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.

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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.

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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.

Less than Literary Interlude

Speaking of the Hollisters....


...The mail one day brought an offer for a book club, which I joined. Every month, two “Happy Hollister” books came in the mail. My mother used to complain that when they came I would disappear, that I was in my own little world.

Actually, I was in the world of the Happy Hollisters. I wasn’t a lonely, little Cuban girl in an American world lying on a plastic slip-covered, avocado green, cut velvet sofa in an apartment in Brooklyn. I was one of the Hollisters, preferably Holly, the pig-tailed tomboy, living in a large house at the edge of a lake in Shoreham, where my father owned “The Trading Post” sporting goods store. I was never alone. I had two brothers, two sisters, a dog, a cat, and five kittens: Pete, Pam, Ricky, Sue, Zip, and White Nose and progeny. Somehow we would stumble on mysteries, and our parents would help us solve them. Each mystery was set in a different locale, from New York to Seagull Beach, and even Denmark in the Mermaid Mystery.

If God had allowed me to pick a life, that is the life the six year old me would have chosen.

Books, Books, Books!

Keith Davis has traversed the wilds of Cuba and witnessed the political turmoil in parts of South America. He journeys not as Keith Davis, Vail Valley resident and retired orthodontist, but as Doc Ford, a marine biologist-turned-CIA operative and the main character in his favorite fictional series by Randy Wayne White.


Therein lies the charm of reading for me. By the way Randy Wayne White is a Florida Gulf Coast type. I read his slightly comic, suspenseful and colorful novels routinely. If you want to see an interesting video, check out Lost Man's River, an adventure he undertook with Peter Matthiesen in the Everglades. Hard to find, but it exists. And if you want to read a truly fascinating book, read Lost Man's River by Matthiesen. Based on historical events, it is tres good.

But I guess Frost was right. Road does lead onto road. Back to the point. The quote is from an article in the Vail Trail about one county's bucking the national trend. We all remember that survey in which 1 in 4 adults hadn't read a book or some such. Well, Sarah L. Stewart examines Eagle county in light of its reading habits and finds it better than most. I could claim the same for Sarasota County. Despite the seemingly single-minded worship of wealth here, we are a surprisingly literate town with one of the most used library systems in the state of Florida.

I highlight the article, because despite the depressing statistics, I see signs of a resurgence in interest on the part of teens. I mentioned the same when I posted on the Sarasota Reading Festival. Now I've been noticing it at the book store. I suspect it's the result of more interesting books for preteens. Young children start out with picture books, many of which are astounding, all of which their parents acquire for them. As they graduate to chapter books, there is the Magic Treehouse Series, which they gobble up. And then Junie B. Jones. But where do you go from there? Well, there was the Lemony Snicket series, which became a phenomenon. And there are now any number of exciting, easy reading series for the age group. I didn't include Harry Potter, because they are a bit more difficult.

None of these fun books is particularly literary. The point is to introduce children to the joy of reading. Just as there are gateway drugs, there are gateway books. Do I hear Nancy Drew, anyone? How many of us can remember that first book or series that turned us onto reading? For me, it was the Happy Hollisters.

Invitations: The Political Season is Here

It may come as a surprise to some, but I am a card carrying Republican, although an enlightened one. So I get all sorts of invitations. On Friday, Jan 4th, for the nominal sum of $75.00, I can attend a reception with Vern Buchanan and John Boehner. I'd love to see Boehner, but not $75.00 worth.

Then, there's the "Florida Straw Poll." For $10.00, I can get a ballot and a barbeque lunch. I've already passed up Giuliani for $2,000.00 and hung up on countless phone calls urging me to help defeat Hillary. They're heeere.

Wait. I got an email that the straw poll was canceled. No matter. I can go to the Lincoln Dinner on January 25. Giuliani is slated to be the keynote speaker. Details to follow.

I did get a heads up that there's a new Sarasota Conservative blog. Check it out here. Some good stuff.

Update: The Sky is Falling! Get ready to see it

Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Friday morning, that is. The Quadrantid meteor shower should be striking in the pre Dawn hours of Friday Morning, between 2-7AM. Although it's an annual occurence, the stars are aligned so that we'll get prime viewing in North America, actually the moon won't get in the way. It's all astronomy to me, so read about it here.

And while you're there, click on the link about the Mars Rovers for a slide show with some unbelievable pictures of the red planet. Even I, the I-won't-watch-a-space-documentary queen, was fascinated. I include one of the images to whet your appetite.

Update: At 4:14 AM I braved the cold to see the meteor shower. I didn't see nothin'. I suspect the mega car dealership down the road with its lights obscured my view.

Church and State: Cuban Style

My grandfather, who died at a ripe old age in Cuba, refused the opportunity to come to the United States not once, but twice, saying "I helped this cabron into power and I'll help take him down." Foresight does not seem to have been one of Abuelo's strong suits. Anyway, one of the things he did for the revolution was run guns around the island, guns he kept with the full knowledge of the parish priest under the altar at the local church. This worthy was then rewarded by the victorious rebels by essentially being put out of business.

