows. The result is coverage that is a study in contradiction, an uneasy blend of truth and fiction.

Take this article from the AP. The headline is just plain misleading: "Cuba Parliament Must Decide on Castro." This same inaccuracy is repeated later in the article:

Still unknown, however, is whether the assembly will choose Castro as council president when it convenes for the first time on Feb. 24, or whether the bearded revolutionary will step down after nearly 50 years at Cuba's helm.

Cuba's parliament has about as much say as to whether the coma andante stays in power as I do. So it would be more accurate to phrase it thus:

Still unknown, however, is whether the assembly will [be instructed]to choose Castro as council president.

Note also the diction in the article, Cubans are being "asked" to "back" a range of candidates that includes "musicians" and "athletes," instead of being "forced" to "rubber stamp" a "slate of party hacks." Oh, that's right, the article tells us that according to the government, you don't have to be a party member. Ah huh.

But even as the article would seem to lend countenance to the outright lies of the government, it deconstructs. To counter the implication that voting is voluntary, we have this sentence:

Many Cubans say they feel compelled to vote in a country where neighborhood leaders have a say in their chances to get jobs, housing and other official approvals.

Of course, it doesn't make clear the connection between the neighborhood snitches and jobs, etc... Still, it's a smattering of the truth.

And in direct opposition to all that implied power is the use of "rubber stamp" not once but twice to describe the activity of that less than august body, as in "the parliament that rubber stamps official party policy."

So which is it? We know, but unfortunately many don't. Most readers are not going to do an exegesis of the text. They will at best give it a cursory look and come away with the impression that the "Parliament" is going to decide whether fifo stays in power. It's a sad state of affairs when this represents progress.

A Legacy of Feminism?

Interesting and agenda-driven article from Townhall.com. In it, Suzanne Fields highlights a growing trend, the increasing number of women who are not waiting around for recalcitrant or inept husbands and are taking matters and tools into their own hands.

Now I'm pretty handy myself, although the hubby is something of a Renaissance handyman.
There is something about being able to take control of your environment when the window won't open, or the toilet won't stop running, or someone neglected to replace the moldings after his latest home improvement project that is indeed liberating. And while I'm not willing to swear off feminism just yet, Fields does make some valid points.

Elections? What Elections?

I hadn't posted on the "ratifications" going on in Cuba, because with something like 614 candidates and something like 614 offices... Well, do the math. "Elect" requires choice. For some reason, however, the so-called "elections" have evoked a rash of the isn't-it-wonderful-it-looks-like-reform stories. Of course, regardless of what it looks like, it smells like the SOS.

Here's one from the LA Times, which quotes Jaime Suchlicki, making sure to qualify his comments with "whose analysis often reflects the views of Miami's anti-Castro exiles." How come I never see one of those for the other side, you know, "Known apologist for and lickspittle to the repressive Cuban regime"? That's just one of those mysteries, you know.

Anyway, take a gander at this little nugget from the article:

Nonetheless, Suchlicki, whose analysis often reflects the views of Miami's anti-Castro exiles, shares the expectation of other Cuba watchers that if Fidel Castro hasn't fully recovered his health and vigor by the March assembly opening, he will step down as president and he and his brother Raul, who is 76, will make way for a younger head of state.

Many expect Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, a 56-year-old former physician, to take the helm, which would open the way for the architect of a previous reform period to tackle the economic problems that most concern Cubans. Monthly income on the island averages about $15, and though Cubans pay almost nothing for healthcare and a monthly ration basket, food costs rival those in U.S. supermarkets.



Now wait a minute. If anyone thinks that the two dics are going to retire and, as some journalist once suggested, tend to their roses, I beg to differ. Call me crazy, but I can't see them going gently into that good night. Rather, were I to wake to find Lage in Charge, I'd suspect a palace coup.

Cross-posted at Babalublog

Sunday School

Learning Curve. From the Tampa Tribune, 50 things you could have learned in 2007. Dicover the increased risk for prostate cancer for the fathers of daughters only, the benefit of "artificial snot," and the deleterious health effects of second-hand toner.

Gender Studies. Two very popular books, The Daring Book for Girls and The Dangerous Book for Boys, which instruct children on old-fashioned pastimes, are subjected to 21st century feminist scrutiny here.

School Choice. An interesting article on a subject near and dear to my heart. A telephone interview with John Norquist, former four term mayor of Milwaukee and proponent of school choice. Note the system did not fall apart when they introduced vouchers.

Snow Day. What would any school year be without one? Here in Florida, we have the occasional Hurricane Day. A week or so ago, Baghdad experienced its first snowfall in about a hundred years. Can we say, "sign from God"? Article here.

