March 28, 2008
And They Can Call Their Doctor for Free
That socialist paradise 80 miles south of Key West is trying to do the 80s and 90s in one big gulp:
Raul Castro: Cubans can have cell phonesHAVANA - First microwaves, now cell phones. Is this the new Cuba? Raul Castro is revolutionizing his brother's island in small but significant ways — the latest in a decree Friday allowing ordinary Cubans to have cell phone service, a luxury previously reserved for the select few. The new president could be betting greater access to such modern gadgets will quell demand for deeper change.
I will call it a free country when they are allowed to have boats.
February 19, 2008
Adios, Fidel
... after 49 years, we hardly knew ye.
Oh wait.
¡Si!
Posted by: jk at February 19, 2008 1:47 PMBig deal, 448,000 atrocities -- what about the free health care?
Posted by: jk at February 19, 2008 1:49 PMViva Literacy!
It's easy to achieve when there isn't much you're allowed to read.
Posted by: AlexC at February 19, 2008 2:13 PMHey, he has a model for us right there. Universal health care (kill the sick), 100% literacy (kill the failures), 100% voting record (kill the dissidents). No wonder the leftists love him.
Posted by: mdmhvonpa at February 19, 2008 2:17 PMCastro Update
CNN is reporting the Fidel Castro has resigned as president. While I am a bit surprised that this announcement precedes that of the announcement of his death, I sincerely hope that this will result in a free Cuba in the near term.
I wouldnt count eggs.
As we learned in Iraq, a broken people don't have the energy or initiative to free themselves.
... Cuba lived under Castro twice as long as Iraq under Hussein.
Maybe if some ex-pats head back and kick-start the freedom. or if American tourism picks up.
We'll see.
Does anybody here really believe he's still alive?
Posted by: johngalt at February 20, 2008 1:39 AMSeptember 20, 2007
POW Habeas Corpus
It really breaks my heart when bills in the Senate can't hit the supra-constitutional 60 vote cut off.
The Senate on Wednesday rejected legislation that would have allowed terrorism suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to petition federal courts claiming that they're being held in error.The 56-43 vote in favor of the bill fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off Senate debate, blocking the legislation. Both Washington state senators voted for the measure.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would have given military detainees the right of habeas corpus — the right to challenge one's detention in court, rooted in English common law dating from before the Magna Carta of 1215 — which serves as a check on arbitrary government power.
Actually, I would support such a measure: even "enemy combatants" should be allowed to prove, if they can, that they're innocent. There's evidence that some were turned over to U.S. forces by their neighbors, because of family feuds.
But on the flip side, if we prove we captured them for a good reason, we should just execute them summarily.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at September 21, 2007 3:21 PMThey deserve some process, which I understand that they get. But the full panoply of the US understanding of habeus corpus is too much.
We cannot allow a captured, foreign terrorist to demand to learn how evidence against him was collected and to see the full evidence. For an American citizen, this would and should be required.
You nail the alternative -- if the hallal rice pilaf at Gitmo is not up to epicurean standards, enemy combatants can always be (quite legally) shot. Wanna reconsider, Ahmed?
It wouldn't have to be the full process, just a military tribunal where they can present evidence and, if they were seized in a raid, find out what the evidence was. Not all were captured on the battlefield, and I'm troubled because some circumstances were questionable. If a neighbor rats you out as a terrorist, is it true, or the result of a feud? So I think we should give them a good chance to prove their innocence, even if it demands they question how we knew they were terrorists.
On the other hand, I don't think any process should be given to anyone captured in battle -- American citizen or not. John Walker Lindh should have been shot where he was found, and it would have saved us a lot of headaches.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at September 22, 2007 10:55 AMApril 15, 2007
Victories
If you deliver a propaganda victory to a communist nation, does that make you a) a fellow traveller b) useful idiot c) pinko symp?
Filmmaker Michael Moore's production company took ailing Ground Zero responders to Cuba in a stunt aimed at showing that the U.S. health-care system is inferior to Fidel Castro's socialized medicine, according to several sources with knowledge of the trip.The trip was to be filmed as part of the controversial director's latest documentary, "Sicko," an attack on American drug companies and HMOs that Moore hopes to debut at the Cannes Film Festival next month.
I'm interested in finding out how many were "cured."
August 1, 2006
Castro's Demise?
So, it would seem that Cuba's Fidel Castro is berry berry ill.
- The Cuban leader said he had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, according to a letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga.
"The operation obligates me to undertake several weeks of rest," said the letter. Extreme stress "had provoked in me a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated me to undergo a complicated surgical procedure."
Castro said he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his younger brother and successor Raul, the defense minister, but said the move was of "a provisional character." There was no immediate appearance or statement by Raul Castro.
With that world quality socialized health-care we've been hearing about, he's bound to live another decade or two.
However, should he meet his maker in the coming days or weeks, a big question remains unanswered. How will Cuba look without him?
The conventional wisdom is that Cuba will go democratic in someway. Perhaps dissident Floridians providing the seed money, if not human capital.
But what if Venezuela's Hugo Chavez decides to get involved? He's pretty interested in sticking to the United States in anyway possible. Being right off shore with his own puppet, would be an excellent way. He's been influencing or attempting to influence Latin American politics lately. Why would Cuba be any different?
Let's not forget China either. China is interested in Cuban oil reserves in the Gulf... and already has some leases purchased. Wouldn't a Democratic Cuba perhaps want to entertain other offers for their oil?
Could oil politics get in the way of a free Cuba?
Sadly, the Communist machine he leaves behind will cling to power -- it's never been a gimme that his death will move the country forward. You're spot on that Venezuela or possibly China could come in and prop up Cuba's economy to keep leftists in power.
I'm reading Michael Novak's "Spirit of Democratic Capitalism." A Catholic theologian, Novak recognizes the Church’s complicity in inculcating Socialism in Latin America. He encourages clergy to embrace more classically liberal economies and polities. Review Corner coming, but it is germane to this discussion as he enumerates the predilections toward collectivism in those societies.
I wish we had no embargo, it would give us far more power to assert democracy in a post-El-Jefe Cuba. Plus we could get their coffee, which is very good.