I am reminded of the story because of the uneasy, yet complicit relationship between creeds and the coma andante. Part of me wants to rail at the Vatican #2 visiting Havana and wanting to meet Raul. It smacks too much of lending the regime countenance. I had similar problems with the visit of John Paul II. However in that instance, I knew John Paul to be anticommunist. Further, the late pontiff had the ability to extend a hand, while at the same time somehow loosening the bonds of power. I may not have liked it, but Cuba loosened its grip on the Church somewhat. Reading the news lately, it may have been a devil's bargain, as the now legal Catholic church comes across as a might timid.

That timidity pales in comparison to this year's pronouncement by the babalaos, or santeria "priests." What do they predict in the midst of the "transition"? Well, as they put it, it's not a social challenge, it's not a political challenge, its.......Global Warming. Okay, so I exaggerated. For the Reuters article, go here.

When I am in a reasonable frame of mind, I remember "render unto Caesar," etc.... I don't believe the Church belongs in politics. It should be separated from the state. There is something to be said for keeping one's mouth shut in order to be there for adherents. But there is a fine line between rising above temporal matters and ministering to the spiritual needs of one's flock in confidence and cowering in fear before a totalitarian government.

Starting the New Year Right.

In the spirit of tidying up odds and ends, thought I'd put together a few articles I've been holding.

Can't make this stuff up. Since he has nothing better to do and apparently no intellect to do it with, Jude Law is spending the holidays in Cuba. Well, seems his room at the Nacional is inhabited by the ghost of old blue eyes himself. Personally, with all the venues he has to choose from, I can't see why Frankie would choose to haunt his old room, instead of, say, Vegas, or even Hoboken. The more likely explanation is that some enterprising Cuban was rifling through the fridge in Law's room. Read the article

You know it's gotta be bad. Even the ministry of disinformation has had to admit that Cuba's growth rate didn't hit the much touted forecast of 10% growth in the economy this year. According to the regime, the actual rate was 7.5%, that's including the fudging the regime does by including their valuations of social services like health care. Aspirin, anyone? In any case, whatever figure they pull out of their fidel caps is irrelevant to the populace which has seen no benefit from the phantom "growth" of the last few years. Article here.

Round up the usual suspects. Wayne Smith is at it again. In his latest opus, Cuba "changes" and the US "stagnates." He bolsters his assertions with the sagacious, oft quoted statement by Larry Wilkerson labeling our Cuba stance "the dumbest policy on the face of the earth." But Smith takes heart in the wishful thinking that Miami is "evolving," apparently young Cuban Americans, we are to believe, are clandestine Democrats.

I really have to wonder what fuels these types. If they cared about the Cuban people, they would be denouncing their oppression by the Havana Mafia with at least half as much vigor as they devote to that latest species of bogeyman, the Miami Cuban. If their concern is the good of the United States, they are defining that objective as allowing governments to seize American assets with impunity, upholding the right of Americans to vacation cheaply in a slave state, "trading" with a government that has not moved an iota from its virulent Anti-American stance in a half a century, and in the process bolster a moribund dictator and a totalitarian state in its death throes.

Can anyone be this deluded, I have to ask myself? Is it possible, or is it more sinister? I don't know. I do not question that some may have differing opinions, but every point on which he builds his arguments is either false or a misrepresentation. Cuba has not "changed," except in so much as Raul is the nominal head of the government. And all of those discussions have resulted in what? Where was he on December 10, when the regime showed its true face?

Read it yourself. I'm not linking to this piece of trash. It's at Worldpress.org.

A Happier New Year

Grapes and pots at the ready, I await the New Year. In New York my American friends always got a kick out of eating twelve grapes at midnight, and they thought throwing out a pot of water was a hoot. As I go off to the festivities, I'd like to take a moment to thank my readers and all those gifted, committed, and generally wonderful people out there who fight the good fight, whether in English or Spanish, in the US or Spain or Sweden or Australia. We don't always agree, but I respect each and every one of you. God bless.

I have a toast ready for this eve: Next year in Havana! May it only be so.

New Year's Possibilities

That's what IBD call their version of predictions for the coming year. There are 8 of them, one forecasts rough weather ahead for Cuba. Take their description of current conditions:

The lights are going out for Fidel Castro, and the likelihood of unrest is growing. A destitute population and a corrupt party elite desperate to defend its privileges could be a powder keg. The 81-year-old Cuban dictator ceded power to his brother, Raul, 76, last year. The transition may look smooth enough, because the latter already can project power, leading Cuba's military, which controls 60% of Cuba's enterprises.

Another concerns the Bush legacy:

If the economy does skirt recession and strengthens in the second half, expect a grudging, Trumanesque reappraisal of the Bush presidency. But as with the erosion of the global-warming consensus, it'll probably take years for an objective verdict on Bush to come in. The economy itself should stand as a hallmark of success. After inheriting a recession and the after-effects of a stock crash that in many ways was worse than 1929, he moved decisively to cut taxes and, though he gets little credit for it, eschewed cuts in federal spending to ensure that stimulus would not be diluted.

