It's the Market, Stupid!

Since Clinton, unfairly but to great effect, used a variation of the phrase on Bush I, it is only fair to turn it on the great gullible masses out there. Last night, Obama the eloquent made a moving speech to general acclaim. I was watching Fox where the pundits then proceeded to belittle Bobby Jindal. True, there was something of the marionette in the awkward progress to the mike, but the folksy stories the talking heads disliked appealed to me, none better than the bureaucrat who demanded the registration and insurance of the ragtag flotilla which massed to rescue people in New Orleans after Katrina.

Although I could see some of Obama's spending, as in the technology money is essence an investment for the future. At least the grandkids who will pay for this will get something out of the deal. Not so for the culture funds, the reseeding of the lawn, etc. But then el presidente- with a straight face, no less- insisted there was no pork. What? I've had less at Noche Buena.

All his glibness, however, was not enough to reassure people who actually have two brain cells and think for themselves. Apparently that doesn't reflect many people I know. This morning, they're carrying on about how wonderful he was and how stupid the Republicans. I'm standing around getting offended. First, because it just doesn't occur to them that anyone could conceivably have a different opinion. Second, they who have brought this upon us have not a clue about things financial. So I'm thinking that we'll see later on. But then I realize that they are so entrenched in their conception of themselves that they will never see.

So to my friends, I offer the market which has done almost nothing but tank since the great one took office. Why? Because financial types, some of whom-granted- got us into this mess, have no confidence in an administration which seeks to regulate everything, yet shows no restraint of its own. If the performance of this congress and president were so wonderful, there should be some semblance of bounce, however short-lived. There is none, because the market is not reassured by the Great Society II. Just my two cents.

Days Gone By

Central Vertientes, Cuba, circa 1950's. (Just an excuse to try out my scanner.)

Monday, Monday

Garden Party. There are signs of an incipient taxpayer revolt in the air. Townhall has a pretty fair summary of the situation. Also on Townhall, Lawrence Kudlow elaborates the pitfalls as he, not surprisingly, champions the market alternatives in this column.

Tropical Revue. Over at Lew Rockwell, the indomitable Humberto Fontova takes on TJ English's How the Mob Owned Cuba, and Lost it to the Revolution, a book that has done irreparable damage to the truth. I once found myself in a near shout down in a book store with a gentleman who loved the tome and swore by it's accuracy on the basis of having read it. Read it here.

Lost Worlds. How 'bout some lighter topics? At long last, Atlantis may have been found off the Canary Islands. Sorry, Bimini Road, but this location would make more sense if we go by Plato. And Homer seems to have had a point about Troy. Is it possible? Of course. Will they able to prove it? Take a look for yourself.

Inner Space. I forgot this one earlier. NASA is offering free 0 gravity flights on the vomit comet to budding inventors et al. Deadline for application is March 20, so hurry. Read all about it.

The Voice of First Hand Experience

In this week's mix, you'll find some items about the Obama housing plan. There is the whole moral hazard argument, as in you will be rewarding deadbeats and penalizing responsible homeowners. Then there is the thousand dollar incentive, which doesn't seem to be much of one. What raised my hackles however was the provision that judges will be able to lower not only the interest but also the principal. Wait right there! If I've got this right, these people entered into a legally binding contract for, say, 200 thou. Now because the property in question in worth 100 thou, the lender will potentially lose part of the principal dependant on which testicle itched on some judge? Now, that does not seem right. What happened to the assumption of risk? Do we demand car loans reflect the diminished value of the vehicle the minute you drive off the lot?

That's a stimulus too far. I'm just a naif about these things, although I did come close to losing a home once, but it seems to me that there are other, fairer ways to handle the mortgage problems. What kills you as the distressed homeowner is the punitive nature of late fees and interest charges. I mean here you are, you can't make your payments, so they add on extortionate amounts. In the end, there ain't no way you're ever gonna pay. Despite having plunked down about 100 thou, by the time we sold the house for roughly what we paid for it, we were left with 400 dollars. At least thirty thousand went to my friends at Citibank, a substantial part of which where late fees, etc.... They were horrible.

So here's a thought. Since it's pretty obvious that the situation is causing grief in the economy, how about the novel notion that we set back the clock? Interest rates are now low, so the adjustables should be back to acceptable levels. In the common interest, forgo the late fees and assorted schemes and tack the missed payments on to the back end of the mortgage, extend the term by the missing payments. For those teaser rate mortgages, extend the teaser rate period for a longer terms, so the adjustments do not come all at once. The lenders will still have to take a bite, but it is infinitely preferable to some judge giving away their stockholder's money, not to mention that they made a bad business decision.

Obviously, people whose life circumstances have brought them to foreclosure would not fall under these provisions. I'm also no expert, but there is something inherently wrong in the way we are approaching the situation at present.

A Bird of ill Omen?

Soros has called gloom and doom on the world banking system. Read it here. Scares me. Let's just say he witnessed the trashing of the Bank of England, the Russian Ruble, and now.... Follow the money?

Stimulated in LA

Just got off the phone with the little one who lives in LA at the moment. She's a trifle incensed as she's hearing that in lieu of a state refund, she can expect an IOU. She's contemplating paying her federal tax with California's IOU. Sign of the times.

Politics, Puberty and the Public

It does not take much imagination to look around at the moment and notice that the single biggest problem is not the economy as much as it is the immaturity of a society of superannuated adolescents.

Start with our politics, which exhibit nothing more than the dynamics of high school. Everyone wants to be cool, be a part of the in crowd. There is no room for reasoned debate. Civil discourse has devolved into one part name-calling, one part mockery, and two parts strong arming. And cynical manipulation of truth has become the medium of communication in government, stratagems which go unreported by a co-opted press.

On the public side, we whine and expect someone else to take care of us, pay for our health insurance, rescue us from our errors. There is no thought given to the rights of others who have acted responsibly or even to future generations. We have a pecuniary cold at the moment, so we are perfectly willing to inflict pneumonia on future generations. Gone seems to be the notion of taking responsibility for oneself.

Perhaps it is because for too long, this country has not faced the kind of adversity that makes you grow up. One has to wonder what those earlier generations would think of us today. I can only guess.

Tripping the Light Fantastic: Bollywood in Cuba

The fascination with the foreign film in this household has led to watching four hour Bollywood epics. I can only imagine the product if the Havana regime succeeds in luring Indian filmakers to Cuba as a location. Think about the possibilities.... salsa in a sari.... I'd better stop now. I don't want to offend anyone. I actually enjoy the films, mostly. Read about it here.

I Vote for George

Anne Coulter's column this week reminds me of something that's been nagging me. As I read all these rankings of American Presidents, I'm always surprised that George Washington is almost never front and center, number one. As I watch the machinations of Chavez in Venezuela in the grand tradition of leaders who come in to power and refuse to leave, I am always struck by the nobility of our first leader. What would have happened to our grand democratic tradition if he had availed himself of the power offered to him? He was the one who defined the office. What greater achievement could there be?

A Study in Civility

In between fits of the vapours every time I hear another horrendously large sum to be tossed into the Democrat maw that is the government these days, I rouse myself only to find the tenor of our political discourse sinking ever more rapidly into a morass of juvenile petulance. Rahm Emanuel tells us to find the measure of the man, our President Obama, in his mockery of Republicans. The White House website includes a caption under a "bipartisan meeting" noting GOP requests for autographs, as well as their bad manners in failing to vote for the stimulus. A recent speech shows Obama using the kind of accusatory rhetoric usually reserved for campaigns.