Tell Me

What other group is treated so disrespectfully in the press. Granted, it's the Guardian.

Apart from the loud-mouthed Cuban-American right in Florida - whose threat of return and a CIA-fuelled menace of civil war has faded over time - there exists a less bellicose opposition within Cuba. And seeking it out over the years is like peeling an onion, as it passes from generation to generation.

Loud-mouthed? Really, what a lack of finesse. And if I've gotten the gist of the rest of the article correctly, Cubans really want to continue their socialist way of life, although they don't want to continue their way of life. Everyone is waiting for change, but the young are even more dedicated to the Revolution than the previous generation, but maybe that's not true. In other words, other than slandering a victimized people and a few jabs at the US, the author says nothing.

No one actually knows how the Cuban people feel, because they are not allowed to express their opinions. Oh, but that's alright. It's the US that's the bully. What's sad is that it circles the truth, but the author cannot get beyond his own frame of reference, his preconceived notions and his obvious distaste for the emotional nature of your average Cuban. What is "open" in Cuba is "loud-mouthed" in Florida. Self-serving and self-reinforcing leftist gobbledygook.

Literary Interlude: A Sonnet and a Prayer

An anonymous poem from the 16th century, roughly the same era as the Metaphysical Poets by my reckoning. I love the music of it, as well as its sentiment. It was one of my grandmother's favorites. From Antología de poesía española, a collection of Spanish Poetry on the web, put together by Fred Jehle who includes a number of English translations for this one.

Soneto a Cristo crucificado


No me mueve, mi Dios, para quererte
el cielo que me tienes prometido,
ni me mueve el infierno tan temido
para dejar por eso de ofenderte.

¡Tú me mueves, Señor! Muéveme el verte 5
clavado en una cruz y escarnecido;
muéveme ver tu cuerpo tan herido;
muévenme tus afrentas y tu muerte.

Muéveme en fin, tu amor, y en tal manera
que aunque no hubiera cielo, yo te amara, 10
y aunque no hubiera infierno, te temiera.

No me tienes que dar porque te quiera,
pues aunque lo que espero no esperara,
lo mismo que te quiero te quisiera

De: Floresta de rimas antiguas castellanas, por Juan Nicholas Böhl de Faber. Hamburgo: Perthes y Besser, 1821.

Fecha: siglo XVI

Populism?

The two names the press touts as populists are Edwards and Huckabee. We already know about Edwards' $400 dollar haircuts, but I had a what's-wrong-with-this-picture-moment this morning. I got an invitation to a fund raiser for Huckabee. I can attend a reception for him on the 25th for the sum of $2,300 dollars, or I can join the great unwashed at the general reception for the nominal sum of $500 dollars per person. Whited sepulchre, anyone?

Now I've been toying with the idea of asking for a press pass for the Lincoln Dinner with Rudy as the speaker on the 25th, because I would prefer to not pay the more reasonable amount of $150 dollars. Anyway, I could have visited with Giuliani at Mel's Diner the other day for free. Interesting side note: the day after Rudy's visit the diner closed its doors forever, leaving employees and customers stunned. Hope it's not a sign of sorts.

They Have Names

This Reuters article has been making the rounds. The gist is that the machinery of repression continues in Cuba. But that's only the lead in, because then we're informed that the number of political prisoners has actually decreased under Raul, a favorite media talking point.

Duh. Like maybe because nowadays, anyone who doesn't toe the party line gets whisked away to thoughtpolice headquarters, is read the riot act complete with the obligatory threats and the occasional beating, and is usually, not always, released. Then again it might be because the combination of brutality, poor nutrition, medical neglect and "suicide" in the gulag don't make for longevity, thereby helping to reduce numbers.

In this case, though, the words get in the way. All those abstractions like civil and human rights insulate us against the reality of what happens to flesh and blood. Reading, I remembered a Cuba Archives research report for 2007, the very same time period covered in the article.

I reproduce it in its entirety for obvious reasons.

***

Despite persecution, fear of reprisals, and limitations, Cuba’s human rights’ activists and independent journalists manage to issue reports from the island, from which the following information has been taken.

2007: SUMMARY OF REPORTED DEATHS ATTRIBUTED TO THE CUBAN STATE 16 Victims from January 1 to December 24, 2007

9 Presumed Extrajudicial Killings
Lázaro Baró Montalvo (alias 'Pita'), Age 27, died January 8, 2007 at the Combinado del Sur prison in Matanzas province for reasons that remain unexplained.

Jeile Rodríguez Aguilar, Age 19, died on January 25, 2007 of an alleged “suicide” after a beating by prison guards at the Kilo 9 prison, Camagüey province.