A bit of reading for those house bound on this evening.

Reads: Miami Noir

After reading Havana Noir, I just had to check out the Miami version. Besides, Miami is one of those cities which loom large in my imagination. You would think that after all the time I have spent there, it wouldn’t. But no matter how many luxury condos they build, and how they try to tame it, there is something beautiful and bawdy and real about the city. This quality is admirably captured by Les Standiford’s selections.

The stories here are not as literary as the ones in Havana Noir, but they are also not as bleak. Obviously, there is sex, murder, and betrayal, but in much smaller and less graphic quantities- only two cases of incest that I can remember. The protagonists are shady characters and PI’s of sorts who function in a murky world of moral relativism. Yet it is a world where morality is trampled, as opposed to one without moral boundaries. The bad guys, for the most part, get their due.

Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because some of my favorite Miami mystery writers are among the authors: James W. Hall, Barbara Parker, and Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, who has the distinction of having stories in both anthologies. I particularly enjoyed her story which is one of the only ones with a significant Cuban character. Surprisingly enough, few Cubans figure in these tales. Set in the fringes of the city and of society, the tales portray the drop outs, the retirees, people with a past and no future. One exception is the last and most powerful story in the anthology, “The Swimmers,” which centers on the experiences of four Haitians trying to make it into the United States in a smuggler’s boat.

I have given a lot of thought to the differences between Miami and Havana Noir, and perhaps I am wrong or I’m just discovering the Mediterranean, but I think practitioners of the Noir genre in Cuba express the anger bred by their environment in disaffection, which if I can remember that far back is a technique of satire in which the author seeks to repel the reader. In any case, both are worthy of a read.

Sunday Shorts

War Lit 101. Newsweek's Evan Thomas has an interesting piece on Elizabeth Samet, whose new book, A Soldier's Heart, chronicles her years teaching English at West Point. It begins with one of the shortest, yet most powerful, of war poems. I particularly liked the side trip he took to lament the passing of the true liberal education, which survives at the military academy. Read it here.

Weird Medicine. Call me macabre, but I love disease stories and the like. Fox News has an end-of-the-year recap of the twelve oddest medical stories, which includes the tree man, the girl who had a ten lb. hairball removed, and the guy with the mother of all hangovers.

Death Notice. Also from Fox comes word that Time Warner is going to let Netscape Navigator wither away. I can remember when access to the internet was young and Explorer was not even a glint in Bill Gates' eyes. Netscape Navigator was the only way to go. Farewell, my old friend. For article, here.

Paradise Lost. Despite my complaints about the powers that be in Sarasota, it is still blessed with lots of beauty. The New York Times is running this slide show entitled, "Weekend in Sarasota." By the bye, the Ringling is the location of both the photo and Cuba Avant-Garde exhibit.

My apologies for the late edition. Forgot it was Sunday. Hope I remember to go to work tomorrow.

Literary Interlude: Poema de la Despedida

Anytime is a good time for José Ángel Buesa. It is amazing to me that just about any Cuban senior citizen I know can recite huge chunks of his poetry.

Poema de la Despedida

Te digo adiós, y acaso te quiero todavía.
Quizá no he de olvidarte, pero te digo adiós.
No sé si me quisiste... No sé si te quería...
O tal vez nos quisimos demasiado los dos.

Este cariño triste, y apasionado, y loco,
me lo sembré en el alma para quererte a ti.
No sé si te amé mucho... no sé si te amé poco;
pero sí sé que nunca volveré a amar así.

Me queda tu sonrisa dormida en mi recuerdo,
y el corazón me dice que no te olvidaré;
pero, al quedarme solo, sabiendo que te pierdo,
tal vez empiezo a amarte como jamás te amé.

Te digo adiós, y acaso, con esta despedida,
mi más hermoso sueño muere dentro de mí...
Pero te digo adiós, para toda la vida,
aunque toda la vida siga pensando en ti.


Very Rough Translation:

The Farewell Poem

I bid you goodbye, and perhaps I still love you,
it may be I will not forget you, but I bid you goodbye just the same.
I don’t know if you loved me…I don’t know if I loved you…
or whether we two loved too much.

This feeling, plaintive, and passionate, and crazed,
I seeded in my soul in order to love you.
I don’t know if I loved you much…or if I loved you little;
but I do know that I will never love this way again.

I am left with the memory of your sleepy smile,
and my heart tells me that you I will not forget;
Alone, and knowing what I have lost,
I may begin to love you as I never loved you before.

I bid you goodbye, and maybe with this leavetaking,
my most gorgeous dream dies within me…
But I bid you goodbye for life,
although my whole life I may continue to think on you.

You Can Vent...maybe

But you can't make a difference. I've been holding on to this one for a few days:

Havana, Dec 26 (IANS) Cuba will continue with a single party system with wider scope to accommodate dissent and differences of opinion, acting President Raul Castro has said even as rights groups point out scores of dissidents are still in jail.

'If we have a single party and that represents the interests of all the people, it's good,' Castro was quoted as saying Tuesday by Spain's EFE news agency Wednesday.