Two observations:
If el Presidente wanted to garner Republican votes perhaps he should have crafted a package that a Republican could sign on to, instead of the nancipolooza they were served. Did he expect them to bend over?

One of the very first lessons on the playground is that one should not be a sore loser but rather a gracious winner. And as he pointed out to the Republicans, "We won."

Sunday on the Soapbox

Financial Follies. In the Wall Street Journal, William McGurn warns of the Nancy Pelosi effect. In a scathing article, he highlights her mismanagement and her looming status as an albatross around the new administration's neck. And from Governor of South Carolina Mark Stanford over on CNN comes this strongly argued position on the porkulus bill. Stanford has distinguished himself as an articulate spokesman against the behemoth, an exercise not in pork barrel spending, but in payback.

Silver Lining? So so says Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor over in England. In an interview at the Times on Line, the Catholic Prelate's view that the economic upheaval may actually turn out to be a good thing as it forces the country to change it's wicked ways is highlighted. Most of interest, however, is a more moderate perspective of a morally bankrupt society.

Presidential Metrics. Also at the Times is a ranking of the US presidents. Among the top scorers are Abe Lincoln, George Washington, and Dwight Eisenhower. At the bottom, yeah, George Bush and Nixon. Excuse me, but I find it a tad presumptuous.

Scientific Milestones? Let's start with the crash of the satellites, a working American and derelict Soviet one. According to the AP, experts fear the debris could be a menace. I've read elsewhere that even the Hubble could be imperiled. Back on Earth, the mummy of a young Egyptian temple singer has been virtually unwrapped without opening the sarcophagus. Ah, the miracle of modern science. Read it at CNN here.

Last Gasp. Had to include this one. Ohmigosh, the Kansas Department of Education has been caught in an error by a high school student. In a year, no one had noticed that omission had mistakenly been used for emission. Happens to us all. Read all about it. Meantime Fox News has come up with a list of the top ten deadliest stretches of road in America. Two are in South Florida. Given the driving habits I've observed further south, I'm not surprised.

Top Three Most Overlooked Romantic Songs

So they aren't that well known, but they are sweet.

1. "Every Woman" Dave Mason
2. "Please be with me" Eric Clapton and Yvonne Elliman
3. "You're my Home" Billy Joel

One for Presidents Day

Opened my email on Lincoln's birthday, the real one, to find a release from the NBRA, the National Black Republican Association. I look forward to these as they are always interesting. Anyway in the middle of a discussion of Abe Lincoln, I found this most timely of quotes from the great man himself.


You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away

A man's incentive and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them

What they could and should do themselves.

Need I write more?

A Bit o' This and That

Getting ready for my St. Paddy's Day transmogrification (I become Irish for the day....) early. Anyway, Jose has published the Cubanology Bi-Weekly 19. Some interesting stuff- Babe Ruth and baseball in Cuba, a pretty thorough timeline, as well as a reminder of the ethics to which journalists are supposed to adhere amongst others.

A mention, too, of an important court case in which the exile perspective was vindicated by an appeals court. As a fervent devotee of the written word the concept of censorship is anathema to me. However, the presentation of propaganda as fact in the context of a school library is just plain wrong. Educators have a responsibility to demand accuracy of the materials they use with impressionable children. Get the details here.

While on the subject of letters, here's a bit of fluff about spelling mavens who are mad as hell about the current state of affairs. Although not a card-carrying member of the grammar police- I have been known to unwittingly commit a solecism or two or more- I feel their pain. My advice: give it up. It's a lost cause. Just take a look at the monikers, spelt by the unlettered muse, that parents are foisting on children today.

A Stimulating Thought

As the President holds his news conference, I am struck with his characterization of all of the jobs that are going to be created or saved by the "stimulus" bill. Of course, he omits mention of the bulk of the expenditures which in no way belong in this legislation. I was excited when I heard that the Senate had tinkered with it, only to have my hopes deflated when they cut what seemed some of the likelier looking projects like school building repairs and left that darn TV switchover literature in there, as well as a host of questionable earmarks.

I've been watching the apologists the past few days arguing that whole new green industries will be launched. Is it the jobs of researchers we are worried about? Is this the kind of undertaking you embark upon by mortgaging the future of your children and grandchildren, or is this a project better undertaken once the situation has stabilized, and we are more solvent?

It raises a question, one heightened by the Obamiam argument tonight. Even if you stipulate that this bill is in reality a stimulus bill and not a liberal pols wish list, you have to answer the question: do we have the right? I've been reading projections that Americans will be risking 9 trillion or so on all of the various bailouts cum stimuli. I have to ask, are things that bad that we will expend the last quivers in our civil bow? What happens if there is another terrorist attack? A true depression? How with any credibility will the government be able to react? Or is this just another example of the baby-boomer-center-of-the-universe-entitlement-neurosis?

As for me, the buffoons running our congress have had a healthy effect. I will quit smoking before I pay another penny so that they can offer free health insurance to people who damn well can afford to pay for it on their own. I have on a lot less than 84 thousand a year. Got my tranquilizers and antidepressant all lined up.

Quote of the Day

Goes to Gusano at La Contrarevolucion.

Castro’s 50 year propaganda campaign has managed to convince the world that even after 50 years Cuba is still undergoing a revolution that was over on Jan 8 1959. The world’s longest going out of business sale.

Read: Storming Las Vegas

The New Man and the same old story. My brother clued me into this one which was published in February and is officially titled Storming Las Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip to the Tune of Five World-Class Hotels, Three Armored Cars, and Millions of Dollars. I'd like to be able to recommend it as a well-written true crime story, but my experience of the book was fatally tarnished by the bigotry apparent in its pages.

My first clue came in the "Acknowledgments" in which author John Huddy cites Wayne Smith. Of course, he also mentions Brian Latell. Then, he proceeds to pass on, unopposed, the perspective of the villain/hero of the piece, Jose Vigoa, who was born in 1959 that during "Batista time" in Cuba there were 8 million people and 7 million were poor, illiterate, and uncared for....

Just as well, because Huddy characterizes Cuba as a "banana republic through virtually all of its history." Under the guidance of fidel, it becomes a "player on the world stage," and here's the best, "the target of relentless terrorism." See those "Miami militants" were responsible for the constant tension under which the murderer and thief grew up. fidel is lionized and Batista associated with "torture chambers and murder squads." He includes reference to an incident hitherto unknown to me in which Batista had men buried alive.

Later Huddy, who once worked for the Herald, clues us in that he grew up "in preCastro Cuba," that is to say at the Guantanamo Base:

I visited much of the interior of Cuba....I saw firsthand the conditions in Cuba under the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. They were harsh and degrading.

What can I say? The 1958 UN? Liars. My parents? Liars. My grandparents? Liars. My friends, relatives, associates? Liars. None of these were Batistianos, but it is obvious that Mr. Huddy on the basis of "visits" to the "interior" knows Cuba better than any of the aforementioned. Maybe he should go visit parts of Philadelphia and write a book. I raised the idea of bigotry earlier. This selective portrayal of Cuban history is emblematic of the perspective of some. Was there poverty? Yes, grinding for some. There was also the largest middle class in Latin America. There is no room for that in their equations. To these people Cubans are some third world species of "native" somehow unentitled to the same prerogatives as Americans. It is our "otherness" they find off-putting, whether in Cuba or Miami.

Oh, the book? Read it if you want. Pick it up at Goodwill or the library. Otherwise, save your militant quarter.