Rangel Enrique Pons, Age 34, was shot by police on March 20, 2007 at his home in Cárdenas, Matanzas province, when a policeman tired to blackmail him to take his motorcycle.

Manuel Acosta Larena, Age 47, opposition member, was reported to have committed suicide by hanging on June 24, 2007 at the police station at Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos province. He had been arrested four days earlier for “pre-criminal social dangerousness” for leading a campaign to collect signatures requesting the release of political prisoners.

Cecilio Echevarría Hernández, Age 54, opposition member under investigation, was reported to have committed suicide by hanging on July 22, 2007 at the police station at Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos province. The Chief of Police, Miguel López Santana, was promoted after his death and that of Manuel Acosta Larena the previous month.

Amaury Medina Puig, Carlos Rodríguez Labrada, Age 24, and another prisoner of unknown name, beat to death with metal bars and other objects in July 2007 at the ¨Kilo 8¨ maximum security prison in Camagüey after a prison melee.

Manuel Diende Rosa, common prisoner, was reported to have committed suicide by hanging on September 2, 2007 in his punishment cell at the Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey. He was on a hunger strike to demand his rights.


5 Deaths of Prisoners for Medical Negligence

Manuel Valdés Tamayo, Age 50, died on January 10, 2007. Political prisoner released shortly before his death for health problems exacerbated by prison conditions and denied permission to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Alexis Gómez Pérez, Age 32 años, died on March 28, 2007, at the Ariza prison, province of Cienfuegos, after he was denied medical care.

Jorge Betancourt, Age 52, died on July 30, 2007 of a reported heart attack at a police investigation unit in Havana ten days after his arrest at home for suspected drug trafficking. A week after his arrest, his wife had found him in a much deteriorated physical and emotional condition after being submitted to intense interrogations. The family had requested domiciliary arrest due to his heart condition, but it had been denied.

Norbert Jorrín Ortega, Age 20, died on April 25, 2007, at the “Miguel Enríquez” Hospital after being denied medical care by prison authorities at the Combinado del Este prison of Havana.

Geovany Figueroa Rodríguez, Age 28, died on September 3, 2007 at the Nieves Morejón prison of Sancti Spíritus province after prison authorities refused to give him his medication for high blood pressure for one month.

2 Suicides of a Political Nature

Ricardo Pérez Hernández, a prisoner with HIV/AIDS, reportedly committed suicide on January 25, 2007 at the Santa Clara prison after he was put in a punishment cell despite his precarious mental state.

Luis Ángel Lima Machado, Age 47, committed suicide by hanging on October 23, 2007 in Havana. A member of two peaceful opposition groups, authorities had repeatedly threatened and harassed him despite his precarious emotional state.


http://www.cubaarchive.org/

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Recently my cousins came to town. It had been years since the three of us had been together, so I thought it might be fun to pop in a DVD of Dad’s old home movies in which they figured prominently. I’ve been having them transferred from film in the past few years.

Dad loved the new technology. He bought the absolute latest 8mm home movie camera when I was little more than a toddler. I remember cumbersome black cases with lights that screwed onto the base of the handheld camera, light meters, you name it. He was Louie B. De Mille.

What I hadn’t realized was how fond he was of taking sweeping views of whatever town he happened to find himself in. I have absolutely marvelous footage of South Beach and Lincoln Road Mall in 1965 which I will someday post.

I tell you the story because one of the movies was from about 1961. There I am at three years old. We live in a three room apartment, where I usually sleep on the couch. But my aunt and my two cousins are living with us, because my uncle was taken off the plane from Cuba to make room for Alicia Alonso, and Castro has decreed no more flights, and she’s alone with two children and no skills. So we set up a cot in the living room, and my cousins sleep on either side of the sectional. I don’t even know where I sleep.

But the night of the movie, it’s a big Noche Buena celebration. The house is packed with relatives and friends. It’s late- we children are coming in from the street, only to discover Santa has been there. As we open our gifts with that wholehearted childhood glee, the camera pans to my aunt, so young and so beautiful and so terribly haunted.

Now Wait a Minute

Here's a new one from fifo. On the heels of his clean bill of health from Lula, comes this via an AP report:

"I am not physically able to speak directly to the citizens of the municipality where I was nominated for our elections next Sunday," the ailing 81-year-old wrote in an essay published Wednesday by state news media.

Lula in LuLuLand

Whass up wit' dis? When Lula was first elected in Brazil, he was described as a leftist. But since the election, he has been low key and even helpful. Suddenly he is front and center in the fifo follies. Get a gander at these quotes from the AP report:

"He has incredible lucidity and impeccable health," the Brazilian president said. "He's as lucid as in his best moments."

and

Silva said politicians were like athletes, possessing a need to stay active. He said he felt Castro "would soon take on a political role in Cuba"

If he were in impeccable health, fifo would have met him at the airport with a full brass band and a phalanx of photographers. As to lucidity, all one has to do is read his ramblings. And any future political role would have to be as a totem pole. So why is the President of Brazil uttering these patent untruths? Why is he following the script so slavishly?