You gotta read the thing. I must take virulent exception to one major falsehood in the article.

according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation, several dozen political prisoners have been freed since Raul stepped in some 16 months ago when his elder brother Fidel was stricken with a serious intestinal illness.

To the best of my knowledge, the political prisoners released had served their terms or were given medical releases because of the precarious state of their health, something which was never mentioned in the article.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Unbelievable!

Let's add another to the topsy-turvy society file. This column by Jed Babbin is scary. The gist is this. Rachel Ehrenfeld, a scholar, wrote a book entitled “Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed, and How to Stop it.” Although published in the US, a few copies were sent to the UK.
Khalid Salim bin Mahfouz, a Saudi banker, who is described in the book as having funded terrorism, filed suit, not in the US where the book was published and where he would have had to prove the falsity of the claim, but in the UK where the author is forced to prove the truth of same. He won a symbolic default judgement against Ehrenfeld. She refused to defend herself, standing behind our right to free speech. What's scary is the chilling effect this has had here in the United States. No publisher will touch her new work.

The same banker was mentioned in another book put out by the Cambridge University Press. In that case, the threat of a lawsuit resulted in the book being withdrawn. In both cases, the more stringent UK libel laws were used to stifle free speech. As Babbin writes:

Under assault by Muslims and multiculturalists, free speech and freedom of the press are dead in Britain. The same sorts of people who killed them in Britain are killing them in Canada. They and their allies are using the British and Canadian courts and tribunals to bury our First Amendment rights in America.

Muslims -- individually and in pressure groups -- are using British libel laws and Canadian “human rights” laws to limit what is said about Islam, terrorists and the people in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere who are funding groups such as al-Queda. The cases of Rachel Ehrenfeld and Mark Steyn prove the point.

I don't agree with the use of the term Muslims, as if it were all adherents of the religion. Rather I see it as a segment of the Muslim population. Unfortunately, the continued silence of the mainstream population implies consent and lends credence to Babins' assertions.

Hey, I wonder if us greedy, grasping, hard-line, intransigent, Batistiano, Miami mafia types could do the same? Seems to work for them.

¡Inocente! ¡Inocente!

Today is the Día de los Santos Inocentes, the Spanish equivalent of April Fools. For a more thorough explanation of the custom observed throughout the Spanish-speaking world, click here. The actual day is rooted in religious observance.

Humanitarian Crisis and The Blame Game

The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the waters off Florida and Cuba has been in the news lately:

Forty who fled Cuba from the town of Perico have not been heard from in a month and are feared dead.

Last week, a boat carrying thirteen capsized, killing two who were fleeing Cuba.

This week, word that only three survived out of twenty eight on a boat heading to the United States.

Not surprisingly, the press has parroted the Regime claim that it is US policy which encourages people to flee. Not a single news report that I can find makes mention of conditions on the socialist paradise as the prime motivator for the exodus. Oh, well, you can count on some things not to change.

The single most insensitive comment comes from the Coast Guard, a branch of the military that is slowly sinking in my estimation.

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil, public affairs officer for district in Miami, criticized South Florida migrant smuggling operations and what he said was "the tacit or direct protection of the local community." Here for the article.

Would he have the community turn their backs on those pitiable refugees, their brothers, sisters, cousins, who run the gauntlet of the Cuban patrols, the Gulf, and the Coast Guard? This is the community that has half an idea what they are fleeing. What about those who land in other areas? Not too long ago, refugees were put ashore at Boca Grande. They weren't pelted with stones. Members of the anglo community brought them blankets, soup, a translator, etc....

The reason people are fleeing Cuba is not our policies; it is the oppression, political and economic, of their own government. To tighten our policies would do no good. Being illegal has not stopped Mexicans from crossing the border. As long as current conditions exist in Cuba, there will be boatloads of people willing to risk their lives to flee them. So don't blame the US.

If we are to criticize the US, it is to say that our present policy, the infamous Wet foot/Dry foot is immoral. Any policy that results in the Coast Guard firing on unarmed refugees is just plain wrong. I understand that there are political considerations in play here, but another approach is needed. One of the most novel I've read is to turn Guantanamo into a model city, a propaganda tool against the regime. Not a bad idea.

Pump Up the Volume

I've added a sidebar notice in Spanish until January 8. It is a call to protest. This time to avoid the massive repression that results whenever Cubans get out of line, the protest is a more anonymous one. Organizers are asking ordinary Cubans on the island to raise the volume of TV's, radios, parties, etc... at 8:00 on the 8th of January, ringing in the sound of protest. If the public will get the message, if they will dare to "signal" themselves is a question. But as always, the sentiment is there.

Here's the translation:

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.

Tales from the Dark Side: Press Coverage of Cuba

I can't decide whether it's sheer imbecility or part of a more sinister undertaking, but lately, the MSM media seems even more moronic than usual in its coverage of Cuba. During the Petrocaribe summit, it seemed that every day there was a a headline about deepening ties between Venezuela and Cuba, the same story cloaked in different guises, written and published daily.