Minimum Monday

Slim Pickin's this week, it would seem.

Line. I quoted this one earlier. Over at NRO, Mark Steyn waxes eloquent on the insanity that seems to have infected the body politic. Don't miss it here.

Medium. At Townhall, Mike S Adams shares a novel grading system he proposes for his students. Those who achieve over ninety will share some of their points with those less fortunate. Sound familiar? That's his point.

Perspective. The New York Times relieves my worried mind by reporting that those who drink substantial amounts of coffee have less risk of dementia. Gee, that's one less worry for my golden years.

Why I Skipped the Halftime Show Yesterday

I spent the evening last night at a Superbowl party. As the Boss came on the stage, all the Boomers shrieked and oohed and aahed and waxed nostalgic, while I headed to the lanai with the cigar smokers. So there I was observing that quite of few of these last hadn't clipped the ends of their cigars, when the hostess came out and sat by my side, inquiring whether I had caught Bruce. Thinking quickly- I was after all in enemy territory, so to speak- I replied that I had never been a particular fan.

What I omitted in my reply is that I will never again be able to listen to "Born to Run" without feeling offended, not because Mr. Springsteen has his own political views but because he insists on using his celebrity and position to foist those rather strident views on me. It is his right to try, but it is my right to forgo buying his music. Ditto, with the assortment of celebrities and media types who insist on trashing Bush, Republicans, Conservatives, and any other of the people and ideals I hold dear.

I have decided that I will not support the artistic efforts of any of these if I can help it. I won't go to their movies, rent their DVD's, listen to their music, or subscribe to their magazines. It seems others have arrived at the same conclusion. George, today, over at Babalu, linked to a wonderful piece at the American Spectator. It is right on so many levels.

When artists, reporters, and their ilk take a particular political position, they risk repudiating those who do not agree with them. In this instance, 46 percent of the population did not vote for Mr. Obama, and not because they are stupid, immoral, or unenlightened. There should be room in our politics and entertainment for the notion that there is more than one valid political position. Until there is, my choices will be limited, as I suspect will be their sales.

A Nod is as Good as a Wink….

Well, President “Hope and Change” has begun his tenure with a series of fiats designed to differentiate himself from the former president. Of course, there’s enough wiggle room left in his brand spanking new executive orders to rival that in a rapper’s pants, but let’s not split hairs.

On the international front, his inauguration was met with kind words from compañero fidel, who described him as a “noble and intelligent” man. Not long after, though, as noted here, the consequences of thawing relations must have made their way through sclerotic byways in the long, lonely hours of the night, because the President became a noble man who contributes to the “genocide” of the Palestinian people. Also thrown in was a demand for Guantanamo, one echoed by mini-me Chavez. How’s that for an olive branch?

Not to be outdone, the Iranians, yet to receive the new covenant that the President has reputedly been framing, chimed in characterizing the offer to talk with Iran as a sign of US failure. Considering that they have helped kill our servicemen in Iraq, how could they see our proferred hand as anything but? Ahmadinejad, in fact, is demanding an “apology” for our “crimes.” Read it here.

Memo to the left: these people dislike us not because we don’t play nice, but because it is not in their interest to do so. Whether they use the US as a bogeyman to distract their people from the failed state of their internal policies like Iran, or use their enmity as a rationale to cling to power, or both as in Cuba, they are not going to join hands with us and sing “Kum-ba-ya” because the Messiah is come. Rather, they have amply demonstrated that they see any overtures as a sign of weakness. They need to hate us. Guess the “hope” was that they would “change.”

Doublespeak: A New Lexicon (Ongoing)

The cartoon Ziva posted on Babalu, i.e. the proverbial "lipstick on the pig," inspires me to create a list of the new terminology of "hope and change." I have two already.

Stimulus- “Stimulus” comes from the verb stimulare, which is Latin for “transfer massive sums of money from what remains of the dynamic sector of the economy to the special interests of the Democratic party.” No, hang on, my mistake. Stimulare means “to goad.” And, on that front, the Democrats are doing an excellent job. They’ve managed to goad 58 percent of the American people into opposing the “stimulus” package. They’ve managed to goad all 177 Republicans in the House into unpacking their mothballed cojones and voting against the bill. And they’ve managed to goad the rest of the world into ending the Obama honeymoon in nothing flat. Headline from the London Daily Telegraph: “US-EU Trade War Looms As Barack Obama Bill Urges ‘Buy American.’
from Mark Steyn at NRO-

Stimulus Bill- a vehicle for foisting the forty year wish list Democrats were unable to pass on the American public-increased medical care for the children of the moderately well to do, increased cigarette and cigar taxes, increased funding for birth control, funding for a host of global warming initiatives, funding to computerize medical records, more funds for changing over television, etc...

Trojan Horse- see "stimulus bill."

Middle Class Task Force- a committee led by the Vice-President in charge of making the federal government as union friendly and employer antagonistic as possible.

I suspect this is only the beginning. If you run into any out there, let me know.

My Sentiments Exactly

There is a role for government in our current predicament. I even favor a stimulus, albeit via the tax code so as to stimulate the economy, not the government. But the prospect of borrowing money we don’t have to buy what we don’t need, in order to make America more like what I don’t want, makes me grateful that at least America’s conservative party has finally remembered how to say “no.”

-Jonah Goldberg at NRO online here.

What Have They Done: Part Two

Okay, so the intellectual giants with the sensibilities of a pachyderm running Wall Street have used Tarp money to redecorate offices, buy luxury planes, hand out bonuses.... Am I missing something?

On the political front, it's even worse. Over at Pumpkin Seeds, Mrs. Calabaza put it all together for us. To paraphrase, the guy running the IRS didn't pay his taxes; Barney Frank on whose watch Fannie and Freddie imploded all the while he was reassuring the public is still in charge; Dodd who was the recipient of a sweetheart deal himself overseeing mortgages. And let's not forget Charlie Rangel. Despite the peccadillo of the week, the man remains ensconced as Chair of the Ways and Means committee. What happened to accountability? Who votes for these people? Further, what does it bode when this cast of unseemly characters is in charge of crafting the bailout?

I'll tell you what happens. Amongst the choice morsels of the stimulus that I've heard:

6 billion for the arts. How many jobs are they going to create? Is is ethical to saddle my grandchildren with the cost of attending La Traviata in the park?

4.6 billion for housing organizations, read Acorn, perhaps?

Hundreds of millions for birth control, if Pelosi gets her way. It's cheaper, she says.

On the local level, one of the beneficiaries mentioned is a local science research center which employs about two people and is staffed by a host of volunteers. How many are they going to hire, I ask?

I've read that each one of the jobs created will cost about 235 thousand dollars. Heck, just mail 20 thousand dollars to ten people and multiply the effect by 10 and save administrative costs. Well, as Mr. Obama pointed out in all graciousness, "I won." He and this addle pated congress would do well to remember that almost half of the electorate did not vote for him. Two years is not that long. Ask Bill Clinton.

Slap Dash Sunday

Let's start with the inauguration/coronation. The inaugural poem by Elizabeth Alexander has come in for a drubbing. Not so at the Weekly Standard where Eli Lehrer praises it as a celebration of everyday life in this. He may have half a point. You can read the text here. As for me, the last time I paid attention was when I was sorely disappointed by the Maya Angelou opus. Question of the day: has poetry lost relevance to our lives, or have our lives lost their poetry?