Suspicious minds might ask bribery or blackmail? Perhaps Brazil's much vaunted ethanol could use a boost from some cut rate Venezuelan crude? Or what else? Something seems rotten in the state of Brazil.

"It's ALIVE!"

Or so it would seem, as Babalu reports via Michelle Malkin. Read the comments section on Malkin's original post, as the various commentors seek to answer the question- real or wax?

***

But first take a look at the picture above. The AP report describes the aging and infirm tyrant as "frail, alert, and playful." Since fifo is no wooly lamb, I assume that's code for "out of his ever loving mind." The fascination with the camera, which appears in a few of the fotos, has childlike overtones. He does not just point it at the photographer but also plays with it beforehand.

****

The true story of his health, if it is him is told by his hands. Note the clawlike aspect of the fingers, the pallor of the hands in contrast to the face. Guess makeup central forgot about them.

***

Anyway, what shape he is in is irrelevant to the greater questions. The infernal machine, the crime family he-the capo de tutti capo- created continues to roll on without him at the wheel.

(forgive the format-blogger is possessed again.)

Picture of the Day Award

Goes to RafaelMartel.com for this entry.

For those of you who might have missed the story. Code Pink came to town in Miami, or should I say to the symbolic heart of the Cuban exile/Cuban American community- the Versailles- to protest what they termed the harboring of a terrorist. The combined Cuban community begged to differ, as they see Posada Carriles as a freedom fighter, whether or not they agree with whatever methods he has employed. The crowd of two hundred irate Cubans was waiting for the six gatos or, more accurately, gatas and the more aggressive stripped their pinkmobile of assorted flounces, essentially running them out of town on a rail.

There has been much discussion as to whether this was the appropriate move. I am reminded of one of my all time favorite movies, the rather shlocky The Wind and the Lion. In it, Sheik Mohammed El Rasuli (Sean Connery) has kidnapped an American missionary(Candice Bergen) raising the ire of Teddy Roosevelt (Brian Keith) who dispatches the marines, forcing El Rasulito flee for his life.

The last scene features two riders in silhoutte by the seashore. The shorter one says, "El Rasuli, we have lost everything!" Then comes the voice of El Rasuli in its luxuriant Scottish tones saying something like "Ah, but Hadjii is there nothing in your life that was worth losing everything?"

So it is that there is a certain satisfaction in stopping the "ladies" in mid antic. Theirs was an act of sheer provocation, somewhat tantamount to demanding Mandela be kept in jail as a terrorist in the Soweto township of old. You don't taunt an aggreived people. As Henry Gomez has pointed out, they should more logically have protested at the places where the decisions were actually made. I don't think that much damage was done to the perception of Cubans. The numbers were too small; and the Pinkers, too freaky. As a matter of fact, a Code Pink attack is perhaps the only thing the Cuban American community and Hillary Clinton have in common.

However, the point is well taken. We do have to be careful. Our passion and zeal can be off-putting to the American Public. A better response would perhaps have been something like the one in the picture. Maybe, we should have a rapid response team. We could show up in costume with the cubichemobile. We could even blast some music, turn it into a party.... Naw, we are too respectable...and we work for a living.

Reads: The Chase by Clive Cussler

I haven't written about books recently because I've been plowing through a book about meaning in the second half of life. It's good and it's meaningful, but it takes a while. Such is not true of Clive Cussler's novels, which I devour in a single sitting.

So I was thrilled to see a new entry by Cussler. Although I tend to stay away from coauthored efforts, I make an exception for his Numa Files novels written with Paul Kemprecos. Still, I was especially happy to see this was a Cussler only effort. Cussler's original Dirk Pitt novels are probably some of the best written entertainment around. Alas, I was to be disappointed. There's no Dirk Pitt. Actually most of The Chase takes place in the American West of 1906, and as interesting a character as Isaac Bell is, he is no Dirk Pitt or even Kurt Austin. Of course, who can compete with the underwater antics of the same?

After an intial scene of the 1950 recovery of a locomotive, etc... from the frigid waters of a Montana Lake, the reader is treated to the back story which revolves around the hunt for the "Butcher Bandit," bank robber and prototype of the modern serial killer. Erstwhile and successful investigator Isaac Bell is charged with the task. Throw in the San Francisco earthquake, and you have the gist of the plot.