Then over the holidays, there was the coverage of that intellectual giant and all around philanthropist, Naomi Campbell. The headline that stopped me short was "Naomi Campbell turns Mrs. Claus in Cuba." Where do you start on that one? Based on her past history, it would seem Ms. Campbell would be more accurately compared to Cruella DeVille. And just what did she do, hand the keys to one of the 100 humble houses, built with Venezuelan money to house workers at the site of the plant just refurbished to process their heavy crude, to a young couple? Was there any mention in the coverage of the dire straits of Cuban housing, any acknowledgement that this little spit in the bucket is meaningless in terms of the numbers of people whose homes are crumbling around and on top of them? Of course not, that wouldn't be in the regime talking points.

I've saved the best for last, though. Try this introductory snippet from the AP article about Max Lesnick making the rounds of press outlets.

No longer an exile, Castro's friend is at home in Cuba and Florida

HAVANA - He fled Cuba in 1961, but still calls Fidel Castro his friend. He can't stand communism, but bitterly opposes the U.S. embargo. He lives in Miami, but travels regularly to Havana, even appearing on state-run television.

Anyone with even the tiniest bit of understanding knows that this is impossible. Ask any of fifo's former "friends" in Miami, the ones who have survived his friendship, as that seems to have been a singularly perilous position, if they can return with impunity. That it is possible for Lesnick raises a whole line of possibilities. The writer here, however, buys the whole spiel- hook, line and sinker- and parrots it around the globe. If its propaganda arm is the regime’s only success, it is because the media has been there to collude with them every step of the way for nearly half a century. For the article.

For an excellent post on the same subject and a great cartoon, go here.

"Tis the Season

In Sarasota, that means a lot of things. It’s when our population more than doubles for the winter, when our roads get congested, our coffers fill, and cultural venues go into high gear. And for the past four years, the entire town gets treated to a first class sculpture exhibition. Substantial pieces adorn the side of highway 41 where it adjoins our Bayfront Park, perhaps one of the most beautiful spots on the West coast of Florida. So if you happen to be in town, don’t miss it. You can always head to O’Learys and indulge in some libations while you take in the scenery.

About a third of this year’s “Season of Sculpture” exhibit consists of new works from returning artists. They are artists whose work I enjoyed last year, but which seem reminiscent this year: The white box has mirrored silver slivers instead of red pieces dangling, the Venetian-like figures are in different groupings and poses. And as is usual with me, if I need to read an explanation to understand the piece, it is lost on me. The most interesting work had to be “La Devine Proportion” by Jean-Francois Buisson, which resembled a cross between a futurist and a post apocalyptic version of Leornardo’s study of the human body, only the warmth of sepia has been replaced by harsh black metal, draped in an intricate fretwork, which looks like puzzle pieces, tattered lace, and mechanistic moss at the same time. The elegance of the figures themselves is interrupted by the occasional bolt, or old piece of metal, an interruption in the organic flow of the human form.

I’ve included a picture of local sculptor Jack Dowd’s installation, “Happy Birthday, Andy” because of its sheer fun. Here Dowd subjects Warhol’s figure to the same treatment the late artist applied to others. I didn’t like or appreciate every piece, but I am grateful I had the opportunity to see an exhibit of such quality. It is there, open and free to the public. Oh, and did I mention the giant tooth or the dancing cars?

A Christmas Dinner from Dickens

I've always loved this scene from Dickens' Great Expectations. Makes my relatives look tame. Read it and notice Pip's brother-in-law with the gravy.


********
Among this good company I should have felt myself, even if I hadn't robbed the pantry, in a false position. Not because I was squeezed in at an acute angle of the tablecloth, with the table in my chest, and the Pumblechookian elbow in my eye, nor because I was not allowed to speak (I didn't want to speak), nor because I was regaled with the scaly tips of the drumsticks of the fowls, and with those obscure corners of pork of which the pig, when living, had had the least reason to be vain. No; I should not have minded that, if they would only have left me alone. But they wouldn't leave me alone. They seemed to think the opportunity lost, if they failed to point the conversation at me, every now and then, and stick the point into me. I might have been an unfortunate little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these moral goads.

It began the moment we sat down to dinner. Mr. Wopsle said grace with theatrical declamation,--as it now appears to me, something like a religious cross of the Ghost in Hamlet with Richard the Third,--and ended with the very proper aspiration that we might be truly grateful. Upon which my sister fixed me with her eye, and said, in a low reproachful voice, "Do you hear that? Be grateful."

"Especially," said Mr. Pumblechook, "be grateful, boy, to them which brought you up by hand."

Mrs. Hubble shook her head, and contemplating me with a mournful presentiment that I should come to no good, asked, "Why is it that the young are never grateful?" This moral mystery seemed too much for the company until Mr. Hubble tersely solved it by saying, "Naterally wicious." Everybody then murmured "True!" and looked at me in a particularly unpleasant and personal manner.