Billed as holding lessons for the Obama administration, here are some easily accessible documents, part of the choreography of US/Cuba relationships over time. Not so coincidentally they are cited in an article in the February Cigar Aficionado, which fueled by altruism, nicotine, and the American way has a special report on Cuba. Macanudos, mulatas, and misery, anyone?

In a reverse Cinderella story, this former nurse, widow of a physician, finds herself destitute, having lost 7.3 million to financier/apparent con artist Bernie Madoff. Consequently, she finds herself selling off possessions and working as a companion. It's a sad story, but it boggles my mind that anyone would entrust all their resources to a single person/outfit.

In the science department, the earlier mentioned outbreak of the Reston variant of Ebola in Philippine pigs may have jumped species. According to this article, one worker tested positive for the virus. And earthquakes have hit Los Angeles, a small one, and Alaska, a larger one. Stay tuned.

Literary Interlude: "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London"

Never until the mankind making
Bird beast and flower
Fathering and all humbling darkness
Tells with silence the last light breaking
And the still hour
Is come of the sea tumbling in harness

And I must enter again the round
Zion of the water bead
And the synagogue of the ear of corn
Shall I let pray the shadow of a sound
Or sow my salt seed
In the least valley of sackcloth to mourn

The majesty and burning of the child's death.
I shall not murder
The mankind of her going with a grave truth
Nor blaspheme down the stations of the breath
With any further Elegy of innocence and youth.

Deep with the first dead lies London's daughter,
Robed in the long friends,
The grains beyond age, the dark veins of her mother,
Secret by the unmourning water
Of the riding Thames.
After the first death, there is no other.

-Dylan Thomas

Meanderings: That Final Tear

My mother died this Monday. She was gravely ill, but the speed of her passing took us by surprise. My brother was on a plane here at the moment of her death. I, however, was by her side. She went gently. Her death spared her a considerable amount of suffering. You will not find my family weeping and gnashing teeth by the funeral bier. There will be no ripping of cloth. It is our custom not to mourn death but rather to celebrate life. And she had led a full and passionate one.

I could deal with it all, as that river flows on carrying our griefs and joys, our suffering and our elation, if it were not for that tear. Just before she began leaving in earnest, a big, fat droplet escaped the corner of her eye and began running down her cheek. It is that tear that haunts me. Earlier that morning when it looked like she was going, I had whispered to her unresponsive form that my brother was on the way. I had asked that she hold on just a little while longer...if she could. Her breathing became more regular, and it looked like she would make it. But by afternoon, she could wait no more. I embraced her still warm body fiercely, as if a daughter's love could reach her where she had gone.

Was she saddened that he would not be at her side? Or was that tear because she would be leaving me alone to face the world? She had always been my ally and my comfort, as well as my friend. Saddest of all is the thought that it was a final pang of sadness at leaving "the confines of the day." I'd like to think that it was a tear of joy, that those shrouded eyes were gazing on my father and her parents as she took her first steps toward paradise. But there were no indications of the supernatural. Just mortality.

I've found comfort in the thought that it was probably a purely physiological response. I suspect she was long gone by then. I've researched it on the net where I found that it is called Lacrima Mortis and occurs in about 14 percent of dying patients. So as I wonder whether I did enough, realize in hindsight that I should have taken the whole week off last week and not just part, even as I know I was by her side through it all, I will consign that last effluent to the emotional neutrality of science. In the meantime, I will discover what it is to live without my mother by my side.

I picture her now the way she was when she and my father danced at the Club in Vertientes, with luxuriant raven hair, ruby lips and movie star eyes. Clad in spangled evening dress, she looks over the shoulder of my father, her rock, in his white linen suit with his hair already thinning and smiles as they dance to the strains of Beny's orchestra. Who am I to begrudge her that?

Legacy of Loss

I recently came across this heartwarming human interest story which appeared in the Sacramento Bee. Maria Celia Garcia is making a movie of her parents' life before and after the revolution, including the trials of attempting to flee the regime. Now, I have no idea how old she is. But not two days later in a conversation with a young student filmmaker who is trying to make a movie loosely based on the Anguilla Cay incident, we agreed that when pundits, politicians, and the press talk about a "generational shift" among young Cuban Americans, they misread their tea leaves.

Whatever their everyday concerns, their political predilections, I'll guarantee that just about each and every child of a Cuban parent has inherited the awful sense of loss, of the wrong done. It is something my generation, the first born or brought up in the United States, picked up directly from our parents and grandparents, and which we in turn have passed on to our children. Perhaps it does not manifest itself in protests on Calle Ocho; but here and there, it surfaces, whether in a movie or a review, a book or even a school project. There is a need to say, "This happened."

So while some celebrate the passing of the "hard-liners," the first exiles, they underestimate the upcoming generations, who- standing on the shoulders of their wronged forbears- are making their way up the ladder of American society in every field of endeavor in even larger numbers. They are our own fifth column in the propaganda wars, this generation of Americans who carry the exile in their hearts. We will not forget, and I suspect they will not let them forget either.

Cross-posted at Babalublog

A Sunday, A Monday, A Tuesday

String Beans. Reading this one about Bush's last press conference by Ted Anthony had me checking to make sure I wasn't on the Huffington Post and not Townhall. I know Bush disappointed a lot of people, but there's something wrong when we sound like MSNBC. See what you think here.

Spaghetti. On a lighter note, in the life imitating art category. A 10 year old Indiana young man found his tongue firmly attached to pole after rising to a dare. No word on whether he'd ever seen A Christmas Story. Story at Fox News here.

Soup. Seems there is or was life on Mars after all. The Sun informs that plumes of methane gas on the planet indicate the presence of microorganisms at some point. Check out the NASA video here. Also from the same source, an outbreak of plague struck down an Al Queda training camp in Algeria. How positively medieval. Read it here.

Roast Beef. Can it be, Obama and Chavez already engaged in verbal fisticuffs? You, betcha. In a Univision interview, Obama characterized Chavez as a hindrance to Latin America, while in reply Chavez maintained that Obama smelled. I kid you not.

Some Disturbing Images

An Assortment of Reads

Since I've been spending my time in the kinds of places without much to do, I've managed to read a book here and there. First was Prince of Fire, followed by The Messenger by Daniel Silva. In both Silva puts a different spin on the standard spy suspense genre. His main character is a fine art restorer/Israeli operative named Gabriel Allon. A reluctant assassin, Allon provides a vehicle to explore the corrosive effects of the Israeli/Arab conflict on those who wage it. Torn by what he has done in the name of duty, yet fully committed to fighting the evil of terrorism, haunted by the family he has lost, while reaching out tentatively at a new life, he is a fascinating character. Silva keeps up the pace throughout. I'm looking forward to the latest installment, Moscow Rules.

So I manage to sneak a half hour to go to the library when I spot a title in the stacks, Fresh Kills.
Now for the uninitiated, Fresh Kills is a wetland area in Staten Island, NY which in a supreme twist of irony became home to a landfill so large that it rivaled the Great Wall of China in visibility from outer space. My interest aroused, I pick up the volume and note the author, Bill Loehfelm. Wow, who'da thunk it? Billy Loehfelm published by Putnam. Of course, I turn it over only to find the grown up, head shaven and goateed young man who was once a student and later a teacher at my old stomping grounds. That the cover mentioned "gritty, blue collar Staten Island" just sealed the deal.