The Chase makes for interesting and suspenseful, if not thoroughly outstanding, reading. And the ambivalence of the personal angle is one of its most outstanding features. So if you're at loose ends some Friday afternoon, you might want to pick up a copy. You won't be sorry. But if you haven't read any of the other Cussler novels, start there. You'll be really happy.

Quote of the Day

“A single personal despot can prolong obsolete ideas beyond their natural term, but the change of generations must ultimately carry them away.”

Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, approx. 40 years ago, quoted in this Times article about the parliament in Spain allowing relatives to reclaim their republican dead from mass graves.

You Can't Fool All of the People....

From a poll by the Sacred Heart University:

“The fact that an astonishing percentage of Americans see biases and partisanship in their mainstream news sources suggests an active and critical consumer of information in the U.S.” stated James Castonguay, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of SHU’s Department of Media Studies & Digital Culture. “The availability of alternative viewpoints and news sources through the Internet no doubt contributes to the increased skepticism about the objectivity of profit-driven news outlets owned by large conglomerates,” he continued.

and

“Americans know bias and imbalance when they see it and they don’t like it. When most service organizations strive for consumer satisfaction ratings in the high eighties to low nineties, an overall positive rating of 40.7% is dismal,” said Jerry C. Lindsley, director of the Sacred Heart University Polling Institute. He added, “Americans know that it’s just not that hard to present both sides and keep personal bias at home.”

The results? The most trusted news outlet is no longer CNN. It is the much villified Fox News organization. And 86% of those surveyed felt strongly that the media attempted to influence the news.

Let's see how they're going to spin this one. Article here.

H/T RafaelMartel

Sunday Morning Rolls Around

Book Drive. The Sunday Times(UK) has come out with its "best" books lists. Finally, a list that includes books I've actually read. It's interesting that the Brit version would contain names such as Patricia Cornwell, Maeve Binchy, and Terry Pratchett, while the American (yawn)...

Deer in the Headlights. President Bush has signed a law phasing out incandescent bulbs. Read article here. Flourescents, however, are extremely unkind to Cuban complexions. A passing glance in the bathroom mirror one day scared the bejesus out of me. I looked like The Ugly Geisha. My cadaveric pallor made of all sorts of life threatening possibilites dance before my eyes. After a few uneasy days, I realized it was the light bulb. I tell you: they can't do it. It's discrimination. By the bye, the new bulbs also contain mercury.

Wrong Turn? Wal-mart has been front and center in the drive to exterminate the incandescent bulb, according to this report as a form of societal expiation for their generally perceived sins. All this leads to Lee Scott being named one of the five worst CEO's of 2007 in this article, which distinction he shares with Jeff Immelt of GE. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. GE makes the incandescents. Also recognized for their contributions, the CEO's of BP, Pepsico, and Caterpillar. It all goes to show that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Detour. Speaking (metaphorically, of course) of Geishas, how about an article on the deleterious effects of cosmetics throughout history, the short form? Most seem to have arisen from the heavy metals in make-up. The article does hint that our lipsticks might not be quite as safe as they seem. Well, without makeup, being yellow in the new light will be the least of my problems.

Meditations

One of the joys of living in a seasonal resort town is the sudden influx after the holidays, when the population swells to double its size. So yesterday, as I waited out the second light at the same interchange, I experienced some unexpected relief. The perfectly ordinary hatchback stopped directly in front of me was plastered with all sorts of bumper stickers. There was the old NRA "Charlton Heston is my president" and the somewhat sexist "I brake for saucy wenches." That one started me looking for the male counterpart to wench. Yeoman really pertains to occupation. I guess it would be churl, but that really refers to socioeconomic status, not to mention it's more ill-mannered connotations. Varlet is too villainous. I knew there was a word hovering on the edge of my mental stratosphere, but alas it refused to make itself known.

Returning to my perusal of the car, I noted the snide, "Got brains?" The philosophical, "Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his moccasins. That way if he gets mad, he'll be a mile away with no shoes." And the outstanding, "I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than riding in a car with Ted Kennedy."

It was with disappointment, I noticed the third light change and the traffic beginning to move. Ah, what would life be without serendipitous moments of grace.

Of Detours and Desperation

From The Dallas Observer, an article online about a relatively new wrinkle in the exodus from Cuba- the flight of refugees to Mexico and eventually Texas. Despite its global approach, the article succeeds in conveying the culture shock of Texans at the advent of these Hispanics with the funny accents. It also conveys the difficulties faced by these newcomers, the travails they undergo to make it to the States.