Joe's station and influence were something feebler (if possible) when there was company than when there was none. But he always aided and comforted me when he could, in some way of his own, and he always did so at dinner-time by giving me gravy, if there were any. There being plenty of gravy to-day, Joe spooned into my plate, at this point, about half a pint.

A little later on in the dinner, Mr. Wopsle reviewed the sermon with some severity, and intimated--in the usual hypothetical case of the Church being "thrown open"--what kind of sermon he would have given them. After favoring them with some heads of that discourse, he remarked that he considered the subject of the day's homily, ill chosen; which was the less excusable, he added, when there were so many subjects "going about."

"True again," said Uncle Pumblechook. "You've hit it, sir! Plenty of subjects going about, for them that know how to put salt upon their tails. That's what's wanted. A man needn't go far to find a subject, if he's ready with his salt-box." Mr. Pumblechook added, after a short interval of reflection, "Look at Pork alone. There's a subject! If you want a subject, look at Pork!"

"True, sir. Many a moral for the young," returned Mr. Wopsle,--and I knew he was going to lug me in, before he said it; "might be deduced from that text."

("You listen to this," said my sister to me, in a severe parenthesis.)

Joe gave me some more gravy.

"Swine," pursued Mr. Wopsle, in his deepest voice, and pointing his fork at my blushes, as if he were mentioning my Christian name,-- "swine were the companions of the prodigal. The gluttony of Swine is put before us, as an example to the young." (I thought this pretty well in him who had been praising up the pork for being so plump and juicy.) "What is detestable in a pig is more detestable in a boy."

"Or girl," suggested Mr. Hubble.

"Of course, or girl, Mr. Hubble," assented Mr. Wopsle, rather irritably, "but there is no girl present."

"Besides," said Mr. Pumblechook, turning sharp on me, "think what you've got to be grateful for. If you'd been born a Squeaker--"

"He was, if ever a child was," said my sister, most emphatically.

Joe gave me some more gravy.

"Well, but I mean a four-footed Squeaker," said Mr. Pumblechook. "If you had been born such, would you have been here now? Not you--"

"Unless in that form," said Mr. Wopsle, nodding towards the dish.

"But I don't mean in that form, sir," returned Mr. Pumblechook, who had an objection to being interrupted; "I mean, enjoying himself with his elders and betters, and improving himself with their conversation, and rolling in the lap of luxury. Would he have been doing that? No, he wouldn't. And what would have been your destination?" turning on me again. "You would have been disposed of for so many shillings according to the market price of the article, and Dunstable the butcher would have come up to you as you lay in your straw, and he would have whipped you under his left arm, and with his right he would have tucked up his frock to get a penknife from out of his waistcoat-pocket, and he would have shed your blood and had your life. No bringing up by hand then. Not a bit of it!"

Joe offered me more gravy, which I was afraid to take.

"He was a world of trouble to you, ma'am," said Mrs. Hubble, commiserating my sister.

"Trouble?" echoed my sister; "trouble?" and then entered on a fearful catalogue of all the illnesses I had been guilty of, and all the acts of sleeplessness I had committed, and all the high places I had tumbled from, and all the low places I had tumbled into, and all the injuries I had done myself, and all the times she had wished me in my grave, and I had contumaciously refused to go there.

I think the Romans must have aggravated one another very much, with their noses. Perhaps, they became the restless people they were, in consequence. Anyhow, Mr. Wopsle's Roman nose so aggravated me, during the recital of my misdemeanours, that I should have liked to pull it until he howled. But, all I had endured up to this time was nothing in comparison with the awful feelings that took possession of me when the pause was broken which ensued upon my sister's recital, and in which pause everybody had looked at me (as I felt painfully conscious) with indignation and abhorrence.

"Yet," said Mr. Pumblechook, leading the company gently back to the theme from which they had strayed, "Pork--regarded as biled --is rich, too; ain't it?

There is always a Santa Claus

And now for the holiday portion of our program.....
With Noche Buena around the corner- that's Christmas Eve- I thought I'd reprise the 1897 editorial from The New York Sun, written in response to a little girl's question as to whether there is a Santa Claus.

**************
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.


Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. It is real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

The R Word

What is it Dylan once wrote? Something like "You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows." For me, it didn't start with gasoline prices, although I'm convinced speculators have amplified the increases (Think Enron). These although huge were bearable, and there are ways to cut back on driving. It started with ethanol. The emphasis on green and renewable fuels sent corn prices skyrocketing. They had a ripple effect on all sorts of products. Wheat prices seemed to go up in sympathy with corn, although I'm assured it's just supply and demand. Next thing you know just about everything in the supermarket is up. Seriously, over two dollars for a baguette?

Then in plein Christmas shopping season, the stores were empty. That spooked me. So I got to thinking that the definition of a recession is two straight quarters of decline in the GDP. In other words, it'll take six months for the economic powers that be to announce that we've been in a recession for the past six months. And all of this is occurring against the backdrop of the mortgage and housing debacle with its effects on the markets.

I came home from Christmas shopping that day and announced to Packrat that it would be a lean Christmas, just in case. I hope we don't wind up in a major recession, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. To this amateur observer, the barometer seems to be falling.