I don't know what I expected...I mean he was a smart kid, but.... Anyway, it starts out as a something of a modern noir but as his wise-cracking main character comes to terms with the death of an abusive father, it becomes something larger, harder, and better still, leaving it neither in one camp or the other. This novel tackles the kind of emotional contradictions those in dysfunctional families know well. I enjoyed it, if enjoyed is the word.

On a related note, he captures the essence of the Staten Island in which I grew up, much of it Irish and unostentatious, bordered by bohemian flair of the Northern fringe, and infused with the small town ethos just a hop, skip and jump away from the Big Apple. Those whose perception of the island is limited to Working Girl or MTV won't recognize the place. It is a place and time rapidly disappearing, which lingers in pockets if at all.

Inaugural Ball Invite

Got an invitation to "The Civil Rights Presidential Inaugural Ball” today, not from the party I have supported for decades obviously. No, this one came from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. What I have done to merit such a distinction, I don't know. Tell you the truth, I'm tempted. What better place to dance the night away and mark the historic occasion?

I'm actually quite touched, but I must send my regrets, not for the reasons you might believe. As a minority myself, I can begin to appreciate what the swearing in of an African-American president means to many, many Americans. In fact, it is the only saving grace of the moment.

No, I must demur because not too far away, there are many, many human beings of African descent who live under conditions that would make the Jim Crow South seem idyllic. Yet I have never ever heard a single African-American Civil Rights organization voice even the slightest protest at the treatment of their brethren in Cuba. As a matter of record, with the exception of Al Sharpton, many of the most strident voices for civil rights in this country, many who denounced Apartheid in South Africa, have served as apologists and/or willing stooges for a regime that oppresses its brothers and sisters.

When the NAACP launches a campaign to publicize the plight of Cuban political prisoners, and the SCLC expresses its solidarity with Elias Biscet, stands in support of Antuñez, Coco Fariñas and others, then I will gladly celebrate their moment of triumph. Until then, I must regretfully decline their gracious invite.

What if?

What if instead of “Bush Takes Parting Swipe at Communist Cuba,” this headline read “Departing President Affirms Support for a Free Cuba.” Then, what if the first paragraph read

not

President George W. Bush took a parting swipe at communist Cuba on Tuesday, saying it was a cruel dictatorship that had responded to U.S. appeals for democratic reform with more repression of its people.

but

President George W. Bush reaffirmed his support for a free Cuba on Tuesday. Referring to a long history of human rights abuses in the island nation, he described the present regime as a cruel dictatorship that has responded to U.S. appeals for democratic reform with more repression of its people.

Later on,

Obama, a Democrat, has pledged to soften restrictions on family travel and remittances but said he would keep the embargo as leverage to influence changes in the one-party state.

He has said he would be ready to pursue diplomacy with Cuba's leaders if conditions were right, something Bush has resisted doing.

could become

He has said he would be ready to pursue diplomacy with Cuba’s leaders if conditions were right, a position maintained by a number or U.S. administrations and repulsed by the regime in Havana.

What a difference a few words can make in this Reuters article by Matt Spetalnick, edited by Eric Beech.

(Corrections and additions in boldface mine.)

A Questionable Monday Turn of Phrase

Ponzi Scheme? Using the Madoff swindle as a starting point, John Stossel gives us a scary glimpse into the future when the largest of the Ponzi schemes is yet to unravel: Social Security and Medicare. To wit, according to the article, the government is simply passing along our current contributions to present retirees. What happens when the boomers retire? Hint: make your own provisions. Read it at Townhall here.

Unintended Consequences? Michael J McFadden, author of Dissecting Antismokers' Brains, writes a letter to the FT which presents a novel response to banning smoking in British pubs, as in banning smoking can be harmful to workers' health. Sounds like a stretch, but here it is.

Pottery Barn Rule? From the New York Times comes an interesting look at the history and perils of the Wedgwood company. The grande old dame of the tabletop world has stumbled financially. For those of us with a sentimental attachment to the company, it's kinda sad. Wish them luck.

Salutary Fare? Also from the Times comes a group of less popular healthful foods. I'll skip the prunes and beets, thank you.

Vague Rumblings? Two items here. First is a follow up to the Yellowstone story here. Then in a truly sad development is the news that one of my heroes is ailing. Jack Kemp is reportedly suffering from cancer. Little more news than that. Read it here.

Meanderings: The Nature of CyberScum

I'm checking my email days ago, when a message from my antivirus pops up. Oh, oh, a trojan is invading one of my files. It is unable to quarantine it. They tell me to do it. Quickly, I turn to get the name of the file. What is the name of the file? What? They give me an eighteenth of the file name followed by an ellipsis. Okay, okay, I highlight it. There it is. I'll just copy it and do a search, then figure out how to quarantine it. No, no, no, it won't copy. Can't do it by hand, the friggin' thing looks like pi. Time is of the essence. I feel it. That little f----er is replicating like f---n' tribbles. I know it.

I try looking it up using half the name. Alas, I have zillions of files with that half, none of which is the infected one. I call my friend, the self-proclaimed computer guru. "Help," I cry. He spends a half hour telling me how hackers dream these things up for fun, because they can. Then he launches into a rumination on the meaning of life, all the time the infection is turning into an outbreak. Finally, he launches into this expedient that has me checking what files are running. He's gotta be kidding. I'm looking at scads of files, some with an exe affixed. I'm not touching those suckers. The real answer he says is to wipe out the computer and reload it all again. Not a chance.

So now I'm contemplating Amicide, or some such (what is the term for the killing of a friend) and speculating on the justice I would like to visit upon the misbegotten offspring of a camp follower and mule train driver who invented the shit. I go to the Help center. God know how many screens later, they send me to the Encyclopedia of Viruses. What are they going to tell me, like "the virus that is killing your computer was first created in Mesopotamia and is credited with wiping out the economy of a small Asian country"? In any case, I don't have the time. I Google the particular variation and find that most of the entries are in French, Italian, and German. Great, I caught a European virus.

Eventually, after much travail and a bit of help, I figure it out and get it contained and cleaned up. But time and again, I'm left to ponder how in the world the computer industry gets away with the type of customer service it provides. If any other industry....

The Che Fallacy: Telling it Like it Is

Because the worlds of journalism, academia and entertainment have failed us, it is left to Cubans and the children of Cubans to tell the world the truth. Today's entry in the "no me lo paso" file comes from Big Hollywood where Joe Lima sets the record straight. Among the more salient passages:

But “Che” fails on a much deeper level. It attempts to depict actual historical events, the effects of which still play out today and affect millions of people. Does the movie tell the truth? It barely even tries. It is in this failure to connect with historic truth that the film sinks from being a mere failure to being an ugly lie.

and

Pre-Revolutionary Cuba is predictably presented in this film as a screamingly poor, fifth-world country. It seems that every other character is illiterate. People who were there remember it differently, and United Nations statistics from the period tell a different story: Cuba was in fact the fourth most literate country in Latin America. “A people that don’t know how to read and write are an easy people to fool,” scolds Del Toro, index finger in the air. Ironic, that, considering how the Castros have always used the written word to fool people in Cuba and all over the world, via surrogates like Anderson, who blandly parrot the official version of Cuban history. Furthermore, the 100% literacy rate that the Cuban government claims to have accomplished is accompanied by 100% censorship of what Cubans are allowed to read, and of what they are allowed to write. Another digression: statistics say that 28 percent of the State of Louisiana is functionally illiterate today. I’d like to ask Steven Soderbergh, whose father was once Dean of the College of Education at Louisiana State University, if the scandal of illiteracy in Louisiana would justify turning Louisiana into a communist dictatorship, shooting all the cops, and compelling teachers to teach the dictatorship’s version of history. Of course, it wouldn’t. But this is precisely the twisted rationale that the Cuban government uses to justify its now fifty-year stranglehold on power.