I leave you to read the article for yourselves. There is just too much to do an adequate job of commentary. I will point out what for me was the most striking part of the six-pages, the description of the sheer desperation of those who flee Cuba in general. If anything is indicative of the “wrongness” of the wet foot/dry foot policy and the essential difference between Cubans and those who come for purely economic reasons, it is this:

"We've had cases where...they've poured gasoline on themselves and threatened to light themselves on fire," says Chief Dana Warr, an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami. "People will stab themselves or cut their wrists to be evacuated by helicopter to a U.S. hospital, and as soon as they touch down, they're 'dry foot.' It's almost like the wild, wild west out there, except on the water."

Cross-posted at Babalublog

Git Along Little Doggies

Here are some strays:

Cuba has announced that it is resurrecting a past program to bring culture to its penal institutions. Forgive me, but it brings to mind scenes from A Clockwork Orange. What was that? Beethoven’s Ninth? Such luminaries as Silvio Rodriguez, Amauri Pérez, Vicente Feliú, and the seemingly ubiquitous Eusebio Leal have enlisted (or been enlisted) in the program, slated to start in the middle of January. Article in Spanish here.

The star of the new Spanish, as in being presented in Spain, musical based on The Diary of Anne Frank is a young Cuban exile. 13 year old Isabella Castillo fled the island with her mother, hid out in Honduras, and eventually ended up in- you guessed it- Miami. Read it here.

Cubanazos.com has a post that the movie Shoot Down about the shooting down of two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue planes by the Cuban regime will premiere on January 18th in Miami. No details as to location. The film opens on January 25th.

The Leamington Post advises that Ruby Rose, a scaup duck fitted with a transponder, has left the chill climes of Canada and taken up residence near Florencia, Cuba (near the large indentation on the North coast). Ciego de Avila duck, anyone? Go here and click on the link and you, too, can follow Ruby’s progress.

*****************************************************************************

For all you Key West party animals, there is a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the first flight from Key West to Cuba, incidentally also the first ever international flight over water, on January 16 at 5. The Conch Flyer Restaurant will be doing the catering. Don't ask me, I live in staid Sarasota. Read all about it here.

******************************************************************************

And finally, I've been waiting to fit this one in all week. At La Contra Revolución, Gusano advocates for the dignity of the Cuban people. Even if you overlook the matter of human rights, of hunger, or scarcity, he suggests, any government that cannot provide toilet paper for its people after 50 years does not deserve to rule. I think he may have a point. Read it in Spanish and weep here.

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Bye the bye, the title comes from the old cowboy song, "Green Grow the Lilacs," which some have posited as the origin of the term "Gringo."

(Sometimes I hate Blogger.)

Wow! The Truth

You gotta read this at Accuracy in Media. David Landau writes a few home truths. First and foremost, he points out the obsession the embargo lifters seem to have with Cuba. That we should be accused of obsession is understandable, but why these perverse individuals can't leave Cuba alone is unfathomable.

The most important part of the article is the withering denunciation of the regime, and indirectly of those who would do business with it:

Decades of history have now shown the bitter fruits of Castro’s rule. In all that time, the U.S. embargo has achieved exactly what it set out to do. It has simply stated, for everyone to hear, that Americans do not wish to have trade with Cuba’s overlords and slave-masters.

It is such a clear, and concise statement of the rationale for not lifting the embargo that it should be reprinted everywhere.

Huh?

This one got lost in the shuffle. Helen Thomas, one of my least favorite “journalists” with a logic reminiscent of one of fifo’s missives attacked bloggers, blaming them for getting us into war and cheapening “journalistic standards.” As if!

Read about it here. You’ll enjoy it.

In a Word

I am a recovering political junkie. Over the past eight years, I’ve managed to tame my addiction. What with the depressing partisan politics and the disgusting media bias to the left, what’s a girl to do? Add this year’s lackluster slate of candidates. Hillary and Edwards are wealthy wouldbe socialists. Obama is untried and naïve when it comes to foreign policy. On the other side, Romney is too polished; Rudy, too possibly tainted (unless he runs against Hillary); Paul, too nutty. Thompson lacks energy and is into unfortunate suitcase metaphors, and McCain and Huckabee can’t win. That being said I do have my favorites.

Still, yesterday I had the NH primary news on all day, as a kind of backdrop. And the word that kept cropping up was change. I would hear it in passing as I went about my business. Seems that change is the word of moment. Hearing it repeated like a mantra, I thought of the parallel. Americans want change, the media tell us. So they turn out in droves to vote for the candidate they think will effect that change.

Not so far away is another country where the people want change ever so much more desperately than Americans. They, too, can vote, and they vote in droves… or face the consequences. However, they can only vote for the status quo. That’s like one of those if a tree falls in the forest riddles. If you have to vote and can only vote for one party is the vote heard? Regardless, in that country simply wearing the word change on your body will get you hauled off and detained, if not arrested.