Sunday Morning Rolls Around

Gored Again. Don't miss Pat Sajak's amusing read, "Gore Files Lawsuits Against Time" in which he envisions the perennial also-ran as accusing Time of "voting irregularities" on the word of eyewitness "Chad."

Don't That Beat All. Ran across this article which makes it seem as if 2 million South African tourists visited Cuba in 2007. Closer inspection reveals that the figure was the number of tourists from around the world. In any case, I'm guessing here that the South African vactioners, whatever their number, are not residents of Soweto Township, so I suspect that Apartheid might be something they're used to.

Revolting. I find the concept of revolt and a new society decreed by a few unnerving. Much of the current anti-immigration sentiment is a cover for bigotry and the like. But it's worth reading this column from townhall for its social criticism.

Happy Holidays to all! I'll be posting some old favorites for the next few days!

Updated: Numbers that Make My Head Hurt

Update: According to Carlos Lage in a report dated December 24, the number of healthcare workers is 31,000. Also in the article is the statement that bilateral trade will hit $7 billion. It might more aptly be stated that Venezuelan donations to the regime will total that amount. Oh, yeah, forgot the indentured servants.

Here’s a BBC article about “the oil and politics” at the Petrocaribe summit this week. We already know about the oil-for-bananas deal Chavez offered. But some of the article reminded me of a post this week on Primera Generación this week in which Cuban banker focuses on just how much Chavez is taking away from his own less-than-affluent people, which lead me to wonder about the actual figures involved.

Here is the deal for the 17 nations:

They can defer payment on 40% of their oil bill for up to 25 years, with interest of only 1%.

The terms for Cuba as they are usually described:

Cuba has long received all its Venezuelan oil for free, in exchange for thousands of doctors who help treat the country's poor.

Doesn’t sound like that bad a deal, really, unless you take into account that the doctors and health workers are human beings being treated as a commodity. But take a look at some statistics:

$2.6 million the amount of oil given Cuba in this exchange in 2007.

$184.00 monthly paid to doctors/regime by the Venezuelan government in addition to the 2.6 million in oil paid to the regime (2005 figure).

$25.00 monthly the salary paid to the doctors in Venezuela by the regime and consequently the value they place on the services provided.

20,000 the number of Cuban doctors and health workers in Venezuela.

Do the math, if you have more zeroes in your calculator than I have, and it doesn’t look like that rosy an economic deal for Venezuela. On the other hand, I guess there is a premium to be paid for having an army of chattel who can be forced to work anywhere in the country under any conditions.

You Give 'Em Hell, Pops!

Remember this elderly gentleman, Alfredo Guillemas, from the Human Rights demonstration? Well, there’s a coda to his story. Apparently, the regime sensed it was a PR faux pas to manhandle a senior citizen in front of cameras. So three days after the demonstration on December 13, Mr. Guillemas received a visit from State Security, ordering him to stay in his home or face another beating.

To this stick, they added a carrot. If he would renounce his activities, they would provide him economic and medical assistance. Taking umbrage, he threw the descarados, or shameless ones, out of his home and vowed to work until his dying day for the democratization of Cuba.

*Source: a report by independent journalist Lamasiel Gutiérrez here.

It Takes a Firm Hand

Signature from Penultimos Dias. Don't know where he got it.

Wow! Have you ever seen such a signature! Maybe, I'm just one of those cynical boomers, but how many ailing 80 year olds have you seen with such strong handwriting?

Some Clarity from Cuba

From ex-political prisoner Antuñez at Misceláneas de Cuba, there is no call to hold back from demonstrating:

Let this document ratify our ceaseless and sacred call to the internal opposition to continue taking to the streets, for these are the most appropriate places for struggle and resistance.

We suggest to our brothers in exile to read the call carefully and turn deaf ears to any ill-intentioned interpretation of the same.
The full text in Spanish here.

Let's Beat on the Press!

• you be surprised to learn that reporters are held in the same low regard as undertakers and insurance salesmen.... and only slightly higher than politicians?
• Did you know that two-thirds of the public believe reporters are no more ethical than the politicians they report on?
• Would it perplex you to learn that the press itself has precisely the opposite view.... two thirds of them maintain they are more ethical than the public officeholders they cover?

So begins a "Frontline" report on a survey of American attitudes towards the press. I ran into this a while back and hadn't had a chance to post it. My favorite part, but of course, the boomers again:

Analysis of the survey revealed that middle-aged people - the Vietnam-Watergate generation - were more cynical than younger people and older people. This generational pattern was apparent in both the public survey and in the survey of the press as well.

Read All About It! A Scandal

In the how low can you go department, at least if the Enquirer is telling the truth... I know, I know. The paper is out with a story of a secret affair John Edwards supposedly carried on while his wife is battling for her life. If it weren't for Elizabeth Edwards, I'd be laughing. Okay, so maybe I am enjoying it a trifle. Read it here

Keeping it Russian

This next bit comes from the Telegraph. A Russian general is threatening to target the European bases to house the missile defense shield. His comments shed light on the Russian perspective. Still, I have difficulty understanding the strident tone coming out of Moscow. I understand that to a certain extent Putin plays to nationalist pride, pride badly damaged after the fall of the USSR. But why the continued harsh cold war rhetoric and obstructionism? It's really getting dangerous out there.