Read the whole review here.

Must See, Read, and Feel: A Bit of Levity

Cubans in the generic sense, geography be damned, are united in our perhaps unfortunate ability to see humor in even the most awful of situations. So as I sit down to link some good stuff I haven't been able to write about, here's a quartet on the lighter side.

Start with the cartoon posted over at Ms. Calabazas'. Then mosey on over to Babalu for the latest entry in the "People to People" series by Henry Gomez. Round it off by reading the latest "lost episode" of Che's Bolivian diary over at Paco's. And finish up with a course in tourist myopia by Melek over at Cubanology.

Hemingway in Cuba

Yesterday Cuba opened up its Heminway archives, hitherto having been languishing in the basement of his house. Read the article. Over at Babalu Henry reminds us that not too long ago, you, too, could purchase one of Hemingway's possessions for the less than princely sum of $200 dollars. Anyway, recently Humberto Fontova ran across another bit of Hemingway lore, one you are not likely to hear about and which presents...something. In this piece, James Scott Linville is reminscing about an incident with his boss at the Paris Review, George Plimpton. Enthusiastic, Mr. Linville wanted to make use of the recently published Motorcycle Diaries. To his surprise, Mr. Plimpton, noticeably stricken, demurred. He then told the author of an experience he had with Mr. Hemingway in Cuba:

A sad look came over him, and he said, "Years ago, after we'd done the
interview, Papa invited me down again to Cuba." George had done a justifiably famous interview with Ernest Hemingway for the magazine, and usually referred to him as "Papa", as Hemingway had encouraged him to do.

"It was right after the revolution," George continued. One afternoon, Hemingway told him, "There's something you should see." The nature of the expedition was a mystery; Hemingway made a shaker of drinks, daiquiris or whatever. They got in the car with a few others and drove some way out of town. They got out, set up chairs and took out the drinks, as if they were going to watch the sunset. Soon, a truck arrived. This, explained George, was what they'd been waiting for. It came, as Hemingway knew, the same time each day. It stopped and some men with guns got out of it. In the back were a couple of dozen others who were tied up. Prisoners.

The men with guns hustled the others out of the back of the truck, and lined them up. Then they shot them. They put the bodies back into the truck. I said to George something to the effect of "Oh my God."

Meaning, who knows? Article about the Che movie here.

Somewhat Frankly Monday

It was a very bad year. At least that's what this Bloomberg piece informs us, noting that it is probably the worst economy in 70 years. I include it only for recap purposes, as little appears new. In the same vein, on Townhall Bill O'Reilly runs down the list of some of what he learned in 2008. I include this one, because he definitively makes the point that fact-based reporting seems gone.

Not my way. In a variant of the bank, insurance conglomerate, automaker bailout, with municipalities lined up hats in hand, according to this report one Connecticut politician would like to extend a helping hand to local newspapers. Speculation is that the print organs may be next in the queue of mendicants. Not in my name, I say. When they ceased being somewhat fair brokers of information, they lost any right to tax payer support. Perhaps they should petition the Democrats.

I get a kick out of this. In the bibliobriefs department, we have this welcome news that approximately 5 0f the 11 library branches in Philly slated to close have been given a reprieve of sorts. Don't celebrate yet, though. A follow up article in the Inquirer indicates that they will become "learning centers" run by community groups, etc.... Two questions: what were they as libraries and why do they always immediately hit libraries when budgets tighten? I defy anyone to read the comments of parents in the these articles and not realize the incredible value of libraries to at risk youth. Speaking of books, Karl Rove lets us in on a secret, namely, Bush is an avid reader.

Luck is no lady. As politicians, pundits, and the public debate who's to blame, Jim Sollisch over at the WSJ presents a novel villain. Blame it on the home programs, he cries. It's a light-hearted romp with an underlying kernel of truth. All those fix it and flip it programs on HGTV and other channels may have fed into the frenzy. Me, I only redecorated.

The Lady is a character. I like to leave you with an interesting prediction, courtesy of MSNBC, of which comic characters to watch this year. Personally, I never liked the Marvel/DC variety because they never ended a storyline. They make cool movies, though.

(cute, huh; or is that too cute.)

In Which I Take the Media to the Woodshed, Again

Unease has been my companion in the weeks leading to January this year. I knew that it was as inevitable as the night following the day that the 50th anniversary of the Revolution would unleash paeans to the totalitarian regime in the international media. True to form, the resident shills in Havana have pumped out screeds to the “Robolution,” as many Cubans have characterized it, blending the Spanish word for theft into the original. It’s hard to say whether the less than light-hearted word play is intended to convey the betrayal of purported ideals of the revolution as the Cuban populace understood them in 1959- the restoration of democracy chief among them- as in “Que robo,” or “What a beat”; or whether the reference is to the theft of every single scintilla of real property belonging to every single human being on the island and off, as in “I’ve been robbed.”

Whatever the case, even the veteran journalist apologists in Havana have had to tamp down their praise, as the regime has had to tamp down their “celebrations,” ostensibly because of the straitened circumstances as the result of the trio of hurricanes the island has endured. It is interesting to note that the major official celebration in Santiago was closed to ordinary Cubans, those upon whose backs and hopes and freedom the revolution has managed to maintain itself in power in an unending cycle of poverty and repression. Instead, the festivities were limited to 3,000 party apparatchiks. The event, aside from serving as a delicious metaphor for the present state of Cuba, for the gross inequality between the party and the population, lends itself the suggestion that perhaps there is not the will, political or popular, to celebrate the occasion. It seems probable that yet another factor is the hesitancy of the junta to bring together thousands of screaming Cubans to “celebrate” the unconscionable, perhaps more of a wild card to the powers that be than one would suspect.

Because true to form, the message was that there would be yet more struggle to come. There are those that posit that the embargo has maintained the regime, as opposed to Stalinist repression, say. However, it’s all semantics. Revolutions have a beginning and ending. The word revolution is a noun, not a verb. But this revolution is unending, ever exhorting more from its captive population, always on the brink of becoming. As long as it presents itself in this manner, a seemingly eternal struggle, it is not forced to acknowledge reality, namely that this cadre of leaders has dragged the island nation, once the Pearl of the Antilles, into the third world.

You will not pick up on this, the “greatest” achievement of the Castros, reading any of the media reports and editorials. Ignorance, compounded by bigotry, leads to the bruiting of the talking points of the revolution, namely literacy and healthcare. Never a mention that the regime inherited a population with a 70 percent literacy rate and more doctors per capita than in Britain, that Cubans were forced to trade in their freedom, their rights to self-determination, due process and a host of other civil liberties for a ration book. Comparisons are made to Haiti, as if Haiti would ever have been deemed a fit parallel in the 1950’s. Over and over, we are told that the Castroite regime has outlasted 10 US Presidents, as if it were an occasion for praise, instead of the result of lessons learned at the knee of Papa Stalin with pointers from the East German Stasi.

So here’s a little primer for those who pretend to inform the rest of us. There is no Cuban Revolution. It is over, done, finito. It died in 1960, or thereabouts, when Cubans awoke to the nightmare of a half century hangover. What is left is just one more tin pot dictatorship with an attitude and a very good public relations department. So spare me the historical milestone. It should occasion articles on the half century of misery, squalor and repression visited on the Cuban people and nothing else.