Bear that thought in mind next time you see the media wringing their hands about the unhappiness of the American people.

The Times, They are a-Changing!

The discussion is slowly but surely being reframed. Today, The Times Online published an article entitled "Good riddance to Castro. But what next?" Let's place aside the tepid criticism of the US policy; the Europeans come in for worse. But I have to share some highlights:

"History will absolve me,” declared Fidel Castro from the dock in 1953....With half a century's hindsight, we can predict that history will withhold the absolution he expected. Cuba's revolution has deformed international relations and subjugated the people in whose name it is implausibly proclaimed. Castro's legacy is a stagnating, dysfunctional one-party state.

and in perhaps the most succinct summary of what Castro has wrought, there is this:

Castro's defenders cite the iniquities of the US economic embargo and the successes of Cuba's welfare policies. There is, in both cases, less than meets the eye. Cuba is literally in ruins: Havana's colonial architecture is in crumbling disrepair. The economy is sclerotic. Production of sugar, once the island's primary industry, has collapsed. National income largely depends on tourism, remittances from families living in the US and subsidies from Venezuela. For the leader who launched a “Great Revolutionary Offensive” in emulation of Mao's Great Leap Forward, it is an ignominious outcome.

and this gem:

The most perverse aspect of Western attitudes towards Cuba is not a misconceived US embargo, but a widespread romanticism towards its target. Today's antiwar campaigners appear unaware that the historical figure who more nearly than anyone brought the world to nuclear destruction was Fidel Castro.

Although I obviously disagree with the antiembargo rhetoric, however toned down, the article proposes a policy direction.

Our Government [the UK] ought to be urging a common approach among the EU, the US and the Organisation of American States. US economic sanctions are discredited and should discreetly be replaced: not by rapprochement and normalised relations with Cuba, as the Spanish Government urges, but by emphasising the political aims that those sanctions are supposed to advance and have not achieved. Pressing for free and fair elections in Cuba is a minimal diplomatic stance.

and

If we press for the relaxation of an arbitrary US embargo, we must also insist that Castro allow ordinary Cubans to travel abroad. Normal relations should be introduced in stages, depending on political and economic reforms. Under the current regime, these are a remote prospect but we shall at least have marked out a strategy for the introduction of democracy.

Call me crazy, but the embargo is not arbitrary. And in essence, his proposals are just a kinder, gentler version of US policy. However, the article is correct about the need for concerted action, as is the call for a graduated policy of lifting restrictions. But that's just my opinion. What is most striking is the drubbing fifo receives. You gotta love it.

The 8th at 8

Today is the day of the audio protest in Cuba. How many participate is anyone's guess. The Cuban population lives in fear of stepping out of line. They also have very little access to information, so it will also depend on how far and how fast Radio Bemba (Lip Radio) can spread it.

For my English-speaking readers, I'll include the translation of the sidebar here again.

Secretos de Cuba is asking all websites related to Cuba and who are in favor of freedom to publish this message on the front page. In Cuba, on January 8 at 8PM raise the volume on your music, the TV, the radio. It doesn't matter what you are putting on, nor what type of music it is, the news, even if it's Mesa Redonda, whatever, raise the volume. If you have a party that day, so much the better.

If you are afraid, be quiet and listen at your window at how others will do it. The only thing we ask of those who have blogs, forums, etc... is to publish this message prominently until January 8 at 8PM.

Be heard. Join up. We want changes to benefit the people. Better salaries, more rights than the tourists, Freedom.

It is we, the people, who have to take back our rights.

New Entry into the Fray

The administrator, who does a yeoman's job of choreographing-can't think of another word to describe what he does- Cubanology, apprises us of the debut of his new biweekly. Try it. You'll like it. Go here.

High Finance

An interesting financial story today. Siboney Corporation, an educational software company, filed with the SEC in December that it is selling its Cuban oil exploration rights to Clarinbridge LLC. I had come across the company as a children’s librarian. At the time, I thought there had to be a Cuban connection, but promptly forgot about it. Today’s news had me questioning what the connection was between software and Cuban oil rights.

Here’s the scoop. In 1955, Siboney Caribbean Petroleum was formed to explore for oil in Cuba. After the revolution, the Cuban assets were seized. The company then underwent a number of changes, including buying a software company. Eventually, the new company divested itself of the other businesses, remaining in learning software.

After nearly fifty years, Siboney sold the rights for over a million in order to pay company debt. Of course, at the moment, this all seems a bit moot, as the present Cuban government owns just about everything at the moment.

For some general background, here.