And speaking of Putin. Since he can't be President any more, he's going to be Prime Minister. Huh?

Cuba: A Russian Perspective

Don't know what to think of this piece on the RIA Novosty by political commentator Pyotr Romanov. He seems to think fifo's health is improving (I beg to differ). While he hits some of the usual, the mafia and vice ridden past and the wrongness of the embargo...

This blockade is not only inhuman but also stupid, if only because it conceals better than any Cuban propaganda the main reason for Cuba's economic trouble - inefficiency of socialist economy.

Mr Romanov as a Russian knows a little something about failed socialism. It's really fascinating, and much of his analysis of the Cuban people is on target. Besides, anyone who writes:

Judging by all, Fidel is slowly getting better. Nevertheless, the best option for Cuba would be not his return but his final departure that would pave the way to reforms. If 75 year-old Raul retired together with his older brother and started cultivating roses like good old pensioners, the likelihood of serious change would only increase. Regrettably, this is too good to be true and more in the nature of wishful thinking. But the longer the reforms are delayed the harder it will be for Cubans.

It's a mixed bag, but worthy of a read. Fascinating.

A Moment of Sanity

Or so writes Rick Aristotle Munarriz about the decline in the price of CUBA, not the country, the stock symbol for the Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, the value which skyrocketed with the news of castro’s ill health. Investors flocked to the fund thinking it would benefit from the lifting of the embargo and travel restrictions. Well, we all know what didn’t happen, so they’ve apparently lost faith. Read the article on Motley Fool. But if you don’t, I’ll share this snippet with you:

I am a Cuban-American living in Miami. I raise my cafecito to the elder politicos in town who dream of a free Cuba. I just never saw the logic in paying an 80% premium for a basket of stocks that I could duplicate at face value.

We are everywhere.

Cross-posted at Babalublog

A Manifesto of Sorts

I don’t know about you, but my head is spinning. First, Fidel’s dead. Then he’s not. Then according to the MSM he’s “running” for office. Now in today’s news, he’s hinting at retirement. Personally, I like the life in death option. Anyway, Raul’s in charge. Or maybe Raul’s not in charge. Marta Beatriz Roque, noted dissident, calls for dissenters to unite but put off any marches for like two years while they run around consciousness raising, including telling ordinary Cubans how bad it is? Antuñez, another noted dissident with stronger bona fides, signs on, but then maintains he didn’t know about the hold on demonstrations. If Elizardo Sanchez, another noted dissident, was really spying on his confreres for the regime, why the sudden attack today in the press, where they call him a mercenary in the pay of the US government?

Maybe I’m confused because I just watched The Bourne Ultimatum, but maybe it’s because Cuba is as Churchill once described the USSR: “a riddle wrapped inside an enigma.” I am a simple person. I know, having had experience with at least one cunning and amoral acquaintance, that I am no match for same. You see, no matter how smart you are; if you can’t think like they do, you cannot outwit them.

So what’s an honest, well-intentioned soul to do? What’s the right course? Whom do you support? What stance can you take? Should you bother? After all, the vitriol hurled at us by some in our community makes it all too easy to turn and say, “I don’t need this grief.” Heck, I’m an American. Only I am, but then I’m not. I am Cuban. No, I am not Cuban like the poor souls who live and toil on the island. But for an amazing act of foresight by my father, I could have been. Yes, I grew up in the United States and went to bed with a full belly every night. I paid a smaller price, growing up as a second class citizen, never knowing what it was to belong, never meeting close relatives, or walking the Malecon, and always the sense of loss. I’ve earned the Cuban in front of that American, and no one is going to take it away from me.

For every attack on the Cuban American community by the MSM media, the apparatchiks, or even some of our own, there are any number of pleas coming from the island to make their stories known. So I speak for those who cannot, for those who have been silenced by the jackboot, who must live the proverbial lives of quiet desperation. I do not believe I have the corner on knowledge, or that I have the only, or any, answers.

In the end, neither speculations nor divisions matter. If I was granted the privilege of being born in, or even just living, in a free society, then I bear the responsibility of doing all I can to help those left behind. So, it doesn’t really matter who the players are, whether the coma andante is alive or dead, or how we feel about each other. My responsibility, my God-given task, is to bear witness.

And if you don’t think it makes a difference. When was the last time, the MSM paid attention to a demonstration of twelve dissidents? When did any manifestation of any size, other than the officially sanctioned ones get any press, even if it was at the end of the articles about the regime's magnanimity in signing accords (it has no intention of keeping) in two years? It is not something for which I take any credit. I am the flea on the butt end of the camel industriously making its way into that tent. But in my little space and as far as my words reach, I will attest to the truth. And no matter what they put out or the MSM picks up, in this small space I will call them on their lies.