Updated: The Regime at 50

Since it is snowing all over the net, as in the mass of media outlets has taken their script for covering the anniversary of the 50 years of dictatorship from Anita Snow, I think it is only fair to highlight some more coverage of the same, coverage that is at once more accurate and a bit different.

On Babalu Dr. Carlos Eire writes:

The ultimate legacy of the Revolution may very well be its utter contempt for Cubans. For half a century now, Cuba’s leaders have strangled all political discourse, poisoning whatever common future all of us Cubans could have hoped for. The Castro regime has not only expelled twenty percent of the population and ripped apart millions of families, but also fanned hatred and intolerance. In the process, the Revolution turned us all into beggars of one sort or another, either in our own homeland or in exile, and bequeathed to us a destitute island prison, part brothel, part work camp, part freak show, where the only way to escape despair –short of suicide-- is to flee, or to become an agent of repression.

Over at Cubanology Jose Reyes makes an interesting point as to what "Cuba" means:

Cuba only stands for Fidel and “his” revolucion, the Cuban people do not really exist, how could they? The average Cuban in Cuba has no opinion at all, that right is not in the vocabulary. Neither are they allowed to leave the country, no visa. They cannot demonstrate against the Castro regime, long prison terms. So it goes without saying, the Castro regime has done nothing for the Cuban people in the last 50 years that would justify and be considered as positive progress.

From Gusano over at La Contra Revolucion, we get a poignant glimpse into the sense of loss that permeates the exile experience.

So I imagined that New Year’s Eve in 1958 and all the hard partying, dancing Cubans sipping Cidra and chomping on grapes totally unaware that the island they were floating on was about to be swallowed up in a whirlpool of change.And little did those that knew what was about to happen imagine that 50 years later the island would still be sinking into that swirling, bottomless abyss.

And in the only media coverage to get it right, this from the Washington Times.

Fifty years ago, on Jan. 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his guerrilla band took over Cuba, a day after its dictator president, Fulgencio Batista, fled the country when the United States withdrew its support. At the time, Mr. Castro, then 32, painted himself as a sort of Jeffersonian democrat, and he was given a ticker-tape parade in New York and spoke at Harvard. It was not until June 6, 1961, when the liberals' darling acknowledged that he had been a Communist since he was 17 years old.

Update:

RightVoices.com asks the question:

Are the Cubans in this country just a bunch of dumbassess that didn’t realize how good they had it? Andy Garcia must really be an idiot for these statements, I mean hell, he lived it but GMA saw it on TV:

More to come....

Auld Lang Syne

As the closing minutes of 2008 tick down, I'd hazard to guess that decades from now, no one will be singing, "It was 2008. It was a very good year." At least, I know I won't. And yet, there is so much for which to be grateful, or "greatful." Interesting thought, that.

In that spirit, I'd like to wish you all a very happy New Year, ever "grateful" that you have stopped by. So tonight, after you throw out the water and eat your 12 grapes, try this for a fitting coda. I use coda, because if we are all very lucky, we will all be here next year. L'Chaim!

(Please note the politically correct multiculturalism here. Ain't that America?)

Bon Mot of the Day

The story is told that when Emperor Nero became infatuated with a young man, he had the young man castrated so he could later celebrate a "wedding" with the youth, now a eunuch. One of the invitees to the event commented that Rome would have been better served if [Nero's father] had attended his own nuptials in like fashion. Looking around me, I have to think similarly about a certain Spaniard who came to this land...

(Oswaldo Yañez in Havana from this post. In Spanish)

Monday Spaghetti: Of Time and Place

Livin' on the edge. Finally, I don't have to claim boomership. I am officially a cusper like our illustrious soon-to-be president and the potential next senator from Massachusetts. Talk about your trashtalking. Here's a boomer indictment for ya'll. I'm a boomer trasher from way back, myself.

Not quite ready for primetime. Here are not one but two positive Palin stories. First is an interview in which she sounds not stupid but actually well-versed. Second is a pretty incisive piece by Ruben Navarette. He makes the distinction that her appeal was not so much about small town America, as it was about small town American values. Don't know if I'd trust her with the codes quite yet, but she's real people.

Pair of docs. Problem: here's a mixed bag from the Wall Street Journal about the "myths" of Cuba. On the one hand, they acknowledge much of what is wrong, but their solution is not quite what the doctor ordered, methinks. Closer to the crux of the problem is this essay from former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda, not necessarily one of my favorite people.

Slice of life. Meet the new rules: the same as the old rules. Girls, never ever say "I love you" to a man first. At least that's what this how to on CNN informs us. And Townhall heralds the return of Snowzilla to his Anchorage home. The giant snowman apparently causes much havoc in the neighborhood and the municipal Scrooges have banned him.

My prescient self. Remember the animal Ebola in the Phillipines? Well, the dread disease has broken out in the human population in the Congo once again. Death toll was 11 on the 28th. Its spread is limited by its virulence, as in it liquefies its victims so quickly that outbreaks tend to be more localized. Truly scary. More here. Also in the ticking bomb department comes this report that there have been earthquakes in Yellowstone. As any watcher of disaster movies knows, that is potentially not good. Map here.

Cuba: the End of Enchantment

One of the things that struck me the first time I visited Cuba Nostalgia was the complete mock-up of the facade of the El Encanto at the fete. I was further surprised to find that there was an alumni club of sorts composed of onetime employees of the famous Havana department store. It's as if there were a fraternal order of ex-employees of Macys. I was reminded of this when I stumbled on this Miami Herald article which posits the burning of El Encanto as symbolic of the end of an era. Reading it, a light bulb when on over my head. Suppose someone read it but substituted "Macys" for the original. See how the substitution would change your perception of the following:

[John Smith] said that soon after [the new administration], the store gave the impression of operating normally. But gradually some employees embraced the revolution and some even showed up for work wearing guerrilla fatigues. ["Purification"] or ''ideological cleansing'' committees were set up to weed out employees who were not enthusiastic about the revolution, said [a former employee].

Victims of ["Purification"] committees such as [John Smith] often got additional scrutiny by colleagues and supervisers.

These were just the beginnings of the Big Brother state. I guess that's what amazes me when Americans, particularly artists, applaud a system they would find abhorrent if inflicted on them.

Here I Go A-Wassailing.

Figgy pudding is not my thing, but how about some wassail, straight from my circa 1979 Betty Crocker?

Wassail

1 gallon apple cider
2 teaspoons whole cloves
2 teaspoons allspice
2 three inch sticks cinnamon
half cup sugar
2 oranges, studded with cloves

Heat all ingredients except oranges until boiling; then simmer 20 minutes. Serve in punch bowl with oranges floating. It's good stuff.

Wish You A Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding; Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer

We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

(Now how many of you knew the carol involved a wee bit of blackmail?)

As the Tortilla Turns Ever So Slowly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another AP entry in the retrospective vein is the timeline of "Castro's Cuba." Seems to me it could be expanded a trifle. Like how about the date that Castro promised democratic elections for a start. I'm sure there are lots more dates out there they just somehow missed. Of course, we might have a different view of what constituted "key" developments.

Sunday Drive Bye

By Hook.... The big Cuba news this week was the visit by Russian warships to Cuba (yawn) and the summit of Latin American leaders, including Raul Castro and not including the United States. Not surprisingly, they called for the lifting of the embargo. What they failed to accomplish by fomenting revolution, the Castrian duo seem to have achieved with a mix of propaganda, medical chattel and ideology. Keep an eye on their combined international debt. Paraguay has joined Ecuador in questioning their obligation to pay. Stay tuned...