Three Degrees of Separation

Maybe the reason, Ol’ Hil seemed a bit lachrymose today had to do with her multiplying troubles. Not that the FEC complaint filed by Peter Paul is gonna cause her to lose sleep. Paul has been making the same allegations for a while. Now I’m sure some of you know more of the details, but it is too delicious a maze to ignore.

Okay, follow me here. Paul, a former partner of Spiderman creator Stan Lee, charges that he hosted a fund raiser for Hillary’s 2000 Senate Campaign as a sort of quid pro quo to get Bill’s services for their new venture. Anyway, her campaign reported the cost as $500,000. Her campaign director was acquitted of charges he lied about the amount, although the FEC fined the campaign for understating the cost of $750,000. Peter Paul puts the amount at more like $2 million. George at Babalublog had posted on the whole affair here.

What’s interesting is that in a version of the six degrees of separation, Paul had earlier in his life been convicted of attempting to defraud the Cuban government. In a shades of Chuck Barris interview in 2002, though, he maintained:

"Twenty-three years ago, I had been approached to work with anti-Communist and anti-Castro forces," Paul told the Journal. On behalf of those forces, he became involved in what Freund described as a "politically connected and government-sanctioned activity." When the scheme fell through, Paul said he took the rap and pleaded Guilty to conspiring to defraud the Cuban government and possession of cocaine.

The truth, as Paul explained it, was far stranger than fiction. "By the time I was 27 years old, I was president of the World Trade Center. I had represented the president and government of Peru, the president of Panama [and several other heads of Central and South American states]. I represented every major anti-Communist participant in the Bay of Pigs. I had worked for four major intelligence agencies, and I was recruited by operatives of our government for a plan to embarrass Castro." According to Paul, the target of the fraudulent scam, which apparently involved scuttling an empty freighter and claiming it was full of coffee, was Castro himself and the Cuban coffee market, which at that time was subsidized by Russia. No shareholders were involved...

For today's article. For the 2002 interview. Yup, I'm sending you to the Comics Journal for info. It's really a fascinating story.

Update: Christmas Present

Florida rancher John Parke Wright, not one of my favorite people with his anti-embargo-let's-all get-along-and-get-rich position, demonstrated his largess by dressing up as Santa Claus and giving about 150 of those poor little Cuban children presents at a Havana convent. The visit, while not officially sanctioned, did have the presence of Ramon Castro. It was a nice gesture, but I was more moved with another toy giveaway.

In a more poignant event, the children of political prisoners also had a visit from Santa in the guise of 11 year old Rocio de Jesus Viso Bello whose father is imprisoned. Held in the home of Laura Pollan of the Women in White, the giveaway was sponsored by CANF, the Cuban American National Foundation. Yeah, those intransigent exiles again.

Read it here.

Update: Los Miquis de Miami has pictures of the second event here.
H/T Penultimos Dias

Stop the Presses!

But don't get too excited, yet. We've been down this road before.

According to an article at Payo Libre by Alberto Muller, sources close to the Castro progeny are reporting that the coma andante has taken a turn for the worse and is suffering from respiratory distress. Although I’ve long ago given up trying to figure out the condition of he whose name must not be mentioned, I did find an interesting morsel with just a hint of justice about it. Apparently, however, in his rare moments of lucidity, he is overwhelmed by depression and has extended crying fits. They ascribe it to senility. I'd like to believe it is remorse.

The family is expecting his death “imminently,” as well as a funeral worthy of a pharaoh. When we would find out about it is anyone’s guess.

Okay, I guess it's officially Sunday, so here goes...

All is Vanity. Word comes that Tom Wolfe is working on a new book, a sort of Bonfire of the Vanidades set in Miami. Containing crime, sex, and corruption, it's characters are said to include a Cuban nurse, French sex doctor, and a journalist on the trail of the Russian mob in Dade. Don't run to place your order yet, though. He expects to be finished in four years. Read about it here.

Believe it or not. There's providence in the fall of a sparrow and incredible luck in the fall of this window washer who survived a 47 story plunge. "Doctors have never seen anything like it," the report tells us. 37 year old Alcides Moreno is expected to recover and even walk again. Reminds me of a story years back of a woman who fell from the Empire State Building but was blown back in a few stories down.

One Step Forward. Fox's Bill O'Reilly was involved in something of an altercation according to this tidbit picked up by Drudge. O'Reilly was trying to get Obama's attention, in order to invite him on his show, but was blocked by an Obama staffer, whom he jostled out of the way. O'Reilly denies any scuffle here, saying that he gently removed the obtrusive staffer.

What a way to go. In yet another green extreme. Now they're worrying about the toxic effects of burial practices. You, too, can be buried in a kayak-shaped coffin made of recycled newspapers. As the owner of The Natural Burial Company, Cynthia Beal describes it as "composting at its best." Article here.