By Land.... Also in the news, at least in Trinidad was the "successful" surgery of Prime Minister Patrick Manning. Some had questioned why he felt the need to travel to Cuba to undergo the procedure. Didn't Fidel import a Spanish doctor for his treatment. Oh, yeah, that's after the first botched operation, I think.

By the Pricking of my Thumbs.... It was bound to happen. As a recount rife with votes found in car trunks, somehow missed, etc. proceeds Al Franken has taken the lead for the first time in the Minnesota Senate race. It is scary. If the seemingly inevitable happens and residents of Minnesota accept this travesty of an election, they will get the government they deserve. Scary.

By the Waters.... In a sad, but definitive, announcement Florida Police reported that young Adam Walsh was murdered by the longstanding suspect in the case, Ottis Toole. John Walsh, whose life was permanently transformed by the tragedy of his son's murder had long accused Toole of the crime. Toole died in prison on unrelated charges. Read here.

There's Something to be Said for American Cars

What, you say? How can you defend the indefensible? Easy. In fact, it is all too easy to heap disdain on the pariah of the moment. But I would like to submit that for style, comfort, and sheer drive, nothing short of a luxury foreign car beats Detroit's products.

Remember when a car was so much more than a means of locomotion, when cars had flash, pizazz? Guys tinkered with their muscle cars, souped up their Camaros, restored an old Stingray rescued from someone's garage. I can look at a car now and say "Oh, yeah, that's a 1963 Chevy." Granted, sometimes the designers got carried away. Remember the Gremlin? But overall, a set of wheels was a statement. (By the way, have you noticed that engines on new cars are armored against their owners with huge plastic shield bearing placards that read essentially "Do Not Touch"? )

Even with the onset of the K Car and that aesthetic abomination, the minivan, all was not lost. The creative impulse moved into SUV's, a fad I must confess to helping start with my paneled woody Jeep Wagoneer, back in the days when Jeeps were Jeeps and riding in the back seat of one could have perilous implications for siring offspring. I figure that if Al Gore can take credit for creating the internet, I can claim a hand in popularizing the SUV. I wish I could say I gave up SUV's for Lent because I realized they used too much gas and were causing global warming. But I gave them up in the 90's when they became so gussied up that they were trimmed in gold and talked to you, not to mention when I realized that my yearly outlay in gasoline could bring clean water to an entire sub Saharan village.

What to do? For at least a decade, Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans have all looked interchangeable, metallic and misshapen. Boxes to the right, boxes to the left, big boxes, little boxes, hatchback boxes, sedan boxes. You get the picture. And having inflicted an apparently suppurating wound on the Big Three when they were dumping cars below cost on the American market starting in the 70's, they've more than made up the loss with their prices. Even the beetle became a pecuniary butterfly. In short, with the possible exception of Hyundai, foreign car makers ain't giving anything away.

American cars, on the other hand, which had been pretty stodgy and style less for a long while as the public went truck crazy, have quietly begun emerging from their aesthetic torpor. It started with Chrysler and the German Gestapo lookalike, the PT Cruiser, and the Sebring convertible, both which in South Florida turned into the baby boomer equivalent of the Mercury Marquis, if you know what I mean. Then GM got into the game with the new Malibu hatchback, their HR, the stylish, but outlandishly priced, retro looking truck. Dodge is looking up with the Challenger, Charger, even the Caliber. Cars with character.

Now get in any one of the American cars for a drive. What a ride. Man in control. Smooth. No more feeling the earth beneath your feet. Aah. Even the quality seems to have climbed up a bit from its nadir. We have both American and foreign in the family, and both have had their minor glitches.

So I really hope Detroit gets beyond its present difficulties. In addition to losing one of our last remaining industries, the loss of the Big Three would literally change the American landscape, leaving us that much poorer in a world full of boring, utilitarian, virtuous high mileage transportation.

Blue Ribbon Miller, Pinheads, and Ellis Island au Sud

Dennis Miller earns a place in the truth teller column on left for placing Fidel Castro on his Top 10 Pinheads of the Year. Fidel's faux pas? Refusing to die. Sounds harsh, but tonight on The O'Reilly Factor, it was a relief to see two television personalities discussing Fidel with the mutual understanding that he is a bad actor. I almost spilled my coffee when it came on. Watch it here. Bravo.

Bravo also to the Miami Herald Tribune for including in its retrospective of 50 years of revolution a searchable database of those who came on the freedom flights from Cuba. Now I understand how my Italian and Irish friends felt when they went to Ellis Island and looked up their forbears. Gives one a sense of roots and legitimacy somehow.

H/T Robert

Quote for All Seasons

One of my pet peeves has to do with the constant touting of literacy and healthcare in Cuba. Naifs are impressed because they assume that Cubans lived on a par with third world countries before the great and glorious revolution. Well, here is one fact at least to innoculate you.

On the plus side, Cuba has a 99.8 percent adult literacy rate, one percent higher than Trinidad and Tobago's, and an infant mortality rate of six per 1,000 people, slightly lower than Chile's, according to the United Nations' 2008 Human Development Report. That makes it the country with the best adult literacy and infant mortality rates in the region.

But according to the U.N. 1957 Statistical Yearbook, Cuba already ranked among the four most advanced Latin American countries in literacy and caloric consumption rates that year, and had the lowest infant mortality in the region. In other words, Cuba has gone up three places in the literacy ranking, while retaining its status as the nation with the region's lowest infant mortality rates.

Read the rest of the Oppenheimer piece in the Miami Herald here. For another look at the Revolution fifty years on, try this one by Frances Robles. I may not agree with everything he includes, but much of what he writes is spot on. In particular, note the decay of the early "grand and glorious" achievements.

Sunday after Sunday after Sunday

Yesterday. Today's first entry is by Jay Nordlinger on NRO who gives us something of the feel of a sit down with still President Bush in a wide ranging report. The glimpse of the man behind the President, particularly now that he is so removed, is fascinating. It's easy to see that he feels he's been true, however he is judged.

Light. The cover story of Newsweek magazine on the Biblical basis for gay marriage has been causing quite a stir. What is surprising is Newsweek's response. As Mark Hemingway highlights in this, the magazine is openly taking a position. Personally, I think we ought to issue Certificates of Cohabitation to everyone intending a long term relationship, not necessarily romantic in nature. Leave marriage to churches and the like. At least that's my thought of the moment.

Fool. Next up is Jackson Browne who is still suing the McCain campaign for using some of his stuff during the campaign. McCain is trotting out the old Fair Use. The Townhall piece by Carl Horowitz has a pretty good explanation of "fair use," as well as a few choice descriptives for Browne to which I could add a few others based on the imbecility of his latest attempt at Cubawash. Double shame on him.

Dust. Seems the worship of idols is not a new thing in Cuba. An article on National Geographic informs us that imported materials were used to fashion idols for the elite in preHispanic times. Gee, the more things change the more they stay the same. Actually, it's interesting.

Death. The following headline is likely to scare the bejesus out of you. Fear not, kinda. The Ebola virus found in pigs in the Philippines is the Reston variety. Reminds me of a great nonfiction book, The Hot Zone, which contains everything you'll ever want to know about Ebola. Bad news, though, is that the variant which had not previously appeared in pigs apparently jumped species.